Friday, November 22, 2019

Ex-Russia Adviser Fiona Hill Ignores Reports, Calls Ukraine Meddling in 2016 'Fictional Narrative'

Dr. Fiona Hill, a former adviser with the National Security Council, testified Thursday as part of the impeachment inquiry that Republicans are propagating the idea of Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which she claimed is a "Fictional narrative."

In a lengthy piece in January 2017 titled, "Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire," Politico chronicled the dealings of Democratic National Committee operative Alexandra Chalupa who worked with officials from Ukraine to hurt the Trump campaign.

Despite these reports, the former top Russia expert for the White House testified on Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee, "Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country - and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did."

NEW: Dr. Fiona Hill, ex-top Trump Russia adviser, calls out Republicans on House committee for spreading discredited Russian conspiracies.

"She added,"And as I told this Committee last month, I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary and that Ukraine - not Russia - attacked us in 2016.

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes has been one of the members of the Intelligence Committee who has raised the issue of Ukrainian interference in 2016 multiple times.

In remarks on Thursday, he said, "President Trump had good reason to be wary of Ukrainian election meddling against his campaign and of widespread corruption in that country."


https://www.westernjournal.com/ex-russia-adviser-fiona-hill-ignores-reports-calls-ukraine-meddling-2016-fictional-narrative/

Xi Jinping Calls for U.S.-China Cooperation at 'Critical Juncture'

Chinese President Xi Jinping said China and the U.S. should strengthen communication on strategic issues, according to state media, which didn't report any direct comments by the leader on the two countries' trade war.

Washington and Beijing should seek common ground while putting aside differences, Mr. Xi said Friday during a meeting with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, according to China Central Television.

"Right now, China-U.S. relations are at a critical juncture, and face some difficulties and challenges," Mr. Xi said at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The U.S. and China are working to strike a deal to resolve some of their disagreements in a trade dispute that has led the two sides to impose punitive tariffs on each other covering goods valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

Mr. Xi rarely makes comments in public directly about the U.S.-China trade dispute.

The Wall Street Journal reported that China's chief trade negotiator has invited his American counterparts to Beijing for a new round of face-to-face talks, although U.S. negotiators are reluctant to make the trek unless China makes it clear that it would make commitments on intellectual-property protection, forced technology transfers and agricultural purchases.

Mr. Kissinger played a major role in America's 1971 opening to China after more than two decades of estrangement.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/xi-jinping-calls-for-u-s-china-cooperation-at-critical-juncture-11574422912?mod=hp_lista_pos4

Durham Probe Expands to Pentagon Office That Contracted FBI Spy Stephan Halper

Justice Department prosecutor U.S. Attorney John Durham is questioning personnel connected to the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment, which awarded multiple contracts to FBI informant Stephan Halper.

Multiple sources confirmed to this news site that Durham has spoken extensively with sources working in the Office of Net Assessment, as well as outside contractors, that were paid through Pentagon office.

In 2016, Halper was an integral part of the FBI's investigation into short-term Trump campaign volunteer, Carter Page and George Papadopolous.

During that time, the FBI sought and obtained a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to spy on Page and used Halper to collect information on him, according to sources.

This news site has learned that the Pentagon has finally sent Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley's committee the information it requested in July, regarding Halper's contracts and the Office of Net Assessment.

According to the DoD Inspector General's report the Office of Net Assessment Contracting Officer's Representatives "Did not maintain documentation of the work performed by Professor Halper or any communication that ONA personnel had with Professor Halper; therefore, ONA CORs could not provide sufficient documentation that Professor Halper conducted all of his work in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. We determined that while the ONA CORs established a file to maintain documents, they did not maintain sufficient documentation to comply with all the FAR requirements related to having a complete COR.".

In August, a Pentagon Inspector General report revealed that the office failed to document the research Halper had conducted for the Pentagon in four separate studies worth roughly $1 million.

https://saraacarter.com/durham-probe-expands-to-pentagon-office-that-contracted-fbi-spy-stephan-halper/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug

Soros' influence pops up in Dem impeachment drive

A key witness in the Democratic impeachment investigation, former National Security Council official Fiona Hill, worked for George Soros' Open Society Institute and has connections to Christopher Steele, the former British spy who compiled the infamous "Unverified and salacious" dossier of Democratic Party-funded opposition research on Donald Trump.

"The Gateway Pundit reported a former Trump adviser accused Hill in 2017 of being a"deep state spy" in the White House under then National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster.

Hill has connections to Joseph Mifsud, the mysterious Maltese professor who met with Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos in London.

"In 2018, Demand Justice burst on the scene to 'stop Trump's SCOTUS nominee, Brett Kavanaugh,' as it wrote on its own website. What's Demand Justice? As the Center for Responsive Politics on its OpenSecrets.org site put it, Demand Justice is a 'newer liberal 'dark money' group' that 'launched a digital ad campaign against Trump's judicial picks in May 2018.'".

The report said that tie between Soros and Sixteen Thirty Eight "Is just one prong on this massive leftist wave aimed at taking down President Donald Trump - taking down Republicans in the midterms - and ultimately, putting a stop to conservative agendas."

"The money contributed to efforts ranging from fighting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and other Trump judicial nominees to boosting ballot measures raising the minimum wage and changing laws on voting and redistricting in numerous states," the report said.

Columnists have warned Soros also is trying to gain control of some components of the coming U.S. Census, and he's funded a "Hate" database that relies on data from the anti-Christian Southern Poverty Law Center.

https://www.wnd.com/2019/11/soros-influence-pops-dem-impeachment-drive/

CNN Senior Legal Analyst: FBI's Peter Strzok Altering a FISA Warrant is Alarming, 'Doesn't Get More Serious'

CNN legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, who was fired by President Trump in 2017, says the news that former FBI agent Peter Strzok altered or forged a FISA warrant application used against Trump campaign associate Carter Page is "Alarming."

"That's kind of an alarming bit of news," Bharara said.

"If there was an FBI agent sworn to uphold the constitution who can be proven to have altered a document in connection with a legal proceeding, including the obtaining of a FISA warrant, that's really serious. It doesn't get more serious on that."

"That's not a good thing. It's a terrible thing," he continued.

"Law enforcement agents and prosecutors who work with them are sworn to uphold the constitution, sure, but actually even exceed the protections of the constitution. They have to be of the utmost integrity and the utmost candor. Especially when you're making a representation to the court, which is what a FISA application is. It's gotta be on the up-and-up."

Keep in mind Strzok wasn't just an agent, he was a senior counterintelligence agent in the Russia investigation and during the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton.

He was fired in August 2018 after text messages about an "Insurance policy" if Trump won and other biases were discovered by the Department of Justice Inspector General.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2019/11/22/cnn-senior-legal-analyst-peter-strzok-altering-a-fisa-warrant-is-alarming-n2556915

Lindsey Graham officially opens investigation into Joe Biden, his son, and their dealings in Ukraine

Sen. Lindsey Graham called on the State Department to provide documents related to the claims that Joe Biden abused the office of vice president in his relations with Ukraine during the Obama administration.

"Today, I sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting documents related to contacts between: Vice President Biden, Hunter Biden, other Obama administration officials and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko," he tweeted.

The accusations center around suspicions that Biden used his position as vice president to withhold support from Ukraine until they fired a prosecutor that was looking into corruption at the energy company Burisma.

That company had also hired Hunter Biden, prompting many to wonder if Biden was trying to help his son by abusing his office.

"Why would you wanna fire the guy after he prosecuted the person you said was the dirtiest person in all of Ukraine?" said Graham to Sean Hannity about the probe.

"I want to know are there any transcripts or readouts of the phone calls between the vice president and the president of the Ukraine in February, after the raid on the gas company president's house," he explained.

"After this raid, Hunter Biden kicks in, Hunter Biden's law business partner meets with John Kerry, and Vice President Biden on three occasions makes a phone call to the President of Ukraine, and goes over there in March, and they fire the guy!" Graham added.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/lindsey-graham-officially-opens-investigation-into-joe-biden-his-son-and-their-dealings-with-ukraine

Free People Don't Ask the Government for Permission

Americans are supposed to be free to live as we choose-unobstructed by government and limited solely by others' right to exercise their free will.

Just because the government has passed laws, through its established process of legislating and regulating, doesn't mean that such rules are worthy of blind obedience.

Our country has strayed so far from those concepts that we've morphed into society where we constantly need permission from the government to proceed.

Whereas government previously needed a compelling reason to restrict our actions, it now demands a host of permits, fees, pre-approvals and justifications.

This "Mother, may I?" situation has turned the notion of a free society on its head. "Whether it be building a house, getting a job, owning a gun, expressing one's political beliefs, or even taking a life-saving medicine, laws and regulations at the federal, state and local levels now impose permit requirements that forbid us to act unless we first get permission from the government," wrote Timothy Sandefur in his new book, "The Permission Society." He blames the Progressive movement, which is accurate, but conservatives also do the same thing when it comes to drug laws, tariffs and security measures.

Keep in mind that a competitive market-not government rule-making-does the best job of assuring that people have necessary skills.

Instead of making it easier for people to work, our state government is ramping up its undercover stings so that it can arrest people for committing these victimless crimes.

https://reason.com/2019/11/22/free-people-dont-ask-the-government-for-permission/

Fiona Hill Testifies that Obama Was Putin's Puppet

Fiona Hill testified that Obama refused to give military aid to Ukraine despite the fact that the "Interagency" - the unelected wonks like Vindman who think they not Trump should run foreign policy - said that the U.S. should provide weapons to Ukraine to defend themselves against the Russian invasion.

The elite policy wonks said the U.S. should arm Ukraine to help defeat Russia's invasion, but Obama said he wouldn't because that would make Putin mad. Given that the Democrats are saying in the impeachment hearings that Trump temporarily not following the "Guidance" of the interagency is an impeachable offense, clearly, Obama's permanent rejection of the interagency guidance must also be a crime.

Unlike Obama Trump did what Putin didn't want done and what the interagency wanted done.

In March 2012 Obama told Russian president Dimitry Medvedev the following: "On all these issues, particularly on missile defense, this, this can be solved but it's important for him to give me space[.]". Putin did give Obama space and didn't act aggressively during the 2012 campaign, which is why Obama was able to mock Mitt Romney for Romney's concern about Russian aggression.

Obama set up a deal with Iran, a Russian client in the Middle East, so that Iran would be able to develop nuclear weapons once Obama was out of office.

Accusing Trump of going easy on Putin when in fact that's what Obama did.

While the fake news media won't cover it, Fiona Hill's testimony shows that not only are the Democrats condemning Trump for something they said was great when Obama did it, but it was Obama, not Trump, who did Putin's bidding in return for help getting elected.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/11/fiona_hill_testifies_that_obama_was_putins_puppet.html

Virginia Dem Violated Campaign Ethics Rules

Virginia Democratic representative Elaine Luria was in "Clear violation" of both House ethics rules and a Department of Defense directive when she highlighted her military service in an ad touting her role in pushing for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, according to a watchdog complaint.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a non-profit government watchdog, filed an ethics complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics on Thursday.

The complaint says Luria did not include the necessary disclosure in the ad, which highlighted her career in the U.S. Navy and featured her and other troops in uniform.

By violating the directive, Luria also violated a House Ethics rule requiring candidates to comply with "All laws and regulations applicable to Members when acting in an official capacity and campaigning," according to FACT. "I didn't come to Washington to impeach the president, but I also didn't spend 20 years in the Navy to allow our Constitution to be trampled on," Luria said in the campaign ad. "Not only does the entire ad generally use military service inappropriately, but none of the required disclaimers are used in the ad," the complaint said.

Luria's ad touted her part in pushing for the impeachment hearing, featuring audio of her calling the president's actions "Very clearly an impeachable offense." But FACT said that Luria broke department policy when she cited her military service and showed visuals of her in uniform in the same ad without providing the necessary disclaimer.

"Considering Congresswoman Luria's district includes the world's largest naval base and is among the highest concentration of veterans, it is especially crucial that she be investigated for failing to include the necessary disclaimers pertaining to her military service," FACT executive director Kendra Arnold said in a statement.

Luria's office did not respond to a request for comment.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/complaint-virginia-dem-violated-ethics-rules/