The FBI stonewalls Congress
The FBI asks how many divisions does Congress have?:
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley on Wednesday fumed as the FBI failed to meet a subpoena deadline to provide congressional investigators with a form that allegedly details a bribery scheme between then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national…
The FBI, however, did not honor the subpoena by the deadline. Instead, acting Assistant Director of the bureau’s Office of Congressional Affairs Christopher Dunham wrote to Comer on Wednesday, informing him that the bureau had to be mindful of “executive branch confidentiality interests and law enforcement responsibilities.”
In the letter, which the New York Post obtained, Dunham informed Comer that “The FBI appreciates this opportunity to inform you of our confidentiality interests so that we can ‘seek optimal accommodation through a realistic evaluation of’ each other’s needs and ‘avoid the polarization of disputes.'”
“We are committed to working together through this process,” he assured the Kentucky Republican.
Oh, indeed. Indeed. Blahbidy blahbidy blah.
Both Comer and Grassley deemed the response unsatisfactory.
“It’s clear from the FBI’s response that the unclassified record the Oversight Committee subpoenaed exists, but they are refusing to provide it to the Committee,” Comer insisted. “We’ve asked the FBI to not only provide this record, but to also inform us what it did to investigate these allegations.”
“The FBI has failed to do both.”
Whereas, if this had been an allegation about a Republican, it would have been leaked to the MSM and speedily published.
More:
Grassley said in a statement. “So the question remains, what did the FBI do to investigate very serious allegations from an apparent trusted FBI source implicating then-Vice President Biden?”
Covered them with a pillow, till they stopped moving?
Presume a couple of FBI agents want some info about a kidnapping–the stuff they’re supposed to do. Can you trust them that that’s the actual issue or are they looking for something to screw over an enemy of the regime?
Is there ANYTHING about which one might talk legitimately with the FBI or any DoJ personnel?
To understand the spat between Congress and the FBI, it would be useful to understand DC not as it is commonly portrayed in the media (“our democracy”), but better understood as a cluster of competing mob families. They divvy up their areas of specialization (drugs, prostitution, extortion, money laundering, etc. etc.), and have unwritten agreements not to muscle in on one another’s turf. When necessary they’ll cooperate for the benefit of the bigger enterprise, but by the same token if one family gets ideas about poaching on another mob’s territory, the boss or a high level underling gets whacked.
Biden may get whacked. It could happen if his idiot son makes the wrong mob boss in DC mad, or it could be when the heads of the families decide that ol’ Joe is bad for business and they make him an offer he can’t refuse.
Fay Wray and Judy Garland co-star in “Queen Kong Goes Over the Rainbow”.
The Eff Bee Eye is part of the Deep State Bureaucracy.
The FBI, indeed the entire federal government keeps reinforcing the case for its disbandment.
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.” Abraham Lincoln
This year’s federal budget should be an eye-opener. If the House does not cut off the FBI and halve the CIA budget, taxpayers have a legitimate cause for concern. Oh, and the Department of State.. Even though I used to work for them, I’d like to see their budget trimmed significantly. Let this be the moment when the U.S. Congress demonstrates the power they were established with by the Constitution.
What gets me about all of these hearings, requests for witnesses to appear, for documents and, then– when the witnesses don’t show, or show and stonewall, or the documents aren’t produced–this or that committee chairman/member complaining on TV, and saying that “they are trying to get the relevant Executive agency to comply,” is the naivety of it all.
I believe our government was founded on the assumption that there would be adherence to the Constitution and voluntary compliance by the branches of our government and their employees, not on the use of force to get compliance.
All of today’s political theater is naively based on the assumption that our government is functioning as it should be, and that government functionaries—particularly many of those at the highest levels–have good intentions/are acting in good faith.
But I think that that ship has long since sailed.
Today’s government is not at all functioning, even as well and honestly as it did just a few decades ago, or “as it should be.”
If people working in government will not act in accordance with the law, and many in the law/in our judiciary, and law enforcement are themselves complicit, and act in furtherance of this disobedience, this lawlessness, well, I don’t see much hope for the survival of our Republic.
Obama and Holder proved that when a Dem is president the Executive branch can safely ignore Congressional subpoenas.
The FBI will continue to stonewall, obfuscate and just plain lie because they know that Congress will do nothing to them. The FBI leadership has nothing to fear; it’s analogous to “catch and release” – repeatedly – for criminals
The ONLY way for congress to obtain the information that they ask for is to have the top 5 to 10 FBI officials testify, together, at the same time at one hearing and when they refuse to answer or turn over the documents demanded by Congress, have ALL the top FBI leadership handcuffed and arrested by Federal marshals and have them jailed for as long as they refuse to provide all the information demanded of them.
This should be immediately followed by a raid on FBI headquarters by several hundred Federal marshals and have them remove computers and files from the offices of the top FBI officials as well as execute raids on the home offices of these FBI officials.
The FBI, as well as probably most other Federal agencies are literally independent governments that are accountable to no one. They do what they want with impunity because they can; there is zero threat of Individual punishment.
“The FBI asks how many divisions does Congress have?”
Congress, specifically, the House of Representatives, purportedly owns the Nuclear Option: the total defunding of a federal agency. Whether that option is selected, or not, is up to the current occupants of the House’s elected seats.
The House may choose to not approve some amount of, or all, Constitutionally-authorized appropriations for an agency; this, should, in a rational environment, lead to some degree of correction because according to the Constitution and statute, monies not appropriated may not be expended, nor may monies appropriated be redirected to non-appropriated use.
John Tyler’s suggestion (above) regarding the employment of U.S. Marshalls to detain FBI employees and seize FBI data systems is one option, but I’m wondering to whom the U.S. Marshall Service believes it owes its allegiance. Congress, specifically, the House, may have different members in 19 months, but in all probability the FBI will remain largely unchanged for, maybe, forever, and exist in perpetuity with rather deep resentment for anyone and anything associated with the U.S. Marshall Service.
Then there’s the question of “what if the FBI just keeps doing business as usual and issuing paychecks?” Would Congress be able to enforce the Treasury to reject payment on those checks? To ignore the Constitutional appropriation process would certainly provoke a Constitutional crisis, but what would that look like?
And, does, or would, Congress even have the necessary gumption, or unity, to even seriously consider wielding the power of the purse to enforce the necessary actions?
Corrupt — Menace to humanity — Begets ever more evils.
I’m naive enough to recall the media’s supine Obama years, accelerated 2015-16.
This new summit, along with other smaller urban Hell holes, make me long for the inevitable Great Caesar.
What else could this mad descent yield to?
One thing missing from all the discussion here is that the FBI, DOJ, SEC, IRS—all of ’em, yea even unto “Biden” hisself—including, lest we forget, the MEDIA and INFOTECH—are doing this FOR THE SAKE OF THE NATION.
TO HELP THE COUNTRY AND ALL ITS CITIZENS.
FOR UNITY AND DEMOCRACY AND THE RULE OF LAW.
TO SAVE THE GLOBE AND ALL ITS CREATURES LARGE AND SMALL.
…And let us say, Amen…
File under: L’etat, c’est moi.
McCarthy should (but won’t) let it be known that there will be no funding of the FBI unless/until it provides Congress with what it is required to provide, as well as whistleblower protection for those uncovering the Biden family’s various crimes.
we have to think of this in Russian terms, protection by the security services is called krisha, or roof, we know how norman bates lookalike, feels about maga voters, how an fsb agent could do more damage i couldn’t imagine,
The warning shot has been fired. They will simply arrest enough republicans until message is received.
Looks like “Biden” ‘s gettin’ desperate…
Appealing to THE WORLD to pressure—to FORCE?—the GOP to agree to increase the debt limit.
“Yellen makes international appeal to put pressure on GOP over debt limit;
“Congressional leaders were scheduled to meet with President Biden on the debt limit again Friday but the meeting was postponed.”—
https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/yellen-makes-international-appeal-put-pressure-gop-over-debt-limit
Hark O Yea Nations!
Raiseth Yer Voices.
Bloweth Thy Horns.
Raise Thy Trumpets.
Chastise with Whips those evil-doers; those Trumpist, Deplorable, Insurrectionist, Racist, Age-ist, You-Name-It-ist, Fornicating Prevaricators, who honor NOT the word of “Biden”.
Shame them forthwith, totally and completely.
Cut them off from ALL hope of redemption. From ALL hope of happiness. From ALL hope of hope.
This you MUST do—we implore you
Aid US and succor US—yes, this MORAL IMPERATIVE so that WE can together trounce these awful, terrible, no-good white-supremacist suckers and get on with the SACRED business of DESTROYING our EVIL country.
Do it NOW—delay ye’ not—for the sake of our common future and the brightest of all futures for our fair planet.
Thank you! Thank you from the Heart….
You will SURELY be blessed…
Let us pray…
P.S. By the way, did WE mention that if you DON’T do this, then you ain’t Black??
we are the world, we are the children, we want your grift six ways from sunday,
this is the same bureau who has so many mulligans going back a decade, the company isn’t really any better,
John W Dorman–As was mentioned above, while the House may have the fabled “power of the purse, and can theoretically “zero out,” defund an Agency or Department, does it have the guts to use that power?
To my knowledge thus far the threat of defunding a recalcitrant Department or Agency, or parts thereof has never even been mentioned.
Thus, from the evidence so far, the House does not have the guts to use the one power it does have.
Who ya gonna call … when the ghost buster is the ghost ?
It is commonly said that somewhere around 5% or so of the population commits more than 50% of all the crimes, and I mentioned in an earlier thread that it seemed rediculous to me that our law enforcement agencies do not focus their manpower and funding on monitoring and policing that 5%.
Here is discussion of a recent draft DOJ memo which explicitly rejects doing this as “discriminatory”.
See https://libertyunyielding.com/2023/05/11/justice-department-crime-statistics-are-racist-cant-be-used-in-focusing-resources-on-high-crime-areas/
Given that the evidence shows that the DOJ, FBI, and other alphabet agencies are increasingly corrupt, you occasionally see it mentioned that the U.S. Marshals Service should be called in to swoop in and make arrests, to clean things up, as if this Service is somehow an independent agency.
However, according to the GAO Report linked below, the U.S. Marshals Service takes it’s marching orders from the Attorney General/DOJ and from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
See https://www.gao.gov/products/ggd-82-3
Introducing: the “Weird Gold Trick”, whereby everyone’s happy and lives happily ever after…
(But as they say, if it sounds too good to be true….)
OTOH, according to the link, Eisenhower actually pulled this stunt…
‘ “Weird Gold Trick” Could End Debt-Ceiling Showdown’—
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rickards-weird-gold-trick-could-end-debt-ceiling-showdown
Key grafs:
Whenever Janet Yellen is mentioned….
– – – – – – – –
Meanwhile, Joe Manchin is behaving like a sane person. Again. FWIW.
“Manchin Says Biden ‘Hypocritical’ On Debt-Limit Demands”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/manchin-says-biden-hypocritical-debt-limit-demands
Key grafs:
‘…“It’s not rational, it’s not reasonable, and it’s not practical,” Manchin told CNN’s Manu Raju.
‘Biden and other members of his administration have argued that Republican lawmakers, who are leading the efforts to impose spending reforms, have previously accepted debt-ceiling increases without adding new spending control measures. Manchin argued that the only times there aren’t contentions over a debt-limit increase is when one political party controls the White House and both houses of Congress.
‘ “It’s hypocritical to say that we’re not going to do it now when we’ve done it every time that there has been a split in the party,” Manchin said.
I think it is time to zero-out the FBI’s appropriation. It has gotten that bad.
Curious article of the day…wherein it looks like “Decent Joe” AKA “No-Malarkey Joe” probably should change his stage name to “Thin-Skinned Joe”….
“NY Mayor Adams Booted From Biden Surrogate Squad After Immigration Criticism”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ny-mayor-adams-booted-biden-surrogate-squad-after-immigration-criticism
Speaking of which it might just be time for “POTUS” to get back on the bus and do another “No-Malarkey” tour…
Can a nation survive when most of the citizens are convinced that the government is not only corrupt, but the enemy?
Democrats aren’t even pretending to be honest and law-abiding anymore. Understandable since they know they’ve rigged the elections.
They know that violence is coming. And they are happy about it.
On the debt limit crisis, David Harsanyi would appear to agree with Manchin…
“The Democrats’ Debt Ceiling Position Makes Zero Sense”—
https://pjmedia.com/columns/davidhasanyi/2023/05/12/the-democrats-debt-ceiling-position-makes-zero-sense-n1694666
P.S.—Let’s just suppose that the House finds a spine, and votes to defund an Agency or Department in retaliation for its refusal to comply.
I assume such defunding would have to be carried out by the Department of the Treasury.
Well, given the current state of the Federal government, can the House be assured that the Treasury would actually carry out such an order from the House?
“…Makes Zero Sense”
OTOH, given that EVERYTHING that “Biden” has been doing “makes zero sense” (at least if one believes that it makes sense to uphold the law, strengthen the nation, protect its citizens and provide them with opportunities); given that everything that “Biden” has been doing is being done to gravely weaken the country and distress its citizens, then the headline of Harsanyi’s scathing commentary should really be, “The Democrats’ Debt Ceiling Position Makes PERFECT Sense”….
…ESPECIALLY “Biden”‘s current plan to set up—to frame—the Republican Party as the REAL party that wishes to destroy the country and is acting out that evil intention by NOT agreeing with “Biden”‘s efforts.
(They pulled the same trick WRT to the Southern border, viz. that the Republicans are the ones responsible for the border debacle because they REFUSED to agree with “Biden”‘s policy vis-a-vis the border, which policy, it should—MUST—remain UNSAID, calls precisely for erasing the southern border….)
The rapidity with which “mass” shootings have increased leads me to ask, is the FBI or CIA involved in some way? Do you remember John F Kennedy?
Anne–Coincidentally, just today Robert Kennedy Junior points out that most of the perps carrying out these mass shootings are on some form of SSRI i.e. antidepressant psychiatric medication.
See https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/robert-kennedy-jr-bravely-points-out-the-connection-between-ssri-antidepressant-use-and-mass-shootings-something-trump-also-touched-on-in-his-cnn-town-hall-video/
Slap a subpeeny on their asses, get them in front of a committee and put ’em under oath.
It worked on those scumbags Brennan, Clapper & Rice when they had to testify–under oath–whether they knew of any evidence that Trump was a Russian stooge or traitor. Changed their tune PDQ.