UPDATES to 27 September 2018
"'Bigger Than Watergate': Trump Joins Push By Allies To Expose Role Of An FBI Source" by Robert Costa, Philip Rucker, Carrol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey, with contributors Devlin Barrett and Shane Harris, The Washington Post, 17 May 2018
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bigger-than-watergate-trump-joins-push-by-allies-to-expose-an-fbi-source/2018/05/17/db211542-59ea-11e8-8836-a4a123c359ab_story.html? Video 2:27
Tuesday, 23 January 2018, WASHINGTON, D.C. - Putative House Intelligence Chair (recused) stooge Devin Nunes (R-CA) GOP mastermind recused over the past year for blatantly partisan acts of misconduct ineffectively scheming often with fellow mastermind deeply disturbed mobster Trump in the criminal obstruction of justice but who unlike New York racist con man malignant narcissist pathological liar Trump first made his name in his highly competitive California home district (no not Silicon Valley) in the intensely cutthroat field of raising barnyard animals as a boy and later studying farming now has proven conclusively in the past year that he could not care less about the nation's security as he has done nothing to advance the Trump-Russia probe to respond to or prevent future foreign attacks with which the House Intelligence Committee was charged.
Instead stooge Nunes has left that critical work to the infinitely more intelligent and qualified Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA) who serves a much more highly competitive California district which Dope Nunes would be laughed out of who meanwhile doggedly has done the best he can given his limited intellect betrayed by his perpetual distracted vacant slack look of an idiot even before he tries to speak relentlessly endeavoring to stymie his "own" committee's investigation remarkably surviving a GOP monkey court ethics investigation allowing him since to carry on even going it alone issuing ignored subpoenas in his relentless campaign of waste, fraud and abuse committed against the entire population of American taxpayers who watch in horror as their money goes down the drain paying dear resources to a man who rather than an "investigative" lawmaker ostensibly charged with leading an "intelligence" committee obviously should be doing something like milking a cow or shoveling dung. In other words a near sure thing future GOP presidential candidate were it not increasingly expected that the now rotten to the core Republican once party of Lincoln will never make it to see another presidential election.
Now with his latest scheme secretly investigating the FBI with documents it provided to him in the first place much like his earlier solo White House "unmasking" caper Dope Nunes has planted himself at the helm of a secretive committee of Republicans dumb enough to destroy any good reputation they had left to join him composing a memo of talking points about rumored gross missteps by the FBI ("the Memo") of cut and pasted "classified" documents made available by Dope Nunes intended only for eyes of Republican members of Congress refusing to provide it even to the F.B.I. or D.O.J. despite its alleged documentation of presumably dangerously endemic problems with the F.B.I. presumably demanding corrective action doubtless meaning top career civil servants being replaced by Trump handpicked sycophants to "investigate" him and his globally corrupt cabal with the greater Republican chorus now demanding the Memo be declassified and released evidently joined in their campaign to destroy the country's elite national law enforcement body most tellingly by their being joined and supported by an army of thousands of Russian bots in a #ReleaseTheMemo campaign. This latest Dope Nunes fiasco is too stupid to waste more time writing about as it is clear that in a year rather than exposing any actionable intelligence on Russian interference in United States government affairs Dope Nunes has succeeded only in achieving ridiculous partisan diversions now having led to even greater GOP efforts backed by coordinated massively increased Russian "bot farm" interference in U.S. government affairs. Readers interested in more information can go to the links below.
UPDATE 25 January 2018 As partisan Republicans' and friends' diversions near a fevered pitch of circular amplification Mueller's Trump-Russia probe methodically closes in on President Trump. The Department of Justice has warned Dope Devin Nunes by letter publicly available that his release of the Republicans' committee memo that draws on classified information which Nunes reportedly has not even read while still refusing to provide the memo to F.B.I. Director Wray for review as the F.B.I. provided that classified material to the House Intelligence Committee in the first place would be "extraordinarily reckless." The Democrats on the committee meanwhile have said they want a committee vote next Monday to release their own memo similarly declassified explaining the misleading narrative of the Nunes memo achieved by mischaracterization and omission of select classified information although Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA) has said the Democrats would prefer that neither memo be released. Readers interested in more detailed information can go to the no. 13 link below.
UPDATE 29 January 2018 Democrats and others now approach a state of alarm over what appears to be the clear and present danger of a constitutional crisis erupting at any time given confirmed reports late last week described here in a post above that for the first time publicly known President Trump last June went so far as to order the firing of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III presumably to be carried out but for by the threat of White House counsel McGhan to quit rather than calling for Mueller's dismissal as ordered. This further came to light despite Trump repeatedly having lied to the press and the American public that he was considering no such thing. Nevertheless Republicans controlling Congress who once seemingly shared Democrats' level of concern about Trump's firing of Mueller to the extent of one piece of bipartisan legislation being drafted in each chamber to address that contingency now with it actually being known that Trump launched an attempt to do just that express no particular urgency although the danger has proven to have been and be even more immediate.
Senators Collins and Graham both Republicans concerned enough previously to participate in drafting legislation now inexplicably say they see no reason for concern about Trump firing Mueller at this time even as Mueller's investigation has moved ever closer in on Trump assuredly heightening his panic considering how he by all accounts has conducted all his business affairs throughout his entire adult life. Meanwhile Senator Grassley chair of the Judiciary Committee who has been an unreliable sleuth at best often seeming at least as open to diverting the Trump-Russia probe as pursuing it similarly now has expressed no sense of immediacy in the need to advance the legislation with greater protection for the special counsel for reconciliation but rather is openly holding it up. Given the unprecedented astounding ethical and legal violations congressional Republicans have willfully tolerated since Trump's taking office even if the GOP may arguably be more or less within the letter of the Constitution it certainly has not acted consistent with the animating spirit of the Constitution instead daily allowing it harm of unknown longterm consequence and definitely inconsistent with the oath of fidelity of each member of the U.S. government first neither to person nor party but unswervingly to the Constitution.
Trump for his part proceeds apace with endless intentionally unpredictable diversions as well as alleged preparation his upcoming State of the Union address where if he can stay on topic he doubtless intendes to praise himself ad nauseum for his signature and essentially sole piece of legislative "accomplishment" in a year which in reality has been nothing more than a cash dump of a couple trillion dollar giveaway to the richest individuals and corporations including himself and much of his cabinet with debt looted from the U.S. Treasury it being spending (or losing) other peoples' money (OPM) that would seem to be Trump's one indisputable well-proven and practiced talent. Readers interested in more information on this update regarding concerns about the immediate need for more protective special counsel legislation can go to the no. 12 link below.
UPDATE 30 January 2018 Recused House Intelligence Chair dope Devin Nunes led a party line unanimous Republican vote to release to the public the Republicans' secret classified memo reportedly alleging FBI and DOJ past investigation abuses based on classified materials which the FBI and DOJ were forced to show when house speaker Paul Ryan declined to intervene to chair Nunes and ranking member Schiff and appropriate staff. Since that time intelligence committee members have invoked a never-before-used rule allowing them to release classified materials without the normal often lengthy process always used before to review and sign-off on declassifying materials from the FBI, DOJ wiith White House consultation when deemed necessary.
Given the agreement as to the very limited number of only specified persons in a secure location who could review the classified materials the FBI and DOJ naturally objected over recused Nunes illogical argument that that agreement did not specifically preclude the committee from more broadly releasing the materials or their contents. The FBI and DOJ again turning to Ryan found him again declining to intervene on the basis of the agreement or anything else. Ryan doubtless was aware that Nunes whether recused or not had spent his entire year as head of the intelligence committee not investigating Trump-Russia as directed by Ryan but instead as a former Trump transition member promoting any other scandal he could trying to distract from or now throw the whole investigation into doubt by joining Trump in attacking those who had been undertaking it. And that was what Trump wanted him and everyone to do if the investigation could not just be ended because as he had repeatedly declared in his innocence it troubled him being such an innocent man to have his presidency clouded by something concocted as if it could be the most scandalous presidency ever built on cooperation with the nation's major hostile opponent for nearly the past 3/4 of a century.
As to other House Intelligence motions at the same meeting the Democrats' motion to release their counter-memo detailing misleading aspects including significant omissions in the Republicans' memo was denied on another party line vote. The Democrats' only successful motion was to have their memo released to members of the House to the extent the Republican memo was. Ranking member Adam Schiff after the meeting uncharacteristically told the press that it was an historically "sad day" for the house committee expressly stating that it was putting perceived protection of Trump over national security as was Trump also putting himself over concern for national security in clamoring for the memo's release.
Stooge Nunes has not even read the memo's underlying classified materials apparently leaving all his contribution to that work to his staffers if anyone of the Republicans who may have just stopped after finding sufficient classified material which could be used in misleading support of their narrative. Toady Nunes also has declined to show the memo to the FBI and DOJ until this past Sunday relenting to allow only FBI Director Christopher Wray to read it. Under the never-before-used rule allowing the committee's release of classified materials it must first go to the White House for review with the president having five days to stop its release although President Trump is expected certainly to wish to allow its release presumably unless some lawyer again manages to stop him convincing him that it would be a gravely damaging move (to him) as Trump has been of course clamoring for that along with the support of thousands of Russian bots including at a Russian "bot farm" as usual exhibiting no genuine regard for national security since the memo's existence first came to the public's attention. Readers interested in more information can go to the no. 11 link below.
Some lawyers and/or others involved with the national security council allegedly may be reviewing the memo for release as to which Trump has made the entirely believable assertion he has not read although he most assuredly knows and likely even has directed what is in it and is eager to release it in yet another attempt to distract from the Trump-Russia probe and/or at least continue to try to cast doubt on its integrity. Trump along with house intelligence committee Republicans actually is suspected to have prepared the memo in collaboration with the White House it is investigating as it has been accused by ranking member Adam Schiff to have put protecting Trump "personally" first without any genuine concern for national security. Schiff since also has said that the memo has been "materially altered" since disclosed to house intelligence Democrats with Dope Nunes denying that anything but "cosmetic changes" have since been made to the document.
There has been some unclear mention as the rest of the intelligence community which normally one would expect to be extremely concerned about the first use of a congressional power under an obscure law to release highly classified materials without intelligence agencies' review and assessment much less if done merely for partisan political purposes. Nunes already has shown himself to be no more than a Trump stooge sycophant calling any such intelligence community concern "spurious" while admittedly not having even read the highly classified underlying materials himself from which allegedly just some were "cherry-picked" for the memo.
In contrast the CIA for example in the past has gone to elaborate lengths to control even required congressional "oversight" Senate intelligence committee access to limited (by destroying or not turning over) classified information regarding CIA torture and many other activities including even going so far as tapping the phones of Senate staffers to monitor their CIA review and filing charges against them with DOJ. Presumably if the CIA chief were not now Trump pal Mike Pompeo who even as to Russia only most recently has expressed anywhere near the level of concern one could expect of what could be very strong CIA resistance to this most dangerous apparent partisan memo charade intending to foil the Mueller investigation even while in reality likely adding evidence of corrupt intent and buttressing obstruction of justice charges. Readers interested in more information can go to the no. 10 link below.
UPDATE 1 February 2018 Trump said OK to release tomorrow Friday 2 February 2018 stooge Nunes secret G.O.P. House memo without redaction despite DOJ/FBI "grave concerns" warning nor allowing review by the Chair Burr (R-NC) Vice-Chair Warner (D-VA) Senate Intelligence Committee and over objections of House Intelligence ranking member Schiff and others saying material alterations were made to the memo since the committee vote and further despite Senate G.O.P. no. 3 now calling for caution in release and if so for release of Democratic House Intelligence counter-memo at same time. Readers interested in more information can go to the fifth link below. House Speaker Paul Ryan declined to exercise his authority over stooge Nunes to stop the memo's release as House minority leader Nancy Pelosi called on him to remove Nunes who was on the Trump transition team as Chair (recused) of the House Intelligence committee.
UPDATE 3 February 2018 House Republicans released stooge Nunes' astoundingly dangerous precedent of a widely condemned unpersuasive memo based on selective reference to distorted highly classified FBI documents Nunes admittedly did not even read and Trump was overheard to say on a "hot mike" after the SOTU before Trump even read the memo which allegedly was later altered after the House Intelligence committee already had voted on it that Trump was "100%" going to release the hack Nunes memo Trump later called friends bragging it was going to show investigators' corrupting anti-Trump bias in the Trump-Russia probe although one time but no longer widely respected House Speaker Ryan lied to reporters that he laughably had permitted Nunes to proceed with the memo release to promote "transparency" to the American public. Meanwhile many suspect that the circumstances and true motive of the memo's release may only be expected to strengthen any case against Trump for obstruction of justice for which Nunes also now may be investigated as should a large part of the GOP house membership for ongoing efforts to sabotage the Trump-Russia probe regardless of the very real threats a hostile Russia did and continues to pose into the future to U.S. national security. Interested readers can get more information at the first (WaPo) and third (NYT) links and read the unredacted memo at the no. 6 (WaPo) and no. 8 (NYT annotated) links below.
UPDATE 6 February 2018 The House Intelligence Committee voted to release the Democrats' counter-memo to the "Nunes memo" which Trump has claimed even before he read it if he ever did has "vindicated" him of culpability presumably for obstruction of justice or coordination with Russia's U.S. 2016 election attack in Trump's favor which Trump claims he still does not even consistently recognize occurred and also likely of any other culpability that might be claimed of wrongdoing by Trump. The "Nunes memo" allegedly relies on highly classified FBI documents which Nunes admits he did not read so his staffer supposedly worked on the "Nunes memo" with the lead apparently being taken by Chair Trey Gowdy (R-SC) of the House Oversight Committee who is not seeking re-election but expects to return to being a federal prosecutor at the end of this term.
Oddly Gowdy as well as several other Republicans in Congress including notably Senator John McCain have said straight out that the memo in fact does nothing to exonerate Trump of anything but instead flatly concludes with a sentence that definitively contradicts any assertion that the "Nunes memo" documents anti-Trump DOJ/FBI bias as allegedly proven by a FISA section 702 warrant to surveil Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page the issuance of which wrongly was claimed primarily to rely on the so-called "Steele Dossier" asserted by some Republicans therefore to be the illegitimate instigator in of the entire Trump-Russia now Mueller probe overseen by DOJ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who probably not coincidentally at some point signed off on the warrant's renewal and is another witness/principal Trump would like to pick off (or in this case methodically fire and/or at least discredit as Trump so far apparently as President has not been in a position to have witnesses/principals actually killed or disappeared although a few may well already tragically have been killed by Putin in Russia due to information disclosures in the U.S.).
Despite the fact that even the "Nunes memo" itself concludes that the FBI Trump-Russia investigation commenced based on the drunken disclosures of another Trump foreign policy adviser while Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page in fact actually had been of keen interest to the FBI for suspicion of acting as a foreign Russian agent since 2013 and already was under FISA 702 warrant surveillance which was just renewed on the basis of information other than the "Steele dossier" this total factual inaccuracy of the Trump narrative has not abated but drones on with in its falsity with a loud chorus of GOP Trump sycophants including many GOP elected and other officials and notably FOX-TV news which it is unclear either is echoing all this Trump noise or creating it for his benefit to follow. Understandably there are a growing number of true Republican conservatives emerging who are alarmed at these developments in what has become the "Republican party" in name alone attacking GOP central orthodoxy such as support of law enforcement and consistent recognition and treatment of Russia as a hostile power rather than a darling of favor.
The ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee (D-CA) Adam Schiff a former federal prosecutor who attended Harvard Law School has read all the classified materials and the "Nunes memo" and having taken the lead in writing the Democrats' counter-memo joined in the DOJ/FBI's objections to its distortions and inaccuracies apparently based in part also on a significant amount of pertinent missing essential information in the "Nunes memo." The counter-memo is said already to be in the hands of the DOJ/FBI and was expected also to have been sent to the White House on Monday 5 February 2018 which would give President Trump until Friday 9 February 2018 to approve or deny its release as well as make redactions which however are not expected to be necessary. Should Trump deny the Democrats their release to the public of their counter-memo or presumably his making objectionable unjustified redactions other than ones that would be expected only of classified information not already disclosed by the "Nunes memo" the House Intelligence Democratic members under the never-before-invoked obscure disclosure rule abused by Nunes can themselves bring the disclosure of their counter-memo up for a closed vote before the entire House of Representatives membership. Trump meanwhile has been tweeting away mostly insults which unsurprisingly now include once again Representative Schiff who himself has responded with a suggestion that Chief of Staff Kelly may wish to give Trump a "time out." Readers interested in more information can go to link no. 4 below.
UPDATE 10 February 2018 President Trump unsurprisingly blocked release of the Democrats' memo rebutting the so-called "Nunes memo" although House Intelligence Committee (recused) Chair Nunes neither read the classified materials on which the "Nunes memo" was based nor wrote the memo himself while the Democrats' memo which they also had provided to DOJ and the FBI was blocked with typical Trump White House deviousness in the "Friday night news dump" augmented by the Olympics opening ceremonies distraction at the last possible moment of Trump's five-day review under a never-before-used law after the entire House Intelligence Committee okayed the Democrats' memo release after the FBI's and Trump's review.
Democrats' were enraged but should have not been unduly surprised at this point by the increasingly desperate Trump's mere double-standard here coming from a president who increasingly has acted as if his dubious non-popular election placed him entirely "above the law." Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer in addition to Trump's hypocrisy remarked "Millions of Americans are asking one simple question: what is he hiding?" Trump had released the Republicans' classified memo without redaction over the strenuous objections of the DOJ that to do so would be "extraordinarily reckless" echoed by the F.B.I. Director Christopher Wray's highly unusual F.B.I. public reiteration that the "Nunes memo" should not be released. Trump increasingly desperate as the Trump-Russia probe in particular special counsel Mueller's closes in on Trump has amply demonstrated that given the choice of trying to save himself or the country he has no concern whatsoever about protecting the nation's security as has been the case throughout his presidency especially as regards the threat of Russia. Although Trump likely did not read the "Nunes memo" just as Nunes did not write it he has maintained that it "vindicates" him by discrediting DOJ and the FBI in the investigation of Trump-Russia although it in fact it does no such thing. Trump is confident his "base" will take Trump's word for it without any idea of what the memo does or does not say.
Meanwhile in the entirely predictable case of Trump's refusal to release the Democrats' memo Trump has had his White House counsel Don McGhan assert that it has not been released because it should be protected from release due to it containing hitherto unprotected "sensitive" information (as opposed to the "extraordinarily reckless" prior release of "classified" information) with the White House further claiming that F.B.I. Director Wray and his no. 2 have advised that the Democrats' memo should not be released as is with the White House having nevertheless having made no redactions in order to release it. House Intelligence ranking member Adam Schiff a former federal prosecutor is the only committee member to have read all the classified materials and took the lead on drafting the Democrats' rebuttal memo and providing it to DOJ and the FBI for vetting before it was sent to Trump unlike Republican Nunes who formerly having been in the livestock business read and wrote nothing in or related to the "Nunes memo" or in any case was incapable of understanding it as it supported exactly the opposite of that which Nunes and friends intended it to support in their failed attack on DOJ and the FBI.
Schiff has said he looks forward to addressing any remaining DOJ and FBI concerns so the Democrats' memo can get out to the public either by it going back to Trump with changes as McGhan suggested although one would have to be an idiot to trust Trump again or before the entire House of Representatives for approved release provided the House Intelligence majority Republicans allow as Schiff hopes the committee will then continue with its much-delayed work on the Trump-Russia probe due mostly to a year of total diversion by GOP Nunes waste, fraud and abuse against taxpayers and of their taxes paid. Readers interested in more information can go to the links numbered 1-3 below.
Link no. 1 further reports a dispute that now has become fully public across the Capitol on the Senate Judiciary Committee between ranking member Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Chair Chuck ("Time To Send Me Back Out To Iowa Pasture") Grassley (R-IA) who now has attacked Senator Feinstein after she issued a memo in defense of British MI6 former spy Christopher Steele who alerted the F.B.I. over good faith concerns about U.S. national security in the face of reported Russian threats to the U.S. 2016 election as Grassley meanwhile increasingly has abused his power diverting the committee, obstructing justice and potentially suborning treason rather than making good faith efforts to advance the Trump-Russia probe more recently making an inquiry about a criminal referral to DO.J regarding Steele along with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who apparently has decided to throw his lot in with those abusing their power, obstructing justice and potentially suborning treason participating in heralding the overdue end of the once-legitimate conservative fiscally-responsible Republican party sacrificed in support of Graham's profligate (with other people's money) "new" Republican con man mobster golfing buddy President Trump.
UPDATE 11 February 2018 Senator Dianne Feinstein a senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee charged Trump "hypocrisy at its worst" in Trump's holdup from the public of the House Intelligence Committee Democrats' rebuttal memo submitted nearly a week ago which Trump holdup continued Saturday as Trump claimed false disingenuous concerns including that the 10-page memo was "too long" and "political" needing to be "heavily redacted".
Trump betrayed himself yet again as a blatantly partisan habitual liar after having a week ago in stark contrast quickly okayed the unredacted release of the so-called "Nunes memo" of House Intelligence Republicans recognized by any who have read it as a totally partisan misleading inaccurate failed attempt at what Trump wrongly described as "vindicating" him of presumably all his suspected crimes while Trump released it above the "grave objections" that to do so would be "extraordinarily reckless" as both his own DOJ and FBI appointees urged him not to do so. Trump is suspected by most everyone as likely having the White House and/or FOX-TV directly or indirectly concoct the memo totally unsupported by facts as attempted poor political cover to one way or another impede and/or discredit the Mueller probe. This in collaboration with the totally discredited Nunes who is supposed to be investigating White House involvement in the Trump-Russia investigation but instead has devoted himself exclusively to obscuring it to a degree highly suggestive of grave fear of serious likely pervasive fatal legal jeopardy being exposed in the Trump administration now narrowing in on Trump himself.
Meanwhile whatever the truth in addition to now Senator Feinstein's urging the House Intelligence ranking member Schiff says House Intelligence Democrats look forward to immediately addressing any DOJ concerns about the rebuttal memo so they can be addressed in order to release it to the public to remedy gross inaccuracies and omissions of the "Nunes memo" even publicly recognized by some at least presently honest Republicans such as House Oversight Chair Trey Gowdy (R-SC) who took the lead in drafting the memo at Nunes' request and has said expressly that even standing alone without rebuttal the GOP memo in no way "vindicates" President Trump of anything in its confused internally contradictory attack on DOJ and the FBI. Readers interested in more information can go to the three links numbered 3b 3c 3d below.
UPDATE 12 February 2018 The House Select Committee on Intelligence (recused) chair stooge Devin Nunes blatantly partisan nonsensical self-contradictory FISA analysis hack ghost-written memo (the so-called "Nunes memo") many improper circumstances suggest corrupt intent which is a necessary element for establishing guilt for criminal obstruction of justice here including evidence of Stooge Nunes and/or his staff coordination once again with the Trump White House which is why Stooge Nunes earlier already has been recused from the Trump-Russia investigation for having acted in direct conflict with Nunes Trump-Russia investigation duty now in this case followed by Trump's subsequent approval for public release of the unredacted Nunes memo without any review disclosing classified information to the public contrary to "grave concerns" expressed both by DOJ and the FBI including ignoring the exceptional FBI public statement warning that the release of the factually misleading and incomplete Nunes classified memo would be "extraordinarily reckless."
But then the two-sided Trump increasingly desperate as special counsel Mueller closes in on the likely guilty of a lifetime of unprosecuted crimes of Trump and his crew of course has held up the Democrats' memo rebutting the sham Nunes memo even after already vetted by DOJ and the FBI all of which Trump-Russia investigation Nunes fueled elaborate theater antics obviously are intended by dope stooge Nunes and his mobster boss Trump to discredit and/or create false grounds for the firing of DOJ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein so that the expected more malleable new DOJ no. 3 Solicitor General Noel Francisco (in the wake of DOJ No. 3 Rachel Brand's abrupt resignation last Friday) would take oversight of the Mueller Trump-Russia investigation being expected by Trump (who again would be obstructing justice) obediently to interfere with or impede the Mueller Trump-Russia investigation all of which very likely would constitute Nunes' own criminal obstruction of justice with his involved staff then also guilty of criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice as explained in a letter to the New York Times by nationally recognized top legal including constitutional law scholar Harvard Law School Professor Laurence H. Tribe with two other authors for interested readers at link no. 1a below.
UPDATE 15 February 2018 Democrats are flabbergasted as Republican House Intelligence Committee members unabashedly confirm without doubt their treasonous allegiance to their now fatally Trump corrupted party above their constituents' and moreover country's national security as GOP committee members refuse Democrats' requests to schedule their committee's essential required intelligence community directors' annual oversight hearing for global threat assessments which is the committee's primary responsibility and reason for existing with Republicans completely ignoring and abrogating their responsibility for the nation's national security and blatantly violating their oaths to the U.S. Constitution out of their greater partisan fear that the totally bogus so-called "Nunes memo" will be fully exposed publicly especially to people who watch television but do not read anything except lying Trump tweets by the intelligence committee directors who already have urgently warned that it was "extraordinarily reckless" of Republicans to release the Nunes memo as a grossly misleading jumble of revealed classified information including sources and methods and rife with extensive material omissions which memo aptly captures the undeniable embarrassingly blatant idiocy of Devin Nunes while moreover the memo bearing his name which he admittedly neither researched nor wrote and probably did not even read remarkably manages to conclude by highlighting exactly the opposite point of that which it was intended to demonstrate. Readers interested in more information can go to link no. 1b below.
UPDATE 26 February 2018 The House Intelligence Committee minority Democrats' memo drafted by Ranking Member Adam Schiff has been released after being held up two weeks now with the okay from DOJ with heavy redactions point-by-point rebutting (Recused) Chair Devin Nunes' memo (not written by Nunes) attacking FBI and DOJ procedures specifically in one of four applications by the FBI and DOJ all successfully resulting in FISA courts' issuance of surveillance warrants of Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page which Nunes had released with an immediate White House okay despite strenuous objections of DOJ and the FBI that to do so was "extraordinarily reckless."
Although it is not clear that President Trump read either the Nunes GOP nor the Schiff Democratic rebuttal memo based on his "tweets" or short statements President Trump nevertheless repeatedly seized what he saw as the new opportunity of the Schiff memo's release to again repeatedly attack everyone from the FBI to Schiff and everyone in between as well as continuing to intimate that Attorney General Sessions should take the opportunity to launch some type of unspecified diversionary investigation of Trump's political opponents or pretty much anyone but Trump which was widely ignored by a public now largely disgusted with the President as confirmed in most recent polling. Readers interested in more information including the text of the Schiff memo can go to link no. 1c below.
UPDATE to 14 March 2018 In the wake of the House Intelligence Committee Republican majority's abrupt partisan conclusion disbanding its Russia-Trump election interference investigation with no advance notice at all to the minority Democrats complete with a bogus absolutely worthless 150-page report given that many key witnesses had not even been questioned prepared without the Democrats' knowledge much less input but one that sure cost taxpayers a lot more than the shorter bogus trash Republican "Nunes memo" with acting committee hea d Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) even remarkably before retreating asserting that the Republicans based on their "thorough" investigation concluded not only that the Kremlin had not colluded with Trump but in fact had tried actually to help get Hillary Clinton elected, the Committee's Democratic minority in turn stunned the Republican majority in response to the shutting down of the Committee by releasing the following day their own "Minority Investigation Status Report" sharing some previously publicly unknown facially incriminating information including about an an attempted Trump Moscow project seeking financing from a sanctioned bank ongoing during the campaign despite Trump's repeated lies to voters that he "had nothing" whatsoever to do with Russia at all available for interested readers at the fifth link directly below.
STOP THE STUPID DEVIN STOP THE WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE DO YOUR JOB
House Intelligence Committee Chairman (Recused) Devin Nunes. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
UPDATE to 12 April 2018 After a barrage of threats culminating with contempt and even "impeachment" not of Trump but rather senior DOJ officials issued via Fox-TV "News" and on behalf also of the usual subjects including treasonable lawmaker fellow Republican house committee diversion committed chairs Bob Goodatte and Trey Gowdy intent on diverting all resources that should go to the Trump-Russia probe instead to investigating anything but that in this case continuing to make attacks including one by Goodlatte via document request requiring very resource intensive responses of DOJ and the FBI now numbering 54 FBI staffers under supervision of the U.S. Attorney in Chicago which televised contempt and "impeachment" threats unsurprisingly were made on FOX-TV by House Intelligence Chair (Recused) dope extraordinaire Devin Nunes (R-CA) he and his committee were given access by DOJ to the original document sought on the origins of the Trump-Russia probe with only one redaction of the country name and agent identity presumably one of several friendly foreign intelligence services that early on passed along concerns about Russian-Trump campaign contacts observed overseas to U.S. intelligence, along with now another 1,000 classified documents made available by DOJ, although Nunes has not himself actually been known to read anything at all to date. Readers interested in more information can go to the fourth link below.
FILE - In this June 6, 2017, file photo Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, left, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee speak after closed meeting in Washington. The Republican-led House intelligence committee on April 27, 2018, officially declared the end of its Russia probe, saying in its final report that it found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign. (Alex Brandon, File/Associated Press)
UPDATE to 29 April 2018 The House Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence GOP members in the spirit of Trump Stooge extraordinaire Devin Nunes (R-CA) waste, fraud and abuse on behalf of all GOP members and their staff for over a year including abuse of power and obstruction of justice issued their highly partisan 253-page redacted report on Friday, 27 April 2018 rendered mostly worthless by large areas of necessary inquiry intentionally overlooked and/or not properly followed up finding there was no Trump campaign coordination in the Russia probe and further intimating that contrary to the unanimous intelligence community assessment with a high degree of confidence that the GOP members had some doubt that Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election was intended to help the Trump campaign while damaging the Clinton campaign. The House Intelligence Committee Democrats under Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-CA) issued a 98-page rebuttal of the GOP report. Interested readers can go to the first two links directly below for more information as well as the two links following those for the complete released texts of the GOP and Democrats' reports.
‘DISTORTIONS AND INACCURACIES
STOP THE STUPID DEVIN STOP WASTE, FRAUD, ABUSE DO YOUR JOB
"House Republicans Plan To Release Transcripts From Russia Probe" by Karoun Demirjian, The Washington Post, 26 September 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/us/politics/house-intelligence-committee-russia-investigation-report.html
"GOP-Led House Panel Clears Trump Campaign In Russia Probe" by Tom Lobianco, Chad Day, Mary Clare Jalonick Contributed /AP, The Washington Post, 27 April 2018
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/gop-led-house-panel-clears-trump-campaign-in-russia-probe/2018/04/27/a61242c8-4a80-11e8-8082-105a446d19b8_story.html?
GOP Authored Report, 22 March 2018 (253 pages): http://apne.ws/rMiDKMc
Democratic Rebuttal, 26 March 2018 (98 pages): http://apne.ws/LVur9wk
"Justice Department Gives Nunes Access To Document On Russia Probe Origins, Cooling His Threat To Impeach Its Leaders" by Matt Zopotosky and Karoun Demirjian, The Washington Post, 11 April 2018
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-dept-gives-nunes-access-to-document-on-russia-probes-origins-cooling-his-threat-to-impeach-its-leaders/2018/04/11/9e965f0e-3dd6-11e8-8d53-eba0ed2371cc_story.html?utm_term=.cdc6e97fac38
Document: House Intelligence Committee Minority Russia Investigation Status Report, 13 March 2018
http://lawfareblog.com/document-house-intelligence-committee-minority-russia-investigation-status-report
'Moscow Project' Shows The Scope Of Trump's Cover-Up, And The Evasion Of Republicans In The House" by Mark Sumner, The Daily Kos, 22 March 2018
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/3/22/1751121/--Moscow-Project-shows-the-scope-of-Trump-s-cover-up-and-the-evasion-of-Republicans-in-the-House?detail=emaildkre
"The Nunes Memo Is Out. It's A Joke And A Sham" by Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman, Washington Post, 2 February 2018
o https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/02/02/the-nunes-memo-is-out-its-a-joke-and-a-sham/
"Is Donald Trump A Traitor?" Trump and Russia, Part 1, by James Risen, The Intercept, 16 February 2018
o https://theintercept.com/2018/02/16/trump-russia-election-hacking-investigation/
"13 Russians Indicted As Mueller Reveals Effort To Aid Trump Campaign"
o https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/us/politics/russians-indicted-mueller-election-interference.html
"Trump, Panicking, Reveals The Depths Of His Awfulness" by Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, 19 February 2018
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/02/19/trump-panicking-reveals-the-depths-of-his-awfulness/
"The Content Of The G.O.P.'s Character" by Paul Krugman, The New York Times, 19 February 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/opinion/gop-character-bad-faith.html
"Exclusive: Nunes Demands Justice Department Records. Then He Doesn't Read Them" by Manu Raju, Jeremy Herb, and Laura Jarrett, CNN, 4 May 2018
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/04/politics/devin-nunes-electronic-communication/index.html w/Video
(1) https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/gop-mulling-ban-on-the-use-of-politically-funded-information-in-surveillance-requests/2018/02/09/6830ad5c-0dcf-11e8-95a5-c396801049ef_story.html?utm_term=.153e11a44bdf
(1a) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/opinion/devin-nunes-obstruction-justice.html
(1b) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-intelligence/trump-russia-probe-muddies-house-hearing-on-u-s-threat-assessment-sources-idUSKCN1FZ04R?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29
(1c) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/us/politics/democratic-memo-released-fbi-surveillance-carter-page.html
(2) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/politics/trump-blocks-release-of-memo-rebutting-republican-claims.html
(3) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-democrats/trump-blocks-release-of-russia-memo-drafted-by-democrats-idUSKBN1FT2NP?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29
(3a) https://www.npr.org/2018/02/09/584699083/trump-will-not-immediately-release-democratic-memo-suggests-revisions
(3b) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/10/us/politics/trump-democrats-memo.html
(3c) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-memo/trump-says-democratic-memo-on-russia-is-very-political-needs-redactions-idUSKBN1FU0QD?
(3d) https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-will-not-immediately-release-democrats-memo-on-fbi-surveillance/2018/02/09/0be46e1e-0e09-11e8-998c-96deb18cca19_video.html?utm_term=.e1cd98876d30 Video 1:19
(4) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia/house-committee-votes-to-release-democrats-russia-memo-idUSKBN1FP1P6?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29
(5) https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/president-approves-release-of-gop-memo-criticizing-fbi-surveillance/2018/02/02/699eb988-06cf-11e8-b48c-b07fea957bd5_story.html?utm_term=.023958bd78de
(6) https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-the-gop-memo/2746/
(7) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/us/politics/trump-fbi-memo.html
(8) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/02/us/politics/nunes-memo-gop-fbi-annotated.html
(9) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/us/politics/republicans-secret-memo-nunes.html
(10) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/us/politics/fbi-director-republicans-secret-memo.html
(11) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/us/politics/release-the-memo-vote-house-intelligence-republicans.html
(12) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/us/politics/republicans-mueller-special-counsel-legislation.html
(14) https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-fbi-hasnt-even-seen-devin-nunes-releasethememo-memo
(15) http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/01/devin-nunes-wont-even-show-his-infamous-memo-to-the-justice-department/
(16) https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/devin-nunes-targeting-mueller-and-the-fbi-alarms-democrats-and-some-republicans-with-his-tactics/2017/12/30/b8181ebc-eb02-11e7-9f92-10a2203f6c8d_story.html?utm_term=.a84e42b2f870
(17) https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/the-men-behind-the-nunes-memo/551825/ Kash Patel
(18) https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-cowardice-among-republicans-is-staggering/2018/02/05/41852454-0aa9-11e8-8890-372e2047c935_story.html?utm_term=.fb90872fca5f by Michael Gerson, Washington Post, 5 February 2018
(19) https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/02/08/republicans-are-determined-to-bankrupt-their-own-partys-soul/?utm_term=.e9446493cdac by Joe Scarborough, Washington Post, 8 February 2018
20) https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nunes-confrontation-with-justice-department-appears-to-ease/2018/05/10/155f6c42-548f-11e8-a551-5b648abe29ef_story.html? by Devlin Barrett w/ Karoun Demerjian, Washington Post, 10 May 2018
21) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/12/us/politics/devin-nunes-justice-department-documents-special-counsel.html by Nicholas Fandos and Katie Benner, The New York Times, 12 May 2018
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