Trump's Syria action sparks mixed reaction from lawmakers

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle reacted Friday night after President Donald Trump announced that U.S. military strikes would be carried out in Syria against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The news came after a suspected chemical attack by pro-regime forces last weekend in the rebel-held town of Douma. At least 40 people died in the attack and more than 500 people, mostly women and children, were hospitalized.
On Friday, Trump said Assad’s actions were not those “of a man” but rather “the crimes of a monster instead.”
Immediately following Trump’s address to the nation, loud explosions and thick smoke were reported in Damascus.
Here's what members of Congress and other officials had to say about the announcement:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, “Tonight, the administration notified me of the president's decision to use military action to deter Bashar al-Assad and respond to the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against its own people. I support both the action and objective. 
"The planning for this robust operation by the United States and our allies was clearly well-considered," McConnell continued. "It is evident that the President was provided with a number of options, and that our forces executed a challenging mission."

"The planning for this robust operation by the United States and our allies was clearly well-considered. It is evident that the President was provided with a number of options, and that our forces executed a challenging mission."

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., released a statement saying, "Tonight, the United States has taken decisive action in coordination with our allies. We are united in our resolve that Assad's barbaric use of chemical weapons cannot go unanswered. His regime's unconscionable brutality against innocent civilians cannot be tolerated."
"There should be no doubt that Russia and Iran have blood on their hands, and their partnership with Assad reveals the true nature of their regimes," he continued. "The United States and our allies must continue to seek ways to hold Assad's enablers accountable. Let us all pay tribute to the men and women of our armed forces."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., stated, "A pinpointed, limited action to punish and hopefully deter Assad from doing this again is appropriate, but the administration has to be careful about not getting us into a greater and more involved war in Syria."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tweeted a statement and added that the president "must come to Congress to obtain a new AUMF [Authorization for Use of Military Force], present a clear set of objectives, & ultimately hold Putin accountable for the bloodshed he has enabled."
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, tweeted a statement saying, "The President's decision to retaliate with air strikes as part of a broader military response reflect his seriousness in addressing the scale and depravity of Assad's actions."
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., shared his support for the attack, saying "Assad musut be held accountable for the use of chemical weapons.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., called Trump's move to launch airstrikes without congressional approval "illegal."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said, "It is Congress, not the president, which has the constitutional responsibility for making war. The international community must uphold the prohibition against the use of chemical weapons, but it is unclear how Trump's illegal and unauthorized strikes on Syria achieve that goal."
U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., issued a statement saying, “Chemical attacks against innocent children and civilians are horrific and totally unacceptable. Assad must know his inhumane actions will not be tolerated. I’ve met some of the Syrian families who fled Assad’s terror and are living in a refugee camp at the Turkish border. For too long, the world has been asking: when will Assad stop? It is time for action. President Trump is engaged and led our allies in measured response to hold Assad accountable."
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., tweeted his strong support of Trump's decision to ally with the U.K. and France in response "to the Syrian regime's criminal use of chemical weapons against innocent men, women and children."
He added that the president was "right to assert that the Assad regime's evil acts cannot go unanswered."
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., tweeted, “I haven’t read France’s or Britain’s ‘Constitution,’ but I’ve read ours and no where in it is Presidential authority to strike Syria.”
U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., in a tweet called the strikes “unconstitutional, illegal, and reckless.”
U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, issued a statement, saying he supported "the President's decision to undertake this strike together with out allies."
"Assad's use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians is unacceptable," he said. "Equally concerning, the attack is part of a trend of Russian supported chemical weapons attacks across the world."
"Tough questions about the future of our policy in Syria remain, but those questions should not detract from the justness of tonight's actions," he continued.

Largest Syrian-American group hails Trump after military action

The nation's oldest and largest advocacy group for Syrian Americans said Friday that it applauded President Donald Trump’s decision to take military action in Syria and enforce international law prohibiting the use of chemical weapons.
“We send our sincere thanks to the administration for holding [Syrian leader Bashar] Assad accountable for Sunday’s chemical attack in Douma, and the crimes against humanity over the past seven years of the Syrian war,” the Washington-based Syrian American Council (SAC) said in a statement.
The SAC said it sees Trump's action as a “genuine opportunity” to end Syria's war, a conflict in which the Assad regime has employed chemical weapons, barrel bombs and cluster munitions used “to target and kill civilians.”
“We urge President Trump and the coalition to sustain the strikes and to ground Assad’s air force, creating a No-Fly Zone and thereby disabling the Assad regime’s ability to commit further war crimes and mass atrocities,” the council said.

“We urge President Trump and the coalition to sustain the strikes and to ground Assad’s air force, creating a No-Fly Zone and thereby disabling the Assad regime’s ability to commit further war crimes and mass atrocities.”

The council said it remains “optimistic” that the Trump administration will work with the Syrian people to “remove Assad, put an end to the slaughter, and bring about peace, freedom, and democracy in Syria.”
The SAC’s mission is to empower the Syrian-American community to organize and advocate for a “free, democratic, secular and pluralistic Syria through American support,” according to its website.
The organization said that all means to politically and peacefully implement United Nations solutions have been tried to no avail, adding that Syria's allies in Russia and Iran continue to destroy de-escalation zones.
According to a fact sheet on SAC’s website, around 40 percent of Syria’s pre-war population of 22 million people are refugees, which equates to almost 10 million people.
The SAC also urged providing assistance to opposition forces to “empower them to collaborate with the United States and other international governments to fight terrorism and terrorist factions in Syria.”
But Syrian-Americans are not unanimous in support of Trump's Friday action. A separate group called the Syrian American Forum (SAF) says it opposes the U.S.-led intervention.
Ghias Moussa, head of the group's New York and New Jersey chapters, told USA Today that the Trump administration should not push for regime change in Syria.
“We don’t think that killing more innocent people in Syria by bombing them will rectify what has happened, whether it was done by the Assad regime or not,” Moussa told the newspaper.
“Americans should not change regimes around the world to get somebody we like and fight people we don’t like.”
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released a statement Friday commenting on the reports of air strikes in Syria by the U.S. France, and Britain.
“Any use of chemical weapons is abhorrent,” Guterres said. “I have repeatedly expressed my deep disappointment that the Security Council failed to agree on a dedicated mechanism for effective accountability for the use of chemical weapons in Syria. I urge the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and fill this gap.”
He also urged U.N. member states "to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people.”

Putin declares US-led Syria strike an 'act of aggression'

Russian officials warned of “consequences” after President Donald Trump announced his approval of U.S.-led military strikes in Syria against the Russian-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Early Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement saying the Western coalition’s “act of aggression” would only exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.
Putin called the strike a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations" and said Moscow would call for an emergency of the U.N. Security Council.
Immediately following Trump’s televised address Friday night, announcing the U.S.-led strikes, loud explosions and thick smoke were reported in the Syrian capital city, Damascus.
Syrian air defense units shot down 71 out of 103 cruise missiles launched by the U.S., Britain and France, the Russian military claimed Saturday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry had earlier asserted that none of the missiles launched by the U.S. and its allies entered areas protected by Russia’s missile defense.
Prior to Putin's statement, other Russian officials issued grim reactions to the Western military effort.
“The worst apprehensions have come true,” Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., tweeted Friday. “Our warnings have been left unheard.

Anatoly Antonov, Russia's ambassador to the U.S.  (Reuters)

“A pre-designed scenario is being implemented,” Antonov said. “Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences. All responsibility for them rests with Washington, London and Paris.

“Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible. The U.S. — the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons — has no moral right to blame other countries.”

“Insulting the President of Russia is unacceptable and inadmissible,” he said. “The U.S.—the possessor of the biggest arsenal of chemical weapons—has no moral right to blame other countries.”

Maria Zakharov, spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry.  (Reuters)

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, denounced the U.S. in a Facebook post Friday for the strikes on Syria -- a country that, she wrote, “for many years has been trying to survive terrorist aggression."
"The White House stated that its assuredness of the chemical attack from Damascus was based on 'mass media, reports of symptoms, video, photos as well as credible information,'” she wrote. “After this statement the American and other Western mass media should understand their responsibility in what is happening."
Russia and the U.S. had disagreed over a proper response in Syria after a suspected chemical attack by the regime last weekend in rebel-held Douma, a town about 10 miles east of Damascus, killed at least 40 people and injured more than 500, mostly women and children. The attack occurred amid a resumed offensive by Syrian government forces after the collapse of a truce.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov  (Associated Press)

Earlier Friday, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters in Moscow that the claims of the suspected gas attack were a fabrication.
"Intelligence agencies of a state that is now striving to spearhead a Russo-phobic campaign were involved in that fabrication," Lavrov said, without elaborating or naming the state.
A Russian lawmaker claimed the strikes were aimed at disrupting the work of international investigators looking into whether Syria used chemical weapons in the town of Douma.
"The airstrikes were carried out by the U.S.-led coalition consciously to spoil the investigation," Russian parliament member Dmitry Sablin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
Alexander Sherin, deputy head of the State Duma's defense committee, likened Trump to Adolf Hitler, and considered the strikes to be a move against Russia.
Trump "can be called Adolf Hitler No. 2 of our time — because, you see, he even chose the time that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union," state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Sherin as saying.
The strike came hours after Trump’s U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that "the United States estimates that Assad has used chemical weapons in the Syrian war at least 50 times."
“Did a chemical weapons attack happen? Yes,” Haley told reporters before the meeting. “The U.S. has analyzed, yes, it has happened. The U.K. has analyzed, yes, it has happened. France analyzed, yes, it has happened. Three separate analysis all coming back with same thing. There is proof that this happened.”
Haley said during the meeting that should the U.S. and its allies decide to act in Syria, it would in the defense of "a bedrock international norm that benefits all nations" from the use of chemical weapons.

Smoke rising after Syrian government airstrikes hit in the town of Douma, in eastern Ghouta region east of Damascus, Syria, on Saturday, April 7, 2018.  (Associated Press)

Russia’s military on Friday again refuted the claim that chemical weapons had been used in Douma, citing a lack of evidence.
"According to the results of a survey of witnesses, studying samples and investigating locations undertaken by Russian specialists and medical personnel in the city of Douma, where chemical weapons purportedly were used, the use of poisonous substances was not shown,” said Maj. Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko, head of the Russian center for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria.
Yevtushenko also said the Russian military would supply security for investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as they worked to determine whether chemical weapons had been used.
Russia's Defense Ministry said earlier Thursday that Douma was under the control of Syrian forces and that some 1,500 fighters of the Army of Islam group had left the city.
Yevtushenko said that the action was to "prevent provocations, guarantee security, for the support of law and order and organize aid for the local population."

Comey Cartoons

Comey book filled with unproven attacks on Trump, lofty praise for himself

Fired FBI Director James Comey’s new “tell all” book is a dream come true for President Donald Trump’s opponents and a hatchet job on the president.
It’s important for every fair-minded person to remember that just because Comey makes a charge, he is not speaking gospel truth – despite his inflated sense of virtue and self-importance.
Just about anyone who’s ever been fired fancies “getting even” with the boss. Comey’s new book does that in spades, according to excerpts leaked to the media Thursday. In the process, it lowers the reputation of both the FBI and Comey, undermines the presidency and hurts the nation.
The book is seething with disdain and insults for a man the American people elected to lead our nation. Comey openly vilifies President Trump, throwing forth every insinuation and slur you can think of, even descending into petty criticism of the president’s tan, length of his ties and height.

Comey openly vilifies President Trump, throwing forth every insinuation and slur you can think of, even descending into petty criticism of the president’s tan, length of his ties and height.

On top of this, Comey repeats unproven salacious allegations about President Trump’s sex life – a surefire way to increase book sales.
All the while, Comey feverishly feeds the “resistance” beast.
By contrast, Comey paints himself as the noble and heroic public servant – a veritable Superman, fighting the superhero’s “never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.” One thing you can say for Comey – he has a healthy sense of self-esteem.
Let’s be honest: Comey wrote this book to retaliate against President Trump for firing him, make a huge amount of money, and establish himself as an American icon. Sadly, it appears he may succeed on all three counts, as he styles himself entirely above reproach and holier than thou.

President Donald Trump greets then-FBI Director James Comey during an event at the White House in 2017.

While Comey’s book is titled “A Higher Loyalty,” the volume is fundamentally an act of disloyalty. Yes, senior officials write books after presidents leave office. But doing so while a president is serving does a deliberate disservice to the president and nation. Comey clearly does not to care.
Any president – whether Republican or Democrat – expects top government officials to provide him with judgment, integrity, competence and discretion. Advice is provided in confidence and dialogue is assumed to be private, unless otherwise stated. Government cannot function without that essential understanding.
If the president doubts any of those attributes – as President Trump had good reason to do with Comey – he has every right to fire an official under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
That is what happened. The president lost confidence in Comey, the FBI director did not want to accept this fact, and for reasons not hard to understand he was fired.
Comey’s book has one last purpose. It is a thinly disguised attempt to pre-empt further investigation into his own questionable actions, including the indefensible hobbling of a major investigation into 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her email scandal.

Comey’s book has one last purpose. It is a thinly disguised attempt to pre-empt further investigation into his own questionable actions.

The investigation – and Comey’s judgment – were thrown into question numerous times, before, during and after he chose to exonerate Clinton.
To this day, more questions remain unanswered than have been answered about the Clinton probe, many of them nagging and constitutional in nature.
On top of this, add Comey’s odd preoccupation – twisted into a virtue for his book – of linking Donald Trump to Russia. Objective evidence was scant when Comey launched what has now turned into a seemingly never-ending fishing expedition, looking for evidence of “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Beyond prematurely exonerating Clinton from serious charges, Comey made an embarrassing beeline for Trump, assuming the worst, bending established rules, and offering half-truths to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court for a warrant to surveil a Trump campaign aide.
The audacity of this all must impress even the ghost of long-time FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, whose offenses were many but never extended to seeking to prematurely unseat a potential president.

Former FBI Director James Comey is seen at a hearing on Capitol Hill in 2017.  (Associated Press)

Members of Comey’s FBI team, including those intimately involved in premature shutdown of the Clinton investigation, fretted over Trump’s surprising election victory. Their own communications – overtly seeking an “insurance policy” against a Trump victory and showing contempt for the man who is now our president – were discovered only through persistent congressional oversight.
At best, Comey’s leadership of the FBI was self-absorbed and lax. Oversight of FBI agents and lawyers was utterly missing. On his watch as the top dog, senior FBI officials went rogue. That was, as chain of command goes, his fault.
Now Comey styles himself a national hero, a status that he never had – but seems to have assumed for himself.
In all this, I see only sadness, ego and a fall from grace. Comey’s book is just another passing stab at vain glory – common currency in today’s Washington, unlike past years when the nation’s capital prided itself on getting things done, respecting electoral outcomes and decency.
Today, books sell if they fan the flames of disunion and division, coddle popular prejudices and take aim at the president. Comey’s does all that, very well.
My sadness is only deeper because, in an earlier day, Comey was a man I recall sitting with in the National Security Council back when he was a deputy attorney general, more soft-spoken, not so impressed by himself.
I do not know where that man went, but perhaps when and if we ever see him again we will rediscover a bit of ourselves.
As for the book – with deference to judgment, integrity, competence and discretion – I suggest readers skip it.
Robert Charles is a former assistant secretary of state for President George W. Bush, former naval intelligence officer and litigator. He also served in the Reagan administration.
Robert Charles is a former assistant secretary of state for President George W. Bush, former naval intelligence officer and litigator. He served in the Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses.

MS-13 threat has New York state ready to spend $18.5M to protect youth

New York state plans to spend spend $18.5 million to fund programs aimed at keeping young people on Long Island from joining MS-13, a gang linked to brutal murders and violence across the state.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, announced the funding this week in a bid to prevent youths from joining the gang, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“Let’s stop the young people from getting caught in the gang pipeline to begin with, rather than just treating them as criminals once the gang takes over,” the governor said at a news conference. “Let’s not treat the disease, let’s prevent the disease.”
MS-13 is among the largest street gangs in the U.S., with many members arriving from Central America. The gang’s motto is “kill, rape, control,” according to the newspaper.
State officials claim that $16 million will go to after-school, job-training and social-service programs for young people. About $2.5 million will be allocated to support violence-reduction efforts.
Cuomo said law-enforcement measures are important in tackling the gang, but stressed that more needs to be done to prevent young people from becoming “easy prey” for MS-13 recruiters.
The announcement marks a shifting tide among Democrats, who previously accused Republicans and President Donald Trump of exaggerating the threat that the gang poses. Trump previously pledged to arrest and deport gang members who turned the streets into “blood-stained killing fields.”
Just last month, six alleged members of MS-13 were indicted in Maryland on charges of murder, conspiracy and racketeering.
SIX MS-13 MEMBERS FACING MURDER, CONSPIRACY CHARGES, AUTHORITIES SAY
In his State of the Union address in January, Trump acknowledged the parents of a teenager killed by the gang in Brentwood, N.Y. -- one of New York City's Long Island suburbs. Nisa Mickens, 15, was brutally murdered in 2016 along with her friend, Kayla Cuevas, 16.
The parents at the time criticized House and Senate Democrats for declining to stand and applaud when Trump honored them.
"It's not right. Regardless of how they feel about the president, they should show the respect. I would show them respect if it was their loved one," Robert Mickens, the father, told Fox News.
MSNBC star Joy Reid mocked Trump at the time for bringing up MS-13. She suggested the president inflated the threat.
“He gives a speech tonight, in which he makes it sound like the biggest issue in the United States, the biggest threat, is MS-13, a gang nobody that doesn't watch Fox News has ever heard of. So he makes it sound like they're the biggest threat,” she said during the network’s coverage of the SOTU address.
But on the very same evening on MSNBC, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., offered a very different view of MS-13 than Reid did.
“MS-13 is an example," Harris said, "of some of the worst of criminal gang behavior.”

Comey worried DOJ would 'screw around' with deciding whether to prosecute Hillary Clinton

Former FBI director's past testimony is under scrutiny. Legal expert Jonathan Turley provides insight.
Defending his July 2016 public statement about the Hillary Clinton email case, then-FBI Director James Comey told senior agents later that year he worried the Justice Department would "screw around" with a decision on whether to prosecute her, and he said that regardless of what happened, "we knew it was going to suck in a huge way," according to an FBI transcript reviewed by Fox News.
In October 2016, Michael Kortan, who was serving as the FBI's public affairs chief but has since retired, shared the transcript of Comey's comments on the Clinton case delivered behind closed doors to special agents in charge. Based on the email date and time stamps, it appears the comments were made three weeks before the presidential election. With Comey now launching a media tour to promote his book, "A Higher Loyalty," the transcript provides a window into his thinking and decisions during a critical period before the election.
According to the transcript, Comey told agents he went back and forth on how to handle the recommendation against criminal charges, after then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with Bill Clinton on an Arizona airport tarmac in June 2016.
"The decision that there wasn't a prosecutable case here was not a hard one. The hard one, as I've told you, was how do we communicate about it. I decided to do something unprecedented that I was very nervous about at the time, and I've asked myself a thousand times since, was it the right decision. I still believe it was."
Comey's decision to deviate from standard procedures is central to the Justice Department inspector general's investigation into the FBI's and DOJ's handling of the Clinton email case.
Comey said he thought the FBI should have taken the lead because following standard procedures was not an option. "...what will happen to us is the Department of Justice will screw around it for Lord knows how long, issue probably a one sentence declination, and then the world will catch on fire, and then the cry in the public will be where on the earth is the FBI, how could the FBI be part of some corrupt political bargain like this, there's no transparency whatsoever..."
He continued, "We knew it was going to suck in a huge way. I knew. Nothing's (sic) that's happened, by the way, the storm has been outside my expectations. I knew what was going to happen, but I also knew after a lot of reflection that we would do far more damage to our beloved institution if we did the normal thing."
Comey also relayed to agents a conversation he said he had with Lynch before the July 2016 announcement. "'Madam Attorney General, I'm about to do a press conference, and I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to say.' She asked some question. I don't remember what it was, and I said, 'I'm sorry. I'm not going to answer approximately (sic) questions. I hope someday you'll understand why, but I think it's very, very important that I do this independently.'"
Using colorful language, Comey also said agents would likely be fired for using a personal unsecured server like Secretary of State Clinton did for government business, and pushed back on criticism of the FBI's handling of the case.
Comey responded to emails from FBI employees who said, "if I did what Hillary Clinton did I'd be in huge trouble." He replied, "My response is you bet your a-- you'd be in huge trouble. If you used a personal email, Gmail or if you (had) the capabilities to set up your own email domain, if you used an unclassified personal email system to do our business in the course of doing our business even though you were communicating with people with clearances and doing work you discussed classified matters in that, in those communications, TSSCI (Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information), special access program (SAP), you would be in huge trouble in the FBI. You would not be able to say to us, 'The people I was emailing with were cleared.  It was all in the course of the work.'"
Comey continued, "You might well get fired from the FBI. You would surely be disciplined in some severe way if you didn't get fired. Of that I am highly confident." He then seemed to reinforce his controversial recommendation against criminal charges in the Clinton case for the mishandling of classified information, that under the criminal statute, does not require intent.
"I'm also highly confident, in fact, certain you would not be criminally prosecuted for that conduct. Why do I say that? Because I have personally gone back through every case in  the last 50 years that was prosecuted. Nothing close to these facts was ever prosecuted. You would be in trouble. You would not be prosecuted."
Comey referred to the FBI investigators as an "all star team" but many have since been demoted, fired, or re-assigned as a result of the IG investigation. These individuals included deputy director Andy McCabe, who was fired; Peter Strzok, who was deputy assistant director of the counterintelligence division before he was demoted to Human Resources; and Strzok’s mistress and FBI attorney Lisa Page, who was reassigned. Kortan announced his retirement this past February.
In a portion of the transcript, which was redacted, Comey spoke of the challenge in "trying to get a lawyer to give you their laptop that you use for all of their legal work. Huge concerns there about attorney-client privilege, attorney work product. He had a few options there." It was unclear who "he" was. Comey said, “Near the end of this Investigation, we knew that two of Secretary Clinton’s lawyers had done a culling where they went through the emails and decided which ones were work related and which ones weren’t, which ones could be deleted, which ones would be kept and produced. “
FBI interviews known as 302s revealed that only 12 of 14 bankers boxes of Clinton's emails were picked up from the law firm Williams & Connolly. David Kendall, an attorney at the firm, has represented Bill and Hillary Clinton together and separately, from the former president’s sex scandals to the missing billing records reflecting Hillary Clinton’s work as a partner in the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas.
Comey told agents they could "ask me more questions about this (and) obviously Bill Priestap knows this case (very) well. Andy (McCabe) knows this case very well."
This comment is striking because Comey testified in 2017 that Priestap -- who reported to Comey as the assistant director of counterintelligence -- told him not to inform Congressional leadership about the bureau's investigation into alleged contacts between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.
"It is silly. Silly is the right word to suggest the FBI did anything other than our usual professional work here. I’m very proud of the work we did."
Based on Kortan’s email, that was the end of Comey’s speech to senior agents about the Clinton case.
Fox News provided the FBI with the email date, time, sender and subject line, as well as lengthy quotes, to locate the record for comment, but the FBI gave no comment. Many lawmakers questioned why the record was not provided more promptly to Congress.
Fox News also sent a series of questions to the publisher of Comey’s book. They included a request for comment from Comey on his statements to FBI agents, whether it was standard for FBI public affairs to share transcripts from closed-door sessions outside the bureau, whether Comey authorized it and for what law enforcement purpose. There was no immediate response.

Comey attacks Trump's integrity, questions his marriage in new book

The fired FBI Director James Comey describes President Trump as "untethered to truth" and "ego-driven" in his explosive forthcoming book "A Higher Loyalty," according to excerpts obtained by The Associated Press and other news outlets Thursday.
In the book, which hits shelves April 17, Comey goes so far as to question the strength of Trump's marriage to his wife, Melania, after revealing that Trump asked him to investigate salacious allegations about his actions with Russian prostitutes.
"It bothered [President Trump] if there was 'even a one percent chance' his wife, Melania, thought it was true," Comey wrote,according to the New York Post. Later on, Comey mused: "In what kind of marriage, to what kind of man, does a spouse conclude there is only a 99 percent chance her husband didn’t do that?"
The claim was repeated in a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele and published by BuzzFeed News in January 2017, shortly before Trump's inauguration.
That wasn't the only personal jab at Trump: The AP reported that Comey, who stands 6-foot-8, described the president as shorter than he expected with a "too long" tie and "bright white half-moons" under his eyes that he suggested came from tanning goggles. He also said he made a conscious effort to check the president's hand size -- briefly a subject of mockery among Trump's Republican rivals on the campaign trail -- saying it was "smaller than mine, but did not seem unusually so."
According to The Washington Post, Comey described Trump's presidency as a "forest fire" and wrote that his interactions with the administration recalled "my earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob.
"The silent circle of assent. The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths. The us-versus-them worldview," Comey reportedly wrote. "The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth."
The New York Post reported that Comey returned to the Mafia theme in describing a Jan. 27 dinner with Trump at which, Comey wrote, the president told him: "I need loyalty. I expect loyalty."
"You will always get honesty from me,” Comey said he replied, later writing, "The demand was like [mobster] Sammy the Bull’s Cosa Nostra induction ceremony."
Trump fired Comey in May 2017, claiming he did so because of Comey's handling of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's email practices. According to The AP, Comey wrote that he regretted his approach and some of the wording he used in his July 2016 press conference in which he announced the decision not to prosecute Clinton. But, he said he believed he did the right thing by going before the cameras and making his statement, noting that the Justice Department had done so in other high-profile cases.
Comey also wrote, according to The AP, that every person on the investigative team found that there was no prosecutable case against Clinton and that the FBI didn't find that she lied under its questioning.
According to the New York Post, Comey wrote that he notified Congress in October 2016 that the email investigation had been re-opened because he feared her election would be considered "illegitimate" if he didn't.
"I would say as little as possible, but the FBI had to speak," Comey writes, later adding, "It is entirely possible that, because I was making decisions in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be the next president, my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls. But I don't know."
In an excerpt obtained by ABC News, Comey also revealed he felt he had to take on a more prominent role in the Clinton investigation because of unverified classified information about then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
According to ABC, Comey wrote that "the source and content of that material remains classified as I write this." However, he added that if the information had become public, it "would undoubtedly have been used by political opponents to cast serious doubt on the attorney general's independence in connection with the Clinton investigation."
Comey also provided new details of his firing. According to The AP, he wrote that then-Homeland Security secretary John Kelly -- now Trump's chief of staff -- offered to quit out of a sense of disgust as to how Comey was dismissed.
Comey also wrote extensively about his first meeting with Trump after his election, a January 2017 confab which also included Vice President Mike Pence; Trump's first chief of staff, Reince Priebus; Michael Flynn, who would become national security adviser; and incoming press secretary Sean Spicer. Comey also was joined by NSA Director Mike Rogers, CIA Director John Brennan and then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
After Clapper briefed the team on the intelligence community's findings of Russian election interference, Comey said he was taken aback by what the Trump team didn't ask.
"They were about to lead a country that had been attacked by a foreign adversary, yet they had no questions about what the future Russian threat might be," Comey wrote, according to The AP. Instead, he wrote, they launched into a strategy session about how to "spin what we'd just told them" for the public.
Comey's account lands at a particularly sensitive moment for Trump and the White House. Officials there have described Trump as enraged over a recent FBI raid of his personal lawyer's home and office, raising the prospect that he could fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, or try to shut down the probe on his own. The Republican National Committee is poised to lead the pushback effort against Comey by launching a website and supplying surrogates with talking points that question the former director's credibility.
The former FBI director is also set to take part in a series of interviews to promote the book, including on Fox News Channel.
Comey's book undoubtedly will be heavily scrutinized by the president's legal team looking for any inconsistencies between it and his public testimony, under oath, before Congress. The attorneys likely will look to attack Comey's credibility as a key witness in Mueller's obstruction investigation, which the president has cast as a politically motivated witch hunt.

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Paul Ryan quit in frustration, but that hardly means Republicans are doomed

Paul Ryan is one of those rare politicians who really does want to spend more time with his family. But there's more to his decision to relinquish power than that.
His frustration in trying to work with President Trump, despite their clashing agendas, was in my view a significant factor in yesterday's announcement that he isn't running for reelection, essentially abdicating as House speaker.
Ryan never wanted the job, as he made clear to reporters. He was drafted by his colleagues. And with little prospect of being able to achieve more of his agenda, Ryan decided to declare victory after helping to pass the tax cuts and stop being a "weekend dad" back in Janesville, Wis.
The pundits raced to read a whole lot more into his decision.
Ryan was "signaling the peril that the Republican majority faces in the midterm elections," The New York Times says.
Ryan is "adding further uncertainty about whether embattled Republicans can maintain control of the House," says The Washington Post.
Now I'm sure the GOP's challenging prospects in the midterms crossed the congressman's mind, despite his demurral yesterday. But he’s not the typical power-hungry pol, so I don't think that's his main motivation. Nor do I believe Ryan's absence on the ballot will hurt other Republican candidates, except perhaps for the loss of his fundraising prowess.
CNBC's John Harwood goes a step further. "Ryan’s retirement from the House increases the chance that President Donald Trump will be impeached," he says.
Because "there's little doubt that a Democratic-controlled House would seek to impeach the president."
Wait, so Nancy Pelosi and company are lying when they say they’re not pursuing impeachment?
Harwood sees it as a runaway train. Still, a pretty sweeping conclusion based on one lawmaker giving up his seat.
It became awkward watching Ryan at his news conferences, deflecting reporters' questions about the latest Trump scandal or tweet and struggling to talk about policy.
What strikes me is how some Trump loyalists are trashing Ryan online, even calling him a RINO. That shows how much the party's center of gravity has shifted.
Ryan was long viewed as a dogged crusader for smaller government. When Mitt Romney picked him as his running mate, the right cheered at such a conservative choice.
But Ryan's devotion to entitlement reform was utterly at odds with Trump's vow to protect Medicare and Social Security. And the $1.3-trillion bill that Trump signed (after briefly threatening to veto it) was the epitome of the bloated, out-of-control federal spending that Ryan had vowed to stop.
Some commentators, stepping away from the horse race, are branding Ryan a failure:
"Who can blame him for not wanting to be the man standing between a volatile caucus, and a president whom he doesn't like, who doesn't respect him, and who doesn't care a whit for the kind of conservatism that has motivated Ryan throughout his long career in government?" The Atlantic asks.
"Faced with an out-of-control president of his own party, the speaker has decided he'd rather quit than deal with it"
And Politico points out that "Paul Ryan Deficit Hawk has never behaved like a deficit hawk. In his two decades in Washington, Ryan has consistently supported tax cuts and spending hikes that have boosted deficits, while consistently trashing Democrats for failing to cut deficits."
But National Review’s Jim Geraghty gives Ryan a respectful sendoff: "He was civil, well-informed, polite, and firm, the opposite of a table-pounding, demagogic extremist, and that probably just aggravated his critics on the left even more."
The larger question is whether anyone can run the fractious House GOP. Three years ago, John Boehner quit in frustration. Now Paul Ryan is quitting in frustration. The party's divide is so deep that speaker—or if they lose, minority leader—may be the ultimate thankless job.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author "Media Madness: Donald Trump, The Press and the War Over the Truth." Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.

Rosenstein lets Nunes, Gowdy review FBI memo that kick-started Russia probe

After threatening contempt of Congress, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee met with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and viewed a copy of the two-page FBI memo that kick-started the Russia investigation; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports from Washington.
Facing legal action, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein allowed House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., to view the FBI memo that instigated the bureau's counterintelligence investigation of contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign, Nunes confirmed on Wednesday.
The meeting came a day after Nunes threatened to take legal action -- including contempt proceedings and impeachment -- against Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray for failing to produce a clean copy of the memo, known as an electronic communication or EC, that was responsive to an August 2017 committee subpoena.
"Although the subpoenas issued by this Committee in August 2017 remain in effect, I’d like to thank Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein for his cooperation today," Nunes responded.
When asked on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle" Tuesday if he would hold the officials in contempt of Congress, Nunes said, "we're not going to just hold in contempt. We will have a plan to hold in contempt and to impeach ... we're not messing around here."
A government source told Fox News that Nunes, Gowdy and committee Republican staff were able to view the two-page memo with relatively few redactions. The source described those redactions as "minimal and justified."
Fox News has previously reported that the memo was either drafted by or had significant input from FBI agent Peter Strzok, who was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe after the discovery of anti-Trump text messages between him and another FBI official, Lisa Page.
Despite Rosenstein making the minimally redacted version of the memo available, the government source said committee Republicans remained concerned about the memo’s underlying intelligence and the credibility of the sources which would require further investigation.
A Justice Department official told Fox News that the memo's redactions had been "narrowly tailored to protect the name of a foreign country and the name of a foreign agent... These words must remain redacted after determining that revealing the words could harm the national security of the American people by undermining the trust we have with this foreign nation."
The official added that the words "appear only a limited number of times, and do no [sic] obstruct the underlying meaning of the document."
"With this production, in conjunction with the 1,000 pages of classified materials—much of which is now being provided to entire [House Intelligence] committee membership—we believe we have substantially satisfied Chairman Nunes August subpoena in an appropriate fashion," said the official. "The Department will be pleased to continue to work with the Committee on other, related requests for information."

Ex-Obama official mocks Sen. Paul for getting 'beat up' by neighbor

Looks like a Democrat :-)

Former Obama national security spokesman Tommy Vietor was forced to apologize after mocking Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul for being assaulted by his neighbor.  (Fox News)

A former Obama administration national security spokesman apologized Wednesday after mocking U.S. Sen. Rand Paul for being assaulted by a neighbor in an attack that left Paul seriously injured.
Tommy Vietor lashed out at the Kentucky Republican after the senator shared a letter from the FBI confirming that Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the love couple removed from Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation over bias against President Donald Trump, still have top security clearances.
"You are a shameless hack and an idiot. Stop attacking public servants. Start doing a better job not getting beat up by your neighbor," Vietor wrote to Paul in a since-deleted tweet.

Tommy Vietor, former Obama national security spokesman, attacked Sen. Rand Paul for getting 'beat up' by his neighbor.  (Twitter)

The former official, who now co-hosts the “Pod Save America” podcast with other former Obama administration staffers, was referring to the incident last year when the senator’s neighbor entered his property and tackled him from behind, forcing him to the ground. Paul had problems breathing as the incident left him with six broken ribs.
Backlash shortly followed Vietor’s distasteful remark, with many criticizing him for blaming the senator for being assaulted.
“Really bad look for @TVietor08, and almost inexplicably so -- how is it Rand Paul's fault that his crazed neighbor brutally assaulted and injured him?” one Twitter user wrote.
“Is it cool for a former Obama national security spokesman to taunt a senator about getting attacked, or nah? The internet is forever,” seconded James Hasson, a contributor to the Federalist.
In the wake of the criticism, Vietor deleted the comment and issued an apology to the senator, reading: “I shouldn't have made fun of you getting assaulted by your neighbor. It was classless and I apologize.”
But the second part of the half-hearted apology that called Paul “pathetic” and “hackish” made people question whether Vietor actually meant to apologize, prompting another round of backlash.
“Once you use the word ‘but’ it confirms this is not an apology,” wrote a Twitter user, slamming Vietor.
“A sincere apology does not include any rationalization for the incident requiring said apology,” wrote another.

Mike Pompeo, Trump's pick for secretary of state, to tell senators years of soft US policy toward Russia 'now over'

Mike Pompeo, whom President Trump chose for his next secretary of state, is expected to tell the Senate during his confirmation hearing Thursday that years of soft policy toward Russian aggression are “now over.”
According to his prepared remarks obtained Wednesday by Fox News from a senior Trump administration official, Pompeo will chastise Russia for acting “aggressively” and emphasize that the national security strategy of the Trump administration considers Russia “a danger to our country.”
He also will say that diplomatic efforts with Moscow, while challenging, “must continue.”
Pompeo, currently the CIA director, will vow to promote democracy and human rights while stressing America’s “duty to lead,” according to the remarks, despite Trump’s vows to put “America first.”
“If we do not lead the calls for democracy, prosperity and human rights around the world, who will?” Pompeo plans to say. “No other nation is equipped with the same blend of power and principle.”
Pompeo’s remarks Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be the first chance for lawmakers and the public to hear directly from the former Kansas congressman about his approach to diplomacy and the role of the State Department, should he be confirmed to replace Rex Tillerson.
Pompeo’s views on global issues are well known — he was questioned extensively by senators for his confirmation to run the CIA — but Democratic senators have raised questions about his fitness to be the top American diplomat, given some of his past comments.
“When journalists, most of whom have never met me, label me — or any of you — as ‘hawks,’ ‘war hardliners,’ or worse, I shake my head,” the former Army officer is expected to say. “There are few who dread war more than those of us who have served in uniform.”
The remarks continue, “War is always the last resort.”
GEN. ZINNI, ADM. STAVRIDIS: WHAT POMPEO MUST DO FIRST IF CONFIRMED
Pompeo’s chief goal Thursday is said to be convincing senators that he intends to strengthen the State Department.
Pompeo wants to ensure the State Department is a relevant player in national security policy, a source close to him told Fox News. The source, who wasn’t authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity, said Pompeo promises a relevant State Department that will find “its swagger once again.”
Pompeo is expected to say that as he met with State Department workers recently, they all said they wanted to be “empowered in their roles” and clear about Trump’s mission.
“They also shared how demoralizing it is to have so many vacancies and frankly, not to feel relevant. I’ll do my part to end the vacancies, but I’ll need your help.”
Since being nominated last month, Pompeo has spent much of his time at the State Department immersing himself in briefing books and undergoing mock hearings and prep meetings on key issues like Iran, Syria and North Korea, as well as the inner workings of the State Department, a person close to Pompeo said.
He’s also spoken to all eight living former secretaries — including Hillary Clinton, whom he famously criticized over the deadly 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya.
Pompeo’s questioning by senators comes amid spiraling tensions with Russia over Syria and China over trade; concerns about the planned summit between Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un; and uncertainty over the administration’s international agenda.
He’ll tell the Senate that he’s read CIA histories of past talks with North Korea and is confident that Trump won’t repeat past mistakes, according to the remarks.
“President Trump isn’t one to play games at the negotiating table, and I won’t be either,” he plans to say.
The Republican also is expected to pledge to make it “an immediate personal priority” to work with U.S. allies to try to “fix” the Iran nuclear deal.
Pompeo plans to say: “The stakes are high for everyone, but especially Tehran. If confirmed in time, I look forward to engaging key Allies on this crucial and time-sensitive topic at the G7 Ministerial Meeting on April 22, and the NATO Ministerial Meeting later that week.”
Trump has vowed to withdraw from the accord if agreement with European allies to revamp the deal can’t be reached by May 12.
Trump announced Pompeo’s nomination to become the 70th secretary of state in the same March 13 tweet in which he dumped Tillerson. “He will do a fantastic job,” Trump said at the time, confirming months of speculation that the largely sidelined Tillerson was out of a job and would be replaced by Pompeo, who is known to have the president’s ear and respect and shares his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal.
Pompeo, who was confirmed for the CIA job by a 66-32 vote, developed a reputation for being more outwardly political than many past directors of the traditionally apolitical agency. He developed a visibly close relationship with the president, traveling to the White House on most days to deliver the highly classified President’s Daily Brief in person rather than leaving the task to other intelligence officials. Often Trump would have the CIA director stay in the West Wing after the briefing to accompany him to other meetings.

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