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Trump denies telling FBI to drop Flynn probe amidst obstruction allegations


AFP
Sun, 03 Dec 2017 18:32 UTC
Trump
US President Donald Trump denied on Sunday having asked then FBI director James Comey to stop investigating ex-national security advisor Michael Flynn, as the Russia meddling probe darkened what would otherwise have been a victorious week for the Republican president.

Trump appeared to be backtracking furiously from a tweet on Saturday that deepened suspicions that he engaged in obstruction of justice, an impeachable offence -- in the Russia scandal haunting his presidency.

In that Twitter post, Trump said he had fired Flynn in February for lying not just to the vice president but also to Comey's FBI, which was probing Flynn over his pre-inauguration contacts with the Russian ambassador about US sanctions imposed by Barack Obama against Russia for interfering in the US election.

Comey has testified under oath to lawmakers that a day after firing Flynn, Trump asked him to drop the Flynn probe.

Comment: See also:

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Handcuffs

After Steinle verdict, Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita unveils bill to imprison officials who shelter illegal immigrants

Barnini Chakraborty
Fox News
Mon, 04 Dec 2017 20:28 UTC
memorial to Kate Steinle
© Fox NewsMemorial to Kate Steinle in San Francisco
A Republican congressman plans to introduce a bill Monday that would threaten huge fines and prison time for elected officials accused of sheltering illegal immigrant criminals from deportation, in the wake of the not-guilty verdict in the Kate Steinle murder trial.

Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita's bill is one of the most aggressive pieces of legislation to date aimed at sanctuary city policies, going beyond the Justice Department's threat to cut off grants to those jurisdictions.

"Politicians don't get to pick and choose what laws to comply with," Rokita told Fox News. "Americans are dying because politicians sworn to uphold the law refuse to do so."

His "Stopping Lawless Actions of Politicians (SLAP) Act" would hold state and local lawmakers criminally responsible for refusing to comply with federal immigration enforcement efforts. The Republican's bill would subject violators to a $1 million fine and up to five years in prison if they are convicted.

Comment:

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Clock

How the Deep State took down Flynn: KGB-style entrapment

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 04 Dec 2017 20:02 UTC
comey yates
The single most important fact about the destruction of Michael Flynn - a decorated US soldier who has served his country in battle and who is a Lieutenant General of the US Army - is the shocking way it was brought about.

To understand what happened it is necessary to go back to the events of last December and January and to note their sequence.

The timeline

On 28th December 2016 Flynn was telephoned by Russian ambassador Kislyak over an open line. Kislyak asked Flynn what the new Trump administration's policy would be with respect to the sanctions US President Barack Obama had announced that day.

Seemingly unknown to Kislyak and Flynn US the FBI was recording the call.

On 29th December 2016 Flynn telephoned Mar-a-Lago for instructions. He spoke to a senior official of the Trump transition team who was almost certainly Jared Kushner. This official told Flynn that the incoming Trump administration did not want to see the situation between the US and Russia escalate and asked Flynn to say this to Kislyak.

On 29th December 2016 Flynn telephoned Kislyak over an open line, told Kislyak the incoming Trump administration did not want to see the situation between the US and Russia escalate, and urged Russia to respond to Obama's sanctions with restraint.

Apparently Flynn asked Kislyak that whatever retaliatory action Russia took in response to the sanctions should be on the same scale as the sanctions so as not to escalate the situation further.

It is now universally accepted that Flynn gave Kislyak no promise that an incoming Trump administration would lift the sanctions during this call.

Once more, seemingly unknown to Kislyak and Flynn, the FBI recorded the call.

Comment: Bob Parry at Consortium News has essentially the same idea:
What is arguably most disturbing about this case is that then-National Security Adviser Flynn was pushed into a perjury trap by Obama administration holdovers at the Justice Department who concocted an unorthodox legal rationale for subjecting Flynn to an FBI interrogation four days after he took office, testing Flynn's recollection of the conversations while the FBI agents had transcripts of the calls intercepted by the National Security Agency.

In other words, the Justice Department wasn't seeking information about what Flynn said to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak - the intelligence agencies already had that information. Instead, Flynn was being quizzed on his precise recollection of the conversations and nailed for lying when his recollections deviated from the transcripts.
...
Yates's legal theorizing was so elastic and speculative that it could be used to justify subjecting almost anyone to FBI interrogation with the knowledge that their imperfect memories would guarantee the grounds for prosecution based on NSA intercepts of their communications.

Basically, the Obama holdovers concocted a preposterous legal theory to do whatever they could to sabotage the Trump administration, which they held in fulsome disdain.


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Mr. Potato

US 'played drama to the press': Ex-Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman on Daesh evacuation from Raqqa


Sputnik
Mon, 04 Dec 2017 20:09 UTC
Syrian Democratic Forces
© AP Photo/ Asmaa Waguih
A former spokesman of the Syrian Democratic Forces, who had fled to Turkey, has revealed secrets regarding the US-led coalition's participation in Raqqa's liberation.

A former spokesman of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Talal Silo, said in an interview with the Anadolu news agency that Daesh terrorists were allowed to leave Syria's Raqqa by order of the United States in order to resist the Syrian government army in Deir ez-Zor.

"According to the Americans, the [Syrian President Bashar Assad] regime army could reach Deir ez-Zor in six weeks. But when the regime army proceeded faster than expected, the U.S. wanted the SDF to begin negotiations with Daesh. Thus, the terrorists would go to Al-Bukamal [near the Iraqi border] and prevent the regime's advance. Talks were held to allow 3,500 terrorists to leave," Silo, who fled to Turkey in mid-November, said.
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Cult

Collusion with Israel - not Russia: Mega-donor Haim Saban thanks Jared Kushner for working on Israel's behalf


RT
Sun, 03 Dec 2017 23:58 UTC
Kushner Saban
© James Lawler Duggan / ReutersWhite House senior adviser Jared Kushner shakes hands with Haim Saban at the Saban Forum
Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's senior advisor - and the man who allegedly ordered Gen. Michael Flynn's "collusion" calls to Russia - has appeared at pro-Israeli donor Haim Saban's event where he has been thanked for his lobbying on behalf of Israel.

Speaking at the three-day conference, prominent Clinton Foundation donor Saban thanked Kusher for "taking steps to try and get the UN Security Council to not go along with what ended up being an abstention by the US against a 50-year-old tradition."

The multibillionaire was referring to Flynn's admission that he had been told to ask Russia to delay a December 2016 UN Security Council vote on Israeli settlements. It has since been reported that Flynn was acting on Kushner's orders, and that Israeli officials had contacted Trump's team to ask for their help to veto the resolution, Reuters reports.

Comment: Given Kushner's meteoric rise to power and staunch pro-Israel "advocacy", a lot about this doe-eyed power-driven young man has come to light in recent months. And one has to ask: Does Trump even know what the heck he's doing in empowering Kushner so much? and do not miss: Jared Kushner: Friend or foe? Son of a gangster, son-in-law of President Trump

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Chess

Trump doubling down in verbal war with FBI

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Mon, 04 Dec 2017 17:25 UTC
FBI Trump
© Associated Press
Over the weekend, President Trump launched into what appeared to be an all-out verbal war with the FBI when in a series of tweets, Trump slammed the bureau for its reported anti-Trump bias in both the Clinton email probe and its investigation of Russian collusion involving the Trump administration. Among his harsher tweets were the following:
  • So General Flynn lies to the FBI and his life is destroyed, while Crooked Hillary Clinton, on that now famous FBI holiday "interrogation" with no swearing in and no recording, lies many times...and nothing happens to her? Rigged system, or just a double standard?
  • Many people in our Country are asking what the "Justice" Department is going to do about the fact that totally Crooked Hillary, AFTER receiving a subpoena from the United States Congress, deleted and "acid washed" 33,000 Emails? No justice!
  • Tainted (no, very dishonest?) FBI "agent's role in Clinton probe under review." Led Clinton Email probe. @foxandfriends Clinton money going to wife of another FBI agent in charge.
  • After years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI, its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness.
  • I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!
  • Report: "ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENT LED CLINTON EMAIL PROBE" Now it all starts to make sense!

Comment:

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Megaphone

Tucker Carlson on Obama's three wicked witches and their war crimes in Libya (VIDEO)

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Sat, 02 Dec 2017 20:41 UTC
Tucker Carlson
The Duran ran a post today by Pat Buchanan on the North Korea standoff...
Kim saw how Bush II, when it served U.S. interests, pulled out of our 30-year-old ABM treaty with Moscow. He saw how, after he gave up all his WMD to reach an accommodation with the West, Moammar Gadhafi was attacked by NATO and ended up being lynched.

He can see how much Americans honor nuclear treaties they sign by observing universal GOP howls to kill the Iranian nuclear deal and bring about "regime change" in Tehran, despite Iran letting U.N. inspectors roam the country to show they have no nuclear weapons program.

For America's post-Cold War enemies, the lesson is clear:

Give up your WMD, and you wind up like Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein. Build nuclear weapons that can threaten Americans, and you get respect.

Kim Jong Un would be a fool to give up his missiles and nukes, and while the man is many things, a fool is not one of them.
Tucker Carlson speaks with Glenn Reynolds who has covered Hillary Clinton's devastating destruction of Libya, plunging the once prosperous nation into a "slave trade" haven. Susan Rice, Samantha Power, and Hillary Clinton murdered Gaddafi, bombed Libya and turned the nation into a "real mess"...and no one has been punished for their crimes.


Comment: Fake news? 'Libyan slave trade booming', sez CNN


Which brings us to North Korea, as Tucker Carlson and Glenn Reynolds point out, that after seeing what Obama's three wicked witches did to Libya, why would any nation agree to give up their WMD program?



Comment: Also See:

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Info

Putin says almost all Syrian territory freed, including historic Christian regions


RT
Mon, 04 Dec 2017 19:38 UTC
The Ibrahim al-Khalil church in Jaramana
© Omar Sanadiki / ReutersThe Ibrahim al-Khalil church in Jaramana eastern Damascus, Syria
Almost the entire territory of Syria, including historic Christian regions, has been liberated from terrorists, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said. He stressed the importance of restoring peace to enable refugees of all faiths to return home.

"The situation in this country [Syria] is gradually changing, the Syrian armed forces, supported by Russian military, have liberated from terrorists almost the whole territory of the country, including historic Christian regions," Putin said on Monday at a meeting with heads of Orthodox Christian congregations.

Moscow will help restore holy sites not only of Syria's Christians, but also Muslims and Jews, Russian leader stated.
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Stock Down

China defends digital currencies crackdown as fight against capital flight


RT
Mon, 04 Dec 2017 19:02 UTC
Great Wall China
© David Gray / Reuters
Chinese regulators say they are on the right track in deciding to rein in digital currencies, according to central bank deputy governor Pan Gongsheng.

"If we didn't shut bitcoin exchanges and crack down on initial coin offerings a few months ago, and if more than 80 percent of the world's bitcoin transactions and financing activities were still taking place in China, which was the case back in January, what would it be like today? It's scary to think about," said the banker as quoted by Chinese business daily Yicai.

China, once the world's largest bitcoin trading market, clamped down on cryptocurrency exchanges earlier this year. Beijing suspects the trade in cryptocurrencies is being used by Chinese citizens to move cash abroad. In September, the country's regulator banned bitcoin trading and initial coin offerings (ICOs).
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Info

UK aid to Syria falling into terrorist hands


RT
Mon, 04 Dec 2017 19:46 UTC
Ruins
© Ammar Safarjalani/ Global Look PressFather and son have been walking among the ruins
The UK government has suspended a foreign aid project in Syria amid allegations that funds are being pocketed by extremists groups. It is yet another report of British taxpayers' money reaching the wrong hands.

The project seeks to use aid funds from Britain to help officers of the Free Syria Police (FSP) implement order in the region following the Syrian uprising. However, claims that the funds were being diverted to extremists were made in a BBC Panorama program, Jihadis You Pay For. The program, aired on Monday evening, also claims that UK-backed officers were apparently working with courts imposing torture and executions.

The Adam Smith International think tank, which has been managing the project since October 2014, denies any allegations of wrongdoing. It says it had managed taxpayers' money "effectively to confront terrorism."

Comment: The UK government has suspended a Syrian aid program to investigate reports that the money is ending up in the wrong hands.
The government spokesman said Prime Minister Theresa May and her team took the allegations "extremely seriously."

"We take any allegations of co-operation with terrorist groups and of human rights abuses extremely seriously and the Foreign Office has suspended this program while we investigate these allegations," he said.

The FSP officers are accused of handing over funds they had received in cash to an extremist group controlling the area.

Such cases were prevalent in Aleppo province, where officers paid at least 20 percent of their salaries to the Nour al-Din al-Zinki group, which controlled the area.

The UK-backed officers had helped the group "by writing up warrants, delivering notices, and turning criminals over to the court."


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