30 Comments

What a perfect headline. I had to comment before I even finished reading. (As Barr squirms) Hahaha, Hohoho. Bravo, Greg!

Expand full comment
author

Thank you!

Expand full comment
May 23, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

My goodness. This is maybe my favorite Prevail piece. I felt insane going thru all of that right along with you. You, LB, Craig Unger along with other profoundly brave Journalists, Citizen Journalists and one profoundly brave "I'm just a housewife" person... Became a life line for me.. ... I am inadequate to the task of Thanking you properly..but I still feel so much gratitude. I know I was terrified of posting simple S"** on Ben Carson let alone the massive information you all found and subsequently posted. Just, thank you. Love you 🤟, Stacy O 💕

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, StacyO. It's interesting to read the report and then see how it's being covered in the media. I mean, it's kind of an evil-genius brilliant piece of...it's not really disinformation as much as deflection.

Expand full comment

Yes. Exactly..but the ol' fella did have 4 years, 6 million dollars..world travel, The "Cover up General "and literally God knows who else may have helped him out with any sort crafting and shaping he may have needed to achieve that near perfect deflection.

Expand full comment
May 23, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

Thanks Greg. Interesting how leaving out a few key facts will allow the Fox News devotees to…eh-hem…interpret this whole mess in a way that reinforces their chosen reality

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, Gail. What's interesting is that the facts are there; they are just presented in a way to make you not understand their chronology or importance.

Expand full comment

Yes, every lie the "pubbies" tell contain a grain of truth which is the most deceitful thing about their mindset. Did you see that Ken Paxton is back in the news? Calling for the resignation of one of the Texas House members who coincidentally happens to be investigating him and is trying to stop him from using $3.3 million taxpayer dollars to settle a whistleblower suit against Paxton! Unbelievable! https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/23/dade-phelan-ken-paxton-resign-intoxication/

Expand full comment

The Texas trio of Schitt-faced lying bastards.

Expand full comment
May 23, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

Trump has been groomed as Russia’s asset since the 1980s. 😎#UsefulIdiot

I still wonder if Third Lady Melania is a Russian ‘honeypot’

Expand full comment
May 23, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

Of course she is!

Expand full comment
author

Da.

Expand full comment

She ought to be deported.

Expand full comment
May 23, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

Comey, a name that will live in infamy.

Expand full comment
author

And now he's on my corner, trying his hand at novel-writing! Does that mean I can be the FBI Director?

Expand full comment
May 23, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

Two things. The "Durham Report," by its very existence, was started as yet another way to tear down one of the institutions of the US. Even when Hoover was in charge, the FBI was a pretty stainless organization, well, except for Hoover himself. Now, of course, with some bad apples (looking at you, New York field office, and James Comey), and the constant drumbeat by the Reich-wing of the malfeasance supposedly going on from top to bottom, the FBI itself is weakened, so mission accomplished, I guess, especially among Trump supporters who continue their quest to see who can be most un-American. An authoritarian has no need whatsoever for an FBI as it stands today. Not enough brownshirts.

Secondly, is it possible that Republicans are incapable of understanding the concept of people doing their jobs, despite whatever their own personal feelings may be? Performing insurance audits, people are never eager to talk to me, and sometimes, they can get actively hostile about the process. And I find these people tiresome to the nth degree. They also piss me off pretty regularly as the requirement of an annual audit is in their insurance policy. But, despite my feelings, I continue to do my job as it should be done. When it's over, I'm relieved that it's over, but the idea of "doing something" in retaliation for bad manners has never crossed my mind. The Republicans' attitude about Pete Strzok is so much bullshit to me. I watched him testify before Congress, and I've seen him on the Five-8, so I have a feeling about him, and NOTHING says to me that he would compromise an investigation or do anything differently because he "didn't care for" the target of his investigation. But Republicans regularly cite this as something that needs to be considered -- that if people have certain "feelings" or attitudes about someone else, they will do everything they can to "get" that person. All it tells me is the obvious, that Republicans project their modus operandi onto others because their wheelhouse is filled with shit like that. We've seen it over and over. It's part of who they are.

Expand full comment
author

Perfect comment, Steve. Perfectly put. They are so damaged they assume we are all just as damaged and can't grok that we aren't.

Expand full comment

It is who they are…

Expand full comment
May 23, 2023Liked by Greg Olear

Excellent recap and analysis as always but any references to what happened in the 2016 campaign literally make me ill. I was loving the Hulu documentary about Hillary until it started rehashing Bernie's treachery. I stopped watching and never went back. I am also skipping the election episode in Succession. I did not realize how many grievances I've nurtured until I read about Succession episode and now your recap (and I'm not blaming you!) That's what I get for being raised Irish Catholic and having Scorpio as my rising sign.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, Kathleen. I forgot about the Hulu doc. I think I had the same reaction.

If the Yankees are looking for a standard-bearer, they want Aaron Judge, not some Red Sox slugger. Same with HRC, Bernie and the DNC.

Expand full comment

Amen!!!

Expand full comment

If you ever find a wormhole to that alternate universe where Hillary was president, let us know!

Expand full comment

Excellent piece Greg! You have a very smart readership as I often enjoy the comment section just as much as your writing. Idk how I found you, LB and Uncle Blazer who kept telling everyone to read the senate intelligence report volume 5, but I sure am glad I did! All of your work as been A plus! 🙏🙏

Expand full comment

Never a misfire. But unexpected gems crop up often…

Expand full comment

Al Capone’s vault, perfect. Sadly, this is typical of the crap put out by the trolls I run across. Baffle them with bull Schitt. More sadly, impresses the hell out of the MAGAt population. Durham, Barr, and their ilk know exactly what they are doing. Saddest of all, MAGAts vote with fervor.

Expand full comment

'And did they ever investigate! My goodness! Durham boasts about his hard work in the introduction. Six and a half million dollars spent! Six million pages of documents! Almost 500 interviews! Almost 200 subpoenas! Seven search warrants! Five orders for communications records under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d)! One request to a foreign government under a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty! And a partridge in a pear tree! '(Greg Olear, article)

Expand full comment

May 23, 2023

Greg Olear

PREVAIL

Expand full comment

In that paragraph, he mentions one meeting, not two, and fails to take into account that one of the diplomats at the second meeting was Alexander Downer, who’d been Australia’s foreign minister for over a decade—it would be like an advisor from another country having drinks with Madeleine Albright or John Kerry. (Greg Olear, article)

Expand full comment

May 23, 2023

Greg Olear

PREVAIL

Expand full comment