The coup attempt on Trump

OK, so now Donald Trump is a Russian agent? You’d think so by the mainstream media coverage. The New York Times ran a story that the FBI was investigating Trump right after his firing of James Comey for wittingly or unwittingly being a secret agent for the Russians. It was ridiculous on its face, but given the timing and who was involved it makes sense.

Andrew McCabe

Andrew McCabe became acting FBI director in the wake of Comey’s firing. He launched the investigation between the time of the firing and the time Rod Rosenstein named Robert Mueller as the special counsel. We now know from discovered text messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and his lover, Lisa Page, that there was essentially a coup attempt going on. They reference “Andy” in their text messages. It’s presumed they’re talking about McCabe. Two hours after Comey’s firing Strzok sent Page this message: “We need to open the case we’ve been waiting on now while Andy is acting (director). Page replied, “We need to lock in (redacted). In a formal chargeable way. Soon.”

Strzok and Page refused to clarify the exchange in testimony before Congress. I can imagine so. If the texts reference what we think they reference it could very well be treasonous. What’s interesting is James Comey appears not to be part of this plot. The man most vilified in all of this was apparently not open to trying to unseat Trump. Note that Strzok said they needed to open the case against Trump now that Comey was gone and McCabe was acting director. They knew their window would be short since the president would be naming a permanent replacement for Comey soon. 

A case can also be made that Rod Rosenstein was part of the conspiracy. Remember it was Rosenstein, according to McCabe’s notes, who floated the idea of secretly taping Trump and using the 25th Amendment to oust him from office. Apparently once McCabe’s fellow traveler had put his man, Mueller, in place there was no longer a need to investigate Trump as a Russian agent. The cabal had their full hooks in the investigation once Mueller was on board.

What the mainstream media chose to omit when serving as an echo chamber for the Times was the FBI found no evidence that Trump was a Russian agent, either wittingly or unwittingly. This was simply a vehicle used by rogue elements inside the FBI to try and topple the Trump presidency.

But where’s the investigation of that? The spineless Republicans who had every opportunity to build a wall and fully repeal Obamacare also fumbled the biggest story so far this century. There is ample evidence that key people inside the FBI were doing everything they could to end the Trump presidency. No one in the mainstream media is the least bit curious. The Republicans who run the national apparatus of the party in Washington appear to be equally disinterested. It’s probably because they don’t like Trump any more than the media or the Democrats. He’s an embarrassment. Why? Because he’s actually getting things done. He’s actually going about the task of fulfilling his campaign promises.

The dirty little secret in Washington is the people who pull the strings love the status quo. They have a you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-your-back mentality. This is why, on the key issues, there’s rarely ever much movement. The Republicans in charge want to continue that status quo just as much as the Democrats do.

Donald Trump came to town to bust up the club. And he must be stopped at any cost.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

What you need to know about the FISA app and the FBI

The release of the heavily redacted FBI application for a FISA warrant to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump foreign policy advisor, fell with a thud in the mainstream media. For one, it was released on a Saturday when the fewest number of eyeballs were watching. The normally sensationalized headlines that greet news of the Russian investigation were absent.

Some, like New York magazine, even went so far as to say the FISA app debunked Trump’s ‘witch hunt’ claims. The truth is, as Byron York from the Washington Examiner so artfully laid out, the FISA app to spy on Carter Page vindicates Devin Nunes’s contention that there was serious misconduct on behalf of the FBI.

Here’s pretty much the problem in a nutshell. The FISA warrant against Page relied heavily on the now-debunked Steele Dossier. James Comey, as director of the FBI, signed off on the application three times before he was booted from his job. Running concurrently with those application renewals was his telling President-elect Trump in early January of 2017 that the Steele Dossier was “salacious and unverified.” The mainstream media run interference on this point claiming Comey wasn’t talking about the entire dossier, just the parts that were “personally sensitive” to the incoming president. You be the juWhat dge. This is the full sentence in context of what Comey said under oath when recounting his meeting with Trump.

“The IC (Intelligence Community) leadership thought it important, for a variety of reasons, to alert the incoming president to the existence of this material even though it was salacious and unverified.”

Let’s assume for the moment that the Democrats and their willing accomplices in the media are right. If portions of intelligence you’re receiving on something as serious as a political candidate colluding with a foreign power to rig an election are unverified how can you believe anything else in the document? In other words, what constitutes verified? Well, as we now know nothing in the Steele Dossier has been verified. If that’s the case now it was certainly the case when they filed the application. That would indicate that there was a concerted effort to mislead the court in order to allow them to literally tap into the Trump campaign surreptitiously.

The main point that’s being ignored by everyone is in spite of a FISA warrant and at least five or six renewals at 90-day intervals they found nothing on Carter Page. What they did find is Russian intelligence tried to recruit him as an agent and he didn’t take the bait. More importantly, they found nothing on Trump and any kind of collusion. Surely we’d know by now. Those wiretaps started almost two years ago in October of 2016. Carter Page stepped down as an advisor in September of 2016. He wasn’t even with the Trump campaign when he was being wiretapped.

Don’t forget it was Peter Strzok who was tasked with heading up the investigation into Trump-Russia collusion. He was involved with the Steele Dossier. When asked to join the Mueller investigation he sent a text to his lover, Lisa Page, telling her there’s “no big there there.” Then why did he join the investigation? The answer is obvious. It was all about getting Trump.

Keep this in mind too. Lisa Page gave two days of closed-door testimony to Congress. The only people talking to the press about that testimony were the Republicans who called it “enlightening” and “very useful.” We haven’t heard a word from the Democrats on that committee. That is the story to watch in the coming weeks.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Is it time for Mueller to go?

Outlets like The Daily Beast are panting over prospects of impeachment for President Trump. What has them so excited? The firing of Andy McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI. They believe the firing of McCabe means the dismissal of Robert Mueller is just a matter of time. Trump would be foolish to fire Mueller. More on that in a moment, but Trump didn’t fire McCabe. He was already being allowed a graceful way out by retiring. Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on the advice of the inspector general because McCabe leaked sensitive information to the press then lied about it under oath.

(Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters)

We’re starting to see a picture of what McCabe was up to at the FBI. I won’t call it a conspiracy, but it appears McCabe, Peter Strzok, and his mistress, Lisa Page, coordinated to try and keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office. When he won in spite of their efforts they attempted to bring him down. That’s nothing less than an attempted coup d’état.

Ironically, that’s where all this Russia investigation is leading. Liberals have been out of their minds with rage against this president ever since the election. They’ve been hanging their hopes on the Mueller investigation to right the perceived wrongs of the electoral process. What these short-thinking people don’t realize is a President Pence would be their worst nightmare. I’ve even seen surveys where an alarming number of these people actually believe Hillary Clinton would get to be president if Trump were removed from office. Their ignorance is breathtaking.

The further Mueller digs the more we realize that there was no collusion with Russia by Trump or his campaign. What we do learn is there was an insatiable desire by so many—including some inside the FBI—to make it so. That’s why it’s imperative that the president not interfere with the Mueller investigation.

Were Trump to fire Mueller he would forever be labeled a Nixonian character who used his office to keep the wolves at bay and cling to his power. If Trump does fire Mueller it will be because the investigation has dragged on ridiculously long with nothing to show for it. It’s a huge distraction to the White House and Trump’s agenda to get America back on the right track. There are still those Republicans in Congress who hold out hope that Trump will be impeached. They continue to stonewall on some of the more contentious issues like building a wall. With the Mueller investigation over they’ll be resigned to the fact that Trump will be in office for at least the next three years. Holding the ball for that long would no longer be an option.

Let Mueller finish, but finish he must. The only question is what is a reasonable timeframe? Trump is not known for his patience. That’s one of the traits that pushes him to get things done. I would think Mueller should surely be finished by the end of this summer. If he’s not, it may be time for Trump to make his case to the American people that Mueller either put up or shut up.

The liberals are lying in wait for him to do something foolish that they can hang around his neck. Firing Mueller prematurely would be one of those foolish things. If President Trump is confident that Mueller will never find anything illegal then he should have the good sense to let the process play out. Doing otherwise will create a crisis of confidence with his administration.

And imagine what November looks like if Mueller ultimately finds absolutely nothing.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.