The one in which Trump orders his staff to fire Mueller, and they give him the finger

[PerkingFaintly]

Apparently this has already happened, back in July 2017.

But the orange one try again...

Trump Ordered Mueller Fired, but Backed Off When White House Counsel Threatened to Quit
www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/us/politics/trump-mueller-special-counsel-russia.html

Coverage by Maddow: twitter.com/maddow?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3142761-All-Trump-sees-is-green-All-we-see-is-a-traitorous-orange-menace-Who-is-right-Place-bets-now-Trump-continued?pg=1

Statement from John McCain

Washington, D.C. ­– U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement on partisan attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice:

“In 2016, the Russian government engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in an American election and undermine our democracy. Russia employed the same tactics it has used to influence elections around the world, from France and Germany to Ukraine, Montenegro, and beyond. Putin’s regime launched cyberattacks and spread disinformation with the goal of sowing chaos and weakening faith in our institutions. And while we have no evidence that these efforts affected the outcome of our election, I fear they succeeded in fueling political discord and dividing us from one another.

“The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests – no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s. The American people deserve to know all of the facts surrounding Russia’s ongoing efforts to subvert our democracy, which is why Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation must proceed unimpeded. Our nation’s elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s job for him.”

Permalink: www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2018/2/statement-by-sasc-chairman-john-mccain-on-partisan-attacks-on-the-fbi-doj

Democratic leaders in Congress write to WH: "We are alarmed by reports that you may intend to use this misleading document as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in an effort to corruptly influence or impede Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation. " 1/2

More from Democratic congressional leaders' letter to WH: "Firing Rod Rosenstein, DOJ Leadership, or Bob Mueller could result in a constitutional crisis of the kind not seen since the Saturday Night Massacre. " 2/2

twitter.com/johnson_carrie/status/959490975914758144

Strewth. The memo isn't even made from whole cloth.

James Comey
@Comey
That’s it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.

Kyle Cheney
Kyle Cheney
@kyledcheney
It's been lost in the shuffle, but right-leaning outlets were given a heads-up about the memo release and some of the details ahead of others. Some had posted full descriptions of the memo before House intel did an official briefing for reporters.

The letter from democratic leaders to POTUS

I think one bombshell was Steele leaking parts of his dossier to yahoo news, and then the corresponding yahoo news article was "cited extensively" in a FISA renewal application, all to conceal the fact that Steele/the DNC/Hillary campaign were behind it.

It's a bit of a joke to be honest, and I am not even remotely a trump fan

Seth Abramson has done detailed analysis of the FISA warrant process and the allegations in the Nunes memo. His conclusions chime with Comey's.

twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/959494778051354625

Natsku will be thinking of your family on Monday.
No words for the latest turns. Only that it feels as if democracy and the rule of law are fast slipping away.

Nunes' drafters have rather relied on the fact that Steele hasn't testified.

So far.

Jeff Session's statement

Sessions'

Good point, cozie

Probably won't now. I wonder if he's spoken with Mueller.

@Gumpendorf there is a reason why the head of the FBI may walk...

Per the memo:

"Deputy Director McCabe testified before the Committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information."

The applicants for the warrant clearly felt like they needed (or badly wanted) the dossier to extend the warrant. The fact that the dossier was largely unverified and paid for by the opposing political campaign and that this was known by top brass and omitted from the warrant application is a very big deal.

By the way. At what point do they suspend Wall St Trading automatically - for a 'time out'. Is it 2% down?

Clearly not.

Carter Page was known to the FBI in 2013 for assosciating with a Russian spy ring that the fbi subsequently broke up. This was well before he was part of trump’s team. A FISA warrant was obtained for him after he left trump’s team and renewed multiple times, and each time would have had to go to a court with evidence of why it was necessary. The memo acknowledges that Papadopoulos was what triggered the fbi investigation in july 2016. Not seeing any problems here.

The memo is also criticised by the doj and fbi as being cherry picked and misleading. Which means even after manipulating the truth, this was the best they could do. Plus:

Jim Sciutto
@jimsciutto
New: Two Democratic members of House Intel tell me McCabe did not say dossier was basis of FISA warrant, disputing central claim of #NunesMemo

500 point drop. Though there are some rules that regulate when and iff, including whether or not it happens before 3:30 est.

It does seem that to stop Trump at any cost and high on their own supply of righteousness to the Democrats have racked up a number of illegal and unconstitutional acts.

I'm not sure how anyone on this thread could defend these actions whatever your view of Trump. It's brought into disrepute the whole American system and the security agencies. What else has been going on?

Don’t forget: nunes didn’t even read the bloody documents the memo is based on!

There are two easily verifiable lies in the memo that jump out. one is that September is before the election, not after, and the other is the lie about McCabe testimony.

I guess the Techs have refreshed their understanding of the rule book, recently. (As should I.)

Remember when Nunes made his midnight trip to the Whitehouse to see classified material last Spring? That is what he bases the memo on and that is what loses him his congressional immunity although I am guessing he has been a target of investigation for some time.

That FISA warrant was NOT issued nor was it renewed on the strength of the Steele Dossier on it own. What other information was used to justify the warrant is the question. One to which we won't get an answer because that information will remain 'classified'. 5 will get you 10 there's some juicy stuff in there that Nunes conveniently did not mention, not even to say 'this dossier was not the sole source'. He deliberately makes it look as if it was.