Russiagate: Both Ohrs in Hot Water

Apparently, it was the Ohrs' day for sunshine. From Dan Chaitin and Jeff Dunleavey at WaEx, Bruce Ohr said Christopher Steele was worried about Comey testimony, FBI notes show

British ex-spy Christopher Steele was worried about what FBI Director James Comey might say in testimony to Congress, according to newly released FBI documents.

The author of the anti-Trump dossier was particularly concerned with what Sen. Chuck Grassley could ask during a hearing on May 3, 2017, Justice Department official Bruce Ohr told FBI agents a week later.

"Steele had been worried about Director Comey’s upcoming testimony to Congress, especially his response to questions that would be raised by (Sen.) Grassley," according to the FBI's notes from a May 10, 2017 interview with Ohr, who had spoken to Steele the day of the hearing.

Just what Steele was concerned about is redacted, but the notes said ultimately Steele was “happy with Director Comey’s response.”

The Justice Department released the heavily redacted notes from a dozen FBI interviews with Ohr, the DOJ official who met with Steele numerous times, on Thursday as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.

You wouldn't want his lies to contradict your lies. From Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Bruce Ohr Documents Undercut FBI Claims In Carter Page FISAs

During a Nov. 22, 2016 interview with the FBI, Ohr discussed meetings between dossier author Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson and Yahoo! News reporter Michael Isikoff, who two months earlier had published an article that alleged that Page was under FBI investigation for contacts in Russia.

The potential problem for the FBI is that the bureau said in four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications against Page that investigators did not believe that Steele was a source for Isikoff’s story.

The FBI relied heavily on Steele’s unverified dossier to argue to the FISA court that Page was working as an agent of Russia. The applications also cite Isikoff’s article and at least one other news report about Page.

“OHR met [redacted] in Washington, D.C. in late September, possibly close to the time when the Yahoo news article was published on September 23, 2016,” read the heavily-redacted Ohr notes, which were released on Thursday.

“Simpson and [redacted] could have met with Yahoo or Michael Isikoff jointly, but OHR does not know if they did.”

Isikoff's article was cited as a separate line of evidence in the Page FISA applications, when in fact, it was simply the same source, Steele, laundered through Isikoff.  Sundance at CTH, Judicial Watch FOIA – Bruce Ohr 302 Reports Released, (full pdf)…

Mr. Ohr was interviewed on 12 different occasions between November 22nd 2016 and May 15th 2017. Judicial Watch has finally received the copies of the FBI investigative notes, aka “302 reports”.

The last interview of Bruce Ohr (May 15th, 2017) took place two days prior to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Throughout the interviews (full pdf below) Bruce Ohr was acting as the go-between delivering information from his wife Nellie Ohr at Fusion GPS and one of Fusion’s contract investigators, Christopher Steele.

Also, Rudy Giuliani Reacts to Release of Bruce Ohr 302 Reports…



Something I hadn't heard before from Ivan Pentchoukov at ET, Wife of DOJ Official Funneled Clinton-Funded Dossier on Manafort to FBI

The wife of a high-ranking Justice Department official handed her husband a dossier of research on former Trump-campaign chairman Paul Manafort in December 2016, according to FBI documents released on Aug. 8.

Nellie Ohr, the wife of Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, gave him a report titled “Manafort Chronology.” Bruce Ohr gave the report to the FBI on Dec. 19, 2016.

Nellie Ohr compiled the Manafort report as part of her work for Fusion GPS. The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) paid Fusion GPS $1 million to conduct opposition research on then-candidate Donald Trump. Fusion GPS hired Nellie Ohr to conduct open-source opposition research in 2015.

The revelation about the Manafort report is part of a batch of FBI documents memorializing the bureau’s interviews with Bruce Ohr. Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained the documents (pdf) as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the bureau.

“These new Bruce Ohr FBI 302s show an unprecedented and irregular effort by the FBI, DOJ, and State Department to dig up dirt on President Trump using the conflicted Bruce Ohr, his wife, and the Clinton/DNC spies at Fusion GPS,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

Matt Vespa at Town Hall, With Latest Trump Dossier-DOJ News, How Many Heads Are Going To Roll With Pending Report On Obama FISA Abuses? I cynically predict none.

Capt. Ed at Hot Air, Judicial Watch: Does The FBI Take Leaks Seriously?

Depends on the leak, one supposes, and who benefits from it. In the wake of the Department of Justice decision not to prosecute James Comey for leaking materials later classified to the New York Times, Judicial Watch received records on 14 referrals for leaks by other FBI personnel. In most cases, the FBI and DoJ took lesser action than recommended by investigators, and they’d like to know why . . .

Paul Sperry at I&I, Trump Order Also Grants Barr Power To Declassify Still-Secret Hillary Docs

President Donald Trump has granted his plucky new attorney general the power to rip the cover off both these election-year scandals.

Trump’s recent declassification order not only helps Attorney General William Barr dig into the earliest days of the Trump-Russia investigation to see the full extent of surveillance measures ordered by Obama officials. It also puts him in a position to declassify still-secret documents generated during the highly irregular Clinton probe, which absolved her of mishandling state secrets transmitted through her unauthorized basement email-server before agents could even interview her.

White House lawyers wrote the May 23 order in a way that delegates sweeping authority to Barr to declassify or un-redact documents covering both 2016 presidential investigations. This is key, because the same former Justice Department and FBI officials who led the Russia “collusion” investigation also headed the Clinton inquiry.

Under the order, these and other agencies will finally have to cough up key classified documents — including summaries of suspect and witness interviews, confidential source reports, transcripts of covert recordings and other investigative records — that they’ve withheld from congressional Republicans investigating whether the former administration misused its spying powers to monitor Trump and his aides. In addition, they’ll have to loosen their grip on secret papers related to the probe of Clinton’s illicit server.

One of these undisclosed papers remains so secret that Justice’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz was barred from discussing it in his 500-plus-page report on the FBI’s investigation of Clinton. “The information was classified at such a high level by the intelligence community that it limited even the members [of Congress] who can see it, as well as the staffs,” he said.

The documents are said to implicate the Clinton campaign and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a secret deal to fix the Clinton email investigation.

Jerry Dunleavy, WaEx, Andrew McCabe sues for pension claiming Trump was behind his firing. I think it's part of a campaign to keep evidence of their crimes tied up in court until Democrats are safely back in office, and able to re-bury it.

Another one bites the dust, from sundance, President Trump Announces Departure of Deputy DNI Sue Gordon – Former Admiral Joseph Maguire Will Serve as Acting DNI…

Good news for those who want accountability. Bad news for those who were counting on deep state Sue Gordon to hide the corrupt intelligence behavior. As a result we can expect the usurping group and their media allies to go bananas.

Capt. Ed, Nadler: These Are “Formal Impeachment Proceedings,” You Know

Did we miss a House vote? Judiciary chair Jerrold Nadler told CNN’s Erin Burnett that the committee’s investigation has turned into “formal impeachment proceedings,” which might be news to the overwhelming majority that voted against such a step last month
. . .
The main “fact” is that Nadler has not been authorized to open “formal impeachment proceedings” against Trump. A vote to proceed on impeachment, which could have produced such a referral from the House, failed on a 95-322 vote in mid-July. That vote took place before Nadler’s stunt testimony from Robert Mueller blew up in his face, as well as in Adam Schiff’s at the House Intelligence Committee. More Democrats have publicly backed the idea of an impeachment probe since, but the number is still around 120 by CNN’s count — far too few to authorize a “formal” impeachment process.

Rules? Who needs rules?

Linked at Pirates Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.