The Many Faces of US Politics...

[Gmac]

The liv golf tournament at trumps course last week was just a front for a S.P.E.C.T.R.E meeting where he was selling nuclear secrets to the highest bidder . World domination.

[whitey]

Believe whatever you want about all this other stuff if you want

Yes-I am tarring all of the work the FBI AS IT PERTAINS TO TRUMP-that is correct!

Why should I now give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the latest issue?

(BTW-Comey told Congress that if there were "material" updates on the Hillary email server he would notify them.....which he did, when classified emails showed up on Weiners laptop. That's on Huma Abedin and Hillary-not Comey)

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/06/if-hillary-clinton-loses-this-election-it-will-be-because-of-you-and-me-an-exclusive-extract-from-huma-abedins-memoir

But I'm not advocating for police to all be tarred with the same brush.

I'm questioning your double standard.

Personally, I expect a smart man like Garland to have taken an intense interest in seeing that every i was dotted and every t crossed in this, given the stakes and the previous history.

What double standard?

I'm stating fact-the FBIs treatment of Trump has been atrocious

Time and time again they were out to get him

Why should I now give them the benefit of the doubt ?

[J70]

The liv golf tournament at trumps course last week was just a front for a S.P.E.C.T.R.E meeting where he was selling nuclear secrets to the highest bidder . World domination.

The irony is that you don't see that your lampoon attempt is actually much more representative of the paranoid conspiracy-based typical GOPer than anything else.

Deep state, stolen elections, great replacement theory, Italian satellites, Jade Helm, Bill Gates microchips, mass shooting false flag operations, Covid conspiracies etc.

[J70]

Believe whatever you want about all this other stuff if you want

Yes-I am tarring all of the work the FBI AS IT PERTAINS TO TRUMP-that is correct!

Why should I now give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the latest issue?

(BTW-Comey told Congress that if there were "material" updates on the Hillary email server he would notify them.....which he did, when classified emails showed up on Weiners laptop. That's on Huma Abedin and Hillary-not Comey)

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/06/if-hillary-clinton-loses-this-election-it-will-be-because-of-you-and-me-an-exclusive-extract-from-huma-abedins-memoir

But I'm not advocating for police to all be tarred with the same brush.

I'm questioning your double standard.

Personally, I expect a smart man like Garland to have taken an intense interest in seeing that every i was dotted and every t crossed in this, given the stakes and the previous history.

What double standard?

I'm stating fact-the FBIs treatment of Trump has been atrocious

Time and time again they were out to get him

Why should I now give them the benefit of the doubt ?

The double standard is that you don't hesitate to give the benefit of the doubt to non-federal police, despite all of the problematic revelations about US policing.

As for the "atrocious" treatment of poor Trump, I'm sorry, but I don't see it. The man, at best, skirts the law most of the time, has been at war with all of the intelligence agencies since he was a candidate, has openly and surreptitiously called for interference and help by foreign entities on his behalf, has behaved in a completely cavalier manner with sensitive information, and has attempted to obstruct and interfere with multiple investigations. If you act like he does, you're begging to get investigated. 

[whitey]

My interactions of the police have (so far) all been positive so I would have no reason NOT to give them the benefit of the doubt

If I'm the other hand I was a person of color, I would not give the police the benefit of the doubt (and as speaking a white person I would agree with them )

The difference is, I wouldn't scold them for doing so (the way you're scolding m)e-that's their lived experience and I respect it

As a conservative I don't give the FBI the benefit of the doubt based on their actions going all the way back to the dossier. Time and time again they have displayed incredible dishonesty when it comes to their dealings with Trump

[Eamonnca1]

Good to see one of them sc**bag sh1t getting killed by their own medicine.

Indeed. Slap it up him.

[J70]

My interactions of the police have (so far) all been positive so I would have no reason NOT to give them the benefit of the doubt

If I'm the other hand I was a person of color, I would not give the police the benefit of the doubt (and as speaking a white person I would agree with them )

The difference is, I wouldn't scold them for doing so (the way you're scolding m)e-that's their lived experience and I respect it

As a conservative I don't give the FBI the benefit of the doubt based on their actions going all the way back to the dossier. Time and time again they have displayed incredible dishonesty when it comes to their dealings with Trump

Sorry if you felt scolded.

I'm glad you accept the conflicting experiences of US policing by race, including white privilege; hopefully such realism will become more widespread among the US right.

And hopefully the steady, considered hand of Merrick Garland will restore your faith in the FBI's treatment of poor Mr. Trump.

[Puckoon]

My interactions of the police have (so far) all been positive so I would have no reason NOT to give them the benefit of the doubt

If I'm the other hand I was a person of color, I would not give the police the benefit of the doubt (and as speaking a white person I would agree with them )

The difference is, I wouldn't scold them for doing so (the way you're scolding m)e-that's their lived experience and I respect it

As a conservative I don't give the FBI the benefit of the doubt based on their actions going all the way back to the dossier. Time and time again they have displayed incredible dishonesty when it comes to their dealings with Trump

Time and Time again Trump has displayed incredible dishonesty when it comes to dealing with his role as the president, his instigation of the Jan 6th insurrection. I think he is actually incapable of telling a truth. He doesn't get a by ball here, when you live by the sword you die by the sword.

[J70]

Good to see one of them sc**bag sh1t getting killed by their own medicine.

Indeed. Slap it up him.

Don't know.

Part of me feels pity for people like that. Dumb, misguided fools being led and manipulated by a corrupt, self-interested, evil grifter.

[Eamonnca1]

I have zero sympathy. People that get radicalised on a diet of Fox News or OAN might end up completely disconnected from the reality of what's happening in the world, but they still know what they're doing when they go out with an assault rifle with intent to kill people. Personal responsibility and all that. He knew what he was doing, even if he didn't know why he was doing it.

[J70]

I have zero sympathy. People that get radicalised on a diet of Fox News or OAN might end up completely disconnected from the reality of what's happening in the world, but they still know what they're doing when they go out with an assault rifle with intent to kill people. Personal responsibility and all that. He knew what he was doing, even if he didn't know why he was doing it.

That's fair. Most of them just hang their Trump flags and wear their shirts, obsessively hate "libtards", vote for conspiracy theorists and bigots and let it define themselves that way. They don't head out to directly kill perceived enemies.

[whitey]

My interactions of the police have (so far) all been positive so I would have no reason NOT to give them the benefit of the doubt

If I'm the other hand I was a person of color, I would not give the police the benefit of the doubt (and as speaking a white person I would agree with them )

The difference is, I wouldn't scold them for doing so (the way you're scolding m)e-that's their lived experience and I respect it

As a conservative I don't give the FBI the benefit of the doubt based on their actions going all the way back to the dossier. Time and time again they have displayed incredible dishonesty when it comes to their dealings with Trump

Time and Time again Trump has displayed incredible dishonesty when it comes to dealing with his role as the president, his instigation of the Jan 6th insurrection. I think he is actually incapable of telling a truth. He doesn't get a by ball here, when you live by the sword you die by the sword.

The dossier and the FISA abuses occurred long before Trump ever even got elected

Jim Comey, as FBI Director, actually admitted and even laughed about tricking Mike Flynn in the first days of the new administration

The behavior of the FBI has been nothing short of scandalous in its treatment of Trump

Just because Trump is a d1ck, doesn't give the FBI the right to break the law

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Violations of the Espionage Act you say? 

[Eamonnca1]

Opinion: The Mar-a-Lago search, through the eyes of a veteran FBI agent
As a nation of laws, we've never had a president who has been so antipathetic toward them

By FRANK MONTOYA JR.


Let me start by stating the obvious.

The execution of a federal search warrant at the residence of a former U.S. president is more than an extraordinary occurrence.

Fact is, things like that just don't happen.

Pick a presidential scandal in our history —Teapot Dome, Watergate, Iran-Contra or Whitewater. It just doesn't happen. Not until Monday, anyway, when a host of FBI special agents, lawful warrant in hand, rewrote the history books forever.

Now, let me tell you why the FBI search of the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Monday is such a big deal.

The former president of the United States is suspected of committing a crime. As obvious as that may seem given all that has transpired over the past seven years — yes, you would be spot on for thinking "duh" — the fact of the matter is that, as a nation of laws, we've never had a president who has been so antipathetic towards them.

Still, while no one, not even a former president, is above the law, the presumption of innocence is an important tenet of American jurisprudence. We, all of us, even corrupt former presidents, are afforded the rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution when it comes to things like searches and seizures, protections against self-incrimination, and the right to trial by jury.

Two centuries of justice under a constitutionally established rule of law ensures that.

Which is why the criticisms coming from the supporters rushing to the former president's defense in the wake of the search make no sense. Those supporters, many of whom are lawyers, know what due process and the rules of evidence are. They claim to be well-versed in the Bill of Rights. What's more, their phony outrage directly undermines that long tradition of American jurisprudence.

The FBI executes search warrants all the time. Contrary to the fearmongers and conspiracy theorists amongst us, they are not political acts. The reason for their use is simple and straightforward — to find evidence of a crime.

Monday's activity at Mar-a-Lago was just the execution of a search warrant. An investigative step. While the former president's own attorney has already indicated "paper" was seized — which means investigators got something — it must be reviewed and determined if it can support further investigation.

That said, I can't help but think about what happened to Paul Manafort (the former president's campaign manager) and Michael Cohen (his former personal attorney) after their residences were searched. The PC standards for them were very high, too, and yet look at what they yielded.

Indictments. Arrests. Convictions.

The FBI and its DOJ partners know what's at stake. And they know what they must do to serve justice. It's never an easy task, especially with a subject as wily (and lucky) as the former president, but this time I can't help but feel like they are finally onto something that will stick.

What's more, despite all the accusations the minority leader of the House of Representatives leveled at DOJ and the FBI in the aftermath of the search, the simple truth is that it was  the crass incompetence and blatant disregard for American values that have marred the former president's cult of personality since its inception.

The cult, it seems, is finally collapsing under its own gross obesity. As it does, we may be getting to the point that the myth the former president could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and not lose any votes is about to be shattered.

Frank Montoya Jr. is a retired FBI senior official who served as the national counterintelligence executive, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and special agent in charge of two FBI field offices. ©2022 New York Daily News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.

[Eamonnca1]

Q: What's a MAGA's favourite holiday?
A: Halloween. Because they pump kin!