Wednesday, May 10, 2017

The firing of FBI Director James Comey sends Democrats to the fainting couches



Dripping with hypocrisy Senate minority leader Senator Chuck Schumer demanded a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate the firing of disgraced FBI Director, James Comey.  Schumer claims Comey was fired due to his investigation of collusion of Russia and the Trump campaign in the 2016 election.  Those claims have been made since Hillary Clinton, who ran the most hapless campaign in recent history, lost the election.  To date absolutely no evidence of Russian tampering has been revealed.   Now the Democrats, who themselves had called for the resignation of Comey, are heading for the fainting couches crying out for a special prosecutor. 


What is truly shocking is not that Comey wasn’t fired sooner, but why he was named FBI Director in the first place.  From LaRouche Pac.

Excerpt:

More Obama-HSBC Collusion: Obama Picked FBI Director Comey from HSBC Executives

Not only is the Attorney General of the United States, Lorretta Lynch, the US Attorney who gave drug money laundering bank, HSBC, a free pass with a Deferred Prosecution Agreement, but the head of the FBI, James Comey, was plucked by Obama from a plum job at HSBC, which Comey took in January, 2013, just after HSBC got the deferred prosecution deal. Comey's job for HSBC was as a leading member of the bank's “Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee,” formed immediately after HSBC settled with the federal government for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for the deadly Mexican drug cartels.

Get it? The Attorney General of the US and the head of the US FBI are both part of the deal that let HSBC off the hook.

In addition, Stuart Levey, Obama's Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for administering sanctions against terrorist supporters and closing off terrorist and criminal money laundering left the Obama administration to become HSBC's Chief Legal Officer, a top position in the London headquarters along with the board of Directors.

As reported in the EIR article, "Obama Kills Again: The Case of HSBC," reported on Feb. 22 by the British Daily Mail, could blow open the secret findings of the "Monitor," Michael Cherkasky,

The Mail says that Cherkasky's findings could "In the worse case scenario" cause HSBC "lose its banking license in the US." The paper says that HSBC's annual report released last week "revealed that an independent monitor installed by the US government had flagged up significant concerns" about measures that HSBC is supposed to take to "fight crime." Cherkasky "also refused to sign off on its efforts to improve compliance," with US federal law, the Mail said.

Hmm, maybe a special prosecutor isn’t a bad idea, seems the Democrats are on to something.  Why would Obama appoint someone so utterly unqualified and compromised to lead the FBI in the first place?  Seems to me a special prosecutor should follow the money, all the way to London.  From The Daily Mail last February:

Excerpt:

Why Cherie's bank is still a haven for crooks: HSBC reveals 'monitor' installed by the US after it was fined £1.1bn for money laundering has flagged 'concerns at pace of progress'

·        It is revealed Britain's biggest bank, HSBC, is still being used by criminals 
·        In the worse case scenario HSBC could lose its banking licence in the US
·        Monitor found ‘instances of potential crime’ and ‘deficiencies’ in systems

Britain's biggest bank is still being used by criminals – almost four years after it was fined £1.1billion for money laundering.  HSBC yesterday revealed that an independent ‘monitor’ installed by the US government had flagged up ‘significant concerns about the pace of progress’ fighting crime.

In the worst case scenario, the bank could now face restrictions on its ability to process US dollar payments through America or could even lose its banking licence in the US.  The damning revelations – contained in the high street giant’s annual report – emerged days after its involvement in a murky deal between the corrupt Maldives government and Cherie Blair was exposed by the Daily Mail.

MPs have called for an investigation into HSBC, and suggested that the payment should have been blocked by its anti-money laundering systems.  HSBC – the bank used by Mrs Blair’s law firm Omnia Strategy – accepted a £210,000 payment from a suspected conman and terrorist for its work for the Maldives’ autocratic president, Abdulla Yameen.

The transaction, which landed in Omnia Strategy’s HSBC bank account last September, was routed via a clothing import export business in Male, the Maldives capital.  HSBC said the monitor – former New York prosecutor Michael Cherkasky – had found ‘instances of potential financial crime’ and ‘deficiencies’ in systems set up by the bank to combat money laundering and other wrongdoing…

The lender caused further anger as it announced that it made a £13.2billion profit last year and dished out £2.4billion in bonuses to staff.  Some 453 staff around the world received more than 1million euros – £780,000 – including HSBC’s chief executive Stuart Gulliver, who received a £7.3million pay package…

HSBC was fined £1.1billion in the US in 2012 after being caught laundering billions of pounds for Mexican drugs cartels and rogue states.   Its systems were so lax that US lawmakers said the lender became the ‘bank of choice’ for drug dealers. As part of the settlement with the US government, HSBC entered a five-year ‘deferred prosecution agreement’…

My, my, my.  Me thinks the Democrats protest too much.  Why are the Dems so outraged that Obama’s handpicked FBI Director got shit canned?  Why were there no cries for a special prosecutor to look into the Obama Administration along with Comey and Lynch giving HSBC a complete pass even after Obama’s handpicked monitor in London, Cherkasky was aware of the money laundering still going on in Omnia Strategies HSBC accounts?  And HSBC isn’t the only bankster getting away with murder, there’s Goldman Sachs.  From New York Times last year:

Excerpt:

Federal Reserve Fines Goldman Sachs $36 Million in Document Leak

The Federal Reserve took action on Wednesday against Goldman Sachs and one of its former executives, escalating a long-running investigation into a leak of confidential government information.  The action, which forced Goldman to pay a $36.3 million penalty, stemmed from an incident in 2014, when a junior Goldman banker took confidential information from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The junior banker, whom Goldman promptly fired, received the information from a New York Fed employee.

Both men pleaded guilty to stealing government property, and Goldman paid a $50 million penalty to New York State regulators because its “management failed to effectively supervise” the banker.  The Fed did not act against Goldman at the time, making its decision to pursue Goldman now a somewhat unusual move. The action, which cites Goldman for an “unauthorized use and disclosure of confidential supervisory information,” is also an awkward one for the Fed.

The leak, after all, originated at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with one of its own employees. And the junior Goldman banker who received the confidential information was a former New York Fed employee himself. Goldman, not the New York Fed, was the one to uncover the leak…

The Fed’s case against Goldman, the details of which were reported last week by The New York Times, centers on what could have been a regulatory gold mine. The confidential information, the Fed said, included reports of bank examinations and other “confidential reports prepared by banking regulators.”

The documents effectively provided Goldman with a window into the Fed’s private insights about regulatory matters. And the bank, the Fed said, used the information in presentations to current and prospective clients “in an effort to solicit business.”

Where was Wall Street’s Senator Schumer then?  Why wasn’t Schumer calling for a special prosecutor?  Where was FBI Director James Comey?  And if that weren’t damning enough there’s Comey’s abysmal record of combatting domestic terrorism.  From Grabien:
Excerpt:

10 MAJOR FBI SCANDALS ON COMEY'S WATCH
The FBI interviewed almost every terrorist who successfully struck America

Here are 10 of Comey's biggest embarrassments at the FBI:

1.      Before he bombed the Boston Marathon, the FBI interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev but let him go. Russia sent the Obama Administration a second warning, but the FBI opted against investigating him again.

2.     Shortly after the NSA scandal exploded in 2013, the FBI was exposed conducting its own data mining on innocent Americans; the agency, Bloomberg reported, retains that material for decades (even if no wrongdoing is found).

3.     The FBI had possession of emails sent by Nidal Hasan saying he wanted to kill his fellow soldiers to protect the Taliban -- but didn't intervene, leading many critics to argue the tragedy that resulted in the death of 31 Americans at Fort Hood could have been prevented.

4.     During the Obama Administration, the FBI claimed that two private jets were being used primarily for counterterrorism, when in fact they were mostly being used for Eric Holder and Robert Mueller's business and personal travel.

5.     When the FBI demanded Apple create a "backdoor" that would allow law enforcement agencies to unlock the cell phones of various suspects, the company refused, sparking a battle between the feds and America's biggest tech company. What makes this incident indicative of Comey's questionable management of the agency is that: a) The FBI jumped the gun, as they were indeed ultimately able to crack the San Bernardino terrorist's phone, and b) Almost every other major national security figure sided with Apple (from former CIA Director General Petraeus to former CIA Director James Woolsey to former director of the NSA, General Michael Hayden), warning that such a "crack" would inevitably wind up in the wrong hands. 

6.     In 2015, the FBI conducted a controversial raid on a Texas political meeting, finger printing, photographing, and seizing phones from attendees (some in the group believe in restoring Texas as an independent constitutional republic).

7.      During its investigation into Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified material, the FBI made an unusual deal in which Clinton aides were both given immunity and allowed to destroy their laptops.

8.     The father of the radical Islamist who detonated a backpack bomb in New York City in 2016 alerted the FBI to his son's radicalization. The FBI, however, cleared Ahmad Khan Rahami after a brief interview.

9.     The FBI also investigated the terrorist who killed 49 people and wounded 53 more at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Despite a more than 10-month investigation of Omar Mateen -- during which Mateen admitting lying to agents -- the FBI opted against pressing further and closed its case. 

10.  CBS recently reported that when two terrorists sought to kill Americans attending the "Draw Muhammad" event in Garland, Texas, the FBI not only had an understanding an attack was coming, but actually had an undercover agent traveling with the Islamists, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi. The FBI has refused to comment on why the agent on the scene did not intervene during the attack.

The cavalcade of Comey’s incompetence and possible malfeasance has never been questioned by members of congress.  Terror attack after terror attack by people known to the FBI were allowed to happen and no called for a special prosecutor, ever.  And again, Comey lied to congress last week when testifying about Huma Abedine forwarding thousands Hillary Clinton e-mails.  From ProPublica:

Excerpt:

James Comey’s Testimony on Huma Abedin Forwarding Emails Was Inaccurate

Update, May 9, 2017: On Tuesday, the FBI sent a letter to Congress correcting inaccurate congressional testimony by Director James Comey, six days after he mischaracterized what the FBI discovered on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. The bureau addressed the matter in a two-page letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee from its congressional liaison, explaining that it was “intended to supplement” Comey’s testimony, by providing “the full context of what was reviewed and found on the laptop.”

In it, the FBI acknowledged that only a “small number” of more than 49,000 “potentially relevant” emails found on Weiner’s laptop had been forwarded from Clinton deputy Huma Abedin to Weiner, her husband, not hundreds or thousands as Comey had stated. The FBI said just two of those messages contained classified information.

The letter was issued shortly before Donald Trump issued his own letter firing Comey, accompanied by a Justice Department memo detailing the FBI director’s “serious mistakes” in handling the Clinton email investigation.

Oh, the horror of it all.  The Democrats hope to use the firing of Obama’s man Comey to railroad Trump into impeachment hearings.  From Stephen Lendman:

Excerpt:

Undemocratic Democrats Hope to Oust Trump the Way Watergate Toppled Nixon

They want him hounded and railroaded from office for the wrong reasons. Claiming Russian US election hacking on his behalf isn’t working, but the phony accusation persists, bashing Moscow and Trump at the same time.  On Wednesday, Dems got another issue with Comey’s sacking, calling it Nixonian, equating it to Watergate, comparing it to the October 1973 Saturday Night Massacre, hoping their arguments stick.

Senator Richard Blumenthal and other Democrats called for a special prosecutor after Comey’s firing, wanting an independent investigation into nonexistent Russian US election hacking.  “The first question the administration has to answer is why now,” Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer roared! “Were these investigations getting too close to home for the president,” he added?

“The only way the American people can have faith in this investigation is for it to be led by a fearless, independent special prosecutor” - ignoring months of intelligence community investigations discovering nothing.  Democrat Senator Mark Warner blustered the same way, saying “(o)ur investigation is more important than ever. We need a special prosecutor…and we need this Senate investigation to go full steam ahead.”

Notorious rabble-rousing con man Senator Bernie Sanders, his soul for sale at the right price, in lockstep with imperial wars, NATO’s killing machine, Israeli apartheid, Wall Street, war-profiteers, regressive trade deals, along with shameless Russia and Iran bashing claimed sacking Comey “raises serious questions about what (Trump) is hiding.”

“Why did (he) fire the person leading the investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and the Russian government,” he blustered?  Calling him “Nixonian,” Sanders shamelessly accused him of “repeatedly tak(ing) steps to kill inquiries into Russia’s involvement in the US election.”

“It is clear that whomever President Trump handpicks to lead the FBI will not be able to objectively carry out this investigation. We need an independent investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.”  There are none. No Russian US election hacking occurred. Sanders irresponsibly bashes Russia like most others in Washington - backing up criticism with nothing, no evidence of any improprieties or wrongdoing…

Dems likely intend using Comey’s firing as an issue to continue bashing Trump - for the wrong reasons instead of the right ones.

Senator Chuck Schumer and the indignant Democrats demand a special prosecutor to look into the firing of James Comey and Russian collusion with Trump.  I agree, let’s have a special prosecutor to look into the many collusions between the Obama Administration, James Comey, Loretta Lynch and HSBC Bank’s money laundering and terrorist financing.  As Obama rakes in millions in speaking fees from the very banks he let off the hook, the Democrats can only cry and head for the fainting couches.  Sad day in America.



By Patricia Baeten

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