House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes discusses James Comey’s recent comments and the ongoing efforts against Attorney General Bill Barr.
House Judiciary member Mark Meadows has provided John Solomon with notes taken by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec on Oct. 11, 2016, during her meeting with Dossier author Christopher Steele (full pdf below). Solomon Article HERE.
Within the notes Kavalec outlines: ¹the motives of Steele; ²innacuracies in his claims; and ³his media distribution network used to push the sketchy information. From the notes Kavalec wrote an email (currently classified by FBI/DOJ) informing the FBI of her review, two weeks ahead of the FBI application to the FISA court, which should have led investigators to withdraw Steele’s dossier from the application:
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Paul Sperry has an interesting article today at Real Clear Politics outlining the amount of expenditures by special counsel Robert Mueller during his two-year investigation. Sperry notes many in DC are wondering who the “contractors” are that were paid by Mueller:
Special Counsel Robert Mueller spent more than $732,000 on outside contractors, including private investigators and researchers, records show, but his office refuses to say who they were. While it’s not unusual for special government offices to outsource for services such as computer support, Mueller also hired contractors to compile “investigative reports” and other “information.” (read more)
Strongly suggest reading the above article.
Sperry outlines the breadcrumb trail which seems to indicate that Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS) and Chris Steele may have been paid. One of the key aspects lending weight to this likelihood is the part of Mueller’s specific mandate, as delivered by DAG Rosenstein, that the special counsel investigate the claims within the Steele Dossier.
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The Southern District of New York has released a criminal complaint to accompany the seizure of a North Korean freighter “Wise Honest” (Full pdf below). The freighter was seized by Indonesian authorities on/around April 2, 2018 [media story here]. However, the background story of Wise Honest is more interesting.
The indictment outlines how the freighter was used to transport coal from North Korea to China and Russia and back-haul heavy equipment from Chinese ports into the DPRK. However, the transport network changed with the timing of increased sanctions on the DPRK. Simply, the ship was routed to avoid being caught for violating sanctions.
The indictment also outlines how Chinese entities in Hong Kong assisted with routing the vessel to avoid maritime surveillance. There’s an aspect here that overlays a prior set of CTH discussions surrounding U.S. Navy training for a potential U.S. maritime blockade.
You might remember November 2017 CTH discussions about U.S. vessels conducting training exercises in/around shipping lanes. In 2017 and 2018 there were some maritime collisions that seemed to align with the possibility of these training exercises. In June 2017 The USS Fitzgerald was one such example near the coast of Japan.
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Ranking Member Representative Doug Collins discusses the House Judiciary impeachment scheme, and the “desperate move” to discredit Attorney General Bill Barr.
Rep. Collins notes that former Special Counsel Robert Mueller is unlikely to appear before the committee and there is no appearance currently on their schedule:
House Judiciary Committee members Mark Meadows (R-NC) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) discuss the latest developments in the ongoing ‘spygate’/political surveillance scandal.
There are numerous media reports about the Senate Intelligence Committee filing a subpoena for additional testimony from Donald Trump Jr. However, there’s something a little, well, ‘off’ about how the story is being presented…. zero official verification.
Without any verification, and with only vague references to anonymous sourcing, CTH would advise to wait-and-see on this one. DJT-jr has been used more than once for leak hunting. The AP Article is HERE. That said, Trump Jr. did retweet this message:
Dan Bongino appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the insufferable debate over the word “spies”. Bongino accurately outlines the issues with current FBI Director Christopher Wray and his institutional motives.
During the House Judiciary Committee farce debate toward a pre-written impeachment resolution, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan outlines the political motives of House democrats to try and avoid the looming investigation by Attorney General Bill Barr.
Last night the DOJ informed House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler they would recommend President Trump invoke executive privilege over the Mueller report if Nadler continued in his quest to wrongfully impeach AG William Barr. Today the White House followed through:
(White House Statement) “The American people see through Chairman Nadler’s desperate ploy to distract from the President’s historically successful agenda and our booming economy. Neither the White House nor Attorney General Barr will comply with Chairman Nadler’s unlawful and reckless demands.
The Attorney General has been transparent and accommodating throughout this process, including by releasing the no-collusion, no-conspiracy, no-obstruction Mueller Report to the public and offering to testify before the Committee. These attempts to work with the Committee have been flatly rejected. They didn’t like the results of the report, and now they want a redo.
Faced with Chairman Nadler’s blatant abuse of power, and at the Attorney General’s request, the President has no other option than to make a protective assertion of executive privilege.