Not Very Bright Guys
Look, forget the myths the media’s created about the White House–the truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand – “Deep Throat” in all the President’s Men
The MEMO was released today. We are all now able to read a Top Secret Document. Chuck Rosenberg, former head of the DEA, US Attorney and FBI Chief Counsel; put it this way: “…this is the mediocre work of a first year law student.”
Three and a half pages long, the memo has multiple factual inaccuracies. What the memo asserts is that the FBI and the FISA courts issued a warrant to wiretap Carter Page based on the Steele Dossier and that Democratic Federal law enforcement agencies were spying on the Trump campaign without legal grounds. It does raise some real questions about what the Russians and Page were doing that caused FISA warrants to be renewed four times.
Devin Nunes, the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, supposedly recused from involvement in the “Russia” investigation, is the “author” of this memo. It was actually ghost written by his Committee staff with some collaboration by the White House. Nunes himself never read the underlying intelligence documents. Those that have read them, state that the documentation does not support the conclusions of the memo, and leaves out a great deal of alternative information.
The Democrats on the Intelligence Committee asked to attach a minority report to the memo, but they were denied: maybe in a week, they were told. So Nunes and his boys get the opportunity to play for a week without a Congressional contradiction. To use Trumpian language this memo is really the definition of a “nothing burger.” So what value does this memo have, and what is the intent of the Trump Administration to put this hatchet job out?
First, the memo distracts from the ongoing pressure placed by the Mueller Investigation. We are now “all a twitter” about the memo, in the week the Mueller has determined that the President of the United States must answer questions. It’s also the week that we find out the Hope Hicks was on a phone call with Donald Junior, telling him the emails about the Russian meeting will never be seen. The President was supposedly on the phone too.
It has given Fox and the Freedom Caucus gang the opportunity to claim they have discovered a “plot” to overthrow the duly elected President, supplying more red meat for the Trump crowd.
Second, it changed the subject from an empty State of the Union Address, full of symbolism but without substance.
Third, it sets the stage for the ultimate Trump defense. Trump will claim that the evidence that shows his campaign was infiltrated and coordinating with the Russians, was in fact gathered “illegally” according to the Nunes memo. He will claim that the information gathered was the “fruit of the poisonous tree” (see last June’s blog Fruit of the Poisonous Tree) and therefore nothing that comes from it can be used in court. By the way, even if that were completely true – which it is not – it still could be used in an Impeachment hearing – not bound by Judicial rules.
And finally, it may foreshadow the next round of attacks on the FBI and Justice Department. To the Trump Presidency, what others might term obstruction of justice, Trump declares is a defense against the illegal acts of his own Justice Department (which he claims is a partisan arm of the Democratic Party – led by Republican Jeff Sessions, Republican Rod Rosenstein, Republican Chris Wray, and previously Republican James Comey.)
The Memo itself outlines the four officials who signed applications for FISA warrants against Carter Page: James Comey, Sally Yates, Andrew McCabe, and Rod Rosenstein. Their fates were: Comey and Yates fired, McCabe clearly forced out. The Memo presents a false case against Rod Rosenstein, the current Deputy Attorney General, and acting Attorney General in regards to the Mueller investigation. Trump might use that case to fire Rosenstein, then try to appoint a more “cooperative” Deputy AG to try to control Mueller. Should Mueller “buck” a new boss, then that would create grounds for firing him.
It’s a false document, but it could have real consequences. The real concern is not that Nunes would bring this, or that Trump would use it. What is of concern is that the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives has bought into it. I’m sure they realize that the document itself isn’t persuasive, but they (Ryan, McCarthy and the like) are willing to accept the possible outcomes, including a slow motion “Saturday Night Massacre.”
Many have held out hope that the “decent” Republicans would see the evidence of Trump’s involvement with the Russians, and turn against him. Even more, we expected that the more moderate wing of the House Republicans would distance themselves from this kind of show. They have not. The only result of that negligence is that for justice to prevail, the Republicans must lose control of the Congress. That way, whatever Mueller comes up with, even if he is fired and gone; others will have the opportunity to bring the truth of what happened in 2016 to light.
This is actually the tale of three memos .. so they are even less bright than hoped for. Some interesting observations. 1) The only person in the HIC allowed in to see the classified FISA document was Trey Gowdy (R, WV). 2) The day before it was sent to the WH, Gowdy bragged that the memo would embarrass Senior Committee member Sen Schiff (D). Obviously Gowdy was deeply involved in drafting the memo. 3) The next day, Gowdy announced he will not run for re-election – as in ‘put a fork on me, I’m done.’ Errhh? It turns out somebody changed the memo that the committee approved (party-line vote, surprise) by doing a little light editing before actually sending it to the president eith Nunes’ signature.
Upshot, it’s not just that the memo is a stupid, sophomoric document (Carter had been dis-invited from the Trump campaign by the time the FISA warrant was obtained, the memo specifies that the Russia investigation started with Papadopoulos’ drunken bragging), it’s that Nunes himself is a stupid, sophomoric Trump flunky. Wait .. that’s redundant .. my apology.
Conclusion, the Republicans did themselves no favor in committing this to paper and ink. They’ve actually damaged themselves rather badly. At least to thinking people.
Dear Republicans, THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES! *duh* Save what dignity you have, I implore you.
It amazes me that Democrats want to release their own memo to contradict the one supplied by the Republicans; even more so when I hear the same Dems who point out the ridiculousness of considering such biased interpretation as anything more than an inter-office email morale booster being used as “news” or “proof” of anything beyond what it actually is, calling for it’s release. A memo (written after the fact by one party or the other) is not a report, finding, or anything beyond propaganda. Wouldn’t the Dems be better off sticking to that point than making the argument and THEN competing with the same tactic? I just don’t understand.
Democrats feel that even though the Nunes Memo is ridiculous, leaving it out there without any kind of official response is dangerous. Oddly enough, for Democrats, I think they want to show support for the intelligence community, as well as making sure their own base “gets” what the Nunes memo was about. And while Dems would like to do more than a “memo,” any more would defeat the purpose of maintaining the secrecy of the FISA system. This is definitely a half-measure, and as one of the Dem committee members said – it would have been better if there were no memos at all.