Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Bark louder, little dog.

The willow is too close to the house.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

The revolution will be supervised.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

I was promised a recession.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / No Nunes Is Good Nunes… Wait, What? Time’s Got Carter Page’s Correspondence? Uh Oh!

No Nunes Is Good Nunes… Wait, What? Time’s Got Carter Page’s Correspondence? Uh Oh!

by | 180 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

Oops!

Take it away Time!

Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page bragged that he was an adviser to the Kremlin in a letter obtained by TIME that raises new questions about the extent of Page’s contacts with the Russian government over the years.

The letter, dated Aug. 25, 2013, was sent by Page to an academic press during a dispute over edits to an unpublished manuscript he had submitted for publication, according to an editor who worked with Page.

“Over the past half year, I have had the privilege to serve as an informal advisor to the staff of the Kremlin in preparation for their Presidency of the G-20 Summit next month, where energy issues will be a prominent point on the agenda,” the letter reads.

In June 2013, the FBI interviewed Page regarding his contacts with the Russians, Page says. The FBI believed that Russian intelligence services had attempted to recruit Page as an agent with promises of business opportunities in Russia, according to the 2015 court documents.

Page told the FBI at their June 2013 meeting that the officers might better spend their time investigating the Boston Marathon bombing, which had occurred the previous April, according to a letter Page sent to Democrats on Nunes’ committee last May. Page says that thereafter the FBI began a retaliatory campaign against him. According to published reports, the FBI obtained a first FISA warrant to eavesdrop on Page’s electronic communications during 2013. And they have been paying attention to him, on and off, ever since.

Two months after his meeting with the FBI, Page sent the letter claiming to be a Kremlin adviser. In addition to his work as an energy consultant, Page has studied and written on Russian affairs, and had submitted a book for publication by the academic press. Page felt frustrated by the fact that he had revised his manuscript about Russian relations is Central Asia and it had not been reviewed again, according to the editor who has worked with Page in the past and who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the matter.

The letter to the manuscript reviewer is not the first example of Page touting his relationship with Russia. McClatchy reported last year that in 2008, the U.S. Embassy in Turkmenistan sent a cable to the U.S. State Department describing how Page had met with government officials in the country, which was formerly part of the Soviet Union, about possibly working for their oil companies. The cable described how he touted his work with the Russian-run company Gazprom.

Well how about that bowl of borscht?

Stay frosty or Congressman Nunes will write a memo claiming you’ve violated Kremlin advisor Carter Page’s civil liberties.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

180Comments

  1. 1.

    Corner Stone

    Page was just making sure the Kremlin was more amenable to the next leadership team in the USA!
    Why is that so wrong?

  3. 3.

    Adam L Silverman

    From former Special Agent in Charge Frank Montoya Jr.
    https://ijr.com/the-declaration/2018/02/1060804-fbi-special-agent-in-charge-who-has-testified-in-front-of-nunes-responds-to-biggest-claims-in-memo/

    During his time in the FBI, Montoya Jr. testified in front of Nunes. He shared a couple of concerns he has over the chairman’s approach to the key issues.

    “I’ve testified in front of [former Rep.] Mike Rogers and Nunes,” he said. “When Rogers left, things didn’t operate at the nonpartisan level they did before.”

    We asked Montoya Jr. what led him to have that perception about the current House Intelligence Committee chairman.

    “Rogers was a former agent. He worked closely with the minority leader. He engaged constantly with the USIC, and not just in hearings,” he said. “He understood us. No, he didn’t cut us any slack as chairman, but he was knowledgeable and fair.”

    When Nunes took over, things changed, per Montoya Jr.’s account.

    “My first impression of him was that he is an empty suit. I say this because he wasn’t objective and failed to do his homework,” he said. “He takes shortcuts on everything. He didn’t do his homework here, either. He admitted that he did not read the FISA applications.”

  12. 12.

    Adam L Silverman

    @BGinCHI: Every time I see that guy I expect him to be on a sign with an apron advertising Porky Sam Clovis’s Country BBQ.

  15. 15.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I think this letter may be less than it looks like, but if Page was bragging that he was an advisor to the Kremlin in 2013, that certainly could have something to do with the FBI’s desire to listen in on his out-of-country phonecalls.

    Page is a bullshitter. If you’ve seen any of his interviews, you know that. He likes to magnify his importance. As Natasha Bertrand notes, this was two months after Page met his new friends who referred to him as Male-1 and “idiot” in their notes. They also asked him for company reports, as they moved along to more serious recruitment. Page knew they were Russian, so why not say he was advising “Kremlin staff.”

    He was having a hard time getting a paper published and decided to try to show the editor how important he was. Everything I have read by him is incoherent and ranty. If I were the editor, I would have rejected it outright.

    Here’s a bunch of stuff I’ve collected on him.

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    For such a smart (ALLEGEDLY!) and highly-educated guy, Carter Page is a seriously stupid person.

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: I agree he’s a bullshitter. But as you’ve indicated, and we’re in complete agreement, this is one of the things that will get you on the radar of the FBI pretty quickly. It also knocks down Nunes’ allegation that the FBI had no reason to be concerned about Page and want to surveil him.

  20. 20.

    BGinCHI

    @Cheryl Rofer: Kidding. Kidding.

    But seriously, Page is so obviously a cartoon-like figure, it’s just too difficult to see how these idiots can keep this up much longer. Nunes seems to be trying to get either arrested or dropped into the Potomac.

  22. 22.

    Corner Stone

    @Adam L Silverman: Good God. That is one subversive and perverted video. The banner that says, “New Odor” and the iron fixture beside der fuhrer that spells out PU?
    My faith in totalitarian leaders is severely shaken. I’m going to need therapy after this.

  23. 23.

    japa21

    @Cheryl Rofer: I agree that Page is one weird dude and this letter, in and of itself, is probably not too significant. But it does indicate that Page was on the FBI’s radar for a while.

    Secondly, where did time get this letter. Kind of surprising it just shows up now. I would assume it is part of some intelligence file on Page, which means the IC is striking back. Wouldn’t surprise me if more of this kind of stuff shows up.

  24. 24.

    Kay (not the front pager& from my phone)

    Funny how this kind of information shows up at just this moment, when it undercuts the thesis of yo memo.

    They say you shouldn’t get into an argument with someone who buys ink by the barrel. Maybe you should also avoid getting into a beef with someone who collects information by the barrel (ok the metaphor isn’t perfect. You get the idea).

  25. 25.

    p.a.

    Obviously Page is a blowhard self promoter without any pull who was basically an intern coffee/doughnut schlepper for the election organization/administration.

    Have you seen the Obama-Farrakahn photo? Have ya?

  27. 27.

    BGinCHI

    @japa21: If they leaked it to Time, that’s extra special, as for some reason Trump cares what they publish.

    It’s like his comfy space is decorated with dentist office paraphernalia.

  28. 28.

    Gvg

    FBI probably knew he was a loon but if he had real contacts with Russian’s they probably couldn’t not watch him and be considered careful. And then a real Presidential campaign voluntarily associated with him which also had other Russian contacts. Poor FBI must have kept saying this ca’t be real.

  29. 29.

    BGinCHI

    @Cheryl Rofer: When the Emperor who has no clothes selects his closest advisors, he can’t very well choose anyone smarter or cleverer than himself.

    Classic mafia movie set-up, where the jabrones get dumber as you move away from the capo.

  31. 31.

    BC in Illinois

    @Adam L Silverman:

    If you look at the comments to the IJR interview of Montoya, you get to see some serious Hillary Derangement. Montoya doesn’t see how Hillary has corrupted Comey and the FBI in general, so everything that Montoya says is to be disregarded. Period. End of discussion.

  36. 36.

    magurakurin

    @jl: I had heard somewhere that Cadet Bone Spurs watch clips of Mussolini with the sound off to pick up pointers. But no idea if that is in anyway factual…but, I agree, startling similarities.

  38. 38.

    Corner Stone

    @magurakurin:

    Cadet Bone Spurs watch clips of Mussolini with the sound off to pick up pointers. But no idea if that is in anyway factual…but, I agree, startling similarities.

    Way too low energy for Il Douche.

  39. 39.

    jl

    @Gvg: That is the very grim comedy of it all. Russians tried to recruit him, and recruiters kept in contact. They thought he was an idiot, but that is one of the types of people they do recruit. Page is continually trying to hit the jackpot with Russian energy deals and companies, he is the kind of person who watch to see where he might lead the Russian recruiters to other US business contacts. Probably just another routine day at the office, you keep in touch with goofballs like that.

    Then Trump announces to the whole country, with some fanfare, this goofus is key personnel on his very important foreign policy and national security advisory team. (Which the idiot Trump announced because saying he got sufficient advice watching generals talk on TV news shows didn’t play well)

  40. 40.

    Kay (not the front pager& from my phone)

    @Cheryl Rofer: The thing about Page is, there’s something uncanny valley about him. It’s not just his odd appearance. His personality also has that almost-but-not-quite human, uncanny valley vibe. He reminds me a little of the Coneheads.

  41. 41.

    sukabi

    @japa21: don’t have to worry about “the deep state” dropping Intel on Drumpf, it’s about time Jr. lets fly with some more emails just to prove ???

  45. 45.

    Kay (not the front pager& from my phone)

    @japa21: Weird how your comment showed up just at this time, 1 minute before my comment saying essentially the same thing. ?

  46. 46.

    jl

    @magurakurin: Might be an apocryphal riff off the story about Ailes drooling over his leggy blonde news actors with the sound off at Fox News headquarters.

    But, it’s Trump so I give fifty fifty it’s true.

  48. 48.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Jonah Goldberg @JonahNRO

    There’s a lot of talk about how much the Memo was oversold by Republicans. There is not nearly enough scorn being heaped on Dems for their hyped claims that this would do irreparable and catastrophic harm to America as we know it.

    Wile E. Coyote blows himself up and they want to blame the Road Runner.

  50. 50.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)

    You know, it hit me today that this is kind of what it would be like if George Costanza ran the federal government, only with less self awareness and more nazis.

  51. 51.

    Aleta

    @Cheryl Rofer: Cheryl, do you think there’s enough information to justify Maddow’s suggestion: Page may have known back in October of a plan very similar to what Ryan and Nunes just did, to discredit the investigation?

    “I think when the truth comes out, when Speaker Raul Ryan says the FISA warrant or the details about the dodgy dossier and what happened and all the documents surround that is gonna be released, that’s what I’m excited about,” Page said in the October 30 interview. “I think the truth will set a lot of people free.”

    “Because of the way he talks and behaves in interviews, everything Carter Page says seems fuzzy,” Maddow admitted. “But what he just said there actually is what happened — and he knew about it months in advance.” Though it “just sounded like another crazy thing that Carter Page said,” Maddow noted that his strange comment about Ryan and FISA warrants now seem oddly prescient.

    “Months ago, there was a plan in the works that Carter Page knew about, that involved Paul Ryan, that they would try to use this warrant against Carter Page to make a public case. To try to turn that warrant into some sort of public information, that presumably would be used to turn the Russia investigation into a scandal,” she concluded.

  52. 52.

    germy

    I understand that places like RawStory will often pick the most unflattering photo or screengrab they can find of KellyAnne or Trump or whoever; eyes half closed, mouth open. I know Fox does the same thing.

    But every single photo I’ve ever seen of Page and Nunes, they just look so shady. Nunes has a weird blank stare, and Page always looks like a liar. I’ve never seen a normal-looking picture of those two.

  56. 56.

    No Drought No More

    Nunes is a cipher. It’s the republican party’s neck that’s on the line. God grant democratic shot-callers the wisdom to snap it. Let it be done, and let us now all conduct ourselves so that if the United States lasts a thousand years, American patriots will yet say: “This was their finest hour”.

  59. 59.

    J R in WV

    This stuff is so strange I hardly know what to say in response. Activist dies of head injuries in his apartment building entrance. Political activist sends around a letter boasting of his connections with the one nation capable of defeating any other nation with a nuclear attack, except perhaps our nation.

    Political memo published that establishes the head of the House Select Committee is dumber than a bag of hammers. President lauds memo showing that head of House Select Committee is dumber than a bag of hammers, showing that President is also as dumb as a bag of hammers.

    What the hell is going on here and around the world ?????????????????

  61. 61.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Signor Ugarte is dead.
    I’m making out the report now.
    We haven’t quite decided
    whether he committed suicide…
    …or died trying to escape.

  62. 62.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Aleta: Maddow is more willing than I am to draw conclusions. It’s an interesting quote, something to keep in mind, but with Page it could be like the monkeys and the typewriters.

  65. 65.

    jl

    @Aleta: “I think the truth will set a lot of people free.” But maybe not for Page?

    That is something to ponder. Page is babbling away serene and smug because they promised to protect him, and worked out a scheme. That would fit, if he really is, in some sense, an idiot (at least in terms of the ruthless circles he wants to travel in).

    We already have a report that Hope Hicks was assuring Trump and his inner circle that they could keep their Russian ‘orphan adoption’ meeting secret forever. That did not work out. If I were Page, I would take that as a warning. But, I am not like Page, at least, I hope not.

    My best hunch now is that the Trumpsters are desperately trying to obstruct justice to hide the fact that they tried to collaborate with the Russians, but were too disorganized or incompetent to be effective collaborators. Maybe some of them took some side deal money, or promised favors to get out of hock to Russian mobsters or in hopes of business deal payoffs. Trump probably tried to keep plausible deniability, but who knows? Russians finally went to NRA and other shady GOP operatives who were more competent and organized.

  68. 68.

    Aleta

    @Adam L Silverman: Recently watched (supposedly) the earliest released film portrait of hitler as a dictator by an actor (Moe). Three Stooges episode You Nazty Spy (1940).

    The title is a parody of comedian Joe Penner’s catchphrase “You Nasty Man!”
    Moe Howard, as “Moe Hailstone”, became the first American actor to portray/imitate Adolf Hitler in a released film, although Chaplin’s portrayal was shot before the Stooges’ film went into production.
    Both Moe Howard and Larry Fine cited You Nazty Spy! as their favorite Three Stooges short.
    You Nazty Spy! was followed by a sequel, I’ll Never Heil Again, in 1941. Moronika would also appear in Dizzy Pilots (1943).

    The parody of the Nazi banner with two snakes in the form of a swastika is captioned with the phrase “Moronika for Morons” which is a play on the Nazi slogan “Deutschland den Deutschen” (Germany for Germans).

    The Stooges—all Ashkenazi Jews—occasionally worked a word or phrase of Yiddish into their dialogue. In particular here, the Stooges make several overt Jewish and Yiddish cultural references:
    The exclamation “Beblach!” used several times in the film is a Yiddish word meaning “beans”.
    “Shalom aleichem!”, literally “Peace unto you” is a standard Hebrew greeting meaning “hello, pleased to meet you”.

    In Moe’s imitation of a Hitler speech, he says “in pupik gehabt haben” (the semi-obscene “I’ve had it in the bellybutton” in Yiddish). These references to the Nazi leadership and Hitler speaking Yiddish were particularly ironic inside jokes for the Yiddish-speaking Jewish audience.
    In a gag when Moe tries to shush Larry and Curly at a table with Mattie Herring, the boys make train noises until a conductor appears and says, “All out for Syracuse!” When Larry leaves and Mattie Herring asks where’s he going, Moe replies, “The boy’s from Syracuse” – a reference to the musical The Boys from Syracuse (1938).

  69. 69.

    B.B.A.

    @Tata: Also, the Borscht Belt is coming back, with the Concord reopening as Resorts World Catskills next week. Sadly, borscht will probably not be served there.

  70. 70.

    germy

    Page told the FBI at their June 2013 meeting that the officers might better spend their time investigating the Boston Marathon bombing, which had occurred the previous April, according to a letter Page sent to Democrats on Nunes’ committee last May. Page says that thereafter the FBI began a retaliatory campaign against him.

    Okay, I think I know the angle Hannity will be pushing.

  74. 74.

    germy

    WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration on Friday announced it will continue much of the Obama administration’s nuclear weapons policy, but take a more aggressive stance toward Russia. It said Russia must be convinced it would face “unacceptably dire costs” if it were to threaten even a limited nuclear attack in Europe.

    The sweeping review of U.S. nuclear policy does not call for any net increase in strategic nuclear weapons – a position that stands in contrast to President Donald Trump’s statement, in a tweet shortly before he took office, that the U.S. “must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” In his State of the Union address Tuesday, he made no mention of expansion, though he said the arsenal must deter acts of aggression.

  75. 75.

    Chet Murthy

    @Corner Stone:

    Where does that leave me?

    As someone who hasn’t tried the right borscht? (ok, ok, j/k) But srsly, there’s a lotta really weak borscht in the world, so it’s quite possible you just never had the good stuff.

    Back in the day, there was a place on 1st Ave around 8th st called “K K’s”, that had *four* (count ’em *four*) kinds of borscht for sunday brunch. That shit was rockin’! Ukranian Borscht with half a boiled egg in there. And three other kinds, that I forget now. And of course there’s the B&H Dairy on 2nd just south of St Marks Place …. oh shit, I miss it so. The borscht here in SF just isn’t up to that standard.

  76. 76.

    p.a.

    Is Page so stupid he doesn’t realize Donnie will stab him in the back as soon as it becomes expedient? Or have I not been paying attention and it already happened?

  79. 79.

    Chet Murthy

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m just jokin’ — I get it, I don’t like split pea soup myself (can’t stand the stench … err, I mean, “smell”). De gustibus and all that. But man, I started eating borscht only at age 30. And seriously, I could give up a lotta things, in exchange for the B&H Dairy to transport itself to SF.

  82. 82.

    p.a.

    @germy:

    It said Russia must be convinced it would face “unacceptably dire costs” if it were to threaten even a limited nuclear attack in Europe.

    Is Massive Retaliation no longer our stated policy for a nuclear attack in Europe/on NATO? If it still is, anything else is superfluous, isn’t it?

  83. 83.

    Patricia Kayden

    @p.a.: Yes, I’ve seen the Farrakhan – then Senator Obama photo. Laughable that Conservatives think it would have made any difference and would have put Palin/McCain in the White House.

  85. 85.

    Patricia Kayden

    @germy: The same Trump administration which refused to enact sanctions against Russia that Trump signed into law? That one?

  86. 86.

    jl

    @p.a.: Trump finally figured out some bits of US defense policy and wants to show it off? If he points it out and adds that ‘people didn’t know that’ next time he talks, that will be the tell.

  92. 92.

    Brachiator

    Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page bragged that he was an adviser to the Kremlin in a letter obtained by TIME </blockquote. The Kremlin Letter. Wasn't that the title of a pretty good spy film?

  95. 95.

    germy

    @debbie: From the TIME article:

    The editor thinks Page was ultimately harmless in terms of national security threats. “I would never have seen him in the center of concern like this, or playing a role or being seen as an intermediary between the Russian government and a political candidate,” the editor said. “He struck me just as someone who had developed some strange academic views … and wanted to have them published,” the editor says.

    “I just came to see him as a kook,” the editor says.

  97. 97.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: Only Bill can tell us which was the correct interpretation. I do think it’s funny that a one word comment can be taken two completely different ways.

  98. 98.

    B.B.A.

    @p.a.: I think he expects the public to turn on Mueller and the entire investigation to be shuttered after these latest revelations.

  100. 100.

    Brachiator

    @Aleta:

    In a gag when Moe tries to shush Larry and Curly at a table with Mattie Herring

    Mattie Herring. Gotta love it. I don’t if I ever saw this Stooges feature. And I loves me some Stooges.

    I got to check into who wrote this.

    Cool stuff.

  101. 101.

    danielx

    @germy:

    Right. Trump: We’re going to be more aggressive, nudge nudge wink wink, but we know what’s really happening, don’t we?

    In other news….

    How could this not get around more quickly? I would have expected that this particular exploit, if true, would have gone viral, hell nuclear, at the speed of light. There should be an award for messages this good.

    Michelle Bachmann,
    NO.
    – God.

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    Dear Department of Leaking in the IC,

    Could you please speed up your efforts? This is taking far too long.

    Most sincerely,
    WaterGirl

  103. 103.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’ll bet you 1.50 that my guess was the correct one.

    edit: I remember the 60 and 70 hour weeks from last year. At some point the brain just gets tired.

  105. 105.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @danielx:

    Prosecuting Counsel: Constable, will you please tell the court in your own words what happened?

    Constable: Oh yes! (refers to his notebook) I was proceeding in a northerly direction up Alitalia Street when I saw the deceased (points at Njorl) standing at an upstairs window, baring her bosom at the general public. She then took off her … wait a tick. Wrong story. (refers to his notebook) Ho yes! There were three nuns in a railway compartment and the ticket inspector says to one of them. (the superintendent shakes his head) No, anyway I clearly saw the deceased…

    Clerk: Defendant.

    Constable: Defendant! Sorry. Sorry, super. I clearly saw the defendant … doing whatever he’s accused of…Red-handed. When kicked… he said: ‘It’s a fair … cop, I done it all … Right… no doubt about… that’. Then, bound as he was to the chair, he assaulted myself and three other constables while bouncing around the cell. The end.

  106. 106.

    Gretchen

    @jl: That’s an interesting theory, that Page is blithely blabbing away because he’s been promised that he would be protected. Hope Hicks only recently hired a lawyer – the Wolfe book describes her as not understanding the danger she is in. How do these people not understand that doing shady things in the Presidential campaign and office will have consequences? I’d love to know who is paying Hope Hicks’s legal bills.

  108. 108.

    Lyrebird

    @japa21:

    I would assume it is part of some intelligence file on Page, which means the IC is striking back.

    [email protected]Kay (not the front pager& from my phone):

    Funny how this kind of information shows up at just this moment, when it undercuts the thesis of yo memo.

    Yes, jinx or great minds thinking in like channels or what have you… Also seems to me that the writers here who’ve been predicting more info drops from the IC the more they get blamed might be on target. I mean, “a letter obtained by Time” – which is more likely, that the publisher remembered this particular annoying interchange and called Time, or that someone with access to a lot of info decided it was time to drip out some more.

    @magurakurin: Agreed, picking fights with people who “[collect] information by the exabyte data center” seems incredibly stupid in addition to probably having other bad repercussions.

  109. 109.

    Another Scott

    @B.B.A.: If wishes were horses…

    RCP:

    Amid the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon wanted nothing more than to shift the public’s attention to other issues. His 1974 [State of the Union] address focused mostly on the ongoing –and crippling — energy crisis, but with evidence mounting that he may have covered up a 1972 break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters, he couldn’t avoid the topic altogether. After a long pause for applause near the end of his speech, Nixon brought it up: “I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. One year of Watergate is enough.” In reality, the investigation would continue for nearly seven more months, culminating in his resignation. Just two weeks after Nixon spoke to the joint session of Congress, the House voted, 410-4, to give the Judiciary Committee authority to investigate impeachment charges against the president.

    OhpleaseOhpleaseOhplease…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  110. 110.

    Gretchen

    @Aleta: Thanks for the Three Stooges summary. The phrase Germany for Germans gave me a chill, though. Hits a little too close to MAGA.

  111. 111.

    Yutsano

    @Gretchen:

    I’d love to know who is paying Hope Hicks’s legal bills.

    Her parents are well off so they might be covering them. Although we already know it’s not above Dolt45 to illegally divert funds from his campaign to do this.

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I like split pea soup.

    I made some about two weeks ago. Had I but known, I coulda sent you some via e-mail or something.

    As it turned out, my kid likes it. I was lucky to get two or three bowls for myself. (Out of two pounds of dry peas.)

  116. 116.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SFAW: My mom makes it with the ham bone from the Christmas ham. I haven’t had the proper homemade stuff since maybe 1992.

  119. 119.

    cthulhu

    I think it is indicative of Nunes’ incompetence that the best he come up with is a defense of Carter Page. And that Carter Page’s past, present and future behavior have a very good chance of undermining the memo’s impact because that is the kind of guy Carter Page is.

    And now Nunes is moving on to the State Department which has nothing to do with the Trump investigation as far as can tell?

  127. 127.

    ewrunning

    So anybody else think Nunes 2nd memo will feature the 2008 Embassy Ashgabat report on Page’s activities along with other cherry picked reports from US diplomatic posts over the years? If they can find a Washington originated reply that mentions him between 2009 and 2012 it will even have Hillary’s signature at the bottom. Smoking gun!

  128. 128.

    ewrunning

    And for those who saw my comment last night, I came through my medical stuff fine and am feeling almost human again. Thanks for the kind thoughts.

  129. 129.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Walter Shaub @ waltshaub
    According to WSJ, the author of the inept Nunes memo is an attorney who bowls at the White House with the “Dons” and was the object of a federal judge’s “Order on Ineptitude” two years ago. And by WSJ, I mean the Wall Street Journal, not the Onion. You can’t make this stuff up.

    how did Quigley phrase the question: Has anyone on your staff discussed this with anyone in the White House?

  131. 131.

    efgoldman

    @BGinCHI:

    Nunes seems to be trying to get either arrested or dropped into the Potomac.

    To quote the estimable Herr Doktor Professor Silverman: Why not both?

  133. 133.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: Something along the lines of “your peer reviewers are wrong about their understanding of my understanding of Russia. I know their wrong because I’m advising the Kremlin.”

  136. 136.

    jl

    @ewrunning: Maybe Trump thinks Nunes’ memo is such a smash success slam dunk with the public, he can use successive ‘memogate-email-ghazies’ to hit all the Deep State departments he wants to slag. Maybe a Nunes’ memo on profitable USPS chunks next? Or show how NOAA is part of the coup plotting?

  140. 140.

    TS

    @BGinCHI:

    But seriously, Page is so obviously a cartoon-like figure, it’s just too difficult to see how these idiots can keep this up much longer. Nunes seems to be trying to get either arrested or dropped into the Potomac.

    Such a worthy guy – may it soon happen

  144. 144.

    Lyrebird

    @jl: Yeah.

    Another nice tweet:

    Madeleine Albright
    @madeleine
    It’s a good thing Devin Nunes is not taking my course on national security decision making. I expect my students’ written work to be compelling, accurate, and unbiased. By those standards, I would have to give him an F. Let’s hope his constituents do the same in November.

    H/T washingtonpress dot com via Joe in WV

  148. 148.

    The Golux

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I am not a fan of beets.

    I despised beets until I had a bowl of my future mother-in-law’s borscht. That recipe in the earlier post looks damn interesting; I’ll have to show it to my wife. (There’s no meat in her mother’s recipe, other than the bacon in the accompanying mashed potatoes.)

  153. 153.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:
    You hit the nail on the head, so to speak.
    They are dumber than any amount of hammers. All of them put together are dumber than any amount of hammers. And they are “running” the government. OK they aren’t so much running it as running it into the ground. Which is by the way one of the things the monied powerful want, no government, no laws on privacy, on rights, on voting…… They want the only power to be money. The more money you have the more power. They don’t just want it to be the way it works, they pretty much have that now. No they want money to be the only thing that counts, they want it codified into what little law they want left. They want no Social Security, no Medicare (remember that half of what goes into these is their contribution as employers, the other half is ours), no civil rights, no women’s rights. They want absolute power, including the power of life or death. They’ve decided to get there using the absolutely stupidest people they can find. I think they figure ruining the government will be faster.

  155. 155.

    efgoldman

    @germy:

    I’m going to guess “no comment” from Glenn Greenwald.

    He’s no more capable of that, than the rest of us are of not breathing

  156. 156.

    Ruckus

    @Gretchen:

    How do these people not understand that doing shady things in the Presidential campaign and office will have consequences?

    Is it possible that you have misinterpreted their abilities to understand the concept of shady? I’d bet their concept of themselves is perfection, and nothing is going to change that other than a jail sentence and maybe not even then.

  157. 157.

    Adam L Silverman

    @ewrunning: @ewrunning: Given that almost none of State falls under Nunes’ oversight, the question is going to be how he’s going to get whatever material he will claim proves whatever it is he thinks is suspicious. Sure, there’s the Manning archive at Wikileaks, but if he goes that route it is going to be very, very obvious.

    Glad to read everything went well.

  159. 159.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike J: If you have the time you want to take them out of town. So the Rappahannock. Or if you want to go north the Susquehanna.

  160. 160.

    Anne Laurie

  162. 162.

    jl

    @Ruckus: You are saying that these people have gone off the ‘hammer’ scale of dumb? Whoa! Probably gone off the ‘rocks’ scale too? Double dog Whoa!

  166. 166.

    Ruckus

    @jl:
    Yes, yes I am. Completely off the bottom of the scale of reasonable human endeavor. Below hammers and rocks. Between that and the level of evil that they like to play at, they are not worth the air they breathe.

  167. 167.

    Ruckus

    @efgoldman:
    I probably won’t be asleep for at least a couple more hours. Having a fun day and night so don’t expect much sleep when I attempt it.

  172. 172.

    Aleta

    Text-only game, a search for viabile sites for interstellar space colony that will support humans
    http://philome.la/johnayliff/seedship/play

    eta Created by John Ayliff

    “It’s about how far you want to push your luck: do you settle here, on this not-quite-ideal planet, or keep searching and risk your ship being damaged in the journey? The planets you encounter are randomly generated, and as you travel you encounter random events, so each playthrough is different.”

  173. 173.

    TS

    @Yutsano:

    Although we already know it’s not above Dolt45 to illegally divert funds from his campaign to do this

    Only for people with the name Donald J Trump.

  174. 174.

    TS

    @cthulhu:

    And now Nunes is moving on to the State Department which has nothing to do with the Trump investigation as far as can tell?

    Trump may be wanting to get rid of Tillerson?

  175. 175.

    Ruckus

    @Chet Murthy:
    A good saying, I’ve heard it before and even used it myself, but in my mind it doesn’t go far enough to explain these idiots position on the scale of human endeavor. This entire crowd is like a train of tank cars of hydrochloric acid that derails and all simultaneously split open while passing a school, violently spilling the entire contents of the train on the school grounds. During recess.

  176. 176.

    Amir Khalid

    @TS:
    Tillerson was brought in at the State Department not to lead it but to oversee its dismantling, thus undoing its post-W rehabilitation which was begun under Obama by Hillary, and continued by Kelly. My guess is that once the Moscow head office decides that work is sufficiently complete, Tillerson will take his bow and leave.

  178. 178.

    Zinsky

    Carter Page is an incredibly dense, self-important doorknob, much like Donald J. Trump himself. Have you ever seen the interview he gave to Chris Hayes on MSNBC about a year ago? OMG, what a moron!

    Anyone who would name this pin-headed bonebrain to a foreign policy advisor position has to either be dumb as a rock themselves or else they have a twisted sense of humor!!

    If Trump thinks this fictitious shit about Carter Page somehow vindicates him, he is even dumber than I thought.

Comments are closed.