45th President of the United States, Donald Trump (Vol. 12)
Discussion
So Barr used the DOJ as trumps personal weapon against anyone trump wanted, felt slighted by, and we know trump loves retaliation.
Remember back in May 2019
Harris: Has the president or anyone at the WH ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?
Barr: Um.
Harris: Seems you'd remember something like that and be able to tell us.
Barr: Yeah, but I'm trying to grapple with the word suggest.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1403176488753455107
Speaker Pelosi: "The news about the politicization of the Trump Administration Justice Department is harrowing. These actions appear to be yet another egregious assault on our democracy." "I support Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff's call for an investigation."
Schiff: "Trump repeatedly & flagrantly demanded that the Dept. of Justice carry out his political will, and tried to use the Department as a cudgel against his political opponents and members of the media. It is increasingly apparent that those demands did not fall on deaf ears." "More answers are needed, which is why I believe the Inspector General should investigate this and other cases that suggest the weaponization of law enforcement by a corrupt president."
Remember back in May 2019
Harris: Has the president or anyone at the WH ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?
Barr: Um.
Harris: Seems you'd remember something like that and be able to tell us.
Barr: Yeah, but I'm trying to grapple with the word suggest.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1403176488753455107
Speaker Pelosi: "The news about the politicization of the Trump Administration Justice Department is harrowing. These actions appear to be yet another egregious assault on our democracy." "I support Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff's call for an investigation."
Schiff: "Trump repeatedly & flagrantly demanded that the Dept. of Justice carry out his political will, and tried to use the Department as a cudgel against his political opponents and members of the media. It is increasingly apparent that those demands did not fall on deaf ears." "More answers are needed, which is why I believe the Inspector General should investigate this and other cases that suggest the weaponization of law enforcement by a corrupt president."
Fraudit news
Dark money groups tied to Donald Trump’s inner circle and backed by people who have spread baseless claims about the 2020 presidential election appear to be playing a key role in funding an unprecedented review of 2.1m ballots in Arizona.
Republicans in the Arizona state senate, which authorized the inquiry, allocated $150,000 in state funds to pay for it – just a fraction of the projected overall cost, which is still unknown. The state senate had enough money in its operating budget to pay for the investigation, the Arizona Mirror reported in April, but chose not to pay the full price.
Instead, the effort is being paid for by private donors, who remain hidden from the public, according to a review by OpenSecrets and the Guardian. Arizona Republicans and Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based company overseeing the review, have refused to say who is providing the rest of the money.
“It is wholly inappropriate that the Arizona state senate is hiding the mechanisms by which their sanctioned activity is being funded,” said Adrian Fontes, a Democrat who served as the top election official in Maricopa county, the target of the ballot review, until he lost his re-election bid last year. “The lack of transparency there is just grotesque.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/09/ar...
Dark money groups tied to Donald Trump’s inner circle and backed by people who have spread baseless claims about the 2020 presidential election appear to be playing a key role in funding an unprecedented review of 2.1m ballots in Arizona.
Republicans in the Arizona state senate, which authorized the inquiry, allocated $150,000 in state funds to pay for it – just a fraction of the projected overall cost, which is still unknown. The state senate had enough money in its operating budget to pay for the investigation, the Arizona Mirror reported in April, but chose not to pay the full price.
Instead, the effort is being paid for by private donors, who remain hidden from the public, according to a review by OpenSecrets and the Guardian. Arizona Republicans and Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based company overseeing the review, have refused to say who is providing the rest of the money.
“It is wholly inappropriate that the Arizona state senate is hiding the mechanisms by which their sanctioned activity is being funded,” said Adrian Fontes, a Democrat who served as the top election official in Maricopa county, the target of the ballot review, until he lost his re-election bid last year. “The lack of transparency there is just grotesque.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/09/ar...
Chairman Schiff: “The Attorney General has an obligation to clean house. … Make sure that there’s accountability for those that were engaged in political and partisan investigations.”
Also tonight, Rep. Ted Lieu: “Anyone involved in this who is still at DOJ needs to resign.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1403174168259088386
Also tonight, Rep. Ted Lieu: “Anyone involved in this who is still at DOJ needs to resign.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1403174168259088386
hidetheelephants said:
If Bill Barr was disbarred for the above would he just become Bill?
Barr was under oath when he misled congress in May 2019. I really hope Barr is investigated and charged because so much is coming out nowThe House needs to open investigations, because the GOP will block anything tried through the Senate, but it needs to be backed by action on the results.
Remember, Schiff was the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, who were investigation trumps links to russia
Barr and the DOJ tried to justify this by (falsely) insisting that Schiff and others were leaking secret intel, when instead it was trump trying to find out what was being discussed about his collusion with Putin and Russia, and it looks like it started under Sessions.
This was trump using the Executive Branch to spy on the Legislative Branch for partisan reasons.
Everyone who participated in it must face consequences. There has to be a house clearing at the DOJ for all those put into position by trump to obstruct investigations into team trump.
Edited by Byker28i on Friday 11th June 07:53
Why has trump put out a statement about his Helsinki meeting with Putin, the one where he had a secret meeting with Putin, took the translators notes and hid them, Does he think he can undermine Bidens meeting?
The Washington Post reported that Trump’s 2017 meeting with Putin in Hamburg, Germany—also attended by then-secretary of state Rex Tillerson—ended with the president instructing an interpreter “not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials.” Tillerson subsequently gave a readout of the meeting to U.S. officials and press, but sources told the Post there is otherwise no detailed record of Trump’s interactions with Putin, even in classified files.
The Hamburg meeting is one of five notable off-record meetings Trump has held with Putin, though it is the only known instance of the president confiscating an interpreter’s notes. U.S. officials have also been unable to get a readout of Trump’s two-hour meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, this past summer, during which no Cabinet officials or aides were allowed in the room.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/trump-puti...
The meeting where it's alleged Putin again discussed getting sanctions lifted
Edit
remember when they walked onto the podium afterwards and trump look like he'd been b
hslapped by Putin
That press conference where Putin said he helped with the election
The Washington Post reported that Trump’s 2017 meeting with Putin in Hamburg, Germany—also attended by then-secretary of state Rex Tillerson—ended with the president instructing an interpreter “not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials.” Tillerson subsequently gave a readout of the meeting to U.S. officials and press, but sources told the Post there is otherwise no detailed record of Trump’s interactions with Putin, even in classified files.
The Hamburg meeting is one of five notable off-record meetings Trump has held with Putin, though it is the only known instance of the president confiscating an interpreter’s notes. U.S. officials have also been unable to get a readout of Trump’s two-hour meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, this past summer, during which no Cabinet officials or aides were allowed in the room.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/trump-puti...
The meeting where it's alleged Putin again discussed getting sanctions lifted
Edit
remember when they walked onto the podium afterwards and trump look like he'd been b
hslapped by PutinThat press conference where Putin said he helped with the election
Edited by Byker28i on Friday 11th June 08:10
That Giuliani recording won't go away. Mother Jones has reportedthat the Giuliani recording shows that former U.S. diplomat Kurt Volker lied under oath during Trump’s impeachment. Kurt Volker said he didn’t know Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden.
This means that Congress can make a criminal referral to the DOJ against Volker. In such case, if Volker wants to avoid potential prison time, he’ll need to become a cooperating witness and testify to the full extent of what he witnessed Giuliani doing.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/06/new-g...
George Conway is also pushing this:
George Conway
@gtconway3d
"The recording of the conversation contradicts Volker’s sworn testimony to Congress that he never witnessed any attempt on the part of Trump and Giuliani to muscle Ukraine into launching an investigation of Biden, Trump’s possible opponent in the upcoming presidential election."
Lev Parnas, who was working for Rudy Giuliani during the Trump-Ukraine scandal but has since turned to provide evidence to prosecutors tweeted: “I was with Rudy Giuliani when we met with Kurt Volker to discuss getting a call set up with Zelenskyy and Trump.”
So it sounds like the Feds have multiple cooperating witnesses available to charge Giuliani on for election fraud and related crimes in the Trump-Ukraine scandal, not just his financial crimes, not registering as a foreign agent etc.
This means that Congress can make a criminal referral to the DOJ against Volker. In such case, if Volker wants to avoid potential prison time, he’ll need to become a cooperating witness and testify to the full extent of what he witnessed Giuliani doing.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/06/new-g...
George Conway is also pushing this:
George Conway
@gtconway3d
"The recording of the conversation contradicts Volker’s sworn testimony to Congress that he never witnessed any attempt on the part of Trump and Giuliani to muscle Ukraine into launching an investigation of Biden, Trump’s possible opponent in the upcoming presidential election."
Lev Parnas, who was working for Rudy Giuliani during the Trump-Ukraine scandal but has since turned to provide evidence to prosecutors tweeted: “I was with Rudy Giuliani when we met with Kurt Volker to discuss getting a call set up with Zelenskyy and Trump.”
So it sounds like the Feds have multiple cooperating witnesses available to charge Giuliani on for election fraud and related crimes in the Trump-Ukraine scandal, not just his financial crimes, not registering as a foreign agent etc.
Edited by Byker28i on Friday 11th June 08:00
Blackpuddin said:
Clearly Trump now has nobody helping him with his output, and ironic that he can't spell sleazebags.
Yes, ironic isn’t it ?This latest statement from Trump confirms that he is still capable of butchering the English language but, surely, also confirms that his descent into embittered madness continues apace.
Byker28i said:
Why has trump put out a statement about his Helsinki meeting with Putin, the one where he had a secret meeting with Putin, took the translators notes and hid them,
The Washington Post reported that Trump’s 2017 meeting with Putin in Hamburg, Germany—also attended by then-secretary of state Rex Tillerson—ended with the president instructing an interpreter “not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials.” Tillerson subsequently gave a readout of the meeting to U.S. officials and press, but sources told the Post there is otherwise no detailed record of Trump’s interactions with Putin, even in classified files.
The Hamburg meeting is one of five notable off-record meetings Trump has held with Putin, though it is the only known instance of the president confiscating an interpreter’s notes. U.S. officials have also been unable to get a readout of Trump’s two-hour meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, this past summer, during which no Cabinet officials or aides were allowed in the room.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/trump-puti...
The meeting where it's alleged Putin again discussed getting sanctions lifted
that statement seems a little desparate. I expect the next one to be "it wasn't me, the big boys made me do it!".The Washington Post reported that Trump’s 2017 meeting with Putin in Hamburg, Germany—also attended by then-secretary of state Rex Tillerson—ended with the president instructing an interpreter “not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials.” Tillerson subsequently gave a readout of the meeting to U.S. officials and press, but sources told the Post there is otherwise no detailed record of Trump’s interactions with Putin, even in classified files.
The Hamburg meeting is one of five notable off-record meetings Trump has held with Putin, though it is the only known instance of the president confiscating an interpreter’s notes. U.S. officials have also been unable to get a readout of Trump’s two-hour meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, this past summer, during which no Cabinet officials or aides were allowed in the room.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/trump-puti...
The meeting where it's alleged Putin again discussed getting sanctions lifted
tangerine_sedge said:
that statement seems a little desparate. I expect the next one to be "it wasn't me, the big boys made me do it!".
Updated with details - this was the meeting where Putin met trump privately, trump took and hid the translators notes and threatened the translator if they talked, where Putin said in the press conference he'd helped trump win etc etc...Remember we'd just had confirmed...that a Russian government agent with close connections to Donald Trump’s top 2016 campaign official “provided the Russian Intelligence Services with sensitive information on polling and [Trump] campaign strategy.”
This revelation demolishes, once and for all, Trump’s ceaseless claims that he was the victim of the “greatest witch hunt in the history of our country.” (Recall that a Trump appointee directed Robert Mueller to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.”)
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/548794-the...
Edited by Byker28i on Friday 11th June 08:17
Rep. Eric Swalwell told CNN that the officials and relatives targeted by the Trump DOJ "were targeted punitively — not for any reason in law, but because Donald Trump identified Chairman Schiff and members of the committee as an enemy."
Sen. Ron Wyden is also calling for an investigation:
"There must be a full investigation of abuses under former Attorneys General Sessions and Barr, and anyone at DOJ who was complicit in these abuses of power cannot be trusted to continue serving in government."
Schumer and Durbin: "The revelation that the Trump Justice Department secretly subpoenaed metadata of House Intelligence Committee Members and staff and their families, including a minor, is shocking. This is a gross abuse of power and an assault on the separation of powers."
Schumer and Durbin are demanding Barr and Sessions testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath.
"If they refuse, they are subject to being subpoenaed and compelled to testify under oath."
AP source: Biden deputy attorney general asks Justice Department watchdog to probe Trump-era seizure of Democrats' data.
NBC News confirms: The deputy attorney general has asked the DOJ inspector general to investigate the Trump DOJ subpoenas
Barr distances himself from DOJ’s secret subpoenas of Democratic lawmakers, telling politico that that while he was attorney general, he was “not aware of any congressman’s records being sought in a leak case.” Dem leaders want him to testify.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/11/barr-dist...
Sen. Ron Wyden is also calling for an investigation:
"There must be a full investigation of abuses under former Attorneys General Sessions and Barr, and anyone at DOJ who was complicit in these abuses of power cannot be trusted to continue serving in government."
Schumer and Durbin: "The revelation that the Trump Justice Department secretly subpoenaed metadata of House Intelligence Committee Members and staff and their families, including a minor, is shocking. This is a gross abuse of power and an assault on the separation of powers."
Schumer and Durbin are demanding Barr and Sessions testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath.
"If they refuse, they are subject to being subpoenaed and compelled to testify under oath."
AP source: Biden deputy attorney general asks Justice Department watchdog to probe Trump-era seizure of Democrats' data.
NBC News confirms: The deputy attorney general has asked the DOJ inspector general to investigate the Trump DOJ subpoenas
Barr distances himself from DOJ’s secret subpoenas of Democratic lawmakers, telling politico that that while he was attorney general, he was “not aware of any congressman’s records being sought in a leak case.” Dem leaders want him to testify.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/11/barr-dist...
Edited by Byker28i on Friday 11th June 18:51
Remember when sessions was AG and said they were investigating leaks
https://twitter.com/i/status/1403398398032678916
Barr took that and used the DOJ as a weapon against whoever trump thought was against him.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1403398398032678916
Barr took that and used the DOJ as a weapon against whoever trump thought was against him.
Byker28i said:
Pew Research global poll:
Biden's election as president has led to a dramatic shift in America's international image.
Looking at 12 nations surveyed both this year and in 2020, a median of 75% express confidence in Biden, compared with 17% for Trump last year.
America’s Image Abroad Rebounds With Transition From Trump to Biden: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/06/10/amer...Biden's election as president has led to a dramatic shift in America's international image.
Looking at 12 nations surveyed both this year and in 2020, a median of 75% express confidence in Biden, compared with 17% for Trump last year.
That's the pew report that's been doing the rounds recently and while Biden is popular outside the USA the damage republicans have done to America's international image is real and enduring with a strong majority of 74% thinking America is not a good model of democracy.
It's true that some of that 74% will think it's a bad system because it's too woke or some other such scarecrow it's clear that opinions of republicans have been in the gutter since Bush Jr. Anecdotally I find that even people not so engaged with US politics can tell you of gerrymandering, crazy gun nuts, religious conservatives and a host of other unpleasantries that the republican party have tarred themselves with.
I don't know how many people outside the USA know about voter restrictions or how far America's democracy has eroded but as long as there's a threat of the country going full retard again America is going to have an image problem.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz: "The DOJ Office of the Inspector General is initiating a review of DOJ's use of subpoenas and other legal authorities to obtain communication records of Members of Congress and affiliated persons."
The grand jury subpoena sought metadata for 109 identifiers, specifically 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses. Apple said it assumes ISPs and other tech companies were also sent similar requests.
The Department of Justice's internal watchdog will investigate the Trump-era seizure of communication records from some Democratic lawmakers and journalists, the agency announced Friday.
It joins a burgeoning effort in Congress to unearth more details about what happened in 2017 when the DOJ under President Donald Trump asked Apple to turn over communication metadata for at least two Democratic House members, their staff and family members. The investigation became public on Thursday in a report by The New York Times.
Separately on Friday, Democrats Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin threatened to subpoena former attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions to testify before Congress about the investigations.
Democrats on the House Intelligence have grown frustrated since learning last month that their data was targeted and have been unable to get more information from the Department of Justice, according to a House official.
Microsoft also issued a statement, saying it received a subpoena in 2017 "related to a personal email account" but was prevented from notifying the unnamed user for "more than two years because of a gag order."
Mary McCord, a Georgetown law professor who was the acting head of the DOJ's National Security Division until May 2017, said Sessions aws "very interested in pursuing leak investigations" early in the Trump administration.
"Under department practice, any investigation into an elected official would have been considered a sensitive matter that would have required high-level approval," she said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrat...
Rep. Swalwell on CNN: "I hope Trump supporters who fear Big Brother see that Donald Trump was the biggest brother we've ever seen in our country who did weaponize this to go all the way down the stack into the private communications of people he perceived as political opponents."
House Intel member Jackie Speier on MSNBC she wants Attorney General Garland to clean house.
"We cannot allow the Dept. of Justice to become a political tool. We can't allow the Dept. of Justice to become weaponized by a president who is petulant and has an enemies list."
Schiff: "This incident must be viewed in the context of the systemic politicization of the Department … [including] the intercession of former Att'y General Barr to reduce the sentence or dismiss cases against those who lied to cover up for themselves and the former president."
"The IG's investigation will not obviate the need for other forms of oversight and accountability – including public oversight by Congress - and the Department must cooperate in that effort as well."
"The Attorney General needs to do a full damage assessment of the conduct of the department over the last four years and outline all of the accountability and mitigation necessary to protect the public going forward."
Judiciary Chairman Nadler on the Trump DOJ subpoenas: "My concern at this hour is that the corruption may run deeper than has already been reported."
"The Committee has been in communication with DOJ, and we have made our position clear. The Department has a very short window to make a clean break from the Trump era on this matter."
"We expect the Department to provide a full accounting of these cases, and we expect the Attorney General to hold the relevant personnel accountable ... If the Department does not make substantial progress … the Judiciary Committee will have no choice but to step in."
The grand jury subpoena sought metadata for 109 identifiers, specifically 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses. Apple said it assumes ISPs and other tech companies were also sent similar requests.
The Department of Justice's internal watchdog will investigate the Trump-era seizure of communication records from some Democratic lawmakers and journalists, the agency announced Friday.
It joins a burgeoning effort in Congress to unearth more details about what happened in 2017 when the DOJ under President Donald Trump asked Apple to turn over communication metadata for at least two Democratic House members, their staff and family members. The investigation became public on Thursday in a report by The New York Times.
Separately on Friday, Democrats Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin threatened to subpoena former attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions to testify before Congress about the investigations.
Democrats on the House Intelligence have grown frustrated since learning last month that their data was targeted and have been unable to get more information from the Department of Justice, according to a House official.
Microsoft also issued a statement, saying it received a subpoena in 2017 "related to a personal email account" but was prevented from notifying the unnamed user for "more than two years because of a gag order."
Mary McCord, a Georgetown law professor who was the acting head of the DOJ's National Security Division until May 2017, said Sessions aws "very interested in pursuing leak investigations" early in the Trump administration.
"Under department practice, any investigation into an elected official would have been considered a sensitive matter that would have required high-level approval," she said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrat...
Rep. Swalwell on CNN: "I hope Trump supporters who fear Big Brother see that Donald Trump was the biggest brother we've ever seen in our country who did weaponize this to go all the way down the stack into the private communications of people he perceived as political opponents."
House Intel member Jackie Speier on MSNBC she wants Attorney General Garland to clean house.
"We cannot allow the Dept. of Justice to become a political tool. We can't allow the Dept. of Justice to become weaponized by a president who is petulant and has an enemies list."
Schiff: "This incident must be viewed in the context of the systemic politicization of the Department … [including] the intercession of former Att'y General Barr to reduce the sentence or dismiss cases against those who lied to cover up for themselves and the former president."
"The IG's investigation will not obviate the need for other forms of oversight and accountability – including public oversight by Congress - and the Department must cooperate in that effort as well."
"The Attorney General needs to do a full damage assessment of the conduct of the department over the last four years and outline all of the accountability and mitigation necessary to protect the public going forward."
Judiciary Chairman Nadler on the Trump DOJ subpoenas: "My concern at this hour is that the corruption may run deeper than has already been reported."
"The Committee has been in communication with DOJ, and we have made our position clear. The Department has a very short window to make a clean break from the Trump era on this matter."
"We expect the Department to provide a full accounting of these cases, and we expect the Attorney General to hold the relevant personnel accountable ... If the Department does not make substantial progress … the Judiciary Committee will have no choice but to step in."
Edited by Byker28i on Saturday 12th June 07:43
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