What Went Wrong When Bannon Tried To Testify And How House Republicans Were Complicit

So, Steve Bannon voluntarily appeared before the House Intelligence Committee, offering to answer their questions. He brought his lawyer as would be expected, but that evolved into a situation where his lawyer was calling White House attorneys, getting permission to answer each and every question. Before it was over, the White House had exerted Executive Privilege on conversations Bannon participated in during the transition (before Trump was the Executive). While Bannon worked in the White House. Even after Bannon was fired and no longer officially associated with Trump. This was an assertion of privilege that far exceeded anything ever claimed before. Despite being issued a subpoena on the spot, Bannon could not be persuaded to answer questions, promising however to answer all questions from the Mueller probe which has also issued him a subpoena.

But that isn’t the worst of it. It seems the White House had negotiated a deal with the House Intelligence Committee limiting the scope of the questions and when the questions began to exceed the pre-arranged limits, the White House shut it down. I should add that the Democrats on the committee were unaware of the secret arrangement, allowing the Republicans to continue to protect the President which has always been their goal. Republican leaders on the same committee have been actively trying to find out everything Special Counsel Mueller knows, presumably to leak the information to the Trump team.

In a related story. Former Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski testified today before the same committee. Although he promised on Fox News he’d be answering any and all questions. It seems he too got non-responsive when it came time to actually give answers.

Before the interview was shut down, Bannon did reveal he had been in discussions with Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, and Trump outside lawyer Mark Corallo about the June 2016 meeting Donald Jr. held in Trump Tower with a Russian attorney.

Of the things, we do know, Bannon hoods a grudge against both Jared Kushner and Donald Trump, Jr. We don’t know how he feels about the man who fired him, who has recently tried his best to throw him under the bus. Bannon has a story to tell and seems more than willing to tell it… to the right audience.

Trump Word For The Day: Obstruction

The first rule of obstruction is that you don’t talk about obstruction. When Donald Trump went to FBI Director James Comey to ask him to drop the investigation of Michael Flynn. He talked about it. He told Reince Priebus, then his Chief-of-Staff, who made handwritten notes which are now in the hands of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

After he fired Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions was being pressured to recuse himself because of his role in the Trump campaign. He told the White House Counsel Don McGahn, to lobby Jeff Sessions to not recuse himself so that he could protect Trump.

The new book written by Michael Wolff quotes multiple Republicans from his own staff and alleged close friends, that describe Trump as “stupid,” a “moron,” and an “idiot.” They were right!

Royal Rumble At The White House (Round One)

• Contains Explicit Language

 

Round One Recap:

Trump went after Sessions in an all-out attack from all sides. He blistered him on Twitter, in interviews and even during a press conference with a foreign leader. He tried to force him into submission but Sessions is hanging on with his fans in the Senate, right wing media and the Klan urging him to hang on. Only the bell saved him from the Trump choke hold but Trump is glaring at him from across the ring as round two is ready to begin.

Photo: breitbart.com

Newcomer Anthony Scaramucci (The Mooch) used a sneak attack on Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon and all leakers who he’s promised to root out, even if he has to fire everybody and start fresh. He called Reince, “a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac.” He promised to refer Priebus to the FBI on felony charges. He said, “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock.” About the leakers he said, “What I want to do is kill all the fucking leakers and I want to get the President’s agenda on track so we can succeed for the American people.

Photo: slate.com

In other action, Jared has thrown Donald Trump, Jr under the bus. Bannon is waiting to take on the winner of that match. Kellyanne is shouting something but no one is listening and Ivanka missed the first round because she was consulting a criminal attorney. Tillerson, the former National Chairman of the Boy Scouts of America is fuming about Trump’s recent Jamboree speech but hasn’t entered the ring. Mattis is equally upset about Trump’s kicking Transgendered people out of the military by Tweet although none of the Armed Services are obeying the President. Round Two is scheduled to begin with a series of Trump tweets at 6:30 AM Eastern

Featured Photo: bostonherald.com

Update: In a viscous knockout, Scaramucci kicks Priebus to the curb and he’s replaced by Gen. Kelly, formerly of Homeland Security. Priebus was still on Air Force One with Trump when he tweeted out the decision.

Trump’s Day In Review (2/14/2017)

Donald Trump had a bad day today while doing little personally. The dishonest media and the Intelligence Agencies have apparently conspired to whip that ass. Republican Congressional support is waning and expect another disappearing act tomorrow.

1. After Flynn resigns the night before, Republicans hold a press conference to talk about… Obamacare. The last speaker Paul Ryan did say Trump did the right thing by “immediately firing Flynn”  three weeks after the White House was notified Flynn was a potential Russian blackmail target. He then quickly disappeared.
2. Mike Pence was MIA but did express through surrogates he was upset with Flynn for lying to him but didn’t mention Trump who withheld the info about Flynn for three weeks.
3. Sean Spencer stated unequivocally that “No member of the Trump campaign had contact with Russia during the campaign. Later today the New York Times published a front page article about several of the Trump campaign team communicating with Russia… DURING THE CAMPAIGN.
4. A Russian spy boat was spotted off the coast of Delaware and there were reports of a Russian spy plane hangared in New York.
   
5. Kellyanne Conway went on air to explain how she said yesterday afternoon Flynn had “the full support of the President” a few hours before he was fired
6. Reince Priebus… Reince Priebus… Has anybody seen Reince?
7. Trump did tweet about all the “illegal leaks” coming from his administration. They see themselves as patriots telling the truth when those in power lie all around them.

Not a good day. Forecast for Trump tomorrow: Hurricane Winds!

How Long Will We Ignore The Trump/Russia Connection?

We don’t know yet the extent the Trump Campaign coordinated with Russia and what promises were made. One thing we know for certain is that the Republican Platform was changed during the Republican Convention to reflect more favorable language towards Russia and Ukraine. Everybody denied knowing just how it happened. The RNC pointed to the Trump campaign and the Trump campaign claimed ignorance.

Photo: twitter.com

People involved in crafting the Republican Platform know exactly who did what. It’s time to finally put Country before Party unless you want to be complicit in treason. I’m pointing directly to Reince Priebus who either knows what happened or knows where to look!

Various intelligence agencies are now reviewing intercepted communications and following a trail of money from Russia. Paul Manafort resigned from the campaign as his Russia ties and accepting $11.5 million in cash became widely known. Rex Tillerson has numerous Russian ties as does General Mike Flynn. Trump himself has only praise for Putin and denies his history of war crimes and murdering reporters.

Photo: russiatrendolizer.com

We will find out more and more about the Trump campaign ties to Russia and possibly Trump himself. It’s time to consider once we find out. What are we prepared to do? Secondary question: If Trump was involved, who that he has appointed can be trusted?

Photo: twitter.com

Featured Photo: twitter.com