Former FBI Director James Comey was escorted from his home to be interviewed by the Secret Service about a social media post that Republicans insisted was a call for violence against President Donald Trump.
CNN showed video of Comey, 64, leaving his house in his suburban Virginia and heading to the Secret Service’s Washington field office just before 6pm.
The interview is part of an ongoing Trump administration investigation and is expected to help investigators assess the purpose and intent of the post, and whether Comey intended to communicate a threat to the president, which he flatly denied.
Any decision on whether charges should be filed would be up to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump said on Friday, though there’s a high bar in proving that comments or posts amount to direct threats of violence.
The interview is standard for the Secret Service while investigating comments perceived as potentially threatening.
At issue is an Instagram post from Thursday in which Comey wrote ‘cool shell formation on my beach walk’ under a picture of seashells that appeared to form the shapes for ’86 47.’
Comey belongs in jail, DNI Tulsi Gabbard says
Gabbard slams Comey on his seashell explanation
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said: ‘That is a ridiculous and insane statement to make. Coming from a guy who is the former director of the FBI.
‘For Comey to think that we the American people, that he as a former FBI director, former prosecutor, would believe his lie that he didn’t know what this was calling for. The dangerousness of this cannot be understated.’
Others agreed with Gabbard, arguing the messaging of 86 47 has been widely understood in political circles since Trump returned to office.
The phrase has also featured on signs and posters at protests around the nation.
Critics said Comey’s denial also does not make sense, given he admitted that he knew it was a politically charged message.
Others have also questioned whether there is any truth to his argument that he simply stumbled upon the shells already in that formation on a beach, and chose to take a snap without fully understanding what it meant.
Gabbard argued that Comey’s status as a former figure of authority meant his message put Trump at further risk and could have been interpreted as a call to arms.
‘I’m very concerned for the President’s life, and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this,’ she said.
Gabbard argued that a man in Georgia issued a threat against her life earlier this year, and that ‘today, he’s in jail. As he should be.
‘Whatever his [Comey’s] intent, he and people like him need to be held to account according to the law.
‘The rule of law says people like him who issue direct threats against the President of the United States, essentially issuing a call to assassinate him, must be held accountable.’
Ed Martin on Dan Bongino vs. the DOJ, and Republicans in Congress Secretly Plotting Against Trump
106
UPDATE: This is a very good interview. First posted a day or two ago, I am bumping it to the top because I have only just had time to watch it and discover how good it is. Martin provides a fascinating overview of how DC and USA look from an insider’s point of view. Highly recommended. ABN
James O’Keefe video of inside Epstein’s library
Comey calls for killing Trump
‘The time for tolerance is over’
The longer you wait, the worse it gets. Even the Dalai Lama agrees with this. It is not wise to push people this far and it is not wise for those people to allow this to happen to them. ABN
Major breakthrough on nuclear deal with Iran imminent
Trump says US close to a nuclear deal with Iran
DUBAI (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms.
“We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by AFP.
“We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this… there (are) two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don’t want to do it the second way,” he said.
Top Iranian official says Tehran would forgo highly enriched uranium in nuclear deal with Trump
Iran is ready to sign a nuclear deal with certain conditions with President Donald Trump in exchange for lifting economic sanctions, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader told NBC News on Wednesday.
Ali Shamkhani, a top political, military and nuclear adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is one of the most senior Iranian officials to speak publicly about the ongoing discussions.
He said Iran would commit to never making nuclear weapons, getting rid of its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium which can be weaponized, agree to enrich uranium only to the lower levels needed for civilian use, and allow international inspectors to supervise the process, in exchange for the immediate lifting of all economic sanctions on Iran.
Asked if Iran would agree to sign an agreement today if those conditions were met, Shamkhani said, “Yes.”
This indicates Iran is stepping down from any pretention of being hegemon in the Middle East. This is a fundamental aspect of control of the Middle East shifting to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), away from either Iran or Israel. Trump has almost succeeded in helping raise the entire region above the fray, moving it toward at least better conditions if not a lasting peace. ABN
Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters
LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) – U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter said.
Power inverters, which are predominantly produced in China, are used throughout the world to connect solar panels and wind turbines to electricity grids. They are also found in batteries, heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers.
While inverters are built to allow remote access for updates and maintenance, the utility companies that use them typically install firewalls to prevent direct communication back to China.
However, rogue communication devices not listed in product documents have been found in some Chinese solar power inverters by U.S experts who strip down equipment hooked up to grids to check for security issues, the two people said.
Over the past nine months, undocumented communication devices, including cellular radios, have also been found in some batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers, one of them said.
Whereas we have suffered too much BS to not laugh at all of you
Filing this one under humor because it’s clearly a joke. ABN
‘Going after senior Hamas leader doesn’t mean killing 70 people just as collateral damage’ — Qatari Prime Minister
Netanyahu doing his best to ruin a peace deal in Middle East. There will be ramifications. ABN
Tom Homan on the border situation
90% of farms seized from the Boers are now lying derelict
American Buddhist Net 