[Tablet] Barack Obama warned his successor against hiring Michael Flynn. It was Nov. 10, 2016, just two days after Donald Trump upset Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president of the United States. Trump told aide Hope Hicks that he was bewildered by the president’s warning. Of all the important things Obama could have discussed with him, the outgoing commander in chief wanted to talk about Michael Flynn.
The question of why Obama was so focused on Flynn is especially revealing now. The Department of Justice recently filed to withdraw charges against the retired three-star general for making false statements to the FBI in a Jan. 24, 2017, interview regarding a phone call with a Russian diplomat. The circumstances surrounding the call and subsequent FBI interview have given rise to a vast conspiracy theory that was weaponized to imprison a decorated war hero and a strategic thinker whose battlefield innovations saved countless American lives. There is no evidence that Flynn "colluded" with Russia, and the evidence that Flynn did not make false statements to the FBI has been buried by the bureau, including current Director Christopher Wray.
So if the Obama administration wasn’t alarmed by Flynn’s nonexistent ties to Russia, why was he Obama’s No. 1 target? Why were officials from the previous administration intercepting his phone calls with the Russian ambassador?
The answer is that Obama saw Flynn as a signal threat to his legacy, which was rooted in his July 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Flynn had said long before he signed on with the Trump campaign that it was a catastrophe to realign American interests with those of a terror state. And now that the candidate he’d advised was the new president-elect, Flynn was in a position to help undo the deal. To stop Flynn, the outgoing White House ran the same offense it used to sell the Iran deal—they smeared Flynn through the press as an agent of a foreign power, spied on him, and leaked classified intercepts of his conversations to reliable echo chamber allies.
In March 2017, after seeing evidence of the Obama administration’s surveillance of Trump associates, Congressman Devin Nunes said it had nothing to do with Russia or the FBI’s ongoing Russia investigation, or similar Russia probes conducted by congressional committees. Nunes’ contention was difficult to make sense of at the time. Wasn’t everything about Russia and whether or not there was, as Congressman Adam Schiff said, more than circumstantial evidence of collusion?
In fact, as Trump prepared to take office after his 2016 upset victory, the Obama White House was focused on the Middle East. "Russia collusion" was the narrative that Hillary Clinton operatives seeded in the media and fed to the FBI to obtain a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. After the election, the Obama team took it over and used it to hobble the incoming administration.
#1
That's an extraordinary piece. Haven't read it through it all, but it's compelling, sober, thoroughly researched and logically laid out.
It's also sickening. Obama and his band of knaves and fools are the most corrupt crew to hit D.C. in our lifetimes. Thank God this is finally being exposed by people like Lee Smith.
#2
Superbly detailed and sourced work. Of particular note is the little know fact that Flynn planned a complete review of the justification of every senior staff position throughout the entire IC. It explains why so many got onboard to protect cushy rice bowls. Plus, the Iranian influences in that administration are clear. ValJar still lives with Champ and the Wookie to this day.
#4
I have seen reported that fear of Flynn damaging the Iran nuke deal - and risking nuclear holocaust- was very high, justifying virtually any action against him.
[Twitter] This is incredible. The Court ordered Sullivan to respond, not his Atty
Flynn update via WaPo:
Judge Sullivan - ordered to explain his reasons for not granting the DOJ motion to dismiss - has hired a lawyer to apparently do his work for him. pic.twitter.com/7kGeolVRn4
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2020 0:08 Comments ||
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#2
Responding to the Mandamas will be a big job. The District court has a dozen other judges who share staff and if Sullivan commandeered them to work on his response it would mess up the entire court.
So, assuming you believe Sullivan's actions deserve a defense (personally I don't), hiring outside council to help out is reasonable.
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/24/2020 0:08 Comments ||
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#3
Anyone would give the same legal advise. Get a lawyer before you speak to the law.
#4
Confusing.
So the lawyers at DOJ and FBI railroaded a man who
... hired a set of lawyers who
... refused to demand exculpatory evidence from the prosecution's lawyers, who
... secured a conviction from a judge who when confronted by a new defense lawyer demanding dismissal
... hired his own lawyers.
Is it wrong to see this farce as a complete Shitshow lawyers' scam designed to fleece Flynn and the USG of asuch $$$$$$$ as possible?
#8
It's not a legal 'trial'. He's been asked to justify his actions to the appellate. He is suppose to write his justification. He's now saying he didn't have any precedent or legal basis for his action? Just pulled it out of his a**? Now he needs to have someone else come up in legalese with an excuse?
That is so infantile - Why did you do that? I don't know.
#15
This story is so weird that I have to wonder whether the WAPO -- and I know this will shock you-- has its facts right. (The report is based on one anonymous source.) Judges can't "lose" appeals, and committing a reversible error is not an impeachable offense, leaving aside the fact that it's next to impossible to impeach a federal judge. At worst, the Court of Appeals bruises Judge Sullivan's ego, and I'm sure that's happened before.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/24/2020 11:22 Comments ||
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[Washington Free Beacon] Government watchdog raises questions about Chinese influence at University of Pennsylvania's Biden Center.
When Joe Biden announced he was opening a foreign policy center at the University of Pennsylvania, the goals for the project were ambitious.
At its founding in 2018, Biden described the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement as "a place where policymakers here and abroad will know they can be in touch with some of the best minds."
The center is one of several organizations Biden founded since leaving the White House in 2017, including the domestic policy-focused Biden Institute at the University of Delaware and the Biden Cancer Initiative, all launched in 2017. All three entities have refused to reveal the sources of their funding, a potential landmine for the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee that raises questions about the influence of individual, corporate, and foreign donations on the presidential candidate.
The lack of transparency has drawn the attention of a watchdog group that is now demanding that the federal government investigate whether foreign money has flowed to the Biden Center in Philadelphia.
Many of Biden's nonprofit entities have served as landing spots for his former—and potentially future—White House aides. The Penn Biden Center, which had a "soft opening" in March 2017 and officially opened its doors in February 2018, has served as a national security council-in-waiting for Biden, employing his top White House foreign policy advisers Colin Kahl, Michael Carpenter, and Jeffrey Prescott.
Asked about its funding, a spokesman for the Biden Center told the Washington Free Beacon that it is "a question for my colleagues at main university." Penn spokesman Stephen MacCarthy did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Biden campaign declined to comment. The Biden Cancer Initiative, which had $2.1 million in total assets in 2018 before suspending its operations last year, according to its tax records, declined to provide a list of donors. The Biden Institute at the University of Delaware has also declined to reveal its funders.
While the Penn Biden Center has not released information on its donors, foreign funding to the University of Pennsylvania has risen more than threefold since its soft opening, spiking to over $100 million last year from $31 million in 2016, according to Department of Education records. China has been the largest contributor during that time, even as the U.S. federal government and prosecutors have ramped up scrutiny into the Chinese government's influence-buying and espionage operations on American campuses.
Between March 2017 and the end of 2019, the University of Pennsylvania received a total of $61 million in gifts and contracts from China, according to Department of Education records. In the preceding four years, the university received just $19 million from China....
#1
"...There's a dead skunk in the middle of the road, there's a dead skunk in the middle of the road , there's a dead skunk in the middle of the road , and he's stinking to high heaven.."
#6
Being held accountable is something the Dems are not used to. Times have changed.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/24/2020 11:39 Comments ||
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#7
BHR? I found this
Clem, I fixed your URL Clicking on the icon to open the window reveals that http:// is in it as a placeholder. That placeholder must be deleted or overwritten — otherwise your URL will be attached to it, with the result that the subsequent link won’t work.
[PJ] This week, House Democrats whose colleagues rushed to investigate President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response amid the ongoing pandemic once again refused to give the green light to an effort to investigate China’s lies and malfeasance regarding the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Democrats blocked the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis from investigating China’s malfeasance.
"Coronavirus Committee Dems won’t let us investigate China’s cover-up," House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) tweeted. "Why? — China’s lies caused global suffering & economic devastation — China undermined our efforts to combat the virus — China is reportedly trying to steal our vaccine research They must be held accountable."
Republicans on the committee have repeatedly asked about opening an investigation into China. Lauren Fine, Scalise's communications director, told PJ Media that in a hearing on Thursday, Republicans on the committee again asked about looking into China, and Democrats again refused them.
"It's disappointing‐but not surprising‐that Congressional Democrats have harsher words for President Trump, rather than the Communist Chinese regime responsible for wreaking havoc against our citizens and the rest of the world," Fine told PJ Media. "Republicans on the Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis will continue to press for answers on the origins of this crisis and accountability from the Chinese government and World Health Organization for their deception, and would urge Democrats to put their personal vendetta against President Trump aside to join us in this effort."
Indeed, the effort to block a China investigation seems predicated on the rush to blame Trump for the crisis and ignore the horrific abuses of the Chinese Communist Party. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), perhaps the central figure in Democrats' impeachment of President Donald Trump, began circulating draft legislation to investigate Trump's response to the coronavirus. He claimed the investigation is "not an exercise in casting blame or scoring political points," but Republicans are naturally skeptical.
If Democrats are going to investigate President Trump's response to the coronavirus crisis, they should also investigate China's malfeasance. Just last week, Chinese officials threatened "serious consequences" for members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, along with two state attorneys general. The officials named Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), along with Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas).
"The Chinese government is lashing out at those in the U.S. who are appropriately trying to hold them accountable for intentionally misleading us about the nature of the novel coronavirus, where it was spreading and how quickly things were getting out of control. I consider their threats a badge of honor," Banks replied.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) filed a lawsuit last month demanding tens of billions of dollars in damages due to China's coronavirus malfeasance, which allegedly violated Missouri law. Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R-Miss.) filed a lawsuit allowing Mississippians to bring claims against China.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2020 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#2
For sure. Feinstein's antics are well known. Can even recall when Hillary was going against N'Obama for the Dem nomination. She was getting money from some Chinese guy who, IIRC, was on the lam for some crime.
But, really, this gaggle of Dems is a disgusting lot.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Tablet] Barack Obama warned his successor against hiring Michael Flynn. It was Nov. 10, 2016, just two days after Donald Trump upset Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president of the United States. Trump told aide Hope Hicks that he was bewildered by the president’s warning. Of all the important things Obama could have discussed with him, the outgoing commander in chief wanted to talk about Michael Flynn.
[Washington Free Beacon] Government watchdog raises questions about Chinese influence at University of Pennsylvania's Biden Center.
[PJ] This week, House Democrats whose colleagues rushed to investigate President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response amid the ongoing pandemic once again refused to give the green light to an effort to investigate China’s lies and malfeasance regarding the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Democrats blocked the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis from investigating China’s malfeasance.
