Treason probes, stiff penalties
for national security tricksters?
President urges look into Lynch's tarmac meeting
The specter of a heavy-duty investigation into "treason" on the part of President Barack Obama's national security officials -- followed by severe penalties -- was raised yesterday by President Trump.
"We can never allow this treasonous, these treasonous acts to happen to another President," Trump declared to a nationwide talk show audience.
Asked by Sean Hannity of Fox News about what looked like a high-level national security operation to deny him the presidency, Trump replied, "It was treason, it was really treason."
To underscore his point, Trump cited texts between former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, at the time the FBI's top counter-spy, and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page that discussed an "insurance policy" in the event of Trump's election.
Trump also criticized James Comey, whom he fired in 2017, as a "terrible guy" and insisted he did not fire him in order to obstruct justice.
"You had dirty cops, you had people who are bad FBI folks ... At the top, they were not clean,
The President saw a double standard in the Trump probe. "If we had done this to President Obama, there would be 100 people in jail right now, and it would be treason; it would be considered treason."
Trump told an enthusiastic rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., today that "there has to be accountability as it's all lies, and they know it's lies" as he targeted "the Deep State" and the Democratic Party.
'Important' to probe Lynch
In response to a question from Hannity about Obama's attorney general, Loretta Lynch, Trump said that "you start taking a look at what happened on the tarmac," adding, "A lot of people say a lot of bad things happen on the tarmac between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton. I had a lot of planes for a long time. I’ve never stopped the plane on the tarmac to let somebody on the plane.
"And then they went and they talked about golf and their grandchildren for 40 minutes. It doesn't work that way. What did they talk about? And then she was exonerated. She was given one of the great free passes of all time.
"I guess Bill Clinton said he was there to play golf, but I know the area very well, Arizona. It's a little warm at that time of the year for golf, OK? People -- a lot of people -- is a great state, I love it, but you are not playing a lot of golf right there at that time.
"So, you have to find out, what happened in the back of that plane that so many things took place after that incident, that meeting between the Attorney General Lynch and Bill Clinton. A lot of bad things happened right after that. You have to find out."
Trump continued, "So, there are so many different things, and it's important for our country that those things be determined and found out."
Hannity had said to Trump that "one thing that shocked me a little bit last week" was the testimony that Strzok and Page "were both of them suggesting the fix was in on Hillary, because it was being -- every decision was being run through the A.G.'s office. That means Loretta Lynch, who also met on the tarmac with Bill Clinton, which brings us to a higher level than maybe we once thought. "
Though the President said he was leaving investigative decisions to William Barr, his attorney general, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Trump nevertheless said that "it's very important for our country to know" how the targeting of a presidential candidate came about. In future, Americans should be assured that "the penalties will be very, very great."
Barr is about to be prodded by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who plans to lodge with Barr criminal referrals of some of those involved in the surveillance operation against the Trump campaign.
Obama's CIA director, John Brennan, who as a television commentator has publicly accused Trump of treason, is likely to be a focus of an investigation of the "sedition" and "treason" cited by Trump. The top ranks of the FBI, along with James Clapper, Obama's national intelligence director, are likely to find themselves in the crosshairs of new investigations. Barr has not yet disclosed what his plans are, but Graham has said he plans a major investigation.
Brennan's 'hidden hand'
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in a tweet,
3:32 PM - Mar 27, 2019
The dossier -- commissioned by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee -- peddled unverifiable derogatory information on Trump picked up in Russian bars and was later discredited by its author, ex-British spy Christopher Steele, who refused to endorse it during a court hearing. Yet, Republicans are saying, Brennan was part of a cabal trying to exploit the dossier both inside and outside the Obama administration as providing a basis for investigating Trump and his campaign.
Trump ducked Hannity's questioning about pardons for those convicted in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry, but spoke in a sympathetic manner about Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump's original choice for national security adviser, who pleaded guilty to a single count of willfully making false statements to the FBI. Trump pointed out that the FBI agents who quizzed Flynn did not suspect perjury but thought he had suffered a memory lapse.
The President also went out of his way to praise the "many" members of the media who had been highly skeptical of "Russia-gate," though he rapped CNN as "so fake, so horribly fake, and MSNBC the same thing."
Trump said nothing about the New York Times and the Washington Post, both of which have been conducting crusades against him.
Wrangle over warrant 'taint'
In a related development, President Obama's FBI and Justice Department wrangled over "concerns" that a planned FBI surveillance operation against the Trump camp was tainted, according to a bombshell Fox News report.
Text messages, sent between Andrew McCabe, at the time an FBI deputy director, and Lisa Page, who has since resigned her position as an FBI lawyer, reveal "continued concerns" about "possible bias" of a source crucial to the FBI's bid for a surveillance warrant, Fox said.
The text thread "made plain" Justice Department worries that the FBI's application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to covertly monitor Trump aide Carter Page was based on a "potentially biased source," Fox reported, adding that the texts revealed "the FBI's desire to press on" despite those concerns.
Steele lost his special relationship with the FBI when it emerged that he had been in contact with media, but Fox News was unable to determine whether the McCabe-Page texts were referring to Steele or someone else.
Page has not been charged with any wrongdoing despite more than a year of federal surveillance, and he has since filed a number of defamation lawsuits, including against the Democratic National Committee, which helped fund the dossier that named Page as a suspicious character.
Lisa Page texted that the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence had been given a "robust" response, Fox News revealed. "Don't know what the holdup is now, other than Stu's continued concerns."
"Stu" was an apparent reference to Stuart Evans, then deputy assistant attorney general for intelligence in the Office of Intelligence, according to Fox.
A previous text from counter-spy Strzok to Lisa Page related that he was "Currently fighting with Stu for this FISA" -- Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant -- in late 2016, Fox noted.
Asked by Sean Hannity of Fox News about what looked like a high-level national security operation to deny him the presidency, Trump replied, "It was treason, it was really treason."
To underscore his point, Trump cited texts between former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, at the time the FBI's top counter-spy, and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page that discussed an "insurance policy" in the event of Trump's election.
Trump also criticized James Comey, whom he fired in 2017, as a "terrible guy" and insisted he did not fire him in order to obstruct justice.
"You had dirty cops, you had people who are bad FBI folks ... At the top, they were not clean,
to put it mildly."
Lowering the boom?
The President saw a double standard in the Trump probe. "If we had done this to President Obama, there would be 100 people in jail right now, and it would be treason; it would be considered treason."
Trump told an enthusiastic rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., today that "there has to be accountability as it's all lies, and they know it's lies" as he targeted "the Deep State" and the Democratic Party.
'Important' to probe Lynch
In response to a question from Hannity about Obama's attorney general, Loretta Lynch, Trump said that "you start taking a look at what happened on the tarmac," adding, "A lot of people say a lot of bad things happen on the tarmac between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton. I had a lot of planes for a long time. I’ve never stopped the plane on the tarmac to let somebody on the plane.
"And then they went and they talked about golf and their grandchildren for 40 minutes. It doesn't work that way. What did they talk about? And then she was exonerated. She was given one of the great free passes of all time.
"I guess Bill Clinton said he was there to play golf, but I know the area very well, Arizona. It's a little warm at that time of the year for golf, OK? People -- a lot of people -- is a great state, I love it, but you are not playing a lot of golf right there at that time.
"So, you have to find out, what happened in the back of that plane that so many things took place after that incident, that meeting between the Attorney General Lynch and Bill Clinton. A lot of bad things happened right after that. You have to find out."
Trump continued, "So, there are so many different things, and it's important for our country that those things be determined and found out."
Hannity had said to Trump that "one thing that shocked me a little bit last week" was the testimony that Strzok and Page "were both of them suggesting the fix was in on Hillary, because it was being -- every decision was being run through the A.G.'s office. That means Loretta Lynch, who also met on the tarmac with Bill Clinton, which brings us to a higher level than maybe we once thought. "
Though the President said he was leaving investigative decisions to William Barr, his attorney general, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Trump nevertheless said that "it's very important for our country to know" how the targeting of a presidential candidate came about. In future, Americans should be assured that "the penalties will be very, very great."
Barr is about to be prodded by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who plans to lodge with Barr criminal referrals of some of those involved in the surveillance operation against the Trump campaign.
Obama's CIA director, John Brennan, who as a television commentator has publicly accused Trump of treason, is likely to be a focus of an investigation of the "sedition" and "treason" cited by Trump. The top ranks of the FBI, along with James Clapper, Obama's national intelligence director, are likely to find themselves in the crosshairs of new investigations. Barr has not yet disclosed what his plans are, but Graham has said he plans a major investigation.
Brennan's 'hidden hand'
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in a tweet,
BREAKING: A high-level source tells me it was Brennan who insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier be included in the Intelligence Report... Brennan should be asked to testify under oath in Congress ASAP.73.5K
3:32 PM - Mar 27, 2019
The dossier -- commissioned by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee -- peddled unverifiable derogatory information on Trump picked up in Russian bars and was later discredited by its author, ex-British spy Christopher Steele, who refused to endorse it during a court hearing. Yet, Republicans are saying, Brennan was part of a cabal trying to exploit the dossier both inside and outside the Obama administration as providing a basis for investigating Trump and his campaign.
Trump ducked Hannity's questioning about pardons for those convicted in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry, but spoke in a sympathetic manner about Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump's original choice for national security adviser, who pleaded guilty to a single count of willfully making false statements to the FBI. Trump pointed out that the FBI agents who quizzed Flynn did not suspect perjury but thought he had suffered a memory lapse.
The President also went out of his way to praise the "many" members of the media who had been highly skeptical of "Russia-gate," though he rapped CNN as "so fake, so horribly fake, and MSNBC the same thing."
Trump said nothing about the New York Times and the Washington Post, both of which have been conducting crusades against him.
Wrangle over warrant 'taint'
In a related development, President Obama's FBI and Justice Department wrangled over "concerns" that a planned FBI surveillance operation against the Trump camp was tainted, according to a bombshell Fox News report.
Text messages, sent between Andrew McCabe, at the time an FBI deputy director, and Lisa Page, who has since resigned her position as an FBI lawyer, reveal "continued concerns" about "possible bias" of a source crucial to the FBI's bid for a surveillance warrant, Fox said.
The text thread "made plain" Justice Department worries that the FBI's application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to covertly monitor Trump aide Carter Page was based on a "potentially biased source," Fox reported, adding that the texts revealed "the FBI's desire to press on" despite those concerns.
Steele lost his special relationship with the FBI when it emerged that he had been in contact with media, but Fox News was unable to determine whether the McCabe-Page texts were referring to Steele or someone else.
Page has not been charged with any wrongdoing despite more than a year of federal surveillance, and he has since filed a number of defamation lawsuits, including against the Democratic National Committee, which helped fund the dossier that named Page as a suspicious character.
Lisa Page texted that the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence had been given a "robust" response, Fox News revealed. "Don't know what the holdup is now, other than Stu's continued concerns."
"Stu" was an apparent reference to Stuart Evans, then deputy assistant attorney general for intelligence in the Office of Intelligence, according to Fox.
A previous text from counter-spy Strzok to Lisa Page related that he was "Currently fighting with Stu for this FISA" -- Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant -- in late 2016, Fox noted.
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