Nunes Nonsense, Will Flynn Talk?, Liberals Go To The Mat

Friday, March 31, 2017

Nunes Nonsense

Yesterday news broke that two White House officials -- Ezra Cohen-Watnick and Michael Ellis -- had provided documents to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA). Chairman Nunes has said the documents indicate that the Obama Administration monitored the Trump campaign and transition team on matters unrelated to Russia.

In violation of the law, the identities of U.S. citizens were revealed in the intelligence data and widely circulated throughout the government. We know from the Evelyn Farkas interview that this was done intentionally in the hope that it would eventually be leaked and used to undermine the legitimacy of the Trump Administration.

If this can be proven, it would be such an unprecedented abuse of America's national security apparatus that it would make even Richard Nixon blush with shame. Meanwhile, the Trump White House has invited the Democrat and Republican leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to review these documents for themselves.

Not one mainstream media outlet seems willing to even entertain the possibility that there is a major Obama scandal here that could be bigger than Watergate. Instead, Big Media are fixated on how Nunes got his information.

Will Flynn Talk?

Washington is buzzing with reports that Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn is reportedly ready to "spill the beans" on the Trump/Russia connections. The left is so sure that Flynn is guilty and has a really juicy story to tell because his attorney reportedly asked for immunity in exchange for his testimony.

Folks, this is absurd. President Trump supports an immunity deal for Flynn. He tweeted this morning, "Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt . . . of historic proportion!" That doesn't sound like a man who has something to hide.

The president is right -- this is a witch hunt, and Michael Flynn's lawyer would be very smart to request immunity for him. The Senate Intelligence Committee, however, said it would not agree to such an arrangement.

The sad reality for years is that the left has used the criminal justice system to persecute conservatives. Here are a few examples:
 

  • Former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
     
  • Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay.
     
  • Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
     
  • Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.
     
  • Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

    By the way, according to the New York Times, Stevens' conviction caused his defeat in 2008 "briefly giving Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, which enabled them to pass the health care law."

    Lastly, let's not forget that Lt. Gen. Flynn was himself the victim of a deliberate intelligence leak. Someone should be going to jail for what they did to him. And we still don't know why Lois Lerner refused to talk about the IRS scandal or why Bryan Pagliano refused to talk about Hillary's private server.

    Speaking Of Hillary. . .

    Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) has launched an investigation of Hillary Clinton. Sen. Grassley sent a letter this week to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson demanding to know why six key Clinton appointees at the State Department were designated as "research assistants" and allowed to retain their security clearances AFTER Clinton resigned as secretary of state and they left the department with her.

    It turns out that these individuals retained their security clearances, which included access to top secret information, during the presidential campaign. Worse, their clearances were not revoked even after FBI Director James Comey had concluded that Hillary and her staff had been "extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information."

    Grassley has tried several times to get answers to critical questions, but was repeatedly stonewalled while Obama was in office. Maybe now he will finally get some answers.

    Cease Fire Needed

    All last year, many people underestimated Donald Trump and misunderstood his strategy. And since he is the one sitting in the Oval Office today, perhaps we should give him the benefit of the doubt.

    That said, I am mystified by his tweet yesterday singling out the Freedom Caucus as the problem when it comes to repealing Obamacare.

    When the audio of Trump and Billy Bush broke, there was a serious effort to force Trump off the ticket. Laura Ingraham said on Fox News last night that Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's 2012 running mate, was widely believed to have been part of that "dump Trump" effort. (Here, here and here.) During that political crisis, many Freedom Caucus members closed ranks and defended the party's nominee.

    It is to his credit that Donald Trump values loyalty, but what about loyalty here? Going to the mat in defense of Ryancare, while berating the Freedom Caucus, doesn't make sense to me. Ryancare is supported by only 17% of the public. Even Republican voters oppose it by 34 points.

    Why is that? Because House leaders have not explained what the good things are in the legislation. The House leadership failed on a fundamental responsibility -- to explain why that alternative would be better.

    I don't want to oversimplify the complex issues involved here. Obamacare must be repealed. That may require time and a complicated process nobody likes. But for that to happen, to at least get the process of repeal started, those opposed to Obamacare must be unified. The circular firing squad must stop.

    Liberals Go To The Mat

    Senate liberals are going to the mat to block the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch. Desperate to justify their unprecedented obstructionism, they are spreading lies about "standards for confirmation" and the filibuster.

    According to the latest count, 37 Senate liberals are opposed to Gorsuch's confirmation -- just four votes short of the number needed to sustain a filibuster. So far, only two Senate Democrats -- Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) -- are on the record in favor of confirming Judge Gorsuch.

    Meanwhile, only 37% of Americans support the left's attempt to deny Judge Gorsuch a vote in the Senate.

    ACTION ITEM: Call your senators now at 202-224-3121. Tell them to oppose any attempts to filibuster Judge Gorsuch's nomination.

    It is especially important for Republican senators to hear from conservatives that there should be no "gangs" or backroom deals this time. If liberals filibuster, the Senate majority must invoke the "Reid Rule" to ensure that a simple majority vote is all that is needed to confirm Judge Gorsuch.