90 Miles From Tyranny

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Trump impeachment witness, ex-ambassador Deep State Operative Marie Yovanovitch signs book deal ‘worth seven figures’

Some might wonder how the left inspires an ongoing queue of seditious actors to step up and create havoc in a system that ought to be solely about serving the interests of American taxpayers.

It’s really not a secret.

News of a seven-figure book deal for the rights to former diplomat Marie Yovanovitch’s memoirs is just the latest example of how it’s done. Giant corporations controlled by progressives, particularly media companies, are serving as the means for rewarding bad behavior by those who are in a position to sling arrows at those targeted by the liberal leadership … even when they miss their mark.

Yovanovitch was most recently the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, appointed by Pres. Barack Obama in 2016. In November 2019, she emerged from a relatively obscure U.S. Foreign Service career as an impeachment inquiry witness called by House Democrats to give testimony that was in effect, pointless.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), a Boston-based publisher, confirmed on Friday in a news release that it acquired Yovanovitch’s planned memoir. Two people familiar with the deal told the Associated Press that it will be worth “seven figures.”

At this point, it is noted that social media is NOT ablaze with the news.

Nonetheless, the publisher is going through the motions, trying to drum up some excitement about it. The PR statement reads:

“Ambassador Yovanovitch has devoted her entire career to public service, fighting for freedom and democracy against the forces of corruption and authoritarianism around the globe. Little did she know that she would need to bring that same fight right here, to Washington. Her recent congressional testimony electrified the nation,” said Bruce Nichols, HMH SVP and Publisher. “We could not be more excited to publish her inspiring and urgently needed story.”

OK. “Her recent congressional testimony electrified the nation.” … perhaps the book will be shelved in the Satire section?

As for the publisher’s motivations, given the suspect prospects for profit, it’s revealing to examine the record of political donations by members, owners, and families connected with the...

Two Sets Of Rules: DIA Employee Charged With Leaking While FBI Leakers Walk Away

The Justice Department announced Thursday that an employee of the DIA pleaded guilty to leaking classified national defense information to two journalists in 2018 and 2019, which could land him in prison for a maximum of ten years.

Leaking classified information is, of course, against the law – that is, unless you are former FBI Director James Comey or former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. There are others too, for example a former deputy assistant director of the FBI’s international operations division, who also was called out by the DOJ’s Inspector General for allegedly leaking to reporters and accepting gifts from the media, as reported in The Washington Examiner.

Further, FBI officials altered Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant applications to spy on Carter Page, a U.S. citizen, who happened to be a volunteer for President Donald Trump’s campaign. Now, years later, after multiple investigations it was discovered that those same FBI officials, Comey and McCabe, among others, signed off on the phony warrants.

Still, senior government officials in the FBI – as well as other agencies – have escaped prosecution for leaking classified information and or lying under oath. Others have not been so lucky.

Defense Intelligence Agency employee Henry Kyle Frese is one of the unlucky leakers. Frese, a 31-year-old resident of Alexandria, Virginia, is expected to be sentenced on June 18.

Frese “was entrusted with Top Secret information related to the national defense of our country. Frese violated that trust, the oath he swore to uphold, and engaged in felonious conduct at the expense of our country. This case should serve as a clear reminder to all of those similarly entrusted with National Defense Information that unilaterally disclosing such information for personal gain, or that of others, is not selfless or heroic, it is criminal,” ” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Robert Wells, Acting Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said “Frese violated his sworn oath to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States by using his access to the United States’ most sensitive information and steal state secrets for nothing more than personal gain. The men and women of the FBI who investigated this case swore the same oath but unlike Mr. Frese, they chose to uphold it. I am proud of the work they did to hold Mr. Frese accountable for his actions.”

There is no argument that Frese should pay the price for leaking classified national security information to the press but what does it say when the DOJ refuses to prosecute former senior FBI officials, who were referred for prosecution on similar grounds. What does it say when leadership within the FBI, like Comey, sets a precedent that leaking for personal convictions won’t land you in prison. Couldn’t Frese argue that same point?

Over the past three years it appears there is one set of rules for those with friends in high places and another set of rules for those without. Last year, nearly half a dozen federal employees with the “FBI, DEA, a U.S. attorney and U.S. marshal officials were allowed to retire, do volunteer work, or keep their jobs as they escaped criminal charges that everyday Americans probably would...

The Latest Russia Hoax is Already Debunked

Welcome back, Russia hysteria!

While it’s no secret that Russia meddles in foreign elections, the evidence that they backed any one candidate in 2016 has always been lacking. The aim of Russian election interference is more often to create chaos and division rather than back one particular candidate.

Despite the secretive FBI investigation which morphed into Robert Mueller’s special counsel exonerating Trump from claims of collusion, the Washington Post reported last night that Russia is up to their old tricks again.

According to them, Joseph Maguire had been considered to be nominated for the DNI post, but Trump’s opinion shifted last week after he learned from a Republican ally that the intelligence official in charge of election security (Shelby Pierson, who works for Maguire) gave a closed briefing last Thursday to the House Intelligence Committee. The Post claims that while we don’t exactly know what Pierson said in the meeting, “the president erroneously believed that she had given information exclusively to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the committee chairman, and it would be helpful to Democrats if released publicly, the people familiar with the matter said.”

And what did the Post claim that information was? According to their narrative: “Intelligence officials warned House lawmakers last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected, five people familiar with the matter said, in a disclosure that angered Mr. Trump, who complained that Democrats would use it against him.”

But according to CNN of all places, it’s mostly B.S.

Jake Tapper writes:

A national security official I know and trust pushes back on the way the briefing/ODNI story is being told, and others with firsthand knowledge agree with his assessment. “What’s been articulated in the news is that the intelligence community has concluded that the Russians are trying to help Trump again. But the intelligence doesn’t say that,” the official says. “The problem is Shelby” — Pierson, the elections threats executive in the intelligence community — “said they developed a preference for Trump. A more reasonable interpretation of the intelligence is not that they have a preference, it’s a step short of that.

“It’s more that they understand the president is someone they can work with, he’s a dealmaker. But not that they prefer him over Sanders or Buttigieg or anyone else. So it may have been mischaracterized by Shelby” at the House Intel briefing last week. “And by the way,” the official says, “both Democrats and Republicans were challenging this at the briefing.”

Then there’s the matter of the tense meeting between President Trump and erstwhile Acting Director of National Intelligence Admiral Maguire. “The President was upset that he had to hear about an intelligence conclusion from a Member of the House Republicans rather than from the intelligence community. So he was out of joint with...