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House Democrats' Counter-Memo Released, Alleging Major Factual Inaccuracies (vox.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader Rei writes: Three weeks ago, on a party-line vote, the U.S. House Intelligence Committee voted to release a memo from committee chair and Trump transition team member Devin Nunes. The "Nunes Memo" alleged missteps by the FBI in seeking a FISA warrant against Trump aide Carter Page; a corresponding Democratic rebuttal memo was first blocked from simultaneous release by the committee, and subsequently the White House. Tonight, it has finally been released.
Among its many counterclaims: the Steele Dossier, only received in September, did not initiate surveilance of Page which began in July; the Steele dossier was only one, minor component of the FISA application, and only concerning Page's Moscow meetings; Steele's funding source and termination was disclosed in the application; and a number of other "distortions and misrepresentations that are contradicted by the underlying classified documents". Perhaps most seriously, it accuses Nunes of having never read the FISA application which his memo criticized.
Vox argues the memo proves that no one was misled when the surveillance was authorized. "The FBI clearly states right there in the FISA application that they believe Steele was hired to find dirt on Trump... After the Schiff memo was released on Saturday, House Republicans released a document rebutting its core claims. Their response to this damning citation is -- and I am not making this up -- that the vital line in which the FBI discloses the information about Steele was 'buried in a footnote.'"
Among its many counterclaims: the Steele Dossier, only received in September, did not initiate surveilance of Page which began in July; the Steele dossier was only one, minor component of the FISA application, and only concerning Page's Moscow meetings; Steele's funding source and termination was disclosed in the application; and a number of other "distortions and misrepresentations that are contradicted by the underlying classified documents". Perhaps most seriously, it accuses Nunes of having never read the FISA application which his memo criticized.
Vox argues the memo proves that no one was misled when the surveillance was authorized. "The FBI clearly states right there in the FISA application that they believe Steele was hired to find dirt on Trump... After the Schiff memo was released on Saturday, House Republicans released a document rebutting its core claims. Their response to this damning citation is -- and I am not making this up -- that the vital line in which the FBI discloses the information about Steele was 'buried in a footnote.'"
Political mudslinging is news for nerds now.
Just go to Gizmodo.com if you don't believe me. For a tech blog it seems like every other blog post is a "I Hate Donald Trump" Story,
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
and do more actual policy. The right wing corporate Dems seem to be trying to use this to try and win voters back without actually implementing populist policy (Medicare for All, universal college, a New New Deal, $15 min wage, ending the 8 wars, etc, etc). It's not going to work. Maybe if they were as good a fearmongering as the Republicans are, but they're not. Instead we're gonna get another 4 years of Trump + Republican Congress. Probably another big market crash out of all the deregulation that's going on right now.
Trump won for two reasons. First, Hilary took victory for granted and didn't campaign in the swing states (she always was an arrogant bitch). But moreoever Trump ran as a left wing populist. He promised Health Care for all, Jobs for all, good pay for all. He promised the government wouldn't just stand idle while the working class got slapped around by the Invisible Hand. Sure, he lied through his teeth. But when your opponent promised basically nothing, well, like the man said, what have you got to lose?
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None of which is about Collusion with Russia to affect the election.
5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
Neither of those things is true. Flynn's guilty plea is still there and in force, and the new judge on the Flynn case has clarified his request and completely debunked the news that turned up in the alt-right media last week.
You are welcome on my lawn.
The 'Nunes didn't read FISA application' is fucking RED HERRING from HELL. Trey Gowdy WROTE the FUCKING thing and GOP has been clear on this since the start.
Could you elaborate on what "abuses" have been found while spying on the guy who bragged about, and I quote, "serv[ing] as an informal advisor to the staff of the Kremlin", and who had previously been caught up in a Russian spy ring?
You know who Manafort was working for when he did all that dodgy Ukranian shit? The Podesta Group! That's right, the same one! You can't make this shit up, people. Here's the smoking gun. Manafort was campaign manager for a couple of months because he had convention experience. The Podesta Group was hired by Paul Manafort on behalf of foreign clients because the company was perceived to have a direct line to powerful politicians, like Hillary Clinton.
The chairman of one major presidential campaign colluded with a brother of the *other* major presidential campaign chairman to enrich themselves by secretly advancing the interests of a foreign adversary. That happened. That's "the swamp" everyone is saying needs to be drained.
I mean, it's just amusing. After MILLIONS spent, the primary focus of Mueller's investigation has NOTHING to do with Trump/Russia collusion! Mueller is doing offshore wires done by Manafort in 2012 and 2013. I thought this was supposed to be about the 2016 election?
If the FBI knew that Manafort was a Ukranian money launderer in 2014, why wouldn't they tell Trump unless they were going to blackmail him with that information?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
That's the sad part about this whole thing: this is the Legislative branch, exercising its oversight of the FISA court which it established. They found abuses; they are now addressing those abuses. That the Executive branch is resisting tooth and nail and telling the Legislative branch that they are not under democratic control, that is the real scandal here. The attitude seems to be, "We'll do whatever the hell we want, and if you try to tell us no, we have six ways from Sunday of getting back at you."
I can't see a single thing in that reply that merits inclusion on a "news for nerds" tech site, or in the original article for that matter.
The dossier was initiated and paid for by Republicans as part of their opposition research. After Trump won the nomination Republicans dropped it. Then Democrats started funding it as part of their opposition research. Digging up dirt on your opponent normal and unremarkable. The results of that research were the only thing noteworthy.
Vox was founded by Markos (Kos) Moulitsas, it has no credibility as a news outlet. It lives down in the mud with Huff Post and USA Today.
The DNC/Clinton machine paid for the Steele Dossier which was used as justification for FISA warrant to spy on the opposition campaign.
It was used as a supporting piece of evidence, not the entire basis for the warrant request.
Hillary masked her purchase through two legal proxies (one of whom pled the fifth in a deposition) and hired a foreign spy as part of gathering the intel.
A foreign spy as in a formally recognized British expert in Russian affairs? Maybe she should have hired some guy named Curveball?
This is big stuff, Watergate big, I mean using Oppo Research to spy on people in the middle of an election. Watergate was just a third-rate burglary. This is 50 times what that was.
Bullshit.
Nothing about this warrant allowed for the spying of the Trump campaign and I would appreciate it if you would stop making shit up. As to this being worse than Watergate, it's pretty obvious that you have no idea what you're talking about. Watergate wasn't a "third-rate burglary" it was a clandestine operation meant to steal the opposition's plans as well as bug the Democratic Party's headquarters - but if you need to bend the facts to make your case, the truth isn't going to stop you.
This is no longer some pie-in-the-sky conspiracy. There is massive evidence, including statements from the co-conspirators, that highlights this exact operation in detail.
And yet, you supply nothing to support this conspiracy theory. Imagine that!
It is almost certain that the FBI used the dossier to get FISA court warrants to spy on Trump associates, meaning it used the opposition research of the party in power to convince a court to let it spy on the candidate of the other party - likely without telling the court of the dossier's political link.
More bullshit.
It not almost certain or any other kind of certain that this warrant was used to spy on the Trump campaign. The truth is, once Flynn was caught speaking to the Russian ambassador and discussing a quid pro quo deal, tapping the Trump phone lines became a legal and responsible action for law enforcement to take.
This goes well beyond basic criminality. We're getting into serious sedition, high crimes, and treason territory here.
Agreed, once Flynn promised the Russians he would get the sanctions lifted in return, for (what did he get again?) we passed the threshold to hit sedition, high crimes, and treason. Making a deal with the "Empire of evil" to influence an American election is treason of the highest order.
The FBI and NSA aren't "accidentally losing" hundreds of text messages and emails because nothing is at stake.
Keep flinging the bullshit, comrade, none of it is sticking to the wall. Even better, Mueller is closing the noose.
Did you know Manafort worked for the Podesta Group in helping seal up the Uranium One deal, and the Podestas worked directly with the Russian government to do it?
How about we let the liberals at Fox News explain the Uranium One deal to you before you embarrass yourself any further.
Negative, that is fake news. Fusion GPS was contacted by a GOP member (Washington Free Beacon) for opposition research. The Steele Dossier was separate. There were two separate work contracts for Fusion GPS. The media / DNC are pushing that narrative, but it's flat out wrong. The GOP didn't ask for the Steele Dossier, they asked for separate Opposition Research. The DNC / HRC campaign started the Steele Dossier.
Robert Mueller found such strong evidence of Trump colluding with Russia that he decided to chase down a couple of tax evaders instead. Fun fact: you know who wrote the infamous WMD memo that got us into the Iraq War? Robert Mueller. Yup, the same one. The smoking gun here.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Steele Dossier which was used as justification for FISA warrant to spy on the opposition campaign
As has been publish widely but you choose to ignore, there was other justification, specifically George Papadopoulos's drunken leak and the fact that carter page himself bragging that he was an advisor to the Kremlin.
It would be a dereliction of duty for the FBI to not spy on a political campaign that is a riddled with Russian intermediaries as this one. We don't even have all the facts yet and we've had 3 people plead guilty to lying to the FBI about these Russian contacts, including the deputy campaign chairman and the man who became the national security advisor. The campaign chairman is up to his eyeballs in debt to a Russian oligarch.
However, there may be something to this Uranium one thing, we'll see.
Also, I believe they found those missing texts.
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You are welcome on my lawn.