U.S. Attorney John Lausch appears on Fox and Friends morning show to discuss the ongoing issue of releasing documents to congress yet retain integrity of potential criminal evidence that may be used in future proceedings.
Lausch notes the FBI two-page document that initiated the 2016 FBI counterintelligence operation against candidate Donald Trump is not under his authority to release.
The motives behind this interview are transparent. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is attempting to push back against growing opinion he has lost control of the DOJ, and more specifically the rogue elements within it.
Functionally, and by sheer weight of visible outcomes, there are influential embeds within the apparatus of the DOJ continuing their effort to undermine the Office of the President.
Amid the AG effort to restore higher principles and standards, ie. removing the politicization, the usurping Main Justice agents are taking advantage. The ‘small group’ is seemingly running amok – unchecked in their objective to undermine the office of the President; and operating independently, brazenly, regardless of DOJ leadership.
In hindsight this appears to have been the plan of the ‘small group’ all along. Hiding behind color of law and the Mueller investigation as a cover and excuse to continue the ideological efforts of “The Resistance.” AG Sessions has not been able to stop, stall or disrupt their ongoing activity. Team Mueller is simply better than Team Sessions, and they operate as an insurgency. Sessions, is now marginalized and getting his ass kicked by his own department. There is a transparent lack of urgency/ability to correct this.
The Attorney General simply appears weak, ineffective and inept.
Tomorrow Attorney General Jeff Sessions will announce the assignment of U.S. Attorney John Lausch to facilitate the production of documents from the DOJ (Horowitz/Huber) to the House Judiciary Committee, and Chairman Bob Goodlatte.
Mr. Lausch is a Trump appointed U.S. Attorney from outside Washington DC. John Lausch currently heads the Northern District of Illinois which includes Chicago, and this specific U.S. Attorney has extensive experience in complex cases of conspiracy and political corruption; a key skill-set given the issues within the Horowitz/Huber investigation of potential politicization of the FBI and DOJ offices.
Accepting the OIG report is almost certainly the most complex undertaking of IG Horowitz career; and accepting the multitude of possible angles within each section of the investigative inquiry are so consequential; there’s a strong likelihood the report could come out in stages.
According to multiple media outlets, which means the White House is staying out in front of this story, Joe Biden was interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Hur (pictured below left) about the classified documents located in his Delaware home, beach house and office in Pennsylvania. The documents stem from the time when Joe Biden was a senator and vice-president.
WASHINGTON DC – President Joe Biden has been interviewed by the special counsel team investigating how classified documents from his time as vice president ended up at his office and home, the White House said Monday night.
The interview was conducted at the White House on Sunday and Monday and was done voluntarily, the administration added.
“As we have said from the beginning, the President and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as we can consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the investigation,” Ian Sams, spokesperson for the White House, said in a statement. (read more)
When Attorney General Merrick Garland made the appointment [2-pg pdf] of Special Counsel Robert Hur (a deep swamp defender), CTH outlined the reasoning: “Essentially it looks like AG Merrick Garland is appointing a special counsel, because (a) he has to deflect political criticism given the issues and the growing scale; and (b) because a special counsel appointment will now throw the bag of “a current investigation” over any efforts from the Republican House of Representatives to investigate the office of the presidency.”
Today, in a responsive letter to inquiry from House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, exactly as anticipated, the DOJ triggered the latter justification as a reason not to comply with legislative oversight.
WASHINGTON DC – […] Carlos Felipe Uriarte, the assistant attorney general for DOJ’s office of legislative affairs, sent a Monday letter to House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), pointing to Garland’s Jan. 12 selection of special counsel Robert Hur to investigate Biden’s apparent mishandling of classified information as the key reason why the DOJ was limiting its sharing of information on the Biden saga.
[…] “Your letter … requests non-public information that is central to the ongoing Special Counsel investigation,” the assistant attorney general told Jordan on Monday. “The Department’s longstanding policy is to maintain the confidentiality of such information regarding open matters. This policy protects the American people’s interest in the evenhanded, dispassionate, and effective administration of justice. Disclosing non-public information about ongoing investigations could violate statutory requirements or court orders, reveal road maps of our investigations, and interfere with the Department’s ability to gather facts, interview witnesses, and bring criminal prosecutions where warranted.” (more)
There’s no politics here. Washington DC is comprised of magnanimous institutions filled with exceptionally moral people who commit their lives to a career of public service on behalf of this nation. So sayeth Rod Rosenstein as he takes up a defensive position against the vulgarian horde who do not cherish their rulers with enough reverence, or something like that.
As the story is told, there are only honorable and altruistic officials within the institutions of the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The examples of Robert Mueller, Christopher Wray, Merrick Garland and both special counsels Smith and Hur are presented as evidence to highlight the great fortune of an ungrateful nation.
If Washington DC is a bubble, the great pretending Bubble Boy is Rod Rosenstein. WATCH (or, transcript Below):
[Transcript] – CHUCK TODD: And joining me now is the former Deputy Attorney General under President Trump, Rod Rosenstein. The newly-appointed special counsel looking into Biden, Robert Hur, served as Rosenstein’s top aide in the Justice Department, overseeing the special counsel investigation into the Russian election interference. Mr. Rosenstein, welcome to Meet the Press.
ROD ROSENSTEIN: Thank you. Glad to be here, Chuck.
Back in the Wilmington, Delaware, stash house where Hunter Biden used to bring his hookers and dope dealing friends; what is also described as the home of Joe Biden, where the alarm system was so dysfunctional the Secret Service apparently turned it off; according to the Biden lawyers today, they have found a fourth set of classified documents.
This brings the total in the Delaware stash house to three sets. One batch in the garage, next to the corvette; another set in an adjacent room; and apparently in yet a third location in the same home where needles, bongs and useful heroine tools were customary tableware, they have found more.
Go figure.
Wall Street Journal – Additional pages marked as classified were found at President Biden’s Wilmington, Del., residence and have been given to the Justice Department, the White House counsel said Saturday, the latest revelation over the handling of classified information that has emerged this week.
The documents were discovered after Mr. Biden’s attorneys said earlier that some classified material, likely dating from his time as vice president, had been found in his garage at the residence in December.
One document marked as classified also was found at his residence earlier this week, the White House had said. In addition, documents marked as classified were found at his office at a Washington think tank in November.
In a statement Saturday, Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said he accompanied Justice Department officials to Wilmington on Thursday to retrieve the initial document from the residence—and during that process “five additional pages with classification markings” were found among the material, bringing the total to six pages discovered this week.
All material was immediately taken into possession by the Justice Department, Mr. Sauber said. The Justice Department declined to comment Saturday. (read more)
It sure seems odd that the FBI were tasked with investigating everything back on November 9, 2022, according to AG Merrick Garland; yet here we are two months later, and it is not the FBI finding these documents, it’s Biden’s legal housekeeping crew. Odd that.
Unlike the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith, the appointment order for special counsel Robert Hur was not available at the time the press release of the special counsel appointment was made. The appointment order was released tonight, a two-page pdf, which is essentially the initiating scope of authorization for the special counsel to follow. [Link to pdf]
The Robert Hur appointment order is interestingly worded to encompass the origination of the John Lausch “initial investigation”, we have not seen any documents associated with that initial appointment on November 14, 2022.
Additionally, the appointment order seems to limit the investigation to only records discovered in two locations, “the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the Wilmington, Delaware, private residence of President Joseph R Biden, Jr.” The next part “any matters that arose from the initial investigation,” again puts the emphasis on the John Laush original investigative authority as given by AG Merrick Garland.
During a press conference today, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert K Hur as Special Counsel to investigate the Joe Biden classified documents that were removed from the White House during President Obama’s term in office (2009 through January 2017). The timeline given by AG Garland does not match up with prior DOJ statements and lawyers representing Joe Biden.
The timeline as described by AG Merrick Garland:
♦ Nov 4, 2022 – National Archives notifies DOJ of classified documents located at Penn-Biden Center
♦ Nov 9, 2022 – Garland instructs FBI to conduct assessment of classified documents and investigate
♦ Nov 14, 2022 – Garland instructs USAO Laush to conduct investigation of events and documents
♦ Dec 20, 2022 – Biden Lawyers tell USAO Laush of additional classified documents in Delaware
♦ Jan 5, 2023 – USAO Lausch briefs AG Garland and recommends a special counsel be appointed
♦ Jan 12, 2023 – Biden Lawyers inform Lausch/Garland additional documents found in Delaware
♦ Jan 12, 2023 – Garland appoints Special Counsel Robert Hur
If the FBI began investigating on November 9th, and USAO Lausch began investigating on November 14th, then why was it Joe Biden lawyers informing Laush of additional classified documents found in Delaware on December 20th? Why did the FBI and Lausch not find them?
Why was it Joe Biden Lawyers informing USAO Lausch on January 12th about the third batch of classified documents? Again, where was the FBI and John Lausch?
Nothing about this timeline as described by AG Garland makes sense when contrast with the lawyers from Joe Biden saying earlier today, the Biden team was still doing a classified document search through “last night.”
After lawyers representing Joe Biden released information saying additional classified documents were discovered at multiple locations associated with Joe Biden, the investigation that was being handled by USAO John Lausch has been turned over to a new special counsel, Robert K Hur.
Attorney General Merrick Garland made the announcement earlier today [DOJ Press Release Here]:
(DOJ Press Release) – Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced today the appointment of a former career Justice Department prosecutor and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur to serve as special counsel to conduct the investigation of matters that were the subject of the initial investigation by U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch Jr. related to the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the Wilmington, Delaware, private residence of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
“Based on Mr. Lausch’s initial investigation, I concluded that, under the Special Counsel regulations, it was in the public interest to appoint a Special Counsel. In the days since, while Mr. Lausch continued the investigation, the Department identified Mr. Hur for appointment as Special Counsel.
“This appointment underscores for the public the Department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters, and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.
I am confident that Mr. Hur will carry out his responsibility in an even-handed and urgent manner, and in accordance with the highest traditions of this Department.” (Source Link)