Some Minor Russiagate

Not much by usual standards, but sundance is still following as Federal Judge Completely Rejects DOJ Argument – Orders ‘Archey Declarations’ (Descriptions of Comey Memos) Released…

A U.S. District Judge has rejected the DOJ and FBI motion to block the release of the Archey Declarations (descriptions of Comey memos). [Background Here]

In a strongly worded ruling (full pdf below) released moments ago, Federal Judge James Boasberg blasted the DOJ and FBI for attempting to change their filings, claim national security “sources and methods”, and block his prior court ruling – which instructed the DOJ to release the “Archey Declarations”. The judge is obviously angry:

It must strike readers as erroneous “with the force of a five-week-old, unrefrigerated dead fish.”…

[Backstory for those unfamilar] In the background of what was The Mueller Investigation, there was a FOIA case where the FBI was fighting to stop the release of the Comey memos. Within that courtroom fight Mueller’s lead FBI agent David Archey wrote a series of declarations to the court describing the content of the memos and arguing why they should be kept classified.

The FOIA fight shifted; and the plaintiff, CNN, argued for public release of the content of the FBI agent’s descriptions, now known as the “Archey Declarations”.

After a lengthy back-and-forth legal contest, on June 7th Judge James E Boasberg agreed to allow the FBI to keep the Comey memo content hidden, but instructed the DOJ/FBI to release the content of the Archey Declarations. On August 2nd the DOJ/FBI changed their position and claimed national security, “sources and methods” would be compromised by the release of the Archey Declarations.
Today Judge Boasberg completely rejected their argument:

Here’s the ruling: . . . Must read, it’s a thing of beauty.

 Well, if the FBI doesn't want them out, I do.

Something interesting from Chuck Ross at Da Caller ‘Spygate’ Professor Claims Immunity Against Russian-British Academic’s Lawsuit in his attempt to set up Michael Flynn to look like he was communicating with a Russian agent.

Stefan Halper, the former Cambridge University professor who allegedly met with several Trump campaign aides as an FBI informant, asked a federal judge Tuesday to dismiss a defamation lawsuit that a Russian-British academic filed against him in May, saying government agents have immunity from litigation.

Halper does not confirm he was an FBI informant in his motion to dismiss. He also does not admit to being a source for articles about Svetlana Lokhova, the Russia-born academic. But he argues that if he were an FBI informant, he would have immunity afforded to other government agents.
. . .
Lokhova alleged Halper planted false rumors that she and Flynn began an improper relationship during the 2014 event, which was hosted by the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar. Halper was a co-convener of the seminar, which hosts current and former Western intelligence operatives.

Wow. Just wow, "I do not acknowledge or deny being US government agent, but if I were, you would not be entitled to sue me for defamation". Even if true, to my knowledge, Halper is not an official federal employee, rather an "academic" who gets his grift in the form of grants and contracts. I can't see any way he should be immune.

More from sundance, Quirky Angle – Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne: 2016 FBI Activity Was “Political Espionage”…

Byrne enters the story due to his romantic relationship with Maria Butina, a person charged by Robert Mueller as being a Russian intelligence operative. In/around 2015 Byrne met and started a relationship with Butina, and later was enlisted by the FBI for assistance in their investigation of her. [Sara Carter Backstory Here]

Mr. Byrne now describes all of that FBI activity as somewhat of a political espionage operation to spy on several 2016 candidates, collect dirt, and seemingly gain operational leverage.

Capt. Ed at Hot Air, Great News: The People Who Brought You Russia-Collusion Want To Stop Epstein Conspiracy Theories. It's a funny thing, isn't it?

Chris White at Da Caller, Former Obama Official Begins Trial In Case Connected To Mueller’s Russian Probe. Either enforce FARA evenly, or repeal it. Same as the Logan Act.

Fox, Mueller alumni landing cushy jobs at law firms, universities – even a book deal – after Russia probe. Like Tom Lehrer's old dope peddler, doing well, by doing good.

MSNBC, Trump rips emolument lawsuits: Being president 'costing me a fortune'.

President Trump on Tuesday disputed that he's profiting off the presidency, arguing instead that lawsuits alleging he's violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution amount to "presidential harassment" and are costing him significant legal fees.

"I got sued on a thing called emoluments. Emoluments. You ever hear of the word? Nobody ever heard of it before," Trump said at a Shell petrochemical plant in Pennsylvania.

Emoluments is enough of an archaic word that Democrats can twist it into anything. Brought to you by the same constitution that expressly enables the Congress to issue "letters of marque". Look that one up.

Guccifer Claims He Cracked Clinton.com

Federal judge opens the door to Clinton deposition in email case

Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia laid out the ground rules for interviewing multiple State Department officials about the emails, with an eye toward finishing the depositions in the weeks before the party nominating conventions.

Clinton herself may be forced to answer questions under oath, Sullivan said, though she is not yet being forced to take that step.

“Based on information learned during discovery, the deposition of Mrs. Clinton may be necessary,” Sullivan said in an order on Wednesday. [READ THE ORDER BELOW] Discovery is the formal name for the evidence-gathering process, which includes depositions.

“If plaintiff believes Mrs. Clinton’s testimony is required, it will request permission from the Court at the appropriate time.”

A prediction from Instapundit:

After her stalling for two years, any move to depose Hillary before November will be met with objections that it’s too close to the election.

Judge, meet orphan.

Accused (and admitted) celebrity hacker Guccifer renewed his claims of hacking Hillary:

The Romanian hacker who first exposed Hillary Clinton's private email address is making a bombshell new claim — that he also gained access to the former Secretary of State's "completely unsecured" server.

"It was like an open orchid on the Internet," Marcel Lehel Lazar, who uses the devilish handle Guccifer, told NBC News in an exclusive interview from a prison in Bucharest. "There were hundreds of folders."
. . .
A source with knowledge of the probe into Clinton's email setup told NBC News that with Guccifer in U.S. custody, investigators fully intend to question him about her server.

But I'm sure the Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans and the Israelis refrained out of respect. Carl Bernstein, no stranger to scandals, thinks There Will Be ‘Very Damaging’ Leaks From Hillary Email Investigation, Her Actions were Reckless and Entitled. Hillary entitled?

Back to coal country: Let’s be honest, Hillary Clinton doesn’t care about West Virginian coal workers–there’s no political gain for her.

Oh, c’mon, lady. It doesn’t take a genius to see that $30 billion isn’t going to be enough to help these people if that is your intention. Re-sowing the socioeconomic fabric in these towns is going to take time, possibly generations. For some, it’s already too late. If the Democrats win the war on coal, 125,800 jobs will be gutted, with $650 billion in lost economic activity over a ten-year period. Is $30 billion going to be enough to make up for those losses? And this just doesn’t apply to West Virginia, but for Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other coal-producing states as well. It’s insulting to think that Clinton’s “hey, sorry I screwed you over” economic package to soon-to-be ex-coal workers will be anything but adequate.

Also, zero electoral votes to be had. Now Ohio and Pennsylvania on the other hand. . .

I’ll close by reiterating another known fact about Clinton–she’s untrustworthy. Again, she promised to deliver the death blow to coal, and now she wants it to be a thriving sector of the U.S. economy. She’s a liar, though I know that’s not news. But her shameless side is on display here–and it’s quite explicit. Don’t be fooled West Virginians – the Clintons couldn’t care less about you.

From Ann Althouse: The loopy optics of Hillary's "Woman Card."

1. Hillary's original response to Trump's pestering her about playing the woman card was "Deal me in!," which refers to playing cards. That's not a playing card, it's a credit card.

2. A credit card is for running up debt, so the most obvious meaning is that women are to blame for the debt . . . and Hillary wants to facilitate this profligacy.

3. That awful international pictogram for woman — so impersonalized, so inane. The main distinguishing feature of a woman isn't the shape of the torso, delicate legs or hands, or long hair, but a skirt. And Hillary never wears a skirt.

4. Skirts... the color pink... I thought we were getting away from these stereotypes — from the stark binary view of the sexes. She's off trend.

Talk about your ethnic stereotypes, Bill Clinton serves fried chicken to black people. I guess watermelons aren't in season.

Presumptive Queen Hillary is calling on her vassals in the media to do her bidding: Hillary Calls on Press to Toughen Up on Trump. Observe the media “blaming themselves for Trump” but not Clinton. Hell, they're gonna make up fairy stories about her and then claim credit! Hillary Clinton says ‘whole world’ wants her to beat Donald Trump. Fortunately the Mexicans, Chinese and Russians don't (yet) get to vote.

Judge Slams EPA for Hiding the Pickle

Judge rules EPA lied about transparency, tells agency to halt discrimination against conservatives

A federal judge warned the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday not to discriminate against conservative groups in how it responds to open-records requests, issuing a legal spanking.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth concluded the agency may have lied to the court and showed “apathy and carelessness” in carrying out the law, though the judge was unable to determine if documents were intentionally destroyed.

Judge Lamberth described the “absurdity” of the way the EPA handled a Freedom of Information Act request from the Landmark Legal Foundation and then the court case stemming from it — including late last week admitting it lied to the court about how it went about searching for documents.

In a scorching 25-page opinion, the judge accused the agency of “insulting” him by first claiming it had done a full search for records, then years later retracting that claim without any explanation.

“The recurrent instances of disregard that EPA employees display for FOIA obligations should not be tolerated by the agency,” the judge said in a 25-page ruling. “This court would implore the executive branch to take greater responsibility in ensuring that all EPA FOIA requests — regardless of the political affiliation of the requester — are treated with equal respect and conscientiousness.”

The EPA has become a rogue agency, with an agenda to destroy the United States economy in the name of ecology. It is staffed by Democratic partisan ideologues regardless of who is in the White House, and when protected from above simply see no reason to rein in their apocalyptic aims.

I see no reasonable prospect of reform; it's staff is by nature self selecting for zealotry

IRS Hard Drive Ebola Spreads to EPA Texts

The same failure to preserve government records of the important transactions by high officials that has recently been typified by the loss of several computers with relevant emails by IRS officials, including most conspicuously Lois Lerner has moved on to the EPA:

Pulling 'an IRS'? EPA reportedly loses text messages now sought in request

The EPA is being accused of pulling “an IRS” for reportedly planning to inform the National Archives it has lost text messages being sought in an open-records request.

The Washington Times reported Wednesday that lawyers from the Department of Justice informed a federal court of the EPA’s plans to tell the National Archives it cannot produce the text messages because they have been deleted.

The open-records request in question came from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which is seeking text messages from the devices of EPA administrator Gina McCarthy.

Christopher Horner, a senior fellow for the institute, told FoxNews.com in a statement it is clear the EPA has not learned from the IRS’ mistakes. The tax agency came under fire earlier this year after it announced it could not locate an untold number of emails sought in congressional probes into the agency’s targeting of conservative groups.

Are you kidding me? Of course they learned, but what they learned is that there's really no enforcement of the open records laws when it comes to the communications between liberal bureaucrats and their NGO shadow organizations, despite Darryl Issa's best efforts. Yeah, Lois had to resign with a nice $100k + pension at the age of 62. Bummer dude.

This, of course, is far from the first brush that EPA has had with bending the open records rules. Under Carol Browner, the EPA practically had a hard drive destruction party when the Bush succeeded Clinton:

The same day news of the imminent Andersen indictment was floated, the Wall Street Journal noted that Browner's EPA had destroyed documents in the closing days of the Clinton administration despite a federal judge's order not to do so.

"EPA officials had hard drives erased and back-up e-mail tapes destroyed. Judge (Royce) Lamberth is now considering a motion to order the EPA, the U.S. Attorney's Office, former Administrator Carol Browner and her two top deputies to show why they shouldn't be held in contempt."

And who can forget former Obama EPA Director Lisa Jackson's use of the fake email account under the name "Richard Winston" that is widely believed to have been used to keep FOIA requests from revealing her conniving with the environmental NGOs.

Under such circumstances, it's really not surprising that the current head of EPA thinks she can get away with hiding these communications. It's worked so far. As Auric Goldfinger once noted to James Bond before putting him on the laser table,: Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.



Found at Wombat-socho's "Live at Five: 10.09.14"