It just keeps getting better. You really need to take the time to read this; especially the links in the article.

Unless the professional praetorian ... up to be a VERY bad week for Democrats:

The U.S. DOJ Has Begun Taking down the low hanging fruit on the Uranium One Tree � SEE HERE The Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, Has Begun releasing a years-worth of Investigative Documents to the House Judiciary Committee � SEE HERE

[img]https://defensivetraininggroup.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/popcorn-1.gif?w=627[/img]

Add to that, Chelsea/Bradley Manning is going to try to primary a Democratic senator. It's nice to know that Republicans aren't the only ones who can field bizarre, godawful candidates.

Onward and upward,
airforce

A "massive scandal" is brewing at the FBI. The story is from the New York Post, so take it for what it's worth. Still, it's getting a lot of attention.

Onward and upward,
airforce

The "shocking" 4 page memo is part of a much larger 100+ page document that exonerates and confirms everything Trump and Snowdon have been saying all along.

Bottom line: The NSA is monitoring and recording any and ALL electronic communications...without a warrant. They're spying on all of us in real time.

And, all of your information is just waiting for the day when you become a target.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/23/congress-fbi-russia-republicans-escalate-probes-364616

Democrats blame #ReleaseTheMemo on Russians and social media. Because of course they would. A new article by Scott Shackford at reason.

Onward and upward,
airforce

The democraps reminds me of a slut sitting in a bar calling another woman a whore.

They're lying out their ass and blaming Trump and the Russians when the facts clearly show that the FBI, DNC and Obummer colluded with Hillary to rig the election in her favor. And they're desperate to cover it up.

No, Russian Bots Weren�t Behind The #ReleaseTheMemo Hashtag

Over the past few days, journalists and Democratic politicians have pushed the idea that Russian bots and trolls influenced #ReleaseTheMemo, the viral social media campaign aimed at forcing the release of a four-page report put together by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee alleging abuses related to the Steele dossier and secret surveillance warrants.

But that claim � which culminated in a letter that two Democratic lawmakers sent to Twitter and Facebook on Tuesday � appears to be off base.

The Daily Beast reports Twitter�s internal analytics show that #ReleaseTheMemo was largely pushed not by Russian troll farms but instead by red-blooded Americans.

According to The Beast:

A knowledgeable source says that Twitter�s internal analysis has thus far found that authentic American accounts, and not Russian imposters or automated bots, are driving #ReleaseTheMemo. There are no preliminary indications that the Twitter activity either driving the hashtag or engaging with it is either predominantly Russian.

In short, according to this source, who would not speak to The Daily Beast for attribution, the retweets are coming from inside the country.

Read the rest at the link.

Comey, Rosenstein, McCabe All Named In FISA Memo, According To First Leak

If Trump needed an excuse to drain the swamp without the appearance of partisan politics, it�s just been handed to him on a silver platter

Zero Hedge - January 25, 2018

A bombshell four-page �FISA memo� alleging egregious surveillance abuse by the FBI, DOJ and Obama administration, specifically names FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, according to the Daily Beast.

The GOP-authored memo made waves last week after it was made available to the full House of Representatives for viewing. With over 60 GOP lawmakers calling for its release, Capitol Hill sources on both sides of the aisle tell The Daily Beast that it�s only a matter of time before the general public is allowed to view the document � which is likely to stoke already-inflamed tensions between GOP lawmakers and the individuals named in the leak.

Earlier this morning, I examined the classified, four-page memo from @HouseIntelComm regarding the FBI, DOJ, and the so-called #RussianCollusion. To put it simply, �WOW.� I joined the call to #ReleaseTheMemo. Americans deserve truth and transparency. pic.twitter.com/r2RJnLNaUL

� Rep. Jody Hice (@CongressmanHice) January 19, 2018

The facts contained in the Republican majority-authored report are said to be �jaw-dropping and demand full transparency,� according to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), while the top ranking Democrat on the House Intel Committee, Adam Schiff (D-CA) dismissed the memo as �profoundly misleading� talking points drafted by Republican staffers.

Several other GOP Congressmembers have weighed in. �I have read the memo,� tweeted Rep. Steve King (R-IA), adding �The sickening reality has set in. I no longer hold out hope there is an innocent explanation for the information the public has seen. I have long said it is worse than Watergate. It was #neverTrump & #alwaysHillary. #releasethememo.�

Along with the four-page memo, Congressional investigators learned from a new batch of text messages between anti-Trump FBI investigators that several individuals within the Department of Justice and the FBI may have come together in the �immediate aftermath� of the 2016 election to undermine President Trump, according to Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) who has reviewed the texts.

This is particularly interesting since the memo allegedly names Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein � who created Robert Mueller�s special counsel after former FBI Director James Comey was fired.

The thousands of texts @TGowdySC and I reviewed today revealed manifest bias among top FBI officials against @realDonaldTrump. The texts between Strzok and Page referenced a "secret society."

� John Ratcliffe (@RepRatcliffe) January 23, 2018

While the �secret society� reference may have been in jest (�Are you even going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society,� Page wrote to Strzok), a whistleblower has allegedly confirmed the existence of clandestine, of high ranking U.S. intelligence officials which met �offsite� to conspire against a sitting President, according to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

�we have an informant talking about a group holding secret meetings off-site,� Johnson said.

�We have to continue to dig into it,� he added. �This is not a distraction. This is biased, potentially corruption at the highest levels of the FBI.� �The Hill

On Monday night, Reps. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) and Trey Gowdy (R-SC) told Fox News what they had learned from the new batch of communications between FBI investigators Peter Strzok and Lisa Page � contained within a 384-page batch of text messages delivered to Congress from the DOJ last Friday. Of note Ratcliffe says that Strzok and Page were included in the clandestine anti-Trump cabal at the highest levels of the American intelligence community.

.@RepRatcliffe on 5-month gap discovered in new FBI texts: "For former prosecutors like @TGowdySC & myself�it makes it harder & harder for us to explain away one strange coincidence after another." https://t.co/jTCsiBqaVi pic.twitter.com/yPKVEJoG91

� Fox News (@FoxNews) January 23, 2018

In response to the memo, Congressional Democrats led by Adam Schiff (D-CA) drafted a �counter-memo� to �correct the record� regarding alleged FISA abuse contained within the GOP memo.

.@RepAdamSchiff announces House Intel Dems have written their own counter-memo; will seek to make public, too. pic.twitter.com/0pK3xulL8u

� Byron York (@ByronYork) January 24, 2018

Schiff�s �counter-memo� came on the heels of an absurd letter written by Schiff and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to Facebook and Twitter executives, calling for the Social Media giants to combat �Russian bots� which were promoting the hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo.

NEW: Sen. Feinstein, Rep. Schiff urge Facebook and Twitter to investigate involvement of Russian bots in pushing "Release the Memo" campaign: "If these reports are accurate, we are witnessing an ongoing attack by the Russian government through Kremlin-linked social media actors." pic.twitter.com/SkAci5NefK

� ABC News (@ABC) January 23, 2018

The letter�s claims were immediately shot down by Facebook, which told the Daily Beast that #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag has been pushed by actual Americans.

a knowledgeable source says that Twitter�s internal analysis has thus far found that authentic American accounts, and not Russian imposters or automated bots, are driving #ReleaseTheMemo. There are no preliminary indications that the Twitter activity either driving the hashtag or engaging with it is either predominantly Russian.

In short, according to this source, who would not speak to The Daily Beast for attribution, the retweets are coming from inside the country.

And there you have it � not only were high level intelligence officials allegedly involved in clandestine meetings in which they conspired to destroy Donald Trump, today�s leak in conjunction of the four-page GOP memo appear to confirm what many have suspected all along; a highly illegal operation was conducted against President Trump which goes all the way to the top of the U.S. government.

If Trump needed an excuse to drain the swamp without the appearance of partisan politics, it�s just been handed to him on a silver platter. Or he may want to wait until the general public has seen the memo � which is being fast-tracked by the House.

The most underrated fact about the drama surrounding the FBI agents' text messages is that they were discovered in an inspector general investigation launched at the behest of *Democrats* in Congress who thought the FBI was biased against Clinton

� Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) January 25, 2018

In the "it's about damn time department"...


Congress Gives Clinton, Podesta Two Weeks To Explain Trump Dossier

Investigators seek to know role Clinton, Dems had in Steel dossier used to wiretap Trump

Zero Hedge - January 27, 2018

GOP Congressional investigators have written six letters to individuals or entities involved or thought to be involved in the funding, creation or distribution of the salacious and unverified �Trump-Russia dossier� believed to have been inappropriately used by the FBI, DOJ and Obama Administration in an effort to undermine Donald Trump as both a candidate and President of the United States.

Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SCS) wrote six Judiciary Committee letters requesting information from: John Podesta, Donna Brazille, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Robbie Mook, the DNC, and Hillary For America Chief Strategist Joel Benenson.

A brief refresher of facts and allegations:

� The DNC and Hillary Clinton�s PAC was revealed by The Washington Post to have paid opposition research firm Fusion GPS for the creation of a dossier that would be harmful to then-candidate Donald Trump.
� Fusion commissioned former UK spy Christopher Steele to assemble the dossier � which is comprised of a series of memos relying largely on Russian government sources to make allegations against Donald Trump and his associates.
� According to court filings, Fusion also worked with disgraced DOJ official Bruce Ohr, and hired his CIA-linked wife, Nellie Ohr, to assist in the smear campaign against Trump. Bruce Ohr was demoted from his senior DOJ position after it was revealed that he met with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson as well as Christopher Steele � then tried to cover it up.
� Hillary Clinton�s campaign chairman, John Podesta, denied under oath to the Senate Intelligence Committee that he knew about the dossier�s funding, while Clinton�s former spokesman, Brian Fallon, told CNN that Hillary likely had no idea who paid for it either.
� Current and past leaders of the DNC, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) also denied knowledge of the document�s funding.
Podesta met with Fusion co-founder Glenn Simpson the day after the Trump-Russia dossier was published by Buzzfeed News.

The Senate Judiciary Committee letters read in part:

In October 2017, the Washington Post reported that Hillary for America and the Democratic National Committee had funded, via Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele�s creation of a series of memos relying largely on Russian government sources to make allegations against Donald Trump and his associates. A letter from the law firm Perkins Coie acknowledged that, � [t]o assist in its representation of the DNC and Hillary for America, Perkins Coie engaged Fusion GPS in April of2016″ and that �the engagement concluded prior to the November 2016 Presidential election.

The Committee has been investigating the FBI� s relationship with Christopher Steele during this time his work was funded by Hillary for America and the DNC. The scope of our review includes the extent to which the FBI may have relied on information relayed by Mr. Steele in seeking judicial authorization for surveillance of individuals associated with Mr. Trump. It also includes whether any applications that may have been made for permission for such surveillance fully and accurately disclosed:

(1) the source of Fusion GPS�s and Mr. Steele�s funding;

(2) the degree to which his claims were or were not verified;

(3) the motivations of Mr. Steele, his clients, and his sources; and

( 4) representations about their contacts with the press.

The letter then goes on to list twelve questions � the last being a request for all communications between a list of 40 individuals or entities � including Christopher Steele, Bruce Ohr, Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, Glenn Simpson and former CIA Director John Brennan.

The six recipients of letters have two weeks to comply with the following requests (note; �Hillary for America� is replaced by �the DNC� depending on who the letter is addressed to):

1. Prior to the Washington Post �s article in October of 2017, were you anyone else at Hillary for America aware of Mr. Steele�s efforts on behalf of the Clinton campaign to compile and distribute allegations about Mr. Trump and the Russian government? If so, when and how did you first learn of his activities on the campaign�s behalf? Please provide all related documents.

2. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America receive copies of any of the memoranda comprising Mr. Steele�s dossier prior to its publication by Buzzfeed in January of 2017? If so, how and when? Please provide all related documents.

3. Regardless of whether you or your associates received copies of the actual memoranda, did you or anyone else at Hillary for America otherwise receive information contained in the dossier prior to Buzzfeed publishing the dossier in January of 2017? If so, how and when? Please provide all related documents.

4. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America receive other memoranda written or forwarded by Mr. Steele regarding Mr. Trump and his associates that were not published as part of the Buzzfeed dossier? If so, how and when? Please provide all related documents.

5. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America distribute outside of the organization any o f the dossier memoranda, information contained therein, or other information obtained by Mr. Steele? If so, please list who distributed the information, what was distributed, and to whom it was distributed. Please provide all related documents.

6. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America communicate with any government officials � whether in the executive, legislative or judicial branches � regarding the dossier memoranda, information contained therein, or other information obtained by Mr. Steele? If so, please list the parties involved in the communication, the content of the communication, and the date and means of the communication. Please provide all related documents. References such as �anyone at Hillary for America� include all of Hillary for America�s officers, employees, contractors, subcontractors, advisors, volunteers, and, of course, Secretary Clinton herself. Mr. Podesta January 25, 2018

7. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America instruct, request, suggest, or imply that any individuals should pass along information to Mr. Steele or his intermediaries? Please provide all related documents.

8. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America communicate with members of the press regarding the dossier memoranda, information contained therein, or other information obtained by Mr. Steele? If so, please list the parties involved in the communication, the content of the communication, and the date and means of the communication. Please provide all related documents.

9. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America inform Secretary Clinton of Mr. Steele�s efforts, whether by name or not, or of the allegations he was spreading? If so, who and when? Please provide all related documents.

10. Were you or anyone else at Hillary for America aware of Mr. Steele�s contacts with the FBI or other government agencies prior to the 2016 election? If so, who? When and how did you or they become aware? Please provide all related documents.

11. Did you or anyone else at Hillary for America encourage, whether directly or through intermediaries, Mr. Steele to initiate or continue contacts with the FBI or other government agencies? If so, who and when? Please provide all related documents.

12. For the period from March 2016 through January 2017, please provide all communications to, from, copying, or relating to: Fusion GPS; Bean LLC; Glenn Simpson; Mary Jacoby; Peter Fritsch; Tom Catan; Jason Felch; Neil King; David Michaels; Taylor Sears; Patrick Corcoran; Laura Sego; Jay Bagwell; Erica Castro; Nellie Ohr; Rinat Akhmetshin; Ed Lieberman; Edward Baumgartner; Orbis Business Intelligence Limited; Orbis Business International Limited; Walsingham Training Limited; Walsingham Partners Limited; Christopher Steele; Christopher Burrows; Sir Andrew Wood, Paul Hauser; 4 Oleg Deripaska; Cody Shearer; Sidney Blumenthal; Jon Winer; 5 Kathleen Kavalec; Victoria Nuland; Daniel Jones; 6 Bruce Ohr; Peter Strzok; Andrew McCabe; James Baker; 7 Sally Yates; Loretta Lynch; John Brennan.

Trump Ignores DOJ Warning, Wants FISA Memo Released

Memo reportedly shows extensive abuse of power, collusion between Obama administration, FBI, DOJ and Clinton campaign against Trump during 2016 presidential election

Zero Hedge - January 28, 2018

President Trump broke with the Department of Justice last week by calling for the release of a four-page �FISA memo� purportedly summarizing widespread surveillance absues by the FBI, DOJ and Obama Administration, reports the Washington Post.

The President�s desire was relayed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions by White House Chief-of-Staff John Kelly last Wednesday � putting the Trump White House at odds with the DOJ � which said that releasing the classified memo written by congressional republicans �extraordinarily reckless� without allowing the Department of Justice to first review the memo detailing its own criminal malfeasance during and after the 2016 presidential election.

The decision to release the memo ultimately lies with congress.

Somehow WaPo knew that Kelly and Sessions spoke twice last Wednesday � once in person during a �small-group afternoon meeting� and again that night over the phone.

Trump �is inclined to have that released just because it will shed light,� said a senior administration official who was speaking on the condition of anonymity to recount private conversations. �Apparently all the rumors are that it will shed light, it will help the investigators come to a conclusion.�

The memo, written by staffers for House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), was made available for all Congressional House members in mid-January for viewing in a secure room. Lawmakers who have seen the document have called for its release to the general public, as it is said to contain �jaw dropping� revelations of extensive abuse of power and highly illegal collusion between the Obama administration, the FBI, the DOJ and the Clinton Campaign against Donald Trump and his team during and after the 2016 presidential election.

�I have read the memo,� tweeted Rep. Steve King (R-IA), adding �The sickening reality has set in. I no longer hold out hope there is an innocent explanation for the information the public has seen. I have long said it is worse than Watergate. It was #neverTrump & #alwaysHillary. #releasethememo.�

�It is so alarming the American people have to see this,� Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan told Fox News. �It�s troubling. It is shocking,� North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows said. �Part of me wishes that I didn�t read it because I don�t want to believe that those kinds of things could be happening in this country that I call home and love so much.�

Immediately #ReleaseTheMemo #FISAMemo & ALL relevant material sourced in it. Every American needs to know the truth! We wouldn't be revealing any sources & methods that we shouldn't; only feds' reliance on bad sources & methods.

� Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) January 19, 2018

Meanwhile, The Washington Post is spinning Trump�s desire to release the memo as yet another example of the President�s �year-long attempts to shape and influence an investigation that is fundamentally outside his control,� pointing to reports that he wanted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller III last summer (which Trump denies). WaPo also points to Trump�s complaints over Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for not properly supervising the Mueller probe, and the President�s alleged comments to former FBI Director James Comey demanding loyalty and asking him to back off the investigation into former National Security advisor Michael Flynn, who was fired for misleading Vice President Mice Pence over his contact with Russians.

In other words, Trump has been resisting an active investigation which has yet to prove any collusion, and which has experienced significant mission creep into the personal finances of the Trump team � and The Washington Post is spinning it as Trump once again interfering with an investigation.

So now the President is calling for the release of the four-page FISA memo, which will reportedly put an end to the Russia investigation while quite possibly setting the stage for the criminal prosecution of those involved in trying to frame Trump.

That said, the Washington Post article appears to be nothing more than an exercise in pearl clutching over Trump�s demands for loyalty � as the paper notes that nothing the President has done is likely to lead to criminal charges.

To prove obstruction of justice, Mueller would have to show that Trump didn�t just act to derail the investigation but did so with a corrupt motive, such as an effort to hide his own misdeeds. Legal experts are divided over whether the Constitution allows for the president to be indicted while in office. As a result, Mueller might seek to outline his findings about Trump�s actions in a written report rather than bring them in court through criminal charges. It would probably fall to Rosenstein to decide whether to submit the report to Congress, which has the power to open impeachment proceedings.

As Trump faced growing questions about everything from his June directive to fire Mueller to his more recent grousing about Rosenstein, the White House was largely silent. In response to several specific queries, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley offered a written statement that addressed few of them. -WaPo

�The president has been clear publicly and privately that he wants absolute transparency throughout this process,� Gidley said in the statement. �Based on numerous news reports, top officials at the FBI have engaged in conduct that shows show bias against President Trump and bias for Hillary Clinton. The president has said repeatedly for months there is no consideration of terminating the special counsel.�

So future leaders of the free world take note; you�re not allowed express dissatisfaction when a federal agency allegedly colludes with the previous administration and an establishment candidate to rob you of an election using unverified evidence from Russian officials; it is also frowned upon to have a problem with a kangaroo-court witch hunt launched to push the invented narrative.

The House has just voted to release that 4-page memo. If this really is "worse than Watergate," we'll soon know.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Trey Gowdy Says FISA Memo Will Embarrass Adam Schiff

No wonder the anti-Trump Democrat didn�t want it to be released

Paul Joseph Watson | Infowars.com - January 30, 2018

Rep. Trey Gowdy revealed one of the reasons why Adam Schiff is desperately trying to prevent the released of the FISA memo � it will directly embarrass the anti-Trump Democrat.

During an appearance on Fox & Friends this morning, Gowdy slammed Democrats for trying to keep the memo hidden.

�My Democratic colleagues didn�t want us to find this information, they did everything they could to keep us from finding this information,� said Gowdy.

Asked if the memo would be �embarrassing� for Democrats, Gowdy responded, �I think it will be embarrassing for Adam Schiff once people realize the extent to which he went to keep them from learning any of this.�

Asked to elaborate, the South Carolina Republican explained, �I mean going to court to help Fusion GPS so we can�t find out that they paid for the dossier and that they were working for the DNC. That�s a pretty big step to go to court to try to keep the American people from learning something. So look, if it were up to Adam Schiff, you wouldn�t know about Hillary Clinton�s email, you wouldn�t know about the server, you wouldn�t have known who paid for the dossier, so I find it ironic that he has his own memo now because if it were up to him, we wouldn�t know any of it.�

Schiff himself seems petrified at the prospect of the memo being released, tweeting that the vote to make it public was �cynical and destructive.�

Others have pointed out the incredible irony of much of the media being disinterested in finding out the details of the memo.

�WaPo and NYT will run classified intel from anonymous sources every day but suddenly when a Republican releases a fully-sourced memo with his name on it they lose their minds,� remarked Jack Posobiec.

�Language programming 101: Unverified lies about Trump are called a �dossier.� Verified truths about Democrat corruption are just, like, you know, a �memo,� quipped Stefan Molyneux.

�I�ve never seen so many journalists upset over the prospect of getting more information. Weird, right?� asked Derek Hunter.

Earlier on Fox News, Kellyanne Conway said the Trump White House was reviewing the memo today. It is expected to be released later this week.



The democRATS are desperate because...

#Memo shifts narrative.

#Memo reinstates SESSIONS' authority re: Russia/ALL.

#Memo factually demonstrates collusion at highest levels.

#Memo factually demonstrates HUSSEIN ADMIN weaponized INTEL community to ensure D victory [+insurance].

#Memo factually demonstrates 'knowingly false intel' provided to FISA Judges to obtain warrant(s).

We still don't know what is in that memo - we may find out later today or tomorrow. But getting a FISA warrant to spy on Carter Page would have been pretty easy .

Onward and upward,
airforce

It must be terribly damning since they killed a garbage truck driver and parked his truck on the tracks in front of a Republican-filled train today.

[img]https://twitter.com/NBC29/status/958744351689052160/photo/1[/img] [img]https://twitter.com/frankthorp/status/958743368355450880/photo/1[/img]

Remember that horse head scene in The Godfather?

One would be incredibly naive to think that this was not a warning.

I hope to read something juicy.

The politicians and the pundits will be talking about it for days, but I'm not so sure there's really going to be anything there. If it's only about Carter Page and the Steele dossier, it's probably nothing. Probably cause for getting a FISA warrant is less than that needed for a criminal search warrant - it really should be called reasonable suspicion, not probable cause.

The real scandal is that the FISA courts even exist - and Congress just reauthorized them for another six years.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Intelligence Agencies Join FBI in Push Against Plans to Release FISA Abuse Memo

The FBI expressed �grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy�

Sara Carter January 31, 2018

Whistleblowers, Republican congressional members, and some former intelligence officials cite mounting concern that the White House may not release the House Intelligence Committee�s FISA abuse memo as the FBI pushed against plans to make it public based on false allegations that the memo contains information that would harm U.S. national security, sources tell this reporter.

The memo alleges severe abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by employees of the FBI and Department of Justice but FBI Director Christopher Wray Wednesday warned against the release of the memo issuing a public statement from the FBI that the bureau has �grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo�s accuracy.�

The four-page memo is currently under review by the White House National Security Council, as well as with the Director of National Intelligence, according to U.S. officials familiar with the review process. One U.S. official said they were concerned the review is being �slow-rolled in an effort to get President Trump to change his mind about releasing the memo.�

The FISA memo is expected to be released by Friday and the White House isn�t expected to object. On Tuesday, that affirmation was clear when President Trump was caught on his mic after his State of the Union address told a Republican lawmaker that �100 percent� the memo would be released to the public.

On Monday, the House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines to make the classified memo public and as long as the president doesn�t object after five days of review the memo can legally be released.

U.S. Intelligence agencies, however, are now joining the FBI and pushing back against the memo�s release, former intelligence officials told this reporter. Those intelligence officials are concerned that the memo will reveal details of how the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is used in monitoring communications of foreign people overseas, said one former U.S. intelligence official.

Another U.S. official familiar with the memo and its contents disputed those concerns.

�There are no Intelligence Community equities involved in the memo and nothing in the memo or the attached documents violates any national security-related processes,� the U.S. official stated. �This memo does not deal with any international issues, only domestic issues.�
�The FISA memo is expected to be released by Friday and the White House isn�t expected to object�



Republican congressional members who have already reviewed the memo say its public release is essential to accurately convey to the American people the extent of FISA abuse during the 2016 presidential election. Many members described the memo as �shocking� but Democrats, who suggest they have their own memo, pushed back on the FISA abuse memo initiated by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-CA, and other ranking Republican members of the committee.

Rep. Ron DeSantis, a Florida Republican, and member of the House Oversight Committee, reviewed the FISA memo after it was made available to House members last week. He wants the memo to be made public and questioned the FBI and DOJs pushback.

�The FBI was afforded the opportunity to review the memo on Sunday and could not identify a single factual inaccuracy,� said DeSantis. �Accordingly, I find the Bureau�s statement to be a bit strange. Why not identify inaccuracies when you had the chance?�

Nunes issued a statement Wednesday in response to the FBI saying, �having stonewalled Congress� demands for information for nearly a year, it�s no surprise to see the FBI and DOJ issue spurious objections to allowing the American people to see information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies.�

�The FBI is intimately familiar with �material omissions� with respect to their presentations to both Congress and the courts, and they are welcome to make public, to the greatest extent possible, all the information they have on these abuses,� Nunes stated. �Regardless, it�s clear that top officials used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counter-intelligence investigation during an American political campaign. Once the truth gets out, we can begin taking steps to ensure our intelligence agencies and courts are never misused like this again.�

Another congressional official, familiar with the contents of the memo, said it was the FBI and DOJ, which refused to disclose or provide documentation requested by the House Intelligence Committee since early last summer. The congressional official said, �it was only when the committee warned of contempt of Congress did Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to turn over the necessary documents used in the committees� review of the alleged FISA abuses by the FBI and DOJ.�

DOJ officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

�They are sparing no expense at trying to stop this memo from being released,� the congressional official said. �You have the Democrats, media and the deep state trying to stop the memo from going public and if they can�t they are preemptively trying to discredit it.�

The congressional official added that the memo was written so �there wouldn�t be any national security damage. First, they say that the memo�s release would be a national security concern and then the FBI says it�s the �omission of materials� that doesn�t accurately explain what�s going on. But they didn�t want the committee to have any of the documents anyways. The committee had to fight tooth and nail for them. This is what it looks like when the deep state squeals.�

On Wednesday the FBI stated its objections the memo�s release, which has already been viewed in a secure area on Capitol Hill by more than 200 members of the House.

�The FBI takes seriously its obligations to the FISA Court and its compliance with procedures overseen by career professionals in the Department of Justice and the FBI,� said FBI officials in a statement. �We are committed to working with the appropriate oversight entities to ensure the continuing integrity of the FISA process.�

�With regard to the House Intelligence Committee�s memorandum, the FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it. As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo�s accuracy,� the FBI stated.


Report: The FBI is �Threatening� Trump Over the FISA Memo

�They�re terrified, they�re frantic�

Paul Joseph Watson | Infowars.com - February 1, 2018

The FBI is �threatening� Donald Trump over the imminent release of the FISA memo, according to Judicial Watch director of investigations Chris Farrell.

The FBI is desperately trying to prevent the release of the FISA memo, which reportedly contains evidence that the Obama administration spied on members of the Trump campaign.

The agency issued a rare statement yesterday declaring it had �grave concerns� about the accuracy of the classified document, which is set to be released today.

Appearing on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs, Judicial Watch�s Chris Farrell said, �The FBI is threatening the president of the United States.�

Farrell says the FBI is desperate to prevent Trump, �Revealing all the criminality that�s going on in the organization� and that�s why they brokered a meeting with Trump�s chief of staff John Kelly which should never have happened.

The FBI is trying to �intimidate� Kelly and Trump �in order to cover up for their criminality,� according to Farrell.

�These political operators are threatening the president of the United States, they�re betraying their oath to the Constitution,� said Farrell, adding that the FBI is sitting on a huge surveillance cover-up involving the mass monitoring of U.S. citizens.

�They�re terrified, they�re embarrassed, they�re frantic,� said Farrell

�This is another grave threat, not just on Mr. Trump personally, but it�s a threat on the Constitution,� he added, urging Trump to release the memo.

As we reported last week, according to a high level FBI agent, the 50,000 missing FBI text messages which went �missing� but were subsequently recovered, contained threats of violence aimed at President Trump.

According to the official, the messages included �frightening conversations� that went further than just harming Trump politically.

The notion that the deep state would seek to physically harm Trump for his efforts to �drain the swamp� is no far-flung conspiracy theory.

During an appearance on CNN, counterterrorism analyst and former CIA agent Philip Mudd said on air �the government�s gonna kill� Donald Trump because he disrespected the deep state.

Even before Trump was inaugurated, Senator Chuck Schumer warned the president he was �really dumb� for picking a fight with the intelligence agencies and �they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you�.

CNN analyst on Trump: "The government's gonna kill this guy." https://t.co/ymqwNErhWv pic.twitter.com/4WAA1WENgp

� Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) August 11, 2017

Trump should release the memo, the Democrat's memo, whatever memo the FBI wants to make up, and the underlying evidence and intelligence gathered during the investigation. We want the truth and, yes, we can handle the truth.

I have a feeling the government can't.

Onward and upward,
airforce

There is a 100+ page document that was used by Nunes to prepare his memo. That document has been released. Although much has been redacted it is damning. Nothing we don't already know...but in a nutshell...The Clintons , the democrat leadership and the fbi are criminals and are the ones who colluded with the Russians and others to steal the election. They conspired with the obummer administration, the fbi, the dnc and the media to spread lies and innuendo. They lied and fabricated false "evidence" which was used to get the fisa court to issue a warrant to tap Trump's communications. The Mueller investigation is a sham and a witch hunt.

Heads need to roll and people need to go to prison.

Hopefully it will be released in its fill context..curious what all the blacked out info is. It was a lot to read.
And they say communism fell when the wall came down. The only thing it did was spread out.
McCarthy was right about communism influence in government.

Also how about the 16 year plan. Looks like this is part of said plan they have for those who won't bow to global government.

If they'e going to send someone to prison, then ALL the evidence will have to be used in the trial anyway. They might just as well release ALL of it now. What do they have to hide?

Onward and upward,
airforce

By releasing it would show tyranny truly exists here in amerikia. Most of the people in this country don't want to face reality.

As The Onion points out, the memo could undermine our faith in secret, unaccountable government agencies.

But legally, I just don't see a whole lot there. Sure, there's corruption there - but show me where there isn't any corruption in Washington.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Here is the four-page memo.

Onward and upward,
airforce

FISA Memo Confirms Surveillance of Trump Campaign Was Based on Dodgy Steele Dossier

McCabe: No FISA warrant would have been approved without dossier.

The FISA memo confirms that the FBI relied on the notorious and hyper-partisan Steele dossier to justify its surveillance of the Trump campaign.

The memo is about to go public, but excerpts were already leaked to news organizations.

�The political origins of the Steele dossier were known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, but excluded from the FISA applications,� according to the Washington Examiner.

The Steele dossier was funded by the HIllary Clinton campaign and the DNC via Fusion GPS.

�DOJ official Bruce Ohr met with Steele beginning in the summer of 2016 and relayed to DOJ information about Steele�s bias. Steele told Ohr that he, Steele, was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected president and was passionate about him not becoming president.�

Clip: First details on 'the memo' reported by Catherine Herridge: pic.twitter.com/cuklrBlpHR

� johnny dollar (@johnnydollar01) February 2, 2018

The memo also reportedly details how, �Andrew McCabe confirmed that no FISA warrant would have been sought from the FISA Court without the Steele dossier information.�

Reaction to the revelations are already rolling in.

House Intel memo key point: The FBI's Andrew McCabe confirmed to the committee that no FISA warrant would have been sought from the FISA Court without the Steele dossier information. Story posting soon.

� Byron York (@ByronYork) February 2, 2018

�It�s a disgrace what�s going on in our country, a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves,� President Trump commented moments ago.

Here is a copy of an email I just sent to the White House. I'm under no illusions that President Trump will read it, but hopefully someone will.

Personally, I think this scandal pales to the one a couple years ago, with Lois Lerner (remember her?) and the IRS. Remember what came of that one? Nothing. But if this one finally gets people to look at the inherent dangers to liberty of Section 702, perhaps something good will come of this.

Onward and upward,
airforce

More than one congressman has said that Watergate pales in comparison to this. They seem shocked that a law they passed is being used by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats to violate the constitution.

As for the fbi...

Look at the Bundy case. It was proven in court that the fbi and blm lied to and withheld evidence from the court and the accused. In fact it was proven that the Bundy's were telling the truth about the governments activities all along.

Now, we find out that the same agency did the same thing to the Trump administration.

Why am I not surprised. Once a liar always a liar. And, they've been doing it since Hoover.

The real scandal is that the FISA courts exist at all. And yes, THAT is worse than Watergate.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Here's a question what gov agency isn't corrupt? Or doing questionable things all in the name of upholding the law?

If you can think of one, you're better than I. Being one of those free market anarchist, I just assume the words "government" and "corruption" are synonymous.

Gary Hunt at the Outpost of Freedom has posted a pdf of the memo , for anyone hasn't seen it yet.

And Nick Gillespie pointed out that, if you think the memo discredits the FBI and the DOJ, you haven\'t been paying attention for the last fifty years or so .

Onward and upward,
airforce

Is there anybody out there who is actually shocked by all this? Have you spoken with anyone who is surprised?

This memo isn't by any means a revelation, only a confirmation.

Again and again the things we've been talking about for YEARS, sometimes decades are proven true. First they ignore us, then they call us conspiracy theorists, then they get angry. Now they're covering their asses.

Trump needs to clean house, firing everybody who had anything at all to do with the scandal, even the guy who made the coffee.

BTW, this is giving me all kinds of new ideas for my patriot fiction stories. I was thinking of doing one involving the DC Madam "suicide", but this is just too tempting.

I was just reminded that the FBI opposed the release of the memo, because it would compromise the bureau's "sources and methods."

They gotta be kidding.

Onward and upward,
airforce

The memo was less juicy than I had hoped. Nunes threatens "phase two" of his investigation.

None of this is going to change the fact that FISA warrants are a joke - it's a rubber stamp.

Let the games begin.

GOP Congressman Seeks Treason Charg...sed as campaign attack dogs,� Gosar says

Following the release of a four-page memo detailing rampant FISA warrant abuse by the FBI and DOJ, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) announced that he will seek the criminal prosecution of FBI and DOJ officials for the �full throated adoption of this illegal misconduct and abuse of FISA by James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates and Rod Rosenstein� who Gosar called �traitors to our nation.�

I don't disagree. But Rep.Paul Gosar is widely regarded as an assclown, even by his own party. I don't see much coming out of this. Now, when the Inspector General report comes out...

Onward and upward,
airforce

Early in the Klinton administration, over a three year period 75% of the J. Edgar Hoover trained FBI agents retired. They were replaced with city bred and raised, NON military, affirmative action types. OVER 50% had NEVER fired a gun before they were hired. This group could NOT handle the then issued full power 10mm rounds. That is the real reason the FBI went to the 40 S&W round. The published reason was it afforded more rounds in a smaller weapon. NOT true. The truth is they couldn't get their hands around the big S&W 10mm pistols issued at the time.

This group they hired is VERY loyal to the Klintons! Now you have some idea why Trump is having trouble with them.

Trump critics worry that he\'s undermining trust in the FBI. As if that were a bad thing. Among other things in this article: 38% of Republicans have a favorable view of the FBI, compared to 64% of Democrats.

Read the whole thing at the link.

Onward and upward,
airforce

What the FISA memo really tells us about our government. A new article by Ron Paul a the Mises Institute.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Trump Attorneys Approve Second Special Counsel To Probe FBI & DOJ

Fallout over FISA memo continues for Deep State

Zero Hedge - February 5, 2018

The war between the White House and the FBI/DOJ complex may be turning nuclear.

While speaking to reported aboard Air Force 1, Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said that President Trump�s attorneys have already approved the idea of appointing a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and Justice Department�s actions during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to White House pool reports.

The excerpt from the pool in question:

*FISA warrant should it be released? and what about a second special counsel?*

**

Presidents attorneys have addressed this and said yes to a second special counsel.

FISA: That document along with any other that the House Intelligence Committee chooses to vote out of its committee through its process and all the House procedures, we would entertain like anything else.

As Axios adds, Shah also said that the White House will approach further memos, including the one created by Democrats, in the same way they handled the memo authored by Devin Nunes:

�Which is to allow for a legal review, national security review led by the White House Counsel�s Office, and then within five days the president will make a decision about declassifying it,� said Shah.

And another highlight from the gaggle summarized by Axios:

Trump�s tweet calling Rep. Adam Schiff a leaker: �We don�t really see any reason why anybody else would leak his information other than partisan political stunts by Adam Schiff and other members of the minority.�

The Inspector General report, expec... fireworks to the Clinton investigation. Michael Horowitz is the inspector general for the DOJ, and I have a feeling I would not want to be in his shoes. At least one major political party, and maybe both, will be gunning for him.

He's already had an impact. He appears to be the person responsible for McCabe's retirement. And he;s the fellow who found those emails between Peter Strzok and Lisa page.

Onward and upward,
airforce

A Senate memo suggests the FBI was misled by the Steele Dossier.

There is a link to the memo in the third paragraph of the article, which I can't use here because our software won't accept parentheses in a link.

Onward and upward,
airforce

What tells me the most is out of 11 FISA Judges, 10 were appointed by Obama.

Now how secure do you feel from Government spying?

That, and the fact they approve 99.9% of all warrants. There is no other court in the country that comes even close to that.

Onward and upward,
airforce

DOJ, FBI Continued to Spy on Trump in White House

Grassley-Graham letter references Trump surveillance renewals through June 2017

Jerome Corsi | Infowars.com - February 8, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. � The less highly-redacted version of the criminal referral letter written by Sen. Charles Grassley and Sen. Lindsey Graham made public on Tuesday provides evidence the Department of Justice and FBI were conducting FISA court-approved electronic surveillance of President Trump in the White House through at least June 2017.

The key sentences are on page 4 of the Grassley-Graham letter, reading as follows:

In defending Mr. Steele�s credibility to the FISC [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court], the FBI had posited an innocuous explanation for the September 23 [Yahoo News] article, based on the assumption that Mr. Steele had told the FBI the truth about his press contacts. The FBI then vouched for him twice more, using the same rationale in subsequent renewal applications filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in April and June 2017.

That Steele had lied to the FBI regarding his multiple press contacts is clear in how the purpose of the Grassley-Graham letter was to refer Steele to the DOJ and FBI for criminal investigation for suspicion of violating 18 U.S.C. Section 1001, a section of the federal code that prohibits knowingly making false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements to the federal government.

The FBI and DOJ filed the first warrant application under FISA for Dr. Carter Page on Oct. 21, 2016, with multiple extensions filed; with the last extensions being filed in April and June 2017 suggesting the FISA court approved electronic surveillance began with the Trump campaign, continued throughout the Trump transition, and extended six months or longer into the Trump presidency.

The Grassley-Graham letter also made clear that in June 2017, former FBI Director Comey testified publicly before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that he had briefed President-Elect Trump on the dossier allegations in January 2017, �which Comey described as �salacious� and �unverified.��

Further support for the argument the DOJ and FBI were conducting FISA court-authorized electronic surveillance of the Trump administration after Donald Trump�s Inauguration can be found in the 99-page declassified memorandum and order released by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 26, 2017.

On page 5, the FISC order and memorandum discusses DOJ and FBI requested extensions of FISA court-authorized electronic surveillance on Carter Page, noting the government submitted an extension through May 26, 2017, that the court granted, but for a shorter period, extending only through April 28, 2017.

While the DOJ/FBI FISA court applications were targeted on Carter Page, a major point of the FISC order and memorandum released April 26, 2017, was to reprimand the DOJ and FBI for violating minimization requirements such that the electronic surveillance extended to a wide network of Carter Page�s associates and contacts, and perhaps beyond, to persons involved in more distant communication chains that linked back to Carter Page.

To this date, the DOJ and FBI have refused to release a complete list of all persons in the Trump campaign, the Trump transition, and the Trump administration that were under FISA court-approved electronic surveillance.

Still, the indications from the scandal over Obama administration officials, including Valerie Jarrett and Susan Rice, unmasking names of those Trump associates whose communications were captured by the NSA suggests the FISA court-authorized electronic surveillance extended widely beyond Carter Page to include a large list of Trump associates whose communications were collected incidentally, as �collateral� contacts known to be in communication with Carter Page.

In conclusion, the record suggests Obama administration holdovers in the DOJ and FBI conspired to continue FISA court-authorized electronic surveillance over Donald Trump and his associates, starting during the 2016 presidential campaign, continuing into the transition, and not concluded until some six months after the Trump administration took over in the White House.

REPORT: Top Democrat Texted With Russian Oligarch Lobbyist In Effort To Contact Phony Dossier Author

ByJoseph Curl
@josephcurl
February 9, 2018

Sen. Mark Warner had �extensive contact last year� with lobbyist Adam Waldman in an effort to set up a meeting with Christopher Steele, who wrote a phony dossier on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, Fox News reported.

The Virginia senator, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, had frequent contacts with Waldman, who runs the Endeavor Group, a Washington lobbying firm that worked with a Russian oligarch named Oleg Deripaska in 2009 and 2010.

"We have so much to discuss u need to be careful but we can help our country," Warner texted the lobbyist, Adam Waldman, on March 22, 2017.

"I'm in," Waldman, whose firm has ties to Hillary Clinton, texted back to Warner.

Steele famously put together the anti-Trump dossier of unverified information that was used by FBI and Justice Department officials in October 2016 to get a warrant to conduct surveillance of former Trump adviser Carter Page. Despite the efforts, Steele has not agreed to an interview with the committee.

President Trump on Friday weighed in on the report.

Wow! -Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch. Warner did not want a �paper trail� on a �private� meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Crooked Hillary.
� Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2018

Fox said secrecy "seemed very important to Warner as the conversation with Waldman heated up on March 29, 2017, when the lobbyist revealed that Steele wanted a bipartisan letter from Warner and the committee�s chairman, North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr, inviting him to talk to the Senate intelligence panel.

"Throughout the text exchanges, Warner seemed particularly intent on connecting directly with Steele without anyone else on the Senate Intelligence Committee being in the loop -- at least initially. In one text to the lobbyist, Warner wrote that he would 'rather not have a paper trail' of his messages."

But the report might be just another red herring (like two erroneous reports in the last two weeks). Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican member of the committee, tweeted Thursday night that Warner "fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago." He added that the disclosure "has had zero impact on our work."

Sen.Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago.Has had zero impact on our work. https://t.co/bnmI2Thedt #FoxNews
� Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 9, 2018

Why did Susan Rice send an email to herself, just a few minutes before Trump became president? To cover herself, clearly.

Read the whole thing at the link.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Regardless of who appointed them, FISA Judges are a joke. They rubber stamp everything. They do under Trump, they did under Obama, they did under Bush. It's a fucking joke. FISA should be repealed and all of these judges should have to actually practice the law.

Feds announce indictments of Russian nationals for attempting to influence U.S. elections. The 37-page indictment is here .

Here is Rod Rosenstein\'s announcement.

And here is President Trump's tweet in response:



Onward and upward,
airforce

Ya know...

If anyone decided who to vote for based on what some anonymous "person" on fakebook told them..they really are a special kind of stupid.

And if the American people are that gullible we deserve to have our election hacked.

There is no way the Russians influenced the election...

But, the democrap party and their corrupt candidate for damn sure colluded with the Obama administration and the Russians to steal the election.

The public should be demanding that their sorry asses be thrown in prison.

Csc when it comes right down to it. From what I see. You have 3 different groups of americans.
Thoughs who see the wrong doings point them out,and offer solutions which is small.
Thoughs who do the wrong doings.
Then the masses who either don't care or don't want to know.
In a democracy the masses are easy to control so long as the wrong doers tell them what they want to hear. Along with all of the freebies and no responsibilities.

Russia on Mueller Indictment: All �Blather� Until Election Meddling Facts Come Out

�If they want to see the devil, let them�

RT - February 17, 2018

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has again dismissed claims of Russian meddling in the US election, saying that until facts are presented by Washington, they are nothing but �blather.�

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, he said that �Until we see facts, everything else will be just blather.� When asked to comment on the indictment of Russian nationals and companies in the US over alleged meddling in the 2016 US election, the foreign minister answered:�You know, I have no reaction at all because one can publish anything he wants. We see how accusations, statements, statements are multiplying.�

On Friday, a US federal grand jury indicted 13 Russian nationals and three entities accused of interfering in the 2016 election and political processes. According to the indictment, those people were �supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump� and disparaging Hillary Clinton� as they staged political rallies and bought political advertising, while posing as grassroots entities.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova ridiculed the indictment, noting that 13 people could hardly have caused any real interference.

�13 against billions budgets of special agencies? Against intelligence and counterespionage, against the newest technologies? Absurd? � Yes,� she wrote on Facebook.

Russian businessman Evgeny Prigozhin, who was among those indicted, also weighed in. Describing Americans as �emotional people,� he said that there was no reason to be �upset.�

�If they want to see the devil, let them,� Prigozhin told RIA Novosti.

Even US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had to admit that there were �no allegations� that this �information warfare� yielded any results and affected the outcome of the presidential election.

The underwhelming indictment was also slammed in the US. Virginia State Senator Richard Black accused FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller of deliberately dragging out the Russian meddling probe for his own gain.

�To a certain extent, I think, Robert Muller is struggling to keep alive his position of a special counsel. The special counsel has already earned seven million dollars. When you become a special counsel, you have an open checkbook for the US Treasury and you are guaranteed to become a mega-millionaire if you simply can drag out the proceedings,� Black told RT.

The indictment described the methods used by the defendants to meddle in the election, with some of them looking rather weird and naive. It said that, among other things, the perpetrators asked a US citizen to build a cage for someone to stand in dressed as Hillary Clinton in a prison uniform. The meddlers were also said to have used social media hashtags like #Trump2016 and #Hillary4Prison, and posted �derogatory information� about Clinton and other candidates online. The indictment did not provide the actual content of the comments.

Social media users also found the results of the Mueller probe quite odd, pointing out that there was no way that 13 people could have had any effect on the election. Some argue that the FBI should have put more effort into preventing mass shootings.

FBI be busy chasing #13Russians and texting lovers but no time to prevent tragedies with warning signs like Las Vegas and Nicolas cruz, when warned months before.

FBI was weaponized by Obama admin and actively tried to tamper elections.

Why do we have an FBI again?

� PinkAboutIt 🇺🇸 (@Pink_About_it) February 16, 2018

Andrey Krutskikh, the special presidential representative for international cooperation in information security, has also criticized the indictment, calling it a �childish� move. �As for those lists, it�s a new trend in bad American diplomacy: instead of discussing the pressing issues of stabilization and security in the information space, they come up with some sort of accusations against individuals, organizations. This is typical of the US. It�s surprising that they still don�t understand that this method is completely ineffective,� Krutskikh told RIA-Novosti.

Despite the lack of significant proof, the accusations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election remain a hot topic in Washington, contributing largely to the worst deterioration in Russian-American relations since the Cold War. The US has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia, targeting private individuals, companies, and whole sectors of the economy.

Facebook Ad VP: MSM Ignoring Facts About Russian Ad Spending For Election

�Very few outlets have covered it because it doesn�t align with main media narrative of Trump and the election,� he says

Infowars.com - February 17, 2018


Most of Russia�s ad spending happened after the election, but that fact doesn�t support the mainstream media�s narrative of collusion with Trump, says Facebook�s Vice President of Ad Products Rob Goldman.

�The majority of the Russian ad spend happened AFTER the election,� Goldman tweeted Friday. �We shared that fact, but very few outlets have covered it because it doesn�t align with the main media narrative of Trump and the election.�


�Most of the coverage of the Russian meddling involves their attempt to effect the outcome of the 2016 US election. I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was NOT the main goal.�


President Trump retweeted Goldman�s statements Saturday.

�The Fake News Media never fails. Hard to ignore this face from the Vice President of Facebook Ads, Rob Goldman!� he tweeted.

�I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.�
Rob Goldman
Vice President of Facebook Ads https://t.co/A5ft7cGJkE

� Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2018

FBI Special Counsel Mueller�s indictment of 13 Russians for �defrauding� the US since 2014 also suggests no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, but rather a concerted disinformation effort meant to sow discord in US domestic politics.

The revelations spurred Trump to further dig into the corporate media once again.

�Funny how the Fake News Media doesn�t want to say that the Russian group was formed in 2014, long before my run for President. Maybe they knew I was going to run even though I didn�t know!�

Ex-CIA operative says US has long meddled in elections, but it�s OK since they are �god cops�

�If you ask an intelligence officer, did the Russians break the rules or do something bizarre, the answer is no, not at all�

RT - February 18, 2018

As Democrats indict Russians over �election meddling,� former CIA officers say the US has been interfering in foreign elections for decades and �hopefully� will keep doing so because it has the moral high ground.

In an article published in the New York Times on Saturday, former CIA officers and several researchers, who have been studying covert US intelligence operations for years, say that the while methods allegedly used by Russians to meddle into the US elections might slightly differ from the old school CIA operations overseas, there is nothing in the allegations against Russians that Americans haven�t done themselves.

�If you ask an intelligence officer, did the Russians break the rules or do something bizarre, the answer is no, not at all,� retired CIA veteran Steven Hall told NYT�s Scott Shane.

Hall, who left his job as CIA Chief of Russian Operations in 2015 after 30 years of service, noted that the US has never shunned attempting to meddle in other countries� elections.

Saying that the CIA had �absolutely� engaged in such operations in the past, Hall added that he hopes �we keep doing it.�

Thirteen Russian nationals and three entities were indicted on Friday as part of the special FBI counsel Robert Mueller�s lingering probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections, and collusion between Moscow and US President Donald Trump�s campaign. As proof to support either of the two allegations is still scant, the Russians listed in the indictment were accused of waging �information warfare against the United States of America,� including by sowing discord on social media with �divisive� posts on Facebook and Twitter.

While the social media boom is a recent phenomenon, the US intelligence has a long record of weaponizing information, albeit in a more conventional form, Loch Johnson, a scholar at the University of Georgia, who has been investigating the CIA since the 1970s, told the Times.

�We�ve used posters, pamphlets, mailers, banners � you name it. We�ve planted false information in foreign newspapers. We�ve used what the British call �King George�s cavalry�: suitcases of cash,� Johnson said, recounting that in the late 1980s he was told by CIA operatives that they used to plant reports that fit the US agenda or bluntly fake news in foreign newspapers by the dozen. The number of such daily �insertions� ran in as many as 70 to 80 publications, he recounted.

But when the US does it, it�s for the greater good, the scholar and the CIA officers claim.

Likening the American operations to what Russia is accused of, �is like saying cops and bad guys are the same because they both have guns � the motivation matters,� Hall said. Because, just like the bloody wars the US is waging around the world, it is being done for the sake of democracy.

Contrary to the supposed Russian onslaught on the American democracy, which, according to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, did not affect the outcome of the presidential elections, some US meddling did lead to actual changes of power across Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

According to a survey by Researcher Dov Levin of Carnegie Mellon University�s Institute for Politics and Strategy, the US meddled in elections at least 81 times from 1946 to 2000, including in Yugoslavia in the 2000 against Slobodan Milosevic.

The number, however, does not include the military coups orchestrated by the US, or regime changes as a result of the US interventions, some of which had precious little to do with democracy, such as the rise of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet after the violent overthrow of President Salvador Allende in 1973. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the US did not give up on its interventionist policy. The most recent examples include the US-led NATO intervention in Libya that brought down strongman Muammar Gaddafi, but failed to deliver a semblance of democracy. The war-ravaged country is being torn between three different power centers seven years after the military incursion.

The US role in the coup in Ukraine, which paved way for bloodshed in the country�s east, has been widely reported. Last year, former US Vice President Joe Biden admitted in his memoir that he demanded former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich resign in 2014, telling him that his �time was over.�

Biden also boasted that he played a part in the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor during a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk in March 2016.

It's about time someone brought this up. And maybe they should talk about how Britain helped reelect Roosevelt back in 1940.

Onward and upward,
airforce

This goes beyond criminal.

Disgraced FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe altered his summary of Mike Flynn interview

By Pamela Geller - on February 18, 2018

It has always been painfully obvious that disgraced FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe didn�t resign over text-gate or �Trump and Republican criticism�. Now it all makes sense. Former Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Andrew McCabe altered far left FBI investigator Peter Strzok�s notes on his interview with General Michael Flynn. And then McCabe destroyed the evidence.

Huge scoop. Like my other big stories (Susan Rice, security clearances, Conyers) will take media a long time to confirm.

You know how Peter Strzok's system didn't back up.

You know why?

McCabe altered his 302 of the Flynn interview, and deleted all history of revisions.

� Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) February 19, 2018

FYI: A FD-302 form is used by FBI agents to �report or summarize the interviews that they conduct� and contains information from the notes taken during the interview by the non-primary agent. It consists of information taken from the subject, rather than details about the subject themselves.

Translate:

FBI agents take notes during an interview � these summaries are put on a form numbered FD-302. The agent who interviewed Flynn did not think Flynn lied. McCabe altered the agent's form 302, fabricating what Flynn had said, to secure a guilty plea for Mueller. https://t.co/mS8lbm4xCu

� Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) February 19, 2018

The FBI cannot provide a *clean* history of revisions for the 302 interview with General Flynn.

That's why Judge Emmett Sullivan, who is very tough on unethical prosecutors, had ordered the Special Counsel to disclose exculpatory evidence, which would include these revisions.

� Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) February 19, 2018

The IG knows McCabe changed Peter Strzok 302 / notes with General Flynn.

Yet issuing a report to this effect would call thousands of FBI investigations into question.

It's full on freak-out mode, as no one know how to spin this.

� Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) February 19, 2018

Why did a federal judge order Muller to disclose exculpatory evidence AFTER Flynn pled guilty?

Do you know how unusual this is? Flynn waived the right to exculpatory evidence in his plea deal.

That's because the 302 was altered, and everyone knows it.

� Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) February 19, 2018

Who is Judge Emmett Sullivan?

*This* is Judge Sullivan:

"A federal judge took the extraordinary step of naming a special prosecutor to investigate whether the government lawyers should themselves be prosecuted for criminal wrongdoing."https://t.co/sf4iN6BC5Z

� Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) February 19, 2018

"2 Prosecutors in Case of Senator Ted Stevens Are Suspended"

Who was the judge who demanded they be investigated � which almost never happens, as federal judges are boot lickers for DOJ?

The same judge assigned to Flynn's case. Judge Sullivan.https://t.co/lCdO5a3wAn

� Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) February 19, 2018

Freeper:

There has been rumors �independently� from Sara Carter and others that FD-302s May have been altered and she pointed out it may be McCabe that told others to do it. This was heard right on the day he stepped down. They didn�t say to whom they were altered against if it was true but this possibly lines up with this! If true then Flynn plea will be rescinded and charges dropped and possibly Mueller team will be in trouble if they KNEW that these 302s were changed and didn�t informed Flynn until they were forced to by the new judge, Sullivan

Conservative Trrehouse:

← Corrupt FBI Officials Fight Back Against Intelligence Oversight Memo�
House Intelligence Committee Releases Transcript of Monday Night �Memo Meeting�� →
Robert Mueller Requests Postponement of General Mike Flynn Sentencing�
Posted on January 31, 2018 by sundance

Against a newly discovered likelihood the Robert Mueller investigation began under false pretenses; and against the backdrop that FBI surveillance and wiretaps were obtained through materially (intentionally) false representations to the FISA court; and against the backdrop the original Flynn plea judge (Contrereas) was also the approving FISA judge; and that judge �was summarily recused� from the case; and against increasing evidence that Mike Flynn was set up by a terminal animus, and politically-motivated investigative rogue unit, operating within the FBI; and against surfacing IG Horowitz evidence that FBI investigators manipulated (lied on) their FD-302 interrogation documents; and understanding those falsified 302�s were used in the Mueller/Flynn charging document�

�Special Counsel Robert Mueller now asks for postponement of sentencing:

[img]https://theconservativetreehouse.fi...eller-flynn-postponement.jpg?w=640&h=778[/img]

(pdf link)

Both parties did not �request� a postponement; both parties �agreed� to a postponement. The motive for the request (Mueller) is entirely divergent from, yet complimentary to, the motive to agree to the request (Flynn).

This is all beginning to go backwards.

It is not coincidental that Brandon L Van Grack is the signatory to the delay request by Special Counsel Robert Mueller�s request to the new Judge, Emmet G Sullivan.

If, as has been reported, Inspector General Michael Horowitz now has evidence the FBI manipulated their FD-302 (interrogation and questioning) documents, as also admitted by FBI agent Peter Strzok in related matters regarding Clinton�

[img]https://theconservativetreehouse.fi...trzok-text-sept-10-20161.jpg?w=640&h=366[/img]

�. and those manipulated or falsified FBI 302�s (containing FBI investigative notes of Michael Flynn�s questioning during the January 2017 interview), were used in the actual Flynn charging documents.

Well, then the underlying evidence presented to the initial judge, Ruben Contreras, in the December 1st plea hearing, were materially misrepresented.

With the IG exposing falsified and manipulative investigative practices by the FBI, Mueller would have no alternative but to throw the brakes on. This whole thing is turning into a sh*t-show of epic proportions. EARLIER WE DISCUSSED

The Robert Mueller lawyer, the Special Counsel attorney that signed General Flynn�s Statement of Offense filed in U.S, District Court 12/1/2017 was �Brandon L Van Grack�. [See page #5]




When Trump transition team lawyer Kory Langhofer (Trump for America transition organization) contacted the special counsels office about the illegal and unethical way they retrieved transition team emails from the GSA. Who was he put in contact with?



t was Brandon L Van Grack who was in communication w/ the Trump for America transition organization; and, according to the documents on this topic (attached), misrepresented (ie. lied about) the Special Counsel access to the GSA emails on 12/12/2017. (Pdf Link)

Questions: A) What reason would Van Grack have for taking the call from the transition attorney in the first place? and then, B) what reason would he have for lying about the information that was requested?

It is my belief, based on mounting evidence, a specific cast of characters -within the Mueller �Russia Election Interference� probe- were placed there to protect the people behind the FBI�s 2016 counterintelligence operation against Trump.

I suspect the same FBI and DOJ �small group�, the team who worked diligently to ensure Hillary Clinton was never found culpable in the 2015/2016 email investigation, later worked on the 2016 Trump counterintelligence operation (FISA wiretapping surveillance etc).

That same �small group� within the FBI and DOJ were then given the task in 2017 of covering both prior operations: A) *Clear Hillary Clinton, and B) *Counterintel op on Trump.

To cover, cloud and protect the DOJ and FBI officials engaged in both operations, the �small group� is now assembled within Robert Mueller�s Special Counsel team.

Inside Mueller�s crew, the �small group� essentially works to watch over what information the Trump officials or congress could possibly be discovering�. under the auspices of investigating �Muh Russia� etc.

If the �small group� comes across a risky trail being followed, they work to impede, block, delay or deflect anyone from that trail.

That�s why the Special Counsel attorney that signed General Flynn�s Statement of Offense filed Dec. 1, 2017, was the same attorney who responded to the Trump transition team inquiry. Brandon L Van Grack.

This �small group� are essentially career DOJ and FBI staff lawyers behind and beside the visible names we have recently become aware of: Peter Strzok, Bruce Ohr, Lisa Page, Bill Priestap, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates, James Baker etc.

[img]https://theconservativetreehouse.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/the-scheme-3.jpg?w=640&h=465[/img]

Former CIA director says America on...'t keep a straight face while saying it.

You can watch the 30-second video here .

Onward and upward,
airforce

Here is the text of the Democratic 10-page memo. With the redactions, it's considerably less than ten pages.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Report: Sessions May Fire FBI Deputy McCabe Days Before Retirement

Clinton crony forced out of FBI following release of FISA abuse memo

Jamie White | Infowars.com - March 14, 2018

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is considering firing FBI Deputy Director and Clinton ally Andrew McCabe, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The FBI�s Office of Professional Responsibility has recommended to Sessions that McCabe be fired, stemming from a Justice Department watchdog report claiming he misled investigators on aspects of the Clinton Foundation investigation and Hillary Clinton�s email server probe.

�The Department follows a prescribed process by which an employee may be terminated. That process includes recommendations from career employees and no termination decision is final until the conclusion of that process. We have no personnel announcements at this time,� Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement.

The move could come just days before McCabe is set to retire on March 18, which poses a danger to his pension as a 21-year veteran to the bureau.

FBI Director Christopher Wray abruptly removed McCabe from the bureau after reading the 4-page �Nunes memo,� which details how the FBI failed to disclose to a FISA court judge that the debunked Steele dossier was paid for by the Clinton campaign when seeking a search warrant for Trump campaign associate Carter Page.

President Trump criticized McCabe and the rest of the FBI leadership following the revelations last month.

�The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans � something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!� he tweeted in February.

The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans � something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!

� Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2018

McCabe�s political bias surfaced in December when FBI investigators Peter Strzok and mistress Lisa Page suggested McCabe was aware that the Russia investigation was more of an �insurance policy� meant to derail Trump should he actually win the presidency.

But McCabe�s bias was already known when reports emerged last May showing a Clinton-connected Super PAC gave his wife $700,000 for her Virginia state Senate race in 2015.

�How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin� James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife�s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?� he tweeted last year.

How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin� James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife�s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?

� Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017

And not a moment too soon.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Word just in...Fionia Hill and McMaster are next.

They were talking about McMaster getting fired pretty much the day after he was hired.

I'm still getting my mind around why Larry Kudlow was hired. He's even more of a free trader that was Gary Cohn, the guy he's replacing.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Ex-FBI Asst. Director Says Upcoming Inspector General Report Is �Pure TNT�

The Inspector General�s report is thought to include evidence of outgoing Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe ordering agents to alter �302� forms

Zero Hedge - March 17, 2018

Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker said today that a highly anticipated report from the DOJ�s Inspector General Michael Horowitz will contain �some pure TNT.� Horowitz has been investigating the conduct of the FBI�s top brass surrounding the 2016 election for over a year. He also uncovered over 50,000 text messages between two anti-Trump / pro-Clinton FBI employees directly involved in the exoneration of Clinton and the counterintelligence operation launched against the Trump campaign.

Swecker: �The behavior if it�s manifested in the action with your thumb on the scale of a particular investigation, one way or the other, that�s borderline criminal behavior � manipulating an investigation. I think this IG report is going to be particularly impactful, more so than any of these useless congressional investigations. I think you�re going to see some pure TNT come out in this IG report.�

Ex-FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker puts Comey & McCabe on notice: 'Some pure TNT' will come out in the Inspector General report. pic.twitter.com/QdS3WkiTJ7

� Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) March 16, 2018

The Inspector General�s report is thought to include evidence of outgoing Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe ordering agents to alter �302� forms � the paperwork an agent files after interviewing someone.

Horowitz is also reportedly homing in on McCabe�s handling of the Anthony Weiner laptop after reports emerged that he wanted to avoid taking action on the FBI�s findings until after the 2016 election.

The inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, has been asking witnesses why FBI leadership seemed unwilling to move forward on the examination of emails found on the laptop of former congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)until late October � about three weeks after first being alerted to the issue, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. A key question of the internal investigation is whether McCabe or anyone else at the FBI wanted to avoid taking action on the laptop findings until after the Nov. 8 election, these people said. It is unclear whether the inspector general has reached any conclusions on that point. �WaPo

In January, Fox�s Sean Hannity sat down with journalist Sara Carter � who shed light on the McCabe situation, saying that FBI Director Christopher Wray was �shocked to his core� after reading the GOP-authored �FISA� memo describing FBI malfeasance surrounding the 2016 U.S. election:

Carter: What we know tonight is that FBI Director Christopher Wray went Sunday and reviewed the four-page FISA memo. The very next day, Andrew McCabe was asked to resign. Remember Sean, he was planning on resigning in March � that already came out in December. This time they asked him to go right away. You�re not coming into the office. I�ve heard rep[orts he didn�t even come in for the morning meeting � that he didn�t show up.

Hannity: A source of mine told me tonight that when Wray read this, it shocked him to his core.

Sara Carter: Shocked him to his core, and not only that, the Inspector General�s report � I have been told tonight by a number of sources, there�s indicators right now that McCabe may have asked FBI agents to actually change their 302�s � those are their interviews with witnesses. So basically every time an FBI agent interviews a witness, they have to go back and file a report.

Hannity: Changes? So that would be obstruction of justice?

Carter: Exactly. This is something the Inspector General is investigating. If this is true and not alleged, McCabe will be fired. I heard they are considering firing him within the next few days if this turns out to be true.

Meanwhile, several Republican Senators are asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to order a special counsel to probe the FBI�s conduct during its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election � including the use of the �Steele dossier� in seeking a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant against former Trump Campaign advisor Carter Page. The letter marks the second formal request by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The request comes amid controversy over Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe�s pension � which is in jeopardy after the Department of Justice�s internal watchdog found enough evidence of malfeasance to recommend firing McCabe immediately.

The letter also notes that Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who they have the �utmost confidence� in, �does not have the tools that a prosecutor would to gather all the facts, such as the ability to obtain testimony from essential witnesses who are not current DOJ employees.�

Senators Chuck Grassley Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Thom Tillis (N.C.) and John Cornyn (Texas), signed a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions as well as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to name a special counsel who can �gather all the facts.�

�We believe that a special counsel is needed to work with the Inspector General to independently gather the facts and make prosecutorial decisions, if any are merited. The Justice Department cannot credibly investigate itself without these enhanced measures of independence,� wrote the senators.

See the letter below, and click on the tweet for more background on the ongoing investigation from Nick Short of the Security Studies Group.

https://twitter.com/PoliticalShort/status/974395652992937989

As Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller points out, the letter also �broke a bit of news�:

It reveals that Bruce Ohr, the former deputy assistant attorney general, was interviewed 12 separate times by the FBI in 2016 and 2017.

Ohr was in contact with Steele prior to the 2016 election. And shortly after the election, Ohr was in contact with Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that hired Steele to investigate Trump.

Ohr�s wife, a Russia expert named Nellie Ohr, also happened to be working as a contractor for Fusion GPS for its Trump investigation.

Senate Judiciary Republicans want to know whether the FBI and DOJ were aware of that relationship.

The committee letter lists all of Ohr�s FBI interviews, which were summarized on what�s known as a FD-302 document. The first interview with Ohr was conducted on November, 22, 2016. The most recent occurred on May 15, 2017. �Daily Caller

The DOJ�s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) announced in January that it was opening a probe of the FBI�s handling of the Clinton email investigation. Meanwhile, Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked the OIG to explore whether FBI officials abused their authority when they used an unverified and salacious dossier from Fusion GPS to obtain a FISA warrant on Carter Page.

That said, Sessions has resisted repeated calls for a second Special Counsel.

Graham and Grassley also asked the OIG to look into the FBI�s conduct while handling the Russia probe, writing in a February letter:

�We respectfully request that you conduct a comprehensive review of potential improper political influence, misconduct, or mismanagement in the conduct of the counterintelligence and criminal investigations related to Russia and individuals associated with (1) the Trump campaign, (2) the Presidential transition, or (3) the administration prior to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.�

The Senators also noted in their Thursday letter that if the DOJ declines to appoint a second special counsel, they want �a detailed reply explaining why not.�

Trump Slams �Sanctimonious Comey� After Sessions Fires FBI�s McCabe A Day Before Retirement

Perhaps this means Trump will lay off the constant trolling of Sessions for a while?

Zero Hedge - March 17, 2018
Update: President Trump tweets that McCabe�s firing �is a great day for the hard working men and women of The FBI� and democracy,� then lashes out at �sanctimonious� former FBI Director Comey�s �lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI� indicating that his actions made McCabe �look like a choirboy.�

Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI � A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!

� Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018

Perhaps this means Trump will lay off the constant trolling of Sessions for a while?

* * *

As we detailed earlier, after a long day of what seemed like the swamp protecting one of their dirtiest creatures, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, just over 24 hours before he was set to retire and claim his full pension benefits.

McCabe turns 50 on Sunday � the earliest he would have been eligible for his full retirement benefits.

Sessions noted that both the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz as well as the FBI�s disciplinary office had found �that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor � including under oath � on multiple occasions.�

So, McCabe was involved in leaks and he lied under oath.

Horowitz found that McCabe had authorized two FBI officials to talk to then-Wall Street Journal reporter Devlin Barrett for a story about the case and another investigation into Clinton�s family foundation. Barrett now works for The Washington Post. �WaPo

�I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately,� said Sessions, who said he based his decision on the findings.

While the move will probably cost McCabe a significant portion of his retirement benefits, he could challenge it in court.

Former FBI officials tell CNN that McCabe could also lose out on future health care coverage in his retirement, but the �most significant �damage� to a separated FBI employee is: loss of lifetime medical benefits for self and family,� tweeted CNN law enforcement analyst James A. Gagliano, a retired FBI supervisory special agent.

On Thursday he spent almost four hours at the DOJ to beg for his full retirement.

Full statement from AG Sessions:

The FBI�s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor � including under oath � on multiple occasions.

The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability. As the OPR proposal stated, �all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that our integrity is our brand.�

Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department�s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately.

McCabe responded to his ouster, saying that his firing, along with negative comments by President Trump were meant to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller�s investigation, reported the New York Times.

�The idea that I was dishonest is just wrong,� said McCabe, adding, �This is part of an effort to discredit me as a witness.�

Mr. McCabe was among the first at the F.B.I. to scrutinize possible Trump campaign ties to Russia. And he is a potential witness to the question of whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct justice. Mr. Trump has taunted Mr. McCabe both publicly and privately, and Republican allies have cast him as the center of a �deep state� effort to undermine the Trump presidency. �NYT

While McCabe�s firing is directly related to the disclosure of sensitive information to the media about the Clinton email investigation, the former Deputy Director took a leave of absence in January amid a heated controversy over the FBI�s conduct surrounding the 2016 election.

In December, The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has discovered that edits made to former FBI Director James Comey�s statement exonerating Hillary Clinton for transmitting classified info over an unsecured, private email server went far beyond what was previously known � as special agents operating under McCabe changed various language which effectively decriminalized Clinton�s behavior.

McCabe�s team also conducted a counterintelligence operation to investigate the Trump campaign, in which they used an unverified dossier and were not forthright with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) over its political origins, in violation of FBI policy.

As revelations of FBI misconduct spiraled out of control last year, President Trump noted that McCabe was �racing the clock to retire with full benefits.�

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!

� Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017

On Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said �We do think that it is well documented that he has had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts a bad actor.�

While �background conversations with reporters are commonplace in Washington,� notes the Washington Post, �McCabe�s authorizing such a talk was viewed as inappropriate because the matter being discussed was an ongoing criminal investigation.�

One wonders how long before McCabe writes his multi-million-dollar �tell-all� book� or when he will start his new job? We hear the offers are pouring in�

Congrats to Andrew McCabe on his new job at CNN!

� Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) March 17, 2018

McCabe Bailout: Dems Launch Dozens of GoFundMe Campaigns

Lying under oath doesn�t mean much to the left

Zero Hedge - March 18, 2018

Despite being fired for lying under oath and leaking to the press in a manner that �lacked candor,� former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has received an outpouring of support from the left.

In addition to Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) offering him a temporary job so he can receive his full retirement benefits, dozens of people have set up GoFundMe accounts, which have already raised tens of thousands of dollars.

Some have expressed surprise that the same people who have long railed against �the man� are so overwrought that an FBI Official � who was found corrupt in an IG investigation demanded by Democrats that and that was directed by an Obama IG appointee � was fired by an administration they don�t like, that they�ve put the closest thing to �Agent Smith� on a pedestal and are now giving him money.

So far 39 GoFundMe donation campaigns have been set up for the former Deputy Director who�s now left with a reduced pension.

Seriously, 39 people are starting a gofundme acct for Andrew McCabe�how funny.😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/0Ctvku6fIe

� DocG👍😎👌BasedAlpha (@GLBarricelli2) March 17, 2018

Chicago resident �Ethan,� for example, who describes himself as a �volunteer� set up a campaign for $75,000 despite not knowing much about McCabe�s pension.

�If President Trump and AG Sessions fire Andrew McCabe before he retires, it will be an insult to every civil servant in the country,� Ethan writes. �I have no idea if this is even close to what Mr. McCabe�s pension would be, but we need to start somewhere and show our support!�

So far Ethan the campaign has taken in $1,961 of its $75,000 goal.

Meanwhile, McCabe isn�t �losing his pension.� While the Friday termination will impact him financially to some degree, the most significant impact is that he doesn�t get to start taking it for another seven years, and he will likely lose his lifetime medical benefits for he and his wife.

Considering McCabe�s number of years at the agency and estimations of his high-level pay grade, formulas published by the US Office of Personnel Management for law enforcement officers show that his yearly payout could hit in the area of $60,000 each year, if McCabe were to retire after his birthday on Sunday.

If he were to be fired before Sunday, it appears likely McCabe could be docked his pension until he hits another, later age milestone.

Experts disagree � and caution that predicting payouts is complicated given the complex federal system and each individual�s personal career particularities � but, per federal rules, McCabe may not be able to draw an annuity until a date ranging just shy of his 57th birthday, and as late as his 62nd. That could put the value of his uncollected pension in the realm of a half-million dollars. -CNN

Furthermore, McCabe can earn his full pension if he�s employed in any federal position for just another day or so.

One suggestion from a McCabe supporter: if a friendly member of Congress hired him for a week he could possibly qualify for pension benefits by extending his service the extra days

� Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) March 17, 2018

Would be happy to consider this. The Sixth District of MA would benefit from the wisdom and talent of such an experienced public servant. https://t.co/ynQWhdzQpC

� Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) March 17, 2018

With those 20 years, he would need to just go to work with the federal government for another day or so in any job he pleases, whether that�s as a election security analyst for a Wisconsin congressman or a typist for a day, to get full benefits, said the former official who spoke to The Fix. The job doesn�t matter so much as the fact that he�s working within the federal government with the same retirement benefits until or after his 50th birthday. (Though this former official stressed that it would probably look more ethical if McCabe worked for at least a pay period rather than just one day.) -WaPo

Ironically, nobody knows just yet the full extent of McCabe�s malfeasance which the DOJ�s Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility recommended firing him over. Once the full OIG report is published, those offering McCabe jobs may need GoFundMe campaigns of their own.

Fools and their money are soon parted.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Former assistant FBI director: High-ranking people throughout the government had a plot to protect Hillary Clinton from being indicted

by Mandy Mayfield | March 18, 2018


Former assistant FBI director James Kallstrom suggested Sunday morning that the constant shifting of high-ranking government officials over the last year is related to an internal plot to help Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election.

"I think we have ample facts revealed to us during this last year and a half that high-ranking people throughout government, not just the FBI, high-ranking people had a plot to not have Hillary Clinton, you know, indicted," Kallstrom said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo."

Kallstrom, who worked at the FBI for 27 years, was responding to Bartiromo's question about whether he thought that someone in the FBI was directing officials to protect Clinton.

"Do you think somebody was directing them or do you think they just came to the conclusion on their own, this leadership at the FBI and the Department of Justice, that they wanted to change the outcome of the election?" Bartiromo asked.

Kallstrom also said officials had a scheme to blame Trump for the Russian interference during the 2016 election.

"They had a backup plan to basically frame Donald Trump and that's what's been going," Kallstrom said.

The Reckoning of the FBI Has Begun

Friday's firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, based on a report from the Office of Professional Responsibility, is only the beginning of what is likely to be the most explosive series of revelations in American history.

Forget Watergate. It will be the distant past once the inspector general's reports�there apparently will be more than one�start to come out. This will be the "Gate of Gates."

From the FBI and across the intelligence agencies an astonishing number of people are going to find themselves accused, one can safely predict at this point, of some atrocious behavior in a free republic. And it will not just be the small change of Peter Strzok (the dimwitted director of counter-intelligence) and his gal pal Lisa Page. It will include�on one level or another�James Comey, Loretta Lynch, John Brennan, James Clapper, Susan Rice and, almost inevitably, Barack Obama, not to mention others known and unknown.

All these people's reputations will be damaged forever for the pathetic purpose of getting Hillary Clinton elected president and later for their determination to manipulate the FBI and intelligence agencies to wound as severely as possible Trump's presidency. That they didn't stop to think that they might be wounding America at the same time is extraordinarily selfish and nauseating.

Further, that a Russia collusion investigation was employed by these people for their nefarious purposes is darkly ironic because their technique itself reeks of Stalin's NKVD.

In the case of Mike Flynn particularly, they worked under the famous dictum of Comrade Beria: "Show me the man and I'll show you the crime."

This is, however, a great day for our country since so many of our citizens have lost confidence in the FBI. This can be the beginning of a new and better FBI.

Democrats, who are all over Twitter at the moment defending McCabe, are making a huge mistake. They will be embarrassed when the details come out. The Office of Professional Responsibility is not a partisan adjunct of the Republican Party or anything close. Furthermore, it was the Democratic Party that called for the inspector general to investigate. He was appointed by Obama. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for.

The same goes for the Democrats' determined and ever-loyal media allies. It is time for them to think twice. The press, of all people, should want the government to be accountable to the citizenry. That's supposedly their job. They should also want organizations like the FBI to be unbiased. Given what has happened in the past few years, however, even tyng those sentences seems laughable. But we are at a turning point. Who knows? Even some of the media may wake up. A large number of facts will be appearing shortly that they will have to digest, facts that will not be especially easy to sn. We shall see how they respond.

The real draining of the Swamp has finally begun. Jeff Sessions may have quietly been engineering it in ways his critics, even Trump himself, didn't realize. It is time for every concerned citizen to keep up the pressure. At moments like this, it's easy to be cynical and think, oh, this is a good moment, but it will go back to business as usual soon. By thinking that way, you become part of the part of the problem. Don't. Act.

The firing of McCabe isbig news, because we don\'t often see a tyrant fall.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Special counsel in every way but name

By Jeff Mordock - The Washington Times - Sunday, April 1, 2018

Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have declined calls to appoint a second special counsel to investigate the FBI�s behavior during the 2016 campaign, but the man he has picked to lead an internal Justice Department review is a special counsel in every way but name.

John W. Huber, the U.S. attorney in Utah, can convene a grand jury, issue subpoenas, collect evidence and order witnesses to testify � all the usual powers a federal prosecutor has � as he delves into whether the FBI abused its powers when it sought permission and then carried out wiretapping of a Trump campaign figure, or whether it trod too lightly in pursuing questions about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Mr. Sessions said the facts of the FBI situation don�t yet rise to the level of demanding a special counsel, but Mr. Huber is as close as can be.

�He will have the full authority of a federal prosecutor,� said Richard Painter, former chief ethics attorney for President George W. Bush. �If he looks at this and finds someone in the DOJ lied to a government official, he would be able to convene a grand jury, compel testimony and even prosecute them.�

By appointing an active federal prosecutor � in this case one first nominated by President Obama and kept on by President Trump � Mr. Sessions also may deflect criticism that the review is a partisan attempt to undermine the other special counsel, Robert Mueller, who is investigating the Trump campaign�s interactions with Russia in 2016.

Paul G. Cassell, a former federal judge who has known Mr. Huber since law school, said asking an acting U.S. attorney to lead the investigation is a good move because it may tamp down on excesses.

�When you have a special counsel, you always have to wonder if there is overzealousness in their prosecution because they only have one case,� he said. �Huber is going to be less inclined to move forward with prosecution unless it�s warranted because if he moves one case forward, others will be left behind.�

Questions remain about how Mr. Huber will operate. The Justice Department declined to comment on whether he will have a budget or appoint a team like Mr. Mueller. It also would not discuss how Mr. Huber�s probe would work with other active investigations, including Mr. Mueller�s.

�If he starts digging into the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] warrant, for example, he may find something really ugly,� Mr. Painter said. �But some of that may need to be handed over to Mueller.�

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has launched an investigation similar to Mr. Huber�s. It is not clear, however, if Mr. Horowitz�s reach can compel testimony from key players who are no longer in the federal government, such as former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

Mr. Sessions fired Mr. McCabe last month on charges of misleading investigators looking into whether the bureau slow-walked its investigation into Mrs. Clinton�s exclusive use of a private email server as secretary of state.

Mr. Huber is said to have the power to force testimony from people who have exited the government.

Some Republicans who have demanded a second special counsel expressed support for Mr. Huber. Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Mr. Huber�s home state of Utah, called him a �capable public servant and a man of great integrity.�

Insider or outsider?

Those who know Mr. Huber describe him as a humble man who flies coach. They also praise his character, fairness and ability to handle high-profile cases.

Whether he is ready for the spotlight of the FBI investigation, though, remains to be seen. He could face accusations of partisanship from Democrats or become a target for Mr. Trump�s Twitter outrage, as have Mr. Sessions, Mr. Mueller and others.

�I don�t think John has anything in his background that gets you ready for something like this,� said former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman of Utah, who spent four years in Washington as chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee and recruited Mr. Huber to the U.S. attorney�s office.

�My time on the Judiciary Committee was high-profile, and it was a rude awakening coming to D.C. from the U.S. attorney�s office, where everything is black-and-white and not bogged down by politics,� Mr. Tolman said.

Others say the fact that Mr. Huber comes into the job encumbered with political baggage will be an asset.

�He�s a real guy, not a phony, and that is so important in Washington,� said Tom Gorman, director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, an anti-drug task force that Mr. Huber once chaired. �I know D.C. is different, but he�s very secure in himself and even as U.S. attorney he knows he is going to take a lot of heat from people.�

Mr. Huber has some experience in the Washington spotlight.

Last year, he appeared at a White House press briefing to voice support for two bills that would impose tougher penalties on illegal immigrants. The appearance raised questions for some about the Justice Department�s independence from the White House.

After the White House briefing, Mr. Huber took a leadership position on the Justice Department�s advisory committee of U.S. attorneys, which offers insight and advice to Mr. Sessions. But he was first appointed to that committee by Mr. Obama�s last attorney general, Loretta E. Lynch.

�John has been favorite of Sessions,� Mr. Tolman said. �I�ve never seen a U.S. attorney give a press conference from the White House on a controversial topic before, which John did. This appears to be some effort by Sessions to have someone in the trenches that he considers one of his own.�

Bipartisan support

Mr. Huber has received high marks from Republican and Democratic administrations. In 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft honored him for his work fighting violent crime. In 2010, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. recognized him for his performance as a federal prosecutor.

Appointed as U.S. attorney by Mr. Obama in 2015, Mr. Huber resigned when Mr. Trump took office, as is the custom when there is a turnover in administrations. But Mr. Trump renominated Mr. Huber last year, and the Senate confirmed him for another four years.

A native of Magna, Utah, Mr. Huber got his start prosecuting routine crimes such as domestic violence in Weber County, an area so conservative that Bill Clinton finished fourth there in the 1992 presidential election. As a county prosecutor, Mr. Huber garnered some attention for his success in handling gun crimes at the state and federal level.

That success led to the U.S. attorney�s office, where he continued prosecuting gun cases. Perhaps his most high-profile case was the 2008 prosecution of a man who sold a gun used in a mass shooting at a Salt Lake City shopping mall. The shooting and trial generated national headlines.

�The case was very complicated because it involved the prosecution of an illegal firearm acquisition by the shooter,� Mr. Cassell said. �Huber navigated the issue in a way that brought credit to the office and received nearly universal praise for how it was handled. He showed great concerns for victims.�

During his college days, Mr. Huber played football for legendary University of Utah coach Ron McBride, who taught him to �be the hammer, not the nail,� according to an article in the Salt Lake City Deseret News. His colleagues say he still lives by that motto.

�John is a very ethical man,� Mr. Gorman said. �He won�t be swayed by anything other than doing the right thing. If Sessions picked him, then my hat is off to Sessions.�

Devin Nunes Threatens to Impeach DOJ�s Rod Rosenstein and FBI�s Chris Wray

By Graham Lanktree On 4/11/18

The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee says he is prepared to impeach the head of the FBI and Deputy Attorney General if he doesn�t get a two-page document he says prompted the Russia investigation.

�Just the fact that they're not giving this to us tells me there's something wrong here,� California Republican Representative Devin Nunes told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on the The Ingraham Angle Tuesday night.

�I can tell you that we're not just going to hold in contempt, we will have a plan to hold in contempt and to impeach,� Nunes told Ingraham, who asked what his committee would do to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein if they don�t bow to his demand.

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has been seeking an unredacted version of the document, which marked the beginning and formal basis of the FBI�s investigation of the Trump campaign on allegations it aided Russia�s interference in the 2016 election.

Last August Nunes�s committee subpoenaed the FBI and Justice Department for documents about the investigation and a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele. The dossier contains explosive allegations that the Kremlin has compromising information on President Donald Trump that could be used to blackmail him.

Nunes and other Republicans have argued the unverified dossier was the spark that eventually led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller, whose investigation has resulted in the indictment of several of Trump�s close aides and former officials.

In December, The New York Times reported that it was Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos�who told an Australian diplomat in May 2016 that he was informed Russia had thousands of emails damaging to candidate Hillary Clinton�that prompted American law enforcement to investigate.

Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to an indictment by the probe for lying to investigators and is now cooperating with Mueller. In the indictment, Mueller states Papadopoulos was told about the emails by a Kremlin connected academic in March 2016 and that the two attempted to arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In early 2017 American intelligence agencies issued a report that found Moscow hacked U.S. political parties and conducted a misinformation campaign to influence the election in Trump�s favor.

So far the FBI and DOJ have rebuffed Nunes demands for an unredacted version of the two-page document. In a letter to Nunes early this month, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote his department is working in a �manner consistent with relevant legal precedents.� The two top lawmakers on the committee, Boyd wrote, have been given �numerous in-camera reviews of classified materials.�

�We�re at a boiling point where we need this two-page document,� Nunes told Ingraham Tuesday.

Democratic Representative Ted Lieu wrote on Twitter Tuesday that Nunes�s interview with Ingraham demonstrates how �continual attacks by some extreme Republicans on law enforcement are becoming shameful and wildly out of touch with reality.�

Early this year Nunes ignited controversy when, against the wishes of the FBI, Republicans released an intelligence memo they said showed the FBI improperly spied on former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page. The FBI said in a statement it had �grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo�s accuracy.� Some Republicans on the committee also argued the memo did not vindicate Trump.

"We are going to get the document,� Nunes said Tuesday, indicating he will move to impeach Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Mueller investigation, and Wray if it isn�t delivered.

Early Wednesday Trump attacked Rosenstein by name on Twitter, calling him conflicted and blaming him for authorizing the extension of a foreign intelligence surveillance warrant against Page as part of the Russia investigation. The Associated Press reports Trump has privately considered firing Rosenstein in recent days.

�We are going to get the two pages," Nunes told Ingraham. "So they can either cough them up now or it will get really complicating starting tomorrow night, and we�ll have to take all the necessary steps to get the documents.�

Top FBI Insider Who Quit Over Rigged Hillary Probe Ready to Spill Beans on Comey & Obama to Congress

Bombshell development.

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.

The joint investigation, which is being led by Republican Reps. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, have laid the groundwork for Congress to finally hold the failed Democratic presidential nominee accountable for breaking the law.

True Pundit wrote about Giacalone in September 2016, the first media outlet to detail why he quit the FBI over Comey�s tainted Hillary Clinton probe. From True Pundit before the presidential election in 2016:

Visionary Reads the Tea Leaves

The wheels on the federal investigations started coming loose after the New Year, in January of this year.

John Giacalone was the supervisor of the bureau�s National Security Branch and also the FBI brains and genesis behind the Clinton email and private server investigation. He first approached Comey in 2015 for the green light to probe how the former secretary of state operated her private email server and handled classified correspondences. Rumors had been swirling in intelligence circles. Once approved, Giacalone spearheaded the investigation, and helped hand select top agents who were highly skilled but also discreet. Many of those agents were concerned when Giacalone abruptly resigned in the middle of the investigation.

FBI insiders said Giacalone used the term �sideways� to describe the direction the Clinton probe had taken in the bureau. Giacalone lamented privately he no longer had confidence in the direction the investigation was headed. He felt it was simpler to quietly step aside, walk away instead of fight to keep the investigation on its proper track. Giacalone was a true heavyweight agent at FBI. In fact, he likely should have been running the entire show. His pedigree included running and creating FBI divisions in New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and even serving as deputy commander in the Iraqi theater of operations. But in the midst of the Clinton investigation, Giacalone handed the bureau his retirement papers in Feb.

�John is a strategic thinker. He recognizes patterns and signs and can then see things long before they develop,� a FBI insider said. �Losing him was a major blow. We now know perhaps what he was envisioning. He didn�t want that around his neck.�

Giacalone could not be reached for comment.

In late 2015 through January 2016, Giacalone shared the frustration of many agents who were perturbed about one lingering issue: When was the FBI going to interview Hillary Clinton?

By June, that frustration had reached a boiling point, largely fueled by Giacalone�s resignation months earlier. Frustrated FBI personnel were beginning to question the pace of the case and believed their intelligence gathering and analysis were beyond strong enough for a referral to the Justice Department in early 2016, sources said. Agents were left to wonder if their dogged research would ever see public eyes. There was a fear creeping into the case that perhaps the investigation was being politicized, that FBI and DOJ brass were trying to run out the clock, or �slow-walk� the case, on what should be considered an easily warranted criminal indictment prior to November�s general election.

Suddenly, Giacalone�s retirement in Feb. was starting to make more sense to FBI grunts who didn�t have the seasoning and street smarts of the retired New Yorker to digest the landscape, months prior, of the probe�s downward trajectory

�The window here has almost closed,� a federal law enforcement source told True Pundit in June. �Clinton should have been interviewed months ago. There is no longer enough time to refer it to DOJ, vet the case with AUSA�s (Assistant US Attorney�s), the AG and her staff, prepare the case, call a Grand Jury, and put the case on.�

Officials in June reiterated that all those elements in the legal process, if expedited without delays or legal snags, would put a grand jury decision to indict in late September or October, just weeks before the election.

�Can you imagine the uproar if she was arrested weeks before the election?� a federal law enforcement source said. �There was a window we were shooting for and we could have made it but everything is so slow now. I mean, she hasn�t even been interviewed. It�s incredible.�

The FBI case agents and support personnel are forbidden to �go public� or comment on the record to share their frustrations and dismay because they each signed an unprecedented confidentiality agreement prior to signing onto work the Clinton investigation. Violating that agreement would likely cost them their careers and pensions. Regardless, True Pundit conducted interviews with FBI assets and support personnel who collectively painted a dark insiders� portrait of the Clinton criminal probe which was commissioned to determine how Clinton and her aides handled, maintained, stored and ultimately botched some of the most sensitive information ever breached in the country�s 240-year history. True Pundit�s interviews and intelligence gathering on the Clinton investigation found:

Allegations of pay-for-play involving the Clinton Foundation were not properly vetted, ultimately white washed
FBI agents were blocked from serving search warrants to retrieve key evidence
Attempts to secure Clinton�s medical records to confirm her head injury were sabotaged by FBI Director James Comey
FBI agents were not allowed to interrogate witnesses and targets without warning
Clinton and aides were provided special VIP accommodations during interviews
FBI suspended standard investigative tactics employed in other probes
FBI agents efforts were often blocked, suppressed by FBI, DOJ brass
Agents lost faith that their superiors and DOJ wanted to see the case reach a grand jury

In addition to Giacalone, Bill Priestap, assistant director of the FBI�s counterintelligence division and Michael Steinbach, the former chief of the FBI�s national security department and the individual who succeeded Giacalone, will also testify.

All three men served in top positions at the FBI and were deeply connected to the Clinton email investigation. However, the real headliner here is Giacalone for his proximity to Comey and others involved in the decision to let Clinton evade charges.

Comey Grilled As Feds Seriously Consider Charging McCabe In Criminal Referral

Leaks concerning specific investigative steps the US Attorney's Office has allegedly taken are extremely disturbing.

Zero Hedge - June 1, 2018

Federal investigators from the D.C. U.S. Attorney's office recently interviewed former FBI director James Comey as part of an ongoing probe into whether former FBI #2 Andrew McCabe broke the law when he lied to federal agents, reports the Washington Post.

Investigators from the D.C. U.S. Attorney�s Office recently interviewed former FBI director James B. Comey as part of a probe into whether his deputy, Andrew McCabe, broke the law by lying to federal agents � an indication the office is seriously considering whether McCabe should be charged with a crime, a person familiar with the matter said. �Washington Post

What makes the interview particularly interesting is that Comey and McCabe have given conflicting reports over the events leading up to McCabe�s firing, with Comey calling his former deputy a liar in an April appearance on The View.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz issued a criminal referral for McCabe following a months-long probe which found that the former acting FBI Director leaked a self-serving story to the press and then lied about it under oath. McCabe was fired on March 16 after Horowitz found that he �had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor � including under oath � on multiple occasions.�

Specifically, McCabe was fired for lying about authorizing an F.B.I. spokesman and attorney to tell Devlin Barrett of the Wall St. Journal � just days before the 2016 election, that the FBI had not put the brakes on a separate investigation into the Clinton Foundation, at a time in which McCabe was coming under fire for his wife taking a $467,500 campaign contribution from Clinton proxy pal, Terry McAuliffe.

The WSJ article reads:

New details show that senior law-enforcement officials repeatedly voiced skepticism of the strength of the evidence in a bureau investigation of the Clinton Foundation, sought to condense what was at times a sprawling cross-country effort, and, according to some people familiar with the matter, told agents to limit their pursuit of the case. The probe of the foundation began more than a year ago to determine whether financial crimes or influence peddling occurred related to the charity.



Some investigators grew frustrated, viewing FBI leadership as uninterested in probing the charity, these people said. Others involved disagreed sharply, defending FBI bosses and saying Mr. McCabe in particular was caught between an increasingly acrimonious fight for control between the Justice Department and FBI agents pursuing the Clinton Foundation case.

So McCabe was found to have leaked information to the WSJ in order to combat rumors that Clinton had indirectly bribed him to back off the Clinton Foundation investigation, and then lied about it four times to the DOJ and FBI, including twice under oath.

McCabe vs. Comey

Investigators from the D.C. U.S. Attorney�s office were likely to be keenly interested in Comey�s version of whether or not he knew about McCabe�s disclosure.

Comey and McCabe offered varying accounts of who authorized the disclosure for the article. They discussed the story the day after it was published, and Comey, according to the inspector general�s report, told investigators McCabe �definitely did not tell me that he authorized� the disclosure. -WaPo

�I have a strong impression he conveyed to me �it wasn�t me boss.� And I don�t think that was by saying those words, I think it was most likely by saying �I don�t know how this s� gets in the media or why would people talk about this kind of thing,� words that I would fairly take as �I, Andy, didn�t do it,� � Comey said, according to the inspector general.

During an April appearance on ABC�s The View to peddle his new book, A Higher Royalty Loyalty, where he called McCabe a liar, and said he actually �ordered the [IG] report� which found McCabe guilty of leaking to the press and then lying under oath about it, several times.

Comey was asked by host Megan McCain how he thought the public was supposed to have �confidence� in the FBI amid revelations that McCabe lied about the leak.

�It�s not okay. The McCabe case illustrates what an organization committed to the truth looks like,� Comey said. �I ordered that investigation.�

Comey then appeared to try and frame McCabe as a �good person� despite all the lying.

�Good people lie. I think I�m a good person, where I have lied,� Comey said. �I still believe Andrew McCabe is a good person but the inspector general found he lied,� noting that there are �severe consequences� within the DOJ for doing so.

Following McCabe�s firing, his attorney Michael R. Bromwich (flush with cash from the disgraced Deputy Director�s half-million dollar legal defense GoFundMe campaign), fired back � claiming that Comey was well aware of the leaks.

�In his comments this week about the McCabe matter, former FBI Director James Comey has relied on the Inspector Genera�s (OIG) conclusions in their report on Mr. McCabe. In fact, the report fails to adequately address the evidence (including sworn testimony) and documents that prove that Mr. McCabe advised Director Comey repeatedly that he was working with the Wall Street Journal on the stories in question�� reads the statement in part.

#BREAKING: In a newly released statement Andrew McCabe�s attorney, Michael Bromwich, claims McCabe told James Comey on multiple occasions that he was working with The Wall Street Journal. pic.twitter.com/IeeusAGndH

� Rebekah Worsham 🇺🇸 (@RebekahWorsham) April 18, 2018

McCabe vs. the DOJ

McCabe may also find himself at odds with the Department of Justice, as notes he kept allegedly detailing an interaction with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein raise questions about a memo Rosenstein wrote justifying Comey�s firing. While Rosenstein�s memo took aim at Comey for his mishandling of the Clinton email investigation, McCabe�s notes suggest that Trump told Rosenstein to point to the Russia investigation. Rosenstein�s recommendation ultimately did not mention Russia.

McCabe�s interactions with Rosenstein could complicate any potential prosecution of McCabe because Rosenstein would likely be involved in a final decision on filing charges. McCabe has argued that the Justice Department�s actions against him, including his firing, are retaliatory for his work on the Russia investigation. -WaPo

As the Washington Post notes, lying to federal investigators can carry a five-year prison sentence � however McCabe says he did not intentionally mislead anyone. The Post also notes that while Comey�s interview is significant, it does not indicated that prosecutors have reached any conclusions.

Lying to Comey might not itself be a crime. But the inspector general alleged McCabe misled investigators three other times.

He told agents from the FBI inspection division on May 9, 2017, that he had not authorized the disclosure and did not know who had, the inspector general alleged. McCabe similarly told inspector general investigators on July 28 that he was not aware of one of the FBI officials, lawyer Lisa Page, having been authorized to speak to reporters, and because he was not in Washington on the days she did so, he could not say what she was doing. McCabe later admitted he authorized Page to talk to reporters.

The inspector general also alleged that McCabe lied in a final conversation in November, claiming that he had told Comey he had authorized the disclosure and that he had not claimed otherwise to inspection division agents in May.

Michael Bromwich replied in a statement: �A little more than a month ago, we confirmed that we had been advised that a criminal referral to the U.S. Attorney�s Office had been made regarding Mr. McCabe. We said at that time that we were confident that, unless there is inappropriate pressure from high levels of the Administration, the U.S. Attorney�s Office would conclude that it should decline to prosecute. Our view has not changed.

He added that �leaks concerning specific investigative steps the US Attorney�s Office has allegedly taken are extremely disturbing.�

Whatever Comey told federal investigators, we suspect it eventually boiled down to �McCabe didn�t tell me,� squarely placing responsibility for the leaks � and the lies, on McCabe�s shoulders.

Breaking: Peter Strzok ‘Escorted’ From FBI Building

Strzok’s lawyer Aitan Goelman confirms

Infowars.com - June 19, 2018

Shamed FBI agent Peter Strzok was escorted from the FBI building Tuesday, according to his lawyer Aitan Goelman.

CONFIRMED: Peter Strzok — who’s been the subject of a daylong congressional hearing about FBI bias — was escorted from FBI headquarters. pic.twitter.com/2GHpZnUqLQ

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 19, 2018

In a statement, Goelman confirmed, “Despite being put through a highly questionable process, Pete has complied with every FBI procedure, including being escorted from the building as part of the ongoing internal proceedings.”

Goelman also defended Strzok in an article Tuesday, saying his mission to stop Trump was driven by a desire to protect national security and American Democracy.

CNN reporter Laura Jarrett claims Strzok is still employed as of today.

News – FBI special agent Peter Strzok was escorted out of the FBI building on Friday, source familiar tells me; as of today, he is still employed; he’s been stationed in Human Resources since dismissal from Mueller team.

— Laura Jarrett (@LauraAJarrett) June 19, 2018

Strzok was the main subject of Tuesday’s congressional hearings dealing with the FBI’s mishandling of the Hillary Clinton probe.

During the hearing, Justice Department Inspector General Michael confirmed his office is still looking into whether Strzok’s anti-Trump bias played a role in the Clinton email investigation.

Comey Under Investigation For Handling Of Classified Information

06/18/2018

Justin Caruso | Senior Media Reporter

Former FBI director James Comey is under investigation for mishandling classified information, DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz revealed Monday.

He is specifically under investigation for his handling of memos he wrote about interactions with President Trump while FBI director.

“Comey said he did not expect a report on his handling of classified information because, ‘That’s frivolous.’ I don’t happen to think that it is frivolous,” Sen. Chuck Grassley said during a Senate hearing Monday.

“Question number one, Mr. Horowitz, are you investigating the handling of his memo and does that include the classification issues, and should Mr. Comey expect a report when it’s complete?” Grassley asked.

“We received a referral on that from the FBI. We are handling that referral and we will issue a report when the matter is complete, consistent with the law and rules that are — a report that’s consistent and takes those into account,” Horowitz responded.

Ever hear of a self-licking ice cream cone?



Onward and upward,
airforce

IE: the War on Terror, Drugs, Poverty, etc.

-Ludwig von Mises

Onward and upward,
airforce

This could be big.



Onward and upward,
airforce

Nothing But Crap just reported that this is an "obvious move by the Trump administration to obstruct the Mueller investigation".

Well, of course they would, They're NBC.

Onward and upward,
airforce

WND
N.Y. Times says Rosenstein wanted to secretly record Trump
Claims he planned to press Cabinet to invoke 25th Amendment


Based entirely on unnamed sources, the New York Times on Friday reported Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “suggested last year that he secretly record President Trump in the White House to expose the chaos consuming the administration.”

The Times said he discussed recruiting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office for being unfit.

Rosenstein on Friday asserted the report was false. He said that based on personal interactions with the president, there is no basis for any 25th Amendment action, the constitutional provision allowing for succession when a president is deemed to be incapacitated.

The Times said Rosenstein “made these suggestions in the spring of 2017 when Mr. Trump’s firing of James B. Comey as F.B.I. director plunged the White House into turmoil.”

Rosenstein, at the time, was just two weeks into his job, the Times said.

“He had begun overseeing the Russia investigation and played a key role in the president’s dismissal of Mr. Comey by writing a memo critical of his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. But Mr. Rosenstein was caught off guard when Mr. Trump cited the memo in the firing, and he began telling people that he feared he had been used.”

The remarks about secretly recording Trump and the 25th Amendment were made “in meetings and conversations with other Justice Department and F.B.I. officials.”

“Several people described the episodes, insisting on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The people were briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by F.B.I. officials, including Andrew G. McCabe, then the acting bureau director, that documented Mr. Rosenstein’s actions and comments,” the Times said.

Observers immediately pointed out the sources are unnamed, and the Times admitted none of Rosenstein’s proposals “apparently came to fruition.”

“It is not clear how determined he was about seeing them through, though he did tell Mr. McCabe that he might be able to persuade Attorney General Jeff Sessions and John F. Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security and now the White House chief of staff, to mount an effort to invoke the 25th Amendment.”

Rosenstein blasted the Times for basing its report on unnamed sources.

“I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”



The Times’ report speculates on motives, saying the president was “viewed as ineffectively conducting his duties.”

It does not identify who held that opinion.

In the end, the proposals attributed to Rosenstein “went nowhere,” the report said.

President trump has cancelled the his declassification order. So much for draining the swamp.



Onward and upward,
airforce

To drain the swamp would require the firing and prosecution of probably 60 percent of all government officials. And, that's never going to happen no matter who is president. Every thing trump attempts to do is opposed by the deep state. were he to actually force something through they would give him a case of the 'Kennedy syndrome'.