Fox News has normalized a lie about the origins of the Russia investigation

 https://www.vox.com/2019/3/22/18277089/fox-news-steele-dossier-lie-trump-witch-hunt

As America awaits special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report, Fox News has gotten in the habit of pushing a false talking point about the origins of his investigation — that it began after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in 2016 alerted the FBI to the Steele dossier, an unverified intelligence document that contains a number of claims, some of them far-fetched, about the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia.

“Keep in mind that all of this seemed to have started with this dossier that was essentially an oppo research paper funded by the Democrats, after the Republicans originally started it — dirt on Donald Trump,” Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy said on Friday. Doocy’s not alone. Hosts and guests alike on Fox News have been pushing this talking point with impunity. Trump ally Dan Bongino made the claim during Tuesday’s edition of Fox & Friends. Last Saturday, host Ed Henry falsely claimed the FBI relied on the dossier “to get this whole thing going” — the “whole thing” being the Russia investigation. On March 10, Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy said of the dossier, “I think that’s the way the investigation got kicked off.” Trump himself tweeted out a video clip on Monday from Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show in which Carlson framed “the Russia hoax” as stemming from the “dirty dossier.”

Justice Department inspector general concludes Russia probe was justified

 https://www.axios.com/2019/12/09/ig-report-justice-department-russia-investigation

Horowitz determined that the controversial Steele dossier did not play any role in the FBI's opening of the investigation, but it did play a "central and essential role" in FBI lawyers' decision to support the Page surveillance request. Horowitz concluded that the FBI fell short in ensuring that Steele's information was accurate.

Steele defended his reports to Horowitz as not designed to be "finished products," and called allegations that he was biased against Trump "ridiculous." Steele claimed that if anything, he was "favorably disposed" toward the Trump family because he had been friendly with one family member for years, which ABC News has reported is Ivanka Trump.

Horowitz debunks the conspiracy theory that the so-called "Deep State" was out to get Trump, but he also chastises FBI officials for failing to meet standards for highly intrusive surveillance activity.

Sorry, MAGA World: If Hunter's Name Wasn't 'Biden,' He'd Never Have Been Charged

 https://www.newsweek.com/sorry-maga-world-if-hunters-name-wasnt-biden-he-would-never-have-been-charged-opinion-1807993

Sorry MAGA world, but that's the truth: Most people who do what Hunter did don't get prosecuted. Both the tax and gun charges are rarely brought against first-time offenders and almost never result in jail time. This is the conclusion drawn by many legal experts, folks like Andrew Weissmann, a former FBI general counsel, and former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. People charged with the kinds of crimes Hunter is accused of tend to pay their back taxes, as Hunter arranged to have done, and then they are fined.

Tamar Epstein Heter: R' Greenblatt said he simply accepted whatever R Shalom Kaminetsky told him - Retraction of heter can not be far away

In this recent letter Rav Greenblatt says he knows nothing except what R Shalom Kaminetsky told him. He did not do any independent investigation of the facts or bother hearing both sides. A rather sad and irresponsible use of the excuse of Daas Torah to avoid the elementary responsibility required of a posek. This is especially troubling concerning the issue of permitting a married woman to remarry without a Get.

With this announcement it is clear that the retraction of the heter must follow since the facts on which it was based are clearly not true. The question  now is what happens when the heter is retracted?

Yehoshua wrote:

 

A translation for those interested:

To whom it may concern:
I certify here what I said in writing to several talmidei chachamim who asked, and that is that I do not know Mr. Aharon Freidman, may he live and be well, or Ms. (?) Tamar Epstein, may she live and be well, and it is certainly not possible for me to know anything about their marriage or any detail [that transpired] between them. Rather, Hagaon R' Sholom Kamenetzky shlita asked me: When there is testimony by expert doctors that someone is mentally ill in a way that disrupts his marriage, if it is possible to nullify the kiddushin due to this. And I said that if the matter is clear and is similar to the incident in the responsum in the Igros Moshe, it is possible to permit it under certain circumstances.
Nota tzvi Greenblatt

Michigan GOP Chair Says Outrage Over Holocaust Tweet Was ‘Completely Hilarious’

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/leaked-audio-michigan-gop-chair-kristina-karamo-says-outrage-over-holocaust-tweet-was-completely-hilarious?ref=home?ref=home

Figures in both parties criticized the tweet as an offensive trivialization of the Holocaust; the head of the Republican Jewish Coalition called it “absolutely inappropriate” and called on the Michigan GOP to take it down “immediately.”

In her remarks at the Lincoln Day dinner in Montcalm County, Karamo made clear she did not care about such concerns—even dismissing the continued anger over the tweet “hilarious, completely hilarious.”

“Us being armed is not about stopping a burglar,” she said. “It’s not about hunting. It’s about stopping a tyrannical government. And if you know a thing or two about history, we know that governments have a tendency to be very abusive to the citizenry.”

Trump’s Home Run

 https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/trumps-home-run/

Trump’s interview with Bret Baier has, understandably, gotten a lot of attention. It’s been pointed out that Trump didn’t help his legal case, but since there isn’t much help to be had there, I’m not sure how much that matters.

I believe Trump’s legal defense has to be, first and foremost, getting elected president to squash the case; and, failing that, getting pardoned by a Republican president in the event Trump doesn’t win the nomination; and failing that, convincing enough people that the case is unfair so a juror simply refuses to convict.

Trump Can’t Say Why Republicans Hate Vaccines So Much

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-wont-say-why-republicans-hate-covid-vaccines-so-much-in-fox-news-interview?ref=scroll

“He said you may have saved…throughout the world 100 million people and you never talk about it,” Trump told Baier. “I said I really don’t want to talk about it because, as a Republican, it’s not a great thing to talk about because for some reason, it’s just not.”

Fox News analyst calls Trump defense 'incoherent'

Legal experts say the charges against Hunter Biden are rarely brought

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/legal-experts-say-charges-hunter-biden-are-rarely-brought-rcna90191

Like the gun charge, the tax charges are rarely brought against first-time offenders and even more rarely result in jail time, Andrew Weissmann, a former FBI general counsel and NBC News contributor, tweeted Tuesday. "This is if anything harsh, not lenient," he wrote.

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti agreed. "It insults the intelligence of the American people to compare misdemeanor tax charges to a scheme to steal Top Secret documents and obstruct justice when the government asked for them back," he tweeted, comparing the charges against Hunter Biden to the recent federal indictment against former President Donald Trump. "If anything, Hunter Biden was treated harshly — those crimes are rarely charged."

Christie: Maybe Trump should’ve gone through boxes with classified documents instead of golfing

 https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4058124-christie-trump-boxes-of-classified-documents/

“He said the reason he didn’t give the documents back was because he just so very busy, and he didn’t have time to respond to a grand jury subpoena because he needed to get his golf shirts and pants out of the box,” Christie said on “CBS Mornings.” “I mean, does anybody in America believe this?”

“Look, I think the problem is going to be, for him over time, is that people are just not going to buy it,” the 2024 presidential hopeful and former New Jersey governor said. “And when you think about how many days of golf he’s played since he left office, maybe he could have skipped a couple of rounds of golf and gone through the boxes to respond to a subpoena from a grand jury.”

Hunter Biden to plead guilty in deal with feds

 https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4058134-hunter-biden-to-plead-guilty-in-deal-with-feds/

“Hunter Biden is getting away with a slap on the wrist when growing evidence uncovered by the House Oversight Committee reveals the Bidens engaged in a pattern of corruption, influence peddling, and possibly bribery,” Comer said. “We will not rest until the full extent of President Biden’s involvement in the family’s schemes are revealed.”

Comer’s bribery allegations stem from a tip to the FBI the agency was unable to corroborate.

Trump weighed in on Hunter Biden’s case after news of the plea agreement broke, criticizing the charges as being low-level.

Hunter Biden reaches plea deal with feds to resolve tax issues, gun charge

 https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/20/hunter-biden-reaches-plea-deal-with-feds-to-resolve-tax-issues-gun-charge-00102637

Under an agreement detailed Tuesday in a filing in federal court in Delaware, President Joe Biden’s son will plead guilty to a pair of misdemeanor tax charges. Prosecutors have also charged him with possessing a firearm while being a user of illegal drugs — a felony — but have agreed to dismiss that charge if he completes a two-year period of probation.

Primary source of Steele dossier Igor Danchenko acquitted of lying to FBI

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/steele-dossier-igor-danchenko-acquitted-lying-to-fbi/

Igor Danchenko, the Russian analyst considered the primary source of the "Steele dossier," a 2016 opposition research report filled with unproven, compromising personal and financial information about then-candidate Donald Trump, walked out of federal court on Tuesday after a jury cleared him of all charges of making false statements to the FBI. 

Danchenko's case stems from special counsel John Durham's probe into the origins of the Russia investigation. In 2019, Attorney General Bill Barr tasked Durham with reviewing the FBI's handling of the investigation into Russia's connection with the 2016 Trump campaign.

The Steele dossier has always been misunderstood

 https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3698839-the-steele-dossier-has-always-been-misunderstood/

The story of the Christopher Steele dossier took its latest turn this week with the acquittal of Igor Danchenko, an analyst who worked on the dossier and was accused of lying to the FBI about it. The case that John H. Durham brought against Danchenko was so weak that the judge threw out one of the charges before a jury could deliberate on it, and the jury spent only one day before it acquitted Danchenko of the charges against him.