I really don't get how they're so bad at this: announcing that he's planning to
issue an order advising that something that has been the law for the past 10
years is, in fact, the law (though Trump's Justice Department will be arguing
sometime in November, against Trump's Health and Human Services Department, that
the law including the pre-existing conditions coverage part of it is
unconstitutional, and urging the Supreme Court to strike it down), and expecting
I don't know what kind of acclaim.
But the most abysmal example of the week in that unspeakable phony cornpone
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), with his flabby eunuch's face and Grand Ole Opry
hair, quizzing the former acting attorney general in the Senate Judiciary
hearing on the Russia Hoax, or origins of the deadly FBI conspiracy to take
advantage of the pesky Russian effort to install Donald Trump as president as
an excuse for uninstalling him:
Senator Kennedy: (02:18:20)
You don’t like Donald Trump, do you?
Sally Yates: (02:18:24)
I don’t respect the manner in which
he has carried out the Presidency.
Senator Kennedy: (02:18:28)
Okay. You despise Donald Trump,
don’t you?
Sally Yates: (02:18:31)
No, I don’t despise anyone, Senator.
Senator Kennedy: (02:18:34)
Okay. Isn’t it true that there were
a handful of people at the FBI that despised Donald Trump and wanted to do
everything they could do to keep him from being president?
Sally Yates: (02:18:51)
I can’t speak as to what other
people despised Donald Trump.
Senator Kennedy: (02:18:56)
Were you part of that group?
Sally Yates: (02:18:59)
No, Senator I was not.
Senator Kennedy: (02:19:01)
Isn’t it true that there were a
handful of people at the Department of Justice during the Obama
administration that despised Donald Trump and did everything in their power
to keep him from being president?
Sally Yates: (02:19:14)
I’m not aware of anyone at the
Department of Justice doing anything to try to keep Donald Trump from
becoming President. That would be have been inconsistent-
Senator Kennedy: (02:19:21)
Were you part of that group? I’m
sorry, were you a part of that group?
His interrogation technique is basically: on no account listen to anything the
witness says, it will only confuse you.
Kennedy also seems to think the deputy attorney general is obliged to
personally duplicate all the FBI's investigative work before signing off on a
FISA application,
Senator Kennedy:
02:21:12
Go ahead. My question was, isn’t it a fact that the Steele dossier’s junk?
Sally Yates: (02:21:17)
I think that there is certainly
evidence now, but there was not at the time, that calls into question the
reliability of many portions of the Steele dossier. I have [inaudible
00:13:27]-
Senator Kennedy: (02:21:26)
Okay. Did you check to see if it was
junk before you signed off on the FISA application?
Sally Yates: (02:21:34)
Senator, the affidavit that was
provided by the FBI sets forth the factual basis. We rely upon the FBI to be
the fact finders in the FISA process-
Senator Kennedy: (02:21:45)
[crosstalk 02:21:45] So, you didn’t
independently check?
Sally Yates: (02:21:48)
No, sir. I did not independently
fact check, and I’m not exactly sure how I would go about doing individual-
Senator Kennedy: (02:21:53)
Let me be sure I understand. You
signed off on two of the applications. You’re asking for permission to
surveil somebody who is close to a candidacy for the President of the United
States in one instance, and in the second instance actually was the
President of the United States. You took no independent steps to see if the
Steele dossier was accurate? Is that your testimony?
Sally Yates: (02:22:35)
Senator, I’m sorry. I’m not
following your question when you talk about who was the subject of the FISA
application.
Senator Kennedy: (02:22:40)
Let me try to be clearer. The Steele
dossiers was critical to at least several of the FISA applications, one of
which you signed off on. You said that to get the … Let me finish my
question. You said that the Steele dossier, with hindsight, may not have
been completely accurate. You’re investigating a President of the United
States and you didn’t check to see if it was accurate?
and to labor under the mistaken belief that the FBI took out FISA orders not
only on Carter Page, PhD, but also on Donald Trump, and to believe that this
happened after Trump was already president, which means he is so far behind
the curve that he really should have stayed home. It's nice how Yates takes
her turn to pretend she doesn't hear ("I'm not following your question"), but
Kennedy just doubles down. Yates tells him very carefully that
Trump was not the object of any surveillance order, only "an individual... who
was not a current member of the campaign", i.e. Page, and goes through the
Woods process in which every fact in the affidavit is documented by the FBI
and the DOJ's National Security Division (all the mistakes in the Page
application involved information that had been left out, not information that
had been put in), and Kennedy replies
Senator Kennedy: (02:26:21)
Could you just tell me every step you took to
verify that the accuracy of the Steele dossier?
Sally Yates: (02:26:2102:26:09) I
relied upon the FBI as the fact-finders here, and the lawyers in the
National Security Division to vet the accuracy of the FI’s application. My
job-
Senator Kennedy: (02:26:21) All of whom
hated Trump, right?
I can't even.
There's lots more to say about the Yates hearing, but I'm taking a break.
To be continued. Cross-posted at No More Mister Nice Blog.
