House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is one of the top three people throughout the entirety of congress with a comprehensive knowledge of the events surrounding the investigations of the FBI and DOJ.  Chairman Goodlatte is one of only four people outside the DOJ who have read the full DOJ FISA application used for a Title-1 Surveillance warrant of Carter Page.

The House Judiciary Committee holds the primary statutory oversight over the U.S. Department of Justice.  Additionally, Chairman Goodlatte is the congressional office working closest with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.  In short, Goodlatte is the center of all ‘oversight’ information circling the investigations into the DOJ and FBI.

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Sometimes the most interesting and fresh insight comes from placing an atypical interviewer with a subject of strong interest.  This interview by Jesse Waters of Devin Nunes is one such example.  Really good interview, extracting a surprising amount of insight and perspective:

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Within hours of Attorney General Jeff Sessions firing Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, the politicized intelligence community and their media advocates began shaping a narrative.

Despite the decision coming from President Obama’s initiated Department of Justice Office of Inspector General sending a referral to the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility for an internal review; and despite the determination by the OPR to recommend firing; and despite the termination was carried out by Attorney General Jeff Sessions; somehow this just has to be President Trump.  Why? TDS, that’s why.

In an effort to assist his wounded-indian-routine, politically thinking McCabe claims to have taken copious notes of interactions with President Trump, who –according to McCabes prior sniffeling–  hurt his feelings.

Yes, that’s right, the Deputy Director of the FBI clutches his pearls while proclaiming his innocence against the charges he politicized his position; and defends against his firing by saying he had his sensibilities wounded when President Trump pointed out -to his face- that McCabe held an important position, and was stupid for thinking it was a good idea for his wife to run for political office.

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In an effort to protect himself from criminal indictment fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe centered his defense last night around politics. This is the same ongoing approach deployed by fired FBI Director James Comey.

Within the McCabe statement he attempts to hug Comey tightly:

… […]  The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter [Devlin Barrett] through my public affairs officer [Michael Kortan] and a legal counselor [James Baker].

As Deputy Director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director [James Comey], were aware of the interaction with the reporter [Devlin Barrett].  (read full statement)

Which begs the question, if the intent to shape a more favorable narrative for McCabe “was not a secret” then why did the resulting article quote only innocuous “according to FBI officials” citations as oppose to quoting the actual people delivering the information?

It should be noted in the October 23rd, 2016, WSJ article – the overall narrative being sold by Andrew McCabe through Mike Kortan, Lisa Page and Peter Strzok was the decision to drop the Clinton investigation rested entirely on James Comey.  In essence, FBI Asst. Director McCabe was attempting to distance his sketchy financial ties to Hillary Clinton from the decision to drop the investigation.

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Last night Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired embattled Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.  President Trump reacts:

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Don’t be so blinded by the tripwire flares you fail to see the obvious.  Within the statement from Attorney General Sessions hopefully you’ll note: “Including Under Oath”

The IG doesn’t place the internal investigative target “under oath”.  An outside prosecutor who is assisting the IG does.  Hence Attorney General Jeff Sessions is telling us what is going on – SEE HERE – Just like he did before:

… I have appointed a person outside of Washington, many years in the Department of Justice to look at all the allegations that the House Judiciary Committee members sent to us; and we’re conducting that investigation. (read more)

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Beyond the thirst for clicks, ratings and perpetual outrage there’s an aspect to the Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Rudolph Contreras story that deserves some attention.

♦First, the DOJ wasn’t withholding anything from congress. The DOJ told congress they (or their staff) could review any of the documents, including Strzok and Page texts, at the DOJ in their totality; as a consequence of the ongoing oversight.

However, if congress -or their staff- wanted to take possession of the documents, they would only be allowed to *remove* redacted copies.

The outrage machine shouts “cover up“, etc.

No. Not quite.

Why?

Because the IG investigative documents, in addition to being part of an internal review, are also evidence within an ongoing criminal investigation. Hence, the earlier statement by AG Jeff Sessions.  The statement everyone, sucked-into and/or participating within the outrage machine, loves to ignore.

Again, before grabbing your Sean Hannity branded pitchfork, think.

With a dual track within the IG investigative findings: ¹“internal wrongdoing” and ²“potential criminal conduct”, you realize that evidence collected by the IG -that may have prosecutorial value- will be closely protected by the investigative unit, including the Sessions assigned prosecutor, and not released.

It is not hard to see the “why” when you set aside emotion and ignore the outrage machine.

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue is warning President Trump not to take any trade action against China or he will unleash his purchased control agents within congress and financial media to destroy his presidency.

Donohue takes-in hundreds of millions in payments from multinational corporations who hold a vested interest in keeping the U.S. manufacturing economy subservient to China. The U.S. CoC then turns those corporate funds into lobbyist payments to DC politicians for legislative action that benefits their Chinese trade deals. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the #1 lobbyist in DC; there are trillions at stake.

Wall Street’s famous CONservative mouthpieces then take their cues from Donohue and decry any Trump trade policy that might impact their multinational benefactors.  They hide behind catch phrases like “free trade”, or “free markets”.  However, what they are really hiding is the truth, there is no free market – it is a controlled market.  It’s a circle of trade and economic propaganda driven by the most well known guests that appear on Fox News. Ben Shapiro is one such example; there are hundreds more.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the most influential U.S. business lobbying group warned the Trump administration that unilateral tariffs on Chinese goods could lead to a destructive trade war that will hurt American consumers and U.S. economic growth.

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For those following the increasingly curious case against General Mike Flynn, events take another unusual turn today.  Congressional investigators have shared a set of unredacted text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strzok and his cohort DOJ Attorney Lisa Page which reveal a personal friendship between Agent Strzok and Flynn’s initial presiding judge Rudolph Contreras.

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.

The case was reassigned to DC District Judge Emmet Sullivan.  The Contreras recusal always seemed sketchy. The key question was: if the conflict existed on December 7th, wouldn’t that same conflict have existed on November 30th, 2017?

Today questions about the conflict seem to have been answered. Text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page reveal the FBI agent and Judge Contreras were close personal friends.  –SEE HERE–

Apparently DOJ lawyer Lisa Page was unaware that “Rudy” was a FISA court judge until July 25th, 2016, when she posited a question to her small group co-conspirator FBI agent Peter Strzok.

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Chairman Chuck Grassley along with republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are formally requesting a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and DOJ involvement in the Clinton-Steele Dossier.

The republicans asked Office of the Inspector General to explore the FBI and DOJ’s handling of dossier in February; but now they are requesting Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DAG Rod Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel (full pdf below) because the IG does not have the ability to obtain testimony from witnesses who are not DOJ employees. This is the same motive of request from HPSCI Chairman Nunes and Trey Gowdy.

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