Former FBI Lawyer Lisa Page Thought Rosenstein Was Serious About Wiretapping Trump

/0 Comments/in , /by

While we’re on the eve of battle with Democrats over Brett Kavanaugh, let’s not forget the Rod Rosenstein watch, which could be just a head fake. Removing Rosenstein would create another political headache, though liberals are worried that the president will fire the deputy attorney general this Thursday, the day of the scheduled hearing of allegations of sexual misconduct against Judge Kavanaugh who has been nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court. The allegations are unsubstantiated, unprovable, and lack in evidence. They’re also over 30-plus years old. That in itself doesn’t make it less serious, but when there are no corroborative witnesses because they all refute your story—the credibility is called into question. And both allegations have more holes than Swiss cheese.

Yet, back to Rosenstein, the deputy AG has been embattled for months, and he’s ready to be fired. That was reported eons ago—and yet, he remains. Rosenstein is overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is now quarterbacking the FBI’s initial counterintelligence probe into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Firing him would send shockwaves, or at least in the minds of the elite news media that obsessed over this story all day yesterday; Kavanaugh was barely mentioned until the evening hours.

Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein has come back into the spotlight over a New York Times article that reported he suggested secretly record the interactions within the Trump White House in order to build support among his cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office. Rosenstein strongly denied the story, and said he has never witnessed anything from President Trump that would suggest the 25th Amendment would be necessary to even consider. Later, NBC News reported that Rosenstein said this in jest, but Lisa Page, the mistress to disgraced FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who was fired over his anti-Trump texts, reportedly wasn’t so sure if the deputy AG was joking (via Daily Beast):

A debate with major implications has broken out over whether Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was being sarcastic when, in the spring of 2017, he reportedly talked about covertly recording President Donald Trump.

A former career Justice Department official who was in the room when the topic arose told The Daily Beast he believes the deputy attorney general was being sarcastic. But another person in the room at the time has indicated she took it seriously.

(Read more from “Former FBI Lawyer Lisa Page Thought AG Rosenstein Was Serious About Wiretapping Trump” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Children’s Hospital Drops Gender Markers From Patient Wristbands

/0 Comments/in , /by

Children’s Hospital Colorado has removed gender markers from patients’ wristbands as part of an effort to support their “unique gender identity.”

The hospital said its staff understands that it’s “not easy growing up with an expansive gender identity or expression,” and “believe[s] gender-diverse children need a stable support system as they navigate their transition.”

The idea was implemented on Sept. 20 after the hospital started a gender diversity task force, KUSA reported last week. The identifying markers were removed from wristbands in its Aurora hospital. . .

One patient, a teenager named Ben, said the change is “huge” for him, as he’s been going to the hospital for roughly two years and identifies as a female to male transgender person. . .

Ben is part of a group of around 800 patients at the hospital’s TRUE Center for Gender Diversity, which stands for trust, understand, respect and emerge. The hospital described the group as a “safe space.” (Read more from “Children’s Hospital Drops Gender Markers From Patient Wristbands” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Army Col. Awarded $8.4 Million After Woman’s Sex Assault Allegations Blown Apart

/0 Comments/in , /by

As official Washington is captivated by the drama surrounding decades-old allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a former soldier whose career was cut short by similar allegations is trying to get out a message that accusations are not the same as the truth.

Back in 2013, Wil Riggins was an Army colonel who had been nominated for general, when Susan Shannon wrote on her blog that Riggins raped her at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point back in 1986, according to the Daily Mail.

Four years later, after Riggins had been denied his promotion based on the claim, a jury heard Riggins’ suit against Shannon and awarded him $8.4 million in damages, according to The Washington Post.

With that as the background, Riggins has been using his Twitter account to remind those rushing to judgment in the Kavanaugh case that regardless of what an accuser says, the truth may be very different.

Most of his posts are retweets of others who cite his case as a cautionary tale against believing any accuser at face value.

Riggins said that even though he was exonerated, he still suffered irreparable damage from the false claim.

This journey we’ve been on the last four years,” Riggins said, “it’s been a nightmare. … The large dollar amount is meaningless. All I was looking for was the opportunity to be vindicated, to set the record straight, to take every action to get my reputation back to where it was before the 15th of July, when she published that false accusation.”

Shannon entered West Point in 1983 and resigned in 1986. She never mentioned being raped until 2013. In a blog post, she named Riggins as her rapist and said she was drunk at the time. Despite Riggins’s denials, she has maintained that she told the truth in her blog post.

“Frankly the day I started saying his name was the day I started blaming him instead of myself,” Shannon told WJLA.

Riggins admitted he and Shannon had a sexual encounter in 1983, but had no relationship after that time. Shannon called that “a compete fabrication” and said Riggins “smugly admitted he did indeed rape” her.

However, after the verdict she did take down the posts she made about Riggins.

Stephen Horvath, Riggins’s lawyer said Riggins was able to win because, “Everything in that blog post was provably false and could not have happened.”

Riggins said that his effort to fight back was aimed at sending a message to those who make false accusations.

“This will discourage other false accusations but would not discourage legitimate accusations of sexual assault,” he said. (For more from the author of “Army Col. Awarded $8.4 Million After Woman’s Sex Assault Allegations Blown Apart” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Another Turn in Kavanaugh Accuser Hearing

/0 Comments/in , /by

A lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford is now making more demands and objecting again to plans that have been made for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday.

Ford has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct from an incident at a party in the 1980s when they were in high school. Kavanaugh has denied her claims. Last week, Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley invited Ford to appear at a hearing to tell her side of the story, while Kavanaugh can then tell his. After days of delays, Ford’s attorneys agreed Saturday that Ford would appear.

However, a Monday letter from Michael Bromwich, one of Ford’s attorneys, objected to plans for the hearing as well as Monday’s floor comments from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who lashed out at the “smear campaign” against Kavanaugh.

Bromwich objected to the fact that, as stated in a letter from committee staffer Mike Davis, an outside attorney might question Ford, Fox News reported.

“This hearing plan that Mr. Davis described does not appear designed to provide Dr. Blasey Ford with fair and respectful treatment,” Bromwich wrote. “In our view, the hiring of an unnamed ‘experienced sex crimes prosecutor,’ as Mr. Davis described in his email, is contrary to the Majority’s repeated emphasis on the need for the Senate and this Committee’s members to fulfill their constitutional obligations.”

Bromwich said there is no need for such as step, which Ford has opposed.

“It is also inconsistent with your stated wish to avoid a ‘circus,’ as well as Dr. Blasey Ford’s requests through counsel that senators conduct the questioning,” he wrote

“This is not a criminal trial for which the involvement of an experienced sex crimes prosecutor would be appropriate,” the letter said. “Neither Dr. Blasey Ford nor Judge Kavanaugh is on trial. The goal should be to develop the relevant facts, not try a case.”

Bromwich said using outside counsel defies precedents.

“The central point is that there is no precedent for this Committee to bring in outside counsel for the sole purpose of shielding the members of the Committee from performing their responsibility to question witnesses,” Bromwich said, according to CNN.

Browmich demanded that counsel’s resume “immediately” and asked to meet with them Tuesday.

Bromwich added that McConnell’s remarks were unfair to Ford.

“We are finding it difficult to reconcile your letter and Mr. Davis’s note with the Majority Leader’s speech this afternoon on the Senate floor. As Dr. Blasey Ford has been clear since her experience was first made public, she came forward because she believes it is her civic duty to tell the truth about the sexual assault she experienced,” he wrote.

“You said in your letter that you intend to provide a ‘fair and credible’ process … Yet earlier today, the Majority Leader dismissed Dr. Ford’s experience as a ‘smear campaign,’ claiming mistakenly that the witnesses’ statements to the Committee constitute ‘a complete lack of evidence,’ implying that there has been a thorough investigation,” the letter read.

A vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination could come this week, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said Monday.

“I would defer to the chairman but I don’t think we would do it on Thursday,” said the Texas Republican. “Friday would be possible, but I’m gonna let him make those announcements.” (For more from the author of “Another Turn in Kavanaugh Accuser Hearing” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Recent Poll Reveals Current Amount of American Republican Favorability

/0 Comments/in , /by

The results of a newly released Gallup poll indicated that the Republican Party is at a seven-year high in favorability among American voters.

The poll indicates that 45 percent of Americans have a positive view of the GOP, which is a nine-point gain over last year’s 36 percent.

January of 2011 was the last time favorability for Republicans was this high. At that time, 47 percent of voters thought well of Republicans, following when they regained control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections.

The same poll released today found that 44 percent of voters had a positive view of the Democratic Party. This is a change in position from their typical ranking, which Gallup reported is typically higher than that of Republicans.

“The parity in Republicans’ and Democrats’ favorable ratings marks a change from what has generally been the case since Barack Obama’s election as president in November 2008.

“Republicans have usually been rated less positively than Democrats over this time, with the Republican Party’s favorability rating for the last decade averaging 39%, compared with the Democratic Party’s 44%.

“Only one other time in the last decade has the Republican Party had a significantly higher score than the Democratic Party.

“That one exception came in November 2014, immediately after elections that saw Republicans capture control of the Senate and expand their majority in the House, when 42% rated the GOP favorably and 36% the Democrats.”

However, with Congress facing a history of a lower turnout for midterm elections than those including a presidential vote, this increase in favorability doesn’t necessarily translate to a midterm gain for Republicans.

While an increase in favorability is no doubt encouraging, conservatives risk a false sense of security, as Democrats’ views of the GOP and of their own party have not changed significantly, according to the same Gallup poll.

In addition to those potential handicaps, the party whose candidate holds the presidency has historically not fared well in midterm elections.

The Economist’s election prediction model estimates that Democrats have a two-in-three chance of winning the House of Representatives.

Gallup also noted that Republicans could suffer losses due to backlash from their previous wins:

” … Democrats have been buoyed by numerous projections that they will make major gains in November, which could lead to a result similar to what Republicans experienced in 2010, when they scored a big election victory at a time when favorable views of both parties were about the same.”

Republicans have suffered from favorability ratings that were below 40 percent for the past five years, which prior to that, had rarely happened in the prior 20 years, according to Gallup.

However, while Republican voters’ view of Congress isn’t as high as some might hope, their perceptions of President Donald Trump remain high.

The same poll indicates that the president is positively perceived by 81 percent of Republicans. (For more from the author of “Recent Poll Reveals Current Amount of American Republican Favorability” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Fired Justice Department Employee Sets up Gofundme

/0 Comments/in , /by

A Department of Justice employee who helped orchestrate a protest against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has been fired and is now asking supporters to donate money for her living expenses and legal fees for a potential lawsuit.

Allison Hrabar’s background was first reported by The Daily Caller News Foundation following an incident where she and other activists chased Nielsen out of a restaurant in June. After the incident, Hrabar told a Washington Examiner reporter that she worked for the federal government and was protected by the First Amendment.

“We aren’t the only ones who can do this. Anyone who sees Kirstjen Nielsen at dinner, anyone who sees anyone who works at DHS and [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] at dinner can confront them like this, and that’s what we hope this will inspire people to do,” Hrabar said at the time.

The Justice Department did not renew Hrabar’s contract Monday following evidence — some of which was discovered by TheDCNF — that she was organizing protests for the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America during her time at work as a paralegal for the DOJ. . .

“When I got to work on September 24, I was met at the door by security and forced to pack up my office. I was told, again, that this was merely a non-renewal of my term,” she added. “I don’t regret standing up for immigrants unable to advocate for themselves. My only concern is that the Assistant Attorney General’s decision to force me out of a job has left me without insurance to cover my high medical costs, and without an income to cover the legal fees needed to fight back.” (Read more from “Fired Justice Department Employee Sets up Gofundme” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Trump Has Quite the Warning for China

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Washington Examiner. President Trump pledged not to “tolerate [China’s] abuse” of the U.S. economy Tuesday, denouncing the rising Pacific power as an predator in international markets at the United Nations General Assembly of world leaders.

“Those days are over,” Trump said of past U.S. trade policy. “We will no longer tolerate such abuse. We will not allow our workers to be victimized, our companies to be cheated, and our wealth to be plundered and transferred. America will never apologize for protecting its citizens.”

Trump identified China’s entrance to the World Trade Organization as a blow to American blue-collar workers, blaming it for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs and an increase in trade deficits.

Trump has imposed $250 billion in tariffs on Chinese products, prompting China — the world’s second-largest economy — to impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. He has imposed additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Canada, Mexico, and European Union, aimed at preventing China from dumping metal through third-party countries. (Read more from “Trump Has Quite the Warning for China” HERE)

_________________________________________

U.S. Trade Chief Says China Policy Change ‘Not Going to Be Easy’

By Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump’s top trade official said on Tuesday that changing China’s economic policies to become more market-oriented “is not going to be easy” even with tariffs now in place on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, in rare public remarks at the Concordia Summit, said “endless dialogues” with the Chinese government over decades had “failed miserably” in changing Beijing’s policies, so the Trump administration decided to try direct pressure with tariffs based on its study of China’s intellectual property and technology transfer policies.

After China retaliated against what he called “modest” U.S. tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese technology-focused imports, the Trump administration on Monday slapped 10 percent duties on another $200 billion of Chinese goods, including many consumer products.

“We enter into that soberly with an enormous amount of study, but the fact is that what we were doing demonstrably failed,” Lighthizer said.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Lighthizer said when asked what would result in concessions from Beijing. “Change is never easy, particularly where we have change, where there are U.S. companies that are benefiting from the improper Chinese policy,” he said. (Read more from “U.S. Trade Chief Says China Policy Change ‘Not Going to Be Easy'” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Whoa, Nelly: WSJ Columnist Notices Something Odd About WAPO’s Initial Report on Kavanaugh Accuser

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Okay—so, the Brett Kavanaugh drama is heating up. Christine Blasey Ford has lobbed a grenade at Judge Brett Kavanaugh, accusing him of a drunken episode in which he attempted to sexually assault her at a party some 30-plus years ago. Kavanaugh was 17-years-old. It’s a serious charge—and it should be dissected before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Give Ms. Ford her day to detail this episode…if she can find the time. The committee and Ford’s lawyers, one of which, Debra Katz, is publicly anti-Trump (she’s and more of an operative) are still trying to hash out the details. Par for the course, right; it’s all about getting that delay. Delay for the midterms in an effort to run out the clock on this Supreme Court nomination. Democrats think they can increase their weak position on the Hill by weaponizing a possibly false charge to win more clout in D.C.

Ford’s story is shaky from the get-go: a 30-plus year allegation, which Kavanaugh has denied. Then, Mark Judge and Patrick Smyth (aka “PJ”) have straight up said they have no recollection of the night in question, the incident, and even the party itself. Ms. Ford says a party happened, but cannot remember whose house it was, how she got there, or how the whole gathering came about. But first, there’s some news about The Washington Post story that juiced this story into hyperspace. It was the piece in which the details of the account are explained in detail, and Ford’s name was revealed to the country. . .

Ford said she told no one of the incident in any detail until 2012, when she was in couples therapy with her husband. The therapist’s notes, portions of which were provided by Ford and reviewed by The Washington Post, do not mention Kavanaugh’s name but say she reported that she was attacked by students “from an elitist boys’ school” who went on to become “highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington.” The notes say four boys were involved, a discrepancy Ford says was an error on the therapist’s part. Ford said there were four boys at the party but only two in the room.

Okay—well, she didn’t tell anyone before her couple’s therapy in 2012. Uh, that’s a lie. She reportedly told someone days after this allegation because Christina King Miranda said she remembered it being the talk of the school, though she doesn’t know Ford and has no first-hand knowledge of the account. She believes Ford, however. Uh, that’s tells us nothing, lady. . .

Now, Kimberley Strassel had a lengthy thread on Twitter last night, where she obtained an email through a source from reporter Emma Brown to Mark Judge, who was cited in the account. Strassel cites one part of that email:

In addition to Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, whom she called acquaintances she knew from past socializing, she recalls that her friend Leland (last name then was Ingham, now Keyser) was at the house and a friend of the boys named PJ.”

(Read more from “Whoa, Nelly: WSJ Columnist Notices Something Odd About WAPO’s Initial Report on Kavanaugh Accuser” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Democrats Have to Be Horrified as Avenatti Announcement Wrecks Their Entire Case

/0 Comments/in , , /by

By Conservative Tribune. . .As The New Yorker was publishing yet another uncorroborated allegation against Kavanaugh, this time involving a party during his years at Yale, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer was busy getting in on the attention. In a tweet, he said he had evidence of malfeasance by both Kavanaugh and his high school friend which sounded an awful lot like a conspiracy theory.

“I represent a woman with credible information regarding Judge Kavanaugh and Mark Judge,” Avenatti’s first tweet began.

. . .However, this really does take the cake. Apparently, during a background check of Kavanaugh, both the FBI and the Trump administration completely missed that a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court was running a secret drug-and-alcohol gang rape group during high school which he decided it would be a great idea to allude to in his yearbook.

This was the eventual problem with the circus strategy the Democrats have pursued with Kavanaugh, both before and after Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations came to light: Attention-seeking tactics attract attention-seekers. Ford and Kavanaugh’s newest accuser, Deborah Ramirez, aren’t prima facie ridiculous, even if their accounts seem felicitously timed and are backed up by a grand total of zero corroboration. . .

This is the kind of insanity the Kavanaugh hearings will eventually devolve into unless the Democrats back away. If they were to back down, of course, that would mean Kavanaugh would sail through. That’s not likely to happen. But if Avenatti turns this into a conspiracy hunt, he’s going to end up tarnishing the credibility of the entire strategy. (Read more from “Democrats Have to Be Horrified as Avenatti Announcement Wrecks Their Entire Case” HERE)

___________________________________________________

Third Kavanaugh Accuser, a Former U.S. Mint Employee, ‘100 Percent Credible,’ Avenatti Says

By USA Today. A third woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct will come forward in the next 48 hours, according to Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for adult film star and alleged President Donald Trump mistress Stormy Daniels.

Following a Monday hearing over Daniels’ lawsuit against Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen over a hush-money deal, Avenatti told reporters he has been hired by a former employee of both the State Department and the U.S. Mint who has information of a sexual nature about Kavanaugh and his high school friend Mark Judge.

“It will relate to how they behaved at countless house parties,’’ Avenatti said.

Avenatti also told reporters the woman, whom he did not name, has multiple security clearances and will “literally risk her life’’ by coming forward. He called her “100 percent credible,’’ saying she has multiple witnesses to corroborate her story and would be willing to take a polygraph if Kavanaugh does as well.

Avenatti didn’t disclose how his client met Kavanaugh and Judge or reveal details on the timing of the alleged misconduct. (Read more from “Third Kavanaugh Accuser, a Former U.S. Mint Employee, ‘100 Percent Credible,’ Avenatti Says” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Mega-Pastor: Ten Commandments No Longer Applicable

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

A mega-pastor of one of the largest “evangelical” churches in the U.S. is attacking the Old Testament again, this time insisting Jesus rendered the Ten Commandments null and void, issuing one new law “as a replacement for everything.”

Andy Stanley, pastor of the 34,000-member North Point Community Church in suburban Atlanta, who famously advised his flock to “unhitch” from the Old Testament in a sermon last spring, has now penned an article promoting his new book saying laws such as “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” and “Thou shalt not kill” are no longer relevant to Christians living in the New Covenant era.

“You’ve heard the story before: A group of Christians puts up a monument of the Ten Commandments in a public space or on government property,” begins Stanley in his article titled, “Why do Christians want to post the Ten Commandments and not the Sermon on the Mount?” “Someone says it violates the separation of church and state. The Christians say taking it down would violate their freedom of speech. There’s some back and forth in court and both sides say some not-so-great things about the other. Rinse and repeat. But how many times have you seen Christians trying to post the text of the sermon on the mount in a public place? Or the all-encompassing commandment Jesus gave us? ‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another — John 13:34 The one commandment! Doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it? But if we’re going to create a monument to stand as a testament to our faith, shouldn’t it at least be a monument of something that actually applies to us?”

Stanley goes on to write that the Ten Commandments are from the Old Covenant, which he says “played a significant role in God’s creation of the nation of Israel. It gave them moral guidelines and helped separate this new nation from their neighbors. This was part of the formal agreement (or covenant) God created with his people, but Jesus’ death and resurrection signaled the end of that covenant and all the rules and regulations associated with it. Jesus didn’t issue his new command as an additional commandment to the existing list of commands. He didn’t say, ‘Here’s the 614th law.’ Jesus issued his new commandment as a replacement for everything in the existing list. Including the big ten. Just as his new covenant replaced the old covenant, Jesus’ new commandment replaced all the old commandments.”

The implications of that unequivocal statement have been staggering to other Christians who point out how the words of Jesus and the apostles seem to contradict them flatly and reject such a conclusion. (Read more from “Mega-Pastor: Ten Commandments No Longer Applicable” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.