So in other words, Trump was NOT hallucinating when he said he was being spied on ... and the usual Trump-haters used that as another reason to claim he's imbalanced?
40
Even the NYT must agree the "evidence" cited to begin an investigation was pretty flimsy, at best. The charges filed by the Special Counsel to date are ALL unrelated to collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russia (Martha Stewart "crimes" and Manafort whose charges are completely unrelated to anything involving the campaign). I wonder what investigation occurred as the Obama Administration cleared the sale on uranium to the Russians? The FBI and DOJ are looking to come out the worst in this, and that is well deserved.
28
"The name, a reference to the Rolling Stones lyric “I was born in a crossfire hurricane,” was an apt prediction of a political storm that continues to tear shingles off the bureau. Days after they closed their investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, agents began scrutinizing the campaign of her Republican rival. The two cases have become inextricably linked in one of the most consequential periods in the history of the F.B.I."
I liked the 1986 movie "Jumpin' Jack Flash" starring actress Whoopi Goldberg where The Rolling Stones 1968 song "Jumpin' Jack Flash" is played on a cassette that Whoopi's character "Terri Doolitle" is trying to find a secret message from the song in a limited amount of time. Something that President Donald Trump wants to limit the scope of the investigation with Robert Muller as Special Council. If not eliminating the investigation all together.
3
Listening to Trump supporters today lamenting the one year anniversary of the investigation.
Here's how the investigation ends by mid June:
Trump says he's innocent of any treasonous type of cooperation with Russia to gain the presidency.
OK, I'll go with that as truth.
Now, since you are innocent and since this is all a "phoney witch hunt" (ya see, I can quote you… you've said it so many times) talk to a panel of investigators, answer all questions, explain all the threads that Mueller is tugging on… tell your truth and then it all goes away.
By mid June…latest.
Innocent people have nothing to fear.
Answer the questions, explain yourself.
And it all goes away.
If you are innocent.
Till then, this is the only thing Americans should be saying and thinking--
Innocent people have nothing to fear.
Innocent people have nothing to hide.
Tell the truth Donald, and we'll let it ride.
If you are truly innocent.
24
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected,” Mr. Strzok wrote, “but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
Anyone questioning whether or not the FBI was orchestrating a witch hunt against Donald Trump need only read this article. It was, and it smacks of the days when J. Edgar Hoover used the FBI as his hammer to bash any politician or public figure he didn't like, as, for instance, Martin Luther King.
16
Mueller doing damage control? This story and information herein has been supplied to the NYT by Muellers team to try soften the outrage people will soon be hit with with the AG report. This is beyond illegal and shows corruption beyond imagination targeting Trump. I wait anxiously for the AG report which will spell out the corruption and where it stemmed from. Swamp is not longer a good term for these corrupt politicans and each one needs to resign
27
Everyone who reads this article should be angry, very, very angry. The FBI needs to be apolitical and yet at every turn in the Russia investigation pre-election politics was taken into account. They didn't think that Trump could win so what was the hurry. They intentionally withheld important facts from the American people in order to avoid the perception of bias. Their cowardice is being paid for by the suffering the country is currently going through.
20
So there really is no there there. Seems like much ado about nothing. Why do we even have Special Council? Time to move on.
11
If the FBI's goal was to be distrusted by everyone, they've achieved it. This is exactly why it is not their job to predict the outcome of an election or judge the political impacts of an investigation. We can discuss "what if" scenarios for the next ten years, but the bottom line is that important information about Trump's campaign was withheld at a critical time while doing the exact opposite for HIllary Clinton. This goes right to the core of the FBI's credibility.
Even though it benefited Trump, it ironically plays directly into his narrative that it can't be trusted.
13
Interesting process how this case developed. I’m curious about the information trail between Trump surrogate Rudy Gulliani and the former director of the New York F.B.I. I believe it was stated that it was “Trump World” in the office by other agents before the election. How did Gulliani know more info was coming out before the election about Mrs Clinton, which he chuckled about on Fox News. Who in the U. S. Congress between July 2016 and the election got to James Comey and used him for a punching bag to get him to come forward with more info on the Clinton campaign?
22
Every once and a while my morning cup of coffee and I tune in to The Rush Limbaugh Show, for the pure entertainment value of his abominable aspersions against the political "Left". Today I froze, though (and my coffee suddenly tasted lukewarm), as Limbaugh muttered [to paraphrase] that The New York Times finally got something right: that, thanks to its article here, all America now knows that (A) the FBI is unethical, given that it "spied" on the Trump campaign, and (B) the Muller investigation consequently is null and void.
Then I read this article. Now I am whole again and my coffee is still hot, for once again I've correctly dismissed, with my usual upturned sneer, Limbaugh's putrid propaganda.
There are many things I could write about The Times's exceptional reporting here; however, because of space limitations, I'll focus on this key statement, "Agents considered, then rejected, interviewing key Trump associates, which might have sped up the investigation but risked revealing the existence of the case."
This one declaration justifies the FBI's pre-election and Mueller's ensuing investigations of Trump campaign collusion and obstruction, for both of these lawful bodies correctly suspected Trump as a possible criminal threat to the foundations of our nation -- a threat that had to be investigated as early as weeks preceding the presidential election.
19
The incumbent president's intelligence apparatus spied on the opposition candidate.. nothing to see here.. this makes Watergate look like jay walking..someone needs to be held accountable .. people need to go to jail.. ( and no I am not talking about Trump !)
23
One other very interesting aspect of this mind-boggling,
head spinning extended investigations of:
Trump, Russia, Money-laundering, Cohen, Collusion, Stormy, Mueller, Don Jr, Comey, Hannity, Avenatti, campaign finance, Oligarchs, the Dossier... scandal(s) ...
...is that Michael Avenatti and Rudy Guiliani are working so hard at trying this case in the media, not a court of law.
And that whatever a court may determine is the truth, the truth has already been decided in the minds of the public. TV ratings vs. a jury of peers or constitutional scholars.
One of the too many things I can't wrap my head around is that according to some, the Steele Dossier, a Clinton campaign seeking/researching dirt on Donald effort is bad...
...but the Trump campaign enlisting the Russians, Wikileaks and Cambridge Analytica seeking dirt on Clinton is good? Or is it vice/versa?
It's like Yanni vs. Laurel. It more like brain comprehension instead of audio frequency comprehension though. Or maybe it's more like color blindness?
12
Hilary paid professional investigators to gather dirt on Trump, all over Russia including peoples bedrooms, and that is not investigated by the FBI, but one casual conversation between a junior aid merits a super secret FBI investigation.
16
So misleading since the GOP initiated Trump oppo.
19
"A year and a half later, no public evidence has surfaced connecting... Mr. Trump himself to the Russian government’s disruptive efforts." Didn't we watch Trump ask the Russians to find more Clinton emails?
13
Actually you watched him say that if the Russians had them, he was sure the US press would like to see them.
The FBI by that time, had had Hillary's server for more than a year. It couldn't have been hacked.
7
As always, it is always someone else's fault and never 45's responsibility.
12
Trump's coordination with Kremlin is explicit in the entire Miss U in Moscow episode: the cameo appearance he makes in Agalarov's video & then the Agalarov-directed meeting. How would Agalarovs have connected RG to Don Jr if there were not an established relationship with DJT built on mutual confidence & trust? Wouldn't Don Jr merely have replied, "Who are you & who are the Agalarovs & why should we oblige them with a meeting for this woman?" Furthermore, Flynn's proximity to Trump concurrent to Flynn's appearance as Putin's 'date' at the RT gala is in & of itself definitive. Then we have Erik Prince's trip to the Seychelles. So how can anyone credibly insist that "there's no direct evidence that has surfaced of Trump being in cahoots with Putin?" And what about that 19.5% ROSNEFT transfer? Trump's sycophants like to echo his lies & his stonewalling, but Trump himself knows perfectly well what the truth is, just as he always knew about Stormy Daniels, or McDougal, or any of the other women he cavorted with. Trump is a habitual liar & cheat. Deceit is the oxygen in his blood. He does not "believe he is innocent" & therefore feel himself a victim of "the deep state": he is merely feeding his sycophants the soundbites he imagines will help cover his getaway. Trump knows he is Guilty. His every word & action, including the plaque unveiling in Jerusalem, is only about this 1 thing: saving his own bacon. And it won't work. There were just too many crimes committed along the way.
14
The Clinton case was a criminal investigation, based on incriminating evidence. Mrs. Clinton does have one legitimate beef against the FBI: Then-director James Comey went public with some (but by no means all) of the proof against her. It is not proper for law-enforcement officials to publicize evidence from a criminal investigation unless formal charges are brought.
In the scheme of things, though, this was a minor infraction. The scandal here is that Mrs. Clinton was not charged. She likes to blame Comey for her defeat; but she had a chance to win only because the Obama Justice Department and the FBI tanked the case against her — in exactly the manner President Obama encouraged them to do in public commentary.
By contast, the Trump case is a counterintelligence investigation. Unlike criminal cases, counterintelligence matters are classified. If agents had made public disclosures about them, they would have been committing crimes and violating solemn agreements with foreign intelligence services — agreements without which those services would not share information that U.S. national-security officials need in order to protect our country.
The scandal is that the FBI, lacking the incriminating evidence needed to justify opening a criminal investigation of the Trump campaign, decided to open a counterintelligence investigation. With the blessing of the Obama White House, they spied on Americans who happened to be their political adversaries.
https://tinyurl.com/ydapx3pn
17
I guess this means George Papadopoulos will become a Trivial Pursuit answer? "Whose post- cocktail actions precipitated one of the most insane years in American political history?"
10
Although I do think it’s important that we get to the bottom of Russiagate, let us not forget the non-treasonous things Trump has said and done that make him unfit for not just POTUS but pretty much any elected or appointed position in government.
There’s his making fun of a handicapped reported. This incident alone would have forced any other candidate out of the race. Trump also encouraged his supporters to harm protestors at rallies, even going so far as to promise—for what a Trump promise of payment is worth--to pay the legal bills for those charged with assault. The icing on the cake, of course, is the Access Hollywood tape, which if we are dealing with any other candidate for offices ends his or her career on the spot As an aside, can you imagine FDR, Truman, or Ike telling the American people about his genitals? Trump's tweet in response to Charlottesville, where a woman was run over and killed, claiming false equivalency between white supremacists and those protesting racism. Then there are Trump’s questionable financial matters such as his refusal to divest, those pesky tax returns, and the issue of emoluments (such as when the federal government pays Trump Co. for food and shelter for Secret Service when he stays at his properties). The list goes on and on.
Assuming nothing went on between Trump’s campaign and Russia, something that seems less likely with each new indictment, the man is clearly still unfit for office.
11
The reason Trump is president is because of Russia and Mercer's Cambridge Analytica. I don't think the press fully gets that yet.
12
DT has done so much shifty stuff I'm surprised he though he could weather disclosure. Americans know this and are cheering for his demise as in episodic television dramas. Meanwhile progressives are stepping up their politics. This is our national pastime. Watching bad actors go down. Just wait till ppl realize the Millionaire Tax Relief legislation implications on their lives.
8
I'm glad the New York Times is covering this matter, but as the correction shows -- not crediting Mother Jones for reporting on the Steele information -- and the quote below, the Times continues to mislead on the issue:
"A year and a half later, no public evidence has surfaced connecting Mr. Trump’s advisers to the hacking or linking Mr. Trump himself to the Russian government’s disruptive efforts."
On the contrary, there is evidence that Trump advisers are linked to Russian efforts to disrupt: that Donald Jr. gladly accepted a meeting with the Russians and Kushner joined him, when what they wanted was Russian help to discredit Mrs. Clinton. That's public, that's evidence.
Also I am troubled by that the point of the article is to try to prove that the investigation is not biased. Only Trump supporters and Republicans think it's biased, and no amount of objective information or evidence will persuade them otherwise.
12
The United States, and other western democracies, are under attack by Putin and Russia. It is a new kind of attack but an attack nonetheless. It demands a response.
When will the stakes get high enough for democratic nations to defend themselves from this sort of attack? How will they respond? Will 'sanctions' do the job or will there have to be more direct measures applied? How will we know when it is time to take action and what will be that action?
This new world of connectedness through the internet is not working in the way that we had hoped. People like Putin are using it for criminal purposes and to undermine democratic nations ability to hold free and fair elections.
That cannot be allowed to stand, something has to give, when will enough be enough? The Cold War is back, now it is an electronic war.
4
Does anyone really think there is a real difference between professional politicians? The Republicans and Democrats are essentially interchangeable pieces on our political chessboard.
Until we demand term limits for Congress, popular vote as the basis for office, as well as political impartiality of our court system from the Supreme Court to local magistrates, political impartiality and equal treatment under the law will remain a fiction.
We tout our system as a model of what? Cronyism? Favoritism? To the victor belong the spoils is the bottom line and the victor is anyone who obtains office and the right to line their pockets. There are no losers in either party. The voting public, regardless the lever they pull on any election day, suffers a loss which has been ongoing since we bought the idea of free and fair elections. Our so called Democracy/Republic is a sham as practiced and every politician knows it.
Government is a business, not a popularity contest, and the sooner we wake up to that fact the better. The nightmare we are living is rending our national fabric and no amount of seamstresses, no matter their skill, will be able to stitch it back together.
4
Not mentioned here is Comey's decision to write up his decision and announcement that he was not charging Clinton in 2016 before he even interviewed her. Why did he change the wording to the non-criminal "careless"? The fact that he gave immunity to Clinton's lawyers is mentioned here in passing, but also showed how the FBI treated Clinton easier than in its investigation of Trump's campaign. What about Strzok's assertion that Flynn did not lie to the FBI? Further, what about the charge that Comey showed the Steele dossier to Trump and then news of his meeting was leaked to CNN to trigger the first story on it? Texts exchanged by Strzok and Page (not fully included here) alone showed anti-Trump bias within the center of the FBI probe. There is plenty still to suggest that political motivations influenced FBI investigators. And the "radio silence" lately from the Mueller probe indicates there's nothing much beyond what's already come out.
7
The Deep State has a name and it is "Crossfire Hurricane". The goal of the deep state namely Comey, McCabe, Strozk, Paige, Orr, Steele was to insure that Hillary won the election and then to have an "insurance policy" if Trump won. These actions by these individual did more to harm to American Democracy that Russia ever could. From bugging Trump, to having an FBI spy in Trump's campaign, Fake Russian Dossiers used for FISA warrants and still they lost but no one will swing because they are the deep state.
15
Let me offer this brief summary of the article.
A sober, well intentioned team of absolute professionals made some errors and may have lost Clinton the election, but god bless them if they didn't just shrug that off and double down on getting dirt on the President elect and when they didn't find any they volunteered to keep looking when he became President...dedicated team see.
Yes look there was some bad calls made by COMEY, not Brennan, never Brennan, no. COMEY just got it wrong, easy call to make if you're breathing the air up at his height, less oxygen, makes you make mistakes.
Where was I, Brennan perfect gentleman absolute professional nothing at all to see here and in fact he wasn't involved in any way, shape or form whatsoever. Got it?
Yes so look a bunch of stuff happened, Clinton good , Trump bad, lots of investigations, Trump so orange, lots and lots of investigations that I cannot confirm or deny may or may not target Trump or not. Clinton, lovely lovely lady no connection to the 35 murders of work colleagues, easy trap... people go look Clinton 35 work colleagues murdered...easy trap we in experts in the Bureau,we call that 35 work colleagues murdered phenomenon, technical term...co-incidence.
So in summary, Trump must get him out or else..COMEY bloody underoxygenated idiot, Clinton lovely lovely lovely lady technical term "coincidence" about 35 work colleagues dead, Investigation investigation...look there's no need for a trial can we just lock him up?
8
I still have not heard a "journalist" (are there any left who practice truly fair investigation?) ask Comey why he didn't do what the FBI ultimately did with the revelation of "new" Hilary emails in Oct 2016. If the FBI had looked thru them and determined that there was no evidence to re-open the Clinton investigation, then there was no need to publically say the FBI was re-opening the investigation. Comey's explanation, that this was his only choice, is false on the evidence of what actually happened.
6
Tom, be sure an characterize this move correctly about what the FBI ultimately did. They ultimately decided to continue to ignore the illegally stored emails because they determined they were the same illegally stored emails that they had previously decided to ignore. But let's be honest about what they were looking thru and where and what actually happened. They were looking at thousands of official State Department emails, some of which were classified, that were on the hard drive of a former Congressman, who no longer had a security clearance, who was at the time being investigated (later convicted) on child pornography charges. Now you may feel that isn't pertinent information to release to Congress, considering he had told Congress when they closed the case that if any other pertinent information came to light he would notify them, but to me that's pretty pertinent information. Here's my challenge for you. Ask 10 people with security clearances what would happen to them if their work material, including classified material, was found on the laptop of someone without a security clearance that was seized because that person was being investigated for child pornography. Let me know out of that 10 how many say, "I don't think investigators would recommend any consequences and would just close the investigation." My bet is the answer will be ZERO.
6
The thought that Trump would politicize the Russian investigation through his toady Fox network to the point of creating a populist Constitutional crisis has lingered like a coiled snake in the shadows of my mind. Perhaps my bias in this regard is reflected in this reporting: it seems as scared of Trump as I am.
In the court of public opinion, fair witness reporting is no balm against civil angst enraged over the Big Brother here to help.
5
This scandal is 100 times greater than Watergate. Every American should be scared of the Deep State.
22
Time to remove all the "redactions" from the documents. Almost every name has been leaked, yet Mueller is still hiding behind "national security".
9
To witness us devolve into this weird tribalism to the point where any way you win is fine no matter if we've put our own sovereignty at risk is downright bizarro. If we can't as a Nation admit to the ever mounting evidence that russian cabals had some effect on the 2016 Presidential Election then we are indeed headed straight for a category '5' Crossfire Hurricane.
13
It is my opinion that the antagonism between El Trumpo and Comey is fake. The fact is Comey protected him and acted to harm HRC twice during the campaign. All this projection by El Trumpo that he is being undermined by Comey et al is just more clever deception. I do not trust James "trust me with the privacy right I do not believe you possess" Comey at all.
El trumpo's claims of the election being rigged against him indicate to me the point in time he was informed by his Russian friends that the FBI/Intelligence services were looking into them helping him. This was him counter punching.
Of course there is the undeniable fact of his family and campaign manager meeting in Trump Tower for the explicit purpose of obtaining information directly from the Kremlin about HRC which El Trumpo was fully aware of and in on. Hence his open acceptance and gratitude for the apparent help by some anonymous entity everyone thinks is Russian when the DEM emails were dumped and asking Russia to find the "missing" emails. It was another counter punch to make Russia helping him seem ok and benign.
Just remember that El trumpo has already admitted to conspiring with the Russians. He keeps saying collusion because collusion is not a crime. It is an adjective describing conspiracy.
9
apparently the liberal media got it wrong i.e. not surprised
14
Comey promised Trump that the fake dossier would not be published but omitted to mention that it was a DNC/Clinton document. A day later it was leaked to CNN.
18
"Mr. Trump made up his mind before Comey walked in the door." - So Trumski is both dumb as well as a thick headed. How many bankruptcies has he filed during his life time? Now I see the connection.
7
Yes, the author of this knew what Trump was thinking the whole time.
It's over. The Deep State operation to "Get Trump" is exposed and the traitors will be dealt with for once. God Bless America!!!
7
okay! We are supposed to be surprised that US law enforcement agencies treat white Republican with kids glove vs their law and order rhetoric reserved for Minorities....
8
Struck by this:
"And when The New York Times tried to assess the state of the investigation in October 2016, law enforcement officials cautioned against drawing any conclusions, resulting in a story that significantly played down the case."
"Played," exactly. NYT played by FBI.
14
You can fool some of the people some of the time...but NO NEWS is the same as FAKE NEWS. See this: https://www.bizpacreview.com/2018/05/17/dont-buy-it-its-bad-kim-strassel...
2
comey, mueller, mccabe, strzok, et al have tarnished and corrupted the fbi and twisted the rule of law to suit their own corrupt desires.
these are people of low moral character, and they are traitors to America. if justice does still exist, they will all suffer the consequences.
18
It’s funny to see people who refuse to believe what they see. This story says that Trumps campaign was spied upon illegally. It tries to say that it’s not that bad. It is worse than bad. This is from leakers that the but magnanimously calls informants.
Tell me again how smart liberals are again.
18
It's not that they refuse to believe, it's that too many Democrats see this as a total war, with no quarter given. Facts don't matter, all that matters is to destroy Trump by any means. The weaponization of the FBI and DOJ against the Republican Party is just part of that mindset.
11
Either the FBI is an incredibly stupid bunch of bumblers or they think the public is stupid or both. This article is an incredibly ham handed white wash of the scandal of our intelligence agencies.
21
Obama and his cronies at FBI, CIA, DOJ, and State sought to sabotage the Trump campaign with the insertion of a spy who found no evidence of any crime. Normal? And the willing lapdog media led by the NYTs reports it as if it is just a weather report. Disgrace. The 4th estate should be ashamed.
19
Some people bring out the best in people. Trump seems to bring out the worst in everybody. The man is the moral equivalent of a Typhoid Mary. He even sucks his own family into his own disgraceful behavior. He skillfully manipulates his allies and supporters into condoning behaviors that few of them would do on their own but causing those who are not deceived to doubt the good faith of those he has deceived. He heads up an administration staffed by people who treat each other like sharks in a feeding frenzy and behaving without trust for each other. His highest officials use public resources for their own benefit with gross indifference. The Republican Party in Congress abandons it’s role as members of a coequal branch and condone Trump’s refusal to follow rules developed over the life of the republic to keep him in power. The man is a dark shadow over our nation.
16
I think he brings out the best in people in that it is ONLY because of him that we have now seen how, the Deep State is perfectly fine until The People decide to go a direction THEY (the Deep State) do not want to go. This is supposed to be a government by, for, & of The People - NOT THEM.
I am very happy that all of this is coming out so we can see it.
10
How did the Australians get to know and decide who to tell?
3
Of course their was no meddling by the Russians. But the beginning of the Never Trump effort. The FBI has badly tarnished itself. The NYTs wants to dress it up as Eliot Ness when in fact it smells more like J. Edgar Hoover.
21
The FBI and no other federal agency has never determined that the Russians or Russian government hacked the DNC or the Hillary campaign, since they never were granted or acqired access to inspect the servers that were hacked. All they got was second hand summaries. You call this an investigation?
21
I call it a willful distortion of the actual claims, which are in essence that Putin's henchmen either took advantage of the hackers who passed things on to Wikileaks, or (more likely) positively ran the hacking and the Wikileaks publications.
I'd direct you to the only completed investigation so far, that of Senate Intelligence. But of course you fantasize that Burr's a traitorous RINO, and Devin Nunes ran an honest shop.
8
The equivalence between a private e-mail server which comey judged careless and collaboration with a foreign power to influence an election, perhaps treason seems a false equivalence.
17
I love how the NYT runs this story to preempt the FBI AG's report on its Clinton investigation. So transparent. One other thing. The FBI didn't think Trump/Russia was serious (and it's not) because they didn't take Papadapoulos (sp?) seriously. He's a wannabe who ran around Europe claiming he was something he wasn't, and everyone but the NYT knows that.
24
And I love how you guys try to warp reality, since a) the AG's looking at the FBI's handling of ALL its election investigations, and b) the FBI didn't run investigations into Trump's campaign because they thought nothing was going on.
What is the matter with Trumpists?
8
The FBI was made to investigate Trump as straight-up opposition research for Hillary's campaign. They only HOPED something was "going on," which it turns out wasn't.
It's just gravy that such an investigation can also be used to tar Trump as a "suspect" in the event he wins, which he did.
The reality is that with Trump, everyone is trying to get their 15 minutes. And I mean, EVERYONE. That includes all the various tangential hangers-on from the campaign. To think that the FBI took some guy Papadopoulos' claim SO extremely seriously & on top of that Page - who anyone listening to him for 5 min knows he could never pull off something so grand - is ridiculous.
2
The Times is presenting itself as a sober teller of facts. Without reviewing the full pre-election coverage in detail, my recollection is of enormous critical media coverage -- including from the Times -- of Hillary's email issue (even Bernie Sanders said it was too much), with little emphasis on her policy positions, and enormous, non-stop publicity for Trump that, even if critical, simply burnished his norm-breaking, middle finger image in ways that a large portion of the electorate (including, judging from comments on this article, Times readers) found exhilarating. Granted that the Times has been unsparing in its post-election criticism of Trump, but it might want to do a sober reappraisal of its role in pre-election media coverage of the candidates.
19
pkn, you might recall that The Editorial Board twice twice endorsed Clinton - once in the primaries when Sanders was breathing down her neck and once in the general when Clinton was enjoying massive leads in all of the polls. Clinton,s erstwhile policies might have received more press if she had spent more time on the campaign trail and less time smoozing with billionaires and entertainment elites. Instead of posing for $10,000 "family" photos, she might have spent more time doing face-to-faces with the basket of deplorables. You might be interested to know that even sexist, racist, misogynistic islamophobes are allowed to subscribe to The Times and occasionally make comments. To wit.
8
The FBI may not have suspected that Trump would win, but when it became clear he did, agents knew he would act expeditiously to eviscerate the very government agencies which could expose his myriad long-standing and wholly corrupt links with Russian oligarchs and their "Red Mafiya" agents in New York and Florida. And so he has.
Aided by Fox News and corrupted Republicans in Congress, Trump has labored ceaselessly to weaken and defame the FBI, defang the DOJ's organized crime unit, and replace honest US Attorneys with his loyalists. He wants an unsupervised field to exploit the lucrative opportunities his position affords him for self-enrichment, including emoluments, and now to benefit from the ZTE scandal by rewarding China for "Belt and Road" expenditures which will increase the value of his properties.
The man's greed knows no bounds, his shameless narcissism precludes any decency.
At one point, months ago, Trump loyalists railed against a "secret cabal" of FBI agents who were attempting to shield their inquiries from the president's appointees. I hoped such claims were accurate, and that honest civil servants are finding ways to protect our democracy from the ravages of Trump's corruption, the nefarious influence of Putin's oligarchs, and the insidious criminal acts of the Red Mafiya. Even that won't be enough unless citizens rise up to protect the environment and democratic institutions from the corrupt acts of Trump and his appointees.
15
The biggest news amongst the storm of current developments is actually that Senate republicans are now admitting that Russia attacked the US elections ("meddled") -- specifically to get trump into the White House.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Russia, America's enemy (let's not sugarcoat this) wanted trump to "win" the election.
I repeat: Russia, American's enemy wanted trump to "win" the election, steal the Presidency, occupy the White House.
That's really all that anyone needs to know about this whole thing.
Why do you think the Russians would want trump in the White House -- because he would be such a great President for America?!?!
(Hint: no, they wanted him in there because they knew he would destroy the US from within, and he is well on his way doing just that)
(Against this background it is almost irrelevant whether trump knew that the Russians were helping him or whether he even was actively conspiring with them -- which we know beyond any doubt, let's not sugarcoat this either, that he did -- which is treason)
17
Whatever happens with the investigation and it's repercussions we only stand to lose. The levels of distrust and animosity betweens our political factions can only get worse from here. We are a nation of proud idiots and self-rightious morons, our politics and institutions will continue to reflect that in spades. The collapse of the nation will be stultifyingly slow and disorienting as we continue to undermine our institutions from all sides. The rest of the world will eventually come to relish our well deserved demise.
8
A total set up by the non political FBI. That is the real danger to our Democracy.
16
The irony is thick. Democrats outraged that Comey didn't expose a nascent investigation into Trump based on an unverified dossier paid for by Clinton and a conversation in a bar. However, 2 years later there is still no evidence and Democrats say the investigation must run for years until we know what happened.
Thanks to the NY Times, we now know Comey's FBI and Brennan's CIA had a spy/mole in the Trump campaign. Hopefully we can find out what information that anonymous individual provided to his handlers Comey and Brennan, and where the information went after they received it? President Obama, Susan Rice, the DNC, Hillary Clinton? Are we to believe their mole only spoke on matters regarding Russia and the words went no further than Brennan's ears? Or did they go the Clapper route out the back door to CNN and the press? So much to investigate, so few questions.
21
Unless you're a member of the Mueller investigative team, it is false to claim that "there is no evidence." The truthful statement is that no one but the Mueller team know what they have or don't have.
Your second paragraph is conspiracy theories that have little basis in fact.
7
There is one more irony to the use of this name --
The Trump Campaign frequently began or ended political rallies by playing Rolling Stones' songs. The most frequent one was "You Can't Always Get What You Want".
My favorite occasion, though, was when Trump spoke at the Lincoln Memorial, and the exit music was "When the Whip Comes Down". Seriously.
Some people say the Rolling Stones were very displeased and did not grant permission for use of their music, nor were they compensated.
7
The Bots are out today, blogging about this specific article on behalf of Putin's puppet, Donald! It's distressing to read so many comments complaining about the investigation.
First, investigations take time, Donald is being investigated for money laundering, obstruction of justice, violations of the emoluments clause of our Constitution, and collusion with Russia. Huge amount of work is being done carefully by the Mueller team.
What upsets me most about this article is: the FBI KNEW there was Russian interference and that Donald's campaign staff and his son had been in touch with Russian operatives in the U.S. and abroad! Yet they announce....just before the election that they are "looking into Mrs.Clinton's emails" again! Which throws the election to Donald! This SMELLS!
Why did the New York Times not VET Donald?! Surely, the NYT has plenty of dirt on Donald! Why not make more of the report which ame out the same day as the "Hollywood Tape" that Russia is interfering in our Election?! We, the People, depend on you and other venerable media to report and investigate! The NYT dropped the ball, went easy on Donald!
By the way, Donald's "foreign policy advisor" Carter Page was already under investigation as of 2013, he had been warned that the Russians were attempting to recruit him! Carter Page and all those who colluded with Russia are....traitors! It's astonishing that conservatives are not upset that their party is in bed with Putin!
18
"The results are certain to renew debate over decisions by the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to publicly chastise Mrs. Clinton in a news conference, and then announce the reopening of the investigation days before Election Day.
Mrs. Clinton has said those actions buried her presidential hopes."
Not just Mrs. Clinton believes that. Most of us voters do.
Was it the fact that she's a woman? That their politics were Republican? That they themselves believed the groundless stories about Clinton perpetuated on social media?
Comey's own explanations in defense of his decisions reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of his role.
'I thought she was going to win, anyway, because of the polls.'
Since when do polls dictate what the FBI chief should do?
His long negative harangue at the press conference after announcing that Mrs Clinton was not guilty immediately drew strong criticism from former US Attorneys General who were Republican. 'Crossed a line' was the basic message.
7
I, too voted for Clinton and I FULLY understand Comey's reason for releasing the information that there was possibly going to be a second investigation of Hillary's emails found on Weiner's computer.
Imagine for a moment what would have happened had there actually been something actionable in the new emails and Comey, having announced the FBI had closed the investigation earlier in the year, didn't announce a reopening. Clinton probably would have won and then the FBI investigation would have come out and its resulting actionable items. Her presidency would have been toast before she was even inaugurated. Republicans have been trying to get something on Hillary for years, and they would finally have something AFTER she'd been elected. Multiple investigations would have happened, and of course, an impeachment, with Trump cheering every action taken by Congress and investigative agencies.
I was mad at the time, but now am glad that Comey did what he did. That particular election was no time to roll the dice and hope for the best. His hands were tied as to what to do. Any other choice could have been disastrous.
3
Comey did not say she was Not Guilty. He clearly cited she WAS guilty of federal crimes, but since she "did not intend" to break the law, no one would prosecute her.
The pertinent federal statute purposely leaves out "Intent", & Comey basically re-wrote that law to give Hillary Clinton a PASS. He trashed our rule of law and displayed a double standard of Justice before our very eyes.
6
See, here's the thing: if proof emerges that Trump is taking orders directly from Putin, it would not matter to 'the base'. The lynch mobs have found their champion and they're not gonna' let him go. No matter what.
12
Hillary Clinton was the prime suspect in an FBI criminal investigation during the 2016 election campaign. Donald Trump was not a suspect during the 2016 election. Fired FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, 2017, that Trump was not under investigation. In March 2018, Special counsel Robert Mueller told Trump’s legal team that the president is not a “criminal target” of the Russia investigation and merely a “subject” in the probe.
9
I doubt if the emails would have been part of an investigation if former First Lady of the United States and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have become the U.S. President what Donald Trump would have wanted.
And Donald Trump now U.S. President is under investigation for the Russia influence into the 2016 U.S. Election. Of which Hillary Clinton is not.
3
Comey testified that among others, more than half Trump's family and his NSA advisor, campaign head, and a passel of other apparatchiks were under investigation.
Why you find this comforting, I cannot imagine.
As for your touching faith that Rudy G's telling the truth, well, my goodness.
3
I get it, a lot of NYTs readers hat Trump. Personally, I would never have picked him as a candidate nor did I vote for him. However, it appears that the NYTs and many of its readers are taking it on faith that there was Russian meddling in the election, beyond placing ads and false info on Facebook, which everyone has a right to do. I have scoured all of the paper's stories on the investigation failing to find one shred of real evidence to support the allegations. It's time for journalistic principle to intervene and put a trop to the paper printing misinformation about the issue, namely statements accepting as fact the allegations that have not been proved.
19
The Russian meddling in the election WAS the placing of ads and false stories on social media. There were some reports that Russia tried to get into voter machines, but that didn't seem to happen. Other than that, no one has ever said that Russia meddled in the actual voter apparatus of the election.
1
"Mr. Page, a foreign policy adviser, was well known to the F.B.I. He had previously been recruited by Russian spies and was suspected of meeting one in Moscow during the campaign."
Wrong. Page reported the attempt to the FBI. The spies were subsequently kicked out of the US.
This has been reported elsewhere. It seems your fact checker is sleeping on the job.
18
Also looking a court documents in the conviction of the Russian spies, it's evident that Page served as an undercover FBI employee who helped to entrap them.
3
This is a really clean piece, providing fair context to counter all that so-called "deep state!" whining. There was no "anti-Trump bias," just a bunch of people who had to make some tough calls in a politically charged environment.
7
There are so many moving parts to this and it keeps getting more complex, yet no one with the power to intervene is taking any kind of meaningful action. Simply, either Trump and/or his crew, likely in cooperation or collusion with Russia and other nefarious players, "did it." There is no doubt a "smoking gun," but it is probably buried for now in either Mueller's or the Crossfire Hurricane investigations. As a citizen who has been paying attention throughout this mess, I already have enough evidence to conclude that the entire Trumpocracy must be removed by any legal means available as soon as possible.
And then, the problem is compounded by the FBI sitting on what it knew when it first knew it, real news which may have saved our country from the Trumpist disaster. Add in James Comey's non-news "revelations" about Hillary, which really tanked the Democrats. Way to go, trusted federal servants - saving face instead of saving America!
With the probable exception of Mueller and his team, there are no good guys in this play. However, there are better guys, and a way must be found to restore them to power so that the worst people can be prosecuted appropriately and this never happens again. Sadly, I'm not holding my breath. My fear now is that the better guys, the Democrats, will find a way to mess it up on the way to November, and/or the same bad guys will mess it up for them. Still, in an ideal world, I will be glad to be wrong about that prediction.
5
Unfortunately, there is no legal means to remove the entire administration until the 2020 election. Another reason the Democrats, if they win a majority in November, need to stay away from impeachment.
1
Since there was no criminal Russian collusion with the Trump campaign then the only successful outcome is a political hit and run character assassination by Mueller and the liberal media. His lame report and recommendations will find no impeachment-able crime and the whole FBI debacle will have wasted millions. Seems the only real provable foreign collusion was between the British (who paid off their Russian sources) and the Clinton campaign. Good job, Mr. Comey!
18
The invasion of our political system and the social media by the Russians is how wars are now fought in the 21st Century. Those who choose to live with head buried in the sand will continue to say ..well there is just no proof but the evidence is overwhelming and no amount of hand waving can cover it over.
The 2016 election was a fraud perpetrated by the GOP with Russian aid. However, only the dimmest of wits cannot see the direct connection between Russia and Trump. The Russians bailed Trump out for years with laundered money and they own him. It is no accident that Trump has been surrounded by Russian operatives. Mueller must continue to investigate Trump's financial ties to the money laundering Bank of Cyprus, Deutsche Bank, and Russian investors in his property. There are strong links between Russia and Trump's cabinet members and associates including Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, Wilbur Ross, Felix Sater, Roy Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Mike Flynn, Carter Page, Paul Manafort (a paid Russian op running Trump's campaign!), Roger Stone etc., etc.. The strong Russian network surrounding Trump is not by chance.
The Republicans will to continue deny Trump's traitorous collusion because they wanted the same outcome and are complicit in Trump's sellout to the Russians. They must all be thrown out of office if we have any hope of saving our democracy. Get out the vote in every election going forward!
15
If you look closely, you can find anything you want to find. Your arguments, I am sorry, are not logical. You can say I had Russian salad the other day. I drank vodka 2 days ago, oh and I have a Russian friend OMGGGGGGG. That's it! You are CONVINCED that I must be in debt to the Russians, that is why I have all these "connections" to them. And then maybe I have a $100 bill somewhere that can be traced back to Russia.
5
I am afraid that whatever the special counsel finds, any real damaging evidence linking the White House to Russia, either directly or indirectly, will never see the light of day. It will be buried, classified, and will remain hidden from public view for many generations, if not forever. The damage to the body politic of any finding of collusion would be too great for the nation.
And akin to the "who-killed-Jack-Kennedy" question, fifty years from now, our grandchildren will still be asking "How did Trump get elected?".
The only way to get Trump out is, and will remain, to vote him out.
8
So, we not only have Putin to thank for the election of Trump we have both the DOJ and the FBI as well. Trump is correct, there's Deep State operating but in his favor not against it.
11
The reference for the codename isn't just the Stones song, it's the movie, "Jumpin Jack Flash," starring Whoopie Goldberg. These guys were headed to London to catch a Russian spy ring by talking to guys at an embassy.
What do you press guys need to make a metaphor? You didn't think of this because nobody sang any Supremes songs or got dragged across New York in a phone booth?
5
The first thing I thought of too. Whoopi trying to understand the lyrics is one of the funniest scenes in the film. Great movie, I may have to watch it again soon!
2
2016 was obviously a time of chaos, conflict, and uncertainty in the FBI. Nearly two years later, the vulnerability of each and every person involved is palpable. It is too easy for us to comment, judge, or hold any one side accountable. Every one of them is human and fallible, and subject to having made decisions they might wish to take back.
1
The article says, "In July, a retired British spy named Christopher Steele approached a friend in the F.B.I. overseas and provided reports linking Trump campaign officials to Russia. But the documents meandered around the F.B.I. organizational chart, former officials said. Only in mid-September, congressional investigators say, did the records reach the Crossfire Hurricane team."
Yes, we must remember that organizations are simply made up of people with conflicting ideas. Perhaps "Trump" supporters wanted to bury the information.
Perhaps agents were scared, as the article points out, that The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren would try to further discredit OUR FBI and other law enforcement agencies that are meant to protect 99% of us from them.
The FBI, CIA and public prosecutors can make up for it now. Get the Robber Barons OUT of OUR governments at every level and put them in jail.
9
Short of an attack with nuclear weapons, it is hard to think of any damage Russians could have done to the U.S. worse than getting Donald Trump elected president. Our international credibility has been destroyed, and new domestic disasters are revealed almost daily. (I only heard a couple of days ago about how Trump's policies on immigrants are killing the Maryland crab industry.) You can put a neutral spin on the behavior of the FBI if you want, but I will not believe it. For all their protestations to the contrary, the FBI has been a right wing political organization going back to Hoover, and here we have striking evidence that nothing has changed.
13
Your opinion is well stated, Socrates, but it doesn’t go far enough. Only by eliminating the existing political parties altogether and direct voting for national issues will the nation be able to move closer to our stated ideals.
Critics of electronic voting cite the obvious possibility of hackers. Sure, but all of the shenanigans you list make our present system obsolete.
Our only hope to work toward a one (human) citizen-one-vote nation is to stop voting for Republicans or Democrats but to establish a third party that will break the gridlock in Washington.
2
Hillary Clinton was the prime suspect in an FBI criminal investigation during the 2016 election campaign. Donald Trump was not a suspect during the 2016 election. Fired FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, 2017, that Trump was not under investigation.
8
Yep, the intelligence agencies spied on the Trump campaign. Guess Mr. Trump was right all along.
Trump Derangement Syndrome on steroids.
It's time for the agencies and the politicized DOJ/CIA to come clean.
17
Yes, remember when Trump said he'd been "wiretapped" and everyone said he was crazy?
Now we need to know what did Obama know and when did he know it
11
So "Many of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly." Investigation of the Trump campaign.
Of course they were quiet, they appreciated the risk of revealing publicly that Obama FBI was spying on Trump's campaign to facilitate the election of Hilary Clinton.
17
Did you read the article?! In 2013, long before Donald ran for president, the FBI and CIA were already looking into Carter Page who was being recruited by Russia!
7
The article is wrong.
Page reported the attempt to the FBI.
1
If you look at court documents, it's clear Page was working for the FBI to convict the Russians who tried to recruit him
The Rolling Stones were rooted in the Chicago blues. They took their name from a song by McKinley Moganfield aka Muddy Waters about a 'boy child who was going to be a rolling stone' charming women throughout his life like a catfish. That the FBI is still the preserve of white male misogyny privileged supremacist law enforcment bigotry began but did not end with J. Edgar Hoover.
4
Staying in the vein of The Rolling Stones:
As Mueller said when he began this investigation, “Time is on My Side.” Just “Start Me Up.” And don’t worry about my tenacity. I’ll stick to it, “Not Fade Away.”
No one can believe how stupid Trump’s advisers were. Because after all, when you play with the Russians, you “Play with Fire.” Everyone knows that.
Recently, the president called Michael Cohen after the office raid by the FBI, and said he was “Worried About You.” He told Cohen he was the “Salt of the Earth.” About Stormy’s public accusations, Trump simply said “She’s So Cold.”
But no word from Trump to Cohen since. And now, “As Tears Go By,” with Cohen pleading to Trump, please “Gimme Shelter,” prosecutors are showing no “Sympathy for the Devil.” Of course, Cohen is “Shattered,” and probably telling friends he wants to make a deal “Before They Make Me Run.” Because if he ever wants to be “Happy” again, he’d better join Flynn and the other indicted former Trump advisers and “Shine a Light” on possible collusion. When he does that, “It’s All Over Now” for this president. Indictments will be coming “All Down the Line.”
Call it the “Hand of Fate.”
7
This is a brilliantly composed piece.
The longer this investigation continues, the more likely it will be that I die of a heart attack. Mueller, please, get your evidence... But, for the sake of American's psyche and physical health, can you please step it up a notch and wrap it up soon?
6
Dude, unfortunately this investigation is very complex. Not only about Russian collusion, but also, money laundering, obstruction of justice, violations of the emoluments clause, etc.
If you have been around awhile, you will remember Watergate took two years, we are just ending the first year of the Special Counsel investigation.
7
Read the article. This all started in July of 2016 so we are already just two months away from 2 years.
And let's not forget the non-investigation of Benghazi, which also took two years. Things move very slowly in Washington.
“It’s like the deep state all got together to try to orchestrate a palace coup,” Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, said in January on Fox Business Network.
Apparently Gaetz, and other republicans, long for the good old days of the monarchy (could this be what they mean by Make America Great Again?), when the ruler lived in a palace and not in the White House.
9
Not only the FBI, but the Times helped Donald look like a harmless old clown. Times coverage of Hillary was always castigation, while coverage of Trump was tongue-in-cheek. Donald sold papers.
16
Tom from Boston says, in an early comment, "The FBI should never make any "political calculations" of any kind."
The FBI is made up of American men and women. Yes, when they see something glaringly dangerous to OUR government, and realize that those in power who could stop it refused - like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan - they should make the best choice for OUR United States of America.
Time will tell if Comey did the right thing. All things considered it appears he did.
I, for one, am very happy Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton is not the Robber Baron's scapegoat. She deserves much more.
4
She sure does deserve more; maybe even an encore Goldman Sachs sponsored speaking tour. If the price was right, I'm sure she'd be down.
4
Everyone would have been better off had the FBI not worried about politics and just followed through with these investigations in a professional manner. In the end Clinton’s mistakes with her emails appeared like evidence of a smug disregard for the rules while Trump’s smug disregard for the rules was concealed until after he was elected. Both investigations should have remained confidential until the facts were well understood and determinations of what to do had been made. Then the public would have seen both issues in context.
Frankly, law enforcement deals with lots of people who lie for all kinds of reasons. Trump already had exhibited his deceitfulness in the mass media in many ways. The FBI should have realized that until they had a solid explanation of what the facts could prove, Trump was going to try to create distrust towards them by spinning everything that came out during the investigation. No matter how the FBI tried to manage it they were not going to be portrayed as unbiased public servants.
5
This is why regulations stipulate that nothing is said about investigations unless and until they produce indictments announced by a US Attorney.
2
The saying that democracy often has within the seeds of its own destruction may hold true here as well. But we must return to actual cause and effect. What sensitive government secrets were revealed to America's enemies by Secretary Clinton's use of a private server? None so far. Private servers were used by Colin Powell, who advised Mrs Clinton to use one herself. Why don't we lock up Colin Powell?
On the other hand, the State Department's and even the CIA's government issued servers have been hacked and really sensitive secret info did get stolen. How about a dose of reality in the Clinton email investigation which was in fact a true "Witch Hunt" the likes of which Trump is yet to see? Now it is very likely that the Russians hacked Trump communications and have real dirt on Trump which explains Trump's peculiarly favorable behavior toward Putin. This has not all played out yet and hopefully Mueller's investigation will clarify many unanswered questions. But Donald J. Trump will not come out of this unsullied, not by the FBI, but by his own dishonest and unethical behavior. Hopefully all the vermin and slime will finally come out into the light of day with the Mueller investigation which Trump and his blinded followers would like to see squashed.
11
If you had ever been a federal employee, you would realize how bizarre it is that Hillary Clinton used an unauthorized private home server to conduct official State Department business as well as personal business. She used the non-secure private home server almost exclusively to conduct State Department business, including classified information downloaded from the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet), a system of interconnected computer networks used by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State to transmit classified information. We were afraid of being caught with classified material on our desks or on our workspace computers.
15
In short, William Case, any of us who have ever held a security clearance understand Hillary Clinton committed multiple felonies. Comey & McCabe's job was to get her off the hook
1
"We were afraid of being caught with classified material on our desks or on our workspace computers"
I'm sure you were afraid, with good reason. Not all of us have an ex POTUS spouse warmed up in the bullpen, ready to flag down Loretta Lynch on an airport tarmac to smooth things over.
This article is the Times’ first tentative step in breaking the news to the children.
Their Santa Claus story was a hoax.
Gonna need more safe spaces in the next few weeks as reality is attempted for a change.
16
To prove a crime you need three things. Means, motive and opportunity. The Trump campaign had the means. They have already admitted to wanting to collude with the Russians to further their campaign. They certainly had the motive and have admitted they took the Trump Tower meeting with the expectation of getting Russian dirt. And they had the opportunity.
Each element of Means, Motive and Opportunity needs to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt to get a guilty verdict. But let's face it, the Trump campaign has admitted to all 3. They claim ignorance as their excuse. So the question is ignorance of the law an excuse?
7
Having the means, motive and opportunity doesn't prove a crime. For example, millions of gun owners have ther means, motive and opportunity to rob a bank, but that does not make them bank robbers. And you still have to prove a bank was robbed. So far, the Mueller teams hasn't been able to prove any unlawful collusion occurred.
9
William, what are you saying about gun owners? Why would they have the motive or opportunity? False analogy.
1
William Case: "So far, the Mueller teams hasn't been able to prove any unlawful collusion occurred."
That we know of. Please remember that as you make these claims. Mueller's team doesn't leak like the White House, so we don't know what they have.
1
Hmm. Played up Clinton's case, but downplayed Trump? Are we to believe that then candidate Trump had a "fixer" at the FBI? Or that compared to Clinton, the Trump case was, and still is, full of hogwash.
7
No, we're to believe that the Clinton investigation was at an end and the Trump investigation was just starting. Why does that seem to be so hard to take in?
2
Yet another time a woman is on the short end of a double-standard.
14
"'It's a witch hunt,' Mr. Trump said ... ."
But what if there *are* witches lurking?
7
And what about the Rolling Stone magazine's recent article about Cohen's ties to the Russian mob/oligarchy?
7
I think we've all been in situations like this, and it has been said that nobody is perfect. What matters most, I think, is motivation. In this case, if the motivation consists of nothing beyond an unprincipled, blind determination to arrive at a predetermined conclusion, problems ensue. When the motivation is to discover as much as one can about facts and circumstance and then let the chips fall wherever they may with the public, at least the resultant political maneuvering is in the arena where it belongs. The fact is, the folks at the FBI do not live in a vacuum and must accept the innate nexus between their organization and the surrounding political world, with all the tripwires and hidden dangers the navigation of which necessarily involves. It cannot help but be part of the calculus. And sometimes it is very, very, messy.
But what we have here is a group of people who simply refuse to even entertain the concept of letting the American people see the facts of the matter. The facts - that's all I want. All the obfuscation, prevarication, conspiratorial fantasy, and name-calling points to one thing: a group of folks terrified of something that we, as a nation, profess to venerate: the truth.
Mr. Trump cannot expect respect if he cannot provide it.
2
http://thefederalist.com/2018/05/17/10-key-takeaways-from-new-york-times...
I find this take on the NYT story and how it was sourced to be alarming. If it is true, NYT needs to explain how it happened.
9
Much of what is associated with the Federalist Society is biased nonsense based on the delusion that the US is a divine creation.
4
@Ralph Gibson: The author of this piece clearly has her own agenda. She betrays it within the first two paragraphs, when she starts in about "media enablers." When writers start using coded political jargon to attract a certain type of conspiracy-theory reader, they lose all credibility.
Her objective is to discredit the Times and increase the status of her own rag. Sorry, not buying it.
6
Few can dispute her facts and most will dismiss her outright despite the fact that Ms. Hemingway has tremendous personal integrity. Just goes to show they really don't want all the facts.
4
Crossfire Hurricane. Comey in the middle of that political crossfire. The mole in England, some people are sharing ideas of who it is. A lot of news outlets abroad don't understand what a Republican is or the internal political division in the U.S. NY & California aren't where all the votes come from so that point of view, politically, isn't a national coherent point of view. Hillary Clinton: "it's Comey's fault I lost. It's Russia's fault, WikiLeaks etc." Stormy Daniels playing the Madame Provateur role ( politically ) & playing that role quite well, no-one can say that Stormy Daniels is a disempowered woman. My view of Hillary Clinton is that she is incapable of self-reflection or even being able to see the truth of a politically divided nation and how her own character & how she is perceived as a person has been a part of the problem. The msm throws gasoline on the political fire by not being balanced enough & insults millions of citizens in that process, but it is easier to just blame Comey and the Russians isn't it? Hillary herself, the msm, a divided nation ( politically ) couldn't possibly explain the situation could it? It must be easier to not discuss the real issues and just avoid it all together and look for scapegoats or act like infantile children and not be able to handle the result of democratic processes where the msm and Hillary lost, let's just blame Comey & the Russians.
4
Or it could be that all the things you cite were happening simultaneously. Why does it always seem impossible in the minds of Trump supporters, that he and his campaign were not in some sort of contact with Russia to win the election?
Hillary was a bad candidate AND the MSM were in the tank for her AND Comey threw the election with his 11th hour revelations of more emails AND the Trump campaign were doing anything in their power, including a conspiracy with Russia, to win the election.
That seems more plausible to me than it being just Hillary and the MSM.
1
As more and more information comes to light it is clear that we have an illegitimate president. The fact that Trump has shown himself to be a puppet of Putin is no surprise. The FBI made mistakes but it is not in "tatters" except in the minds of a very dangerous man and his supporters. This entire election cycle has diminished America and our version of democracy. How very sad!
The Russians and their puppet Trump need to be stopped or this will be the end of the United States.
9
With all The Rolling Stone Band references, it's worth noting candidate Trump began & ended each campaign rally by stealing their song 'You Can't Always Get What you Want.'
Even lyrics within the Stones' tune of the crossfire hurricane reference is fitting: "I was born in a crossfire hurricane; and I howled at the morning driving rain."
Who does more howling in the morning more than President Trump? How tired are you of hearing his phrase "witch hunt?"
I thought Trump said he had "all the best words." He doesn't.
The FBI reportedly named its investigation 100 days before the 2016 election day. There is something truly horrifying the FBI kept this under wrap: Trump-Russia is far worse than his opponent's email-gate.
As has been said, the Trump presidency is a joke, but it's no laughing matter. His cabinet selection is horrifying.
We've seen far better cabinets at furniture stores. His impeachment or resignation cannot come soon enough.
9
Has anyone ever explained the relevance of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" as the main campaign song? It seems SO counterintuitive to use it.
1
To sum up 5,000 words, no one made any mistakes - including the NYT. The FBI acted properly and diligently, even though after 2 years it has no more information than Steele got in a few month.
Amazing that Trump could win in a stable functioning democracy in which all parts are operating as they should.
Wrong!
In fact, every part of the US democracy is teetering on a knife edge and every single part could collapse at any time.
Worse, all could collapse at the same time.
They did and Trump was elected.
It can and will happen again unless the entire system is reformed.
First, denial must end. People must admit that the US democratic institutions are in grave peril.
3
Thank you, NYT, for this thorough, essential journalism. The greatest protector of democracy and freedom is clearly the First Amendment, and the greatest threat to it in modern American history is the Trump administration.
7
I remember the exact place that I stood when I watched Comey on t.v. with his breaking news about Hillary Clinton, right before the election. I recognized at that moment, that it was the end for her. I knew it and felt it-viscerally! I still don't understand why Comey didn't recognize that. Only he knows what his motivation was.
11
Comey declared that the Trump Russian investigation and connection was barely begun when he released his infamous letter to Congress about the reopening of the Clinton email investigation. He used this excuse to justify not releasing information about the Trump investigation.
Clearly from this article based on FBI sources his agency knew much about Trump and his campaign as he trashed Hillary's. This report is only the beginning of a long list of revelations. Mr. Mueller please reveal your investigation as soon as possible. Nothing will be clear until then.
5
What a quandary the men and women were in. The article says, "Agents considered, then rejected, interviewing key Trump associates, which might have sped up the investigation but risked revealing the existence of the case. Top officials quickly became convinced that they would not solve the case before Election Day, which made them only more hesitant to act."
What would you do? They must have realized that The Con Don was just a small part in the hostile financial takeover of governments around the world by some of the most corrupt human beings to ever inhabit OUR planet.
Perhaps they were right. Just imagine if OUR choice -
Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton - had won. The same Robber Barons who have gotten control of most of the press/media in the world would have lambasted her every minute of every day about a "witch hunt" by her and her administration.
They will have been right if this investigation ends with Robber Barons around the world stripped of their stolen wealth - to repair OUR government, social safety net, housing, food, medial and other badly damaged systems - and imprisoned for life.
5
While this is all interesting background, your top story today should have been that Sen. Burr, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a Republican, said there is "no doubt" that Russia favored Trump and meddled in our election with that goal in mind. Chris Wray, FBI head, also defended the investigation and findings of the intelligence community. Why bury this story on p. 16 of the print edition and a small heading online? This is big!
10
The FBI should not be investigating an innocent Donald Trump just because he behaves like he is guilty.
6
This is a case of assumption of guilt followed by coordinated attempts (ex., secret meetings, false dossiers, etc.) to prove it. They failed, no surprise, because there never was collusion. They succeeded, however, in giving ammunition to those unwilling to accept an election. Regardless of the facts, Trump's critics will never believe otherwise. It's the same fixation and hubris that has led to this prolonged investigation.
4
This is a very well written article that explains when leading members of a campaign team are caught up in an investigation of Russian agents, the campaign then comes under investigation
1
It is just like having another Commissioned/Syndicated Mafia family in the White House.
This just goes to show you how weak and pathetic our country is becoming, by accepting unethical behavior by our elected officials, government officials, and officials in the private sector.
Nobody knows how to do the right thing anymore!
"Government of the criminals, for the criminals"
It is long overdue to start placing these unethical, greedy, and dishonest people behind bars.
4
Anybody concerned at all that the two candidates for president in 2016 were under investigations by the FBI?
5
One was cleared and through the public portrayal of her by the FBI, lost the election. The other is still under investigation and little was said about him before the election. A clear double standard that favored him over her.
8
Mrs. Clinton was CLEARED of any wrongdoing. Donald not so much!
3
Lol. The IG will have the last laugh on HRC.
6
The facts, had they surfaced, might have devastated the Trump campaign:
Better to cover them up and let them come out later so it devastates the whole country, maybe world, as well? Way to go James. Show us what integrity is all about.
Kudos to Trump for firing you.
The longer this goes on, I'm afraid, the more sane and smarter Trump looks. Sorry what that says about his cock-sure vociferous critics. But if one can't take it one shouldn't dish it out then in the first place. It's not his fault you may feel the way you do now. Can't wait to hear the tail covering on MSNBC tonight. Perhaps I will be able to stand to watch that network again after all.
3
This sounds like the classic tale of the bully who finally gets called to fight after school: knowing he will probably lose the fight, he starts a rumor that his opponent is planning to "rig" the fight somehow. Win or lose, he's covered. This is how DT has conducted his affairs throughout his career: always hedging his bets; always finding some "angle," no matter how unethical, to cover all possible outcomes. For DT, winning is the only thing that matters.
If DT had lost the election as most of us anticipated, he would certainly have encouraged massive protests based on his accusations before the election; that he "won" may be considered divine providence since a potential constitutional crisis was averted.
But it is clear that we are headed toward another crisis: determining what to do about the bully who will do anything, no matter how outrageous, unconstitutional or bizarre, to save face. He's doing the same thing now with the Mueller investigation that he did with the election: if Mueller does not find evidence of collusion, DT will prance around as if he just won the world chess championship. However, if Mueller does find evidence, and turns it over to the AG who then submits it to the House, we can be assured that DT will be tweeting "Conspiracy!!" at every turn.
This is the path that his supporters have chosen for this country, and altering this trajectory will be a monumental task.
7
This is a typical New York Times politically motivated story. While trying to appear objective, the story veers off in various anti-Trump directions. Maggie Haberman isn’t listed as an author, but the article has the drip, drip, drip of acid that usually characterize her articles on Trump. The article does not focus on the obvious anti-Trump views of many of the people quoted, such as Strzok and Page, and Sally Yates. And why no mention of the dry cleaning of the Comey’s original charge that Hillary was merely “careless” rather than grossly negligent in her handling of the emails, the latter being the statutory language of the criminal law she violated? The Times is trying to re-write the history, but it’s credibility is shot, possibly irreparably.
14
Actually, Australia does not have an Ambassador to the UK as it is a Commonwealth country with the Queen as head of state. The title for Australia's representative is High Commissioner. These days the NYT can't afford to get their facts wrong in the smallest respect!
13
Here's the Cliff Notes version: Comey was (and, I suspect still is) a right wing Republican (as if there are any other kind anymore) and his sycophants in the FBI knew it well. His political spin by "chastizing" Clinton (read "throwong her under the bus'), while simultaneously strictly adhering to the FBI policy of silence regarding Trump is nothing but abuse of authority to influence the outcome of the election (successfully), his pathetic attempts to justify his reprehensible actions notwithstanding.
The most unfortunate part is that his acts, for which I believe he should be indicted, reflect the right wing partisanship of a majority of FBI agents.
8
ONCE AGAIN, all this gets analyzed from 20/20 hindsight AND why is this fact always left out of these stories?
EVEN THOUGH THEY KNEW, as early as 2014, the #BarackObama administration withheld from the American people and did not notify campaigns of Russian attempts to influence; so no one knew to be careful and completely document contacts so they could thoroughly respond to an inquiry.
Would the goal of not notifying serve as a hedge to Donald J. Trump winning?
Almost immediately after the election it's been Russia-Russia-Russia. I mean people are being asked about insignificant Russia contacts specifically to try and accuse them of LYING. It's blatantly transparent and actually is a Democratic Party version of the Russian tactic of 'Kompromat'.
'On Oct. 7, 2016, about a month before the election, the administration revealed, through a statement from the director of national intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security, that the U.S. government believed Russia was behind the hacks and was seeking to interfere with the election.'
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/14/obama-russia-election-interfer...
PLUS, you have the hypocrisy of it all:
Obama met with Putin in 2015 KNOWING that the Russians had PREVIOUSLY meddled in the 2014 midterms AND had failed to notify the public.
Obama, Putin Meet in New York
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/09/28/obama-putin-meet-in-new-...
6
So the Times still can’t publish any evidence that the Russian state sought to influence the 2016 election for Trump.
The Times just treats such as established fact, while never having supported that conclusion in the last 18 months with evidence. (Or such “evidence” was complaint about RT covering Occupy Wall Street in 2011.)
No, there is strong evidence any party in Russia, state or private, hacked the DNC emails. While very strong evidence points to the DNC emails being leaked by someone within the DNC. And the source of the Podesta email “hack” remains completely unknown.
12
The FBI was making decisions based on faulty Times polls showing Clinton winning in a landslide. Then just before the election, the Times publishes an article with a headline about a reopened FBI investigation into Clinton that would prove specious, while burying the real news about an ongoing FBI investigation into Russia working sow chaos and get Trump elected. Wow. Just wow.
7
Huh ? Are we reading the same column.. the FBI spied on the Trump campaign !?
6
"Crossfire Hurricane spawned a case that has brought charges against former Trump campaign officials and more than a dozen Russians."
Like the rest of this article, the above sentence is accurate but misleading. Very misleading.
Is this kind of article what the New York Times thinks passes for journalism? I've read editorials that were less slanted.
There is a story here, and one of national import. One of the most important stories in the history of the FBI.
But these reporters missed it. They chose instead to write a PR piece that whitewashes nasty work rather than expose it.
Pulitzer prizes will be awarded for reporting on the FBI's bungling of the Trump-Russia investigation. The New York Times won't be getting any.
5
It is utterly outrageous. The FBI takes it upon itself to investigate Trump campaign ties to Russia? On what evidence? A lower level staffer? On who’s directive? If such directive emanated from the Obama White House, it would be even a greater abuse of presidential power than Watergate: A sitting president attempting to dig-up dirt to thwart a political opponent and (to coin Watergate) using the FBI as it’s Dirty Plumber to carry it out.
12
Great reporting of new facts I had not seen. But terrible job of spinning the story to downplay the implications. This is indeed a case of Nixonian import -- where the Obama administration used its legal agencies for political purposes and then hid and denied that use.
There is now, and never has been, any evidence of any collusion (legal or illegal) between the Russians and any member of the Trump campaign. Yet without any evidence of a crime an investigation began and continues because those in government disliked a candidate.
James Comey may think he was and is acting out of a higher loyalty. He's not. He judged a man unfit for the presidency and tried to bring him down. He let his personal morality override his duty not to use the law to enforce moral judgments.
And now he gets rewarded for it. Shame on him, and shame on those who buy his book and pay to hear his lectures.
Morality? Not hardly.
17
"Congressional Republicans, led by Representative Devin Nunes of California, have begun to dig into F.B.I. files, looking for evidence that could undermine the investigation."
Government officials will not turn over information to Congress, which has a legal interest in conducting oversight. However, government officials are happy to provide select information to the Times to get ahead of the IG's upcoming report.
The piece seems well reported, but the quoted sentence reflects the agenda of the government officials who leaked much of this story's content.
The Times would have done better to highlight the bias of its sources.
9
This is journalism. This is digging for facts and reporting them. This is a refreshing change from the usual "reporting" on what interested persons believe the facts are or what they believe the facts mean. If journalists are going to help us through the post-truth era, they needs to deliver this kind of product on a daily basis. Nicely done.
5
If only the FBI had been as bold with information on Trump as they had been with Clinton, or, been equally as circumspect about information on either, so close before the election.
At least they were forthcoming with the Russian information with top members of the Obama administration and legislators, who then remained silent -- following FBI protocol. Trumps himself was informed of the same information, after election, and cried, "Witch hunt! "
If the FBI has such strong rules about remaining silent about candidates around election time, Comey should never have mentioned the non-prosecutable "non-news" about Hillary's careless transmission of e-mails.
Or, he should have reported equally on the Trump/ Russia connection. Then voters could decide which dirty candidate they preferred.
Putting politics aside is the normal policy of the FBI when investigating, and not making public announcements at election time. Comey overstepped these rules with Clinton, and limbo-barred under them with Trump. The investigation's secrecy was kept secret by elected decision makers of both the Obama and Trump administrations.
Trump's yelling "witch hunt!" probably bolstered the FBI's credibility, but by then, he was elected.
The media did its usual follow-the-sensational-story, to sell ads, which, pre-electon, was Trump's rank behavior and talking points, and Hillary's e-mails.
The guy who was slated in all polls to win, Sanders, was ignored by the media.
2
I read the article thoroughly. I'm also reading many of the comments. I wish I could state I'm amazed of the number of people disputing facts and dipping into another universe. But, alas, I cannot.
I know the frustrated and ignored Americans and white supremacists have long been left out of our current state of affairs and desperately needed someone to represent them. But the people they put in power represent only themselves and the person supposedly at the head of the country only represents himself. Those people, such as the Mercers and the Koch bros. represent a universe 99% of us will never encroach upon. I'm not sure why when there are philanthropists such as the Gates, Cuban and Buffet who do appear to care about others. I suppose that's the difference between having power and money and using it to help people versus having power and money to destroy us. It makes no sense.
6
I agree. The Kochs, Mercer's, Adelson, etc., are hellbent on destroying democracy as we know it, look at what has been done to the State Department and the Department of Justice, they've been gutted.
Let's please work hard to get the vote out on November 6th!
4
This is serious narrative shaping. I'm sure people involved at the FBI are sources for this story, just as McCabe shaped media narratives as seen in the IG report.
The comments show many buy this, but think this: if someone planted evidence Humphrey colluded with Russians and Nixon and his "plumbers" retroactively obtained a warrant to raid the DNC HQ at Watergate, would that make it OK?
There is still 0 evidence of collusion with Russia. The jury is out on whether Comey was a knowing conspirator from the beginning or whether he initially believed this was real and then severely overreached, but the IC was spying on a Presidential candidate and then President, and sharing damaging information about him and his campaign with the media, the sitting President, and his administration.
If Comey were clean, he should have deeply investigated the initial intel to verify it. They should have been looking at whether Downer, Brennan, and Steele had ulterior motives and whether this was a political smear. And they didn't keep it "closely held' - they leaked it to the media to feed the Russia narrative to help seal the deal for Clinton. Even Strzok admitted he didn't think there "was any big there there", and he was as close to this as anyone. Comey only brought up the Clinton investigation at the end to stop the NYPD from disclosing what they had from Weiner's computer.
Now, 2 years later, they are way out over their skis and have set an awful, awful precedent.
10
So, you prefer to believe that would rather believe that the IC planted evidence of Russian collusion just to get at candidate, then president Trump? Amazing. I do not know if there was "collusion." But I do know that there is plenty of hard, real evidence that there was interference with the election by Russia. That interference was designed to help Trump. There were numerous contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians during and after the election. Assertions that that this investigation is based on a "plant" as part of an anti-trump "deep state" conspiracy and is now a sham investigation are baseless. It is those unfounded conspiracy allegations that are setting an awful, awful precedent.
4
@NYC80: Oh, brother. This is sad, watching people flail around, grasping at straws, making up stories about "planted" information, all to protect a con man who pulled the wool over their eyes, because they can't admit they threw their support to a lying, money-laundering mobster. You folks ought to be ashamed of yourselves, but, like your idol, the Big White Hope Who is Never Wrong and Never Apologizes, you have no shame. Only hubris, which you must protect at all costs - even if it causes a constitutional crisis.
7
It was rigged. Against Hillary. They were afraid to be critical of Trump.
6
It’s amusing to see the extent of denial among Trump supporters. You have to know in your hearts — perhaps I’m being presumptuous here — that one of America’s biggest adversaries wanted Trump to win because they knew he’s a chump who can easily be played.
9
Strzok and Page were certainly spot on in their assessment of the Trump early on. If nothing else, I have a deep respect for the folks at the FBI. They may be the only entity keep[ing this nation together at this time. Between Trump and our failing (due to under funding) education system, it is a miracle we are still here at all.
5
The article states that "days after the stolen Democratic emails became public, he [Trump] called on Russia to uncover more".
This is patently FALSE. During the July 27, 2016 press conference and in a tweet right after that press conference, he asked for "Russia or anyone else who had them" to release the 33K emails Hillary Clinton and her team of lawyers destroyed. He did NOT ask them to hack her or anyone else as the NYT and countless other publications and "news" outlets have repeatedly claimed.
As for the rest of this piece, it's laughable that it tries to paint the FBI as being concerned with following the letter of the law. The truth will come out soon enough - exposing countless illegal acts on behalf of the FBI, DOJ, and CIA leadership. It will be interesting to see if the Times and those who read it accept the truth when it's laid right at their feet.
The FBI exonerated Clinton for countless crimes that others have been convicted of. They (along with other top Obama administration officials) illegally spied on multiple members of the Trump campaign. And they used our allies abroad to do so. They lied to a FISA court and to Congress repeatedly. The truth will come out, and soon.
5
So with all the expertise at the FBI they could not ascertain in short order that:
A: George Papadopoulos was a 28 year old doofus with no connections
B: Carter Page was a 43 year old doofus with no connections
C: Paul Manafort was in it for himself, did not think Trump would win, and was not even honest with the Trump campaign. Hardly a candidate to collude for votes.
Case closed.
6
Good work Matlock
Although this article attempts to cast more light on Trump (when isn’t the NYT doing so?) the references to the Clinton investigation are very selective it seems. The pre-interview exoneration letter has never been fully explained. The lack of an interview transcript not under oath is highly suspect. As was immunity for Clinton’s lawyers, subjects themselves and present for the interview. Most troubling is the disregard for Clinton’s wanton disregard (obstruction?) related to subpoenaed material.
As for Trump, the article fails to detail the FISA application and use of the discredited dossier to spy on Trump associates and ultimately appoint a Special Counsel. The firings, retirements, demotions at the FBI and DOJ, as well as the slow walking of documents and failure to comply with proper Congressional oversight requests suggest a more nefarious plot than the article would have readers believe.
This reader believes a more partisan FBI was at work rather than the cautious, introspective one the NYT portrays b
5
reading this article, it sounds like the FBI was indeed spying on Trump prior to the election...
4
Yes with a mole embedded in the campaign as well! Our tax money wasted when they should have been stopping terrorists.
1
It’s outrageous that Trump makes “sound-bite-sized accusations — witch hunt, hoax, deep state, rigged system — that fan the flames of conspiracy.” In fact he should be grateful that the FBI did not disclose the facts they had gathered in mid-2016, which would have “devasted” his campaign. Besides Comey’s tactless moves against Hillary Clinton destroyed her prospects of winning, while refusing “repeated requests to discuss the Trump investigation” that would have made a difference.
Instead of lashing out at Comey and his ilk, Trump should admit that he had been elected thanks to their inaction. Having had a taste of his presidency he should now contemplate resigning, before being forced out of office. The public has enough of his disastrous policies, which have done more harm than good to the country and the wider world.
“Just as the F.B.I. has been criticized for its handling of the Trump investigation, so too has The Times” for an article on Oct. 31, 2016, that might have “pre-emptively exonerated Mr. Trump, dousing chances to raise questions about the campaign’s Russian ties before Election Day.” As fluid as the nascent phase of the investigations can be, people should brace for surprises. Now we know more than we did in 2016.
15
Well, Witch Hunt Trump and his GOP cronies will be once again thankful for this NYT article. In October 2016 we were assured that there was no investigation into any Russian ties to Trump and now the NYT tells us the FBI was spying on the Trump campaign.
Devin Nunes will be smiling a mile wide.
All of this new information leads this reader to ask 'What the He-- is going on inside the FBI?' What were they actually doing and trying to accomplish in 2016? It seems that both camps can now claim Deep State conspiracies. And that gets America nowhere but back to ground zero with each side claiming foul with selective arguments. The whole Russia investigation seems to be a huge mess right now.
Meanwhile we have learned that 2 SAR reports have gone "missing" within the Treasury Department files regarding Michael Cohen and that Steve Bannon asked Cambridge Analytica about voter suppression mechanisms that could be used in the 2016 election.
Where are the present day Woodwards and Bernsteins? All these tidbits of information which lead to rampant speculation and no definitive answers. Makes me appreciate the Quiet workings of the Mueller team at the least and yet yearn for true answers.
Our country is being torn apart right now with partisan warfare about Russian interference. Putin's dream come true.
6
This article simply shows that the FBI, being the professional organization it is, conducted the investigation into the Trump campaign with the utmost discretion and restraint.
It also shows that the FBI, being an organization composed of human beings, made some mistakes in their handling of both the Clinton and the Trump investigations. The "Deep State" only exists in the paranoid delusions of the conservative extremists and the self serving strategies of the Trump apologists.
8
This article is worth a read -- I started it thinking not, but changed my mind. I will never understand James Comey's actions, but it makes me think, more than ever, that there's one set of actors that have never taken a hit -- at least one I've heard about or read about publicly. Even the NYT does a mea culpa here -- and, yeah, they're correct in doing so. But polling companies? Nobody mentions them except in passing.
And that's a huge error. Because, in essence, the degree of error that existed in polling data is what both stymied the FBI, the Obama Administration and the news media not to try harder or make public their concerns until too late. Polling companies made money all the way to the bank every week all during the last election -- and they were wrong, wrong, wrong. Like Facebook which has played its "doing good-ism" to the hilt since inception, while doing a ton of bad that carries repercussions far into the future, polling companies have misled politicians, government agencies and the public into believing they know what they're doing. And they don't. Their polling mechanics are grossly out of date, I suspect -- but they don't want to admit it because it would affect their bottom lines. What has been affected, instead, is the very fabric of our democracy -- for years to come.
5
Thank you for your well articulated and important perspective. I would just like to add... that Facebook and Google are far more than "polling companies"... they are data mining and selling the data to the highest bidder at a whim's notice... doesn't matter if it's Cambridge Analytica, Trumptopia, the Clinton Foundation, the Mercer's or Putin. I don't care which political party an American Citizen affiliates with, WE THE PEOPLE need to insist that our elected officials legislate protective measures that hold the Facebook's of the world accountable for their actions. The Right to Privacy for all citizens is key part of the fundamental core of any healthy democracy... not just Social Media CEO's who can afford 4 people -24 hours a day to guard their garbage cans.
3
American citizens and voters connected and aligned to all political parties have had their rights violated by the FBI, the Justice Department, Congress and both political campaigns. The facts were known 100 days before the election... Russia aka Putin was actively involved in covert actions specifically designed to interfere in the 2016 Presidential Elections. It doesn't matter which Political Party an American Citizen aligns with... Every American Voter had the right to know this was happening. Instead of doing their job, the FBI, the Justice Department, Congress and BOTH Political Parties were gaming the system... trying to minimize the damage that would occur when the verity of Russia's involvement was revealed. People were bribed, warned and lied to. Facts were consciously buried deep within government bureaucracy to slow the process down. Prior to the election, ALL VOTERS had the right to know that Russia was involved. I for one am grateful to the hardworking journalists especially at Mother Jones but also at the NYT, WP and The Guardian who were relentless in their efforts to reveal the truth. Ultimately, the American Public was consciously lied to and many, many people in our government should lose their jobs and be prosecuted. It is the Power Brokers within our government and political parties who are destroying the U.S. Democracy.
8
You appear to know many more "facts" about the situation than the NYT or the FB I. Unless you are just imagining how things SHOULD have happened it is time you turned yourself in for an interview.
For the lying, amoral Trump and his "fine people" base though not finding missing financial reports proves that they never existed. Fake news.
Pence, Giuliani, Judge Pirro, Sean Hannity etal, want Mueller to "wrap" this up so Trump can continue replacing every agency and department with his junta's syndicate of thieves and loyalists.
While the lower federal courts are being packed with anti-Constitution corporate toadies and ideologues even more partisan than the Republicans' rubber-stamp-in-waiting Neil Gorsuch it's only a matter of time before the U.S. Supreme Court degrades into a Star Chamber arm of the Trump private empire.
It will last for decades and it may already be too late for Americans to wake up and realize the dystopian Trump police state that is evolving rapidly.
"We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~Justice Louis D. Brandeis
6
And the Republican party has made their choice.
2
Heads I win, tails you lose. Trump founded his campaign on the assertion that he could only lose if the election was rigged. Combined with the near-universal belief that Clinton would win, everyone tiptoed around the eccentric uncle for fear of being blamed publicly for the inevitable loss and persecuted in the investigations that would just as inevitably follow in the Republican Congress.
The sad thing is, it worked, and the FBI, in particular, was played like a cheap fiddle. Every damaging accusation about Clinton was made public, while anything that could have sunk Trump was itself deep sixed. And Trump won by 70,000 votes in four key states, while losing the popular vote by millions. Rigged election indeed.
17
As long as Trump keeps attacking black football players who take the knee during the anthem, demonizing Mexicans, and fighting for the right of Evangelicals to discriminate against gays, his supporters won’t care about his collusion with Russians and his rampant corruption.
The Trump coalition is nothing but angry white people who resent progress and that minorities have equal rights. Trump is their George Wallace, standing at the school house door trying to stop progress.
God help us if with Russian help, Trump wins another Electoral College Victory. The racism we see more and more in this country will explode. I wouldn’t be surprised during a second Trump term that one or more of the Confederate states tries to bring back Jim Crow.
13
Up to now, this is the most in-depth piece I've been able to find on the origins of the FBI's investigation. The article seems to me to be sober, dispassionate, cautious and judicious. It doesn't leap to or look forward to any conclusions. It does give fresh insights into why and how things moved forward or paddled in place. There's a whole lot of disinformation out there. Having a basic understanding of the process would help dispel some of the nonsense and obfuscation. Until something better comes along, this is a good, solid place to begin our national discussion.
237
You are so right. I am so thankful for The New York Times. We all should be.
1
rjk, when I read the article the obvious was missing from the article. While the article does piece together many moving parts it overlooked, timely cause. There was nothing in the article new to those of us closely following the course of events. It was nice to have some chronology, but again the obvious has been overlooked. No, I am not going to expound on it here, that is for a future article that I am currently working on. Cheers!
4
Other than the FACT that is is a complete repudiation of the lies that the NY Times told earlier. Outside of that it is a nice little piece of obfuscation.
15
No matter how much Mr Comey tries to sugarcoat his biased actions against Mrs Clinton in name of integrity I still think he favored and still favors Trump, and his firing and feud is all part of a pre-meditated show. I am sure he, Hannity and Trump still give each other goodnight kiss every night.
7
It’s one thing for pollsters to provide data to candidates as a campaigning tool. It’s quite another when the FBI and the New York Times use polls to justify their decision making process. Who answers pollsters’ phone calls these days? You all are being duped. They are increasingly inaccurate, or worse a driver of voter apathy. Yet the consultancy class rules in Washington and NY. That excuse still doesn’t explain how the incriminating trail of big toasty croutons of Mr Trump’s business dealings in Altlantic City, New York and Moscow didn’t generated more investigative reporting or prior legal scrutiny.
6
The national nightmare known as the Trump Administration is a full-on Dumpster Fire. It will take a long time for all the investigations and litigation and appeals and jail sentences to run their course.
In the meantime, the country and it's democratic institutions suffer.
VOTE !!
15
This has been a long time coming. We've undermined other countries' governments and elections for decades. It was only a matter of time until we did it to ourselves. The only shocking thing about this case is that anyone is shocked.
7
This is entertaining and will keep the memes coming and the FB rants going and the papers selling but that's all it will do. This is a vicious catch 22 cycle. I was at the gym today and saw Rudy talking on fox and friends. I read the closed caption spin. Both sides are going to spin this until their graves. Let it go and move on.
4
That doesn't sound like middle ground, that sounds like capitulation. The people need to take back the country from the corporations and financial cabal that has a boot on our neck. Bad times are coming for our democracy ... heck, they are here!
2
That this paper and most of its readers continue to treat this "Russia" thing as real is a scandal nearly as large as the one involving a politicized FBI that actually *spied* on a rival presidential campaign.
Let that sink in.
I dare say had Bush or Trump done something like this, you people would be even more triggered than you already are.
But because of your blatant partisanship and blind hatred for a president you simply don't agree with, you're willing to chuck the rule of law and all of our cherished institutions out the door and overlook the greatest scandal in our country's history just for the sake of bashing him.
It's beyond pathetic.
12
Each time The Times treats these "origin" leaks as conclusive. Each time, additional information emerges to throw cold water on them. Recall the dossier. First, it was clear evidence, then it became a nothing burger once its origins were unearthed.
What was CIA Director Brennan's role? When that is uncovered, we'll know we're near the truth.
8
Wow. Mueller's investigation has, so far, resulted in 5 guilty pleas and 17 more indictments: money laundering, lying to the FBI, conspiracy, financial fraud, etc. These types of activities are used to cover up other criminal activities.
You want the the country to ignore all of the crimes Mueller has uncovered yet you accuse the NYT of throwing the rule of law out the window? THAT is what's beyond pathetic.
5
sorry, what is truly pathetic is your attempt to distract us from the many connections to Russia that were made and then lied about, by people in Trump's entourage: by the disastrous attack on real reporting backed up onlyv with the narcissistic assurance that any concern raised must be "fake news" and a witch hunt, since of course, the emperor can never be wrong. This man is a blight on freedom of the press, and a cancer on the rule of law, the system of checks and balances, the principle that no man is above the law.
5
"Crossfire Hurricane"?? These amateur sleuths have read too many novels. Well written article, but gave too much credibility to amateurish FBI and Justice, particularly S. Yates. Both in the Clinton and Russia probes, they see big events which are not there, step on individual rights, and perhaps commit felonies themselves. the FBI and Justice are in tatters. We had two candidates in Clinton and Trump who have questionable morals and ethics.
40
The FBI and DOJ are not in tatters. The present administration, however, IS in tatters. Maybe you can do a better job as an "amateur sleuth".
69
I concur
7
Our FBI and Justice Department investigators are amateurs? Really? Which agency would you consider more experienced/professional, and could have better handled this investigation? Maybe Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service?
50
You all need to read the book "Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump" by Michael Isikoff and David Corn. It tells the story of Trump and his ties to Russia and his love of Putin. The collusion is staggering. The conspiracy is....illegal.
It's a sad story and tells just how easy it is to fool the voters.
Then read "Trumpocracy" by David Frum. Also a good read and tells how corrupt and inept Trump and his gang really are.
Sad. Please don't be fooled by Trump and his ilk again. Think carefully before you vote in the mid-term elections and the next presidential election.
22
There is a major difference between the Clinton email investigation and the Russian investigation. In 2016, Hillary Clinton was a prime suspect in a criminal investigation while Donald Trump was not a suspect.
The FBI began investigating Hillary after the existence of the private home server she used to conduct official State Department business as well as personal business was disclosed during the House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing. The FBI found dozens of classified emails. The FBI concluded Clinton was guilty of mishandling classified information, but FBI Director James Comey called a press conference to proclaim she should not be charged because she acted without criminal intent, even though the statue requires no showing of criminal intent; its purpose is to prevent negligence.
Meanwhile, Trump was not a suspect in the Russian investigation. Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, 2017, fired FBI Director James Comey said President Trump wasn't under investigation. (President Trump fired Comey because Comey refused to state publically that Trump wasn’t under investigation.) In March 2018, Special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly told Trump’s legal team that the president is not a “criminal target” of the Russia investigation and merely a “subject” in the probe.
8
The FBI's handling of Hillary's investigation was malfeasance, not because its impact on her campaign was negative but because it failed to prosecute her crimes. Were any citizen to have destroyed subpoenaed evidence, he/she would have suffered stiff consequences.
Ironic that the same reasons Hillary wasn't prosecuted (ex., she was going to be POTUS) are now protecting Trump. The difference, of course, as you point out, is that she was actually an alleged criminal. He was not.
4
Hillary was rebuked for not being more careful with classified material in email transmissions. It should be noted that some of the material was retroactively classified.
Trump in a meeting with Sergei Lavrov in November of 2017 outed classified Israeli intelligence, in the Oval Office, while boasting of ridding himself of that pesky Comey.
Trump was not and has not been designated a target of investigation because the Justice Department is more concerned with the appearance of impartiality than it is about doing its job, protecting this country from major and organized criminal activity.
3
The topic of the article is how the FBI handled the Clinton investigation and the Russian investigation during the 2016 election campaign.
The Clintons and the DNC have actually done what they accuse Trump of doing. Mueller ignores Hillary's obvious, publicly-provable collusion with Russia while putting Trump under a microscope.
11
It is clear that the FBI downplayed the investigation into Trump. Clinton did herself no favors in how she handled her own email issue, but the FBI showed a double standard. Trump's complaints about FBI bias are quite rich. I sincerely hope that Trump gets impeached and convicted for obstruction of justice so we never have to hear from that horrid excuse for a human being again.
14
Elroy,
Not only that, let’s not forget it was Colin Powell who advised Hillary to use a private server as did he and Dubya’s administration; and they deliberately destroyed emails. That private server was hosted by the RNC. Why so little outrage over that?
And now some in the Trump administration were caught using private unsecured email for government business, yet our Republican controlled congress remains silent.
One standard for Democrats and another less strident one for Republicans.
4
All the FBI top guys were all Republicans weren't they? Comey, McCabe, Rosenstein etc.? If I were a Republican in late 2016, I might have worried about the demise of the Republican party. It might have been down-ballot races I would worry about. As it turned out Comey might have inadvertently lead to the political situation of a Republican (weakened) congress and a RINO president destroying the previous Republican party while he had hoped for a Republican Senate or House to counter Clinton.
3
CIA Director Brennan was a Hillary loyalist. He wanted to be her CIA Director and was reportedly incensed about his/Obama's Middle East strategy being tossed. The FBI was a victim of Comey's poor handling of an investigation. The entire US is the victim of Brennan's vendetta.
2
CIA is part of State. FBI is part of Justice. Right? Is there Palace intrigue? I'm Shocked, shocked I tell you. Still if there is a vendetta against Trump by FBI its Republicans at the top, but I doubt that very much. The FBI has had institutional integrity and I still believe it still has that. A Witch Hunt against the FBI is a corruption of our government.
It seems as though the American public was the last to know. We weren’t served well by those in government law enforcement; the Trump campaign, if not Trump himself, orchestrated Russian collusion and now we have the most crooked of men as President.
Trump has too many layers of protection for impeachment or the 25th Amendment, so we are stuck with him. I do wonder how many of his lieutenants are prosecutable. The buck won’t stop at Trump’s desk because Dishonorable Don will throw anyone under the bus to protect himself. Sad.
5
I understand that the FBI should not overtly interfer in an election however, it appears that their obsession with impartiality kept them from doing their primary job, protecting the country from criminal activity.
Due to their serious lapse we must all endure years of an organized criminal gang run from the White House stealing from the American public and accelerating the decay of our environment.
It's time for the Justice Department to stop hunting immigrants and start jailing Trump and his thugs.
7
This is stomach turning. Comey should be indicted.
13
The reckoning is coming in about two weeks and it's name is Michael E. Horowitz, the Inspector General, not Mueller.
The impact will be as jarring to many writing here as Hillary's loss. Stay tuned.
13
Yes this is obviously a leak designed to move the narrative in a different direction before the Inspector General's report.
5
Am I the only one who imagines Stan Beeman and Dennis Aderholt hard at work when reading about Operation Crossfire Hurricane?
2
Madison and Hamilton are vomiting in their graves. Apologies all around to the Founding Fathers, we have really screwed this up.
11
Beg to differ in the details. They should be feeling some shame for creating the Electoral College.
5
The FBI was cautious. The Times was cautious (Oh my...paragraph 10!). The Russians were not cautious. Trump doesn't know the meaning of "caution." Now the cautious parties are willing to speak to the Times about what they knew, when, and how they regret their caution in their approach to the incautious Trump and Russians. Is it just another argument to affirm that the FBI wasn't really out to get Trump? All reasonable people already believe that. Where is the added value of letting this article reach publication? Why spill these beans, now? The FBI investigative craft, secrecy, and debate angle is less than totally interesting. No one would leak stuff about how soon the investigation began just to help with a ol' tales of the FBI story. Besides, that would be incautious. This leaks now because we can expect another huge blow to Trump and his campaign, and because people expect and hope for a needed crisis in the Republican Party. Honest partisans vs. Trump crooks and dependents. Here's looking at you Mitch McConnell. The FBI and The Times say with this piece: Pick a side. Resign, Elaine!
2
So if Mr. Trump is a 'moron' as most believe, then why is it implausable to believe he had no clue about what was going on? Yes, Mr. Putin has KGB in his blood and I have no doubt he had operatives in play during this meddling. But the smoking gun is something only a crafty, intelligent political veteran could produce. And it would not be the result of something an egotistical, braggart would provide. Trump is guilty alright, of being a bumbling patriot who in his vanity cast his publicity lure out and came back with the biggest catch in political history, and nothing more...
6
Imo, this article is as whitewashed as can be - minimizes evidence the Russia collusion story is a set-up as well as glosses over FBI shenanigans.
> Buried deep within the article, they write " A year and a half later, no public evidence has surfaced connecting Mr. Trump’s advisers to the hacking or linking Mr. Trump himself to the Russian government’s disruptive efforts. "
> Fails to point out Comey refused to state publicly what he told President Trump privately > that he was NOT under investigation.
> Fails to state Comey did not tell DJT the dossier was funded by the DNC & CLINTON CAMPAIGN! WHAT!
Why/How did he omit that?
> Whitewashed that Clapper leaked the dossier meeting & Comey & Clapper set up DJT in order to give CNN the "hook" it needed
> casually slips in "Relying on F.B.I. info and Mr. Steele’s, prosecutors obtained court approval to eavesdrop on Mr. Page" > What? NO outrage or clarity that DOJ/FBI withheld info from a Fisc Judge about an unverified dossier & its DNC source... in order to spy on an opposition campaign...
> According to the authors of "Shattered", it's true > a strategy of Russian election interference was hatched by the Clinton Campaign within hours of DJT's victory
> "concerns the F.B.I. favored Trump" ... are u kidding? Comey / Strzok / McCabe HATED Trump.
> No mention that Russian "interference" has been going on for decades Or that Obama tried to influence Israel's election.
All in all, a wickedly whitewashed article...
13
Not to mention the McCabe and Brennan lying.
3
No mention of subsequent Sally Yates & John Brennan tweets (ongoing) which show EXTREME disdain for Trump, I would even say hate.
No mention of Comey's disastrous book tour culminating in the Bret Baier interview which showed Comey's extreme disdain for Trump & how he thinks (& they all think) that Trump's "values" don't "line up" with America's "values" & therefore (my words) should be taken out.
With Trump, we know he is a Republican & we know exactly where he stands politically. But these other people, are NOT supposed to be political players. They ABUSED their powers to go over after Trump politically because, they don't like his "values."
3
FBI fodder: "Oh what a tangled web we weave . . . then first we practice to deceive (Sir Walter Scott (Mamion, 1808)).
4
Now we know for certain that the Obama DOJ and FBI spied on the Trump campaign. We also know for certain that both the DOJ and the FBI can comply with the subpoenas, since they seem to be able to share a lot of information with the NY Times.
14
Now we have the Obama FBI's version of their illegal spying on the opposition Party's presidential candidate. Perhaps someday we'll get the real story.
.
Enjoy
14
some day the master narcissist will be made accountable; if not, then our great rule of law tradition is in deep trouble
1
The FBI should change its acronym to FBB- the Federal Bureau of Bozos.
4
well we had hillary's vast right wing conspiracy over and over, why not a witch hunt! i go back to the 2012 election cycle when these so called russians started this for 2 election cycles and the obama admin and the fbi basically did nothing. she loses and it's blared like gabriel blowing his horn!
4
I believe Comey is a decent honest man. However, he made mistakes, which I believe were largely born from fear of right wing backlash while operating under the mistaken assumption that HRC would win. In my mind, this presidency is and always will be illegitimate. The damage DT is doing to this nation is disturbing to say the least. In a nutshell, between Comey, the Russians, and DT's lies, we got totally screwed. I can't move on unless justice is done, and this horrible situation gets righted. I can barely stand to watch the news anymore, although am also afraid to bury my head in the sand.
9
This is absolutely scandalous. This kind of illegal undercover spying smacks of the stuff of tin pot dictatorships. And all under Obama.
12
Criminal mischief by the highest justice officials on earth. Breathes there a person with brain so dead as to believe this wasn’t planted, watered and tended to by our former...and his myriad True Believers? The Haldemans and Erlichmans of our time? Spying onTrump: the 2016 equivalent of a “third rate burglary”. I suspect they all belong in jail
9
The stench of all of this well hang over this country for years to come, and I'm not talking about the rancid swamp that Donald Trump is filling every passing day.
7
Dear NYT:
I am delighted that The Times is now belatedly reporting that CIA Director Bennan and senior counterintelligence officials in the FBI launched an investigation and planted a "mole" in the Trump campaign in summer 2016. Finally we are getting closer to a common set of facts that both the right and left can spin.
But other aspects of your story line are still skewed. Trump campaign volunteer George Papadopoulis was first informed about the alleged Russia "dirt" on Clinton not by the mysterious Professor Mifsud -- but by Stefan Halper, a London-based foreign policy and security official linked to the CIA and FBI counterintelligence investigation launched against Trump.
Halper arranged to meet with Papadopoulos in London two months before the 2016 presidential election (on a thin pretext that he wanted Papadopoulis to provide a research memo on a Turkish gas field) and arranged the FBI interviews of Steele.
Halper also sought out and met Carter Page at a July 2016 symposium held at Cambridge, and the pair remained in contact for several months. Halper tried to lure Page into damaging admissions, apparently without much success.
It is highly likely that Halper contributed intel – perhaps indirectly through his MI5 associate Christopher Steele – that would be used by Director Comey to obtain FISA warrants against Page and others.
Next Q: was this covert CIA and FBI operation against the Trump campaign all a dirty political trick -- or justified?
11
Can you cite anyone besides the alt-right press on this?
Why has the NYTimes cut off the links to printing out articles?
4
So the NY Times prints:
"Mr. Strzok had similarly argued for a more aggressive path during the Clinton investigation, according to four current and former officials. He opposed the Justice Department’s decision to offer Mrs. Clinton’s lawyers immunity and negotiate access to her hard drives, the officials said. Mr. Strzok favored using search warrants or subpoenas instead"
Actions of agent Strzok do not match the words printed. HRC destroyed her email server after the FBI searched and subpoenaed the records? Also this biased agent argued for the FBI to follow procedures for Trump whom the agent hates and never followed those same procedures during HRC investigation, who he wanted and expected to be the next POTUS. REALLY!
Additionally, Senator McCain gave the dossier to the FBI, the NY Times article asked us to believe the dossier just floated around the FBI --No special attention paid to it.
Article is a weak attempt to provide cover for government corruption at the highest level; President Trump is correct.
Show the American people unredacted documents --the truth then let us decide!
FBI and DOJ have been stalling; if The NY Times is right, there is nothing to hide.
Also, NYT claims 4 FBI agents averred Strzok wanted to follow FBI protocol but he was the person who changed the wording in the HCR finding from negligence "criminal" to careless handling "Not criminal."
Don't worry most people will not notice NYTs false statements...
11
The NYT can never fully atone for their sin of publishing an article seven days before the 2016 race with this headline:
"Investigating Donald Trump, FBI Sees No Clear Link to Russia"
Rachel Maddow described this piece last night as "that incredibly consequential and misleading article that may have swayed an election because of what turned out to be a wildly inaccurate implication and headline about a US presidential candidate."
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/fbi-russia-election-donal...
I doubt this comment will make it through "the filter" but I'm going to make sure it's posted somewhere.
4
'Crossfire Hurricane'....appropriate name for an investigation into Trump....
This NYT piece opens with;
"Within hours of opening an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia in the summer of 2016, the F.B.I. dispatched a pair of agents to London on a mission so secretive that all but a handful of officials were kept in the dark.
Their assignment, which has not been previously reported, was to meet the Australian ambassador, who had evidence that one of Donald J. Trump’s advisers knew in advance about Russian election meddling."
But it WAS previously reported, in great depth! And the FBI agents almost certainly met with both USA and UK citizens.
NRO May 14, 2018
The Strzok-Page Texts and the Origins of the Trump-Russia Investigation
By Andrew C. McCarthy
"...As my weekend column detailed, the House Intelligence Committee is spearheading a congressional effort to pry disclosure from the Justice Department regarding how and why the so-called Russia investigation was opened...the latest controversy involves the role played by a CIA and FBI informant, based in Britain, who appears to have been deployed against marginal Trump-campaign figures (such as George Papadopoulos).
https://tinyurl.com/yaffp3fg
"Stefan Halper, a foreign policy expert and Cambridge professor with connections to the CIA and its British counterpart, MI6" is probably the US citizen living in the UK who the FBI agents interviewed.
Daily Caller 03/25/2018
A London Meeting Before The Election Aroused George Papadopoulos’s Suspicions
https://tinyurl.com/y736aosl
9
Trump likes to call Jeff Sessions “Mr. Magoo” but it is really he who is the cartoon character who blunders his way through life, knocking down people and institutions in his path as he blindly charges forward like a bull. Mr. Magoo never suffers for his cluelessness and neither will Donald Trump. Yet he will leave a trail of destruction, infamy and possibly even death behind him. We have yet to see a death connected with the Russia investigation but I have no doubt it’s coming.
2
Has anyone reached out to Mick and Keith for comment?
2
And Allen Klein is rolling in his grave trying to get some compensation for it.
Lordy, Lordy Mr. Comey, you were instrumental in giving us the misfit, hate filled bigot, Donald Trump as the worst president in the history of the republic. I hope you can live with yourself because of it. Here's hoping you have many, many sleepless nights. And we have been told that you are such an honorable man.
1
I take from this that the FBI leadership's primary concern was whether Donald Trump and Fox News would have fodder for their claim that the election was rigged, and this took precedence over whether the election was in fact rigged. Knowing the announcement about Hilary Clinton would knock her down a few points, lose a few precincts or states, prehaps, the FBI leadership decided, nevertheless, to create a PR moment about the Weiner emails and knock her down, because, hey, what's a few points if the ultimate outcome remains the same? But how does the outcome remain the same in any scenario? Lose a few additional states but what the heck? Despite the second tier elections tied to the national one? This was nothing but a decision to manipulate the election.
2
The establishment DOJ/FBI is flying straight into the sun and the NYT is complicit in helping them get out in front of the damage by playing off the Obama administration’s spying on a political enemy as no big deal. When the evidence is revealed, remember which outlet helped set the frame.
11
So the Times has had all this information all along and failed to put it together for the readers? As the proverbial dung is about to meet the spinning blade, the usual leakers are really working overtime with your creative journalism department. The Times is leading its readership to almost conclude the opposite of what really happened. The events of the past years were an out and out IC counterintelligence operation AGAINST the Trump campaign. The hundreds of damaging leaks hurting the Trump team since taking office more than bears that out. There will be plenty of honest journalists to debunk your article and correct the record - I'll just state one thing for now. Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were removed from the Mueller investigation after the Inspector General gave Mueller the head's up they were extremely biased against Trump. That pretty much refutes the narrative the Times is pushing. I'm not sure your paper still has the credibility to provide the political cover you are attempting. Democracy certainly dies in the darkness and these are dark times at the Times.
9
Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Lynch, Sztrok, Page, Lynch, Holder. These are great guys. Not a one of them did anything wrong. Trump is a slimeball. SURE!
4
Thirty some years of tantrums from the right-wing about "bias" in the U.S. media has created the fallacy of a "liberal" media; it's no wonder that the Russian puppet only needed to throw daily tantrums about a system "rigged" against him to ensure that the system would then favor him.
2
THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES Is at play here. People too easily lose sight of the fact that had Hilary been elected, the GOPpers would have continued their ideological war among themselves, contaminating and utterly sabotaging the Legislative branch, which would have immobilized Hilary's presidency. Aside from that, Hillary WON the popular election by more than 2.8 million popular votes. Due to what I view as gerrymandering in the swing states that gave Trump the majority of electoral votes, is where the Russian tampering with US elections had their most lethal impact. Hillary was never afforded the deference owed to a Secretary of State, as one of the top officials in the Cabinet, in transitioning from her private server (which she had been advised to do by FORMER SECRETARIES OF STATE). The FBI, CIA, NSA and Secret Service were anything but forthcoming in offering Hillary's team support in transitioning efficiently to government servers. Comey's throwaway throw-up comment about Hillary's careless handling of emails was carelessly formulated in its superficiality. But did NO damage to Hillary's campaign. The die were already cast by the Russians in manipulating swing where she lost by precisely 1% in each, which also did not trigger an automatic recount The statistical probability of such a co-occurrence by chance is diminishingly small. Trump's psychopathic confession that if he did NOT win it was because the elections were rigged was spot on as he DID win.
3
I am not sure, had I been in his position, that I would have made decisions different from Director Comey. In hindsight, there does not appear to be any choice he could have made that wouldn't have made a large proportion of the population think he was interfering. I suppose the best outcome is to have both Trump and Clinton supporters hate him equally.
I hope that voters who were swayed to Trump due to the Clinton e-mail investigation strongly consider the order of magnitude of maintaining a private e-mail server vs. "allegedly" reaching out for and accepting help from agents of the Russian government to win an election, and using your political position to secure new business for your own firm and your associates.
1
The writers of this piece appear to be living in the past.
At the speed of light, the article was dismantled from every quarter.
Not even a fair fight.
Whoever sent the on this fool's errand should be fired.
4
This article reminds us once again that Peter Strzok was driven from the Special Counsel investigation amid a Republican outcry at the news that he had made disparaging remarks about Donald Trump to a colleague during the election campaign.
There was great hypocrisy in that outcry. In retrospect, one may say that an FBI agent should not have called *any* presidential candidate an idiot or expressed the hope and expectation that he would lose. At the time, however, the idea of having Trump as president was almost like the idea of bringing the Three Stooges back to life to form a national triumvirate. It would have taken a leap of imagination to think of him in the same way as other candidates, past or present.
Hope that a reckless, ignorant, bigoted, mentally inferior individual will not become President of the United States? Of course. Anyone with the responsibility of protecting the Republic must always hope that.
2
The US wages psychopathology on its public.
1
“The facts, had they surfaced, might have devastated the Trump campaign: Mr. Trump’s future national security adviser was under investigation, as was his campaign chairman. One adviser appeared to have Russian intelligence contacts. Another was suspected of being a Russian agent himself.
In the Clinton case, Mr. Comey has said he erred on the side of transparency.”
Can you say Double Standard?
Comey excoriated Hillary Clinton publicly but was silent on the Trump campaign’s Russia connections.
We had one illegitimate Republican president, George W. Bush, “elected” by the Supreme Court.
We now have a second illegitimate Republican president, Donald Trump, “elected” by the FBI and Comey, and Russia.
The Senate Intelligence Committee report rebuked the House report, no surprise there. Nunes and Trump more than likely wrote the House report together. Trump supplied the lies and Nunes gussied them up in legalese.
Impeach Now!
It’s pass due to initiate Impeachment proceedings. Bill Clinton was impeached for much less.
Folks this is exactly the Injustice that goes on across America and is considered business as usual.
Women are held to a higher standard, and scrutinized more closely than men.
We’re long overdue for change!..
...Including this illegitimate president!
2
There are a lot of parallels between what James Comey did and what the NY Times editors and reporters did during the 2016 Presidential campaign.
Both the NY Times and James Comey were so fearful of the far right calling them "pro-Hillary" or "liberal" that they decided that they had to bend over backward to portray Hillary as a guilty and untrustworthy liar and bend over backward to present every accusation against Trump as a "he said she said and there's probably nothing there."
Both the NY Times and James Comey embraced the Fox News definition of "fair and balanced" -- which means you play up every unproven accusation against a Democrat as something casting serious doubts on their integrity and dismiss every accusation against a Republican as just a "he said she said' and who knows what the truth is but there's probably nothing there.
Democracy can't die without the complicity of institutions like the NY Times and their reporters' behavior during the 2016 campaign. Like James Comey, this newspaper freaked out because reporting the facts would help Clinton and not Trump. And because reporting the facts wasn't nearly as important to Comey and the NY Times as appearing "fair and balanced", they decided they better report only the "facts" that would help Trump.
Both Comey and the NY Times sold their integrity because they thought Fox News viewers would like them more. You both got played for fools.
4
And though I've heard that the voting machines in various states were hacked by Russians, they say no votes were changed. How can you know this? How can you disprove a negative?
If I were a citizen of one of the states that had their voting machines hack by the Russians, I'd be up in arms. Your vote was probably stolen without your knowledge. And you now have something in common with those who live in D.C., taxation without true representation.
Welcome to the Trumpian kleptocracy. Yes, Trump is stealing and getting rich off of you.
3
“I never saw anything that resembled a witch hunt or suggested that the bureau’s approach to the investigation was politically driven,” said Mary McCord, a 20-year Justice Department veteran...”
Given the humorously disingenuous statement above in the face of revelations of FBI Peter Strzok’s and Lisa Page’s rabid antiTrump emails and “insurance policy” how can one take this article seriously?
7
Learning this is named from a Rolling Stones lyric is the only interesting thing about it. They should have called it Helter Skelter then maybe I could have cared somewhat.
2
Every administration has its scandal, its called American politics.
No scandals during the Obama administration.
1
Data collected from various sources. Globally. Bits and pieces. Relevant or not to creating a puzzle whose image wasn’t clear initially. Analyzed into types, qualities and levels of information. Which didn’t result in sought after answers. Clarifications. Necessary leading, legitimate questions which could-would stimulate further quests to achieve understanding about...?What? Who?Where?When? Why?Lots of “Ws.” Related, somehow, to Winning. And to many of US losing; whatever our political identities; our principles of faith.The F.B.I. investigated a range of people whose behaviors raise all sorts of questions. Eyebrows? Who is mandated to investigate violated trust in our divided, created and enabled WE-THEY culture? Violated civility? An institutionalization of lack of respect? An anchoring of ummenschlichkeit? What can this investigation mean in a toxic reality in which there is no taking of personal responsibility for harmful words as well as deeds? And perhaps even deaths!Many unanswered questions. Many more questions that can clarify need to be asked. Their outcomes, as adequate explanations, and not as descriptions devoid of necessary meanings need to be asked!
Not a word about the dossier?
3
The Times needs your voice. We welcome your on-topic commentary, criticism and expertise.
Do you really believe this nonsense phrase that the NYTimes uses to solicit comments. The comments section of the NYTimes is heavily skewed to bash the Trump administration, positive comments are omitted or included in awkward positions to guarantee they are not viewed favorably.
Having stated the obvious, I do wish to say that all of these long months of non-stop negative reporting on the Trump presidency have only produced animosity, distrust and a log jam in government that may never be rectified.
The very fact that the FBI was in fact spying on the Trump campaign, confirms every suspicion that many conservatives have expressed, the scales were tipped in the favor of Clinton, the FBI was working towards helping that goal and the citizens of our "Democracy" were duped.
Trump was right.
8
I just love the way they got the name for the investigation. I wonder if there is a Nobel or at least a Pulitzer on the way for Jagger/Richards et al. Also, I wonder what the Rolling Stones thought when they read this head line. When they finally arrest the departing Ex-President, The Trump Organization and other lieutenants is the FBI going to call that part of the investigation "Paint it Black"?
2
Excellent, frightening article. On the "misstep" of Strzok and Page's email exchange, it is stated:
"The messages were unsparing. They questioned Mr. Trump’s intelligence, believed he promoted intolerance and feared he would damage the bureau."
Can't they be cut some slack since their thoughts were right on the money? If someone investigating a forest fire emailed a colleague in the investigation and described the fire as hot, would it be perceived as an anti-forest-fire bias, or just an apt description of a forest fire?
2
I saw one TV commentator, a woman in her 30s, smirk as she read the name "Crossfire Hurricane" and asked, "Where do they get these names? What are they, twelve years old?"
More like 60, and it's a gas gas gas....
3
Although there is some commiserating for Director Comey's firing, unless you're a Trump fan, his penchant for the limelight of theater that is the press conference and Congressional hearings absolutely sand-bagged Mrs. Clinton's candidacy. I'll be interested in the Justice Dept's Inspector General's report of this sordid, and repugnant chapter of the FBI.
1
The facts, had they surfaced, might have devastated the Trump campaign... Let's put it correctly... SHOULD HAVE!
1
Trump , and his Gang , use his psychological projection all the time . He always talks the deep state . Trump and his Gang are the “ deep state “ !
Key takeaways:
1) the Steele dossier was used to obtain wiretap authorization
2) the FBI did have an informant/source in the Trump campaign
Both are damning and both undercut FBI narrative about the investigation. The real story is not Russia collusion but FBI 'monitoring' of a political campaign by party not in power. That is a big deal.
6
Two things. The people quoted all hate Trump and have an interest in slanting the article a certain way as does the Times. Second what should have been the headline but buried in the article is no evidence of collusion.
4
Please add in the glee with which Giuliani predicted an FBI revelation weeks before the election. It is/was well known that elements within the NYC FBI are very anti-Hillary. But the question is why Giuliani knew the "October surprise" was coming.
1
Talk about Russia as much as you want. If HRC had not hidden 30K emails and destroyed phones and computers, she would not have been as vulnerable as she was. That is assuming that there was nothing in all of that which was destroyed that was not damaging to her.
I also think most of the Trump team took their contacts with Russians to be in the realm of business. Not politics. Their motive was mostly financial, not political. Shows some naivety but hardly treason. Face it, professional business men are running the government. Not professional politicians. Hard for the political class to deal with.
4
Pence had his emails, Trump is owned by Russia, democracy is at stake, every member of the trump org was using unprotected servers on their phones. I can go on and on. You keep living a lie in the red state of TN but know one thing. I have not one but five friends who all went to NYC and LA to Franklin, TN and we are going to come raise you rents, bring our values and turn it blue. You can thank the tax bill for all of us moving!!!! Ha ha ha.
Regarding whether F.B.I. Director Comey's decisions to publicly chastise Mrs. Clinton in a news conference and then announce the reopening of the investigation days before Election Day buried Clinton's presidential hopes (as Mrs. Clinton states), that's a very shortsighted, narrow view on what actually happened in the months before November 2016.
For over a year before the election, Hillary Clinton did everything she could to delay, downplay, thrash, avoid, sidestep and stall the FBI's investigation into her 'lost' emails. She hemmed and hawed repeatedly when asked about it, and sent a loud and clear message to her staff that responding quickly to FBI's multiple requests for information and data was not a priority. And, when Clinton did provide the FBI with data and information, it was incomplete and required further inquiry by the FBI.
Clinton's nonchalance and unprofessional manner throughout this entire email mess was the primary reason this issue had such influence on election day with undecided voters.
67
To this day, tens of thousands of emails under subpoena with ‘recipes, wedding plans and yoga routines’ remain lost. Devices were scrupulously wiped clean (‘you mean with a cloth?’) or physically destroyed. To suggest Trump was obstructing justice by firing Comey, an character with an ego the size of his own, is absurd.
The difference is, Trump won an election. Comey did not and was supposed to be nonpartisan.
8
So to spite Clinton, Republicans decided to vote in someone who, not only committed the crimes that Clinton was alleged to commit, but is also a traitor? Good job "owning the libs"!
25
Clinton was Secy of State for four years -- and during that time, there is no indication that the President, the Secy of Defense or any other "intelligence" agency of the US was not aware of her use of the private server -- and None of them told her to stop it. Only after she was no longer Secy of State, and the Republicans were busy embarking on multiple "Benghazi" investigations did her "email issue" then come to light....and it has been used to repeatedly bash her. Like all of the Benghazi investigations, the email "issue" is and always has been a non-issue.... But, the media bought the "story" and we will hear about it till the end of time.
32
Mrs Trump suffers a mystery illness just in time for her husband to publicly admit that, yes, what Stormy Daniels claims is true, Trump did have sex with "that woman". [But she dod not inhale the experience.] As long as the White House refuses to come clean with Mrs. Trump's unusually long stay at Walter Reed, it remains a strong possibility that her hospital stay is simply a ruse to get all co-conspirators on the same page.
Absolutely insane that in Oct 2016 FBI was thinking of closing the case on Flynn and Papadum. INSANE! All the information about the connections, flights and meetings is being pieced together based on PUBLIC information by internet sleuths. And they've been right. Seth Abramson is the top sleuth. Stzrok is the only guy that was right (in hindsight) prosecute them all aggressively. Trump's "Hillary will fix the election and there will be trouble" put them on their heels. Amazing, his bluster works.
1
I often wonder if Trump winning was not a better outcome than the rightful election of Hillary Clinton. This article clearly exposes the extent of the criminal activities of American Far Right Wing and their allies in Congress. They are now exposed and committed.
This article makes it very clear that Republicans are willing to destroy the Republic in order that we don’t become a more egalitarian country even if it means engaging the Russians to help them engage in scorch earth hardball politics to achieve those goals. It is terrifying to read that this is actually happening.
Had Hillary won, w e would still be hearing about the Hillary private server in the hundredth hearing while the real enemy was sitting right in the hearing room in the form of Russian spies.
369
I read and listen to both left wing and right wing media outlets and its amazing how differently people interpret the facts. I would encourage you to read this piece yesterday from the Federalist. According to this writer, there is ample evidence that the FBI used a spy, a professor from Malta by the name of Joseph Misfud, to set up Papadapolos.
http://thefederalist.com/2018/05/15/maltese-professor-may-hold-key-fbi-r...
I'm not saying its correct, but I think we'd all be smart to stop being so partisan, get out our our echo chambers, and dig a little deeper.
Here's another piece that lists ten gross errors in the this particular NY Times piece. Again, I'm no expert, but I try to use my critical thinking skills to consider all angles and not be blinded by partisanship.
http://thefederalist.com/2018/05/17/10-key-takeaways-from-new-york-times...
11
I sometimes think that, too. The GOP would never have let her be a successful President. They cared more about taking her down all these years than electing someone highly qualified to carry out the duties of a POTUS. I’m a Democrat, but would NEVER vote for a demagogic, unqualified, vile candidate like Trump if the situation was reversed. If my republican choice was Ted Cruz, I’d stay home. If it was John Kasich, John McCain or pretty much any of the other 2016 GOP primary choices, I’d hold my nose and vote for the qualified candidate who could uphold the constitution and function as POTUS. No question. Country and decency before party.
34
Had Hillary won? There would never be an investigation.
12
This article is a whitewash. I have been following the excellent investigative reporting by two reporters from The Hill for a year now. 7 people have been fired or demoted at the FBI for a good reason. When the IG report comes out soon everyone will see why.
Brennan has lied as has Comey and Clapper who were all involved with this flimsy excuse for a criminal investigation. Papadopolous is a low level nobody who's drunken bragging about having dirt on Clinton ( called opposition research) was not a crime of the proportion to start an investigation of the magnitude it has become.
Mueller has spent 20 million dollars and has not found any collusion between the Trump team and the Russians.
If the intent of the Russians was to interfere with our democratic change of one elected party to another they must be delighted that the Democrat party and the resistance among their members did all the work for them refusing to accept the outcome of the election and persecuting the duly elected president and all those who helped him win.
I never thought in my lifetime I would see anything like this happen in our country.
7
The blind ignorance of these comments is truly breathtaking.
This is ideology trumping logic (pun intended)
If urban progressive elites think they can reverse a fair and honest election with a pack of lies, they have another thing coming. (Guess the song)
Very few Americans outside the urban bubble believe in this seditious coup.
5
Not fair and honest in any way. How about getting out of the f*x news bubble and look at actual facts? That might help you understand what a threat Russia is to this democracy. All of you that exist in the right wing bubble make up lies to suit you when you don't like the facts. What a surreal experience that must be. However, the truth will out, no matter how many lies the extreme liars try to lie their way out of it.
1
Actually, a lot of us believe.
Strzok, Page and Andy McCabe. You have to admit that this is ugly no matter which angle you are looking at it.
3
Which leaves us with the choice of believing our governmental institutions or believing Donald Trump.
I still don't know why the Russians wanted Trump to win. With Clinton, all the wily Putin had to do was funnel millions to the Clinton Foundation to get concessions. All politicians want money, and many are corrupt, but i don't think the Clintons ever turn down cash.
6
Maybe they already owned Trump.
Trump maybe able to hide behind words, but typically, where there is smoke there is fire.
Donald Trump was never under investigation by the FBI during the campaign. Hillary Clinton was. Furthermore, she was clearly guilty of gross negligence in handling classified materials, including Top Secret documents, which is a crime under the applicable statute. First, Comey followed the orders of Loretta Lynch to lie to the American people about whether Clinton was under investigation. Then he exonerated her for her crimes, even though he lacked the authority to do so, in order to provide cover for the compromised Attorney General. His chastising Clinton was meaningless and only provided cover for his whitewashing her criminal behavior. It is because of his unauthorized exoneration of Clinton that he ended up in front of Congress and promised to keep them informed of any further developments. His complying with Congressional oversight, by sending them a memo in late October 2016, is the one time he did the right thing. The idea that this represents favoritism for Trump is ridiculous.
6
This investigation is about Donald Trump's actual crimes. It has nothing to do with the fanciful but baseless rumors and propaganda the GOP continues to fling at the Clintons in the vain hope of distracting us from the genuine crook currently installed in the White House.
So far the score is Comey 0 and Trump up 1. Hope this changes over time.
So, where do we go from here?
1
"A year and a half later, no public evidence has surfaced connecting Mr. Trump’s advisers to the hacking or linking Mr. Trump himself to the Russian government’s disruptive efforts. But the article’s tone and headline — “Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia” — gave an air of finality to an investigation that was just beginning."
And once again, the lede is buried.
2
The rule of law does not apply to this tyrant, thus he will do what he wants, say what he wants, and rule like a tyrant does. The only thing missing from what other dictators do are the disappearance, mystery deaths, or jailing of this dictator's opposition. Give him enough time and gone will be freedom of our press and the First Amendment. Our enemy is not from abroad, but from within. All Americans should be alarmed and frighten by the erosion of our democracy and it's slide into a dictatorship.
In retrospect, it seems the FBI’s main mistake was the same one everybody else made — everybody assumed Clinton would win and Trump would lose. So they threw hurdles in front of her to be sure nobody would accuse them afterward of being too soft on Hillary, and mostly missed the boat on his nefarious activities.
It didn’t occur to them any more than it occurred to most of us that America would actually go for an ignorant, cruel bozo and surprise gynecologist over the one person more prepared for the presidency than anyone before.
1
Indispensable information.
Why would the FBI and the DOJ swarm all over Trump's people for their alleged involvement with Russia while ignoring Hillary's deep involvement with Russia?
7
@JWC Hudson River Valley; May 16:
And, Penna. is recently "un-gerrymandered," if there is such a thing. Hopefully that is a start. Congress is entirely too complicit in this mess. Devin Nunes? Who?? Seriously?
Flynn was paid 45K for a speech by Russians. Bill Clinton was paid 500K as I recall.
Who's the bigger friend of Russia?
Peter Schweizer wrote the book "Clinton Cash". In it, referring to one of the speeches Bill Clinton got big money for:
"shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock."
From Politifact:
"We're not checking Schweizer's suggestion that the increased speaking fees were part of a plan to curry favor in his wife's State Department. But on the specific numbers, Schweitzer is correct."
8
An excellent, in depth, detailed and well written history of the FBI Trump/Hillary investigation. Thank you. Nobody on the Trump side, which is a lot of Americans, will ever read it. Even on the Democrat side, hardly anyone will see this very detailed information. Maybe you guys should find a way to tweet this in four tweets? Then, you will snag Americana's attention.
Obama started the ball rolling when he announced, in the middle of the Clinton email investigation, that she was not guilty. How's THAT for obstruction? Then Lynch took the ball, met secretly with Bill Clinton, and lo and behold instructed Comey not even to say "investigation". Then Comey lo and behold drafts the exoneration a month before interviewing Clinton and exonerates her in a manner utterly unprecedented. And then lo and behold the whole lot of them begin a spying-wiretapping caper against Trump. Rotten to the core.
9
“But underpinning both cases was one political calculation: that Mrs. Clinton would win and Mr. Trump would lose. Agents feared being seen as withholding information or going too easy on her.”
What a miscalculation!
So they “broke with policy and twice publicly discussed the Clinton investigation” thinking, in essence, that they could get points for being tough on Clinton without cost.
The analogy of “the unlikely event you die before you’re 40” was way, way off. The Times reckoned a 15% chance of a Trump (https://nyti.ms/2miH2qZ). That's like one roll of the die -- vastly more probable than dying in your 30s. You do not bet the farm on those odds.
The FBI should have stuck with policy in any case.
3
"A year and a half later, no public evidence has surfaced connecting Mr. Trump’s advisers to the hacking or linking Mr. Trump himself to the Russian government’s disruptive efforts."
to use the parlance of the day, #NOTHINGBURGER!
5
What is the point of having an FBI or CIA defending us from terrorism, if they don't defend us in real-time from foreign operatives subverting our presidential elections? 9/11 took away lives. This attack took away our government. And I wonder now what was in those hacked RNC files, that so many Republicans actually enable and abet these crimes. Wht does Putin have on them?
1
Obliterating Lady Justice and embracing the axiom 'justice delayed is justice denied' has further polarized America: a 3rd world banana republic vs a wavering constitutional republic.
There was a serious need for a special prosecutor the minute that Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with Bill Clinton, who was waiting for her in his plane on an airport tarmac.... Lynch had no business making any decisions regarding Hillary Clinton, considering her closeness and loyalty to the Clinton's. And it was certainly WRONG to bring the head of the FBI into the middle of what was no doubt a political hot potato. The FBI is supposed to stay out of the public eye and never become political.
5
In the end, I prefer to wait for the Mueller investigation to end. All articles like this do is just add more confusion of “He said or She said” and just further muddies the waters. That being said, regardless of the final conclusions, neither team or political party will ever accept The Truth. If the conclusion is that Trump’s team did in fact meddle in the election, The Republicans will deny it, and if the opposite is true, I WON’T ACCEPT IT!!!!
Wow, is it Russian collusion, racism, misogynism, FBI interference or the FBI standing down to help Trump win. My guess is it was a bad candidate. Move on, HRC was an embarrassment as a candidate although an amazing fund raiser. DJT is the candidate of very few, just more than HRC.
3
"It would be nice to scroll down to the comments and see a constructive debate on how we move forward." ~1992
You want to move forward? Move Trump out of office.
The law is one thing, but this is what I know about the character of Donald Trump, from his own words:
"He doesn't have a birth certificate. Or if he does, there's something on that certificate that is very bad for him. Now, somebody told me that where it says 'religion,' it might have 'Muslim.' And if you're a Muslim, you don't change your religion."
"I have people that have been studying Obama's birth certificate and they cannot believe what they're finding. I would like to have him show his birth certificate, because if he can't, if he wasn't born in this country, which is a real possibility, then he has pulled one of the great cons in the history of politics."
"A lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate. His mother was not in the hospital. There are many other things that came out. And frankly if you would report it accurately I think you'd probably get better ratings than you're getting."
"An 'extremely credible source' has called my office and told me that @BarackObama's birth certificate is a fraud."
"How amazing, the State Health Director who verified copies of Obama's 'birth certificate' died in plane crash today. All others lived."
"Who knows about Obama? Who knows, who knows? I have my own theory on Obama. Someday I will write a book, I will do another book, and it will do very successfully."
And this is all you need to know about the "real" Donald Trump.
2
"Mr. Strzok countered that even if Mr. Trump’s chances of victory were low — like dying before 40 — the stakes were too high to justify inaction." Imagine if he had. Oh well...
1
And so as most reasonable people have assumed all along the truth does not favor Trump. But then not much more can be expected of a proven serial liar. To think that a man of such low integrity can be allowed the thrown is befuddling to say the least. What is even more befuddling is why the right seems to ignore what is right in front of them. I guess that means that they to are willing to forsake their credibility in order to prop up the criminal grifter, Trump.
1
We have seen enough of this silliness! Will the Times still be reporting on it in 2118? If there has been collusion to swing a presidential election it is becoming increasingly clear that the involvement of the New York Times has been more pervasive than any other person, group or country. Others may have advanced carefully for lack of clear convincing evidence but clear convincing evidence has never held back the Times.
4
I am sympathetic to thorough reporting and advocate Mueller's unimpeded investigation. But how can anyone square a news organization that claims to represent truthfulness with the same organization that suggests 'Democrats should fight dirty...'?
https://twitter.com/nytopinion/status/965128817365979136
1
Ted, That was a letter to the editor from a reader not the NYT Editorial Board.
Yes, and it was published.
Ted, you clearly stated that the NYT suggested that Democrats fight dirty, which they did not. Publishing a letter is not a suggestion.
In the aftermath of having elected a corrupt, destructive neo-fascist, the Democratic public has been bitter about the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's irregular creation of a personal server through which to send all her State Department communications, thereby exposing them to hackers and shielding them from FOIA inquiries. But honestly, that was a very questionable thing to do. Further, the work of the Clinton Foundation and the work of the State Department were not properly segregated, and Huma Abedin was on both payrolls. Immense contributions to the Clinton Foundation by foreign powers such as Saudi Arabia (all of which precipitously declined after Trump's election) also raised entirely legitimate concerns of efforts by foreign powers to buy influence. So the FBI investigation was not a nothing-burger. And Clinton lied about it for quite a while, and her staff later destroyed 30,000 emails they alone determined were irrelevant to the investigation. Let's imagine our collective outrage if we were to discover similar destruction of evidence by Trump.
Comey's public statements about that investigation remain weird, but it is truly absurd to pin Clinton's loss on them. She shouldn't have had the server. Shouldn't have lied about it. Shouldn't have said "deplorable." Shouldn't have voted for the Iraq war. Should have campaigned in Wisconsin. Etc.
4
Hurricane meets Stormy how ironic!
The reports say that the FBI took extraordinary care to protect the Trump campaign and prevent any news of the investigation of his campaign’s contacts with Russian operatives to leak before the election. Had they taken the same extreme care to protect Hillary Clinton’s campaign from from any election bias, she would be president and not Trump. Comey could have taken two-three days to verify that the emails suddenly found by the New York Office were duplicates, and thus never sent a letter, which he knew would be leaked immediately, saying the investigation had been re-opened. The hypocrisy and misogyny here are overwhelming. Since when does the FBI use polls projecting a probable winner to make decisions about a candidate with the potential to swing an election? The polls were not overwhelming for a Clinton win, yet it was deemed okay to release negative information about a woman but not about a man. We cannot go back and re-play the election, but is is clear that the FBI played a huge role in giving us the most corrupt president in history.
330
The polls were not "overwhelming"? Are you kidding? Every poll, every news report, every mention of the election had Hillary Clinton winning in a landslide. Somehow you must have missed those polls. Further it's apparent from the transcripts of the texts between Stroek and Page they believed she would win, they just wanted a plan B, just in case. This was not about man vs. woman. It was about a criminal, Hillary Clinton, and an American business man that the left actually hated. Unfortunately for them the businessman won in spite of their machinations. We shouldn't be looking at Russian meddling, we should be looking at the Soros, DNC, etc. meddling which gained Mrs. Clinton the nomination in the first place.
10
Comey is an incompetent boob, but he did not lose the election for Hillary. Many, many conservatives were begging and praying for Hillary to be the Democratic candidate because they knew she couldn't get elected with all of her baggage. I know because I was one of the folks happy when she got the nomination.
2
RAM6,
I don’t agree with your post in it’s entirety, but I take special exception to your misguided claims about who should be investigated. The DNC is supposed to be involved in elections (meddling, as your derisively put it) - that’s their reason for being, as representatives of one of our two major political parties. Soros is a wealthy donor who chooses to give money to Democrats and left-leaning institutions, as it is his right and prerogative to do. Just as it is Sheldon Adelson’s right and prerogative to give to the GOP.
The Russian government interfering in our elections is not legal, and for good reasons. You incorrectly conflate an illegal act (Russian meddling) with lawful campaign activities. What has this country come to when such false equivalencies persist and corrupt our founding principles, such as the rule of law?
I admit, I took the FBI and its leadership for granted---thought it was competent and honest. I still think the organization is honest, but, as to competency, not feeling good about that now.
1
Awesome. So this 'witch hunt' went out of its way to politicize the Clinton investigation to protect against republican criticism, while maintaining the strictest secrecy to protect the trump campaign. What's wrong with this picture?
2
Anxiety at the Bureau! I think that's an understatement. When the Inspector Gen. Releases his report I think it will be so odious many will be indicted and imprisoned.
I also think the Party (Dem) will take a hit like they never thought would happen.
I'm just sitting back and listening.
6
Of course the FBI protected Clinton and her staff. They granted immunity and assisted in the destruction of evidence. Comey admitted that evidence of potential crimes were found, but refused to present the evidence to a grand jury. Finally, State Dept. personnel were illegally emailing classified information to Clinton. Heads should have rolled, yet there was no interest in tracking down the culprits.
6
The GOP is in a mad rush to see all this come to an end, not to protect Trump, but to protect their mega donors Robert and Rebekah Mercer, funders of Breitbart News and founders and principals of Cambridge Analytica, who, with Steve Bannon as their front man, and using foreign nationals, worked at least as hard and as nefariously as any Russian, either in collusion with or parallel to Russia, to manipulate and subvert the political process to put Trump in office.
3
Trump sowed the seed of doubt early on by claiming if he lost , it was because the election was rigged . A lesson he learned very well from Roy Cohn . He cast about , discrediting the FBI and intelligence services and therefore creating distrust not only among his supporters but among people easily influenced and persuaded a lie was the truth . It continues to this day and renders the truth null . A loud , brash, ungraceful dilettante whose , bellowing lies disarmed and continues to disarm those who tried to be careful . Too careful it seems to have any effect . James Comey made a big mistake with this one . Was there partisanship involved , I don't doubt . Politics has become even dirtier and obscene and our country has lost whatever cache and credibility it might have had .
2
Per this article: "Lastly, there was Mr. Papadopoulos, the young and inexperienced campaign aide whose wine-fueled conversation with the Australian ambassador set off the investigation. Before hacked Democratic emails appeared online, he had seemed to know that Russia had political dirt on Mrs. Clinton."
He "seemed to know" because that is what he was told (set up?) by the informant planted in the Trump campaign by the FBI.
4
Mistakes may have been made, but they do not rise to the level of making “Crossfire Hurricane” and subsequent related investigations a collective witch hunt aimed at undermining the results of the 2016 election.
The old Carley Simon song, “You’re So Vain” comes to mind when reading about Trump’s hysteria over current investigations - “...you probably think this song is about you ... “ - and it is not all about Trump. It is about efforts to undermine the national security of the country and democratic elections.
If Trump did nothing wrong, the evidence will reflect it, and the only evidence afforded the public by the federal investigations to date are the formal indictments of Manafort, Papadopoulos, and Flynn. Trump protesteth too much. He acts like he has done something wrong, pursuing a demagougic pubic relations campaign to alter public opinion before all the evidence is revealed.
In my view, if Trump is totally innocent of any knowledge or wrong-doing, he is guilty of eroding faith and trust in democratic institutions, which is more destructive to this country than to any individual, even a president. Americans really should wake up to the damage being done. By the way, if evidence demonstrates unlawful acts by Trump, and a president is deemed above direct federal indictment, the ball passes to Congress to do its oversight duties under the Constitution; otherwise the ball would be in federal court, not the DOJ or FBI. Let the latter do their jobs.
1
If a sitting president continues to placate a hostile foreign power that has beyond a reasonable doubt influenced our elections and interfered with our democratic process, then it stands to reason that this president has been compromised by that hostile foreign power, namely Russia. If the President of the United States has been compromised by a hostile foreign enemy, this is a far more serious issue than "collusion" or obstruction of justice. And ultimately all the lies that this president continues to tell in front of over 300 million American people will not be able to save him.
To those who still believe in our country's ability to heal itself from another cancer on the presidency , hang in there , help is on the way .
3
Rex Tillerson speech referring to the "loss of ethics and integrity" underlining the US drift in a noxious sea of intrigue avoiding the truth; no matter what. Should we be alarmed the news (fit to print) managed using former British spies like Christopher Steele hired (by who) to track down Russian informants on the life and times of DJT? No surprises there by using dirty tricks; even Richard M Nixon in his darkest hours had some idea his people can not be fooled so easily; deja vu?
1
Trump knew what was going on and worried. Therefore he attacked by projection.
Who is investigating the investigators?
4
Enough already. The front page of the NYT for this ? Like wise the other story today about the Trump meeting notes. In the old days when we were not glued to “news as entertainment “ stories like these were on the inside maybe page 6 or 7 of the NYT paper version. They were important for sure and worth reading for some, but not front page news. We are not witnessing a slow motion car accident that has to be reported in great detail every day. How about a story about the continued police state that is Cuba notwithstanding our love affair with Havana , the challenge to our security and freedom posed by China in all its myriad of ways, our nations inability on left and right to understand and deal with Latin America in an adult manner and a follow up to Daniel Ellsberg’s book on nuclear weapons and warfare. The list is endless and yet here we are captivated and led like lemmings to the endless show that is Trump. Show me an indictment by Mueller and I will pay attention, show me a payoff and I’ll pay attention , and not be surprised, show me something.
4
Our nation is divided on whether the Trump campaign and the current President colluded with Russia to undermine our Democratic election. It is surreal the issue exists and surreal the blind faith the GOP and Trump supporters have backed the view the FBI investigation is without merit and a witch hunt. Now our Justice Department and legal due process are under attack by the GOP and the President. This nation is under the grip of an Authoritarian and half of the nation seems ok with that! Surreal
3
"The four men were Michael T. Flynn, Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Mr. Papadopoulos, current and former officials said. Each was scrutinized because of his obvious or suspected Russian ties."
Mr. Flynn has only been charged for lying to the FBI, and Manafort has been charged for something in 2005 that has nothing to do with the 2016 campaign. Neither Carter Page nor Mr. Papadopoulos have been charged with anything. In fact, the Times article doesn't reveal how Mr. Papadopoulos "knew" about "dirt" on Mrs. Clinton. If it was firsthand knowledge on his part, why didn't the article mention it? As for the "Steele Dossier", I don't recall the article saying if any of the info contained in it has ever been verified. If not, why is it taking so long? Surely Mr. Steele could be counted on to reveal his sources. Despite all the ballyhoo about "collusion" (whatever that is), there has been no smoking gun revealed anywhere in this article.
This could be nothing more than the FBI leaking just enough info to reliable, friendly news outlets to soften the blow of the eventual release of embarrassing aspects of the investigation to Congress, which has been requesting this material for some time. There has been little to no cooperation from the Justice Department. Though I don't like Trump, there has to be some point at which he demands that the Justice Department hand over everything to Congress to get things settled.
5
Trump repeats a lie until it becomes, 'truth.' That's the practice of a bully. I knew bullies like that in childhood. There was no reasoning with them - it was all a circular argument. And I seriously doubt any of Trump's supporters will read this NYT's piece.
As a kid, I just kept away from the bullies as best I could. And I felt that the culture of the area where I lived was permeated with this circular argument, might makes right thinking. (I lived in a southern state - very right wing.) I couldn't wait to leave. Yes, 'Love it or leave it!', conservatives crowed.
I did leave. But we as a nation cannot. For now, we are stuck with his deceitfulness and it's destroying this country.
This whole debacle could have been prevented had Comey been fair and followed tradition and policy in the FBI. But I realize that one of the main reasons that didn't happen, according to this article, is fear. FBI agents were afraid Trump would claim that the election was rigged. But had he not won the election, he could cry and whine all he wanted about it, he couldn't prove that and in fact, as far as the FBI went, it did not rig the election. It blundered it.
As a result of all this fear of Trump, the bully has the upper hand.
Thank goodness for the steady and fair application of the law by Mueller and his team. Maybe truth will out.
2
So, all of the republican theatrics on the house committees and Trump's ravings actually intimidated the FBI to the point that they were afraid to say anything negative about Trump. Afraid that the house committees would publicly investigate and excoriate them and that Trump would say that they rigged the election.
Well guess what FBI, it happened anyway. Once bullies see that they can intimidate you, they keep coming after you.
2
The elitist power was falling apart in front of their eyes with a Trump election. They had to do everything in their power to protect it. This goes a lot deeper than we even know.
7
I live for the day when Congressman Devin Nunes reverts to his status as Private Citizen Devin Nunes. His allies had better hope for his sake that he was a Boy Scout on all of his tax returns and that he doesn't have any unpaid library fines.
2
This article appears to have been commissioned by the FBI & DOJ to protect themselves as the extent of their duplicity & illegal activity becomes more clear. The leadership at the FBI & DOJ have revealed themselves as political pawns & no amount of spinning will erase that fact. I look forward to the take down of the corrupt elements in the FBI & DOJ. Hopefully the Mueller investigation will end soon or Trump will fire him. It is a waste of taxpayer money. The thought of my taxes being spent on this political witch hunt because of sour grapes just makes me so angry. The Democrats will pay in November. I have never voted in the midterms before. I will be voting to get rid of the corrupt Democrats.
8
If the FBI plus Mueller's investigative team have proof of collusion with the Russians during the election process or proof of conspiracy with the Russians, why can't they indict Trump? Just because there has been no precedent, does not mean it cannot be done.
Trump is a one man disaster. He lies to everyone, he insults our allies and he has not done one thing to punish Russia for interfering with the election.
Trump has used his position for financial gain, remember the $500 million his organization just received from a foreign power on Monday, which is against the Emoulient Clause.
Does he really have to "shoot someone on 5th Avenue" to be indicted?
At this point, in the the investigation before the election by the FBI, which already concluded the election was fixed against Hilary so that Trump would win, isn't that enough proof to allow a Grand Jury appearance by Trump?
3
here's a novel idea, get rid of the electoral system and implement a win on the popular vote.
You know the one where You hand write your choice, put it in a box and have it supervised during the hand count.
1
In a nutshell, Trump's bullying persona frightened the FBI. It feared giving Trump a basis to argue the election was rigged "when" he lost. The FBI, more than anyone, knows there is a judicial system, and Trump would have been free to try to use it to prove he was wronged. Instead, the FBI, cowed into keeping quiet, did irreparable harm to Clinton and, more important, to America. It is unclear exactly to what Comey believes himself to have "A Higher Loyalty," but it does not seem to be the American people.
The disparate treatment of the two candidates is interesting, but it doesn't necessarily mean Trump was favored. Clinton's problems were well documented and known, and even more extensive on the Russian front when you consider the millions funneled to the Clintons and their foundation. Whether Trump was as seriously involved with the Russians looks pretty dubious at the moment. It's perhaps most interesting that some of the same people who gave HRC a pass then immediately went after Trump. Doesn't pass the smell test.
44
Equity demands that both campaigns be investigated publicly. Going after Trump and not Clinton, who was publicly exonerated with caveats, while Trump’s team continued to conspire with Russia is not unfair to Trump. It is absurd for Trump to be sworn into office without concluding his guilt or innocence.
The failure of America is a failure to recognize that our election was corrupted. America needs to establish contingencies to protect our vote. Approving the Trump election was an outrage.
51
Ah yes, the 'whataboutism' defense. Every cent that went into and out of the Clinton Foundation is public knowledge as are their tax returns for the last 35 years. Trump on the other hand offers no transparency regarding his finances.
Robert Mueller has evidence on Trump's actions that hasn't seen the light of day. You can use 'smell tests' but hard facts will determine the outcome of the investigation.
330
you're right: the Russian puppet's ties to international gangsters, known money launderers, fraudulent "universities," tax violations; that only goes back to the 1980s. hilary, now EVERYONE knows how much she's bee investigated and investigated and investigated (wonder why nothing has never been proven?).
38
What if there's overwhelming observable evidence that progressives and moderates swarmed the polls on Nov. 6 and clearly outdid their opponents, but the election results do not reflect that? We need a system to check that Russia does not fudge the numbers.
1
...as I have said since the election: had Mrs. Clinton won, the right wing would have crucified her for 4 years. America, if it survives trump, will emerge stronger. If we do not survive this, there will be a lot of blame to spread around.
2
Hats off to Mr. Steele, the best friend America has ever had. He tried for months to get his information across. Remember he is the first person to comprehend how bad Trump as President would be. He was horrified to think it might happen. And now he may be in hiding for handing this to the F.B.I., for trying to alert this country to a monstrous outcome. I am so glad he shared the Dossier with American news outlets, glad the truth began to pop up here and there. I want the F.B.I. to be apolitical and stronger than any fretting over our poisonous Right wing. Now, I think it is after all this. Thank you Mr. Steele and may you fare well all your days.
4
Steele did not “share” anything.
He was paid.
He was paid handsomely from the $12 million the DNC and Hillary paid for the dossier.
He was paid to write fiction.
There is evidence he even tailor made stories whose plots were suggested by Hillary’s aides.
What do you not understand about the dossier being entirely fake?
6
The article doesn't say that Comey "briefed" Trump only on the prostitutes story in the Steele dossier. Yes, that is exactly J.Edgar Hoover-esque. Small wonder that Trump didn't trust Comey after that. It appears to have been a way to get the story into the media by reporting that Trump was "briefed" on it.
I see nothing in this story that remotely justifies the FBI investigating and even spying on the presidential campaign of the party out of power. Nothing about Flynn, Manafort, Papadopoulos and Page stands out as a reason to suspect Trump was colluding with the Russian government. The Clintons got far more money from Russian sources and other foreign governments than Flynn or Manafort ever got. It would have made far more sense to investigate every foreign dollar going into the Clinton Foundation for possible influence on a future president.
Are we ever going to get an answer for why the FBi didn't take the DNC servers and examine them using an FBI tech team? People don't forget that question just because the mainstream media wants to avoid it. Why would the FBI accept a computer forensic examination from a private company?
8
James Comey said that the American people selected Trump and should have to live with it, that is only partially correct. James Comey, through his ill-advised actions, selected Trump as President, and the American people are stuck with it.
5
I’m sorry please explain this? I put it to you that the actions of Hilary Clinton and the self serving cabale at the DNC are to blame for giving us a Trump Presidency.
2
While I don't disagree with anything you state above, I strongly believe that Comey's actions right before the election had a significant impact on voter turnout and may have swayed those on the fence. Against everyone's advice, he went public with that investigation (I am not saying the investigation should not have happened, it just should not have been public). Obviously it is impossible to say what would have happened had he heeded everyone's advice to perform his investigation w/o public knowledge, but he didn't and that cannot be sweep under the carpet as inconsequential.
The most distressing thing about this story and the Trump-Russia connection in general is that even if all of this were made public and verified beyond all doubt, there is no clear remedy. We have no mechanism for redoing the 2016 election even if its taintedness were to be certified by the Supreme Court.
3
So, the FBI is a secretive surveillance organization whose own leaders aren't fully in charge and which was, in fact, spying on a presidential candidate. Good to have that in the open finally.
6
Although the Russian meddling is concerning and should be thwarted at every opportunity, big money from undisclosed donors do as much if not more damage in the continuous election cycles. “Untied we Stand” is after all more than just a platitude.
3
“The result, though, is that Mr. Comey broke with both policy and tradition in Mrs. Clinton’s case, but hewed closely to the rules for Mr. Trump.”
Comey dropped the ball there, but he wasn’t the only one, President Obama shares much of the blame. Both men assumed that Hillary Clinton was going to win.
Instead, the country lost.
6
And that is the fault of Hilary Clinton and the DNC and nobody else
2
Agreed, Hjb. A monumental breach of trust when the DNC sandbagged Bernie Sanders because it was "Hillary's turn."
How ironic! FBI tries to avoid being political in the case of Trump, becomes political in the case of Clinton, and now finds itself being accused of playing politics by the very guy they helped to elect through their "cautious" investigation. OK, so now what? Trump and his minions were connected to the Russians in many ways. He either was recruited or Russia hoped to recruit him or close associates, like his son, Donald, and Flynn. It is becoming more apparent that Trump sees the Presidency as a money making opportunity for him personally, via Cohen and others. And still there is nothing disclosed at all about Trump's taxes. There have to be people in the FBI, IRS and CIA --maybe just a handful--who know the truth about this guy. No need to be cautious now.
5
Putin could not ask for a more prefect tool than DJT in his quest for revenge to HRC, to discredit the West, break up NATO, and rollback sanctions. The FBI had a lapsed of judgement on a tough call. The Fourth Estate was not at its best - diligently reporting about "her emails" but remiss in reporting numerous seedy/slimy known behaviors of DJT; perhaps because there were too many of them and it helped their ratings. Moreover, it was very disturbing that McConnell did not support Pres. Obama in apprising the American electorate re:Russiagate and Ryan is supporting Nunes' skulduggery. To date, GOP Congress has turned a blind eye to DJT/Family/Cronies's blatant deception, corruption and constant attacks to US institutions, thus making them derelict of their duty. Let us not forget decades of GOP machinations - gerrymandering & voter suppression as well as PAC dark money via the SC. All told, these brought us government by the worst people. That said, the American electorate have a duty to protect/foster our democracy by seeking the truth, exercising judiciousness with untruths, and voting not only for our beliefs/party but for our country first.
One can only hope that DJT's base will listen to the truth & not cleave to fear and untruths. However, for the the rest of the American electorate, we should not take it as a given that there will be a Blue Wave. Instead, let us all chose to keep our democracy by voting for our country in the coming elections!
3
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to win the election; what is the criminal statute that was violated by such collusion?
Collusion is not illegal.
2
We should have been told of the possibility. We certainly had to hear about Hillary, didn't we? Comey blew it, big time.
"Collusion" is not a crime. But conspiring with a foreign power against the US is very much a crime, and there have already been over 20 indictments for conspiracy issued by the Mueller team. Every count of conspiracy is a capital crime.
Given all the intense scrutiny, one would expect that the collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian spies would have come to light by now. The Resisters will say that only proves that Trump's henchmen have covered up for him. Here's my thing against the Resist movement: in America, we believe in "innocent until proven guilty".
3
At this point all sorts of fine fact- based interpretations do not amount to much.
If Dems focus on getting out the vote in Penn, Wisconsin and Michigan President Illegitimate is toast because he's increasingly become the backfire pres.
1
This is the most compelling political narrative of this generation. Game of Thrones, et al, also ran. Just sayin.
Well, since Donald didn’t really want to be elected, I suppose the FBI wrongly denying their investigation of him in the run up to the election can be considered as an adverse act. To us, it looks like help, but Donald is very smart.
It is not clear if Trump throws the Republican Party into recession before the economy goes. His replacement will probably be a socialist driving a swamp buggy. Would think this Russian hack is a blueprint for operatives in the near future to topple the government in a cheap and effective way. Would think operatives would not be concentrated in Russia, but freelancing information operatives from wherever, paid in Bit coin. This stuff is not going away anytime soon. Government will probably become increasingly unstable. This was an election hack, a war time hack would probably look a little bit different.
This investigation is so far in the weeds it makes heads spin and eyes glaze over.
This situation is akin to having a complex piece of equipment developing a serious problem and the operator simply ignoring it. The failure of that component causes another failure and down the line it goes failure after failure. Then comes a point when something must be done. Now the technician(s) are scratching their collective heads wondering where to start.
Now the comparative study. Back when Hillary was in the news with all her issues, closet server, deleting emails etc.,had those issues been seriously addressed perhaps, just maybe we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Maybe that was the plan all along, just maybe. Washington works in mysterious ways.
For the timeline and decision making in the report during the campaign it would appear DJT's blovating about he is suffering from a rigged election "got into the heads of the FBI" and neutered the investigation.
DJT's gambit of making outrageous claims works because afterwards there is considerable media coverage of DJT and repetition of the claim by all sides. Typically any coverage generally follows a pattern DJT is well accustomed to and thrives upon. That is a bit of "tisk tisk" about the man's unruly and unconventional behavior. This story demonstrates the need for less focus on DJT and his behavior and a more determined effort to discredit the claim.
1
Not only was this not a witch hunt against Trump, for all practical purposes, it was a free pass.
Under no circumstances should Mueller's investigation be stopped.
3
Technically Alexander Downer was not an ambassador. Australia and Britain both being part of the Commonwealth "family" exchange High Commissioners, not ambassadors - you exchange ambassadors with "foreign" countries. The information he was given was so outside the sphere of intelligence that a High Commissioner might gather that the Australian government hesitated at first in passing it on as it seemed to be probably a tall story from someone's fevered imagination (and thus lessen the US's confidence in Australian intelligence gathering!).
3
Without an iota of doubt,this investigation into nothingness is unparalleled for its seemingly endless recriminations imposed by an one sided Press,without Defense getting even a slim chance to defend.
I call it WITCHHUNT.
The President is accused of so many things that it makes him sound truly inhuman,an paragon of vices.Which is not the case..He has built some very pretty buildings to live in...
What’s the initial accusation, that the President’s election was influenced by Russians.
Now what’s the next accusation,that the President paid money to his Lawyer.
Have you come across a Lawyer who doesn’t like money.
The President is well within his constitutional right to give money to Lawyer or to Me or any to any one he feels like giving.
Accusations are getting stretched every day to encompass the entire gamut of accusations.
I don’t think,there’s going to be any more accusations to be accused even in Law college Library.
Attributing meanings to the payments is known as INSINUATION.
The Press should ask itself a question,when is the investigation winding up.Is there a time bar to the investigation or is it getting carried forward to his Second term.
2
They worried about ruining Trump's chances but they had no problem ruining Clinton's chances days before the election.
Is this fair, is this just?
3
In the end the Hillary investigation the FBI chose to publicize amounted to nothing. What has been revealed by the Trump investigation is a treat to our democracy. What does that tell us about their judgement? The FBI failed miserably in carrying out their mission.
2
So by allowing politics and polls to influence the investigatory process and thereby skew the presidential election, Mr. Comey gets an enormous book deal. For making big bucks out of misjudgment and underperformance, nothing beats capitalism.
1
"But underpinning both cases was one political calculation: that Mrs. Clinton would win and Mr. Trump would lose. Agents feared being seen as withholding information or going too easy on her. And they worried that any overt actions against Mr. Trump’s campaign would only reinforce his claims that the election was being rigged against him."
Really, the only thing that they needed to do was their job. Their job is not to worry about who wins an election or the politics but enforcing the law. They changed the course of this country and the world for years to come.
Everything they tried to do only delayed the inevitable which then landed it into an even bigger mess in beyond our borders.
2
If y'all thought Crossfire Hurricane was kept secret...
Mueller will want to reveal as little as possible despite having to take certain actions that would have to become public, such as indictments, subpoenas and warrants. Anything he can keep secret until the last possible moment he will.
That said, Robert Mueller and his crack team of 25+ investigators and prosecutors are working around the clock with IRS and NY AG offices and who knows how many assistants who are all brilliant in their own right, and in the past year we can not possibly imagine all that they have uncovered. Anything we have come to know has been in the course of prosecuting a much bigger outcome: what we have seen are the little spits of water before the dike breaks.
Trump knows this because this is plain for anyone to see.
1
Collusion or no collusion, what was the vehicle by which the Trump campaign became virtually saturated at is highest levels with people with these connections to Russia, but virtually unknown in US political discourse. Trump's campaign suffered an advanced case of immune deficiency when it came to associating with these people who were at the very least highly suspect for conflicting loyalties. I suspect Roger Stone's hand on this; but was Stone the marionette of Putin or oligarchs and Russian intel operatives connected to Purim?
John Brennan initiated the Trump investigation. He wanted to be CIA director under Hillary and despised the fact that Trump would undo *his* legacy in the Middle East, which was pro-Islamic. I trust Nunes to get to the truth about the initiation of the Trump investigation. It most certainly is not this story. How many different stories will we hear about the origin of the investigation until the truth comes out?
4
The article is vague on when Trump was briefed on the Steele dossier. The timing in the article suggests a little after Buzzfeed had published it and consequently other media had discussed it.
This timing is important so the article shouldn't have been so nonchalant on this issue.
One has to read the exchange of texts between Strzok and Page to know that there is a lot here that merits serious investigative reporting. We already knew that Trump suspected "wiretapping". At one point he moved his transition team to Bedminster, NJ, proof that he suspected much worse than that and maybe with good reason.
Strzok, who revised the final version of the Comey memo on Clinton, traveled to London in August 2016 to meet with UK Intelligence officials, and later on was one of the two agents who framed Flynn.
The source of the 2016 counterintelligence operation against Trump must be revealed. For those who fear that national security would be imperiled, remember that Trump can declassify anything he wants.
New York Times, we need more than the cute name of the operation explained.
5
This seems to put the blackmail theory to rest
If the Russians had the 'golden showers' tape from 2013 why would their attempts to infiltrate the campaign be so feeble and unsuccessful in 2016? Why not just contact Trump or Cohen directly and say "you need to do X for else or else'
Also, what exactly did Trump give the Russians? I keep hearing that the Trump campaign changed the convention platform to soften the language related to Russsia's involvement in Ukraine. Really? Everyone knows convention platforms are totally meaningless. They are not policy, not binding and not action.
If Mueller says Trump obstructed justice but there was no collusion the White House will say "Of course the president tried to stop a bogus investigation into something that never happened". That's a solid line of defense that will resonate with enough of the American people to perhaps head off an impeachment
1
As both Alice and Nietzsche proclaimed:
'Everything is the Opposite of what is being Professed'
2
In the end, as long as the GOP retains control of Congress and Trump the presidency, it likely matters little if Mueller's probe finds wrongdoing by The Donald.
The Justice Department issued 2 legal opinions since Watergate that a sitting president can't be indicted. That means the special counsel would very likely just issue his findings on Trump without pursuing him in court. Which means the only possible consequence would be impeachment by a thus-far nose-thumbing Congress.
Most Rep. Congressmen care not about Trump aspects of the Russia investigation, nor for FBI/Mueller steps to date, nor for doing anything to jeopardize this presidency. The House Intelligence Committee, for instance, found no evidence Russia even favored Trump's election over Clinton's. It cut short its own investigation; is demanding secret Mueller records to see how to undermine that probe; refused to subpoena testimony by key Trump people who won't answer questions and faked claims the FBI poisoned Crossfire Hurricane from the start.
The only reason President Nixon resigned after Watergate was that he recorded his core crimes. Still, special prosecutors didn't want to take him to court. Rep. Congressmen turned against him only after two years of listening to his lies and then stacks of his tapes.
There'll likely be no impeachment now without the equivalent. Or unless the left and center mange to seize control in Nov. elections, and Russians don't defeat them -- this time.
118
The FBI, whether intentionally or otherwise, aided & abetted Russian efforts to secure the election of a US President who would best protect Russian interests.
The FBI deliberately played up potential violations by Hillary, even though they had no basis for charging her with any crime. The FBI deliberately thrust this into the limelight a few days before the election, which surely maximized its impact.
Simultaneously, the FBI took great pains to downplay any potential violations by Trump & his campaign, even though there was ample reason to suspect serious crimes. A few days before the election, the FBI deliberately gave a misleadingly benign version of its concerns regarding Trump, which surely enabled many undecided voters to decide that voting for Trump wouldn't be so bad.
It is supremely ironic that Trump accuses the FBI of working to undermine his candidacy. It is painfully apparent that Trump would never have been elected without the assistance of the FBI. Now, the FBI (along with many Trump voters) has a sad case of buyer's regret.
199
When you objectively look at U.S. Russia relations to date how can you with a straight face think Donald Trump is "protecting Russian interests? Nothing could be further from the truth. If they really wanted Donald Trump to win they must sorely regret it today.
4
Oil prices are higher than they've been in three years or more, and are likely to continue to go higher in the immediate future, due to us withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. This directly benefits Russian interests -- Russia is one of the world's leading petro-states.
Our political system is in disarray at home, and the alliances of which we are a part are also in disarray. This keeps us from doing much of anything that's decisive, which includes opposing Russia.
We don't need to be friends with Russia for Russia to benefit from Trump's election. We simply need to not stand in the way of what Russia wants to do.
I think the only regret Russia might have is that all those surrounding Trump appear to be really bad at concealing their bad behavior. I think the Russians expected actual competence, and have instead gotten "fake it till you make it".
"even though there was ample reason to suspect serious crimes"
Really? So you have the evidence that the FBI and Mueller have spent two years digging to find? All of America is waiting for your evidence. Please provide posthaste.
2
"Shoulda, coulda, woulda" could neither undo WWI nor Trump election. However, in light of this, Mrs Clinton is not entirely wrong in blaming former FBI Dir Comey the way he handled the investigations [plural!]
This is differential treatment between the two investigations. Perhaps Comey himself was making a poor judgment. Even he has admitted it as he was expecting Clinton to be the next POTUS. And perhaps like many people, he underestimated Trump and overestimated the voters.
Alas, done is done. And considering Special Counsel Mueller has stated he would abide by the DOJ's directive that no sitting president should be indicted, people should only look back to prepare for a better future, any rearguard actions would be fruitless
2
“I was born in a crossfire hurricane” - one of the many famous lives from "Jumpin' Jack Flash".
The true geeks out there remember the film with the same title, and the scene where the heroine is trying to find a computer password buried in the song. Unfortunately, she has a difficult time listening to the lyrics and finds a printed copy. And the key.
4
Surprise surprise ... not
Trump and his kleptocrats and enablers are knee deep in muck. Trump's money has bought his complaisance (not his soul, he doesn't have one) and now he's ready to do anything for anyone who does him a favor. That's his idea of a deal, something where he slithers out from responsibilities, takes center stage, and cons his willing punters to the max.
The wheels of justice grind exceeding slow, but I guess we should be glad they're still moving. The NYT isn't bothering to apologize for telling everybody how unlikable Hillary was and providing a megaphone for Trump. The blindness of my fellow liberals, goodhearted as they may be, is legion. We think logic and the common good have to win. They don't.
The history of humanity is full of submission to greed and corruption; 1984 is here, amplified.
The criminalization of opposition, democracy, poverty, and otherness is well on its way. The seamless fabric of lies constructed by Fox and the Kochtopus and profiteering so-called pastors taking the widow's mites to feed their "success", spewing division, violence, and exclusion from the pulpit is well nigh impregnable. Only the unborn are pure enough; difference is not welcome. Victims are to blame for their plight.
None of this is news. What would be news is if we discovered that the soul of humanity is about working together to solve problems and stop trashing our hospitable earth. That is spirituality, not worshiping the golden calf.
41
By the way, it really would be better if Mueller's reveal were to wait until the new Congress is seated in early January. (I make it 234 more days to the first Monday in January).
15
During the election Trump said on a television interview Russia is not Ukraine. Pretty sure that statement sent bells and whistles through many investigative organisations not just the FBI.
Now, how to box him in without throwing away the rule of law? May better minds prevail.
3
I am sure President Trump would have been upset, if he found out the FBI was investigating his campaign, duh. Of course he would think it was rigged. This is worse than Watergate!
33
It very may well be worse than Watergate. We haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet. This is just one more story, likely leaked to make everyone believe it was a legitimate investigation.
3
America, weep, now, and never forget this moment. Our democracy began to crumble through the actions of weak-minded men, who put themselves and their careers above everything we stand for.
Shame on all of us. Look what we have done, and what we are doing right now. May the words "Crossfire Hurricane" become a battle cry for reclaiming our republic.
If YOU are one of the cowards who played any role in this disaster, come forward, ask for forgiveness -- and then leave public life. America, it's time to end the war and make peace with the world.
If not now, when?
71
The biggest problem is democrats approve of these tactics.
1
Make no mistake, the end of Trump is nigh. It will not come tomorrow, or the day after. It will be a long, slow, painful slog, as all quagmires become. Whether we go back to Vietnam, or our present day travails in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Israel, where an equally demagogic ruler reigns, remember, it is always darkest before the lights go out. But go out they will, like they did for Nixon, like they will for Trump. To be sure, the American landscape will go black for some time to come. It will remain that way until America rights this wrong and finds out if it is still able to extricate itself from such hate. If it fails to do so, to be sure, America as we once knew it will perish from this Earth
DD
Manhattan
39
This is all such a bore. I don't read the articles anymore, any more than I read articles about Israel and the Palestinians. Don't we all know that when high-school history books are written 20 years from now, let alone 100, this issue won't merit a single sentence?
13
Watergate is remembered well. This is clearly bigger.
1
Why neglect spending time on understanding those subjects just because they won’t be relevant a hundred years from now? You might not even be around then...
These are issues relevant to the current day - doesn’t that make it interesting enough?
2
We are still reading about Watergate over 40 years later, and they will be reading about it 200 years from now. Same for Russiagate, as it even bigger.
1
The 2016 right wing coup conducted by the Republicans with Russian help placed Donald Trump, the most ignorant despicable person, to ever sit in the Oval Office. These Republicans must be made to pay for their contempt for the American people Trump was greased into office as so-called president by a mere 24% of the total US electorate. If the daily humiliation and nausea which accompanies every Trump-filled news day does not motivate a massive voter backlash against the the treasonous Republicans then there is no hope for this country's future. Its that bad. Work to get out the vote in every election going forward across the country and restore dignity to the United States. We shall overcome!
88
No US citizen who cares about the this country or peace in the world can support the unstable, greedy racist and sexual predator Donald Trump. He serves only his own personal interests, not those of the United States. He violates the US Constitution with every breath he takes. Not even the most loyal Republicans can defend supporting Trump.
47
If the Australian had been more astute and circumspect mr Page, General Flynn,others lives would not have been ruined. Thousands of "breaking news" announcements not sent.
Millions of people anticipating imminent proof Trump was guilty of collusion could have been doing something else.
If this isnt a media driven public frenzy is it?
16
Flynn and Page are adults, made their own decisions, and need to pay the price for their treasons against America!
1
No this is a corrupt man who was elected by good people. He admires dictators and wants to manipulate the system to become one. Watch the midterms because his base will not carry the day.
1
The FBI is the finest law enforcement agency in the world. But it is fair to scrutinize the actions of senior Justice Department officials like Ms. Yates and Mr. Comey.
We know, for instance, that the law office of President Trump’s personal attorney was raided and searched, a frightening attack on the attorney-client privilege that the evidence may nonetheless justify.
But when it came to the Clinton campaign this article noted that “...the Justice Department (decided) to offer Mrs. Clinton’s lawyers immunity and negotiate access to her hard drives...” rather than just seize them with a search warrant. Why? What was the difference, since hard drives (and as we know, emails) can also be erased or destroyed.
I think many of us want to wait for the internal report of the agency ombudsman before jumping to the conclusions suggested by this article.
24
Comey is a seasoned bureaucrat and a skillful wielder of memoranda and focused and scripted testimony in Congressional hearings. His ninjutsu is strong. He is not prone to missteps.
Trump's inept attempt to manipulate Comey and the subsequent dismissal have turned Comey into a saint in the perception of many. This is wrong. Whatever deep seated animus caused Comey to put his thumb on the electoral scales to enact some subtle revenge backfired unexpectedly and saddled the US and the World with the current administration. Thanks Comey, thanks Putin, and thanks New York Times for your assistance in creating the current disaster and all its consequences to come.
Anybody know what Liz Spayd is doing nowadays?
8
Our country (I am a US citizen) definitely hasn't got its act together. We should be alarmed. afraid, incensed. Instead, we're all revved up, one way of another, about the man with the shiny gold hair. Is anyone here not at least alarmed by the international sabotage. To me, whether it worked or almost worked, helped Trump or simply hurt Hillary -- all that's far less important than the fact that it happened on OUR watch.
22
The Russians had zero effect. Their ads were seen by perhaps a tenth of one percent of Facebook raders - at a time when Facebook people were already ignoring tthat sort of info on the page. I never noted any of the supposed Rusian info.
Whu hurt Hillary? Hillary's past and mania for free cash that rendered her America's most untrustworthy public figure.
Remember: Uranium One and $145 million.
2
We're far more concerned that Hillary and Obama suborned our intelligence agencies and the DOJ to frame a sitting president, after trying to destroy his candidacy with laughably false scandal sheet lies paid for by Hillary herself.
1
While "little Marco" may have reasons to resent Mr. Trump, it is highly unlikely that he would praise the FBI's handling of the case of Russian collusion when the documents are scheduled to be released. With the FBI investigating 4 top officials of the Trump Campaign before the election and not one world of that investigation leaking to the media, it is difficult to see how the investigation could be either a Witch Hunt or a Deep State Conspiracy. If anything the FBI appears to have gone out of its way to protect the Bully in Chief by down playing the information they had on his campaign aides.
When a man is known to have been the target of Russian efforts at recruitment and ignores warnings about those efforts and then, apparently informs the Russians about those warnings, it is only logical that he would be a person of interest to the FBI when charges of Russian meddling were raised. This is especially true given the warning from the Australian Ambassador. Ergo, the FISA wiretap was legal and not an attempt to hurt the Donald. If he had vetted and monitored his own aides more carefully, not asked Russia to hack Hillary's emails and not allowed his campaign to broadcast advance knowledge of Wikileaks dumps, coming at a most opportyune time, perhaps his denials and accusations would be more believable.
18
Christopher Steele, John McCain, the John Kerry State Department, GPS Fusion, Harry Reid, the Clinton campaign and other Ds did their best to inject this Trump/Russia collusion investigation narrative into the election, but the media (except Mother Jones) did not bite.
Not until after Trump's election, when Clapper conspired with CNN (his new employer) to bait a "news hook" -- FBI Director Comey's top secret, private briefing of President Trump, which promptly leaked.
2
I have not read the Comey book, so I only know from reporting and interviews his muddled explanations for talking about Hillary twice. I believe he was pressured, or feared condemnation for not indicting her. Given the Republican trending of most law enforcement, I wonder how much and how passionate the ideally apolitical FBI was terrorized by Fox-watching right-wing advocates within the department, and possibly Congress, and how the more apolitical by-the-book agents had to bend their behavior to avoid conflict with that possible cabal.
13
I recall very clearly that in the lead-up to the election, Rudy Guiliani -- yes, him -- giving out information tipping off the news media that blockbuster information would soon be released that would totally blow the Clinton campaign out of the water. This happened just two days prior to Comey's shocking announcement that the Bureau was reopening its investigation of new emails involving Clinton.
Hmmmmm. This was especially troublesome because Rudy was constantly and publicly boasting about all his friends in the FBI's New York office. That led to speculation that there were some in the Bureau who strongly disliked Hillary.
Is this not germane to Crossfire Hurricane, and internal tensions within the Bureau over Trump versus Clinton? At the very least, this latest report strongly suggests that the FBI failed in its mission to investigate suspected crimes without fear or favor.
30
The only thing that interfered with the 2016 elections was voter ID laws, and gerrymandering. The party of “Get Money Out Of Politics”, got out-snookered by the party of “Get Voting Out Of Politics”.
8
True words!
As a side note, Russia is not the enemy of US, China is.
20 years from now, China will replace US as a Super Power.
These discussions are so childish in wake of that fact!
100 years from now, history books will write only one line about all this meaningless talk.
So you believe having to prove who you are to vote is 'interference" with a clean election? Why do I suspect you have a bias towards illegal voting?
"The facts, had they surfaced, might have devastated the Trump campaign: Mr. Trump’s future national security adviser was under investigation, as was his campaign chairman. One adviser appeared to have Russian intelligence contacts. Another was suspected of being a Russian agent himself." So, in a nutshell, we have Jim Comey and the DoJ to thank for the perfect storm that spawned the Trump Presidency. Heckuva job, guys.
25
And neither one of these men has done anything wrong. They will both be cleared.
So the Trump investigation started by the FBI has been going on for 2 years since summer 2018 at a cost of millions of dollars to the tax payers and has come up with what as of today?
I guess the answer in divided US depends on who you ask. I would not care to ask a partisan dem or a partisan Republican. As an independent I think history will record that the Trump investigation was unjustified and as the judge Ellis who recently said at the Manafort hearing it was meant to hurt Trump and paralyze his presidency with one goal to soothe those who hated him or wanted Hillary to win.
Having said that, whatever it is that the Russians allegedly try to do, I do think the Russian influence was ZERO .
To some extent Wikileaks may have had an influence because they exposed the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth at the right time that crooked DNC and attempts to knife Bernie. No one denied the wikileaks revelation on the contrary resignation of the DNC chair and the top brass provided reinforcements for the truth.
With the email scandal hanging over Hillary and the destruction of the lost emails along with the Clinton Foundation's alleged pay for play seemed like corruption let independents tip the scale to steer clear of Hillary in states where it mattered.
In the end Hillary lost the presidency and Trump lost the popular vote. Tomorrow being anniversary of the appointment of the special counsel, it is time to say good bye to all the Trump investigations.
22
Nope, well worth as many millions as it may cost!
I don't believe that Comey would ever have belittled a man in the way that he belittled HRC.
I suspect that gender played more of a role than political party with the FBI investigations - albeit more likely unconscious bias.
22
Comey hasn’t exactly spared criticism of Trump in his book. So ‘m not entirely sure where you’re going with this other than to claim some misogyny.
What happened regarding HRC’s email server, had it been a lower level employee, would have resulted in far worse as a result (fired, legal charges, loss of clearance and likely livelihood).
1
So when Comey exonerated an obviously guilty Hillary in the summer of 2016, was he belittling her then too?
But still, it comes down to this: the president is above the law after all. The only remedy is impeachment which, as a practical matter, is not a judicial process but a political one. It's safe to say that until more enlightened times ascend, no political party will ever impeach one of its own. Except for the Democrats.
9
The article was informative. I don't believe, without reams of documentation, it could include all the forgotten "nuances" but allow me to remind us of just a few from just one common American.
1. Diane Feinstein came out of a closed-door meeting while throwing her hands up in the air. All she could utter was something like, "Russians".
2. The Steele reporting was started by a Mr. Smith, a republican, inquiring into the activities of Mr. Trump's campaign. The Steele documents appear to be constantly blamed on the democrats. But, it was started by a republican who later committed suicide.
3. Mr. Trump endlessly declaring a rigged election was thought by many to be a planned alternate job in the television industry when he lost. There's some irony in that because he still apparently has a job in the television industry.
4. The election was rigged. We just didn't understand why and are still learning.
5. Mr. Comey seemed to be in a no-win situation. I personally wondered who got to him. I understand that enough now and President Obama appeared to be in the same situation. He chose not to weigh in and due to both, we may be headed to an authoritarian government.
As Fox Entertainment's X-Files says, "The truth is out there." My question is: will we every know it?
Thanks for the wonderful reporting and restating of facts. This is not an alternate reality, though one day it may become just that.
28
The Steele reporting was started by the republicans, but the dossier was all Hillary. Why is it so hard for democrats to acknowledge this?
2
Guess what AACNY, I’m a Democrat and I could care less if the HRC campaign funded the Steele dossier. It was opposition research which is very common in politics, in case you hadn’t heard. Pretty good research, I might add.
This like some kind of badly played chess game. She’s going to win, we better get out in front of this email thing otherwise they’ll accuse us of hiding something that affected the election and we’ll have all kind of turmoil and accusations—I was outraged but I actually knew fellow Democratic who thought this was a GOOD strategy. Unbelievable—but with the premise of her being a sure thing, almost understandable. So can you imagine that Comey never said anything, she did win, and there was something to the emails on Anthony Weiner’s computer? What kind of a non-stop impeachment campaign would we be enduring now? What condition would the FBI be in? And yet, in fact, this did happen—only it happened to Trump not Hillary. And he calls it a witch hunt and his supporters believe it.
10
As for not revealing the investigation before the election, why not call it "Sympathy for the Devil"?
13
"The F.B.I.’s thinking crystallized by mid-August..."
This is the most frustrating thing I've ever read. My wife thinks I'm clever because I told her Trump was working for Russia in December 2015.
But all I did was listen to what he said, and read a few articles. And not obscure journal articles either, it was on regular websites like Vox or Salon.
Trump's attitude to Russia was bizarre, it needed explaining. And from an early date journalists were digging up weird links that soon piled up into something too big to be a coincidence. And the weird statements piled up too.
But the FBI -- an inherently conservative institution whose New York office was reputedly Trump-mad -- somehow didn't see that. In fact they remained blind to it long after it became glaringly obvious.
And when they could no longer deny it to themselves, they still denied it to the public.
What if the problem had not been shoved under their noses by the worried Australians? Maybe they would have continued to look the other way.
Are we supposed to believe they would have been so trusting if similar details had emerged about Obama in 2008? The election was rigged by the conservative white boys club.
33
You are observant, but isn’t it funny how people can miss what’s right in front of their faces? This is obvious by a cross-section of these comments. There are none so blind as those who will not see. Until the approach of the RNC convention when it was clear he was going to get the nomination, I really wasn’t paying that much attention to Trump. But as soon as the RNC platform was suddenly pro-Russia, and shortly afterward, he asked Russia to keep hacking Hillary, I, like millions of others no doubt, said, hey, wait a minute! I didn’t have to know who Paul Manafort or Carter Page were or about some crazy meeting in Trump Tower to know something was fishy. Now that we hear echos of Eric saying, oh, no worries, we get all our financing from Russia (to paraphrase), how could this not be clear? “Collusion” or not, there is some kind of inappropriate connection between Russia and Trump.
The FBI was placed in a difficult position.
Post-Trump, they are in a much more difficult position.
We are entering an unprecedented era of American History. This is much deeper than Nixon, and much worse. The US has a lot to learn going forward about how to act and defend itself as a Democracy in a globalized world.
It would be nice if more US Citizens came back to their country's ideals, and realized what actually make America great. It's not spin, slogans, or hate. It's not seeing your fellow American as the enemy when the jack boot of tyranny is at America's throat.
15
Right in front of god and everybody, in public for the whole world to see, Trump called on Russia to hack Clinton's emails. Just because it wasn't done by spies in a dark ally doesn't mean that wasn't collusion. It appears Trump can get away with treason or anything else in public, with impunity.
36
He called on the Russians to RELEASE emails they MUST have already taken (due to her security-free private email setup), in order to reveal her perfidy to the world.
Sadly they did not do that. Happily her crimes against Bernie WERE revealed by a disgruntled DNC insider, who then paid the ultimate price five days later by being gunned down from behind, late at night on a dark street.
1
Well, release or hack—the emails were obtained illegally, so what does it matter? But what he actually said was, I hope you FIND those emails. So, pretty much asked them to hack. It was rather chilling to me.
"... And they worried that any overt actions against Mr. Trump’s campaign would only reinforce his claims that the election was being rigged against him."
There are multiple mentions in this article of Comey/FBI making critical decisions based on their fear of potential retributions from the corrupt real estate developer.
14
Let's get serious how does Alexander John Gosse Downer a former Australian politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2014 to 2018. end up drinking in a bar with a 24 year old George Papadopoulos loosely associated to the Trump campaign? It was a set-up and the facts still vague between when the Steele Dossier crossed FBI hands and when this supposed chance meeting took place.
13
This is not the origination of the investigation. It's just version 3 or 4. Still too many unanswered questions. Brennan's increasingly shrill comments are likely because the uncovering of his vendetta-based operation against Trump is slowly coming to light.
3
"President Trump has described an investigation as a political effort to undermine him..."?
Why repeat this absurd, self-serving, and utterly unfounded allegation?
Even if this statement sets up the following sentence, "But [FBI] agents repeatedly took steps that ultimately benefited him" Trump's absurd statement will still find its way into Alt-right extremist media, search engines, and the minds of people who may not read any further!
Nixon talked about an effort to "get him"! So did Sheldon Silver and Joe Bruno! And so, for that matter did John Gotti and Al Capone!
Since WHEN do the denials of a criminal carry ANY weight and deserve being treated as anything but the ravings of a criminal trying to cover up his gulit?
12
Comey made a political decision when he chose to reveal that the FBI was going to review newly discovered information regarding Clinton’s emails. He should have been making a policy decision instead and therein lies the rub. He was trying to apply a new calculus to a situation which already had a past practice approach tied to it. Loretta Lynch tried to warn him, but he thought his moral judgment should prevail. He was well-intentioned but unfortunately quite wrong. I don’t see however that that was killed off Clinton in the end. That distinction goes to a couple of big miscalculations on the part of the DNC and the HRC Campaign.
There was — and still is — a seriously disaffected group of citizens out there who still feel disenfranchised and the Democrats need to consolidate their various factions in order to come up with a message and a platform that reaches across the great divide. Revulsion toward Trump will only take us just so far. What is it in our uniquely American identity that has served our nation of immigrants so well in the past? It seems to me it’s the perceived promise that with hard work there exists a real opportunity to “get ahead” and have a better life. What are the social and economic elements necessary to make that a reality again for the disaffected and the disenfranchised? If the Dems can figure that out and what they need to do to make it happen, our Republic might stand a chance.
15
sorry Trump has figured that out! and That is why he will win again in 2020, Now if we could just get Trump to come to the Dark side we could win in 2020!
3
The seriously disaffected group of citizens who felt betrayed by the Washington, D.C. of 2009-17 are the reason the American President is named Donald Tump.
Comey trusted he political polls. Are you trusting those same people following their same protocols THIS year?
3
With little understanding of what exactly is going on with these investigations, Donald Trump continues to tumble down a rabbit hole of paranoia and whining. His ignorance will undo his presidency with or without the FBI, the CIA, and Mueller's operation.
23
I think it's much more likely he will serve 2 full terms and continue undoing Obama's tainted legacy. That will undoubtedly cause you to be even more paranoid and deluded about what is actually happening in America. I guess you don't like 4% GDP growth, record low unemployment, getting hostages back from NOKO, lowering taxes, etc.
7
Except for the hostages, all that came from Obama's administration that Trump inherited. Fortunately nothing Trump has done has upset what started back then.
And growth is not 4%, it is 2.5%. You can't even get that right.
You seem to be forgetting a few things, Mr/Ms Ripcord. The growth of the GDP and record low unemployment began with President Obama and the trend has continued. Also, eleven (11) North Korean hostages were released during Obama's presidency. He just didn't make their homecomings a publicity stunt that made it all about him, as did Trump. As for lowering taxes, what of the $Trillion+ added to the nation's debt? Though I suppose you believe in trickle down, and the tooth fairy and Santa Claus to boot.
Only in hindsight can the FBI be blamed for treading carefully into the Trump probe. God knows, the Republic has endured and our democracy has grown even with imperfect though dedicated officials, which includes Comey and McCabe.
Here's the problem, and Peter Strzok alludes to it. The FBI, the media, no one, had never seen or even contemplated a presidential candidate working with a foreign power to take over the US Government. It's why the book, The Manchurian Candidate, is so thrilling: who could have expected such a thing.
The Russians attacked our democracy and helped steal an election for their candidate Donald Trump. That is an act of war. Conspiracy in that act by an American is treason.
69
' I was crowned with a spike right through my head (Sic)'. Ending lyrics of The Stones 'Jumping Jack Flash'-Whence 'Operation Cross Fire Hurricane' was drawn. 'But its all right, yeah in fact its a Gas. Jumping Jack Flash is a Gas, Gas, Gas.' Words fail me now.
5
Next time, FBI, leave the political judgments out of it and just report what's reportable.
15
Exactly what the FBI did - political fall out be dammed. They are am independent, non-partisan institution.
They reported an investigation that was closed.
They did not report an investigation that had no clear end in sight.
Should they have reported they were spying on the Trump campaign? Weasal Comey lied and lied.
2
Interesting article, but there is no discussion of how Papadopolous came to know anything about Russian possession of Clinton emails or just how it was that he happened to have cocktails with the Australian ambassador in London? Or even why he was in London?
My wife and I often go out for meals and drinks, and frequently sit at the bar and meet people.
But after many, many years of doing so, I have never encountered an ambassador of any kind. I've met authors, actors, business people of all stripes, and even a few big-time celebrities, but no ambassadors. Bad luck? Papadopolous was 25 years old, had little to no influence within the Trump campaign, and somehow found himself in a London establishment drinking with an ambassador from Australia, and just happened to divulge some very eyebrow-raising information.
Does this not give pause to this whole story? Especially when viewed in light of the article the NYT published back on New Year's Day that tried (and failed) to discredit the notion that the "dossier" had any influence on the granting on the FISA warrant.
Just sayin".
32
In defense of the Australian ambassador, he did arrange one of the largest-ever donations to the Clinton Foundation. That probably helped him realize the importance of that 25-year-old man sitting alone at the bar.
4
Please don't tempt these fine folks with logic my friend. Their minds are made up. Trump is Putin's Bestie. Even though he has done far more against Russia than their hero's stern "Knock it off".
5
Yeah, Robert, wasn’t it so terrible and suspicious that Australia (and the other countries that donated similarly to the Foundation) wanted to fight AIDS in Africa?
"And they worried that any overt actions against Mr. Trump’s campaign would only reinforce his claims that the election was being rigged against him."
It's amazing how everyone seems to be worried about how Trump will react, how Trump will use criticism to turn his base against his perceived enemies. It's this approach to him that has given him so much power. It's not him—it's us. Stop letting the bully win.
50
The FBI's actions are part of why Mr. Trump will never be a legitimate president.
The FBI agents did not interview the folks they should have, for fear of revealing the existence of the Trump investigation.
For that same reason, the proper set of DOJ people were not informed.
The FBI based everything they did on the fear that Trump after losing would then claim the election was rigged.
By all accounts the FBI could have and should have done much more to investigate Trump before the election.
Extreme caution in line with FBI standards and traditions characterized the Trump investigation.
Extreme carelessness that violated FBI standards and traditions characterized the Clinton investigations.
The FBI did not make proper use of the Steele report. Moreover, the news media withheld the report until after the election.
The Steele report described many real contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russians. The Trump campaign would go on to lie about these contacts.
Sec. Clinton won the popular vote by 2,856,000 votes. She lost Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by a combined total of 97,108 votes.
Trump will never be a legitimate president. Given his nature, it is unlikely that he will be able to overcome this.
29
Guess “legitimate” is a lot like “beauty” but in the eyes of the constitution and our founding fathers Mr. Donald J. Trump is our President whether you like it or not. Get over it. I’ve heard the same lame arguments about other presidents.
1
So Trump thinks that the FBI investigation into his transgressions are a witch hunt?
Let me point out what a witch hunt looks like, i.e. Clintons.
Investigations into Whitewater, travelgate, Vince Foster, Lewinsky, Paula Jones, Benghazi, Clinton Foundation and the email server.
Yet, they have never been found guilty. And the Republican continue to seek anything to continue to harass the Clintons.
Trump is a baby when it comes to vindictive investigations. Get a spine, dude!
55
Conveniently some of the key witnesses, just happened to die before they could give testimony. McDougal and Foster? Also, the billing records just seemed to disappear from Foster's office. Comey let Hillary get away with crimes. Why do you think he was fired. Incompetence.
1
Can we be honest? Isn't it about time we end this witch hunt? It's been over a year and nothing has been found to demonstrate that there has been any "collusion"; any involvement by Trump and his campaign with the "Russians" ; or any other claim that has been brought to hire a "Special Counsel". This is a witch hunt brought about with the intent to make Trump look bad, pure and simple. Fact now, it is making the Democratic Party look real bad. At every corner we run into another Democratic actor, wether its John Brennan or someone else. Comey and his henchmen at the FBI have been proven to be political pawns. Keep it up and you'll loose the rest of the members o your Party. You have already lost elections in November that you could have won...
33
Using the word "honest" to paint those with whom you don't agree as necessarily "dishonest" is the first of your flaws. The next is that absence of proof is not proof of absence. These are garden variety logical missteps. Please reconsider your argument, and when you have one that does not have logical flaws, we'll take another look at it.
12
Hey Bob: The fact that you claim that we haven't seen "any involvement by Trump and his campaign with the Russians" proves that your opinion is merely an empty partisan opinion, not based on any facts.
18
You don’t sound like a Democrat so your opinions about Democrats, the investigation, and November’s election aren’t exactly objective.
4
If Page was a Russian agent, he certainly fooled the FBI, because he helped the FBI get the Russian spies. Missing part of the story. Also after spying on Page, he was never found to be a spy. Just an excuse to spy on the Trump campaign. All phone and emails would be subjects of investigation. Who believes a drunk in a bar, no judge would accept that, pure hearsay evidence. Using a mole to spy on a political opponent, woare than Watergate. Using a phony unverified dossier to obtain a FISA warrant is illegal!
25
People who have been involved with the FISA process invariably say that no one gets a FISA warrant on the basis of a single, uncorroborated source. Ditto for hearsay evidence standing alone, so there is surely corroboration.
Further, with regard to drunks in bars, let the ancient Romans have the last word: In vino veritas.
9
There were reports in the Times last year about the beginnings of Crossfire Hurricane. Then it was reported not only that agents knew about contacts between Russians and the Trump campaign, but that they even gave the campaign a chance to report these contacts.
The agents didn't inform the campaign that they knew of these contacts, but warned them that they suspected Russian attempts to interfere with the election process. They told them to be sure to contact them if any Russians tried to contact the campaign, which any campaign should have immediately done without being told. Of course they didn't report the contacts, and Trump never showed any interest in learning about Russian attempts to influence the election.
This in itself should have been reason for the FBI to reconsider their decision to not make this public. Not only did the campaign not report Russian contacts, they made up lie after lie after lie about contacts with the Russians.
15
The FBI performs domestic counter-intelligence inside the US. People with security clearances are expected to report suspicious foreign contacts to it.
6
"But underpinning both cases was one political calculation: that Mrs. Clinton would win and Mr. Trump would lose. Agents feared being seen as withholding information or going too easy on her. And they worried that any overt actions against Mr. Trump’s campaign would only reinforce his claims that the election was being rigged against him."
This statement reflects exactly what the FBI did wrong. Their responses to both investigations were a reaction to Trump's lies. Instead of doing their job, they bought into Trump's attempts to manipulate the election using lies. Trump wants people to be more concerned about how they respond to lies than the lies themselves. I still have respect for the FBI but this is a valuable lesson going forward: present the facts and let the public decide their validity.
32
The US public can't even apply basic physics to rule out preposterous propositions purported to be fact.
1
The incapacity of some bureaucrats to resort to regulations as the reason they can't say anything at all is mind-boggling.
2
"Crossfire Hurricane" is not just about the Rolling Stones - it's also a reference to the Whoopi Goldberg movie "Jumping Jack Flash", where she, an American computer banker, assists a British spy to escape Eastern Europe - except in this reality, where it's a British spy helping America escape the clutches of Russia!
4
Funny 35 years ago when the USSR (Russia) was a real threat to Europe and the US, Democrats saw nothing, now that Russia isn't even a formidable threat to Ukraine, Democrats see evil and danger everywhere. Amazing!
If you read Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", you will find that "witch hunts" are conducted by the authorities using the population against itself, and not the other way around. Sorry, Mr. President, wrong context.
17
Trump doesn't have any magical powers. He just resonates with nihilists.
5
Trump was the perfect “Change Candidate”, all the bad stuff needing changing condensed in one messy package.
Nunes can only play wack-a-mole,
wrangling for the documents and trying to shut down the investigation before he exhausts his time in office and slips into oblivion or a slot at Fox.
Avenatti, the entrepreneur, a “job creator”, the kind the GOP likes, is doing the the job that Congress should be doing, dismantling the “pay to play” culture one Corporate Donor at a time.
And what better way for a real time demonstration to show how it all works than to have a cause-and-effect example running through the news cycle over the last few days linking China with Trump’s business interests in Indonesia.
Trump’s election is driving real change, just not exactly the change that his campaign promoted.
Trump’s misogeny has had unintended consequences so far, seeding the #MeToo movement changing the way women are treated in the workplace.
Trump’s open greed will force the
American public to confront the uncomfortable truth that elections cost money, they get what they pay for, and to choose wisely.
19
You're correct on one point. The Obama administration cost me money. The Trump administration gained me money. My taxes changed, but other than that, my life didn't change at all during either administration. And if Nunes eventually goes to Fox, is that as bad as ex-CIA directors going to CNN and politcally covering their own malfeasance?
13
In Australia, it costs money not to vote. I think the US should try it, but it would also have to make every vote count equally for it not to insult intelligence.
8
Hey ThreePutt: Life isn't only about whether you're making more or less money. There are other values that are more important, such as honesty, integrity, fairness, dignity, civility, etc.
President Obama raised the bar of all of those values for the entire country.
Trump trashed them all.
In the end, that matters to everyone in this country a lot more than whether you made a pittance more or less money.
8
“[Trump] called on Russia to uncover more [of Clinton’s emails]”
The only thing Trump did was publicly point out the irony that we had a better chance of Russia making available the emails that Clinton was hiding than we had of Clinton herself doing the right thing.
23
Nice try Joseph. To believe that Trump was being "ironic" one would have to believe that A: None of the meetings in Trump tower took place. B. His son didn't respond to Russian overtures about dirt on Hillary by saying "I love it." C. Trump understands what irony is.
There is more than sufficient proof that none of these things are true.
26
The subject e-mail traffic was nothing but scheduling and personal matters of no relevance to investigations whose disclosure might have compromised the privacy and security of the correspondents.
What twits some Americans are.
12
Nice try, Jenifer, but if one is "colluding" with Russians, one doesn't announce it publicly.
1
If Comey had just kept his mouth shut, we'd all be better off. Instead of going backward toward Jim Crow and misogyny, we'd be moving forward toward better integration at all levels and a recognition of women's needs, rights and abilities.
16
As long as a woman's needs don't include my money, more power to her. A woman needs to make it on her own, just like a man has to. Besides, there's no chance we'd go back to Jim Crow, the Republicans are in power, Jim Crowe laws were instituted by Democrats.
2
So, I reckon the lesson here for the Kremlin is "Don't do anything to interfere in American elections until mid-summer because the FBI will be resistant to interfere with a November election."
18
So, who gets to be Jumping Jack Flash?
2
One statement attributed to a GOP legislator that much of the issue is generated by the "deep state".
He should quit watching a particular pundit on Fox "News".
10
Eisenhower called it "The Military Industrial Complex", "Deep State" is just another way of saying the same thing. Same as "Fake News" was called "Yellow Journalism" in the past.
Thank you for setting the record straight on the lack of solid evidence to launch the Russian investigation by Comey and the Reid sponsored witch hunt! This brings us to Rosenstein who appointed Mueller just to cover his tail and to waste millions of our taxpayer money. He needs to be fired too.
29
I'm sorry but I'm not sure how you managed to interpret this article in this manner. 2 + 3 doesn't equal 4.
21
I'm sorry, Sally Yates needs to go to prison. She knowingly presented fabricated evidence, the Steele report, to obtain a warrant.
This is complete nonsense - the idea that the FBI sought to “protect” Trump by “keeping the case secret.” If protecting Trump (and the country) was their motive, they would have informed Trump directly of their concerns about Russia.
21
The staggeringly overwhelming question is why is this man still in the White House?
33
Because Peter, he is the best President this Country has had since Reagan. He has accomplished more good in one year than the previous "President" did in eight years. You might not like the delivery but, only a fool would say he has not been good for this Country.
14
Then there are scores of millions of fools in this country. It isn’t just the “delivery” as you term it, but also the substance. Legions of thoughtful citizens don’t believe that gutting environmental protections; massively expanding debt/deficits to benefit those who don’t need it; attempting to kill then incrementally disassembling the only affordable healthcare that many can afford, etc. etc. etc. constitutes progress.
Well, yes, the “delivery” stinks too.
4
I’m struggling with the notion that Mr. Trump measurable wonderful change.
1
I’m so sick of the double standard applied to Hillary Clinton. Imagine if the Clinton campaign had ties to Russia and Trump used the wrong email.. what would Comey have done? What headlines would be splashed across the papers? As a woman, I can say that there have been so many times when this double standard applied to me in my everyday life, and so often, just like Hillary, I had to take the blame for some one else poor judgment. Can we please please stop calling Hillary a bad candidate and acknowledge that women of a certain generation are judged by different standards. She was the most qualified person to run for president vs an opponent who name called the disabled, a POW, gold star parents, and sides with neo nazis. His business record was dubious at best and highly under reported. He was heralded for making money while Clinton was vilified for doing the same. I’d like to read an article about that. This one was a good first step.
66
I liked your post. I think trump is the worst president we could ever have. He’s repulsive. But, I think the dems could have put forth a better candidate. HRC is an outstanding woman who has achieved great things but she had issues that would (and continue to) haunt her. Sometimes I wonder if it’s better she lost. I think trump may have been worse if he lost. He would have started Trump TV and spewed hate with no restraint. Hopefully he’ll end up in prison soon.
Just thinking out loud! Have a great night.
4
So incredibly sad, and ironic, that the very thing they worked so hard to avoid, being labeled as politically motivated, has come to pass, and is being used to the benefit of the man they shielded (trump). If the right-wing media and political leaders had a shred of decency or patriotism they would acknowledge these facts and hold trump to task for the lies he continues to spew. Instead they support and amplify them.
7
Comey is a Republican and acted along party lines. Period.
6
Me thinks he was hedging his bets for a HRC win hence the immunity deals were being handed out like candy on Halloween.
1
It's a shame this article is too detailed to be read carefully by Trump supporters.
42
On the contrary, politically engaged Trump supporters have been well clued in to the dubious machinations of the FBI, DOJ, Clinton campaign, and the Obama admin for some time, patiently awaiting the IG report, and enjoying the take down of one Clinton-crony Gov official after another. Welcome to where we were two years ago!
9
Is there any evidence that Russia was altering the US election ? Yes, we have government agencies that say that is their opinion . But no evidence . Much ado about politics but , again to evidence
11
Seriously? Do you really believe all those intelligence officials are espousing opinions based on gut and no facts? I suppose you can imagine that since that often appears to be exactly the depth of thinking of our President and his supporters. Some people actually think about facts and accept what they are even when they contradict their hopes about they way they’d like the world to be.
8
I guess you could argue (or wonder?) that Comey didn't really think that Hillary was guilty, even if he did think she was a irresponsible, but knew Trump was guilty and didn't want to compromise the case against him by moving too fast.
4
Trump's campaign and election has induced such hysterical, reckless behavior in his opponents that they have virtually guaranteed his re-election in 2020.
Enjoy the karma, people!
I sure will!
12
The Deep State hatched a plot to prevent Trump from winning, and when that failed, they conspired to damage his presidency.
There can be no doubt.
23
Of course, and my cat can fly . . . .
13
Did you even read the article? If anything, the FBI went easy on Trump -- there was no "plot" to keep him from winning. If there was, we would have had Comey talking about the connections between Carter Page and the Russians, etc. etc., during the runup to the election.
And who is the Deep State? This is a made-up concept. The FBI is not known to be staffed by a bunch of wild-eyed liberals, and their circumspect behavior about Crossfire Hurricane disproves your vacant talking point.
8
There are two things about Trump that will prove his downfall. One, he's always the victim. Two, he starts every approach to a situation and negotiation as he's always right and therefore should get his and only his outcome. Because Trump comes at everything from these two magical thinking perspectives, backing down from his position would show weakness. He can't do that by his nature. But winning at politics is a game of diplomacy and achieving the possible. Trump won't accept that reality which makes Trump's failure inevitable.
14
"Mr. Comey has said it is unfair to compare the Clinton case, which was winding down in the summer of 2016, with the Russia case, which was in its earliest stages."
That's true as far as it goes, but that's not very far.
The more important question is what information the American voter had. In the election's closing days, it appeared that there was no Trump investigation whatsoever, while the Clinton investigation was being ramped up.
19
Damned if you do; damned if you don't. The F.B.I. was in a difficult position, attempting to remain politically neutral while it investigated hot political issues that could affect each of the Presidential candidates.
Unfortunately, in breaking protocol by announcing how it was proceeding regarding Hilary Clinton and following protocol regarding Donald Trump, that action allowed the immature, insecure and narcissistic Trump to fabricate a story, the witch hunt, to protect his fragile ego and fire up his supporters against the very institutions of government who were trying to protect him from negative information during a critical time just before the 2016 election.
Mistakes were made by Comey and McCabe, but most of the damage to our Democracy was done by Trump's own people, much of it done because most his team was ignorant of election laws and went about the campaign as if they were a bunch of school children or two-bit actors in a B movie.
It would be so reassuring to the integrity of our Country, if Trump and his people just grew up, admitted they were in over their heads and apologize for their ignorance and the effects their conduct has had in worsening divides. Unfortunately, Trump is not a person who could ever put the welfare of his Country ahead of his own ego and interests. A true Patriot and an honest man would own up to his mistakes, both as to omissions in keeping the wrong people around him and his commission of words & actions hurting our Country. Sad.
24
Great evidence here that Russian disinformation efforts we wildly successful in their principal objectives: undermining confidence in the US electoral system, federal law enforcement agencies, and private-sector institutions (like major news organizations) charged with monitoring both.
We may yet find that no legal or congressional action may be taken against the president in connection with these activities, but it's pretty damn clear he should not serve another term.
18
Reading some of the comments, I can't help but think that trump's, "confuse the public", campaign is actually working. To allude to his and his electorate's "demand": lock him and his shady counterparts up.
trump is relying on confusion and complacency. . . Forget about "us vs them"; this is about having a totally corrupt and despicable Administration in charge, one that does not represent 99 percent of the American populace regardless of whether or not some of it lacks the ability to identify (or acknowledge) it.
Our democracy is being challenged by a man and his minions.
31
Now that we know the Don can't be indicted for his crimes, what's the explanation for an ongoing criminal investigation? Does the U.S. have the ability to punish the indicted Russians? Busting Manafort, Flynn, Gates, Papadopoulos et al is important but doesn't seem nearly adequate as a response to Trump's continuing crimes, such as accepting bribes / violating the Emoluments Clause. Is there really no mechanism to stop the ongoing harm to the country? He just gets away with it?
17
The only person saying Trump can't be indicted is Giuliani. Why would you believe that Mueller actually told him that?I don't think he did.
But, ultimately, it's up to the Republicans in Congress to decide whether they want Trump in the White House or out. And we have seen that they have no interest in Trump's criminal activities, in the Russian manipulation of Trump, or the harm done to the relationships of the US with our allies. Mueller's report, no matter how treasonous and corrupt the Trump administration is revealed to be, will not be acted upon by Republicans.
Sometimes a con man is just a con man. It was Mr Trump's gift for oratorical calisthenics and the roughly 47% who bought this schtick (voted for him) that won the election.
The bad news: we have an evolutionary fluke as President.
The good news: a fluke is a fluke.
If we had only not granted so much undo attention to his antics..
7
Evelyn Farkas' comments at the Warsaw Security Forum two weeks before the election make it quite clear that a lot of people not involved in the investigation were well of it's existance, and it's potential to derail the Trump presidency. Interestingly Ms Farkas had left the state department and no longer held a security clearance, but was amazingly well informed.
Evelyn speaks at about 8:30 in this video.
https://youtu.be/pl_RATH89UM
8
The investigation into Hillary's emails was politically motivated by Republicans who had been after her for years. While her actions might have been "extremely careless," there hasn't been any evidence that her use of a private server jeopardized our democracy.
On the other hand, conspiring with a hostile, foreign country through possible bribes and blackmail is pretty disconcerting, at least for those who care about our country.
36
Then why did not hand over the server to the FBI. She & DNC destroy 30K emails and smash hard drives?
9
What role did Wikileaks play in the release of Clinton's e-mails? Didn't Assange threaten to publish her emails?
3
Sorry but I think you have the carriage before the horse. HRC was being investigated for Americans who died in Benghazi after seeking help from her State Department. Her email traffic only became an issue after the NYT announcement her private server in the basement was not secure causing the FBI MidYear Exam investigation. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Stephanopoulos was given circular information that was fed by CIA and FBI operatives and set up. Hopefully the corrupt hierarchy within the federal investigative agencies will be fired and dealt with.
11
Seems this article undermines Comey's argument for coming out about Hillary when he did (before the election). He made a big mistake. Too bad. Look where we are now. He contributed to this mess. I'm not sure it can be undone.
10
It's time to lock up the trumps and throw away the key. There can be no doubt the trump has committed treason.
18
The witches of DJT's endlessly repeated "The [Mueller] investigation is a witch hunt" are, in fact, Russian witches, and to riff on Robert Frost: "Russian witches make bad neighbors."
8
Given the FBI’s lackadaisical pursuit of the Trump campaign my question is was anyone in the FBI tied to Russian efforts to undermine the election?
7
Come really is a loyal republican. He should be up on charges.
3
The FBI has no evidence that George Papadopoulos had advance knowledge of the DNC email hack. At Maltese professor told him that the Russians had thousands of Clinton emails, but at the time the Clinton emails making headlines were the emails on her private home server. Besides, the DNC hack did not include incriminating Clinton emails; it contained emails embarrassing to DNC co-chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The question arises, if the Russians had thousands of incriminating emails, why didn’t they release them? If the incriminating email did exist, shouldn’t we be investigating what Hillary did that was incriminating? The answer is that the emails never existed.
14
this issue should have been raised before the election. before the republican primary.
17
"Congressional Republicans, led by Representative Devin Nunes of California, have begun to dig into F.B.I. files, looking for evidence that could undermine the investigation." Imputes motivation to Nunes without support from a source. Is that responsible journalism?
12
I think it began when he refused to release his Tax Returns and became a criminal mystery.
7
Was it bad vetting? It's curious how top officials in trump's campaign orbit were working against western interests. Trump himself went against western interests and sided with Putin against the EU.
8
Bottom line - the F.B.I. erred on the side of caution. A fake got elected as President and America and the World are suffering because of it.
17
Alexander Downer is the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from Australia. Commonwealth countries exchange high commissioners, senior diplomats in charge of a country's diplomatic mission, usually having a rank equivalent to an ambassador, but called high commissioners.
3
Bravo! A very fair article telling it like it is without overt bias. I sense this was leaked by the Mueller team to soften the ground before closing the investigation; without linking DJT to Russian collision.
12
It's simple: we have a criminal, treasonous, illegitimate presidency?
What do we as a nation have to do to make certain that Trump and his enablers end up living out their days in small cells?
No games. This is gut-check time.
7
Worse than Comey's flat-out murder of Hillary's candidacy was Obama's failing to inform the public about the Russia-Trump campaign scandal. He sat there & watched Comey steal the election for Trump as he was bluffed out of the pot by McConnell. In a democracy one should always inform the public unless there are overwhelming reasons not to do so. In this case, trusting the public with the facts was the obvious course.
Here's what Obama should have told McConnell: 'You tell your story & I'll tell mine. Let the people decide.'
11
The FBI messed up on many levels. I've read Comey's book, and he's a good man. But I think he was the wrong choice to lead the FBI. I can't help thinking that things would have been handled very differently under the previous FBI head... who else, Robert Mueller.
2
This one will be studied at Langley and elsewhere for decades. My key takeaway remains this: why did no one in the Southern District or Brooklyn ever prosecute Trump for his crimes? Throughout the 1980s he consorted with and partnered with members of the Colombo family and other mobsters. Routinely by the late 1980s he was laundering money for mobsters, both traditional and Russian. The money laundering continued in the 1990s and 2000s, and it was just one of the crimes Trump routinely committed. The "Trump University" fraud alone could have sunk him, had Schneiderman or anyone else chosen to apply the criminal statutes. And yet...here we are.
Watching Trump operate for 35 years, one is left wondering "what is the source of his juice?"
26
The article offers no credible basis for the commencement of a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign. Nice try though.
13
It's ironic that the Russians' efforts to subvert our election succeeded for one single reason: Comey's assumption that Clinton would win.
6
It makes sense that the FBI did not want to undermine what they viewed as the very likely Hillary Clinton administration by keeping the investigation into her dealings mum, with the eventuality that they would come out after she was elected.
But now their decisions have put our country into great jeopardy by allowing Putin's installation of his puppet.
The fact that Congress is allowing this charade to continue for their own selfish interests rather than saving our democracy is chilling.
9
The nightmare continues. Shame on you New York Times and the rest of the media for hyperventilating over Hillary Clinton's emails. Shame on you for legitimizing Donald Trump. But the largest amount of shame belongs to the Republican party. Why was a grifter and con man ever allowed to run in the GOP primary? Trump's vile slanders of President Obama were enough to disqualify him as a candidate. But no, eager to shower wealthy donors with tax cuts they didn't even need, the GOP turned a blind eye and embraced the lying monster known as Donald J. Trump. You reap what you sow, or in this case, the GOP will reap what it chose to embrace.
14
There is not a single informed, reasonable person in the country who thinks that Trump is innocent. Most believe correctly that this is a man who has been involved in fraud, scams, illegal transactions, criminal prejudice in renting, union mob corruption, money laundering, and who knows what else throughout his life. I would not be surprised if he was responsible for a few murders, a few rapes, and other more serious crimes. He is a vile, immoral, corrupt person who knows nothing about honesty or ethics. If he is not removed from office as soon as possible, we will just sink further and further into corruption and authoritarianism, and will watch the continued degradation of our institutions and social mores.
11
Obviously, this was leaked to the NYTs as Nunes, et al are this close to discovering it.
This is sick stuff by our preeminent law enforcement agencies. 5 or 6 rogue agents act as a cabal.
If someone wrote this as a novel, they’d be derided.
18
Trump was correct. The election was rigged.
651
Yes, it was. But, as with all trump comments, his side was the one doing the rigging.
78
Yes, in his favor!
43
Indeed "Top Republican Senator Says ‘No Reason to Dispute’ That Russia Favored Trump"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/politics/richard-burr-senate-intel...
24
I wish the Times would quit gaslighting its readers and address how some of its reporters were credulously spoon-fed the Trump campaign narrative by political operatives associated within the Trump campaign and by people in the FBI bureau in New York. Until the Times addresses the obviously problems with its own reporting (stuff fed to them by the Clinton Cash releases, the "FBI finds no Trump-Russia collusion" headline), it has very little credibility in its reporting on this issue, in my view.
11
Isn’t that phrase crossfire hurricane trademarked by. MIck Jagger?
1
I would like very much to read this as a straight news story. But it appears to be a self-serving preemptive strike in anticipation of an IG report that is about to be released. While many individual FBI agents routinely, and legally, collected data, only a very few knew all the facts. The article suggests Mr. Comey was essentially out of the loop, a tool of the CIA director Brennon. If someone in the mail room is invited for drinks with a foreign ambassador and claims he knows Russians have dirt on Ms. Clinton, the obvious question is how could he know that? Who in the FBI seriously believed Trump used a campaign rally to ask the Russians to find emails that were subpoenaed and subsequently destroyed? For the FBI to run a 2-year counterintelligence investigation without establishing collusion doesn’t pass the smell test. And for the Times to conclude “[Trump] made up his mind before Mr. Comey even walked in the door” may play to the choir, but not a serious analysist.
I will await the facts provided by the Inspector General. These anonymous sources predicting the future have a poor track record.
15
As you say, how could he know that is indeed an obvious question. And that is precisely why they started an investigation: to answer that question. Another question: Why would he make such an allegation, unless it was true, or at least he believed it to be true? In vino veritas.
2
This is an incredible written speech that is nothing but diversion of the truth and motives. It's amazing this guy could write an article convincing of innocence of a assailant where 40 people watched him intentionally stab someone.
" The knife in question loosened in his hand and while he attempted to to grasp and regain control his thrusting of his arm forward accidently embedded into the victim" Got to give the writer credit on imagination.
3
So, Devin Nunes continues to behave like a traitor to America with his attempted cover-up of Trump, and is trying to deflect attention with demands for the investigation of the Clinton email server, while the real issue appears to be how the FBI handled Trump's concurrent investigation.
9
The FBI bent over backwards not to appear partisan and unwittingly assisted the Russians and Trump to victory. And we're still waiting for the sane Republicans to own up to this reality and demand the GOP leadership remove Donald Trump. And if Pence or Ryan can withstand the Russian inquiry, which I doubt, bring on Oren Hatch who I believe is next in line. And we'll vote again in 2020 and actually work to create an America for all Americans.
8
One other weakness Crossfire Hurricane investigation suffered from the very beginning has to do with the fact that the investigation is conducted by the FBI when the CIA should have been involved from the get go. The FBI is primarily focused on domestic as against international crimes, and the CIA has staffs that are the Russian experts.
A year into this investigation, there are signs that the election meddling is at least influenced in part by financial concerns rather than negative political animus against Clinton. Even if we cannot stop Russian meddling in future elections, let's hope that Mueller can put the bad actors in jail by following the money.
3
What in the World are you talking about?? The CIA is the US foreign intelligence network, i. e. A SPY agency. Last time I checked, we don't unleash our SPY agency on US citizens vis a vis domestic affairs. You can't be so obtuse as to miss the irony of this ? You're essentially asking for a New McCarthyism, treating US citizens no differently than the most infamous investigative bureau in modern history (KGB), resorting to the tactics of the very same country you claim to mistrust and despise.
As every day goes by, the volume of rational societal voices in this country diminishes, and is drowned out by the crescendo of paranoia, hatred, and pathological contempt of the "other political party". It's completely blinding our capacity for logical thought and dialog.
Signed, 2x voter for Pres Obama, and non Trump voter
4
Reading this article sickens me, knowing that the Republican House and Senate know way more than the NYT's and yet they do nothing. And Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes are obstructing justice while Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell remain complicit in their silence.
How many people in Trump's orbit have to be exposed as having contact with Russian intelligence and then lying about it before the Republican controlled congress gets it?
Governments of any type, including democracies that collapse all have one absolutely necessary element. Willing participants. It appears we have that with the current Republican / Trump Party of corruption.
Nice work for the party of values and their evangelical support base.
14
You have to admit that Putin did an excellent job of showing the world that the democracy has some serious flaws when Americans elected Donald J Trump President of the United States. Born and raised in the USA and I have lost faith in my own fellow citizens. Kudos Dude. Kudos.
9
So the F.B.I were careful not to reveal any existence of the investigation into Trump-Russian collusion so as to not influence the outcome of the election, but Comey had no problem announcing to the world that they were re-opening the Clinton email investigation two weeks before the elections? Am I missing something here?
7
Too little, Too late. We are stuck with Trump unless or until Robert Mueller finds sufficient "kompromat" that the Republicans abandon him. That happened to Nixon in Watergate. For future presidential candidates, we need to see their tax returns, even if under IRS audit.
13
Agents released information on her and withheld information on him.
SEXISM.
8
Until PROVEN otherwise, Comey's integrity is in tact and will be a crucial part of the obstruction case.
His judgment has been the source of much angst for the HRC camp.
Sally Yates - "You do not take actions that will unnecessarily impact an election."
Comey elected to make his fateful statement two weeks out from the election. It is much more likely than not, that this flipped the election result.
The text messages exchanged by Strzock and Lisa Page were spot on:
"They questioned Mr. Trump’s intelligence, believed he promoted intolerance and feared he would damage the bureau."
There is no evidence that the playing field in not level here. The majority of Americans want to see this through. The sooner Trump elects to meet with Mueller the sooner this will come to an end.
3
I wonder if the Trump campaigns’ take on rigged elections was a preemptive gambit to keep any investigation about him quiet until after the election? If so, it seems to have worked.
We now know Trump is a master at projection. He can’t help himself.
7
I appreciate how carefully Mueller is progressing.
6
Comey's FBI did not do their job. They did not protect the US from Russian interference in our election. They also let the Republicans in Congress bully them into taking actions which favored Trump over Clinton.
They can begin to make it up to us by fighting their way through whatever abuse the Trump Justice Department and his appeasers in Congress throw at them. Our country depends upon them doing their job to prosecute the traitors as they find the truth about Trump's treasonous collusion with the Russians. They helped elect a money laundering con man by using one set of rules for Clinton and a different one for Trump before the election. They owe it to us to rectify the situation.
8
And what is Congress’s role?
1
Anonymous assertions from the same FBI that admittedly made political calculations on the Clinton probe, at great cost to her campaign, are unconvincing. The public needs to see the underlying evidence in both probes. Intelligence institutions have a storied history or errors and coverups. They should welcome this disclose if they have nothing to hide. Sadly, I think we'll find abuse in both probes, which should be concerning to all.
7
Trump is actually enjoying this. He has the power to get every relevant document released via declassification. He can pardon all the players with Federal charges making any state charges tough to sustain.
He is waiting for the right time to exercise this power, but meanwhile he is getting great ratings and so are the media chasing this chimera. Everybody wins!
4
Accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt. You also cannot invoke the 5th amendment to defend yourself if you accept a pardon.
Also, Trump cannot pardon state crimes, only federal. Mueller has charged people with the bare minimum to assure their cooperation, leaving the door open for states to bring charges if Trump tries to interfere.
8
The Hillary Clinton email investigation was never secret. The existence of the private home sever Hillary used to conduct official State Department business as well as personal business was disclosed during the House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing. When some of the email proved to be classified, the committee the FBI to investigate. The FBI had indisputable proof that Clinton has mishandled classified information, but FBI Director James Comey decided to break protocol by calling a July 5, 2016, press conference to recommend that Hillary should not be indicted because she act without criminal intent, even though the statue requires no showing of criminal intent; its purpose is to punish negligence. When new evidence surfaced he was forced to issue a corrective, announcing the investigation had been reopened. Within a few days, he broke protocol once again by announcing the case had been reclosed. Two of these three breaks in protocol were in Clinton’s favor.
10
This article appearing now explains for me why Downer, a former spin doctor, who is now residing back in Australia, wrote a hagiography on Monday in the Australian Financial Review detailing how Trump is succeeding with his foreign policy initiatives and citing contributions to NATO, his strong stance in Syria (versus Obama's) and his dealings with North Korea. He skirted over Iran and left trade policy for another time. Since the article we have also witnessed how smoothly Trumps policy has progressed on the US embassy in Israel. Alas, Downer will be be writing for the AFR fortnightly.
2
The incredibly transparent fact that Trump has now tied "saving Chinese workers" to a $500,000,000 boost from that same government for yet another Trump project is absolutely telling. As well as disgusting.
One, he either knows Mueller is close to sticking him in an outfit orange enough to match his face and is feverishly making every last penny while his friends in congress turn their heads yet again.
Or two, he's showing America he is indeed the crook the majority of voters thought he was. As he thumbs his nose at us and the Emoluments Clause put in place for exactly this moment in time.
The question is, will congress finally put an end to this nightmare or are they waiting for the rest of us to put them and this monster out of their collective misery in November.
I think we know the answer. November 6. Let's clean up this mess on aisle Pennsylvania Ave.
11
This is another leak to make it look like FBI actions with regard to Trump's campaign were innocent and usual work of FBI. This is an attempt to protect Deep State's political masters like Comey, Brennan, Clapper, and Lynch who were involved to tilt election in favor of Hilary, first by making sure enquiry in to email scandal did not go beyond a certain level and then surveilling Trump's campaign. They did not go deep in to Trump because they thought Hilary will win. Comey's public criticism of Hilary was an attempt by him to show independence and equitability after fixing the enquiry.
14
Can't we all agree that if the FBI is going to open a federal criminal investigation of the Presidential campaign of the party out of power, then it needs to do so only with rock-solid evidence of wrongdoing in hand? How do you not see that this conduct -- even assuming, for the sake of argument, it was undertaken in good faith and with the best of intentions -- endangers the country? We can't allow one party to spy on the other party, period.
10
Unfortunately, even if the FBI had released this information prior to the 2016 election, Trump's "base" and Fox News, would have likely supported him anyway. Trump has shown distain for apologies, lies everyday, puts his interests above what is best for the country, is a threat to our Democracy, etc. His base, however, seems not to care, and will continue supporting him even if he is charged with committing treason.
9
Crossfire Hurricane- words by Keith Richards, who demanded that promotor Michael Cohl remove Donald Trump's name from billing of the Rolling Stones in 1989. Supposedly Richards punctuated this by sticking his knife into a table. Coincidence or inside joke? (Of course now the joke is on all of us SAD ! )
5
I love how the “witch hunt” and “deep state” keeps uncovering evidence that is leading to very serious charges from the family to the lawyer to the campaign.
6
As I read this article I started to understand this was the Iraq War Pt-2. Everyone in the world knew the truth but the American voters. The FBI, CIA, the Republicans, the Congress and their leadership, the press, Facebook executives, the President, the Brits, the Russians, the Australians of course Trump and his minions. And who should suddenly appear last week but Cheney the famous WMD leader himself supporting Trump's torture candidate! Everyone and I mean everyone who knew anything about this and did not openly and thoroughly warn the American voters should be held culpable. This was is a high crime and no one should walk away unscathed. That era is over.
12
"Days after the stolen Democratic emails became public, he called on Russia to uncover more"
Is this referring to the joke Trump made about the Russians' finding Hillary's deleted emails? If so, it's a gross distortion. It's this kind of nonsense that misleads a gullible public and reduces the credibility of media among people who heard Trump joke and then read how the joke was intentionally misconstrued.
11
Trump is not funny. He was dead serious.
1
"They question why he consolidated the Clinton and Trump investigations at headquarters, rather than in a field office."
Don't we know that the NYC FBI office had been rabidly anti-Clinton for years & had to have known almost every rotten thing Trump's done for decades via his relationships with FBI informants Felix Sater & Dan Sullivan...and, chose to look no further as those cases were evolving?
Don't like what Comey did in a lot of areas, but he seems to have been hamstrung in some areas, too.
This was a great piece. Thanks.
6
The only two things DJT has ever said that are known to be true:
1. He could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and has supporters wouldn't care; and 2. the 2016 US Presidential election was rigged.
5
Alexander Downer was not an ambassador. He was the High Commissioner. High Commissioners are the diplomats between Commonwealth Countries. He had led Australia's Liberal Party when it was in opposition. He was Foreign Affairs Minister in John Howard's government (a fairly traditional portfolio for a former party leader). When the Liberals returned to government, he was posted to London also fairly traditional.
I know this sounds like splitting hairs, but the status of High Commissioners differs from that of Ambassadors. And former senior ministers My point is that this seems sloppy and it makes me wonder what other, more important, errors there are.
7
If Carter Page had evidence that Carter Page was a spy, he would have been arrested.
1
I thought he reported the Russian approach when it happened and cooperated with the FBI....
2
You only have to look at the damage Trump has done to America's reputation in the last year to understand why Putin would have wanted him to win.
11
If you know law enforcement people and those in the fire department as well, most likely you understand how conservative they are (I am saying a large majority of them). They gravitate to authoritarian rule because they are by the nature of their job, part of it. I am just going from my own family, four of them. The thing that has worked for our democracy is that law enforcement is expected to put a neutral face upon their biases and for the most part it works (don't ask a member BLM to agree with this, fair enough).
So when we see a graduating class of police cadets on Long Island cheering Trump and his nonsense about how he would treat criminal suspects, it may be disheartening but not surprising. Sad but this may exist in the FBI as well when people with strongly held political views come into power.
Maybe all US law enforcement needs a refresher course in how important it is to put their politics aside these days and to enforce the law of the land impartially. This would mean staying away from political rallies and not posing for pictures with our politicians of any persuasion.
8
The image of an assembly of nicely groomed, mostly white male, public servants in starchy shirts and skinny ties, groovin' to the greatest opening salvo since Beethoven's 5th, leads me to believe there is hope yet for our democracy.
Keef, for SCOTUS!
Comey claims he never assessed the political implications of his public announcements during the campaign. He's either a liar or stupid as a rock.
28
Comey has admitted politics played a role. He believed Hillary would win, thus, he saw no downside to announcing an undue re-openning of the investigation 11 days before the election.
What could go wrong?
3
No wonder Trump compulsively attacks the Justice Department and FBI. The reality that both helped him sneak into the Oval Office (with a minority of Americans' ballots cast) can't outweigh the peril he is in. I love those rare instances when poetic justice kicks in. It's knocking against the door right now.
19
Don't understand the Electoral College, huh? Only thing knocking at the door is the implosion of Mueller's campaign against the duly elected President of the United States.
7
Comey deserved to be fired....and the result is we got competent Mueller!
6
Comey is bent. There is just no other way to look at it. This article carefully discusses how the FBI kept the "political" element from their investigation, but Comey was in charge of the FBI and he was the most "political" of the lot.
But Comey is a babe in the woods compared to Trump. Trump learned this game at the knee of Roy Cohn. Distraction, deception, lies, and accusation... Uncle Roy would be proud of you, Donald.
And now Comey is saying he doesn't think Trump should be impeached. Of course not. These guys can do business. They understand each other.
Pretty interesting article, all and all. But it missed the point. One man--in this case Comey--can over throw a government, if he is on the inside. The entire "Russian Conspiracy" is distraction.
7
Comey threw the election, yes. But that does not mean that he could have done it without the Russians doing what they were doing.
Hillary won by 2.865 million votes.
Trump won Wisconsin by approx. 27,260 votes
Trump won Michigan by 11,612 votes
Trump won Pennsylvania by 58,236 votes
Those are razor thin margins in three states, representing less than 1/28th of Clinton's margin of victory in the popular vote.
Comey made it close enough. The Russians targeted the specific voters down to the precincts. Without Comey, Russia likely can't pull off the upset. Without the Russians, Comey's idiocy is not enough.
The Crossfire Hurricane was the perfect storm.
776
Don't underestimate the impact of Robert Mercer's analytics.
comey's mistake was in considering politics in as much as he was trying to shield the bureau from the politics. he wasn't acting from a political agenda. just look at his record, he tries to do what he considers right, although he sometimes missed the bigger picture of justice.
3
So are we to interpret part of this article as a shallow explanation (excuse? apology?) for the poor headline and fact digging from the fateful NYT Oct 31 article that's been called out many many times as one of components (size of the effect forever unknown) of Mr Trump's eventual election?
Too little, too late.
You owe America a full debriefing of that entire episode, not some side story buried deep within this story and then revisited in more depth only at the end.
I guess we shouldn't hold our breath waiting...
15
Maybe everyone, just, works for the Russian government? Idk
1
Why don't we hear about the collusion between Rudy Giuliani and James Kallstrom and the NY office of the FBI who were notoriously pro-Trump?
16
How would the highest ranking member of the Australian government in England just happen to be having drinks with a mid level staffer in the Trump campaign?
19
Every so-called "collusion" meeting is as suspicious as this one. Sessions was convicted by the left for a so-called "meeting" when several visiting diplomats (guests of the Obama Administration), including the omnipresent Russian ambassador, approached him after his speech at the GOP convention. It's one far-fetched meeting after another. This is also known as grasping at straws, but when it's done with an unfettered prosecutor who has an unlimited budget, it most certainly becomes a "witch hunt."
9
Good point. Obviously beyond the interests of NYT investigative reporting.
1
When you connect the dots and add in Trumps statements before and after the election of course they knew exactly what the Russians were up too. Including creating the rugged election cover story if information leaked out.
Just using a couple of brain cells tells you if there was nothing to the story why not confidently sit back and say investigate all you want there is nothing to find and the go about your job to the best of your ability. But of course this is not how he has reacted, he rants, raves and lies like a crazy man. These are not the actions of an innocent person. Or as he likes to say a stable genius.
The sad thing is Stormy's lawyer may very will bring him down by exposing the financial crimes of his past life. He may well survive the Russian collusion charge because congress will do nothing anyway. But New York State can bring financial crimes charges against him as a sitting president. Very interesting times lie ahead my friends.
8
"...if the Russian government had influence over the Trump campaign, the F.B.I. wanted to know quickly...
Presumption left hanging is that Trump and team might already be complicit, duped, or both...
So stipulate much of what’s being said about Russians - and try to understand why what’s not, isn’t…
Far from first time – either side…
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/06/27/reviews/99062...
“…historians at York University…resurrect the almost 50-year-old claim, denied by the United States Army…that the United States waged germ warfare in China and Korea. The gist…is that the Army had the means, motive and opportunity…
Russia – like US – has ample means, and can make opportunity at will…
But what was Putin’s motive…
Always looked like – in good part – payback for Obama’s and Clinton’s efforts to not only mess with the 2012 Russian vote but to make a moralizing and public show…
So became far more about abetting Clinton’s opponent – regardless of who…
Collusion not needed…Post-Nov 8th, could care less about influencing anything – just leave the US to its wild western law…
Now - rolling surveillance video back a term - what motivated the US to meddle in 2012…
Hold Putin to 70% - think not…
Here’s where other gumshoe wordgroup comes to mind - modus operandi…
Who do we know – at high levels – who consistently edited, orated or ordered into being regulation, statute, and faux-treaty timed to blow up in successors’ faces 1-4 terms out…
1
Lots of fragmented thoughts. Not sure what your point was. You are saying the US, specifically Democrats, meddled in the Russian elections in 2012 so the Russians struck back in 2016? The link you provided points to a review that debunks what you are claiming about the US using germ warfare, so right there you lost credibility.
6
Didn't claim anything - quoted something...
You've actually make the point - in several senses...
The admission is damning that "political calculation" drove the actions and inactions of the FBI in both the Clinton email investigation and the Trump collusion investigation. That admission by former FBI and DOJ officials proves that neither investigation was "independent." Comey's unprecedented public statements regarding Clnton were seeming driven by the belief that she would win the election regardless. The lack of public disclosure as to the Trump campaign was also seemingly driven by the belief that Clinton would win regardless. This is no way to run the FBI.
8
Every day the Trump crime family breaks America’s laws by self dealing, pay for play, using private email, working with lawyers not registered as
Lobbyists or foreign agents and on and on and on
The blame lies with the DOJ and congress for not putting a check on our crime boss president and his criminal children and employees
14
All of that may be true, but at least when Ivanka's wedding day arrived, the proceeds of said event were funded from Trumps personal finances, legitimate, illegitimate, or otherwise. Unlike others, nobody raided the coffers of a quote unquote "international charity organization" to pay the caterers.
2
Perfect name for the investigation for us Boomers: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rollingstones/jumpingjackflash.html
Twenty years from now, the name Trump will be honored in Russia and China, and will be reviled in the United States.
12
So the FBI and the NYT both worked to bury the news that Trump was under investigation by the FBI. Thanks guys! And now trump works to undermine the legitimacy of the two organizations that helped him get elected. Well done. Ironic is too mild a word: grotesque seem more appropriate.
This is the result of twenty years of the GOP whining about bias and working the refs. You were both so eager to avoid upsetting the conservative noise machine that you sabotaged the liberal candidate the majority preferred and helped elect a dangerous clown who has already badly damaged America's standing in the world
20
I could not have said that any better!
3
This is a false presidency, more of a crime wave than anything else.
It must be repudiated.
17
After 18 months of Trumps pathological lies just how delusional do you have to be to believe him when he says the Russia story is a hoax and a witch hunt. Sadly possibly 40% of Americans fall into that category, that maybe the most depressing fact about the whole sorry mess.
13
If Trump learned anything from Roy Cohn, it's that paranoid suspicion is the best political tool you can have. You can besmirch just about anyone by throwing out, willy nilly, a suspicion.
It was bad enough for Joseph McCarthy to do it. But at least he just focused on one idea - communists. Now we have a president doing it. But he's all over the map, from Clinton, to liberals, to bad Republicans, to everyone else he's fired, to the FBI.
One day this man is on your side. The next day he isn't. Just ask Kim Jung Un or ZTE or Joe Scarborough, or Rex Tillerson, or Gary Cohn, etc etc etc.
7
Horrifying.
Trump's constant braying about "election interference" allowed him to get away with everything.
The Republican Congress was utterly to blame, since any perceived misstep under the Obama administration would have been turned into another Benghazi.
7
Quite the misinformation campaign going on here in the comments section from the Trumpsters. Just to reiterate, there is not one shred of doubt that there was not Russian collusion going on in an attempt to improve Trumps chances of winning the election. This has been demonstrated time and time again though Don Jr.'s "lovefest" meeting to obtain dirt and through the many connect-the-dot criminals we have been shown from the likes of Manafort, Gates, Carter Page, Papadapolous, Flynn, Kusher (back-channel man) and the whole crew. The question is who among the campaign WASN'T having contacts with Russians? The Attorney General lied about his meetings and now stands recused. Cohen has been in bed with them for decades through his Ukrainian wife's connections and his shady dealings for Trump. Why are the Russians popping up in every corner you look? It is not through coincidence. We will see the whole picture once Mueller gets to the bottom of it and his report is completed. In the meantime, the country must put up with this Imposter-in-Chief and his Republican lackeys.
Anyone Republican Representative or Senator who supports this fraudulent Presidency, needs to be voted out of office. I for one, have taken names.
15
When Donald Trump said, early on, that the election was 'rigged' he knew what he was talking about. The damage done to our institutions, from Justice to Judiciary & everything(in this case) outside, will take years, possibly decades to set right. A good day to start is fast approaching, November 6, 2018.
2
The day of reckoning for Obama and his entire corrupt administration is drawing closer and closer.
8
Yes, that reckoning will be that Obama was one of the best presidents and Trump was one of the worst. Can you cite some instances where Obama was corrupt, was under criminal investigation, etc.? I don't remember that being the case.
8
“I want to believe the path u threw out 4 consideration in Andy’s office-that there’s no way he gets elected-but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk.It’s like an insurance policy in unlikely event u die be4 you’re 40.”.............................
-Peter P. Strzok II
5
Let's take a "politically correct" view at this meandering kerfuffle:
Is it just me or does anyone else think Trump's use of the metaphor "witch hunt" to be incorrect, i.e., "warlock hunt"?
3
What makes this article so irritating is that while we apparently needed to know that the FBI had found "more emails" 10 days before the election we didn't need to know that President Trump's team had a bunch of traitors on it or that the President himself was in cahoots with the Russians. Yay for James Comey!
8
Going deeper:
According to Rush Limbaugh's Monday's edition,* the FBI investigation started in the early spring of 2016 and was largely run by CIA Director John Brennan.
Papadopoulos was entrapped. That is to say: The knowledge that Russia had Clinton's emails and was willing to supply dirt on her was supplied and re-enforced by two F.B.I. assets. Even the Australian ambassador was in on the setup entrapment.
* Source: https://youtu.be/1SiXecgQMYg
6
Trump, with the aid of his propaganda organs, Fox "News," Breitart, and Sinclair, as well as other, are spinning a yarn that convinces those whose sole source of information is right wing propaganda. It is not a witch hunt, it's a totally justified investigation into Russian strategy, abetted by the Trump campaign, that gave us the most unqualified, stupid, impulsive, vengeful, dishonest president we have ever had.
As to the Emoluments clause, until now it was just money flowing into 45's pockets, but now our national security is jeopardized by his wanton disregard for necessary caution dealing with Chinese intelligence. The ZBT (sp?) switcheroo seems to have been inspired by a $500 million investment into a typically glitzy, tacky Trump development. Never mind the danger he is putting the entire country in. As long as he gets more money, he doesn't care.
6
The Clinton campaign through polling found that people would be shocked if they found out their paid connections to Russia. So like any good campaign they made sure they stuck the Trump campaign with their weakness. Thus Russiagate was born with help from the Permanent State.
“As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.”
“And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-...
9
This was a political score if there ever was one. How Obama and Clinton managed to pin Russian collusion, for which they were both responsible, is nothing short of a miracle. A gullible public gobbled it up, just as they knew it would. They could also count on the media's support in protecting Obama.
6
That the reporter would write that the investigation into Russian subversion is "a political storm that continues to tear shingles off the bureau" projects a couldn't-care-less attitude.
Not to even mention our pockets books!
1
James Comey chose to chastise Hillary Clinton in public for "extreme carelessness." But he informed Donald Trump - a known scam artist on record for laundering hundreds of millions in shady Russian money - that the FBI would protect him. Truly bizarre. As to Trump's accusation that it was always a witch-hunt, should not the NYT note that by now Trump has shown he lies all the time? Facts and the truth don't matter at all to him. This is the con man who gave the world Trump University. What else would a Russian plant do than deny any factual basis for the investigation and ascribe the worst motives to officials doing their jobs? If indeed, Trump and his campaign aides only ended as unwitting beneficiaries of Russian hacking and social media bots, why have they lied so consistently on their contacts? Did Trump's eventual NSA, Flynn, on his own tell the Russian ambassador that sanctions would be lifted, or did Trump authorize him? Why was this even a priority for the Trump team when Russia had just launched a massive cyber-attack on the USA? Was it normal for a presidential candidate to have Manafort, Flynn, Papadopoulos, and Carter Page - all Russian agents - on his team? Or for a new president to boast to Russian officials in a White House meeting that had had fired the "whack-job" Comey, relieving the pressure on him? What did Trump discuss with Putin with no American interpreter present?
7
The GOP's Greatest Hit Collection, Volume 1:
The Southern Strategy
Watergate
Iran Hostages/Contra
Hanging Chad
Crossfire Hurricane
8
Comey delivered the Oval Office to President Flim-flam. I hope Comey has the conscience to lose sleep night after night.
8
The key fact was in the tenth paragraph? That's neither good writing--or good journalism! Readers are not supposed to hunt for the facts of a story. In compelling fashion, the facts should sprung forth in importance, not be buried in meanderings of denials, old news, and hedges. Increasingly, its sentences poorly crafted, its subordinated elements overriding the main ideas, the Times is harder and harder to read, lacking the polished craft of sentence writing that makes ideas and details shine.
A reader should not have to reconstruct the story from the story; its elements should be clear and transparent. Organized, to point to its purpose, making sure sensationalism isn't the strength of its print. Historic coincidences aren't compelling--did Hillary's investigation influence or shape Trump's? If so, when and where. And why?
Too many Times stories sound like meeting notes!
23
That article - the headline alone pre-emptively clearing Trump - Oh man that was bad, journalistic malpractice - and on top of emails emails emails "flawed candidate," more emails, ad infinitum.
Russia/Trump played the American people. I predict that he will be out of office within one year.
19
That's what I thought a year ago and he is still here. If anything, the country is getting used to it.
2
For an apolitical entity, the FBI sure seems to make some really important decisions by forecasting political trends. The idea that we are stuck with Trump now even partially because our FBI's election projections and other political miscalculations is very hard to take.
45
Comey stepped over the line twice when he made pronouncements about investigations in progress. Under regulations, investigations are not to be publicly commented on at all until they have been concluded, when a US attorney announces an indictment, if that is what the investigation warrants.
17
it's time for the fbi to take a timeout for awhile and develop a transparent process to prevent agents and officials from meddling and mucking up politics-related investigations.
close the place down except forensic services for local law enforcement until major changes are made.
we really don't need federal police anyway and at this point in time the little credibility they once had is gone.
5
Its been obvious from the start and is increasingly supported by actual evidence that Donald Trump and his gang of goons has been funded and supported by Russian mafia. His businesses are built on Russian mob money and his decisions as President of the United States are made with his Russian mafia masters in mind. Case in point: The Iran nuclear deal was a disaster for Russian mafia black market oil sales. Trump made sure to get rid of the deal for the folks who put him there.
64
" And they worried that any overt actions against Mr. Trump’s campaign would only reinforce his claims that the election was being rigged against him."
But Trump said EVERYTHING was rigged against him.
He said the GOP primaries were rigged against him.
He said the Republican Convention was rigged against him.
He said the general election was rigged against him.
By sheer force of will alone he got the FBI to bury the fact that it was investigating him in far more serious ways than they were investigating Hillary.
And that sheer force of will is what got him elected.
27
So glad, again, not have purchased Comey's book. I am more than 'mildly nauseous', I am angry that one of our premier institutions, whose stated priority is to "protect the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage", has had such a stunning failure.
32
Crossfire Hurricane . . . . Clear As Mud, more like it. I’ll stick with Witch Hunt. Obfuscation is no real escape in a fire, for the flames are real whereas the pretend exit is not.
6
"But underpinning both cases was one political calculation: that Mrs. Clinton would win and Mr. Trump would lose..."
<paragraph break> Wrong. There was a political calculation, but not the one so named. Rather, it was legitimate fear of the right-wing noise machine, including FOX news, coast-to-coast right-wing hate radio, Koch- and Mercer-funded "think" tanks, and the WSJ editorial page. <paragraph break> Damage Mrs. Clinton beyond repair? Go ahead, as there is no propaganda element remotely equivalent on her side.
34
You people really don't get it, the russian meddling in our election has noting to do with Donald Trump winning the election. The russians would have done this not matter who was running against Hillary. They knew if she got elected that the sanctions would continue on. The Obama Administration and Hillary were behind the sanctions. The charges against the four people in the Trump administration, the government had already known about their dealings with the russians years before Trump decided to run for office. The four of them were to convince Trump to drop the sanctions. I would like to think if Trump had served in congress or the senate , he would have known how the russians operate. Now this country is tied up in these investigation and the russians are loving it.
188
Quite probably, if the candidate had been any candidate other than a Trump, his or her son would not have replied "I love it".
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/us/politics/trump-russia-email-clinto...
60
Exactly right. Putin wants the US in chaos in whatever manner he can spawn it. It has worked.
34
It sure as shoot helped. Add to that the further information that has the Russian hackers likely removing names from the voter registration rolls. Of course it had something to do with. And of course you have the money laundering and all of Trump's fishy business dealings. Trump and everyone that helped try to cover up this Russian meddling need to go. Now.
69
My wife and I trade estimates daily on the percentage likelihood that Trump will complete this term in office. I'm down to 47 percent. She thrilled me today with her take: 38 percent.
15
I still don't think there is any collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Manafort and Flynn freelancing in an effort to line their own pockets or do favours for dodgy consulting/lobbying clients? Sure
Michael Cohen doing shady things left and right? Yup
Donald Trump doing X (changing the wording on a meaningless convention platform?) for the Russia government in exchange for Y (releasing some inconsequential Podesta emails?) or because he's being blackmailed with Z (the urinating prostitutes tape)? Not a chance.
10
Considering no evidence has been found to prove any collusion -- not one drop -- exists, yours is a rational conclusion. Of course, when it comes to Trump, there's very little rational perspective.
1
Trump reveals who he is by whom he empowers.
3
@AACNY: We don't know yet what "evidence has been found." Mueller hasn't issued his report, and there have been very few leaks from the investigation.
1
Love the code name - credit Keith
2
If only the DNC had not been bought and owned by the Clinton organizations. If only Anthony Weiner had not had hundreds of thousands of Clinton email on his lap top used to sext underage girls. If only Hillary Clinton's chief of staff had not been married to Anthony Weiner. People can blame the FBI and the deep state all they want. The issue was corruption or at best, ineptitude, on the Democratic party side. Acquiescing to the will of the Clintons who feel entitled to dynasty did the country no favors. And you know what I think? The over all outcome of the current political scene would have been no different had Hillary been elected. We might have seen some nicer language around policies that reward corporations and the political don't class.
13
It's all starting to come out and blow up. There are endless questions now, about just who in the Trump campaign knew what, and did what.
Let's start with one that apparently every government in the world knows but not American citizens -- just exactly what did Flynn lie to Pence about?
And just what was Flynn offering Grislyak?
7
This agency mismanagement is still happening. An article in the Times highlighted the CIA having a contact with Russian intelligence connections offering to provide proof of"kompramat" that the Russian government had on Trump but declined to pursue it because of how it looked. This is shockingly stupid. What is even worse is that no one is talking about it. There is every possibility that the sitting president is compromised by a foreign power and our intelligence agencies are actually going out of their way to avoid proof.
13
This story for some reason fails to mention an important aspect of the disparity in treatment between Trump and Clinton. Other news media outlets have covered it, but the Times for some reason has completely ignored it. A pro-Trump, Clinton-hating group of Republicans in the FBI played a key role in these events. James Kallstrom, former head of the FBI’s New York office, was the leader of a powerful group of FBI agents that clearly intended to swing the election to Trump. These men had worked closely with and were friends of Rudy Giuliani, who made certain public statements before the election that are shocking and alarming in hindsight.
For example, read this November 3, 2016 article about Kallstrom in The Daily Beast titled, “Meet Donald Trump’s Top FBI Fanboy.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/meet-donald-trumps-top-fbi-fanboy?ref=author
39
The more I understand about this farce of an election and the incompetence of a Trump and his lackeys the more I wish I had an exit strategy out of this mess. Sadly like most of us I'm stuck with the only option of voting against all republicans for the rest of my voting life to make this party pay a price for this disaster of a president.
36
Lots of things to do besides voting!
Making political donations, working on campaigns, marching with others, penning opinion pieces, talking with friends, creative civil disobedience, running for office, writing letters to Congressmen, signing petitions, going to party meetings, hosting political meetings, joining rallies, etc.
Go for it!
2
I am struck by the vast disparity between the FBI's treatment of the Trump campaign and that of the Clinton campaign. The failure to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her email destruction, destruction of government property, and her avoidance of responsibility of her actions as a former secretary of state is ridiculous. The argument that "no reasonable prosecutor" is questionable, at best, and the "matter" should have been presented to a grand jury. I think it was rank incompetence by the leadership of the FBI to use the same individuals to investigate both campaigns. I think only a naïve individual could not see the potential conflict for McCabe with his wife's campaign supported by a political operative like McAuliffe. I don't see how all this action in Washington seriously affected any votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.
In the end, I think it will be much ado about nothing, and no crime. Certainly to argue to impeach Trump, and not do more about Clinton, Podesta, the AG meeting with Bill Clinton, etc., will look like a travesty. History will not look favorably upon this. I think the report by the IG will help, but history will be more revealing in ten or twenty years, long after Trump has completed either years in office.
18
Keep looking and you'll see the action with Russia seriously affected votes.
Clinton's emails were much ado about nothing.
1
I’m pretty certain that after a fashion, there will be elementary schools and research centers and health clinics bearing the name of Hillary Clinton.
The only thing that will be named after Trump is a scandal.
2
"The failure to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her email destruction, destruction of government property, and her avoidance of responsibility of her actions as a former secretary of state is ridiculous."
Your own animus is not sufficient evidence of a cover up.
That investigation is over, the Russia one is still ongoing, and neither you, nor I, have any idea whether "In the end, . . it will be much ado about nothing, and no crime. "
Please stop rushing to conclude something you don't even know the full extent of. Our country will benefit.
3
So when can we expect the impeachment hearings to start?
9
I hope, for the sake of this nation, that this piece becomes the equivalent of the WaPo's Pentagon Papers and Watergate expose'. I want this point to be remembered as the watershed moment that this person who currently resides in the White House is exposed for even some of his supporters to take note.
I don't believe that the majority of his deplorables will change their minds, but I do hope there is a tipping point in the number of voters that selected this charlatan on Nov 2016 will feel disgust and shame at their foolishness.
15
That the FBI tampered with the election is just stunning:
““I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected,” Mr. Strzok wrote, “but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
6
New York Times finally admits its mistake but buries it late in the article. Good thing that there were no repercussions for your exonerating Trump and putting it all on Hillary.
"In late October, in response to questions from The Times, law enforcement officials acknowledged the investigation but urged restraint. They said they had scrutinized some of Mr. Trump’s advisers but had found no proof of any involvement with Russian hacking. The resulting article, on Oct. 31, reflected that caution and said that agents had uncovered no “conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government.”
The key fact of the article — that the F.B.I. had opened a broad investigation into possible links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign — was published in the 10th paragraph."
10
Today the US would be a much better, safer, and stronger country had the FBI just kept its mouth shut until the facts were in.
7
“The Crossfire Hurricane team did not present any crucial decisions for Mr. Comey to make.” They also did not give him full briefings on everything that was discussed.
So why do people make the false equivalency that Comey sent the letter to Congress about reopening the Clinton email case after Weiner’s laptop was confiscated but he did not alert the American people to the investigation of Trump’s campaign manager and others who had connections to the Russian government? First, it was highly classified information and secondly, they were still under investigation. Did Comey even know the full extent of the investigation at that time?
If the Republican Party hadn’t given Trump their full support to attack our intelligence services, calling their work, a witch hunt, and if they hadn’t allowed a Trump to say that the elections was rigged so that the FBI and the Justice Department had to be concerned about backlash, our country wouldn’t know be run by a meglamaniac Putin lover who has attempted to destroy the very institutions that our founders created to safeguard our republic.
Mueller needs to be able to finish his investigation, and Trump sycophants such as Nunes better get out of the way. The Republicans who have supported this treason will be in the crossfire’s of the hurricane come November and they are no Jack Flashes.
5
Steele was despondent. Why wouldn't the FBI buy his unverified dossier paid for by FusionGPS/Clinton hook, line and sinker. The NY Times is trying to set the stage to soften the blow of Brennan, Clapper's and Comey's malfeasance, along with Rice's unmasking (somehow that gets conveniently forgotten). The Republicans are getting close to uncovering how this political witch hunt went down, including how the FBI planted a mole/spy/informant inside the Trump campaign. This article is a long-winded Democrat-sourced explanation for what happened in order to get out in front of the truth. The only regret we see from the sources is that they should have trumpeted an investigation with zero proof before an election even louder. To correct their mistake, they just opted to lob accusations and untruths after the campaign. 2 years in - where is the connection between the Trump campaign and Russian interference. There is none. Even their Cambridge Analytica/Facebook crisis is a dead end. Why? Only 3% of the 3,500 ads purchased by the Russians even mentioned Trump or Hillary. 3%.
16
Trump was right about one thing: all the polls were wrong about his chances of winning.
So wrong that the FBI tiptoed around evidence of foreign meddling in the election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Because Clinton was sure to win!
And so we have the Trump presidency. Sickening.
19
Dots to connect: the pollsters were wrong because they knew nothing about the Russian meddling, nothing like that had ever been seen before (Facebook ads, bots, choreographs Wikileaks, etc). The FBI DID know about at least some of the meddling but could not/would not make that public. Apparently they withheld that information because they believed polls which they should have known were inaccurate precisely because of the concealed meddling.
1
The polls mostly got it right! In fact, the average result showed Clinton winning by about 3 percentage points, virtually the final result!
Even the probability estimates cannot be faulted! Several had Clinton's chances of winning at 60-70%... some were closer to 85%. However, it's just like weather forecasts. If the prediction is a 70% chance of rain and it doesn’t rain, that doesn't mean that the prediction was wrong!
Run the election again and it's possible Clinton would have won... after all, with a shift of only 35,000 votes in 3 states, she'd be the president right now and the deplorables, ironically, would be better off economically.
1
Umm - hello - where's the part about the NYC Field Office?
8
My lord, this is jaw-dropping. I can't help wondering...how much longer until Trump supporters realize that this is really happening...that the President they elected was planted by the Russian government? It's all coming out. And the longer Trump supporters deny it and support him, the harder things will go for them once he's out.
23
Sorry, not everyone believes that the investigation against Hillary was misguided but the investigation of Trump is somehow...perfectly legitimate. The FBI's credibility certainly should not depend on who it is investigating.
2
The bottom line was that everyone expected Clinton to win easily and no one wanted to be accused of interfering to help Clinton. Trump knew how much dirt was out there on him, so he started trying to inoculate himself on day one with his rigged election nonsense.
3
I'm not one of "them". I was worried this road show was being way too focused on by the media. The fellow running in the GOP was not interested in facts of politics but was interested in celebritydome in any way to keep people focused on him. He proved, early on, understanding what our country was founded on didn't matter (enter Mr. Khan with outstretched arms offering his pocket Constitution).
You completely ignore the report that the initial information about Russian email hacking was fed to Papadapoulas by an FBI operative. The same people who funded his trip to London and the meeting with the ambassador. The FBI deliberately created the excuse to open the investigation. Your huge omission of that information defines your anti-Trump bias.
9
Thank you for this objective, clear-headed summary/analysis.
Any thoughtful person reading it will clearly understand that there is not, nor was there ever, any "deep-state witch-hunt" going on. In fact, as the article makes clear, the ambiguities and missing links in the story as it was disclosed over the past year and a half exist precisely because of utmost caution to not create a false narrative. (We now know that Comey and others miscalculated this, which Trump and Fox and the Republican sycophants have used to their advantage.)
Unfortunately, the thoughtless Deplorables and the Rightwing wackos won't read (or understand, or accept) the objective truths. They will dismiss it all as "fake news."
Proof of this? Within five minutes of the article being posted, the first wave of Trump-bot defenders started spewing inane, thoughtless, and rabidly partisan nonsense on here.
The truth will eventually be revealed; but that can't happen soon enough! Please Mr. Mueller, disclose your findings soon!
But unfortunately, 1/3 of the country (and half of the Republicans, Deplorables, and Rightwing wackos) won't understand or accept the truth, no matter how clear the evidence is.
9
Here is the issue in America. You will NEVER read or hear this on conservative media. They have a deep state narrative to sell and the base eats it up which drives up ratings.
So 40% of the country is working off a fact base seperated from reality.
How do you have a functioning fact base with this?
11
Funny how Benghazi and the Email Server investigations weren't termed "witch hunts" that didn't really find any real actionable results. As compared to multiple felony convictions already in the bag in the present "witch hunt".
The thing about witch hunts - it's supposed to mean searching for something that doesn't exist but is really meant to harm/frighten the witches. I think that fits 90% of the Clinton investigations - not much witch there. With Mueller, he's finding a witch behind every trashy gold-plated door he opens.
11
Seriously, how many investigations did Issa run on Bengazi to find out there wasn’t adequate protection in place for the Embassy because......wait for it.....the GOP cut funding to the State Department.
I want Nunes and McCarthy brought to justice when this is all over.
2
Mueller found skeletons from years gone-by but not the big kahuna witch! These charges could have been filed anyway. Sad waste of money...if you ask me!
1
He's such a whiner. Nothing is ever his fault or his responsibility.
7
I never doubted Russia intervened in our election either to ensure the useful idiot won, or as payback for Sec of State Clinton and the Russian sanctions. Or both. There is too much smoke for there to be no fire. I hope in my lifetime to hear truth but with
Senators like McConnell in charge that prove over and over that remaining in power is more important to them than morality, honor, ethics, duty, etc. I doubt it will occur. I hope I am proven wrong and witness the first president to be removed from office rather allowed to resign.
11