McConnell: 'Why can’t the Mueller investigation finally wrap up?'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday that it’s time for special counsel Robert Mueller to conclude the federal probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion with Moscow by President Trump. “What I think about the Mueller investigation is, they ought to wrap it up. It’s gone on seemingly forever and I don’t know how much more they think they can find out,” the Kentucky Republican said in an interview with “Behind Closed Doors,” a Washington Examiner podcast. McConnell said he had not reviewed the explosive Department of Justice inspector general report examining the FBI’s flawed handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. Clinton was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016.

Senate Republicans have been more careful in their approach to the Mueller probe than have their GOP colleagues in the House, who months ago formed something of a Trump cheerleading section in their criticism of the special counsel to help the president defend himself from questions raised by the investigation. But McConnell’s expressed impatience, especially considering his tendency to speak deliberately and economically, suggests that Senate Republicans are growing weary of the investigation as crucial midterm elections draw near. Republicans in the Senate have an opportunity to gain seats, even as the overall environment is sour for their party, and they worry about outside factors spoiling their prospects.

“If the IG is through, why can’t the Mueller investigation finally wrap up?” McConnell said.

McConnell’s position puts him more in sync with Trump, which is where the majority leader wants his conference to be this fall. Senate Republicans are eyeing pickups in several red states Trump won in 2016; aligning with the president could pay dividends. Trump has called the Mueller probe politically motivated and a "witch hunt" that should have ended months ago. McConnell, in a wide-ranging interview with “Behind Closed Doors” to discuss his tenure as the longest serving Republican to lead his party in the Senate, also revealed that he has no plans to allow legislation on the floor that would curtail Trump’s ability to levy tariffs on imports.

That’s notable because the majority leader, 76 years old and first elected to the Senate in 1984, opposes the president’s trade policies. He worries that billions of dollars of tariffs on imported steel and aluminum and other goods could spark a trade war that costs American workers their jobs — including in Kentucky, where the economy could take a major hit if other nations retaliate against the U.S. by imposing steep tariffs of their own. “I’m still hopeful we don’t end up in a full-scale trade war. I don’t think it will be a war that anybody can win. The president is confident that it won’t really come to that and I’m hoping he’s right about that,” said McConnell, who has served as the top Senate Republican for nearly a dozen years, and was the No. 2 leader before that. “I do worry about — and a lot of my members worry about — the impact on, let’s say, Kentucky bourbon, for example, or Kentucky farmers.”

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/mitch-mcconnell-why-cant-the-mueller-investigation-finally-wrap-up

Marc Short says he's leaving the White House: Report

White House legislative affairs director Marc Short reportedly informed his staff he'll be leaving the White House this summer. A source told CNN that Short, the chief liaison to Capitol Hill, told members of the legislative affairs team he talked about leaving his post with his wife and family. The source said the mood during the meeting when Short announced his departure was “bittersweet.” Short has worked at the White House since the start of the Trump administration and is reportedly well-liked.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Short had bemoaned to colleagues the “diminishing returns” of advocating for President Trump’s legislative agenda to the Republican-led Congress.During Short’s tenure at the White House, the Trump administration and the GOP-led Congress tried unsuccessfully to repeal Obamacare, but successfully passed tax reform.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/marc-short-says-hes-leaving-the-white-house-report

>>1759894

Anons, I agree with this Anon!

Ask yourselves how this is any different than the rigged elections that have been happening for years on end and then think twice about fuckery.

>>1759930

You are helping YOURSELF, not kidding anyone here.

The crazy reason the FBI didn't search the devices of Hillary Clinton's inner circle

While the FBI was investigating Hillary Clinton's secret server where she kept official emails out of the view of the authorities until her lawyers could scrub them, for some reason, agents never searched the Blackberries or other email devices belonging to her inner circle at the State Department. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz and his team received a crazy response when they asked FBI agents on the Hillary Clinton email investigation why not. The agents' primary excuse was to point to "the culture of mishandling classified information at the State Department which made the quantity of potential sources of evidence particularly vast" (see page 153).

Put another way, the agents thought that they might find so much classified information on unauthorized servers and systems that they would become lost in the maze. Horowitz, in what can only be described as a generous admonition, counters by noting "that [this excuse] fails to acknowledge that the team was not required to take an all-or-nothing approach. For example, a middle ground existed where those devices belonging to Clinton’s three top aides - which the team determined accounted for approximately 68 percent of Clinton’s email exchanges - would have been reviewed, but devices belonging to other State Department employees would not."

This suggestion by Horowitz seems rather, well, obvious.

From my perspective, by failing to investigate material held on the personal devices belonging to Clinton's senior leadership team and senior aides, the FBI failed in their duty to fully pursue realistic and feasible avenues of profitable investigation. Yes, it would have been utterly unfeasible to go through the devices of even senior-mid-ranking State Department officials. The bureau is rightly regarded as the world's finest law enforcement service, but it beggars belief that the case agents didn't even do a cursory search of those devices belonging to Clinton's inner circle.

The FBI has investigative tools to allow for a speedy download and keyword/form specific investigation of emails from a server. That basic step would perhaps have added a few days work to the investigation, but it may also have produced physical evidence to indicate prima facie criminal mishandling of classified material.

I suspect that many police officers around the world would be shocked by this failure. As will the intelligence services of China, Russia, France, and Israel who, based on their traditional espionage tradecraft and targeting, likely focused on Clinton's inner circle as a possible gold mine.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-crazy-reason-the-fbi-didnt-search-the-devices-of-hillary-clintons-inner-circle

Progressive New York Democrat wears $9,000 Rolex in new ad

He couldn’t wear a regular wristwatch. It had to be a Rolex. That's just a little awkward for Brian Flynn.

The top Democrat running in New York’s 19th Congressional District took out a full page ad in the Albany Times Union slamming the “billionaires” and the “corporations” who “have rigged the system against us.” It is a pretty typical political ad. He looks stern with his arms crossed and his sleeves rolled up on his blue dress shirt — literally a blue collar! And then, there's the $8,950 timepiece on his wrist.

Connoisseurs looking at his social media will recognize the watch as the Rolex GMT Master-II. The choice of fighter pilots and frat boys with large trust funds, it makes a statement but not the kind a progressive politician might want to make.

Peep that Rolex @brianflynnus is wearing… pic.twitter.com/z6O1gvLnHy

— Philip Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) June 14, 2018

Rolex watches offer “performance and prestige,” and the Rolex GMT Master-II does not disappoint. The Swiss company makes the watch case and band from oystersteel, fashions the hour-markers from 18 carat gold, and brings the piece alive with a self-winding mechanism at its heart. First introduced in 1955 for international aviators, the Rolex GMT Master-II can tell the time in three time zones simultaneously. And so, it was fitting that when English and French test pilots climbed aboard the Concord, they were wearing the Rolex GMT Master-II. To this day, the brochure advertises the watch as “supersonic luxury.” Flynn looks like the kind of guy who can appreciate the finer qualities of the Rolex GMT Master-II. Before entering politics as a candidate, he worked as an executive at Citibank, and later, he went on to become president of a large medical manufacturing company. No one should begrudge him his wealth, of course. No one can question his taste either (as we’ve established, the Rolex GMT Master-II is exquisite). The Rolex GMT Master-II definitely fits that aesthetic of Flynn the businessman. Unfortunately, it clashes with the style of Flynn the progressive warrior.

Flynn is running for the chance to challenge Rep. Jason Faso, R-N.Y., in a district that flipped back and forth between Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016. He is hard charging to the left, calling for tuition-free college, pro-labor policies, and Medicare-for-all. That progressive platform has made him the front-runner so far. The Rolex GMT Master-II might make him late. While time is money, voters might doubt the sincerity of an anti-millionaire candidate with a timepiece that costs more than the median household in his district earns in a month and half. Then again, the watch could be a knock-off. We might never know for certain. Flynn was shy about his ostentatious timepiece and didn’t return multiple calls and emails for comment.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/progressive-new-york-democrat-wears-9-000-rolex-in-new-ad

Russian-funded environmental group gave millions to anti-fracking groups

So far, no hard evidence has emerged that says Donald Trump knowingly colluded with Russia during the 2016 campaign.

But there is plenty of evidence in the form of a tangible money trail that links Vladimir Putin’s Russian government with U.S. environmental groups. In fact, the source of this funding has been subject of two congressional committee inquiries. Most recently, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who chairs the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, released a report in March that explores Russia’s motives for disrupting America’s energy sector. “Russia benefits from stirring up controversy about U.S. energy production,” Smith said in a press release. “U.S. energy exports to European countries are increasing, which means they will have less reason to rely upon Russia for their energy needs. This, in turn, will reduce Russia’s influence on Europe to Russia’s detriment and Europe’s benefit. That’s why Russian agents attempted to manipulate Americans’ opinions about pipelines, fossil fuels, fracking and climate change. The American people deserve to know if what they see on social media is the creation of a foreign power seeking to undermine our domestic energy policy.”

Smith’s report describes the Russian scheme to use nonprofit entities to influence and sway U.S. public policy and public opinion against fracking. The evidence in the report shows that Russia has been using U.S. environmental groups to spread what Smith aptly describes as “propaganda” to undermine America’s natural gas revolution. So why isn’t President Trump tweeting about Russian interference with American energy and with natural gas development in particular? Where energy policy is concerned, the media narrative against the Trump campaign never any made sense. Why would the Russians prefer Trump over Hillary Clinton given Trump’s commitment to natural gas development? I’ll be speaking this week at the Kentucky Oil and Gas Association’s annual meeting in Louisville on this very topic and raising these very questions. Here’s some additional information I’ve uncovered with regard to the Sea Change Foundation, the San Francisco-based group that congressional investigators have identified as the major conduit of Russian funding.

What do we know about= Sea Change=, the purpose and origins of its funding, and what it means for public policy in the U.S.?

This organization has given out about $400 million between 2007 and 2015; yet it continues to operate in the shadows. For the record, I have tried contacting Sea Change officials several times to get its side of the story. They have decided to run silent.

Here's what I know from 990 tax forms.

Nat Simons, who founded Sea Change with his wife Laura Baxter-Simons, is vice chairman and director of Renaissance Technologies, the hedge fund founded by his father Jim Simons. Renaissance-affiliated firms and other Simons family entities have been domiciled in Bermuda with the assistance of several law firms. Much of Sea Change’s funding in the 2006-2012 period came from the Simons family, which operates three other charitable foundations outside of Sea Change. The Simons family uses at least three firms for offshoring of its corporate and foundation assets: Wakefield Quin, Appleby Ltd., and Estera Services.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/russian-funded-environmental-group-gave-millions-to-anti-fracking-groups