The report makes clear the former President was aware the FBI was conducting a spy operation on his political opposition...all four members of the Trump campaign. Although AG Lynch couldn’t recall the meeting, Director Comey could.The attempt to cover that fact up with an after the fact memo by Susan Rice is shameful.
1
We now know from the IG report that the FISA warrant granted for Carter Page was based on the Steele reports, DNC and Hillary campaign opposition research created by a British foreign national, and no intelligence product derived from the USIC. Page also may have been assisting the CIA in his contacts with Russian nationals. Yet, Comey and Yates signed the warrant application unequivocally stating Page was an ‘agent of Russia’. Carter Page has never been arrested or charged with a crime. The USIC, FBI and DOJ maligned him and owe him an apology at minimum, as they did with wrongly accused Steven Hatfill.
It is really shocking how well simply lying is working for them.
2
The FBI may have had "solid reason" to initiate an investigation but that investigation was highly problematic.
Turns out the Steele Dossier did play a major role and was pushed by Comey. Schiff openly lied about this. The FBI withheld exculpatory evidence, plenty of which existed, from the FISA court. One FBI lawyer even altered an email to keep this information from the court. Again, Schiff lied about this abuse of the FISA process.
This is a scathing indictment of their investigative process. Americans should welcome further investigation. Hard to imagine how much worse Durham's results could be.
13
@AACNY, the report clearly states that the Steele dossier played VERY LITTLE IF ANY role in the warrants and you're going to attempt to contradict that and say it had. You are one of the many that enable that corrupt and incompetent man occupying the Oval Office to continue his assault on democracy and decency.
151
@AACNY
The purpose of the inquiry was to determine whether an inquiry into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia was warranted. The answer was yes. In fact, the campaign chair is now in prison for foreign money laundering and tax evasion.
Don’t you find that shocking? Most Americans do.
Republicans keep attacking the search warrants used to discover their crimes, while utterly disregarding the crimes themselves.
142
@AACNY
You seem to have a lot of information about who did what and how much they knew and when. I am wondering how you were able to know that, for example, Schiff lied on two occasions. Who did he lie to and about what exactly? I think you need to be more precise about where this information comes from.
58
The finding that political bias was not the underlying reason for the FBI's "mistakes" should not be comforting to Americans. If the way this case was handled is just FBI SOP, and that seems to be Horrowitz's conclusion, that disproves Trump's conspiracy theory but it should be chilling to each and every one of us.
8
@buddybarnwell
I totally agree. The results are chilling. If this can happen to POTUS and Carter Page---God help all of us if ever in the crosshairs of justice.
@stuart most people don't understand how little predication is needed to "legally" launch an investigation and how fast and loose the feds play with "procedures" once an investigation is launched
The culture doesn't reward recognizing innocence. The goal is to "make a case." Once an investigation is launched, no matter how flimsy the predicate, the target is presumed guilty and the goal is to get an indictment.
It's telling that Mr. Mazzetti does not get to the contents of the IG report until after his diatribe against the republicans' public relations campaign. [Side Note: does it not closely resemble that which democrats have employed with respect to Mueller and now Ukraine? "Well, looks like we missed him this time; on to the next scandal." Mr. Mazzetti knows more than a thing or two about that.] Most of us are already bored with Ukraine, by the way. To Mr. Mazzetti's credit, he devotes exactly one paragraph to Mr. Horowitz's findings. But if you're looking for honest reporting on the Horowitz report, you won't find it here. This belongs on the opinion page. Perhaps one of the editors would like to take up the following question: is it a problem for FBI agents to use politically motivated (and financed), unverified intelligence in order to secure FISA warrants? I suspect the answer will be no, at least when it comes to Trump.
4
@Anonymous is it a problem that Trump campaign staff met so frequently with Russian Intelligence agents? Is it a problem that several former Trump campaign staff are in prison as a direct result?
17
How about bribing another country in order to fix an election?
10
@Anonymous I’m from Kentucky too! This article is clearly labeled “news analysis” and it supplements a straight news article. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive news story about the report, which the NYT already had done. Rather, it usefully connects the Trump administration response to this report to its broader strategy of using investigations as political tools, as nauseum.
10
Parents should have their children removed from their dangerous dysfunctional households if they support trump. Especially when they bring children to a maniacal trump rally.
Facts and truth show he's the worst of the worst.
2
Republicans tried this strategy with Benghazi. They kept investigating and holding hearings and they came up with nothing. I'm tired of Republicans wasting my tax dollars on phony investigations trying to exculpate Trump. The Republican Party is committing suicide for Trump. Good riddance.
2
The most egregious offense committed during the 2016 election was Cohen's announcement, 10 days before the vote, that he had reopened the investigation of Clinton's emails, while simultaneously failing to omit that the Trump campaign had been under continuous investigation for months for collusion with Russia. Cohen had plenty of time to sift through the emails conclude that there was nothing new - which he subsequently did - and keep his mouth shut.
2
Donald Trump received put-downs from his parents. They put him in a military school to get him to 'shape up'. The same applies to George W. Bush. Remember his 'photo-ops'? Trump surrounds himself with flatterers.
The man is a professional huckster, a shill artist extraordinaire. Anyone that looked could see it before he was elected, anyone still looking can see it as plain as day now.
I think it's sad that so many Americans are just not looking.
3
how a democracy goes down the rabbit hole...
1
Trump lies so much he believes his own nonsense. Trump and Republican will continue pushing their false, hate filled narrative onto their base regardless of the harm they're doing to the country. Fact is Trump gained foreign interference in the 2016 election, and he tried it again for the 2020 election. Making Trump the big Fake of the Deep State..
3
"In a significant political victory for Mr. Trump, the special counsel found that there was no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, and did not make a judgment about whether Mr. Trump had obstructed justice." Isn't this completely wrong? Didn't Mueller say that there was insufficient evidence to support prosecution on the conspiracy charge - not at all the same as "no conspiracy" - but that Trump did obstruct justice? I expect Barr to continue to lie about everything, but please, NYT, keep the facts straight.
2
Yet again, you can believe the professionals at FBI, the CIA and the Department of Justice, who treat Russian interference as a non-partisan issue, who don't tweet and aren't running for office...or you can believe Trump, Rudy and Fox News. And Barr has joined in, as another "unbiased" seeker of the truth.
Bad as things are, imagine what life would be like if Trump's phony conspiracies and deep state actually existed. Secret societies within our government's law enforcement agencies, dormant for two centuries, suddenly activated for the sole purpose of removing Trump.
1
Too bad Trump never went on "Dancing with the Stars" (he probably asked if he could be his own partner, but they declined).
1
A friend of mine says that, while he hates Trump, he hopes he'll be re-elected because he constantly gooses the market and loosens regulations which, my friend thinks, makes money for punters like him. If many voters think this way we'll be stuck with the current President for 5 more years.
The good news with all of this: I have multiple family members who swear they will NEVER vote Republican again. It’s not just Trump; it’s the systematic corruption of truth by the entire party.
2
Well, obviously it's time for Justice's inspector general, who failed to find evidence of the FBI's conspiracy against Trump, to be investigated, right? It's turning out that the deep state is vaster and deeper than anyone could possibly have imagined! (Can you hear Trump saying this? I can, and very easily.)
1
The report by the Justice Department's inspector general should be the final word. Any further investigation by Attorney General Barr would be strictly political and should be paid for by the Republican Party, not American taxpayers.
3
Barr's spinning, rewriting of the justice department's findings, in trumps favor is breath-taking and I mean the AG causes me to hyperventilate every time I hear his voice.
Trump is not king and Barr is not knighted.
Barr must also be indicted and removed.
2
If you read Fox news you will see that they are following the Goebbels script of the Big Lie. The Horowitz report, according to Hannity, Ingraham and politicians like Cruz, confirms their previous stories. Their response to being caught in a lie is to simply repeat the lie.
The entirety of the Trump media strategy governing his public interviews, outbursts and Tweets is that of forging a narrative platform, via repetition, a branding, ostensibly enabling him to develop and exploit a confirmation-bias operating in his favor and capable of not only prevailing public opinion, but short of that, to nullify or neutralize the adverse facts and case rivaling his claims.
I’d like to see an article that discusses the results of Trump’s plans to derail the Biden campaign. It seems like Biden’s lead started to fail once Rudy started his alternate narrative involving Ukraine. Of course, I was unaware of it when it started because I do not tune in to Alternative Reality TV, but after watching the hearings, I am aware of the timing. Additionally, Biden has to spend time responding to questions about his son and Ukraine, rather than on plans and policy. And what does the news cover? Questions about Biden’s integrity, even if to refute them. The seeds of doubt have been sown. Mission accomplished for Trump.
Mark,
Mr. Hurwitz was doing an internal review/investigation, with little credit outside of Comey’s circle. I would expect that the Durham investigation will have more credibility.
As I understand, international investigations have very little power (definitely no subpoena power) and therefore little credibility outside the company/entity itself. Only thing they can do is promote or fire its employees. Ask Google.
1
Republicans continue to spread Russian propaganda so impeachment was the only option.
1
Forgot to mention another component of the Trump/GOP strategy
Count on media outlets like the Times to report their lies, maybe with a slight reference to their falsehood, thus giving them credence.
Lies should not be repeated
“The President, responding to the IG report, misrepresented the findings, which ....”
NOT “The President called the FBI investigation a hoax”
1
What an unfunny and dangerous farce. Donald Trump has found his Roy Cohn in William Barr the humorless uncharismatic Doppelganger for John Goodman (or Mr. Toad after the wild ride is over, take your pick). As the article says, Trump and his cronies and apologists will keep creating new conspiracies/"investigations", and I have no doubt that their handpicked Claude Rains from Casablanca will serve them up the "investigation" they want.
2
Thats right, one conspiracy idea in the trash another will soon be presented. Anything to keep the voters occupied and away from the real news.
1
Trump is mentally ill, has dementia or is on drugs.
Look at some of the photographs - dull, glassy eyes that look like they were lifted from an old dead fish. Sometimes, his speech incoherent, and he is staying up in the early morning hours churning out tweets, sometimes full of spelling errors.
Rambling, angry speech at political rallies where he feels he needs to perform for his supporters. Vindictive to the point that a slight or any criticism will result in name-calling or worse. His mean streak is evident and cruelty is often turned into policy.
The sudden trip to the hospital recently was probably a panic attack due to paranoia.
This is the problem, Trump is comfortable with his stupidity and gleefully, and shamelessly embraces his ignorance. But he has the nuclear launch codes in his pocket. He is a very clear and present danger to the United States and its democracy.
What is just as bad are his apologists, opportunists, supporters and Fox News hosts who enable him to continue to drag this nation into chaos through lies, impulsiveness, and whims.
2
What most thinking Americans should realize by now is that this is not as sophomoric as Republicans would have you think it is.
In short, it's the U.S. Constitution, stupid.
And Donald Trump has once again grievously overstepped his office in order to seek personal political advantage from it and in the interim, has put this nation's national security in danger.
What is so hard to understand about that?
As for "partisanship" and "bias", nothing exemplifies that more than the lockstep Republican Senate that bows and scrapes to this president's every command, yet that doesn't stop them from throwing the accusation around.
And who would expect anything different coming from Attorney General Barr, who has proven himself to be the lapdog he's supposed to be?
The only "conspiracy" happening here is a conspiracy of idiocy.
1
Looks like Trump is about to fire another FBI director who won't play Trump';s game,
Go ahead, Don, fire him too and convince us that you aren't a power hungry madman,
Wake up, America, 2020 is your chance to stop this self serving traitorous WH. Reelect him and the games will truly begin,
1
Nice spin by the DEMs. Carter Page was actually working for the CIA in Russia as an “operational contact” gathering intelligence. The FBI was told this repeatedly, yet it never reported that to the FISA court approving the secret investigation of Page. His claim to have worked with the federal government was widely dismissed. Worse yet, Horowitz found that investigators and the Justice Department concluded there was no probable cause on Page to support its FISA investigation. That is when there was an intervention from the top of the FBI, ordering investigators to look at the Steele dossier funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign instead.
Who told investigators to turn to the dossier? Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired over his conduct in the investigation after earlier internal investigations. Horowitz contradicts the media claim that the dossier was just a small part of the case presented to the FISA court. He finds that it was essential to seeking FISA warrants. Horowitz also finds no sharing of information with FISA judges that undermined the credibility of the dossier or Christopher Steele himself. Surprisingly little effort was made to fully investigate the dossier when McCabe directed investigators to it, yet investigators soon learned that critical facts reported to the FISA court was false. Therefore, Steele was used to corroborate Steele on allegations that were later deemed unfounded.
Republicans have become very adept at a "fake" narrative.
2
On Planet Trump, the Astros won the World Series.
2
Grasping at straws.
1
His schitck is getting old. Martha, please change the channel.
3
To expose the "deep state", congressional Republicans need
only:
1. Look in the mirror.
2. Say, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the Unfairest of them all?"
3. Listen to the demon's response: "You are, you unAmerican cheats, deniers, fabricators, and all-round dirty dealers. Hope this finally clears things up for you, you scoundrels."
6
Why is Lavrov getting another Oval Office meeting when Zelensky still hasn’t gotten one?
3
@Bob
$$$Money$$$ and Power.
Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi!
Emails, Emails, Emails!
Okay, I'm ready for another snipe hunt. Where and when do we meet.
1
The IG report found at least 17 errors in the FBI/DOJ handling of the FISA report and related matters.
Each of these errors ran against Trump.
If these were random errors, the probability of that taking place is less than a million to one.
But, according to our elite, there was no bias.
Conclusion: our elite is idiots.
1
Once again, NYT headlines fail spectacularly. This one gives the impression that investigations into Trump keep failing, when the article is about exactly the opposite. Good work NYT editors.
Face it, we have a mentally unstable president brought to you by the greed of the GOP
2
Criminals never confess. The entire trumplican party is corrupt, but his brainwashed minions will defend him until the bitter end. See related comments by right wing zealots.
They have an excuse for everything.
2
Dear NYT:
Why is Mark Mazetti allowed to treat this IG report as personal vindication? The Times should take a deep breath, return its Trump Pulitzer, and apologize for pushing a fake, debunked conspiracy narrative for three years.
Unfortunately, the strategy on display by The Times is to emphasize the IG's negative finding -- citing a lack of evidence to prove that Crossfire Hurricane was born of poltiical bias -- and ignore a plain pattern of massive wrongdoing --17 instances of serious and likely criminal FISA abuse.
Even if these senior Obama FBI officials did not begin the Trump collusion investigation for political purposes, as Horowitz concluded based on a paucity of evidence, they soon were fully engaged in a criminal conspiracy to damage Trump, using information they knew was unreliable, if not outright Russian disinformation, as early as January 2017.
The Times also has responsibility here. It should have reported that Hilary was financing this smear, and repudiated the story years ago.
As a lead reporter for The Times on this story, Mr. Mazetti was either a witting participant or a dupe.
When is a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct, all harming a political opponent, not a pattern?
When The Times determines that connecting the dots would hurt its Trump collusion narrative.
Please, fess up, and regain our respect.
2
Stop!!
Is the NYT's attempting to say that
Trump's birther conspiracy had faults???
Trump is a Russian Asset controlled by Putin.
Today, the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov will be coming to the White House to give their asset, Donald J. Trump his marching orders.
Russia wants to ensure Trump continues to prostitute himself for Russia inspite of his Impeachment.
Real Americans on Earth 1 realize how guilty both Traitor Trump and Pathetic Putin are and want justice.
2
"But the report did not find a widespread, anti-Trump conspiracy inside the F.B.I., and it even contained damning information about how some agents working on the case hoped that Mr. Trump would win a surprise victory over Mrs. Clinton."
INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS! They shouted.
Oops. I mean, well, they altered an email! The FBI is a fraud! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!
America is waking up Republicans, enjoy the power while you can.
1
How many investigations does it take to reach the same conclusion? Trump is in search of vindication for his outlandish conspiracy theories and justification of his paranoia. The man is one sick puppy and Barr is just as ill. They have declared war on the truth and are determined to win by any means necessary. Trump and his cabinet (what’s left of it) need to be turned out of office and barred from ever serving in any office of public trust ever again. It might be wishful thinking, but the sooner we see the backsides of these people,the better.
1
Re: "But the report did not find a widespread, anti-Trump conspiracy inside the F.B.I., and it even contained damning information about how some agents working on the case hoped that Mr. Trump would win a surprise victory over Mrs. Clinton."
Maybe it's because I'm a "baby boomer" or my undergrad college yrs were '67-71, but I'm shocked.... shocked that the report did NOT find that the CIA and the FBI were just a swarming nest of far left, radical pinko commies.
1
I don't know what to say. Doctor assisted suicide is a right here in Quebec.
When a country elects suicide it looks like the same kind of decision but electing suicide does not involve taking so many innocents along for the ride.
2
August 2019: “I think spying did occur,” Barr said. “But the question is whether it was adequately predicated and I’m not suggesting it wasn’t adequately predicated, but I need to explore that.”
Spying? Trump said it, so the puppet had to say it.
9 December 2019: “The F.B.I. launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Barr said.
After Trump publicly asked Russia for Hillary's emails and just 10 days before the 2016 election, the FBI publicly re-opened an investigation of Hillary.
But, puppet describes Comey's other investigation as intrusive.
And now on the soapbox: “I do think the big report to wait for is going to be the Durham report,” (Trump) said. “That’s the one that people are really waiting for.”
Trump won't wait; and puppet will join him in the sandbox.
3
Among other things, these investigations serve to curry favor with a Trump who needs to be supported in his more bizarre conspiratorial thoughts.
More and more, I think our President is a useful idiot in the service of ideologues who have their own agenda. William Barr is the latest example. His Note Dame speech against 'militant secularists' - people who support separation of church and state, maybe - offered an agenda for radical transformation of our system.. His Federalist Society speech in November made it clear that a Trump with monarchial powers seemed to suggest that Trump could be the person to accomplish this agenda.
Judicial appointees deemed unqualified by the ABA are passed through a McConnell dominated Senate.
Industry insiders and single issue crusaders occupy key roles in the cabinet and over industries that they now regulate. And some of those deemed incompetent seem immune to Trumpian disfavor as long as they support some of his concerns. Think bout Wilbur ross and the census or Betsy DeVoss and for-profit education.
4
Reality Check white house must realize we are own worse enemy .Blaming others to cover own mistakes is in end our own doing. Congress an white house swore allegance to american flag each needs to do their duty. Alot more problems need to be address like homeless an there children go to bed hungrey. Jobs for american people so they can feed familys. Picture of low unemployment in reality is no jobs left to lay off that are pay living wage. Congress could do better job by insisting all purchases for government use be Made In USA . Would create millions of jobs in usa pay living wage.
There are significant similarities between the inspector general's findings referred to here, and the findings in the Mueller report. Neither was an acquittal; indeed, the inspector general found "serious problems" with the FBI's performance in the present case. And neither found proof of criminal activity or a deep conspiracy.
Yet the Times' headlines when the the Mueller report was released pretty much did what the Mueller report did not do: they found Mr. Trump guilty as charged. Here, on the other hand, the headline is "Another Inquiry Doesn’t Back Up Trump’s Charges. So, on to the Next. "
It's a judgement call, of course, but this juxtaposition does seem to suggest bias by the Times' headline writers and news desk.
1
"President Trump and his allies spent months promising that a report on the origins of the F.B.I.’s Russia investigation would be a kind of Rosetta Stone for Trump-era conspiracy enthusiasts".
President Trump's enemies have spent YEARS promising that evidence of treason, collusion, subversion.... that was "hiding in plain sight" would be a Rosetta Stone for Trump era conspiracy enthusiasts.
3
I distinctly remember the Special Counsel saying there was no PROOF of conspiracy while noting that the administration’s obstruction prevented them from knowing the full story. That is dramatically different from “the special counsel found that there WAS no criminal conspiracy”. The wrong reporting is a problem because it is also at the core of the articles of impeachment. Obstruction implies lack of evidence is NOT proof of innocence. No wonder there are so many confused American when even the New York Times gets it wrong.
2
An earlier article in today's New Times focused on the struggle for truth in the trump era. It seems that this president, his enablers and his supporters makeup their own truths to fit their arguments.
The current investigation by the Justice Department’s own inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, did not deliver. "But by the time it was released, the president, his attorney general, his supporters in Congress and the conservative news media had already declared victory..." and moved on looking for another way to find-uncover-or create evidence of a 'deep state' conspiracy.
Talk about FAKE NEWS.
Well here's one thing that's true. This administration has publicly stated over 13,000 (and counting) lies to the American people in less than 3-years. I think that's 13 thousand reasons to impeach these lairs.
5
The IG Report was done internally, on people currently in the FBI and Justice Department. Former employees, other Departments, and foreign participants were not investigated, or allowed to be subpoenaed and testify before a grand jury. Horowitz’s Report is just the beginning. Unlike the Clinton investigation, immunity was not given out like candy, and no Independent Prosecutor was assigned to determine criminal intent. McCabe and Strzok found Flynn to be truthful. It took little time for a Mueller prosecutor to find criminal perjury. When Brennan, Clapper, Strzok, McCabe, Rice, Powers, Lynch, Comey, Jarrett, and others are questioned under oath, indictments will follow. In congressional hearings, McCabe and Comey contradict each other. Samantha Powers denied she signed over a hundred unmasking request. Brennan lied about how and when the dossier became known, and added to the FISA application to surveil Carter Page. Barr and Durham have communicated with foreign actors, and have far more information on hand than Horowitz had authority to investigate. Barr and Durham know more, and can use subpoenas to force testimony before a grand jury. Horowitz’s Report is only a weak preview of the criminal investigation that is already taking place. Unlike the Clinton Report, there will be no immunity, only levity for cooperation, just like Mueller’s team did. This matter is far from over. Perjury already exist, and indictments will surely follow. Let’s see who flips first.
2
@Jay
Excellent synopsis.
The Times does not seem to understand the world under Putin's Donny, at least from the point of the headline.
He holds the most powerful position in the world, so he abuses his power, including the power to pardon, and lies all the time. Not only he uses the US tax payers' money to extort Ukraine for personal gain, not only he self deals all the time, he is also always the "victim". Everyone is against him and yet he is the one who "can shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in day light and will not lose a vote".
So, go figure. In fact there is no need for yet another investigation all he needs to do is to pronounce one lying statement after another. No need for facts since there is always "an alternate reality".
2
Except everyone who Trump trash talked and costed them their jobs can now sue Trump for slander. If the going rate is $435 million per Devin Nunes, that means everyone who Trump lied about in his tweets can sue Trump Inc. directly for the same amount since Trump used his personal Twitter account. If Trump settled for $25 million for Trump University, after all is said and done it'll cost him hundreds of millions. Almost everything he's worth since he lies about being a billionaire too. Ouch!
1
Many Americans of a certain generation cling to the commonsensical belief that we “need” two parties, and that it’s good to have a Republican Party, just not this particular iteration of it. This is, to borrow one of that demographic’s cherished catchphrases, pure malarkey. Horse puckey, if you will. The GOP will gladly betray us for a handful of coins; indeed it seems they’ve already done so and we are living through the aftermath. This is a root hog or die moment, meaning we need to rip the GOP out of or politics by the root, or else.
But hey look on the bright side, you’ll still have the DNC who are basically the Republicans you’ve been looking for all along, only friendlier. I’m no fan myself but at least they believe in reality.
This is the old speghetti at the wall trick.
Keep throwing it until it finally somehow sticks.
My bet though is even Trump runs out of speghetti here before a successful throw.
1
There is no end to anything when the paranoia is the main problem.
4
I shuddered when viewing a video clip of Trump, listening to him declare in the cabinet room that the report concluded the diametrical opposite of what it actually concluded. And another flabbergasting thing about it was those other people (including Pence of course) just sitting there frozen like automatons. I never would have been invited to and joined that meeting in any case, but if I were there, I just wonder what I'd do. It's easy to say I'd yell "What?!" and then storm out--I'd like to think so. Maybe I could put my hand over my mouth, mumble something about having been sick and needing to throw up, then leave. Yeah, that might work. (P.S.: Trump is so self-centered, he probably doesn't even realize how sadistically abusive he gathers people to those meetings, to have them sit there and take what lies he says.)
Trump is the crazy old man who follows people around Wal-Mart, tapping them on the shoulder, muttering about the government “spying on him through the power lines,” and when one person looks at him like he’s got lobsters crawling out of his ears and walks away, he just moves right on to the next person on the next aisle, hoping one will listen.
Well, where I’m from, we have a crazy old man who does that. That’s what the Trump Show reminds me of. The difference is that Trump has Fox and Friends to help him peddle his conspiracy theories. The crazy guy in Wal-Mart is on his own.
1
What has it come to? Doesn't everyone know emperor always wears the most elegant royal clothes? How dare anyone even think otherwise?
1
The hypocrisy of the Trump cartel is outrageous! They keep crying that the Dems have wanted to impeach Trump since he was elected, crying that the Ukraine and Mueller investigations should never have happened, all while they rabidly are pushing that Ukraine has the DNC server and the Bidens have to be investigated to find Hillary's emails. Talk about baseless investigations! They won't say who was the origin of their conspiracy theories. Trump has done much more, in plain sight, that is harmful to our country than what he is being impeached for. The Republicans have decided to abandon democracy. Attny. Gen. Barr is completely partisan and in the tank for Trump. Impeach him and let's get a real U.S. Attorney General in his place.
1
Time for the IG to investigate the AG and his efforts to enlist
foreign help to discredit the Mueller report.
1
The Inspector General's report is condemning of the activities of the FBI wiretap requests to the FISA Court, such professional malfeasance is intentional and dangerous. That this paper presents the findings as relatively inconsequential suggests that people who wish to own a fact-based analysis of the events read, and view, elsewhere.
This is perhaps the best full synopsis and analysis of the recent Inspector General report, it just happens to completely contradict this paper's presentations on it:
"FBI Lied To FISA Court In Russiagate Investigation"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb0gyt9Vriw
1
Orwell got it right.
1
It's not about the truth. It's never been about the truth of the matter. It's about the smear - whether it arises from "people are saying," "you will see when the ... comes out," or sham investigations. Benghazi was a smear of Hillary Clinton, and not an investigatory effort to get to the truth and fix security at diplomatic outposts. Wise up.
Trump's Toadie, Barr, is on a quest to re-write history and deny fact. Were he not this blatantly partisan, corrupt AG, he would be chasing ambulances - that's the level of his integrity.
In an administration where truth is a crime, Barr is the denier-in-chief, second only to The Dotard. He is supposed to be an Attorney General seeking truth and protecting this country from criminals and despots, many of whom work and/or liven OUR White House and Congress. He has demonized the Democrats, something a legitimate AG should never be doing (i.e. partisan politics from the head of our Justice Department). He is working in concert with a narcissistic sociopath to undermine our Democracy - a fact which NO ONE CAN DENY. He is accountable only to his boss, the ringleader of this conspiracy, MafiaDon Trump.
You are looking at a corrupt government whose stink begins at the very top; a government which favors every authoritarian despot on the planet, fails to hold Russia accountable for interfering with its most sacred principle - fair elections, and self-serves to enrich itself and steal from its people.
If this sounds like a Panama under Noreiga or a Cuba under Batista, it is - but it is US. WAKE UP before it is too late.
4
Ok, we've had the Mueller Report and the DOJ IG Report ... two duds. Are we done now?
"Cover-Up General Barr" strikes again (as William Safire referred to Barr back in '92) by doing just that for Reagan, Bush and now Trump. What a hat trick.
2
Jim Comey had every reason to believe Russian agents with ties to Vladimir Putin and the Krelim had infiltrated the Trump campaign. The well-publicized June 9, 2016 meeting in Trump Tower between Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Donnie Junior and Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort with a Russian agent promising dirt on Hillary Clinton would lead any rational person to that conclusion. Robert Mueller's investigation turned up criminal behavior on the part of six Trump associates including Manafort. Like a traffic cop who makes a speeding stop then discovers 30 pounds of uncut heroin in the trunk, Bob Mueller did America and its people a huge favor proving Donald Trump is a scoundrel who should be impeached. !0 counts of obstruction of justice by Mueller in itself is grounds for impeachment.
1
Ha! And people say that there is widespread corruption in Ukraine. Take a look here. Trump, the DOJ (Department of Jokers) Rudi Giuliani. Why don't we consider this corruption?
2
Liberals and their Democratic politicians have become so extreme they now defend the surveillance of US citizens, continuing Forever Wars, and spending 10 of trillions of $$ on more free stuff.
2
The notion that half of American voting population is consumed with fear to the extent that it needs professional help and hospitalization - is becoming increasingly apparent.
That would be the fear of the kind that is central to identity politics. Because here we have a thuggish party of republicans that begins by killing their voters' neighbor's cows (deportation, caging children, criminalizing blacks, supporting Nazis, defending the confederate flag, denying people with pre-existing conditions with healthcare, and supporting polluters) - and they cheer.
This is still sub-clinical sickness; observed in all parts of the world.
But then this thuggish party of republicans starts eating its own. Farmers who love Trump cannot export; congress filled with lawyers and prosecutors defend Trump's defiling of the constitution - and they not just favor him, they blame the democrats, and want republicans to intensify their looting and pillaging, and the law breaking - even if it begins to hurt them.
This is some kind of a Stockholm syndrome gone viral. This now needs clinical intervention. The electorate, in all likelihood, has gone mad.
This would be comical but for the fact that taxpayer dollars are being used to fund all this navel-gazing.
" John H. Durham, the United States attorney in Hartford, Conn., chummed the waters on Monday by releasing a highly unusual statement saying he disagreed with some of the findings of the inspector general’s report and had a mandate to conduct a broader, more thorough investigation."
HIGHLY UNUSUAL? Are you kidding me? This newspaper has bent over backward to give its seal of approval to anything Willian Barr and his minion John Durham do, mischaracterizing them over and over again as upright and honest and unbiased people. They are not.
I notice that whenever this newspaper reports anything that is critical of Trump, this newspaper ALWAYS includes a quote from a Republican claiming the person is incredibly biased and working for the Democratic.
But when this newspaper quotes Barr and Durham's "unusual" actions, there is no immediate response by a Democrat in the next line of text saying that Barr has a history of covering up the President's wrongdoing and Barr appointed Durham to help him do more covering up. Why the double standard? That is certainly what is included after every statement by Nancy Pelosi or Adam Schiff -- an over the top critical comment by a Republican about their bias that is left as a "he said she said". But Barr is allowed to make his outrageous attacks without his character being undermined. Why?
1
When you’re completely untethered from fact and reality and you’re willing to say absolutely anything you can always come up with another conspiracy theory to explain the debunking of the previous one. Mr. Durham and his crack investigators will probably make the same type of amazing discoveries as did Trump’s investigators when they went to Hawaii in search of Obama’s origin story.
1
Whatever the Horowitz report, Trump wins, Lindsey Graham and Barr win and GOP win. Trump is like a CULT or prophet figure to them. To the Trump base, he is better than Jesus Christ. Why the Republicans are so much against FBI, CIA and other Intel people who work hard and put their lives on the line for the country. Barr is not working for America but acting like Trump's personal attorney. Are we living in a Banana Republic?
Wow, if I only read the NY Times and this article was my sole information about Barr, I would assume that the upright and honest William Barr was doing his duty to investigate all the corrupt Democrats out to get him.
Robert Mueller, a lifelong Republican, was smeared and attacked by Barr and his cronies and Barr basically outright lied about Mueller's findings - insisting that Mueller didn't indict because his report totally exonerated Trump. Then the same guy who just lied about the Muller report -- William Barr -- appointed his own guy to "investigate" its origins.
But I wouldn't know any of that in this article which presents the facts as the NY Times wants readers to understand them: The upright and honest William Barr felt an obligation to make sure investigations are done properly so he is doing his duty to America by appointing Durham.
Barr and Durham have acted "unusually" says the NY Times, which is the most that this newspaper will ever characterize improper actions by Republicans. A Republican that the NY Times fawns over may act in an "unusual" way, but there is always a reason that those Republicans are working for good since they are so upright and honest and never lie.
What a misleading article that helps promote the lie that there is a real justice department instead a right wing takeover by a corrupt Attorney General that is all about punishing enemies and enabling any corruption by Republicans if it keeps them in power.
1
Surely, the NYT understand that Mr. Horowitz’ was an internal review with NO SUBPOENA power? Mr. Durham is doing the only real investigation.
1
@RMM And they won't rest until they uncover Trump-approved alternative facts.
Externalization, normalization and institutionalization of paranoia's fundamental dynamic: “Only those conspiring against me would deny there's a conspiracy against me!”
Barr=spin+hypocrisy.
What is also missing from this analysis is the IG's statement that the information used by the FBI to initiate the investigation into the Trump campaign "was sufficient to satisfy the low threshold established by the Department and the FBI." So there was no documentary evidence of bias because it didn't take much to initiate the investigation. But the 17 documented errors or omissions of critical information used in the FISA documentation indicate either gross incompetence or some level of bias.
2
Or the limits of humans to achieve omniscience, omnipotence, and benevolence.
1
Everyday during House testimony I keep hearing about the oath all have taken to protect and defend the constitution. Does anyone really think trump gives a hoot about oaths and taking vows? Please. And now I’m concerned about the faithfulness to the constitution of the entire Republican Party.
They shout to disrupt the progress of the hearings. They think shouting shows their loyalty. They are no longer Americans to me.
4
Just a reminder to the Trump enablers: it was an anti-Trump Republican donor who initially provided a large part of the funding of the Steele report.
3
A great example of "confirmation bias" and how it is destroying us. If you believe there was no "deep state" interference, the report corroborates it. If you believe there WAS "deep state" interference, you find whatever flaws noted in the investigation and run with it.
This shows us what preceded the Civil War? If you wanted evidence slavery was an institution worth saving, you found it.
1
FBI using outright fabrications & omitting key countervailing facts to obtain a FISA warrant on a U.S. citizen-maybe the most invasive form of surveillance available to the U.S. government- is a gigantic civil liberties scandal but we should expect most of our media to ignore/downplay this abuse of power.
2
So the FBI was concerned that someone in the Trump campaign was being approahed by intermediaries acting for the Russians.
And they knew it was Carter Page.
And they knew that Carter Page was working in collaboration with the CIA on information gathering.
And they withheld that exculpatory information from the FIAS applications.
And they decided not to inform Trump or the campaign staff.
But they did talk to the Russians about it.
Nope, no evidence of funny business there.
My brain surgeon has very little experience in brain surgery, but he'll grow into the job.
“I do think the big report to wait for is going to be the Durham report,” he said.
“That’s the one that people are really waiting for.”
Sounds like Barr and trump already know the "result" of an investigation still underway.
2
It's pretty clear the same script is being used by both parties to generate continuous smears, innuendo and phony "scandals" which in turn are then fed like raw meat to their most rabid supporters, and used to justify "investigations" of their political opponents. All of it reduces the legitimacy of the political class while alienating a broad swath of Americans who care not for the circus and prefer to simply be left alone. This impeachment effort a waste of energy and will result in nothing other than increased division and rancor. In many ways that is good, as it paralysizes the politicians, which reduces their ability to keep making daily life worse via their "solutions."
Great analysis, but it is wrong to characterize the Trump world's response to each report as simply skewing the results. Instead, Trump and his minions lie and directly refute reality. The conclusive proof of Russian meddling in the Mueller report is routinely denied by Trump apologists. Similarly, 10 specific, well documented cases of obstruction of Justice is hailed as "total exoneration." The joint IC, FBI conclusion that Ukraine did not interfere in the 2016 election is cast by the GOP as a completely unfounded. In every case, facts and hard evidence are met with outright lies. The purpose behind each new set of fact-free lies appears to be to supply die-hard Trump supporters with some rationale, however flimsy and counter-factual, to continue to support their leader until someone spins out the next crazy conspiracy theory.
A secondary impact of the endless, often self-contradictory lies is to confuse the public. Unfortunately, the lies are working, at least for a critical 5% to 10% slice of the electorate who have not made up their minds and are subseptible to rational, factual arguments bit confused by the flood of baseless assertions being shouted by Trump supporters.
1
This reminds me of the Democrats and the Russia collusion story. Remember when Adam Schiff repeated the lie that he had seen conclusive evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians? He never produced that 'evidence' and the whole collusion narrative was debunked by Mueller. Then it was obstruction, which never went anywhere. Now it's the Ukraine story, which as the NYT tells us, shows that all roads lead Trump to Putin.
All this notwithstanding that Trump has been much more aggressive than Obama ever was in sanctioning Russia and providing lethal aid to Ukraine.
@J. Waddell:
To the contrary, Trump did collude with the Russians.
The Mueller Report Part I reports that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in several ways. To name two:
On August 2, 2016 Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort briefed Russian operative Konstantin Kilimnik on the Trump campaign's state-by-state election strategy. Manafort identified Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Minnesota as top priorities. Manafort's briefing would have helped Russia target its social media disinformation campaign for greatest effect on the US election. (Mueller Report, Vol. I, pp. 130-131, 140.)
During the summer of 2016 Rick Gates, a top Trump adviser, was made aware in advance that Wikileaks would release emails stolen by Russia. Later, exploiting this awareness, in late summer 2016 the Trump campaign planned "a press strategy, a communications campaign, and messaging based on the possible release” of Hillary Clinton emails by WikiLeaks (Gates' testimony). (Mueller Report, Vol. I, pp. 52-54.)
This is collusion. With a hostile foreign power. To subvert our democracy.
Quintana Jurecic offers a good summary of these and other episodes of Trump's collusion with Russia:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/opinion/mueller-report-trump-impeachment.html.
All loyal Americans should denounce this collusion and hold Trump and his team accountable for it.
1
The good news is that for all of Trump's paranoid shenanigans, abuse of resources and fantastical projections of his own deviousness onto the Democrats, reasonable people see his actions for what they are and have rightly rejected them.
No one outside the Republican echo chamber believes any of his self-serving nonsense, so all of his delusions about being the victim of a deep state conspiracy are simply recycled endlessly among his slavishly devoted and uncritical choir. Trump World is a closed circuit content to exist outside the bounds of truth, on the outskirts of reality.
In Republistan it's all about controlling the narrative. These guys are powerful businessmen, used to getting their way, and manipulating as many marketing and media tools as possible in order to promote their messaging is of paramount importance to their reelection strategy. They know the majority of their voters don't read much and rely upon talking heads and sound bytes to tell them what to think. I was talking with friends last night, and we're all terrified he'll be re-elected just because of media messaging. I listened to the hearings yesterday on NPR. Because I tuned in randomly, I didn't know who was on the stand and who was being deposed. But it quickly became evident that the interrogator was Republican: He was belligerent, hysterical, accusatory, and pounded the witness with a barrage of hyperbole and opinion, constructing a narrative of his own that had nothing to do with the witness. He barely let the witness say anything, practically screaming at him to answer yes or no to a string of very complex questions, and berating him for attempting to give complex answers. It was a disgusting display of manipulation. Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for destroying this country, our freedoms, our rights, and the rule of law with their greed and lust for power at all costs. Truth means nothing to them. Substance means nothing to them. It's all about "sticking it to the libs" in order to please the MAGA crowd.
4
The Dems are once again self-defeating by continuing as lambs against the most vicious pack of wolves this country has even seen. If they approach impeachments as lambs this will fail. The corrupt president trump has too much to lose and will lie at levels unimaginable to mislead our country each second of each day. Not to mention what actions he will take to save himself from inditement and much worse (based on the fair rule of law).
And trump knows it as he immediately - upon impeachment - feels free to now threaten Director Wray with removal - another govt official threatened when he has stood up to lies by trump to uphold the truth. The Dems, who are 100% correct, honest, and just in their actions must not tread so lightly but instead continue to hold all corrupt to account by taking tangible steps to apply laws and justice.
Barr has lied to congress and now twice has misled Americans on trumps actual, proven acts, intentions, schemes, and words. He must be impeached. Barr is the one bad actor in govt who allows trump to act in impunity by breaking his oath to the constitution and laws daily.
Dems - you hold the power - and the people are frustrated that you are not acting as if you do.
ps: are we to believe/comprehend that trump is allowed to meet with Lavrov in secret again...while the Ukraine president meeting is still denied. trump is spitting in the face of all honest Americans.
1
Trump needs no help failing... he's a big boy and does that all by himself. At some point he will be the boy crying "wolf, wolf" without anyone willing to listen.
Dems need to understand that they are losing. They are in a political knife fight and are relying on logic and justice. To bring Trump to justice means winning the knife fight.....repubs and right wing media have sharp blades and are not afraid of swinging them, no matter the consequences. Get in there, dems. Not much time left.
I think the real takeaway from the IG report is that there is absolutely no basis for the lies Trump and his allies having been spewing for the last 3 years: The investigation didn't start nor was it based on the Steele Dossier; Jim Comey, Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, Peter Strzok et al did not commit TREASON and their official actions were not influenced by any animus towards Trump, the Russia investigation was not a hoax perpetrated by the Democrats as an excuse for why Hillary Clinton lost and that the FBI had every reason to investigate why the Russia's were trying to to influence our elections. Were technical mistakes made? Of course, people are human they make mistakes. Will this report stop any of the lies and propaganda of Trump, the Republicans and the conservative media? Of course not because facts do not matter to them. As an example, explain to me again how the Ukrainians were helping to elect Hillary Clinton by stealing a DNC server and then releasing damaging emails about the DNC and Clinton at precisely the time most beneficial to Trump. (Such as hours after the Hollywood Access tape was released.) Boy with friends like those ...
Isn’t it Barrzaar how the Attorney General could look at facts and deny they exist. Or prejudice himself and have no concern. This is who runs the Department of (Justice?). I become nauseated each time he steps out of the wings onto the national stage to say something denying the truth.
One day when Congress regains some modicum of sanity, I think Barr is next to impeach as co-conspirator to overthrow our democracy.
1
Does Trump have some sort of mesmerizing power that bedazzles supposed institutionalists like Barr and Durham?
To paraphrase Richard Bolt's "A Man for All Seasons": "It profit a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world...but for Trump?”
AG Barr needs to get down to work. The eagerly anticipated moment of Comey or McCabe being dragged off in handcuffs was not delivered by IG Horowitz.
It is now up to AG Barr and his roadie Durham to deliver the goods to Trump. Looks like they may not get the 'top tier' candidates so desired by Trump and may have to settle for lower FBI personnel.
Either way, it's Barr in the hot seat now. Present the criminals to Trump soon or he may join Sessions.
Just like Russia or any authoritarian regime, TrumpBarr will keep going back to the well until it coughs up the "correct" conclusions. Unless we arrive at November 2020, in which case we'll never hear about this sham conspiracy again. No matter who has won.
The predication was incredibly thin. The IG report states that an FFG official (Alexander Downer) "stated, in part, that Papadopoulos suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist this process with the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be damaging to Mrs. Clinton (and President Obama)." Yeah, that's enough to start an intrusive investigation on a presidential campaign--an investigation full of examples of abuses. No bias? You'd be a fool to believe it.
1
It's sad and horrific enough that this president's goal is to destroy America's core institutions. The hidden motivations behind his goal are equally scary. But what is worse are the president's republican enablers. Who's side are they on? Do they care about America at all? Or are they content to destroy the country just to save a con man like don trump?
1
Another inquiry? Sounds like a job for Rudy. That should get the desired result.
There is no precedent in the United States for a relentless campaign by the President and his Party, pursued without scruple and without concern for the
damage to our system, all for the benefit of a single deranged demagogue. It is not just an obscene sideshow, but a direct threat to every American who wants to live in a democracy, and to all of our children. Vladimir Putin must be running short of champagne glasses in the Kremlin.
Trump has destroyed the GOP. Will the GOP now destroy our republic?
1
On to the next. That’s how I have felt about all of the failed, wishful, charges against Trump since before he took office and the attempts to discredit and reverse the election results. I remember AOC saying that she would have impeached Trump as soon as he was elected. I wonder on what grounds. Maybe this latest charge will stick or maybe there will be something new in a few weeks. So far, the excitement has fizzled. I have lost interest.
2
What did Mitch say about Obama? That’s just politics.
There was no collusion.
The Russians tried to hurt Clinton (not help Trump).
The FBI investigation would never have been started without the Steele report.
The FBI investigation was initiated for the flimsiest of reasons that at best casts doubts on the motivations of agency personnel.
Muellar delivered the most unproductive report of all time.
The democrats are really reaching on the Ukraine issue.
Trump has been an obstacle in all the investigations.
Impeachment will pass the House
The Senate will refuse to convict.
THE SADDEST CHAPTER IN AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR
1
Hurting Clinton was to the direct benefit of Trump.
This is pretty basic stuff.
@John you seem to have missed IG Horowitz's report in which he specifically says that the FBI investigation was not based on Steele's dossier.
Pay more attention!
And, of course, there was collusion, many, many contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, one example being the Trump Tower meeting, another Trump's public call for Russia to hack Clinton's emails, followed that very day by the strongest hacking of the DNC.
Mr. Mueller was very clear that collusion is not a crime so he wasn't trying to find it, rather he was looking for a criminal conspiracy, which is a crime, and which he couldn't find enough evidence of to seek indictments.
So the collusion that actually took place between Team Trump and Team Putin was not a crime. That doesn't mean that it wasn't wrong. It was but you're okay with it. Why is that?
1
Good analysis, Just not supported by anything factual.
Democrats need to take the lead. I remember way back in the day when I was a junior flack for a major corporation, We were under attack by several of the unions representing our workers. Day after day we would have to respond to charges -- usually made up or inaccurate -- that the company was guilty of some new misdeed. Us PR minions were tied in knots fending off the barrage of new charges. One day our head of PR instructed his legions of assistants to call up all of their media contacts and issue a statement: "In regards to the unions claims, we wish to deny -- in advance -- that we have (infectious organisms) on company toilet seats." The tide turned in our favor. I see no humor or preemptive moves on behalf of the Dems. Time to get with it.
21
@Muskateer Al It's been difficult to find humor when Trump and Barr are shoving our faces in their childish defiance. However, it may be reassuring to know, that one is more likely to find infectious organisms on dollar bills than on toilet seats.
2
The report is quite damming. It appears the left leaning news media first tried to pre-empt it, and is now playing down the findings because it debunks their reporting, and less so Trump. Much of Trump has mentioned has been correct. Although the IG's opinion was the investigation was justified, that was just his opinion. One can come up with a very different opinion after reading the executive summary because exculpatory evidence was available early on, it was known the Steele dossier was political, that Steele himself and his sources were not credible. The report also confirms that the Trump campaign did get heavily spied upon. Best to read the report directly and not the left leaning media's deceptive reporting.
9
I’m still bogged down reading all the campaign’s indictments, pleas and convictions.
Your so right. We should march over to Fox where the credible reporting is happening. lol
@sh
Read it and your wrong. The FBI and DOJ were doing their job based on the evidence and facts presented to them. They would have delinquent not to proceed.
So Republicans are going to keep launching investigations of an alleged conspiracy by the FBI to "get" Trump until they receive the report they want. Imagine what Republicans would say if Democrats commissioned another investigation of collusion between Trump and Russia following release of the Mueller report, claiming that the new investigation would have access to materials that were not available to Mr. Mueller.
126
@Jay Orchard , that is what repubs do - and dems fall into the trap every time. Dems need to get some meat on the bone.
1
@Jay Orchard
"So Republicans are going to keep launching investigations of an alleged conspiracy... " The irony is hilarious.
3
@Jay Orchard You might want to read Smith's book and Andy McCarthy's book where the already preview all the evidence that is about to be released on the American public.
Better for Pelosi to continue this Kabuki Theater and turn everyone away from the media for a month until these reports are issued because the indictments and convictions that are going to result are going to be newsworthy.
The media can only use the illusion of disgust for so long before the public starts paying attention again.
And when they do..this doesn't end well for Democrats in purple and red districts.
1
In the Trump/FoxNews universe, lack of evidence is only proof of how deep the conspiracy goes!
22
@Dave
Lack of evidence?
Oh, I guess you were referring to the Dems quest to impeach our President....all based on hearsay- ZERO testimony reflected a direct conversation with the President in regards to alleged delay of aid or "quid pro quo" for the Ukraine.
(oh, sorry, that term is not in the constitution and is in latin - perhaps hard to understand - so the Dems changed that term to "bribery" to make it "easier" to understand - it's not applicable to our President - but why should that matter - its just a new term to help the Dems push this impeachment nonsense forward without any merit)
"I heard from....."
"I was told by...."
"It was my impression.."
"I had my memory "refreshed"
But no matter - the one truth here is, this is a fool's quest - our President will be acquitted, and under our laws, thereby considered innocent - will not be removed from office and will be reelected in 2020 - thanks in part, to the Dems insistence of pushing forward with impeachment instead of focusing on real issues which affect our country.
And the Dems know all of this to be true.
2
@Dave
Unless lack of evidence is the evidence!
@magicisnotreal
Its "evidence"...only if the Left says it is.
Nonsense
Like the Ukraine debacle, Trump is only concerned that an investigation is ANNOUNCED. That is all he needs to convince his base and low info voters. My guess is he didn't even open the IG report. Why not just have Barr concoct a report? He will put in it exactly what his boss suspects/dreams/fantasizes.
14
It truly terrifies me that the Attorney General of the United States is acting more like a mob lawyer for the President than a leader of the DOJ. It makes me wonder if any of this damage is reversible or if this is the new normal in the American oligarchy.
19
@Cameron
Of course, how else do you think Barr got the job?
I predict Donald Trump will leave the White House in handcuffs, within the year or in five years. tax evasion and fraud.
5
@Jim Fulton: From your mouth, to God's ear.
I just watched the leaders in the House of Representatives stand up and prove that Trump has created a cult of liars. This is a dangerous time that is surreal.
15
Here's a Jeffrey Epstein parallel.
Imagine the Department of Justice inspector general (IG) conducting a review of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
It might read something like this: “While it is clear that Mr. Epstein abused minor girls, there is no documentary or testimonial evidence that he was motivated by a deviant sexual interest in those young girls.”
12
It’s now obvious, trump is flailing and he is failing. The man is overwhelmed by the ponderousness of the office he holds and is clearly inept and unfit for the presidency in plain sight.
13
When Trump is finally gone, I hope all these lawyers who are lying and claiming evidence that doesn’t really exist are investigated. They should all be disbarred.
18
How many tax dollars are going to be wasted by Barr, Durham, Giuliani and other Republican sycophants on "investigations" designed only to appease the fevered imagination of an unhinged dotard in the Oval Office? When the attorney general disputes the findings of his own inspector general we truly are living in an Orewellian state.
16
I tell ya: It's getting to the point where it's hard separating the fake news from the fake news.
1
As the anti-American Republicans and their corrupt President daily become more unhinged and unmoored from reality and basic decency, they are an increasing danger to America and the world. The 2020 election provides an excellent opportunity to take out the trash and begin the process of recovering sanity and morals in America.
15
Horowitz's report states that the FBI was justified in "starting" the investigation into the Trump campaign. It goes on to say that critical information was withheld from the FISA court, that documents were falsified, and that senior FIB officials issued specific orders to use an unverified dossier created by a foreign agent, and paid for by the Clinton campaign, to push said FISA warrant requests through the Court. While, as always, Horowitz stated he found no political bias, he does in no way exonerate bad actors like Comey, McCabe, or others involved in securing those FISA warrants under false pretenses. Now, we move to the next phase where the liberal MSM claims Barr is corrupt, and acting like Trump's personal attorney, and the Durham investigation is unwarranted, and nothing more than a political hack job. All the while knowing that is false, but choosing their left leaning narrative over truthful investigative journalism. Horowitz's report very clearly states there were both legal and policy violations and irregularities in how the investigation was kept going. Simply put, people in the FBI, DOJ, and Obama's Intelligence apparatus LIED. And they violated the public trust, agency policies, and broke laws will doing so. That's where Durham comes in. Take the Horowitz report for what it is. The beginning of a criminal investigation that will finally define who did what, and when, and on who's orders they did it. The liberal spin on that will be epic.
7
@TheRealJR60 NONSENSE! The Steele (friend of Ivanka!) dossier was NOT the basis for the investigation, which began BEFORE the election. Repeating these LIES isn't working! Durham just violated DOJ protocol by publicly commenting on an ongoing investigation! He's just another shill for a corrupt "president".
@TheRealJR60
You have a very short memory when it come to spurious Congressonal investigations.
Here's a novel idea. During the impeachment trial, make everyone who refused testify (from both sides) answer questions under oath. Likewise, release all the pertinent documents (phone records, transcripts, depositions, emails, notes, et al).
Let justice be served instead of whining about conspiratories.
If that final final final report finally arrives,and if the results were to echo the IG report, Russia conspired to affect the 2016 election and the FBI investigation was not politically motivated, would you then agree the matter resolved, or would we need further investigations. I think I can hear your answer already. All roads lead to Moscow, sorry to say. Republicans used to be the hawks on Russian power grabs anywhere, anytime, now it seems McConnell, Nunes, Jordan and many others could sit on The Politburo. What would Nixon, McCarthy, and Roy Cohn think. I guess there are still a lot of commie pinkos inside the higher echelons of the U.S. Government. HUAC anyone ??
It took "Attorney General" William Barr only a month to forever destroy his own reputation as a follower of the law. It's taken John Durham a little longer, but the U.S.A. for Connecticut is now on the list of corrupt officials produced by Donald Trump.
What's his hold? We were discussing that last night. The press seems uninterested in pursuing the truly burning question about this administration and the corruption it is metastasizing. What is the get here? Why does career official after career official, some with 30+ years invested in their own clean and upright reputations, swoon and become thrall to this guy at the expense of their hard fought careers?
Is it money? Is it kompromat? Why are so many people joining the Trump cult with so much to lose?
Durham's reputation is toast. He's a corrupt crook now, no matter how astute he was in the past. I, for one, believe it is of paramount importance to the nation to know why he did this.
7
I think we can totally conclude that any pronouncement or declaration by a Trump appointee regarding any investigation initiated by the administration is nothing but a lie. We should only pay attention to the words and statements of those folks charged with carrying out the investigation(s) and reporting the findings; theirs appear to be the only truths. 45 and all of his appointees are nothing more than unpatriotic, treasonous lapdogs - ignore them, impeach them, remove them.
8
Hmm....this sounds an awful lot like:
it's all about collusion with Russia !
oh, no, after 2 years, we find out there was no collusion.
Ok, it's all about obstruction of justice !
oh, no, there's no proof of that either.
ok, it's about a phone call to Ukraine's president !
that's it.
we'll go with that.....
9
A least it hasn’t come down to him lying about a private affair or something.
@G stop it. Quit being such a sucker! Can’t you see with you’re own eyes and no other information that he constantly lies, bullies, evokes violence and hatred. And frequently acts against our country’s interest? Did you READ the Mueller report?
Trump has no credibility. Unless there is independent confirmation of what he says, nobody believes him. It’s not a good thing to go through life unable to be believed.
The result is that he is unable to negotiate, his word has no value. He is left with playing on people’s greed for money or trying to pull things over on others or intimidating them into compliance.
Barr is a different kind of character. He assumes the role of mouth piece for his clients and tells the story that they want but he never quite lies in a way that can get him into legal trouble. He’s slick. You have to have a good appreciate of the facts and of language to detect his way of misdirecting.
There are lots of lies and misrepresentations in conflicts between people and our form of government is a continuous form of conflict, mostly civil but still contentious. Trump and company have just raised the level of mistrust and false representations of reality by a couple of orders of magnitude.
It would be better for the future of this country to impeach and to convict and remove Trump from office. Otherwise, this country may never endure as a liberal democracy. Barr has become an errand boy for a powerful but silly man.
6
Wasn’t Carter Page a former aide at the time of the first warrant approved by the FISC (and afterward)?
1
Trump and Republicans are liars and hypocrites. They have no credibility. If the FBI investigation of the Trump Campaign was a conspiracy "at the highest levels," why, then, did the Muellar Report not find grounds for charges of conspiracy? There were grounds to investigate, and the findings were fair. The findings on Obstruction were also well documented. Fast forward to the present. Ukraine got the aid, so no harm, no foul. If that were really how Trump and Republicans saw things, then they would say the same about the Muellar Report findings of no criminal conspiracy. Any errors in the investigation would not matter. They will take any small finding in the Durham investigation, and will blow it up and hammer away on Fox News, etc. We need to trust our own eyes, and think critically. Why would you believe a President who has lied over 13,000 times?
4
Lest you omit Jordan.
1
Durham's "report" will be a false account of reality, to be sure. He broke Justice Department protocol by commenting publicly about an ongoing investigation. He CANNOT be trusted by Americans to deliver ANY truth, just a carefully crafted "report" that will attempt to further muddy the T-swamp "waters" with yet more lies and false "conclusions", all to try to convince us that the liar in the WH is actually wearing clothes.
4
@Slann
Keep telling youself that..... lies and spin will only go so far however.....
Durham has his marching orders. He will indict some people, regardless of whether they are guilty of a crime.
2
From the actual IG report:
"We identified at least 17 significant errors or omissions in the Carter Page FISA applications"
The problem with Mazzetti's "interpretation" of the report is detailed below:
Every single one of the Seventeen errors/omissions were errors/omissions that bolstered the F.B.I.'s theory of Russia-Trump collusion.
Every Single One.
In a normal world of simple human error and omissions absent any bias or political agenda....one would expect the "errors" to be equally distributed (meaning half the errors support the F.B.I. theory and half the errors do Not support the F.B.I. theory).
To conclude there was no bias or agenda on behalf of the F.B.I. when they went 17 for 17 in benefiting from their "errors" is absurd.
4
We are at absolute mercy to the information we receive. Horowitz’s conclusions appear totally credible but TBH, I have no idea what is going on. As a Phenomenologist might suggest, who knows what I really see or you see? Is that elephant really pink?
This information is so far removed from my daily life, most of our lives. For this reason, I can understand, while I don’t agree with our (sincerely) beloved Trump supporters, I can see why his supporters continue to be his devotees.
Its hard to believe an actual human, Trump, not a comic book character, would so consistently adhere to such a deceptive (dare I say evil) path, and that others in positions to know better (Barr, for example), would travel with them. I’m shocked frankly, and we’re left, in this case and in all cases Trump adjacent, with a stark choice of beliefs. Either Trump is as evil as Hannibal Lecter and his many yesmen as spineless as worms, or our media and our system of government allows bureaucrats and reporters to make series of small adjustments, refractions, intentional or subconscious, that build into large, concerted lies (thus Trump be a hero).
It is difficult to believe that a human would be as thoroughly, unnaturally despicable as Trump (very likely) is. In a twisted sense, it is easier to believe many small adjustments created a conspiracy. So I can, begrudgingly, see why this ongoing political crisis has some Americans questioning our Democracy. Maybe both situations are occurring.
1
Review trump and company’s actual public policies, business histories, hateful offensive statements and well-documented crimes and there really is no confusion, and nothing sub rosa about it. He is that despicable. What we can’t see I suspect is even darker. The notion of a msm-created conspiracy of small adjustments is unique, but farcical.
"Ms. Pelosi and her allies followed a script: Create expectations of finding serious charges against him, and when no proof emerges, skew the results and move on."
Oh so sorry, my "Rita Skeeter Brand" auto-quill seems
to be telling the truth for once! It must be broken.
Donald Trump is the Master of Projection. Whatever he does, he accuses others of doing it to him.
"I didn't start it'.
4
“when the proof does not emerge, skew the results and prepare for the next opportunity to execute the playbook.”
You missed an essential element of the playbook. After the results are purposely misinterpreted, replace the head of the uncooperative agency with a sycophant. Trump finally got the Attorney General he wanted with William Barr, now watch him go after Wray. He wants someone heading the FBI who will find his non-existent deep state enemies.
5
Barr is going to be so depressed when, eventually he will see the underside of the bus. He seems so intent on believing the president has powers that the constitution doesn't outline. He is so willing to follow this misguided philosophy and eventually, he also, because the constitution will prevail, will "fail" his leader and find his way to the trash heap of used and abused people that 45 clustered around him. How many that have been indicted and convicted is it now? I lost track.
3
Will Christopher Wray be the next one to go? Will Trump find someone that will protect him to put in charge of the FBI? Remember that Trump is the one who appointed Wray.
Trump always changes the narrative of any investigation to make it look as though the investigation was corrupt against him. Trump is slowly turning our government into a dictatorship by firing and hiring those that will be loyal to him. If we think things are bad now, just wait until the Senate fails to hold Trump responsible for his corrupt ways. If Trump wins another 4 years, this country is lost. Nothing will stop Trump from harming us even more.
5
Yet again, we are reminded how paranoia drives everything the President says and does on a daily basis. The most common symptom is the sense that everyone is out get you. Sound like the President?
3
What is more concerning, indeed frightening is that Trump and his cronies are creating a second government, that functions under the radar and has no accountability.
Hence diplomats in Ukraine were fired, the Security Council was ignored in order to create shadow diplomacy under the leadership of Rudy Guiliani in Ukraine. The Justice Department Inspector General is ignored and some second rate prosecutor in Connecticut is allowed to undercut his report, offering no proof. Every government report is ignored, leading to the necessity of some new report. The Attorney General starts investigations in foreign countries, something way out of his mandated responsibilities.
You have 2 governments operating in the US- the supposed real one and one created by Trump and Barr.
2
Trump is going to suffer in 2020 from the constant barrage of his criminal behaviour not from his base, but the people who held their noses and voted for him because they thought he would grow into the office...there may be just enough of them to make the difference in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida and a few others...time will tell but I can’t believe that the ones who said give him a chance to grow are liking what they have seen in the last 3 years.
85
@doug mac donald You're a Canadian so you might want to stay out of a foreign election.
Truth is...many people who voted for Trump with their noses held (like me) now have no regrets.
Truth is..he's not a Republican and he's not a Conservative.
He's a Populist Nationalist Independent just like Bernie Sanders.
Only difference is Trump is a Capitalist and Sanders is a Socialist.
Socialism has shown its ugly head in Ottawa with your man-child Prime Minister having his wings clipped by the rest of Canada that has also embraced a capitalist style Populism.
If you deny it or ignore it...it's only going to get worse.
Problem is that this isn't a traditional right vs. left issue.
It's Establishment vs. AntiEstablishment.
Obama, Macron, Trudeau...all want to sell themselves as Progressive while working within the Establishment and the problem with that is it never satisfies the Socialist Populists or Capitalist Populists.
Eventually they get called the carpet..such as just happened in your election..and will happen again here in the U.S. next November when Trump wins again..no matter whom the D's put up against him.
Hence the drive for impeachment.
Can't beat him in November..so try to beat him now using parliamentary maneuvers and shenanigans.
4
@Erica Smythe
You seem like a nice person, just by the tone you are using to address people who do not have the same view then you. It looks also like you don't seem to understand the way Canada democracy works or able to analyse it.
The rhetoric Establishment vs anti Establishment has been used countless time py populist government and yet at the end the result is sadly the same : a widening gap between poor and rich with less freedom and more corruption. But hey, if you believe USA should take model from nice places like Russia or China, keep voting for your hero. Good chances you won't be the beneficiary of his policies in the long term.
11
@Erica Smythe
Social security and Medicare are socialism my friend.
13
The I.G.'s report states the FBI Russia interference in our 2016 election investigation was based upon solid premises and the conduct of that investigation, with one or two contrary questionable examples, was proper.
Approximately thirty people were indicted, convicted or pleaded guilty as a result of that investigation, including Trump's "fixer" Mr. Cohen, Trump's Campaign Manager, Mr. Manafort, Trump's National Security Advisor, Gen. Flynn and a gaggle of Russian operatives.
It has been anything but a "hoax" or "witch hunt" as Trump has accused the past three years.
10
None of this will change the minds of Trumpistas. They are emotionally-wedded to this idea, and will not even look in any other direction.
It is as if their emotional security is tied to Trump.
5
So now we'll have an investigation into the investigation of the investigation?
7
@Bob "And we WILL NOT STOP until we get the answer I want!"
1
AG Barr’s priorities are all askew. Here he is traveling the world chasing butterflies at trump’s behest when his focus should be on investigating McConnell (and his wife) for corruption.. At some point McConnell must have his day in court.
5
Let's open up an investigation as to whether trump and his Republican allies (all of them) and Fox News are indeed Russian assets working on behalf of Putin to overthrow our country. How else to explain them aligning with exactly Russia's statements over the last three years?
9
All of these pointless investigations cost money and sadly the American tax payer is paying for them.
5
This process is getting pretty silly. When you compete for (and bet on) something--heads or tails; a game of tennis--if it doesn't go your way, you can suggest "two out of three": how many more inquiries are going to be started until the results turn up trumps?
3
IG finds 17 separate problems with FISA court submissions, including FBI's overstatement of Steele's credentials. Also the failure to provide court with exculpatory evidence and issues with Steele's sources and additional info it got about Steele's credibility.
2
@Sam Freeman Nothing to do with the opening of the investigation. Let's ask Ivanka about Steele's credibility, since they had a "personal" relationship, making him predisposed to look favorably on the Trumps.
@Sam Freeman Steele is, or certainly used to be, a friend of Ivanka. Want to explain that?
I'm curious, though, about how much of the taxpayers' money is being spent chasing down the rabbit holes of this administration's delusional, self-serving paranoia and belief in the mythical, nefarious "Deep State."
81
@Buddhabelle Golf at 120 million, law suits at millions, imagine paying for Barrs salary to protect Trump.
16
@Buddhabelle I don't think they believe it. They just need to make enough voters believe it to stay in power.
3
@Buddhabelle
Trumps expenses for all his golf trips is far more of a drain on tax dollars.
You know.. the same Trump who openly criticized Obama for golfing instead of governing ... yet has golfed much more to date (3 years in) then Abama ever did.
5
If a large company that had no females or minorities in positions of power found that it was an equal opportunity employer would we accept that. Or might we conclude that the culture of the company was so biased it could not see it's own bias because it internally appeared normal.
Bias is a relative thing that depends on your local culture. Perhaps if the texts of Page and Strzok, and charging Trump's Flynn but not HRC's Mill and Abudin, do not indicate bias to the FBI, than what many would call political bias may seem normal to the FBI. WRT federal crimes, the DOJ polices itself.
I am more interested in the findings of facts than the IG's opinion of what they indicate WRT bias. I can form my own opinion based on the facts and in some cases have..
We need to remember that the IG report is somewhat a self assessment in that the IG is part of the FBI. if there is widespread systemic / institution bias within the DOJ, perhaps it is not easily seen internally.
2
@John
As legal analysts have pointed out-- there is relatively little disagreement about facts between Republicans and Democrats. If there is an unswerving faith in Trump, his actions and withholding of critical analysis of the IG's report-- than there simply do not exist any set of facts which serve to answer that question. It is playing by a different set of rules entirely.
Appropriately questions are therefore raised as to the legal or Constitutional grounding of such statements which fail to provide any threshold for action. Outside of Hogwarts Academy-- it is hard to imagine the law or Constitution as infinitely expandable.
7
@John Except that HRC was not installed by the EC; trump was, with Putin's help. trump is running roughshod over all that the US is supposed to represent. This is more than about one aspect of the horrific administration currently in power.
22
@John, fairness isn't about making sure you charge the same number of people from each campaign with crimes. Flynn was charged with lying to the FBI and failure to comply with FARA. Neither charge has anything to do with the campaigns, only with Flynn's conduct as a National Security Adviser.
The IG's report makes clear there were people involved in the investigation that were clearly rooting for Donald Trump during the election. Should they have been subject to what Republicans have subjected Page and Strzok to?
At the end of the day, you are not interested in fair treatment, you are interested in getting your outcome no matter what it takes to do it.
25
In Trump's world facts don't matter,truth doesn't matter, laws don't matter. At any other time in history Trump would have never been elected, but it happened and the Republican party has been transformed into his image. Shift has just released the articles of impeachment and it will soon move into the Senate. I don't expect any Republican Senators to come to their senses and stand for protection of the Constitution. I'm afraid just what kind of monster Trump will become when this impeachment has run it's course and he's still in office. I expect that even if he loses the 2020 election he will find a reason to negate the results and try and remain in office. If you think it's ugly now, just wait until November.
47
@VMG . . . well, people could always call a national strike. I guess like other countries do, when they have a leader that is heading the country to authoritarianism. That would indeed be ugly.
3
@VMG
I am more terrified if he wins. Four years (or more?) of no longer having to worry about re-election, free to spend all his time punishing his enemies with his henchman -- his Roy Cohn -- Barr at his side, enabling all of it. I used to think those were outlandish concerns, but no more.
1
Hiding exculpatory evidence and altering documents sure sounds like a “witch hunt” to me. Anyone who has ever been pursued by the feds knows they hold all the power. Their abuse of it is terribly wrong.
5
@AACNY Low and behold the so-called "witch hunt" is producing everything but witches as the truth emerges persistently and continuously. trump GOP patsies must be feeling the heat particularly prominent GOP senators McConnell, Graham, Cruz, Cornyn, Burr, Johnson, and Thune ... all in lock-step support of trump’s kowtowing to Putin’s demands for US sanctions relief on Russian oligarchs and their business interests. Their unflinching support is growing more and more untenable each and every day. GOP senators defending trump’s malfeasance (extortion, bribery) are accomplices not dupes.
5
@AACNY
Always good for a laugh AACNY. Way to cling to one part of the report that supports your assertion of a which hunt. I bet you never, ever, called out Democrats for clinging to sections of the Mueller report that backed up their views. Sure seems different now that the shoe is on the other foot eh?
From the Republican led investigations report:
Steele Dossier? Not used to open the investigation
Deep State? Not found
Wiretapping Trump in Trump Tower? Nope
Bias in the FBI? None found
Sufficient evidence to open investigation? Proven.
So keep screaming which hunt, while all the independents and suburban women keep flocking to the Democrats. Trump is being exposed by his own IG, that's got to be tough.
9
@AACNY
That’s not in dispute, if you didn’t notice. Forest for the trees, dear reader.
1
How is it that Director Comey was excoriated over talking about an investigation that had not yet been completed (Wiener laptop), but it is OK for Mr. Durham to comment about the AG Barr-initiated investigation into similar matters?
The similarity in both examples is that Trump-sympathetic entities want information to get out to divert from the reality of the situation that is not in alignment with their manufactured narrative.
49
@historyRepeated Sort of like the Dems have been doing since the day after Hilly lost?
1
Any normal president would celebrate the report as evidence that the FBI is functioning as it should and that it acts free of political influence. This report help to restore the image of the FBI as the good guys that criminals should fear.
How come that is such a problem for our President and AG?
71
@Leninzen Because that's not what the report says. Did you read it, or just take Maddow and Morning Joe at their word?
1
@Leninzen anyone who celebrates this report as evidence of the FBI functioning as it should, free of political influence, clearly has not read the report. Documents forged, exculpatory evidence hidden, surreptitious surveillance of a Presidential campaign disguised as a defensive briefing, all the while never giving an ACTUAL defensive briefing to the candidate or the campaign. Incompetence?
No, if it were mere incompetence some of the errors and omissions would inure to the President's favor; they did not. It strains credulity to suggest otherwise.
1
I have to go with Maddow and Morning Joe on this one. In the 3 years DJT has been president I have come to understand that there is no tall tale too unbelievable for him to spin if it suits his purpose - from from Obama's birthplace to tariffs are paid by the exporting nation. Given the 13000 plus falsehoods he's credited with since he took office he has to go the extra mile with me for me to believe him on anything - If he and Nancy Pelosi agree on what the facts are I might believe it.
It’s called authoritarianism. The United States is an authoritarian state under this administration with a duplicitous Republican Party abetting, enabling, and complicit. Trump and the GOP are not above the law and must be held to account or the American Republic is a goner. Oh, and attacking legitimate law enforcement is as obstructive as it gets; yet another impeachable offense committed in daylight before our eyes.
68
@Rm Agree, well said. I would also include the authoritarian megaphone and dispenser of made up information Fox "News".
7
The "Deep State" is Barr, Mulvaney, Dunham, Nunes, Graham, McConnell, and all the rest of Trump's henchmen and henchwomen complicit in using their taxpayer-funded jobs to destroy democracy.
91
has the point been reached yet where banana republics would be insulted to be compared to the usa?
41
@brupic In my opinion we hit that point back in November 2016.
1
So, is Trump really paranoid or is it an act?
Is it a “deep state” conspiracy against him if people disagree with his “management” while in office? Are only his true blue followers honest Americans, and everyone else conspirators and his sworn enemies?
I think his Fifth Avenue building is a gaudy monstrosity. Does that mean I also am plotting to blow it up?
How long before he begins to round up the usual suspects and launch protective firing squads?
29
@Pottree - Remember that after 8 years of being a birther, Trump accidentally ran for and became President.
2
I have a very unfavorable view of barr.
33
trump is guilty of being a corrupt human being , aside from his political corruption.
25
@Robert Schmid
Trump is like someone who founds a University which makes fraudulent claims to take students' money, and ultimately gets caught and has to close and settle due to the fraud. Or someone who has a "charitable " foundation which is used as a personal ATM machine, and is closed in a fraud settlement as a result.
Oh yeah. He did both of those things. He is a fraud.
2
Today's NYT spin: "the inspector general had found that the F.B.I. had solid reason to open its investigation."
What the report actually said: "we concluded that the quantum of information articulated by the FBI to open the individual investigations on Papadopoulos, Page, Flynn, and Manafort in August 2016 was sufficient to satisfy the low threshold established by the Department and the FBI."
Solid reason vs. sufficient to meet a low threshold. Exactly the same. Exactly.
BTW: having slipped over that low threshold, remind us again how the FISA warrants got renewed multiple times? Anything about lying or falsification of documents in that there report?
4
@HMI
Mueller: “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state,”
Trump:“No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION.”
Sort of like that?
3
@HMI
How low is the threshold for Obstruction of Justice? Has he met this threshold in your eyes? Could he ever meet any threshold in your eyes?
2
@HMI
Readers of that report or sections will be aware that it comments on room for improvement in FBI procedures. There does not seem to be the same honest and reflective self-analysis within the Trump administration or supporters.
2
Of course that is what trump did his entire life — lose, then claim you won, and move on.
34
Out President is a recidivist scam artist, and everything he does is plainly explained by that. He is the same criminal he always was, as New Yorkers have long known. The media needs to start treating him that way, to say the least, or it is complicit in his crimes.
20
The pattern is clear. No matter what the un-biased reports say, the GOP and Trump say they won. No matter what the facts are, they dispute them. No matter how many times reports by national intelligence agencies and objective sources within the government reveal the lie after lie after lie by Trump and his ilk, it's "rigged," or it's the "deep state," or some other insane, idiotic plot the GOP comes up with.
These people are disgusting to the core, willing to destroy reality to fit their power-hungry, greed-filled dreams of a future where only one side, nay, only one person is happy.
Nov 2020 cannot come soon enough. These unpatriotic, non fact believing people can have their little world without destroying the real world the rest of us live in.
33
In any complex enviromment, be it a living organism, a large industrial complex or a lengthy, involved investigation, there is always glitches, mistakes, mutations. To focus down on these is to miss the purpose and result from that environment. In this case the investigation was done right. Stop looking at the tree and contemplate the forest.
20
trump and his followers know that it takes moments to TELL a lie but MUCH MUCH longer to disprove it (during which time they tell the lie again and again and again). This approach seems to have caught on like wildfire among the GOP and will only get worse until candidates with some level of moral character are elected (from either party). It is really getting 1984ish when "truth isn't truth".
29
On the off chance that the Durham inquiry doesn't adequately align with Barr's omniscience about all things, this looks like a job for Jared Kushner, who is more than capable of getting at the truth about the time he cements Middle East peace.
14
@cary - Isn't Jared cementing The Wall now?
I have two observations. There seems to be a constant percentage of the voting public that will be believe anything and that's the bunch the Republican Party currently panders to in the way this column describes...presidential tweets+Fox News+fiery testimony+"deep state" = move to next perceived grievance.
The other is the politicians whose conduct mimics the conduct they claim to despise.
It is choreographed as the author writes.
15
William Barr has managed to eclipse Mitch McConnell as the most dangerous person in our government.
Both Barr and McConnell know what they are doing, and have been in government for a long time, so that makes them more dangerous than Trump, who only acts in his own interests.
I have seen JFK and MLK assassinated, have seen the ramifications of the Vietnam war, have seen 9/11, all events in our history which challenged the stability of our country.
Those events did not frighten me as much as what is going on today in the GOP
52
if you used the same logic as the never trumpers did ...
THIS report has much more evidence of deliberate wrongdoing ...or do we need some people to talk around a water cooler about how they felt first ...
then we can use THAT as evidence ...
1
I am tired of this two-year-old's temper tantrums. Leave him to rant in the corner. It is time to focus on who will become our next President.
20
@TheRealJR60 Everyone was convinced Hillary would run away with it (and she did take the popular vote by a significant margin). How many Folks out there are just sick & tired of hearing and seeing trump trump trump everywhere every day...
@KEF That would be Trump because the Dems have nobody.
It is appalling and totally frightening to see the lie, even the most blatant, the most vulgar, erected as a system of government by the president of the world's leading power. And this with the active complicity of the parliamentary majority and many journalists who, in a despicable way, abuse their considerable audience. These people are losing their souls, but America is losing its democracy, to unimaginable proportions.
It is a tragedy - which was thought to be impossible in this country - that will have profound and lasting repercussions.
23
At some point, if Barr doesn't get the"correct" answer to the FBI investigation, he will just hire an "investigator", who is willing to hear the"correct" investigative outcome, before the investigation starts.
Upon completion of the investigation of watching TV for a few weeks while having a few beers, at taxpayer expense will then provide the "correct" outcome.
8
@Neil
Maybe Barr can use the same "detectives" Trump sent to Hawaii during his birther scam.
Well it’s very clear now that Barr along with Trump are relying upon repetition of blatant lies to make them believed. It works.
Propaganda is a proven technique, along with division and scapegoating.
Until the brainwashing apparatus of Fox, talk radio, Spencer/Murdoch media, and the assistance of manipulated Google searches, weird YouTube videos, Trump tweets etc is shut down, the deluge of diatribe will drown out all fact, logic and common sense for almost half of Americans.
30
@John♻️Brews
Good points John, but I worry that Fox, YouTube, trump tweets are a symptom of the problem. The real problem is that there is such a gullible hungry market for misinformation that makes them so effective. I just don't know which came first the chicken or the egg......
2
Any one of these 'inquiries' would quickly bring down the presidency of any other individual. But Trump survives them all mostly through outright lies and the other ways described in the article. Which speaks the complete lack of character and integrity of Trump and his enablers. But it also says something about the folks who passively allow it to continue.
207
It plays boffo in the sticks, so remake after remake.
3
@Taxestink Exactly. Trump survives because of Fox and Friends, Facebook, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, and evangelicals, all of whom overlap in a big venn diagram. The tie that binds is an aversion to the reality of life in 2019 thanks to a massive disinformation campaign. Bloomberg should buy Fox News and help us rid this cancer because it’s not going to go away when Trump is out of office.
16
@Taxestink Agree. His enablers and hangers on are compromised so they, in essence have not choice but to try and debunk everything for their own skin.
1
Good.
Well done House Dems.
A very narrow focus. The American public is not smart enough
to comprehend what has transpired in the last 3 years.
Now vote to send these articles to Mitch.
The House GOP are utterly pathetic.
Now we all know that this will end in the Senate as the GOP there has even less backbone than in the House if that is at all possible.
It's clearly party over country for the Republicans.
And remember this GOP, your party is spreading Russian propaganda right now. Let that sink in.
Putin is so proud.
Oh, I am a registered Independent in a very blue city, county and state.
53
@Futbolistaviva
I agree low oil prices are SO GOOD for Russia and their economy.
to HELP Russia ...one might ..say after being re elected ...cut US Oil production even further ...or promise to anyway.
1
@Futbolistaviva
It's really no longer even "party over country" for the Republicans. It has become "Trump over country and party."
4
Why shouldn’t Trump lie if the news media is happy to give him the platform to tell his lies? If the media keeps liking his act, he can only play along!!! So, play on boy! Play on!!!
14
@Freak
As exhausted as I am of trump, anything trump, I am thankful the media shows us what trump is like on a daily basis otherwise he would have gotten away with his crimes and misdeamenors.
1
@Freak
I agree! Why can't or won't MSM, to wit, NYT's call him out. He's a liar! What am i missing? Even the most dense dotards know what the term 'liar' means. Even the deplorables may as well!
Just say it! Donald J Trump is a liar! See, it's easy.
I just hope, when all of this is over, that Europe and Japan are willing to step in and help us start over as a sane, democratic nation.
39
@Shorty
Europe is having its own problems. Far right violence and political parties are on the rise everywhere. Liberals around the world need to learn, and quickly, that they need to defend the principles of freedom and equality with MORE vigor than the right has fought with to take those principles away.
Especially in America. It still boggles my mind how many liberals are worried about what conservatives might think or might say as a result of attempting to pass tougher legislation that guarantees freedom and equal rights.
Conservatives NEVER worry about what a liberal might or might not say or do. They just want to bulldoze everyone in their path who doesn’t agree with their ideology. They’re not looking for compromise. They’re looking for conflict. I fear though, that by the time liberals finally learn that lesson, it’ll be too late.
7
@Austin Ouellette
The NY Times published a piece on Finland last week. It was rated the country with the happiest people in the world, with a Capitalist economic system, but progressive tax rates and generous government benefits for all citizens. The piece mentioned that there is a growing right wing movement there, despite this. I'll go out on a limb and predict that the Finns, unfortunately, will not be the happiest people much longer.
1
The GOP is very persistent, always looking for something that the other side did wrong, and always coming up empty. Much like all the investigations into Benghazi.
But when the GOP is investigated, we need to build a new prison wing to house all the criminals.
37
@David
If that were only true.
I'd happily contribute every penny I had if the GOP lawbreakers actually were put on trial, convicted and were sentenced and then boarded the bus to prison.
Alas, my money is safe in my bank account.
6
It's such a shame that truth as a defense isn't available to Mr. Trump. He must have a scapegoat to point to. The very organization whose surveillance of everything close to home could exonerate him, if innocence were the goal, is the one he accuses of targeting him from before his election. A tactical mistake? Oh, no. Totally on purpose. By undercutting America's elite intelligence organizations, he makes it harder and harder to find the truth and use it against him.
12
@Honey
But don't we have Trump's number at this point?
He is projection personified. If he accuses someone of something it's what he himself is doing.
He lives in Seinfeld's Bizarro World. Black is white. Up is down. A lie is the truth.
Don't forget it was his team that invented " alternative facts".
No more time wasted to find the eternal meaning of Donald J. Trump. We already know it. What you see is what you get.
10
Isn't it ironic that the one person who had a FISA warrant issued of the four original "persons of interest" who had potential connections to Russia, was the one person who was cleared early and not pursued?
Every American should feel like they need a shower every day just to clean off the stink this republican group (who appear to have succeeded in their Coup taking over the country without a legitimate election) leaves on all of us.
Trump used to embody the "ugly American", now in power he is the "un-American".
26
@Mike
It isn't ironic at all. He had been acting for our CIA while he was traveling to Russia.
@Sam Song
Mike's point is that the right thing was done. The findings from that investigation need to be, and will be addressed. We need to focus now on the present. The issue at hand is Trump's abuse of power and Obstruction of Justice. The Russia investigation is in the past and has no bearing on the Ukraine investigation. Trump and Republicans are trying to distract us from his obvious guilt now by trying to stir up a prior unrelated investigation. Don't be fooled.
And then you’ve got Doug Collins saying on Saturday that the Democrats “transmitted thousands of pages of documents to House Judiciary Republicans less than 48 hours before Judiciary’s hearing scheduled to examine impeachment presentations from Intelligence and Judiciary committees.” The only document that came out Saturday was just 52 pages long, and the last release before that was last Tuesday (over 48 hours before the hearing) at 300 pages.
He’s been all over the news with his false press release, and complained in an interview on Fox that no one can read these “thousands of pages”, and so therefore the whole process is a farce. Collins invented this falsehood purely to accuse Democrats of diminishing the integrity of the House and of abusing power.
47
@TLG
1) sent to republicans
2) released to public
these are different things on a logic tree ...
@TLG Someone should ask him how he felt when Kavanaugh's sham investigation by FBI was limited-released to lawmakers who were then barred from speaking anything about it to the public.
Republicans have been doing this for decades: Welfare queens, Whitewater, Benghazi, emails, FBI, now Ukraine. All revealing nothing but this is not good enough for Republicans. They must keep investigating to create their own reality. And at the same time they deride Democrats for responding to real problems.
36
“I offered to go on Fox & Friends to answer all questions,” Comey said on Twitter. “They booked me for tomorrow at 8 am. They just cancelled. Must have read the report.”
A very telling maneuver by Trump's state news outlet.
109
Let me suggest a Republican line: How much has it cost to do these investigations just to support Trump's craziness? What a waste of time and money.
33
@Stan That's another GOP talking point. Don't buy it. Getting people to see the truth is worth the cost.
1
That is a “squirrel” argument. The cost is a mere drop in the federal budget bucket. The preserving our American democracy is well worth it ... and much more.
I wonder if the FBI has realized the GOP is just as big a threat as any, to the security of our elections and thus our republic.
30
How bad was the Deep State’s surveillance of the Trump administration? Why, James Comey even listened in on a private meeting that President Trump had with the Director of the FBI!
8
@Raised Eyebrows What constitutes the “deep state”? Many who support the grifter from Queens are quick to use the term but few can provide a plausible definition of the term.
5
@Dan
Good point!
The Deep State consists of people in government whose existence explains the otherwise inexplicable.
The Deep State is like Dark Matter. We cannot see, touch, hear, taste, smell or otherwise detect Dark Matter; but we knows it's there from its effect on the universe.
We cannot detect the Deep State; but we know it's there because we see its effects.
This is the GOP strategy. Find a conspiracy theory and then have multiple investigations and hearings to support their “facts”. Of course no truth comes out of it but it doesn’t matter. They have “State Media” in Fox to back up the lies. There were 10 investigations into Benghazi and they found nothing to implicate Hillary Clinton but let there be one investigation into Trumps obvious lies and criminal behavior and they cry foul. Why this isn’t clear to everyone is astonishing to me.
42
@Hummingbird
It is not clearto everyone because of fox brainwashing.
Just as the trump gang wanted the Ukraine president to only announce an investigation of the Bidens and the discounted Ukraine/democrat server without having to do an actual investigation, trump and Barr abuse their offices by launching showy investigations to tarnish good people. The results never match the hype, but trump and Barr never let a few facts affect their propaganda.
Their lies show us once again what poor leaders we have, who place their personal issues above the country. The level of betrayal by those who swore to defend us and our country is stunning.
22
@Zeke27
True ...we could have let the Bidens go after just exposing their corrupt behavior ...
By pushing back ...he is only making it worse ...might others even get exposed now?
@Zeke27
Well now we have Ivanka Trump in a " personal" ( wow wow ) relationship with Christopher Steele.
Just how personal.
Is there nothing a Trump won't do to get ahead?
1
It is pathetic that we waste resources exploring Trump’s conspiracy theories when the outcome is already foreseen. Then you have the President, Fox News, and other surrogates all perpetuating this myth in hopes of making people think there was a secret plot against him. This is all debilitating, and I want normal again..
15
Trump sees a "deep state" run by the most efficient and lethal spymasters and I see a Trump White House run by The Marx Brothers. I don't know whether to laugh or hide.
14
Sorry, you forgot the last leg of the strategy, which may indeed be the next shoe tp drop and that is.........investigate the investigators! THEN declare victory and move on.
7
The Republican House held six hearings on Benghazi!
Their Majority Leader admitted the intent was merely to smear Hillary Clinton.
This is what Republicans do, folks.
547
@kkseattle
You saved me from writing that.
Apparently about 40% of our fellow citizens think this is the function of government. They could pull the plug on it in a heartbeat but continue to be true believers. I wish someone in their camp would pass the Kool Aid. We could get on with our country.
26
@kkseattle
Yep, that and devlare victory no matter what happened.
We all know what happened at NATO but Trump said it was great.
28
@kkseattle
Not all 'folks' in are divinely naturally created equal persons with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in America.
Donald Trump didn't run a covert stealthy subtle campaign.
Among the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump was 58% of the white voting majority including 62% of white men and 54% of white women.
Among the 66 million Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton was 92% of the black voting minority including 88% of black men and 95% of black women.
Obama/Biden won 43% and 41% of the white voting majority in 2008 and 2012. Clinton/Kaine won 42% of the white voting majority in 2016.
Mitch McConnell spent eight years trying to make Barack Obama a one-term President.
Meanwhile Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel and Vladimir Putin and Russia actively interfere, hack and meddle for Republicans in the White House of our Republic.
3
You only need to remember that trump’s entire life has been built upon lies and misdirections. Bankruptcy after bankruptcy, failed marriages, affairs one after another. One lie and another. Always making his audience forget what was true only minutes before and now informs them that black has always been white.
Now our nation will suffer for his lack of conscience.
33
@E. J. KNITTEL
and yet ...the public decided THIS was better than Hillary ...
3
“You shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you Free!”
No it won’t if you’re a Trump Sycophant.
Allow me to be even clearer. If you’re a Republican.
Yes, it’s actually gotten that bad in this country, and in my 81 years on this planet having voted both Republican and Democratic and not voted for either on two occasions, I’ve never seen it this bad.
Barry Goldwater’s slogan back in 1964 was “In your heart, you know he’s right!” That was on a billboard in Atlantic City just off of the boardwalk during the Democratic Convention. During the night, someone was able to scale the huge billboard and painted the words “FAR” between he’s and right! I was a Republican back then, but I couldn’t stop laughing at that! That’s the kind of politics I grew up with. We could disagree with our friends and family over politics, but at least we listened and still loved each other.
Not anymore! Shame on US!
20
The Russian disinformation playbook described here is similar to the one Trump has used to suggest that President Obama was not born in America, innocent African-Americans should receive the death penalty, thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrated 9/11 and Ted Cruz’s father was behind the JFK assassination. No wonder the supporters and consumers of such garbage are known by the pejorative, base. And to think that some fifty years ago, Edmund Muskie was judged unfit for the presidency for the “crime” of shedding a tear.
30
The damage that Trump is doing to America will take years to undo, if not decades. I don't think I've ever experienced such a despicable person. Watching the clowns on the Republican side at the impeachment hearing yesterday was dispiriting to say the least. They know what Trump did. Maybe one day they'll tell us why they sold their souls for such a sorry excuse for a human being.
69
@Hugh CC
Their children will be cringing when they get old enough to realize what their parent as a House Republican or as a Republican Senator have done to the Constitution they swore an oath to preserve and protect but instead preserved and protected the criminal trump.
2
@Hugh CC
We already know: M O N E Y.
2
@Hugh CC
I used to work in Education, and with emotionally disturbed juvenile delinquents in school, and that is what I was reminded of watching the Republicans attempting to disrupt the Hearing yesterday.
1
William Barr violates his oath of office daily. He falsifies the results of DOJ reports, he repeats unproven and blatantly untrue conspiracy theories, aids and abets Trump regime obstruction of lawful congressional investigations, pursues false legal arguments and claims, and refuses to prosecute wrong doing. He’s Trump’s lawyer and doesn’t even pretend to be AG. He’s a radical lawless criminal.
No one deserves removal from office and prison more than Barr.
37
@Demosthenes
Maybe you are right. Maybe his boss only deserves removal from office and psychiatric treatment.
1
@Demosthenes
Disbsar Barr!
Trump has earned the nickname "the boy who cried wolf" ... an understatement considering the toxicity of his vision. It has been a wearing puzzle to unravel, but in so doing our judgment has been strengthened. We will survive under the worst of circumstances. We will resist hatred. We will conduct our business and our social interaction with kindness and accountability.
7
Don't forget the original investigation of a conspiracy that Trump blamed for undermining his presidency: the false charge of rampant illegal voting by undocumented immigrants, for which Trump put together an investigation team that did nothing, aside from quickly sputtering out because the conspiracy theory was completely unsubstantiated.
26
In light of the grievous misconduct displayed by top DOJ officials, Pres. Trump should move immediately (before Christmas) to fully pardon those whose only real crime has been their willingness to help Pres. Trump get elected.
2
@batazoid
So, that would be no pardons...?
So the guy who hasn’t read the report misinterpreted it loudly for people who never understood its context in the first place, and now some states with as many senators as California even though they have one-twentieth the population are more likely to vote again for who Fox News tells them to.
Democracy. To paraphrase comedian Colin Quinn, it’s still the same system that freed a murderer and crucified Jesus.
7
"Months later, the Justice Department told a federal court that the claim was unsubstantiated, but the damage was done."
Trump is as much a master as Vladimir Putin of sowing disinformation. Every single time he promises a big scandal, "worse than any other event in US history," it matters less what actually comes out and more that he keeps his supporters waiting breathlessly for lurid results.
It's just like birtherism and the 80 investigations into Benghazi that finally died with that infamous 11-hour interrogation of Hillary Clinton.
As for Barr and Durham, they continue corrupt and politize the DOJ, resulting in a dearth of "investigations," just desired outcomes they will lie, cheat, and inflate trumped up evidence that fits their narrative.
This is what totalitarian governments do; and why I wrote yesterday, "welcome to US justice, Soviet style."
28
Trump has never had a core set of beliefs beyond his toxic narcissism. That's unfortunate, but there are a lot of maladjusted people in this world. That there are so many folks who, uncritically, swallow everything that Trump and Fox News put out is truly disheartening. This article does an excellent job of dissecting the m.o. of the Republicans but its true value may lie in leaving behind a history of our fall.
16
Standard Trump playbook. He is the perpetual victim. When the much touted report that is supposed to prove his victimhood does not, Trump claims that is has, and his base believes him because the people that wrote the report were biased against him. Even though, Trump picked the people that wrote the report. Then he has his top cop lackey make public statements that he "disagrees" with the report. Disagrees how? What claims do you refute and how? This is never mentioned. It's just wrong because my office gives me the power to say its wrong.
This is exactly how dictators operate. This is how banana republics operate. This is exactly how our laws our supposed to prevent our government from operating. But this is how it does operate, under Trump.
415
@Bruce Rozenblit The enemies at home are the Republican Party who shield Trump and continue to allow him to be above the law. They took an oath to uphold the rule of law and the US Constitution, neither of which they now care a whit about.
39
@Bruce Rozenblit His (and the GOP's) lack of concern over Russian interference alone is horrifying. Never a word about how serious it is that this ism happening. But Robert Mueller expressed gave concerns. The Mueller report gave us much important information and found characters breaking the law, but Trump only sees how it affects him, boils it all down to that.
29
@Bruce Rozenblit
Yes, Trump is the wannabe King the Constitution was designed to protect us from.
Democrats need to start saying the truth with the same passion with which Republicans lie. Republicans are literally talking about a "civil war" and Democrats are still doing as little as possible.
15
Classic disinformation campaign. Conservative partisans eat this stuff up easily.
22
The Trump/Barr Variety show is oh so tedious, And the houseketeers sideshow is also badly in need of a refresh. Vote them out! We surely have better things to do with our time than lie, degrade and obfuscate...
12
Orwellian logic-don't like the facts, hire someone else to manufacture the facts that fit with your worldview. This is the administration that we have-and why are are our taxpayer money paying for these trips for these lying liars? Don't we have a say?
21
@Adam
We'll have a say next November. Let's hope we use it to make a clear and strong statement: We do not want our country ruled by a criminal President and his criminal Party.
If I understand this correctly the IG of the FBI with all of the investigative powers available to him found no evidence of undue inappropriate activity in initiating the investigation of Russian influence with the exception of a faulty procedure in obtaining a FISA warrant. Now an obscure US Attorney in Connecticut is going to review those findings to determine if they are correct??? The only review of the US Attorney’s findings that makes sense to me is Groucho’s “Who are you going to believe? Me or your own lyin’ eyes?”
19
@CassandraRusyn Sadly, the Trump people think the FBI Inspector General is against Trump and part of the "deep state" to oust him. Therefore some guy in Connecticut is their source of truth and will expose the deep state. I know it's all crazy but the GOP is conspiracy theory led.
@CassandraRusyn Will be interesting to see the cost to taxpayers after all is said and done. How many kids are going to school hunger while this administration thinks this president is above our system of checks and balances.
3
Let’s investigate the investigators investigating the investigation...geez. Are we now a Banana Republic?
10
With Trump, all roads lead to Putin.
22
What a sad pitiful man. He cites "a hunch and a bit of wisdom" as the basis for his accusation. No wonder the world laughs.
19
The problem here is that no matter what any study, investigation or inquiry finds, Trump's team is going to back him up.
These fools put Trump first and America last.
13
I believe all of you who put any faith in this article is living in a world of foolery. The Republicans, Donald Trump, and all their die-hard followers are part of a cult. Truth and reality are meaningless concepts. They are also not reading this publication.
4
@Jaime Fernandez
actually we do ... sometimes we even agree with what you have to say ...
but it is very helpful to follow WHY you think how you do ...it makes for good comedy.
@ron
Ron: We think the President should cooperate with the House Impeachment Inquiry because the Constitution provided for Impeachment by a co-equal branch of Government in order to prevent corruption in the White House. Do you think that is funny?
@ron
Ron: We think the President should cooperate with the House Impeachment Inquiry because the Constitution provided for Impeachment by a co-equal branch of Government in order to prevent corruption in the White House. Do you think that is funny?
Plots are made up of people cooperating to misrepresent and fail to disclose relevant information. When the Horowitz report found dozens of instances, the NYT pronounced the plot assertions "debunked". Fusion GPS, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Comey, Clapper, Ohr: nothing to see here, folks, move along...
Through the looking glass?
4
@OldEngineer
I suggest you actually read the Horowitz Report instead of regurgitating what Fox News says about it.
1
I haven’t had time to read the report but I’ve seen no news accounts stating Comey was implicated in “pushing” the dossier. What pages discuss that? You seem to know a lot about the dossier - was it ultimately disproven or just unsubstantiated?
2
Well the author of the dossier was an acquaintance of Ivanka so I think there might be something to it.
4
Seriously, that headline is your “analysis”? Read deeper, think harder.
2
@Truthbeknown
Please feel free to point out any actual problem.
What Democrats and the mainstream media need to do is to examine WHY the inspector general concluded the FBI possessed sufficient evidence to conclude that the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians -- and how it relates to the Ukrainian disinformation campaign and the 2020 elections. This damning conclusion should not be a one-day story.
6
Actually, the Mueller Report concluded that there was insufficient evidence to establish that there was a criminal conspiracy to enlist Russian aid in the 2016 election. That is very different from a conclusion that there was no such conspiracy. In that regard, it is relevant that Trump refused to testify in person and in his written responses to questions claimed multiple times that he couldn't remember important episodes.
25
@R.C. Repetto Be very aware that the Mueller report, in fact, did not conclude there was no conspiracy.
11
Actually, no, Mueller concluded that the President was not exonerated from criminal charges, but believed he couldn’t go any further with the findings against a sitting President per the Constitution (which isn’t actually true). Also, Trump publicly said he’d testify in person & didn’t. Is this another lie or “misunderstanding of his intentions?”
10
Also it has been reported that Mueller Did Not Follow the Money when his team investigated the Trump campaign’s possible conspiring with Russia. Had Mueller been allowed to Follow the Money he may well have found sufficient evidence of conspiracy. Why didn’t Mueller Follow the Money trail?
1
Bill Barr is playing almost the exact same role that Robert Bork played in the GOP Nixon administration which also involved electioninterference. In my opinion with the same goal, only Barr may be successful.
Mr. Bork was solicitor general and Mr. Nixon wanted the special prosecutor in Watergate fired. When Mr. Richardson refused, Bork stepped in and fired Cox. His reward was the next GOP administration (Reagan) nominated him to the SCOTUS. When he failed to be convicted by the Senate, with Biden leading the charge, it sent the GOP (especially Mitch McConnell into a frenzy and a vow to change the courts and get their revenge. And here we sit today.
Mr. Barr seems willing to do anything to please the President, whether it is truthful or not or whether it slanders his own agency or not. It seems with the same promise. Or course any SCOTUS seat could be vacated but with Justice Badger-Ginsburg’s failing health, she may step down this year or if Trump wins, almost assuredly in the next five. My prediction is that seat will be rewarded to Mr. Barr for his loyalty to Trump over country and will curb the state of country toward a theological doctrine interprepretation of our laws. And alas, Roe v Wade will be a memory.
17
Not only Roe v Wade! Barr thinks the Constitution gives the president UNLIMITED powers. Our government will look a lot like Russia with a Christian Taliban twist.
8
No plot or conspiracy was found because these highly trained FBI agents are trained to cover their tracks. No other ways to explain the unusual cluster of mistakes by these agents.
4
Good lord. Trump is a corrupt president. He is about to be rightfully impeached.
14
Nonsense. Nonsense. Nonsense. FBI agents are trained to investigate crimes. That is what they were doing. It is the Russians who are adept at covering their tracks.
6
@Qcell
Did you READ the report?
Clearly not. There was NO SPYING.
Period.
10
What’s truly amazing about this is that the foundation of Trump’s and the Republicans’ schemes is a profound contempt for the intelligence of the American people. They know their cries for investigations are false, they know what the result will be, yet they don’t care because their goal isn’t to investigate it’s to manipulate.
How can so many Americans actively support a group of people who hold them in such low esteem?
25
Trumpism will not end with Trump. Every single politician in the US will use Trump’s template when it is convenient to do so.
Every investigation will be called ‘a witch hunt’ or ‘a deep state conspiracy’ when the facts don’t support some fantasy.
Eventually, the public will get so tired that it will want the whole charade to be over.
Meanwhile, the 0.1 percent will sit behind high walls, laughing at the deluded 99.9 percent.
You have: a corrupt ruling class that is driven solely by the imperative for re-election; a judiciary that provides political cover to partisan interest instead of applying the law; a small number of obscenely wealthy people who are only interested in growing and preserving and growing their wealth - and are willing to invest in the political class to do so; an abjectly ill informed electorate that regards ‘likes’ on social media as the basis of its self-worth.
There is absolutely no difference today between the US and any other banana republic. Whether Trump stays or goes will make no difference. He has provided the blueprint for US politics for the foreseeable future.
When is Barr going to grasp that humoring Trump’s schizophrenia is only going to demolish the Republican Party in the long run ?
9
As long as he can get to the Supreme Court, he does not care.
3
This behavior is oh so Soviet
24
This article could be just six words, what the loser now babbles when confronted about his Pants-On-Fire Obama birtherism:
"I don't talk about that anymore."
15
So we are faced with a choice , either the FBI officials at the top of the agency making the decisions are stupid and lazy or they are partisans attempting to destroy the Trump administration. Since former Director Comey has classified this has a vindication I yield to his wisdom that instead of trying to undo the 2016 election he was merely incompetent and stupid.
The most fascinating thing is the way some folks tall about the Mueller report and say Democrats were disappointed it was nothing, so they investigated something else. Whilst I disagree with those conclusions, the Republican contrast ("re-investigate the exact same issue until it comes out how we want it to, even if it never does") is illuminating.
Even when the Democrats get what might be taken as disappointing results...they actually trust them to be accurate and move on. Republicans just seek confirmation of what they already want to believe.
If that's not an indictment of the attitude of those Republican legislators, I don't know what is.
80
@Sqwerdon Well and the fact is that the Mueller report was not nothing. That's just what the GOP and Trump say. Look at all the people who have gone to jail or been indicted because of it. Look at the verification that Russia intervened in our electoral process. That's something and I'm concerned that people aren't more horrified by it.
@Sqwerdon
The Democrats underplayed the Mueller Report.
Mueller said that Trump could be indiicted for multiple acts of Obstruction upon leaving office, and referred it to Congress for impeachment, when he said, "the Constitution has a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president."
The House (including Republicans and Democrats )should have Impeached him then. He took that lack of action as a cute that he should all Ukraine to interfere in our election then China.
These are all High Crimes.
@Sqwerdon — So, Democrats just take bad results and move on, right? Don’t believe so! They get downright evil! Democrats lost the 2016 Presidential election as well as the loss of VP Gore during his Presidential bid. Both times they won the popular vote, so Democrats, completely willing to forsake the whole point of having a United States of America in the first place, started a movement to make the Presidential vote based on population only, in essence to re-define the Union as the United Population of America... “Knock, Knock, Koockin’ on Socialism’ s Door!” The New York Times and its British CEO are supreme cheerleaders towards this cause as multiple NYT articles have made clear. There ya go! Super sneaky, super anti-American!
BTW, Obama won, Bill Clinton won, so it is possible to win the old fashioned way: Population of State by State! The way it should be!
It's astonishing how Trump has destroyed honor and trust by his actions and rhetoric, but what’s equally astonishing is how many people are willing to be Trump's mark.
164
Because appearances are deceptive and because, in the present social media dominated world we live in, appearance is everything, the tactics employed by the Trump team are just what are needed to create a smoke screen behind which one can construct a whole deep state narrative; Its the story that counts not the truth or the proof. People start saying that there is no smoke without fire and so on... and the end has been achieved - an impression of truth or in other words, a lie dressed up as the truth.
16
"the inspector general had found that the F.B.I. had solid reason to open its investigation"
So where is the evidence of that motivation and from whom did it derive? Where are the first words that trigger Trump as the collaborator?
Political machinations are the airy substance of conviction that something is wrong as does to like someone and dislike someone as is the case here.
4
Trump in 2017 "My campaign had no contact with any Russians."
Trump in Mueller report: We admit to 119 meetings with Russian operatives.
The FBI saw the Trump campaign was meeting with Russians. This is a solid reason to open an investigation. The Trump campaign has admitted to these meetings. Why is this confusing to anyone?
6
When Trump makes statements such as: "people want to know", "they say", "people are talking" and the like, what he means is that he is saying and wants to know or concomitantly that no one is saying or wants to know. For someone who has criticized the media's use of anonymous informants, Trump uses these types of comments to throw out misinformation into the public dialogue. Remember, this is the person who would call reporters on the phone pretending to be his own press agent or friend to create flattering stories in the press. He is the king and creator of "fake news".
216
@Bob Parker
"people want to know", "they say", "people are talking"
Glittering generalities. One of the components of propaganda.
11
@Bob Parker In other words, for trump, it's all hearsay.
@Bob Parker
Yes, Trump is expert at manipulating the media (and white supremacists) because he had been doing it for fifty years.
The media keeps letting Trump determine how they frame these stories.
That is why when Mueller (the Republican investigator appointed by Trump's own Republican appointee) accused Trump of obstructing the investigation into Russian attacks on our elections, and said that he could be indiicted for these Federal Felonies, except that "the Constitution has a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president," the media treated that obvious Impeachment referral as boring.
Anyone that thinks Trump is merely stupid is helping Trump win.
He has corporate media repeating his lies all day, and bothsiding the truth as if pathological liars have credibility.
Save your Constitution.
7
Thank you for FINALLY having a story that doesn't just give GOP and Democratic talking points equal weight for the sake of "balance". The Republicans are trying to gaslight us as to what this report actually said; about what the Mueller investigation revealed; about the crimes the President committed both before and since the election; about fundamental issues such as the impacts of Global Warming and tax cuts for the very wealthy and corporations. It is incumbent on news media (outside of obvious propaganda outlets like Fox, Clear Channel, Sinclair Broadcasting, Breitbart, etc) to search for and report facts, and frame those facts truthfully. Too many articles in this paper lately have been awful exercises in "both sides" journalism that hides the truth, to the detriment of us all. Thanks for this.
82
@AMinNC
I heartily second this. The media has played a big role in the problem. We need LOTS more articles like this and lot less unfounded both-siderism.
4
All these investigations are designed to find proof that people conspired AGAINST Trump in an elevation he WON.
Which begs several questions...
All this because he does not like insinuations that Russia tried to help him?
What’s going to happen if he LOSES in 2020??
21
I'll tell you what's going to happen: he'll have to be escorted from the White House by the military because he'll refuse to accept the election results.
The peaceful transition of power seemed like such a trivial thing, didn't it?
3
This administration has done little to draw attention to the fight for democracy in Hong Kong because to do so would call attention to its overt activity to limit democracy right here at home. While Trump's base remains stable, those interested less in the cult of personality and more in the preservation of democracy realize how dangerously close we are to becoming a failed country. In the not so near future, another candidate will indeed have to make America great again because Trump and his enablers have decimated our moral leadership through their persistent and relentless mendacity. What will it take to get Americans in the streets to protest what Trump, Barr, McConnell, Graham and the rest of the GOP have taken away?
15
@Stephanie Acquadro: Going a bit off topic, but not giving public support to the Hong Kong protesters (or any other opposition movement in not so friendly countries) is exactly what our government should be doing. To do otherwise just gives China ammunition to discredit the protesters and justify a crackdown.
The most terrifying aspect of all of this is that it has become impossible for Republicans to hear any news that is critical of the president. Here in Florida, intelligent people who exhibit good judgment, respect Scientific practices and challenge their own assumptions in all other areas of their lives seem to literally switch off their minds when it comes to anything that is politically divisive. Really, it appears to me that powerful and well funded special interests have succeeded in formulating a process to utilize social media and traditional media in conjunction with massive amounts of our personal data to brainwash Americans into selectively turning off their critical thinking . This by itself is a massive threat to our country.
41
We are living with "alternative facts" and lies and everyone is confused,
I once was told that my truth and your truth can both be truth but irrefutable proveable facts are the only truth.
Those kind of facts mean nothing to Trump and those who support him.
9
It doesn't help voters when we're down to 6 conglomerates who control the spin we see. Everything good that America ever built is crumbling under the corporate take over of our government.
20
@Shelley
Only one conglomerate is creating 99% of the problem. Let’s not muddy the waters by placing the blame all around.
1
What I don’t understand is that Trump is lauded by his base as being a “disrupter” - but none of these people, Trump most certainly included, have zero plans to replace or offer an alternative to the institutions and people they destroy.
Some men just want to watch the world burn.
I hope there’s a country left for my son to inherit.
36
Thank you Mr. Mazzetti for stating so clearly the morass of deception. (and thank you for all your other articles). It's just becoming beyond scary and it's still hard to acknowledge that so many persons in addition to the president so willingly, purposely, seemingly with pleasure, either distort the truth or just plain lie. Unfortunately they seem to have the widest access to the bully pulpit.
28
Pretending that the Horowitz report somehow cleared and exonerated those officials who have been singled out as attempting a coup against the president, is really folly. The report carefully describes the deliberate falsification of evidence, with the now infamous dossier, to a federal court. That is a serious crime for which you or I would end up in jail a good long time. Furthermore, here is a writer, Mr. Mazzetti, who won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the non-existent Russian collusion between Mr. Trump and Russia. His writing was so off course from the truth that even Mr. Mueller couldn't find any collusion, at all. Nevertheless, Mr. Mazzetti and others were awarded the Pulitzer. For what? For presenting a fiction as if it were the truth?
5
@Len
Thank you! It seems the Left does not care to hold their own to the standards they claim to cherish.
I had to laugh out loud when I read: "and then, when the proof does not emerge, skew the results and prepare for the next opportunity to execute the playbook." Isn't that the exactly what the Left did with the Russia hypotheis and now the Ukraine farce (with a few Pulitzers thrown in for good measure)?
I feel embarrassed for those who cannot see this as anything but deeply cynical propaganda.
2
@Len If you're attaching your support to trump you don't get to lecture anyone of truth telling or falsehoods.
11
@Len
You either did not read, didn’t understand or didn’t want to understand the essence of what is written in this article, in the Mueller report or in the Horowitz report. I don’t understand why many people want to believe that the FBI or other institutions are full of “deep state” conspirators. The attachment to a demagogue who sees “spies” everywhere is mind boggling.
9
If there was not a provable criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump's campaign of 2016, there certainly was synergy, some coordinated, and some just ineptly muddled in the direction of electing Trump. And Trump's megaphone amplified Russian's stealing of US citizens' private correspondence. To this alone, this theft and Trump's bodacious use of such foreign malfeasance, we the people should be deeply alarmed and offended. We should be alarmed that Mrs. Clinton was number one on Putin's and Trump's enemy list -- for going after Russian corruption.
24
Sounds a lot like the Democrats who went from Russia to Stormy Daniels to Russia to Ukraine in search of anything that might stick. It seems the Dems and GOP have a great deal more in common with each other than they would care to admit.
4
Your post illustrates the facts exposed in this article: Russia, Stormy Daniels and Ukraine are actually crimes committed by DJT.
11
@Bob Keep in mind, everything that you and congressional Repubs are now accusing the Dems of of, was initiated by Trump's own Department of Justice.
5
The emperor has no clothes, and neither do his cronies. As of yet, not a single member of the GOP is willing to say so. What a sad time for democracy and our country.
63
Virtually everyone had their minds made up about Trump by his inauguration. None of Trump's awful,un-statesmenlike behavior brings his approval ratings up while the few of his actual actions in office raise them.
The only things Trump knows how to do is keep his nihilist base happy by hurling his wrath at anyone who potentially stands in his way, and grub for money. While it was Reagan who began a War on the Poor, it is Trump who began a War on Truth and a War on Professionalism.
57
The big lie works otherwise we would not have the ego maniac demagogue Trump in the WH now.
Democrats have to think logically now how best to get rid of him.
1-Condemn him and call him out but don't dwell on it. Offer a moderate progressive candidate in tune with swing voters in swing states that elect presidents. Right now its Biden leading the way in the polls against Trump. Don't offer up an identity/social engineering zealot on social issues and neo con on most other issues like with Hillary. It was lethal to the democrats.
2-Do not impeach, although the evidence is overwhelming, unless you have majority support in swing states otherwise it could backfire. It doesn't matter if you are morally and legally right if you give the demagogue another term. Better to oust him in the next election where Biden has a substantial lead over Trump.
4
William Barr must also be impeached. I don't know how to make that happen, but it would help if there were some in the DOJ who would start speaking out.
Americans also need to be protesting in the streets. Maybe every weekend until this national nightmare is over.
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@Celeste
William Barr will only go when Trump goes or when a supreme court vacancy becomes available for Trump to place him in. The way to stop Putin's poodle and the poodle's pug lap dog is to vote the poodle out of office in 2020. Also a change in the Senate majority would help tremendously. Getting the Dem. voters out in 2020 would be much better than protesting in the the streets, but a few protests and marches certainly would not hurt.
2
We need to learn from the French; to the streets. The nation should not run until it runs for all of us.
1
@Celeste Vote. That is how to change things.
Lest we forget, he had to disband his Commission on Voter Fraud in Jan 2018 when not a single state was able to substantiate that illegal immigrants were the source of his losing the popular vote by 3 million?
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The ploy to have Zelensky announce an investigation of Burisma and Biden, without actually doing it, sounds like it’s taken from the same playbook. Get as much muck spread around as possible to Fox and Friends, till it fizzles out, but the damage is done.
33
Really, if you want to know what it happening just hold a mirror to the Times coverage. Everything written here perfectly describes the relentless and ever evolving evolution of charges against Trump and the synchronized obfuscation and selective omission practiced by the press in covering the charade. "They followed a script" is autobiographical to a tee. The limited scope, toothless investigation by Horowitz was never expected to be revelatory. Nevertheless it identifies gross misconduct, and a slew of errors and violations by the managers and agents involved. The statements by Barr and Durham are straight forward and clearly state what will be the next steps.
4
“Limited scope, toothless Horowitz investigation that never was meant to be revelatory?” Really? Are you seriously arguing the AG ordered an investigation designed to fail? Your mental gymnastics deserve an Olympic Gold Medal.
14
@Daphne never expected to be revelatory??? Res-Check trump's twitter feed
6
The reason that the charges against Trump are relentless is that he is relentless in his lying corruption, ignorance, and attempts to undo our system of government.
11
These tactics may work for the ill informed Fox viewer, personally it makes me want to help elect Democrats from other states such as Amy McGrath to replace McConnell. It is clear that Republicans from Djt on down are traitors to the constitution and country.
61
This Presidency is the most blatantly disingenuous and dishonest in the history of the US, bar none, and the feckless GOP and it’s minions are providing cover and ammunition for the battle to defeat truth.
We are in a living, breathing twilight zone, with few ways out unless the POTUS vacates the office.
This is what happens when a snake is elevated to a King.
47
It’s all just so outrageous that I can barely stand it for much longer. Truth and facts now literally mean nothing. I really see no way forward, whether he’s thrown out or not, wins the next election or not. We will still have The Republicans. This is how democracies die.
124
With all this failure to get what they want out of their "investigations," Trump's people are going to have to deliver something, and is there any reason to think they won't lie to do it? They have no trouble lying about anything. I'm surprised Horowitz apparently didn't do it, or at least didn't deliver on the "big story" that poor Trump has been the victim here all along. Trump will probably keep prodding until somebody writes down what he wants, and lying about it will be just fine with him.
18
"Truth isn't truth."
-Rudy Giuliani
Take a cursory glance at conservative autocratic regimes in Poland and Hungary to witness the societal havoc they have wrought with their demeaning of words and belittling of fact.
The greatest loss to our democracy in the past three years has not been anything of policy substance, nor judges, or even decorum. words mean nothing, experts aren't trusted, and people are allowed to construct their private online narrative of reality.
I fear we are in grave danger.
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@Spencer
That you and I both '..fear that we are in grave danger.' is why Xi Jinping, Recep Erdogan, Benjamin Netanyahu, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Rodrigo Duterte, Mohammed bin Salman, Abdel el-Sisi, Joao Bolsonaro and Victor Orban are smugly smiling and smirking with gleeful gloating at the mayhem that they have wrought in our divided limited different power republic constitutional republic united states.
But what the Senate, Electoral College, Cabinet and Supreme Court of the United States don't you accept nor understand that America is not nor was it ever meant to be 'our democracy'?
Do you pledge allegiance to the flag and to the 'democracy for which it stands'?
'A republic, if you can keep it'. Benjamin Franklin in response to an inquiry during the Constitutional Convention as to the nature of the government they were creating.
Who is 'our' and 'we" when Donald Trump won the votes of 58% of the white voting majority and Hillary Clinton won the votes of 92% of the black voting minority in the 2016 Presidential election.
3
@Spencer
The Office of the Attorney General was created by the first Congress and signed into law by George Washington.
The point was to separate Federal law enforcement from the political concerns of the President.
Barr is acting as Trump's personal fixer, not Attorney General, specifically putting Trump's political needs above the responsibilities of his office.
Barr needs to be impeached.
Trump spent two years attaching Jeff Sessions because Sessions put the stories of his office above Trump. He kept saying that he needed a Roy Cohen to protect him, until he got one.
Barr's join is not too protect Trump. His job is to protect the Constitution. He is doing the opposite.
11
People like Trump turn differences into conflicts between deadly adversaries.
2
It doesn’t matter, in this three card Monty government. There is always the next sap to be taken
68
It's obvious what tactics Trump and his allies are using. Why do the news media fall into the trap of helping them?
It is just not enough to keep track of the lies Trump tells. Discussing them has the perverse effect of making people who want to believe all the more convinced.
It is also not enough to point out that the conspiracy theories are unsubstantiated. It's too easy for those who hear them to wonder what important information we've missed, or the lies we've been told. I find myself doing that even when I'm quite sure that I know the truth.
I would like to hear suggestions from those who are knowledgeable about manipulating public opinion on how we can fight this.
104
My thoughts exactly. The main stream media continues to present the Republican strategy in neutral terms instead of emphasizing the way their strategy is designed to sew doubt. Every citizen should be given a quick course in how defense attorneys structure their framing of the situation to make jurors doubt the facts. It is time to unmask the propaganda of the Republican Party.
44
Bring back the Fairness doctrine, and give the FCC teeth to enforce it.
23
@Betsy S The Democrats need to play the same game as the Republicans. Start running ads on TV showing video clip after video clip of Trump in his own words, asking for election interference. Ask why does McConnell not allow bi-partisan bills that would help secure our elections to come for a vote? My god point out the Guiliianni is in Ukraine still trying to dig up dirt or someone willing to say there is dirt. It will continue unless the Dictator wannabe is impeached and convicted.
Then in 2020 we should ask the U.N. to monitor our elections. And then every last person of voting age needs to wake up and vote the Republicans out at every level even dog catcher. Of 40% seem ok with this but we must turn out the vote against them to overcome the gerrymandering, electoral college, the voter suppression, the Russians etc.
1
I’m so disgusted by this administration. This is exactly what Russia wants. For the AG to say the results of investigations done by the IG were wrong is destabilizing. This administration keeps tearing down the intelligence agencies. I hope this country can recover. I’m not sure we will be able to.
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@Jen
The IG did not have the power of subpoena or free access to the key miscreants who have already been fired. The AG process is obviously more in depth and has uncovered enough to become a criminal investigation. The IG process does not have the tools to uncover criminal activity for which there is any serious attempt to conceal.
1
@Jen You're okay with an FBI attorney altering an email in the pursuit of a FISA warrant ?
You have no problem with this at all?
How partisan can you be ?
This should alarm all citizens.
2
@KBronson - Totally and completely wrong. They have EVERY tool at their disposal - that's why he's called Inspector GENERAL. He has all the authority he needs to inspect FBI, CIA, the AG, OMB, Treasury, etc., and any other part of government suspected of wrongdoing. You really should stop listening to hannity and limbaugh. They don't believe half of what they say themselves, but they've made millions saying it, and laugh all the way to the bank at the people who buy it.