Recoiling from Russiagate

Dammit. Ignore it for one day, and it gets too big. CNN Reporter: People Don’t Care About Russiagate Yet It’s All We Talk About

The story du jour has to be Sam Nunberg, former Trump adviser turned Trump critic, who, upon being subpoenaed by Mueller to testify to his grand jury  said I’m Tearing Up My Subpoena From Mueller On Live TV,

“I’m not spending 80 hours going over my emails with Roger Stone and Stephen K. Bannon and producing them,” Nunberg said. “Donald Trump won this election on his own. He campaigned his ass off. And there is nobody who hates him more than me.”

Is he just going berserk at the thought of having to subject himself to days of testimony and possible perjury traps, and having to waste enormous amounts of money on legal fees? Or is he fishing for a pardon from Trump. In the words of Instapundit "I literally have no idea what’s going on here." Ann Althouse:

Maybe you find this sort of thing entertaining or creepily satisfying. I can see that the media have gone wild for Sam Nunberg in the last 24 hours. Do I need to pay attention to this rather than to something else? I can see this is a circus and he's a clown, but why must we go to the circus? It this the only show in town?

Meanwhile  Mueller Subpoenaed Documents Going Back To November 2015 What does that mean?

Axios’ Jonathan Swan, who also reported on the story, implies that this may be a shotgun approach for investigators who have not been able to make a case yet. It also means that this is going to drag out for a while as witnesses turn over documents:

In December, the president’s lawyer Ty Cobb told me the White House would be free of the Mueller investigation “shortly after the first of the year absent some unforeseen delay.”
We know very little about what’s keeping the investigators so busy, but the breadth of this subpoena means Mueller’s team could easily stumble into goodies about Trump’s inner circle given so many people are coughing up material. (Cobb didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

Investigators have already conducted interviews with significant potential witnesses, so this could be a chance to see if any of them can be impeached and then flipped. Alternatively, it may also mean that Mueller and his team are wrapping things up and want to make sure they have everything relevant to the investigation before reaching conclusions. The missing names off this list make it seem more like the latter than the former, especially since no evidence has yet emerged that there was any collusion with Russians, and since the inner-circle figures assumed to be involved in such theoretical connections aren’t named on this list.

Roger Stone: Mueller likely trying to snag Trump over Flynn, Comey firings.

"You cannot underestimate the deep animus of the two-party establishment to Donald Trump, and their resolve to remove him no matter what," Stone told New York radio host John Catsimatidis, jabbing at Mueller's long-running investigation and parallel probes by congressional committees.

So apparently, not bowing to the "Deep State" in running the government is now illegal.

In a lame attempt at bipartisanship, Chuck Todd admitted that Mueller Indictment of Russian Troll Farmer Contradicts McDonough’s Claim That Obama’s Warning to Putin Was ‘Impactful.’ while Putin tells U.S. to send evidence of vote meddling. Stop Blaming Russian Bots For Everything
"“I’m not convinced on this bot thing,” said one of the men behind the Russian bot thing."

More creative fiction from Christopher Steele (or is it really Sidney Blumenthal?) Unpublished Steele Dossier: Russia Intervened To “Block” Romney’s Choice As Secretary Of State. Speaking of Christopher Steele, and bizarre stories, this one has to be near the top of the list. Did Fusion GPS’s Anti-Trump Researcher  Nellie Ohr Avoid Surveillance With A Ham Radio?

On May 23, 2016, she received a technician-level amateur radio license. The timing is significant. The presidential campaign was underway and she and her employer, Fusion GPS, were digging for dirt in Russia to use against Trump. Given her cybersecurity knowledge, was Nellie Ohr hoping to use non-cyber short wave communications to hide her participation in that nefarious effort from the NSA?

Recall that, in early 2016, NSA head Admiral Mike Rogers became aware of “ongoing” and “intentional” violations and abuse of FISA surveillance, which he subsequently exposed in testimony before Congress. Thereafter, pressure mounted within the Obama administration to fire him.
. . .
So, was Nellie Ohr’s late-in-life foray into ham radio an effort to evade the Rogers-led NSA detecting her participation in compiling the Russian-sourced Steele dossier? Just as her husband’s omissions on his DOJ ethics forms raise an inference of improper motive, any competent prosecutor could use the circumstantial evidence of her taking up ham radio while digging for dirt on Trump to prove her consciousness of guilt and intention to conceal illegal activities.

It does seem a little late in life to take up such an odd hobby.

FBI withholds Obama, Comey secret meeting documents, DOJ Is Sued For Records Of Official Linked To Dossier Can we make Judicial Watch a federal agency? Never mind, that would just ruing their effectiveness. Ace's take: FBI: No, We Will Not Turn Over Information About Secret Meetings Between Barack Obama and James Comey Because The Liberal Media Isn't Super-Interested In It

Oh -- the liberal media isn't interested in it, therefore, you can invoke part of the FOIA law that says you don't have to expedite a FOIA request.

So the liberal media gets to determine whether non-liberal media organizations are entitled to FOIA, huh? Swell.

Jonathan Turley asks If Andrew McCabe lied, could he be charged like Michael Flynn?, but ultimately concludes that it is unlikely for any misbehavior at the FBI/DOJ would be treated the same way they would treat anyone else. Insty makes an observation I've made previously:

Related question: If Comey or Mueller or McCabe or others lied to President Trump — who’s every bit as much a federal official as anyone from the FBI — could they be charged? Same answer: Yes, but they’re protected.

Great minds really do think alike. Is it too late for me to go into law?

NBC? The FBI's secret warrant to surveil Carter Page should scare all Americans and spur reform

When a physical search occurs in accordance with American criminal law, law enforcement must show probable cause and obtain permission from a judge, and then present a given suspect with a warrant, and a receipt for the items removed. When law enforcement wants to obtain a criminal wiretap, they similarly have to show probable cause to obtain a warrant, carefully collect information related to potential crimes, and then disclose that information if charges are wrought. The key difference, is that with the latter, the suspect will only discover they've had their privacy violated after they've been indicted. With a FISC warrant, it's possible a suspect will never find out, even if charges are eventually filed.

In the case of Carter Page, his private life was monitored, for almost a year, without his knowledge, and then placed on display for strangers at the FBI to peruse, all based on a suspicion that he was colluding with Russia. On the basis of hearsay, business associations, and possibly Page's political opinions, the FBI received a classified surveillance warrant and then renewed it three times. And yet, Page was never officially charged — suggesting that, even given the ability to surveil him in ways that might make the general public cringe, the FBI was never able to find enough evidence for a single crime.

No chance for abuse there, is there?

Devin Nunes Drops A MOAB On The Russia Investigation, Claims There Is Evidence Of Collusion Yes, of course, Hillary colluded with the Russians. We've known that for a long time. But will Mueller investigate it? Only when hell freezes over.

“I welcome anybody to come help investigate, because so far it’s only the House Intelligence Committee Republicans who are actually doing anything to get to the bottom of who was colluding with Russia,” he concluded. “The more we peel this back, we have clear evidence of collusion but it’s not between the Trump campaign, it’s between the Democratic party and the Hillary campaign and the Russians.”

The Devin Nunes You Don’t Know How a Central Valley farmer got into politics. California water wars.

If, as an MSNBC contributor suggested, Devin Nunes is a Russian agent, he’s the kind of Russian agent who pushed for arming Ukraine, denounces Putin, denounces RT, said in October 2016 Russia targeted US institutions, and kept pushing anti-Moscow policies. https://t.co/50wTD4siIW pic.twitter.com/g4DpxC3Pno

— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) March 5, 2018