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Sally Yates testifies before Senate subcmte re: Flynn/Russ today 2:30EST (livestream)

Zips

Member
America has problems with how clearly partisan the investigation is. GOP shoveling as fast as they could to try and deflect, distract, and bury this as much as they could. I long for the day for someone to be able to publicly and directly call them out on things like what it says about them that they seem to care only about the 'leakers' and not the content and gravity of what was leaked.

So many unrelated questions that deviate from the topic at hand, with clear intent to avoid the core import of the subject.

The GOP is a party of collusion now.
 

RCSI

Member
Now, uh, Mrs. Yates, being an expert on general automotive knowledge, can you tell me... what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet, with a 327 cubic-inch engine and a four-barrel carburetor?

Yates(plus our collective thoughts on what she may be thinking): It's a bullshit question.

Yates and Clapper certainty know where there priorities lay when they were in their prior official positions, to the people.
 
Basically this is what happened:

1) Yates told the White House about the Flynn concerns at least three times
2) GOP does not care what is being leaked, but only about the leaker
3) Reporting unclassified information to the press is, believe it or not, not leaking
4) Ted Cruz got bodied
5) Most of the GOP used this hearing as an opportunity to attack Yates about the travel ban. Only one Republican asked about the Russian influence.

.... they are trying so hard to bury this Russia thing.
 

Unison

Member
Also, a correction on your third point. She made pretty blatant that she couldn't comment on the FBI interview with Flynn, not that he lied during that interview. She did confirm that if he had that would be illegal but couldn't comment on what was said in it. Unless I missed something?

I've possibly merged things, and I'd have to check the transcripts, but if I am remembering correctly she:

1) Confirmed the FBI meeting w/ Flynn at the White House.
2) Confirmed he had no lawyer.
3) Confirmed that she had read a report from the FBI about that testimony.
4) Confirmed she was communicating with the FBI about Flynn.
5) Confirmed that she had come across information that proved Flynn was lying.

She wouldn't explain how specifically she knew Flynn was lying, as that would reveal classified information, but the chain of events seems to confirm that Flynn lied to the FBI and the WH.
 
So no bombshells?

Flynn didn't just lie. He lied about something serious.

WH counsel was more interested in
- why does DoJ care if WH employees lie to each other
-could DoJ prosecute Flynn on criminal charges
- if taking action of Flynn would interfere with FBI
- wanted to see evidence
- Sally Yates fired on the day she made arrangements to show to McGahn
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
Flynn didn't just lie. He lied about something serious.

WH counsel was more interested in
- why does DoJ care if WH employees lie to each other
-could DoJ prosecute Flynn on criminal charges
- if taking action of Flynn would interfere with FBI
- wanted to see evidence
- Sally Yates fired on the day she made arrangements to show to McGahn

Flynn was going down in flames before today. Nothing there changed.
 

Boke1879

Member
What? What? Are you sure you didn't leave the word didn't out of that sentence?

Like many said. It was ALL theater. Graham towed the party line. He wasn't going to say anything up there that could be used in a soundbite.

Yet off the cuff. He tells you how he really feels. Fuck him and McCain. They talk this big game and appear strong, but when it comes to actually showing courage. They tow the party line.
 

Protome

Member
I've possibly merged things, and I'd have to check the transcripts, but if I am remembering correctly she:

1) Confirmed the FBI meeting w/ Flynn at the White House.
2) Confirmed he had no lawyer.
3) Confirmed that she had read a report from the FBI about that testimony.
4) Confirmed she was communicating with the FBI about Flynn.
5) Confirmed that she had come across information that proved Flynn was lying.

She wouldn't explain how specifically she knew Flynn was lying, as that would reveal classified information, but the chain of events seems to confirm that Flynn lied to the FBI and the WH.

I was under the impression that the lying she was talking to was primarily about his communications with Pence as she specifically pointed out Pence saying things about Flynn that she knew to be patently false.

I mean, it's probably a safe bet that he lied to the FBI and I did miss a couple of questions
but they were mostly republicans so those were probably about unrelated matters
so I dunno but it didn't seem like she specifically claimed that.

Another big confirmation came from Clapper, that the White House should have (and usually do) more thoroughly vet people for security credentials than other departments do. So the Trump team's perception that "Obama vetted him" is more stupid than we already thought it was. Ironically, this came from one of the Republicans attempts to deflect away from the Russia issue. I feel like a lot of Clapper's testimony is going to get overlooked but he did a great job clarifying how a lot of things work partially to further discredit the republican tangents about "unmasking" and also to clarify how incompetent the White House were in handling the Flynn situation.
 
Interesting that Yates testified she didn't leak the Flynn stuff to Washington Post. I know a few people who believe her office was the source.
 
So no bombshells?

She confirms that she met multiple times with the White House to warn them about Flynn, confirmed she genuinely believed he was compromised, stopped short of saying Pence was lying about his knowledge but certainly wouldn't absolve him of that.

I say there were some pretty big bombshells all things considered.

Interesting that Yates testified she didn't leak the Flynn stuff to Washington Post. I know a few people who believe her office was the source.

NEkcZSq.gif
 

Boke1879

Member
Interesting that Yates testified she didn't leak the Flynn stuff to Washington Post. I know a few people who believe her office was the source.

Well think about this.

Trumps own transition team was worried about Flynn. Trump and whoever hired him anyway.

Now the leaks can be from anywhere, but is it really hard to believe that this came from someone working in the Trump camp. Or some other GOP operative?
 

MechaX

Member
And he now defends the narcissist that called his dad a co-conspirator to kill JFK.

At a basic level, if someone publicly called my father a murderer and publicly shamed my wife, that mother fucker can start catching these fists. You don't fuck with family like that.

After Cruz turned back to defending the party line with his tail between his legs, he has cemented his status as "bitch-made" for me for eternity.
 
Well think about this.

Trumps own transition team was worried about Flynn. Trump and whoever hired him anyway.

Now the leaks can be from anywhere, but is it really hard to believe that this came from someone working in the Trump camp. Or some other GOP operative?

This was high level signals intelligence, possibly what the IC euphemistically calls "incidental collection". It's not hard to believe that someone in the Trump camp would leak it, but it's not likely anyone near Trump had access to it at the time.
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
She confirms that she met multiple times with the White House to warn them about Flynn, confirmed she genuinely believed he was compromised, stopped short of saying Pence was lying about his knowledge but certainly wouldn't absolve him of that.

We knew she met with the WH and thought that Flynn was compromised before today, though.

I must have missed the Pence part, is there a link to what she said?
 

Unison

Member
I was under the impression that the lying she was talking to was primarily about his communications with Pence as she specifically pointed out Pence saying things about Flynn that she knew to be patently false.

I mean, it's probably a safe bet that he lied to the FBI and I did miss a couple of questions
but they were mostly republicans so those were probably about unrelated matters
so I dunno but it didn't seem like she specifically claimed that.

Here, when specifically asked about it she refuses to say that Flynn lied in the interview definitively, but the chain of events, where she knew the content of the FBI interview before going to the WH then deliberately chose to hide the outcome from WH counsel is incredibly damning.

https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/861689321337700352
 

Boke1879

Member
This was high level signals intelligence, possibly what the IC euphemistically calls "incidental collection". It's not hard to believe that someone in the Trump camp would leak it, but it's not likely anyone near Trump had access to it at the time.

Man everybody seemingly told Trump not to hire this man. He did it with little vetting. He knew the risks. He did it anyway.
 

Unison

Member
We knew she met with the WH and thought that Flynn was compromised before today, though.

I must have missed the Pence part, is there a link to what she said?

I don't have a link, but when asked if Flynn lied to Pence, she deferred saying something along the lines of "well, it appeared that he had lied to VP Pence at the time."
 

SummitAve

Banned
Interesting that Yates testified she didn't leak the Flynn stuff to Washington Post. I know a few people who believe her office was the source.

I mean she also made the point that IDs are unmasked by the originating agency, and then shared. That widens the possibilities quite a bit. The first 100 days has also been filled with leaks within the WH inner circle.
 

Protome

Member
Here, when specifically asked about it she refuses to say that Flynn lied in the interview definitively, but the chain of events, where she knew the content of the FBI interview before going to the WH then deliberately chose to hide the outcome from WH counsel is incredibly damning.

https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/861689321337700352

That doesn't necessarily mean he lied to the FBI though. It could also mean he told the truth to the FBI then she couldn't/wouldn't comment on it because it was clear they were going to start an investigation into what he said.
 
Man everybody seemingly told Trump not to hire this man. He did it with little vetting. He knew the risks. He did it anyway.

All that proves is that he truly believes he is the best judge of character around.

Listen, I don't think this directly effects Trump. I'm sure it was people around him being influenced by Russia to influence Trump, one step removed.

But I'm sure it will hurt him on some level. Not with his die hard voters, because, well you know... but in terms of costing him actual votes in actual elections, and causing GOP politicians to put more distance between themselves and the President.

Which obviously isn't happen much yet... but it's going to.
 
We knew she met with the WH and thought that Flynn was compromised before today, though.

I must have missed the Pence part, is there a link to what she said?

Those were anonymous sources, hearing it come from Yates is another thing entirely. Plus, she confirmed she met with the White House about this 3 times, to my recollection that wasn't known before.

With regards to Pence, she confirmed that he was spreading misinformation, but as far as she could tell "it appeared" he was doing so "unknowingly". Pence was saying his shit well after Yates was fired, so obviously all she could comment on was what it "appeared" to be (aka could only go off of what Pence said publicly, which so far is "I didn't know derp herp").
 
I mean she also made the point that IDs are unmasked by the originating agency, and then shared. That widens the possibilities quite a bit. The first 100 days has also been filled with leaks within the WH inner circle.

Leaks like "Trump wears a bathrobe all day" are materially different from classified signals intelligence, presuming including a domestic endpoint.
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
Yes but we got more details on how the WH counsel didn't care after being told repeatedly. One more nail in the coffin.

I don't know if there is enough legal grounds here to lead to anything meaningful.

I don't have a link, but when asked if Flynn lied to Pence, she deferred saying something along the lines of "well, it appeared that he had lied to VP Pence at the time."

This is what I heard but it doesn't seem to suggest that Pence lied. (This isn't in reply to you but to the poster who said she "stopped short of saying Pence was lying about his knowledge".)
 

Boke1879

Member
All that proves is that he truly believes he is the best judge of character around.

Listen, I don't think this directly effects Trump. I'm sure it was people around him being influenced by Russia to influence Trump, one step removed.

But I'm sure it will hurt him on some level. Not with his die hard voters, because, well you know... but in terms of costing him actual votes in actual elections, and causing GOP politicians to put more distance between themselves and the President.

Which obviously isn't happen much yet... but it's going to.

Oh no. I agree with. I doubt this only hurts Trump in the sense that again it makes him look incompetent.

At best for Trump. He's being taken advantage of, at worst. He actively in collusion.
 
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