Russiagate Rolling Sevens

So was Mueller really a forgetful old man or a just playing one for TV. John Huey at WaPoo opts for the former in Robert Mueller and what all men of a certain age know, while Margot Cleveland at Da Fed lists 7 Times Robert Mueller Played Dumb Before Congress For Partisan Advantage "1. I Don’t Know What the Regulations Say, Except When I Do". . . Why not consider both to be true.

From Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.29.19 American Thinker wonders If Mueller Wasn’t In Charge, Who Was?, and decides that Weismann was the key driver of the report, but Rosenstein let it all play out, and still wonders what Rosenstein was thinking. Me too. Kyle Smith at NyPo asserts that The Robert Mueller hearings marked a new low for Democrats. That's a pretty high bar. From Flopping Aces Dan Sobieski lauds how Gohmert Exposes Cozy Mueller/Comey Relationship That Made Comey $6 Million Man At Lockheed. Not really new news, but a good reminder that Mueller was a conflicted denizen of the swamp.

WaPoo also reports that De Niro says that Mueller didn’t play me playing him on SNL. That’s good. But it was a show trial, after all, where only the prosecution got to write the report. De Niro is mad that Mueller didn't rage.  Axios goes on about How Robert Mueller shielded Trump's budget deal. Can't two things happen in DC in a week without a conspiracy?

It seems with Muellermas fading into the past, Spygate has started to gain some ground. I don't know how I missed this, Ace, Lee Smith: The Seven Mysterious Attempts to Infiltrate/Entrap Trump Campaign Associates. It's almost as if there were a covert operation against Trump, directed by high partisan officials of the US government. A good review of the evidence for attempts by the cabal to set up the Trump campaign. Jonathon Turley on Da Hill reminds us The mysterious Mister Mifsud and why no one wants to discuss him. Dammit, I forgot to trademark "the Mysterious Mister Mifsud." Again, no new info, but lots more interest.

Certain subjects are rarely visited by CNN or other networks, at least not substantively. The media largely dismisses the fact that the Clinton campaign also solicited political dirt from foreign intelligence sources, including from Russia, through investigator and former British spy Christopher Steele and the research firm Fusion GPS. Few programs mention that Glenn Simpson, a cofounder of Fusion GPS, had dinner with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya both the day before and the day after she met with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower in June 2016.

Many figures are now household names, like resigned Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, and onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. But not Mifsud, despite his central role as a catalyst of the original investigation. For Republicans, it is like what Kint said about Soze. “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.”

Eric Felten at RCI, Why the Mystery of Russiagate Hinges on the Mystery of Joseph Mifsud Also by Ace, DOJ Focusing on "Smoking Gun" in FISAGate Investigation, Which Seems to Involve Josef Misfud

See this post from Friday for John Solomon's reportage that Joseph Misfud's lawyer reached out to him to tell him that Misfud is ready to admit to DOJ prosecutors that he has long been a Western intelligence asset and was specifically acting as an FBI asset in setting up Papadopolous.

Yet, the so-called "Mueller" Report insinuated, without expressly stating, that Misfud was a Russian agent. The report did this by citing media reports that Misfud was a Russian agent.

This was, I believe, an attempt to commit perjury and obstruction of justice while building in the defense, 'Hey, we were just quoting media reports, we ourselves weren't saying he was a Russian agent."

No, just strongly, strongly implying it.

This is important stuff -- and it seems like DOJ investigators are taking notice.

This FoxNews report states that DOJ investigators are zeroing in on why "exculpatory information" -- such as the fact that Misfud was a Western intelligence asset, not a Russian one -- was deliberately omitted from the FISA applications, thus perpetrating a fraud on the court.

Note that FoxNews doesn't say this is about Misfud or withholding the fact that Misfud worked from the FBI from the FISA court, but I can't think of what else they could mean here.

And Ace,  Joe DiGenova: FISA Documents Will Be Declassified This Wednesday, July 31st. Something to look forward to?

This tracks with John Solomon's reporting that the documents will be released this week, but it could be that they both have the same source, and that the same source is wrong.

A little tease:

Additionally, Mr. diGenova states confidently that U.S. Attorney John Durham is not conducting a "review", but is conducting a full criminal investigation with a grand jury empaneled and currently receiving testimony from witnesses.

And now for something entirely off the wall at Quod Verum, The Swamp Meister. James Woolsey’s Lies or The Swamp Strikes Back. Now there's a name I hadn't heard in quite a while. Put on your tinfoil hats and read it.

Also from Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.29.19 Julie Kelly at AmGreat writes, Democrats’ Attack Machine Revs Up Against Ratcliffe and on schedule at WaPoo, Ratcliffe, Trump’s pick to lead U.S. intelligence, faces head winds in Congress and Trump’s plan to nominate ally as spy chief viewed as move to subdue intelligence agencies. Or maybe just tear them out of the hands of the Democrats.

Intelligence community officials said that the moves raised fears about the politicization of their work, and that the official who often represents their views in meetings at the Oval Office may be less inclined to deliver unvarnished — and sometimes unwelcome — assessments to the president.

Former officials described Trump’s plan to install Ratcliffe as a threat to the independence of the nation’s spy agencies.

Somehow, whenever Trump starts to exert control over any limb of the executive branch, WaPoo gets a sudden interest in their independence.

And then, there's the impeachment follies. Hot Air cites the NYT in Why Aren’t 2020 Democrats Talking About Impeachment? Because Voters Aren’t Asking. Stephan Kruiser at PJ Media, Nadler's Trump Hunt Is Dead and He's the Only One Who Doesn't Know

For the past couple of years Democrats have been waiting for Robert Mueller to be their Santa Claus, delivering them a litany of impeachable offenses all neatly wrapped up with a pretty bow on top.

When Santa wrote them a letter in the form of the special counsel report and it didn't include any clear mention of the presents, they were convinced that he would most definitely bring them in person.

So they subpoenaed him.

When Santa came down the Capitol Hill chimney on Wednesday, all he brought with him to give the Democrats was a big bag of coal, which he then awkwardly delivered.

Almost everyone but the Democrats knew it was coal.

But Democrats keep up the pressure, Larry Tribe at USA Today, We are finally on the path to Trump impeachment and saving what our Founders gave us, Capt. Ed at Hot Air, Nadler: There’s No Deadline To Take Up Impeachment, You Know, Rebecca Klar at Da Hill, No. 3 Senate Democrat calls for House to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump and Politico, With Sunday surge, nearly half of House Democrats back impeachment inquiry. But that's the easy half.