The post YOU’RE FAKE NEWS: President Trump RIPS “Fake Witch Hunt” and “Do Nothing” Democrats first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Trump told anchor Sean Hannity that his lawyers previously had advised him not to take that dramatic step out of fear that it could be considered obstruction of justice.

“I do, I have plans to declassify and release. I have plans to absolutely release,” Trump said. “I have some very talented people working for me, lawyers, and they really didn’t want me to do it early on. … A lot of people wanted me to do it a long time ago. I’m glad I didn’t do it. We got a great result without having to do it, but we will. One of the reasons that my lawyers didn’t want me to do it, is they said, if I do it, they’ll call it a form of obstruction.”

Trump added: “Frankly, thought it would be better if we held it to the end. But at the right time, we will be absolutely releasing.”

Trump also accused FBI officials of committing “treason” — slamming former FBI Director James Comey as a “terrible guy,” former CIA Director John Brennan as potentially mentally ill, and Democrat House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff as a criminal.

Redacted versions of FISA documents already released have revealed that the FBI extensively relied on documents produced by Christopher Steele, an anti-Trump British ex-spy working for a firm funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee, to surveil Trump aide Carter Page. At least one senior DOJ official had apparent concerns Steele was unreliable, according to text messages exclusively obtained last week by Fox News.

The leaked dossier, and related FBI surveillance, kickstarted a media frenzy on alleged Russia-Trump collusion that ended with a whimper on Sunday, when it was revealed Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe concluded finding no evidence of such a conspiracy, despite several offers by Russians to help the Trump campaign. Page was never charged with wrongdoing, and he is currently suing the DNC for defamation.

FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: NEWLY REVEALED TEXTS SHOW DOJ OFFICIALS CLASHING WITH FBI OVER ‘BIAS’ OF KEY WARRANT SOURCE

Citing a high-level source, Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul late Wednesday tweeted that anti-Trump ex-CIA Director John Brennan had internally pushed the dossier. Fox News has not independently verified Paul’s source.

“I think Brennan’s a sick person, I really do,” Trump said. “I believe there’s something wrong with him, for him to come out of the CIA and act that way was so disrespectful to the country and to the CIA. He was not considered good at what he did. He was never a respected guy.”

FILE – In this May 23, 2017, file photo, former CIA Director John Brennan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the House Intelligence Committee Russia Investigation Task Force. President Donald Trump is revoking the security clearance of former Obama administration CIA director Brennan (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) (Photo: AP)

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Brennan was one of the loudest and most virulent voices to trumpet the Russian collusion theory over the past two years, asserting falsely just weeks ago that Mueller was likely planning to indict members of the Trump administration’s family in a scene reminiscent of the “ides of March” and the assassination of Julius Caesar. Trump, who revoked Brennan’s security clearance last year amid concerns Brennan was improperly hinting that he had inside information about ongoing federal probes, called those remarks “horrible” on Wednesday.

Brennan has since acknowledged he was wrong, but has said inaccurately that Mueller merely could not find evidence meeting the high bar needed for a criminal prosecution — when in fact Mueller found no evidence at all that the Trump team responded to Russians’ numerous efforts to involve them in a conspiracy.

“When I said there could be somebody spying on my campaign, it went wild out there,” Trump told Hannity. “They couldn’t believe I could say such a thing. As it turned out, that was small potatoes compared to what went on. … Millions and millions [spent] on the phony dossier, and then they used the dossier to start things. It was a fraud, paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats.”

Just hours earlier Wednesday, Trump made clear he was enthusiastic about the idea of appointing a second special counsel to review the origins of the Russia investigation when it came up during a meeting Tuesday with Republican senators, a source familiar with the discussions told Fox News.

Trump, speaking to Hannity, separately raised doubts about the secretive and mysterious June 27, 2016 Phoenix airport tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch — which was spotted while Lynch was overseeing the Hillary Clinton email probe.

“I had a lot of planes for a long time. I’ve never stopped the plane on the tarmac to let somebody on the plane,” Trump said. “Bill Clinton said he was there to play golf, but I know the area very well. Arizona. It’s a little warm at that time of year for golf, OK?”

RAND PAUL BOMBSHELL: HIGH-LEVEL SOURCE SAYS BRENNAN PUSHED DISCREDITED ANTI-TRUMP STEELE DOSSIER

In an apparent shot at former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Trump also told Hannity “this all would not have happened” if Attorney General William Barr had been with his administration from the beginning.

Trump also noted that ratings for several networks that aggressively pushed the Russia narrative have “fallen off” dramatically. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s audience of 2.5 million on Monday was 19 percent below her average this year, and it went down further to 2.3 million on Tuesday, according to the Nielsen company.

“If you wrote this as a novel, nobody would buy it; it would be a failure, because it would be too unbelievable,” Trump said. “We’re getting to the bottom of it. This can never, ever happen to a president again. That was a disgrace and an embarrassment to our country. … Hopefully they won’t get away with it.

“We’ll have to see how it all started, but I’m going to leave that to other people, including the attorney general and others, to make that determination,” Trump continued. “Fifty years, 100 years from now — if someone tries the same thing, they have to know the penalty will be very very great if and when they get caught.”

Trump also lashed out at Schiff, D-Calif., who has pushed strongly for investigations into possible Trump-Russia links. “Schiff is a bad guy, he knew he was lying — he’s not a dummy. For a year and a half he would just leak and call up CNN and others. You know, I watch him, so sanctimonious … He knew it was a lie, and he’d get in the back room with his friends in the Democrat Party, and they would laugh like hell. In one way, you could say it’s a crime what he did — he was making statements he knew were false. He’s a disgrace to our country.”

The president insisted the U.S. should have a “great relationship” with Russia and China, but that the “fake news” and “nonsense” distorted his intentions into something more sinister.

FILE – In this March 22, 2018 photo, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., then ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, exits a secure area to speak to reporters, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Trump also criticized Comey, whom he’d fired in 2017, as a “terrible guy.” He insisted he did not fire him to obstruct justice, telling Hannity he knew that firing Comey would only increase scrutiny on the White House.

“It was treason, it was really treason,” Trump said, referring to texts between former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page that discussed an “insurance policy” in the event of Trump’s election.

“You had dirty cops, you had people who are bad FBI folks … At the top, they were not clean, to put it mildly.” He said later, “We can never allow these treasonous acts to happen to another president.”

“I do, I have plans to declassify and release.”

— President Trump

Separately, Trump also said he hopes Democrats continue pushing the Green New Deal, which flamed out in a test vote on Tuesday, as most Democrats voted “present” instead of going on record supporting the sweeping transformation of the entire U.S. economy.

“I don’t want to speak badly about the New Green Deal, frankly, because I’m afraid they will stop using it,” Trump said. “I really do want to campaign against it. It’s ridiculous.”

Trump’s interview came as multiple GOP lawmakers have claimed the president may have somewhat undercut perhaps the best week of his presidency by backing the complete overturn of ObamaCare.

On Monday, the Justice Department asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans to affirm last year’s ruling by a Texas federal judge stating that the Affordable Care Act was no longer constitutional because the 2017 tax reform legislation eliminated the health care law’s penalty for not having health insurance.

Multiple congressional Republicans told Fox News they were bothered by the timing of the Trump administration’s intervention in the matter, which came on the heels of the Mueller report findings, the House sustaining the president’s veto of a bill to halt the national emergency for the border wall and a Senate vote that shined a spotlight on what conservatives described as problems with the Green New Deal, championed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Trump, despite the pushback, vowed that Republicans would soon be the “party of great health care.”

Fox News’ Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-vows-to-release-fisa-docs-now-that-mueller-probe-is-concluded-slams-treasonous-fbi

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HELSINKI — President Donald Trump said the Russia investigation has been a “disaster” for the United States and has kept America and Russia “separated.”

Speaking during a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, he reiterated that there was “no collusion” between his campaign and the Russian government.

Trump said he ran a “clean campaign” and he beat his Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton “easily.” The president added that it’s a “shame” there is a cloud over his administration. He says he ran a “brilliant campaign and that’s why I’m president.”

Putin pushed back against claims that his government interfered in the U.S. election. He says there’s “no evidence when it comes to the actual facts.”

“I had to repeat that the Russian state never interfered, and does not plan to interfere in internal American electoral process,” Putin proclaimed.

Trump added that relations between the U.S. and Russia have never been worse. He adds that he thinks that “changed as of about four hours ago.”

He says he’s sure that he and Putin will meet again often in the future.

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President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin opened their long-awaited summit Monday with a wink and slouch, respectively, then talked one on one behind closed doors for two-plus hours before the American leader declared their meeting was off to a “very, very good start for everybody.”

Neither leader revealed what was discussed. But in advance of the talks, Trump listed a series of topics that did not include Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

“We have not been getting along well for the last number of years,” Trump said after arriving at the Presidential Palace in Finland’s capital, where the leaders are meeting. “But I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship. … I really think the world wants to see us get along.”

Putin, for his part, said he and Trump have maintained regular contact through phone calls and meetings at international events but “the time has come to have a thorough discussion on various international problems and sensitive issues.” He added: “There are quite a few of them for us to pay attention to.”

Their opening one-on-one session had been scheduled to run 90 minutes. The Russians said it lasted two hours and 10 minutes. The White House wouldn’t immediately confirm the timing.

The summit, which is being closely watched around the world, was not the first time Trump and Putin have held talks. They met on the sidelines of world leader meetings in Germany and Vietnam last year. But Monday’s session was condemned in advance by members of Congress from both parties after the U.S. indictment last week of 12 Russian military intelligence officers accused of hacking Democrats in the 2016 election to help Trump’s presidential campaign.

Trump said last week that he would raise the meddling issue again with Putin, but questions have been swirling about whether Trump will sharply and publicly rebuke his Russian counterpart for the interference that prompted a special investigation probe that Trump has repeatedly labeled a “witch hunt.”

Addressing reporters before the one-on-one meeting, Putin struck a casual pose during Trump’s remarks, slouching in his chair with his legs wide and eyes low. He nodded along to some of Trump’s remarks before they were translated, showcasing his fluency in English. Trump leaned forward in his chair, his hands tented in front of him and frequently glanced over at the Russian president. At one point, he shot Putin a wink. After Trump concluded his remarks, American reporters shouted several questions about whether he would bring up election meddling during his discussions with Putin.

Trump did not respond; Putin appeared to smirk.

With that, the leaders gave a quick handshake and their private meeting in the opulent Gothic Hall was under way. Just the two of them, each with a translator.

They continued the discussion with an expanded group of aides and over lunch in the Hall of Mirrors, once the emperor’s throne room. They’ll conclude the summit by taking questions at a joint news conference.

Out on the streets, the summit attracted a grab-bag of protesters, with abortion-rights activists wearing artificially bulging bellies and Trump masks, anti-fascist protesters bearing signs with expletive-laden insults, and free traders, anti-war Ukrainians and gay rights supporters making their voices heard.

The summit began just hours after Trump blamed the United States — and not Russian election meddling or its annexation of Crimea — for a low-point in U.S.-Russia relations. The drama was playing out against a backdrop of fraying Western alliances, a new peak in the Russia investigation and fears that Moscow’s aggression may go unchallenged.

“Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse,” Trump tweeted Monday morning, blaming “many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”

The Russian foreign ministry responded by liking Trump’s tweet and then replying: “We agree.”

The summit started late because Putin arrived in Helsinki about a half hour behind schedule in another display of the Russian’s leader famous lack of punctuality. Trump seemed to return the favor by waiting until Putin had arrived at the palace before leaving his hotel. Putin has been late for past meetings with the pope and British queen, among many others.

Several dozen Trump supporters, many waving American flags and sporting “Make America Great Again” caps, cheered Trump near his waterfront hotel in Helsinki. Two held up a handwritten banner that read “God Bless D & M Trump.”

Trump and his aides have repeatedly tried to lower expectations about what the summit will achieve. He told CBS News that he didn’t “expect anything” from Putin, while his national security adviser said the U.S. wasn’t looking for any “concrete deliverables.” Trump told reporters during a breakfast Monday with Finland’s president that he thought the summit would go “fine.”

Observers have raised concerns about the fact that the leaders met alone during their first meeting, but for a pair of interpreters, meaning there will be no corroborating witnesses to accurately represent what was said during the conversation.

Trump said he and Putin would discuss a range of issues, from trade to the military, along with missiles and China. Not mentioned: Election meddling or Syria.

The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected last week’s indictment as part of a “shameful comedy” they claim has been staged to prevent the normalization of Russia-U.S. ties.

In tweets Monday, Trump continued to undermine the investigation and blamed his predecessor, Barack Obama, for failing to stop Russia’s efforts to sway the 2016 election in Trump’s favor. He claimed Obama “was informed by the FBI about Russian Meddling, he said it couldn’t happen, was no big deal, & did NOTHING about it.”

The Obama administration did, in fact, take action, including confronting Putin in person as well as expelling nearly three dozen Russian diplomats the U.S. said were actually intelligence operatives and imposing new sanctions.

While Trump was eager for a made-for-TV moment that will dominate headlines like his sit-down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month, Putin hopes the meeting, mere hours after he presided over the World Cup finals, will help him forge good personal ties with Trump and focus on areas where Moscow and Washington may be able to find common ground, such as Syria.

Putin will likely not be shooting for official recognition of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea or the easing of crippling U.S. sanctions, aware that the U.S. Congress would never allow such action. But he would welcome a symbolic end to Western protests over Crimea and Moscow’s attempts to destabilize elections and traditional Western alliances and norms.

On Syria, a possible deal could see Moscow helping mediate the withdrawal of Iranian forces and their Hezbollah proxies from the areas alongside Syria’s border with Israel — a diplomatic coup that would reflect Russia’s carefully cultivated ties with both Israel and Iran.

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Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Ken Thomas and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.fox15abilene.com/article/news/nation-world/trump-condemns-russia-probe-after-putin-talks/507-574162339

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More: Trump says he is ‘looking forward’ to testifying under oath for Mueller’s Russia probe

That’s a big deal. Why? Here’s the breakdown:

First off: Who wants to interview the president?

There are actually multiple ongoing investigations into Russia’s election meddling and possible collusion with Trump associates. Three are run by congressional panels. Another is run by special counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI director now overseeing the wide-ranging federal probe for the Justice Department.

What is the president being interviewed about?

Mueller is expected to ask about collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia – which Trump denies. Mueller is also investigating whether Trump obstructed justice in the Russia probe.

It’s likely that investigators will press the president about his contacts with James Comey, the FBI director Trump abruptly fired in May. Originally, the White House said it fired Comey based on his controversial handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation – but later, Trump said the Russia investigation was on his mind when he made the decision. Comey himself has spoken with Mueller’s team and turned over memos that documented the unusual contacts – but Mueller will likely want to hear the president’s side of the story.

Trump is also expected to be asked about his firing of Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser who allegedly lied to Vice President Pence about his contacts with a Russian official. Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts and is cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.

More: Mueller team in early talks for possible interview with President Trump

But hasn’t the president criticized this investigation?

Yes, repeatedly. Shortly after Mueller was appointed last May, Trump declared that this was the “single greatest witch hunt” in American history. He again made that same pronouncement just two weeks ago.

And didn’t he say he didn’t think his testimony was necessary?

Yes. On the same day that he reiterated his thoughts on the Russia “witch hunt,” the president declined to commit to an interview, because he insisted there had been no collusion.

“Certainly I’ll see what happens,” he said during a news conference this month. “But when they have no collusion, and nobody’s found any collusion at any level, it seems unlikely that you’d even have an interview.”

More: Trump declines to commit to Mueller interview for Russia probe

More: Trump suggests Republicans ‘finally take control’ of Russia probe

Why did Trump change his mind?

That’s unclear.

When will the interview happen?

According to Trump, his testimony could take place within the next two to three weeks. But there does not appear to be an official timetable.

Will he do it under oath?

“Absolutely,” he told reporters. His lawyers are working out the rules of his testimony with Mueller’s team, he said.

Who else has been interviewed by Mueller’s probe?

Some of the most notable people the probe has interviewed include Flynn, Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

More: Attorney General Jeff Sessions interviewed by Mueller’s team as part of Russia investigation

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/01/25/trump-and-mueller-what-expect-presidents-russia-probe-interview/1065126001/

The post Trump and Mueller: What to expect from the president’s Russia probe interview first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

In this June 21, 2017, file photo, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, departs Capitol Hill following a closed-door meeting in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

It’s time for the Russia collusion investigation into President Donald Trump to come to a halt.

It’s a sham; it’s a web of deceits. And the American people are just not that stupid that its continuance can be justified any longer.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has been digging around in dirt for months, trying to find some shred of evidence that members of Campaign Team Trump — or as former Mueller-helpmates Peter Strzok and Lisa Page might put it, in one of their many texts, of “idiot” Trump himself — committed treason by working with Russians to thwart Hillary Clinton’s chances at the White House.

Well, it’s high time to admit Clinton was just a crappy candidate. And she didn’t win because Americans didn’t want a crappy president.

That has nothing to do with Russia.

Yet dig, the Democrats must. And by Democrats, of course, it’s meant Mueller investigators, because that’s the party of affiliation for most. That was Red Flag No. 1 in this whole special counsel whirlwind — the fact the majority selected for Mueller’s team were card-carrying members of the Democratic Party, voting and financially supporting the likes of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

PolitiFact likes to play this down by running defense for Mueller with a fact-check of Rep. Sean Duffy — the Wisconsin lawmaker who, in October, expressed concern that Mueller was “bringing in Democrat campaign donors at a very high level.” PolitiFact scorned that assessment with a “half true” rating because “six of the 15 lawyers [on Mueller’s team] have not made campaign contributions to any political campaigns at the federal level” — albeit “among the lawyers who did make contributions, a total of $62,043 went to Democrats and $2,750 to Republicans.” Well, as any good mathematician will tell you, that leaves nine.

But wait. There’s more. We’re not done here yet.

“In terms of Clinton specifically,” the site goes on, “election filings indicate that three lawyers gave her 2016 presidential campaign a total of $700; and three gave a total of $18,100 to either her 2016 campaign or her 2008 run for the presidential nomination.”

Umm, forgive the nod to Capt. Obvious, but isn’t that in fact supporting what Duffy claimed?

PolitiFact then carries the left’s water farther, chiding any doubting Thomases out there that “federal regulations prohibit the Justice Department from considering the political affiliation or political contributions of career appointees, including those appointed in the special counsel’s office,” and therefore, a suggestion that “Mueller is making politically motivated hires is quite a stretch.”

Why — ‘cause it’s the law?

On that score, it’s the law that presidents of the United States can’t legally work with Russians to steal away domestic elections, either. So Trump, by default — by the same logic PolitiFact wants to use to excuse Mueller — is innocent.

Trump must get a pass. Right? Right.

Take a breath, though. We’re just getting started. All that is just the first red flag — the first of many that have followed.

Since, Mueller members have been caught texting anti-Trump messages; the whole dossier anti-Trump narrative fell flat after it was found Democrats actually funded the report as a means of gathering opposition research; lawmakers have been stymied in their attempts to obtain even the most generic of public records associated with supposed surveillance of Trump-tied officials — the simple one-page cover letter that went with the intel application to the FISA court, for example; the FBI’s curious and oh-how-convenient loss of five months’ worth of text messages exchangedbetween the anti-Trump Strozk and Page; and House Republicans have expressed shock and eye-widening awe at the newest special counsel curiosity, that of a secret memo that reportedly lays out a Deep State fix so, well, deep that it will prove once and for all the witch hunt aspects of this whole collusion fiasco.

“It is so alarming the American people have to see this,” Rep. Jim Jordan said, after reading it himself.

All that — and this: Common sense will tell you that if Russia wanted anybody to win the White House, it would’ve been Clinton, not Trump. Why?

Trump, like him or hate him, is first and foremost and America First kind of guy. Clinton, by contrast, is a savvy political player with a proven past of dealing favorably with Russia. Can you say Uranium One?

Come to think of it, Mueller, if he truly wants to serve the interests of the American people, shouldn’t just stop the investigation of Russia collusion entirely. He ought to instead switch focus and change up targets — to Clinton. Now there’s an investigation that won’t take months to uncover something of substance. Of course, he’ll probably have to get rid of the Clinton donors on his team first.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.

Source: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jan/23/robert-mueller-shut-down-this-sham-russia-collusio/

The post Mr. Mueller, shut down this sham investigation first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.