Saturday, September 12, 2020

Russiagate: Mueller Phone Scandal Resonates

The finding by IG Horowitz, and revealed by a FOIA request fro Judicial Watch that the lawyers and creeps (but I redundate) on the Mueller probe somehow managed to 'accidentally' erase or lock up all the data on their phones prior to turning them over to the IG is still a thing, although, as far as I can see, the WaPoo is still studiously avoiding the issue, taking the space instead to publish a letter from the Chinese government defending their Uighuar policy. Somehow I managed to misplace Sundance's at CTH's first take, Records Show Weissmann Special Counsel Team Erased 15 Phones After IG Requested Review…

As we have previously mentioned the two-year Weissmann/Mueller special counsel, May 2017 through April 2019, was a continuum of the corrupt DOJ and FBI efforts that originated prior to the 2016 election. Many of the internal FBI and DOJ officials just transferred from the Clinton email investigation, into the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, and then into the Weissmann/Mueller special counsel investigation.

The corrupt activity within the special counsel tenure was actually worse than the corrupt activity that preceded it.

and quotes Tom Fitton: “There Needs to be A Criminal Investigation of the Special Counsel”… (video at link). Twitchy, DAMNING –> Sean Davis’ thread about Mueller team ‘accidentally’ wiping at LEAST 15 (!) phones before DOJ could examine them a must-read

Insty, CONSCIOUSNESS OF GUILT: Records released by the Justice Department this week suggest top Mueller aides erased records from at least 15 phones. They all need to be wrung through the process of prosecution for obstruction of justice. See how it feels.

Via Wombat's In The Mailbox: 09.11.20 (Evening Edition), Nice Deb at American Greatness reports that  Sen. Grassley Demands Answers From DOJ, FBI Regarding Mueller Team’s Deleted Phone Records, and provides this little tidbit:
Although it’s technically possible to accidentally wipe a phone clean by entering too many incorrect passwords, it’s actually pretty hard to do it in practice.

“After the 5th failed attempt, iOS requires a 1-minute timeout before you can try again. During this timeout the only thing you can do is place an emergency call to 911. After the 6th attempt, you get a 5-minute timeout. After the 7th, 15 minutes. These timeouts escalate such that it would take over 3 hours to enter 10 incorrect passcodes.”
To reinforce that message, via sundance,

 

while Politico reluctantly reports that Sen. Johnson seeks IG probe of wiped Mueller team phones.

In another branch of news, from the Hartford Courant, Nora Dannehy, Connecticut prosecutor who was top aide to John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation, resigns amid concern about pressure from Attorney General William Barr. Note that the concern about pressure from Barr comes from outside, Nora herself made no such comments, although it would not be shocking:
Dannehy, a highly regarded prosecutor who has worked with or for Durham for decades, informed colleagues in the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Haven of her resignation from the Department of Justice by email Thursday evening. The short email was a brief farewell message and said nothing about political pressure, her work for Durham or what the Durham team has produced, according to people who received it.

Durham, who has never even acknowledged that Dannehy was in Washington working for him, had no immediate comment on the resignation.. . . Colleagues said Dannehy is not a supporter of President Trump and has been concerned in recent weeks by what she believed was pressure from Barr, who appointed Durham, to produce results before the election. They said she has been considering resigning for weeks, conflicted by loyalty to Durham and concern about politics.

Of course, by the process of "jounolism" WaPoo reports it as  Prosecutor resigns from U.S. attorney’s investigation into origins of Trump-Russia probe

The departure of Nora Dannehy, a well-respected former federal prosecutor in Connecticut who rejoined the government in early 2019 to help Durham with the investigation, is likely to raise fresh questions among Democrats about whether Attorney General William P. Barr is pushing the case toward a public announcement to benefit President Trump ahead of November’s election. They have long accused Barr of having political motives in his decision-making surrounding the Durham probe.

Sundance, Durham DC Investigative “Functionary” Returns to Private Sector Work… 

Unbeknownst to Ms. Dannehy, we met, we crossed paths in DC. It was an serendipitous outcome of putting my physical presence in a position to interact. From our encounter Ms. Dannehy seemed to be a functionary of the investigative process; located in DC as an outcome of her task assignment.

Dannehy, very familiar with the DC national security networks; and carrying a top-secret clearance level; had a role to play where she reached into compartmented silos, retrieved information, conducted interviews and then sent the raw data along with summaries back up the investigative pipeline. Ergo, she seemed to be an investigative “functionary.”

Although she was/is obviously a badge carrying member of the Orange-Man-Bad committee (most of them cannot hide that inherent disposition), she seemed competent and detached emotionally from the work. That said, obviously this ‘Durham’ investigation touches on several ‘third-rails’ that could negatively impact the financial prospects of any DC insider if their assigned role undermined the position of the administrative state that functions to pay the network. Did that play a role? If I were a betting man….

♦ Here’s the way it looks to me. The Durham probe, actually more like the Aldenberg probe, has slightly shifted direction. Additional inquires are now being made into the Weissmann/Mueller special counsel conduct. That explains why the ‘Woods File’ story surfaced; and that explains why the iPhone scrubbing FOIA info was produced; it’s an insiders control-game and it continues.

And some "progress," if you can call it that, in the Flynn persecution. The Lawfare aligned 'amicus' appointed by Judge Sullivan to prosecute Flynn in the absence of DOJ willingness to continue the proscution has filed his brief with Sullivan.  WaPoo, Court-appointed adviser in Michael Flynn case says Justice Dept. yielded to corrupt ‘pressure campaign’ led by Trump

A retired federal judge accused the Justice Department on Friday of yielding to a pressure campaign led by President Trump in its bid to dismiss the prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn for lying to federal investigators.

In a 30-page court filing in Washington, former New York federal judge John Gleeson called Attorney General William P. Barr’s request to drop Flynn’s case a “corrupt and politically motivated favor unworthy of our justice system.”

“In the United States, Presidents do not orchestrate pressure campaigns to get the Justice Department to drop charges against defendants who have pleaded guilty — twice, before two different judges — and whose guilt is obvious,” said Gleeson, who was appointed by the court to argue against the government’s request to dismiss the case.

Gleeson’s filing set the stage for a potentially dramatic courtroom confrontation Sept. 29 with the Justice Department and Flynn’s defense over the fate of the highest-ranking Trump adviser to plead guilty in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation. Friday’s filings echo earlier arguments from Gleeson, who called the Justice Department’s attempt to undo Flynn’s conviction a politically motivated and “a gross abuse of prosecutorial power.” 
. . .
Flynn’s lawyer Sidney Powell on Friday called Gleeson’s filing “predictable and meaningless,” saying again that Flynn’s investigation was “corrupt from its inception.”

Sundance, Flynn Update – Judge Sullivan Appointed Amicus, John Gleeson, Files His Reply to Motion for Dismissal…

The amicus filing itself is based on the severe anti-Flynn sentiment carried by the Lawfare community and their allies in the DC network. Accordingly, Gleeson having presented himself as a member of this resistance effort, pontificates shallow conspiracy theories about the DOJ bending to political pressure in their decision to drop the case.

As defense attorney Sidney Powell previously shared: …”The defense and the government have agreed we will file no further briefs at all after amicus files whatever diatribe he plans to file. The only document that matters is the government’s motion to dismiss, which stands on its own and must be granted under ALL precedent. Everything amicus files is improper and should even be stricken–were the law being followed.”

It is unknown what Judge Sullivan plans to do with this amicus brief; however, the scheduled hearing for oral argument before the court is September 29th. 

Fox,  Graham hints at release of more bombshell information related to Russia probe: 'Stay tuned'

'We'll talk in about 10 or 12 days and we'll see if there is something else you can get mad about,' Graham tells 'Hannity'

And Woodward findings the media won't promote?  RCP, Woodward: No Evidence Of Trump-Russia Collusion, I Searched For Two Years (from 2018). 

From Breitbart, Lying piece o'shit Peter Strzok: Text to ‘Stop’ Trump ‘Was an Off the Cuff Comment Made Outside of Any Work Context Whatsoever’. His redemption/book sales tour continues.

Mitchell Nemeth at Medium claims The Trump-Russia Collusion Story Backfired on the Obama Administration.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.

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