Resuming Regularly Scheduled Russiagate

Back at home now, with all the resources at hand. First off, from Da Caller: FBI Acknowledges Using Multiple Informants In Investigation Of Trump Campaign Aide

The U.S. government revealed in court filings Friday that the FBI used multiple confidential informants, including some who were paid for their information, as part of its investigation into former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. “The FBI has protected information that would identify the identities of other confidential sources who provided information or intelligence to the FBI” as well as “information provided by those sources,” wrote David M. Hardy, the head of the FBI’s Record/Information Dissemination Section (RIDS), in court papers submitted Friday.

Hardy and Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys submitted the filings in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for the FBI’s four applications for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Page. The DOJ released heavily redacted copies of the four FISA warrant applications on June 20, but USA Today reporter Brad Heath has sued for full copies of the documents.

Hardy’s declaration acknowledged that the confidential sources used by the FBI were in addition to Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored the infamous anti-Trump dossier. “This includes nonpublic information about and provided by Christopher Steele, as well as information about and provided by other confidential sources, all of whom were provided express assurances of confidentiality,” Hardy wrote, referring to information disclosed in the four FISA applications.

So, we're guessing Halper, Mifsud, Downing as FBI plants. Sundance at CTH notes  “Rank and File” – A Conspicuous Absence of Visible Indignation….

“If the FBI and DOJ were not institutionally corrupt wouldn’t we have seen multiple whistle-blowers this year?”

Our FBI and DOJ have become hopelessly politicized. It might be time for Vietnamese village solution. Brian Cates at the Epoch Times: The Circus of Confusion and Chaos That Hangs Around Rosenstein Is Deliberate

By May 2017, any real threat to the president from the Crossfire Hurricane plotters had been spotted and the plotters either fired, demoted, or placed where they could be watched. Mueller’s team never had anything real to find on election collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, which explains why Mueller is now furiously digging through the long-deceased Fred Trump’s estate taxes desperately looking for something—anything—he can use.

And in the middle of this chaos and confusion stands Rosenstein. I understand why a lot of people think Rosenstein is part of the corruption at the DOJ, but I don’t share that view. Jeff Carlson, who also writes here at The Epoch Times, just showed why I am not alone in this view with a brilliant column headlined “The Battle Between Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe.”

While some people in media want to believe Trump is the world’s worst player at “Spot the Traitor,” I happen to believe he’s quite adept and astute at spotting people who are trying to hurt him, and equally as adept at dealing with them.

If Rosenstein were an actual threat to Trump, he’d have been gone long before this. The actual facts are that this is the guy who engineered the tossing of both James Comey and McCabe out of the FBI.

For a different view of Rosenstein from Sundance: Representative John Ratcliffe Discusses Rosenstein and Baker…



Joe Hoft at Gateway Pundit: FBI and DOJ Didn’t Catch Yesterday’s Indicted Leakers (Treasury IG Did) but They Did Cover Up One of Their Names (but not very well).

On Tuesday, 40-year-old Natalie May Edwards, the senior advisor in the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, was arrested and criminally charged for leaking confidential financial documents relating to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, the Russian embassy and accused Russian spy Maria Butina.

Ms. Edwards leaked the FinCEN documents to Jason Leopold, a reporter for BuzzFeed according to Wednesday’s announcement by Manhattan federal prosecutors. Hidden in the DOJ complaint is the fact that Edwards’s BOSS at FinCEN is a criminal co-conspirator and he holds the title of Associate Director.

Jeff Carlson at themarketswork, NSA Director Rogers Disclosed FISA Abuse Days After Page Warrant Was Issued. Rogers is one of the few honest people in this story.

Also via Sundance: George and Simone Papadopoulos Discuss “Spygate”… and the mysterious Mr. Mifsud.



Jeff Carlson at the Epoch Times again: Why is Glenn Simpson Invoking the First Amendment?. Basically, the same reason that Fusion GPS Contractor Nellie Ohr Invokes Spousal Privilege During Congressional Testimony… (Sundance at CTH).

Mueller continues to harass Roger Stone in an effort to find dirt on Trump: WaPo, Special counsel examines conflicting accounts as scrutiny of Roger Stone and WikiLeaks deepens

In recent weeks, a grand jury in Washington has listened to more than a dozen hours of testimony and FBI technicians have pored over gigabytes of electronic messages as part of the special counsel’s quest to solve one burning mystery: Did longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone — or any other associate of the president — have advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to release hacked Democratic emails in 2016?

While outwardly quiet for the last month, Robert S. Mueller III’s investigators have been aggressively pursuing leads behind the scenes about whether Stone was in communication with the online group, whose disclosures of emails believed to have been hacked by Russian operatives disrupted the 2016 presidential campaign, according to people familiar with the special counsel probe.

Stone, who boasted during the race that he was in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has said since that his past comments were exaggerated or misunderstood. Both he and WikiLeaks have adamantly denied they were in contact. However, prosecutors are closely examining both public comments and alleged private assertions that Stone made in 2016 suggesting he had a way to reach Assange, the people said.

Last month, Randy Credico, a onetime Stone friend, told the grand jury that the Trump loyalist confided during the 2016 campaign that he had a secret back channel to WikiLeaks, according to a person familiar with the matter. In a series of interviews with The Washington Post, Stone said his only connection to the group was through Credico, a liberal comedian who had hosted Assange on his New York radio program in 2016.

The special counsel’s prosecutors have also zeroed in on Stone’s relationship with conservative journalist and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, examining whether he served as a conduit between Stone and Assange, according to another person familiar with their interest. Corsi appeared before Mueller’s grand jury last month, and FBI agents have recently been seeking to interview Corsi’s associates, according to the person.

Da Beast: Creepy Porn Lawyer Michael Avenatti Lived the High Life While Owing Millions to IRS

Tax liens filed in Orange County also show that Avenatti has personally owed at least $1.2 million in federal taxes on top of the corporate debts. One lien, filed in February 2018, was for $308,396, while another filed in August 2015 showed a balance of $903,987. The Daily Beast did not find records showing the liens were released, but Avenatti claims both debts were “fully paid.”

Civil court filings paint a picture of Avenatti as a hard-charging attorney who enjoyed the luxe life—jetting around the world to race cars with a Saudi prince and treating his wife and their friends to luxury villas in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Yet he and his companies owed hundreds of thousands in unpaid taxes and in compensation to one former colleague, who claims Avenatti stiffed him out of millions in law-firm profits.

A review of court documents reveals that Avenatti, his former law firm Eagan Avenatti, and his former company Global Baristas, the majority owner of the Seattle-based Tully’s coffee chain, have owed millions in unpaid federal and state taxes in Washington and California, as well as hundreds of thousands in past-due rent to landlords.

A Newport Beach landlord began eviction proceedings last month against Eagan Avenatti in Orange County Superior Court. The real-estate entity claims Eagan Avenatti failed to make rent for three storage spaces and a 8,371-square-foot suite, totaling more than $107,415 for the months of July and August. (A lawyer representing the Irvine Company, which manages the rentals, declined to comment.) On Oct. 18, the landlord filed court papers indicating that Eagan Avenatti owes $213,253 in rent as of this month.

If da Beast is trashing him, I guess this means the gloss is off the Avenatti campaign.