Thousands upon thousands of media reports over the last year and a half have intimated, suggested, or flat-out asserted that President Donald Trump is a traitor who colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton. What this widely held theory lacks in evidence, its diehard supporters in the media and other anti-Trump bastions make up for with their faith-filled conviction of its truth.
An alternate storyline has been unfolding over that same time. The basic contour is that claims Trump stole the election by treasonously colluding with Russia are the result of a coordinated campaign that was bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee, weaponized by the federal government, and promulgated by a completely compliant media.
This week ABC News reported that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe personally authorized a criminal investigation into Attorney General Jeff Sessions over his alleged ties to Russians. Sessions fired McCabe last week after the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (IG) reported his misconduct to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility. These internal overseers determined McCabe had made unauthorized disclosures to the news media and not been truthful when asked about it on multiple occasions, including when he was under oath. McCabe was long considered one of the bureau leadership’s many leakers while still employed.
This latest leak to ABC News was viewed by many in the media as bad for Sessions. For the people who still cling to the Russia conspiracy theory, this news was proof of that theory.
https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/976551985922142210
For the people who have trouble believing that Jeff Sessions — yes, that Jeff Sessions — is a Russian agent meriting a criminal investigation by the FBI, the second storyline continues to bear fruit.
How In The World Did This Story Get Going?
In January 2017, Sessions was undergoing his confirmation hearings in the midst of the initial Red Panic gripping DC. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) asked Sessions, “Several of the President-elect’s nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?” Sessions responded “No.”
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked him a convoluted question about a brand-new CNN report claiming that Obama intelligence chiefs were taking the Steele dossier extremely seriously. Then-FBI Director James Comey had briefed Trump about the dossier’s salacious claims of compromising information held by Russians shortly before the fact of that briefing was leaked to CNN by a mysterious someone with knowledge of that briefing.
Franken: Now, again, I’m telling you this as it’s coming out, so you know. But if it’s true, it’s obviously extremely serious and if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?
Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions: Senator Franken, I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn’t have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.
We now know the dossier turned out to not only be riddled with errors and falsehoods, but was also an operation of the Clinton campaign. But that was not known when Franken asked his questions about collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Despite Leahy and Franken’s “Russia! Russia! Russia!” questions, Sessions’ answers that he was not a Russian agent seemed to be believable to most of his peers, and he was confirmed on Feb. 8, 2017 as attorney general. But that’s when the promoters of the Russia conspiracy theory made a major push to force Sessions to recuse himself from overseeing any investigations involving Trump or Russia.
Uh oh.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/03/22/giddy-up-doj-admits-they-have-a-grand-jury-empaneled-in-fbi-and-doj-investigation/#more-147287
@another vet: Nice to have the Q rumors confirmed.
@kitt: Sundance almost seems like he has inside info on this. His article a few days ago was spot on when he said the reason the DOJ has been stonewalling releasing information to Congress is because there is a criminal investigation going on and a grand jury has been empaneled.
@another vet: The stock in straight jackets(huggy-me coats) for the left is going to skyrocket. Well past time to sweep out the cobwebs in intelligence depts.
@kitt, #4:
If it does, it’ll be about the only stock that’s headed upward.
Cramer: This decline isn’t about the Fed. It’s about Trump and the elites
@Greg: Cramer is an idiot 80 % of the market is driven by computer AI programs, how is the fit on that huggy-me coat?
It seems to be a common mode of defense for some ranking member of the FBI or DOJ to bring someone under investigation they don’t want to fire them. Without the phony-baloney “investigation” into Russian collusion against Trump, much of this swampy mess would have been cleaned up long ago. As it is (as we have seen) no matter who fires whom, Trump is blamed and accused of obstructing the phony-baloney “investigation”, something not even related. This is why Trump made Comey publicly proclaim he did not have Trump under investigation before he fired his useless ass.
@kitt: They are a certifiable and scary bunch. There are lots of similarities between their way of thinking and doing and the Bolsheviks’. Give them enough power and we’ll be just like the USSR assuming of course the rest of us don’t stop them dead in their tracks.
@another vet: Or like Mexico, where corruption is so deep and widespread that it can probably never be rooted out.