toobfreak
Tungsten/Glass Member
I debated whether to try to attach this to another thread, but due to its size and broad scope, and all threads I could find focusing mainly on bickering the smaller details of just Comey this or Trump that, I decided this should be started as a separate thread as a central resource of just what has been discovered and resolved known so far about the hearings and investigations in Washington.
Preamble: What was the reason for these investigations?
Then there is the Special Counsel Robert Mueller Investigation. What is he investigating? WHY is he still investigating if our intelligence has already resolved the role of the Russians, the extent of their harm, and the freedom of White House staff from any wrongdoing?
But very quickly, the hearings turned from their stated intent to a rather focused one on President Trump and his dealings with Comey. What is the central issues driving this?
Preamble: What was the reason for these investigations?
- To determine whether the Russians were mischievous in attacking our election system and to what degree they succeeded.
- To determine whether president Trump or any of his campaign staff had colluded with the Russian Federation in any joint effort to affect the 2016 election.
- Yes, it is the joint opinion of all intelligence agencies combined that the Russians absolutely tried to get into and gain access to certain aspects of our election structure, but that they were not successful to any significant degree of harm and no voter outcomes were affected. SO HILLARY DID NOT LOSE BECAUSE OF THE RUSSIANS.
- After ten months of investigation and interviews, there has been no evidence that president Trump or any of his staff colluded with the Russians. Some of them had contacts with Russian individuals, but these all appear to be resulting from the ordinary dispensation of either personal affairs (business), or their professional duties for the position they hold.
Then there is the Special Counsel Robert Mueller Investigation. What is he investigating? WHY is he still investigating if our intelligence has already resolved the role of the Russians, the extent of their harm, and the freedom of White House staff from any wrongdoing?
But very quickly, the hearings turned from their stated intent to a rather focused one on President Trump and his dealings with Comey. What is the central issues driving this?
- General Flynn's dismissal after finding he was not wholly forthcoming on his past dealings with Russia and Turkey. Not that there was anything necessarily illegal in them, but his lack of full disclosure publicly embarrassed the Vice President. Due to the allegations, an FBI investigation into Flynn's activities was launched.
- President Trump's firing of FBI Director Comey. Comey had been the subject of many questionable actions beginning with his quixotic findings and conclusions regarding the Hillary email case starting on July 5. 2016 and then again on Oct. 27, 2016. In addition, other conflicting statements and activities during subsequent interviews as well as with Attorney General Lynch.
- Comey's firing does not affect any investigation because those doing the investigation are not changed by Comey's firing.
- No improper activity has ever been turned up on Flynn.
- Without a doubt, the FBI Director serves at the behest of the President who can fire a Director at anytime for any reason. But it is rather unusual for an FBI Director to be fired, Comey was only a few years into his 10 year term; was the President trying to obstruct an investigation into himself or Flynn?
- The White House gave a rather conflicting explanation for the basis of Comey's firing, and no FBI director had been appointed to replace him.
- Director Comey was himself the source of at least one of the covert leaks to the newspapers. He did this premeditatedly to both protect himself but to especially harm the president with the desire to force a Special Counsel Investigation. Not only does this raise the issue of legality in leaking confidential government records, but it brings to the fore whether 18 US Code § 4 was violated by Comey, a felony in seeing a crime and not reporting it in a timely manner. If Comey did not see a crime, then what was the basis for his notes and the reason for leaking these to the press to embarrass the president and force a Special Counsel other than purely political?
- Many of the major leaks and scoops to major news agencies over the months all harshly pursued both on television and in print calling for up to the impeachment of the president including reports by CNN and The New York Times have all been lies and fabrications. Comey himself as a person with access to the highest level of intelligence information made this very clear in confirming this.
- Attorney General Loretta Lynch interfered into the Clinton email investigation putting pressure on Comey to deemphasize the nature of it.
- Comey didn't go along with the alleged 'pressure' from Trump that Trump hoped that he would see fit to let Flynn go with a bit of grace and compassion after all his service to the country, that he had suffered enough; after all, the whole matter with Flynn only came to bear after an illegal unmasking and public revealing of his name (a felony violation of the Espionage Act), itself still not investigated, yet, Comey went along with the avowed pressure from Lynch over the Clinton scandal. Comey agreed to make untrue statements about the Clinton investigation yet would not agree to make TRUE statements about Trump! The basis of Trump's desires was simply that since Comey had told him on three occasions that he himself was not personally under investigation, that he simply make a public statement to that effect in order to clear his name and take media heat off of him. And why did Comey take detailed notes on his meetings with Trump yet took none with his meetings with Lynch?
- President Trump talks and acts like a New York State Real Estate Developer, highly aggressive, does not understand the importance of precise language or care. He is used to the world of business where the guy at the top wields absolute authority and doesn't yet understand the nuances of the Executive Branch. But rather than Comey help and point out his discomfort or the potential conflicting nature of the appearance of his requests, just let the president flail in the wind, rushing to his car to take covert notes on the meeting. Perhaps this is what Trump meant in any discussions he had asking Comey where he stood in watching Trump's back? Maybe Trump had these discussions in private not to pressure Comey but to NOT to pressure him? In the world of business, one usually does not hire a close executive if he is unsure of his loyalties in working united towards a common goal, in this case, not to cover up anything but to merely not add to the fracas of political and media attacks? And it seems clear that not only did Trump have these doubts, but after a time they were finally borne out to be true.
- The Russian Collusion story long promulgated by both Hillary Clinton, many of the Democratic Party and Media as the basis of all this is now looking even weaker than ever.
- Hundreds of hours and millions of words later, all of the shrill media hype over the past month adds up to essentially NOTHING.
- Learned so far: The FBI like the IRS, has been turned into a political battleground, the Executive Branch hurt by constant, unprecedented leaks mostly false, and the media has largely cheered all attempts to overthrow the democratically-elected leader of the country.
- All of this investigation was started by allegations by the Democrats but went along with by the Republicans. As the party in power, they didn't have to do this.
- The Democrats say all of this was started by Trump firing Comey, long held objectionable and questionable by both sides, now having largely finished with Trump, they now wish to move onto investigating Jared Kushner.
- EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN HAS BEEN LEAKED TO THE PRESS ABOUT TRUMP EXCEPT THE ONE THING TRUMP WANTED: THAT HE WAS NOT PERSONALLY UNDER INVESTIGATION. And now Comey, Democrats and the media have used his efforts to pursue that very end as the basis for investigating him!
- Comey made a post hoc attempt to construct an obstruction case that wasn't there to begin with.
- There has been no proof of corrupt behavior.
- The President is constitutionally mandated with the authority to have input and influence over his own Executive Branch.
- Comey said that it was not his place to decide if Trump had committed obstruction---- when that is EXACTLY his job as the top Law Enforcement officer in the land! By saying that, he hopes to avoid any potential liability in committing a felony under 18 US Code § 4 for withholding knowledge of the commission of a crime. So either Trump has never committed any obstruction or Comey is himself a felon.
- If asked to do something illegal or immoral, the choice of the FBI Director is to either resign or to carry out the directives, not to say you really don't know what that was all about! And that months later he thinks he was being told to do this or that? Comey made it clear that he both disobeyed and intended to disobey whatever directive he believe the President was leading him to, and that is insubordination. Then to say that he was stunned and not able after hours, days and weeks to bring himself to clarify or contest what he believed he was being asked? Unable to contest Lynch's requests but willing to mislead the public in the Hillary affair? This is a man charged with leading the FBI in national security in matters of ISIS and the likes. Trump was fully justified in his belief that Comey was unable to fully carry out the duties of the Director and had no choice but to let him go.
- Since James Comey met privately with and gave a data dump to Investigator Robert Mueller, that now brings to light whether the Mueller investigation has been compromised.
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