THE HILL notes:
For most of the past three years, the FBI has tried to portray its top leadership as united behind ex-Director James Comey’s decision not to pursue criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for transmitting classified information over her insecure, private email server.
Although in the end that may have been the case, we now are learning that Comey’s top lawyer, then-FBI General Counsel James Baker, initially believed Clinton deserved to face criminal charges, but was talked out of it “pretty late in the process.”
The revelation is contained in testimony Baker gave to House investigators last year. His testimony has not been publicly released, but I was permitted to review a transcript.
During questioning by Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), Baker was unequivocal about his early view that Clinton should face criminal charges.
“I have reason to believe that you originally believed it was appropriate to charge Hillary Clinton with regard to violations of law — various laws, with regard to mishandling of classified information. Is that accurate?” Ratcliffe, a former federal prosecutor, asked Baker.
Baker paused to gain his lawyer’s permission to respond, and then answered, “Yes.”
He later explained why he came to that conclusion, and how his mind was changed:
“So, I had that belief initially after reviewing, you know, a large binder of her emails that had classified information in them,” he said. “And I discussed it internally with a number of different folks, and eventually became persuaded that charging her was not appropriate because we could not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that — we, the government, could not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that — she had the intent necessary to violate (the law).”
Asked when he was persuaded to change his mind, Baker said: “Pretty late in the process, because we were arguing about it, I think, up until the end.”
Meanwhile, THE GATEWAY PUNDIT just began a three-part series on how Hillary and Bill Clinton took bribes at The Clinton Foundation. From part one:The Clintons took in millions from Edelman, Kochavi and Sheikhs in the Middle East. In return the Clintons made promises and performed actions for a price. Unfortunately, the actions taken by the Clintons and the companies and individuals who donated to them were often illegal.
In our next post we’ll discuss these actions that the family of companies known as AGT International took in order to build their business worldwide.
In a third post we’ll discuss how the FBI/DOJ got involved but then suppressed and eventually terminated their investigation shortly before the 2016 Presidential election.
We do not need two systems of justice. Either justice applies equally to all or it is not justice.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:
Wednesday, February 20, 2019. Crazy Phil Mudd gets shrill and emotional
again, a puppet says US troops are in Iraq at Iraq's invitation, and
much more.
“Let me be clear. We lived this already, and the American people said they hated it,” he said, referring to the Iraq War. “There were questions during my tenure at the CIA about whether the CIA was too supportive of the president [George W. Bush] going into the Iraq War,” he pointed out. “There ain’t no learning in the second kick of the mule here.
Donald Trump is the president of the United States and one of the most
amusing things about that is watching various CIA trash have fits over
that. He was elected by the American people but that didn't stop the
CIA and the FBI from attempting a coup, now did it?
Phil Mudd, the former deputy director of the CIA's Counterterrorism
Center, warned that President Donald Trump’s disregard for the counsel
of his intelligence agencies could lead the United States into another
situation similar to the invasion of Iraq.
Mudd appeared on CNN Tuesday
morning to discuss the suggestion from longtime Trump confidant Chris
Ruddy that the president could sack National Intelligence Director Dan
Coats after he publicly disagreed with Trump’s assessment of North
Korea. The former CIA agent warned that such an action from the
president could send the country down a dangerous path.“Let me be clear. We lived this already, and the American people said they hated it,” he said, referring to the Iraq War. “There were questions during my tenure at the CIA about whether the CIA was too supportive of the president [George W. Bush] going into the Iraq War,” he pointed out. “There ain’t no learning in the second kick of the mule here.
Well tarnations, "the second kick of the mule," you say. Thanks for
leaving Dogpatch long enough to appear on CNN, Phil. Did Mammy Yokum
join you in the CNN studios?
Second kick of the mule, said the dog that don't hunt. Excuse me, said
the yellow-bellied dog that don't hunt. That old crusty vermin.
Phil Mudd is not to be believed. He's been shrill and hysterical and,
frankly, a little bit unhinged since Donald became president.. He needs
to sit his tired ass down and take a personal inventory of his crazy.
He is not an 'analyst' and no one should present him as such. Analysts
are objective.
Phil Mudd is hysterical, shrill and way too emotional. Nothing objective about him at all.
According
to former CIA counterterrorism official Phil Mudd, the intelligence
community "are ticked" about President Trump's decision to release the
FISA abuse memo prepared by House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin
Nunes. In an interview Friday on CNN, Mudd said to the president,
"You’ve been around for 13 months. We've been around since 1908. I know
how this game is going to be played. We're going to win."
Mudd explained: "The president is talking about basically corruption at the FBI today, but we oppose the leadership."
Mudd explained: "The president is talking about basically corruption at the FBI today, but we oppose the leadership."
"We're going to win," boasts 'objective' Phil Mudd. In what? A battle
to lie to the American people? Donald called out corruption and Phil
threw a public tantrum.
No one elected Mudd to anything. No one has provided oversight and
analysis of what Mudd actually did at the CIA (or at the FBI when, after
decades at the CIA he quit in an emotional snit fit and went over to
the FBI -- no, that's not normal).
He really doesn't deserve a public stage. A padded cell and rubber jacket? Yes, he deserves that.
If we're going to listen to someone, we'd be better served to listen to the likes of Pink Floyd's Roger Waters.
“Do we really want Venezuela to turn into another Iraq? Or Syria or Libya?”
Thank you Roger Waters.
If Mudd had half a brain, he'd be worried about the persecution of
alleged ISIS fighters and what that could mean. Already the little
covered topic has won an award.
Polk Award for Magazine Reporting; Ben Taub of The New Yorker for “Iraq’s Post-ISIS Campaign of Revenge,” a firsthand account of widespread detention and dubious execution. #iraq
Eric Keels, University of Tennessee and Angela D. Nichols, Florida Atlantic University
(THE CONVERSATION) Large portions of the Islamic State in Iraq have been either killed, captured or forced underground over the past three years.
But the Iraqi government isn’t taking any chances that this terrorist organization, commonly known as “IS,” could regroup.
Over 19,000 Iraqis suspected of collaborating with IS have been detained in Iraq since the beginning of 2013, according to Human Rights Watch. Most of them are Sunni Muslims, according to reporting by Ben Taub of the New Yorker. Sunnis are members of the sect of Islam from which IS predominantly recruits.
Suspected terrorists are often tortured into offering confessions that justify death sentences at trial. According to Amnesty International, common forms of torture include “beatings on the head and body with metal rods and cables, suspension in stress positions by the arms or legs, electric shocks, and threats of rape of female relatives.”
The government’s crackdown on Sunnis – even those with no evidence of ties with Islamic militants – sends a troubling signal about Iraq’s prospects for peace.
Our research into conflict zones shows that when post-war governments use violence against citizens, it greatly increases the risk of renewed civil war.
Repression following civil wars
The period after an armed conflict is fragile.
Citizens traumatized by violence wish fervently for peace. Defeated armed factions may have their sights set on revenge.
The post-war government’s priority, meanwhile, is to consolidate its control over the country. Sometimes, leaders use violent repression to ensure their grip on power.
It is a risky strategy.
We studied 63 countries where civil war occurred between 1976 and 2005, including El Salvador, Sierra Leone and Sudan. The results, which were published in the academic journal Conflict, Security and Development in January, show a 95 percent increase of another civil war in places where governments engaged in the kind of torture, political imprisonment, killings and disappearances that Iraq’s government is now undertaking.
Phil Mudd, an alleged 'analyst,' can't even address a serious issue like that. He really needs to sit his tired ass down.
In other news MIDDLE EAST MONITOR reports:
Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy in
Iraq, Joey Hood said Tuesday that US troops, as well as the
international coalition forces and NATO, will leave Iraq if requested by
the Iraqi government, asserting that the US forces had been redeployed
in Iraq at the local government’s invitation.
“There
are no US bases in Iraq, only trainers and advisers,” Hood told
reporters, explaining that the average number of troops there is 5,200
members a week and that the number varies.
If that statement shocks you, you haven't been paying attention. The
statement about leaving if asked, we may come back to the other part.
But that statement?
No the puppets are not going to ask the US to leave. They need US forces for protection. We've noted that over and over.
So it's no shock, right on time, that the latest puppet makes pro-US troops statements. RUDAW reports:
US-led coalition troops are stationed in Iraq at the government’s
invitation and have stood by Iraq through difficult times, Iraqi Prime
Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi said Tuesday. His comments come amid calls for
an immediate US withdrawal.
“Continuously mentioning this topic [foreign troop presence in Iraq] causes worry to the people and confusion to the work of the Iraqi Armed Forces,” Abdul-Mahdi told reporters during his weekly press conference Tuesday evening.
“It also causes confusion on the side of those who stood by Iraq in its period of hardship and fighting Daesh, and helped in getting rid of Daesh,” he added, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State jihadist group.
“Continuously mentioning this topic [foreign troop presence in Iraq] causes worry to the people and confusion to the work of the Iraqi Armed Forces,” Abdul-Mahdi told reporters during his weekly press conference Tuesday evening.
“It also causes confusion on the side of those who stood by Iraq in its period of hardship and fighting Daesh, and helped in getting rid of Daesh,” he added, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State jihadist group.
Again, it's not shocking. The puppet that bites the hand that feeds
them is the puppet that eventually gets shown to the door. Ask Nouri
al-Maliki how that feels, to have been the highest puppet in the land
only to be pulled out of office in 2014 and replaced.
The puppets know who put them in power and they know they won't stay in power by challenging the US government.
Another topic we've been noting lately is that Iraq, like all countries,
will have friction from time to time with neighbors it shares a border
with. With that in mind, Mustafa Saadoun (AL-MONITOR) reports:
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and his Jordanian
counterpart, Omar al-Razza, signed 14 economic agreements Feb.
2 between the two countries, during their meetings on the Iraqi-Jordan
border, where a joint industrial city will be established.
The agreements include the transport, trade, health, agriculture, finance and energy sectors.The recent economic agreements between the Iraqi and Jordanian governments have raised controversy in Iraq, as some Iraqi political and economic institutions believe these understandings favor Jordan and harm Iraq. The Asaib Ahl al-Haq (League of the Righteous), headed by Qais Khazali, said “the Iraqi citizens will pay the tax of these agreements.”
As with most other issues in Iraq, these agreements divided Iraqi political camps into two. One was welcoming, and the other denounced the agreements as having no economic feasibility for Iraq — especially those related to extending a pipeline from Iraq’s oil-rich government of Basra to Aqaba.
Pair that with this report from Iran's TREND NEWS that an Iraqi airport is refusing to accept flights from Tehran due to an issue of previous unpaid debts.
It will have serious problems with Turkey because Turkey will not remove
foreign soldiers from Iraqi soil and will not stop bombing northern
Iraq. The Baghdad-based government has objected to both. How does the
government of Turkey get away with it? Because of a 'special'
relationship with the KRG's government. They're the ones allowing
this. And, as they continue to allow this violation of Iraqi
sovereignty, it sort of backs up the long standing rumor that, all
along, the KRG has been providing Turkey with oil on the black market.
In the United States, Senator Bernie Sanders formally declared yesterday
that he is seeking the Democratic Party's 2020 presidential nomination.
I’m running for president because the time is long overdue for the United States to join every other major country on Earth and guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege, through a Medicare-for-all program.
We need a president who understands that climate change is real, is an existential threat to our country and the entire planet, and that we can generate massive job creation by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.
I’m running for president so that, together, we can create a nation that leads the world in the struggle for economic, racial, social and environmental justice.
Yesterday, we noted "6 Women" were running for that nomination. Someone who identifies as "a long time reader but first time writer" wants to know why I let Willie Brown off, "Is it because he's a man, because he's your friend or both."
As noted in the piece, Kamala Harris (who I also know) slept with Willie Brown and, during this relationship, Willie appointed her to not one but two high paying jobs. I've stated she needs to be on the record about that. She doesn't get to hide it. It was unethical.
Well, huffs the e-mailers, what about Willie Brown?
If Kamala were the head of NETFLIX, I wouldn't raise the issue.
She's not.
She's running to become the president of the United States.
My friend Willie Brown is not running for that office or any other public office.
If that's still confusing to you, I can't help you, no one can.
US House Rep Tulsi Gabbard is running. She's an Iraq War veteran.
Our voice is needed in the debates! The DNC req's candidates have 65,000 unique donors to qualify for the debate stage. With your help, we can get there. Just $1 today will help bring us to a debate on the issues of life and death that face our nation.
As presidential candidates from the already crowded Democratic field
criss-cross early primary states seeking votes and donors, foreign
policy feels like an afterthought for most as they pitch their visions
of how they would transform America.
But Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is different. Foreign policy is the central theme to the 37-year-old Iraq war veteran’s campaign.
At events across New Hampshire this weekend, Gabbard told voters that the US had to end its involvement in costly “regime change wars” and avert a “new cold war.”
In her stump speech, Gabbard warned voters of powerful forces that are “invested in our country continuing to stay in a state of perpetual war” while warning an audience at a burrito restaurant in the small city of Laconia about the threat of a nuclear strike.
“Sometimes people ask me: ‘Tulsi, why do you talk about these issues of foreign policy, these are things happening in other places – why don’t you talk more about domestic issues?’” she said at a town hall event in North Hampton on Sunday. “What is more domestic than our very existence? We must address these issues.”
At events across New Hampshire this weekend, Gabbard told voters that the US had to end its involvement in costly “regime change wars” and avert a “new cold war.”
In her stump speech, Gabbard warned voters of powerful forces that are “invested in our country continuing to stay in a state of perpetual war” while warning an audience at a burrito restaurant in the small city of Laconia about the threat of a nuclear strike.
“Sometimes people ask me: ‘Tulsi, why do you talk about these issues of foreign policy, these are things happening in other places – why don’t you talk more about domestic issues?’” she said at a town hall event in North Hampton on Sunday. “What is more domestic than our very existence? We must address these issues.”
The following sites updated:
