House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, the congressional oversight representative closest to Inspector General Michael Horowitz, discusses the upcoming IG report.

As background, it is Chairman Goodlatte who personally selected (and selects) the lawmakers who questioned FBI Counterintelligence head Bill Priestap.  Whereas HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes holds primary ‘intelligence’ oversight; Chairman Goodlatte holds primary Justice and Judiciary oversight.

It is worth noting that Goodlatte directs a great deal of attention to U.S. Attorney John Huber on the criminality behind the upcoming IG report.  The report is scheduled to be made public on Thursday June 14th:

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It is important not to get so granular we miss the big picture.  The indictment of former senior senate intelligence committee staffer James Wolfe is filled with information to highlight a much bigger picture. [Indictment pdf here]

Keeping with custom and a very familiar pattern, you will note the big DOJ/FBI investigative releases are timed to drop when President Trump is outside Washington DC.

Note also, it was the Senate Intelligence Committee where Wolfe worked.  CTH has continually stated the SSCI is one of the most corrupt committees in congress.  It did not come as a surprise to see the staff from this specific committee leaking secret and top-secret classified information.  The committee rots from the head down.

According to the indictment Wolfe was notified by the FBI of a classified intelligence leak investigation on/around October 30th, 2017.  From the indictment we see that Wolfe was interviewed and confronted by FBI investigators on December 15th, 2017.  After admitting he lied to those FBI investigators Wolfe resigned from his position.

On December 15th, 2017 Wolfe was busted; the FBI had him dead-to-rights.  However, the grand jury proceedings didn’t start until May 3rd, 2018; and the indictment was sealed until June 7th, 2018.   That means six months of investigative work was taking place between busting Wolfe on Dec. 15th, and indicting Wolfe on June 7th.

On December 15th, according to the indictment, the FBI investigators were aware of four specific journalists, “reporters”, who participated in the leak material.  The FBI likely had more to choose from, but selected those four reporters -with specific intents and purposes- during the interview with Mr. Wolfe.  The four reporters are not named, but their activity is outlined enough to make it possible to determine who is who.

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UPDATE: 10:15pm EDT – James A. Wolfe, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s former director of security has been indicted by a Grand Jury.(INFO)  Federal law enforcement officials secretly seized years’ worth of a New York Times reporter Ali Watkins phone and email records this year in an investigation of classified information leaks. (INFO)

As suspected last night….  The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating a “former staffer” from the corrupt Senate Intelligence Committee.  There’s a possibility the “former staffer” is Dan Jones, the senior staff aide to Senator Dianne Feinstein when she was Vice-Chair of the committee and Gang-of-Eight member.

(VIA CNN) The Justice Department has opened an investigation into a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer who allegedly disclosed classified information, prompting the Senate panel to share information related to the federal probe.

The identity of the former committee aide under investigation has not been disclosed, but sources say prosecutors appear to be preparing charges soon against the individual.

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Inspector General Michael Horowitz has informed the Senate Judiciary Committee (full pdf below) the anticipated final publication date for the IG report on how the Obama DOJ and FBI handled the Clinton investigation will be Thursday June 14th, 2018.

The fact-based draft report to the principals was submitted on May 16th.  Following the two week period for input from the principals outlined in the draft report, the IG “referencer” within the DOJ-Office of Inspector General then determines which responses will be added for the final report. The report is anticipated to be 400 to 500 pages.

As customary for Michael Horowitz, his office adds the approved responses and then outlines additional IG replies to those responses in the final report.  Apparently, due to the scale of the report, the response and reply phase has been extensive.

Mr. Horowitz informs congress today the final report will be publicly available on Thursday June 14, and he will accommodate oversight with an appearance before congress on Monday June 18, 2018 to discuss the findings.

Here’s the letter from Inspector General Horowitz:

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While no-one has yet to see the actual Inspector General Mike Horowitz report outlining how the DOJ and FBI handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation, the media are beginning to shape the narrative.

In a summary of Bill Priestap’s testimony, via The Hill, the narrative begins by focusing on James Comey:  “Priestap “completely” backed up everything that Comey said, according to a source familiar with his testimony.”  The narrative construct gains clarity with a report from ABC highlight James Comey as “insubordinate”:

(Via ABC) The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has concluded that James Comey defied authority at times during his tenure as FBI director, according to sources familiar with a draft report on the matter.

One source told ABC News that the draft report explicitly used the word “insubordinate” to describe Comey’s behavior. Another source agreed with that characterization but could not confirm the use of the term.

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UPDATE: 7:45pm – According to email from congressional staff, participation at the closed hearing was limited to only those selected by Committee Chairman (Gowdy, and Goodlatte).  The hearing was not available to all committee members.  Only Jordan, Meadows and Krishnamoorth were allowed to participate. 

Yesterday FBI Director of Counterintelligence E.W. “Bill” Priestap testified to a joint session of the House Judiciary and House Oversight committees.

The hearing was a matter of strong public interest.  Mr. Priestap was questioned for approximately seven hours.  However, journalist Olivia Beavers covering for The Hill dropped a detail that most, including myself, might find rather curious:

(The Hill) […] Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), however, said he felt that Priestap didn’t say anything that would indicate there was “political bias that motivated the Hillary Clinton email investigation.”

Priestap “completely” backed up everything that Comey said, according to a source familiar with his testimony.

Only three lawmakers — Jordan, Meadows and Krishnamoorthi — attended the hearing, which took place on the first day after a weeklong recess.

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Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) discusses FBI agent Peter Strzok’s involvement in the Clinton email probe and the Russia investigation; along with the anticipated DOJ-OIG report:

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FBI Director of Counterintelligence E.W. “Bill” Priestap has been delivering testimony to a joint congressional committee for more than seven hours.

This is Bill Priestap’s first testimony to congress.  Previously all of Priestap’s statements have been made to FBI and INSD (Inspection Division) investigators.  This is also likely the first time many congressional members will have heard of the scale and scope of the abuse by the DOJ-NSD and FBI.

The joint House Judiciary and Oversight Committee has been hearing testimony from Bill Priestap all day. A tweet from Chad Pergram notes: “Colleague Catherine Herridge rpts a mbrs familiar w/Hse closed-door i-view w/FBI espionage chief Bill Priestap has been cooperative. But says FBI Agent Strzok played an more central role than previously known in Clinton email/Russia investigations beyond Strzok/Page text messages.”

It appears there will be confirmation of prior research.  There was always a strong suspicion FBI Agent Peter Strzok was working around his boss Bill Priestap and reporting directly to Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and to a lesser extent FBI chief legal counsel James Baker.  Activity in both the Clinton email and Russia investigations that was outside normal chain-of-command structure.

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On January 27th, 2017, after over a year of covert surveillance on Trump campaign officials [via FISA searches, FISA(702) Title-1 surveilance, SIGNIT and HUMIT), the FBI first sat down to interview low level campaign aide George Papadopoulos. (likely FBI Special Agent Jennifer Zelski Edwards, and/or FBI Agent Peter Strzok, participated)

Six months later, July 27th, 2017 the FBI arrested George Papadopoulos at the airport and charged him with giving false information to FBI investigators during that interview. The very next day, July 28th, 2017, the DOJ filed a motion to seal with the DC federal court to hide the arrest. (FBI Agent Jennifer Zelski Edwards)

From evidence that surfaced AFTER the motion to seal was removed (October 5, 2017) we discover the charges, motions, pleadings, and case information (ASSEMBLED DOCKET HERE). This is now the reference point for a historic review, including the TRANSCRIPT of the October 30th guilty plea hearing. All needed references are within the DOCKET.

From the motion to seal, we discover Robert Mueller leveraged the July 27th, 2017, charges against George Papadopoulos to make him a cooperating witness for the special counsel. The July 28th, 2017, motion to seal was transparently intended to disguise the arrest of Papapdopoulos and his subsequent role as a “proactive cooperator”:

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Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes appeared earlier today on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ongoing aspects of Spygate etc.  WATCH:

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As CTH shared over a week ago, the investigative focus has shifted toward a larger backstory within the CIA and professional counterintelligence actors, ie. spies. Within this line of inquiry it is dangerous to take current presentations and overlay them against their historic footprint. Inevitably the discussion leads to contradictions and forces the conversation into the world of mirrored halls filled with purposeful disinformation.

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