Puppet Masters

Durham probe extends to Pentagon office that contracted FBI spy Stephan Halper

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC

Justice Department prosecutor U.S. Attorney John Durham is questioning personnel connected to the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment, which awarded multiple contracts to FBI informant Stephan Halper. Halper, who was informing the bureau on Trump campaign advisors, is a central figure in the FBI's original investigation into President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, SaraACarter.com has learned.

These latest developments reveal the expansive nature of what is now a Justice Department criminal probe into the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign. The revelation also comes on the heels of DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report regarding the bureau's investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, announced to Fox News' Sean Hannity Wednesday night the lengthy investigative report will be released to the public on Dec., 9.

DOJ Attorney General William Barr, who appointed Durham, is conducting a separate investigation alongside Horowitz's probe. Both investigations are examining how U.S. intelligence agencies began investigating now debunked ties between Russia and Trump campaign personnel in the 2016 presidential election.

Multiple sources confirmed to this news site that Durham has spoken extensively with sources working in the Office of Net Assessment, as well as outside contractors, that were paid through Pentagon office.

Department of Justice officials declined to comment on Durham's probe.

Comment: Nothing in government happens by accident. Reports are missing as per calculated decisions dependent upon the secrecy levels of a particular agenda and the protection of reusable assets.

Trump prods GOP senators to hold full trial if House votes to impeach

Tim Pearce
Washington Examiner
Thu, 21 Nov 2019 03:50 UTC

The White House supports a full trial for President Trump in the Senate if the House impeaches him.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, and the president's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner met with a group of GOP senators on Thursday morning to discuss impeachment strategy, according to Politico. The White House representatives told the lawmakers that Trump wants a deliberate trial and the chance to mount a defense on the merits of the case.

Trump has chosen to face a full trial despite several members of the GOP suggesting any impeachment articles brought against the president be immediately dismissed in the Senate.

In a separate meeting, Trump invited several Republican senators that are more critical of his administration to have lunch on Thursday. Among the invitees included Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, and eight other GOP lawmakers to discuss impeachment and lobby for a united GOP front in the Senate should the House pass articles of impeachment.

Comment: Go big or get buried? Trump is not about to 'get buried' by this mockery of one-sided justice.

From RT, 22/11/2019: Trump wants Biden to testify

"President Trump wants to have a trial in the Senate because it's clearly the only chamber where he can expect fairness and receive due process under the constitution," White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement on Thursday. "We would expect to finally hear from witnesses who actually witnessed, and possibly participated in corruption - like Adam Schiff, Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and the so-called whistleblower, to name a few."

The report claims that lawmakers present at the meeting told Trump administration officials that there is no guarantee that Republicans won't break ranks if a Senate vote is held to dismiss the impeachment articles. However, a White House official cited by the outlet said the motive behind Trump's desire to have a full-fledged trial is rather to prove "just how weak [the Democrats' case] is."

Additional from RT, 22/11/2019: 'I want a Senate impeachment trial'

Trump added "the one I want to testify most is Shifty Schiff ... and what I want to know most is, why did he make up my statement?"

Trump has also slammed Schiff for conducting impeachment hearings with second- and third-hand witnesses who have thus far failed to provide concrete evidence that the president arranged a quid-pro-quo deal with Zelensky.

Pompeo: Iranian protesters to send videos, photos of Tehran crackdown for new US sanctions excuse

Laura Kelly
The Hill
Fri, 22 Nov 2019 09:47 UTC

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is asking Iranian protesters to send the U.S. any photos or videos of violent abuses committed by the Islamic Republic, with a pledge to use the evidence as the basis for new sanctions.

Pompeo made the request on Thursday night on Twitter, in both Farsi and English, following a government crackdown on demonstrations that began last week. He directed protesters to a secure messaging service to send any documentation of abuses.

"I have asked the Iranian protestors to send us their videos, photos, and information documenting the regime's crackdown on protestors," the secretary wrote on Twitter. "The U.S. will expose and sanction the abuses."

Tehran has imposed a media and communications blackout on its residents in response to mass protests that started last week following a sharp increase in gas prices and fuel rationing. The protests quickly spread to more than 100 parts of the country, with reports of violence and property destruction. The Treasury Department on Friday announced sanctions on telecommunications minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi.

Comment: The US-fomented Iranian uprising is a self-serving ploy to further destabilize Iran from the inside out - a playbook policy for ex-CIA director Pompeo to faux-justify retaliation by the US and Israel. The protesters are throw-aways, an exploitable means to an end.

Hillary Clinton: We don't need a trial, just impeach the guy already

RT
Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:28 UTC

If all the legalities of finding grounds for impeachment are making your head hurt, Hillary Clinton has got you covered. Trump "has committed impeachable crimes," she says, and needs to be booted already - no trial required.

The ongoing impeachment inquiry against US President Donald Trump is just the first step in a drawn-out process. After gathering information and grilling witnesses, the House Intelligence Committee will send a report to the House Judiciary Committee, which will then draft articles of impeachment accordingly. The house will then vote on these articles and Trump can only then be removed from office after a trial and a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate.

But due process is all a bit bothersome for Hillary Clinton, who reckons there's no need for an investigation to determine whether Trump committed the "high crimes and misdemeanors" necessary to trigger impeachment.

"The question is not whether Trump has committed impeachable crimes. He has," she tweeted on Friday. "The question is whether Republicans in Congress will affirm that an American president is not above the law." In other words, Trump is guilty, and the GOP needs to quit resisting and to play ball.

Bolivia's Senate annuls ousted president Evo Morales' election victory

RT
Sat, 23 Nov 2019 18:49 UTC

Bolivia's Senate has passed legislation canceling Evo Morales' victory in the October presidential election, which was followed by a coup that forced him to flee the country. The bill also opens the door for new elections.

The bill on new elections was passed unanimously, the Senate confirmed on its Twitter page. The legislation will now need to get the approval of the lower chamber of the national parliament before self-proclaimed interim president Jeanine Anez signs it into law.

The bill effectively annuls the result of October's election which saw Morales eventually winning by a wide margin and sparked massive protests. It also allows for a new vote to be held without setting a specific date. It also bars any candidates who earlier served two terms from seeking re-election, thus preventing the ousted president, who has since fled to Mexico, from joining a new ballot.

The Bolivian Congress will also have to form a new seven-member electoral court after the previous one was disbanded amid vote-manipulating allegations.

Russian FM: White Helmets involved in human organ trafficking in Syria

FRN
Fri, 22 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC

According to eyewitnesses’ testimony, White Helmets were involved in evacuating people whom they promised medical assistance. After that, their relatives received bodies with some vital organs missing. This became evident when the bodies were examined and weighted, Grigoryev added.

The White Helmets non-governmental organization, which gained notoriety for dismissing falsified information about events in Syria, has also been involved in the forcible removal of organs from Syrians living in militant-controlled zones, according to Russian experts who interviewed locals.

Director of the Russian Foundation for the Study of Democracy Maxim Grigoryev made the statement while presenting a survey headlined "White Helmets: terrorist abettors and sources of disinformation" at the Russian Foreign Ministry, TASS reported.

The foreword to the survey was written by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"They [White Helmets] were a key element in this illegal scheme of organ removal. We learned about those incidents from the people whom we interviewed. This information came as an unpleasant surprise to us," Grigoryev, who is a co-author of the survey, said.

Comment: See also:

All hype, no substance: CNN, MSNBC repeat 'stunning,' 'explosive', 'bombshell' impeachment hearing mantra

RT
Sat, 23 Nov 2019 19:41 UTC

The impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump are hardly the epitome of high drama - but count on the mainstream media to hype up the snoozefest, with every witness dropping "bombshells" and every statement "explosive."

How many times can you repeat a word before it loses all meaning? Throughout four days of witness testimony before the House Intelligence Committee this week, anchors at CNN and MSNBC did their best to strip all impact from the words "stunning," "explosive" and "bombshell" to describe the events on Capitol Hill.

In reality, the hearings featured a revolving cast of bureaucrats who told often contradictory stories of President Trump's alleged wrongdoing. It all focused on allegations he'd pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into reopening a corruption probe against Joe Biden's family in exchange for Trump releasing military aid to the country. None of the witnesses could provide any concrete evidence of this "quid-pro-quo," however, and none were party to the infamous July 25 phone call that supposedly supports the narrative, despite a White House memo of the conversation proving otherwise.

Comment: What's extra sad about this is that several of the anchors seemingly realize how ridiculous it is and feel the need to comment: "I know we keep saying this..." But that's being generous. The majority are probably just mindless automatons reading their scripts or mechanically imitating the faddish words of the day with no awareness of how moronic they appear. That's how social hysteria works.

Right-wing German AfD MPs visit Syria, call Damascus 'peaceful, secure'

Sputnik
Sat, 23 Nov 2019 19:36 UTC

Lawmakers from the Alternative for Germany's parliamentary group have called on the German government to establish economic relations with Syria as they set out to travel to the Middle Eastern country. In a press statement, the party noted that the primary goals of their journey are to acquire a picture of the situation on the ground and to continue an intensive dialogue. As MP Udo Hemmelgarn pointed out, they are focused on bilateral relations, which have been completely frozen under Angela Merkel's government.

"I came here to take care that the sanctions against Syria will be ended, that we will finally have decent diplomatic relations, and that we can find a potential way to bring many Syrians back to their homeland from Germany - where there are almost 770,000 of them", he told the outlet bitchute.com.

The delegates met with representatives of President Bashar al-Assad's government. AfD's politicians also met the tourism, finance, and foreign ministers during their trip, the German news agency DPA reports.

In a Facebook post with pictures from the Syrian capital Damascus, Bundestag member Waldemar Herdt wrote that the city "is absolutely peaceful and secure".

"I have no concern about being safe and sound when we're there. With our Syrian partners, we will now do our best to ensure that the Syrians from Europe can return to this beautiful country without any disturbance", he posted.

Comment: The AfD may have their own agenda (sending Syrian 'refugees' back to Syria), but the fact is, they're right. The majority of Syria is now peaceful, with fighting only in Idlib and the north, near the border with Turkey. And returning the refugees home is not only good for Germany, it's good for Syria.

'Stand-alone mode': Russian-made S-400s to operate independently from NATO air defense - Turkish minister

RT
Sat, 23 Nov 2019 19:27 UTC

The S-400 air defense missile systems, purchased from Russia, will remain separate from the NATO military network and not cause any problems with its work, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Akar said that the S-400s will not be integrated into the NATO air defense system and will not pose a threat to the alliance.

"We've been saying it all along. Of course, [the S-400s] will be in 'stand-alone' mode. They will operate independently."

Turkey began receiving the S-400s this summer and is set to place the weapons on combat duty next April. Hulusi confirmed that Ankara intends to fully activate the Russian-made systems once its army personnel complete the necessary training.

Comment: Despite this, the United States continues to work itself up into a fit of hysterics over this issue. What is their real issue with Turkey (and other nations) having the S-400, aside from the fact that it's Russian? Is it because it's actually effective, unlike American military tech?

The Pitfalls of a Pit Bull Russophobe, Fiona Hill

Ray McGovern
Consortium News
Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:19 UTC

© REUTERS/Erin Scott
Former National Security Council Fiona Hill said Russia likely didn't have blackmail info on former President Donald Trump.

Fiona Hill's "Russian-expert" testimony Thursday and her deposition on Oct. 14 to the impeachment inquiry showed that her antennae are acutely tuned to what Russian intelligence services may be up to but, sadly, also displayed a striking naiveté about the machinations of U.S. intelligence.

Hill's education on Russia came at the knee of the late Professor Richard Pipes, her Harvard mentor and archdeacon of Russophobia. I do not dispute her sincerity in attributing all manner of evil to what President Ronald Reagan called the "Evil Empire." But, like so many other glib "Russia experts" with access to Establishment media, she seems three decades out of date.

I have been studying the U.S.S.R. and Russia for twice as long as Hill, was chief of CIA's Soviet Foreign Policy Branch during the 1970s, and watched the "Evil Empire" fall apart. She seems to have missed the falling apart part.

Selective Suspicion

Are the Russian intelligence services still very active? Of course. But there is no evidence — other than Hill's bias — for her extraordinary claim that they were behind the infamous "Steele Dossier," for example, or that they were the prime mover of Ukraine-gate in an attempt to shift the blame for Russian "meddling" in the 2016 U.S. election onto Ukraine. In recent weeks U.S. intelligence officials were spreading this same tale, lapped up and faithfully reported Friday by The New York Times.

Hill has been conditioned to believe Russian President Vladimir Putin and especially his security services are capable of anything, and thus sees a Russian under every rock — as we used to say of smart know-nothings like former CIA Director William Casey and the malleable "Soviet experts" who bubbled up to the top during his reign (1981-1987). Recall that at the very first meeting of Reagan's cabinet, Casey openly told the president and other cabinet officials: "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." Were Casey still alive, he would be very pleased and proud of Hill's performance.

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Puppet Masters

Durham probe extends to Pentagon office that contracted FBI spy Stephan Halper

Trump prods GOP senators to hold full trial if House votes to impeach

Pompeo: Iranian protesters to send videos, photos of Tehran crackdown for new US sanctions excuse

Hillary Clinton: We don't need a trial, just impeach the guy already

Bolivia's Senate annuls ousted president Evo Morales' election victory

Russian FM: White Helmets involved in human organ trafficking in Syria

All hype, no substance: CNN, MSNBC repeat 'stunning,' 'explosive', 'bombshell' impeachment hearing mantra

Right-wing German AfD MPs visit Syria, call Damascus 'peaceful, secure'

'Stand-alone mode': Russian-made S-400s to operate independently from NATO air defense - Turkish minister

The Pitfalls of a Pit Bull Russophobe, Fiona Hill

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