wow
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Mr. Ratcliffe. Did the FISA application that you certified, or verified, allege that there was probable cause to believe that Carter Page was working for or with the Russian Government?
Mr. Comey. I don't remember specifically. My recollection is it was -- it was submitted to the court as part of an application where the Department of Justice was alleging that he was an agent of a foreign power, namely, the Russian Federation, but I can't remember what it said about probable cause.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Would it have averred that there was probable cause to believe that he was in a position to influence the Trump campaign or Trump campaign officials?
Mr. Comey. I don't remember that.
Mr. Ratcliffe. But you did review it?
Mr. Comey. Yes. I remember reading it for the purpose of
signing the certification that the FBI Director has to sign.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Do you recall that part of the probable
cause submitted to the court was the -- what you've referred to as the Steele dossier?
Mr. Comey. I don't.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Following up on Mr. Gowdy's question about Christopher Steele, do you know whether he had any direct
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knowledge about collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between anyone associated with the Trump campaign, or was it based on other sources and subsources?
Mr. Comey. My recollection is that it was the latter, that he didn't have personal knowledge of most, maybe all, of the things that were in the reports, but they were reported to him by sources and that the, sort of, the core allegation of the dossier, as I recall, was that there was an effort to coordinate with the Russian interference campaign, but that was not the product of Steele's personal knowledge is my -- I could be wrong about that, but that's my recollection.
Mr. Ratcliffe. All right, so, if there were other sources or subsources, would you agree that that information would be double and triple hearsay?
Mr. Comey. I don't know. Could be. I don't know.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Do you know whether each application -- or do you know whether the application that you signed states that the FBI has reviewed this verified application for accuracy?
Mr. Comey. I don't remember that specifically. It sounds like the kind of thing that would be in there as a matter of course, but I don't remember.
Mr. Ratcliffe. And what would be the purpose of verifying to the FISA court that the Department of Justice and the FBI have corroborated the allegations?
Mr. Comey. Well, you're trying to convince a Federal judge
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that you have probable cause, and so the better you can present your evidence and the way it might overlap or interlock, the better the chance you have of convincing the judge you have probable cause.
Mr. Ratcliffe. So I want to relate to you some of the testimony that we've already received. FBI Deputy Director Andy McCabe testified before Congress that the FBI could provide no points of verification to verify the Steele information other than the fact that Carter Page had traveled to Russia in July of 2016. Were you aware of that when you signed the application on October 21st of 2016?
Mr. Comey. I don't remember any of that right now.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Bill Priestap who -- what does Bill
Priestap do at the FBI?
Mr. Comey. I think he's still the Assistant Director in
charge of the Counterintelligence Division.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. He testified that corroboration of the Steele dossier was in its, quote/unquote, infancy, at the time of the application that you signed on October 21st, 2016. Did you know that?
Mr. Comey. I don't remember hearing that, but that makes sense to me, if my recollection is correct, that we got it in September or maybe October. It would, by definition, be in its infancy in October.
Mr. Ratcliffe. All right. And do you know when
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Christopher Steele was terminated as a source for the FBI? Mr. Comey. I don't. And I don't know for a fact that he
was terminated.
Mr. Ratcliffe. So have you reviewed any FBI source
validation report on Christopher Steele?
Mr. Comey. I have not.
Mr. Ratcliffe. So you don't know whether or not such a
report would reflect that, as of November 1st of 2016, Christopher Steele's reporting in the Steele dossier was determined by the FBI to be only, quote, minimally corroborated, end quote?
Mr. Comey. I don't know that.
Mr. Ratcliffe. So those things that I've just related to you about testimony as I've represented it from Andy McCabe and Bill Priestap, and the report as I've represented it to you from the FBI, does that cause you any concern about the fact that you signed a verified application for a warrant to surveil Carter Page when the Steele dossier was only minimally corroborated or in its infancy in its corroboration?
Mr. Comey. I don't know enough or remember enough 2 years later to have a reaction. I don't know their testimony. I haven't looked at the thing.
Mr. Ratcliffe. I'm just asking you to accept what I've
represented as true, and if it is true, does that cause you
concern? Should the FISA court have been granting warrants
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where the information submitted and verified, in fact, had only been minimally corroborated?
Mr. Comey. Yeah, I can't answer that because I -- look, I accept what you're saying, but I don't know what else you're not telling me that was in the FISA application and what was done. I just don't know enough about what happened to offer a view one way or the other.
Mr. Ratcliffe. Okay. Well, do you recall that, on numerous occasions subsequent to October 21st of 2016, you, in your capacity as the FBI Director, referred to the Steele dossier as salacious and unverified?
Mr. Comey. Yes. I don't know that I was referring to all of it. Maybe I was, but I had in mind some particular portions of it that were salacious and unverified.
Mr. Ratcliffe. But, again, your characterization of it was that it was unverified, even though you had verified it to the court?
Mr. Comey. Well, it was coming to us from a reliable source with a track record, and it's an important thing when you're seeking a PC warrant. But what I understand by verified is we then try to replicate the source information so that it becomes FBI investigation and our conclusions rather than a reliable source's. That's what I understand it, the difference to be. And that work wasn't completed by the time I left in May of 2017, to my knowledge.
So, it was not verified before they sought the warrant.
Okay. Quick.
Any Trump 'lies' comparable to these?????
1.” "We can't drill our way out of this problem." Any time he talks about energy, he trots out that phrase. Whatever the problem, increasing domestic oil supply is never the solution. In 2012, when running for re-election, the president declared: "Even if we drilled every square inch of this country right now, we're going to be relying on other countries for oil."
The Daily Bulletin - December 8, 2014 | RealClearEnergy
“Sorry, Mr. President: Turns Out We Can Drill Our Way to Lower Gas Prices” Sorry, Mr. President: Turns Out We Can Drill Our Way to Lower Gas Prices - American Energy Alliance
Could his lies about drilling have anything to do with this???
“Obama's OMB ignores document subpoena; Upton/Stearns House panel says Monday morning or else…The subpoena is for thousands of documents requested months ago by the committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations concerning OMB's evaluation of a Department of Energy economic stimulus program loan guarantee worth $535 million for Solyndra, Inc.,…” http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/bel...ocument-subpoena-uptonstearns-house-panel-say
2. Obama…a supporter of infanticide…which is why he lies to support Planned Parenthood.
“....on abortion, Obama is an extremist. He has opposed the Supreme Court decision that finally upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act against that form of infanticide. Most startlingly, for a professed humanist, Obama – in the Illinois Senate – also voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.
I have reported on several of those cases when, before the abortion was completed, an alive infant was suddenly in the room. It was disposed of as a horrified nurse who was not necessarily pro-life followed the doctors’ orders to put the baby in a pail or otherwise get rid of the child.” Infanticide candidate for president
…who has stated that he didn’t want his daughters ‘punished’ with a baby…..told this lie:
You’ve got issues like Planned Parenthood, where that organization provides millions of women cervical-cancer screenings, mammograms, all kinds of basic health care.”— President Obama during an interview on “The Tonight Show,” Oct. 24, 2012
“The president has suggested time and again that Planned Parenthood directly provides mammograms, but the organization only offers referrals and helps women find financial resources for the exams. This suggests an intentional attempt to mislead voters…”
Obama’s ‘Tonight Show’ remark: Planned Parenthood provides mammograms
3. Get this lie:
“’more black men languish in prison in America than attend college.” Obama
"the most frequently quoted statistic about black men in the United States."
4. Lies, damn lies….and Obama lies:
Obama: Doctors Choose Amputation Because Surgeons Get Paid More Than Physicians
Obama: Doctors Choose Amputation Because Surgeons Get Paid More Than Physicians
….and….
5. Obama’s claim that Keystone XL oil ‘bypasses the U.S.’ earns Four Pinocchioshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/03/02/obamas-claim-that-keystone-xl-oil-bypasses-the-u-s-earns-four-pinocchios/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8c2ed3f65ed8
….and….
6. After accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Obama bombed more countries than any President since WWII
“U.S. Bombed Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia in 2016” The U.S. dropped an average of 3 bombs per hour last year
His whole presidency was a lie by the Left.....and suckers bought it like it was on sale.
7. Is this a lie, of just the sort of thing Liberals do?
The Peace Prize for a man who had a kill list in the Oval Office:
“The Disposition Matrix, informally known as a kill list, is a database of information for tracking, capturing, rendering, or killing suspected enemies of the United States.[1] Developed by the Obama administration beginning in 2010, the "Disposition Matrix" goes beyond existing kill lists and is intended to become a permanent fixture of U.S. policy.[1] The process determining criteria for killing is not public and was heavily shaped by National Counterterrorism Director and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John O. Brennan.[2]
8. “Team Obama: Sorry, America, the ‘new normal’ may be here to stay
The good times may be over for good. In a speech to the Economic Club of New York yesterday, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the US GDP growth rate, adjusted for inflation, is now projected to run a little above 2% a year.”
Team Obama: Sorry, America, the 'new normal' may be here to stay - AEI
Then, along came Trump….
“U.S. households are back to their free spending ways, with the strength of May’s retail sales figures implying that second-quarter real consumption growth (and GDP growth for that matter) will now be more than 4% annualized.
9. “Obama’s whopper of a claim on tax cuts
“We said working folks deserved a break, so within one month of me taking office, we signed into law the biggest middle-class tax cut in history, putting more money into your pockets.”
— President Obama, Sept. 5, 2011
10. 10. “Obama’s claim that ‘90 percent’ of the current deficit is due to Bush policies
…he can’t blithely suggest that 90 percent of the current deficit “is as a consequence” of his predecessor’s policies — and not his own.
It is astonishing to see the president repeat this faulty claim once again, as if it were an established fact.”
Obama’s claim that ‘90 percent’ of the current deficit is due to Bush policies
"It is astonishing to see the[Democrat Obama] repeat this faulty claim once again, as if it were an established fact.”
And they're still lying!!!
11. Obama called ISIS the JV and then said he didn’t call them the JV…
“Obama said he “wasn’t specifically referring” to ISIS when he made the junior varsity reference during an interview with The New Yorker in January. But the magazine article and a transcript of the interview — which Washington Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler obtained and wrote about earlier this month — shows that Obama was referring to ISIS when he said “if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.”
Obama Fumbles 'JV Team' Question - FactCheck.org
WaPo calls him a liar……again.
12. Here he goes again:
“Obama in 2015: ‘Assad Gave Up His Chemical Weapons…Those Have Been Eliminated’”
Really???
Then explain this:
“The April 4 attack in Khan Sheikhun, which cost the lives of more than 80 people ….
Defense Secretary James Mattis said Monday the firing of 59 cruise missiles from two U.S. Navy destroyers in the Mediterranean was intended to “show the United States will not passively stand by while [President Bashar] Assad murders innocent people with chemical weapons, which are prohibited by international law and which were declared destroyed.” Obama in 2015: ‘Assad Gave Up His Chemical Weapons…Those Have Been Eliminated’
13. President Obama: “So let’s start with this fact: For more than a thousand years, people have been drawn to Islam’s message of peace. And the very word itself, ‘Islam,’ comes from ‘salam’ — peace.”
Why did Obama say this? Even Muslim websites acknowledge that “Islam” means “submission” [to Allah], that it comes from the Arabic root “aslama” meaning submission, and that “Islam” is in the command form of that verb.
14. Obama Saying 'Islam has been Woven into the Fabric of our Country Since its Founding'
15. The unemployment rate announced three days after his election was 6.5%....not particularly terrible. But it was the only economic news, and had Obama insisting we were suffering "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression." Obama: U.S. in worst crisis since Depression | Reuters
16. The Kick-Back to Donors Plan….I mean the Stimulus…
In Barack Obama’s speech to the joint session of Congress, the President emphasized that his new jobs plan had four specific qualities that made it easy to pass this bill immediately, as Obama chanted repeatedly during his speech. His plan would be fully funded, it would not add to the deficit, it would create jobs immediately, and it was chock-full of bipartisan ideas. The Associated Press fact-checked these claims, and found them all false.
17. Obama lied and misled the American people in his description of his relationship with terrorist Bill Ayers as casual and arm's-length:” just a guy in my neighborhood.” His spokesman even claimed he ony knew him because his kids went to school with Ayers’ kids. Now it is clear that the relationship was close, and the evidence is that Ayers actually wrote Obama’s ‘autobiography.’
18. Report: Released Criminal Aliens Committed Nearly 10 Times More Crimes Than Obama Admin. Told Congress
Report: Released Criminal Aliens Committed Nearly 10 Times More Crimes Than Obama Admin. Told Congress | Breitbart
19. Do you recall this Obama response at one of the debates: “I think America's greatest moral failure in my lifetime has been that we still don't abide by that basic precept in Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.”
Perhaps this is the biggest hypocrisy and the greatest look into his character: “The average American household gives about two percent of adjusted gross income,” …Obama…less than 1%
And he wouldn’t help the ‘least of his own brothers’ out of poverty:
"Barack Obama's half brother, George Onyango Obama, was found living in a 6 by 10 foot slum hut in Huruma estate just outside of Nairobi. According to reports George Obama survives on $12 a year in the slums of Kenya."
Barack's Half Brother: George Obama's Hut Is In The Slums Of Kenya
20. “Obama: 'I Didn't Have Scandals.' So What Are All These?
Former president Barack Obama might not have experienced the fallout from a scandal, but that's very different from never having been involved in one.” Obama: 'I Didn't Have Scandals.' So What Are All These? | RealClearPolitics
21. Not only do the Leftists like Obama lie to their base with no compunctions….but they laugh at how gullible their voters are:
Charlie Rose and President’s Speechwriters Laugh About ObamaCare Lie ‘If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.’
22. The lies often serve the purpose of appealing to particular constituencies…..here, to Jewish voters:
"The Nazi death camp that Barack Obama's great-uncle helped liberate
MAY 27, 2008 | 4:21 PM
Barack Obama, at a Memorial Day event in Las Cruces, N.M., credited his great-uncle, Charlie Payne, as being among the U.S. troops who liberated the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.
The trouble with that bit of history -- as the Republican National Committee pointed out today -- is that the Soviet Red Army was the military force that liberated the World War II death camp."
The Nazi death camp that Barack Obama's great-uncle helped liberate
23. The lies are often revealed in the actions of the Democrats. While thumping their collective chests about how they feel for black Americans….their actions reveal something altogether different:
Obama's US Civil Rights Commission, 2010 Report:
"The United States Commission on Civil Rights (Commission) is pleased to transmit this report, The Impact of Illegal Immigration on the Wages and Employment Opportunities of Black Workers. A panel of experts briefed members of the Commission on April 4, 2008 regarding the evidence for economic loss and job opportunity costs to black workers attributable to illegal immigration. The panelists also described non-economic factors contributing to the depression of black wages and employment rates.
Illegal immigration to the United States in recent decades has tended to depress both wages and employment rates for low-skilled American citizens, a disproportionate number of whom are black men."
USCCR: Page Not Found
24. Here is Democrat apparatchik George Stephanopoulos ‘correcting’ Obama’s mention of his Muslim faith…
His actions throughout his presidency make this an admission more than a gaffe.
The big question about Hussein Obama was always was he Sunni or Shia…and with the Iran deal, we got answer.
25. "My expectation is that if you want to be president, you have to work for everyone, not just for some," Obama said in a taping of the "Late Show" with David Letterman... …the job of the President is to “represent all people.” “If you want to be President, You have to work for everybody, not just for some." Obama: As president you represent everyone, most people don't think they're victims
“According to the experts who contributed to the Brookings Institution report, Barack Obama numbers among the most polarizing presidents in American history.” These Are the Most Polarizing Presidents (and How Donald Trump Compares)
“A Gallup poll released Wednesday shows that former President Obama's approval ratings are easily the most polarized in modern American history, with Democrats rating him highly and Republicans rating him poorly.
"Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama averaged 83% job approval among Democrats and 13% among Republicans," reports Gallup. "That 70-percentage-point party gap in job approval ratings easily eclipses the prior high — 61 points for George W. Bush.
"All other presidents had party gaps of 55 points or less." Gallup: Obama approval ratings most polarized in US history
The Democrats wanted to put Hussein Obama on Mt. Rushmore....but they don't have enough room for two more faces.
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26. Remember Edward Snowden? Obama responded to Snowden’s stunning revelations of the National Security Agency’s vacuuming up millions of Americans’ personal data by going on the Jay Leno Show and proclaiming: “There is no spying on Americans.”
How quickly NY Times forgets Obama's lies and frauds
27. “OBAMA SAYS MANUFACTURING JOBS AREN’T COMING BACK – THEN TRUMP SETS RECORD OF JOBS IN ONE MONTH”
28. “Obama In Paris: Mass Shootings Don’t Happen In Other Countries…. The only problem with his answer was that he was standing in Paris, where a mass shooting conducted by Islamic State terrorists had just taken place, killing over 100 people.”
Obama In Paris: Mass Shootings Don’t Happen In Other Countries | Breitbart
“'Children's bodies are everywhere': NINETEEN people are killed in Crimean school massacre after student walks into canteen and opens fire –“ Crimea shooting: NINETEEN people are killed in school massacre | Daily Mail Online
29. “22 Times President Obama Said He Couldn’t Ignore or Create His Own Immigration Law” 22 Times President Obama Said He Couldn’t Ignore or Create His Own Immigration Law
“How the Obama Administration Bypassed Congress to Grant De Facto Amnesty to Young Illegal Aliens” How the Obama Administration Bypassed Congress to Grant De Facto Amnesty to Young Illegals
30. “OBAMA APPEARS WITH, ENDORSES NEVADA CANDIDATE JUST DAYS AFTER EX-WIFE LEVELS ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
· Former President Barack Obama and Nevada Democratic senatorial candidate Jacky Rosen — who tweeted “Believe women” in September — and other Nevada Democrats did not respond when asked to comment on the allegations after they endorsed Sisolak.”
Obama Appears With, Endorses Nevada Candidate Just Days After Ex-Wife Levels Abuse Allegations
31. “Obama, who campaigned on a promise to protect government whistle-blowers, made greater use of the Espionage Act to prosecute leakers and menace journalists than all other presidents combined.
Obama’s Justice Department accessed the personal email of a Fox News reporter and surveilled the reporter’s parents and colleagues. They seized the home, work and mobile phone records of journalists at the Associated Press.
White House officials subverted the press in a number of ways while touting themselves as the most transparent in history.” Trump Wages War on the Press, but Was Obama Much Better to Reporters? (Guest Column)
32. “In 2017, in Obama’s last days, The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board echoed the criticism from Downie and Risen and called Obama’s administration “the least transparent and the most antagonistic toward the media since the Nixon administration.” In a nuanced analysis of his eight years, we wrote, “So much for Obama’s promise to lead ‘the most transparent administration in history.’” Before Trump, Obama was an 'enemy of press freedom'
33."Uh Oh: New Texts Suggest Obama WH, CIA, FBI, And Harry Reid Colluded At Outset Of Russia Probe
There are new texts allegedly showing that the Obama White House, the CIA, the FBI, and top Democrats colluded at the outset of the Russia probe.
...coordination between former President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, then-Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, and CIA Director John Brennan —which they say would “contradict” the Obama administration’s public stance about its hand in the process."
Uh Oh: New Texts Suggest Obama WH, CIA, FBI, And Harry Reid Colluded At Outset Of Russia Probe
POLITICALCHIC OBJECTS TO BEING CALLED CUT ‘N PASTE BARBIE!!!
.
The old trick....start out by accusing someone of lying or not basing their post on facts....then, when they actually link and quote the facts, bitch about them using cut and paste to show that someone like you is a dumb asshat, who has nothing to support the dumb claims they make...
Seen it before and it is a lame way that the left argues on these message boards..
No, I started out by ridiculing her moronic comparison of people to computer servers, then pointed out the non-proof of a Devin Nunes claim. Facts, son.
I THEN went on to laugh at her 30-point cut n’ paste job.
