A Democrat house member is
watching the House Judiciary committee vote on whether or not to proceed in an
impeachment vote next week. As she
watches, she hopes that the committee will do the right thing and not put her
in an awkward situation despite all indications being that that is exactly what
they are going to do. Sure enough, the
house judiciary committee passes the resolution and the Democrat congresswoman
buries her head in her hands. On her
desk is a giant stack of paper that is the Department of Justice Inspector
General (IG) Michael Horowitz’s report about the origins of the investigation
into Donald Trump and Russia collusion.
This is a document that she has read and even gave portions to her staff
to read just in case she missed something.
She calls a meeting with her
staff and advises the last one in to close the door. She starts, “This conversation cannot leave
this room. There are some extremely
powerful people that may not like what we say in here so it’s better that we
just keep this between us. Is that
clear?”
There is unanimous nodding and
assent then she asks, “Does anyone have anything concrete in the IG report that
supports his conclusion that it was predicated correctly?”
There is a silence as her staff
members look at each other. Finally, one
of her staffers who will be named Gus, offers, “Actually Ma’Ame, I think that
the Horowitz report debunks itself.”
“Yea, that’s what I got
too. It’s over 400 pages of egregious
errors and lies by the FBI then the conclusion is that everything is honky
dory.”
“Besides that, even the bottom
line on the reason it was opened was ridiculous”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, the FBI claimed, and
Horowitz confirmed, that the predication of the investigation was legitimate
because of the Downer meeting and not the dossier.”
“Yes”
“If you look at footnote 461, it
completely contradicts that.”
“What does it say?”
“It’s long, so I’ll break it
up. It starts, “The only express
direction we found that McCabe gave regarding the use of a CHS concerned a
former FBI CHS who contacted an FBI agent in a field office in late July 2016
to report information from a ‘a colleague who runs an investigative firm…hired
by two entities, The DNC as well as another individual who was not named, to
explore Donald Trump’s longstanding ties to Russian entities.’ That is clearly referring to Christopher
Steele as the confidential human source (CHS) and his colleague is Glenn
Simpson and Fusion GPS since we know they were hired by the DNC and Hillary
Clinton.”
“I’m not sure why that
contradicts the story.”
“The investigation was open in
July 2016 so McCabe is giving these express directions at the same time the
investigation is open.”
“I guess it could have been
about something else but I’m not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt
anymore.”
“Whether that is what started
the investigation or not, it proves the FBI lied that they never got a hold of
the dossier until September 2016.”
The congresswoman’s tone turned
sarcastic, “Great, even the footnotes expose the FBI for being liars.”
A female staffer we will call
‘Miranda’ expresses, “I saw the same footnote.
The rest of it isn’t any better than the first. It goes on, ‘The former CHS also gave the FBI
agent a list of ‘individuals and entities who have surfaced in (the
investigative firm’s) examination, which the former CHS described as ‘mostly
public source material.’ In
mid-September 2016, McCabe told SSA 1 to instruct the FBI agent from the field
office not to have any further contact with the former CHS, and not to accept
any information regarding the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. McCabe told the OIG he did not remember
giving those instructions, and could not tell us why he might have done so. We found no evidence that the FBI reopened
the former CHS for the Crossfire Hurricane investigation or asked the former
CHS connection with the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.’ Based on this, it appears that September
wasn’t the beginning of their talks with Steele but the end of it.
The congresswoman sighs, “Now
the Deputy Director is changing his story but there’s got to be a reason
Horowitz said that. That means in
September, they knew that Steele was full of shit; so much so, the Deputy
Director is telling the FBI field office and agent that heard the original
information to cut ties with him. Then,
they open a FISA in October anyway.”
Miranda responds, “It would
appear so. It turns out that the only
direction from the Deputy Director had nothing to do with Papadopoulos but was
about not talking to Steele anymore.
Remember, the first part that it was the only direct correspondence
regarding Steele.”
Gus adds, “What I’m beginning to
think happened, and this is based on what Bill Barr has been saying, is that on
September 19, 2016, McCabe figures out that everything he based his
investigation on is bogus but he needs an excuse on why he opened it. He’s been sitting on a cable he heard from
Downer on May 10, 2019 when he heard Papadopoulos say that the Russians had
dirt on Hillary. He plays that card
because the dossier was so discredited and that’s all he had.”
“Why wouldn’t it be in the IG
report then?”
“Horowitz limited his
investigation to things that happened after the end of May 2016. The Downer cable was early May so he wouldn’t
have had it.”
“So, it was decided in September
that the new story is Downer. Despite
that, they opened four FISA’s on Carter Page based on the Dossier. Why?”
Miranda answers, “They thought
the FISA would uncover something they could actually use. You know, an ‘ends justifies the means’
strategy.”
“Why sit on the cable with
Downer?”
Gus rejoins, “They tried using
it to open a FISA on Papadopoulos and got turned down. They knew it wasn’t enough for a FISA so they
didn’t think it was useful.”
The congresswoman nods, “The
Downer cable was good enough to open an investigation but the Steele
information was good enough for the FISA so they lied about the dates they
heard these things to link them to the appropriate actions.”
“Exactly”
“Now, I have to vote to impeach
this guy when I know that everything they’ve said about him has been a lie.”
Miranda retorts, “Well, the
impeachment is about Ukraine.”
“Did those hearing make you
believe there’s any more substance to that than Russian collusion?”
“Well no it didn’t.”
“But if I vote against it, then
I help President Trump and I really don’t like him. You can’t impeach because you personally
don’t like someone though can you?”
There is silence and the congresswoman is frustrated, “If I abstain, I
look weak. Damn Pelosi for putting me in
this situation. Why couldn’t she just
stand firm against Schiff and Nadler?
Their districts are filled with radical Democrats that wouldn’t vote
Republicans even if the Democrat candidate waterboarded their mothers. I have a week to decide but I’m really at a
loss. Does anybody have any advice on
which way I should go?”
The room was deathly silent that
even a slight shift in the chair due to discomfort sounded like thunder.
The Democrat Congresswoman isn’t
the only one that has read the IG Report.
Glenn Greenwald of the Intercept has as well. He is speaking to his editor and declares, “I
need to write a hit piece on the media, the FBI and everyone that has defended
the Russian collusion hoax.”
“We can’t support President
Trump. There are a lot of powerful
people that you’re going to piss off if you rattle that cage.”
“I don’t care. You know that my number one loyalty is to
Civil Rights violations and this is probably the worst Civil Rights Violation
in American history. If our law
enforcement won’t prosecute the FBI, then the media has to. That is our job.”
“I admire your zeal but it is
very risky.”
“Don’t patronize me.”
“It’s just that we have been
running short of donors. This outlet is
on fumes and since we’re vulnerable, we can be crushed by these powerful
people.”
“Sounds to me like these
powerful people haven’t been helping you out.
Why not rebrand ourselves as not being an echo chamber for all the other
mainstream outlets and speak the truth.
What do we have to lose? You said
it yourself; the paper is desperate for money.
Mindlessly listening to the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, ABC,
and MSNBC have gotten us nowhere.”
The editor contemplates this a
moment and realizes there is merit. He
finally utters, “Keep the focus on the FBI.”
“The first half will be the FBI,
the second half with be the media.”
“We can’t attack our own. You need to work with me a little bit on
this. I’m agreeing to the article
against my better judgment, you need to give me something in return.”
“What if I use the attack on the
media as an attack on the FBI too.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Claim that the media’s problem
isn’t that they’re biased or a propaganda arm for the Democrat party like the
conservatives imply, but their problem is they keep hiring former-FBI and CIA
agents that cover for their original employer.”
The editor nods, “That can
work.”
“Thank you, I’ll get on it right
away.”
On December 12, 2019, the
intercept publishes the article “The Inspector General Report on 2016 FBI
Spying Reveals a Historic Magnitude: Not Only for the FBI but Also the US
Media.” Greenwald pulls no punches in
attacking the FBI dating back to when they tried to blackmail Martin Luther
King Jr. into killing himself to their renewing the FISA three times in 2017 by
not only continuing on the seven major omissions and inaccuracies by the FBI
but adding 10 additional errors based on known information between the first
application and the renewals.
When the editor reads it he rubs
his eyes, “Well, you did what you said.
This is pretty damning. I know
this is an important topic to you but was the dossier information really that
bad?”
“Sir, Steele’s own sub-source
that gave him the information told the FBI that he didn’t remember saying
anything about Wikileaks and Trump never talked to the Kremlin. Then, the coup-de-grat, they never talked
about the Roseneft bribe, which was the only crime alleged thus completing the
qualifications for a FISA. The
sub-source proved that Steele lied about everything and disproved the entire
document.”
“How could the FBI be this
stupid?”
“Being stupid is the best
analysis of this. If they’re not stupid,
then it means they knowingly committed federal crimes to spy on Americans and
given the intense admissions process of the FBI, it would appear the second
option is more valid. Unfortunately,
there is no third option.”
Back in the congresswoman’s
office, she realizes that nobody is going to answer her. She articulates, “Alright, we’ll work our way
there another way. Let’s look at the
tone of the world. Do they want us to
impeach Donald Trump?”
Gus takes this one, “Given Boris
Johnson won multiple seats in Parliament and it seems that anyone promoting
Brexit is winning elections, it would appear that the world is with Donald
Trump and that globalist organizations like NATO and the EU are not popular
anymore.”
Miranda remarks, “Well, there’s
an article in the Guardian that Britain needs its own Mueller Report on Russian
interference.’”
The congresswoman blurts out,
“You’re kidding me! After that debacle,
the Brits want to replay that in their country?
Good luck. That was an
abomination and is kind of the beginning of the pickle we’re in now. Why would England be so stupid as to
replicate our mistakes?”
Gus fired back, “It’s kind of
what Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch do.
It’s what Fusion GPS does.”
“This is a Fusion GPS
investigation?”
“They wrote the Guardian
article.”
“Wow, the balls on those two is
legendary. A day after the IG report
eviscerated their dossier and everything they’ve told us for three years, they
go across the pond and try it again.
Don’t they know that the whole world is interested in American
politics? Do they really think the world
doesn’t know about what they did or the IG report?”
“It’s not their first
rodeo. It’s not even their second. The first time was against Bob Dole, then
they did it to McCain but Bush shut it down, then Trump and now Boris Johnson.”
“Unbelievable. The first three weren’t as heavily publicized
though. Hopefully they went to the well too many times.”
Miranda blurted out, “Are you
saying the Russian didn’t meddle in the elections?”
Gus snapped back, “No, of course
they did. They do every time just as how
we meddle in theirs. The point is that
neither our or Britain’s politicians are Russian assets. Their economy is smaller than Italy’s; they
are just not powerful enough to pull it off despite what Hollywood will have
you believe that they are faking how weak they are. Russia doesn’t like us; we know that but it
doesn’t mean we should devote all our resources to it.”
The congresswoman tried to
restore order among her staffers, “Let’s focus on us again. It seems even the media is turning against the
collusion advocates. There was an
article in the intercept and Rolling Stone saying the IG report exonerated
Trump more than the FBI so to speak. I’m
guessing the Durham report isn’t going to do us any favors.”
“That’s actually making the FBI
look worse already” Gus commented
“How so?”
“Comey is refusing to reinstate
his security clearance so that he can’t be asked questions since it relies on
confidential information. That’s how
Comey escaped talking to the IG.”
“Durham can subpoena him
though.”
“True but Bill Barr said it’s
still a problem.”
“Barr can just declassify
everything he shows him. This is all
three years old anyway so Barr has a way of getting around that.”
“He does, but it’s a slippery
slope to declassify something. Even if
it’s only for a couple hours so they can question Comey. The whole world can
find out in a couple hours with our communication capabilities now.”
“What do the polls on
impeachment say?”
Miranda fields this one, “52%
say not to impeach Trump after the second impeachment hearing. This is in battleground states.”
“That means that every time they
had a hearing, the number against impeachment went up.”
“Yes Ma’ame”
“And to begin with, no
Republicans voted for the impeachment inquiry and two Democrats voted against. One of them was from New Jersey, which is
pretty blue.”
“Yes, that is true”
“That makes it bipartisan
against impeachment but not for.”
“Correct, but the strength in
the Democrats is our ability to stick together.
That’s something the Republicans have always been bad at.’
“They seem to be unifying over
this. I guess the common enemy
debate. The Republicans were united in
saying they were against; it is us that had defectors. It’s not too surprising given who we have on
our side.”
The staffers look at each other
thinking their boss just had a Freudian slip.
Gus is the only one that speaks up, “Yea, the squad is hurting us.”
“It’s not just them; though they
are pretty bad. You have Hank Johnson
from Georgia who actually thought Guam would sink if you put ships on it. He gave a speech yesterday that Trump abused
his power because he had a bigger chair than Ukrainian President Zelensky. He actually insinuated that Zelensky was weak
because at the UN meeting, President Trump was 6’4” so had a bigger chair than
the 5’11” Zelensky. I mean who says this
shit? We need to impeach the president
because he’s too tall so too intimidating for shorter heads of other
countries?”
Gus pronounced, “Well, there are
all these sciences about power moves during handshakes and stuff so I guess
that’s what Johnson was getting at.”
“Nobody recommended impeachment
because of a power hand shake. That
actually is more damning than what Johnson said. President Trump can’t help being 6’4” just as
how Zelensky can’t help being 5’11.”
It’s also an insult to short people.
At least the hand shake is an action and not just an unchangeable fact.”
“Yea, you’re right. I got nothing.”
“Then, you have that ass hat
from Louisiana watching golf during the impeachment hearings. He can’t even pretend that he was forced to
be there by Nadler because he released a statement about how important and
serious the hearings were and then he’s watching golf as it’s going on.”
It was Miranda’s turn to try to
refocus her, “We’re getting off topic.
Before the hearings, there were two Democrats that voted against the
inquiry. All indications are that about
three more may join. The question is, are
you going to be one of them.”
“I really don’t know. I’m leaning that way. I like being loyal but come on, AOC compared
family leave policies to dogs. She
actually insinuated that since dogs get eight weeks with their puppies, humans
should as well.”
“Does she realize that dogs
don’t work or get paid?” Gus inquired
“Unclear. She talks about how the market has failed
when dogs get more family leave than humans.
Are you serious? How do you even
enforce this? What happens if you don’t
give a dog eight weeks? Is there a
government organization that reprimands you?
Do you get a fine? How does a dog
even sign a contract?” The room laughs including the congressman, “Come on,
there’s loyalty and then there’s supporting that ridiculousness. Ultimately though this is my decision so I
need to determine if I’m going to be a good loyal Democrat and stay in line or
if I’m going to do what I know to be the right thing even though it helps
someone I loathe.
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