Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer met privately with AG nominee William Barr earlier today.  At the conclusion of the meeting Senator Schumer addresses the media.
Schumer appears conflicted and confused as to how to describe his own highly political desires with the answers he received from Mr. Barr.  It does not appear Schumer was pleased with his overall inability to leverage control over the nominee; and that comes out in the early part of his statement.  That’s a good sign.  Watch:

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The issue of how Mr. Barr would produce a summary document about the completed Mueller investigation is an aspect that deserves some clarity and discussion.
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Another day, another leaked congressional transcript.  This time George Papadopoulos.

(You Can Read Here)

Once again the actual transcript is not released, only the Epoch Times authors’ interpretations of the content of the leaked transcript. *Note* the author, Ivan Pentchoukov, does not reveal the name of the “alleged spy”.
Previous leaked transcripts from:

1. Lisa Page
2. Andrew McCabe
3. Bruce Ohr

Three congressional committees have requested the release of witness transcripts.  HPSCI via Devin Nunes (September 2018); and the joint House Judiciary/Oversight committee (December 2018).  Congressional allies of President Trump (Nunes, Jordan, Meadows and Collins) are being blocked by DOJ/FBI officials within the current administration. So each side in the DOJ/FBI corruption story is currently leaking to advance their interests.
 

Chairman Graham is very happy with the nomination of William Barr as U.S. Attorney General.  It would appear purposeful Barr will re-balance the DC interests, and return the DOJ to a more ordinary level of corruption.  In this way Barr pushes back the fulcrum tilting the DOJ away from the more violent weaponized lean in the past eight years.

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President Trump’s AG nominee William Barr testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his legal views and perspectives.  Overall post-testimonial punditry converges on the outlook Mr. Barr will be easily confirmed with broad bipartisan support.
Rather than agree or disagree with various opinions CTH is providing a full video of the Barr hearing below with a recap video as presented by Global News:

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My own personal view is that William Barr will likely reset the DOJ ‘status quo‘ to the institutional construct that existed prior to the Obama DOJ (Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch) era. That is to say: Barr will attempt to remove obvious weaponization and overt political motives behind every action taken by the U.S. Justice Department.
However, it also appears the most purposeful goal for Mr. Barr, in direct alignment with his close personal friend Robert Mueller, will be the preservation of the DOJ institution as a historic apparatus. That “preserve-the-institution” at all costs means Barr will necessarily have to bury any/all systemic corruption to achieve a larger institutional goal.
I Do not anticipate Barr will deliver any sunlight to expose how badly corrupted the DOJ has become. Instead he’ll likely apply bondo to cover the rot and apply a fresh coat of paint.
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Well, here we are again; another leaked transcript, this time from DOJ Official Bruce Ohr. And as with the prior two transcript leaks, we don’t get the raw information.  So let me first, necessarily, reassert our CTH position on these “leaks”.
Leaking is bad, period; in all directions. Because *leaking* is simply a method, a mechanism, to direct and control the focus of sunlight upon illicit action. Regardless of whether you support or oppose the message within any individual leak; the leak itself does not expose corruption…. only full and unfiltered information can expose corruption.  That means we need the actual raw transcripts to make determinations for ourselves.
As a factual standard for honesty and sunlight, CTH would never describe a transcript where we could not provide the reader with the raw and underlying material.  We have held this standard for many years; most of you know that. The truth has no agenda.

That said, someone is leaking congressional transcripts and a current tug-of-war exists between two opposing narrative engineers.  The heavily promoted New York Times article last Friday, was based on leaks of James Baker Transcripts, from sources who were responding to the leaks from other sources that were given to the Epoch Times.   Each side in the DOJ/FBI corruption story is currently leaking to advance their interests.
Three congressional committees have requested the release of witness transcripts.  HPSCI via Devin Nunes (September 2018); and the joint House Judiciary/Oversight committee (December 2018).  Congressional allies of President Trump (Nunes, Jordan, Meadows and Collins) are being blocked by corrupt cabinet members within the current administration.
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If you wait long enough, the Lawfare actors brazenly expose their intents.  Cue the example today as former SDNY U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara showcases the ideology behind the DOJ and FBI weaponizing their offices based on political policy differences.
It has been outlined that President Trump would prefer to withdraw the U.S. from NATO. Trump’s view stems from NATO allies (Germany) engaging with NATO adversaries (Russia) with strategic energy policy (gas pipeline) to benefit Russia; while simultaneously demanding the U.S. taxpayer fund the defense of Germany (and EU) from Russia.
In response to reports that President Trump may withdraw from NATO, a strategic U.S. policy shift, Preet Bharara demands “impeachment and conviction”:

This clear example evidences the mentality within the DOJ and FBI that is becoming more openly obvious.  The institutions of the DOJ were/are weaponized, against candidate and president Trump, based on political differences and viewpoints.

Wow, this has some potential massive ramifications.  The trial of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been ongoing in federal court since November. During the trial today a witness and confidante of El Chapo outlined how he participated in a $100 million bribe to former Mexican President Pena Nieto.
No wonder the terms of the U.S-Mexico trade agreement (USMCA) were so favorable.

(Reuters) – A witness at the U.S. trial of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman testified on Tuesday that he previously told U.S. authorities the accused Mexican drug lord once paid a $100 million bribe to former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Alex Cifuentes, who has said he was a close associate of Guzman for years, discussed the alleged bribe under cross-examination by one of Guzman’s lawyers in Brooklyn federal court. Asked if he told authorities in 2016 that Guzman arranged the bribe, he answered, “That’s right.”

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There’s a vastly different opinion amid some who review the action of Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller.  CTH has noted a common corrupt theme amid the DOJ and FBI that crosses both the Obama and Trump administrations: A priority to preserve the institution; regardless of how corrupt the institution is; and regardless of how much collateral damage those system administrators will create in their effort toward that preservation goal.

Within the larger discussion, sometimes comments hit the proverbial nail. I think this one does exactly that:

RTLW – “Not ALL FBI Agents are moral pariahs. 60% are good American patriots who joined the Agency in good faith expecting to serve their Country and put bad people behind bars.

The other 40% are Peter Strozk and Lisa Page. ALL of FBI HQ is populated by the Strozk/Page types. Recruitment of this type of Agent started under Mueller and continued under Comey. Mueller drove out all of the old school “Brick Agents” shortly after he became Director.

Mueller implemented an “up or out” policy where all SSAs were required to move to DC and do Headquarters time or lose their GS 14 pay grade. This policy change by Mueller purposely targeted the most senior Agents in the FBI who had finally earned the right to move their family to a medium sized office in fly over country, had teenage kids and were living a comfortable life.

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President Trump gives remarks and takes questions from the White House press pool as he departs the White House headed to Louisiana.

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The creep vibe on this interview with U.S. Democrat Senator Mark Warner is off-the-charts.   The only thing more disturbing than the background possibility of three teenage boys tied up in his basement is the structural way he can blatantly lie to the camera; and how the perpetually furrowed brow of Jake Tapper doesn’t call him out on it.
Warner begins by saying: “I’m not going to to talk about what we may have been briefed in the gang-of-eight when these investigations opened.”  Well, um, duh.  You see, as Warner continued: “that throughout that whole summer [of 2016]”etc…. senator Mark Warner wasn’t a gang-of-eight member.
Senator Mark Warner didn’t become a Go8 member until Senator Dianne Feinstein abdicated her Senate Intelligence Chair position in January 2017.   Kinda hard to talk about briefings he never participated in…. It’s all made up from there.  Watch:

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The gang of eight in 2015 and 2016 was: Devin Nunes, Adam Schiff, Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein.
I think even the perpetually perplexed Tapper knew Warner was talking from inside the manufactured rabbit hole because furrowed-brow followed up with questions about the counterintelligence origination [July 2016] he knew Warner was not a part of.
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