Steve A. Stone
Dear Friends and Patriots,
Have you ever read the House Intelligence Committee web page at:
https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1004,
and is the page you’ll go to in order to access the 57 transcripts of classified testimony given in the Capitol Building’s secure hearing room down in its basement.
Remember those secret hearings last December and January where Congressmen Schiff and Nadler tried to exclude all Republicans who weren’t committee members? A whole lot of people wanted to know what went on in that room. But Rep. Adam Schiff put the lid on them and stonewalled any attempt to let the public know what those transcripts said. All he would respond with was, “The testimony was classified. Releasing the transcripts would create a security risk for the nation.” The news of late is Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Rick Grenell stated if the Intel Committee didn’t declassify and release those transcripts, he would. That’s the actual prompt for the committee’s release on 7 May. But if you read the heading material on the site, you wouldn’t know that. This is the way the page referenced above begins:
Press Releases
After being delayed by White House for almost a year, transcripts from House Intelligence Committee Russia Investigation released
Transcripts reaffirm Mueller’s findings that Russia interfered to hurt Clinton and help Trump, the campaign invited and made full use of illicit Russian help, and Trump lied to cover it up. White House would not allow release of all transcripts for more than a year by holding up declassification process until this week.
If you’ve only been paying half-attention for the past year, you can spot lies in that statement. We all understand the Mueller Report did not conclude the Russians interfered to help Trump. You also know there’s absolutely zero evidence the Trump campaign had any interaction with Russian officials, much less made “full use of illicit Russian help.” Nor did the White House hold up the release of the transcripts. The statement above is a total fabrication.
Most of the website contains similar lies. It’s really little more than Democratic talking points and propagandizing. There’s no effort to appear remotely unbiased or to state objective facts. That website – that’s your tax money at work! How do you like it?
The House Intel Committee website contains more lies that one can possibly count. That is truth. I recognize lies when I see and read them, and I’m certain you do, too. Want to test me – spend some time reading the posts on the site, and if you don’t agree, point out where you find truth. Then, go to the Press Releases page and scan those. Almost every press release of the committee contains anti-Trump or anti-Trump administration propaganda. If you want to play a game of dueling citations to refute my comments, send me your rationale for why anything on this entire website shouldn’t be considered partisan propaganda. It might prove fun for me to read such thoughts, though it would also be tedious. Regardless, I can’t go on without stating how outraged everyone should be that official government websites paid for with taxpayer money are so blatantly partisan and filled with provable untruths. If that doesn’t offend you, allow me to be offended for you.
I read through several of the 57 transcripts. I recommend everyone pick out a few and read them. Don’t expect to be excited. You should all remember how exciting the open hearings were. Wasn’t that compelling TV? Wasn’t that the epitome of high drama? Reading transcripts is like that, only much worse. Somehow reading them takes all the fun out of the experience. Reading is also a bit dangerous, since you can’t infer the inflection of a person’s voice from a transcript. You can’t determine when a speaker is being wry, sarcastic, or just plain dumb. Well, if you’re reading Rep. Swalwell’s questioning, you should start with the assumption it’ll be dumb – because most of his is. Then, there’s Rep. Schiff. I contend his questioning reveals an incredible degree of partisan cynicism. He has a consistent habit of reframing testimony in ways that would support his own political designs if it wasn’t challenged or refuted by the witnesses. The more I read his manner of examining witnesses, the more I realized his dishonesty is pathological. I’m not a psychiatrist, but Schiff is so divergent from what I consider normal in his expression that I’m willing to declare a layman’s diagnosis of psychosis. The man doesn’t deserve to be in Congress. He should be in a cell.
The transcripts have oddities about them. One oddity in some is the names of the minority party members present are censored. We’re allowed to read the names of the Democrats who interrogated the witnesses, but not the names of the Republicans. Why is that? You’ll also note that certain questioners appear to mischaracterize the testimony of certain witnesses – during the course of the hearing. Not just Rep. Schiff, but others as well. Unless the witness objects and corrects those mischaracterizations, they’re often repeated by other members of the committee as if they were the witness’s testimony. Another oddity in several witness testimonies is the time spent in interrogating on immaterial facts and background. It does make one wonder if the hearings were mostly venues used to get people on record making statements that aren’t precisely true. I know after reading some of the testimony I’d never willingly appear before any committee or subcommittee of Congress.
When I read those transcripts, I get a possible inkling as to why they were classified in the first place. The majority members of the committee, the Democrats, didn’t want people who were likely to testify favorably for President Trump’s administration to be heard. They didn’t want to risk testimony that might have discredited the hearings. Then, there were the Obama administration people who testified. It was obviously risky to call them to testify. They had to be sworn in, and one never knows what a person will say under oath. When you're undertaking to create a “new truth,” you don’t want to create an opportunity for the real truth to get out. They had James Clapper, Sally Yates, John Brennan, Samantha Power, John Podesta, and Susan Rice testifying under oath. It’s easy to understand how reluctant they might be to tell the truth if they thought their remarks would be reported in the newspapers. Now that Ambassador Grenell has forced the declassification and release of the transcripts, it’s relatively easy (though incredibly tedious) to conclude those people had reason to be concerned. Their own formerly classified words tell the truth – they never had a thing on Donald Trump. They couldn’t prove he did anything he was accused of. In plain English – the very people making a living accusing Donald Trump of treasonous conduct admitted behind closed doors they were propagating a pack of lies. They never saw anything. They never heard anything. They had no proof of anything. What they testified to was their beliefs, assumptions, or their secondhand knowledge, which was the bulk of their testimony, and it means absolutely nothing at all. It’s all just air. The Russia Hoax was just that, and what Donald Trump always said it was – nothing but a hoax.
There’s no way you can read all the testimony without coming to the conclusion there was a grand plot afoot. The more recent revelation of documents released that regard the set-up and take-down of Lt. Gen. Flynn only adds to the confirmation of that truth.
Remember the constant drumbeat of comments to the effect that Trump’s collusion with Russia had created a constitutional crisis? Yes, there was and is a constitutional crisis all right, but one created by all those who have used that line in the past year. The crisis was created and perpetrated by them. Now, if there’s any justice left in this land of ours, someone will pay.
This is the part of the story where my mind goes a bit dark. Having it revealed that the Obama administration was knee-deep in an attempt to subvert the Trump administration and force him from office is something of a great thing. Those who understand how Washington and progressive ideologues work these days are tempted to be upbeat about these latest revelations. We want to stand up and cheer. But we don’t. We’re all too used to being disappointed. We’re all too accustomed to being sold out by those who promise justice but only deliver what they always do – more hot air. Yes, my friends, I’m cynical in the extreme about all this. I hope I’m 100% wrong, but my own experience tells me one thing – NO ONE GOES TO TRIAL; NO ONE GOES TO JAIL. Justice will be denied once again.
But, maybe I’m wrong.
In Liberty,
Steve A. Stone
© Steve A. StoneThe views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
