Here’s one angle to the Robert Mueller investigation that was entirely predictable.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is now seeking documents from the White House on Michael Flynn and his personal arrangement to lobby for Turkey during the 2016 election.  Specifically they are looking into the financial aspects and whether Flynn masked the lobbying payments made to him.
Before getting to the crux of the issue, CTH must remind everyone that back in November of 2016 when we first discovered (During the Transition) the possibility that Flynn was under consideration for ODNI or National Security Adviser role – WE WARNED this was going to be an issue – SEE HERE November 17th, 2016.
We knew even before the election this could be a problem.  As far as we could surmise at the time – the Trump Campaign and subsequent President-Elect transition team, had no idea that campaign advocate and campaign adviser Michael Flynn was also being paid to lobby in DC on behalf of the government of Turkey, and Recep Erdogan.
The entire Flynn lobbying arrangement was beyond sketchy.  Before the election Flynn penned an op-ed advocating heavily for Recep Erdogan –SEE HERE–  The content was entirely disconnected from the assembled foreign policy outlook of Candidate Donald Trump. The Flynn Op-Ed was actually counter to candidate Trump’s policy views.
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UPDATE: After popular request, I finally received a copy of “the map” McGurk is using and added it to the transcript to make it easier. /SD
Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Brett McGurk follows up on the “around the globe” update speech delivered by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. With this update McGurk explains the current status of the D-ISIS campaign in Syria and Iraq. (additional emphasis regionally) WATCH:

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[Transcript] MS NAUERT: Good to see you back. I know, it’s Friday late in the day, summertime. So you all get good camper awards for coming in today. Thank you so much for being here on this Friday. We have our Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, Brett McGurk, who’s here with us. I know you heard from Brett just a couple weeks ago at the end of the ISIS – D-ISIS coalition meeting here in Washington. And so Brett wanted to come in today to provide you all with an update as to where things stand in the campaign.
So without further ado, Brett’s here with that.
MR MCGURK: Thank you. Okay, thanks everybody for coming. I thought what I’d do today – you heard from the Secretary for a kind of trip around the world six months in here since he arrived about everything going on in the world and the activity here at the State Department. And what I thought I’d do is drill in a little bit more on what he discussed about the very important – one of our key priorities here at the department, about the campaign against ISIS.
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And remember, there are some people who think the “UniParty” isn’t real. Meanwhile, republicans led the way in the Senate to initiate a rules process blocking President Trump from recess appointments during the upcoming Senate break.   The pro-forma session process requires all Senators to agree to the rules maneuver; they did.
There are over 100 Trump nominations awaiting confirmation from the Senate.  The Senators will not return until after Labor Day.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), doing wrap up for the entire Senate, locked in nine “pro-forma” sessions — brief meetings that normally last roughly a minute.
The move, which requires the agreement of every senator, means the Senate will be in session every three business days throughout the August recess.

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Newly formed Circa News agent Sara Carter (Sinclair Media Group) appears on Sean Hannity to discuss her ongoing campaign against Trump’s National Security Adviser HR McMaster.
As we pointed out yesterday, the entire Sara Carter presentation of a letter from current NSA McMaster to former NSA Susan Rice appears to be a propaganda narrative. –DETAILS HERE–  Toward that end, Carter appears with Sean Hannity and misleads the audience about McMasters letter to Susan Rice.
Notice at 02:00 of the video Carter states Susan Rice has access to classified intelligence.  Technically this is correct, but only to historic intelligence work-product that Susan Rice previously saw or created.  Rice’s access is time-restricted. Carter infers Rice has access to current intelligence, which is entirely false; she does not.  Watch:

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Again, here’s the actual letter from McMaster to Rice. You can clearly see the time-restriction on the authorization memo.
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According to numerous media reports Robert Mueller has empaneled a grand jury so that subpoenas can be dispatched to begin taking testimony in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference within the 2016 election.  Apparently Donald Trump Jr. in the first batch of recipients.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Grand jury subpoenas have been issued in connection with a June 2016 meeting that included President Donald Trump’s son, his son-in-law and a Russian lawyer, two sources told Reuters on Thursday, in a sign that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is gathering pace.
The sources added that Mueller had convened a grand jury in Washington to help investigate allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. (link)

Attorney Jay Sekulow weighed in earlier (video below)
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The ongoing saga of intelligence community and DC government official leaks targeted to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump has created a large group of people wondering why Attorney General Jeff Sessions has done nothing about it.
In an effort to respond to the growing voices of inquiry the Attorney General and those who advocate on his behalf, has been teasing out a “leak  investigation” announcement for approximately three weeks.

The latest “DOJ announcement” date was established as tomorrow, Friday August 4th.  However, on the eve of the announcement the Department of Justice is positioning a lowering of expectations.

WASHINGTON – […] Sessions will be joined by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina on Friday in Washington to discuss “leaks of classified material threatening national security,” the Justice Department said Thursday afternoon. (read more)

Tomorrow’s pending discussion marks the possible announcement that might actually lead to a future briefing wherein the DOJ could announce the potential for a formal investigation into a series of leaks that have damaged the Trump administration since he took office in January.  Fingers crossed.
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There is a considerable amount of visible internet and social media angst surrounding the National Security Council and staffing decisions made by National Security Advisor HR McMaster.   CTH has no insight into the inner workings of disagreements within the current NSC, however, with a modest amount of both skepticism and cynicism the current level of alarm appears over indulged.

Within any work group there’s going to be differences of opinion.  Within any national security working group there’s going to be ideological differences of opinion.  The issues are important and very complex.  The differences should never be dismissed or marginalized in their potential consequence.  That said, it’s not the differences of opinion that present problems – it’s when those differences become entrenched in opposition to the reason for the groups primary function.  That’s when differences become problems.
Consider the foreign policy proposals, and worldviews therein, of candidate Donald Trump and candidate Ted Cruz.  Now think about taking the foreign policy/NatSec principals from both candidate camps, and the outlooks carried therein, and put them into the same council chamber to hammer out papers of recommended action toward policy.
Can you see the structure for an underlying problem?  Now overlay the ideological interests of the institutional military with a healthy dose of both deep state and religious (centered principle outlook) career ideology, and you’ve got a recipe for disagreement.  Well, that’s essentially what I see when reviewing various media reports of internal group conflict points. (more…)

On December 12th 2014 the Republican controlled House of Representatives passed a 1,600 page continuing resolution, an “omnibus” spending bill of over $2 trillion dollars.  Every one of President Obama’s policy and agenda items was fully funded; including Obama’s executive action on immigration called DACA (Deferred Action for Children of Americans).

Approximately two months later, February 2015, the key-note speaker for the CPAC conference was Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.  The same Paul Ryan who just passed a $2+ trillion Omnibus and eliminated the debt ceiling. At the conclusion of his speech over 1,000 members of the CPAC audience gave Speaker Ryan a standing ovation.
During a discussion of the irony and hypocrisy someone coined the phrase “Battered Conservative Syndrome” to describe the audience.   What, exactly, did that CPAC audience see as “conservative” in the fiscal action of Paul Ryan in the preceding two months?
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#NeverTrump Brent Bozell takes on #NeverTrump Jeff Flake.

“On behalf of my late father and my family, I am denouncing Senator Jeff Flake and his new book, dishonestly titled, Conscience of a Conservative.
Since entering the Senate in 2013, Jeff Flake has, time and again, proven he is part of the indulgent hypocrisy in Washington. While he waxes poetically about conservative principles, his Conservative Review Liberty score is an abysmal 53%, also known as: “F”. In 2013, I watched first-hand as Flake refused to sign a letter pledging to defund ObamaCare, among his many betrayals to conservatism. Jeff Flake is neither a conservative nor does he have a conscience.
As every conservative leader knows, my father, L. Brent Bozell, Jr., ghost-wrote Conscience of a Conservative for Barry Goldwater. While the Goldwater Institute may own the rights to the book’s title, neither the organization nor Senator Flake have the right to unjustifiably trade on my father’s work. Conscience of a Conservative is the greatest selling polemic in history, and Senator Flake is trading on its reputation to shamelessly promote himself and disguise his own conservative deficiencies. My father would be appalled to see this fraud as the author of the so-called “sequel,” which it most certainly is not.
The media need to know, when reporting on Senator Flake and his “book,” that the author is a deceiver out for personal and financial gain.  I also call on my conservative brethren to denounce this impostor, who dishonorably claims to speak for conservatism, in the strongest possible terms.”   ~ Brent Bozell
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There’s another “explosive” and “exclusive” article from the latest chaf and countermeasures unit, Sara Carter, reporting Ben Rhodes as a “subject of interest” for the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into ‘unethical’ and possibly ‘illegal’ unmasking.
Understandably all discussion, and likely a large segment of Sean Hannity’s TV show, will focus on the intended target of the newly drawn attention. However, what’s more interesting to those who look into the deep swamp is the identification of Carter’s sources: ie. who’s feeding her?

“according to congressional sources who spoke with Circa.”

Track down who those people are – and you’ll identify the motives therein. And I can guarantee you it has nothing to do with bringing justice upon the ‘unethical‘ and potentially ‘illegal‘ activity.
Remember, the staffers -writ large- for the House Intelligence Committee are people like the Awan Brothers crew.  Generally speaking the entire congressional staff, including the staffers with security clearances inside Intelligence Committees etc., are sympathetic to the interests of the Swamp, it’s simply a self-interest aspect.
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