I mean…come on. This is what we’re talking about now? It’s Sunday, February 4th, 2018. Less than five days ago, the President of the United States gave his first State of the Union address. And of the four major networks today, two of them didn’t even mention the address. And do you know why? First off, I think everyone’s figured out that Telepromptr Trump is irrelevant. The man can sure look professional when he’s reading what somebody else has written for him. But it’s Twitter Trump that reveals what the man is actually thinking. So, exactly, ignore the speech.
However, in its place, we’re talking about “the memo” – which is supposedly this smoking gun released by Republicans in the House this week revealing the depths of corruption within the “Deep State” — the government apparatus, specifically inside the CIA and FBI. the government agents that have it out for Trump.
Nevermind that the “Deep State” did a pretty awful job of getting Hillary Clinton elected.
So this memo was supposed to show that the FBI was relying on Hilary Clinton campaign opposition dirt on Donald Trump to “spy” on some of Trump’s campaign staff. Now, I really don’t want to get into the weeds on this and talk about Carter Page, the Steele Dossier and FISA courts. If you want to catch up on that…read this.
Instead, I’m going to tell you about the conflicting sides on this stupid memo. And just to be clear, I’m not calling this memo “stupid” because I have a particular political ax to grind. I’m calling it stupid because of the colossal waste of time it’s become.
First, there are the Democrats led by Adam Schiff (pictured at the top), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He joined George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week to complain that the “memo” was just a political hack piece and not really an expose on how our government works:
SCHIFF: If this was oversight, the committee members would want to read the underlying documents. I made a motion to allow them to read the documents. They voted it down. I made a motion to bring the FBI in and ask the FBI these questions. You know, why was this included, why was that not included. That’s what oversight looks like.
What Schiff is trying to say is that this stupid Memo was written without all the usual investigative stuff that Congress would normally do if it was trying to get to the bottom of something.
On the other side of things are the Republicans who believe this memo is revealing how the FBI is not interested in finding the truth, but rather motivated only in attacking Trump.
Over on CBS’s Face the Nation, Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina heard this opening salvo from host Margaret Brennan, “Saturday, President Trump tweeted that the memo ‘totally vindicated Trump’ in the Russia probe…
REP. GOWDY: I actually don’t think it has any impact on the Russia probe for this reason –
MARGARET BRENNAN: The memo has no impact on the Russia probe?
REP. GOWDY: No– not to me, it doesn’t — and I was pretty integrally involved in the drafting of it. There is a Russia investigation without a dossier.
Wait a minute…what? I thought that Republicans were releasing this memo to prove that the FBI had it out for Trump and that this whole Russia “thing” was “fake news…” So what gives?
Gowdy wasn’t alone/ There was Congressman Will Hurd from Texas, also on This Week saying that “I don’t believe this is an attack on the men and women in the FBI.” And he also said later he didn’t think this vindicated Trump.
But it was John Brennan – former head of the CIA – who really put this whole thing in context for me.
BRENNAN: I do think it was up to the F.B.I. to see whether or not they could verify any of it…Just because it was unverified didn’t mean it wasn’t true.
Exactly. The FBI is supposed to investigate these things. Even if it turns out not to be anything, IT’S THEIR JOB!!
And then Brennan got medievel on Nunes – the mastermind behind the “memo”
BRENNAN: He was being exceptionally partisan in this…I never, ever saw the Democrats do something like this that was so partisan, so reckless and really just laid waste to the protocols that governed committees. And Devin Nunes…I think has been engaged in these tactics purely to defend, make excuses and try to protect Mr. Trump.
So to the Republicans (like Nunes) who are saying that this memo means we should call off investigating the Russians – you are being partisan hacks. And to the Republicans who are saying it was still a good idea to release this memo even if it doesn’t vindicate Trump…well…at least one ex-Deep Stater is calling bullsh*t.
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