Liberal Forum

Misty » 31 Oct 2016 9:03 pm » wrote:Former Bush Ethics Lawyer Files Complaint Accusing FBI Director of Violating Hatch Act

The former chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House (but now Hillary Clinton supporter) has filed an ethics complaint against FBI Director James Comey over the letter he sent to lawmakers on Friday.

Richard Painter worked in the White House Counsel’s office between 2005 and 2007, serving as the chief ethics lawyer for then-President Bush 43.

On Sunday, Painter penned an op-ed in The New York Times explaining his decision to file an ethics complaint against the FBI Director.

“The F.B.I.’s job is to investigate, not to influence the outcome of an election,” Painter wrote in the op-ed.

“And that is why, on Saturday, I filed a complaint against the F.B.I. with the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations, and with the Office of Government Ethics.

Misty » 11 May 2017 4:41 pm » wrote: Decide away, but like I said, if you think that something is spam, then report it.
Don't copy and paste it into another thread.
That would mean that you are only re-spamming what you believe is spam.
How many times do I have to tell you that name does not suit me?
There is absolutely nothing butchy about me.
Unless you count my 12 inch dick and my huge hairy ballsack.

So what do you think Huey?
Is that spam?

Huey » 11 May 2017 4:45 pm » wrote:You tell me if it is spam. It is YOUR post.

Termin8tor » 11 May 2017 3:07 pm » wrote:It's absolutely despicable that people lie and smear a sitting president with false accusations.
Like you have done for months.
Psycho.

Comey’s associates: It’s “farcical” to think he would have told Trump that he wasn’t a subject of the investigation.

Trump said in his “you’re fired” letter that Comey had told him three times that he wasn’t under investigation in the Russiagate probe.

He repeated that claim in today’s interview with NBC.

Nonsense, say Comey’s allies.

Those close to Mr. Comey said he was blindsided by his dismissal, which he saw on TV while at a law-enforcement event in Los Angeles.

He was hurt that after years of service, he didn’t receive a courtesy call from the White House, a close associate said, and initially thought the television reports were part of an elaborate joke.

The White House said it was following protocol in delivering the dismissal letter by hand to his Washington office.

Mr. Comey’s associates also denied the claim made by Mr. Trump, in his letter firing Mr. Comey, that the director told him on three occasions that he wasn’t under investigation.

They said Mr. Comey never gave Mr. Trump any such guidance, which would violate longstanding policies on criminal investigations.

“That is literally farcical,” said one associate.

White House: Comey committed 'atrocities' during his time as FBI director.

White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Wednesday that former FBI Director James Comey committed "atrocities" while he led the bureau that she said spurred President Donald Trump to fire him on Tuesday.

Sanders said that although Trump as a candidate had expressed support for Comey's decisions about the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, the letter he received Tuesday from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions outlining "the basic atrocities" Comey committed "in circumventing the chain of command of the Department of Justice" persuaded him to fire Comey.

Trump’s attempt to fix the Comey crisis made it worse.

The president's interview contradicting the explanation his aides have given for the FBI director's firing raised more questions than it answered.

President Donald Trump spent many of the first 48 hours after he fired his FBI director grumbling to friends and associates about his lousy media coverage — and about the shortcomings of his senior aides.

Then, after he went on television himself to give his own, contradictory version of events, he made it even worse.

Speaking to NBC’s Lester Holt, Trump said he’d planned to fire James Comey “regardless” of whether the Department of Justice recommended it, undermining the claims made by his spokesman, vice president and every other senior aide to the contrary.

The president who only a week ago was celebrating the hard-fought passage of health care legislation in the Rose Garden, and who was supposed to spend the week preparing for his first overseas trip — a six-stop tour through the Middle East and Europe — is mired in a crisis that doesn’t seem to be getting better.

Inside the White House, the mood was dour.

Several White House officials said aides who didn’t need to see the president stayed away from the Oval Office — and kept their doors closed.

The president had little on his public schedule and spent several hours talking about the Comey situation, mostly fuming, and even re-tweeted criticism of Comey posted by his longtime nemesis Rosie O’Donnell in December.

Trump did the lengthy interview with Holt even though some on his staff believed it was a bad idea and gave his answers off-the-cuff.

One person who spoke to him said he’d been “fixated” on his news coverage and believed his press team was failing him and that he needed “to take the situation into his own hands.”

The episode highlights two fundamental issues of the Trump presidency: It is often impossible to work for Trump in the White House — and it is often impossible for Trump to be happy with those who work for him.

“They’re hostages,” said longtime political consultant Mark Corallo, who served as Attorney General John Ashcroft’s spokesman under President George W. Bush.

In the span of a dizzying few hours, the president contradicted the vice president and his press secretary, who had maintained for two days that Trump fired Comey because Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested it.

Trump instead said the department was in “turmoil” even though he’d previously offered praise for Comey, even blowing him a kiss.

The president, whose campaign and transition officials remain under the scrutiny of a congressional probe into potential collusion in Russian government's interference in the 2016 election, also added that he had determined that the controversy over Russian election interference was simply a “made-up story.”

Earlier in the day, the acting FBI director contradicted the president and his spokespeople, testifying in the Senate that the investigation into Russian contacts with Trump’s campaign is “highly significant” — though Trump has called for the probe to end immediately and labeled it a taxpayer-funded “charade.”

Trump’s spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in turn, stood at the podium in the White House briefing room and contradicted the acting FBI director, who testified that Comey was well-regarded in the bureau, citing “countless” agents who she said had complained to her about his performance.

Asked what the strategy was to get through the crisis, one senior administration official laughed and asked whether the reporter was “joking.”

This official said aides weren’t as bothered as some might imagine because they had been through so many challenges — from Trump during the campaign saying he grabbed women by the genitals to the now infamous accusations about President Barack Obama ordered a “wire tap” on Trump Tower.

Another White House official said there is a “widespread recognition this was handled terribly but not a real sense that we can do much here.”

This person said Trump remains convinced he made the right decision by firing Comey and that he handled it properly — “maybe even more than two days ago.”

Sanders gave staff members a stern lecture on leaking to the media during a staff meeting Thursday morning, according to several people familiar with the incident, saying it was damaging the White House.

The lecture seemed to take staffers by surprise, said one person present.

“The rules aren’t normal,” said one White House official.

“If you can’t work in that universe, then don’t work here.”

The White House press shop, which Trump has criticized both privately and publicly, has been at the receiving end of most of the criticism.

Trump told aides and outside advisers that the press shop was failing him and he was displeased that “they don’t know how to defend anything,” in the words of one adviser.

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, is also upset with the press operation, according to a close Trump ally.

On the night of the announcement, White House officials were left to scramble.

“It was chaos, there was no direction, no marching orders, no execution, it was like people were having to learn what to do before they could do it.

Instead of knowing what happens in a crisis PR situation, here’s what we’re doing,” said one White House official.

This person noted that Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, had crafted a better message and held a news conference within an hour — while it took White House officials three hours to put surrogates on TV.

Some said the criticism was unfair.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer, for example, learned about the firing within an hour of it occurring — in a meeting with Trump, communications director Michael Dubke, White House Counsel Don McGahn and chief of staff Reince Priebus, according to a person familiar with the matter.

“Trump goes out there and creates a total mess, and then blames others for not being able to fix it,” one adviser said. ”I don’t pity them.”

Spicer declined to comment on the office’s performance.

Trump was pleased in the last two days by Sanders’ performance, two White House officials said.

Sanders, the White House deputy press secretary, was forced to change her planned answers for Thursday’s press briefing just minutes before.

She watched as Trump interviewed with Holt, unsure exactly what he’d say.

Trump admitted that he asked Comey whether he was under investigation at a dinner where Comey made clear he was seeking to keep his job — and the president changed his entire explanation for why he let Comey go, calling him a “showboat.”

“Nobody was in the dark,” Sanders said Thursday, seconds after saying she gave an incorrect answer the day before because she had been in the dark.

The communications crisis followed a familiar pattern in which the president — frustrated by his press team’s flatfooted response — takes charge of the situation himself and, in doing so, undermines the White House message.

One outside adviser said the shifting explanations have made surrogates less willing to go on TV and back the president, for fear of being embarrassed.

White House aides have also been trying to paper over the apparent disorganization of the internal response to Comey’s abrupt firing.

Spicer repeatedly said in a phone call Tuesday night there was no talk of firing Comey before Trump received the Rosenstein letter and said any question to the contrary would impeach the “integrity” of Rosenstein, “who was confirmed 94-6.”

“Have you seen the letter?” Spicer asked, raising his voice and decrying “anonymous sources who don’t know anything.”

He also said that Priebus hadn’t express concerns about the firing, even though several other people close to Trump said that he had.

Spicer missed the briefings Wednesday and Thursday while on Naval Reserve duty, but engaged in a heated argument with The Washington Post’s national editor after the newspaper reported he hid in bushes Tuesday night outside the White House after doing a TV hit to defend Trump’s firing of Comey.

One White House official said Spicer, who is set to return to the podium Friday, seemed more upset about that story than much of the terrible coverage Trump received.

Spicer said late Thursday that The Washington Post “falsely described the situation” and “grossly misstated the situation around our attempt to brief the press.”

A person familiar with the press secretary’s location late Tuesday night said Spicer was standing between or behind bushes, but not physically in a bush.

More than 12 hours after the story ran, Spicer eventually secured an editor’s note.

“Spicer huddled with his staff among bushes near television sets on the White House grounds, not 'in the bushes,' as the story originally stated,” the newspaper wrote.

A spokesperson for The Post said their correction speaks for itself and declined to comment further.

My Dinner With Comey: Current and Former FBI Officials Dispute Trump Account of Meeting With FBI Director

Despite what President Donald Trump said earlier in the day, James Comey did not seek a dinner with the president to retain his job, one current and one former FBI official close to Comey told NBC News Thursday evening.

The January dinner meeting between the two men, the sources said, was requested by the White House.

And the former senior FBI official said Comey would never have told the president he was not under investigation — also contradicting what Trump said.

"He tried to stay away from it [the Russian-ties investigation]," said the former official, who worked closely with Comey and keeps in touch with him.

"He would say, 'look sir, I really can't get into it, and you don't want me to.'"

A current FBI official confirmed that Comey did not request the one-on-one dinner, which happened at the White House a few days after Trump was sworn in.

In an exclusive interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt earlier Thursday, Trump said he believed Comey requested the dinner.

Trump said Comey asked that Trump keep him on as FBI director, and told the president on three occasions that he was not under investigation as part of the FBI's inquiry into Russian election interference.

"The president is not correct," the former official said.

"The White House called him out of the blue.

Comey didn't want to do it.

He didn't even want the rank and file at the FBI to know about it."

But in the end, "He's still the commander in chief.

He's your boss. How do you say no?"

The New York Times first reported Thursday night that Trump demanded during the dinner that Comey declare his loyalty to the president, and that Comey declined.

Comey told Trump he would offer "honesty," The Times reported.

The current and former official could not confirm that account.

But the former official said, "That is exactly how I would expect the director to answer."

The former official, like many current and former FBI officials interviewed by NBC News, said the bureau was reeling from the Comey firing.

Not everyone agreed with each Comey decisions, but he was a popular and well-regarded director, they said.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed Thursday that she had heard from "countless members of the FBI who are grateful for the president's decision."

Current and former FBI agents scoffed at what they termed a ridiculous assertion.

"I doubt five people at the FBI even have the [phone] number of the deputy White House press secretary," the former senior official said.

NBC News reported Thursday that the White House abandoned an initial idea for Trump to visit FBI headquarters, after learning he would not be greeted warmly there.

Termin8tor » 05 May 2017 10:21 am » wrote:
Will is sometimes thoughtful, but on balance he's a squish and a loser.

So who cares?

Misty » 05 May 2017 12:37 pm » wrote:

His home in Bedminster?
I guess he lives on a golf course.

He thinks he's fooling people with that ****.
If he really wanted to save the country money, and not cause a disruption, he would stay in the White House where he is supposed to live.

Mar-a-Lago was the 'winter White House.'
Now that the season is over there, Bedminster is going to be the 'summer White House.'
He treats the White House in DC like it's just a place to crash between golf games.

Termin8tor » 05 May 2017 2:36 pm » wrote:I don't run away, lies little Miss Marxist.

But of course, no answer to this, like she never answers questions.

In A Private Dinner, Trump Demanded Loyalty. Comey Demurred.

WASHINGTON — Only seven days after Donald J. Trump was sworn in as president, James B. Comey has told associates, the F.B.I. director was summoned to the White House for a one-on-one dinner with the new commander in chief.

The conversation that night in January, Mr. Comey now believes, was a harbinger of his downfall this week as head of the F.B.I., according to two people who have heard his account of the dinner.

As they ate, the president and Mr. Comey made small talk about the election and the crowd sizes at Mr. Trump’s rallies.

The president then turned the conversation to whether Mr. Comey would pledge his loyalty to him.

Mr. Comey declined to make that pledge.

Instead, Mr. Comey has recounted to others, he told Mr. Trump that he would always be honest with him, but that he was not “reliable” in the conventional political sense.

The White House says this account is not correct.

And Mr. Trump, in an interview on Thursday with NBC, described a far different dinner conversation with Mr. Comey in which the director asked to have the meeting and the question of loyalty never came up.

It was not clear whether he was talking about the same meal, but they are believed to have had only one dinner together.

By Mr. Comey’s account, his answer to Mr. Trump’s initial question apparently did not satisfy the president, the associates said.

Later in the dinner, Mr. Trump again said to Mr. Comey that he needed his loyalty.

Mr. Comey again replied that he would give him “honesty” and did not pledge his loyalty, according to the account of the conversation.

But Mr. Trump pressed him on whether it would be “honest loyalty.”

“You will have that,” Mr. Comey told his associates he responded.

Throughout his career, Mr. Trump has made loyalty from the people who work for him a key priority, often discharging employees he considers insufficiently reliable.

As described by the two people, the dinner offers a window into Mr. Trump’s approach to the presidency, through Mr. Comey’s eyes.

A businessman and reality television star who never served in public office, Mr. Trump may not have understood that by tradition, F.B.I. directors are not supposed to be political loyalists, which is why Congress in the 1970s passed a law giving them 10-year terms to make them independent of the president.

Mr. Comey described details of his refusal to pledge his loyalty to Mr. Trump to several people close to him on the condition that they not discuss it publicly while he was F.B.I. director.

But now that Mr. Comey has been fired, they felt free to discuss it on the condition of anonymity.

A White House spokeswoman on Thursday disputed the description of the dinner by Mr. Comey’s associates.

“We don’t believe this to be an accurate account,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy press secretary.

“The integrity of our law enforcement agencies and their leadership is of the utmost importance to President Trump.

He would never even suggest the expectation of personal loyalty, only loyalty to our country and its great people.”

At the dinner described by Mr. Trump in his interview with NBC, the conversation with Mr. Comey was quite different.

Mr. Trump told NBC that Mr. Comey requested it to ask to keep his job.

Mr. Trump said he asked the F.B.I. director if he was under investigation, a question that legal experts called highly unusual if not improper.

In Mr. Trump’s telling, Mr. Comey reassured him that he was not.

Mr. Trump did not say whether he asked Mr. Comey for his loyalty.

Asked at Wednesday’s White House news briefing whether loyalty was a factor in picking a new F.B.I. director, Ms. Sanders said Mr. Trump wanted someone who is “loyal to the justice system.”

The dinner described by Mr. Comey’s associates came in the early days of Mr. Trump’s administration, as the F.B.I. was investigating Russian meddling in the election and possible ties to Mr. Trump’s campaign.

That investigation has since gained momentum as investigators have developed new evidence and leads.

Mr. Trump had met Mr. Comey for the first time in January, during the transition, when, along with the intelligence chiefs, the F.B.I. director presented him with evidence of that intervention.

Mr. Comey was tasked by his fellow intelligence directors to also pull Mr. Trump aside and inform him about a secret dossier suggesting that Russia might have collected compromising information about him.

The dinner at which the conversation Mr. Comey related took place was on Jan. 27, almost a month later.

CNN reported on Thursday that Mr. Comey never gave Mr. Trump an assurance of his loyalty.

Mr. Comey’s associates said that the new president requested the dinner he described, and said that he was wary about attending because he did not want to appear too chummy with Mr. Trump, especially amid the Russia investigation.

But Mr. Comey went because he did not believe he could turn down a meeting with the new president.

During the meal, according to the account of the two associates, Mr. Comey tried to explain to Mr. Trump how he saw his role as F.B.I. director.

Mr. Comey told Mr. Trump that the country would be best served by an independent F.B.I. and Justice Department.

In announcing Mr. Comey’s dismissal on Tuesday, the White House released documents from the attorney general and the deputy attorney general that outlined why Mr. Comey should be fired.

Mr. Trump said in the NBC interview, “Regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.”

“In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story,” Mr. Trump said.

Termin8tor » 05 May 2017 3:45 pm » wrote: More bulls*** from a Democrat Talking Point Liar.

I have had limited respect for Will for many, many years, long before Trump. Behind his "thoughtfulness" is an appalling willingness to cave on principle and a refusal to support worthwhile if flawed candidates.

Termin8tor » 05 May 2017 3:45 pm » wrote:But in general I have lost respect for a lot of conservatives who refused to support Trump. Having HRC in office would arguably have destroyed the country for decades, if not forever.

Anyone who didn't see that has very poor foresight.

Termin8tor » 05 May 2017 4:07 pm » wrote:
Without exaggeration, there is truly something wrong with anyone who'd spend hours, years on the internet telling blatant lies.

I cannot wrap my head around that.

Misty » 05 May 2017 4:56 pm » wrote: Expectant parent (includes men)?
WTF?
Being the male partner of a pregnant woman is a pre-existing condition?

Why is erectile dysfunction not on the list?

Misty » 05 May 2017 5:02 pm » wrote:

Huey » 05 May 2017 5:14 pm » wrote: Ya see butch, that is what I do when I am wrong.

Misty » 08 May 2017 1:57 am » wrote:Congratulations to President Obama for receiving the JFK Profile In Courage award.
He is a decent human being who has always conducted himself with grace and dignity.

Termin8tor » 08 May 2017 1:26 pm » wrote:
Other than the many, many, many times he lied through his teeth to American voters.

Is gross dishonesty what you call "grace and dignity?"

Termin8tor » 08 May 2017 1:54 pm » wrote:
I don't do "talking points," liar.

Yates violated her ethical and legal responsibility. That makes her a political hack.