After even Sally Yates conceded that she wouldn’t have signed off on his surveillance if she had all the facts, I thought a trip down memory lane was in order.
You’ll recall that, once upon a time, we were told that Carter Page was actively colluding with the Russians because the FISA court and the FBI told us so.
All of those assertions have fallen to pieces, so I’m assuming we can get a follow up from @SpeakerPelosi?
Maybe @RepAdamSchiff, the chief architect of the Russian collusion fable, can provide us with an update?
Do you still believe that “the FBI acted lawfully and appropriately” even after the head of DOJ at the time said the opposite today under oath?
Any follow up about that memo, Congressman? Are you sure that the “FBI didn’t lie” and that it is a “false claim” to say that the “FISA process was abused”? Because former director Yates certainly doesn’t.
Really waiting with baited breath on @tedlieu because he was a clerk, you see.
@RepSwalwell is hot on the trail of stupid yet again.
And it wasn’t just the lower House. I have a feeling @SenJeffMerkley would like this one back.
And we’ve got bipartisan bullshit! Here’s @marcorubio who may wish he had this take back.
And our intellectual and moral betters in the media weighed in. Here’s @CillizzaCNN and @CNN, who may want to update what the “most important takeaway from the FISA release” is.
@MSNBC brought on myriad experts to explain why everything that has happened in the last two years related to FISA and Carter Page wouldn’t happen.
And it wouldn’t be a left-wing conspiracy theory if @JoyAnnReid wasn’t onboard.
And it wouldn’t be a Russian related conspiracy if @DavidCornDC weren’t involved.
I am as surprised as you are that @jonathanchait, who alleged that Trump has been a Russian asset since 1987, wanted in on this one, too.
Of course, the usual galaxy brain twitter power users weighed in, including Twitter’s most consistently wrong foulmouth @therickwilson.
He’s got me blocked so I hope someone can share this with him.
You’ve got to be almost impressed with @therickwilson’s propensity for predictive failure.
It wouldn’t be a thread if @JRubinBlogger didn’t find her way onto it.
Ditto for @SethAbramson, who also manages to shoehorn in the fabled Steele Dossier, which bears the distinction of having been even more fabricated than the FISA application against Page.
Speaking of, I would like to nominate this tweet by @funder for the Louvre.
I remain mistified at the testimony of my elders that, once upon a time, @tribelaw was taken seriously.
From the “the walls are closing in!” school of thought comes these tweets by @Amy_Siskind, who no longer seems so enamored with or interested in the story of Carter Page.
Curious.
Any follow up to the assertion that “there is still no reason to believe the FISA application for Carter Page was improper” @EvanMcMullin?
The people are wondering.
@JuddLegum, care to follow up on the notion that “there is no evidence anything was misused in the FISA court” related to Page?
Or, @NicolleDWallace, perhaps the reason @realDonaldTrump was at war with the FISA courts was that - stay with me here - they deserved the war?
The lesson here (as ever, with the Russian collusion narrative) is that maybe, just maybe, it’s worth a touch of caution, incredulity or reflection before jumping to the worst of conclusions, or taking a secretive, ill-intentioned process at face value.
Maybe next time.
I’ve done a few threads & I’ve got a few more coming but one thing is clear:
The ability of elected officials/those on the left & in the media to push a radical conspiracy theory, then have that conspiracy implode without any consequences or apologies, should terrify you.
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With the news that Trump freed the hostages and brokered an Israel/Hamas ceasefire, I thought it would be a good time to check in on the folks who compared the president to Hitler over the last few years, for reasons that I hope are obvious to you.
Remember? ⤵️
You may think the “Trump is literally Hitler” phrase is just a silly joke.
But for years, media outlets and left-wing voices on the internet have insisted that, no, really, Trump is just like Hitler.
Few have done so with as much gusto as @CNN.
Back in 2016, @CNN alleged that Trump rallies were just like Hitler rallies because…Trump had attendees raise their right hands.
A newly declassified CIA report on Joe Biden & Ukraine blows the doors off claims from the legacy press, in the lead up to the 2020 election and beyond, that Trump was pushing a “conspiracy theory” about Biden’s corruption.
Remember how the press buried Burisma? ⤵️
First, the facts. The report unearths how Biden blocked the release of intel from Ukrainian sources validating allegations of bribery tied to Biden’s diplomatic push to oust a prosecutor there in 2015, tied to his son Hunter’s work with the gas company Burisma.
You may remember this story because Biden’s having helped oust a prosecutor in a foreign country to allegedly protect his family’s corruption came up in the 2020 election.
To hear @ABC tell it, that was a “debunked Ukraine conspiracy theory.”
The media are melting down about former FBI director Jim Comey’s indictment, calling it Trump’s “retribution.”
But if prosecuting a political rival is such an outrage, why’d they cheer along when Biden went after Trump, Bannon & Navarro?
Some side-by-sides ⤵️
I want you to help me spot the difference in tone.
With Comey, @CNN put five — five! — reporters on the byline to declare the indictment was an “escalation” in “Trump’s effort to prosecute his political enemies.”
Where was that when Biden’s DOJ indicted Bannon? “A victory”
And @CNN wasn’t any better on Peter Navarro, another Trump aide indicted under Biden.
Rather than an “effort to prosecute…political enemies,” CNN quoted the prosecutor to tell the story.
Why is the claim of the government the framing of the piece under Biden? I have a guess.
The outrage over Kimmel’s canning is incredibly stupid, but it’s also enormously rich coming from the same media outlets who have cheered the government actually censoring people, particularly during COVID.
Let me know if you can spot the difference in tone? ⤵️
This @CNN headline made me think this story needed a thread.
Kimmel’s suspension is “straight from a European strongman’s playbook,” per @CNN’s @brianstelter.
When Biden cracked down on free speech during Covid, CNN hyped up the effort.
Few promoted the government’s actual attack on free speech more aggressively than the same @brianstelter now calling a comedian’s shelving evidence of autocracy, or something.
I know there’s a lot going on but we just had a media conspiracy implode that I think captures something important about the corporate press.
Did you hear about how Trump was allegedly going after John Bolton as retribution for his criticism?
Well…follow along ⤵️
We saw a week straight of media suggestions that Trump was abusing the powers of the state to deal out “retribution” to John Bolton following the news that the FBI (“Trump’s DOJ!” headlines rang out) raided his house.
We were in “unsettling” times, to hear @nytimes tell it.
The *Editorial Board* at @nytimes put out an even more dramatic statement, asking who Trump’s next payback victim after Bolton would be.
A single poll has bootstrapped a media narrative that DC residents are outraged by Trump’s takeover.
I poked around the cross tabs of the poll — of 600 or so of DC’s more comfortable residents — and I think it’s pretty suspect.
How come? Follow along: ⤵️
Let’s start with the poll. The @washingtonpost talked to 604 people, of whom 90% — 90%! — self-described as living in “very good” or “good” neighborhoods.
So, fine. 80% of people who like where they live in DC are upset.
But even beyond that, it’s worth asking whether this poll really captures DC’s opinion.
In the poll, only 31% describe crime as a “serious” or “very serious” problem in DC.
When @washingtonpost asked this same question in May, *50%* said it was a serious problem.