The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Comey's Opening Remarks Released
Ahead of Thursday Testimony
by Katie Pavlic
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MSM Hopes Comey Hearing Precipitates Trump
Impeachment. It Won’t
Tomorrow, former FBI Director James Comey will give his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The focus of the mainstream media’s coverage leading up to this moment has been the existence of a memo which Comey had allegedly written after a meeting with Donald Trump. According to media sources, Comey wrote that Trump said to him, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this [investigation] go, to letting [Mike] Flynn go.” And ever since the New York Times first ran the salacious story, the MSM has pushed the narrative that this is the “smoking gun” evidence proving that Trump was somehow seeking to obstruct an FBI investigation into his alleged collusion with Russia.
The MSM’s mindset, as described by Brendan Kirby of LifeZette, is that Comey’s testimony “will be the biggest congressional testimony since the Clarence Thomas hearings! No, since Oliver North testified about the Iran-Contra affair! No, wait … since Watergate!” Indeed, the Leftmedia has worked itself up into a lather in anticipation hoping that Comey’s testimony will be the impeachable moment they’ve been dreaming about since Trump won the election.
The most likely scenario, however, is that nothing new will be learned on the alleged Russia-Trump collusion conspiracy, no matter how much Democrats blow smoke in their desperate attempts to keep the narrative viable. The more interesting questions that should be asked are questions regarding Comey’s handling of the liar-Hillary Clinton email investigation and the liar-Clinton Foundation’s pay-to-play racket. In other words, questions about more pressing and pertinent matters of actual criminal behavior and the FBI’s investigative decisions regarding pursuing that corruption, rather than getting sidetracked with a phony scandal.
So, get your popcorn and beverage and sit back in your favorite easy chair to enjoy the next episode of “As the Beltway Spins.” ~The Patriot Post
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Parts of Left-Wing National
Media Have Simply Lost Their Minds
by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Lou Dobbs has a few thoughts on “what appears to be a mass psychosis that has overwhelmed the left-wing national media... Not only have many news outlets detached themselves from reality,” says Dobbs, “but they have also begun reporting and describing ever growing delusions.” “The Associated Press, for example,” says Dobbs, “obviously imagines itself in a leading role in the left-wing media’s war against President Trump, who in their view has disintermediated the Associated Press from its audience, threatening not only AP’s relevance but its very existence. The AP, raging against its rising irrelevance, wrote this: ‘President Donald Trump can’t be counted on to give accurate information to Americans when violent acts are unfolding abroad.'” Dobbs says, “I want you, if you will, to think of the massive stupidity of that statement. In point of fact AP is jealous of the President and actually jealous of their future. That’s the AP’s way of saying if you read or listen to President Trump speaking directly to the American people, then what will be the role of the AP?”... http://rickwells.us/dobbs-parts-left-wing-national-media-simply-lost-minds/
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Desperate for Dem Win, Ossoff
Declines Debate in GA6 Runoff
Karen Handel
by Dan Spencer
{redstate.com} ~ The Democrats, desperate for a win have done everything they can to nationalize this race by making it a referendum on President Trump. So it is surprising that Ossoff declined to debate Handel on a national stage... The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Ossoff will not participate in a June 13 Atlanta Press Club event that CNN had proposed to broadcast. The Journal’s Political Insider blog reports the Handel campaign claims Ossoff fears a national debate because “His fictitious narrative and flimsy resume won’t stand up to scrutiny” and the “questioning that would have likely been dominated by national correspondents from CNN.” Early voting in the GA6 June 20 runoff is underway and continues through June 16... http://www.redstate.com/california_yankee/2017/06/05/ossoff-declines-debate-handel-virtually-tied-ga6-runoff/?utm_source=rsmorningbriefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
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Paris climate agreement will follow
Kyoto Protocol to the ash heap of history
by Adam Brandon
{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ If the Paris Climate Accord was such a great deal for the United States, why did President Barack liar-nObama not submit it to the Senate for treaty ratification after signing onto it with considerable fanfare on Sept. 3?... Could it have been because liar-nObama knew that the accord was so poorly negotiated, so costly and destructive to the U.S. economy, that he knew it stood no chance of winning the needed 67 votes, two-thirds of the Senate, for ratification? Its dim prospects in the Senate might have been a consideration in the decision Thursday by President Trump to pull the U.S. out of the climate-change pact, which stood no better chance of Senate ratification than the predecessor Kyoto Protocol did nearly two decades ago... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/paris-climate-agreement-will-follow-kyoto-protocol-to-the-ash-heap-of-history/article/2624818
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Dodd-Frank is a mess. Fix broken
banking laws with the CHOICE Act
by Christine Harbin
{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ A important banking reform bill may be headed to the House floor in the coming weeks. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, sponsored the Financial CHOICE Act... which would roll back some of the biggest regulatory burdens of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, bringing meaningful relief for consumers and small businesses. Left out of the CHOICE Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumer and Entrepreneurs Act, though, is a provision that would have eliminated a cap on debit card swipe fees, the so-called Durbin Amendment. Its namesake reasoned that capping the amount that banks charge retailers for debit card purchases would result in consumer savings, but history has proven otherwise. The policy has resulted in higher bank fees and costs and restricted access to free checking accounts. Members of Congress should support the CHOICE Act, even if it excludes language repealing the Durbin Amendment. The bill includes too many other positive reforms to pass up... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/dodd-frank-is-a-mess-fix-broken-banking-laws-with-the-choice-act/article/2624428
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Leaker Nabbed, Charged Sending Top Secret
Classified Docs To Pro- liar-Clinton Website
by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ On Monday the Department of Justice filed criminal charges against a 25-year-old woman named Reality Leigh Winner, who, in reality is now a big loser, after being caught stealing and leaking Top Secret government documents... The complaint, filed in US District Court in Georgia, accuses Winner of “removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet.” That news outlet was identified by NBC News as “The Intercept,” a website founded by extreme leftist and liar-Hillary Clinton supporter, Pierre Omidyar. Winner lives in Augusta, worked for Pluribus International since February 13th, and held a Top Security clearance...Did live in Augusta but will have a new address. http://rickwells.us/leaker-nabbed-charged-sending-top-secret-classified-docs-pro-clinton-website/
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Comey's Opening Remarks Released
Ahead of Thursday Testimony
by Katie Pavlich
{townhall.com} ~ The Senate Intelligence Committee has released former FBI Director James Comey's opening statement for Thursday's much anticipated hearing on Capitol Hill.
According to the prepared remarks, Comey will testify that President Trump asked him to drop the FBI's investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, but did not ask the same for the larger Russia investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election.
During a February 14, 2017 Oval Office meeting with leading officials from the intelligence community, Homeland Security and the Justice Department, Comey was asked to stay behind for a private discussion with the president (bolding of italicized testimony below is mine). After the meeting, he asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to make sure the President could no longer contact him directly.
{townhall.com} ~ The Senate Intelligence Committee has released former FBI Director James Comey's opening statement for Thursday's much anticipated hearing on Capitol Hill.
According to the prepared remarks, Comey will testify that President Trump asked him to drop the FBI's investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, but did not ask the same for the larger Russia investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election.
During a February 14, 2017 Oval Office meeting with leading officials from the intelligence community, Homeland Security and the Justice Department, Comey was asked to stay behind for a private discussion with the president (bolding of italicized testimony below is mine). After the meeting, he asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to make sure the President could no longer contact him directly.
The President signaled the end of the briefing by thanking the group and telling them all that he wanted to speak to me alone. I stayed in my chair. As the participants started to leave the Oval Office, the Attorney General lingered by my chair, but the President thanked him and said he wanted to speak only with me. The last person to leave was Jared Kushner, who also stood by my chair and exchanged pleasantries with me. The President then excused him, saying he wanted to speak with me.
When the door by the grandfather clock closed, and we were alone, the President began by saying, “I want to talk about Mike Flynn.” Flynn had resigned the previous day
The President began by saying Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong in speaking with the Russians, but he had to let him go because he had misled the Vice President. He added that he had other concerns about Flynn, which he did not then specify. The President then made a long series of comments about the problem with leaks of classified information–a concern I shared and still share.
After he had spoken for a few minutes about leaks, Reince Priebus leaned in through the door by the grandfather clock and I could see a group of people waiting behind him. The President waved at him to close the door, saying he would be done shortly. The door closed.
The President then returned to the topic of Mike Flynn, saying, “He is a good guy and has been through a lot.” He repeated that Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong on his calls with the Russians, but had misled the Vice President. He then said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” I replied only that “he is a good guy.” (In fact, I had a positive experience dealing with Mike Flynn when he was a colleague as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the beginning of my term at FBI.) I did not say I would “let this go.”
I immediately prepared an unclassified memo of the conversation about Flynn and discussed the matter with FBI senior leadership. I had understood the President to be requesting that we drop any investigation of Flynn in connection with false statements about his conversations with the Russian ambassador in December. I did not understand the President to be talking about the broader investigation into Russia or possible links to his campaign. I could be wrong, but I took him to be focusing on what had just happened with Flynn’s departure and the controversy around his account of his phone calls. Regardless, it was very concerning, given the FBI’s role as an independent investigative agency.
Further, Comey will testify he was concerned about the President crossing a line of independence with the FBI by repeatedly asking him whether or not he wanted to keep his job. From his statement:
The President and I had dinner on Friday, January 27 at 6:30 pm in the Green Room at the White House. He had called me at lunchtime that day and invited me to dinner that night, saying he was going to invite my whole family, but decided to have just me this time, with the whole family coming the next time. It was unclear from the conversation who else would be at the dinner, although I assumed there would be others. It turned out to be just the two of us, seated at a small oval table in the center of the Green Room.
The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director, which I found strange because he had already told me twice in earlier conversations that he hoped I would stay, and I had assured him that I intended to.
He said that lots of people wanted my job and, given the abuse I had taken during the previous year, he would understand if I wanted to walk away. My instincts told me that the one-on-one setting, and the pretense that this was our first discussion about my position, meant the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship. That concerned me greatly, given the FBI’s traditionally independent status in the executive branch.
I replied that I loved my work and intended to stay and serve out my ten-year term as Director.
And then, because the set-up made me uneasy, I added that I was not “reliable” in the way politicians use that word, but he could always count on me to tell him the truth. I added that I was not on anybody’s side politically and could not be counted on in the traditional political sense, a stance I said was in his best interest as the President. A few moments later, the President said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence. The conversation then moved on, but he returned to the subject near the end of our dinner.
You can read the entire opening statement below.
When the door by the grandfather clock closed, and we were alone, the President began by saying, “I want to talk about Mike Flynn.” Flynn had resigned the previous day
The President began by saying Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong in speaking with the Russians, but he had to let him go because he had misled the Vice President. He added that he had other concerns about Flynn, which he did not then specify. The President then made a long series of comments about the problem with leaks of classified information–a concern I shared and still share.
After he had spoken for a few minutes about leaks, Reince Priebus leaned in through the door by the grandfather clock and I could see a group of people waiting behind him. The President waved at him to close the door, saying he would be done shortly. The door closed.
The President then returned to the topic of Mike Flynn, saying, “He is a good guy and has been through a lot.” He repeated that Flynn hadn’t done anything wrong on his calls with the Russians, but had misled the Vice President. He then said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” I replied only that “he is a good guy.” (In fact, I had a positive experience dealing with Mike Flynn when he was a colleague as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the beginning of my term at FBI.) I did not say I would “let this go.”
I immediately prepared an unclassified memo of the conversation about Flynn and discussed the matter with FBI senior leadership. I had understood the President to be requesting that we drop any investigation of Flynn in connection with false statements about his conversations with the Russian ambassador in December. I did not understand the President to be talking about the broader investigation into Russia or possible links to his campaign. I could be wrong, but I took him to be focusing on what had just happened with Flynn’s departure and the controversy around his account of his phone calls. Regardless, it was very concerning, given the FBI’s role as an independent investigative agency.
Further, Comey will testify he was concerned about the President crossing a line of independence with the FBI by repeatedly asking him whether or not he wanted to keep his job. From his statement:
The President and I had dinner on Friday, January 27 at 6:30 pm in the Green Room at the White House. He had called me at lunchtime that day and invited me to dinner that night, saying he was going to invite my whole family, but decided to have just me this time, with the whole family coming the next time. It was unclear from the conversation who else would be at the dinner, although I assumed there would be others. It turned out to be just the two of us, seated at a small oval table in the center of the Green Room.
The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director, which I found strange because he had already told me twice in earlier conversations that he hoped I would stay, and I had assured him that I intended to.
He said that lots of people wanted my job and, given the abuse I had taken during the previous year, he would understand if I wanted to walk away. My instincts told me that the one-on-one setting, and the pretense that this was our first discussion about my position, meant the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some sort of patronage relationship. That concerned me greatly, given the FBI’s traditionally independent status in the executive branch.
I replied that I loved my work and intended to stay and serve out my ten-year term as Director.
And then, because the set-up made me uneasy, I added that I was not “reliable” in the way politicians use that word, but he could always count on me to tell him the truth. I added that I was not on anybody’s side politically and could not be counted on in the traditional political sense, a stance I said was in his best interest as the President. A few moments later, the President said, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.” I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence. The conversation then moved on, but he returned to the subject near the end of our dinner.
You can read the entire opening statement below.
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