The Plot Against The President

- President Carter did his best to cooperate

in the transition that will take place.

I will always be grateful.

I can hardly believe it but it's sinking

in now the enormity of what has happened,

peaceful elections, eventually a peaceful transfer of power.

I accept responsibility tonight

that you have given me to be the leader of this,

the largest country in the history of mankind.

I have a lot to be thankful for tonight.

I am thankful for America and grateful

that we were able to solve our election

differences in a peaceful way.

- This peaceful transfer of power is one of the hallmarks

of a true democracy.

President Carter, President Bush Mr.

As well as the current president, everyone has been very kind

and offered to provide whatever help they could

in this transition process.

Now we're all rooting for success

in uniting and leading the country.

The peaceful transition of power

it is one of the hallmarks of our democracy.

Good afternoon everyone.

I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions

the intelligence community by the way

we collect information about the US citizens involved

in Trump's transition.

Details on associated U.S. persons

with incoming administration, details

with little or no apparent foreign intelligence value

were widely disseminated in intelligence

community reports.

Third, I have confirmed that the additional names

of Trump's transition team members were unmasked.

And fourth and finally, I want to be clear.

None of this surveillance was related to Russia.

or investigation of Russian activities

or Trump's team.

- The only thing we had wrong is that it was worse

than we think.

Devin was the first because he could see information

first as chairman of the intelligence committee.

He felt there was something wrong from the beginning.

- It was a lonely voice for a long time.

We wouldn't be where we are without Devin Nunez.

They started it right after,

on December 1, 2016.

- It becomes clear that we have suffered desecration.

of our democracy not seen since Watergate.

It was right after the elections.

and I thought, are they really going to

follow this path, this Russian matter.

- This is part of a concerted Russian influence

operation

Russian interference.

- They colluded, helped, participated.

- Vladimir Putin was the person who authorized

interference in our choice.

What Russia did was no different

than what they do all the time.

It was totally expected.

Right after the election, a couple of weeks,

Then I realized, wow, they're really starting

to encourage this.

And we almost thought it was a joke.

Like those of us Republicans on the committee,

like you really won't accept it

that you lost this election.

We're really going to get into this.

My hope is that the president-elect

will also worry about making sure

that we have no potential foreign influence

in our electoral process.

And then Obama and Brennan made it happen

creating what I call the Obama Dossier

what was this assessment of the intelligence community

which was the fastest of any government agency

have you ever made a report.

And of course it only took a few weeks and they said

oh yeah, the Russians were trying to help Trump.

You know, Obama really was

I'm going to hit the Russians

and he likes to kick some people out of the country.

- 35 Russian diplomats in the US Expelled,

only 72 hours to go, shutting down two Russian governments

Compounds, recreation centers allegedly used to spy

closed from noon on Friday.

- We use the committee of ways and means to carry out

What is a rather unusual public hearing?

for the intelligence committee.

Entra James Comey.

Then he asks me to go back to the back room

and tells me that he will do it publicly

announce that they are investigating the Trump campaign.

And I was like, wow, do you have any new information?

Is there anything new?

- I have been authorized by the Department of Justice

to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence

mission is investigating the efforts of the Russian government

interfere in the 2016 presidential elections.

It became a show.

It gave the impression that it was a real investigation.

with real information, although we still had

to see what that real information was.

- I interviewed several extraordinary candidates

for this job, all with Sterling credentials.

But what gave me confidence that this was the right man?

because the job consisted of speaking a meaning

that this is someone who knows what is right

and what's wrong

- The FBI's reputation for integrity is a gift

given to each new employee by those who went before.

No case, no source, no fear of shame

It is worth endangering the gift of integrity.

Comey has a great story

to fabricate crimes, to catch innocent citizens

in crimes that would not otherwise be committed.

By making the victim believe that a truthful answer

to a question would be to admit a crime.

Whereas, in fact, it would not be an admission of a crime.

When the subject lies , he bagged his prey.

He did that with Martha Stewart.

Later he did the same with Scouter Libby.

through his special counsel that he later appointed

Fitz Gerald.

Later they did the same with George Papadopoulos.

He did the same with Michael Flynn.

- Mike is one of nine children, blue collar background,

decided to join the army and rose to rank

as a three star general.

A lieutenant general in the army,

a man who risked his life for our country

On numerous occasions.

He knew well the secrets of our country.

Before becoming a director

Defense Intelligence, became responsible

for all intelligence gathering in Afghanistan.

Like the boy from the MI theater.

What Mike Flynn did was really amazing.

Revolutionized the way we do intelligence

in theater on the battlefield.

He understood that when you are fighting groups

like Al Qaeda or ISIS, is the speed

and the quality of immediately

the exploitable intelligence that matters most.

When you enter your raid

with your alpha team or the things you collect

right there it has to be exploited now.

You don't put it in a bag.

It does not put it in a secure service,

sending him back to Langley or Fort Meade,

and then sit on it for nine months

and then see if it is useful.

When Donald Trump was elected president

from the United States, flew to Washington DC

for a meeting with Barack Obama.

And in that meeting, Barack Obama told him unequivocally:

don't let anyone tell you who to hire

in your administration.

You must surround yourself with your own people,

Except General Mike Flynn.

The president flew back to New York that night.

And I remember speaking very directly

And he said, "What job are we giving Mike Flynn?"

I said, any job you want, sir?

And then the offer was extended for Mike

to become a National Security Advisor.

The Obama administration was behind him.

for challenging them in Iran and on other issues.

You know they fired him from the DIA

and famous at his Oval Office meeting after the election

Obama told President-elect Trump,

you know, there are basically two people

In the world you can't trust

One is Putin and the other is Mike Flynn.

I mean, give me a break.

- We talk about reforming the intelligence community

because the 17 expanding agencies,

you know, they have been wrong in many things.

They were in the weapons of mass destruction

being the most obvious example.

- Every intelligence agency, every bureaucracy

is worried about being refurbished.

So Flynn had been loud and clear

that he did not like intelligence

I was getting when I was out in the field.

He did not get what he called actionable intelligence.

So I was going to do some nice and comfortable jobs at Langley.

- I was talking about chasing people's budgets,

seeing who is wasting, who is doing the work.

We will reduce these institutions to size

and see how it works.

So, they were terrified.

And then there are probably reasons

why intelligence bureaucracies are specifically resilient

change because they really are irresponsible.

If you are responsible for a long time,

you get used to being irresponsible

and responsibility sounds bad.