Fusion GPS officials plead the Fifth rather than answer who paid for the Trump dossier (Washington Examiner)
{townhall.com} ~ The Air Force has punished a highly-decorated and respected colonel after he refused to publicly affirm the same-sex spouse of a retiring subordinate... Col. Leland Bohannon, who was on the verge of being promoted to a one-star general, was suspended from command and orders were handed down recommending he not be promoted. “His career is likely over and he will likely have to retire as a colonel instead of as a general,” First Liberty Institute attorney Michael Berry told the Todd Starnes Show. First Liberty Institute, one of the nation’s most prominent religious liberty law firms, is representing the distinguished military officer... https://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2017/10/17/air-force-punishes-colonel-who-refused-to-affirm-gay-marriage-n2396028?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=
by Louis DeBroux: “Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive.” —Sir Walter Scott (Marmion, 1808) For more than a year, the mainstream media and the Democrats (but we repeat ourselves) were positively aflame with righteous indignation, broadcasting 24/7 claims that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to rig the 2016 election, and demanding investigations into and the impeachment of President Trump.
One might be forgiven, in the age of the 24/7 news cycle that jumps from one outrage and crisis to another, for not recognizing the disappearance of the Russia story from the headlines. One might also conclude the story’s disappearance is due to Democrats being forced to admit there is no evidence, despite intense effort to find it, of Trump/Russia collusion.
Yet even that misses the real story, which is that Democrats are now desperate to bury this story as evidence mounts that there WAS collusion with Russian operatives … by Barack liar-nObama and liar-Hillary Clinton.
According to recently revealed files, the FBI had uncovered a plot by Russian officials and operatives as far back as 2009 in which The Hill reports the Russians were “engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States.”
Recall it was then-Secretary of State liar-Hillary Clinton whose department authorized the sale of mining company Uranium One to a Russian state-owned energy company, giving the Russians control of 20% of the U.S. uranium supply. At the time, liar-Hillary and the liar-nObama administration defended their decision, claiming there was no evidence of Russian government wrongdoing and no national security concerns to prevent the committee from authorizing the sale. We now know that to be an unmitigated lie.
It is also no coincidence that, around the time of the sale’s approval, liar-Bill Clinton cashed in a $500,000 speaking fee to give a speech in Moscow, and the liar-Clinton Foundation raked in $145 million in donations from nine shareholders in Uranium One.
Meanwhile, the genesis of the Trump/Russia collusion claim lies in a dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele. Despite the claims in the dossier being either thoroughly debunked or still without corroborating evidence, a special counsel, in the form of former FBI Director Robert Mueller, was assigned to investigate.
And while any claims of interference in the internal political processes of our nation must be taken seriously, what must also be taken seriously is the increasingly evident reality that high-ranking Democrats, including Barack liar-nObama and liar-Hillary Clinton, were themselves the instigators of the very collusion they now seek to obfuscate.
The infamous Steele dossier that set these accusations ablaze was assembled on behalf of Fusion GPS, a firm that specializes in political opposition research. So it would seem obvious that the best way to get to the truth is to have the principals at Fusion GPS testify as to their knowledge regarding collusion.
That has become very difficult, however, as lawyers for Fusion GPS CEO Glenn Simpson say he refuses to testify, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. By its own admission, Fusion GPS lobbied for a Russian company with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. There is evidence that the Steele dossier, used to attack Trump, was commissioned at the behest of the Russians for the purpose of sowing confusion and discord into the American electoral process. Mission accomplished.
Just as disturbing is the fact that the FBI — the same FBI that was aware of Russian attempts to bribe and extort American officials and bureaucrats in order to acquire American uranium — has thus far refused to comply with a House Intelligence Committee demand to produce documents related to this investigation.
The tangled web grows more tangled still, as we note with concern that Mueller, the special counsel whose investigative team is loaded with liar-Clinton donors, was the head of the FBI when the discovery of Russian influence-peddling was made. This discovery would not be made public until four years after liar-nObama and liar-Hillary approved the sale of the uranium to the Russians.
Tangles upon tangles, we note that the investigation was supervised by then-U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, an liar-nObama appointee currently serving as Trump’s deputy AG, as well as Andrew McCabe, who served as assistant FBI director under liar-nObama, and today as Trump’s deputy FBI director. This is the same McCabe who is under investigation for a $500,000 donation given to his wife, a Virginia state senate candidate in 2016, by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, former DNC Chair and prolific fundraiser for the liar-Clintons, also now under investigation by the FBI.
The investigation into the Uranium One deal ended in 2015 at the direction of former FBI Director James Comey without ever briefing the FBI’s top counter-intelligence official or Congress on the staggering national security implications. That would be the same James Comey who leaked details of his conversations with President Trump for the purpose, by his own admission, of forcing the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Trump, recommending his buddy and former liar-nObama FBI Director Mueller, who buried the initial findings.
If you are thoroughly confused by this nefarious web of corruption, bribes, extortion and Russian influence-peddling, you are not alone.
Yet one thing seems increasingly evident: Those who were screaming the loudest now appear to have the most to hide. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/51914
{townhall.com} ~ Did you happen to catch CNN's latest smear?
Anderson Cooper's show recently featured a "two-part exclusive" that claims Donald Trump's EPA director had conspired with the CEO of a mining company to "withdraw environmental restrictions" so the company could dig "the largest open pit mine in the world in an extremely sensitive watershed in wild Alaska."
No! A "pristine" area and gorgeous salmon were about to be obliterated by a mine!
I would have believed it, except I happened to report on that mine a couple of years ago.
I knew that the real scandal was not EPA director Scott Pruitt's decision to "withdraw the restrictions"; it was what President liar-nObama's EPA did to the company's mining proposal in the first place.
Zealots at the EPA had conspired with rich environmental activists to kill the mine before its environmental impact statement could even be submitted. This was unprecedented.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform later concluded: "EPA employees had inappropriate contact with outside groups and failed to conduct an impartial, fact-based review."
But CNN, implying devious secrecy said, "according to multiple sources, he made that decision without a briefing from any of EPA's scientists."
Shocking!
But Pruitt didn't require opinions from scientists. He didn't approve the mine. He didn't make a science decision. He simply followed the law and allowed a company to submit a proposal.
Also, despite CNN's repeated depictions of salmon on Bristol Bay, it turns out that the proposed mine would not even be on the Bay. It would not even be 10 miles away, or 20 miles away, or even 50 miles. The proposed mine would be about 100 miles away.
Did CNN mention that? No. Never. We asked CNN why. And why not point out that the mining company is just being allowed to start the EPA's long and arduous environmental review? They didn't get back to us.
Of course, explaining that wouldn't fit CNN's theme: Evil Trump appointee ravages environment.
Their reporter did at least speak with the mine's CEO, Tom Collier, who tried to explain.
"It's not a science -- it's a process decision."
But the reporter, Drew Griffin, wouldn't budge. He called Collier "a guy who wants to mine gold in an area that many scientists believe will destroy one of the most pristine sockeye salmon sporting grounds in the whole world."
Instead, the reporter implied evil collusion: "This looks like the head of a gold mine went to a new administrator and got him to reverse what an entire department had worked on for years."
Here at least the report was accurate. liar-nObama's environmental department did try to kill that mine for years. They colluded with groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of America's wealthiest environment groups.
The NRDC is mostly made up of anti-progress lawyers who want no mines built anywhere. Don't believe me? I asked NRDC spokesman Bob Deans:
STOSSEL: There are some mines where NRDC says, great, go ahead?
DEANS: It's not up to us.
STOSSEL: Are there any?
DEANS: It's not up to us to green light mines...
STOSSEL: Are there any you don't complain about?
DEANS: Yeah, sure.
So I asked him for some names. He and the NRDC still haven't provided any.
If these zealots and their sycophants in the media get their way, America will become a place with no mining, no pipelines, no oil drilling, no new ... anything.
The acronym used to make fun of anti-development attitudes used to be NIMBY -- Not In My Back Yard. Now it's BANANA: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody.
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