Deep State
July 22, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Real Clear Investigations reports that Inspector General Michael Horowitz will say in his upcoming report that, although James Comey told President Trump he was not a target in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, Comey had actually been spying on Trump to see if the president was colluding with Russia. If an Obama-appointed Justice Department official so concludes after a lengthy investigation, it will be devastating for
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May 23, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
From the White House comes this announcement: Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election. The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established
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May 21, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Eventually the “holier than thou” find themselves at loggerheads with the rest of the world. Call it the revenge of the “thous.” In James Comey’s mind, no one is as holy as he is. People he used to respect, like Rod Rosenstein and William Barr, certainly aren’t. President Trump ate their souls. Comey admits the same thing nearly happened to him, but he was holy enough to pull back from
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April 9, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
James Baker is the former general counsel of the FBI. Last October, he was interviewed by members of the House about the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the election and related matters. Rep. Doug Collins has just released a transcript of the interview. Baker testified about the idea of Rod Rosenstein possibly wearing a wire to record President Trump, a matter that has received much attention. In addition, he
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February 16, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Mark Penn puts the greatest scandal of Obama administration officials — the greatest political scandal in our history — this way: The most egregious anti-democratic actions ever taken by the what can now fairly be called the Deep State are confirmed with the publication of fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s new book detailing how the FBI and Justice Department plotted to remove President Trump from office for firing FBI
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January 11, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The New York Times reports that “in the days after President Trump fired James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests.” The Times cites “former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.” They say the FBI investigation ended when Robert Mueller was appointed. If
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September 21, 2018 — Steven Hayward
As if we didn’t have enough explosive material flying around this week, the New York Times has just posted the following story: Rosenstein Suggested He Secretly Record Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment By Adam Goldman and Michael Schmidt WASHINGTON — The deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, suggested last year that he secretly record President Trump in the White House to expose the chaos consuming the administration, and he discussed
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August 26, 2018 — John Hinderaker
Under the Constitution, the President exercises all executive authority. But we do not live under the government that is described in the Constitution. We live in a society that is dominated by the Fourth Branch of government, the unelected bureaucracy that is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution. And the Fourth Branch is increasingly declaring its independence from the elected officials to whom it ostensibly reports–that is to say, from the
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June 19, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
The FBI reportedly escorted Peter Strzok out of its building today. Strzok remains an FBI employee, pending the outcome of a disciplinary review. That’s as it should be. Strzok shouldn’t be fired without due process. However, I’m not sure why it took so long to kick him out of the building. His email messages, on their face, should have been sufficient to have him placed him on administrative leave (or
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June 17, 2018 — Steven Hayward
Concerning the Inspector General’s report about the FBI’s conduct of the Hillary email investigation, let’s take a step back from the details and offer a few observations on the wider scene. 1. We may have abolished monarchy in America way back in 1776, but it seems we haven’t quite rid ourselves of royal prerogative. Then-FBI director James Comey took it upon himself to decide not to apply consistent procedure in conducting
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May 30, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
In an interview on CBS, Rep. Trey Gowdy poured cold water on claims that the FBI behaved improperly towards the Trump campaign in 2016. Gowdy, who attended a classified briefing last week about the use of an FBI informant to gather information from individuals in the Trump campaign, said: I think the FBI, if they were at the table this morning, they would tell you that Russia was the target
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May 27, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden can’t stand President Trump. Lots of good people can’t. But Hayden is intellectually honest enough to reject James Clapper’s claim that there’s “no doubt” Russian meddling swung the election in favor of Trump. Hayden says it’s “unknowable” whether the Russians influenced the election to that extent. He also criticized Clapper for making his claim. “We should stop talking about it,” Hayden admonished. “Donald Trump is
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May 24, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
In his new book, James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, says “of course” Russian activity swung the election to Donald Trump. The left is treating this speculation, almost certainly driven by animus towards President Trump, as immensely important. For example, Rachel Maddow said, ahead of her interview with Clapper: “The immediate past director of national intelligence, who was director of national intelligence during the Russian attack on the
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May 22, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
I believe most Power Line readers know the story of how the infamous anti-Trump dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, and in particular its most salacious contents, found its way into the mainstream media. To recap, CNN had the dossier in late 2016 and was looking for an excuse (a hook) to report on its most salacious contents, even though they had not been verified. On January 6, James Comey briefed
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May 20, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Glenn Greenwald, a leftist, offers his perspective on the man the FBI selected to spy on the Trump campaign and on the brouhaha surrounding his “outing.” First, Greenwald says that this man, now a professor, was responsible for spying on the Carter administration on behalf of Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign in 1980. He did this, by running a scheme whereby CIA operatives passed classified information about Carter’s foreign policy to
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May 20, 2018 — John Hinderaker
An hour or two ago, President Trump announced that he is ordering the Department of Justice to investigate the FBI/CIA cabal against him: I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration! —
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April 27, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Neither of the two Obama-era intelligence chiefs turned Trump resisters — John Brennan nor James Clapper — is anyone’s idea of a luminary. Of the two, though, Clapper seems the more intelligent, the more clever, and thus the more dangerous. Sean Davis’ report, cited by Scott earlier today, that Clapper leaked the anti-Trump dossier to CNN and then lied about it demonstrates the point. Clapper testified before the House Intelligence
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