On Monday night’s Special Report panel, Mollie Hemingway of ‘The Federalist’ weighed in on the decision to release the report prepared by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes alleging FISA abuse took place during the 2016 campaign.
Mollie Hemingway: Media Is Missing “Something Huge” Happening At FBI
On Monday night’s Special Report panel, Mollie Hemingway of ‘The Federalist’ weighed in on the decision to release the report prepared by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes alleging FISA abuse took place during the 2016 campaign.
MOLLIE HEMINGWAY: This is a summary memo, this is a four-page memo that is just a summation of a year’s worth of work, hundreds of thousands of pages of testimony, visits to foreign countries, and speak with all different people.
What broke today with Andrew McCabe, the number two at FBI, stepping down, suggests that we have a pretty big situation on our hands. He’s only the most recent person to be demoted, step down, or be reassigned after Congressional or other inquiries about some of what is happening at the FBI.
You had Bruce Ohr, who was demoted twice.
You had Peter Strzok, who had to be taken off the case.
You had Baker, who is gone, and Rybicki, also.
This is quite a collection of people, obviously, there is something huge going on. And I think a lot of people in the media are missing this very large story. Perhaps this memo will help us learn a little bit more about what it is that is causing these changes.
He should talk about MAGA not MAD which is Make America DACA or MAD.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump stressed the need for “unity” Tuesday afternoon, hours before delivering a State of the Union address that White House officials have previewed as “bright and optimistic.”
“I want to see our country united,” Trump told network news correspondents during a traditional, and otherwise off-the-record, lunch at the White House where he made the case that the same national divisions encountered by his administration had plagued his predecessors as well.
The United States “was divided, not just under President Obama or President Bush. I remember the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Tremendous divisiveness, not just over the past year,” he said, adding that he would consider uniting the country “a tremendous success.”
“I would love to be able to bring back our country in a great form of unity, without a major event — very tough to do. I would like to do it without a major event, because that major event is usually a bad thing. Unity is really what I’m striving for, to bring the country together,” he said.
Aside from the traditional correspondent lunch, Trump spent Tuesday much as he’d spent the previous day: making impromptu changes to his first official State of the Union address as he practiced the speech, which is slated to include bipartisan overtures on big items like immigration, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday.
The president did several “dry runs” of the speech Monday afternoon in the Map Room of the White House, said a White House official, who told NBC that Trump’s handwritten notes and edits on each draft have been transcribed into its more current versions.
The process of writing and re-writing the address began in December, this official said, with a “pretty meaningful” edit on the plane ride to Davos, Switzerland, last week.
“He’s been going through the speech meticulously,” Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told Fox News on Tuesday afternoon, describing Trump as using a “black felt-tipped pen” to edit the remarks before sending it back to staff, and calling him a “master messenger.”
Vice President Mike Pence, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn weighed in on policy in the speech, while staff secretary Rob Porter, policy advisor Stephen Miller, and speechwriters Vince Haley and Ross Worthington crafted the text
However, “the speech begins and ends with POTUS,” the same official told NBC, looking to stress Trump’s level of involvement in his remarks.
The address will cover “a lot of territory,” Trump himself told reporters Monday as he finished swearing in his new Health and Human Services secretary, Alex Azar. The president said he would tout the “great success” of the stock market and the tax cuts passed at the close of the year, but will also make a push on immigration policies, including DACA.
“For many years,” Trump said, lawmakers have “been talking about immigration” but “never get anything done.” Now, with him at the helm, he said he’s hopeful for action that unites Democrats and Republicans.
“We’re going to get something done, we hope bipartisan,” Trump said, noting that the reality in Congress for Republicans makes bipartisanship an essential factor, not a wishful one. “The Republicans really don’t have the votes to get it done in any other way. So it has to be bipartisan.”
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Trump offers preview to State of the Union address 1:05
The White House released its immigration plan last week, in a bid to re-start stalled negotiations on the topic. Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said Monday the president’s actions and negotiations on this topic were a sign of his “openness” to getting a deal done — especially for “Dreamers” who were brought to the U.S. as children and protected from deportation under an Obama-era policy, DACA.
Bipartisanship, she said in an interview with The Washington Post on Monday afternoon, is “the only way to function in this town,” but she knocked Democrats for a strategy she described as “obstruct, resist, hold up a stop sign” to Trump.
Despite her own jabs across the aisle, Conway promised a State of the Union address that’s “positive in tone and content” and one in which Trump will be “forward looking” — seeking the nexus between his accomplishments over the past year and how those achievements have bettered the lives of Americans.
To support the president’s push for his agenda on issues such as immigration and border security are guests like Elizabeth Alvarado, Robert Mickens, Evelyn Rodriguez, and Freddy Cuevas: parents who lost daughters to violence from the gang MS-13.
Veterans who have battled ISIS, law enforcement officers on the front lines of the opioid crisis, and American workers who benefit from Trump’s tax cuts will also be seated with first lady Melania Trump for the address.
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Sarah Huckabee Sanders: American people ‘sick and tired of Russia fever’ 6:00
And though senior administration officials previewed what they called an “optimistic speech,” it won’t be without the brand of tough talk that helped propel Trump to the office in the first place.
Noting once again his belief that “the world has taken advantage of us on trade for many years,” Trump promised Monday that his administration would bring any unfair practices to an end. But Tuesday’s speech will be light on specifics as to how that might be accomplished, senior administration officials told reporters over the weekend.
The speech, the officials said, would touch on the “broad themes of U.S. engagement in the world” — encompassing trade and global economic systems in the remarks, but not getting into specifics or naming names of countries that Trump feels are abusing their trade relationship with the United States.
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The state of the union is always ‘strong.’ But why? 1:11
More than anything, the White House has indicated that the president’s remarks will likely seek to strike a tone of command and stability against the backdrop of a political system that has been reeling since his arrival one year ago. Trump’s address will come as investigations into his campaign’s contacts with Russia remain ongoing, and a three-day government shutdown is still only barely in the administration’s rear-view mirror.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reduced a secret gathering of journalists to “uproarious” laughter as she recounted the British prime minister’s clueless approach to Brexit negotiations during the Davos meetings last week, in claimed remarks that come shortly after President Trump also said he thought May was handling Brexit badly.
Merkel told journalists at what ITV politics editor Robert Peston described as a “secret briefing” at the globalist World Economic Forum Davos summit last week about May’s unusual approach to negotiating the Brexit deal — in which she apparently was content to allow Germany to dictate the terms of any future deal.
Peston wrote:
Merkel said that when she asks Mrs May what she wants the shape of the UK’s relationship with the EU to be, Mrs May says “make me an offer”.
To which Mrs Merkel says, “but you’re leaving – we don’t have to make you an offer. Come on what do you want?
To which Mrs May replies “make me an offer”.
And so, according to Mrs Merkel, the two find themselves trapped in a recurring loop of “what do you want?” and “make me an offer”.
Although the British journalist was not present at the secret meeting, he claimed to have been told by those who were there that after hearing the details from Merkel those in the room “laughed uproariously”.
Britain’s Times newspaper reports the remarks of a German government spokesman who said simply of the claims: “We do not comment on these reports.”
The claim that the German leader “poked fun” at May behind her back over her lack of grip over Brexit — perhaps the greatest political matter for a generation — comes among increasing reports of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs growing restless with the prime minister’s dithering.
Breitbart London reported Sunday that pro-Breixt members of parliament were characterising the prime minister as too “timid” to negotiate a clean break from Europe, and that the government’s direction was being pushed by pro-remain elements of the civil service — and not the other way around.
Trump on Appeaser Theresa’s Brexit Negotiations: ‘I Would Have Taken a Tougher Stand’ http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/01/28/trump-on-appeaser-theresas-brexit-negotiations-i-would-have-taken-a-tougher-stand/ …
Trump on Appeaser Theresa’s Brexit Negotiations: ‘I Would Have Taken a Tougher Stand’
President Trump has indicated he is unimpressed by Theresa May’s approach to the Brexit negotiations, saying he would have been far tougher.
Angela Merkel is not the only global figure to have poked fun at Theresa May’s Brexit negotiations in the past week. U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with British television recorded at the Davos summit that he would take a “tougher stand in getting out”.
Asked for his take on May’s negotiating style, the President replied: “Would it be the way I negotiate? No, I wouldn’t negotiate it the way it’s [being] negotiated … I would have had a different attitude.”
No one in their right mind should trust the Government.
The author who wrote Clinton Cash and sparked an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation is preparing to launch his highly anticipated investigative follow-up—a book that appears it will be every bit as explosive as his last.
On Monday, publishing giant Harper Collins released the book cover of Government Accountability Institute President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer’s forthcoming book, Secret Empires: How Our Politicians Hide Corruption and Enrich Their Families and Friends. While little is known about the book’s contents, five images on the book’s cover suggest that Schweizer’s next targets may include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), former Vice President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State John Kerry, and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
According to the publisher, Secret Empires will expose vast corruption by top Washington figures who leverage their political power to enrich their family members and friends, often by helping grease deals with foreign entities.
The author of four major New York Times bestsellers, Schweizer has garnered praise from conservatives and progressives alike for his reputation as a nonpartisan deep-dive investigative journalist. Newsweek dubbed him “the wonk who slays Washington.” Indeed, among Washington insiders, the launch of a Schweizer book is regarded as somewhat of an event—one that has resulted in ethics probes, the passage of major anti-corruption legislation, members of Congress stepping down, and, in the case of the Clintons, an FBI investigation.
In 2012, 60 Minutes based a feature report on Schweizer’s book Throw Them All Out that exposed congressional insider trading by members of Congress. The 60 Minutes report won the Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for excellence in Washington-based journalism. After Schweizer’s revelations, Congress overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill called the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) to ban lawmakers from using insider knowledge to make personal stock trades. As left-leaning Slate noted, Schweizer wrote “the book that started the STOCK Act stampede.” One of the main targets of the book, the powerful chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Spencer Bachus (R-AL), announced he would not seek reelection following the book’s revelations.
In 2013, Schweizer released Extortion:How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets and sparked the resignation of Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ). Schweizer revealed that Andrews used $16,575 from his leadership PAC to jet he and his family to a lavish resort in Edinburgh, Scotland. CBS’s 60 Minutes partnered with Schweizer again to report Extortion’s findings. Following Rep. Andrews’s resignation, Schweizer said: “The Government Accountability Institute (GAI) is a nonpartisan investigative research team committed to exposing cronyism and misuse of taxpayer money. For those discouraged by the cronyism corrupting Washington, the Andrews resignation demonstrates that we can hold them accountable. For those in power who are engaging in self-enrichment, we have two words: watch out.”
Then in 2015, Schweizer sent shockwaves through Washington, DC, with the release of Clinton Cash. The book revealed that Hillary Clinton’s State Department, along with eight other agencies, approved the transfer of 20 percent of U.S. uranium and that nine foreign investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation. The New York Times ran a 4,000-word front-page story based on the book and confirmed its findings, as did the Washington Post and several others. Hillary Clinton’s campaign kicked into overdrive trying to refute the book’s myriad revelations. Surprisingly, some of Schweizer’s strongest defenders came from the political left. Progressive columnist Eleanor Clift hailed Schweizer “an equal-opportunity investigator, snaring Republicans as well as Democrats.” And Columbia University Earth Institute Director Jeffrey D. Sachs said Clinton Cash was “compelling reading on how Bill and Hillary have mixed personal wealthy, power, and influence peddling.”
A feature-length documentary film based on the book debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and also received wide praise. MSNBC said the film was “devastating” and that it “powerfully connects the dots.”
Later, in November 2016, the New York Times reported that an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation “was based mostly on information that had surfaced in news stories and the book Clinton Cash, according to several law enforcement officials briefed on the case.”
Will Secret Empires result in a similar political firestorm? For now, Schweizer isn’t saying.
“My publisher has me under a strict embargo not to reveal any contents from the book,” Schweizer told Breitbart News.
According to HarperCollins, Secret Empiresis slated to hit bookshelves nationwide March 2oth.
Rod Rosenstein needs to be investigated also. He looks like a child molester.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein approved an application to extend surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page shortly after taking office last spring, according to the New York Times.
That is one of the revelations in a memo compiled by House Intelligence Committee staffers that is set to be released within weeks, according to “three people familiar with it” who spoke to the Times.
The memo is expected to detail abuses by senior FBI officials in their investigation of the Trump campaign, which began the summer of 2016.
The House Intelligence Committee could vote to release the memo as early as Monday. It would give President Trump five days to object; otherwise, the memo will be released.
Democrats, as well as the Justice Department, have warned that releasing the memo to the public would be “extraordinarily reckless,” although the leaks of the memo to the Times makes those claims dubious.
Democrats have also claimed that the memo, which summarizes classified information held by the Justice Department, is misleading and paints a “distorted” picture, and they have prepared their own counter memo they want to release.
The people who spoke to the Times argued that Rosenstein’s renewal of a spy warrant on Carter Page, Trump’s former campaign foreign policy adviser, “shows that the Justice Department under President Trump saw reason to believe that the associate, Carter Page, was acting as a Russian agent.”
The memo, however, is expected to detail how the surveillance warrant was initially obtained inappropriately using the Trump dossier — a political document funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
It is expected to show that FBI and DOJ officials did not explain to the secret court granting spy warrants that the dossier was politically fueled opposition research. To obtain the warrant, the officials needed to show “probable cause” that Page was acting as an agent of Russia.
Page joined the campaign in March 2016, around the time the team was under pressure to release names of foreign policy advisers.
The former investment banker and Navy officer took a personal trip to Moscow to deliver a speech at a graduation ceremony in July 2016, which fueled nascent allegations that Trump was somehow colluding with Russia. Page left the campaign in September.
The Trump dossier claimed he met with two high-level Russian officials on that trip, despite no evidence of it and Page’s testimony under oath that he never met with them. Page has sued BuzzFeed for publishing the dossier.
The FBI had been tracking Page, who was previously based in Moscow, since 2013, but was never charged with any wrongdoing. The FBI reportedly received the surveillance warrant on him in fall of 2016, but Page had left the campaign by then.
Rosenstein, after he was confirmed as the deputy attorney general in late April 2017, approved renewing the surveillance warrant, according to the Times. When Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey in May, Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller to lead a special counsel.
Rosenstein has been in charge of the Russia investigation since Attorney General Jeff Session recused himself.
Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe is stepping down, according to NBC News.
He will remain on “leave” until spring, when he can officially retire from the FBI.
Update: According to Fox News, McCabe was “removed.” A source told the news outlet that this was the earliest date possible for the FBI to remove him and still leave him fully eligible for his pension. A CNN reporter has also shared this version of events.
McCabe’s departure has been expected for months. ABC News reported last year that McCabe planned to retire in March 2018, when he becomes fully eligible for pension benefits.
News of McCabe’s retirement comes the day the House intelligence committee is expected to vote on releasing a classified memo that details alleged FBI abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in investigating the 2016 campaign of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The memo is expected to say that FBI officials obtained a FISA warrant to spy on Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page. Democrats and the FBI have been fighting the release of the memo, saying it would be “reckless” to do so.
McCabe has come under scrutiny from congressional Republicans, who have questioned why he only recused himself from the Clinton email investigation a week before the election when his wife had received hundreds of thousands in campaign donations from a close Hillary Clinton ally.
McCabe was appointed FBI Deputy Director in 2016 by former President Obama, and became acting director in May 2016, after President Trump fired James Comey.
