Искусство вранья

[tijd]

В 2017 утверждение "This Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story" завоевало награду "Lie of the Year" на сайте Politfact.

Ныне адвокаты Трампа пытаются не допустить его вызова для показаний к Мюллеру.

His lawyers are concerned that the president, who has a history of making false statements and contradicting himself, could be charged with lying to investigators.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/us/politics/trump-lawyers-special-counsel-interview.html



Но Трамп - не единственный, у кого проблемы с правдой. Его нынешний пресс-секретарь Сара Хакаби Сандерс по долгу службы каждый день выдает массированное количество вранья.

Один из первых и самых бесстыдных случаев ее вранья - утверждение о том, что лично к ней обращались не менее пятидесяти агентов ФБР, которые жаловались на Коми и благодарили за его увольнение.

Q Sarah, you said from the podium yesterday that Director Comey had lost the confidence of the rank and file of the FBI. On Capitol Hill today, the Acting Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe directly contradicted that. What led you and the White House to believe that he had lost the confidence of the rank and file of the FBI when the Acting Director says it’s exactly the opposite?
MS. SANDERS: Well, I can speak to my own personal experience. I’ve heard from countless members of the FBI that are grateful and thankful for the President’s decision. And I think that we may have to agree to disagree. I’m sure that there are some people that are disappointed, but I certainly heard from a large number of individuals - and that’s just myself - and I don’t even know that many people in the FBI. <...>
Q And one last question, just to follow up on the FBI thing. And I’m not trying to be overly combative here, but you said now today, and I think you said again yesterday, that you personally have talked to countless FBI officials, employees, since this happened.
MS. SANDERS: Correct.
Q I mean, really? So are we talking -
MS. SANDERS: Between like email, text messages - absolutely.
Q Like 50?
MS. SANDERS: Yes.
Q Sixty, seventy?
MS. SANDERS: Look, we’re not going to get into a numbers game. I mean, I have heard from a large number of individuals that work at the FBI that said that they’re very happy with the President’s decision. I mean, I don’t know what I else I can say.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-principal-deputy-press-secretary-sarah-sanders-homeland-security-advisor-tom-bossert-051117/

Утверждение Сары Сандерс звучала настолько фантастично, что Benjamin Wittes решил его проверить. Пользуясь Freedom of Information Act, он послал запрос в ФБР на официальные емайлы, в которых обсуждалось увольнение Коми, и получил в ответ больше 100 страниц сообщений.

Разумеется, Сандерс бесстыдно врала.

They contain not a word that supports the notion that the FBI was in turmoil. They contain not a word that reflects gratitude to the president for removing a nut job. There is literally not a single sentence in any of these communications that reflects criticism of Comey’s leadership of the FBI. Not one special agent in charge describes Comey’s removal as some kind of opportunity for new leadership. And if any FBI official really got on the phone with Sanders to express gratitude or thanks “for the president’s decision,” nobody reported that to his or her staff.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/i-hope-instance-fake-news-fbi-messages-show-bureaus-real-reaction-trump-firing-james-comey

Документы подтверждают репортаж Washington Post:

Comey’s firing shocked the FBI’s workforce. In the aftermath, many employees posted pictures of him at their desks or other workspaces.
“In some offices, you’d go in and it was just, ‘Comey, Comey, Comey’ everywhere,” said one law enforcement official. “There’s still a lot of that, but not as much.”
The public attacks from the president have diminished morale inside the FBI, according to current and former officials. Among themselves, senior officials and rank and file frequently debate the best way forward. Several law enforcement officials said they agreed with Wray’s low-key approach, as a means of what one called “getting back to Mueller’s FBI.”
That is a sentiment not without irony because Mueller is now the special counsel leading the Russia investigation so despised by the president and his allies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/inside-the-fbi-anger-worry-work--and-fears-of-lasting-damage/2018/02/03/899a7442-086f-11e8-94e8-e8b8600ade23_story.html

Imagine if a REPUBLICAN presidential candidate came under FBI investigation as votes were being cast
- Sarah Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) October 30, 2016

When you're attacking FBI agents because you're under criminal investigation, you're losing https://t.co/SIoAxatCjp
- Sarah Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) November 3, 2016



Между тем автор новой книжки The Unmaking of the President 2016: How FBI Director James Comey Cost Hillary Clinton the Presidency вспоминает про поведение ФБР накануне выборов и задается законным вопросом: Куда делся Руди Джулиани?

One question remains: Where in the world is Rudy Giuliani?
Days after Trump’s election, the media-hound Giuliani was all over the news as the most likely next secretary of State or U.S. attorney general.
And then, literally all of a sudden, pffffft. He just, disappeared.
You think Giuliani did not want to be subject to confirmation hearings under oath about his role in the “deep state” operation that led to the Comey Oct. 28 letter?
http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/371755-davis-deep-state-existed-in-16-but-it-elected-trump



Про подозрительные связи Трампа и Джулиани с нью-йоркским отделом ФБР накануне выборов писал легендарный репортер Wayne Barrett.

The man who now leads “lock-her-up” chants at Trump rallies spent decades of his life as a federal prosecutor and then mayor working closely with the FBI, and especially its New York office. One of Giuliani’s security firms employed a former head of the New York FBI office, and other alumni of it. It was agents of that office, probing Anthony Weiner’s alleged sexting of a minor, who pressed Comey to authorize the review of possible Hillary Clinton-related emails on a Weiner device that led to the explosive letter the director wrote Congress.
Hours after Comey’s letter about the renewed probe was leaked on Friday, Giuliani went on a radio show and attributed the director’s surprise action to “the pressure of a group of FBI agents who don’t look at it politically.”
“The other rumor that I get is that there’s a kind of revolution going on inside the FBI about the original conclusion [not to charge Clinton] being completely unjustified and almost a slap in the face to the FBI’s integrity,” said Giuliani. “I know that from former agents. I know that even from a few active agents.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/meet-donald-trumps-top-fbi-fanboy

Примечательном что главный герой очерка Бэретта - Джеймс Каллстром, описанный как "Donald Trump’s top FBI fanboy", в 1990ые годы был директором отдела ФБР в Нью-Йорке и в 1995 руководил операцией по аресту проживающего в Trump Tower Иванькова-Япончика:

"This is the most important arrest we have made in connection with expanding Russian organized-crime activities in the U.S.," Mr. Kallstrom said at a news conference. "These arrests will not put an end to their activities, but this is a big 16-inch round fired across their bow."
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/09/nyregion/reputed-russian-crime-chief-arrested.html