Politics

Trump Goes Straight After Comey, McGabe In New Tweets

Published

9 years ago

December 24, 2017

Populist Wire Editorial Board

(Via Zerohedge)

It has been a scorched earth weekend in the PR war between Donald Trump and the FBI.

In the aftermath of the report that the FBI’s top lawyer – and suspected FBI leaker – James Baker, had been reassigned, and at the same time as news hit that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was set to retire as a result of the “Trump Insurance Policy” debacle (but only once he becomes eligible for pension benefits), Trump lashed out at top FBI officials on Saturday and Sunday, his latest in a stream of criticism aimed at an agency that has seen a sudden spike in high profile departures after Peter Strzok’s publicly disclosed text message revealed a stunning climate of extreme anti-Trump bias at the FBI – including one still to be determined “Trump Insurance Policy” – just as Trump had suggested all along.

Trump swiped at multiple agency officials in a string of tweets Saturday afternoon, suggesting that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe may have been compromised by political donations and ripping former FBI Director James Comey as a leaker.

“How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin’ James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife’s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?” Trump tweeted.

The tweet was followed moments later by a comment on reports that McCabe is looking to retire from the bureau in the coming months as reported yesterday, in the aftermath of the “Trump Insurance Policy” fiasco. Trump noted that McCabe may seek retirement in March, when he would receive his full pension benefits. Trump wrote that the deputy bureau chief was “racing the clock to retire with full benefits,” adding, “90 days to go?!!!”

Rounding off the Saturday tweetstorm was a reference to reports that James Baker, the FBI’s top lawyer, had been reassigned. Trump reacted to that development with a simple “Wow” on Twitter, though news of Baker’s reassignment had surfaced days earlier.

The tweets Saturday from Trump, who has repeatedly jabbed at McCabe by citing his wife’s ties to prominent Democrats, came after the FBI deputy testified for many hours behind closed doors on Capitol Hill this week, responding to questions from lawmakers on three congressional panels probing the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia and the bureau’s work. As we reported, Congressional investigators said that McCabe dodged questions on the “Trump-Russia” dossier, and his testimony “contained numerous conflicts with the testimony of previous witnesses” so much that the House Intelligence Committee is planning to issue new subpoenas next week to Justice Department and FBI Personnel.

“It’s hard to know who’s telling us the truth,” said one House investigator after McCabe’s questioning – which was reportedly spearheaded by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC). When asked about funding for the “Trump dossier”, McCabe claimed he could not recall whether or not the Clinton campaign and the DNC funded the report – despite the alleged existence of documents which McCabe signed establishing his knowledge of its financing and provenance. Curiously, ahead of McCabe’s Thursday appearance in front of the House Judiciary Committee for a “transcribed interview,” the DOJ announced that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe “will not be in a position to discuss matters that are within the scope of the investigation of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.”

On Sunday, Trump’s feud with the FBI resumed, when the president used a tweet to quote Fox, stating that that FBI’s Andrew McCabe, “in addition to his wife getting all of this money from M (Clinton Puppet), he was using, allegedly, his FBI Official Email Account to promote her campaign. You obviously cannot do this. These were the people who were investigating Hillary Clinton.”

To be sure, Democrats argue that the Republican criticisms of McCabe and the FBI are an effort to undermine Mueller as his investigation ramps up, and to give Trump cover should he try to remove Mueller, a step the White House insists is not on the table. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, responded to Trump’s criticisms Saturday afternoon. “FBI would set a dangerous precedent if it forced out dedicated career public servants in capitulation to Trump and (White House) pressure,” Schiff tweeted. “President has already removed one top FBI leader — Comey — over Russia; McCabe would be another.”

None other than James Comey, now in active marketing mode for his upcoming book, tweeted that “Sadly, we are now at a point in our political life when anyone can be attacked for partisan gain. James Baker, who is stepping down as FBI General Counsel, served our country incredibly well for 25 years & deserves better. He is what we should all want our public servants to be” to which some twitter commentators had a sarcastic response…

As a reminder, what really happened according to the Washington Post, Baker, the FBI’s general counsel, communicated with Mother Jones reporter David Corn in the weeks leading up to the November 2016 election. Corn was then the first to report the existence of the Trump dossier on Oct. 31.

Meanwhile, some Republicans have called for McCabe’s ouster, accusing him of political bias, particularly over the fact that his wife received hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to her 2015 Virginia state Senate campaign from a super PAC led by a Clinton ally. At the same time, Benjamin Wittes, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and friend of Comey, cautioned in a tweet on Saturday that the deputy director’s exit from the FBI may not be part of any kind of larger “purge” at the bureau. Then again, if more evidence of FBI collusion against Trump emerges, the “purge” – or the draining of the FBI/DOJ swamp as some have dubbed it – may just be getting started.

Further stoking the PR war between Trump and the FBI, a number of Republican lawmakers have questioned the FBI’s objectivity and fairness in recent months, particularly regarding McCabe’s work at the agency, while recent revelations that FBI Peter Strzok – who was in charge of the FBI’s probe into Hillary’s email server and was leading the investigation into Trump’s Russian collusion – had sent text messages critical of Trump during the presidential race, only served to undescore speculation that the FBI may have been the critical cog in the “deep state’s” plan to avoid a Trump presidency.

Politics

Rob Sand Must Be Audited Along with LGI

Published

3 days ago

November 4, 2026

Populist Wire Editorial Board

Rob Sand won the Iowa governor’s race as the state’s auditor. That dual role demands immediate scrutiny of his own office and of LGI, the family business run by his wife, Christine Lauridsen Sand. Taxpayers have a right to know whether any public contracts, grants, or favorable treatment flowed between the auditor’s office and the company while he held statewide power. Iowa does not get a free pass on conflicts simply because the winner is a Democrat.

America First means accountability for officials who oversee public money. Sand built his career on auditing others. The same standard now applies to him and to LGI. Any overlap in finances, vendor relationships, or use of state resources must be examined by independent review before he takes the governor’s office. Working families in Iowa already face water-quality issues, budget pressures, and education concerns. They should not also wonder whether family business interests influenced decisions made in the auditor’s office.

An audit of Sand’s tenure and of LGI is the minimum required for confidence in the transition. If irregularities appear, they must be referred for further investigation. Sovereignty and basic fairness require that the next governor faces the same transparency he once claimed to enforce. Iowa voters deserve nothing less before he is sworn in.

Politics

2028: America First Dark Horse Must Rise

Published

3 days ago

November 4, 2026

Populist Wire Editorial Board

The 2026 midterms cleared the field. Democrats took Congress after voters punished high gas prices and the Iran war. Establishment heirs now carry that baggage. JD Vance’s odds slipped overnight. Marco Rubio remains tied to the same foreign-policy circle that produced the conflict. Neither can lead a clean America First recovery. The candidate must be anyone but Vance or Rubio.

That dark horse must run on sealed borders, an end to forever wars, energy independence, and trade that puts American workers first. Traditional values and biological reality in policy cannot be treated as optional. The midterms showed the cost of foreign entanglements and elite priorities. Working families want their government focused on home, not distant conflicts or cultural experiments. Only a figure free of prior establishment ties—and free of Vance or Rubio—can make that case without apology.

The next two years will decide whether the movement stays pure or dilutes into another round of managed decline. A dark horse who rejects globalist deals, defends sovereignty, and speaks plainly to the base can consolidate the realignment before 2028. The country does not need another caretaker from the current circle. It needs someone new who will finish what America First started.

Politics

Democrats Gave Ground on Their Wackiest Issues to “Win”

Published

3 days ago

November 4, 2026

Populist Wire Editorial Board

The midterm results show Democrats winning by dialing back the cultural extremes that defined their last several cycles. In Texas, James Talarico walked back earlier progressive positions on transgender issues to make himself viable in a state that rejected those policies for decades. Elsewhere, candidates who once embraced open borders, defund-the-police rhetoric, and identity-first messaging softened or ignored those planks and focused on costs, the Iran war, and gasoline prices. The public had already rejected the full agenda; the party simply stopped advertising the parts voters hated most.

America First voters never accepted boys in girls’ sports, men in women’s shelters, or sanctuary policies that prioritize non-citizens over citizens. Polling and prior elections already showed those positions as losers outside the coastal core. By muting them in red and purple districts while hammering inflation and foreign wars, Democrats could appeal to working-class Hispanics, independents, and some traditional Democrats who had shifted right. The strategy worked for one night because the economic pain was acute and the alternative was a party tied to high gas prices. It does not mean the underlying cultural preferences of the country changed.

Once in power, the same figures and progressive caucuses will push the old agenda again—Medicare for All, ending enforcement, and cultural mandates. The temporary ground they gave was tactical, not principled. Working Americans still want secure borders, biological reality in policy, and government that puts citizens first. The midterms proved the left cannot win by leading with its most extreme ideas. They also proved those ideas remain the party’s destination once the ballots are counted.