As former House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes asked on Laura Ingraham’s FOX News show Thursday night, what do you suppose the reaction would be from Democrats if it were discovered that he (Nunes) had met privately with Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS last summer? Keep in mind, Glenn Simpson is central to the “Trump/Russia” investigation; he was paid millions by Hillary Clinton through her law firm to hire Christopher Steele and further the “Trump/Russia” narrative. Can you hear the screams that would be emanating from current Intel Committee chairman Adam Schiff? Can you imagine the crazed look in those eyes, and how it would keep you up at night even more than it already does?
But guess who DID meet with Glenn Simpson last July? Ha, it was Adam Schiff.
As you know, the Steele “dossier,” a highly imaginative, “salacious and unverified” work of fiction, became the foundation for the FBI’s investigation into Trump, including a fraudulent FISA application to spy on associates of his campaign. By the time Schiff met with Glenn Simpson last summer, at a conference in Aspen, the Intelligence Committee had already received testimony from Bruce Ohr –- supported by calendar notations and contemporaneous handwritten notes –- that called into question what Simpson had told them. Importantly, this involved the timeline; Simpson had testified he hadn’t met with Ohr until after Thanksgiving, but Ohr told them it was in August, well before the election and while the FBI was starting its investigation into Trump. (We also know that Ohr briefed numerous FBI and DOJ officials around that time about the highly partisan nature of the dossier.)
John Solomon, reporting in THE HILL, says that after both men were confronted with photographic evidence of their meeting at the conference, their offices issued statements describing their talk as “brief”…“not substantive”...“social in nature.”
In other words, it was purely coincidental! Completely not pre-planned in any way. Just like the purely coincidental and not pre-planned meeting on the tarmac between Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch just days before Hillary was let off the hook for her private email server. They just happened to run into each other. What a small world. Did they, too, talk about their grandchildren?
Solomon dutifully points out that according to law and the House committee’s rules, there is nothing illegal or technically improper about a congressman meeting –- intentionally or not –- with a witness in an investigation. But two years ago, when Nunes had meetings with national security officials at the White House without informing the committee, Schiff went so ballistic that Nunes temporarily recused himself from the Russia probe. Can you say “double standard”?
At the time, Schiff said, “I believe the public cannot have the necessary confidence that matters involving the President’s campaign or transition team can be objectively investigated or overseen by the chairman.” Okay, then, if we’re going to apply the same standard now (but of course, we’re not), these matters can’t be overseen by Schiff, either.
Schiff should recuse himself immediately.
I like what Mike Conaway, the Texas Republican who headed the Russia investigation while Nunes was recused, said about this: “I don’t know if they’re under any obligation to disclose it, but certainly if we were conspiracy theorists the way that my Democrat colleagues appear to be, we could weave an awful tale into that and weave all kinds of nonsense about it.”
Conaway also touched on just how central Simpson is to this story: He owned the company that Hillary paid for the Steele dossier. He hired Steele. He met with Ohr at the Justice Department. He (along with Steele) pitched the “dossier” story to reporters. He even met with Russian lobbyist Natalia Veselnitskaya before and after that Trump Tower meeting with Don Trump, Jr. (We could easily “weave an awful tale” and call that meeting a set-up.) And then he was photographed with Schiff in Aspen.
Of course, the House Intelligence Committee will do everything possible to block anyone looking into Adam Schiff’s meeting with Glenn Simpson. Because the committee is chaired by...Adam Schiff.
Yes, there’s still more news on the “Trump/Russia” probe, and it’s quite important. You know how, when a prosecutor is making his case against a defendant, he tries to construct a “pattern” of behavior, to show the jury the accused is capable of breaking the law? Well, observers of Robert Mueller have done the same with his behavior, and the pattern is unmistakable.
Over and over, going back years, the FBI, under his leadership, cheated on surveillance warrants.
We didn’t know this until now because of the secrecy of the FISA court, but Mueller himself was called before the court to address the many, many instances of this. We learn from the testimony before House investigators last year of Trisha Anderson, formerly the principal deputy general counsel for the FBI, that agents applying for FISA warrants in sensitive counterintelligence and counterterrorism cases omitted material facts, just as they did more recently in the application to spy on Carter Page. This kind of underhandedness is nothing new.
“It preceded my time with the FBI,” Anderson testified, “but as I understood it, there was a pattern of some incidents of omission that were of concern to the FISA court that resulted in former Director Mueller actually appearing before the FISA court.”
As John Solomon points out, this is a serious matter, because the FISA court is the one court in America where the accused gets no representation or the chance to defend himself. (I would add that since it is secret, the accused doesn’t even know this is going on!) So the FBI is obligated to disclose evidence of both guilt and innocence.
This problelm goes back a long way; the concern arose in 2002-2003 following the 9/11 attacks and dealt with cases that dated from the late ‘90s. So the culture of corruption appears to have already been in place, pre-dating Mueller as director. At that time, Mueller assured the court that they had put in place some rules called the Woods Procedures to VERIFY MATERIAL included in the warrant applications and make sure nothing exculpatory was left out.
However, we know now that the Woods Procedures weren’t followed for the warrant to spy on Carter Page (or for the three subsequent renewals). The material was not verified, and significant information was left out, notably the origin of the Steele dossier “evidence,” which we’ve learned from Bruce Ohr’s testimony was known by the FBI and DOJ to be Hillary’s campaign opposition research, created by a fervent opponent of Trump who was apparently “colluding” with Russians himself.
Judging from some of the people he hired for his special counsel team, Mueller didn’t get the message when he was brought before the FISA court almost two decades ago as a new FBI director. Maybe for a time he had his agents go more “by the book” –- we don’t know –- but it’s obvious that more recently, when top FBI officials, his close friends, worried that Trump might be elected President, the rules went out the window. And now it’s impossible to trust Mueller, Weissmann (another notorious rule breaker) and the rest of them.
Comments 1-25 of 35
ROBERT WILLBANKS
02/12/2019 01:28 AM
Based on the shenanigans being pulled within the corrupt FBI, it becomes increasingly clear that the tactics being used to keep the Barry Soetoro and OJ Clinton crowd out of jail are more like those used in the Kremlin that one would see in the United States of America. These Russia House operatives that have destroyed US Citizen's trust in our federal government continue to obstruct and obfuscate the TRUTH. There was Russian collusion in the 2016 election but it was Russian style tactics used by FORMER American Patriots within the DOJ,FBI,State Department and Barry Soetoro in the Executive branch. Keep this up and we are going to see another AMERICAN Revolution.
Marlene Helfrick
02/10/2019 11:52 PM
Isn't it about time Mueller was called before the fisa court again?
Kendra Strecker
02/10/2019 08:20 PM
Mike we had a saying back when I worked in the bar business.. FIRST LIAR DON'T STAND A CHANCE. That's how I see these two!!
Michael Galloway
02/10/2019 07:27 PM
I, like so many of others who have made similar comments, are just totally disgusted with the state of corruption. Yes, Mueller and Shifty Schiff can not be trusted at all. But they join such a long exhaustive list of so many others. There seems to be no pursuits of justice. Such a long list of those who have committed or should at least be investigated for treasonous activities. There is such a long list of those who seem like they have just been allowed not to be held accountable and are running around free with no pursuits of justice- like the Clintons, Comey, Holder, Lynch, Obama and so many more, allowed to continue on as nothing happened, when so much happened and they are not held accountable.
I am a Republican, but there is a lot of me blaming Republicans for having the spine of an eel and seem to say or do nothing about all the injustice. Almost none of them seem to truly back our President. I watched a few segments of Jay Sekelow from ACLJ (America Center for Law and Justice) and when talking about the Middle East and the strength of our nation initiated by President Trump the past two years, so much good has been done. Unlike Obama giving an apology tour, apologizing for America and allowing ISIS to grow
30,000 strong and committed horrible atrocities, President Trump has made and continues to make great strides. He has done so also here at home and truly does want to make America Great Again, something Obama did not want!!! If Republicans don't step up in the next less than two years before the election and control of anything goes to the despicable Democrats and their agenda, the Republicans will partly to blame. 63+ million voters who voted for President Trump expected more from the Republican party. I don't blame the President who is out front dedicated to Americans and America, despite all the opposition from the Democrats and mainstream fake media, yet most of the rest of the Republican party sits back and allows the Democrats to run the show. Continue that and we will all be doomed. At the SOTU the so called women dressed in white, was an example of how much they truly hate Trump and America. They only applauded for themselves and nothing else. They are the worse and sad to think they represent the United States of America!!! Wake up Republicans before it is truly too late !!!!
Beth Pontius
02/10/2019 10:49 AM
Isn't it sad that the media doesn't remember why Lady Liberty wears a blindfold. There are so few out there that dig for the truth. I just wish that Fox News would have a noncable National News Network out there so people without cable would have a choice. Our local Fox Station was taken over by the local CBS station so the only way to hear from Fox Media is by radio and it sometimes has so much static you can't hear it.
Daniel L
02/10/2019 09:53 AM
Dear Mike,
I have one simple question which no one seems to be able to answer: Where is Judge Huber and when are we, the American people, going to see justice brought against these treasonous criminals? Okay, I know that's two questions but Im so frustrated that we hear about this obvious treasonous criminal behavior and nothing seems to happen, no one is bring brought up on charges and no one is going to jail!! WHY? Are we being played, not only by the Democrats but the Republicans too?
Doug Moon
02/09/2019 01:07 PM
I am incredulous that this investigation has been allowed to continue, let alone that Mueller, Wisemann, Rosenstein, et al have not been prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The level of blatant corruption staggers the mind! It truly reads like a bad legal novel(no one could really get away with that, not in America anyway. Maybe in some "banana republic", but not here) married to the movie Groundhog Day--when will it ever end!? This is why I refuse to follow MSM; my blood pressure would not survive more than the 10-15 minutes per day that it takes me to read your commentary!
Dianne Bunce
02/09/2019 12:37 PM
We can talk about it until the cows come home. Where is the accountability or will there ever be. Are they so powerful that no one can touch them. Come on Republicans. Stand up and do something about it.
Don Chenault
02/09/2019 07:52 AM
The Whitaker hearing (mauling) was a case study and picture of difference in dimms and repubs...dimms were vicious,deceitful, out to destroy and dominate. repubs seem mild, modest, WEAK.. repubs will go on fox news and whine about the mean old dimms after having their but kicked again.glad the minority leader did seem to have a litttle courage... gonna be a rough 2 years if repubs do not grow a spine
Margaret Mills
02/09/2019 12:10 AM
My question is what can we private citizens do about all these violations, lies, FISA warrant abuses, etc going back to the 90’s but mainly since the Trump campaign started?? I am sick of the blatant double standard behaviors that are allowed to continue with Meuller, the Clintons, the Steele dossier of lies, the FISA warrant applications which were incomplete and based on lies, and all the irregularities that are well-documented but not acted upon, yet our President, particularly, and his associates are continually harassed, arrested, jailed, and charged with anything that Meuller and his minions decide. How can we, the people, stop this inequity?? I know one answer is to vote the current block of reps and senators out of office, but much of this is done by people who are not part of that lot. I trust you, Mike, to give me and thousands more, some honest and
genuine answers and set us on a path to rectify these wrongs. Thank you.
Marty Shelton
02/08/2019 10:55 PM
We keep hearing this information about FBI, DOJ and other Deep State wrong-doing over and over and over. Will anything ever be done to bring about justice? To reprimand the bad actors? Or even to acknowledge that impropriety took place? I have become very disillusioned concerning the traditional American idea that "justice should and will prevail". For the first time in my life of 78 years, I have become fearful of our government and lately fearful for our country's future.
Alice Willis
02/08/2019 09:00 PM
Honorable Mike: When are these people going to be held accountable? We are sick of it. Why are the Democrats calling the shots? We appreciate your info & valid input. God bless you & this great nation. Alice Willis & Don too.
Alice Willis
02/08/2019 08:59 PM
Honorable Mike: When are these people going to be held accountable? We are sick of it. Why are the Democrats calling the shots? We appreciate your info & valid input. God bless you & this great nation. Alice Willis & Don too.
JAMES ALLEN WYATT, JR.
02/08/2019 08:42 PM
BOTH ARE DOMONIC; BOTH PUPPETS ON STRINGS WITH LUCIFER AS THEIR PUPPET-MASTER . . . AND THAT IS PERFECTLY OBVIOUS!
Carol Mathews
02/08/2019 06:27 PM
Is it not possible that this whole scenario could not be put in a documentary to be aired on TV for the whole USA to see? Why can't this information be made so public that even the fake news couldn't not stop it?
We get the information from here in this newsletter from Mike and if you watch Hannity or Tucker, and maybe listen to Rush, but that is only the supporters and everybody needs to get the facts. Is there one documentarian somewhere who would put this into a public forum and some wealthy knowledgeable supporters get it on national TV? So many good honest people are watching the wrong news stations and just do not know it. Some do not have cable or Fox, so they are left in the dark.
Harold Carter
02/08/2019 06:11 PM
Governor, I am glad God is in control. I would have pushed the reset button already. God bless You and all You pray for. God bless the World. Gods will be done.
Susan B. Eley
02/08/2019 04:22 PM
When will any of these people be accountable for their actions, including Adam Schiff.
Linda LaGruth
02/08/2019 04:21 PM
Hi Mike,
Can you comment on Puerto Rico and what happened there after the hurricane in 2017? It seems that a lot of PRs are mad because they feel President Trump didn’t do enough to help them recover and I’m under the impression that food and aide was available but the corrupt government wanted to profit and make the President look bad.
Can you give me your take? Hard to get the true story when everyone is pointing fingers and I don’t like to give an opinion when I’m just guessing. Wasn’t there.
Thanks!
David Shisler
02/08/2019 02:54 PM
I noticed that at the Whitaker hearing they asked him how many indictments did the FBI bring up against Trumps associates. For me that's the point, I would ask how many indictments were brought up in the Hillary's investigation and her associates, with Hillary they had a crime, and why was the FBI partisan and bias. Two investigations and it's obvious how one is being treated over the other.
LeAnn Kathman
02/08/2019 02:26 PM
SCHIFF'S name should be Schiffty.
Leonard Lugo
02/08/2019 02:19 PM
So, with all this mess, seems to me, this stupid counsel is to Keep Shaddowing President Trump through 1st term, 2 term..?too..and,Keep Covering for Mob boss Hillary..i.e, the Mob!
Alison
02/08/2019 02:19 PM
My comment is not related to this article, but referencing to a short article you emailed out today about Socialism. I enjoyed the Venezuela Socialist protest video, and I saw the quick comment you had at the end of your email about the Scandinavian countries. Could you elaborate on those Socialist countries and how it's not working? I have a hard time discussing against the Scandinavian Socialist turned countries when talking to Bernie Sanders supporters. Thank you!
Brian Pruitt
02/08/2019 02:16 PM
Why is there no link to share to FB anymore?
Robert McFate
02/08/2019 02:13 PM
Lies have a tendency to to come back and bite you!
Jerry Korba
02/08/2019 02:04 PM
Congress has for two years now have been investigating Russian Collusion with our President. This tactic is being used to tie the hands of Immigration Reform, Security of our borders, Healthcare Issues, What would the outcome of these issues be if they solely worked on the most important topics we have today; if they would have spend 2 years resolving these issues. If you could stand to listen to the hearings of our Asst. AG today you can understand why nothing will get done in the next 2 years. I have come to the conclusion that the 2 party system is not operational today. At this point (I wish it could be different) Executive Order comes to mind for the next 2 years get the Judges needed Secure our borders stop looking for crimes prosecute crimes committed.... Honor. The quest to make America the best it can be has left DC.