Greg Craig was accused by special counsel Robert Mueller and lead litigator Andrew Weissman of  FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act) lobbying violations; and later charges he lied when questioned about them.
The Greg Craig FARA pursuit was similar to special counsel accusations made against Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, and special counsel threats toward the same objective against George Papadopoulos.
The sketchy use of potential FARA violations to capture targets was a specific technique deployed by Weissmann.  However, the difference between Manafort and Flynn was Greg Craig decided to fight (including fighting claims he lied about the lobbying construct) instead of taking a high-pressure DOJ plea deal.  Today a jury rejected the accusations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prominent Washington lawyer Greg Craig was found not guilty Wednesday of lying to the Justice Department about work he did for the government of Ukraine in a case that arose from the special counsel’s Russia investigation and that centered on the lucrative world of foreign lobbying.

The jury deliberated for less than a day before clearing Craig, a White House counsel in the Obama administration, of a single count of making false statements to federal investigators.

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In the aftermath of the IG report covering the conduct of former FBI Director James Comey, HPSCI Ranking Member Devin Nunes appears on Fox News to discuss the existing legal risk that surrounds Mr. Comey.

Something not passing the sniff test here.  With a pre-existing, and more comprehensive, declassification of documents request already submitted by GOP leaders in the House of Representatives, why would Lindsey Graham develop a less comprehensive list?
I find it curious the Senator Graham list only relates to the DOJ/FBI corruption that can be specifically pinned on President Obama officials; and avoids requests that would show corruption in the DOJ/FBI after President Obama left office.
Note:  no-one is looking for -or demanding- the obvious stuff; like the ‘clean and unredacted’ text messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok; or the instructions Rod Rosenstein gave to Robert Mueller, etc.

Today Senate Judiciary Committee Chair, Lindsey Graham, has sent a letter to Attorney General Barr requesting nine categories of documents for declassification, from the IG FISA abuse investigation.
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There are two sets of documents that outline a very specific picture.  Robert Mueller’s lead FBI Agent David Archey made sworn declarations to the court, without knowledge of FBI “whistleblower” information provided to DOJ Inspector General, Michael Horowitz.
There is a distinct conflict within the IG report on James Comey (and memos) [Available Here] and the David Archey declarations [Available Here].  However, beyond the conflict there’s an even more alarming picture of how Robert Mueller was deployed, when all the information is overlaid in a timeline.   A very clear picture emerges; very clear.
In June 2017 CNN (and other media) filed a FOIA suit to gain the Comey memos.  As the lawsuit progressed through a lengthy battle -where the Mueller team did not want to turn over those memos- Mueller’s lead FBI agent, David Archey, made sworn declarations to the court.  Those statements became known as the “Archey Declarations”.  Inside those declarations agent Archey provided a specific outline of the FBI and the memos.
Note the date – Agent Archey states the “investigative team” came into full possession of the Comey memos: “on or by May 12th, 2017,”…

[Page #3 of Exhibit A – Archey Declarations]

The “investigative team” would be Andrew McCabe, Bill Priestap, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and then James Baker as lead counsel for the group.  The “Director’s staff” would be James Rybicki, who is identified by Archey as having “maintained” possession of the memos.
So this “small group”, particularly James Rybicki, is the center of the team.  This team is also confirmed by the IG Horowitz report. This team had the memos on May 12th, 2017.
Now we move into the aspect where the motives and ideology become clear when we look at the IG custodial record of the memos, as outlined by the Supervisory Special Agent in charge of Comey’s documents within the IG report, compared to the Archey declarations.
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Ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, appeared on Fox News tonight responding to the defensive support of James Comey by John Brennan and James Clapper.
As Rep Nunes outlines the misconduct by the former FBI Director, Nunes also notes the framework for his criminal referrals to the DOJ; two of them involve referrals for criminal conspiracy.

Oh boy… how federal Judge Emmet Sullivan will handle this latest motion from Mike Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell is an unknown; however, the content is delicious.
In an explosive response filing today, which includes the phrase”sunlight is the best disinfectant”, attorney Sidney Powell has outlined the soup-to-nuts construct of the malicious government action taken during their targeting her client Michael Flynn.


In the 19-pages (full pdf below), Ms. Powell walks through the history of the DOJ, FBI and intelligence apparatus weaponization against Mr. Flynn and lays out the background behind everything known to have happened in 2016, 2017 through today.
From the corrupt DOJ lawyers who were working with Fusion-GPS and Chris Steele, including Mr. Weissmann, Mr. Van Grack and Ms. Zainab Ahmad; to the 2015/2016 FISA database search abuses; to the CIA and FBI operation against Flynn including Nellie Ohr; to the schemes behind the use of DOJ official Bruce Ohr; to the corrupt construct of the special counsels office selections; to the specifics within the malicious conspiracy outlined by hiding FBI interview notes of Mike Flynn,… all of it…. Is a stunning filing that many CTH readers are well prepared to understand.
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There was a scheduled joint status filing due today between DOJ prosecutors and the Mike Flynn defense team led by Sidney Powell.
As Mr. Flynn’s cooperation has ended in all other aspects related to the former special counsel, there are apparently many issues still to be resolved prior to Flynn’s sentencing.
In a filing today (full pdf below) Flynn’s defense lawyer, Sidney Powell, notes two significant issues: (1) Ms. Powell is being denied a security clearance she needs to review all of the documents in the case; and (2) the DOJ is refusing to provide the original FBI notes from their interview of Michael Flynn on January 24th, 2017.

(Source – Page #2 pdf link)

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The IG report on the behavior of FBI Director James Comey clearly validated President Trump’s 2017 decision to fire him.   Mr. Comey is described as a highly self-interested person within the department who saw himself above all rules applied to others.
Today, President Trump tweeted about the IG findings:

From the CTH review of the report content, there is absolutely no doubt James Comey used his memos akin to FD-302 investigative reports from an FBI agent. Meaning, from beginning-to-end James Comey considered himself an investigative agent against the President-elect and then President Trump.
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Having just completed a first review of the IG Report on James Comey, with numerous highlights for further overlay and research, here’s my thoughts upon initial review.
First, there is absolutely no doubt James Comey used his memos akin to FD-302 investigative reports from an FBI agent. Meaning, from beginning-to-end he considered himself an investigative agent against the President-elect and then President Trump.

Note: His recording of his encounter with the target, President-elect Trump should be “treated like FISA derived information in a counterintelligence investigation.”  During this January 6th operation, Comey was the active FBI agent gathering evidence for later use.  The collected intelligence would be shared with the team via memo #1.
Remember the Lisa Page Texts from the same date?
The FBI redacted almost all of that text because it outlines the distribution of the evidence Comey was collecting.   Comey’s memos were essentially FD-302 reports, and the officials within the DOJ and FBI didn’t want that exposed.  Lisa Page text was heavily redacted because it would have shown the January 6th encounter was an operation against Trump.
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Hubris (/ ˈ h juː b r ɪ s /, from ancient Greek ὕβρις) describes a personality quality of extreme or foolish pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance.

There appears to be a concerted media, and allies (think Lawfare), strategy to focus attention to the DOJ decision *not* to prosecute James Comey.  This generates outrage, which has a tendency to create useful backlash.  Mr. Comey also appears to be fueling this.
Remember, it has been clear that part of the “small group” defense is to use outrage as part of their strategy.  Focus on the actual conduct… that’s where corrupt intent is evident.
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