Russiagate In Like Flynn

It seems like General Michael Flynn is more and more in the news, and that can't be a bad thing, Byron York: Senate chairman: Comey 'led us to believe' Flynn wouldn't be charged

Grassley's letter went farther than the House report to say that Comey "led us to believe…that the Justice Department was unlikely to prosecute [Flynn] for false statements made in that interview."

Comey's comments left lawmakers surprised when, in late November 2017, after special counsel Robert Mueller had taken over the Russia investigation, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

The House interview was transcribed, and the House committee's report quoted Comey verbatim. The Senate interview was not transcribed, but Grassley referred to "notes taken by a career, non-partisan law enforcement officer who was present."

Comey's statements to the committee, Grassley noted, are "contrary to his public statements during his current book tour denying any memory of those comments." Indeed, during publicity interviews for his book, A Higher Loyalty, Comey has been asked several times whether he told lawmakers that the FBI agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe Flynn had lied.

Thomas Lifson at the American Thinker:  Senator Grassley appears to be preparing to bust the frame-up of General Flynn

Grassley is now demolishing the excuses that the FBI and DOJ have used to deny the same evidence to his committee:

The Department has withheld the Flynn-related documents since our initial bipartisan request last year, citing an ongoing criminal investigation. With Flynn's plea, the investigation appears concluded. Additionally, while we are aware that the Special Counsel's office has moved to delay Lt. General Flynn's sentencing on several occasions, we presume that all related records already have been provided to the defense pursuant to Judge Sullivan's February 16, 2018 order requiring production of all potentially exculpatory material. Thus, although the case is not yet adjudicated, the Committee's oversight interest in the underlying documents requested more than a year ago now outweighs any legitimate executive branch interest in withholding it. So too does the Committee's interest in learning the FBI agents' actual assessments of their interview of Lt. Gen. Flynn, particularly given the apparent contradiction between what [then-director] Comey told us in March 2017 and what he now claims. Accordingly, no later than May 25, 2018, please provide: 1. The information requested in our February 15, 2017 letter, including the transcripts of the reportedly intercepted calls and any FBI reports summarizing them; and 2. The FBI agents' 302s memorializing their interview of Flynn and 1A supporting docs, including the agents' notes[.]

The killer bombshell is the final paragraph, in which Grassley at long last reveals the name of the other FBI agent present when Peter Strzok interviewed General Flynn about his conversation with Russian ambassador Kislyak and requests an interview with him by committee staff members:

[P]lease make Special Agent Joe Pientka available for a transcribed interview with Committee staff no later than one week following the production of the requested documents[.]

As Sundance of Conservative Tree House points out, "it's likely Chairman Grassley outed the name for a very specific reason."

And what might that reason be? Sundance reminds us of previously released text messages between the lovebirds Peter Strzok and Lisa Page:

Regarding the "widely held belief" that Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the FBI agents (Strzok and Pientka) to shape their FBI reports of the interview (FD-302's) to assist a "Flynn lied" narrative…. evidence of that is within the most recent text messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok:
♦January 23, 2017, the day before the Flynn interview, Lisa Page says: "I can feel my heart beating harder, I'm so stressed about all the ways THIS has the potential to go fully off the rails." Weird!
♦Strzok replies: "I know. I just talked with John, we're getting together as soon as I get in to finish that write up for Andy (MCCABE) this morning." Strzok agrees with Page about being stressed that "THIS" could go off the rails…(Strzok's meeting w Flynn the next day)
♦Why would Page & Strzok be stressed about "THIS" potentially going off the rails if everything was by the book? . . .

So Strzok wrote up the report that made Flynn out to be a liar? At the Comey's FBI, even the book was crooked. Strzok will make such a good defense witness.

Sara Carter: Grassley Demands DOJ and FBI Turn Over All Info on Flynn

Because of the developments in the Flynn case, the committee is demanding that the documents be turned over by the DOJ and Wray by May 25th. The lawmakers also requested that the transcripts of the reportedly intercepted calls between Flynn and Kislyak “and any FBI reports summarizing them” be included in the request. Part of the request includes the FBI agents’ 302s, which are the interview summaries with Flynn and supporting documentation, including the agents’ notes from the date they interviewed Flynn.

Last year, this reporter revealed that one of the agents who interviewed Flynn is now embattled FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, whose paramour FBI Attorney Lisa Page has recently resigned from the bureau. Over the last year, evidence collected by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz revealed the pairs extraordinary bias against the Trump campaign and possible interference by them in the FBI’s investigation into alleged collusion between the campaign and Russia.

Grassley requested that FBI Special Agent Joe Pientka, who was with Strzok during his White House  interview on Jan. 24, 2017, be made available “for a transcribed interview with Committee staff no later than one week following the production of the requested documents.”
. . .
“There’s a lot these agents can reveal about that day and what (former FBI Deputy Director Andrew) McCabe’s role was in all of it,” said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter. “McCabe was apparently trying to find a reason, any reason, to make it look like Flynn was lying. But the truth of the matter is – no one thought he lied, not even the agent that hated Trump.”

Michael Flynn is the Scooter Libby of Russiagate, the pawn that must be taken off the board to put the King in check. Trump should save us all the fuss and pardon him now.

The Conservative Treehouse: Hindsight Revelations – Devin Nunes April 22nd: “There Were No Official Intelligence Channels Used To Start Trump Investigation”…

Knowing what we know now – how Stefan Halper (a foreign policy expert and Cambridge professor with connections to the CIA and its British counterpart, MI6), randomly reached out to contact Trump low-level campaign aide George Papadopoulos; and how that contact was likely part of a coordinated effort by political operatives within the U.S intelligence apparatus to start the counterintelligence operation against Trump; this prior interview with Chairman Devin Nunes is well worth re-watching.

In hindsight, and against the known facts from research, we can clearly identify two central motives surrounding why the intelligence apparatus needed the FISA warrant. First, the FBI and larger team of co-conspirators needed to have a retroactive legal basis for political surveillance that was happening long before the warrant was issued. Second, this was all part of an insurance policy to create the illusion of a Russian Conspiracy – that would later be used -if needed- in an effort to eliminate President Trump.

The unlawful foundational FBI surveillance, which happened prior to October 2016, included the use of unauthorized FISA-702 queries of the NSA and FBI database for political opposition research by contractors. Again, much like the unofficial origin of the Stefan Halper raw intelligence that began the July 2016 counterintelligence op, the FISA(702) abuse was simply more ‘unofficial’ use of the intelligence apparatus.

Julie Kelly at American Greatness: The Deep State Mob Targets Nunes

The Deep State Mob is continuing to squeeze the California congressman after he again threatened to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for ignoring congressional subpoenas and withholding crucial documents from Congressional investigators. Nunes has minced no words about how the Justice Department and FBI have been “stonewalling” his committee’s investigation for months. And as Nunes inches closer to revealing the stinking core of what is potentially the biggest political corruption scandal in U.S. history, the Deep State Mob is trying to close in on him first.

Nunes and other House Republicans want to find out exactly how and why the FBI’s counterintelligence operation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government began in the summer of 2016, and what intelligence sources either aided or instigated that probe. The latest showdown, according to the Washington Post, is because Nunes has issued a subpoena demanding that the Justice Department provide information about an unnamed individual referenced in a classified letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month.
. . .
Now Nunes’s foes are portraying him as a rogue actor—perhaps even a traitor—who is willing to see intelligence assets killed in order to carry water for President Trump. CNN national security analyst Asha Rangappa echoed the Justice Department’s warning that Nunes is risking lives to achieve political ends.

It won't be long before they try the same with Grassley. Victory Girls: Name the Spy: The FBI Had a Source with Access to the Trump Campaign

There is more than enough evidence at this point to come to the conclusion that the FBI isn’t being straight, and it hasn’t been straight for a long time. Our Homey Comey was knee deep in the stench, and his self-righteous attitude is all the more putrid with each subsequent reveal of the abuses he oversaw as this nation’s top law enforcement officer. Today people are outraged that a White House aide still has her job after flippantly saying not to worry about John McCain since he’ll be dead soon anyway. Well, we all should be outraged as to why any of these colluders still have their jobs, obstructing justice and truly doing serious damage to America.

Buckle up’: As Mueller probe enters second year, Trump and allies go on war footing and boy do the folks at WaPo resent it. Republicans are supposed to go down without a fight! Giuliani says Trump did not intervene to nix AT&T-Time Warner merger,  Howard Kurtz Slams Media Over Cohen Coverage: ‘Shocked to Discover That There’s Gambling in Casablanca’ Like no presidential friend or advisor since George Washington has ever used his friendship to make money.

“The media are just shocked, SHOCKED to discover that there’s gambling in Casablanca, talking here about these big companies. It’s not––I’m not defending this practice, but DC is a swampy place. This has gone on for many, many administrations, where you hire someone who is a friend of somebody who’s high up in the White House or the President because you’re looking for access and somebody who can carry your message.”

Is Stormy Daniels seeking attention or is she on a political crusade? Yes, but I don't think the politics are a primary consideration. But it is to the people paying her lawyer. The Michael Avenatti Files: Court Documents Show Porn Star Lawyer Reported $8 Million Windfall in Feb. When he Took on Stormy. You can pay off a lot of old debts with $8 million.