Don’t be so blinded by the tripwire flares you fail to see the obvious.  Within the statement from Attorney General Sessions hopefully you’ll note: “Including Under Oath”

The IG doesn’t place the internal investigative target “under oath”.  An outside prosecutor who is assisting the IG does.  Hence Attorney General Jeff Sessions is telling us what is going on – SEE HERE – Just like he did before:

… I have appointed a person outside of Washington, many years in the Department of Justice to look at all the allegations that the House Judiciary Committee members sent to us; and we’re conducting that investigation. (read more)

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Beyond the thirst for clicks, ratings and perpetual outrage there’s an aspect to the Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Rudolph Contreras story that deserves some attention.

♦First, the DOJ wasn’t withholding anything from congress. The DOJ told congress they (or their staff) could review any of the documents, including Strzok and Page texts, at the DOJ in their totality; as a consequence of the ongoing oversight.

However, if congress -or their staff- wanted to take possession of the documents, they would only be allowed to *remove* redacted copies.

The outrage machine shouts “cover up“, etc.

No. Not quite.

Why?

Because the IG investigative documents, in addition to being part of an internal review, are also evidence within an ongoing criminal investigation. Hence, the earlier statement by AG Jeff Sessions.  The statement everyone, sucked-into and/or participating within the outrage machine, loves to ignore.

Again, before grabbing your Sean Hannity branded pitchfork, think.

With a dual track within the IG investigative findings: ¹“internal wrongdoing” and ²“potential criminal conduct”, you realize that evidence collected by the IG -that may have prosecutorial value- will be closely protected by the investigative unit, including the Sessions assigned prosecutor, and not released.

It is not hard to see the “why” when you set aside emotion and ignore the outrage machine.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has been fired.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz recommended a review by the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility.  The referral was based on IG Horowitz interviewing McCabe and identifying McCabe was lying about his instructions to FBI Communication Director Michael Kortan leaking to media on his behalf.

Mike Kortan, Lisa Page and Peter Strzok then proceeded to leak to Devlin Barrett (WSJ and WaPo), along with other journalists, with approvals from Andrew McCabe.

After IG Horowitz referred McCabe’s false statements to the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), the OPR investigated and recommended to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and AAG Rod Rosenstein that Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe should be fired.  Moments ago Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced McCabe is fired:

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Former FBI Deputy Director Chris Swecker appeared for an interview with Harris Faulker to discuss the issues surrounding the IG and OPR recommendation that Asst. Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe needs to be fired.

Mr. Swecker notes his opinion the Inspector General report will likely be explosive: “I think you’re going to see some pure TNT come out of this IG report.” Video Below:

Former @FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker; "I think you're going to see some pure TNT come out in this IG report." #OutnumberedOT pic.twitter.com/7XGVfvQ5uG

— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 16, 2018

Additionally, and somewhat related, it was pointed out earlier today there is a very valid reason for AG Jeff Sessions not to appoint a Special Counsel.  A review of the ideology –as noted within the Office of Special Counsel communications unit– shows a clear bias against the current administration.  A bias that is NOT evident within the public communication prior to the Trump administration.  The OSC has strongly expressed political views.

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For those following the increasingly curious case against General Mike Flynn, events take another unusual turn today.  Congressional investigators have shared a set of unredacted text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strzok and his cohort DOJ Attorney Lisa Page which reveal a personal friendship between Agent Strzok and Flynn’s initial presiding judge Rudolph Contreras.

On November 30th, 2017, Mike Flynn signed a guilty plea; ostensibly admitting lying to investigators.  The plea was accepted by Judge Rudolph Contreras; who is also a FISA court judge.  Six days later, December 7th, 2017, Judge Contreras “was recused” from the case without explanation.

The case was reassigned to DC District Judge Emmet Sullivan.  The Contreras recusal always seemed sketchy. The key question was: if the conflict existed on December 7th, wouldn’t that same conflict have existed on November 30th, 2017?

Today questions about the conflict seem to have been answered. Text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page reveal the FBI agent and Judge Contreras were close personal friends.  –SEE HERE–

Apparently DOJ lawyer Lisa Page was unaware that “Rudy” was a FISA court judge until July 25th, 2016, when she posited a question to her small group co-conspirator FBI agent Peter Strzok.

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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes appears on Fox News at Night to discuss the ending of the Trump-Russian investigation and the continuance of the ongoing FISA abuse and FBI/DOJ corruption investigations.

Part of the interview surrounds the new request by Senator Chuck Grassley for a second special counsel. As Nunes notes the Grassley request is almost identical to his own.

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Chairman Chuck Grassley along with republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are formally requesting a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and DOJ involvement in the Clinton-Steele Dossier.

The republicans asked Office of the Inspector General to explore the FBI and DOJ’s handling of dossier in February; but now they are requesting Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DAG Rod Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel (full pdf below) because the IG does not have the ability to obtain testimony from witnesses who are not DOJ employees. This is the same motive of request from HPSCI Chairman Nunes and Trey Gowdy.

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Interestingly Reuters is continuing the McCabe narrative with an article quoting an unnamed FBI official who urges Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to fire Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Given the rather expansive wealth of McCabe the angle of preserving his pension seems more than a little odd.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who stepped down in January after criticism from President Donald Trump, met on Thursday with a U.S. Justice Department official in an effort to preserve his pension, according to a source familiar with the matter.

McCabe planned to retire on Sunday with full benefits, but some or all of his pension could be at risk after the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Office of Professional Responsibility recommended firing him for misleading Justice Department investigators about his supervision of probes into Hillary Clinton, Trump’s presidential opponent, said the source, who requested anonymity.

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This update is almost unbelievable; almost.

A 17-year-old Jihadist in Palm Beach Florida stabbed three people, killing one, over the weekend – BACKSTORY HERE.

Corey Johnson admitted to police he was inspired by ISIS and carrying out the attacks on behalf of Islam.   Yesterday local, state and FBI officials also admitted that he was “on their radar“, uh huh.

Well, you’re likely not going to believe how extensive their radar contact and monitoring was.

As an example: they were mirroring his social media in real time; they knew he had contacts with ISIS; they knew he was behind international threats; the FBI was ‘actively‘ monitoring him; and all the officials met several times to discuss the likelihood his unstable behavior might lead to much worse.  But they didn’t want to take action, because he was a minor, and preferred “redirection” or diversionary programs to change his behavior.

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A very interesting dynamic today, with a motive that may not be as transparent as initially appears. The New York Times and Washington Post are both reporting the FBI’s internal Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has recommended to AG Jeff Sessions that FBI Asst. Director Andrew McCabe should be fired.

The reason for the recommendation surrounds the DOJ Inspector General discovering that FBI Asst. Director Andrew “Andy” McCabe intentionally leaked information about the Clinton investigation to the media, and coordinated the leaks therein.  The IG referred the issue to the FBI’s internal OPR for review and recommendation to the Attorney General. The Times and Post are leaking information of the determination by the OPR that Andrew McCabe should be fired.

(NYT) […] Now, Mr. Sessions is the final arbiter of Mr. McCabe’s dismissal, shortly before his retirement takes effect Sunday. Though no decision has been made, people inside the Justice Department expect him to be fired before Friday, a decision that would jeopardize his pension as a 21-year F.B.I. veteran. (link)

If AG Jeff Sessions fires McCabe for cause, the former FBI Deputy could, likely would, lose his pension and benefits.  McCabe is scheduled to retire with those benefits on March 20th, six days from now.

The dynamic is interesting.  An OPR recommendation for disciplinary firing puts AG Jeff Sessions into a box; he has two options:  Option #1 is fire McCabe.  Option #2 is set aside the OPR ruling and allow McCabe to retire.  Sessions has to take one of those two actions.

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