Tag: FBI

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Donald Trump GOP

Lindsey Graham Pitches A Hissy Fit When Asked About Trump’s Nominee To Head The FBI

 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) got visibly angry this morning when asked about a so-called “enemies list” that FBI Director nominee Kash Patel reportedly has plans to implement if he becomes head of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.

“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan prefaced her question by noting that former Attorney General Bill Barr had warned that Patel has “virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency.”

“Was Attorney General Barr wrong then and wrong now?” Brennan inquired.

Graham replied, “Yeah, he was wrong then. He’s wrong now. And I take my advice on Kash Patel from Trey Gowdy, a dear friend from South Carolina who worked with Kash.”

“Well, OK, but he’s got a list,” Brennan said. “He’s got a list he’s published. Kash Patel has. He published it in a book of enemies.”

“I mean, do you take him at his word here that these are an enemies list, and you’re going to put him in a law enforcement role to go after him?” she asked.

Visibly angered, Graham responded, “I believe the hearing will expose him to be a very qualified man of the law. He’ll have to answer questions about what’s in the book. But I’m ready to vote for him because I know him, too. So you never asked me about the Russia hoax that he exposed.”

When Graham attempted to pivot to the topic of Israel, Brennan countered, “Lindsey Graham, this is a far cry from the question about Kash Patel. You took me all the way to Israel from Kash Patel.”

“OK, ask him about going after journalists, which he’s also said. I’m interested in the answer to that.”

Graham: “I’m sure Democratic friends will ask him. You shouldn’t worry about Kash Patel. You should worry about reporting the news fairly, which you don’t do when it comes to everything Trump!”

Brennan ended the interview by telling the senator, “Lindsey Graham, you’re a guest on this program because we wanted to hear you out.”

Lindsey’s such a drama queen. Does anyone know if it’s his time of the month?

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Donald Trump The Trump Adminstration

Trump Refusing To Let FBI Do Background Checks On Cabinet Nominees

Failed former president Donald Trump is refusing to let the FBI do background checks or vetting on some of the people he has nominated for top jobs in his new administration.

According to CNN, Trump is instead using private companies to do background checks, but it’s unclear if those companies are capable of such a job.

“Trump and his allies believe the FBI system is slow and plagued with issues that could stymie the president-elect’s plan to quickly begin the work of implementing his agenda, people briefed on the plans said. Critics say the intrusive background checks sometimes turn up embarrassing information used to inflict political damage.”

“The discussions come as Trump has floated several controversial choices for high-level positions in the US government – including Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.”

Gaetz and Gabbard could never pass an FBI check because both have questionable backgrounds that include alleged illegal activity and connections to nations hostile to the United States, including Russia.

 

“Gaetz has been mired for years in Justice Department and House ethics investigations related to sex trafficking. The Justice Department declined to charge Gaetz, and the House ethics probe, days away from being completed, was effectively ended when the Florida congressman resigned from his seat this week. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.”

“Gabbard, meanwhile, has frequently appeared to take positions more favorable to foreign leaders widely considered not just American adversaries but, in some cases, brutal dictators, including the presidents of Syria and Russia, raising questions from allies and critics alike.”

The CNN report set has set off alarm bells for some in Congress, including Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), who remarked, “This is an alarming step that, frankly, should alarm every American citizen who wants the basic function of government to work, who wants to ensure that the FBI, as you were reporting earlier, is able to investigate terrorist threats,” she said. “The fact that they would avoid a traditional background check process to me means they know they can’t pass it, and what it means is that information that would be available to the FBI just won’t even be considered.”

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Congress GOP

One Of Jim Jordan’s Anti-Biden ‘Whistleblowers’ May Have Lied Under Oath

If you’ve seen any of the hearings on the “weaponization” of the FBI that were led by House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) you may have seen former field agent Garret O’Boyle (the guy who looks like a villain in a Batman movie) making all sorts of dubious claims about why he was supposedly “silenced” by the agency.

In reality, the reason O’Boyle was reprimanded for failing to do his job, especially as it applies to defendants charged with crimes allegedly committed on January 6, 2021.

During his testimony, The Guardian reports, O’Boyle was asked about funding he had received from a former Trump administration official.

At one point, O’Boyle was asked by Democrat Dan Goldman whether Kash Patel, who held multiple roles in the Trump administration, is helping finance O’Boyle’s legal counsel. The witness replied: “Not that I’m aware of.”

The answer has raised eyebrows because, during a previous interview with the House of Representatives’ weaponisation subcommittee in February, O’Boyle disclosed that his legal fees are being paid by a nonprofit organisation called Fight With Kash, also known as the Kash Foundation and run by Kash Patel.

In other words, it appears that O’Boyle may have lied under oath, and that could get him criminally charged.

Congressman Goldman said he has contacted Jordan and made it clear he believes O’Boyle may have lied to Congress.

“Mr O’Boyle’s answers in the subcommittee hearing on Thursday appear to contradict his previous testimony in the transcribed interview with subcommittee staff. In order to ensure witnesses are truthful when they come before the subcommittee, Chairman Jordan must determine whether or not Mr O’Boyle lied under oath on Thursday.”

Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project, echoed Goldman, noting, “Mr O’Boyle’s testimony in this week’s hearing should be investigated immediately by Chairman Jordan’s subcommittee. The fact that O’Boyle’s own lawyer has such deep ties to Kash Patel, a January 6 co-conspirator and close ally of Donald Trump, is already enough to call any of his testimony into question.”

According to Russell Dye, a spokesperson for Jordan, there’s no reason for Democrats to be upset: “Yet again the Democrats distorted the facts in their report on our brave FBI whistleblowers. Jesse Binnall is representing Mr O’Boyle pro bono.”

Distorted the facts? Sounds like what Jordan has been doing since he began lying to cover his ass when it came to light he had failed to report sexual abuse at Ohio State University while he was a coach on the OSU wrestling team.

 

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Congress Donald Trump GOP

WATCH Ted Lieu DESTROY Republicans: It’s Not The FBI’s Fault ‘Trump Surrounded Himself With Criminals’

During a House hearing today with FBI Director Christopher Wray, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) absolutely destroyed Republican talking points that the agency and the Justice Department are out to get failed former president Donald Trump and those connected to him, many of whom have committed serious crimes.

When it was his time to question Wray, Lieu used one fact after another to make his point: That Donald Trump and those who are close to him have been investigated and charged because they broke the law.

Here’s a transcript of Lieu’s interrogation of the FBI chief:

REP TED LIEU: I’ll ask you a series of basic questions to get the facts out to the American people about our system of justice. Roger Stone was convicted in a federal court, correct?

FBI DIRECTOR CHRISTOPHER WRAY: That’s my recollection.

LIEU: Trump donor Elliott Brady was convicted in a federal court, correct?

WRAY: Also, my recollection.

LIEU: The attorney general at the time for those two convictions was Bill Barr. Which president nominated Bill Barr for attorney general?

WRAY: President Trump.

LIEU: Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen was convicted on two separate occasions in federal court, correct?

WRAY: I believe that’s correct.

LIEU: The AG at the time of Cohen’s second conviction was Matthew Whitaker, which president appointed Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general?

WRAY: President Trump.

LIEU: Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was convicted in a federal court, correct?

WRAY: Yes.

LIEU: Trump’s former deputy campaign manager Mr. Gaetz was convicted in a federal court, correct?

WRAY: That’s my recollection.

LIEU: Trump’s campaign foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, was convicted in a federal court, correct?

WRAY: Yes, he plead guilty.

LIEU: The Attorney General at that time in those three cases was Jeff Sessions. Which president nominated Jeff Sessions for Attorney General?

WRAY: President Trump.

LIEU: Which president nominated you for FBI Director?

WRAY: President Trump.

And then Congressman Lieu knocked the proverbial ball out of the ballpark by noting, “What these facts show is we don’t have a two-tiered system of justice. We have one Department of Justice that goes after criminals, regardless of party ideology. It is not the fault of the FBI that Donald Trump surrounded himself with criminals. Donald Trump brought that down upon himself. Thank you for exposing the cesspool of corruption of these Trump associates.”

Boom! That’s how you shut down Republicans: With irrefutable facts.

Categories
Congress GOP Justice Department

WATCH: Jim Jordan’s ‘Weaponization’ Witness Gets Humiliated When Asked About His Revoked Security Clearance

This hasn’t been a very good day for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Jordan’s committee held a hearing this morning regarding the so-called “weaponization” of the Justice Department against failed and indicted former president Donald Trump, and his first “whistleblower” was quickly discredited with a line of questioning about why he lost his security clearance when he worked for the FBI.

The witness/whistleblower, Steve Friend, who served as an agent in the Miami FBI office was asked by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), “You … claim that your top secret security clearance was improperly revoked. Yet an independent investigation concluded that you demonstrated a number of security concerns, which included that you refused to execute a court-ordered arrest warrant, and when you downloaded documents from intelligence systems to an unauthorized removable flash drive.”

Friend said nothing, so Wasserman Schultz continued:

“The cherry on top could be your unauthorized recording of executive management, which, as I’m sure you know, violates Florida law, along with your unsanctioned interviews with Sputnik News, established by the Russian government in 2014 and fully owned by the Kremlin and Putin’s cronies.”

The congresswoman concluded her remarks by noting, “I think it’s clear who is weaponizing government.”

Jordan’s other witness, FBI agent Marcus Allen, also lost his security clearance because he refused to share information with fellow agents regarding January 6 suspects who were under investigation.

It’d be tempting to call Jordan’s bogus hearings a dog and pony show, but that would be an insult to dogs, ponies, and shows.