Durham's Investigations Fizzles

[RickeyM]

The MAGA masses still can't believe that the majority of Americans don't think like them.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by RickeyM

The MAGA masses still can't believe that the majority of Americans don't think like them.

Mainly because wingnut media relies on a tactic whereby their listeners/viewers are told that only wingnut media can be trusted and that all other media is "fake news." They are bombarded by lies and propaganda 24/7 from these sources which results in things like 61% of Republicans believing that Biden didn't win the election or that Trump was completely exonerated by Mueller.

[finnbow]

The Durham report is an expanded and footnoted version of Barr’s most famous rehab operation — his preemptive attack on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, which Barr mischaracterized as an exoneration of both Trump’s Russia ties and Trump’s extensive obstruction of Mueller’s efforts to expose them...

His attempts to negate Trump’s Russian enterprise was always more than a play to rewrite the history of the 2016 election. It was an effort to paper over the sprawling moral degeneracy of Trumpism writ large, and to obscure the authoritarianism and thuggery that bled from Trump into virtually every corner of the party that Trump and Barr share.

The Durham report is a monument to that endeavor, 316 pages of whataboutism intended to distance Barr, Durham and all the corrupt and criminal hangers-on of Trump world from the sordid reality of their partisan labors, and the baseness of their political desires.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/d...out-the-future

[Mark B]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Mainly because wingnut media relies on a tactic whereby their listeners/viewers are told that only wingnut media can be trusted and that all other media is "fake news." They are bombarded by lies and propaganda 24/7 from these sources which results in things like 61% of Republicans believing that Biden didn't win the election or that Trump was completely exonerated by Mueller.

Repub voters believe what they want to believe.

When a Repub politician says anything that Repub voters don't want to hear they let 'em know in a hurry.

When Trump told a MAGA crowd the truth they boo'ed him.

When Fox told their viewers the truth they lost their audience, so Fox went back to feeding them the lies they demand to hear.

[whell]

Originally Posted by Rajoo

So why did the Durham investigation come up empty?

Who said it came up empty? The left-wing media?

Have you actually looked at the Durham report or attempted to read it? I suspect not.

Here's a sample, and this is just a single paragraph from the executive summary:

This report does not recommend any wholesale changes in the guidelines and policies that the Department and the FBI now have in place to ensure proper conduct and accountability in how counterintelligence activities are carried out. Rather, it is intended to accurately describe the matters that fell under our review and to assist the Attorney General in determining how the Department and the FBI can do a better, more credible job in fulfilling its responsibilities, and in analyzing and responding to politically charged allegations in the future. Ultimately, of course, meeting those responsibilities comes down to the integrity of the people who take an oath to follow the guidelines and policies currently in place, guidelines that date from the time of Attorney General Levi and that are designed to ensure the rule of law is upheld. As such, the answer is not the creation of new rules but a renewed fidelity to the old. The promulgation of additional rules and regulations to be learned in yet more training sessions would likely prove to be a fruitless exercise if the FBI's guiding principles of "Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity" are not engrained in the hearts and minds of those sworn to meet the FBI' s mission of "Protect[ing] the American People and Uphold[ing] the Constitution of the United States."

And this:

...there is a continuing need for the FBI and the Department to recognize that lack of analytical rigor, apparent confirmation bias, and an over-willingness to rely on information from individuals connected to political opponents caused investigators to fail to adequately consider alternative hypotheses and to act without appropriate objectivity or restraint in pursuing allegations of collusion or conspiracy between a U.S. political campaign and a foreign power. Although recognizing that in hindsight much is clearer, much of this also seems to have been clear at the time.

In short, whether because the Crossfire Investigators were following a particular bias, or whether they simply disregarded established FBI rules meant to uphold Constitutional protections or limits, the investigation was seriously flawed, as was the outcome of that investigation.

The report lays this out in detail. Maybe you and your heros on the left aren't bothered by the thought of an out-of-control FBI and Justice Department when its damaging your political opponents. I'm sure you'll be the first to scream foul if that same FBI is loosed on someone on "your side" i it uses the same lack of rigor and bias in that investigation.

[Chicks]

Originally Posted by whell

I'm sure you'll be the first to scream foul if that same FBI is loosed on someone on "your side" i it uses the same lack of rigor and bias in that investigation.

You mean like your boy Gym Jordan is trying to get them to do in his "investigation"?

[whell]

Originally Posted by Chicks

You mean like your boy Gym Jordan is trying to get them to do in his "investigation"?

Wow, Jordan is leading an FBI investigation? You've got a big news scoop there, Chickie.

[Chicks]

Originally Posted by whell

Wow, Jordan is leading an FBI investigation? You've got a big news scoop there, Chickie.

ROFL. You are one ignorant MF.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by whell

Who said it came up empty? The left-wing media?

Have you actually looked at the Durham report or attempted to read it? I suspect not.

Here's a sample, and this is just a single paragraph from the executive summary.

It did indeed come up empty in that he did not discover anything meaningful beyond what was already discovered by the IG. The counterfactual rationalizations and disingenuous opinions found in his report don't change that. The bottom line is that even he found that Crossfire Hurricane was properly predicated and that "there is no question that the FBI had an affirmative obligation to closely examine the [Australian] information." Also, he did not find evidence of political bias in his report. He claims "confirmation bias," something that he, Barr and his own report are chock full of (he and Barr rejected the IG findings before even completing their investigation of Trump's claimed "crime of the century").

His assertion that the Coffee Boy's revelation inappropriately served as "the sole basis" for the FBI initiating the counterintelligence investigation is untrue. Russian intelligence had already hacked the DNC’s computer servers and stolen a large quantity of email. Wikileaks was already dumping some of the emails into the public domain. And on the very day the FBI received the Australian information, Trump called for more hacking of Clinton by the Russians by saying “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” Moreover, his campaign manager was known to have worked for Yanukovych, a Putin stooge in Ukraine, and helped to remove the plank calling for aid to Ukraine from the GOP platform at the convention.

The bottom line is that the Durham investigation was an inappropriate effort by Trump and Barr to weaponize the DOJ to retaliate against FBI Counterintelligence staff for commencing a probe that resulted in the indictment of a bunch of Trump cronies and a lot of evidence embarrassing to Trump (i.e., that Russia helped his election efforts). He found no criminal activity, agreed that the counterintelligence was properly predicated and only took issue with it being a full investigation rather than a preliminary one, notwithstanding the facts above and the subsequent indictments and convictions obtained by Mueller despite documented efforts by Trump to obstruct the investigation.

No matter. This will all be moot soon enough when your Dear Leader gets indicted for further felonies beyond those already charged by NY AG Bragg. You'll need to really sharpen your pencil if you intend to carry Trump's water from all the criminal charges coming down the pike.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by whell

I'm sure you'll be the first to scream foul if that same FBI is loosed on someone on "your side" i it uses the same lack of rigor and bias in that investigation.

Either irony is dead or you're simply too dense to realize that this is a perfect description of Durham's investigation itself.

Lack of rigor, you say? Like taking 2 cases to trial that were essentially laughed out of the courtroom unanimously by 24 jurors in a matter of hours?

Bias, you say? Like Barr and Durham saying they disagreed with the IG report before finishing their own investigation (which ended up confirming the IG's investigation)? Like Barr closely collaborating with this supposedly "independent" counsel through public statements prior to completion of the investigation, steak and scotch dinners, and junkets to Italy?

As to proper predication for investigations, what was the predicate for Durham's investigation? A hunch? Trump's claim that he was the victim of the "crime of the century?"

Should we now have an investigation of the investigation of an investigation?