Ep. 697 The Investigation Behind the Investigation
Summary:
In this episode I provide solid evidence that there is an investigation going on behind the scenes and that FBI informants are cooperating. I also discuss and debunk absurd liberal arguments regarding gun control. Finally, I address the issue of debt and deficits and how they relate to tax issues.
News Picks:
Finally, the FBI gives up a key document.
Read subsection 4 of this document for evidence of FBI cooperation in the FISA probe.
Does the lack of gun laws lead to upticks in violence? No.
The deficit is growing despite income taxes going up.
Are the Chinese using our universities to spy and steal our technology?
This is a deeply disturbing account of a GOP congressman’s tirade against Trump.
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Get ready to hear the truth about America on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host, Dan Bongino.
All right, welcome to the Dan Bongino Show.
Producer Joe, how are you today?
Hanging in there, Mr. Bongino.
Hey, we have another winner to our dance contest, our buddy Justin, personal trainer and gym owner in Minneapolis, who has been taking on liberal clientele, even at the risk of losing clients.
You're the man, Justin.
He laid out a list of everything he's doing to dance, change the world, one little protest at a time.
We love it.
Thanks, Justin.
We'll be sending you a book, too.
So we got a few more winners to announce.
I got a lot to get to today.
I don't like to lay out the show sometimes.
I'm afraid I'm not going to get to stuff.
But let me just tell you this.
If you still have doubts that there are things going on behind the scenes, you doubt me.
Because I get it.
The Mueller thing.
I totally get it.
Entirely frustrated.
The Mueller thing is off the rails.
Bob Mueller's investigation entirely jumped the shark.
Arthur Franzarelli from Happy Days, as I said, would be ecstatic.
Disaster.
But on the investigation into the FBI and the DOJ and very specific abuses, folks, things are happening.
And the reason I bring it up is because do you think it's random that Loretta Lynch, Jim Comey, all these people, Brennan all of a sudden again.
Well, Brennan's always kind of been an advocate for the police state.
But Loretta Lynch, Joe, she appears out of nowhere.
Wow, why would that happen?
What is going on?
You're darn right.
I'm going to produce, you do not miss a second of this show, evidence Because I'm still getting emails.
Nothing's going on.
Nothing's going on.
Okay.
I'm going to make the case for you today.
And if you doubt it today, you're just ignoring me because you want to, which is fine.
You can do that.
Just keep listening.
All right.
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All right, Joe.
Yo!
So yesterday, folks, here's the genesis of this.
I'm not making this up out of thin air.
There was an outcry on Twitter on a breaking news story about the two FBI lovebirds who were investigating Trump and investigating Hillary Clinton, Peter Stroke and Lisa Page, who was an attorney for the FBI.
There was a breaking news story that They still have security clearances, they're still working for the FBI, and people understandably on Twitter went crazy.
How is this?
How is this?
After all they did, all those text exchanges about how they could smell Trump supporters, they couldn't stand Trump supporters, they needed an insurance policy against Trump.
How are they still working there?
Folks, the fact that they're still working there is evidence of what I'm telling you is true.
They are cooperating in the investigation.
It is so obvious to anyone who's got some experience investigating these cases.
Why is Andy McCabe gone?
Why is Rabicki gone?
Why are all these senior level managers, Comey, Fired, why are they all gone?
But Stroke, Page, and a very, very important figure in this, still there.
Who is that important figure you may not have heard a lot about lately?
Bill Preistep.
Now, I've not gotten into this too much lately.
Preistep was Peter Strokes' boss.
He has not been fired.
I want to walk you through something so you understand.
Because this is all going to come out within days and weeks in the IG report that's right about to flow.
Like water over a cliff.
And it is going to be devastating.
Yesterday also breaking was Nunez, Devin Nunez, the Republican congressman who's been looking at this entire situation.
Finally Joe got access to the electronic communication, the document explaining how this whole investigation started, which is going to be damning.
I want to play for you some Audio here.
This is important audio.
I played this before months ago, I think in episode 628, but it is more important now.
But before I play it, I want to lay out for you what exactly, exactly I'm talking about so you understand why this is damning to Jim Comey and even more damning to some other people and why they haven't been fired but Comey has.
All right.
Let me lay out the premise.
There are people in the FBI cooperating on the abuse of the FISA process to spy on Donald Trump and the abuse of the FBI protocols in the deliberate, let's say, get-out-of-jail-free card for Hillary Clinton.
I'm absolutely sure of it.
Now listen to the first part of this audio.
This is Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, questioning Jim Comey back in March of 2017.
Listen to his responses.
He's clearly caught off guard a bit when he's asked the question about the counterintelligence investigation that was opened on Donald Trump.
Now, keep the dates in mind.
You have to understand what's going on here.
I'm going to cut this into two parts.
It's about three minutes of audio, but it's some of the most important audio you'll ever hear, especially in light of this fraud Jim Comey going out and doing media interviews now to sell his book.
This is testimony in March of 2017.
The counterintelligence investigation into Donald Trump starts in July of 2016!
Almost a year earlier!
Now, Congressional, FBI, White House, and DNI protocol is that the FBI is to brief quarterly members of the Oversight Committee, Oversight for Intelligence Issues, to brief them quarterly!
Quarterly!
On counterintelligence investigations.
This was only the most important counterintelligence investigation in modern U.S.
history against Donald Trump.
Now, if the investigation started in July of 2016, nearly a year earlier, because this testimony is in March of 2017, and they're supposed to give quarterly.
Now, for liberals listening, If you have 12 months out of the year, that would mean every three months.
I'm not crazy, right?
Three times four, 12, 12 months in a year, I think I'm good.
So if the investigation was started a year earlier, and they are obligated by protocol to give briefings to Congress about a counterintelligence investigation, Listen to Comey's answer as to this is important as to why
he did not brief Congress.
Thank you, Mr. Crawford. Ms. Stefanik is recognized.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Director Comey and Admiral Rogers, for your testimony today.
My first set of questions are directed at Director Comey.
Broadly, when the FBI has any open counterintelligence investigation, what are the typical protocols or procedures for notifying the DNI, the White House, and senior congressional leadership?
There is a practice of a quarterly briefing on sensitive cases to the chair and ranking of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.
And the reason I hesitate is, thanks to feedback we've gotten, we're trying to make it better.
And that involves a briefing of the Department of Justice, I believe the DNI, and some portion of the National Security Council at the White House.
So if that's quarterly... To brief them before Congress is briefed.
So it's quarterly for all three, then senior congressional leadership, the White House, and the DNI?
I think that's right.
Now, that's by practice, not by rule or by written policy, which is why, thanks to the Chair and Rankin giving us feedback, we're trying to tweak it in certain ways.
All right, that's the first part.
That's the setup.
Now, I took a few notes on this.
He's asked the question about, he knows exactly, by the way, that he's, he knows he's caught.
But he's shocked a little bit by the question here.
You can tell by, he goes, the reason I hesitate, people who don't want to make statements don't make statements about not making statements, to quote Demi Moore and G.I.
Jane.
No, I can't stand the move.
Well, sometimes I like it, sometimes I'm up and down about it.
But that quote's pretty good.
The reason he hesitates because he's like, oh, she's going to ask me about why we didn't brief Congress about an investigation on Donald Trump.
So he says, the reason I hesitate, No, the reason you hesitate is because you realize you were busted.
Now he says, he's setting himself up, I'm gonna give you the rest of this in a minute, but he's setting himself up right now and he's putting in a bunch of caveats as to why they didn't brief Congress.
He says, well it's not by practice, I mean it's by practice, it's not by rule.
By practice meaning that's what you do.
Like practice meaning you do it often.
But it's not by rule.
In other words, alright, we didn't brief you, but we didn't break any laws.
Right, Joe?
Remember, he's trying to not make a statement about not making a statement while making a statement, right?
And then he tries to grease her up a little bit and kiss her butt there by going, well, we're working on feedback with you, and thanks to the chair and the ranking, we're trying to make this process better.
In other words, oh my gosh, we screwed up.
Yeah, boy.
How am I going to explain to him now that it's March of 2017, I'm supposed to brief them quarterly, and I haven't told them about what's going on with Donald Trump, even though it's been going on since June of 2016.
Ruh-roh!
Shaggy!
How are we going to handle this now?
Okay, so that's the setup.
So, since in your opening statement you confirmed that there is a counterintelligence investigation currently open and you also referenced that it started in July, when did you notify the DNI, the White House, or senior congressional leadership?
That's a good question.
Sometime recently, they were briefed on the nature of the investigation in some detail, as I said.
Obviously, the Department of Justice has been aware of it all along.
The DNI, I don't know what the DNI's knowledge of it was because we didn't have a DNI until Mr. Coates took office and I briefed him his first morning in office.
So just to drill down on this, if the open investigation began in July and the briefing of congressional leadership only occurred recently, why was there no notification prior to the recent, the past month?
I think our decision was it was a matter of such sensitivity that we wouldn't include it in the quarterly briefings.
So when you state our decision, is that your decision?
Is that usually your decision what gets briefed in those quarterly updates?
No, it's usually the decision of the head of our counterintelligence division.
And just, again, to get the detailed on the record, why was the decision made not to brief senior congressional leadership until recently when the investigation had been open since July?
A very serious investigation.
Why was that decision made to wait months?
Because of the sensitivity of the matter?
Oh!
Oh, oh, Jimbo.
Oh, oh.
Daddy-o.
What do we got?
I'll tell you what we got.
We got a guy squirming in his chair right there.
He responds immediately to this continued line of inquiry first.
They took a few notes here again by saying, oh, that's a good question.
In other words, how do I buy time?
How do I buy time to snake and wiggle my way out of this?
Why did it notify Congress that we're investigating the President of the United States and a former presidential candidate who won the presidency?
Oh, that's a good question.
Did you see the White Sox game last night?
What do you think about that cat video on YouTube?
Is she paying attention?
No, it's not a good question.
It's a great question.
And the fact that he says recently, given that it is now nearly a year later and he still hasn't notified Congress, he's starting to realize we're in a lot of trouble.
He goes on to then tell either a lie or he is just not that slick.
He says, well, I didn't notify the DNI, Director of National Intelligence, because there wasn't one.
No, there was.
Jim Clapper was the DNI the entire time.
Maybe he's trying to preserve Jim Clapper, save Jim Clapper from having to testify himself.
I don't know.
But I'll give him a pass on that one.
I don't know why, but I'm feeling generous this morning.
All right.
But then they asked again by Representative Stefanik, who senses she's onto something here.
He says, well, we didn't notify them because of the sensitivity of the matter.
That's the whole reason they do congressional briefings, folks.
The whole reason they do congressional briefings on sensitive counterintelligence investigations is precisely because of the sensitivity of the matter.
That is not a reason to break practice and not notify the representatives of the people of the United States and their Senate counterparts.
You are not an independent organization, Jim Comey.
You hubris-filled windbag.
You do not run a Praetorian Guard, a Gestapo force.
This is a constitutional republic where people are, there are checks and balances vertically and horizontally within the government.
Vertically within the executive branch of the president, which you work for.
Horizontally amongst Congress overseeing the executive branch.
The courts having their own independent powers.
Checking and balancing the others.
Jim Comey seems to think he was running a private security team.
Why am I bringing this up again?
I'm not trying to re-litigate episode 628.
I'm trying to make two points to you.
That the outrage yesterday about Stroke and Page still working at the FBI, I get it.
But don't be outraged!
It says to me clearly that they are cooperating with Sessions.
I'm not defending Sessions again on the Mueller thing.
Please, it's a disaster.
I get it.
And I totally see your point that the recusal is probably enough right now to ask new blood.
I get it.
I'm just saying to you, don't ignore what's going on behind the scenes on the investigation into the investigation into Trump.
Don't ignore that.
It's real.
Now what did this audio have to do with it?
It's how we ended off.
When the representative, Stefanik, asks him, who told you not to notify us because of the sensitivity of the matter?
Not to notify Congress about the investigation into Trump?
He says, the head of the counterintelligence division.
Who is that?
Bill Pridestep.
Peter Strokes' boss.
Now you may say, okay, I don't get it.
I don't get it.
Why does that mean Price Step, Strokes Boss, Stroke, Page, why do you think they're cooperating?
Because Price Step clearly was thrown under the bus there by Jim Comey.
By the way, as the Conservative Treehouse guys noted, it's a good... I got that audio from months ago.
They're huge fans of mine, and they've said some things about Levin.
I really can't stand, but I do have to... That's where that audio came from months ago, but it reminded me of something today.
Why not use his name?
It's a good point.
What is he hiding?
Preistep is clearly implicated in this in that Comey himself said Preistep, Strokes' boss, said, don't say anything to Congress.
Now, it gets better, Joe.
How do we know Preistep is cooperating?
One, just anecdotally, where's he been?
Nobody's seen him.
Nobody's heard of him.
There's no media at his house.
He's not been called to testify in front of Congress.
Nobody's up there outside of a few people calling attention to it, talking about it on talk radio or the news.
Why?
If Price Steps, the guy, according to Comey's own testimony you just heard from the horse's mouth, Joseph, if Price Steps, the guy that told Comey, don't tell Congress about this investigation, why wouldn't Price Step be the focal point?
Because he's cooperating against these idiots.
Now, I have this in the show notes today.
This is the FISA document.
The report from Devin Nunes.
What's the date on this so I get this absolutely correct?
February 2nd of 2018.
Not that long ago.
Just a few months ago.
I have the document, the memo, drawn up by Devin Nunes explaining the abuse of the FISA process to spy on Donald Trump.
This is in the show notes today.
Go look at line 4 of the memo.
Let me read it for you.
According to the head of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, Assistant Director Bill Priestep, corroboration of the Steele dossier was in its infancy, and I quote, at the time of the initial Carter Page FISA application.
So the same guy who told Jim Comey not to say anything about a counterintelligence investigation into Donald Trump, the same guy who said, don't say anything to Congress, we're investigating the president, has also acknowledged to a member of Congress that the very document the whole investigation was based on, the verification was quote, in its infancy, at the time of the application.
Wait, what?
You mean it wasn't verified, authenticated, nothing?
You used a court designed to spy on terrorists to spy on the president, and yet you yourself acknowledged to a member of Congress that, oh yeah, it was just in its infancy when we did that?
The dossier, that is.
Guys, ladies, they already interviewed this guy.
If they already interviewed this guy, where is he now?
Well, I'm going to tell you where he is now.
Prystep, Stroke, and Page.
Again, just bring it back to where we started.
People are asking on Twitter.
There was breaking news.
They say, they're all still working in the FBI.
What's Sessions doing?
They're cooperating.
It is clear as day.
They have likely given some form of grand jury testimony.
And the reason Devin Nunes, who I have enormous respect for, is doing a great job, by the way, The reason Nunez isn't out there with others howling about, where is Prestep and Stroke?
Think about it.
Joe, why isn't Nunez, who's been a bulldog on this, why isn't Nunez on Fox News every day going, I demand access to Peter Stroke, Lisa Page, and Bill Priestep, who were the heads of the counterintelligence division and the legal team on it.
Why aren't I demand access to them?
Why isn't he doing it?
Because they're already working with the Sessions team.
They've probably given grand jury testimony at this point, which is secret!
Guys, I'm just asking you on that point.
I'm not, believe me, the Mueller thing, I'm gonna get to that in a second, but I got a lot to get to, so bear with me today.
I get different, I get 99% of emails love this story, some of them hate it.
This is important though.
It is critical you understand what's going on.
It's not just about spying on the president.
It is about a deep state bunch of swamp rats who are now finally starting to feel the force of the government they abused coming down on them.
It is clear as day they are cooperating.
That is why they're still around.
They are holding the administrative cudgel over their head.
What do I mean by that?
Joe, if they fire them now, Price, Depp, Stroke and Page, what are they going to do, Joe?
They're going to plead the fifth and say, I'm out.
While they're still employed with the FBI and provide... How do we know we're cooperating?
Do I need to read that again?
Devin Nunez, according to head of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, Assistant Director Bill Price.
What do you think?
Nunez made that up?
That was in the memo for a reason.
Joe, it wasn't one of these.
Wink and a nod?
Nah, it was in your face.
It was staring right at you.
I'll put the document in the show notes on the script file.
Look, read it yourself.
Line four.
Just look at it yourself.
He has already been interviewed by these guys.
The reason they're not calling these FBI guys back and trying to have them fired... What, do you think they're shy?
Seriously, do you think Devin Nunes and these people are shy?
Oh, I don't want to do it.
You don't run for Congress as a shy guy, okay?
I know, I ran.
They're not calling for their careers to be ended and them to be fired right now.
You notice they weren't chiming in yesterday on this because they're cooperating.
And the FBI, if they fire them, has no administrative cudgel hold over them.
None.
Right now, they're probably saying, hey, thanks for the cooperation.
Here's what we need.
Here's what we need.
The minute they say, well, I don't think I'm going to talk about that.
OK, you're fired.
You lose your pension.
Goodbye.
Oh, I changed my mind.
All right.
Here's what we'll do.
And you think Pricetap has any loyalty now to Comey?
Comey threw him under the bus!
I just played the audio for you!
Guys!
Ladies!
Please!
Bear with me on that.
I know I'm going to get some negative feedback on it.
I'm not anymore defending the Department of Justice.
It's a disaster.
I am, however, defending what Sessions is doing behind the scenes on this specific case.
The more we rush this thing, the more we're going to screw it up.
I had a big change of heart on this a while ago.
After watching what happened with Benghazi, after watching what happened with the IRS, and everybody get a pass.
I am convinced, absolutely convinced, that there is movement and there are going to be either indictments or significant civil or criminal action against some of these people.
I'm sure of it.
Does that make sense, Joe?
Yeah.
We tied that up a little bit?
Yeah.
Well, Mark, this time down, you said you were sure we're going to keep this as a moment in history.
Yeah.
You got it.
There you go.
Log it.
All right.
I got some more I want to get to, too, to show you that my theory on this is right.
But today's show also brought to you by Freedom Project Academy.
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Okay, so again, just wrapping that part up here.
The reason they were not fired and aren't fired now is because they are holding their pensions and everything.
Basically, as an administrative, you better start helping out.
You still have your constitutional rights, but you ain't gonna have your pension if you don't help clear up what happened here.
That's why.
It's obvious.
Just read the reports, okay?
That's the reason they're still working.
Secondly, second point on this.
I've been getting some severe, which is cool.
I mean it because I like, you know, the marketplace of ideas.
Feedback positive and negative.
People who ferociously agree and ferociously disagree.
There's no milquetoast emails I've been getting on this one on the fire Mueller episode.
I've said to you fire Mueller because it's not a good or bad option.
Let's stop with that.
It's there's no good or bad.
There's bad and less bad.
Bad is keeping Mueller where he continues to diminish and destroy the presidency and hunt down every single person in the Trump circle because he's investigating a person in search of a crime.
He's not investigating a crime in search of the people who did it.
Understand the distinction.
If you don't, none of this makes sense.
Bob Mueller is hunting down... He's hunting down people.
Trump people.
And then looking for crimes later.
All of us would be criminals if that were the case and you were subjected to this horror show.
The less bad is to fire him now.
And to deal with the ramifications.
Now, I know a lot of people say, well, Trump can pardon everyone.
Folks, yes, of course he can pardon everyone, but that doesn't go away if he fires Mueller.
Why have to pardon him is the point.
Put yourself in Trump's shoes.
Seriously, put yourself in Trump's shoes now.
He knows he's under investigation for doing nothing wrong.
But regarding the collusion narrative, we've all done something wrong in our lives.
He knows this is an entirely disingenuous effort.
He's got to watch what?
His son-in-law, his friends, his national security advisor all go down?
But no!
Fire Mueller, he's entirely unreasonable, he's entirely conflicted if you listen to the last few shows, and start with somebody fresh!
And clean this thing up already!
If it was you, you'd feel differently!
Now, some of you said if they fire him, that they're going to impeach him.
Okay.
Did you see the article I have?
Eric Erickson has a piece up at, what's his website?
The Maven?
It's up on my, at Bongino.com.
Please check it out.
And please subscribe to my email list.
My wife keeps telling, I really appreciate it.
I hate to be annoying, but my wife, you know, we have to, trying to find ways to develop a backup plan for when the liberal kooks come for us.
So if you don't mind subscribing to my email list, it'd be super helpful.
It's growing by leaps and bounds, thanks to you.
But we'll email you these articles every day.
So first I have the article in the Washington Examiner about them finally looking at the EC to start the case.
I have the notes, the script file there, of the actual document where Nunez admits talking a pre-step.
I also have this really good piece by Eric Erickson.
He talked to a Republican congressman Now, the guy was anonymous in the piece.
I guess he requested anonymity.
But this is a shocking piece.
Erickson apparently met the guy in a supermarket.
I don't know if they walked up and down the aisles and talked.
I don't really care.
I don't know if he was recording it or what.
It doesn't matter.
But, you know, whether you love him or hate him, Erickson, he's not lying about the conversation.
His credibility would be gone forever.
The conversation is stunning.
And it speaks to my, they are going to impeach Trump anyway narrative.
This is a Republican congressman, Joe.
Have you heard this story?
No, I haven't.
Good, even better.
Because I like to watch your reaction.
All right.
The Republican congressman who admits that on television he's been a vocal supporter of Trump, on TV, so we love him, admits that behind the scenes he quietly hates him.
He calls him an effing stupid forage scum.
He just fillets the president in an act of cowardice I don't think I've ever seen.
Joe, listen, one thing about... I'm not patting myself on the back, I'm not doing... but one thing about this show is...
I've heard stories about the president, his character, from people who worked for him way, way before he was running for president, that affirmed to me that he's a flawed guy like the rest of us, but he genuinely gives a damn about people.
I'm convinced that you're not going to convince me otherwise because the people I know who said it are not people who have any, any skin in this game at all.
Including my mother-in-law, who had an experience with Donald Trump on a plane when they used to clean planes in a New York airport.
He used to walk on a plane and give the people cleaning the plane $100 tips.
That's not the only story, by the way.
There are lots of those.
Yes, he's flawed.
Of course he is.
But you're not going to convince me that this guy is Satan in the office.
The way this congressman talks about him is so disparaging and horrible.
But he says something, Joe, that's important.
And this is why I'm telling you he's going to be impeached anyway.
He's like, listen, man, the congressman's like, we're waiting to see how the midterms go.
But basically, if this polling gets any worse on the 2018 midterms in Congress, and if we think we're going to lose the House, and he says something like, we're going to impeach the mother.
Anyway, this is a Republican who supports him on television.
This is not a Democrat.
Guys, ladies, folks, kids, boys, girls, I told you, I I always hesitate to talk about this stuff because I don't want to sound like Captain Know-It-All.
I communicate with some folks.
People.
A lot of people.
About a lot of things.
Who know people who know things.
That sentiment is almost universal up on the hill.
Holy cow.
These are out-of-touch, elitist, swamp rat slobs, GOP and Democrat slobs, who want nothing more to continue the cocktail party circuit and getting ready for their lobbying career after they leave Congress and the Senate.
That that has been all thrown in a lurch.
By a president who has given the double-barreled middle finger to the swamp class is driving them all crazy.
It is almost... Listen, read the piece about the way this guy talks about the president.
It's a family-friendly show.
I can't even use the language.
If I did, you'd understand how much he hates him.
It's a GOP congressman.
Folks, they can't stand this.
It is driving them wild that Trump gives zero about what they think.
The guys are gonna tweet.
She's making us crazy with the tweet.
These guys just want the cocktail party.
They don't want to be bothered with things like legislating.
What do you mean?
We've got to talk about entitlements now and Trump's new proposal to institute work requirements for food stamps.
Oh, do we have to talk about that now?
I thought this was free money.
We were given away.
These are Republicans.
Listen to me.
Please.
Fire Mueller.
They are going to impeach the man anyway.
There is no downside to firing Mueller that you get by not keeping Mueller.
Everything is going to happen anyway.
Keep him, they're going to impeach him anyway.
Fire him, they're going to impeach him anyway.
Keep him, the media's going to hate him.
Fire him, the media's going to hate him.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't.
You understand what I'm telling you?
It doesn't.
This is not four-dimensional chess by the left.
It isn't.
I'm sorry.
I don't believe that premise.
And no, Mueller is not a good guy.
I don't know why people believe that.
I've seen some of the stuff on Twitter and on the internet.
I don't know where you're getting that, but I'm telling you, people I trust with my Life, in some cases, that I have been around the activist circle with forever, think that is the craziest thing they have ever heard.
He is not a good guy.
Why do you think that?
Everything he's done have been indicative of a vindictive, personal, not criminal, prosecution.
He is not a good guy.
Everything is going to happen.
You might as well stand up and do the right thing, which is get rid of a guy that is personally and deeply conflicted.
You can't shut down the investigation.
I don't think it ever should have been started.
I think that's crystal clear if you listen to my show.
But we're stuck with this disaster now.
Appoint some out-of-the-beltway, non-partisan guy to finally get to the bottom of the collusion that never happened, wrap it up, and everybody moves on.
Folks, I'm telling you, this isn't... Damn it, I get upset about this.
Because I just so desperately want you to see what I see, and I can't do everything and say everything now.
I just desperately want you to see it.
Trump is smarter than these idiots on the hill.
He may not be as savvy, he's definitely not as elegant in his speech, I get that.
But for those of you out there arguing somehow, think about this Joe.
I want you to follow me here because I'm serious.
I'm freaking pissed today on this show about this.
I can see that.
Be the audience spokesman here.
What I find odd is some of the same people arguing that Trump has been chronically underestimated and is brighter and smarter than a lot of the people up on the hill are the same people arguing now that Trump is being played by Democrats who really want him to fire Mueller.
You can't have it both ways.
So let me get this straight, Joe.
Box number one, Donald Trump.
He's clearly calling right now this investigation a sham through his tweets.
Attorney-client privilege is dead.
This is a witch hunt.
It's clear as day through his tweets that he wants something to change.
Yes, he has not openly called to fire Mueller, yet we get that.
I don't think there's any question behind the scenes right now that there's a serious conversation of that happening.
If Trump's involved, I don't know.
That I don't know, I want to be clear.
But, Joe, we can all agree, right?
Trump is pissed.
He's pissed.
It's a witch hunt, attorney-client privilege is dead.
He's clearly not happy with Mueller.
Box number two.
The Democrats, don't you dare fire Mueller.
Box number three, the believers that this is four-dimensional chess, but the Democrats are outsmarting Trump by calling for Trump to fire Mueller because they really want him to fire Mueller so they can impeach him.
Do you understand how that can't possibly reconcile with your worldview that Trump's outsmarted them in the first place?
Either Trump's an idiot or Trump isn't.
I'm sorry, you can't have it both ways.
I think the audience gets it.
Yeah, we're good.
God, I hope so.
This is the President of the United States.
He defeated some of the most powerful Republican insiders, outside of my buddy Cruz is a good man, in a deep and talented Republican field.
He defeated Hillary Clinton, despite a massive monetary disadvantage, the entire media, and the entire known swamp against him.
He has managed to survive now numerous controversies that would have felled any other president, and now you're telling me that the liberals have him by the... and that they're really playing four-dimensional chess with him, and that he really shouldn't fire Mueller, and Trump's just falling into the trap.
Yeah, well, you know, that's just like...
Your opinion, man.
You're darn right, dude.
That is just your opinion.
I'm sorry.
It is not right.
It is not based on any evidence I have from people who have been intimately involved with people involved in the darn investigation.
Mueller is corrupted.
He is going after Trump.
This will never stop.
I mean, I don't get it.
I tried to explain yesterday with Flynn, the Flynn case.
They arrested Mike Flynn, prosecuted Mike Flynn for a crime the FBI admitted didn't happen.
And everybody, oh no, Joe, that was seven dimensional chess.
Oh my god.
You know what it was, Joe?
It was 360-degree chess.
In other words, it was so smart, it was stupid.
It made full... That's like people who tell me... There's someone who told me once, man, those time changes get so... I'm not kidding.
This happened on a trip overseas.
We were in Australia.
He goes, man, these time changes are the worst.
What is it?
Time changes like 13, 14 hours.
Can you imagine if it was like 24 hours?
I was like, oh... Did you just say that?
Are you kidding?
No, I'm not, Joe.
What do you mean?
Like, you flew so far around the world you're back home again?
That actually happened.
Or it was like the guy in the police academy.
We were arguing I had a stick shift Honda Prelude.
He actually said this to me.
He's a friend of mine.
I'm not joking.
He goes, man, stick shift.
He goes, I'm impressed how you can drive that.
You know, nobody can drive stick anymore.
I know you probably learned to drive on stick.
But I'm driving this thing and, you know, I'm downshifting.
And he goes, man, that's tough.
He goes, wouldn't it be great if they had cars that actually shifted for you?
Oh, what do you mean?
Like an automatic transmission?
I looked at him.
I go, I can't, I can't.
It was like six o'clock in the morning.
We were going to the police Academy.
I'm like, brother, that was so dumb.
I can't even answer that.
This is not seven-dimensional chess.
No.
The Democrats genuinely are terrified that if he fires Mueller, who is investigating Trump, that the investigation, Joe, will turn into investigation of a crime.
The crime would be collusion between Trump and the Russians.
And you and I both know, and I will tell you with absolute certainty, why are they afraid of that?
Because that crime never happened.
And the investigation would go away quickly.
And the guy, as I explained to you in my episode two days ago, who is now the perfect guy to run interference for them on the Uranium One scandal, the Tenex scandal, the Rosatom scandal, the guy who's running interference for them on the verification of the dossier because his buddy, his chief of staff, was in the DOJ.
Once that guy by the name of Robert Mueller goes away and they put an independent in there, they're going to be like, something don't seem right around here.
So I'm investigating this Russian collusion.
I don't see any evidence, but I see a whole lot of evidence of some other crap.
That's why they don't want him to fire Mueller.
This is not seven dimensional chess.
I'm sorry.
They are genuinely terrified.
Their buddy Rosenstein and Bob Mueller are gonna go and their entire ammunition box against the president is gonna be finished.
And, making matters worse, They are going to be exposed for the deep-layered corruption that led to the spying on Donald Trump and his team, and the cover-up of what happened with the Clintons.
Their email scandal, Uranium One.
They are terrified!
Mueller is the perfect swamp creature to cover up the swamp gas.
He's got high-powered fans blowing the swamp gas in a different direction.
Please, if there's ever anything you trusted me with, trust me with this.
I am not wrong.
Mueller has got to go.
This will never ever stop.
Can he pardon him?
Of course he can pardon him.
But you know what he can't pardon him for?
State crimes.
That's going to be next.
They're going to find a California New York Attorney General, a New York City District Attorney, to find something else.
It will never ever stop.
It will all be offshoots of referrals from a Mueller investigation designed to take the Trump team down.
Why will it stop if they fire him?
Because they'll appoint someone who will never find Russian collusion and the investigation will end because there shouldn't have been an investigation because there's no crime.
I also work out today.
I'm already mentally exhausted from covering this.
I see that.
But this matters to me, Joe.
I know, Dan.
I'm not messing around, brother.
I get this stuff all day from people.
I've had a deep conversion on this.
I was a fired Sessions guy a long time ago, too.
And granted, I agree with you on the Mueller thing.
But I have got to see, and you have to see as well, somebody see justice in this case.
And I am convinced behind the scenes.
That something's going on.
I'm also convinced that the GOP swamp wants to impeach Trump.
You read that article in my show notes today, you will see exactly what I'm talking about.
Alright, um, how are we here on time?
I always ask that during the show.
I gotta get like a timer and I have to stop asking.
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Hey, by the way, personal favor.
If anyone in the audience Does auto detailing.
I don't mean like waxing and compounding.
I mean, I saw a Raptor yesterday in my neighborhood, Joe.
I have a Ford Raptor.
I love it.
It was a black one.
And it looked like some of the stuff on the car was painted, like hand painted or something.
Like they painted the actual Raptor thing in the back.
That looked really cool.
If anybody does that and you're local in Florida, let me know.
I'll drive down.
I want to get some stuff done on my Raptor.
So I'm crowdsourcing.
Here we go.
Let me know.
My email's on the website.
Here we go.
Yeah, I know.
My wife's going to hear that.
She's going to be like, oh no, you're not doing that.
But I'm doing it anyway.
I love my wife, but I'm doing it anyway.
Sorry!
Sorry, Paulita.
All right.
Hey, I have a really, really awesome article up at Bongino.com today from Matt Palumbo, our debunking specialist.
The article will be at the show notes as well.
I'll email it to you again if you're on my email list.
For the gun grabbers out there, this is a fascinating piece.
We take suggestions for debunking stuff, and someone I think sent this in, about the correlation between gun laws and gun safety and crime rates.
And Matt found a bunch of just terrific information.
Joe, the state in the country with what the liberals would call, I just call this constitutional, but the liberals would call lax gun laws, In other words, the Constitution—you can go and buy a gun because it's your right to do so—is Vermont.
Now, what's fascinating is, according to a number of left-leaning outlets—Matt puts this in a piece today— Vermont's gun laws are, quote, the worst in the nation, which lead to the illegal trade of firearms and that they, quote, put children at risk.
The Giffords Law Center, to prevent gun violence, gives Vermont an F. This is all left-leaning outlets.
Vermont gets an honorable mention in a Washington Post article, the sixth craziest gun law states.
All this stuff, right?
Because you can go in and generally they abide by the Constitution of Vermont.
So according to the liberal theory, Joe, that, you know, lacks gun laws, man, there must be, it must be a bloodbath in Vermont.
You think, yeah.
People dying everywhere.
It's the shootout, the gunfight at the OK Corral.
Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, man, every corner in Vermont's got to be dangerous.
Actually, last year was the safest state in the nation.
This was genius by Matt.
And this year, it was the second safest state in the nation.
I don't get it.
I don't understand.
You know, lax gun laws, dreaded air quotes, are supposed to lead to mass death and gun violence everywhere.
But that's not happening in Vermont.
Matter of fact, last year was the safest state in the nation.
Now, preparing you in advance for the liberal counter-strike, because they always have a dumb response every time, they'll say, well, dude, people are buying guns in Vermont and they're taking them elsewhere.
Look at this report.
The rate of guns leaving Vermont to commit crimes elsewhere is super high.
Ah!
Matt did some hardcore debunking here.
This was good.
Notice, Joe, they use the rate.
They don't use, they don't focus on raw numbers, they use the rate.
Now, you would think if your premise is, okay, well, Vermont may be safe, but it's because people are buying guns in Vermont and going other places to commit crimes.
What are we talking, Joe, clearly we're talking about tens of thousands of guns leaving the state, right?
Yeah, I'd imagine so, yeah.
I mean, if they're citing this as a huge problem.
How many guns were in the report?
147.
What?
Why did they use the rate?
Because Vermont has a very low population.
So when you use the rate rather than the raw numbers, it makes it seem like 147 out of... If it was 147 out of 20 million, it would look like nothing.
But being that Vermont has a small population, and it was only 147 guns, it looks significant because you're dealing with a very small denominator.
You see what I'm saying?
Really genius debunking.
That's what I love about Matt.
He thinks like that.
There is always an argument by the left and there's always a counter argument that actually makes sense.
The left loves to manipulate you with statistical nonsense.
They talk about the rate and write the raw number because it was only 147 guns, but in a not densely populated state.
So it looks like, oh my gosh, look at the rate.
This rate is so high.
No, it's not high!
It's not high at all!
The number of guns leaving Vermont is almost insignificant!
Beautiful, beautiful act of debunking by our buddy Matt.
All right.
What else do we got here?
I got another article in the Free Beacon today.
Just a heads up on this about the Chinese infiltrating our universities to steal technology.
Folks, this has been going on for a long time.
It's a pretty interesting piece about how they've been using these Institutes on campus called Confucius Institutes.
There's about a hundred of them in the country to send students and under the guise, Joe, of information and educational exchange and experience and how they've been using it.
And he cites multiple cases in the piece, Bill Gertz.
It's at the show notes today.
of Chinese students sending our technology, sensitive technology, back to China.
Robotics, all kinds of stuff.
Good piece, worth reading, and a big heads up about these Confucius Institutes, which I've been hearing a lot about lately, but it's worth reading.
One more thing on this, not to go back to what we were talking about at the beginning of the show, but it's important because this Jim Comey interview with George Stephanopoulos is going to air this weekend.
Folks, Comey is not a good guy.
In a nutshell, for you to debunk the credibility of this guy to your liberal friends, here are just three things you always need to keep in mind.
Pfizergate.
Comey clearly threw Price Step under the bus.
Prystep said to Devin Nunez that the dossier was in its infancy when they used it, meaning it wasn't verified, meaning they spied on an American citizen.
Comey must have known about it.
He cites Prystep in his testimony to Stefanik, and they used it anyway.
Comey also called the information in it salacious and unverified.
So on the FISA gate thing, so when your friends tell you how wonderful Jim Comey is, Really?
He spied on an American citizen, the President of the United States, while acknowledging the information they used was salacious and unverified.
And while his number two on the case, Bill Prystep, the guy working on the case, the counterintelligence division guy, said it was only in its infancy when they got it.
So explain to me again how Jim Comey is such a great guy.
Secondly, Hillarygate.
He wrote this exoneration letter before they interviewed Hillary.
Not only that, I've told you repeatedly over and over, the reason this is such a scandal, the emailgate, is because Hillary emailed Obama from foreign countries on Obama's personal email using hers.
Comey knew that.
How do we know Comey knew that?
Because in the draft of his exoneration statement of Hillary Clinton, he cites an email from Hillary Clinton to President Obama, which was then changed to from Hillary Clinton to a senior government official, which was then changed to nothing.
They deleted it.
Why?
Jim Comey and people in the FBI realized what they did in the first draft of that.
They had intentionally indicted Barack Obama in Hillary's scheme to hide information from the government in her personal email server.
Why?
Because they acknowledged in the statement that she emailed Obama from her personal account.
Comey was the one who ultimately approved those changes.
Why hide them?
Why not put that in there?
Huh, Jim?
Why exonerate Hillary before you even interviewed her?
And then in that letter, wipe out references to the president.
Finally, on Flingate, Comey's already acknowledged in the Mike Flynn case, he already acknowledged the fact that Mike Flynn, they thought he was being honest in the testimony, yet later on, they charged him, the Justice Department, obviously with the FBI's approval somehow, they charged him, or they're at a minimum they're imprimatur on this, that with false statements to the FBI.
How is that, Jim?
Either you're right that Flynn was being honest, or he lied to the FBI.
Can't have it both ways.
Comey, I'm not sure George Stephanopoulos is going to hit him on that stuff.
Alright, one last story and we'll roll.
I have it in the show notes too.
To show you again how taxation and spending are... It's spending that's driving the deficits, not taxation.
CNS News story.
Federal government show collected record income taxes the first six months of the year.
$736 billion, $24 billion more than they did last year.
Now, they did take a little bit of a hit on the corporate side.
I'm pretty confident that's going to recover itself in the next six months and in the following 12 months.
Of course, over the next year.
But the deficit, even though they collected record income taxes, was $60 billion more than last year.
We're still running a $599 billion deficit, folks.
The problem is not taxes.
It's spending.
Read the piece.
It's clear as day.
Tax revenue is flowing into the government, and we are still increasing our debt and deficits every single year.
It is a spending problem.
It is not a taxing problem.
All right, folks.
Thanks a lot.
I really appreciate it.
Please check out my show tonight, NRATV.com.
The viewership has been tremendous.
We're getting great feedback.
It's available on NRATV.com, Roku, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire, 5.30 p.m.
Eastern Time.
It's for free, no charge.
NRATV.com.
Go check it out.
Thanks, folks.
See you all later.
You just heard the Dan Bongino Show.
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