Politics EXPOSING THE DEEP STATE

[Minstrel]

Judicial Watch seems to be doing all the deep state exposing work. They must be exhausted.

 

[MARIS61]

They are Real Americans for sure.

During their existence, they've exposed more corrupt politicians than the FBI has, including some head honchos in the FBI.

Without them nobody would even know Hillary had an illegal server to hide her crimes on, wouldn't know Comey lied and leaked, wouldn't know Dems paid GPS to invent a dossier to smear Trump to cover their crimes, wouldn't know the FBI lied to the FISA court 4 times, wouldn't know McCabe lied and leaked...(insert hundreds of crimes committed by Obama's cabinet)...

Dems are in super panic mode and will be throwing all kinds of ridiculous diversions tomorrow but even Mueller couldn't bury their crimes while failing to establish any evidence of any collusion or corruption.

Now the Real Investigations begin.

 

[Lanny]

Judicial Watch Sues FBI for Records of Communications and Payments to Anti-Trump Dossier Author Steele
APRIL 16, 2019

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the FBI failed to respond to a September 27, 2018, FOIA request
(Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-00572)).

Judicial Watch seeks:

1. All records of communications between any official, employee, or representative of the FBI and Mr. Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer and the owner of the private firm Orbis Business Intelligence.
2. All records related to the proposed, planned, or actual payment of any funds to Mr. Steele and/or Orbis Business Intelligence
3. All records produced in preparation for, during, or pursuant to any meetings or telephonic conversations between any official, employee, or representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mr. Christopher Steele and/or any employee or representative of Orbis Business Intelligence

The time frame for this request is March 9, 2017, to September 27, 2018.

Former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr testified to Congress that “at some point during 2017, Chris Steele did speak with somebody from the FBI, but I don’t know who.”

This is the latest Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit in an extensive investigation into the Clinton-funded, anti-Trump dossier and its use to obtain FISA warrants in order to spy on the Trump campaign.

In a case seeking information between January 1, 2016, and March 8, 2017, Judicial Watch previously released FBI records showing that Steele was cut off as a “Confidential Human Source” in November 2016 after he disclosed his relationship to the FBI to a third party. The documents show that there were at least 11 FBI payments to Steele in 2016.

Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm hired by the Clinton campaign and the DNC, reportedly paid $168,000 in 2016 to Steele’s company, Orbis Business Intelligence.

In a related case, Judicial Watch recently released 339 pages of heavily redacted records from the DOJ revealing Bruce Ohr remained in regular contact with Steele after Steele was terminated by the FBI.

“How and why did the FBI pay Christopher Steele, who was already being funded by the Clinton campaign and DNC through Fusion GPS?” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “That we had to sue for this basic information shows the FBI may have something more to hide.”

Boy, the Judicial Watch again. I'll bet they swing a lot of weight.

 

[Lanny]

They are Real Americans for sure.

During their existence, they've exposed more corrupt politicians than the FBI has, including some head honchos in the FBI.

Without them nobody would even know Hillary had an illegal server to hide her crimes on, wouldn't know Comey lied and leaked, wouldn't know Dems paid GPS to invent a dossier to smear Trump to cover their crimes, wouldn't know the FBI lied to the FISA court 4 times, wouldn't know McCabe lied and leaked...(insert hundreds of crimes committed by Obama's cabinet)...

Dems are in super panic mode and will be throwing all kinds of ridiculous diversions tomorrow but even Mueller couldn't bury their crimes while failing to establish any evidence of any collusion or corruption.

Now the Real Investigations begin.

And the "Real Investigations" will bring indictments any day now?

 

[MARIS61]

President Trump Vindicated
APRIL 19, 2019

Vindication for President Trump

President Trump has been vindicated. The Mueller investigation failed to find any evidence to support the big lie that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government and failed miserably to prove any obstruction.

We’re pleased that Attorney General Barr saw through the 448-page smear of President Trump by highlighting the simple conclusion that there is no collusion and no obstruction. Neither Mueller, the Obama FBI, DOJ, CIA, State Department, nor the Deep State ever had a good-faith basis to pursue President Trump on Russia collusion. Russia collusion wasn’t just a hoax, it was criminal abuse, which is why Judicial Watch has fought and will continue to fight for Russiagate documents in federal court.

The targeting of President Trump served to protect Hillary Clinton and her enablers/co-conspirators in Obama administration from prosecution. Attorney General Barr can begin restoring the credibility of the Justice Department by finally initiating a thorough investigation of the Clinton email and related pay-to-play scandals and the abuses behind the targeting of President Trump.

We have long called for the shutdown of the Mueller special counsel operation and have pursued dozens of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits in connection with the illicit targeting and other abuses of President Trump. Judicial Watch FOIA litigation exposed, for example:

• The Dossier-based Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications targeting President Trump
• Eleven FBI payments to Christopher Steele
• FBI firing of Steele
• Extensive DOJ (Ohr) collusion w/Steele, Simpson, Fusion GPS
• No court hearings by defrauded FISA courts before warrants were issued
• Anti-Trump bias by Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann

You can be sure your Judicial Watch will continue to “investigate the investigators”! We already have over 40 FOIA lawsuits on Obama/Clinton/Deep State effort to illegally spy on and overthrow President Trump. This assault on our Republic is the worst corruption scandal in American history and Judicial Watch is on it – no matter what Congress or the Justice Department does.

What Was the FBI Telling and Paying Anti-Trump Dossier Author Steele?

Judicial Watch is the leader in exposing the Deep State coup targeting President Trump.

We just filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for records of communications and payments between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and his private firm, Orbis Business Intelligence.

We sued after the FBI failed to respond to our September 27, 2018, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-00572)) for some basic documents:

All records of communications between any official, employee, or representative of the FBI and Mr. Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer and the owner of the private firm Orbis Business Intelligence.

1. All records related to the proposed, planned, or actual payment of any funds to Mr. Steele and/or Orbis Business Intelligence
2. All records produced in preparation for, during, or pursuant to any meetings or telephonic conversations between any official, employee, or representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mr. Christopher Steele and/or any employee or representative of Orbis Business Intelligence
3. All records produced in preparation for, during, or pursuant to any meetings or telephonic conversations between any official, employee, or representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mr. Christopher Steele and/or any employee or representative of Orbis Business Intelligence

The time frame for this request is March 9, 2017, to September 27, 2018.

Former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr testified to Congress that “at some point during 2017, Chris Steele did speak with somebody from the FBI, but I don’t know who.”

This is our latest FOIA lawsuit in an extensive investigation into the Clinton-funded, anti-Trump dossier and its use to obtain FISA warrants in order to spy on the Trump campaign.

In a case seeking Steele payment information between January 1, 2016, and March 8, 2017, we previously released FBI records showing that Steele was cut off as a “Confidential Human Source” in November 2016 after he disclosed his relationship to the FBI to a third party. The documents show that there were at least 11 FBI payments to Steele in 2016. (President Trump just tweeted this key disclosure by Judicial Watch!)

Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm hired by the Clinton campaign and the DNC, reportedly paid $168,000 in 2016 to Steele’s company, Orbis Business Intelligence.

In a related case, we recently released 339 pages of heavily redacted records from the DOJ revealing Bruce Ohr remained in regular contact with Steele after Steele was terminated by the FBI.

How and why did the FBI pay Christopher Steele, who was already being funded by the Clinton campaign and DNC through Fusion GPS? That we had to sue for this basic information shows the FBI may have something more to hide.

Judicial Watch Sues for Collusion Docs Between Obama FBI and Clinton-DNC Lawyers

Let’s talk about collusion – between the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee’s top lawyer and the top lawyer for the Obama FBI.

We just filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Justice Department for communications between former FBI General Counsel James Baker and Michael Sussmann, a Perkins Coie law partner and former DOJ attorney.

While at Perkins Coie, Sussman represented the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the time Perkins Coie secretly paid for the development of the anti-Trump dossier the DOJ used to obtain FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign.

We sued because the FBI failed to respond to a FOIA request dated October 5, 2018 (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice(No. 1:19-cv-00573)) for:

1. Any and all records of communication between former FBI General Counsel James Baker and former Department of Justice attorney and current Perkins Coie Partner Michael Sussman.
2. Any and all records created in preparation for, during, and/or pursuant to any meeting between Mr. Baker and Mr. Sussman.
3. Any and all calendars, agendas, or similar records, either in paper or electronic format, documenting the schedule and activities of Mr. Baker.

The time frame for this request is between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016.

Perkins Coie is responsible for retaining the opposition research firm Fusion GPS in April 2016 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and DNC to dig into President Trump’s background.

Fusion GPS paid British ex-spy Christopher Steele to compile the anti-Trump dossier memos, which were shared with the FBI in the summer of 2016. As described above, we uncovered documents revealing that during this same period of time the FBI also paid Steele on at least 11 occasions in 2016 as a confidential informant and later continued to receive information from Steele during 2017 through a Justice Department official even after it had fired Steele in November 2016 for leaking his relationship with the FBI to the media.

Confirmation of the DNC’s/Clinton campaign’s funding of the dossier, labeled by former FBI Director James Comey as “salacious and unverified,” was first revealed in a memo from then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).

Baker told lawmakers in two 2018 interviews that Sussmann is the Perkins Coie attorney with whom he met in September 2016, a month before the FISA warrant was approved to spy on the Trump campaign, and that Sussmann gave him “documents and a thumb drive related to Russian interference in the election, hacking and possible Trump connections.”

Our lawsuit aims to fully expose the scandalous collusion between the Obama FBI and the Clinton-DNC political operation to target Hillary Clinton’s political opponent, Donald J. Trump. The corrupted FBI owes Americans total transparency on this scandal.

In a related FOIA lawsuit filed against the DOJ in December 2018, we sued for records of all meetings in 2016 between Baker and the Perkins Coie law firm. The lawsuit cites a specific media report that Baker met with Perkins Coie lawyers to discuss allegations of collusion between Donald Trump and Russia. The meeting reportedly took place weeks before the 2016 election and before the FBI secured a controversial FISA spy warrant targeting then-candidate Trump’s campaign.

We previously obtained heavily redacted copies of FISA warrants used by the Obama-era DOJ to spy on the Trump campaign, which seem to confirm that the FBI and DOJ misled the courts in withholding the material information that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC were behind the “intelligence” used to persuade the courts to approve the FISA warrants that targeted the Trump team. One of the FISA warrant renewals was granted in June 2017 and did not expire until September 2017, some eight months after President Trump assumed office.

For sure there was collusion to influence the 2016 election. We are uncovering it.

Good News for all Land Owners from the Supreme Court

I am pleased to tell you that the Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision affirming the conviction of Joseph Robertson, a 78-year-old veteran, now deceased, who was sentenced to prison for digging ditches on his rural Montana property to protect the area surrounding his home from wildfires.

We had filed an amicus curiae brief jointly with the Allied Educational Foundation supporting Robertson and urging Supreme Court review and reversal of the lower court decision. Robertson served 18 months in prison and died while serving probation. He was also fined $130,000, a liability inherited by his estate.

The Supreme Court also remanded Robertson’s conviction to the lower court so the indictment can be dismissed and the lien can be cancelled.

Judicial Watch and the AEF had asked the Supreme Court to review the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that upheld Robertson’s conviction, because that decision “affirmed illegal agency actions in prosecuting Joseph Robertson based on a misreading of federal law. The Court should take this opportunity to correct the confusion in overbroad interpretations of the Clear Water Act, which have led to unjust prosecutions and federal intrusions into both state authority and individual liberty.”

(The brief was filed in the case of Robertson v. United States, Case No. 18-609, 587 U.S. __ (2019). This was an appeal of the Ninth Circuit decision in United States v. Robertson, 875 F.3d 1281, 1285 (9th Cir. 2017).)

We asserted in our brief that the ditches Robertson dug “sat on what a federal agency defines as wetlands and were situated on or near a small downhill water flow of about three garden hoses in volume. Mr. Robertson was not engaged in manufacturing or any other industrial activity which would release chemicals or waste into the water, but under the federal Clean Water Act even turning the soil with a shovel can be considered to be releasing a ‘pollutant’ into water.”

We suggest that the issue is larger than Robertson’s personal plight: It also involves the separation of powers among Congress, the Executive Branch and the Supreme Court.

We also note that the Supreme Court itself has introduced confusion into the issue of “adjacent wetlands,” “point source,” and “navigable waters.” Also, legal matters like those involving Robertson properly belong with the state, not the federal government.

Our brief argues that the Congress has been all too willing to forego its constitutional duty and defer to federal agencies.

[It was not foreseen that] the judiciary could eventually aid and abet the complete sacrificing of power by one of those two branches, effectively leaving a one-branch government where the founders intended three. When the Court goes too far in reading statutes as broadly assigning sweeping interpretative power to agencies, this allows Congress to give up power altogether and to stop the necessary work of revising and repealing statutes. Congress has proven itself either willing to give up those powers or unable to stop itself from doing so, preferring to ask the executive branch to reinterpret or reimagine statutes in ever more creative ways while sparing members of Congress the pain of accountability for national policy. The Court should not countenance this upending of the constitutional order.

The Supreme Court has granted a victory against an overreaching government bureaucracy. The government should not be allowed to regulate every drop of water in America, and the Supreme Court was right to brush back the radical bureaucrats promoting this Big Government expansion. Mr. Robertson, a veteran, died before he was vindicated but his fight has protected the constitutional freedoms of other Americans.

Digging Into John Kerry’s ‘Shadow Diplomacy’ Over Iran Nuclear Deal

John Kerry acts as if he still is Secretary of State. And Judicial Watch is trying to expose the full truth about his efforts to undermine our foreign policy.

That’s why we filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State for records of communications between former Secretary of State John Kerry and State Department officials regarding the Iran nuclear deal.

That Obama/Kerry scheme was known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (also known as JCPOA). We’re also seeking records regarding meetings between Kerry and Iranian officials to discuss the JCPOA.” (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State(No. 1:19-cv-00777)).

On May 8, 2018, President Trump announced the United States withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which had been negotiated by Kerry in 2015 on behalf of the Obama State Department. In the months preceding the U.S. withdrawal, Kerry reportedly had been on a “stealthy yet aggressive mission” of shadow diplomacy in an attempt to preserve the Iran nuclear deal. Kerry reportedly held meetings and spoke with major players, foreign and domestic, involved in the Iran nuclear agreement who opposed the U.S. withdrawal.

We sued after the State Department failed to respond to a May 7, 2018, FOIA request for:

All records of communications, including but not limited to emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text message or instant chat, between former Secretary of State John Kerry and official of the State Department regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (also known as the JCPOA or “Iran nuclear deal”) and/or meetings between Kerry and Iranian officials to discuss the JCPOA.

During his personal campaign to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, Kerry is said to have met with Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at the United Nations in New York in late April 2018, their second meeting in two months, to discuss ways of preventing the deal limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program from falling apart. Current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo termed Kerry’s meeting with “the world’s largest state-sponsor of terror” “unseemly and unprecedented” and “beyond inappropriate.”

Kerry also met in April 2018 with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, separately had meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, both in Paris and New York, and spoke on the phone with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Additionally, Kerry was reported to have quietly lobbied members of Congress, including then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and placed dozens of phone calls just before the U.S. withdrawal.

John Kerry wasn’t elected president, so he should avoid colluding with Iran and other foreign governments to undermine U.S. foreign policy. Our lawsuit is meant to discover not only what Kerry was up to but also to unearth who inside the Deep State Trump ‘resistance’ were coordinating with Kerry’s clandestine efforts to undermine the President Trump’s Iran policy.

In another Iran-related FOIA lawsuit, on May 19, 2017, we filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of the Treasury(No.1:17-cv-00864)) against the State and Treasury Departments regarding the Obama administration’s January 2016 transfer of $400 million in foreign currency to Iran, a cash payment delivered the same weekend five American hostages were released. The Obama administration insisted at the time the cash payment was not ransom for the hostages, but several Republican lawmakers said it was too coincidental to be true. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) reportedly said, “Paying Iran behind our backs, incentivizing further kidnappings of Americans while providing funds for terrorism, is as ignorant as it is wrong.”

The State Department, just two weeks after an August 4 press conference in which President Barack Obama said the payment was not a “ransom,” confirmed that the U.S. handed over the cash only after Iran released the hostages. The $400 million was the first installment of a $1.7 billion cash settlement the Obama administration paid Iran to resolve an arms deal signed before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which toppled the pro-U.S. regime in Tehran.

Few documents were produced to us in this case, and all were fully redacted. You’d think the State Department would know by now that we don’t easily give up our efforts for truth and accountability.

Happy Easter!

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/president-trump-vindicated/

 

[Lanny]

President Trump Vindicated
APRIL 19, 2019

Vindication for President Trump

President Trump has been vindicated. The Mueller investigation failed to find any evidence to support the big lie that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government and failed miserably to prove any obstruction.

We’re pleased that Attorney General Barr saw through the 448-page smear of President Trump by highlighting the simple conclusion that there is no collusion and no obstruction. Neither Mueller, the Obama FBI, DOJ, CIA, State Department, nor the Deep State ever had a good-faith basis to pursue President Trump on Russia collusion. Russia collusion wasn’t just a hoax, it was criminal abuse, which is why Judicial Watch has fought and will continue to fight for Russiagate documents in federal court.

The targeting of President Trump served to protect Hillary Clinton and her enablers/co-conspirators in Obama administration from prosecution. Attorney General Barr can begin restoring the credibility of the Justice Department by finally initiating a thorough investigation of the Clinton email and related pay-to-play scandals and the abuses behind the targeting of President Trump.

We have long called for the shutdown of the Mueller special counsel operation and have pursued dozens of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits in connection with the illicit targeting and other abuses of President Trump. Judicial Watch FOIA litigation exposed, for example:

• The Dossier-based Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications targeting President Trump
• Eleven FBI payments to Christopher Steele
• FBI firing of Steele
• Extensive DOJ (Ohr) collusion w/Steele, Simpson, Fusion GPS
• No court hearings by defrauded FISA courts before warrants were issued
• Anti-Trump bias by Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann

You can be sure your Judicial Watch will continue to “investigate the investigators”! We already have over 40 FOIA lawsuits on Obama/Clinton/Deep State effort to illegally spy on and overthrow President Trump. This assault on our Republic is the worst corruption scandal in American history and Judicial Watch is on it – no matter what Congress or the Justice Department does.

What Was the FBI Telling and Paying Anti-Trump Dossier Author Steele?

Judicial Watch is the leader in exposing the Deep State coup targeting President Trump.

We just filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for records of communications and payments between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and his private firm, Orbis Business Intelligence.

We sued after the FBI failed to respond to our September 27, 2018, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-00572)) for some basic documents:

All records of communications between any official, employee, or representative of the FBI and Mr. Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer and the owner of the private firm Orbis Business Intelligence.

1. All records related to the proposed, planned, or actual payment of any funds to Mr. Steele and/or Orbis Business Intelligence
2. All records produced in preparation for, during, or pursuant to any meetings or telephonic conversations between any official, employee, or representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mr. Christopher Steele and/or any employee or representative of Orbis Business Intelligence
3. All records produced in preparation for, during, or pursuant to any meetings or telephonic conversations between any official, employee, or representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mr. Christopher Steele and/or any employee or representative of Orbis Business Intelligence

The time frame for this request is March 9, 2017, to September 27, 2018.

Former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr testified to Congress that “at some point during 2017, Chris Steele did speak with somebody from the FBI, but I don’t know who.”

This is our latest FOIA lawsuit in an extensive investigation into the Clinton-funded, anti-Trump dossier and its use to obtain FISA warrants in order to spy on the Trump campaign.

In a case seeking Steele payment information between January 1, 2016, and March 8, 2017, we previously released FBI records showing that Steele was cut off as a “Confidential Human Source” in November 2016 after he disclosed his relationship to the FBI to a third party. The documents show that there were at least 11 FBI payments to Steele in 2016. (President Trump just tweeted this key disclosure by Judicial Watch!)

Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm hired by the Clinton campaign and the DNC, reportedly paid $168,000 in 2016 to Steele’s company, Orbis Business Intelligence.

In a related case, we recently released 339 pages of heavily redacted records from the DOJ revealing Bruce Ohr remained in regular contact with Steele after Steele was terminated by the FBI.

How and why did the FBI pay Christopher Steele, who was already being funded by the Clinton campaign and DNC through Fusion GPS? That we had to sue for this basic information shows the FBI may have something more to hide.

Judicial Watch Sues for Collusion Docs Between Obama FBI and Clinton-DNC Lawyers

Let’s talk about collusion – between the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee’s top lawyer and the top lawyer for the Obama FBI.

We just filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Justice Department for communications between former FBI General Counsel James Baker and Michael Sussmann, a Perkins Coie law partner and former DOJ attorney.

While at Perkins Coie, Sussman represented the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the time Perkins Coie secretly paid for the development of the anti-Trump dossier the DOJ used to obtain FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign.

We sued because the FBI failed to respond to a FOIA request dated October 5, 2018 (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice(No. 1:19-cv-00573)) for:

1. Any and all records of communication between former FBI General Counsel James Baker and former Department of Justice attorney and current Perkins Coie Partner Michael Sussman.
2. Any and all records created in preparation for, during, and/or pursuant to any meeting between Mr. Baker and Mr. Sussman.
3. Any and all calendars, agendas, or similar records, either in paper or electronic format, documenting the schedule and activities of Mr. Baker.

The time frame for this request is between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016.

Perkins Coie is responsible for retaining the opposition research firm Fusion GPS in April 2016 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and DNC to dig into President Trump’s background.

Fusion GPS paid British ex-spy Christopher Steele to compile the anti-Trump dossier memos, which were shared with the FBI in the summer of 2016. As described above, we uncovered documents revealing that during this same period of time the FBI also paid Steele on at least 11 occasions in 2016 as a confidential informant and later continued to receive information from Steele during 2017 through a Justice Department official even after it had fired Steele in November 2016 for leaking his relationship with the FBI to the media.

Confirmation of the DNC’s/Clinton campaign’s funding of the dossier, labeled by former FBI Director James Comey as “salacious and unverified,” was first revealed in a memo from then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).

Baker told lawmakers in two 2018 interviews that Sussmann is the Perkins Coie attorney with whom he met in September 2016, a month before the FISA warrant was approved to spy on the Trump campaign, and that Sussmann gave him “documents and a thumb drive related to Russian interference in the election, hacking and possible Trump connections.”

Our lawsuit aims to fully expose the scandalous collusion between the Obama FBI and the Clinton-DNC political operation to target Hillary Clinton’s political opponent, Donald J. Trump. The corrupted FBI owes Americans total transparency on this scandal.

In a related FOIA lawsuit filed against the DOJ in December 2018, we sued for records of all meetings in 2016 between Baker and the Perkins Coie law firm. The lawsuit cites a specific media report that Baker met with Perkins Coie lawyers to discuss allegations of collusion between Donald Trump and Russia. The meeting reportedly took place weeks before the 2016 election and before the FBI secured a controversial FISA spy warrant targeting then-candidate Trump’s campaign.

We previously obtained heavily redacted copies of FISA warrants used by the Obama-era DOJ to spy on the Trump campaign, which seem to confirm that the FBI and DOJ misled the courts in withholding the material information that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC were behind the “intelligence” used to persuade the courts to approve the FISA warrants that targeted the Trump team. One of the FISA warrant renewals was granted in June 2017 and did not expire until September 2017, some eight months after President Trump assumed office.

For sure there was collusion to influence the 2016 election. We are uncovering it.

Good News for all Land Owners from the Supreme Court

I am pleased to tell you that the Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision affirming the conviction of Joseph Robertson, a 78-year-old veteran, now deceased, who was sentenced to prison for digging ditches on his rural Montana property to protect the area surrounding his home from wildfires.

We had filed an amicus curiae brief jointly with the Allied Educational Foundation supporting Robertson and urging Supreme Court review and reversal of the lower court decision. Robertson served 18 months in prison and died while serving probation. He was also fined $130,000, a liability inherited by his estate.

The Supreme Court also remanded Robertson’s conviction to the lower court so the indictment can be dismissed and the lien can be cancelled.

Judicial Watch and the AEF had asked the Supreme Court to review the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that upheld Robertson’s conviction, because that decision “affirmed illegal agency actions in prosecuting Joseph Robertson based on a misreading of federal law. The Court should take this opportunity to correct the confusion in overbroad interpretations of the Clear Water Act, which have led to unjust prosecutions and federal intrusions into both state authority and individual liberty.”

(The brief was filed in the case of Robertson v. United States, Case No. 18-609, 587 U.S. __ (2019). This was an appeal of the Ninth Circuit decision in United States v. Robertson, 875 F.3d 1281, 1285 (9th Cir. 2017).)

We asserted in our brief that the ditches Robertson dug “sat on what a federal agency defines as wetlands and were situated on or near a small downhill water flow of about three garden hoses in volume. Mr. Robertson was not engaged in manufacturing or any other industrial activity which would release chemicals or waste into the water, but under the federal Clean Water Act even turning the soil with a shovel can be considered to be releasing a ‘pollutant’ into water.”

We suggest that the issue is larger than Robertson’s personal plight: It also involves the separation of powers among Congress, the Executive Branch and the Supreme Court.

We also note that the Supreme Court itself has introduced confusion into the issue of “adjacent wetlands,” “point source,” and “navigable waters.” Also, legal matters like those involving Robertson properly belong with the state, not the federal government.

Our brief argues that the Congress has been all too willing to forego its constitutional duty and defer to federal agencies.

[It was not foreseen that] the judiciary could eventually aid and abet the complete sacrificing of power by one of those two branches, effectively leaving a one-branch government where the founders intended three. When the Court goes too far in reading statutes as broadly assigning sweeping interpretative power to agencies, this allows Congress to give up power altogether and to stop the necessary work of revising and repealing statutes. Congress has proven itself either willing to give up those powers or unable to stop itself from doing so, preferring to ask the executive branch to reinterpret or reimagine statutes in ever more creative ways while sparing members of Congress the pain of accountability for national policy. The Court should not countenance this upending of the constitutional order.

The Supreme Court has granted a victory against an overreaching government bureaucracy. The government should not be allowed to regulate every drop of water in America, and the Supreme Court was right to brush back the radical bureaucrats promoting this Big Government expansion. Mr. Robertson, a veteran, died before he was vindicated but his fight has protected the constitutional freedoms of other Americans.

Digging Into John Kerry’s ‘Shadow Diplomacy’ Over Iran Nuclear Deal

John Kerry acts as if he still is Secretary of State. And Judicial Watch is trying to expose the full truth about his efforts to undermine our foreign policy.

That’s why we filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State for records of communications between former Secretary of State John Kerry and State Department officials regarding the Iran nuclear deal.

That Obama/Kerry scheme was known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (also known as JCPOA). We’re also seeking records regarding meetings between Kerry and Iranian officials to discuss the JCPOA.” (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State(No. 1:19-cv-00777)).

On May 8, 2018, President Trump announced the United States withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which had been negotiated by Kerry in 2015 on behalf of the Obama State Department. In the months preceding the U.S. withdrawal, Kerry reportedly had been on a “stealthy yet aggressive mission” of shadow diplomacy in an attempt to preserve the Iran nuclear deal. Kerry reportedly held meetings and spoke with major players, foreign and domestic, involved in the Iran nuclear agreement who opposed the U.S. withdrawal.

We sued after the State Department failed to respond to a May 7, 2018, FOIA request for:

All records of communications, including but not limited to emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text message or instant chat, between former Secretary of State John Kerry and official of the State Department regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (also known as the JCPOA or “Iran nuclear deal”) and/or meetings between Kerry and Iranian officials to discuss the JCPOA.

During his personal campaign to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, Kerry is said to have met with Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at the United Nations in New York in late April 2018, their second meeting in two months, to discuss ways of preventing the deal limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program from falling apart. Current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo termed Kerry’s meeting with “the world’s largest state-sponsor of terror” “unseemly and unprecedented” and “beyond inappropriate.”

Kerry also met in April 2018 with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, separately had meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, both in Paris and New York, and spoke on the phone with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Additionally, Kerry was reported to have quietly lobbied members of Congress, including then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and placed dozens of phone calls just before the U.S. withdrawal.

John Kerry wasn’t elected president, so he should avoid colluding with Iran and other foreign governments to undermine U.S. foreign policy. Our lawsuit is meant to discover not only what Kerry was up to but also to unearth who inside the Deep State Trump ‘resistance’ were coordinating with Kerry’s clandestine efforts to undermine the President Trump’s Iran policy.

In another Iran-related FOIA lawsuit, on May 19, 2017, we filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of the Treasury(No.1:17-cv-00864)) against the State and Treasury Departments regarding the Obama administration’s January 2016 transfer of $400 million in foreign currency to Iran, a cash payment delivered the same weekend five American hostages were released. The Obama administration insisted at the time the cash payment was not ransom for the hostages, but several Republican lawmakers said it was too coincidental to be true. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) reportedly said, “Paying Iran behind our backs, incentivizing further kidnappings of Americans while providing funds for terrorism, is as ignorant as it is wrong.”

The State Department, just two weeks after an August 4 press conference in which President Barack Obama said the payment was not a “ransom,” confirmed that the U.S. handed over the cash only after Iran released the hostages. The $400 million was the first installment of a $1.7 billion cash settlement the Obama administration paid Iran to resolve an arms deal signed before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which toppled the pro-U.S. regime in Tehran.

Few documents were produced to us in this case, and all were fully redacted. You’d think the State Department would know by now that we don’t easily give up our efforts for truth and accountability.

Happy Easter!

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/president-trump-vindicated/

Once again you have told an untruth.
There is plenty of evidence that the Trump campaign committed conspiracy with the Russians but not enough to convict with absolute certainty.
As for Obstruction, Mueller referred that to Congress for action while explicitly stating he was not exonerated.
As for Judicial Watch, LOL.
OMG, what an ignorant post I'm responding to.

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

Once again you have told an untruth.
There is plenty of evidence that the Trump campaign committed conspiracy with the Russians but not enough to convict with absolute certainty.
As for Obstruction, Mueller referred that to Congress for action while explicitly stating he was not exonerated.
As for Judicial Watch, LOL.
OMG, what an ignorant post I'm responding to.

There is more evidence that Bigfoot exists.

Edit..I mean the big hairy monster in the woods, not the truck.

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

You wanna talk deep state?

Doesn't it seem odd that Bolton has been on the job for just about a year and this bogus investigation is over?

Now it is clear sailing for more regime change.

 

[Lanny]

You wanna talk deep state?

Doesn't it seem odd that Bolton has been on the job for just about a year and this bogus investigation is over?

Now it is clear sailing for more regime change.

Everyone who has stopped the President from committing a felony in the past is gone. This is not draining the swamp. This is expanding the swamp by several orders of magnitude. This means we're all in even bigger trouble now.

 

[MARIS61]

 

[MARIS61]

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Columbia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 26, 2019
Russian National Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Conspiring to Act as an Agent of the Russian Federation Within the United States
WASHINGTON – Mariia Butina, a Russian national, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison after earlier pleading guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie K. Liu, and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

Butina, 30, a Russian citizen who had been residing in Washington D.C., pled guilty on Dec. 13, 2018, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was sentenced by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan. Following her incarceration, she is to be deported to Russia.

According to the government’s evidence, from approximately 2015 to 2017, Butina acted as an agent of a Russian government official. Under his direction, she provided key information about Americans who were in a position to influence United States politics and took steps to establish an unofficial line of communication between Russia and these Americans. As described in the plea documents, Butina sought to do so for the benefit of the Russian Federation. She took these actions without providing the required notifications to the Attorney General that she was in fact acting as an agent of the Russian Federation.

Butina was arrested on July 15, 2018, in Washington, D.C., and has been in custody ever since. Butina will get credit for the time she already has served. The court also granted a government motion that led to a reduced sentence in the case.

The investigation into this matter was conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erik M. Kenerson, Thomas N. Saunders, and Jolie Zimmerman of the National Security Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and Trial Attorney William A. Mackie of the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Topic(s):
National Security
Component(s):
National Security Division (NSD)
USAO - District of Columbia
Press Release Number:
19-68
Updated April 26, 2019

 

[Lanny]

Lindsey Graham -
"You don’t even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic. If this body determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role. Because impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office."

 

[MARIS61]

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

Ha!!!!!!!! I love all of those types of videos, from either perspective.

 

[MARIS61]

Judicial Watch: Bruce Ohr Email Raises Possible Ethics Concerns Tied to Russia Testimony
APRIL 29, 2019

Judicial Watch https://www.judicialwatch.org/t/images/judicial_watch-logo_schema.jpg https://www.judicialwatch.org

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it received 33 pages of records from the Department of Justice showing that former senior DOJ official Bruce Ohr in his January 2018 preparation to testify to the Senate and House intelligence committees wrote to a lawyer about “possible ethics concerns.” Bruce Ohr forwarded the email to his wife Nellie Ohr, who had been hired by Fusion GPS, the Hillary Clinton campaign-Democratic National Committee vendor who compiled the anti-Trump Dossier.

Judicial Watch obtained the records through its August 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the Justice Department after it failed to respond to a May 29, 2018, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice(No. 1:18-cv-01854)). Judicial Watch seeks:

All records from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all records of communications about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and Christopher Steele.

All records from the office of former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce G. Ohr relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all records of communications (including those of former Associate Deputy Attorney General Ohr) about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and Christopher Steele.

All records from the office of the Director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all records of communications (including those of former Organized Crime Task Force Director Bruce Ohr) about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and Christopher Steele.

On January 3, 2018, Bruce Ohr emails Justice Department ethics lawyer Cynthia Shaw, advising her that the Senate and House intelligence committees had requested to interview him about investigations into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election. He notes that a number of press reports had come out about his “alleged” connections to Christopher Steele. He asks her a question that is largely redacted but seeks information about “possible ethics concerns.” He forwards this email to his wife Nellie:

Cynthia –

Thank you for taking the time to chat with me this morning. As requested, here is a short description of my question:

As you may have heard, the Senate intelligence committee and House intelligence committee requested to interview me in connection with their investigations of possible Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Shortly after receiving the Senate request, a series of stories broke in the press about my alleged connections to Chris Steele, the author of the so-called Trump dossier. [Redacted]

My question has to do with [redacted]. Are there any guidelines for [redacted] in order to satisfy any possible ethics concerns?

Shaw’s response is largely redacted:

Hi Bruce,

Can you obtain [redacted]

Thanks,

Cindy

The new documents also reveal a close relationship between Fusion GPS employee Nellie Ohr and DOJ Russia experts Lisa Holtyn, Joseph Wheatley and Ivana Nizich.

On May 11, 2016, Nellie Ohr received an email invitation to attend a Hudson Institute “Kleptocracy Archive Launch.” Notably, Fusion GPS principal Glenn Simpson, listed as “a Senior Fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center” who “now works frequently on Russian corporate crime and criminal organizations,” was to be a panelist. Nellie forwarded the invitation on to top Bruce Ohr aide Lisa Holtyn and husband/wife DOJ lawyers Joseph Wheatley and Ivana Nizich. Holtyn, Wheatley, and Nizich all worked for the DOJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which investigated Russian cartels and other Russian syndicated crime matters.

On April 29, 2016, Holtyn, who worked in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Criminal Division of the Justice Department, emails an unidentified individual in the Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI:

I asked Bruce and he didn’t know him, but is going to see if Nellie does.

I was wondering if maybe we knew him through some sort of Glenn Simpson or John Picarelli-sponsored event. If he hadn’t referred to you as [redacted] it wouldn’t have bothered me so much, but knowledge of that particular nickname implies a certain degree of familiarity not available on the Internet. [John Picarelli] is current Acting Deputy Director of the Department of Homeland Security and then-Justice Department Program Manager for Transnational Issues.]

The unidentified FBI employee emails Holtyn back: “It does. I’m baffled.”

An April 25, 2016, email shows Nellie Ohr inviting Lisa Holtyn to another Hudson Institute Russia talk.

An email on the following day shows Nellie Ohr declining an invitation by Holtyn to go to a film.

A March 28, 2016, email with the subject line “email intro” shows Holtyn introducing Nellie Ohr to a husband/wife pair of prosecutors at the Department of Justice in the Criminal Division (“CRM”) named Joe Wheatley and Ivana Nizich.

Judicial Watch previously released other DOJ documents that detail numerous contacts with Russiagate figure Christopher Steele and many other communications between Nellie Ohr and Ohr’s DOJ colleagues.

“Bruce Ohr was the conflicted center of the Clinton-DNC effort to launder fraudulent Russia material into the Justice Department and FBI,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These documents show that Bruce Ohr was aware enough to look for advice – or look for cover – on ethics issue. His wife, Fusion GPS employee Nellie Ohr, had chummy relationships with various Justice Department officials, which illustrates perfectly why it was so easy for Fusion GPS to sell its anti-Trump Dossier scam.”

 

[MARIS61]

I hear Deep State Republican in Democrat's clothing (think John McLain) Richard Lugar passed away.

My condolences to his family, my congratulations to Father Time.

Draining the swamp.

 

[MARIS61]

Bye Rod! See ya soon!

Rod Rosenstein is the only enigma throughout the seamy tale of treason against the American people conducted by Obama's Administration, at times appearing to be a leader of the pack, at others appearing to be a man of the law who put his personal feelings aside and attempted to instill some reality and patriotism in the den of wolves doing Hillary's bidding. When push came to shove, the pack turned on him, attempting to paint him as a looney who wanted to wiretap the White House.

In the end, Trump seems to believe he did nothing illegal, and kept him on Until the Russian Hoax became the Deep State investigation, which will require Rod to testify extensively about the things he saw, heard, and was asked to do or cover for, necessitating that he step down to avoid conflict of interest.

I look forward to his enlightening testimony.

Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein submits resignation

By Nicole Darrah, John Roberts | Fox News

Rod Rosenstein criticizes the Obama administration for their handling of the Russia investigation

Former Arkansas Republican Governor Mike Huckabee says Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's critical comments of the Russia election interference investigation is a soft way of saying there was a cover up.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who frequently found himself in the political crosshairs due to his role in the special counsel's Russia probe and whose departure has long been expected, submitted his resignation on Monday to President Trump, effective May 11.

Attorney General William Barr in a statement said Rosenstein served the Justice Department "with dedication and distinction."

"His devotion to the Department and its professionals is unparalleled," the statement read. "Over the course of his distinguished government career, he has navigated many challenging situations with strength, grace, and good humor."

In his resignation letter, Rosenstein thanked Trump "for the opportunity to serve; for the courtesy and humor you often display in our personal conversations; and for the goals you set in your inaugural address: patriotism, unity, safety, education, and prosperity, because 'a nation exists to serve its citizens.'"

Rosenstein, 54, previously served as deputy assistant attorney general and U.S. attorney. He had intended to leave his position last month but stayed on for the completion of the Mueller probe, which Rosenstein had overseen.


Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defends Attorney General Bill Barr's handling of the Mueller report
In February, Fox News reported that Barr had picked Jeffrey Rosen, who currently serves as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, to take over for Rosenstein.

Rosenstein was part of a small group of department officials who reviewed the document and helped shape its public release. After Mueller didn't reach a conclusion on whether Trump had obstructed the investigation, Barr and Rosenstein stepped in and determined the evidence wasn't enough to support such an allegation.

In recent months, Rosenstein became a frequent target of Trump's ire, after FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe described private discussions about secretly recording and potentially ousting the president in the days after he fired FBI Director James Comey.

Trump accused them of pursuing a “treasonous” plot against him. Rosenstein, though, denied pursuing a recording of the president and has pushed back on claims he broached the idea of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. However, Rosenstein was largely spared the type of anger directed by Trump at Sessions, whose recusal infuriated the president and led to Sessions' to his forced resignation last November.

As first reported by The New York Times last year, Rosenstein allegedly discussed wearing a "wire" to tape Trump and pursuing his removal from office in meetings and conversations with Justice Department and FBI officials. This would have been in the tumultuous days after Comey was fired as FBI director, with the president citing in part a memo penned by Rosenstein — reportedly catching him off guard.


Are Democrats overreacting to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's expected departure from the DOJ?
Fox News has learned one key meeting took place on May 16, 2017 at Justice Department headquarters. Several people were in the room, including McCabe and former FBI counsel Lisa Page. Mueller was appointed as special counsel the next day.

Rosenstein’s conservative critics on the Capitol Hill seized on the reports, with North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, calling on him to appear before Congress to explain the comments. In July, Meadows and Jim Jordan of Ohio, another member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, introduced five articles of impeachment against Rosenstein.

Those impeachment articles accused Rosenstein of intentionally withholding documents and information from Congress, failure to comply with congressional subpoenas and abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). That effort was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it has not been voted upon.

Before named by Trump to serve as the No. 2 to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Rosenstein served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. Rosenstein took over the Russia probe after Sessions recused himself from the investigation. It was Rosenstein who later appointed Mueller to his post.

Fox News' William Mears, Alex Pappas, Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[MARIS61]

Deep State war-and-occupation-for-profit guru James Mattis, along with delusions of grandeur, illegally and recklessly endangered American lives and weakened US's effectiveness in a mindblowing number of dangerous situations. He committed dereliction of duty, disobeyed direct orders from the Commander in Chief, aided and abetted the enemy, tilted the balance of world power in favor of North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, Syria...

He's the only reason we didn't do more to punish Assad for gassing his own citizens.

He's the only reason Kim suddenly backed out of agreeing to denuclearize.

He's the only reason Iran is still building nukes with our money to kill us.

A disgusting and heinous traitor to the core.

He deserves to be stripped of all his fancy ribbons, court-martialed, then shot.

Mattis ignored orders from Trump, White House on North Korea, Iran: report

Ellen Mitchell

© Getty Images
Mattis ignored orders from Trump, White House on North Korea, Iran: report Former Defense Secretary James Mattis refused to obey orders from President Trump or otherwise limited his options with North Korea, Iran and Syria, The New Yorker reported Monday, the latest report of Obama holdovers trying to sabotage his success.

In 2017, following a series of North Korean ballistic-missile tests, Trump ordered the Pentagon to begin removing the spouses and children of military personnel from South Korea, where the U.S. military has a base. An administration official told the magazine that "Mattis just ignored" the order, endangering thousand of innocent Americans lives.

In another instance in the fall 2017, as White House officials were planning a private meeting at Camp David to develop military options for a possible conflict with North Korea, Mattis allegedly stopped the gathering from happening. He ignored a request from then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster to send officers and planners, according to a former senior administration official.

Mattis resigned from his Pentagon position to avoid last December, one day after Trump announced that he would withdraw troops from Syria, a decision that Mattis opposed.

As Iraq was preparing for parliamentary elections in late 2017, McMaster was worried about any meddling from Iran and asked the Pentagon to give options to counter such a move.

A former aide of McMaster's said Mattis later sent a Pentagon official to the White House without any options in hand.

"I asked him what happened to the options," the former aide told The New Yorker. "He told me, 'We resisted those.' You could feel everyone in the meeting go, 'Excuse me?'"

Mattis also reportedly prevented Gen. John Nicholson, then head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, from meeting Trump.

After Bolton replaced McMaster, he asked the Pentagon for multiple options in April 2018, after the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dropped chemical weapons on civilians in a suburb of Damascus. Mattis gave only one option, a limited strike with cruise missiles, which angered Bolton.

"There are a lot of people in the administration who want to limit the president's options because they don't want the president to get anything done," a former senior Administration official said.

 

[Lanny]

Judicial Watch: Bruce Ohr Email Raises Possible Ethics Concerns Tied to Russia Testimony
APRIL 29, 2019

Judicial Watch https://www.judicialwatch.org/t/images/judicial_watch-logo_schema.jpg https://www.judicialwatch.org

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it received 33 pages of records from the Department of Justice showing that former senior DOJ official Bruce Ohr in his January 2018 preparation to testify to the Senate and House intelligence committees wrote to a lawyer about “possible ethics concerns.” Bruce Ohr forwarded the email to his wife Nellie Ohr, who had been hired by Fusion GPS, the Hillary Clinton campaign-Democratic National Committee vendor who compiled the anti-Trump Dossier.

Judicial Watch obtained the records through its August 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the Justice Department after it failed to respond to a May 29, 2018, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice(No. 1:18-cv-01854)). Judicial Watch seeks:

All records from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all records of communications about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and Christopher Steele.

All records from the office of former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce G. Ohr relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all records of communications (including those of former Associate Deputy Attorney General Ohr) about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and Christopher Steele.

All records from the office of the Director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all records of communications (including those of former Organized Crime Task Force Director Bruce Ohr) about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and Christopher Steele.

On January 3, 2018, Bruce Ohr emails Justice Department ethics lawyer Cynthia Shaw, advising her that the Senate and House intelligence committees had requested to interview him about investigations into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election. He notes that a number of press reports had come out about his “alleged” connections to Christopher Steele. He asks her a question that is largely redacted but seeks information about “possible ethics concerns.” He forwards this email to his wife Nellie:

Cynthia –

Thank you for taking the time to chat with me this morning. As requested, here is a short description of my question:

As you may have heard, the Senate intelligence committee and House intelligence committee requested to interview me in connection with their investigations of possible Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Shortly after receiving the Senate request, a series of stories broke in the press about my alleged connections to Chris Steele, the author of the so-called Trump dossier. [Redacted]

My question has to do with [redacted]. Are there any guidelines for [redacted] in order to satisfy any possible ethics concerns?

Shaw’s response is largely redacted:

Hi Bruce,

Can you obtain [redacted]

Thanks,

Cindy

The new documents also reveal a close relationship between Fusion GPS employee Nellie Ohr and DOJ Russia experts Lisa Holtyn, Joseph Wheatley and Ivana Nizich.

On May 11, 2016, Nellie Ohr received an email invitation to attend a Hudson Institute “Kleptocracy Archive Launch.” Notably, Fusion GPS principal Glenn Simpson, listed as “a Senior Fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center” who “now works frequently on Russian corporate crime and criminal organizations,” was to be a panelist. Nellie forwarded the invitation on to top Bruce Ohr aide Lisa Holtyn and husband/wife DOJ lawyers Joseph Wheatley and Ivana Nizich. Holtyn, Wheatley, and Nizich all worked for the DOJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), which investigated Russian cartels and other Russian syndicated crime matters.

On April 29, 2016, Holtyn, who worked in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Criminal Division of the Justice Department, emails an unidentified individual in the Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI:

I asked Bruce and he didn’t know him, but is going to see if Nellie does.

I was wondering if maybe we knew him through some sort of Glenn Simpson or John Picarelli-sponsored event. If he hadn’t referred to you as [redacted] it wouldn’t have bothered me so much, but knowledge of that particular nickname implies a certain degree of familiarity not available on the Internet. [John Picarelli] is current Acting Deputy Director of the Department of Homeland Security and then-Justice Department Program Manager for Transnational Issues.]

The unidentified FBI employee emails Holtyn back: “It does. I’m baffled.”

An April 25, 2016, email shows Nellie Ohr inviting Lisa Holtyn to another Hudson Institute Russia talk.

An email on the following day shows Nellie Ohr declining an invitation by Holtyn to go to a film.

A March 28, 2016, email with the subject line “email intro” shows Holtyn introducing Nellie Ohr to a husband/wife pair of prosecutors at the Department of Justice in the Criminal Division (“CRM”) named Joe Wheatley and Ivana Nizich.

Judicial Watch previously released other DOJ documents that detail numerous contacts with Russiagate figure Christopher Steele and many other communications between Nellie Ohr and Ohr’s DOJ colleagues.

“Bruce Ohr was the conflicted center of the Clinton-DNC effort to launder fraudulent Russia material into the Justice Department and FBI,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These documents show that Bruce Ohr was aware enough to look for advice – or look for cover – on ethics issue. His wife, Fusion GPS employee Nellie Ohr, had chummy relationships with various Justice Department officials, which illustrates perfectly why it was so easy for Fusion GPS to sell its anti-Trump Dossier scam.”

Judicial Watch is phony baloney.

 

[Lanny]

Deep State war-and-occupation-for-profit guru James Mattis, along with delusions of grandeur, illegally and recklessly endangered American lives and weakened US's effectiveness in a mindblowing number of dangerous situations. He committed dereliction of duty, disobeyed direct orders from the Commander in Chief, aided and abetted the enemy, tilted the balance of world power in favor of North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, Syria...

He's the only reason we didn't do more to punish Assad for gassing his own citizens.

He's the only reason Kim suddenly backed out of agreeing to denuclearize.

He's the only reason Iran is still building nukes with our money to kill us.

A disgusting and heinous traitor to the core.

He deserves to be stripped of all his fancy ribbons, court-martialed, then shot.

Mattis ignored orders from Trump, White House on North Korea, Iran: report

Ellen Mitchell

© Getty Images
Mattis ignored orders from Trump, White House on North Korea, Iran: report Former Defense Secretary James Mattis refused to obey orders from President Trump or otherwise limited his options with North Korea, Iran and Syria, The New Yorker reported Monday, the latest report of Obama holdovers trying to sabotage his success.

In 2017, following a series of North Korean ballistic-missile tests, Trump ordered the Pentagon to begin removing the spouses and children of military personnel from South Korea, where the U.S. military has a base. An administration official told the magazine that "Mattis just ignored" the order, endangering thousand of innocent Americans lives.

In another instance in the fall 2017, as White House officials were planning a private meeting at Camp David to develop military options for a possible conflict with North Korea, Mattis allegedly stopped the gathering from happening. He ignored a request from then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster to send officers and planners, according to a former senior administration official.

Mattis resigned from his Pentagon position to avoid last December, one day after Trump announced that he would withdraw troops from Syria, a decision that Mattis opposed.

As Iraq was preparing for parliamentary elections in late 2017, McMaster was worried about any meddling from Iran and asked the Pentagon to give options to counter such a move.

A former aide of McMaster's said Mattis later sent a Pentagon official to the White House without any options in hand.

"I asked him what happened to the options," the former aide told The New Yorker. "He told me, 'We resisted those.' You could feel everyone in the meeting go, 'Excuse me?'"

Mattis also reportedly prevented Gen. John Nicholson, then head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, from meeting Trump.

After Bolton replaced McMaster, he asked the Pentagon for multiple options in April 2018, after the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dropped chemical weapons on civilians in a suburb of Damascus. Mattis gave only one option, a limited strike with cruise missiles, which angered Bolton.

"There are a lot of people in the administration who want to limit the president's options because they don't want the president to get anything done," a former senior Administration official said.

Why do you think anyone would would not want the President to do anything? I think I know, I think I know.

 

[MARIS61]

Some House Dems be headin' to the pokey soon.

Barr says DOJ has ‘multiple criminal leak’ probes underway

By Adam Shaw | Fox News

Attorney General Barr acknowledges the DOJ has 'multiple criminal leak investigations underway'
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley asks Attorney General William Barr about leaks to the media during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday told lawmakers that the Department of Justice has “multiple criminal leak investigations” underway in response to unauthorized media contact by department officials during the Special Counsel’s Russia investigation.

Barr, who was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, was asked by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, about what he called a “culture of unauthorized media contact” during both the Hillary Clinton email probe and the Russia investigations.

“Leaks undermine the ability of investigators to investigate, further leaks to the papers while Congress’ questions to the department go unanswered is unacceptable,” Grassley said. “What are you doing to investigate unauthorized media contacts by the department and FBI officials during the Russian investigation?”

“We have multiple criminal leak investigations under way,” Barr responded, but did not elaborate.


Video
BARR TESTIFIES 'SPYING DID OCCUR' ON TRUMP CAMPAIGN, AMID REPORTED REVIEW OF INFORMANT'S ROLE

Barr has said previously that he is open to investigating the department’s behavior during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and has taken steps towards doing that.

He announced last month that he was reviewing the origins of the probe at the FBI and the Justice Department, and controversially said that “spying” occurred in 2016.

"I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated. … I think it’s my obligation. Congress is usually very concerned with intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane," he testified before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, while noting that "spying on a political campaign is a big deal."

Adam Shaw is a reporter covering U.S. and European politics for Fox News.. He can be reached here.

 

[MARIS61]

Why do you think anyone would would not want the President to do anything? I think I know, I think I know.

Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Syria, traitors to America, Corrupt politicians...

 

[Lanny]

Some House Dems be headin' to the pokey soon.

Barr says DOJ has ‘multiple criminal leak’ probes underway

By Adam Shaw | Fox News

Attorney General Barr acknowledges the DOJ has 'multiple criminal leak investigations underway'
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley asks Attorney General William Barr about leaks to the media during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday told lawmakers that the Department of Justice has “multiple criminal leak investigations” underway in response to unauthorized media contact by department officials during the Special Counsel’s Russia investigation.

Barr, who was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, was asked by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, about what he called a “culture of unauthorized media contact” during both the Hillary Clinton email probe and the Russia investigations.

“Leaks undermine the ability of investigators to investigate, further leaks to the papers while Congress’ questions to the department go unanswered is unacceptable,” Grassley said. “What are you doing to investigate unauthorized media contacts by the department and FBI officials during the Russian investigation?”

“We have multiple criminal leak investigations under way,” Barr responded, but did not elaborate.


Video
BARR TESTIFIES 'SPYING DID OCCUR' ON TRUMP CAMPAIGN, AMID REPORTED REVIEW OF INFORMANT'S ROLE

Barr has said previously that he is open to investigating the department’s behavior during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and has taken steps towards doing that.

He announced last month that he was reviewing the origins of the probe at the FBI and the Justice Department, and controversially said that “spying” occurred in 2016.

"I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated. … I think it’s my obligation. Congress is usually very concerned with intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane," he testified before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, while noting that "spying on a political campaign is a big deal."

Adam Shaw is a reporter covering U.S. and European politics for Fox News.. He can be reached here.

Barr is a lackey. Fox News is entertainment by their own definition.

 

[MARIS61]

Now that the Russian Hoax has been exposed, it's time to investigate, prosecute, and imprison what will include but not be limited to about half of Obama's cabinet, several dozen more FBI employees, and around 1/3 of the top echelon of our intelligence community. And that's just for the cover-up attempted by the hoax. The hoax itself involves similar criminals from British, Australian and Italian spy agencies. David Cameron and Obama appear to be in full knowledge and likely active participants. These connections were evident a year ago, but now the Mueller report unavoidably confirms them.

Recent revelations point to Mueller lying to the court at PapaD's trial about supposed testimony from a supposed Russian agent who conveniently disappeared right after supposedly signing the statement that got PapaD convicted for lying. The supposed Russian has been found hiding in Italy, and identified as Josef Misfud, a US CIA operative posing as a Maltese Professor, and will likely be arrested and extradited to testify before a grand jury soon.

AG Barr has opened over a dozen investigations and it's expected to bring down scores of Deep State traitors, leakers, perjurers, and embezzlers. And that's just the start. The Clintons, The Bidens, The Kerrys, The Obamas, all are being looked at for pay-for-play crimes. The leakers in Congress like Schiff and Waters...

It is likely we will need a separate thread for each agency that has people indicted, but for now I'll just put all the preliminary allegations and indictments here so Lanny can't miss them.

DEEP STATE SPY LOCATED: Fake ‘Russian’ Joseph Mifsud Who Set Up Trump Campaign Volunteer Papadopoulos Located in Rome!

by Jim Hoft April 20, 2019 289 Comments

• As we noted in February, candidate Trump’s unpaid volunteer George Papadopoulos was indicted by the Mueller team for lying. We still don’t know what he lied about, but we are finding out about the FBI’s involvement in setting him up.
  
  Papadopoulos was in an interview with former Secret Agent and author Dan Bongino when he shared this –
  Bongino: I want to get right to it. I have a list of questions for you..I guess the easiest question to ask is why did you meet with Mifsud?
  
  Papadopoulos: Professor Mifsud is a Maltese professor. Just so everybody understands – he’s not a Russian.
  
  I was working at this organization in London – the London Center for International Law Practice (LCILP) – that unbeknownst to me at the time was apparently some sort of front group for ex-western diplomats and ex-western intelligence types of personalities.
  
  As well, the legal counsel for the FBI in the UK, Arvinder Sambei, just happens to also be a director at this organization I used to work for. I tell this organization ‘Look, I’m joining the Trump Campaign, I’m leaving. I’m going back to the U.S. I’m leaving London.
  
  But they all of a sudden tell me, ‘before you leave, you really need to come to Rome with us. We want to introduce you to some people there.’ So, I say, ‘that’s fine. I’ll go to Rome. It’s a three-day holiday before I get back to Washington.
  
  They introduce me to Josef Mifsud at this university in Rome called Link Campus. This isn’t any normal university in Rome. At the time I had no idea what this place was. But apparently, it’s a training ground for western intelligence operatives in Rome. The CIA has held symposiums there. David Ignatius from the Washington Post has actually written extensively about this place. They have connections to the FBI and other groups.
  
  I also saw many Italian diplomats there. The ex-foreign minister of Italy was the director of this university, so things started to pop in my mind that this isn’t just a random event – a random meeting.
  
  They tell me it’s very important for you to meet Josef Mifsud. I had no idea who this person was. He came up to me, presented himself as this mid-fifties, former diplomat, who knew the world.
  
  The mainstream media and the FBI, DOJ and Mueller team all wanted to connect President Trump to Russia so they set up Papadopoulos and then claimed that he met with Russians. The only problem is that the Russian was not a Russian – he’s a Maltese professor, Joseph Mifsud The entire connections in London were a set up.
  
  Mueller’s Team also had connections to Joseph Mifsud –
  
  According to one investigative site on the web, one of the members of Mueller’s team was connected to Mifsud –
  
  
  
  
  
  Zainab Ahmad, a member of Mueller’s legal team, is the former Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. As pointed out by Blackburn, Ahmad attended a Global Center on Cooperative Security [GCCS] event in 2017. In recent days, Blackburn wrote via Twitter: “Zainab Ahmad is a major player in the Russiagate scandal at the DOJ. Does she work for SC Mueller? She was at a GCCS event in May 2017. Arvinder Sambei, a co-director of the [London Centre of International Law Practice], worked with Joseph Mifsud, [George Papadopoulos] and [Simona Mangiante]. She’s a GCCS consultant.”
  
  The FBI set up Papadopoulos with Mifsud who went missing after being interviewed by the Mueller team. Now he has been located –
• 
  It will be good to finally ask Mifsud who from Obama’s FBI or other agency hired him to set up Papadopoulos. It’s time to investigate the investigators.

 

[CupWizier]

Now that the Russian Hoax has been exposed, it's time to investigate, prosecute, and imprison what will include but not be limited to about half of Obama's cabinet, several dozen more FBI employees, and around 1/3 of the top echelon of our intelligence community. And that's just for the cover-up attempted by the hoax. The hoax itself involves similar criminals from British, Australian and Italian spy agencies. David Cameron and Obama appear to be in full knowledge and likely active participants. These connections were evident a year ago, but now the Mueller report unavoidably confirms them.

Recent revelations point to Mueller lying to the court at PapaD's trial about supposed testimony from a supposed Russian agent who conveniently disappeared right after supposedly signing the statement that got PapaD convicted for lying. The supposed Russian has been found hiding in Italy, and identified as Josef Misfud, a US CIA operative posing as a Maltese Professor, and will likely be arrested and extradited to testify before a grand jury soon.

AG Barr has opened over a dozen investigations and it's expected to bring down scores of Deep State traitors, leakers, perjurers, and embezzlers. And that's just the start. The Clintons, The Bidens, The Kerrys, The Obamas, all are being looked at for pay-for-play crimes. The leakers in Congress like Schiff and Waters...

It is likely we will need a separate thread for each agency that has people indicted, but for now I'll just put all the preliminary allegations and indictments here so Lanny can't miss them.

DEEP STATE SPY LOCATED: Fake ‘Russian’ Joseph Mifsud Who Set Up Trump Campaign Volunteer Papadopoulos Located in Rome!

by Jim Hoft April 20, 2019 289 Comments

• As we noted in February, candidate Trump’s unpaid volunteer George Papadopoulos was indicted by the Mueller team for lying. We still don’t know what he lied about, but we are finding out about the FBI’s involvement in setting him up.
  
  Papadopoulos was in an interview with former Secret Agent and author Dan Bongino when he shared this –
  Bongino: I want to get right to it. I have a list of questions for you..I guess the easiest question to ask is why did you meet with Mifsud?
  
  Papadopoulos: Professor Mifsud is a Maltese professor. Just so everybody understands – he’s not a Russian.
  
  I was working at this organization in London – the London Center for International Law Practice (LCILP) – that unbeknownst to me at the time was apparently some sort of front group for ex-western diplomats and ex-western intelligence types of personalities.
  
  As well, the legal counsel for the FBI in the UK, Arvinder Sambei, just happens to also be a director at this organization I used to work for. I tell this organization ‘Look, I’m joining the Trump Campaign, I’m leaving. I’m going back to the U.S. I’m leaving London.
  
  But they all of a sudden tell me, ‘before you leave, you really need to come to Rome with us. We want to introduce you to some people there.’ So, I say, ‘that’s fine. I’ll go to Rome. It’s a three-day holiday before I get back to Washington.
  
  They introduce me to Josef Mifsud at this university in Rome called Link Campus. This isn’t any normal university in Rome. At the time I had no idea what this place was. But apparently, it’s a training ground for western intelligence operatives in Rome. The CIA has held symposiums there. David Ignatius from the Washington Post has actually written extensively about this place. They have connections to the FBI and other groups.
  
  I also saw many Italian diplomats there. The ex-foreign minister of Italy was the director of this university, so things started to pop in my mind that this isn’t just a random event – a random meeting.
  
  They tell me it’s very important for you to meet Josef Mifsud. I had no idea who this person was. He came up to me, presented himself as this mid-fifties, former diplomat, who knew the world.
  
  The mainstream media and the FBI, DOJ and Mueller team all wanted to connect President Trump to Russia so they set up Papadopoulos and then claimed that he met with Russians. The only problem is that the Russian was not a Russian – he’s a Maltese professor, Joseph Mifsud The entire connections in London were a set up.
  
  Mueller’s Team also had connections to Joseph Mifsud –
  
  According to one investigative site on the web, one of the members of Mueller’s team was connected to Mifsud –
  
  
  
  
  
  Zainab Ahmad, a member of Mueller’s legal team, is the former Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. As pointed out by Blackburn, Ahmad attended a Global Center on Cooperative Security [GCCS] event in 2017. In recent days, Blackburn wrote via Twitter: “Zainab Ahmad is a major player in the Russiagate scandal at the DOJ. Does she work for SC Mueller? She was at a GCCS event in May 2017. Arvinder Sambei, a co-director of the [London Centre of International Law Practice], worked with Joseph Mifsud, [George Papadopoulos] and [Simona Mangiante]. She’s a GCCS consultant.”
  
  The FBI set up Papadopoulos with Mifsud who went missing after being interviewed by the Mueller team. Now he has been located –
• 
  It will be good to finally ask Mifsud who from Obama’s FBI or other agency hired him to set up Papadopoulos. It’s time to investigate the investigators.

Do you ever come up with an original thought? All you do is waste space with cut and paste articles that I bet nobody even bothers to read. I know I have never read one.

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

Do you ever come up with an original thought? All you do is waste space with cut and paste articles that I bet nobody even bothers to read. I know I have never read one.

That's hilarious. I read all the crap you guy's post but you just dismiss anything you don't like out of hand.

I remember people here used to say they read articles from both sides of the corporate media and found the truth somewhere in the middle.

Too much work these days huh?

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

Wish the dates showed the exact times that posts were made. Sly posted this thread and I read the entire thing and saw the names at the bottom.

Other people just thought Orange Man Bad and hit like.

http://www.sportstwo.com/threads/th...ts-expansive-trump-probe.342224/#post-4674077

 

[barfo]

Wish the dates showed the exact times that posts were made. Sly posted this thread and I read the entire thing and saw the names at the bottom.

Other people just thought Orange Man Bad and hit like.

http://www.sportstwo.com/threads/th...ts-expansive-trump-probe.342224/#post-4674077

Huh?

Aside from your weird assumption that only you noticed Sly's joke, what difference do the post times make?

barfo

 

[MARIS61]

Huh?

Aside from your weird assumption that only you noticed Sly's joke, what difference do the post times make?

barfo

 

[MARIS61]

Ukraine embassy says DNC operative reached out for information on Trump campaign in 2016

By Gregg Re | Fox News

How did the special counsel miss Ukraine's plot to help Clinton?

Why wasn't it found while investigating Paul Manafort's Ukrainian ties? Committee to Defend the President chairman Ted Harvey reacts.

Ukraine's embassy wrote that a Democratic National Committee (DNC) insider reached out in 2016 seeking dirt on President Trump's campaign, according to a bombshell new report Thursday that further fueled Republican allegations that Democrats were the ones improperly colluding with foreign agents during the campaign.

Ambassador Valeriy Chaly said DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa pushed for Ukraine's then-President Petro Poroshenko to mention Paul Manafort's ties to Ukraine publicly during a visit to the U.S., and sought detailed financial information on his dealings in the country, The Hill reported. At the time, Manafort was Trump's campaign chairman.

"The Embassy got to know Ms. Chalupa because of her engagement with Ukrainian and other diasporas in Washington D.C., and not in her DNC capacity. We’ve learned about her DNC involvement later," Chaly said in a statement released by the Ukrainian embassy. "We were surprised to see Alexandra’s interest in Mr. Paul Manafort’s case. It was her own cause. The Embassy representatives unambiguously refused to get involved in any way, as we were convinced that this is a strictly U.S. domestic matter."

Chaly continued: "All ideas floated by Alexandra were related to approaching a Member of Congress with a purpose to initiate hearings on Paul Manafort or letting an investigative journalist ask President Poroshenko a question about Mr. Manafort during his public talk in Washington, D.C."

A 'VERY FLIRTY' INFORMANT, THREE MEETINGS IN LONDON, AND RATHER ODD QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TRUMP TEAM AND RUSSIA -- WAS SHE AN FBI OR CIA SPY?

The Ukrainian embassy confirmed the comments to Fox News but disputed the suggestion that Chalupa sought "dirt" on Trump, saying that she was merely concerned about the role on Manafort due to his previous work in the country -- and said she did not ask for any materials from the embassy. A spokesperson said that the embassy's encounter with Chalupa was "null" and produced no further action.

Neither the DNC nor Chalupa, who works as a Washington, D.C.-based political consultant, immediately responded to Fox News' requests for comment. In 2017, Chalupa told CNN: "During the 2016 US election, I was a part time consultant for the DNC running an ethnic engagement program. I was not an opposition researcher for the DNC, and the DNC never asked me to go to the Ukrainian Embassy to collect information."

Paul Manafort in 2017. Ambassador Valeriy Chaly said DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa pushed for Ukraine's then-President Petro Poroshenko to mention Manafort's ties to Ukraine publicly during a visit to the U.S., and sought detailed financial information on his dealings in the country. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

However, Chalupa acknowledged that she met with "representatives of the Ukrainian Embassy," but said the topic of conversation was an "Immigrant Heritage Month women's networking event." She also told CNN that when Manafort was named Trump's campaign chairman, she flagged for the DNC that Manafort had worked with the Russian-backed Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian's president at the time.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) records confirm that Chalupa's firm provided various services to the DNC in 2016, and that the DNC paid Chalupa more than $412,000 from 2004 to 2016. Chalupa had other clients besides the DNC during that period.

President Trump told Fox News' "Hannity" in a wide-ranging interview last week that Attorney General Bill Barr was handling the "incredible" and "big" new revelations that Ukrainian actors apparently leaked damaging information about Manafort to help Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Last month, Ukraine Prosecutor General Yurii Lutsenko opened a probe into the so-called "black ledger" files that led to Manafort's abrupt departure from the Trump campaign. The investigation commenced after an unearthed audio recording showed that a senior Ukrainian anticorruption official apparently admitted to leaking Manafort's financial information in 2016 -- including his ties to pro-Russian actors in Ukraine -- to benefit Clinton.

Ukrainian law enforcement officials said earlier this month they had a slew of evidence of collusion and wrongdoing by Democrats and were trying to share the information with U.S. officials in the Justice Department.

A Ukrainian court recently ruled that the Manafort document leak amounted to illegal interference in the U.S. election by parliamentarian Serhiy Leshchenko and Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).


Mark Steyn: Hillary's inability to lose gracefully spawned the Russia investigation
Hillary Clinton unloads on Trump and Attorney General Barr; reaction from SteynOnline.com's Mark Steyn.

Asked by Sean Hannity whether Americans needed to see the results of Ukraine's ongoing investigation into whether officials in that country worked with the Clinton team, Trump replied, "I think we do."

"I would imagine [Barr] would want to see this. ... I would certainly defer to the attorney general, and we'll see what he says about it," Trump said. "He calls 'em straight."

Trump continued: "It sounds like big stuff, very interesting with Ukraine. I just spoke with the new president a while ago, and congratulated him. ... But that sounds like big, big stuff, and I'm not surprised."

With those remarks, Trump echoed his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who said earlier: "Keep your eye on Ukraine."

A 2017 investigation by Politico found that Ukrainian officials not only publicly sought to undermine Trump by questioning his fitness for office, but also worked behind the scenes to secure a Clinton victory.

Among other initiatives, Politico found, the Ukrainian government worked with Chalupa to conduct opposition research against Trump, including going after Manafort for Russian ties, helping lead to his resignation.

Chalupa, on Facebook, called the story "nonsense" at the time.

Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.