Sally Moyer was FBI unit chief in the Office of General Counsel (counterintelligence legal unit within the FBI Office of General Counsel). Moyer reported to an unnamed section chief, who reported to Trisha Beth Anderson, who was deputy legal counsel to James Baker.
Ms. Moyer is responsible for the legal compliance within the FBI counterintelligence operations that generated FISA applications:
[scribd id=411004527 key=key-MV1XTw9YPfPUa7ZOaXdp mode=scroll] (more…)
Interesting interviews by Maria Bartiromo today as she hosted both John Ratcliffe and Devin Nunes to discuss the latest remarks and investigative approach by Attorney General William Barr.
Representative Ratcliffe is one of the few congressional members who has seen the majority of the classified documents which backstop the activity of the DOJ and FBI during the 2016 election.
Once again the New York Times is getting out ahead of the story to reveal Attorney General Bill Barr has instructed U.S. Attorney John Durham to review the origins of the 2016 DOJ and FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign. [Durham Background Here]
The appointment looks like a way to keep the sensitive inquiry within Barr’s control as opposed to appointing a special counsel. John H Durham, the U.S. attorney from Connecticut, has handled previous investigations into the intelligence community.
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr has assigned the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut to examine the origins of the Russia investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter, a move that President Trump has long called for but that could anger law enforcement officials who insist that scrutiny of the Trump campaign was lawful.
John H. Durham, the United States attorney in Connecticut, has a history of serving as a special prosecutor investigating potential wrongdoing among national security officials, including the F.B.I.’s ties to a crime boss in Boston and accusations of C.I.A. abuses of detainees.
If this were anyone except Judiciary Committee member John Ratcliffe, it would be easier to ignore…. but it’s not. John Ratcliffe is a very tempered and deliberate voice; he has a strong reputation in DC and doesn’t speak in riddles, hype, or disingenuous terms.
During an interview with Maria Bartiromo discussing the recent comments by former FBI Director James Comey, Ratcliffe replied [Must Watch at 04:10 ]:
[@04:10] “Gosh, y’ know, as I listen to that, Jim Comey is proud and wouldn’t change a thing? Really? He’s proud that he put Peter Strzok in charge of investigating Donald Trump? The same Peter Strzok who, while he was investigating Donald Trump, promised to “f*ck” him and to “stop” him? He’s proud of his hand-picked deputy director, Andrew McCabe who lied under oath; lied to the inspector general, and has been criminally referred for that?
And we know Jim’s proud of himself, but the inspector general found him insubordinate, and many of us believe that he either is or should beunder investigation for violating the espionage act; for recording his conversations with President Trump in the oval office, and then intentionally leaking classified information to start this investigation”…
Note: “is, or should be”. So there’s a possibility of “is”.
Remember, Ratcliffe is one of only a handful of people who saw, and continues to see, all of the highly classified intelligence documents (fully unredacted) currently under consideration for declassification by President Trump. Ratcliffe was also strongly considered for the U.S. Attorney General position. This is a deliberate man. (more…)
Paul Sperry has an interesting article today at Real Clear Politics outlining the amount of expenditures by special counsel Robert Mueller during his two-year investigation. Sperry notes many in DC are wondering who the “contractors” are that were paid by Mueller:
Special Counsel Robert Mueller spent more than $732,000 on outside contractors, including private investigators and researchers, records show, but his office refuses to say who they were. While it’s not unusual for special government offices to outsource for services such as computer support, Mueller also hired contractors to compile “investigative reports” and other “information.” (read more)
Strongly suggest reading the above article.
Sperry outlines the breadcrumb trail which seems to indicate that Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS) and Chris Steele may have been paid. One of the key aspects lending weight to this likelihood is the part of Mueller’s specific mandate, as delivered by DAG Rosenstein, that the special counsel investigate the claims within the Steele Dossier. (more…)
It is worth remembering a recent court filing by the FBI where we discover James Comey documented each “Crossfire Hurricane” intelligence decision. Within the CYA memos Comey included the ID of code-named spies in a journal of sorts, that remains hidden for now. I have a hunch the full Comey journal will soon be released.
A court filing originally scheduled for April 15th, to determine the outcome of the multiple memos, and FBI closed-court discussion therein, was delayed until May 7th, tomorrow:
The number of Comey memos is why I now describe them collectively as the Comey “journal”. {Go Deep} The reason I suspect the “journal” will soon be released is connected to the recent New York Times release admitting to the use of FBI intelligence assets (Stefan Halper and Azra Turk)) in the Trump operation.
Last week’s NYT “spy” admission followed a report a month earlier (everyone forgot) that DOJ Inspector General was investigating the FBI use of Stefan Halper.
CTH notes a conspicuous similarity where all FBI leaks are positioned to present justifications ahead of document/investigative releases adverse to the group’s interests. These leaks appear to be planned releases from corrupt officials still employed within the FBI, and political allies outside government (Lawfare and MSM). All of the leaks are justifications. The Comey’s memos, as described by Weissmann and Mueller’s lead FBI Agent, David Archey, are also based around “justification”. (more…)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), asks Attorney General William Barr during the committee hearing about the content of the Mueller letter dated March 27, 2019 (provided below) which was leaked to the Washington Post and New York Times by Mueller officials.
Additionally, Whitehouse then goes on to debate the term “spy” with the Attorney General.
During a round of questioning with Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) AG William Barr was asked about scale and scope of the current IG investigation [04:22 prompted]. In response to the question AG Barr replies:
“I don’t want to be too specific; I talked to Mike Horowitz a few weeks ago about it, and its focused on the FISA, the basis for the FISA, and the handling of the FISA application. But by necessity it looks back a little bit earlier than that. The people I have helping me with my review will be working very closely with Mr. Horowitz.”
Prior to March 9th, 2016, the political surveillance and spy operations of the Obama administration were using the FBI and NSA database to track/monitor their opposition. However, once the NSA compliance officer began initiating an internal review of who was accessing the system, the CIA and FBI moved to create ex post facto justification for their endeavors. [Full Backstory]
After the November 8th, 2016, election everyone within the Obama network associated with the Trump surveillance operation was at risk. This is the impetus for the “Muh Russia” collusion- conspiracy narrative that was used as a mitigating shield. Within a few days after the election ODNI James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan began pushing the Russia election interference narrative in the media.
Without notifying anyone, NSA Director Mike Rogers went to Trump tower on November 18th, 2016. Despite his compartmentalization it appears Rogers identified the NSA database abuse as the likely underpinning for some form of political surveillance.
By mid-December 2016 the Obama administration was deploying a full-court-press using their media allies to promote the Russia conspiracy. However, despite their public proclamations Clapper and Brennan were refusing to give any specifics to congress.
The hard narrative was that Russia interfered. That was the specific push from within the Obama intelligence apparatus writ large. All IC officials, sans Mike Rogers (NSA), had a self-interest in pushing this narrative; after all, it was the defensive mechanism to justify their illegal spying operation throughout 2016. This was their insurance policy.
The media was doing their part; and using the information leaked to them by those who were part of the 2016 operation(s) began battering the Trump transition team every hour of every day with questions about the Russia hacking narrative; thereby fertilizing the seeds of a collusion conspiracy. (more…)
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham gave some brief remarks to local Dallas media discussing his summer agenda for the Judiciary Committee. Graham notes he does not intend to question Robert Mueller -deferring to AG Barr- which is not surprising considering how lightly Mueller may have been involved in the investigation.
Graham also notes the separation between the legislative branch and judicial branch as a firewall for inquiry into the FISA court. However, Graham explains his intent to discuss possible FISA abuse (manipulation from the executive branch) with Chief Justice John Roberts. It appears Graham is also waiting for the DOJ inspector general report.
