Tea at Trianon: Fact Checking Brennan and Clapper

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Fact Checking Brennan and Clapper

From The Reactionary:

In the face of recent revelations concerning intelligence abuses that took place at the end of the Obama Administration, former CIA Director James Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper took to The New York Times to defend themselves and their legacies.
The title is one for the ages: “Brennan and Clapper: Let’s Set the Record Straight on Russia and 2016.”
There’s a bit of audacity in that effort – those who twisted and manipulated the evidence to help manufacture the Trump/Russia hoax are now here to speak truth to power. And their piece deserves review.
First, their claim about the use of the Steele Dossier in the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (which we addressed here and here), in which Brennan and Clapper state:
“We have testified under oath, and the reviews of the assessment have confirmed, that the dossier was not used as a source or taken into account for any of its analysis or conclusions.”
This is absolutely false. As DNI Gabbard’s recent release showed, the ICA’s conclusion that “We assess the [Russian] influence campaign aspired to help [Trump’s] chances of victory” was supported by four bullet points of “evidence.” One of those bullet points referred the reader to the Steele Dossier, stating “For additional reporting on Russian plans and intentions, please see Annex A: Additional Reporting from an FBI Source on Russian Influence Efforts.” (Read more.)

From The Daily BS:

In a stunning development that could reshape public understanding of the Trump–Russia investigation, FBI Director Kash Patel has uncovered a cache of sensitive and potentially explosive documents stashed inside a secret room at FBI headquarters. According to multiple sources who spoke exclusively to Fox News Digital, the trove was found inside several “burn bags”—containers typically used to destroy top-secret material—hidden in a previously undisclosed Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).

The documents, which span thousands of pages, include key materials relating to the origins of the FBI’s now-discredited Crossfire Hurricane probe, launched in 2016 to investigate alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. Notably, among the documents discovered was the classified annex to former special counsel John Durham’s final report—an annex that outlines the intelligence Durham reviewed during his investigation.

The process of declassifying this annex is currently being coordinated at the highest levels, involving CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and acting NSA Director William Hartman. Once the declassification is complete, the document will be transmitted to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who is expected to release it publicly. (Read more.)

From The Gateway Pundit:

Investigative journalist John Solomon declared that former President Barack Obama can now be compelled to testify before a grand jury — and he CANNOT invoke the Fifth Amendment due to his presidential immunity.

But here’s the kicker: if Obama lies as a private citizen about what he did during his presidency, that immunity evaporates, potentially exposing him to criminal prosecution.

Once called before a grand jury, Obama must testify under oath. If he misrepresents or lies about any matter related to his official conduct—he loses that immunity from the date of the lie onward. That single moment as a private citizen could nullify the entire blanket he once relied upon. On January 5, 2017, Obama presided over a White House meeting in which the FBI had just cleared Mike Flynn. (Read more.)