Key Republican to ask FBI about report of Trump counterintelligence probe

[webfact]

Key Republican to ask FBI about report of Trump counterintelligence probe

By Sarah N. Lynch

 

FILE PHOTO: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) waits for U.S. President Donald Trump to enter the room to speak about the "First Step Act" in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, U.S. November 14, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican head of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee said on Sunday he plans to ask the FBI about a report it launched a probe into whether President Donald Trump had been working on Russia's behalf, suggesting the agency may have gone too far.

 

"I am going to ask the FBI director - was there a counterintelligence investigation opened up regarding the president as being a potential agent of the Russians? I find it astonishing," Senator Lindsey Graham said on the "Fox News Sunday" program.

 

"If this really did happen, Congress needs to know about it," he added. "How could the FBI do that? What kinds of checks and balances are there?"

 

The New York Times reported on Friday that the FBI opened the counterintelligence investigation in 2017 after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey, out of concern the president's actions may have presented a threat to national security.

 

Comey at the time was leading an investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies have said Moscow tried to tip the election to Trump. Russia has denied interfering, and Trump has said repeatedly there was no collusion between his campaign and Moscow.

 

The Times reported the counterintelligence probe was sparked in part by growing alarm about Trump's behavior, including comments he made suggesting he fired Comey over the Russia investigation, which is now being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

 

Trump rejected the Times story on Saturday, telling Fox News it was "the most insulting article I've ever had written."

 

The FBI declined a request for comment. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who previously served as Trump's CIA director, blasted the Times story, when asked about it on the CBS "Face the Nation" show.

 

"The notion that President Trump is a threat to American national security is absolutely ludicrous."

 

Democratic lawmakers said on Sunday the report underscored the need for legislation to protect the Mueller probe.

 

"I do think it's curious that throughout that whole summer when these investigations started, you had (Russian President) Vladimir Putin's policies almost being parroted by Donald Trump," Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said on CNN's "State of the Union" program.

 

'SERIOUS QUESTIONS'

Democrats also expressed concern about a report in the Washington Post on Saturday on alleged efforts by Trump to conceal details about his conversations with Putin. The paper reported that Trump took notes from his interpreter and instructed the person not to discuss the details of his conversations with others.

 

Reuters could not independently verify details of the Post report.

 

"When he takes the interpreter's notes and wants to destroy them so no one can see what was said ... it raises serious questions about the relationship between this president and Putin," the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, said on ABC's "This Week."

 

In his appearance on Fox News on Saturday, Trump denied that he was keeping anything under wraps on his meetings with Putin.

 

Senator Chris Coons, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, said he planned to press Trump's nominee for attorney general, William Barr, for a pledge to let Mueller complete his work.

 

Barr is scheduled to testify before the committee on Tuesday and Wednesday. If he is confirmed as attorney general, he would oversee the Russia probe.

 

"I would need a firm commitment that he will not allow any interference in the Mueller investigation," Coons said on "Fox News Sunday." He also said Barr must allow Mueller to release a copy of his final report to the public.

 

Barr, who served as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush, sent an unsolicited memo to the Justice Department in June raising concerns about Mueller's investigation, and arguing that it was inappropriate for Mueller to look into whether Trump may have sought to undermine the probe.

 

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Tim Ahmann; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-14

[Boon Mee]

The Deep State has certainly gone to extreme lengths to 'get' Trump. 

All with nothing to show for their time and effort. 

Just another "Nothingburger" 

[Proboscis]

Forget about Trump for the moment. Just imagine any situation where a senior official in the administration appears to favour Russia, such as taking Russia's side against the advice of the various agencies (CIA, NSA etc) who are tasked with protecting the interests of the USA, having meetings with Putin with no officials present and where the translator was forced not to divulge the content of the meeting and had to hand over the notes (normally such meetings, even if classified, would be recorded for posterity).

 

Imagine now some time into the future that it turned out that the official in question had been working for the Russians. And when asked why they had not looked into it, imagine the FBI had said, "But he was the President" or "He was the Attorney General" or "He was the [place name of senior official here]." 

 

The beauty of the USA's system is that there is no royalty, no special person who is above the law. No matter how rich you are nor how high the office you hold, you can still be investigated by the FBI if there are grounds for suspicion.

 

And remember, the investigation were are talking about here is a national security investigation - with such investigations, often there is nothing at the end. It started with a suspicion but nothing was found. But it still has to be chased down, otherwise the FBI is not doing its job.

 

An example, in Scotland a former First Minister has been accused of sexual harassment. The current First Minister had several conversations with the former First Minister after the accusations were made. The case has since collapsed but, to ensure that everything was seen to be done properly, legally and ethically, the current First Minister has referred herself to the Review Board for investigation. This would be like Donald Trump referring himself to the FBI or the Mueller investigation to ensure that it can be shown that everything has been done properly.

[FritsSikkink]

7 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

The Deep State has certainly gone to extreme lengths to 'get' Trump. 

All with nothing to show for their time and effort. 

Just another "Nothingburger" 

Troll

[Proboscis]

3 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

The Deep State has certainly gone to extreme lengths to 'get' Trump. 

All with nothing to show for their time and effort. 

Just another "Nothingburger" 

Ha Ha Ha. The deep state - is that your level of sleep you are referring to.

 

Nothing to show? Well, they made a profit - based on the fines, recovered taxes and other monies collected from the criminals indicted so far, they have almost doubled the money needed to pay for the investigation.

 

Your fantasy about a deep state is a little counter-intuitive. If the fantasy has anything to do with reality, why is there only a "nothingburger?" I mean, the deep state is so powerful, according to your fantasy, isn't it? Why hasn't Trump not been killed in some scenario dressed up to be a golfing accident but is in fact the deep state finishing him off? A bit of a whimpy deep state, wouldn't you say?

 

Instead you have a relatively small office of investigators and support staff who have never leaked a single piece of information (a real first in Washington DC) but who have brought charges against 33 individuals and have contributed to at least several other investigations - and that is all we know so far. And it has not cost the American tax payer a penny.

 

I am really looking forward to that full report when it comes out.

[keemapoot]

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, Trump has been formally warned by House Chairmen against interfering with Congressional oversight in the Cohen case. Cohen was the President's closest person lawyer & fixer who was recently sentenced to 3 years in prison for what a judge called "a veritable smorgasbord of criminal conduct."

 

Quote

In a Fox News interview on Saturday night, Mr. Trump accused the former lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, of lying about him to win leniency from federal prosecutors and spoke cryptically of the existence of damaging information against Mr. Cohen’s father-in-law. Mr. Cohen, who has been sentenced to three years in prison, has accused Mr. Trump of directing him to make illegal hush payments during the campaign.

So, here is the democratic leader of the free world issuing mafia-type cryptic threats against those who would expose his wrongdoing.

 

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/13/us/politics/trump-cohen-testimony.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/democrats-warn-trump-not-discourage-or-intimidate-michael-cohen-testifying-n958171

[farcanell]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

"How could the FBI do that? What kinds of checks and balances are there?"

Lmao..... two years of republican majority congress and senate have skewered the concept of checks and balances, to put it politely.... but.... we are starting to see them now.

 

once the republican senate has looked into it, the congress and get their nose into it as well.... this should make for some entertaining tweets

[attrayant]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Trump rejected the Times story on Saturday, telling Fox News it was "the most insulting article I've ever had written."

 

But never once denying it.  Then he gathered all his notes from his private meetings with Russian officials and Putin, and the notes from the translator, and put them into the nearest shredder.  Just like any totally innocent person would do.

[Chomper Higgot]

22 minutes ago, farcanell said:

Lmao..... two years of republican majority congress and senate have skewered the concept of checks and balances, to put it politely.... but.... we are starting to see them now.

 

once the republican senate has looked into it, the congress and get their nose into it as well.... this should make for some entertaining tweets

You beat me to it. 

 

[Tug]

donald is the most guilty looking guy in history lol Appears to be doing a great job for the Russian federation not so good for the USA or our allies with the dems in control of the house we will now get a real look at this guy

[TPI]

 

"Forget about Trump for the moment. Just imagine any situation where a senior official in the administration appears to favour Russia, such as taking Russia's side against the advice of the various agencies (CIA, NSA etc) who are tasked with protecting the interests of the USA, having meetings with Putin with no officials present and where the translator was forced not to divulge the content of the meeting and had to hand over the notes (normally such meetings, even if classified, would be recorded for posterity)."

 

Ok, let's look at HRC, when she was Sec. State she had many meetings with donors to the "Foundation", where are the notes for posterity? Where are the notes for the Uranium deal? where are the notes for the meetings with the DNC while she was a government official? 

 

All I see is a picture of Trump with a baby in his mouth, dripping blood, whenever a "democrat" makes a comment about Trump!

 

[thaichiro]

Trump futures are down... stay tuned. The only fly in the ointment is that next in line is Trump’s butler, Mike Pence.

[Becker]

30 minutes ago, TPI said:

 

"Forget about Trump for the moment. Just imagine any situation where a senior official in the administration appears to favour Russia, such as taking Russia's side against the advice of the various agencies (CIA, NSA etc) who are tasked with protecting the interests of the USA, having meetings with Putin with no officials present and where the translator was forced not to divulge the content of the meeting and had to hand over the notes (normally such meetings, even if classified, would be recorded for posterity)."

 

Ok, let's look at HRC, when she was Sec. State she had many meetings with donors to the "Foundation", where are the notes for posterity? Where are the notes for the Uranium deal? where are the notes for the meetings with the DNC while she was a government official? 

 

All I see is a picture of Trump with a baby in his mouth, dripping blood, whenever a "democrat" makes a comment about Trump!

 

But, but, but.....Hillary! How utterly lame

[riclag]

8 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

The Deep State has certainly gone to extreme lengths to 'get' Trump. 

All with nothing to show for their time and effort. 

Just another "Nothingburger" 

Mr. Barr's 20 page memo to the DOJ suggesting Mueller must have evidence of  a crime and not a debatable one surely raises the bar for actual proof .

  The report  first goes to Mr. Barr,hopefully Mr. Barr and the  department within the DOJ "Office of Legal Counsel,OLC, the same one that concluded that Mr. Whitaker is qualified to act as a temporary AG will scrutinize the report for any   inconsistencies,and irregularities pertaining to all the statues that he so carefully stated !

Most importantly when the  Constitutional act of Executive Privilege arises, that it will be adhered to what the framers expressly states in the Constitution, "Executive privilege gives the president the ability to withhold information from the public, Congress, and the courts in national security and diplomatic affairs" despite what the WP says about ridiculous claims of concealment of putin notes !

 

 Mr. Barr said."It is time to travel down well worn paths,not to veer into novel,unsettled or contested areas of the law and not to indulge in the fancies of over zealous prosecutors"

 https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5638883/June-2018-Barr-Memo-to-DOJ-Mueller-s-Obstruction.pdf

 

[bristolboy]

"Most importantly when the  Constitutional act of Executive Privilege arises, that it will be adhered to what the framers expressly states in the Constitution, "Executive privilege gives the president the ability to withhold information from the public, Congress, and the courts in national security and diplomatic affairs" despite what the WP says about ridiculous claims of concealment of putin notes !"

Finally we find out where Trumps gets his ridiculous ideas about the Constitution. Clearly, you are Trump's Constitutional advisor. 

 

[Trouble]

I think this is another story without much to back it up.  The press is having a field day with Trump.  It is obvious to everyone that the press no longer does investigative reporting and is mostly an arm of the Democratic Party.  Whenever there is a mix of news reports, the cable news pundits all use the exact same wording and catch phrases as the Democrats in Congress.  They are all on the same page.  It would be nice if just for a while the press and the Dems pulled back some and let Mueller finish his investigation, then if there is something further for the various Congressional committees to do they can do it. Right now it is just a feeding frenzy to see who can bash Trump the most.  I personally don't believe in any collusion with the Russians, if there were, Trump would be backing away on some of the sanctions in place. Seems he has only tried to isolate Putin more.  So all this conspiracy stuff is just news fodder as far as I am concerned. 

[Tug]

The FBI would be derelict in there duty if they dident look really really close at Donald I for one would love to know what they have found out 

[neeray]

12 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

The Deep State has certainly gone to extreme lengths to 'get' Trump. 

All with nothing to show for their time and effort. 

Just another "Nothingburger" 

Give it time Boon Mee, it will all come out in the wash. Trumps ass will be grass. Soon, real soon. 

[Scott]

Conspiracy post and reply removed.  

[Chomper Higgot]

7 hours ago, Tug said:

The FBI would be derelict in there duty if they dident look really really close at Donald I for one would love to know what they have found out 

You are about to find out.

[bendejo]

13 hours ago, TPI said:

"Forget about Trump for the moment. Just imagine any situation where a senior official in the administration appears to favour Russia, [...]

Kellyanne-ing is so 2017!

But what about the earthworm farmers in Arkansas?  Why is no one talking about them?

 

 

[pedro01]

7 hours ago, Tug said:

The FBI would be derelict in there duty if they dident look really really close at Donald I for one would love to know what they have found out 

 

I believe the steps should be

 

1 - A crime occurs

2 - The FBI find the perpretrator

 

What seems to be happening with the FBI in this case. 

 

1 - No crime occured

2 - You fired our boss

3 - We are going to try and get you

 

This is nonsense. Anyone that thinks Trump is a Russian agent is delusional. Come on people - he may be a lot of things - but working for Russia? 

[Opl]

14 hours ago, TPI said:

 

"Forget about Trump for the moment. Just imagine any situation where a senior official in the administration appears to favour Russia, such as taking Russia's side against the advice of the various agencies (CIA, NSA etc) who are tasked with protecting the interests of the USA, having meetings with Putin with no officials present and where the translator was forced not to divulge the content of the meeting and had to hand over the notes (normally such meetings, even if classified, would be recorded for posterity)."

 

Ok, let's look at HRC, when she was Sec. State she had many meetings with donors to the "Foundation", where are the notes for posterity? Where are the notes for the Uranium deal? where are the notes for the meetings with the DNC while she was a government official? 

 

All I see is a picture of Trump with a baby in his mouth, dripping blood, whenever a "democrat" makes a comment about Trump!

 

The very same Trump who said Obama was'nt born ""American" now has to repeat he is not a "Russian" agent.. do you see the picture?

[riclag]

36 minutes ago, Opl said:

The very same Trump who said Obama was'nt born ""American" now has to repeat he is not a "Russian" spy.. do you see the picture?

Nonsense! Presidents talk in private to other diplomats and leaders of countries all the time ! The office of the POTUS is constitutionally in his rights to speak privately , confidentially and secretly, if they choose so! Maybe people from other countries aren't aware of America's laws especially on  "Executive Privilege"

[simple1]

11 hours ago, Trouble said:

I personally don't believe in any collusion with the Russians, if there were, Trump would be backing away on some of the sanctions in place

Ooops - 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/us/politics/senate-sanctions-oleg-deripaska-russia.html

[riclag]

2 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Ooops - 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/us/politics/senate-sanctions-oleg-deripaska-russia.html

"Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, laid the groundwork to block the lifting of the sanctions on Friday, filing a congressional resolution disapproving of the move by the Treasury Department".

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/us/politics/senate-sanctions-oleg-deripaska-russia.html

[simple1]

7 minutes ago, riclag said:

Nonsense! Presidents talk in private to other diplomats and leaders of countries all the time ! The office of the POTUS is constitutionally in his rights to speak privately and confidentially and secretly if they choose so! Maybe people from other countries aren't aware of America's laws especially on  "Executive Privilege"

It is protocol that conversations are documented and if needs be classified, but available to appropriate members of government. trump has broken with protocol which is why this furour has erupted and potentially his interpreter/s called to testify.

[simple1]

4 minutes ago, riclag said:

"Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, laid the groundwork to block the lifting of the sanctions on Friday, filing a congressional resolution disapproving of the move by the Treasury Department".

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/us/politics/senate-sanctions-oleg-deripaska-russia.html

Correct - blocking the lifting of sanctions proposed by the trump administration - thanks...

[riclag]

12 minutes ago, simple1 said:

It is protocol that conversations are documented and if needs be classified, but available to appropriate members of government. trump has broken with protocol which is why this furour has erupted and potentially his interpreter/s called to testify.

Not private conversations

[simple1]

11 minutes ago, riclag said:

Not private conversations

The OP Leader to leader dialogue was not a 'private conversation'.