"The Deep State" aka the American Intelligence Community

[ggait]

Presumably the IG would have been as critical, perhaps more critical, of Mark Felt, right?

Comey was put in a very tough spot caused by the actions of Trump and his crew. I'd love to hear what anyone thinks Comey should have done as an alternative given what he'd seen/heard directly from Trump.

As a whistle blower, I predict history will be quite kind to Comey. Notwithstanding the jaywalking foul called on him by the IG.

I also think history will be kind to him on his non-prosecution but criticism of Hillary.

The thing that will stick to him over the long term will be the Weiner laptop affair.

[old salt]

So you hold the leader of the free world----and his minions who were appointed, not voted in----- to a lower standard than a career Federal worker?

Come on. You can't be serious. Same standard, fine. Higher standard, fine. But lower? Seriously?

Yes I do -- for good reason.
The DoJ is not just a law enforcement officer. He's also charged with investigating for compliance with DoJ policies & rules.
There's no IG enforcing compliance by a President. The voters put him in office & Congress removes him.
in the final analysis, a President gets away with whatever the voting public will tolerate.
Not so with a federal worker.

WOW.

So acting criminally to achieve election, if successful, inoculates a President from criminal prosecution. Above the law, rather than actually bound to protect the Constitution and the rule of law.

Imagine this is some a-hole on the left side of the ledger.

Of course, what you are saying is about process, not whether a President should actually be held to a higher or a lower standard (by you, the voter), which is what a fan keeps pressing you to answer.

You are answering lower, right?

You get another chance at this one, Salty.

There were only 2 choices in 2016. I chose neither.
Comey was not elected. Trump was.
"acting criminally to achieve election" ? Prove it.
You've been accusing Trump of crimes for 2+ years now.
Crossfire Hurricane & Mueller are done.
You're still in Lawrence O'Donnell " if true " land.

[old salt]

Presumably the IG would have been as critical, perhaps more critical, of Mark Felt, right?

Comey was put in a very tough spot caused by the actions of Trump and his crew. I'd love to hear what anyone thinks Comey should have done as an alternative given what he'd seen/heard directly from Trump.

As a whistle blower, I predict history will be quite kind to Comey. Notwithstanding the jaywalking foul called on him by the IG.

I also think history will be kind to him on his non-prosecution but criticism of Hillary.

The thing that will stick to him over the long term will be the Weiner laptop affair.

Maybe. Felt was a leaker. He didn't participate in a sting, trying to set up Nixon.

Felt didn't pull any stunts like when Comey tried to frame & entrap Trump with the dossier IC brief, facilitating it's leak to the media.
At least Felt leaked accurate truthful information.

Comey could have kept his memos to himself, taken them to the IG or Gang of 8, continued the investigation on the QT, & not leaked anything to the media. Maybe he'd still have his job & the nation would have been spared the turmoil of a 2+ year public investigation which resolved nothing.

Comey was setting a trap. He testified that he just gave Trump an obtw "heads up" on the dossier.
Then ran to his laptop in his limo to "memorialize" his version of events, then immediately video-conned with his Crossfire Hurricane investigators.
We're just getting our first detailed look at what Comey & crew were up to.

Comey's Recollection Recorded gambit.

[old salt]

Would one of our WSJ subscribers be so kind as to cut, paste & post the remainder of this 2013 editorial, for the benefit of we non-subscribers.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424 ... 0309268038

President Obama on Friday nominated James Comey to run the FBI, and the former prosecutor and deputy attorney general is already garnering media effusions reserved for any Republican who fell out publicly with the Bush Administration. Forgive us if we don't join this Beltway beatification.

Any potential FBI director deserves scrutiny, since the position has so much power and is susceptible to ruinous misjudgments and abuse. That goes double with Mr. Comey, a nominee who seems to think the job of the federal bureaucracy is to...

[ggait]

Come on Salty. Felt and Comey are the same thing. Senior fbi guy leaking to the press. Resulting ina special counsel appointment and congressional investigations. If anything, Felt is much less sympathetic. Since he was initially more interested in getting the top fbi job than taking down Nixon.

In DC, leaking to the press is like driving 5 miles over the speed limit. Comey did the country a big favor by making sure Trump’s behavior was exposed and examined.

[tech37]

Comey did the country a big favor by making sure Trump’s behavior was exposed and examined.

Right the ends justifies the means...what a load of excrement.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Comey did the country a big favor by making sure Trump’s behavior was exposed and examined.

Right the ends justifies the means...what a load of excrement.

If he didn’t break any laws what’s the BFD?

[youthathletics]

Comey did the country a big favor by making sure Trump’s behavior was exposed and examined.

Right the ends justifies the means...what a load of excrement.

If he didn’t break any laws what’s the BFD?

Same BS justice that HRC received. What this entire Russian, Mueller, Comey, Strzok-Page, McCabe, Brennan main stream media frenzy did is minimize how people put trust in, and feel about, our federal justice system. It has proven that there is clearly another set of laws and rules in which the 1% club receives.

[ggait]

Nonsense.

Comey’s a whistleblower. Just like mark felt was a whistleblower. They’ve made movies about felt. Hard for me to see one bit of difference between the two. Both did a service to the country.

And no laws broken.

I can’t believe folks are still pushing this silly deep state story.

[old salt]

Comey did the country a big favor by making sure Trump’s behavior was exposed and examined.

Right the ends justifies the means...what a load of excrement.

Right. That's the reason we have this massive law enforcement & intelligence gathering & surveillance capability -- to examine & expose politicians behavior. ...& we're even better at it than the Russians or Banana Republics.

[a fan]

So you hold the leader of the free world----and his minions who were appointed, not voted in----- to a lower standard than a career Federal worker?

Come on. You can't be serious. Same standard, fine. Higher standard, fine. But lower? Seriously?

Yes I do -- for good reason.
The DoJ is not just a law enforcement officer. He's also charged with investigating for compliance with DoJ policies & rules.
There's no IG enforcing compliance by a President. The voters put him in office & Congress removes him.
in the final analysis, a President gets away with whatever the voting public will tolerate.
Not so with a federal worker.

There's a nation filled with Trump fans who think exactly like this. You just explained, brilliantly, why Comey did what he did. You've convinced me. I'm now 100% behind everything Comey did.

Nicely done. Plainly Comey is smarter and wiser than all of us.

[MDlaxfan76]

So you hold the leader of the free world----and his minions who were appointed, not voted in----- to a lower standard than a career Federal worker?

Come on. You can't be serious. Same standard, fine. Higher standard, fine. But lower? Seriously?

Yes I do -- for good reason.
The DoJ is not just a law enforcement officer. He's also charged with investigating for compliance with DoJ policies & rules.
There's no IG enforcing compliance by a President. The voters put him in office & Congress removes him.
in the final analysis, a President gets away with whatever the voting public will tolerate.
Not so with a federal worker.

WOW.

So acting criminally to achieve election, if successful, inoculates a President from criminal prosecution. Above the law, rather than actually bound to protect the Constitution and the rule of law.

Imagine this is some a-hole on the left side of the ledger.

Of course, what you are saying is about process, not whether a President should actually be held to a higher or a lower standard (by you, the voter), which is what a fan keeps pressing you to answer.

You are answering lower, right?

You get another chance at this one, Salty.

There were only 2 choices in 2016. I chose neither.
Comey was not elected. Trump was.
"acting criminally to achieve election" ? Prove it.
You've been accusing Trump of crimes for 2+ years now.
Crossfire Hurricane & Mueller are done.
You're still in Lawrence O'Donnell " if true " land.

You are holding a President to a lower standard than the head of the FBI, under the logic that one is elected and the latter is not.

For a President you don't care if he's done something criminal, much less the obvious corrupt and dishonest behavior, but you think the FBI Director's decisions to break DOJ guidelines, though not breaking any laws, even with the intent of protecting the nation against the Russians, is way worse than anything, even criminal, that the POTUS does.

Your logic, apparently, is that the President, given that he's an elected official, and moreover can't be indicted for a criminal act (only according to DOJ guideline) is to be held to a lower standard by you, the voter.

That's what you said, as I heard it.

Now, if you want to clear this up, I keep giving you extra swings at the ball but for some (perhaps obvious) reason you can't get the bat off your shoulder to answer directly.

You want to hide behind the "I didn't vote" screen, but that ain't cutting it, Salty.

[old salt]

So you hold the leader of the free world----and his minions who were appointed, not voted in----- to a lower standard than a career Federal worker?

Come on. You can't be serious. Same standard, fine. Higher standard, fine. But lower? Seriously?

Yes I do -- for good reason.
The DoJ IG is not just a law enforcement officer. He's also charged with investigating for compliance with DoJ policies & rules.
There's no IG enforcing compliance by a President. The voters put him in office & Congress removes him.
in the final analysis, a President gets away with whatever the voting public will tolerate.
Not so with a federal worker.

There's a nation filled with Trump fans who think exactly like this. You just explained, brilliantly, why Comey did what he did. You've convinced me. I'm now 100% behind everything Comey did.

Nicely done. Plainly Comey is smarter and wiser than all of us.

So which (D) candidates should FBI Director Wray be investigating, surveilling & spying upon ? There's so many of them.

Does Fusion GPS have any more former MI-6 spies the RNC/Trump campaign can hire to fabricate a predicate for the " counterintelligence investigation" ? ...I hope they find a role for Azra Turk in this production.

[old salt]

So you hold the leader of the free world----and his minions who were appointed, not voted in----- to a lower standard than a career Federal worker?

Come on. You can't be serious. Same standard, fine. Higher standard, fine. But lower? Seriously?

Yes I do -- for good reason.
The DoJ is not just a law enforcement officer. He's also charged with investigating for compliance with DoJ policies & rules.
There's no IG enforcing compliance by a President. The voters put him in office & Congress removes him.
in the final analysis, a President gets away with whatever the voting public will tolerate.
Not so with a federal worker.

WOW.

So acting criminally to achieve election, if successful, inoculates a President from criminal prosecution. Above the law, rather than actually bound to protect the Constitution and the rule of law.

Imagine this is some a-hole on the left side of the ledger.

Of course, what you are saying is about process, not whether a President should actually be held to a higher or a lower standard (by you, the voter), which is what a fan keeps pressing you to answer.

You are answering lower, right?

You get another chance at this one, Salty.

There were only 2 choices in 2016. I chose neither.
Comey was not elected. Trump was.
"acting criminally to achieve election" ? Prove it.
You've been accusing Trump of crimes for 2+ years now.
Crossfire Hurricane & Mueller are done.
You're still in Lawrence O'Donnell " if true " land.

You are holding a President to a lower standard than the head of the FBI, under the logic that one is elected and the latter is not.

For a President you don't care if he's done something criminal, much less the obvious corrupt and dishonest, but you think the FBI Director's decisions to break DOJ guidelines, though not breaking any laws, even with the intent of protecting the nation against the Russians, is way worse than anything, even criminal, that the POTUS does.

Your logic, apparently, is that the President, given that he's an elected official, and moreover can't be indicted for a criminal act (only according to DOJ guideline) is to be held to a lower standard by you, the voter.

That's what you said, as I heard it.

Now, if you want to clear this up, I keep giving you extra swings at the ball but for some (perhaps obvious) reason you can't get the bat off your shoulder to answer directly.

You want to hide behind the "I didn't vote" screen, but that ain't cutting it, Salty.

Stop putting words in my mouth (as usual).
I didn't say I don't care. With elected officials, we can't do anything about it.
We don't have to tolerate it with the Fed employees. Nobody elected them.
You continue your accusations of criminal activity. When are you going to put up or shut up ?
Your TDS fantasies have fizzled out.
Your contempt for the will of the voters is obvious, when they don't agree with you.
Apparently you have no problem using the powers of the govt to undermine, or even remove, their duly elected leader,

[a fan]

So which (D) candidates should FBI Director Wray be investigating, surveilling & spying upon ? There's so many of them.

Let's see. Using the publicly available information that Russians are actively messing with our elections as they were in 2016, I'd say any of them who meet or speak with Russian nationals.

Wow. That was hard.

Any other questions?

[Typical Lax Dad]

So which (D) candidates should FBI Director Wray be investigating, surveilling & spying upon ? There's so many of them.

Let's see. Using the publicly available information that Russians are actively messing with our elections as they were in 2016, I'd say any of them who meet or speak with Russian nationals.

Wow. That was hard.

Any other questions?

And the folks that lie about it, investigate them even more. Then if elected, and they are still lying about contacts, then really worry.

[a fan]

It reaaallly isn't all that complicated, is it, Typical LaxDad?

Welcome to TrumpWorld, where up is down, down is up....and simple things become foolishly complicated and out come the tin foil hats.

[Typical Lax Dad]

It reaaallly isn't all that complicated, is it, Typical LaxDad?

Welcome to TrumpWorld, where up is down, down is up....and simple things become foolishly complicated and out come the tin foil hats.

You forgot that these folks should not be investigated and we should wait 4 years for the voters to weigh in on any potential crime by voting them back in office.

[ggait]

Salty. Very simple. Wray should investigate any pols that merit investigation, D or R.

Which is exactly what Comey did. He investigated trump and Hill after all.

FBI does that all the time. There’s an entire public corruption unit in doj dedicated to doing that.

This deep state conspiracy narrative is such nonsense. Wray absolutely would have investigated trump based on trumps behavior. He’d be negligent not to.

[MDlaxfan76]

So you hold the leader of the free world----and his minions who were appointed, not voted in----- to a lower standard than a career Federal worker?

Come on. You can't be serious. Same standard, fine. Higher standard, fine. But lower? Seriously?

Yes I do -- for good reason.
The DoJ is not just a law enforcement officer. He's also charged with investigating for compliance with DoJ policies & rules.
There's no IG enforcing compliance by a President. The voters put him in office & Congress removes him.
in the final analysis, a President gets away with whatever the voting public will tolerate.
Not so with a federal worker.

WOW.

So acting criminally to achieve election, if successful, inoculates a President from criminal prosecution. Above the law, rather than actually bound to protect the Constitution and the rule of law.

Imagine this is some a-hole on the left side of the ledger.

Of course, what you are saying is about process, not whether a President should actually be held to a higher or a lower standard (by you, the voter), which is what a fan keeps pressing you to answer.

You are answering lower, right?

You get another chance at this one, Salty.

There were only 2 choices in 2016. I chose neither.
Comey was not elected. Trump was.
"acting criminally to achieve election" ? Prove it.
You've been accusing Trump of crimes for 2+ years now.
Crossfire Hurricane & Mueller are done.
You're still in Lawrence O'Donnell " if true " land.

You are holding a President to a lower standard than the head of the FBI, under the logic that one is elected and the latter is not.

For a President you don't care if he's done something criminal, much less the obvious corrupt and dishonest, but you think the FBI Director's decisions to break DOJ guidelines, though not breaking any laws, even with the intent of protecting the nation against the Russians, is way worse than anything, even criminal, that the POTUS does.

Your logic, apparently, is that the President, given that he's an elected official, and moreover can't be indicted for a criminal act (only according to DOJ guideline) is to be held to a lower standard by you, the voter.

That's what you said, as I heard it.

Now, if you want to clear this up, I keep giving you extra swings at the ball but for some (perhaps obvious) reason you can't get the bat off your shoulder to answer directly.

You want to hide behind the "I didn't vote" screen, but that ain't cutting it, Salty.

Stop putting words in my mouth (as usual).
I didn't say I don't care. With elected officials, we can't do anything about it.
We don't have to tolerate it with the Fed employees. Nobody elected them.
You continue your accusations of criminal activity. When are you going to put up or shut up ?
Your TDS fantasies have fizzled out.
Your contempt for the will of the voters is obvious, when they don't agree with you.
Apparently you have no problem using the powers of the govt to undermine, or even remove, their duly elected leader,

Actually, you've repeatedly said you don't care. You've doubled down again and again that POTUS is above the law, in a way no other politician or federal employee would be (whether you like it or not, he's a federal employee too and took and oath of office). But you don't care.

But "we don't have to tolerate it with Fed employees"...actually you and I don't get any direct say about Fed employees, that's their bosses job. We do get a direct say in who gets elected POTUS, one of only two jobs that all Americans have a direct say in. So, if there's ANYONE who we don't have to "tolerate" when they are dishonest, corrupt, or otherwise commit offenses deserving to be canned, it's POTUS and VEEP.

But, nah, 'cause it's Trump, we should give him a pass and "tolerate" him. After all, he and his Campaign welcomed Russian interference, and then lied repeatedly about it. He lied again and again to the American people, lies that had he told the truth would have likely prevented him from being elected, including that he was trying to do a major business deal with Russia late into the Campaign, and continued to lie about it once elected.

But, nah, you don't care.

Instead, you want to attack those who saw him for what he is, a corrupt, compromised egomaniac with zero respect for the rule of law much less the US Constitution he is sworn to protect.