FBI Scandal Update
If you did not see Tuesday’s No Spin News broadcast, we have put it up for everybody to watch, not just Premium Members. Bill laid down a baseline for what he believes is going to be the biggest story of the year which is the corruption in the FBI. Bill is going to brand this story ElectionGate.
The latest update is that U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), the Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Tuesday that an informant has told Congress that a “secret society” was set up within the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice shortly after Donald Trump was elected president.
Speaking on “Special Report” to Bret Baier, Sen. Johnson complained of “corruption at the highest levels of the FBI.”
“The secret society — we have an informant talking about a group holding secret meetings off-site,” Johnson said. “There's so much smoke here, there's so much suspicions.”
WashPost: Mueller Wants to Talk to Trump About Flynn, Comey Firings
After Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for hours last week by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team, the prosecutors may have moved closer to an interview with President Donald Trump.
Sessions was the highest-ranking Trump administration official known to be interviewed by Mueller so far, and Trump's lawyers are now reportedly preparing for questioning.
Trump said he was "not at all concerned" about what Sessions may have told Mueller's investigators.
The Washington Post first reported on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's interest in questioning Trump on Tuesday.
The Post, citing two people familiar with Mueller's plans, said the special counsel is seeking to ask Trump about the decisions that led to ousting Flynn as national security adviser in February and Comey as FBI director in May.
The sources cautioned against presuming the President would sit down with Mueller in the next few weeks, saying there is much to be negotiated still.
Trump's attorneys would like the President's answers to come in written form only but recognize it could end up being more of a combination of written and in-person interviews, or even solely an interview.
White House attorney Ty Cobb has said that the Mueller/Trump questioning is “under active discussion” with Trump's individual lawyers.
Cobb said last week on CBS News' political podcast, "The Takeout," that he expected the investigation to be wrapped up within weeks.
“There's no reason for it not to conclude soon,” Cobb said. “Soon to me would be in the next four to six weeks.”
Trump Heads to Switzerland
Trump will take an overnight flight Wednesday to attend the 48th World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. On Thursday, Trump will have a full day of meetings and on Friday, Trump will deliver a keynote address to the forum before returning to the United States later that day.
According to Trump's Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn, 'President Trump will reiterate that a prosperous America benefits the world. When the United States grows, so does the world. The President will continue to promote fair economic competition and will make it clear that there cannot be free and open trade if countries are not held accountable to the rules.'
The World Economic Forum, which holds the event in the Swiss Alps, is hosting a reception with world leaders 'to honor the president,' Cohn told reporters in advance of the trip.
Trump is planning to have a special meeting with Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum and bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Swiss President Berset, and President Kagame of Rwanda.
Trump is also expected to host a dinner for European corporate CEOs, meant to urge them to invest in the U.S.
According to Cohn, 'The president will host a small dinner with select European companies to share our economic success story and to encourage them to continue to invest in America. The attendees run companies that have sizable footprints in the United States. They have invested in our economy, and we want them to continue to do so and encourage others to join them.'
Pope warns against 'fake news' and likens it to 'crafty serpent' in Genesis
Pope Francis on Wednesday released a message condemning “fake news,” saying that it's a “sign of intolerant and hypersensitive attitudes and leads only to the spread of arrogance and hatred.”
The Vatican says the message is part of the Pope's World Communications Day.
The tragic history of human sin, the Pope says in his message, is the first "fake news" and it dates back to the book of Genesis, when the "crafty serpent" lied to the woman. In present day, according to the Pope's message, the fast digital world helps fuel the spread of "fake news" -- which he defines as "the spreading of disinformation on line or in the traditional media."
"Spreading fake news can serve to advance specific goals, influence political decisions and serve economic interests," the Pope said.
The Pope's message blames the difficulty in unmasking and eliminating fake news to people interacting with homogeneous news environments rather than listening to differing perspectives and opinions.
"Disinformation thus thrives on the absence of healthy confrontation with other sources of information that could effectively challenge prejudices and generate constructive dialogue; instead, it risks turning people into unwilling accomplices in spreading biased and baseless ideas," the Pope's message said
DOJ threatens 'sanctuary cities' with subpoenas, escalating Trump's immigration enforcement campaign
The Justice Department is threatening 23 so-called sanctuary cities, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, with subpoenas if they fail to provide documents to show whether local law enforcement officers are sharing information with federal immigration authorities.
The demand was outlined Wednesday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “I continue to urge all jurisdictions under review to reconsider policies that place the safety of their communities and their residents at risk,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “Protecting criminal aliens from federal immigration authorities defies common sense and undermines the rule of law.”
The DOJ letter requests documents “reflecting any orders, directives, instructions, or guidance to your law enforcement employees” about how to “communicate with the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and/or Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
If these jurisdictions can't prove they are complying with federal law, senior DOJ officials told Fox News, federal funding could be withheld and the DOJ may demand the return of 2016 federal funding some of the cities have already received.
America Slips in the Eyes of the World
The U.S. News & World Report released their 2018 Best Countries report. The rankings are based on how global perceptions define countries in terms of a number of qualitative characteristics, impressions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment and directly affect national economies. Eighty nations were measured in the report.
The top five best countries according to the report are: Switzerland, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan. The United States came in at number 8. The bottom 5 countries are, Nigeria, Iran, Serbia, Angola, Algeria.
San Francisco changes Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to rename Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day to honor the Native Americans here before Columbus "discovered” America and who became victims of the country’s subsequent colonization.
Malia Cohen, a member on the board, led the legislation which was voted on 10-to-1 in favor of the change. Aaron Peskin, representing the historically Italian North Beach neighborhood, was the sole vote against the change.
San Francisco joined at least 55 other cities, including Los Angeles and Minneapolis, in renaming the holiday to celebrate the people predating the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas.
Columbus Day is a U.S. holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas on October 12, 1492. It was unofficially celebrated in a number of cities and states as early as the 18th century, but did not become a federal holiday until Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed it in 1937.
Mail Time!
- Monday and Tuesday's podcasts were the best ones you've ever done. Thanks for your insight on the FBI. Sad day for America but in the end, I trust it will all get sorted out. That's what makes America great.
- I've watched your show ever since I came across it during the 2000 election when trying to find non-biased coverage and rarely missed a show. I really appreciate you taking the time to bring us these podcasts because I'm sure you'd be living a much more comfortable life off the air. Without your analysis, I fear I'd be just another right or left-wing loon!
- Bill, I have been a Bill O'Reilly Premium Member for many years and have never heard you do a more important analysis of the issues in our Government right now. It was so important, and fact based. There hasn't been a better representation of what is going on then you did yesterday.
Word of the Day:Cacophony |
