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Rudy Giuliani claims he made up 'gossip' about FBI probe of Clinton emails days before 2016 election: DOJ
August 05, 2021
Rudy Giuliani told Department of Justice investigators that he made up claims about Hillary Clinton's emails ahead of the 2016 election.
The former New York City mayor and federal prosecutor sat down for a voluntary interview with the Justice Department's inspector general, and he told investigators that he had lied to talk radio listeners shortly before the election when he claimed to have heard "rumors" about an investigation from "active" FBI agents, reported The Daily Beast.
"I think [Donald Trump has] got a surprise or two that you're going to hear about in the next few days," Giuliani said Oct. 26, 2016. I mean, I'm talking about some pretty big surprises."
Two days later, then-FBI director James Comey announced the reopening of an inquiry into allegations that Clinton had mishandled classified information, which Trump and his Republicans used to bash the Democratic nominee.
However, Giuliani told the inspector general's probe of the possible FBI leaks that he had only spoken to former agents who had not knowledge of any investigations, and that anything he heard about Comey's actions were merely gossip.
Giuliani claimed the "surprise" he referenced was a speech that Trump would give about Clinton and had nothing to do with Comey.
The inspector general's office released a report on the matter Thursday that found no evidence that active FBI agents were in contact with Giuliani before the election nearly five years ago.
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Veteran British drummer Charlie Watts is set to miss the resumption of The Rolling Stones' tour of the United States next month as he recovers from a medical procedure, a spokesman said Thursday.
The 80-year-old musician's spokesman said he was "unlikely to be available" when the band resumes its "USA No Filter" tour in September, following its postponement last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Charlie has had a procedure which was completely successful, but I gather his doctors this week concluded that he now needs proper rest and recuperation," the spokesman said.
"With rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks it's very disappointing to say the least, but it's also fair to say no-one saw this coming."
Stones frontman Mick Jagger said on Twitter that the band "really look forward to welcoming Charlie back as soon as he is fully recovered".
Drummer Steve Jordan would step in to fill the void left by Watts, "so we can still play all the shows for you this fall", he added.
The Stones restart their tour in St Louis on September 26, with dates also scheduled for Pittsburgh, Nashville, Minneapolis, Dallas and other American cities.
The Sun tabloid reported that Watts underwent a procedure in London after "doctors spotted a problem during a routine check-up".
On Wednesday Watts himself released a statement saying "for once my timing has been a little off".
"I am working hard to get fully fit but I have today accepted on the advice of the experts that this will take a while," he added.
"After all the fans' suffering caused by Covid I really do not want the many RS fans who have been holding tickets for this Tour to be disappointed by another postponement or cancellation.
"I have therefore asked my great friend Steve Jordan to stand in for me."
Watts, known as the quiet man of the scandal-soaked Rolling Stones, was treated successfully for throat cancer in 2004.
© 2021 AFP
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Sarah Palin is open to a possible US Senate run — but only 'if God wants me to do it'
August 05, 2021
On the far right, Sarah Palin isn't as prominent as she was during the Obama years — when the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee tirelessly railed against President Barack Obama's centrist administration while promoting far-right conspiracy theories. Palin, in 2021, hasn't been in the headlines nearly as much as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia or Rep. Lauren Boeberg of Colorado. But journalist Margaret Carlson, in an article for the Daily Beast this week, discusses Palin's hopes for a comeback — including a possible U.S. Senate run in Alaska.
"Before there was Donald Trump, there was Sarah Palin, a supernova who burst out of the 49th state onto the national scene in 2008 as John McCain's choice for vice president," Carlson writes. "She ultimately lost to Joe Biden and returned briefly to her day job governing Alaska before quitting midway through her first term to tend to a family fractured by sudden fame."
If Palin does decide to run for the U.S. Senate in Alaska in 2022, it would be a GOP primary challenge to Sen. Lisa Murkowski — who is conservative but not far-right and is considered a RINO (Republican In Name Only) by MAGA Republicans. The fact that Murkowski voted "guilty" in Trump's second impeachment trial earlier this year infuriated Trump sycophants. Palin hasn't committed to running but has said, according to People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch, that she will "if God wants me to do it."
Carlson explains, "Palin likes drama, and she called the prospect of winning a Senate seat a 'sacrifice,' requiring a move to the 'bubble' of Washington — although one she'd endure if called to do so. Since the call from God is to run in Alaska, she breezes by the fact that she spends enough time in the balmy bubble of Arizona to own two houses there and start a parlor game in Juneau of Where's Sarah?"
But Murkowski already has one GOP primary challenger for 2022: anti-gay extremist Kelly Tshibaka, who Trump has endorsed.
"At present," Carlson writes, "God may be the only entity wanting her to enter the primary. The Alaska Republican Party, under the thumb of Trump, was so anxious to avenge the heresy of Sen. Lisa Murkowski for her vote to impeach the former president over his violent attempt to overturn the election, that they voted 58 to 17 to censure Murkowski and to endorse a pray-away-the-gay mid-level former state official, Kelly Tshibkaas, to challenge her. Another MAGA Republican in the mix would presumably only help the incumbent."
Nonetheless, Carlson writes that a Senate run by Palin shouldn't be ruled out — and that Trump could endorse Palin even though he has already endorsed Tshibkaas.
"The stars in the Republican firmament are idiots, lunatics and creeps like Jim Jordan, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, whose Florida wingman Joel Greenberg recently pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and last month, asked a federal judge for more time to implicate others he hung out with in hopes of reducing his sentence," Carlson observes. "But no one will out-fringe Palin, who self-defines as a pit bull with lipstick…. With her winks and put downs and you betchas, she mesmerized the MAGA crowd back when Donald Trump was still a registered Democrat. After seeing her act, he became a Republican in 2009."
Carlson continues, "And Trump's endorsement isn't out of the question. Loyalty isn't his strong suit, and he has no ties to Tshibaka."
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