Thread by @DempseyTwo

Good morning troops, today the former FBI Director James Comey is testifying to Lindsey Graham’s Senate Judiciary Committee. You know the drill. Look to see which Senators are asking questions designed to elicit the truth and which are designed to misdirect.

Lindsey gavels us in and immediately starts talking about FISA warrants. He is investigating the investigators. He is attacking the process. IG Horowitz report will be on full display I suspect. Remember in it, they found ‘discrepancies’ in the FISA applications.

Those discrepancies were typos, documents attached to documents that should have been attached to other documents.

The key finding in the Horowitz report was that no material discrepancies would have stopped the investigation.

Yup. This is going to be the Horowitz report hearing. Lindsey points to 17 discrepancies. He has now put up a poster of ‘Pattern of FBI Failures’

He has now taken down the poster without referencing it. There is a new poster. Now the replacement poster is incorrect. There is now a third poster. This is the one. Lindsey reads it. It references a ‘heightened duty of candor’ a nod to Andrew McCabe.

If he is concerned about candor, perhaps the president should have used some with the public about Coronavirus. I digress, back to what is already a farcical hearing and we have yet to hear opening statements.

Graham states Carter Page was working for the CIA and ‘Mr. Klinesmith’ doctored documents coming from the CIA to make it look like he was not working for the CIA. I’ll assume Klinesmith is FBI? Lindsey wants him prosecuted. Lindsey shifts to Dossier.

Says dossier was essential to getting the warrant. (It wasn’t)
Says it was paid for by HRC. While factually accurate, it is misleading.

https://twitter.com/DempseyTwo/status/1301244557846351874

Page 846 from the Senate Intel report👇🏻

Feinstein is up. Ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. says trump expected to benefit electorally from Russian interference. She is using the Mueller Report and the Senate Intel Committees report. This is their finding.

https://twitter.com/dempseytwo/status/1295843518989115396

Comey has no opening statement. Says overall he is proud of the work done by the FBI. Says the warrant might have gotten approved even without the Dossier. Comey clarifies that CIA considered Page a ‘contact’. Lindsey is grasping at straws. Interrupts Comey’s answers.

Lindsey continues on a line of questioning about the sub source of the Steele Dossier was a Russian agent. Comey doesn’t remember any of that. Comey says the investigation was important and a priority, not so much Carter Page or any subsource. Lindsey is testifying, not Comey.

Lindsey creates an alternative version of facts to sow reasonable doubt. He is literally acting as the president’s defense council. Comey disagrees with all of Graham’s recitation of facts. Now Lindsey misrepresents what Ex Parte means. He mentions email servers.

Lindsey now brings up ‘the hookers’. He says the sexual activity was Russian disinformation and the FBI didn’t tell the court and we should be angry about that. He changes the language to sexual misconduct. Yells ‘Cohen never went to Prague!’ Lindsey is malfunctioning.

Lindsey brings up the letter DNI Ratcliffe sent out yesterday and was known to be disinformation. Thus he has now spread propaganda, during a Senate Judiciary hearing.

Feinstein D-CA Enters volume 5 into record. Asks if we should have been investigating this? Comey says yes.

Grassley R-IA Dossier had a sub source that was a Russian. Brings up the Flynn ‘let it go’ conversation. Steele not a reliable source. What did you tell Obama?

Comey: I don’t agree w preamble. Wanted to know if any Americans worked with the Russia to attack our elections.

Leahy D-VT this is a political errand. Are we the president’s re-election committee? He is first to bring up covid. Mueller Report. Brings up $400m in debt.

Comey: I’ve never felt this way about a president. The debt makes me suspicious.

This hearing has an interesting feel. It’s like an impeachment. The Democrats are using the Mueller Report, the Senate Intelligence Report. Reading from them. Different aspects of all wrong doings. Republicans are attacking process. Same talking point questions.

Cornyn R-TX Anthony Weiner is in the record again. Was crossfire hurricane created in part by Russian disinformation? That it was other wise unpredicated?

Comey: We had information from a friendly foreign ambassador.

https://twitter.com/dempseytwo/status/1299495104185610241

Durbin D-IL trump has a lot of debt and access to the nations secrets. That’s bad, right? Why are we focused on the 2016 election when we got an election going on right now. What are we doing to protect the election process? The agenda is about a dossier.

Comey 🤷🏼‍♂️

Durbin - did the FBI rely on the Steele dossier?
Comey - No.

Graham agrees Russia interfered and would interfere in the 2020 and they are interfering now. But so is China...

This is a false equivalence.

Lindsey says he wants to ‘save the FISA process.’

He is not fighting to save democracy.

Lee R-UT I’ve been trying to reform FISA for a decade. He’s worried the proceedings are secret.

Yes Senator, they are foreign intelligence surveillance applications. You know, secrets.

Lee is butthurt Comey didn’t respect the FISA process he tried to change for a decade.

Dan Aykroyd! That’s who Senator Lee sounds like.

Lee says my time is up but you don’t put a wasp nest in your children’s bedroom and then be surprised when they get bit by wasps.

Someone in the hearing mutters *stung* Hahahahahahaha!

Whitehouse D-RI I hope no one on this committee had anything to do with the Ratcliffe disinformation memo.
We have been denied access to documents what gives? Partisan private briefings, selective declassification?
Brings up Gleeson! What did Barr to do for Flynn?
Where’s info?

Whitehouse / Graham sidebar referencing house testimony related to anti trust cases. This topic they are discussing in loose terms has to do with Bill Barr’s activity as Attorney General and who to investigate. That will be for another day.

Graham testfies to the importance of the Ratcliffe letter.
Whitehouse clarifies HRC was mulling whether or not to out trump as being investigated. But the very thought of outing him, is the pillar on which the republicans say HRC colluded with the Russians. 🦇💩

Cruz R-TX Klinesmith altered an email to add words ‘Not a source’ in relation to Carter Page from CIA.
The predicate of investigation was Steele Dossier (Comey already told Durbin it wasn’t)
Cruz calls Comey ‘woefully incompetent.’ Tries to get Comey to perjur McCabe,

Klobuchar D-MN Dir. Wray says Russian malign foreign influence is an attempt to denigrate Biden. From Mueller, the lights are blinking red.

That antitrust hearing was supposed to be today. If the senate was taking it up after House did, is this to save Barr from impeachment?

Klobuchar And that debate last night!? Voter suppression not denouncing white supremacy.

Were there over 120 contacts between trump campaign and Russians during 2016?

Comey: yea, that number sounds about right.

Graham: You seem to be worried about trump and Russia. You never would have investigated these clerical anomalies into investigating the largest counterintelligence investigation into the disruption of the democracy. Investigate the investigators not what they were investigating.

Sasse R-NE FISA process is bad, I’ve defended it.
My neighbors in Nebraska believe in deep state conspiracies, I don’t.
How are you so bad at being an FBI Director?

Comey: FISA can do with changes. It might need to look more like criminal wire taps process.

Sasse says we need to worry about China interfering in our elections over the next decade. Says it will make Russian interference look like child’s play.

Graham rants. This wasn’t sloppy, this was a crime, and when are you guys going to get that? *voice squeak*
FISA abuse!

He needs the 10 minute break.

Coons D-DE What is Obamagate? Any crimes committed by Obama or Biden?

Comey: No.

Did Biden suggest Logan Act prosecution for Flynn?

Comey: No.

Hawley R-MO huge level of misinformation and misleading of the FISA court. Do you regret you signed off on it?

Comey: I regret it wasn’t accurate.

This hearing is now republicans more angry about paperwork about an investigation than what was being investigated.

Hawley is way over time but allowed to reference the Ratcliffe memo. The propaganda letter from DNI last night.

Blumenthal D-CT This meeting will go down as another thud. References Covid. Imminent Russian threat through disinformation designed to undermine our democracy. Intel briefings are chilling. Why aren’t they as available as Ratcliffe letter?

Just an aside observation:
Sen Kennedy was in the same frame as Blumenthal. He was in the back on the phone chewing something. Like he was on hold or listening to some other discussion. What is more important to him than this hearing?

Blumenthal A ton of debt isn’t good for the president to have right?

Comey: (in essence) it makes you vulnerable to foreign recruitment, extortion, blackmail.

Graham what about Hunter Biden getting money from Moscow? Does that concern you?

Comey: I’d be concerned in any effort to exert leverage over an official or someone close to an official in an effort to influence them.

The word ‘concerned’ is playing a big role here.

Tillis R-NC 17 errors. But the paperwork! What would you be doing to address FISA process?

Comey: I’d want to assess if there was intentional wrong doing.

Pay no attention to the fire breathing maniac from the debate last night. These clerical errors must be addressed!
🤦‍♂️

‘We found no bias in any phase of the investigation.’ This is a quote Comey recites from the Horowitz report. The same Horowitz report Lindsey is holding this meeting to get out into the open. So his own source report says there was no bias found in investigation but here we are.

Hirono D-HI Aloha. 🌋 Great point! If this was about changing FISA as Lindsey claims, why is this hearing not about addressing the Horowitz Report recommendations? Asks to question Ratcliffe about that letter last night.

What is Ratcliffe up to?
Comey🤷🏼‍♂️

What is interesting about the Ratcliffe letter is that it says it is unreliable information. Didn’t we spend an hour talking about how unreliable the Dossier was? Why is one unreliable and should be forgotten and the other unreliable but must be taken seriously?

Graham why does Ratcliffe memo matter? HRC wanted to distract from her email server by telling us trump was receiving Russian interference. She didn’t tell anyone.
Lindsey is elevating this document. Says double standard. This Russian disinformation is the smoking gun. SMH

Ernst R-IA FISA warrants aren’t run of the mill search warrants. They’re for investigations we considered most private.

She should tell Mike Lee who earlier was PO’d about their secrecy.

Says ‘Dossier was basis for FISA warrant. No one is doubting that.’

Comey doubted that.

Booker D-NJ we’ve spent a lot of time investigating an investigation that has already been investigated. We should focus on undermining elections and stand by
He brings up last nights debate, ‘stand by’ to be specific.
Is this helpful?

Comey: racism is radioactive stew.

Current and last FBI directors say we are facing domestic terrorism and the president is not calming nor condemning it, but is inciting it by spraying gasoline on the fires of hate.

It is shameful to do nothing.

Graham: we need law and order, a fair system, courts getting exculpatory information. We’ll keep looking to get to the bottom of it.

Lindsey is digging a hole to nowhere. This is like his own Oak Island.

Kennedy R-LA will the Oxford/Harvard educated small town boy play like he is dumb?

Have you ever heard power doesn’t change people it unmasks them?
Comey No.

How’s your book doing? You like attention? You tried to screw Clinton and trump. What were you thinking?

Comey says he was trying to offer transparency.

Kennedy does not like the fact that a few days before the election, Comey made statements.

This will not be the case for Kennedy in a few weeks if AG Barr releases anything close to the election.

Kennedy’s theory of the case is that once the FBI was done investigation the Democrat nominee, now it’s time to investigate the republican nominee.

Why investigate trump, did you get his name out of the white pages?

Comey: whose name?

Kennedy: *mouth agape*

After Kennedy asks if FBI would have been better off if Comey was a bus driver instead of FBI Director, Graham hits the gavel and says that’s enough.

Accuses Comey of setting up Flynn.

It was so bad, agents needed liability insurance.

Comey: all agents require liability ins.

Blackburn R-TN Someone cooked up a plot here. Who came up with the plot to spy on the president?

Comey: what plot? there was no spying on the president.

Are your books fiction or non fiction? You have facts and footnotes.

Comey: non fiction and yup. You can read them.

She brings up Mifsud. Not sure how that helps her argument. Who is that? 👇🏻

https://twitter.com/DempseyTwo/status/1299495104185610241

Blackburn calls Comey condescending, arrogant.
Graham thanks Comey for coming to the hearing.
Kamala Harris is on this committee and it would normally be her turn to ask questions. Fortunately she is running for VP.
Graham now outlines next steps...

Go deeper into the fisa warrant and who signed it. He wants to dig deeper. He is saying McCabe is next. Another crap meeting is coming. Or as Blumenthal called it earlier, a thud.

Graham says ‘Somebody has got to be blamed!’

That sounds awful witchunty.

Graham gavels us out. Well that’s it troops. One team interested in what was happening to our democracy, one team worried about clerical errors.
If this hearing were a gif.
END