Morning Greatness: Sally Yates Spins During Judiciary Testimony

August 6, 2020

Good Thursday morning.

Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:

President Trump delivers remarks on Economic Prosperity in Cleveland, Ohio
The president tours Whirlpool Corporation Manufacturing Plant in Clyde, Ohio
President Trump participates in a roundtable with supporters in Bratenahl, Ohio
President Trump delivers remarks at a fundraising committee reception

Sally Q. Yates testified before Senate Judiciary

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) finally did “something” about the RUSSIAN collusion hoax and brought Sally Yates, former deputy attorney general before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer for herself. Yates was the number two person at the Department of Justice while the ~~coup~~ RUSSIA collusion hoax was executed but you would never know it by listening to her talk. There was plenty of blame-shifting, speaking in the passive voice and apparently no one is responsible for anything at the DoJ. Signatures on legal papers, sworn declarations of truth? MEANINGLESS! Yates said that she would have never signed the FISA warrant and subsequent renewal on former Trump volunteer Carter Page had she known the FISA papers were lies. Who was responsible for verifying the documentation that supported the FISA? One would think Yates would be a little pissed off about this since she was tricked into putting her name on the application, according to her testimony. She swore under oath that the documents were true, doesn’t that mean anything to her? Yates didn’t seem upset she was duped into participating in a massive civil liberties violation. Take notice these bureaucrats don’t care about civil liberties and abuse of their power. And for the record, I don’t believe Yates didn’t know the supporting FISA documentation was a pile of crap. I wish someone would have asked her about any other FISA applications under consideration before the Steele dossier magically appeared.

Other notable things at the hearing: Yates was not happy with Holy James Comey. “You could use that term [rogue], yes,” said Yates when Graham asked her if Comey had gone rogue. “I was upset that Director Comey didn’t coordinate that with us and acted unilaterally, yes I was.” Comey had decided to send two agents over to the White House to interrogate an unsuspecting Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn but Yates did not agree and instead wanted to inform the White House of the agencies “concern” about Flynn’s call with RUSSIAN ambassador Kislyak. One thing that got lost in the hearing mess was that the agents who interviewed Flynn did not think he was lying about the phone call.

Joel Pollack astutely notes:

Yates claimed falsely that Flynn had lied to FBI agents — a conclusion very much in doubt, given new evidence. She also claimed falsely that he pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI; in fact, he only pleaded guilty once. And she claimed, falsely, that Flynn tried to “neuter” Obama administration sanctions on Russia; in fact, he asked Russia not to escalate. In addition, she testified George Papadopoulos had been a Russian intelligence asset — a false claim she had to walk back.

Another line of questioning that put Yates on the spot focused on whether or not there was legitimate concern (espionage, Logan Act) about the Flynn/Kislyak call. Flynn was the incoming National Security Advisor talking to the RUSSIAN Ambassador. Yates tried to say Flynn was undermining the Obama Administration’s punishment of the RUSSIANS for election interference. But what did Flynn say that would undermine the Obama punishment? He asked the RUSSIANS not to over-retaliate which would box in the new administration. That’s not undermining anything unless the Obama Administration policy was to box in the Trump Administration’s relationship with RUSSIA. (HINT: IT WAS.) Really, the resistance crowd was just upset over a policy difference but they wanted to blow sh*t up on the way out. Because they are patriots.

Here are some good video snips related to the hearing:

Nobody from the Obama Administration wants to take any responsibility for the historic abuse of the FBI and the FISA Court during 2016 & after. And many of the people who facilitated this abuse are STILL on payroll at FBI & DOJ. This is corruption pic.twitter.com/QNnwACgrQC

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 5, 2020