I & I Editorial BoardI&I Editorial
Former FBI Director James Comey plays dumb in testimony before Congress, while CIA Director Gina Haspel blocks further declassification of documents in the Russia scandal. That’s the obstructionist Deep State in action, hiding the truth about a major scandal from the American people.
Listening to Comey testify this week about the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into supposed collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 campaign has been revelatory.
“In the main, it (Crossfire Hurricane) was done by the book, it was appropriate, and it was essential that it be done,” Comey said. Later, under persistent questioning from South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Comey maintained that “Overall, I’m proud of the work.”
When he wasn’t being proud, Comey played as if he were ignorant of the things going on around him, including the fraudulent application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to spy on the Trump campaign.
Actually, when this is all done, Comey might be lucky to avoid indictment. His stewardship of a corrupt, politically motivated investigation of a presidential candidate financed and pushed by that candidate’s opponent has all the markings of a planned crime.
Because not only did the Special Counsel’s report in 2019 fail to find that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election, it also cited 17 “significant” errors and omissions by the FBI’s top officials in the investigation, not counting the 50 errors it made in FISA court applications to spy on Trump campaign operative Carter Page.
As American Greatness writer Debra Heine reminds us, “It has also since been revealed that the FBI knew in August of 2016 that Carter Page had contacts with certain Russians because he was working with the CIA, and that the FBI doctored evidence to indicate the opposite.”
Yet, under repeated questioning, Comey — who once likened President Donald Trump to a mafioso — denied specific knowledge of this misconduct.
Remember, the FBI was warned by U.S. intelligence sources that the so-called Trump Dossier manufactured by former British spy Christopher Steele had possibly been manipulated by Russian intelligence. In the words of George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, “the actual source for the most damaging allegations had told American intelligence that Steele misrepresented both his statements and his sources — treating effectively bar room gossip as hard intelligence.”
So take your pick: Comey’s ignorance is either gross incompetence and ineptitude, or a stunning criminal fraud perpetrated against the American people.
Newly released documents from Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe also show that the Obama administration had obtained Russian intelligence as early as 2016 indicating that the Democrats’ nominee, Hillary Clinton, was trying to link Trump to Russia in order to make her own email scandal go away before the November election.
The Obama administration ignored that, too. Maybe they didn’t believe it, or thought it was far-fetched. Or maybe they supported it, which would make the Obama White House part of it.
That means we may have spent three years chasing shadows because Hillary Clinton didn’t want to face responsibility for her criminal use of a homebrew, unsecured email server that was likely hacked by both the Russians and Chinese while she served as secretary of state.
FBI underlings had misgivings early on. As recent emails declassified by the Justice Department clearly show, bureau officials working on the investigation expressed concern over the legality of their probe. They also fretted that it appeared rigged to politically favor Clinton over Trump.
But instead of blowing the whistle on the fraudulent investigation, they did the next best thing: Many of them bought professional liability insurance, with taxpayer money of course, in the event that the scam was revealed.
The compounded obfuscating and prevaricating by high-level officials should infuriate all Americans. A major political party, with the aid of multiple intelligence agencies, ran an illegal spying operation against a political opponent. And now they all want to pretend they did no such thing.
And the coverup and lies continue.
As Federalist co-founder Sean Davis reports, CIA Director Haspel is “personally blocking the declassification of documents detailing corruption at the highest levels of the intelligence community during the 2016 election.”
Why would she possibly do that, one wonders? As it turns out, Haspel was the CIA’s London bureau chief from 2014 through 2017, picked for the job by then-CIA Director John Brennan.
“Recall it was London where Christopher Steele was doing all this work,” Davis told “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” Indeed, London was the nexus for many of the things that the CIA, by law, couldn’t do in the U.S.
The CIA’s meddling turns out to be just as serious as the FBI’s. Citing two “senior intelligence officials,” investigative journalist Paul Sperry reports that CIA chief Brennan “personally edited a crucial section of the intelligence report on Russian interference in the 2016 election and assigned a political ally to take a lead role in writing it after career analysts disputed Brennan’s take that Russian leader Vladimir Putin intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump clinch the White House.”
The books were cooked all along by all the participants, each with the same goal: Get Trump, destroy his campaign and, if that failed, his presidency.
The picture emerges of the CIA, the FBI, Clinton and her campaign conspiring to portray Trump as Putin’s patsy in order to help Clinton win the presidency. We’ve said it before, and the new evidence confirms it: This was a massive illegal conspiracy, a behind-the-scenes coup without guns. Our republic is at stake. Shouldn’t those responsible be punished?
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Using these vague “policy violations,” Google is now threatening to demonetize us. It’s part of Big Tech’s effort to silence conservative voices.
What? I&I is still asking if Hillary and the FBI launched a silent coup against Trump? LOL! We’ve known this for 3 years!! Will tomorrow’s I&I headline inform us that the Nazis surrendered and WWII is over?
I came on here to make the exact same comment.
Myth: FBI FISA applications on former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page are evidence of a political conspiracy against the Trump campaign.
Facts: The FBI’s surveillance was conducted after Page stopped working for the campaign. The OIG review found that certain factual assertions relied upon in the FISA applications were inaccurate, incomplete, or unsupported by appropriate documentation, based upon information the FBI had in its possession at the time the application was filed, and the review uncovered unprofessional conduct by a low-level FBI lawyer. However, the DOJ did not determine that leadership or the FISA court would have reached a different decision had they known all relevant information, and did not find that the conduct affected the overall validity of the applications.
Myth: Democrats tell the truth.
Hey, dummy – the first of the failed coup conspirators already plead guilty in a Federal court, and is providing evidence and testimony about the others. Your heroes are all going to jail, and you will be sad.
“Did The CIA, FBI And Hillary Launch A Silent Coup Against Trump?”
Of course they did. Anyone who has studied history knows that whenever one group believes they can steal power, they try. It would be the most remarkable period of history if there WEREN’T a power grab going on.
It will of course be tragic for our country if the MarxoKKKrooks succeed.
“Silent Coup”? The coup attempt was flagrant; it was brazen from its birth in 2016. It was as silent as a locomotive horn approaching a grade crossing, as subtle as the Barnum & Bailey circus coming into town. There were other circus-like aspects to it – like the gaggle of unfunny clowns running that lying contest.
Several e-mails reported in the spring of 2019 established that the Deep State Coup began prior to Mar. 15, 2015 (the date that Clinton announced her campaign). That batch of e-mails also shows the long shadow of the White House’s presence.
Your headline should not be framed as a question. What more do you need to know? We’ve known this for four years. Your question gives the impression that I&I has been hiding in a cave.
Answer: no
It wasn’t silent.
Yes, the socialist and communists did try a coup against Trump and are still working for
another.
Duh? Is the lame stream media still trying to confuse the public, or just mollify their base? Of course it was an attempted coup, followed by a coverup. The left has not quite arrived at power at any price, by any means, but they are angling sharply closer to that. The people want a say on November 3rd about the direction for this nation, and already the left is trying to stifle debate, censor opinions, and screw up the vote. On November 4th, will we have peace again in the land, or see the streets run red with blood from rioting? I am voting for the Constitutional Republic that Benjamin Franklin said the founders bequeathed us, not a leftist mobocracy.
Stupid headline….of course they did.
George Washington hung men for less.
Abolish both the FBI and the CIA!
Why would Comey engage in something as foolish as a coup when his FBI disclosure just before the election may have cost Hillary the election? His actions were more in favor of Trump.
Public information online now sketches Mr. Comey as a political chess player.
The evidence is displaying that he attempted to burn both candidates at the same time. And his motivation was the 2016 national polls (82 %) that indicated that likely voters abhorred both candidates.
“ Why would Comey engage in something as foolish as a coup when his FBI disclosure just before the election may have cost Hillary the election?”
For the same reasons people have always attempted coups – they couldn’t get power legitimately, and thought they could get away with stealing it.
That would be the disclosure he made after 538, the NY Times and every other media outlet, save a handful, assured the country that the race was over?
Hubris in the shadows of the outgoing Obama/Biden administration, an eight year extravaganza of progressive governance imposed by executive order and not legislative action, augured to deny American voters of their right to choose a government by democratic means. Obama knew that if Trump won, he would shred much of the regulatory framework that composed the Obama record. Thus, he set in motion a coup against the Republican candidate, allowing like-minded apparatchiks from the FBI, CIA and Democratic Party to set the crime in motion while achieving plausible deniability for himself. The crime continued after the bogyman was elected with a phony special counsel investigation and impeachment. And still Hillary RodHAM Clinton caterwauls as she continues to dabble in a rich chaos of distractions employed as narcotics to dull the pain of loss and console her embittered mind, a kaleidoscope of excuses ranging from the misogyny motif to an arpeggio of absolution touching on FBI incompetence, Russian interference, gender abandonment, Sanders skullduggery and whatever else may stick to the wall. Just how long her fans will swallow this skit before indicating growing displeasure with funhouse mirror distortions and actual crimes is anybody’s guess. The flotsam from the SS Clinton shipwreck grows as the truth, slowly and painfully, is uncovered. Many of us counsel a crepuscular denouement, a disappearance into the twilight where dusk blurs the sharp edges of defeat and crimes are punished.
This doesn’t surprise me. I voted democrat for almost 40 years. The difference between then and now is that I looked for the truth. I voted for democrats when they told me what they were doing, and I believed them. But I thank God for the Internet. I went to Congress.org and Opensecrets.org and I found how they voted when they went to Washington, I found out about the special interests groups they took money for, and I found out their values, which were not mine. Information, education, and a search for knowledge is an enemy to the democrat party.
Of course they launced a coup and Wray, Durham and Barr are determined to keep it under wraps in hopes Trump is defeated when it will alll go away. The entire country knew this much four years ago. Thank you for your timely article.
If the Marxists take the WH next month this investigation will be stopped dead in its tracks.
If it does proceed and criminal indictments are handed down, those charged would likely be tried in the D.C. district court with a 100% lifelong Democrat jury. Look at the “fair and impartial” trial they gave Roger Stone.
What Obama/Biden did, along with All The President’s Men (and Women), is of course treasonous and they all should rot in a Federal pen for the rest of their miserable lives. But I’m not holding my breath. The swamp protects its own.
“Can’t recall” & “Not informed” is code for pleading the 5th (not confess).
But because Mr. Comey’s background is politico contractor (establishes financial contracts thru politicians), he does not know that testimony by other witnesses that contradicts his plea of innocence can still lead to prosecution.
The law includes the understanding that criminals will refuse to confess to a crime. Hence, the abundant reliance on phone bills, bank statements, gas receipts etc. to establish the who, what, when, where & why of a crime scene. And the facet that people underestimate is that every receipt involves another person. Crime is always a two-way transaction.
Unless the person is a career criminal, mistakes are always made. Hence, a career detective will catch the novice criminal.
Is the Pope Catholic? If so, there was and still is a coup attempt against the President of the United States.
It appears that the most serious criminal now is AG Barr whose focus seems to be preventing anything actually being done before a Biden victory might make it impossible forever. If he succeeds history will have a special place for him, down there with Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Yeah he thinks he’s protecting his beloved DOJ. I expect the Titanic’s ships bell was beautifully polished as the waves closed over it.
If this evil is not effectively punished — centuries of hard time wouldn’t be excessive, considering there were hundreds of people involved — it will be repeated. The next time the plotters aren’t likely to slip up.
As to emphasis, your sandbox, your rules. However it would be far more useful to tell us how you want it done. I visit many web pages, I’m unwilling to figure out which method applies (and will actually work) on each of them.
When you present something as high-quality as I&I it’s best not to deliberately fart right at the start. TELL us how you want it done.
Better yet, just get over it. Some comment writers care about style, most don’t.
Our republic is doomed. Our once venerated system of checks and balances, an honest media and dutiful representatives is eroding faster than we can track. The free fall portends a future of darkness. We must fight the battle.
I would note that the perps of this sedition would have been sent to the wall in authoritarian countries and even in democracies confined to a very small cell in a super max prison. It should also be noted that it seems the GOP is not as adept at street fighting as the dems. If they were, the really salacious material on the private lives of the opposition would already be on the front pages of the Star and the Weekly World News.
If there remains any unresolved question about this scandal, it can only be whether any of the malefactors involved will face justice. There were no “errors” here; there were deliberate attempts by persons acting under the aegis of powerful federal agencies to sabotage a campaign, and thereafter to impede a presidency. If these are not criminal actions and are not treated as such by the Department of Justice, then justice is dead in these United States.