Back in September, when the New York Times reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein might have floated the idea of recording Trump in the White House in an effort to lay bare just how tumultuous this administration really was in the days following the firing of James Comey, we took the opportunity to remind everyone about just how bad the optics were in an around Comey’s dismissal.
Rosenstein reportedly hinted at the recordings and at a possible effort to gather support for removing the President just after Comey was summarily ousted (ironically thanks to a letter penned by Rosenstein himself, who was obviously hoodwinked into participating in obstruction).
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Rod Rosenstein All Set To Leave America At The Mercy Of Trump And William Barr
He would later downplay the Times report and there was rampant speculation that it was planted by the administration as a pretext for removing the Deputy AG, but let’s just assume, for our purposes here, that there was at least a kernel of truth in that story.
An aggravating factor for those who were appalled by Comey’s dismissal was Trump’s subsequent decision to invite both Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Kislyak to the Oval Office. The meeting with the two unfolded just hours after Comey was fired and produced a series of disconcerting visuals
You’re reminded that Lavrov lampooned Comey’s firing in a presser with Rex Tillerson just before the picture shown above was taken.
Later, reports suggested Trump shared classified intelligence with Lavrov and Kislyak, unprompted.
Well, guess what? In and around that time, the FBI opened an investigation into whether Trump was in fact working for the Kremlin.
“In the days after President Trump fired James Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests”, the New York Times reports, citing former law enforcement officials.
Counterintelligence investigators, the Times says, set out to determine if the President posed a threat to national security and also whether Trump was knowingly acting at the behest of Russia or whether he was simply too stupid to realize what was happening. The investigation (subsequently passed to Robert Mueller) also involved a probe into whether Trump had obstructed justice, a criminal act.
The Times goes on to say that senior FBI officials had been wary of Trump’s possible ties to Russian intelligence since 2016, but were not sure how to proceed due to the “sensitivity and magnitude” of the issue, but “the president’s activities before and after Mr. Comey’s firing in May 2017, particularly two instances in which Mr. Trump tied the Comey dismissal to the Russia investigation, helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the inquiry.”
Both the criminal and counterintelligence aspects were rolled up into a single investigation given that obstruction in this case would amount to a national security threat if said obstruction was aimed at shutting down or otherwise putting the brakes on efforts to discern the Kremlin’s role in influencing the outcome of the 2016 election.
Do take a moment to appreciate the gravity of this. This wasn’t just a “collusion” investigation. This was an actual FBI counterintelligence probe into whether the President of the United States was a literal Russian agent.
Giuliani offered the following half-hearted effort to suggest that this is nothing for the public to be concerned about:
The fact that it goes back a year and a half and nothing came of it that showed a breach of national security means they found nothing.
Actually, no, Rudy. No, it doesn’t “mean” that. What it “means” is that this was handed off to Mueller and as the Times writes, “it is unclear whether Mr. Mueller is still pursuing the counterintelligence matter.”
In other words, it’s entirely possible that part of Mueller’s investigation involves not just “collusion” and not just “obstruction”, but an actual counterintelligence probe into whether the man sitting in the Oval Office was (and still is) a Russian agent, albeit a moronic one. Here’s another key passage from the story:
A vigorous debate has taken shape among some former law enforcement officials outside the case over whether F.B.I. investigators overreacted in opening the counterintelligence inquiry during a tumultuous period at the Justice Department. Other former officials noted that those critics were not privy to all of the evidence and argued that sitting on it would have been an abdication of duty.
There you go, America. The people privy to “all of the evidence” thought it would have been an “abdication of [their] duty” (where that means protecting the interests of the United States) not to swiftly open a counterintelligence investigation into Trump.
Hilariously (and fittingly) it was Trump’s own bombast that did him in. According to the Times’ sources, the last straw was the following soundbite from the Oval Office meeting shown in the indelible image above.
I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.
In fact, it was the furthest thing from “taken off”. That very quote was reportedly the deciding factor in the FBI’s decision to move ahead with a counterintelligence probe, and if you think for a second that Mueller isn’t still pursuing this in light of the voluminous evidence he’s gathered over the course of his other investigations, well, I’ve got a “Trump U.” seminar I’d like to sell you.
As you can probably imagine, Trump isn’t amused. Here is what an innocent man does not say (this is everything Trump has tweeted on Saturday in response to the story):
Wow, just learned in the Failing New York Times that the corrupt former leaders of the FBI, almost all fired or forced to leave the agency for some very bad reasons, opened up an investigation on me, for no reason & with no proof, after I fired Lyin’ James Comey, a total sleaze! Funny thing about James Comey. Everybody wanted him fired, Republican and Democrat alike. After the rigged & botched Crooked Hillary investigation, where she was interviewed on July 4th Weekend, not recorded or sworn in, and where she said she didn’t know anything (a lie), the FBI was in complete turmoil (see N.Y. Post) because of Comey’s poor leadership and the way he handled the Clinton mess (not to mention his usurpation of powers from the Justice Department). My firing of James Comey was a great day for America. He was a Crooked Cop who is being totally protected by his best friend, Bob Mueller, & the 13 Angry Democrats – leaking machines who have NO interest in going after the Real Collusion (and much more) by Crooked Hillary Clinton, her Campaign, and the Democratic National Committee. Just Watch! I have been FAR tougher on Russia than Obama, Bush or Clinton. Maybe tougher than any other President. At the same time, & as I have often said, getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. I fully expect that someday we will have good relations with Russia again!
That is so laughably guilty-sounding that you almost feel sorry for a man whose mental capacity has deteriorated to the point where he isn’t capable of understanding when he’s implicating himself, on the record, to 57 million people.
“I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.” — FDR
— James Comey (@Comey) January 12, 2019
Nothing further.
Russian stooge.
June 16, 2017:
“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God.”
— House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
Great summary of the last couple of days and reminders of clues leading up to the last couple of days!
And speaking of stooges, I foresee one day in the future the stooge will boast that ‘they made a movie about me’ and he will only see how great that is and leave out all the filth and destruction it will portray of his despicable grifting and treason. The only good to come of that will be the exposure of those that hid and let it happen on their watch – names and faces not concealed and forever shamed of their complicity!
I wonder if Dick Cheney has been to see “VICE” yet? 😎
So, ladies and gentlemen, have you had enough of Mr. Destructo destroying everything and everybody he comes in contact with, whether directly or indirectly? Do you have enough evidence before you now that persuades you beyond a reasonable doubt that his behavior falls within the categories of psychopathic and/or sociopathic, and traitor as well?
Have you now seen enough after evidence after 2 years that he never creates or builds things that are good for anybody or makes anything great again for the USA, but instead only takes action to destroy it? What better evidence do we need besides Trump handing over to Putin and his people the image of a US President gladly willing to gang bang with Erdagon, Kim, Duterte, Xi Jinping and Putin and bend the knee to his pal Vlad at the drop of a hat while attacking Allies, shutting down our government, announcing withdrawal from Syria
(and I submit he knew that Mattis would resign in response and that was his purpose in the first place) while we have ISIS on the run and handing the Kurds – our Allies – over to the enemy to be killed (for a second time), pulling half our troops out of Afghanistan while we are in the middle of having success negotiating with the Taliban, terminating sanctions on three companies linked to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with extremely close ties to Putin; and intentionally attacking and undermining our Judicial, Legislative, and law enforcement branches of government. Putin has in Trump an agent like no other in recorded history and people are arguing whether the FBI should have opened up a criminal investigation or counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s behavior given his known conduct since the 1980’s as an unethical lying conman fraud? Imagine what the arguments would look like if the FBI failed to open up a criminal investigation or counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s behavior given the overwhelming evidence of his long history and known behavior!! They would have been crucified for a cover-up!!
By now it must be clear to you that Destructo totally lacks empathy, compassion and sympathy for all human beings. That he is a full blown con man, fraud and a certified pathological, compulsive and impulsive liar who laughingly and amusingly cannot keep up with his own lies because there are just too many of those lies for anyone, except the most brilliant diabolical master of the lie which he is not!!
That he is one of the most narcissistic humans than any psychiatrist or psychologist had ever been able to document in history. That his behavior is literally antisocial, deceitful, hostile, irresponsible, manipulative, filled with risk taking, aggression, uber-irritable, lacking in restraint, angry most of the time, has superficial charm and glibness for all to see, has an inflated sense of self-worth, demands constant stimulation, has a complete lack of remorse or guilt evidenced by his repeated doubling and tripling down in the face of doing what obviously are the wrong things n the first instance, and need I go on?
No. I need not.
And so, my friends, what you have above, are the classic constellations of symptoms for both a psychopath and a sociopath and we know without the need for a specialist that he acts insane, and perhaps criminally insane, as we shall see — and as I’ve been saying for a very long time – when Mueller hands down indictments against the inner circle on the same day too look similar as in that famed baptismal scene in the movie Godfather I.
That day cannot come soon enough!!
Tell us how you really feel.
Marty, sadly I think the state of affairs reflects who we are as a country and where we are at collectively. If not, he wouldn’t have “won”.
So good to see a post from you, Marty! You never disappoint and I could not possibly agree more with every word you wrote! My joy will not be complete unless they drag his lying lunatic fat ass out the front door of the White House in handcuffs. I will be sorely disappointed with our government if he is allowed to ‘make a deal’ to avoid prison. No deal short of forfeit every dollar and all property and banished/deported to live his unworthy life with Putin — or whatever Putin wants to do with him; otherwise, he goes to prison.
We also need some amendments to our Constitution regarding quick investigation and removal of a president that is involved in any criminal activities; removal of any member of Congress who does not perform the duties he/she was elected to do. Remind every Congressional member they work for the Constitution, NOT the President (Mitch!).
We should take this as a lesson and install steps to prevent such behavior ever again. We should create a Campaign Candidate Panel to filter submissions – clearly tax returns (10 yr?) required; no criminal history; knowledge of any prior lawsuits filed by or against candidate; all business relationships currently and historically; all foundations and organizations; all banking relationships, etc. Actually I believe that any person desiring to campaign for any office in our entire government should have qualification requirements; the higher the office, the higher the requirements.
There were so many times during his campaign that he should have been banished! One that stands out maybe more than any lies he told, any name calling childish behavior, all the sexual assaults, was when he stood at the podium (Nov 2015) in front the cameras of the entire planet and mocked the physical disability (arthrogryposis) of the reporter, Serge Kovaleski. Seriously? 63 million adults voted for that disgusting vile cretin? I wish there was a way to ship their asses to Russia too!
It is a sad reflection that ~40% of the US voting population still approves of his behavior. We need video to change this demographic.Nixon had his tapes in a bygone era that had a little more good character.
These are the people who go to NASCAR (or all auto) races to see the accidents.
yeah, this ain’t Nixon and this ain’t Bill. This is something entirely different and far, far worse. What I would reiterate is that when I say “worse”, i’m just stating what seem to me to be facts. As I continually emphasize here, I’m pretty dispassionate about this. I don’t have a bunch of anti-Trump bumper stickers, I’m not a democratic “activist” and I’d much rather we had a “normal” president (even if it’s somebody terrible like Ted Cruz) so I could go back to writing about political theory and stuff I actually do care about rather than having to spend time documenting this unfortunate state of affairs. point being: contrary to popular belief, I’m really unbiased in my Trump assessments.
My thoughts are that this shutdown will motivate the USA version of the nomenklatura, thereby effecting a change.
I’m not too hopeful it will be a good change. “Idiocracy” changed my opinion of the electorate.
Thanks for the graphs. I like the poli-sci conversation and their concurrent effects on money. Prepares me for planning purposes in business.
PS, Although some time has passed since I complained about the ads, I have whitelisted your blog on AdBlock. Wasn’t as painful/annoying as I thought it would be.
H, “unbiased in my Trump assessments.” Your a HOOT! The article is without merit, full of unproven innuendo reaching conclusions you hope will come.
*you’re
thank-you.
Looked like a duck, quacks like a duck… anyone for roast duck?
The mind, quite fragile as it is, can easily play tricks on the least vigilant. If you take a toddler’s mind, put it in a fat man’s suit, stand him up in front of the flags of 20 “very important nations,” have countless camera flashes go off, video cameras run, microphones stab into the air and hungry reporters directing questions, questions and more questions to the fat man, the least vigilant is persuaded that the fat man is brilliant, tells it like it is, has the singular desire to Make America Great Again, is a truth teller, selfless, a strategic genius, surrounds himself with the best experts, has an incredible grasp of history and government, is well read, is moral, ethical and god-fearing and only has the best interest of every American in mind, whether poor or rich, black, latino, Asian, native American, Muslim, Jew, Christian, gay, straight, female, male or transgender, democrat or republican or neither, and would never ever put self-interest before the good of the nation or break the law.
That’s right!! Never, never, never ever put self-interest before the good of the nation or break the law. Must be a breath of fresh air to be the least vigilant.
I have a couple of stable genius friends that are least vigilant too.