Tag Archives: Chuck Grassley

Biden and Comey Among Officials Unmasked:

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by Daveda Gruber:

During the presidential transition period a list of names of top Obama administration officials allegedly requested to “unmask” the identity of General Michael Flynn.

Declassification of the list of the notorious development was made by Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.

The list was then sent to Attorney General Bill Barr and GOP Senators Chuck Grassley, R-IA., and Ron Johnson, R-WI., who then made the documents public.

The list is long and includes former Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden isn’t the only interesting name on the list. In fact there are quite a few. Here are a couple:

Former FBI Director James Comey

Former CIA Director John Brennan

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper

Former President Barrack Obama’s chief of staff Denis McDonough

The entire list can be seen here:

The declassified list shows officials who may have received Lt. General Flynn’s identity in response to a request processed between  November 8, 2016 and January 31, 2017 to unmask any identity that had been generically referred to in an NSA foreign intelligence report.

The document said, “Each individual was an authorized recipient of the original report and the unmasking was approved through NSA’s standard process, which includes a review of the justification for the request. Only certain personnel are authorized to submit unmasking requests into the NSA system. In this case, 16 authorized individuals requested unmasking for [REDACTED] different NSA intelligence reports for select identified principals.”

The document also said, “While the principals are identified below, we cannot confirm they saw the unmasked information. This response does not include any requests outside of the specified time-frame.”

Grenell wrote to GOP senators and included the list. He wrote, “I declassified the enclosed document, which I am providing to you for your situational awareness.”

The decision had already been made by Grenell to declassify information that he had uncovered about the Obama administration officials who were involved in the “unmasking” of former national security adviser Flynn.

Not only do Trump supporters, myself included, feel that Flynn was dishonestly targeted and that the Obama administration had top level officials involved to bring Flynn down because of his loyalty to President Trump and to the United States.

I would assume that Biden was unaware of what was actually uncovered when he told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that he knew “nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn.”

Biden called the topic a “diversion” from the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden had a little more information and made his statement clearer by saying, “I thought you asked me whether or not I had anything to do with him being prosecuted. I’m sorry. … I was aware that there was . . . that they asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know about it, and I don’t think anything else.”

He doesn’t think there was anything else? Actually, I believe has a thinking problem and that fact is coming closer and closer into light.

If the investigation goes into place as I feel it will, Biden may have to testify to Congress.

Will he claim forgetfulness?

Get your popcorn ready. This show is about to get rather interesting.

Will Pelosi Give Up Articles of Impeachment to Senate?

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by Daveda Gruber:

On Friday Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that she’ll send impeachment articles to the Senate next week.

Pelosi, even though the impeachment of President Trump was, as far as Democrats were concerned, urgent and keeping Trump in office was a security risk to the U.S. could not have been anywhere near as urgent as they made it sound.

House Democrats voted on the articles of impeachment on December 18th. Pelosi has been holding onto them since.

After trying to get the Majority Leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell to agree with the way she wants the trial held, Pelosi must have come to terms with the fact that she doesn’t control the Senate nor its rules.

Pelosi wrote a letter to her colleagues explaining what they should expect next.

Pelosi wrote,  “I have asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to be prepared to bring to the Floor next week a resolution to appoint managers and transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate. I will be consulting with you at our Tuesday House Democratic Caucus meeting on how we proceed further.”

This past week some Democrats were making their frustrations heard over the speaker’s approach to the matter.

In any case, Pelosi is still pressing on about important new information on the Ukraine controversy which is at the heart of impeachment.

The memo reads, “I am very proud of the courage and patriotism exhibited by our House Democratic Caucus as we support and defend the Constitution.”

She added, “In an impeachment trial, every Senator takes an oath to ‘do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.’ Every Senator now faces a choice: to be loyal to the President or to the Constitution. No one is above the law, not even the President.”

Well, the Constitution hasn’t been brought up by Democrats with this much reference for as long as I can remember. When it becomes a focus of the Democrats to keep citing the Constitution, you can be sure they are using it as a talking point to stress that they are doing everything in a constitutional or legal manner.

Several Democrats lawmakers have voiced their opinions and are not pleased with this delay.

Some of those who were not happy with the delay are, Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Senator Angus King, D-Maine; Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Senator Chris Coons, D-Del.

Pelosi made an official announcement that supported her memo.

Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was early to jump on the delay tactic.

Grassley said in a statement of his own, “Speaker Pelosi threw the United States Congress into unnecessary chaos with this pointless delay. From the beginning, it’s been unclear what the goal of this hurry-up-and-wait tactic was or what the country stood to gain. We now know the answer was nothing.”

The Iowa senator went on to say, “We’ve had three weeks of uncertainty and confusion, causing even more division. Regardless, I will take my role as a juror seriously and review the evidence presented by both sides before making any determination.”

The next step for Pelosi will be to determine who will serve as House managers to prosecute the case against the president in the Senate trial.

The trial in the Senate may begin next week.

This whole facade will go on until Majority Leader of the United States Senate Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., either calls for a vote or the whole case gets dismissed.

Did a Spy Come in from the Cold?

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by Daveda Gruber:

The author of the famous anti-Trump dossier that led to the Russia probe, former British spy, Christopher Steele, has agreed to be questioned.

According to “The Times” (UK), investigators from the United States are scheduled to question Steele in London within weeks.

The 54 year old Steele, who compiled a dossier on Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, will be questioned by investigators, who’s names have not been revealed as yet.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. Now, attention is back on the dossier, which was at the helm of the investigation.

Steele has allegedly told the Department of Justice that he would only discuss his dealings with the FBI and wanted assurances that U.S. officials would secure the agreement of the British government.

The British government has not commented.

The origins of the Russia probe has several ongoing investigations at this time. Being investigated are how the Democrat-funded dossier, which was written by Steele, was used to secure surveillance warrants for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in 2016.

There are disputed trails of information on whether former CIA Director John Brennan or former FBI Director James Comey had somehow used and pushed the unverified dossier during the presidential transition.

Testimony by Steele has been sought by Congressional committees but have been, so far, unsuccessful.

Steele drafted the dossier while he was working for political opposition firm Fusion GPS, which was co-founded by Glenn Simpson.

Steele has previously declined to be interviewed. He had cited the potential impropriety of his involvement in an internal Justice Department investigation as a foreign national. Did something change? I believe so. Mueller’s report didn’t come out as originally planned.

Attorney General William Barr appointed John Durham, the U.S. Attorney in Connecticut, to review the FBI’s Russia probe. Barr did testify that “spying” did occur against the Trump campaign during the 2016 campaign. Barr has made it clear that he wants to get to the bottom of the entire Russian probe.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is probing how the dossier compiled by Steele was used to secure the original surveillance warrant.

Barr has said that he has not received answers from the intelligence community that are “at all satisfactory” in the early stages of his review into the origins of the Russian investigation.

Barr told CBS News, “Like many other people who are familiar with intelligence activities, I had a lot of questions about what was going on. And I assumed I’d get answers when I went in, and I have not gotten answers that are at all satisfactory.”

Barr was questioned by Senator Chuck Grassley, R-IA., and this particular testimony is worth listening to.

Watch the testimony here:

Republicans in Congress and President Trump have maintained that the dossier was the root of what tuned into the Russian probe.

When the Mueller report was ready to be released, Senator Lindsey Graham R-SC., had this to say:

We know that the Steele Dossier was at the stem of the Mueller Russia investigation and was paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign. It bewilders me as to why these facts have not been brought to light with the proof to back it up.

Could it be that a key factor of proof lies in Steele’s testimony? We don’t know what is in Steele’s head but we should want to find out.

Another suicide is not what we need now, if you get my drift.

This show has started but we still have to wait for the exciting parts. My popcorn is ready.