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Subsections on this page: Related topics on other nearby pages: Overview and recap articles: FBI: Decline and Fall. The FBI of today has taken an unprecedented leap towards an autocratic police force. Its reputation as a nonpartisan, ethical protector of the Constitution has been reduced to that of partisan, unethical detractor of the Constitution. We can no longer expect that all federal crimes will be investigated and prosecuted. We no longer expect that justice is blind but that the FBI uses blinders when investigating certain people. The FBI of today is investigating and intimidating parents of schoolchildren and knocking on the doors of those who post opinions on social media. The FBI of today is stonewalling and obfuscating congressional requests and hearings. The FBI is compiling information on anyone who objects to the Democratic Party's narrative and manipulating through intimidation organizations that don't support it. Forcing tech providers to remove posts that are pro-Trump or anti-vaccine or anything that offends the current administration is not, and never should be, a function of our federal law enforcement agency. The Absurdities of Our Age. How can a former FBI director under oath claim amnesia or ignorance 245 times during congressional testimony, or leak a classified account of a private conversation with a president with complete impunity, as did James Comey? How can an FBI director, as did Andrew McCabe, lie on four occasions with impunity to federal investigators? Is it now the case that FBI directors at times must lie and deceive as part of their job descriptions? How can a former FBI director, as in the case of Robert Mueller, with all seriousness deny under oath any knowledge of Fusion GPS or the Steele dossier, whose controversies prompted his own special counsel appointment? Can citizens tell inquisitive IRS auditors that they have no memory of deductions in question? Why is there still an FBI after it has been confessed that it paid a foreign national, Christopher Steele, to compile dirt against a presidential candidate — and paid his source in Washington to provide Steele with false information to impugn a presidential candidate? How did the FBI manage to play a central role in both the 2016 and 2020 elections in efforts to alter the result? How can a legitimate FBI knowingly submit such information that it knew was false to a federal judge to spy on an American citizen to further a farcical plot to destroy a presidential campaign? So what will the FBI not do? Clear Political Intent — FBI Refuses to Turn Over Unclassified Investigative Report Detailing Joe Biden Bribery Scheme. During all of my research and discoveries about the DOJ and FBI, the one constant from everyone with a specific and granular knowledge of how the silo information operations are conducted is that the FBI is comprehensively and institutionally corrupt at every level. Let us not pretend with each other. As an outcome of President Obama and Eric Holder's specific actions, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was weaponized (top to bottom) as an enforcement mechanism to protect the interests of the DC democrats. Top to bottom the FBI is a fully weaponized federal police agency with the primary mission to target political opposition. In the modern political era, this is the sole purpose of the FBI — nothing more, nothing less. For the Rule of Law to Reign, the Bureau Must Be Destroyed. I have spent most of my adult life trying to educate people about the serious national security threats this country faces. The United States has very real enemies, both foreign and domestic, and it requires defending. Nevertheless, the FBI must be abolished. The solution to the abuses we now endure is not just to subject the FBI to another fruitless inspector general investigation but to dismantle it completely. The bureau cannot be the focus of yet another congressional hearing. FBI Director Christopher Wray, like his predecessors, is more than happy to sit smirking while a handful of grandstanding congressmen and senators pound the table and yell on C-SPAN. Then he'll jet off for a holiday vacation on a taxpayer-funded private jet while the same congressmen vote to increase his budget. Again. No, the FBI must be rendered into component parts and distributed to the four winds. Gutless American Leadership Drifts into Corruption and Decay. FBI overreach has increasingly been in the news the past few years, but we have not seen any real pushback by our elected or appointed officials. We see that an FBI agent was present but drove away from the attempt a few years ago to assassinate Pamela Geller by Islamic extremists. Aware of this intention because of a deftly placed agent (or perhaps he was the instigator), nothing was done by the FBI to prevent this attempt, which was stopped by a local sharpshooter in Garland, TX. Gov. Whitmer of Michigan was supposedly the intended victim of a kidnapping plot, but two of the accused were acquitted, and a mistrial was declared for the other two. Not only was it some of the worst investigative work in the history of the USA, but serious questions were raised as to whether the FBI, rather than the indicted men, actually set up the entire project as a false flag to allow the arrest of certain right-wingers. It may have been (and this writer believes it is likely) that this was part of an ongoing FBI plot to make the right seem dangerous and out of control. With weapons and an excessive show of force, the FBI arrested Roger Stone, Peter Navarro, and Simone Gold, showing unnecessary aggression. The FBI's Grotesque Rehab Tour Commences. It has not been a good several years for the FBI. The organization's checkered history got more checkered during the 2016 election after then FBI Dir. James Comey decided to rewrite the law on the fly to not charge Hillary Clinton for clearly breaking the law. From there, things just went downhill. The Russian collusion hoax took center stage, eventually leading to Comey's well-deserved ouster. Unfortunately, his replacement was another "company man" ready to "protect the shield" instead of bringing the reforms the bureau so desperately needed. Christopher Wray, the current FBI Director, fought tooth and nail to cover up the FISA abuse that targeted Trump associates, slow-walking releases, and never actually disciplining anyone substantially for what happened. 'Dirty cops': FBI leaves trail of lies, leaks, lapses in Trump era. The FBI already has amassed a record of misconduct by top officials leading up to Monday, when the Justice Department inspector general is scheduled to release conclusions on whether agents also abused the bureau's intrusive wiretapping powers. To date, four inspector general reports and internal Justice Department documents have found senior FBI officials guilty of lying, insubordination, security violations, mishandling confidential material and personal biases against President Trump. Rep. Devin Nunes, the California Republican who discovered that the FBI had used a Democratic Party-financed dossier as evidence, often refers to bureau leaders as "dirty cops." Lisa Page, a former FBI senior counsel and one of those singled out, portrayed herself this week as an innocent victim of FBI betrayal. Meanwhile, news media stories have downplayed the significance of the upcoming inspector general's report on how the FBI spied on the Trump campaign through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and other means. Michael Flynn's Lawyer: Top FBI Officials Conspired To Entrap Ex-Trump National Security Adviser. The FBI has become a snake pit. The nation's largest domestic intelligence and law enforcement body, a beacon for impartial, professional, and expert investigative work now has a muddied reputation because some people didn't like the winner of the 2016 election. Yes, disgraced FBI Agent Peter Strzok who was fired for sending tens of thousands of anti-Trump texts to former bureau lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an extramarital affair, embarrassed the agency. It also didn't help that this man reportedly signed off on the counterintelligence probe that became the investigation spearheaded by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He was also a key person in the FBI's analysis of Hillary Clinton's email server. There are discussions with also fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe about an insurance policy, which many have alleged is the infamous Trump dossier, compiled by ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele and financed by the Clinton campaign and the Democrats. This political opposition research file, which appears to be unverified, was used to secure spy warrants against Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign. Lindsey Graham: There Is Proof Of Systematic Corruption At Highest Level of DOJ and FBI. "Here's what we're looking at: Systematic corruption at the highest level of the Department of Justice and the FBI against President Trump and in favor of Hillary Clinton," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News. Host Sean Hannity then asked Graham whether officials "lied purposefully" on a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant application to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The Obama Brennan Mueller Hoax: Blaming Russian espionage on Trump. The fact is that Russian espionage is an ongoing occurrence. It has been going on for 100 years. It happens on a constant basis on multiple levels. To conflate actions of Russian espionage with the Presidential campaign of the Republican nominee is not just unprecedented and reckless. It is a stupefying abuse of power and authority. It's simply a leap of uncalculated madness. An anti-constitutional putsch against the electorate. Yet that is at the heart of the Obama Brennan Mueller hoax and the attempted coup against Donald Trump. The FBI Tragedy: Elites above the Law. One of the media and beltway orthodoxies we constantly hear is that just a few bad apples under James Comey at the FBI explain why so many FBI elites have been fired, resigned, reassigned, demoted, or retired — or just left for unexplained reasons. The list is long and includes director James Comey himself, deputy director Andrew McCabe, counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok, attorney Lisa Page, chief of staff James Rybicki, general counsel James Baker, assistant director for public affairs Mike Kortan, Comey's special assistant Josh Campbell, executive assistant director James Turgal, assistant director for office of congressional affairs Greg Bower, executive assistant director Michael Steinbach, and executive assistant director John Giacalone. In short, in about every growing scandal of the past two years — FISA, illegal leaking, spying on a presidential candidate, lying under oath, obstructing justice — someone in the FBI is involved. Criminality Of Deep State Investigation Of Trump Confirmed — Has U.S. Become A Banana Republic? Both the Justice Department and FBI have maintained they didn't really know that Trump Dossier compiler Christopher Steele had any bias at all against Trump. And, even when they got their hands on Steele's unverified dossier on Trump, they claim they didn't know that Steele's employer, Fusion GPS, had any conflicts of interest. Moreover, when they appeared before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get the OK to spy on former Trump aide Carter Page, they didn't tell the court what they knew. They lied. Or at the very minimum, concealed the truth. This is a crime. How can we be sure that top officials at Justice and the FBI knew all this? Ohr said so. Walls Are Closing in on the FBI and Its Media Accomplices. Those of us who have closely followed the unfolding scandal at the Justice Department — particularly how the FBI abused its power not only to spy on the Trump presidential campaign but also on the president himself — have been frustrated with the inaction both of the White House and Congress. Documents have not been declassified as promised; letters by top lawmakers have gone unanswered with no consequence; and not one perpetrator in the biggest political scandal in history has been held accountable. The New York Times over the weekend confirmed the worst suspicions: Andrew McCabe, a disgraced FBI official caught lying to federal investigators and fired by Trump, and his corrupt lackeys opened up a criminal and counterintelligence probe into President Trump on the flimsiest of evidence in May 2017. Further, statements from William Barr, Trump's nominee for attorney general, seem to indicate he would be deferential to Special Counsel Robert Mueller rather than focus on the real scandal. It was unclear whether a change in leadership at the Justice Department and on the Senate Judiciary Committee (Lindsey Graham took the reins from Charles Grassley this year) would restart stalled congressional inquiries. The conspiracy to destroy the Trump presidency is far worse than we knew and will continue. [T]op people in the FBI filled with hatred and frankly, anti-Trump rage, who have put aside all values and their blatant political bias, were seeking redemption for the firing of James Comey. They actually plotted to destroy your duly-elected president. And this is way beyond what we already knew up until this point. According to, as usual, anonymous sources in the New York Times report last Friday, two days after Comey was unceremoniously terminated, several top FBI officials actually questioned whether or not President Trump was working directly for Russia. They did this without a single shred of evidence, zero probable cause, zero proof of any collusion. It was a witch hunt. The president has been right from Day One. An FBI that is corrupt and dishonest — Latest reports offer only more proof. Dishonesty and corruption are endemic at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The latest proof comes in a New York Times report that the FBI initiated an investigation in May of 2017 into whether President Donald Trump was serving as a covert Russian agent. The accusation itself was ludicrous on its face. But from a legal standpoint, the FBI's probe constituted an egregious abuse of power. The Bureau had no probable cause, no evidence, and no reasonable suspicions. They investigated Trump because they could. They defied the law, ignored or perverted facts, and debased the integrity of a heretofore-respected law enforcement agency. Why did these rogue officials commit such an outrageous act of malfeasance? In a word, vengeance. Already incensed that Trump had defeated their preferred candidate, Hillary Clinton, they grew furious when the president fired Director James Comey on May 9, 2017. NYT Reveals FBI Retaliated Against Trump For Comey Firing. In a Friday night news dump, the New York Times revealed the FBI's surprisingly flimsy justification for launching a retaliatory investigation into President Donald Trump, their chief adversary during their recent troubled era. Admitting there is no actual evidence for their probe into whether Trump "worked for the Russians," FBI officials instead cited their foreign policy differences with him, his lawful firing of bungling FBI Director James Comey, and alarm that he accurately revealed to the American public that he was told he wasn't under investigation by the FBI, when they preferred to hide that fact. The news was treated as a bombshell, and it was, but not for the reasons many thought. It wasn't news that the FBI had launched the investigation. Just last month, CNN reported that top FBI officials opened an investigation into Trump after the lawful firing of Comey because Trump "needed to be reined in," a shocking admission of abuse of power by our nation's top law enforcement agency. Watergate by Any Other Name. For almost three years now, the intelligence services and police apparatus of the deep state have worked tirelessly to undermine Donald Trump. [...] But win he did, and that changed everything. Now it was not a candidate who had to be stopped but a duly elected president of the United States who had to be kept from knowing exactly what lengths the government — soon to be his government — had gone to destroy him. From November 9, 2016, to January 20, 2017, the reins of government were still in the hands of Barack Obama. The apparatus to stop Trump the candidate was already in place. Now it would be deployed against Trump the president-elect and, later, Trump the president. Over the last few days, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other anti-Trump outlets have revealed, and reveled in, something that many observers suspected for a long time. That the investigation into various figures associated with the Trump campaign — not only Carter Page, but also George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, and Michael Cohen — was just a pretext. The main target all along was Trump himself. The FBI Prostituted Itself. Citing unnamed "former law enforcement sources and others," the New York Times reports that "in the days after President Trump fired James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president's behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests." The mainstream media has touted this story as major breaking news. But, to anyone who has been paying even a modicum of attention, it is crystal clear that Comey's firing did not precipitate the FBI's investigation of Trump. To the contrary, the readily available record facts demonstrate that Comey's FBI began investigating Trump and his campaign for possible Russian collusion shortly after he won the Republican Party's nomination. The Paranoid Style at the FBI. The FBI's counterintelligence probe of Trump marks one of its lowest moments of political paranoia. As anti-Trump hysteria, before and after his election, swept through Washington, D.C., Comey and his staff succumbed to it, turning the FBI into an extension of the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton's opposition researcher, Christopher Steele, might as well have had an office down the hall from Comey, such was the FBI's absurd reliance upon Steele's smears. It was bad enough that the FBI had already treated multiple members of Trump's campaign as "probable" Russian agents during the campaign, based on nothing more than flaky partisan hunches. It then on even thinner grounds placed a president in that category too. Out of months of obsessing over Trump — from vows to "stop" his candidacy to talk of an "insurance policy" in the event that he won — Peter Strzok and company hatched one of the most half-cocked probes in the history of the FBI. The FBI's 'Trump treason' probe flunked civics. The FBI took it upon itself to determine whether the president of the United States is a threat to national security. No one had ever before thought that this was an appropriate role for the FBI, a subordinate agency in the executive branch, but President Trump isn't the only one in Washington trampling norms. The Stench Still Lingers. The political corruption of a law enforcement agency — the kind that led the FBI to ignore the obvious felonies of one candidate and try to invent crimes in an effort to target her opponent — is, by far, the corruption most damaging to democracy. The stench of that political corruption still lingers over the FBI and the Justice Department, but neither Trump nor anyone in his administration is willing or able to deal with it. The problem has gotten worse, not better. The Lingering Stench of Coverup at Justice and the FBI. What began as a good week for President Trump stalled and finally ended badly. On Monday [9/17/2018], he ordered the Justice Department to declassify and provide to congressional investigators a pile of documents, many of which the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) subpoenaed more than a year ago. From Tuesday until Friday morning, we waited in vain for any evidence that the president's order had been complied with by the FBI and DoJ. On Friday morning, HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) told a Fox News interviewer that his committee hadn't seen any of the documents that the president's Monday order had declassified. Obviously, the FBI and DoJ weren't complying with the president's order. Then came Trump's Friday announcement that he'd canceled the declassification order after being persuaded to do so by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and "key allies" — Britain? Australia? Russia? Mexico? — who'd called to urge him not to declassify the documents in question. Can We Trust the FBI? Peter Strzok. Lisa Page. AndrewMcCabe. James Comey. Sound familiar? That's the FBI — the folks who are being asked to investigate, apparently for one week, the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh. Yes, that group is mercifully gone now, but who is behind them? And what have we not yet learned of the internal conspiracy against President Trump currently being investigated by the inspector general? Who else is involved and who then will be conducting and supervising this investigation? Will it be the same people? In other words, can we trust the FBI with this when the institution itself is so tainted and deeply in need of reform? America in Throes of a Bloodless Revolution. It is obvious that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been politicized, and the awesome power of this feared organization has been subverted. They have supported lies, used false documents to initiate a special counsel, interrupted the lives of American patriots who gave up defending themselves because it is impossible to outlast a government agency who can use taxpayer money to keep you in court for as long as they want to. The Justice Department, which has basically been leaderless under the tenure of Jeff Sessions has, under the feckless interim directorship of Rod Rosenstein, definitely listed to port and been complicit in obtaining FISA Court warrants under false pretenses. Had everything gone according to plan, Hillary Clinton would have been elected, and all the corruption would have been buried way down deep. The Only Subject Ben Sasse Won't Talk About: Spygate. Although [Ben] Sasse has issued two statements in support of Sessions in recent weeks, he has not made any formal comments about the misconduct and potentially unlawful behavior of the following people: Former FBI Director James Comey; former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe; Assistant Attorney General Bruce Ohr; FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. [...] Comey is now under investigation by the Justice Department's Inspector General for mishandling government documents. McCabe in under a grand jury investigation. Ohr twice has been demoted at the Justice Department; his wife, Nellie, worked for the political opposition research firm that produced the anti-Trump dossier and both Ohrs were in contact with the dossier's author, Christopher Steele. Strzok and Page had numerous exchanges about how to stop Trump's candidacy and then undermine his administration after he was elected. Can the FBI be independent? When President Donald Trump appointed Atlanta lawyer Christopher Wray to succeed James Comey as the director of the FBI, my initial reaction was not positive. Wray is a veteran of the Department of Justice and is part of that good-old-boy DOJ network that knows how to protect its own. Indeed, when then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former U.S. attorney, needed a good criminal defense lawyer — whose millions in fees were paid by New Jersey taxpayers — he hired Wray. Christie was never indicted in the Bridgegate scandal, but defense counsel for those who were sought Christie's cellphone to demonstrate to jurors the governor's involvement in the plot to shut down lanes near the George Washington Bridge for political retaliation. Christie claimed that he gave his phone to federal prosecutors, but they told the court that they did not have the phone. Where was it? In a safe of the Atlanta law firm that employed Wray. New Schweizer-recommended book exposes extent of corruption at FBI and DOJ. The FBI and the DOJ have gone to the Dark Side. Amazing, considering their longstanding promotion of their status and posture for decades as the defenders of freedom and the American way — but times change, and the deep Deep State has no special affection for the America conceived of and promoted by the founders. I have a friend and colleague who is retired from the FBI. We talk, and he insists that the FBI basic hardworking field agents and such are concerned and upset about the misconduct of the many miscreants in the leadership of the FBI and the DOJ. For example, he tells me of the perceived problems that were created by FBI decisions to make cases headquarters cases instead of following FBI protocols that made the field agents the drivers of the case. However, I see nothing of any effort by FBI agents to fix the corruption problem at the top. Wanna know why? They are bureaucrats, and they have no taste for the risks of fixing corruption. Devin Nunes: Clinton campaign colluded with 'nearly every' top official at the DOJ and FBI. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes declared Sunday that Hillary Clinton's campaign "colluded" with nearly every top official in the Justice Department and FBI. An interview on Fox News had turned to the topic of Trump dossier author Christopher Steele and his ties to Bruce Ohr, a high-level DOJ official who fed the FBI information from the ex-British spy even after he was cut as a source for providing confidential information to the media. Why aren't the Democrats horrified by the corruption at the FBI and DOJ? It is becoming clearer by the day, after over a year of investigations, that the Obama administration did indeed weaponize the DOJ, the FBI, the CIA, the ATF, the IRS and the NSA. Over those eight years, each of the above agencies was transformed into an arm of the Democratic Party tasked with crippling the opposition and abrogating the Constitution. Since all of the mainstream media already were arms of the DNC, it is well and truly a miracle that Donald Trump prevailed throughout his campaign to win the election, as the entire DC bureaucracy and media were aligned against him. Most of them still are. The Police Were Not Policed. Most recently, it was disclosed, two years after the fact — and despite the FBI's kicking-and-screaming refusal to release subpoenaed documents — that the FBI did, as alleged, offer to pay Christopher Steele to dig for dirt on the Trump campaign. The FBI also knew that Steele was working on behalf of the Clinton campaign to find dirt on Donald Trump. We now also know that the FBI used at least one informant to spy on members of the Trump campaign. In other words, the FBI joined forces with one political campaign to thwart the efforts of the opposing campaign. Has that happened before in American history? FBI Vault Release — FBI Requested Data Forensics on Huma Abedin/Clinton Laptop AFTER the 2016 Election, Not Before. From the Boston Marathon bombing investigation through the San Bernardino terrorist attack; passing the Garland, Texas cartoon terror shooting; and continuing through Orlando's Pulse Nightclub; and then through the Parkland shooting and into Las Vegas — via the Mandalay Bay — we always knew something was wrong with the apparatus, the institutional apparatus, of the FBI... but it wasn't until 2017 with James Comey, Andrew McCabe and the transparently corrupt Clinton exoneration and candidate Trump set-up scheme that we fully grasped the scale and scope of the corruption. It is disconcerting to accept that the institution of the FBI is corrupt, soup-to-nuts, including every aforementioned field office and participant therein. But reality doesn't care about feelings; it just stares you in the face until we accept it. Talking heads always approach the issue with a co-dependent and enabling qualifier: "we're not talking about the field agents", they say. Um, no; that's nonsense. If the institution is corrupt, then every entity within it is corrupt — until such time as the corruption is removed. Progressive Regression. The FBI may not recover its reputation. Certainly, the brand of its Washington office is shredded. Watching new Director Christopher Wray stumble about to reassure us about his reforms inspires about as much credulity as a pre-war French general touting the invincibility provided by the Maginot Line. The Left more or less has canonized a parade of disreputable FBI officials. Peter Strzok violated almost every canon of professional conduct, in his personal comportment, in his blatant prevarication about his own text messages, and in his dogged pride in his conflicts of interest in using his authority to pursue a political agenda. His superior Andrew McCabe, according to the inspector general, likewise lied on several occasions. Christopher Wray and Jeff Sessions must clean up FBI corruption or quit. FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are sitting squarely in the crosshairs of history. They must rise to the call of duty and clean up the corruption we are seeing unfold at the FBI or they must tender their resignations and be replaced by real leaders who will do what is necessary to restore public trust in our unraveling justice system. A powerful government agency that — like the IRS under former President Barack Obama's watch — was unmistakably weaponized to target political opponents. The recent shocking revelations that underhanded FBI officials misled the FISA court to get a warrant to spy on Carter Page, an unpaid, low-level volunteer, as a bridge to spy on the Trump campaign and transition team is beyond alarming; it's flat-out corrupt — police-state tactics seen, ironically, in places like Russia. Just How Far Will the Left Go? We are about 430 days into Robert Mueller's investigation; the special prosecutor whose team of lawyers and investigators has in a large part been made up either of Clinton donors, clear Clinton partisans, lawyers who have in the past represented Clinton interests or employees, or partisans already removed for expressing clear Trump hatred. The media grew ecstatic over its creation, dubbing it an "all-star" or "dream" team, as leaks assured the public that next week, next month, or "soon" there would be a sensational indictment proving that Trump colluded with the Russians to win the presidency. Obama intel chiefs gave Russia a pass, and now blame — Donald Trump? Long before the 2016 election, when Donald Trump was a mere private citizen, Russia was engaged in widespread cyber-aggression against the United States. Moscow racheted up those attacks during the campaign. And yet, despite knowledge of the ongoing cyberwarfare, the president at the time, Barack Obama, and his intelligence chiefs — John Brennan at the CIA, James Clapper at National Intelligence, James Comey and his predecessor, Robert Mueller, at the FBI — reportedly didn't lift a finger to stop it. Why? Because the Obama administration was obsessed with protecting its bigger agenda: namely, closing and implementing the Iran nuclear deal and trying to save their collapsed Russian "reset." Calling Russia on its malign cyber activity would have imperiled both initiatives, so Obama and his intel team apparently chose to ignore it, even as it escalated. Mueller's witch hunt [is] a growing disaster for national security. The evidence is mounting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's open-ended investigation into whether President Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election from Hillary Clinton (which has turned up nothing on that specific front) is becoming more than just a political burr under the saddle of President Trump. It may be a growing national security problem. Rampant corruption [is] the norm in FBI. People tend to forget, or maybe never knew, just how corrupt the famous but incompetent Federal Bureau of Investigation has always been. This current scandal is just business as usual for the agency that has metastasized into America's secret police. Strzok's weaselly testimony last week showed just how far off the rails the crooked feds have gone. And it just so happens that this summer is the 40th anniversary of another horrific crime, one in which this same crew of dirty cops played a supporting, but revealing role. The Gangster State. [Scroll down] This becomes more obvious when looking at the whole criminal enterprise that is currently called the FBI. There's no question that the people at the top engaged in a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy to spy on the Trump campaign and engineer a criminal investigation of his administration, for the purpose of removing him from office. This is the one explanation that explains the mountain of evidence piled up in the public domain. This is so obvious that no one bothers to deny it. Instead, the game is to avoid discussing it in public. Lurking in the secret FBI files can be only three possibilities, with regards to this conspiracy. One, there is proof they cooked the whole thing to help get Hillary Clinton elected. The other is some out of left field explanation for the mountain of data, that points to an innocent motive. The final option is a massive hole in the system where the damning proof used to exists, but has now been destroyed as part of the cover-up. To date, the FBI and DOJ refuse to comply with Congressional subpoenas to answer this question. The Gangster State. [Scroll down] This becomes more obvious when looking at the whole criminal enterprise that is currently called the FBI. There's no question that the people at the top engaged in a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy to spy on the Trump campaign and engineer a criminal investigation of his administration, for the purpose of removing him from office. This is the one explanation that explains the mountain of evidence piled up in the public domain. This is so obvious that no one bothers to deny it. Instead, the game is to avoid discussing it in public. Lurking in the secret FBI files can be only three possibilities, with regards to this conspiracy. One, there is proof they cooked the whole thing to help get Hillary Clinton elected. The other is some out of left field explanation for the mountain of data, that points to an innocent motive. The final option is a massive hole in the system where the damning proof used to exists, but has now been destroyed as part of the cover-up. To date, the FBI and DOJ refuse to comply with Congressional subpoenas to answer this question. The Overlords Have Arrived. Today, Americans are trying to separate their consideration of an investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election from what increasingly looks like the wreckage of a failed coup against the election and office of the current president. And the signs of a confrontation across barricades between Americans and their self-appointed Overlords is revealed daily in the transcripts and testimony of the participants in congressional hearings and inquiries. A Factual Comparison of Watergate and Russiagate Shows They're Mirror Opposites. [For example,] In the Watergate scandal, the burglars were discovered by a hotel security guard and arrested by local police on the very first day of the scandal. On day 90 of the Watergate scandal, a grand jury indicted the Watergate burglars plus G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, two of the break-in organizers. In contrast, the 2016 DNC cyber burglars, whoever they are, have never been arrested or indicted. In fact, the DNC has refused to allow law enforcement to inspect the crime scene — i.e., the server itself. The conclusion that Russians hacked the DNC server relies solely upon the opinion of DNC-funded Crowdstrike, a firm hired by Perkins Coie, which also hired Hillary Clinton- and DNC-funded Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Trump. Perkins Coie and their contractors were hired to help Clinton "achieve [her] electoral and strategic objectives." They were not in the business of investigating crimes. There is no public report of the DNC paying the key investigators in the Watergate scandal. Watergate redux. President Obama, although appearing confident of a Clinton victory, apparently feared a Trump win would undo his legacy — which is precisely what has happened — and thus it had to be prevented by whatever means. The leadership of the Justice Department, IRS, FBI, CIA and others in the Obama administration have been, and continue to show themselves to be, fierce Democratic partisans. Again, their motivations for what increasingly appears as extensive inappropriate and illegal behavior seem to be much like their Watergate predecessors. Former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former director of National Intelligence James Clapper have all publicly stated that they do not believe Mr. Trump is fit to be president — with the implicit argument that stopping him is their patriotic duty — the law [notwithstanding]. As the Wiseguys Turn: McCabe, Comey, and the FBI Boys. [W]hat began as an investigation into Russian "collusion" on the part of the Trump campaign and perhaps the president himself, is now steadily being revealed as the sham byproduct of the fixed-fight "probe" of the Clinton email "matter" that allowed the former secretary of state to head into the 2016 election "cleared" of any wrongdoing by the Obama "justice" department. Vengeful over her surprising loss, the Woman Scorned and her cronies in the former administration and the intelligence community then concocted the "collusion" narrative, obligingly peddled to the public by the Democrat-controlled media, to strangle the Trump presidency in its cradle. And they almost got away with it. The FBI's Watergate. "What did the president know, and when did he know it?" On June 28, 1973, during a hearing before the Senate Watergate Committee, the ranking member, Tennessee Republican Howard Baker, posed the central question of the investigation. Forty-five summers after Baker uttered those historic words, the same question now hangs over the alleged collusion between Donald Trump and Russia in the 2016 election. But this time the question is directed at the investigators. It runs like this: What did the FBI know, when did it know it — and from whom did it get this information? The answers are essential to a public accounting of what in fact happened during an election in which the FBI was investigating both the Republican and Democratic nominees for president or their campaigns. But unlike Watergate, which the FBI solved, the more we learn about these investigations, the more troubling the FBI's behavior appears. Unfortunately, rather than make a clean breast of it all, new FBI Director Christopher Wray behaves as though the bureau doesn't need to answer to the American people's elected representatives in Congress. London 'bridges' falling down: curious origins of FBI's Trump-Russia probe. The bridge to the Russia investigation wasn't erected in Moscow during the summer of the 2016 election. It originated earlier, 1,700 miles away in London, where foreign figures contacted Trump campaign advisers and provided the FBI with hearsay allegations of Trump-Russia collusion, bureau documents and interviews of government insiders reveal. These contacts in spring 2016 — some from trusted intelligence sources, others from Hillary Clinton supporters — occurred well before FBI headquarters authorized an official counterintelligence investigation on July 31, 2016. The new timeline makes one wonder: Did the FBI follow its rules governing informants? The Politicization of the FBI. Over the past year, facts have emerged that suggest there was a plot by high-ranking FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials in the Obama administration, acting under color of law, to exonerate Hillary Clinton of federal crimes and then, if she lost the election, to frame Donald Trump and his campaign for colluding with Russia to steal the presidency. This conduct was not based on mere bias, as has been widely claimed, but rather on deeply felt animus toward Trump and his agenda. In the course of this plot, FBI Director James Comey, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, FBI Deputy Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, Strzok's paramour and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, FBI General Counsel James Baker, and DOJ senior official Bruce Ohr — perhaps among others — compromised federal law enforcement to such an extent that the American public is losing trust. The appointment of Robert Mueller violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. The appointment of Robert Mueller violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. Mueller is not an inferior appointee, but a principal appointee as understood under our constitutional. His powers are more akin to an United States attorney, not an assistant United States attorney. Moreover, his boss, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, treats him as a principal officer — that is, Mueller is mostly free to conduct his investigation with few limits or restraints. The parameters of his appointment were extraordinarily broad in the first instance, and have only expanded since then. Indeed, Mueller is more powerful than most United States attorneys, all of whom were nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate as principal officers. Furthermore, Rosenstein mostly rubber stamps Mueller's decisions and is not involved in the regular management and oversight of Mueller to any significant extent, underscoring Mueller's role not as an inferior officer but a principal officer. As such, Mueller's appointment violates the Appointments Clause. Mueller would've had to be nominated for Senate confirmation like any other principal officer in the Executive Branch. Rosenstein did not have the constitutional power to appoint a principal officer on his own anymore than the President himself does. To do otherwise is to defy the procedure established by the Framers for making such consequential executive appointments. It follows, then, that every subpoena, indictment, and plea agreement involving the Mueller investigation is null and void. Every defendant, suspect, witness, etc., in this matter should challenge the Mueller appointment as a violation of the Appointments Clause. We Need to Know What Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Rice, Power and the Rest of Them Did. The Mueller investigation has, oddly enough, revealed that the greatest perpetrator against the American people in the 2016 election was the federal government. The greatest perpetrator against the American people was the federal government, was the leadership in the FBI, the CIA, the national intelligence director, etc. We cannot allow this to happen again. We saw our federal government used by the prior administration, by the head of the CIA, by the head of the FBI, by the head of national intelligence and many, many others used to try and destroy the candidate of the opposition party. These Obama intelligence officials tried to destroy Donald Trump and the electoral process. An administration interfering in elections is something we've never seen anything before in American history. How the FBI and CIA Restarted the Cold War to Protect Themselves. [Scroll down] In the two years that have elapsed since, it has been learned that the "intelligence" that formed the basis for the sanctions was beyond dubious. A single unverified "dossier" compiled by an ex-British spy with no discernable connections to Russia was shopped to FISA judges and the media as something real. The dossier was opposition research by the Hillary Clinton campaign, a fact that was not disclosed and actively hidden by off-the-book transactions through the law firm Perkins Coie. As a dog that chases its tail, the fake dossier was being used to cause the investigation which itself lent credibility to the notion of Russian interference. The FBI and CIA thumbed the eye of an armed nuclear state based on false intelligence. Why? The answer is now obvious: to cover up their own election year shenanigans they thought would remain forever hidden in the inevitable Hillary Clinton victory. The Politicization of the FBI. Over the past year, facts have emerged that suggest there was a plot by high-ranking FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials in the Obama administration, acting under color of law, to exonerate Hillary Clinton of federal crimes and then, if she lost the election, to frame Donald Trump and his campaign for colluding with Russia to steal the presidency. This conduct was not based on mere bias, as has been widely claimed, but rather on deeply felt animus toward Trump and his agenda. In the course of this plot, FBI Director James Comey, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, FBI Deputy Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, Strzok's paramour and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, FBI General Counsel James Baker, and DOJ senior official Bruce Ohr — perhaps among others — compromised federal law enforcement to such an extent that the American public is losing trust. A recent CBS News poll finds 48 percent of Americans believe that Special Counsel James Mueller's Trump-Russia collusion probe is "politically motivated," a stunning conclusion. And 63 percent of polled voters in a Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll believe that the FBI withheld vital information from Congress about the Clinton and Russia collusion investigations. FBI-gate: The Outlines of the Story Are Coming into Focus. Thanks to the work of smart and hardworking (non-mainstream) journalists, we can peek just a bit over the horizon and see where the story of the weaponization of the FBI via a senior-level cabal is going from here. I use the word "story" deliberately, because that is the way public opinion forms itself on major political affairs. The progressives in the media and politics have long understood this. The cast of the story is now set, and some dramatic plot points have been identified. The ending hasn't been written yet, of course, but the villains are identifying themselves or being exposed, and some of the heroes are emerging. We are on the cusp of a drama much bigger than Watergate breaking open, and its story elements are compelling. Scandal, Corruption, Lawbreaking — And So What? [Scroll down] Despite a nonstop media assault on Trump's administration, Representative Devin Nunes, and the congressional investigative committees, more than 50 percent of the public already believes that the Trump campaign was illegally surveilled and smeared through the confluence of the Clinton campaign, the Obama administration, and the FBI. Voters would only grow more cynical if some Americans were allowed to abuse constitutionally protected civil liberties, and to lie to the Congress, the FBI, and the courts, while the less connected others go to jail for much less. Without a judicial accounting, it will be impossible to clean up the hierarchies of the FBI and the DOJ. The Ruling Class Hates You. Truth is, they really don't like the rest of us. No problem, we have our own lives and families. But it's only not a problem until such disdain is combined with a sense of political entitlement and the coercive power of government. Which brings us to the political and cultural union of the Democratic Party and the permanent political class called the deep state, that forms the unelected, unaccountable fourth branch of government that wields so much power up to and including the police power of the FBI. October 2016: James Comey Friend Benjamin Wittes Discusses "The Insurance Policy" Against Trump. In hindsight there are many contexts that shape a new understanding. Fired FBI Director James Comey ran a corrupt and heavily political organization. He himself helped to shape the politics of it. On Comey's watch he allowed the FBI to become a weaponized tool against political enemies. The upper-level officials within the FBI are now under scrutiny as their actions are increasingly transparent in their political motives. Biased FBI and DOJ Officials Broke The Law And Tried To Decide The Election. There can be no question, at this point, that certain higher ups in the FBI and the DOJ did not want Hillary to be indicted and did not want Donald Trump to become President. Those efforts were not entirely independent of each other. Below is a timeline of events — abbreviated though it is — that makes it rather plain that the FBI and DOJ were not investigating potential crimes objectively. Indeed, they were committing crimes during the process in aid of their preferred outcomes. Did Hillary Clinton pull off the dirtiest dirty trick in US presidential history? For law enforcement, Congress and even journalists, exposing misdeeds is like peeling an onion. Each layer you remove gets you closer to the truth. So it is with the scandalous behavior of the FBI during its probe into whether President Trump's campaign conspired with Russia in 2016. One layer at a time, we're learning how flawed and dirty that probe was. A top layer involves the texts between FBI lawyer Lisa Page and her married lover, Peter Strzok, the lead agent on the Hillary Clinton e-mail probe. They casually mention an "insurance policy" in the event Trump won the election and a plan for Strzok to go easy on Clinton because she probably would be their next boss. From Conspiracy Theories to Conspiracies. [Scroll down] The FBI itself would have earlier trafficked in a fraudulent document funded by the Clinton campaign to "prove" Trump and his team were such dangers to the republic that they required surveillance under FISA court warrants and thus should surrender their constitutional rights of privacy. The ensuing surveillance, then, would be widely disseminated among Obama Administration officials, with the likely intent that names would be unmasked and leaked to the anti-Trump press — again, in efforts to discredit, first, the Trump campaign, and later the Trump transition and presidency. A top official of the prior Department of Justice would personally consult the authors of the smear dossier in efforts to ensure that its contents would become useful and known. In fact, all that and more has already transpired. The FBI's war on Trump. Two lovebirds and others at the FBI need to be investigated on charges of plotting to influence a presidential election and later cripple a presidential administration. [...] Curiously, the FBI somehow "lost" thousands of messages between Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page for the five months from Dec. 14, 2016, to May 17, 2017. After a public firestorm, they finally turned up on Thursday [1/25/2018], according to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. "This period coincides with the height of the FBI's investigation into possible Trump-Russia collusion, on which Mr. Strzok was a lead investigator," The Wall Street Journal notes. Compared to the 18-minute "gap" in the White House tape during the Watergate scandal, this is the Grand Canyon. So what does the Bureau have to say about it? They blamed it on "misconfiguration issues related to rollouts, provisioning, and software upgrades." Someone at the FBI actually wrote that. Maybe it's true. The pattern of alarming behavior at the FBI and the Justice Department deserves a recap: [...] No Such Thing As An Independent FBI. Of the many criticisms of President Trump, perhaps one of the more ill-considered is the suggestion that he is interfering with the "independence" of the FBI. The FBI, the argument goes, is not only a high-skilled, highly trained, and highly professional law enforcement organization — which it undoubtedly is — but should do its work free from political interference or control by the executive. This is nonsense — nonsense with totalitarian implications. The FBI is part of the executive branch, an investigative arm of the Department of Justice. The chain of command is simple. How a Civil War Happens. Now we're seeing what the pros do when amateurs try to walk in on them. They spy on them, they investigate them and they send them to jail. They use the tools of power to bring them down. That's not a free country. It's not a free country when FBI agents who support Hillary take out an "insurance policy" against Trump winning the election. It's not a free country when Obama officials engage in massive unmasking of the opposition. It's not a free country when the media responds to the other guy winning by trying to ban the conservative media that supported him from social media. It's not a free country when all of the above collude together to overturn an election because the guy who wasn't supposed to win, won. We're in a civil war between conservative volunteer government and leftist professional government. The FBI's Secret State Police. The FBI's current stonewalling bears more than a passing resemblance to the Geheime Staatspolizei, the National Socialists' secret state police. The people's representatives have been seeking answers on the probe of Russian influence in the 2016 election. Former FBI boss Robert Mueller has failed to turn up any evidence of "collusion" in more than a year, but other matters have come to light. FBI man Peter Strzok has been Hillary Clinton's Odd Job, changing gross negligence to extremely careless, failing to keep records of the interview with the former First Lady, and allowing her aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills to tell more than 300 lies about the unsecured server Clinton used to send classified material. Representatives such as Trey Gowdy and Jim Jordan want to know if Strzok played a role in the compiling the fake dossier with Russian content. They also seek to know whether Strzok was the one who deployed the dossier to gain a FISA warrant to enable spying on the Trump campaign and unmask U.S. citizens. FBI-Gate: Deep State in Deep Spit. In January, the Justice Department's inspector general launched an investigation into a possible conflict of interest involving McCabe's failure to disclose donations to his wife by arguably the closest political ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Terry McAuliffe. The governor of Virginia recruited McCabe's wife, Jill, to run for state senate in the commonwealth and donated $467,500 from his political action committee into her coffers. The Department of Justice demoted Bruce Ohr last week for hiding secret meetings with Fusion GPS, the opposition research outfit that paid, with money received from Hillary Clinton's campaign, for the so-called "dossier" smearing Donald Trump with outlandish allegations based, in some instances, on second- and third-hand information. Fusion GPS hired Ohr's wife to investigate Trump. Should The FBI Be Abolished? For the last few years, the media has been dominated by a number of sensational stories: that Trump colluded with Russia to influence the presidential election; that the Trump team was wiretapped by Obama intelligence officials; that Hillary used a private email server to transmit classified information; that Hillary and the DNC colluded with Russian sources to compile a dossier on Trump, and finally, that Russia acquired 20% of America's uranium supply during the same time period $145 million miraculously appeared in the Clinton Foundation's bank account. It all stinks to high heaven but it's created a confusing array of facts that has bewildered most Americans. They all know something is seriously wrong with their country even if they can't pinpoint exactly what the problem is. But there is a common denominator in all these scandals or alleged scandals, and that would be the FBI and the actions they took or didn't take. Indeed, it's hard to not conclude that the agency's actions in these events were improper if not illegal. If so, this validates the warnings by constitutionalists in the early 1900s that a federal police force would someday be used to prop up the ruling elites and attack those who dare challenge the establishment. The Federal Bureau of Political Investigation. [Scroll down] All of this is commanded by law to be kept secret so as to preserve evidence, avoid tipping off a potential defendant capable of flight and preserve the reputation of a person not indicted. That is at least the way these things are supposed to work. Yet none of this happened in the recently reopened and re-terminated investigation of the misuse of emails containing state secrets by Clinton. In that investigation, the DOJ did not present evidence to a grand jury. Thus, it did not obtain any subpoenas. And it did not seek any search warrants. It cut deals left and right, promising not to prosecute those from whom it sought problematic evidence. After accumulating a mountain of evidence of Clinton's guilt, the FBI did not present it to the DOJ. A Changing Investigative Landscape. [FBI Director James] Comey has been battered by news reports of turmoil within the FBI over investigations of the Clintons. Rumors flew earlier this year that an indictment of Mrs. Clinton was imminent. The story du jour is that elements within the FBI are closing in on the Clinton Foundation, or the Clinton finances, or generalized Clinton corruption — were it not for the perfidy of Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch. FBI field agents and supervisors — particularly in the powerful New York field office — are said to be up in arms, handing in their resignations. The independence of the FBI has collapsed. Don't believe it. FBI agents are by nature an aggressive bunch — chasing leads, questioning suspects, pushing for warrants and wire taps — and butting heads with cautious superiors. The tensions between agents who make the criminal case and prosecutors who make the legal call are as old as the FBI itself. The Fall of an FBI Director. Every agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation takes an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" and to "bear true faith and allegiance to the same." And he swears to "faithfully discharge the duties of the office." It is much the same oath taken by members of Congress, by military officers and government employees. It is an oath that goes back to Washington and Lincoln. Its origins lie in the Constitution. And FBI Director James Comey violated it. The oath is not to any president or government, but to the impartial law of the Constitution. It says that no one is above the law. James Comey twice stated implicitly that one politician is above the law. 5 of the dumbest things the FBI did before Clinton. In light of the news that the FBI will not prosecute Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server, the agency is getting heat from both sides of the political aisle. Conservatives feel that Clinton was given preferential treatment due to her connections to the Obama administration, noting that "less important" people have been thrown in jail for far less. Meanwhile, Clinton's defenders claim that the FBI is largely pro-Trump and that the whole investigation was a witch hunt designed to boost the billionaire mogul's chances of taking the White House. In other words, pretty much everyone thinks the FBI is corrupt, partisan, and ineffective. Given the agency's history, that's not an unreasonable assumption to make. Over the years, the FBI has engaged in some truly stupid activities that make you wonder how it manages to protect us at all. The FBI: The 'Fix Be In'. The FBI's reputation has sunk so low under the Obama administration that its initials seem to stand for: The Fix Be In. [...] Consider the Clinton investigation. The FBI granted limited immunity to five Clinton aides, including Paul Combetta, who deleted Clinton emails in March 2015 after Congress had subpoenaed her records. FBI agents waited a year before they questioned Clinton in July for an hour and a half. Shortly thereafter, Director James Comey announced there would be no indictment in the case; even though Clinton did not hand over "several thousand" work emails to the State Department, there was no proof of "intentional misconduct." Book details how Team Obama schemed to let Hillary skate. In his new book, "Guilty As Sin" (Regnery), out Tuesday [10/4/2016], Edward Klein claims officials in the Obama administration decided before the first witness was interviewed that Hillary Clinton would not face prosecution over the handling of classified e-mail. Comey 'Singlehandedly Ruined' FBI's Reputation: Retired Agents Blast Clinton Probe. Retired FBI agents are blasting Director Jim Comey over the investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, according to a Thursday [10/6/2016] opinion piece in The New York Post. "Comey has single-handedly ruined the reputation of the organization," former agent Michael M. Biasello told the outlet. He claimed that accommodations given the Clinton and her aides was "unprecedented," suggesting, "which is another way of saying this outcome was by design." FBI Director James Comey Has To Go. FBI Director James Comey has broken the sacred trust of the American people. He conducted a faux investigation into the State Department email scandal in which dozens of confidential and top-secret emails passing through an unsecured, private server put our national security at risk. He handed out immunity deals to most of the major players involved in the investigation. He ignored evidence to protect the Clinton Team from prosecution. He put President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton's political legacy ahead of the law. He made secret deals to destroy evidence, thwarting congressional subpoenas. That's called obstruction of justice. It's a crime. James Comey violated the law. He violated his oath of office. It's corruption at the highest level. James Comey and Loretta Lynch Should Be Impeached for Whitewashing Clinton's Crimes. Just when one thinks the cavalier cabal of Clinton and her cronies has exhausted all manner of corruption, yet another outrage surfaces, implicating even more people. The bombshell this week is that Loretta Lynch and James Comey not only gave immunity to Hillary's closest co-conspirators Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson — who, despite being attorneys, destroyed evidence right and left — but, in a secret side deal, agreed to limit the FBI's review of the Clinton team laptops to pre-January 2015 and to destroy the laptops when the FBI review was complete. Congress and every law-abiding citizen in this country should be outraged. This blatant destruction of evidence is obstruction of justice itself. FBI Working With the Clinton Campaign? Back in July, the director of the FBI, James Comey, held a press conference in which he said that no charges would be brought against Clinton for her use of a private home e-mail server. This month, ahead of Labor Day, the FBI's official documents on their investigation into Clinton's e-mails were released. In July, Comey stated "we [the FBI] can't establish... that she acted with the necessary criminal intent." The documents released from the FBI sing a different tune. Hillary Clinton used not one, but three, private servers while Secretary of State and all were kept in her basement. None of her e-mails use encryption. An e-mail account using Clinton's server was successfully hacked into in January 2013. A computer and thumb drive with the entire archive of her e-mails was lost in the mail. Sure, Comey can say that these details show no willful intent to break the law but let's keep going. Clinton used 13 Blackberries and 5 iPads with her private home e-mail server and had aides destroy them with hammers after use. The
FBI found 15,000 emails Hillary Clinton didn't turn over. If you scrape away all of the spin and the political
positioning that Hillary Clinton's decision to use a private email server has spawned, you are left with these facts: Hillary Clinton, who tells dreadful lies. Today, it is the American people who have been burned, time and again, by Hillary Clinton's dreadful lies. Let's review just a few examples of her serial dishonesty: She lied repeatedly about her emails. She lied when she said she had "turned over everything I was obligated to turn over" (FBI Director James Comey said the FBI "discovered several thousand work-related e-mails that were not among the group of 30,000 e-mails returned by Secretary Clinton to state in 2014"). She lied when she said there was "no classified material" in her private emails ... that there was nothing "classified at the time" ... and that there was nothing "marked classified" in her private emails — all of which the FBI director said were untrue. And, to top it all off, she lied about her lies — declaring on national television that "Director Comey said my answers were truthful, and what I've said is consistent with what I have told the American people" — a claim The Post's Fact Checker gave "Four Pinocchios." Hillary Clinton's Email: the Definitive Timeline. Clip and save for future reference. The
Clearest (No Spin) Summary of FBI Report on Hillary Clinton Email. The FBI could not review all of the Hillary
Clinton emails under investigation because: The FBI raid on President Trump's home at Mar-A-Lago, Florida, August 8, 2022 The FBI and Twitter News and timely commentary about the FBI regarding their routine work The FBI Says: Pound Sand. Perhaps most outrageous is the reference to "conspiracy theorists and others." You mean the FBI's now-proven collaboration with social media platforms to suppress news about Joe Biden's corruption? That conspiracy? And what is the "misinformation"? The emails between the Bureau and Twitter that have now been made public? Those emails certainly contained misinformation — the FBI's intimation that Hunter's laptop was somehow a Russian plant — but their disclosure is hardly misinformation. It is long-overdue truth. The Bureau's arrogant response to exposure of the Twitter files is more evidence that it needs to be torn down, from top to bottom, and either thoroughly reformed with new personnel or replaced entirely. Sen. Wyden Demands Answers From FBI on Hacking of Americans' Phones. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has called for the FBI to provide public disclosures about the extent of its hacking of the phones of U.S. citizens and the criteria that the bureau uses in determining when to put specialized software to use to manipulate a person's phone. In a Dec. 20 letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, the senator expressed a number of concerns related to the agency's acquisition of — and later, its purported decision to not use — highly specialized Pegasus software developed by the Israeli firm NSO Group for the purpose of hacking phones. The tool can be used to infiltrate a person's phone and extract its contents without the owner's knowledge. The naked truth on the Hunter Biden laptop coverup. [Scroll down] The second Watergate phrase that commands our attention now is "The coverup is worse than the crime." That's because we are on the cusp of the coverup phase of what the FBI, and perhaps the CIA and others, did to influence the outcome of the 2020 election. Predictable denials of "Nothing to see here" come despite clear proof that agents interfered with the First Amendment rights of the American public, and not just on Twitter. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said agents warned him about "Russian disinformation" before the election. Those warnings came in weekly meetings FBI agents had in San Francisco with the Big Tech firms and some reportedly mentioned Hunter Biden. FBI suppressed Hunter laptop story without any evidence of "disinformation" — before publication. If Michael Shellenberger's latest tranche from the Twitter Files gets corroborated, the FBI didn't just target speech on social-media platforms in a presidential election. The files released today suggests that the FBI acted to preemptively suppress an accurate news report even before it got published — with no actual evidence that it was part of an intelligence operation. [Tweets] Before we go much further, let's ask ourselves this question: what [...] is the FBI doing in these transactions at all? They do have authority over domestic counter-intelligence, but that doesn't give them carte blanche to surveil domestic communications, let alone control them. FBI LGBT Guidance Quietly Scrubbed After Employee Backlash, Whistleblower Says. The FBI cancelled a mandatory sexual orientation and gender identity course in 2021 after agents protested being tested on their knowledge of "transgender descriptors," a suspended FBI agent told the Daily Caller. The test, sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), intended to boost agents' awareness of the LGBT community and show how to be "an ally for LGBT+ colleagues," documents provided to the Daily Caller show. The 56-page test showed guidance on the definitions of gender identities and sexual orientations, how to write or talk about a transgender person, how to use the word "queer," what one can ask an LGBT person and how to use pronouns. A Foundation of Sand. The FBI and the rest of the Deep State's witch hunts against innocent Trump supporters and associates are well documented. If you do not know that our governmental institutions are perfectly partisan and corrupt, no quantity or quality of evidence will convince you at this point. The evidence is overwhelming that the federal KGB/FBI is more than willing to both cover up the crimes of consummate Cultural Marxists while prosecuting the non-crimes of anyone who would dare mock or flout the sacred rites of the wokeshevik creed, or undermine, no matter how trivially, the interests of the Washington regime, to the extent those matters are separable. Not only is the FBI not interested in the Biden family's many crimes, some of which are fairly serious, it is even farming out its dirty work to its agents and assets in the corporate world (CEOs, CFOs, general counsels at Twitter) so as to protect the state criminals at the helm of the imperial regime in Washington. It is of course still quite sensible to acknowledge that the "rule of law" has been lost, because it has been devoured by partisans in the media and in law enforcement, but it is more fruitful to wonder whether the "rule of law" is even possible in a nation such as ours. A government as power-hungry and corrupt as ours minds not the laws, but perhaps more importantly, a critical mass of our own people have grown hyperpolarized and hyperracialized, not merely resentful and cynical, but downright disdainful of large portions of their fellow Americans. No one is really and truly safe from the law now. FBI wouldn't discuss Hunter Biden probe after convincing Facebook to suppress laptop stories. Hunter Biden's name was raised in an FBI meeting with Facebook before the 2020 election, according to sworn testimony by Elvis Chan, an FBI agent accused of "colluding" with social media companies to suppress The [New York] Post's Hunter Biden laptop story. During a weekly election security meeting in October 2020, days after Big Tech censored The Post's story, a Facebook representative asked the chief of the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, Laura Dehmlow: "What can you share about the Hunter Biden case?", Chan said Tuesday in a deposition for a lawsuit against the Biden administration by Republican attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana. Dehmlow's response was "no comment," Chan recalled. "From my recollection, at one meeting with Facebook after the regular agenda had been completed, one of the Facebook analysts asked if the FBI had any information they could share about the Hunter Biden investigation. "To that I recall Ms. Dehmlow saying that the FBI had no comment... She said something to the effect that the FBI has no comment on this." How the FBI's nod and a wink got social media to censor The Post's Hunter Biden reporting. Just as it did in 2016, the Democratic Party colluded during the 2020 presidential campaign with FBI leadership, its like-minded transnational-progressives in the loose-lipped community of current and former national-security officials and the media. The objective in 2020, as in 2016, was to try to drag a weak, deeply compromised Democratic candidate across the finish line. The scheme worked in 2020 where it failed in 2016. A big part of the difference was Democrats and their collaborators put major 2020 emphasis on social-media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, which had served Donald Trump well in 2016. The result was the systematic suppression of the Biden family corruption scandal: the staggering millions of dollars that are now known to have been poured into the Biden coffers from agents of such authoritarian, anti-American regimes as China and Russia and such corrupt ones as Ukraine. Joe Biden is in it up to his neck, although the media-Democrat complex continues branding the scandal as "the Hunter Biden probe," the better to obscure the president's complicity. The FBI has disturbingly broad authority to commit crimes and violence. Previous articles mentioned FBI, intelligence community, local police, and/or other government use of secret methods, secret technologies, and "otherwise illegal activity." It is probably obvious that government and non-government use of secret police methods and technologies, potentially including "biosurveillance" technologies that remotely affect or monitor the human brain or body, is contrary to democracy. Some methods and technologies might be properly labeled as torture. And reasonable people might demand those within government, and non-government persons who cooperate with them, not be permitted to operate with such secrecy. [...] When studying U.S. federal laws, guidelines, and documents, one discovers that the U.S. federal and local governments may have used secret hoaxes, methods, and technologies on Americans for many years. Such methods and technologies caused, and could currently be causing, significant harm. Deposition Reveals Complex Plot by the FBI to Influence the 2020 Election. The 2020 election remains one of the most contentious in history, and the more we learn about how deep the government's interference went, the more disturbing things get. According to Eric Schmitt, the current attorney general of Missouri and its newly-elected senator, the FBI was having weekly meetings with social media companies prior to election day in 2020 to collude on suppressing information. That was revealed in the deposition of Elvis Chan, the FBI's liaison in the scheme. [Tweets] According to Schmitt, the FBI was colluding with social media companies, giving them specific direction on what content to suppress. That means specific URLs and accounts. The social media companies, all led by leftwing hacks at that point, were apparently more than happy to play along. [...] In this case, the FBI was running a complex scheme, colluding with social media companies to target specific accounts and news stories, with seemingly all of the moves made being politically beneficial to Democrats. In doing so, they shut down a verifiably true story about Hunter Biden's laptop that could have swung the entire election. The suppression of information regarding COVID-19 just so happened to help Democrats as well. Judge tosses lawsuit against FBI after bureau 'stole' millions in jewelry, cash from 1,400 safe deposit boxes. Once again, the deep state is guilty of protecting its own at the expense of ordinary Americans. Last month, a federal judge in California tossed out a lawsuit alleging that the FBI literally stole millions in cash, jewelry, and other valuables out of some 1,400 safe deposit boxes after raiding a private company believed to be involved in money laundering for criminals. "A lawsuit filed in August alleged the FBI and the US attorney's office in Los Angeles obtained warrants against US Private Vaults in Beverly Hills, California, by concealing critical details from the judge who approved them," Business Insider reported in early October. "In his ruling, District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner found no impropriety in the way the government got or executed the warrants for the raid. He dismissed the class-action suit filed on behalf of the people whose boxes had been seized." Klausner, a George W. Bush appointee, acknowledged in his ruling that the vault company was shut down after the 2021 raid, and its owners have since pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to launder drug money. In This Untold Story Of Poll Worker Data, Chinese Servers, And Scandal, Only The FBI Knows The Truth. Developments over the last month in two cases, one criminal and one civil, involving the election-management software company Konnech and its CEO Eugene Yu, reveal the FBI remains mired in malfeasance. Either the FBI has abandoned multiple confidential human sources and discarded an 18-month investigation into evidence that Yu maintained the personal information of tens of thousands of American election workers on a server in China, or the bureau has allowed Yu to be arrested for crimes he did not commit and permitted the innocent American to be branded a felon and traitor. While at this point the public cannot tell which scenario is true, the Department of Justice and the FBI know, and their failure either to charge Yu (or provide the L.A. district attorney's office with confirmation of the alleged crimes) or to clear him represents another blot on the disgraced agency's name. Americans Should Pay Close Attention To The FBI And Zero-Click. Here's Why. During the Trump administration, the FBI paid $5 million to an Israeli software company for a license to use its "zero-click" surveillance software called Pegasus. Zero-click refers to software that can download the contents of a target's computer or mobile device without the need for tricking the target into clicking on it. The FBI operated the software from a warehouse in New Jersey. Before revealing any of this to the two congressional intelligence committees to which the FBI reports, it experimented with the software. The experiments apparently consisted of testing Pegasus by spying — illegally and unconstitutionally since no judicially issued search warrant had authorized the use of Pegasus — on unwitting Americans by downloading data from their devices. Is Facebook sharing user information with the FBI illegally? Is Facebook secretly giving the FBI user information in violation of the the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986? Maybe, according to FBI director Christopher Ray. He can't say for sure. Oh. Really? The allegations that the FBI is doing a lot of shady things are not exactly new, although they are only sporadically covered in the MSM. After all, the MSM likes censorship — as long as it isn't censorship of themselves. So if the FBI is helping censor us bad people, that is probably a good thing. [Indeed], the MSM didn't even mind when one of their own was called a spy and had his phone records seized — he was a Fox News guy, so big deal. Besides, Obama did it so that makes it OK. FBI deployed unconstitutional 'zero-click' Pegasus surveillance software. During the Trump administration, the FBI paid $5 million to an Israeli software company for a license to use its "zero-click" surveillance software called Pegasus. Zero-click refers to software that can download the contents of a target's computer or mobile device without the need for tricking the target into clicking on it. The FBI operated the software from a warehouse in New Jersey. Before revealing any of this to the two congressional intelligence committees to which the FBI reports, it experimented with the software. The experiments apparently consisted of testing Pegasus by spying — illegally and unconstitutionally, since no judicially issued search warrant had authorized the use of Pegasus — on unwitting Americans by downloading data from their devices. Sen. Rand Paul Grills FBI Director Over Collusion With Facebook. Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul sharply questioned FBI director Christopher Wray Thursday over reported collusion with Facebook that left the senator "alarmed." "You may think it's just jolly well to get all this stuff without a warrant that people volunteer to you, but many of us are alarmed that you're getting this information that are private communications between people, because it is against the law," Paul told Wray during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. "It's against the law for Facebook, or social media companies to give it to you. But it's also against the law for you to receive it." Facebook allegedly eavesdropped on private communications of people who questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election and passed information to the FBI, according to whistleblowers who talked to the New York Post. Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released a 1,000 page report Nov. 4 detailing allegations of misconduct by the agency. Court Docs: FBI Had Eight Informants in Proud Boys Prior to January 6. Recent court documents show the FBI had as many as eight [...] informants embedded with the "Proud Boys" group in the months leading up to the January 6 riot at the Capitol in 2021. The bombshell revelation comes via the New York Times and raises several alarms, among them being just how the eight informants and their presence within the group, and the information they gleaned from working with the group, didn't result in the FBI stopping the riot in the first place. It also raises the question with defense lawyers as to whether the group may have been, or to what degree they were, entrapped by the informants themselves. The New York Times reports that court filings for defense lawyers representing five members of the Proud Boys currently on trial for seditious conspiracy have unveiled the number of informants. FBI and White House Slapped Down By Judge in Major Censorship Case. Are the wheels finally coming off the White House's censorship train? It's too soon to say for sure, but the Biden administration and the FBI got slapped down by a federal judge on Wednesday in a landmark case centering on the issue. [...] As RedState previously reported, Meta (Facebook) was at the center of censoring the Hunter Biden story prior to the 2020 election, possibly swinging the outcome. Its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, inadvertently admitted on Joe Rogan's podcast that the FBI had come to them with more than a wink and nudge, suggesting that the story was actually Russian disinformation. Making matters worse, the FBI obviously knew at that point that the laptop story was true given they had been in possession of the hard drive for [over] a year. The FBI Vs. The People. America's principal law enforcement agency, the FBI, has declared yet another war. It's just like the war on drugs, the war on organized crime, and the war on terrorism from decades past — but this time, the bureau's enemy is average Americans who are not Democrats. That's not a mere Republican talking point. Indeed, few Republican officials are talking about the FBI at all, despite the bureau's repeated use of Stasi tactics to intimidate their constituents. No, this is now a fact of American life. [...] In every case, the FBI terrorized the families and neighbors of these men, threatening to break down the door and enter with guns drawn at their wives and children. The charges are a farce, but if convicted, they and their "co-conspirators" in the abortion clinic protests could face over a decade in prison. Those of us who watched the FBI's behavior during the Trump presidency and especially after Jan. 6 were not surprised that the bureau has now turned its sights on the peaceful pro-life movement. FBI Issues Bulletin Warning About "Election Crimes" Ahead of the 2022 Midterm. It is very clear to anyone who has paid attention that part of the FBI ideological mission is to interfere in U.S. elections. The FBI's 2016 surveillance and spying operation against candidate Trump was one example. The 2018 Cesear Sayoc pipe bomb case, consisting of "energetic material that may become combustible when subjected to heat or friction," was another. The 2020 FBI constructed efforts to create a Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping case was yet another. In short, the FBI is known to be engaged in creating situations intended to manipulate election outcomes. With that context in mind, a recent bulletin from the FBI warning of specific election crimes in the 2022 midterms should be evaluated for the motive behind the bulletin itself: [...] Durham shocker: Danchenko was a paid FBI informant. Today, Special Counsel John Durham moved to unseal this motion in limine in the false statements case against Igor Danchenko. This motion provides new information on the details of Danchenko's lies to the FBI, further information on how Special Counsel Mueller ignored Danchenko's false statements, expected testimony from Clinton-connected executive Charles Dolan, and one crazy development. But we'll start with the [worst] development: Danchenko was on the FBI payroll as a confidential human source (CHS) from March 2017 through October 2020. The purposes of making Danchenko a CHS should be quite clear. The Crossfire Hurricane investigation was plagued with problems from the outset. The reasons for opening the investigation were bunk. Those problems continued as the investigation went on, with claims of Trump/Russia collusion proven unverified or outright false. (Thus the targeting of Flynn for a Logan Act violation.) That developed into the Carter Page FISA applications, first submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in October 2016, and which relied substantially on the Steele Dossiers (aka Steele Reports). The FBI Ordered Informant Igor Danchenko to Erase All Evidence from His Phone of His Role in Their Attempted Coup of President Trump. In June 2020 TGP broke the story that the Primary Sub-Source (PSS) for the Steele dossier was Igor Danchenko — the individual behind most of the made-up lies in the Steele dossier. Danchenko was American-based not Russian-based. Danchenko is the one individual those looking into the Trump-Russia collusion fraud wanted to identify — the PSS — the individual who was behind the material amount of Steele dossier lies. At least two sources on the Internet had come to this conclusion by Sunday night. The Deep State kept Danchenko's name hidden for nearly four years. Danchenko's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case against their client. Buried inside the filing are several statements that are absolutely devastating for the Stasi-FBI. Durham Trial: [the] 'Salacious and Unverified' Trump-Russia Dossier Story [was] Too Juicy for FBI to Check. An FBI intelligence analyst testifying in the special counsel probe by John Durham says he never really checked the fake story about the so-called "Steele dossier" in the Trump Russia collusion hoax — including the infamous and non-existent "pee tape" — and assumed FBI sources were telling the truth. This, even though the FBI offered a $1 million payday to verify it (it went uncollected), proving the FBI knew it was "salacious and unverified" in the words of former FBI chief James Comey. But knowing that, the FBI used the dossier against Donald Trump anyway and lied to the nation's top spy court to get a warrant to spy on his campaign. Utter proof the FBI framed Trump and shielded Hunter Biden. Igor Danchenko is on trial, but so is the FBI. That is the theme of Russiagate special counsel John Durham's prosecution of Danchenko, heading into its third day of trial in Alexandria, Va., federal court. Danchenko is charged with five counts of lying to the FBI about two of his sources for what became the infamous "Steele dossier" — a compilation of faux intelligence reports, mainly authored by former British spy Christopher Steele, that portrayed the GOP's then-presidential candidate, Donald Trump, as a clandestine agent of Russia. Danchenko was Steele's principal source. In essence, Durham accuses him of (a) concealing from the FBI that he was getting some information about the Trump campaign from Clinton political ally Charles Dolan and (b) falsely claiming he received explosive information from Sergei Millian, a Belarusian American tangentially associated with Trump, alleging the GOP candidate was in a "conspiracy of cooperation" with the Kremlin. FBI Arrests 87-Year-Old Concentration Camp Survivor Outside Abortion Clinic Door. Pro-life activist Eva Edl was one of four pro-lifers charged this month in relation to a March 2021 abortion facility rescue at Carafem in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. The event was aimed at reaching abortion-minded women in hopes of helping them to choose life for their babies with confidence. Edl is 87 years old and is a German survivor of a communist prisoner-of-war concentration camp during World War II. Following her escape from that camp, she began a legacy of fighting for the right to life for all human beings. "The first time I realized there were abortion clinics in our country was in 1988," she said, according to a previous Live Action News report. "I said to my husband, 'these are the death camps of America.' I saw people sitting in front of abortion clinics in Atlanta, and I've been involved ever since." Eva Edl released a video in November 2018 describing her experience in a concentration camp and her opposition to abortion. The FBI's Tac Vest Fascism. I had heard about the FBI showing up in full regalia to arrest Paul Vaughn, father of 11, for a pro-life protest he'd been part of the previous year. Unlike the 2020 BLM peaceful protesters, Vaughn didn't set anything on fire or kill anybody. But he had sat in the hallway of an abortion clinic singing hymns. The FBI swarmed his house wearing bulletproof vests and carrying AR-15s. They pointed guns at the door and banged on the house. Ultimately, they took the father away while ignoring his wife's questions, including that an agent identify himself. At one point in the video, you can see this agent simply walks past her, waits sheepishly for the FBI driver to unlock the SUV's door, and gets in and slams the door in the woman's face. [...] Fascism has always needed a uniform, and the current one is windbreakers and tactical vests with big, government-agency letters blocked out in yellow. These bulletproof vests are not being worn for the agents' safety: None of these agents actually worries about getting shot trying to arrest middle-aged family men. If they were worried about being shot, they'd come in tanks or send drones or just wait outside like the Uvalde police. In reality, the FBI's and ATF's vests are like the KGB's blue-tabbed uniforms or the brown shirts of Hitler's SA, and are worn for the same reason: They represent the intimidation of unlimited government power against the ordinary citizen. It is the power of the faceless, nameless — they never give their names — and unaccountable bureaucracy. FBI agents involved in briefing Facebook about Hunter Biden story donated to Democrats, records show. Two FBI officials who briefed Facebook's parent company, Meta, about Hunter Biden's laptop also donated to Democrats in 2020, campaign finance records show. The findings are connected to a lawsuit from states claiming the federal government colluded with social media firms to censor free speech. And the agents — FBI Foreign Influence Task Force Chief Laura Dehmlow and FBI San Francisco Cyber Division Chief Elvis Chan — are each named in the suit. A court filing in connection with the suit alleges that Chan and Dehmlow were "involved in the communications between the FBI and Meta that led to Facebook's suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story." The New York Post late in the 2020 election between then-President Trump and Democrat challenger Joe Biden published a story about a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, son of now-President Biden, that appeared to have information about the Biden family's questionable overseas business dealings. However, Twitter restricted the redistribution of the story. November Surprise? Case-in-point: the John Durham Special Counsel Investigation on the origin of the RussiaGate fraud. It now apparently terminates in the prosecution of the tiniest minnow (Igor Danchenko) in that vast inland sea of corruption. Some of the figures who carried out the perfidious seditions of RussiaGate are still employed in the Department of Justice and the FBI, and to this day are active in the continued cover-up of the crimes committed to overthrow President Trump, notably: Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and others. Mr. Durham is supposedly among the highest officers of the federal courts charged with enforcing a very particular region of criminality. His staff must be marinated in evidence of the RussiaGate misdeeds — reams of which have been independently documented in the public record, ranging from (just for example) the nefarious activities of figures like Nellie Ohr, wife of DOJ higher-up Bruce Ohr, working as go-between with Christopher Steele and the FBI, to the spectacular failures of Judge James Boasberg and his FISA court, not to mention the well-known machinations of Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Andrew McCabe, Rod Rosenstein, Dana Boente, James Baker, Andrew Weissmann, Jeannie Rhee, Aaron Zebley, Brandon Van Grack, Robert Mueller, and other top officials who worked sedulously against the public interest. All these remain apparently off-the-hook for their sketchy activities. FBI Team Involved in Censorship of Hunter Biden Laptop Story Identified. The FBI team that was in communication with Facebook before the social media company censored the original Hunter Biden laptop story has been identified, according to a new court filing. Meta, Facebook's parent company, identified the team as the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), according to an updated complaint entered late on Oct. 6. Meta named the team after receiving a subpoena in a case alleging the federal government pressured Big Tech firms to censor users. "Pursuant to the third-party subpoena, Meta has identified the FBI's FITF, as supervised by Laura Dehmlow, and Elvis Chan as involved in the communications between the FBI and Meta that led to Facebook's suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story," the updated complaint states. Mark Zuckberg, Meta's CEO, said in August that Facebook reduced the reach of posts about Hunter Biden's laptop in response to advice from the FBI. Shameful: Wild Video of FBI Raid on Home of Yet Another Pro-Life Activist. We've reported on the raids of pro-life activists by armed FBI showing up at their homes for extremely minor things. First, there was author Mark Houck who was arrested by more than 20 armed agents in front of his screaming children at 7:00 a.m. [...] His alleged "federal offense"? He pushed a man who his wife said made offensive remarks to his son. He now faces 11 years in prison under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. But then the Biden FBI went after 11 pro-life activists who hadn't even done that. We reported on the arrest of Chet Gallagher. All they did was non-violently peacefully protest outside an abortion clinic. So why did the FBI indict these people and send armed agents to their homes? The FBI's Double Standard on Abortion. Last month, The Mother and Unborn Baby Care Center, a pregnancy center in Southfield, Michigan, was vandalized causing thousands of dollars in damages. Graffiti left behind reading, "If abortion isn't safe neither are you, Jane" linked the attack to Jane's Revenge, a leftist pro-abortion domestic terrorist group that is believed to be responsible for as many as 50 attacks on pregnancy centers and pro-life groups. Southfield police notified the FBI which refused to comment on the case. After 18 attacks directly claimed by Jane's Revenge over a period of six months, the FBI has made zero arrests. But while under Biden the feds have shown no interest in a national campaign of leftist terrorism, the FBI has been swift to come after abortion opponents. The same month as the Southfield attack, an FBI team of 25 armed agents pounded on the door of of an anti-abortion activist in Pennsylvania who had been accused of shoving a Planned Parenthood escort. The Editor says... Biden's DOJ Threatening Pro-Life Protesters w/11 Years in Jail for Civil Disobedience. By way of some context, the Biden regime knocked down its jail time request for two leftist lawyers who torched a police car with a Molotov cocktail during the Black Lives Matter race riots to 18-24 months even though there was no reason to do so. But as part of its Jihad against pro-life protesters, the Biden regime is using the FACE Act to target pro-life protesters for actions that are technically illegal, but fall well within civil disobedience norms and don't involve torching anything. And seeking 11 years in prison. Two Major Holes [were] Found In FBI's Case Against Pro-Life Father, Documents Reveal. New documents call into question two key components of the FBI's charges against Mark Houck, the pro-life father of seven who was arrested by federal agents Sept. 23 for allegedly shoving a Planned Parenthood clinic escort. The FBI charged Houck with two counts of assaulting a reproductive health care clinic escort in violation of the FACE Act, which makes it a federal crime to interfere with someone "because that person is a provider of reproductive health care." Houck's arrest by numerous federal agents made national headlines, but newly unearthed documents undermine some of the FBI's charges against him. Houck was praying near an abortion clinic when Bruce Love, who claims to be a longtime clinic escort, approached him and began behaving "extremely aggressively" and harassing Houck's then-12-year-old son, his attorney, Peter Breen, told the Daily Caller News Foundation; Love was not escorting any patients at the time of the altercation, according to Breen. With New Documents, The Biden Administration's Targeting Of A Pro-Life Dad Just Got Crazier. The private criminal complaint filed by abortion escort Bruce Love and obtained by The Federalist conflicts with the allegations contained in the federal indictment returned against pro-life sidewalk counselor Mark Houck. That fact and an email exchange between Houck's lawyer and the U.S. attorney's office raises significant questions about the Biden administration's decision to charge Houck with purported violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or "FACE Act," and further calls into question the FBI's excessive show of force when arresting Houck. Amid Americans' growing distrust of the FBI, the agency further damaged its reputation when, not quite two weeks ago, some 15 police vehicles and about 20 law enforcement officers, including many with ballistic shields, long guns, and a battering ram at the ready, descended on Houck's home. While the FBI disputed the precise number of agents who swarmed Houck's property and stressed that the officers brandishing the long guns and carrying ballistic shields were not a "SWAT Team" or "SWAT operators," the FBI's overwhelming show of force to arrest the father of seven for allegedly violating the FACE Act brought swift condemnation. Time to Investigate the FBI's Sketchy CHS Program. To the surprise of no one paying attention, the Department of Justice recently acknowledged the use of several FBI informants in its investigation of the Oath Keepers, an alleged militia group tied to the events of January 6. Prosecutors last week asked for a protective order to conceal from jurors information about confidential human sources (CHS) expected to testify during the seditious conspiracy trial of five members of the Oath Keepers; jury selection is now underway. Not only does the government want to prevent defense attorneys from asking personal questions that could reveal the informants' identities but prosecutors don't want the sources to publicly disclose any involvement in past or pending criminal investigations or details of "the FBI's CHS program and the training and methods used by the FBI as part of their undercover operations." That request, of course, is to protect the bureau, not informants, in what appears to be just another corrupt, political, and unaccountable section of the FBI. Durham Prosecutes FBI Informants, While Protecting Their Handlers. Since being named special counsel in October 2020, John Durham has investigated or indicted several unscrupulous anti-Trump informants. But he has spared the FBI agents who handled them, raising suspicions he's letting investigators off the hook in his waning investigation of misconduct in the Russiagate probe. In recent court filings, Durham has portrayed the G-men as naive recipients of bad information, tricked into opening improper investigations targeting Donald Trump and obtaining invalid warrants to spy on one of his advisers. But as the cases against the informants have gone to trial, defense lawyers have revealed evidence that cuts against that narrative. FBI investigators look less like guileless victims and more like willing partners in the fraudulent schemes Durham has brought to light. Notwithstanding his reputation as a tough, intrepid prosecutor, Durham has made excuses for the misconduct of FBI agents, providing them a ready-made defense against any possible future prosecution, according to legal experts. Jim Jordan: FBI Is Engaging in Purge of 'Conservative Employees'. After recent FBI raids on conservative figures, including the former President of the United States, speculation has grown that the agency is in bed with Democrats. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is alleging that the FBI is engaging in the "purge" of Republican employees who hold conservative viewpoints. In the past several weeks, they've raided the home of a former president, taking the phone of a sitting member of Congress, and we saw what they did to the pastor and his family and seven children: 20 agents, guns drawn, going to his house, when the local officials said there was no crime whatsoever," Jordan said, criticizing the FBI. Danchenko as CHS Gets Worse. When did John Durham find out that Danchenko was a paid CHS? Hans raised this point last week, and indications are that it could be fairly recently. Danchenko was a paid CHS it seems through October 2020. John Durham was appointed in April/May 2019, and there is no way he knew before October 2020. The IG Horowitz report came out in December 2019, and they withheld that information about Danchenko from John Durham until at least October 2020. Today, Carter Page had a brilliant filing that shows how bad the FBI corruption really is. Pregnancy center CEO explains how FBI took security footage of firebomb attack, made no arrests, and won't give the footage back. We can't allow people to find out who's behind this left-wing terrorism because it might inspire evil "right-wing" terrorism. That's the line our own FBI is going with in the case of CompassCare Pregnancy Services. Watch Rev. James Harden, the CEO of CompassCare, explain how the FBI is not cooperating with them after his pro-life pregnancy resource center was firebombed by radical pro-abortion terrorists. [Tweet] FBI Whistleblower Comes Forward, Says Bureau Violating Policies in Jan. 6 Investigation. An FBI whistleblower has come forward to say the bureau is violating policies in its investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. The whistleblower raising concerns about how the bureau is handling the Jan. 6 investigation has identified himself as special agent Steve Friend. Friend, based out of Florida since June 2021, said in a declaration made public on Sept. 26 that he was told that child sexual abuse material investigations were "no longer an FBI priority" and should be referred to local officials. He says he was also told that he would be focusing on domestic terrorism investigations. Friend says he observed that FBI policies on case assignments were being violated because the Washington Field Office was enabling field offices around the country to lead investigations on crimes that allegedly took place in Washington on or around Jan. 6, but officials in Washington are actually directing the probes. The situation resulted in active criminal investigations in which Friend is listed as the case agent, but has done no investigative work, according to the declaration. Why The FBI's Raid On A Christian Family Is Its Most Dangerous Abuse Yet. This isn't easy for conservatives to understand. Most of us, by disposition, respect hierarchy. A father at the head of the family, a boss at the head of a company, a president at the head of a country, a pope at the head of a church, and so on. So it's natural for us to imagine that everyone looks at the world this way. That's one reason why when we see some new left-wing front open up in the culture war, we try to find the hidden hand controlling it — the George Soros, or the Michael Bloomberg, or Joe Biden. But most of the time, the left doesn't think this way. More importantly, the left doesn't act this way. This phenomenon of ground-up left-wing governance can be seen all around us. It's happening in corporate America, where far from leading the charge, left-wing CEOs increasingly find themselves held captive to radical employees. It's true in the federal government, too. Pro-Life Group Claims FBI Questioned Volunteer By Planned Parenthood. A pro-life sidewalk counseling group warned members Tuesday that President Joe Biden's Justice Department is determined to intimidate pro-life organizations, claiming that two FBI agents showed up to question a pro-life activist praying outside Planned Parenthood - St. Paul - Vandalia Health Center. In an email obtained by The Daily Signal, Pro-Life Action Ministries Executive Director Brian Gibson put members on high alert about "a new effort by the Biden Justice Department to intimidate us all from the important work we do to save lives." Gibson referenced the FBI's Friday arrest of Mark Houck, a Catholic father and pro-life activist accused of pushing an abortion clinic volunteer in Pennsylvania, though a spokesperson for the family told The Daily Signal that Houck "was defending his son from a man who was verbally abusing his son." Is DeSantis next on the SWAT list? Democrat Bennie Thompson, chairman of the Homeland Security committee, sent a letter to the knucklehead Biden appointed as Secretary of Homeland Security, demanding that the department investigate Republican Governor Ron DeSantis over the deportation of illegal aliens to Martha's Vineyard. This is the latest effort by Democrats to use the Fascist Bureau of Intimidation to criminalize political dissent. They spied on Trump when he was a candidate. They turned a peaceful protest at the National Mall into a Fake Insurrection by opening the heavy Capitol doors to protesters. They confiscated the cellphones of dozens of Trump officials. They SWAT-ed a pro-lifer for a year-old local charge that was dismissed by the courts. And of course, they raided Mar-a-Lago over what amounts to an overdue library book that may not have been the library's to begin with. The excesses of the FBI should force Republicans to end its power to arrest, surveil or execute warrants because the FBI has abused each privilege. The constitutionality of this agency is at best vague. Thompson clearly wants the FBI to SWAT DeSantis. 22 Lawmakers Demand Merrick Garland Explain Alleged FBI SWAT Raid on Catholic Pro-Life Activist Mark Houck. As many as 22 lawmakers have called upon Attorney General Merrick Garland to provide an explanation as to why the FBI allegedly sent 25-30 fully-armed agents to arrest Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck as his "screaming" children watched in horror. Released Tuesday, the open letter spearheaded by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said that the FBI should have an "extraordinary reason" for arresting Houck the way they allegedly did. Pro-Life Activist Arrested in FBI Raid Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Charges. Pro-life activist Mark Houck pleaded not guilty to two counts of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act Tuesday, appearing in court for the first time since FBI agents descended on his home and allegedly took him away in front of his "screaming" children. Houck was taken into custody Friday morning for alleged violations of the FACE Act, stemming from an incident in October 2021, when he pushed a pro-abortion activist outside of an abortion clinic. Houck only pushed the man after he repeatedly used obscene language and invaded his 12-year-old son's personal space, according to Houck's wife. The pro-abortion activist, identified as Bruce Love, pressed charges after the altercation, but the charges were thrown out. The Department of Justice took up the charges again nearly a year later, Fox News reported. Questions Surround FBI Raid Arrest of Pennsylvania Pro-life Father. Serious questions have been raised regarding the arrest last week of a Catholic pro-life speaker as donations continued to pour in for the father of seven. Mark Houck, of Kintnersville, Pennsylvania, was handcuffed by FBI agents on Friday morning and arrested in front of his children. The 48-year-old Houck later was charged with physically assaulting a patient escort at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Philadelphia nearly a year ago, The Epoch Times reported. When Houck's wife, Ryan-Marie, asked the FBI agents whether they had a warrant, she told LifeSiteNews that the agents replied "they were going to take him whether they had a warrant or not." When it comes to the FBI, the hits just keep coming. Jack Cashill wrote about the FBI's over-the-top arrest of Mark Houck, a pro-life activist, who pushed an abortion activist last year because the man was aggressive around Houck's 12-year-old son. The man filed a now-dismissed civil suit, but that wasn't enough for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. It sent around two dozen heavily armed FBI agents to arrest Houck in front of his seven panicked children. When contemplating the FBI's extremism, we've now learned that the alleged victim filed a civil claim only after the Philadelphia police the District Attorney refused to charge Houck. The court dismissed that complaint because he repeatedly failed to show up in court. But there's more. After Houck received a letter telling him the U.S. Attorney was investigating him, the office refused to return his calls: ["]Through his attorney at the time, Houck tried to contact the U.S. Attorney's Office to discuss the case but never received a response, Middleton said.["] The FBI Lied to a Judge So They Could Bust Open Thousands of Safety Deposit Boxes. According to a new report from the LA Times, FBI agents busted into thousands of safety deposit boxes in California. After they rummaged through the private property of innocent people, it turns out they lied to a federal judge to get access to the boxes in the first place. "The privacy invasion was vast when FBI agents drilled and pried their way into 1,400 safe-deposit boxes at the U.S. Private Vaults store in Beverly Hills. They rummaged through personal belongings of a jazz saxophone player, an interior designer, a retired doctor, a flooring contractor, two Century City lawyers and hundreds of others," the LA Times reports. "Agents took photos and videos of pay stubs, password lists, credit cards, a prenuptial agreement, immigration and vaccination records, bank statements, heirlooms and a will, court records show. In one box, agents found cremated human remains." Facebook [is] 'silencing' activity related to FBI whistleblower Steve Friend. More evidence of how vindictive, obsessive and downright sinister Facebook is: Now it appears to be monitoring private messages and suppressing material related to the whistleblower complaint of heroic FBI special agent Steve Friend. After Friend's bombshell revelations last week in a whistleblower complaint to the Department of Justice inspector general, his cause received an avalanche of public and private support, including from former FBI agents and conservative groups. As reported in this column, Friend's complaint alleges that the FBI has been manipulating case-file management in order to falsely inflate the threat of domestic terrorism, and has been using unconstitutional and excessive force in efforts to persecute political opponents of the Biden administration. Friend, a SWAT team member in Florida, was suspended by the FBI last week after refusing to participate in what he regarded as an unnecessarily heavy-handed raid over a January 6 misdemeanor. New Details In The Biden DOJ Targeting Of Pro-Life Activist, Father Of Seven Mark Houck. New details are emerging in the Department of Justice targeting of a pro-life activist and Catholic father of seven who was arrested at his home in Pennsylvania on Friday. Some 25 armed FBI agents in 15 vehicles raided the residence of Mark Houck, who leads a nonprofit group that provides sidewalk counseling at abortion clinics in Philadelphia, over an incident last year involving his then-12-year-old son at a Planned Parenthood abortion facility, the family says. Houck protected his son from an aggressive Planned Parenthood escort harassing the 12-year-old, Pennsylvania pro-life activist Ashley Garecht told The Daily Wire, noting that the case was dismissed by a federal court in Philadelphia when the escort tried to press charges. In raid on home with seven children, FBI again acts dangerously thuggish. If the FBI and the Justice Department want critics to stop portraying the bureau as a menace to society, maybe FBI leaders and agents should stop acting like menaces. Conservative social media is blowing up this weekend about a sickeningly abusive, armed FBI raid on the child-filled home of a pro-life activist in Pennsylvania. And with good reason. Once again, the FBI has gone dangerously overboard with an unnecessary show of force. When faced with orders to participate in such hugely unnecessary armed raids, individual agents should register official protests with their superiors. The time has come to reform the FBI. Friday mornings are usually the cheeriest time of the week, just hours away from the weekend. Alas for pro-life advocate, Mark Houck, and his family, last Friday was anything but joyous. At 7 a.m., the father of seven was awakened by a SWAT team of heavily armed FBI agents. Mark's wife, Ryan-Marie, said she pleaded with the FBI agents to be calm, owing to the presence of the couple's seven young children. Alas, those pleas fell on deaf ears. [...] The FBI agents said they were there to arrest Mark. When Ryan-Marie asked for their warrant, "they said that they were going to take him whether they had a warrant or not." When Ryan-Marie protested, saying: "you can't just come to a person's house and kidnap them at gunpoint," the FBI agreed to get the warrant from one of their vehicles. Did the FBI Finally Go Too Far? On reading about the Saturday arrest of pro-life activist Mark Houck, I thought the author at this alternative site had to be exaggerating. It struck me as beyond belief that two dozen or so armed FBI agents would swarm the house of a Catholic father of seven, rifles drawn, and arrest him in front of his weeping children for anything short of murder. I have had to recalibrate my belief system. The "crime" fell quite a bit short of murder. On October 13, 2021, Houck brought his 12-year-old son with him for his weekly sidewalk counseling outside of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Philadelphia. A volunteer escort at the abortion clinic reportedly called Houck's son a "fag" among other insults and threatened him. Houck pushed the man away from his son, and the man fell. Houck, the founder of an organization that promotes Christian virtue among men, was not charged with a crime. However petty the incident, U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, had Houck seized at gunpoint nearly a year later and bragged about the arrest. FBI Whistleblower: 'Nobody I Know Signed Up' To Investigate Parents Who Vented at Schoolboard Meetings. An FBI whistleblower who was recently suspended said in an interview this week that he became a whistleblower last November because of Attorney General Merrick Garland's email ordering the FBI to use Patriot Act counterterrorism tools to target parents at school board meetings. Special Agent Kyle Seraphin, who was indefinitely suspended on June 1 after nearly six years with the Bureau, said that he was so disturbed by the directive, he went to his congresswoman's office in New Mexico, and made a "protected disclosure." Garland announced the creation of the tag "EDUOFFICIALS" to track school board meeting related threats in an email sent to Justice Department employees in October of 2021. Investigations were opened on parents based on anonymous tips, and agents had to surveil and interview ordinary moms and dads who got caught up in the dragnet. In a two-part interview with conservative radio host Dan Bongino, Seraphin said that most of his colleagues didn't appreciate the political nature of these cases, and just did "cursory investigations" before shutting them down. This should have been done about a month ago: FBI raids home of Catholic pro-life speaker, author with guns drawn as his terrified kids watch. A well-known pro-life author, sidewalk counselor, and father of seven was the latest victim of a U.S. Department of Justice-sponsored SWAT raid and arrest — for supposed "FACE Act" violations — at his rural home as his children looked on "screaming." Mark Houck is the founder and president of The King's Men, which promotes healing for victims of pornography addiction and promotes Christian virtues among men in the United States and Europe. According to his wife Ryan-Marie, who spoke with LifeSiteNews, he also drives two hours south to Philadelphia every Wednesday to sidewalk council for six to eight hours at two different abortion centers. Ryan-Marie, who is a homeschool mother, explained the SWAT team of 25 to 30 FBI agents swarmed their property with around 15 vehicles at 7:05 a.m. this morning. Having quickly surrounded the house with rifles in firing position, "they started pounding on the door and yelling for us to open it." Before opening the door, she explained, her husband tried to calm them, saying, "'Please, I'm going to open the door, but, please, my children are in the home. I have seven babies in the house.' But they just kept pounding and screaming," she said. Child Sex-Abuse Cases No Longer 'Priority' for FBI amid January 6 Investigation, Whistleblower Claims. The FBI is sidelining investigations into child sexual abuse in order to pursue January 6 probes and is inflating the number of "domestic extremism" cases across the country, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee claimed in a letter Monday, citing whistleblowers. The committee's letter was spearheaded by ranking member Jim Jordan, and was addressed to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. It comes on the heels of another committee letter that cited whistleblowers claiming the FBI was "pressuring agents" to label cases as "domestic violent extremism" even when they didn't meet the criteria for the definition. One whistleblower cited in the letter was "told that child sexual abuse material investigations were no longer an FBI priority and should be referred to local law enforcement agencies," due to the bureau's focus on January 6, the letter claimed. [Tweet] Whistleblower Alleges FBI Schemed to Distort January 6 Cases into Nationwide 'Domestic Violent Extremism' Epidemic. A whistleblower has accused the FBI's Washington Field Office of using cases related to the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot to "overstate" the threat of "domestic violent extremism" in America, according to Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). The whistleblower alleged the FBI office did not follow standard investigative practices for the January 6 cases when it moved the cases to various local field offices around the country based on where the case subjects were from, Jordan revealed in a letter addressed to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday [7/19/2022]. FBI labeled veterans group "terror organization" despite knowing they weren't. It seems increasingly likely that there is a core group of agents inside of the FBI that have grown tired of the overt politicization of the Bureau under the leadership of Christopher Wray and the direction of the Biden administration. Another whistleblower has reportedly come forward and presented information to members of Congress about the abuses taking place inside the FBI. Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio (R) received a complaint from someone inside the agency over the FBI's designation of American Contingency, a veteran-led group that assists people in the wake of natural disasters, as being "facilitators of domestic terror." And it was further revealed that the FBI already knew this wasn't true, having previously investigated the group and found them to be on the up and up. Why Is the DOJ Trying to Destroy Mike Lindell, the Pillow Guy? [Scroll down] [Mike] Lindell was tracked down by FBI agents, corralled at a Hardee's of all places, served a subpoena, and ordered to turn over his cell phone. [...] It's impossible to give Merrick Garland's Department of Justice even the slightest benefit of the doubt in this day and age, as they have subpoenaed virtually half the free world and raided former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on a seemingly endless fishing expedition. Pillow Guy's story is equally murky; there are a lot of suspicions and dark insinuations thrown about by the FBI, but little in the way of facts that make you go, "oh man! Lindell really crossed the line on that one!" Without boring the heck out of you, I'll try to sum it up quickly: Lindell has been an outspoken critic of the 2020 presidential election and has regularly said he believes the outcome was fraudulent. This would appear to be his worst crime. But did he breach voting data machines? FOIA Request May Indicate FBI Is Hiding Explosive Epstein Info. The FBI has lost the trust of Americans for quite some time now. Accused of being slaves to the left, the FBI seems to only uncover information when it will benefit Democrats. The Daily Wire reported that a well known internet investigator apparently found evidence that the FBI is hiding bombshell evidence on potentially explosive secret records involving dead sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein. Techno Fog, an anonymous self proclaimed lawyer and writer, alleges that the denial for a recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request means they are hiding something. The FOIA requested all records relating to any interviews the FBI had done with Epstein. "We asked the FBI for the Jeffery Epstein interview transcripts," Techno Fog said in a tweet, adding "the FBI response: providing the Epstein records would interfere with law enforcement proceedings. Either the FBI is lying, or something is up." Is the FBI is hiding embarrassing information about Jeffrey Epstein? For those who like taking Deep Dives into political mysteries and chicanery, the writer who calls himself Techno Fog has always been a good place to start. All we know about him is that he identifies as a lawyer, and his investigatory and analysis skills are often right. Currently, Techno Fog is making FOIA requests to get documents about Jeffrey Epstein. The FBI's initial careful response suggests that it's hiding embarrassing or otherwise compromising information from the American people. If you've just returned from a nice, long vacation to Mars, here's a reminder about Jeffrey Epstein: He's a convicted pedophile who had a private airplane that took him to his private island where he had lots of underage girls to fulfill his sick fantasies, along with help from his procurer and friend, Ghislaine Maxwell. What makes Epstein stand out from other disgusting rich people is that there's every reason to believe that many rich and powerful men took advantage of the girls on his island. Interestingly, the American government has worked very, very hard to keep those men's names hidden. Grassley: Tim Thibault, Who 'Infected Major FBI Investigations,' Isn't Off The Hook Just By Retiring. For months, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has raised legitimate concerns about the FBI's Tim Thibault for his "partisan bias" and stifling of important investigations as assistant special agent in charge. Now Thibault — who announced his retirement from his post two weeks ago amid ongoing scrutiny, specifically about his role in suppressing an investigation into Hunter Biden — has used his attorneys and the corporate media to run a PR campaign defending himself, with his attorneys telling Time magazine that their client "did not supervise the investigation of Hunter Biden" and was "not involved in any decisions related to any laptop that may be at issue in that investigation." Thibault "did not seek to close the investigation," they said, contradicting Republican allegations. But Thibault is not off the hook as far as Grassley is concerned. Trump Allies Who Had FBI Show up on Their Doorsteps or Got Subpoenas Includes Big Name. We covered earlier the bombshell story that dozens of Trump allies reportedly were served with search warrants or subpoenas in the last few days. We included a copy of what they are looking for in at least one of the subpoenas. It was incredibly broad, looking for communications related to certification of the election and the Save America PAC. Now, while we're not sure of the exact number of people, some of the names are starting to come out. [...] We'll doubtless be hearing about more names of the people they raided or dropped subpoenas on. But it looks like just in the case of the Trump raid, a big net was thrown out there trying to find anything they can to go after people on. And it's a very troubling thing when the Biden Administration appears to be going after the allies of his once and possibly future political opponent. Here's Yet Another Reason Why The FBI Should Deeply Concern Americans. The Department of Justice, and in particular, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have come under fire in the last several years for abusing their authority for partisan political gain at the expense of anyone who might oppose some facet of the left-wing agenda. In an unsurprising continuation of that trend, Gun Owners of America (GOA) uncovered another alarming policy that, without the authorization or even knowledge of Congress, was secretly created by the FBI and seeks to employ an internal form to disqualify Americans from exercising their Constitutional right to purchase a firearm. Whistleblowers accuse FBI of breaking security regulations, endangering classified documents. An FBI whistleblower has told the House Judiciary Committee that he witnessed the bureau's deputy director violating security policies and putting classified information at risk. The special agent told lawmakers that Paul Abbate, who oversees all FBI domestic and international investigative and intelligence activities, used his smartphone in an FBI sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, which is a violation of bureau security protocols. Just bringing a phone into the SCIF is a security breach. FBI special agent who opened Trump investigation reportedly escorted out of Bureau. Former FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tim Thibault was reportedly escorted out of the bureau Friday, amid whistleblower allegations that he showed political bias in his handling of politically sensitive investigations. The Washington Times reported eyewitness accounts that "Thibault was seen exiting the bureau's elevator last Friday escorted by two or three 'headquarters-looking types.'" The article appears to have been updated and now states that Thibault "abruptly resigned" but that he was "forced to leave his post" and cites two unnamed former FBI officials. CBS News reported Tuesday that two U.S. officials have confirmed that Thibault resigned and was escorted from the building. "But these officials also said that Thibault had reached retirement age," reported the network's Catherine Herridge, "and they added that all of those who retire hand over their badge and gun and are escorted out of the building." Did FBI agent in Hunter probe retire after whistleblower allegations — or get fired? Do people who retire from the FBI routinely get the Frank Cross/Code 9 treatment from Scrooged? Or did something else happen to Timothy Thibault, the agent handling the Hunter Biden probe accused of manipulating the investigation to benefit Democrats? Sen. Chuck Grassley published whistleblower complaints from inside the FBI about Thibault's actions, leading the bureau to remove him from his assignments over the summer. Last week, they also removed him from the building under escort, CBS News reports this morning. The FBI is characterizing this as a retirement, but [...] Reports, Lead FBI Agent on Hunter Biden Laptop and FBI Trump Targeting Operations, Removed from DC Field Office. According to the Washington Times, and further confirmed by John Solomon via contact with Chuck Grassley, the lead FBI Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge, Tim Thibault, was removed from his position and reportedly escorted out of FBI headquarters on Friday; although his employment status is unknown. FBI Special Agent Tim Thibault is one of the people at the center of FBI whistleblower allegations claiming the agent was politically biased and ideologically motivated in his FBI investigative duties. What Does the FBI Removal of Timothy Thibault Say About the Hunter Biden Investigation? Sometimes a story breaks that is truly surprising in this otherwise highly predictable political environment, and that happened on Monday [8/29/2022]. Reports came out that Timothy Thibault, FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge (that's a mouthful), had been escorted out of FBI headquarters by multiple "official-looking" individuals. Soon enough, it was confirmed that Thibault, who was also part of "election integrity" efforts during the 2020 election, had been removed for showing political bias and attempting to cover up the Hunter Biden laptop story as early as 2019. That was long before the DOJ's 90-day policy prior to an election to not deal with politicized cases kicked in, showing a thought-out effort to protect Joe Biden. Thibault was also involved in opening the current criminal investigation into Donald Trump, which most recently resulted in the FBI raiding the former president's Florida home. FBI Agent Tim Thibault Who Opened Trump Investigation Is Escorted from Headquarters. FBI agent Tim Thibault was escorted from FBI headquarters on Friday [8/26/2022]. He was the mastermind behind the affidavit to raid Mar-a-Lago. He has longtime connections to the Clintons and the Obamas. Thibault was the FBI official who was Assistant Agent in Charge (ASAC) in investigating voter fraud in the 2020 election. Who is FBI Agent Timothy Thibault? Just The News and other media outlets are reporting that Tim Thibault — FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge — was escorted from bureau premises on Friday. According to Ben Whedon of JTN, the reported removal of Thibault comes "amid whistleblower allegations that he showed political bias in his handling of politically sensitive investigations." [...] FBI whistleblowers seem to have fingered Thibault as the partisan hack protecting Hunter. The FBI, we now know, were recently identified by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as the reason Facebook downplayed the laptop story pre-election because the social media company had the impression the laptop story was considered misinformation. But It turns out Thibault has also been involved in some other interesting work on behalf of the agency. Zuckerberg's Admission Of FBI Meddling In 2020 Election Is Even Bigger Than It Seems. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's admission last week that the FBI pushed the social media giant to censor Russian misinformation — and thus the Hunter Biden laptop story, as that's how the agency and Democrats characterized it — shortly before the November 2020 election is but a breadcrumb of a bigger scandal: the widespread interference by the FBI in the 2020 presidential election with the potential that the bureau coordinated its efforts with the Biden campaign. When asked during a Thursday podcast with Joe Rogan how Facebook handles controversial news, such as the Hunter Biden laptop story, Zuckerberg stopped his host to provide a backdrop to Facebook's decision to decrease distribution of the scandal. FBI Reportedly Said to 'Routinely' Work with Social Media Companies to Censor 'Threat Info'. Collusion between government and Big Tech goes deeper than Joe Biden's incompetence. The FBI reportedly responded to the revelation it pressured Facebook to censor during the 2020 election by saying that the agency "routinely" works with social media companies to target "potential threat information." The FBI "cannot ask, or direct, companies to take action on information received," but does coordinate with "social media providers" to moderate content, according to an Aug. 26 FBI statement reported by Reclaim The Net. This revelation comes after multiple efforts by various arms of the Biden administration to increase censorship leading up to the 2022 midterms. The FBI claimed, according to Reclaim The Net, it "routinely notifies U.S. private sector entities, including social media providers, of potential threat information, so that they can decide how to better defend against threats." How many companies is the federal government working with to censor free speech? The FBI: A Campaign Arm of the Democrat Party. When did the FBI, the largest and most heavily armed law enforcement agency in America, now inserting itself unconstitutionally into American politics, pivot from fidelity and integrity to partisanship and dishonesty? Start with the 2016 presidential election. [...] The FBI was in the middle of this true insurrection, meant to derail a presidential campaign, election, transition, and administration with fabricated claims of collusion, lying to Congress and the American people, and then attempting to cover everything up via the Muller/Weissman investigation, including a recent raid on Mar-a-Lago to possibly confiscate incriminating Spygate documents in President Trump's possession. Other Obama administration agencies and officials were also involved but the FBI was in the thick of it, with Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Other familiar names include Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok and his girlfriend FBI attorney Lisa Page. Lots of FBI Officials Work at Jack's Magic Coffee Shop. The suspicions surrounding Jack's Magic Coffee shop are not new. Indeed, the recent whistleblower claims of data insecurity seem to align with the overall theme that U.S. government interest are more than a little deeply involved in the domestic surveillance system known as Twitter specifically, and big social media in general. In the latest datapoint assembly, a solid dive by MintPressNews into the number of former FBI officials working at Twitter, shows just how enmeshed the federal police are with the social media platform. The scale is really quite remarkable. Big picture — the number of FBI officials working for Twitter indicates some strong connective tissue behind both enterprises. FBI Colluded With Big Tech To Prevent Voters From Learning About Hunter Biden's Laptop. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook algorithmically suppressed stories about Hunter Biden's laptop during the 2020 election at the request of the FBI weeks before the November contest. Speaking on Joe Rogan's podcast on Thursday, Zuckerberg said the FBI approached employees at the tech giant to warn that the laptop was a vehicle of Russian interference. "The FBI basically came to us and spoke to some folks on our team and was like, 'Hey, just so you know, you should be on high alert. We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda on the 2016 election. We have it on notice that basically there's about to be some kind of dump similar to that,'" Zuckerberg said. The CEO did not say precisely when the discussion took place. FBI: No, we would never have told Zuckerberg to bury the Hunter laptop story. When Facebook/Meta honcho Mark Zuckerberg went on the Joe Rogan show recently, he created some waves by confirming something most of us were pretty sure of already. In the weeks before the 2020 election, the FBI directly contacted Facebook and told them that the Hunter Biden laptop story was going to drop and that it was "probably Russian disinformation." Of course, the story was 100% real and not disinformation of any sort, but Facebook went ahead and suppressed the New York Post story about it anyway until Joe Biden was safely past the general election. Twitter similarly shut down the story and banned the Post from their platform for weeks. Last night, the FBI finally responded to Zuckerberg's revelation, saying that they would never (perish the thought) engage in any sort of election interference and they "routinely provide foreign threat indicators" to social media platforms. Mark Zuckerberg Admits On Joe Rogan That Facebook Censored The Hunter Laptop Story At The Request Of The FBI. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that before the New York Post broke the Hunter Biden laptop story, the social media giant received a warning from the FBI which prompted Facebook to limit the story's reach on the platform ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The billionaire tech mogul said the FBI approached Facebook and warned it "be vigilant" before the New York Post story on the contents in Joe Biden's son's laptop. [Video clip] FBI whistleblower claims bureau leaders ordered staff NOT to investigate Hunter Biden laptop. The FBI deliberately dragged its feet on the Hunter Biden investigation and told agents not to look into the Hunter Biden laptop, according to new whistleblowers who spoke with Sen. Ron Johnson. Johnson, R-Wisc., sent a letter to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Tuesday bringing forth the new whistleblower claims. 'Recently, my office heard from individuals with knowledge of the FBI's apparent corruption,' Johnson said. 'After the FBI obtained the Hunter Biden laptop from the Wilmington, DE computer shop, these whistleblowers stated that local FBI leadership told employees, "you will not look at that Hunter Biden laptop" and that the FBI is "not going to change the outcome of the election again,"' Johnson wrote to Horowitz. Johnson is demanding Horowitz look into the FBI's handling of the Hunter Biden laptop. FBI affidavit misled a magistrate judge on a search warrant in plot to seize and forfeit contents of safety deposit boxes. In a case with a direct bearing on the search warrant issued on Mar A Lago, the March 22, 2021 FBI raid on a private safe deposit box operator in Beverly Hills, California just got even dodgier, according to court documents released by different federal judge than issued the warrant. You may recall that the FBI raided US Private Vaults in Beverly Hills and seized the contents of boxes of people accused of no crimes. Eric Boehm of Reason reports on the latest revelations that show a pattern of FBI abise of magistrate judges for the purpose of obtaining search warrants that amount to fishing expeditions — a violation of the Fourth Amendment[.] FBI's Latest Announcement About 'Threats' After Raid Raises More Concerns. Raiding the home of a former president was a completely unprecedented act in an already charged political environment. What the FBI should be doing is being extremely transparent to explain themselves to bring down the temperature. But they're not doing that. It's a real problem when people doubt the objectivity of the FBI. It's been going on for a long time, since at least 2016 when they gave Hillary Clinton a pass for something that seems to have far exceeded anything Donald Trump is even alleged to have done. Then there's the whole Russia probe to begin with, with things like FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith giving a false statement to a FISA court judge to get a warrant against the Trump team. Even before the raid on Trump, members of Congress were receiving reports from whistleblowers about the FBI padding domestic extremism statistics. They're also looking into the politicization of the bureau. We've even seen the FBI demonizing things like the Gadsden flag, the Betsy Ross flag, and the Gonzales flag as signs of "extremism." These are normal patriotic American symbols. FBI reportedly delivers subpoenas related to 2020 electors to Republican Pennsylvanian lawmakers. The FBI reportedly delivered subpoenas related to the controversy surrounding alternate electors in the 2020 election to several Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania on Wednesday [8/10/2022]. The action comes after the FBI served a search warrant at the Mar-a-Lago residence of former President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, prompting his supporters to accuse the Bureau of being politically motivated. Various sources spoke to Pennlive about the FBI delivering subpoenas or speaking with Pennsylvania Republicans as a part of the investigation into the effort to send alternate electors to the U.S. Capitol to elect Trump rather than President Joe Biden. Some of the lawmakers who received subpoenas were told they were not themselves the subject of the investigation, the sources told Pennlive. FBI Doubles Down: Key GOP Congressman's Phone Seized. One day after the FBI raided former President Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago, agents confronted U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) and seized his cell phone while the congressman was at an airport with his family. Three FBI agents approached Perry, handed over a warrant for his cell phone, and then seized the mobile device — apparently without previously trying to contact his attorney. In a statement, Perry slammed the seizure and the Biden administration's politicization of the Justice Department. "This morning, while traveling with my family, 3 FBI agents visited me and seized my cell phone," Perry recounted. "They made no attempt to contact my lawyer, who would have made arrangements for them to have my phone if that was their wish." Leftists Dominate FBI Top 10 Domestic Terror List, Despite Warnings About Far Right. The FBI has sounded the alarm about white supremacists and far-right extremists, but the bureau's own Top 10 "most wanted domestic terrorists" list includes at least two Communists, three black nationalists, one anti-war activist, and a vegan eco-terrorist. While the diverse roster doesn't purport to capture the breadth of domestic terror, it seems at odds with federal law enforcement's claims that white supremacists pose the biggest threat facing the nation. Some skeptics are accusing the bureau of exaggerating the threat by adopting a misleading definition of such ideologies. Huge Cover Up! FBI is Hiding Video Footage of the Supposed 'Jan 6th Pipe Bomber'. This video shows that the FBI is blatantly hiding information that may reveal the identity of the person who supposedly planted several pipe bombs around government buildings on Jan 6th. Could it be that the individual is yet another corrupt FBI member who helped orchestrate what many are calling the biggest scandal in US history? We now know with 100% certainty that the story the FBI claimed is completely untrue. We now know that their own agents were behind several plots to make Trump supporters look bad, including Jan 6th and the Gov. Whitmer kidnapping plot that was apparently entirely crafted by the FBI. Release the Tape: Revolver Has Definitive Proof FBI Is Hiding Critical Footage of Jan 6 "Pipe Bomber". An exclusive analysis by Revolver News can prove that the FBI is in possession of, but has refused to release, security camera footage of the January 6 pipe bomber planting the pipe bomb at the DNC building at 7:52 p.m. on January 5th. This extraordinary revelation should be the immediate subject of Congressional inquiry as to why the FBI has stonewalled release of the footage. [Video clip]
FBI Whistleblower Leaks Bureau's 'Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide' on 'Militia Violent Extremists' Citing Ashli Babbitt as MVE Martyr. Project Veritas released a newly leaked document today provided by an FBI whistleblower, which shows how the Bureau classifies American citizens it deems to be potential "Militia Violent Extremists" [MVEs]. In the document, the FBI cites symbols, images, phrases, events, and individuals that agents should look out for when identifying alleged domestic terrorists. The "Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive" document says it is for "FBI Internal Use Only." Of note, under the "Symbols" section, is a prominent citation of the Second Amendment, where it explains that "MVEs justify their existence with the Second Amendment, due to the mention of a 'well regulated Militia,' as well as the right to bear arms." Right below that, under the "Commonly Referenced Historical Imagery and Quotes" section, Revolutionary War images such as the Gadsden Flag and the Betsy Ross Flag are listed. Each flag displayed in the document comes with a brief description of what it means. The FBI classes constitutional American values and images as violent extremism. Yesterday [8/2/2022], Project Veritas published a leaked internal FBI document in which the FBI sets out the hallmarks of suspected "militia violent extremists." Unsurprisingly, in Joe Biden's America, those indicia significantly overlap with broadly-held, longstanding conservative values. All FBI Agents Must Blow Their Whistles Or They'll Be Complicit In Bureau's Politicization. Sen. Chuck Grassley's office confirmed to The Federalist that the multiple FBI whistleblowers charging misconduct related to the Hunter Biden investigation only came forward in the last two months. While the existence of these new whistleblowers proves promising, other FBI agents with knowledge of misconduct or political bias must stop hiding behind the chain of command and start blowing their own whistles. "Multiple FBI whistleblowers, including those in senior positions" informed the Iowa Republican senator that "Washington Field Office assistant special agent in charge Timothy Thibault and other FBI officials ... 'falsely portray[ed] as disinformation evidence acquired from multiple sources that provided the FBI derogatory information related to Hunter Biden's financial and foreign business activities, even though some of that information had already been or could be verified.'" The whistleblowers further charged that "in August of 2020, FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment, which was used by a team of agents at FBI headquarters to improperly discredit and falsely claim that derogatory information about Biden's activities was disinformation, causing investigative activity and sourcing to be shut down." Turns out it's not just the Secret Service's text messages from January 6 that have gone missing. The further this story develops, the more suspicious the actions of DHS's own inspector general get. The IG is supposed to be the "internal affairs" wing of a federal agency, charged with investigating possible malfeasance by department personnel — like, say, the mysterious deletion of text messages before and during the attack on the Capitol despite multiple warnings that those records should be preserved. The IG investigating the Secret Service's missing text messages is Joseph Cuffari, who serves under Biden but was appointed by Trump. Last week news broke that his office knew back in February that the Secret Service had purged certain agents' text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, supposedly due to a mix-up when the agents' old phones were replaced with new ones. But Cuffari didn't tell Congress until earlier this month. Nor did he follow through on issuing a public warning last fall that the Service was delaying production of the records despite having considered it at the time.
Defund the FBI. Was anyone really surprised when Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced that "highly credible" whistleblowers had given him information about FBI efforts to make the Hunter Biden scandal go away? Grassley wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland Monday that "the information provided to my office involves concerns about the FBI's receipt and use of derogatory information relating to Hunter Biden, and the FBI's false portrayal of acquired evidence as disinformation. The volume and consistency of these allegations substantiate their credibility and necessitate this letter." Will anyone hail me as a prognosticator of extraordinary powers when I predict, correctly, that in response to this letter, Wray and Garland will do absolutely nothing, except possibly to cover their tracks more effectively? No, because anyone who has been paying attention can see that. The FBI has become a cancer on the American body politic. The FBI must go. Jim Jordan says new whistleblower disclosures reveal 'scandalous' push by FBI to pad domestic terrorism data. The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee says new whistleblower disclosures allege FBI officials are pressuring agents to "reclassify" cases as "domestic violent extremism" in order to appease the Biden administration's push to focus on these cases. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray Wednesday after he says "brave whistleblowers" came forward with information about "disturbing conduct" at the agency. "From recent protected disclosures, we have learned that FBI officials are pressuring agents to reclassify cases as 'domestic violent extremism' even if the cases do not meet the criteria for such a classification," writes Jordan. "Given the narrative pushed by the Biden administration that domestic violent extremism is the 'greatest threat' facing our country, revelation that the FBI may be artificially padding domestic terrorism data is scandalous." Senator Chuck Grassley Outlines "Systemic Institutional Corruption" Within Dept of Justice and FBI. Yesterday, Senator Chuck Grassley sent a letter [pdf HERE] to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray, notifying them of whistleblower allegations from within the FBI that senior leadership in both Main Justice and FBI are involved in a coordinated effort to cover-up criminal activity related to Hunter Biden. The whistleblower allegations, in combination with the documented history of DOJ and FBI misconduct, culminate in Senator Grassley stating: "If these allegations are true and accurate, the Justice Department and FBI are — and have been — institutionally corrupted to their very core to the point in which the United States Congress and the American people will have no confidence in the equal application of the law. Attorney General Garland and Director Wray, simply put, based on the allegations that I've received from numerous whistleblowers, you have systemic and existential problems within your agencies." Whistleblower allegations raise prospect FBI misled Senate's Hunter Biden probe, Ron Johnson says. ecent revelations from FBI whistleblowers raise the strong prospect that the bureau engaged in a "targeted effort to intentionally undermine" the Senate's pre-election probe into Hunter Biden's business deals, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) declares in a stinging letter to the nation's top law enforcement and intelligence officials. "Unfortunately, the FBI can no longer be trusted to investigate Hunter Biden with integrity and the equal application of law," Johnson said in a letter sent late Tuesday to FBI Director Chris Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. Johnson's missive came a day after his colleague, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, divulged that multiple FBI whistleblowers have come forward to allege political manipulation and other wrongdoing inside the FBI, including falsely portraying negative information about Hunter Biden as disinformation back in 2020 when in fact it was true. FBI Agent Who Failed To Vet Steele Dossier Is Named As One Who Helped Paint Hunter Biden Exploits As 'Disinformation'. An FBI agent involved in the Russia collusion hoax weaponized against former President Donald Trump is the same one now implicated by whistleblowers in using his position to discredit evidence related to Hunter Biden's foreign entanglements right before the 2020 election, Chuck Ross with The Washington Free Beacon reports. Ross notes that the whistleblowers who reached out to GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley about the FBI's suppression of the Hunter Biden investigation identified intelligence analyst Brian Auten as the man responsible for constructing an FBI report in August 2020, which the whistleblowers say the FBI used as a "scheme ... to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation." Grassley issued a letter last week to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray regarding the reports he had received from numerous whistleblowers that high-ranking members of the FBI had acted with partisan bias and politicized their investigations. FBI Whistleblowers Allege FBI Scheme to Protect Hunter Biden and Joe Biden. Yesterday [7/25/2022], Senator Chuck Grassley sent [a] letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray regarding allegations from "highly credible whistleblowers" about the FBI's "false portrayal" of derogatory Hunter Biden materials as "disinformation." If these allegations are true, it's a damning depiction of FBI leadership and it proves their efforts to influence the 2020 election. This is the second (if not third) straight election the FBI has meddled in, given the influence the Trump/Russia investigation — and its unlawful origins with the FBI — had over the 2018 midterms. Grassley's whistleblowers allege that in August 2020, FBI Headquarters "improperly discredit[ed] negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation and caused investigative activity to cease." In fact, it was a scheme of top FBI officials. As Grassley explains: "the allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation." The context and timing is important, as this was leading up to the 2020 election. Who benefited from this scheme? Democrat candidate Joe Biden. FBI whistleblowers claim the agency lied about Hunter Biden's laptop. In late summer 2020, the mother of all October surprises emerged: An abandoned Hunter Biden laptop filled to the brim with information about Hunter's drug and sex addictions (scurrilous but arguably irrelevant to Joe) plus massive amounts of information about Hunter's shady business deals with America's geopolitical enemies, all of which he obtained thanks to the Biden family business (aka Joe Biden using his office to sell out America). The tech companies immediately censored the story but, even more tellingly, the FBI claimed that the manifestly real material was, in fact, "disinformation." Now, though, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says that FBI whistleblowers have emerged to say that the FBI lied. The Editor says... Meet the FBI Analyst Behind The Decade's Biggest Political Disinformation Campaigns. An intelligence analyst behind the FBI's botched Trump-Russia collusion probe is now accused of using the bureau's authority to discredit reports about Hunter Biden's criminal activity months before the 2020 presidential election. Meet Brian Auten. The FBI analyst is hardly a household name, but whistleblowers who contacted the office of GOP senator Chuck Grassley say he was behind an August 2020 report that FBI officials used as part of a "scheme... to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation." Auten's report also caused the FBI "to cease" investigative activity into the younger Biden, according to a letter Grassley sent the Justice Department and FBI. The whistleblower allegations are the latest evidence of politicization at the FBI. Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the allegations, if accurate, show the FBI and Justice Department are "institutionally corrupted to their very core." FBI, DOJ accused of burying Hunter Biden dirt: Sen. Chuck Grassley. The FBI and Justice Department have been accused by "highly-credible whistleblowers" of burying "verified and verifiable" dirt on President Biden's troubled son Hunter by incorrectly dismissing the intelligence as "disinformation," according to Sen. Chuck Grassley. The ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee made the explosive claims Monday in an official Senate letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland. He insisted the allegations were so serious they would prove — if confirmed — that both offices were "institutionally corrupted to their very core." Senator Grassley sent a letter today. [Thread reader] ... describing the sordid operations of people at FBI HQ, in which the Hunter Biden foreign influence peddling case was closed in the fall of 2020, based on an assessment by Brian Austen that the case was the product of foreign disinformation. Grassley claims that whistleblowers have come to him with evidence of political corruption at high levels in the FBI, designed to coverup Hunter's crimes, close the investigation, and leak to the press everything was Russian disinformation. The disinformation narrative began in July, when Congressional Democratic leaders Schumer, Pelosi and Schiff briefed Grassley and Johnson on information the Dems had showing Russia was trying to manipulate the Republican senators — and them promptly leaked to the press. FBI played the same game of briefing the senators with supposedly classified information, then leaking it all to the press. Austen is a name familiar to those who closely followed Russiagate. So far only one FBI employee has been brought to justice for that. It appears the corrupt seventh floor has learned but one lesson from Durham's probe: They can get away with it. GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley alleges 'scheme' among FBI officials to bury negative information about Hunter Biden. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley is holding the FBI and Justice Department's feet to the fire on Hunter Biden, demanding the agencies answer claims from a whistleblower they downplayed negative information on Hunter Biden in the lead up to the 2020 election. Grassley revealed on Monday [7/25/2022] that 'highly credible' whistleblowers have come forward alleging a widespread effort within the FBI to discredit negative information about President Joe Biden's son. 'The information provided to my office involves concerns about the FBI's receipt and use of derogatory information relating to Hunter Biden, and the FBI's false portrayal of acquired evidence as disinformation,' Grassley wrote FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Who Will They Get to Do the Tyrants' Dirty Work? We have seen the systematic weaponization of law enforcement against normal people under the Biden dorktatorship. The FBI has become the personal Stasi of the Democrats, seizing elderly men with SWAT teams, while the DOJ has been selectively prosecuting conservatives, or those believed to be conservative-aligned, but giving a pass to those terrorists, rioters, and scumbags aligned with the trash donkey political party. [...] The FBI is not Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., chasing bank robbers, mob bosses, and commies but, rather, that satanic-looking Peter Strzok weirdo trying to frame the enemies of Hillary. Who Are the Real Insurrectionists? In the fashion of the former East German Stasi, the FBI hounds political opponents on the Right by surveilling parents at school board meetings, sending a SWAT team to arrest a flamboyant Trump supporter Roger Stone, arriving at the house of journalist James O'Keefe in the deep of night to confiscate his files and devices, and putting former White House advisor Peter Navarro in veritable shackles. The common denominator is the FBI devolving into a retrieval service for the Biden family syndicate, whether by putting on ice Hunter Biden's incriminating laptop or hounding out Ashley Biden's lurid diary or intimidating Biden critics. Yet when asked to produce relevant cell phones of possibly wayward agents, the FBI claims that such data was erased, shrugs, and does not comply. Apparently, the FBI leadership fears the progressive Washington political-bureaucratic-media nexus far more than it fears the consequences of violating the law it is sworn to uphold. Biden Has Weaponized the FBI and DOJ Against His Political Opponents — The GOP Needs To End It. On June 23, federal agents stormed the Virginia home of former Department of Justice official and legal scholar Jeffrey Clark in the early morning hours, searching his house and seizing multiple electronic devices in the process. And on June 27, news broke of the FBI executing a search warrant on June 22 against legal scholar and professor John Eastman for his role in advising the Trump administration on legally contesting the 2020 presidential elections. (Eastman has filed a motion for return of property, claiming that the federal agent refused to show him their search warrant before seizing his cell phone, as required by the law.) Clark and Eastman, like tens of millions of other Americans, wanted to determine if voter irregularities may have played a role in the 2020 presidential election. Clark, as a member of the Justice Department, and Eastman as a Trump advisor, explored legal remedies that involved fielding alternate electors in states with contested elections. That they should or should not have done this is open to opinion, but it was not at all illegal. FBI Ambushes Trump Election Lawyer John Eastman as He's Exiting Restaurant with His Wife, Seizes His Phone. The January 6 Committee sent the feds after Trump lawyer John Eastman because he dared to take action against the Democrats and their massive election fraud operation in 2020. Trump's election lawyer John Eastman said the FBI searched and seized his phone last week, according to a new court filing. Eastman filed a federal lawsuit in New Mexico on Monday and asked a judge to order the feds to return his property and block the January 6 investigators from accessing his phone. According to the court filing, John Eastman was exiting a restaurant with his wife and friend last week when FBI agents ambushed him and "forced" him to unlock his phone. Revived by appeals court, lawsuit against FBI informant illuminates Russia probe's weakness. A federal appeals court has breathed new life into a lawsuit brought by a London-based academic against one of the FBI's confidential informants during the Russia collusion probe, litigation that is likely to focus new attention on the quality of evidence that led the bureau to investigate former President Donald Trump and his cohorts during the 2016 election. There has been a flurry of new legal activity this month in Svetlana Lokhova's lawsuit in federal court in Virginia against former FBI confidential human source Stefan Halper since the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema abused her authority in dismissing the lawsuit a year ago. "We conclude that the court could not have properly concluded that Lokhova's complaint ... had absolutely no chance of success," the appeals court ruled in April in a unanimous 3-0 decision that reversed Brinkema's dismissal of the case and her order of a penalty against Lokhova for filing an allegedly frivolous lawsuit. Chuck Grassley slams Justice Department for not prosecuting employees for lying. Ranking Senate Judiciary Committee member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) slammed the Department of Justice on Monday for "repeated failure to prosecute employees" who were caught lying during internal investigations. "An unsettling pattern has emerged from the Department of Justice (DOJ) whereby criminal referrals by the Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General (OIG), against DOJ employees for making materially false statements are rarely prosecuted," Grassley wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Grassley said the "most shocking example of this pattern" occurred last month after the DOJ declined to bring charges against the former FBI agents who botched the investigation of Dr. Larry Nassar, the former U.S. women's national gymnastics team physician who was sentenced to prison for assaulting gymnasts. The Iowa Republican listed a dozen other cases in which the United States Attorney's Office declined to prosecute staffers. FBI Raids Target Democrats' Political Foes Instead Of True Criminals. The only apparent criterion the FBI needs to raid the homes of American citizens is that those citizens have ever supported former President Donald Trump. Here are the names of some of the political leaders on the right that the FBI has targeted: Roger Stone, Rudy Giuliani, James O'Keefe, and Jeff Clark. The FBI is now also engaging in raids on private homes of elderly Americans who peacefully attended the Capitol protest on Jan. 6, 2020. Compare this treatment to that of actual criminals affiliated with Democrats, such as Hunter Biden, Andy McCabe, Peter Strzok, and Michael Sussmann. The latter have seen no personal visit from the FBI since their crimes were committed or exposed. Feds Raid the Home of Former Trump DOJ Official Who Wanted to Investigate Allegations of Voter Fraud. In a pre-dawn raid Wednesday, armed federal law enforcement agents searched the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump Justice Department official who has emerged as a central figure in the partisan House Select Committee's investigation into the January 6 riot. Clark's name was expected to come up in the Jan. 6 Committee hearing on Thursday. He served as acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Division during President Trump's final months in office, where he was the only official willing to investigate credible allegations of fraud. In a tweet back in March, Clark explained why he has been targeted by the regime. "I'm a former Trump DOJ official who (like you) was concerned about the 2020 election," he explained. "Now I'm one of the top targets of the politically motivated J6 Committee." FBI Raids Home of Retired Texas Couple Who Attended Jan. 6 Capitol Rally. A retired Texas couple said FBI agents on June 22 broke through the gate of their rural home, threw flash-bangs, handcuffed them, and trained lasers on them before searching their home for evidence connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol. Lora DeWolfe and Darrel Kennemer, who live on seven acres near San Marcos, Texas, told The Epoch Times they attended the Jan. 6 rally at the Capitol but did nothing wrong. They believe the FBI mistakenly identified Kennemer as someone else. The FBI didn't arrest them, they said. Agents eventually produced a search warrant saying Kennemer was suspected of "assaulting, resisting or impeding" officers and "entering restricted building or grounds." Both said they went no farther than the Capitol steps on Jan. 6 and didn't harm anyone or damage anything. Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark tells Tucker Carlson that FBI raid on his house over efforts to overturn 2020 election was 'Stasi-like'. Former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark, who tried to help President Donald Trump overturn his 2020 election loss, had his house searched by U.S. law enforcement agents on Wednesday, an experience which he has described as 'Stasi-like.' In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, Clark shared his dismay at what he had been subjected to as he was forced to stand outside his home in his pajamas while a search by armed federal agents took place. He said: 'There was loud banging outside my door. I quickly figured out there were agents there. I asked for the courtesy to put some pants on and was told 'no'. 'They swept the house. Twelve agents and two police Fairfax County Police Officers searched it for more than three hours. Joe Biden's Weaponized FBI Seizes Phone of Nevada GOP Leader in Ridiculous Move. The weaponization of the FBI continues after what some would describe as Joe Biden's personal police force seized the phone of a Nevada GOP leader on Wednesday. That report comes via 8 News Now, a local station in the state. Per their sources, the FBI served a search warrant on Michael McDonald, the Republican chairman in Nevada. They seized his phone in relation to an "investigation" into the so-called "fake electors" scheme propagated after the 2020 election. Five Reasons to Impeach Joe Biden. [#4] Biden is directing the enforcement branches of the federal government against his political enemies. Biden believes that "domestic political extremism" is "the most urgent terrorism threat" facing the U.S. "The Biden administration declared that the 'most lethal elements' of today's domestic terror threat are political conservatives," said Tucker Carlson. Biden has compared Americans who disagree with him — at least half the country — to racists and terrorists. Consequently, Biden is empowering the DoJ and FBI to go after Republicans. "The FBI is now an organization solely focused on destroying the domestic enemies of the Democratic Party," said talk show host Jesse Kelly. Biden is also enlisting the media in his war against political opponents. "What Joe Biden is telling media companies to do today is to censor their content so it doesn't contradict his decrees," said Tucker Carlson. "[Biden is calling for] censorship of political opinions. What you're seeing here is far more dangerous than the domestic terror threat they've been bloviating about. It contravenes the First Amendment." Florida woman who found Ashley Biden's diary in 'halfway house' is under FBI investigation for selling the journal. A Florida woman who found Ashley Biden's private diary is being investigated by the FBI — not for stealing the journal but for selling it, DailyMail.com has learned. The diary's explosive contents include Ashley's speculation that showering with her father, then-Senator Joe Biden, as a young girl may have contributed to her sex addiction. FBI official had unauthorized contacts with reporters for years: DOJ watchdog. A top FBI national security official involved in Crossfire Hurricane had dozens of unauthorized contacts with the media over several years, the Department of Justice's watchdog concluded. Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz's office concluded in a newly released investigative report that retired FBI official Michael Steinbach violated numerous bureau rules through his meetings and communications with reporters, though prosecution against him was declined by DOJ. Steinbach had been executive assistant director of the FBI's national security branch until his retirement in February 2017 and played a role in the FBI's flawed Trump-Russia investigation. Never Forget — FBI Admitted to Running Operatives in the Crowd at the US Capitol — It was a Setup. The FBI admitted in September 2021 to The New York Times that they had informants and operatives inside groups attending the January 6 rallies in Washington DC. This never made it into the January 6 Committee's public show trial of President Trump and his MAGA movement last Thursday night. The FBI finally admitted they infiltrated the Jan. 6 rallies with informants. In fact, one of the first "protesters" inside the US Capitol was an FBI informant. Where's Ray Epps? Since 1987, some of us have spent leisure time asking, "Where's Waldo?" looking for him in crowded cartoons clad in his red and white striped shirt. It passes the time and stimulates the mind. Since January 6, 2021, others have asked, "Where's Ray Epps?" Asking, "Where's Waldo?" is harmless enough. Asking, "Where's Ray Epps?" might get you the kind of attention no one wants in this post-911 emerging police-state we still call America. Still, lots of questions are popping up about Ray Epps. [...] In one video of Ray Epps taken on the evening of January 5, 2021, Ray is seen wearing a red MAGA baseball cap and exhorting protestors to "Go into the Capitol." During the span of Jan 5-6, 2021, Epps can be seen in several locations between the White House and the Capitol, urging people to enter the People's House. Like the imaginary Waldo, Ray Epps shows up doing his old man impersonation of Ethan Hunt on a Mission Impossible episode. Like the fictional Ethan Hunt, the Agency (FBI and DOJ) has disavowed any knowledge or connection with Ray Epps. For some time, a picture of Epps appeared on an FBI website soliciting information about those who entered the Capitol on January 6th. That picture went up in a puff of smoke and, now, the FBI refuses to answer questions about him. The FBI knew RussiaGate was a lie — but hid that truth. Declassified for Durham's probe, a March 2017 memo prepared by Lisa Page for FBI head James Comey's meeting with Congress' "Gang of Eight" — the bipartisan House and Senate leaders who oversee the most classified stuff — was a total cook-up job. It advised Comey to present accusations that Trump's campaign chair Paul Manafort and foreign policy adviser Carter Page were working with the Russian government as coming from a confidential Russia-based source with real intel-community chops. In fact, the FBI had already established that the root source was US-based former Brookings flunky Igor Danchenko's utterly speculative gossip with an ex-girlfriend and a Democratic Party hack. That, plus publicly reported info, was all Christopher Steele (a retired British spy who doesn't even speak Russian) ever had to back up his "dossier." And the FBI knew it since at least January 2017, when it interviewed Danchenko. FBI goes full Gestapo, raids home of leading GOP gubernatorial challenger to Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer. While the FBI demonstrated oppressive, tyrannical behavior throughout the so-called "war on terror," since it was occurring in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, most Americans either didn't notice or did not mind. After all, the bureau was meting out the 'revenge' we all sought against Islamic terrorists who killed thousands of our countrymen, attacked our seat of government, and destroyed an iconic symbol of our economic might. But the FBI did not stop with entrapping alleged Islamic 'terrorists,' the bureau veered into full-bore corruption and today has become the modern-day equivalent of Nazi Germany's Gestapo or Soviet East Germany's Stasi secret police — behaving more as political enforcers for the left-wing deep state. Pipe bomber remains unidentified as Democrat-led Capitol riot committee begins public hearings. As the Democrat-led committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 begins its public hearings, the person who planted pipe bombs the night before outside both the Republican and Democratic national committee headquarters in Washington remains unknown and at large. Now, almost a year and a half since the incident, the Washington Examiner learned that a top FBI official said last month that the bureau could not provide any information about the possible use of confidential human sources to solve the case. The FBI official said the bureau had carried out over 1,000 interviews, compiled just under 40,000 videos, and analyzed roughly 450 tips. The bureau also said solving the mystery continues to be a top priority for the FBI, as well as for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, and the Capitol Police. The Editor says... Biden's G-men go rogue. The Biden Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, will not be prosecuting lawbreakers within its ranks. The Inspector General (IG) for the Department of Justice (DOJ) released its semiannual report to Congress of cases for which the IG recommends prosecutions. But in case after case, the DOJ is declining to prosecute its own. The one notable exception is Bureau of Prisons (BOP) personnel, who still have reason to fear repercussions if they break the law. But if you are in the FBI or DEA, you can be virtually assured you will not be prosecuted, based on the long list of cases DOJ has declined to prosecute. Apparently, if you work for the right agency, anything goes. The Sovietization of American Life. Experts become sycophantic. They mortgage their experience and talent to ideology — to the point where society itself regresses. The law is no longer blind and disinterested, but adjudicates indictment, prosecution, verdict, and punishment on the ideology of the accused. Eric Holder is held in contempt of Congress and smiles; Peter Navarro is held in contempt of Congress and is hauled off in cuffs and leg-irons. James Clapper and John Brennan lied under oath to Congress — and were rewarded with television contracts; Roger Stone did the same and a SWAT team showed up at his home. Andrew McCabe made false statements to federal investigators and was exempt. A set-up George Papadopoulos went to prison for a similar charge. So goes the new American commissariat. Hillary's Attorney 'Operated' an FBI Office at Law Firm, But Wait, It Gets Worse. Do you ever get the feeling that we're playing checkers while our enemies are playing chess? That things are not as they seem? That's the way it feels in the story of Spygate, the Trump-Russia collusion lie, FBI corruption, and the latest chapter of that entire sad and duplicitous saga that was lived out in a D.C. courtroom this week. Hillary Clinton and Democratic National Committee attorney Michael Sussmann was acquitted by a jury whose forewoman said she felt the special counsel team led by John Durham should have better things to do than investigate a lawyer supposedly lying to the FBI about the president being a Russian spy. Gaetz, Jordan give Chris Wray deadline to explain 'special portal' to FBI from top Democrat law firm. U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) insist that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has some explaining to do. "We have learned that since March 2012, the FBI approved and facilitated a Secure Work Environment at Perkins Coie's Washington, D.C. office, which continues to be operational," the ultra-MAGA duo reportedly wrote to the FBI. "In a letter dated May 25, 2022, the law firm confirmed and acknowledged the arrangement." Perkins Coie is the Democrat-connected law firm where Michael Sussmann, the Hillary Clinton campaign attorney who was found not guilty on Tuesday of lying to the FBI by a liberal D.C. federal jury, was a former partner, in a case filed by Russiagate Special Counsel John Durham. FBI Altered Statement on Intrusion Into Democrat Network Based on Input From Democrat Lawyer. A lawyer representing Democrats proposed alterations to an FBI statement on the hacking of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to avoid undermining the narrative from his clients, according to emails released as part of the trial of former Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann. FBI officials in mid-2016 were drafting a statement regarding an alleged intrusion into the (DCCC) network and sent the draft to Sussmann, a lawyer representing the DCCC, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and other Democrats. "Michael — our press office is once again getting a ton of calls on the DCCC matter. A draft response is provided below. Wanted to get your thoughts on this prior to sending out," Jim Trainor, assistant director for the FBI Cyber Division, wrote to Sussmann on July 29, 2016. Sussmann zeroed in on the first sentence, which he said seemed to undermine what the DCCC was saying about the reported intrusion. Report: FBI Has Maintained 'Secure Workspace' Inside Dem Law Firm Perkins Coie Since 2012. In response to a letter sent by Reps Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Perkins Coie, the legal arm of the Democrat party, admitted this week that "the FBI has maintained a secure work environment within Perkins Coie offices" since 2012. A jury of Democrat donors in Washington D.C. on Tuesday found Michael Sussmann, a former law partner at Perkins Coie, not guilty of making a false statement to the FBI in September 2016 when he told the feds that he was not working on behalf of any client. Perkins Coie told the Republicans in the letter that "the FBI is responsible for maintaining a secure work environment," Fox News Host Tucker Carlson reported Tuesday night. "That work space — whatever it is — is still in operation today," Carlson added. The Special Counsel Proved The FBI Belongs To The Swamp. Yesterday, after less than one full day of deliberations, a D.C. jury stacked with pro-Hillary Clinton jurors acquitted former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann, proving the FBI is not "ours" but the swamp's. Just more than two weeks ago, prosecutor Brittain Shaw began opening statements in United States v. Sussmann, by stating the obvious: "Some people have very strong feelings about politics and about Russia, and many people have strong feelings about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton." "But we are not here because these allegations involve either of them," Shaw continued. "Nor are we here because the defendant's client was the Clinton campaign." Rather, "we are here because the FBI is our institution that should not be used as a political tool for anyone; not Republicans, not Democrats, not anyone." FBI records on search for fabled gold raise more questions. A scientific analysis commissioned by the FBI shortly before agents went digging for buried treasure suggested that a huge quantity of gold could be below the surface, according to newly released government documents and photos that deepen the mystery of the 2018 excavation in remote western Pennsylvania. The report, by a geophysicist who performed microgravity testing at the site, hinted at an underground object with a mass of up to 9 tons and a density consistent with gold. The FBI used the consultant's work to obtain a warrant to seize the gold — if there was any to be found. The government has long claimed its dig was a bust. But a father-son pair of treasure hunters who spent years hunting for the fabled Civil War-era gold — and who led agents to the woodland site, hoping for a finder's fee — suspect the FBI double-crossed them and made off with a cache that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Was the Buffalo shooter groomed by the FBI to commit mass murder? The FBI's fingerprints are all over the Buffalo mass shooting. A local news report from the Buffalo News has linked a retired federal agent to the shooting because he apparently knew about it at least 30 minutes before it occurred. The former agent, believed to be from Texas, is said to be under investigation for direct communications he had previously had with Payton Gendron, the alleged shooter. The former agent, along with at least six other individuals, engaged with Gendron in an online chat room "where racist hatred was discussed," the Buffalo News reported. Two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation were supposedly petitioned by Gendron to read about his mass shooting plans (why do these alleged shooters always seem to have full-length manifestos outlining in detail their future crimes?). It is unclear at this point whether or not the retired agent accepted the invitation. What we are being told is that law enforcement is once again involved, which points to this potentially being yet another government false flag attack with suspicious roots. Why Was A "Retired" FBI Agent Talking Online With The Buffalo Shooter? What's an FBI agent doing on Discord chatting with a mass shooter during his retirement? Is that how you would spend your time during your golden years? What's even more incredible is that the FBI agent did not call the FBI to warn anyone about the planned shooting. A Cabinency of Dunces. In the days before the recent Virginia election, grassroots parent groups challenged critical race theory taught in the schools. In reaction and under prompts from teachers' unions, Attorney General Merrick Garland directed both the FBI and the Justice Department to establish a special task force apparently to "investigate threats" from parents against school board members. The FBI recently has been knee-deep in political controversies. It illegally doctored a FISA application to entrap an American citizen. Its former directors, under oath before Congress, either claimed faulty memory or admitted lying to federal investigators. The last thing a scandal-plagued FBI needed was to go undercover at school board meetings to investigate parents worried over their children's education. It Took FBI Less Than A Day To Discover Trump Conspiracy Theory Was Bogus. An FBI agent said Tuesday that it took him and another agent "less than a day" to determine the allegation about former President Donald Trump having ties to a Russian financial institution was false and pushed by Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussman. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Scott Hellman said "it took him and another agent less than a day to ascertain the data and 'white papers' on two thumb drives Sussmann gave Baker did not support the Trump-Alfa Bank 'secret connection' allegation," according to The Epoch Times' national affairs reporter John Haughey. Hellman was on the stand during the first day of Sussman's trial for allegedly lying to the FBI. Hunter Biden laptop repairman says FBI 'didn't seem interested' in reviewing hard drive. John Paul Mac Isaac, the laptop repair shop owner who serviced Hunter Biden's laptop in April 2019, is speaking out about the treatment his father received from the FBI when he attempted to inform the agency of the findings on the laptop. In an excerpt provided to Fox News Digital from his forthcoming book, "American Injustice: My Battle to Expose the Truth," Isaac describes his father's encounter with a "two-tiered justice system" that "didn't seem interested" in reviewing the laptop's contents and advised him to "lawyer up" and not discuss his findings with anyone. There was Another Mass Shooting in America. You Didn't Hear About It Because the Suspect is a Chinese Communist. The Buffalo shooting could more accurately be described as another missed case of glaring mental illness combined with the F.B.I. once again dropping the ball. "New details have emerged regarding the alleged threat that accused Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron made in June 2021, leading the teenager to undergo a required mental health evaluation at a local hospital," Fox News reported on Monday [5/16/2022]. "Payton Gendron, now 18, said he wanted 'to commit a murder-suicide' in June 2021, prompting New York State Police to respond to the local high school and take the teen into custody, said Stephen Belongia, special agent-in-charge of the FBI's Buffalo Field Office," the report added. Sadly, the American people are no longer surprised by such F.B.I. incompetence and malfeasance. Reports about the agency's corruption and hyper-politicization under Attorney General Merrick Garland are commonplace. Whistleblower document shows how corrupt FBI has been 'monitoring' certain news media. The FBI has proven time and again that it is no longer a federal law enforcement agency but rather nothing short of being a politicized protector of the deep state. When it isn't trying to entrap conservatives into fake crimes, apparently the agency has been monitoring media outlets considered hostile to the regime, according to a document supplied by a whistleblower to investigative journalistic operation Project Veritas. [...] According to the document, which was also published by the group, the FBI opened a probe into Project Veritas "knowing full well they were journalists as the document is labeled under a 'news media' classification," the press release notes further, which begs the question: Unless for counter-espionage reasons, why would any agency of the federal government 'investigate' any news organization, ever? The press release goes on to note that the media classification is a direct contradiction to a court filing from the government in which the Biden regime argued that actions taken by the feds to surveil, raid and then seize materials from Project Veritas journalists were appropriate and proper. FBI Investigated Concerned Parents. You all remember the story: the Biden Department of Justice coordinated with the National School Boards Association to arrange for FBI investigations of parents who are unhappy about their local schools teaching racism and anti-Americanism (Critical Race Theory) and gender confusion, and requiring masks. The episode was so sordid that many state school board associations dropped their affiliation with NSBA, and most people doubted that the FBI would be craven enough to follow Attorney General Merrick Garland's patently unconstitutional directive. But follow it they did. Yesterday [5/11/2022] Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, acting on tips from unhappy FBI agents, wrote Merrick Garland to criticize the diversion of FBI resources to investigations of parents who dissent from "woke" ideology and care about their children's education. FBI Whistleblower: The Direction of the Bureau 'Troubles a Vast Majority of the Agents'. A whistleblower from the Federal Bureau of Investigation told Project Veritas founder and President James O'Keefe in a recorded interview posted late Wednesday that the FBI's "direction" in recent months "troubles a vast majority of the agents." The source — a current FBI agent with counterintelligence, counterterrorism and criminal experience — came forward with new information about the FBI's investigation into Project Veritas over Ashley Biden's lost diary. Armed FBI agents raided and ransacked two Project Veritas journalists' homes on November 4, on the orders of federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and raided O'Keefe's apartment in Mamaroneck, N.Y., a couple of days later in connection with the allegedly stolen diary. FBI opened multiple investigations into protesting parents, GOP lawmakers say. The FBI has opened multiple investigations into parents protesting education policies, including a father who was upset over mask mandates, according to new whistleblower revelations. The FBI's activities were publicly revealed in a letter Wednesday from Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee to Attorney General Merrick Garland. The specifics of the FBI's investigations were disclosed to lawmakers by whistleblowers. Garland directed the FBI and the Department of Justice to form a joint task force in October 2021 to investigate threats against school board members after the National School Boards Association asked the Biden administration in a September 2021 letter to investigate parents protesting at school board meetings as domestic terrorists under the Patriot Act. Whistleblowers Allege FBI Investigated Parents Opposed to School COVID-19 Policies. Whistleblowers have alleged that the FBI conducted dozens of investigations into American parents who expressed opposition to schools' COVID-19 mandates, and labeled them with a "threat tag," House Judiciary Committee Republicans claimed in a letter on Wednesday [5/11/2022]. Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote in a letter to the Justice Department that the "brave whistleblowers" from the FBI had informed them that the agency had reportedly created an internal threat tag called "EDUOFFICIALS" in October 2021 to track alleged threats against school boards, following an Oct. 4 directive from Attorney General Merrick Garland. That directive came in response to a request from the National School Boards Association asking that the federal government use counterterrorism tools, including the Patriot Act, to target parents at school board meetings, the representatives wrote. FBI: Russian cyberthreat fueled almost 2M warrantless searches of Americans' data in 2021. The threat of cyberattack from Russia fueled more than half of the FBI's 3.39 million warrantless searches of Americans' data last year, according to a government report. The warrantless searches, legal under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, were up sharply from approximately 1.32 million reported in 2020, according to the report, published Friday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Almost all of the increase can be traced to one Russian cyberthreat to critical U.S. infrastructure in 2021. The FBI's response to the threat accounted for approximately 1.9 million searches. Here's How The DOJ And FBI Are Spending Their Time Instead Of Rooting Out Actual Extremists. The FBI never managed to thwart the NYC subway shooting suspect, who allegedly posted hours of extremist black nationalist and violent rhetoric on YouTube, but has repeatedly allocated resources to chasing hoaxes and false leads. The FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) have spent their efforts plotting an operation to kidnap a governor, busting out a team of 15 agents to investigate a rope in a NASCAR garage and investigating parents at school boards meetings as domestic terrorists, among other failed operations. The FBI has also denied knowing about the whereabouts of Hunter Biden's laptop. The man responsible for allegedly opening fire in a New York City subway car Tuesday walked away from the scene of the crime and, after waiting for the authorities to do something, decided to turn himself in, reportedly sitting on a bench relaxing before the NYPD nabbed him. "I'm Frank, I'm the person you're looking for. I'm surprised it took so long," Frank James, the alleged shooter, told police as they arrested him, according to the New York Post. James evaded arrest for over 24 hours despite hundreds of NYPD officers working to find him. FBI Blows It Again: Knew About Subway Terrorist's Racist Videos and Had Him on Watch List. We're learning more information by the moment about the New York subway train shooter who allegedly wounded ten people in a terror attack during Tuesday morning's commute in Brooklyn. But, we're also learning that the FBI knew in advance about this terrorist monster who set off diversionary smoke bombs before he emptied his semi-automatic pistol on commuters. Frank James was on their terror watch list, but it appears nobody was watching the terrorist. Hey FBI, We're Running Low on Those White Domestic Terrorists You Keep Warning Us About. While it's true that I am not a big fan of the federal government, it's not as if I'm rooting against every person who works in it. That applies especially to those in law enforcement. In fact, I'd rather they be able to do their jobs well. It's the ones at the top who are usually problematic. They end up being generic, soulless bureaucrats after a while, forgetting whatever ideals of public service they may have had when they started out. Bureaucrats love Democrats because Democrats are all about bloating and maintaining the bureaucracy. That explains why federal law enforcement continues to perpetuate the myth that the biggest threat to our safety here in America is lurking in the form of crazy white guy extremists, which is Leftspeak for "Trump voters." [...] Here's the thing though: if you look around lately at the real threats to public safety, none of the suspects fit the "right-wing nutjob extremist" profile. Disturbing Video From Black Nationalist Subway Shooter Revealed as FBI Gets Egg on Its Face Again. Per RedState's reporting, we know a lot more about the man who allegedly donned a gas mask, popped a smoke grenade, and started shooting people in a New York City subway on Tuesday [4/12/2022]. The man's name is Frank R. James, and his political leanings appear to be highly relevant to why he carried out the attack. Further, he was known to the FBI but "cleared" in 2019 of posing any kind of threat, and shock of all shocks, the authorities are once again pretending the motive here is a total mystery. [Tweets] Recall that the Waukesha massacre assailant, who killed six people, including a child, after ramming his SUV into a Christmas parade, was also an outspoken black nationalist who had talked about killing white people. To this day, we have never received any official statement on his motivation. You can expect that to happen again in this case, as it appears the FBI has an aversion to labeling crimes that may prove inconvenient to the left. The Brooklyn Subway Terror Attack Shooter Was On FBI's Terrorist Radar Until 2019 - No MSM Coverage. New York City police named a "person of interest" in the shooting Tuesday morning aboard a subway train in Brooklyn. Ten people were shot and 13 others were injured after a man wearing a gas mask threw two smoke canisters and then opened fire aboard a subway car on the N train as it approached the 36th Street Station in Brooklyn during the morning rush hour, authorities said. [...] The mainstream media claims that this wasn't a terror attack, however recent social media post, as well as the exclusive video that we have from James, shows that his attack was a hate crime that could be labeled as terrorism because he injured more than one person! Like the Waukesha suspect & the Louisville BLM activist who allegedly tried to assassinate a mayoral candidate, he appeared to be a fan of black nationalism. FBI now protecting child murderers by arresting whistleblowers who point them out. Are federal law enforcement agencies fighting crime or promoting it? According to veteran pro-life activist Randall Terry, the authorities are actually the bad guys. Both the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) targeted pro-lifers, he says, who discovered and reported fetal remains outside a Washington, D.C., abortion clinic. Instead of going after the criminal perpetrators who left the remains of murdered unborn children on the street, the DoJ and the FBI instead went after the whistleblowers who reported it. "These people contacted local authorities and then suddenly the DoJ comes in with the FBI to arrest them," Terry stated at an April 5 press conference. The FBI Is a Den of Scum and Villainy. The FBI has been in steady decline for decades. Now the FBI is a joke. Populated with political hacks and agents willingly creating crimes to make criminals, it is a shell of what it once was, or what we thought it should be. "Entrapment" is a defense to a crime that almost never flies, but it did in Michigan because it was perfectly clear that the Bureau created the plot to kidnap Whitmer. When agents aren't entrapping dummies in Michigan they're after moms who don't want their children ruined. Dislike, Thumbs Down, Unfollow: [The] FBI [is] Spending $27M on Social Media Tracking. Here's an update to share on your preferred social media platform: the FBI is watching. According to a new report from the Washington Post, the FBI is going all in on social media monitoring, spending nearly $30 million dollars to prevent another January 6. Privacy watchdogs and civil liberties advocates are concerned — and they should be. This is crazy. The FBI has purchased 5,000 licenses to use Babel X; a supercharged web crawler made by a company called Babel Street. "The Justice Department has previously [used] Babel X... but the new contract appears to be by far the most the agency has ever shelled out for the software, and is one of the largest contracts for the software by a civilian agency," WaPo reports. So what does the FBI get for $30 mil and 5,000 licenses? Access to 40 online sources, including no-brainers like Instagram, fringe Korean social media platforms, and "dark web" monitoring. Has the FBI ever before looked this pitiful? It's one thing for the FBI, once considered the pre-eminent law enforcement agency in the world, to turn to the dark side and become the secret police of the Democrat party. Again and again, the FBI has shown its partisan colors, overlooking obvious Democrat criminality (see Clinton, Hillary, and Biden, Hunter) while chasing after Donald Trump and his supporters like Brian Stelter chasing down a Mister Softee truck for seconds. But although it's unsettling to know that the FBI is only supporting one side of the political aisle, what's truly incredible is how bad the Feebs are at partisan warfare. Forget stopping actual terrorists, like the ones involved in 9/11, Orlando, and San Bernadino; recent history tells us the Bureau can't even run a coup right. Under a previous director as tall as he was self-righteous, the FBI tried to take down presidential candidate Donald Trump (R-MAGA) with the infamous Russia Collusion scam. But what a lousy effort it was! Companies were slow to remove Russian spies' malware, so FBI did it for them. The FBI remotely accessed and disinfected US-located devices running a powerful new strain of Russian state botnet malware, federal authorities said Wednesday. Those authorities added that the Kremlin was using the malware to wage stealthy hacks of its adversaries. The infected devices were primarily made up of firewall appliances from WatchGuard and, to a lesser extent, network devices from Asus. Both manufacturers recently issued advisories providing recommendations for hardening or disinfecting devices infected by the botnet, known as Cyclops Blink. It is the latest botnet malware from Russia's Sandworm, which is among the world's most elite and destructive state-sponsored hacking outfits. Leftist Infiltration of the Police Will Lead To Tyranny. In a free society, the police are guardians of democracy. The radical Left must destroy belief in these principles to establish an organization that will support the efforts of a totalitarian government and violate the rights of the public on behalf of the ruling elites. This has already happened with our FBI, which is so thoroughly corrupted that it essentially functions as a political secret police. Crooked leadership resulted in the agency's participation in the now utterly discredited Russian collusion hoax to undermine President Trump, investigating and intimidating parents as domestic terrorists for speaking out at local school board meetings, and the relentless persecution of nonviolent January 6 protesters. The FBI is a disgrace. But when local law enforcement is subverted by leftist ideology, misconduct rises to another level. The results can be brutal and deadly. How does the FBI 'lose' a laptop like Hunter Biden's? Some things don't make sense. That brings us to some testimony from the FBI's assistant director for cyber-security, who told Congress's Rep. Matt Gaetz that he had no idea where Hunter Biden's laptop, entrusted to FBI custody, actually is. [...] "I don't know who has it," said [FBI Assistant Director for the Cyber Division Bryan] Vorndran. [...] Vorndran should be embarrassed. The whereabouts of this laptop are something he should know. Even if he doesn't have it, he should know who does have it because it's a computer matter that likely affects his job of protecting the country from cyber-attacks. The FBI 'Doesn't Know' Where Hunter's Laptop Is. "So where is it? The Laptop?" Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) clown-slapped the assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, Bryan A. Vorndran, on Tuesday [3/29/2022] when Vorndran admitted he didn't have "any information" on the whereabouts of Hunter Biden's "laptop from hell." [Tweet with video clip] Vorndran told Congress he didn't know where the laptop is, nor does he even know who SHOULD know the whereabouts of the laptop. Weird, considering he IS the assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division. Gaetz mentioned the laptop's "international business deals, kickbacks, and shakedowns" that might potentially hurt the Biden family. Director of FBI Cyber Has No Idea Where Hunter Biden Laptop Is Located. I would say this is sketchy but given everything that has been revealed about the FBI in recent years the point would be moot. We still have no idea where the Huma Abedin/Anthony Weiner laptop is located after the FBI took custody of it. During a congressional hearing today, GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz asked FBI cyber chief Bryan Vorndran if he knows where Hunter Biden's laptop is stored. The head of the FBI cyber operations said he has no idea. [Video clip] FBI cyber chief admits to not knowing what the agency has done with Hunter Biden's seized laptop. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) got into a heated spat over the whereabouts of Hunter Biden's laptop during a House Judiciary hearing on oversight of the FBI's Cyber Division on Tuesday [3/29/2022]. The Republican firebrand used his allotted time to grill the division's assistant director Bryan Vorndran, who repeatedly told Gaetz he didn't have any information on where the hard drive belonging to President Joe Biden's son is currently located. At one point Gaetz tried to enter the hard drive into the Congressional record but was blocked by House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who changed his mind a short while later. How to Make Crime Vanish. No sooner do we note here the out-of-control crime in San Francisco (and elsewhere in California) than we find a magical solution appear: stop collecting and reporting crime data! Yesterday the FBI released its quarterly uniform crime report. There appears this curious note on the home page: ["]The Quarterly Uniform Crime Report was made available on March 21, 2022. For this quarterly release, due to agency participation being under the 60 percent threshold, data trends by region and aggregate population group will not be available. Data from individual city agencies with populations of 100,000 or greater can be accessed in the Resources section below.["] In other words, if I read this right not enough law enforcement agencies sent in the data required for the FBI to provide national statistics. Maybe this is a consequence of cutting police budgets. That's one way of reducing the crime rate! Feds pay $128M to families after FBI bungled tips about Parkland school shooter. The federal government will pay a $127.5 million settlement over the Parkland, Fla. school massacre — after it admitted the FBI didn't follow up on two tips that could have prevented the massacre. The legal deal announced Wednesday [3/16/2022] settles 40 lawsuits tied to the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which remains the largest high school shooting in US history. The Department of Justice did not admit fault in the shootings, and the settlement "resolved all the cases" filed against the government by family members of the 16 shooting victims and all the survivors of the attack, a news release said. Secret Service says it doesn't have Hunter Biden emails from some years, his laptop says otherwise. Days ahead of his trip to Mexico in spring 2011, Hunter Biden got an email from a Secret Service agent coordinating his protection detail. "Hunter, when you have some free time, I would like to discuss the Monterrey trip with you," Secret Service agent Yvonne DiCristoforo wrote then-Vice President Joe Biden's son on April 28, 2011. "I have some specific information to provide you that we received from our Mexico City office," she added. "I know you are out of the office this evening, but if you could contact me at your convenience, I would appreciate it." Secret Service records show Hunter Biden, in fact, took the trip with agents protecting him between May 15 to May 17, 2011. The email, contained on a Hunter Biden laptop now in FBI custody and reviewed by Just the News, may not seem that significant at first blush. But it has significant meaning to Senate investigators. Video of Unconstitutional FBI Raid on Project Veritas Journalist's Home; Armed Agents Scream 'Let Me See Your Hands!' Project Veritas released never-before-seen footage of last November's FBI raid on the home of one its journalists. The shocking footage shows the tense moments when several agents banged on the door screaming, "Open up!" Once the journalist opened the door, several FBI agents shouted, "Let me see your hands!" [Video clip] Agents are seen on the footage clutching weapons and tossing belongings after a brief conversation with the journalist. The raid stems from a Project Veritas decision to investigate a diary that belonged to then Presidential candidate Joe Biden's daughter Ashley. The Department of Justice executed the tense raids despite Project Veritas' decision not to publish the diary's contents and to turn it over to authorities. The Editor says... Republicans demand answers on FBI operations after audit reveals rules broken in investigations. House Republicans said Tuesday [3/15/2022] that they want answers about the FBI's operations after an internal audit revealed agents flouting the rules during investigations involving politicians, candidates, religious groups, news media and others. FBI agents broke their own rules at least 747 times in 18 months while conducting sensitive investigations, according to an internal 2019 FBI audit first reported by The Washington Times. Rep. Andy Biggs, Arizona Republican, said the audit's findings should not come as a surprise. "The FBI has strayed away from its core mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution of the United States," Mr. Biggs said in a statement. Jim Jordan seeks FBI briefing after 'whistleblower disclosure' on DC pipe bomb investigation. A top House Republican is asking the FBI for a briefing after a special agent came forward with a disclosure about the bureau's investigation into a pair of pipe bombs planted outside the GOP's and Democratic Party's headquarters in Washington, D.C., the night before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday saying this "whistleblower disclosure" revealed that the FBI's Washington Field Office asked FBI field offices last month to canvass all confidential human sources nationwide for relevant information. FBI Quietly Drops Charges Against J6 Defendant Who Committed Suicide. January 6 defendant Matthew Perna was looking at some serious jail time for a peaceful walk through the Capitol. Killers have gotten way less severe sentences, like this fine lad, who punched and killed an elderly man who allegedly called him a bad name: [Tweet] Perna didn't punch an elderly man, causing his death. Nor was he looking at two years of house arrest. Perna was looking at 51 months in federal prison for entering the Capitol for five to ten minutes, snapping selfies, and chanting "USA" in an apparently seditious way. He also tapped a window with a pole but didn't break it or anything else. He didn't hit a cop. The FBI magnanimously decided to drop their charges against Perna on Wednesday [3/9/2022]. DOJ Documents Obtained by Judicial Watch Confirm Existence of Communications Between FBI & Pfizer about Project Veritas. Project Veritas has been made aware of Department of Justice Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts ("FOIPA") response letters which shockingly appear to confirm that there is some level of communication between federal officials at the Bureau and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer about Project Veritas. The letters, which were originally obtained by Judicial Watch resulting from FOIA requests made by the legal watchdog group requesting communications between Pfizer and the FBI about Project Veritas cite separate reasons for rejecting the request. While the second letter attempts to avoid acknowledging the existence of such communications by citing "an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy," the first response letter from the Department of Justice revealed more information. Clueless: Woke FBI Downplays Anti-Semitic Aspect of Hostage-Taking at Texas Synagogue. The jihadi who stormed the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, and took hostages Saturday, demanding the release of convicted jihad terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, is dead, and the hostages are safe. And now comes the real work: whitewashing, downplaying, and ignoring outright what took place, because it doesn't fit the establishment narrative. FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt DeSarno got the ball rolling when he said, "We do believe from our engagement with this subject that he was singularly focused on one issue, uh, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community, uh, but we're continuing to work to find motive and, and we will continue on that path." The FBI Response to the Texas Synagogue Attack Is Absolutely Sick. Yesterday, news of a hostage situation in a Texas synagogue rocked the nation. Shortly after, due to the assailant's admission on a Facebook Live stream, we had an identity and a motive. The man holding a rabbi and other Jews hostage was a Pakistani named Muhammad Siddiqui. He was demanding the release of his anti-Semitic sister, Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently in prison for trying to kill US military personnel. The Islamist community has made the terrorist a living martyr, with CAIR hosting many rallies seeking her freedom. Thankfully, due to the actions of the local police and the SWAT team that was present, the hostage-taker was killed and everyone is now safe. As per usual, that left the FBI to march in and take things over, and the response they gave is one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen from a law enforcement agency. Public Servants or Parasites? [Scroll down] Don't forget the FBI. It's in a class all by itself. Our sworn law enforcement agents initiated a coup attempt against a duly elected president. They set a perjury trap for his national security advisor. They even falsified evidence to a FISA court. I've heard the arguments that the FBI rank and file are honest and professional. We shouldn't blame the whole FBI for a "few bad apples." What complete balderdash! If most of them were honest, where were the whistleblowers during the investigation of President Trump? As far as being professional, how did they fail to prevent the Boston Marathon bombing — even after they'd received a tip that the Tsarnaevs were up to something? I have the same question about the Pulse Nightclub massacre. Was it also just a "few bad apples" that tried to frame Richard Jewell for the Atlanta Olympics bombing? The FBI even had warnings about the 9/11 attack, yet failed to act. Of course, our highly professional FBI agents were able to determine that a noose was really a garage-door pull. It only required 15 agents and five days to make that determination. That is some cunning police work! It appears that the FBI is either using their badges to target political enemies, or they're just a modern-day version of the Keystone Cops in tailored suits. Report: Huber and Horowitz Investigations Deep State Cons Constructed by DOJ. Paul Sperry has an interesting report posted at RCP-Investigations outlining numerous interviews with DC politicians and would-be witnesses, if any actual DOJ investigation of the FBI and DOJ misconduct was taking place. What Sperry discovers is the year-long narrative around John Huber and Michael Horowitz is factually false. Just like the false framework surrounding the long-forgotten U.S. Attorney John Lausch; the guy who was supposedly hired to facilitate DOJ record production but actually did nothing of the sort; Sperry discovers the framework around U.S. Attorney John Huber was manufactured by career officials inside the DOJ to tamp down problematic demands for a second special counsel. FBI Refuses To Comply With House Declassification Review of Witness Transcripts — Defers To Robert Mueller. The FBI has responded to a request for declassification review of witness transcripts from the Joint House Committee headed by Chairman Bob Goodlatte. The FBI is refusing to comply with the declassification review; and, entirely as expected, outlines the decision-maker for releasing any testimony is ultimately Robert Mueller. [...] Despite their claims, don't be tricked into thinking it's about timing, and/or a workload, and/or the holidays. How do we know this? Well, remember, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chaired by Devin Nunes, made a similar request for release of their transcripts on September 26th, 2018. The ODNI, DOJ, FBI and Special Counsel have refused to comply for three months. FBI misses deadline to provide docs to Judiciary Committee probing whistleblower raid. The Justice Department and FBI have missed a Wednesday deadline to provide information about the government's mysterious raid on a former FBI contractor-turned-whistleblower's home last month. Sixteen FBI agents on Nov. 19 raided the home of Dennis Nathan Cain, who reportedly gave the Justice Department's Inspector General (IG) documents related to the Uranium One controversy and potential wrongdoing by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The documents in question allegedly showed that federal officials failed to investigate possible criminal activity related to Clinton, the Clinton Foundation and Rosatom, a Russian nuclear company. Its subsidiary purchased Canadian mining company Uranium One in 2013. FBI defies subpoena for docs on its raid on Uranium One whistleblower. The Deep State now is publicly baring its fangs at us, laughing at ineffective attempts to hold it accountable for abuse and worse. I hate to be alarmist, but we have police agencies misbehaving and then destroying the evidence and refusing to cooperate with constitutional oversight functions. Just in the last couple of days, we have learned that critical form 302 records were altered months after they were first created regarding the FBI interview upon which General Michael Flynn was prosecuted. And we learned that the Special Counsel's Office of Robert Mueller scrubbed access to the text messages of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the texting blabbermouths who revealed the D.S. "insurance policy" in the event Trump won the presidency. DOJ Wants To Keep Justification For Raiding Reported Clinton Foundation Whistleblower Secret. The letter was sent to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on Dec. 7 in response to The Daily Caller News Foundation's Nov. 30 request to unseal court documents that would show the FBI's rationale for the raid. The documents could potentially reveal whether the bureau and the magistrate who signed the court order allowing the raid, Stephanie A. Gallagher, knew that the subject was, according to his lawyer, a recognized whistleblower. Sixteen FBI agents raided Dennis Cain's Union Bridge, Maryland, home on Nov. 19 for six hours, even though Cain told them that he was a recognized whistleblower and handed classified documents over to the agents. The documents Cain possessed reportedly showed that federal officials failed to investigate potential criminal activity regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and the Russian company that purchased Uranium One. DOJ Wants Details of Mysterious FBI Raid on Protected IG Whistleblower Kept Secret. An interesting legal development in the aftermath of the mysterious FBI raid on protected FBI whistleblower Nate Cain. The DOJ wants the details behind the search warrant to remain under seal, and the whistleblower target of that warrant — who was not arrested — is accusing the DOJ-FBI of being a police state. Hillary Clinton & Google Created [a] Covert Server to Hide Classified Benghazi Emails from Congress; FBI Never Probed. It's like a bad spy movie involving a third-world government. Or perhaps a slap stick comedy. The Secretary of State of the United States reading, sending, receiving sensitive emails with national security secrets, threats and classified or top secret intelligence over Google's public Gmail. We expect this from chatting soccer moms but not from the top diplomat of the United States and her aides. But it gets even worse. The FBI either never discovered this blatant and clandestine violation of federal laws or did and simply covered it up. Following the Benghazi consulate attack in 2012, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton secretly worked with Google to reroute email traffic away from her private computer server and use public Google Gmail servers instead. 22-year-old changing in dressing room catches FBI agent taking photos, NJ cops say. A 22-year-old woman was changing in a New Jersey clothing store's dressing room on Thursday [7/19/2018] when she made a horrifying discovery, according to police. There was a man snapping pictures of the woman on his cell phone as the woman changed clothes at the shop in Edison, New Jersey. And when the woman confronted the man, she found out he wasn't just anyone. The man told her he was a law enforcement officer, according to Middlesex County prosecutors. That's when the woman called 911. Danuel S. Brown, a 30-year-old special agent in the FBI's New York field office, was arrested on charges of fourth-degree invasion of privacy, prosecutors said. FBI repeatedly overstated encryption threat figures to Congress, public. The FBI has repeatedly provided grossly inflated statistics to Congress and the public about the extent of problems posed by encrypted cellphones, claiming investigators were locked out of nearly 7,800 devices connected to crimes last year when the correct number was much smaller, probably between 1,000 and 2,000, The Washington Post has learned. Over a period of seven months, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray cited the inflated figure as the most compelling evidence for the need to address what the FBI calls "Going Dark" — the spread of encrypted software that can block investigators' access to digital data even with a court order. FBI Admits It Inflated Number of Supposedly Unhackable Devices. We've learned that the FBI has been misinforming Congress and the public as part of its call for backdoor access to encrypted devices. For months, the Bureau has claimed that encryption prevented it from legally searching the contents of nearly 7,800 devices in 2017, but today the Washington Post reports that the actual number is far lower due to "programming errors" by the FBI. Frankly, we're not surprised. FBI Director Christopher Wray and others argue that law enforcement needs some sort of backdoor "exceptional access" in order to deal with the increased adoption of encryption, particularly on mobile devices. And the 7,775 supposedly unhackable phones encountered by the FBI in 2017 have been central to Wray's claim that their investigations are "Going Dark." But the scope of this problem is called into doubt by services offered by third-party vendors like Cellebrite and Grayshift, which can reportedly bypass encryption on even the newest phones. Maybe Mueller should be investigated. Consider the issue of criticizing Robert Mueller, the special counsel. Any criticism or even skepticism regarding Mueller's history is seen as motivated by a desire to help Trump. Mueller was an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston, the head of its criminal division, the head of the criminal division in Main Justice, and the director of the FBI during the most scandalous miscarriage of justice in the modern history of the FBI. Four innocent people were framed by the FBI to protect mass murdering gangsters who were working as FBI informers while they were killing innocent people. An FBI agent, who is now in prison, was tipping off Whitey Bulger as to who might testify against him so that these individuals could be killed. He also tipped off Bulger, allowing him to escape and remain on the lam for 16 years. What responsibility, if any, did Mueller, who was in key positions of authority and capable of preventing these horrible miscarriages, have in this sordid incident? Comey Joins Stormy as Latest Porn Star to Target Trump. First, he made a devastating case for prosecuting Hillary Clinton for her reckless disregard for national secrets using her illegal bathroom email server. Yet, in the same press conference, announced he was giving her a pass on all of her crimes. We have since learned that he and the entire cabal of Clinton cronies at the FBI and Department of Justice rigged not only that investigation but also the separate investigation into the Clinton Foundation. Remember, the Clinton Foundation investigation centered on compelling evidence that the Clinton Cartel was using the foundation for a global shakedown and extortion racket. They were raking in hundreds of millions in "speaking fees" and other donations in exchange for favors that could be performed far into the future — assuming, of course, that Hillary Clinton was a shoo-in for the White House. Catherine Herridge Confirms Lisa Page Statements Contradicted Andrew McCabe, Ultimately Leading to His Firing. Fox News Catherine Herridge reports today [4/5/2018], per her FBI investigative sources, it was an investigative interview with FBI Attorney Lisa Page, in July 2017, that contradicted FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and ultimately led to his firing. That revelation is exactly what we anticipated was the origin to Inspector General Michael Horowitz gaining the text messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. The issue is actually more stunning than presented. Why the FBI Is Dodging Nunes. It was reported recently that the FBI refuses to show Congressman Devin Nunes an unredacted copy of the origination document that triggered the probe into the Trump campaign. What is the FBI hiding? Paradoxically, nothing — that is, no classified information showing collusion between Trump and Russia. The FBI is simply trying to hide the embarrassingly partisan origins of its spying on the Trump campaign. Were the redactions covering material harmful to Trump, that material would have been leaked by now. So the redactions can only be concealing the fingerprints of Hillary's partisans in the Obama administration. Andrew McCabe's Wife Falsely Claims He 'Kept Himself Separate' From Her State Senate Campaign. Jill McCabe, the wife of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, falsely claimed in a Monday [4/2/2018] op-ed that her husband "kept himself separate" from her state senate campaign. McCabe, who ran in 2015 as a Democrat for a Virginia State Senate seat, said the last year and a half have been a "nightmare" for her and her family because of "twisted reporting and presidential tweets." She wrote in her Washington Post op-ed that she is now, however, free to speak out because her husband is no longer at the FBI. The "accidental politician" highlighted how she and her husband met, her career in the medical field, and various aspects of her state senate campaign in 2015, including her support from former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D.) and her husband's role in the campaign. Ms. McCabe, Andrew Did Not Separate Himself From Your VA Senate Run, He Used His FBI Email To Campaign For You. [Scroll down] Oh yeah, this guy is getting railroaded, except that he's not. And it doesn't seem that stretching the truth falls far from the tree. His wife, Jill, a doctor, penned an op-ed in The Post about her failed 2015 Virginia Senate run and how there was no conflict of interest. There have been allegations that McCabe's donations from pro-Clinton Gov. Terry McAuliffe's PAC during that run, which exceeded $400,000, was a sort of down payment for political protection since soon after her campaign ended, Mr. McCabe became deputy director, where one of his tasks was to oversee the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email fiasco. Justice Dept. charges Minnesota FBI agent for leaking secret document to news outlet. A former Minneapolis FBI agent who sought to expose what he called "systemic biases" within the bureau has been charged after allegedly leaking secret documents to a national news reporter, according to federal criminal charges filed in Minnesota this week. The charges, filed by prosecutors for the Justice Department's National Security Division, are the first to come in Minnesota since Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a broad crackdown on government leaks last year. A two-page felony information, a charging document that typically signals an imminent guilty plea, outlines two counts filed against Terry James Albury of unlawfully disclosing and retaining national defense information. FBI Agent Charged For Doing Exactly What James Comey Admitted To Doing. An FBI agent was charged for doing the exact same thing as former FBI Director James Comey, according to the Washington Times. The Justice Department has filed charges against Terry Albury for allegedly leaking classified documents to a news media outlet. The FBI Gets The Attention Of The AG And Courts Over Ignoring Subpoenas. Morale Possibly Ruined. Late last week, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte hit Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein with a subpoena for documents related to several investigations, such as the Clinton email investigation. What brought this on was stonewalling of the committee's document requests by the FBI. House subpoena rattles Justice Department; Sessions 'angry' at slow response. The FBI is promising swift action on a House subpoena covering three politically charged investigations after word that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has grown angry with the bureau's slow-walking of congressional requests for information. Last week the House Judiciary Committee sent a subpoena to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein demanding documents from the Justice Department and the FBI "regarding charging decisions in the investigation surrounding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server, potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility recommendation to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe," according to a committee press release. Did The FBI *Cause* Pulse? So once again we have outrageous prosecutorial misconduct. Specifically, the prosecution had an obligation to disclose this during discovery before the trial began, and did not. But the better question here is whether the FBI knew that the shooting was going to take place, was being planned, and deliberately ignored it or worse, even egged it on. Was the FBI's Investigation of Hillary Clinton a 'Sham'? This should be big news. In fact, this should have led the evening news on Sunday night, and there should be some kind of media investigation of this planned today, but there wasn't, and there won't be. The reason this story didn't lead the news yesterday, and that the media won't be investigating it today (or ever) is because it doesn't fit the liberal narrative. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared on the Fox News Channel Sunday morning to continue his call for a second special counsel to investigate the FBI's behavior during the 2016 elections. House Judiciary Committee Subpoenas 1.2M Documents Reviewed by DOJ IG. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has run out of patience with the U.S. Justice Department and is now subpoenaing 1.2 million DOJ documents, including decisions made by former FBI Director James Comey not to prosecute former Secretary of State Clinton and other matters leading up to and beyond the 2016 election. The DOJ inspector-general also is investigating the FBI's handling of the Clinton case. "Well, we want to see everything that the inspector general has seen, which is, we understand, about 1.2 million documents," Goodlatte told Fox News's Neil Cavuto on Monday. He said the documents are critical to his committee's oversight of the FBI and DOJ. DOJ: Inspector General Examining Whether McCabe Was Promised Promotion to FBI Director by Hillary Clinton. Andrew McCabe may have revealed to his inner circle an inside plan to replace his friend James Comey as FBI director if and when Hillary Clinton was elected president of the United States, according to top officials in the Justice Department. [...] If those discussions about a promotion to FBI director with co-workers and McCabe's inner circle were anything more than bravado, that certainly is troubling. And given the fact that McCabe's wife Jill was given more than $1.25 million in Hillary-backed campaign donations to run for state senate in Virginia, it could spell additional legal woes for her husband. McCabe was in charge of the Hillary Clinton email investigation at the FBI at the same time his wife ran for office. At the same time he and his wife struck a deal to run for office with Hillary consigliere and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who was allegedly under investigation at the time by the FBI for a public corruption case. Documents: FBI Carefully Planned Clinton-Lynch Tarmac Trip, Tried To Cover It Up. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under director James Comey carefully plotted logistics and security for President Bill Clinton's meeting on an airplane tarmac with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch during the 2016 campaign. The FBI then attempted to cover up the tarmac meeting by targeting a Bureau whistleblower. The FBI worked with its offices around the country to execute the plan. FBI staffers knew warnings about Nikolas Cruz were related but closed the case, lawmakers learn. The FBI this week detailed to Congress a series of mistakes and missed opportunities to intervene before a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida — including a revelation that staffers knew two warnings about suspect Nikolas Cruz were related, but still closed the case. FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich made the comments in a closed briefing Tuesday with members of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees. In a summary released Wednesday [3/7/2018] to Fox News, Bowdich cited two tips that the FBI received about Cruz in September 2017 and January 2018 that were mishandled. FBI Paid Best Buy Technicians to Inform Them about Illegal Content on Customer Devices. The FBI recruited computer technicians at Best Buy to inform them about illegal content on personal devices customers brought in for repairs, new Bureau documents show. The informants were discovered after Best Buy's Geek Squad technicians at a Kentucky repair shop found thousands of child-pornography images on California doctor Mark Rettenmaier's computer. The documents from the ensuing court case showed that eight informants were cooperating with the FBI to turn over illegal content. Best Buy Gave Obama FBI [a] Tour of [a] Geek Squad Facility [and the] FBI Paid Employees As Informants. Well isn't this interesting? The FBI was given it's [sic] own private tour of the Best Buy "Geek Squad" computer repair facilities during the Obama and Comey days. This was done back in September of 2016, at the height of the election season. We'll wait (and wait and wait) to see if Mr. Magoo Jeff Sessions or his boss Rod Rosenstein do anything about this. FBI agent Peter Strzok was told of possible breach into Clinton's server but didn't follow up, sources say. During the final months of the Clinton email investigation, FBI agent Peter Strzok was advised of an irregularity in the metadata of Hillary Clinton's server that suggested a possible breach, but there was no significant follow up, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Sources told Fox News that Strzok, who sent anti-Trump text messages that got him removed from the ongoing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, was told about the metadata anomaly in 2016, but Strzok did not support a formal damage assessment. Australian diplomat whose tip prompted FBI's Russia-probe has tie to Clintons. The Australian diplomat whose tip in 2016 prompted the Russia-Trump investigation previously arranged one of the largest foreign donations to Bill and Hillary Clinton's charitable efforts, documents show. Former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's role in securing $25 million in aid from his country to help the Clinton Foundation fight AIDS is chronicled in decade-old government memos archived on the Australian foreign ministry's website. John Solomon: FBI Never Told Congress Aussie Diplomat Whose Tip Triggered Russia Probe Is Linked To Clinton Foundation. According to a new report, the FBI failed to brief Congressional investigators on ties between former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, the diplomat whose tip prompted the Russia probe, with the Clinton Foundation. Indicted Russians. That's It? The Russians spent some money buying Americans to demonstrate? Or just found kindred spirits online to do it free? [...] Or, Americans made "false statements" to FBI investigators when, as in the Flynn debacle, the bureau had already said there were no lies? That's the output thus far from Team Mueller with regard to their mission to investigate whether there was Russian meddling in our presidential election in 2016, and whether Americans "colluded" with the Russians in such endeavors. So far, we haven't seen anyone indicted for such matters, but we do see truly shocking and genuinely dangerous corruption among the investigators and the enforcers. Nunes: FBI may have violated criminal statutes in FISA application to spy on Trump adviser Carter Page. The FBI may have violated criminal statutes, as well as its own strict internal procedures, by using unverified information during the 2016 election to obtain a surveillance warrant on onetime Trump campaign aide Carter Page, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee charged Thursday [3/1/2018] in a letter obtained by Fox News. House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., wrote in his letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions that "in this instance, it's clear that basic operating guidance was violated." Nunes cited the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG), which was created by the bureau and approved by the Justice Department, to say he believed the FBI violated procedures requiring verified and documented evidence in applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. FBI Denies Secret Comey-Obama Meeting[,] Raises Integrity and Public Trust Issues. The FBI states it will not expedite the release of documents about secret meetings between FBI Director James Comey and former President Barack Obama, according to a letter the bureau sent to The Daily Caller News Foundation. Such information is not "a matter of widespread and exceptional media interest in which there exists possible questions about the government's integrity which affects public confidence," David Hardy, the section chief for the bureau's Record/Information Dissemination Section, told TheDCNF in a Feb. 26 letter. TheDCNF, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), requested records of all meetings between Comey and Obama and sought an "expedited process" as provided under the act when issues are of great interest to the media and the records address issues pertaining to government integrity. TheDCNF FOIA request was filed Feb. 16, 2018. Assault On The Constitution. I'm a former TV news reporter in Washington, DC. I wrote and produced these reports utilizing many sources including the Conservative Treehouse and the government documents it's published. This report focuses on the Obama administration's Illegal spying of the Trump Campaign. It includes discussion of the FISA warrant and the House and Senate investigations of the executive branch's misleading search warrant application to the FISA Court. Former U.S. attorney Joseph diGenova says he expects former top FBI officials to be charged criminally. [Video clip] The Shocking History Of Sexual Misconduct Within James Comey's FBI. The Department of Justice's inspector general sanctioned at least 14 FBI agents and officials for a range of improper sexual acts since 2014, and most of the misconduct occurred during former FBI Director James Comey's term, The Daily Caller News Foundation has determined. The public got a glimpse into the bureau's sexual mischief when it was disclosed high-profile FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok were cheating on their spouses. Special counsel Robert Mueller dumped Page from his investigation on Russian collusion and later removed Strzok after he learned of their relationship. But it turns out sexual misconduct within the bureau went much further than cheating spouses. FBI was told by someone close to Nikolas Cruz that "he's so into ISIS". This doesn't mean that Cruz was an Islamic jihadi. It means that he saw their bloodlust, and admired it. An organization that glories in violence and murder is going to attract people of like mind. And if that organization justifies itself by reference to the teachings of a major religion, this kind of thing is going to keep on happening. The FBI, of course, did nothing. FBI bureaucratic failures and willful blindness rack up a horrifying body count. After [a young man] gunned down 17 people at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, FBI special agent Robert Lasky, head of the bureau's Miami division, said he "truly regrets" the pain caused by the FBI's failure to act on a tip about the shooter. The FBI said it had no way to trace the tip, then FBI boss Christopher Wray said the message was never passed on to the FBI's Miami field office, as official protocol required. Relatives of the victims might have noted the passive verb construction. In typical style, Wray failed to name the person who never passed on the tip, and offered no explanation why that person might have done so. [...] Who are the FBI agents, and their bosses, who looked the other way in the Fort Hood, Boston Marathon and Orlando terrorist attacks? What, exactly, are they doing now? As in the Florida high-school shooting, the victims and their loved ones deserve some answers. Does the FBI really have anyone investigating tipoffs about school shooters? As if it couldn't soil itself more in the wake of its flawed Russian investigation scandal targeting Donald Trump, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is in hot water again, this time over its failure to act on at least two very specific tipoffs about the Parkland, Florida school spray shooter, who murdered 17 people in cold blood. [...] This tipoff failure follows an earlier one, from an Alabama bail bondsman, who sent email to the FBI about the gunman's plans, posted on YouYube, of becoming "a professional school shooter," which bounced back. After that, the bail bondsman called the FBI local field office, whose agents promised him they'd "look into it." They didn't. Here's a list of recent attacks the FBI missed despite 'significant warning signs beforehand'. The Washington Free Beacon's Stephen Gutowski put Here's a list of recent attacks the FBI missed despite 'significant warning signs beforehand' together a list of recent attacks that the FBI missed despite "significant warning signs," and it's quite disturbing. The FBI looks like the Federal Bureau of Incompetence after ignoring warning about Florida gunman. Wasn't there something eerily and disgracefully familiar about the news that the FBI had a highly specific warning about the murderous intentions of [...] the gunman who has confessed to shooting and killing 14 students and three adults at a Florida high school Wednesday? Doesn't it remind you of the way that after nearly every single one of the Islamist terror attacks of the last few years — whether in America, in Britain or elsewhere — a devastating phrase soon emerges? The attacker was "known to the authorities." Congressman calls Trump 'psychopath' for saying out loud what rational-minded Americans are thinking about FBI. Democrats have become so unhinged over their hatred for President Donald Trump that they think nothing of calling the commander in chief a "psychopath." Case in point, U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who took great exception to Trump saying out loud what most rational minded Americans are already thinking when it comes to the FBI. Florida shooting shows not to rely on the FBI. People are asking why didn't the FBI follow up on the tips about the gunman who went on to kill 17 people at a high school in Florida? That's the wrong question. We should ask: why didn't the tipsters report their suspicions to the local police or sheriff's office? One Organization Has Blood On Their Hands: It's the FBI. Leftists and the media can complain and whine all they want about the NRA, Trump or Republicans in Congress. Problem is, there is really one government organization in this country that has yet more blood dripping for their hands after the Parkland shooting. It's not the NRA, it's the pathetic, partisan, FBI. All the warning signs were there [...]. All the social media posts with wanting to be a "professional school shooter" and such were available for everyone to see on Youtube. Instead, the FBI couldn't be bothered with [the shooter] because they had more important things to do. The FBI Admits They Screwed Up. But They're So Sorry. Well, guess what, everyone — the FBI is finally admitting they dropped the ball on [the Florida] high school shooter [...]. This kid left a trail of breadcrumbs a mile long, and yet law enforcement just said, "Meh." It's so egregious that Florida Gov. Rick Scott is now calling for the FBI director to resign. On Friday [2/16/2018], the FBI said that just last month — let that sink in — a person close to [the shooter] contacted them. The information the caller told the FBI was ominous. [The shooter] not only owned a gun, but he expressly said that he wanted to kill people, and school shootings seemed to be a thing with him. The caller reported this on January 5th, and yet the FBI did nothing. FBI Received a Credible Tip about Florida Shooter. Did Nothing. "We need to do more to prevent gun violence" crows every rube with brains consisting of mainly sawdust. The "do more" typically takes the form of "more government intervention." [...] We already have background checks. We already have law enforcement. We already have agencies tasked with investigating crime and credible threats. Law enforcement and the FBI failed here. Resulting in the gunman passing a background check. So, if law enforcement and the FBI had done that which they're tasked with doing, isn't it possible to conclude Nikolas Cruz would've failed a background check? Thereby would not have purchased guns legally? The FBI Keeps Missing Mass Shooters Before It's Too Late. Revelations that the FBI had been warned about [the] Florida high school shooter [...] fit an all-too-familiar pattern, in which apparent law enforcement errors have preceded mass murders. A person close to [the shooter] warned the the FBI last month that he had a "desire to kill people" and could carry out a school shooting, the FBI admitted on Friday [2/16/2018]. The agency failed to act on the tip. The FBI was also warned about [the shooter] after he posted on YouTube saying he was going to become a "professional school shooter." The agency said they couldn't identify the user who made the threat, despite [the shooter] posting under his own name. Say Something, Do Nothing — FBI Statement On Parkland Florida School Shooting. The FBI released a stunning admission today admitting they received prior a specific warning about Broward County Nikolas Cruz and his threats to carry out a school shooting. The FBI took no action. What Do We Do about the Biased and Incompetent FBI? It's bad enough for a law enforcement agency to be biased. It's even worse for it to be biased and incompetent. But the latter seems to be an apt characterization of our Federal Bureau of Investigation in the wake of the killings in Parkland, Florida, where, by their own admission, the organization overlooked warnings about the killer that could have saved seventeen students and teachers from mass murder. This is no mere bureaucratic slip-up and the demand by Governor Scott for the resignation of FBI Director Wray is understandable considering the number of dead children in his state. The incompetence, moreover, is not just restricted to Parkland. It pervades an institution that — frequently blinded by the most rote political correctness — interviewed and then released terrorists who ultimately perpetrated horrific attacks from the Boston Marathon to the Orlando nightclub massacre. (There are several more.) Report: FBI Warned About Potential School Shooter in September. The FBI was notified in September after a YouTube user [...] left a comment about wanting to be a "professional school shooter," reports the far-left BuzzFeed News. Danny Casolaro. Danny Casolaro, an aspiring novelist, freelance writer and investigative reporter looking into the theft of Project PROMIS software, a program capable of tracking down anyone anywhere in the world, died in August 1991, a reported suicide. Casolaro was also investigating Pine Gap, Area 51 and governmental bioengineering. The Strange Death of Daniel Casolaro. In the weeks before his death Casolaro had spoken frequently about threats on his life. In fact, just before he left for Martinsburg he told his brother, "If anything happens to me, don't believe it's an accident." For reasons unknown, Casolaro's family wasn't notified of his death until two days after his body was discovered. And by that time, his body had already been embalmed illegally. Additionally, the hotel almost immediately brought in an industrial cleaning company to sanitize the room, thereby greatly diminishing any opportunity for an independent forensic investigation. Justice Department changes the FBI's story on Danny Casolaro's file. The Department of Justice appears to have retroactively declared that 98% of the FBI file on the journalist Danny Casolaro was and still is missing, despite the FBI seeming to say they had found it. Having previously released only a handful of documents which indicated the FBI misled Congress about investigating Casolaro's suspicious death, with other documents from the DOJ hinting at interference and a cover-up, the DOJ has rewritten the FBI's explanation for not releasing 1,350 pages from Casolaro's FBI file. Despite the FBI having twice written that the files were found, the DOJ now says that the files are missing and always were. As the chain of events appear to defy explanation, they are offered as-is and without an attempt to explain. The FBI vs. Peter Navarro Overview: Matt Gaetz Cries Foul After Federal Bureau of Prisons Denies His Request to Interview Former Trump Advisor Peter Navarro. In a speech on the House floor Monday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) accused the Biden regime of holding Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro as a political prisoner, denying him access to his lawyer and refusing to allow anyone to interview him. [Advertisement] Navarro, 74, began serving a four month prison sentence on March 19 after a jury found him guilty of failing to respond to congressional subpoenas for documents and testimony in the U.S. House's partisan investigation into the events at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. [Advertisement] Gaetz said that after five weeks of trying, he was directly informed by Colette S. Peters, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, that his request to interview Navarro would be denied because the prisoner is "too notorious" to be interviewed by a member of Congress. [Advertisement] "John Gotti was interviewed when he was in prison," Gaetz noted. "The QAnon Shaman was interviewed in prison. Director Peters HERSELF brought NBC News THROUGH PRISONS to showcase the work of corrections that's being done!" he exclaimed. [Advertisement] Federal Appeals Court Deals Legal Blow To Trump Aide Currently Facing Prison Sentence. A federal appeals court dealt another legal blow to former Trump administration official Peter Navarro Monday, siding with a judge who threatened him with contempt of court. Navarro recently began his four-month prison sentence after being convicted on contempt of Congress charges in September for failing to comply with a Jan. 6 committee subpoena. A federal judge separately threatened in February to hold him in contempt of court if he failed to turn over emails from his time in the Trump administration to the National Archives in a ruling the appeals court affirmed Monday. "Navarro argues that the United States cannot use D.C.'s replevin statute because the [Presidential Records Act] itself has no express cause of action for the United States to seek the return of Presidential records," the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals court wrote Monday. Navarro's message from federal prison. As you read this, I have entered a federal prison. I am the first senior White House adviser ever to go to jail for a "crime" never before considered to be a crime, yet there are really two bigger stories for the American people to ponder. The first story is about the death of the constitutional separation of powers and the demise of executive privilege that, since the days of George Washington, has helped facilitate effective presidential decision-making. The second is about the alarming success of lawfare and the partisan weaponization of our now dual system of justice. Chief Justice John Roberts decides to keep Peter Navarro in jail. As most know, Peter Navarro just asked the Supreme Court to allow him to stay out of prison while his sentence is under appeal. Chief Justice Roberts denied the request: [...] The elderly, frail, and heroic Navarro may not survive a purely symbolic four-month prison sentence. He may well finally collapse from his multi-year, Trump-associated, persecution nightmare — which became overdrive when Navarro publicly questioned the Biden Swamp's COVID directives. If Navarro's will to live fails at this long last, will Chief Justice Roberts still have "no basis to disagree" that the political/legal persecution, absent of any quality of mercy, of Peter Navarro was, indeed, "justice" served? Justice Roberts Denies Peter Navarro's Request for a Delay, Ex-Trump Aide Heads to Prison Next to a Zoo. Chief Justice John Roberts refused to delay Peter Navarro's four-month prison sentence Monday, meaning the former Trump trade advisor must report to a minimum-security federal Bureau of Prisons satellite camp in Miami Tuesday. The case fell into Roberts' hands because he is in charge of emergency matters arising from the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. Navarro was accused by the duplicitous January 6 Committee of plotting with another former Trump advisor, Steve Bannon, to block Congress from certifying the 2020 election results. He was subpoenaed by the committee but refused to appear and was convicted in 2023 of two counts of contempt of Congress — one for failing to produce documents and another for skipping his deposition. [Tweet] The Face of Democrat Justice. Despotism created the remand stretch in prison while waiting for trial. A de facto presumption of guilt, this was French law until the Napoleonic Criminal Code, which outlawed such practices. Peter Navarro has been remanded to prison pending appeal. President Biden's appointee, Judge Amit Priyavadan Mehta, denied Navarro's request to stay out of prison during appeal. [...] For more than 50 years the DoJ supported the policy that senior White House advisers could not be compelled to testify before Congress. This is the first time a senior White House official has been charged with this alleged crime. In President Obama's Administration, Eric Holder and Hillary Clinton each refused to hand over subpoenaed documents. They were not criminally prosecuted. Peter Navarro is 74 years old, attended Tufts University, spent three years in the Peace Corps, earned a master's degree and a PhD. at Harvard University, and has written more than a dozen books. Ex-Trump Adviser Peter Navarro [has been] Ordered to Prison Next Week. Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser to President Donald Trump who was convicted of contempt of Congress, has been ordered to report to prison next week. Arrival at a Miami detention facility on or before March 19 will see him begin serving a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with an order from the now-defunct House Jan. 6 select committee. Obama Judge Denies Dr. Peter Navarro's Request to Stay Out of Prison Pending Appeal. A federal judge on Thursday denied former Trump aide Dr. Peter Navarro's request to stay out of prison pending a decision from the appellate court. US District Judge Amit Mehta said Peter Navarro must report to prison pending his appeal unless the DC Circuit Court of Appeals blocks his order. "Defendant's cynical, self-serving claim of political bias poses no question at all, let alone a 'substantial' one," Mehta wrote in Thursday's order, according to The AP. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like 1776. Former Trump advisor Peter Navarro has been sentenced to four months in prison for defying a subpoena from the corrupt J6 committee. His real crime, of course, is standing up to our modern tyrants. You may recall that in 2012 then-President Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder defied the same "law" by ignoring a Congressional subpoena. Unlike the J6 committee that was investigating a crime that never occurred — a Trump-led insurrection — the Darryl Issa led committee that issued a subpoena to Eric Holder in 2012 was investigating a real scandal: Fast and Furious. Holder, of course, was never prosecuted, nor has he spent any time in jail, nor will he. More recently, Hunter Biden defied a congressional subpoena and still walks free. [...] To be clear, Navarro's sentencing is completely illegitimate and political. Ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro sentenced for contempt of Congress in Capitol riot probe. Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro was sentenced Thursday [1/25/2024] to four months behind bars for flouting a subpoena from the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Navarro, 74, had argued that he couldn't comply with the subpoena for his testimony and relevant documents because of executive privilege, but a DC jury convicted him in September of two counts of contempt of Congress. "I haven't heard a word of contrition from Dr. Navarro since this case began," US District Judge Amit Mehta said before imposing the penalty, including a $9,500 fine. The former presidential trade adviser made a plea for mercy, but Mehta still exceeded the mandatory minimum of two months of incarceration. Navarro insisted to journalists as he arrived that he was the subject of "a very important landmark constitutional case that is going to resolve important issues about the Constitution's separation of powers as well as the integrity and efficiency of presidential decision-making." [The] DOJ files [a] motion against Peter Navarro to produce email records from [his] time in [the] White House. The Department of Justice is requesting that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia command former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro to provide all email records from his time in the White House under the Presidential Records Act. The attorneys involved in the court case wrote in a motion filed Monday that Navarro "wrongfully continues to possess" emails he sent on an unofficial email account. The document says Navarro was, as of July 25, in possession of 200 to 250 documents that fell under the Presidential Records Act and that, his counsel has admitted, he withheld from the government, according to the filing. Some emails were obtained by the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis as part of an investigation into the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Where Is Steven D'Antuono? [Scroll down] And it's not just Trump voters who face D'Antuono's wrath. His agents publicly arrested Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House advisor, at Reagan National Airport in June on contempt of Congress charges. Navarro said FBI agents placed him in handcuffs and leg irons even though he lives next door to FBI Headquarters in Washington. Obama-appointed Judge Agrees: FBI Arrest of Peter Navarro 'Curious'. U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta agreed Friday with defendant Peter Navarro, a former economic adviser to President Donald Trump, that his abrupt arrest by the FBI at Reagan National Airport last month for contempt of Congress was bizarre. As Breitabrt News reported in June, Navarro was not provided an opportunity to turn himself in, but was treated as a flight risk and arrested at the airport: [...] According to Politico, Judge Mehta — an appointee of former President Barack Obama — agreed with Navarro that the arrest appeared excessive, given the non-violent nature of the misdemeanor crime with which he is charged. Former Trump Adviser Peter Navarro Rejects DOJ Plea Offer. Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has declined a plea offer to plead guilty to a contempt of Congress charge, the lead federal prosecutor in the case told a judge on Friday [7/15/2022]. Navarro had pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress on June 17 after he refused to cooperate with the House January 6 committee's probe into the breach of the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. He cited executive privilege due to his former position at the White House under the Trump administration. But Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the Jan. 6 committee, rejected his claims of executive privilege, and the committee voted in late March to advance criminal charges against Navarro. A grand jury indicted Navarro on June 3 on two counts: one for his refusal to produce the documents the committee requested, and the other for his refusal to comply with the committee's subpoena to show up and testify. Each count carries a maximum of one-year imprisonment. Judge rejects Navarro request to delay arraignment and orders limits on public statements. A federal judge rejected former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro's request for a delayed arraignment and issued a protective order limiting his discussion of his Jan. 6 case Monday. District Court Judge Amit Mehta noted the public interest in the case and sided with the federal prosecutors in determining that Navarro failed to make a strong argument for why a 45-day extension was necessary. "The public interest weighs in favor of moving this case forward through its preliminary stages. Whether or not counsel enters an appearance, the timing of these proceedings will be based on the factors the court is required to consider, including Defendant's need for time to prepare his defense and the public interest in bringing this matter to trial," Mehta wrote. Dershowitz: Peter Navarro Arrest 'Dangerous to Democracy'. Saturday [6/4/2022], [...] Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz warned former Trump adviser Peter Navarro's arrest could impact American democracy. Dershowitz told Newsmax TV's "The Count" Navarro's indictment was a "real scandal" given no judicial order was given for Navarro to testify that resolved his claim of executive privilege. If it stands, Dershowitz said Republicans could use it in the same way their Democrat counterparts have used it against Biden administration officials. "He has invoked a privilege," Dershowitz explained. "It's as if somebody was called to testify about what he told his priest or his doctor or his lawyer, and he invokes the privilege and immediately gets indicted, instead of the government going before a court and the judge rules whether or not the privilege applies. If you rule the privilege doesn't apply and order him to testify, then he can be held in contempt." The Week of Sussmann and Navarro. Last week we ordinary Americans took a couple of punches in the gut. First, lawyer Michael Sussmann was acquitted by a jury of lying to the FBI about who was employing him to dish dirt on Candidate Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. [...] And then the Biden administration did the thug thing on 72-year-old Trump White House official Peter Navarro and had the FBI arrest him while he was boarding a plane and put him in handcuffs and leg irons, just so they could make quite sure to have him in court the next day. Now, I have to say I am not outraged by this. No, my reaction is far deeper and philosophical. The whole point of the legal system is to invite everyone, Inner Party, Outer Party, and Proles, to bring their disputes to judges and juries — presided over by the blindfolded maiden and her scales — rather than resort to revenge and armed gangs. But if an Inner Party chappie gets a free ride, and the Outer Party chappie gets leg irons, what is the fate of the Proles in Biden's America? Hey, ruling class: you may not think about where this injustice leads, but I can. The Structural Legal Rot Runs Deep. [Scroll down] It's beyond the collapse of academia and K-12 education, the evisceration of our military, government waste, the dysfunction of our health system, and the one-sidedness of media coverage. It goes to the very heart of our legal system. This week Peter Navarro was charged by a D.C. grand jury for contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the House Select Committee, a purely partisan confection of Nancy Pelosi in violation of all the traditional House rules, and a clear propaganda operation. (Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino, Jr. cooperated to some extent and were spared. The committee also referred them for prosecution, but the department of Justice declined to prosecute them.) The charge against Navarro is a misdemeanor process crime but with significant possible consequences. Instead of following the normal procedure in such cases of notifying the person charged and allowing them to report for processing, the FBI affected to humiliate him, arrested him as he was boarding a plane and publicly handcuffing him and placing him in leg irons. Navarro arrest is a Democrat assault on American liberty. The arrest of Peter Navarro by the FBI, shock troops of the radical Democrat party, should make clear to the most hidebound Republican member of Congress that the anti-Constitution cabal is confident it will maintain power after the November 8 elections, and the presidency for decades to come. As Breitbart pointed out, the June 3 arrest of the freedom-loving Navarro came one day after he predicted that, following the midterms, the impeachment of Biden will take place by the GOP. He was arrested for defying the assault on liberty that is the January 6 House Inquisition panel. Former Trump Sr. Advisor Dr. Peter Navarro Arrested By FBI At Airport Only One Day After Mocking the "Kangaroo" J6 Committee. Yesterday, Harvard-educated Economist and former Sr. Trump Advisor Dr. Peter Navarro went toe-to-toe with the snarky MSNBC activist Ari Melber over his decision to thumb his nose at the "kangaroo" Jan 6 Committee's request to appear before them. In the interview, Navarro explained to the sniveling MSNBC host that even though he didn't believe in these make-believe congressional gangs who are acting as "judge, jury, and prosecutor," he would use the same tactics against Democrats on the "kangaroo" committee when Republicans take back Congress and the White House. "You can bet your ass that I will lead the charge" to subpoena Democrats if Republicans return to power in Washington," he said. "We'll start with the impeachment of Biden for Ukraine, the southern border, all manner of things he is guilty of, and we'll subpoena his senior staff," Navarro told Melber. Joe Biden Begins Using FBI to Arrest Political Opposition from Prior Administration. Peter Navarro was the former Senior Trade and Economic Advisor to President Trump and a staunch critic former of U.S. policy toward China. The January 6th Commission demanded all his documented communication with President Trump and anything that might be related to the authorities of the J-6 Committee. Navarro did not comply with the Democrat subpoena from the committee. Attorney General Merrick Garland, acting on the authority of Joe Biden, instructed the FBI to arrest Peter Navarro and bring him to federal incarceration. Put in more clear terms, Joe Biden is arresting his political opposition for failing to reveal confidential and privileged communication with the former President. Democrats are using the FBI as the federal police agency to arrest their political opposition. This is happening right now. Former Trump Official Peter Navarro Handcuffed and Put in Leg Irons by FBI, Joe Biden State Police Force. Former economic and trade advisor Peter Navarro appeared outside the courthouse in Washington DC after his arrest. [Two video clips] Subpoena wars: Washington is on a path to mutually assured destruction. In an initial court appearance following his arrest on Friday for contempt of Congress, former Trump adviser Peter Navarro stood before an obviously concerned federal magistrate. "Every time that you're speaking," Judge Zia Faruqui tried to explain, "it could mean potentially putting yourself at risk." It was entirely sensible advice about self-protection — and it was promptly ignored. Navarro, 72, went directly outside and blasted the charge against him, the Democrats, and the FBI. Judge Faruqui's concern was almost charmingly naive. We live in an age of the sensational, not the sensible. The Navarro case is just one skirmish in a subpoena war engulfing Washington. No one seems to be thinking much beyond the next election. The alleged plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer Recap and overview: Another overview: Another overview: Another overview: Guy Arrested in FBI's Gov Whitmer Kidnapping Set-Up Rattles Off Some Facts. A victim of the FBI plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer speaks out: "The FBI set everything up. They drove people; they paid for everything. They wrote the script." [Tweet with video clip] Why do FBI agents so regularly abuse their power? [Scroll down] Are they purposely selecting people who sign up precisely because they want to act outside the law? Consider the FBI-conceived kidnapping of Michigan's Gov. Whitmer. Agents honed in on a few men who seemed easily led, they provided the plans and weapons and then arrested them. That ridiculous plot got the then-man-in-charge, D'Antuono, promoted to Assistant in Charge of the D.C. field office where he then oversaw the hunt for Trump supporters who came to D.C. on January 6th. Given the delinquency of the last four directors (at least), one can safely assume then that those agents willing to act outside of the law with impunity rise to the top. It seems it is the willingness to abuse their power that leads to more power, then more abuse of that power. The Whitmer 'kidnapping hoax' is on the brink of collapse. The Whitmer "kidnapping plot," "fednapping," or "hoax," as it's more commonly called, is likely one of the biggest entrapment cases the FBI ever staged, aside from January 6. The two plots are intricately connected and part of the same regime scheme to paint Trump supporters as domestic terrorists. However, when news broke about this "kidnapping plot," Revolver News could smell a rat. We were ahead of the curve, being among the very first to connect the dots between the Michigan Kidnapping Plot and the January 6th Fedsurrection. Our groundbreaking article from three years ago sounded the alarm about possible federal involvement on January 6th, using the Michigan fiasco as a prime example. After all, you literally can't ignore the similarities. The Michigan scheme also had plans to storm the State Capitol. The plot centered around the "Three Percenters," a militia group with strong ties to January 6th. And just like J6, the Michigan plot was also swarming with feds and informants — actually, out of the fourteen people involved, at least five of them were FBI agents or informants. 'Conspiracy Theories' Aren't Theoretical Anymore. There is nothing demented or delusional about believing our government would willingly facilitate the murder of a political threat. The actions of the DoJ in conjunction with the legislation proposed by the Democrats makes that perfectly clear. The plot to place Donald Trump at the tender mercies of a prison's "genpop" is not the only evidence of government criminal conspiracy. The ATF really did traffic guns to Mexican drug cartels to promote gun-control legislation. One federal agent and countless civilians were killed with those guns. The DoJ sought to remove a duly elected President — even to the point of the Deputy Attorney General offering to "wear a wire" to record conversations with the President (with cabinet support). The FBI really did set up some useful idiots to advanced their domestic terrorist narrative (the Governor Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping). It was a classic entrapment scheme in which federal assets planned the crime, and hapless stooges stepped in the trap. All this is changing our worldview and is causing us to observe our government with a new level of skepticism. The FBI's Double Agent. The alleged plot coincided with growing concern about far-right political violence in America. But the FBI quickly realized it had a problem: A key informant in the case, a career snitch with a long rap sheet, had helped to orchestrate the kidnapping plot. During the undercover sting, the FBI ignored crimes that the informant, Stephen Robeson, appeared to have committed, including fraud and illegal possession of a sniper rifle. The Whitmer kidnapping case followed a pattern familiar from hundreds of previous FBI counterterrorism stings that have targeted Muslims in the post-9/11 era. Those cases too raised questions about whether the crimes could have happened at all without the prodding of undercover agents and informants. [...] The files also raise questions about whether the FBI pursued a larger, secret effort to encourage political violence in the run-up to the 2020 election. At least one undercover FBI agent and two informants in the Michigan case were also involved in stings centering on plots to assassinate the governor of Virginia and the attorney general of Colorado. The FBI — the Dog That Turned on Its Master. In the runup to the 2020 election, the Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field office, Steven D'Antuono, oversaw what is now widely recognized as an entrapment scheme — the Governor Whitmer kidnapping case. The FBI used paid assets to talk a bunch of drug and alcohol-addled halfwits into the kidnapping plot. It was a political dirty trick carried out to assert that President Trump's rhetoric was responsible for a rise in domestic terrorism. However, in court it was discovered that the FBI had as many assets involved in the "conspiracy" as there were alleged domestic terrorists. In fact, the FBI assets had planned every aspect of the operation, and actively recruited others to join the "conspiracy." Under FBI guidance, the "conspirators" had even conducted a protest at the Michigan Capital, which was eerily similar to the events of January 6 — almost as if it were a dress rehearsal. As the case went to trial, D'Antuono was promoted to head the Washington Field Office — just in time for January 6. MI attorney general should be immediately impeached for her statement on "Whitmer kidnapping" jury. It's no secret that Dana Nessel, the angry lesbian attorney general from Michigan, is a vicious Trump-hater. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has assembled an entire "Seal Team" of jaded women to run Michigan, and as a result, the state is falling apart. However, what Dana Nessel just did in regards to the recent Whitmer kidnapping jury goes beyond the typical hysterical emotions we've come to expect with liberal women and President Trump. Now we're venturing into forbidden prosecutorial conduct that, in a serious country, would result in Nessel's immediate removal from office. This latest blow to our judicial system revolves around the recent acquittal of three men caught up in the federal government's attempt to stage a "kidnapping" of Gretchen Whitmer. The entire case unraveled, primarily due to the significant presence of federal agents and informants compared to actual "bad guys." It amounted to nothing more than an FBI entrapment scheme, and this was evident to many jurors. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel Scolds 'Right-Leaning' Jurors for Acquittals in Whitmer Kidnapping Trials. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel blamed "right-leaning" jurors for the various acquittals returned in criminal trials over the alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). On Friday, A Michigan jury found three men not guilty in the alleged kidnapping plot, bringing the total number of acquittals to five out of the ten cases that went to trial. [...] Nessel's comments received backlash from federal prosecutors and one of the acquitted defendant's attorneys. Matthew Schneider, who was a United States Attorney in Detroit in 2020 when the FBI broke up the kidnapping plot, told the Associated Press that Nessel's remarks were inappropriate. Last Three Men Charged in Whitmer 'Kidnapping' Plot Found Not Guilty. The feds officially failed in their attempt to imprison three more innocent men on Friday over their involvement in the FBI-manufactured "kidnapping" plot targeting Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. [Several tweets] Kudos to the jury for seeing through the feds' lies and freeing these innocent men. Final Three Men Acquitted in Junk Whitmer Kidnapping Case. Twin brothers William and Michael Null, along with Eric Molitor, were acquitted on Friday by an Antrim County, Michigan, jury on charges of providing material support for a terrorist act and illegally possessing firearms. The three men faced up to 20 years in prison for their alleged crimes. [Tweet] The entire plot was hatched, planned, paid for, and executed by paid FBI informants. The FBI informants pushed the violent plans to kidnap Whitmer. It was all a setup. Whitmer Kidnap Judge: Defense Can't Cite FBI Entrapment Efforts. During Tuesday's opening statements at the trial of three men accused of aiding the 2020 alleged militia plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, defense attorney Bill Barnett made accurate statements about an FBI informant involved in the case — describing how the informant, Dan Chappel, became the second in command of a militia, trained his fellow members and encouraged them to commit crimes. State prosecutor Bill Rollstin objected to Barnett's factual statements, accusing him of trying to "poison the jury" by arguing that the FBI entrapped his client. Barnett responded to Rollstin's claim by arguing that he's only presenting true facts to the jury. "I was stating facts that are in the police reports. Everything's a fact. They don't want to hear facts in this case," he said. Unsung Heroes of 2022: Whitmer Fednapping Defense Attorneys. A federal courtroom in Grand Rapids this week once again demonstrated how far removed we are from America's founding principles of free speech, blind justice, commensurate punishment, and due process of law. The two-day performance by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Jonker demonstrated how much closer we are to a totalitarian police state where federal agents spy on and entrap citizens in a successful effort to criminalize political activity and send a warning to other dissidents — all with the solemn imprimatur of the judicial system. Jonker, who has presided over the federal case against six men accused of conspiring to kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, didn't attempt to hide his bias during the sentencing hearings for two defendants, Adam Fox and Barry Croft, Jr., convicted of that crime in August. Both, after all, were found guilty at a retrial in large part due to Jonker's activism from the bench on behalf of the government. (Fox and Croft received a hung jury in the first trial in April; two co-defendants were acquitted on all charges.) Homeless Man Deemed Whitmer Kidnapping Plot 'Ringleader' Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison. Adam Fox, the homeless man the feds framed as the "ringleader" of the FBI-led plot to "kidnap" Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Tuesday. The feds were asking for Fox to be given a life sentence but the judge — despite being totally biased in favor of the prosecution — seems to have been uncomfortable with giving him life in prison just for political gain. Three Men Sentenced to Prison in Scheme to Kidnap Michigan Governor. Three men found guilty of "providing material support for a terrorist act" in connection with the foiled plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer were sentenced to prison on Thursday [12/15/2022]. Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar were members of a paramilitary group, the Wolverine Watchmen, that trained with Adam Fox, who was the alleged leader in the scheme, according to prosecutors. The three men were not charged with having a direct role in the plot but were also charged with gun violations and membership in a gang. Musico was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison. Morrison, who is Musico's son in law, was sentenced to ten years and Bellar received a seven-year sentence. Is Congress Poised to Investigate Whitmer Fednapping Hoax? Afederal judge next month is scheduled to sentence two men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her lakeside cottage in the fall of 2020. Adam Fox, the alleged ringleader, and Barry Croft, Jr. face years in prison. During the first trial in April, Fox and Croft received a hung jury while two co-defendants were acquitted on all charges based on extensive evidence of FBI entrapment. A jury found Fox and Croft guilty after a second trial in August thanks to the same judge putting his thumb — body? — on the scale in favor of the government. But the matter is far from over. Defense attorneys are expected to file an appeal following the sentencing hearing on December 28 and will likely include allegations of juror misconduct and judicial bias during the retrial. Where Is Steven D'Antuono? [Scroll down] The FBI field office primarily responsible for running the entrapment scheme was located in Detroit — at the time headed by none other than Steven M. D'Antuono. Unlike his public self-praise for the FBI's role in the January 6 investigation, however, D'Antuono has been uncharacteriscially mum about what the government considers its biggest domestic terror investigation in recent history. That's because it wasn't an investigation; it was a set up. No fewer than a dozen FBI undercover agents and informants worked at the direction of FBI officials in numerous field offices to engineer the scam. Agents with D'Antuono's office in Detroit hired and handled the lead informant, a man named Dan Chappel, to stitch the group of alleged kidnappers together over a seven month period beginning in early 2020. Two Men Convicted of Conspiring to Kidnap Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. A federal judge convicted two men on Tuesday of conspiring in 2020 to kidnap Democratic Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. The two men, Adam Fox and Barry Croft, face a maximum sentence of life in prison for the kidnapping conspiracy, and were also convicted on one count of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, as the men allegedly planned to blow up a bridge near Whitmer's home to hinder the government's response. Fox and Croft's first trial ended in a mistrial. Two men pleaded guilty before the first trial and two others were acquitted of all charges in April. Defense attorneys claimed that the men were entrapped by more than a dozen government undercover agents and informants who "conceived and controlled every aspect" of the plot to kidnap the governor. Think the FBI Deserves the Benefit of the Doubt? In October 2020, the FBI revealed that a plot to kidnap Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had been heroically foiled by federal law enforcement. A group of far-right militiamen, the story goes, conspired to kidnap the governor and try her as a "tyrant" in Wisconsin. In July last year, however, BuzzFeed revealed that at least 12 people involved were FBI informants orchestrating another entrapment. "The problem with the case is that it appears the FBI, through informants and undercover agents, hatched the kidnapping plot, served in the key leadership positions of the militia group, trained the militia members in military tactics, actively recruited participants, and funded much of the militia's activities," reported former CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer Max Morton. "Then, when various members of the Watchman militia became uncomfortable with the kidnapping plot, with several quitting, the FBI's primary informant pushed the plot along, eventually becoming the militia group's leader." In April, a jury refused to convict four of the 14 defendants charged. Two were found not guilty, another two concluded the trial with no verdict, and another two took plea deals. Whitmer fednapping exposes moral rot of FBI. Shared hotel rooms. Fake militias. Booze and pot. Planted evidence. Phony bomb makers. Criminal FBI informants. Wife-beating wife-swappers. No, that's not the latest iteration of the "X Files" but the real-life drama of the FBI-concocted scheme to "kidnap" Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. The better-than-television saga is again unfolding in a Grand Rapids courtroom this month as the Department of Justice retries two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer right before the 2020 presidential election. In April, prosecutors failed to win a single conviction in one of the government's biggest domestic terror investigations in decades. A jury acquitted two men — Brandon Caserta and Daniel Harris — on every count after defense attorneys successfully argued their clients were entrapped by the FBI. Brave Reporter Julie Kelly Explains Connection Between FBI Whitmer Kidnapping Plot, Jan 6 and Raid on Mar-a-Lago. Every day more comes out about how corrupt and Democrat-controlled the FBI and Department of Justice are. From the entrapment case in the alleged kidnapping plot of Michigan's Governor Whitmer, which was organized and instigated by the FBI, to the rampant mistreatment of January 6th defendants and the suspicious and unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Lago, every event of the past few years seems to confirm a move towards one-party authoritarian rule by the Democrats through a weaponized DOJ and FBI. [Video clip] FBI Director Christopher Wray puts on a disgraceful display. Just yesterday, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on a host of topics, and the answers were quite revealing[.] Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questioned Wray about the case against four individuals who allegedly conspired to kidnap Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. Cruz noted that among the four accused who were tried, two were acquitted and two received mistrials; i.e., none were convicted of any charge. Cruz pointed out that the "basis of the defense was entrapment, that the FBI, that paid informants for the FBI had suggested and had incited the conduct." Wray refused to comment if any FBI agent had received discipline or was reprimanded after "the misconduct that led to every defendant being acquitted or having a mistrial on every charge." Men who allegedly tried to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to stand trial again. The alleged masterminds of an extremist plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and start a civil war ahead of the 2020 presidential election will be re-tried after a jury failed to reach a verdict in their cases earlier this year. A federal judge set a trial date in August for Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. Thursday after declining their lawyer's request to clear them of conspiracy and weapons charges. "We don't know what the jury was thinking. ... There's enough here to say that a rational jury could still go against Mr. Fox, go against Mr. Croft, even considering the outcome with respect for Mr. [Daniel] Harris and Mr. [Brandon] Caserta," US District Judge Robert Jonker said, referencing two alleged co-conspirators that were found not guilty. Fox and Croft were part of a paramilitary militia group called "Wolverine Watchmen" that planned to abduct Whitmer at her vacation home because they were upset over the COVID-19 restrictions and mandates enacted by the 50-year-old Democrat, prosecutors alleged. Whitmer Hoax Defendant: 'My Life Got Taken Away From Me'. Brandon Caserta had just ordered take-out — a bacon double cheeseburger with jalapeno and avocado that the restaurant named the "Spicy Brando" in his honor — when a coworker said the plant manager needed to see him. Instead of leaving to take his lunch break as planned, Caserta, who at the time worked as a machinist in a Michigan factory that manufactures parts for Ford trucks, walked to his boss' office to see what was up. When Caserta entered the office on October 7, 2020, at least 15 masked FBI agents and local law enforcement officers immediately tackled him to the ground. "Stop resisting, you're under arrest!" they shouted, according to Caserta, who spoke with American Greatness by phone for four hours this week to discuss his nearly two-year ordeal at the hands of the U.S. government. Caserta was taken from Plymouth to Ypsilanti that evening and interrogated. Hours later, FBI agents finally revealed why he was under arrest: for conspiring to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of Michigan. Report: FBI Corruption Targets Millions of Americans. The most recent example involved the supposed kidnapping plot against Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer. Just prior to the 2020 election, the FBI made a big show of taking down several "right-wing" extremists who we were assured were deadly serious about going after the Democrat governor. Of course, it was just one big coincidence that the government made its move during a time period that exacted maximum political harm against Donald Trump by pushing a left-wing narrative about "domestic terrorism." In early April, though, two men were acquitted of conspiracy (with the jury hanging on the rest of the alleged suspects) after they successfully argued that they had been entrapped. That wasn't a new theory, either. RedState and other outlets had been pointing out for years that the entire situation stunk, and that it appeared the FBI cooked up the plan while manipulating vulnerable men to take part in it. Last I checked, the government isn't supposed to be in the business of instigating crimes that otherwise wouldn't have been committed, but here we are. Inside the FBI's infiltration and entrapment of a Michigan militia crew. The FBI got walloped last week when a Michigan jury concluded that the bureau had entrapped two men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Those men and others were arrested a few weeks before the 2020 election in a high-profile, FBI-fabricated case that Joe Biden claimed showed President Trump's "tolerance of hate, vengeance, and lawlessness to plots such as this one." But the jury verdict exposes how the feds have created the monsters they parade to vindicate their vast power over Americans. Michigan was a swing state in the 2020 election. When the arrests were announced, Whitmer speedily denounced Trump for inciting "domestic terrorism." Biden won the 2020 election because of the early voting, and the Michigan kidnapping plot was one of the biggest stories in October 2020. Prior to the presidential election, Attorney General Bill Barr assured that news did not leak about multiple federal investigations into Hunter Biden. But the FBI felt no such constraints and trumpeted a ludicrous scheme that was shot down even by a jury that a federal judge had largely blindfolded. Justice Department Plans to Re-Try Two Remaining Whitmer Fednapping Defendants. Despite a humiliating defeat in what the Justice Department considered one of its biggest domestic terror investigations in recent history, federal prosecutors announced they will re-try two men who were not acquitted last week on charges of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. [...] Defense attorneys argued the men were entrapped by the FBI, which the jury presumably believed in the case of Harris and Caserta. Numerous FBI experts and agents took the stand for the government, as did Dan Chappel, the lead informant and one of his FBI handlers. The three-week trial exposed a wide-ranging operation inside the FBI and Justice Department to target the men — who did not know each other until the FBI got involved — infiltrate the group with informants and undercover agents, create encrypted group chats monitored by the FBI, plan and fund excursions including a surveillance trip to Whitmer's summer cottage, secretly record every conversation including when the targets were high on marijuana, and drive several defendants to the arrest site in October 2020 under a phony pretense. The Entire Gretchen Whitmer "Kidnapping" Case Was Exposed As A Fraud — A Full Recap. Just weeks before the 2020 election, the FBI announced that it had thwarted an attempt by rightwing terrorists to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan. At the time, Whitmer was taking intense criticism for her draconian handling of the COVID pandemic. [...] When the arrests were made in 2020, we were told by the MSM that the plot involved a group of violent militia members, who were upset about Whitmer's pandemic measures — which included restrictions on travel and assembly. We were assured that the incendiary language of political conservatives inspired the kidnappers. It was reported that the group intended to use firearms and explosives to abduct Whitmer from her lake home and sneak her out of the state. Fortunately, the FBI thwarted the attempt. It was billed as a shining example of the world's preeminent law enforcement agency in action. Whitmer, Pelosi, and Schumer all ran to the microphones on the eve of the election to condemn the rhetoric of conservatives. Joe Biden phoned it in from his basement. It was a perfect media storm, just a month before the election. FBI Kidnapping Caper Was Flagrant Election Interference. [Scroll down] Despite endless resources and favorable rulings by the judge overseeing the case, the government failed to secure a single conviction in what the Justice Department considered one of its largest domestic terror investigations ever. Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, after a year and a half in prison, went home to their families on Friday night; Adam Fox, the alleged ringleader, and Barry Croft, Jr. remain incarcerated while Birge's office prepares to retry the men — a fool's errand, as they didn't know each other prior to the FBI's involvement in the faux plot and live almost 1,000 miles apart. (Croft resides in Delaware.) It's a desperate attempt to save face, regardless of the lives and the principles of justice at stake. Not only were jurors unpersuaded by Birge's prosecutors, the jury instead seemed to believe defense attorneys' arguments that their clients were entrapped by the FBI. At least a dozen FBI undercover agents and informants, working out of numerous FBI field offices across the eastern half of the country and at the direction of supervising agents, concocted and funded the sting operation. How the FBI Got Whacked By Their Own Boomerang in the Gretchen Whitmer Kidnapping Case. This is a massive scandal. I know I'm being generous here after the Russian collusion hoax, but whatever crumb of credibility the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice has now been lost. The Gretchen Whitmer circus has finally come down. It's been exposed. This case was weaponized by Democrats for the 2020 election to attack Donald Trump over an alleged kidnapping plot against Whitmer over her COVID-19 protocols. Members of a militia group were supposedly involved. What was seen as a slam-dunk case by the Feds turned out to be an embarrassing exposure of their entrapment games that netted them zero convictions in this case. Zilch. Two men were outright found not guilty by a federal jury. The rest were deadlocked. It's over, and if the FBI wants to rehash all their embarrassing moments in this case — be our guest. [Tweet] Justice Has Been and Will Be a Long Time Coming. On Friday, April 8, the biggest domestic news came from Grand Rapids, Michigan. On that day the world learned that a jury had voted unanimously to acquit Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta of conspiring to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer in the fall of 2020. [...] There were some two dozen people involved in the "Plot to Kidnap Gretchen Whitmer" saga. Fully 12 were FBI assets. They were not there to infiltrate the loser militia members. They were there to egg them on. The FBI helped to define and finance the plot from the beginning. They even set up a fake "militia" for the others to rally around. They also helped to equip, not to mention bribe, the motley crew whom they assembled for the caper. The FBI did not uncover a plot. They were prime movers in fomenting a plot. They did not so much uncover evidence against the plotters as they entrapped them. And it's not as if this is a one off. It is part of a pattern of abuse and irresponsibility. As the Wall Street Journal's Holmon Jenkins put it last fall, "The agency should be scrapped and something new built to replace it." Not one Whitman "kidnapper" is convicted. I'll confess to having been fascinated with the entire Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping trial from the beginning. Not because I'm a fan of kidnapping, of course, but it was just such a bizarre story right from the beginning, sounding more like the script for a Steven Soderbergh film than something that would unfold in real life. Unfortunately for the prosecutors, however, the case presented to the jury apparently sounded more like it really was a work of fiction than something that was based in reality. The jurists deliberated for quite a while, but they eventually acquitted two of the four men who were charged and failed to reach a decision on the other two, leading Judge Robert Jonker to finally declare a mistrial. The suspects were facing the potential of life in prison if they had been convicted. No Convictions in Whitmer 'Kidnapping' Case, Another Black Eye For the FBI. A Grand Rapids, Mich., jury delivered no convictions in the FBI's case against supposed "right-wing radicals" involving their plan to kidnap Michigan's Democrat governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Investigative reporter Julie Kelly stated on the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show that the FBI operation intended to paint right-wingers as dangerous prior to the 2020 elections. The "kidnap crew" contained more FBI agents and informers than civilians partaking in the supposed scheme. It appears as though the FBI concocted the plan and then tried to recruit people to join them. The jury returned no verdict on Adam Fox, the supposed ring-leader, and on Barry Croft as well. Both ended in a mistrial. They may have to go back for another trial. Jury acquits 2 in Whitmer case, mistrial declared for 2 others. Jurors in Michigan on Friday [4/8/2022] acquitted two men of prosecutorial claims they conspired to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer because of her heavy-handed abuse of the constitutional rights of the state's residents during COVID. A mistrial was declared regarding two other defendants. A jury of six men and six women found Brandon Caserta and Daniel Harris not guilty on all counts, but did not reach verdicts for two other defendants in the trial, Barry Croft and Adams Fox. U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge said he was disappointed, but credited the jury with listening "to a lot of evidence." In Michigan, a jury punished FBI entrapment in the Whitmer kidnap plot case. Events on January 6, followed by the government's totalitarian approach to dealing with people who dared to enter the Capitol with the Capitol police's invitation, distracted people from another case of government overreach: in Michigan, the Department of Justice accused six men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer in late 2020. Although two men pleaded out, four went to trial. On Friday, the jury acquitted two of the defendants and deadlocked as to the other two, resulting in a mistrial. The reason for this DOJ failure? The fact that the FBI made up 12 of the 18 people involved in the plot and were clearly entrapping the remaining six. Prosecutors Fail to Secure a Single Guilty Verdict in Alleged Whitmer Kidnapping Plot. A jury acquitted two men accused by the FBI of conspiring to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and could not reach verdicts on two other men involved in the alleged plot. Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were found not guilty on the charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Harris was also found not guilty of other weapons charges pertaining to the case. The jury said they could not agree on verdicts for Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., who were also charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the alleged plot. As a result, U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker declared a mistrial for Fox and Croft. The defendants faced life in prison if convicted on the kidnapping charge. Michigan governor kidnap case: hardened terrorists or FBI dupes? [Scroll down] At the moment the FBI arrested the men, prosecutors argued in court, they had plans to acquire a bomb to blow up a bridge near Whitmer's home to hinder police. Jurors, they have said, would see social media posts and hear secretly recorded conversations, highly inflammatory language and details of a plan to take down a "tyrant". When they were arrested the case seemed a slam dunk. But as more evidence has unfolded and the trial has begun, a different narrative has emerged. Far from being a dedicated bunch of coup-plotters, their attorneys argue, the Wolverine Watchmen are hapless victims of FBI entrapment who had been induced by paid informants to commit crimes they would not otherwise have considered. The FBI, according to defense filings, deployed at least 12 informants, as well as several undercover agents. "There was no plan, there was no agreement and no kidnapping," defense attorney Joshua Blanchard said last week. It is not an entirely outlandish claim. The defense's argument of FBI entrapment draws on a long history. FBI Fed Drugs to Alleged Whitmer Kidnapping Plotters Before the Tapes Rolled. In October 2020, 14 arrests were made due to an alleged shocking plot to kidnap the sitting governor of one of the country's most populous states. As more details were revealed, it became clear the FBI was involved in not only arresting the suspects in an alleged plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but also in helping to plot to take form in the first place. At the opening of the trial last week for four of the men charged, defense attorneys made a stunning claim: Not only did the FBI entrap the accused, but an FBI informant plied the suspects with drugs. 'Stoned Crazy Talk, Not a Plan' Say Whitmer Defendants. For months, defense attorneys representing the men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 have built a convincing case of FBI entrapment, filing dozens of motions in federal court detailing how the government concocted the plot with at least a dozen FBI undercover agents and informants. But District Court Judge Robert Jonker wanted to delay presenting that trove of evidence at trial for as long as possible. Days before jurors took their seats in his Grand Rapids courtroom on Wednesday morning [3/9/2022], Jonker issued an order that warned "initial opening statements and evidence during the government's case-in-chief — on both direct and cross — must address and be relevant to issues other than entrapment." Jonker's plan, however, didn't make it past the first morning break. After it became clear during opening statements that the defense could not argue their case without explaining the deep involvement of the FBI's confidential human sources, Jonker reversed his ruling, telling the jury that "it won't be possible to draw a line between the government proving their case and entrapment." The FBI Goes on Trial in the Whitmer Case. Jury selection begins in a Grand Rapids courtroom Tuesday morning [3/8/2022] in the federal trial of four men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. The long-awaited trial centers on the question of whether a loose band of misfits angry at pandemic lockdowns hatched a sinister plot to abduct Whitmer from her vacation cottage and possibly kill her — or if the foiled caper was yet another successful attempt by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to interfere in a election and sabotage Donald Trump's presidential campaign. [...] Further, Special Counsel John Durham continues his slow drip of evidence revealing how Democratic Party operatives used the FBI to sanitize political propaganda before the 2016 election. To that end, the Whitmer trial will expose just what the FBI is capable of and willing to do to help Democrats score political points at the most opportune moments. Judge rules feds did not entrap three men charged in Whitmer kidnap plot. A Jackson County judge Tuesday denied a motion to dismiss the criminal cases against three men accused in a plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer because their lawyers had argued the FBI entrapped their clients. Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wilson said an FBI investigation, which involved the use of an informant identified in court only as Dan, did not "escalate" the alleged plot by the Michigan-based militia Wolverine Watchmen to kidnap Whitmer. The alleged plot, which prosecutors have said was spawned in anger over Whitmer's COVID-19 policies and mandates at the start of the pandemic, was foiled in October of 2020. The Gretchen Whitmer Kidnapping Plot Looks an Awful Lot Like Entrapment. The militia members who allegedly plotted to kidnap Michigan's Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer because of her COVID-19 lockdown policies will go to trial in just a few weeks. Six were charged in connection with the plot, and one of them has already pleaded guilty and is expected to testify against the rest. State authorities charged eight others with aiding a terrorist plot. But the government's case against these 14 alleged extremists relies on work done by at least a dozen government informants and undercover FBI agents whose extensive involvement in the plot calls into question whether it would have moved forward at all without the government's prodding. Some of these government actors took lead roles in organizing the supposed plot — one of the informants was even paid $54,000 by the FBI. Taken together, these and other details raise the strong possibility that the militia members were victims of entrapment on the part of the FBI. Will the Arrogance of the FBI Ever End? At a recent Judiciary Committee hearing Sen. Ted Cruz put the FBI Executive Assistant Director of the National Security Branch, Jill Sandborn, on the spot when he cross-examined her on how many FBI informants, agents and assets participated in the January 6, 2021 riots on Capitol Hill. She refused to answer question after question, claiming that she could not disclose "specifics of sources and methods." She even refused to answer the question, "Did any FBI agents or confidential informants commit crimes of violence on January 6th?" Senator Cruz had every reason to ask those questions after the news hit that about half of the participants in the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer were FBI informants. They reportedly pushed the kidnaping plot while the FBI provided funding for it. The FBI agent in charge of the "investigation" was promoted to the Washington, D.C. field office, perhaps just in time to supervise a similar operation on January 6th. Defense lawyers have asked the federal judge presiding over the case in Michigan to order the Justice Department to provide "use immunity" to FBI agents and informants they want to cross-examine at trial. A purported 'Patriot Front' video has all the hallmarks of a false flag. One of the unpleasant realities that became patently clear during 2021 is that leftist operatives, whether inside or outside of the government, have a new tactic to discredit conservativism: They pretend to be conservatives, either to entrap conservatives or to falsely expose them as bad people. [...] 2021 offered some superb examples of leftists playing at being conservatives. Sometimes it's for entrapment purposes, as happened with the so-called "plot" to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. In that case, more than half the people involved in the plot and, indeed, actively planning the plot, were, in fact, affiliated with the FBI. More Trouble for the FBI in the Whitmer Kidnapping Case. [Scroll down] But the press does not share the same zeal in covering another politically charged investigation: the imploding criminal case against five men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. The kidnapping narrative shares many similarities with their preferred telling of January 6, not the least of which is that alleged militias incited by Trump attempted to carry out a domestic terror attack. [...] Perhaps the media considers it a mere coincidence that the head of the FBI Detroit field office overseeing the Whitmer plot was promoted to head of the FBI Washington, D.C. field office several weeks before January 6? Defense attorneys in the Whitmer case are making a strong case for FBI entrapment, detailing egregious misconduct by the agency, and asking a judge to dismiss the charges. At least a dozen FBI agents and confidential human sources orchestrated the kidnapping scheme; defense attorneys claim the feds "actively planned and coordinated its efforts to induce the defendants to engage in incriminating behavior and statements, even going so far as designing the objective and structural components of the [kidnapping] conspiracy." The FBI's Broken Relationship with Us. All large organizations suffer from the occasional presence of bad actors. The FBI is no exception. But it managed to retain a good relationship with the public in spite of its flaws, because it was still solving rather than creating crimes. But something fundamentally changed in the last five years. [...] We were told that the FBI heroically thwarted a kidnapping attempt of Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Then we learned that there wasn't one informant involved. There were twelve informants — involved in every aspect of recruiting and planning. Next, the lead agent, Richard Trask, was fired from the FBI after being arrested for beating his wife after a swingers' party. Prior to his arrest, Trask was the public face of the investigation — and filed the original criminal complaint under oath. Last month, Will Cain, sitting in for Tucker Carlson, revealed that two more agents (unnamed) have been removed from the case and will not be testifying. Was the kidnapping a thwarted crime or a setup? It seems fair to ask, doesn't it? The Likely Cause of the Media Blackout on Imploding Whitmer Kidnapping Plot. Once upon a time in America, a high-profile federal prosecution imploding amid credible accusations of FBI entrapment would earn wall-to-wall headlines in the national news media. A wife-beating FBI agent who used at least one criminal informant and a dozen more government assets to concoct a plot to abduct a sitting governor — intended to create damaging headlines for an incumbent president right before Election Day — would receive nonstop coverage on cable and broadcast news outlets. Social media would be flooded with all the juicy details. Names like "Richard Trask" and "Stephen Robeson" would be household names. But none of that is happening with the Justice Department's rapidly crumbling case against several men arrested for allegedly conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation cottage in the fall of 2020. Defense attorneys have made a strong case that without the FBI's guiding hand — and deep pockets courtesy of American taxpayers — the scheme never would have materialized past random social media chatter. FBI Informant in Whitmer Kidnapping Plot Was a 'Double Agent': Prosecutors. Responding to arguments from defendants in the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping case that they were entrapped by the FBI, the Department of Justice has said that one of its undercover informants was, in fact, a "double agent" working with the kidnappers against the government. The DOJ's revelation came Jan. 6 in a response to a motion from the defendants to admit as evidence 258 statements they believe will prove the FBI entrapped them. The statements that the defendants want to have admitted as evidence include audio recordings, where an FBI informant "Steve" is allegedly heard making statements about how to plan and execute the kidnapping of Whitmer. The defendants — Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta — argue that these statements will prove that it was FBI informants like Steve who actually facilitated and encouraged the failed plot. But far from helping facilitate the plot, one of the FBI's 12 informants actively helped the defendants to thwart government's investigation, prosecutors said in their Jan. 6 filing. The FBI's Criminal Lead Informant in Whitmer 'Kidnapping' Caper. In June 2020, as the country attempted to recover from deadly and destructive riots after the death of George Floyd, a man from Wisconsin hosted a national conference of self-styled "militia" members in a suburban Columbus, Ohio hotel. Stephen Robeson, founder of the Wisconsin chapter of the Three Percenters, an alleged militia group on the FBI's naughty list, pestered his contacts across the country to participate in the gathering. People who attended the conference, including two men later charged with federal crimes related to a plot to abduct Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation cottage in 2020, observed that the hotel was crawling with federal agents. One of the feds at the conference was none other than Stephen Robeson himself. Without Robeson's deep involvement as an FBI informant, the Whitmer kidnapping caper never would have made national headlines a few weeks before Election Day; in fact, the whole pre-election drama wouldn't have materialized at all. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping: Cracks forming in federal case. Problems continue to pile up for federal prosecutors in the lead up to the March 8 trial for the five men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Prosecutors confirmed in mid-December they would not call on three FBI agents closely linked to the investigation due to allegations of personal and professional misconduct. Also in December, a key undercover informant involved in the case was charged with fraud in an unrelated case in Wisconsin. In a pair of explosive filings submitted on Christmas Day and on Wednesday, defense attorneys presented evidence they said proves the FBI and its confidential informants "conceived and controlled every aspect" of the plot to kidnap Whitmer. "These defendants had no desire whatsoever to kidnap anyone," the defense attorneys said in their filing. Is the Whitmer 'Kidnapping' Case About to be Tossed? The U.S. Department of Justice received an unwelcome Christmas gift from defense attorneys representing five men charged with conspiring to "kidnap" Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020: a motion to dismiss the case. The Christmas Day filing is the latest blow to the government's scandal-ridden prosecution; defense counsel is building a convincing argument that the FBI used undercover agents and informants to entrap their clients in a wide-ranging scheme that resulted in bad press for Donald Trump as early voting was underway in the key swing state last year. What began as random social media chatter to oppose lockdown policies quickly morphed into a dangerous plan to abduct Whitmer as soon as the FBI took over. A Michigan judge delayed the trial, now set for March 8, so defense attorneys could investigate the misconduct of FBI special agents handling at least a dozen government informants involved in the caper. Whitmer kidnapping plot suspects seek dismissal of charges, say FBI invented conspiracy. Defense attorneys for five men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) are seeking a dismissal of the indictment, citing "egregious overreaching" by federal officials, who they say invented a conspiracy and entrapped the men. If convicted in the alleged extremist kidnapping conspiracy, the five men — Adam Fox, 38, Barry Croft, 46, Kaleb Franks, 27, Daniel Harris, 24, and Brandon Caserta, 33 — face up to life in prison. "When the government was faced with evidence showing that the defendants had no interest in a kidnapping plot, it refused to accept failure and continued to push its plan," the mens' attorneys wrote. The Detroit News reports that the 20-page motion for dismissal was filed Christmas night. Defense attorneys claim that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and federal prosecutors took advantage of frustration with Whitmer's stringent COVID-19 restrictions and created the conspiracy. Was the FBI's Whitmer Chicanery a Warm-up for January 6? As questions mount about the government's animating role in the Capitol protest on January 6, the criminal case against the men charged with conspiring to "kidnap" Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 continues to collapse. Defense attorneys in the Whitmer case are carefully compiling evidence that depicts an elaborate tale of FBI entrapment; at least a dozen FBI informants were involved in the failed plot — equaling one FBI asset per defendant. FBI agents handling the informants directed every move. They funded training and reconnaissance trips, and even organized a "national militia" conference in Ohio in June 2020 to lure potential accomplices. Several men were arrested in October 2020 when the lead informant drove them to meet an undercover FBI agent to purchase munitions, the six month-long scheme's dramatic conclusion. News of the shocking plot made national headlines as early voting was underway in Michigan: Joe Biden, Whitmer, and the media blamed Donald Trump for inciting an attempted domestic terror attack. (Sound familiar?) Was January 6 Part of the FBI's 'Operation Cold Snap'? [I]n June 2020, days after the nation was roiled by Black Lives Matter looting and rioting, a man from Wisconsin named Stephen Robeson sponsored a "National Militia Conference" at a Dublin hotel. (Yes, that was the real name of the event.) According to BuzzFeed's exceptional July 2021 investigative report on the FBI-led plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, Robeson "helped organize the national meeting, and he was enthusiastically pushing people he knew to attend." The purpose of the conference was to recruit people who ultimately would stoke "political violence" against governors who refused to reopen their states after lockdowns supposedly necessitated by COVID. Some participants said Robeson, known as "Robey," relentlessly pestered them until they agreed to show up; people came from as far as Maryland and Kansas City, BuzzFeed's Ken Bensinger and Jessica Garrison reported. One member of the Three Percenters, an alleged militia group on the FBI's naughty list, observed people taking photos from discreet locations in the hotel. "The feds are everywhere," he thought to himself. Indeed. One of the feds was Robeson himself. FBI agent, 39, investigating Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plot is fired two months after he was arrested. An FBI agent who has played a key role in the prosecution of more than a dozen 'militia' members who plotted to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been fired from the agency, two months after he was arrested for allegedly beating his wife. Richard Trask, 39, was involved in the prosecution of a group of far-right 'militia' members, claiming in court documents that they plotted to kidnap the Michigan governor and dump her in a lake over her strict COVID mandates. But in July, Trask's reputation started to take a nosedive when he was arrested for assault with intent to do great bodily harm after he allegedly beat his wife in their home following a disagreement at a swingers party. Key FBI agent in Whitmer kidnapping plot posted anti-Trump rants online during investigation. Federal prosecutors dropped the testimony of an FBI special agent involved in the investigation of an alleged plot to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after findings he called former President Donald Trump [bad] on social media during the investigation's course, according to a defense attorney. Michael Hills — who represents defendant Brandon Caserta, who is among the six people charged in the case — said during a court hearing Thursday [9/2/2021] that prosecutors decided not to use Agent Richard Trask's testimony during a pending October trial. Prosecutors gave defense teams access to Trask's social media posts this week, with at least one taking aim at Trump and his supporters, Hills said, according to the Detroit News. FBI Agent: "Mission is to kill the governor". As we previously discussed, the FBI — by way of its informants — has been credibly accused of conceiving the idea to attack/kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. New text messages (that were recently filed with the court along with a supplement to defendants' motion to compel — all available [elsew]here) show conversations between an FBI Agent and his confidential informant proving that the FBI Agent sought to instigate a plot to kill Governor Whitmer. Here it is. FBI Special Agent Jayson Chambers directs FBI informant "Big Dan" to develop a plot: [...] More Similarities Between the Whitmer Plot and January 6. The first defendant to plead guilty in the alleged scheme to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer will spend the next several years in jail. A judge last week sentenced Ty Garbin, 25, to 75 months in prison on one count of "conspiracy to kidnap." His five co-defendants have pleaded not guilty; their trial is set to begin October 12. The case made major headlines right before Election Day 2020 as early voting was underway in the crucial swing state. It was useful fodder for Democrats and Joe Biden. [...] But as defendants prepare for trial, the media-crafted façade surrounding the Whitmer plot, just like the immediate designation of January 6 as an "armed insurrection," is falling apart. Court documents suggest at least 12 FBI agents and informants helped develop the scheme in the spring of 2020; Garbin and his co-defendants were arrested on October 7 after attempting to buy explosives from an undercover FBI agent. One informant, who went by the code name "Thor," was paid $24,000 and given a new car by the FBI for his services. A bombshell report by Darren Beattie at Revolver News explained the FBI's extensive role in orchestrating the most damning aspects of the kidnapping caper. Unindicted Co-Conspirators in 1/6 Cases Raise Disturbing Questions of Federal Foreknowledge. [Scroll down] No wonder this Michigan plot didn't take the federal authorities by surprise! FBI infiltrators comprised, at the very least, 26 percent of the plotters. That is, at least five FBI operatives have been disclosed, against just 14 suspects indicted. A look at the annotated indictment reveals that at every level of the plot, FBI operatives played the most important leadership roles: The plot's "explosives expert," who the plotters were accused of planning to buy bombs from, turned out to be an FBI agent. The head of transportation for the militia outfit turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. The head of security for the militia outfit turned out to be an undercover FBI informant. At least two undercover FBI informants were active participants in the initial June 6, 2020 meeting in which the plot to storm Capitol buildings was allegedly hatched — meaning at least three FBI informants infiltrated before the conspiracy even started. In one of the plot's climactic scenes, in the main van driving up to look at Governor Whitmer's vacation home, three out of the five people in the van — 60 percent of the plot's senior leaders — were federal agents and informants. 'Dark shadow' cast on probe of Whitmer kidnap plot after FBI told informant to lie, delete texts, attorney says. The attorney for one of six men indicted in a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday, Aug. 13 that an FBI special agent told an informant to lie and to delete text messages between them. Attorney Michael Hills, representing Brandon Caserta, asked a federal judge to order the government provide all communications between a paid informant, identified only as "Dan," and the FBI. The government has said it provided a significant amount of documentation and that the defense hasn't shown evidence of entrapment that would warrant release of additional materials. Defense attorneys want to review communication between informants as well as their conversations with the FBI. Hills sought cellphone data of Dan, along with FBI special agents, Henrik Impola and Jayson Chambers. "These text messages indicate the F.B.I. was pushing their paid agent to actively recruit people into an overt act in furtherance of a conspiracy," Hills wrote. Whitmer kidnapping case rocked by allegations FBI told informant to lie, delete text messages. When the Michigan government announced the foiling of a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in October of 2020, many applauded the law enforcement agency working the case. Attorneys for the alleged members of the kidnapping plot, however, are claiming Federal Bureau of Investigation deceit and entrapment of innocent people. Mlive reported Michael Hills, an attorney for Brandon Caserta, one of six men indicted, claimed an FBI special agent told a paid confidential informant identified as "Dan" to lie, delete messages between them, and implicate an innocent third party. Hills requested government provide all communications between "Dan" and the FBI. Bizarre arrest of FBI agent spotlights accusations of bureau corruption. Angry, and armed, the militiamen in Michigan were gearing up, getting ready to unleash their fury over an unjust government and zeroing in on a target who they believed upended their lives with pandemic restrictions: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. They trained with live assault weapons; skulked around Whitmer's summer mansion in the dark as they allegedly plotted a wild scheme to kidnap her, even relying on an Iraq war veteran among them for his tactical experience. The June 2020 plot by the Wolverine Watchmen — which authorities claim included the possible use of a stun gun on Whitmer and talk of blowing up a bridge to prevent cops from giving chase — never came to pass, broken up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a celebrated bust in which 14 people have been arrested so far. Tucker Carlson breaks down how the FBI is planning crimes to then prosecute. A report first published by BuzzFeed alleges that the FBI was involved in Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's kidnapping plot. Tucker Carlson brought up the report during his show, and invited Julie Kelly from American Greatness to discuss the findings. [Video clip] The Whitmer Kidnapping Case Reveals The FBI's New Counterterrorism Target Is You. Terrorism, as it turns out, is hard. Recruiting isn't easy, and finding the right people is difficult. A person who is willing to train, travel, keep secrets, and face a very high chance of dying is not statically all that common. Getting access to explosives, and knowing how to use them, is technically complicated. You can practice, but if you make a mistake, you'll blow yourself up. Oh, there's bomb-making manuals on the internet? Sure, there are. Feel free to try those out. I dare you. Shooting isn't all that easy either, and training someone to gun fight — really, seriously gun fight — takes expertise, and time, and a place where you can shoot for hundreds of hours without anyone noticing. Do you know where you could do something like that? Who would teach you how to shoot like that, or fight with knives, or drive a car so you could get away? How would you find that person? How would you vet him to make sure he's not FBI? You wouldn't. Unless you're a mercenary, you've trained with a militia in Africa or Asia, or you're a SWAT officer or an elite soldier, you wouldn't know those things, and you wouldn't know people who know those things. FBI Attempts to Do Damage Control After Initiating Whitmer Kidnapping Plot. The FBI is attempting to do damage control after it was revealed the law enforcement bureau initiated and carried out a significant portion of the kidnapping plot against Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer last year. "Partnerships are key to disrupting violent plots. With the terror threat growing more insular, awareness and reporting are crucial," the FBI posted on a their website this week. "This is especially true for domestic terrorism — defined as violent, criminal acts committed by individuals or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature. Because the FBI's mission includes protecting the free speech rights of Americans, we need a clear reason to act or investigate. A person's beliefs can never be the sole reason to open an investigation." The FBI's Involvement in the Gretchen Whitmer Kidnapping Plot Goes Even Deeper. As RedState reported over the last few days, multiple revelations regarding the FBI's involvement in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have put the bureau on the defensive. After originally learning that the FBI played a pivotal role in birthing and planning the plot, it was also revealed that an undercover FBI agent who served as the chief source of information was being prosecuted for beating his wife. Now, more details show just how integral the FBI was in what ultimately transpired. [...] I get that there will be times when criminals are put in a position to show their guilt, but if the bureau is having to birth plots and set up meetings in order to even get things off the ground that most likely would have never happened otherwise, that shows a level of involvement that assumes way too much. In short, it's ripe for abuse, and the fact that one of the lead agents on this case turned out to be a non-credible wife-beater isn't doing much to change my opinion on that. Does anyone really believe that guy followed protocol? Did the FBI drive the Whitmer kidnapping plot? Last October, we learned of the FBI's success in breaking up a plot hatched by right-wing militia members which would have involved kidnapping Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, blowing up a bridge and all manner of other dangerous schemes. It was a rather terrifying story, but at least the would-be perpetrators were stopped and brought to justice, so all's well that ends well, right? Maybe, but now it's sounds as if there might have been more to the story than we were told at first. Or perhaps more correctly, there may have been less to the story. Buzzfeed has published a deep dive into the FBI's account of the plot and how it was broken up, but the account of the men accused of planning it is considerably different. FBI agent at center of Whitmer kidnap probe assaulted wife after swingers' party, authorities say. An FBI agent at the center of the investigation into the plot to kidnap and kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is accused of smashing his wife's head against a nightstand and choking her after a dispute stemming from their attendance at a swingers' party, according to court records. Special Agent Richard Trask, 39, of Kalamazoo, was charged Monday with assault with intent to do great bodily harm, less than murder following the alleged incident Sunday. An affidavit filed by the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office in Kalamazoo County District Court said Trask's wife had bloody lacerations to the right side of her head and "blood all over chest, clothing arms and hand," as well as "severe" bruising to her neck and throat. Were Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's would-be 'kidnappers' victims of FBI entrapment? The FBI has been accused of encouraging and assisting a Michigan militia with their alleged plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, with court documents showing the remarkable depth of involvement of multiple informants. Fourteen people have been charged so far after an October 2020 sting operation on the 'Wolverine Watchmen' militia. Many of those were arrested at a warehouse in Michigan where they had met to hand over cash for the purchase of explosives, which they allegedly planned to use in the kidnapping plot. In December one key player in the case, Ty Garbin, entered a guilty plea to kidnap conspiracy charges and faces up to life in prison. A trial date for the rest has been set for October 12. But their lawyers are arguing that the FBI informants — at least 12 of them, according to a BuzzFeed investigation — went way beyond simply listening and infiltrating, and instead actively recruited others to the plot, funded and directed it. They have claimed that without the FBI informants' involvement, there would have been no plot at all. Pausing a minute to consider the damage leftism does to America. Last year, we learned that some people wanted to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. It appears, though, that the FBI operatives involved in the plot originated it and planned it. It also appears that the FBI was trying to sabotage the lawyers for the defense. This is no small thing. As my Criminal Law professor told us a long time ago, when facing the government, which is judge, jury, and executioner, every person, no matter how obvious his guilt, should have someone on his side. In Michigan, though, having created a crime and then tagged people for it, the FBI is trying to deny them representation. It also turns out that the lead agent involved in this whole thing has just been arrested for spousal abuse. If you follow the link, you'll see that the lead agent is an odd bird under any circumstances. It Sure Looks Like the FBI Basically Orchestrated the Gretchen Whitmer 'Kidnapping' Plot. You may recall the much-ballyhooed plot to supposedly kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year. Arrests were made in October of 2020, with the claim being that the FBI had stopped the kidnapping plot as well as a plan to overthrow the government. After it came out in the weeks following the bust that one of the participants was anti-Trump and a Black Lives Matter supporter, the story quickly died down. All of this was intertwined at the time with the politics of Whitmer's controversial COVID policies. Earlier in the same year, there had been demonstrations at the state's capital that drew lots of press attention and condemnation. The insinuation pushed by the media was that those demonstrations had provoked the kidnapping plot. But now, a big curveball is being thrown into the mix regarding what actually happened. Apparently, the FBI didn't just have informants within the group where the arrests were made. Rather, FBI operatives played a key role in the planning of the entire ordeal and were also seemingly instrumental in birthing the plot. FBI Special Agent In Charge of Whitmer Kidnap Plot is Arrested For Domestic Violence, Assault With Intent to Do Great Bodily Harm. The curiously sketchy case against six accused people in the FBI organized plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer took another hit to the case credibility on Monday, as the lead FBI Special Agent was arrested on domestic violence charges. This latest issue comes less than a week after court filings showed twelve embedded FBI operatives were involved in the suspicious plot that culminated in the arrest of six individuals. Twelve FBI Operatives Involved in Gretchen Whitmer Kidnapping Plot That Ended With Six Arrests. From the outset in October 2020 everything around the "plot to kidnap" Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer seemed sketchy, almost silly. The goofy similarities and suspicions were familiar to those who remembered the sketchy October 2018 "mail bombing plot" that involved Cesar Sayoc. It just didn't seem coincidental that both 2018 and 2020 FBI exploits involved weird frameworks, odd suspects and obviously both operations just happened to culminate in October of an election year... Surprise! Add to that suspicion all that was known about the FBI's intense political motivations found in their activities over the past several years; including the sketchy attempt to frame candidate Donald Trump for a vast Russian election conspiracy, coordinated with the opposing candidate, Hillary Clinton; and well, suspicious cats were increasingly suspicious of the FBI engineered mess. News items that have not yet been categorized This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Bruce Ohr and/or Nellie Ohr This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Roger Stone This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Michael Cohen Deep State IRS Employee John Fry Pleads Guilty to Leaking Michael Cohen's Bank Records to Avenatti. Deep State IRS analyst John Fry pleaded guilty Wednesday [8/14/2019] to leaking Michael Cohen's bank records to creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti and The New Yorker. Mr. Fry was charged in February of this year by the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California with unauthorized disclosure of a suspicious activity report, or SAR. Banks file SARs on any transactions that could be illegal. IRS analyst pleads guilty to leaking Michael Cohen's financial records. An Internal Revenue Service analyst pleaded guilty Wednesday [8/14/2019] to illegally disclosing sensitive financial records about President Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, in a leak case stemming from the Justice Department's investigations of those close to the president. John Fry, who had worked as an investigative analyst with the IRS in San Francisco, entered his plea in federal court there. Fry was charged in February with the unauthorized disclosure of suspicious activity reports, or SARs. Such reports are meant to flag potentially unlawful financial conduct to government investigators but do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing. Is A Major Real Scandal About To Break Soon? The whole "Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress" was essentially a sub-hoax perpetuated by Buzzfeed. Despite Cohen's sensational testimony before Congress in an effort to ingratiate himself to prosecutors, we found out that even this "bombshell" was nothing. Taken altogether, what we know is that the entire Russian collusion story was nothing but a huge hoax foisted upon the American public, but one we should all be worried about. What has become increasingly clear is that there was a story developed by a strange incestuous group involving the media, the Clinton campaign, deep state Obama bureaucrats and the DNC to derail the Trump administration. Michael Cohen offers Democrats new evidence against Trump in bid to delay prison. President Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen says he has new information to offer Democrats if authorities reduce or delay his upcoming three-year prison sentence. In a letter to lawmakers Thursday, Cohen's attorneys say he has discovered substantial files on a hard drive that could help investigations of the president. The hard drive is said to include over 14 million files, which consist of all emails, voice recordings, images and attachments from Cohen's computers and phones, his attorneys Lanny Davis, Michael Monico and Carly Chocron wrote. Records show FBI was probing Michael Cohen long before raid. Special Counsel Robert Mueller began investigating President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for fraud in his personal business dealings and for potentially acting as an unregistered foreign agent at least nine months before FBI agents in New York raided his home and office, according to documents released Tuesday [3/19/2019]. Have the Democrats finally gone too far? Did Democrats overreach when they invited convicted liar and turncoat scammer Michael Cohen to tell Congress President Trump is a bad guy? Are they on a ridiculous fishing expedition when they summon 81 people, including three of the president's children, to testify to a congressional panel whose chairman says he's certain Trump committed crimes, no matter what special counsel Robert Mueller says? Have they lost their minds with plans for a single-payer health system, the Green New Deal, unrestricted abortion, open borders and endless free stuff? Tripwire: Adam Schiff Staff Coached Michael Cohen Four Times, Over Ten Hours, Prior to Testimony. Nothing is organic; everything is planned; this is simply what the Democrats do every single time. They use the same playbook. Adding further evidence toward this insufferable scheme, reports are now surfacing that HPSCI Chairman Adam Schiff dispatched his staff members to coach Michael Cohen on his testimony on four occasions (in New York), prior to his congressional appearance, totaling more than 10 hours. Again, everything is rehearsed and scripted. These latest developments explain why the Cohen testimony was delayed. Political democrat operatives, working with Cohen's handler Lanny Davis, worked through a training and coaching process for maximum effect. This coordinated process is also why Cohen was given a deferment to the beginning of his prison sentence. Cohen met with Schiff staff for over 10 hours before House Oversight Committee hearing, sources say. 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. But, Republicans have raised concerns with the sessions, with Ohio Rep. Mike Turner sending a letter to Cohen's team on Wednesday demanding answers. Cohen inquired about pardon from Trump, his lawyer says, contradicting testimony to Congress. A lawyer representing former Trump attorney Michael Cohen said Wednesday that Cohen directed a lawyer last year to inquire about possibly receiving a pardon from President Trump. The disclosure by Lanny Davis, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, contradicted testimony by Cohen last week on Capitol Hill, in which Cohen told members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee: "I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from Mr. Trump." In a written statement, Davis said Cohen "directed his attorney" to ask about a possible pardon. The newspaper adds that it previously reported that Stephen Ryan, a past attorney for Cohen, discussed a pardon with President Trump's lawyers in the weeks after FBI agents raided Cohen's home, office and hotel room. Michael Cohen won't make a dime on [a] book full of his House testimony. A Michael Cohen instant book in his own words hit Tuesday — but the fixer-turned-President Trump-antagonist will reap no gain. Diversion Books said it crashed "Cohen's House Testimony: The Complete Transcripts and Case Documents" for March 5 publication — only five days after Cohen delivered his riveting public testimony on Capitol Hill. "For us, it seemed like an important historic moment that will have big demand no matter what you think about Cohen," said Diversion CEO Scott Waxman. No advance money will be paid to Cohen or any of his congressional interrogators for the book. Remember: Michael Cohen is a liar. Michael Cohen is, to remind everyone, a convicted liar. He lied to the very body before which he is testifying this week. He did it early, often, and with great panache while employed by Donald Trump — and in many cases was employed to serve that very function. Many in the press rightly spent months, if not years, accusing Cohen of the very thing we now insist (again rightly), that our vaunted justice system proved true: that he lies. But mark my words, few in the media will bring the same skepticism to what he said last week about Trump before Congress. Many will believe every word as proof the president is a criminal. But why? Why is Cohen suddenly believable? Trump says Cohen's newly revealed book proposal blows up testimony: 'Totally discredited!' President Trump on Friday [3/1/2019] blasted Michael Cohen over a newly reported book proposal that apparently painted the president in a positive light, saying his former lawyer's pitch contradicts this week's congressional testimony and renders him "totally discredited." "Wow, just revealed that Michael Cohen wrote 'a love letter to Trump' manuscript for a new book that he was pushing. Written and submitted long after Charlottesville and Helsinki, his phony reasons for going rogue. Book is exact opposite of his fake testimony, which is now a lie!" Trump tweeted Friday [3/1/2019]. Michael Cohen's Lying Circus: A Dispassionate Review. Tragically, notwithstanding recent efforts at raising public awareness of the scourge of toxic imbecility, the spread of this debilitating disease has intensified, especially in the minds of those whose symptoms are manifested in Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). Nowhere is this acceleration of the outbreak on clearer display than in the Left's rave reviews for the debut of the off-Broadway show trial, "Michael Cohen's Lying Circus," which will be playing a limited engagement in select venues in our nation's capital. Michael Cohen demolishes the Russia collusion conspiracy — Will anyone be fired for lies? Michael Cohen spent a decade as Trump's high-profile lobbyer, toady, defender and personal attorney. And then one day, he decided that he hated Donald Trump and became Donald Trump's mortal enemy. A big change. How did that happen? Well, Cohen told Congress this week that he had a kind of a road to Damascus experience. He was personally and morally offended by what his boss said on two occasions. First, after the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, that was the summer of 2017 and later, when he watched Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland about a year later. Those two scandals, both of them fraudulent, entirely manufactured by the left and its servants in the media, changed Michael Cohen's mind forever. Lynne Patton: "Michael Cohen turned on the President because Mueller threatened to throw his wife in jail for up to 30 years". The appearance of long-time Trump confidante Lynne Patton at the congressional testimony of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen created a considerable stir amid Washington DC. However, the context of her appearance takes on even more drama when considered against Patton's Facebook post from January 18th of this year: [...] Heir to infamous mob family predicts 'rat' Michael Cohen might have big problems in prison. Once President Donald Trump's disgraced former attorney Michael Cohen reports to prison in May to serve a 3-year-old sentence for campaign finance violations and tax evasion, among other charges, he may be in store for some painfully deep trouble, according to Giovanni Gambino. Speaking with the Daily Mail early Wednesday morning, a few short hours before Cohen testified publicly to the House Oversight Committee about the president and his alleged crimes, the Gambino crime family heir warned that prison inmates hate "rats." Why 1 simple lie by Michael Cohen could invalidate his entire testimony. In order for Michael Cohen to be seen as a credible and reliable source on Donald Trump's business dealings, political activities and character — both in and out of the White House — the President's former fixer must be viewed as a changed man, someone who lied, yes, but has now seen the light and spent his House hearing on Tuesday [2/26/2019] telling the truth and nothing but the truth about his former boss. Under that narrative, Cohen was ONCE a liar — to protect Trump — but the scales have fallen from his eyes and now he is on the side of facts and truth. Where Is House Ethics Probe into Adam Schiff? During his grudge-airing, redemption-seeking spectacle on Wednesday [2/27/2019], Michael Cohen admitted he was in cahoots with Democratic lawmakers prior to giving his congressional testimony. "We spoke with Chairman [Elijah] Cummings and the [Democratic] Party," Trump's former lawyer confessed to Representative Jody Hice (R-Ga.). "We spoke with Chairman [Adam] Schiff and his people as well." Under further questioning by Rep. James Jordan (R-Ohio), Cohen acknowledged he "spoke to Mr. Schiff about topics that were going to be raised at the upcoming hearing." Jordan clarified that rather than simply discuss the logistics of the hearing, Schiff coached the witness on "what [he was] going to talk about." Latest Hoaxer Michael Cohen Given 7-Hour Congressional Floor. A Trump-hating Congress needed to bring their visceral hatred to an all-time high crescendo. Hoaxer Jussie Smollett tried but got caught in the act by Chicago cops, so working with Hillary Clinton's former lawyer Lanny Davis, Congress brought in Michael Cohen. Cohen's hoax lasted for seven hours, during which Georgia Congressman Jody Hice said of his testimony: "It's a shameful mockery". You won't see this video anywhere on the mainstream or social media today. [Video clip] Michael Cohen Hearing Marks the End of Government 'Oversight'. Michael Cohen's testimony before the House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday yielded very little in terms of new information about alleged misconduct by President Donald Trump or his 2016 presidential campaign. If anything, Cohen's testimony hurt the case against the president. Cohen said that he had no direct evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. He also appeared to lie several times (again). The media, too, lost. They billed Cohen's appearance as a climactic moment — then struggled to salvage bits and pieces of their shattered narratives from the wreckage of his testimony. Cohen told the committee that Trump had not actually told him directly to lie to Congress. He also admitted there was no evidence, other than the word of a convicted liar (himself), that Trump had ever directed that "hush money" be paid to Stormy Daniels and others. Michael Cohen's Traveling Mendacity Show. Michael Cohen is back in town and, as expected, put on a Pecksniffian public performance Wednesday [2/27/2019] for an appreciative audience consisting of Democrats, the media, and miscellaneous TDS sufferers. Assisted by that preeminent paragon of veracity, Lanny Davis, he pitched several patent specifics of his own invention that he offered as a remedy for the dread disease that has ravaged the Beltway for two years — the Trump Presidency. Cohen peddled his special swamp juice with the same pious solemnity with which he perjured himself before Congress about an aborted Moscow real estate deal involving Trump and his construction company. Michael Cohen's Morality Play. "This is a story of redemption." That's how Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney characterized the testimony Donald Trump's longtime attorney, Michael Cohen, delivered before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. The president's former fixer couldn't have asked for more. Cohen has been throwing himself upon the mercy of The Resistance ever since it became clear that he would face criminal charges related to his personal misconduct. To avoid an excessive sentence, Cohen had to share with federal prosecutors all he knew about the president. But in turning on his former employer and the party he leads, Cohen sacrificed his relationships on the right. He needed a new set of friends, to say nothing of donors to his legal defense fund. And so Trump's attorney has embarked on a nakedly cynical campaign of emotional manipulation stimulating all the anti-Trump left's pleasure centers. Michael Cohen Admits to Coordinating Scripted Testimony With Lanny Davis, Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings. Those who follow closely will note Speaker Pelosi's plan to weaponize congressional oversight is a carefully orchestrated campaign with three key figures: Adam Schiff, Elijah Cummings and Jerry Nadler. Representative Jody Hice questions Michael Cohen about the construct and background of his congressional appearance. Within the answer Cohen admits his handler, democrat operative Lanny Davis, coordinated with key congressional leadership to include Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings and HPSCI Chairman Adam Schiff. [Video clip] The Three Times When Michael Cohen's Testimony Accidentally Exonerated President Trump. Because attorney-client privilege is apparently no longer a thing, Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, is on Capitol Hill this week testifying against his old employer. The media tells us that his testimony is like a carpet bomb on the Trump Administration, full of explosive and damning revelations that will surely spell doom for the President. Something closer to the opposite is the case, I think. Michael Cohen Admits Discussing 'Topics' with Adam Schiff Before Testimony. Michael Cohen, former personal attorney to President Donald Trump, admitted that he discussed with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) "topics that might come up" in preparation for his Wednesday [2/27/2019] hearing before the House Oversight Committee. "I spoke to Mr. Schiff about topics that were going to be raised at the upcoming hearing," Cohen told Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) when pressed about the pair's past discussion. "Whoa," Jordan responded. "Not just what time you're going to show up, but what you're going to talk about? Whoa." GOP reps refer Michael Cohen to DOJ for alleged perjury during hearing. House Oversight Committee Republicans on Thursday referred ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen to the Justice Department for alleged perjury, claiming he lied during sworn testimony before the panel a day earlier about a number of issues including his ambitions to work in the Trump administration and contracts with foreign entities. Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., penned a letter Thursday [2/28/2019] to newly sworn-in Attorney General William Barr, citing evidence that Cohen "committed perjury" during his hearing before the committee on Wednesday. Cohen Admits He Can't Corroborate His Allegations Against Trump. President Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen admitted Wednesday [2/27/2019] he is unable to corroborate allegations that the president discussed elements of WikiLeaks' email hacks with Roger Stone. "How can we corroborate what you're saying?" Democratic Rep. Deborah Wasserman Schultz of Florida asked Cohen, referring to the former Trump confidant's allegations that the president was aware of Stone's contact with WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange. She is among a slew of Democrats and Republicans grilling Cohen during a congressional hearing. "I don't know, but I suspect the special counsel's office and other government agencies have the information that you're seeking," Cohen said in reply. Cohen admits he has no evidence Trump colluded with Russians, 'but I have my suspicions'. President Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen said Wednesday that he has no evidence suggesting his former boss colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election, but that he has his "suspicions." "Questions have been raised about whether I know of direct evidence that Mr. Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. I do not, and I want to be clear. But I have my suspicions," Cohen told lawmakers. There are "so many dots that all seem to lead" in the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he added. On the eve of congressional testimony, Michael Cohen disbarred for lying to Congress. Michael Cohen, the former longtime personal attorney of President Trump, was officially disbarred Tuesday [2/26/2019]. A panel of five justices at the New York Supreme Court ruled that Cohen had ceased to be an attorney when he was convicted in federal court in November 2018 of making false statements to Congress. The judicial panel ruled that Cohen "ceased to be an attorney upon his federal conviction of making false statements to the United States Congress." Back in August 2018, President Trump tweeted: "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!" Today, the justices said that Cohen's name would be "stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law in the State of New York." Cohen Slapped With Criminal Referral Mid-Testimony Over FARA Violation. Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen was hit with a criminal referral for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) following a heated exchange during Cohen's Wednesday testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee. Michael Cohen Opening Statement, Worded for Maximum Political Damage. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has worked closely with House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings to use President Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen as the cornerstone to a carefully planned democrat impeachment effort. Working collaboratively with the current U.S. Department of Justice, Speaker Pelosi organized a deferment of prison sentence for Mr. Cohen so he could testify to the House committees. [...] The 20 pages of toxic and disparaging opening remarks are specifically and carefully worded by Cohen and his political handler Lanny Davis to create maximum political damage. Together with personal documents (and recordings) Cohen will provide, this pre-planned effort is what U.S. media will use to assist their ideological allies in congress. Michael Cohen Plans to Call Trump a 'Con Man' and a 'Cheat' in Congressional Testimony. Michael D. Cohen plans to tell Congress on Wednesday [2/27/2019] that President Trump is a "con man" and a "cheat" who knew a longtime adviser was communicating with WikiLeaks — and who implicitly instructed Mr. Cohen to lie about a Trump Tower project in Moscow that was underway during the 2016 presidential campaign. The extraordinary testimony will take place when Mr. Cohen, the president's former lawyer and fixer, publicly appears before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. An advance copy of Mr. Cohen's testimony was obtained Tuesday night by reporters at multiple news organizations, including The New York Times, just as Mr. Trump began meetings in Vietnam before convening with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. Get Trump! Democrats, Media Go All In On Michael Cohen. The major broadcast television networks will air live coverage Wednesday of the Democrat-led House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing with former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen who has turned on his former client since being targeted by federal prosecutors. The cable news networks will also carry the hearing live in which Cohen will reportedly say of President Trump, "He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat." Cohen hearings [are] designed to keep [the] public in [the] dark about Russia. Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is scheduled to appear before three congressional committees this week before he heads to jail to serve a sentence for tax evasion and lying to Congress. [...] It would be a great service if the Cohen appearances helped increase the store of public information on the Trump-Russia furor. But even though Cohen is a key figure in the matter — his name is mentioned 24 times in the so-called Trump dossier — the hearings appear designed to prevent the public from learning anything new about the Russia matter. Michael Cohen Disbarred Following Felony Conviction For Lying Under Oath. Donald Trump's former-attorney-turned rat has been disbarred, reported the New York Post. [...] According to the law, any lawyer "who shall be convicted of a felony ... shall upon such conviction, cease to be an attorney and counsellor-at-law, or to be competent to practice law as such." Mr. Cohen can file for reinstatement in seven years — or sooner if he were to be pardoned (not going to happen). Michael Cohen was sentenced to 36 months in prison for lying to Congress and other charges related to his taxi medallion company in December and will report to prison on May 6th. Cell signal puts Cohen outside Prague around time of purported Russian meeting. A mobile phone traced to President Donald Trump's former lawyer and "fixer" Michael Cohen briefly sent signals ricocheting off cell towers in the Prague area in late summer 2016, at the height of the presidential campaign, leaving an electronic record to support claims that Cohen met secretly there with Russian officials, four people with knowledge of the matter say. During the same period of late August or early September, electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency picked up a conversation among Russians, one of whom remarked that Cohen was in Prague, two people familiar with the incident said. Rebuttal: Beyond rebuttal: More: Why Did Michael Cohen Plead Guilty to Campaign Finance Crimes That Aren't Campaign Finance Crimes? On Wednesday [12/12/2018], a district court judge in Manhattan accepted Michael Cohen's guilty plea to political crimes and sentenced him to three years in the American gulag. But if the two campaign finance crimes to which he pleaded guilty are not really crimes, why did he plead guilty to them? And what precedents does this case establish that can be used against political enemies in the future? Representative Elijah Cummings Outlines Democrat Plan to Remove President Trump via Michael Cohen. It was curious to see Michael Cohen walk out of his sentencing hearing last week without having to report to jail/prison for the punishment therein. [...] In the prosecutorial agreement within the Cohen case, there obviously remains the fulfillment of terms. Michael Cohen doesn't report to prison until March 6th, 2019. Why the exceptional judicial delay and generosity? Michael Cohen's farewell interview was an embarrassment. When you've admitted to years of lying, running a shady taxi medallion scheme, and other deceptions, there's not much left to do other than go far, far away and hope the public forgets. Cohen instead went on ABC's "Good Morning America" to look pathetic. [...] Cohen had misled Congress about the timeline of a failed business deal he pursued in Russia on behalf of the Trump Organization (putting us the closest we've come so far to demonstrating any meaningful connection between President Trump and the Kremlin). For that, he was given a paltry two months in prison, which were to be served concurrent with the rest of his time. So, he effectively got no time for that one. There is no way to make this not look bad for Cohen, though he put his heart into trying. Robert Mueller's case against Michael Cohen has very little to do with Trump or campaign finance violations. President Trump and the 2016 campaign amount to a footnote in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's sentence filings on Michael Cohen, despite the news media's heavily overstated narrative that the whole thing is about to blow the lid on a White House "felony." The documents are almost exclusively an indictment of Cohen as a tax evader and serial liar. The link to Trump, or of any allegation of wrongdoing on his behalf, has nowhere near the clarity liberals want you to believe. Cohen lied, broke the law and used Trump to get rich — and now blames Trump for his troubles. In his federal court sentencing hearing Wednesday, President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen cut a tragic figure of his own making as he tried to convince a judge to spare him from prison for a host of crimes ranging from tax fraud to bank fraud to lying to Congress. He claimed he was a trusting soul undone by the ambition and the machinations of an evil man — Donald Trump. It played out like a modern take on the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire." Larry O'Connor: Michael Cohen Sentencing 'Is Nothing But a Power Grab' to Get Rid of Trump. While filling in for radio host Mark Levin on his nationally syndicated radio talk show, "The Mark Levin Show," on Wednesday night [12/12/2018], WMAL radio host Larry O'Connor, who also has his own show, "The Larry O'Connor Show," said that the sentencing of Michael Cohen, the former attorney of President Donald Trump, was "nothing but a power grab" to get rid of President Trump. "This is really a power grab from the Southern District of New York," Larry O'Connor said. "Yes, the intention is to get rid of President Trump, but, also, let's face it, if you believe and agree and love the separation of powers as articulated in our U.S. Constitution, this is nothing but a power grab." Cohen's pleas concocted by prosecutors to snare Trump. I'm experiencing 1998 déjà vu as prosecutors once again work overtime to turn extramarital affairs and the efforts to keep them secret into impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors. Unable to get the witnesses to compose the stories they want, today's prosecutors are discovering they can simply compose the crimes by manipulating the pleas of men desperate to protect their families. The Michael Cohen sentencing memo took aim directly at both Cohen and President Donald Trump. It was used, unethically, to cast the president as directing a criminal conspiracy to make "secret and illegal" payments. Sentencing memos are not supposed to use secret grand jury info to point fingers at those who are not being sentenced, but that's exactly what these did. Defeat and the Dossier Explain Everything. Donald Trump's former consiglieri Michael Cohen, along with being charged with tax avoidance and improper business deals, allegedly is guilty also of trying to leverage money and attention by exaggerating his influence with candidate and later President Trump. In other words, Cohen to spec followed the standard creepy daily fare for Washington and New York wannabe fixers. But did we need Robert Mueller's 18 months and $40 million to uncover and redirect to federal attorneys what was largely self-evident? Could not the U.S. government long ago, without the prompt of a special counsel, have uncovered that Michael Cohen did not fully pay his taxes — in the manner of an Al Sharpton, Timothy Geithner, and Tom Daschle? Why Trump is likely to be indicted by Manhattan US Attorney. The major takeaway from the 40-page sentencing memorandum filed by federal prosecutors Friday [12/7/2018] for Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney, is this: The president is very likely to be indicted on a charge of violating federal campaign finance laws. It has been obvious for some time that President Trump is the principal subject of the investigation still being conducted by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Cohen earlier pleaded guilty to multiple counts of business and tax fraud, violating campaign finance law, and making false statements to Congress regarding unsuccessful efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. New Poll: Half of Voters Don't Believe Mueller Has Anything on Trump. Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation is reportedly heating up again, with a number of reports indicating he's finally getting ready to conclude nearly two years of work on the 2016 presidential election. Last week President Trump's longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to lying during congressional testimony. This is the second plea deal for Cohen after he pleaded guilty to tax fraud and campaign finance violations in August. In addition, Mueller's office announced former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort violated terms of his plea agreement. But according to half of Americans watching this saga play out, Mueller doesn't seem to have any evidence to bring charges against President Trump. For Trump, Cohen Plea Deal's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Exoneration. Contrary to media speculation that Robert Mueller is closing in on President Trump, the special prosecutor's plea deal with Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen offers further evidence that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russians during the 2016 election, according to congressional investigators and former prosecutors. Where's the Beef, Mueller? The Mueller investigation remains a "collusion" probe without any collusion. For all of the media's heavy breathing about Thursday's news of a Michael Cohen guilty plea, it doesn't get Mueller any closer to the stated goal of his investigation. On CNN, where its programming is an endless game of anti-Trump gotcha, Jeff Zucker's puppets recited his mandated talking point that Trump's fixer "may" have "broken" everything, blah, blah, blah. But the very conjectural character of this feverish chatter indicated the hollowness of the story. If the plea contained any evidence of collusion, the Hillary donors who make up much of Mueller's staff would surely have leaked it to CNN by now. Does Mueller Have an October Surprise? The investigation that was ostensibly initiated to ascertain if the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to affect the 2016 election has been ongoing for twenty-seven months. Seventeen months of which have been in the hands of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his Democrat phalanx of investigators and prosecutors spending in excess of $1.4 million a month.) This prolonged inquisition has produced no evidence or indictments supporting the collusion allegation. Yet the investigation marches on with no end in sight. [...] Based on his insistence that Trump testify in what is obviously a perjury trap, the innumerable leaks emanating from Mueller's office, the conviction of Paul Manafort on unrelated charges and the coerced guilty plea by Michael Cohen again on unrelated charges, Robert Mueller appears to have a much greater animus toward Donald Trump than Lawrence Walsh toward Ronald Reagan or George Bush. Michael Cohen's lawyer has done real damage to the case against Trump. One of the most bizarre aspects of the investigations engulfing the Trump administration is the lawyers involved. Here we have a presidency on the line, and this is Trump's team? The top legal spokesmen for each side are ... Rudolph W. Giuliani and Lanny Davis!? Up until this point, though, Giuliani was the Great Contradictor and Davis was merely a colorful character. Now that has changed in a big way. In a new interview with The Washington Post's Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman, Davis is backing off two massive claims he made in recent weeks, including that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has told people he witnessed President Trump being informed of Donald Trump Jr.'s 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer before it happened. Michael Cohen, the Rabbit in Robert Mueller's Hat. People are wondering why Cohen waited so long before turning up at CNN with scratchy audio recordings he claims to have secretly recorded on former, unsuspecting client Donald J. Trump. It's the Midterms that kept Mike The Rabbit waiting so long. Michael Cohen's testimony is Mueller's Special Counsel's last chance to keep the Russians-stole-the-election conspiracy alive in order to get more Democrats returned to power in Midterms, and to keep investigations going all the way through to 2020 presidential elections. Trump won't lose supporters over Manafort, Cohen — despite what liberal media are spewing. The liberal media suggest that President Trump is on a sinking ship and will be soon be losing the support of a large number of his followers — the group Hillary Clinton dismissively described as "a basket full of deplorables." Don't believe it. The conviction Tuesday of former Trump presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort on tax and bank fraud charges — and the guilty plea that Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen entered the same day to charges of violating federal campaign finance laws, tax evasion and making a false statement to a bank — won't shake support for Trump among the millions of Americans who voted for him and appreciate his many accomplishments in office. Trump legal team makes case to prosecute Comey, others for lying after Cohen guilty plea. Former and current members of President Trump's legal team have compiled research to make the case that former FBI Director James B. Comey misled Congress in his testimony and is not a reliable witness for special counsel Robert Mueller. The lawyers last year tried to persuade Mr. Mueller to investigate Mr. Comey, his former colleague, to no avail. The Trump-Comey war took on new dimensions last week as Mr. Mueller won a guilty plea from former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who admitted to lying to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about a proposed election-year Trump Organization Moscow hotel deal. Why is Michael Cohen prosecuted when Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder and Lois Lerner were not? With a Republican president in place and soon-to-be Democrat-run House, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has conveniently remembered that they have the ability to prosecute people who lie to Congress. This was a power they had inexplicably forgotten about during the 10 years that Democrats were benefiting from witnesses who lied. No doubt there should be consequences and accountability if you testify to Congress under oath and blatantly lie or violate the law. But the DOJ seems to have different standards based on which party's political fortunes will be impacted. It is this unequal application of justice that is dividing the country and threatens peace. Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former attorney, struck a plea deal with the DOJ for lying to Congress. But what about all the other egregious cases of misconduct interacting with Congress? Why weren't those pursued or prosecuted? Another nothing-burger? Catherine Herridge breaks down Michael Cohen's guilty plea 'bombshell'. Early Thursday morning word broke that President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen had pleaded guilty to lying to Congress during its investigation into possible Russian collusion. Following the announcement, the perpetually hysterical left broke into cheers of gleeful applause over the belief that the president would soon be the next one to be indicted. Another Turbulent Week with Some Big Mysteries. The Special Counsel keeps rolling with indictments that have nothing to do with the original charge — certainly because the only collusion with Russia was by Hillary. Each time the anti-Trumpers are certain the President's end is nigh. This week's indictment of [Michael] Cohen is of a piece with that history. On Hush Money, the President's Best Defense Is Lack of Criminal Intent. You can be forgiven if you've forgotten there even is a Mueller investigation. Just a week ago, the country was on tenterhooks as the jury in Paul Manafort's trial headed into the weekend without having reached a verdict. Would they hang? Had Special Counsel Robert Mueller overreached? Did federal judge T. S. Ellis of the Eastern District of Virginia undermine the prosecutors? Such is the permanent frenzy of the Trump news cycle that, even with Tuesday's convictions, Manafort and Mueller seem like old news. They've been superseded by Michael Cohen's guilty plea; specifically, by the fallout of Cohen's having implicated the president in felony campaign-finance offenses during his allocution in Manhattan federal court late Tuesday afternoon — an otherworldly media moment, simultaneous with the jury verdict in Manafort's trial 200 miles south. Mueller Cannot Have Credibility If He Ignores Hillary's Crimes. This investigation is absent of all credibility because it specifically ignores what happened on the Hillary side! Without what happened on the Hillary side, they would not have an investigation of Trump. That's why! There is a dossier — and, by the way, do you know why Cohen's caught up in this? The dossier mentions Cohen! The dossier, this phony, unprovable piece of Hillary Clinton opposition research also mentions Cohen. That's how he gets lassoed into this. War of Attrition Against President Trump. Precisely how does Bill Clinton's main legal fixer turn up as Michael Cohen's attorney in a plea bargain with a special prosecutor? If you put that kind of plot line in a political thriller, the public would laugh you off the newsstand book racks. Nonetheless, we now have Lanny Davis, special counsel to the president for Bill Clinton during 1996-1998, declaring to CNN: "It's my observation that Mr. Cohen has knowledge that would be of interest to the special counsel about the issue of whether Donald Trump, ahead of time, knew about the hacking of emails, which is a computer crime." On Tuesday [8/21/2018] Davis told MSNBC that Cohen knew about "the possibility of a conspiracy to collude and corrupt the American democracy system in the 2016 election." Cohen Attorney Lanny Davis Is Registered Foreign Agent for Pro-Russian Oligarch Wanted by US Government and Linked to Putin. On Tuesday [8/21/2018] former Trump Attorney Michael Cohen, on the advice of his attorney and Clinton advisor Lanny Davis, surrendered himself to the FBI after it was reported he reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors. [...] Cohen attorney Lanny Davis is a registered foreign agent for Dmytro Firtash, a pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarch wanted by the US government. Dershowitz: Candidate Entitled To Pay Hush Money, Committed No Election Crime. Alan Dershowitz said the only campaign violation that could have happened is if former Trump attorney Michael Cohen did break a campaign finance law on his own volution and called the situation a "Catch-22" on MSNBC this afternoon [8/22/2018]. Cohen Attorney Backtracks On Claim That Trump Had Advance Knowledge of Russian Hacking. Lanny Davis, an attorney for Michael Cohen, is backtracking from his stunning claim that President Donald Trump had advance knowledge of Russian hacking efforts. During interviews on Tuesday [8/21/2018] and Wednesday, Davis laid out a grave allegation against Trump, saying that Cohen had information that would be of interest to special counsel Robert Mueller, including about Russian hacking of Democrats' emails. In an interview Tuesday with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Davis said Cohen, a former lawyer for Trump, has "knowledge about the computer crime of hacking and whether or not Mr. Trump knew ahead of time about that crime and even cheered it on." Lanny Davis: Michael Cohen Never Went To Prague As Steele Dossier Claims. Lanny Davis, the Clinton-connected attorney for Michael Cohen, said Wednesday [8/22/2018] that the former Trump lawyer had never been to Prague, as the infamous Steele dossier alleges. "Thirteen references to Mr. Cohen are false in the dossier, but he has never been to Prague in his life," Davis said Wednesday in an interview on Bloomberg. The statement is a significant denial given that, according to Davis, Cohen has turned over a new leaf by deciding to discuss his work on behalf of President Donald Trump. MSNBC Keeps Lying About the Dossier Being Corroborated. An MSNBC panelist named Paul Butler, a Georgetown Professor, stated on the Joy Reid show that the Steele dossier "keeps getting corroborated" by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and reporters. That is not at all true. Nothing of significance has been confirmed. Even Jim Comey said the FBI could not verify the document. Earlier this week, Lanny Davis, the Clinton mob lawyer now representing Cohen, asserted that the dossier's allegations about Cohen are "100 percent" false. Loose Ends #44. As I said in the previous note, I've been on the road all week and mostly ill-informed about the breaking Trump stories, and much else. So all I have are some more Loose Ends to file. With one caveat. I hadn't been paying attention to the fact that Michael Cohen's attorney is Lanny Davis. Lanny Davis??? Seriously? What is this — some kind of parallel universe remake of the Clinton sex scandals of the 1990s? We all recall how that ended, don't we? How long before Cohen's lawyer changes his story again? Can Michael Cohen give evidence that President Trump knowingly colluded with Russia, or does he have no knowledge whatsoever? It seems to depend on what story his lawyer is teasing at the moment. Following Cohen's guilty plea Tuesday, attorney Lanny Davis said on MSNBC that his client is willing to speak with special counsel Robert Mueller about a "conspiracy to collude," citing his "knowledge on certain subjects that should be of interest." That seemed to confirm July 27 CNN and CBS reports that Cohen was prepared to testify that Trump knew in advance about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting in which Russians were expected to offer political dirt on Hillary Clinton. Davis personally confirmed those stories off the record to The [New York] Post at the time. Except now Davis says it isn't true. Lanny Davis Admits He Lied to the Media About Major Trump Tower Report. Michael Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis admitted on Thursday that he erroneously confirmed a CNN report about Trump's knowledge of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting with the Russians. CNN reported on July 27 that Cohen was prepared to tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that the president had advance knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting. On Wednesday, Davis said that the reporting was "mixed up" and that his client had no information regarding when Trump knew about the meeting. According to the New York Post, however, Davis himself confirmed CNN's report as an anonymous source when it was first published. Davis is now apologizing on the record for confirming something he did not know to be true. Newest Charity Case For The Resistance: Michael Cohen. If it's any comfort, it's not like he's making Peter Strzok money or anything. Still, he's more than $100,000 richer than he was yesterday [8/21/2018] thanks to [an] infernal GoFundMe page, proof that in America 2018 even a rich, crooked New York lawyer can rake in the ResistanceBucks so long as he's performing the very important task of [annoying] the left's least favorite person. Does Michael Cohen's Guilty Plea Justify All The Trump Impeachment Talk? Talk of impeaching President Trump is everywhere. But Democrats have been pining for Trump's impeachment since before he even set foot in the White House. Michael Cohen's guilty plea is just the latest excuse to bring it up. Why Michael Cohen Agreed to Plead Guilty — And Implicate the President. Adding to the pressure, David Pecker, the chairman of American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, provided prosecutors with details about payments Mr. Cohen arranged with women who alleged sexual encounters with President Trump, including Mr. Trump's knowledge of the deals. This account of how Mr. Cohen went from a pugnacious defender of the president to turning on Mr. Trump is based on details provided by people close to Mr. Cohen and others briefed on the discussions with prosecutors. For weeks, the president had been distancing himself from Mr. Cohen, including by stopping paying the lawyer's legal fees, making clear amid the pressure that he was on his own. How The Clintons Directed Michael Cohen To Plead Guilty & Implicate President Trump. Weeks earlier D.C. Whispers warned readers of Lanny Davis's sudden appearance at the side of former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen. Mr. Davis is a longtime Clinton operative and as recently as 2016 was helping to manage Hillary Clinton's presidential run. His longstanding ties to the Clintons affords him strong ties with both the Democrat and Republican establishments, vast D.C. lobbying powers, and media moguls. In short, he is as Deep State as Deep State gets. Now he's using Michael Cohen to add manufactured fuel to the "get President Trump" fire as the Clintons sit back and watch and wait. Clinton Mob Lawyer Lanny Davis Sold Out His Client. Some legal experts are saying today that Lanny Davis, Hillary's close friend and general counsel, sold his client Michael Cohen out with a sentence unwarranted by the crimes. Do we have to ask ourselves why? Is it because Hillary Clinton is his client and not Michael Cohen? It's important to note that the verdict and plea in the Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen cases respectively have nothing to do with Russia or collusion. The Manafort trial did not deal with his role as a Trump campaign chairman. In Cohen's case, he said he made the payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall at the direction of an unidentified candidate. That's not criminal. Democrats Who Support Trump: CNN's Coverage of Cohen, Manafort Is a 'Side Show'. Registered Democrats who support President Donald Trump told CNN its coverage of the president's administration is a "side show" and that they are glad to see the stock market rise and their retirement savings increase. CNN aired footage Friday morning [8/24/2018] of correspondent Jason Carroll speaking with registered Democrats in Pennsylvania praising Trump for improving the economy and looking out for their savings. Eileen and Richard Sorokas supported former President Barack Obama during both elections, but then switched over and supported Trump because of his promises to improve the economy. The trial(s) of Paul Manafort Paul Manafort Settles With Justice Department For $3.15 Million. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort will pay $3.15 million to settle a civil lawsuit filed by the Justice Department (DOJ) for his alleged failure to report foreign bank accounts, newly released court documents show. The DOJ accused Manafort of willfully failing to provide timely reports about his financial interests in foreign bank accounts in an April 2022 lawsuit filed in Palm Beach, Florida. [Tweet] Manafort made consulting income from business dealings with Ukrainian individuals from 2006-14 and allegedly deposited his income in accounts based in Cyprus, the United Kingdom, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, according to the lawsuit. Some of the accounts listed Manafort's name as the owner, while others were allegedly held by shell corporations run by various individuals on his behalf, the lawsuit reads. As Impeachment Ends, It's Time to Correct These Nine Injustices. [#1] Commute Paul Manafort's sentence. Paul Manafort has spent most of his time in solitary confinement since his arrest in 2017. As noted by the National Review, "Everyone knows this prosecution is politically motivated. [The prosecutor] hates the president and wants to use solitary confinement in a hellhole with violent criminals to squeeze Manafort into testifying against the president." Reason magazine, no fan of either Trump or Manafort, has called this torture. Enough is enough. He's served years in brutal conditions for white collar crimes. Commute his sentence. Major Update: Was Manafort A Plant, Willing Or Otherwise? Long ago a trusted source told me that the Clinton campaign had very early on come to the conclusion that Trump would be the most dangerous GOP candidate, from a Clinton perspective. That would have meant that the Clinton organization would have mobilized to take Trump down, and the Russia narrative seems to have been decided on at an early date. Thus we see the persistent attempt by Felix Sater to somehow link Trump to the moribund Trump Moscow project, the Trump Tower meeting with Veselnitskaya, etc. The usual story is that Manafort was introduced into the Trump campaign through the efforts of Tom Barrack, a Syrian born real estate magnate who was friends with both Trump and Manafort. Barrack had been a major help to Ivanka and Jared Kushner in a difficult real estate situation and used that connection to urge the Kushners to get Barrack onto the campaign. Sound familiar? Sound possible? Of course. The question is: Was there an ulterior motive to all this? Is an FBI Interview a G-Man's License to Lie? [Scroll down] Strangely, there was no such transcript of what [Paul] Manafort had said in his interviews. This made it difficult to reconstruct what his responses to questioning had been, let alone determine whether they were truthful. But if there was no transcript, surely the court could consult a videotape of his interrogation, the sort of recording that is standard practice for local police who are interviewing, say, a suspected car thief. And if there was no videotape for the judge to watch, surely there was, at the very least, an audiotape. But no. The bureau has insisted instead, for more than half a century, on summarizing its interrogations, of everyone from witnesses to targets, in a type of memo designated an FD-302 or just "302." New York prosecutors throw out Constitution to charge Manafort. This month, the greatest off Broadway production should be titled "The Prosecutors," starring Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James. As in another dramatic comedy, "The Producers," the state case against former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort seems designed to fail, leaving its prosecutors with the convenient windfall of public support and none of the burden. NY's political prosecution of Manafort should scare us all. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has indicted Paul Manafort for mortgage fraud and more than a dozen other state felonies. This is a nakedly political prosecution. Democrats, who run the Empire State, are apoplectic that President Trump could pardon his former campaign manager, who has been sentenced to 90 months in prison in the Mueller probe. The federal charges had nothing to do with the rationale for the special counsel's investigation, which involves Russia's interference in the 2016 election and any possible Trump campaign coordination in that effort. But there is no doubt that the convictions and sentences, which resulted from separate but related proceedings in the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Columbia, are valid. In Washington on Wednesday [3/13/2019], Judge Amy Berman Jackson added 43 months of incarceration to the 47-months of imprisonment Judge T.S. Ellis imposed in Alexandria last week. Paul Manafort Was an Agent of Ukraine, Not Russia. According to the indictment Robert Mueller filed against him, Manafort was an unregistered "agent of the Government of Ukraine." He also functioned as an agent of Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine's president from 2010 to 2014, and of two political parties, the Party of Regions and its successor, the Opposition Bloc. Manafort was not an unregistered agent of Russia. Mueller never alleged that Manafort was a clandestine operative of the Kremlin. He worked for Ukraine, not Putin. Indeed, for much of his time in Ukraine, he pushed his clients against Putin's interests. Federal Judge Just Slapped The Anti-Trump Collusion Conspiracy Hoax In The Face. For months the Establishment Media and its Democrat Party cohorts had breathlessly declared Paul Manafort was going away for "a very long time" while attempting to insinuate Mr. Manafort's legal troubles were directly linked to his time with the Trump campaign. The truth is they weren't. Manafort faced trial for matters totally unrelated to President Trump but rather on decades-old financial dealings. And this week a federal judge said as much while also handing out a relatively light sentence that has the far left seething. Judge Ellis rebuked Special Counsel Meuller when sentencing Paul Manafort. Judge T.S. Ellis, a Reagan appointee to the Federal District Court for Eastern Virginia, is well known for speaking his mind. Yesterday, in sentencing Paul Manafort, he rebuked Team Mueller's harsh sentence recommendation of 19-24 years' imprisonment as "excessive," and instead set a lot of progressives' hair on fire by imposing a sentence of 47 months and recommended counting the nine months of time served (much of it in solitary confinement, imposed by Judge Amy Berman Jackson in a separate case in D.C. District Court) against that total, meaning just over three years of imprisonment. The 'Otherwise Blameless Life' of Paul Manafort. "He has lived an otherwise blameless life," said Judge T. S. Ellis as he sentenced Paul Manafort to just 47 months in prison on Thursday [3/7/2019]. In an otherwise blameless life, Paul Manafort lobbied on behalf of the tobacco industry and wangled millions in tax breaks for corporations. In an otherwise blameless life, he helped Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos bolster his image in Washington after he assassinated his primary political opponent. In an otherwise blameless life, he worked to keep arms flowing to the Angolan generalissimo Jonas Savimbi, a monstrous leader bankrolled by the apartheid government in South Africa. While Manafort helped portray his client as an anti-communist "freedom fighter," Savimbi's army planted millions of land mines in peasant fields, resulting in 15,000 amputees. Mueller's Final Manafort Filings Are Scant On Russia Details, Never Mention 'Trump' Or 'Collusion'. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final filings against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort are likely bad news for Manafort, but may be — oddly — good news for President Donald Trump. Mueller and his team made their final required filing in Manafort's case late Friday, submitting a "government sentencing memorandum" to the United States District Court in Washington, D.C., justifying their request for a harsh, 17-year prison sentence against Manafort. In it, the government argues that Manafort "chose repeatedly and knowingly to violate the law — whether the laws proscribed garden-variety crimes such as tax fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and bank fraud, or more esoteric laws that he nevertheless was intimately familiar with, such as the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)," both before and after he was under scrutiny by the Special Counsel. Ken Starr: The hammer is about to drop on Paul Manafort after Mueller learns he was a mole for Trump. Former independent counsel Ken Starr told CNN on Wednesday that Paul Manafort is in even deeper trouble with Robert Mueller after it was revealed Tuesday that his lawyer has been briefing the president's legal team about what he's been telling federal investigators. "You at this stage belong to the prosecutors. You're now inside the tent, you're part of the team," Starr said of Manafort. "So to be leaking information to the lawyers outside the team, that's going to be viewed very seriously and obviously is." Manafort/Assange Drama Proves Media Will Buy Any Russia Conspiracy Story, No Matter Its Flaws. Many media figures have swallowed whole, without evidence, a conspiracy theory that Donald Trump became president by treasonously colluding with Russia to steal the 2016 election from its rightful owner, Hillary Clinton. The information operation that pushed this story turned out to have been secretly developed and funded by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee, a fact uncovered only through the tenacious digging of Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the face of major opposition from the media and Democrats on the committee. The information operation has been fed to an increasingly compliant and credulous media with nearly no resistance. Fusion GPS is the Clinton- and Democrat-funded group that initiated the Russia collusion story, although it is now, according to congressional testimony, being spearheaded by the Democracy Integrity Project and funded to the tune of $50 million. The Washington Post quietly admitted, buried the news, really, that the operation was funded by George Soros. Hollywood Celebrates Paul Manafort Guilty Plea. Several celebrities took to social media on Friday [9/14/2018] and posted messages celebrating former Trump presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort's decision to plead guilty to a federal conspiracy charge as part of a plea agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller. [...] The White House issued a statement Friday that said the charges against Paul Manafort are unrelated to Mr. Trump's election victory. Paul Manafort's Plea. Former convention delegate manager Paul Manafort, entered into a plea deal today with Special Counsel Robert Mueller for issues related to his lobbying firm and FARA registry violations. The plea has nothing to do with candidate Trump, president-elect Trump, or President Trump. Manafort Deal Looks Like Good News for Trump, Terrible News for Democrats. Something rarely brought up by our utterly useless but still corrupt establishment media is that in order for someone to "flip," that someone has to have the goods on someone else. In other words, if you want to deal your way out of prison time, you have to have something to deal with; you actually have to serve someone's head up on a platter. Nevertheless, all throughout the Russian Collusion Hoax, and every time someone agrees to "cooperate" with Mueller, the media squee like the 14-year-old girls they all are and then intentionally mislead the public by matter-of-factly saying, "This is bad news for Trump." Well, no, actually it is not. Manafort's Guilty Plea. If we assume, for argument's sake, that the special counsel has wanted to make a criminal case on the president (I've never been fully convinced of this), the challenge Mueller has had from the start is that there was no underlying crime to predicate his investigation. He was rashly appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in the uproar over the president's ham-fisted firing of FBI director James Comey. But terminating executive-branch officers is not obstruction; it is a prerogative of the presidency. If it is done abusively or for unsavory motives, that could be grounds for impeachment, but not for criminal prosecution. Ditto harassing the attorney general, contemplating the removal of the special counsel himself, and allegedly weighing in on whether Michael Flynn, the former national-security adviser, should be investigated. We can all agree — or, at least, many of us do agree — that it would be better if the president did not do such things. It should be indisputable, though, that the Constitution endows him with the authority to do them. Paul Manafort may have struck a deal with Robert Mueller. President Trump's ex-campaign chair Paul Manafort tentatively agreed to a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller that will head off his upcoming second trial, ABC News reported Thursday [9/13/2018]. The feds were expected to announce the agreement in court Friday, but it remained uncertain whether the international man of intrigue had agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the Russia probe. The network said Manafort could be pleading guilty to avoid the stress and expense of a second trial following his conviction in Virginia on tax fraud and money laundering charges. Paul Manafort and special counsel reach plea agreement to avert second trial. Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, pleaded guilty Friday to federal conspiracy charges and agreed to cooperate in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race, prosecutors said Friday, marking a stunning about-face for the former Trump deputy. The plea deal, unveiled in federal court in Washington, will allow Manafort, 69, to avoid a second trial on charges stemming from his lucrative work for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine before he joined the Trump campaign and his subsequent attempts to tamper with witnesses in the case. Bernard Kerik: Why Manafort Was Put in Solitary. In a very small regional jail in Warsaw, Virginia, sits Bob Mueller's big fish, Paul Manafort. Mueller, the U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel appointed to investigate any possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign, has charged Manafort with multiple counts of conspiracy, money laundering, tax crimes, false statements, and anything else they can wad into a big ball and throw up against the wall to see what sticks. After his arrest, Manafort was placed on house arrest on a $10 million-dollar bail, until the government recently accused him of witness tampering and convinced U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson to revoke his bail, and remand him to jail pending trail. To a casual observer, this would seem justified, however, to anyone that has been through it, or has witnessed the government's selective and political prosecutions over the past few decades, they would tell you that it is all a part of a prosecutorial strategy. Manafort split verdict says nothing on Trump, Russia, and the 2016 election. What does the Paul Manafort divided verdict — guilty on 8 fraud charges with a mistrial declared on the remaining 10 charges — mean for the question of whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to fix the 2016 election? Nothing. Of course, everyone knew that going into the trial. Special counsel Robert Mueller was assigned to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump." Mueller's authority also covered "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation," plus any issues that might involve obstruction of the investigation. Prosecutors said before the trial that they would not mention the word "Russia" at all during the proceedings, and that was pretty much the case. They also barely mentioned the name Trump, although it came up briefly in the charges that Manafort gave a Chicago banker a spot on a Trump campaign advisory board in exchange for approving an iffy loan. The Week Washington Officially Lost Its Collective Mind. In an orgy of political drama playing out in courtrooms up and down the Acela corridor, President Trump's lawyer and his one-time campaign manager stand convicted of various crimes. In this fever worse than Joe McCarthy's Red Scare, President Trump — therefore — has been officially declared guilty by association! Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump's campaign manager for six minutes during the summer of 2016, was found guilty of a host of crimes dating back more than a decade relating to his various business ventures, none of which has anything to do with President Trump. What is interesting about the case against Mr. Manafort is that prosecutors had declined to pursue some of the charges way back when. But that was before Mr. Manafort betrayed the political establishment by working for Mr. Trump's presidential campaign. Why Trump's supporters won't care about Cohen and Manafort's convictions. Last week, a woman in her mid-40s who lives in a tidy suburban enclave just outside of Columbus, Ohio, summed up her continued support for President Donald Trump despite his morals, values and behavior not matching hers nor matching her expectations she had for any president of the United States. "For decades I have been inspired by aspiring politicians and elected officials who took to the podium or the camera and delivered poetic speeches to earn my trust and my support. They would sway me with expressive words and artfully delivered promises," she said. While the words were beautiful, they never manifested into anything tangible in her community. The Trouble with Impeachment. Paul Manafort, Bannon's predecessor as the top Trump campaign official, was found guilty on August 21 of eight counts of bank and tax fraud. Manafort is the biggest fish special counsel Robert Mueller has landed so far — even if the charges that Manafort hid or failed to disclose millions of dollars in income from his consulting work overseas do not directly reflect Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Jury Finds Manafort Guilty on 8 Counts. After four days of deliberations, the jury reached a verdict on 8 counts and could not make a decision on 10 counts in the tax evasion and bank fraud case against Paul Manafort. Judge Ellis declared a mistrial on 10 counts. The verdict will be read on 8 counts. Paul Manafort is found guilty of eight counts of fraud after first trial brought by Robert Mueller's prosecutors. Paul Manafort was found guilty of fraud by a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, on Tuesday in a bombshell verdict which puts pressure on Donald Trump, whose campaign he once ran. The jury found Manafort guilty of eight counts of bank and tax fraud, which could send the former Trump campaign manager to prison for the rest of his life. He had been charged with a total of 18 counts of fraud. The jury said it was deadlocked on the other 10. REPORT: CNN Intentionally Intimidates Paul Manafort Jury. [Paul] Manafort, who worked for a short time as President Trump's campaign chairman during the 2016 presidential election, has been charged by special counsel Robert Mueller with various financial crimes, none of which have anything to do with Trump or the campaign. Manafort's fate now sits with the jury, and after two days of deliberations, anti-Trump media outlets like CNN are becoming concerned Manafort could be acquitted, which would be a major blow to Mueller's credibility and his ability to remove Trump from office — an outcome the establishment media are desperate to orchestrate. And so, on Thursday [8/18/2018], CNN, along with six other far-left media outlets (the Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Politico, the New York Times, NBC, and the AP) sued for the release of the names and home addresses of all of the Manafort jurors, a move that is both disturbing and almost unprecedented. Manafort's Purge Trial. I don't care much for Paul Manafort. Like his Democratic Party doppelgänger Tony Podesta, he is the kind of pond scum that makes what we call The Swamp The Swamp. Indeed, the two men have worked together in the past, having a natural affinity for exploiting the public interest for maximum profit. I was going to call this column "The Trial of Tony Podesta" to point out the ridiculous disparity that one is on trial but not the other. Judge Ellis couldn't have been more right. This is selective prosecution to get at the president. The charges are outrageously broad and deliberately so. Nevertheless, it doesn't speak well of Trump that he chose to work with a man like Manafort. The Manafort Trial Ends. This week marked the end of the trial of Paul Manafort. The jury is now deliberating his fate. I cannot with certainty opine on the prosecution's handling of the case. I can't because all we know — in the absence of transcripts of the trial — is what reporters have told us. In my experience they often lack the background to adequately apprise us of what went on. Reporters also give more weight generally to salacious details — in this case Manafort's wardrobe and Gates' affairs — than they do to the more significant documentary evidence. Finally, as I learned in covering the Libby trial as an observer, even the best reporters have deadlines, which means their stories are often filed before the cross-examination of key witnesses and begin the next day with the direct examination of the next witness, which means half of what occurred — often the most important part to my mind — is unreported. Nevertheless, from even those accounts, it would appear that the prosecution was hardly a slam dunk, and Manafort's lawyers obviously thought so in closing without presenting any case. In closing arguments, they hit upon those weaknesses. The left's enforcers: CNN sues to reveal names and addresses of Manafort jurors. If it were I, and if the information reported in the news were the same as the information given to the jury, I'd let Manafort walk, given that they should have caught what he was doing a decade ago, not now. The only reason they didn't bother was because one of the Podesta brothers was also involved, and apparently that meant protection for all of them — gag. So prosecute the lazy prosecutors. Because if prosecutors were serious about this case, they'd have done something a long time ago. Since they weren't and the special counsel is on a witch hunt to Get Trump for political reasons, I'd send a message to the prosecutors that this is a political persecution, and Manafort deserves to walk. Very Confident Manafort Defense Won't Bother To Call Defense Witnesses Due To Weak Prosecution Case. It's a move that has both New York and Washington D.C. buzzing. The defense team for Paul Manafort, after listening to federal prosecutors lay out their case against Mr. Manafort for reported banking and tax discrepancies dating back more than ten years, gave the court a collective shrug and moved to have the trial go straight to closing arguments without bothering to call a single defense witness. Though a potentially risky move, it is also a sign the defense believes federal prosecutors fell far short of presenting a case beyond a reasonable doubt — a form of laughing in the prosecution's face. If the jury then returns a verdict of not guilty, it will be a serious embarrassment for the Mueller investigation which was clearly pinning its hopes on getting Manafort to provide something, anything, that Mueller could use to go after President Trump. Banana Republic: Paul Manafort Is Being Held in Tiny Prison Cell with No Reading Material or TV During Trial. Paul Manafort was Donald Trump's campaign manager for two months. Now he must be punished. The US government is holding Paul Manafort in a tiny prison cell during his trial with no reading material and no television. Paul Manafort faces 305 years in prison for tax evasion charges — a crime that typically has an average sentence of 1.5 years. Manafort case is about Manafort — not Trump or the Trump campaign. [A]side from the charges of lying on bank-loan applications, Manafort is charged with failing to pay taxes stemming from his work for a Russian-backed Ukrainian president. Meanwhile, international media attention is focused on this case like it is the trial of the century. So it must be a really big deal and somehow involve Donald Trump or at least his campaign, right? Wrong. The trial involves Manafort's business dealings and tax filings going back to 2006 — long before he ever signed on as a volunteer on the Trump presidential campaign. Paul Manafort Learns That Encrypting Messages Doesn't Matter If the Feds Have a Warrant to Search Your iCloud Account. Federal prosecutors have accused Paul Manafort of witness tampering, alleging that he used WhatsApp and Telegram in an attempt to coordinate his testimony with old business associates. Manafort, Donald Trump's former campaign manager, may have thought that he was being sneaky by using encrypted chat apps, but Manafort just learned the hard way that strong encryption doesn't really matter if you're backing up your messages to the cloud — especially when the federal government gets a warrant to access your iCloud account. Mueller leaves Washington in despair. As far as I can tell, Manafort stands trial for buying an ostrich jacket. I was so disappointed when I discovered it was made of ostrich hide and not feathers. I expected Manafort dressed in a 1970s Superfly outfit. Instead it is just a leather jacket. Russian Collusion Investigation Has Orwellian Roots. Paul Manafort may or may not have violated tax and banking laws in 2010. Given the twisted and arcane nature of those laws, who knows? What we do know is that Manafort first was investigated for breaking those laws in that year by Robert Mueller's FBI. A discretionary decision was made not to prosecute. It wasn't a priority of the Obama Administration to indict consultants over how they reported income from foreign governments. If that were a priority, a lot of big shots in Washington would have gone down. [...] No, Manafort's crime is the same as Facebook's: he failed to measure the orthodoxy of his political client's message and, because of that, he now faces an inquisition. Manafort trial is complicated but Americans need to know this. All of the testimony at the Manafort trial has addressed events that occurred long before Manafort went to work for 2016 Trump campaign. The testimony has focused on Manafort's and Gates's activities as alleged "unregistered agents" representing the Ukrainian government starting in 2006. It would be absurd to argue that Manafort's other clients in the 12 years since then are somehow to blame for any criminal activity he may have engaged in — and prosecutors aren't even trying to point the finger at President Trump for these activities. Manafort's lawyers claim that Gates was the actual wrongdoer, and they subjected him to a punishing cross-examination. Robert Mueller requests Trump-related portion of Manafort's trial be kept secret. Special counsel Robert Mueller made an unusual request Thursday [8/9/2018] to keep a Trump campaign-related portion of Paul Manafort's trial confidential because it uncovered "substantive evidence" relating to the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The evidence was revealed during a private discussion between federal Virginia Judge T.S. Ellis and lawyers representing Manafort and his former associate Rick Gates, Mueller charged in a filing. Judge in Manafort case seals discussion of Rick Gates and Trump probe. A federal judge late Thursday [8/9/2018] granted a request from special counsel Robert Mueller's office to keep secret a portion of a private discussion they had at the bench with Paul Manafort's attorneys and the judge during the testimony of Rick Gates. The special counsel's office said in a court filing Thursday that the conference should be sealed because it would "reveal substantive evidence pertaining to an ongoing investigation." Manafort? Who
Cares? Other than seeing occasional headlines, I have spent less than one minute following the Paul Manafort
criminal trial. I imagine the overwhelming majority of Americans would say the same. Here's why: Cranky judge, flawed witness threaten Mueller's Manafort case. Special counsel Robert Mueller's team of prosecutors have spent several days building what many legal experts consider a slam-dunk case against President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. But it has been surprisingly hard going at times, and as they prepare to rest their case as early as Thursday [8/9/2018], they bear battle wounds that Manafort's lawyers are sure to exploit as they mount their defense. IRS agent: Manafort had $16M in unreported income. An IRS agent revealed that Paul Manafort had at least $16 million in unreported taxable business income over four years while testifying during the former Trump campaign chairman's trial for tax and bank fraud on Wednesday [8/8/2018]. IRS agent Michael Welch said in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, that Manafort received $15.5 million from Ukraine which he then used to pay for clothes, homes and landscaping between 2010 and 2014. Mueller's 'Star Witness' Rick Gates Falls Apart During Cross-Examination by Manafort Lawyers — Perjures Himself. Paul Manafort's legal team painted Rick Gates, a former business associate to Manafort as a liar who embezzled millions of dollars to fund his secret life with his mistress in a blistering cross-examination Tuesday [8/7/2018]. Rick Gates previously pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with Mueller; he was even referred to as the Special Counsel's 'star witness.' Drama grips final moments of Rick Gates' testimony in Manafort trial, as lawyer poses surprise question. Rick Gates has finished three days' worth of dramatic testimony in federal court against his former business partner, ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort — but not before defense lawyers caused a stir by pressing him for details on his past infidelity. A day earlier, Gates acknowledged having a single extramarital relationship in London while working for Manafort. But on Wednesday [8/8/2018], Manafort attorney Kevin Downing seemed to accuse Gates of having affairs with multiple individuals, asking Gates whether he disclosed four affairs to the special counsel's office. Manafort Trial Threatens the Constitution, Not Just Trump. One of the things that most concerned the U.S. Constitution's framers was the misuse of the criminal justice system by those in power to check their political foes. We have a Bill of Rights, in large part, to protect us against this most harmful abuse of arbitrary power. Ostensibly, we are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures, from delayed trials and unnecessary incarceration, from being forced to be witnesses against ourselves, and from "cruel and unusual punishments." Unfortunately, all the parchment safeguards in the world cannot guard a citizenry from a truly corrupt government, and a corrupt government is capable of securing its evil ends by enlisting persons of good faith who may find themselves unwittingly employed in miscreancy. Something very like this has occurred in the Robert Mueller prosecutorial investigation of Donald Trump for alleged collusion with Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election. Judge Ellis Brings Mueller's Prosecutor to Tears in Courtroom Showdown. It looks like Mueller's prosecutors can't take the heat. Rick Gates, Paul Manafort's former business associate took the witness stand Monday afternoon in the bank fraud and tax evasion case against Manafort. After jurors were dismissed, Judge T.S. Ellis scolded one of Mueller's prosecutors and a 10-minute courtroom spat ensued. Manafort prosecutors, Judge Ellis engage in 10-minute courtroom spat. After jurors were dismissed Monday [8/6/2018] in the Paul Manafort trial Monday, the federal judge overseeing the case and prosecutors trying the former Trump campaign chairman got into an extended verbal debate — lasting about 10 minutes — over the merits of the prosecution, the length of the case and even the eye contact of prosecutor Greg Andres. Mueller is a Terrorist: Raided Manafort for Documents [which had] Already [been] Turned Over. Remember this as they put Manafort deeper and deeper into the "Mueller" scope. Mueller raided Manafort(with guns drawn) for documents he already had. To the logical mind, that is terrorism. What makes Mueller any better than an ISIS thug? Isn't that how Islamic terrorists behave? More and more Americans are beginning to see special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation for what it really is: A desperate last-ditch effort to undermine POTUS Donald Trump's administration and eventually drive him from office, overturning the results of the 2016 election. They have no evidence of collusion between the Trump camp and Russia, so they go for the next best thing. They go after the people closest to Trump, hoping that one or two will turn over states evidence and stab Trump in the back. When the Mueller Gang Met Judge Ellis. Paul Manafort. Tony Podesta. Tad Devine. Greg Craig. Manafort worked for Trump. Tony Podesta is the brother of Hillary Clinton's campaign manager. Tad Devine was Bernie Sanders' chief strategist. Greg Craig was Obama's White House Counsel. All four men also, directly or indirectly, allegedly did work for the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine. And the ECFMU was allegedly a front for Yanukovich's Ukrainian pro-Russian faction. Manafort and the Podesta Group had failed to register as foreign agents. Tad Devine had worked for Manafort on the Ukraine project. Craig had written a report on Ukraine for one of Manafort's lobbying efforts. But only Manafort had the predawn raid, the solitary confinement and the high profile show trial. [...] Podesta, Devine and Craig are getting a pass because it's not really about Manafort. It's about Trump. Manafort case judge warns Mueller team they 'can't prove conspiracy' without star witness. The federal judge in the trial of ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort told Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team on Thursday [8/2/2018] they cannot prove a key part of their case unless prosecutors call Manafort's former business partner to the stand. U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III issued the warning after prosecutors suggested Wednesday that Rick Gates — who is cooperating with prosecutors and had been considered a potential star witness — might not be called to the stand after all. Referencing Gates, Ellis told prosecutors in court they "can't prove conspiracy without him." Judge Ellis Loses His Patience — Shouts at Mueller's Prosecutors — Then Ends Court Early. Judge T.S. Ellis lost his patience with Mueller's prosecutors Thursday afternoon and ended court early after the govt lawyers made the same mistake twice. It's amateur hour with Mueller's lawyers! Judge Ellis Interrupts Mueller Prosecutors During Opening Statement in Manafort Case: "It Isn't a Crime to Have Money". The bank fraud and tax evasion trial for President Trump's former campaign chair Paul Manafort began Tuesday morning [7/31/2018] in a federal court in Alexandria, VA. Mueller's prosecutors and Manafort's legal team both came out swinging with blistering opening statements. Paul Manafort's lawyer set the tone early Tuesday morning when he told CBS reporter, Paula Reid: No deal. Manafort attorney Kevin Downing tells me "No chance!" his client will cooperate with Special Counsel in order to avoid trial today. Manafort [was] Tried 8 Years Ago for [the] Same Crime and [the] Fed Cleared Him. [Scroll down] Again, speculating, but why wouldn't Mueller take a deal, if he's guilty? Perhaps because he's innocent? And I have felt for quite some time that somebody will begin asking for discovery, and that won't be good for anybody on the Left. Imagine going down that rabbit hole, where you find more emails, text message, and other damning evidence against the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, the FISA court, The Clinton Foundation, and even Barack Obama? Manafort Investigated But Not Charged for Crimes in 2014 Because Obama Cronies Implicated in Probe. A pair of Internet sleuths have uncovered information from the 2014 investigation of Paul Manafort that reportedly went nowhere because Manafort was tied to former President Obama's Chief Counsel, Greg Craig, and State Department envoy, Cliff Sloan. Techno Fog noted that the 2014 investigation of Paul Manafort went nowhere because it implicated Obama's former White House Counsel Greg Craig[.] Manafort's case proves 'the swamp' — not collusion — exists. The trial of onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has ignited a new series of tweets from the president about ending special counsel Robert Mueller's "witch hunt." But this trial and other actions by Mueller this week will be instrumental in bringing about one of Trump's key campaign promises: the one to "drain the swamp." As was the case with the indictments of Manafort, one keyword was missing from the opening arguments at the trial on Tuesday: "Trump." Everything discussed in the courtroom precedes Manafort's three months on the 2016 Trump campaign by two years. Judge Napolitano Doubles Down: Says Paul Manafort was Exonerated 8 Years Ago — May Call Rosenstein as First Witness. Judge Napolitano dropped a bomb Tuesday [7/31/2018] on FOX and Friends. The FOX News legal analyst told the audience that Paul Manafort was already exonerated eight years ago on these same charges and... Rod Rosenstein was the lawyer who exonerated him! Mueller team lectured by Judge in Manafort case. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors were lectured by a federal judge on Wednesday for the language they've used in the courtroom and more, as the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort entered its second day. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III specifically told prosecutors to stop using the word "oligarch" to describe wealthy Ukrainians, whose dealings with Manafort are at the heart of the fraud charges he faces in northern Virginia federal court. Why Hasn't the Press Reported That Paul Manafort Was Exonerated 8 Years Ago? How many of you know that Paul Manafort was exonerated by federal investigators who investigated his financial and tax affairs eight years ago? Mueller's team slams Manafort's lavish lifestyle, defense points to ex-colleague Gates as fraud trial begins. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's lavish lifestyle was front-and-center during opening arguments in his fraud trial Tuesday afternoon, as prosecutors said he lied to put his money ahead of the law, while defense attorneys — and even the presiding judge — reminded jurors that exorbitant wealth, in itself, is not a crime. Prosecutors also called their first witness in the case: former Bernie Sanders campaign adviser Tad Devine, who worked closely with Manafort on several elections in Ukraine, including the successful 2010 presidential campaign of since-deposed pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych. Prosecutors say Manafort's wealth was fueled by lies to IRS and banks. President Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort went on trial Tuesday [7/31/2018] in federal court in Alexandria, Va., where prosecutors charged that his personal fortune was propped up by years of lies to tax authorities and banks. The first trial to arise out of the investigation run by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III got off to a fast start Tuesday, as a jury of six men and six women was picked — and opening statements delivered — in less than a day. The stakes are extremely high. For the 69-year-old Manafort, a conviction on the most serious charges could lead to an effective life prison sentence. For Mueller and his team probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, a courtroom loss could damage his credibility and amplify calls by Republicans for his investigation to be shut down. Mueller can't afford to lose the Manafort trial. The first trial of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russian probe presents multiple challenges to both the prosecution and defense. The pressure is enormous on both sides. Mueller's team cannot afford a loss in their very first trial. And a loss for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who also faces a second trial in September in Washington, DC, would make defending his second case almost a waste of time. FBI describes early-morning raid of Paul Manafort's condo. The FBI on Wednesday [8/1/2018] described the details of the early-morning raid on former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's Alexandria condo on the second day of Manafort's trial. FBI special agent Matthew Mikuska, an 11-year veteran of the bureau, testified in court in Alexandria, Va., saying he was the seizing agent for the government's search last year. Mikuska told the jury agents knocked three times on Manafort's door, but used a key to gain access after receiving no answer. Once inside, agents saw Manafort. Manafort trial to focus on lavish lifestyle, not collusion. The trial of President Donald Trump's onetime campaign chairman will open this week with tales of lavish spending, secret shell companies and millions of dollars of Ukrainian money flowing through offshore bank accounts and into the political consultant's pocket. Another Narrative Busted: The Focus of Manafort's Upcoming Trial Will Make Liberals Very Sad. The first federal trial for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is set to start tomorrow in Washington D.C. Leftists are salivating over what the trial could reveal about the 2016 presidential election, alleged Russian collusion and Manafort's relationship with President Donald Trump. But according to a new report from the Associated Press, they're likely to be disappointed as the trial will focus on Manafort's business dealings and lavish lifestyle, not collusion. So What's Paul Manafort On Trial For Again? Paul Manafort's trial gets underway in Virginia tomorrow with jury selection being the first order of the day. It's been a long time coming and the public (or at least the majority of the media) are keen to find out what sort of answers may be in store for us. But the list of charges and the evidence being presented by the prosecution seems to be sorely lacking in one area. That's highlighted in the title of this Associated Press piece from the weekend: Manafort trial to focus on lavish lifestyle, not collusion. James Comey's notes and memos This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. The Inspector General's Report, released August 29, 2019: Senators: IG FISA Abuse Report Misled Public About Crossfire Hurricane. Last week's political trifecta — the Iowa caucus, the State of the Union, and President Trump's impeachment acquittal — temporarily starved other stories of oxygen. Among those was the news that the inspector general's report on FISA abuse was misleading and that redacted information contained in four footnotes contradicted sections of the lengthy expose on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson dropped that bombshell in a letter delivered to Attorney General William Barr that requested Barr declassify the information hidden in the redacted footnotes. While the declassified version of the Grassley-Johnson letter did not identify the four footnotes at issue, a detailed analysis of the IG report suggests the redacted information concerned Christopher Steele's sources and potentially the FBI's purported predication for the launch of Crossfire Hurricane. These conclusions come from a deep-dive into the IG report read in tandem with the Grassley-Johnson letter. Does the IG Report "Exonerate" James Comey? Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton says not at all. In the eyes of Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton, what is the significance of the Department of Justice Inspector General's report, or IG report, on former FBI Director James Comey? Does it exonerate Comey as the former FBI Director claims? What is the significance of Bruce Ohr's interview records, FBI 302's, with Christopher Steele? What else might be found in other Christopher Steele-related documents? [Video clip] Inspector General's Report Exposes Another 'Collusion' Myth. [Scroll down] Ever since the memo was leaked to the news media by a Comey pal more than two years ago, the American public has been warned how that brief discussion between Comey and Trump represented an egregious presidential power play: Trump, the story goes, was squeezing his top G-Man to stop looking into his campaign for conspiring with the Kremlin because everyone associated with Trump, we were told, was guilty. But that portrayal of events was never the truth. The conversation in February 2017 had nothing to do with the Russia investigation, [...] Inspector General's Report Exposes Another 'Collusion' Myth. The presidential skullduggery allegedly exposed by the Flynn memo is just one more myth that has been peddled by anti-Trump partisans to bolster a fabricated storyline that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton. The media will ignore the obvious truth about the memo — but just like every other example of media malpractice related to this scandal, no mea culpas will be offered. Democrats will repeat the falsehood on the campaign trail next year with no pushback from reporters. Republicans can try to push back but it's probably too late; the public has already been told what to believe. The Comey-Brennan Conspiracy to Violate Trump's Civil Rights. The Comey IG report is interesting for any number of reasons, the first of which is that the Justice Department decided not to prosecute Comey for his intentionally leaking one of his "private" memos about conversations with President Trump to a friend. He did so, as we've known for two years, specifically to have that friend leak it to the New York Times for publication. Comey intended those leaks to have precisely the effect they did: to cause the appointment of a special counsel. Robert Mueller's subsequent investigation into the ephemeral "Russia collusion" investigation failed in what Comey — and the rest of the anti-Trumpers in the Justice Department and the CIA — intended it to do. It didn't remove Trump from office in a "soft" coup. Second IG Report to come, and it's gonna come for James Comey! According to Fox News, the feds aren't done with Comey — there's a second IG report to come, it sounds like. [Video clip] That's coming from Mark Meadows, so take that for what it's worth. But it IS odd that they laid out all this bad stuff that Comey did, then denied to prosecute. The Inspector General Glosses Over Some Ugly Truths About The FBI. The Justice Department Office of the Inspector General's report released Aug. 29 clearly stated that James Comey violated and abused FBI policies in managing memos in which he supposedly documented confidential conversations with the president. This is a revelation that most of us have known for quite some time. However, Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz has yet again glossed over some major problems. It appears that the main reason Horowitz concludes former FBI Director James Comey only violated his FBI Employment Agreement and DOJ/FBI "policies" was because the documents he kept, disclosed, and leaked to improper parties were not considered truly classified. That apparently keeps them from being serious enough to prosecute. So, who made the decision that they were not classified? The answer would be outrageous if it were not virtually farcical. Yes, Comey did leak classified information. The new report from the Justice Department inspector general proves beyond any doubt that fired FBI Director James Comey leaked sensitive law enforcement material in the Trump-Russia investigation. Doing so set a "dangerous example" for the bureau's other employees, Inspector General Michael Horowitz wrote. Still, Comey's supporters have claimed exoneration on one front: that Comey did not leak classified information. Some reacted angrily when President Trump tweeted that Comey had done so. But Comey did, in fact, leak classified information. It's right there in the report. It wasn't much classified information, and it was perhaps not terribly important, and Justice Department officials concluded it was not worth prosecuting. But Comey leaked classified material. Coming Legal Attractions. Two matters are likely to reveal more of the machinations of the FBI and intelligence agencies in the past presidential election and since. First there's the Department of Justice's Inspector General's inquiries. The first inquiry resulted in a devastating account of former FBI Director James Comey's conduct. Many were disappointed that Attorney General William Barr chose not to indict him based on the record IG Michael Horowitz presented, but bear in mind, this inquiry did not cover what will be a larger report on the abuse of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) in which it seems Comey played a significant role. While Comey, as is his self-deluded wont, claims the report vindicated him, it most certainly did not. Jim Jordan: James Comey Owes An Apology To Our Country. Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan blasted fired FBI Director James Comey on Fox News Thursday night [8/29/2019], saying he will in no way apologize to Mr. Comey and in fact, it is the now-disgraced Comey who owes America an apology for the past two years. As Katie covered, the Department of Justice Inspector General released a blistering report Thursday morning "confirming fired FBI Director James Comey is a politically motivated liar and rampant leaker of official, confidential information. He broke all kinds of FBI rules, protocol and laws in his effort to take down President Trump and his administration through the launch of a Special Counsel investigation." Trump Was Always the Target of the Russia Investigation. Donald Trump was always the target. The point of the Russia investigation was to make a case against Donald Trump. Preferably, the case would drive him from office. At a minimum, it would render him unelectable by the 2020 stretch run. The kind of case was less important than the objective: criminal prosecution or impeachment. In accordance with the collusion narrative, the latter would mean trying to show that Trump was compromised by the Kremlin. That is the astonishing takeaway from Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report on former FBI director James Comey's handling of his memos. The Deep State Will Face Justice Soon! Right? [Scroll down] Then we have that pathetic excuse for a human being, James Comey, gloating over the I.G. report that issued a verbal slap on the wrist for his infractions. Comey: "And to all those who've spent two years talking about me 'going to jail' or being a 'liar and a leaker' — ask yourselves why you still trust people who gave you bad info for so long, including the president." But no worries: Comey will pay when the FISA abuse report comes out. Or not: Washington insiders are now foreshadowing immunity for the entire cabal, saying that, "sadly," these lawbreakers probably won't be prosecuted. That's not sad; it's terrifying. If we can't indict and prosecute these clowns who have conspired to overthrow our government, who have committed the most egregious political crime in history, then stick a fork in our Republic. We're done. But what can we do? Actually, this whole strung out Spygate nightmare is an exercise to ensure we do nothing. Washington isn't a swamp; it's a sewer, and the rats that inhabit it are never going to allow their comrades to be indicted. Jumpin' Jim Flash. Yesterday the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General released its long awaited report on certain elements of James Comey's misconduct as Director of the FBI. Contrary to his assurance to President Trump — an assurance that projected something of his essence — the report demonstrates that Comey is a weasel (and worse). He is also (again to borrow the words of his own denial to Trump) a sneak, a leaker, and a liar (and worse), but these are venial sins in the panoply of Comey's misconduct. There is no substitute for reading the report. New report details Comey plan to ambush Trump with Moscow sex allegation. A just-released Justice Department inspector general's report provides new details on a January 2017 plan by then-FBI Director James Comey, top bureau officials, and the nation's intelligence chiefs to spring a scandalous allegation on President-elect Trump, quickly record his reaction, use a prearranged secure videoconference to discuss the information, and fit it all into the FBI's ongoing (but unknown to Trump) "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation. The allegation came from the Steele dossier, the collection of unverified tales about Trump and Russia compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele. The story was that in a Moscow hotel room in 2013, Trump had watched as prostitutes performed a kinky sex act — and Russian intelligence service cameras rolled. Trump says he should be 'given our stolen time back' after release of Comey report. President Trump suggested Friday that he and his supporters should be "given our stolen time back" in light of a Justice Department report that found former FBI director James B. Comey violated FBI policies regarding memos that helped spark the special counsel investigation. [...] "The disastrous IG Report on James Comey shows, in the strongest of terms, how unfairly I, and tens of millions of great people who support me, were treated," Trump said in a tweet, referring to the Justice Department's inspector general. "Our rights and liberties were illegally stripped away by this dishonest fool. We should be given our stolen time back?" Inspector general takes apart Comey's excuses for his actions. Of all the tall tales James Comey has told, none compare to the line he fed President Trump at their infamous January 2017 dinner. As recounted in the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director's memo about that evening, "I said I don't do sneaky things, I don't leak, I don't do weasel moves." The Justice Department's inspector general begs to differ. In a new report about Mr. Comey's handling of those memos, Michael Horowitz demonstrates that Mr. Comey in 2017 was consistently leaky and sneaky. The report refutes any claim that the then-director was justified in taking these actions. He repeatedly, and knowingly, broke the rules. IG Report: James Comey Passed Private Conversation with Trump to FBI Team Investigating Russia Collusion. The IG report relates that prior to the briefing, FBI members on Comey's team discussed the need to memorialize the exchanges between Comey and Trump during the private January 6, 2017 briefing in Trump Tower just in case Trump made statements relevant to the agency's Russia probe. In other words, they plotted to stealthily use statements Trump said to Comey in a private briefing to inform their Russia collusion investigation. The IG further relates that Comey went on to do just that. He had a laptop waiting for him in the car, where he immediately began memorializing the private talk. James Comey was the Bad Guy in the 'Russia Collusion' story. The Department of Justice Inspector General Report revealed what many of us suspected all along: James Comey was the Bad Guy in the 'Russia Collusion' story. He lied to the President, lied about lying to the President, leaked government information to cover up his lying, and lied to the public about his lying. Comey tried to set up the President soon after he took office and failed, and covered up the attempt. Comey is revealed to be a completely manipulative bureaucratic infighter who maneuvered the government into a two-year Executive Branch paralysis in the form of the Mueller investigation, while falsely proclaiming himself the only holy player in the saga. His defense when unmasked in the IG Report is to crow that he wasn't indicted. Horowitz's 'scathing' report about James Comey's behavior is worthless without indictments. [Scroll down] Comey clearly violated FBI policies, but if the memos were classified — and if they contained information discussed between him and the president of the United States, it was classified — why isn't he being prosecuted for it? No offense to Sen. Graham and the others, but Americans have watched with disgust as one Deep State elitist after another, beginning with crime boss Hillary Clinton, have gotten away with what amounts to a coup attempt to depose a duly elected president for more than two years. If anyone else, including, say, a line FBI agent, had done what James Comey did, they'd be wearing prison stripes by now. Same goes for Clinton's criminal mishandling of classified information. Reaction: 'I Wouldn't Say James Comey Is Out of the Woods'; 'This Is Just the Beginning'. Reaction came swiftly on Thursday, after the Justice Department inspector general released a report saying that former FBI Director James Comey failed to live up to his responsibility to protect sensitive information. And by using sensitive information to force the appointment of a special prosecutor, the OIG found that Comey "set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees — and the many thousands more former FBI employees — who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information." "I wouldn't say James Comey is out of the woods," Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said. "We're in the pregame show. This is just the beginning," Jay Sekulow, President Trump's attorney said. The Substance Within the Report Shows a Two-Tiered Justice System. [Scroll down] James Baker, Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, James Rybicki and Lisa Page were determining what parts of James Comey's investigative notes needed to be classified. The corrupt FBI was in position to police itself. This is not a conflict of interest, it is better described as a profound conflict of self-interest. The information the 'small group' wanted to use to frame the target would be visible, not classified; however, any material that would outline the construct of their corruption in targeting the target would be hidden, classified. You can't make this stuff up folks. The "small group" WAS the sources and methods they were protecting. Everything needed to understand that level of corruption is outlined in the way the IG report discusses the handling of James Comey's investigative notes (ie. memos). AND the fact that James Comey kept them hidden, yes hidden. How do you solve a problem like James Comey? To begin solving the problem of former FBI director James Comey, who's been blasted by the Department of Justice in its Inspector General Report, start by never again hiring people who value themselves so loftily over the people they are charged with representing. In other words, never hire someone like him, who absolutely believed he was smarter than, better than, and more important than the people whose laws his agency was tasked with enforcing. DOJ Inspector General: Comey Set a Dangerous Example. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report Thursday outlining a wide range of serious misconduct by former FBI Director James Comey. Concluding that "Comey set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees ... who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information," the 83-page report implicitly vindicated President Trump's decision to fire the rogue FBI director in May 2017. The Office of the Inspector General also confirmed that Comey improperly leaked highly sensitive material to the media for the express purpose of pressuring the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate the 2016 presidential election. Comey Taunts Critics Following Release of IG Report, Takes Swipe at President Trump. Fired FBI Director James Comey taunted critics and took a swipe at President Trump immediately following the release of the Inspector General's report regarding Comey's handling of the Russia probe and leak of memos. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Comey, however the IG found multiple ethics and department guideline violations by Comey. Read DOJ watchdog's list of all the times ex-FBI boss broke the rules. Former FBI Director James Comey received heavy criticism from the Justice Department's inspector general in a blistering report released Thursday [8/29/2019] about his infamous memos documenting his discussions with President Trump. The report found that Comey violated bureau policies by drafting, leaking and retaining the memos. However, it noted that the Justice Department declined to prosecute Comey over the violations. For his part, Comey responded by insisting that he is not a "liar and a leaker," saying an apology from his critics "would be nice." James Comey himself This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. News and timely commentary about the Inspector General's report, released June 14, 2018: A Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election. IG report available for download. The overlooked bombshell of the IG report. Before the report was released, we knew from Comey's July 2016 statement that Clinton's private emails included "seven e-mail chains concern matters that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level when they were sent and received." We also knew that the FBI "also found information that was properly classified as Secret by the U.S. Intelligence Community at the time it was discussed on e-mail." Comey further declared, "We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial e-mail accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account." And he speculated that, given how "extremely careless" Clinton had been, it was "possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's personal e-mail account." Well, it turns out, the FBI knew with certainty at the time that hostile actors had in fact gained access to classified information via Clinton's emails. The Horowitz IG Report. There are two smoking guns. First, Peter Strzok famously texted his illicit lover that "We won't let [Donald Trump's election] happen." The other is found at 7:36 in Senator John Kennedy's questioning of the Inspector General. "Most" of the investigative decisions were made in Loretta Lynch's Department of Justice, not in the FBI. Since that body refused to pay any attention to demands by Republican investigative committees, it's no surprise that the investigation gave her a pass. But how do you prove it? The Reporters Also Committed a Crime. It is a crime for reporters to pay for leaks. Reporters can use information volunteered by whistleblowers, but bribes are a different story. And it appears to be happening with some regularity. The recent Department of Justice Inspector General's report warns: "We identified instances where FBI employees improperly received benefits from reporters, including tickets to sporting events, golfing outings, drinks and meals, and admittance to nonpublic social events." The report finds that such enticements likely led agents to leak information. So far, the media hasn't acknowledged this possible criminal activity by reporters. The problem goes beyond ethical violations, and it has serious implications. If reporters can legally bribe government officials, who's to say that the reporters won't also collude with foreign governments? The Inspector General may be preparing us for the real #Spygate bombshells. [Scroll down] "I am upset at all of this," Horowitz said Tuesday. "It is precisely why it cast a cloud over the investigation, it undermines confidence in it. All of those impacts are very significant and very serious on an FBI investigation. That should never happen and it happened because of these text messages and because of what these employees were doing." But one reason Horowitz might have punted in his recent report is because he knows the real bombshells are yet to come: He is investigating the FISA warrant on Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page; the cozy relationship between Justice and FBI officials and the media, including perks for scoops; ex-FBI Director James Comey's handling of classified information; and the potential doctoring of official documents. "We've got lots of investigations going on," Horowitz told Rep. James Jordan (R-Ohio). The overlooked bombshell of the IG report. [...] is the inspector general's confirmation that classified information contained in Clinton's emails was in fact compromised by foreign intelligence services, and that Clinton had recklessly emailed President Barack Obama using her unsecured personal email from the territory of a hostile foreign adversary. The Real Lesson of the Inspector General's Report. Michael Horowitz is the Department of Justice's Inspector General. He testified on June 18th before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his report concerning the Hillary Clinton national security breach investigation. [...] Horowitz testified that "most" of the investigative decisions in that investigation were made not by the FBI but by prosecutors within the Department of Justice. One might be tempted to conclude that much of the criticism of the FBI for its decisions in the aforesaid Clinton investigation would have to be discounted or re-examined. Perhaps. But that is not the most important conclusion. 'Extraordinary' Strzok removal shows FBI agents in crosshairs from IG probe. Peter Strzok's abrupt removal from his FBI office this week signaled that the Justice Department inspector general's work already is leading to consequences for bureau officials ensnared in various probes — with potentially more repercussions to come. Strzok, who worked on both the Clinton email and Russia probes, was escorted from the FBI on Tuesday, following a referral for further investigation from DOJ IG Michael Horowitz. The watchdog, as part of his Clinton case review, found that Strzok and four other FBI employees sent "hostile" anti-Trump messages on bureau devices. The FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility is expected to further investigate the findings against the five FBI employees. Bias and the beholder. The Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, and FBI Director Christopher Wray claim the 500-plus-page report found no "documented" evidence that political bias at the FBI directly influenced the findings in the Clinton investigation or the Justice Department's decision not to prosecute the former secretary of state. People in "flyover country" are more likely to believe pigs can fly than they are to accept that political bias did not expose a clear intent to damage presidential candidate Donald Trump. Why does one need a document to prove bias? If the anti-Trump political beliefs of FBI employees, which are documented in text messages, did not influence their work then why is Director Wray ordering all of his employees to undergo training, including, reports CNN, "instruction 'on what went wrong so these mistakes will never be repeated.'"? Members of the media might also benefit from ethics training since the IG report found multiple incidents of journalists doing favors for FBI agents, presumably in return for information. The FBI Would Be Guilty Of Clear Bias If Its Trump Investigation Were A Racial Discrimination Lawsuit. Conservatives stood agape last week at the inspector general's refusal to state the obvious in his 568-page review of the FBI and Justice Department's handling of the Clinton probe: A pro-Hillary political bias led officials to let her off the hook. While Michael Horowitz's report highlighted numerous instances of anti-Trump and pro-Hillary bias, in true lawyerly fashion he focused in the conclusion on the lack of "documentary or testimonial evidence" showing that political prejudice "directly affected" the decisions made in the investigation. As a lawyer with a niche in employment law, this phrasing struck a chord of hilarity in me, because the methods of proving discriminatory intent are well-established, and such direct evidence of animus (or favoritism) is not required to show that an illegal motive drove an employment decision. What You Missed from Michael Horowitz's Testimony. Since the June 14 release of his 568-page report on the department's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, [Michael] Horowitz has been criticized for concluding that the agency's decision to forego charges against Clinton was unrelated to the political views of those in charge. "We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations," Horowitz said, "including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative decisions we reviewed, or that the justifications offered for these decisions were pretextual." That finding seems to runs afoul of much of the report's content, which included a trove of text messages showing top FBI brass favored Hillary Clinton and despised Donald Trump. The FBI Deliberately Ignored 'Golden Emails,' Crucial Abedin Messages And More. The Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Hillary Clinton have a HUGE Weiner problem that is even bigger than we first realized. According to the recently released inspector general report, on September 28 and 29, 2016 the New York office of the FBI immediately reported to the Washington headquarters its discovery of, first, 141,000 and then 350,000 emails on the laptop of Anthony Weiner — also known as "Carlos Danger," a now-convicted sex offender. Mr. Weiner is the husband of Hillary Clinton's inseparable aide Huma Abedin. The Buried Lede of the Inspector General's Report. Buried in Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz's report on the Clinton email investigation lies a disturbing passage concerning information obtained by the FBI alleging that Attorney General Loretta Lynch attempted to put her thumb on the scales of justice to exonerate Hillary Clinton. "Comey said that he also was concerned about an issue specific to Lynch," Horowitz reports. "As discussed in more detail in the classified appendix to this report, Comey told the OIG that the FBI had obtained highly classified information in March 2016 that included allegations of partisan bias or attempts to impede the Midyear investigation by Lynch." What, specifically, did the "highly classified information" indicate? It is "highly classified," so we naturally remain in the dark. What justified making the information "highly classified"? Nuclear secrets? A list of U.S. spies abroad? War plans to invade Canada? We do not know. But in an age when the Justice Department assails words that merely embarrass with redacting markers, the words "highly classified" provoke curiosity rather than close questions. Comey's manner of dismissing the information does not inspire confidence. Clinton Email IG Report: Why Is The FBI Still Covering For Discredited Agents At The Heart Of The 'Investigation'? Two agents and an attorney at the heart of the FBI's Clinton email "investigation" expose flagrant political bias at the heart of that probe. So why won't the FBI release their names to the public? And given what these key players said, how did the inspector general come to conclude that the "investigation" was unbiased? Were changes made to water it down? The IG Report Hides the Truth. The five-hundred page IG report was released to Congress on June 12, 2018, and it barely scrapes the surface. It doesn't really reveal anything that the American people were not already aware had occurred. [...] And yet, in regards to investigative decisions by FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, the lead investigator on the Clinton email case and the Russia investigation, and Lisa Page, an FBI attorney, Inspector General Michael Horowitz incredibly offers us that there was "no evidence that the conclusions by the prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations." IG Report Confirms: Our Republic Is under Existential Threat. [The OIG report] confirms, for many of us, our worst fear: segments of our federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies are a clear and present existential danger to our republic. [...] The report's assessment that officials were not affected by bias is perhaps the most laughable statement ever uttered in the annals of American political history. The I.G.'s report nakedly exposes a direct attack on Americans who have done nothing wrong, as well as an equally disturbing coup of our national hallmark institutions of stability. All the times Horowitz contradicted Wray — but nobody seemed to notice. Nine times during their joint testimony before a Senate committee on Monday, Department of Justice Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz contradicted FBI Director Christopher Wray ... but nobody appeared to notice. It's an instructive example of how false narratives and talking points in Washington are amplified by inaccurate media coverage. It's more reason you cannot necessarily believe what's reported and repeated, no matter how many are reporting and repeating it. [...] You don't have to take my word for it. But you'll have to read closely, because some of the statements include double-negatives. Clinton Emails: What the IG Report Refuses to Admit. Despite the sprawl of Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz's 568-page report on the Clinton-emails investigation, there is precious little discussion of the most important issue: The Justice Department and FBI's rationale for declining to prosecute Hillary Clinton. I believe this is intentional. The inspector general's message is: "Despite pervasive political bias and investigative irregularities, which I have comprehensively documented, rest assured that nothing too terrible happened here." That silver-lining version of this dark spectacle could not have survived a searching analysis of the decision not to indict. A Comedy of Corruption? Or a Bureaucratic Horror Show? After discussing some of the thousands of text messages between Peter Strzok — the top FBI honcho who ran both the pretend investigation into Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified materials and the first phases of Trump-Russia fantasy — and his lover Lisa Page (then counsel to Andrew McCabe, who was the FBI's deputy director at the time), the report concludes that Strzok's decision to focus on the counterintelligence probe of the Trump campaign rather than the Clinton email criminal investigation "led us to conclude that we did not have confidence that Strzok's decision was free from bias." Right. A
Closer Look At Extreme FBI Bias Revealed In OIG Report. As we digest and unpack the DOJ Inspector General's
500-page report on the FBI's conduct during the Hillary Clinton email The IG Report On FBI's Clinton Probe Reveals This Saga May Be Just Getting Started. The media has focused almost exclusively on the conclusion of the Justice Department inspector general's report on the FBI's handling of the Clinton email probe, which found bias did not impact the probe, as well as the lack of any newly announced indictments or criminal referrals. The goal of course being to downplay the negative findings of the report. At the same time, the press gave, at most, passing mention to the statement Attorney General Jeff Sessions simultaneously released. But his statement and the findings of the report make one thing clear: This isn't over. Levin: US Attorney for DC Should Investigate FBI. On his nationally syndicated radio talk show Friday [6/15/2018], host Mark Levin called for United States Attorney of Washington, D.C. Jessie Liu to "investigate what took place at the FBI" as a result of the inspector general's report that was released on Thursday. "So what I'm saying is, Ms. Liu, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, should investigate what took place at the FBI," said Mark Levin. "She's got a lot of leads, a virtual — you know — zillion leads, and she's got a document that's 600 pages in length, almost, to help give her some guidance; impanel a grand jury, and now you can use your subpoena power." IG Hearing: Senator Lindsey Graham, John Kennedy and Ted Cruz Question Segments. As anticipated the majority of the Senate Judiciary hearing was a two-step. Most of the questions presented to Inspector General Horowitz and FBI Director Chris Wray did little to advance the understanding of the issues at hand. There was only one round of questions, several missing senators, and no senators for the duration. The hearing wrapped up early shortly after 5:00 pm. Here's the only three question segments that approached the central issues. We discover that former FBI Director James Comey is the subject of an ongoing investigation. We also discover there is a grand jury impaneled. Eight Lawmakers Demand IG Horowitz Unmask Names of Hidden FBI/DOJ Employees. Eight House Republicans have asked Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz for the specific names of FBI employees mentioned in last week's report on the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Horowitz Drops Bombshell: Hillary Clinton Was Not Formally Under FBI Investigation at Any Time in 2015-2016. On Tuesday [6/19/2018], Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified in a joint Congressional hearing to the House Oversight and House Judiciary panels about his review of the FBI's (mis)handling of the Clinton email investigation. The IG Report Was a Whitewash and Devastating All At Once. The IG report bait n' switch was just another example of our elite shrugging in the face of indisputable evidence of its own wrongdoing. The bombshells in the IG report could justly be classified as "thermonuclear," but remember the Comey conference back in July 2016? Its bombshells were thermonuclear too. Integrity Boy laid out an utterly devastating case against Felonia Milhous Von Pansuit, highlighting in damning detail her litany of crimes that would have consigned you, me, or anyone else not in the elite to a long tour in the stony lonesome. And then that Looming Doofus concluded his lengthy summation with, "But never mind." Inspector General's report shows FBI is bent and broken. Question: What's the difference between the corrupt old Boston FBI of Zip Connolly and H. Paul Rico, and the new modern FBI of James Comey, Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok? Answer: Nothing. Actually, there are a few differences. In Boston, all the corrupt agents wanted to do was frame a few innocent men and set up informants for hits by their underworld masters, as well as taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. The modern FBI agents were involved in an even more nefarious conspiracy — trying to first fix a presidential election, and then, after that backfired, trying to overthrow the duly elected president of the United States. 11 Quick Things To Know About The Inspector General's Report. [#1] Learn how to interpret an IG report. [...] Those who expected demands for justice in the face of widespread evidence of political bias and poor judgment by immature agents and executives were people unfamiliar with the purpose of IG reports. The IG is also a government bureaucrat producing government products that are supposed to be calm and boring. In the previous report that led to Andrew McCabe's firing as deputy director of the FBI and referral for criminal prosecution, his serial lying under oath was dryly phrased as "lack of candor." In this report detailing widespread problems riddled throughout the Clinton email probe, the language is similarly downplayed. That's particularly true in the executive summary, which attempts to downplay the actual details that fill the report with evidence of poor decision-making, extreme political bias, and problematic patterns of behavior. FBI IG Report: A Slap on the Wrist. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz has released his 500 plus-page report, which purports to shine a light on the mishandling at top levels of the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation of the 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server while she served as Secretary of State under former President Obama. Such mishandling included violations of Department of Justice standards and FBI protocols. The report from the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General ("OIG") criticized certain actions and decisions of former FBI Director James Comey, together with those of other senior FBI officials who were involved in the probe, including former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Mr. McCabe is already the subject of an earlier criminal referral from the OIG for his alleged unauthorized leaks to the media and lying to federal investigators about his media contacts. Special FBI agent Peter Stzrok and Lisa Page, an attorney who has since left the FBI, were targeted in this report for their blatantly anti-Trump text messages. Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch was also criticized for exercising bad judgment in connection with her infamous tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton. A professional review of the IG report. The more I read about this, the more I admire IG Michael Horowitz. I have been involved in corporate governance and compliance for almost 20 years and I've never seen a better example of self-preservation than the OIG report. The IG Report: They're Guilty, but It's Okay. First we were told that Comey was a straight shooter whom we could trust. Then we were told the same about Mueller, Rosenstein, and now the IG. Yet in every case we've discovered that they are biased political actors who put the interests of the Deep State and the Democratic Party ahead of their sworn duty to uphold the law. It's time for all conservatives to acknowledge that there are few if any honest people at the top levels of the FBI or the DoJ. The Deep State and Tyranny. The issue of political bias, which the IG report scanted, has to be understood in the larger nature of the large-scale bureaucratic public institutions that comprise the Deep State. In other words, the structure and functioning of the institution itself creates a bias that selects progressive employees. The bias insidiously becomes a second nature of which they often are no more conscious than a fish is that it's wet. Justice Department IG is looking into James Comey leaks. The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General is looking into former FBI Director James Comey's decision to give his personal memos to a friend outside the government. "We received a referral on that from the FBI. We are handling that referral and we will issue a report when the matter is completed," Inspector General Michael Horowitz said during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearing came days after Horowitz's office released a near 600-page report on the FBI's handling of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. Comey Under Investigation For Handling Of Classified Information. Former FBI director James Comey is under investigation for mishandling classified information, DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz revealed Monday [6/18/2018]. He is specifically under investigation for his handling of memos he wrote about interactions with President Trump while FBI director. Why the OIG Report Should Scare You. The Justice Department's tepid OIG report, with its risible assertion that there was no political bias in the FBI's Clinton email probe, suggests that it was written by people afraid to tell the unvarnished truth about the conduct of the federal government's police apparatus, an agency that openly defies congressional oversight and has participated in a vendetta against a sitting president. The FBI's leadership clearly hopes that the Democrats will win majorities in Congress and put a halt to the investigations into its multifarious abuses of power. The OIG is loath to face the ruthless reprisals that would inevitably follow such a disaster. Crime and Punishment. The Justice Department Inspector General's report on the investigation of Hillary Clinton's unsecured personal email server laid bare a widespread pattern of conduct that "cast a cloud" over the FBI. The report incites the inference that the Bureau is a severely corrupted organization, tainted and warped by unconstitutional ambitions to meddle in electoral matters. Although Inspector General Michael Horowitz asserted he lacked "documentary and testamentary evidence" to prove political bias ruled in making decisions of great political consequence, clearly he did not mean bias was not present. On what the report presented, it is almost certain that the FBI, at the deliberate direction of its leaders and senior Justice Department officials, intervened completely improperly in political matters. The inspector general led the country to the edge of the decision, and will presumably make a number of criminal referrals for possible indictments, as he did after his initial report. Insubordination and bias at FBI. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's 500-page report covers plenty, but it can be distilled to two words he uses to describe the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the 2016 election: insubordination and bias. Two terms that are chilling in connection with such a powerful agency. That won't be the message from Democrats and most of the press, who will focus on a few episodes they will claim cost Hillary Clinton an election. Watch for them to blame former FBI Director James Comey, whom the report faults for "a serious error of judgment," for having "concealed information" from superiors, and for "violation of or disregard for" departmental and bureau policies. Obama single-handedly ruined the FBI and the DOJ. Naturally, the political-media left that crowds out saner voices on television was quick as jackrabbits to announce that the FBI was vindicated by the I.G. report that was released on Thursday [6/14/2018]. [...] But one only has to scroll through the list of columns posted at RealClearPolitics on Friday to grasp the abyss between the left and right re: the report. The report contained an executive summary that said, "We found no documentary evidence of political bias." That means they did not find written confessions by all those Trump-hating higher-ups at the once-great law enforcement agency. But the five-hundred-page body of the report is chock-full of extreme political anti-Trump mendacity. Why the hundreds of texts between several like-minded agents that reek of profound bias against Trump are not documentary evidence is a mystery. [...] This I.G. report is only half, or maybe only a third of the whole story. IG Report: Peter Strzok Statements About Weiner/Abedin Laptop Conflict With FBI Claims About Weiner/Abedin Laptop. General David Petraeus was arrested for leaving his classified schedule on mistress Paula Broadwell's nightstand. Kristian Saucier was arrested for taking a classified photograph on a submarine. Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin had dozens of classified Clinton emails on a laptop and... There is a great deal of inconsistent application of law surrounding classified information. There is also a great deal of fatigue surrounding discussion of those inconsistent applications. Contradictions, inconsistency and obtuse justifications are as rampant in our midst as the political narratives shaping them. Perhaps that's by design. [Inexplicable ellipsis in original.] Mark Levin: "FBI interfered with the election worse than the Russians could have ever dreamed of doing!" Mark Levin gave a fantastic interview last night on Hannity where he gave his reaction to the IG report on the Hillary investigation. As you can judge from the title, Levin feels this report is a huge indictment against Comey, saying there was collusion, obstruction, and insubordination. And I love the line I used in the title, where Levin emphatically said the "FBI interfered with the election worse than the Russians could have ever dreamed!" [Video clip] IG Report: FBI Lawyer #1 Tashina Gauhar and The Huma/Weiner Laptop Issues. One of the information issues with the IG report is that it's written entirely from an insider's perspective. Therefore without an understanding of how divisions within Main Justice related to the discussed activity within FBI main DC offices it can be very confusing to understand. The 'insider narration' makes it difficult to see what happened with the Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner laptop; and how the Clinton emails were discovered. However, because the issue is so important the IG report spends three chapters on this time-frame between September 28th and October 29th, 2016; and ultimately the next day, Oct. 30th, when a search warrant was executed for the laptop content. IG Report: "We do not have confidence that Strzok's decision was free from bias". FBI Agent Peter Strzok walks like a biased duck, looks like a biased duck, sounds like a biased duck, has all the same characteristics of a biased duck, and took the exact action a biased duck would take; therefore "We do not have confidence" FBI Agent Peter Strzok is not a biased duck. IG Report: FBI Officials Accepted Bribes From Media. On Page Xii of the IG report the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (DOJ-OIG) highlights numerous FBI officials who accepted bribes from multiple media outlets including: "tickets to sporting events", "golf outings", "drinks and meals" as well as exclusive invitations and admission to "nonpublic social events". Notes on the IG Report. No one can read the vicious, hateful, over-the-top partisan vitriol that FBI employees directed against Donald Trump — Strzok and Page are not the only ones quoted in the IG's report — and give any credence to that claim. These high-ranking FBI agents were politicized to the core and were determined to do anything they could to secure their candidate's election. Failing that, they plunged into the faux Russia election story in hopes of discrediting President Trump or even, as they explicitly discussed, bringing about his impeachment. The IG's report exposes a corrupt and politicized FBI and Department of Justice. And so far, we are seeing only half of the story, at most. No one has yet looked into the Democrats' "Russia" tale or any partisan corruption linked to Bob Mueller's farcical "investigation." Crime and Punishment. The Justice Department Inspector General's report on the investigation of Hillary Clinton's unsecured personal email server laid bare a widespread pattern of conduct that "cast a cloud" over the FBI. The report incites the inference that the Bureau is a severely corrupted organization, tainted and warped by unconstitutional ambitions to meddle in electoral matters. Although Inspector General Michael Horowitz asserted he lacked "documentary and testamentary evidence" to prove political bias ruled in making decisions of great political consequence, clearly he did not mean bias was not present. On what the report presented, it is almost certain that the FBI, at the deliberate direction of its leaders and senior Justice Department officials, intervened completely improperly in political matters. The inspector general led the country to the edge of the decision, and will presumably make a number of criminal referrals for possible indictments, as he did after his initial report. IG Report: FBI Agent Peter Strzok Sent Weiner Sealed Indictment To His Personal Email. One of the interesting aspects of the IG report is the documented use of personal email by participants within the FBI "small group" Mid-Year-Exam (MYE) team. One of those documented examples involves FBI Agent Peter Strzok downloading the content of the sealed Anthony Weiner Indictment, October 29, 2016, to his personal email address. Unauthorized extraction of a 'sealed SDNY indictment', and transmission to a non-secure system, is a felony. PBS's Mark Shields Sounds Silly: 'Very Sparse' Evidence of FBI Bias Against Trump. You could tell the PBS NewsHour didn't want to discuss the Inspector General's report on the FBI's egregious failure to live up to its own standards in the 2016 election cycle. Anchor Judy Woodruff started the Friday week-in-review segment with the North Korea summit, and then began the FBI analysis with a no-bias-found verdict: "Very tough on James Comey, saying he was insubordinate, some other tough criticism of him, but, ultimately, 500 pages concluded that the way the FBI handled it didn't demonstrate bias." Comey's FBI Was Protecting The Legitimacy Of The Presumed Clinton Presidency. In late October of 2016 James Comey knew Donald Trump's candidacy was as dead as a doornail. That must be distinctly understood or nothing wonderful can come from the story I am going to relate. Time soothes the edges of old emotions. We forget the shock of that election night. Almost two years now of articles and TV takes, even books, make Trump's election seem understandable, even sometimes inevitable. But that's not how it was then. When FBI director Comey and the FBI dropped their late October Anthony Weiner surprise, they did so fully confident that Hillary Clinton would win. What we now know for certain from the Department of Justice inspector general report that came out Thursday is that the FBI chose to disclose the Weiner email fiasco to protect a Clinton presidency, a foregone conclusion, from potential claims from Trump that the FBI had rigged the election. Decoding the Horowitz Report on 'bias'. We are in the midst of a spin battle over the inspector general's report issued yesterday [6/14/2018]. Because inspectors general cannot release their reports without giving those named within it a chance to contest it, and must be able to defend every single word of it, they must stick to facts and completely documentable conclusions. Inductive reasoning, looking at large patterns of facts and drawing conclusions, does not survive such a process. The result is a report that is written in a kind of code. Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal decodes the Horowitz Report on bias in a tweet thread on the subject. Her first tweet demolishes the "no bias" meme being pushed by Democrats, including the mainstream media. Why Did FBI Assign Same Agents to Clinton & Trump Cases? Why did the FBI assign the same agents who investigated Hillary Clinton's emails to look into allegations of Russian collusion with Donald Trump's campaign? Given the overlapping timetable of both cases, the decision appears not only peculiar but harmful to the efforts. The inspector general notes in his report the repeated excuse that the importance of the Russia investigation led to the crucial delay in the reopening of the Clinton email investigation after the discovery of former Secretary of State's missing messages on Anthony Weiner's laptop. The bureau assigning different agents and lawyers to each case, the IG suggests, likely would have prevented the one-month delay in looking into the laptop that came, crucially, just days prior to the 2016 election. Clinton Foundation Never Probed, Frivolous Suit Brought Against Trump. On the day the Office of the Inspector General released a report about egregious DoJ/FBI behavior, the New York Attorney General announced a $2.8 million lawsuit against the Trump's Charitable Foundation. Notice how the Feds and the NY AG work together? This is a civil suit and they want to shut down the charity. The fact is the Foundation raised 18.8 million dollars while giving 19.2 million to charity with virtually zero expenses. This is a frivolous suit meant to hurt the President and counteract the OIG report. Insubordination and Bias at FBI. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's 500-page report covers plenty, but it can be distilled to two words he uses to describe the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the 2016 election: insubordination and bias. Two terms that are chilling in connection with such a powerful agency. That won't be the message from Democrats and most of the press, who will focus on a few episodes they will claim cost Hillary Clinton an election. Watch for them to blame former FBI Director James Comey, whom the report faults for "a serious error of judgment," for having "concealed information" from superiors, and for "violation of or disregard for" departmental and bureau policies. Media fawning over Comey, McCabe looks silly after stinging IG report. For those journalists who have covered law enforcement for decades, there was some discomfort watching a doting news media bestow adoration earlier this year upon the FBI's disgraced top two former bosses. FBI Director James Comey, terminated for violating department guidelines and explicit instructions, was given the royal treatment when his memoir came out this spring. Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, fired for lying to his own federal investigators, was portrayed as a whistleblower akin to Mark Felt, another former top FBI official who exposed the very real Watergate scandal. [There is] No Obstruction If [a] Boss Cans [an] Insubordinate Subordinate. Now that Justice Department Inspector-General Michael Horowitz has released his nearly 600-page report on his investigation of FBI practices during the course of the Hillary Clinton email probe, one thing is more settled then ever[:] former FBI director James Comey had to be fired as fast as possible. The IG's findings could not have been more clear: Comey was consistently insubordinate. That is precisely the word used in the report: insubordinate. No company, no business, no organization can function effectively with highly placed but subordinate people working at odds with their superiors, their management, their bosses. Comey responds to IG report. Former FBI Director James Comey led the FBI into crisis, scandal and disgrace. Fired from the job by President Trump, he presented himself as a model of ethical leadership with a best-selling how-to book. The IG report released yesterday documents his failures, notes his duplicity, calls him out for his high handedness, and gives us his endless self-justification. In the tweet below responding to the IG report, we see that he is a man of many devices, one of which is a public relations strategy to ward off shame. He could write an authentic classic on the high art of political pretense. Sex, lies and betrayal at the FBI. If Jeff Sessions and Christopher Wray want to clean house at the FBI, they'll be well advised to pack a good lunch. Cleaning this house will be an all-day job. The agency under James B. Comey has been more corrupt than we thought. The long-awaited findings of the inspector general at the Justice Department were finally released Thursday, and it reveals clearly that officials high up in the food chain were out to protect Hillary Clinton by any means necessary. The FBI Hates Trump — and His Voters, Too. Several passages in the Justice Department's Inspector General report on the agency's handling of the Clinton email investigation illustrate the FBI's culture of contempt for Trump, before and after the election. Comments from key law enforcement officials — lawyers and investigators — about Trump were vile, demeaning, and childish. But their ridicule was not isolated to Trump. These public servants were unsparing in their contempt for the voters — the very people who fund their salaries and pensions. FBI Employee to FBI Attorney for Russia Investigation: 'YOU PROMISED' Trump Would Never Get Elected. The day after Donald Trump was elected president, an FBI employee engaged in an "instant message" conversation with an FBI attorney who had worked on the Clinton email investigation, then moved to the Russian meddling investigation, and would later become an attorney working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller on that investigation. Speaking of Trump's election, the FBI employee told the FBI lawyer: "You promised me this wouldn't happen. YOU PROMISED." Later, in the same instant messaging exchange, according to the inspector general's report released today, the FBI attorney responded: "I am just devastated. I can't wait until I can leave and just shut off the world for the next four days." Tying Hillary's Emails to the Russian 'Collusion' Probe. The 568-page report released Thursday by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz may help explain why the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails and the probe of the Donald Trump campaign team's possible ties to Russia appear to bleed into each other. The IG report, titled "Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election," details the FBI's investigation and eventual closure of the case regarding Clinton's use of a private, non-government email account, and her private server. The report devotes particular attention to former FBI director James Comey's July 5, 2016 statement exonerating Hillary Clinton from criminal wrongdoing in her handling of classified intelligence. IG report? I want indictments. The FBI is run by people who think they are above the law. They may be right. Missing from this document are the indictments. Jimmy the Weasel Comey should be arrested and charged with obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and sundry other crimes like the common criminal he is. Arrogant Andrew McCabe, Peter the Politician Strzok, Lisa Page, and a whole slew of other agents need to be arrested, jailed, and charged with every crime possible. This calls for a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization prosecution because these boys and girls turned a federal agency into their private protection racket. We know this was going on for years because there is a casual, business-as-usual air to the way they conducted their crimes. The record shows this. FBI Employee: 'Trump's Supporters Are All Poor, Uneducated, Lazy POS'. The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General report on the FBI handling of the Clinton email investigation reveals a bureau staffer made remarks attacking the "Deplorables," the voters who elected Donald Trump. [...] When Justice Department investigators asked if the comments demonstrated a political bias, the attorney said, "personal political feelings or beliefs... in no way impacted" the staffer's work undertaken on either the Clinton email probe or the Russia investigation. With FBI's boiling hate for voters exposed, America dodged a bullet by electing Trump. One of the biggest takeaways from the Department of Justice's 500-page inspector general report is how deep the contempt for voters is among the Federal Bureau of Investigation's leadership elite. The text messages are incredible. [...] It's so bad that the I.G. report said these remarks, just oozing with contempt for the American public, led to an atmosphere that "has brought discredit to themselves, sowed doubt about the FBI's handling of the Midyear investigation, and impacted the reputation of the FBI." The IG's Report May Be Half-Baked. You've got to hand it to Michael Horowitz: The Justice Department inspector general's much-anticipated report on the Clinton-emails investigation may be half-baked, but if it is, it is the most comprehensive, meticulously detailed, carefully documented, thoughtfully reasoned epic in the history of half-bakery. Why say do I say the report "may be half-baked"? Why don't I just come out and declare, "The report is half-baked"? Well, I figure if I write this column in the IG's elusive style, we'll have the Rosetta Stone we need to decipher the report. Justice Leadership Is Not Coming Clean. Despite misleading headlines, the inspector general's report on the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails shows a powerful law enforcement agency hobbled by bias and dishonesty. The press has seized on the IG's statement that he "did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative decisions we reviewed." But that is simply Inspector Generalese for, "No one confessed or left a paper trail." Open Up the Horowitz Secret Appendix. Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report points to multiple irregularities in FBI chief James Comey's actions in the 2016 election campaign, sees no evidence of political bias, but never really gets to the bottom of why Mr. Comey played the role he did. Mr. Comey may have been worried that a Justice Department decision not to prosecute Mrs. Clinton would lack credibility, but it was in no sense his obligation to solve this problem. It simply was not the FBI chief's job to relieve the Obama administration of the need to sell its decision to the electorate. This is why we have elections. It's what political accountability is all about. This is where Russia enters in. It is highly absurd at this point to keep this information secret, as Mr. Horowitz does in a classified appendix. How political bias infected FBI Trump, Clinton probes. [Scroll down] Then there was FBI Attorney 2. His case is particularly newsworthy because Horowitz reported — it was not known before — that, like Strzok and Page, FBI Attorney 2 was removed from the Mueller investigation when the inspector general made Mueller aware of FBI Attorney 2's internal communications. "FBI Attorney 2 left the special counsel's investigation and returned to the FBI in late February 2018, shortly after the IG provided the special counsel with some of the instant messages discussed in this section," the report says. On Oct. 28, 2016, the day the FBI's then-director, James Comey, announced the reopening of the Clinton investigation, FBI Attorney 2 messaged four other FBI employees, saying, "I mean, I never really liked the Republic anyway" or similar messages. The IG Report Was a Whitewash and Devastating All At Once. [Christopher] Wray's ruined agency's best n' brightest conspired to undo the results of an election to ensure that the liberal politician who wouldn't derail their gravy train would take office, but hey, a couple hours of diversity classes will fix that right up. I know I feel much better knowing that these bureaucratic superstars are finally going to get some training to inform them that trying to use their power as federal law enforcement agents to swing an election to their preferred political party is wrong. Apparently, that was previously unclear. The Real Problem With the OIG Report. [Scroll down] The DOJ's long-standing and well-established practice is to make no public statement regarding the outcome of an investigation unless and until it results in criminal charges. But, in the Clinton "matter," it was decided that there had to be a public announcement of the investigative findings even though she was to be exonerated. Consequently, there wasn't enough time for the investigation to be thorough and complete. But, if the FBI and DOJ wanted to "avoid influencing the political process," then why have any public announcement of the investigation's findings? By its very nature, the announcement, regardless of the investigation's outcome, would necessarily impact the political process and affect the fortunes of Clinton and Donald Trump. As such, a public announcement would be intrinsically and inescapably a political act. IG Report: Disciplinary Action Recommended For Five FBI Agents — Oh, And Bureau Employees Got Free Stuff From Reporters. Well, the report from the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz is here. Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former FBI Director James Comey, and ex-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe were placed under the microscope for their activities during the 2016 election, namely the Hillary Clinton email probe and the investigation into the Clinton Foundation. Katie and Guy broke down the major nuggets of the report, notably how Mr. Comey went way outside the protocol during the Clinton email probe. The IG report also noted that the arguments for why the ex-FBI chief informed Congress on October 28, 2016, that the FBI would be essentially rebooting the email probe after new emails were found on Huma Abedin's laptop, Abedin is a top Clinton aide, were unpersuasive. Meet the Other Amorous FBI Staffers Who Texted About the Clinton Email Investigation. Criticism of James Comey is nothing new — it's one of the few things that both Republicans and Democrats can agree on. Which made the headline takeaway of the Department of Justice Inspector General's report — that Comey deviated from FBI norms — something less than a surprise. But the Comey story isn't even close to being the most interesting or instructive finding by the IG. Perhaps the most shocking information in the IG's report is the revelation that Lisa Page and Peter Strzok were not the only amorous agents with a habit of texting. There were also "Agent 1" and "Agent 5," who were involved in the Clinton investigation and, according to the IG's report "were in a relationship at the time and are now married." Their communications make for a searing indictment of the culture of the FBI and paint a portrait of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email practices as fiasco. Inspector General's Report: FBI May Have Covered up Weiner Laptop to Help Clinton. Democrats have long complained that then-FBI Director James Comey's announcement in late October 2016 that he was re-opening the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails cost them the presidential election. But the report of the Department of Justice Inspector General, released Thursday, shows that the FBI may actually have neglected an investigation into emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop in an effort to stop Donald Trump from winning. Comey Broke From FBI Procedures in Clinton Probe, Watchdog Finds. Former FBI Director James Comey was "insubordinate" in handling the probe into Hillary Clinton, damaging the bureau and the Justice Department's image of impartiality even though he wasn't motivated by politics, the department's watchdog found. Although the report issued Thursday [6/14/2018] by Inspector General Michael Horowitz doesn't deal directly with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into Russia meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion with those around Donald Trump, the president and his Republican allies in Congress were primed to seize on it as evidence of poor judgment and anti-Trump bias within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department. Texts reveal disgraced FBI agent told lover 'we'll stop' Trump. A top FBI agent involved in the investigation of Hillary Clinton's e-mails told a colleague in 2016 that "we'll stop" Donald Trump from becoming president, according to the Justice Department's inspector general. The explosive comment came during an exchange of text messages between agent Peter Strzok and his lover, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, in August 2016, IG Michael Horowitz's report revealed Thursday [6/14/2018]. [...] Despite the stunning anti-Trump comments, Horowitz said he found no evidence that the pair's political views carried over into their work on the investigations into Russian election meddling and Clinton's improper use of a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state. 'Viva Le Resistance': Mueller Team Attorney Sent Anti-Trump Texts. An FBI attorney who worked on the special counsel's Russia investigation until earlier this year sent anti-Trump text messages to a colleague, including one exclaiming: "Viva le Resistance." The attorney's comments are revealed in a Justice Department inspector general's report released on Thursday [6/14/2018]. The lawyer is not identified, but he worked on the Hillary Clinton email investigation and was the FBI's lead attorney on the investigation into Russian election interference. He was assigned to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation soon after it began in May 2017 and left in late February of this year after some of his private messages were shared with the special counsel. The report from Inspector General David Horowitz, December 9, 2019: Sara Carter: If Declassified, Elements of FISA Abuse Report Will "Turn the Whole Horowitz Report on its Head". On Monday night's "Hannity," investigative journalist Sara A. Carter said that two Republican U.S. senators have asked Attorney General William Barr to declassify certain information from the Justice Department inspector general's "FISA abuse" report released to the public on December 9. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found numerous errors and omissions in the FBI's applications for surveillance warrants on former Trump campaign adviser Carter W. Page but no evidence of political motives in the launching of "Crossfire Hurricane," the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign. The origin of "Crossfire" is under criminal investigation by U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut John Durham. Durham is believed to be probing events which occurred earlier than July 31, 2016, the date the FBI has claimed it opened its probe into the campaign. The Swamp is un-lovely, dark and deep. Source Identified — IG FISA Report Identifies One Confidential Human Source Leading to Audit of FBI Activity. Throughout the 478-page IG report on FBI FISA misconduct there are several mentions of Confidential Human Sources (CHSs) who were either officially "tasked" or unofficially involved in the 2016 FBI investigation of the Trump campaign. The inspector general review of the CHS activity is fraught with examples of the FBI denying many of the numerous "non-tasked" sources were acting in an official capacity. The inspector general's office knowing the FBI were lacking candor is one thing; however, proving that is another matter entirely. The 'having to take them at their word' dynamic appears throughout the chapters on the use of Confidential Human Sources. IG Report Hints James Comey Was In On FBI's FISA Misconduct. When the Department of Justice inspector general released his report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse, coverage focused on the top-line findings contained in the executive summary. Then the news cycle whizzed by, leaving many details discussed throughout the 480-page tome unexplored. One significant gap in media coverage concerns the potential complicity of former FBI Director James Comey in the FISA abuse — a possibility the IG report hints at in several spots. The first suggestion that something was amiss with Comey's conduct came early in Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report, when the IG's office spoke of the methodology underlying the FISA investigation. Gregg Jarrett: Barr's Fox News interview should have Brennan, Steele calling their attorneys. Several key players in the origins of the Russia investigation might want to contact their lawyers following Attorney General William Barr's appearance this week on Fox News, political analyst Gregg Jarrett suggested Thursday night on "Hannity." "I would have my criminal lawyers on speed dial," Jarrett told host Sean Hannity, "because [Barr] made it pretty much clear he is going after not just the intel agencies but private actors." Likely Barr targets, Jarrett said, include former CIA Director John Brennan, former journalist and Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson and former British spy Christopher Steele. AG Bill Barr Full Interview Covering Horowitz Report, Durham Investigation and Impeachment. Attorney General Bill Barr had an extensive sit down interview with Fox News host Martha MacCallum on Wednesday, December 18th. The interview was broadcast this evening [12/19/2019]. [Video clip] The New American Stasi. [Scroll down] Last week, the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz revealed that we have a New American Stasi. As a Member of Congress, I had voted against the renewal of the Patriot Act, a main reason was the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court. I could not, and still cannot, fathom having a "secret" court that has the power to grant warrants to conduct surveillance, spying, against American citizens without their knowledge, or ability to defend themselves. That is a complete and utter violation of our Fourth Amendment rights, yet this is what happened. And last week, Mr. Horowitz confirmed my greatest concerns: Seventeen inaccuracies and omissions were made to this secret court in order to obtain warrants to conduct surveillance, spying, against American citizens. And yes, the entire Mueller special investigation which was enacted for one reason, but veered greatly off course, and certain political opposition have found themselves in sentenced to prison. This is how things happen when progressive socialists are in power. What perhaps started with every good intention of keeping us safe from Islamic jihadists and terrorist attacks is now being used against political opponents. IG report suggests FBI might cheat on all its FISA wiretap requests. Former FBI Director James Comey initially portrayed last week's damning report on the bureau's probe of Russiagate as a vindication. This week, Comey admitted that Inspector General Michael Horowitz discovered "real sloppiness," which is "concerning." That characterization does not begin to cover the problems described by Horowitz, which this week prompted a highly unusual public rebuke from the court that reviews secret warrant applications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The FISA court called the FBI's conduct "antithetical to the heightened duty of candor" that applies in such cases. Comey may take comfort in the fact that Horowitz didn't find political bias. The rest of us can hardly be reassured by the implication that the FBI is inept rather than corrupt. Brit Hume: One of the wonders of modern media is its failure to see through Adam Schiff. Adam Schiff claimed over the weekend that he shouldn't be held accountable for his own previous efforts to discount the numerous errors in the FBI's FISA application on Carter Page. "I'm certainly willing to admit that the Inspector General found serious abuses of FISA that I was unaware of," Schiff told Fox News' Chris Wallace. He added, "Had I known of them, Chris, yes, I would have called out the FBI at the same time. But I think it's only fair to judge what we knew at the time, not what would be revealed two years later." As Ed wrote yesterday, Schiff's explanation for his failure to see what was presented in the Nunes memo is "nonsense on stilts." I wrote a comparison between the information contained in the Nunes memo and the conclusions from the Horowitz report here. Every major point of the memo was substantiated by Horowitz' report while Schiff's response memo was cut off at the knees. Rush Limbaugh Says 'IG Report has Totally Exposed Nadler as a Full-Fledged, 100 Percent Liar'. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh just slammed Democrat Congressman Jerry Nadler for not showing up at the House Rules Committee hearing Tuesday, adding that the inspector general report has now "exposed" Nadler as a liar. "The IG report has totally exposed Nadler as a full-fledged, 100% liar," Limbaugh said on his program Tuesday [12/17/2019]. [...] Limbaugh said the Democrats on the Rules Committee are "continuing to lie through their teeth about the supposed misconduct of Donald Trump." Brennan admits 'there were mistakes made' in FISA applications, suggests FBI was 'overly aggressive'. Former CIA Director John Brennan, an outspoken critic of President Trump, acknowledged Tuesday that "there were mistakes made" in the highly controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application process during the Russia investigation as reported by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Appearing on MSNBC, Brennan was asked by host Chris Hayes about "abuses" uncovered by Horowitz, who claimed he found 17 significant errors in the renewed FISA applications into former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, while Horowitz was a member of the Obama administration. Nunes letter to Schiff: 'As part of your rehabilitation, it's crucial that you admit you have a problem'. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, is riding high following last week's release of the Justice Department Inspector General report on FBI abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In a letter Sunday [12/15/2019], Nunes told committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., that he's "in need of rehabilitation," given the report's findings, according to Fox News. Taking considerable heat in the media after voicing concerns about the FBI's reliance on the discredited Christopher Steele dossier funded by Hillary Clinton's campaign to obtain a FISA warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, Nunes was vindicated by the IG report. Shifty Schiff Tries to Play Dumb: The IG Report Revealed Things We Had No Idea About Two Years Ago. For more than two years, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told us President Donald Trump has done something wrong. He didn't know exactly what but he just knew Trump was involved in some sort of wrong doing. First, it was Russia! Russia! Russia! Once Special Counsel Robert Mueller proved that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia, he latched onto Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. And that's how we're currently at the impeachment fiasco that the Democrats are ramming through the House. What's interesting, however, is Schiff is suddenly changing his tune. During a Sunday morning interview [11/15/2019] with George Stephanopoulos, Schiff said that Inspector General Michael Horowitz "found things" that the American people didn't know about in 2017. IG Report Proves Adam Schiff Has Been Lying About Spygate Since The Beginning. On Friday, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The committee vote sends the question to the full House, with a vote expected later this week. That fast timeline won't allow for much consideration of the question, however, forcing folks to rely on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff's 300-page report detailing his committee's "impeachment inquiry." But following last week' release of the inspector general's report on FISA abuse that proved nearly every sentence wrong in Schiff's last high-profile report (his self-titled "Correcting the Record — The Russia Investigation"), Schiff's work product should be deemed worthless. Horowitz Report Exposes Soviet-Level Wrongdoing. The Democrats long have insisted that the Hillary Clinton-sponsored Steele dossier was not used to justify FBI spying on the 2016 Trump campaign as part of an investigation into alleged ties to the Russian government. The American people were told that the intelligence apparatus had legitimate concerns about potential collusion and that authorities took appropriate steps to investigate Donald Trump's associates. The evidence contained in the report, however, tells a very different story. Not only did the FBI agents trust the findings of the now-discredited dossier, but they also used it to file the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application to wiretap the Trump presidential campaign. The Media Has Some Apologizing to Do After the IG Report. Thanks to the Department of Justice Inspector General's report, we now know for certain what has been, for those paying attention, fairly obvious. The Steele dossier played a central role in the genesis of the Russia hoax and was used to justify extensive spying on former naval officer and Annapolis graduate Carter Page. The top two leaders of the FBI were closely involved in this fiasco. Other powerful people knew what was happening and lied to cover it up. That all was confirmed by the IG report. The report was a disaster for the credibility of top leaders in Barack Obama's FBI, and it's also a big problem for the American news media. Schiff and Complicit Media Are Due For a Reckoning After IG Report Exposed Their Lies. Now that the inspector general report on FISA abuse has vindicated the work of Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and thoroughly debunked the fraudulent conspiracy theories and smears of the current chairman Adam Schiff, many conservatives are crying out for retribution. At the very least, Schiff should face an ethics complaint for lying in his memo, American Commitment President Phil Kerpen says. Trapped by the Ghosts of Corrupt Administrations Past. It's little wonder sane people have taken the Left's messaging strategy regarding impeachment and the Justice Department inspector general's new report as mere political inanity and mendacity. Government officials, past and present, who fear potential indictment for abuse of power for personal and partisan gain, their legal "experts" at Lawfare, their collusion media cohorts, and social media's rabid pack of regressive mouth-breathers who do little more than parrot them are not advancing a typical political argument. They are proffering a preemptive legal defense. For the Left, preparing briefs for a prospective court of law rather than making good faith arguments in the court of public opinion is a necessary gambit, due to U.S. Attorney John Durham's probe into the Russia-gate lie. What the IG Report Missed, and Where to Find It. The I.G. Report is not truthful in its description of the reasons behind opening the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. This might be not Horowitz's fault — his main sources were the Spygate perpetrators themselves. They were familiar with investigative techniques and thus coordinated their testimonies, inclusive of media leaks, accordingly. There is only one other relevant factor mentioned in the I.G. report regarding the opening the Crossfire Hurricane investigation: the "cyber-intrusion investigation" of the DNC leaks and alleged hacks. These two separate incidents were incorrectly mixed and attributed to the Russian government. But the report doesn't disclose when this cyber-intrusion investigation started or how it was predicated. [...] The I.G. Report mentions neither CrowdStrike nor any of its officers. For comparison, FFG is mentioned 144 times, and even Fusion GPS is mentioned 138 times, but CrowdStrike is completely missing. The Inspector General's Report. The conduct of former deputy attorneys general Sally Yates and Rod Rosenstein "were inconsistent with or undercut the assertions contained in the FISA applications" (to conduct surveillance on Trump-campaign helper Carter Page). They contained "inaccurate information," i.e. the applications were fraudulent. Christopher Steele, the author of the infamous Steele Dossier, a pastiche of defamatory fabrications that was paid for by the Clinton campaign and was the principal basis of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) applications, thought he was answerable to paying clients (the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, through a law firm and the dirty-tricks operation Fusion GPS), while the FBI thought he was answerable to the Bureau, despite having closed out Steele for cause for assisting Fusion GPS in getting his false allegations into the media. Yet he continued to feed information to the FBI through the wife of senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr; she was contracted to Fusion GPS. Steele met 13 times with Mrs. Ohr after Steele's termination by the FBI, and his information was fed to the FBI. Steele continued to supply information to the FBI that director James Comey and deputy director Andrew McCabe wanted to include in the Intelligence Community Assessment of these matters (at least that outrage was not approved, but their effort incites intense curiosity about Horowitz's imputation of motives). "Ohr committed consequential errors in judgment" and a (prolonged) "lapse of judgment," Horowitz writes. Obama Wanted To Know Everything His Trump Spies Were Doing, And It Looks Like He Did. When it comes to the unlawful surveillance on Donald Trump's presidential campaign, the most important question is, what did President Obama know and when did he know it? If we are to believe the testimony in the Justice Department inspector general's report on FISA abuse, Obama didn't know anything about the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Neither did his attorney general, her deputy, or anyone in the White House. At least not that they can recall — an expression used over 200 times in the report. Yet against this we have the Sept. 2, 2016, text message from Lisa Page to her paramour Peter Strzok saying "POTUS wants to know everything we are doing." True to form, the IG report goes to great lengths to argue that "knowing everything" in fact meant knowing nothing at all. WaPo Admits: Republicans' Famous Memo On FISA Abuse Blasted By Dems Ended Up Getting It Mostly Right. Now that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has finally released his much-anticipated report on alleged misconduct by the FBI during the 2016 election, two famous memos — one released by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes while he was House Intelligence Committee chairman, and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who has since taken over the position — have come under renewed scrutiny. The memos presented dueling versions of how the FBI began to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in an effort to investigate alleged "collusion" with Russia. So who had it right? A fact-checker for The Washington Post has been forced to admit that Nunes got a "fair amount" right — in fact, his version of events aligned far more closely with what Horowitz found than the Democrats' rebuttal. IG report shows Russia hoax [is/was] a coup attempt. Inspector General Michael Horowitz finally damned the FBI during his testimony Wednesday when he said he would be "skeptical" that there was anything accidental in the egregious catalog of errors the bureau committed in its spying operation on Donald Trump's presidential campaign. It took five hours of questioning about the FBI's motivations, but Horowitz, prudent and impartial as he is, finally delivered the money shot. Asked by Republican Sen. Mike Crapo if the 17 "significant errors or omissions" he found in the FBI's surveillance operation could possibly be "accidental," Horowitz said: "I would be skeptical." This Isn't The First Time The IG Denied Flagrant Bias At The FBI. The IG said that he couldn't state definitively that political bias motivated officials at the FBI to launch and then sustain an investigation against the Trump campaign based on the Clinton-campaign funded and thoroughly discredited Steele Dossier. [...] First, what the IG report actually said was that it couldn't find "documentary or testimonial evidence" that anti-Trump animus got the investigation going in the first place, saying it was "a discretionary judgment call left to the FBI." Basically, then, the IG is saying there was no memo saying flat out that Trump-hating FBI officials were taking on this investigation to sabotage the Trump candidacy and presidency, and no one would openly admit bias to the IG's investigators. However, even the claim that the investigation's launch was legitimate and free of bias is itself being challenged by U.S. Attorney John Durham.
Graham alleges 'massive criminal conspiracy' in FBI's Russia probe in blistering hearing statement. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham accused the FBI officials who investigated the Trump campaign's ties to Russia of a "massive criminal conspiracy" in a fiery opening statement Wednesday for a hearing where the Justice Department's top watchdog testified. In a freewheeling speech to kick off the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on FBI abuses, the committee chairman said federal investigators made more than a few missteps — and took the law into their own hands. "What has been described as a few irregularities becomes a massive criminal conspiracy over time to defraud the FISA court, to illegally surveil an American citizen and keep an operation open against a sitting president of the United States — violating every norm known to the rule of law," Graham said. IG Horowitz hearing exposes deliberate FBI misconduct in investigating Trump campaign. When the FBI discovered that the anti-Trump Steele dossier was garbage, the bureau concealed that vital evidence. Instead of promptly terminating its surveillance of Donald Trump's former campaign adviser Carter Page, the FBI persisted in its quest to prove a Trump-Russia "collusion" conspiracy that officials knew was unsupported by credible evidence. This was the most significant result of Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee questioning of Michael Horowitz, the inspector general (IG) at the Department of Justice, in the aftermath of his damning 476-page report on the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign that was released this week. Lindsey Graham rips into media coverage of IG report: 'How do you get a headline like that?'. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, railed against the media's takeaways from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's recently released Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) report. In a freewheeling speech Wednesday to kick off the committee's hearing on FBI abuses, Graham said that Crossfire Hurricane — a covert counterintelligence investigation by the FBI into suspected coordination between President Trump's 2016 campaign and the Russian government's meddling in the election — was "probably the best name ever given to an investigation in the history of investigations" because, he exclaimed, "that's what we wound up with: a crossfire and a hurricane." Rep. Devin Nunes on Horowitz FISA abuse report: 'I felt more than vindicated'. House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said Wednesday that he felt "more than vindicated" after the release of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report Monday and its findings regarding the Russia investigation. "I think I felt more than vindicated because actually I give Horowitz a lot of credit because they were actually able to find things that we didn't know," Nunes said on on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "Like we didn't know that they had actually found, talked to [Christopher] Steele's Russian sources. And I think that's a critical key here because now you have to bring into question everything that happened with [former Special Counsel Robert] Mueller." Sen. Hawley: The 'Collusion Was Between the DNC and the FBI'. While questioning Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Wednesday about the FBI's malfeasance in its spying on the 2016 Trump campaign, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said there was "collusion" in that presidential election, not with Russia but between the FBI and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The report by Horowitz confirmed that the DNC paid for the salacious "dossier," compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele, that supposedly showed Trump had been compromised by the Russians. The dossier was not factual and had been dismissed by the CIA as "internet rumor." The Truth about the Horowitz Report. [Scroll down] The key to the IG report was not whether it explicitly said there was or wasn't reason to open the four investigations. The really important part was the 17 significant errors or omissions in the Carter Page FISA applications and the many additional errors contained in the Woods Procedures (a procedure requiring the vetting of every fact submitted to a FISA court for permission to spy on an American.) The IG report found that many significant facts were withheld from the court and others were altered. It is a damning assessment of the veracity of the FBI and the fundamental basis of the entire investigation. It is also a felony crime. Of the 17 major errors found in the Page FISA application information, all the errors favored Hillary Clinton and the Clinton campaign. This is incalculably beyond coincidence. It is facial political bias. The many errors and omissions were never satisfactorily explained to the Office of Investigations. The report stated that it appeared agents were substituting their own judgements in place of the OI judgements. If this isn't investigatory bias, what is? Misfired 'Hurricane': Comey's team abused Carter Page and the FBI. The report by IG Michael Horowitz is one long expose of a confluence of actors at the top of the FBI who, by their own words, despised Donald Trump and came together to open and run an investigation into his 2016 presidential campaign, falsifying documents, withholding evidence and using a confidential source who had stated clearly that his goal was to prevent a Trump presidency. Despite these flashing lights, the IG essentially stated that since no one admitted to being motivated by their personal biases, he could not reach that conclusion. Thanks for that, but most Americans unencumbered by a law degree can detect the obvious without a lot of effort. Ironically, the devastating decisions and abuses that the report goes on to enumerate are only explained with any kind of logic by the swift current of personal animus gripping the main protagonists then at the top of the FBI. 'Aghast' to learn how little the Obama-era AG was involved in FBI Trump probe: fmr independent counsel. Former Whitewater Independent Counsel Robert Ray said he was "aghast to learn how little involved the [Obama administration] attorney general and the deputy attorney general of the United States" were in the FBI investigation into President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Ray said that is the most stunning revelation from the Justice Department Inspector General's review of FBI conduct at the height of the 2016 presidential campaign. "I think Michael Horowitz was surprised to learn," said Ray on Fox Nation's "Deep Dive" on Tuesday [12/10/2019], "and I cannot believe that there is an investigation that would take you inside a presidential campaign and four people who were targeted within that campaign and that doesn't require some kind of supervisory review and initiation beyond simply the inner-reaches of the FBI." Democrat Smears on Nunes's FISA Abuse Memo Proved False by Inspector General Report. Democrats last year smeared Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) when he issued a memo with findings that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process when it obtained surveillance warrants on Carter Page, a member of the Trump campaign, in 2016. However, a report released Monday by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz [...] vindicated Nunes's memo and proved Democrats' smears and assertions were false. Nunes's memo included the findings that 1) "material and relevant information was omitted" in applications for FISA warrants; 2) the FBI inaccurately stated in their FISA warrant applications that ex-British spy Christopher Steele was not a source for a Yahoo News report used in the applications; 3) Steele maintained contact with the FBI even after being fired as a source; 4) the FBI did not corroborate the Steele dossier at the time it was included in the applications; and 5) the FISA applications for Page mentioned former campaign aide George Papadopoulos, even though there was no conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos. The DOJ IG's report confirmed every finding in Nunes's memo. Bruce Swartz, Textbook Swamp Dweller. The Inspector General's Report from the Department of Justice (DOJ) features a heretofore unheralded costar by the name of Bruce Swartz, the assistant attorney general in the Criminal Division. Swartz was also the supervisor of the feckless Bruce Ohr, husband of Fusion GPS contractor Nellie Ohr and frequent breakfast buddy of Christopher Steele of Steele dossier fame. Unreported by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, however, was Swartz's starring role in another DoJ drama some 15 years earlier. Given the scant media attention the case received in 2004-2005, it is possible Horowitz did not even know about Swartz's yeoman effort to save Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger from a lengthy sojourn in a federal Supermax. Horowitz Goes Full Comey. Like disgraced former FBI director James Comey before him exonerating Hillary Clinton for her crimes, DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz presents us with a documented list of crimes, fraud, and deception in the FISA warrant application process by the FBI but then says never mind — these are bureaucratic mistakes made without bias and without intent. There still was sufficient predicate, says he, for starting an investigation and surveillance of Team Trump, even as Horowitz admits that the first FISA warrant, the one authorizing surveilling Carter Page, was riddled with errors and omissions of key exculpatory evidence. It was the first of four frauds committed on the FISA court, a felony. Kimberley Strassel lays out 'key findings' in IG report: A 'triumph' for Nunes, an 'excoriation' of Schiff. The Wall Street Journal's Kimberley Strassel believes Rep. Adam Schiff owes the country an "enormous apology." She spoke to "Fox & Friends" hosts about the release of the anticipated Justice Department inspector general report, noting that the contents spell "triumph" for Rep. Devin Nunes and trouble for his Democrat colleague, Schiff. Ray was 'Aghast' to learn extent of Obama AG's involvement in FBI Trump probe: Fmr independent counsel. Former Whitewater Independent Counsel Robert Ray said he was "aghast to learn how little involved the [Obama administration] attorney general and the deputy attorney general of the United States" were in the FBI investigation into President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Ray said that is the most stunning revelation from the Justice Department Inspector General's review of FBI conduct at the height of the 2016 presidential campaign. "I think Michael Horowitz was surprised to learn," said Ray on Fox Nation's "Deep Dive" on Tuesday, "and I cannot believe that there is an investigation that would take you inside a presidential campaign and four people who were targeted within that campaign and that doesn't require some kind of supervisory review and initiation beyond simply the inner-reaches of the FBI." IG
Report Confirms Schiff FISA Memo Media Praised Was Riddled With Lies. The memo from the Republicans on the
House Intelligence Committee reported: Attorney General William Barr says FBI may have acted in 'bad faith'. Questions about the FBI's motives in targeting President Trump's 2016 campaign are mounting despite a Justice Department inspector general report that could not pin down evidence of bias. Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday [12/10/2019] said Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz did not push hard enough for answers to why the FBI made a slew of embarrassing errors, omissions and inaccuracies in its Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) application to wiretap Trump campaign aide Carter Page. If not a get-Trump mentality at the FBI, he asked, then what was it? Horowitz offers soundbites to Dems, facts to Republicans. It would be a great understatement to say that Michael Horowitz, the Department of Justice Inspector General, doesn't leap to conclusions. In fact, he does everything possible to ignore reasonable conclusions from the evidence he found and emphasizes the evidence that he didn't find justifying his lack of a conclusion. His latest report on the handling of the FISA warrants used to spy in the Trump campaign states: ["]...we did not conclude that the decision [to pursue an investigation of the Trump campaign] was based on improper considerations in the absence of documentary or testimonial evidence to the contrary.["] In other words, because nobody outright testified or wrote that they were launching Crossfire Hurricane out of hatred for President Trump, Horowitz will not draw that conclusion, even with all the Trump hatred evident in the text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Just how bad was the FBI's Russia FISA? 51 violations and 9 false statements. To understand just how shoddy the FBI's work was in securing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant targeting the Trump campaign, you only need to read an obscure attachment to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report. Appendix 1 identifies the total violations by the FBI of the so-called Woods Procedures, the process by which the bureau verifies information and assures the FISA court its evidence is true. The Appendix identifies a total of 51 Woods procedure violations from the FISA application the FBI submitted to the court authorizing surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page starting in October 2016. A whopping nine of those violations fell into the category called: "Supporting document shows that the factual assertion is inaccurate." Nation's Top Cop Punches Coup Attempt Against POTUS Trump In The Face With Scathing Rebuke. It's a quick uppercut to the jaw of the Deep State delivered via Attorney General William Barr in the form of a brutally powerful statement following today's release of the IG report. AG Barr makes clear he has the Deep State in his sights and he appears fully prepared to take this to the finish line. Horowitz report is [bad] for the FBI and unsettling for the rest of us. The analysis of the report by Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz greatly depends, as is often the case, on which cable news channel you watch. Indeed, many people might be excused for concluding that Horowitz spent 476 pages to primarily conclude one thing, which is that the Justice Department acted within its guidelines in starting its investigation into the 2016 campaign of President Trump. Horowitz did say that the original decision to investigate was within the discretionary standard of the Justice Department. That standard for the predication of an investigation is low, simply requiring "articulable facts." He said that, since this is a low discretionary standard, he cannot say it was inappropriate to start. United States Attorney John Durham, who is heading the parallel investigation at the Justice Department, took the usual step of issuing a statement that he did not believe the evidence supported that conclusion at the beginning of the investigation. IG report lays out compelling evidence FBI misled FISA court in Russia case, sources say. The Justice Department inspector general's report into the Russia collusion investigation lays out incontrovertible evidence that the FBI misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court through false information and omissions, according to sources familiar with its findings. The evidence that the judges were misled is so sweeping that it could provide grounds, if Attorney General William Barr chooses, to withdraw the FBI's application for the surveillance warrants that began in October 2016 to target ex-Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, the sources added. Such a move, while mostly legally symbolic since the probe is long since closed, would still amount to a resounding rebuke to an FBI probe that the bureau, Democrats and their media allies relentlessly defended. DOJ inspector general finds 17 'significant errors or omissions' in Carter Page FISA applications. The Justice Department watchdog excoriated the FBI for relying upon British ex-spy Christopher Steele's dossier in obtaining Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to monitor onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who released a report on Monday showing his findings regarding allegations of surveillance abuses, also found the FISA process was significantly flawed and marred by serious mistakes and missteps, but determined that the initiation of the Trump-Russia investigation itself crossed the low threshold to be properly predicated and was not influenced by political bias as some of President Trump's allies have alleged. DOJ IG: 'At Least 17 Significant Errors or Omissions in the Carter Page FISA' Application. The U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) audit on the origins of the Russiam collision hoax released Monday by the inspector general (IG) found "at least 17 significant errors and omissions" in the Carter Page federal surveillance application that enabled the investigation into the Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. DOJ IG Michael Horowitz's report indicated the agents in charge of dealing with approving FISA surveillance, particularly the Carter Page one approved by FBI Director James Comey, "did not give appropriate attention or treatment to the facts that cut against probable cause, or reassess the information supporting probable cause as the investigation progressed." IG Report Proves Democrats Were Wrong, and Nunes Right, About FISA Warrant. The Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG)'s report Monday on the FBI's use of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants found that the agency misled the FISA court, though not due to political bias. It also found that the decision to initiate an investigation into Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign was adequately founded — although Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham disagree. The Reason for Conflict Between Horowitz and Durham is Crystal Clear on Page 2. What inspector general Horowitz outlines in that key section is that: (A) he has reviewed everything, and talked to everyone (current and former) within the FBI; and (B) the ONLY evidence they FBI cited for the opening of Crossfire Hurricane is the singular conversation between George Papadopoulos and Australian Ambassador Alexander Downer and/or Downer's asst. Erika Thompson. That's it. Nothing else. There is no other predicate evidence from the FBI investigative unit other than a singular conversation between Alexander Downer/Erika Thompson and George Papadopoulos. All eyes on Durham after rebuke of IG Horowitz's findings. In the hours after U.S. Attorney John Durham announced Monday that he did not "agree" with key findings by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, speculation swirled over what Durham has uncovered in his ongoing review into potential surveillance abuses against President Trump's team. Durham's inquiry has had a broader scope than Horowitz's, including a focus on foreign actors as well as the CIA, while Horowitz concentrated his attention on the DOJ and FBI. Additionally, Durham's criminal review has had additional investigative resources not available to Horowitz. Ted Cruz: Horowitz report shows FBI was 'utterly negligent' at best, 'complicit' in abuse of power at worst. Senate Judiciary Committee member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the Justice Department inspector general's report both "chilling and encouraging" in an interview Monday [12/9/2019] on "Hannity." "It is stunning the abuse of power that we saw in the Obama administration and sadly it continued over in the deep state for the first couple of years of the Trump administration," Cruz told host Sean Hannity, [...] "The very best interpretation of the Horowitz inspector general report is that the FBI and Department of Justice were manifestly incompetent," he said. "The IG report outlines 17 factual misstatements that they made to the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveiilance {sic}] court and that they were utterly negligent in ordering the surveillance [and] spying of a presidential nominee and of a sitting president." Justice Dep't watchdog finds 2016 launch of FBI probe of Trump advisers was legitimate - source. The U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog said it found numerous errors but no evidence of political bias by the FBI when it opened an investigation into contacts between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia in 2016. The report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz was likely to give ammunition to both Trump's supporters and his Democratic critics in the ongoing debate about the legitimacy of an investigation that shadowed the first two years of his presidency. Horowitz found that the FBI had a legal "authorized purpose" to ask for court approval to begin surveillance of Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. But Horowitz also found a total of 17 "basic and fundamental" errors and omissions in the original application and all subsequent renewals to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA). Those errors made the case appear stronger than it was, Horowitz said. FISA report drops: 7 takeaways from DOJ watchdog's Russia probe review. The report said investigators found no intentional misconduct or political bias surrounding either the launch of the Trump-Russia investigation or as efforts to seek the controversial FISA warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the early stages of that probe. "We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI's decision to seek FISA authority on Carter Page," the report said. It also said key officials, including former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, did not act with political bias. IG report proves whole investigation was as corrupt as Comey. It's now official: Russia, Russia, Russia really was fake news from the start. There was no factual basis for the FBI to spy on Donald Trump's campaign. That means there was no need for the appointment of a special counsel and that Robert Mueller should have stayed in retirement. It means the two years of rumors and accusations and the giant cloud of suspicions over the White House produced by Mueller's headhunters were unfair and unjustified. It also means J. Edgar Hoover can finally rest in peace. James Comey is now revealed to be the dirtiest cop ever to run the FBI. AG Bill Barr Just Issued a Translation of the DOJ IG Report. Because the IG has no right to subpoena and can't lock anyone up, he can only refer people for prosecution. Currently, most of the people who conducted the abuse have been fired and were out of the purview of the IG. The IG report, however, found that officials lied and omitted helpful information to Trump campaign officials who were being spied on, but couldn't determine if the malfeasance was politically motivated. U.S. Attorney John Durham is looking into why the Trump spying case was hatched by people clearly pulling for Hillary Clinton to win the election. Brennan Lied About Not Including Steele Dossier In Intelligence Community Assessment On 2016 Russian Election Interference. The new report from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirmed former CIA Director John Brennan lied to Congress about whether the dossier authored by Christopher Steele was used in the Obama administration's Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). The ICA, a report conducted by intelligence officials in 2016 on Russian election interference, was used to brief President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump in January 2017. According to the IG report, there was significant discussion by top intelligence officials as to whether the unverified Steele dossier should be included in the main body of the ICA report, summarized in an appendix, or even included at all. DOJ Watchdog Puts Final Nail In Steele Dossier's Coffin. A Justice Department watchdog's report released Monday [12/9/2019] definitively debunked one of the Steele dossier's most pervasive allegations of collusion, while severely undermining other hair-raising claims about Donald Trump and former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The report is unsparing of both Christopher Steele, the dossier author, and the FBI's handling of the salacious document. It paints a picture of Steele, a former British spy, as an eager gun-for-hire encumbered with a poor sense of judgment. The FBI, while absolved of a top-down, politically-motivated conspiracy to take down Trump, failed to verify any of Steele's allegations, and also omitted key pieces of information that contradicted the dossier. More about the Fusion GPS Dossier. 13 Things To Look For In The Inspector General FISA Abuse Report. [#1] Concerns about Federal Surveillance of Carter Page: Before looking at a list of concerns Horowitz's forthcoming report should address, here are the basics concerning the Page FISA warrants. According to the response memo Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) released to counter Nunes' memo, the "DOJ first applied to the [FISA court] on October 21, 2016 for a warrant to permit the FBI to initiate electronic surveillance and physical search of Page for 90 days, ... The Court approved three renewals — in early January 2017, early April 2017, and late June 2017 — which authorized the FBI to maintain surveillance on Page until late September 2017." We also know from "Nunes' HPSCI memo that former FBI director James Comey certified three of the FISA applications and former deputy director Andrew McCabe certified the fourth, while former deputy attorney general Sally Yates approved the initial October 21, 2016, application and the January 2017 renewal, and then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein signed the June 2017 and September 2017 renewals." U.S. Attorney John Durham Does Not Agree With IG Horowitz Conclusions. U.S. Attorney John Durham is currently doing a criminal investigation into how the intelligence community, CIA, ODNI and DOJ/FBI originated the investigation of candidate Donald Trump. U.S. Attorney Durham does not agree with the conclusions presented by Inspector General Horowitz. US Attorney John Durham Releases Statement Disputing IG Report Conclusions. The DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz finally released his report on FISA abuses on Monday [12/9/2019]. The report revealed what we knew to be true all along — the FBI defrauded the FISA court and purposely omitted exculpatory information from the FISA judges in order to obtain FOUR FISA warrants on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page. Horowitz, however concluded that the FBI investigation into Trump was not politically motivated — and John Durham hit back. Inspector General Report on DOJ and FBI Compliance With FISA Legal Requirements. First, with a volume of text over 600 pages, and potentially as high as 1,000 pages, there is no immediate analysis you will find in the media today based on a review of the report. [...] It is strongly suggested you read the report for yourself, draw your own conclusions, and don't rely on what could be sections taken out of context. Obviously crowdsourcing the report is one of the fastest ways to absorb information in a discussion thread. Secondly, keep in mind while the IG review began in March 2018 the Mueller investigation almost certainly kept many aspects of the material shielded from IG inquiry until the special counsel investigation ended. Indeed as we have seen from other material delayed throughout 2018, up to March 2019 when the Mueller probe ended, many documents were hidden (likely intentionally) by the special counsel. So a full unimpeded IG review likely did not begin until after the Mueller investigation concluded. Hence, some delays. Report: AG Barr Disagrees with IG on Whether Trump Surveillance Justified. Attorney General William Barr reportedly disagrees with a finding by the forthcoming Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) report that the FBI had sufficient reason to monitor the Trump campaign in 2016. The FBI conducted surveillance on Trump campaign associates, including foreign policy aide Carter Page, on the basis of suspicions that the campaign might have been colluding with Russia to interfere with the 2016 election. No evidence of collusion was ever found, though the surveillance continued well after the election, and the fact that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign over Russia was leaked to Democrats and to the mainstream media. The 10 most important revelations to expect from the Russia probe FISA report. Next week Americans will finally get their most complete accounting to date of what the FBI did right and wrong in the Russia collusion investigation that probed President Trump's campaign with a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant at the end of the 2016 election. Predicted to span more than 500 pages and 100 witness interviews, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report Monday will provide a comprehensive catalog of what offenses, mistakes and oversights the FBI committed during one of the most politically polarizing investigations in recent history. As such, it will serve as a non-partisan roadmap for a much longer process of holding the investigators to account, a process that now includes a criminal probe being led by U.S. Attorney John Durham and investigative hearings by Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham. Fusion GPS Chiefs Spin Hard Before the Horowitz Report. There are a few bombshells tucked in the new book authored by Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, co-owners of Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm responsible for the most infamous dossier in American political history. Here's one that — as far as I know — hasn't been disclosed until now: Before Fusion hired Christopher Steele in 2016 to produce his sketchy dossier on Donald Trump's presidential campaign, Steele hired Fusion to help him with a client at odds with a key figure in the Trump camp. The London-based operative, misleadingly portrayed in the press as a mere former British intelligence officer, needed help investigating the Trump advisor for his client. The campaign advisor? Paul Manafort. Steele's client? Vladimir Putin-tied oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Gen. Flynn's lawyer says Inspector General report will have everything. While Washington waits for the release of the Inspector General's report, some leaks are making their way around town. One America's Jack Posobiec spoke with Sidney Powell, General Michael Flynn's attorney, to learn how it may affect his case. [Video clip] AG Bill Barr Disputes IG Horowitz's Findings On the Trump-Russia Investigation. Attorney General Bill Barr is pushing back on IG Horowitz's coming findings on the Trump-Russia investigation. Recent reports have said that Horowitz will find no political bias in the investigation despite ample evidence numerous high level officials had it out for Trump. As with the IG's findings on the Hillary investigation, Horowitz's standard is apparently an admission under oath and sealed in blood, as he found dozens of pieces of evidence of bias there but still concluded there was nothing conclusive. Now, The Washington Post is saying Barr doesn't agree with his coming characterizations. Whitewash? IG Report on FISA Abuses by Obama Administration Will Disappoint the Right. Multiple media outlets are reporting that Justice Department Inspector General David Horowitz's report on abuses by Obama-era officials in obtaining FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign will almost certainly disappoint those who believe that political bias colored the FBI's investigation. The IG report is due out December 9, but already it appears that there will be no recommendations for indictments of major officials who were in charge of the investigation. [...] The FBI says the dossier did not play a significant role in acquiring the warrant to spy on Carter Page. But their communications say otherwise. Horowitz is apparently playing the old Washington game of misdirection. He will solemnly criticize the FBI for errors and carelessness in the warrant application while ignoring the bias and unprofessional attitude of FBI officials from top to bottom that contributed to getting the warrant in the first place. Why DOJ Inspector General Horowitz Had to Produce Two Reports. On Tuesday, Nov. 19, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General released a new report. No, not that one. It was not the FISA abuse report, also dubbed "The Spygate Report," that has been anticipated for more than a year. This was a different report that involved serious issues with the FBI's uses of what are called "Confidential Human Sources" (CHS) or "informants". News and timely commentary about the Inspector General's report, released April 13, 2018: Scandals Sanitized with Linguistic Trickery. Throughout Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's massive report on the Hillary Clinton email investigation are lots of strange things. One of the weirdest is the extent to which the FBI went to make up words and phrases to disguise reality. An early draft of the 2016 FBI report on the email scandal was reportedly subjected to linguistic surgery to exonerate the former secretary of state, who at the time was the Democratic nominee for president. Clinton was originally found to be "grossly negligent" in using an illegal email server. That legalistic phrase is used by prosecutors to indict for violation of laws governing the wrongful transmission of confidential government documents. Yet the very thought of a likely President Clinton in court so worried the chief investigator, FBI Director James Comey, that he watered down "grossly negligent" to the mere "extremely careless." Horowitz: Over 300 Bribes To FBI Agents By Journalists; Two FBI Agents Who Hated Trump Still Work For Mueller; And More. Yesterday, the Department of Justice IG Michael Horowitz testified before Chuck Grassley's Senate Judiciary Committee. A few interesting points came out of that. First, we know that James Comey is the subject of an investigation into his leaking of classified information. We know that there is a grand jury sitting for some reason because the materials in the IG report were reviewed for grand jury testimony. [...] Today [6/19/2018], he's in front of Trey Gowdy's Government Accountability Committee and some really good stuff is coming out. The IG is examining Strzok's role in moving the Russia probe forward. Prediction: nothing comes of this because the damage it would do to the FBI and to Justice was would be astronomical if it were shown that the investigation was launched from political motives. And the issue of the Deep State would begin to look a lot more Third world than we'd like to think. FBI may have modified witness reports, misled DOJ watchdog with 'false information,' GOP Rep says. The FBI may have "edited and changed" key witness reports in the Hillary Clinton and Russia investigations, a top House Republican charged in a hearing into FBI and Justice Department misconduct Tuesday [6/19/2018]. Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C, also raised the possibility that the FBI misled the DOJ watchdog in an attempt to hide the identities of FBI employees who were caught sending anti-Trump messages. New Developments On Inspector General's Report Of Comey's FBI. On Wednesday [5/9/2018], CNN law enforcement analyst and retired FBI supervisory special agent James A. Gagliano revealed new insight into the Justice Department's Inspector General report that is expected to be released in the near future, saying it is even worse than expected, according to his sources. Gagliano tweeted: "Sources with knowledge of the impending DOJ Inspector General Report confirm that it will be a fairly damning indictment of FBI's seventh floor during the Comey era. 'It's worse than expected,' seems to be the consistent theme ..." IG Report Proves Andrew McCabe's Firing Was Justified. Ever since former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe was fired, McCabe and his Democrat supporters have maintained it was politically motivated. On Friday, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, a holdover from the Obama administration, released a long-awaited report that proves beyond doubt McCabe was fired for cause. [...] With respect to lack of candor, the report listed four instances on pages 4-5 and again with more detail on pages 15-21 with dates, times, and McCabe's own testimony, both under oath and not. IG Report Shows Andrew McCabe Is A Criminal — So When Is He Going To Jail? The initial Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report on former FBI assistant director Andrew McCabe hasn't gotten much attention since it was released on Friday, despite the fact that it is shocking. So shocking in fact, that when it was first leaked to the higher echelons of our government, it forced current FBI Director Christopher Wray to immediately relieve McCabe of duty and it eventually led to McCabe's firing without his government golden parachute. Loretta Lynch Threatened To Reopen Eric Garner Case If NYPD Leaked Info About Weiner's Laptop. Journalist Tracy Beanz uncovered an explosive detail about former Attorney General Loretta Lynch buried deep in the report from the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General that was released last week. [...] When the NYPD seized [Anthony] Weiner's personal laptop as part of the investigation, they found hundreds of emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Weiner's wife at the time, Huma Abedin, has worked for Clinton for more than a decade. So Abedin and Clinton's work emails from the State Department, which contained classified information, were on Weiner's computer. That computer was in the NYPD's possession. All of this was discovered and announced in late October 2016, which was just prior to the presidential election. In an attempt to perhaps shield Clinton from more public scrutiny, the OIG report appears to show that Lynch threatened to reopen the Garner case — which involved the NYPD fatally shooting an African American — if officers leaked damaging information about Clinton's emails on Weiner's laptop. Inspector General Bombshell: Why Obama AG Loretta Lynch May Be in Legal Jeopardy. Hidden within the OIG report on McCabe's leak to Barrett of the WSJ, is an astronomically damning correlation between Loretta Lynch, the NY Field Office of the FBI, McCabe, and the NYPD. On September 28, 2016, McCabe is made aware of the information they found regarding Hillary Clinton on Anthony Weiners laptop in an unrelated "sexting" case they are investigating. Trail of James Comeys Dirt on Loretta Lynch Discovered within IG Report on Andrew McCabe. A very interesting development is unfolding as a result of internet researcher TracyBeanz and some insightful dot connecting by those following. The outline begins via a relatively under-reported accusation about former Attorney General Loretta Lynch by former FBI Director James Comey in his upcoming book. According to ABC News Comey writes in "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership," that he became the public face of the investigation partly because of a mysterious development which he felt could cast "serious doubt" on Lynch's independence. It seems rather odd for James Comey to be making such an accusation against Loretta Lynch in the book. Why add that aspect? [A]nd why do so without expanding the details? 10 Key Insights From Today's Deep State Coup News. [#10] Lisa Page, the DOJ special counsel for the FBI during Obamagate, is a cooperating witness with Inspector General Horowitz. Her testimony — and text messages — are laced throughout today's [4/13/2018] IG report on Andrew McCabe's lies that led to his firing. Page's evidence is very likely instrumental to the more complete IG report due out in May. [#9] When The Wall Street Journal's Devlin Barrett reported on Andrew McCabe's conflict of interest with respect to the Hillary Clinton email investigation, the then-deputy director had a panic attack. Barrett reported that the state senate campaign of McCabe's wife was funded to the tune of more than half-a-million by Clinton proxy Terry McCauliffe. In fact, just days after revelations that Clinton operated an illegal email server for all State Department business became public, McCaullife visited Jill McCabe and encouraged her to run for office. Her husband Andrew would, under normal circumstances, have led any investigation into Hillary's illegal actions. Bombshell in McCabe IG Report No One Is Talking About. The Department of Justice Inspector General report on Andrew McCabe is centered around the leaks and lies of Andrew McCabe. Ignored in all of this was the reason he leaked. And it's a bombshell. He said a top Obama appointee, the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General (PADAG), ordered him to "stand down" in the Clinton Foundation investigation. There were witnesses. No one is talking about that. How The Obama Justice Department Tried To Shut Down The FBI's Investigation Into The Clinton Foundation. The Department of Justice Inspector General report on the "lack of candor" by FBI deputy Director Andrew McCabe also documents for the first time the Obama administration's effort to shut down the bureau's investigation of the Clinton Foundation, according to a review of the report by The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group. The inspector general (IG) confirmed in its long-awaited report released Friday that in 2016 the FBI had ongoing field investigations of the Clinton Foundation in New York, Los Angeles, Little Rock, Arkansas and Washington, D.C. The multi-city investigation was launched when agents found "suspicious activity" between a foreign donor and Clinton Foundation activity in the Los Angeles area, as TheDCNF reported in August 2016. Editor's note: This excerpt is presented here
in its original form — Twitter-ese: IG report: FBI's Andrew McCabe 'admonished' other officials for his own leaks. As deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe "admonished" other FBI officials over leaks he himself authorized. That's one of the damning revelations the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General released in a Friday [4/13/2018] report. "Crafty plan," was how Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan described the McCabe revelation to The Daily Caller News Foundation. McCabe berating other FBI officials over the leaks suggests he was "trying to cover his tracks," House Judiciary Committee member Jordan said. Inspector General First Release — Chris Farrell: "I don't think the FBI recovers from this". Judicial Watch Director of Investigations Chris Farrell discusses the DOJ inspector general's report that outlines exhaustive political corruption. OIG release #1 proving former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe authorized leaks to the media, then lied to FBI investigators in an effort to cover them up. [Video clip] An extremely interesting letter. What we are seeing is an unfolding process, meticulously planned. The Strzok/Page leaks, McCabe report today, what's coming: it's a cascading series of bombshells, aimed at taking down the Obama/Clinton crooks. Team Trump, esp Sessions, has full control over the momentum and pressure. The hysterical tweets of Obama and Clintons people, as well as the unhinged stories their media slaves are publishing, shows you how.much they're panicking. The McCabe Report Drops the Hammer. When outgoing FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired on the eve of his retirement last month, many Democrats protested that he was being cheated out of his pension for purely political reasons. But the administration's official line — that McCabe had been fired for "lack of candor" after lying to investigators about press disclosures he authorized — turns out to have been right on the money, according to a Justice Department report released Friday afternoon [4/13/2018]. IG Report Outlines How Obama DOJ Worked To Shut Down Investigation Into Clinton Crime Syndicate. Lost in the haze of the Syria bombing, the Establishment Media's purposeful ignorance, and the ongoing ripples following the stunning FBI raid on the offices of President Trump's longtime attorney, is the scathing outline by the Inspector General regarding how the Obama Department of Justice aggressively shut down what was to be a widespread investigation into the Clinton Foundation looking into allegations of widespread financial crimes. Talk about obstruction of justice! DOJ OIG McCabe Report Finds Obama's FBI and DOJ: Corrupt, Dishonest, Coordinated and Conspiring. The IG's report related to terminated and humiliated former FBI Head Andrew McCabe is 39 pages in length. [...] Overall Comments: [#1] The tone of the memo chastises McCabe for leaking that the Clinton Foundation investigation was open, not to challenge the rationale for not sharing this investigation with the public, but rather criticizes McCabe for outing the Justice Department official trying to shut down the investigation. Although perhaps it may not be customary to challenge the Departments' decisions, due to subject in the investigation [the Clinton Foundation], by not releasing the information about the investigation the FBI and DOJ prevented pertinent information from being reported to the American public significant to the election. This information was not released until October 30th in a leak to the WSJ. [#2] Many of the FBI and DOJ characters in the report appear corrupt, coordinated and conspiring to assist with the cover up of the Clinton Foundation investigation and in leaking information to the press. Indict McCabe. Jimmy the Weasel Comey's flunky deputy director Andrew the Leaker McCabe lied under oath to Congress, according to the Department of Justice inspector general. Indict McCabe for perjury, lying to a federal official, and disclosing classified information. Andrew McCabe and James Comey Deserve Each Other. According to the just released report by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe wrongfully caused sensitive law enforcement information to be leaked to the Wall Street Journal and then lied to investigators about having done so. The report runs thirty-five single spaced pages and lays out in excruciating, meticulous, and damning detail how McCabe authorized an anonymous leak calculated to make it appear that he had resisted pressure by Loretta Lynch's Justice Department to close down the FBI's investigation of the Clinton Foundation during the 2016 election campaign and then proceeded to cover his tracks with lies. Andrew McCabe Admonished FBI Officials For His Own Leaks. As deputy director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe "admonished" other FBI officials over leaks he himself authorized. That's one of the damning revelations the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General released in a Friday [4/13/2018] report. "Crafty plan," was how Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan described the McCabe revelation to The Daily Caller News Foundation. McCabe berating other FBI officials over the leaks suggests he was "trying to cover his tracks," House Judiciary Committee member Jordan said. James Comey's book: This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. James Comey's TV interview, April 15, 2018: This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Disgruntled, whistle-blowing FBI agents: FBI veteran's tell-all reveals 'era of abuse' and destruction of bureau under Mueller and Comey. According to Mike German, a well-respected 16-year FBI veteran who left the agency as a whistleblower in 2004, between 2001 and 2017 then-FBI Directors Robert Mueller (2001-2013) and James Comey (2013-2017) turned the once-highly-respected agency into a "lawless law enforcer." These and more revelations are reportedly revealed in German's latest book, "Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy." McCabe Confirms Some FBI Employees [were] 'Frustrated' No Charges [were] Brought Against Hillary Clinton. Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe lent some credibility to a previous White House claim that some FBI personnel were upset over the agency's decision, under the leadership of disgraced ex-FBI Director James Comey, not to charge Hillary Clinton in the criminal probe of her private email server use. The claim that some FBI rank-and-file workers lost confidence in Comey following his infamous press conference announcing that no charges would be brought has been in dispute. Daily Caller Reporting Confirmed that Some FBI Agents Were Fed Up With Comey. Reporting done previously by The Daily Caller confirmed White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders' claim that some FBI agents were indeed unhappy with former FBI Director James Comey's leadership. The Caller reported in October 2016 that FBI agents lost confidence in Comey after seeing how the bureau handled the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails. But since the release of the Mueller report, media outlets have pounced on Sanders for saying that FBI agents had issues with Comey. 'Irreparable damage to the bureau' — former FBI agents sound off on James Comey. James Comey has recognized a kindred spirit in Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who in 1951, penned the immortal lines, "Do not go gentle into that good night ... Rage, rage against the dying of the light." To wit, the former FBI director confidently strode up to microphones following two days of contentious testimony before House lawmakers, and let it all hang out. Comey, the man some sympathetic media-types have referred to as a humble servant-leader, seized the opportunity to settle some old scores as he pilloried Fox News and the Republican Party. "Rank and File" — A Conspicuous Absence of Visible Indignation. Against a rather enlightening week of activity from within the DOJ and FBI, last night I posited the question: "If the FBI and DOJ were not institutionally corrupt wouldn't we have seen multiple whistle-blowers this year?" The purpose of the question is to draw attention to an empirical reality. By now we understand many of the big picture details behind DOJ and FBI efforts to weaponize the institutions of government to target their political opposition, namely Donald Trump. With the removal of so many officials within the institutions, the question becomes less rhetorical. If the corruption is removed, where are the 'rank and file' whistle-blowers surfacing from underneath the now replaced leadership? Why haven't we seen anyone from within the system come forth to tell their story? Almost, but not quite off-topic: FBI agent removed from Russia probe for anti-Trump texts says he's willing to testify before Congress. The FBI agent who was removed from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign for sending anti-Trump texts intends to testify before the House Judiciary Committee and any other congressional committee that asks, his attorney said in a letter made public Sunday [6/17/2018]. Peter Strzok, who was singled out in a recent Justice Department inspector general report for the politically charged messages, would be willing to testify without immunity, and he would not invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in response to any question, his attorney, Aitan Goelman, said in an interview Sunday. Strzok has become a special target of President Trump, who has used the texts to question the Russia investigation. Goelman said Strzok "wants the chance to clear his name and tell his story." Top FBI Insider Who Quit Over Rigged Hillary Probe Ready to Spill Beans on Comey & Obama to Congress. An FBI agent who quit his top position over the bureau's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation is heading to Congress to testify. John Giacalone, who led the Clinton investigation for the first seven months, will reportedly expose former President Barack Obama and fired FBI Director James Comey for corruptly helping Clinton. There's a massive media blackout on this because Giacalone is expected to testify that top brass at the FBI rigged the investigative process so that Clinton could skirt charges for clear violations of the law. Exposing Comey also shines a big light on Obama, who many believe was calling the shots behind the scenes to help Clinton. Sources: FBI Agents Afraid To Testify, Say Congress Likely Won't Protect Them. Even as a new Rasmussen poll shows a majority of voters believe senior law enforcement officials broke the law to stop Donald Trump from beating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, rank-and-file FBI agents who want to testify against their superiors to Congress feel they can't due to an ineffective whistleblower protection law. These agents believe the sluggishness of the law exposes them to an inordinate risk of reprisal, so they have remained in hiding and afraid to speak the truth. Agent Who Quit Over Rigged Hillary Investigation Heads to Congress. An FBI agent who allegedly quit the bureau over his belief that the Hillary Clinton email investigation was rigged will testify before the House of Representatives, The Hill reported. The joint investigation between the House Judiciary and the Oversight Committees — led by Republican Reps. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, respectively — has been a source of consternation for Republicans and Democrats alike. Conservatives have complained about the slow pace of the examination into how the Clinton email investigation was conducted, noting that only two witnesses have appeared before it. Tone Deaf Rod Rosenstein Should Be Fired. [Scroll down] "There are [FBI] agents all over this country who love the bureau and are sickened by [James] Comey's behavior and [Andrew] McCabe and [Eric] Holder and [Loretta] Lynch and the thugs like [John] Brennan — who despise the fact that the bureau was used as a tool of political intelligence by the Obama administration thugs," Joe DiGenova, a former United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, told the Daily Caller. "They are just waiting for a chance to come forward and testify." In a statement to the Daily Caller, reported by the awesome Kerry Pickett, an unnamed FBI agent claimed, "Every special agent I have spoken to in the Washington Field Office wants to see McCabe prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They feel the same way about Comey." Grassley Reminds FBI Agents Wanting to Blow the Whistle: You Are Legally Protected to Do So. According to media reports this week, a number of FBI agents are hoping to get subpoenaed in the Russia probe so they can expose corruption at the top of the Bureau. In other words, guys on the ground are ready to talk about decisions made by the suits in Washington D.C. Heads Will Roll. It may take a few more months to clear away all of the remaining roadblocks and stonewalling. But, the incriminating documents will inevitably be procured. Too many people were part of the plot. Some will cop a plea. Professionals inside the FBI are now coming forward, asking to be subpoenaed so that they can testify before Congress. Motivated to clean up this mess, they want to share what they know. President Trump is now fully engaged and demanding complete transparency. Even his worst detractors would attest to his tenacity. Once Professor Halper is extradited from Oxford and is facing the possibility of life in prison for his central role in the conspiracy, he will sing like an Irish tenor. Sources: FBI Agents Want Congress To Issue Them Subpoenas So They Can Reveal The Bureau's Dirt. Many agents in the FBI want Congress to subpoena them so they can reveal problems caused by former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, three people in direct contact with active field agents tell TheDC. "There are agents all over this country who love the bureau and are sickened by [James] Comey's behavior and [Andrew] McCabe and [Eric] Holder and [Loretta] Lynch and the thugs like [John] Brennan — who despise the fact that the bureau was used as a tool of political intelligence by the Obama administration thugs," former federal prosecutor Joe DiGenova told The Daily Caller Tuesday. "They are just waiting for a chance to come forward and testify." Report: Rank-and-File FBI Agents Eager to Blow Whistle on Comey, Holder, Lynch. A new report claims that a significant number of rank-and-file FBI agents are chomping at the bit to expose Obama-era leaders, alleging corruption and even criminal violations of the law. These agents are signaling that the only way they can safely and legally blow the whistle is if Congress subpoenas them individually to provide information about their former bosses. "There are agents all over this country who love the bureau and are sickened by [James] Comey's behavior and [Andrew] McCabe and [Eric] Holder and [Loretta] Lynch and the thugs like [John] Brennan — who despise the fact that the bureau was used as a tool of political intelligence by the Obama administration thugs," Joe DiGenova, a former United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, told the Daily Caller. Coming attractions: FBI agents speaking out about the abuses of Comey and McCabe. President Trump this morning on Twitter applied the name "Spygate" to the ongoing revelations about the FBI and the Intelligence Community employing their technological and human agent tools to spy on the Trump presidential campaign and transition. [...] It's a good title for what is going to be a long form reality television program (as well as a political scandal and constitutional crisis, among other far-reaching consequences). Despite the best efforts of the Trump-hating, Russia-Stormy Daniels-obsessed media to ignore it, the story is going to build into a major factor in the coming midterm elections and far beyond. Kevin Clinesmith Judge Boasberg: The Clinesmith Lies Don't Matter. The sentencing hearing of Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering a CIA e-mail to further the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant renewal on Carter Page, took place on the morning of Friday, January 21 before Judge Boasberg in Washington, D.C. This hearing was the culmination of an investigation by those within the Department of Justice who actually sought to do justice in exposing the FBI's misconduct in opening Crossfire Hurricane, and the FBI's abuse of their power to spy on Carter Page and those associated with the Trump campaign. While the process continues with Special Counsel John Durham's investigation, this was one loose end that was ready to be tied. Those demanding Clinesmith to be incarcerated weren't being unreasonable, though they were ultimately disappointed when Judge Boasberg sentenced Clinesmith to 12 months probation and no prison time. In fact, they have every right to be angry. Will the Arrogance of the FBI Ever End? FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was convicted in August 2020 of lying to the FISA Court in order to obtain a warrant to spy on the Trump 2016 campaign when he falsely denied that Carter Page was a source for the CIA. For this felony he was sentenced to probation and community service. In June 2021, we learned that the District of Columbia was restoring his license to practice law in August. DC Bar Restores Convicted FBI Russiagate Forger to 'Good Standing' Amid Irregularities and Leniency. A former senior FBI lawyer who falsified a surveillance document in the Trump-Russia investigation has been restored as a member in "good standing" by the District of Columbia Bar Association even though he has yet to finish serving out his probation as a convicted felon, according to disciplinary records obtained by RealClearInvestigations. The move is the latest in a series of exceptions the bar has made for Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty in August 2020 to doctoring an email used to justify a surveillance warrant targeting former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Clinesmith was sentenced to 12 months probation last January. But the D.C. Bar did not seek his disbarment, as is customary after lawyers are convicted of serious crimes involving the administration of justice. FBI lawyer that lied to judge on FISA warrant will be able to practice law again in August after zero jail time. The Russiagate coverup rolls merrily along, with the agitprop media almost completely ignoring a startling instance of the deep state taking care of its own, even when they are caught red-handed committing grave felonies. Does the name Kevin Clinesmith ring a bell? He's the FBI lawyer that lied on a FISA warrant in order to be able to spy on the Trump campaign by falsely implicating Carter Page. He was caught red-handed in altering an email 180 degrees. Lying to a judge is a serious offense for anyone. But for an officer of the court, one who works for the government and has a heightened obligation to serve justice, to lie to a court is a very serious breach. Failure to punish government officials who perjure themselves in order to spy on innocent citizens and a presidential campaign invites the worst kind of abuse. It plants the seeds of tyranny. Kevin Clinesmith has received a Temporary Disciplinary Suspension from the DC Bar. We have news to report on Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer and member of Team Mueller who altered a CIA email and mislead [sic] FBI officials in seeking the last Carter Page FISA renewal. As of February 1, 2021, the DC Bar has suspended him "on an interim basis based upon his conviction of a serious crime." Clinesmith's membership status is listed as "Temporary Disciplinary Suspension" on the DC Bar's member search. We anticipate that Clinesmith will appeal this suspension, arguing (consistent with his arguments to Judge Boasberg) that he did not "knowingly" lie about Carter Page's status as a source to the CIA. Judge Boasberg: The Clinesmith Lies Don't Matter. The sentencing hearing of Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering a CIA e-mail to further the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant renewal on Carter Page, took place on the morning of Friday, January 21 before Judge Boasberg in Washington, D.C. This hearing was the culmination of an investigation by those within the Department of Justice who actually sought to do justice in exposing the FBI's misconduct in opening Crossfire Hurricane, and the FBI's abuse of their power to spy on Carter Page and those associated with the Trump campaign. While the process continues with Special Counsel John Durham's investigation, this was one loose end that was ready to be tied. Those demanding Clinesmith to be incarcerated weren't being unreasonable, though they were ultimately disappointed when Judge Boasberg sentenced Clinesmith to 12 months probation and no prison time. In fact, they have every right to be angry. The Game is Rigged. The past week has perhaps been one of the most revealing weeks in modern history. The extent to which the system was exposed for what it is, on multiple fronts, probably won't be matched again for at least a little while. [...] As RedState reported, former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who was working with Robert Mueller, was given probation and a $100 administrative fee for his role in falsifying an email to renew the already illegally obtained FISA warrant on Carter Page. [...] Out of all the nefarious, obviously corrupt figures surrounding this saga, Clinesmith was the only one charged. Figures like Andrew McCabe and James Comey were named in credible criminal referrals, not by politicians, but by the Inspector General, and the DOJ did nothing. [...] To recap, you can forget a date talking to the FBI and have a special counsel crack your skull, but if you work for the FBI, forge a document, and lie about it in order to try to spy on a political opponent, you get probation and glowing media coverage. Banana Republic Update: ObamaGate Operative Clinesmith Given Probation. Honestly, this is exactly the sort of judicial farce I expected would happen once I saw that Obama appointee Judge James Boasberg had been assigned the case. Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, the one and only ObamaGate figure to have been indicted for any crime by hoax-prosecutor John Durham and the entirety of the U.S. Department of [No]Justice, was given the softest tap on the wrist possible Friday by the despicable Judge Boasberg. [...] The corrupt news media will claim that Boasberg's absurdly minimalist sentence of 12 months probation, 400 days community service and a $100 fee was due to Clinesmith's decision to plead guilty in the case. Yeah, tell that to General Mike Flynn. FBI lawyer who lied to FISA Court to wiretap Carter Page gets a slap on the wrist and sympathy from federal judge handing down sentence. The message is out to the next rogue federal bureaucrats who contemplate committing crimes in the name of wiretapping (or otherwise abusing the rights of) opponents of the Deep State: Don't worry! You won't be doing any jail time and may even get sympathy from the judge — in the unlikely event you ever get caught. Unleash the fearsome spying apparatus taxpayers provide against political opponents of Democrats. That's the clear signal sent by FISA Court Judge James Boasberg (an Obama appointee to the federal bench, and a John Roberts appointee to the FISA Court, and reportedly a member of Skull & Bones while an undergraduate at Yale) with his sentence of Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer who lied to the court in order to obtain a FISA warrant on Carter Page. Ex-FBI Lawyer Receives Probation For Altering Email About Carter Page. Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was sentenced to probation on Friday for altering an email about former Trump aide Carter Page's relationship with the CIA. District Court Judge James Boasberg ordered Clinesmith to receive 12 months of probation and perform 400 hours of community service, a sentence far more lenient than the three to six months in prison sought by John Durham, the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut. Clinesmith, who was an assistant general counsel in the FBI's cyber law branch, pleaded guilty on Aug. 19, 2020 to altering a June 2017 email he received from a CIA employee regarding Page. The CIA employee wrote that Page had been "a source" for the spy agency through 2013. Clinesmith forwarded the email to FBI colleagues but altered the document to say that Page was "not a source." Ex-FBI lawyer Clinesmith sentenced to a year of probation for falsifying document in Russia probe. A former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty last year to falsifying a document to justify the surveillance of a former Trump 2016 campaign adviser was sentenced Friday to one year of probation. Kevin Clinesmith, who admitted altering an email so the government could continue to wiretap campaign adviser Carter Page, received far less than the prison sentence the government had recommended. Clinesmith was also sentenced to 400 hours of community service. The maximum penalty for his crime is five years in prison. More about Carter Page. New Evidence Implicates FBI Higher-Ups in Dishonesty of Anti-Trump Lawyer. For the past year, defenders of the FBI have consistently downplayed the significance of an FBI staff lawyer falsifying evidence in the government's investigation into Donald Trump's relationship with Russia. They argue Kevin Clinesmith's crime of altering a CIA document to obscure the fact that former Trump campaign aide Carter Page worked for U.S., not Russian, intelligence was a rare lapse in judgment by an overworked bureaucrat. It was not, his apologists say, part of any broader conspiracy to conceal exculpatory information from surveillance court judges, who never learned of Page's history with the CIA before approving FBI warrants to wiretap him as a suspected Russian agent. FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who lied on Carter Page FISA warrant, may get a slap on the wrist. The comparison of the treatment General Flynn received from Special Counsel Mueller and FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith is receiving from Special Counsel Durham is nauseating. General Flynn was bullied, bankrupted, and threatened with persecution of his son so badly that he signed a false confession to a nonexistent crime. And until his presidential clemency, Judge Sullivan continued the abuse. Clinesmith, in contrast, pleaded guilty to altering an email so as to obtain an extension of the FISA warrant illegitimately obtained to electronically monitor not just Carter Page's emails, phone calls and text messages, but those of everyone he communicated with (i.e., the Trump campaign). One does not alter an email submitted as evidence to court by mistake, it is a willful act of deception. But now comes news that Durham is asking only for a sentence of a few months, at most, for an officer of the court who knowingly lied to the court. Durham Seeks Jail Time For Ex-FBI Lawyer Who Altered CIA Email About Carter Page. U.S. Attorney John Durham is seeking a prison sentence of up to six months for Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering an email from the CIA regarding former Trump campaign aide Carter Page's past relationship with the spy agency. Durham asked a federal judge in a court filing on Thursday [12/3/2020] to sentence Clinesmith to a jail term "between the middle and upper end" of what federal sentencing guidelines recommend for the crime of making false statements in writing. Clinesmith pleaded guilty to the charge on Aug. 19. He admitted to adding the phrase "not a 'source'" to a June 2017 email from a CIA employee who had provided information about Page's relationship with the agency. What Other FISA Cases Was Kevin Clinesmith Involved In? The DOJ-NatSec Division and FBI reported issues of fraud upon the FISA court in October and November prior to the IG FISA report release. Specifically the DOJ notified the FISC that OGC Kevin Clinesmith had manipulated and falsified evidence. On December 5th, Judge Coller responded to that series of notifications with an order. On December 9th, when the IG FISA report was made public, the FISC was given a declassified version of the report and was able to review for the first time. It was from that IG review that Collyer was able to establish the full context of the fraud upon the court. The court was given no advanced notification as to the totality of fraud upon the FISC other than a preliminary 'head's up' on the OGC Clinesmith compromise. Who Watches the Watchmen? It was recently reported that FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith altered an email to bolster a suspicious FBI effort to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrant authorizing the surveillance of Carter Page, a onetime employee of the Trump campaign. If true, Clinesmith helped the FBI successfully delude the court into granting what was likely an illegal request to spy on the Trump campaign. Clinesmith was reportedly expelled from special counsel Robert Mueller's legal team for cheering on opposition to the Trump presidency by writing "Viva la resistance!" in a text message discussion. Corruption at the FBI, CIA and DOJ. One symptom of a society in crisis is the unreliability or even corruption of its own auditors. After all, when the watchmen have lost moral authority to watch, who can be believed or trusted? Or, as the Roman satirist Juvenal famously put it, "Who will guard the guardians?" It was recently reported that FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith altered an email to bolster a suspicious FBI effort to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrant authorizing the surveillance of Carter Page, a onetime employee of the Trump campaign. If true, Mr. Clinesmith helped the FBI successfully delude the court into granting what was likely an illegal request to spy on the Trump campaign. Mr. Clinesmith was reportedly expelled from special counsel Robert Mueller's legal team for cheering on opposition to the Trump presidency by writing "Viva la resistance!" in a text message discussion. Disturbing
Likelihood — FBI Lawyer Manipulated Carter Page's Own Communication With FBI to Target Him. There is
a very strong likelihood the documentary material that FBI Lawyer Kevin Clinesmith falsified was actual communication from
Carter Page to the FBI where Page was seeking their help in 2017. This revelation would explain and reconcile two seemingly
contrasting points: FBI lawyer suspected in Russia probe origin was kicked off Mueller team for anti-Trump texts: Report. The FBI lawyer under criminal investigation for allegedly altering a document connected to the surveillance of a Trump adviser was kicked off ex-special counsel Robert Mueller's team for anti-Trump texts, according to a report Friday [11/22/2019]. The New York Times identified Kevin Clinesmith as the former FBI attorney under investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is probing the origins of the Russia probe. It was reported Thursday that Mr. Durham is probing whether an FBI lawyer falsified an email that was used to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrant to surveil Mr. Page. Mr. Clinesmith was the primary FBI attorney assigned to the Russia probe in 2017. New York Times Confirms Peter Strzok Team Underling, Kevin Clinesmith, is FBI Lawyer Who Altered FISA Application. The New York Times is confirming that Kevin Clinesmith is the "low-level lawyer" within the FBI who doctored evidence within the Carter Page FISA application. As anticipated, the DOJ and FBI 'small group' leaks are from their individual review of a heavily compartmented IG report; and now they are being selectively shaped by the favorite 'small group' media network: NY Times, Washington Post, CNN, Politico et al. Remember, each of the principals only was able to see the draft of the IG report specific to their outline therein. All principal reviews were very compartmented. No principal has any idea what the bottom line conclusions are from the totality of the assembled compartments. House GOPer unmasks identities of anti-Trump FBI agents. A House Republican Tuesday [6/19/2018] unmasked two of the five FBI investigators cited in the recently released inspector general's report for expressing anti-Trump and pro-Clinton sentiment in work-related instant messages. The previously unnamed FBI officials — "FBI Attorney 2" and "Agent 5" — are Kevin Clinesmith and Sally Moyer, respectively, according to House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), who revealed their identities over the objection of the FBI during a hearing on the IG's findings. The two were assigned to the bureau's Hillary Clinton email investigation, according to the IG's report, while Clinesmith also later worked as a top lawyer on the Trump-Russia investigation and the special-counsel probe. Update and correction: Washington Awaits John Durham. We shall have to wait until December 9 to hear from Inspector General Horowitz as to what those "systematic failures" were. Do these early reports on his work forecast a whitewash? It would appear so. But can anyone really take seriously that those "systematic failures" took place in the absence of bias? Such a claim requires a great deal of contortion. And the spate of stories last week suggest the form that contortion will take: blame will fall not on Peter "We Will Stop Him" Strzok, the virulent Trump-hater who orchestrated the spying on the Trump campaign, but on a low-level lawyer named Kevin Clinesmith. Carter Page This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Redacted FISA documents released July 21, 2018: Update: Tucker Carlson Calls On GOP Lawmakers to Read Entire Unredacted FISA Memo on House Floor. On Wednesday night [8/1/2018] Tucker Carlson called on Republican lawmakers to go to the floor of the US House of Representatives and read all of the FISA memos in their unredacted form. The deep state FBI released the FISA documents to Republican lawmakers ten days ago but the pages were highly redacted to protect the identities of corrupt Obama and intelligence officials. Tucker called on the lawmakers to do what Dianne Feinstein did and read the entire memo on the House floor. Next step: House Intel asks Trump to declassify rest of FISA application; tantalizing clues about pages 10-12 and 17-34. The release of a heavily-redacted version of the FBI's application for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to wiretap onetime Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page has spurred calls to remove the redactions, to un-black out the pages blacked out by the FBI before the document was made public. The long sections of censored material have made it impossible to reach definitive conclusions about the warrant application. It has also led to the publication of de-contextualized sensational accusations. For example, page 8 of the original warrant application contains a passage which begins with two blacked-out lines, then includes the words "the FBI believes that the Russian Government's efforts are being coordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated with Candidate #1's [Donald Trump's] campaign," and continues with more blacked-out material. Is there a critical prefatory clause in that sentence fragment? The answer is unclear. FISA Applications Confirm: The FBI Relied on the Unverified Steele Dossier. [Scroll down] In each Carter Page FISA warrant application, the FBI represented that it had "reviewed this verified application for accuracy." But did the bureau truly ensure that the information had been "thoroughly vetted and confirmed"? Remember, we are talking here about serious, traitorous allegations against an American citizen and, derivatively, an American presidential campaign. When the FBI averred that it had verified for accuracy the application that posited these allegations, it was, at best, being hyper-technical, and thus misleading. What the bureau meant was that its application correctly stated the allegations as Steele had related them. But that is not what "verification" means. The issue is not whether Steele's allegations were accurately described; it is whether they were accurate, period. Andrew McCarthy Discusses The Stunningly Scant and Manipulated FISA Application. Andrew McCarthy appears on Fox weekend to discuss the released FISA Court application used to obtain and conduct Title-1 active surveillance on U.S. Person Carter Page. McCarthy's response is worth watching because he only recently (May) red-pilled himself and realized how corrupt the DOJ and FBI had actually become. Prior to May of this year he was defending/reconciling every new detail to the benefit of DOJ/FBI. [Video clip] Mark Levin: Abolish Secret FISA Court If Judges Can't Be Held Accountable. Appearing on FNC's 'Hannity' Thursday night [7/19/2018], LevinTV host Mark Levin spoke about a letter his organization sent to FISA court judges on alleged abuses from the Nunes memo. "If you're a judge ... and you don't do something about it? Congress needs to look into this!" Levin said. "I damn well expect federal judges serving as FISA court judges to make sure that [misconduct] wasn't committed in front of them." At Best, The FBI Misled The Court To Wiretap Trump Campaign, FISA Application Shows. The heavily redacted FISA application the FBI used to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page is supposed to vindicate the FBI from charges of political bias. But there can be no doubt that the FBI withheld pertinent information from the judges who approved a highly intrusive domestic spying operation during a presidential campaign. The Withered Branches on Mueller's Poisoned Tree. The civil libertarians of the press — those card-carrying ACLU members who toss and turn at night worrying about the diminution of "privacy" — all rushed to the defense of the FBI after the release of its disgracefully flimsy FISA warrant on Carter Page. The hypocrisy of it all takes one's breath away, as reporters and commentators, normally so censorious of privacy violations, coldly cheered the government's harassment of Page. The evidentiary basis for the warrant was nil. It rested upon nothing more than Hillary's opposition research and partisan articles in the press, some of which were fed to the reporters by Hillary's opposition researcher. Confirmed: DOJ Used Materially False Information To Secure Wiretaps On Trump Associate. Newly released documents confirm House and Senate investigators' claims that the Department of Justice and FBI used materially false and misleading information to secure wiretaps on Carter Page, a former volunteer foreign policy advisor to President Trump. The highly redacted documents released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests show how the FBI was able to convince the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to surveil the Naval Academy graduate and energy consultant for a year of his life. The wiretap was applied for and granted in October 2016, shortly before the end of the presidential campaign. Approved applications last for 90 days. The Department of Justice requested and received three renewals, for a total of one year of surveillance. Despite claiming to the court in 2016 that "the FBI believes that Page has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian Government," the government has yet to charge Page with breaking any of the serious laws it alleges he knowingly transgressed. Proven Lies to the FISA Court Should Immediately End Mueller's Investigation. We now know for a fact that the FISA court was illegally deceived by the Obama Administration. The fake Russian dossier, paid for by Hillary Clinton's campaign, was used to get warrants in order to spy on Donald Trump's campaign. The Trump Russian collusion story was a hoax created by the Hillary Clinton campaign. The Obama Administration used that hoax in order to illegally spy on its political enemies. 2016 Text Uncovered: Shows That Spy Op On Trump Campaign Leads All The Way Back To Obama White House. The liberal media has been denying all allegations for more than a year now that the Obama White House had surveilled the Trump presidential campaign back in 2016. We are now lead to believe that the Obama administration had, in fact, spied on the Trump campaign after a recently leaked admission of one "informant." This individual had been "querying marginal Trump campaign associates for information about supposed connections to Russia on behalf of former President Barack Obama's FBI," according to the Conservative Tribune. Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte Discusses Fraudulent/Misleading FISA Application. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte is deeply connected to the investigation on the specifics of the FISA abuse. The House Judiciary Committee has primary oversight over the FISA Court and the use therein by the DOJ. [...] Earlier today [7/22/2018] Goodlatte joined Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures to discuss the Carter Page FISA Warrant, all it's redactions, and plans to proceed. Additionally Chairman Goodlatte discusses John Brennan, James Comey, and Loretta Lynch being sought for questioning on their actions during the 2016 Presidential Election; as well as compliance responses from Peter Strzok, Rod Rosenstein and Lisa Page. The current DOJ and FBI elements of the intelligence community are only slightly less corrupt internally than they were prior to the Trump inauguration. Institutionally they are still full of corrupt individuals; and administratively they are managed by people concerned about retaining/protecting the institutions — not eliminating the corruption. In our ongoing opinion this institutional emphasis is misplaced and misguided at best, and complicit at worst; likely more the latter. The Associated Press Lies About The FISA Application. The Associated Press carries on a daily vendetta against the Trump administration, systematically misleading the American people in articles that appear in hundreds or thousands of newspapers. Thus, it is no surprise that the AP's story on DOJ's FISA application dump is nothing but Democratic Party spin. Donald Trump: FISA Warrant to Spy on Campaign 'a Disgrace to America'. President Donald Trump highlighted Monday the revelation of the FISA warrant used to spy on one of his foreign policy advisers Carter Page. The heavily redacted set of documents were released to the public on Saturday, revealing that the unverified dossier created by Christopher Steele and paid for by the DNC was used to spy on the Trump campaign. Even heavily redacted, the FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign is shocking. 450 pages pertaining to the FBI's FISA Warrant to spy on Carter Page have been released. Heavily redacted. Even with redactions, wow. There is NO DOUBT at this point the fake Steele Dossier was used to get this FISA Warrant. Months of pimping that Papadopoulos fake narrative down the toilet! Time to remind everybody yet again of what they already know: after TWO YEARS 'agent of a foreign power' Carter Page has been charged with... what was that? Take a guess. NOTHING. Did the FBI Lie to the FISA Court? Consider the source. The FBI did not allow the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to do just that. Instead, the heavily-redacted application for a warrant to surveil U.S. citizen Carter Page obscures the source. It never says, at least in the unredacted portions, that the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid operatives to dig dirt on Donald Trump. This allows the warrant to talk of "research" and not "opposition research." The warrant application shields the partisan origins of the "dossier" and talks of a "law firm" hiring the investigators. In reality, Hillary Clinton's campaign and the DNC paid the law firm, which paid Fusion GPS, which paid Christopher Steele (and, given the reference to a "U.S. person" in the warrant, perhaps others — unless that "U.S. person" was, in fact, a U.K. person, which complicates the narrative of foreign interference) to conduct opposition research. The FBI Goes Full Nixon with FISA Report. Now, forced by a long-standing FOIA, the FBI has released, on a Saturday of course (we're lucky it wasn't Christmas day), 400 plus pages of FISA court material used to justify the surveillance of Carter Page... only three hundred plus pages were redacted, blacked out and completely unreadable. FISA warrant application supports Nunes memo. The weekend release of a highly-redacted version of the FBI's application for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to wiretap onetime Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page has renewed the argument over the Nunes memo — the brief report produced by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes detailing problems in the application. From the time of the memo's release in February, Democrats and some in the press have denounced it as a collection of lies and mischaracterizations. On Saturday night, the denouncing started again. "The only thing the newly released FISA documents show is that Republicans have been lying for months," the lefty think tank Center for American Progress said in a typical response. Now, however, we have both the memo and the FISA application, if in a blacked-out state. We can compare the two. And doing so shows the Nunes memo was overwhelmingly accurate. Perhaps some Democrats do not believe it should have been written, or they dispute what it included and left out, or they do not agree with its conclusions, but it was in fact accurate. A Deep Dive into the Scandalous FISA Warrant Used to Spy on the Trump Campaign. For those who haven't had the time to review the 412-page FISA application that was used to spy on the Trump campaign, I've culled a few key highlights. [#1] The application lied about Carter Page. Carter Page is described as "an agent of a foreign power", which was and is clearly not the case. Carter Page is walking around free as a bird, giving interviews to anyone who asks, and stating that the FBI lied about him repeatedly. [...] The entire Mueller special counsel was predicated upon a mountain of lies. It needs to be terminated today. This is the greatest political scandal in American history. Justice Dept. Releases Secret Carter Page Surveillance Documents at Center of Partisan Clash. The Trump administration has disclosed a previously top-secret set of documents related to the wiretapping of Carter Page, the onetime Trump campaign adviser who was at the center of highly contentious accusations by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee that the F.B.I. had abused its surveillance powers. Democrats in February rejected the Republican claims that law enforcement officials had improperly obtained the warrant, accusing them of putting out misinformation to defend President Trump and sow doubts about the origin of the Russia investigation. But even as Republicans and Democrats issued dueling memos characterizing the materials underlying the surveillance of Mr. Page, the public had no access to the records. Why is Mueller handing off key cases? Something has been going on with Robert Mueller's investigation of people thought to have played significant roles in the Trump-Russia affair. The special counsel, assigned to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Trump," has been farming out seemingly important parts of the investigation to offices outside his own. In April, Mueller referred an investigation of close Trump associate Michael Cohen to federal prosecutors in New York. This month, the U.S. attorney in Washington — not Mueller — indicted Maria Butina on charges of being an unregistered Russian agent. And also this month, when Mueller charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking Democratic Party and Clinton campaign offices, he immediately turned the case over to the Justice Department's National Security Division for prosecution. Newly Released FISA Docs Contradict Strzok's Sworn Claims He Had Nothing to Do With Carter Page FISA Warrant. Obama's Deep State FBI and DOJ obtained a FISA warrant on Carter Page in October of 2016 and three subsequent renewals in order to spy on Trump's campaign and transition team. Comey, Rosenstein, McCabe and Sally Yates all signed the FISA applications even though Hillary's fraudulent Russia dossier was used as a pretext to obtain the warrants. DOJ releases 412 pages of top-secret FISA documents on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The Justice Department released on Saturday more than 400 pages of top-secret documents pertaining to the FISA warrant obtained to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The documents were first obtained by the New York Times through a Freedom of Information Act request. "This application targets Carter Page," the document said. "The F.B.I. believes Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government." Andrew McCabe This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. McCabe and Rosenstein This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Rod Rosenstein This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Rod Rosenstein announces an indictment on July 13, 2018 Christopher Wray Several FBI offices contributed to anti-Catholic memo, refuting Wray's testimony, GOP says. House Republicans say FBI documents they've obtained prove that several field offices contributed to a memo that targeted traditionalist Catholics as "potential terrorists," conflicting with recent sworn testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray. Republican leadership on the House Judiciary Committee revealed in a letter sent to Wray on Wednesday that said the document they subpoenaed from the agency details how "both FBI Portland and FBI Los Angeles field offices were involved in or contributed to the creation of FBI's assessment of traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists." "This new information suggests that the FBI's use of its law enforcement capabilities to intrude on American's First Amendment rights is more widespread than initially suspected," Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and co-chair Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in the letter. FBI Director Christopher Wray has a habit of lying before Congress. A month ago Jim Jordan of the House Judiciary Committee grilled FBI Director Wray about the infamous "Richmond" document in which the Field Office there described "opportunities" to surveil Catholic churches and recruit Catholic priests and parishioners to spy on supposed "radical traditional Catholics," or what we like to call "Rad-Trads." The distinguishing feature of Rad-Trads is their preference for the Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II practices. Unsurprisingly traditional Catholics are more likely to be conservative, pro-life, and vote Republican. This, apparently, makes them likely terrorists. Perhaps the connection to Latin led the Richmond Field Office to mistake them for drug traffickers, but that seems unlikely. Among the claims Wray to the Committee was a pretty specific one: the Richmond memo was the result of a rogue set of FBI agents who worked alone and didn't represent a larger movement within the FBI to go after political conservatives. Wray assured us that he was deeply concerned about this and was investigating how it happened. [...] Is it now the case that any time the FBI or any other agency wants to hide information from Congress they can just claim they are "investigating" the matter and will tell Congress nothing? Each FBI Director is more corrupt than the last. One example of Trump's almost unerring ability to hire bad people we have the case of Christopher Wray, the current FBI Director. Trump picked Wray after he fired the execrable James Comey, who could teach a Master's Class in abusing his power. Apparently, Wray took the class himself and decided to develop new techniques for abusing power. It seems like every week or two we learn of another case where the FBI either acts as Biden's personal Stasi or abuses its power in other ways. [...] Every single scrap of information from the FBI has to be extracted like an impacted wisdom tooth. Wray goes before Congress and can't seem to recall a thing — dementia is a common theme in the Biden Administration, it seems — or the matter is under perpetual investigation, so no information can be revealed. Government Corruption Helps the Bidens and Hurts Trump. When Trump took office, there was not a deep bench of experienced people ready to serve him. Many Republicans who worked in the George W. Bush administration were part of the NeverTrump caucus. Résumés from thousands of outsider applicants, who applied to work for the administration during the transition, were apparently lost and buried. And, even in the best of times, most appointees are chosen from a list of qualified insiders. Some are more ideological than others, but very few are loyal, strictly speaking. Christopher Wray was a former federal prosecutor in private practice when Trump appointed him. Perhaps he was a registered Republican, but his first loyalty was neither to the President, nor the Congress, but rather to the FBI. Since his nomination and appointment, he has lied, dissembled, and stonewalled the Republican Congress to protect the FBI from real consequences for its numerous criminal acts over the last six years. Wray's Empty Suit. If the American people hear the phrase, "I can't comment on an ongoing investigation," one more time, they'll collectively lose their lunch, and forever abandon what little interest they had left in congressional hearings. You know it's coming after any serious question. It's the deep state's version of taking the fifth. FBI Director Christopher Wray was certainly aware of the battery of questions with which the Republicans intended to barrage his position. What's stunning is the seeming complete lack of preparation for those questions, or perhaps, more accurately, Wray's complete lack of concern. It's almost like he feels immune to accountability, sheltered under the wings of the vulture-like Merrick Garland. They've feathered their nests comfortably, with the Sock-Puppet-In-Chief providing overwatch from the White House. The FBI isn't in good hands with Christopher Wray at the helm. In the classic good cop-bad cop scenario, two officers working together take different paths to reach the same goal: to get the suspect to confess. Americans witnessed a version of that scenario last week, although with crucial distinctions. Major law-enforcement events showcased the real-world difference between actual good cops and actual bad cops. The good cops made an arrest in the cold-case murders of three young women on Long Island. [...] Unfortunately, another side of law enforcement was also on display last week. This one involved FBI Director Christopher Wray, whose tenure increasingly resembles that of his predecessor, James Comey, whose sneering self-righteousness made him the very definition of a bad cop. Wray, appearing before the House Judiciary Committee, gave every indication he's on a mission to cause as many Americans as possible to distrust his once-storied agency. Sad to say, he's succeeding wildly. Trump: Nominating Wray 'Probably Was' a Mistake, Christie Recommended Him. During a portion of an interview set to air on Sunday's broadcast of the Fox Business Network's "Sunday Morning Futures" that was aired on Friday's broadcast of FBN's "Mornings with Maria," 2024 presidential candidate former President Donald Trump stated that "it probably was" a mistake for him to nominate Christopher Wray to be FBI Director during his term and Wray "was recommended very strongly" by 2024 GOP rival former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Host Maria Bartiromo introduced the clip of the interview by stating, "President Trump reacting to this week's Judiciary Committee hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray. I spoke with the 45th President... we started our conversation with a look at the upcoming debate and whether he will participate, and I got his reaction to the FBI Director defending [against] the charges of weaponization and [politicization] at the FBI." FBI boss Christopher Wray's Capitol Hill performance is a masterclass in stonewalling congressional oversight. His smirk might have dialed down a fraction, but Chris Wray's performance on Capitol Hill Wednesday shows that he is the champion of all stonewallers. When finally he is kicked out of the FBI Gulfstream, he could have a lucrative new career training other agency heads on how not to comply with congressional oversight. There were plenty of reasons for him to offer a mea culpa for FBI abuses of power on his watch, but all we got was the usual trademark Wraysims for avoiding answering questions: "Ongoing investigation," "I'm not sure that is a correct characterization," "I can't comment on personnel matters," "We are working on an internal review," "As I sit here right now I don't have an answer," "We will work collaboratively ... consistent with our rules," "I can't speak to pending [fill in the blank]." When confronted about the FBI's collusion with social-media companies to censor Americans, as laid out in the landmark free-speech case Missouri v Biden, Wray feigned ignorance. Chris Wray's Claim About FBI and School Boards Smacked Down by Twitter's 'Community Notes'. I love "Community Notes," Twitter's crowdsourced fact-checking and context-adding feature that has repeatedly busted politicians in their false or misleading claims. On Thursday, they were at it again, nailing FBI Director Chris Wray, whose agency tweeted Thursday that "The FBI is not and has never been in the business of policing or investigating speech by parents at school board meetings..." Community Notes begs to differ, and they added a little "context" to Wray's claim: ["]The FBI's statement is misleading. On May 18, 2023, former FBI agent Steve Friend testified before the House Judiciary Committee that he and others were directed to surveil and document parents attending school board meetings.["] [Tweet] Wrinkles of Wray. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday. Republican representatives did not distinguish themselves in their ability to wring the truth from Wray in their allotted five minutes. Indeed, they were more or less pitiful. Had they been allotted more time, however, they would still have found themselves up against a hard case. Wray is incorrigible. We know that the FBI was instrumental to the suppression of the New York Post's reporting on Hunter Biden and his curious laptop in advance of the 2020 election. According to Wray, however, the FBI only shared concerns with social media concerning "foreign disinformation." One wonders how they got it so wrong in that case when they had been sitting on the laptop for a year. Christopher Wray beclowns himself. Current corrupt FBI director Christopher Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. The man is as unscrupulous as his predecessor James Comey, as disingenuous and as willing to dissemble. He answered no questions in a straightforward manner but, as he has done before, replied evasively with the arrogance only a psychopath might have under duress. While he most assuredly thinks he laughed his way out of that hearing, he most certainly revealed himself to be afflicted with some kind of mental disorder, the kind that explains how a person can lie, cheat and maybe even steal without blinking as eye and feel proud of himself for fooling "the people." Rep. Troy Nehls Destroys Chris Wray Over Jan 6 — Catches Him in Lies on Child Pornography Cases. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee today. The hearing, "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation," examined the politicization of the nation's preeminent law enforcement agency under the direction of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), a former sheriff, destroyed dirty Chris Wray during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Nehls brought video and photos of Ray Epps encouraging Trump supporters to enter the US Capitol on January 5th and January 6th and then leading the charge through the first ste of barriers to the US Capitol. FBI Director Wray Doesn't Confirm or Deny if Joe Biden Is Under Investigation for Alleged Burisma Bribes. FBI Director Christopher Wray did not confirm or deny if President Joe Biden is under investigation for alleged bribes from an executive at Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company that paid Hunter Biden $83,000 per month for a board position. While testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Tom Tiffany (R-WI) asked Wray if Joe Biden accepted payments from Burisma and whether he is under investigation for the alleged bribe of $5 million. "Did Joe Biden take payments from Burisma or any other foreign companies as vice president, President, or as a private citizen Biden?" Tiffany asked. Representative Matt Gaetz Has Fiery Exchange with FBI Director Chris Wray Asking, "Are You Protecting the Bidens?". Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) expresses a great deal of contempt for FBI Director Chris Wray during questioning today. From the topic of FBI conduct in the Hunter Biden investigation to the FBI surveillance of American citizens through unauthorized and illegal database searches, Matt Gaetz goes full wolverine on the FBI director. [Video clip] FBI Director Wray is torched by his harshest GOP critics. FBI Director Christopher Wray insisted he is 'absolutely not' working to protect the Biden family as he claimed the agency has not been politicized during a face-off with Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz displayed a text message allegedly sent by Hunter Biden where the president's son wrote to a Chinese Communist Party official Henry Zhao on July 30, 2017 demanding money for a business deal. 'I'm sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment has not been fulfilled,' Hunter allegedly wrote at the time. 'You will regret not following my direction. I am waiting for the call with my father.' FBI Director Wray Denies Agency Protecting Biden Family. FBI Director Christopher Wray denied that his agency is protecting President Joe Biden or the Biden family on Wednesday [7/12/2023]. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) pushed the director on the FBI's behavior toward the Bidens during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. The hearing was the first time Wray testified on the Hill since Republicans took control of the House. Gaetz began his time for questioning by asking Wray about a WhatsApp message Hunter Biden allegedly sent to CEFC China Energy executive Henry Zhao in 2017. The message invoked Biden's father, then the former vice president of the U.S., in an apparent attempt to pressure Zhao into making a financial payment. Here's What The House Judiciary Committee Should Ask FBI Director Wray. Wednesday will be the first time since the Durham report [was published] in May that Wray will appear before Congress, so some questions should focus on the special counsel's findings. The most important information the House Judiciary Committee can learn from questioning the FBI director is whether he agrees with the broad conclusions Special Counsel Durham reached. If not, that alone merits Wray's removal because you can't possibly fix a problem you don't think exists. The House committee can achieve this goal by walking Wray through a quick litany of the fundamental scandals the special counsel uncovered and asking his view on the findings. The Federal Bureau of Intimidation. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is filing articles of impeachment against the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, for targeting conservative American Catholics. She wrote: "Under Wray's watch, the FBI has intimidated, harassed, and entrapped American citizens that have been deemed enemies of the Biden regime. As such, Director Wray has turned the FBI into Joe Biden and Merrick Garland's personal police force." This follows Republican House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio calling to withhold funds from the FBI on grounds of political corruption and weaponization. MTG Introduces Articles Of Impeachment Against FBI Director Christopher Wray. Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will introduce articles of impeachment against Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray. The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the articles of impeachment. "Under Wray's watch, the FBI has intimidated, harassed, and entrapped American citizens that have been deemed enemies of the Biden regime. As such, Director Wray has turned the FBI into Joe Biden and Merrick Garland's personal police force. The Soviet-style tactics used by the FBI against normal Americans are unprecedented in this country. FBI whistleblower Garret O'Boyle told congressional investigators that the FBI created a terrorist threat tag following the Dobbs Supreme Court decision in 2022. O'Boyle confirmed that the purpose of the tag was to target pro-life individuals. On September 23, 2022, armed FBI agents in tactical gear raided the family home of Mark Houck, a pro-life Catholic and father of 7 young children, because he obstructed access to an abortion clinic," Greene's office said in a statement. Christopher Wray and the Politicization of the FBI. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has shocked many Americans by becoming a politicized law enforcement arm of the Democrat party. As the target of one of the FBI and Department of Justice political attacks — solely because I had been talking to Ukrainian whistleblowers about Biden family corruption in that country — I want to discuss the problem. It starts with the most political Director of the FBI, Christopher Wray. How exactly did Wray become Director? The saga of who headed the most prestigious and respected (previous to Wray) law enforcement agency under Donald Trump includes political naiveite as well as sophistication, depending on the actor. The naiveite begins with the Trump transition team. Director Wray Brags the FBI Broke the Law 84% Fewer Times Last Year. Drawing attention to the testimony of FBI Director Christopher Wray in his responses to Representative Darin LaHood. Representative LaHood is leading an internal congressional review of the FISA "702" reauthorization. During the testimony, LaHood waxes philosophically about the importance of FISA-702 targeting as a tool for the FBI while simultaneously outlining how the FBI is weaponizing the tool. At 06:24 of the video below, LaHood goes on to outline the details of the NSA noncompliance report showing how the FBI intentionally targeted him, likely because he is leading the 702 reauthorization group. The irony here is thick. The FBI illegally uses 702 search queries, and in the example of LaHood, it is demonstrable targeting because the search query was only for his name, so there can be no claim of "inadvertent" search result. Christopher Wray's Failing PR Campaign to Save the FBI's Reputation. In the last couple of days, I've written about how FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted that his agency concluded "quite some time ago" that the COVID virus escaped from a Wuhan, China virology lab, and how "sources" recently told the Washington Post that FBI agents were against the August 2022 raid on former President's Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. What's the commonality between the two stories? They both make the FBI look better, and they both indicate that Wray might be playing a game of CYA and distancing himself from the dictatorial, partisan Attorney General, Merrick Garland. FBI Director Wray Hints at 'Collaboration' with Private Sector Amid Political Scandals. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Director Christopher Wray alluded to "collaboration between the private sector and the government," delivering remarks Thursday during the World Economic Forum — as the bureau remains mired in scandal following the "Twitter Files" revelations and braces for aggressive congressional investigations. Wray, speaking to an audience of global elites at the Davos gathering, touched on the federal government's work with ostensibly private technology companies, during a discussion about the potential dangers of new technology. The FBI chief touted the "significant strides" the FBI in particular has made in efforts to work more closely with the tech industry. Wray Caught Misleading Grassley on Video, House GOP Now Demanding Answers on His Plane Usage. I wrote earlier in August about how FBI Director Christopher Wray said he couldn't stay 21 more minutes to answer more questions from the Republican members on the Senate Judiciary Committee because he had a plane to catch. As I noted at the time, Sen. Chuck Grassley busted him on that by noting that Wray had his private plane, so it wasn't like he was rushing to catch a flight anywhere and would miss it. Of course, Wray wanted to beat it out of there because the Republicans were asking great questions about the politicization of the FBI. Wray likely was trying to avoid answering anything more. But as it turned out, not only was he taking a private plane, he wasn't going to work, he was leaving to go to his vacation home in the Adirondacks in Saranac Lake, New York. So he truly was just blowing them off and effectively giving them the finger. The plane was intended for use in counterintelligence operations. FBI Dir. Christopher Wray Finally Responds to Raid of Trump Residence. FBI [Director] Christopher Wray has finally responded to his bureau's raid of Donald Trump's Florida residence, and he wants you to know who the real victims are. Apparently, despite all the questions surrounding the action, including the fact that it supposedly occurred due to a mundane dispute over the Presidential Records Act, the real bad guys here are those criticizing the FBI. What a completely shocking and unexpected response from the consummate company man. [Tweet] I'm trying to think of something I care less about than the FBI citing unnamed "death threats" as a way to deflect from their own maleficence, and I'm coming up blank. This is what corrupt government officials always do. They lash out in ways that draw blowback, and then they try to disqualify that blowback by saying "I'm getting death threats." That 'Flight' Christopher Wray Told Senators He Had to 'Catch' Turns Into a Scandal. First, Sen. Ted Cruz exposed the entrapment that took place regarding the FBI-led Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot. Sen. Josh Hawley also exacted his pound of flesh in questioning. Later, Wray tried to wiggle out of the hearing by claiming to Sen. Chuck Grassley that he had "a plane to catch." Well, now we know what plane he caught and where it was going, and it sure seems like a scandal. Far from the picture Wray tried to paint of him rushing through a busy international airport to catch a scheduled flight, he actually jumped on his taxpayer-funded private jet, a state-of-the-art Gulfstream 550. Worse, though, was where he went. It doesn't appear he was on FBI business. Instead, he was taking a vacation. FBI Director Christopher Wray is guiding the agency the wrong way, fast. Christopher Wray's disingenuous testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, before he left early on the FBI's private Gulfstream 550 jet, speaks volumes about the need to defund the FBI — or at least dump its unctuous director. [...] Wray refused to classify the flood of illegal migration at the southern border as a "national security threat." When asked what the FBI was doing to track down 56 suspected terrorists that have crossed the border this year he waffled about "sharing watchlist information" and "investigating any number of individuals." He refused to admit that the Russia collusion hoax — in which the FBI treated seriously palpably false allegations that then-candidate Donald Trump was a Russian agent — was in fact a "hoax". He refused to agree with Sen. Blackburn that Hunter Biden's laptop was not "Russian disinformation," and didn't respond to whistleblower allegations of an FBI coverup of derogatory information related to the Bidens in October 2020. He refused to explain to Sen. Ted Cruz why the FBI had blacklisted patriotic historical American symbols such as the Betsy Ross flag, the Gadsden Flag and the Gonzales battle flag as "militia violent extremism" in training documents. When Sen. Josh Hawley asked why the FBI was "snooping around the concealed carry permit records" of Missourians, he had nothing. The Time To Hold Corrupt Bureaucrats Like Christopher Wray Accountable Is Before They Are Even Confirmed. Several Republicans have signaled they plan to investigate corrupt and partisan bureaucrats such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and Wray if they win back Congress in the November midterms. For now, while Democrats control the White House and the legislative branch, the GOP has resorted to letters and the occasional "oversight hearing" that accomplishes little. If Republicans' failure to hold bureaucrats accountable via letter-writing campaigns wasn't apparent before, it was after an oversight hearing on Thursday when, instead of taking responsibility for any of his agency's failures including the botched Larry Nassar investigation, a Hunter Biden investigation cover-up, and the slow response to pro-abortion attacks across the nation, Wray repeatedly refused to answer questions about the FBI's track record of lying in ways that affect national election outcomes. As a matter of fact, he doubled down and refused to condemn the Russia collusion hoax that his agency proudly spun for years. The Evasive Mr. Wray. FBI Director Christopher Wray, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since July 2021, insisted he had to leave the hearing by 1:30 p.m. sharp. (It began at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.) Despite leading a scandal-ridden agency quickly losing the trust of the American people and congressional Republicans, Wray somehow believes that setting aside less than four hours to answer questions by lawmakers responsible for checking and balancing his work is sufficient. "I had a flight that I'm supposed to be high-tailing it to, and I had understood that we were going to be done at 1:30, so that's how we ended up where we are," Wray told Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member who asked why the rush. If Wray needed to leave on business, Grassley noted, "you've got your own plane," referring to the taxpayer-funded Gulfstream G550 jet used to ferry the head of the FBI around the country privately. Wray got his way — the committee wrapped shortly after 1:30 p.m. with no chance for Republicans to ask follow-up questions. Grassley Levels Chris Wray With One Simple Fact After He Claims He Has a Flight to Catch. FBI Director Christopher Wray was on the hot seat Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee on a variety of issues. As I reported earlier, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) grilled him over the politicization of the FBI, including questions about normal patriotic symbols that they were categorizing as signs of "militia violent extremism." That made Wray look bad enough, as though he was ignorant about the problems in his own office and/or lying about them. [...] If you can't even admit to certain basic truths, that shows how compromised he, and therefore the FBI, are at this point. So, what exactly can he comment on? All he seems to know how to do is evade questions and turn the FBI into a completely politicized mess. Then when the senators started to call him out on it, what was his response? Sorry, guys, I can't stick around, I have to catch a plane. Yes, he seriously said that to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). That astonished Grassley, who nailed him with a little reality, saying but you have "your own plane." Ri-i-i-ight. FBI official [was] transferred after whistleblower allegations of political bias, senator reveals. A key senator says a top FBI official has been moved from his leadership perch in Washington after internal whistleblowers complained he was part of an effort to interfere in politically sensitive investigations, allegations Director Chris Wray now calls "deeply troubling." Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Just the News on Thursday that the FBI alerted him that Assistant Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault had been moved to another unspecified job. The transfer came after Grassley reported extensive information to the FBI and Justice Department inspector general that Thibault had expressed political bias in social media posts and interfered in politically sensitive investigations, including one into Hunter Biden's overseas business dealings. Ted Cruz Drops the Boot on FBI Director Christopher Wray During Hearing. Whistleblowers have come forward on how the FBI has been politicized in everything from the Hunter Biden case to allegedly juicing the statistics about domestic extremism. FBI Director Christopher Wray was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday and senators asked a variety of questions, including plumbing such things as how the FBI is categorizing things such as "domestic extremism." Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said he believed the FBI has been completely politicized, that it began under Barack Obama, metastasized with career officials during the Trump Administration, and is even worse now under Joe Biden. Cruz told Wray he believed that Wray was unwilling to root out the problems. FBI Director Sets New Record For Lies, Dodges, And Obfuscations To Avoid Slight Attempts At Congressional Oversight. FBI Director Christopher Wray refused to answer legislators' questions about his agency's history of corruption and cover-ups and instead doubled down on defending the FBI's actions against U.S. citizens during a Senate Judiciary hearing on Thursday [8/4/2022]. Senators on both sides of the aisle explained their frustrations with the FBI's lack of transparency and response to their various letters inquiring about threats around the country. "There is the perception that there are two tiers of justice: one for people that are favored and one for ordinary Americans," Sen. Marsha Blackburn noted during her interrogation. Instead of addressing concerns about deceit, Wray confirmed Republicans' suspicions that the FBI does engage in politicized investigations such as evaluating so-called threats against school board members at the urging of the Department of Justice following its infamous letter from the National School Boards Association. FBI director Christopher Wray vows to protect whistleblowers. FBI Director Christopher Wray promised whistleblowers would be protected under his watch during a Senate hearing on Thursday [8/4/2022]. It comes after Republican lawmakers claimed to have heard from current and former bureau officials and Justice Department employees who accused the FBI of attempting to discredit probes into Hunter Biden in 2020. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, then its chairman, along with then-Senate Oversight Committee Chair Ron Johnson had launched an investigation into President Joe Biden's son after a leaked hard drive from Hunter Biden's laptop appeared to show signs of leveraging his father's position to further foreign business dealings. FBI, Director Christopher Wray are in for a rude wake-up call over Hunter Biden investigation. FBI Director Christopher Wray always seems a little too pleased with himself. But on Thursday the smirk may be wiped off his pretty face when Republican members of the House oversight committee start grilling him on the mounting evidence that something is very rotten inside the agency Wray runs. Top of the list is the curious question of why the FBI apparently did nothing with Hunter Biden's laptop, which was handed to two agents on Dec. 9, 2019, by John Paul Mac Isaac, the alarmed owner of the computer repair shop near the Biden family homes in Greenville, Del., where Hunter had dropped off his MacBook eight months earlier. Among other potential crimes to be found on the abandoned laptop, you would expect the FBI to be interested, on national security grounds, in the incriminating evidence of a corrupt foreign influence-peddling scheme run by the Biden family throughout Joe Biden's vice presidency. Equally curious is why the FBI apparently did nothing with another voluminous trove of corroborating material, given to them in October 2020 by Hunter's former business partner, Navy veteran Tony Bobulinski, including emails and other documents which replicate those on Hunter's laptop. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson accuses FBI of 'tipping the scales of justice' in Hunter Biden probe. Senator Ron Johnson on Sunday accused the FBI of major bias over whistleblower claims that the bureau suppressed negative information about Hunter Biden. The Wisconsin Republican told Fox & Friends that he has 'no faith' in FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Donald Trump, to oversee anything related to President Joe Biden's son. Meanwhile the Justice Department is currently pursuing an unrelated tax investigation into Hunter Biden's overseas business dealings. FBI boss Christopher Wray denies Capitol riot taken more seriously than 2020 riots. FBI Director Christopher Wray claimed the FBI is working just as hard to punish participants in the 2020 George Floyd riots as those involved in the Capitol riot, though neither the numbers nor his own boss's words seem to back him up. Wray made the improbable claim in response to questions during an appearance earlier this week at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. [...] Republicans have raised concerns the Justice Department has not put the same effort into prosecutions tied to the violent, racially charged riots of 2020 as the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The GOP points to nationwide rioting and attacks on federal courthouses and police in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. FBI director Christopher Wray allegedly made a hard-to-believe promise. In one of the more unbelievable statements from someone working in the American government, FBI Director Christopher Wray has allegedly sworn that his agency will bring down the bad guys named in Ghislaine Maxwell's little black book. Those pedophiles are toast, right? Well, I have my doubts. To the extent that the FBI has seemed to take it upon itself to be a protector and enforcer for the Democrat party, the only way I see it following up on the evildoers whom Ghislaine knew is if they pose a threat to Democrat party political dominance. [...] And if you'll pardon me for even greater cynicism, given the FBI's conduct vis-à-vis Hillary Clinton (destroying all the evidence of her wrongdoing), the phony Russian hoax (continuing an investigation after they knew it was baseless), and the January 6 protest at the Capitol (which may have been another example of FBI entrapment), the only reason I can see for the FBI to go after people named in Maxwell's book is if doing so will embarrass Republicans. FBI Director Chris Wray Tells Congress Antifa [was] Not Involved in Capitol Hill Riots, After FBI Arrests Antifa Leader, John Sullivan, for Participating in Capitol Hill Riots. This is a rather remarkable soundbite all things considered. Today [3/2/2021], during his congressional testimony FBI Director Chris Wray was asked whether Antifa members participated in the January 6th Capitol Hill riot. Director Wray says the FBI "has seen no evidence" of Antifa participating. However, on January 14th the FBI literally arrested Antifa leader John Sullivan for his role in the planning, coordination and participation in the January 6th Capitol Hill riot. [Video clip] John Sullivan is a left-wing agent provocateur within the larger Antifa movement. On the day of the Capitol Hill riots Sullivan embedded himself with the MAGA movement and recorded his activity. January 14th, John Sullivan was indicted for his action. FBI Director Chris Wray Testifies There Is No Evidence of "Fake Trump Supporters" at US Capitol During Riot. FBI Director Chris Wray testified before the US Senate on Tuesday in his first testimony since the US Capitol riot on January 6th. Wray told the Senate today the riot in the US Capitol was "domestic terrorism." Chris Wray also said there was NO EVIDENCE of "fake Trump supporters" present at the US Capitol that day. Antifa-BLM organizer John Sullivan was at the US Capitol and bragged about wearing a MAGA hat during the riots where he broke a window and stormed the US Capitol. Why Does Barr Let Wray Lie and Flout the Law? Judicial Watch submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on February 16, 2018, to the FBI. It sought text messages sent from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015, between FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and FBI attorney Lisa Page, FBI Special Agent Jennifer Leonard, FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, and/or Obama administration Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco. In response, the FBI denied the request, asserting (incredibly) that text messages are not subject to FOIA. Judicial Watch challenged the FBI's determination. It filed an administrative appeal with the Department of Justice arguing that "text messages involving government-related business sent between government officials, whom all of the persons identified in the scope of the request are, do in fact constitute government records that fall within the purview of FOIA." In response, the Justice Department's Office of Information Policy remanded Judicial Watch's request for "further review," but the FBI ignored the directive and continues to withhold any text messages. Judicial Watch sued on October 19, 2020, just a few days ago, after the FBI failed to respond (again) to the remanded request. How corrupt is FBI Director Wray? Let me count the ways. If Americans disgusted at the shameless, partisan shenanigans of former FBI head James Comey thought Christopher Wray was going to come in and clean house at the now disgraced agency, they've got another think coming. To be fair, incoming Director Wray was faced with a multitude of questionable FBI actions — and failures to act — by Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Clinesmith, et al. There is voluminous evidence, for those with eyes to see, that Comey's crew purposely tanked two separate investigations into Crooked Hillary and the Clinton Foundation. They followed that up by setting up President Trump's national security advisor, Gen. Mike Flynn, and trying to imprison him for doing nothing wrong, a process that continues to this day thanks to rogue federal judge Emmet Sullivan. Worse still, the FBI was also busy spying on Donald Trump, his campaign and his administration, based on nonsense they knew was paid for by Hillary Clinton and promoted by John Brennan, the equally repulsive and mendacious head of Obama's CIA. Is China Now In Control of Our Flow of Information? This week, the matter came to a head when Twitter's Jack Dorsey and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed they will prevent Americans from seeing the New York Post's explosive article about incriminating emails, documents, and pictures stemming from Hunter Biden's laptop. The emails implicate Joe Biden and the Chinese Communist Party. [...] The laptop was dropped off at a repair shop and not retrieved. After a 90-day period, the owner of the repair shop contacted the FBI and gave them the hard drive. He retained one for himself and gave two other copies away lest he be killed. The FBI sat on that hard drive for a year. It begs the question whether Christopher Wray, by not conducting an investigation, is covering for the Bidens? If so, he must be fired immediately! Is the FBI now censoring information and engaging in political partisanship on behalf of China? Christopher Wray Must Go. The FBI did everything it could to influence both the 2016 and 2018 election cycles in favor of the Democrats with largely exaggerated claims about Russian interference, and completely fabricated claims that they made those efforts in coordination with the 2016 Trump Campaign and 2018 Trump Administration. That is a matter of historical fact. Given that history, can anyone doubt that Christopher Wray, who led the raging dumpster fire agency's 2018 Russia collusion smear effort, was about to do it all over again yesterday, just 12 days prior to Election Day? Unfortunately for Wray, though, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe is not on board with the program. He's what the DC Swamp denizens like to call an outlier, a wholly inconvenient person of power who isn't going along with the program. When news circulated late Wednesday afternoon [10/21/2020] that the FBI was going to hold an important press event to discuss election interference by foreign enemies, those of us who have followed this stuff for the past four years had a single expectation: Wray was about to scream Russia collusion all over again. FBI Director Chris Wray On The Bubble? If the Senate Intelligence Committee (SSCI) was not so comprehensively corrupt, it's likely FBI Director Christopher Wray would have been replaced a long time ago. Wray is an abject failure in his position. FBI Director faces scrutiny over refusal to name Antifa as organization. Testifying before Congress, FBI Director Christopher Wray faced questions from lawmakers on the FBI's flawed understanding of Antifa. "Antifa is a real thing. It is a not a fiction," Wray said, "but it is not an organization or a structure, we understand it to be more of a kind of a movement, or maybe you could call it an ideology." Rep. Daniel Crenshaw was not impressed, and immediately challenged the FBI Director's assertions, "That seems to me to be down-playing it... This is an ideology that organizes locally, it coordinates regionally and nationally, it wears a standardized uniform, it collects funds to buy high-powered lasers to blind federal officers, build homemade explosive devices, feed their rioters since they clearly aren't working and then bail out those who have been arrested... This is an ideology that has trained its members, makes shield wall phalanxes to attack federal officers. It formed an autonomous zone in an American city and besieged a federal courthouse in another, so it just seems to be more than an ideology." Wray Is Wrong as FBI Director. In May of 2017, President Trump did the right thing and fired FBI Director James Comey, the individual at the center of the attempt to overturn the 2016 election results. Comey orchestrated the spying efforts on President Trump and his campaign, which included the FBI improperly applying for four separate Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrants to eavesdrop on campaign aide Carter Page. He also authorized a politically motivated investigation into Lt. General Michael Flynn and encouraged the entrapment of Flynn by his FBI agents in an infamous White House interview. Clearly, Comey was a disastrous FBI Director; however, the President made a terrible choice when he replaced him with Christopher Wray, a bureaucrat who has not reformed the agency in any meaningful way. He also seems to be incapable of identifying the real threats that are facing the country. As Impeachment Ends, It's Time to Correct These Nine Injustices. [#3] Fire or demote Christopher Wray. Wray seems like a nice guy. But he's not the right person to reform the FBI. In fact, it's getting worse under his supervision. As bad as James Comey was, there's a case to be made that Wray is worse. Since he took office, we've had a fresh new round of serious spying misconduct by the FBI and he's allowed the FBI's informant program to become even more dysfunctional than it was (to name just two examples.) Devin Nunes Threatens Criminal Referrals for Chris Wray and Dana Boente. Those who haven't followed the backstory might not catch what Nunes is saying. However, if you followed closely, and accept that Rosenstein was part of the problem, then you see how FBI Director Christopher Wray came into office; and, more importantly how/why Wray selected former DOJ-NSD head Dana Boente to shift from main justice to be legal counsel for the FBI. Boente took over for former chief legal counsel James Baker, after the discoveries around Baker and McCabe could no longer be hidden. After being removed from responsibility eventually Baker resigned and went to work with the Lawfare group. Boente's job at FBI was/is to bury information, block congressional inquiry, and protect the crew. Boente, along with Christopher Wray, is still there. President Trump Calls Out FBI Director Christopher Wray: "the director is protecting the coup gang". Finally President Trump indicates he is well aware of the intents and motives of FBI Director Christopher Wray covering for the illegal coup effort. [...] President Trump may have been aware of Chris Wray's corrupt disposition prior to today; however, this is the first visible indication he understands the internecine organization of it. Hopefully we can start the countdown clock to Wray's exit. FBI Vault Release — FBI Requested Data Forensics on Huma Abedin/Clinton Laptop AFTER the 2016 Election, Not Before. FBI Director Wray seems like an affable person who is, by all reasonable evaluations, entirely way-over-his-head in dealing with the systemic rot, cancer and corruption. Sound harsh? Go back and WATCH the post IG report (Clinton email investigation) press conference; it's not harsh. It takes a particular kind of corruption manager to stand in front of a national audience and tell the world there was no bias in the Clinton email investigation... yet, he's going to put every employee of the FBI through "bias training"? [...] No bias, but everyone needs bias training. Gotcha. FBI Director: Chinese Espionage 'Most Significant' Spy Threat Facing US. China, rather than Russia, is the "most significant" long-term threat to the United States, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday [7/18/2018]. During an interview with NBC's Lester Holt at the Aspen Ideas Forum, Wray said that the FBI has economic espionage investigations in all 50 states that trace back to Chinese activity. "It covers everything from corn seeds in Iowa to wind turbines in Massachusetts and everything in between," said Wray. Most of the forum focused on the FBI's investigation of Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election and in other arenas. Wray's appearance comes in the wake of two significant indictments in Russia-related investigations. Rosenstein and Wray Squirm on the Hill. Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray went up to Capitol Hill on Thursday to tell the House Intelligence Committee that neither one of them had noticed anything wrong with Robert Mueller's special probe or with the anti-Trump bias of its staff. No matter what Congress and the public had read in the massive inspector general's report recently, they wanted everyone to know that the deputy attorney general and the FBI director had the Bureau under control now, and that Rosenstein had Wray and Mueller under control, too. Everything is fine. Nothing to see here. Couldn't Congress just leave them alone? Sara Carter Blasts Rosenstein, Wray. Investigative reporter Sara Carter blasted the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray on 'Hannity' after their testimony yesterday. They "undermined the American people," she said. "They really believe that these guys that think they were better, smarter and they think they are the super patriots and we the people are stupid," Hannity blasted FBI investigators in discussing Thursday's [6/28/2018] contentious hearing in which Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray faced lawmakers demanding answers. Rosenstein seemed to think the entire event was humorous because he did a lot of smirking. Wray is arrogant as well. "They undermined the American people. They undermined the system that our nation is founded on," Carter said. "There is nothing more disgusting than thinking that you know everything," Carter continued. FBI head proves Washington has a vendetta against Trump. As FBI Director Christopher Wray started giving his response to the blistering report on the Hillary Clinton investigation, I hoped he would accept the findings as proof that the agency lost its way and must be shaken to its foundation. By the time he finished talking, I felt naive for daring to hope. Wray's performance was worse than disappointing. It was infuriating proof that it will take more than one election to change the corrupt culture of Washington. Wray replaced the ousted James Comey, whose conduct in the Clinton probe was shredded by Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Investigators demonstrated with new details that the self-righteous Comey was insubordinate and duplicitous, and even used private email for government business while he investigated Clinton over her private, unsecured server. Talk about arrogance. How can FBI Director Wray clean out the swamp if he doesn't even see the corruption? FBI Director Wray has said nothing to reassure Americans that he understands the serious corruption highlighted in the IG report. The FBI's cover-ups and stonewalling on Wray's watch add to his credibility problems. Both in is his press conference after the IG report was released, and in his testimony Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Director Wray demonstrated he was more concerned about protecting the reputation of the institution of the FBI than about the astonishing corruption of top FBI officials detailed in the IG report. During today's hearing we heard about FBI agents who aren't corrupt and how the Clinton email investigation was just one of many thousands of cases pursued by the Bureau. Impeach Rod Rosenstein. An impeachment that removed either Mr. Rosenstein or Mr. Wray — or a contempt finding that sent one of them to the congressional pokey for a spell — could send a good message to federal bureaucrats inclined to be dismissive of congressional subpoenas. Then again, if either man thought he was in real and imminent danger of being impeached or held in contempt, Congress would likely find him instantly cooperative. Jeff Sessions and Christopher Wray Suffering From Severe Battered Institutional Syndrome. For about eight months columnist Andrew McCarthy appeared on television and wrote dozens of articles about the slow-drip of information stemming from the Trump-Russia probe and the IG Horowitz investigation. Almost all of the articles were sympathetic to the institutions being challenged. However, in mid-May a funny thing happened. The weekend before May 15th McCarthy actually broke down and read the six-month-old Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages he had been delivering opinion on; and guess what happened? Yup, his perspective changed within a period of 36-hours, and with it — a radical shift in tone and delivery. The Deep State is Winning. In a tour de force press conference, current FBI Director Christopher Wray insisted the report was thorough and that, "Nothing in [the IG report] impugns the integrity of our workforce as a whole, or the FBI as an institution." That wasn't the issue, problem, or concern. Very few people have questioned the mission of the FBI or its "workforce as a whole." But at least some in the workforce should be questioned, possibly impugned, and maybe even sanctioned. Unfortunately, Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report makes any such consequences unlikely. As a result, the destabilization of America's republic at the hands of faceless, partisan bureaucrats will continue apace even as the fight to topple President Trump escalates. FBI head proves Washington has a vendetta against Trump. As FBI Director Christopher Wray started giving his response to the blistering report on the Hillary Clinton investigation, I hoped he would accept the findings as proof that the agency lost its way and must be shaken to its foundation. By the time he finished talking, I felt naive for daring to hope. Wray's performance was worse than disappointing. It was infuriating proof that it will take more than one election to change the corrupt culture of Washington. No Wray of Sunshine. FBI Director Christopher Wray's explanation of Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report on the handling of Hillary Clinton's emails revealed him to be just another deep-state shill willing to ignore the attempted and ongoing deep-state coup against a duly elected president, Donald J. Trump. Regarding the organized attempt to by FBI leadership to keep Hillary Clinton out of prison and Donald Trump out of the White House, Wray sees no evil, hears no evil, and will speak no evil. Christopher Wray Not the Man to 'Proudly' Fix the FBI. What was going on in Donald Trump's head when he tweeted Friday in response to the inspector general's devastating report on the FBI that "Christopher Wray will bring it proudly back!"? Perhaps the president thought he had better things to do than face another interminable nomination battle for a new director. Or perhaps he was trying to co-opt Wray. But if the FBI is meant to come back, proudly or otherwise, Christopher Wray is not the man. He is part of the problem. Sen. Tom Cotton Asks FBI Director Wray if Dossier Author Was Employed by Putin-Linked Oligarch — Wray Won't Answer! Last week FOX News reported that Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), the top senator on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was caught communicating with a lobbyist for Putin-linked Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Senator Warner reached out to the lobbyist linked to Deripaska because he wanted to speak with Fusion GPS dossier author Christopher Steele. Senator Warner communicated with an phone app that deletes all messages. Here's how FBI Director Christopher Wray's independence protects Trump from Robert Mueller. While President Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray aren't happy with one another, Trump's appointment of Wray has never been more personally valuable to the president. Why? By showing independence from the White House and resisting Trump's pressure on the FBI, Wray is confirming that Trump made a good and prudent decision in appointing him as director. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Robert Mueller and Tony Podesta This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Jerome Corsi Corsi Vows to Make Mueller Pay, Alleging Prosecutorial Misconduct. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has concluded — finally, after two years — his probe into whether President Donald Trump or any member of his campaign team colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. Millions of Americans believe the investigation was politically driven, doing great damage to the country itself, and in the process destroyed the lives of innocent Americans in what Trump has called a "witch hunt." One of those persecuted by Mueller during the seemingly never-ending investigation — Jerome Corsi, a best-selling author and noted political commentator — has opted to continue his legal fight against Mueller and his fellow prosecutors, with a bar complaint and a $350 million lawsuit. "They have to pay for this," Corsi told the Washington Examiner on Monday [3/25/2019]. During the probe, Mueller's team insisted that Corsi plead guilty to lying to investigators, but he refused. Mueller's Lawyer and Jerome Corsi Trade Blistering Attacks in Dueling Court Filings. The federal government is pushing back against efforts by right-wing conspiracy theorist and author Jerome Corsi to have his lawsuit against special counsel Robert Mueller and others assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard Leon. As Law&Crime previously reported, Corsi is suing Mueller and several other federal government defendants for $350 million over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, leaking confidential grand jury information by way of special counsel press officer Peter Carr — and for "ongoing illegal, unconstitutional surveillance" of Corsi "at the direction of Mueller and his partisan Democrat, leftist, and ethically and legally conflicted prosecutorial staff." Corsi sues Mueller over alleged grand jury leaks, seeks $350M in damages: report. Jerome Corsi, the conservative author accused of lying under oath to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators, filed a federal lawsuit late Sunday [12/9/2018] accusing Mueller of leaking grand jury items and various constitutional violations, including illegal surveillance, reports said. Politico reported that the newly filed suit claims that Mueller tried to get Corsi to give testimony that Corsi said is false. He is reportedly seeking $100 million in actual damages and $250 million in damages due to injury to his reputation. The CIA, FBI, and the National Security Agency were also named in the suit. Jerome Corsi Challenges Robert Mueller. Misconduct by the once-great Department of Justice is all too common. The unethical prosecution of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens stole a U.S. Senate election from the Republicans in 2008. That earned a tongue-lashing from Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on April 7, 2009. But left-wing embeds within the DoJ took the wrong lessons from the Stevens fiasco. They took it as a dry run, practice for stealing the presidential election in 2016. What is the DoJ claiming now? That Jerry Corsi and Roger Stone must have been the conduit for a Russian conspiracy because they "knew" — after it was widely reported in the news media — that Wikileaks would release stolen documents that Wikileaks told the entire world way in advance it was going to release. Ted Stevens recap: Jerome Corsi files ethics complaint against Mueller, claims he was pressured to lie. Conservative author Jerome Corsi on Monday filed a criminal and ethics complaint against special counsel Robert Mueller alleging prosecutorial misconduct in the Russia investigation. The 78-page complaint alleges that Mr. Corsi "has been criminally threatened and coerced to tell a lie and call it the truth." For the crime of forgetting, Jerome Corsi is facing bankruptcy and imprisonment. Jerome Corsi is 72-years-old. He has a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard. He has written two New York Times bestsellers about politics. He is the kind of person who could, and probably should be happily retired by now. Instead, he's facing felony charges from Robert Mueller. How did this happen? America Take Note - Dr. Jerome Corsi Is NOT Suicidal. Dr. Corsi is a Harvard educated Ph.D., a well-known investigative journalist and a prolific author. He has authored 20 books since 2004, including two New York Times bestsellers. It is interesting to note that the information contained in one book in particular, written by Dr. Corsi and published on May 17, 2011 titled Where's The Birth Certificate? would apparently become relevant to the questioning he was forced to endure by Aaaron Zelinsky, one of Robert Mueller's "angry Democrats" and not coincidentally, a former assistant US attorney under Rod Rosenstein. Also lacking in coincidence, perhaps, is that Zelinsky is a staunch Democrat and a frequent contributor to the Leftist publication Huffington Post. In addition to Aaron Zelinsky, Dr. Corsi was subjected to interrogation, ridicule and was even mocked as detailed in a recent hit piece published in The Rolling Stone by Jeannie Rhee, a former Deputy Attorney General under Obama and a die-hard Hillary Clinton supporter. Even more disturbing and ironic is that Rhee was Hillary Clinton's lawyer just three years ago, representing her in her legal e-mail troubles. Feds Treated Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano Much Better Than Manafort, Corsi, Flynn. [Sean] Hannity said special counsel Robert Mueller is conducting a "concerted effort to turn the screws on whoever" is in support of Trump. He said Flynn's life is "ruined," Papadopoulos will forever have a felony on his record and Manafort and Corsi could spend the rest of their lives in prison because they will not be coerced into "testi-lying." Hannity said that on the other hand, Gravano, who he said confessed to at least 19 murders, was given little jail time and was put in the witness protection program and was living in Arizona. The Nixon 'Road Map' Won't Save Mueller's Futile Prosecution. [Scroll down] The copycat litigation of the Trump-haters today is of no significance. But the increasing evidence of the Mueller special counsel's tug-of-war to try to extort perjury against the president by effectively threatening Paul Manafort with decades of solitary confinement, and trying to intimidate Jerome Corsi, George Papadopoulos (a third of the way through his 14-day prison term — it was to such nonsense that Mueller is reduced), is cautionary. [...] At least there was a crime at the Watergate and a few other places. But both attempts at pseudo-legal putsches are and have been disgusting and profoundly illegal corruptions of the system, and contribute to an understanding of why the American prosecutors win a North Korean level 99 percent of their indictments, 97 percent without a trial, and the sweet land of liberty has six to 12 times as many incarcerated people per capita as comparable large and prosperous democracies: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The word 'Russia' eliminates all rational thought in journalists. After two long years of the most expensive and wide-ranging independent counsel investigation in a generation, we should be close to nabbing those dastardly secret agents from Russia who supposedly hacked our presidential election. Are we? No, we're not. Robert Mueller's prosecutors are instead threatening elderly men with life in prison for petty crimes. Crimes that have nothing to do with spying or Russia or anything else that threatens America. The whole thing is a grotesque joke. But you'd never know that from watching cable television. Jerome Corsi Says He Has Defense Agreement With Trump, Received Limited Immunity From Mueller. Right-wing author Jerome Corsi claims in a forthcoming book that he has a joint defense agreement with President Donald Trump and was provided limited immunity during his testimony before special counsel Robert Mueller's grand jury to discuss a "cover story" he claims he crafted for Trump confidant Roger Stone. Corsi, who has been interviewed six times in the investigation over the course of more than two months, writes in "Silent No More: How I Became a Political Prisoner of Mueller's 'Witch Hunt,'" which The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained, that he entered into the defense agreement with Trump after being advised that Trump's lawyer, Jay Sekulow, was interested in the arrangement. George Papadopoulos Declassified FBI memos undercut Mueller team claims that Papadopoulos hindered Russia probe. Newly declassified FBI memos directly conflict with court filings that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team made in asking a federal judge to send former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos to prison, further calling into question the government's conduct in investigating the now-debunked "Russia collusion" narrative. The memos, released under federal Freedom of Information laws, are likely to focus renewed attention on former Mueller prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, who played a key role in prosecuting Papadopoulos before working on the case of longtime GOP operative and Trump confidant Roger Stone. Federal Judge Denies Papadopoulos Delay — Begins 14-Day Federal Prison Sentence Tomorrow. Federal Judge Randolph Moss denies a sentencing delay for George Papadopoulos and instructs him to report to federal prison in Wisconsin on Monday; Papadopoulos will serve a 14-day sentence for 'lying' to federal investigators. The Judge rejected Papadopoulos request to delay his sentence while the legitimacy of Mueller's probe is being challenged in a separate legal case. Could Papadopoulos Blow the Russia Hoax Wide Open? Dan Bongino recently conducted a fascinating interview with George Papadopoulos. The most convenient way to digest the interview is at Jeff Carlson's blog, which has a link to the interview on Bongino's radio show as well as a full transcript of the interview. What emerges from the interview is, in my view, convincing evidence that Papadopoulos was, in Chuck Ross's words, the target of an "FBI sting." Actually, that characterization doesn't even go far enough. What seems clear at this point is that the FBI — representing the US Government and as an agency of the Department of Justice — targeted Papadopoulos and attempted to manipulate him into appearing to be a vehicle for Russian influence in the Trump campaign. The FBI had no reason to believe that Papadopoulos had any connections to Russian officials before they targeted him. The fact is, Papadopoulos's academic background and previous experience was in what could be broadly termed "Eastern Mediterranean" politics — Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel. Moreover, in his published writings he actually evinced a degree of hostility to Russian influence in that region. When the FBI's attempt at framing Papadopoulos in this manner predictably fell flat, Papadopoulos was indicted on trumped up "false statements to the FBI" charges stemming from a harmless misstatement — not a lie. Claiming He Was 'Framed,' Papadopoulos Says He Might Scrap Plea Deal With Mueller. Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos said Friday that he is considering withdrawing from a plea agreement he has had for over a year with the special counsel's office. In an interview with "Fox & Friends," the 31-year-old Papadopoulos asserted he was "framed" by Western intelligence agencies, including those within the U.S. government. "I believe there was tremendous misconduct on the government's behalf regarding my case," Papadopoulos said in the interview. "And given certain information I learned yesterday that I can't publicly disclose right now, I'm actually even considering withdrawing my agreement I have come to with the government." FBI Has Evidence That 'Directly Refutes' Entire Premise Of Trump-Russia Probe, GOP Rep. Says. Republican lawmakers have hinted for months that the FBI failed to provide federal judges on the surveillance court with information that undercut the government's premise for opening the Trump-Russia probe in 2016. Republicans have suggested in interviews that the information related to George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser whose conversation with an Australian diplomat prompted the FBI to open its investigation into the Trump campaign. Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe provided Sunday the clearest picture to date of what the FBI allegedly withheld from the surveillance court. Ratcliffe suggested that the FBI failed to include evidence regarding former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, in an interview with Fox News. No end in sight: Russia dossier investigation enters third year. FBI agent Peter Strzok, who displayed an intense dislike for Mr. Trump in text messages to his lover, started the investigation based on hearsay from an Australian diplomat who shared a drink in London with Trump campaign volunteer George Papadopoulos. To date, after wiretaps and multiple interrogations, no Trump person has been charged for the reason the investigation started: Did the campaign coordinate with Moscow to interfere in the election? The drink in London may have started the inquiry, but it was the Democratic Party-orchestrated dossier that would fuel it with an unsubstantiated tale of an "extensive conspiracy" between Mr. Trump and the Kremlin. What really inspired the FBI to spring into action against Trump in 2016? To hear the Federal Bureau of Investigation tell it, its decision to launch a counterintelligence probe into a major-party presidential campaign comes down to a foreign tip about a 28-year-old fourth-tier Trump adviser, George Papadopoulos. The FBI's media scribes have dutifully reported the bare facts of that "intel." We are told the infamous tip came from Alexander Downer, at the time the Australian ambassador to the U.K. Mr. Downer invited Mr. Papadopoulos for a drink in early May 2016, where the aide told the ambassador the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. Word of this encounter at some point reached the FBI, inspiring it to launch its counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign on July 31. The "Crossfire Hurricane" Story Paints An Ugly Picture Of The FBI And Department Of Justice. A couple of days ago, the New York Times ran a rather stunning piece on FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign. [...] This is the basic outline of the story. The FBI, based on a semi-drunken conversation between George Papadopoulos and an Australian diplomat, Alexander Downer, opened an investigation of the Trump campaign. What is missing from the story is any mention of the Trump dossier which we know was briefed to the FBI on July 5, nearly a month before the Papadopoulos conversation jumped the Atlantic and the shark. As the investigation grew, eventually four members of the Trump campaign — Michael T. Flynn, Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Papadopoulos — were placed under some sort of surveillance. Eventually, Carter Page was the subject of a FISA warrant. This surveillance continued even while Flynn and Manafort were on the transition team. Threatening legal fight, Nunes demands document that kicked off FBI Trump-Russia investigation. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray demanding an uncensored copy of the document the bureau used to formally begin its investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Trump campaign. The originating document has been the subject of much controversy. After some Republicans alleged that the FBI used never-verified parts of the Trump dossier as part of its reason to begin the investigation in July 2016, some "current and former" officials leaked to the New York Times that no, it was the case of George Papadopoulos, reported to U.S. authorities by foreign intelligence agents, that prompted the FBI investigation. Report: FBI Agent Shared Russia Probe Information With Christopher Steele. An FBI agent shared the name of former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos with Trump dossier author Christopher Steele during a meeting in early October 2016. That new bit of information was revealed in a column published Wednesday [1/17/2018] by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. Ignatius reports that Steele, a former MI6 agent, met with an old FBI contact in Rome around Oct. 1, 2016 to share findings from his investigation into Donald Trump's and the Trump campaign's associations with the Russian government. "At this meeting, the FBI official asked Steele if he had ever heard of Papadopoulos," reports Ignatius, who cited an official familiar with the meeting as his source. Ron DeSantis: NYT Papadopoulos 'Russia Probe' Claim Not What FBI and DOJ Told Congressional Investigators. Florida Representative and Judicary Committee member Ron DeSantis appears on Sunday Morning Futures and deconstructs the leaked intelligence community propaganda pushed by the New York Times. Essentially DeSantis states the claims surrounding the origin of the 2016 Russian Probe, made by the leaked intelligence sources, does not align with the sworn congressional testimony given by the FBI and DOJ to the judiciary committee. James Clapper Clapper stammers through segment after launch of DOJ criminal probe. Obama's former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper seemed to struggle with his poker face as he reacted to news of a DOJ criminal inquiry. The current CNN contributor spoke with Anderson Cooper about reports of the transition of U.S. Attorney John Durham's review into the origins of the Russia probe into a criminal investigation. And his body language spoke louder than his words. [Video clip] Proceed With Caution — Media Reporting ODNI Dan Coats Possibly Being Replaced. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ODNI, was created post-9/11 at the recommendation of the 9/11 commission. [...] Due to the structure of the ODNI, the cabinet member filling that position has an important role in: (a) knowing what each intelligence agency is doing; and (b) sharing intelligence operations and outcomes, beyond the originating agency, to those national security offices who may have an operational need/interest in cross-agency information. President Obama saw the ODNI structure as a problem. The ODNI would know what each agency is doing. The structure of the ODNI means corrupt CIA, State, DoD and/or DOJ and FBI cabinet officials couldn't keep secret intelligence operations hidden from review by alternate officials. The structure of the ODNI was a risk. President Obama together with Donilon, Holder, Emmanuel and Jarret, solved this problem early on by placing an abject idiot named James Clapper into the position of ODNI. Why Are Clapper and Brennan Not in Jail? Beginning in January 2017, Brennan and Clapper made essentially the same statements on national television. The only possible excuse — that their allegations were lies — is irrelevant because the essence of the violation is the revelation that U.S intelligence was monitoring the communications of the Russians in America, and those of the Trump campaign as well. This is true, and that revelation is a textbook violation of the Comint Statute. The reasons no prosecutions have followed should be plain enough. The offenders are big people, in the permanent government and in the Democratic Party. They have a great many friends in the U.S Justice Department. From the top down, the Trump Administration has been filled by much smaller people. Loud words aside, the president has kowtowed to the intelligence agencies in every way imaginable. No prominent Republican has chosen to challenge the de facto privileged relationship between Democrats in the intelligence agencies and the media. The Adolescent Progressive Mind. Former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper became a beloved progressive duo to the extent that their names almost became a compound noun. And no wonder given their recent careers were joined at the hip. Their past respective lying under oath to Congress, their previous incarnation as Bush-era "conservatives," tough-guy, anti-terrorism fighters, and their dubious employment in the suspect intelligence services were all forgotten. Then, after leaving the Obama Administration, in which Brennan-Clapper had in deep-state fashion reinvented themselves from erstwhile pro-Bush, enhanced interrogation, anti-terrorism fighters into anti-Bush, pro-Obama multiculturalists and deep thinkers, they reappeared in a third manifestation as CNN and MSNBC bona fide Trump haters. Daily we heard from the duo (who had once respectively assured us that jihad was essentially a personal growth odyssey and that Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was largely secular) that Trump was a Russian asset and a veritable traitor. James Clapper Knew There Was No Evidence of Trump-Russia Collusion In 2016. Long before the special counsel probe ended in confirming there was no collusion between President Trump and Russia, the U.S. government knew there was no evidence of a vast conspiracy between Trump and a foreign power. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate "ties between President Trump's campaign and Russian officials" on May 17, 2017. President Obama's director of national intelligence James Clapper had access and was privy to all the "evidence" the U.S. government collected since the Russia investigation began in July 2016. Clapper: Mueller couldn't find 'active collusion' but there was 'passive collusion'. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Thursday [4/18/2019] said that there was "passive collusion" between the Trump campaign and Russia despite Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings that conclude there was no conspiracy. Clapper began by defending the foundation of the Russia probe, telling CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that there was "good reason" for intelligence agencies and law enforcement "to be concerned about whether or not there was some kind of conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians." Deliberate Destruction of Our Constitutional Norms: The Mueller Report. [Scroll down] The entire attempt was just a pursuit to derail a Republican president. The reason this activity was not more pervasive during George W. Bush's presidency is because it was halted by 9/11. Both presidents are perceived by their political enemies to be illegitimately elected because they won the Electoral College, but not the popular vote. The opposition has distain for the Constitution. That we are a Republic and not a Democracy cements their lack of acceptance for either president. The opposition also hates the politics of both presidents. [...] If you doubt that Obama created this atmosphere, just look at two people during the last two years — James Clapper and John Brennan. Mr. Clapper was the Director of National Intelligence and Mr. Brennan was the Director of the CIA under President Obama. These are supposed to be non-political posts, but during this episode these two added more fuel to the flame of the Russia Hoax than anyone else. Can We Give James Clapper The Roger Stone Treatment Yet? On March 12, 2013, Gen. James R. Clapper, Jr., President Obama's director of the Office Of National Intelligence, testified under oath before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Responding to a question from Oregon Sen. Ron Wyder on whether the U.S. government was collecting "any type of data at all" from American citizens, Clapper paused and said, "No, sir. ... Not wittingly." Three months later, when Edward Snowden dumped millions of stolen government documents into the public domain, it became abundantly clear that Clapper lied. The U.S. government was, in fact, vacuuming up details about virtually every electronic communication by every American citizen. When asked directly about his answer to Wyden, Clapper said that his response was "the least untruthful" answer he could give. The Transparent Positioning of Brennan, Clapper and Comey. There is a great deal of discussion about the combative and hate-riddled language coming from Comey, Clapper and particularly Brennan. Be aware their combative posture as an actual risk avoidance strategy. Each of the three heavily corrupt officials engaged in the most substantive abuse of their intelligence positions for political purposes. Each of them weaponized their offices against their political opposition. The scope and severity therein is a story yet to surface; and unlike prior examples of weaponizing the DOJ and IRS, there is no administration in place to protect them from investigative sunlight. Therefore the Comey, Clapper and Brennan defense strategy is to position themselves politically and lean on their like-minded media allies for support. All of James Comey's lies, detailed and exposed in 7 minutes. The takeaway from James Comey's ABC News interview is that he never should have been FBI director because he is completely partisan. POTUS Trump's mistake was that he waited to fire James Comey. He should have been fired immediately after Trump's Inauguration Day. Comey's hero is James Clapper... a man who perjured himself by lying to Congress nearly five years ago. Comey's family are die hard Hillary fans, with his wife even working for the HRC campaign. The McCabe Report is Just an Appetizer. As of this writing, it is unclear exactly what the scope of the inspector general's inquiries will be. Speaking for myself, I hope the desert course includes a close look at the January 5, 2017 meeting at the White House meeting at which President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, NSA director Susan "By the Book" Rice, and Acting Attorney General Sally "Insubordinate" Yates were briefed by the country's chief spooks — former FBI director James "Higher Loyalty" Comey, NSA chief Michael Rogers, CIA chief John "I Voted for Gus Hall" Brennan, and James Clapper, the former director of National Intelligence who delighted the television audiences everywhere when he instructed Congress that the Muslim Brotherhood was "a largely secular organization" that had "eschewed violence." The country was in the very best of hands back then! What was the subject? Exactly what they were and were not going to tell the incoming administration about the ongoing investigation into possible Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election? Anatomy of a Political Smear Confirmed — James Comey January Briefing was Scripted by Clapper and Brennan to Create Media Narrative. Generally I would not refer so strongly to a prior discussion thread if the latest information did not absolutely confirm what was originally suspected. On January 10th, 2017 we discussed "The Anatomy of a Modern Political Smear", where we connected the dots, as they were happening in-real-time between James Comey, the Obama intelligence community and the media, specifically CNN. Yesterday [4/19/2018], two events happened which absolutely confirm — with demonstrable certainty — what we immediately saw over 15 months ago. The first event was the appearance of James Comey on CNN to discuss his book. In part of the questioning by Jake Tapper, Comey admitted his January 6th briefing of the Steele Dossier content was ONLY about the Russian hookers, pee-tapes, and ridiculous sexual accusations against the President-elect. Did Obama, Brennan And Clinton Illegally Collude To Take Trump Down? The release of the FISA application by the FBI to investigate alleged collusion between Russia and President Trump's campaign and recent comments made by top officials are eye opening. Not only did President Obama know about the investigation, he seems to have pushed it from the very beginning. But don't take our word for it. Here's what Obama's Director of National Intelligence, the nation's former spy master, James Clapper, told CNN's Anderson Cooper: "If it weren't for President Obama we might not have done the intelligence community assessment that we did that set up a whole sequence of event which are still unfolding today, including Special Counsel (Robert) Mueller's investigation. President Obama is responsible for that. It was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assessment in the first place." McCabe-Page texts reveal high-level intel meeting after 2016 election. Newly obtained text messages between former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and bureau lawyer Lisa Page reveal 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]." The Democrats' Fanaticism. The Democrats, the media, and their sympathizers around the world were so sure that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report would quickly end Donald Trump's presidency that they are still in denial that it won't. Obama's director of national intelligence, James Clapper, coined a new oxymoron by insisting there was "passive collusion" between Trump and the Russians. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff still insists that evidence of collusion is still in plain sight and Rachel Maddow is still in tears. None of the facts will deter the Democrats from investigating and trying to impeach Trump because their Trump hatred is so deep and so emotional that it has become a fanaticism that wipes everything else off the political slate. What Everyone Is Missing About the Comey Scandal. [Scroll down] However, despite [James] Clapper's earnest worry and woe, the FBI is not a co-equal branch of government able to "check and balance" the executive branch. Despite James Comey's defense of the FBI's independence at his hearing yesterday, there is no constitutional requirement that the FBI be independent of the presidency. Comey even admitted as much amid his defense of FBI independence. More about General Clapper's days with the Obama administration can be found here. Michael Flynn This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Bill Priestap FBI Man's Testimony Points to Wrongdoing Well Beyond Spying. Attorney General William Barr shocked official Washington Wednesday [4/10/2019] by saying what previously couldn't be said: That the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016 involved "spying." The spying, which Barr vowed to investigate, is not the only significant possible violation of investigative rules and ethics committed by agents, lawyers, managers, and officials at the FBI and the Department of Justice. A catalogue of those abuses can be found in recently released testimony that ex-FBI official Edward William Priestap provided to Congress in a closed-door interview last summer. FBI Man's Testimony Points to Wrongdoing Well Beyond Spying. From the end of 2015 to the end of 2018, Bill Priestap was assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, which meant he oversaw the FBI's global counterintelligence efforts. In that role, he managed both of the bureau's most politically sensitive investigations: the inquiry into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information and the probe into whether Donald Trump or his campaign conspired with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election. His testimony provides rare insight into the attitudes and thoughts of officials who launched the Russia probe and the probe of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose final report is expected to be released very soon. More important, his testimony contains extensive indications of wrongdoing, including that the FBI and DoJ targeted Trump and did so with information it made no effort to verify. It paints a portrait of the Obama-era bureau as one that was unconcerned with political interference in investigations and was willing to enlist the help of close foreign allies to bring down its target. The Enigma Man — E.W. "Bill" Priestap. Bill Priestap is the FBI Asst. Director in charge of all counterintelligence operations. Priestap was FBI Agent Peter Strzok's boss; he is also at the epicenter of the story surrounding every action taken by the FBI in the Clinton investigation and the Trump campaign investigation. Bill Priestap was copied on every email of consequence including the writing of the Clinton exoneration talking points delivered by FBI Director James Comey. Priestap is the central figure on the FBI side of both Clinton and Trump operations. "Bill" is mentioned in hundreds of text messages sent by Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. In short, Bill is everywhere — except where you would most likely expect to find him, in media discussion. FBI Shadow Figure Surfaces To Protect President Obama Amid Released FBI Text Messages. W.H. "Bill" Priestap is the FBI Head of Counterintelligence. Priestap was one of the first FBI officials who caught our attention (spring of 2017) because FBI Director James Comey mysteriously pointed a finger upon him during testimony to congress on March 20th, 2017 [Although Comey didn't use Bill Priestap's name, only his position]. James Comey said last year the reason the FBI did not inform congress of the ongoing eight month counterintelligence investigation (required by congressional intelligence oversight), which began in July 2016 into candidate Donald Trump, was because Bill Priestap specifically told Director Comey not to inform congress or intelligence oversight. A Counterintelligence Timeline With a Bill Priestap and James Comey Reminder. In the past few days/weeks, thanks to some revealing information amid the various investigators of the DC swamp, we have been introduced to some previously unknown people. Names like FBI Agent Peter Strzok; his mistress FBI Attorney Lisa Page; their ideological comrade Asst FBI Director Andrew McCabe; along with DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr; and his wife, Fusion-GPS contract employee Nellie Ohr. Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson and his wife Mary Jacoby. These are a few of the recent names that have hit the headlines as a result of ongoing investigations into the politicization of the FBI and DOJ. But there's one name conspicuously absent, FBI Director of Counterintelligence, Bill Priestap. Another Leaked Transcript: Bill Priestap "Closed" Testimony Conflicts With James Comey "Open" Testimony. Another unsourced leak of a congressional hearing transcript to The Epoch Times highlights the testimony of former FBI Director of Counterintelligence, Bill Priestap. Unfortunately, the transcript is not provided, and there is no explanation as to why the transcript is not provided; however, one quote seems interesting. The question surrounds why congressional leadership, including the Gang-of-Eight, were not briefed about the opening of a counterintelligence operation into a presidential campaign. The investigation began on July 31st, 2016. Congress was not notified until early March 2017. Strzok-Page affair made them vulnerable to foreign intelligence, a top FBI official told Congress. A top FBI official told Congress last year that he feared an affair between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page made them vulnerable to foreign intelligence services. Bill Priestap, the bureau's assistant director for counterintelligence, testified in June 2018 that he had heard rumors about an extramarital affair between Page and Strzok, who directly reported to him, but was later prompted to confront the couple after receiving a tip. Demoted FBI agent Peter Strzok had larger role in Clinton, Russia probes than previously known. Peter Strzok, who was pulled off Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigative team last year, played a more central role than previously known in both the Russia and Hillary Clinton email probes, a lawmaker familiar with the matter told Fox News Tuesday [6/5/2018]. The lawmaker's assessment of Strzok's role in both investigations was based on the most recent records and testimony, including a closed-door interview with FBI espionage chief Bill Priestap. Priestap was interviewed Tuesday as part of an ongoing joint investigation by the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. Priestap was Strzok's supervisor and oversaw both the Russia and Clinton investigations. Devin Nunes Questions Legality of FBI FISA Application to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. This evening House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes sends a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions questioning the protocol and legality of a fraudulent FISA application submitted by the FBI. This approach sets up AG Sessions to defer the legal framework to OIG Michael Horowitz, and establishes the public basis for parallel prosecutors within the DOJ. However, keep in mind, it's extremely likely, almost certain, these prosecutors already exist — they are already working with Horowitz. Evidence of this is found in the memo quotes from Bill Priestap, but those not following the granular details are unaware. Professor Joseph Mifsud Curiouser and Curiouser. According to recent reports U.S. Attorney John Durham and U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr are spending time on a narrowed focus looking carefully at CIA activity in the 2016 presidential election. [...] By now people are familiar with the construct of CIA operations involving Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese professor now generally admitted/identified as a western intelligence operative who was tasked by the CIA (John Brennan) to run an operation against Trump campaign official George Papadopoulos in both Italy (Rome) and London. In a similar fashion the CIA tasked U.S. intelligence asset Stefan Halper to target another Trump campaign official, Carter Page. Under the auspices of being a Cambridge Professor Stefan Halper also targeted General Michael Flynn. Additionally, using assistance from a female FBI agent under the false name Azra Turk, Halper also targeted Papadopoulos. Durham opens criminal probe, IG report due, Brennan, Clapper lawyer up. The John Durham investigation into the origins of the Russia Hoax has expanded. Adding staff and resources, and the investigation is now an official criminal probe. [...] The investigations course change follows new conclusive evidence Durham and Attorney General William Barr found during meetings in Rome on August 15th and September 27th. They reportedly met with Italian intelligence officials[.] During the meetings Durham and Horowitz listed to a taped deposition with the mysterious Professor Joseph Mifsud, the CIA and State Department asset who set up George Papadopolous. Their meeting in March 2016 started the ball rolling in the framing of Donald Trump and the Russia Hoax. Seeing Some Trees in the Forest of Babble. [Scroll down] I think otherwise. I think it was delayed because of newly acquired information obtained by Attorney General William Barr and Prosecutor John Durham. Most particularly, the two men recently returned from Italy where they met with the mysterious "Maltese professor" Joseph Mifsud and obtained from him two BlackBerrys. I believe that Mifsud was working with the coup plotters to set up a pretext for the spy operation and, if so, the BlackBerrys apparently given to him by them should prove the case. (We learned of their existence and the Justice Department's obtaining them in a motion filed by Lt. General Michael Flynn's attorney, Sidney Powell, demanding the data in them in the discovery process.) Papadopoulos says game-changing Mifsud phones are about to link his case and Mike Flynn's to treason. President Donald Trump's former 2016 campaign adviser George Papadopoulos is confident that the latest findings regarding the FBI operation that triggered the whole Russia collusion delusion narrative are surefire proof of "treason." Unearthed earlier this week, the findings are specifically that Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud wasn't a Russian agent — he was allegedly a "western intelligence" asset who was purposefully used by the Obama administration in 2016 to target both Papadopoulos and then-fellow Trump campaign adviser retired Gen. Michael Flynn. Asked by Fox News host Laura Ingraham late Friday [10/18/2019] to summarize these findings, Papadopoulos immediately spoke of "treason from within." Papadopoulos On The Big Picture Of The Russia Hoax. In this conversation with George Papadopoulos [...] Laura Ingraham starts with the news that John Durham returned from his trip to Rome with Bill Barr in possession of Joseph Mifsud's two FBI (or possibly CIA) issued Blackberry phones. Papadopoulos immediately turns to the big picture, rather than remaining with the investigative details regarding the phone, and Laura follows up on that big picture approach. Papadopoulos describes how, as soon as he joined the Ben Carson campaign in December, 2015, he found himself being targeted by State Department officials. He then notes that when he switched to the Trump campaign, just a few months later, he was targeted by intelligence operatives, including Mifsud, who already knew all about him even though his switch to the Trump campaign was not public knowledge. Obviously, he's telling us that the coordinated targeting of all Republican campaigns by the supposedly non-political branches of the Obama administration (State, DoJ, the FBI and CIA) was well underway — no later than December, 2015, but certainly even earlier. John Durham obtains key BlackBerrys connected to origins of Russia-Trump probe. Reading like the greatest spy novel ever written, leaving followers salivating over the next chapter, regardless of allegiance to the players involved, the targeting of then-candidate Donald Trump by the U.S. intelligence apparatus under former President Barack Obama just keeps getting better. Following special counsel Robert Mueller's findings that allegations of collusion between the president's campaign and Russia were little more than a hoax, Attorney General William Barr tasked John Durham, the U.S. Attorney in Connecticut, with investigating the investigators — in effect, to determine how Trump had become a target. On Thursday [10/17/2019], the Washington Times reported Durham has acquired two BlackBerrys used by Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud, who's intricately linked to the whole story. Why It Matters That Sidney Powell Wants Data From Joseph Mifsud's Smartphones. On Tuesday [10/15/2019], attorney Sidney Powell struck again, revealing yet another huge development in the Spygate saga between the lines of her latest motion. That motion, filed in the still-pending criminal case against Trump's former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, demanded exculpatory evidence from federal prosecutors. But unlike her previously filed motion to compel, here Powell seeks evidence "that has only recently come into its possession." And the evidence sought? The data and metadata from two Blackberry devices used by Joseph Mifsud. While Powell's latest motion barely equaled two pages, the implications are multi-pronged and monumental. That the U.S. government has only recently obtained possession of a pair of smartphones used by Joseph Mifsud tells us two things: that Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney John Dunham's probe into the origins of the Russia-collusion hoax is both serious and successful, and that the Crossfire Hurricane targeting of President Trump and former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation were neither. Mifsud's Cellphones Mean [the] Barr Investigation [is] Heating Up. While Democrats and their media friends natter on about impeachment and quid pro quos, trying to deflect from the the obvious corruption of Biden & Son and the imminent — at some point anyway — appearance of the IG report on FISA and the Steele Dossier — the real action, as it often is, is elsewhere. In this case, it is the surprising news that two cellphones belonging to Joseph Mifsud — the mysterious Maltese professor at the heart of the Russia probe (aka Spygate) — have suddenly materialized. The Joseph Mifsud Story: The Great Movie Hollywood Will Never Make. [Scroll down] If it turns out the professor was a U.S. agent or one allied to the U.S., planted to suck in the naive Papadopoulos, to make him run back to the mothership and blabber about something that wasn't true in order to hang Trump, it is one of the greatest and most evil stories of our times. If it can be proven that what we have experienced for the entire Trump era is a put-up job linked to the previous administration, to the Brennans and Clappers of the world, Professor Mifsud is the nerdy Helen of Troy who launched the thousand ships of the Mueller investigation, resulting in impeachment currently being shrieked on every corner and, frankly, mass U.S. hysteria and hatred across our land. DOJ Has Possession of Joseph Mifsud Cell Phones (Blackberries)? Inside an otherwise innocuous court filing, General Mike Flynn's attorney, Sidney Powell, files a motion to compel (MTC) in an effort to gain discovery of the content from two cell phones belonging to Joseph Mifsud. Apparently, according to the information within the filing, the DOJ has somehow gained custody of two cell phones belonging to Mr. Mifsud: [...] The filing notes that "western intelligence" likely tasked Mr. Mifsud against General Flynn as early as 2014 in order to set up "connections with certain Russians" for later use against him. Essentially, an intelligence entrapment scheme. Unfortunately the filing only identifies the cell phones along with the request for production of the content therein. However, the fact the DOJ has two cell phones belonging to Joseph Mifsud opens up a whole bunch of questions. Why the Mystery of Russiagate Hinges on the Mystery of Joseph Mifsud. For many, trying to follow Robert Mueller's testimony was like someone whose Italian is limited to grazie and ciao taking in an opera in Venice: You might grasp the action but sorting out the story through the lyrics is another thing altogether. The former special counsel was peppered with questions phrased in a shorthand of names — Veselnitskaya, Simpson, Kilimnik — each with a backstory it was assumed viewers, or at least the witness, would know. One of the most significant and dramatic — but also cryptic — exchanges occurred when Rep. Jim Jordan (R, Ohio) fired off a series of heated questions about a name few viewers are likely to have been familiar with: a Maltese professor invariably described as "mysterious," Joseph Mifsud. Rep. Devin Nunes Sends Letter to FBI, DOJ, CIA and NSA Requesting Info on Mysterious Prof. Mifsud. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) sent letters to the heads of the CIA, NSA, FBI and DOJ late Friday [5/3/2019] requesting information pertaining to the mysterious Maltese professor who allegedly told Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos that the Russians had thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails. Nunes told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo that he wants to "get to the bottom of [Joseph] Mifsud," whom the Mueller report paints as a Russian spy, (although he is more likely a Western asset). AG Barr's trip to Italy on 'official business' may be a key to unmasking deep state entrapment of George Papadopoulos by CIA asset Joseph Mifsud. Attorney General William Barr quietly flew off to Italy on official business on Wednesday, a move first noticed by ABC correspondent Alex Mallin on Friday, September 27. [...] Once the trip was on the public record, and only 15 minutes later, at 1:09 PM, George Papadopoulos tweeted out his view that the trip was related to Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese professor and CIA asset, who planted the information that the Russians had Hillary's missing emails in hand, information that Papadopoulos later passed along to the Australian High Commissioner (ambassador) to Britain, who then passed this information along to US intelligence authorities as evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Attorney General Bill Barr Visits Italy on "Official Business"? — Remember That Audio-Tape Deposition by Joseph Mifsud? According to an interview on August 18th, John Solomon reported the lawyer for Joseph Mifsud admitted his client was a western intelligence asset who was part of a CIA intelligence "operation" against candidate Donald Trump in March 2016. Not only was the attorney admitting Mifsud was a western asset used by the CIA against Trump, but the lawyer also told Solomon about an audio-taped deposition that Joseph Mifsud gave prior to going into hiding after Trump won the 2016 Presidential election. From the description it sounds like Mifsud anticipated his assisted suicide and he recorded a deposition as leverage against his unwanted demise. Assisted Suicide Avoidance — John Brennan Intel Asset Joseph Mifsud "Gave Audio Tape Deposition Before Going Into Hiding". According to an interview granted by the lawyer for intelligence asset Joseph Mifsud to journalist John Solomon, professor Mifsud admitted to being a western intelligence asset who was part of a CIA intelligence "operation" against candidate Donald Trump in March 2016. Yes, stop and read that introductory paragraph again. Solomon notes that an audio-taped deposition exists from Joseph Mifsud prior to going into hiding after the 2016 Presidential election. From the description it sounds like Mifsud anticipated his assisted suicide and recorded a deposition as leverage against his unwanted demise. McCabe and Papadopoulos: Two-Tiered Justice. The date of a meeting, that's all the lie was about. George Papadopoulos claimed that a meeting he'd had with the mysterious Maltese professor, Josef Mifsud, happened slightly before the green-as-grass 28-year-old was recruited into the Trump campaign. In reality, it was slightly after. It wasn't a very important lie. It was of no consequence to the FBI or the special counsel's investigation. Papadopoulos was such an afterthought that the Bureau did not bother to interview him until late January 2017 — about 10 months after he met Mifsud. By the time Papadopoulos was charged, the Trump-Russia investigation had been ongoing for well over a year — it was already clear that there was no conspiracy. The mysterious Mister Mifsud and why no one wants to discuss him. Joseph Mifsud: The name of the generally unknown character in the Russia investigation came up, over and over, in the long-awaited House committee hearings with former special counsel Robert Mueller. Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio invoked the name as if it legally required the accompaniment of horror movie theme music; Mueller immediately snapped back that he would not discuss that man. Yet that did not deter Republicans. Joe diGenova: Inspector General Horowitz and US Attorney John Durham Have Both Already interviewed Joseph Mifsud. Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress today on the Trump-Russia Collusion witch hunt. He could not have looked more confused and out of his league if he tried. It was a slow motion trainwreck. Mueller looked like a confused, stuttering, mumbling, lost, doddering and nervous old man. He frequently paged through his notes. Rep. Jim Jordan Exposes the Targeted Hypocrisy of Mueller's Team — Some Investigative Liars Ignored. Representative Jim Jordan highlights how the Mueller team avoided targeting the person at the very origin of the CIA, FBI and DOJ-NSD operation against the Trump campaign in 2016. By outlining the involvement of western intelligence asset Joseph Mifsud, and how the Mueller "small group" ignored his involvement, Jim Jordan exposes the biased agenda behind the entire Mueller scheme. [Video clip] Robert Mueller soon may be exposed as the 'magician of omission' on Russia. While most of the political world focused its attention elsewhere, special prosecutor John Durham's team quietly reached out this summer to a lawyer representing European academic Joseph Mifsud, one of the earliest and most mysterious figures in the now closed Russia-collusion case. An investigator told Swiss attorney Stephan Roh that Durham's team wanted to interview Mifsud, or at the very least review a recorded deposition the professor gave in summer 2018 about his role in the drama involving Donald Trump, Russia and the 2016 election. Durham and Graham obtained deposition of Clinton 'dirt' tipster Joseph Mifsud. U.S. Attorney John Durham and Sen. Lindsey Graham, leading separate inquiries into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, have obtained an audio deposition of Joseph Mifsud, the mysterious Maltese academic who claimed Russia had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. Congressional Investigators Looking at "Number of False Statements" Made by Mueller and Lies About Mifsud. As TGP reported earlier this week the Mueller report, produced by a gang of conflicted Hillary supporters, is full of holes and misrepresentations. One of the significant questions that comes out of the report was why Mueller and gang did not find it beneficial or important to identify the Steele dossier in its report. The dossier is barely mentioned in Mueller's report. Devin Nunes Outlines Three Key Issues Post Mueller Report — Also Confirms Mueller Blocked Key Document Production. In advance of the Mueller Report release, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, appears with Laura Ingraham to discuss three areas of the 2016 CIA/FBI intelligence operation that deserve answers: (1) The targeting/framing of Michael Flynn and the positioning of a false narrative around innocuous Russia contacts. (2) The use of Joseph Mifsud as an asset by the CIA/FBI running a counterintelligence operation against the Trump campaign. (3) The Trump Tower meeting as organized by Fusion-GPS. If You Inspect The FISA Applications Closely, More Mysteries Arise About Joseph Mifsud. When CNN reported late Thursday [8/2/2018] that the president's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, intended to tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that Donald Trump knew in advance of his son's June 2016 meeting with Russians who promised "dirt" on Hillary Clinton, the summer-time Trump Tower confab from two years ago re-entered the limelight. A quick retweet of the story by Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff, pushing what I knew was a false narrative, sent me tumbling down the rabbit hole known presidentially as Spygate. What began as a deep-dive into the Trump Tower meeting unearthed yet further proof of the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation's abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to surveil former Trump advisor Carter Page and revealed additional evidence implicating the State Department in targeting Trump. Robert Mueller's Russian Election Interference Indictments This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Spoliation of evidence in the Robert Mueller investigation This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Robert Mueller and his lengthy investigation This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Mueller investigation report issued April 18, 2019: This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Attorney General Barr The Barr Family and Epstein. When researching the FBI investigation surrounding the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein for the article on Ghislaine Maxwell and child sacrifice, one topic that came up continually was a demand for then-AG Bill Barr to recuse himself from the investigation. He didn't, and Epstein then died in Bureau of Prisons custody. [...] Bill Barr could well have been doing the right thing when, in 2019, he didn't recuse himself from the Epstein case, and Epstein subsequently died in Bureau of Prisons custody. But a series of coincidences and connections leading up to 2019 are worth exploring, if only to know about them. Washington Post Outlines AG Barr As Key Figure Who Blocked Declassification of Spygate Documents. The Washington Post has a lengthy hit-piece against Kash Patel where they infer unsourced claims the DOJ is investigating the former Nunes aide and Trump administration official for releasing classified information. Keep in mind that President Trump granted full declassification authority to AG Bill Barr on May 23, 2019. I would draw your attention to these two paragraphs buried deep in the reporting: [...] It is tradition the NSA and CIA run to the Washington Post when they need a media PR firm to push their position. So this article makes sense considering the NSA and CIA both had something to hide within the criminal activity behind Spygate. Barr Fails to Salvage DOJ's Reputation With Statements on Election Fraud. Attorney General William Barr signaled on Tuesday that he has washed his hands of the president. He told the media that the Department of Justice has found no evidence of fraud that would change the election results in favor of Donald Trump. U.S. officials I spoke with do not understand Barr's motivation for speaking to a press corps typically hostile to him as well as Trump. "There's no evidence that the DOJ spoke with any of the numerous witnesses with first-hand knowledge of election fraud," said one senior official. "And many people reached out directly to the FBI and got no response back." The effect of Barr's statement is to derail the Trump campaign's efforts to reverse the vote in battleground states contested by the president's legal team. It is difficult to imagine state legislatures or courts taking up the campaign's cause when the headlines show that Trump's own attorney general says nothing is wrong. Are We Witnessing The Coverup Of The Biggest Scandal In American History? The great puzzle thus far has been the lack of prosecutions, despite ample evidence. The FBI agents are all guilty of crimes that have been detailed in public documents and the IG reports. There is now proof that Comey perjured himself many times. Just from a public relations perspective alone, rounding up these guys and charging them with corruption seems like a no-brainer. Almost a year into his tenure and Barr has charged no one with a crime. One obvious explanation is that Barr is running a long con on Trump and the rest of the country, on behalf of the inner party. [...] The sheer number of people involved in just the FBI scandal is phenomenal. There are at least 20 FBI people named and dozens of bit players in the media and DOJ. So far, the "contractors" with access to the NSA database have not been revealed, but that could be hundreds of people, given that it seems to have been a free-for-all. Attorney General Barr Stands athwart History. [Scroll down] I'm sure I am also not alone in thinking that Attorney General Barr, with his recent speeches, is using his bully pulpit to lay the groundwork for shaping public understanding and support for drastic action that should result from those reports and that he is employing high-octane, carefully crafted rhetoric to prepare public opinion for the explosive, controversial revelations — i.e., possible judicial proceedings against high-ranking members of the Deep State in the CIA, the FBI, and the Obama administration, including such persons as Brennan, Clapper, Comey, and Rice. The speeches were one-two punches against the Democrat's (1) attacks on religious freedom that have resulted in cultural disintegration and (2) attacks on the Constitution that have resulted in political chaos. William Barr is asking questions the media don't want asked. "I'm amused," Attorney General William Barr told CBS News' Jan Crawford, "by these people who make a living disclosing classified information, including the names of intelligence operatives, wringing their hands about whether I'm going to be responsible in protecting intelligence sources and methods." He went on after further questions, "Well, the media reaction is strange. Normally the media would be interested in letting the sunshine in and finding out what the truth is. And usually the media doesn't care that much about protecting intelligence sources and methods. But I do and I will." A Side-by-Side Comparison of Barr's vs. Mueller's Statements about Special Counsel Report. This Chart compares Special Counsel Robert Mueller's May 29 public statement with statements made by Attorney General William Barr. Whether or not Mueller was intentionally trying to correct the record, the differences between what he and Barr said are, in many cases, stark. Some of the differences involve near complete contradictions — in other words Mueller's statement and Barr's statements cannot both be true. Other differences are more a matter of emphasis or tone (e.g., references to the threat posed by the Russian operations, descriptions of the qualities of the special counsel staff). Why Did The Obama Administration Ignore Reports Of Russian Election Meddling? During her hour-long interview last week of Attorney General William Barr, "CBS This Morning" journalist Jan Crawford focused mainly on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of President Trump. She also, however, questioned Barr on the Department of Justice's (DOJ) efforts to ensure that Russian attempts to interfere in our elections are not repeated in 2020. This revealed the attorney general is probing a second scandal of the Obama administration related to the 2016 presidential election. Or it would be regarded as a second scandal if it garnered more attention: Why the Obama administration failed to forcefully respond to intelligence of Russian interference in our elections. Schiff Says AG Barr Will Declassify Information 'In a Selective Way' to Mislead. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House intelligence committee, on Sunday discredited the investigation into the origins of the FBI's Trump-Russia probe, saying Attorney General William Barr will declassify intelligence "in a selective way designed to mislead the country." [...] Several months ago, Republicans on the House intelligence committee called on Schiff to step down as chairman for misleading people about evidence of "collusion" between the Trump campaign and Russia. "Your willingness to continue to promote a demonstrably false narrative is alarming," committee Republicans wrote in their letter to Schiff. Attorney General Barr's Remarkable CBS News Interview. In every criminal trial across America, the judge instructs the jury that the burden of proof rests with the prosecution and never, ever shifts to the defendant. The jury is told in no uncertain terms that the defendant has no burden of proof and no obligation to prove his or her innocence. It is up to the prosecution to prove each and every element of its case, and, if the prosecution fails to do so, then the jury's verdict must be "not guilty." These legal principles are not arcane, little-known concepts. Nevertheless, they seem to have eluded former FBI Director Mueller and his band of angry law school graduates who seem to think that they are in the exoneration business instead of determining whether the evidence meets the burden of proof as to each and every element of the crime of obstruction of justice. Attorney General Barr Discloses US Attorney Huber Never Even Started His Investigation — US Attorney John Durham Took Over His Work. Today [5/31/2019] on CBS Attorney General William Barr disclosed that the Huber investigation is over. Huber was assigned to look at FISA applications and the electronic surveillance during the 2016 election and actions by Hillary Clinton. Huber did not even start his investigation. Exploiting the MSM: Barr Uses CBS to Speak to America. William Barr's interview Thursday [5/30/2019] with Jan Crawford is filled with fascinating details and surprisingly candid responses, but most interesting of all may be that he undertook this dialogue not with friendlies at Fox or the Wall Street Journal but with CBS — the very beating heart of the mainstream media from well before the days of the Dan Rather embarrassment. The network is the sine qua non of Deep State establishmentarianism. You would think they would crucify him, but Barr is fearless — and justifiably so. He knows he is telling the truth and that, as the saying goes, will set you free. He also clearly wanted his words to be heard by the skeptical or confused more than those who already believe the Russia probe was politically motivated from the beginning. Sidney Powell Discusses DOJ in The Lawfare Era: "Guilty Until Proven Innocent". Not enough people understand the role of the Lawfare group in the corruption and political weaponization of the DOJ, FBI and larger intelligence community. What Media Matters is to corrupt left-wing media, the Lawfare group is to the corrupt DOJ and FBI. All of the headline names around the seditious conspiracy against Donald Trump assemble within the network of the Lawfare group. Three days after the October 21st, 2016, FISA warrant was obtained, Benjamin Wittes outlined the insurance policy approach. Top 28 Moments From Bombshell Barr Interview. Attorney General William Barr's nearly hour-long interview with CBS News' Jan Crawford last week was full of fascinating details about the special counsel probe, the debunked Russia collusion theory that roiled Washington for years, and Barr's investigation into how the FBI and Department of Justice used the "bogus" theory to investigate the Trump campaign. The interview was downplayed by the media, which is implicated in perpetuating the Russia hoax Barr is investigating, and which came in for criticism from Barr for its failure to care about violations of civil liberties. Here are the top 28 take-aways from the interview. [...] Lawfare Strategy — Pelosi House Sets Contempt Vote Against AG Barr for June 11th. Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats are structuring a contempt vote against U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr for next week, June 11th. As part of the current construct, the Lawfare alliance of legal advisers and staff are writing specific language into the vote that will automatically allow more contempt votes against the Trump administration without hearings. Their collective goal is to use a legislative vote to open a civil lawsuit against Bill Barr for his failure to deliver the fully unredacted Mueller report to them. Additionally, the contempt vote will be written so that any other arbitrary Trump administration official can also be held in contempt, without a committee vote, and thereby initiate a civil lawsuit against the executive officer that will have to be defended in court. William Barr vs. Eric Holder: A Tale of Two Attorneys General. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has declared it a "constitutional crisis" that Attorney General William Barr refuses to divulge the small parts of the Mueller report that contain grand-jury material. By a straight party-line vote, the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt of Congress. What did Pelosi think when Barr's predecessor, Eric Holder, refused to divulge documents to a congressional committee and was held in contempt? "Ridiculous!" she said. What did Holder and Obama say? That the House subpoena was a violation of "separation of powers." To partisans, the difference between the cases is obvious. Barr is defending Trump; Holder was Obama's self-proclaimed "wing man." Attorney General William Barr mentions spying, and fear roils the Democrats. The Democrats are fearful, as are some current and former American spymasters, and former FBI chief James Comey, and their handmaidens in journalism who took their leaks and promulgated the story that Trump was a willing and traitorous servant of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. They hoped so desperately that special counsel Robert Mueller's report would vindicate them, that Mueller would find conspiracy to collude with an adversary, that he would bring a case of obstruction of justice against the president. But Mueller did not vindicate them. Mueller was tasked with making a call, to fish or cut bait. He did not fish. He did not cut bait. He made no call that a crime occurred. He just tossed the mess weakly into Congress' lap, something for both sides to jabber about and use as fundraising leverage. Liberal Law Professor Clinically Dismantles Democrats' Contempt Case Against Barr. Left-leaning law professor Jonathan Turley — who has stood out in recent years as a rare legal analyst unwilling to allow his political views to cloud his constitutional judgments — has written an absolutely devastating column addressing House Democrats' efforts to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt of Congress. Anti-Trump partisans have compiled a list of grievances against Barr, many of them specious, but House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler has chosen to focus the contempt charge on the Attorney General's unwillingness to release a tiny redacted fraction of the Mueller report. Turley says this is "the weakest possible contempt claim," warning that pursuing it will damage the House, not the administration. Attorney General Barr's analysis of Mueller's report and testimony on May 1, 2019: This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Mueller investigation aftermath and retrospective: This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. US Attorney John Durham investigates: This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. The Mueller monologue and impeachment infomercial, May 29, 2019: This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Robert Mueller himself This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Mueller testimony, July 24, (originally July 17) 2019: This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Articles written during the Mueller investigation: This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. James Wolfe Senate Intelligence Committee Security Director James Wolfe Sentenced to Two Months Prison time. The sentencing guideline for the single count of lying to federal investigators was: 0 to 6 months. After a rather sketchy plea deal, DOJ Prosecutors had requested an upward revision to two-years incarceration based on the severity of the conduct. James Wolfe: The Liar No One Is Talking About. In a recent court filing, the defendant's attorneys begged for mercy. The offender — once a high-level government official assigned with protecting national security secrets — had pleaded guilty to one charge of making a false statement to the FBI in 2017. Citing his modest upbringing, community involvement, and decorated military service, the defendant's lawyers asked the judge only to impose a sentence of probation rather than jail time. Revisiting the Page FISA Applications & James Wolfe Indictment. In the public version of the Original Page FISA Application there are 37 fully redacted pages (out of 83 total). Several other pages have redactions for all but the header. There are only two pages in the entire document that contain no redactions. Why would Wolfe bother to send 37 pages of complete redactions[?] There are also strong indications that Grassley, and by extension the SSCI, saw unredacted versions of the Page FISA Applications. The Grassley Memo discusses the Page FISA Applications at length and nowhere does Grassley mention any redactions. The Curious Case of James Wolfe
Continues. First, we know from overwhelming circumstantial evidence, conveniently overlooked by media, that one of Wolfe's
specific leaks involved sending his concubine Ali Watkins a copy of the 82-page FISA application used to gain a Title-1 surveillance warrant
against U.S. person Carter Page. Some key things about this leak:
Oh My, This is Either A Sting -OR- The Most Corrupt U.S. Dept of Justice in History. The indictment of former senior senate intelligence committee staffer James Wolfe is filled with information to highlight a much bigger picture. [...] Based on the James Wolfe indictment we know the DOJ was aware of the leaking of the FISA application since at least mid-December 2017. On December 15th, 2017 James Wolfe was busted; the FBI had him dead-to-rights. However, the grand jury proceedings didn't start until May 3rd, 2018; and the indictment was sealed until June 7th, 2018. That means six months passed between busting Wolfe on Dec. 15th, 2017, and indicting Wolfe on June 7th, 2018. Let that sink in. The U.S. Department of Justice has known, with certainty, since December of last year, that the United States Senate Intelligence Committee had leaked the content of a classified FISA application to the media. New leak indictment spells disaster for McCabe. The indictment of James Wolfe, 58, former security director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), has sent shockwaves around Washington. Wolfe faces three counts of violating 18 U.S.C. 1001, for making false statements to criminal investigators, and could easily face serious jail time if convicted. After a year of leaks cascading down Capitol Hill, Wolfe is a cautionary tale for many members, staffers and journalists. Yet, one person should be especially discomforted by the indictment: former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. The Wolfe indictment shows the Justice Department has been actively pursuing leaks out of Congress. Given the lack of prior action, members and staffers may have become emboldened over time, but it now appears the Trump administration has been quietly tracking down the source of some news articles. Wolfe was an obvious concern for any allegations of leaks, given his work at the SSCI for three decades, from 1987 to 2017. DOJ Inadvertently Highlights SSCI Corruption in Responsive Filing Toward Wolfe Sentencing Memo. If you have followed the case against SSCI Security Director James Wolfe you will note the original indictment against him outlined, obliquely, how Wolfe took custody of the Carter Page FISA application and then leaked it to his concubine at Buzzfeed Ms. Ali Watkins. The leak of the FISA application was a rather explosive issue not readily identified when Wolfe's indictment was first presented (June '18). It was only possible to connect the dots after the FISA application was released (July '18) and a comparison on specific dates, times, contacts and chain-of-custody, was possible. Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and their conveniently "lost" text messages This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. Peter Strzok's public testimony, July 12, 2018 This subsection has moved to a page of its own, located here. The FBI seems to avoid any evidence against Hillary Clinton: Time To Fight Dirty. [Scroll down] And when I say we need to fight dirty, let me clarify what I am not saying. I am not saying that we should persecute innocent people, like the Left does. I am saying that we need to go full-throttle, no-holds-barred lawfare against those who do break the law and smugly get away with it. [Advertisement] After Trump derailed Hillary's 2016 coronation he, in the spirit of naïve bipartisanship, decided not to direct the Justice Department to pursue any charges against her for her gross mishandling of classified materials. The Deep State returned the favor by raiding his private home and charging him for the same crime that FBI Director James Comey wouldn't charge Hillary with. Hillary got away with it. Docs Reveal FBI Questioned Obama DOJ in Hillary Email Probe. A presidential candidate faces an FBI probe surrounding alleged mishandling of classified information, amid questions about the independence of the Justice Department. Meanwhile, the candidate's supporters allege political interference and demand that the chief investigator be investigated. Such was the case in the closing days of the 2016 presidential election. Democrats and other supporters of Hillary Clinton complained that then-FBI Director James Comey violated the law in notifying Congress that he had restarted an investigation of Clinton's use of a private, unsecure email server while she was secretary of state. Meanwhile, FBI officials questioned the independence of then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and considered asking for a special counsel to investigate Clinton's private email server, according to a heavily redacted transcript of an interview with a top FBI career official. The Party That Cried Wolf. Desperate to take the focus off the FBI's investigation into her use of a private server during her tenure as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and her sycophants strangled reality beyond all recognition to build the case that then-candidate Donald Trump was an agent of Russia. Although Clinton lost the 2016 election, their efforts mired Trump's campaign and then his nascent presidency in scandal for three years. And to this day, no one has been held responsible for what, up until then, had been the dirtiest political trick in modern memory. Biden's crime family is all of DC. There is no way Joe will be impeached or Hunter will do any jail time because if they go down, all of Washington will go with them. Washington protects its own because they fear if one goes to jail, he will bring them all down. Hillary said she would bring DC down with her. Guess what? She never was indicted even though she forwarded state secrets via email to foreign donors to her fake charity when she was secretary of state. Jim Comey, then FBI director, even admitted publicly that he had the evidence but would not recommend prosecution. He said, "Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. Prosecutors necessarily weigh a number of factors before bringing charges. There are obvious considerations, like the strength of the evidence, especially regarding intent. Responsible decisions also consider the context of a person's actions, and how similar situations have been handled in the past." Comey made it clear that the fix was in by warning others not to try the same thing. They are rubbing our noses in their filth. A day after the 240th anniversary of the birth of America, Jimmy Comey — Obama's FBI director — announced that even though she sent 33,000 emails to a Chinese email account, Missus Clinton would not be prosecuted. They had her dead to rights — and Comey let her live. He told the press, "Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. [...]" Shorter Comey: She did it and we don't care. The fix was in and they were blatant about it with Bill Clinton openly meeting with Comey's boss — AG Loretta Lynch — on the tarmac at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix in 110-degree heat. They wanted the world to see that the fix was in. Latest Trump Indictment Proves Deep State Is Trying To Rig Yet Another Election. In 2016, despite possessing no evidence of collusion from the beginning, the FBI latched onto a thinly-veiled narrative hatched by Clinton campaign operatives to screw over the ruling class's political opponent. Instead, top Crossfire Hurricane players capitalized on their "open disdain for Trump," "asserted that they would prevent Trump from becoming President," and leaked information from the discredited Steele dossier to the corrupt corporate media. It was around that same time that then-FBI Director James Comey declined to charge Hillary Clinton, whose campaign affiliates started and sold the Russiagate lie to willing participants like federal agencies, for knowingly rerouting classified information to her private email server. Despite the deep state's interference in the 2016 presidential race, Trump won the White House. His victory was a legitimate one backed by at least half the nation but that didn't stop Democrats from officially objecting to his certification, as they have done to every Republican president this century. Trump [was] indicted, not Hillary, Hunter or Milley. The FBI is best at covering up crimes. Consider Hillary sending state secrets while secretary of state via email to foreign governments and others who paid the troll via donations to her fake charity. Remember the words of Jimmy the Weasel Comey, who said, "From the group of 30,000 e-mails returned to the State Department, 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. Eight of those chains contained information that was Top Secret at the time they were sent; 36 chains contained Secret information at the time; and eight contained Confidential information, which is the lowest level of classification. Separate from those, about 2,000 additional e-mails were 'up-classified' to make them Confidential; the information in those had not been classified at the time the e-mails were sent." She committed at least 110 felonies by e-mailing classified information. Comey admitted it. And yet as head of the FBI in 2016, he recommended against prosecuting her. The FBI Didn't Persecute Hillary. It Protected Her. For the last seven years, conventional wisdom has told us a singular story about the FBI and Hillary Clinton. That story had a clear headline: the FBI was out to get her. [...] If the Durham report shows anything, it is that the FBI leadership bent over backward to protect Clinton's campaign while launching a full investigation into Trump's campaign on the thinnest of pretexts. In other words, the FBI was not really the Clinton campaign's persecutor, as so many insisted over the past few years, as much as its protector. "The speed and manner in which the FBI opened and investigated Crossfire Hurricane during the presidential election season based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence," the Durham report observes, referring to the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign, "reflected a noticeable departure from how it approached prior matters involving possible attempted foreign election interference plans aimed at the Clinton campaign." FBI dropped 4 probes into Hillary Clinton, family's non-profit ahead of 2016 election: Durham report. The FBI had at least four open criminal investigations into Hillary and Bill Clinton that were suddenly dropped in the months before the 2016 presidential election, special counsel John Durham's recently released report shows. The bombshell report released by Durham — which concluded that the bureau's probe into former President Donald Trump's alleged collusion with Russia was "seriously flawed" — also shed light on the quashed probes. The feds had been looking into claims that foreign countries and other individuals were trying to influence the Clintons through donations to their namesake non-profit and Hillary's presidential campaign. Three of the FBI's four investigations that were launched in early 2016 were looking into allegations that the Clinton Foundation has a hub of "criminal activity." Durham Report Reveals FBI Shut Down Four Criminal Investigations into the Clintons. Special Counsel John Durham's highly-anticipated report on the origins of the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016 revealed that top leaders at the Bureau shut down four criminal investigations into Hillary and Bill Clinton. In 2014, the FBI investigated a "well-placed" confidential source's claims that an unnamed foreign government intended to "contribute to Hillary Clinton's anticipated presidential campaign, as a way to gain influence with Clinton should she win the presidency," the report said. The field office investigating these claims "almost immediately" sought a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant, but it remained "in limbo" for approximately four months, primarily due to Clinton's then-expected presidential campaign. 'Betrayal': FBI Agents Working On Russia Probe Say Leaders Concealed Intelligence On Hillary's Role. The FBI's Operation Crossfire Hurricane was tasked with investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 election, yet a major memo sent from the CIA to lead agent Peter Strzok outlining U.S. intelligence that Hillary Clinton may have hatched a plan to frame Donald Trump — which stood to dramatically alter the investigation — simply went missing, according to the blockbuster report from Special Counsel John Durham. "In late July 2016, U.S. intelligence agencies obtained insight into Russian intelligence analysis alleging that U.S Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal against U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the Russians' hacking of the Democratic National Committee," the report said. FBI Ignored Alleged Clinton Campaign Election Meddling Plan After CIA Briefed Obama And Biden, Durham Report Says. The FBI didn't open any inquiry into an alleged Hillary Clinton campaign election interference plan even after the CIA director briefed then-president Barack Obama and other senior administration officials, Special Counsel John Durham's report noted. The FBI received Russian intelligence analysis in July 2016 alleging that Clinton's campaign cooked up a scheme to divert attention away from "her use of a private email server," the Durham report stated. The alleged scheme, dubbed the "Clinton Plan," showed that the Clinton campaign "had approved a campaign plan to stir up a scandal" against Trump "by tying him to Putin and the Russians' hacking of the Democratic National Committee," the Durham report reads. Government Tyrants Play with Fire. If Bill and Hillary Clinton had ever been properly charged for their decades-long crime spree involving perjury, rape, investment swindling, real estate scams, stolen White House furniture, Chinese bribery, campaign finance violations, family foundation fraud, mishandling of classified secrets, conspiracy to defraud the United States with the Russia hoax, Epstein-linked prostitution and child-trafficking, or their uncanny proclivity for leaving a trail of dead associates in their wake, their rap sheets would stretch from here to the moon. It's now very clear FBI leaders went 'crazy' to protect Hillary Clinton, Hunter Biden. [Quoting Newt Gingrich:] I don't know what will happen in a jury trial like that, but I think it's very clear from the evidence that's been unearthed that the FBI at the very top had gone crazy. They were doing things that I mean, how can you go out and actively try to undermine the President of the United States the way they did? Just as they went out to protect Hillary Clinton and they've gone out to protect Hunter Biden. This is the most corrupt FBI leadership in American history. And there's going to have to be a commission or something to look at it, and potentially it's going to have to be broken up into two or three different agencies. This is really serious stuff because these guys have the power to put you in jail. So it's not politics. This is the criminal justice system and it was clearly perverted by the last two FBI directors. Remember When Hillary Destroyed Subpoenaed Docs and the Feds Gave Her a Pass? So Do We. Hillary Clinton and her team of Perkins Coie, Michael Sussman, Robby Mook, current National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Marc Elias, her media hitmen at Fusion GPS, buddies at Brookings, willing reporters, and many others, worked with actual Russians to come up with the Russian collusion hoax against Trump while he was a candidate and sitting president. The FBI, CIA, and Obama Administration were all in on it. They lied to the FISA court to get warrants to spy on him. You know that story. But now, the same people at the highest reaches of the FBI and DOJ and other bureaucratic insiders are going after Donald Trump again to get copies of documents he says he has every right to possess. They claim he's obstructing justice because the former president isn't giving up his copies of documents they don't want him to have. Among the ones they want to get their hands on, insiders say, are Russian collusion operation documents. When does prosecutorial discretion become a bill of attainder? [T]he decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her using a private, personal server through which sensitive and official diplomatic and national security correspondence traversed; instead of appointing a special prosecutor as she should have done, Attorney General Loretta Lynch deferred the decision to prosecute to then-FBI director James Comey, which is an unprecedented act. In 21 years as a special agent, I never had any prosecutor defer a decision to prosecute to me or any other investigator. That is a responsibility, the biggest responsibility, perhaps, that a prosecutor must exercise. To make matters even worse, she pushed the responsibility and the decision on prosecution off on Comey, who could have been in the position of recommending prosecution for crimes on Hillary Clinton, who, if she had been elected, would have had Comey at her mercy, job-wise. Obviously, Comey was not an impartial actor in that process. Get the picture? Republicans get prosecuted; Democrats do not. Think the FBI Deserves the Benefit of the Doubt? The FBI repeatedly told journalists there was no evidence that a foreign power had reviewed Clinton's emails that she improperly handled on a private server. According to an inspector general report in 2018, however, texts show they almost certainly did, "at least one of them classified," as Federalist Senior Editor David Harsanyi wrote. "It is more accurate to say," read a text from Strzok, "that we know foreign actors obtained access to some of her emails (including at least one Secret one) via compromises of the private email accounts of some of her staffers." The FBI Is Now the Federal Bureau of Intimidation. Face it, nothing the FBI has said for the last six years since they joined with the Democratic Party to invent the Russia collusion hoax can be taken seriously. Is there any need to go through the whole laundry list of lies and fabrications that the FBI, with the aid and comfort of the Justice Department, has foisted on the American public? You can start with the extraordinary 2016 press conference when FBI Director James Comey detailed crimes committed by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton related to her improper use of a private email account to store classified material. Moments after saying she had broken the law, Comey announced with a straight face that "no reasonable prosecutor" would ever bring a case against her. Yeah, because she was a Democrat! The DoJ's Brazen Corruption. In the lead-up to the 2016 election, everyone thought that [Justice] department prosecutors would decide whether to charge Hillary Clinton based on whether she knowingly violated a criminal statute prohibiting mishandling of classified material. It turned out that then-FBI Director James Comey would decide on the basis of what he thought was "reasonable." After letting Clinton off, the tube man flailed right and Comey, breaking procedure against commenting on a pending investigation, announced that the Clinton probe was back on. From then, the Justice Department only got worse. Comey told the country that one reason not to charge Clinton was that the department had never before charged someone for conduct similar to hers. Yet after Comey, the department went on to spend years investigating the then-sitting President not only for conduct never before charged but for crimes no one even knew were crimes — like bad tweeting. More proof that corrupt special counsel Robert Mueller was working to protect Hillary Clinton. [A]fter 18 months and tens of millions of dollars — and several indictments of TrumpWorld figures that had nothing to do with Mueller's original mandate of 'find Trump-Russia collusion' — the special counsel, struggling with his own mental health issues like Joe Biden is now, told Congress essentially, "No, we did not find any link." Just last week, another bombshell from that era dropped: Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, testified in a trial involving a Clinton campaign lawyer, Michael Sussmann, that Hillary personally signed off on leaking the lie that the Trump Organization was connected to a Kremlin-backed financial institution, Alfa Bank, via a 'secret back channel.' In other words, Mook testified that not only was the claim a lie, but a lie known by Clinton, who authorized it to be leaked to the media — reports that eventually led to an FBI probe as well (even though James Comey's bureau also knew that the claim was [false]). But wouldn't Robert Mueller's team, led by attack dog Andrew Wiessman, have found all of this out during their probe? No, they didn't. And why? Because they never interviewed Mook. 'Typo' concealed Clinton lawyer's connection to Trump-Russia allegations, FBI agent testifies. An FBI agent testified in court Tuesday that a "typo" in an email led investigators in 2016 to believe that false allegations linking former President Trump to Russia's Alfa Bank originated with the Department of Justice, when in fact they came from Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann. FBI Agent Curtis Heide, who along with agent Allison Sands authored the internal communication, said the inaccuracy, sent out just weeks before the 2016 election, was simply a mistake. "We may have conflated the Office of the General Counsel and the Justice Department," Mr. Heide said on the witness stand. "I don't know how that information got in there." Durham Drops Another Bombshell, Reveals FBI Lied About Hillary Clinton-Supplied Disinformation. The trial of Michael Sussmann began another week on Monday [5/23/2022], with more witnesses being called as Special Counsel John Durham continues to build his case against the former Hillary Clinton lawyer. Sussmann is charged with lying to the FBI, something he allegedly did when he hid who he was working for while sharing the now-debunked Alfa-Bank story. That disinformation campaign, which was meant to falsely assert Donald Trump was colluding with the Russians during the 2016 election, has now been directly tied to Hillary Clinton during the trial after it was revealed that she approved its dissemination. But apparently, Sussmann and Hillary Clinton by proxy weren't the only ones lying. According to documents presented by Durham, the FBI lied about the Alfa Bank smear's provenance, telling agents it had come from the DOJ. In reality, Sussmann had brought it directly to the FBI, with the leadership being aware of its origins as badly done political opposition research. Professor Turley Says Hillary Will Avoid Responsibility in Durham Probe. George Washington University law professor and self-proclaimed liberal Jonathan Turley said Friday on Fox News' "Special Report" that Hillary Clinton will probably avoid "direct responsibility" in the Durham probe because of her "Voldemort-like status." Apropos of nothing, but since we're busy comparing public figures to Harry Potter characters, I would like to point out that our short-lived disinformation czar Nina Jankowicz can be compared to similarly temporary-tenured Hogwarts Headmistress Dolores Umbridge. Just sayin'. But back to the story at hand. Appearing with host Bret Baier on "Special Report," Turley predicted Clinton would escape consequences like she always seems to. How FBI bigwig aided and abetted Hillary Clinton plot. Who needs to spend millions on television commercials or Facebook ads if you've got friends in the FBI who can pull off a political dirty trick for you? Just look how cozy Hillary Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann and FBI general counsel James A. Baker are in text messages revealed in Thursday's testimony at Sussmann's trial. Can you meet tomorrow, Sussmann asks the high-ranking government official. "OK, I will find a time," Baker answers. Does he need help getting into the building? No, Sussmann answers, I have a badge to get into the Federal Bureau of Investigation. How convenient. It was during this meeting that Sussmann peddled the false story that Donald Trump was secretly communicating with a Russian bank. The DOJ is a swamp. [Thread reader] Under Obama, the DOJ was fundamentally pushed to the left by Attorney General Eric Holder and then by his successor, Loretta Lynch. Sally Yates rounded out the Obama appointed DOJ leadership. Holder came up w/process for doling out settlements from the financial crisis to activist groups. Holder presided over unlawful investigation of certain members of media. Under Holder's control, DOJ secretly obtained two months of telephone records of AP reporters & editors. DOJ also monitored the personal email and phone of Fox News reporter James Rosen. And it was Holder who refused to prosecute anyone in the IRS targeting of 426 conservative groups during the Obama Administration. The FBI found Hillary Clinton guilty of essentially every act they investigated. Despite these findings, Comey cleared Clinton by making a statement that "no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case". This allowed Loretta Lynch at DOJ to announce the matter closed. The FBI's Broken Relationship with Us. All large organizations suffer from the occasional presence of bad actors. The FBI is no exception. But it managed to retain a good relationship with the public in spite of its flaws, because it was still solving rather than creating crimes. But something fundamentally changed in the last five years. [...] The "Midyear Exam," the bureau's name for the Hillary Clinton email investigation, was a farce. No subpoenas were issued, central figures were given immunity without cooperation, evidence was destroyed by the FBI, and then the attorney general had a clandestine meeting with "Slick Willy" Clinton — the husband of the target. Surprise: No charges were filed. "The Cardinal" Comey held a press conference and announced that even though Hillary had broken numerous laws, she didn't mean it, so he was giving her a pass. It must have been an accident that an email server, containing classified documents, appeared in her bathroom — with a support staff. How Did the FBI End Up in This Mess? [Scroll down] James Comey was also a product of the prosecutorial side of the DoJ. Like Mueller before him, he was a U.S. Attorney and Deputy Attorney General. James Comey is a man of unquestionable integrity — according to James Comey. In fact, peers and subordinates gave him the nickname "The Cardinal" due to his sanctimonious self-regard. Director Comey decided to run the Clinton email investigation out of FBI headquarters, rather than a field office so that it could be overseen by such giants of virtue as Peter Strzok and himself. Under Comey's guidance, it was a unique investigation. No grand jury was used, no subpoenas were served, key witnesses were given immunity, and the investigators themselves destroyed the evidence. Comey then went on national television and laid out how all of the elements of a felony had been committed by Madame Secretary "Dirty Tricks." But then surprise, surprise — no indictment would be sought because Hillary really didn't mean it. It turns out that "The Cardinal" is not only a paragon of virtue, he's also a mind reader. With that broadcast, Comey unveiled the partisan FBI for all of the world to see. Corruption had officially arrived at the FBI, and "The Cardinal" wasn't even hiding it. But Comey didn't stop with his election interference by simply giving Hillary a pass. He also began painting an image of criminal behavior by the Trump campaign. If the FBI Knew Danchenko Was Lying From the Start — And They Did — Why Didn't The Mueller SCO Charge Him? When you are a federal prosecutor and you are not actually interested in pursuing a particular case, but you want to go through the motions to make it look good, you do things like not seizing computers, allowing defense counsel to decide what documents investigators should receive, allow lawyers who are witnesses to possible criminal activity to serve as defense counsel for targets so they can sit in and listen to interviews, hand out immunity to whoever asks without having a clear view of their culpability .... Wait — that was the Hillary email investigation. Danchenko and Crossfire Hurricane are different. Aren't they? With the indictment of Igor Danchenko this past week, the answer to that question is becoming less and less clear. While the two investigations were, technically speaking, separate from one another, a similar coterie of DOJ and FBI officials seemed to want their "Igor Problem" to slip beneath the waves and disappear in the same way the "Hillary's Email" problem was made to slip beneath the waves and disappear. The tactic is to use decision-making implicitly designed to not produce a prosecutable case, ignore or excuse evidence of criminal culpability, and point to a bright shiny object of supposedly greater significance to be concerned with. The Sussmann and Danchenko Indictments By John Durham Show The Mueller Investigation Was Always A Charade. Let's reset the scene in May 2017 when Mueller was appointed. Both the House and Senate were in control of the GOP, each with subpoena power for purposes of oversight of DOJ and the FBI. President Trump had fired James Comey as Director of the FBI. Nothwithstanding the persistent chorus of the media that he did so to stop the Russia investigation, the FACT is that he told Lester Holt of NBC News that he did so because Comey was not going fast enough in conducting the investigation and he had lost faith in Comey. While their reasons were different, the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General had both recommended Comey's firing as well. Comey's reputation among the Special Agent workforce cratered after he took it upon himself to exonerate Hillary Clinton in connection with her handling of classified information. FBI Agents knew that if an agent had handled classified information in the same fashion, he/she would be prosecuted for doing so. FBI Agents investigate and are involved in prosecutions of other government employees who did less than Hillary Clinton did. Anyone who tells you that Comey was "popular" inside the FBI after that decision doesn't know what they are talking about. He was not "of" the Bureau. He was a career DOJ prosecutor — he was an "outsider" in the Bureau's culture. What Happens When We Find Justice Isn't Blind? Premised upon the risible Steele dossier and other bogus documents and government leaks crafted to abet Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, Democrats responded to her defeat by concocting a conspiracy that Donald Trump had colluded with Russian authoritarian Vladimir Putin to steal the 2016 election. Equally inane and insane, this leftist temper tantrum has been going on five years and counting — an unhinged attempt to destroy the legitimacy of the 2016 election and, thus, the presidency of Donald Trump. In league with and abetted by their co-conspiring leftist media supplicants and sycophants, the Democrats subversively weaponized the police and surveillance powers of the state to promote the Russiagate collusion lie. Each day, the dinosaur and social media were riven by new "bombshell" allegations, each more outlandish and, ultimately, erroneous than the last. A special counsel and his Clinton supporting crew were appointed to get to the bottom of a crime that was devised as a campaign smear by ... the Clinton campaign. Jim Comey Ignored Department Whistleblower on Hillary's Crimes With Classified Material. One year before Jim Comey was immersed in his plot to overthrow Donald Trump, the duly elected President of the United States, a brave Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State came forward with firsthand information of Hillary Clinton's rampant abuse of Classified material. The man, a senior State Department diplomat who had served as the acting Ambassador (Chargé d'Affaires) in the Asia Pacific region under President Clinton, also was a veteran of the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. The letter from this whistleblower is stunning and I am going to present it in total. It is dated 10 January 2016. [...] The Deep State Wins if Trump Loses. In his 2017 inauguration speech, President Trump shocked the world by promising to take on the Washington, D.C. establishment — aka "The Swamp" — and thereby return power to the people. The Swamp denizens seated in the main dais behind Trump that day, Republican and Democrat alike, were not pleased, to put it mildly. [...] We saw Holy James Comey, the disgraced former head of the FBI, totally tank two investigations into Hillary Clinton, one looking into Clinton Foundation money-laundering and the other scrutinizing Hillary's illegal secret server. All you have to know about Comey, other than he's as dirty as he is tall, is that he penned Crooked Hillary's exoneration letter months before the supposed investigation ended, months before he even interviewed Clinton. Sidney Powell's Speech From March Is Now Making Waves as New Reports Indicate Clinton Foundation Is Under a Criminal Investigation. A speech by Sidney Powell back in November is now given more attention with word that the Clinton Foundation is now under a criminal investigation. In her speech in March, Powell shared the following: ["]The Anthony Weiner laptop, which I don't know if you heard this. I wrote an article about that too. 675,000 Clinton emails when they got Anthony Weiner's laptop in a search warrant because of all his sex perversion issues. It was all the Clinton emails, the Clinton Foundation, her Secretary of State emails, Huma Abedin emails, lots of people emailed Huma as a proxy for Hillary, and it included what Comey called... the golden emails, because they were the blackberry backup emails. That they were supposedly just looking for very diligently, well guess what they did when they found them on the Weiner laptop? They got a search warrant for things that didn't include the blackberry backup emails. So when they told us, when he stood there and said that day, oh we've reviewed all the emails now, there is nothing there. That was a bald face lie."["] Why should anyone believe James Comey? [Scroll down] The portrait is in October Surprise, a new book by Washington Post reporter Devlin Barrett. The book focuses on the period in late October 2016, when the FBI was deep into the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and Comey decided, 11 days before the presidential election, to inform Congress, and thus the world, that the FBI had reopened the Hillary Clinton email investigation. The reopening, which ultimately came to nothing, outraged Democrats and Comey's colleagues in the Obama Justice Department. The Clinton email decision, as I describe in my own book, Obsession: Inside the Washington Establishment's Never-Ending War on Trump, spurred some of President-elect Trump's closest advisers, including Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie, and Jeff Sessions, to urge him to fire Comey immediately upon taking office. The advisers were not offended on behalf of Hillary Clinton. Instead, they believed the episode showed that Comey was so erratic, headstrong, and self-righteous that he would surely cause trouble in a Trump administration. Trump did not take their advice, to his regret. Report: Durham Investigating Main Justice Resistors Blocking FBI Subpoenas in 2016, RE: Clinton Investigation. Two media reports today [9/24/2020] point toward an aspect CTH had noticed happening in the background of the Durham/Aldenberg investigation. The Washington Examiner and New York Times are writing about Durham investigating 2016 efforts from Main Justice DOJ to block FBI efforts to investigate the Clinton Foundation. The interesting part is what the media ignore [...] FBI Agent Who Discovered Hillary's Emails On Weiner Laptop Claims He Was Told To Erase Computer. FBI agent John Robertson, the man who found Hillary Clinton's emails on the laptop of Anthony Weiner, claims he was advised by bosses to erase his own computer. Former FBI Director James Comey, you may recall, announced days before the 2016 presidential election that he had "learned of the existence" of the emails on Weiner's laptop. Weiner is the disgraced husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Robertson alleges that the manner in which his higher-ups in the FBI handled the case was "not ethically or morally right." Book: FBI Agent on Sex Crimes Unit Found Hillary Clinton Emails. An FBI agent investigating child pornography on former Rep. Anthony Weiner's computer first stumbled on hundreds of thousands of emails, many of which were to and from Hillary Clinton, ahead of the 2016 election, a new book reveals. The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett wrote "October Surprise: How the FBI Tried to Save Itself and Crashed an Election," in which he provides an inside look at what happened in the weeks before the 2016 election — and how the discovery of the Clinton emails threw a wrench into the electoral process. Special Agent John Robertson was investigating allegations that Weiner sent sexually explicit material to a 15-year-old girl when he stumbled on 600,000 emails from an account belonging to Weiner's then-wife Huma Abedin, Clinton's top aide, sitting on Weiner's laptop. Many of the emails were either to or from the private email address of Clinton, who served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. New details emerge about FBI delay on Weiner laptop in 2016. New details have emerged about 2016's "October Surprise," during which the FBI found emails belonging to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on disgraced New York Rep. Anthony Weiner's laptop, with the FBI official who found the emails speaking out for the first time. FBI agent John Robertson, who worked in its New York office's child sex crimes unit and was later cited (though not named) in Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's 2018 report on the handling of the investigation of Clinton's unauthorized private email server, spoke with the Washington Post's Devlin Barrett for his upcoming book, October Surprise: How the FBI Tried to Save Itself and Crashed an Election. Robertson unearthed tens of thousands of Clinton emails in late September 2016 on the laptop belonging to Weiner, the husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, in a sex crimes case involving underage girls, but for weeks after being alerted, top FBI leaders [...] took little to no action to investigate. FBI agent who found Hillary Clinton's emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop calls agency's handling of case 'immoral'. An FBI agent who found the messages that led to the Hillary Clinton email investigation being reopened days before the 2016 election said the way the bureau handled the case was 'not ethically or morally right'. John Robertson feared he would be made a 'scapegoat' when he found the new emails less than two months before voting day, in the wake of DailyMail.com's revelation that Anthony Weiner, whose wife Huma Abedin was Clinton's top aide, was sexting an underage girl. Robertson watched nervously as the bureau did nothing for a month until he went outside the chain of command and spoke with the US Attorney's office overseeing the case. FBI Agents Pushed For A FISA To Investigate Foreign Government Targeting Hillary Clinton. FBI agents in 2015 sought authorization to surveil foreign government operatives who sought to influence Hillary Clinton, but ultimately settled for a defensive briefing given to lawyers for the Democratic presidential candidate, according to documents released on Sunday [8/23/2020]. One FBI agent involved in the investigation asked then-FBI Director James Comey in an April 2015 email for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant, according to the documents, published by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham. A FISA order was not granted in the investigation. Instead, an FBI special agent provided a defensive briefing to Clinton's personal lawyers in October 2015. Graham, a Republican, said that the documents are evidence of a double standard in how the FBI conducted investigations of foreign meddling regarding the Clinton and Trump campaigns. Former top FBI lawyer worried Hillary Clinton would be indicted after winning election. The FBI's top lawyer was torn over what to do when FBI Director James Comey asked in 2016 whether he should inform Congress that the bureau was reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. FBI General Counsel James Baker had been told that FBI agents discovered between 600,000 and 1 million emails on disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner's laptop relating to Clinton. The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee's top aide, Huma Abedin, was married to Weiner, who was being investigated for sending illicit texts to an underage girl. Baker, who left the FBI in May 2018, told author David Rohde that he felt like the "fates had thrown him a hundred-mile-an-hour fastball." DOJ Blocks FBI Investigation of Clinton's Swindle of Bill Gates Charity Cash. When FBI agents working the Clinton Foundation investigation developed intelligence that tech pioneer and philanthropist Bill Gates was beyond angry at Bill and Hillary Clinton for duping his charitable foundation out of as much as $200 million, FBI brass wanted to arrange a sit down with the Microsoft mogul. Gates, after all, is the second wealthiest man in the United States, running a close second behind Amazon king Jeff Bezos. That is the kind of fact witness FBI agents dream about. Would Gates flip on the Clinton's and spill the beans on the millions he forked over to their sham foundation? Bad blood between Gates and the Clinton's would certainly help fortify a criminal case against the Clinton Foundation. But as Thomas Paine revealed on his Moore Paine Show on Patreon Tuesday night [2/25/2020] as well as the Thomas Paine Podcast on Wednesday — FBI agents never got the chance to pick Gates' brain. The Justice Department blocked access to Mr. Gates. 5 Times Barack Obama Protected His Allies from Justice and Democrats Didn't Care. [#1] Hillary Clinton: It was not all that long ago that Hillary Clinton was the heir-apparent to Barack Obama, and Obama wasn't going to let her criminal behavior get in the way of her winning the election and keeping his legacy intact. Thanks to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey, Hillary was never going to be punished for her illegal private server and mishandling of classified and top-secret information that would have seen anyone else indicted. In fact, FBI Director James Comey had drafted her exoneration letter before Hillary had even been interviewed by the FBI. Obama Interposed His Opinion in Hillary Clinton Case While Investigation Was Ongoing, But Dems Said Nothing. For starters, is there anyone that thinks that Roger Stone would have been prosecuted at all but for the vendetta to hang convictions on folks next to Trump? Did he get a raw deal with the recommendation of 7-9 years for a first offense which was non-violent? It sure sounds like it, as Trey Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, has noted. Trump was making a comment on a proposed recommendation, that he thought it was excessive. He doesn't have power over the ultimate sentence nor does the DOJ. Let's go back and look at what Barack Obama said and did during the investigation into Hillary Clinton. He actually interposed himself, basically declaring her innocent while the investigation was still ongoing. The Democrat Data App. [Scroll down] When ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — Democrat presidential candidate in 2016 — violated many laws by mishandling sensitive data, the head of the FBI himself, James Comey, acted more like a pope than an agent of the law, publicly granting her a papal indulgence reserved for high-ranking Democrats. Her crimes were annulled. Her little mistake was erased, aborted. It was just careless, not deliberate, said Pope James. It did not matter that "she should have known better," because, after all, clearly, she had to know better. Clinton was an experienced official and an experienced lawyer. Clinton herself had claimed she was the most experienced candidate running in 2016 and in 2008. She knew the letter and spirit of the law. It also did not matter that she and her staff clearly acted with full deliberation, destroying evidence of her guilt — her phones and her email server. They were given immunity by Comey, America's tallest undertaker, who rubbed his hands unctuously as he buried the case. FBI Investigators Say McCabe Apologized for Lying about Clinton-Probe Leak. FBI investigators claim former deputy director Andrew McCabe admitted to misleading them about his involvement in a media leak and subsequently apologized for the lie, according to newly released transcripts of McCabe's interviews with investigators. The transcripts, released by the Department of Justice Inspector General's office (OIG) — which found McCabe "lacked candor" with investigators in a scathing February 2018 report — detail how McCabe spun a false narrative that he was not responsible for leaking the information cited in a October 2016 Wall Street Journal article that detailed a new probe into Hillary Clinton's email use. Connection revealed between FBI and lawyer working for Hillary Clinton. Recently the conservative organization Judicial Watch revealed the contents of several emails from former FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok, and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who would have had preferential treatment with the lawyer representing former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's collaborators. As the conservative BizPac Review website indicates, Beth Wilkinson, Clinton's lawyer met with top FBI officials and even received privileged treatment in which she was warned about media coverage and given the opportunity to participate in "discreet" meetings. The Madness of Progressive Projection. Who made the decision to quash the investigation of Hillary Clinton after she destroyed over 30,000 emails under subpoena? Who excused Obama officials after they knowingly misled federal FISA court justices? Who leaked information about a surveilled phone call between Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador? Who decided that it was acceptable for Samantha Power to request over 260 times the unmasking of names of American citizens swept up in government surveillance, many of which were illegally leaked to the press and most of which Power denied requesting and alleged others had used her name to do so? Somewhere, somehow there was a great deal of obstruction and distortion of justice that so far has prevented the pursuit of these criminal acts. Trump-Russia and Clinton-Libya: A Story of 2 Probes and the FBI. Records recently posted online by the FBI indicate that it did little to investigate allegations from private sources connected to Republicans about a scheme in which associates of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tried to exploit their connection to her to profit from the turmoil in Libya in 2011. The FBI received the documents in June 2016, around the same time it launched an exhaustive, three-year investigation of the Trump campaign's ties to Russia based, in part, on information from private sources connected to Democrats that in the main would prove to be false — the Steele dossier. The bureau's different responses to these documents also came during the same period when FBI Director James B. Comey controversially cleared Clinton, in his first of two exonerations, of criminal wrongdoing in the bureau's probe of her unauthorized and insecure email setup. Where is Huma Abedin's Laptop? An August 2018 release from the FBI Vault on the Hillary Clinton email investigation revealed the Anthony Weiner/Huma Abedin laptop containing Clinton emails (350,000) and Blackberry communications (344,000) was never reviewed for intrusion prior to the 2016 election. Does anyone at the DOJ/FBI even care about this issue any longer? Trump can change history by declassifying three Obama-era documents. [Scroll down] The final Obama-era tranche that requires declassification concerns Hillary Clinton's email controversy — a highly classified set of documents that FBI agents identified as important and necessary in the investigation into whether she violated the law by transmitting classified emails on her unsecured private server. As I wrote last week, the agents never got to review those documents in 2016 before then-FBI Director James Comey unilaterally decided not to seek criminal charges against Mrs. Clinton. The Justice Department's internal watchdog in 2018 provided Congress a classified annex explaining how the FBI intended to examine that secret evidence, but never did. Sources who have seen the annex say it contains explosive revelations about what really happened with Clinton's emails and the national security concerns that her conduct raised. Comey FBI Willfully Ignored "Highly Classified" Hillary Clinton Emails; Barr Radio Silent. President Obama's FBI, ran by disgraced former director James Comey, knew about - but purposefully ignored - "highly classified" evidence in the Hillary Clinton email investigation before they downgraded their initial assessment of her crime from a felony to a "grossly negligent" mistake. As The Hill's John Solomon reports, a Senate staff memo updating an ongoing inquiry by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) reveals that the FBI decided to back off their pursuit of this damning evidence "even though the agents believed access to the sensitive evidence was "necessary" to complete the investigation," writes Solomon. The road not taken: Another FBI failure involving the Clintons surfaces. August in Washington can be the political equivalent of an elephant graveyard: One good rain can wash away the dirt and expose the bones of scandals past. And this August did not disappoint. Thanks to the relentless investigative work of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), we are learning that the Hillary Clinton email case may not really be settled. A staff memo updating the two senators' long-running probe discloses that the FBI — the version run in 2016 by the now-disgraced and fired James Comey, Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok — failed to pursue access to "highly classified" evidence that could have resolved important questions. Clinton's Deliberate, Felonious Actions Harmed National Security. Earlier today, my good friend and colleague, Bonchie, penned an excellent article about the latest twist in the Clinton e-mail saga, one that demonstrated just how dangerous her actions were to National Security. Please go have a look. Because of his timely article, I thought I might once again review just how corrupt the FBI was, especially former Director Comey, when he "cleared" Secretary Clinton of any criminal wrongdoing. Comey's excuse? Secretary Clinton had no intent to violate the law. Despite the fact that the applicable statute regarding the handling of classified information doesn't require intent, the explainer below will show that there was indeed such intent and a number of people should be doing hard time. Let me be clear at the outset; somebody committed a felony, likely several. New Evidence Unveils Disturbing Facts About Hillary's Email Scandal. Clinton kept classified emails on a private server in violation of Federal law, and the immunity agreements reveal that both Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson were actively involved in the cover-up of these emails as well as in the destruction of evidence. [...] The agreements issued were with DOJ and the FBI. They asserted that Mills and Samuelson would turn over the computers to them, but stipulated that they weren't turning over "custody and control". This critical point is a legal and factual bunch of bunk. [...] Suspects cannot withhold "custody and control" by mere words or lack of consent, as consent is not required. In other words, these agreements are extremely flawed and whomever signed off on them should be investigated and perhaps prosecuted. FBI gave immunity to Hillary lawyer responsible for 33k email deletion. Heather Samuelson testified under oath in a Judicial Watch court-ordered deposition that, contrary to what she told the FBI, she was, in fact, aware that Clinton used a private email account as secretary of state. That's not all. The former Secretary of State's White House Liaison at the State Department, and later Clinton's personal lawyer, Heather Samuelson, admitted under oath that she was granted immunity by the U.S. Department of Justice in June 2016. Samuelson also revealed that, contrary to what she told the FBI in 2016, she was, in fact, aware that Sec. Clinton used a private email account while secretary of state. Comey Hid 'Clinton Emails' Binder In His Office Safe and Had Hillary's Backup Email Device. Former FBI director James Comey had a white binder marked "Clinton Emails" in his office on May 16, 2017, a few days after he was fired, as the Department of Justice was trying to get back the items in Comey's office safe. The State Department and FBI also possessed a "Datto" backup email device for Hillary Clinton's private email server, which a judge ordered released. Michael Bekesha, who waged the Datto case for Judicial Watch, tells Big League Politics that the State Department is "still processing the FBI investigative file," even though Datto contents were ordered released by last September. The FBI Just Dropped New Documents On Hillary Clinton And They Are Really Bad. Late Friday night, we got a document dump from the FBI dealing with the investigation into Hillary Clinton's illegal email server. While we've already gotten ample evidence that she absolutely should have been charged for her mishandling of classified information, these latest revelations are still pretty mind-blowing. After you read them, you are left asking yourself how it was possible that she wasn't indicted. Well, we know why. [...] Starting with Hillary's actions, her criminality isn't even in doubt anymore. Stripping highly classified materials of their markings and then pushing them out via unapproved means is illegal. Nowhere in the statute is their a requirement for "intent" nor could any serious person argue she didn't intend to do what she actively chose to do. While we already knew that, it's pretty amazing to see that even the FBI was admitting it at the time. Shortly after, the full whitewash would go into effect. McCabe: Comey's Draft Statement Exonerating Clinton Two Months before Her FBI Interview Was Not Normal Protocol. "This is the only time I am aware of, sir." "I have not seen that before, sir." "I've never seen that." These are just some of the words utilized by former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe when asked during closed door testimony about an email penned by disgraced ex-FBI chief James Comey circulating a draft statement exonerating Hillary Clinton in the private email server case[,] a full two months before the FBI interviewed Clinton and other witnesses in the criminal probe. Grassley, Graham Put Bill Barr on Notice: DOJ Can No Longer Use Mueller Probe as Excuse to Dodge Questions on Hillary's Email Investigation. Top Senate Republicans are renewing their efforts to get to the bottom of the FBI's [mis]handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private server now that Mueller's investigation has concluded. Mueller's investigation into whether Trump colluded with the Kremlin during the 2016 election also served as a way to block Congressional oversight into Obama's and Clinton's corruption. Now that Rosenstein and Mueller can no longer run defense at the Justice Department, Republican Senate chairs of three very powerful committees are demanding Bill Barr look into the FBI's sham 'Midyear investigation.' Nunes criminal referrals could affect 'two dozen' individuals, as GOP demands answers on apparent FBI stonewalling. As many as two dozen individuals may be implicated in House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes' criminal referrals to the Justice Department arising out of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's recently concluded Russia probe, sources confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday [4/16/2019]. The sources confirmed that the referrals related in part to the anti-Trump dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele, and his work for the Clinton camp and the Democratic National Committee-funded firm Fusion GPS. Meanwhile, three top Republican Senate committee chairmen said Tuesday that the DOJ has 10 days to explain itself as to why FBI investigators looking into Hillary Clinton's email use in 2016 sought access to "highly classified information" they said was "necessary" to complete their probe, but later withdrew the request and cleared Clinton of wrongdoing. Devin Nunes: 'Fourth bucket' of classified emails show info withheld from FISA court. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., revealed the existence of a "fourth bucket" of information related to potential misconduct by the FBI that he wants declassified. On his way out as chairman, as Democrats will take control of the House next year, Nunes said his panel's investigation into the Justice Department and FBI is largely complete. Still, he said the public release of these "buckets" would help give his efforts a sense of "finality." Speaking with anchor Maria Bartiromo on her Fox News program "Sunday Morning Futures [11/18/2018]," Nunes said the first of three "buckets" were the Russia-related documents President Trump walked back from declassifying earlier this year. Mueller's 'Pit Bull' Arranged Meeting With Reporters To Discuss Manafort Investigation. Justice Department documents released on Friday [7/6/2018] confirm that the DOJ attorney known as Robert Mueller's "pit bull" arranged a meeting with journalists in April 2017 to discuss an investigation into Paul Manafort. The documents show that Andrew Weissmann arranged a meeting with DOJ and FBI officials and four Associated Press reporters on April 11, 2017, just over a month before Mueller was appointed special counsel. Manafort's lawyers obtained the documents on June 29 and revealed them in a briefing filed in federal court in Virginia. The attorneys are pushing for a hearing into what they say are possible leaks of secret grand jury information, false information and potentially classified materials from the meeting. Nunes calls for House probe of 42 Obama-era anti-Trump activists. Rep. Devin Nunes is referring 42 Obama administration officials, FBI agents and outside political activists to a House task force for as investigation into how the Obama Justice Department targeted the Donald Trump campaign. [...] The California Republican is asking his fellow GOP legislators to summon for public testimony all 42 — a cast of FBI, Justice Department and State Department officials and outside anti-Trump people with whom they communicated. Devin Nunes Closes In on Corrupt Obama Officials. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is calling on two of his fellow Republican committee chairman to hold open hearings for 10 former State Department and Obama White House officials regarding alleged surveillance abuses against the Trump campaign. [...] Nunes has investigated the Justice Department, FBI and State Department over the agencies' investigations of Trump campaign associates. The Republican has mostly focused on the DOJ and FBI's handling of the infamous Steele dossier and their applications for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Nunes and other Republicans have alleged that law enforcement officials improperly used the unverified dossier to obtain the spy warrants while also failing to disclose to federal judges that the document was financed by the Hillary Clinton campaign. Mueller's Kafkaesque Probe. The chattering class's frenzied discussion of the Mueller probe is like listening to George Carlin's old parody advertisement in which he gushes over a product that he never bothers to identify: [...] Turn on the television at any hour and the gibbering about the Mueller probe takes on that tone: endless talk about people "flipping" and so on but without any relationship to the mandate of Mueller's probe. Mueller was supposedly completing a counterintelligence investigation. But almost everything we hear about it pertains to something else. His "collusion" probe is looking at everything but collusion. Historians will look back at this grim farce and wonder how a sitting president could be shafted so badly by his own Justice Department for something he didn't do. The answer they will probably settle on is that Trump was a reviled outsider whom official Washington decided to subject to a Kafkaesque hazing in the failed hope of inducing his impeachment. Letter From Devin Nunes: 17 DOJ and FBI Names Named. Devin Nunes has sent a letter to Chairman Gowdy and Chairman Goodlatte. In it, Nunes refers 17 highly recognizable names to the joint task force of the Committees on Oversight & Government Reform and the Judiciary for interviews. Note that the names cut off at a certain political level. Below Sally Yates at DOJ and below Comey at FBI. This is almost certainly by intent. Without the IG Report on FISA Abuse, it's too early to move any higher. As unsatisfying as this may be to some, I consider this to be a good start. Most of these individuals — but not all — have left their positions so enforcement will prove interesting. FBI may have modified witness reports, misled DOJ watchdog with 'false information,' GOP Rep says. The FBI may have "edited and changed" key witness reports in the Hillary Clinton and Russia investigations, a top House Republican charged in a hearing into FBI and Justice Department misconduct Tuesday [6/26/2018]. Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C, also raised the possibility that the FBI misled the DOJ watchdog in an attempt to hide the identities of FBI employees who were caught sending anti-Trump messages. Did Comey's Informants Fabricate Russian Collusion Evidence? In our nation's worst governmental scandal, Watergate, the Federal Bureau of Investigation heroically kept widespread White House corruption from being concealed, eventually reviving important prosecutions. Sadly, in today's increasingly convoluted moral universe, senior FBI officials, it now appears, have tried to artificially create serious "Russiagate" crimes, thereby becoming implicated in a scandal promising to be nastier than Watergate. Congress presently awaits DOJ documents which may or may not confirm what presently seem reasonable inferences of such FBI wrongdoing. House Approves Resolution Demanding DOJ/FBI Docs. The House Judiciary Committee approved for the first time a resolution Tuesday demanding that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein turn over all requested documents regarding the FBI's handling of the Russia investigation during the presidential election after seven days or face possible impeachment or contempt. The decision to move forward with the resolution came after a year of battles with the Justice Department and FBI to turn over requested documents. The committee voted on party lines 15-11 to pass the resolution directing Rosenstein to comply within the next seven days or face the consequences. Seven Mysterious Preludes of the FBI's Trump-Russia Probe. The Federal Bureau of Investigation formally opened its Trump investigation after Western intelligence assets and Clinton-affiliated political operatives repeatedly approached the Trump campaign and tried but failed to damage it through associations with Russia, a growing body of evidence suggests. Before the FBI began investigating the Trump campaign in an operation code-named "Crossfire Hurricane," there were at least seven different instances when campaign advisers were approached with Russia-related offers. Tyranny Has Finally Arrived in America. Enough with the endless investigations that lead nowhere and leave the guilty unpunished. Enough with absurdity of agencies investigating themselves in order to protect the institution they serve rather than the people. We need to see indictments and trials to restore the foundations of our political order. The president and his Attorney General need to give more support to the Congressional oversight committees trying to do their jobs of holding accountable the abusers of the public trust. Did the FBI Frame Flynn? The criminal case against Gen. Michael Flynn for lying to FBI agents was incredibly weak. [...] Not too many years ago, a claim that the FBI fabricated evidence to facilitate a prosecution would have seemed incredible. Today, given what we know of the corruption of the Bureau under the Obama administration, such a claim appears entirely plausible. This is just one more thread in the slowly unraveling story of the misuse of intelligence and law enforcement agencies by the Democrats to try to frustrate the candidacy of Donald Trump, and to destroy his administration after his election. The FBI Needs to Be Turned on Its Head. This has nothing to do with the everyday men and women of the FBI. FBI Director Christopher Wray should stop hiding behind them like his mother's skirt. This is all about the leadership of the FBI — the seventh floor of |
