Flotsam and Jetsam - Russiagate FBI Agent Arrested for, Get This, Colluding with a Russian

A now retired FBI official who helped kick off the Russiagate probe has been arrested on several charges related to helping Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who's been tied to the the Russiagate probe so many times I gave him his own tag, evade US sanctions, and hide his pay. Mary Chastain at LI packs the most into the headline, Former FBI Official Who Worked on Trump-Russia Probe ‘Charged With Violating U.S. Sanctions on Russia’, "Charles McGonigal allegedly tried to help a Russian oligarch get off the sanctions list…an oligarch who came up quite a bit in the probe. WEIRD." At Da Caller, Ex-Top FBI Agent Charged With Illegally Working For Russian Oligarch Linked To Trump-Russia Debacle. Capt. Ed at Haut Hare, Former FBI counterintel official arrested for violating sanctions on Russian oligarch; UPDATE: Money laundering, and more. The Free Bacon, Plot Twist: Ex-FBI Agent Involved in Trump-Russia Probe Indicted For Violating Russia Sanctions. "Charles McGonigal is accused of conspiring to lift sanctions off Russian businessman with ties to Vladimir Putin." Insty, AT THE VERY APOGEE OF PROJECTION: Former FBI counterintel official arrested for violating sanctions on Russian oligarch. "President DeSantis is going to have clean house from top to bottom when he takes office: Deep State, Deep Trouble — America’s woke generals and the Military-Industrial Complex must be purged to save the nation."And THE FBI IS LOOKING INCREASINGLY SHADY: Ex ‘top FBI agent’ who investigated Trump for ties to Russia arrested over alleged ties to Russia. "“An FBI agent who investigated the Donald Trump Russia collusion [claims] has been arrested for colluding with Russia. You can’t make this stuff up.” Sadly, you don’t have to." Ace, in red italic font, with the flaming skull, Former Head of FBI Counterintelligence Division, and the Man Who Started the Russiagate Hoax Investigation Into Trump, Arrested for... Violating Russian Sanctions "NBC News: He didn't just "have a relationship" with Deripaska. He took the money from Deripaska -- Christopher Steele's employer -- while still at the FBI." Sundance at CTH, Former FBI Counterintelligence Lead Officer Who Investigated Trump-Russia Collusion, Arrested for Colluding with Russia. Jim Geraghty at NRO say Oh, Come On, FBI, Get It Together! From the Wombat's  In The Mailbox: 01.23.22, Nice Deb at Am Great contributes FBI Agent Who Investigated Trump-Russia Collusion Has Been Arrested For Colluding With Russia. PJ Media's Stephen Kruise notes  Wow, Russian Collusion Shows Up in the Weirdest Places. “It’s not surprising that a former FBI agent who reached his greatest heights in the Bureau thanks to James Comey is a scumbag, but his area of scumbaggery raises an eyebrow or two.”

In Biden Garage-gate scandal Da Wire reminds that on Friday, FBI Conducted 13-Hour Search Of Biden’s Home, Found More Classified Material. Ace, FBI Discovers Six More Documents At Biden's Home in a "Consensual" Search; Now Considering Searching His Beach House and Other Homes. Breitbart Reports DOJ Weighs Searching More Locations Linked to Joe Biden for Classified Docs. Fox, Biden Docs: DOJ prosecutors weighing search of Biden's Rehoboth home "Biden's lawyers say they found no documents at Rehoboth Beach," but then, they missed a 6 batches in Wilmington. Matt Margolis at PJ Media asks Has Biden Been Hoarding Classified Docs for Decades? Clearly. Power Line: More Documents In Slow Joe’s House.

From the Wombat's  In The Mailbox: 01.23.22, at Da Fed, Dave Harsanyi thinks None Of Biden’s Excuses For Having Classified Documents Make Any Sense. Pretty much his normal kind of response. Guy Benson at Town Hall says Biden Keeps Undermining His White House's Own Talking Points on Classified Documents Scandal. Kathy Anderson at PI, considers What’s Worse: Biden’s Classified Documents Scandal or His Staff’s Embarrassing BS Answers? Althouse catches the NY Yorker making the over-classification excuse, "It’s estimated that some fifty million new things get classified each year, and the more than two million people with security clearances, military and civilian, can potentially add to the pile...", with a dash of 'Republicans pounce.'

Jonathan Turley considers both the Trump and Biden document scandals in Pardon or Prosecute? The 2024 Election and the “Get Out of Jail Free” Vote. Matt Boose From the Wombat's  In The Mailbox: 01.23.22, Matt Boose at Am Great, wonders  Is the Justice Department Pursuing Biden Just to Get Trump?, "If the Justice Department can pick and choose the president, then we don’t really have a “democracy” at all but an oligarchy with a Praetorian guard." Andrea Widburg at Am Think wonders Did Hunter use classified documents as part of his Ukraine business dealings? Sarah Hoyt at Insty quips, DEAR LORD, AT THIS POINT, THEY PROBABLY USED THEM AS EVERYTHING BUT COASTERS.  'Bonchie' at Red State notes Questions Abound After It's Revealed Biden Special Counsel Hasn't Even Started Yet. JB Shurk at Am Think thinks President Deep State?

At at WaEx, Oversight Committee requests Secret Service turn over visitor logs from Biden's Wilmington home. Atop Da Hill, Comer asks Secret Service for visitor information from Biden’s Delaware home. 

AP, Dems: Biden should be ‘embarrassed’ by classified docs case. Fox, Pelosi annoyed with MSNBC for coverage of Biden documents story: 'I'm not a big fan' "'I love some individuals there, but ...,' Pelosi said of the liberal cable channel." From the Wombat's  In The Mailbox: 01.23.22, the Weasel Zippers, Nancy Pelosi Walks Back Outrage, Flip Flops On Classified Documents,  Fox Business, Gov. Sununu slams Biden over classified documents mess: 'Disorganized slob' who's not leading by example, "Biden needs to get classified documents scandal under control, Sununu says." He thinks he's running for Preznit.

Steve Miller at Spec World wonders With Ron Klain gone, who’s running the Biden administration? Could it get worse? Elle Purnell at Da Fed lays out A Disaster For Every Month: The Worst Scandals, Abuses, And Embarrassments Of Joe Biden’s Second Year In Office. At Front Page, Bob Spencer notes that ‘Charlamagne tha God’ Says Biden Must Go. "Has the Left had enough?"  Dave Strom at Haut Hare, hears Granholm: prices go down because of Biden, up because of "events". The buck doesn't even slow down as it passes his desk.From the Wombat's  In The Mailbox: 01.23.22, the Weasel Zippers,  ABC Poll: Biden’s Leadership Ratings Underwater On All Major Issues.

Sundance at CTH, Showdown Ahead – Hakeem Jeffries Resubmits Schiff and Swalwell to House Intel Committee. Tough shit, turn him down. Paul Bedard at WaEx hears from the Voters: Go ahead, shut down the government over the debt ceiling. 

NewsMax, Virginia Gov. Youngkin's Tough Stance on China May Signal WH Run in '24. I could see him as DeSantis VP, maybe. Atop da Hill, Manchin doesn’t rule out running for president or Senate reelection under different party. At Haut Hare, KT cites Manchin said, "Everything is on the table" when asked about 2024. I'm not sure he can even get WVA anymore.

Ace, It (sic) Atlanta and Other Democrat-Controlled Cities, The "Idea" Known as Antifa Spends the Weekend Engaging in Fiery But Peaceful Domestic Terrorism. At 11 Alive, All but 1 arrested during protest that turned violent in Downtown Atlanta are from out of state "Atlanta Police Department identified those arrested and confirmed that five of the six people in custody were from out of state."  From the Wombat's  In The Mailbox: 01.23.22, Legal Insurrection: FBI Offers $25K Reward for Info About Attacks on 10 Pro-Life Centers, Antifa Members Arrested in Atlanta are White and Five Aren’t Even From Georgia. At Fox, Democrats largely silent on anti-police violence in Atlanta after night of chaos, smashed windows "'Acts of violence against person or property will not be tolerated," Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted." At Da Mail, Atlanta Antifa terror suspect worked as a production assistant for CNN and is daughter of UK Foreign Office consultant and New Jersey-based Chinese pharma tycoon.

Insty calls INSURRECTION! Democratic Congresswoman Katherine Clark’s daughter accused of assaulting Boston police officer at protest. "Somebody tell her it’s not 2020 anymore." Beege Wellborn at Haut Hare, Minority whip's kid busted while busy busting chops on cops in Boston. Bostondotcom, Katherine Clark’s daughter arrested for allegedly assaulting officer, anti-police graffiti. At PM,  Son of Democrat House Minority Whip Katherine M. Clark arrested for assaulting cop during Boston Antifa event. "Dowell was charged with assault by means of a dangerous weapon, destruction or injury of personal property, and damage of property by graffiti/tagging."  I predict the case will be dropped, or settled with minimal consequences.  Meanwhile the Peacock crows about Jan. 6 rioter who put his feet on desk in Pelosi’s office is convicted on all counts and ET reports 4 Oath Keeper Members Convicted of Jan. 6 Seditious Conspiracy by a DC jury. 

The George Santos story continues to grow more bizarre, NYPo reports George Santos proposed to teen boyfriend while still married to a woman. At I&I, The Media’s Embarrassing George Santos Fixation — Explained. 

Declan Leary at Am Con calls out Supreme Incompetence "The investigation of the Dobbs leak proves that elites’ incompetence knows no bounds." Or maybe they chose not to know.

Jazz Shaw at Haut Hare, NYT wonders: Should schools tell parents their child is "changing gender?" "If you happen to be someone with a lick of common sense left in your head, the answer to the question in the title of this piece should be an obvious and resounding “yes.” But that’s apparently not the case with Katie J. M. Baker, a reporter who covers “social and cultural conflicts” for the New York Times." Deb Saunders at Am Spec, Dead Names and Gender Dysphoria "There’s no good scientific explanation for the explosion in diagnoses." Yes there is, it's just not a biological explanation. Social contagion. And from the Center Square, a new school districts in VA self identifies as woke, School district claims 'oversight' led to delay of National Merit notifications "Stafford County Public Schools is the latest to join a growing list of Virginia school districts who have acknowledged providing delayed notification of National Merit commendations to some students."

At Puck, via Haut Hair, Get ready for People v Alec Baldwin, the TV show "I’ve been scrutinizing New Mexico’s court rules, and as best I can tell, there’s a pretty good possibility that the forthcoming criminal trial against Alec Baldwin, who is being charged with involuntary manslaughter over the on-set shooting death of a cinematographer, will be televised." Oh goody!

Ace, Big Pharma Covid Vaccine Manufacturers Pressured Twitter To Censor Activists... Calling for Generic Versions of the Vaccine "These people weren't spreading vaccine hesitancy. They were calling for a low-cost generic competitor to Big Pharma's vaccines.So, obviously, they also had to be censored.

Durham Delivers - Danchenko Indicted

Igor Danchenko, you may recall is the Russian national, sometimes employed by the ultra-liberal Brookings Institution, who provided most of the evidence in the Steele Dossier given to the FBI, which was released to the press and widely touted by liberal media outlets and politicians as proof that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to get elected and was compromised by some scurrilous information in the hands of the Russians and used by the FBI/DOJ to obtain a FISA warrant on Carter Page to spy on the Trump campaign and administration. The dossier itself has been completely discredited, and Danchenko has told the FBI that the stories were largely without merit, being the result of stories Russian friends drinking. 

Now, Special Counsel John Durham's grand jury has indicted him on charges of lying to the FBI, asserting that stories Danchenko attributed to Russian drinking buddies, were in, in fact, fed to him by a Clinton factotum, Charles Dolan. 

WaPoo reluctantly admits Igor Danchenko arrested, charged with lying to FBI about information in Steele dossier. 

A 2019 report by the Justice Department inspector general found major problems with the accuracy of Danchenko’s information. But the 39-page indictment unveiled Thursday paints a more detailed picture of claims that were allegedly built on exaggerations, rumors and outright lies. The indictment is likely to buttress Republican charges that Democrats and FBI agents intentionally or accidentally turned cheap partisan smears into a high-stakes national security investigation of a sitting president.

The indictment also suggests Danchenko may have lied to Steele and others about where he was getting his information. Some of the material came from a Democratic Party operative with long-standing ties to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, according to the charges, rather than well-connected Russians with insight into the Kremlin.

From NR, Main Steele Dossier Researcher Arrested in Durham Probe. Vicky Taft at PJ Media,  Durham Indictment: Trump 'Dossier' Starts With Hillary PR Guy Who Worked With Man He Thought Was Russian FSB Agent.  John Solomon at JTN, New court documents detail alleged web of lies used to fabricate Steele Dossier, frame Trump, "Civil, criminal case records create portrait of how Igor Danchenko allegedly misled America as primary source for Christopher Steele dossier." Sundance at CTH, Steele Dossier Primary Subsource, Igor Danchenko, Arrested on Five Counts of Lying to FBI – Danchenko Was Working With Democrat Campaign Official. Ace, in all red caps and with a flaming skull, GOVERNMENT ARRESTS IGOR DANSCHENKO, "PRIMARY SUB-SOURCE" FOR CHRISTOPHER STEELE'S FAKE "DOSSIER", and with three flaming skulls, Danchenko Indictment: Source For Steele "Dossier" Claims Was Not Russian Officials. It Was... A HILLARY CLINTON POLITICAL OPERATIVE 

Did Hillary Clinton know about these rumors and direct the operative to pass them to Danchenko, so they could be laundered as "Russian tips"?

It seems bizarre to even suggest she didn't know. She loved conspiracy theories. She paid Sidney Blumenthal to spin conspiracy theories for her.

Twitchy,  WaPo fact-checker says Durham’s ‘stunning indictment’ means ‘Christopher Steele’s sources were really bad’ (then it gets awkward). Also from Vicky Taft, Woman Who Testified Against Trump Also Introduced Authors of Fake Russian 'Dossier' to Each Other. Gee, What Are the Odds ... ?. Fiona Hill. Andrea Widburg at Am Think thinks The latest Durham indictment is a big one. Maybe. John Sexton at Haut Hair cites Eli Lake: The Danchenko indictment shows the Democratic Party manipulated the FBI, but we knew that. Dan Chaitin at WaEx, Trump White House aide says Durham indictment puts 'deep state' plot on Hillary Clinton's doorstep. Of course she knew; but it will get hard to find people to testify to that. Nobody wants to shoot themselves twice in the head. George Parry at Am Spec, 

But these are only the latest developments. Since the last time I summarize Russiagate, Matt Margolis at PJ Media was wondering, Are More Obamagate Charges Coming? Clearly, the answer was yes. Dan Chaitin reported that Attorney general: John Durham remains empowered. "Let me just say first about the money," Garland replied. "We’re now in a new fiscal year, and as everyone knows, Mr. Durham is continuing. So I think you can readily assume that his budget has been approved." Yep. Also, Devin Nunes warns 'future of this country' hinges on Durham indictments and Ratcliffe says 1,000 intel documents given to Durham support more charges.

Regarding Durham's indictment of DNC/Perkins Coie lawyer Michael Sussman, George Parry  at Am Spec calls it John Durham’s Salad Shooter "Knowingingly (sic) concocting a fake narrative to fool the FBI and CIA is going to affect many Hillary Clinton campaign players, special counsel John Durham has let it be known in discovery." Also,  John Durham and the Amazing Disappearing DNC Hack, "Evidence grows that the alleged Russian hacking of the DNC server in 2016 was an inside job"  and John Durham and the Steele Dossier, "Indicted Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann shrewdly set in motion the use of Christopher Steele of dossier infamy to spread word of supposed Trump–Russia collusion." From Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx, Durham unloads thousands of documents to Sussmann defense, and  Strzok attacks Durham indictment against Sussmann and 'chilling effect' on FISAs. Taking flak, that's how you know you're over the target. Paul Sperry at Da Fed says  Durham Investigates Pentagon Contractors Who Helped Clinton Campaign Plot Russia Hoax,  "Prosecutors are investigating whether cybersecurity contractors abused security clearances to feed the FBI false information linking Donald Trump to Russia." George Parry again, from ET, Exclusive: Poll Shows Independent Voters Want Durham to Probe Biden Aide, Jake Sullivan, who has been in it all up to his neck. But sundance singles out another target, John Durham Needs to Look Toward Mary McCord, who is now working for the Jan. 6 kangaroo committee. 

Of course, with Durham taking aim at the Steele Dossier, it's no shock that Democrats and the media (but I redund) are trying to rehabilitate Christopher Steele and his notorious dossier. Spectator World, The name’s Steele, Chris Steele, "The discredited British spy is set to be interviewed Monday by George Stephanopoulos."  ABC, Confronting his critics, Christopher Steele defends controversial dossier in first major interview. John Sexton at Haut Hair, Christopher Steele still defending the accuracy of his dossier, even the pee tape.  Dr, John at Flopping Aces, The Steele interview timing is no coincidence.  Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx, Christopher Steele comes ‘out of the shadows’ for Stephanopoulos interview and Christopher Steele stands by discredited anti-Trump dossier claims about Michael Cohen in Prague and 'pee tape.' Tristan Justice at Da Fed, ABC News Documentary Fails To Rehab Debunked Steele Dossier At Center Of Russian Collusion Hoax. John Solomon at JTN, Steele's defense of dossier collides with an avalanche of evidence to the contrary. "Even statements by Steele's lawyers, his main source and his friends undercut his claim about the "professionalism" of his now-infamous dossier." Sundance, Chris Steele Clings to Fabricated Stories of Cohen in Prague and Trump-Russia Pee Tapes. Debra Saunders at AM Spec, Steele Dossier: The Lie Told Around the World, Again, "Christopher Steele’s bogus smear of Donald Trump served its purposes and it continues to." George Neumayr at Am Spec, Christopher Steele, the Foreigner Who Interfered in Our Election "He is one threat to democracy that the ruling class can overlook." JTN, Soros-tied group met with FBI during Russia collusion probe, hired Christopher Steele "Democracy Integrity Project founder Dan Jones testifies about extensive contacts with Clinton campaign-tied figures, including Michael Sussmann and Glenn Simpson."

On the Alfa Bank hoax, in which John Durham has already indicted Clinton layer  John Sussman, Margot Cleveland thinks Special Counsel Filing Reveals More About Alfa Bank Conspiracy Theory and Paul Sperry at RCI, Clinton Campaign Spread Alfa Bank Ruse Throughout Obama Admin to Press Trump-Russia Probe “The Clinton machine flooded the FBI with pressure from a number of angles until investigations of Trump were opened and reopened,” said one of the briefed sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive law enforcement matter. "The deception was wide-ranging." and Aaron Mate at RCI, Coming Into Focus: Hillary's Secretive, Russiagate-Flogging Pair of Super-Lawyers. Reagan Reese at Da Fed reports Anti-Corruption Group Seeks Senate Ethics Probe Of Debunked Alfa Bank-Trump Server Research. Good luck. Vicky Taft at PJ Media claims It Gets Worse: Look Who Worked Together to Frame Donald Trump With Fake Russia Hoax, George Soros and John McCain, to name two. 

WaPoo reports Ex-FBI leader Andrew McCabe wins back pension in Justice Dept. settlement after he was fired under Trump. A fine example of sue and settle. Jordan Davidson at Da Fed, Biden Administration Awards Disgraced Russia Collusion Hoaxer Andrew McCabe With $200K Pension. John Sexton at Haut Hair, Andrew McCabe gets his pension back despite IG finding that he 'lacked candor' under oath, the crime of lying to the FBI, when someone other than a Democrat does it. Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx, Merrick Garland says DOJ stands by conclusion Andrew McCabe lied despite reversing his firing and Byron York's Daily Memo: DOJ memory holes Andrew McCabe wrongdoing.

BPR, Longtime Clinton Global Initiative co-chair arrested for securities fraud and felony theft and WJ, Longtime Clinton Operative Charged with Felonies, Arrest Warrant Issued. The Clinton Crime family. 

Elder abuse identified. Fox, Schiff 'heartbroken' by Mueller's decline during Russia probe: 'This was not the Bob Mueller I knew', "'I would not have pursued his testimony with such vigor,' Schiff wrote in new book." Dan Chaitin at WaEx, Schiff 'can't answer' whether cognitive decline disqualified Mueller from leading Russia investigation. Well, if it doesn't disqualify Joe Biden. . . . Althouse, "By all rights, Russiagate should be dead as a serious news story. But as the Real Time episode showed, 'collusion' is still alive for some..." "... and the bulk of the case essentially rests now upon the characterization of one person from the above passage as a Russian agent: a former aide to Paul Manafort named Konstantin Kilimnik...."

Dan Chaitin, Schiff reveals assurance from FBI director under Trump "FBI Director Christopher Wray assured Rep. Adam Schiff he would resign before being pressured into "something that wasn't right" under former President Donald Trump, the congressman claims in a new book." Wray didn't resign, ergo everything was right under Trump. QED. From Natalia Mittelstadt at JTN. Ethics watchdog wants probe of possible improper gift to Senate panel chasing Trump-Russia hoax "The request concerns an almost 700-page report provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee at no cost by an outside group." Sundance, The Modern Weaponization of Our National Security System Is The Lasting Legacy of Barack Obama and Eric Holder. Matt Taibbi, Yes, Virginia, There is a Deep State, "A major untold story of the Trump era has been the political comeback of the CIA, NSA, and FBI, who thanks to an ingenious marketing campaign now enjoy widespread support among young liberals."  Theodore Roosevelt Malloch at Am Great claims to know How to End the Deep State: 

First, restrict all government employees to five-year contracts, renewable only twice. For the military this should be 20 years and out, no exceptions. Then put measures into place that all these bureaucrats, appointees, and congressional staffers are not allowed to lobby or ever work for any government contractor or firm that has such contracts.

Second, impose term limits on Congress. Five two-year terms in the House; and, two six-year terms in the Senate. Likewise, no elected officials can ever lobby Congress or serve on the board or as an employee of any firm that does business with the government. Ironclad. The U.S. Congress, like the New Hampshire Legislature, should only be allowed to sit 45 days a year. This will make it a less than full-time assignment and allow all politicians to be part-time and return to their respective Mount Vernons. It will be a people’s republic.

And finally, the budget of the CIA and all other intelligence agencies, including most importantly, the FBI and NSA, should be cut over three years by 20 percent a year. This would work to rein in their excesses and limit their ability to thwart the democratic process.

Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx reports FBI raids DC home of Putin-allied Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Sundance, FBI Raids DC Home of Oleg Deripaska, Chris Steele’s Former Employer and Central Player in Corrupt FBI Operation Against Donald Trump. Margot Cleveland at Da Fed explains why she thinks the FBI Raid On Oleg Deripaska Is Bad For Russia Collusion Hoaxers, Not Trump, "Deripaska may well be the player that proves the downfall of Steele."

And some miscellaneous: sundance, The Fourth Branch of U.S. Government Targeted Julian Assange For Kidnapping or Assassination in 2017, A Transparently Obvious Motive Being Overlooked. A little tinfoily. 

Julian Assange was not a threat to Donald Trump, but he was a threat to those who attempted to stop Donald Trump.  In 2017, the DC system was reacting to a presidency they did not control.  As an outcome, the Office of the President was being managed and influenced by some with ulterior motives.

Also,  Tucker Carlson Interviews General Michael Flynn – The Biggest Target of The Fourth Branch of Government

Dan Chaitin at WaEx Clinton aide Huma Abedin blasts Comey for 'decision to play God' during 2016 election. Shocked, I'm shocked. 

Some Russiagate to Start the Day

You may have heard allegations that the hack of the DNC may not have been carried out by Russian hackers, but rather insiders. The MSM  and the FBI attempt to portray this as a conspiracy theory, but some reasonable folk on the other side think otherwise. Former NSA Official Questions the Intelligence Community’s Assessment on the DNC Hack. At Medium, Mitchell Nemeth allows Former NSA Official to Question the Intelligence Community’s Assessment on the DNC Hack. Read it, or watch the video:



I think in this era of digital spoofing, nothing is solid, and everything should be questioned. Excerpted from, “Neither Flynn Nor Stone Were Guilty—There Was No Russian Hack” Bill Binney Makes His Case A long one. . .

Of course, it could be Russian collaborators inside the DNC who hacked the DNC: Eric Felten at Da Fed, Key Russian Collusion Hoaxer And Dossier Peddler At Obama’s State Dept. Worked For Sanctioned Russian Oligarch, Oleg Deripaska. We've heard the Winer reports before, but Felten lays it out in a compelling way. I'm not saying Winer hacked the DNC (he's clearly a different kind of hack), but clearly the Russians had a lot influence in the Democrat world; it could be nearly anyone.

Erik and Todd Gregory are waiting with Bated Breath for Barr's Big Break (AmGreat)

And yet...and yet..Kevin Clinesmith? Not exactly a ringleader in the anti-Trump cabal. And what of the instigators of this audacious plot against the president (i.e., John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey, Joe Biden, or Barack Obama to name but a few)? Thus far, Barr has indicated no intention of prosecuting anyone beyond the low-hanging fruit of Kevin Clinesmith and even publicly issued assurances to Barack Obama and Joe Biden that they have no criminal culpability (to say nothing of Barr's exoneration of Andrew McCabe on Valentine's Day). Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief John Brennan was reportedly told by Durham that he was not a target (or even a subject) of the Russia Hoax investigation. And it appears that Durham has not even interviewed most of the principal figures central to the Russia Hoax. While Barr and Durham should be applauded for finally taking some judicial action, however limited, if Kevin "little fish" Clinesmith is their biggest catch and the true ringleaders escape unscathed, we can be assured these serial abuses of power will escalate under a Joe en administration.

Consequence #1 — The DOJ Will Ensure a Two-Tiered Politicized Justice System (Exclusively Targeting Conservatives and Protecting Progressives): The DOJ began visibly putting its thumb on the scales of justice in favor of fellow progressives and against conservatives during Obama's reign. . . .

Consequence #2 — Escalating Federal Government Attacks against Republicans and Conservatives: Progressive-dominated federal government agencies will renew and escalate attacks against conservative organizations and individuals in the confident knowledge that the politically aligned DOJ will not hold them to account. . . .

Consequence #3 — The Russia Hoax Investigation Will Be Dissolved Immediately by President Biden.

Da Caller, ‘Don’t Be Fooled’: Richard Grenell Warns Against Electing Another ‘Washington Insider’. Sundance has Ric Grenell's address to the RNC convention, Richard “Ric” Grenell Delivers an Incredible RNC Speech Supporting “America First”… I've queued it up to the "spygate" section:

Russiagate on a Fine Wednesday Morning

Cooling off today. John Cleer at Red State wants to know Who Told Clinesmith to Do It?. I'm betting on Andy Weissman myself, probably through a layer or two of deniability.

I find it unlikely that Clinesmith committed this forgery of his own accord, and unusual that a junior employee would be tasked by the FBI and Special Counsel with a pivotal role in such a high-level criminal operation: overseeing the applications for search warrants targeting a sitting president, his cabinet and even his family, for made up reasons. Shipwreck contends his assignment, while surprising, “is not atypical in the Bureau where oftentimes the view is that agents/analysts/OGC attorneys are “fungible”. By training and procedures, all are equal to each other.”

This may be a common view at the FBI, but would they apply it while attempting a coup? Mueller hired “one of the most impressive groups ever assembled for a special counsel investigation” and the FBI sent him a young man with one year at the Bureau. I can’t imagine why they’d do this but to use Clinesmith as the “fall guy,” in which he’d be closely watched–if the forgery wasn’t his idea, he probably wouldn’t get away with it.

Weisman is arguing that a forgery can’t be a falsification unless the content of the forged statement is also false; and he has to know this isn’t true. He tweeted last week, rhetorically, that

Clinesmith is charged with adding the words “not a source” to an email about Carter Page, but no where does the charge say that is false, i.e. that Page was a source for the CIA. Without that, how is the addition “materially” false?

It’s “materially” false because he said the liaison wrote it when she didn’t, and in doing caused the FISA application to go forward: A “Materially false statement means any false statement, regardless of its admissibility under the rules of evidence, which could have affected the course or outcome of an official proceeding”. Clinesmith admitted in his plea to doing this on purpose but claims he had no *intention* to mislead, and thought Page was truly not a source but instead some kind of sub-source. This is a funny thing to say, as he plead guilty making a false statement *intentionally*, and there are lawyers who think it constitutes an invalid guilty plea. Clinesmith claims to have thought Page wasn’t technically a source, which is immaterial since its being a forgery is what made the statement false and he admits this was done intentionally. The judge made him clarify (“In other words, you agree you intentionally altered the email to include information that was not originally in the email?”) before pleading, but for many that isn’t good enough.

You can read the Clinesmith plea agreement here.  Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Carter Page Provides Glimpse Of His CIA Links In New Book. Sundance at CTH, Trying to Cut The Gordian Knot – Carter Page Outlines Five FBI Interviews in March of 2017…



Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx, Lindsey Graham to subpoena FBI official he says misled Senate Intelligence Committee on Steele dossier

A top Senate Republican said he plans to subpoena Bill Priestap, a key leader in the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation, after pushback from the former bureau official’s lawyer.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News's Sunday Morning Futures that he is escalating his effort to interview the FBI's former head of counterintelligence. The senator said he believes Priestap gave misleading information to the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2018 about the reliability of British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited dossier.

Graham said he expected to interview Priestap last week, but “his lawyer contacted us and put conditions on the interview that are unacceptable.” So, the senator said, “I’m going to subpoena him,” in part, because it was Priestap “who gave the Senate Intel a briefing about the reliability of the subsource in 2018 that basically whitewashed the actual evidence."

From 'shipwreckedcrew' at Red State,  “The Comey Rule” Movie — A Fictional Account of Crossfire Hurricane Based on Comey’s Book “A Higher Loyalty”

I’ve only watched it once, and the IMMEDIATE vibe I got from it was Oliver Stone’s “JFK”. That was Oliver Stone’s personal view of events leading up to the assassination of JFK, largely not in accord with the historical record. But that is a debate for a different day.

I have a suspicion we are going to suffer through the same kind of experience with “The Comey Rule” — which will provide a version of events that have already been lapped by actual facts undermining Comey’s descriptions in his book. There will be scenes that attempt to cast Comey as the upstanding paragon of ethical commitment, but we now know that some topics covered in his book involve versions of events that are incomplete and/or inaccurate.

Speaking of collusion with the Russians, from Eric Felten at RCI, Top Kerry Aide, Key Conduit for Steele Dossier, Once Worked for Russian Oligarch, as Did Its Author

Jonathan Winer, a former top aide to Secretary of State John Kerry who was a key conduit for disseminating the discredited Steele dossier in the U.S. government, worked as a lobbyist for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in years preceding the Russiagate affair. This revelation raises new questions about Russian efforts to influence American foreign policy -- far afield from any Kremlin efforts to favor Donald Trump.

Winer’s connection to Deripaska came to light through last week’s release of the fifth and final volume of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. The Senate report also found that at different times ex-British spy Christopher Steele had worked for the powerful oligarch with ties to President Vladimir Putin, and sent scores of reports from his intelligence firm on to Winer, who admitted to the panel destroying many of them before leaving the State Department. Further, the Senate developed evidence that Glenn Simpson – whose company Fusion GPS contracted with Steele for the dossier – also did work for Deripaska. Simpson denied that, telling senators, “I don’t think I’ve knowingly had any contact with his organization.”

In his initial interview with the Senate committee, Winer claimed never to have met the oligarch. In a second interview Winer revised this answer. He conceded that, beginning in 2003, Deripaska had hired the law firm Alston & Bird, where Winer was a partner. He worked on the Deripaska account but, asserting attorney-client privilege, refused to say what exactly he had done on Deripaska’s behalf. RealClearInvestigations sent questions to Alston & Bird’s spokesman but received no reply.

On the ongoing persecution of Gen. Michael Flynn, Sundance has Flynn Oral Argument Transcript Released – Decision Imminent Due to Justice Griffith Retiring…

Regardless of what decision is reached, the announcement should be anticipated prior to Judge Griffith being replaced by recently confirmed Trump nominee Judge Justin Walker. That means we could see a decision announced this Friday, or by next Friday at the latest.

The judges could remove Judge Sullivan and reassign the case. In that event it’s likely the next judge would simply accept the motion to dismiss. However, the DC circuit could also deliver a ruling that allows Sullivan to retain the final disposition with strong guidance on any subsequent activity.

Given the extra-judicial path of this case essentially anything is possible. That said, the DC appeals court likely doesn’t want this decision being reviewed any further (SCOTUS). It would make sense for the DC panel to seek a face-saving exit for Sullivan that doesn’t put Flynn’s defense in a position to appeal to Supreme Court Justice Roberts for intervention.

Joseph Weber at JTN,  In New York, subpoena delayed on Trump financials, state attorney general wants Eric Trump deposed. Clint Fargeau at Red State, Steve Bannon’s Arrest Shows Why Democrats Have Salivated over Trump’s Tax Returns

The Resistance bureaucrats could use the tax return to pry open all the accounting for the president’s extensive business networks. Any ambiguous accounting decisions–or heaven forbid, serious mistakes–would be cast in the blackest light and used as a pretext for “Impeachment 2.0: We Got You This Time, A**hole.”

Even if the gray accounting turned out to be wholly defensible, it wouldn’t matter. All the public would hear is that THE PRESIDENT IS AN INDICTED MONEY CRIMINAL! Most Americans could not hope to understand the tax and accounting arguments that would arise, so their first impression would be hard to dispel.

An army of Twitter wits (“twits”) and the Hollywood actor brigade (who are experts in everything, but especially tax law) taunted the president when he refused to release his tax returns in 2016: “If you have nothing to hide, just release your returns. What are you afraid of, huh? Huh?”

A minor infraction or ambiguous accounting practice getting blown up into a weapon to cripple his presidency–that’s what Trump was afraid of–I guarantee it. And boy howdy, he was right to be. It’s too early to tell, but I *suspect* that is just what has happened to Bannon.

We’ll see.

As if to demonstrate the seriousness of their efforts,  New York AG Laughs About Suing President Trump (Matt Palumbo at Bongino).

Russiagate: Brennan vs. Comey

The questioning of John Brennan, former CIA chief by Durham's team is still drawing attention. From Bronson Stocking at Town Hall, Durham Questioned Brennan for Eight Hours. Here's What We Know. Not much, because unlike the Mueller team the Durham group doesn't leak.

According to Shapiro, Brennan provided Durham with details regarding "the efforts made by the intelligence community to understand and disrupt the actions taken by Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election." Brennan's advisor recounts the 8-hour interview as if it were Brennan asking Durham all the questions.

And lecturing Durham about political persecution.

Brennan also told Durham that the repeated efforts of Donald Trump & William Barr to politicize Mr. Durham's work have been appalling & have tarnished the independence & integrity of the Department of Justice, making it difficult for DoJ professionals to carry out their job. 7/8

— Nick Shapiro (@nick_shapiro) August 22, 2020

At AmThink, Tom Lifson worries Is Brennan going to skate in Durham's investigation? I suspect so; unlike Obama's crowd, the Barr DOJ is reluctant to use prosecutorial powers against political opponents, even when it's warranted. But he points out that Comey's and Brennan's claims about the Steele Dossier cannot be reconciled.  However, in a long lawerly post that you should read in it's entirety, 'shipwreckedcrew' of Red State says John Brennan Was Put in a Perjury Trap Yesterday — A Completely Legitimate One

John Durham and his team did not come to the decision to interview Brennan over the course of eight hours for the purpose of “filling in the blanks” on “events that are under review.”

The purpose of the interview was to get Brennan to confirm or deny information that others have provided up to this point about Brennan, and what he instructed others to do.

John Brennan was placed into a perjury trap yesterday because he’s shown himself willing to perjure himself in the past in order to evade scrutiny.

Yesterday, the ability to avoid the trap was completely within his control — all he had to do was tell the truth. For the most part, Durham’s investigators knew the truth.

John Brennan doesn’t come from a world of objective “truths” and “lies”. For Brennan, the “truth” is always malleable to fit his needs at any given moment.

That’s CIA tradecraft. He sees himself as a master of such “dark arts” based on his decades in DC. Others have long viewed him as a clown.

That’s why, as a prosecutor, you save a liar like John Brennan for last. He can’t help you because you can’t rely on what he tells you.

So your interview is not done for the purpose of helping your case.

And you do it in Virginia and not DC because of what you plan to do next.

And Comey?  'I can't imagine that I'm a target' of Durham probe (Fox)

Former FBI Director James Comey spoke dismissively of Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation of the origins of the bureau's Russia probe Sunday, saying he has not been contacted for it and that it is being used as a political tool for President Trump and his supporters.

In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," Comey insisted that everyone involved in the investigation was "trying to do the right thing" and therefore Durham's probe was not concerning for him.

"I have had no contact with him and haven’t talked to him," Comey said about Durham, adding, “I can’t imagine that I’m a target.”

Remember, the targets are interviewed last, if at all.

Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Russian Oligarch’s Ties To Manafort, Steele Posed Intel Risks, Senate Report Says Oleg Deripaska wasn't taking any chances. He was ingratiating himself on both sides. Also, FBI Agents Pushed For A FISA To Investigate Foreign Government Targeting Hillary Clinton, denied, of course, by the "7th floor" who went after Trump instead. Sundance at CTH has Lindsey 2.0 talking about the double standard, Sunday Talks – Lindsey Graham Has New Revelations About FBI 7th Floor Targeting Donald Trump…



Also, Sunday Talks – Devin Nunes Discusses The Vast Mailbox Conspiracy Theory… as well as Russiagate:



WaFreeBee, Democrats Slow Roll Subpoenas For Christopher Steele Associates, Republicans Say "They're throwing up all these roadblocks and kicking and screaming the whole way," the source said. "The question is, what is there to hide?"" Not much any more, it was all pretty rotten. JE Dyer at Da Lid, August 2020 And The Democratic State Of Election Interference

But Russian interference isn’t nearly as interfering a phenomenon as the Democrats’ constant drumbeat about Russian interference. Short of massively tampering with the vote itself, the Russians can’t actually have much of an effect on our elections. At most, they can masquerade as one of many raucous voices in the cacophony of American free speech.*

Since the only thing Russian interference squads can really do is seek to amplify existing themes in American politics, that makes them like all other voices. There’s not a single political theme that gets flogged in American politics solely because Russia is behind it.

That’s certainly the case for the 2020 poster child for “Russian interference”: the Democrat/media allegation that Russia has instigated suspicion about the Biden family’s role in questionable dealings with Ukraine. When you hear “Russian interference,” you may think vaguely of silly memes on Facebook and allegations that Russians have hacked into U.S. voter websites. But in 2020, what the Democrats mean is their new narrative that Russia planted bad stories about the Bidens and Ukraine.

Sundance presents Lee Smith Discusses “The Permanent Coup” Against President Trump…



Twitchy, Good point: Did anyone notice that President Trump’s impeachment ‘didn’t even warrant a mention’ at the Democratic convention? I guess they're not that proud of it.

Andy McCarthy at NR on the Bannon persecution, The Bannon Indictment "If there are convictions, the potential penalties are severe." Benjamin Wetmore at AmThink expresses Skepticism about the Bannon Indictment

Steve Bannon may be guilty, or he may be innocent of the charges. He may also be innocent or guilty of other unindicted conduct. But no one should think that innocence will save him from conviction or prison; just ask Steve Stockman. After all, Bannon faces essentially the same odds in New York as he would have had under the Soviet judiciary.

Linked at Whatfinger.

Russiagate: A Comey Family Business?

A rather long, detailed and provocative version of the events from Leo Goldstein at PJ Media in Here's How the 'Russia Collusion' SpyGate Deception May Have Played Out. I prefer a version in which stupidity and blind ambition play a bigger role, and actual malice  slightly less, because I tend to think that stupidity plays a larger role in human events than even the history writers admit. It's still worth the read. A taste whet your appetite:

The Initial State of Affairs (mid-April 2016)

• Donald Trump is most likely the Republican presidential candidate.
• Hillary Clinton is endorsed by Obama and is virtually guaranteed the Democratic presidential nomination, despite an underwhelming performance against Bernie Sanders.
• FBI Director James Comey has promoted the pro-Hillary troika Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page, as well as Bill Priestap, to the top of the FBI. The Hillary exoneration operation, called the Mid-Year Exam (“MYE”), is already at full steam. The same FBI people tasked with exonerating Hillary Clinton will investigate Trump.
• Due to the rapid expansion of digital technology, the Obama administration had an opportunity to create new agencies, divisions, and committees devoted to cyber security and other digital technologies. But they are staffed with partisans. Examples include the head of the U.S. Digital Service Mikey Dickerson, who ran false-flag Facebook operations against the Alabama Republican Senate candidate in 2017, and fake Republican groups on Facebook, intended to discourage the Republican vote in 2018. State Department intelligence advisors Jonathon Morgan and Renée DiResta have collaborated with him and set up a company called New Knowledge, which advised Congress on the alleged Russian social media operations. Of course, they gave false advice in support of the Russian hoax.
• The FBI Cyber Division (CyD) became dysfunctional, as acknowledged by Peter Strzok in some of his infamous texts. Because the CyD was involved in the investigation of Hillary’s server, James Comey probably did to the CyD the same thing that he did to counterintelligence: replaced competent and honest professionals with Democratic partisans.
• The DNC has engaged with the Ukrainian government to produce dirt on Paul Manafort. He was the former adviser to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and supported by Putin.

Streiff at Red State has more the WaPoo article on the Mysterious Mr. Mifsud in CIA Prepares The Blame The Consultant Excuse For Screwing The Pooch With The Steele Dossier. Will the Mysterious Mr. Mifsud, photographed with all sorts of western politicians and intelligence types, be the designated fall guy? Well, I guess they want foreign fingerprints on it.

Andy McCarthy at NR on Oleg Deripaska's rejection of the the FBI collusion theory with Paul Manafort, Russian Oligarch Scoffed at FBI’s Collusion Theory. Fairly conventional until:

Solomon reports that the FBI’s interview of Deripaska was not disclosed to Manafort’s defense during the proceedings at which he was convicted — federal criminal cases in Virginia and Washington, D.C. Manafort’s lawyers claim that this concealment violated Manafort’s due-process rights. One need not be a Trump-deranged collusion diehard to understand why this claim will get nowhere.

The suggestion that the nondisclosure amounts to a Brady violation (the relevant precedent is the Supreme Court’s 1963 ruling in Brady v. Maryland) misapprehends the prosecution’s obligations. Brady requires the government to surrender to the defense information uniquely in its possession that tends to exculpate the defendant. Information is not exculpatory unless it shows the defendant is not guilty of the crime charged. Manafort was never charged with any offense alleging a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. As Solomon notes, he was charged and “convicted on tax and lobbying violations unrelated to the Russia case.” Deripaska’s reported statements to the FBI have no bearing on those offenses.

Manafort’s counsel intimates that the government’s possession of potentially exculpatory information means the investigation of Manafort was illegitimate. I am not a fan of Mueller’s probe, but there is no Brady right against being investigated. The purpose of an investigation is to determine if a crime has been committed. Usually, there is evidence on both sides of the question — that’s why you investigate rather than forging ahead with an indictment. Brady simply means that if prosecutors formally charge a person with a crime, they must disclose information in their possession that indicates the person did not commit the crime.

That information, by the way, must actually be exculpatory. Here, not only is Deripaska’s information irrelevant to the crimes that were charged against Manafort. It might not have qualified as Brady material even if “collusion with Russia” had been alleged. The statement amounts to Deripaska’s opinion. To be sure, it is not an uninformed opinion. The oligarch is close to Putin and the Russian regime. To my knowledge, however, no one has alleged that Deripaska had any knowledge or participation in Russia’s hacking of Democratic email accounts, or of the dissemination of those emails to the media via WikiLeaks and other channels. Unless he was a conspirator in the scheme, or otherwise shown to have insider knowledge about it, Deripaska’s opinion about who might or might not have participated in it would be immaterial. Brady only requires government disclosure of material information that shows innocence.

That's not what I wanted to hear, but that's why you read Andy McCarthy; he knows the laws.

And of course, a big news item, not on the surface connected to spygate, is the fact that the Southern District of New York has reopened the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire mathematician/hedge funder, accused of, well, all kinds of nasty things, who pleaded guilty to almost nothing to then Federal prosecutor Acosta, now Trump's Labor Secretary, and was serving a sentence of house/work arrest. It's interesting because he flew all sorts of interesting people, including Bill Clinton and Alan Dershowitz to his private island in the company of underage women. Is this Barr digging deeper, or what. Anyway, it gets into spygate because James Comey's pussy hat wearing, women's marching daughter is on the prosecution team, Guess Whose Daughter Is Reportedly a Prosecutor in Jeffrey Epstein Case, and that a familiar dark force, Fusion GPS tried to tie Trump to Clinton's pedophile pal Epstein as part of smear campaign:

Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm whose Democrat-financed Russia dossier fueled an FBI investigation into Donald Trump, pitched other stories about the Republican presidential candidate to Washington reporters, including an attempt to tie him to a convicted pedophile who was once buddies with former President Bill Clinton.

Journalist sources told The Washington Times that Fusion founder Glenn Simpson pushed the idea of a close relationship between Mr. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting sex from an underage girl.

The Trump-Epstein link appears purely social, far short of Mr. Clinton’s 20-plus plane rides on Epstein’s “Lolita Express” private jet around the globe in the early 2000s.
. . .
“The New York Times, I know they work with Fusion,” said Mr. Silverstein, an investigative reporter who skewers the left and right. “Fusion works with a lot of big media organizations. That would give them influence in Washington.”

“I have worked with them,” he said. “I have gotten tips from them and stories from them. And every time I do, I go out and re-report … because I assume it is for a client and it is not 100 percent accurate. And I’ve never gotten anything from them that was 100 percent accurate. Not because they were slanting or lying or twisting. Every time I’ve gotten something from them, ‘This is a report. You’ve got to check it out.’ I have a great relationship with those guys.”

Do you trust SDNY and Comey's daughter to play it straight, or will they use this as an excuse for another go at Trump? I don't trust them.

Russiagate After the Fireworks

A really slow day, mostly recycled news, but one decent one from Aaron Maté at RCI: CrowdStrikeOut: Mueller’s Own Report Undercuts Its Core Russia-Meddling Claims

While the 448-page Mueller report found no conspiracy between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia, it offered voluminous details to support the sweeping conclusion that the Kremlin worked to secure Trump's victory. The report claims that the interference operation occurred "principally" on two fronts: Russian military intelligence officers hacked and leaked embarrassing Democratic Party documents, and a government-linked troll farm orchestrated a sophisticated and far-reaching social media campaign that denigrated Hillary Clinton and promoted Trump.

But a close examination of the report shows that none of those headline assertions are supported by the report’s evidence or other publicly available sources. They are further undercut by investigative shortcomings and the conflicts of interest of key players involved:

• The report uses qualified and vague language to describe key events, indicating that Mueller and his investigators do not actually know for certain whether Russian intelligence officers stole Democratic Party emails, or how those emails were transferred to WikiLeaks.
• The report's timeline of events appears to defy logic. According to its narrative, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announced the publication of Democratic Party emails not only before he received the documents but before he even communicated with the source that provided them.
• There is strong reason to doubt Mueller’s suggestion that an alleged Russian cutout called Guccifer 2.0 supplied the stolen emails to Assange.
• Mueller’s decision not to interview Assange – a central figure who claims Russia was not behind the hack – suggests an unwillingness to explore avenues of evidence on fundamental questions.
• U.S. intelligence officials cannot make definitive conclusions about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee computer servers because they did not analyze those servers themselves. Instead, they relied on the forensics of CrowdStrike, a private contractor for the DNC that was not a neutral party, much as “Russian dossier” compiler Christopher Steele, also a DNC contractor, was not a neutral party. This puts two Democrat-hired contractors squarely behind underlying allegations in the affair – a key circumstance that Mueller ignores.
• Further, the government allowed CrowdStrike and the Democratic Party's legal counsel to submit redacted records, meaning CrowdStrike and not the government decided what could be revealed or not regarding evidence of hacking.
• Mueller’s report conspicuously does not allege that the Russian government carried out the social media campaign. Instead it blames, as Mueller said in his closing remarks, "a private Russian entity" known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA).
• Mueller also falls far short of proving that the Russian social campaign was sophisticated, or even more than minimally related to the 2016 election. As with the collusion and Russian hacking allegations, Democratic officials had a central and overlooked hand in generating the alarm about Russian social media activity.
• John Brennan, then director of the CIA, played a seminal and overlooked role in all facets of what became Mueller’s investigation: the suspicions that triggered the initial collusion probe; the allegations of Russian interference; and the intelligence assessment that purported to validate the interference allegations that Brennan himself helped generate. Yet Brennan has since revealed himself to be, like CrowdStrike and Steele, hardly a neutral party -- in fact a partisan with a deep animus toward Trump.

None of this means that the Mueller report's core finding of "sweeping and systematic" Russian government election interference is necessarily false. But his report does not present sufficient evidence to substantiate it. This shortcoming has gone overlooked in the partisan battle over two more highly charged aspects of Mueller's report: potential Trump-Russia collusion and Trump's potential obstruction of the resulting investigation. As Mueller prepares to testify before House committees later this month, the questions surrounding his claims of a far-reaching Russian influence campaign are no less important. They raise doubts about the genesis and perpetuation of Russiagate and the performance of those tasked with investigating it.

And this will probably earn him another accusation of Obstruction of justice, Trump to hold campaign rally on day of Mueller testimony (Tal Axelrod, Da Hill)

Asche Schow at Da Wire, notices how It Turns Out A Russian Oligarch Paid The Man Hired By Hillary Clinton To Claim Trump Colluded With Russia. Clinton campaign colluding with the guy who colluded with Russia.

The more we learn about the origins of the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election, the more Russian connections link back to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

And a much more detailed account by Sundance at CTH,  Oleg Deripaska Confirms He Was Employing Chris Steele in 2016, While Dossier Was Being Assembled…

Did Robert Mueller omit any mention of Oleg Deripaska from his 2017 Manafort indictment purposefully? Was Deripaska’s denial of any information about Manafort actually Brady material that Mueller and Weissmann intentionally kept from Manafort’s defense team?   And/or was Robert Mueller hoping to hide his prior professional work relationship with Deripaska?

Now that we know Deripaska was employing Chris Steele; and now that we know the FBI was aware that Deripaska was employing Chris Steele, this set of questions from Tom Cotton to FBI Director Christopher Wray has additional context.

Dan Bongino on the IG Horowitz investigation being in the write up phase, DOJ Inspector General’s Investigation COMPLETE, Report to Follow

The Congressman does expect the reports by both Horowitz and U.S. Attorney John Durham to be “significant.”

“But Michael Horwitz and his findings and John Durham and his findings, those are going to be significant. Those relate not to Trump misconduct, but potential Obama misconduct,” he said.

Ace stirs himself to respond in Rep. John Ratcliffe: Inspector General Horowitz's Investigation Is Complete, Report Is Being Written

I guess we'll see.

I'm not hopeful.

I urge cautious optimism; Horowitz was responsible for the takedowns of McCabe, Strzok and Page, so I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt. But we all know that DOJ people really hate to treat fellow DOJ people like they would the hoi polloi.

Independence Day Russiagate

John Solomon analyzes his interview with Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch, in the matter of various aspects of Russiagate in Russian oligarch's story could spell trouble for Team Mueller

OK, so why should you care if a Russian denied Trump campaign collusion with Russia during the election?

First, Deripaska wasn’t just any Russian. He was closely aligned with Putin and had been helpful to the FBI as far back as 2009. So he had earned some trust with the agents.

Most importantly, Deripaska’s interview with the FBI reportedly was never provided by Team Mueller to Manafort’s lawyers, even though it was potential proof of innocence, according to Manafort defense lawyer Kevin Downing. Manafort, initially investigated for collusion, was convicted on tax and lobbying violations unrelated to the Russia case.

That omission opens a possible door for appeal for what is known as a Brady violation, for hiding exculpatory information from a defendant.

That sounds like a Weissman specialty, hiding exculpatory information.

Deripaska’s second relevance to Mueller’s congressional hearings has to do with a series of events that first gained him trust inside the FBI.

Deripaska confirmed a story I reported last year from FBI sources that he spent more than $20 million of his own money between 2009 and 2011 on a private rescue operation to free Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent captured in Iran in 2007 while on a CIA mission.

Deripaska confirmed he paid for the operation at the request of the FBI, which was then under Mueller’s direction. And he added that McCabe, then a rising FBI supervisor who was a former colleague of Levinson and later became a key figure in the Russia collusion probe, was one of those who asked him to help.

“I was approached, you know, by someone that he is under a lot of scrutiny now — McCabe,” Deripaska said. “He also said that it was important enough for all of them [FBI officials]. And I kind of trusted them.”
. . .
Deripaska’s tale has the potential to raise questions about a conflict of interest, since Mueller’s FBI first received a gift in the form of the privately funded rescue mission before Mueller, as special prosecutor, investigated Deripaska’s ties to key figures in the Russia case.

And Deripaska’s complicated tale goes on: His legal team in 2012 hired Steele, the former British MI6 agent, to do some research for a lawsuit involving a business rival that Deripaska was fighting in London: “It was a research project to support what was the case against me in London. But my understanding is that the lawyers trusted him for some reason, and he was for quite a time on retainer.”

Deripaska was unaware, though, that Steele also was working for the FBI on, among other things, a special program to recruit Russian oligarchs to provide intelligence on Putin and Russian organized crime.

He told me that Steele invited him to a September 2015 meeting with some Justice Department officials, under the guise that they might be able to help with the Russian’s long-running battle with State to get visas to visit the U.S. He said the offer to help with his visa problem was a “pretext” to recruit him.

“They actually never talk, you know, about the [visa] problem. They start talking about anything else. They ask, ‘Do you have anything? Give me names. Cases, whatever,’ ” Deripaska recalled.

From Bloomberg, A Reluctant Mueller Is Democrats’ Best Shot to Revive Their Trump Investigations

“It’s a big deal. But it also could be a big letdown,” Samuel Everett Dewey, a former congressional lawyer who led investigations in key committees in both the House and Senate, said of Mueller’s testimony.

Dewey said the high-profile event would backfire for Democrats if it becomes another in a series of anti-climactic episodes in their probes. Promises of public hearings have vaporized into canceled testimony and empty witness chairs, or acquiescence to closed-door interviews with ground rules set by the administration.

Lawmakers will break for a six-week summer recess from Washington a week after Mueller testifies. If they find the public’s takeaway from Mueller’s appearance when they go home to their districts is “OK, nothing new here,” Dewey said, lawmakers could find dwindling inspiration to push toward impeachment.

Why Hollywood Can't Quit The Mueller Report, they love their fiction.

Hollywood collectively assumed Special Counsel Robert Mueller would prove President Donald Trump colluded with Russian agents to steal the 2016 presidential election from Hillary Clinton. Even worse, Trump did everything he could to obstruct the fight to learn the truth.
. . .
Stars waited anxiously for Mueller’s final report, with one star lighting a votive candle with his likeness.

The report finally arrived April 18. The results? No collusion, no obstruction of justice after a nearly 18-month long investigation which cost north of $31 million to complete.

The industry’s players couldn’t believe what they heard. It’s a lie, they cried. Some, like director Rob Reiner, acted as if The Mueller Report said exactly what he expected, nay hoped, it would say.

Others slowly followed suit.

Louie Gomert has a special name for Mueller,  Rep. Gohmert Gives Mueller A New Nickname Prior To The Special Counsel's Congressional Testimony

Although Gohmert read Mueller's full report, it did little to tame the animosity he has towards the Special Counsel.

“It reinforced the anal opening that I believe Mueller to be."

CNS News  Ratcliffe: DOJ IG Has Finished His Investigation, But Report Not Expected for Weeks



Judicial Watch, Former Asst. Sec. of State for Diplomatic Security Testifies Under Oath that He Warned Hillary Clinton Twice About Unsecure BlackBerrys and Personal Emails and Former State Official Testifies He Warned State Department Officials about Clinton Email Issues; Concerned about Interference on Classified Clinton Benghazi Email Documents

WaFreeBe: Official Raised Alarm About Deleted Clinton Emails

Hackett: I recall it wasn't much of a conversation. I—I was—I mean, I have to say, it was emphatic to the Under Secretary of Management—and I didn't speak in tones like that very often to him—you know, that we needed these—you know, the guidelines.
… …
Judicial Watch: Why did you feel so strongly that this was necessary, that they provide this information?

Hackett: Well, we heard that there were 50,000 or 60,000 emails, and that they had—"they" being the Secretary's team—had culled out 30,000 of these. And which is—so we wanted to know what criteria they used. The standard from the National Archives is very strict. If there was—if there were mixed records, that would be considered a federal record. If it was mixed personal and mentioned a discussion, that would be—under the narrow National Archives rules, it would be considered a federal record.

Judicial Watch: And do you know if the emails that were returned by Secretary Clinton and her attorneys, if they followed that guideline to include an email that would include mixed information, personal and official?

Hackett: I don't know.

Lock. Her. Up!