The right-wing FBI failure to anticipate 1/6

More evidence of Trump’s success at politicizing the government.

Difficult to read.

Fair to ask if:

– four years of intimidation by Trump
– Barr’s constant focus on left-wing violence in 2020 and
– the fact Jan 6 participants were largely conservative white men

contributed to the “lack of imagination.”

Gift link:https://t.co/F3Fa1BI1G2
— Pete Strzok (@petestrzok) February 1, 2023

Andrew McCabe will not be charged

Another attack by Trump fails. I wish there was some way McCabe could get his pension. I hope he sues. Now Trump will whine about it. Trump keeps trying to make people who he thinks of as enemies get charged with crimes. Meanwhile, it’s his cronies (Manafort, Flynn, Stone) who are convicted.

"A White House official said that Trump was not given a heads-up and was upset, and that White House lawyers moved to calm the president. The official said Trump 'believes very strongly that action should be taken.'" https://t.co/dn3rhHGL3j @jdawsey1 @DevlinBarrett @karoun
— Matt Zapotosky (@mattzap) February 14, 2020

Note that there were reports/rumors that a DC grand jury refused to indict McCabe last year. Hard to move forward after that. Seems they just kept him hanging until now when it became convenient to toss out a distraction while they start trying to undo the Flynn conviction.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 14, 2020

The McCabe investigation was dead months ago when is was clear that the grand jury wouldn’t indict him. Today’s announcement is a crass public relations move, pure & simple, trying to convince us that Barr is not doing Trump’s dirty work. Don’t be fooled. https://t.co/AnlNz8q26u
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) February 14, 2020

Thread. If career prosecutors were telling a judge on Sep. 9 that a McCabe decision could be made "literally within days," why has this case languished so long? https://t.co/mSvW9Ga7Gb
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) February 14, 2020

No kidding: Andrew McCabe, Ex-F.B.I. Official, Will Not Be Charged in Lying Case ⁦#mccabe https://t.co/qZOZv6sQc2
— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) February 14, 2020

Bill Barr, trump’s stooge, admits Andy McCabe did nothing wrong.

US Attorney John Huber, trump’s stooge to find wrongdoing by DOJ in 2016, finds bubkis.

The pressure from trump, Barr & FOX on their last hope, US Attorney John Durham, to manufacture wrongdoing is immense.
— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) February 14, 2020

The last sentence makes an excellent point.

This story seems timed to limit Trump's outrage at the decision not to charge McCabe https://t.co/4fDScPPulo
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) February 14, 2020

Hillary Clinton – cleared
James Comey – cleared
Obama – cleared
Lisa and Peter – cleared
Now McCabe – cleared

Wake up, MAGAts. They did nothing wrong. Trump has been lying to you for years.
— lisastark35 (@lisastark351) February 14, 2020

BREAKING: We just got unsealed court docs that show DOJ stringing the Andrew McCabe case along while looking for a reason to indict him. It should come as no surprise the announcement they won't indict happened right before we got the docs. Read them here: https://t.co/utQ3Pj9t7k
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) February 14, 2020

Trump was angered by decision by federal prosecutors not to pursue charges against former FBI director Andrew McCabe, a WH official said.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 14, 2020

McCabe’s counsel: “The president aided by the attorney general is using the power of his office to go after perceived political enemies. He's going after the intelligence community. He's going after the law enforcement community…”
Judge Walton: "Going after the courts too.”
👀
— Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) February 14, 2020

New, with @arawnsley: A federal judge blasted DOJ for their management of the McCabe investigation, calling it disturbing and comparing the situation to a "banana republic"https://t.co/PKjeKNcnIM
— Betsy Woodruff Swan (@woodruffbets) February 14, 2020

NEW: DOJ decision to drop McCabe probe came on deadline to release docs in related #FOIA case. They show the judge said he feared Trump comments about McCabe prosecution were turning US into a 'banana republic.' More: https://t.co/CIYsmOpwG5
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) February 14, 2020

Also released today – transcripts from a court case involving a FOIA request for documents about the McCabe matter. The judge (a Bush appointee) made clear his feelings about comments by President Trump re: McCabehttps://t.co/VQ6tnmnklC pic.twitter.com/GTU9fe4HEZ
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) February 14, 2020

70% of voters think Trump shouldn’t fire Mueller

66% of Republicans believe Trump’s lie that there were spies in his campaign. There are no facts to support it and prominent congressional Republicans have said it’s not true. The Republican voters believe Trump.

70% of voters say Trump shouldn't fire Mueller. 13% say he should.

Republicans say 50-23% Trump shouldn't fire Mueller.

56% say the FBI informant was "routine." 33% say the FBI spied on the Trump camp. Repubs are the only group who believe the spy allegation. @QuinnipiacPoll

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 8, 2018

Do US Voters think the #FBI spied on the Trump campaign or engaged in routine procedure? https://t.co/b5gU6sCOWY GRAPH pic.twitter.com/TpxbtVJC55

— Quinnipiac Poll (@QuinnipiacPoll) June 8, 2018

The FBI meeting with Congress on the informant will only include Republicans

Sarah Sanders says meeting with Hill lawmakers will take place Thursday about confidential FBI source — and NO Dems will be at the meeting. Nunes and Gowdy will meet with Wray, Coats and a senior DOJ official. No WH staff will attend.

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 22, 2018

By not inviting Democrats to this FBI briefing, the White House appears to be, quite literally, politicizing intelligence.

— Sam Stein (@samstein) May 22, 2018

Democracy is being dismantled in front of us. The fact that no Democrats are invited to the DOJ briefing on the FBI informant screams politics Trumps national security and the rule of law. We’re way beyond the slippery slope. We’re heading to the abyss.

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) May 22, 2018

This is not right. Briefings like this should be bipartisan. https://t.co/Eorhnf8Mim pic.twitter.com/lOE5mqlqZB

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) May 23, 2018

SCHUMER on WH mtg RE: confidential FBI source: "I think it's very wrong and I think it shouldn't be done. It's unprecedented, it's outrageous and it has overtones of things that would be done in a banana republic where the dictator just pushes what he wants done."

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) May 22, 2018

Sad!

Trump’s outrageous claim about the FBI

Remember when Trump said that Obama wiretapped him? This was a lie with no supporting evidence. Trump has done it again with his claim that the FBI embedded someone in his campaign. This is another baseless claim designed to take attention away from the actual activities of the Trump campaign.

Think about it:

The FBI was investigating Clinton’s emails during the campaign. Comey made two public statement which contributed to Clinton’s loss in the election.
The FBI was investigating the Trump’s campaign’s contacts with Russia (an enemy of the US) during the campaign. The FBI said nothing about this during the campaign. Neither did President Obama.

If the FBI and Obama wanted to hurt Trump and help Clinton, they would have said something before the election about the connections between Russia and the Trump campaign. They didn’t. The facts are the opposite of Trump’s outrageous claim since their inaction helped Trump.

Sad!

Update: Here’s a great tweet:

The real reason Obama didn’t warn about the Russian threat before the election is because Mitch McConnell threatened to politicize that decision if he did so. https://t.co/ziF4d5KE9s

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) May 27, 2018

A majority of Republicans think the FBI and DOJ are framing Trump

According to this poll, 61% of Republicans think the FBI and Department of Justice are framing Trump. Only 7% of Democrats think that.

Here’s another poll on a similar question

Remarkable partisan split in CNN poll CNN POLL CONDUCTED BY SSRS
May 2-5
The Russia Investigation Is…

Dems. GOP

A serious matter 87% 20%
An effort to discredit
Trump's presidency 12% 78%

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 11, 2018