Trump's Russian Collusion

[seacoaster]

So when do we get to find out who the whistleblower/disgruntled is? Is it really a former Biden campaign/office staffer?

I think it’s just a matter of time till their identity is leaked or released.

Given the questions from congress, probably sooner than later.

If you go back to the whistleblower's letter, any dispassionate person will see that every single thing she or he says has now been corroborated by people with knowledge of the background and the "perfect" call itself, including realtime listeners. So here again, the focus is not on the fact of the President's pretty clear shakedown of another government for personal reasons. The focus is on slandering another public employee and civil servant. Why does the right keep insisting on knowing the identity of a whistleblower otherwise protected by the law and engaged in protected activity?

[jhu72]

So when do we get to find out who the whistleblower/disgruntled is? Is it really a former Biden campaign/office staffer?

I think it’s just a matter of time till their identity is leaked or released.

Given the questions from congress, probably sooner than later.

If you go back to the whistleblower's letter, any dispassionate person will see that every single thing she or he says has now been corroborated by people with knowledge of the background and the "perfect" call itself, including realtime listeners. So here again, the focus is not on the fact of the President's pretty clear shakedown of another government for personal reasons. The focus is on slandering another public employee and civil servant. Why does the right keep insisting on knowing the identity of a whistleblower otherwise protected by the law and engaged in protected activity?

What is going on here is pretty obvious. This republican gambit will not fool the voters. Trump's economic base voters who are already wobbly on him (look at the Kentucky election in eastern Kentucky) will see themselves in this, the little guy trying to do what is right against the big guy. I know how pop reacts to this. It will backfire on the republicans if they or their stooges release the name and they persecute this individual.

[Trinity]

Now Trump toady Ambassador Sondland colluded with Adam Schiff, says Lindsay Graham, who also says he will not be examining the evidence. Head of the Judiciary Committee. Lalalalalala

[jhu72]

Now Trump toady Ambassador Sondland colluded with Adam Schiff, says Lindsay Graham, who also says he will not be examining the evidence. Head of the Judiciary Committee. Lalalalalala

So many of these guys are twisting themselves into knots over Trump. They are embarrassments to the human race.

[Trinity]

Sen John Kennedy doused himself with sewage last night on stage with The Donald. If he thinks Pelosi is dumb, wait till he meets Pam Bondi.

Meanwhile, it’s Pence Day in Barrel 1.

[foreverlax]

The Beltway's 'Whistleblower' Furor Obsesses Over One Name

More than two months after the official filed his complaint, pretty much all that’s known publicly about him is that he is a CIA analyst who at one point was detailed to the White House and is now back working at the CIA.

But the name of a government official fitting that description — Eric Ciaramella — has been raised privately in impeachment depositions, according to officials with direct knowledge of the proceedings, as well as in at least one open hearing held by a House committee not involved in the impeachment inquiry. Fearing their anonymous witness could be exposed, Democrats this week blocked Republicans from asking more questions about him and intend to redact his name from all deposition transcripts.

RealClearInvestigations is disclosing the name because of the public’s interest in learning details of an effort to remove a sitting president from office. Further, the official's status as a “whistleblower” is complicated by his being a hearsay reporter of accusations against the president, one who has “some indicia of an arguable political bias … in favor of a rival political candidate" -- as the Intelligence Community Inspector General phrased it circumspectly in originally fielding his complaint.

With Ciaramella’s name long under wraps, interest in the intelligence analyst is so high that a handful of former colleagues have compiled a roughly 40-page research dossier on him. A classified version of the document is circulating on Capitol Hill, and briefings have been conducted based on it. One briefed Republican has been planning to unmask the whistleblower in a speech on the House floor.

Article posted originally on Real Clear Politics, pick up by Breitbart and tweeted by Don Jr.

"Disclosing the name because of the public interest."

[Trinity]

Remember this when Trump begs for mercy.

[foreverlax]

Sen John Kennedy doused himself with sewage last night on stage with The Donald. If he thinks Pelosi is dumb, wait till he meets Pam Bondi.

Meanwhile, it’s Pence Day in Barrel 1.

Pam Bondi

[MDlaxfan76]

Now Trump toady Ambassador Sondland colluded with Adam Schiff, says Lindsay Graham, who also says he will not be examining the evidence. Head of the Judiciary Committee. Lalalalalala

Graham's other argument is that the Administration is too inept, too confused, to have a 'coherent' Ukraine policy or to execute a 'quid pro quo'. Put aside how damning that is of the Administration, this is what he's saying:

The bank robbers had cased the bank for months, sent a bunch of threats to the bank that they were going to be robbed, even sent an 'emissary' in to the bank to tell them they ought to pack some bags full of cash else we're coming in with guns, bank upset...no way they could fill those bags, called their friends at the police who said, don't fill the bags, robbers burst into the bank, held a gun to the head of a teller, and used real names to talk to one another (oops)...someone pressed an alarm button, and the police showed up quickly. Robbers put gun to head of bank manager and told him to talk on the phone to the police outside 'no problem in here, we're all ok', robber takes away the gun. Stand off between the police and robbers inside.

Robbers' families want to know who pushed the button.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Now Trump toady Ambassador Sondland colluded with Adam Schiff, says Lindsay Graham, who also says he will not be examining the evidence. Head of the Judiciary Committee. Lalalalalala

Graham's other argument is that the Administration is too inept, too confused, to have a 'coherent' Ukraine policy or to execute a 'quid pro quo'. Put aside how damning that is of the Administration, this is what he's saying:

The bank robbers had cased the bank for months, sent a bunch of threats to the bank that they were going to be robbed, even sent an 'emissary' in to the bank to tell them they ought to pack some bags full of cash else we're coming in with guns, bank upset...no way they could fill those bags, called their friends at the police who said, don't fill the bags, robbers burst into the bank, held a gun to the head of a teller, and used real names to talk to one another (oops)...someone pressed an alarm button, and the police showed up quickly. Robbers put gun to head of bank manager and told him to talk on the phone to the police outside 'no problem in here, we're all ok', robber takes away the gun. Stand off between the police and robbers inside.

Robbers' families want to know who pushed the button.

That about sums it up......

[a fan]

The Beltway's 'Whistleblower' Furor Obsesses Over One Name

More than two months after the official filed his complaint, pretty much all that’s known publicly about him is that he is a CIA analyst who at one point was detailed to the White House and is now back working at the CIA.

But the name of a government official fitting that description — Eric Ciaramella — has been raised privately in impeachment depositions, according to officials with direct knowledge of the proceedings, as well as in at least one open hearing held by a House committee not involved in the impeachment inquiry. Fearing their anonymous witness could be exposed, Democrats this week blocked Republicans from asking more questions about him and intend to redact his name from all deposition transcripts.

RealClearInvestigations is disclosing the name because of the public’s interest in learning details of an effort to remove a sitting president from office. Further, the official's status as a “whistleblower” is complicated by his being a hearsay reporter of accusations against the president, one who has “some indicia of an arguable political bias … in favor of a rival political candidate" -- as the Intelligence Community Inspector General phrased it circumspectly in originally fielding his complaint.

With Ciaramella’s name long under wraps, interest in the intelligence analyst is so high that a handful of former colleagues have compiled a roughly 40-page research dossier on him. A classified version of the document is circulating on Capitol Hill, and briefings have been conducted based on it. One briefed Republican has been planning to unmask the whistleblower in a speech on the House floor.

Article posted originally on Real Clear Politics, pick up by Breitbart and tweeted by Don Jr.

"Disclosing the name because of the public interest."

What a bunch of F ing morons.

Did the Whistleblower lie? Nope. So who the firetruck cares about any of the rest of it? 100% irrelevant to the discussion. And they unmask him "because" he's a Dem? Facepalm. So what???

The argument being used above----the same stupid "reasoning" used for Strzok----- is that he votes Dem "therefore", everything he says or does is wrong and/or biased.

And FoxNation falls for this. Anyone bother asking if the WB was wrong? Or that, I don't know, Trump stipulated that what the WB wrote actually happened? Naaaah. Who cares about stupid details and facts, right?

Question for TrumpFans: Horowitz is looking into FISA abuse. He's a Republican. Appointed by a Republican. So does this mean "therefore", his work is biased, and "doesn't count"? And you have to answer BEFORE he brings his report to the public.

Every day, Americans take stupid to a new level.

[Typical Lax Dad]

The Beltway's 'Whistleblower' Furor Obsesses Over One Name

More than two months after the official filed his complaint, pretty much all that’s known publicly about him is that he is a CIA analyst who at one point was detailed to the White House and is now back working at the CIA.

But the name of a government official fitting that description — Eric Ciaramella — has been raised privately in impeachment depositions, according to officials with direct knowledge of the proceedings, as well as in at least one open hearing held by a House committee not involved in the impeachment inquiry. Fearing their anonymous witness could be exposed, Democrats this week blocked Republicans from asking more questions about him and intend to redact his name from all deposition transcripts.

RealClearInvestigations is disclosing the name because of the public’s interest in learning details of an effort to remove a sitting president from office. Further, the official's status as a “whistleblower” is complicated by his being a hearsay reporter of accusations against the president, one who has “some indicia of an arguable political bias … in favor of a rival political candidate" -- as the Intelligence Community Inspector General phrased it circumspectly in originally fielding his complaint.

With Ciaramella’s name long under wraps, interest in the intelligence analyst is so high that a handful of former colleagues have compiled a roughly 40-page research dossier on him. A classified version of the document is circulating on Capitol Hill, and briefings have been conducted based on it. One briefed Republican has been planning to unmask the whistleblower in a speech on the House floor.

Article posted originally on Real Clear Politics, pick up by Breitbart and tweeted by Don Jr.

"Disclosing the name because of the public interest."

What a bunch of F ing morons.

Did the Whistleblower lie? Nope. So who the firetruck cares about any of the rest of it? 100% irrelevant to the discussion. And they unmask him "because" he's a Dem? Facepalm. So what???

The argument being used above----the same stupid "reasoning" used for Strzok----- is that he votes Dem "therefore", everything he says or does is wrong and/or biased.

And FoxNation falls for this. Anyone bother asking if the WB was wrong? Or that, I don't know, Trump stipulated that what the WB wrote actually happened? Naaaah. Who cares about stupid details and facts, right?

Question for TrumpFans: Horowitz is looking into FISA abuse. He's a Republican. Appointed by a Republican. So does this mean "therefore", his work is biased, and "doesn't count"? And you have to answer BEFORE he brings his report to the public.

Every day, Americans take stupid to a new level.

More than that are the non “everyday Americans” that fall for it.

[ggait]

So when do we get to find out who the whistleblower/disgruntled is? Is it really a former Biden campaign/office staffer?

Kra -- FYI the WB was outed weeks ago. Google will tell you his name in 0.000023 seconds. He's a CIA NSC guy who specializes in Russia and Ukraine. So (surprise!!) he thinks there's something fishy about Trump and Putin -- which is what 99.86% of the Russia/Ukraine specialists at NSC, CIA, DOS think too.

Since he was at CIA during the Obama years, his job would have been to work with Brennan (CIA director) and Biden (Obama point man on Ukraine). I've seen zero evidence that he ever worked in a political job for Biden.

He looks to be pretty much the same thing as Bill Taylor, LTC Vindman and all the other deep staters that have been coming in to testify. Since so many of those folks have testified (another one today -- deep stater Jennifer Williams assigned to Pence) and they've all said the same thing, we should be indifferent to whether the WB testifies or not.

[ggait]

Graham's other argument is that the Administration is too inept, too confused, to have a 'coherent' Ukraine policy or to execute a 'quid pro quo'.

This will actually turn out to be a pretty good argument for Trump. It worked before -- remember "too stupid to collude"?

Trump orders people to do illegal stuff all the time -- as Don McGahn testified to Mueller. But most of the illegal stuff Trump tries doesn't happen. He's just too lazy and ADD to make it happen. Being an effective authoritarian takes a lot of real work, which would seriously cut into TV watching, tweets and golf time.

Mueller never was actually fired despite Trump ordering that to happen multiple times. Ukraine got their money without ever having to go after Biden/Burisma. The Trump/Giuliani dream team were way too inept to make it happen before the goofball plot was outed.

No harm, no foul is by far the best defense available.

[old salt]

So when do we get to find out who the whistleblower/disgruntled is? Is it really a former Biden campaign/office staffer?

Kra -- FYI the WB was outed weeks ago. Google will tell you his name in 0.000023 seconds. He's a CIA NSC guy who specializes in Russia and Ukraine. So (surprise!!) he thinks there's something fishy about Trump and Putin -- which is what 99.86% of the Russia/Ukraine specialists at NSC, CIA, DOS think too.

Since he was at CIA during the Obama years, his job would have been to work with Brennan (CIA director) and Biden (Obama point man on Ukraine). I've seen zero evidence that he ever worked in a political job for Biden.

He looks to be pretty much the same thing as Bill Taylor, LTC Vindman and all the other deep staters that have been coming in to testify. Since so many of those folks have testified (another one today -- deep stater Jennifer Williams assigned to Pence) and they've all said the same thing, we should be indifferent to whether the WB testifies or not.

No question. Ukraine has many friends & boosters within the NSC & IC. What do the voters know (or care) about Ukraine ?
How dare an elected President pursue a foreign policy that bucks that trend & resists getting pulled into Ukraine's conflict with Russia.

[Typical Lax Dad]

So when do we get to find out who the whistleblower/disgruntled is? Is it really a former Biden campaign/office staffer?

Kra -- FYI the WB was outed weeks ago. Google will tell you his name in 0.000023 seconds. He's a CIA NSC guy who specializes in Russia and Ukraine. So (surprise!!) he thinks there's something fishy about Trump and Putin -- which is what 99.86% of the Russia/Ukraine specialists at NSC, CIA, DOS think too.

Since he was at CIA during the Obama years, his job would have been to work with Brennan (CIA director) and Biden (Obama point man on Ukraine). I've seen zero evidence that he ever worked in a political job for Biden.

He looks to be pretty much the same thing as Bill Taylor, LTC Vindman and all the other deep staters that have been coming in to testify. Since so many of those folks have testified (another one today -- deep stater Jennifer Williams assigned to Pence) and they've all said the same thing, we should be indifferent to whether the WB testifies or not.

No question. Ukraine has many friends & boosters within the NSC & IC. What do the voters know (or care) about Ukraine ?
How dare an elected President pursue a foreign policy that bucks that trend & resists getting pulled into Ukraine's conflict with Russia.

That’s why the Inspector General shut it down. Not credible.

[calourie]

Graham's other argument is that the Administration is too inept, too confused, to have a 'coherent' Ukraine policy or to execute a 'quid pro quo'.

This will actually turn out to be a pretty good argument for Trump. It worked before -- remember "too stupid to collude"?

Trump orders people to do illegal stuff all the time -- as Don McGahn testified to Mueller. But most of the illegal stuff Trump tries doesn't happen. He's just too lazy and ADD to make it happen. Being an effective authoritarian takes a lot of real work, which would seriously cut into TV watching, tweets and golf time.

Mueller never was actually fired despite Trump ordering that to happen multiple times. Ukraine got their money without ever having to go after Biden/Burisma. The Trump/Giuliani dream team were way too inept to make it happen before the goofball plot was outed.

No harm, no foul is by far the best defense available.

I like it. "Too inept to impeach" has a nice ring to it, and is an easily digestible narrative.

[a fan]

So you're going to spin this as a policy disagreement, old salt?

Tell me: what's Giuliani doing over in the Ukraine if the sole issue is some benign policy disagreement.

Fair to say our intel was vehemently against Obama pulling out of Iraq. Did you see this same rebellion?

Nope.

While we're at it: without googling...or heck, maybe with googling....can anyone name Obama's personal lawyer? Was he over in Iraq, too?

Come on, OldSalt. This isn't the problem.

[foreverlax]

So when do we get to find out who the whistleblower/disgruntled is? Is it really a former Biden campaign/office staffer?

Kra -- FYI the WB was outed weeks ago. Google will tell you his name in 0.000023 seconds. He's a CIA NSC guy who specializes in Russia and Ukraine. So (surprise!!) he thinks there's something fishy about Trump and Putin -- which is what 99.86% of the Russia/Ukraine specialists at NSC, CIA, DOS think too.

Since he was at CIA during the Obama years, his job would have been to work with Brennan (CIA director) and Biden (Obama point man on Ukraine). I've seen zero evidence that he ever worked in a political job for Biden.

He looks to be pretty much the same thing as Bill Taylor, LTC Vindman and all the other deep staters that have been coming in to testify. Since so many of those folks have testified (another one today -- deep stater Jennifer Williams assigned to Pence) and they've all said the same thing, we should be indifferent to whether the WB testifies or not.

No question. Ukraine has many friends & boosters within the NSC & IC. What do the voters know (or care) about Ukraine ?
How dare an elected President pursue a foreign policy that bucks that trend & resists getting pulled into Ukraine's conflict with Russia.

That is the Rs argument. Except it leaves out the only part that matters....investigating Trump's political opponent.

Didn't you agree that was wrong?

[Jim Malone]

I don't trust Schiff in the least after his last go around with Rove approximately ten plus years ago. Nothing more than a shrill!!