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George Webb has a theory connecting this raid to files left at MAL during talks about Covid travel restrictions. Pottinger and Navarro. George is the best in depth investigator and journalist covering bioweapons, including networks, funding, and function. He's brilliant, has a Substack account also. Worth your time, he clears a lot of fog.

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Thank you for that. I just read his "Trump Raid Smoking Guns - Pottingers Planted Plots". He's on my list of sources.

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It sure seems like a provocation to incite the desired protest. The words "Hold the line" spring to my mind.

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Report: FBI Raided Mar-A-Lago After Tip That Parents Were Protesting A School Board Meeting There

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There are some excellent Big Picture rants out there about the rubicon they have crossed. Below are some extended excerpts from El Gato Malo. Idiosyncratic punctuation and lack of capitalization aside, this is bracing stuff:

“[this stunt is] not designed to actually prove anything criminal. that’s not the point and it’s almost certainly a loser. it’s a statement, a provocation. it’s to prove the power you have and demonstrate your will to use it.

and they do not do it in a manner calculated to hide intent. they do it with triumphal fanfare flouted with rippling pride.… you pick the worst, most captured and flagrant judge you can find and trump up some real nonsense. this was not an accident, it was an expression of power.

just what is one trying to say by tagging in the former US attorney who went into private practice to get epstein and pals off of child trafficking changes with barely a wrist slap back in 2007 and were then later rewarded with a magistrate judgeship for his service? we are corrupt, we are everywhere, and we are untouchable.

there are lines of blatancy in manipulation that act like event horizons. there’s no going back, no unseeing it, no pretending it’s going to be OK. this is the who knows how many-th assault by the same group on the same politician to try to damage him and those near to him over 20 made up pretexts. now they are swarming his residence because of the presidential equivalent of an overdue library book.

these are not organs of justice, they’re praetorian honor guards for the hopelessly corrupt and abusive. there is no even-handedness or impartiality or consistency, just friends and enemies and while this is absolutely how the rules of power work, it is not how the american people do. this is outside their ethos and while it may take a long time to get them to see it and a longer one still to stir them to action, rubicons have been crossed and “the IRS in beast mode” is not going to ameliorate this trend.

it has become as intolerable to live with as it is inescapable in its obviousness. this is a mill that will grind fine once the gears are in motion.

the first step in making the impossible [i.e., abolishing corrupt and tyrannical federal agencies] the inevitable is normalizing it as an idea. it’s finding the likeminded, sharing support, sharing strength, and moving the [overton] window to a place where we can throw these people out of it. it is indeed time to build back better.”

Read the whole thing here:

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-true-framing-of-power

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CNN legal analyst questions the raid: https://twitter.com/ByronDonalds/status/1557029447311687681

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When even CNN are saying you messed up ... maybe you nessed up.

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Whoops…Pete P already brought up the possibility of an already planned ‘response’ to this raid. Apologies for the rePete.

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Perhaps the trap is already set. How about another entrapment operation like the Whitmer kidnapping set up? A ‘reaction’ to the raid on Trump’s home might be a done deal. If the timing is politically perfect we will know.

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WEST PALM BEACH, FL — High-level Chinese asset and sex trafficker Hunter Biden breathed a sigh of relief this evening as an FBI raid team passed by his West Palm Beach vacation home to raid Donald Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago.

"Whew! Thought they had me for a minute there," Biden sighed, according to sources before going back to smoking crack with a hooker on a pile of cash freshly delivered by Chinese agents. "Glad to know the FBI is still working for my Dad!"

The FBI arrived at Mar-a-Lago shortly after, but things got awkward after the FBI raid team ran into the FBI evidence planting team due to a scheduling mistake.

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Oh LOL!

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I have a couple of thoughts which admittedly I haven’t completely thought though and clearly haven’t resented as well as I could have but here they are:

On June 2, based upon whistleblower information, Senator Grassley sent a letter requesting DOJ to provide all manner of information concerning FBI WFO ASAC Tim Thibault to be submitted to the committee by June 14. Mark has written on this previously. However, was the investigations from which emanated the search warrant executed a MAL yesterday the red line which caused FBI whistleblowers to rise up?

On August 4, during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and upon questioning by Senator Grassley, FBI Director Wray stated that Thibault had been removed from his position. Was the investigation from which yesterday’s search warrant emanated under the purview of Thibault? News reports reflect Thibault’s age as 59. If so, Thibault would have had to have received three extensions to continue working passed the mandatory retirement age of 57. Thibault would have had to submit the first extension request several months prior to his 57th birthday....so when he was still 56. Who within the FBI approved or without the FBI influenced Thibault’s extensions requests and why? If news reporting is correct, then Thibault would have turned 57 sometime in 2020. Rhetorical question here, what specially was going on in 2019, 2020 and 2021 for someone in the FBI or elsewhere to deem Thibault’s continuity in his position, his particular skill set or both were needed and his request for extension approved? My understanding is that the age extensions, which at 59 Thibault would have had to be operating under, are no longer rubber stamped and have become more difficult to come by but I could be misinformed.

Which brings me to Director Wray’s abysmal testimony last week. It was nonchalant at best and he cut short his testimony which by all appearances to start a holiday in his favored Adirondacks. Was this a long weekend trip or was Wray still there yesterday watching from afar as the search warrant execution at MAL unfolded? Is Wray still in the Adirondacks today? Where is Wray?

This brings me to my final thought, could it be that after the removal of Thibault from his position and upon some sober reflection, that the hapless Wray might have actually pushed back (however anemically) on the overall investigation and specifically the planned search warrant. I would suspect the execution of the search warrant at MAL was delayed somewhat due to the personnel shuffle and FBI internecine fighting necessitated by Senator Grassley’s oversight requests (FBI read: interference) and the subsequent scheduling of testimony of Wray before the senate Judiciary committee last week. The warrant could not be executed before Wray testified. So, back to wether Wray offered pushback, he obviously lost to DOJ if he did and instead of resigning on principal as he was prepared to do when he joined Comey and others threatening to resign in 2004 during the Bush 43 years in the Ashcroft hospital kerfuffle, he just thought eff it, I’m going to my happy place.

I’m filled with disgust

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Interesting speculation Pat. Of course, you're correct re extensions past mandatory retirement age. I myself applied for such an extension but changed my mind. As I recall Thibault was an ASAC. There are plenty of candidates waiting for positions like that to open up, whether through promotion of the occupant or some other cause for a vacancy to come about. I can't claim any great knowledge of this, but it seems to me that keeping somebody past mandatory retirement while occupying a position of that sort, blocking advancement for others, would be very exceptional. That lends weight to the rest of your speculation.

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Aug 9, 2022Edited
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From Newsweek today:

(The) senior Justice Department source says that Garland was regularly briefed on the Records Act investigation, and that he knew about the grand jury and what material federal prosecutors were seeking. He insists, though, that Garland had no prior knowledge of the date and time of the specific raid, nor was he asked to approve it. "I know it's hard for people to believe," says the official, "but this was a matter for the U.S. Attorney and the FBI."

FBI director Christopher Wray ultimately gave his go-ahead to conduct the raid, the senior Justice official says. "It really is a case of the Bureau misreading the impact."

Don’t believe it for a second........

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Sounds like total bullshit to me.

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Agreed. They truly believe that the plebes are stupid.

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TD,

I don’t necessarily see Wray as a good guy but rather as a never-Trumper who possibly isn’t the worst in the swamp but who has certainly seen and functioned with some of the worst from the various USG perches he’s inhabited through the years. I think he has realized way too belatedly that he is caught up in something much bigger (overseeing an unprecedented banana republic style investigation of a former POTUS) than that for which he bargained (keep Trump in check). I have no idea why he agreed to be put forth as FBI Director. Was it external or internal motivation or some measure of both. Carrot, stick, both, neither? Sense of duty, an eye to the prestige (well, at one time ages ago) and perks (having a private jet to travel to the Adirondacks), taking over from and running interference for his old DOJ mentor who had been fired?

At the time of his nomination for FBI Director, The LA Times penned an article about Wray and mentioned that during Ashcroft hospital drama, Wray had stopped Comey in the hallway of the hospital where Ashcroft was hospitalized and quoted Wray as saying, “ Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but before you guys all pull the rip cords, please give me a heads-up so I can jump with you.” Wray wanted to be on Comey’s team then (even though he didn’t know what was going on),, but as the new FBI Director he would actually be taking over Comey’s team (and I believe again he equally didn’t truly know what was going on). I think being a part of “the team” is not an insignificant thing for Wray, much as it is for many others.

Wray could have thought he was being noble stepping up and taking over the helm of the FBI after his mentor Comey had been fired by that poor excuse for a President. Unfortunately for the country and the FBI, Wray is just more of the same. Having signed on to serve as a bulwark against Trump and all those terrible things that we were all told would otherwise come to pass and irreparably damage “our democracy, “ I think it came as unpleasant surprise for Wray to see how all the evil things the left brayed about and projected onto Trump were just that, projections. Think it was even more unsettling for Wray to discover that the Biden administration and democrats were doing and continue to do these very things (and worse) of which they accused Trump.

Wray has a hint of a mushroom about him (kept in the dark and fed BS) either by desire (Sgt Schultz) or design (as a result of FBI gatekeepers). The FBI congressional folks seem derelict and deficient in their prep of Wray for congressional testimony. Much of his demeanor during testimony last week appeared arrogant, smug and disrespectful. He also seemed genuinely puzzled or confused when asked about the transfer/promotion of Steve D’Antuono from Detroit, where D’Antuono oversaw the Whitmer “kidnapping” investigation, to WFO where he is currently overseeing the J6 investigation. The question was asked generally without naming D’Antuono and I think Wray repeated the question to clarify the question in his mind or perhaps delay answering the question but said, “That doesn’t seem right.” Many people, I suspect, whole heartedly agreed with him!!! The question was eventually cleared up with Wray agreeing that the transfer of D’Antuono had occurred as stated by the questioner. More than anything else, Wray didn’t seem engaged but rather resigned or perhaps impatient. Impatient because he was anxious to go on holiday or resigned because he knew that the events which would unfold on Monday would dwarf the concerns of the judiciary committee Thursday’s slate.

I was frustrated with the questions posed to Wray. I would have liked to have heard someone ask Wray open ended questions rather than yes-no questions or offer follow up questions....such as how you characterize J6, the Russian collusion allegations against Trump, the immigration flood at the border, domestic violent extremism, etc. While I don’t expect wray would have betrayed much under such questioning, it would have required more of him. Could be the questions were asked in the manner they were to cover a lot of ground in a short time span..

As far as being weak, I think Wray is weak but he also just doesn’t have much of a choice short of resigning. Wray and the FBI aren’t directing the investigation, DOJ is which is THE persistent festering and putrid problem within the federal judicial system,

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Timing of this is obvious message, those documents have been known for many months. After the week of primary upsets (rinos losing), several whistleblowers coming forward, director leaving the Senate hearings early to catch his private plane, weekend expansion of Irs .. Warning shot. I wonder when that warrant was signed? If they can do this to a former president think of what can happen to a senator, governor, or anyone really. It was Schumer who openly stated the "intelligence" agencies were to be feared.

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Why are we not surprised? The judge who signed off on the warrant to raid Trump’s residence is linked to Epstein, from Bonchie again:

https://redstate.com/bonchie/2022/08/09/history-of-judge-who-signed-off-on-trump-raid-raises-all-kinds-of-red-flags-n609341

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If in early 2023 a Republican led congressional committee issues multiple subpoenas and the DOJ doesn't enforce them, what happens then? The house could impeach Garland, but I doubt there would be enough Senate votes to remove him. If he was removed, can you imagine the replacement.

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GOP "Investigations" threats are a joke.

Trey Gowdy proved that with his "Investigations" into Benghazi.

It's just to get the "Rubes" to quite down.

Unfortunately the Rubes have caught on to the trick.

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The persecution of Trump from even before he took office, the Floyd riots and "summer of love", entrapment on J6, the lockdowns, all the cultural/sexual provocations against normal people, persecution of influential people like Alex Jones, Navarro, Bannon, shutting down speech of political opponents, and now this: It is and has been obvious that the goal is to force someone on the right to do something stupid. Lash out. Give Deep State an excuse for martial law and cancelling free elections going forward.

The left crave the "need" to crack down permanently on those who are against their hegemony. The destruction of the Constitutional order is the end game.

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I've been thinking about the possible implications on how this could affect the FBI since the story broke yesterday evening. If Trump survives this political attack, it may well mean the end of the FBI as currently constituted. If there is a republican wave in November - and this may well add more to the wave height - the amount of anger could require congress to act. Of course, with Brandon still in office it would take the '24 election to gut the FBI like a fish that it is so deserving of. Additionally, if the anger at this mountain of evidence and injustice boils over - where democrats walk and republicans are perp-walked - all manifested from the DC Circuit Court, I can see that court being dissolved if Republicans ever want fair treatment 'under the law' again. In fact, dissolving the DC circuit court would be one remedy to cure the two-tiered justice system being inflicted on the nation by democrats and their swamp dwelling civil servants.

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I'm of the belief that we just need to start over with the FBI. Possibly the new Congress could zero out their budget and dig in. Sen Grassley met with Chris Wray, but only released an anodyne statement about the erosion of trust in the FBI and getting a thorough explanation of what went into the decision to conduct this raid. I have a sneaking suspicion that after all the frustrations from the FBI, Grassley has to be thinking it's time for a complete overhaul/redo and he communicated as much to Wray. I expect calls to overhaul the FBI to get louder from the base.

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The 12-3 pm WTN Nashville talk radio host, Matt Murphy, is doing just that today. Terminate the FBI. Too politicized to continue. Divide up its missions among other federal agencies and turn out the lights.

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Aug 9, 2022
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I had a Weird thought when reading your comment …..

Does the Alex Jones trial, etc. play into this?? Anyone that says “it’s a “hoax” will be censored and compared to Alex Jones??

Maybe I just try to connect too many dots?

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If the last six years have taught us anything, it is that we have spent the last few decades connecting too few dots.

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