Why is the FBI meddling in a United States election? Did they coordinate with the Trump campaign when FBI Director James Comey announced vague accusations at Hillary Clinton just a week before a major election? Is the FBI Pro-Trump because they are Clinton-hating,gun-loving institution full of white men?
“The FBI is Trumpland,” said one current agent.
. . . Clinton is “the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel,” and that “the reason why they’re leaking is they’re pro-Trump.”
Two days before FBI director James Comey rocked the world last week, Rudy Giuliani was on Fox, where he volunteered, un-prodded by any question: “I think he’s [Donald Trump] got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises.”
Pressed for specifics, he said: “We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn this thing around.”
. . . Back in August, during a contentious CNN interview about Comey’s July announcement clearing Hillary Clinton of criminal charges, Giuliani advertised his illicit FBI sources, who circumvented bureau guidelines to discuss a case with a public partisan. “The decision perplexes me. It perplexes Jim Kallstrom, who worked for him. It perplexes numerous FBI agents who talk to me all the time. And it embarrasses some FBI agents.”
Kallstrom is the former head of the New York FBI office, installed in that post in the ’90s by then-FBI director Louis Freeh, one of Giuliani’s longtime friends. Kallstrom has, like Giuliani, been on an anti-Comey romp for months, most often on Fox, where he’s called the Clintons as a “crime family.”
Giuliani appeared on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning and confirmed that he had heard about Comey’s letter before it was sent, though he denied he had tried to disseminate the information. “I did nothing to get it out, and I had no role in it,” he said. But he continued, “Did I hear about it? You’re darn right I heard about it, and I can’t even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents.”
Reps. Elijah Cummings and John Conyers, respectively the top Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Judiciary Committee, wrote to the Justice Department inspector general on Friday afternoon asking him to investigate the source of the information to Giuliani.
White men are overwhelmingly likely to support Donald Trump, and the FBI is a culturally conservative law enforcement agency that is overwhelmingly white and male.
The FBI has actually gotten whiter in recent years. As of Aug. 1, 83.2 percent of FBI special agents were white, according to internal statistics. That’s a higher percentage than in 2008. More than 80 percent of FBI special agents are men. Last year, FBI director James Comey joked that the fictional FBI depicted on the television show “Quantico” made FBI agents look more “attractive and diverse” than they did real life.
Here it is. Watch this & tell me Giuliani didn't know. Did u know Rudy used to be FBI Director Comey's BOSS? https://t.co/UP3y963SsR
Rudy Giuliani backtracking and creepily cackling through this #hardball interview about FBI leak. He's an awful human being. pic.twitter.com/89MHKywvkh
Why is the FBI meddling in a United States election? Did they coordinate with the Trump campaign when FBI Director James Comey announced vague accusations at Hillary Clinton just a week before a major election? Is the FBI Pro-Trump because they are Clinton-hating,gun-loving institution full of white men?
“The FBI is Trumpland,” said one current agent.
. . . Clinton is “the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel,” and that “the reason why they’re leaking is they’re pro-Trump.”
Two days before FBI director James Comey rocked the world last week, Rudy Giuliani was on Fox, where he volunteered, un-prodded by any question: “I think he’s [Donald Trump] got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises.”
Pressed for specifics, he said: “We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn this thing around.”
. . . Back in August, during a contentious CNN interview about Comey’s July announcement clearing Hillary Clinton of criminal charges, Giuliani advertised his illicit FBI sources, who circumvented bureau guidelines to discuss a case with a public partisan. “The decision perplexes me. It perplexes Jim Kallstrom, who worked for him. It perplexes numerous FBI agents who talk to me all the time. And it embarrasses some FBI agents.”
Kallstrom is the former head of the New York FBI office, installed in that post in the ’90s by then-FBI director Louis Freeh, one of Giuliani’s longtime friends. Kallstrom has, like Giuliani, been on an anti-Comey romp for months, most often on Fox, where he’s called the Clintons as a “crime family.”
Giuliani appeared on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning and confirmed that he had heard about Comey’s letter before it was sent, though he denied he had tried to disseminate the information. “I did nothing to get it out, and I had no role in it,” he said. But he continued, “Did I hear about it? You’re darn right I heard about it, and I can’t even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents.”
Reps. Elijah Cummings and John Conyers, respectively the top Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Judiciary Committee, wrote to the Justice Department inspector general on Friday afternoon asking him to investigate the source of the information to Giuliani.
White men are overwhelmingly likely to support Donald Trump, and the FBI is a culturally conservative law enforcement agency that is overwhelmingly white and male.
The FBI has actually gotten whiter in recent years. As of Aug. 1, 83.2 percent of FBI special agents were white, according to internal statistics. That’s a higher percentage than in 2008. More than 80 percent of FBI special agents are men. Last year, FBI director James Comey joked that the fictional FBI depicted on the television show “Quantico” made FBI agents look more “attractive and diverse” than they did real life.
Here it is. Watch this & tell me Giuliani didn't know. Did u know Rudy used to be FBI Director Comey's BOSS? https://t.co/UP3y963SsR
Rudy Giuliani backtracking and creepily cackling through this #hardball interview about FBI leak. He's an awful human being. pic.twitter.com/89MHKywvkh
The Right Wing is on an Assassination kick these days, and their favorite topic is shooting President Obama. I've seen two rants about it just today. I suspect this is a new Koch-approved and ALEC-funded GOP talking point.
Is that all they have? Or is it beginning to sink in that they may not win the Senate or the next Presidential race? They have to blame someone, and President Obama is always there to absorb all their hatred and bigotry.
This is scary since just recently a man with a knife recently stormed the White House, and another managed to shoot the Presidential residence several times while the Secret Service was out-of-order! So they have to take these threats seriously, maybe more seriously than in the past. Keystone Cops from Hell: President Obama and the Secret Service
And some people who have called for assassination several times, and even been warned by the Secret Service need to be incarcerated. Like, yesterday.
GUNRIGHTS HERO PROFESSOR JOHN LOTT blew the freedom haters & gungrabbers outta the water with his stats/facts broadside MORE GUNS = LESS CRIME suckerpunch truth bludgeon. Read the book, share the truth with your elected officials give away as many books to as many people as you can to de-sheeple the braindead masses with their peace&love disease. Make a donatoin [sic] to the CRIME PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTER to destroy the Obama/Holder/Clinton/Schumer/Pilosi [sic]/Boxer/Feinstein/Durbin/Bloomburgh [sic] propaganda jihad against our right to self-defense TRTKABA. JOIN THE NRA! Be the best American you can be. Freedom or their evil carcasses for traction back to it.
Yeah, blow them away. With guns. All our elected official. Just shoot them dead. It's the American way, according to Ted Nugent. The Left on Twitter immediately began to contact the FBI and Secret Service, while calling for Nugent to be arrested:
This next one is from a public servant in Missouri named Debbie Dunnegan Waters. She wants to know why the Military can't just, you know, assassinate the President? I mean, isn't that legal? I guess she's never heard of a "military coup." Not the brightest light, and this is MISSOURI after all, where the cops shoot unarmed men multiple times no matter what the situation. At the least, she should lose her local government job over this, don't you think? She is up for re-election as Jefferson County Recorder of Deeds. Apparently an education in political science is not part of the requirements of her job, LOL.
Jefferson County, MO recorder of deeds seems to have called for the U.S. military to attack/oust President Obama http://t.co/KxucGovAv4
“What she posted is really troubling,’’ said Sean Nicholson, executive director of Progress Missouri, a progressive activist group that is displaying Waters’ Facebook item on its website. “What in the world does she mean by ‘action against our domestic enemy...supposedly the commander in chief?’ "?
Braxton Payne, who works for a local Democratic consulting firm, is credited with first publicizing Waters’ comments. He said he posted the link several times on Twitter because he was outraged with her Facebook comments, especially since she is an elected official.
"Something innocent and simple got twisted into a disaster because it's an election," she said. "I meant no ill intent toward the president. I meant no ill intent toward anybody."
Her Facebook account is private, but Dunnegan said she has not deleted the post and doesn't seem worried how it might impact her re-election bid.
"I think it could hurt it as much as it could help it," she said.
Great comments about this:
I realize Dunnegan is slow, but surprised she is so cognitively challenged; how can she suggest a "Coup" against Obama and then say, "No ill intent toward The President." (A good anti-psychotic might help her.)
~ John DM on Huff Post
It is amazing how often people who like to call themselves American Patriots so often advocate behaviors that occur only in despotic non-democratic countries and seem to have no real understanding of the Constitution they say they love except for the 2nd Amendment -- and the First Amendment as long as it is only THEIR speech they want protected.
~ Karen D. on Huff Post
um, this is, well, an offense that lands most people in jail and under psychiatric evaluation and heavy guard immediately, with little likelihood of release. So, let's imagine that a black man had said this. Does anyone think he'd still be free, or even alive?
~ Lisa G. on Huff Post
But this is what they do. They get into small, local offices and wreck havoc. Liberals have got to start putting pressure on those city, county, district elections with fervor.
~ Eugene Krebs on Crooks and Liars
I served for 25 years on a active duty with the U.S. Navy. I retired in the mid-1990s. I can not believe the utter ignorance ignorance and stupidity of people like this woman. She writes that she can't understand why the military doesn't revolt and depose the President. I, like every other servicemember, took an oath to protect and defend the constitution. Overthrowing the fairly and duly elected President isn't part of the oath. I served under Presidents from Nixon to Clinton. I didn't like Nixon; I knew he was a liar and a crook. I didn't like how repair parts weren't always available to my techs because Carter had cut the DoD budget. I thought that Reagan was trigger-happy and practiced a bit of brinksmanship. Bush the ok was "eh, just ok" in my opinion. Clinton was a good President. But I never once, ever in any way, thought about overthrowing the President. I was dedicated to my shipmates and my ship. I served with pride, without politics.
~ Mark Zandrini on Crooks and Liars
BOEHNER: But I and my members decided the threat of Obamacare and what was happening was so important that it was time for us to take a stand. And we took a stand.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Did you decide it or was it decided for you?
BOEHNER: I, working with my members, decided to do this in a unified way. George, I have 233 Republicans in the House. And you've never seen a more dedicated group of people who are thoroughly concerned about the future of our country. They believe that Obamacare, all these regulations coming out of the administration, are threatening the future for our kids and our grandkids. It is time for us to stand and fight.
. . . BOEHNER: We're not going to pass a clean debt limit increase.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Under no circumstances?
BOEHNER: I told the president, there's no way we're going to pass one. The votes are not in the House to pass a clean debt limit. And the president is risking default by not having a conversation with us.
. . . STEPHANOPOULOS: So the clock is ticking on October 17th. You're not going to put that bill on the floor?
BOEHNER: I want to deal with our underlying problem.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes or no, would you put that bill on the floor?
BOEHNER: I don't want the United States to default on its debt. But I'm not going to raise the debt limit without a serious conversation about dealing with problems that are driving the debt up. It would be irresponsible of me to do this.
. . . STEPHANOPOULOS: You see, I'm not hearing much new here this morning. I don't think the country is hearing much new here this morning from either the president or from you and House Republicans. How is this going to end?
BOEHNER: George, it's going to end when the president decides they'll allow Harry Reid to talk to me, or allow Patty Murray to talk to Paul Ryan. The president just can't sit there and say, I'm not going to negotiate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If Boehner says there are not enough votes, then they should prove it. Hold a vote. Call a vote right now and let’s see what happens.
~ President Obama
Speaker Boehner has a credibility problem.
From refusing to let the House vote on a bill that was his idea in the first place, to decrying health-care subsidies for members of Congress and staff that he worked for months to preserve, to stating that the House doesn't have the votes to pass a clean CR at current spending levels, there is now a consistent pattern of Speaker Boehner saying things that fly in the face of the facts or stand at odds with his past actions.
Americans across the country are suffering because Speaker Boehner refuses to come to grips with reality. Today, Speaker Boehner should stop the games and let the House vote on the Senate's clean CR so that the entire federal government can re-open within twenty-four hours.
~ Adam Jentleson, Spokesperson for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid
If Boehner let a clean funding bill hit the House floor, “it would probably get 300 votes,” New York Representative Peter King, a Republican who has been critical of the party’s shutdown strategy, told TIME last week. “Two thirds of Republicans privately want a clean [bill to fund the government].”
~ Time
Boehner refuses to call that vote, because he knows he would lose. The bill would pass, the hostage-taking by his Tea Party faction would be over, and the Tea Party extremists would hold him responsible.
Boehner's refusal to call a vote on the floor of the House is all that is keeping the government closed. It is also the only thing that threatens the first default by the U.S. government in American history -- an act that could have a catastrophic effect on the financial system and the world economy.
In the end, the question is whether John Boehner is more concerned about being terrorized by a Tea Party minority or having a legacy as the one man who single handedly caused a world wide economic disaster. If he cares about this country, his choice should be obvious.
~ Robert Cramer on Huffington Post
Many people seem perplexed by the transformation of the G.O.P. into the political equivalent of the Keystone Kops — the Boehner Bunglers? Republican elders, many of whom have been in denial about their party’s radicalization, seem especially startled. But all of this was predictable.
It has been obvious for years that the modern Republican Party is no longer capable of thinking seriously about policy. Whether the issue is climate change or inflation, party members believe what they want to believe, and any contrary evidence is dismissed as a hoax, the product of vast liberal conspiracies.
. . . even the shock of electoral defeat wasn’t enough to burst the G.O.P. bubble; it’s still a party dominated by wishful thinking, and all but impervious to inconvenient facts. And now that party’s leaders have bungled themselves into a corner.
~ Paul Krugman in NYT
Can I burn down your house? No Just the 2nd floor? No Garage? No Let's talk about what I can burn down. No YOU AREN'T COMPROMISING!
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) October 2, 2013
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Current House R offer to Obama: we'll reopen govt, avoid default if you enter talks we ourselves have been unwilling to enter until now. 1/3
The day after Labor Day, just as campaign season was entering its final frenzy, FreedomWorks, the Washington-based tea party organization, went into free fall.
Richard K. Armey, the group’s chairman and a former House majority leader, walked into the group’s Capitol Hill offices with his wife, Susan, and an aide holstering a handgun at his waist. The aim was to seize control of the group and expel Armey’s enemies: The gun-wielding assistant escorted FreedomWorks’ top two employees off the premises, while Armey suspended several others who broke down in sobs at the news.
. . . “This was two weeks after there had been a shooting at the Family Research Council,” said one junior staff member who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. “So when a man with a gun who didn’t identify himself to me or other people on staff, and a woman I’d never seen before said there was an announcement, my first gut was, ‘Is FreedomWorks in danger?’ It was bizarre.’ ”
On December 12, James Burnley IV and C. Boyden Gray, two FreedomWorks board members (and allies of Armey), sent Kibbe a letter informing him that they had received "allegations of wrongdoing by the organization or its employees."
. . . Shortly after receiving the December 12 letter, Kibbe wrote a memo outlining his beef with Armey, Burnley, and Gray....
. . . (From Kibbe's Memo:) Our favorite "Armey's Axiom" goes something like this: "Every argument in Washington, like in a marriage, is really about something else." So it goes with the attempted hostile takeover of FreedomWorks by three Republican insiders from the old guard. Is it about a book contract, or a pilfered appearance on CNBC? No, it is not. As it turns out, the fight for lower taxes, less government and more freedom is all well and good until it is Republicans—"old friends"— that are the ones needing to be held to account. It is our sense that the irresponsible acts of the so-called Trustees of FreedomWorks—Dick Armey, C. Boyden Gray, and James C. Burnley—on September 4th, and their continued hostile acts today, are all about retribution for our willingness to take a strictly nonpartisan approach to politics, our willingness to hold both Republicans and Democrats to the standards set out by our freedom philosophy and the clear limits on government power delineated in our U.S. Constitution.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dick Armey agreed to quit FreedomWorks back in September in exchange for $8 million.
Holy grassroots, Batman. It was worth $8 million to FreedomWorks to make Dick Armey go away.
For Mr. Armey`s part, he says that really his departure from FreedomWorks is just a matter of principle. That was the quote from him.
"My differences with FreedomWorks are a matter of principle." Which means on the $8 million check that you write to me, please put principle in the memo line, because that`s why I`m leaving -- principle.
The right seems to be imploding since the election, which we expected. It turns out though that the unexpected thing is that the implosion is going to happen very, very slowly, day by day by day, with new acrimonious details dripping out in every news cycle.
~ Transcript of Rachel Maddow Show, December 4, 2012
The republicans and the Tea Party are like a bowl of guppies, all swimming around, eating each other AND their young.
I love it. For so long they attacked teachers, fire fighters, police, unions, the American worker, education, and science. Now they get to eat each other, and maybe it will give them indigestion.
~ comment by Clemans on Mother Jones
So let me get this straight. If this had been a Joe Nobody, he would have been sent to prison. Yet, because this guy is wealthy and connected, it's viewed as "just" a bizarre act by an eccentric old man? And he extorted a half mil a year for the next 20 years?
~ comment by Christopher O. on Gawker
If you put this in script form and took it to Hollywood, they would throw you out of their offices for come up with something totally unbelievable. Unfortunately, nowadays, in order for something about the GOP in Washington to be believed, it must be unbelievable.
~ comment by Its the Supreme Court Stupid on Daily Kos
Ah, the Banana Republic of FreedomWorks.
It's how they want to run everything, isn't it?
Bizarre, truly bizarre.
~ comment by Onomastic on Daily Kos
Something we can all agree on, no one wants the right to Bare Armey
— Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) December 26, 2012
"Freedomworks is just another word for nothing left to lose."
— Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) December 26, 2012
RT @ak2sandiego: @salon He named it wrong. Instead of the Teaparty it should have been the Dick Armey.
— Barracks O'Bama (@P0TUS) December 26, 2012
My name is Dick Armey, and I'll kill any man I deem I insufficiently outraged by Obama's tyranny! Or, I'll accept cash. That works too.
— David Waldman (@KagroX) December 26, 2012
I LIKE Dick Armey's version of "Right to Work."
— David Waldman (@KagroX) December 26, 2012
When Dick Armey decides to clean up a PAC, he brings an armed henchman with him: is.gd/dEjMYD (h/t @joshtpm)
— Ron Hogan (@RonHogan) December 26, 2012
There is something sacrilegious about a Dick Armey story on Christmas, I just can't place it...
— Sean Collins (@SeanPCollins) December 26, 2012
It's the media's fault Dick Armey walked into FreedomWorks with a gun and came out with $8 million.
— Sean Collins (@SeanPCollins) December 26, 2012
Like Woody said, "Some men rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen." And then there's those, like Dick Armey, who do both.
— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) December 26, 2012
Armey tells Mother Jones that this episode has been hyped up by his FreedomWorks foes, and he says the not-so-mysterious gun-touting assistant was a former Capitol Hill police officer named Beau Singleton, who used to be part of Armey's congressional security detail and who has volunteered his security services to Armey and FreedomWorks for years.
"He was well-known to the people at FreedomWorks," Armey says. "He has provided me personal security on many occasions when I was in Washington." Singleton also oversaw security for FreedomWorks in September 2009 when it organized a large rally in Washington. Singleton, Armey says, is authorized to carry a gun, but he does so in a back holster that cannot be seen by an onlooker. "I was unaware he had a gun [at the meeting]," Armey maintains. "He kept it under his coat in the back....But the news looks like Armey came in there like John Dillinger, all guns a-blazing. That was false."
Armey says that his wife, Susan, and his assistant, Jean Campbell, were concerned about a FreedomWorks official losing his temper at this meeting and suggested that Singleton join Armey and the two of them on this trip to the group's office. But he insists there was nothing odd with him showing up at FreedomWorks with Singleton by his side.
Singleton, 56, confirms Armey's account. He says that he has known Kibbe and Brandon for years and that he had often "been around" at FreedomWorks. He adds that during the meeting between Armey and Kibbe, he "just observed. I was just kind of there....I can't see why they would act like I was menacing."
David Corn of Mother Jones: It's become very bitter. . . . That story obviously came out because people favorable to Kibbe wanted it out and wanted to make Dick Armey look like a complete madman.
But the Post didn't report who the gunman was. Just an hour ago before coming on the show I spoke to Dick Armey and I spoke to the guy with the gun! He's a former Capitol Hill police officer who Dick Armey has used time and time again as a private security guy when he's in Washington. The guy volunteers his services. Chris Matthews: Why did he need him in that moment? Corn: What happened was, they knew it was going to be a contentious meeting. Matthews: So bring a guy with a gun? Corn: His wife and his assistant said 'bring Beau along just in case the FreedomeWorks guys go ballistic. And the thing is - Beau Singleton, that's the name of the guy-- Matthews: What was he going to do with the gun?! Corn: He's done private security at FreedomWorks to begin with. So they knew him. It wasn't like they didn't know who he was. To me a big mystery is why the Washington Post didn't just say who this guy was? They made it sound like a guy in a hoodie brought in off the street. It was a guy who did security at FreedomWorks and he was brought in and it wasn't as menacing as it sounds. But this indicates how bad the blood is between these two sides and there is now people allied with Dick Armey . . .
Joan Walsh: It's the right versus the far right - they're all a bunch of grifters. I love you (Matthews) and David (Corn) to death, but you're both being way too nice to Dick Armey. Matthews: You're calling Dick Armey a 'grifter'? Joan Walsh: Yes, I am. Matthews: Meaning he's stealing money? Walsh: He walked with - grifting isn't stealing, necessarily. He walked away with 8 million dollars and he's mad at Matt Kibbe because he (Kibbe) got 50 thousand dollars?
. . . and David, for you to say it's not a big deal because they walked in with a guy with a gun and say they supposedly knew the guy. I mean, they're all crazy! A pox on all of their houses!
What's going on you guys? . . . (the guy with the gun) scared some people, and I once sat here while Dick Armey said he was glad he wouldn't have to be married to me. He's a grifter. He's not an attractive or decent guy. . . . I don't have a dog in the fight but I came on TV to talk about politics and I was insulted. I think he's a jerk. I think his wife came with him and she's a big jerk. And I say a pox on all their houses. I'm glad they're shooting at each other and not at the rest of America.
