Huh?

 

Resurfaced comments catch James Comer promising not to use FBI informant in 'witch hunt'

Sarah K. Burris
March 4, 2024 1:03PM ET



WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 5: (L-R) Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks with House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) during a House Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services hearing on Capitol Hill December 5, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)




Less than a year ago, House Oversight and Reform chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) gave a press conference demanding the FBI hand over a claim from a confidential source — and promising never to use unverified information on the form as part of a "witch hunt."

It hasn't turned out that way.

On May 10, 2023, Comer stood before the press, flanked by Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Jake Laturner (R-KS), to name a few.

"A week ago, I sent a subpoena to the FBI for a form a whistleblower has alleged is in the FBI's possession," Comer told the press. "We hope the F.B.I. will be transparent and forthcoming and provide us with the 1023 form we have subpoenaed.

"If they do, the committee will assess the form it has subpoenaed from the FBI and, as has been my practice, we will report to you only the facts when they are verified and indisputable. This committee will not pursue witch hunts or string the American people along with false promises of evidence that is beyond circumstantial evidence, as represented by Adam Schiff and the Democrats did for years. I trust the whistleblower."

But Comer and the GOP took that information and made it key to their investigation in Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden.

On Feb. 15 the informant, Alexander Smirnov, was arrested by the FBI and charged with making false statements. One of the allegations he made was that the president and his son scored a $5 million bribe from the head of the Ukraine energy company known as Burisma.

Prior to releasing the 1023 form, the FBI maintained that they had not been able to confirm the details in it, one official said.

Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) told CNN's "The Source" on Feb. 22: “We were warned that the credibility of this statement was not known, and yet my colleagues went out and talked to the public about how this was credible and damning."

“And yet," he continued, "people, my colleagues went out and talk to the public about how this was credible and how it was damning and how it proved President Biden’s — at the time Vice President Biden’s — complicity in receiving bribes."


“It appears to absolutely be false, and to really undercut the nature of the charges. We’ve always been looking for a link between what Hunter Biden received in terms of money and Joe Biden’s activities or Joe Biden receiving money,” Buck told CNN. “This clearly is not a credible link at this point.”

“I certainly didn’t have any evidence outside the statement itself that it was credible. And as a prosecutor for 25 years, Kaitlan, I never went to the public until I could prove the reliability of a statement," he told host Kaitlan Collins.

See the May 2023 press conference below or at the link here.


https://www.rawstory.com/biden-impeachment-witch-hunt-comer/

 

'They're criminals!' Dem explodes at Jim Jordan for hearing she says whitewashes Jan. 6

David Edwards
March 7, 2024 12:17PM ET



YouTube/screen grab/House Judiciary Committee feed.




Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) criticized House Republicans for holding a hearing she said was aimed at downplaying the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

Following Thursday's opening remarks by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Plaskett explained her view of why Republicans had convened the hearing.

"At the end of the day, the purpose of this hearing is to minimize what happened on January 6th and the lawful prosecution of individuals who were engaged in that practice," she said. "The chairman wants us to believe that people are being persecuted for their political conduct rather than their criminal behavior."

"So basically, he's trying to tell us that everyone who's been indicted and prosecuted for January 6th did not engage in criminal conduct," she continued. "That's the logic of what he's saying, and we've just come so low in this House."

Plaskett observed that Republicans did not view the Jan. 6 defendants as criminals.

"When it's people who fit your political agenda, they're not criminals anymore," she remarked. "They're patriots. They're victims."

"They're not! They're criminals!" Plaskett exclaimed. "And a jury of their peers found that when so many of them have been prosecuted in our court of law, not by brown shirts, not by Nancy Pelosi, not by Biden's Justice Department, by a jury of their peers."

ALSO READ: ‘Leave the drama to them:’ Mother of Lauren Boebert’s grandson speaks out

The Democratic member concluded by tying the hearing to former President Donald Trump.

"Unfortunately, many of my colleagues on the other side know the truth, but they're still seeking shelter from Donald Trump's hordes," she insisted. "They're still seeking shelter from the truth."

"They want to protect not just themselves, but their political careers, their jobs," the lawmaker added. "They're hiding behind lies for that."

Watch the video below from the House Judiciary Committee.




https://www.rawstory.com/stacey-plaskett-january-6/

 

What a despicable does is politics.
What a deplorable does is criminal.

 

Now this is more than just funny. Its very interesting. What a place to start asking questions about leaked transcriptions that haven't been released publicly. In a hearing with a witness under oath. Well played Jerry.


Laughter erupts in House when Trump-tied lawyer declares 'I have no awareness of anything'

Kathleen Culliton
March 7, 2024 6:12PM ET



America First Vice President Gene Hamilton. (Courtesy of the House of Representatives)




Rep. Jerry Nadler burst out into laughter Thursday when a legal group leader with close political ties to former President Donald Trump testified to complete ignorance on all matters.

"I have no awareness of anything," America First Legal Vice President Gene Hamilton declared. Upon hearing Nadler chuckle, he affirmed, "I have awareness of what my clients tell me."

Nadler and Hamilton, a former Justice Department aide who helped shape Trump's travel bans, were engaged in a battle of wits during a House Judiciary's immigration subcommittee hearing on the Biden administration's southern border policy.

ALSO READ: ‘We're wounded:’ Speaker Mike Johnson struggles to lead GOP after ‘unnecessary purging’

But when Nadler faced off against the representative for America First Legal, a group that consists primarily of former Trump administration appointees with a professed mission to oppose the Biden administration, the New York Democrat decided to tackle another issue.

Specifically, Nadler took umbrage with an America First amicus brief filed last year in Missouri v. Biden, a lawsuit over the federal government's authority over social media companies that help spread false information.

America First's brief referenced transcripts from committee hearings never released to the public, prompting Nadler to ask Hamilton how he'd gotten hold of them.

"I'm not going to get into anything further, anything that would be protected by privilege," Hamilton replied. "The way that I talk to my clients...the way that I receive information from them is protected."

As the brief shows, Hamilton, the brief's co-author, was representing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and a group of Republican House representatives.

Nadler then explained he believes the interviews Hamilton cited were misrepresented, reminded Hamilton it is a sanctionable violation of federal civil procedure to misrepresent facts before a tribunal, and asked the America First executive to call on Jordan to release the transcripts.

Hamilton, unsurprisingly, refused.

The moment when Hamilton declared he had "no awareness of anything" was captured on video and shared on social media, where viewers were quick to share their views.

"That would be the understatement of the hearing," replied @roz_levine. "And also applies to his client, Jim Jordan."

"'I have no awareness of anything' is the least troubling thing this guy said," said Mr. Mojo Risin. "The rest of it was much worse."

"Was this guy hired from Groupon?" inquired Roodie.

"A moment of truth," wrote Julien G. "I’m in disbelief."

Watch the video below or click here.


https://www.rawstory.com/america-first-trump-2667456713/

 

While they laugh informed americans will read the amicus brief.

And be reminded who the real dictator is.

The brandon administration is destroying America.

 

So shooter, provide the cases and rulings that Trump provided to back the claim that he won the 2020 election. And on what evidence did repukes in congress back Trump's attempt to overturn a free election.

Feel free to provide any trumptard facts in evidence.

Well?

 

Crazy camp following troll dismissed.

 

It was pretty obvious the fix was in when Hur released his report. But now there is no doubt. And we will have to see how it comes pout but fr0m what I am seeing if the Democrats are ready, which they have been in all other hearings, its not going to work out like the treasonous conservative/America Hating/Republicans hope. The press received Hur;s opening statement and easily shot holes in it. And I think the Democrats on the committee, several of them ex prosecutors themselves, will do a better job of exposing Hufr as a phony partisan hack.


Robert Hur resigns ahead of House hearing with help from 'Trumpworld figures': report

Matthew Chapman
March 11, 2024 9:24PM ET



Robert Hur (MSNBC screenshot)




Special counsel Robert Hur, who oversaw the investigation into President Joe Biden's retention of classified information, timed his resignation from the Justice Department with the help of Trump-aligned lawmakers ahead of his testimony to Congress, reported the Independent on Monday.

"According to multiple sources familiar with Mr Hur’s plans, the special counsel, who is appearing before the Judiciary Committee at the request of the Republican majority led by Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, has arranged his departure from the Department of Justice to be official as of Monday 11 March, one day before he is scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill," wrote Andrew Feinberg. "Instead of appearing as a DOJ employee who is bound by the ethical guidelines which govern the behaviour of federal prosecutors, he will appear as a private citizen with no constraints on his testimony."

“That makes it even more problematic from our perspective," said a source close to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee. "If he was still a federal employee, DOJ would have to approve his testimony and they’d be involved in his appearance tomorrow.”

This comes as Hur, a U.S. attorney from the Trump administration, is under fire by political commentators and legal experts for the partisan nature of his final report, with some accusing him of gratuitously attacking Biden's character.

Hur did not recommend charges against the president, but claimed, among other things, that Biden was suffered from severe memory problems while being questioned, and while he did not find sufficient evidence that the president intentionally retained classified information, suggested that if he tried to make the case, Biden would be able to convince a jury that he is an "elderly man with a poor memory" incapable of doing such a thing.

The White House has strongly disputed Hur's characterization of the interview, calling the attacks on Biden's memory "gratuitous" and a mischaracterization of the interview.



https://www.rawstory.com/robert-hur-trump/

 

I am among those shaking my head and wondering what the fuck were the treasonous conservative/America Hating/Republicans thinking? They were bound to get slaughtered in their own hearing because all they do is lie, spout false propaganda, and use psychological projection. But this time they also came up with the worst possible strategy for the whole hearing. They might have been able to do a lot of damage with a friendly witness. But instead of attacking what was actually in the report they spent most their time saying how unfair it was President Biden wasn't charged and Trump was. Almost like advancing one of the many lines of attack the Democrats had prepared. Using what Hur said in his report with other evidence to emphasis just how guilty Trump is with no comparison to President Biden. They could not have done the Democrats a bigger favor. And especially since the Democrats assumed the treasonous conservative/America Hating/Republicans would attack President Biden on his memory so they had clip[ after clip of Trump showing signs of dementia which they played and went unchallenged.

Blistering takedown of Jim Jordan opens Hur hearing: 'Wonder if you have read' report?

Matthew Chapman
March 12, 2024 10:58AM ET



Jim Jordan (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo for AFP)




In Tuesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing with special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated classified documents found in President Joe Biden's personal belongings, ranking member Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) tore into Republicans for misrepresenting the conclusions of the report — and went after former President Donald Trump's own issues with top secret materials, which have landed him in considerably more legal trouble.

"House Republicans may be desperate to convince America that white, conservative men are on the losing end of a two-tiered justice system, a theory that appeals to the MAGA crowd that has no basis in reality," said Nadler, addressing Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH).

"But your comments today made me wonder if you have read the special counsel's report at all?"

Nadler read off from the report, "At no point did the special counsel find evidence that Mr. Biden intended or had reason to believe the information will be used to injure the United States," that "the decision to decline criminal charges was straightforward," and that "Mr. Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations, including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview, and in other ways cooperated with the investigation."

All of which contrasts with Trump, who is accused of repeatedly trying to conceal national defense documents loaded in boxes at his Mar-a-Lago country club, for which he is now criminally charged.

Nadler then moved on to the more explosive part of the report, where Hur — a Trump appointee — remarked that if he went to trial, Biden could put on an act as an "elderly man with a poor memory" to persuade a jury of his innocence.

"This report helps us draw between President Biden and Donald Trump," said Nadler. "Simply put, President Biden had the mental acuity to navigate this situation. Donald Trump did not.

ALSO READ: ‘Mean girl on a revenge tour’: Kevin McCarthy has knives out for his ‘Gaetz 8’ tormentors

"Much has been made with the special counsel's gratuitous comments about President Biden's age. But let's set the context. After returning every classified document, after opening his home to federal investigators, while simultaneously managing the first hours of the crisis in Israel, President Biden volunteered to sit through a five-hour interview with the special counsel.

"I believe, as is his habit, that President Biden probably committed a verbal slip or two during the interview. And I'm not sure any of that matters because when the interview was over, Mr. Hur completely exonerated President Biden.

"And then there is Donald Trump. What kind of man bungles, not one, but dozens of opportunities to avoid criminal liability? What does that say about his mental state? Here, too, the record speaks for itself."

Nadler then played a supercut of Trump's mental slip-ups, including confusing former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, confusing Biden with former President Barack Obama, mixing up Hungary's Viktor Orbán with Turkey's Recep Erdogan, and confusing sexual assault accuser E. Jean Carroll with his ex-wife Marla Maples.

Watch the video below or at the link here.






https://www.rawstory.com/hur-report/

 

Poor Jim.
Everytime he's mentioned by wrong story he's been humiliated, or taken down or shamed.

How can the poor man stay in office?

 

Because Jim is now in the trumplican party. So a seditious election denier like Jim has a nice safe home.

Jim Jordan met with White House staffers and other Trump allies like Rudy Giuliani numerous times to discuss "strategies for challenging the election, chief among them claims that the election had been tainted by fraud.

And shooter, on what evidence did Jordan back Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election?

If you can cite cases and judges rulings that validated Trump's election fraud claims.

 

I am pretty sure most progressive/liberal/Democrats felt the same way I did. This hearing featuring Hur represented what we feared could be President Biden's greatest peril. And especially after Hur resigned the day before his testimony when he would be under no DOJ constraints at all. And instead it turned into one of progressive/liberal/Democrats greatest victories and the treasonous conservative/America Hating/Republicans worst slaughters. And I think that is because Trump was demanding thy use the hearing to try and defend him instead of attacking President Biden. Which just blew up in their faces in just about every way possible. When they really did have an opportunity to try and score some points against President Biden and blew it.


This was just brutal and Hur didn't want to do it and even tried to stop. But Rep. Madeline Dean (D-PA) was pissed and made hm do it like a principal with an errant student she was trying to teach a lesson.



Dem lawmaker gets Hur to read his own scathing words about Trump at GOP-led hearing

Brad Reed
March 12, 2024 2:03PM ET



Former special counsel Robert K. Hur testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on March 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. Hur investigated U.S. President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and published a final report with contentious conclusions about Biden’s memory. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)




Rep. Madeline Dean (D-PA) on Tuesday got special counsel Robert Hur to make a damning case against former President Donald Trump simply by having him read from his own report.

Although Hur's report leveled criticisms against President Joe Biden over his handling of classified documents and also documented instances in which the president had a faulty memory of important events, it nonetheless concluded that criminal charges against Biden weren't warranted given his full cooperation with the investigation, among other factors.

While questioning Hur in the House of Representatives, Dean asked him to read from the section of the report that contrasted Biden's actions with Trump's.

"The allegations set forth in the indictment of Mr. Trump, if proven, would present serious aggravating facts," Hur began.

"Keep going," Dean prodded.

ALSO READ: Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘Squad’ dying?

"Congresswoman, I'm happy to have you read the words of my report," Hur offered.

However, Dean wouldn't take no for an answer.

"It's your report, so I think it actually is more fitting that you read those," she said.

Hur then continued.

"Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite," he said.

"Keep going," said Dean.

"According to the indictment, he not only refused to turn over the documents for many months but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and lie about it," he said.

"You may stop there," said Dean.

The Pennsylvania Democrat wasn't the only House Democrat to use Hur's report as a cudgel against Trump, as Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) also argued that the report showed a striking contrast between Biden's actions and the alleged criminal actions taken by Trump.

In the end, Biden was not criminally charged over his handling of classified materials, whereas Trump was hit with dozens of felony counts.

Watch the video below or at this link.











Aaron Rupar
·
Mar 12, 2024
@atrupar
·
Follow
Replying to @atrupar
Neguse points out that unlike Bill Barr with Mueller, AG Merrick Garland did not try to spin Hur's report ahead of time to Biden's benefit




















Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
·
Follow
lmao Rep. Dean has Hur read the part of his report where he owns Trump












11:02 AM · Mar 12, 2024


https://www.rawstory.com/robert-hur-report-2667495836/

 

Dismissed.

 

I am still trying to track down who released the transcript of Hur's interview with President Biden. But it was a genius move. When I read the report it seemed slanted to me to make President Biden look bad which would be par for the course from a Trump appointed prosecutor with ties to the Federalist Society. But that is usually just about impossible to prove because they have a lot of leeway. But maybe Hur assumed the actual transcript wouldn't be released. Because he went way beyond leeway and did a political hack job that was not supported by the evidence.. And got caught red handed at it. And the treasonous conservative/America Hating/Republicans where all set up to make hay running with the hack job. And just got destroyed when confronted with what was actually in the transcript. And it was down right comical at times because it was obvious many of them didn't read the transcript or at least have their staff going through it because they would still try to run with some of the false propaganda talking points and get hammered to shit with quotes from the transcript.



Top news outlets acknowledge Hur’s characterization of Biden’s mental state didn’t match reality
Analysis by Oliver Darcy, CNN
Wed, March 13, 2024 at 5:11 AM MDT·4 min read
3.7k



Getty Images

• 
  

Oops?

After spending weeks breathlessly questioning President Joe Biden’s mental faculties in the wake of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s explosive report, some of America’s top news organizations on Tuesday effectively stated that Hur’s characterization of the commander-in-chief was off base.

The Wall Street Journal declared that the transcripts of Biden’s deposition with Hur released on Tuesday painted “a more nuanced picture” than the report indicated. The New York Times found that Biden appeared “clearheaded,” despite having fumbled some dates. And The Washington Post concluded Biden “doesn’t come across as being as absent-minded as Hur has made him out to be.”


In other words, the Hur report offered a misleading view of the president’s mental state. That’s a significant problem for news organizations, given that much of their recent coverage about Biden’s age was derived from that very report where Hur offered a wince-inducing depiction of the president as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”

The acknowledgement from some, but not all, news outlets on Tuesday about the true nature of Biden’s deposition marked another embarrassing moment for the national press, which has floundered at pivotal moments in the lead up to the crucial 2024 presidential election.

The deposition transcripts not only indicated that Biden appeared fairly sharp during his testimony, joking with investigators and retelling stories with granular detail, but that Hur was misleading in how he presented some of the information included in his report.

As The NYT’s Charlie Savage noted on X, in one instance, “Based on a garbled moment, Hur claimed Biden forgot that the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan was an ally who shared his opposition to the surge. Hur omitted that a few minutes later, Biden brought up the ambassador again in a way that made clear he knew that.”

Particularly jarring, was that at another point during the depositions, Hur actually went out of his way to praise Biden’s memory. “You have — appear to have a photographic understanding and, and recall of the house,” Hur told Biden, referencing the president’s Wilmington home.

Strangely, that characterization of Biden didn’t find its way into his report — and, thus, the crush of ensuing news stories. Instead, Hur chose to portray the president as a mentally diminished elderly man who struggled to recall basic information during his deposition, raising alarm bells about whether he had the fitness to serve in the nation’s highest office.

Hur’s characterization of Biden played directly into a years-long campaign waged by Biden’s political opponents and the powerful right-wing media machine to depict the president as a senile, aloof man.

The special counsel’s report was something of a gift to outlets like Fox News, which used the special counsel’s characterization to validate its years of ugly attacks on Biden. Such outlets then pointed to the fact that Biden’s mental fitness was being covered by prominent news organizations, contending that the issue had grown so serious the supposed “liberal media” could no longer ignore it.

To be fair to news organizations, they were faced with a thorny, difficult decision after the Hur report dropped. If they chose to dial back coverage, it could have looked like they were covering for Biden. On the other hand, leaning hard into the report, producing scores of stories and television segments about Hur’s characterization of Biden’s age, proved ultimately to be unwise as well.

What news organizations can do now, however, is forcefully acknowledge that the deposition transcript poured cold water on Hur’s over-the-top characterization of Biden’s mental fitness. Given the extensive coverage in the prior weeks, which seeped into the national consciousness, it is not sufficient to only tacitly acknowledge the reality of the situation.

But don’t hold your breath that the news media will shout its findings from the mountain tops at the same volume and with the same vigor as it did after Hur’s report was released. While The NYT, The WaPo, The WSJ, and a few others commendably acknowledged that the deposition transcripts rendered a more nuanced picture of Biden than Hur offered in his report, other outlets did not.

As Bill Grueskin, a renowned professor of professional practice at the Columbia Journalism School noted to me, “It’s very hard for someone who was involved in the coverage to critique their own methods. Because these things don’t always lend themselves to straightforward corrections, like misspelling a name. It has to do more with how a news story is framed so readers understand the incompleteness of it.”


https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/top-news-outlets-acknowledge-hur-111152686.html

 

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