RUTHFULLY YOURS

Tick, tick, tick… we’re getting closer and closer to the “What did the president know and when did he know it?” moment in the biggest political scandal in American history. What looks like a sitting president authorizing the use of the vast spy apparatus of the federal government on the opposing party candidate for president would, if proven, be far bigger than Watergate – a mere burglary intended to spy on the opposition. Pay attention because you may want to tell your children or grandchildren what it was like watching this all unfold in 2018.

Up until the present moment, Barack Obama has been missing in all the discussions of surveillance misbehavior. And most curiously, Obama has been almost invisible, staying quiet, and not using his expensive Washington, DC mansion (shared with Valeire Jarrett) as a base for leading the opposition to President Trump, as many of us expected him to do. He is the only president I can remember who didn’t get out of DC when his term in office expired, yet he has been as invisible as if he were Truman retired to Independence or Eisenhower retired to Gettysburg. He hasn’t even spoken out about the opposition to his presidential monument planned for public park land in Chicago, My optimistic guess is that he realizes his peril and is dummying up.

In a move calculated to infuriate the Democrats, the latest batch of text messages between senior FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page was leaked to Fox News first, and there are some striking revelations. Officially embargoed until 6 AM Eastern Time today, FNC was ready with the first item to reach the nation, followed minutes later by an AP dispatch, which headlined that the lovebirds admired James Comey.  The Washington Post and other outlets saw fit to go with the innocuous emphasis. No kidding!

In a follow-up post (and on air segments), Fox News analyzed the key takeaways from the latest lovebird texts, and there are several, aside from the startling information that the two senior FBI executives believed that the President of the United States was following their work closely.  On its own, that does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt his culpability in any crime, but there is a lot of information yet to be seen by the public.

Here is a list of the key revelations courtesy of FNC:

Page wrote to Strzok on Sept. 2, 2016 about prepping Comey because “potus wants to know everything we’re doing.” Senate investigators told Fox News this text raises questions about Obama’s personal involvement in the Clinton email investigation. (snip)

Strzok also calls Virginians who voted against then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s wife for a state Senate seat “ignorant hillbillys.” (sic)

That text came from Strzok to Page on Nov. 4, 2015, the day after Jill McCabe lost a hotly contested Virginia state Senate election. Strzok said of the result, “Disappointing, but look at the district map. Loudon is being gentrified, but it’s still largely ignorant hillbilliys. Good for her for running, but curious if she’s energized or never again.” (snip)

The newly uncovered texts reveal a bit more about the timing of the discovery of “hundreds of thousands” of emails on former congressman Anthony Weiner’s laptop, ultimately leading to Comey’s infamous letter to Congress just days before the 2016 presidential election.

On Sept. 28, 2016 Strzok wrote to Page, “Got called up to Andy’s [McCabe] earlier.. hundreds of thousands of emails turned over by Weiner’s atty to sdny [Southern District of New York], includes a ton of material from spouse [Huma Abedin]. Sending team up tomorrow to review… this will never end.” Senate investigators told Fox News this text message raises questions about when FBI officials learned of emails relevant to the Hillary Clinton email investigation on the laptop belonging to Weiner, the husband to Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

This raises “yuuuge” problems for McCabe and Comey because:

It was a full month later, on Oct. 28, 2016 when Comey informed Congress that, “Due to recent developments,” the FBI was reopening its Clinton email investigation.

“In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday…” Comey said at the time.

Comey swore under penalty of perjury that he was kept in the dark by McCabe, apparently. If he didn’t commit perjury, that means he was ignorant of the biggest and politically most important case the FBI was handling at the time.  He is either guilty of incompetence, or he was lying.

There is bias aplenty again visible in the lovebird texts:

On Election Day 2016, Page wrote, “OMG THIS IS F***ING TERRIFYING.” Strzok replied, “Omg, I am so depressed.” Later that month, on Nov. 13, 2016 Page wrote, “I bought all the president’s men. Figure I need to brush up on watergate.”

The next day, Nov. 14, 2016, Page wrote, “God, being here makes me angry. Lots of high fallutin’ national security talk. Meanwhile we have OUR task ahead of us.”

Page’s meaning here is unclear, but Senate investigators say, coupled with Strzok’s Aug. 15 text about an “insurance policy,” further investigation is warranted to find out what actions the two may have taken.

Finally, last summer, Page broke up with her lover for reasons as yet undisclosed:

The last text is from Page to Strzok, and comes on June 23, 2017 when she wrote, “Please don’t ever text me again.”

We have no way of knowing if she finally realized that using officially-issued devices for text messages that revealed illicit plotting and made the head of FBI Counterintelligence into an obvious blackmail target was unbelievably reckless, ot if it was something personal. Perhaps he gave the wrong answer when she asked, “Does this outfit make me look fat?”