The first four months have been unprecedented and un-presidented. Amid the barrage of events, there’s shock, horror and considerable uncertainty. An enormity of appalling and baffling events — breaches of protocol, disdain for regulations, wanton disregard for the law, real and unreal leaks, and the steady drip drip of bewildering revelations is gushing out of DC at a furious rate. Some of the highlights:
- Directors Comey and Rogers confirm that Trump and co are being investigated for collusion with the Russians
- Both also affirm there’s no substance to Trump’s paranoid belief re wire-tapping
- The Comey letter incident keeps resurfacing but with added misconceptions
- Gorsuch is confirmed, makes a fool of himself at his first Supreme Court appearance and is now being investigated for Russian ties via COSINT (crowdsourcing)
- Chaffetz announced his decision not to run for re-election in 2018; promises that he may leave before current term is up, then takes a month’s leave for emergency foot surgery followed by four weeks of rehabilitation for his ego after explaining to the wife that his multi-year affair was really nothing at all
- Nunes scurried off to tattle to the White House, held pressers before and after to make sure we all knew of the substantial rise in his political status by virtue of having his very own anonymous source, then proceeded to openly leak classified information to as much of the public as possible in an attempt to derail his committee’s investigation of KremlinGate
- While public calls for Ryan to remove Nunes from the House Intel Committee went unheeded, the Ethics Committee succeeded in convincing Nunes to recuse himself while they investigate him for ethics violations. He’s surprised by this and asks them to hurry it up and clear him.
- RyanCare failed to get on the runway let alone take off and will shortly be followed by DonTCare which hopefully will suffer a similar fate
- Spicer and the media mention Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Roger Stone to the bafflement of the general public who ask, “who are these dudes?” and then wonder where they fit into the crazy mosaic that is the Trump era
- We learn that NY AG Eric Schneiderman is also investigating Trump, his family and his business associates for RICO crimes involving money laundering
- Lies continue to spew forth from the White House on a daily basis — everybody’s lost count of how many there’s been so far
- Trump’s hundred days are up and his failures far outweigh anything that could be framed as a win. He did manage to avoid starting a nuclear war which is considered by the general public to be the only plus so far.
We’ve had four months so far — including just over three of Trump — and already the year is overstuffed. It’s hard to keep up with the pace. Even worse, we can feel the earth grumbling beneath our feet and hear the rumbling of the volcano… leaving us all to wonder if/when it will erupt, just what that eruption could look like, and what will be the aftermath.
Not all these questions are answerable right now but the following sections do provide answers to some of the queries and quandaries that have cropped up.
Comey and that letter — what really happened?
Please note that this is not a defence of Comey — it is in defence of the facts. There are a great many misconceptions surrounding this incident and it’s imperative to know the facts when we are using it as a reference point.
First up, here is the letter Comey wrote:
In summary:
- Comey wrote the above letter because, as explained in this Newsweek article, he was legally obligated to do so.
- As Think Progress explains, the letter makes no mention of reopening the investigation into the Clinton emails — the first sentence states unequivocally that this investigation is closed. A supplement to testimony given at a committee hearing is not the same as, or even remotely similar to, the reopening of an investigation.
- Comey did not release the letter to the media
- It is highly irregular and irresponsible for any congressional committee to publicly release communications to them from the IC so Comey had every reason to expect the chairman of the House Oversight Committee to stick to committee rules and guidelines.
- It was chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Jason Chaffetz, who released the letter to the media and he did so before the Democratic contingent on his committee had even received it. Thus Chaffetz failed to follow protocol, ie: all such communications and evidence is to be discussed with the Ranking Member first before any action is taken. (We saw Nunes break protocol in much the same fashion by failing to notify the Ranking Member before taking irrevocable action and then refusing to share pertinent information with his committee.)
- It was also Chaffetz who concocted the monstrous lie that the FBI had reopened an investigation into Clinton.
Tom Winter is an investigative reporter for NBC News and was one of many who were endeavouring to correct the record:
- Ethics complaints were filed against Chaffetz.
- President Obama was in a better position than any of us or any of the media to know exactly what was going on with Comey.
- President Obama did not fire Comey.
- Comey did benefit incidentally by lulling the incoming GOP government into a false sense of security. They did not expect him to open any investigation into their actions let alone a number of wide-ranging investigations which he is pursuing with ferocious dedication.
John McCain called for a select committee — what is a select committee?
Select committees are additional to the established set of committees for Senate and House. These supernumeraries are special purpose committees which, commonly, last until the committee’s final report is issued. Less commonly, some select committees are granted permanent status as is the case with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence currently chaired by Mike Conaway in place of the recused Nunes.
Select committees come under the sole authority of the Majority Leader (Senate) and Speaker (House) for each of the chambers. They alone set the purpose of the committee, choose the chairman, select committee members from his/her party and dictate the number the members allowed from the opposition party (this is always 1-4 members less than the number of members from the majority party).
The most recent and well known select committee was set up by Speaker John Boehner. That one was the Select Committee on Benghazi, chaired by Harold Gowdy, which finally collapsed in on itself following an 11-hour interrogation of Hillary Clinton.
When John McCain calls for a select committee, he is essentially requesting Mitch McConnell to determine the parameters of such a committee, choose its chairman and republican members, and invite Schumer to name a limited number of Democrats to join them. McConnell is unlikely to do so but even if he did agree, he has the power to ensure that such a committee fails abysmally.
Who’s Who in SpyGOP
Paul Manafort was known to Roy Cohn, attorney who worked with Joseph McCarthy and mentor to the young Donald Trump. In the 1980s, Manafort and Roger Stone were partners in a lobbying firm. Trump hired his firm sometime in that decade. Jeff Sessions says he’s known Manafort “for decades.” Manafort has lived in Trump Tower since 2006.
Carter Page has a very suspect past with much of it spent in Russia. Back in the States he set himself up as a foreign affairs expert and was hired as such by Rick Dearborn, then Chief of Staff for Jeff Sessions. It was Sessions who introduced Page to Trump.
Roger Stone has an unsavory reputation (to put it mildly) and is a longtime friend of Trump’s. A self-proclaimed “dirty trickster”, Stone is presently under investigation for what would be his dirtiest trick — colluding with the Russians to defeat HRC and put Trump in the White House.
BREAKING: All three have announced they are willing to testify before the House Intelligence Committee to “set the record straight on Russia”.
Rex Tillerson: several deviations from normal
Rex Tillerson’s unconventional approach to the job of Secretary of State:
- Shows no interest in staffing his department — The Atlantic
- No pushback from Tillerson to Trump’s proposed 37% cut to State Department budget — Vox
- Cuts Asia trip short due to fatigue — The Hill
- Reveals to media that he didn’t want the job of SoS; that his wife talked him into it — The Guardian
- On Monday, March 20, he announced change of plans for April — rather than attend April 5-6 NATO meeting of 28 foreign ministers, he goes to Mar-a-Lago instead where Trump is hosting China’s Paramount Leader Xi Jinping, April 6-7. — CNBC
- NATO offers to change the date for Tillerson but he remained adamant that he would not be attending.
- Tuesday, March 21: Tillerson changes his mind and offers NATO alternate dates — Reuters
- Also in that March 20 announcement is Tillerson’s intention to visit Russia later in April. When asked about this visit, a very surprised Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov replies, “I know nothing about it.” — RT
- Coincidentally, ‘knowing nothing about it’ sums up nicely Tillerson’s knowledge of his job.
- Also has difficulty understanding the difference between working for a private corporation as opposed to working for the people. For eg, he blocks press from travelling with him on official SoS trips overseas because he’s “not a big media press access person. I personally don’t need it.” The public, however, feels differently; they do require him to be forthcoming about what he’s doing, especially when it involves Russia — The Guardian
- From all appearances, he considers it a part-time position.
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We are certainly living in interesting times.