To say there is broad-based confusion is an understatement. The recent reporting by John Solomon of The Hill only makes the confusion worse. Let’s stand back and reconcile two issues (with evidence to support) that are MASSIVELY conflated.
First, go read the full Solomon article. Notice the entire construct of the article surrounds “The Comey Memos“. As you will see, this specific topic is important. Within the Solomon article you will find (emphasis mine):
[…] Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz’s team referred Comey for possible prosecution under the classified information protection laws, but Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors working for Attorney General William Barr reportedly have decided to decline prosecution — a decision that’s likely to upset Comey’s conservative critics. Prosecutors found the IG’s findings compelling but decided not to bring charges because they did not believe they had enough evidence of Comey’s intent to violate the law, according to multiple sources.
A recent FOIA release from Judicial Watch (full pdf below) reveals that two of Mueller’s initial FBI agents, based on dates and redactions – likely Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka, visited James Comey on June 7th, 2017, to retrieve a collection of his memos.
[However, a word of caution, one of the memos was titled “last night at 6:30pm” and is being widely misinterpreted to have been written the night before (June 6th, 2017) when that is not accurate. It is likely that memo relates to the January dinner in the White House with President Trump that held the same sentence.]
If we ignore the misinterpreted “last night” memo aspect (dinner with potus in January ’17), here’s what we can learn from this FOIA release:
♦First, the memos were picked up while FBI agent’s Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka were lead FBI agents that transferred into the Mueller team. Therefore it’s likely they were the two who traveled to Comey’s house for this June 7th effort. (more…)
We previously outlined Mr. Zhongtian Liu [HERE] as part of the early 2018 explanation for how China was exploiting the NAFTA loophole as an end-run around tariffs. Today the Central District of California U.S. Attorney announces his indictment.
LOS ANGELES– A federal grand jury indictment unsealed late Tuesday alleges a complex financial fraud scheme in which a Chinese company exported to the United States huge amounts of aluminum – disguised as “pallets” to avoid customs duties of up to 400 percent – and “sold” the purported pallets to related entities to fraudulently inflate the company’s revenues and deceive investors around the world.
The 53-page indictment alleges that China Zhongwang Holdings Limited, Asia’s largest aluminum extrusion company; Zhongtian Liu, the company’s former president and chairman; and several individual and corporate co-defendants lied to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to avoid paying the United States $1.8 billion in anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) that were imposed in 2011 on certain types of extruded aluminum imported into the United States from China.
It was only a matter of time before someone explained how the Chinese advisors to Chairman Xi Jinping are using President Trump’s inability to hold the coup plotters accountable as evidence they can wait out the President.
This is the crossover, where a lack of accountability for “Spygate” now begins to negatively influence the geopolitical, economic and strategic position of President Trump. However, there’s an upside to this dynamic….
In several interviews the president has noted his preference to keep the DOJ and FBI issues at a distance and deferred action to others. The economic reset is President Trump’s #1 priority. If Trump identifies the lack of DOJ and FBI accountability as an impediment to the economic program, he may become much more engaged.
.
SHANGHAI—Plodding progress in trade negotiations between the U.S. and China this week is partly the result of a new tactic from Beijing, which increasingly thinks waiting may produce a more-favorable agreement.
Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss ongoing issues in/around the DOJ and FBI.
Matt Whitaker notes the corrupt members of the FBI/DOJ who have left the institution; but stops short of criticizing current FBI Director Chris Wray. Whitaker expresses strong support and respect for John Ratcliffe’s nomination to ODNI.
Whitaker positions himself as an advocate for transparency, but is careful not to be critical of those in the DOJ and FBI who are working diligently against releasing documents that would actually bring about transparency. The implied message is that declassification of material will ultimately force transparency…. [but he doesn’t say it].
…Every minute spent outraged at what Comey, McCabe or Muller did yesterday, is one minute less that Bill Barr is being held accountable for what he is not doing today…
Jumpin’ ju-ju bones, there’s big news in here. Actual Bombshells! For real Tick Tocks and much much more….
Former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker appeared on Fox News to discuss the replacement of Dan Coats with John Ratcliffe as head of the ODNI, and the current status of AG Bill Barr’s ongoing reviews into prior DOJ and FBI (mis)conduct.
Whitaker posits the placement of Ratcliffe as looking at the aggregate intelligence apparatus and seeing if there “are systemic issues and failures for how the investigations were kicked-off”; and the engagements with other countries (FBI and CIA).
Additionally Whitaker summarizes U.S. Attorney John Durham as focused on the origin of the intelligence operation against candidate Trump and “prosecuting anyone that needs to be prosecuted“. [By the way, that seems to confirm Durham as an official “investigation”, not a “review”.] Then comes the BOMBSHELL…. (@01:26 below) while seemingly not realizing what he just said, Whitaker outlines U.S. Attorney John Huber as reviewing “anything related to Comey’s memos and the like.” Boom… There it is.
THAT finally explains why the DOJ is fighting the release of the David Archey declarations in the FOIA lawsuit by CNN. [Listen carefully at 01:26 of the interview]
.
Until that obscure comment, likely a slip that not many would catch, there has been no valid explanation by the DOJ about any investigation of the Comey memos, which would also encompass the “Archey Declarations”.
If U.S. Attorney John Huber is indeed looking at those Comey memos, that would explain why the DOJ is fighting the release of the Archey Declarations in the DC Circuit Court with Judge James E Boasberg. Now it makes sense. That little obscure comment by Whitaker is a big effen’ deal. (more…)
This is disturbing. Two Somali refugees in the U.S. have been arrested for conspiring to provide material support to ISIS.
(VIA DOJ) John Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Michael Bailey, the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, Michael McGarrity, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, and Sean Kaul, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Phoenix Field Office, announced that on July 26, Ahmed Mahad Mohamed and Abdi Yemani Hussein, were arrested for conspiring to provide material support and resources to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization. (more…)
Speaking to WMAL radio, former U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova informs the audience that declassified documents will begin to be made public starting Wednesday July 31st.
Additionally, Mr. diGenova states confidently that U.S. Attorney John Durham is not conducting a “review”, but is conducting a full criminal investigation with a grand jury empaneled and currently receiving testimony from witnesses.
The comments come at 04:58of the audio/video below [Prompted just hit play]
.
Obviously Joe diGenova is making a very specific statement with measurable and specific action to come on very specific day. Good news !!
On May 23rd, 2019, President Trump gave AG Bill Barr unilateral authority to declassify documents. A month later, against the backdrop of more evidence surfacing showing corruption within the DOJ and FBI (June 14th, 2019), and with a negative balance in the trust account, twenty three House republicans asked President Trump not to wait.
Here’s the list of material possible for declassification, and the intelligence offices who hold custodial authority over the compartmented documents. This was the original list as outlined in 2018: (more…)
A summary review of the DOJ and FBI insider group; those who were behind the 2016 election effort to block and then remove Donald Trump from office; reveals they are generally unhappy with ODNI Dan Coats being removed.
Former FBI Director James Comey:
Former CIA Director John Brennan: (more…)
Representative John Ratcliffe tweets a statement after President Trump announces his nomination for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI):
There has been some speculation that ODNI Dan Coats needed to step aside because he was refusing to comply with the declassification process. It’s worth waiting to see if that assumption is accurate, or if the speculation is unfounded. However, there is validity to the speculation based on the structure of how executive declassification is done. (more…)
