Things are getting increasingly interesting and simultaneously obvious.  Thursday night the Washington Post reported that FBI Director Christopher Wray had relieved FBI Chief Legal Counsel, James Baker, of his responsibilities within the department.
Attorney James Baker accompanied FBI Asst. Director “Andy” McCabe to the Tuesday congressional hearing with the House Intelligence Community.  Curiously, in addition to other lines of inquiry, during the questioning McCabe was asked about whether James Baker was authorized to speak to the media about the Steele Dossier and the underlying ‘counterintelligence’ operation.  Asst. Director McCabe responded that Baker would not be authorized to take such action.
Following the HPSCI hearing, republican committee leadership announced their plan to subpoena James Baker for further questioning.  [Keep in mind Baker was there.]  Two days later, at the Thursday Judiciary and Oversight Committee hearings, James Baker did not accompany Andrew McCabe.   Hours later, James Baker is removed from his responsibilities as legal counsel within the FBI.  Cause: ‘unknown‘.

Back in July, 2017, it was reported that James Baker was under a criminal investigation for leaking classified information from within the FBI, although the details of the leak content were unknown.  Politico today reports that James Baker has been identified as the likely source that released information about the Fusion-GPS/Christopher Steele “Russian Conspiracy Dossier” to David Corn of Mother Jones in October of 2016:

(Via Politico) House Republicans are investigating contact between the FBI’s top lawyer and a Mother Jones reporter in the weeks before the left-leaning outlet broke the first news story about the existence of a disputed dossier alleging ties between President Donald Trump and the Kremlin, according to two congressional GOP sources who described documents linking the two men.
The GOP sources said the documents — made available recently to lawmakers by the Department of Justice — revealed that James Baker, the FBI’s general counsel, communicated with Mother Jones reporter David Corn in the weeks leading up to the November 2016 election. Corn was the first to report the existence of the dossier on Oct. 31 and that it was compiled by a former high-level western spy.

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There is a clear plan and strategy in place to deal with the schemes of the “small group” of co-conspirators within the DOJ and FBI.  CTH advises prudent patience, and assembly of tar and feathers, as the Machiavellian schemes continue to be untangled.
Tuesday afternoon when FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe travelled to Capitol Hill for his 10-hour closed door testimony and questioning he was accompanied by “small group” defense shield, FBI legal counsel, James Baker.   In front of the House Intelligence Committee, Andy McCabe suddenly couldn’t remember his relationship with the Steele Dossier. As a result of Attorney Baker’s appearance and specific engagement within the hearing investigators announced yesterday to Baker would be summoned for questioning:

While HPSCI staff would not confirm who will be summoned for testimony, all indications point to demoted DOJ official Bruce G. Ohr and FBI General Counsel James A. Baker, who accompanied McCabe, along with other lawyers, to Tuesday’s HPSCI session. (link)

Today, FBI Director Christopher Wray relieved FBI legal counsel James Baker from his responsibilities within the department.  The favored MSM outlet for the defense of those within the “Trump Operation”/conspiratorial plot, rushes to the typeset:

WASHINGTON POST – The FBI’s top lawyer, James Baker, is being reassigned — one of the first moves by new director Christopher A. Wray to assemble his own team of senior advisers as he tries to fend off accusations of politicization within the bureau.

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Several new developments happening today center around the FBI’s use of the Christopher Steele Dossier in gaining FISA warrants to wiretap and monitor the 2016 campaign of Donald Trump; ie. “The Trump Project”. Doug Ross continues to update the ongoing conspiracy Timeline – SEE HERE. And that timeline just gained a big addition from a recently discovered visitor to the White House.
Before going to the White House visitor angle, it’s important to express appreciation for Tablet Mag who did a deep dive into the Fusion-GPS connection to the creation of the Steele Dossier, and more specifically how Fusion-GPS head Glenn Simpson and his wife Mary Jacoby were instrumental in getting the dossier assembled and into the hands of the White House prior to the DOJ and FBI applying for the FISA warrant – SEE HERE.

Tablet Mag outlines how Mary Jacoby even bragged about getting the “Russiagate” narrative started:

A Tablet investigation using public sources to trace the evolution of the now-famous dossier suggests that central elements of the Russiagate scandal emerged not from the British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s top-secret “sources” in the Russian government—which are unlikely to exist separate from Russian government control—but from a series of stories that Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson and his wife Mary Jacoby co-wrote for TheWall Street Journal well before Fusion GPS existed, and Donald Trump was simply another loud-mouthed Manhattan real estate millionaire.
Understanding the origins of the “Steele dossier” is especially important because of what it tells us about the nature and the workings of what its supporters would hopefully describe as an ongoing campaign to remove the elected president of the United States.

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Perhaps, just perhaps, being cautiously optimistic, we appear to be gaining momentum toward a massive dose of sunlight on the 2016 FBI/DOJ “Trump Project”.
In the interview below, Senator Rand Paul outlines his concerns with the intelligence use of FISA warrants and then drops a verbal MOAB right in the middle of the interview.
After he outlines the general FISA concern, Senator Rand Paul cuts straight to the heart of matter and righteously points to the increasing evidence that the DOJ and FBI were in collusion against a presidential candidate.  Must Watch:

In plain language the “Trump Project” was a joint 2016 FBI & DOJ counterintelligence operation to conduct wiretaps and surveillance upon the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. Operatives within the FBI and DOJ who were politically aligned with the Hillary Clinton campaign, weaponized the DOJ and FBI to undermine her political opposition.

Those who have been walking the deep weeds have a pretty strong understanding of Deputy FBI Director Andrew “Andy” McCabe’s risk profile and his role in the 2016 “Trump Project”.  The Rosen report earlier today -based on investigators within the House Intelligence Committee- states McCabe has lost his memory around the timeline for the FBI’s FISA application and the Christoper Steele Russian Dossier as evidence therein.
If it can be shown the Steele Dossier was part of the underlying evidence within the FISA warrant (Sept./Oct. 2016), allowing wiretaps and surveillance of candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the foundation for a conspiracy becomes evident.  If McCabe was aware of the origin, financing and use of the Steele Dossier in obtaining a FISA warrant, his exposure to a criminal conspiracy increases exponentially.
Understanding how Deputy McCabe’s risk profile increases in direct proportion to his attachment to the Steele Dossier explains his memory lapses, obfuscations and testimony toward his knowledge therein.
That said, House Representative Jim Jordan is the key person keeping congressional inquiry on this important facet. However, amid those gaining an increased understanding of the scale and scope, we find Representative Peter King discussing today:
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FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe faced about eight hours of questioning behind closed doors during the House Intelligence Committee yesterday. Unlike prior HPSCI closed hearings remarkably there were no leaks; which would generally indicate the content was adverse to the interests of Democrat party investigators within the hearing.

From scant reporting it appears the questioning surrounded potential conflicts of interest and anti-Trump bias amid the entire cabal of FBI officials. Fox News James Rosen provides some overall information from congressional investigators.
According to Rosen’s reporting Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, bringing a full contingent of FBI/DOJ lawyers, has apparently lost much of his memory surrounding how the Steele Dossier was financed, constructed and later utilized by the FBI Counterintelligence unit (Bill Priestap, Peter Strzok) in their quest for 2016 surveillance and wiretaps against candidate Donald Trump within their FISA applications.

James Rosen – Congressional investigators tell Fox News that Tuesday’s seven-hour interrogation of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe contained numerous conflicts with the testimony of previous witnesses, prompting the Republican majority staff of the House Intelligence Committee to decide to issue fresh subpoenas next week on Justice Department and FBI personnel.
While HPSCI staff would not confirm who will be summoned for testimony, all indications point to demoted DOJ official Bruce G. Ohr and FBI General Counsel James A. Baker, who accompanied McCabe, along with other lawyers, to Tuesday’s HPSCI session.

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Almost two weeks ago it was announced that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras was mysteriously recused from the Special Counsel case against General Mike Flynn, five days after Judge Contreras accepting the initial pleading. No explanation as to ‘why’?

(Reuters) The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judge presiding over the criminal case for President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has been recused from handling the case, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday. (read more)

One might think the media apparatus, or pundit proletariat writ large, might be curious about why a U.S. District Court Judge would be recused. Alas One would be wrong. The recusal angle is transparently missing from any follow-up by media; and apparently the judicial cat also has stolen the tongue of congressional curiosity. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
The story has been memory holed into the concentric whirlpool of nothingness.
We have speculated that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras was recused, either by himself or by challenge, because he is also a FISA Court Judge and could have signed off on the October FISA warrant that led to the wiretapping and surveillance of General Flynn. However, we have received information that it wasn’t ‘by challenge’, leaving the preponderance of the motive for recusal directly upon Judge Contreras personal decision.
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Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe is testifying today behind closed doors to the House Intelligence Committee. Important to note how there have been no leaks; that’s the first indication of coordinated chaff and counter measures deployed by the UniParty enablers of the Deep State institutional government.
Bruce Ohr is scheduled tomorrow; again behind closed doors, this time in the Senate Intelligence Committee setting. Again, dueling intelligence hearings -between House and Senate- (on the same witnesses), indicates the UniParty apparatus has deployed Chaff and Countermeasures and is protecting the administrative state.

Promoting, well, actually the appropriate word is ‘deploying‘, the leveraged and controlled head of the House Oversight/Reform Committee is the tri-fecta in seeing the countermeasures deployed. [Prior: Issa, Chaffetz, now Roosterhead] The Chairman or Chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee is given the responsibility to deflect. In payment for services toward the cause of the UniParty the Chairman gets indulgences.
The oversight “Gang of Eight” appear to have taken over the process to ensure controls are in place. If we had not been watching this exact process play out for the past 8 years, we might not recognize the pattern. Alas, with Fast and Furious, IRS Targeting, Benghazi and more examples of UniParty wagon-circling, we would be naive not to notice the identical replay. The Hezbollah side-show is part of the ‘shiny thing’.
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It is my belief, based on mounting evidence, a specific cast of characters -within the Mueller “Russia Election Interference” probe- were placed there to protect people behind the FBI’s initial false claims. Those claims formed the basis for the counterintelligence operation against 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump.

According to reports, in August 2017 the Mueller team went around the Trump administration in their quest for documents, by directly demanding documents from the General Services Agency (GSA); the entity that hosted the communication network for the Trump transition team.
According to reports, the content of 12 email accounts was handed over to the Special Counsels’ office; consisting of thousands of pages of transition team communication.  Innocuous, ordinary transition stuff, but the method of procurement is jaw-droppingly unethical, possibly illegal.
Well, now you don’t have to rely on reports. Here’s the actual letter (Full pdf):
[scribd id=367392335 key=key-NHeTYuWqhdD4duzA7D1d mode=scroll]
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Now, let’s take a stroll and explain to our neighbors exactly what this entire plot is all about and why they should care….
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There is widespread opinion that many of the officials enlisted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller are ethically challenged.  Critics point to Mueller team members like DOJ Attorney Andrew Weissman, Jeannie Rhee and Aaron Zebley as specific examples of players within Mueller’s investigative team who have a history of gross ethics violations and also carry jaw-dropping conflicts-of-interest.
Against that backdrop, a report today about conduct by the Mueller team of investigators gains additional levels of concerns.   According to reports, in August 2017 the Mueller team went around the Trump administration in their quest for documents, by directly demanding documents from the General Services Agency (GSA); the entity that hosted the communication network for the Trump transition team.  According to reports, the content of 12 email accounts was handed over to the Special Counsels’ office; consisting of thousands of pages of transition team communication.  Innocuous, ordinary transition stuff, but the method of procurement is jaw-droppingly unethical, possibly illegal.

However, as with all things disclosed and discovered recently, CTH would caution anyone toward weighting favor or disfavor on the underlying issue.  Additionally, I would again remind everyone to look at the timelines on any new information, overlay it against prior information, and consider how the timing of the event(s) -in relation to the whole- might change the first impression.
In this case, the reported action by the SC team took place in August 2017, four or five months ago.  Inside that exact same timeline, on August 16th 2017, FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Attorney Lisa Page were kicked off the Mueller team.  Coincidence? Dunno. Maybe.
Again, don’t get so stuck looking at the granules moving at your feet that you fail to notice the entire landscape around you is shifting.
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