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DC Circuit Appeals Panel Rebukes House Effort to Enforce Subpoena Compelling Don McGhan Testimony…

In November 2019 activist Federal District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ruled former White House counsel Don McGahn must appear before Congress; however, she also ruled McGahn retained the ability to “invoke executive privilege where appropriate” during his appearance. The central issue is separation of power.

The White House appealed the ruling to the DC appellate court on constitutional grounds, and on February 28, 2020, a three judge panel from the DC circuit agreed with the White House position.  The House of representatives could have appealed the decision; however, instead, the main lawfare activist, House counsel Doug Letter, took a different approach and sought to argue the case based around their right to enforce a subpoena.

Today a politically divided DC appeals court panel ruled the House can’t go to the judicial branch to enforce legislative subpoenas because there is no statute giving the legislative chamber the authority to force the executive branch to enforce an action against its own constitutional interests.

DC Via Politico – […] “The decision is likely to spark a renewed debate over the House’s power of “inherent contempt” — its long-dormant ability to fine or jail witnesses who refuse to comply with its oversight requests.

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Trying to Cut The Gordian Knot – Carter Page Outlines Five FBI Interviews in March of 2017…

Carter Page appears on Fox News for an interview with Maria Bartiromo to discuss a book he is publishing about the DOJ and FBI targeting him for surveillance and identifying him as “an agent of a foreign government” in 2016 and 2017.

Interestingly, Page notes [@02:56] he had five interviews with the FBI in March of 2017, and he connects those interviews to the possibility of leaks to the Washington Post.  However, it would be interesting to find out the exact dates of those interviews because the FISA application identifying him, leaked by James Wolfe, was delivered to the SSCI on March 17, 2017, as a “read and return” document.  It was after March 17th when the Washington Post wrote the article mentioned by Carter Page.

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There is strong circumstantial evidence when the FISA application was delivered to the SSCI on March 17, 2017, that only James Wolfe and SSCI Vice-Chairman Mark Warner reviewed it.  First, it was “read and return”, back to the equity provider, FBI SSA Brian Dugan.  Second, if any other member of the SSCI had reviewed the application it’s doubtful they would have been requesting to review it in December ’17 and early ’18.  Common sense would indicate only Warner and Wolfe saw the application, and Warner never informed the committee of his review; hence their later requests.

Additionally, another unusual aspect to the FISA application delivery surrounds the 2018 letters written by Chairman Nunes (HPSCI) and Chairman Bob Goodlatte (House Judiciary) to presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer, where both chairman were being blocked by the special counsel from obtaining the FISA application and both were seeking to gain it from the FISA Court.

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My Discussion With John Durham’s Lead Investigator, William Aldenberg…

On Tuesday August 18th, I had the opportunity to talk to, be interviewed by, and brief the person described as the “main guy”, the “central investigator”, “the guy who coordinates all investigative aspects” behind the John Durham investigation.

His name is William Aldenberg, and before getting to the substance of the conversation some background context is needed.

On June 7, 2018, an indictment against Senate Intelligence Committee Security Director James Wolfe was unsealed.

Approximately six weeks later, July 21, 2018, the DOJ mysteriously declassified and publicly released the Carter Page FISA application.  That’s when I noticed the first two documents were related.  The FISA application was the “top secret classified document” described in the Wolfe indictment.

Immediately I recognized it wasn’t just any copy of the FISA application that was released by the DOJ; but rather a very specific copy of the FISA application.  What the DOJ released was the exact copy used in the leak investigation of James Wolfe.  The ramifications of this specific copy being publicly released were immediately noted, although almost everyone seemed to gloss over the issue in favor of discussing the content.

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The Essentially Accurate Point…

Jello gets it mostly correct:

Each investigator/team is locked in their own private compartment. They’ve got the info they’re collected on their own, and that’s about it. All they’ve got is a handful of unconnected puzzle pieces. There are many such teams, each with their own puzzle pieces that are entirely different from the pieces other teams have collected. In fact, they probably don’t even know exactly how many other teams there are, or how many pieces any of them have. Nobody knows if all the pieces have yet been collected, or even how many pieces the finished puzzle will have.

Enter Sundance. He goes to one investigator/team and borrows their puzzle pieces. Then to the next team and borrows theirs. Then the next, and so on until he’s got them all. But there are still a few pieces missing… fortunately those are pieces that Sundance himself had all along. And once ALL the pieces are in hand, he goes back to the individual teams, dumps the whole mess in front of them, and says “Here, NOW put it together.”

An apt metaphor except….

I didn’t give them puzzle pieces, I gave special investigator William Aldenberg the fully assembled puzzle.

[Twitter Thread]

Lou Dobbs Interviews Sidney Powell on Today’s Oral Arguments….

Sidney Powell did an excellent job today representing the interests of her client Michael Flynn at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  Every client should be so fortunate. Following the hearing, Ms. Powell appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the overall issues.

The Great Lou Dobbs represents the voices of millions in this interview as he shares his own perspective of outrage at the ongoing case.  Terrific interview:

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The Truth Doesn’t Care About Your Feelings – The Big Ugly…

Do not misinterpret anger for defeatism.  Truth is the fuel for cold anger, and it’s time everyone begins accepting some painful truths.

What some have called “Spygate” is not a frozen moment in time or a set of dates on a calendar with a beginning and an end.  Spygate was the originating process to ensure the DC system did not experience the disruption carried by Donald John Trump; but it was only the originating process….

….The process of opposition against Donald Trump is a continuum.

Those who use DC for influence and affluence control the mechanisms within the self-actuating system. This includes both Democrats and Republicans as they both feed from the same trough.  In the effort to remove Donald Trump, both wings of the uniparty bird were aligned with an identical purpose; Democrats carrying out their effort openly, and the republican elements operating covertly as to retain the DC premise.

Specifically, one common misconception is thinking the Mueller special counsel was an outcome of an action by President Trump when he fired former FBI Director James Comey.  This is false.  The special counsel process was a continuum in the effort to remove the threat that Donald Trump represented back in the early primary days of 2016.  The system, writ large, was aligned with this purpose.

There would have been a special counsel investigating the nonsense around ‘Trump-Russia’ regardless of Comey being fired. The special counsel was always part of the plan.

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Devin Nunes Discusses Testimony of Sally Yates…

HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes appears on Fox News with Liz MacDonald to discuss the testimony of former Deputy AG Sally Yates.

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They Won’t Like Full Sunlight – Rod Rosenstein Edition…

A more detailed post is going to come out later this morning highlighting what we know of the current positioning and status of the DOJ, as we move ever closer to execution of ‘phase-2’, a full public briefing and delivery mechanism.  However, in the interim something to keep in mind…

Almost no-one that I talked to in Washington DC, media, congress or research staffers in either the House or Senate ever bothered to actually watch Rod Rosenstein’s June testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.   Yes, you read that correctly.  If you are counting on DOJ, Barr or Durham, keep this factoid in mind…  Approximately 9 out of 10 beltway people have absolutely no idea what Rosenstein said.  This includes all chief-of-staff’s for most GOP senators, and every single House and Senate staffer (including Senior Staff) assigned to assist the congressional investigations…  Let that sink in as you watch this.

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This video is another fine snippet by our friend John Spiropoulos. Think about how this would play-out if mainstream media, including the tick-tock club, were paying attention.

The former Deputy Attorney General, a man who AG Bill Barr has praised vociferously, testifies two months ago that the Steele Dossier IS NOT in the FISA application to spy on Team Trump. As Spiropoulos outlines, contrast that position with what the Inspector General and the documents already said. This is what we are up against.

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Rod Rosenstein Steps-Up To Assist Mueller Attack Trump Over Roger Stone Commutation…

One of the biggest mistakes many people have made in their evaluation of Rod Rosenstein is separating him from the Special Counsel investigation run by Robert Mueller’s team of resistance lawyers. The reality is Rosenstein was always a willing active participant and co-dependent enabler.  [Thread Here]

Support for this foundational understanding comes forward yesterday as the former Deputy Attorney General showcases his support for an op-ed presumably written by Robert Mueller.

[Op-Ed Here]

[*Authorship is tenuous at best, and more likely written by Weissmann or Zelby (Lawfare) on behalf of Mueller] But for now, focus on Rosenstein.

Notice how Rosenstein positions his current advocacy as part of the Mueller team. This is critical; and unfortunately everyone keeps missing it. Rosenstein did the same thing in his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

When you stand back it becomes clear, Rosenstein viewed his role with the special counsel as participatory. He was Deputy AG not only as DAG, but also there as a functionary – to facilitate the needs of the special counsel investigation.

This outlook, specifically Rosenstein’s internal definition of his role and responsibility, is why the special counsel was able to essentially take over Main Justice during the two year investigation. Rosenstein took NO ACTION that was not approved by his teammates.

This becomes key.

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Ric Grenell Discusses Obama Team Motivation to Disrupt Incoming Trump Administration…

Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard “Ric” Grenell appears on Newsmax TV to discuss his perspectives on the concerted effort of former Obama officials to disrupt the incoming administration of President Donald Trump.

As noted by Grenell the Obama team intentionally coordinated a resistance operation against the incoming administration, while their allies in remaining institutions workd furiously on a false Trump-Russia narrative to undercut President Trump.

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