By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Judicial Watch, a government watchdog group, wants information about the relationship between the FBI and former British spy Christopher Steele, who helped compiled a dossier alleging that Trump advisers colluded with the Russian government and that Trump met up with Russian prostitutes, according to the Daily Caller.

A lawsuit seeks all records of communications between FBI officials and Steele, who runs the London-based consulting firm, Orbis Business Intelligence.

The organization also wants records of any discussions of payments from the FBI to Steele for his work compiling the dossier, which consists of 17 memos.

Judge Merrick Garland (White House photo)

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Two high-profile prospects for the FBI director job have signaled they don’t want it, reports Reuters.

Advisers to Judge Merrick Garland and Sen. John Cornyn said they discouraged them from seeking the post, cautioning that they would be leaving important, secure jobs for one fraught with politics and controversy, reports Reuters.

Nominating Garland, who failed to get confirmed as a justice for the U.S. Supreme Court under the Obama administration, may have been a way for the White House and the GOP to extend an olive branch to the Democrats. Cornyn, because of his clear partisanship, might have had a difficult time getting confirmed by his fellow senators.

In any event, it’s perceived that any new director will come into a politically charged and potentially unstable environment. Not the most ideal of circumstances considering the job is already inherently stressful.

The White House has indicated that it would like to have a nominee by Friday.

President Trump

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

In a tweet the other day, President Donald Trump suggested fired FBI Director James Comey be careful about leaking information to the press because  he just might have tape recordings.

Well, Comey has appeared to do one better: He apparently has notes of conversations with the president, and Aaron Blake of the Washington Post writes  “that should make Trump very worried.”

The Post that Comey has notes indicating that Trump had asked him to close the investigation into Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.  The White House is denying the account.

Blake writes:

But the possible existence of a trove of Comey memos may be the real story here. Comey is known to be a pretty meticulous keeper of notes, and CNN’s Jake Tapper just reported that Comey kept extensive notes of his conversations with Trump for the precise reason that they made him uneasy — presumably because of Trump making requests such as the Flynn one that crossed a line for Comey.

And the reason Trump tweeted what he did about Comey four days ago is because the New York Times had just reported Trump sought a loyalty pledge from Comey at a dinner shortly after Trump’s inauguration. It’s difficult not to presume that Comey has notes about this meeting, too.

Kevin Kendrick was an FBI agent for 25 years. He retired from the FBI in 2006 as special agent in charge of the Charlotte Division. He currently works in private industry in Michigan. This column first appeared on Facebook and is being reprinted with permission.

By Kevin Kendrick

I love theatre as much as the next person. All types and forms. But too much of one type, like say, umm, drama, can be taxing.

Our nation’s capital has provided lots of theatre over the years in every form. Some comedic, some tragic, some musical, and lots of the dramatic variety. And in a way, we citizens are the audience to these productions. Our elected representatives are the season-ticket holders and have a front row seat to these shows.

And like any theatre, it’s best to experience it in a measured format. Too much of anything simply isn’t good for you.

Lately, it seems the only theatre we see out of Washington, besides the absurd, is drama.

Lots and lots of drama which by the way, has been horribly scripted.

As spectators, some of us have booed these performances and others have applauded. What has been interesting in the more recent shows has been the silence of some those in the front rows, our GOP Congress folks.

We need for them to stop being quiet spectators during some of these dramas and start being critics. For the sake of theatre. For the sake of our country.