Chris Stewart: House Intel released memo to inform public on FBI abuses, not to exonerate Trump

[Oceander]

Funny coming from a guy who throws insults with every post.

Btw nothing in my post was an insult.   If the truth hurts maybe you should look at your behavior.

You can go back and assign blame if you want to; the fact is, you consistently accuse anyone who is in the least bit critical of Trump of having nefarious purposes or being a never-Trumper, and cannot accept that Trump might have done something that deserved criticism.  Never-Trump is just the least of the insults you have thrown around for more time than I care to count. 

[driftdiver]

Papadopoulos being investigated in 2013 for possibly trying to become a Russian agent, and then hiring him as an adviser and having him get back in touch with dodgy Russian contacts. 

None of that is a fabrication from the Steele dossier.

He was simply an excuse to tap the Trump campaign.   If not him they would have found someone else.

[jpsb]

No thanks on giving it a rest.  I won't be silenced, and my apologies if I wasn't clear.  My point is that I want to get to the bottom of this.  I hope everyone does, but how do we get to the bottom of this in a non-partisan way?  I want to get on with doing that, and I think the first step is a truly independent non-partisan review which looks at the facts (e.g., actual FISA application):  summaries available to the public won’t cut it so I say let’s get on with it.   

There are a plethora of folks who could be calling for that besides the President:  Sessions and members of Congress (probably the adults in the Senate) come to mind.  Why aren't they screaming for this?  I think because they are too focused on making political hay out of this and not focused on actual justice and fact.  Sad.

There are quite a few calling for a Special Counsel (SC). And as more info is released I think the
pressure on Sessions to appoint one will be immense. Either we get a SC or we get a new
AG and then we get a SC.

[driftdiver]

The FISA process was intended for counter terrorism.   Yet here they are monitoring a citizen for alleged spying.

Then they use the same process to monitor a campaign and then an incoming administration.

How can anyone not see the issues here?

[driftdiver]

You can go back and assign blame if you want to; the fact is, you consistently accuse anyone who is in the least bit critical of Trump of having nefarious purposes or being a never-Trumper, and cannot accept that Trump might have done something that deserved criticism.  Never-Trump is just the least of the insults you have thrown around for more time than I care to count.

I hope you use better arguments in court

[edpc]

He was simply an excuse to tap the Trump campaign.  If not him they would have found someone else.

They did find a couple of someone elses.  Page and Manafort both had previous dealings with foreign agents with Russian connections.  Now, tell us what brilliant Deep State/Clinton/Obama/Soros conspirators made Trump hire at least three questionable people with Russian ties.

[Bigun]

When you’ve seeded the water with fish, what else would you expect?  Trump and his campaign did some rather stupid things that laid the basis for the investigation.  They have no one to blame but themselves.   Nobody tricked them into talking to a Russian claiming he had illicit emails from Clinton and the DNC?  Why didn’t the campaign simply turn that contact over to the police the first chance they got?  You meet in secret with people peddling stolen goods, and you can’t be too surprised if your political opponents use that as the basis for convincing the cops to investigate you for possession of stolen property.

Do you have any idea what the LAW is with regard to the appointment of a Special Prosecutor?  Doesn't sound like it to me!

[Oceander]

I hope you use better arguments in court

Again, all you can do is cast irrelevant insults and aspersions. 

[Oceander]

Do you have any idea what the LAW is with regard to the appointment of a Special Prosecutor?  Doesn't sound like it to me!

That has no bearing on whether or not the Trump campaign seeded the fish.  You’re dodging the issue. 

[Oceander]

The FISA process was intended for counter terrorism.   Yet here they are monitoring a citizen for alleged spying.

Then they use the same process to monitor a campaign and then an incoming administration.

How can anyone not see the issues here?

Are you saying that a citizen could never be the subject of a proper FISA warrant under any circumstances?

[mrclose]

Papadopoulos being investigated in 2013 for possibly trying to become a Russian agent, and then hiring him as an adviser and having him get back in touch with dodgy Russian contacts. 

None of that is a fabrication from the Steele dossier.

As I suspected .. you have nothing!

He worked in HRC’s state dept, then attached himself briefly to Ben Carson’s campaign before suddenly claiming to be Trump’s right hand man

Some guy heard a drunk (Papadopoulos) in a bar in Australia claim that Trump was working with the Russians.
Based on that, the FISA court allowed Obama to spy on Trump's campaign.

As I said .. Democrats talking point .. #1

[Oceander]

As I suspected .. you have nothing!

He worked in HRC’s state dept, then attached himself briefly to Ben Carson’s campaign before suddenly claiming to be Trump’s right hand man

Some guy heard a drunk (Papadopoulos) in a bar in Australia claim that Trump was working with the Russians.
Based on that, the FISA court allowed Obama to spy on Trump's campaign.

As I said .. Democrats talking point .. #1

He was sufficiently associated with Trump’s campaign that he forms a basis for the investigation.  The fact that you don’t like the implications is neither here nor there. 

Trump did stupid things and he created the pretext the democrats needed to get the ball rolling for a special prosecutor.  It’s too bad, but it’s a fact. 

[Bigun]

That has no bearing on whether or not the Trump campaign seeded the fish.  You’re dodging the issue.

NO I'm not! That would be YOU!  Doesn't matter how many fish are in the water, they are SUPPOSED to have some actual PROOF of a violation of law(s) in order to name a special prosecutor. WHERE is that?

[jpsb]

Believe what you want; that doesn’t change the fact that there were other things going on with the Trump campaign that suffice to form a basis for the investigation, and these facts are independent of that dossier.

If Mueller were running a real investigation into Russia meddling in our election he would be
investigating how Wikileaks came into procession of the DNC emails. That is at the very center
of any Russia investigation. But Mueller is not looking at that. Why? Why isn't Mueller looking
at the most important fact of this whole case? Witch hunt, that's why.

[Oceander]

NO I'm not! That would be YOU!  Doesn't matter how many fish are in the water, they are SUPPOSED to have some actual PROOF of a violation of law(s) in order to name a special prosecutor. WHERE is that?

Not according to the relevant regulations.  28 CFR 600.1. The only basis is that the AG has determined that “criminal investigation of a person is warranted”.   Nothing in there about proof of a crime having to be there first.

[mrclose]

The FBI reportedly decided to open its investigation into the Trump campaign after George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser for the Trump team, drunkenly admitted to an Australian diplomat the Russians had damaging information on Hillary Clinton, an admission that came weeks before WikiLeaks began publishing its tranche of hacked emails.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/george-papadopoulos-told-australian-diplomat-russians-had-dirt-on-hillary-clinton-before-wikileaks-published-hacked-emails-report/article/2644636

“I have dirt on Clinton,”

FBI: “We better spy on Trump”

[driftdiver]

They did find a couple of someone elses.  Page and Manafort both had previous dealings with foreign agents with Russian connections.  Now, tell us what brilliant Deep State/Clinton/Obama/Soros conspirators made Trump hire at least three questionable people with Russian ties.

@edpc

They applied?  A new administration hires thousands of people in a very short time.

[jpsb]

Papadopoulos being investigated in 2013 for possibly trying to become a Russian agent, and then hiring him as an adviser and having him get back in touch with dodgy Russian contacts. 

None of that is a fabrication from the Steele dossier.

Not Papadopoulos, it was the other guy who's name I forget.

[Oceander]

If Mueller were running a real investigation into Russia meddling in our election he would be
investigating how Wikileaks came into procession of the DNC emails. That is at the very center
of any Russia investigation. But Mueller is not looking at that. Why? Why isn't Mueller looking
at the most important fact of this whole case? Witch hunt, that's why.

Why do the cops pull over a guy for doing 15 over the limit and ignore the guy going 20 over?

I agree that there are lots of other things that should be investigated, but the problem is that Trump and his campaign did enough stupid things that they gave the democrats the pretext for the investigation. 

[driftdiver]

Again, all you can do is cast irrelevant insults and aspersions.

Again not agreeing with you is not an insult.   Now if I were to call you a snowflake it would be an insult.

[Oceander]

Again not agreeing with you is not an insult.   Now if I were to call you a snowflake it would be an insult.

Snarking that I hope you use better arguments in court is not disagreeing with me, it’s insulting me. 

[edpc]

As I suspected .. you have nothing!

He worked in HRC’s state dept, then attached himself briefly to Ben Carson’s campaign before suddenly claiming to be Trump’s right hand man

Some guy heard a drunk (Papadopoulos) in a bar in Australia claim that Trump was working with the Russians.
Based on that, the FISA court allowed Obama to spy on Trump's campaign.

As I said .. Democrats talking point .. #1

There's so much wrong with what you said.  First, it wasn't 'some guy.'  Second, they were in London.  Popadopulous was on Trump's foreign policy advisory team at the time.  He was speaking to Australia's top diplomat in Britain, Alexander Downer.  He told Downer the Russians 'had dirt' on Clinton.

How would you expect that NOT to get relayed and who the f*** wants a foreign policy advisor who drinks and runs his mouth in public?

[driftdiver]

Snarking that I hope you use better arguments in court is not disagreeing with me, it’s insulting me.

Give it up.   You've thrown insults all day and now try to act like the wronged party.   Grow up

[edpc]

@edpc

They applied?  A new administration hires thousands of people in a very short time.

This was during the campaign.  You pick your team, often on the recommendations of your campaign manager that you specifically chose.  It's not a process done through monster.com.  Come on.

[Bigun]

Not according to the relevant regulations.  28 CFR 600.1. The only basis is that the AG has determined that “criminal investigation of a person is warranted”.   Nothing in there about proof of a crime having to be there first.

You seem to have overlooked a few things my friend! 

The Act was triggered when the AG received "information sufficient to constitute grounds to investigate" whether a covered person had committed a serious federal crime. Upon receipt of such information, the AG was required to consider (1] the specificity of the information and (2) the credibility of its source. If the information was either not specific or not credible, the AG was required to close the matter.]

Bolding added by me.

http://www.lecs-center.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=230%3Aon-special-prosecutors-usa&catid=44%3Aevents&lang=en