OIG Purview Expands

A fascinating question about current events is what the people who opposed President Trump, from all sides of the political aisle, were really working against. Maybe it’s a question of historic importance.

We probably won’t know the answer to that question in full until we see what the president’s priorities really have been. If, for instance, he threatened to punish evildoers in positions of power, those steps might have been cloaked in secrecy for a time.

But one gets the sense that people who opposed Trump had a very good idea what he threatened.

And we may have seen, among people who were previously in a bad spot, that their circumstances would improve under President Trump, because he did take steps against bad actors who once wielded power. There may have been a liberation of those once captive, so to speak.

Today’s news from the Justice Department Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, may be another milestone toward punishment, or liberation, depending on one’s point of view:

DOJ OIG Announces Initiation of Review



This could turn out to be a nothingburger or, for Trump’s opponents, the beginning of a new nightmare. Hypothetically, if there are people who were employed in the federal government over the past few years whose activities were not always on the up-and-up, that last sentence would be an attention-getter.

Full Text: House Intelligence Committee Memo On FISA Abuses

February 2, 2018: Below is the full text of the memo on abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, reformatted for easier Web reading.

For the complete original memo please download from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Web site.



Declassified by order of the President February 2, 2018

January 18, 2018

To: HPSCI Majority Members
From: HPSCI Majority Staff



Investigation Update























Evan McMullin Seems Unhappy With FISA Memo Plan

Always one of the odder presences on the Internet is Evan McMullin, former candidate for president, self-proclaimed point man for building the U.S. alliance with al Qaeda, rabid opponent of Donald Trump and, oddest of all, adopted favorite son of many anti-Trump “conservatives” and Republicans, to their everlasting shame.

mcmullin house intel committee
Strong charges against House Intelligence Committee by Evan McMullin

Lately, McMullin has been on a Twitter tear over the upcoming possible release of the FISA overview memo from the House Intelligence Committee.

One has to wonder why, of all the things to get worked up about, McMullin is dedicating so much energy to this bit of proposed transparency for the American people. At first glance it does not seem like a likely hill for McMullin to die on.

As someone long employed by the federal government, who has painted himself as having at least a veneer of ethics, the revelation of supposedly ongoing corruption within an important agency would seem like something McMullin would support releasing. If McMullin himself was not part of the corruption, why would he have a dog in the fight over exposing it?

I think the answer requires first a look at why different groups oppose President Trump so viciously.

Democrats, obviously, must oppose the president, and the more likable Trump becomes among voters, the more intensely Democrats will oppose him. This is more like physics than psychology, and not a very interesting topic to discuss.

Republican opposition is a little more complicated. As noted in an earlier post, my personal opinion is that some opponents of President Trump consider him a monster for intending to fulfill Republican campaign promises of the past several decades.

Republicans make promises that seem only meant to win votes from the rubes within their coalition, and never intended to become public policy. If Planned Parenthood were defunded, for instance, then what reason would “pro-life” organizations have to exist? And related are the candidates and their consultants whose aim is to get into office and get some of that sweet, sweet money and power, while not alienating the mostly liberal financial entities that help fund campaigns. No, what these types of politicos and issue organizations seem to need most are voters dumb enough to vote for their candidates year after year, and send them money, but also a government that will never enact their positions.

Trump appeared poised to deliver on all the promises, which made him a mortal threat to the “conservative” fundraising and consultancy communities.

But where does this leave Evan McMullin? He does not seem to be an actual tool of the Democratic Party, and whatever “conservatives” are in his circle of friends would also not seem to hold any sway such that McMullin would now become a loud voice against exposing corruption. “Pro-corruption” is, after all, a risky public position to take if one wishes to maintain respectability.

It is a mystery for now, and perhaps a mystery that will be solved when and if the memo is released by the House Intelligence Committee.

But let’s assume, and I think it is a valid assumption, that Evan McMullin is not literally named in the FISA memo.

One of the factors about the FISA memo that does not get a lot of attention is that in itself, the document deals with the surface of an alleged criminal enterprise. The document is purported to address illegal surveillance by a lot of people who should have been doing nothing of the sort, people whose job was actually to guard against such crimes. That, in itself, is a big deal, the kind of deal that leads to potential long prison sentences. But that is not really what the memo is about.

Bear in mind, the reason for the alleged surveillance of candidate Trump and then President Trump and all of the artifices built around the fake court filings (such as the Mueller investigation) appear to have been aimed at first keeping Donald Trump out of the White House, and second at destroying his presidency.

And the purpose behind these shorter-term goals is what should really be of interest to the American people, because it may shed light on the layer of activity that Evan McMullin seems to wish badly to keep hidden from public view, and from history, and from the American judicial system.

What were they so worried about President Trump’s administration uncovering?

McMullin al Qaeda
McMullin: “My role in the CIA was to go out & convince Al Qaeda operatives to instead work with us.”

From this standpoint, the FISA memo is just the key to the first little gate to a sprawling enterprise. All the memo may do is allow us to see an edifice that up until now has only been rumored to exist at all. Exploring it will be a much more important effort, of far greater impact than this first outline of the surface crimes. Exploring the actual meat of the criminality will be a long-term project. And who knows that that will uncover.

I can only guess. One hint may lie in the fact that in nine months the Trump Administration defeated ISIS with the same military that for some reason made almost zero headway for years, almost as though the U.S. was not trying to defeat ISIS at all. Almost as though before Trump the U.S. was enabling ISIS. What a weird thought that is.

But for now, here are some nuggets from the very insightful investigative reporting at Last Refuge.

Long before anyone heard about Evan McMullin running for president, he was in Turkey with the Muslim Brotherhood affiliates (click image for full story at Last Refuge)
Kinzinger McCain McMullin
Republicans Adam Kinzinger and John McCain and Independent Evan McMullin

Be sure to watch the short video of Tulsi Gabbard discussing her visit to Syria.

Why is the United States and its allies supporting these terrorist groups who are destroying Syria, when it was al Qaeda who attacked the United State on 9/11, not Syria.

For more background, when you have time for a long read, check out the original Benghazi Brief which I think will eventually become a key part of the known history of ISIS. If not for Donald Trump, that story likely would have remained buried in a military intelligence blog. Just like, as some allege, if not for Donald Trump the United States would still be supporting ISIS.

Could public knowledge of the U.S. role with ISIS be one of Evan McMullin’s fears? Hard to say, but we can be pretty sure that opening up the entire ISIS story for a fresh re-telling and reexamination might provide a valuable lesson for Americans. This is a story the Trump Administration should allow to be told.

Republicans Opposing Trump are a Bit of a Mystery

Why have some Republicans fought so much harder against the Trump presidency and Trump legislative agenda than they ever did against Obama? It’s especially the case among Republicans in Congress, and as noted on this blog before, I think it’s also the case among certain GOP factions here in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Normally, when your candidate loses a primary, you hate the victor and his supporters for a modest period of time but then everyone makes up and moves on to the general election. I’m not a Democrat, but I get the impression that’s what the Democrats usually do. It’s an intelligent approach, obviously, in fulfilling the mission of the party, which is to get its candidates into public office.

Some Republicans REALLY did not pull together after Donald Trump won over Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and the others, which is weird, because Republican office holders have often been terrible and every Republican knows it. Those who suggested Trump was likely to be not “conservative” enough were either ignorant or liars, because the party had not had such a person in the White House or as the nominee for a very long time.

The last couple Republican presidents left legacies that departed substantially from whatever “conservative” platform the Republican Party and the presidential campaign foisted on unwary voters to get the putzes elected.

Actually, the last couple Republican presidents’ legacies are worse than unkept promises because all that stuff that “conservative” think tanks and thousands of Republican political campaigns have been saying are so critically important, as reasons to vote for the Republican du jour, all the terrible changes to American society and government that this or that Republican was going to prevent, got worse under the Republican presidents named Bush.

Were the Bushes better than Clinton or Obama? Probably, but not by a lot. Here’s how you can tell that: you don’t see many people writing stories contrasting the Bush presidencies with the Obama or Clinton presidencies.

You don’t see a lot of infographics or memes put out by “conservatives” recalling the glorious eras of the Bushes. That’s because there is very little to feel proud about from those periods, I believe.

Thus we have to wonder, for any Republican with any knowledge of history, what is the problem with Trump? After his first year in office, we now know, he’s come a lot closer to accomplishing what the “conservatives” have been promising than any other recent president. If not for opposition by Republicans in Congress, Trump would have accomplished much more of what Republicans promise every time an election comes around.

It’s not my purpose to get into a detailed public policy discussion at this time, but any Republican with a knowledge of history knows exactly what I am referring to. The short answer is that when it comes to the “conservative” principles that candidates and consultants have been bloviating about for the past 25 years, President Trump doesn’t look too bad compared to nearly all other Republican office holders.

Unless the logic is that the past two Republican presidents get a pass for almost total failure, but Donald Trump will suddenly be held to the very highest standard of “conservative” wish lists or be deemed an enemy of the people, there seems to be some disconnect. There seems to be some major inconsistency from the “conservative” elites, almost to the point that one wonders if they are worth listening to, on any subject, ever again.

The thought that “conservative” leaders could be anything less than exemplars of integrity is inconceivable to me, so I will leave that dilemma for now and go back to the original question of: Why the Trump hate?

One of many bizarre examples will suffice. Speaking of Republican presidents: George W. Bush did not make a single public comment about anything that Barack Obama did during the latter’s presidency. Maybe I missed a statement or two, but I think I’m right in saying that Bush never said a word as Obama spent years verbally trashing the Bush presidency and, policy-wise, being rather non-conservative, adding over $9 trillion to our debt, and even using the federal machinery in ways that some consider unethical. Does George W. Bush not care about our grandchildren? But Bush never found much to criticize in Obama — or Bill Clinton, in fact.

How is it, then, that Bush finds the motivation to come out of his respectful shell and criticize Donald Trump so relatively mercilessly? There’s a topic that, seriously, someone could write a book about, knowing what we know now.

We know that Trump is divisive. He is more divisive for American political and media experts than Godzilla was for urban neighborhoods in Japan. In the end the Japanese loved Godzilla, as I think in one of the later films it was revealed he was fed GMO fish as a child and once he transitioned to soy-based foods he mellowed considerably. But there will be no soy for Donald Trump. And the rationale for political opposition seems to transcend all the normal triggers, such as public policy.

Republicans seem to have finally gotten a president who is willing to sign into law all the “conservative” agenda items that “conservative” Republicans have been shilling with for two or three decades, and it’s almost like these Republican elites are petrified that they could be allowed to deliver on marketing messages. Why, it’s almost as though all those campaign messages and fundraising letters were untrue, and actually depended on the promises not being fulfilled in order to continue to scare ignorant voters and donors in the future.

But now comes Trump, looming over the skyline, threatening to trample and destroy the City of Promises by delivering on Republican promises. He’s a monster.

That’s one reason, then, for the Trump hate.

Another reason, which is purely speculative on my part, but I am grasping for straws here, is that maybe there have been activities that people in Washington D.C. are not proud of, and that Trump threatens to expose. Maybe some people knew even before Trump was elected that he would not “play ball” and that’s why they went on the warpath against him, and now that he is in office, are worried about what he might do.

Who knows. But one thing I do know is that if Republicans had the political intelligence of their Democratic Party counterparts, the GOP might accomplish all the things it has promised for so long. That thought must keep some of them awake at night.

Virginia Republican Loss Reveals Miscalculation

Here is a follow-up to the last post, about the rebuke Virginia Republicans suffered at the polls at the November 7, 2017 elections. My criticism might seem presumptuous without backing up the argument.

And yes, the Republicans were “rebuked” in the elections in the same sense that the rats that attempted to move into our yard were rebuked when I electrocuted them and threw their carcasses in the trash bin from whence they were hauled to the landfill.

I will note that there are likely much bigger stories in America right now than the GOP’s epic stomping in the Commonwealth. One gets the feeling events are afoot that could eclipse Virginia politics, but more on that below.

The reason I made the Republicans sound silly is because they seem to be operating with a concept of the Virginia electorate that defies common sense and basic arithmetic. As best as I can figure, the Virginia Republicans’ electoral calculation goes like this:

1). Subtract Democrat Party voters
2). Subtract supporters of President Trump
3). ??

For the November 7 elections, step #3 was apparently “Be as boring as an old shoe.” That, we now know, was not a winning answer.

As noted last time, the Virginia GOP “expert” contingent have apparently decided that one cliff dive was not enough so they are preparing the party to take another plummet next year. To understand the mindset, it’s worth noting how they got to step #2 above.

Following the November 7 catastrophe, Republicans and conservatives from across the country weighed in in comments to the many news and social media stories. A familiar refrain was to the effect that “you have never seen such a hive of scum and villainy” as the Virginia Republican Party.

This is because Virginia Republicans have made a name for themselves as leaders in opposing President Trump. It began during the Republican National Convention last summer when Virginia Republicans were center stage trying to get delegates who had committed to Donald Trump “freed” to vote for other candidates. Since then, Virginians have apparently cemented that impression. I don’t know exactly how, but I would guess that Congresswoman Barbara Comstock has had something to do with it. Comstock rarely makes news for doing anything, but has managed to make quite a bit of news criticizing the current president — and doing so about 20 times more frequently than she criticized the last one.

Also, perhaps, politicos around the nation follow what their peers in Virginia are saying and writing. I’d estimate that 90 percent of Virginia GOP elected officials and party leadership are anti-Trump, shown both through explicit condemnation and also in more subtle ways, using their leadership position to paint the picture for lesser Republicans that “top people hate Trump.” I read a bit of news and follow some of the people on social media, and that is my impression at least.

Of course, what that says to Virginians who support President Trump is: “We consider you to be an idiot.”

It is not too much of a stretch to think that many erstwhile Republican voters would have gotten that message and had their voting ardor tamped down.

Not all of Virginia’s GOP candidates are as notoriously anti-Trump as Barbara Comstock, of course. But one odd thing you could definitely see during the past campaign period is that practically no Republican candidate even mentioned President Trump, at all. That seemed strange, especially considering that Republican also control both houses of Congress. There might be some relevance, one might presume, between the local and the national under such conditions.

But following the election, a dominant theme I saw among Republican experts was that the candidates did not sufficiently distance themselves from Donald Trump. In other words, with regard to step #2 above, future Republican candidates need to be more forceful in driving away those Trump supporters.

My personal opinion is that this might not be such a great idea, but I will reserve judgment until I see what the 2018 candidates propose for step #3.

Actually, if I had to guess, I’d say the Virginia Republicans plan to buff up some talking points from an address to Parliament circa 1903, emphasizing duty, love of country, and wool, prefaced with a quote from Ronald Reagan, and concluding by damning Donald Trump to Hell. If you think I’m joking, you don’t know Virginia’s self-styled Republican leadership.

But let’s not dwell on an imploding political party. To the point made at the top about Virginia GOP devastation not being the most important issue in America today, it is interesting to look back on how previous “big stories” can so thoroughly be eclipsed by bigger events. Back in 2001, I recall the biggest controversies in the news in this area were the disappearance of Chandra Levy and the Chinese military pilots who were flying too close to American military jets. There was also some matter with a U.S. jet that ended up landing in China and the Chinese would not let the American crew leave and also (I think) held onto the plane. These stories were a pretty big deal.

Then, September 11, 2001 happened, and all of those stories fell out of the news, and the national consciousness, for years. I bet almost nobody in the country has the slightest idea what happened with that American jet, and it’s likely that nobody outside of DC knows what the upshot of the Chandra Levy case was when it finally got reported on again 8 or 10 years later.

Here in November 2017, there seems to be a lot of world-changing activity on the horizon. Some of it, I think, might not only dominate the national news, but might even transform how we perceive the political stage right down to the local level here in Virginia. And maybe by next year the Virginia Republicans will have learned a way out of their rather hopeless-looking electoral equation.