An interesting discussion between Representative John Ratcliffe, former congressman Trey Gowdy and Fox News Host Jason Chaffetz surrounding: the pending Inspector General Report into FISA abuse; the upcoming Mueller testimony; and the activity of U.S. Attorney John Durham.
Within the interview Ratcliffe notes he has recently spoken to Inspector General Horowitz about the timing of his upcoming report where Ratcliffe says the “investigative work is complete”. WATCH:

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If previous reports of Christopher Steele being willing to speak to U.S. authorities about his dossier work in 2016 are accurate; and if Horowitz has completed his investigative work; then it’s likely Horowitz has already interviewed Steele.
The IG FISA investigation began in May of 2018, approximately 14 months ago. The assembly of the investigative details into a draft report should be expected to take about four to six weeks depending on the OIG referencer team and the scale of the summary documentation assembled.
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In the synergy between the U.S. intelligence apparatus and their media agents, the CIA, DOJ and State Department have specific outlets assigned to public relations.
A long tracked history and pattern reflects the DOJ and FBI leak their needs to the New York Times.  The preferred outlet for the U.S. State Department is CNN; and the Washington Post generally comes out first in defense of the CIA agenda.   This pattern has been remarkably consistent for years.

So against a backdrop of looming revelations about the intelligence community and their activity in the 2016 election; and suddenly The Washington Post, seemingly out of nowhere, pushes an article intended to diffuse the issues around western intelligence asset Joseph Mifsud; we can reasonably assume something is happening in the background that has officials in the CIA worried about exposure and their image.
From the WaPo introduction we can see what part of “spygate” the CIA is concerned about:

(Wa Po) […] The Maltese-born academichas not surfacedpublicly since that October 2017 interview, days after Trump campaign aide GeorgePapadopoulos pleaded guilty tolying to the FBI about details of theirinteractions. Among them, Papadopoulos told investigators, was an April 2016 meeting in which Mifsud alerted him that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”

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Mike Morell was the Deputy CIA Director when President Obama and Hillary Clinton botched the joint 2011 CIA and State Department operation “Zero Footprint” in Libya.
“Zero Footprint” was the covert operation initiated by Secretary of State Clinton and CIA Director Leon Panetta.  Director Panetta left the CIA just before the operation went sideways and resulted in the attack on the Benghazi State Dept./CIA annex September 11th, 2012.  General David Petraeus was the new CIA Director when the Benghazi attack happened.  Immediately, General Petraeus became a risk.  [Deep Background]

After the Benghazi attack, the relationship between journalist Paula Broadwell and General Petraeus was used by ODNI James Clapper to remove the CIA Director.
Immediately after the election of 2012 CIA Director David Petraeus resigned (Nov 9th) and interim CIA Director Morrel took over. This is why Petraeus never testified about CIA operations to the Senate panel investigating Benghazi, Mike Morrel took his place.
Morrel’s job was to provide cover for the background operation (2010, Zero Footprint) where Obama, Clinton and Panetta provided covert weapons, including shoulder fired missiles, to Libyan “rebels”, aka Libyan al-Qaeda.  AND Morrel’s second role was to cover for the extended CIA operation (2011-2012) where the CIA was buying back those missiles and shipping them into Syria for use overthrowing the Assad regime; the second operation was based out of the secret (at the time) State Dept/CIA facility in Benghazi.
Morrel was essentially the CIA narrative ‘fixer’.  He was up to his eyeballs in the cover-up behind Benghazi 2012 and 2013.  After Acting Deputy Morrel testified to congress about the CIA involvement around Benghazi, and the issues of terrorism vs. Islamic movie (happy squirrel chase) etc. Mike Morrel was replaced at the CIA by John Brennan.
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Fox News contributor Dan Bongino and Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera respond to the latest news that Robert Mueller has agreed to testify to the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees on Wednesday, July 17th.
[Toward the end of the panel segment Mr. Bongino has some additional insight into the Michael Flynn situation]

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In March 2017 CTH first highlighted statements by Evelyn Farkas that described a coordinated effort from within the Obama administration to push political opposition research, gathered by the intelligence community, into the media.

Jay Sekulow now discovers documents that highlight the Obama administration’s efforts in their last days in office.  This effort backstops Farkas’s earlier statements.  First, from Sekulow:

(Via Fox Op-ed) – Stunning new information just released by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) shows that the Obama administration stepped up efforts – just days before President Trump took office – to undermine Trump and his administration.

The ACLJ, where I serve as chief counsel, has obtained records that show the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, under Director James Clapper, eagerly pushed to get new procedures as part of an anti-Trump effort. The procedures increased access to raw signals intelligence before the conclusion of the Obama administration, just days before President Trump was inaugurated.

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One of the reasons why the Flynn legal situation is so interesting is not really because of Flynn himself; but rather because the Flynn situation is a likely example of President Obama’s surveillance network in operation.

Tenuous legal theories (Logan Act) and obscure laws (technical FARA violations) appear to have been exploited by DOJ administration officials, in close ideological alignment with the Lawfare Group.  In association with overall Obama administration officials, the fellow travelers used the legal system to create a DC surveillance network.
At the 30,000 ft. level Obama’s surveillance network looks like this:

• White House identifies a target; •passes request to the DOJ National Security Division (middlemen); •who then use the auspices of possible FARA violations to pass the instructions to the FBI contractors; •who data-mine the NSA database.

•The FBI results are then passed back to the DOJ-NSD; •who weaponize the information for FISA applications (becomes legal cover); and •pass the authorized surveillance (spying) results back to the White House etc.

It’s a circle of surveillance activity that could encompass almost every politician in Washington DC as they network with foreign lobbyists and special interests.
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During a segment today with Maria Bartiromo, Representative Devin Nunes notes the “two parallel tracks” CTH has previously outlined.  The “parallel track” explanation begins at 11:15 of the interview. [Prompted – Just Hit Play]

“Two Parallel Tracks”

CTH Archive – Everything after March 9th, 2016, is a function of two official intelligence units, the CIA and FBI, operating together with two private political operations, Fusion GPS and the DNC, to coordinate -then coverup- political surveillance and spy operations.
Prior to March 9th, 2016, the CIA/FBI political surveillance and spy operation was using the NSA database to track and 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: (1) continue the operation; and (2) create ex post facto justification for their endeavors. [Full Backstory]
The evidence for this is found in the documents attached to both operations; and bolsters the original 2018 statements by Congressman Devin Nunes as highlighted below.
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Those who haven’t followed the backstory might not catch what Nunes is saying.  However, if you followed closely, and accept that Rosenstein was part of the problem, then you see how FBI Director Christopher Wray came into office; and, more importantly how/why Wray selected former DOJ-NSD head Dana Boente to shift from main justice to be legal counsel for the FBI.
Boente took over for former chief legal counsel James Baker, after the discoveries around Baker and McCabe could no longer be hidden. After being removed from responsibility eventually Baker resigned and went to work with the Lawfare group.  Boente’s job at FBI was/is to bury information, block congressional inquiry, and protect the crew. Boente, along with Christopher Wray, is still there.
In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Nunes said “someone at the FBI” appears to have been “determined to hide” then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec’s notes from both the FISA court and Congress.  Our research identified that “someone” as Dana Boente and crew more than a year ago.

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[*Note* There’s a snap-load of mistaken and ‘steered’ reporting by a bunch of people who have dined on the buffet of controlled leaks. Hopefully, that will all become clear soon.  Bookmark this ⇓ and prove me wrong]
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appears on Fox News Sunday to debate antagonistic DC Swamp Guard Chris Wallace.  The primary topic was the recent attacks on shipping tankers by Iranian elements in the Gulf of Oman.
Additionally, Secretary Pompeo discussed the protests in Hong Kong against the growing influence from Beijing; the issues with North Korea to achieve a positive outcome with Kim Jong Un; the New York Times story on U.S. active measures against Russia; and the nonsensical -hypothetical- foreign opposition research issue.

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Secretary Pompeo also appeared on Face The Nation:
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Against the backdrop of the DOJ admitting FBI investigators never had access to the DNC servers to verify a Russian hack; and with new information about the FBI receiving partial and redacted analysis from Crowdstrike; the review by U.S. Attorney John Durham toward the downstream assessment/claims of the CIA takes on new meaning.
CTH has previously outlined how the December 29th, 2016, Joint Analysis Report (JAR) on Russia Cyber Activity was a quickly compiled bunch of nonsense about Russian hacking.
The JAR was followed a week later by the January 7th, 2017, Intelligence Community Assessment.   The ICA took the ridiculous construct of the JAR and then overlaid a political narrative that Russia was trying to help Donald Trump.
The ICA was the brain-trust of John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey. NSA Director Mike Rogers would not sign up to the “high confidence” claims, likely because he saw through the political motives of the report.
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