kentuck
kentuck's JournalLook what I found!
This may be the oldest archive of DU on the Internet?
https://web.archive.org/web/20010219033913/http://www.democraticunderground.com/
When Repubs were in charge, the House Intel Committee carried water for Trump
Devin Nunes was the Chairman at that time. He was slipping information to the White House. Now, Adam Schiff is the Chairman and the Democrats are in charge.
But nothing has changed with the Republicans on the Committee. They are still taking their orders from Donald Trump.
Last night, Trump tweeted that Schiff should be removed from the Committee and kicked out of Congress.
This morning, all the Republicans on the Committee voted to remove Schiff from the Committee. Surprise! Surprise! The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Adam Schiff is the perfect messenger for the Democrats...
I hope Trump and Nunes keep attacking him. And I hope he keeps responding the way he responded this morning. America needs to hear information that does not originate with FOX News.
The last big hurrah...
Of course, this is just my opinion.
It was born of desperation. Donald Trump felt the hammer was about to fall. He had to do something. He wanted his AG to end the Mueller investigation. About that, there is little doubt.
He knew AG Barr's position on obstruction by a President. Barr didn't think it was possible for a president to obstruct justice. That was why he was hired, after he wrote his 19-page memo explaining himself.
Mueller was getting real close to finishing his investigation. And it didn't look good.
Mueller knew that there was a Justice Dept guideline that stated that a sitting President could not be indicted. His only choice was to turn over the results of his investigation to his superior, the Attorney General. He couldn't indict, because of DoJ guidelines, but neither could he exonerate.
That is when AG Barr became Donald Trump's long-sought after Roy Cohn. He made the decision to summarize the investigation and to clear Trump of all charges. But then, why did he put into his letter that the Special Counsel could not "exonerate"? Perhaps Rosenstein assisted him with the conclusions and that was his two-cents worth? That is speculation. All the words were not Barr's.
Trump had a PR blitzkrieg planned for the event. The media were quick to jump into line. After a day or two had lapsed, it began to look very suspicious. Trump went into a predictable distraction mode. He was going to throw millions of people off their medical care and he wanted his Secretary of Education to cut the funding for Special Olympics. It was a master stroke of distraction.
But, the Democrats and the American people were not so quick to jump on board. The majority did not believe the summary within the Barr letter. Suddenly, Barr and McConnell, no doubt doing the bidding of Donald Trump, decided to block the Mueller Report from Congress and the American people. They began to stonewall the request for transparency.
More and more, it began to look like a huge scheme to deceive the media and the American people. Democrats began to press for the entire report. Trump and Barr balked.
Where does it go from here? Probably we will see subpoenas from Congress and claims of "executive privilege" from the White House. In the end, we may be headed to the Courts?
It is a battle for the rule of law.
Things Goin' On That We Don't Know
Can someone help with the timeline for the investigation?
Our memories tend to fade with the passage of time.
Why was the investigation opened to begin with, Trump supporters ask?
We are told that it began with Papadopolous' loose talk with an Australian diplomat?
As I recall, Trump was asked a question about his foreign policy advisers and he volunteered the name of Carter Page. He had been under suspicion by the FBI since 2013.
Then, before Inauguration, General Flynn was overheard discussing the lifting of sanctions with the Russian Ambassador. When asked about it by the FBI, he lied.
There were a several incidents that raised suspicions about the Russians, including changing the GOP platform in Cleveland, to benefit Russia over the Ukraine.
When Flynn lied to the FBI, Sally Yates, the acting deputy Atty General informed the White House of their concern that he might be compromised by the Russians. It was earthshaking!
A couple of weeks later, the Republican leadership persuaded Trump to dump him. Some thought it unbelievable that he had access to all the nation's too secrets and he was communicating on the sly with the Russians.
Republicans agreed with Democrats that Rod Rosenstein, the acting Atty General, should appoint a Special Counsel to investigate possible collusion with the Russians.
By almost unanimous consent, Robert Mueller was appointed to the job. He was highly respected by both sides.
What other events should be added to the timeline? What important events am I forgetting?
Has Mueller damaged his sterling reputation?
By handing over his report to Barr without specific recommendations?
There were people here that predicted he would be thrown under the bus once his report came out and it did not meet their expectations.
But, we cannot know what he may have recommended or suggested until we read his own report. It is unfortunate that Trump and Barr are choosing to conceal and hide that information.
We can only assume that Mueller agrees with Barr's summary if he does not speak out, in one form or other.
It is not usually helpful to get into hero worship or to put all of our eggs into one basket, but we should get to the bottom of the investigation as soon as possible.
However, we should understand that no matter how the investigation might turn out, we are no safer as a country than we were last week at this time.
The OLC (Office of Legal Counsel) assisted Barr and Rosenstein in his conclusions of Mueller Report
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Engel<snip>
On January 31, 2017, the White House announced that President Donald Trump intended to nominate Engel to serve as the Assistant Attorney General heading the Office of Legal Counsel.[4][2] Engel's nomination was opposed by U.S. Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war who was tortured while in captivity. McCain cited Engel's involvement in commenting on and reviewing one of the so-called "Torture memos" that signed off on six different "enhanced interrogation techniques".[9] Various human rights groups expressed concerns about Engel's nomination, also citing his involvement with the July 20, 2007, memo authored by Steven G. Bradbury, then-head of the OLC.[10] Engel was confirmed by a 51–47 vote, largely along party lines with one Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin (West Virginia), voting in favor of confirmation.[
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AG Barr says that he received assistance from the OLC and Rosenstein in drawing up his conclusion report for Congress.
Just a name to be familiar with.
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