Russiagate: Brennan vs. Comey

The questioning of John Brennan, former CIA chief by Durham's team is still drawing attention. From Bronson Stocking at Town Hall, Durham Questioned Brennan for Eight Hours. Here's What We Know. Not much, because unlike the Mueller team the Durham group doesn't leak.

According to Shapiro, Brennan provided Durham with details regarding "the efforts made by the intelligence community to understand and disrupt the actions taken by Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election." Brennan's advisor recounts the 8-hour interview as if it were Brennan asking Durham all the questions.

And lecturing Durham about political persecution.

Brennan also told Durham that the repeated efforts of Donald Trump & William Barr to politicize Mr. Durham's work have been appalling & have tarnished the independence & integrity of the Department of Justice, making it difficult for DoJ professionals to carry out their job. 7/8

— Nick Shapiro (@nick_shapiro) August 22, 2020

At AmThink, Tom Lifson worries Is Brennan going to skate in Durham's investigation? I suspect so; unlike Obama's crowd, the Barr DOJ is reluctant to use prosecutorial powers against political opponents, even when it's warranted. But he points out that Comey's and Brennan's claims about the Steele Dossier cannot be reconciled.  However, in a long lawerly post that you should read in it's entirety, 'shipwreckedcrew' of Red State says John Brennan Was Put in a Perjury Trap Yesterday — A Completely Legitimate One

John Durham and his team did not come to the decision to interview Brennan over the course of eight hours for the purpose of “filling in the blanks” on “events that are under review.”

The purpose of the interview was to get Brennan to confirm or deny information that others have provided up to this point about Brennan, and what he instructed others to do.

John Brennan was placed into a perjury trap yesterday because he’s shown himself willing to perjure himself in the past in order to evade scrutiny.

Yesterday, the ability to avoid the trap was completely within his control — all he had to do was tell the truth. For the most part, Durham’s investigators knew the truth.

John Brennan doesn’t come from a world of objective “truths” and “lies”. For Brennan, the “truth” is always malleable to fit his needs at any given moment.

That’s CIA tradecraft. He sees himself as a master of such “dark arts” based on his decades in DC. Others have long viewed him as a clown.

That’s why, as a prosecutor, you save a liar like John Brennan for last. He can’t help you because you can’t rely on what he tells you.

So your interview is not done for the purpose of helping your case.

And you do it in Virginia and not DC because of what you plan to do next.

And Comey?  'I can't imagine that I'm a target' of Durham probe (Fox)

Former FBI Director James Comey spoke dismissively of Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation of the origins of the bureau's Russia probe Sunday, saying he has not been contacted for it and that it is being used as a political tool for President Trump and his supporters.

In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," Comey insisted that everyone involved in the investigation was "trying to do the right thing" and therefore Durham's probe was not concerning for him.

"I have had no contact with him and haven’t talked to him," Comey said about Durham, adding, “I can’t imagine that I’m a target.”

Remember, the targets are interviewed last, if at all.

Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Russian Oligarch’s Ties To Manafort, Steele Posed Intel Risks, Senate Report Says Oleg Deripaska wasn't taking any chances. He was ingratiating himself on both sides. Also, FBI Agents Pushed For A FISA To Investigate Foreign Government Targeting Hillary Clinton, denied, of course, by the "7th floor" who went after Trump instead. Sundance at CTH has Lindsey 2.0 talking about the double standard, Sunday Talks – Lindsey Graham Has New Revelations About FBI 7th Floor Targeting Donald Trump…



Also, Sunday Talks – Devin Nunes Discusses The Vast Mailbox Conspiracy Theory… as well as Russiagate:



WaFreeBee, Democrats Slow Roll Subpoenas For Christopher Steele Associates, Republicans Say "They're throwing up all these roadblocks and kicking and screaming the whole way," the source said. "The question is, what is there to hide?"" Not much any more, it was all pretty rotten. JE Dyer at Da Lid, August 2020 And The Democratic State Of Election Interference

But Russian interference isn’t nearly as interfering a phenomenon as the Democrats’ constant drumbeat about Russian interference. Short of massively tampering with the vote itself, the Russians can’t actually have much of an effect on our elections. At most, they can masquerade as one of many raucous voices in the cacophony of American free speech.*

Since the only thing Russian interference squads can really do is seek to amplify existing themes in American politics, that makes them like all other voices. There’s not a single political theme that gets flogged in American politics solely because Russia is behind it.

That’s certainly the case for the 2020 poster child for “Russian interference”: the Democrat/media allegation that Russia has instigated suspicion about the Biden family’s role in questionable dealings with Ukraine. When you hear “Russian interference,” you may think vaguely of silly memes on Facebook and allegations that Russians have hacked into U.S. voter websites. But in 2020, what the Democrats mean is their new narrative that Russia planted bad stories about the Bidens and Ukraine.

Sundance presents Lee Smith Discusses “The Permanent Coup” Against President Trump…



Twitchy, Good point: Did anyone notice that President Trump’s impeachment ‘didn’t even warrant a mention’ at the Democratic convention? I guess they're not that proud of it.

Andy McCarthy at NR on the Bannon persecution, The Bannon Indictment "If there are convictions, the potential penalties are severe." Benjamin Wetmore at AmThink expresses Skepticism about the Bannon Indictment

Steve Bannon may be guilty, or he may be innocent of the charges. He may also be innocent or guilty of other unindicted conduct. But no one should think that innocence will save him from conviction or prison; just ask Steve Stockman. After all, Bannon faces essentially the same odds in New York as he would have had under the Soviet judiciary.

Linked at Whatfinger.