Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zzpat who wrote (1083374)	8/16/2018 12:11:42 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577883

Once again, Trump blows up his own lies by Greg Sargent August 16 at 10:25 AM washingtonpost.com An intriguing pattern is developing: President Trump resolves to strike a blow against the Russia investigation. He enlists his people in developing a rationale for his pending action that disguises its real motive. He carries out the act. He releases a carefully vetted statement elaborating that fake rationale. He then blows up the fake rationale by forthrightly declaring in a freewheeling interview that the act was really about the Russia probe all along. The latest example of this: In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday night, Trump openly declared that his revocation of former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance was actually about the Russia investigation. The detailed statement that the White House released Wednesday to justify this act only referred obliquely to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe, insisting Brennan had misrepresented the importance of the “Steele dossier” to the investigation. (This was the latest in a dishonest effort to spin that dossier as proof the probe is tainted. In fact, independent reporting confirmed its genesis was legitimately based on other information.) The statement’s reasons were that Brennan publicly criticized the administration — this was stated openly — but also, absurdly, that this fact helps our “adversaries” to “sow division.” The statement also argued that Brennan’s “erratic” behavior poses “risks” that disqualify him from holding clearance. The last two of those are straight up falsehoods. If anything, public criticism of Trump’s posture toward Russia makes it politically harder for him to do nothing about the next round of Russian efforts to “sow division” via more electoral sabotage. The “risk” from Brennan, then, is only a political risk to Trump, which isn’t disqualifying. Regardless, in his interview with the Journal, Trump blurted out what is really going on here: Mr. Trump cited Mr. Brennan as among those he held responsible for the investigation … “I call it the rigged witch hunt, [it] is a sham,” Mr. Trump said in an interview. “And these people led it!” He added: “So I think it’s something that had to be done.” In saying this, Trump tied his revocation directly to his claim that Brennan was one of the people behind the investigation that ultimately became the Mueller probe. This is an explicit declaration that the revocation was driven by a desire to strike a blow against the investigation. Sound familiar? It should. It harks back to Trump’s admission for the real reason he fired former FBI director James B. Comey. Trump originally floated as his fake rationale the memo authored by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, which criticized Comey’s unfairness to Hillary Clinton during the email investigation. This was absurd — Trump seized on Comey’s public July 2016 criticism of Clinton as ammunition against her — but then Trump admitted on national television that he had actually fired Comey over anger at the Russia investigation. </snip> Read the rest here: washingtonpost.com