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.
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.
It is easy to get lost in the weeds if you don’t follow the details closely; however, last night James Clapper appeared on CNN to defend himself against mounting evidence he leaked, and falsified the content of a presidential briefing of an Intelligence Discussion -including the “Steele Dossier”- to CNN January 9th or 10th 2017. [Full Recent Backstory]
Before getting to the CNN/James Clapper video, it’s important to revisit the specific sequence of events. It is difficult to spot lies if you don’t have events to reference. Here’s a recap of the exact timeline of events from 2017:
♦Friday January 6th – DNI James Clapper, CIA John Brennan, FBI James Comey and NSA Mike Rogers briefed President-Elect Trump on their Joint Analysis Report of the Russian Election interference. (link) [POTUS-Elect released a statement]
♦Tuesday January 10th – CNN runs an explosive story (Jake Tapper) and article about Intelligence Officials briefing President Trump about the Steele Dossier. (link)
♦Tuesday January 10th – (Moments later) At 5:20pm Buzzfeed uses the CNN story as an excuse to publish the Steele Dossier.
♦Wednesday January 11th – The Trump transition team states the content of the CNN story [claiming President-Elect Trump was briefed on the Dossier] was false.
♦Wednesday January 11th – (same day) President Trump blasts CNN for pushing “fake news” about their story; P-Elect saying he was not briefed on the “dossier”.
♦Wednesday January 11th – (same day) NBC independently refutes the content of the prior day CNN story. Trump wasn’t briefed on dossier the Friday prior. (link)
♦Wednesday January 11th – (same day) FOX News independently refutes the content of the prior day CNN story. Again, Trump wasn’t briefed on dossier. (link)
♦Wednesday January 11th – (same day – EVENING) DNI James Clapper puts out a press release and affirms he only told the President-elect of the IC position on the Steele Dossier moments before. (January 11th – NOT January 6th) (link)
That’s the cited sequence of events, and the copy of the Press Statement by ODNI James Clapper for verification [Archived Link Here] Pay close attention to the wording above.
Well this latest twist is sketchy as hell. In December last year we learned about Nellie Ohr working for Fusion GPS and channeling Clinton/Steele ‘dossier’ information to her husband Bruce Ohr who worked in the DOJ National Security Division.
Today Fox News is revealing that Fusion-GPS #2 man-in-charge, Neil King Jr., was/is married to President Obama’s White House Policy Adviser, Shailagh Murray; who was also Joe Biden’s Deputy-Chief-of-Staff.
WASHINGTON – House Republicans are expanding their investigation of the Trump dossier, seeking answers from Obama administration officials including a former staffer for Vice President Joe Biden whose husband works for the firm behind the controversial document, Fox News has learned.
There has been a great deal of consternation, directed toward AG Jeff Sessions surrounding the ongoing FISA abuse scandal and the larger issues of unlawful DOJ and FBI conduct in their political investigation of candidate Donald Trump. It is a matter of great division amid people who follow the details.
That said, AG Jeff Sessions revealed tonight in an interview with Shannon Bream, that he previously appointed a DOJ official to investigate the issues delivered by Chairman Bob Goodlatte (House Judiciary), prior to receiving the request for a Special Counsel from Chairman Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy. WATCH:
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Transcript @00:15(emphasis mine) “Well, I have great respect for Mr. Gowdy and Chairman Goodlatte, and we are going to consider seriously their recommendations. 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.
Also I am well aware we have a responsibility to insure the integrity of the FISA process, we’re not afraid to look at that. The inspector general, some think that our inspector general is not very strong; but he has almost 500 employers, employees, most of which are lawyers and prosecutors; and they are looking at the FISA process. We must make sure that it’s done properly, and we’re going to do that. And I’ll consider their request.”
Well, there you have it. There is already an appointed person, likely a prosecutor, from “outside of Washington”, in place prior to the recent request for a Special Counsel by Goodlatte and Gowdy. That was exactly what an objective analysis of the events previously outlined – and we previously noted.
Attorney Jeff Sessions is noting the existence of an outside prosecutor who has been in place for quite a while, exactly as we thought. All the evidence of this was/is clear if you follow the granular details closely. Here’s how we figure it out; and also the reason why no-one in Washington DC -including congress and the president- was previously aware.
Judicial analyst and Fox News host, Shannon Bream, has an exclusive interview airing tonight on Fox News. Jake Gibson is a Fox News producer and just tweeted this:
It would appear Attorney General Jeff Sessions already has a DOJ prosecutor looking into the issues uncovered by the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte.
You might note, as we previously outlined, Chairman Bob Goodlatte -as a specific outcome of his oversight role- is the congressional leader working closest with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz. I shall resist the urge….
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte has direct oversight authority over the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Courts. Within this oversight, the House Judiciary Committee also has oversight over the FISA court. Additionally, in his current oversight role, Chairman Goodlatte has been working closely with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
Today Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Representative Trey Gowdy pen a letter (full pdf below) to Attorney General Jeff Sessions requesting the appointment of a special counsel to investigate “conflicts of interest” and decisions “made and not made” by current and former Justice Department officials in 2016 and 2017, noting that “the public interest requires” the action.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Gowdy and Goodlatte spoke about the discovery of new information as their reasoning behind calling for a second independent counsel:
“What changed for me was the knowledge that there are two dozen witnesses that Michael Horowitz, the [DOJ] Inspector General, would not have access to,” Gowdy said. “When I counted up 24 witnesses that he would not be able to access were he to investigate it, yeah only one conclusion, that’s special counsel.”
A few months ago, a special CNN investigative unit reached the end of a year compiling information that proved Pokemon-Go conspired to defeat Hillary Clinton. Last month the network sent a reporter to St. Petersburg, where he literally dug around a dumpster looking for leads to the global Russian election conspiracy.
Earlier tonight, after Jake Tapper interviewed him by phone, CNN quickly arranged for an hour-long broadcast interview with a seemingly drunk guy , “sketchy sam“, to discuss the vast Russian-Trump planetary conspiracy theory & his involvement with Robert Mueller.
Yes America, today CNN sends Ivan Watson to Bangkok, Thailand, for an interview with a prostitute claiming to have the goods on the President Trump’s collusion with Russia. The hooker, Anastasia Vashukevich, who is also a self-described “sex coach,” is currently imprisoned, and hopes that America will offer her asylum in exchange for naked pictures of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
BACKSTORY – Sketchy Sam Nunberg was a former aide/adviser to the Donald Trump campaign and very close friend of Roger Stone. Sketchy Sam was fired by Corey Lewandowski in 2015 for leaking salacious inflammatory information to the media and being a generally unstable fellow. Nunberg told media in 2015 that Ms. Hope Hicks (Trump Communication Lead) and Mr. Corey Lewandowski (former Trump Campaign Head) were having an affair.
Upon firing a jaded Sketchy Sam went to join the Ted Cruz campaign, and became a Cruz advocate. {Go figure} Later it was revealed that Sketchy Sam had written weird, divisive and racist material to his social media. Everyone distanced themselves from him. The guy was/is just plain goofy, aka ‘sketchy’.
Enter Robert Mueller’s team, who interviewed Sketchy Sam for over five hours. Then Mueller sent a subpoena to Sketchy. Sam tells media today he thinks Mueller is on a witch hunt and other sketchy stuff as only Sketchy Sam can.
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This entire Nunberg/media enterprise is a clown show of historic proportions; and even the moonbat interviewers recognize the goofy narrative that becomes obvious to anyone watching. If an elephant walked through your front yard, how many pancakes would it take to fill a canoe? The vast Russian-Trump planetary conspiracy theory is epically ridiculous. Sketchy Sam is the representative image of that nuttery.
Mark Levin interviewed House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes on the overall FISA Court abuse and political investigation by the DOJ and FBI. In a comprehensive interview Levin walks through a timeline of media reporting.
The hour long interview in three video segments. Part I