A Mere Trickle of Russiagate

Sunday morning, a slow time for Russiagate. The government is asleep, so no new revelations can escape, but the old news is still being chewed like cud, trying to squeeze out the last bit of goodness.

The Weekly Standard: House Report Claims DNI Clapper Engineered Dossier Release rehashes the Clapper findings pretty well, but contains this interesting bit:

When not redacting names that need no redacting, the sloppy censors fail to redact names they are trying to excise. Also on page 113, we are told that “[REDACTED] received from Clinton associate [REDACTED] information collected by an individual named [REDACTED] Shearer…” From Winer’s own Post op-ed, we know that the recipient of the information was Winer; we also know from the op-ed that the Clinton associate was the notorious Sidney Blumenthal. And as for the collector of the information, the op-ed tells us that was long-time Clinton hanger-on Cody Shearer. But we don’t need the op-ed to know that, because the official intelligence agency censor, having blacked out “Cody” (which comes at the end of a line in the document) fails to black out “Shearer” at the start of the next line of text.

Either the censors know their job is a joke, or they are simply negligent in executing their job. Neither speaks well of the intelligence community, especially when the controversy of the moment has come to turn so much on the credibility and transparency of federal intelligence agencies.

Embrace the healing power of "and."  Tucker Carlson: Steele Dossier "Was A Setup From The Beginning" By The Deep State



Tucker Carlson Demands CNN, MSNBC Apologize 'For the Entire Last Year' on Trump-Russia Collusion. Georgia won't let me watch Tucker on the tube; she finds him too irritating.

Politico: Why Mueller’s Trump interview may not matter

“I don’t think they’d get much out of a Trump interview,” said Julian Epstein, a former chief counsel for House Judiciary Committee Democrats during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. “Trump has a faulty memory. He’s evasive. You’re not going to get a lot of information that’s useful.”

Worse than Hillary Clinton? That's a damn high bar.

So here's a good one from Mark Tapscott. I actually saw new material here, especially with respect to the IG Horowitz investigation: Here Are Three Scary FBI Scandal Factors You Must Know

First, there’s Horowitz’ Revenge. Virtually everybody in the nation’s capital is waiting either in fear or eager anticipation for the upcoming investigative report of Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz. . . . 

An interesting back story.

Second, there’s Obama’s Perogative. As more facts are uncovered about the lengths to which former FBI Director James Comey, his then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and a half dozen other pro-Hillary Clinton bureau insiders went to protect the Democratic nominee in her email scandal, the least discussed element is Obama’s role in the affair . . .

Andy McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor has been beating this drum for a while.

Third, there’s the Spooks’ Sting. These two scandals are loaded with spymasters. The most powerful ones weren’t even at the FBI. Think former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan. And don’t forget former National Security Adviser Susan Rice or former UN Ambassador Samantha Power.

All of these people enjoyed years of unfettered or nearly so access to the incredible digital and electronic listening power developed by the U.S. intelligence community in the wake of 9/11, including the ability to “unmask” any lawmaker, congressional staffer, corporate executive, philanthropic executive or donor, judge, foreign official, presidential appointee, diplomat or military officer overheard in any of the hundreds of millions conversations intercepted by the listening agencies.

The civil servants are no longer servants, they're masters.

And this one is just weird news: MMA fighter with links to Trump, Cohen is questioned by FBI

A Russian mixed martial arts fighter who has connections with President Donald Trump, the president's personal attorney Michael Cohen and Russian President Vladimir Putin was questioned this week by the FBI, his manager confirmed Saturday.

Fedor Emelianenko was questioned by agents who met him in his hotel room on Tuesday, manager Jerry Millen said before Emelianenko's Bellator MMA heavyweight fight against Frank Mir. Millen declined to detail his client's conversations with the agents.

"The FBI came to the hotel looking to talk to Fedor and they were very nice, came in to speak with Fedor for a few minutes, spoke to me, very cool guys, and that's all I can really say about it. Again, the FBI did come to the hotel, they found us, knocked on the door," Millen said.

"Hundred percent, kind of surprised," Millen added. "They were very nice, very professional."
. . .
Putin has attended Emelianenko's fights, and the 41-year-old fighter has been photographed with the Russian president. His connection with Trump dates back to 2008, when he was signed by Affliction Entertainment, a fight league in which Trump had an ownership stake. Trump announced a joint venture involving MMA and Emelianenko at a news conference on June 5, 2008.

Affliction ended up folding for financial reasons after two events, both headlined by Emelianenko.