Ex-FBI Deputy Director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/andrew-mccabe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andrew McCabe</a> said on Thursday the bureau made &#8220;many mistakes&#8221; in seeking <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fisa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)</a> authority to snoop on Carter Page, an aide to former President Donald Trump&#8217;s 2016 campaign.
The comments were made during a CNN interview in which McCabe defended FISA&#8217;s Section 702 — which empowers the U.S. intelligence community to collect data on non-U.S. citizens abroad — as Congress debates whether to reauthorize it.
McCabe, now a CNN law enforcement analyst, responded to Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-kill-fisa-as-lawmakers-consider-surveillance-reauthorization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">call</a> to &#8220;KILL FISA&#8221; while saying it was used to spy on his campaign, after which the House <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-blocks-fisa-spy-bill-opponents-demand-warrant-requirement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blocked</a> consideration of a reauthorization bill just days before Section 702 sunsets.
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Disgraced former FBI agent Andy McCabe: &quot;[FISA] 702 authorities were never used in the — in the course of that investigation of Donald Trump &amp; his campaign &amp; some of his campaign associates. He — he may be referring to the FISA that was used — that was obtained to surveil Carter… <a href="https://t.co/qI2t6hgrzG">pic.twitter.com/qI2t6hgrzG</a>
&mdash; Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1778445079566254433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;To be clear, no, there is no truth or accuracy in that post at all,&#8221; McCabe said, adding that &#8220;702 authorities were never used in the course of that investigation of Donald Trump and his campaign and some of his campaign associates.&#8221;
Trump &#8220;may be referring to the FISA that was obtained to surveil Carter Page. We now know there are many mistakes in that FISA. Those are all regrettable. But that is not Section 702. Totally different thing here,&#8221; McCabe said.
&#8220;My guess &#8230; is that it&#8217;s not surprising that Donald Trump is against surveillance capacity and authority for the FBI because he is someone who&#8217;s been investigated by the FBI. But, nevertheless, he is absolutely wrong on this count,&#8221; he added.
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McCabe signed an application seeking FISA authority to spy on Page, part of a <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/1442002/doj-inspector-general-finds-17-significant-errors-or-omissions-in-carter-page-fisa-applications/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chain of approval</a> that came under fire over its partial reliance on an unverified dossier, and <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2185157/andrew-mccabe-shocked-and-disappointed-by-problems-found-in-carter-page-fisa-warrant-he-approved/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> to Congress he would not have done so knowing what he learned later.
The Trump Department of Justice <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/03/16/571671917/justice-department-fires-embattled-fbi-deputy-director-just-short-of-retirement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fired</a> McCabe from the FBI in 2018 — hours before he was set to retire with a pension — after an inspector general report faulting him for a <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mccabe-show-lack-candor-comey-doj-inspector-general/story?id=54450687" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;lack of candor&#8221;</a> regarding disclosures to the media.
McCabe sued over his firing in 2019, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/us/politics/mccabe-trump-fbi.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claiming</a> his dismissal was &#8220;politically motivated and retaliatory&#8221; following his leadership in the Trump-Russia investigation, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/us/politics/mccabe-trump-fbi.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">won back</a> his pension and other benefits in a 2021 settlement.
Some lawmakers who opposed advancing the FISA bill this week have demanded a <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/4584117-fisa-spy-powers-rules-warrant/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warrant requirement</a> for officials seeking to <a href="https://biggs.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-biggs-introduces-major-legislation-end-warrantless-surveillance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">access data concerning U.S. citizens</a> — ostensibly for law enforcement — that gets swept up in monitoring foreign persons.
FBI Director Christopher Wray is among those pushing to preserve FISA&#8217;s Section 702 authorities, <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?534718-1/fbi-director-testifies-fy-2025-budget-request&amp;vod&amp;start=1028" target="_blank" rel="noopener">telling</a> Congress on Thursday they are &#8220;critical&#8221; to protecting Americans and claiming that adding a warrant requirement would be &#8220;dangerous.&#8221;
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-kill-fisa-as-lawmakers-consider-surveillance-reauthorization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> the FISA bill, as it stands, would not only reauthorize Section 702 for five years, but also implement reforms that would “actually kill the abuses” directed at Trump’s 2016 campaign.
After the vote on Wednesday, in which 19 Republicans joined with all voting Democrats to oppose consideration of the FISA bill, Johnson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wray-calls-for-restoration-of-section-702-of-fisa-potential-for-a-coordinated-attack-in-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> lawmakers will &#8220;regroup&#8221; and insisted the United States &#8220;can’t allow a critical tool like this to just expire.&#8221;

Andrew McCabe

Fired Top FBI Official Concedes ‘Many Mistakes’ In Trump FISA Scandal

Fired Top FBI Official Concedes 'Many Mistakes' In Trump FISA Scandal

Congress

Donald Trump

FISA

Surveillance

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cnn">CNN</a> brought in former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to weigh in on the federal case against former President Donald Trump, and critics immediately turned their ire on the cable news giant.
While some have been critical of McCabe having a position as a CNN contributor at all — a job he has held since 2019 – many focused on the fact that he had been involved in the politically-charged investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election.
When CNN brought McCabe in on Monday — specifically to explain the differences between the case against Trump and the case against Clinton — a number of those critics found it difficult to swallow.
&#8220;CNN brings in Andrew McCabe to DEFEND the Hillary Clinton probe he botched and meddled in. The chyron: &#8216;Some in GOP Compare Trump Doc Charges to Clinton Email Case, But Facts Are Different.&#8217; Insanity,&#8221; Curtis Houck tweeted.
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CNN brings in Andrew McCabe to DEFEND the Hillary Clinton probe he botched and meddled in.
The chyron: &quot;Some in GOP Compare Trump Doc Charges to Clinton Email Case, But Facts Are Different.&quot;
Insanity. <a href="https://t.co/ffgjg6FyLr">pic.twitter.com/ffgjg6FyLr</a>
&mdash; Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1668294321076940806?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Harder to get a more explicit example of how CNN doesn&#8217;t give a damn about its credibility on the right or regaining the public trust writ large than having Andrew McCabe as one of their star experts on the Trump indictment,&#8221; Houck <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1668310795447414806" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added later</a>.
McCabe made another appearance on CNN — for the same purpose — just hours later, prompting Houck to comment, &#8220;Jake Tapper and CNN are really just giving conservatives a middle finger with this. CNN is a joke.&#8221;
And Houck was not alone.
&#8220;Keep mind, #CNN is using this guy who clearly broke the law in the Russia hoax as some sort of expert. Let that sink in,&#8221; radio host Joe Pagliarulo <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeTalkShow/status/1668371042975330307" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
&#8220;Have you no shame @cnn? @jaketapper?&#8221; another <a href="https://twitter.com/fugitivemama/status/1668332732802531329" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a>. &#8220;There should be an asterisk on the screen by his name every time McCabe speaks.&#8221;
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) weighed in as well, laying into CNN reporter Lauren Fox over the network&#8217;s decision to hire McCabe — along with former CIA Director James Clapper — in the first place.
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Holy moly <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerMcCarthy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerMcCarthy</a> just absolutely nuked CNN&#39;s Lauren Fox from orbit over CNN having Andrew McCabe while lecturing Trump about classified documents <a href="https://t.co/RS9z4z5LoR">pic.twitter.com/RS9z4z5LoR</a>
&mdash; Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1668334523644526592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2023</a></blockquote>
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McCabe <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/cnn-hires-fired-fbi-official-andrew-mccabe-as-contributor/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was fired</a> by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2018 — just before he was set to retire from the Bureau — after internal reviews came to the conclusion that the former deputy director had been less than forthcoming with investigators digging into the FBI&#8217;s actions ahead of the 2016 election. He has been a contributor with CNN since 2019.

Andrew McCabe Signs Copies Of His New Book “The Threat: How The FBI Protects America In The Age Of Terror And Trump”

CNN Brings In Andy McCabe To Address Trump Indictment And People Have Thoughts

Hillary Clinton

Media

The Justice Department should resist demands by House Republicans for information about its investigation into President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a>&#8216;s handling of classified documents, said a former FBI leader.
Andrew McCabe, who served as deputy director and acting director of the FBI between 2016 and 2018, said he would advise the Justice Department to take a &#8220;very hard line&#8221; against cooperating with the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee.
&#8220;There is a clear precedent here of not sharing information from an ongoing criminal investigation with Congress. And I think the DOJ is in a very strong position to resist on those grounds,&#8221; McCabe said Friday on CNN.
&#8220;Who knows what comes of that resistance?&#8221; he added. &#8220;Maybe DOJ leadership starts getting subpoenaed. And ultimately, that fight will end up in the courts. And that could drag things out. That&#8217;s going to be an additional distraction to DOJ. But it shouldn&#8217;t disrupt the actual conduct of the investigation. So, that&#8217;s a — it&#8217;ll be a separate but related set of stressors that DOJ has to deal with.&#8221;
McCabe became a law enforcement analyst at CNN following a tumultuous end to his decades-long career at the FBI in 2018.
Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe, citing an inspector general report that said <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/inspector-general-fbi-deputy-director-andrew-mccabe-lacked-candor-three-times-under-oath" target="_blank" rel="noopener">McCabe &#8220;lacked candor&#8221;</a> with investigators when discussing the disclosure of information to The Wall Street Journal about an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
McCabe made the recommendation about the Biden documents inquiry after saying there is <a href="https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/acd/date/2023-01-13/segment/02" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;a lot of concern&#8221;</a> about the duration of the probe. He noted Biden&#8217;s attorneys have stressed the president is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/classified-documents-found-in-bidens-private-office-contained-top-secret-material-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cooperating with authorities,</a> and McCabe said the entire effort could take only a few months. Meanwhile, Trump has been openly hostile to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/special-counsel-jack-smith-returns-to-united-states-to-lead-investigations-into-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">separate DOJ inquiry</a> into his handling of documents.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/merrick-garland-appoints-special-counsel-to-investigate-biden-classified-document-scandal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appointed</a> former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate Biden over classified documents found in an office in Washington, D.C., and in his home in Wilmington, Delaware. The documents date back to Biden&#8217;s time as vice president. Although the first batch of documents was allegedly found in early November, days before the 2022 midterm elections, the discovery did not become public until last week.
The House Judiciary Committee, led now by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-judiciary-committee-launches-investigation-into-biden-documents-scandal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sent a letter</a> Friday to Garland seeking documents and communications about Biden&#8217;s &#8220;mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material.&#8221;
<iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" title="CNN&amp;apos;s Andrew McCabe Says DOJ Should Refuse to Cooperate with Congress" src="https://rumble.com/embed/v22wtu0/?pub=4#?secret=9OHJxfUYvX" data-secret="9OHJxfUYvX" width="1280" height="720" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Among the demands made by the panel were for documents and communications related to the appointment of Hur. &#8220;The circumstances of this appointment raise fundamental oversight questions that the Committee routinely examines,&#8221; the letter states.
Some Republicans, including former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), are <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/like-a-fixer-for-the-democrats-nunes-worries-biden-special-counsel-may-be-biased/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raising concerns about Hur because of his role in drafting</a> a Justice Department letter to House Intelligence Committee Republicans urging them not to <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/read-devin-nunes-shares-point-by-point-refutation-of-democratic-memo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release a memo</a> on alleged surveillance abuses in the Trump-Russia investigation over claims the disclosure could harm national security.
&#8220;Hur looks like a fixer for the Democrats and the Deep State,&#8221; Nunes <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/like-a-fixer-for-the-democrats-nunes-worries-biden-special-counsel-may-be-biased/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Washington Free Beacon</a>.
McCabe claimed his firing in 2018 was a means for the Trump administration to tarnish then-special counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s investigation. McCabe <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice-department-pursuit-andrew-mccabe-john-durham" target="_blank" rel="noopener">played an integral role</a> in the FBI&#8217;s inquiry into alleged links between former President Donald Trump&#8217;s 2016 campaign and Russia, which was later wrapped into Mueller&#8217;s endeavor. McCabe sued for wrongful termination and won back his pension <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/andrew-mccabe-fbi-settlement-pension/2021/10/14/81502504-2d3f-11ec-985d-3150f7e106b2_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in a settlement last year</a>.

Ex-FBI Leader Advises DOJ To Resist House Inquiry Into Biden Documents Scandal

Department of Justice

Executive

Joe Biden

Politics

Scandals

U.S. House of Representatives

The Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a lawsuit with former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Thursday, awarding the ex-FBI official his retirement and its benefits despite his 2018 termination.
The DOJ and McCabe reached a settlement in his wrongful termination lawsuit, effectively reversing former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to fire McCabe in March 2018.
“Politics should never play a role in the fair administration of justice and civil service personnel decisions,” McCabe said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful for Arnold &amp; Porter’s dedication to my case, and I hope that this result encourages the men and women of the FBI to continue to protect the American people by standing up for the truth and doing their jobs without fear of political retaliation.”
Sessions terminated the FBI deputy director two days before McCabe was expected to retire from the bureau. McCabe was terminated on March 16, two days before his 50th birthday and his accrual of a full pension. He kept the pension benefits he had accrued up to that point.
McCabe received over $700,000 in the settlement, most of which went toward paying McCabe’s attorney fees for his lawsuit, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/former-fbi-official-andrew-mccabe-wins-full-pension-in-wrongful-termination-lawsuit-settlement">The Washington Examiner</a>. The former FBI official was awarded a lump sum equal to the amount he would have earned had he made his full pension, however, roughly $2,000. McCabe also received a slew of other benefits from the settlement.
According to the legal team at <a href="https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/perspectives/news/2021/10/ap-obtains-litigation-settlement-restoring">Arnold &amp; Porter</a>, the DOJ agreed to:
<blockquote>rescind and vacate the removal of Mr. McCabe from the FBI and civil service;
record Mr. McCabe as having been employed continuously by the FBI from 1996 until his retirement on March 19, 2018 as the FBI Deputy Director and a member of the Senior Executive Service;
deem Mr. McCabe as having retired “in good standing” for the purposes of the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act; and
place Mr. McCabe into the federal retirement system as of March 19, 2018, restore his full retirement pension from that date forward, and provide various other retirement benefits.</blockquote>
At the time, Sessions <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/attorney-general-fires-ex-fbi-deputy-director-andrew-mccabe-who-was-set-to-retire-sunday-1521252816">said</a> he fired McCabe after the DOJ inspector general and the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility concluded that McCabe made unauthorized disclosures while speaking under oath on “multiple occasions.” McCabe has consistently denied the findings and claimed that his termination was political retaliation.
“This Settlement Agreement is not and shall not be construed as an admission by any Defendant of the truth of any allegation or the validity of any claim asserted in this lawsuit, or of any Defendant&#8217;s liability therein,” the 11-page settlement said.
The inspector general <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2018/o20180413.pdf">report</a> found that McCabe “lacked candor” on multiple occasions, including when meeting with then-FBI Director James Comey and during an interview under oath with FBI agents. McCabe’s conduct violated multiple FBI codes, according to the report.
McCabe was also the source of the leak that publicly revealed an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation. The inspector general concluded that McCabe leaked the information under conditions not beneficial to the “public interest,” but “in a manner designed to advance his personal interests.” The report stated:
<blockquote>Lastly, we determined that as Deputy Director, McCabe was authorized to disclose the existence of the CF Investigation publicly if such a disclosure fell within the “public interest” exception in applicable FBI and DOJ policies generally prohibiting such a disclosure of an ongoing investigation. However, we concluded that McCabe’s decision to confirm the existence of the CF Investigation through an anonymously sourced quote, recounting the content of a phone call with a senior Department official in a manner designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership, was clearly not within the public interest exception. We therefore concluded that McCabe’s disclosure of the existence of an ongoing investigation in this manner violated the FBI’s and the Department’s media policy and constituted misconduct.</blockquote>

DOJ Agrees To Pay Andrew McCabe, Ex-FBI Official Fired Under Trump, $700K In Wrongful Termination Settlement

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is using the president&#8217;s COVID-19 diagnosis to delay his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, currently set for Tuesday.
In a letter issued to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Saturday, McCabe&#8217;s legal team claims the open testimony will pose a threat to McCabe&#8217;s health and the health of his family and that the hearing should be postponed to a later date because two key members of the committee, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) have both tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
CBS News&#8217; Catherine Herridge reports that McCabe &#8220;declined&#8221; to testify next week &#8220;citing &#8216;manifest danger&#8217; of COVID-19 among Committee members.&#8221; &#8220;McCabe is eager to testify voluntarily&#8230;at a future date,&#8221; the letter reads.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NEW <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Russia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Russia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Durham?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Durham</a>: McCabe declines to testify next week @senjudiciary citing &quot;manifest danger” of Covid-19 among Committee members + “McCabe is eager to testify voluntarily&#8230;at a future date when it is safe” McCabe conditions : in-person, not Zoom <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBSNews</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LindseyGrahamSC</a> <a href="https://t.co/6OdyTcOa8T">pic.twitter.com/6OdyTcOa8T</a>
&mdash; Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1312457554392313859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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“It may well be that other members of the Committee and staff who plan to attend the hearing will test positive between now and then, or may have been exposed to the virus and may be a carrier,” McCabe&#8217;s attorney wrote. “Under these circumstances, an in-person hearing carries grave safety risks to Mr. McCabe, me, and senators and staff who would attend.”
McCabe, the letter continues, is “willing, able, and eager to testify in person” but only “when it is safe to do so,” McCabe is &#8220;not willing to put his family’s health at risk to do so.”
Although it is possible for McCabe to testify in front of the committee remotely, his lawyer says that for reasons of &#8220;fairness,&#8221; McCabe would rather appear in person.
“A fair and appropriate hearing of this kind — which is complex and contentious — simply cannot be conducted other than in person,” his attorney notes in the letter.
McCabe is slated to testify in a Senate Judiciary Committee probe into the origins of the &#8220;Trump-Russia probe,&#8221; as it has come to be known &#8212; the Obama-era Justice Department&#8217;s decision to investigate whether the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and, later, the Trump White House transition team, improperly collaborated with Russian officials.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller notably found no connection between the campaign and Russian officials after a two-year investigation and the only indictments to emerge from the Muller probe related specifically to interactions that former Trump campaign officials had with the FBI.
McCabe&#8217;s testimony is a follow-up to former FBI Director James Comey&#8217;s appearance, which happened last week, and which revealed little about the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/andrew-mccabe-delaying-senate-judiciary-panel-testimony-citing-coronavirus-risk-lawyer">per Fox News</a>.
Both Lee and Tillis tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Friday, after news broke that President Donald Trump, who presided over a Supreme Court nominating ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett &#8212; which the pair attended &#8212; also tested positive and began to show clear symptoms of COVID-19.
Lee and Tillis both say they are doing well, but their infection status likely means the Senate will delay business regardless of McCabe&#8217;s request. On Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that, save for Barrett&#8217;s Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearings, all Senate business will be postponed for two weeks while Republican members quarantine.

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe Testifies To House Committee On FBI’s Budget

Andrew McCabe Using President’s COVID-19 Diagnosis To Delay Senate Testimony, Won’t ‘Put Health At Risk’

COVID

Russia

On Tuesday, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell made it clear that the GOP-led Senate would indeed pursue an investigation into the alleged abuses committed by federal officials during the Obama administration, asserting, “The American people deserve answers about how such abuses could happen and we intend to get those answers.”
McConnell referenced the FISA warrant calling for surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page:
<blockquote>Does any senator think it’s acceptable for any federal warrant application to include seven significant inaccuracies and omissions? This wasn’t just a run-of-the–mill warrant; it was a FISA warrant to snoop on a presidential campaign. This is just one of the realities that President Trump’s Democratic critics spent years calling “conspiracy theories” or “inventions of the president’s mind.”</blockquote>
Those seven inaccuracies and omissions included, as The Heritage Foundation <a href="https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/commentary/igs-report-reveals-4-spurious-allegations-basis-fbi-spying-trump">delineated</a>:
<ol>
<li>The FBI failed to inform the FISA court that it had been notified by another government agency that Page had provided information to that agency and the FBI about some of his contacts with Russian intelligence agents and had approval of “operational contact.”</li>
<li>Stating that Christopher Steele’s prior reporting had been “corroborated and used in criminal proceedings.”</li>
<li>Eliding the fact that although Steele claimed that critical information he was reporting about Page from a “sub-source,” Steele also described this source as a “boaster” and an “egoist” who “may engage in some embellishment.”</li>
<li>Fourth, as the Heritage Foundation wrote, “To bolster Steele’s credibility, the FISA application stated that some of the information that Steele reported had appeared in an article in Yahoo News, and that Steele was not the source for that story. This implied that somebody else had the same information Steele had and could serve as independent corroboration. However, it turns out that Steele was the source for that story, and that the FBI either knew it or easily could have learned it.&#8221;</li>
<li>The FISA application did not acknowledge that George Papadopoulos explicitly denied that anyone from with the Trump campaign was collaborating with the Russians or anyone else about the disclosed DNC emails.</li>
<li>The FBI elided the fact that Page said that he never had met or spoken to Paul Manafort and that Manafort had not responded to any of his emails.</li>
<li>That Page denied meeting the Russians Igor Sechin and Igor Nikolayevich Divyekin, and denied even knowing who Divyekin was.</li>
</ol>
McConnell continued:
<blockquote>Yet here it is, in black and white, from exactly the kind of independent Inspector General that Democrats rush to embrace when convenient. Sadly, this was no isolated incident. Just recently, Attorney General Barr has had to take the incredible step of unwinding a DOJ prosecution of another former Trump advisor because the government’s case against him was unfair or distorted as well. It was largely on the basis of these proceedings that Democrats and the media spent years fixating on wild theories of Russian collusion.
But upon investigation, the Mueller investigation — remember that one?— it is those wild allegations that collapsed along with the credibility of several of these investigations that helped create the cloud of suspicion in the first place …
As if this debacle needed even more shocking behavior, I understand a federal judge may try to continue prosecuting one of these cases even though the prosecution itself wants to drop it. The judge has taken it upon himself to go browsing for other hostile parties.  Obviously, that’s subverts our Constitutional order in which the executive alone decides whether to prosecute cases …
No matter what some Washington Democrats may try to claim, you’re not crazy or a conspiracy theorist if you see a pattern of institutional unfairness toward this president. You would have to be blind not to see one. You would have to be blind not to see one.  All of this is why the Senate passed important FISA reforms in last week’s bill to help bring accountability and transparency into that flawed process, and we aren’t nearly finished.
Just yesterday Chairman (Lindsey) Graham announced the Judiciary Committee will vote on a serious new set of subpoenas so the Senate can hear directly from key players like James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Loretta Lynch, and many others to continue getting to the bottom of this.
So let me say that again: Senate Republicans are taking steps to issue new subpoenas to a wide variety of Obama Administration officials with some relationship to the abuses I’ve laid out. The American people deserve answers about how such abuses could happen and we intend to get those answers.</blockquote>
Video below:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: Sen. Mitch McConnell: &quot;Senate Republicans are taking steps to issue new subpoenas to a wide variety of Obama Administration officials.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/61CZraQnBb">https://t.co/61CZraQnBb</a> <a href="https://t.co/BS8mEP9NCo">pic.twitter.com/BS8mEP9NCo</a>
&mdash; The Hill (@thehill) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1262785789865480197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons

WATCH: McConnell On Investigating Democrats: ‘We Intend To Get Those Answers’

James Comey

Loretta Lynch

Mitch McConnell

The Senate Judiciary Committee announced late on Monday that it would be voting to authorize issuing subpoenas to top Obama-era officials over their investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign and other related matters.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made the announcement in a press release saying that the subpoena authorization &#8220;covers a number of documents, communications and testimony from witnesses, including James Comey, Andrew McCabe, James Clapper, John Brennan, Sally Yates, and others.&#8221;
Assuming the vote passes, Graham&#8217;s subpoena would give the Committee <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/chairman-graham-announces-committee-to-consider-subpoena-authorization-related-to-oversight-of-fisa-process-crossfire-hurricane-investigation">access</a> to:
<ul>
<li>Documents and communications referenced in, and testimony at a hearing or deposition of any individual named or identified by pseudonym in, the report titled “Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation” issued by the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General</li>
<li>Documents and communications related to, and the testimony at a hearing or deposition of any current or former executive branch official or employee involved in, the Crossfire Hurricane investigation (including investigations opened under the Crossfire Hurricane umbrella) or the receipt or analysis of reports prepared by Christopher Steele (commonly referred to as the “Steele dossier”)</li>
</ul>
The 53 Obama-era officials that are listed as part of Graham&#8217;s subpoena included, &#8220;Trisha Anderson, Brian Auten, James Baker, William Barr, Dana Boente, Jennifer Boone, John Brennan, James Clapper, Kevin Clinesmith, James Comey, Patrick Conlon, Michael Dempsey, Stuart Evans, Tashina Gauhar, Carl Ghattas, Curtis Heide, Kathleen Kavalec, David Laufman, Stephen Laycock, Jacob Lew, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, Mary McCord, Denis McDonough, Arthur McGlynn, Jonathan Moffa, Sally Moyer, Mike Neufield, Sean Newell, Victoria Nuland, Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, Stephanie L. O’Sullivan, Lisa Page, Joseph Pientka, John Podesta, Samantha Power, E.W. “Bill” Priestap, Sarah Raskin, Steve Ricchetti, Susan Rice, Rod Rosenstein, Gabriel Sanz-Rexach, Nathan Sheets, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Glenn Simpson, Steve Somma, Peter Strzok, Michael Sussman, Adam Szubin, Jonathan Winer, Christopher Wray, and Sally Yates.&#8221;
The move comes after Attorney General William Barr said earlier in the day that the actions by the Obama-era officials was &#8220;unprecedented&#8221; in American history and that a &#8220;grave injustice&#8221; was done.
“And what happened to the president and I’ve said this many times, what happened to the president in the 2016 election and throughout the first two years of his administration was abhorrent,” Barr said. “It was a grave injustice and it was unprecedented in American history. The law enforcement and intelligence apparatus of this country were involved in advancing a false and utterly baseless Russian collusion narrative against the president.”
“The proper investigative and prosecutive standards of the department of justice were abused, in my view, in order to reach a particular result,” Barr continued. “We saw two different standards of justice emerge, one that applied to President Trump and his associates and the other that applied to everybody else. We can’t allow this ever to happen again. The Durham investigation is trying to get to the bottom of what happened, and it will determine whether there were any federal laws broken. And if there were, those who broke the laws will be held to account.”
Barr previously said in an interview with CBS News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge that the investigation into the Trump campaign was not a legitimate investigation.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Senate Republicans Walk to and From Their Caucus Launch in Washington, US

Senate Judiciary To Vote On Subpoenaing 53 Obama-Era Officials Over Crossfire Hurricane Scandal

James Clapper

John Brennan

Lindsey Graham

A <a href="https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2020/03/25/in_dojs_upper_echelon_you_are_innocent_until_you_get_off_scot-free_122897.html">new report</a> highlights how the Department of Justice routinely fails to prosecute high-ranking department officials despite criminal referrals from the department’s inspector general.
RealClearInvestigations (my former employer) examined several instances of DOJ employees committing crimes but not getting prosecuted. For example, an FBI attorney shoplifted from the Marine Corps Base Quantico Exchange multiple times before getting caught with $257.99 worth of stolen cosmetics. She admitted to also stealing from other stores but wasn’t prosecuted.
“Not that it was a surprise. The Justice Department regularly declines to prosecute high-ranking current and former department officials, even when its Office of Inspector General provides the grounds for it,” the outlet reported. “The Department of Justice OIG does not keep complete public records on the number of prosecutions that result from its investigations. But the office does keep track of certain cases – those involving wrongdoing by senior DoJ managers and officials that Justice declines to prosecute.”
In 2019 alone, the OIG “issued 27 such reports of alleged wrongdoing by senior Justice Department officials and employees that went unprosecuted – everything from nepotism in hiring, to making false claims on mortgage documents, to ‘lack of candor’ with federal investigators, to sexual assault.” You might recall the “lack of candor” crime, as it related to former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe lying to federal prosecutors regarding his role into the false claims that President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election.
Former FBI Director James Comey was also referred for prosecution by the OIG.
“By not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course of his FBI employment,” the OIG wrote in its report on the lack of prosecution, “Comey set a dangerous example.” The OIG sent its findings to the DOJ, but “After reviewing the matter, the Department declined prosecution.”
As RCI reported, it’s “much harder to find cases of senior officials who are found by the OIG to have committed wrongdoing and are subsequently prosecuted.” One person who was actually prosecuted was Barbara Zoccola, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in Memphis who was caught “falsifying her time and attendance records.”
RCI suggested it was “rare” for the DOJ to prosecute criminals referred to it by its own OIG:
<blockquote>For example, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia – who would have jurisdiction over misconduct committed in Washington – puts out press releases announcing indictments and convictions. In 2019 there were press releases regarding any number of murders, robberies, and molestations – the all too common crimes of any big city. But Washington being the seat of government, there were announcements of indictments and convictions of government employees, including cases of bribery at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and at Veterans Affairs, as well as espionage at the departments of State and Defense. But none of the 2019 releases involved wrongdoing by senior DOJ officials.</blockquote>
In addition to not getting prosecuted, it also appears top DOJ officials don’t usually get publicly named for their crimes.
The difference was most start with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the allegations of Russian collusion. Mueller “repeatedly used the full force of the law to convict associates of President Trump of process crimes, especially the crime of making false statements to government investigators,” RCI reported, while DOJ officials who did the same received no punishment.
Further, former high-ranking officials get off scot free for crimes such as impersonating a government official or using one’s position for special treatment:
<blockquote>A former deputy assistant attorney general was not happy that his brother was sharing a hospital room with another patient. A January 2019 OIG report states that he called the hospital claiming he was “the No. 4 person with the Department of Justice.” Leveraging that falsehood, the former Justice official demanded his brother be moved to a private room. The hospital complied.
When questioned by agents of the Department of Justice Inspector General, the former high-ranking attorney readily admitted he had committed “an ethical violation.” He “also agreed that his conduct amounted to the impersonation of a government official.”</blockquote>
Still, he was not prosecuted. DOJ spokesperson Wyn Hornbuckle told RCI that high-ranking department officials get no special treatment.
“The Department of Justice expects all employees to hold themselves to the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct,” he told the outlet. “The department takes allegations of employee misconduct seriously, including claims that employees lacked candor when dealing with investigators, and has a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment in the workplace.” The evidence suggests otherwise.

Report: DOJ Routinely Lets High-Ranking Officials Get Away With Crimes, Policy Violations

On Friday, the Department of Justice announced that it was dropping the criminal investigation in ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
McCabe had been criminally referred for investigation by the DOJ’s Inspector General (IG) after he lied to the FBI regarding leaks to the Wall Street Journal about the ongoing investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election. A special counsel determined that no member of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election.
In response to the DOJ dropping the investigation and charges against McCabe, the former FBI official turned to his new employer, CNN, to give a tone-deaf victory lap.
“As glad as I am that the DOJ and the D.C. attorney’s office finally decided to do the right thing today, it’s an absolute disgrace that they took two years and put my family through this experience for two years before they finally drew the obvious conclusion,&#8221; McCabe said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Andrew McCabe: “As glad as I am that the DoJ and the DC attorney’s office finally decided to do the right thing today, it’s an absolute disgrace that they took 2 years and put my family through this experience for two years before they finally drew the obvious conclusion.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/T8x7drbukU">pic.twitter.com/T8x7drbukU</a>
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1228381456830996485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
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McCabe, of course, missed the irony of his statement, given the fact that while he was at the FBI, he helped lead a two-year investigation into President Donald Trump and his family before the special counsel drew the obvious conclusion.
In a letter announcing the DOJ was dropping the investigation, J.P. Cooney, head of the DOJ’s Fraud &amp; Public Corruption Section and Molly Gaston, assistant U.S. attorney, the department declared the matter “closed”:
<blockquote>We write to inform you that, after careful consideration, the Government has decided not to pursue criminal charges against your client, Andrew G. McCabe, arising from the referral by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to our Office of conduct described in OIG’s April 13, 2018, report entitled, “A Report of Investigation of Certain Allegations Relating to Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.” Based on the totality of the circumstances and all of the information known to the Government at this time, we consider the matter closed. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.</blockquote>
McCabe was demoted in January 2018. One month later, the IG <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4437277/DOJ-OIG-McCabe-Report.pdf">determined</a> that McCabe “lacked candor, including under oath, on multiple occasions in connection with describing his role in connection with a disclosure to the [Wall Street Journal].” He also violated FBI and DOJ policy by disclosing “the existence of an ongoing investigation in the manner described in this report.”
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-justice-department-drops-criminal-investigation-into-fired-fbi-official-andrew-mccabe">reported</a>, McCabe filed a lawsuit in August 2019 against the DOJ, claiming his firing was a “politically motivated and retaliatory demotion.” He also claimed that Trump “purposefully and intentionally” pressured the DOJ to fire McCabe in an attempt to discredit the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election.
Having the charges dropped against McCabe angered Trump supporters who have seen time and time again the people who targeted Trump from before he was even president get away scot free with lying to the FBI while people associated with Trump get sentenced to prison. While McCabe was let off the hook for documented lies, Gen. Michael Flynn and Roger Stone were convicted in part for allegedly lying to FBI officials.

Andrew McCabe Responds To DOJ Dropping Criminal Investigation Into His Lying

In a turn of events that will only shock those unfamiliar with the Washington, D.C. swamp, the Department of Justice announced Friday that it would drop its criminal investigation into ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
In a letter sent from J.P. Cooney, head of the DOJ’s Fraud &amp; Public Corruption Section and Molly Gaston, assistant U.S. attorney, the department said that the government has decided to drop the investigation and charges”
<blockquote>We write to inform you that, after careful consideration, the Government has decided not to pursue criminal charges against your client, Andrew G. McCabe, arising from the referral by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to our Office of conduct described in OIG’s April 13, 2018, report entitled, “A Report of Investigation of Certain Allegations Relating to Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.” Based on the totality of the circumstances and all of the information known to the Government at this time, we consider the matter closed. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.</blockquote>
McCabe was fired in 2018. One month before, the OIG released the aforementioned <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4437277/DOJ-OIG-McCabe-Report.pdf">report</a>, which found that McCabe “lacked candor, including under oath, on multiple occasions in connection with describing his role in connection with a disclosure to the [Wall Street Journal]”
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ex-fbi-deputy-director-sues-bureau-doj-over-ashe-schow?fbclid=IwAR1W8CAW-H-rSTJwb3Tfym4P9Oio1igkLGQLNx5j4HdX088i0wyPTNaGQlA">wrote</a> last year, such dishonesty is a violation of FBI policy. The OIG also determined that McCabe violated FBI and DOJ policy by disclosing “the existence of an ongoing investigation in the manner described in this report.”
In August 2019, McCabe filed a lawsuit against the DOJ claiming his firing was a “politically motivated and retaliatory demotion.” He was demoted in January 2018 and fired in March after the OIG report. McCabe claimed in his lawsuit that President Donald Trump “purposefully and intentionally” pressured the DOJ to fire McCabe in order to discredit the FBI’s investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election.
An investigation from Special Counsel Robert Mueller determined no one from the Trump campaign worked with Russia to steal the election.
In February 2019, McCabe appeared on “60 Minutes” and claimed members of the Trump cabinet were considering using the 25th Amendment to oust Trump from office, according to host Scott Pelley.
“There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment,” Pelley said. “These were the eight days from [Fired FBI Director James] Comey’s firing to the point that Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel. And the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what do with the president.”
McCabe also said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein repeatedly discussed wearing a wire to record his conversations with Trump. Rosenstein dismissed the claim previously as a joke.
The DOJ released a statement denying McCabe’s claims.
“The Deputy Attorney General never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references,” the statement said. “As the Deputy Attorney General previously has stated, based on his personal dealings with the President, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the DAG in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment.”
It should be noted that members of Trump’s orbit who have lied to the FBI have been criminally charged, including Gen. Michael Flynn and Roger Stone.

Justice Department Drops Criminal Investigation Into FBI Official Andrew McCabe, Who Was Fired For Lying Under Oath

Despite what the &#8220;drive-by media&#8221; is insisting, Rush Limbaugh said on his radio program Tuesday, the newly released report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz does not clear the FBI of accusations of political bias in their handling of Donald Trump and the Russia probe — in fact, quite the opposite. &#8220;The IG report confirms that there is an ongoing coup to get rid of Donald Trump,&#8221; the famous conservative host argued at length Tuesday.
The Justice Department released the much-anticipated IG report on Monday, and the Democrats and mainstream media promptly portrayed the report as having cleared the FBI of accusations of acting with political bias against Trump. &#8220;The FBI was justified in opening its investigation into ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia and did not act with political bias, the Justice Department’s internal watchdog declared Monday, undercutting President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he has been the target of a &#8216;witch hunt,'&#8221; the <a href="https://apnews.com/a734c40d142c8950f57ad4c8f8af565c">Associated Press</a> reported Monday.
But while the establishment media rushes to exonerate the FBI and dismiss the Trump camp&#8217;s &#8220;witch hunt&#8221; accusations, Limbaugh noted, the man heading up another investigation that has a wider scope and more resources to dig into the issue deeper, United States Attorney John Durham, issued his own reaction to the report that has some in Washington &#8220;freaking out.&#8221;
&#8220;I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff,&#8221; Durham said in a statement Monday. &#8220;However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.  Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.&#8221;
&#8220;So the IG report shows that there was no coup against Donald Trump, right?&#8221; <a href="https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/12/10/dont-be-fooled-the-ig-report-confirms-the-coup/">Limbaugh</a> began an IG report-themed segment on Tuesday. &#8220;&#8230;Don’t believe that. The IG report confirms that there was. The IG report confirms that there is an ongoing coup to get rid of Donald Trump.&#8221;
Those maintaining that the report proves there was &#8220;no coup,&#8221; said Limbaugh, are &#8220;ignoring the basic facts of this and instead are relying on the inspector general saying that he couldn’t find any evidence of political bias. He didn’t say that. He said he couldn’t find any testimonial or other kind, meaning nobody copped to it, meaning nobody admitted it. It doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist. It just means nobody he interviewed or had the authority and power to interview admitted to it.&#8221;
&#8220;Durham made clear in his statement that the inspector general report is not even close and that he disagrees strongly with the conclusion that there was a justified reason to open this investigation,&#8221; said Limbaugh, noting that Durham has been given authority to conduct a far more comprehensive investigation and has the ability to indict. &#8220;This is highly unusual for this kind of thing to happen, for one government agency to issue a report and another government investigatory unit publicly, almost immediately, issue a statement disagreeing with it and contradicting it.&#8221;
One of the most damaging facts the IG report confirms is the key role played by the Democrat-funded, discredited Steele dossier. After the FISA court turned down the FBI&#8217;s first effort to get a surveillance warrant for former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, Limbaugh said, they tried again, this time using the partisan Steele dossier as supposed evidence.
&#8220;The FISA court turned down the first effort,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The second application worked, and we know that the second application is when they used the Steele dossier — and that made all the difference. &#8216;According to the IG report, FBI investigators considered seeking a FISA warrant against Carter Page in August of 2016, but they were rejected by lawyers at the FBI. That changed one month later, September 19, 2016, when six of Steele’s dossier memos arrived in the inboxes of the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigative team. The IG report says the FBI immediately sought to obtain warrants to spy on Carter Page,&#8217; i.e., the Trump campaign, after they received elements of the Steele dossier. &#8216;Those warrants were approved October 21, 2016.'&#8221;
&#8220;Bottom line: If it had not been for the Steele dossier, we wouldn’t have had any of the things that have transpired over the last three years,&#8221; said Limbaugh. &#8220;The Steele dossier is all they ever had. They knew it was bogus, they knew that Hillary Clinton had paid for it, and they did not tell the FISA court — and this is in the IG report.&#8221;
&#8220;This hearsay and the jokes were collated by a person who never thought Steele would ever present them as fact,&#8221; said Rush. &#8220;That same person said that Steele even lied about what he had passed on to him. &#8216;The dossier alleged that Carter Page was part of the Trump campaign’s well-developed conspiracy of coordination with the Kremlin and that he had worked under the direction of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. In truth, the two never met.'&#8221;
Limbaugh also highlighted some damning details from the report on the involvement of former FBI Director James Comey, who infamously presented some allegations from the unverified, salacious Steele dossier to President-elect Trump in their January meeting in Trump Tower. &#8220;So even though everybody at the FBI knew that the dossier was based entirely on hearsay and gossip and even jokes — and everybody knew that it was uncorroborated, everybody knew that it was not true — Comey and [Andrew] McCabe demanded that it be included in that January 6th intelligence community assessment for the president,&#8221; said Limbaugh.
&#8220;This is when Comey comes out of the meeting, calls Clapper, and says, &#8216;Mission accomplished!'&#8221; Limbaugh claimed. &#8220;Clapper calls CNN, and the dossier thus makes it into the news. BuzzFeed publishes the whole thing. All of this happened with everybody involved knowing the dossier was bogus. We now know that Comey fought to put the dossier in the community assessment, intelligence assessment so he could brief Trump about it so that they could get it into the news.&#8221;
&#8220;The idea that this report does not document that a coup was underway is absurd,&#8221; Limbaugh concluded. &#8220;[T]he evidence is so overwhelming of lies and fraud that Durham and Barr have one of the greatest gifts they could have gotten this Christmas with this report, folks.&#8221;
While in its initial <a href="https://apnews.com/a734c40d142c8950f57ad4c8f8af565c">coverage</a> of the IG report, AP portrays it as clearing the FBI of allegations of acting with political bias against Trump, the news agency also acknowledges that the report contains a lot of damaging information, particularly by identifying &#8220;17 &#8216;significant inaccuracies or omissions&#8217; in applications for a warrant and later renewals from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.&#8221;
&#8220;The report also details that the FBI used an informant to set up and record a September 2016 meeting with a high-level Trump campaign official,&#8221; AP adds. &#8220;The official wasn’t identified by name, but was not a subject of the Russia investigation, the report said. While the information collected wasn’t used during the Russia probe, it does lend support to the assertions by Trump and Barr that the Trump campaign was spied upon.&#8221;
Transcript via <a href="https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/12/10/dont-be-fooled-the-ig-report-confirms-the-coup/">RushLimbaugh.com</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-lindsey-graham-rips-fbi-after-release-of-ig-report-fbis-investigation-a-criminal-enterprise">WATCH: Lindsey Graham Rips FBI After Release of IG Report: FBI’s Investigation A ‘Criminal Enterprise’</a>

Donald Trump James Comey

Limbaugh: IG Report Far More Damaging Than Media Admits, Confirms Everything About The ‘Coup’

Rush Limbaugh

The Hill continues to post misleading summaries of articles on Twitter.
On Saturday morning, the outlet posted a tweet claiming “Ex-top Trump DOJ official Andrew McCabe banned from talking about upcoming report on CNN.” There are several implications here that point to nefarious deeds. “Banned” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, making it appear that since McCabe was a “top Trump DOJ official,” it was the administration banning him from talking about the report. Or perhaps it was his new employer, CNN, who was banning him from speaking about it.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
WATCH: Ex-top Trump DOJ official Andrew McCabe banned from talking about upcoming report on CNN <a href="https://t.co/WYigTJKOTY">https://t.co/WYigTJKOTY</a> <a href="https://t.co/JBCGrolL7y">pic.twitter.com/JBCGrolL7y</a>
— The Hill (@thehill) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1198114220216336385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The actual <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/media/471673-cnns-mccabe-restricted-from-talking-about-doj-ig-report">article</a> is by Joe Concha, who is not a left-wing hack, and uses the word “restricted” instead of “banned,” and explains that the Department of Justice Inspector General (IG) is keeping McCabe from discussing the upcoming IG report into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. Concha also noted that an unnamed FBI official is now under investigation “for allegedly manipulating a document used to obtain a FISA warrant of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page during the 2016 presidential campaign.”
McCabe was able to review the report but is unable to discuss – or leak – what he has seen. From Concha:
<blockquote>McCabe appeared on &#8220;Cuomo Prime Time&#8221; with anchor <a href="https://thehill.com/people/christopher-chris-cuomo">Chris Cuomo</a> on Thursday night after the CNN.com story broke earlier Thursday.
&#8220;My understanding is this: Andrew, you can&#8217;t talk about it,&#8221; Cuomo said in introducing McCabe. &#8220;You&#8217;re restricted from discussing the report of the investigation.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;ve currently reviewed the report. I&#8217;m in the process of doing that,&#8221; McCabe replied. &#8220;I’ve agreed not to speak about it in any way until that process is over,&#8221; 
&#8220;OK, I&#8217;ll respect that,&#8221; Cuomo said.</blockquote>
McCabe was fired from the FBI in March 2018, just before his retirement date, for improperly disclosing information to the media about the investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election. That investigation, led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, found no evidence to suggest collusion. McCabe, however, was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/sessions-fires-mccabe-he-can-retire-n856751">recommended for firing</a> for “unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor – including under oath – on multiple occasions.
CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/21/politics/fbi-fisa-russia-investigation/index.html">reported</a> Thursday that an unnamed former FBI lawyer “is under criminal investigation after allegedly altering a document related to 2016 surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser.”
“The finding is expected to be part of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s review of the FBI’s effort to obtain warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide,” the outlet reported. “Horowitz turned over evidence on the allegedly altered document to John Durham, the federal prosecutor appointed early this year by Attorney General William Barr to conduct a broad investigation of intelligence gathered for the Russia probe by the CIA and other agencies, including the FBI. The altered document is also at least one focus of Durham’s criminal probe.”
Horowitz’s team confronted the person accused of altering the documents, who “admitted to the change.”
It is unclear how much of the FISA document was changed and whether it was significant enough to sway the FISA court into approving the investigation into Page.

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