"The ICA's blockbuster finding was presented to the public as the consensus view of the nation's intelligence community. As events have unfolded, however, it now seems apparent that the report was largely the work of one agency, the CIA, and overseen by one man, then-Director John Brennan, who closely directed its drafting and publication with a small group of hand-picked analysts.
Nearly three years later, as the public awaits answers from two Justice Department inquiries into the Trump-Russia probe’s origins, and as impeachment hearings catalyzed by a Brennan-hired anti-Trump CIA analyst unfold in Congress, it is clear that Brennan’s role in propagating the collusion narrative went far beyond his work on the ICA. A close review of facts that have slowly come to light reveals that he was a central architect and promoter of the conspiracy theory from its inception. The record shows that:
- Contrary to a general impression that the FBI launched the Trump-Russia conspiracy probe, Brennan pushed it to the bureau – breaking with CIA tradition by intruding into domestic politics: the 2016 presidential election. He also supplied suggestive but ultimately false information to counterintelligence investigators and other U.S. officials.
- Leveraging his close proximity to President Obama, Brennan sounded the alarm about alleged Russian interference to the White House, and was tasked with managing the U.S. intelligence community's response.
- While some FBI officials expressed skepticism about the Trump/Russia narrative as they hunted down investigative leads, Brennan stood out for insisting on its veracity.
- To substantiate his claims, Brennan relied on a Kremlin informant who was later found to be a mid-level official with limited access to Putin’s inner circle.
- Circumventing normal protocol for congressional briefings, Brennan supplied then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid with incendiary Trump-Russia innuendo that Reid amplified in a pair of public letters late in the election campaign.
- After Trump's unexpected victory, Brennan oversaw the hasty production of the tenuous Intelligence Community Assessment.
- Departing from his predecessors’ usual practice of staying above the political fray after leaving office, Brennan has worked as a prominent analyst for MSNBC, where he has used his authority as a former guardian of the nation’s top secrets to launch vitriolic attacks on a sitting president, accusing Trump of "treasonous" conduct." realclearinvestigations
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I know that Horowitz can't indict but he can forward recommendations to a prosecutor with indictment authority. Would a Grand Jury in the Democratic Party stronghold of Washington, DC actually indict Obama era conspirators? I doubt it.
The process should be moved to other venues.
I have a side bet with a friend. I no longer believe that the duopoly of parties in the US will indict anyone over the matter of this article.
I hope I lose the bet. pl
Colonel,
Here are transcripts by NSC personal where LTC Vindman 'judgement' is seriously questioned. Was Vindman the NSC unauthorized/illegal leak? Will DoD take appropriate UCMJ action against Vindman?
https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?documentid=849
Look at NSC official Tim Morrison account on Vindman 'judgement ' and serious questions as to Vindman accessing unauthorized items.
Posted by: J | 17 November 2019 at 01:49 PM
They sure got Flynn Cohen Manifort and Stone quickly.Giuliani associates were indicted to open up another front.
Pity people that desperately need to be held accountable wil not be so.
That is how the rule of law fails.
Posted by: Sbin | 17 November 2019 at 03:31 PM
"Forget it, Cicero, it's Chinatown." Not with a bang, but a whimper.
Posted by: JerseyJeffersonian | 17 November 2019 at 03:33 PM
Sadly, agree you will win that bet, which begs a question: Can the ship be turned around at this very late stage in the game?
Posted by: casey | 17 November 2019 at 04:03 PM
Sorry to post twice, but, on a related note, George Elliason appears to show that the so-called whistleblower inside information, upon which the impeachment is progressing, is based on not even hearsay, but a Tweet:
https://thesaker.is/adam-schiff-whistleblower-impeachment-based-on-a-tweet-from-poland/
Posted by: casey | 17 November 2019 at 04:09 PM
Well, I am certainly saddened by this state of affairs.
It appears that the barn doors have been left totally opened for a complete free for all for anyone who wants to to and has the money, the un-elected position, and the friends to take over the workings of the U.S. government. Rule of law and rule of reason be damned.
Let's hope that by some miracle this coming election will be such that the people recognize what has happened and will provide a strong message to those who feel they have a right to rule from the offices of their unelected positions.
Posted by: Diana C | 17 November 2019 at 04:20 PM
“I no longer believe that the duopoly of parties in the US will indict anyone over the matter of this article.”
Sir,
I’m afraid you will be proven correct.
Posted by: Jack | 17 November 2019 at 04:46 PM
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
.........
( Is the world now ripe for Kayne West!?!)
Posted by: Factotum | 17 November 2019 at 05:15 PM
Just as important, where is the proof the Russians hacked the DNC computers (hat tip always to LJ) - since Roger Stone was banned from getting this information by the judge who just sent him away for life.
CROWDSTRIKE's role in the Democrat impeachment smokescreen needs to keep moving forward because, it is not going away. Democrats refusal to even mention it, let alone their obsession trying to relentless label nameless CROWDSTRIKE as a loony, right wing conspiracy theory simply does not pass the smell test.
Particularly since Schiff does his very best to deep six even mention of Trump's requested Ukraine CROWDSTRIKE investigation. https://illicitinfo.com/?p=13576
Deep state CROWDSTRIKE collusion is starting to walk like a duck, quack like a duck and look like a duck.
Posted by: Factotum | 17 November 2019 at 05:40 PM
You're correct.
The Republicrats in the swamp - when push comes to shove - have each other's backs.
One set of laws for them, another for the masses they rule and make no mistake - we are not governed, we are ruled.
Posted by: Upstate NY'er | 17 November 2019 at 06:01 PM
if you are right pl then the duopoly IS thelma and louise and the rest of us (nation) constitute the car!
Posted by: ted richard | 17 November 2019 at 06:41 PM
Great analogy, ha!
Seems everyone here is down. The Slime mold's job is to kill all virtuous passion in the populace, and they do a damn good job.
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."
Truer words...
If we don't arise like lions, a seriously dystopian future awaits. Which is an exceedingly melancholy reality, considering we are on the cusp of a golden age driven by a Fusion Energy new economic platform, a quantum upshift of productivity and energy-intensive industrial applications. Ending global poverty. Ending the very reason for war.
Posted by: Rick Merlotti | 17 November 2019 at 07:38 PM
The fact that even the disgraced former DDFBI Andy McCabe, who's four documented, acts of Perjury, two of which were Recorded. Statements which involve a press leak, irrelevant to any issue of the Russia-Trump collusion myth. Has still not been Indicted, should give us all cause for alarm...
We appear to be on the Slippery slope toward Mob Rule over law and order...
This quote from Thursday's article in Politico, says it best.
“This is not a hard case,” U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton said. “I was a good prosecutor for a long time. Deciding whether or not you’re going to charge someone with false statements or perjury is not that hard, factually or legally — maybe politically, but not factually or legally.”
Posted by: Hindsight Observer | 17 November 2019 at 07:50 PM
Sundance suggests that FBI Inspector General Horowitz's report is really being delayed so that the Deep State can push through FISC Court reauthorization -- before we have an opportunity to learn how the current law has been so horribly abused with a multitude of 4th Amendment violations and so on.
Unfortunately, much as Republicans regret Fisc abuses by Democrats, this illegitimate maneuver is so cheap and tempting that even they don't really want to let it die. In short, the DUOPOLY will ensure continuance.
Posted by: Petrel | 17 November 2019 at 07:53 PM
The future is not just continuation of the present, but reaction to it.
Posted by: John Merryman | 17 November 2019 at 10:01 PM
Two weeks ago I thought I head a different tune. Why the change?
As I said then and say now: Bob Barr did not come to bury the Deep State, but to save it.
The imperial republic is tottering, and the liberal dispensation of the past three hundred years that informed it is collapsing, a victim of internal subversion and pathological egalitarianism.
What will replace it? No one knows.
But the future will probably be like the past: tribal, ethnic, sectarian and vicious.
There is no going back. And the only way out is through.
So attack in two directions.
Shatter left-neoliberalism by provoking the worst ant-white and anti-Semitic tendencies present in the emerging nonwhite left.
Liquidate its controlled opposition (AKA American conservatism) by attacking its fronts men as the corporate golems and Zio-shills that they are.
The goal is to eliminate the middle ground and force the gutless middle to choose between the globalists and us, and to make the price of an unwise choice steep, public, and permanent.
Posted by: Vegetius | 17 November 2019 at 10:52 PM
It'd sure be nice if we could get some MAGA candidates for congress going. Right now, Trump's all alone in Washington; not much hope of getting any part of his agenda passed.
Posted by: Seamus Padraig | 18 November 2019 at 02:37 AM
I read the RCP article by Aaron Mate referenced above and while it was compelling, it practically made the infamous Peter Strzok, in its brief mention of him, seem like an innocent bystander. It focused on the CIA as though the FBI wasn't its eager and willing partner, and yet it was the FBI that paid Christopher Steele, the FBI that obtained FISA warrants to spy, the FBI that took out Gen. Flynn, the FBI that lied to the new POTUS, the FBI that led to the appointment of SC Mueller, etc., etc.
Is the FBI playing dumb now as a defense, pretending it was duped by the CIA to engage in so much nefarious activity?
Posted by: akaPatience | 18 November 2019 at 03:12 AM
Now That's a good one!!
Posted by: jd hawkins | 18 November 2019 at 03:31 AM
It could be the trial of the century, no doubt. ...
Would the jury in such a case, in a Democratic Stronghold, as Washington DC, have to be carefully selected according to some superimposed rule beyond the general jury selection rules reigning access to classified knowledge?
Strictly there is by now enough expertise on jury selection, even specialists. In Washington D.C., as suggested, maybe the ultimate challenge. Thus I am sure a lot of experts would queue up.
Not that the result would satisfy everyone, but if you carefully select people that prove they grasp the "national interest" or are able to carry its burdons. Why not?
Posted by: vig | 18 November 2019 at 09:33 AM
vig
Why not move the proceedings to the Eastern District of Virginia or to Connecticut?
Posted by: turcopolier | 18 November 2019 at 09:38 AM
You'll win the bet, but even if you lose, the indicted will be instantly catapulted into bona fide "Hero of the Republic(R)" status as a result.
Just as the people who took the falls for the Clintons were, except 10x.
The chattering class really really detest Trump, and nothing else matters. They will happy accept aid from perjurers, torturers and entrapment artists, as long as that gets them Trump.
I detest Trump as well, but he won the election fair and square, and just because I detest the man doesn't mean that I need to sink to the level of crackpot conspiracy theory if that justifies his removal.
Posted by: prawnik | 18 November 2019 at 10:13 AM
Eastern District of Virginia or to Connecticut?
sorry I am an outsider on this. ... Willmann may help, maybe? basic rules? ... I hardly grasp my own countries juridical responsiblities, nevermind some venue curiosities. ...
last time I heard the argument concerning the US it didn't seem to be necessary based on the outcome, at least in hindsight ...
Posted by: vig | 18 November 2019 at 10:49 AM
and how "in the end we arrive at the beginning and know it for the first time."
Posted by: rjj | 18 November 2019 at 11:58 AM
oops. failed to make sense of that thought.
Posted by: rjj | 18 November 2019 at 12:00 PM