What the hell are we waiting on? All Charges were false.
The White House sent the FBI’s supplemental background investigation into Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the Senate early Thursday.
Senators were allowed to begin viewing the FBI report from a secure location inside the U.S. Capitol beginning at 8 a.m. EST Thursday.
“With Leader McConnell’s cloture filing, Senators have been given ample time to review this seventh background investigation,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement. “This is the last addition to the most comprehensive review of a Supreme Court nominee in history, which includes extensive hearings, multiple committee interviews, over 1,200 questions for the record and over a half million pages of documents.”
He went on to say that the White House is “fully confident” that Kavanaugh will get confirmed to the Supreme Court.
The New York Times is reporting that the FBI reached out to 10 individuals and interviewed nine of them. Kavanaugh’s first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, was not one of those interviewed, her lawyers said in a statement late Wednesday.
“An FBI supplemental background investigation that did not include an interview of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford – nor the witnesses who corroborate her testimony – cannot be called an investigation,” Blasey Ford’s lawyers’ statement said. “We are profoundly disappointed that after the tremendous sacrifice she made in coming forward, those directing the FBI investigation were not interested in seeking truth.”
The White House reportedly gave the FBI free reign over who they wanted to investigate earlier this week. Prior to this order, the FBI had only interviewed four people, three of whom were people that Ford alleged were at the party. The fourth was Deborah Ramirez, the second accuser.
“I want them to do a very comprehensive investigation, whatever that means, according to the senators and the Republicans and the Republican majority,” President Trump said on Monday.
As the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probes decades-old allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is calling on investigators to look into whether the judge ever sought treatment for alcohol abuse.
“Kavanaugh, so many have come forward describing your abuse of alcohol,” Waters tweeted on Sunday. “I think it is important that the American people know if you have ever sought treatment for alcohol abuse.”
Maxine Waters
✔@RepMaxineWaters
Kavanaugh, so many have come forward describing your abuse of alcohol. I think it is important that the American people know if you have ever sought treatment for alcohol abuse.
Earlier Sunday morning, the longtime California Democrat claimed Kavanaugh was a “puppet” of President Donald Trump, who, alluding to his passionate testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday, demonstrated a “lack of respect for others.”
“Aren’t Supreme Court justices supposed to be independent, and are they not expected to demonstrate the proper judicial temperament?” Waters then asked her nearly 865,000 followers.
Maxine Waters
✔@RepMaxineWaters
Kavanaugh has proven that he is a puppet of Donald Trump. He got his marching orders and he promptly displayed Trump’s lack of respect for others. Aren’t Supreme Court justices supposed to be independent, and are they not expected to demonstrate the proper judicial temperament?
In an interview with MSNBC’s AM Joy, Waters reiterated her opposition to Kavanaugh’s confirmation, once against describing the judge as President Trump’s “puppet.”
“We have to fight. We have to not only fight to make sure that women get the respect that they deserve, but when you have a credible person like Christine Blasey Ford, it helps us to point out that no matter how credible they are, no matter you how well spoken they are, no matter how smart they are, that these senators do not intend to allow sexual harassment to be the reason why someone will not be confirmed,” Waters said in her usual defiant tone. “And so I think that this has played out in a way that will only strengthen us and strengthen women and those who care about justice to fight and to confront them and protest against what we’re seeing.”
Waters’ comments come as the media continues to whip itself into a frenzy over Kavanaugh’s drinking habits, tracking down individuals who claim to know details concerning Supreme Court nominee’s hard-partying ways in college.
According to The Washington Post, its reporters tracked down two individuals claiming to be familiar with Kavanaugh’s college years and say the nominee’s denial of heavy drinking in an interview with Fox News are inaccurate.
“Brett was a sloppy drunk, and I know because I drank with him. I watched him drink more than a lot of people. He’d end up slurring his words, stumbling,” Swisher, who says she was friends with Kavanaugh during college, told the Post. “There’s no medical way I can say that he was blacked out. . . . But it’s not credible for him to say that he has had no memory lapses in the nights that he drank to excess.”
Swisher’s College roommate, Lynne Brookes, accused Kavanaugh of attempting to “paint himself as some kind of choir boy.” “You can’t lie your way onto the Supreme Court, and with that statement out, he’s gone too far. It’s about the integrity of that institution,” she told the paper.
In an interview with Fox News last Monday, Kavanaugh denied all allegations of sexual misconduct and pushed back on claims that he was frequently inebriated at parties thrown during his high school and college years.
“[Y]es, there were parties. And the drinking age was 18, and yes, the seniors were legal and had beer there,” the Supreme Court nominee told host Martha MacCallum. “And yes, people might have had too many beers on occasion and people generally in high school – I think all of us have probably done things we look back on in high school and regret or cringe a bit, but that’s not what we’re talking about.”
In an opinion-editorial published by Slate last Tuesday, William Saletan argues the culture at Kavanaugh’s high school — Georgetown Preparatory School — paired with accusations brought forth by Christine Blasey Ford and Debra Ramirez — justify an FBI investigation into the Judge’s alleged drinking habits.
On Thursday, Kavanaugh faces a Senate hearing about Ford’s allegations. He will try to draw a line. At a rehearsal with White House aides last week, he “grew frustrated” with questions about his drinking and his sexual behavior, according to the Washington Post. “I’m not going to answer that,” he said. Judge doesn’t want to answer questions either. The Republicans who control the committee are planning to leave Judge out of the hearing.
That’s unacceptable. The alcohol theory is arguably the most plausible explanation of what happened. It’s less crazy than Ford inventing a story and putting herself through hell so Trump can nominate a different conservative judge to the Supreme Court.
…
If the committee won’t delegate this job to the FBI, senators must do it themselves. Ask Judge and Kavanaugh about their history with alcohol. Talk to the people who drank with them or saw them drunk. If you think alcohol could have corrupted Ford’s memory or Ramirez’s memory, ask about their drinking too. This is an investigative avenue with a strong evidentiary basis and many potential witnesses, and it puts everyone’s denials in doubt. To confirm Kavanaugh without checking it out would be a betrayal of justice.
Of course, the consumption of alcohol has not been a federal offense since the end of Prohibition in 1933.
Some who knew Kavanagh during his high school days have pushed back against claims that the now-Judge drank too much.
“Drinking was prevalent in high school, but some guys handled it better than others, and Brett always maintained his composure,” Tom Kane, described as a “close friend” of Kavanaugh, told the Post. “He was not a stumbling drunk. He was never all that interested in getting wasted.”
Former NBA player Chris Dudley and former college classmate of Kanavaugh said the Trump pick is the target of an all-out smear campaign.
“I went out with him all the time. He never blacked out. Never even close to blacked out,” Dudley said. “There was drinking, and there was alcohol. Brett drank, and I drank. Did he get inebriated sometimes? Yes. Did I? Yes. Just like every other college kid in America.”
Yes he is a descendant of Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels.
Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, during a speech in September 1934.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has verbally resigned to Chief of Staff John Kelly, according to a breaking news report.
UPDATE (12:48 p.m.): White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has not resigned and will meet with President Donald Trump on Thursday. “At the request of Rod Rosenstein, he and President Trump had an extended conversation to discuss recent news stories,” Sanders said. “Because the President is at the United Nations General Assembly and has a full schedule with leaders from around the world, they will meet on Thursday when the President returns to Washington, DC.”
Rosenstein offered his resignation following reports claiming the Justice Department’s second highest-ranked official considered secretly recording President Donald Trump and lobbying cabinet members to invoke the 25th amendment in a bid to remove him, Axioswrote Monday.
On Friday, The New York Times published a bombshell report alleging Rosenstein raised the prospect during a meeting with multiple FBI officials of taping President Trump without his knowledge “to expose the chaos consuming the administration.” Further, the Deputy Attorney General considered using said recordings to lobby Chief of Staff John Kelly and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to invoke the 25th Amendment.
According to the report, Rosenstein became fixated with the idea of having the president removed after becoming frustrated with the White House’s handling of FBI Director James Comey’s firing. Rosenstein reportedly told close associates that he would one day be “vindicated” for being ordered to draft the memo justifying Comey’s ouster.
The Times says Rosenstein’s remarks were detailed in a series of memos compiled by multiple FBI officials, including former FBI Dupoty Director Andrew McCabe, a claim an attorney for the fired official denies. Michael R. Bromwich, a member of McCabe’s legal team, told the paper that his client “has no knowledge of how any member of the media obtained those memos.”
“A set of those memos remained at the F.B.I. at the time of his departure in late January 2018,” Bromwich added.
The Justice Department denied the report, issuing the following statement from Rosenstein to the Times: “I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”
A Justice Department spokesperson conceded that Rosenstein did discuss secretly taping the president but presented an anonymous source who told the Times that he did so in a sarcastic manner.
Allies of the president, including Fox News host Sean Hannity, warned against firing Rosenstein — a move they say could have a negative impact on the fast-approaching midterm elections.
Washington Post national political reporter Robert Costa said over the weekend that the president would not fire Rosenstein over the report. “POTUS has told several people on Fri. and Sat. that he’s not going to fire the deputy AG and is suspicious of anything that even tangentially involves McCabe, according to three advisers familiar with the ongoing discussions,” he tweeted.
EXCLUSIVE: RELEASED TEXT MESSAGES AND EMAILS SHOW MUELLER TEAM’S COZY RELATIONSHIP WITH PRESS
Released messages document how Mueller’s spokesman took dozens of meetings with reporters over three months in 2017.
Reporters from nearly every major media outlet have been jockeying for influence and favoritism within the special counsel’s office.
One awkward exchange illustrates a reporter from CNN trashing an article written by White House correspondent Jim Acosta.
Hundreds of pages of emails and text messages released from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) special counsel’s office through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show an ongoing relationship between Robert Mueller’s team and the press, according to an investigation by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Please don’t forget that the corrupt Peter Strzok was on his team also.
The documents, released in September, span months of communication and include messages from reporters ranging from a variety of outlets, including TheDCNF, The Washington Post and BuzzFeed.
While the vast majority of correspondences between Mueller’s spokesman Peter Carr and a variety of journalists ends with a “no comment,” the messages expose Mueller’s team was willing to meet with a number of reporters in private meetings and over the phone.
Coordinating such meetings cuts against the narrative that the special counsel has been hesitant to give information to the press, instead opting to give information only through public announcements and statements.
No matter if snopes lies about these SOB’s, they are friends and criminals in bed together. (Click The Picture)
The New York Times ran a story in August poking fun at the secrecy of the special counsel, with one reporter writing that Carr’s “‘no comment’ replies have become a running dark joke among the Washington press corps.”
But on July 21st, 2017, Adam Goldman from TheNYT sent an email to Carr about arranging a “touch base” meeting, according to documents provided by the DOJ.
That meeting was later rescheduled, but it is just one in a pattern of meetings and private calls from reporters jockeying for opportunities to solicit information from an investigation that has been labeled as “leak proof” from the press.
Ironically, Vox was one of those exact outlets that proclaimed Mueller’s team as immune to leaks — despite one of its reporters communicating extensively with Carr via text.
During one interaction, Alex Ward asks Carr off the record if the investigation would continue should President Donald Trump fire Mueller.
“As guidance only, the [Deputy Attorney General] testified last week that he, not the President, would be the one to make the decision. 28 CFR 600 outlines under what circumstances a Special Counsel can be removed. If it came to that, a replacement would likely be found,” Carr answers.
A day later, Carr aids Ward in describing the room in which the investigation takes place. Despite Carr’s assistance, he is never mentioned in Ward’s piece published over a month later.
From late July until the end of September 2017, Carr held at least dozens of meetings with various reporters. Those meetings have rarely been discussed with the public, by both the government or the press, until the release of these documents.
TheDCNF could not find any evidence of impropriety by Mueller’s office, nor any evidence that Carr favored specific outlets.
Regardless, the messages document hours of conversations and meetings between a spokesman involved in a politicized investigation and reporters eager to cover for him in hopes of further access.
Other messages released by the DOJ illustrate more awkward interactions, showing how some reporters will even undermine colleagues in order to build trust in their relationship with the special counsel’s office.
CNN’s Evan Perez, who had extensive conversations with Carr from at least May through August 2017, expressed frustration at a story co-authored by the network’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta.
“I had nothing to do with it. Didn’t see it until after it was published. I would not have published that. But I’m also in a poor position to stop things,” Perez said of Acosta’s reporting.
Perez then communicates concern that the story could damage the validity of the special counsel’s investigation because of the attorney general’s politics.
“By the way, this story and the pick up its [sic] getting makes it so the public will think Mueller is in bed with (one of) the most partisan left-leaning AG in the nation. I’m sure he has good people working there but the leadership has a pretty partisan agenda,” Perez says to Carr.
“Maybe that’s what the Special Counsel wants,” he adds.
A month later, Perez ran a follow-up story on the Mueller investigation, prompting Carr to offer a phone call in case he needed any additional information or clarifications.
They don’t want the truth and no matter if Brett Kavanaugh is innocent they hate Donald Trump, so therefore Kavanaugh is a misogynistic pig.
Some of the things we discussed on last night show:
Insane Professor Shoots Himself At School To Protest Trump . Brett Kavanaugh Accuser’s Lawyer Defended Bill Clinton, And Al Franken. Christine Blasey Ford Accused Kavanaugh Of Rape When He Was 17 Years Old. Paul Manafort Deal Looks Like Good News for Trump, Terrible News for Democrats. ABC News Chief Political Analyst Matthew Dowd Alleges Clarence Thomas Is a ‘Sexual Predator.
They need to be regulated and maybe investigated for trying influence the Election.
A video recorded by Google shortly after the 2016 presidential election reveals an atmosphere of panic and dismay amongst the tech giant’s leadership, coupled with a determination to thwart both the Trump agenda and the broader populist movement emerging around the globe.
The video is a full recording of Google’s first all-hands meeting following the 2016 election (these weekly meetings are known inside the company as “TGIF” or “Thank God It’s Friday” meetings). Sent to Breitbart News by an anonymous source, it features co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, VPs Kent Walker and Eileen Naughton, CFO Ruth Porat, and CEO Sundar Pichai. It can be watched in full above. It can and should be watched in full above in order to get the full context of the meeting and the statements made.
It was reported earlier this week that Google tried to boost turnout among the Latino population to help Hillary Clinton, only to be dismayed as the usually solid Democratic voting bloc switched to the GOP in record numbers. This video shows a similar level of dismay among Google’s most high-profile figures.
These individuals, who preside over a company with unrivaled influence over the flow of information, can be seen disparaging the motivations of Trump voters and plotting ways to use their vast resources to thwart the Trump agenda.
Co-founder Sergey Brin can be heard comparing Trump supporters to fascists and extremists. Brin argues that like other extremists, Trump voters were motivated by “boredom,” which he says in the past led to fascism and communism.
The Google co-founder then asks his company to consider what it can do to ensure a “better quality of governance and decision-making.”
VP for Global Affairs Kent Walker argues that supporters of populist causes like the Trump campaign are motivated by “fear, xenophobia, hatred, and a desire for answers that may or may not be there.”
Later, Walker says that Google should fight to ensure the populist movement – not just in the U.S. but around the world – is merely a “blip” and a “hiccup” in a historical arc that “bends toward progress.”
CEO Sundar Pichai states that the company will develop machine learning and A.I. to combat what an employee described as “misinformation” shared by “low-information voters.”
Key moments from the video can be found at the following timestamps:
(00:00:00 – 00:01:12) Google co-founder Sergey Brin states that the weekly meeting is “probably not the most joyous we’ve had” and that “most people here are pretty upset and pretty sad.”
(00:00:24) Brin contrasts the disappointment of Trump’s election with his excitement at the legalization of cannabis in California, triggering laughs and applause from the audience of Google employees.
(00:01:12) Returning to seriousness, Brin says he is “deeply offen[ded]” by the election of Trump, and that the election “conflicts with many of [Google’s] values.”
(00:09:10) Trying to explain the motivations of Trump supporters, Senior VP for Global Affairs, Kent Walker concludes: “fear, not just in the United States, but around the world is fueling concerns, xenophobia, hatred, and a desire for answers that may or may not be there.”
(00:09:35) Walker goes on to describe the Trump phenomenon as a sign of “tribalism that’s self-destructive [in] the long-term.”
(00:09:55) Striking an optimistic tone, Walker assures Google employees that despite the election, “history is on our side” and that the “moral arc of history bends towards progress.”
(00:10:45) Walker approvingly quotes former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s comparison between “the world of the wall” with its “isolation and defensiveness” and the “world of the square, the piazza, the marketplace, where people come together into a community and enrich each other’s lives.”
(00:13:10) CFO Ruth Porat appears to break down in tears when discussing the election result.
(00:15:20) Porat promises that Google will “use the great strength and resources and reach we have to continue to advance really important values.”
(00:16:50) Stating “we all need a hug,” she then instructs the audience of Google employees to hug the person closest to them.
(00:20:24) Eileen Naughton, VP of People Operations, promises that Google’s policy team in DC is “all over” the immigration issue and that the company will “keep a close watch on it.”
(00:21:26) Naughton jokes about Google employees asking, ‘Can I move to Canada?’ after the election. She goes on to seriously discuss the options available to Google employees who wish to leave the country.
(00:23:12) Naughton does acknowledge “diversity of opinion and political persuasion” and notes that she has heard from conservative Google employees who say they “haven’t felt entirely comfortable revealing who [they] are.” and urged “tolerance.” (Several months later, the company would fire James Damore allegedly for disagreeing with progressive narratives.)
(00:27:00) Responding to a question about “filter bubbles,” Sundar Pichai promises to work towards “correcting” Google’s role in them
(00:27:30) Sergey Brin praises an audience member’s suggestion of increasing matched Google employee donations to progressive groups.
(00:34:40) Brin compares Trump voters to “extremists,” arguing for a correlation between the economic background of Trump supporters and the kinds of voters who back extremist movements. Brin says that “voting is not a rational act” and that not all of Trump’s support can be attributed to “income disparity.” He suggests that Trump voters might have been motivated by boredom rather than legitimate concerns.
(00:49:10) An employee asks if Google is willing to “invest in grassroots, hyper-local efforts to bring tools and services and understanding of Google products and knowledge” so that people can “make informed decisions that are best for themselves.” Pichai’s response: Google will ensure its “educational products” reach “segments of the population [they] are not [currently] fully reaching.”
(00:54:33) An employee asks what Google is going to do about “misinformation” and “fake news” shared by “low-information voters.” Pichai responds by stating that “investments in machine learning and AI” are a “big opportunity” to fix the problem.
(00:56:12) Responding to an audience member, Walker says Google must ensure the rise of populism doesn’t turn into “a world war or something catastrophic … and instead is a blip, a hiccup.”
(00:58:22) Brin compares Trump voters to supporters of fascism and communism, linking the former movement to “boredom,” which Brin previously linked to Trump voters. “It sort of sneaks up sometimes, really bad things” says Brin.
(01:01:15) A Google employee states: “speaking to white men, there’s an opportunity for you right now to understand your privilege” and urges employees to “go through the bias-busting training, read about privilege, read about the real history of oppression in our country.” He urges employees to “discuss the issues you are passionate about during Thanksgiving dinner and don’t back down and laugh it off when you hear the voice of oppression speak through metaphors.” Every executive on stage – the CEO, CFO, two VPs and the two Co-founders – applaud the employee.
(01:01:57) An audience member asks if the executives see “anything positive from this election result.” The audience of Google employees, and the executives on stage, burst into laughter. “Boy, that’s a really tough one right now” says Brin.
Update — After Breitbart News published this article, a Google spokesperson replied to a request for comment with the following statement:
“At a regularly scheduled all hands meeting, some Google employees and executives expressed their own personal views in the aftermath of a long and divisive election season. For over 20 years, everyone at Google has been able to freely express their opinions at these meetings. Nothing was said at that meeting, or any other meeting, to suggest that any political bias ever influences the way we build or operate our products. To the contrary, our products are built for everyone, and we design them with extraordinary care to be a trustworthy source of information for everyone, without regard to political viewpoint.”
