Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell discusses the period during the presidential transition period where President Obama’s white house team was coordinating intelligence efforts to research and unmask incoming officials.
On July 21, 2018, amid the apex of all things Trump-Russia being carefully narrated by the special counsel team, why did the DOJ release the Top Secret Classified Intelligence document known as the Carter Page FISA application?
At the time it happened everyone was so consumed with the content of the release, almost no-one stopped to ask that question. Except, well, me.
Put yourself back into that 2018 time-frame: the Trump-Russia collusion hoax was being pushed hard; the Nunes memo -vs- the Schiff memo was being argued and the media was writing furiously about leaks from anonymous sources “with knowledge of the investigation” etc. Congress was being blocked from all their document requests and their bucket lists for declassification. Rod Rosenstein was refusing to testify to the House Intel Committee led by Devin Nunes. The DOJ was blocking documents related to surveillance of President Trump. The media was saying there was no surveillance of Trump. Congress was desperate to break the stonewalling and asked President Trump to declassify a list of documents they provided. Rod Rosenstein threatened Trump that if he declassified documents it would be adding to a potential obstruction investigation and claim. Etc. Etc.
Hell, despite his recusal from these matters, AG Sessions was getting major heat over the blockage from DOJ… the battle was intense. Sessions announced an Illinois USAO John Laush to try and mediate the issues. Laush was a major fail.
Then, amid all of that stonewalling, blocking, redacting of documents, failure to unredact, and refusal to declassify…. suddenly, all of a sudden, presto, here’s the most top secret classified document release ever.
To fulfill a FOIA request by Judicial Watch and the New York Times.
A FOIA request?
Seriously?
Today the DOJ has released additional exculpatory information to the Flynn defense team surrounding hand-written notes taken by Tashina Guahar and FBI agent Peter Strzok. The 1/25/17 meeting takes place the day after two FBI agents interview Flynn at the White House. There’s also an internal document from the DOJ dated 1/30/17, and notes by former DOJ AAG -who later became FBI counsel- Dana Boente.
[NOTE: Keep in mind the last day for Jody Hunt, Noel Francisco and Dana Boente was last Friday, July 3rd. Coincidental timing?]
The notes and internal document are filed under seal per Judge Sullivan’s prior order. However, with previous filings the documents were made public the following day; so we might see the content tomorrow.
Tashina Guahar and Dana Boente were part of the small group inside Main Justice who convinced AG Jeff Sessions to recuse. But you don’t need to wait for the court to release the March 30, 2017, Boente notes, because we already have them.
When the special counsel team was stirring the pot for the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, they leaked the Boente notes to their allied resistance member, Rachael Maddow. Those notes form the basis/justification for Boente signing the second renewal of the FISA warrant against Carter Page (April 2017). James Comey called Dana Boente because he needed the FISA extended and could not call Jeff Sessions.
Comey enlisted Boente into the operation against President Trump. Ultimately these notes form the basis for why the DOJ demanded Boente leave his position in May. This is why Boente was removed {Go Deep}.
As Max Ehmann said in 1927 “whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” From an important reference point, this quote holds additional meaning when cast against the backdrop of this Bill Barr segment. [More on that later.]
This morning Maria Bartiromo released a previous segment of her interview with AG Bill Barr that was not originally broadcast. It is a very insightful segment. AG Barr begins by acknowledging a very key and foundational point: President Donald Trump was indeed targeted by various entities in a concerted effort to remove him from office. Do not let the importance of just that statement alone sit without its appropriate weight.
Second, another key aspect from the attorney general perspective is highlighted at 03:30 to 03:53 where he notes the role and responsibility of media. The importance of a distinction Barr makes is subtle for most, but for CTH it’s important because of THIS.
I would urge everyone to take the time to watch this segment.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard “Ric” Grenell appears for a discussion with Lou Dobbs about the echo-chamber within Washington DC and the internecine relationship to the intelligence apparatus.
Ric Grenell makes a really good point when he connects how the DC political resistance would not attend the Trump inauguration, and how that same attitude just continued throughout. President Trump’s outsider status made him a risk to the interests of the administrative state. The DC system will not accept a ‘people’s president’, they demand approval authority permitting only one of their UniParty tribe.
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Notice a pattern?
The DC circuit court of appeals has oral arguments scheduled for this coming Friday as the DOJ and Flynn defense both request intervention. In the interim the underlying case continues in Judge Emett Sullivan’s court. Part of that underlying case activity was a request by Sullivan for an Amicus briefing by court appointed lawyer John Gleeson.
John Gleeson is essentially filling an assignment by the judge to assume the role of prosecutor and inform the court through an amicus briefing. That brief was filed today [pdf available here and below]. Within the brief, and counter to the position of the DOJ with new information, Gleeson claims the predicate for the investigation of Flynn was valid and sets out to launch his argument from that foundation.
In essence Gleeson is defending the origin of Spygate/Obamagate and all the downstream consequences from that originating decision; one of those origination issues was an investigation of Michael Flynn; and one downstream consequence was an interview of Flynn under the guise of the dubious originating investigation authority.
Assuming the role of “Spygate” defender is an interesting effort by John Gleeson; considering that Gleeson should have little knowledge about new discoveries into the DOJ and FBI predication activity in 2016. The discoveries by USAO John Durham (Spygate in total) and USAO Jeff Jensen (Flynn case specific) should be unknown to Gleeson as he attempts to frame his argument.
The notoriously political DOJ lawyer who was assigned to FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, has joined notoriously political DOJ lawyer Andrew Weissmann as a paid MSNBC analyst. The media are not even pretending any more.
Laughably, the media assembly of highly partisan DOJ and FBI officials continues.
However, apparently the left-wing media does not think the American electorate will see all of these political operatives, gathering under one collective presence, as an indication of their extreme bias and political intent. They have no credibility left to burn.
House intelligence committee ranking member Devin Nunes appears on FBN with Liz MacDonald to discuss the latest events around senate investigations into the Obama-era DOJ, FBI and Intelligence Community surveillance operations.
The testimony of former Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is now complete and we are able to make an honest assessment into the motives and intents of the Senate Judiciary Committee; and specifically Chairman Lindsey Graham.
Without a doubt, it is now clear Senator Lindsey Graham is executing the familiar chaff and countermeasure approach to cover-up the former administration surveillance abuses.
Here are four specific reasons that clarity is assured. Ranked in order of brutality:
While there was some cursory inquiry into the reasoning of Rod Rosenstein to authorize the direct targeting of Trump campaign officials, not a single Senator inquired about the specifics behind how the August 2, 2017, scope memo was created:
Who specifically identified the targets; what justification was provided by the special counsel to target the officials; why were those specific persons selected; and under what predicate was Rosenstein authorized to expand the Mueller investigation?
Today at 10:00am EDT former Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein will be testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the issues and events surrounding Spygate, the DOJ/FBI weaponization, FISA abuses and his role in the Mueller investigation.
This testimony should give us a good indication of whether Chairman Lindsey Graham is serious about revealing the truth behind three years of intelligence abuses; or whether the legislative objective is to cover for serious abuses of power in the Obama surveillance era.
Senate Judiciary Link – CSPAN Livestream – Fox Livestream – FBN Livestream