Special counsel John Durham told a federal court that he is scrutinizing members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign as part of his criminal inquiry into the origins and conduct of the Trump-Russia investigation.
— Washington Examiner, 12/20/21

Oh… shit.

If Hillary was in any kind of personal legal jeopardy, what card would she play? Turns out she’s been down that road before and it all worked out in the end.

FBI clears Clinton – again
In Michigan, Donald Trump called Clinton “the most corrupt person ever to seek the office of the presidency of the United States.” But the Republican nominee, who has expressed hope in the last week that the FBI’s review of new emails might yield an indictment, emphasized to his supporters Sunday that Clinton is “protected” by powerful forces.

“Well, you have to understand it’s a rigged system and she’s protected,” Trump said in Minnesota.
— CNN, 11/6/16

While the narrative will be any mention of criminality regarding Clinton is verboten, she will be justifiably and mercilessly pummeled by Donald Trump (IF he decides to run again) over the whole Steele dossier-Russia-collusion hoax and while the pro-Democrat media will shrug it off as old news, dismiss it as censor-worthy “conspiracy theory” or conveniently forget it ever happened, John Durham will not and he may start handing Hillary bad news soon enough.

So, what would be the only shield she has available to keep a very newsworthy prosecution at bay?

A run for President of the United States where any legal move against her will (again) be called a partisan ploy to deny the will of Democrat voters. It worked in 2016 so why not play that card when she needs it again against someone who could care less about the squealing of CNN, MSNBC, and New York Times bodyguards?

Let’s not forget Hillary doesn’t need the drama. Aside from a bruised ego that STILL refuses to let go of her being robbed in 2016, she’s living a relatively good life. She has stay-at-home book and podcast deals, and an assortment of potential media projects at the drop of a phone call to the 818 area code. She can drink all the Chardonnay she wants and no one sees her fall over. She knows and dreads all the personal intrusions another run for president would bring. She also knows an indifferent, politically unfettered John Durham could put a serious crimp in her financials, if not her freedom.

Hillary is Durham’s ultimate target and she knows it. “Opposition research” coordinated between her campaign and the DNC, culminating in the elaborate Russia fabrication that resulted in millions in investigations, improper warrants, targeted “process crime” prosecutions, and the smearing of a United States president still to this day, would have only been green-lighted by the candidate. Hillary Clinton was solely responsible for the deployment of that Big Lie.

So while the pundit class boisterously speculate as to the motives of yet another Hillary run for the presidency, here’s something else to consider.

The second day of former president Donald Trump’s impeachment trial closed with a momentary controversy. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) objected to how a Democratic impeachment manager sourced information to him personally and asked that it be stricken from the record.

Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.) had cited Lee while describing a phone call early in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot between then-President Donald Trump and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) about overturning the election. Lee had confirmed that Trump called him accidentally while seeking to talk to Tuberville, but the details of the ensuing conversation were not sourced to Lee in news reports. Cicilline had cited Lee’s confirmation of the call and added in the next sentence: “And on that call, Donald Trump reportedly asks Senator Tuberville to make additional objections to the certification process.”

Cicilline’s comments could be read to suggest the “reportedly” was based on Lee’s confirmation, though that generally refers to news reports. Regardless, lead House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) opted to withdraw Cicilline’s assertion, maintaining that the sourcing was “not critical in any way to our case.”
— Washington Post, 2/11/21

In fact, the “source” Cicilline cited made no mention of Senator Lee and indicated that President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani made the phone call to Tuberville, NOT President Trump himself. Aside from blatantly lying and assuming he wouldn’t be called out, it’s not clear why Cicilline tied Lee to the Giuliani-Tuberville phone call.

At approximately 7 p.m., Giuliani called newly sworn-in Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a staunch Trump ally, imploring him to stall the process. “I want to discuss with you how they’re trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you,” Giuliani said in a voicemail.

The problem for Giuliani? He left his message on the voicemail of another senator, who shared it with The Dispatch.
— The Dispatch, 1/6/21

The Dispatch did not reveal which senator actually got the call, neither did the Washington Post or Congressman Cicilline.

But what was also on sad was soon-to-be 81-year-old Sen. Patrick Leahy, president pro tempore of the Senate, presiding over the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, whose senility, cognitive decline, and incompetence was on full display to the world.

Aides having to tell the president pro tempore of the Senate what to do and say during an impeachment trial regarding blatant mischaracterizations by a House manager… seriously?

Before they lost the 2016 election, the Hillary Clinton campaign tried to set up Donald Trump with fake accusations and use those accusations to portray him as a traitor. They wasted near $32 million taxpayer dollars paying Democrat lawyers in a failed investigation. They lied to courts so they could spy on American citizens. Entertainers publicly fantasized about killing the president. They used third-party hearsay to launch an unsuccessful impeachment proceeding. They harassed and intimidated Administration officials at restaurants and at their homes. They doxxed and assaulted the president’s supporters. They assaulted and assassinated police officers. They used social and the news media to cover-for and censor opposition. They cheated to win the 2020 election. During that time, they vandalized, burned, looted and seized control over parts of major American cities. In 2020, they voted for a senile, old man who, at times, didn’t know where he was or which office he was running for and now wants us to “unite” behind him.

One can clearly see that Democrats are certifiably insane.

Now that Joe Biden believes he’s going to be the next President of the United States, even though his supporters threaten mass violence if he lost on Election Night, he conveniently wants Republicans and conservatives to forget an elongated, abusive past.

“Unite” with Democrats means give them all they want, or else.

That’ll be a tough one, Joe.

Of course, the rest of the world looks at our media and Joe Biden in a fashion they’ll never admit, and with good reason.

Obviously, the media’s power to withhold important information to the public in favor of an entity they prefer justifies Donald Trump’s declaration that they are the “enemy of the people”.

Why would most registered voters, Republicans and independents believe Hunter Biden “engaged in corrupt business dealings” while most Democrats did not? Leaving out the blindly partisan who’d vote for a Democrat no matter what, who do you think disparaged any and all who did report on those corrupt business dealings? It all points back to a Joe Biden-sympathetic media who did anything and everything possible to help him cross the finish line appearing coherent and erect.

The bottom line is as the media has lamented what they claim is our our loss of standing under President Trump, it’s been yet another exercise in projection by the media, who is well aware that few trust anything they say, because they understand propaganda when they see and hear it.

Should Donald Trump be removed from office, that would make Mike Pence the president while there’s a scenario where Nancy Pelosi could become vice president (pending nomination and confirmation); a horrifying scenario to be sure. As vice president, Pelosi would continue her bully tactics and use her leverage with a Democrat-controlled House to create and/or shut down current policy items. One such federal activity she could definitely target for immediate termination, and Democrats have every reason to do so, would be the Durham investigation.

In October, it was reported that John Durham, U.S. attorney from Connecticut was expanding the scope of his investigation, adding agents and resources, to examine the post-election timeline up to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel in May 2017.

Hmm, no leaks….

The “investigation into the investigators” was reported to be upgraded to a criminal inquiry later that month, which gives Durham the power to impanel a grand jury and hand down indictments.
— Washington Examiner, 1/27/20

“Grand jury and serve indictments” and the expanded “investigation into the investigators” is undoubtedly what has many in and around Capitol Hill very nervous as while it was very cool to have those within President Trump’s circle investigated, incur exorbitant attorney fees resulting in harsh financial hardship (and in some cases imprisonment), the very thought of the same happening to them is something that must keep many up at night given their possible involvement in what can only be called that “soft coup d’état”.

It’s not clear how many of those involved (that we currently know of) would be willing to fall on a sword for an immediate superior but do you really think Andrew McCabe, James Clapper, James Comey, John Brennan, Lisa Page, Peter Strzok and others would be willing to rely on GoFundMe solicitations to pay for high-priced lawyers, especially when (in this case) a grand jury decision can speed up the normal process and bring a defendant straight into a federal courtroom facing hostile DOJ lawyers?

Mark Zaid, the attorney representing the Ukraine whistleblower, boasted in two recently discovered tweets of ongoing efforts to stage a coup to remove Mr. Trump: “coup has started. First of many steps. rebellion. impeachment will follow,” Mr. Zaid tweeted in January 2017. Later the same month, he tweeted: “coup has started. As one falls, two more will take their place.”
— Washington Times, 11/20/19

What the Democrats know is that the Durham investigation findings are not just another federally-produced white paper with “suggestions” that can be amplified or blown off at the discretion of the affected agencies and/or the media. High profile defendants could be frog-matched in front of international cameras and a detailed list of their possible activities would be made public for all to see and digest. Then it would be up to those defendants to absorb the cost of their defense and have to decide how far in a trial they’d want to go, OR maybe plea bargain in exchange for ratting out someone above who knew about or even ordered them to commit crimes that may include treason.

No sooner had Mr. Trump been elected than Rosa Brooks, a former Defense Department official during the Obama administration, wrote an essay for Foreign Policy magazine discussing theoretical ways to remove Mr. Trump before the 2020 election, among them a scenario involving a military coup.

Think about how many people it would take to pull that off.

In September 2018, The New York Times published an op-ed from an anonymous White House official who boasted of supposedly widescale efforts inside the Trump administration to nullify its operations and subvert presidential directives.

“Inside”….

Mr. Trump’s opponents often have praised the deep state precisely because unelected career officials are seen as the most effective way to sabotage and stymie his agenda.

So while we’re all being told that President Trump committed impeachable offenses and deserves to be removed from office months before the next election because Democrats know they can’t beat him, think about what they’re NOT talking about and probably truly fear.

A Durham report coming out before the election could have a profound effect with dire ramifications for not only those accused, but those whose fingerprints verify involvement including Fusion GPS, the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton and her campaign, those within the Obama administration and maybe even former president Barack Obama himself.

The thought of a President Donald Trump, unfettered by the yoke of reelection, taking it to the very agencies, personnel and politicians who decided THEY were going to undo the 2016 and 2020 will of the people is a scary prospect indeed because Trump will show no mercy and will carry a very big book to throw at them.

And they all know it.

New York Times columnist and CNN contributor Wajahat Ali and ex-GOP strategist Rick Wilson participated in a panel with Don Lemon on Saturday night. They were discussing the recent fight between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly. During an interview, Pompeo screamed at Kelly and demanded she locate Ukraine, the topic of the initial disagreement, on an unlabeled map.

While discussing the confrontation on CNN, Wilson pivoted the conversation to the president’s supporters and suggested that Trump supporters wouldn’t be able to find Ukraine on a map and that they would label being able to do so as a sign of elitism. Ali and Lemon laughed at Wilson, who used fake a southern accent to sound like a Trump supporter. Ali later chimed in with his own ridicule of Trump backers while Lemon laughed so hard he used a tissue to wipe tears from his eyes.
— Washington Examiner, 1/28/20

The written recap doesn’t do the segment in question justice….

If President Trump is so stupid, why is the economy at a historic high and unemployment for all demographics, illegal immigration at historic lows, we’re at relative peace with the world, and despite their best efforts (which would’ve melted the average Republican years ago), he’s STILL in office? How did his stupid supporters see this coming and vote for him despite the informed, intelligent warnings issued by intellectually-superior Democrats and their media? Could it be the president and his supporters are really the smart ones and the pundits are not?

Not if you see Trump supporters the way the liberal elite sees and portrays them.

Try listening to the Democrats line during any episode of CSPAN’s Washington Journal.

Now, that’s funny….

LEMON TWIST

Of course after the backlash, Don Lemon resorted to blame-shifting and the liberal standard That’s-not-who-I-am response. We must accept his… explanation.

New York Times columnist Wajahat Ali is portraying himself as the victim for cover….

Meanwhile, former CNN digital producer Steve Krakauer puts it all in proper perspective.

Sorry, liberals very, very seldom perform honest introspection when on why they lose. Just ask Hillary.

To his credit, “ex-GOP strategist” Rick Wilson is standing by his insults.

Rick Wilson was unapologetic when Cockburn contacted him for comment this morning.

‘Once again, the MAGA tough guy “fuck your feelings” crowd demonstrates that what really drives them is a grinding social anxiety fueled by a weaponized and monetized outrage machine,’ he said. ‘What set the White House off’ was really that ‘Trump hates being called out for his utter ignorance of the world; all the phony outrage at me is just Trump fundraising grifters milking the MAGA herd.’
— Spectator, 1/28/20

The CNN debacle was not an anomaly. It will happen again and again all the way up to Election Day and beyond.

Seeing how the Biden’s may or may not be called as witnesses in the Senate phase of the impeachment of President Trump, his team appears to have taken no chances and made sure the American people knew just what all the fuss about Hunter’s $83,000/month position with Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings was about and why candidate Joe doesn’t want anyone looking into it.

Former attorney general of Florida Pam Bondi, a member of the president’s legal team, laid the whole Biden-Burisma saga out for public dissemination, seeing how we couldn’t rely on Democrats or the media….

It’s sad how many Americans were hearing these details for the first time.

Bondi’s presentation now forces the hands of Senate Democrats to compel the Bidens to testify in an attempt to refute the allegations, which is what they’ve been trying to avoid to date, or hope it all goes away with the help of a very capable bias-by-omission media. Whether or not the bait will be taken remains to be seen.

Very few of us could get an $83,000/month position in a business that we knew nothing about or experience in.

Then again if your dad was the vice president, he had no sense of morality and was more than willing to use the power of his office to facility your income and make sure there was no scrutiny, well sonofabitch!

10/15/20 UPDATE

Emails reveal how Hunter Biden tried to cash in big on behalf of family with Chinese firm
Hunter Biden Offered $10 Million Annually by Chinese Energy Firm for ‘Introductions Alone,’ Email Shows
Donald Trump claims Hunter Biden’s laptop revelations show his rival’s family are ‘grifters’ as Rudy Giuliani boasts of 40,000 MORE emails after bombshell claim VP met his son’s Ukraine business partner
Hunter Biden and other children of political leaders are favored elites in the Chinese mode.
Computer Repairman Who Exposed Biden Emails Says FBI Told Him to Stay Quiet
Burisma official reportedly linked to Joe Biden met with State officials in 2016, memos show
I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax.
Schweizer: Gaps in Joe Biden’s Public Schedule on Date of Alleged Burisma Meeting

And know the left and their media as we do, a response was short in coming….

Twitter LOCKS Accounts Of Media, Celebrities, Gov. Officials For Sharing Biden Scandal Story
Twitter Communication Manager is Partisan Democrat who worked for Kamala Harris
Jack Dorsey Breaks Silence on Twitter Censorship, Accepts Blame for Company’s ‘Not Great’ Response
Kaleigh McEnany reveals she won’t have her account back until she deletes the story about Hunter Biden
Facebook Comms Person Openly Admits It’s Throttling Traffic to Bombshell Biden-Ukraine Story
Biden campaign ‘glad’ Twitter, Facebook censored Post’s Hunter Biden exposé
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will be subpoenaed to testify on Post censorship
Scarborough: ‘One of the Stupidest October Surprises I’ve Ever Seen’

Because October surprises are supposed to be exclusively aimed at Republicans

However, thanks to the beauty (and perils) of live television, the public got that rare glimpse of a media that chose sides long ago and are presenting the formalities with premeditated bias.

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos is well aware of the impeachment process as he was “senior advisor on policy and strategy” during the Clinton administration, thus is also well aware of what the public should know vice what could be potentially damaging.

The problem is fewer are devoting time to be misled….

The 20 percent dip in daytime viewership may be the best indicator that Trump’s impeachment won’t be must-see TV in its remaining week or so.
— New York Magazine, 1/23/20

It’s like watching the Olympics on taped delay: who really wants to watch a sporting event where the final score is already known?

Let’s be real; few expect President Trump to get a fair shake from the liberal media but these professionals should at least try to contain their bias and attempt to portray some modicum of equal coverage.

At least for a few seconds if possible….

There may be a reason why this McAuliffe isn’t with a major news outlet….

Since this appeared to be rather juicy, a few aggregating blogs and a member of the #Squad ran with it as gospel.

’21 Empty Seats’: More Than One-Third of GOP Senators Reportedly Left Room During Schiff’s Speech
People Are Calling Out Republicans for Breaking Senate Trial Rules by Leaving ’21 Empty Seats’
At one point more 1/5 of the Senate — 21 members — were out of the chamber
‘You should quit’: Rashida Tlaib blasts GOP senators for taking breaks from impeachment trial

When something damaging to Republicans appears online, verified or not, the usual suspects run with and blow it up even more.

Oddly enough in a random act of journalism, both CNN and MSNBC decided to verify via people who were actually in the room (Senators Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Schumer). Unfortunately for the media, they didn’t get the responses desired that could have given them more anti-Republican Senator scolding for breaking rules. Instead, it’s encouraged more falsities to be distributed by the base.

According to the rules, Senators are not allowed to leave the floor for any reason while the impeachment trial is in session.
— PoliticusUSA, 1/22/20

Not sure where that line appears but the Senate chamber could get really ripe, without appropriate precautions, had that “rule” not been a figment of the imagination.

When you know your audience will blindly accept your word and are too lazy to look things up themselves, misleading is easy. By the way, there’s no rule stating they have to be there in the first place. According to rules of impeachment decorum distributed to the Senate by Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer….

• No live tweeting. Cell phones and other electronic devices should be left outside.

• No outside reading material. Only documents related to impeachment should be brought into the Senate chamber.

• No talking. Senators should refrain from speaking to their neighbors while the case is presented.

• Hit pause on presidential campaigns. Senators should plan to be in attendance at all times during the proceedings.
— US News & World Report, 1/16/20

The only official guidance issued makes no reference to attendance, mandatory or casual. The closest we get is….

At all times while the Senate is sitting upon the trial of an impeachment the doors of the Senate shall be kept open, unless the Senate shall direct the doors to be closed while deliberating upon its decisions.
— Senate Impeachment Rules, March 2, 1868

But that didn’t take long from things being taken an ominous step or two further.

I’m not sure the chief justice is fully aware of just how rare it is, how extraordinary it is for the House members to be able to command the attention of senators sitting silently for hours or even for minutes, for that matter. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the morning starts out every day with the sergeant-in-arms warning you that if you don’t, you will be in prison.

It’s our hope that when the trial concludes and you’ve heard us and you’ve heard the president’s counsel over a series of long days that you don’t choose imprisonment instead of anything further.
— Rep. Adam Schiff, 1/22/20

It’s clear Congressman Schiff is again ad-libbing as he’s taking that “imprisonment” thing way out of context to use as a partisan club.

When the managers of an impeachment shall be introduced at the bar of the Senate, and shall signify that they are ready to exhibit articles of impeachment against any person, the presiding officer of the Senate shall direct the Sergeant-at-arms to make proclamation, who shall, after making proclamation, repeat the following words, viz: “All persons are commanded to keep silence, on pain of imprisonment, while the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of the United States articles of impeachment against.”
— Senate Impeachment Rules, March 2, 1868

So, we have another manufactured controversy meant to inflame the Democrat base; a base relied upon to believe what they’re told.

Mitch McConnell won’t allow recording on the Senate floor during the trial, so there is no video of the Senators, but other Senators saw it happening….
— Daily Sound & Fury, 1/23/20

The upside is that sometimes the truth comes out, live, where it can’t be “edited for time” or omitted altogether.