Sharyl Attkisson

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Impeachment Lesson: The Swamp Bites Back (PODCAST)

People can debate what the public testimony against President Trump revealed.

But I think it revealed how State Department diplomats unapologetically and brazenly substitute their own opinions and judgements for that of the president's.

Listen by clicking the arrow in the audio player below. Or subscribe for free/listen on iTunes or your favorite distributor. Or try clicking these words for direct link.

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For more original reporting, subscribe to my two podcasts on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite distributor: "Full Measure After Hours" and "The Sharyl Attkisson Podcast." Follow us on Twitter @FullMeasureAH @SharylPodcast!

Epoch Times: Did Ukraine and U.S. Democrats join to "sabotage" Trump in 2016?

The following is an excerpt of my article in Epoch Times. Read the full article at the link below.

As we rapidly approach campaign 2020, Democrats and Republicans have fired up a new debate over which foreign entities tried to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Both sides agree that Russian interests made attempts to meddle in the 2016 campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller wasn’t able to connect any Americans to the alleged scheme, but filed a case against 13 Russians. He charged they were instructed to write social media posts opposing Clinton and “to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.” Although it hasn’t been widely reported, Mueller also testified there were instances of Russian social media support for Hillary Clinton, as well.

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But there’s widespread disagreement on the role Ukraine may have had in U.S. election interference in 2016.

This past week, Democrats stepped up efforts to dismiss such allegations as “debunked” and a “conspiracy theory.” Republicans doubled down, stating that the alleged Ukrainian efforts may not have been a “top down” operation—as they believe Russia’s was—but could have been significant all the same and deserves serious investigation.

The Republican heads of two senate committees have asked the FBI and the Department of Justice for records related to reported collusion between Ukraine and U.S. Democrats to get “dirt” on the Trump campaign from Ukraine in 2016.

At least part of Ukraine’s alleged role has been easier to piece together than the Russian interference, thanks to public reporting and interviews with some of those involved. Additional facts are available through federal lobbying disclosures filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and from documents published by WikiLeaks. (Continued...)

Read more by clicking the following link:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/timeline-of-alleged-ukrainian-democrat-meddling-in-2016-presidential-election_3156376.html

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Why Soldiers Miss War

Nolan Peterson (second from left) as a combat photographer

The following is from the description of the new book, "Why Soldiers Miss War," written by former combat pilot Nolan Peterson.

Ask most combat veterans to name the worst experience of their lives, and they’ll probably tell you it was war. But ask them to choose the best experience of their life, and they’ll usually also say it was war. For someone who has not been to war, this is nearly impossible to understand. The spectrum of emotions experienced by a combat veteran is far wider than that experienced in civilian life and for that reason it can be hard for a veteran to re-assimilate to civilian life.

Order "Why Soldiers Miss War."

What is it about war that soldiers miss? This is a question that every civilian should try to understand. Weaving together a wide range of stories from the flight deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier off Syria to climbing a forbidden Himalayan pass into Tibet, this moving and insightful book explains one of the most everlasting human pursuits – war. But its focus isn’t solely war; it is also about coming home and confronting another kind of struggle that we all share — the search for happiness.

Listen to my "Full Measure After Hours" podcast with Peterson: "Important stuff you didn't know about Ukraine"

In this collection, Peterson writes of war from the perspective of both a combatant and a witness taking the reader from combat missions over Afghanistan as an Air Force special operations pilot to the frontlines against ISIS in Iraq, and the trench and tank battles of the war in Ukraine. Interweaving his frontline reports with a narrative about his own transformation from a combat pilot to a war journalist, Peterson explores a timeless paradox – why does coming home from war feel like such a disappointment? 

Veteran Nolan Peterson (left) as a combat photographer

About Nolan Peterson: A former U.S. Air Force Special Operations pilot and veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Nolan Peterson is an acclaimed war correspondent and globetrotting travel writer whose adventures have taken him to all seven continents.With his wife Lilya by his side, Peterson divides his time between Washington and Kyiv, continuing to work as a foreign correspondent. He is currently working for The Daily Signal and held previous journalist positions with UPI and National Security Forum.   Peterson is a graduate of the USAF Academy in Political Science which included an internship at NATO HQ in Brussels. He has also achieved a MS in Journalism from Northwestern, a MA from Middlebury as well as a Diploma for French Language from La Sorbonne.

I'll be interviewing Peterson on an upcoming edition of Full Measure.

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READ: Supreme Court grants Trump temporary on his taxes

Today, the Supreme Court continued to block House Democrats' efforts to obtain years of President Trump's tax returns and financial records from his accountants.

The action by the high court reversed, at least for the moment, a federal appeals court that had ruled in favor of House Democrats.

The block will remain in effect during a "full review" of the case if the Supreme Court agrees to conduct such a review. If the court denies the review, Trump's financial records must be provided to House Democrats.

The Supreme Court has asked for additional legal arguments to be submitted by December 5.

Read more by clicking the link below:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19a545.html

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Independents souring on impeachment

The following is an excerpt from an article in The Hill.

New public opinion polls are moving against Democrats on impeachment as independents sour on the House inquiry and increasingly express opposition to the hearings that have consumed Washington in recent weeks.

The new data comes as a surprise to Democrats, many of whom believe witnesses have offered damning testimony about President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

Witnesses have testified that Trump pressed Ukraine’s leaders to conduct investigations of the energy company Burisma Holdings — which was seen as code for probes of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, given the younger Biden’s work for the company as a board member.

Read the article in The Hill by clicking the link below.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/471723-independents-souring-on-impeachment-underscores-risk-for-democrats

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Impeachment revelation: The Swamp Bites Back

The following is an excerpt from my article in The Hill.

Many will debate the substance of the public impeachment testimony against President Trump. To me, each of the Democrats’ witnesses of the past two weeks appeared to be well-intentioned and hard-working, and seemed genuinely to believe they know what’s best.

But a picture also emerged of U.S. diplomats who appear to believe they, rather than the U.S. president, have the ultimate authority to determine our foreign policy. And if the president doesn’t go along? He clearly must be wrong — in their view. Or, even worse, he’s a traitor. He’s to be obstructed. Taken down. 

In an odd turnabout, they actually make the case for President Trump’s mantra that we need to “drain the swamp.”

One can first look at the language witnesses used as they vented about Trump’s tutelage in ways that veered far from relevance to the impeachment allegations. They conveyed hurt feelings, bruised egos and strong differences of opinion. At times, the testimony sounded a bit like a human resources conference or psychotherapy session.

The diplomats testified that they were “shocked and devastated” to learn that Trump and Ukraine’s new president did not have faith in them. They complained that, under Trump, “foreign service professionals are being denigrated and undermined” and the State Department isn’t getting the “attention and respect” it deserves. They expressed “disappointment” that Trump had the nerve to defy the federal agencies by not discussing “any of our interagency agreed-upon talking points” in Trump’s first call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. They were “embarrassed” in front of Ukrainians when they didn’t have answers about U.S. policy. (Continued...)

Read the rest of the article by clicking the link below:

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/471643-impeachment-inquiry-its-a-question-of-who-should-run-the-show

Fight improper government surveillance. Support Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI over the government computer intrusions of Attkisson's work while she was a CBS News investigative correspondent. Visit the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund. Click here.

Timeline of alleged "sabotage" of Trump in 2016 by Democrats, Ukraine

  • Republican senators request records related to reported Ukraine-Democrats' role in 2016 anti-Trump efforts
  • Democrats deny both interference by Ukraine, and coordination between Ukraine and Democrats
  • Timeline of key allegations and events follows
Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) consultant
Photo via: Twitter

The heads of two Senate committees are asking the FBI and the Department of Justice for records related to a reported scheme by Democrats to get "dirt" on the Trump campaign from Ukraine in 2016.

According to reporting in Politico in 2017, the alleged efforts by Democrats and Ukraine to "sabotage" the Trump campaign in 2016 did impact the race, even though Trump won in the end.

Both Politico and Yahoo News interviewed a Democratic National Committee (DNC) consultant named Alexandra Chalupa.

Democrats have repeatedly claimed the reporting on Chalupa, her work for the DNC, her meetings with Ukrainians, and her meetings with reporters in Ukraine and the U.S., is "debunked" and a "conspiracy theory." In public accounts since the original news articles, Chalupa has claimed her role and intentions have been misrepresented.

A Ukrainian-American, Chalupa reportedly acknowledged in a 2017 interview with Politico that she worked as a consultant for the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 campaign to publicly expose Trump campaign aide Paul Manafort's links to pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.

Listen to podcast: Important stuff you didn't know about Ukraine

Chalupa reportedly told Politico that she began researching Manafort in 2014.

In 2014, the FBI investigated, and then reportedly wiretapped, Manafort for allegedly not properly disclosing Russia-related work. FBI failed to make a case at the time, according to CNN, and discontinued the wiretap.

On March 25, 2016, according to Politico, Chalupa--who previously worked in the Clinton administration--met with top Ukrainian officials at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington D.C. in an effort to tarnish the Trump campaign in favor of Hillary Clinton by exposing "ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia.”

The Ukrainian embassy proceeded to work “directly with reporters researching Trump, Manafort and Russia to point them in the right directions,” according to an embassy official (though other officials later deny engaging in election-related activities.)

“Collusion against Trump” timeline

On March 30, 2016, Chalupa reportedly briefed Democratic National Committee (DNC) staff on alleged Russian ties to Manafort and Trump. It was the day after the Trump campaign hired Manafort to manage the July Republican convention.

With the “DNC’s encouragement,” Chalupa reportedly asked the Ukrainian embassy to arrange a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to discuss Manafort’s lobbying for Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovych. The embassy reportedly declined to arrange the meeting but became “helpful” in trading info and leads, according to Politico's reporting.

Did Democrats really coordinate with Ukraine against Trump in 2016? (PODCAST)

Ukrainian embassy officials and Chalupa “coordinat[ed] an investigation with the Hillary team” into Manafort, according to a source in Politico. This effort reportedly included working with U.S. media.

In April 2016, Ukrainian member of parliament Olga Bielkova reportedly sought meetings with five dozen members of U.S. Congress and reporters including former New York Times reporter Judy Miller, David Sanger of New York Times, David Ignatius of Washington Post, and Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt.

The week of April 6, 2016, Chalupa and the office of Rep. Mary Kaptur (D-Ohio), co-chair of Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, reportedly discussed holding a possible congressional investigation or hearing on Paul Manafort and Russia “by September.” Chalupa says she began working with reporter Mike Isikoff around this time.

On April 12, 2016, Ukrainian parliament member Olga Bielkova and a colleague met with Sen. John McCain associate David Kramer with the McCain Institute, according to government records. Bielkova also met with Liz Zentos of Obama’s National Security Council, and State Department official Michael Kimmage. (Kramer is an ex-U.S. State Dept. official affiliated with the anti-Russia “Ukraine Today” media organization. He and Sen. McCain would later retrieve the anti-Trump dossier from a source in London.)

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On April 26, 2016, reporter Michael Isikoff published a story on Yahoo News about Paul Manafort’s business dealings with a Russian oligarch.

On April 28, 2016, Chalupa reportedly was invited to discuss her research about Manafort with 68 investigative journalists from Ukraine at the Library of Congress for the Open World Leadership Center, a U.S. congressional agency. Chalupa said she invited reporter Isikoff to “connect him to the Ukrainians.” After the event, reporter Isikoff reportedly accompanied Chalupa to a Ukrainian embassy reception.

On May 3, 2016, Chalupa emailed the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that she would share with them sensitive information about Paul Manafort “offline” including “a big Trump component…that will hit in next few weeks.”

Late July 2016, Chalupa reportedly left the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to work full-time on her research into Manafort, Trump and Russia; and she provided off-the-record guidance to “a lot of journalists.” This was the same time frame when FBI agent Peter Strzok opened a counterintelligence investigation based on Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos.

On Aug. 3, 2016 Justice Department official Bruce Ohr reportedly met with FBI official Andrew McCabe and FBI lawyer Lisa Page to discuss Russia-Trump collusion allegations relayed by ex-British spy Christopher Steele.

The next day, on Aug. 4, 2016, the Ukrainian ambassador to U.S. wrote an op-ed against Trump published in The Hill.

On Aug. 8, 2016, FBI attorney Lisa Page and FBI’s head of Counterespionage Strzok pledged, in text messages, that they would "stop" Trump from becoming president.

On Aug. 14, 2016, the New York Times broke a story about Manafort allegedly taking improper cash payments a decade before from pro-Russia interests in Ukraine. Ukraine's so called "black ledger" showing the cash payments was publicized by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, which signed an evidence-sharing agreement with the Obama administration's the FBI related to the Trump-Russia probe.

Ukraine had formed the National Anti-Corruption Bureau back in 2014 as a condition to receive U.S. aid.

On Aug. 15, 2016, CNN reported the FBI was conducting an inquiry into the Manafort payments from Ukraine.

On Aug. 19, 2016, Manafort resigned as Trump campaign chairman.

The same day, Ukrainian parliament member Sergii Leshchenko, a deputy of the 'Petro Poroshenko Bloc' political party, held a news conference to draw attention to Manafort and Trump’s “pro-Russia” ties. (The original link to a photo of the news conference was recently cleared.)

At the news conference in Ukraine, Leshchenko was said to be exposing "a firm run by U.S. businessman and Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who reportedly directly orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's ruling political party, attempting to sway the American public's opinion in favor of the country's pro-Russian government, during the presidential period of Victor Yanukovich, according to a report of the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (UNIAN)."

Three days later (Aug. 22, 2016), Justice Dept. official Bruce Ohr met with Fusion GPS’ Glenn Simpson, who reportedly identified several “possible intermediaries” between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Sept. 23, 2016: Reporter Michael Isikoff published a Yahoo article on the anti-Trump "dossier" and implicating Trump volunteer Carter Page, a U.S. citizen whom the FBI later wiretapped as a supposed Russian agent for a year, but never charged. The way wiretaps work, the FBI would have allowed itself to collect all emails, phone calls, photos and communications from hundreds of people around Page: everyone who communicated with him, and everyone who communicated with those people (two "hops" away), possibly including Trump in the surveillance dragnet.

Nov. 18-20, 2016, Sen. John McCain and his longtime adviser, David Kramer–an ex-U.S. State Dept. official–attended a security conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia where the former UK ambassador to Russia Sir Andrew Wood tells them about the Fusion GPS anti-Trump dossier. (Kramer is affiliated with the anti-Russia “Ukraine Today” media organization). They discuss taking steps to confirm that the info has reached top levels of  FBI for action.

On Nov. 28, 2016, Sen. McCain associate Kramer flew to London to meet Christopher Steele of Fusion GPS for a briefing on the anti-Trump research. Afterward, Fusion GPS’ Glenn Simpson reportedly gave McCain a copy of the “dossier.” Steele also passed the anti-Trump info a to top UK government official in charge of national security. McCain soon arranged a meeting with FBI Director James Comey.

On Feb. 22, 2018, Kramer invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify before House Intelligence Committee.

Meantime, Chalupa reported she believed she was targeted by a government-related cyberattack while working at the DNC. As a result, the FBI interviewed her and obtained forensic images of her laptop computer and phone.

That's part of the new document request Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), head of the Homeland Security Committee; and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), head of Finance Committee. They wrote a letter this past week to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray asking for records, including forensic images of Chalupa's devices, related to the FBI investigation.

If this reporting [about the FBI and DOJ obtaining forensic images of Chalupa's devices in 2016] is accurate, it appears that the DOJ and FBI have in their possession material relevant to our Committees’ ongoing investigation into collusive actions Chalupa and the DNC took to use foreign government sources to undermine the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.

Senators Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in letter to DOJ and FBI

According to a news release from Senator Grassley, he "first raised concerns in 2017 about Chalupa’s activity on behalf of the DNC to coordinate with a foreign government to sabotage the Trump campaign."

In a September letter, Grassley and Johnson asked the Justice Department whether it was looking into Ukrainian coordination with Democrats or Hillary Clinton campaign officials in 2016.

The two senators are also seeking records from the National Archives to obtain White House visitor log records regarding any meetings between Chalupa, Ukrainians, and Obama officials.

Click here to read the letter to the FBI and DOJ.

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