This Morning's Russiagate News

You know, giving these things a unique name is getting tough.

From Jerry Dunleavy at the WaEx, finally some evidence that the FISA court gives a shit about the abuses that went on, and actually does something, FISA court bans officials involved in Carter Page wiretaps from seeking surveillance. Of course, since they are no longer able to do a significant part of their job, they should be reduced in rank and pay, but I'm not holding my breath. From Just the News, Trump refusing to rubber stamp FISA renewal, demands post-Russia surveillance reforms, which is why the SOBs are trying to tie it to Wuflu money.

In a recent podcast with the Cato Institute, perennial FISA reformer Senator Ron Wyden laid out the usual (and often successful) strategy of pro‐​FISA surveillance hawks, which simply stated is this: wait until the day before the authorities are about to expire, whip up a “24” style fear mongering campaign that says “Renew this or people will DIE!” and then call a vote on a bill that cannot be amended.

Capt. Ed at Hot Air,  New IG Report: FBI Still Deficient On Investigating Home-Grown Terrorists Despite Repeated Failures — And Deaths, but they had plenty of staff and money for an investigation of the Trump campaign and administration.

Oh great, now more judges involved in politics. From the WaPoo, Judge cites Barr’s ‘misleading’ statements in ordering review of Mueller report redactions

A federal judge in Washington sharply criticized Attorney General William P. Barr on Thursday for a “lack of candor,” questioning the truthfulness of the nation’s top law enforcement official in his handling of last year’s report by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, overseeing a lawsuit brought by EPIC, a watchdog group, and BuzzFeed News, said he saw serious discrepancies between Barr’s public statements about Mueller’s findings and the public, partially redacted version of that report detailing the special counsel’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Because of those discrepancies, Walton ruled, the judge would conduct an independent review of Mueller’s full report to see whether the Justice Department’s redactions were appropriate.

Sundance explains in Federal Judge Questions AG Bill Barr Credibility, Orders Review of Unredacted Mueller Report…

For more than a decade DC Judge Walton has been skeptical of official government statements and the officials who deliver them. Going back to the early years of the Obama administration, and continuing through the IRS case(s) in Obama’s second term, Judge Walton’s suspicions have been consistent. Walton consistently wants to see the raw data, and doesn’t trust government presentations or interpretations of the underlying data.

It is against this outlook from the bench where Judge Walton tells the DOJ he wants to see the unredacted Mueller report so he can evaluate whether a FOIA lawsuit has any merit.

In the FOIA lawsuit Buzzfeed wants the unredacted Mueller report. The DOJ has refused to release the unredacted report because, despite Bill Barr’s instructions to the corrupt Mueller group, team Mueller included grand jury information in their final version.

This is the heart of the issue. The DOJ is saying all redactions were made based on DOJ policy and laws; Buzzfeed is challenging that assertion and saying they suspect the DOJ removed material from the Mueller report simply to advance a political narrative.

Judge Walton is saying he wants to see the unredacted report so he can make up his own mind on whether legally FOIA-able material exists. However, Walton is also going one big step further and actually questioning the credibility of AG Bill Barr. That’s the part where the resistance media is having a field day.
. . .
There are a couple of issues:

First, we know Team Mueller intentionally manipulated the report; including their decision to put grand jury 6(e) material into the report; specifically to contrast President Trump in the worst light possible.

Second, we know AG Bill Barr recognized the political narrative written within the corrupt outline authored by Andrew Weissmann and the Mueller team; and took action to eliminate that politicization.

Third, from looking at Judge Reggie Walton’s decisions through the years; and looking at the ruling on the part where he wants to see the raw underlying material; he’s not doing anything out of the ordinary from what he normally does. However, that said, Walton calling AG Barr’s credibility into question is quite remarkable.

Judge Walton did a good job calling the Obama administration and DOJ to task in the IRS targeting of conservative groups [SEE HERE] and [SEE HERE] ultimately resulting in the DOJ and IRS admitting what took place and settling class-action lawsuits as a result.

If AG Bill Barr did what he said he did, there shouldn’t be an issue.

From Breitbart, Sen. Ron Johnson Planning to Release Interim Findings in Burisma-Biden Probe. good.  WaPoo, Trump and allies target Hunter Biden anew as father surges in primaries. Politics ain't beanbag. But from Just the News, Romney could block subpoena in Hunter Biden probe "The Utah senator said that the investigation "appears political"". Ace, Mitt Romney: The Investigation Into Hunter Biden "Appears Political" and Therefore Must Not Be Undertaken by the Senate. And No, I'm Not Going to Explain Why I Supported the Obviously Political Investigation Into Trump in the Senate.

Pierre Delecto's alt account speaks. Via Tami.

Oh, and as you read this, keep this tidbit in mind:

Burisma faced a money-laundering investigation and questions over how it had obtained some of its licenses to drill for natural gas. In spring 2014, the company appointed Hunter Biden and a former Polish president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, to its board. Three years later, Burisma added Cofer Black, a former CIA official and foreign policy adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, to the board.
"I believe the only reason Burisma and Zlochevsky were inviting people with such names was to whitewash their reputation and to present themselves as a company doing legitimate business in Ukraine," says Daria Kaleniuk, head of the nongovernmental Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kyiv.

You might wonder why no one in the establishment media of either political orientation asks Romney about this, or wonders about Romney's own conflict of interest.

Sole Republican to join hyperpartisan Democrats in unquestionably political impeachment says that investigation of corruption related to powerful US political players and taxpayer funding of foreign entities looks "political." Even for Mitt Romney, that's pretty Mitt Romney. https://t.co/cpJtEVMoSW

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) March 5, 2020

Insty, WHATEVER THE DEMOCRATS HAVE ON MITT ROMNEY, IT MUST BE AWFULLY GOOD. Romney could block subpoena in Hunter Biden probe. Apparently, Pierre has forgotten how the Democrats reviled him as the new Hitler during his presidential run. I suspect that Romney is not doing this out of conflict, but rather his deep seated hatred of the Donald, and a bit of wishful thinking about cross party civility.

Stu CVrk at Red State, Tom Fitton Provides More Nuggets About Hillary’s Upcoming Deposition (And More)

• Hillary Clinton will be deposed in person, not via written answers, within 75 days.
• Her top aide Cheryl Mills will also be deposed under oath.
• The State Dept and Justice Dept continue to obstruct access to Hillary’s emails. They have argued that the matter is “not serious enough” to warrant depositions under oath. [To me, this is ASTOUNDING since she compromised at least 22 emails classified as Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) – and quite possibly many more among the missing emails. This is most definitely serious enough to warrant face-to-face depositions!]
• The judge will authorize subpoenas for Google in order to ascertain whether there are other emails that can be recovered.
• Senate rules preclude aggressive investigations, as consensus is required to proceed. The Republican leadership in the Senate doesn’t want to change the rules to make it easier to conduct investigations.
• Fitton (and Dobbs) support the appointment of an independent special counsel with the power necessary to thoroughly investigate the Ukraine-related corruption and election meddling.