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originally posted by: Grambler
originally posted by: soberbacchus
originally posted by: [post=23419698]Grambler
If thats the case, we have the government using tax dollars to spy on a presidential campaign (heck we know they already tried to pay steele to dig up oppo research on trump)
I certainly hope so.
One of the FBI's principle duties and missions is ferreting out bribery and corruption of Public Servants by foreign governments.
Only trumps team though, right?
By all accounts, launching a counterintelligence investigation to ensure that campaign officials aren’t vulnerable to foreign influence and blackmail is standard operating procedure at the FBI, not a scandal. There is no indication that Halper went beyond this mandate, nor is there any sign that anyone at the FBI actually took steps to damage Trump’s campaign in the public eye by attempting to reveal the ongoing investigation to the public.
In an op-ed, former FBI agent Asha Rangappa writes that “relying on a covert source rather than a more intrusive method of gathering information suggests that the FBI may have been acting cautiously — perhaps too cautiously — to protect the campaign, not undermine it.”
In summer 2016, as the FBI grew increasingly concerned about possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, it launched a top-secret investigation named “Crossfire Hurricane.” Only a handful of FBI agents knew the particulars of the inquiry, in stark contrast to the more wide-ranging investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. The informant was one part of the early, stutter-stop efforts to investigate possible collusion. Crossfire Hurricane was eventually folded in to Mueller’s ongoing investigation.
originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: Grambler
This is asinine and has the potnetial to destroy our country by having the intel community become a weapon for the sitting admin against his oppionents.
Keep in mind, Nixon was brought down for trying to send a couple of people to look at documents from his opponent.
Even though, as I keep pointing out, you can't point to any actual evidence of a conspiracy, directed by Obama, to spy on the Trump campaign for political advantage.
originally posted by: soberbacchus
originally posted by: UKTruth
Let's also remember that the person who reported the drunken conversation with Papadopoulos is the same person who arranged a $25m donation to the Clinton Foundation. Quite obviously a contact of the Clinton's if he is brokering a donation that large.
So are you saying that Papadopoulos didn't tell an Australian Diplomat that the Russians had material damaging to Hillary Clinton that they were planning to leak to aid the Trump Campaign?
originally posted by: soberbacchus
a reply to: UKTruth
You didn't answer my question.
President Trump's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, recommended appointing Stefan Halper, an academic and suspected FBI informant on the Trump campaign, to a senior role in the Trump administration, Axios has learned.
Behind the scenes: During the presidential transition Navarro recommended Halper, among other people, for ambassador roles in Asia. A White House official said Halper visited the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last August for a meeting about China.
Context: During the transition everyone involved in Trump’s presidential campaign were asked to submit resumes for administration positions. Halper, who already knew Navarro in the context of being a China scholar and interviewing for his anti-China book and film, pitched himself for an ambassadorship in Asia, according to a source briefed on their interactions.
Navarro says he submitted Halper’s name for the Asian ambassadorship — we have not been able to confirm the country — along with around a dozen other people for roles in the region
originally posted by: TheLead
a reply to: soberbacchus
Yea instead Comey admittedly lied and said he was not under active investigation, why would he do that? Possibly due to it being an illegal politically motivated investigation?
originally posted by: burntheships
a reply to: Grambler
Peter Navvaro, now there is another name that needs to
be looked into.
Tweets out there that Halper was also paid through hidden grants.
originally posted by: soberbacchus
What is even more dumbfounding is how the OP and other Trumpites try to paint a picture of a deep-state conspiracy to prevent Trump from getting elected WHEN the FBI and DOJ and everyone else that could be considered "Deep State" under Obama chose to NOT announce or leak that there was an actual ongoing FBI investigation into the Trump Campaign during the election.
originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: Grambler
This is asinine and has the potnetial to destroy our country by having the intel community become a weapon for the sitting admin against his oppionents.
Keep in mind, Nixon was brought down for trying to send a couple of people to look at documents from his opponent.
There wasn't any *try* about it. Ex intel people paid from Nixon's dirty tricks CREEP slush fund broke into the DNC HQ. Nixon also used/tried to use the CIA, FBI and IRS to dig up dirt on political opponents ftr. For instance, he gave Johnnie Mac Walters an "enemies list" of 200 political foes to be investigated by the IRS.
It's really quite interesting how you consistently try to downplay Watergate to make a legitimate counterintelligence investigation appear "worse than Watergate."
Even though, as I keep pointing out, you can't point to any actual evidence of a conspiracy, directed by Obama, to spy on the Trump campaign for political advantage.
And of course this is a shift from the earlier theory that the FBI counterintelligence investigation was a pretext for "hurting Trump" after the election. Just like how before it was "the dossier" that was behind the FBI's investigation but then when it was proved conclusively to be the Papadopoulos affair that kicked things off, the tactic shifted to attacking the validity of opening an investigation based on the Papadopoulos affair (for lack of a better term). And if that doesn't work, then attack Downer for (I'm still trying to figure that out) or... claim that it was all a conspiracy from the start. That Misfud was a Democratic operative because he knows a guy who said nice things about Clinton in Philly once and it was all an elaborate setup.
There's no real onus on anyone to prove anything, to fill in the plot holes or address anything that conflicts with the narrative.
By your standards, Trump should be impeached, removed from office and tried for treason along with a number of his associates. After all: Manafort was paid millions to advance Putin's agenda in the West. Manafort was Trump's unpaid campaign chief. Manafort had backchannel communications with Putin's associates using his ex-Russian spy employee in Ukraine while the Russians were meddling in the election.
Right? Is any of that wrong? Using the standards that have been consistently applied here, Trump obviously conspired with Putin. Cherry on top?
When the US sought to punish Russia, Flynn called up Kislyak and told him not to sweat it, Trump would make it go away when he was in office. Extra toppings? Despite being compelled by Congress to impose sanctions, the Trump admin drug its feet until it could no longer do so and then made exceptions to sanctions after the fact.
So, you should be calling for Trump to be removed from office and tried for treason.
How about, Kushner asking the Russians if the transition team could use space in the Russian embassy for communicating with the Russians? That looks bad. Or how about with inauguration right around the corner, Erik Prince was in Seychelles meeting with Russians, allegedly in another attempt at setting up a "back channel?" Why would that be necessary? Clearly to hide the evidence of their conspiracy.
There's a difference between looking at things that are suspicious and going full tilt into making declarations as fact. Based purely on emotion, Trump supporters have decided to stampede across that line and are now just proclaiming their speculation as fact.
originally posted by: TheLead
a reply to: soberbacchus
Gotcha, they investigated a circle around him to protect him as they say I guess.
I guess that cloud hanging around the FBI is just secondhand smoke, no smoke is emanating from them they're just sitting in the smoking section.
originally posted by: xuenchen
a reply to: soberbacchus
Man you are triggered.
Trump didn't beat the most powerful and richest presidential campaign in history by just blind luck.
The Halper revelation also shows the Obama administration’s FBI began prying into the opposing party’s presidential nominee earlier than it previously admitted. Halper’s sit-downs with Page reportedly started in early July 2016, undermining fired FBI Director James Comey’s previous claim that the bureau’s investigation into the Trump campaign began at the end of that month.
The Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment — a shadowy think tank that reports directly to the secretary of defense — paid Halper $282,000 in 2016 and $129,000 in 2017.
When Bush became Ronald Reagan’s running mate, Halper was implicated in a spying scandal in which CIA officials gave inside information on the Carter administration to the GOP campaign.