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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Wed May 24, 2017, 05:24 PM May 2017

This Is Huge, Astonishing - Josh Marshall

By JOSH MARSHALL Published MAY 24, 2017 5:08 PM

It’s so far in the weeds and doesn’t directly implicate or exonerate Trump. So I suspect it may somehow not get the attention it deserves. But the new report from the Post that James Comey’s decision to announce the Clinton “no charges” decision on his own in July 2016 may itself have been the product of a successful Russian disinformation campaign is simply remarkable.

For almost a year we’ve understood that the main reason James Comey chose to announce his recommendation not to bring charges against Hillary Clinton on his own was tied in significant part to that tarmac meeting between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton. Early this month we learned that in a Russian hacked email cache the FBI had also found a letter that, while ambiguous, seemed to suggest that Lynch had agreed to go easy on Clinton. That too figured into Comey’s decision. And the impact of the tarmac meeting may only have been so great because of the earlier email.

At least as I recall this new detail, the email was ambiguous but enough to make the FBI worry that if it subsequently came out in a Wikileaks email dump it could bring Lynch’s independence into question.

Now this new story tells a very different story. The email appears to be much more specific, suggesting that Lynch had given her assurance that she wouldn’t let the probe go too far. But that’s not the big news: it now appears to be the consensus opinion in the FBI and intelligence community that the email is in fact fraudulent, presumably a fake document woven into a trove of genuine documents with the aim of having it be found by the FBI and trigger something just like what in fact happened. Notably, the apparently fraudulent email never appeared in any of the document dumps during the course of the election. It only seems to have dropped directly into the FBI’s hands.

There is a lot here that is unclear, a lot left to supposition. But fraudulent documents get woven into caches of genuine documents for specific reasons, sometimes merely to sow confusion, more often to trigger specific actions. Remember, the Niger Uranium forgeries which played such a notorious role in the lead up to the Iraq War and controversies lasting long after it were in fact forgeries included in a batch of genuine documents. Some dissenting sources suggest that the phony email didn’t play much role in Comey’s decision. It only got pulled in as an ex-post facto explanation once Comey’s decision-making came into question. (Even if true, that in itself would be a highly disturbing development.) Regardless, the idea that the FBI and James Comey himself could have been punked by such an operation and taken such consequential actions on the basis of it is simply astonishing.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/this-is-huge-astonishing

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This Is Huge, Astonishing - Josh Marshall (Original Post) DonViejo May 2017 OP
I seriously doubt Comey is gonna testify at any House or Senate hearing. underthematrix May 2017 #1
Comey should have done his job... yallerdawg May 2017 #2
Obama should have fired him. dalton99a May 2017 #5
Agreed, this rationale is a pretty big stretch Cosmocat May 2017 #9
Right up to his sworn testimony regarding Huma's handling of emails... yallerdawg May 2017 #10
Link to orig WAPO story here: emulatorloo May 2017 #3
Being discussed on CNN now. The Velveteen Ocelot May 2017 #4
I'm going to go with the fact that HRC was being truthful, as she always has been. ffr May 2017 #6
Well said. Agree iluvtennis May 2017 #15
those motherfuckers. There is NOTHING they didn't do. abso-fucking-lutely nothing. nt LaydeeBug May 2017 #7
And there will be more revelations for sure. BSdetect May 2017 #11
The Russian hackers put those emails on TheDebbieDee May 2017 #8
We'll find FBI New York and Giuliani are complicit american_ideals May 2017 #23
I can see how the GOP is going to use this in #RussiaGate justiceischeap May 2017 #12
No way. This is #SpyWar evidence american_ideals May 2017 #21
NO ONE in the FBI has said that email had anything to do w/Comey's press conference. Honeycombe8 May 2017 #13
The email caused Comey to hold a press conf. Otherwise Lynch would have done it. sharedvalues May 2017 #16
It's too early to reach any conclusions. TomSlick May 2017 #18
Without being able to prove that the document was a fake Mme. Defarge May 2017 #14
Says Comey now trusts Lynch american_ideals May 2017 #20
Huge, astonishing, and about 10% of what is alleged by John Schindler sharedvalues May 2017 #17
Yes. Seems like lots left to come out. american_ideals May 2017 #19
K&R... spanone May 2017 #22

Cosmocat

(14,558 posts)
9. Agreed, this rationale is a pretty big stretch
Wed May 24, 2017, 06:22 PM
May 2017

It wasn't Comey's concern how any kind of wiki leaks e-mail would be spun or perceived.

And, it still does not explain his going out like he did a year ago and editorialize like he did over a big nothing burger investigation.

I just don't get how hard it is for people to understand. He might have some actual integrity that has been sucked out of existing republicans, but he was still a republican and he cut his teeth as a special prosecutor for the white water witch hunts ... Dude had that insane right wing Clinton derangement that left him completely irrational over her.

yallerdawg

(16,104 posts)
10. Right up to his sworn testimony regarding Huma's handling of emails...
Wed May 24, 2017, 06:32 PM
May 2017

that had to be corrected by the FBI the day he was fired!

And he still wouldn't say anything about Trump or anyone else related to Trump.

ffr

(22,665 posts)
6. I'm going to go with the fact that HRC was being truthful, as she always has been.
Wed May 24, 2017, 05:45 PM
May 2017

FUCK THE FUCKING HELL! We're stuck in this parallel nightmare of a dream world because enough people want to believe she's something she is not.

Here we have the pOTUS divulging where our nuclear subs are, sharing international secrets with adversaries, and HRC got drilled into the ground by Fox and Friends (and anyone stupid enough to listen to them) all because she MIGHT have had government secrets on her private E-mail server, like what Colin Powell used when he was SoS.

Oh but now I get it. Not only are the Clintons on the enemy list of the KGOP, they're also on the enemy list of the Kremlin..."Clinton are both regarded as political enemies of the Kremlin.

“The idea that Russians would tell a story in which the Clinton campaign, Soros and even an Obama administration official are connected — that Russians might tell such a story, that is not at all surprising,” said Matt Rojansky, a Russia expert and director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center. “Because that is part of the Kremlin worldview.” - WaPo

BSdetect

(8,994 posts)
11. And there will be more revelations for sure.
Wed May 24, 2017, 06:56 PM
May 2017

How easy to dupe our IC people.

Now why can't we get rid of Putin so easily?

american_ideals

(613 posts)
23. We'll find FBI New York and Giuliani are complicit
Thu May 25, 2017, 09:35 AM
May 2017

FBI NY Field office was leaking to Giuliani. That's enough to say the FBI put their finger on the scales.


And if you read Marshall's articles over last year, he thinks Trump and his employee Sater are deeply involved with Russian mob money, and that the NY Field office is somehow complicit - perhaps a Whitey Bulger setup where FBI NY FO overlooked Trump's crimes.


So there's lots to investigate about Giuliani, NY Field office, and Russian mob in NYC. Let's see what comes out.

justiceischeap

(14,040 posts)
12. I can see how the GOP is going to use this in #RussiaGate
Wed May 24, 2017, 06:59 PM
May 2017

already. They'll call into question all FBI intelligence and say "How can we possibly trust the FBI on this matter when they got Clinton so wrong?"

This will also give them room to reopen the email matter.

It's a fishy leak.

american_ideals

(613 posts)
21. No way. This is #SpyWar evidence
Thu May 25, 2017, 09:26 AM
May 2017

People in the IC have been saying Russia is running an intelligence war on the US. It just hasn't been widely known. Now it's coming to light.


See Marshall's interview of the Yale historian on the Marshall podcast a few weeks ago. The Yale guy said Russia is weak and poor, except they have a very powerful and skilled intelligence service. And they are using that secret service to damage their rivals in the West and NATO. And have been doing so since they recruited Snowden to damage the NSA.

Honeycombe8

(37,648 posts)
13. NO ONE in the FBI has said that email had anything to do w/Comey's press conference.
Wed May 24, 2017, 07:13 PM
May 2017

Not to mention that Comey has not said it did.

I don't see the connection, myself. That email would be a reason for Comey to recommend prosecution, NOT recommend complete exoneration, or to do a press conf. about it.

I'm going to wait & see what the FBI says about that.

sharedvalues

(6,916 posts)
16. The email caused Comey to hold a press conf. Otherwise Lynch would have done it.
Wed May 24, 2017, 09:48 PM
May 2017

Comey's press conf altered the election, because it forced him to issue another statement in Oct.

If Comey never held the press conf, HRC is probably still in office.

So yes. The email matters. A lot.

Edit: p.s. hi, and hope you don't mind I quoted you in the "Quit now" thread just recently.

TomSlick

(11,088 posts)
18. It's too early to reach any conclusions.
Wed May 24, 2017, 10:12 PM
May 2017

Comey is a self-righteous rascal but he's no idiot. The fake intelligence was pretty obviously fake. I'll wait a couple of days to reach any conclusions.

Mme. Defarge

(8,012 posts)
14. Without being able to prove that the document was a fake
Wed May 24, 2017, 07:42 PM
May 2017

I think it is a stretch to assume Comey was "punked". If he wasn't sure one way or another, I think his peremptory action in July probably prevented more damage happening to HRC than had Justice made the announcement that there was no case against her, after which might follow an accusation of collusion between Justice and the Clinton campaign.

american_ideals

(613 posts)
20. Says Comey now trusts Lynch
Thu May 25, 2017, 09:22 AM
May 2017

They have the info they need.

They talked to the parties that were allegedly recorded. And the parties don't know each other.
If the FBI didn't believe their statements, the FBI could look at their emails. But they didn't ask for the emails.

So Comey knows the doc is a fake and he got punked.


sharedvalues

(6,916 posts)
17. Huge, astonishing, and about 10% of what is alleged by John Schindler
Wed May 24, 2017, 09:52 PM
May 2017

Schindler alleges FAR more intervention by the Russians than what Josh M is calling "Huge. Astonishing".
Start here:

https://20committee.com/

Schindler's ex-NSA and believes there is Cold War 2.0 going on right now, and Putin started it by intelligence operations -- intervening in our elections, using propaganda (RT, Sputnik, online), and by recruiting Snowden to hurt the US intelligence community.

american_ideals

(613 posts)
19. Yes. Seems like lots left to come out.
Thu May 25, 2017, 09:20 AM
May 2017

Glad Marshall is coming around. He's heard the rumbling but he's been unwilling to say much, waiting for info to come out.

I agree with him that this is a huge story.
I think he's right that this is the tip of the iceberg - that we will learn much more about Russia's spy/propaganda attack on us. We will see.

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