Liberal Forum

“On the question of the Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians here, there’s smoke, but there’s no fire at all,” Morell admitted, adding, “There’s no little campfire; there’s no little candle; there’s no spark. And there’s a lot of people looking for it.”

Regarding the so-called ‘Dirty Dossier’ on Trump produced by British intelligence veteran Christopher Steele that was published by Buzzfeed and CNN in December last year, Morell admitted that Steele had paid his sources, which probably meant they were compromised or exaggerated.

The dossier “doesn’t take you anywhere, I don’t think,” he frankly confessed. Of course, last August, Morell was much more accusatory toward then-candidate Trump, saying then, “In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”

But perhaps Morell is taking a new cue from his former boss, ex-Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper, who declared on NBC’s Meet the Press that regarding Trump and Russia, “we had no evidence of such collusion.”

This statement is all the more remarkable coming from a man who’s known for prevarication if it can politically benefit him. It should be noted that Morell left the CIA in 2013 (despite remaining very tightly connected to it), while Clapper was Obama’s DNI until January 20 of this year.

Officially, the Senate is still conducting an inquiry into Trump’s possible ties to Russia, and an article in Buzzfeed observed, “There’s a tangible frustration over what one official called ‘wildly inflated’ expectations surrounding the panel’s fledgling investigation… Several committee sources grudgingly say, it feels as though the investigation will be seen as a sham if the Senate doesn’t find a silver bullet connecting Trump and Russian intelligence operatives.”

One Democratic committee member confessed to Buzzfeed, “I don’t think the [committee’s] conclusions are going to meet people’s expectations.” Yet, those expectations are still incredibly desirous that something significant will be found.

 

Ben Smith, Buzzfeed’s editor-in-chief stated that the demand for incriminating evidence “is so strong that Twitter and cable news are full of the theories of what my colleague Charlie Warzel calls the Blue Detectives — the Left’s new version of Glenn Beck, digital blackboards full of lines and arrows. It’s a simple fact that while news of Russian actions on Trump’s behalf is clear, hard details of coordination between his aides and Putin’s haven’t emerged.”

In their rush to smear Republicans, Democrats have been throwing mud at many Trump cabinet appointees and nominees by labeling them Putin lovers or Kremlin agents. Trump’s first National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn was forced to resign over phone contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions was accused of lying to Congress about meeting with Kislyak.

Very recently, John Podesta’s Center for American Progress (CAP) think tank claimed there’s a “Fifth Column” of Russian operatives helping to organize sympathy for Russia in Europe via far-right political parties, and that in turn, this will help bring the Trump administration closer to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

CAP wrote on its website that Trump or Flynn met with far-right European leaders such as France’s Marine Le Pen and Austria’s Heinz-Christian Strache in New York City, despite the Trump administration strongly denying any such meetings took place (Le Pen was filmed entering Trump Tower in January of this year, but there was no evidence of a meeting with Trump).

CAP also has called out Trump’s Chief Strategist Steve Bannon’s former website Breitbart News as having promoted right-wing European nationalist parties such as France’s National Front, Austria’s FPO, Germany’s AfD, Britain’s UKIP, Italy’s Northern League and the Netherlands’ PVV. But as the CIA’s Morell says, this is just smoke, without any proof of a fire.

As Glenn Greenwald writes, “Many Democrats have reached the classic stage of deranged conspiracists wherein evidence that disproves the theory is viewed as further proof of its existence, and those pointing to it are instantly deemed suspect.”

In fact, even Buzzfeed compared Democratic conspiracy-seekers to the followers of Infowars’ Alex Jones and seemed to mock their theories with a flashy infographic showing ties between Trump, his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, and people and organizations in Russia and Ukraine.

In perhaps the ultimate admission that the collusion stories are based on whole cloth, on March 20, FBI Director James Comey testified to the House Intelligence Committee that as of August or September of last year, “[the Russians] concluded based on the polling that a lot of people were reading that Mr. Trump didn’t stand a chance [of winning the presidential election].”

 
 

During the hearing, Trump himself tweeted that “The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence the electoral process.” When Democratic Representative Jim Hines of Connecticut brought up this tweet in near-real-time to Director Comey, Comey denied that the FBI was making a statement one way or the other regarding Russian influence on the election’s outcome and claimed his bureau’s investigation was still “ongoing,” despite no hard facts whatsoever being presented in the hearing.

Later the same day, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh asserted that while no new information was presented, Comey’s “ongoing investigation” talk may be a pre-emptive notice to Trump to cease his efforts to “drain the bureaucratic swamp” in Washington, lest he tempt efforts by Congressional lawmakers — on both sides of the aisle — to impeach him. According to Limbaugh, a political message has been sent: “you either straighten up and fly right, or you’re gone.”

It will be interesting to see how this game of Spy vs. Spy will play out in the coming months, but for now, it appears the Democrats are simply blowing smoke from their own ten-cent cigars.

https://www.americanlibertyemail.com/ar ... e-finally/

 
 

Blackvegetable » 15 Dec 2021, 12:47 pm » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 12:47 pm

Str8tEdge » 15 Dec 2021, 1:35 am » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 1:35 am

FISA court slams FBI conduct in Carter Page surveillance warrant applications

Washington CNN —
The typically ultra-close-lipped Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court slammed the FBI for mistakes it made in the Carter Page surveillance warrants and ordered the agency to detail how it will improve its warrant applications in light of the errors, uncovered recently by the Justice Department’s inspector general.

The order is a startling departure from the court’s typical comprehensive secrecy as it reviews from federal investigators requests for warrants related to foreign intelligence.

The public statement on Tuesday from its presiding judge appears to nod to growing criticism that the warrant-application process has become lax or lacks transparency. Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have sought more public disclosure of the court’s actions to prevent the abuse of Americans’ rights for years, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, last week said he believed the court should be reformed in light of the inspector general report.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/politics ... index.html

Irrelevant.

Addressed.
 

 

A former FBI lawyer was sentenced Friday to probation, avoiding a prison sentence, for falsifying a claim made to sustain government surveillance on a key figure in the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

And:

The Justice Department's inspector general found that when Clinesmith was working in the FBI's Office of General Counsel, he altered an e-mail about Page so that it said he was "not a source" for another U.S. intelligence agency. Page has publicly said that he was a source for the CIA, which would provide an innocent explanation for his Russian contacts.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justic ... n-n1256179

Lawyers don't get convicted and have the license suspended for irrelevant actions. 

Huey » 15 Dec 2021, 1:10 pm » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 1:10 pm

A former FBI lawyer was sentenced Friday to probation, avoiding a prison sentence, for falsifying a claim made to sustain government surveillance on a key figure in the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

And:

The Justice Department's inspector general found that when Clinesmith was working in the FBI's Office of General Counsel, he altered an e-mail about Page so that it said he was "not a source" for another U.S. intelligence agency. Page has publicly said that he was a source for the CIA, which would provide an innocent explanation for his Russian contacts.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justic ... n-n1256179

Lawyers don't get convicted and have the license suspended for irrelevant actions.

You’d think the fact they lied about the entire origins of the Trump Russian collusion would be enough evidence to prove if never actually happened but.   These idiots are indoctrinated like what you see in sci fi movies. 
 

Str8tEdge » 15 Dec 2021, 6:14 pm » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 6:14 pm

You’d think the fact they lied about the entire origins of the Trump Russian collusion would be enough evidence to prove if never actually happened but.   These idiots are indoctrinated like what you see in sci fi movies.

in bV the morons mind he is never wrong.

Omicron420 » 14 Dec 2021, 3:38 pm » wrote: ↑

14 Dec 2021, 3:38 pm

yeah...kind like begging for credibility isn't it?
 

Huey » 15 Dec 2021, 6:28 pm » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 6:28 pm

in bV the morons mind he is never wrong.

Nope. We knew Trump Russian collusion was made up by the Hillary campaign years ago. 

https://thefederalist.com/2021/11/17/em ... nti-trump/

Long read but a good read . Something @Blackvegetable  would immediately attack as false news…

Str8tEdge » 15 Dec 2021, 6:41 pm » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 6:41 pm

Nope. We knew Trump Russian collusion was made up by the Hillary campaign years ago. 

https://thefederalist.com/2021/11/17/em ... nti-trump/

Long read but a good read . Something @Blackvegetable  would immediately attack as false news…

I gotta take my hat off to you for wasting so much of your personal time explaining the truth to a PATHOLOGICAL LIAR SUCH AS BLACK VEG.....
I understand you felt compelled / challenged to  bring forth all the evidence once again..but realize how that same amount of time could have been better spent trying to teach trigonometry  to a sack full of  hammers....  

 
 

GHETTOBLASTER » 15 Dec 2021, 6:49 pm » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 6:49 pm

I gotta take my hat off to you for wasting so much of your personal time explaining the truth to a PATHOLOGICAL LIAR SUCH AS BLACK VEG.....
I understand you felt compelled / challenged to  bring forth all the evidence once again..but realize how that same amount of time could have been better spent trying to teach trigonometry  to a sack full of  hammers....  

Explain how you aren't a holocaust denier.

Blackvegetable » 14 Dec 2021, 2:42 pm » wrote: ↑

14 Dec 2021, 2:42 pm

Once more, for the hearing impaired...

No narratives!

All assertions must be supported by citations!

I cite the results of the Mueller investigation...you stupid ****!     
 

Blackvegetable » 15 Dec 2021, 6:43 pm » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 6:43 pm

Covered.

**** idiot.

Not covered fiucking loser!  It happened, you fIucking lose all around ******,
 

Str8tEdge » 15 Dec 2021, 1:31 am » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 1:31 am

https://nypost.com/2019/12/11/ig-report ... pt-devine/

IG report shows Russia hoax a coup attempt: Devine
By Miranda Devine
December 11, 2019 10:34pm Updated

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz
AFP via Getty Images
Miranda Devine
MORE FROM:
MIRANDA DEVINE
Ron DeSantis fights back against Biden illegal immigrant flights: Devine
Thank goodness for these ‘right’ thinking Gen Z saviors: Devine
Laughs have run out for these vile Cuomo bros: Devine
Joe Biden was involved in a deal with a Chinese giant — and was expecting a 10 percent cut
Media helped hide the real Joe Biden by censoring Hunter stories: Devine
Inspector General Michael Horowitz finally damned the FBI during his testimony Wednesday when he said he would be “skeptical” that there was anything accidental in the egregious catalog of errors the bureau committed in its spying operation on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

It took five hours of questioning about the FBI’s motivations, but Horowitz, prudent and impartial as he is, finally delivered the money shot.

Asked by Republican Sen. Mike Crapo if the 17 “significant errors or omissions” he found in the FBI’s surveillance operation could possibly be “accidental,” Horowitz said: “I would be skeptical.”

He went on to explain that “the answers we got were not satisfactory [so] we’re left trying to understand how could all these errors have occurred over a nine-month period on three teams hand-picked, on … the highest-profile case of the FBI, going to the very top of the organization, involving a presidential campaign.”

Horowitz described the conduct of the FBI as “inexplicable” when its operatives bent the rules to try to prove Trump’s campaign was colluding with Russia.

But sadly, the FBI’s conduct is all too explicable. It can be explained by the proven anti-Trump bias of its personnel, hand-picked to run Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI operation to spy on the Trump campaign using salacious opposition research paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Horowitz’s testimony confirms suspicions that the Russia-collusion hoax amounted to an attempted coup against Trump and laid the groundwork for impeachment.

To say the actions of the FBI are inexplicable is to say they don’t have a reasonable explanation for how they conducted their business. 

“Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday to get back at you. So, even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he is being really dumb to do this,” Schumer said in a Jan. 3 MSNBC interview.

Str8tEdge » 15 Dec 2021, 1:31 am » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 1:31 am

https://nypost.com/2019/12/11/ig-report ... pt-devine/

IG report shows Russia hoax a coup attempt: Devine
By Miranda Devine
December 11, 2019 10:34pm Updated

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz
AFP via Getty Images
Miranda Devine
MORE FROM:
MIRANDA DEVINE
Ron DeSantis fights back against Biden illegal immigrant flights: Devine
Thank goodness for these ‘right’ thinking Gen Z saviors: Devine
Laughs have run out for these vile Cuomo bros: Devine
Joe Biden was involved in a deal with a Chinese giant — and was expecting a 10 percent cut
Media helped hide the real Joe Biden by censoring Hunter stories: Devine
Inspector General Michael Horowitz finally damned the FBI during his testimony Wednesday when he said he would be “skeptical” that there was anything accidental in the egregious catalog of errors the bureau committed in its spying operation on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

It took five hours of questioning about the FBI’s motivations, but Horowitz, prudent and impartial as he is, finally delivered the money shot.

Asked by Republican Sen. Mike Crapo if the 17 “significant errors or omissions” he found in the FBI’s surveillance operation could possibly be “accidental,” Horowitz said: “I would be skeptical.”

He went on to explain that “the answers we got were not satisfactory [so] we’re left trying to understand how could all these errors have occurred over a nine-month period on three teams hand-picked, on … the highest-profile case of the FBI, going to the very top of the organization, involving a presidential campaign.”

Horowitz described the conduct of the FBI as “inexplicable” when its operatives bent the rules to try to prove Trump’s campaign was colluding with Russia.

But sadly, the FBI’s conduct is all too explicable. It can be explained by the proven anti-Trump bias of its personnel, hand-picked to run Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI operation to spy on the Trump campaign using salacious opposition research paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Horowitz’s testimony confirms suspicions that the Russia-collusion hoax amounted to an attempted coup against Trump and laid the groundwork for impeachment.

By inexplicable, he either means they’ve not been asked or wouldn’t answer. Which do you imagine it to be?

Remember…
“Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday to get back at you. So, even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he is being really dumb to do this,” Schumer said in a Jan. 3 MSNBC interview.

Blackvegetable » 14 Dec 2021, 2:25 pm » wrote: ↑

14 Dec 2021, 2:25 pm

No narratives..

All assertions must be supported by citations.

Isn’t on you to provide evidence that there is a there, there? You’re asking us to prove a negative.
 

Blackvegetable » 15 Dec 2021, 8:41 pm » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 8:41 pm

As to Russia, the report leaves no doubt: In 2020, as in 2016, “President Putin authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations” to help Trump and hurt his Democratic opponent. For example, “Shortly after the 2018 midterm elections, Russian intelligence cyber actors attempted to hack organizations primarily affiliated with the Democratic Party.” Then, in late 2019, Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, “conducted a phishing campaign against subsidiaries of Burisma holdings, likely in an attempt to gather information related to President Biden’s family.” Throughout the 2020 election, agents “connected to the Russian Federal Security Service,” FSB, planted negative stories about Biden. Internet operatives working for the Kremlin, including the troll farm that had boosted Trump in 2016, continued to promote “Trump and his commentary, including repeating his political messaging.”Attacks on Biden and his son, Hunter, were part of this operation.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/202 ... report.amp

No bias in that report.  
 

Blackvegetable » 15 Dec 2021, 8:43 pm » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 8:43 pm

Trump also helped Putin discredit American democracy. That was a major goal of Russia’s 2016 and 2020 operations, the report explains: “Throughout the election, Russia’s online influence actors sought to amplify mistrust in the electoral process by denigrating mail-in ballots, highlighting alleged irregularities, and accusing the Democratic Party of voter fraud.” Trump peddled the same fears. After the election, as “Russian online influence actors continued to promote narratives questioning the election results,” Trump duplicated that message. Russia’s agents also hyped “allegations of social media censorship,” as Trump did.

Ibid.

You’re a idiot, Beavis.
 
 

Str8tEdge » 15 Dec 2021, 1:31 am » wrote: ↑

15 Dec 2021, 1:31 am

https://nypost.com/2019/12/11/ig-report ... pt-devine/

IG report shows Russia hoax a coup attempt: Devine
By Miranda Devine
December 11, 2019 10:34pm Updated

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz
AFP via Getty Images
Miranda Devine
MORE FROM:
MIRANDA DEVINE
Ron DeSantis fights back against Biden illegal immigrant flights: Devine
Thank goodness for these ‘right’ thinking Gen Z saviors: Devine
Laughs have run out for these vile Cuomo bros: Devine
Joe Biden was involved in a deal with a Chinese giant — and was expecting a 10 percent cut
Media helped hide the real Joe Biden by censoring Hunter stories: Devine
Inspector General Michael Horowitz finally damned the FBI during his testimony Wednesday when he said he would be “skeptical” that there was anything accidental in the egregious catalog of errors the bureau committed in its spying operation on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

It took five hours of questioning about the FBI’s motivations, but Horowitz, prudent and impartial as he is, finally delivered the money shot.

Asked by Republican Sen. Mike Crapo if the 17 “significant errors or omissions” he found in the FBI’s surveillance operation could possibly be “accidental,” Horowitz said: “I would be skeptical.”

He went on to explain that “the answers we got were not satisfactory [so] we’re left trying to understand how could all these errors have occurred over a nine-month period on three teams hand-picked, on … the highest-profile case of the FBI, going to the very top of the organization, involving a presidential campaign.”

Horowitz described the conduct of the FBI as “inexplicable” when its operatives bent the rules to try to prove Trump’s campaign was colluding with Russia.

But sadly, the FBI’s conduct is all too explicable. It can be explained by the proven anti-Trump bias of its personnel, hand-picked to run Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI operation to spy on the Trump campaign using salacious opposition research paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Horowitz’s testimony confirms suspicions that the Russia-collusion hoax amounted to an attempted coup against Trump and laid the groundwork for impeachment.

I don't understand the idea anything is "inexplicable." The FBI was either incompetent or corrupt. Neither should set well with the public.

Blackvegetable » 14 Dec 2021, 2:25 pm » wrote: ↑

14 Dec 2021, 2:25 pm

No narratives..

All assertions must be supported by citations.

 

Why is PG needed on this thread?  LMAO!

Blackvegetable » 14 Dec 2021, 3:35 pm » wrote: ↑

14 Dec 2021, 3:35 pm

That Grifty is a Russian stooge is confirmed by intelligence agencies, ours and theirs, as well as Grifty's shifty behavior. 

Putin's KGB... FSB.. confirmed that Trump was the orange Manchurian candidate.. lol...

Are these your words?

All assertions must be supported by citations.