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TheFrontPageCover
~ Featuring ~
Who Influenced 2016 More: Russia,
or a Small FBI Cabal?
Nate Jackson
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WH Budget Office Releases Legal Memo
Saying Ukraine Aid Delay Was Routine
by Alicia Luke
{ lidblog.com } ~ White House budget office asserts in a new legal memo that delaying Ukraine aid was only routine. “For decades, OMB has routinely used its apportionment authority to prevent funds from being used,”... OMB general counsel Mark Paoletta wrote, according to the Post. Paoletta asserts that while OMB must notify Congress before delaying allocation of some funds, the Ukraine assistance amounts to a “programmatic delay” that does not require notification, citing a prior GAO opinion. Paoletta authorized the repeated delays in the spending while awaiting a decision from Trump on the matter, according to the administration official. “For decades, OMB has routinely used its apportionment authority to prevent funds from being used,” Paoletta wrote. “Often, in managing appropriations, OMB must briefly pause an agency’s legal ability to spend those funds for a number of reasons, including to ensure that the funds are being spent efficiently, that they are being spent in accordance with statutory directives, or to assess how or whether funds should be used for a particular activity.” The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a new legal memo on Wednesday indicating that the Trump administration’s decision to temporarily hold military assistance to Ukraine was a “routine” practice and that the administration was reviewing whether Ukraine complied with U.S. policy. The memo indicated that the decision to withhold the aid was not a political action to block Congress’ spending decisions. “The office first began discussing the aid on June 19, the day President Trump learned of the aid from an article in the Washington Examiner and questioned the wisdom of the spending,” The Washington Post reported. “That move sent aides scrambling, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal conversations.” “The Office of Management and Budget extended the temporary hold on the aid eight times in August and September, the last time being Sept. 10,” the Post added. “Almost immediately after that hold, the money was released, according to the new memo, which was reviewed by The Washington Post.” Just another example of dismissed evidence that should throw out the entire impeachment. It doesn’t seem to matter, though. They’ve known it’s bull ever since the transcript was released, and that hasn’t stopped them. https://lidblog.com/ukraine-aid-delay-was-routine/ .
liar-Nancy Pelosi Contradicts
scumbag/liar-Schiff: Impeachment
‘Isn’t About Elections’
by KYLE MORRIS
{ breitbart.com } ~ Speaker of the House liar-Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) contradicted remarks from House Intelligence Committee Chairman scumbag/liar-Adam Schiff (D-CA) from their early Tuesday announcement of impeachment articles against President Donald Trump... saying the attempt to remove Trump from office “isn’t about elections.” “It’s a sad day actually, a solemn day,” liar-Pelosi said at the “Women Rule Summit” hosted by Politico in Washington, DC. “It’s something that no one comes to Congress to do, to impeach a president.” When questioned about why the Mueller report findings were not included in the articles of impeachment, liar-Pelosi gave a seemingly agitated response. “I wish everyone just focused on what we are bringing forward because this is very serious violations of our constitution, undermining the national security of the United States, jeopardizing the integrity of our elections,” she said. “Instead of talking about what isn’t, this is what is, and that’s how we’re moving forward.” liar-Pelosi also said she is “not worried,” adding that the impeachment process against President Trump is about “patriotism” rather than “elections,” as scumbag/liar-Schiff had claimed on Tuesday. “We take an oath to protect and defend. If we did not do that, we would be again delinquent in our duties. So this isn’t about elections, it’s about the Constitution,” liar-Pelosi said.“This isn’t about politics,” she added. “This is not about Democrats or Republicans. … This is about patriotism.” In contrast, scumbag/liar-chiff’s remarks Tuesday morning suggested that Democrats must impeach President Trump in order to stop him from winning the presidency again in 2020. “The argument, ‘why don’t you just wait?’ comes down to this: Why don’t you just let him cheat in just one more election?” scumbag/liar-Schiff said. “Why not let him have foreign help one more time?”.
Dan Bongino Discovers Critical New
Information In Report That Directly
Contradicts IG’s Conclusions
by Elizabeth Vaughn
{ redstate.com } ~ The stunning amount of nefarious behavior outlined in the IG report has many of us wondering how on earth Michael Horowitz could have concluded that the political bias of members of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team had not influenced their decisions and actions... Even a cursory look at the report provides enough material to justify criminal referrals for several of them. Instead, we have former FBI Director scumbag-James Comey announcing he’s been exonerated. And former FBI lawyer Lisa Page was so emboldened by Horowitz’s findings that she’s now filed a lawsuit against the DOJ and the FBI claiming that, by releasing her text message exchanges with former lover and co-worker, FBI agent Peter Strzok, they violated the Privacy Act. As pundits and lawmakers sift through the report, it has become clear that the wrongdoing went even deeper than had been thought, leading even liberal bleeding heart, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, to acknowledge that “very clear mistakes were made by the FBI” and they were “pretty egregious.” The IG report can be viewed here. ( https://www.justice.gov/storage/120919-examination.pdf ) In his Wednesday podcast, Fox News contributor and investigator Dan Bongino, who has a knack for finding what others miss, points out several previously unknown facts about actions taken by members of the Crossfire Hurricane Team in mid-August 2016. We’ve heard the following text message from Strzok to Page regarding a conversation they’d had in a meeting with then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on August 15, 2016: “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office – that there’s no way he gets elected – but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re forty.” Don’t roll your eyes! This is important. The IG report tells us something else happened on August 15th. The FBI’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC) informed the Crossfire Hurricane team “there was an insufficient basis for them to proceed with a FISA application” for George Papadopoulos.” One of the functions of the OGC is to prepare applications for the FISA Court. The Crossfire Hurricane team dropped the matter. On August 15th, the team requested assistance from OGC to prepare a FISA application for Carter Page. Later in August, the team was told the OGC had consulted with the attorneys in the Office of Intelligence (OI) in the DOJ’s National Security Division the OI prepares FISA applications and presents them to the FISA Court, there was insufficient information to establish probable cause (PC) for a warrant to spy on Page... https://www.redstate.com/elizabeth-vaughn/2019/12/12/dan-bongino-discovers-critical-new-information-ig-report-actions-crossfire-hurricane-team/?utm_source=rsafternoonbriefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&bcid=7220442bc3498cb5e2d68f3cb4d11680 .
scumbag liar-Jerry Nadler: “We Cannot
Rely on an Election” to Remove Trump
Written by Luis Miguel
{ thenewamerican.com } ~ The House Judiciary Committee began the first phase of its “markup” process for the two articles of impeachment against President Trump on Wednesday... as the impeachment process moves closer toward a final floor vote. The committee’s chairman, scumbag liar-Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), said in his opening statement that the House “cannot rely on an election” to remove President Trump. “We cannot rely on an election to solve our problems, when the president threatens the very integrity of that election,” he told fellow members of the committee, arguing that the president’s conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about loose lips liar-Joe and Hunter Biden, along with the White House’s delay in providing military aid to Ukraine, constitute an “urgent” national security threat. “This committee now owes it to the American people to give these articles careful attention,” scumbag liar-Nadler added at the start of the markup proceedings for the two articles — one for abuse of power and one for obstruction of Congress. scumbag liar-Nadler said the situation gave him a “heavy heart” and that there were three questions for Congress to determine: whether President Trump actually committed to acts of which he is being accused, whether those acts constituted the “high crimes and misdemeanors” the Constitution establishes as grounds for impeachment, and what national security consequences exist should Congress not take action. The Judiciary Committee’s ranking Republican, Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, asserted that Democrats have been looking for a pretext to impeach the president since he took office. Collins noted that Zelensky has denied on various occasions that President Trump pressured him, for which Democrats have called the foreign leader a “liar.” Collins also took issue with Judiciary Committee Democrats for bringing in as witnesses anti-Trump legal scholars with no first-hand knowledge of the facts in question. Collins reminded his colleagues that former President Barack scumbag/liar-nObama withheld lethal military aid to Ukraine over concerns about documented corruption there. On Wednesday night, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a justification for the White House’s withholding of aid to Ukraine, which OMB described as a “programmatic delay” that was necessary to “ensure that funds were not obligated prematurely in a manner that could conflict with the President's foreign policy.”... We the People have always voted to elect our president. https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/congress/item/34317-jerry-nadler-we-cannot-rely-on-an-election-to-remove-trump?ct=t(EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_12_2_2019_15_37_COPY_01)&mc_cid=c62165b9ed&mc_eid=8ab66f2b22 .
U.S., Mexico, and Canada Sign “Progressive”
USMCA Regional Government Scheme
by Christian Gomez
{ thenewamerican.com } ~ On Tuesday, in Mexico City, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Jesús Seade Kuri, and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland signed the Protocol of Amendments... to the Agreement Between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada. This 27-page document are all of the changes to the USMCA that Democrats spent months negotiating with Lighthizer and the Trump Administration in order to garner their support for approving the USMCA in the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives. The Protocol of Amendments was signed in Mexico City just as Speaker liar-Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats held a press conference on Capitol Hill announcing and praising the new changes to the agreement. Senator Ricardo Monreal Ávila of Mexico’s socialist National Regeneration Movement, known by its Spanish acronym MORENA, announced, “On behalf of the Senate of the Republic — the body empowered by the constitution for the ratification of accords, treaties, and international conventions — we celebrate that Mexico and the United States have made an agreement that allows us to move towards the approval and ratification of the trade Treaty between Mexico, United States, and Canada in the two remaining countries.” Senator Monreal didn’t waste any time in touting the supranational nature of the USMCA. “It will now be easier to establish panels of regional jurisdiction, or with regional jurisdiction, composed of judges from both countries that address all types of differences that may arise on any subject covered by the treaty,” Monreal proclaimed.The “regional jurisdiction” Monreal described would operate outside the established judicial systems or courts of Mexico, the United States, and Canada and not be subject to them — thus potentially subordinating U.S. citizens and companies to these panels in the event of a dispute — much like NAFTA’s international dispute settlement mechanisms or “NAFTA courts.” Of the newly updated USMCA, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said, “When this agreement is enacted, NAFTA will not only be preserved, it will be updated, improved, and modernized for the 21st century.” Freeland’s comments about how the USMCA preserves NAFTA and modernizes it came just hours after President Trump tweeted... https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/north-america/item/34296-u-s-mexico-and-canada-sign-progressive-usmca-regional-government-scheme?ct=t(EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_12_2_2019_15_37_COPY_01)&mc_cid=c62165b9ed&mc_eid=8ab66f2b22 .
Israel Heads for Third Election
as Deadlock Continues
by Vijeta Uniyal
{ legalinsurrection.com } ~ Israel is heading for a third election in eleven months after repeated rounds of negotiations failed to yield a coalition government... In consecutive elections, which took place in April and September, neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party nor the opposition Blue and White alliance managed to secure a majority in a 120-seat Knesset, Israel’s parliament. In September, Blue and White alliance, led by former army chief Benny Gantz, got 33 seats, as opposed to 32 seats won by Netanyahu’s Likud party. Both blocs failed to cobble together a 61-seat majority in the Knesset. The deadline set by President Reuven Rivlin expired at midnight on Wednesday, triggering the third round of elections. Netanyahu, who did not attend last night’s Knesset session, called out his political rivals for forcing a new election. “In order to prevent this from happening again, there is only one thing we must do: win and win big,” he said in a video message posted on social media.Israeli TV channel i24News reported Wednesday night’s Knesset proceedings that led to the new election: After months of deadlocked talks and the indictment of the prime minister, Israel moved Wednesday to its third election in 12 months, a first in the history of the Jewish state. The elections will likely deepen polarization and fuel deep dissatisfaction with politicians that have been unable to form a government in a year. (…) MPs [members of parliament] had until 23.59 to find a candidate capable of gaining a majority in the parliament, or Knesset but the deadline passed, meaning parliament dissolves and the country returns to the polls in March. MPs were expected to confirm the exact date and confirmed election procedures and financing in the early hours of Thursday. Lawmakers proposed March 2, 2020 as the date for the vote, but should they fail to agree the date will automatically be set for 90 days from today — March 10. The political uncertainty comes at a crucial time for the Jewish state. The Iranian regime continues to advance its nuclear missile program. Tehran’s tentacles are reaching out all across the Middle East, creating havoc in the neighboring Gulf States, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen. Iran-funded terror organizations, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have carried out numerous attacks against the Israeli army and civilians. The Islamic regime in Tehran has repeated its threats to destroy the Jewish state in recent days, even as it mows down its own people protesting in the streets... https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/12/israel-heads-for-third-election-as-deadlock-continues/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=f56db918-6fcb-4389-b543-30c61c0fb849 .
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Who Influenced 2016 More: Russia,
or a Small FBI Cabal?
Nate Jackson: Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday about his lengthy report on the FBI investigation into Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and early administration. Because Democrats and the Leftmedia would rather focus on impeachment, however, you have CNN and MSNBC cutting away from hearings so viewers would not be exposed to the opening statement from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). What a contrast from the wall-to-wall coverage of House Democrats during impeachment hearings.
Graham’s remarks were particularly salient, as were Horowitz’s responses.
Regarding the “dossier” written by Christopher Steele and paid for by scumbag/liar-Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC, Graham asked, “Christopher Steele — is it fair to say that he had a political bias against Donald Trump?”
Horowitz responded that “there was a bias that should have been disclosed to the [FISA] court.” How much bias? Steele “was desperate to prevent Mr. Trump’s election.”
And why does that matter? Former FBI Director scumbag-James Comey was asked in April 2018 how important the fake dossier was to obtaining the FISA warrant and opening the investigation against Trump. “[The Steele dossier] was part of a broader mosaic of facts that were laid before the FISA judge in order to obtain the FISA warrant [on Carter Page],” he insisted at the time. “The dossier was part of that but was not all of it or a critical part of it.”
Actually, as Horowitz made plain in his report and in his testimony yesterday, “We concluded that the Steele report played a central and essential role in the decision to seek the FISA warrant.” Indeed it did, as the House and Senate reported last year.
As for the conduct of the handful of high-level FBI officials responsible for targeting Trump and besmirching the reputation of the entire FBI, Horowitz said some of the conduct was “inexplicable” and that he’s “not ruling out” political bias. He explained, “I think it’s hard to look at all 17 of these events and conclude it was complete incompetence.” That’s a diplomatic understatement if we ever heard one.
Horowitz also says he has referred the actions of the “entire chain of command” in the FISA warrant process for review by supervisors “for consideration of how to assess and address their performance failures.”
Graham noted that “scumbag-Comey said this week that your report vindicates him,” before asking, “Is that a fair assessment of your report?”
Horowitz flatly rejected such an absurd notion: “You know, I think the activities we found here don’t vindicate anybody who touched this.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) cut to the chase, saying, “A lawyer at the FBI creates fraudulent evidence [and] alters an email that is in turn used as the basis for a sworn statement to the [FISA] court that the court relies on. Am I stating that accurately?”
“That is correct,” replied Horowitz. “That is what occurred.”
Cruz then made an astounding point about equal application of the Rule of Law: “If a private citizen did this — fabricated evidence — would that private citizen be prosecuted?” asked Cruz.
Horowitz answered, “They’d certainly be considered for that.”
A final assertion really sums up the issue at the foundation of Horowtiz’s report. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) noted, “The FBI effectively meddled in an ongoing presidential campaign.” Thus, he asked, “Which is worse? Is it worse to have a foreign government trying to meddle in our elections, or is it worse to have our own government meddling in the election?” He marveled, “To get the FBI to launch [and] pursue surveillance of a rival presidential campaign and then into the newly elected president’s term I think is just extraordinary. I think it is an extraordinary thing when the most powerful law-enforcement agency maybe in the world is able to effectively intervene and influence a presidential election at the behest and with the cooperation of another political party.”
Indeed, the collusion of this cabal of deep-state actors to interfere in a presidential election was far more consequential than anything Russia could have dreamed of doing. And Democrats are perpetuating that with their impeachment charade. ~The Patriot Post
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0l5VpTqjRs&feature=emb_title
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