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‘The Bible Stays,’ Pence Tells American Legion of VA Hospital Suit

Veterans gave Vice President Mike Pence a standing ovation on Wednesday when he told them about the Trump administration’s reversing of the bans on religious symbols in veterans hospitals, declaring flatly, “The Bible stays.”

Pence was discussing specifically a New Hampshire lawsuit when he addressed the 101st American Legion National Convention in Indianapolis in his home state of Indiana.

“As we meet the health care needs of our veterans, let me make you another promise,” the vice president said. “This administration will always make room for the spiritual needs of our heroes at the VA as well.”

In January, the Manchester Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New Hampshire removed a Bible—carried by a prisoner of war in World War II—that was on display on a “Missing Man table” after a secularist group, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, objected.    

“You might’ve heard even today that there’s a lawsuit to remove a Bible that was carried in World War II from a Missing Man table at a VA hospital in New Hampshire. There’s a lawsuit underway,” Pence said. 

After receiving complaints about its removal, hospital officials restored the Bible in February. In May, however, a Vietnam veteran sued to have the Bible removed.  

“It’s really no surprise, because, under the last administration, VA hospitals were removing Bibles and even banning Christmas carols in an effort to be politically correct,” Pence said.

“Let me be clear: Under this [administration], VA hospitals will not be religion-free zones,” he tweeted. “We will respect the freedom of religion for every veteran of every faith. New Hampshire VA—the Bible stays!” Pence said.      

As The Daily Signal reported earlier this week after an interview with VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, the department issued a revised directive to permit religious literature, symbols, and displays at agency facilities following a string of incidents in recent years in which individual medical centers banned Christmas trees and carols, removed Bibles, and restricted chaplains. 

The VA has had inconsistent policies across the country. The new guidelines, which were adopted in July, referenced a recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of a prominent Maryland roadside cross memorializing those who died in World War I. That case highlighted the important role that religious symbols play in the lives of Americans.

After the New Hampshire lawsuit was filed in May, First Liberty Institute, a legal group that defends religious freedom, sent a letter to Wilkie urging a policy clarification. First Liberty represents the Northeast POW/MIA Network, which was responsible for the contested display. 

“We are representing their interest in the case and have filed a motion to intervene,” Mike Berry, chief of staff for the Plano, Texas-based First Liberty Institute, which also was involved in the Maryland cross case, said.

 “The Bible has historical significance and should be presumed constitutional,” Berry told The Daily Signal. “To have a display with religious symbols consistent with history is what we have with the POW/MIA display.” 

The new policy is a “shame” and a violation of separation of church and state, said Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which is representing the plaintiff in the New Hampshire case. 

“The Veterans Administration is what is called a ‘state actor,’ and therefore, must completely comply with the No Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights of our U.S. Constitution,” Weinstein said in a statement Wednesday. “The imperious and illicit display of ONLY the Christian Bible and related to Christian material at VA facilities is a scandalous outrage that defies the very foundations of our United States Constitution.” 

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The Justice Department’s IG Delivers a Scathing Rebuke of Ex-FBI Director Comey

The
Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General on Thursday released its
long-awaited “Report of Investigation of
Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey’s Disclosure of
Sensitive Investigative Information and Handling of Certain Memoranda.” 

Between Jan. 6, 2017, and April 11 of that same year, then-FBI Director James Comey memorialized seven one-on-one conversations he had with Donald Trump. Four of those memoranda contained classified information. 

Two of the four—the first about an intelligence-assessment briefing he gave President-elect Trump in Trump Tower in New York City on Jan. 6, in which he also discussed the “salacious and unverified” information contained in the infamous Steele dossier, and the other pertaining to interactions he had with then-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and Trump on Feb. 8—were classified at the “secret” level. (That’s defined as information that, if disclosed, “reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage” to national security.)

The other two—one detailing his conversation with Trump on Jan. 28, in which it’s alleged that Trump demanded “loyalty” from him, and one following a telephone conversation with Trump on April 11, in which Comey claims Trump asked whether the then-FBI chief had gotten the word out that Trump was not personally under investigation—were classified at the “confidential” level. (That’s the lowest level of classification, defined as information that, if disclosed, “reasonably could be expected to cause damage” to national security.)

While
not containing classified information, the other three memoranda were
designated “For Official Use Only” (which essentially prohibits disclosure
unless approved by the “originator” and even then, only on a need-to-know
basis). 

Comey informed Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz that he considered six of those memoranda to be his personal documents (all of the memos except for the one about the Trump Tower briefing).  Two of those documents (including one that contained classified information) were prepared on his personal computer, and he kept copies of four of them (two of which contained classified information) in his personal safe at home.

After
he was fired on May 9, 2017, Comey told a friend of his—Daniel Richman, a
Columbia Law School professor who also worked as a special government employee
at the FBI—about the loyalty oath that Trump allegedly demanded. Richman leaked
that information to the New York Times, which published a story about it on May 11.

On May 14, shortly after Trump hinted about the possible existence of tapes of his conversations with Comey, the former FBI chief provided copies of the four memoranda that he had retained to his personal attorneys. Two days later, Comey sent a copy of one of the non-classified memos—in which he recounts his Feb. 14 meeting with Trump, at which he claims that Trump said that he hoped Comey could “see [his] way clear … to letting Flynn go”—to Richman and asked him to leak it to the New York Times, which he did. 

A
story was published that
same day.

Richman
also informed the Office of the Inspector General that Comey told him about the
Jan. 28 “loyalty” conversation with Trump and that he leaked that information to
the Times reporter, although he had not yet seen Comey’s classified memo about
that conversation at the time.

This isn’t the first time that the Office of the Inspector General has criticized Comey’s conduct. In June 2018, that office released a scathing report criticizing Comey for his conduct related to the Clinton email investigation, known as Operation Midyear.

Although
the Justice Department has declined prosecution—most likely because the
information that was leaked to the media did not contain classified information—the
inspector general concluded that Comey violated various Justice Department and
FBI policies, as well as his own employment agreement with the FBI.

Horowitz
also severely criticized Comey for “the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive
investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in
order to achieve a personally desired outcome”—specifically, the appointment of
a special counsel to investigate Trump. 

Horowitz
stated that Comey “set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI
employees—and the many thousands of more former FBI employees—who similarly
have access to or knowledge of non-public information.” 

While Comey might have believed that disclosure of that information was in the best interests of the country, Horowitz correctly concluded—as Comey himself had acknowledged previously in other contexts—that “were current or former FBI employees to follow the former Director’s example and disclose sensitive information in service of their own strongly held personal convictions, the FBI would be unable to dispatch its law enforcement duties properly … .” 

Comey’s
closest advisers informed the Office of the Inspector General that they were
“surprised,” “stunned,” “shocked,” and “disappointed” by what Comey did.

They
should be.

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Virginia Governor’s Appointee to Women’s Council Resigns After Her Anti-Catholic Tweets Surface

Gail Gordon Donegan. (Twitter)

(CNSNews.com) — Gail Gordon Donegan, whose appointment to the Virginia Council on Women was announced by Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on Aug. 16, revealed on Aug. 28 that she is resigning from the council and acknowledged that some of her “jokes” on Twitter over the years had “crossed the line.” Donegan also said she apologizes “to those that were hurt by them.”

Because of her tweets on Catholicism, the bishops who lead the Dioceses of Arlington and Richmond had called on Gov. Northam on Tuesday to rescind Donegan’s appointment. They said her tweets “demonstrated a pattern of ridiculing Catholic beliefs and employing stereotypes designed to malign people of faith.”  The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights had described Donegan as “a vicious anti-Catholic bigot.”

(Twitter, Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Among her tweets, Donegan had remarked, “Abortion is morally indefensible to Catholic priests bcuz it results in fewer children to rape.” 

“Today I submitted my letter of resignation to the Governor and will no longer serve as a member of the Virginia Council on Women,” said Donegan on Wednesday. “I do not wish to distract from the important work of the Council. I will have no further comment besides this statement.”

“I’ve spent over a decade working on behalf of important women’s issues in Virginia,” she said. ”At the same time, I have also been the author of a twitter account that focused on covering Northern Virginia politics from a satirical angle from Alexandria – which is why the account is named @satirclalx. I recognize that some of the jokes I told crossed the line, and I apologize to those who were hurt by them.”

Donegan continued, “Because of my recent advocacy, a small group decided to target the worst of my tens of thousands of tweets and paint a false picture of who I am. This group was upset because I recently helped defeat them in a local primary. They went to a reporter – Patrick Wilson – who shares their agenda. He wrote a lazy cut and paste piece from these activists – where he even forgot in his outreach to change the word ‘she’ to ‘you’ as you can see in the image below.”

(Twitter, Richmond Times-Dispatch)

“One of the activists involved even messaged me after the article appeared and claimed to have written it for the reporter,” said Donegan.  ”I won’t allow this unethical behavior to further distract from the important work of this Council, so I will resign today – but I will be taking legal action in the near future to ensure this small group is never able to smear someone like this again.”

“This incident is just another chapter in the bullying that women activists face every day on social media.”

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D).  

Following Donegan’s announcement, the Catholic League said in a press release, “We’ve learned that Gail Gordon Donegan, the anti-Catholic bigot named by Gov. Ralph Northam to the Virginia Council on Women, has resigned. This is welcome news.

“Following Donegan’s appointment, it was revealed that she has been spewing forth a torrent of vile, hate-filled anti-Catholic twitter messages. This led to an outpouring of protest from Catholics, which has now resulted in her stepping down.

“We commend Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond and Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington for speaking out forcefully on this matter and inspiring the Catholic faithful of Virginia to do so as well.”

The American Atheists expressed support for Donegan. “The Richmond Diocese wanted to silence Gail Gordan Donegan precisely because she was so spot-on in her analysis,” said American Atheists spokesman Tom Van Denburgh, as reported in Patheos.  “It is hypocritical that the Church claims to protect life, all while spending billions of dollars covering up sex abuse and fighting accountability at every turn.”

“As atheists, we have a duty to tell the truth about the harms of religion, and that’s exactly what Gail did,” said Van Denburgh. 

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Mark Levin Explains Why ‘There’s Great Disrespect for the Media Today’

Conservative talk show host Mark Levin says the “anti-American” press is doing its best to undermine a “pro-American” president. (Photo: Screen capture)

(CNSNews.com) – “There’s great disrespect for the media today,” conservative talk show host Mark Levin told Fox News’s Sean Hannity Wednesday night.

“They have a credibility problem, thanks to them. They’ve turned off half of America. They treat half of America with utter contempt.”

Levin pointed to news networks where liberalism thrives:

You know, the days of Huntley-Brinkley and Howard K. Smith are long over. Can you imagine? What have we heard over the last two years?

They bring on a porn actress hundreds of times; her now soon-to-be felonious lawyer hundreds of times. They bring on a neo-Nazi, Jake Tapper did, to try to attack the president. They had to fire an anti-Semitic professor over there at CNN. Doing better than the New York Times, who still has their anti-Semitic senior editor.

Race-baiting professors endlessly. Ex-Obama officials with their vicious allegations against the president. Never-Trumpers who nobody’s ever heard of before with their vicious allegations against the president.

And what do we hear day in and day out from our unpatriotic media? That the president’s Hitler. Do they know who Hitler is? That the president’s Stalin. That he’s Mussolini. That he’s a white supremacist. That he’s a racist, a bigot, an anti-Semite, a dictator. I just wrote these down when I hear(d) them. A neo-Nazi. He’s depraved, he’s treasonous. He’s demented. Mentally ill. Serial liar. Compromised.

I mean, to me, that all sounds like Joe Scarborough, but what do I know.

Now what else do they push? Russia collusion – lie! The dossier — lie! Impeachment — bizarre. Obstruction — lie! So of course the public’s turning on the press. And the president has every right to defend himself.

Levin held up various books he said are used to indoctrinate young journalism students, who are now taught to wrap the news in social activism.

“One final thing,” he continued:

“This president has been nice to the media. Hello! Nice to the media. Unlike John Adams and Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson, he didn’t shut down any newspapers. He didn’t imprison any journalists. Unlike FDR and JFK and LBJ, Trump hasn’t unleashed the IRS against a single news publisher. They did.

“Unlike Barack Obama — the great Barack Obama — Trump hasn’t surveilled “New York Times” columnists or fox reporters or 20 Associated Press reporters. And yet, they hate him. Why do they hate him? Because he’s pro-American and they’re anti-American. That’s the only explanation. That’s it!”

 

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DOJ OIG: Comey Failed in His Responsibility, ‘Set a Dangerous Example,’ in Leaking Sensitive Information

Former FBI Director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) – The Justice Department inspector general on Thursday released a report describing its investigation into the “creation, storage and handling” of memos written by former FBI Director James Comey, including the one Comey admits he leaked to a friend for transmittal to the New York Times.

The OIG report concludes that Comey failed to live up to his responsibility to protect sensitive information; and by using sensitive information to force the appointment of a special prosecutor, the OIG found that Comey “set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees — and the many thousands more former FBI employees — who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.”

The seven memos, recording Comey’s interactions with Donald Trump before and after Trump became president, were written by Comey between January 6, 2017, and April 11, 2017.

Some of the information in those memos was marked as classified by Comey himself.

In its investigation, the OIG said, “The FBI determined that Memos 1 and 3 contained information classified at the “SECRET” level, and that Memos 2 and 7 contained small amounts of information classified at the “CONFIDENTIAL” level.

Here’s the pertinent part of the OIG’s conclusions:

 

[A]fter his removal as FBI Director…Comey provided a copy of Memo 4, which Comey had kept without authorization, to [his friend] Richman with instructions to share the contents with a reporter for The New York Times. Memo 4 included information that was related to both the FBI’s ongoing investigation of Flynn and, by Comey’s own account, information that he believed and alleged constituted evidence of an attempt to obstruct the ongoing Flynn investigation; later that same day, The New York Times published an article about Memo 4 entitled, “Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation.”

The responsibility to protect sensitive law enforcement information falls in large part to the employees of the FBI who have access to it through their daily duties. On occasion, some of these employees may disagree with decisions by prosecutors, judges, or higher ranking FBI and Department officials about the actions to take or not take in criminal and counterintelligence matters. They may even, in some situations, distrust the legitimacy of those supervisory, prosecutorial, or judicial decisions.

But even when these employees believe that their most strongly-held personal convictions might be served by an unauthorized disclosure, the FBI depends on them not to disclose sensitive information. Former Director Comey failed to live up to this responsibility.

By not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course of his FBI employment, and by using it to create public pressure for official action, Comey set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees — and the many thousands more former FBI employees — who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.

Comey said he was compelled to take these actions “if I love this country…and I love the Department of Justice, and I love the FBI.” However, were current or former FBI employees to follow the former Director’s example and disclose sensitive information in service of their own strongly held personal convictions, the FBI would be unable to dispatch its law enforcement duties properly, as Comey himself noted in his March 20, 2017 congressional testimony.

Comey expressed a similar concern to President Trump, according to Memo 4, in discussing leaks of FBI information, telling Trump that the FBI’s ability to conduct its work is compromised “if people run around telling the press what we do.” This is no doubt part of the reason why Comey’s closest advisors used the words “surprised,” “stunned,” “shocked,” and “disappointment” to describe their reactions to learning what Comey had done.

We have previously faulted Comey for acting unilaterally and inconsistent with Department policy. Comey’s unauthorized disclosure of sensitive law enforcement information about the Flynn investigation merits similar criticism. In a country built on the rule of law, it is of utmost importance that all FBI employees adhere to Department and FBI policies, particularly when confronted by what appear to be extraordinary circumstances or compelling personal convictions.

Comey had several other lawful options available to him to advocate for the appointment of a Special Counsel, which he told us was his goal in making the disclosure. What was not permitted was the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.

The OIG has provided this report to the FBI and to the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility for action they deem appropriate.

Justice Department Inspector-General Michael Horowitz has not yet released his report on alleged FISA abuse involving a Trump campaign volunteer. Those FISA warrants on Carter Page, reportedly based on unverified information, were signed by Comey and other FBI and DOJ officials.  Additional OIG reports are expected in the weeks ahead.

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Trump on IG’s Comey Report: ‘Never in History of Our Country Has Someone Been More Thoroughly Disgraced’

A Justice Department inspector general report on James Comey released Thursday has “disgraced and excoriated” the former FBI director, President Donald Trump says.

(Screenshot)

The disgrace Comey brought upon himself by his behavior detailed in the report may be unprecedented, Trump wrote in a tweet following the report’s release:

“Perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself!?”

As CNSNews.com reports, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) report reveals that, as FBI director, Comey both failed in his responsibility to safeguard – and “set a dangerous example” by leaking – sensitive information:

The Justice Department inspector general on Thursday released a report describing its investigation into the “creation, storage and handling” of memos written by former FBI Director James Comey, including the one Comey admits he leaked to a friend for transmittal to the New York Times.

The OIG report concludes that Comey failed to live up to his responsibility to protect sensitive information; and by using sensitive information to force the appointment of a special prosecutor, the OIG found that Comey “set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees — and the many thousands more former FBI employees — who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.”

 

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Comey Demands Apology Despite DOJ Watchdog Revealing He Violated FBI Policies

Former FBI Director James Comey demanded an apology following the Justice Department’s inspector general report revealing he did violate FBI policies.

The DOJ inspector general released a report on Comey’s handling of the Russia probe – which ultimately found no evidence of collusion or conspiracy – and concluded he violated FBI policies by leaking 2017 memos from his conversations with President Trump. The report said Comey set a “dangerous example” and acknowledged his actions were rooted in achieving “a personally desired outcome.”

“However, Comey’s own, personal conception of what was necessary was not an appropriate basis for ignoring the policies and agreements governing the use of FBI records,” the report states.

“We conclude that Comey’s retention, handling, and dissemination of certain Memos violated Department and FBI policies, and his FBI Employment Agreement,” it concludes:

However, the DOJ declined prosecution.

“Upon completing its investigation, the OIG provided its factual findings to the Justice Department for a prosecutorial decision regarding Comey’s conduct, as required by the Inspector General Act,” the office stated.

“After reviewing the matter, the DOJ declined prosecution,” it added.

Comey responded in a pair of tweets, smugly demanding an apology from his critics, despite the report concluding he did, in fact, violate FBI policies.

“OJ IG ‘found no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the memos to members of the media,’” Comey wrote.

“I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a ‘sorry we lied about you’ would be nice,” he continued:

“And to all those who’ve spent two years talking about me ‘going to jail’ or being a ‘liar and a leaker’—ask yourselves why you still trust people who gave you bad info for so long, including the president,” he added:

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MSNBC’s O’Donnell Issues Humiliating Apology After Trump Sent in His Lawyer To Deal with Malicious Report on Financial Docs

A lawyer for President Donald Trump hit back Wednesday at MSNBC and host Lawrence O’Donnell, who one day earlier pushed an unfounded rumor that loans provided to Trump by Deutsche Bank were co-signed by “Russian oligarchs.” And his effort appears to have worked, as O’Donnell was eventually forced to issue a humiliating apology. “A source…

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WaPo Investigation Finds ‘Almost Every Detail’ of Biden War Story False

A Washington Post investigation found that a war story frequently told by 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on the campaign trail was false in nearly every detail.

At a Friday New Hampshire rally, Biden told the crowd that as vice president he had once been asked to travel to the dangerous Kunar province in Afghanistan to pin the Silver Star on a war hero who had rappelled down a steep wall to retrieve the body of a fallen comrade. Biden said he ignored others who warned him not to go. "We can lose a vice president," he remembered saying. "We can’t lose many more of these kids."

In Biden’s telling, as he pinned the medal to the hero’s chest, the tearful Navy captain told Biden that he didn’t deserve the medal because he hadn’t saved his friend in time. "This is the God’s truth," he told the audience. "My word as a Biden."

Except it wasn’t. "Almost every detail in the story appears to be incorrect," the Post reported Thursday. "Based on interviews with more than a dozen U.S. troops, their commanders and Biden campaign officials, it appears as though the former vice president has jumbled elements of at least three actual events into one story of bravery, compassion and regret that never happened."

Biden did visit Kunar in 2008, but as a senator, not vice president. There, he watched as a major general pinned the Bronze Star to a soldier who successfully saved the life of an injured comrade during a Taliban ambush. The honored soldier, Miles Foltz, was a young Army specialist who pulled his comrade behind a rock, not an old Navy captain who rappelled down a wall.

"The upshot: In the space of three minutes, Biden got the time period, the location, the heroic act, the type of medal, the military branch and the rank of the recipient wrong, as well as his own role in the ceremony," the Post writes.

Biden started exaggerating the details of his Afghanistan visit as early as 2016, when the soldier first became a Navy captain who "climbed down about 200 feet" and received a Silver Star, and Biden became the one who pinned the medal. Later that year, he said the incident occurred in Iraq, and that the captain pulled his comrade from a burning Humvee.

"Three weeks later, stumping for Jason Kander, an Afghan War veteran running for the Senate in Missouri, Biden told both the Iraq and Afghanistan versions back to back in a single speech," the Post notes.

There is one element of truth to Biden’s frequent stories: In 2011, he pinned a Bronze Star on Army Staff Sgt. Chad Workman, who failed to save his friend from a vehicle fire and told the vice president he didn’t deserve the medal. That version of Biden’s story, the Post notes, "is one he rarely tells."

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DOJ Declines to Prosecute James Comey for Leaking Classified Information

The Justice Department’s inspector general on Thursday published a report stating fired FBI Director James Comey broke bureau policy by leaking several memos with classified information.

Attorney General William Barr said he will not prosecute Comey over his wrongdoing.

This story is developing. Check Breitbart News for updates. 

 

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