The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 5-23-2018

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The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 5-23-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Op 'Crossfire Hurricane' Is Now Op 'Backfire Tornado'

By Mark Alexander · May 23, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/alexander/56144-op-crossfire-hurricane-is-now-op-backfire-tornado

“In disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasoning must depend.” —Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 311 (1788.)

In the Rolling Stones’ hit song “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” Mick Jagger wails, “I was born in a crossfire hurricane. And I howled at the morning driving rain.” I have no idea what that means, but a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign under the codename “Crossfire Hurricane” certainly justifies a lot of howling.

Let’s review.

Last week marked the one-year anniversary2 of “independent” counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the fake Trump/Putin collusion3 delusion, sponsored by ludicrous and unverified opposition research provided to the CIA and FBI by operatives of the Clinton/Putin/Fusion4 farce.

Clinton’s charade prompted months of FBI and CIA investigations into the Trump campaign5, followed by the appointment of Mueller to widen the investigation.

Despite having stacked his investigative team with 13 hard-core Democrats6 (some overt donors to Hillary Clinton’s campaign) and zero Republicans, and having burned through 10 million taxpayer dollars (and as much in legal defense fees from those they’ve targeted), what Trump/Putin collusion has Mueller uncovered?

According to The New York Times — yes, The New York Times — “A year and a half later, no public evidence has surfaced connecting Mr. Trump’s advisers … or linking Mr. Trump himself, to the Russian government’s disruptive efforts.”

Let that sink in.

Instead, Mueller’s “big fish” indictment was Trump’s former campaign chief, Paul Manafort — with unrelated business practice violations that occurred years before Trump was even a candidate. He also obtained a couple of guilty pleas from others who were only remotely connected to the Trump campaign and a bogus perjury plea from former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn (even former FBI Director James Comey told Congress he didn’t think Flynn had lied). But none of the indictments are even remotely connected to “collusion.”

Mueller has issued indictments for 13 Russians who plotted to disrupt the U.S. election in 2016 — not by swinging votes to one candidate or the other but by undermining confidence in the American electoral system.

For the record, the Russians have been trying to disrupt U.S. political stability since 1917, because that’s what socialists do.

Putin’s plotters have succeeded in their disruption goal beyond their wildest ambitions, thanks to a few rotten apples — most notably Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan, the Deep State boss7 who’s at the root of the Trump collusion setup, the aforementioned James Comey8, their enablers within the Clinton campaign, and of course Mueller himself.

Currently, according to Mueller, Trump is not a target of his investigation9, but he most certainly has been the target of Brennan and Comey. So when Mueller wants a conversation with Trump about something that didn’t happen, he should decline.

Despite the fact that the collusion narrative has collapsed10, there will likely come other charges and indictments for infractions unrelated to Mueller’s investigative mandate in the months and potentially years ahead, as Mueller can keep his investigation open until he decides to close it — or is fired.

Mueller has veered so far out of his lane that earlier this month during the Manafort hearing, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis blasted Mueller’s investigation11, charging, “If I look at the indictment [against Manafort], none of that information has anything to do with links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Donald Trump. So I don’t see what relation this indictment has with anything the special prosecutor is authorized to investigate.”

“C'mon, man!” the judge added, dismissing the special counsel’s argument.

This week there are two more confirmations of Obama/Clinton political weaponization of the FBI and CIA.

First comes evidence of Obama administration12 collaboration with several corrupt FBI officials13, who protected Clinton while using her campaign’s fake dossier to set Trump up.

In a text message between fired key FBI investigator Peter Strzok to his paramour FBI lawyer Lisa Page14, Strzok declared that the Obama administration was orchestrating the investigation into Trump15. “The White House is running this,” wrote Strzok.

Indeed, Obama’s modus operandi16 was all over the Trump setup.

Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz has already issued a scathing report regarding the FBI’s former deputy director, Andrew McCabe17, a corrupt Clinton supporter who, along with Comey, helped her avoid criminal prosecution for her lawless email communication subterfuge18 and subsequent destruction of evidence while she was secretary of state.

Horowitz is scheduled to release his second report this week, focusing more on how a few Clinton supporters in key FBI positions mishandled the aforementioned investigation to her campaign’s benefit19. And a third report due this summer will provide some insight into another area of the Clinton Crime Syndicate20, the corrupt Clinton Foundation21 and its “pay-for-play” fundraising schemes22.

But Horowitz is about to have another significant investigation on his hands.

The second revelation confirming the Obama/Clinton political weaponization of the FBI and CIA this week came in the form of disclosures regarding a CIA and FBI secret counterintelligence operation investigating the Trump campaign.

In July of 2016, operation “Crossfire Hurricane” was activated to allegedly investigate whether the Russians were attempting to infiltrate and influence the Trump campaign. In effect, the FBI and CIA, using FISA surveillance, covert operatives and allied intelligence services, infiltrated the Trump campaign. The rationale was, ostensibly, to protect the Trump campaign from Russian operatives.

The CIA and FBI should have warned Trump about these threats, but the “collusion” fix was already set, despite no evidence of such collusion — none.

The first of the Crossfire Hurricane operatives to be outed was British “professor” Stefan Halper23, who was paid more than $400,000 to contact and obtain information from at least three individuals associated with Trump’s campaign: Carter Page, Sam Clovis and George Papadopoulos.

Based on what we know about the events used to justify Crossfire Hurricane, when cross-referenced with the Trump/Putin collusion timeline24, I predict that some of Obama’s corrupt CIA and FBI principals who seeded and manured the collusion investigation will also be key players in the counterintelligence operation.

Just a reminder — Richard Nixon’s Watergate coverup25 most egregiously involved the use of operatives within the CIA and FBI to obtain information on Democrats. Nixon had the decency to resign rather than put the nation through impeachment proceedings. No small irony that the Democrats are now talking about impeaching Trump, when it was the leaders in their own party who were coopting the CIA and FBI to do much more than just obtain opposition research.

Once Crossfire Hurricane became public, Trump protested: “I hereby demand … that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

And in a New York second, operation “Crossfire Hurricane” became operation “Backfire Tornado”!

But according to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (who lied to Congress in 2013 about the Obama administration’s collection of data on all Americans), Trump’s concern about the counterintelligence campaign targeting his campaign “is hyperbole.”

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The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 5-23-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
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Clapper claims: “They may have had someone who was talking to them in the campaign, but, you know, the focus here, and as it was with the intelligence community, is not on the campaign, per se, but what the Russians were doing to try to instantiate themselves in the campaign or influence or leverage it. So if there was someone that was observing that sort of thing, that’s a good thing.”

Ask directly if government operatives were spying on the Trump campaign, Clapper said, “They were spying on, a term I don’t particularly like, but on what the Russians were doing. Trying to understand were the Russians infiltrating, trying to gain access, trying to gain leverage or influence, which is what they do.”

Again, the CIA and FBI should have contacted the Trump campaign directly to help determine if the Russians were seeking to influence Trump, but there was already a presumption of colluding guilt.

Now, for certain, Russian efforts to undermine the integrity of U.S. elections should be thoroughly investigated — as has always been the case.

And objectively, there’s a very thin argument in favor of Clapper’s assertion that the investigation was justified, though highly irregular. However, with Brennan, Comey and some of their key investigative gatekeepers, “objectivity” was AWOL. They were heavily biased for a Hillary Clinton26 victory over Trump and were colluding to use the power of their agencies to ensure she would defeat Trump, and in the unlikely event he was elected, ensure to ensnare him in the collusion trap they set.

Thus, President Trump’s concerns are fully justified, as was his call for a full investigation into the campaign probes.

Regarding Brennan’s politicization of the CIA27, Trump’s social media staff summed it up: “John Brennan … has disgraced himself, he has disgraced the Country, he has disgraced the entire Intelligence Community. He is the one man who is largely responsible for the destruction of American’s faith in the Intelligence Community and with some people at the top of the FBI, Brennan started this entire debacle about President Trump. We now know that Brennan had detailed knowledge of the (phony) dossier. … He briefs the Gang of 8 on the Hill about the dossier, which they then used to start an investigation about Trump. It is that simple. This guy is the genesis of this whole Debacle. This was a Political hit job…”

Georgetown law professor Jonathan Turley (a Democrat) observed that, no matter how the Left and Leftmedia28 try to spin this operation, “You can tell a victim that this isn’t a mugging, it’s a forced divestiture, but this is a mugging. … I know of no precedent to support this.”

Not about to be content with this mugging, President Trump called Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and FBI Director Christopher Wray and ordered an investigation into the campaign probes with a full report due to congressional investigators. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly was assigned to ensure that Congress receives the information it needs to fully investigate the probe.

According to Trump Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, the administration believes the DoJ’s inspector general should “expand its current investigation to include any irregularities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s or the Department of Justice’s tactics concerning the Trump Campaign.”

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has referred the case to IG Horowitz, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has appointed a federal prosecutor, John Huber, to work with Horowitz to review the case.

And House Republicans have introduced a resolution calling for a special counsel29 to investigate the FBI/DOJ investigators involved in the Trump/Russia probe.

Game on.

Moving forward, I would caution Republicans to choose their words carefully when broadcasting condemnations.

As I have previously noted, the corruption of FBI leadership and some high-level bureaucrats has cast a long shadow on all of the 12,484 special agents and 2,950 intelligence analysts in the FBI. But most men and women in the FBI, much as in the CIA, steadfastly abide by their oaths “to support and defend30” our Constitution, not their preferential candidate, and they serve our nation likewise. They live up to the FBI motto: Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity.

Indeed, most FBI agents, whose reputations and careers are being sullied, are deeply offended both personally and professionally by that corruption. According to confidential sources within the FBI31, there are special agents who are appealing for subpoenas to testify about the extent of the Deep State corruption in the agency in order to clean it up.

Former District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova, who is well connected with rank-and-file FBI agents in Washington, says, “There are agents all over this country who love the Bureau and are sickened by Comey’s behavior and McCabe and Holder and Lynch, and the thugs like [John] Brennan. They despise the fact that the Bureau was used as a tool of political intelligence by the Obama administration thugs.”

DiGenova places the FBI politicization plot32 squarely at the feet of Comey and McCabe on the inside, and Holder and Lynch over at the DoJ.

One well-placed FBI agent declared: “Every special agent I have spoken to in the Washington Field Office wants to see McCabe prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They feel the same way about Comey. They know that it wasn’t just Comey and McCabe in this case. That’s too narrow a net to cast over these guys. There’s a much broader corruption that seeped into the seventh floor at the Bureau. They ruined the credibility of the Bureau…”

Indeed, there are critical questions yet to be answered33 about the politicization of the FBI under Obama.

But thus far, as was the case when Obama politicized the IRS34, having key high-level bureaucrats target conservative groups, nobody has gone to jail. The prospects of indictments for Obama/Clinton political hacks in the CIA and FBI may be even more elusive.

Finally, allow me to share an award-winning example of Democrat obfuscation in rebuttal to Trump’s demand for an additional investigation.

Senate Minority schmoozer Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did a masterful job of turning this situation inside out: “That he would issue such an absurd and abusive demand based on no evidence shows just how little regard the president has for the rule of law.”

Seriously, he referenced “Rule of Law35,” claiming there was “no evidence,” which is precisely the amount of evidence that led to the Mueller investigation.

Schumer then added, “President Trump seems to have the terribly misguided view that the Department of Justice is there to protect his political interests and prosecute his enemies.” Ironically, it was Democrat Party36 leaders who weaponized the Department of Justice to take down Trump.

Schumer finally ran out of hot air with this summary: “The president’s behavior is the kind of grossly autocratic behavior we’d expect in a banana republic, not a mature democracy.”

Actually, the FBI/CIA probe is what one would expect when banana republic autocrats are attempting to take down their opposition.

Mick Jagger’s song ends, “It’s a gas, gas, gas,” and more Obama/Clinton FBI/CIA Crossfire Hurricane operatives just got doused.

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776