During a rather innocuous podcast discussion panel yesterday, one of President Trump’s personal lawyers Jay Sekulow mentioned the FBI had three FISA applications denied by the FISA court in 2016. [Podcast Here – Note comment at 25:05]   The denials were always suspected; however, until now no-one in/around the administration has ever confirmed.
Jay Sekulow did not expand on his statement and did not explain where the information was derived from; however, if accurate this may explain the backstory to why FISA Judge Rudolph Contreras was recused.  This issue has been nagging many people since the recusal notation in December 2017.

On November 30th, 2017, Mike Flynn signed a guilty plea; ostensibly admitting lying to investigators.  The plea was accepted by Judge Rudolph Contreras; who is also a FISA court judge.  Six days later, December 7th, 2017, Judge Contreras “was recused” from the case without explanation.

(Reuters) The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judge presiding over the criminal case for President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has been recused from handling the case, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday.  (read more)

The only two significant things that happened between the initial Mike Flynn plea hearing and the recusal from Judge Contreras was:

#1) The stories about anti-Trump FBI Agent Peter Strzok and his involvement with Fusion-GPS and Christopher Steele (keep this in mind as it pertains to FISC presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer); and

#2) FBI Director Chris Wray appearing before the House Judicial Committee and hearing Representative Jim Jordan demand to see the 2016 FISA application.

In fact, Judge Contreras was recused only a few hours after that House Judicial Committee hearing. The story was memory-holed into the concentric whirlpool of nothingness.  However, if what Jay Sekulow describes is true, and one of the denied FISA applications was against Mike Flynn, some of the issues reconcile.
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Bloomberg News has an interesting story today describing remarks delivered by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. According to Jennifer Jacobs the DAG told the audience at a private Metropolitian Club lunch the Mueller Report will highlight the primary investigative focus of “Russian Cyber Crimes”.

If this report is accurate, and CTH believes it is, this goes a long way to explaining why U.K. authorities moved now to throw a bag over Julian Assange. First the report:

(Bloomberg) Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Friday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report describes Russian cybercrimes during the 2016 election.
The report, which is expected to be released soon, will clear up questions about the Russian campaign to interfere in the election President Donald Trump won, Rosenstein said in a speech given to a private group at the Metropolitan Club of Washington, according to three people in attendance.

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There is considerable interest surrounding a federal indictment (full pdf below) of President Obama legal counsel Greg Craig today for lying to federal investigators about his lobbying efforts for Ukraine.  However, some of the details within the indictment are being conveniently glossed over.  First the DOJ announcement:

WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury today returned an indictment charging Gregory B. Craig, a Washington-based lawyer, with making false statements and concealing material information about his activities on behalf of Ukraine from the Department of Justice, National Security Division’s Foreign Agents Registration Act Unit (FARA Unit).
The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. of the FBI’s New York Field Office.

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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London today and taken to the Westminster Magistrates Court where he was charged with skipping bail.  [Details Here] Assange will likely spend 12 months in British jail while pending extradition to the U.S. for crimes related to the Chelsea Manning classified information leak – also outlined in a U.S. indictment unsealed today (full pdf below)
In the U.S. Assange is charged with a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for his role in assisting Manning. [DOJ Press Release Here] The simultaneous operation to remove Assange, charge and hold on the bail violation, and unseal the U.S. indictment, appears to be a coordinated effort by the U.S. and U.K. government. Holding Assange for the bail violation allows U.S. authorities the time needed for the criminal extradition process.
That said, the issues with Assange and how they related to British and American interests is a multi-layered story with various ramifications for both governments.
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In the Day #2 transcript released today FBI chief legal counsel James Baker was asked about a specific series of Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages on the evening President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.
Comey was fired on May 9th, 2017.  Later that night Peter Strzok and Lisa Page had the following text conversation:

5/9/17 8:14pm And we need to open the case we’ve been waiting on now while Andy is acting.
5/10/17 05:29am We need to lock in [REDACTED] in a formal chargeable way. Soon.
5/10/17 05:30am I agree. I’ve been pushing and will reemphasize with Bill [Priestap].

(link to texts)

FBI chief legal counsel James Baker’s response to questions about this text message exchange indicates that President Trump (‘Trump’ or ‘POTUS’) was the name under the redaction.
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With the Mueller probe complete; with AG Barr announcing a focus to review the intelligence operation in 2016; with Devin Nunes submitting criminal referrals; with Lindsey Graham probing CIA, DOJ and FBI conduct; with Doug Collins releasing ‘Spygate’ transcripts; with Inspector General Michael Horowitz closing in on the final stages of his FISA abuse investigation; and with President Trump contemplating declassification of documents applying sunlight on the Russia collusion/conspiracy hoax; there is an outrage trap which must be avoided….

The issue(s) surround President Obama and high-ranking Obama intelligence officials, notably: John Brennan, James Comey, James Clapper and Sally Yates intentionally lying and/or misrepresenting issues to president-elect Donald Trump and the transition team in/around the transition period and shortly after the January 20, 2017, inauguration.
Some of the misinformation stems from intelligence officials telling direct lies (ex. telling President-elect, and President Trump he was not under investigation). Other aspects were lies of omission surrounding the Steele Dossier during the January 6th, 2017, intelligence briefing session with the President-elect in Trump Tower.
In essence, there were many misleading and false statements, with varying scales of severity, during the period from November 9th, 2016, through mid-May 2017 when President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.
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Attorney General William Barr delivered stunning, albeit obviously honest, remarks during congressional testimony today in response to Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen about his intent to review prior intelligence activities in targeting the Trump campaign.
Before getting to the video and transcript, it is important to note how this line of questioning surfaces.  The professional political apparatus, primarily Democrats – but also Republicans, who participated in the ‘soft coup’ effort are attempting to gauge the landscape of their risk by identifying AG Barr’s intention.  This line of questioning is NOT organic or random; it is deeply purposeful and scripted. You can smell the fear.
Shaheen is being asked by allies within the Administrative state, including interests no longer holding political office, to do advanced query…. this is political reconnaissance intended to give corrupt officials and media allies the background to: (a) scale their risk; and (b) plan their defense narrative.  They are nervous now. Very nervous.

Here’s the important transcript, (all emphasis mine):

Senator Shaheen: News just broke, today, that you have a special team looking into why the FBI opened an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections. I wonder if you can share with this committee: who is on that team; why you felt the need to form that kind of a team; and what you intend to be the scope of their investigation?

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Attorney General William Barr was questioned today by republican lawmaker Robert Aderholt about potentially fraudulent DOJ and FBI submissions to the FISA court – to gain a Title-One surveillance warrant against U.S. Person Carter Page.
In a deliberate response AG Barr stated: “The Office of the Inspector General has a pending investigation of the FISA process in the Russia investigation. I expect that will be complete in probably May or June, I am told.  More generally, I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016.”

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The response would indicate AG Barr is taking personal interest in the events behind the July 31st, 2016, origination of the Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence operation. Additionally, this approach indicates AG Barr’s review is going much further than Inspector General Horowitz; taking the review all the way to the origin of the intelligence community operation.

UPDATE: Bloomberg Reports: Attorney General William Barr has assembled a team to review controversial counterintelligence decisions made by Justice Department and FBI officials, including actions taken during the probe of the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016, according to a person familiar with the matter.

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House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins writes a letter to Chairman Jerry Nadler smartly using transparency to call his bluff.  First the letter:

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Every narrative needs a foundation; every investigation, false or genuine, needs a predicate upon which to launch.  Remove the predicate and everything is exposed.
The predicate is the reason why so much effort was put forth by the conspiring Obama administration; and corrupt intelligence officials; and all political operatives; and the entirety of the mainstream media; to drumbeat that “Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 election.”
Without that predicate forming the motive for all subsequent action, the house-of-cards collapses; everything is exposed.
There is no amount of hindsight manipulation that can cover for a fraudulent basis of origination.  This is one of the reasons why voices like Diana West are so important.  Question the underlying assumption and the entire dynamic changes.
By now the intellectually honest reviewers of information all accept there was no effort from the Trump campaign to collude or conspire with ‘Russians’.  That narrative was always false; even Robert Mueller’s team of lawyers and FBI investigators have conceded their inability to substantiate those Trump-Russia assertions.  There never was any ‘there’ there.  All effort was instead trying to set up the obstruction case.
But further back in the narrative construct, those Trump-Russia assertions are predicated on there actually being some grand conspiratorial attempt by Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.  Without a factual basis for that claim, none of the CIA, FBI and DOJ-NSD operations hold any validity.
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