There is widespread opinion that many of the officials enlisted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller are ethically challenged.  Critics point to Mueller team members like DOJ Attorney Andrew Weissman, Jeannie Rhee and Aaron Zebley as specific examples of players within Mueller’s investigative team who have a history of gross ethics violations and also carry jaw-dropping conflicts-of-interest.
Against that backdrop, a report today about conduct by the Mueller team of investigators gains additional levels of concerns.   According to reports, in August 2017 the Mueller team went around the Trump administration in their quest for documents, by directly demanding documents from the General Services Agency (GSA); the entity that hosted the communication network for the Trump transition team.  According to reports, the content of 12 email accounts was handed over to the Special Counsels’ office; consisting of thousands of pages of transition team communication.  Innocuous, ordinary transition stuff, but the method of procurement is jaw-droppingly unethical, possibly illegal.

However, as with all things disclosed and discovered recently, CTH would caution anyone toward weighting favor or disfavor on the underlying issue.  Additionally, I would again remind everyone to look at the timelines on any new information, overlay it against prior information, and consider how the timing of the event(s) -in relation to the whole- might change the first impression.
In this case, the reported action by the SC team took place in August 2017, four or five months ago.  Inside that exact same timeline, on August 16th 2017, FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Attorney Lisa Page were kicked off the Mueller team.  Coincidence? Dunno. Maybe.
Again, don’t get so stuck looking at the granules moving at your feet that you fail to notice the entire landscape around you is shifting.
(more…)

Many people are understandably tentative about the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz.  How can this IG, or any IG, really be trusted to root out the rot that lies at the heart of the DC corruption?
Can we trust the IG to target the politicization of the FBI and DOJ, and do so with the righteous indignation necessary to tear out the corruptocrats? After all, what would motivate Inspector General Horowitz to participate in such a righteous endeavor?
How quickly some have forgotten:  DATELINE July, 2015:

WASHINGTON DC – The Obama administration formally announced that inspectors general will have to get permission from their agency heads to gain access to grand jury, wiretap and fair credit information — an action that severely limits the watchdogs’ oversight capabilities, independence and power to uncover fraud.
An opinion, issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, says the Inspector General Act of 1978 — which was written by Congress to create the government watchdogs in order to help maintain integrity within their agencies — does not have the authority to override nondisclosure provisions in other laws, most notably in regard to grand jury, wiretap or fair credit information.

(more…)

We are so fortunate to have Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.  Stunning mastery of global events, policy, strategy, and diplomatic nuance at both the big and granular levels.
During a keynote address, “Meeting the Foreign Policy Challenges of 2017 and Beyond” at the 2017 Atlantic Council – Korea Foundation Forum, Secretary Tillerson takes the opportunity to provide another eloquent “walk around the globe” outline of current foreign engagements and ongoing U.S. policy therein.  If you watched the first one, you’ll also enjoy this one.
The first 38 minutes consist of T-Rex taking a “jog”, as he put it, around the globe to help everyone understand “what’s going on”.   With simple note cards for reference Tillerson walks through the most important challenges in foreign policy.  The last 20 minutes of the video is also well worth watching because T-Rex goes into great detail on the subject of North Korea and how each angle of nuance plays a part of the larger dynamic.WATCH:

(FULL Transcipt is Available HERE)

(more…)

Well, now we know.  Many people were curious about how Inspector General Michael Horowitz zeroed-in on the communication between FBI Counterintelligence Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Attorney Lisa Page.
IG Horowitz explains in a letter today (full pdf below) and interestingly provides additional insight into the years-long investigation.  Accepting, based on the past several weeks -and fully accepting there is a reason for the rapid response herein- Horowitz is prudently strategic with his communications, it would also be wise to read between the lines in his letter:
[scribd id=367204037 key=key-2sW9oHw14RIBdl0NhqHl mode=scroll]
(more…)

During a recent rally in Pensacola President Trump remarked off-the-cuff: “we have a rigged system, we really do, we have a rigged system and we’re working hard to change it“. Against the backdrop of recent revelations with the stunning politicization of the FBI and DOJ, those words ring notes of truth, and also caution.
Over the past two weeks we have seen releases from the DOJ Office of Inspector General that appear to be building toward a much more consequential outcome. The corruption is jaw-dropping. The very heart of the U.S. system of Law (DOJ) and Order (FBI) is now being questioned. I would argue the IG obviously understands the need for caution within these discoveries and the recent releases are all purposeful, timed, planned and targeted.
Consider what is at stake; and further consider that you were given the task of revealing the outcome of an investigation of such consequence.  How would you introduce the findings to the larger U.S. electorate?   Given the timing of the releases from the IG’s investigation, I think that’s what we are seeing in the past two weeks.  A prosecutor laying out his case over the course of multiple media cycles.
For the past year plus, we have heard generalized terms of investigations.  However, since the beginning of December the information shifted and we begin hearing about specific names caught within the IG investigation.

Focusing only on the names from within the IG concern we find:  FBI Agent Peter Strzok; FBI/DOJ Attorney Lisa Page; DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr; his wife, Fusion GPS contractor Nellie Ohr; FBI Counterintelligence Director Bill Priestap; and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.  Each of these people appear to have been captured within the net at the heart of the politicization investigation.
Now, there’s bound to be more details; however, those names are all likely to face some form of congressional scrutiny, questioning, and possibly criminal charges.  Charges that will likely be based, in part, on the outlined information within the IG releases.
(more…)

After the House Judiciary hearing today, Lou Dobbs debriefs Jim Jordan on the current status of recent revelations.  The current Office of Inspector General is providing daily information surrounding their years-long investigation into politicization of the FBI and DOJ by senior levels of Obama leadership withing the organization.
The bigger issue now surfacing is how Obama Administration officials within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Dept of Justice have been caught using their investigative and legal authority to target the political campaign of Donald Trump.   Essentially the government was weaponized against a political opponent.
What is being brought to the surface is treasonous in its unlawfulness.
Because the larger ramifications are so consequential, it is now increasingly obvious the OIG is carefully providing sequenced information to the larger public, in small portions, enabling the public to digest the severity and scope.

.
Over the past two weeks we have seen releases from the IG that are building toward a much more consequential outcome.  The corruption is jaw-dropping. The very heart of the U.S. system of Law (DOJ) and Order (FBI) is now at risk.  The IG obviously understands the need for caution within these discoveries.
(more…)

Ohio Representative Jim Jordan is directly over the target… and he ain’t flinching.
Righteous.
Jordan ain’t just talking to Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, he’s directly talking to US.
Very Worth Watching:

.
Boy howdy, these IG releases are way beyond popcorn worthy. However, don’t go critical on Rosenstein, remember AG Jeff Sessions can’t really be too close to this because of his affiliation with the Trump 2016 campaign etc. Rod Rosenstein is filling in for the role we would love to see Sessions conducting; we must accept the best opportunity -to keep the usurpers from using Sessions as a distraction- is to have him stay out of the mud.
(more…)

#1) …exactly why the White Hats are selectively preparing the larger U.S. electorate in advance of the 1.2 million documents which will outline the background of the Inspector General’s year-long investigation into the politicization of the FBI and DOJ.
The recent IG releases of information, Agent Strzok, Lisa Page, Bruce Ohr and Nellie Ohr; to include FBI Agent Peter Strzok’s text messages with FBI Lawyer Lisa Page; are strategically sequenced -and timed- in their public release.
The information drop today, which includes the text messages, reveals the bigger plot:

August 15, 2016, FBI Agent Strzok tells FBI Lawyer Lisa Page:

“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office that there’s no way he gets elected – but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”

“Andy’s office” would be FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; and the appearance here is a clear outline to use the Steele Russian Dossier, as the foundation to the FISA warrant, which would be considered “an insurance policy” against candidate Donald Trump winning the presidency.
Yes, that would be a conspiracy; being discussed in Andrew McCabe’s office.  A few weeks later (October 2016), the FBI and DOJ did get the FISA warrant they were discussing in August 2016.
(more…)

The text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strozk and his mistress, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, have been released to both Fox News and CBS.  SEE HERE and SEE HERE.
The messages reflect a strong bias against President Trump. However, the bigger story is not the anti-Trump bias within the text communication, the BIGGER story is why the Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General (OIG), began even looking at Agent Peter Strozk’s communication in the first place.
Remember, the original mandate by the Inspector General’s office was initiated to review and discover any politicization of the FBI and/or DOJ officials.
After news broke of Strzok’s removal from investigative duty within the FBI counterintelligence unit, what the OIG responding statement said was for 11 months the Dept of Justice OIG office has been investigating the politicization within the DOJ and FBI and deciding if the actions, or lack of action, was driven by the political ideology of the participants therein:
(more…)

Last Thursday it was announced that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras was mysteriously recused from the Special Counsel case against General Mike Flynn, five days after Judge Contreras accepting the initial pleading.  No explanation as to ‘why’?

(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)

One might think the media apparatus, or pundit proletariat writ large, might be curious about why a U.S. District Court Judge would be recused.  Alas One would be wrong.  The recusal angle is transparently missing from any follow-up by media; and apparently the judicial cat also has stolen the tongue of congressional curiosity.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.
The story has been memory holed into the concentric whirlpool of nothingness.
We have speculated that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras was recused, either by himself or by challenge, because he is also a FISA Court Judge and could have signed off on the October FISA warrant that led to the wiretapping and surveillance of General Flynn.  However, we have received information that it wasn’t ‘by challenge’, leaving the preponderance of the motive for recusal directly upon Judge Contreras personal decision.
(more…)