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| Horse Hockey: Justice Dept. turns over document that launched Russia probe |
| 2018-04-13 |
| [Politico] A day after Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, threatened the impeachment of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department on Wednesday turned over the document that launched the bureau’s Russia investigation in 2016, cooling the latest confrontation between House Republicans and intelligence community leaders. Still some redactions. Nunes, a California Republican, had demanded an unredacted version of the document by Wednesday afternoon, and the Justice Department provided one with a few redactions that it deemed necessary for national security. Nunes praised the cooperation and said the document would aid his committee’s "ongoing investigation" of the department and the FBI. I want to know who the contact was and what country. "I’d like to thank Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein for his partial cooperation today," he said. Nunes had threatened late Tuesday to seek the impeachment of Wray and Rosenstein if they failed to meet his demands, an extraordinary escalation of tensions that underscored eroding relations between the House Intelligence Committee and the Justice Department. "We’re not going to just hold in contempt," Nunes said on Fox News. "We will have a plan to hold in contempt and impeach." Hold their feet to the fire. Nunes has been furious with the agencies over attempts to obtain the two-page document that the FBI used to initiate its investigation of the Trump campaign’s Russia contacts. That document, which The New York Times reported on in December, revealed that the inquiry was launched because of an intelligence tip that George Papadopoulos, a campaign foreign policy aide, had revealed to an Australian diplomat indicating that Russia had obtained negative material about Hillary Clinton. The revelation undercut claims that the investigation had been launched as a result of a disputed so-called dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British spy, whose work was funded indirectly by the Clinton campaign and which President Donald Trump has dismissed as fiction. A formerly classified memo released in February by the House intelligence panel, with Trump’s approval, later confirmed that the FBI began its Russia inquiry because of the information from Papadopoulos. But Nunes says the FBI had refused to turn over an unredacted version of the Papadopoulos document, despite a subpoena and demands dating back to August. He set a new deadline for Wednesday, and told the Fox News host Laura Ingraham that the decision on contempt and impeachment would depend on whether Wray and Rosenstein met the new deadline. A Justice Department official said the document it submitted to Congress contained just a handful of redactions intended to mask the name of a foreign country and a foreign agent. "These words must remain redacted after determining that revealing the words could harm the national security of the American people by undermining the trust we have with this foreign nation," the official said. The official said that through the document, plus the provision of 1,000 pages of additional classified material, the Justice Department had "substantially satisfied Chairman Nunes’ August subpoena in an appropriate fashion." In his statement, Nunes noted that that subpoena remained in effect. A move to impeach two top officials at the Justice Department ‐ both appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate ‐ would have been an extraordinary confrontation between Congress and federal law enforcement. Several of Nunes’ colleagues had endorsed holding Rosenstein and Wray in contempt of Congress. Democrats contend that there was a darker element to Nunes’ aggressive posture toward Rosenstein and Wray: giving Trump a rationale for removing them. "Chairman Nunes’ threat of contempt proceedings, and of impeachment, serves insidious purposes: to intimidate DOJ and FBI, to provide the president with a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and FBI Director Wray, and to undermine special counsel [Robert] Mueller’s investigation," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. "The chairman’s rhetoric is a shocking and irresponsible escalation of the GOP’s attacks on the FBI and DOJ." Schiff said the Justice Department had already shared ample information, including sensitive material connected to the Russia investigation, that Republicans subsequently released through an unprecedented process that included a move by Trump to declassify information over the FBI’s objections. I think this is misdirection. We were told earlier that the Steele dossier was used. |
| Posted by:Deacon Blues |
| #12 Debbie Downer's long lost brother? |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2018-04-13 14:31 |
| #11 #10, So, here's the Chinese connection I've anticipated on basis of cui bono. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2018-04-13 12:35 |
| #10 Wikipedia In 2005 Australian members of the spiritual group Falun Gong launched action against Downer in the ACT Supreme Court alleging that his department had unfairly limited their freedom of expression.[30][31] The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade under Downer was accused by Chinese diplomat and defector Chen Yonglin of closely collaborating with the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, even to the extent of "giving suggestions to the Chinese Government on how to handle difficult political cases." Downer was accused of pursuing an unduly strong pro-China policy and failing to address human rights violations adequately.[32] In September 2007, on the sidelines of the 2007 APEC Conference in Sydney, Downer indicated that Australia planned to launch bilateral ministerial-level security talks with the People's Republic of China. Downer also stated, "China is a good partner of Australia. Whatever the differences there are between us in terms of our political systems, human rights issues, China is a very important part of the strategic architecture, the security architecture of the Asia-Pacific region and it's important we have good forums to discuss any issues of that kind with them. The Australian (2011). Huawei names John Brumby, Alexander Downer board members. Retrieved 16 August 2011. (Commie?) |
| Posted by: 3dc 2018-04-13 12:31 |
| #9 National security my ass. More like Wray and Rosenstein security. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2018-04-13 11:43 |
| #8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Downer |
| Posted by: 3dc 2018-04-13 11:03 |
| #7 Alexander John Gosse Downer AC (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who is the current High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, in office since 2014. He was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and earlier served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2018-04-13 11:02 |
| #6 High Commissioner to Britain Alexander Downer |
| Posted by: Frank G 2018-04-13 09:54 |
| #5 I want to know who the contact was and what country. The country is Australia and I forget the name of the contact. This information has been known for quite some time. It has been discussed at length on The Conservative Treehouse. |
| Posted by: Blackbeard Noodleman5923 2018-04-13 08:15 |
| #4 Haven't seen Pencilneck Schiff-for-brains much, lately I saw him on TV yesterday and asked a buddy - 'On a scale of 1 to 10, what's this guy look like on the dork scale?' He said fifteen. |
| Posted by: Raj 2018-04-13 07:29 |
| #3 Haven't seen Pencilneck Schiff-for-brains much, lately |
| Posted by: Frank G 2018-04-13 07:05 |
| #2 "We've been around since 1908". |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2018-04-13 02:55 |
| #1 Appears they've once again, successfully masked foreign intelligence service involvement. Nothing from Admiral Rogers at NSA? I thought not. BTW, with FB and the POMS, why do we even need an NSA ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2018-04-13 02:51 |