02 U.S. Politics

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced late Wednesday the formation of a Strike Force in response to new revelations about how former President Barack Obama and members of the intelligence community fabricated the Russia hoax that haunted President Donald Trump’s first term and cost American taxpayers millions of dollars.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that the Strike Force will “assess the evidence” and “investigate potential next legal steps,” related to a damning 2020 report released this week by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

“There is irrefutable evidence that detail how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false,” Gabbard said during a White House press conference on Wednesday. “We have referred and will continue to refer all of these documents to the Department of Justice and the FBI, to investigate the criminal implications of this. … The evidence that we have found, and that we have released, directly point to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment. There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact.”

A federal Strike Force is made up of teams of investigators from multiple agencies working together to uncover complex cases of fraud and other offenses. Originally, Strike Forces were used to investigate webs of organized crime. For example, in the late 1960s, a Strike Force in Buffalo, New York, made up of attorneys and agents from several federal agencies achieved 30 indictments within the organized crime network, in part by learning about the organization’s leadership structure.

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What did former President Barack Obama know about the Russia collusion hoax, and when did he know it?

In short, it looks as if he knew everything from the beginning, because it appears that he ordered it.

On Friday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a 114-page PDF filled with declassified documents detailing the origins of what she said was a years-long, Obama-directed coup against President Donald Trump.

Gabbard has characterized her findings as a “treasonous conspiracy” based on “manufactured intelligence.”

A key piece of evidence appeared on page 72 of Gabbard’s Friday documents dump. That file indicates that then-DNI James Clapper would take the lead on an inter-agency effort to fashion a narrative regarding Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election that contravened the intelligence community’s (IC) previous assessments.

“The IC is prepared to produce an assessment per the President’s request, that pulls together the information we have on the tools Moscow used and the actions it took to influence the 2016 election, an explanation of why Moscow directed these activities, and how Moscow’s approach has changed over time, going back to 2008 and 2012 as reference points,” the declassified document read.

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ODNI Tulsi Gabbard made a surprise appearance in the White House press briefing room after she released the second batch of previously undisclosed documents on Wednesday morning that include more proof that Barack Obama directly gave the order to publish Russia Collusion hoax knowing there was no proof to back it up.

Wednesday’s document release followed Friday’s document dump by ODNI Tulsi Gabbard of a declassified December 2016 presidential briefing revealing Barack Obama knew the Trump-Russia collusion narrative was a hoax.

Tulsi went off on Barack Obama for covering up the blackmail Putin had on Hillary Clinton.

“This included possible criminal acts, like secret meetings with multiple organizations. In exchange for supporting secretary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency, significant increases in financing from the state department,” Tulsi told White House reporters.

“They also had documents that showed the patronage of the state department, to state department employees who would support Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign,” Tulsi said.

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While addressing the press, President Trump made it clear he has never visited Epstein’s island, Little Saint James.

The topic came up after Trump was asked whether he would pardon convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

Trump responded by saying he didn’t want to talk about it.

He then shared that Bill Clinton visited Epstein’s island 28 times and explained he had never been to the island.

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A day after suspected would-be presidential assassin Ryan Wesley Routh refused to meet with his court-appointed defense attorney at a federal lockup in Miami, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon approved Routh’s motion to proceed to trial as a pro se defendant representing himself.

Routh, 59, of Greensboro, N.C., faces Sept. 8 jury selection in his trial on five federal counts charging him with aiming a sniper rifle through a fence and trying to kill President Donald J. Trump on Sept. 15, 2024, at Trump’s West Palm Beach, Fla., golf resort.

‘The attorney-client relationship is irreconcilably broken.’

Routh wrote a letter to Judge Cannon, entered on the court docket July 11, complaining bitterly about his federal public defenders and stating that it’s “best I walk alone.” The judge held Faretta hearings on July 10 and July 24 before ruling in an eight-page order that Routh can proceed as his own attorney.

The judge ordered federal public defenders Kristy Militello and Renee Sihvola to serve on the case as standby counsel.

Militello filed a motion with the court to withdraw from the case after she said Routh repeatedly refused to meet with her for their scheduled July 22 consultation at the Federal Correctional Institution-Miami.

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“This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice.”

Ghislaine Maxwell and US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had a “very productive day,” Maxwell’s attorney said, after the DOJ official traveled to Florida to meet with infamous financier Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice, who is currently serving a 20-year prison term in Tallahassee for sex trafficking charges.

David Oscar Markus said of the meeting, “[Blanche] took a full day and asked a lot of questions. Miss Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped. She never invoked a privilege. She never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability,” per Fox News.

Maxwell’s brother, Ian, told the outlet that she is reportedly compiling evidence related to her 2021 trial over alleged government misconduct. “Clearly, we must now see how this plays out,” he said.

Ian Maxwell told reporters, “She will be putting before that court material new evidence that was not available to the defense at her 2021 trial, which would have had a significant impact on its outcome.”

 

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President Donald Trump said on Friday that former President Barack Obama is likely immune from criminal prosecution for his administration’s alleged plot to subvert Trump’s 2016 election win.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said at a Wednesday White House press briefing that she was referring Obama for criminal charges to the Department of Justice (DOJ) after releasing a declassified file on July 18 that she said contains “overwhelming evidence” that the former president and his national security team “manufactured and politicized intelligence” after Trump’s 2016 victory. However, when a reporter asked Trump at the White House how he believes the Supreme Court’s 2024 presidential immunity ruling would affect Obama in light of the allegations, the president said that it likely protects him.

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“It probably helps him a lot. Probably helps him a lot. The immunity ruling. But it doesn’t help the people around him at all,” Trump said. “But it probably helps him a lot. He’s done criminal acts, there’s no question about it. But he has immunity. And it probably helps him a lot.”

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The House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday, finding that far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) impermissibly accepted more than $3,700 worth of apparel and accessories and a $35,000 Met Gala ticket for her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts.

“Despite Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s significant attempts, the Committee found that she failed to fully comply with the Gift Rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event,” the committee writes in the report that they unanimously voted to issue earlier this week following a years-long investigation. 

It can be recalled that AOC made headlines back in 2021 when she sported a glitzy Brother Vellies dress adorned with the words “tax the rich.”

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The House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday, finding that far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) impermissibly accepted more than $3,700 worth of apparel and accessories and a $35,000 Met Gala ticket for her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts.

“Despite Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s significant attempts, the Committee found that she failed to fully comply with the Gift Rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event,” the committee writes in the report that they unanimously voted to issue earlier this week following a years-long investigation. 

It can be recalled that AOC made headlines back in 2021 when she sported a glitzy Brother Vellies dress adorned with the words “tax the rich.”

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The House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday, finding that far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) impermissibly accepted more than $3,700 worth of apparel and accessories and a $35,000 Met Gala ticket for her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts.

“Despite Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s significant attempts, the Committee found that she failed to fully comply with the Gift Rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event,” the committee writes in the report that they unanimously voted to issue earlier this week following a years-long investigation. 

It can be recalled that AOC made headlines back in 2021 when she sported a glitzy Brother Vellies dress adorned with the words “tax the rich.”

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The House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday, finding that far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) impermissibly accepted more than $3,700 worth of apparel and accessories and a $35,000 Met Gala ticket for her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts.

“Despite Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s significant attempts, the Committee found that she failed to fully comply with the Gift Rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event,” the committee writes in the report that they unanimously voted to issue earlier this week following a years-long investigation. 

It can be recalled that AOC made headlines back in 2021 when she sported a glitzy Brother Vellies dress adorned with the words “tax the rich.”

 

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The House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday, finding that far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) impermissibly accepted more than $3,700 worth of apparel and accessories and a $35,000 Met Gala ticket for her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts.

“Despite Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s significant attempts, the Committee found that she failed to fully comply with the Gift Rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event,” the committee writes in the report that they unanimously voted to issue earlier this week following a years-long investigation. 

It can be recalled that AOC made headlines back in 2021 when she sported a glitzy Brother Vellies dress adorned with the words “tax the rich.”

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Excerpt:

The House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday, finding that far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) impermissibly accepted more than $3,700 worth of apparel and accessories and a $35,000 Met Gala ticket for her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts.

“Despite Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s significant attempts, the Committee found that she failed to fully comply with the Gift Rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event,” the committee writes in the report that they unanimously voted to issue earlier this week following a years-long investigation. 

It can be recalled that AOC made headlines back in 2021 when she sported a glitzy Brother Vellies dress adorned with the words “tax the rich.”

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Excerpt:

The House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday, finding that far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) impermissibly accepted more than $3,700 worth of apparel and accessories and a $35,000 Met Gala ticket for her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts.

“Despite Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s significant attempts, the Committee found that she failed to fully comply with the Gift Rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event,” the committee writes in the report that they unanimously voted to issue earlier this week following a years-long investigation. 

It can be recalled that AOC made headlines back in 2021 when she sported a glitzy Brother Vellies dress adorned with the words “tax the rich.”

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Excerpt:

The House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday, finding that far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) impermissibly accepted more than $3,700 worth of apparel and accessories and a $35,000 Met Gala ticket for her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts.

“Despite Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s significant attempts, the Committee found that she failed to fully comply with the Gift Rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event,” the committee writes in the report that they unanimously voted to issue earlier this week following a years-long investigation. 

It can be recalled that AOC made headlines back in 2021 when she sported a glitzy Brother Vellies dress adorned with the words “tax the rich.”

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Excerpt:

The House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday, finding that far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) impermissibly accepted more than $3,700 worth of apparel and accessories and a $35,000 Met Gala ticket for her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts.

“Despite Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s significant attempts, the Committee found that she failed to fully comply with the Gift Rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event,” the committee writes in the report that they unanimously voted to issue earlier this week following a years-long investigation. 

It can be recalled that AOC made headlines back in 2021 when she sported a glitzy Brother Vellies dress adorned with the words “tax the rich.”

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Excerpt:

The House Ethics Committee released a report on Friday, finding that far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) impermissibly accepted more than $3,700 worth of apparel and accessories and a $35,000 Met Gala ticket for her then-boyfriend, Riley Roberts.

“Despite Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s significant attempts, the Committee found that she failed to fully comply with the Gift Rule by impermissibly accepting a gift of free admission to the 2021 Met Gala for her partner and by failing to pay full fair market value for some of the items worn to the event,” the committee writes in the report that they unanimously voted to issue earlier this week following a years-long investigation. 

It can be recalled that AOC made headlines back in 2021 when she sported a glitzy Brother Vellies dress adorned with the words “tax the rich.”

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Until recently, it seemed clear that former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan had engaged in a sickening conspiracy, first to create a false “Russian collusion” narrative in order to spy on candidate Donald Trump and, after his election, to continue the canard to destabilize the incoming Trump Administration, perhaps resulting in impeachment.

But, also, until recently, both partisan actors could rely on the reputedly professional Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) of December 2016, which concluded that, yes, Russia interfered in the 2016 elections so massively, in favor of Trump, that the result may have been affected. As a demonstration of the gravity of this harm, President Obama ordered thirty-five Russian diplomats expelled, a major insult to our adversary by our Nobel Peace Prize winner, perhaps inviting retaliation and crisis.

So, even if Trump were to show that his campaign did not participate in an election skewed by our enemy in his favor, it would have been challenging to show that the investigation of Trump, including electronic surveillance of his entire team, was unwarranted. In essence, this ICA was not only a sword Comey and Brennan could use against Trump, but a potential shield against their prosecution if Trump ever were to unearth their biased dishonesty in Russiagate. “Maybe we were overzealous,” they could argue, “but we were protecting America based on the ICA.”

However, with Tulsi Gabbard’s recent revelation that Obama suborned a false conclusion of meaningful pro-Trump Russian interference, a falsity adopted by Comey and Brennan, this December 2016 ICA is now a significant link in what has now become a strong case against these two treacherous plotters. Given Brennan’s false 2023 congressional testimony, the statute of limitations is no longer a bar to a coverup and lying conspiracy reaching back to 2016.

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Barack and Michelle Obama received $60 mil, while Bill Clinton received $15 mil

(cropped, Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)

Joe Biden has sold his presidential memoir’s publishing rights for around $10 million, falling millions of dollars short of the sums that the Obamas and Bill Clinton received for their memoirs, according to a report Wednesday evening.

Biden sold the worldwide rights to his memoir, which does not yet have a publishing date, to the Hachette Book Group for “an advance in the range of $10 million,” the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Biden’s payout is significantly less than those of his predecessors. In 2017, former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama received $60 million for the rights to their memoirs, according to reports at the time. Former president Bill Clinton was paid $15 million for his 2004 memoir My Life. President Donald Trump did not publish a memoir after his first term.

The news comes as reports indicate the Biden family has faced tightening finances following the former president’s exit from public office. “Biden, Inc., needs a source of revenue,” journalist Mark Halperin said in May, citing a source familiar with the Biden family. “The trough is empty, the spigot has shut down. They need a way to get back in the game to make big money to have the grandchildren fed and clothed and flown first-class.”

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The Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org), which has filed legal challenges to DEI discrimination covering over almost 500 discriminatory programs and scholarships, recently filed five Civil Rights Complaints with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education regarding scholarships that are open only to DACA-eligible or ‘undocumented’ students. Such scholarships by definition allow only student born abroad to apply, since DACA does not apply to American-born students, who also are not ‘undocumented.’ This constitutes discrimination on the basis of national origin, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1963.

It’s important to note that we have not challenged whether DACA/Undocumented students can apply for scholarships, that’s a separate issue. The issue in our complaints is whether schools that receive federal funding and therefore are subject to the Civil Rights Act can promote and administer scholarships that exclude American-born students.

We have posted about three of these DACA/Undocumented legal challenges previously, which were among several types of discrimination challenged at these schools:

We recently filed two more Civil Writes Complaints that we have not had a chance to write up as blog posts yet:

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James Fishback, CEO of Azoria Capital, joined Steve Bannon to announce a bold legal move against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The lawsuit accuses Powell of violating the 1976 Government in the Sunshine Act by holding Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings in secret. Fishback’s goal is to force transparency on the Fed, aligning with President Trump’s push for lower interest rates and an open economic system. This isn’t just a courtroom fight; it’s about holding the Fed accountable to the public.

Quick Clip:

BREAKING DEVELOPMENT:
At approximately 5:30 PM EDT today, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, an Obama appointee, ordered an emergency hearing for Monday, July 28, 2025, at 2:00 PM in the DC Federal Courthouse. The hearing will decide on Azoria’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to block the Fed’s July 29-30, 2025, FOMC meeting from happening behind closed doors. If granted, this would be the first time in nearly 50 years the public gets insight into the Fed’s rate-setting process—a major breakthrough.

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The Jeffrey Epstein political football bounced back and forth between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate Thursday, with both sides blocking each others’ resolutions to release the files.

Democrats blocked a GOP measure calling for the courts to unseal “all credible information on the Epstein case,” and Republicans rejected a Democrat’s resolution demanding the Department of Justice to release all of its files related to the investigation.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s (R-Okla.) resolution called for federal and state courts to “immediately unseal ALL materials that were part of any criminal investigation or prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein or Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell—subject only to redactions to protect victims.”

Mullin’s resolution comports with Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s directive to the courts to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony.”

This approach, however, hit a snag on Wednesday when an Obama-appointed federal judge in Florida denied the Justice Department’s request to unseal court files on Epstein.

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“You should focus on Clinton. You should focus on the former President of Harvard. You should focus on some of the hedge fund guys.”

President Donald Trump has said that the media should be focusing on the Clintons and other Epstein associates and added that he would give the media “a list” for them to focus on regarding those who have interacted with the disgraced financier.

Speaking to reporters before taking off, Trump said, “You should focus on Clinton. You should focus on the former President of Harvard [Larry Summers]. You should focus on some of the hedge fund guys. I will give you a list. These guys lived with Jeffrey Epstein. I sure as hell didn’t.”

The comment from Trump—although not directly implicating what some have speculated to be the “Epstein Client List”—comes after the DOJ said in a memo that Epstein’s child sex crimes did not implicate other third parties for prosecution aside from Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend when he was alive.

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NEW YORK — Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos is expected to begin serving a seven-year prison sentence on Friday for the fraud charges that got him ousted from Congress.

The New York Republican pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges for deceiving donors and stealing people’s identities in order to fund his congressional campaign.

He must report to federal prison before 2 p.m. It’s unclear where he’ll serve his time, though a federal judge has recommended that Santos be housed in a facility in the Northeast.

Santos and his lawyers repeatedly declined to comment to The Associated Press, and the federal Bureau of Prisons said it doesn’t discuss the status of inmates until they’re officially in custody.

In a Thursday interview with Al Arabiya, a Saudi state-owned news organization, Santos said he’ll serve his sentence in a minimum-security prison “camp” that he described as a “big upgrade” from the medium-security lockup he was initially assigned to.

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President Trump went nuclear on Barack Obama, claiming the recent trove of documents released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is proof that he was the ringleader. The president accused Mr. Obama of treason.

“Barack Hussein Obama is the ringleader. Hillary Clinton was right there with him and so was Sleepy Joe Biden, and so were the rest of them — Comey, Clapper, the whole group. And they tried to rig an election and they got caught.”

Well, as Jeff wrote earlier, it got Obama to respond:

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Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) accused the media of being “either duped or complicit” on the interference of the 2016 election by Russians.

“I want the press to be honest. I want Pulitzer Prizes to be returned. They were either duped or complicit in pushing that false narrative that put America in political turmoil for years,” Johnson told NewsNation’s Blake Burman on “The Hill.”

“It’s continuing to go on, all based on a Hillary Clinton dirty trick, the Steele Dossier that those guys knew was a dirty trick, and yet they used that to gin up the Mueller investigation, impeachments, everything else,” he added. “Listen, this is, again election interference orders of magnitude worse than anything Russia or China ever, ever could hope to achieve,” he added.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard put out a report last week alleging that Obama administration officials manipulated intelligence linked to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Gabbard argued in a statement that former officials took part in a “treasonous conspiracy” and said her office was turning over evidence to the Justice Department for possible criminal referrals.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) believes it is unlikely former President Barack Obama will be indicted by a grand jury for his administration’s alleged role in ignoring intelligence pointing to Russia not being involved in the 2016 election.

Graham compared the chance of Obama, ex-CIA Director John Brennan, or former FBI Director James Comey being indicted to him “being in the NBA.”

“When you show these documents to a DC grand jury, and we know all about DC grand juries, what do you think the chances are of an indictment coming for Brennan, Comey, Barack Obama, or any of these guys?” Fox News host Jesse Watters asked Graham.

“Probably like me being in the NBA,” Graham responded.