Thursday, October 8, 2020

Russiagate Cleanup in Progress

Mostly cleanup today, with continuing coverage of the revelation that former CIA director John Brennan briefed Preznit Obama on Russian intel suggesting that the Hillary campaign, and Hillary personally was starting the rumors that Trump was in bed with the Russians, as a way of deflecting from the Hillary email scandal. It seems quite likely the Russians got said intel by reading it directly off Hillary's unsecure, homebuilt email server, along with every other foreign intelligence service that cared to. The real scandal is that after briefing Obama, the intelligence services "Crossfire Fusion cell"  (a CIA, FBI and NSA operation) investigated Trump, not Hillary for colluding with foreigners in election interference, quite likely with the Obama/Biden administration's eager encouragement. John Hinderacker at Power Line considers this in What Obama Knew, and When He Knew It

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Brennan’s notes is their date (assuming July 28 is correct). According to the intelligence report, Hillary Clinton approved the plot to smear Trump with the Russia collusion fiction on July 26. Just two days later, the head of the CIA, the FBI Director, the National Security Adviser, the President’s Chief of Staff and the President himself met, presumably in the Oval Office, to discuss the intelligence. The report, picked up by spying on the Russians, who I take it were spying on Hillary, was obviously top priority and was taken seriously by the intelligence community, in the person of Brennan.

Given the prominence that the Russia hoax gained over the ensuing months, there must have been other conversations about it involving Obama and top administration officials. To my recollection, we have only seen the notes from one such meeting. One wonders, too: did anyone from the Obama administration ask Hillary Clinton about her alleged plan to smear Donald Trump? If so, it seems that no record survives; or, at least, no such record has become public.

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 10.07.20 (Evening Edition), Nice Deb at AmGreat, Brennan Personally Briefed Obama on Clinton Campaign’s Russia Collusion Operation in 2016,  Greg Jarrett at Fox,  'Russia hoax' was lie created by Hillary Clinton and one of the dirtiest political tricks ever. Yep. Also, BOMBSHELL: Clinton Allegedly Approved Russiagate Falsehood As Distraction From Email Scandal.  Tyler O'Neil at PJ Media New Evidence Bolsters Claim Hillary Clinton Stirred Up a Trump-Russia Scandal to Distract From Emails. Behind the Black, CIA in 2016 briefed Obama on Clinton campaign false Trump/Russian collusion claim.

 Via Wombat's In The Mailbox: 10.07.20 (Afternoon Edition), Twitchy has EBL with John Brennan Deserves To Be In Prison and Twitchy: Democrats & Media Are Due For A Reckoning Over The Russia Collusion Narrative – And Drew Holden’s Just The Man To Deliver It Althouse cites Jonathon Turley in "Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Tuesday declassified notes of former CIA Director John Brennan showing that he briefed former President Obama on Hillary Clinton’s alleged 'plan'..."
"... to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia as 'a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.' My interest in this story is not simply the serious underlying allegation but the lack of coverage by major networks or media outlets.... [T]he responses from Clinton allies have not addressed the substance of the document before simply dismissed any inquiries.... If these notes have been fabricated or misrepresented, it would show a breathtaking effort to lie to the voters before the election. If these notes are genuine, it would indicate that the FBI was aware of an effort by the Democratic presidential candidate to tag Trump with a Russian collusion scandal. We know that Clinton’s campaign funded the Steele dossier and that Steele shopped the dossier with the media to try to generate coverage to influence the election.... It seems that journalism is suspended until the election when reporters might be allowed a modicum of curiosity into such stories."

Writes Jonathan Turley.

Andy McCarthy at NR, New Files Highlight Brennan’s Role Promoting Clinton’s Russia Collusion Narrative

To summarize what happened here, in late July 2016, at precisely the time our spy services learned that Russian intelligence was saying Hillary Clinton was scheming to blame the DNC hacking on a Trump-Russia conspiracy, the FBI formally opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation — on the theory that the Trump campaign may have conspired in Russia’s hacking of the DNC emails.

And in September 2016, around the time Brennan was nudging Reid to pressure Comey to aggressively investigate a possible Trump-Russia conspiracy to interfere in the 2016 election, the CIA was formally providing the FBI with a memo outlining that Clinton (who was expected to be the next president) wanted Trump investigated for conspiring with Russian hackers to interfere in the 2016 election — which, conveniently, could distract the voters’ attention from her own email scandal. This was information the FBI already had but, according to Reid, was not acting on.

Within days of getting the CIA memo, the FBI began preparations to apply to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a warrant to monitor Carter Page. After describing the July publication of DNC emails which it accused Russia of hacking, the bureau’s FISA warrant application stated: “The FBI believes that the Russian Government’s efforts are being coordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated with [Donald Trump’s] campaign.” 

The CIA did not want the FBI to investigate Hillary Clinton. The CIA — with the Obama White House and Reid in the loop — wanted the FBI to act on Hillary Clinton’s unfounded allegation that Donald Trump had conspired with Russia to hack the DNC. And the FBI willingly obliged. Because it had no actual evidence implicating Trump in Russia’s cyberespionage operations, the FBI had to rely on the Clinton campaign-sponsored Steele dossier, which either made up that allegation out of whole cloth or based it on disinformation from a “primary subsource” who, it turns out, the FBI suspected was a Russian asset.

Astonishing.

Fiona Hill (remember her? she was the one spying on Americans from her embassy in Kiev), whines at the NYT, The Biggest Risk to This Election Is Not Russia. It’s Us.

Switching themes to Trump/Ratcliffes continued declassification of damning data, from the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 10.07.20 (Evening Edition), The Geller Report: Trump Authorizes Declassification Of All Russia Collusion & Hillary E-Mail Probe Documents. Chuck Ross at Da Caller covers it in Intel Chief Sends 1,000 Pages Of Documents To Justice Department For Durham Probe, giving Durham yet another excuse not to do anything before the election. Sundance at CTH  has  President Trump Tweet-Storm: Reauthorizes Declassification of all Documents  but wonders Will This Time Make A Difference?…, Also Fred Fleitz Discusses Ratcliffe Declassification, Durham Probe and Ongoing Intel Issues…

 

And some slight motion on the Flynn Persecution, as Sidney Powell officially moves to have Judge Sullivan for bias. John Sexton at Hot Air, Flynn’s Lawyer Seeks To Have Judge Sullivan Recuse Himself From The Case.  Also from the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 10.07.20 (Evening Edition), Jordan Davidson at Da Fed, Flynn Defense Team Moves To Disqualify And Remove Judge Sullivan From Trial For Anti-Flynn Prejudice, Unethical Behavior
In court documents released Wednesday, Flynn’s lawyers allege that Sullivan “cast an intolerable cloud of partiality over his subsequent judicial conduct” and “risk[ed] undermining the public’s confidence in the judicial process” by exhibiting unethical judicial behavior.

“Here, there can be no question that this judge has created the appearance of bias that mandates his disqualification,” the motion says.

Flynn’s lawyers argue that Sullivan is litigating against Flynn despite his judicial position, and violating the impartiality he is sworn to protect.

“[A]ll that must be demonstrated to compel recusal,” then, is “a showing of an appearance of bias … sufficient to permit the average citizen reasonably to question a judge’s impartiality,” the motion states.

Flynn’s hearing on Sept. 29 alone, the defense says, demonstrated the court’s “contempt and disdain” for Flynn. It was in that hearing that the legal team first motioned for Sullivan’s “immediate disqualification,” which he refused to allow to be fully stated for the record.

“It was apparent that the court was desperate to find something wrong,” the defense team notes.

It was in this hearing that the D.C. Circuit Court denied Flynn’s petition for a writ of mandamus that would have forced Sullivan to drop Flynn’s charges, which he previously refused to dismiss after the Department of Justice had filed to drop the charges.

The defense team also alleges that Sullivan “echoed” corporate mainstream narratives from NBC News’s Rachel Maddow and an opinion editorial in the Washington Post by former judge John Gleeson in his handling of the case.

“It was improper for the court to allow extra-judicial media commentary to affect his conduct,” the document states.

Sundance has a Heads up – More Flynn Exculpatory Information Likely Today… "Clinesmith (?) notes released (see below)" Apparently the group was exploring the use of FARA against Flynn (and family), and not liking their chances. Also, USAO Jensen Provides Flynn Defense With Meeting Notes from DOJ-NSD and FBI Meeting Day After Flynn Interview…

As noted they discussed the “Logan Act” yet found there was no reasonable way to use it and Flynn’s contact with Russian Ambassador Kislyak, during the transition, was normal.

FBI Legal Counsel James Baker asked how could you prosecute Flynn for a 1001 violation (lying to FBI officials) when you couldn’t prosecute any underlying crime because the contact with Kislyak was normal. 
. . .
They knew all along they were investigating a nothingburger. That’s why they took no action from January until the special counsel came along in May and took the FARA approach in June as pressure to get Flynn to plea to a lie he never made. It was all a set up.

 Also, Sidney Powell Talks to Liz Mac About New Evidence of Obama Intel Community Targeting Her Client…


I don’t appreciate the CYA strategy that Wray is using here, do you? Where are the documents, Wray? Why are they all blacked out? Why are you actively disobeying the president’s order and keeping this information from the people? While Wray blathers about this wonderful “American justice” that the terrorists will face, we are all still waiting for justice to fall on the FBI actors who conspired to tank a presidential nominee through election interference, illegal spying, using foreign spies to set up a political trap, and helping the Democrat candidate to spread lies about her opponent. We want those people to face justice. Lisa Page, Peter Strozk, James Comey, and now Wray, among others, are the ones who should face the American justice system.

Not one member of the media, including Fox News, asked Director Wray about his role in the hideously over-redacted documents. It figures. 

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