Good Monday morning.
Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:
- In the morning the president will receive his daily intelligence briefing.
Mystery: FBI records disappear
Well, well, well. The Federal Bureau of Investigation did not retain some of the text messaging between FBI agent Peter Strzok and his mistress, DOJ attorney Lisa Page. You may remember this duo from their previous appearance in the RUSSIA collusion “investigation” saga when they were busted sending anti-Trump messages to one another during the 2016 campaign and whispering sweet nothings into each other’s government-issued BlackBerries about an “insurance policy” to protect against candidate Trump while plotting a coup in “Andy’s office.”
The only reason we know about the “missing” messages is because Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) sent a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray asking about the “failure” to preserve the text messages.
The letter from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray indicates the Justice Department has turned over to lawmakers a new batch of texts from senior FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page. The messages have not been made public.
Johnson’s weekend letter said his committee received 384 pages of new Strzok-Page texts late Friday. The lawmaker is asking the FBI to explain in more detail why it “did not preserve text messages between Ms. Page and Mr. Strzok between approximately December 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017.’’
You don’t say. Tell me more:
The FBI previously informed the Justice Department that “many FBI-provided Samsung 5 mobile devices did not capture or store text messages due to misconfiguration issues related to rollouts, provisioning and software upgrades that conflicted with the FBI’s collection capabilities,” a Justice Department official told lawmakers in an earlier letter. As a result, it says, “data that should have been automatically collected and retained for long-term storage and retrieval was not collected.’’
Are the same morons who built the Obamacare website responsible for IT at the FBI?
One of the text messages shows Strzok talking about the “pressure” to wrap up the investigation of Hillary Clinton. Other messages show that the two knew Hillary Clinton would be exonerated before the investigation was over… before she was even interviewed by the agency! We also learned from the text messages that Loretta Lynch knew Clinton would be cleared, even though she said she was going to take the recommendations of DOJ employees.
On a similar front, the House Intelligence Committee will vote to release a classified report on FISA abuse. Our own Deb Heine has the story.
Today: Reps. Nunes, Gowdy, and Goodlatte met to discuss memo, are said to be 'charting a path forward.' What does that mean? Obvious goal is to make memo public; steps between now and then unclear; could take 2-3 weeks. 2/2
— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 20, 2018
People need to go to jail. How can we have any faith in our justice system when we learn more and more about senior law enforcement officials trying to influence the 2016 election? Who do you think interfered more: the RUSSIANS or the DOJ? Tell me in the comments.
RELATED: Trust in US institutions down dramatically, survey finds
An attempt was made
In case you missed it, the government shut down on Friday night/Saturday morning when the Democrats held up a vote to fund the government. In order for a bill to get a vote in the Senate, 60 senators first need to allow an end to debate on the bill so the actual bill can get an up or down, majority-rule vote. The GOP doesn’t have 60 votes in the Senate, so here we are. Another attempt will happen today at noon when senators will try and pass something that funds the government for three weeks. THREE WEEKS. Moderates are “huddling.” Trump wants to go nuclear.
McConnell has promised that the Senate will take up DACA and immigration, the issue at the center of Democrats’ objection over the funding. We shouldn’t be surprised at the Democrats’ crazy behavior since we know the future of their party depends on a fast and loose immigration policy. The actual funding bill contains everything the Democrats want, but since they need to grandstand the immigration issue for their own survival, they shut the government down. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) says “Nah, bro.”
Meanwhile, the government shutdown has given birth to some showboating and auxiliary news-making. Politico warns us the shutdown is interfering with State of the Union preparations. Rep. Luis Gutierrez wants people to know that Trump’s intent is to end legal immigration to the United States. Yes, legal immigration.
“They want to end legal immigration to the United States. They say, ‘Let’s build a wall to keep us safe.’ They say, ‘Let’s build a wall so that our workers don’t have to compete with illegals that come across the —’ but then they end legal immigration. They say, ‘the lottery system, let’s end it.’ That’s legal immigration to the United States,” Gutiérrez told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.”
Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) ripped on Obama for not serving the military. Just kidding, it was Trump, not Obama.
“I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft-dodger,” Duckworth said on the Senate floor. “And I have a message for cadet bone spurs: If you cared about our military, you’d stop baiting Kim Jong Un into a war that could put 85,000 American troops and millions of innocent civilians in danger.”
Sen. Lindsay Graham took some swings at Trump advisor Stephen Miller. The White House swung back.
RELATED: Democrat advantage narrows in generic ballot
[Alleged] sexual harassment update
Weinstein accusers Tomei, Arquette name ‘silence breakers’ at SAG Awards
Yes, Scarlett Johansson was calling out James Franco in her Women’s March speech
Natalie Portman details ‘sexual terrorism’ she faced as a teen in Hollywood
Historical picture of the day:
Following the successful Allied landings on the coast south of Rome in the district around Nattuno and Anzio, Allied forces are pushing inland. British troops of the 5th Army are now attacking along the Anzio-Albano road and have crossed the railway to Rome and reached the village of Campoleone, 15 miles from Anzio. All shoulders to the wheel when this truck got stuck in the soft sand, on Jan. 22, 1944, near Rome, Italy. (AP Photo)
Other morsels:
It is as it should be: Patriots head to Super Bowl
Liar Dan Rather to host news program with The Young Turks Network
Former student sets fire at Catholic university over U.S. intervention in “Muslim land”
Some RUSSIANS attended Trump’s inauguration
Are you on the list? The 270 people connected to the RUSSIA probes
Utah State University student hospitalized after eating Tide Pod
Tokyo holds evacuation drill to prepare for N. Korean threat
Cecile Richards Scolds White Women, Tells Them To ‘Do Better’
Winner of donut-eating contest caught stealing from Dunkin’, cops say
On the success Trump cares about most, more people still give Obama the credit
Republican congressman removed from ethics committee
Bizarre hallucinations reported in children taking Tamiflu
‘Saturday Night Live’ Ratings Tie For Season Low
Deportation fears have legal immigrants avoiding health care
McMaster makes his pick to replace Powell on the NSC
And that’s all I’ve got, now go beat back the angry mob!
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