Friday, 24 February 2017, WASHINGTON, D.C. - Various U.S. officials including in law enforcement and at the White House and Department of Justice (DOJ) by late yesterday confirmed that the "Siberian Candidate" Trump White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus recently repeatedly violated White House-DOJ pending or completed FBI investigation contact procedures in the carefully specified rare circumstances that they are needed at all as set out in DOJ legal guidelines on the subject issued both in 2007 and 2009.
Mr. Priebus (who just yesterday at the CPAC annual conservative conference publicly cemented his Trump-Putin parallel "bromance" with onstage companion Trump senior counselor and White House "chief strategist" mastermind puppetmaster apparent once accused violent Santa Monica wife-beater charged with later dismissed domestic violence, battery and dissuading a witness charges and implicitly self-confessed "rumpled intellectual" possible fascism enthusiast allegedly unable to spell "fascist" Steve Bannon), pressed FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to have the FBI and other agencies discredit reports of "repeated" and/or "constant" pre-election contacts between the "Siberian Candidate" Trump campaign and top Russian including intelligence officials as first made on 14 February 2017 by The New York Times (as earlier posted here) and CNN.
The White House to nobody's surprise at first "mischaracterized" the initial contact and content as having been specifically initiated by the FBI until a White House official later confirmed an original account that it had in fact occurred the day after the reports came out in a hallway side discussion between Mr. Priebus and Deputy Director McCabe who was at the at the White House for some other meeting. The White House later denied The New York Times story with Reince Priebus calling it "complete garbage" although curiously himself even expressly seeming to acknowledge on national television that were the story true it would amount to accusations of activities that could be described as "treasonous" which might be helpful as an admission against interest in establishing a basis for that charge should it ever for any reason possibly become an issue.
In any case Mr. Priebus also himself tried to authenticate his somewhat contradictory claims that the reported story was "complete garbage" that there was "nothing to it" and it was "wrong" but then further describing it somewhat at odds with that as "inaccurate" and "vastly overstated" asserting that he "had been approved" to say that by "top officials in the intelligence community" who he claimed validated his account which of course would be more or less in direct opposition to the intelligence community itself correctly having declined to have further communication with the White House nor disclose anything publicly about any ongoing investigation. One very "top official" in particular actually completely contrary to Mr. Priebus' claim refusing to have the intelligence community do any of the above at all having been FBI Director James Comey.
Meanwhile Mr. Comey's putative boss at the Department of Justice racist "disgrace" Jeffrey Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III who should not even get involved in the matter of this ongoing FBI investigation and in any case inarguably should have recused himself long ago from all matters having anything at all to do with the Trump campaign since he was the first U.S. Senator openly to support Trump and himself take on a significant position in the campaign becoming most actively involved to the point of appearing on stage with "Siberian Candidate" Trump at his "campaign rallies" nevertheless reportedly himself is poring over the DOJ legal procedural guidance referenced above doubtless to insure that justice is duly served.
This even though just a cursory review of the text of the 2009 guidance reveals that it specifies in explicit language that a high school student should be able readily to understand exactly who should be in contact with whom between the White House and DOJ in the rare specified circumstances that contact should be necessary, namely that it is important to the President's duties and from a law enforcement perspective. All that might come to mind here is if it were helpful to "Siiberian Candidate" Trump in scheming with DOJ "law enforcement" to avoid being arrested or impeached or dragged off to the Hague or however else he might get himself into serious legal trouble which although it may seem increasingly likely each day probably is not what the drafters of the DOJ procedural guidance had in mind.
Finally equally unsurprisingly late yesterday Thursday, 23 February 2017 learning of this breaking CNN news White House spokesman Sean Spicer objected that "[w]e didn't try to knock the story down. We asked them to tell the truth." Readers can make their own assessment of that most recent assertion of Mr. Spicer although it should be noted that even should it actually against all odds happen to be true he apparently more or less entirely missed the immediate point of the impropriety of any contact and request concerning the ongoing FBI led multi-agency investigation as to any circumstances regardless of the specifics. Finally as of this time the Ninth Amendment is unaware of any public statements on the matter by counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway who at last understanding was having some difficulty booking herself for interviews with the media.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/politics/fbi-refused-white-house-request-to-knock-down-recent-trump-russia-stories/
UPDATE: "Siberian Candidate" Trump in apparent growing alarm at press reports of wrongful White House FBI Trump-Russia investigation interference retaliated by lashing out publicly against the FBI and by having press secretary Sean Spicer likely unconstitutionally violate press and public First Amendment rights by excluding select press entities from a White House "gaggle" for reporters based on the content of their reporting. Such behavior amidst an ongoing attack of affronts against reporters and even his own staff as well as his near daily routine press briefing lies and now highly improper interference to enlist the CIA director and lawmakers investigating the ever-growing Trump-Russia scandal to get on board with the White House spin has even a "conservative" Washington Post journalist already after just a month seeing Sean Spicer as well along the path to becoming the "worst press secretary in the history of Western civilization." Readers seeking more information can go to the links directly below.
o https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/us/politics/white-house-sean-spicer-briefing.html?smid=fb-share
o https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/02/27/sean-spicers-tailspin/?utm_term=.4dcd822cb274
o https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/27/us/politics/russia-investigation-donald-trump.html
o https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-intelligence-official-told-associates-trump-asked-him-if-he-could-intervene-with-comey-to-get-fbi-to-back-off-flynn/2017/06/06/cc879f14-4ace-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html?utm_term=.ae80cf1bd0cc
o https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-director-rogers-and-intelligence-director-coats-said-they-wont-discuss-specifics-of-private-conversations-with-trump/2017/06/07/e74f7fbe-4b88-11e7-a186-60c031eab644_story.html?utm_term=.c8eb5df2c306#comments
o https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/06/07/outrageous-contempt-of-congress/?utm_term=.924bc4e57a1a#comments
Copyright 2017 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved
Mr. Priebus (who just yesterday at the CPAC annual conservative conference publicly cemented his Trump-Putin parallel "bromance" with onstage companion Trump senior counselor and White House "chief strategist" mastermind puppetmaster apparent once accused violent Santa Monica wife-beater charged with later dismissed domestic violence, battery and dissuading a witness charges and implicitly self-confessed "rumpled intellectual" possible fascism enthusiast allegedly unable to spell "fascist" Steve Bannon), pressed FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to have the FBI and other agencies discredit reports of "repeated" and/or "constant" pre-election contacts between the "Siberian Candidate" Trump campaign and top Russian including intelligence officials as first made on 14 February 2017 by The New York Times (as earlier posted here) and CNN.
The White House to nobody's surprise at first "mischaracterized" the initial contact and content as having been specifically initiated by the FBI until a White House official later confirmed an original account that it had in fact occurred the day after the reports came out in a hallway side discussion between Mr. Priebus and Deputy Director McCabe who was at the at the White House for some other meeting. The White House later denied The New York Times story with Reince Priebus calling it "complete garbage" although curiously himself even expressly seeming to acknowledge on national television that were the story true it would amount to accusations of activities that could be described as "treasonous" which might be helpful as an admission against interest in establishing a basis for that charge should it ever for any reason possibly become an issue.
In any case Mr. Priebus also himself tried to authenticate his somewhat contradictory claims that the reported story was "complete garbage" that there was "nothing to it" and it was "wrong" but then further describing it somewhat at odds with that as "inaccurate" and "vastly overstated" asserting that he "had been approved" to say that by "top officials in the intelligence community" who he claimed validated his account which of course would be more or less in direct opposition to the intelligence community itself correctly having declined to have further communication with the White House nor disclose anything publicly about any ongoing investigation. One very "top official" in particular actually completely contrary to Mr. Priebus' claim refusing to have the intelligence community do any of the above at all having been FBI Director James Comey.
Meanwhile Mr. Comey's putative boss at the Department of Justice racist "disgrace" Jeffrey Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III who should not even get involved in the matter of this ongoing FBI investigation and in any case inarguably should have recused himself long ago from all matters having anything at all to do with the Trump campaign since he was the first U.S. Senator openly to support Trump and himself take on a significant position in the campaign becoming most actively involved to the point of appearing on stage with "Siberian Candidate" Trump at his "campaign rallies" nevertheless reportedly himself is poring over the DOJ legal procedural guidance referenced above doubtless to insure that justice is duly served.
This even though just a cursory review of the text of the 2009 guidance reveals that it specifies in explicit language that a high school student should be able readily to understand exactly who should be in contact with whom between the White House and DOJ in the rare specified circumstances that contact should be necessary, namely that it is important to the President's duties and from a law enforcement perspective. All that might come to mind here is if it were helpful to "Siiberian Candidate" Trump in scheming with DOJ "law enforcement" to avoid being arrested or impeached or dragged off to the Hague or however else he might get himself into serious legal trouble which although it may seem increasingly likely each day probably is not what the drafters of the DOJ procedural guidance had in mind.
Finally equally unsurprisingly late yesterday Thursday, 23 February 2017 learning of this breaking CNN news White House spokesman Sean Spicer objected that "[w]e didn't try to knock the story down. We asked them to tell the truth." Readers can make their own assessment of that most recent assertion of Mr. Spicer although it should be noted that even should it actually against all odds happen to be true he apparently more or less entirely missed the immediate point of the impropriety of any contact and request concerning the ongoing FBI led multi-agency investigation as to any circumstances regardless of the specifics. Finally as of this time the Ninth Amendment is unaware of any public statements on the matter by counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway who at last understanding was having some difficulty booking herself for interviews with the media.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/politics/fbi-refused-white-house-request-to-knock-down-recent-trump-russia-stories/
UPDATE: "Siberian Candidate" Trump in apparent growing alarm at press reports of wrongful White House FBI Trump-Russia investigation interference retaliated by lashing out publicly against the FBI and by having press secretary Sean Spicer likely unconstitutionally violate press and public First Amendment rights by excluding select press entities from a White House "gaggle" for reporters based on the content of their reporting. Such behavior amidst an ongoing attack of affronts against reporters and even his own staff as well as his near daily routine press briefing lies and now highly improper interference to enlist the CIA director and lawmakers investigating the ever-growing Trump-Russia scandal to get on board with the White House spin has even a "conservative" Washington Post journalist already after just a month seeing Sean Spicer as well along the path to becoming the "worst press secretary in the history of Western civilization." Readers seeking more information can go to the links directly below.
o https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/us/politics/white-house-sean-spicer-briefing.html?smid=fb-share
o https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/02/27/sean-spicers-tailspin/?utm_term=.4dcd822cb274
o https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/us/politics/white-house-barring-reporters-from-briefings.html
After FBI Director Comey revealed at an open Senate intelligence Committee hearing that the FBI Trump-Russia investigation included inquiry into whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians seeking to interfere with the election Trump soon after improperly asked first of NSA Rogers and later of DNI Coats that they interfere with the FBI investigation by making false public statements discrediting the FBI as needlessly continuing its Trump-Russia investigation after finding no evidence of collusion which Trump requests both Rogers and Comey declined as improper.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-asked-intelligence-chiefs-to-push-back-against-fbi-collusion-probe-after-comey-revealed-its-existence/2017/05/22/394933bc-3f10-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html?utm_term=.6491aa795f8b
Previously intelligence officials at the FBI and then the CIA had rebuffed the "Siberian Candidate" Trump White House requests that in blatant wrongful interference with ongoing intelligence and law enforcement investigations that they deny news reports regarding the Trump-Russia investigation while the White House nevertheless persisted with the further highly improper interventions with each of the Republican chairman of two concurrent ongoing Republican-led congressional intelligence committee investigations into Trump-Russia ties.
The White House thus virtually cemented the impossibility of the committees acting truly independently but instead would be tainted as highly partisan assuredly incapable of impartiality as Trump officials successfully pressed both House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) to make contacts with the press which each duly made with the objective of discrediting "fake" news reports of any Russian intelligence and/or other ties with Trump campaign members and associates which their committees have been charged with investigating.
Republican Senator Burr upon assuming chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee from Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) previously had remarked or declared that any copies of the infamous still largely inaccessible infamous 6,500+ page painstakingly years-long researched and documented Senate Torture Report (December 2014) scrupulously compiled by committee staffers setting out in gruesome detail largely a Republican Bush/Cheney CIA run amok committing a worldwide range of sickening atrocities need be returned so they could be thrown unread info "the dustbin of history."
The Trump White House more recently directed all executive branch agencies each of which Senator Feinstein had directed receive a copy of the Torture Report return all copies of the Torture Report to the Senate Intelligence Committee which they reportedly have returned so as potentially to make the Torture Report permanently unavailable in its entirety to the American people as exempt from FOIA and the definition of a "public record" presumably either destroying all copies or placing them in a Senate vault. The only other known copy of the Torture Report was included by President Obama in his presidential papers so as to insure that it remained permanently in existence and possibly at some point publicly available in his Presidential library.
The two Republican chairmen in any case subsequent to acknowledging their Trump White House directed press contacts denied the need for any further separate independent inquiries apart from their own. Mr. Nunes went to some creative lengths to invoke the analogy of a "McCarthy" scenario of innocent witnesses dragged before some independent investigative body. Mr. Nunes further amazed with his ready acquisition of the subtle Trumpian subject switch by again declaring that "[w]hat we really need to be investigating are all these leaks." Mr. Nunes shared what in other circumstances (such as being a Democrat) conceivably might be construed as the unauthorized dissemination of classified information that intelligence briefing of his committee had not in fact brought forward any evidence at all supporting Trump-Russia contact allegations.
Related conclusory assertions by both Republican intelligence committee chairmen were tempered by House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) who objected that any conclusions were premature given that the "panel had not yet been provided with any evidence collected by intelligence and law enforcement agencies." Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) "sharply criticized" Senator Burr for helping the Trump administration push back on the New York Times story stating that was "not the way to conduct a fair, impartial investigation that goes where the facts lead" and "Senator Burr is on notice, because what he did was wrong."
Readers interested in more information including more recent reports that Trump was rebuffed in March 2017 in CIA Mike Pompeo's presence seeking to obstruct justice asking DNI Dan Coats to intervene in the FBI Trump-Russia investigation and soon after refused by both DNI Coats and NSA Mike Rogers to make public statements denying any Trump team collusion can go to the links below.
After FBI Director Comey revealed at an open Senate intelligence Committee hearing that the FBI Trump-Russia investigation included inquiry into whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians seeking to interfere with the election Trump soon after improperly asked first of NSA Rogers and later of DNI Coats that they interfere with the FBI investigation by making false public statements discrediting the FBI as needlessly continuing its Trump-Russia investigation after finding no evidence of collusion which Trump requests both Rogers and Comey declined as improper.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-asked-intelligence-chiefs-to-push-back-against-fbi-collusion-probe-after-comey-revealed-its-existence/2017/05/22/394933bc-3f10-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html?utm_term=.6491aa795f8b
Previously intelligence officials at the FBI and then the CIA had rebuffed the "Siberian Candidate" Trump White House requests that in blatant wrongful interference with ongoing intelligence and law enforcement investigations that they deny news reports regarding the Trump-Russia investigation while the White House nevertheless persisted with the further highly improper interventions with each of the Republican chairman of two concurrent ongoing Republican-led congressional intelligence committee investigations into Trump-Russia ties.
The White House thus virtually cemented the impossibility of the committees acting truly independently but instead would be tainted as highly partisan assuredly incapable of impartiality as Trump officials successfully pressed both House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) to make contacts with the press which each duly made with the objective of discrediting "fake" news reports of any Russian intelligence and/or other ties with Trump campaign members and associates which their committees have been charged with investigating.
Republican Senator Burr upon assuming chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee from Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) previously had remarked or declared that any copies of the infamous still largely inaccessible infamous 6,500+ page painstakingly years-long researched and documented Senate Torture Report (December 2014) scrupulously compiled by committee staffers setting out in gruesome detail largely a Republican Bush/Cheney CIA run amok committing a worldwide range of sickening atrocities need be returned so they could be thrown unread info "the dustbin of history."
The Trump White House more recently directed all executive branch agencies each of which Senator Feinstein had directed receive a copy of the Torture Report return all copies of the Torture Report to the Senate Intelligence Committee which they reportedly have returned so as potentially to make the Torture Report permanently unavailable in its entirety to the American people as exempt from FOIA and the definition of a "public record" presumably either destroying all copies or placing them in a Senate vault. The only other known copy of the Torture Report was included by President Obama in his presidential papers so as to insure that it remained permanently in existence and possibly at some point publicly available in his Presidential library.
The two Republican chairmen in any case subsequent to acknowledging their Trump White House directed press contacts denied the need for any further separate independent inquiries apart from their own. Mr. Nunes went to some creative lengths to invoke the analogy of a "McCarthy" scenario of innocent witnesses dragged before some independent investigative body. Mr. Nunes further amazed with his ready acquisition of the subtle Trumpian subject switch by again declaring that "[w]hat we really need to be investigating are all these leaks." Mr. Nunes shared what in other circumstances (such as being a Democrat) conceivably might be construed as the unauthorized dissemination of classified information that intelligence briefing of his committee had not in fact brought forward any evidence at all supporting Trump-Russia contact allegations.
Related conclusory assertions by both Republican intelligence committee chairmen were tempered by House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) who objected that any conclusions were premature given that the "panel had not yet been provided with any evidence collected by intelligence and law enforcement agencies." Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) "sharply criticized" Senator Burr for helping the Trump administration push back on the New York Times story stating that was "not the way to conduct a fair, impartial investigation that goes where the facts lead" and "Senator Burr is on notice, because what he did was wrong."
Readers interested in more information including more recent reports that Trump was rebuffed in March 2017 in CIA Mike Pompeo's presence seeking to obstruct justice asking DNI Dan Coats to intervene in the FBI Trump-Russia investigation and soon after refused by both DNI Coats and NSA Mike Rogers to make public statements denying any Trump team collusion can go to the links below.
o https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/27/us/politics/russia-investigation-donald-trump.html
o https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-intelligence-official-told-associates-trump-asked-him-if-he-could-intervene-with-comey-to-get-fbi-to-back-off-flynn/2017/06/06/cc879f14-4ace-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html?utm_term=.ae80cf1bd0cc
o https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-director-rogers-and-intelligence-director-coats-said-they-wont-discuss-specifics-of-private-conversations-with-trump/2017/06/07/e74f7fbe-4b88-11e7-a186-60c031eab644_story.html?utm_term=.c8eb5df2c306#comments
o https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/06/07/outrageous-contempt-of-congress/?utm_term=.924bc4e57a1a#comments
Copyright 2017 Martin P. All World Rights Expressly Reserved
