It’s a good thing the DOJ did not wait for a ruling from Judge Howell.  Instead, a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an emergency administrative stay; blocking the release of the Mueller grand jury materials to the House Judiciary Committee pending the court review of the appeal from the DOJ.

The ‘stay’ suspends implementation of Judge Howell’s ruling last week until the court has the opportunity for review, and further formal motions are filed to appeal the decision.
In my humble opinion, activist judge Howell was going to wait to rule on the stay motion until after the House voted on their resolution creating the framework for their ‘impeachment inquiry. With that vote, Howell would likely have ruled against the ‘stay’ motion.   The direct move to the appeals court impedes Howell’s judicial agenda.
The appellate court ruling avoids Howell’s outcome.  Additionally, the undisclosed motive behind the House vote; to conjoin the HJC’s newly gained judicial enforcement authority, and judicial recognition of an official impeachment investigation; is somewhat softened.

The Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler and Lawfare impeachment scheme was further evidenced today with Lawfare lawyers Barry Berke and Norm Eisen participating in the construction of one-sided and heavily scripted rules for an ongoing ‘impeachment inquiry’.
After Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise had their first opportunity to review the rules, they held a brief presser outlining some of the ongoing manipulation by Chairman Schiff.  Jordan notes that Schiff is instructing witnesses not to answer questions put forth by minority members of the inquisition.

Slick moves by Pelosi and Schiff’s Lawfare team.  Today the contracted legal staff within House Intelligence Committee have produced a House “Impeachment Inquiry” resolution to be voted on tomorrow.  The resolution (full pdf below) contains the rules constructed by Shiff’s Lawfare staff, for public HPSCI hearings.

The House impeachment resolution blocks President Trump’s lawyers from participating in the House process until the hand-off to the Judiciary Committee for article assembly.
Within the House resolution is a process to transfer the evidence from the three investigative committee chairs: Schiff, Engel and Maloney, to Jerry Nadler at Judiciary. [The process within Judicary will be assembling the ‘articles of impeachment’.]
What Pelosi/Schiff et al have assembled is a format for a highly controlled public spectacle prior to a predetermined transfer of evidence to Jerry Nadler (Judicary).  With the intent to construct a pantomime for public absorption in mind, the rules are written for maximum narrative construction. [ex. Lawfare lawyers will question witnesses]
The rules within the resolution outline the guidance for at least one public hearing from the HPSCI prior to transfer to Judiciary.  The Oversight Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee and Intelligence Committee are assembling publicly under the House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) for that/those public hearing(s).
Key points from rules:
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Very worrisome.  As we feared representative Doug Collins and representative Jim Jordan have no idea what Nancy Pelosi is doing on Thursday or why she is doing it. [Outlined Here] This level of naivete’ is why republicans always lose.
The House GOP and the Executive branch do not have skilled lawyers insightful enough to see behind the moves that Speaker Pelosi is making.  They are clueless. WATCH:

Very nice trick here by the Lawfare advisory and rules committee that is handling the construct of the “Official House Inquiry” on impeachment.  It is such a good trick it has everyone crossed-up and confused.  Likely, that is by design.

On Thursday of this week Speaker Pelosi is bringing to the floor a resolution to affirm her previous declaration of an “Official House Inquiry”.  Mrs. Pelosi is very purposefully and carefully telling reporters this is not a “House resolution on impeachment”.  Read the wording carefully:

(LINK)

Speaker Pelosi is holding a vote, a resolution, to affirm her previous declaration of a House “inquiry”.  The resolution is currently being written by Lawfare. Pelosi is not delivering a House “Resolution on Impeachment” for a vote, because if she did hold a vote on an impeachment resolution, the minority and the Executive branch would gain rights therein.
This is a House vote to show support for Pelosi’s previous unilateral decree.   Right now the rules committee is adding language to the resolution that will provide additional one-sided support for a completely partisan process: “and for other purposes”.
Note in this video, Pelosi is careful to say “this is not an impeachment resolution”:
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Following an extensive 160-page filing by Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell; including extensive exhibits to support her motion to compel Brady material; Judge Sullivan has now delayed the previously scheduled November 7th hearing on the motion(s).

Generally this delay is good news as it provides the Judge more time to review the rather extensive list of exhibits presented by the defense.
Hopefully, the pending inspector general report on the DOJ/FBI FISA abuse issues will be released prior to the next hearing.   There is a possibility that IG report will contain background material on FBI and DOJ misconduct that will be supportive of the defense case highlighting how Flynn was set-up.
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Earlier today Bill Barr gave an interview to Fox News on the sidelines of a law enforcement event in Chicago.  The U.S. Attorney General discussed the ongoing investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham, and gave high praise to FBI Director Christopher Wray for his “outstanding support” therein.   [Link to Fox Interview]  Excerpt Video:

(Via Fox) […] The attorney general said that while he’s assisting in connecting Durham with countries that could have valuable information, Durham is running the show.

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An article today about Carter Page suing the DOJ in an effort to review the inspector general report on the FISA manipulation prior to publication provides an opportunity to review the insignificance of Carter Page.   First the Carter Page perspective:

(Via Epoch Times) The former Trump-campaign associate who was wiretapped by the FBI, sued the Department of Justice on Oct. 21, demanding that the government provide him with an opportunity to review, before it is made public, the forthcoming inspector general’s report on potential surveillance abuses in his case. (read more)

What Carter Page apparently doesn’t recognize is his insignificance in the overall DOJ and FBI purpose behind the FISA that carries his name. Page was never exploited by the FISA Title-1 warrant -as granted by the FISA court- for the same reason Page was never investigated by the FBI or Mueller team, he was irrelevant.
Carter Page was a means to an end; the end goal was to get the Steele Dossier into the FBI as an official investigative work product. Perhaps a little review of the three-year research detail will help us better prepare for the IG report.
The “Steele Dossier” was important to the FBI because the content within it is the material they needed to present as justification for an ongoing investigation… that ultimately was handed to Andrew Weissmann and Robert Mueller; and the investigation of the material therein was later authorized by Rod Rosenstein in his August 2017 expanded scope memo.
The dossier is what’s important. Carter Page never was.
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Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy weighs in on the latest developments within the Michael Flynn case.   As McCarthy points out, if Judge Sullivan doesn’t accept the defense position of gross misconduct by the prosecution; and if Sullivan does not dismiss the case; Flynn could end up on a worse position than the prior plea agreement.
Additionally McCarthy discusses the potential risks present for John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey; and then goes in to his perspective on the impeachment inquiry.

After filing an explosive response motion to compel Brady material, outlining a conspiracy to frame her client, defense attorney Sidney Powell appears on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs to discuss the stunning material within her presentation to the court.