Politics EXPOSING THE DEEP STATE

[riverman]

That explains it. I was in Sweden recently and there were dozens of bureaucrat corpses alongside the roads.

barfo

you really need to cover your tracks better than that barfo….

 

[Lanny]

Judicial Watch Sues for Records of Former FBI Counsel Baker’s Communications with Anti-Trump Dossier Author
JANUARY 30, 2019

FOIA Lawsuit also Seeks Records of Communication Between Baker and Glenn Simpson, Nellie Ohr, and David Corn – Three Other Key Figures Tied to Dossier

(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice for all records of communication from January 2016 to January 2018 between former FBI General Counsel James Baker and anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steele.

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to compel the FBI to comply with a January 5, 2018, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-00177). The lawsuit seeks:

Any and all records of communication, including but not limited to emails, text messages and instant chats, sent between Baker and any of the following individuals: former British intelligence officer Steele, principal of Orbis Business Intelligence, Ltd.; Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS; former GPS contractor Nellie Ohr; and/or David Corn, a reporter with Mother Jones magazine.

The FBI claimed it had no responsive records, but Baker was deeply involved with the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign and is currently the subject of a criminal investigation for leaking to the media.

The FBI’s “no records” response is belied by Baker’s closed-door congressional testimony in October 2018, in which he reportedly testified that David Corn, a reporter at the far Left Mother Jones magazine, had provided him with a copy of the anti-Trump dossier the day after President Trump’s 2016 election victory. Baker also reportedly testified that he believed at the time Corn received the dossier from Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS.

Fusion GPS employee Nellie Ohr is the wife of former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, who was a key conduit between dossier author Christopher Steele and the FBI. Former FBI Director James Comey himself called the dossier “salacious and unverified.”

Judicial Watch in August 2018 filed a related lawsuit seeking records about the Ohrs’ involvement in the anti-Trump dossier and the FBI’s meetings with the Democratic National Committee’s law firm Perkins Coie. In November Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit about the firm itself.

Perkins Coie had hired Fusion GPS to dig into President Trump’s background. Baker reportedly told congressional investigators that Perkins Coie lawyer Michael Sussmann “initiated contact with [Baker] and provided documents and computer storage devices on Russian hacking.” The contact was made in late 2016 as federal investigators prepared a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to spy on Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

In August 2018, Judicial Watch released FBI records showing that Steele was cut off as a “Confidential Human Source” after he disclosed his relationship to the FBI to a third party. The documents show at least 11 FBI payments to Steele in 2016.

Baker also advised top FBI officials during the Hillary Clinton email scandal. He left his role as general counsel in January 2018 and resigned from the FBI in May 2018.

“The real collusion scandal of the 2016 election is the effort by the Clinton campaign and the Obama DOJ/FBI to spy on and destroy President Donald Trump,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “And it looks like the FBI is covering up documents on this Russiagate scandal, which is why Judicial Watch is again in federal court.”

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press...ommunications-with-anti-trump-dossier-author/

Judicial Watch is a rag.

 

[MARIS61]

Judicial Watch Files Ethics Complaint Over Rep. Adam Schiff’s Contacts with Glenn Simpson and Michael Cohen
MARCH 11, 2019

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

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed an official complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics about Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) controversial communications and contacts with two congressional witnesses: Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS and Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer.

The complaint asks that Rep. Schiff, who is the new chairman of the House Intelligence Community, be investigated in connection with recent revelations that he met with Simpson in Aspen, Colorado, in July 2018 and that he and his staff coordinated with Michael Cohen on Cohen’s recent testimony to congressional committees. Cohen’s testimony is alleged to be false in several important respects.

Judicial Watch filed an ethics complaint on April 13, 2018, against Rep. Schiff and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) for improperly confirming classified information in violation of House rules but the Committee has yet to take any public action on the complaint.

“Rep. Schiff has an ethics problem. His and his staff’s irregular communications with anti-Trump witnesses reflect poorly on the credibility of the House and its committees’ investigations,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It has long been apparent that Rep. Schiff can’t be trusted to lead the Intelligence Committee, so we hope that Democrats on the Ethics Committee stop protecting Mr. Schiff and take action.”

The latest Judicial Watch ethics complaint is reprinted below:

Dear Chairman Skaggs,

Judicial Watch is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government and fidelity to the rule of law. We regularly monitor congressional ethics issues as part of our anti-corruption mission.

This letter serves as our official complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) concerning the activities of Rep. Adam Schiff. Rep. Schiff appears to have violated House Code of Official Conduct, Rule 23, clauses 1 and 2, by inappropriately communicating with witnesses. Clauses 1 and 2 provide:

1.A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.

2.A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall adhere to the spirit and the letter of the Rules of the House and to the rules of duly constituted committees thereof.

Rep. Adam Schiff attended the Aspen Security Forum conference in July 2018, which was also attended by Glenn Simpson, the founder of the firm Fusion GPS. Press reports have detailed evidence of a meeting and discussion between Rep. Schiff and Glenn Simpson at the July 2018 Aspen Security Forum. As noted in The Hill newspaper:

At the time of the encounter, Simpson was an important witness in the House Intelligence Committee probe who had given sworn testimony about alleged, but still unproven, collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Fusion GPS is the political opposition research firm involved in procuring “unverified” information claiming the Trump presidential campaign had “colluded” with Russia, among other things. That Fusion GPS-supplied information was the basis upon which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) obtained Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance warrants against Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page.

Mr. Simpson’s leadership of Fusion GPS and his centrality to events resulted in his having to testify before congressional committees or their staffs. Specifically, Mr. Simpson testified before the House Intelligence Committee, of which Rep. Schiff was the ranking Democratic member, on October 16, 2018 – approximately three (3) months after the Aspen Security Forum.

We note that following revelations in 2017 that Rep. Devin Nunes had informed President Trump that U.S. intelligence agencies had been engaging in “incidental collection” of his campaign’s communications, Rep. Schiff demanded that Rep. Nunes, then Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, recuse himself from any investigations involving alleged Trump collusion with Russia. Indeed, Rep. Schiff wrote the following on twitter:

This is not a recommendation I make lightly … But in much the same way that the attorney general [Jeff Sessions] was forced to recuse himself from the Russia investigation after failing to inform the Senate of his meetings with Russian officials, I believe the public cannot have the necessary confidence that matters involving the president’s campaign or transition team can be objectively investigated or overseen by the chairman.

Then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi concurred with Rep. Schiff’s call for Mr. Nunes to recuse himself.

The July 2018 contacts between Rep. Schiff and Mr. Simpson create, at a minimum, the appearance of impropriety. As a result of Rep. Schiff’s previously undisclosed, private discussions with Mr. Simpson, the public’s confidence in Mr. Schiff’s ability to objectively and impartially carry out his duties as Committee Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have been gravely damaged.

Further, Rep. Schiff’s contacts with Mr. Michael Cohen should also be scrutinized in the same light as the Simpson contacts. Journalists have reported:

President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen told House investigators this week that staff for Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., traveled to New York at least four times to meet with him for over 10 hours immediately before last month’s high-profile public testimony, according to two sources familiar with the matter – as Republicans question whether the meetings amounted to coaching a witness.

The sources said the sessions covered a slew of topics addressed during the public hearing before the oversight committee – including the National Enquirer ‘s “Catch and Kill” policy, American Media CEO David Pecker and the alleged undervaluing of President Trump’s assets.

Again, Rep. Schiff’ s conduct creates the appearance of unethical collusion and synchronization of efforts that calls into question whether Cohen’s testimony was a legitimate congressional hearing or well-rehearsed political theatre.

During Mr. Cohen’s congressional testimony, he was questioned by Rep. Mike Turner concerning the number, nature and subject of his [Cohen’s] contacts with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Rep Jim Jordan pressed Cohen on the subject in subsequent questioning. Cohen hesitantly acknowledged that he had spoken with Schiff “about topics that were going to be raised at the upcoming hearing.”

A pattern of conduct on the part of Rep. Schiff in these matters would exponentially increase the gravity of the prejudice and harm to the public’s confidence in the institution of the House of Representatives.

Rep. Schiff’s conduct and contacts with witnesses must be treated with the same gravity that Reps. Schiff and Pelosi accorded Rep. Nunes’s actions. Rep. Nunes recused himself for a time from certain oversight responsibilities with respect to the Russia-Trump investigations.

In the least, Rep. Schiff and his staff communications with Glenn Simpson and Michael Cohen, undermine the “credibility of the House” and its committee proceedings, especially given Mr. Cohen’s subsequent alleged false testimony.

We call upon the OCE to investigate Rep. Schiff and his previously undisclosed, inappropriate contact with key witnesses in congressional investigation over which that Member holds significant sway.

Thank you for your attention.

Acknowledgment: I acknowledge that Section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code applies to the information provided above.

 

[Lanny]

Judicial Watch Files Ethics Complaint Over Rep. Adam Schiff’s Contacts with Glenn Simpson and Michael Cohen
MARCH 11, 2019

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

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed an official complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics about Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) controversial communications and contacts with two congressional witnesses: Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS and Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer.

The complaint asks that Rep. Schiff, who is the new chairman of the House Intelligence Community, be investigated in connection with recent revelations that he met with Simpson in Aspen, Colorado, in July 2018 and that he and his staff coordinated with Michael Cohen on Cohen’s recent testimony to congressional committees. Cohen’s testimony is alleged to be false in several important respects.

Judicial Watch filed an ethics complaint on April 13, 2018, against Rep. Schiff and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) for improperly confirming classified information in violation of House rules but the Committee has yet to take any public action on the complaint.

“Rep. Schiff has an ethics problem. His and his staff’s irregular communications with anti-Trump witnesses reflect poorly on the credibility of the House and its committees’ investigations,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It has long been apparent that Rep. Schiff can’t be trusted to lead the Intelligence Committee, so we hope that Democrats on the Ethics Committee stop protecting Mr. Schiff and take action.”

The latest Judicial Watch ethics complaint is reprinted below:

Dear Chairman Skaggs,

Judicial Watch is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government and fidelity to the rule of law. We regularly monitor congressional ethics issues as part of our anti-corruption mission.

This letter serves as our official complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) concerning the activities of Rep. Adam Schiff. Rep. Schiff appears to have violated House Code of Official Conduct, Rule 23, clauses 1 and 2, by inappropriately communicating with witnesses. Clauses 1 and 2 provide:

1.A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.

2.A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall adhere to the spirit and the letter of the Rules of the House and to the rules of duly constituted committees thereof.

Rep. Adam Schiff attended the Aspen Security Forum conference in July 2018, which was also attended by Glenn Simpson, the founder of the firm Fusion GPS. Press reports have detailed evidence of a meeting and discussion between Rep. Schiff and Glenn Simpson at the July 2018 Aspen Security Forum. As noted in The Hill newspaper:

At the time of the encounter, Simpson was an important witness in the House Intelligence Committee probe who had given sworn testimony about alleged, but still unproven, collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Fusion GPS is the political opposition research firm involved in procuring “unverified” information claiming the Trump presidential campaign had “colluded” with Russia, among other things. That Fusion GPS-supplied information was the basis upon which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) obtained Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance warrants against Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page.

Mr. Simpson’s leadership of Fusion GPS and his centrality to events resulted in his having to testify before congressional committees or their staffs. Specifically, Mr. Simpson testified before the House Intelligence Committee, of which Rep. Schiff was the ranking Democratic member, on October 16, 2018 – approximately three (3) months after the Aspen Security Forum.

We note that following revelations in 2017 that Rep. Devin Nunes had informed President Trump that U.S. intelligence agencies had been engaging in “incidental collection” of his campaign’s communications, Rep. Schiff demanded that Rep. Nunes, then Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, recuse himself from any investigations involving alleged Trump collusion with Russia. Indeed, Rep. Schiff wrote the following on twitter:

This is not a recommendation I make lightly … But in much the same way that the attorney general [Jeff Sessions] was forced to recuse himself from the Russia investigation after failing to inform the Senate of his meetings with Russian officials, I believe the public cannot have the necessary confidence that matters involving the president’s campaign or transition team can be objectively investigated or overseen by the chairman.

Then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi concurred with Rep. Schiff’s call for Mr. Nunes to recuse himself.

The July 2018 contacts between Rep. Schiff and Mr. Simpson create, at a minimum, the appearance of impropriety. As a result of Rep. Schiff’s previously undisclosed, private discussions with Mr. Simpson, the public’s confidence in Mr. Schiff’s ability to objectively and impartially carry out his duties as Committee Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have been gravely damaged.

Further, Rep. Schiff’s contacts with Mr. Michael Cohen should also be scrutinized in the same light as the Simpson contacts. Journalists have reported:

President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen told House investigators this week that staff for Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., traveled to New York at least four times to meet with him for over 10 hours immediately before last month’s high-profile public testimony, according to two sources familiar with the matter – as Republicans question whether the meetings amounted to coaching a witness.

The sources said the sessions covered a slew of topics addressed during the public hearing before the oversight committee – including the National Enquirer ‘s “Catch and Kill” policy, American Media CEO David Pecker and the alleged undervaluing of President Trump’s assets.

Again, Rep. Schiff’ s conduct creates the appearance of unethical collusion and synchronization of efforts that calls into question whether Cohen’s testimony was a legitimate congressional hearing or well-rehearsed political theatre.

During Mr. Cohen’s congressional testimony, he was questioned by Rep. Mike Turner concerning the number, nature and subject of his [Cohen’s] contacts with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Rep Jim Jordan pressed Cohen on the subject in subsequent questioning. Cohen hesitantly acknowledged that he had spoken with Schiff “about topics that were going to be raised at the upcoming hearing.”

A pattern of conduct on the part of Rep. Schiff in these matters would exponentially increase the gravity of the prejudice and harm to the public’s confidence in the institution of the House of Representatives.

Rep. Schiff’s conduct and contacts with witnesses must be treated with the same gravity that Reps. Schiff and Pelosi accorded Rep. Nunes’s actions. Rep. Nunes recused himself for a time from certain oversight responsibilities with respect to the Russia-Trump investigations.

In the least, Rep. Schiff and his staff communications with Glenn Simpson and Michael Cohen, undermine the “credibility of the House” and its committee proceedings, especially given Mr. Cohen’s subsequent alleged false testimony.

We call upon the OCE to investigate Rep. Schiff and his previously undisclosed, inappropriate contact with key witnesses in congressional investigation over which that Member holds significant sway.

Thank you for your attention.

Acknowledgment: I acknowledge that Section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code applies to the information provided above.

Yawn, wake me up when something happens. Oughta be what? Any day now?

 

[MARIS61]

and...

Judicial Watch Sues for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s Communications During Time of Comey Firing, Mueller Appointment
MARCH 12, 2019

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

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for all records of communications of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein between May 8 and May 17, 2017.
Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the DOJ failed to respond to a September 21, 2018, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-00481)).

Judicial Watch seeks:

Any and all e-mails, text messages, or other records of communication addressed to or received by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein between May 8, 2017, and May 22, 2017.

The time period referred to in the suit was a critical one. On May 8, 2017, Rosenstein wrote a memo to President Trump recommending that FBI Director James Comey be fired. The next day, President Trump fired Comey. On May 17 Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Between May 8 and May 17, Rosenstein met with then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and other senior Justice Department FBI officials and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump and whether Rosenstein and others should wear a wire to secretly record conversations with the President.

Judicial Watch previously filed a FOIA lawsuit seeking records of communication of former FBI Deputy Director McCabe, the Office of the Attorney General Jeff Sessions, or the Office of Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein discussing the 25th Amendment or presidential fitness. Additionally, that lawsuit seeks all recordings made by any official in the Office of the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General of meetings in the Executive Office of the President or Vice President.

“These critical days in May, a scant three months into President Trump’s term, included extraordinary targeting of President Trump by Rod Rosenstein and other Deep State officials at the DOJ and FBI,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Judicial Watch’s focused FOIA lawsuit aims to uncover what exactly Mr. Rosenstein’s role was in any discussions to overthrow President Trump.”

 

[Lanny]

and...

Judicial Watch Sues for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s Communications During Time of Comey Firing, Mueller Appointment
MARCH 12, 2019

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

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for all records of communications of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein between May 8 and May 17, 2017.
Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the DOJ failed to respond to a September 21, 2018, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-00481)).

Judicial Watch seeks:

Any and all e-mails, text messages, or other records of communication addressed to or received by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein between May 8, 2017, and May 22, 2017.

The time period referred to in the suit was a critical one. On May 8, 2017, Rosenstein wrote a memo to President Trump recommending that FBI Director James Comey be fired. The next day, President Trump fired Comey. On May 17 Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Between May 8 and May 17, Rosenstein met with then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and other senior Justice Department FBI officials and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump and whether Rosenstein and others should wear a wire to secretly record conversations with the President.

Judicial Watch previously filed a FOIA lawsuit seeking records of communication of former FBI Deputy Director McCabe, the Office of the Attorney General Jeff Sessions, or the Office of Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein discussing the 25th Amendment or presidential fitness. Additionally, that lawsuit seeks all recordings made by any official in the Office of the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General of meetings in the Executive Office of the President or Vice President.

“These critical days in May, a scant three months into President Trump’s term, included extraordinary targeting of President Trump by Rod Rosenstein and other Deep State officials at the DOJ and FBI,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Judicial Watch’s focused FOIA lawsuit aims to uncover what exactly Mr. Rosenstein’s role was in any discussions to overthrow President Trump.”

Judicial Watch is for Trump Chumps.

 

[MARIS61]

Judicial Watch Announces Depositions of Senior Obama-era Officials and Former Hillary Clinton Aides
MARCH 13, 2019

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

First Witness Testifies Tomorrow

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today a schedule of depositions of senior Obama-era State Department officials, lawyers, and Clinton aides who have been ordered by the court to provide answers under oath to Judicial Watch’s questions about the Benghazi and Clinton email scandals.

In January 2019, United States District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ordered senior officials — including Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, Jacob Sullivan, and FBI official E.W. Priestap – to respond under oath.

The court-ordered discovery comes in Judicial Watch’s July 2014 FOIA lawsuit filed after the U.S. Department of State failed to respond to a May 13, 2014 FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01242)). Judicial Watch seeks:

Copies of any updates and/or talking points given to Ambassador Rice by the White House or any federal agency concerning, regarding, or related to the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Any and all records or communications concerning, regarding, or relating to talking points or updates on the Benghazi attack given to Ambassador Rice by the White House or any federal agency.

Judicial Watch’s discovery will seek answers to:

• Whether Clinton intentionally attempted to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by using a non-government email system;
• whether the State Department’s efforts to settle this case beginning in late 2014 amounted to bad faith; and
• whether the State Department adequately searched for records responsive to Judicial Watch’s FOIA request.

The confirmed discovery schedule now includes:

March 12: State Department’s responses to interrogatories and document requests were due.

March 14: Deposition of Justin Cooper, a former aide to Bill Clinton who reportedly had no security clearance and is believed to have played a key role in setting up Hillary Clinton’s non-government email system.

April 5: Deposition of John Hackett, a State Department records official “immediately responsible for responding to requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act.”

April 16: Deposition of Jacob “Jake” Sullivan, Hillary Clinton’s former senior advisor and deputy chief of staff.

April 23: Deposition of Sheryl Walter, former State Department Director of the Office of Information Programs and Services/Global Information Services.

April 26: Deposition of Gene Smilansky, a State Department lawyer.

April 30. Deposition of Monica Tillery, a State Department official.

May 7: Deposition of Jonathon Wasser, who was a management analyst on the Executive Secretariat staff. Wasser worked for Deputy Director Clarence Finney and was the State Department employee who actually conducted the searches for records in response to FOIA requests to the Office of the Secretary.

May 14: Deposition of Clarence Finney, the deputy director of the Executive Secretariat staff who was the principal advisor and records management expert in the Office of the Secretary responsible for control of all correspondence and records for Hillary Clinton and other State Department officials.

June 11: 30(b)(6) Deposition, which will be designated by the State Department.

June 13: Deposition of Heather Samuelson, the former State Department senior advisor who helped facilitate the State Department’s receipt and release of Hillary Clinton’s emails.

As yet to be determined is the deposition date for Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Eric Boswell, who wrote a March 2, 2009, internal memorandum titled “Use of Blackberries on Mahogany Row,” in which he strongly advised that the devices not be allowed.

Written questions under oath are to be answered by:

Monica Hanley, Hillary Clinton’s former confidential assistant at the State Department.

Lauren Jiloty, Clinton’s former special assistant.

E.W. Priestap, is serving as assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division and helped oversee both the Clinton email and the 2016 presidential campaign investigations. Priestap testified in a separate lawsuit that Clinton was the subject of a grand jury investigation related to her BlackBerry email accounts.

Susan Rice, President Obama’s former UN ambassador who appeared on Sunday television news shows following the Benghazi attacks, blaming a “hateful video.” Rice was also Obama’s national security advisor involved in the “unmasking” the identities of senior Trump officials caught up in the surveillance of foreign targets.

Ben Rhodes, an Obama-era White House deputy strategic communications adviser who attempted to orchestrate a campaign to “reinforce” Obama and to portray the Benghazi consulate terrorist attack as being “rooted in an Internet video, and not a failure of policy.”

“Judicial Watch is doing the heavy lifting on the ongoing Clinton email scandal, even as Congress dropped the ball and DOJ and State continued to obstruct our quest for the truth,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Court in our case wants real answers on the Clinton email scandal which is why our request for basic discovery was granted.”

This Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit led directly to the disclosure of the Clinton email system in 2015.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press...a-officials-and-former-hillary-clinton-aides/

 

[Lanny]

Judicial Watch Announces Depositions of Senior Obama-era Officials and Former Hillary Clinton Aides
MARCH 13, 2019

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

First Witness Testifies Tomorrow

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today a schedule of depositions of senior Obama-era State Department officials, lawyers, and Clinton aides who have been ordered by the court to provide answers under oath to Judicial Watch’s questions about the Benghazi and Clinton email scandals.

In January 2019, United States District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ordered senior officials — including Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, Jacob Sullivan, and FBI official E.W. Priestap – to respond under oath.

The court-ordered discovery comes in Judicial Watch’s July 2014 FOIA lawsuit filed after the U.S. Department of State failed to respond to a May 13, 2014 FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01242)). Judicial Watch seeks:

Copies of any updates and/or talking points given to Ambassador Rice by the White House or any federal agency concerning, regarding, or related to the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Any and all records or communications concerning, regarding, or relating to talking points or updates on the Benghazi attack given to Ambassador Rice by the White House or any federal agency.

Judicial Watch’s discovery will seek answers to:

• Whether Clinton intentionally attempted to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by using a non-government email system;
• whether the State Department’s efforts to settle this case beginning in late 2014 amounted to bad faith; and
• whether the State Department adequately searched for records responsive to Judicial Watch’s FOIA request.

The confirmed discovery schedule now includes:

March 12: State Department’s responses to interrogatories and document requests were due.

March 14: Deposition of Justin Cooper, a former aide to Bill Clinton who reportedly had no security clearance and is believed to have played a key role in setting up Hillary Clinton’s non-government email system.

April 5: Deposition of John Hackett, a State Department records official “immediately responsible for responding to requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act.”

April 16: Deposition of Jacob “Jake” Sullivan, Hillary Clinton’s former senior advisor and deputy chief of staff.

April 23: Deposition of Sheryl Walter, former State Department Director of the Office of Information Programs and Services/Global Information Services.

April 26: Deposition of Gene Smilansky, a State Department lawyer.

April 30. Deposition of Monica Tillery, a State Department official.

May 7: Deposition of Jonathon Wasser, who was a management analyst on the Executive Secretariat staff. Wasser worked for Deputy Director Clarence Finney and was the State Department employee who actually conducted the searches for records in response to FOIA requests to the Office of the Secretary.

May 14: Deposition of Clarence Finney, the deputy director of the Executive Secretariat staff who was the principal advisor and records management expert in the Office of the Secretary responsible for control of all correspondence and records for Hillary Clinton and other State Department officials.

June 11: 30(b)(6) Deposition, which will be designated by the State Department.

June 13: Deposition of Heather Samuelson, the former State Department senior advisor who helped facilitate the State Department’s receipt and release of Hillary Clinton’s emails.

As yet to be determined is the deposition date for Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Eric Boswell, who wrote a March 2, 2009, internal memorandum titled “Use of Blackberries on Mahogany Row,” in which he strongly advised that the devices not be allowed.

Written questions under oath are to be answered by:

Monica Hanley, Hillary Clinton’s former confidential assistant at the State Department.

Lauren Jiloty, Clinton’s former special assistant.

E.W. Priestap, is serving as assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division and helped oversee both the Clinton email and the 2016 presidential campaign investigations. Priestap testified in a separate lawsuit that Clinton was the subject of a grand jury investigation related to her BlackBerry email accounts.

Susan Rice, President Obama’s former UN ambassador who appeared on Sunday television news shows following the Benghazi attacks, blaming a “hateful video.” Rice was also Obama’s national security advisor involved in the “unmasking” the identities of senior Trump officials caught up in the surveillance of foreign targets.

Ben Rhodes, an Obama-era White House deputy strategic communications adviser who attempted to orchestrate a campaign to “reinforce” Obama and to portray the Benghazi consulate terrorist attack as being “rooted in an Internet video, and not a failure of policy.”

“Judicial Watch is doing the heavy lifting on the ongoing Clinton email scandal, even as Congress dropped the ball and DOJ and State continued to obstruct our quest for the truth,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Court in our case wants real answers on the Clinton email scandal which is why our request for basic discovery was granted.”

This Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit led directly to the disclosure of the Clinton email system in 2015.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press...a-officials-and-former-hillary-clinton-aides/

LOL, this is cute.
I've been hearing this warning for what? I think about 30 years.

 

[MARIS61]

Court confirms Senator John McCain was major cog in conspiracy with foreign governments to smear the POTUS in order to protect themselves from public exposure and subsequent prosecution of crimes against the US Government and it's citizens. Court also confirms McCain lied repeatedly to all Americans when questioned about his involvement.

Just another stain on the dirtiest political career in US history.

Court files reveal role of McCain, aide in spreading anti-Trump dossier

By Adam Shaw | Fox News

House Democrats ask White House and State Department for documents related to Trump-Putin communications

Chairmen of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees specifically name the 2018 Helsinki summit; reaction from Rep. Will Hurd, Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Newly unsealed court filings show the office of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., shared with the FBI and a host of media outlets the unverified dossier that alleged the Russians had compromising information on now-President Trump.

McCain had denied being the source for BuzzFeed after it published the dossier, which was funded by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, but had acknowledged giving it to the FBI.

In a newly unsealed declaration from September, former senior counterintelligence FBI agent Bill Priestap confirmed that the FBI received a copy of the first 33 pages of the dossier in December 2016 from McCain.

In another filing, David Kramer -- a former State Department official and McCain associate -- said in a Dec. 13, 2017, deposition that the dossier was given to him by author and former British spy Christopher Steele, which he then provided to more than a dozen journalists at outlets including CNN, BuzzFeed and The Washington Post. The details were first reported by The Daily Caller.

The report was also shared with State Department official Victoria Nuland, Obama National Security Council official Celeste Wallander and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.

The filings were unsealed as part of an ongoing libel case against BuzzFeed by a Russian businessman.

In his deposition, Kramer said that McCain gave a copy of the dossier to then-FBI Director James Comey on Dec. 9. Kramer told investigators that it was the sense from Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson that “having Senator McCain provide it to the FBI would give it a little more oomph than it had had up until that point.”

“I think they felt a senior Republican was better to be the recipient of this rather than a Democrat because if it were a Democrat, I think that the view was that it would have been dismissed as a political attack,” he said.

The FBI extensively relied on the dossier in its warrant applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court in seeking to surveil Trump aide Carter Page -- even though some of the dossier’s claims have been called into question, including a claim that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen traveled to Prague to pay off Russian hackers and other more salacious claims about Trump himself.

 

[Lanny]

Court confirms Senator John McCain was major cog in conspiracy with foreign governments to smear the POTUS in order to protect themselves from public exposure and subsequent prosecution of crimes against the US Government and it's citizens. Court also confirms McCain lied repeatedly to all Americans when questioned about his involvement.

Just another stain on the dirtiest political career in US history.

Court files reveal role of McCain, aide in spreading anti-Trump dossier

By Adam Shaw | Fox News

House Democrats ask White House and State Department for documents related to Trump-Putin communications

Chairmen of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees specifically name the 2018 Helsinki summit; reaction from Rep. Will Hurd, Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Newly unsealed court filings show the office of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., shared with the FBI and a host of media outlets the unverified dossier that alleged the Russians had compromising information on now-President Trump.

McCain had denied being the source for BuzzFeed after it published the dossier, which was funded by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, but had acknowledged giving it to the FBI.

In a newly unsealed declaration from September, former senior counterintelligence FBI agent Bill Priestap confirmed that the FBI received a copy of the first 33 pages of the dossier in December 2016 from McCain.

In another filing, David Kramer -- a former State Department official and McCain associate -- said in a Dec. 13, 2017, deposition that the dossier was given to him by author and former British spy Christopher Steele, which he then provided to more than a dozen journalists at outlets including CNN, BuzzFeed and The Washington Post. The details were first reported by The Daily Caller.

The report was also shared with State Department official Victoria Nuland, Obama National Security Council official Celeste Wallander and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.

The filings were unsealed as part of an ongoing libel case against BuzzFeed by a Russian businessman.

In his deposition, Kramer said that McCain gave a copy of the dossier to then-FBI Director James Comey on Dec. 9. Kramer told investigators that it was the sense from Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson that “having Senator McCain provide it to the FBI would give it a little more oomph than it had had up until that point.”

“I think they felt a senior Republican was better to be the recipient of this rather than a Democrat because if it were a Democrat, I think that the view was that it would have been dismissed as a political attack,” he said.

The FBI extensively relied on the dossier in its warrant applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court in seeking to surveil Trump aide Carter Page -- even though some of the dossier’s claims have been called into question, including a claim that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen traveled to Prague to pay off Russian hackers and other more salacious claims about Trump himself.

There was always something sinister about McCain. It started with his cowardice in a N. Vietnamese prison camp. And you've gotta admit he just never seemed honest.

 

[barfo]

In Devin Nunes news (haven't we all missed him lately?)...

Devin Nunes, the co-sponsor of the Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act, is suing an imaginary cow.

barfo

 

[Lanny]

In Devin Nunes news (haven't we all missed him lately?)...

Devin Nunes, the co-sponsor of the Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act, is suing an imaginary cow.

barfo

Why am I not surprised?

 

[MARIS61]

Obama WH counsel faces possible prosecution in Mueller-initiated probe

By Gregg Re | Fox News

Former Obama White House Counsel and Clinton-linked attorney Greg Craig may soon be charged by the Justice Department for engaging in illegal unregistered overseas lobbying, in a case initially probed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller -- a development that would make him the first Democrat to face prosecution amid the long-running Russia investigation.

The case centers on lobbying work that Craig performed in 2012 for the Russian-backed president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, while Craig was a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Craig allegedly never registered as a foreign agent under a U.S. law known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which requires lobbyists to declare publicly if they represent foreign leaders, governments or their political parties.

FARA violations were only rarely prosecuted until Mueller took aim at Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, for his lobbying work in Ukraine. Manafort, who connected Craig with Yanukovych, has been convicted on numerous bank and tax fraud charges, and was separately accused of FARA violations as well. He was sentenced earlier this month to approximately seven years in prison.

Craig left Skadden last year as his work with Manafort became public. In January, Skadden agreed to cooperate with the DOJ's registration requirements and paid $4.6 million in a settlement to avoid a criminal prosecution. "We have learned much from this incident and are taking steps to prevent anything similar from happening again,” the firm said in a statement at the time.

As with Manafort's case, there is no indication that Craig improperly colluded with a foreign government while he was serving in any official capacity. Craig worked as White House Counsel from 2009 to 2010, and previously worked in the Clinton administration on impeachment matters.

Mueller referred the Craig case to New York federal prosecutors, apparently because it fell outside his mandate of determining whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia.

Former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig may soon become the first Democrat indicted in the Mueller probe.

New York prosecutors ultimately forwarded the case to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. in January for a now-imminent final decision on filing charges, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Separately, New York prosecutors are also looking into potential similar charges regarding another Clinton-connected Washington insider, Tony Podesta. In September, Manafort admitted to directing two firms -- Mercury Public Affairs and the Podesta Group -- to lobby in the U.S. on behalf of a Ukrainian political party and Ukraine's government, then led by Yanukovych, Manafort's longtime political patron.

Mercury and Podesta, which were paid a combined $2 million on the project, then registered under a less stringent lobbying law that doesn't require as much public disclosure as FARA.

Both firms have said they registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, rather than FARA, on the advice of lawyers at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Craig's former firm. But in court papers, Mueller's prosecutors suggested the firms were aware they were working on Ukraine's behalf.

The Times reported on Tuesday that the Podesta probe apparently has not been moved to the DOJ, and that Manahattan prosecutors remain in control of the investigation. In a flurry of new activity in January, though, federal prosecutors began systematically interviewing witnesses and contacting lawyers to schedule additional questioning related to the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs.

Podesta is a longtime Democratic operative whose brother, John Podesta, ran Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign; Weber is a former Republican congressman from Minnesota. Neither man has been charged with any crimes. Their firms have defended the decisions by saying they relied on the advice of outside attorneys.

Mercury spokesman Michael McKeon said the firm has "always welcomed any inquiry since we acted appropriately at every step of the process, including hiring a top lawyer in Washington and following his advice. We'll continue to cooperate as we have previously."

Foreign lobbying work was central to Mueller's case against Manafort and his longtime associate Rick Gates, two high-profile Trump campaign officials who pleaded guilty earlier this year and have been interviewed extensively by prosecutors.

The Podestas have been frequent targets of Trump and his associates, who have repeatedly demanded to know why Tony Podesta has not been arrested and charged.

Gates admitted in his plea deal that he lied to Mercury's attorneys about the project, a fact the lobbying firm has publicly highlighted. The Podesta Group has said it was misled by the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, citing a written certification from the nonprofit stating it wasn't directed or controlled by the Ukrainian Party of Regions, one of Manafort's clients.

For Trump and other Republicans -- who have long accused Clinton backers of skirting the law -- that explanation amounted to a weak effort to obtain plausible deniability.

"Was the brother of John Podesta paid big money to get the sanctions on Russia lifted?" Trump tweeted in 2017. "Did Hillary know?"
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ob...ssible-prosecution-in-mueller-initiated-probe

 

[CupWizier]

Obama WH counsel faces possible prosecution in Mueller-initiated probe

By Gregg Re | Fox News

Former Obama White House Counsel and Clinton-linked attorney Greg Craig may soon be charged by the Justice Department for engaging in illegal unregistered overseas lobbying, in a case initially probed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller -- a development that would make him the first Democrat to face prosecution amid the long-running Russia investigation.

The case centers on lobbying work that Craig performed in 2012 for the Russian-backed president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, while Craig was a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Craig allegedly never registered as a foreign agent under a U.S. law known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which requires lobbyists to declare publicly if they represent foreign leaders, governments or their political parties.

FARA violations were only rarely prosecuted until Mueller took aim at Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, for his lobbying work in Ukraine. Manafort, who connected Craig with Yanukovych, has been convicted on numerous bank and tax fraud charges, and was separately accused of FARA violations as well. He was sentenced earlier this month to approximately seven years in prison.

Craig left Skadden last year as his work with Manafort became public. In January, Skadden agreed to cooperate with the DOJ's registration requirements and paid $4.6 million in a settlement to avoid a criminal prosecution. "We have learned much from this incident and are taking steps to prevent anything similar from happening again,” the firm said in a statement at the time.

As with Manafort's case, there is no indication that Craig improperly colluded with a foreign government while he was serving in any official capacity. Craig worked as White House Counsel from 2009 to 2010, and previously worked in the Clinton administration on impeachment matters.

Mueller referred the Craig case to New York federal prosecutors, apparently because it fell outside his mandate of determining whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia.

Former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig may soon become the first Democrat indicted in the Mueller probe.

New York prosecutors ultimately forwarded the case to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. in January for a now-imminent final decision on filing charges, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Separately, New York prosecutors are also looking into potential similar charges regarding another Clinton-connected Washington insider, Tony Podesta. In September, Manafort admitted to directing two firms -- Mercury Public Affairs and the Podesta Group -- to lobby in the U.S. on behalf of a Ukrainian political party and Ukraine's government, then led by Yanukovych, Manafort's longtime political patron.

Mercury and Podesta, which were paid a combined $2 million on the project, then registered under a less stringent lobbying law that doesn't require as much public disclosure as FARA.

Both firms have said they registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, rather than FARA, on the advice of lawyers at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Craig's former firm. But in court papers, Mueller's prosecutors suggested the firms were aware they were working on Ukraine's behalf.

The Times reported on Tuesday that the Podesta probe apparently has not been moved to the DOJ, and that Manahattan prosecutors remain in control of the investigation. In a flurry of new activity in January, though, federal prosecutors began systematically interviewing witnesses and contacting lawyers to schedule additional questioning related to the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs.

Podesta is a longtime Democratic operative whose brother, John Podesta, ran Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign; Weber is a former Republican congressman from Minnesota. Neither man has been charged with any crimes. Their firms have defended the decisions by saying they relied on the advice of outside attorneys.

Mercury spokesman Michael McKeon said the firm has "always welcomed any inquiry since we acted appropriately at every step of the process, including hiring a top lawyer in Washington and following his advice. We'll continue to cooperate as we have previously."

Foreign lobbying work was central to Mueller's case against Manafort and his longtime associate Rick Gates, two high-profile Trump campaign officials who pleaded guilty earlier this year and have been interviewed extensively by prosecutors.

The Podestas have been frequent targets of Trump and his associates, who have repeatedly demanded to know why Tony Podesta has not been arrested and charged.

Gates admitted in his plea deal that he lied to Mercury's attorneys about the project, a fact the lobbying firm has publicly highlighted. The Podesta Group has said it was misled by the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, citing a written certification from the nonprofit stating it wasn't directed or controlled by the Ukrainian Party of Regions, one of Manafort's clients.

For Trump and other Republicans -- who have long accused Clinton backers of skirting the law -- that explanation amounted to a weak effort to obtain plausible deniability.

"Was the brother of John Podesta paid big money to get the sanctions on Russia lifted?" Trump tweeted in 2017. "Did Hillary know?"
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ob...ssible-prosecution-in-mueller-initiated-probe

Indictments and guilty please soon to follow. Oh wait, that's the ones associated with trump being indicted and sentenced. An obvious bias that only trump associates are the ones going to prison.

By the way Maris, do you approve of the angry orangeman always tweeting out negative stuff, not denouncing white supremacy and attacking a man who was known as a great patriot in John McClain plus all the childish name calling he does? Reminds me of a 6th grade bully.

 

[Lanny]

Obama WH counsel faces possible prosecution in Mueller-initiated probe

By Gregg Re | Fox News

Former Obama White House Counsel and Clinton-linked attorney Greg Craig may soon be charged by the Justice Department for engaging in illegal unregistered overseas lobbying, in a case initially probed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller -- a development that would make him the first Democrat to face prosecution amid the long-running Russia investigation.

The case centers on lobbying work that Craig performed in 2012 for the Russian-backed president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, while Craig was a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Craig allegedly never registered as a foreign agent under a U.S. law known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which requires lobbyists to declare publicly if they represent foreign leaders, governments or their political parties.

FARA violations were only rarely prosecuted until Mueller took aim at Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, for his lobbying work in Ukraine. Manafort, who connected Craig with Yanukovych, has been convicted on numerous bank and tax fraud charges, and was separately accused of FARA violations as well. He was sentenced earlier this month to approximately seven years in prison.

Craig left Skadden last year as his work with Manafort became public. In January, Skadden agreed to cooperate with the DOJ's registration requirements and paid $4.6 million in a settlement to avoid a criminal prosecution. "We have learned much from this incident and are taking steps to prevent anything similar from happening again,” the firm said in a statement at the time.

As with Manafort's case, there is no indication that Craig improperly colluded with a foreign government while he was serving in any official capacity. Craig worked as White House Counsel from 2009 to 2010, and previously worked in the Clinton administration on impeachment matters.

Mueller referred the Craig case to New York federal prosecutors, apparently because it fell outside his mandate of determining whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia.

Former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig may soon become the first Democrat indicted in the Mueller probe.

New York prosecutors ultimately forwarded the case to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. in January for a now-imminent final decision on filing charges, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Separately, New York prosecutors are also looking into potential similar charges regarding another Clinton-connected Washington insider, Tony Podesta. In September, Manafort admitted to directing two firms -- Mercury Public Affairs and the Podesta Group -- to lobby in the U.S. on behalf of a Ukrainian political party and Ukraine's government, then led by Yanukovych, Manafort's longtime political patron.

Mercury and Podesta, which were paid a combined $2 million on the project, then registered under a less stringent lobbying law that doesn't require as much public disclosure as FARA.

Both firms have said they registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, rather than FARA, on the advice of lawyers at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Craig's former firm. But in court papers, Mueller's prosecutors suggested the firms were aware they were working on Ukraine's behalf.

The Times reported on Tuesday that the Podesta probe apparently has not been moved to the DOJ, and that Manahattan prosecutors remain in control of the investigation. In a flurry of new activity in January, though, federal prosecutors began systematically interviewing witnesses and contacting lawyers to schedule additional questioning related to the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs.

Podesta is a longtime Democratic operative whose brother, John Podesta, ran Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign; Weber is a former Republican congressman from Minnesota. Neither man has been charged with any crimes. Their firms have defended the decisions by saying they relied on the advice of outside attorneys.

Mercury spokesman Michael McKeon said the firm has "always welcomed any inquiry since we acted appropriately at every step of the process, including hiring a top lawyer in Washington and following his advice. We'll continue to cooperate as we have previously."

Foreign lobbying work was central to Mueller's case against Manafort and his longtime associate Rick Gates, two high-profile Trump campaign officials who pleaded guilty earlier this year and have been interviewed extensively by prosecutors.

The Podestas have been frequent targets of Trump and his associates, who have repeatedly demanded to know why Tony Podesta has not been arrested and charged.

Gates admitted in his plea deal that he lied to Mercury's attorneys about the project, a fact the lobbying firm has publicly highlighted. The Podesta Group has said it was misled by the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, citing a written certification from the nonprofit stating it wasn't directed or controlled by the Ukrainian Party of Regions, one of Manafort's clients.

For Trump and other Republicans -- who have long accused Clinton backers of skirting the law -- that explanation amounted to a weak effort to obtain plausible deniability.

"Was the brother of John Podesta paid big money to get the sanctions on Russia lifted?" Trump tweeted in 2017. "Did Hillary know?"
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ob...ssible-prosecution-in-mueller-initiated-probe

And this will happen, any day now?

 

[Lanny]

Indictments and guilty please soon to follow. Oh wait, that's the ones associated with trump being indicted and sentenced. An obvious bias that only trump associates are the ones going to prison.

By the way Maris, do you approve of the angry orangeman always tweeting out negative stuff, not denouncing white supremacy and attacking a man who was known as a great patriot in John McClain plus all the childish name calling he does? Reminds me of a 6th grade bully.

Reminds me of a third grade bully.

 

[MARIS61]

 

[MARIS61]

Trump team turns tables after Mueller report, calls for investigation into probe's origin

By Andrew O'Reilly | Fox News

Rudy Giuliani calls for a full and complete investigation into where collusion claims originated

Attorney General William Barr says special counsel Robert Mueller did not find that the Trump campaign or its associates 'conspired or coordinated' with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 election; reaction from President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani.

President Trump and his legal team declared total victory Sunday following the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s key findings -- including no evidence of collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign -- but sought to turn the tables by renewing calls to investigate the investigators.

Trump himself slammed the probe as an “illegal takedown,” as he called Mueller’s report a “complete exoneration” and said it was a “shame” his presidency had to deal with the investigation for two years.

“Hopefully somebody is going to look at the other side,” Trump said. “This was an illegal takedown that failed and hopefully somebody is going to be looking at the other side.”

In case it wasn't clear what he meant, Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News an investigation should be launched into how the investigation began.

“He was being investigated for a crime that never happened,” Giuliani said. “There was never any collusion.”

Giuliani added: "There has to be a full and complete investigation, with at least as much enthusiasm as this one, to figure out where did this charge emanate, who started it, who paid for it.”

The former New York mayor specifically called out one of Trump’s most vocal critics, Rep. Adam Schiff, asking the California lawmaker where the evidence of collusion is that Schiff has said he has.

“Where is Schiff’s evidence?” Giuliani asked. “Where is it? In his head?”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tr...ler-report-calls-for-investigation-into-probe

 

[Lanny]

Trump team turns tables after Mueller report, calls for investigation into probe's origin

By Andrew O'Reilly | Fox News

Rudy Giuliani calls for a full and complete investigation into where collusion claims originated

Attorney General William Barr says special counsel Robert Mueller did not find that the Trump campaign or its associates 'conspired or coordinated' with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 election; reaction from President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani.

President Trump and his legal team declared total victory Sunday following the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s key findings -- including no evidence of collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign -- but sought to turn the tables by renewing calls to investigate the investigators.

Trump himself slammed the probe as an “illegal takedown,” as he called Mueller’s report a “complete exoneration” and said it was a “shame” his presidency had to deal with the investigation for two years.

“Hopefully somebody is going to look at the other side,” Trump said. “This was an illegal takedown that failed and hopefully somebody is going to be looking at the other side.”

In case it wasn't clear what he meant, Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News an investigation should be launched into how the investigation began.

“He was being investigated for a crime that never happened,” Giuliani said. “There was never any collusion.”

Giuliani added: "There has to be a full and complete investigation, with at least as much enthusiasm as this one, to figure out where did this charge emanate, who started it, who paid for it.”

The former New York mayor specifically called out one of Trump’s most vocal critics, Rep. Adam Schiff, asking the California lawmaker where the evidence of collusion is that Schiff has said he has.

“Where is Schiff’s evidence?” Giuliani asked. “Where is it? In his head?”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tr...ler-report-calls-for-investigation-into-probe

What Mueller meant was he couldn't prove a conspiracy beyond a shadow of a doubt. This doesn't mean that he found Trump didn't commit such a crime.

Edit:
No evidence found? Nope, they found evidence, just not enough to assure a conviction.

 

[CupWizier]

Judicial Watch is for Trump Chumps.

Trying to have any reasonable discussion with maris is a waste of time as he very seldom says anything worthwhile and only cuts and paste articles that never seem to go anywhere.

 

[MarAzul]

they found evidence

Can you quote it?

 

[ehizzy3]

William Barr is about as far deep into the state you can get

 

[MARIS61]

Trump allies await results of two internal probes that could expose Russia investigation backstory

By Gregg Re | Fox News

Secret grand jury testimony and information related to ongoing investigations will be removed from the report before it can be made public; Doug McKelway reports from Washington.

Following the revelation that Special Counsel Robert Mueller unearthed no evidence that President Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election, Trump allies are now awaiting the results of two long-running internal probes that could expose the backstory behind the Russia probe's beginnings -- and provide more detail on already-documented misconduct among top FBI and DOJ officials.

DOJ Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz confirmed at a panel discussion last week that his office is continuing to review potential surveillance abuses by the FBI, a review that began last March and that Fox News is told is nearing completion. Horowitz has previously found that senior FBI officials routinely leaked information without authorization to the media, and also received "improper gifts" from reporters, including meals and sporting event tickets. Most notably, Horowitz found that FBI officials' anti-Trump communications raised doubts as to the integrity of their work.

Republicans, meanwhile, are increasingly looking for answers from U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber, who was appointed a year ago by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to review not only surveillance abuses by the FBI and DOJ, but also authorities' handling of the probe into the Clinton Foundation. Huber, Republicans have cautioned, has apparently made little progress, and spoken to few key witnesses and whistleblowers.

But in January, then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker reportedly indicated at a private meeting that Huber's work was continuing apace.

Among the primary looming questions that the IG has said he will address, and that Huber is expected to review: Did the FBI follow all applicable "legal requirements" when FBI lawyer Lisa Page and then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil Trump aide Carter Page -- weeks before the 2016 presidential election -- by relying heavily on a dossier created by a firm working for the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC)?

Internal text messages exclusively published last week by Fox News showed that a senior DOJ official apparently battled with the FBI over the political bias of the author of the dossier, British ex-spy Christopher Steele. The unverified dossier was eventually published by BuzzFeed News, fueling months of speculation about the Trump team's alleged ties to Russia -- even though key assertions in the dossier have since been contradicted or proven entirely unsubstantiated.

Michael Horowitz, inspector general of the Justice Department, testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee in Hart Building titled "Oversight of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and Attempts to Influence U.S. Elections: Lessons Learned from Current and Prior Administrations," on July 26, 2017. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) (2017 CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)

The texts also showed FBI brass circulating a Mother Jones article, among others, that racheted up media attention on Carter Page's supposed links to Russian officials and ominously warned of a "Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump." One anti-Trump blog post circulated by Lisa Page, which she said had "surely" been read by then-FBI Director James Comey, called Trump a "useful idiot" for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Another, which Lisa Page called a "must read," characterized Trump as a national security threat.

Carter Page, who is not related to Lisa Page, has not been charged with any wrongdoing despite more than a year of federal surveillance, and he is now suing multiple actors, including the Democratic National Committee, for defamation.

In its FISA application, the FBI incorrectly assured the FISA court that a Yahoo News article provided an independent basis to surveil Page, even though Steele was the source of the Yahoo News article. The FISA application also did not make clear that the Steele application had been funded by Fusion GPS, a firm retained by the Clinton team -- it instead only stated that Steele's work was done in connection with a campaign.

The text messages also revealed that, just days after Trump said during an October 2016 presidential debate that a special prosecutor should investigate the tens of thousands of emails deleted from Hillary Clinton's private email server, Lisa Page pushed for the FISA warrant to monitor the Trump aide.

"We have a FISA-related review that people might have heard about that the deputy attorney general asked us to take a look at," Horowitz told attendees at a Washington, D.C. event organized by the Atlantic Council. He took no further questions on the topic. Although only the government presents a case at FISA warrant hearings, defendants retain their constitutional rights against unlawful searches, and DOJ guidelines preclude the FBI from omitting exculpatory evidence, or misrepresenting sources, in FISA applications.

SYSTEM-WIDE FBI SOFTWARE FAILURE BLAMED FOR MISSING STRZOK-PAGE TEXTS; STRZOK'S PHONE FROM DAYS ON MUELLER TEAM TOTALLY WIPED

Separately, federal investigators are also continuing their review of systemic leaks at all levels of the FBI. Former FBI Acting Director McCabe was fired from the bureau in March 2018 after it was determined he lied to FBI investigators and Comey about a leak four times, including under oath, and a grand jury has been impaneled to investigate the matter.

McCabe, officials say, authorized a leak to a newspaper reporter about the contents of a telephone call on August 2016 in order cast himself in a positive light in the upcoming story about an investigation involving Hillary Clinton. While McCabe had the authority to authorize such a disclosure, the IG determined that the authorization was aimed at advancing his own rather than the bureau’s interests.

Fox News obtained texts between former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page revealing that the two shared derogatory blogs about Trump and mocked former Congressman Trey Gowdy; Catherine Herridge reports.

DOJ investigators have also uncovered a slew of unauthorized contacts between FBI agents and reporters. Remarkably, at least two unauthorized phone calls to reporters came from an "unattributed FBI HQ phone number," the IG said last year -- suggesting that some employees at the bureau were brazenly leaking information from phones in the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Huber's mysterious investigation, meanwhile, has been dogged by allegations that he has not interviewed witnesses who could shed light on those topics. In a January letter to Mr. Huber, Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan and Georgia GOP Rep. Doug Collins said they interviewed dozens of witnesses while his probe was simultaneously running.

“During the course of our extensive investigation we have interviewed more than a dozen current and former DOJ and FBI personnel, and were surprised to hear none of these potentially informative witnesses testified to speaking with you,” Jordan, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Collins, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote to Huber.

In an interview with The Washington Times last October, Jordan emphasized his bafflement: “I would just like to know what he’s doing. I’ll take anything. All I know is that we haven’t heard a single thing about what he’s doing.”

In a deep dive published late last year, RealClearInvestigations reported that Huber's appointment was internally seen as little more than a political effort to placate Republicans.

“At the time, people wanted a special counsel, but Jeff Sessions announced he brought in Huber and people said, ‘OK, we got Huber on it,’" former Justice Department prosecutor Victoria Toensing told the outlet. “But it was a head fake.”

Toensing added: “It’s a farce. It's an embarrassment how this has been handled.” (Weeks later, Whitaker reportedly told former Attorney General Ed Meese over breakfast, in a meeting first reported by the Associcated Press, that Huber's work was ongoing.)

Carter Page told The Washington Times late last year that he had not spoken to Mr. Huber, but was eager to do so.

Justice Department official Bruce Ohr also told Congress in August that he had not spoken with Huber. Ohr effectively served as a back channel between Steele and the FBI, after the FBI dropped Steele as a source for leaking to the media.

New details, nevertheless, have emerged about the FBI's handling of its investigation into the Clinton Foundation -- ostensibly an area of focus for Huber. Among the key new information: The Justice Department "negotiated" an agreement with Clinton's legal team in 2016 that ensured the FBI did not have access to emails on her private servers relating to the Clinton Foundation.

Former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, who was fired for breaking FBI protocol by sending numerous anti-Trump text messages on his government-issued phone while working as the No. 2 official on the Clinton and Trump investigations, first acknowledged the arrangement during a secretive closed-door appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last summer.

Republicans late last year renewed their efforts to probe the Clinton Foundation, after tax documents showed a plunge in its incoming donations after Clinton’s 2016 presidential election loss. The numbers fueled longstanding allegations of possible “pay-to-play” transactions at the organization, amid a Justice Department probe covering foundation issues.

Even aside from the probes by Huber and the IG, Republicans on Monday called for new inquiries, including a special counsel to probe "the other side of the story." Mueller's probe, conservatives noted, produced multiple indictments for "process crimes" -- including lying to federal authorities -- but no evidence of collusion by any American with Russia. Some individuals who admitted to lying to investigators about the full extent of their communications with Russians, including former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, had also lied to Trump administration officials about the same topic.

“I’d like to find somebody, like a Mr. Mueller, that can look into what happened with the FISA warrants, the counterintelligence investigation," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Monday. "Am I right to be concerned? It seems pretty bad on its face—but there are some people that are never going to accept the Mueller report, but by any reasonable standard, Mueller thoroughly investigated the Trump campaign. You cannot say that about the other side of the story."

Graham added: “I hope Mr. Barr will appoint somebody outside the current system to look into these allegations, somebody we all trust, and let them do what Mueller did,” he continued, adding that he has been calling for the appointment of a second special counsel since 2017 to investigate “whether or not a counterintelligence investigation was opened as a back door to spy on the Trump campaign.”

“A counterintelligence investigation is designed to protect the entity being targeted by a foreign power…I still am at a loss as to why nobody went to President Trump to tell him,” Graham told reporters.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge, Brooke Singman, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[Lanny]

Trump allies await results of two internal probes that could expose Russia investigation backstory

By Gregg Re | Fox News

Secret grand jury testimony and information related to ongoing investigations will be removed from the report before it can be made public; Doug McKelway reports from Washington.

Following the revelation that Special Counsel Robert Mueller unearthed no evidence that President Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election, Trump allies are now awaiting the results of two long-running internal probes that could expose the backstory behind the Russia probe's beginnings -- and provide more detail on already-documented misconduct among top FBI and DOJ officials.

DOJ Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz confirmed at a panel discussion last week that his office is continuing to review potential surveillance abuses by the FBI, a review that began last March and that Fox News is told is nearing completion. Horowitz has previously found that senior FBI officials routinely leaked information without authorization to the media, and also received "improper gifts" from reporters, including meals and sporting event tickets. Most notably, Horowitz found that FBI officials' anti-Trump communications raised doubts as to the integrity of their work.

Republicans, meanwhile, are increasingly looking for answers from U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber, who was appointed a year ago by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to review not only surveillance abuses by the FBI and DOJ, but also authorities' handling of the probe into the Clinton Foundation. Huber, Republicans have cautioned, has apparently made little progress, and spoken to few key witnesses and whistleblowers.

But in January, then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker reportedly indicated at a private meeting that Huber's work was continuing apace.

Among the primary looming questions that the IG has said he will address, and that Huber is expected to review: Did the FBI follow all applicable "legal requirements" when FBI lawyer Lisa Page and then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil Trump aide Carter Page -- weeks before the 2016 presidential election -- by relying heavily on a dossier created by a firm working for the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC)?

Internal text messages exclusively published last week by Fox News showed that a senior DOJ official apparently battled with the FBI over the political bias of the author of the dossier, British ex-spy Christopher Steele. The unverified dossier was eventually published by BuzzFeed News, fueling months of speculation about the Trump team's alleged ties to Russia -- even though key assertions in the dossier have since been contradicted or proven entirely unsubstantiated.

Michael Horowitz, inspector general of the Justice Department, testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee in Hart Building titled "Oversight of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and Attempts to Influence U.S. Elections: Lessons Learned from Current and Prior Administrations," on July 26, 2017. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) (2017 CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)

The texts also showed FBI brass circulating a Mother Jones article, among others, that racheted up media attention on Carter Page's supposed links to Russian officials and ominously warned of a "Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump." One anti-Trump blog post circulated by Lisa Page, which she said had "surely" been read by then-FBI Director James Comey, called Trump a "useful idiot" for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Another, which Lisa Page called a "must read," characterized Trump as a national security threat.

Carter Page, who is not related to Lisa Page, has not been charged with any wrongdoing despite more than a year of federal surveillance, and he is now suing multiple actors, including the Democratic National Committee, for defamation.

In its FISA application, the FBI incorrectly assured the FISA court that a Yahoo News article provided an independent basis to surveil Page, even though Steele was the source of the Yahoo News article. The FISA application also did not make clear that the Steele application had been funded by Fusion GPS, a firm retained by the Clinton team -- it instead only stated that Steele's work was done in connection with a campaign.

The text messages also revealed that, just days after Trump said during an October 2016 presidential debate that a special prosecutor should investigate the tens of thousands of emails deleted from Hillary Clinton's private email server, Lisa Page pushed for the FISA warrant to monitor the Trump aide.

"We have a FISA-related review that people might have heard about that the deputy attorney general asked us to take a look at," Horowitz told attendees at a Washington, D.C. event organized by the Atlantic Council. He took no further questions on the topic. Although only the government presents a case at FISA warrant hearings, defendants retain their constitutional rights against unlawful searches, and DOJ guidelines preclude the FBI from omitting exculpatory evidence, or misrepresenting sources, in FISA applications.

SYSTEM-WIDE FBI SOFTWARE FAILURE BLAMED FOR MISSING STRZOK-PAGE TEXTS; STRZOK'S PHONE FROM DAYS ON MUELLER TEAM TOTALLY WIPED

Separately, federal investigators are also continuing their review of systemic leaks at all levels of the FBI. Former FBI Acting Director McCabe was fired from the bureau in March 2018 after it was determined he lied to FBI investigators and Comey about a leak four times, including under oath, and a grand jury has been impaneled to investigate the matter.

McCabe, officials say, authorized a leak to a newspaper reporter about the contents of a telephone call on August 2016 in order cast himself in a positive light in the upcoming story about an investigation involving Hillary Clinton. While McCabe had the authority to authorize such a disclosure, the IG determined that the authorization was aimed at advancing his own rather than the bureau’s interests.

Fox News obtained texts between former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page revealing that the two shared derogatory blogs about Trump and mocked former Congressman Trey Gowdy; Catherine Herridge reports.

DOJ investigators have also uncovered a slew of unauthorized contacts between FBI agents and reporters. Remarkably, at least two unauthorized phone calls to reporters came from an "unattributed FBI HQ phone number," the IG said last year -- suggesting that some employees at the bureau were brazenly leaking information from phones in the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Huber's mysterious investigation, meanwhile, has been dogged by allegations that he has not interviewed witnesses who could shed light on those topics. In a January letter to Mr. Huber, Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan and Georgia GOP Rep. Doug Collins said they interviewed dozens of witnesses while his probe was simultaneously running.

“During the course of our extensive investigation we have interviewed more than a dozen current and former DOJ and FBI personnel, and were surprised to hear none of these potentially informative witnesses testified to speaking with you,” Jordan, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Collins, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote to Huber.

In an interview with The Washington Times last October, Jordan emphasized his bafflement: “I would just like to know what he’s doing. I’ll take anything. All I know is that we haven’t heard a single thing about what he’s doing.”

In a deep dive published late last year, RealClearInvestigations reported that Huber's appointment was internally seen as little more than a political effort to placate Republicans.

“At the time, people wanted a special counsel, but Jeff Sessions announced he brought in Huber and people said, ‘OK, we got Huber on it,’" former Justice Department prosecutor Victoria Toensing told the outlet. “But it was a head fake.”

Toensing added: “It’s a farce. It's an embarrassment how this has been handled.” (Weeks later, Whitaker reportedly told former Attorney General Ed Meese over breakfast, in a meeting first reported by the Associcated Press, that Huber's work was ongoing.)

Carter Page told The Washington Times late last year that he had not spoken to Mr. Huber, but was eager to do so.

Justice Department official Bruce Ohr also told Congress in August that he had not spoken with Huber. Ohr effectively served as a back channel between Steele and the FBI, after the FBI dropped Steele as a source for leaking to the media.

New details, nevertheless, have emerged about the FBI's handling of its investigation into the Clinton Foundation -- ostensibly an area of focus for Huber. Among the key new information: The Justice Department "negotiated" an agreement with Clinton's legal team in 2016 that ensured the FBI did not have access to emails on her private servers relating to the Clinton Foundation.

Former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, who was fired for breaking FBI protocol by sending numerous anti-Trump text messages on his government-issued phone while working as the No. 2 official on the Clinton and Trump investigations, first acknowledged the arrangement during a secretive closed-door appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last summer.

Republicans late last year renewed their efforts to probe the Clinton Foundation, after tax documents showed a plunge in its incoming donations after Clinton’s 2016 presidential election loss. The numbers fueled longstanding allegations of possible “pay-to-play” transactions at the organization, amid a Justice Department probe covering foundation issues.

Even aside from the probes by Huber and the IG, Republicans on Monday called for new inquiries, including a special counsel to probe "the other side of the story." Mueller's probe, conservatives noted, produced multiple indictments for "process crimes" -- including lying to federal authorities -- but no evidence of collusion by any American with Russia. Some individuals who admitted to lying to investigators about the full extent of their communications with Russians, including former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, had also lied to Trump administration officials about the same topic.

“I’d like to find somebody, like a Mr. Mueller, that can look into what happened with the FISA warrants, the counterintelligence investigation," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Monday. "Am I right to be concerned? It seems pretty bad on its face—but there are some people that are never going to accept the Mueller report, but by any reasonable standard, Mueller thoroughly investigated the Trump campaign. You cannot say that about the other side of the story."

Graham added: “I hope Mr. Barr will appoint somebody outside the current system to look into these allegations, somebody we all trust, and let them do what Mueller did,” he continued, adding that he has been calling for the appointment of a second special counsel since 2017 to investigate “whether or not a counterintelligence investigation was opened as a back door to spy on the Trump campaign.”

“A counterintelligence investigation is designed to protect the entity being targeted by a foreign power…I still am at a loss as to why nobody went to President Trump to tell him,” Graham told reporters.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge, Brooke Singman, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Mr. McKelway is wrong. There are instances where such testimony and information can be released.

 

[MARIS61]

Rand Paul: 'Source' says John Brennan pushed discredited Steele dossier

By Gregg Re | Fox News
Ex-CIA director Brennan backs down from from calling Trump's claims of no collusion 'hogwash'

Citing a "high-level source," Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul charged in a bombshell Twitter post late Wednesday that anti-Trump ex-CIA Director John Brennan "insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier" be included in a classified intelligence community report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections -- a decision that ultimately lent credibility to the dossier and may have played a key role in fomenting unfounded fears of Russia collusion for two years.

Paul called on Brennan to testify under oath immediately, as Republicans continue to aggressively seek out the origins of the collusion narrative. Fox News had not independently verified Paul's source, and Brennan has not replied to Fox News' requests for comment.

CNN reported on Jan. 12, 2017, based on anonymous sources, that intelligence officials had briefed Trump with a "synopsis" of the contents of a dossier written by ex-British spy Christopher Steele on Jan. 6, 2017. Among the claims in the discredited dossier were that the Russian government had humiliating and compromising information concerning Trump.

Paul's tweet specifically referred to the broader January 2017 official intelligence community assessment (ICA) from the FBI, CIA, and NSA that Russia worked to interfere in the 2016 election, not the Jan. 6 report to Trump.

Although the decision to brief Trump on the dossier and the intelligence community's reliance on it, then-FBI Direct James Comey would later testify, was ostensibly intended to make Trump aware of potential blackmail risks, the nearly immediate leak of the meeting legitimized the dossier's significance and prompted a cascade of unfounded media-driven theories about what purportedly compromising information the Russian government may have on the president.

For example, Vanity Fair article alleged: "The fact that the nation’s top intelligence officials chose to present a summary version of the dossier to both President Obama and President-elect Trump, as CNN reports they did last week, indicates that they may have had a relatively high degree of confidence that at least some of the claims therein were credible, or at least worth investigating further."

Shortly afterward the CNN report, BuzzFeed News published the dossier. Steele, whose anti-Trump views are now well-known, was working for Fusion GPS -- a firm hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.

"BREAKING: A high-level source tells me it was Brennan who insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier be included in the Intelligence Report," Paul wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. "Brennan should be asked to testify under oath in Congress ASAP."

Information from the author of the discredited dossier was also used in October 2016 to support a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil then-Trump aide Carter Page.

Just nine days before the FBI applied for the warrant to monitor Page, bureau officials were battling with a senior Justice Department official who had "continued concerns" about the "possible bias" of a source pivotal to the application, according to internal text messages obtained last week by Fox News. (Sources tell Fox News the DOJ stonewalled congressional investigators by not releasing those text messages last year.)

Fox News is told the texts were connected to the ultimately successful Page application, which relied in part on information from Steele. In its warrant application, the FBI incorrectly assured the FISA court on numerous occasions that other sources independently corroborated Steele's claims but did not clearly state that Steele worked for a firm hired by Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Other newly obtained text messages between former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and bureau lawyer Lisa Page revealed a high-level meeting among senior intelligence officials was held weeks before President Trump’s inauguration – during a critical period for the Russia probe.

In a Dec. 12, 2016, text reviewed by Fox News, Page wrote to McCabe: "Btw, [Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper told Pete that he was meeting with [CIA Director John] Brennan and Cohen for dinner tonight. Just FYSA [for your situational awareness]."

Brennan was one of the loudest and most virulent voices to trumpet the Russian collusion theory over the past two years, asserting falsely just weeks ago that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was likely planning to indict members of the Trump administration's family in a scene reminiscent of the "ides of March” and the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Paul had supported the White House's decision to revoke Brennan's security clearance last year. Trump administration officials said Brennan was implying improperly that he had insider information to bolster his outlandish accusations. In the same interview in which he told MSNBC that an "ides of March" redux may soon materialize, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell even remarked at one point, "You have the inside knowledge." Brennan attempted to dismiss that suggestion.

After the news that Mueller found no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion after an exhaustive probe lasting nearly two years, Brennan offered a meek mea culpa.

“I don't know if I received bad information, but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was,” Brennan told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

He added: “I am relieved that it’s been determined there was not a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government over our election."

Brennan said he was “not all that surprised that the high bar of criminal conspiracy was not met" -- although, according to Attorney General William Barr, Mueller in fact found no evidence of such a conspiracy whatsoever.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.

 

[Lanny]

Rand Paul: 'Source' says John Brennan pushed discredited Steele dossier

By Gregg Re | Fox News
Ex-CIA director Brennan backs down from from calling Trump's claims of no collusion 'hogwash'

Citing a "high-level source," Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul charged in a bombshell Twitter post late Wednesday that anti-Trump ex-CIA Director John Brennan "insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier" be included in a classified intelligence community report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections -- a decision that ultimately lent credibility to the dossier and may have played a key role in fomenting unfounded fears of Russia collusion for two years.

Paul called on Brennan to testify under oath immediately, as Republicans continue to aggressively seek out the origins of the collusion narrative. Fox News had not independently verified Paul's source, and Brennan has not replied to Fox News' requests for comment.

CNN reported on Jan. 12, 2017, based on anonymous sources, that intelligence officials had briefed Trump with a "synopsis" of the contents of a dossier written by ex-British spy Christopher Steele on Jan. 6, 2017. Among the claims in the discredited dossier were that the Russian government had humiliating and compromising information concerning Trump.

Paul's tweet specifically referred to the broader January 2017 official intelligence community assessment (ICA) from the FBI, CIA, and NSA that Russia worked to interfere in the 2016 election, not the Jan. 6 report to Trump.

Although the decision to brief Trump on the dossier and the intelligence community's reliance on it, then-FBI Direct James Comey would later testify, was ostensibly intended to make Trump aware of potential blackmail risks, the nearly immediate leak of the meeting legitimized the dossier's significance and prompted a cascade of unfounded media-driven theories about what purportedly compromising information the Russian government may have on the president.

For example, Vanity Fair article alleged: "The fact that the nation’s top intelligence officials chose to present a summary version of the dossier to both President Obama and President-elect Trump, as CNN reports they did last week, indicates that they may have had a relatively high degree of confidence that at least some of the claims therein were credible, or at least worth investigating further."

Shortly afterward the CNN report, BuzzFeed News published the dossier. Steele, whose anti-Trump views are now well-known, was working for Fusion GPS -- a firm hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.

"BREAKING: A high-level source tells me it was Brennan who insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier be included in the Intelligence Report," Paul wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. "Brennan should be asked to testify under oath in Congress ASAP."

Information from the author of the discredited dossier was also used in October 2016 to support a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil then-Trump aide Carter Page.

Just nine days before the FBI applied for the warrant to monitor Page, bureau officials were battling with a senior Justice Department official who had "continued concerns" about the "possible bias" of a source pivotal to the application, according to internal text messages obtained last week by Fox News. (Sources tell Fox News the DOJ stonewalled congressional investigators by not releasing those text messages last year.)

Fox News is told the texts were connected to the ultimately successful Page application, which relied in part on information from Steele. In its warrant application, the FBI incorrectly assured the FISA court on numerous occasions that other sources independently corroborated Steele's claims but did not clearly state that Steele worked for a firm hired by Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Other newly obtained text messages between former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and bureau lawyer Lisa Page revealed a high-level meeting among senior intelligence officials was held weeks before President Trump’s inauguration – during a critical period for the Russia probe.

In a Dec. 12, 2016, text reviewed by Fox News, Page wrote to McCabe: "Btw, [Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper told Pete that he was meeting with [CIA Director John] Brennan and Cohen for dinner tonight. Just FYSA [for your situational awareness]."

Brennan was one of the loudest and most virulent voices to trumpet the Russian collusion theory over the past two years, asserting falsely just weeks ago that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was likely planning to indict members of the Trump administration's family in a scene reminiscent of the "ides of March” and the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Paul had supported the White House's decision to revoke Brennan's security clearance last year. Trump administration officials said Brennan was implying improperly that he had insider information to bolster his outlandish accusations. In the same interview in which he told MSNBC that an "ides of March" redux may soon materialize, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell even remarked at one point, "You have the inside knowledge." Brennan attempted to dismiss that suggestion.

After the news that Mueller found no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion after an exhaustive probe lasting nearly two years, Brennan offered a meek mea culpa.

“I don't know if I received bad information, but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was,” Brennan told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

He added: “I am relieved that it’s been determined there was not a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government over our election."

Brennan said he was “not all that surprised that the high bar of criminal conspiracy was not met" -- although, according to Attorney General William Barr, Mueller in fact found no evidence of such a conspiracy whatsoever.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.

Fox News and Rand Paul. That tells me a lot, right there.

 

[MARIS61]

Judicial Watch Sues DOJ for Roger Stone Raid Documents
APRIL 04, 2019

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

Lawsuit Demands Any Communications with CNN
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for records of the planning and preparation of the raid of the home of former Trump campaign aide Roger Stone, as well as any communications between Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Office (SCO), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and CNN about the raid (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-00795)).

The suit was filed after the Special Counsel’s Office failed to respond to a FOIA request dated January 25, 2019, and the FBI failed to respond to two separate FOIA requests on January 25, 2019, and February 1, 2019.

The January 2019 FOIA request to the Special Counsel’s Office sought all records of communications between SCO officials – and representatives CNN – regarding the January 25, 2019, arrest of Stone. Judicial Watch also asked for all records of communications between SCO officials or people acting on their behalf communicating with CNN regarding the arrest of Stone.

• The January 2019 FOIA request to the FBI sought all records of communications from government or commercial sources between officials in the offices of the FBI Director, FBI Deputy Director, Office of General Counsel, Office of Public Affairs, and/or the FBI Miami Field Office – and representatives of CNN – regarding Stone’s arrest.

• The February 2019 FOIA request to the FBI sought all planning materials used in preparation arrest and raid, as well as communications between the FBI Director, Deputy Director, Director’s Chief of Staff, and Executive Assistant Director for the Criminal Division. Judicial Watch also asked for all records of communications between the Special Agent in Charge of the Miami Field Office regarding the arrest and/or raid on the home of Roger Stone.

The Judicial Watch FOIA request and subsequent lawsuit was in part prompted by the extraordinary and exclusive video access to the raid and arrest of Stone obtained by CNN on January 25, 2019. Questioned about the extraordinary early morning access, CNN claimed it was “the product of good instincts, some key clues, more than a year of observing comings at the DC federal courthouse and the special counsel’s office – and a little luck on the timing.”

Later in the day, however, Stone told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that CNN was aware of his arrest even before his own lawyer, “It’s disconcerting that CNN was aware that I would be arrested before my lawyers were informed. So, that’s disturbing.” And during his February 8, 2019, testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said, “It was deeply concerning to me as to how CNN found out about that.”

On January 25, 2019 Fox News reported that the Stone indictment “does not charge Stone with conspiring with WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website that published emails of Democrats during the 2016 campaign, or with the Russian officers Mueller says hacked them. Instead, it accuses him of lying about his interactions related to WikiLeaks’ release during probes by Congress and Mueller’s team.”

“This was a simple request for information about any leaks to CNN regarding the controversial raid and arrest of Roger Stone. That we’re being stonewalled suggests that someone has something to hide,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Judicial Watch is investigating the investigators, and it’s time for them to come clean.”

Judicial Watch recently sent an official complaint to the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (IG) calling for investigations into leaks of information about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The complaint asks for an investigation of any leaks to CNN about the controversial raid on the home of Roger Stone and for leaks to BuzzFeed suggesting that President Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress

 

[Lanny]

Judicial Watch Sues DOJ for Roger Stone Raid Documents
APRIL 04, 2019

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

Lawsuit Demands Any Communications with CNN
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for records of the planning and preparation of the raid of the home of former Trump campaign aide Roger Stone, as well as any communications between Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Office (SCO), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and CNN about the raid (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-00795)).

The suit was filed after the Special Counsel’s Office failed to respond to a FOIA request dated January 25, 2019, and the FBI failed to respond to two separate FOIA requests on January 25, 2019, and February 1, 2019.

The January 2019 FOIA request to the Special Counsel’s Office sought all records of communications between SCO officials – and representatives CNN – regarding the January 25, 2019, arrest of Stone. Judicial Watch also asked for all records of communications between SCO officials or people acting on their behalf communicating with CNN regarding the arrest of Stone.

• The January 2019 FOIA request to the FBI sought all records of communications from government or commercial sources between officials in the offices of the FBI Director, FBI Deputy Director, Office of General Counsel, Office of Public Affairs, and/or the FBI Miami Field Office – and representatives of CNN – regarding Stone’s arrest.

• The February 2019 FOIA request to the FBI sought all planning materials used in preparation arrest and raid, as well as communications between the FBI Director, Deputy Director, Director’s Chief of Staff, and Executive Assistant Director for the Criminal Division. Judicial Watch also asked for all records of communications between the Special Agent in Charge of the Miami Field Office regarding the arrest and/or raid on the home of Roger Stone.

The Judicial Watch FOIA request and subsequent lawsuit was in part prompted by the extraordinary and exclusive video access to the raid and arrest of Stone obtained by CNN on January 25, 2019. Questioned about the extraordinary early morning access, CNN claimed it was “the product of good instincts, some key clues, more than a year of observing comings at the DC federal courthouse and the special counsel’s office – and a little luck on the timing.”

Later in the day, however, Stone told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that CNN was aware of his arrest even before his own lawyer, “It’s disconcerting that CNN was aware that I would be arrested before my lawyers were informed. So, that’s disturbing.” And during his February 8, 2019, testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said, “It was deeply concerning to me as to how CNN found out about that.”

On January 25, 2019 Fox News reported that the Stone indictment “does not charge Stone with conspiring with WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website that published emails of Democrats during the 2016 campaign, or with the Russian officers Mueller says hacked them. Instead, it accuses him of lying about his interactions related to WikiLeaks’ release during probes by Congress and Mueller’s team.”

“This was a simple request for information about any leaks to CNN regarding the controversial raid and arrest of Roger Stone. That we’re being stonewalled suggests that someone has something to hide,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Judicial Watch is investigating the investigators, and it’s time for them to come clean.”

Judicial Watch recently sent an official complaint to the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (IG) calling for investigations into leaks of information about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The complaint asks for an investigation of any leaks to CNN about the controversial raid on the home of Roger Stone and for leaks to BuzzFeed suggesting that President Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress

Will you please let us know when Judicial Watch wins something?

 

[barfo]

I think of Judicial Watch as a device that someone wears in a sci-fi movie.

"Two men have offered to marry this <pig-shaped alien being>. We must consult the Judicial Watch for a decision!"

barfo

 

[Lanny]

I think of Judicial Watch as a device that someone wears in a sci-fi movie.

"Two men have offered to marry this <pig-shaped alien being>. We must consult the Judicial Watch for a decision!"

barfo

Do they wear those shiny hats for protection from top secret government rays?