Russiagate with a Bang

Wow. The remnants of Hurricane Laura (now post-tropical cyclone Laura) arrived late last night with a bang, in fact many bangs, with an impressive thunderstorm that dropped 1.4 inches of rain before midnight, and another 1 by day break. It's overcast and rainy now, and will remain so for most of the day allegedly, although total rain isn't supposed to be much more.

Oh yeah, Russiagate. Well, there's a little. Tracy Beanz at UnCoverDC asks the question Is Kevin Clinesmith Cooperating with John Durham? but her article makes it pretty clear he is, or else.

However, this is where the juice lies, and again please pay close attention to the highlighted (and underlined) sections.

In closing, we were told Clinesmith wouldn’t be “earth-shattering” which I take to mean that he is the lowest fruit and the plea is for a lesser charge. We were told there would be more significant developments before the election, Clinesmith as the baseline. He is clearly cooperating/has cooperated if you read documents and don’t react emotionally, and the rest will follow in due course.

We were given a heads up about what was coming. It was an honest assessment. Why folks doubt Durham now given all of what we know and the fact that we have a plea deal is beyond me. I think we need less emotion and desperation, and transparent analysis of the facts in front of us, something that is sorely lacking.

Chuck Ross at Da Caller informs us that a Steele Associate Offered To ‘Feed’ Michael Flynn Story To WaPo Columnist, Ex-Spy Testified

Kramer was already known to have met with reporters to discuss the dossier. He has acknowledged providing the dossier to a reporter for BuzzFeed News, which published the salacious document on Jan. 10, 2017. But the Steele messages suggest Kramer played a more proactive role in trying to put negative stories in the media about Trump associates.

Kramer’s most eye-catching references are to David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist who writes about national security issues.

“The Flynn calls story is picking up legs,” Kramer wrote to Steele, seemingly referring to a Jan. 12, 2017, column by Ignatius that revealed that Flynn spoke by phone weeks earlier with Sergey Kislyak.

According to text messages read at the trial, Kramer suggested to Steele that he would provide dirt on Trump associates to Ignatius.
“I think it’s time to get that other [Manafort] story out there,” Kramer wrote in a message to Steele, referring to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

“And Ignatius is the one I’ll feed it to,” he also wrote.

Steele insisted during his testimony that Kramer was suggesting feeding a story to Ignatius about Flynn rather than Manafort.

“It’s a Michael Flynn story, isn’t it?” Steele asked during the cross-examination.

He went on to say that the information regarding Flynn he discussed with Kramer was not found in the dossier.

“Any story here about Michael Flynn is completely independent of anything in the dossier,” said Steele.

At Da Fed, Margot Cleveland explains how The Michael Flynn Saga Reveals Democrats’ Near-Coup Use Of Federal Power

. . . Flynn’s fate, however, was sealed when Yates conveyed to the White House that Flynn had lied to Pence and had been questioned by the FBI. Even then, had Yates conveyed the truth—that the agents believed Flynn had not lied—the Trump administration might have resolved the situation differently.

Instead, though, Obama administration holdovers and partisan career employees succeeded in causing the ouster of the new administration’s pick for national security advisor. And that plot only succeeded because of illegally leaked classified intel. These facts shake the foundation of our constitutional republic and threaten the peaceful transitions of power, and will be a blot on our country’s history long after Flynn obtains some semblance of justice.

Further, the targeting of Flynn was but one thread of the Obama-Biden administration’s attempt to interfere with the Trump administration. The spying on the transition team, the failure to provide Trump defensive briefings, the attempt to sidestep Trump’s attorneys general—successful with Jeff Sessions, but not Barr—and the weaponization of whistleblowing laws to impeach the duly elected president represent the most destructive attack on our government ever.

Come November 2020, Americans should make clear that such interference in their freely chosen commander-in-chief will not profit.

 According to Tracy Beanz (again), Richard Grenell Reveals Stunning Information About Spygate During RNC Speech

Last night Grenell told the world that there were, in fact, whistleblowers inside of the Intelligence Community who spoke up about (and tried to stop) the illegal spying operation on the Trump campaign and then the Presidency, but those people were silenced.

It went largely unnoticed by many, however, the ramifications of this statement from a man in a position to know what happened should be echoing all over the land today.

Let’s break down some of what Grenell did as DNI, while working alongside Kash Patel, former lead on the HPSCI investigation entitled “Objective Medusa”, run by Devin Nunes when he was chair.

As discussed in acclaimed journalist and author Lee Smith’s new book “The Permanent Coup” Grenell and Patel were responsible for a stunning amount of transparency:

• Declassification of all interviews before the HPSCI in regards to the Trump/Russia Collusion saga
• Declassifying the footnotes in the FISA report that showed that the FBI knew that Steele Dossier was based on misinformation and more.
• Declassified Rod Rosenstein’s scope memo for the Mueller Special Counsel Investigation.
• Declassified a list of the Obama Administration Officials who had requested unmaskings of General Michael Flynn
• Declassified the transcripts of General Flynn’s calls with Ambassador Kislyak, of Russia, which show that sanctions were never discussed, contrary to what the DOJ and FBI had previously said
• Declassified the memo for the opening of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation
• Declassified the January 4, memo closing the investigation into General Flynn, which showed that there was no derogatory information found.
• Declassified the text messages between Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, and Joseph Pientka discussing the General Flynn case

And much more- these were just a few of the items that Grenell and Patel worked together to provide the American public.

So, when Richard Grenell tells us that there were “good” guys trying to stop a corrupt and weaponized intelligence apparatus from committing what the President called treason, and many have called sedition? We sit up and listen. This is brand new information and something we have not heard out of official channels thus far. It leads me to believe there is still information of significance that the public hasn’t seen yet- the story is bigger than we even understand. Grenell showed that last night.

I wonder why it is that Adam Schiff isn’t clamoring to praise and shield these brave whistleblowers, the way he jumped to protect Eric Ciaramella during the Democrats impeachment charade? The world may never know…

Spygate perpetrator James Comey inventing new things to worry about. Jeffrey Lord, Yes, Jim Comey: The Police Already Showed Up At My Polling Place In Pennsylvania

Russiagate: Today is the Day . . .

So, today is the day that former Mueller team lawyer Kevin Clinesmith is reported to be signing the papers to plead guilty to falsifying evidence to obtain a FISA warrant on Carter Page. I wonder what he gives up for that. Besides a career in law.

Althouse catches Mollie Hemingway at "A New York Times reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize for his role perpetrating the Russia collusion hoax was tasked with framing the news that a former top FBI lawyer was to plead guilty...", which I posted in yesterday's round up. As usual, the fun is in the comment section, which varies from astute lawyers to assholes (not that they can't be both). At NR, Andy McCarthy is Connecting Dots in Clinesmith’s Russiagate Guilty Plea. At NewsMax, Hemmingway: FBI Concealed Exonerating Information 4 Times, while at Power Line, John Hineracker pens About Kevin Clinesmith:

Of all of the Obama administration loyalists who contributed to the Russia collusion hoax, Clinesmith is the one most obviously guilty of a felony: he altered an email he received from the CIA to say that Carter Page was NOT a CIA source, when in fact the email said Page WAS a CIA source, and submitted that fake document to the federal court in order to obtain a FISA warrant. That is worth five years in prison and, of course, the end of his legal career. Clinesmith’s guilty plea is significant, in part, because he may be willing to implicate others who are higher in the DOJ chain of command. More about that later.
. . .
The most pressing question at the moment is whether Clinesmith will implicate higher-ups in his crime. One would assume that no lawyer would commit an offense so blatant as to alter an email from the CIA and then use it to obtain, fraudulently, a warrant to spy on an American citizen, without assurance that he enjoys protection from the top. We can take that as a given.

But two questions remain. First, how high up the food chain can Clinesmith go? If we analogize the Obama Department of Justice to the Mafia, it is safe to assume that Clinesmith’s orders came from someone relatively far down the totem pole. Loretta Lynch, James Comey, et al. would not have compromised themselves by personally authorizing perjury, just as the top Mafia boss does not deal directly with the hit man. Whom can Clinesmith implicate, assuming he is willing to talk? We have no idea.

Second, will Clinesmith benefit more by talking or by remaining silent? Again, using the Mafia as an analogy, most Mafiosis who are caught don’t squeal on higher-ups. They know that if they stay silent and serve their prison term, they will be taken care of when they regain their freedom. Kevin Clinesmith may be in the same position. Prosecutors can urge the court to give him a lighter sentence in exchange for cooperation, but they can’t make his crime go away, and they can’t do anything for Clinesmith when he gets out of prison. At that point he will be a disbarred lawyer, a man without a career.

The Democratic Party, on the other hand, can take care of him lavishly and I expect would be willing to do so in return for his silence. So silence may be the better bet. We know, too, that Clinesmith is a loyal if not fanatical Democrat, a self-described member of the “resistance” to our lawfully elected president. We may begin to find out what Clinesmith is able and willing to say when he appears in court in connection with his guilty plea.

Regarding Andy Weismann's tweets in support of Clinesmith, 'Adam Mill' at Am Great says Mueller Veteran Andrew Weissmann Self-Incriminates with Tweets "He had a right to remain silent. But fortunately for those interested in the rule of law, he’s decided instead to incriminate himself in full public view." Read how. Weissman knew Page was innocent of the charges, but let the FISA warrants continue, in the interests of keeping his precious investigation into Trump alive. He helped perpetrate a fraud on the FISA court.

Sundance at CTH brings Lou Dobbs and Devin Nunes Discuss Kevin Clinesmith and Judge Boasberg… Video at link.

Boasberg is a FISA judge; and as an outcome it was he who was manipulated by the false information from Clinesmith.

Unlike them, I'm glad to see Boasberg is on the case; he should be properly righteous about a fraud on FISA court.

At ET, Waiting for Durham May Be Over. Yeah, I think a few more things are going to fall before fall.

Like Koko in “The Mikado,” I have a little list of “society offenders.” Mr. Clinesmith is on that list, but, to be honest, rather far down. True, he doctored evidence and lied in order to bring the awesome police power of the state against an innocent U.S. citizen, but at the end of the day Mr. Clinesmith was a minnow in the pond of corruption that was the deep state “plot to rig an election and destroy a presidency” (to cite the subtitle of Andy McCarthy’s book on the subject, “Ball of Collusion”).
. . .
It’s why I and others have described what Svetlana Lokova calls “Spygate” the “biggest political scandal in U.S. history.” Someone won the presidency that the Deep State, prominently including members of the outgoing administration, did not like. Therefore, they plot to take him out.

The moral is: Democracy is all well and good, so long as the voters vote for a candidate we approve of. Somehow, Donald Trump was elected without the permission—indeed, over the strenuous objections—of the permanent bureaucracy. The whole Trump-Russia narrative was concocted to correct that mistake.

Some interesting comments in Scott Adams Podcast,  Episode 1094 Scott Adams: Witches and Video, Three Civil Wars Scheduled, Low Information Voters, Firenadoes, Homeschooling. You can skip the opening bullshit and get to Russiagate at about 2:40 min.

Julie Kelly at AmGreat also reviews Lee Smith's new book, ‘The Permanent Coup’ Plotters Take the Virtual Stage

In a bit of irony, on the same day—Tuesday—that former deputy attorney general Sally Q. Yates is slated to speak, Lee Smith’s new book, The Permanent Coup: How Enemies Foreign and Domestic Targeted the President, will hit the shelves. Yates, who signed two of the four illicit FISA applications against Trump campaign aide Carter Page, is a decorated soldier in the ongoing coup against Donald Trump.

In a just world, Yates would be doing prison time for presenting fake evidence to a secret federal court in order to spy on a private U.S. citizen based on his political interests; in the Trump era, however, saboteurs like Yates are heralded as heroines of #TheResistance.

Sundance speculates on  Why John Brennan, Peter Strzok and DOJ Needed Julian Assange Arrested – And Why UK Officials Obliged…. Because he was planning on saying the Russians didn't hack the DNC.

And somethings never change, Maxine Waters: Use 25th Amendment to Remove Trump from Office (Breitbart). Hey, it worked on Homeland!

Russiagate on a Fine Sunday Morning

At NR Andy McCarthy is seriously reconsidering his position on whether Judge Sullivan should be removed from the Michael Flynn case (his previous position was no, work it out), Should Judge Sullivan Be Disqualified from Flynn Case? An Appeals Court Is Asking

More to the point, by seeking full-court reconsideration of the mandamus matter when both the Justice Department and Flynn are seeking dismissal of the case, Sullivan is both causing prejudice to the defendant and stoking suspicion about the executive branch’s motives. How, then, could Sullivan continue to be considered a fair and impartial judge, fit to rule on the Justice Department’s dismissal motion?

That question may signal something about the wisdom of the D.C. Circuit judges that I previously failed to appreciate. The Justice Department’s contention that Sullivan lacks standing seemed compelling to me. I was surprised when the Circuit appeared to ignore it in granting Sullivan’s request for full-court review; I thought they’d deny it and let the panel’s ruling stand. But is it possible that the Circuit saw this as a graceful off-ramp? When none of the Circuit’s judges asked for full-court reconsideration, that signaled to Sullivan that if he wanted it, he would have to ask for it himself. The Circuit judges probably calculated that if the irascible Sullivan made a formal application for rehearing en banc, it would be manifest that he had transformed himself into a party in the Flynn case. Then the Circuit could use the disqualification rule to nudge him aside for the sake of maintaining the judiciary’s reputation for objectivity. That would avoid all the downsides of issuing a mandamus writ while gently reminding lower court judges that they are supposed to remain umpires in these contests, not become one of the players.

To sum up, whatever one may have thought about the gravity of Sullivan’s irregular behavior back in May, he has now clearly crossed the Rubicon. It is incumbent on him to recuse himself. If he can’t bring himself to do that — a failure that would further demonstrate a lack of judicial detachment — the D.C. Circuit should disqualify him. Either way, the case should be reassigned to a new judge, who should promptly grant the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss.

As you might remember from yesterday events are suggesting that John Brennan is not a target of prosecutors in John Durham investigation: (Dan Chaitin, WaEx). Capt Ed at Hot Air has some thoughts.

Bear in mind that this is a term of art, something we learned again during the special-counsel probe, and not a fixed label. In any investigation, a person can start off as a witness, turn into a subject, and then become a target. The process can work in the opposite direction, too; this site gives a pretty good overview of the official Department of Justice definitions, while warning at the same time that they’re essentially meaningless. At one time, Donald Trump was told he wasn’t a target in Operation Crossfire Hurricane, but he was at least a subject, and eventually became a target whether the FBI admitted it or not.

At this late date, however, Brennan’s status as a non-target is presumably more static, assuming this report is accurate, of course. Brennan could always leap onto a table and yell, “OF COURSE IT WAS ME ALL ALONG, YOU FOOLS!!”, which could tend to change one’s status in a federal investigation. Short of that, and again assuming NPR’s source is correct, Durham’s not going after Brennan. Attorney General William Barr has already said publicly that Durham’s not going after Barack Obama or Joe Biden, and NBC reported at the link above that James Clapper has been told that Durham’s not interested in interviewing him as part of this investigation.

Who does that leave, if this is true? Probably no one outside the FBI, but perhaps the top man in charge at that time might have reason to sweat. Sally Yates accused James Comey of “going rogue” in his pursuit of Michael Flynn, although she defended the decision to investigate Flynn. She also went after lower-echelon FBI figures for submitting false information on the Carter Page FISA warrants
. . .
If so, that will disappoint many who suspected this went all the way to the Oval Office. Even a Comey indictment wouldn’t be enough to prove a wide-ranging political conspiracy against Trump in the Obama administration, and that seems like a long shot in the Durham probe anyway. However, if Durham feels compelled to write a report laying out a larger narrative, that may indeed have more impact — but Barr has all but committed to sticking to indictments as the only public statements from the Durham probe. Will he stick to that?

Margot Cleveland at Da Fed details how Sally Yates’ Testimony Showed She’s Either Ignorant Or Lying About Russiagate. Why limit yourself when "both" is the better than "either". I'll bet all she reads is the NYT and WaPoo; of course she's ignorant. And an appearance by the still missing Mysterious Mr. Mifsud.

The FBI learned, Yates testified, “that someone affiliated with the Russians had actually approached a foreign policy advisor of the Trump campaign and had told them that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton in the form of thousand of emails, that could be released anonymously and wanted to know if the campaign was interested in this.”

Later, Sen. Lindsey Graham pushed Yates on this testimony to see if she understood that the individual who had approached Papadopoulos, Joseph Mifsud, was not acting on behalf of Putin. Was that individual “a Russian agent?” Graham queried. “He was connected with Russian intelligence,” Yates responded.

Graham’s guffaw said it all. While Joseph Mifsud’s role in SpyGate may not yet be clear, Yates’ belief that Mifsud was “connected with Russian intelligence” shows she hasn’t a clue about even the most fundamental facts underlying the investigation into the Trump campaign.

There were many other facts Yates did not seem to know, or if she did know them, there is a more troubling implication: the former acting attorney general attempted to mislead the Judiciary Committee and the public. For instance, in discussing the intel the FBI had received concerning Mifsud’s conversation with Papadopoulos about the “thousands of emails,” Yates claimed the FBI received this information in May and then “it actually happened—the emails were then dumped in July.”

But the emails “dumped” in July were those hacked from the Democratic National Committee and released by WikiLeaks, which was an entirely different set of emails than the “thousands of emails” Papadopoulos said Mifsud had claimed the Russians had: According to the special counsel’s office, Papadopoulos “admit” that Mifsud told him “the Russians had emails of Clinton.”

Whether Yates understood this distinction is unclear. It is also unclear which is worse—that she was ignorant on this basic fact or understood the fact but sought to conflate the two distinct categories of emails to justify the investigation.

Althouse on the case of Susan Rice, presumptive VP candidate Susan Rice talks about doing Sunday show appearances after the Benghazi attack — She was "a team player." From an interview in The Atlantic with Edward-Isaac Dovere Demonstrates how she'll lie to the people at the behest of the party.

Jerry Dunleavy, WaEx, Appeals court rules Democrats can sue to enforce Don McGahn subpoena. He already testified to the Mueller team for days, what more do they expect to find, except opportunities to try and smear Trump? I expect it will be appealed. Ask for the en banc, like Sullivan did. Then the Supreme Court if necessary.

At Newsweek, Congresscritters Jim Jordan and Doug Collins are Looking Back at the Democrats' Failed Partisan Impeachment. I think you can figure they weren't fans.

Sundance looks at the big picture in The Truth Doesn’t Care About Your Feelings – The Big Ugly…

What some have called “Spygate” is not a frozen moment in time or a set of dates on a calendar with a beginning and an end. Spygate was the originating process to ensure the DC system did not experience the disruption carried by Donald John Trump; but it was only the originating process….

….The process of opposition against Donald Trump is a continuum.

Those who use DC for influence and affluence control the mechanisms within the self-actuating system. This includes both Democrats and Republicans as they both feed from the same trough. In the effort to remove Donald Trump, both wings of the uniparty bird were aligned with an identical purpose; Democrats carrying out their effort openly, and the republican elements operating covertly as to retain the DC premise.

Specifically, one of the common flaws that many make is thinking the Mueller special counsel was an outcome of an action by President Trump when he fired former FBI Director James Comey. This is false. The special counsel process was a continuum in the effort to remove the threat that Donald Trump represented back in the early primary days of 2016. The system, writ large, was aligned with this purpose. . . .

WaFreeBee, For Biden Family, a History of Tax Problems  Da Wire reports Hunter Biden Hit With $450K Tax Lien, Is Resolved Despite ‘No Discernible Income,’ Biden Campaign Silent: Report

“Harvey Bezozi, a tax expert who specializes in large-scale tax debt negotiations, said the only way to get a lien released is to pay the settlement in full—often through a payment plan, penalty abatement, or other compromise with the government—or to prove the lien was filed in error,” the report added. “He said liens can take months or years to resolve.”

Bezozi said that for the issue to be resolved in just six days indicates that there “had to be some kind of expeditious kind of process for this.” Bezozi also told the Free Beacon that the government rarely files a lien in error.

“The Biden campaign did not respond to questions about how Hunter Biden settled the debt in less than a week and whether he has found gainful employment,” the report added. “The Biden family has been hit with several tax liens over the past few decades.”

Now, in your mind, replace Hunter with Donald Trump Jr, and imagine the spectacle.

A Russiagate Buffet

Lots of articles, but not much to connect them all (except Donald Trump, of course). Pick what you like:

Chuck Ross at Da Caller on Sally Yates testimony: Sally Yates Says Comey Went ‘Rogue’ By Setting Up Michael Flynn Interview. So, like Bill Barr says, she admits the FBI had no proper predicate for interviewing Flynn to set up their perjury trap.

Newsmax interviews Ric Grenell, on Biden's likely VP choice and other things, Ric Grenell to Newsmax TV: Susan Rice Was 'Lying and Spying'



He puts the Russian election interference charge into perspective. Remember, if you hate Ric Grenell, your're homophobic.

Speaking of false stories planted in the press, John Solomon claims that Democrats planted false stories in effort to derail Biden investigations, 

“In the last few weeks, Democrats have falsely accused me and Senator Johnson of receiving packets of information, including tapes, from a Ukrainian,” Grassley said. “That’s false reporting based on leaks from a letter written by Senator Schumer, Senator Warner, Speaker Pelosi, and Representative Schiff, which is itself based on cherry picked innuendo from classified documents.”

In his forceful remarks, Grassley accused Democrats of acting in bad faith.

"This nonsense of orchestrated leaks to plant stories falsely accusing me of dealing in disinformation based on actual disinformation that I wasn’t even privy to serves only the interest of our shared adversaries," he said. "This is the behavior of cowards. And it has to stop."

Elsewhere, he countered the Democrats’ claims.

“Let me be clear, my investigation with Senator Johnson is based on how the Obama administration formulated its Ukraine policy, which then Vice President Biden oversaw while his son was on the board of a corrupt Ukrainian natural gas company that was under investigation,” Grassley said.

Dan Chaitin at WaEx reports that Top Mueller prosecutor urges DOJ officials to resist Barr investigations. Good old Andy Weissman. Put him in jail; I don't really care how.

Steele admitting he was acting "at Fusion's instruction" at key moments (i.e. while willfully breaking FBI protocol) is suggestive of Steele acting under similar instruction to reach @SergeiMillian as an "investigative-target"... pic.twitter.com/2HtQT0ycls

— MonsieurAmerica (@MonsieurAmerica) August 5, 2020

Chuck Ross again, Steele Source Had Meeting In Russia At Crucial Point In Dossier Saga. Always remember that the DNC and Hillary campaign purchased Russian disinformation for the election. Mark Hemingway at NYPo, Bogus Russia scandal sourced to man with history of public drunkenness, working for a woman with a history of public drunkenness.

Via the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 08.06.20 (Evening Edition), the First Street Journal thinks It’d be a shame if someone hacked the DNC’s server again, and published all of those confidential e-mails about Joe Biden’s dementia. Wouldn't it?

Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx reports John Durham set to interview John Brennan

Brennan has acknowledged that he is in the "crosshairs" of the criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation led by Durham. He recently claimed, and the White House acknowledged, that he asked the CIA for his official records, including his personal notes and any classified CIA documents that he had signed to help him write his upcoming memoir, but the agency denied his request.

Last year, the New York Times reported that Durham asked for Brennan’s electronic communications, phone records, and other documents from the CIA, something NBC News confirmed on Wednesday.

Durham is looking into whether Brennan took politicized actions to pressure the rest of the intelligence community to match his conclusions about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motivations, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal. These sources said Durham has been interviewing CIA officials this year, focusing on the National Intelligence Council, a center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversaw the collaboration between the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency in putting together the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian meddling. Barr confirmed Durham is scrutinizing the assessment.

“There was definitely Russian, uh, interference,” Barr said in June. “I think Durham is looking at the intelligence community’s ICA — the report that they did in December [2016]. And he’s sort of examining all the information that was based on, the basis for their conclusions. So to that extent, I still have an open mind, depending on what he finds.”

Via the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 08.07.20, Don Surber: Durham’s Investigation Drags On. Surber thinks it's being slow-walked.

This is probably worth watching, if not in real time. Fox News,  AG William Barr to sit down with Fox News host Mark Levin on ‘Life, Liberty & Levin’

Linked at Pirate's cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinups and links.

Russiagate: Lay Down Sally

No need to leave so soon.  Still talking about Sally Yates testimony. Breitbart, Sally Yates Testifies that Joe Biden Was at Oval Office Meeting on Michael Flynn, but she doesn't remember him saying much; maybe he was just sniffing her hair.

She confirmed that Biden was there, but could not confirm whether he had brought up the Logan Act. “I don’t remember the Vice President saying much of anything,” she said. She said no formal decision had been made about investigating Flynn for violating the rarely-enforced Logan Act, though she said that she had been skeptical about the idea at the time.

Other important points in Yates’s testimony included:

– Yates testified that she would not sign the warrant application to the FISA court on Carter Page, knowing what she knows today. She acknowledged that the warrant, and the application for its renewal (both of which she had signed), had misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, given that the FBI relied on the “Steele dossier.” However, she said she had trusted the FBI’s analysis — even though she knew something of the dossier’s political origins.
– Yates misstated several facts about the Michael Flynn case and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Yates claimed falsely that Flynn had lied to FBI agents — a conclusion very much in doubt, given new evidence. She also claimed falsely that he pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI; in fact, he only pleaded guilty once. And she claimed, falsely, that Flynn tried to “neuter” Obama administration sanctions on Russia; in fact, he asked Russia not to escalate. In addition, she testified George Papadopoulos had been a Russian intelligence asset — a false claim she had to walk back.
– Yates could not explain why she believed there was a “legitimate” reason for investigating Flynn even after FBI agents recommended dropping the case on January 4, 2017. Yates testified that she believed the FBI agents who made that recommendation had not yet seen the transcripts of Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak, but there is no evidence to substantiate that claim. (The reason the agents actually gave at the time: FBI leadership wanted the case to continue.) . . .

Prosecute her for lying to Congress; fair is fair after all. News Thud, Senator Hawley ain’t buying what Sally Yates is selling… Sundance has the whole interrogation at Senator Hawley Comes Closest….

In the questioning of former DAG Sally Yates, only Senator Josh Hawley came close to identifying the edges of the issues with Yates responses. What we see from the overall questioning is what I shared with y’all last week . . .

Also, Richard Grenell Discusses Yates Testimony: “She got away with questioning yesterday”…



Remember, if you hate Ric Grenell, you're homophobic.

Chuck Ross at Da Caller, Grassley Says Senate Democrats Acting Like ‘Cowards,’ Ignoring Evidence Of Russian Disinformation In Dossier

Sen. Chuck Grassley accused Senate Democrats in a fiery speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday of behaving like “cowards” by accusing him of falling victim to a Russian disinformation campaign regarding Joe Biden, while ignoring allegations that Russian intelligence operatives planted false information in the Democrat-funded Steele dossier.

“Truth be told, the Democrats should know a thing or two about Russian disinformation,” Grassley said in his speech.

“The Steele Dossier is the very definition of election interference, yet we hear no objections from Democrats,” he continued, adding that “Democrats got duped into falsely accusing their political rivals of doing the very thing they were actually complicit in.”

Via the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 08.06.20 (Afternoon Edition) The Geller Report features Obama Spying “Beyond What Anyone Thought Possible” and  Josh Hammer catches more projection at NYPo ‘Spying’ charges against Trump couldn’t be more absurd.

Tristan Justice at DaFed has 3 Things To Know About The Steele Dossier’s Primary Sub-Source

1. There’s No Steele Dossier Without The Sub-Source' . . .
2. Steele Exaggerated Sub-Source Claims . . .
3. Early FBI Sub-Source Interviews Were Clear Grounds To End Crossfire Hurricane . . .

Andrea Widburg at AmThink, It looks as if this Fall's hit show will be called ‘Obamagate’, Good, decent TV is getting a little thin. Paul Sperry at RCI, Ex-Colleagues See Durham Dropping Bombshells Before Labor Day

"Under oath, do you commit to not releasing any report by Mr. Durham before the November election?” Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) asked Barr, citing longstanding Justice Department policy not to announce new developments in politically sensitive cases before an election.

“No,” the attorney general curtly replied.
. . .
During last week’s House hearing, Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., asked Barr if he would be able to "right this wrong” against Trump before the election.

“I really can’t predict that,” the attorney general answered. "John Durham is looking at all these matters. COVID did delay that action for a while. But he's working very diligently.”

Added Barr: "Justice is not something you can order up on a schedule like you're ordering a pizza.”

McClintock warned Barr that if he is succeeded by a Biden appointee, Durham’s investigation will simply go away.

"I understand your concern,” Barr sighed.

Sundance is  Considering the Durham Timeline…

Hopefully Mr XXXXX and Durham will deliver on behalf of AG Barr and the American people. However, if they don’t address the dual justice system -mid August- then things will be even bigger and even uglier.

Stephan Kruiser, PJ Media,  The Morning Briefing: Mainstream Media Hacks Are the Root of Most American Woes. That may be a bit of an overstatement, but it's true that

American media hacks spent years as the chief propagandists for the Russian collusion myth simply because they were in an extreme fit of pique over the fact that they couldn’t get Hillary Clinton elected president. It was the first time their power had been rejected on a large scale.

Despite that defeat, they still remain a powerful influence in narrative-shaping. Their power may be diminishing, but they can still do damage to freedom, democracy, and the overall American way of life.

A Trump impeachment witness cashes the check; NYPo, Trump impeachment witness Fiona Hill gets book deal and at Da Caller, Trump Impeachment Witness’ Book About ‘Polarized’ America To Be Released In 2021, Publisher Says.

From the Western Journal, Michael Flynn issues a call to arms: Exclusive from Gen. Flynn: This Is My Letter to America

We are witnessing a vicious assault by enemies of all that is good, and our president is having to act in ways unprecedented in decades, maybe centuries.

The biblical nature of good versus evil cannot be discounted as we examine what is happening on the streets of America.

It’s Marxism in the form of antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement versus our very capable and very underappreciated law enforcement professionals, the vast majority of whom are fighting to provide us safe and secure homes, streets and communities.

When the destiny of the United States is at stake, and it is, the very future of the entire world is threatened. . .

Despite his personal woes, inflicted on him by vicious Obama partisans, he keeps his eye on the big picture.

Russiagate: Sally Yates Testifies

And sundance, as usual provides the video.  Sally Yates Testifies to Senate Judiciary – Main Justice Deflects, Pointing Fingers At FBI… It's long, but I sat through, well, most of it, yesterday:



Lindsey did a pretty decent job of being polite, and making sure it wasn't all just unanswered accusations the way Jabba the Hut did to Bill Barr on the House side. She's a smart lawyer, so she wasn't thrown off her message very much:  What Flynn did was wrong (never ask why) and Bill Bar is interfering to let him off. She did pretty much lay the blame for any irregularities in the investigation of on Jim Comey. Matt Margolis,  PJ Media,  Sally Yates Says Comey Went 'Rogue' with Michael Flynn Interview

“I was upset that Director Comey didn’t coordinate that with us and acted unilaterally,” Yates said in response to a question from committee chairman Senator Lindsay Graham.

“Did Comey go rogue?” Graham asked.

“You could use that term, yes,” Yates replied

Yates was also unaware that Michael Flynn was being wiretapped, only learning about it after a now-infamous January 5, 2017, briefing in the Oval Office about Russian election interference with FBI Director James Comey, Vice President Joe Biden, CIA Director John Brennan, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. President Obama asked Yates and Comey to “stay behind” after the briefing was over, and it was during this more private meeting that Obama spilled that he was aware of wiretapped conversations of incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn, a man he previously fired from his administration, and whom Obama had personally warned Trump not to hire.

Ace, Sally Yates: Jim Comey Went "Rogue" In Setting Up the Pretext Interview With Michael Flynn and I Was Very Angry About That

Investigative reporter and Russia Hoax expert Lee Smith notes that this is the third time that Obama's partisan staffers have shifted all blame for Russiagate to Comey:

Sally Yates show is part 3 of ongoing coverup blaming anti-Trump operation on Comey—starting w/Susan Rice email, then Brennan. Not to exculpate Comey, but increasingly clear that former Obama admin officials have set up ex-FBI director as Obama's fall guy.

— Lee Smith (@LeeSmithDC) August 5, 2020

Sundance allows Devin Nunes to Discuss the Testimony of Sally Yates…



At Red State, "shipwreckedcrew", a former federal prosecutor? thinks Only Durham Indictments — Not a Report — Explain Other Investigative Decisions Made by Attorney General Barr

Attorney General Barr expects John Durham to be busy in the months ahead.

Read the whole thing.

 Ace, Fusion Ken Dilanian: Brennan Has Agreed to be Interviewed By Durham, but Clapper Has Been Told Durham Doesn't Need to Talk to Him

FusionGPS' second-favorite shill*, Ken Dilanian, tweeted:

Ken Dilanian @KenDilanianNBC Brennan has agreed to be interviewed by Durham, while Clapper has been told Durham doesn't need to talk to him.

So: Clapper did in fact leak, probably as a secondary source, the classified briefing given to Trump on January 5, 2017, a briefing given with the purpose of being leaked.

Why isn't he being interviewed, then?

Some possiblities:

1. Clapper knew he was caught out (a strong witness knew he'd leaked illegally) and has been cooperating for a while already.

2. Clapper is a target of the investigation, and I'm pretty darn sure that if you're a target of an investigation, and not a Republican, a prosecutor is required to mirandize you before an interview and alert you of your legal peril. And maybe Durham isn't ready to so alert Clapper yet.

3. Durham's covering everything up and fuck it, Nothing Matters.

John Solomon at JTN, Trump suggests DOJ has found 'breathtaking' evidence of wrongdoing in Russia probe

President Trump said Tuesday night that he believes the Justice Department has uncovered “breathtaking” evidence of misconduct during its investigation of the bungled Russia collusion probe, and he expect results to be released soon.

“I caught them, we caught them spying, using the intelligence apparatus of our country to spy on an opponent or an opposing party’s campaign both before and after the election,” Trump said when asked during an interview with Fox Business host Lou Dobbs what he expects U.S. Attorney John Durham to have found during his investigation.

Attorney General William Barr named Durham, a prosecutor from Connecticut, to be special prosecutor for reviewing the FBI and DOJ's conduct in the Russia collusion fiasco.

Trump said he didn’t want to “get overly involved” in the Durham review but expects a dramatic conclusion to the investigation of the investigators.
“I do hear it is breathtaking what they found. That’s all I can say, breathtaking. And hopefully it will come out soon. But it is beyond what anybody ever thought even possible,” the president said.

Chuck Ross at Da Caller reports Russian Bankers Seek Christopher Steele’s Testimony About His Dossier Source, Igor Danchenko

The bankers, who own Alfa Bank, asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to submit a formal request to the British court system to compel Steele’s testimony in a defamation lawsuit against opposition research firm Fusion GPS and its co-founder, Glenn Simpson.

Lawyers for the bankers said in the court filing that information from Steele regarding Danchenko is “relevant to the reliability” of the dossier. It could also show whether Fusion GPS knew that Danchenko was Steele’s source, and whether information in the dossier regarding Alfa Bank was inaccurate before they shared it with journalists in 2016.

The Alfa Bank owners, Mikhail Fridman, Peter Aven and German Khan, are suing Fusion GPS and Simpson, over a Sept. 14, 2016 memo from the dossier that alleged the bankers had an “illicit” relationship with Vladimir Putin, and had bribed him for decades.

Lawyers for the bankers are required to submit a request for international judicial assistance because the targets are all British citizens and are not required to comply with subpoenas filed in the U.S.

 And a funny piece by George Bessemer at AmGreat, Alexander Vindman: They Aren’t Paying Me $1 Million for My Memoir for Nothing

On August 1, the Washington Post published an op-ed by the now-retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, of impeachment fame. The paper’s editors had to heavily revise the piece prior to publication. American Greatness has obtained the text of Vindman’s first draft.
. . .
To this day, despite everything that has happened, I continue to believe that only I, alone, held U.S. foreign policy together for three years.

I have not come, to testify...

Russiagate, No, Really!

Are you shocked? Margot Cleveland at Da Fed names 8 Democrat Myths William Barr Debunked Between Deliberate Interruptions: 1: Barr overruled prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone because of a Donald Trump tweet. 2: Barr dropped the case against Flynn because he was Trump’s friend. 3: Barr fired an acting U.S. attorney for investigating Trump associates. 4: Barr punished Michael Cohen but rewarded Paul Manafort. 5, 6: Barr used tear gas to clear out peaceful protestors for a photo op for Trump. 7: Portland is just a bunch of peaceful protestors. 8: The DOJ is sending federal agents to cities to bolster Trump’s re-election bid.

Breitbart, Charles Hurt: Nadler Calls Riots ‘Myth’ — Then Blames Them on Trump and Barr. Foolish consistency and all.

Via Wombats In The Mailbox: 08.04.20 Don Surber explains why Democrats Are Paying For The Mueller Report. Karl Notturno at AmGreat, Reflections on the Revolution "Should Trump win reelection, his first priority must be to clear out all of the snakes in his administration." They should have been long gone at this point, and would have been if not for the media, and the dedicated resistance within the Federal bureaucracy.

The number of grifters who have worked their way into or around this administration is astounding and disgusting, but it is understandable. Trump was not part of the establishment. He did not have legions of well-credentialed, loyal, party men who were already in D.C. and could easily seize the levers of power. At various times he opted to rely on people like Reince Priebus and Anthony Scaramucci. They’re probably the same guys who think sending me letters offering a “Gold Level Membership Card” for $2,020 is a good idea. Their daughters probably have Gucci purses and Doha-funded Instagram photos.

It took years for the administration to get a Presidential Personnel Office that tried to hire people who actually supported the president and even with that new office, they still have difficulty getting the Trump supporters in positions. Many agencies actually discriminated against people who had voted for Trump in the primaries. Swamp creatures infiltrated the executive branch with the rationale that they could correct and reform Trump. That’s the Heritage model.

That’s how we ended up with Mark Esper—a former chief of staff at the Heritage Foundation—as a secretary of defense who openly stymied the president’s efforts to put down riots in the city. Esper openly contradicted the commander-in-chief and excused his insubordination as an effort to remain apolitical and independent, as though whatever authority he has does not flow directly from the elected authority of the president of the United States. That’s how we saw the test balloons flown up for a military coup with an unprecedented denunciation from General James Mattis.

And the most infuriating part is that Mark Esper still has a job.

Sundance is in seventh heaven as Sidney Powell Highlights The Intersection of The Flynn Case With NSA Metadata (Surveillance) Abuse…, one of his favorite subjects.



Sundance: Point….

Most people who are not in the securities industry would NOT understand how this works. But Trump certainly does and Mnuchin definitely does. Bannon for sure understands this.

If you are a big trader – like Soros, Gates, Goldman Sachs, or a major bank – having inside information is a freebie – no risk – goldmine.

If you are a greedy political family like Pelosi, Clinton, Bushes, Feinstein, Burr, McCain, Obama; Biden Family – inside information is a freebie no risk goldmine for the entire family.

I guess if you are John Brennan or a foreign intelligence service, and you want to finance a nefarious off the books black op operation FOR FREE, outside of your normal budget, you can use inside information and stock trades to finance your operations.

What kind of inside information can be freely gleened from the NSA database? Correspondence between PUBLIC COMPANY CEO’s who are looking to do a merger, acquisition or spinoff of another public company; confidential audits of a company that may be in discussions to be acquired by a public company; confidential emails, phonecalls, texts between CEO’s, their accountants, their lawyers, their bankers, their competitors; their R & D department; their patent department.

Once the secret NSA information is obtained, stock trades are placed (by the ELITES and their families/cohorts) to capitalize and monetize the information. On any stock exchange anywhere in the world.

Adjust your tinfoil hat as needed. Which reminds us, today is the day Sally Yates testifies to Lindsey Graham's committee. Sally Yates to testify as part of GOP probe into Russia investigation. I expect massive memory loss.

Da Wire, Former Democrat Senator McCaskill Calls Grenell A Trump ‘Sycophant’; He Reminds Her About Past Vote. Remember, if you hate Ric Grenell, it's because you're homophobic.

Russiagate: Shipwreckedcrew at the Helm

Well, "Shipwreckedcrew" from Red State has been tearing it up this week, with three four articles. First, a long lawyerly analysis of the DOJ Response to Judge Sullivan’s Petition for En Banc Review — “You Needed to Seek DOJ Permission to File Your Petition”

Wouldn’t that be a knee-slapper of an outcome?

Judge Sullivan “hoist by his own petard” by virtue of the fact that he needed DOJ approval to petition the DC Appeals Court for en banc review of the writ of mandamus issued by the Court directing him to grant the DOJ motion to dismiss the prosecution of General Michael Flynn. So far as I can tell based on limited research, it might just be correct.

Before I go deeper into the substance of the Response filed on Monday by DOJ to the Petition for En Banc review filed by Judge Sullivan on July 9, 2020, let me dissect this claim appearing among the final points made in DOJ’s Response because, if correct, hilarity will ensue from dismissal based on that argument. Later, I’ll have a separate look at the Response filed by Gen. Flynn.

However, looking that the politics of the situation, he fears it's not all that favorable to Flynn, and thinks there's a lest a fair likelihood that the DC circuit will impose another lengthy delay. Mischief Might Still Be In Store for DOJ and General Flynn at the Hands of Appeals Court Judges In Washington. They might as well finish throwing away the appearance of blind justice, right?

There is no obvious way I’m aware of to “speed up” the process. The DC Circuit is an incredibly busy court of appeals, and the explanation for why a dissent is taking time to finish — if such an explanation was even necessary — could be nothing more than the “press of other court business.” The collegial nature of courts is such that judges always recognize that the next episode in which additional time might be needed could be a circumstance where the judge is asking for him/herself. So even though everyone might recognize “games” are being played for purposes of delaying the outcome, no one is likely to make an issue of it publicly.

It seems a very real possibility that no matter what the next act of the Appeals Court turns out to be, DOJ and General Flynn will likely just be made to wait even longer for an ultimate resolution.

(Almost) finally, and off the immediate topic of Flynn, he (or is it a she), writes Notes By Peter Strzok Regarding New York Times Article in Feb. 2017 Implicates Comey and McCabe in Conspiracy. At this point why would they not be the suspects?

This is the article that led to the brief aside between Reince Priebus and Andy McCabe at the White House where McCabe told Priebus the story was BS. Priebus asked if the FBI could say that publicly, and McCabe said he would check and get back to him. They only person for him to “check” with would have been Comey. The following day there was an article in the Washington Post claiming the White House was leaning on the FBI to knock down the NYT story. Mission Accomplished. Didn’t matter that the story that McCabe likely “seeded” in some fashion was largely false. The purpose behind the story wasn’t to leak “truthful” details into the press, the purpose behind the story was to keep the Trump White House on its heels, and make them think the FBI had more than it really had at that point in time.

It was another five weeks before Jim Comey stood before Congress and announced to the world that the FBI had been conducting a counter-intelligence investigation into the 2016 campaign of the President of the United States. But he knew in February when this story was published that the details were false.

THAT was true.

What was also true was that the investigation — going on for over 9 months at that point — hadn’t found anything meaningful.

Except that Christopher Steele was a fraud.

Joseph Weber at JTN, Former Obama official Sally Yates to testify in August before Senate on Russia collusion probe. "“I think she will have some interesting testimony,” Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told the Washington Times." I expect persistent amnesia caused by the trauma of having Trump as President for nearly 4 years.

From CTH, Sundance sends along DOJ Spox Kerri Kupec Updates on Multiple High-Profile Investigations…. Russia investigation starts at 2:10ish.




WaEx, Former DC Bar Association presidents call for investigation into William Barr. The ABA and the local branches have become subsidiaries of the DNC.

Greg Jarrett, Anti-Trump GOP Operatives Have Massive Debt And Ties to Clinton Russia Friends

Lincoln group co-founder John Weaver was a political consultant for John McCain and John Kasich’s presidential campaigns. The New York Post reported earlier this week that Weaver “registered as a Russian foreign agent for uranium conglomerate TENEX in a six-figure deal last year, filings with the Department of Justice show.” TENEX’s parent company is “Rosatom, a Russian state-owned corporation that also owns Uranium One.” The significance? Uranium One “paid Bill Clinton $500,000 in speaking fees and millions to the Clinton Foundation after then-President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed off on the controversial merger in 2010,” according to The Post.

Weaver claims to have “backed out” of the deal with TENEX claiming it was “a mistake” and denied taking any money from them. How noble of Weaver who has an outstanding $313,655 federal tax lien against his home in Austin, Texas, despite calling Trump a “tax fraud” and “tax crook” on twitter. Weaver also owns a children’s clothing store which is undergoing a lawsuit filed by the shopping mall its held in. Lincoln co-founder Rick Wilson also has an outstanding federal lien against his home in Tallahassee, Florida for $389,420 after it was moved to foreclosure in 2016. Weaver has chastised Trump over not releasing his taxes and called him “Brokeahontas.” Those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones; Mr. Weaver was taken to court by American Express for his unpaid $25,729 credit card bill the year before.

What is the real motivation behind these anti-Trump men? One GOP source told The Post “it’s very clear that this isn’t about Trump and Republicans. It’s about making money to help pay off their massive personal debts.” The National Review calls the men of the group a “ragtag band of three otherwise unemployed strategists plus one lawyer.” President Trump himself has tweeted of the group, “Lincoln Project is a disgrace to Honest Abe.” The President continued, “I don’t know what Kellyanne did to her deranged loser of a husband, Moonface, but it must have been really bad…They’re all LOSERS, but Abe Lincoln, Republican, is all smiles!”

Also:



Oooopsie! Founder of Never-Trump Super PAC Arrested in $60M Bribery Scheme (Breitbart). Soros needs to look at his pay scales.

And the 4th by "Shipwreckedcrew"! Michael Avenatti Seeks to Have Government Pay His Attorney As Appointed Counsel — This Often Ends Badly. Former CNN choice for President.

The attorney for Michael Avenatti, H. Dean Steward of San Clemente, California, has petitioned the federal district court in Los Angeles to be appointed as Avenatti’s attorney in the case — which means Avenatti wants the government to pay the legal bills and costs such as investigation and expert expenses.

This is hardly a new trick. It is a time-honored exercise for lawyers to be retained by defendants, work a few months on the case with the client paying the legal costs, and then petition the court to be appointed to the case when the client runs out of money and can no longer pay. It is a not-very-subtle way to try to pick your own attorney AND have the government pay the cost at the same time.

This generally ends badly.

99% of lawyers give the rest a bad reputation.

Some Late Breaking Russiagate

I had very little in the digital fridge last night, but a couple of late entries made it a respectable, if not bountiful crop.

Via the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.15.20, J.E. Dyer at Da Lid lays out how the Latest Flynn Document Release Clarifies Strategic Depth Of ‘Obamagate’. A lot of detail about the early distinctions between sanctions and expulsions (from the Obama administration) have been conflated by the Mueller mob, the media and anti-Trumpers to maintain the fiction the Flynn lied to the FBI:

The released transcripts of the phone calls indicate that the only important thing Flynn discussed with Kislyak was the expulsion from the United States of 35 Russians who were members of Moscow’s U.S. delegation, plus denial of the use of Russian “recreational” property in the U.S.

This action was part of the 29 December package, but it was not formally a “sanctions” move. The actual sanctions Obama imposed on the same date were imposed under different presidential authority: Executive Order 13757. They were in the typical form of financial prohibitions, administered by the U.S. Treasury, on Russian entities and persons the Obama administration had identified as linked to interference in the 2016 election.
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Kislyak and Flynn didn’t talk about the sanctions. They spoke briefly about the expulsions. As Cleveland reminds us, that’s what Flynn himself said, in basically so many words, in February 2017. Flynn was very clear on the distinction.

Cleveland highlighted that that matters, in part because the expulsions and sanctions have been conflated in all the media reporting ever since. Apparently, because conflating them is essential to the narrative about what Flynn is guilty of. The narrative, however, is just as dependent on what went into the charging document for Flynn when he took his plea (since reconsidered) on 1 December 2017.

The Special Counsel’s statement of offense against Flynn unvaryingly referred to his offense as being in relation to discussing “sanctions” with Kislyak. The term “expulsion” does not appear in the statement of offense.

Moreover – and this is key – the Mueller Report discussed Flynn’s guilt entirely in terms of his having discussed “sanctions” with Kislyak. Cleveland regarded that as suspect. So do I.

Also on the Flynn persecution, Krystina Skurk at Da Fed reports on How Michael Flynn Got Caught In The Crossfire Between Two Obama Agencies Looking To Get Trump

Documents released in May made clear that Yates was far more interested in getting Flynn fired than prosecuting him. The special counsel interview with Yates revealed that the first time she heard about Flynn’s phone call with Kislyak was from Obama. It also states that this is where she first heard that Flynn may have broken the Logan Act, although she claims it was Comey, not Biden, who mentioned it in the meeting.
While it is clear that Yates never intended to use the Logan Act to prosecute Flynn, it is also clear that she tried to use it to get him fired. Yates noted in her interview with the special counsel’s office that after she found out about the call between Flynn and Kislyak, she spoke with Assistant Acting Attorney General Mary McCord. She said they felt that although Flynn’s conversation was a technical violation of the Logan Act, they didn’t believe it would work with a jury or be a good use of Department of Justice (DOJ) power.

Yates had two meetings with then-White House counsel Don McGahn about the Flynn-Kislyak call. During her first meeting, Yates used the Logan Act as her excuse for informing the White House that the FBI and DOJ had proof Flynn was misrepresenting his call with Kislyak. McGahn, seemingly not knowing what the Logan Act was, took the charge seriously and questioned whether Flynn was under criminal investigation.

McGahn’s attitude in their second meeting changed. According to Yates, it was clear McGahn had researched the Logan Act. He presumably discovered it wouldn’t be a tenable legal strategy. “The DOJ isn’t going to prosecute the Logan Act,” he scoffed. Yates now had to backtrack. It would make her and her department look ridiculous to defend using the Logan Act.

According to her testimony before an executive session of the House’s Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Yates told McGahn she informed the White House so they could act. “It would be unfair to ask you to sit on your hands,” she said. She repeatedly told McGahn not to worry about any investigation that might be going on into Flynn. Instead she encouraged him to be free to “act.” She told Congress she didn’t want McGahn using an investigation as an excuse not to move on the Flynn situation. It is clear Yates’ intention was to get Flynn fired.

And still, the FBI, still under Yates' direction through James Comey, persisted. And then, the Mueller team decided to prosecute on a false charge of lying to the FBI. At RCI,  Aaron Maté pens Mueller and Weissmann Op-Eds Greatly at Odds With Their Report and Evidence

In a bid to refute that criticism, Mueller begins by defending the FBI's justification for launching the probe. "By late 2016," he writes, "the FBI had evidence that the Russians had signaled to a Trump campaign adviser that they could assist the campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to the Democratic candidate," Hillary Clinton. The campaign adviser is George Papadopoulos, whose barroom conversation with Australian diplomat Alexander Downer served as the basis for the Trump-Russia probe. (Downer passed this tip to the U.S. government in late July – though Mueller writes "late 2016.")

Contrary to Mueller's assertion, the record shows the FBI was not acting on any evidence that "the Russians had signaled" anything to Papadopoulos, but instead on the Australian diplomat's recounting of vague hearsay -- which Papadopoulos never relayed to anyone else in the Trump campaign. The bureau’s own documents make this clear. The recently declassified FBI electronic communication (EC) that officially opened its Russia investigation, code-named Crossfire Hurricane, states that Downer had told the U.S. government that Papadopoulos had "suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist" the Trump campaign by anonymously releasing damaging, yet "unclear," information about Clinton and President Obama. Not only was this tip vague, there was no evidence that the "some kind of suggestion" actually came from the Russian government or even a Russian national.

And Mueller's Pit Bull, Andy Weissass?

Weissmann – now a legal analyst for MSNBC and preparing for the September publication of his memoir on the Mueller probe -- bases his argument on the possibility that Stone hid incriminating information in order to protect Trump. Stone, Weissmann claimed (approvingly quoting the sentencing federal judge), "had been prosecuted for 'covering up for the president.'" Stone, Weissmann added, was found guilty of "lying to Congress about the coordination between the Trump 2016 campaign, Mr. Stone, WikiLeaks and Russia," and putting him before a grand jury would "get at the truth of why he lied."

Yet Stone's own case – and, of course the Mueller Report, which found no conspiracy -- underscored that there was no such "coordination," which is presumably why Stone was never accused, let alone convicted, of lying about it. The word "coordination" only appears once in his indictment: in describing the FBI investigation of potential Trump-Russia collusion, not in describing anything to do with Stone.

Stone was instead convicted of making false statements to Congress about his failed efforts to obtain information about WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign. Stone's case and trial underscored that these efforts went nowhere: Both individuals whom he tapped as his intermediaries, Corsi and Credico, had no contact with WikiLeaks and no inside information of its plans. The suggestion to the contrary by Weissmann in the New York Times' op-ed section is contradicted by the paper's own reporting on Stone's trial last year, when it noted that Stone "had no real ties to WikiLeaks."

I would just like to add that neither op-ed was produced under oath.

Chuck Ross, Grenell: Documents Will Show Intel Officials Who Warned About Steele Dossier Were Ignored

Richard Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence, said Wednesday that U.S. intelligence officials who expressed doubts early in the Trump-Russia investigation about the infamous Steele dossier were ignored.

In an interview on Newsmax TV, Grenell said that documents that have yet to be released will show that career intelligence officials pointed to red flags about the dossier, which the FBI used in its investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“But there are several [documents] that still need to come out,” Grenell told Newsmax. “And these reports will show voices within the intelligence community early on, unheard of voices so far, but voices nonetheless, from the intelligence career officials saying: ‘This doesn’t stack up. This is not something we should be relying on.'”

“Those voices were ignored, and their comments were pushed aside and classified information.”

Hiding the evidence? Breitbart, Devin Nunes: Barr Must Bring Charges in the Russia Hoax Investigation Even if Right Before Elections

"Yeah, look, I’m confident that Durham’s doing a thorough investigation. People have to remember this is a sprawling investigation that stretches on from 2015 to the Mueller probe. So he’s got to get it right. What I worry about is this next election is critical because if Biden somehow was to pull off a victory here, all this will be buried, and we will then be left with a totally corrupt Department of Justice and FBI that will never get fixed and it will take this country into a level of chaos that we have not seen, if these prosecutions are not brought and people are not held to justice and put in jail."

WaPoo is angry that Trump is resisting: Trump to press battle over tax returns after Supreme Court defeat, lawyers say

President Trump intends to fight the Manhattan district attorney's effort to access his tax records after last week's defeat at the Supreme Court, and may argue now that attempts to subpoena his accounting firm are politically motivated, Trump's lawyers told a judge on Wednesday.

The nation’s highest court rejected Trump’s bid to have the grand jury subpoena tossed on grounds that, as sitting president, he has absolute immunity from state court proceedings. The Supreme Court decision favored efforts by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., whose office is investigating Trump and his business over hush-money payments made to two women during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Of course it's politically motivated. My understanding is that the court said that a properly justified subpoena of his tax records would be allowed. Now Trump gets to question whether or not those subpoenas are justified. That's the way the system works.

Russiagate Looking a Liitle Peaked

Being Monday, there is a relative dearth of links, as the news is mostly recycled. "Peaked" slightly sick, often looking pale

Andy McCarthy from NR, Unmasking? The Real Story Is When Flynn Was Not Masked in the First Place. Yep, Obama had him targeted even before he entered Trump's shadow. Fox, Andrew McCarthy: Obamagate – Was Flynn identity unmasked or never masked in call with Russian ambassador?



Matt Margolis, PJ Media, BOMBSHELL: Mike Flynn’s Name Might Never Have Been Masked In The First Place

Did Barack Obama himself order the surveillance (under the guise of investigating Russian interference in the election) in order to bypass the FISA court altogether?

If he did, that would explain the theory that Flynn’s conversation was intercepted as part of that surveillance, and why his name was never masked. The surveillance ordered by Obama would have been conducted by the CIA under Obama loyalist John Brennan—who suppressed intelligence that Russia actually wanted Hillary Clinton to win in 2016.

Fox,  President Trump discusses bombshell revelations in Flynn case in exclusive interview with Maria Bartiromo. Video at link,

President Trump called the Russia Probe “the greatest political crime in the history of our country, ” and labeled his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn a hero, in an exclusive interview that aired Sunday with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo.

Sundance covers it in gory detail in President Trump Discusses Unmasking of Flynn and Obama’s Political Surveillance – ie. “Obamagate”…

Breitbart, Sally Yates Hid from Congress that Obama Told Her about Flynn-Kislyak Calls But Confirmed It to Mueller

During her interview with the House Intelligence Committee on November 3, 2017, she was asked by Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA) how she “first learned” about Flynn’s calls with then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak.

Yates responded that she learned it from the FBI and the National Security Division (NSD) at the Justice Department.

However, three months earlier, on August 15, 2017, she had told Special Counsel investigators that Obama was the one who first told her about Flynn’s calls with Kislyak during a White House meeting in early January.

Sound to me like lying to Congress about a material fact. Send 50 agents to surround her house at 4 AM, arrest her for lying to Congress. There's precedent. Dan Chaitin and Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx,
Devin Nunes: Obama ambassadors went 'wild' with unmasking. They were all in on it.

"A lot of them went wild after Trump won. They got poisoned with this Russia hoax," Nunes told Fox News on Wednesday, referring to the previous administration. "That's why you had Obama ambassadors across the globe unmasking — all of them were just unmasking and then leaking out about anyone within the Trump campaign and the Trump transition that they could."

Roger Kimball, REVEALED: John Brennan and the Plot to Overthrow the U.S. Government. Stephan Kruiser at PJ Media, And By the Way, Obamagate Is Real and It's Spectacular, From Breitbart, Nolte: CNN’s Jake Tapper Was a Willing #Obamagate Co-Conspirator. Of course. Sundance reviews Matt Taibbi Calls Out Liberal Media For Pretending ‘Not to Know’ How Obama Was Conducting Political Surveillance…. Republicans Pounce! GOP seeks to go on offense using Flynn against Biden (Alexander Bolton, Da Hill).

Sundance watches the Sunday talks, Sunday Talks: Doug Collins Discusses China Confrontation and Mike Flynn Targeting…



Dr. John at Flopping Aces thinks The corruption at the CIA and FBI is past the point of no return. I fear so too. Sundance, AG Barr Not So Confident in FBI Director Chris Wray Anymore – Video…

More than a week after CBS first constructed their editorial narrative they finally released the full interview between Catherine Herridge and AG Bill Barr. Many people read the transcript; however, thankfully Michael Sheridan excerpts a portion of the video that doesn’t come across in the transcript.

When the attorney general is questioned about “still having confidence” in FBI Director Christopher Wray, a newly articulated hesitancy is visible that doesn’t come across in the transcript. WATCH:

I'm unconvinced. Barr has a very deliberate way of speaking, and it just may be hesitancy as he chooses his words wisely. I, on the other hand, don't trust Wray a lick at this point. He's either not in control or on the other side. James M. Casey on Da Hill, How the FBI's intelligence experiment went wrong. Worth the read, he blames Mueller.

Mueller was right in 2001 that the FBI needed to focus on intelligence, and he’s widely credited with keeping the bureau intact. What the FBI got wrong in Crossfire Hurricane was confusing the use of criminal tools toward targets they more rapidly could have identified as potential threats by better using intelligence. The FBI also should not have turned loose intelligence techniques on American citizens with a criminal investigation for a crime they couldn’t show even existed.

Now, the FBI must get this right and restore its credibility with the American people, who need the bureau to protect them from criminals and foreign threats while also protecting our civil liberties.

And a bit of shocking, but somehow unsurprising news from the Ohio Star, EXCLUSIVE: The Treasury Department Spied on Flynn, Manafort, and the Trump Family, Says Whistleblower

President Barack Obama’s Treasury Department regularly surveilled retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn’s financial records and transactions beginning in December 2015 and well into 2017, before, during and after when he served at the White House as President Donald Trump’s National Security Director, a former senior Treasury Department official, and veteran of the intelligence community, told the Star Newspapers.

“I started seeing things that were not correct, so I did my own little investigation, because I wanted to make sure what I was seeing was correct” she said. “You never want to draw attention to something if there is not anything there.”

The whistleblower said she only saw metadata, that is names and dates when the general’s financial records were accessed. “I never saw what they saw.”
By March 2016, the whistleblower said she and a colleague, who was detailed to Treasury from the intelligence community, became convinced that the surveillance of Flynn was not tied to legitimate criminal or national security concerns, but was straight-up political surveillance among other illegal activity occurring at Treasury.

“When I showed it to her, what she said, ‘Oh, sh%t!’ and I knew right then and there that I was right – this was some shady stuff,” the whistleblower said.

“It wasn’t just him,” the whistleblower said. “They were targeting other U.S. citizens, as well.”

Only two names are listed in the whistleblower’s official paperwork, so the others must remain sealed, she said. The second name is Paul J. Manafort Jr., the one-time chairman of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The other names include: Members of Congress, the most senior staffers on the 2016 Trump campaign and members of Trump’s family, she said.

“Another thing they would do is take targeted names from a certain database – I cannot name, but you can guess – and they were going over to an unclassified database and they were running those names in the unclassified database,” she said.

This ruse was to get around using classified resources to surveil Americans, she said. Once the Treasury personnel had enough information about someone they were targeting from the black box, they would go to the white box for faster and more informed search.

It was routine for these searches that had no criminal nor national security predicate, merely a political predicate, she said.

In March 2017, she filed a formal whistleblower complaint with Acting Treasury Inspector General Richard K. Delmar, who continues in that office today, she said. Beyond Delmar acknowledging receipt of the complaint, the inspector general never followed up on the matter.

Another IG that need firing.