RUSH: I have to tell you a funny little anecdote. Snerdley walked in today — dropped in here about 11 o’clock in the morning — to say hi, and he asked me a question. He said, “Have you seen the president’s tweet?” I said, “Which one?” “You know what I’m talking about,” he said. “No, no. What are you talking about?” He said, “I want to know how it feels.
“On Monday, you spend the first hour of your show detailing how the FBI put a spy in the Trump campaign and then used an informant to plant information in a Trump aide so that the Trump aide could be accused of admitting that the Trump campaign knew the Russians had Hillary Clinton emails and on Friday — Thursday and Friday — the entire news media is echoing what you said and the president is tweeting what you said. What does this feel like?”
He said, “Because I have to tell you” Snerdley is still talking, “after your show on Monday a bunch of New Media people thought you were a Looney Toon conspiracy kook and they were making fun of you and laughing at you.” I said, “I didn’t know that. I was in a plane up to Southampton.” “Oh, yeah. They were just making all kinds of fun of you because of being a conspiracy kook. Yet here at the end of the week, everybody is singing your song. What’s it feel like?” And I don’t know how to answer questions like that. It just…
I mean, it’s been going on for 30 years. Well, 20. Okay, 28, 27 years. It’s sort of become commonplace. “President Trump’s allies…” This is the Washington Post. “President Trump’s allies are waging an increasingly aggressive campaign to undercut the Russia investigation by exposing the role of a top-secret FBI source.” Now, wait a minute. You know, I would love to take credit for this, but I have to be honest. The Washington Post last Wednesday, 10 days ago, nine days ago… The Washington Post ran a story that triggered this in me!
And that was followed by a Kimberley Strassel column in the Wall Street Journal, and then an editorial in the Wall Street Journal that I pretty confident she wrote. But it was the Washington Post last Wednesday that revealed that the FBI had a spy or informant in the Trump campaign, and that’s what made me start trackin’ it down. Now, here we are 10 days later, and I want to read you… This is the Washington Post. This is the same paper!
“President Trump’s allies are waging an increasingly aggressive campaign to undercut the Russia investigation by exposing the role of a top-secret FBI source. The effort reached new heights Thursday as Trump alleged that an informant had improperly spied on his 2016 campaign and predicted that the ensuing scandal would be ‘bigger than Watergate!'” I did say that specifically. “It makes Watergate look like Romper Room,” is what I said, and that this is by far the biggest political scandal of our lifetimes.
But, folks, it was the Washington Post that revealed this “top-secret FBI source.” I would love to sit here and take credit for it, but I can’t because people could easily go back and look and find that it was the Washington Post, because people in the FBI/the DOJ had already begun their process of leaking about this in anticipation of the inspectors general report and whatever else is to follow that. And, by the way, speaking of the IG report, based on emails I’m getting and things I’m reading, I think we need to have proper expectations on this.
And if Comey gets blown out of the water in the IG report… But that’s what we gotta keep our expectations manageable here for, ’cause we don’t know what it’ll say. It’s getting hyped, and people’s expectations are rising. But I just want you to know it has nothing to do with Trump-Russia. And keep this in mind too. There will be an IG investigation of the DOJ and the FBI and the Trump-Russia investigation, but this Hillary email investigation has taken 15 months –15 months! One year and three months.
So you’re gonna need to be patient to wait for the IG report after the investigation of Trump-Russia, if there is one. But again, it was the Washington Post where I first saw the reference to the possibility that the Trump campaign was being spied on by the FBI. And now here’s the Washington Post with a story today writing, “President Trump’s allies are waging an increasingly aggressive campaign to undercut the Russia investigation by exposing the role of a top-secret FBI source.” The Washington Post first revealed this top-secret source!
So, what, we’re oddballs for following it up? The New York Times confirmed that there was spying on four Trump aides and at least one government informant in the Trump camp. We’re just following up! Why claim that it’s “Trump and his allies” who are exposing all this? Why claim that it’s Trump and his allies figuratively going off the deep end on this? We’re just following the breadcrumbs. And, by the way, I’m very aware that there could be a scam or a sting of sorts going on here, which is why I’ve not mentioned the name of who I think the spy or informant is.
And I’m not going to.
It doesn’t matter, when you get right down to it, that what’s important is that they did have an informant. Now, here’s another thing about this. Glenn Simpson, Fusion GPS, hired Steele to write the dossier. He testified before Congress in August of 2016. It was closed-door testimony. He said in that testimony the FBI had an informant in the Trump campaign. They had a mole. He did not specify whether it was voluntary (meaning that there was a traitor in the Trump campaign) or whether it was an actual plant by the FBI.
But there was no doubt that there was a spy, a plant — and there may be three. There may, in fact, best I have been able to tell… There may be three of them. So here’s the Washington Post trying to claim that it’s… Of course, they’re not mentioning my name, but this is who they mean here. “Trump’s allies…” Whenever… There’s a new phrase. “The conservative press.” If you see that, that more than likely is a reference to me.
Oh! Oh! Let me find one other thing here, folks. Because now we’ve got news that James Clapper has admitted it and that it was a good thing that there was a spy in the Trump campaign! Let me find this. Let me take a break. I’ve gotta take a break anyway. I’ll find this. I put this somewhere down middle of the Stack. But Clapper on CNN has admitted that the FBI/the DOJ had a spy and that it was a good thing they did.
We’ll be back after this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: And right here it is, former director of intelligence James Clapper said Thursday night on CNN that it was a good thing there was an FBI informant spying on the Trump campaign. “Clapper admitted the FBI ‘may have had someone who was talking to them in the campaign,’ referring to President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. He explained away the possibility of an FBI informant spying on the campaign as the bureau was trying to find out ‘what the Russians were doing to try to substantiate themselves in the campaign or influence or leverage it.'”
So this guy, Clapper, in my humble opinion, this guy is one of the ringleaders of all this, along with John Brennan. Clapper told Comey to present the Steele dossier — in fact, it wasn’t the dossier. The truth is, Clapper told Comey to tell Trump about the golden showers story. Comey did. He completed his assignment, in his own words. He reported back to Clapper. This is January 6th, 2017. Before Trump’s president.
Shortly thereafter, CNN hired James Clapper. CNN paid Clapper for actions Clapper had taken. And now Clapper says (paraphrasing), “Yeah. It’s a good thing that the Russians had an informant in there, ’cause we had to find out what the Russians were doing to try to substantiate themselves in the Trump campaign or influence it or leverage it.”
He went on to say, “So if there was someone that was observing that sort of thing, it was a good thing.” Except that sort of thing wasn’t happening. There is no evidence it ever happened. And yet Clapper is still talking about it as though it did happen, may still be happening, and it’s a damn good thing there was a spy in there looking at it to find out how the Russians — well, I’ll tell you what, if their spy was on the ball, and if there had been collusion, if anybody in his campaign had been talking to Russians, we would know about it. We would know.
Trump wouldn’t still be in office if they had ever found that evidence. Can you imagine the media firestorm after having that kind of evidence presented, if it existed? These people are continuing to misrepresent, to obfuscate and to flat-out lie. And it’s all to protect themselves. They’re the ones who were exposed here, and they are the ones who are gonna eventually be held accountable.
You know what, too, about this, Mr. Snerdley? Most Trumpists have gotten bored with this whole story. They’re not paying attention to it, except to the extent they want these creeps held accountable. They want these people to pay a price for what they’ve done. But the details of the story, they’ve long ago stopped caring ’cause there’s nothing to it. So they’re not even paying much attention to the Drive-Bys on this. That’s how the Trumpists are dealing with it.
Let me get started on the phones. Wesley in Raleigh, North Carolina. Great to have you, sir. How are you?
CALLER: I’m wonderful, Rush. It’s such a privilege to talk to you. Mega dittos. I gotta tell you, when I hear your echoes in the media, I feel a familial pride being part of the Rush Limbaugh extended family.
RUSH: Thank you, sir. Thank you. That’s what Snerdley was asking me. Wanted to know how it felt when I saw the same thing happen.
CALLER: Absolutely. I heard that. And I had to respond to that. But, Rush, your commentary of yesterday gave me the realization that if Mr. Trump really wants to drain the swamp, this is an object activity in draining the swamp. Swamp waters are muddy by the swamp’s own design. And all these bad actors — there’s a human agency involved in this bad behavior. And it must, as you just said, be held accountable. And Mr. Trump can do this country an enormous favor by illustrating the proper application of due process leading down to discovery and prosecution and holding fully accountable those human agents responsible for this behavior.
I mean, the swamp does many bad things. It spends too much money. It protects people. But this borders on, if it hasn’t crossed into, actual police state behavior that endangers the country. And I really hope Mr. Trump has the people, has the mechanisms in place to really go and hold these people accountable. Rush, one other, if I may, you’ve often said that the Republicans have a terrible issue with communicating their ideas to the public. And this particular case, I’ve heard people, otherwise very well informed individuals on network news, making the comment that they should give some of these people a pass. I don’t even understand it. The swamp water has infected their brains.
RUSH: Wait a minute. Who is saying give who a pass?
RUSH: Oh, come on. We’re talking about news people?
CALLER: I heard this on Fox, that Hillary Clinton, should she be found guilty, she should be let alone.
RUSH: Okay. You heard that on Fox. There could be no more than three or four people on Fox that would have said that.
CALLER: I was shocked. I agree. I agree. It was a minority —
RUSH: Well, who was it?
CALLER: — when I heard that.
RUSH: You afraid they’re gonna come find you and do something to you?
CALLER: (laughing).
RUSH: I will protect you.
CALLER: Let’s say that it —
RUSH: I know people at Fox. I can stop any violence that might happen there. So who is it?
CALLER: It was Trish Regan, and I was shocked. She’s a lovely, highly intelligent, experienced business commentator, but if she can come out with this stuff, we’re in trouble.
RUSH: Well, let me tell you where it comes from. And I must remind you that the Trumpster himself at one point voiced the same sentiment. It was after he won the presidency and his rally audiences were still shouting, “Lock her up! Lock her up!” And the media asked, “Are you gonna investigate Clinton? Are you gonna proceed?” “I don’t think so,” the president said. “I think we need to move forward.”
He wanted to appear graceful, magnanimous in victory. And I suspect that that’s what’s going on here with the person that you cited. It’s a distinct belief that people think humiliation is enough. In the case of the Clintons, folks, I think they’re like weeds. You can put Roundup on these people, and if you don’t keep pouring it on, eventually the weeds are coming back.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Quickly, I had this story from yesterday, and it didn’t make the cut because we were still focusing highly on the spying that was done on the Trump campaign by the FBI, the DOJ. By the way, the reason the name of the spy or spies remain redacted is that Rosenstein and the rest of the people up there claim that these people would be in grave danger should their identities be made public. I need somebody to explain that to me.
What would be so dangerous if this informant is outed? Do they really think Trump or his allies are gonna bump this person off? Look, I know the name of one of them, I’m pretty sure, but I’m — and it’s been mentioned by others. I would venture to say most of you would have to Wikipedia or Google it to find out who this name is. Seventy-some-odd years old, dual citizenship U.K./USA, Cambridge and Oxford professor.
And he was spying for the Soviet Union throughout his entire career in the U.K., until he was outed — on the verge of being outed — and then fled and decamped to Moscow, where he was set up in a palatial mansion for his troubles, for his services. It’s never… You know, it’s always amazed me that the intelligence agencies in both the U.K. and the United States recruit from places said to be the pillar — the greatest schools, the greatest universities, the greatest academies in the world.
And half the professors in these places are Marxists. It’s not a puzzle to me at all to learn that — and, by the way, it’s actually two people that might be spies, and one of them is an actual Russia agent. His name has been outed. It’s Mifsud, Joseph Mifsud. He’s a strange character that’s lurked in the shadows of much of British examine Russian intelligence. But why outing these people would be problematic, I don’t understand.
“Trump and his allies” are not gonna do anything to whoever it is, and this sure as hell has nothing to do with national security. I’ll tell you why they don’t want to out the people. It’s because the whole thing flopped! It’s because the spies didn’t turn anything up! Somebody is gonna have Clapper’s head. I’m here to tell you, Clapper going on CNN last night and saying that it was a good thing that the FBI, the DOJ had a spy in the Trump campaign?
Can you imagine when Brennan’s watching that and sees that? Can you imagine the call Clapper got at the end of that show? Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe these people are so arrogant and so condescending that they don’t care who knows what; that they are, in their own minds, untouchable and nobody can do anything to ’em. That may be it.
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