On Thursday the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government, held its first hearing.  I have not yet had time to listen to the full testimony of all witnesses, but it looks like the subcommittee is working to narrow the focus of their investigation and oversight by identifying the most critical issues.

In an unusual twist Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Ron Johnson gave testimony to the House subcommittee to include their own experience with investigations of how the DOJ and FBI have weaponized their institutions against the American people and even against congressional oversight.  Full video below:

If you watched the full hearing, or if you have identified key questioning that you feel is relevant to the larger issues bearing further investigation, please identify those segments so that we can all benefit.

I am hopeful this subcommittee will deliver sunlight through the testimony and deposition of key witnesses.  However, knowing how most congressional oversight committees tend to wander, miss and omit the key issue(s), we need to identify the motive of this specific committee through the action we can document and cite. I hope to complete watching the entire testimony by the end of the day today.

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Interesting background stuff.  The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government has scheduled their first committee hearing for Thursday, February 9th at noon [LINK].  There are no details on the agenda for the first meeting; however, there are indications of the seed and targeting process that is being used.

According to a press announcement today from House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who is also the Chairman of the select subcommittee, the larger Judiciary Committee is currently taking transcribed testimony from FBI whistleblowers about the political targeting within the Dept of Justice.

Against that backdrop, it is possible -perhaps likely- the agenda for the select subcommittee will be tailored as an outcome of those whistleblower depositions.  This would seem to make sense as the scope of the subcommittee needs to be narrowly tailored and focused on specific operations by government officials.  Using the whistleblower testimony to frame the investigation of the subcommittee makes sense, in that the testimony creates the basis for the investigation to follow.   First, here’s Jordan today:

The FBI whistleblower depositions will likely form the first material for the Select Subcommittee to discuss.   This structure provides a two-prong approach toward sunlight on the larger issues at stake.

The main House Judiciary Committee has constitutional oversight over the DOJ and by consequence the FBI.  The detailed discoveries are then passed down to the select subcommittee for further investigation.  Hopefully, everyone can see the benefit to that approach.  Judiciary holds bigger issues, then hands-off the smaller, perhaps deeper individual cases to the subcommittee for follow-up.

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In his own words, Mark Houck appears with Steve Bannon to describe the events that led to him being arrested by the FBI and fighting a legal battle with the DOJ.  An incredible story of valiance against evil enterprise. {Direct Rumble Link} WATCH:

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Part II Below

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Early in the morning of September 23, 2022, pro-life activist Mark Houck was awakened by the nightmare of 25 armed FBI agents banging on his door.  They gained entry, held his family at gunpoint and took him into federal custody on charges he violated the “Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

The issue stemmed from an incident in October of the prior year (2021) when an abortion activist confronted Mr. Houck and his son while peacefully protesting.

Bruce Love, a 72-year-old volunteer at a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood began shouting at Houck and his son, aggressively in his face.

Mr. Houck shoved Mr. Love out of the way, and the abortion industry used the shove to claim Houck committed violence and federal law enforcement got involved.

Today, Mark Houck was found not guilty of the federal charges, by a jury in Pennsylvania.

(Fox News) – […] Houck was arrested in his home by multiple FBI agents in September 2022.  U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, celebrated the news of Houck’s acquittal with a tweet. “Good. Begs question of the $48 billion we give to DOJ…,” he wrote. 

Shortly after Houck’s arrest last fall, his attorney Peter Breen told Fox News Digital that his client’s arrest was an “outrageous abuse of power” from the Department of Justice that was intended to intimidate pro-life Americans.

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When Attorney General Merrick Garland made the appointment [2-pg pdf] of Special Counsel Robert Hur (a deep swamp defender), CTH outlined the reasoning: “Essentially it looks like AG Merrick Garland is appointing a special counsel, because (a) he has to deflect political criticism given the issues and the growing scale; and (b) because a special counsel appointment will now throw the bag of “a current investigation” over any efforts from the Republican House of Representatives to investigate the office of the presidency.”

Today, in a responsive letter to inquiry from House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, exactly as anticipated, the DOJ triggered the latter justification as a reason not to comply with legislative oversight.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Carlos Felipe Uriarte, the assistant attorney general for DOJ’s office of legislative affairs, sent a Monday letter to House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), pointing to Garland’s Jan. 12 selection of special counsel Robert Hur to investigate Biden’s apparent mishandling of classified information as the key reason why the DOJ was limiting its sharing of information on the Biden saga.

[…] “Your letter … requests non-public information that is central to the ongoing Special Counsel investigation,” the assistant attorney general told Jordan on Monday. “The Department’s longstanding policy is to maintain the confidentiality of such information regarding open matters. This policy protects the American people’s interest in the evenhanded, dispassionate, and effective administration of justice. Disclosing non-public information about ongoing investigations could violate statutory requirements or court orders, reveal road maps of our investigations, and interfere with the Department’s ability to gather facts, interview witnesses, and bring criminal prosecutions where warranted.” (more)

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Twitter File release #15 is presented by Matt Taibbi and covers the vast Russian conspiracy as promoted by the media in 2018 and beyond. [SEE HERE]

As noted within the email discussion viewed by Taibbi, feeding the media narrative was a very specific group known as Hamilton 68, “headed by former FBI counterintelligence official (and current MSNBC contributor) Clint Watts, and funded by a neoliberal think tank, the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD).”

[Twitter File Release #15 HERE]

The entire assertion presented by Hamilton 68 and ASD was bogus, and Twitter executives knew it all along.  At first, Twitter tried to push back, telling the media there was no evidence to support the claims of the Hamilton 68 group.  However, the corporate media desperately wanted the Vast Russian Conspiracy to be true, so they disregarded the analysis done by the team at Twitter and kept pushing the lies.

As Taibbi notes, “The secret ingredient to Hamilton 68’s analytical method? A list: “Our analysis has linked 600 Twitter accounts to Russian influence activities online.” Eventually the people at Twitter figured out what methods Hamilton 68 was using and found the account list on their own.  However, there still was no reason to believe the accounts H68 identified were Russian.  In fact, almost all were just regular Americans who did not believe the Vast Russian Collusion Conspiracy.

“In layman’s terms, the Hamilton 68 barely had any Russians. In fact, apart from a few RT accounts, it’s mostly full of ordinary Americans, Canadians, and British,” Taibbi explains. “It was a scam. Instead of tracking how “Russia” influenced American attitudes, Hamilton 68 simply collected a handful of mostly real, mostly American accounts, and described their organic conversations as Russian scheming,” Taibbi continued.

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The website Just Security, author former CIA operative Douglas Johnson, is very concerned about the House Subcommittee on Federal Government Weaponization. [SEE ARTICLE HERE} The concern is clouded under the auspices of fearing politicization by questioning the intelligence community about weaponized government.

The article is a mainstream bureaucratic outlook where the professional intelligence apparatus views themselves as beyond being accountable to the elected public officials, specifically the House members of the committee. The permanent unelected officials have a self-perception above the reach of the elected officials.

In essence, there is no public accountability model within their view of their operation. There can only be concealment, secret briefings, darkness and ‘trust us’ type reviews of their authorities. It’s quite a remarkable thing to read.

Just Security […] that’s oversight, a bipartisan endeavor conducted in the interest of all Americans, regardless of political affiliation. The oversight structure that came from the Church Committee investigations adopted legal and sensible rules of the road and protections for all stakeholders. Such supervision is conducted in controlled settings, shielded from public exposure, in a way that promotes candor and trust among both the auditors and the audited, facilitating transparency.

Note: How has that worked out for the American people?

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The newly formed House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government has to narrow the focus and make a decision on which of the myriad of examples will best highlight the weaponization issue for the American people.

The U.S. government weaponization of the FBI is clear from the influence operations in elections, to the hiding of the Hunter Biden laptop, to the targeting of parents at school board meetings, to the entirety of what is evident in the Twitter files, domestic social media operations and even the FBI activity in the J6 events.

The FBI issues are widespread and clearly visible. However, only those who have followed the weaponization of the FBI realize the scale.  To the larger U.S. electorate, the FBI targeting remains unknown because the mainstream media has buried it.  Should the FBI weaponization be the primary target of sunlight?

This sets up the context for a monologue and interview by Fox News host Jason Chaffetz and members of the House Committee.  Two segments, first with Michael Shellenberger, then the segment with Harriet Hageman, Mike Johnson and Dan Bishop.  {Direct Rumble Link}  WATCH:

The next segment is with House representatives and committee members Harriet Hageman, Mike Johnson and Dan Bishop {Direct Rumble Link}

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While these remarks are cast against the backdrop of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy refusing to seat Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), the larger point within his remarks about the intelligence community need to be emphasized.  {Direct Rumble Link}

While claiming McCarthy has no right to stop himself or Swalwell from participating in the 118th Congress HPSCI, Schiff claims the larger intelligence community will no longer share information about national security matters with the committee if he is not present.  Essentially, without Schiff in attendance to politicize the intelligence information, the larger intelligence community will not cooperate.

Additionally, and somewhat in direct alignment with CTH predictions about the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government, Schiff declares the intelligence agencies of the United States government will not cooperate with the subcommittee.  Again, as the argument is made, if democrats are not positioned to defend the Deep State, the Deep State will not cooperate.  WATCH:

Nothing within these remarks should come as a surprise to CTH readers; however, the open hostility within the prediction by Adam Schiff should serve as a stark underline for the challenge the House subcommittee will face.

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This is not yet in the House Judiciary Committee website [SEE HERE]; however, according to a press release [SEE HERE], House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has made appointments to the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government [pdf here].

Including the subcommittee Chairman, Jim Jordan (which is a surprise), it looks like the committee will contain a total of 12 republican representatives.

Darrell ISSA (CA), Thomas Massie (KY), Chris Stewart (UT), Elise Stefanik (NY), Mike Johnson (LA), Chip Roy (TX), Kelly Armstrong (ND), Greg Steube (FL), Dan Bishop (NC), Kat Cammack (FL) and Harriet Hageman (WY).  Overall, a pretty solid group with good legal outlooks.

[Source, House Speaker website]

I am surprised that McCarthy is making Judiciary Chairman, Jim Jordan, also the subcommittee chairman.  However, against the backdrop of McCarthy worrying the subcommittee is going to face massive scrutiny, having Jordan at the helm of it does make sense.  Also, with the Chair of the Judiciary able to trigger subpoenas, having Jordan as Chair of the subcommittee makes the subpoena aspect more expeditious. Oh, and hi guys.

There are likely to be five Democrats also assigned [per prior subcommittee authorization rules].

Dan Bishop and Mike Johnson are both strong judicial and courtroom litigators. Chris Stewart a little less so, more formal, but on contracts etc, still good.  Darryl Issa knows the narrow curves of the swamp from his former role as House Oversight Committee Chair, so that could be helpful.    Thomas Massie, a contrarian constitutionalist, and Elise Stefanik a solid strategist. Chip Roy, Kelly Armstrong and Greg Steube  are good street fighters. Harriet Hageman and Kat Cammack, newer but strong in their own right.  This is a pretty solid team.

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