Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper gave inconsistent testimony to a House panel about his contacts with CNN’s Jake Tapper regarding the infamous Steele dossier, according to a report released by congressional Republicans on Friday.
The report, published by the GOP side of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, shows that Clapper acknowledged speaking with Tapper about the dossier while he was still serving as director of national intelligence.
“I didn’t have any contact with media until after I left the government on the 20th of January, so I don’t quite understand, at least what I’ve read, that somehow I leaked about the dossier,” Clapper told Lemon in the interview.
“So you didn’t leak anything about the dossier to any media?” Lemon asked.
CNN, where Clapper is now a national security analyst, played a crucial role in the dossier saga.
On Jan. 10, 2017, the network published a story written by Tapper and three other CNN journalists revealing that on Jan. 6, then-President-elect Donald Trump was briefed on the salacious allegations laid out in the dossier, which was written by former British spy Christopher Steele and funded by Democrats.
CNN used that briefing as a hook to publish its story about the existence of the dossier, which included allegations that Trump was being blackmailed. BuzzFeed News used CNN’s report as a news hook of its own, publishing the dossier in full later on Jan. 10, 2017.
CNN’s report cited “multiple U.S. officials” as sources. The sources remain unidentified.
It has since been revealed that then-FBI Director James Comey conducted Trump’s private briefing on the dossier’s unverified allegations. Memos that Comey wrote following his meetings with Trump showed that CNN was looking for a “news hook” to release information about the dossier.
Comey wrote in a memo following that briefing that he explained to Trump that “media like CNN had [the dossier] and were looking for a news hook.”
“I also explained that one of the reasons we told him was that the media, CNN in particular, was telling us they were about to run with it,” Comey wrote in a Jan. 28, 2017 memo following a dinner meeting with Trump.
In their report, House Intel Republicans assert that when Clapper was initially asked about leaks during his July 17, 2017 committee interview, he “flatly denied” discussing the Steele dossier “or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists.”
But Clapper “subsequently acknowledged discussing” the dossier with Tapper. He also admitted he might have spoken with other journalists.
Committee Republicans note that Clapper’s interaction with Tapper took place in early January 2017, “around the time [Intelligence Community] leaders briefed President Obama and President-elect Trump, on ‘the Christopher Steele information.’”
In a report of their own released on Friday, Democrats claimed that Republicans had an “intent to smear Clapper” with their allegations about his media contacts.
“Despite this dark insinuation, the report neither cites evidence, nor even alleges, that Clapper disclosed information – classified or unclassified – illegally or improperly,” Democrats write, noting that Clapper was authorized to engage with the media.
Democrats pointed to an exchange that Clapper had with Florida Rep. Tom Rooney, a Republican.
“Did you discuss the dossier or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists?” Rooney asked.
“No,” said Clapper.
“Did you confirm or corroborate the contents of the dossier with CNN journalist Jake Tapper?” Rooney asked.
“Well, by the time of that, they already knew about it. By the time it was — it was after — I don’t know exactly the sequence there, but it was pretty close to when we briefed it and when it was out ail over the place. The media had it by the way,” said Clapper.
Clapper said later that he discussed the dossier with Tapper after the document was made public. He said he did not remember specifics of his conversation with the CNN anchor.
“Did you discuss the dossier with any other journalists besides Mr. Tapper?” Clapper was asked.
“I could have. I don’t remember specifically talking about the dossier,” he replied.
What Idiot Would Think That This Idiot Is Smart? Yes Feel The Bern You Morons.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is set to unveil a plan that would give American workers who want or need jobs guaranteed government jobs that pay at least $15 per hour and have health benefits.
The progressive Vermont senator’s guaranteed jobs plan would entitle any American a job or job training in U.S.-funded projects in infrastructure, the environment, caregiving, and education, but he did not provide a cost-estimate or plan to fund the proposal, the Washington Postreported.
A representative from Sanders’ office said no funding estimate was available for the project because staffers were still crafting the proposal.
Two other potential 2020 presidential candidates—Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY)—have expressed interest in crafting similar proposals.
If You Voted For Or Supported Bernie Sanders You Are A Jackass.
“The goal is to eliminate working poverty and involuntary unemployment altogether,” said Darrick Hamilton, an economist at The New School who expressed support for a guaranteed jobs program. “This is an opportunity for something transformative, beyond the tinkering we’ve been doing for the last 40 years, where all the productivity gains have gone to the elite of society.”
Critics of the plan have said guaranteed jobs proposals would not be sustainable or affordable, and would cause massive job losses in the private sector.
Studies have shown that states and cities which choose to enact a $15 per hour minimum wage trigger job losses. A December 2017 study found that once California’s minimum wage hike takes effect in 2022, the state would lose 400,000 jobs.
“It completely undercuts a lot of industries and companies,” Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who opposes the program, told the Post. “There will be pressure to introduce a higher wage or certain benefits that the private sector doesn’t offer.”
The proposal is unlikely to gain favor with Republicans in control of Congress, and even most Democrats have slammed similar plans as unrealistic.
“It would be extremely expensive, and I wonder if this is the best, most targeted use of the amount of money it would cost,” said Ernie Tedeschi, an economist who worked for the Treasury during the Obama administration.
The Vermont senator’s proposal comes days after he declared President Trump’s agenda “dead” if the Democratic Party wins the majority in the House or Senate.
Why Don’t The Goon Just Say Hell Yes I Said It And It’s True?
Joy Reid’s old blog, The Reid Report (2000-2014), is littered with even more anti-gay posts than were originally discovered, reports the far-left blog Mediate. The MSNBC host is claiming these latest discoveries were not written by her, but by hackers as a means “to taint my character.”
Earlier this year, Reid admitted to authoring a number of posts on her old site that mercilessly ridiculed then-Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist as a homosexual (even after he married a woman). Reid was clearly using homosexuality as a pejorative, as a weapon of ridicule, so the left-wing MSNBC anchor’s homophobia has already been well- established.
Nevertheless, after she apologized for this (and because she is not a conservative), Reid was allowed to resume a media career that traffics in conspiracy theories, race-baiting, and uninformed Trump-bashing.
Here are some the new finds on Reid’s old site that she claims she did not write:
Keeping it real … most straight men feel exactly the same way, and would have the exact same reaction to the idea of stripping naked in a sweaty locker room in close quarters with a gay teammate. Most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing… Most straight people had a hard time being convinced to watch ‘Broke Back Mountain.’ (I admit that I couldn’t go see the movie either, despite my sister’s ringing endorsement, because I didn’t want to watch the two male characters having sex.)
Does that make me homophobic? Probably. And I’m not exactly proud of it. But part of the intrinsic nature of “Straightness” is that the idea of homosexual sex is … well … gross … even if you think that gay people are perfectly lovely individuals. For the record I’m sure gay people think straight sex is gross, too, it’s the that the nature of political correctness is that gay people are allowed to say straight sex is gross but the reverse is considered to be patently homophobic.
While defending a Marine General who declared homosexual acts “immoral,” Reid (or her hacker) wrote in 2007…
“Some people use the [word] ‘immoral’ when they really mean ‘distasteful’ — I think a lot of heterosexuals, especially men, find the idea of homosexual sex to be … well … gross, and they lump it in with immorality.”
Mediaite adds that Reid (or her hacker) went on, “And then there are the concerns that adult gay men tend to be attracted to very young, post-pubescent types, bringing them ‘into the lifestyle’ in a way that many people consider to be immoral… Ditto with gay rights groups that seek to organize very young, impressionable teens who may have an inclination that they are gay.”
Other posts included a list of the top five “totally not gay celebrities” that included CNN’s Anderson Cooper, and singer Clay Aiken, who were only rumored at the time to be gay. In 2005, seven years before he came out, Reid said that Cooper is the “gayest thing on TV” and added that she has it “on good authority that Cooper is totally gay.”
Interestingly enough, Mediaite adds that Reid repeatedly wrote about opposing same sex marriage.
Reid’s hacker must have been fairly busy and thorough because dozens of politicians and celebrities were hit with gay jokes, according to Mediaite, including one aimed at her current colleague, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
Here is Reid’s full denial:
In December I learned that an unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material from my now-defunct blog, The Reid Report, to include offensive and hateful references that are fabricated and run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology.
I began working with a cyber-security expert who first identified the unauthorized activity, and we notified federal law enforcement officials of the breach. The manipulated material seems to be part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago.
Now that the site has been compromised I can state unequivocally that it does not represent the original entries. I hope that whoever corrupted the site recognizes the pain they have caused, not just to me, but to my family and communities that I care deeply about: LGBTQ, immigrants, people of color and other marginalized groups.
It is worth noting, however, that Reid does admit these posts came from her blog … with the caveat that they were added by nefarious hackers after she had the site shut down. It’s unclear when the nefarious hackers would have hacked her site and added the controversial content, since it has been defunct for years and still is. More importantly, NBC could or would not specify exactly which posts Reid is claiming were doctored.
On top of Reid, there is Saturday Night Live star Alex Badwin, who has long history of homophobia. Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski slut-shamed a woman who had photographic proof disgraced ex-Senator Al Franken (D-MN) groped her. Despite credible allegations of “stalking, groping and making explicit comments to female colleagues,” NBC still hired Mike Tircio to anchor the Winter Olympics. Andrea Mitchell is a rape denier. NBC paid off a staffer who accused Chris Matthews of harassment, and no fewer than six NBC staffers were fired for various acts of sexual misconduct, which in some cases went on for years.
Being a homophobe, sex abuser, or enabler, appears to be the opposite of a disqualifier at NBC News, so Reid has nothing to worry about.
Update, 7:15 PM Eastern: CBC News posted video of the police confrontation with the suspect, who can be heard yelling “Kill me, I have a gun in my pocket, shoot me in the head!” and brandishing an object at the officers.
Update, 7:05 PM Eastern: “Our thoughts are with all those affected by the terrible incident at Yonge and Finch in Toronto. Thank you to the first responders working at the scene – we’re monitoring the situation closely,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said via Twitter.
Sunnybrook Hospital reports that ten victims were brought to its trauma center. Two of them died, five are in critical condition, two are in serious condition, and one is in fair condition.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale described the incident as an “attack,” but would not confirm whether it has been classified as a terrorist attack. As a precaution, security has reportedly been increased at the Air Canada Center in downtown Toronto for the Stanley Cup playoff game tonight.
Update, 7:00 PM Eastern: NBC News reports that Minassian “allegedly researched and chatted online about the Isla Vista killings from 2014.”
The Isla Vista massacre near UC Santa Barbara was a carefully prepared killing spree perpetrated by 22-year-old Elliot Rodger using a vehicle, knives, and firearms. Mental illness, a keen interest in Nazi Germany, and rage at women because he couldn’t get a girlfriend were all cited as motivating factors for Rodger.
Update, 6:45 PM Eastern: CBS news has claimed to have identified the driver of the van as 25-year-old Alek Minassian while U.S. sources have told Reuters that terrorism is the leading theory for the motivation for the attack. Toronto police have not confirmed the identity of the suspect in the attack and a press conference is scheduled for later this evening.
Canadian broadcaster CTV has confirmed that Minassian is the suspect in police custody, though Toronto police claim that he was not previously on their radar.
NEW: 25-year-old Alek Minassian identified as the suspected driver who ran down pedestrians in Toronto, killing at least 9, sources confirm to CBS News. https://cbsn.ws/2vEzXHN
#BREAKING: CTV News has confirmed the driver of the van allegedly involved in this afternoon’s deadly incident is named Alek Minassian. Sources say he is not known to police and motive for the incident is not yet known.
Police in Toronto reported multiple injuries and fatalities after a white van struck pedestrians at the busy intersection of Yonge Street and Finch.
The incident occurred in the early afternoon at the intersection which lies close to the Finch subway and bus station, one of the busiest transport hubs in the city of Toronto. One suspect appears to have been arrested.
Newstalk 1010 reports that up to 9 people are dead following the attack.
Witnesses told local TV crews that the driver was traveling at around 45 miles per hour, “crumbling up people” and taking the action “intentionally”.
Natasha Fatah
✔@NatashaFatah
Eye witness telling local TV the driver was driving at least 70 or 80km an hour on the sidewalk. Witness in tears said driver was “crumbling up people” “this person was intentionally doing this”
Photos, which has been posted online show multiple people on the ground as a result of the incident. The Toronto subway system, known as the TTC, has shut down service to Finch station in response.
Toronto police are now reporting multiple fatalities following the incident which has seen a man, described as being “Middle-Eastern” in appearance, arrested a short distance away.
Natasha Fatah
✔@NatashaFatah
#BREAKING Witness to truck ramming into pedestrians tells local Toronto TV station that the driver looked wide-eyed, angry and Middle Eastern.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a brief statement to the media in the houses of parliament in Ottawa, sharing his condolences for the victims and their families. “Obviously we’re just learning about the situation in Toronto. Our hearts go out to anyone affected. We’re going to obviously have more to learn and more to say in the coming hours,” he said.
Amanda Ferguson
✔@CityNewsAmanda
#UPDATE: Toronto Police confirm a van mounted the curb and hit a number of pedestrians. The driver fled the scene. Police later located the vehicle at Yonge and Sheppard. Driver is in custody, alive, and no motive at this point @Citynews
Alex Shaker, who was driving at the time of the incident and witnessed the van hit multiple people, told CTV News: “He started going down on the sidewalk and crumbling down people one by one. He just destroyed so many people’s lives. Every single thing that got in his way.” Shaker also claimed that one of the victims had been pushing a children’s stroller.
The Associated Press
✔@AP
BREAKING: Police in Canada say van that struck 8 to 10 people in Toronto found and driver in custody.
They Should Give This Crazy Mofo The Death Penalty.
For the latest on the Waffle House shooting, read Monday’s live updates.
Nine months before the police said he opened fire with an AR-15 rifle on a Waffle House in Nashville, killing four people, Travis Reinking wanted to set up a meeting with the president of the United States.
That, at least, is what he told officials when they charged him with unlawful entry after he crossed an exterior security barrier near the White House complex in July, records show.
That arrest was only the latest of Mr. Reinking’s several run-ins with the authorities. Police reports show family members expressed concern for his welfare after an extended time exhibiting delusional behavior, including his belief that the entertainer Taylor Swift was stalking him and hacking his phone and Netflix account.
After his arrest for the White House episode, Mr. Reinking, 29, who lived in Morton, Ill., was forced to surrender three rifles and a handgun to officials in August. Somehow he got them back — the authorities in Illinois said on Sunday that the circumstances were unclear — and in the fall, he moved to Nashville.
On Sunday, he pulled up to a Waffle House in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville around 3:19 a.m., sat in his pickup truck for about four minutes and then opened fire, the police said.
Don Aaron, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, said at a news conference on Sunday that after leaving the restaurant, Mr. Reinking shed his jacket. In it were two magazines of AR-15 ammunition.
The police credited a customer with averting further bloodshed. The customer, James Shaw Jr., 29, seized the moment when he saw Mr. Reinking apparently trying to reload his rifle. Mr. Shaw burst out from behind a swinging door where he had been hiding, wrested the weapon away and threw it over a countertop.
“I kind of made up my mind, because there was no way to lock that door, that if it was going to come down to it, he was going to have to work to kill me,” Mr. Shaw said at the news conference.
NEW: Photo of the rifle used by suspect who walked into a Nashville Waffle House naked and opened fire, killing 4 and wounding 7. pic.twitter.com/4Y583cKDR9
Mr. Reinking fled on foot, and apparently returned to his apartment nearby to put on pants. He was last seen shirtless and shoeless, Police Chief Steve Anderson said. Investigators had yet to determine a motive for the killings.
Officials could not fully explain how Mr. Reinking regained possession of his weapons after they were taken away following his episode near the White House last year, which prompted federal authorities to work with county officials in Illinois to investigate Mr. Reinking. The Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois gave the weapons he owned — including the AR-15 he took to the Waffle House on Sunday — to his father.
Sheriff Robert M. Huston of Tazewell County said in a news conference on Sunday that while Mr. Reinking “voluntarily surrendered” the weapons on Aug. 24, his father had a firearm owner’s identification card and a legal right to take the weapons.
“He was allowed to do that after he assured deputies that he would keep them secure and away from Travis,” Sheriff Huston said. “We have no information about how Travis came back into possession of those firearms.”
The police in Nashville indicated that Mr. Reinking’s father returned the weapons to his son. The father, Jeffrey Reinking, could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
Even before he went to Washington, Mr. Reinking had a history of encounters with law enforcement in Illinois.
The news and stories that matter to Californians (and anyone else interested in the state), delivered weekday mornings.
According to one sheriff’s report from May 27, 2016, he “was delusional and believed the famous entertainer, Taylor Swift, was harassing him via stalking and hacking his phone.” It added that he said he found Ms. Swift at a Dairy Queen in Morton and chased her before she disappeared.
Mr. Reinking’s family members said he had had these delusions since August 2014. The report noted that “Travis is hostile towards police and does not recognize police authority.”
In another episode on June 16, 2017, in Tremont, Ill., the police responded to a complaint that Mr. Reinking, wearing a woman’s pink housecoat, jumped into a pool and began arguing with lifeguards to get them to fight with him. No one at the pool wanted to press charges, the report said.
James Shaw Jr., who is being hailed as a hero after he disarmed a gunman at a Waffle House, spoke Sunday at a news conference in Nashville. He said he decided, “If it was going to come down to it, he was going to have to work to kill me.”
Mr. Aaron said Mr. Reinking was believed to have moved to Nashville in the fall and worked in the crane and construction industries. Mr. Reinking was fired from a job about three weeks ago and found a new job, Mr. Aaron said, but had not been seen at work since Monday.
The authorities said Mr. Reinking could still be in possession of a handgun and a rifle, which Chief Anderson described as “more of a hunting-type rifle than an assault rifle.”
The Nashville police identified the four people who died as one Waffle House employee, Taurean C. Sanderlin, 29, of Goodlettsville; and three customers: Joe R. Perez, 20, of Nashville; DeEbony Groves, 21, of Gallatin; and Akilah Dasilva, 23, of Antioch.
Jennifer Wetzel, a spokeswoman for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said one wounded victim was in critical condition and another was in critical but stable condition. Two other victims were treated for minor injuries and discharged from TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center in Nashville, said Katie Radel, a spokeswoman there.
Waffle House restaurants are open 24 hours and speckled throughout the South, especially along the interstates.
The gunfire on Sunday was the latest burst of violence at one of the chain’s outposts. In January, an altercation at a Waffle House in Missouri turned fatal when a security guard opened fire. And a deadly shooting outside a location in Florida that same month recently led to a lawsuit.
Still, Sunday’s attack was especially jarring in its method and magnitude.
Walt Ehmer, the company’s chief executive, said it was a “very sad day” and thanked Mr. Shaw. “You are a hero,” he said. “You’re my hero.”
But Mr. Shaw demurred. “I’m not a hero,” he said, adding that he acted out of self-preservation.
Where is the collusion investigation on Christopher Steele a spy from Britain?
The former British spy who wrote the infamous dossier has been ordered to appear for a deposition in a lawsuit over the salacious document filed in the U.S.
A British court ordered Christopher Steele to testify about his role in compiling the dossier, which alleges that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Steele’s report was funded by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee. BuzzFeed News published the 35-page document in Jan. 2017.
Aleksej Gubarev, a Russian businessman named in the dossier, is suing BuzzFeed in Florida and Steele in London. The dossier claims that Gubarev was recruited as a Russian spy and that his web hosting companies were used to infiltrate the DNC’s computer systems.
Gubarev’s lawyers have tried for months to force the London-based Steele to provide a deposition for the lawsuit against BuzzFeed, which is being heard in federal court in Florida.
Steele has resisted the efforts to provide a deposition, arguing that Gubarev’s lawyers are attempting to use his deposition in the BuzzFeed case in order to collect information for use in the lawsuit pending against him in the U.K.
But a British judge sided against that argument.
A judge on the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court in London ruled, “it is obvious that the author of the paragraph complained of in the Florida proceedings would be a relevant witness in defamation proceedings which are entirely based on the allegations in that paragraph, in a jurisdiction where the plaintiffs have to prove that the allegations are false,” Fox News reported.
Evan Fray-Witzer, a lawyer for Gubarev, praised the decision.
“We’re thrilled that the English Court has ordered Mr. Steele to sit for his deposition,” Fray-Witzer said. “It was always amazing to us that he could talk as freely as he has to reporters around the world about the dossier, yet refuse to sit for a deposition about the same topics.”
Fray-Witzer told The Daily Caller News Foundation a date has not been set for the deposition, but will likely be held within the next 4-6 weeks.
Fray-Witzer says that his team recently narrowed the scope of the information it sought from Steele. The former MI6 officer has asserted that his deposition could put dossier sources in danger.
Fray-Witzer says that his team has agreed not to ask Steele about his sources. He also says that Steele has chosen not to appeal the decision. “Buzzfeed published information about Mr. Gubarev and his companies that was unverified and untrue and they seem to be hoping to scuttle the deposition of the person most positioned to testify to those facts,” he told TheDCNF.
