Tomorrow is likely to be a bit nutso as we now know that the Nunes memo will likely be released.
JUST IN: Republican memo alleging anti-Trump bias at FBI and Justice Department likely to be released on Thursday – Trump administration official pic.twitter.com/FYePwLPvsM
— Reuters U.S. News (@ReutersUS) February 1, 2018
As you might imagine, the FBI is not amused.
Washington, D.C.FBI National Press Office(202) 324-3691January 31, 2018FBI Statement on HPSCI Memo
The FBI takes seriously its obligations to the FISA Court and its compliance with procedures overseen by career professionals in the Department of Justice and the FBI. We are committed to working with the appropriate oversight entities to ensure the continuing integrity of the FISA process.
With regard to the House Intelligence Committee’s memorandum, the FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it. As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.
Given the reporting, I’m not quite sure how FBI Director Wray doesn’t resign in short order if this thing is released. Fortunately, I’m not FBI Director Wray.
Congressman Schiff has now provided even more worrying information about what has been approved for release tomorrow.
BREAKING: Discovered late tonight that Chairman Nunes made material changes to the memo he sent to White House – changes not approved by the Committee. White House therefore reviewing a document the Committee has not approved for release. pic.twitter.com/llhQK9L7l6
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 1, 2018
Now for the quick note: If the Nunes memo, which is really more like a four page report, is released without an order of declassification from the President, the material released will still be classified. Since I am not read on to any of this stuff – the material used to get the FISA warrant and extension alleged to be the focus of the Nunes memo, as well as the material that Nunes and his staff cherry picked to produce the report – I cannot and will not read the memo, the reporting about the memo, and cannot and will not comment on them. This would violate the terms of my clearance.
Mark Zaid, who runs one of the top law practices dealing with clearance issues, as well as whistle blower protection, delineates the key issues here:
THREAD – What does #HPSCI release of GOP classified memo mean?
In a partisan vote led by Chairman @DevinNunes, the HPSI voted to release a four page classified memo that details alleged surveillance abuses by @FBI & @TheJusticeDept. https://t.co/QRTf6KlEUE
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) January 30, 2018
Click across and read the entire thing.
Zaid goes on to state:
I continue to talk with experts on govt classification & intelligence committees regarding my view that #HPSCI action does NOT "declassify" #FISA memo. No one is disagreeing with me.
Feel free to persuade me otherwise @DevinNunes @RepAdamSchiff https://t.co/3LGXjW3oog
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) January 30, 2018
I spoke w/former Dir ("Classification Czar") of Information Security Oversight Office, @USNatArchives, J. William Leonard, who confirmed accuracy of my interpretation #HSPCI action does NOT declassify GOP #FISA Memo. Dissemination by Members & staff can be illegal & prosecutable https://t.co/YlRgq85KGp
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) January 31, 2018
Of course, #POTUS can affirmatively declassify the information. But silence is not the same thing.
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) January 30, 2018
To redirect: if this is released tomorrow without a specific declassification order, I’m going to be silent on it. On the actual report being released, what it means, etc. I’m sure others here will pick up the slack. And I highly recommend that you all check out Zaid‘s and his partner Brad Moss‘s twitter feeds as they’ll have expert commentary. I also highly recommend Ben Wittes‘s, Susan Hennessy‘s, Asha Rangappa‘s, Richard Painter‘s, and Walter Schaub‘s twitter feeds among others. And I’m sure Lawfare will have coverage too.
Sorry about this, but the rules are the rules and I’m not placing my clearance in jeopardy because Congressman Nunes is Congressman Nunes.
Open thread!
T S
Hold onto your butts.
Trentrunner
What in the actual fuck is going ON?
B.B.A.
Can a tweet declassify a document? How about a statement to a reporter, “yeah, it’s totally declassified”? What if either of these is followed by a denial from White House staff, or another statement “I never said anything about declassifying”?
cain
Good call on your part.
I have never seen anything like this in my life.
Cheryl Rofer
I think it may not be released tomorrow because of Schiff’s objection, but yeah, the classification is likely to continue. Not a problem for me.
Cheryl Rofer
@Trentrunner:
Evergreen. Captures the spirit of the moment.
Wag
Fuck Nunes. That is all.
Adam L Silverman
I can authoritatively and preemptively state that whatever gets released, keeping Schiff’s statement tonight in context, will be garbage. It will look sloppy to the professionals who will quickly pick it apart. And it will, in short order both blow up in Nunes’ and the Administration’s faces while at the same time become gospel truth on the right and that gospel truth will be disseminated via Fox, Breitbart, Dim Jim, Rush, Drudge, Hewitt, RT, Sputnick, GG, a ton of twitter feeds including Russian bots and trolls, etc.
Wag
@Cheryl Rofer:
And all of us will appreciate your expert analysis. And will miss Adam’s equally insightful commentary.
chris
@cain: OT: Is this the book that you quoted in the earlier threads?
Adam L Silverman
@Wag: I’ll be lurking. Followed by sending catalogued lists of all the spillage of classified info I’ve seen to my company’s facility security officer. He’s going to be day drinking by the time this is all over.
Adam L Silverman
@Trentrunner:
James E. Powell
Good for you Adam L Silverman for staying true.
Every single one of these @#$#%!! Republicans was in flames over Hillary Clinton’s emails that supposedly – well we don’t actually know, now do we? – contained references to classified information. But they fully support this bullshit.
I’m still not watching any news. Are they giving it the “some say” and “both sides” treatment?
Suzanne
I’m sorry I’m dumb. So reading it will violate your clearance, even though it will be publicly available for anyone to read?
Adam L Silverman
@Wag: If they declassify it, I’ll be all over it. But I doubt they will. I don’t think they understand how any of this works.
Mike in NC
Fucking Nunes has deep ties to the Russian mafia. Why won’t the media report on that?
Cheryl Rofer
@Suzanne: The rules on classification are that a classified document remains classified, even if it has been released to the public. So people with clearances must treat it as classified and not read it if they’re not cleared for it and not discuss it outside the proper venues.
This caused all kinds of problems a few years back during a Wikileaks dump of State Department documents, I think. Government people weren’t allowed to access Wikileaks. My sense is that a great many unclassified computers had to be cleansed.
Good luck to the sysadmins!
chris
Goodnight, America, hope to see you in the morning. If you’re still there.
tobie
@Adam L Silverman:
Isn’t that the ttruth and isn’t that what makes this whole damn episode in our politics so frightening?
Betty Cracker
It’s all so insane.
Adam L Silverman
@Suzanne: If they release the memo, then it will be available for anyone to read and for reporters to report on. If the President, who is the final/highest classification order, does not issue a formal declassification order, then the material released will still be classified because the FBI, where it originated, has not declassified it. This means that even if you’re cleared for the level of information released, you can’t look at it or anything that specifically references it if you don’t have an official need to know.
I am not read on to anything having to do with DOJ/FBI. I do not have an official need to know. So under the term of my clearance I cannot look at the material. If I accidentally see some of it, I have to report it to my company’s facility security officer as accidentally accessing spillage – classified material that was released without being declassified. For instance, I’ve never seen any of the various material that Manning gave to Wikileaks or that Snowden stole and then fed to reporters via GG. Because doing so would violate my clearance. I don’t need to know it.
No One of Consequence
Damn.
Their going to let this get ugly, cuz its already way past weird.
Get your warm clothes out, keep them handy.
We’re going to need to take to the streets to force the issue, I fear.
Very worried for us all. This is not normal, and those in power are playing along, as though daring us all to call them on it.
Can we call them on it?
When will we call them on it?
– NOoC
guachi
I can only echo what Adam has said about the memo still being classified and not commenting on it. I can’t even fathom how irresponsible this release appears to be. Everyone I personally know with a clearance takes this stuff very seriously. I know I do.
Adam L Silverman
@chris: It’ll be here. Perhaps bloodied, but unbowed.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Do what you need to do. I get it.
Adam L Silverman
@tobie: It is a good chunk of the problem. If you haven’t, you should see the contortions they all immediately put themselves through to turn the train crash this afternoon into a liberal/progressive/democrat deep state attack on GOP officials to subvert the Republic. Some of these people are nuts. Some are not and are all the more dangerous for being sane while doing this crap.
NotMax
What likely will be released:
A redacted version of a document already differing from what was voted on for release, already altered at least once. Cliff’s Notes re-cherry picked version of the original selectively cobbled up Nunes memo.
Another Scott
Aren’t there at least two memos now? The one from the Teabaggers on the committee, and the one that Nunes modified and gave to Donnie. Which one was reviewed by the FBI? Which one will get declassified? What happens to the other one? Why did Nunes change it?
Lots and lots of questions…
I look forward to the House investigation of all of this.
Cheers,
Scott.
(“I crack myself up sometimes.”)
Omnes Omnibus
@No One of Consequence:
That’s a bit insulting to the millions who were in the streets. Do you want to rephrase?
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: It is. I’ve written here many times that going to war with the Intel Community is stupid. Going to war with the FBI and DOJ that isn’t part of the IC is equally stupid. If they release this thing, I fully expect the IC to respond. And depending on how the US IC responds, will determine whether allied and partner intel communities decide to cut loose to protect themselves and their countries. If anyone thought there was going to be a few days of good publicity from the State of the Union, they need to have their heads examined.
patrick II
I have read that in theory Trump cannot pardon himself for a crime, so even his clear cut constitutional powers are limited in some circumstances. It seems to me that, if Trump does issue order of declassification, his power to do so would also be limited by the fact that he is the subject of the investigation into that crime that this memo is meant to obstruct.
If I am sitting on a jury someday, I would find this further evidence of Trump’s effort to obstruct justice and not something he has an absolute right to do. Also, Devin Nunes should hope he is not someday charged with a crime for this.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks. I just wanted to let everyone know ahead of time. Figured it would make things easier in real time.
Adam L Silverman
At least there’s some good news today:
danielx
@No One of Consequence:
As someone once said, jaw jaw is better than bang bang. The point is change without bloodshed; YMMV.
guachi
Also, I hope that front pagers and commenters are cognizant that some of us can’t read the memo if it isn’t declassified! I don’t want me, or Cheryl, or Adam to get in trouble. Thursday is my day off. Don’t want to talk to my SSO on my day off.
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman: On NPR ATC this evening they said that FEMA will continue distributing food and water to Puerto Rico, but they won’t be getting any more deliveries to the island. So when their stock is gone, that’s it. They aren’t really reversing their decision, they’re (apparently) just trying to quiet the public relations disaster.
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@Another Scott: Ugh.
Mnemosyne
@guachi:
It may be worth it for folks who do have clearances to explicitly say, “I can’t read the Nunes memo at all without getting in trouble with my boss” when other commenters ask. It’s a confusing issue for people who have never had to deal with clearances, though you and Adam have explained it pretty well.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
After a day like this, you can see why he likes to unwind by watching The Gorilla Channel.
No One of Consequence
@Omnes Omnibus: My apologies, no offense intended. I am exasperated and ineloquent to say the least. Please allow me to rephrase:
What is going to be required to alter this course of events, or rather correct this course of events? When will it boil over into big, big numbers of protesting general strikes? What has to be shut down in order for those with the power to be incentivized to actually use it towards Just (and obvious) ends?
But furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, why are our elected officials actively SUBVERTING the Constitution of the United States of America?!
I’m having trouble frankly grokking all this. l have read some Camus. Puzzled over The Stranger. Understand a bit of the philosophy of Absurdism. Never in my life did I think I would get this close to a real-life, mass-delusion, actively seeking to perpetuate a (rather obvious) un-Reality…
I’m just shaking my head about this. What the hell is going on in this country?!
– NOoC
GregB
Hope Hicks is going to crack under this pressure.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman: quick question: are we NOT supposed to stay frosty tonight?
Adam L Silverman
Alright, now they’re just fucking with me! (emphasis mine)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-campaign-hired-private-investigators-records-show
jl
” because Congressman Nunes is Congressman Nunes.”
So, the second ‘Congressman Nunes’, is that euphemism for something really rude, or are you being really rude, since ruder words cannot adequately describe him?
Adam L Silverman
@No One of Consequence: Register everyone you know to vote and then nudge them to register everyone they know. Then nudge all of them to ensure they do vote. And then vote in November.
JWR
@patrick II:
Damn, that’s fer sure! But my thinking is that he already knows how deep he is into this entire mess and has arrived at NFTG by this point. How else to explain his actions up to this point?
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the ATL: That’s classified. I can neither confirm nor deny.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: The former. I figured it wasn’t professional to write what I really thought/felt.
Another Scott
For some reason invisible VP Pence decided to crawl out from under his rock to attack Sen. Manchin. Manchin isn’t having it.
Good, good.
Pence (and Donnie) must be worried that Manchin will win re-election…
Cheers,
Scott.
Steve in the ATL
@danielx:
FYI, “jaw jaw” is roughly how we pronounce “Georgia” down south.
No One of Consequence
@danielx: That’s just it. I don’t want there to be any bloodshed. My fear is that there will be, because they are going to force it to that point. This is just nuts.
Logical conclusion of all this seems to be to be either a.) our foreign enemies decide that their chances aren’t going to get much better than to throw for our heads, and to do so expeditiously — or b.) we avoid descending into a full-blown fascist state, but narrowly, taking far too long, and with more than necessary bloodshed and sorrow and unpleasantness.
Violence begets violence. Until that lesson is taken to heart, I fear that blood will flow.
I am stunned by the controlling interests’ audacity.
– NOoC
patrick II
Adam’s dilemma reminds me of (sorry) Hillary Clinton’s emails. Hillary discussed something that had been published in the NY Times but was still theoretically classified. I think it was something about drones. It seems strange to me that the Secretary of State was unable to discuss something that everyone who wanted to could read about in the Times.
danielx
@jl:
A gentleman is never unintentionally rude.
danielx
@Adam L Silverman:
Dare we say Thugs for Hire?
Adam L Silverman
@patrick II: Actually someone emailed her what the Times had reported. Technically this is spillage.
No One of Consequence
@Adam L Silverman: At this rate, we might not have that long.
– NOoC
Adam L Silverman
This, by the way, was Congressman Nunes’ statement about the FBI and the FBI’s concerns:
https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=854
MisterForkbeard
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: What’s this about Hope Hicks?
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t even know what to say about this. What a smarmy fuck. I hope he goes to prison.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Nope. Nunes intends to have the unredacted report released:
NotMax
Repeating from below as that thread appears moribund.
Shocked, shocked.
Adam L Silverman
@MisterForkbeard: Here you go:
Adam L Silverman
@danielx: I’m a hooligan with a good vocabulary for hire. Says so on my business card.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Mm hm. As if the White House takes marching orders from Nunes.
It is to laugh.
bemused senior
Aren’t cabinet members allowed to declassify?
Adam L Silverman
One important point: the only two members of the House of Representatives who have seen the underlying classified materials, the FISA warrant application and extension application and the underlying information that supported them, are Congressman Gowdy (standing in for Nunes who was “recused”) and Congressman Schiff as the ranking member on the HPSCI. None of the staff have seen it either. So whatever it is that Nunes and his staff have put together isn’t based on anything they’ve actually seen.
NotMax
Batten down the hatches.
Arthritis particularly throbby tonight, usually an indicator of a sizeable storm moving in sometime over the next 24 to 36 hours.
Adam L Silverman
@danielx: I’m intentionally rude when necessary. Right now I’m somewhere between agog at the stupidity we’re seeing and angry as a national security professional about it.
Adam L Silverman
@No One of Consequence: Deep breath. This is a marathon not a sprint.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, the word spillage here seems to be a technical term.
Does that mean anything you accidentally have seen, while not seeking out that information?
edit; never mind. I see that you explained that later on in the thread.
Adam L Silverman
@bemused senior: Yes, provided the classified material originated within their departments. In that case they are the highest classification authority. Though the President can always overrule them. This is why whenever there is a FOIA request there is a prerelease classification review to determine what can be declassified or what needs to be classified now that wasn’t/didn’t need to be classified at the time it was originally prepared.
Judicial Watch’s and Citizens United’s FOIA requests for Clinton’s work emails were intended to create this kind of trap because State has a very different view of what should be classified than the CIA. So it wasn’t surprising that material was upclassified as a result of the prerelease review. This, of course, led to “Clinton sent classified material over her unclassified email and private server”, which wasn’t true. At the time the emails were sent she received 3 emails that had information in them with paragraph markings for State Department confidential, but no header or footer markings. Every other one of the emails sent to her or by her that were deemed to be classified or contain classified info were upclassified as a result of the prerelease classification review at the request of the CIA. The whole thing was specifically designed to create the exact feeding frenzy it created.
encephalopath
I don’t understand why Trump’s lawyerly folks would let him go anywhere near this thing. It’s designed to blow up an FBI investigation into Trump and his campaign. Trump putting his grubby little, stubby fingers all over it would just be one more point of obstruction into the investigation. A prudent person would send it to the DOJ and defer to their judgement.
Also when asked about whether he wrote this thing in cooperation with the White House, Devin Nunes equivocated and wouldn’t say. So did Huckabee Sanders when asked the same thing.
Obstruction of justice is one thing but cooperation between members of the House Intelligence Committee and the White House to wreck an FBI investigation into the White House would be a goddamned criminal conspiracy.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: Yes.
Also, it refers to me being a sloppy eater.//
NotMax
With Adam (as he knows Star Trek) in mind, a rough first draft of a comparison.
Dolt 45 is to the Republican party as the Medusan ambassador is to the Federation.
Jay S
@Adam L Silverman: Does this mean FBI and pretty much all all cleared personnel will need to avoid Fox for the foreseeable future?
Amaranthine RBG
Adam
Okay, suppose you see a story on the news discussing the memo and you fell like you have to report it to your facility security officer. What is the procedure there, exactly?
Does s/he have to report it to anyone? Is your report logged somehow?
Adam L Silverman
@encephalopath: Because he doesn’t have an A lister legal team. None of those guys would take him on for this. So he’s left with Dowd and Cobb. McGahn appears to be decent at his job, which is to serve as the counsel for the presidency, not the President’s personal lawyer. But he can’t be involved with the legal case. Hence hiring Dowd and Cobb.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: I think I know where you’re going with that.
Mike J
@encephalopath:
Trump pays as much attention to his lawyers as he does to anybody else who works for him.
Word is Trump is still working feverishly to get Mueller sitting in front of a grand jury.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay S: One could only hope.
Adam L Silverman
@Amaranthine RBG: He notes it. That way if an issue ever comes up, we can prove I made a timely and good faith effort to mitigate and respond appropriately. For instance, when my former students from USAWC who are foreign officers email me to wish me holiday or birthday well wishes or I email them the same, I notify him that I’ve been in contact. I probably don’t have to do this, but I was once read on where the Special Security Officer was a stickler that this stuff had to be disclosed even though the relationships were the result of my assigned work duties as an Army civilian.
jl
So, if the Trumpsters screw up the memo release, that means Adam has time to post some more recipes?
Asking for a friend.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: I’ve got a Florida man! post that got pushed back because of this. So I can always post that.
Thaddeu
Don’t get upset. Vote. Get others to vote.
a)Get everyone you know registered to vote.
b)Watch out for shenanigans to get you/your friends purged from the voter rolls.
c)Double check again that you are registered to vote before the deadline, even if you checked
d)Get everyone you know to actually vote in the Nov 2018 election, at the earliest possible opportunity. No last minute rush before poll closes.
We have to grit our teeth and jump through obstruction and hoops, this time.
Darn it, VOTE
jl
@Adam L Silverman: OK, so if you can’t drive us crazy with the technical innards of Trumpster dirt, you get us with Floridaman insanity. I understand your plan now. I see I had to drag it out of you.
eemom
Uh, don’t take this the wrong way, but I am told by a trusted source in the defense industry that people with high level clearances don’t usually advertise that fact on public forums.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: I’m not sure asking once and getting an immediate answer counts as drag it out of me.
Adam L Silverman
@eemom: The fact that I have a clearance isn’t classified.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Just after free recipes, cheapskate.
Timurid
What scares me the most at this point is Trump deciding not to release the memo at the last moment and the Village singing hosannas in praise of his “prudence” and “moderation.”
jl
@Adam L Silverman: I’m the Lester Holt of BJ comenters.
@?BillinGlendaleCA: A cheesecake recipe! Oh boy, I can hardly wait.
piratedan
well, its not like this isn’t right in the GOP wheelhouse… you take a name, a verb and a few select adjectives, pull everything out of context and simply make shit up. Presto, you now have a Faux News release that is guaranteed authentic gospel that can be spun to the minions ad-infinitum and away we go with setting the frame and discussion for the next week of the news cycle, while the MSM talk about how presidential Trump is for not nuking NK yesterday.
Cripes, I know real news isn’t exactly riveting stuff, but isn’t there anyone out there who’s rich and believes that properly informing the public is a worthy goal in and of itself?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Got clearance Clarence.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Oh, silly jl, they have cheesecake at Costco.
Adam L Silverman
@piratedan: I think you want this thread:
Adam L Silverman
This is interesting:
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman: The order of ineptitude had to do with the USA not knowing how to order a transcript of the same judge berating him for not dressing properly in court.
patrick II
@Adam L Silverman:
I have been wondering about that. Nunes seems to be writing with confidence and in some detail about things which he reviewed in a secure room with no recording device. Is he that confident of just his memory? Is it possible that the White House had access to those same documents and Nunes had other opportunities to see them and the argument with Ryan and the White House was a charade?
I suppose not because each access on a computer to documents classified at that level would be logged. But it just seems to me that something more is going on under the covers.
eemom
@Adam L Silverman:
Oh.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman: I’m gonna have to call the judge the asshole in this story. He clearly doesn’t belong on the bench.
patrick II
@Adam L Silverman:
So Obama’s CIA was out to get Hillary? And if it was a setup, why didn’t Obama issue a declassification order? I have wondered about that for a long time.
Adam L Silverman
@Adam L Silverman: And here’s the actual transcript:
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2710477/Read-How-a-federal-judge-in-Texas-berated-a.pdf
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: Why not both the judge and the USA.
Adam L Silverman
@eemom: It is on my CV and resume, which are unclassified. Including renewal and read on dates. And I use them when I apply for new assignments. If I’m on a full time equivalent assignment, my classified email addresses and phone #s are on my business card, which I hand out to people in professional settings. This is all standard.
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the ATL: Here’s the transcript:
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2710477/Read-How-a-federal-judge-in-Texas-berated-a.pdf
Adam L Silverman
@patrick II: Nunes never actually saw any of it.
Adam L Silverman
@patrick II: They weren’t out to get her per se. As I’ve written here before: my take is that the Intel community, via the Agency, used the classification review as a way to both put State in its place over what CIA views as State’s lax interpretation of classification and to send a warning shot across both State’s and Clinton’s bows over who has the real power in DC.
And it isn’t Obama’s CIA. The Agency is the Agency. It exists and endures, like the FBI, DOJ, NSA, DOD, etc regardless of who is president.
Adam L Silverman
Alright folks, I’m racking out. Catch you on the flip.
Steeplejack
@Steve in the ATL:
My fallback position is that we’re always supposed to remember to hydrate!
Be right back. [ice clinking]
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
And now the Agency has Trump running around fucking with their business because they decided to get cute with Hillary’s emails. Remind me not to listen to any whining about Trump from them since they helped elect him by playing their stupid interagency games.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman: that judge is an asshole who doesn’t have the temperament to be a judge.
And it takes a real asshole to be a federal judge while hating the federal government.
Dog Dawg Damn
I’m assuming Sarah Plain and Tall can comment on it though.
ZyklonBeaArthur
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Please don’t link to the Palmer Report; it’s fake news, and every click you give it kicks truth and justice in the nuts.
trnc
Nunes book report on the Harry Potter series was 12 pages long and said Voldemort lived after Potter, Hermione and Granger burned Hogwarts to the ground and the Bulgarians won the Quidditch World Cup.
Starfish
@eemom: What Adam said applies to every cleared person and does not reveal the level of clearance.
Manyakitty
@Adam L Silverman: EVERGREEN
Manyakitty
@Adam L Silverman: Dafuq. Also, too, $5k doesn’t sound like very much money.
Manyakitty
@Adam L Silverman: Don’t you have some dogs? Wrote a pet post!
debbie
I never thought I would live to see the GOP turn on the FBI.
Adam L Silverman
@Manyakitty: I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of pet blogging at this time.
Lee
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t know that judge but I already like him just from his comments in court.
McMullen
@Adam L Silverman: I devoutly hope so for all our sakes. I keep feeling I’m in the middle of a bad dream where a disfunctional narcissist is like a rabid animal destroying everything in sight and those who should put him down are having cigars and coffee in an adjoining room.