From the NY Times “Editorial Board” (Shhhhhh…no names here, please!!! [Emphases mine.]):
Comey’s Haunting News on Trump and Russia
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD MARCH 20, 2017The acknowledgment by James Comey, the F.B.I. director, on Monday that the bureau is investigating possible connections between President Trump’s campaign and Russia’s efforts to sabotage Hillary Clinton’s chances is a breathtaking admission. While there has been a growing body of circumstantial evidence of such links, Mr. Comey’s public confirmation ought to mark a turning point in how inquiries into Russia’s role in the election should be handled.
The top priority now must be to ensure that the F.B.I.’s investigation, which could result in criminal prosecutions, is shielded from meddling by the Trump administration, which has shown a proclivity to lie, mislead and obfuscate with startling audacity. Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Comey said the bureau is conducting its investigation in an “open-minded, independent way” and vowed to “follow the facts wherever they lead.”
There is no reason to doubt Mr. Comey’s commitment. But it is far from certain that senior officials at the Department of Justice, who normally decide whether there is enough evidence to file criminal charges in politically sensitive cases, will be able to avoid White House interference.Before Monday’s hearing began, Mr. Trump issued a remarkable set of tweets calling the possibility of collusion with Russia “fake news” and urging Congress and the F.B.I. to drop the matter and instead focus on finding who had been leaking information to the press.
These brazen warning shots from the president do enormous damage to public confidence in the F.B.I.’s investigation. The credibility of the Justice Department in handling the Russian matter was already deeply compromised after Attorney General Jeff Sessions arrived in the job refusing to recuse himself from any investigation. He was forced to step aside only after it was revealed that, contrary to what he told senators under oath, he had met with the Russian ambassador to Washington twice during the campaign. Even with his recusal, it would still be his deputies and staff directing and managing any potential prosecution — which raises serious questions of conflict.
Mitigating this credibility crisis requires appointing an independent prosecutor, who would not take orders from the administration. If Mr. Trump’s assertion that there was no collusion between his campaign officials and the Russian government is true, he should want this matter to be fully investigated as quickly and as transparently as possible.
Appointing a special prosecutor would show that Mr. Sessions is willing to have an impartial examination of his actions as a surrogate for Mr. Trump last year — which he has assured the public were entirely appropriate.
The decision to bring in a special counsel may fall on Rod Rosenstein, a career federal prosecutor who has been nominated to be deputy attorney general. Lawmakers from both parties should strongly encourage him to make that sensible and necessary decision.
As the F.B.I. investigation continues, a series of overlapping congressional inquiries into Russian activities to influence the election are advancing in a predictably muddled, partisan way. Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are working to produce a detailed timeline showing all the reported contacts between people close to the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the campaign. Most Republicans want to keep the focus on leaks of classified information.
This matter requires a broader investigation run by a collaborative, bipartisan team of statesmen.The ideal format would be a select committee that has subpoena power and a mandate to issue a comprehensive report of its findings. The goal must be to make American political parties and democratic institutions less vulnerable to efforts to distort the electoral process as the Russians appear to have carried out. Failing to learn and heed the lessons of last year’s campaign would be an abdication of a shared responsibility to safeguard American democracy.
I repeat:
This matter requires a broader investigation run by a collaborative, bipartisan team of statesmen.
Yeah.
Kinda like The Warren Commission…right?
Riiight…
They’ve only got a few licks, after all.
So it goes.
Now…you must understand that I am essentially non-partisan here. I think that both parties stink to high heaven, and so do the Trumpistas. Does one stink less that the others? Cases can always be made…
But…let’s call a spade a spade.
The DemRat/RatPub PermaGov got hoodwinked by a talented carny barker.
Now they are trying to close down his sideshow before it takes over the whole circus.
Believe none of it.
You wanna root for one side over the other as “the lesser of two (or three) evils?”
Go ahead.
Feel free.
That’s what the rubes always do.
Or…
Wake the fuck up!!!
All sides are crooked.
Wanna root for the more…competent…side?
OK.
I guess.
Or…just don’t go to that circus. Don’t patronize any sideshows.
That’s my take on it, anyway.
Your results may differ.
Feel free.
You gotta live with it.
Me too.
Later…
AG
>>a collaborative, bipartisan team of statesmen
WTF are they smoking?
the whole concept of “bipartisan” is dead and stinking and needs to be buried. I don’t understand how anyone can make such a statement in 21st century America and expect to be taken seriously.
you’re also correct to remind us that when we have seen such a team, its purpose was not to find the truth but to fix the official story.
Excellent!!!
Thank you.
Except for this one sentence:
You don’t understand that?
When easily 90% of the voting public still believes whatever it is told in its chosen “news” corridor? And all of the news parrots essentially the same set of lies?
Of course they are going to believe it.
It’s the UniParty Lie.
Stop believing it at the risk of being shunned by all of your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers.
Look at what happens right here on this supposedly progressive blog when someone tries to point out that the Democratic emperors…the Demperors, to coin a word…are also not wearing any clothes.
Blizzards of troll
ravings…err, ahh, I really meant to type troll ratings. I’d consider it a Freudian typo if I believed inFraud…errr, ahhh Freud!!!.But it was a good’un, whatever you want to call it.
Troll ravings.
LOL.
Later…
AG
Warren Commission? To bury the death of a President
“And a blizzard of paperwork produced by the CIA and FBI, apparently concerned mainly with covering their own assets. [Read: asses]
We might have understood the events in Dallas better, and been spared 30 years of inflammatory conspiracy theories,
had our intelligence agencies not conspired to stonewall a solemn national investigation just to protect themselves.”
Obama’s propaganda scheme: bury complot theory by introducing a conspiracy to cover the elements. The US Government dark side is using US Congress to spread false allegations on all failed policies using tools of propaganda. Proficiency in hacking and cyber warfare: Russia ranks 3rd, China 2nd and leading …. you guessed it, the one and only US of A. Global hacking by states has been a fact for over a decade. It’s war by any other means. CNN, Sky News, BBC are all in the league of Russia Today and Al Jazeera: main broadcasts of false allegations, trumped up affairs and dissemination of state propaganda.
FBI James Comey, wasn’t he to blame for Hillary’s defeat?
○ It’s Not Russia …
○ Louise Mensch: the former British MP who scooped US media on Trump’s Russian ties | The Guardian |