A few hours ago President Trump tweeted a curiously specific pair of tweets targeting the FBI, DOJ and FISA investigations as it relates to the House Judiciary Committee and Chairman Bob Goodlatte.  Something’s up:

Against the backdrop of the DOJ notifying the House Intelligence and House Senate committees last night of their ability to review the DOJ/FBI submission of the FISA Court application used to target U.S. person Carter Page, the specificity of POTUS Trump’s direction is curious.

As we previously discussed the DOJ allowing expanded congressional oversight over the FISA application, against the backdrop of a previously announced IG review of this specific FISA application, would indicate Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Federal Prosecutor John Huber signed-off on, or perhaps directed, last night’s approval.

(more…)

Until today the only people allowed to review the full Title-1 FISA application were Trey Gowdy, Adam Schiff, Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Rep John Ratcliffe.

In an interesting development, the Department of Justice has responded to HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes notifying him the DOJ will allow all members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees full access to review the unredacted FBI/DOJ FISA application used to gain a Title-1 surveillance warrant against U.S. citizen Carter Page.

[scribd id=375730245 key=key-7BQe9fJzvsXo7bSB3dRh mode=scroll]

According to CNN: ‘Separately, Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior said the department on Monday will supplement its document production to the House Judiciary Committee by producing another 1,000 pages of materials in response to a subpoena issued by committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte.’

This is an interesting development for several reasons:

(more…)

Fox News Catherine Herridge reports today, per her FBI investigative sources, it was an investigative interview with FBI Attorney Lisa Page, in July 2017, that contradicted FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and ultimately led to his firing.

That revelation is exactly what we anticipated was the origin to Inspector General Michael Horowitz gaining the text messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok.  The issue is actually more stunning than presented.  However, first here’s the report from Herridge (emphasis mine):

Fox News – Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired last month for committing three violations of the bureau’s ethics code, an investigative source told Fox News on Thursday.

The violations initially were uncovered by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General and confirmed by the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility. They included lack of candor under oath, lack of candor when not under oath, and the improper disclosure of non-public information to the media about the FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

(more…)

It was noted –and reported– yesterday that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes sent a letter (full pdf below) to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Asst. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.  Nunes is demanding un-redacted FBI documents surrounding the origination of the July 2016 counterintelligence operation against candidate Donald Trump, and the FISA application stemming from within the FBI investigation.

The issue(s) surrounding the declassification of the FISA application and subsequent FISA warrant against Carter Page are not new.  The new aspect within the Nunes demand relates to a request for the intelligence community “electronic communication” (EC) that kicked off the initial FBI counterintelligence op.  Within that new line of inquiry the subject of interest is ultimately former CIA Director John Brennan.

However, there are issues here; serious issues. There are VERY valid reasons why the FBI (Wray) and DOJ (Rosenstein) would push back against HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes.  It’s complicated, and we’ll try to unpack.

Begin by noting on page two of the Nunes request, Paragraph #3, something all media writing about the Nunes demand seem to overlook.  Screengrab below:

(more…)

Sara Carter has a new ‘exclusive’ report from congressional sources who are sharing new text messages with her surrounding the timeline of the Justice Department’s National Security Division compiling the FISA Title-1 application that was eventually authorized to conduct FBI surveillance on Carter Page and the Trump Campaign.

A note of caution within the story as outlined by Carter, there’s some granular details -subject to interpretation- that she appears to be misconstruing. Additionally, it is important for emphasis to remember the Main Justice side of the scandal stems from rogue officials within the DOJ national Security Division [DOJ-NSD].

According to Carter, Peter Strzok was expressing frustration about the FISA application being challenged. DOJ Attorney Lisa Page, assigned to Andrew McCabe by the DOJ ‘small group’ leadership, was explaining to Strzok who, how and where the slowdown was coming from.

Sara Carter – […] Text messages obtained by investigators reveal that FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and his colleague Lisa Page were discussing the FBI’s difficulty in obtaining the warrant to spy on Carter Page, who worked for a short stint with the Trump campaign. The FBI obtained its first warrant to spy on Page on Oct. 19, 2016, and there would be three subsequent renewals every 90 days for the warrant on Mr. Page.

[…] In one of the September 2016 text message chains, Strzok tells Lisa Page about an argument that occurred with former DOJ prosecutor David Laufman. Laufman, who was then chief of the DOJ’s National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, oversaw the probe into former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, as well as the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Laufman left the DOJ earlier this year citing personal reasons for leaving his post, according to news reports.

Here’s where Sara Carter gets “BOMBSHELL” sideways:

(more…)

Victor Davis Hanson appears on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs for an excellent interview on the topic of DOJ and FBI political corruption.  In the first response from Mr. Hanson he instinctively and accurately outlines the scale of the challenge that was/is faced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Mr. Hanson frames the context of the myriad of issues very well, and as such represents himself as one of the few big-picture-brains who really gets it.  Hanson gets the totality of it… all of it.   Everyone should pay attention to how Hanson is able to look at the specific examples and details, and yet remain at the 30,000/ft level… Rare skill:

.

Expanding below:

(more…)

It was Friday December 1st, 2017, when the media first hit the headlines announcing the guilty plea for former National Security Adviser General Mike Flynn.  It was less than 24 hours later, Saturday December 2nd, when ‘a group’ within the DOJ hit back with announcements revealing the political bias of FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

Despite the transparency of timing the media ignored the relationship between the two events.  However, people who were following the granular details -within the intelligence community conflict- accepted the IG releases would be used as fuel for congressional review and inquiry….. and that’s exactly what happened.

Unfortunately, the focus was so intense on what later became ‘dueling memos’ no-one paused to look at the granules against the bigger picture.  Despite the media story pointing out Strzok and Page were removed from duties on the Special Counsel (Mueller) team in July and August 2017, no-one questioned what was happening between July/August 2017 and the December 2nd media release announcing their dispatch.

If anyone in January had begun cross referencing the Nunes, Goodlatte, Grassley discoveries and their volumes of investigative interviews; against the backdrop of the IG information to Mueller in July ’17; they would have possibly connected the dots that outlined the appearance of a criminal review – and a transparent need for an authorized DOJ entity to construct rules for cooperation within the ongoing IG investigation.

We now know Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DAG Rod Rosenstein assigned federal prosecutor John W. Huber to that task.  However, even without knowing his name, we always knew the existence of the parallel prosecutor because the fingerprints of his tasks were evident.

The IG couldn’t simultaneously report on his discovery of criminal conduct and yet construct the parameters for cooperation and compliance with his investigation.  IG Horowitz doesn’t have that authority, that’s a federal prosecutors job.

So if people within the FBI and DOJ were cooperating with an internal investigation that was discovering criminal conduct, someone from within the DOJ had to be cutting the deals.   Jeff Sessions told us yesterday that person is John Huber.

(more…)

It is important anyone interested in the FBI and DOJ investigation take the time to digest the details within Attorney General Jeff Sessions notification letter to congress outlining his previous appointment of U.S Attorney John Huber to parallel Inspector General Michael Horowitz as a prosecutor.

Do not trust the pundit filtration of content, take the time to read it yourself.

[scribd id=375121590 key=key-GoAFKgH7XOxqLjkADswn mode=scroll]

.

Absorbing the DOJ has a long-standing criminal investigation will likely create anxiety for those committed to an irrational intolerance of Attorney General Jeff Sessions; but the substance remains evident regardless of sentiment.

The Bigger Picture – If we accept the historic context for DOJ official communication stemming from the IG investigation, it would appear the notification letter is timed with the conclusion of investigative evidence collection. As such, the timing is safe for the DOJ to reveal the name of the prosecutor many previously refused to believe existed.

(more…)

In response to a litany of congressional requests demanding a second ‘special counsel’, Attorney General Jeff Sessions previously told media (largely ignored) he appointed a prosecutor from “outside DC” to look at all the issues surrounding the corrupt FBI and DOJ:

MARCH 8th, 2018 – “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, 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.” (link w/video)

Despite AG Sessions repeated assurances that he had already assigned a DOJ prosecutor to work with IG Michael Horowitz, on the myriad of issues surrounding corruption within the FBI and DOJ – to include the FISA court abuses, congressional voices kept demanding a second special counsel.

Continuing the drumbeat, last night HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes restated the political demand for another Special Counsel.  Today AG Jeff Sessions reveals the name of the prosecutor assigned to the task, John Huber from Utah, included in a letter to congress.

Washington (CNN) Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed Thursday that Utah’s top federal prosecutor, John Huber, has been examining a cluster of Republican-driven accusations against the FBI and has decided that no second special counsel is needed — at least for now.

Huber has been looking into allegations that the FBI abused its powers in surveilling a former Trump campaign adviser, and more should have been done to investigate Hillary Clinton’s ties to a Russian nuclear energy agency, but his identity had remained a secret.

(more…)

Curious timing.  One day after the Department of Justice announced felony charges against FBI Agent Terry J. Albury for leaking confidential information to the media, fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe launches a legal defense fund.

(Reuters Story Link)

Andrew McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DAG Rod Rosenstein on the recommendation from the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility.  The recommendation followed an Inspector General referral which outlined how deputy McCabe had constructed leaks to the media, and instructed his team (Mike Kortan, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page etc.) to contact media outlets, feeding them information in an effort to shape the stories of financial connections between McCabe’s family and Hillary Clinton.

When confronted by the IG about his involvement leaking stories to the media, Andrew McCabe lied.  His initial denial, in the face of overwhelming evidence provided by the cohorts he instructed, prompted the IG referral to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility.  The OPR recommended McCabe’s termination to DAG Rod Rosenstein.

(more…)