By Scott Ritter
Special to Consortium News

 

In May, Rand Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky, held up a vote on a bill which sought to approve some $40 billion in aid for Ukraine. Paul wanted language inserted into the bill, without a vote, that would have an inspector general scrutinize the new spending.

“This would be the inspector general that’s been overseeing the waste in Afghanistan,” Paul said, “and has done a great job.”

While senators on both sides of the aisle bristled at Paul’s delay tactics, Christopher Tremoglie, a commentary fellow for The Washington Examiner, questioned the fact that

“[w]hile much attention has been placed on Paul holding up the aid legislation, the more important issue is why are so many senators against ensuring that billions of taxpayer dollars aren’t being misused?”

One of the senators who took umbrage over Paul’s actions was the senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer. Speaking from the floor of the Senate chamber, the senior senator from New York declared that “it is repugnant that one member of the other side, the junior senator from Kentucky, chose to make a show and obstruct Ukraine funding.”

Schumer added that Paul’s actions served to “strengthen [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s hand.”

What Schumer didn’t say was that an inspector general, mandated to oversee how U.S. taxpayer money authorized under the bill in question (the Additional Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022, which became Public Law 117-128 on May 21), would have exposed the role that U.S. funds played to exact political revenge on the man who tried to inject a modicum of accountability into how monies appropriated by Congress are spent, namely Rand Paul.

 

‘Countering Disinformation’

Some three weeks after Schumer helped push the bill into law, on July 14, Andriy Shapovalov, a Ukrainian civil servant whose salary was paid for by U.S. taxpayer monies, convened a “round table” in Kiev on “countering disinformation.”

Shapovalov, in his role as the acting head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, published a list of the names of 72 people whom he accused of deliberately spreading disinformation about Ukraine. Shapovalov labelled them “information terrorists,” adding that Ukraine was preparing legislation so that such people can be prosecuted as “war criminals.”

The “round table” was organized by the U.S. Civil Research and Development Fund (CRDF Global Ukraine), an ostensible nonprofit organization authorized by U.S. Congress to promote “international scientific and technical collaboration.” It is supported by the U.S. State Department, some of whose officials sat in attendance.

One of the people singled out by Shapovalov as an “information terrorist” targeted for criminal prosecution as a “war criminal” was none other than Rand Paul.

To recap: Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, angered by Rand Paul daring to ask for accountability over how $40 billion in U.S. taxpayer money was going to be spent in Ukraine, accused Paul — for doing his duty as a senator — of strengthening Putin’s hand, before allowing this very money, being doled out with zero oversight, to underwrite a Ukrainian entity which, with the active support of the U.S. State Department and U.S.-funded NGOs, labels Paul an “information terrorist” and threatens the Kentucky senator with prosecution as a “war criminal.”

If this doesn’t sicken you, you’re not much of an American.

There can be little doubt that a case can be made that Public Law 117-128, in so far as it finances and facilitates ongoing violations of individual civil liberties of American citizens and constitutes an ongoing effort to intimidate lawmakers from carrying out their legislative responsibilities under the Constitution, has, through the State Department-supported, Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, created an ongoing criminal organization which is carrying out acts against U.S. citizens for which it should be held criminally and civilly liable.

Whether the Justice Department would ever bring an investigation into this criminal enterprise is doubtful. After all, Schumer was able to shut down the creation of an inspector general capable of carrying out the required investigations.

But there is more.

 

Diane Sare

On May 31, Diane Sare, a LaRouche candidate challenging Schumer for his Senate seat in November, filed 66,000 signatures — well over the 45,000 required by law — with the New York State Board of Elections, thereby getting her name on the ballot.

Commenting on this achievement, Sare noted that “The successful petitioning campaign constitutes a major breakthrough, given that the new requirements were designed to prevent independent and minority party candidates from being able to comply.”

Diane Sare was singled out by the Schumer-funded, State Department-supported Center for Countering Disinformation as an “information terrorist” who should be prosecuted as a “war criminal” because of her public stance challenging the narrative about the Ukraine conflict.

That’s right — Chuck Schumer helped create the organizational structures which have attacked the reputation of a challenger for his Senate seat, threatening her with political violence and more for the “crime” of challenging Schumer on the issue of Ukraine.

This is the same Chuck Schumer who advocated impeaching President Donald Trump for a phone call Schumer claimed sought to pressure Ukraine into carrying out investigations that could have been damaging to the candidacy of Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. The same Chuck Schumer who once proclaimed from the Senate floor:

 

“I strongly disagree with those who advocate harassing folks if they don’t agree with you. No one should call for the harassment of political opponents. That’s not right. That’s not American.”

 

 

I couldn’t have said it any better — what Chuck Schumer has done in using U.S. taxpayer money to attack his political opponents is un-American. One can only hope that the New York voters see it the same way come November.

It also appears to be illegal. As such, I hope that both Rand Paul and Diane Sare pursue whatever legal recourse is available to them to expose and shut down a Schumer-supported law that allows U.S. taxpayer money to underwrite a campaign targeting U.S. citizens, including serving senators and political challengers, with intimidation and more for the “crime” of exercising their First Amendment right of free speech.

 

 

Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union implementing arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD. His most recent book is Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika, published by Clarity Press.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News

 

READ MORE:

https://consortiumnews.com/2022/08/03/scott-ritter-chuck-schumers-war-on-free-speech/

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW...................................

FBI raids Trump’s residence

 

The former US President says Mar-A-Lago resort was “occupied” by federal agents

 

FBI agents raided Donald Trump’s residence in Mar-A-Lago, Florida on Monday, in a move the former US president called politically motivated persecution. While the Justice Department has not officially commented on the operation yet, several major US news outlets reported the raid may have been related to boxes of classified documents Trump took with him from the White House, citing “persons familiar” with the matter. 

“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,”Trump said in a statement released around 7 pm local time on Monday, adding that “nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.”

According to Trump, the raid was “unannounced” and the agents “even broke into my safe.” He called the operation “not necessary or appropriate,” branding it as a “weaponization” of the justice system by Democrats who “desperately” don’t want him to run for president in 2024.

“What is the difference between this and Watergate,” Trump asked, referring to the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee office in Washington. The scandal eventually forced President Richard Nixon to resign.

The New York Times confirmed that the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, but said that Trump was not there at the time. The “search” took place on Monday morning, the outlet claimed, citing anonymous sources. The same sources suggested that it was about 15 boxes of materials, including “many pages of classified documents,” that Trump took with him after leaving the White House in January 2021.  A White House official told CNN it was not notified about the search.

While the former president’s statement did not mention any materials, he did bring up the fact that Hillary Clinton, as a former first lady of the US, had taken “antique furniture, and other items from the White House” and was not prosecuted for deleting over 30,000 emails even after they were subpoenaed. 

He accused the US “establishment” – all three branches of government that are currently led by Democrats – of hating him and trying to stop him and the Republican party with “lawlessness, political persecution” and a “witch hunt.”

One of the authors of the NYT article was Maggie Haberman, who earlier in the day promoted her upcoming book about Trump by claiming he had shredded government documents and had them flushed down a toilet while president. Haberman was the reporter mentioned as a “friendly journalist” by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign staff, according to emails from the team manager John Podesta published by WikiLeaks.

 

READ MORE:

https://www.rt.com/news/560498-fbi-raid-trump-florida/

 

READ FROM TOP........

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW........................

At a Thursday news conference, US Attorney General Merrick Garland, who heads the US Department of Justice (DOJ), confirmed he personally authorized the search warrant the FBI used to raid former US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this week.

He told reporters the DOJ had filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal the search warrant and property receipt used in the Monday raid, but could give no further information about it. Garland noted both documents were provided to Trump’s counsel at the time of the search.

In the Thursday filing, the DOJ argues the warrant should be unsealed because of “significant interest and attention from news media organizations and other entities” following Trump’s own voluntary release of information confirming the search.

Just filed in the Mar-a-Lago warrant case: “UNITED STATES’ MOTION TO UNSEAL LIMITED WARRANT MATERIALS” pic.twitter.com/YK5DEkVwjc

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) August 11, 2022

“Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor,” Garland told reporters. “Under my watch, that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing. All Americans are entitled to the even-handed application of the law, to due process of the law, and to the presumption of innocence.”

 

The search was reportedly focused on documents Trump allegedly took from the White House at the end of his presidency instead of surrendering them to the US National Archives, as he is required to do by the Presidential Records Act. Earlier this year, the Archives retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago and a federal grand jury subpoenaed the remaining documents in May.

 

The attorney general confirmed he personally approved the search warrant, which the Thursday filing confirms took place on August 5. He added that the DOJ “does not take such decisions lightly.”

Garland also sought to respond to the wave of “unfounded attacks” targeting the FBI, a federal law enforcement bureau, that has followed news of the raid.

 

“I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated patriotic public servants,” Garland said. “I am honored to work alongside them.”

 

His words followed similar condemnations of criticism and threats by FBI Director Christopher Wray, who called them “deplorable and dangerous.”

The FBI search has been roundly condemned by conservative politicians and commentators, ranging from Fox News pundits like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who threatened to investigate Garland “when Republicans take back the House,” presumably in the November 2022 elections.

 

READ MORE:

https://sputniknews.com/20220811/ag-garland-confirms-he-authorized-fbi-warrant-for-mar-a-lago-search-filed-motion-to-unseal-it-1099492877.html

 

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

SEE ALSO: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/10/trump-says-he-refused-to-answer-ny-attorney-generals-questions-in-probe-of-his-business.html 

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW.......................