Russiagate Revived (Again)

It's been over two weeks  since I delved into the bin where I store articles on Russiagate and it looks like the articles have aged pretty well. Daniel Payne at JTN, Once the story of the century, the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory has all but vanished

It had all the makings of a once-in-a-generation scandal: allegations of political sabotage from a hostile foreign power, the willing cooperation of an upstart political candidate, a stolen election, a compromised U.S. national security system, and a genuine threat to the stability and integrity of the United States itself.

Yet after several years of claims from politicians, activists and commentators that President Donald Trump and/or his campaign actively colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton, the scandal itself has essentially died, with no evidence ever having arisen to substantiate those explosive allegations.

The death knell of the conspiracy theory was likely the March 2019 release of the special counsel's report on the conspiracy theory; the open-ended, years-long investigation, headed by former FBI Director Robert Mueller, was ultimately unable to find any strong evidence that the Trump campaign had collaborated with the Russian government to win the 2016 race.

Yet the evidence for collusion had always been slim: Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein admitted under oath last year that by August of 2017 there was no evidence to substantiate claims that Trump had conspired with Russia to steal the election.

Still, the theory persisted for nearly two years afterwards, pushed by major Democratic leaders in Congress and promoted by prominent media personalities, essentially dominating the first two-and-a-half years of Trump's presidency. . . 

I expect AG* Merrick Garland to shut this one down, quietly.  Sundance at CTH,  Lawfare’s Trail – John Durham Deploys Records Subpoena Against Brookings Institute For Steele Dossier Primary Source, Igor Danchenko – Brookings Then Tips-Off New York Times. 

The Backstory is…. In essence Chris Steele put a bunch of garbage inside his dossier, and his dossier was used to get the Carter Page FISA warrant to conduct surveillance against the Trump campaign (October 21, 2016). Danchenko then disavowed the veracity of all the information he provided during FBI interviews in January, February and March 2017; but the FBI ignored the Danchenko discussion and used the dossier for two more FISA renewals in April and June 2017.

Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx, John Durham scrutinizes Steele dossier source through Brookings Institution subpoena 

Special counsel John Durham is reportedly scrutinizing British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s main source for his discredited dossier, using a subpoena to obtain documents from the Brookings Institution related to its employment of Igor Danchenko, a researcher who visited Russia in 2016 as he worked for the ex-MI6 agent.

The New York Times reported on Monday, citing “people familiar with the investigation," that Durham “has keyed in on the FBI’s handling of a notorious dossier of political opposition research both before and after the bureau started using it to obtain court permission to wiretap a former Trump campaign adviser." The outlet said Durham obtained records from the left-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C., related to Danchenko, who worked for the organization from 2005 to 2010 as a Russia researcher but is best known as the main source for Steele’s discredited Trump-Russia dossier in 2016.

'Shipwrecked Crew' at Red State is less politic,  Russian Hoax Prosecutor John Durham Issues Subpoena to Democrat Party Think Tank "Brookings Institution"

The continued use of information from Danchenko has always been a huge “red-flag” problem in my review of the FBI’s conduct. There was simply too much information known to the FBI by December 2016 and January 2017 to press forward with the investigation while continuing to rely on earlier judgments that there was some substance to the Russia Hoax allegations. Nothing that the investigation was actually turning up — nothing that was later reported by the Mueller Special Counsel investigation or otherwise disclosed by Inspector General Horowitz’s report — has ever supported the FBI’s continued belief in the legitimacy of the “Russia Hoax” allegations such that the investigation should have been carried on after Pres. Trump took office.

Chuck Ross at Da Caller, DOJ Is Reportedly Investigating Ex-Trump Official Who Debunked The Russia Collusion Narrative. The unsinkable Molly Hemingway at Da Fed, Deep State Mouthpiece Retaliates Against Staffer Who Uncovered Russia Collusion Hoax   Bonchie at Red State, The Biden Administration Seeks Revenge on the Man Who Exposed the Trump-Russia Hoax

While it looks like no one of note will be held accountable for perpetuating the hoax that was the Trump-Russia investigation, the Biden administration still looks to be seeking revenge. Kash Patel, the man who blew open the FBI’s spying scheme, is now the subject of a criminal leak case involving classified information. Yes, the same DOJ and FBI, that decided Hillary did nothing wrong and couldn’t investigate a leak to save their lives during the Trump era, is now deeply concerned that Patel may have broken the law. I know, try not to laugh.

Dan and Jerry at WaEx, 'Russiagate' investigator Kash Patel slams 'hypocrisy' of Washington Post column on leaks. WaPoo has benefited from more than a few leaks of classified information, alluding to the Flynn leaks in particular. Chuck Ross again, ‘Outright Lies’: Nunes Accuses FBI Director Of ‘Stonewalling’ During Russia Probe Sundance, Buried Lead – Washington Post Outlines AG Barr As Key Figure Who Blocked Declassification of Spygate Documents

The Washington Post has a lengthy hit-piece against Kash Patel where they infer unsourced claims the DOJ is investigating the former Nunes aide and Trump administration official for releasing classified information.

Keep in mind that President Trump granted full declassification authority to AG Bill Barr on May 23, 2019. I would draw your attention to these two paragraphs buried deep in the reporting (emphasis mine):

(WaPo) […] The battle against the deep state continued, meanwhile. Patel kept pushing, along with DNI Ratcliffe, for declassification of memos challenging the origins of the Russia investigation. Nakasone [NSA Director] strongly dissented, and Esper [Sec of Defense] backed him up in an October letter to Ratcliffe “urging that the information not be released due to the harm it would do to national security, including specific harm to the military,” a senior defense official said. Haspel [CIA Director], too, strongly opposed release of the information. Their argument for protecting sensitive information was finally supported by Attorney General William P. Barr, and Trump backed away, a source close to the events said.

“I think there were people within the IC [Intelligence Community], at the heads of certain intelligence agencies, who did not want their tradecraft called out, even though it was during a former administration, because it doesn’t look good on the agency itself,” Patel said in the RealClearInvestigations interview. (read more)

It is tradition the NSA and CIA run to the Washington Post when they need a media PR firm to push their position. So this article makes sense considering the NSA and CIA both had something to hide within the criminal activity behind Spygate. [Maybe the timing has to do with recent information about the Durham probe.]

The Garland DOJ is trying to extract revenged on Roger Stone for escaping their clutches. Da Blaze,  DOJ sues Roger Stone and wife for $2M in unpaid taxes, alleging fraud, "The longtime Trump ally says the suit is 'politically motivated." Ya think?

Sundance,  Sunday Talks, John Ratcliffe Discusses Severe Political Compromise Within U.S. Intelligence Community. But the video has been taken down thanks to Fox News. 

Matt Taibi, Due Process Is Good, He Said Controversially

The first time I knew something changed on my side of the political aisle in the attitude toward accused people was the Maria Butina case. The New York Times ran a headline, “Maria Butina, Suspected Secret Agent, Used Sex in Covert Plan,” that was wrong in one place, and misleading in another. Butina hadn’t traded sex for information, just joked to a friend that that was all she could pay for his help in getting her car inspected. As for being a “Suspected Secret Agent,” that was only true if you were going by the definition of “agent” as per the “Agents of Foreign Governments” act, something south of genuine espionage, which most readers probably didn’t understand.

Even after the “mistake” about using sex was corrected, brethren in the press gleefully ran “Red Sparrow” stories, even though there was never much evidence, not that she traded sex, was a spy, or was knowingly anything. Her sentencing memo — this is her accusers speaking now — described her as “not a trained intelligence officer” but an “access agent” of a type that “may or may not be witting.” She may very well have been guilty. Still, reporters and political liberals both were once more squeamish about accusing people of serious crimes, particularly sex crimes. The calculus in Butina’s case was that she was Russian who dated a Republican operative and mixed up somehow in the 2016 election scandal, making her a Trump person, so to hell with her.

Via Da Caller, Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch is outraged at Schiff’s Secret Subpoenas

“Adam Schiff secretly subpoenaed, without court authorization, the phone records of Rudy Giuliani and then published the phone records of innocent Americans, including President Trump’s lawyers, a member of Congress, and a journalist. And now a federal court ruled today that Schiff, or any member of Congress can’t be held accountable for this unprecedented and potentially criminal abuse of power. Every American should be concerned about a ruling that suggests Congress has unlimited power to take and publish their private phone records!”

Judicial Watch appealed the ruling and an appellate panel here in DC heard oral argument last month. The transcript is worth a read. . . .

WaPoo satisfied that NSA official installed as Trump left office resigns after he was sidelined. But will they be as happy when the shoe is on the other foot? I doubt it. 

Natalie Winters at TNP, REVEALED: Anti-Trump Impeachment Witness Meeting With Chinese Communist Party Think Tank. Noah Feldman, getting his marching orders, no doubt. 

Russiagate Languishing, Waiting for Durham

It's been almost two weeks  since we last took up the greatest scandal in American history, the unjustified use of the nation's investigative and intelligence arms to attempt to, first, prevent the election, and second, having failed, block to agenda of, and third, attempt to remove from office, a duly elected President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. With the Democrats now (barely) clinging to power atop the executive and legislative branches of government, the investigation has slowed to an imperceptible crawl. 

Brian Joondeph at Am Think, No Storm, No Reckoning, No Nothing

The spygate coconspirators are all running free, with university teaching appointments or cable news gigs, some worming their way back into the Biden administration, like John Carlin, who lied to the FISA court, and is now back at main Justice.

The sole indictment was Kevin Clinesmith, a low level FBI attorney who fabricated evidence, and only received probation. Some reckoning.

There is no shadow Trump government, controlled by the military, under devolution or secret executive orders. Deep state actors are not at Gitmo or appearing in public as body doubles or CGI creations. No one is wearing an ankle bracelet.

Biden and the Democrats are running the show, his feebleness of mind and body on full display, mocking Trump and his supporters as losers to a Chauncey Gardiner president. They opened the southern border floodgates, transforming America as Obama promised, pushing the great reset with little if any pushback from elected Republicans.

The longer this goes on, damaging and socializing the country, the harder it will be to stop or reverse. Are we still to “trust the plan”?

Trust no one. Chuck Ross at Da Caller,  With GOP Out Of Power, This Federal Lawsuit Is One Of The Last Remaining Hopes To Settle Dossier Mysteries

One lawsuit pending in federal court holds some promise for closure about the dossier.

The three owners of a bank in Russia, Alfa Bank, filed a defamation lawsuit in October 2017 against Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that commissioned the dossier.

The lawsuit has been mired in legal fights between lawyers for Fusion GPS and the bankers, Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan. But the lawsuit has recently entered the discovery phase, which could shake loose additional details about the dossier.

In a federal court filing this week, lawyers for the Russian bankers revealed that they have submitted subpoenas for 22 people, including David Corn, Michael Isikoff and Eric Lichtblau, three prominent journalists who wrote about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

How dare you demand a journolist tell the truth in court under penalty of law; they're above such tawdry justice. Paul Sperry at Da Fed,  This Russiagate FBI Analyst Couldn’t Verify Anything In The Steele Dossier Yet Said Nothing For Years "FBI Director Christopher Wray has kept Brian Auten in his job at the bureau, where he continues to work at headquarters as a supervisory intelligence analyst." Just Doing his job. Ashe Schow at Da Wire, The FBI Is Now Mainly A Weapon Against Republicans.

The latest example relates to an FBI investigation into a political ally of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), during which allegations were made against Gaetz accusing him of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, whom he allegedly paid to travel with him. The New York Times reported on the investigation, quoting three, anonymous “people briefed” on the investigation. Gaetz has denied the allegations. Maybe there’s something there and maybe there isn’t, but no matter the outcome, the way the investigation was reported appeared, at least in part, politically motivated.

RedState’s Bonchie addressed the problematic aspects of the Times’ recent Gaetz piece:

Really, it should bother everyone, no matter their feelings on Gaetz, that the FBI can just leak something like this, to attack someone in such a blatantly political way. When you are facing an anonymous allegation, you can’t respond to it in any effective manner. Just last night, the reporter behind the Times story appeared on Rachel Maddow’s show and countered Gaetz’s claim about the man he named, yet she did so offering no proof whatsoever. These games are rigged, and you aren’t supposed to be able to defend yourself.

This is the same tactic media outlets took during the FBI’s investigation into whether former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to “steal” the election. That investigation ultimately found no evidence of such collusion, but that didn’t stop media outlets from publishing thousands of articles over a two-year period featuring quotes from “sources familiar with the matter.”

I'm still waiting for the FBI to leak on the "Hunter Laptop" investigation. Dan Chaitin at WaEx, Rod Rosenstein takes 'wait and see' approach on whether Crossfire Hurricane was justified. If there was ever evidence it was justified, we'd have seen it by now. 

But wait! From Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx, John Durham issuing subpoenas and interviewing witnesses. "issuing subpoenas and interviewing witnesses", where have I heard that before? Oh, right, Mueller. 

John Solomon at JTN highlights Disparate treatment in two fund-raising fraud cases renews debate over dual Justice system "Nigerian Clinton foundation donor gets deferred prosecution deal, Trump inauguration donor gets 12 years in prison in eerily similar cases." Similarly from Jim Hoft at Gateway, Lovely Former HUD Official Lynne Patton Charged with Violating Hatch Act for Speaking at 2020 RNC — Something SIX Obama Officials Did at the 2012 DNC (VIDEO) But, but . . . reasons!

The Peacock struts, NY prosecutors subpoena Trump Organization exec’s bank records in criminal probe, report says. Dan Chaitin again, Mueller investigator assisting New York prosecutors in Trump Organization case: Report. Clearly, he has a record of failure. 

Sundance at CTH, Lawfare – New York Prosecutors Subpoena the Personal Bank Records of Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer – The Intent is To Find a Way, a Backdoor, to Destroy Donald Trump

Let’s be clear about the motives of a fully weaponized DOJ here. The DOJ is looking for any way to destroy Donald J Trump. As long as he exists in the sphere of political influence, he represents a risk to their objectives.

Direct targeting of Donald Trump has not succeeded. Direct attacks against Donald Trump and his organization and personal finances have not succeeded. The DOJ is not getting the results they need…. So now they need a backdoor, some leverage, from somewhere, anywhere, where they can use that leverage to destroy their enemy. THAT is what’s going on.

NEW YORK – New York state prosecutors in Manhattan have subpoenaed the personal bank records of the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer in the investigation into former President Trump and his company, The New York Times reports.

Prosecutors are reportedly looking into gifts Allen Weisselberg, who has been with the Trump Organization for decades, and his family received from Trump. The CFO has not been accused of any criminal activity, noted The Times, which reported earlier this month that the investigation was shifting its focus to Weisselberg.

Sundance also reports Stephen Miller Launches MAGA-Minded Legal Network to Counter Democrat Lawfare Group

Mr. Miller, an architect of the last administration’s restrictive immigration policies and a leading backer of its socially conservative initiatives, is launching this week a new organization, America First Legal, to challenge Biden administration initiatives at odds with Trump-era priorities.

“Anything the president does that we believe to be illegal is fair game,” he said.

[…] The group, Mr. Miller said, would tap into the expertise of Trump administration lawyers, work with Republican state attorneys general and partner with lawyers around the country who need legal and financial resources for their cases.

The group also has broader ambitions, Mr. Miller said, to eventually get involved in litigation that goes beyond the Biden administration, including to support police officers, go after big tech companies and take on other business interests whose positions run counter to those he embraced in the White House.

Turn about is fair play. Expect Democrats and the media to pretend otherwise.  

Some Slow Rolling Russiagate

With the now historical crimes of the Deep State against Donald Trump a history whose story is yet to be full told, tt seems that a worthwhile collection takes about a week to accumulate, and Sunday seems like a good day to clear the deck. 

Too late for last week's, Nice Deb at Am Great reminds us John Durham Resigns From U.S. Attorney’s Office; Is Expected to Continue Investigation Into the FBI’s Russia Probe. But will he be allowed to continue, and will his report, if written, will be released to the public? I'm skeptical. From Sundance at CTH, Peter Navarro Guarantees At Least Three Indictments From John Durham Investigation, Along With Current FBI Resignations

Meanwhile, from Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Wray: FBI Has ‘Slowed’ Disciplinary Process For FISA Abuse In Order To Assist Special Counsel’s Probe, at least that's his excuse:

“Because we’re cooperating fully with Mr. Durham’s investigation, at his request, we have slowed that process down to allow his criminal investigation to proceed,” Wray told Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

“At the moment, that process is still underway in order to make sure that we’re being appropriately sensitive to the criminal investigation.”

Wray told Kennedy that he had not fired any of the FBI employees identified in a Justice Department inspector general’s report that blasted the bureau for making “significant” errors during its investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia.

Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx, FBI director says Crossfire Hurricane disciplinary action delayed at John Durham's request

Also from Sundance, Rosenstein Now Admits Recording Trump Was Discussed with Andrew McCabe

“I had a conversation with Andrew McCabe about an investigation that he was conducting involving the president. And there was a discussion about whether or not the president would be recorded in the course of that investigation. I never intended to wear a wire, and I think that if Mr. McCabe asked me to wear a wire, we would’ve had to reconsider the whole thing. Because you can’t run an investigation and serve as a witness,” Rosenstein said in an episode of the Siege on Democracy podcast published last month.” (read more)

More on Rosenstein, back in his earlier days as a US Attorney in Maryland, surveilling journalist Sheryl Attkisson, Lin Wood Whistleblower Connects VERY IMPORTANT Dot on Deep State Surveillance and Rosenstein Activity With FBI To Compromise People

The Lin Wood whistle-blower outlines how the Deep State was conducting electronic surveillance on political interests in order to compromise people. Shawn Henry was the head of Crowstrike, a known FBI contractor with access to the NSA database as outlined in the 2016 admissions by NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers. The database was compromised by FBI contractors conducting political surveillance.

Both the Lin Wood whistle-blower and the tipster to Sharyl Attkisson are noting that Rod Rosenstein was one of the organizers of the operations from his role as U.S. Attorney in Maryland. Now all of the compromises are pictured, and all of the motives behind all of these players starts to make a lot more sense.

I'm still ambivalent about Rod Rosenstein, but if he did, indeed, order, or even just go along with a higher up's suggestion that they bug and plant false evidence on Sheryl Attkisson, he should go to jail. 

More FBI abuse from Chuck Ross, ‘Frightening’: Devin Nunes Says FBI Informant ‘Made Up A Bunch Of Lies’ About Michael Flynn. A reminder of how Stefan Halper helped the FBI to spread false rumors about Michael Flynn and English student Svetlana Lokhova. Byron York at WaEx, Senate sick of FBI stonewalling. About the Capitol incursion, but it still applies. 

From John Solomon at JTN, a very amusing account of how the FBI's cozy relations with reporters often backfired, ending with inaccurate scandal stories, starring Peter Strzok, who clearly never heard of the Gel-Mann Amnesia effect: 

“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.

In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.” – Michael Crichton (1942-2008)

Dan Chaitin at WaEx, Trump White House received declassification wish list, ex-investigator says

A declassification wish list was sent to former President Donald Trump's White House by members of Congress, according to a former Pentagon official who also served as a top investigator for the House Intelligence Committee.

On that list, Kash Patel said, was a classified House Intelligence Committee report that criticized the analytic tradecraft in the Obama administration's 2017 intelligence community assessment’s conclusions about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motivations in the interference campaign leading to the 2016 election. However, despite an eleventh-hour declassification order by Trump before he left office last month, it has remained outside the public's view.

And while Trump was strong, the Deep State was stronger, In Final Days, Trump Gave Up On Releasing Russiagate Files, Nunes Prober Says "The House Intelligence Committee's Kash Patel said senior intelligence officials 'continuously impeded' their release – usually by slow-walking their reviews of the material."

Meanwhile, there appears to be a breakdown in the House regarding the Intelligence Committee, also from Dan Chaitin, Devin Nunes: Missing House Intelligence Committee appointments a 'big mystery'.Rep. "Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the panel, said this week only himself and Chairman Adam Schiff have been appointed to the committee so far, and there is no explanation for why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding off on naming additional members." Will Eric 'Fang Fang' Swallowell be allowed back on? My guess is yes, because China wants him. 

AP reports that Giuliani probe awaits Garland as he nears AG confirmation I guess we'll find out how non-partisan Garland is. I'm not optimistic. 

Ken Ryesky at Am Think  Nobody's Tax Returns are Confidential Anymore. Not while Congress is in session. 

I am not familiar with District Attorney Vance's suspicions that Donald Trump may have committed financial crimes, but if indeed the former President has, then his tax returns (which, as I have previously noted, no doubt comprise hundreds if not thousands of pages) would likely contribute some significant evidence to help secure a conviction.

As matters currently stand, the Supreme Court's allowance of disclosure is a precedent for future abuses by prosecutors nationwide. Nobody's tax returns can truly be confidential anymore.

But if Vance's accusations against the former President prove baseless, then Trump may well have additional arrows in his quiver. I.R.C. §§ 7213(a)(3) effectively felonizes the wrongful disclosure of all federal tax return information, even if obtained through channels not authorized by the Internal Revenue Code. The chances are excellent that, given the number of people in Vance's shop who will have access to Trump's tax returns (especially if the return information is presented to a grand jury), there will be someone who will illegally leak the information somewhere, and there may be hell to pay if, like Grover Cleveland, Donald Trump nonconsecutively serves another term in the Oval Office.

If I were Trump, I'd have my lawyers filling out the paperwork for a suit against Vance to be filed ASAP. 

Russiagate Beyond the Scope

The Hunter Biden emails have sucked most of the wind out of the Russiagate sails, so this should be a short one. 

Sundance at CTH reports that the mysterious second scope memo, authorizing the Mueller Weissman team to target Gen. Flynn's son as a means of coercing an guilty plea has been released, and it has an interesting detail: The Mysterious October 20th DOJ Targeting Memo Finally, Quietly, Released – Weissmann Made Rosenstein Take Ownership of Michael Flynn Targeting…

As you can see above the special counsel’s office used that October 20th scope memo to expand their investigative authorities. Specifically the second redacted name is very important because this specific memo authorized Andrew Weissmann to target Michael Flynn Jr as pressure to coerce a guilty plea from Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn a month later.

During his apologetic senate testimony Rosenstein told congress he never questioned the authority of the special counsel team and never once questioned their “investigative process“, those are his words. Additionally, Rosenstein testified he signed all the scope memos because he felt it was his “responsibility” to facilitate the SCO needs regardless of what they requested; and every request was considered an “investigative process” by him.

Yesterday the mysteriously avoided October 20, 2017, scope memo was finally released to Catherine Herridge from the Senate Homeland Security Committee (Chairman Ron Johnson). Within the scope memo we can now see exactly what reference point Rosenstein was carrying during his June testimony.

The scope memo was written by the special counsel’s office and the last page shows the motive and intent of Weissmann’s crew. Notice the tone and direction of the memo as that aspect also conveys a message; and do not overlook the specific phrase “jointly undertaken activity.” That approach was used by the SCO to target Flynn Jr.:

Photos of lightly redacted scope memo at link

Notice Andrew Weissmann gave Rod Rosenstein the option, literally the physical option line, to approve or deny the widely expanded scope of the special counsel authority.

In essence this approach forces Rosenstein, in material and documentary form, to take ownership of the outcomes of the special counsel…. OR create a written documentary form that could be used against Rosenstein (via media allies) if he did not agree to expand the scope and authority of the special counsel.

Yes folks, Weissmann created “an authorized get out of jail free card“.

and from John Solomon at JTN,  'Absolute Travesty:' Paul Manafort's ex-partner Rick Gates breaks silence on Mueller probe "The Russia probe 'should never happen to any president or any American citizen' ever again, former Trump aide says."

In his first lengthy public interview since pleading guilty to federal charges in Robert Mueller's now-discredited Trump-Russia collusion probe, Rick Gates slammed that investigation in blunt and unequivocal terms, calling it "an absolute travesty of justice" that "should never happen to any president or any American citizen" ever again.

Gates, who served in President Trump's 2016 campaign and later plead guilty to conspiracy and false statement charges related to his work in Ukraine, said in an interview on the latest episode of the John Solomon Reports podcast that his experience taught him "the way our justice system can be weaponized against so many different people."

The former political consultant stated bluntly that the tactics used by the Mueller investigation indicated that "there was no question that they were trying to get to the president." Gates suggested the investigation itself was largely political, an affair in which Mueller was reportedly little more than a figurehead.

"Robert Mueller was literally nonexistent during my almost 1,000 hours of cooperation with his office," Gates told John Solomon. "And it wasn't just that he was nonexistent in his physical presence ... He was rarely mentioned in any of the interviews. There was no discussion of needing, you know, to talk to Bob Mueller, or anything by the prosecutors."

Instead, Gates said, the investigation seemed to be run largely by Andrew Weissmann. A former FBI general counsel and former chief of the criminal fraud division at the Justice Department, Weissmann joined Mueller, his old boss at the FBI, as his key lieutenant in the special counsel investigation.  "He seemed to be calling the shots," Gates said. "He seemed to be leading the charge."

Weissmann, it became known last month, was among the numerous agents whose phones were allegedly accidentally wiped before being surrendered to the DOJ inspector general's office. Gates in his interview referred to the investigator as "partisan."

From David Steinberg at Am Great,  A Glaring Hole in the Alfa Bank/Trump Server Story Could Unravel the Russia Hoax

According to last week’s New Yorker article by Dexter Filkins, Special Counsel John Durham has recently subpoenaed multiple sources quoted in Filkins’ 2018 report on the server saga. Filkins writes that Durham’s recent subpoenas are for testimony before a grand jury: “Some agents told scientists that they were exploring a potential criminal charge . . . for giving false information to the government.” 

The evidence below—which I believe has not been published elsewhere, though it has long been open-source—makes a strong case for the veracity of Filkins’ sources. It suggests that false information about a Trump-Alfa-Putin backchannel was indeed passed to the FBI.

Frankly, I am not aware of a simpler, more persuasive piece of evidence that shows “Russian collusion” was entirely and intentionally false. Indeed, it was the largest criminal abuse of power in American history.

Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Operatives Behind Steele Dossier Played Little Known Role In Another Debunked Conspiracy Theory. Little known.... It doesn't make a lot of sense to me except that a lot of the Russiagate players were also playing games in the UK.

Breitbart, DNI John Ratcliffe Refers Nunes Report on ICA to Intelligence Community Inspector General, who will, of course, proceed to ignore it.

After the 2017 ICA that said Russia intervened in the 2016 election to hurt Hillary Clinton and to help Trump came out, then committee Chairman Nunes and other Republicans on the committee began investigating the assessment, amid allegations that it was politically driven by Obama administration appointees such as then-CIA Director John Brennan — particularly the assessment that Russia wanted to help Trump and not just sow discord.

A senior intelligence official familiar with Nunes’s report told Breitbart News:

There are a number of things in the referral that the ICIG will likely be interesting, in particular Obama-Biden era political appointees who overruled career intelligence officials who raised concerns about some things being included in the ICA. Ratcliffe made the right call sending this to the ICIG.

Ratcliffe said in the letter the referral was first sent to the ICIG in December 2018 by Republicans, who then controlled the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He wrote that since then, the office of the DNI received “numerous requests” from senior oversight officials for the ICIG to review whether “all portions of the aforementioned ICA adhered to proper analytic tradecraft.”

Ratcliffe also requested that Nunes’s report undergo a formal declassification review. “I am committed to facilitating transparency that serves the public interest while balancing the imperative to protecting sources and methods,” he wrote.

But these things take time, when they happen at all. Newsmax, Pompeo Says Doing 'Everything We Can' to Release Clinton Emails. I can't wait to find out about Chelsea's wedding and Hillary's yoga routines. 

Breitbart, FBI, DHS: Hackers Have Accessed Election Systems. If they can, they will.

Kyle Sammin at Da Fed writes that Pelosi’s Latest 25th Amendment Scheme Poisons The Process Of Removing A President. She may well be the most poisonous women in American politics, but the competition is strong.

 Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.

Not Even a Hurricane Can Stop Russiagate

Even though he's down to a mere tropical storm. Via the Wombat's In The Mailbox:  08.03.20, Twitchy: Mollie Hemingway Calls Out Media Who Portrayed Christopher Steele As Superspy

The media justified Russia hysteria by claiming Christopher Steele was a "masterspy." The journos who reported that dangerously false narrative have gone silent as the recorded facts contradict what anonymous leakers spoon fed them. I name some names here. https://t.co/kVDgcdv2gZ

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 3, 2020

Molly Hemingway at Da Fed, Media Silent As Christopher Steele ‘Hero’ ‘Spymaster’ Narrative Crumbles

It turns out Christopher Steele wasn’t 007.

For years, the media assured Americans that the dossier alleging treasonous collusion between Donald Trump and Russia was based on the scrupulous work of a mastermind British ex-spy and his vast network of credible and well-connected sources spread throughout Europe. It wasn’t true.

Steele did not personally collect any of the factual information in his reports. The “vast network” was instead a “social circle” of an American-based former Brookings Institute junior staffer, recently identified for the first time as Igor Danchenko. The friends didn’t have well-documented claims so much as rumors, drunken gossip, and outright brainstorming, conjecture, and speculation. Even that information was “multiple layers of hearsay upon hearsay” before it got to Steele, who then hyperbolically overstated it. And the damning claims of “collusion” appear to have been scandalously misattributed or invented out of whole cloth.

With such shoddy information collection and analysis methods, there was never any reason to give credence to any of the salacious allegations in the dossier, whether it was claims of secret deals with Russian oil concerns, secret meetings in foreign capitals, prostitutes urinating on Moscow hotel room beds, files of compromising information, or the careful cultivation of Trump, yes Trump, into the most effective Russian agent in history.

The media have a problem, then, given that they repeatedly led viewers and readers to believe Steele was a master spy. They can almost get away with ignoring the recent news that once again shows their previous reporting was catastrophically wrong. In fact, some media outlets did just that.

But after breathlessly reporting — day in and day out for years — what they claimed were important updates buttressing Steele’s collusion narrative, they can’t completely hide the on-the-record revelations showing how the collusion narrative was invented and used to undermine the Trump campaign and administration. . . .

The people who constructed the dossier counted on press compliance and the press complied. Just DNC operatives with press badges.

The rest is a sundance show. First, he reviews history, and catches Rod Rosenstein in misleading the Congress on how the Steele Dossier was used to support the Carter Page FISA warrants: They Won’t Like Full Sunlight – Rod Rosenstein Edition…

The former Deputy Attorney General, a man who AG Bill Barr has praised vociferously, testifies two months ago that the Steele Dossier IS NOT in the FISA application to spy on Team Trump. As Spiropoulos outlines, contrast that position with what the Inspector General and the documents already said.

Factual Stuff That Will Help Reconcile Issues Within Spygate and The Special Counsel…

The special counsel team authorized and released the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages to the public in December 2017. It was a very smart Mueller team using a laser pointer to get their political opposition chasing remote controlled rabbits. The special counsel team controlled the remote.

The special counsel team took control over and then filtered the FBI investigative file of FBI Washington Field Office Supervisory Special Agent, Brian Dugan. The special counsel removed the evidence that James Wolfe leaked the FISA application on March 17th, 2017.

The special counsel team released the Adam Waldman text message capture to the SSCI as a head’s up after likely informing SSCI Vice-Chairman Mark Warner it was coming. On February 9, 2018, Warner had his pre-scripted defense in place. It appears Warner gave the Go8 the text documents knowing it would be leaked to media. Smart maneuver.

The special counsel team informed the FISA court on July 12, 2018, the predicate for the Carter Page FISA application was still valid. They lied. They did this because they planned to release another segment of SSA Dugan’s file to the public to water down the issue. Nine days after telling the FISC the application was valid, on July 21, 2018, the special counsel used the guise of a FOIA release to put the Dugan FISA equity into the public consciousness. What we know as the Carter Page FISA application was/is actually SSA Dugan’s work product. Again, this was from his investigative file.

The special counsel released Dugan’s work product (FBI equity), while simultaneously redacting the dates on the copy they released. It was the special counsel who redacted the dates. They had to do this because Dugan’s FISA copy had incorrect dates as seeded to capture the leak by SSCI Security Director James Wolfe.

Every public release of information from May 2017 through April 11, 2019, came from the special counsel. Neither Main Justice (AG Sessions) nor the FBI (Wray) released anything. The special counsel were releasing information in a controlled method and withholding other documents detrimental to their purpose of framing President Trump.

Status Update – DOJ/FBI Investigative Research on The Road…

USAO John Bash – Lots of discussion amid multiple circles about what West Texas USAO John Bash might be looking into. Is he looking back in time into the FISA(702) abuses that took place during the 2016 primary season?…. That would be in addition to the familiar “unmasking” aspect?… and, if yes, what would that indicate?

Short answer is: no-one is certain. AG Barr did mention that Bash is looking backward on the unmasking issues beyond the timeline scope of the 2016 presidential election. That would indicate surveillance “unmasking” and FISA “minimization” would meld because essentially the terms are synonymous depending on the type of intelligence exploitation.

Prior Obama officials were “unmasking” names associated with FBI investigations simply to dirty them up to give fuel to the fraudulent basis of “Trump-Russia”; that’s the political weaponization of intelligence. This did happen and Bash is cited with authority to review this carve-out of the ongoing DOJ investigation into DOJ/FBI intelligence manipulation.

However, if Bash is going into the issues of the NSA database being exploited for political opposition research via FISA-702 authorities (the intentional extraction of information with intentional non-minimization) well, that’s a more expansive kettle-of-fish than would seem to be possible to fully outline before the November election.

FISC presiding judges Rosemary Collyer (’16) and James Boasberg (’18) have already outlined the continued use of the NSA database for ‘unauthorized’ purposes.

Is this something that AG Barr would authorize USAO Bash to pursue?… that’s a big question without answer. We would hope yes, but think about the scale of that in totality to the interests of DC writ large… Ergo, I’m not confident.

Russiagate: Steele Primary Subsource Outed

The identification of Igor Danchenko, a Russian ex-pat who works (or worked) for the Brookings Institution, had friendly relations with Fiona Hill, and was prosecuted by Rod Rosenstein for drunk and disorderly conduct, as Christopher Steele's primary source for the infamous Steele Dossier is still getting, excuse me, let's make that garnering attention. Chuck Ross at Da Caller, A Russia Analyst Living In The US Has Been Identified As Christopher Steele’s Primary Dossier Source.

Althouse, who reads the NYT so you don't have to, notes that the "[Igor] Danchenko’s identity is noteworthy because it further calls into question the credibility of the [Steele] dossier.", in an article titled "The F.B.I. Pledged to Keep a Source Anonymous. Trump Allies Aided His Unmasking/After a Russia expert who had collected research on Donald Trump for a disputed dossier agreed to tell the F.B.I. what he knew about it, law enforcement officials declassified a road map to identifying him" (NYT). It takes a lot of gall for the NYT to complain about leaks. But they have a lot of gall. And the Steele Dossier had no credibility left to lose.

Stacy McCain, ‘An Expert in Russian Politics’

That’s how the New York Times describes Igor Danchenko in an article complaining that “Trump allies” revealed Danchenko’s identity as a source for the infamous Steele dossier, which was the basis of the “Russian collusion” hoax. It seems, however, that the main thing Danchenko is an “expert” about is getting drunk. Danchenko is an immigrant who worked for a while as a “research analyst” for the Brookings Institute, and while he was there managed to get arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct, as Paul Sperry reports:

The Russian-born Danchenko, who was living in the U.S. on a work visa, was released from jail on the condition he undergo drug testing and “participate in a program of substance abuse therapy and counseling,” as well as “mental health counseling,” the records show.

The guy is not even an American citizen or a green-card legal resident, but is living here on a work visa? And this is the guy that the Brookings Institute recommended to help Steele dig up dirt about Trump in Russia? Oh, there’s a tangled network of connections, but here’s the big payoff:

As a former member of Britain’s secret intelligence service, Steele hadn’t traveled to Russia in decades and apparently had no useful sources there. So he relied entirely on Danchenko and his supposed “network of subsources,” which to its chagrin, the FBI discovered was nothing more than a “social circle.”
It soon became clear over their three days of debriefing him at the FBI’s Washington field office — held just days after Trump was sworn into office — that any Russian insights he may have had were strictly academic.
Danchenko confessed he had no inside line to the Kremlin and was “clueless” when Steele hired him in March 2016 to investigate ties between Russia and Trump and his campaign manager.

Mark Tapscott at Insty,  MEET IGGY DANCHENKO, THE STEELE DOSSIER’S ‘PRIMARY SUBSOURCE:’

Paul Sperry of RealCearInvestigations has a stunningly detailed description of Danchenko, a Russian in the U.S. on a work visa, and his long connections to Christopher Steele, as well as the significant role played by the Brookings Institution’s Strobe Talbot, in funneling the Steele Dossier to the State Department.

Bottomline: The Democratic side of the Washington Establishment was up to its collective neck in the effort to discredit Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton as President. When that effort blew up on election day, the discrediting campaign became both an attempt to subvert Trump’s presidency and a defensive coverup of the whole rotten, subversive conspiracy.

Sperry’s fine work should be read in conjunction with the Julie Kelly piece for American Greatness that Glenn linked late yesterday that comprehensively lays out the Brookings role in the conspiracy.

Some interesting posts from a new blog called I Found the Primary Subsource . . .  "This is the story of how the primary sub source was uncovered with no traditional journalist being involved."

Democrat line changes from Nobody spied on Trump, that's crazy talk to Rep. Swalwell on new information showing FBI spied on Trump: 'They were right to do it'.  "'I hope they do it if a Democratic candidate ever does that with any country,' Swalwell says." The only people colluding with the Russians were the Democrats. KT McFarland, herself caught up in the resulting Mueller investigation, begs to disagree, KT McFarland: 'Simply Extraordinary' That FBI Used Briefing to Spy

"It turns out those briefings were not really to warn the Trump administration about other people spying on them," said McFarland on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "They were covers, They were excuses, for the FBI to spy on us. That's the most egregious abuse of power that I've seen in a long time."

McFarland said that when she was with the administration, she often set up defensive briefings for the National Security Council and the White House staff to warn about potential issues concerning spying and how to watch out for the dangers. Such briefings, she said, were not held to gather information on people attending them.

Trump has long maintained that the Obama administration was spying on him, and McFarland pointed out that the officials with that administration "all took notes" of their activities, partly because they thought they could "blame the boss" if they got caught and partly because they never thought their actions would be revealed.

"This is not anonymous sources leaking; these are actual documents and pieces of paper, text messages, and emails," she said. "They are starting to be released from midlevel people. My question is, once those documents are released, it usually indicates that the Justice Department is done with them ... maybe it's an indication that other heads will fall soon."

John Solomon at JTN, FBI recorded Trump questions on Russia during first counterintelligence briefing

The extraordinary notes confirm information first divulged last December by the Justice Department inspector general that the Comey FBI used the August 2016 briefing as a way of sizing up then-candidate Trump and Flynn in the Russia case and gathering evidence against them.

Memos associated with the meeting show since-fired Agent Peter Strzok and departed FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith were involved in approving the effort by Pientka to use the briefing as an investigative tool instead of just an educational baseline intelligence meeting. Clinesmith was accused in the IG report of altering a key document in the Russia case and has left the bureau, though he has not been charged with wrongdoing.

Pientka's summary memo of the briefing shows the extent to which the FBI was gathering or seeking evidence against Trump and Flynn and likely will bolster claims by Republicans that the bureau was "spying" on Trump when it should have been giving the future president a defensive briefing about Russians seeking influence in the United States.

Clinesmith went on to forge evidence to keep the FISA warrants flowing.

Scott Johnson at Power Line, When the FBI Spied on Trump.

We have yet to get any idea of the “intelligence” obtained by the FBI pursuant to the four FISA warrants obtained on the basis of the fraudulent Clinton campaign and DNC-funded Steele Dossier. One can only wonder how deeply the surveillance let the FBI burrow into the Trump campaign and presidency.

The newly declassified documents further the biggest scandal in American political history, though you’d never know it from the silence of the media organs that brought us the Russia hoax over the past four years. They too are part of the scandal.

Sundance is revisiting the past to try to make connections in A Funny Thing Happened on The Way To The Coffee Shop… and Coffee Talk…. and points a finger squarely at "Tash" Tashina Gauhar, who apparently managed the Mueller investigation for Rod Rosenstein, who admitted:

According to those with direct knowledge, when Jeff Sessions recused (fire-walled) from anything to do with the special counsel in ’17, ’18, ’19, Rod Rosenstein “should have” held oversight. However, in his Senate Judiciary testimony of June 3, 2020, Rosenstein admitted that he conducted no oversight over the Mueller probe.

Rosenstein’s justification was he did not feel it was his position to question their “investigative processes“, later saying “everything was an investigative process“, ergo anything the special counsel was doing was considered valid; nothing was questioned, and Rosenstein felt it was his position to “facilitate” the Mueller team.

This is a key point: The special counsel took over Main Justice.

Which begs the question….. If Rosenstein was providing everything; who was managing the daily events inside Main Justice while the SC events were ongoing? Who was the internal coordinator for the legal and investigative crew? Who was the bridge? Answer:

Tash Gauhar. Her testimony to the Senate, if it happens, could prove interesting.

From Da Caller, Trump Tells Hannity He’d Consider Pardoning Those Convicted In The Mueller Investigation. That's OK with me, though he might think twice about Manafort, whose tax crimes would probably have not been prosecuted if it weren't for the Mueller investigation.

So this is fair, right? Greg Jarrett? The Heat Is ON: Biden Campaign Goes On Defense Over Senate Burisma Investigation "A Senate committee investigation into Burisma is eyeing subpoenas of advisers to the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential candidate"

The former vice president’s campaign has largely remained quiet on the matter until a memo was released Tuesday by Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield. The memo made personal attacks against the panel Chairman who heads the Homeland Security Committee, Ron Johnson. The memo suggested the Wisconsin Republican could be “party to a foreign influence operation” and suggested he was “worsening the coronavirus crisis” by investigating Burisma.

Apparently, his sole qualification for office is that he was not in power when the WuFlu emerged from China.

Two systems of justice: NYPo, Michael Cohen back home in NYC pad after release from prison. Now compare to Roger Stone.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links. Linked by EBL in Die Walküre 🎭, Ernani 🎭, Carole King: The First Day Of August, Rusalka 🎭🌕🧜🏻‍♀️, Uncle Tom: The Movie 🎥🎬, Shayna Leigh: Goodbye July, Il Trovatore 🎭, Misty Boyce: Goodbye July, Rigoletto 🎭, Sinatra: All Or Nothing At All 🎙️😎, Julie London: Sleigh Ride in July, Tosca 🎭, Guy On A Buffalo and Hassie Harrison, Lucia di Lammermoor 🎭, Olivia de Havilland, RIP 😢 and Jhené Aiko: July.

Russiagate This AM

A slow Saturday morning. But Ace comes through with this blockbuster, in red type with some italics for emphasis: Steele's "Primary Subsource" Was... Employee of Leftwing Democrat Think Tank The Brookings Institute, Which Itself Was a Major Pusher of the Russiagate Conspiracy Hoax

He had a criminal background -- and had previously been prosecuted by... Rod Rosenstein.
For public drunkeness.

How public drunkeness and disorderly behavior becomes so outrageous that a fed prosecutes it, I can only speculate.

But hey, he's a sloppy drunk. So we should totally trust his "research."

I guess Rosenstein (that sweetheart!) overlooked Danshenko's prior record of unreliable criminality when he signed that FISA warrant based on this con artist's claims.

To be fair, the link to Rod Rosenstein seems weak; it just illustrates how incestuous, and small the world is near the top levels of government. Did he give him a sweet deal because he was from Brookings? Probably. Did he even remember who he was as he was signing FISA warrants? I doubt it. But I was reminded by the Wombat in this morning's In The Mailbox: 07.24.20, of this link from Julie Kelly at AmThink that was in yesterdays Russiagate post Brookings Institution: A Key Collusion Collaborator, which didn't mention this but should have. It turns out all the evidence for the Russian collusion hoax circles back to Democrat sources.

Ben Wilson at Sara Carter's shop, Sara Carter: Explosive New Docs Prove Higher-ups Gave Orders To Spy On Trump Campaign

“These documents are explosive,” Carter reported. “It was 2016 and here’s Joe Pientka debriefing basically Trump, Governor Christie, and Michael Flynn. And then in January, he goes back to the White House with Peter Strzok— he’s the one that’s interviewing Michael Flynn.”

Carter explained how higher-ups, including President Obama himself, were giving directives on the spying directed at the Trump campaign.

Carter said Strzok, Pientka, and others were “directed by people above them. That is Andrew McCabe, that’s James Comey, and that’s those folks that were at the White House. Including the President, who knew everything that was going on.”

#ICYMI @SaraCarterDC On @seanhannity tonight 👀 pic.twitter.com/l8dXhRE45Q

— Jennie Taer 🇺🇸🇮🇱✡️ (@JennieSTaer) July 24, 2020

But as Sean Davis at Da Fed reminds us, the Most Disconcerting Thing About Obamagate Is Not One Person Has Been Charged. Look, I get that if the charges come too close to the election, Democrats will accuse Durham and Barr of playing politics. But that doesn't matter, they're already accusing them, and would under any circumstances. You have to go forward.



and good old "shipwreckedcrew" at Red State informs us that Russiagate alum and CNN presidential selection,  Largest Civil Verdict Won by Michael Avenatti Tossed out by Court of Appeals — Avenatti’s Tin Cup Now Out

Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion reversing a jury verdict and ordering dismissal of a case that was the biggest of Michael Avenatti’s career in his prior profession as an attorney in Southern California.

The case was a class-action lawsuit brought by Avenatti on behalf of Plaintiff Bahamas Surgery Center and against defendant multinational health care company Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KCC).

The allegations of the case were that KCC had sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of surgical gowns through co-defendant distributor Halyard Co, which were labeled as being compliant with a certain industry-recognized standard for being a liquid bio-hazard barrier, when those gowns did not, in fact, meet the industry-standard as represented.
. . .
One problem which Avenatti ran into in the aftermath of the jury’s verdict was with the federal District Court Judge. He tossed out the substantial punitive damages award and reduced the verdict to only $25 million.

Today, the Ninth Circuit applied the coup de grace. They tossed out the verdict altogether AND remanded the matter with instructions that the case be dismissed.

What had Avenatti done wrong??? In a STUNNING BIT OF POTENTIAL MALPRACTICE, Avenatti had taken a class-action case to trial with a Class Representative Plaintiff who had not been damaged — Bahamas Surgical Center had never purchased any the KCC manufactured gowns at issue.

So the award was won against somebody who couldn't have done the acts alleged to cause harm? Now that's good lawyering!

Russiagate: Doing it the Quick Way

We're on our way north, to see the Pittsburgh branch of the clan for the first time since well before the WuFlu outbreak, so you'll have to take it this way or not all:

La Affair de Bolton:

Althouse "As the book nears publication and details spill out, many congressional Democrats quickly assailed Mr. Bolton for not telling his story during the impeachment proceedings and instead saving it for his $2 million book."

Althouse: John Bolton's book "has been written with so little discernible attention to style and narrative form that he apparently presumes an audience that is hanging on his every word."

Report: Feds Consider Criminal Charges Against John Bolton

Bolton: Trump is incompetent, unfit for office – HotAir

Trump: Bolton's a liar – HotAir

Trump Responds To Bolton Book Allegations: ‘What A Dope!’ | The Daily Caller

John Bolton tells the truth – HotAir

John Bolton is a greedy hack | Spectator USA

Peter Navarro Shreds John Bolton… | The Last Refuge

Menendez Demands Probe into 'Disturbing Revelations' in Bolton Book

John Bolton’s book looks like a fairy-tale for Trump haters - American Thinker

Justice Department Official Plans To Resign After Signing Bolton Lawsuit, Email Says | The Daily Caller

Bolton Book Accuses Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo, Former Chief Of Staff Mick Mulvaney Of Orchestrating White House Leaks | The Daily Caller

'He's sitting in his pajamas, pecking away at his iPad': Trey Gowdy doubts Bolton would survive congressional testimony

"Make sure I win... Buy a lot of soybeans and wheat and make sure we win.” – HotAir

The Flynn Matter:

Flynn transcript shows Russia opposed Obama UN resolution on Israel - The Jerusalem Post

Flynn's lawyers say ex-judge engaged in 'flagrant personal and partisan assault' against general | Just The News

Flynn fires back at ‘partisan assault’ by ex-judge, says court must dismiss his conviction - The Washington Post

Republicans are more worried about Michael Flynn than police brutality - The Washington Post

Miscellaneous:

Ex-Trump adviser breaks silence on Russia probe, says Iran deal played role in false allegations | Just The News

Role in Trump's impeachment casts shadow over Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman's promotion - The Washington Post

Fifth Redacted Name in Rosenstein’s Scope Memo Identified as Walid Phares… | The Last Refuge


Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and linkfest.

Barely Enough Russiagate to Go Around

Really not a lot, but if we read thoroughly it could take all morning.

Charles Lipsom at Spectator USA details Rod Rosenstein’s devastating admissions

What did Rosenstein tell us, and why was it so devastating?

• Knowing what he knows now, Rosenstein says would not have signed the FISA application to spy on Carter Page
• Rosenstein cannot explain the basis for Mueller’s investigation of Trump-Russia collusion since, by the time Mueller was appointed in summer 2017, the FBI had already cleared the key people named as possible collaborators
• Rosenstein set out very broad terms for the Mueller investigation. His ‘scope memos’ were widened, not narrowed, after no Trump-Russian collaboration was found
• Although Rosenstein was responsible for supervising the Special Counsel, he testified that he exercised little hands-on oversight. He made no effort to rein in excesses
• Rosenstein flatly denies he tried to remove President Trump, using the 25th Amendment, or wear a wire into the White House to record his conversations with the President
• Though Rosenstein acknowledges serious mistakes, he blames them on the FBI’s ‘lack of candor’. His testimony portends a serious clash between DoJ and FBI officials. This blame game will soon include the CIA, State Department, and Obama White House

Each admission is important in its own right. Together, they are devastating. Let’s consider each one in more detail. . . .

Sundance at CTH,  AG Bill Barr: “For the First Time in American History, Police and National Security Investigations Were Used to Spy on a Political Campaign”…



As I've said before, this scandal is worse than Watergate because it actually involves government agencies acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the subsequent Democrat "resistance."

From "Shipwreckedcrew" at Red State, two long, lawyerly essays on the legal issues in play in the ongoing Flynn trial saga. First, Oral Arguments in Gen. Flynn Case on Friday — An Introduction to What’s Ahead

The first observation I have about the DOJ Brief is that its noteworthy that the Brief is the product of the Solicitor General’s Office, and not the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  It is filed under the names of both but the work-product is clearly that of the SG’s Office, which as a general matter handles only briefing and oral argument before the Supreme Court.  For appellate work on behalf of the United States, the Solicitor General’s Office is where the “best and brightest” hang out.

The Separation of Powers claims are right in the “wheelhouse” of the SG, as this is the kind of argument that often creates and resolves issues before the Supreme Court as they involve competing “visions” and tensions among the three branches of government about how they go about working with one another.

The Brief first addresses the question as to why there is “urgency” to cutoff Judge Sullivan from pursuing his intended course of conduct.  Why not allow this matter to be dealt with in the ordinary course – allowing Judge Sullivan to conduct proceedings he deems necessary, issue a ruling based on his findings, and then allow any party who disagrees with his ruling to challenge that ruling in the normal appeals process.

The Brief responds to this question by advancing the idea that moving expeditiously by way of a Writ avoids “an unwarranted impairment” by Judge Sullivan of the Executive Branch’s “performance of its constitutional duties.”

At its core what this argument advances is the idea that when the Executive Branch, while executing its constitutional duties to see that that the laws are faithfully executed and enforced, comes across information establishing that an ongoing enforcement action is mistaken or amounts to an injustice, the Executive must move with all due haste to bring the enforcement action to an end.

The Justice Department has taken a position in a legal filing with the Judicial branch that it is no longer convinced that Gen. Flynn committed a crime, and it is certain that it would not be able to prove any such crime beyond a reasonable doubt if it attempted to do so in a trial.

Yet based on Justice Department conduct up to the date of that determination, Gen. Flynn remains a defendant in a criminal case pending in United States District Court.  As such, the Justice Department has an ethical obligation – and an obligation under its own internal policies (explained later) – to move without delay to bring an end to that pending matter.

What Judge Sullivan proposes to do is an “unwarranted impairment” of the Executive Branch’s effort to fulfill its constitutional obligations to Gen. Flynn.   The Justice Department has filed a motion that is within the scope of its authority.  Where the contents of that motion address the necessary legal standards that the Justice Department must follow in taking the action contemplated by the motion, there is no basis for the Judicial branch to “look behind” the motion for some ulterior motivation.

The course of action proposed by Judge Sullivan is unwarranted in terms of the substance, that the process he proposes to follow is an interference with Executive branch functions in violation of the Separation of Powers doctrine.

Second, Part 2 Of My Review Of The DOJ Brief And Preview of Flynn Case Oral Argument

One area where Supreme Court decisions are clear is with respect to “charging authority” in criminal cases, as the Supreme Court has consistently held that nearly absolute discretion on that issue rests with the Executive branch. The DOJ brief refers to the language in Fokker Services that the exercise of discretion by the Executive regarding criminal charging decisions are entitled to a “presumption of regularity.” This means that when DOJ does what it did here — filing a motion supported by documents from the government’s files, witness statements, and other material information as a basis to take action — the district court is obligated to accept those representations as legitimate since they come from a co-equal branch of government on a subject over which that co-equal branch is granted exclusive authority by the Constitution.

It is not the role of the court — in fact it is beyond the authority of the court — to conduct some wide-ranging inquiry into the propriety or legitimacy of the reasons presented in the motion. The role of the court begins and ends with a determination that the motion sets forth a factual and legally adequate basis to support the requested action — dismissal of the case. It’s is not the role of the court to validate or invalidate the basis set forth via some involved inquiry such as that proposed by Judge Sullivan.

Finally, the DOJ Brief points out that even if the approach by Judge Sullivan was supported in the case law, there are practical limits that make the procedure he proposes to pursue a fruitless exercise. If he were to deny the motion to dismiss, what he would be left with is the pending motion by Gen. Flynn to withdraw his guilty plea, and a pending criminal case where the only charging document is a criminal Information.

If he denied Gen. Flynn’s motion to withdraw his plea, he would be faced with the prospect of proceeding to sentencing Gen. Flynn without the participation of the Government, and then on appeal the record would reflect that the Executive Branch called into question whether any crime was even committed, and whether Executive branch officials acted unethically or illegally in pursuing the investigation.

If, on the other hand, Judge Sullivan granted Gen. Flynn’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea, then he would have a pending criminal case without a filed indictment, and the constitution requires that a defendant in a criminal case be charged only by way of indictment. Since the Justice Department works with grand juries in seeking the return of indictments, Judge Sullivan’s proposed course of action would again seem to be at a dead end as there would be no one to present evidence to the grand jury and seek an indictment of Gen. Flynn.

I look forward to part 3.

Not really Russiagate, but pertaining to the general embeded "Deep State" shadow government, from Fox, State Department accuses fired IG of obtaining official documents, accessing office after dismissal. They think they own the government, and it owes them:

A top State Department official has accused Steve Linick, the department’s fired inspector general, of contacting a former colleague, obtaining official documents and returning to his former office -- all in violation of the terms of his administrative leave, Fox News has learned.

In a letter to Linick's attorney, obtained by Fox News, the State Department Under Secretary for Management Brian Bulatao says “in the days before his Congressional testimony, he sent a text message to the Deputy Inspector General, Diana Shaw, requesting a copy of the DOD IG report on the origins of a leak of a draft State OIG report to the media last fall. Without informing her own chain of command, we understand that Ms. Shaw then contacted the DOD Office of Inspector General to request a copy of the report on Mr. Linick’s behalf.”

Bulatao also wrote that “it is not clear what Mr. Linick’s motivation was, but it was inappropriate for him to seek the DOD IG report through the State OIG, given that he was, at the time, on administrative leave pursuant to a decision by the President with a new Acting Inspector General in place." The official added: "His apparent urgency is all the more unusual given that Mr. Linick had repeatedly refused to share the DOD IG report with anyone in the State Department itself.”

Bulatao also claims Linick “repeatedly returned to his former office without seeking authorization from his Department reporting chain, also contrary to the clear instructions he received.”