Fraud Upon the FISA Court Confirmed

[Swordsmyth]

The Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general is now conducting an investigation into classification issues concerning the "Comey memos" leaked to the New York Times by former FBI Director James Comey.

Sources tell the Wall St. Journal that at least two of the memos which Comey leaked to his "good friend," Columbia Law Professor Daniel Richman, contained information that officials now consider classified - prompting the review by the Office of the Inspector General, headed by Michael Horowitz.

Of those two memos, Mr. Comey himself redacted elements of one that he knew to be classified to protect secrets before he handed the documents over to his friend. He determined at the time that another memo contained no classified information, but after he left the Federal Bureau of Investigation, bureau officials upgraded it to “confidential,” the lowest level of classification. -WSJ

Comey told Congressional investigators that he considered the memos to be personal rather than government documents. The memos - leaked through Richman, were a major catalyst in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's decision to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ied-info-leaks

[Swordsmyth]

[Swordsmyth]

The Republican chairmen of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced Monday that the Justice Department has agreed to provide them with documents related to the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.

The deal was struck after Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., met this month with the U.S. attorney, John Lausch, who has been selected to respond to Republican demands for documents.

"We look forward to reviewing the information to better understand the decisions made by the Department of Justice in 2016 and 2017," Goodlatte and Gowdy said in a joint statement. "Congress has a constitutional responsibility to preserve the integrity of our justice system by ensuring transparency and accountability of actions taken."

More at: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...documents.html

[goldenequity]

The Republican chairmen of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced Monday that the Justice Department has agreed to provide them with documents related to the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server.

The deal was struck after Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., met this month with the U.S. attorney, John Lausch, who has been selected to respond to Republican demands for documents.

"We look forward to reviewing the information to better understand the decisions made by the Department of Justice in 2016 and 2017," Goodlatte and Gowdy said in a joint statement. "Congress has a constitutional responsibility to preserve the integrity of our justice system by ensuring transparency and accountability of actions taken."

More at: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...documents.html

complete bullshiit. This isn't 'compliance' and isn't transparency and accountability.
2 pairs of eyeballs and 1.2 million documents is window dressing and no substitute for scrutiny and forensic examination.
Unelected 'Team Mueller' gets unlimited time, unlimited money and unlimited scope.
'Team America' gets this nonsense. It's crap.

[Swordsmyth]

[Swordsmyth]

Columbia Professor Comey Leaked Classified Memos To Claims He was Secret Undercover Squirrel for FBI

The Columbia law professor James Comey used as a go-between last year to leak the contents of sensitive memos to the media confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that he previously worked as a “special government employee” (SGE) for Comey’s FBI on an unpaid basis.
The professor, Daniel Richman, confirmed the special status in response to an inquiry from Fox News, while referring other questions, including on the scope of his work, to the FBI.
“I did indeed have SGE status with the Bureau (for no pay),” Richman wrote in an email.
Richman emerged last year as the former FBI director’s contact for leaking memos documenting his private discussions with President Trump – memos that are now the subject of an inspector general review over the presence of classified material. Sources familiar with Richman’s status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to “special projects” by Comey, and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building. Richman’s status was the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding.
Lawmakers are only beginning to raise questions about Richman’s status. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,” said the information about Richman and his special FBI status first emerged during closed-door testimony by Comey’s former chief of staff James Rybicki before the House oversight and judiciary committees.
“[D]uring that deposition, it was brought out that Daniel Richman, the guy who information was leaked through to The New York Times, had this special status called special government employee status, where he could sort of come and go in the FBI,” Jordan said. He said he could not speak to the significance, but “it seems kind of interesting that the guy who Comey leaks to is a good friend, who had this sort of unfettered access into the FBI.”
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., also raised questions about the status.

These two stooges think this helps Comey? Nope. Now Comey's pal is on the hook too. He had better protection as a professor who didn't know the Memos were classified. Now he is co-conspirator. Morons. https://t.co/klCJfigOqC
— Thomas Paine (@Thomas1774Paine) April 25, 2018

READ MORE

https://truepundit.com/columbia-prof...irrel-for-fbi/

[Swordsmyth]

The revelation that former CIA Director John Brennan made a secret trip to Moscow in March 2016, meeting with the Russian Federal Security Service (today’s version of the Soviet KGB), has heightened speculation that Brennan may have been a key figure behind the Trump-Russian collusion story.

The American Thinker, in a story on Brennan's’s secret trip to Russia, believes that it is a real possibility that “John Brennan himself colluded with the Russians to help Hillary win to guarantee his continued tenure as CIA director,” noting that the dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele “was used by Brennan and others as a pretext for a Trump investigation bonanza.”

More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnew...ollusion-story

[goldenequity]

The revelation that former CIA Director John Brennan made a secret trip to Moscow in March 2016, meeting with the Russian Federal Security Service (today’s version of the Soviet KGB), has heightened speculation that Brennan may have been a key figure behind the Trump-Russian collusion story.

The American Thinker, in a story on Brennan's’s secret trip to Russia, believes that it is a real possibility that “John Brennan himself colluded with the Russians to help Hillary win to guarantee his continued tenure as CIA director,” noting that the dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele “was used by Brennan and others as a pretext for a Trump investigation bonanza.”

More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnew...ollusion-story

This is just more fuel to add onto Brennan's ALREADY documented collusion with Ex-GCHQ Chief Robert Hannigan
to initiate what BECAME the 'dossier'.
Here's an up to date litany:

April 9, 2018 by Jeff Carlson, CFA
John Brennan’s Role in the FBI’s Trump-Russia Investigation
https://www.themarketswork.com/2018/...investigation/

It's the same crime ring that spans the globe, in every major country and in every agency you can think of... Russia included.

[TER]

This timeline will be in history books.

[Swordsmyth]

Buried within a newly declassified congressional report on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections is a shocking revelation: former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper not only leaked information about the infamous Steele dossier and high-level government briefings about it to CNN, he also may have lied to Congress about the matter.

In one of the findings within the 253-page report, the House intelligence committee wrote that Clapper leaked details of a dossier briefing given to then-President-elect Donald Trump to CNN’s Jake Tapper, lied to Congress about the leak, and was rewarded with a CNN contract a few months later.


“Clapper flatly denied ‘discussing[ing] the dossier [compiled by Steele] or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists,'” the committee found.
When asked directly whether he had ever discussed the dossier with any journalists, Clapper replied that he had not, according to a transcript of the proceedings:

MR. ROONEY: Did you discuss the dossier or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists?

MR. CLAPPER: No.

The former DNI later changed his story after he was confronted specifically about his communications with Jake Tapper of CNN.
“Clapper subsequently acknowledged discussing the ‘dossier with CNN journalist Jake Tapper,’ and admitted that he might have spoken with other journalists about the same topic,” the report continued. “Clapper’s discussion with Tapper took place in early January 2017, around the time IC leaders briefed President Obama and President-elect Trump, on ‘the Christopher Steele information,’ a two-page summary of which was ‘enclosed in’ the highly-classified version of the ICA,” or intelligence community assessment.
The briefing of Trump by U.S. intelligence chiefs was held on January 6. CNN published its story on the briefing, based on anonymous leaks from “two national security officials,” on January 10. BuzzFeed published the full dossier, which was jointly funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, minutes after the CNN story was published.

The revelation that Clapper was responsible for leaking details of both the dossier and briefings to two presidents on the matter is significant, because former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey wrote in one of four memos that he leaked that the briefing of Trump on salacious and unverified allegations from the dossier was necessary because “CNN had them and were looking for a news hook.”
The congressional report on Russian interference noted that it was this very briefing of Trump that multiple media organizations used as an excuse to publish the unverified dossier.

More at: http://thefederalist.com/2018/04/27/...ier-leaks-cnn/

[Swordsmyth]

The Justice department has finally produced 49 pages comprising around 300 previously "missing" text messages sent between two anti-Trump FBI employees in charge of investigating him. The messages, sent between FBI special agent Peter Strzok and FBI counsel Lisa Page, who were also having an extramarital affair together, span the period between December 16, 2016 and May 23, 2017.
As the Daily Caller reports, many of the messages are in shorthand and out of context. Congressional investigators will be sifting through them and piecing them together with previously released text messages to see if there is further evidence of political bias from two people acting in roles which required the utmost impartiality.

Interestingly, one of the text messages refers to opening "a case we've been waiting on" and doing it "now while Andy is acting."

New texts between Strzok and Page show their dismay at the firing of Comey & in the immediate aftermath of his firing on May 9, 2017, Strzok texted: "We need to open the case we've been waiting on now while Andy is acting." What case was he referring to? https://t.co/2R7EU92LIv pic.twitter.com/1tHiYKrgSi
— Nick Short ���� (@PoliticalShort) April 27, 2018

Another text shows Strzok's concern over former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and FBI employee Sally Yates all playing into the "there should be an unmasking request/record" for incidental collection incorrect narrative."

#breaking Strozk and Page texts confirm ‘incidental collection’ was an INCORRECT NARRATIVE. pic.twitter.com/ig1qXEpgAk
— steviewires (@steviedeadlocks) April 27, 2018

Independent investigator George Webb (Sweigert), who is notably suing Andrew McCabe, Hillary Clinton, Fusion GPS, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner, the Awan family and John Podesta - notes that there are only two texts per day in today's release, vs. 12 texts per day in prior releases - implying that the DOJ is withholding texts.

Metadata on Strzok-Page email doesn’t add up. Twelve texts a day down to two a day during the coup? pic.twitter.com/JUZw0RSIxJ
— TruthLeaks (@GeorgWebb) April 27, 2018

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...-over-congress

[timosman]

[Swordsmyth]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has pushed back the estimated completion date of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents pertaining to its communications with the security firm that examined the Democratic National Committee’s hacked servers to October.
The Washington Free Beacon submitted the FOIA request in July 2017 with the FBI seeking all communication between the bureau and CrowdStrike, Inc., the California-based cyber security firm that examined the DNC’s servers following the infiltration that led to the release of John Podesta’s emails. The FBI said in December the documents should be available by March.
The FBI, which was never granted access to the DNC’s servers for inspection, instead relied on the third-party firm that was brought in by the DNC for information regarding the compromised network who concluded that Russia was behind the hack.

More at: http://freebeacon.com/issues/fbi-del...d-dnc-servers/

[TheCount]

This timeline will be in history books.

Should Trump's presidential library include the pee tape?

[timosman]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has pushed back the estimated completion date of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents pertaining to its communications with the security firm that examined the Democratic National Committee’s hacked servers to October.
The Washington Free Beacon submitted the FOIA request in July 2017 with the FBI seeking all communication between the bureau and CrowdStrike, Inc., the California-based cyber security firm that examined the DNC’s servers following the infiltration that led to the release of John Podesta’s emails. The FBI said in December the documents should be available by March.
The FBI, which was never granted access to the DNC’s servers for inspection, instead relied on the third-party firm that was brought in by the DNC for information regarding the compromised network who concluded that Russia was behind the hack.

More at: http://freebeacon.com/issues/fbi-del...d-dnc-servers/

Am I the only one to whom FBI looks like a bunch of incompetent schmucks unable to prosecute anybody? How do they ever get anything done?

[unknown]

Doesnt FISA rubber stamp damn near everything regardless?

[Swordsmyth]

Conservative House allies of President Donald Trump have drafted articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the ongoing special counsel probe, setting up a possible GOP showdown over the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The document, which was obtained by The Washington Post, underscores the growing chasm between congressional Republican leaders, who have maintained for months that Special Counsel Robert Mueller should be allowed to proceed, and rank-and-file GOP lawmakers who have repeatedly battled the Justice Department during the past year.
The draft articles, which one of its authors called a "last resort," would be unlikely to garner significant support in Congress. But it could serve as a provocative political weapon for conservatives in their standoff with Mueller and the Justice Department.
Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus - led by Rep. Mark Meadow, R-N.C., a Trump confidant - finalized the draft in recent days. It came after weeks of disputes with Rosenstein over the Justice Department's response to congressional requests for documents about the decisions and behavior of federal law-enforcement officials working on the Russia investigation and other federal probes, including the investigation into 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's email server.
Meadows acknowledged the draft in an interview Monday, calling the one-page document "a last resort option, if the Department of Justice fails to respond" for his requests for more information.
"My frustrations about their inability to respond to simple requests could warrant further action," Meadows said, adding that many of his colleagues are nearing a breaking point with Rosenstein.

More at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...430-story.html

[Swordsmyth]

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein pushed back against his House Republican critics on Tuesday, warning that the Justice Department is "not going to be extorted" amid threats that he could be impeached."There have been people who have been making threats privately and publicly against me for quite some time, and I think they should understand by now the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted," Rosenstein said at an event at the Newseum in Washington.

More at: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/polit...NN+-+Politics)

[Swordsmyth]

The special counsel's office wants two more months before it looks toward sentencing former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has pleaded guilty to lying to investigators and is cooperating in the Russia probe."Due to the status of the special counsel's investigation, the parties do not believe that this matter is ready to be scheduled for a sentencing hearing at this time," Robert Mueller's prosecutors and Flynn's lawyers told the DC federal court on Tuesday.
Flynn pleaded guilty five months ago. Prosecutors have previously delayed scheduling his sentencing.

More at: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/polit...NN+-+Politics)

[Swordsmyth]

A judge sharply questioned whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller overstepped his authority by charging Paul Manafort with crimes unrelated to Russian election interference while also suggesting that the onetime Trump campaign chairman was indicted to coerce his cooperation against the president.
U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III expressed deep skepticism Friday about whether Mueller went too far in signing a bank- and tax-fraud indictment against Manafort. Ellis questioned how Mueller could prosecute financial crimes dating back a decade without charging Manafort for his election activities.
“I don’t see how this indictment has anything to do with anything the special prosecutor is authorized to investigate,” Ellis said at a hearing on a motion by Manafort to dismiss the case. The hearing ended without a ruling, and Ellis didn’t say when he would decide the matter in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
The judge’s unusually provocative remarks and questions don’t necessarily indicate how he will rule, but they put Mueller’s team on the defensive. The special counsel’s office was given two weeks to deliver an unredacted version of a Justice Department memo authorizing Mueller’s work.
A dismissal would be a blow to Mueller as he faces political attacks by President Donald Trump, congressional Republicans and conservative media. Still, Manafort faces an indictment in Washington on charges that he laundered millions of dollars and failed to register as a foreign agent of Ukraine.


Ellis said it appeared that prosecutors were using the indictment of Manafort to pressure him to cooperate against Trump. Manafort, 69, has pleaded not guilty and disputes Mueller’s assertion that he violated U.S. laws when he worked for a decade as a political consultant for pro-Russian groups in Ukraine.
“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,” Ellis told four prosecutors working for Mueller. “You really care about what information he might give you about Mr. Trump and what might lead to his impeachment or prosecution.”
Manafort attorney Kevin Downing argued that Mueller overstepped his May 2017 appointment order, which directed him to pursue links between Russia and the Trump campaign, as well as “any matter that arose or may arise directly” from the investigation. He said that Mueller improperly took over existing Justice Department investigations into Manafort without adequately explaining what connection it had to the Russia probe.

At the hearing, Justice Department attorney Michael Dreeben argued that Mueller acted properly and always consulted with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the investigation, about the steps he was taking. He pointed to an Aug. 2 memo that said Manafort may have “committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials” to interfere in the election, and that he illegally handled payments he got from the pro-Russian Ukrainian government.


Most of the three-page memo is blacked out, and Dreeben said it wasn’t necessary to share the rest of it because it didn’t relate to Manafort. But Ellis ordered that prosecutors give him the full memo within two weeks, saying he’ll determine whether the explanation of why Manafort was under investigation is adequate.
Mueller’s office took over an investigation of Manafort that had been conducted by prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Ellis sits. The judge appeared impatient with Dreeben, who has argued more than 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ellis repeatedly interrupted Dreeben as he pressed for an explanation of Mueller’s authority.
“It covers bank fraud in 2005 and 2007?” Ellis said. “Tell me how. How does that have to do with links or coordination with Russia and Trump?”
Dreeben said the investigations were “folded together with our overall examination of Mr. Manafort’s conduct,” and he was indicted based on information developed by Mueller as they followed the trail of money that left Ukraine.
“This indictment didn’t arise from your investigation,” Ellis said. “It arose from the pre-existing investigation.”

More at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-his-authority

[Swordsmyth]

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is blasting the FBI and Department of Justice for “excessive and sloppy redactions” amid efforts to unseal a redacted section having to do with the FBI’s interview of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“The excessive and sloppy redactions applied to the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia report deny the American people the opportunity to know and understand the report’s full findings and conclusions,” Nunes told Fox News.
A key section of the report concludes FBI agents “did not detect any deception during Flynn’s interview” despite his eventual guilty plea in the special counsel’s Russia probe for making false statements.
A source familiar with the House Intelligence report told Fox News that heavily redacted sections on pages 53 and 54 back up the report’s conclusion about Flynn, and the source challenged former FBI Director James Comey’s public statements on the issue.
In his interview last week on Fox News’ “Special Report,” Comey denied that he ever told lawmakers his FBI agents didn’t believe Flynn intentionally lied.
“No, I saw that in the media,” Comey said. “Someone misunderstood something I said. I didn’t believe that and didn’t say that.”
The House Intelligence Committee report, which was disputed by Democrats and released over their objections, provides virtually no public information to back up its conclusion about Flynn’s interactions with the agents – as most of the section explaining that finding is redacted.


“The deliberate withholding of this vital information from the public is inexplicable and intolerable,” Nunes said. “Protecting executive branch officials and agencies from embarrassment is not a valid reason to hide information and will not be accepted by Congress.”
Speaking to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson after the report’s release, Nunes said it was impossible for Comey to know what investigators found because so many sections were blacked out.
“Mr. Comey probably never read our report, likely because the Department of Justice and FBI redacted so much of it, that if you go online and try to read our report, you’ll see that much of it you can’t even read,” Nunes said. “So he doesn’t know what we have.”

More at: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...n-mystery.html

[Swordsmyth]

Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s widely anticipated testimony next week before the House Oversight Committee has been postponed, as the Justice Department IG has pursued new leads in his review of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, according to a congressional letter and sources familiar with the matter.
“It is of the utmost importance that your review be as fulsome, complete and unimpeded as possible,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chairman of the committee, wrote in a recent letter to Horowitz obtained by Fox News.
Horowitz was scheduled to appear before the committee on May 8. But Gowdy told Horowitz he wants to reschedule his testimony “as close to the day the report is finalized as is practicable.”
Gowdy said the decision to postpone is based on “the representations” in an April 23 letter from Horowitz.


The developments suggest Horowitz is still working to complete his review of the FBI and DOJ's handling of the Clinton case. Sources familiar with the review have told Fox News that Horowitz has continued to pursue new leads and witnesses in recent weeks.
During a speech Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said he expects Horowitz’s review will be finalized soon.
“Within the next few weeks, I anticipate that our inspector general will complete a comprehensive, fair and nonpartisan report that answers many questions about how the Department of Justice handled a high-profile investigation during the last presidential campaign,” Rosenstein said. “We will learn from it, and our Department will do better in the future.”

More at: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...tics+-+Text%29

[Swordsmyth]

Two FBI officials who have faced scrutiny in recent months resigned from the bureau on Friday, sources familiar with their departures have confirmed to CNN.Lisa Page, who served as an FBI lawyer and close adviser to former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, voluntarily resigned Friday, a source close to Page told CNN.
Page came under increasing attack after her text messages with FBI special agent Peter Strzok criticizing President Donald Trump came to light last winter. She briefly served on special counsel Robert Mueller's team last summer before returning to her duties at the FBI.
The text messages between Strzok and her became fodder for the President and Republican lawmakers who leveled accusations that some members of the FBI working on the Russia probe are biased against Trump.
James A. Baker, the former general counsel for the FBI and one of former FBI Director James Comey's closest advisers, also resigned Friday, according to a source familiar with Baker's departure. A second source familiar with Baker's thinking said his departure was unrelated to Page's resignation and that hers came as a surprise to him.

More at: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/04/polit...-+Top+Stories)

[Swordsmyth]

Two FBI officials who have faced scrutiny in recent months resigned from the bureau on Friday, sources familiar with their departures have confirmed to CNN.Lisa Page, who served as an FBI lawyer and close adviser to former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, voluntarily resigned Friday, a source close to Page told CNN.
Page came under increasing attack after her text messages with FBI special agent Peter Strzok criticizing President Donald Trump came to light last winter. She briefly served on special counsel Robert Mueller's team last summer before returning to her duties at the FBI.
The text messages between Strzok and her became fodder for the President and Republican lawmakers who leveled accusations that some members of the FBI working on the Russia probe are biased against Trump.
James A. Baker, the former general counsel for the FBI and one of former FBI Director James Comey's closest advisers, also resigned Friday, according to a source familiar with Baker's departure. A second source familiar with Baker's thinking said his departure was unrelated to Page's resignation and that hers came as a surprise to him.

More at: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/04/polit...-+Top+Stories)

May 4 2018 20:47:29 (EST)
Q !2jsTvXXmXs
64

Justice_1.jpg


Apr 27 2018 22:40:01 (EST)
Q !xowAT4Z3VQ
ID: 5086f0
1218147

Focus only on the FBI [for now].
Jim Rybicki, chief of staff and senior counselor - FIRED.
James Baker, general counsel - FIRED.
Andrew McCabe, deputy director - FIRED.
James Comey, director - FIRED.
Bill Priestap, Head of Counterintelligence and Strzok’s boss - Cooperating witness [power removed].
Peter Strzok, Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence - cooperating witness [power removed].
Lisa Page, attorney with the FBI's Office of the General Counsel - cooperating witness [power removed].
Conspiracy?
Think about the above.
Only the above.
Get the picture?
Q



[Updated]
James Baker - FIRED [reported today - resigned [false]] / removed Jan/FIRED 4.21
Lisa Page - FIRED [reported today - resigned [false]]
Testimony received.
Tracking_y.
[Added]
Mike Kortan, FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs - FIRED [cooperating under 'resigned' title]
Josh Campbell, Special Assistant to James Comey - FIRED
[DOJ]
David Laufman, Chief of the Justice Department’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section [NAT SEC - HRC email invest] - FIRED/FORCE
John Carlin, Assistant Attorney General – Head of DOJ’s National Security Division - FIRED/FORCE
Sally Yates, Deputy Attorney General & Acting Attorney General - FIRED
Mary McCord, Acting Assistant Attorney General – Acting Head of DOJ’s National Security Division - FIRED/FORCE
Bruce Ohr, Associate Deputy Attorney General – Demoted 2x - cooperating witness [power removed]
Rachel Brand, Associate Attorney General – No. 3 official behind Deputy AG Rosenstein - FIRED/FORCE
Cross against House/Senate resignations/final term announcements + CEO departures.
CONSPIRACY?
FAKE NEWS?
THE SWAMP IS BEING DRAINED.
TRUST THE PLAN.
JUSTICE.
Q

[Swordsmyth]

Lawyers for the company accused of funding Russia’s election interference trolls are demanding that special counsel Robert Mueller turn over reams of information, including the identities of informants, details of any electronic surveillance, and a list of “each and every instance” since 1945 in which the U.S. “engaged in operations to interfere with elections and political processes in any foreign country.”

More at: https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...les?yptr=yahoo

[Swordsmyth]

Special counsel Robert Mueller's office appears to be in an early stalemate in its efforts to bring a criminal case against Russians allegedly involved in Moscow's efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election. Although one Russian company indicted by Mueller in February, Concord Management and Consulting, has US attorneys and a court hearing scheduled, the special counsel's team hasn't been able to reach the company or its co-defendants.
The Russian government's top legal office wouldn't accept paperwork from US law enforcement in the case, and the company has already hit back at Mueller by demanding more evidence and information.
The tit-for-tat was revealed in a court filing Friday when Mueller's prosecutors asked to reschedule a hearing about the criminal case against 13 Russians and associated companies, who allegedly influenced the election using social media. The hearing was set for May 9.
The situation shows how difficult it will be for Mueller to bring Russians to justice for allegedly interfering in the 2016 election.
The prosecutors said in Friday's filing that they don't know whether one of the companies indicted alongside the Russians was served with a summons in the case.
Mueller's team has tried to reach the Russians, first with the summons delivered to the office of the prosecutor general of Russia on March 20. They have also tried to reach the Russians through the power of international treaties. The Russian law enforcement office declined to accept the summonses, US prosecutors said.
"To the government's knowledge, no further steps have been taken within Russia to effectuate service," prosecutors told the judge in DC federal court on Friday.

More at: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/04/polit...NN+-+Politics)

[Swordsmyth]

The FBI is refusing to pursue work-related text messages and emails sent on the personal devices of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page - the FBI "lovebirds" discovered to harbor extreme political bias for Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump while actively involved in cases against each candidate during the 2016 US election. Clinton was of course exonerated by the FBI despite overwhelming evidence of criminal conduct, while Trump's entire presidency has been tainted by the spectre of unproven Russian collusion.

Over 50,000 text messages between Strzok and Page were discovered by the Department of Justice's internal watchdog, the Office of Inspector General (OIG), leading to their removal from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation - which has since devolved into trying to embarrass the President over allegedly paying a porn star not to discuss consensual sex. Of note, Page tendered her resignation on Friday.
In a Wednesday letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the FBI was not "obligated" to collect all communications between employees, and would not be pursuing communications Strzok and Page sent to each other on their personal devices.

In response, Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) went nuclear - reminding Wray in a Friday letter cc'd to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that "Although, as your letter notes, the FBI is not "obligated" to collect all communications between employees, it is obligated to collect and preserve federal records."
Grassley goes on to note that previously released text messages between Strzok and Page "show substantial reason to believe government work was performed on non-government systems during the course of a high-profile investigation," and that those communications could prove vital to the Committee's investigation.

The work-related communications on nongovernment systems could shed more light on how the FBI handled the Clinton investigation and would constitute federal records that the FBI would be obligated to retrieve and preserve under the Federal Records Act. -Sen. Grassley to FBI Director Wray

The letter then provides several examples in which Strzok and Page explicitly referred to exchanging work-related information over their personal devices.
"For example, in two text messages Strzok said to Page:"

Gmailed you two drafts of what I’m thinking of sending Bill, would appreciate your thoughts. Second (more recent) is updated so you can skip the first.
...
Yep. Sent something to your gmail, work-related. Think I’m going to pull here and send to Kortan….

"In another text message, Strzok and Page appear to use the encrypted iMessage application on their personal Apple devices to discuss work-related material:"

Strzok: Want to imsg it to me, or want to do it in person?
Page: It’s not that sensitive.
Strzok: Ok. You can imsg just for convenience of typing, too, if you want
...
Strzok: And I have no good, awful, sh*tty terrible (work) news. I can’t say it here, and you can’t share with Andy (yet). I’m upset.
Page: Can you share it on imsg?
Strzok: Yes just sent[.]8

Grassley then excoriates the FBI - comparing Strzok and Page's use of personal devices for work purposes to Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified information on her personal server - which Strzok and Page were investigating.
"Under 18 U.S.C. § 2071, it is illegal to willfully and unlawfully conceal, remove, or destroy a federal record. Secretary Clinton alienated thousands of federal records when she used a nongovernment server and email for official work, many of which were deleted rather than returned to the State Department when the Department requested them. Ironically, as FBI employees tasked with investigating Clinton’s similar conduct, Strzok and Page appear to have used nongovernment systems for official work as well. This Committee has yet to receive a satisfactory explanation as to why the FBI apparently let Secretary Clinton off the hook for multiple § 2071 violations. It is disturbing that even at this late date, and with all the litigation surrounding Secretary Clinton’s use of a private email server for official business, the FBI seems similarly uninterested in even attempting to retrieve federal records of its own employees that appear to have been alienated as well."
Grassley then asks three questions of Wray, noting that he expects the response to be unclassified:

• Why has the FBI not requested from Ms. Page or Mr. Strzok any official work-related material from their personal devices and email accounts?
• Why has the FBI not conducted searches of non-FBI-issued communications devices or non-FBI email accounts associated with Mr. Strzok or Ms. Page for official work-related material?
• The FBI’s May 3, 2018, response letter also failed to answer questions 1-5, 8, and 11. Please provide answers and the requested documentation by the deadline.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...y-goes-nuclear

[Swordsmyth]

Lawyers for the company accused of funding Russia’s election interference trolls are demanding that special counsel Robert Mueller turn over reams of information, including the identities of informants, details of any electronic surveillance, and a list of “each and every instance” since 1945 in which the U.S. “engaged in operations to interfere with elections and political processes in any foreign country.”

More at: https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...les?yptr=yahoo

Politico's Gerstein notes that by defending against the charges, “Concord could force prosecutors to turn over discovery about how the case was assembled as well as evidence that might undermine the prosecution’s theories.”
In a mad scramble to put the brakes on the case, Mueller's team tried to say that Concord never formally accepted the court summons related to the case, wrapping themselves in a "cloud of confusion" as Powerline puts it. “Until the Court has an opportunity to determine if Concord was properly served, it would be inadvisable to conduct an initial appearance and arraignment at which important rights will be communicated and a plea entertained.”
The Russians hit back against Mueller's attempt to delay - filing a response on Friday to let the court know that “[Concord] voluntarily appeared through counsel as provided for in [the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure], and further intends to enter a plea of not guilty. [Concord] has not sought a limited appearance nor has it moved to quash the summons. As such, the briefing sought by the Special Counsel’s motion is pettifoggery.”

And the Judge agreed...

A federal judge has rejected special counsel Robert Mueller’s request to delay the first court hearing in a criminal case charging three Russian companies and 13 Russian citizens with using social media and other means to foment strife among Americans in advance of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
In a brief order Saturday evening, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich offered no explanation for her decision to deny a request prosecutors made Friday to put off the scheduled Wednesday arraignment for Concord Management and Consulting, one of the three firms charged in the case. -Politico

In other words, Mueller was just denied the opportunity to kick the can down the road, and will likely be forced to produce the requested evidence or withdraw the indictment, potentially jeopardizing the PR aspect of the entire "Trump collusion" probe.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...play-out-court

[Swordsmyth]

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes said Sunday he will be pushing to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt this week for not complying with a subpoena.

.@DevinNunes: We have to move quickly to hold AG Jeff Sessions in contempt, and that’s what I’m going to press for this week pic.twitter.com/QsPdcrVSwq
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 6, 2018

The California Republican said his committee sent a letter requesting classified information regarding its probe into FISA abuses and counterintelligence investigations, including the targeting of Americans like former Trump campaign official Carter Page, but it was ignored.
After attempting to subpoena the classified information last week, Mr. Nunes discovered the Justice Department will not comply.
“We have to move quickly to hold the Attorney General of the United States in contempt and that’s what I want to press for this week,” Mr. Nunes told Fox News on Sunday.

More at: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...ions-contempt/

[Swordsmyth]

FBI and national intelligence officials warned the White House last week that information requested by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes could put a top-secret intelligence source at risk, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.The Post, citing multiple individuals familiar with the interaction and the role of the intelligence source, reported that top White House officials, with President Donald Trump's approval, opted to support a decision to withhold the information and were persuaded that handing over Department of Justice documents "could risk lives by potentially exposing the source." The newspaper reported that the person is a US citizen who has been a source of intelligence to both the CIA and the FBI.
According to the report, "information developed by the intelligence source" has been turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, though it is not known whether Trump was aware of that fact.

More at: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/09/polit...-+Most+Recent)