Senator Grassley's "Spin" on Pushing Russian Disinformation Is Not Believable.
It's the stuff of fantasy, self serving and absurd
US Senator Chuck Grassley’s attempt to “spin” his way out of the scandal involving his central role in pushing disinformation developed and provided by Russian intelligence operatives to damage President Joe Biden should fool no one.
It is not believable. It is the stuff of fantasy, and it is absurd.
First, some backstory:
Last summer - against the wishes of the FBI - Grassley released “information” provided by Alexander Smirnov, an FBI “informant” who claimed the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden $5 million each in bribes. The FBI warned Grassley that the information was uncorroborated and its accuracy unknown.
The FBI also told Grassley releasing information from the “informant” would compromise an on-going investigation. That’s standard and routine practice for any criminal investigation.
What happened next is neither standard nor routine practice: Grassley released the raw information from an on-going investigation anyway. He described the “informant” as “heroic” for providing the information - still uncorroborated and still of unknown accuracy. He didn’t even know - as far as we now know, anyway - who the informant was. But Chuck Grassley assured us he was heroic.
House Republicans promptly pounced on Smirnov’s claim - still uncorroborated and still of unknown accuracy - and made it the center pole of their impeachment effort to remove Biden, a democratically elected president, from office even though they have produced no credible evidence of wrong doing, much less high crimes and misdemeanors.
House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan has described Smirnov’s “information” as “the heart” of their case and the “most corroborating evidence we have.”
New Developments & What They Mean for Grassley:
Last week, Smirnov was arrested for making up his accusations, lying about. everything. He admitted working with Russian intelligence operatives to do so.
The supposed blockbuster information Grassley released and pushed turned out to be Russian disinformation. Smirnov - Grassley’s “hero” - turned out to be a flat out liar, working with Russia.
Is that really what passes for “heroic” action for the Senate’s Republican Caucus these days?? Or from the senior Republican in the US Senate in terms of years of service?
Is actually knowing what you are talking about no longer a requirement for Republican US Senators?
Sorry. But Senator Grassley’s role in elevating this liar and pushing his bogus lies onto the public record is going to take some serious answers to a raft of serious questions, not mere and simple spin.
Chuck Grassley elevated, amplified, and pushed Putin’s lies. House Republicans picked up those lies and ran with them - uncorroborated raw investigative information in their on-going effort to remove a a democratically elected president.
Grassley has yet to offer a believable explanation for how this happened.
Did Grassley know he was doing Putin’s dirty work?
If Grassley didn’t know he was doing Putin’s dirty work, why didn’t he know, given his experience as a seasoned - and supposedly tough - congressional investigator?
Did partisan concerns out weigh Grassley’s duty to exercise due diligence and act responsibly?
Were Grassley and House Republicans collaborating on this to politically damage Biden, build a false case for impeachment and remove him from office?
Grassley was, after all, their “go-to” guy in the Senate when it was time to steal a Supreme Court appointment the Constitution said was President Obama’s to make. Why not bring Grassley in to help push Biden out of office through impeachment?
Given Grassley’s record in his later years in the Senate, it’s plausible, so we need to ask.
Grassley’s Response This Week
Grassley didn’t have much to say for the first couple of weeks of this scandal, hiding behind statement issued by aides.
On Tuesday, he finally gave a speech on the Senate floor, and took questions by phone from a small group of local Iowa reporters. On the Senate floor, of course, Grassley attacked “confused Democrats” and the “liberal media” for asking questions about his role in this scandal.
It’s always a good idea, when your case is shaky, to have an enemy or opponent or two you can call names in the course of your speech. For Grassley, they were “confused Democrats” and the “liberal media.”
One must ask - why the ad hominem attacks on concerned Americans? Just answer the questions. It’s often said by some in politics if you have a weak defense, make sure you have a strong offense. Grassley’s use of ad hominem attacks in his response illustrates that maxim in action.
The choice of both venues - a Senate floor speech, and a telephone conversation with a small group of local reporters give a Senator extraordinary ability to control whether there will be any follow up questions at all from the news media, and if there are, to control the conversation.
Again, if your defense is shaky, being able to control questions - cut them off, even, if needed - from the news media is a strong advantage.
In both venues, Grassley denied that he “vouched for” Smirnov. Yet the record shows he praised the “informant” as “heroic” - without even knowing who the “informant” was,. That’s a pretty blanket endorsement for someone if I’ve ever seen one.
No “vetting” required for this one - he or she is a hero! How did that happen?
Grassley claimed all he did in releasing Smirnov’s claims was prod the FBI to do their job because they weren’t following up on those allegations. Yet, Senator Grassley offered no evidence of that claimed fact - ever. He offered no evidence that the FBI was ignoring the informant’s information, and no evidence that if they were following up on it, that it was taking longer than it should have taken. All he offered was a self serving, empty assertion.
Grassley’s vision of himself as hero on this front is pure fantasy.
Donald Trump is in court every week asking for more time to pull together evidence he already has in his possession re: the many criminal charges facing him. Grassley doesn’t complain about that or demand that raw information and accusations against Trump be put on the record before it can be evaluated and a determination made about its accuracy.
Why does Senator Grassley think the FBI should not have the same right - the same duty in fact - to evaluate what they gather in its investigation, or that such a process wouldn’t take significant time to evaluate accusations against President Biden?
Grassley also paints himself as a hero for prodding the FBI to discover that Smirnov was a liar. Yet he’s offered no evidence that they hadn’t already figured that out as they looked into these claims that turned out to be clear Russian disinformation.
Nor has he shown any concern that putting that conclusion on the public record before charges are made or trials begin might tip off other potential witnesses to change their stories to comport with the new status of Smirnov as a liar?
And what the heck was Senator Grassley’s rush in getting these allegations onto the public record before the FBI’s investigation was finished, even though the FBI warned him doing so could hobble their ability to hold anyone accountable for crimes.
What was his rush?
Did Grassley know what Russian disinformation Smirnov had slipped to the FBI before it was released? If so, how did he know? It’s suspicious that a move that fits the Republican Party’s Biden demolition agenda like a glove is the one thing Grassley pushed so hard to make happen.
At this point, all Senator Grassley has offered are self serving excuses offered in venues that don’t allow unfettered follow up questioning by reporters who follow the details. of this scandal daily.
Frankly, I made up better self-serving arguments to explain to my fourth grade teacher why my arithmetic homework wasn’t done by class time.
Surely Iowa’s senior Senator can do better. On so many levels.
The only thing Senator Grassley’s absurd spin is accomplishing here is to further tarnish whatever legacy he managed to build over his 65 years in office.
Is this scandal and ridiculous dissembling in its aftermath really how he wants Iowans to remember his service?
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As a “ confused Democrat,” I wrote to Grassley last week. I too would like some answers and not a highly managed floor speech and telephone event. We shall see if he or his office responds, but since coming out with his personal accolades the other day, I suspect a cut and paste job if I get any response. My questions to him were as follows:
1. Who gave you the unvetted material you chose to make public concerning apparent lies made by Alexander Smirnov?
2. What personal and political connections do you have to whomever helped persuade you to make public this unvetted material?
3. What statement have you made concerning the revelation that Alexander Smirnov ( sitting in jail now) is clearly Russian - connected and peddling disinformation?
4. As an Iowan whom you supposedly represent , am I to believe that you willfully, willingly and readily choose to peddle pro- Russian disinformation simply because it furthers some personal or political agenda you have?
A simple apology to Iowans and the American public that you were duped might be appropriate. Short of that, one must believe this is just another example of a pattern of behavior you’ve chosen for some end that clearly weakens our homeland security and our international standing as well.
Which is it?
I understand the contemporary Spiro Agnew attack on media. It works well with Trump. It does not wear well with Grassley. I also am confused about his confused Democrats comment. This is not some tweet where he made an understandable typo. If anything Smirnov was good enough to confuse quite a few of Grassley’s fellow Republicans.