There is a lot to unpack in a decision today by the Director of National Intelligence to declassify (with redactions) a 2018 FISA court ruling about ongoing unauthorized database search queries by FBI agents/”contractors” in the period covering 2017/2018.
BACKGROUND: In April 2017 the DNI released a FISA report written by Presiding Judge Rosemary Collery that showed massive abuse, via unauthorized searches of the NSA database, in the period of November 2015 through May 2016. Judge Collyer’s report specifically identified search query increases tied to the 2016 presidential primary.  Two years of research identified this process as the DOJ/FBI and IC using the NSA database to query information related to political candidates, specifically Donald Trump.
Now we fast-forward to Judge Boasberg in a similar review (full pdf below), looking at the time-period of 2017 through March 2018.
The timing here is an important aspect.
It is within this time-period where ongoing DOJ and FBI activity transfers from the Obama administration (Collyer report) into the Trump administration (Boasberg report).
It cannot be overemphasized as you read the Boasberg opinion, or any reporting on the Boasberg opinion, that officials within DOJ and FBI are/were on a continuum.  Meaning the “small group” activity didn’t stop after the election but rather continued with the Mueller and Weissmann impeachment agenda.
Remember, the 2016 ‘insurance policy’ was to hand Mueller the 2016 FBI investigation so they could turn it into the 2017 special counsel investigation. Mueller, Weissmann and the group then used the ‘Steele Dossier’ as the cornerstone for the special counsel review.  The goal of the Mueller investigation was to construct impeachment via obstruction. The same players transferred from “crossfire hurricane” into the Mueller ‘obstruction‘ plan.
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Many people have wondered why Lt. Gen Michael Flynn took the guilty plea; indeed, even his trial judge, Emmet Sullivan, posed curious questions about the agreement.  Yesterday, in a very smart move on behalf of her client, defense Attorney Sidney Powell informed the court why Mike Flynn took the guilty plea on November 30th, 2017.
Background – As part of ongoing proceedings and consideration Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan had requested a status update about the ongoing cooperation of Michael Flynn in the trial of his former business partner Bijan Rafiekian.   On September 24th Federal Judge Anthony J Trenga nullified the jury verdict against Rafiekian and tossed the case.
Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, now files a motion to update trial judge Emmet Sullivan. However, in a smart legal move, and using the jury nullification within the status report, Powell also outlined the reason why her client took a guilty plea (pdf link):

As highlighted, Michael Flynn -under pressure from Mueller’s prosecutors- signed a plea to avoid his son, Mike Flynn Jr., being indicted/accused.  As we suspected General Flynn signed a plea deal to avoid seeing his son charged with a fabricated FARA violation.
It is a smart strategy for Flynn’s defense to inform Judge Sullivan -now- of the undue pressure and threat from Mueller’s assigned prosecutor Brandon Van Grack.
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To fully absorb the backstory to the latest allied effort between politicians and the intelligence apparatus, it is helpful to remember when the Vice-Chair of the SSCI, Senator Dianne Feinstein, abdicated her position after the 2016 election.

For years CTH has discussed the internal dynamic of Democrat politicians (legislative branch) working in concert with Intelligence Community (executive branch) officials to protect their interests. Ultimately the biggest example of this surfaced when Donald Trump won the 2016 election despite the efforts of the deep state. Trump became target #1.  Remember also, Feinstein’s chief-of-staff, Dan Jones, leaving and going to work on the outside including paying Fusion-GPS to keep up their efforts?
We have provided the trail of overwhelming evidence, showing how the intelligence apparatus writ large, including select members of the Gang-of-eight, were working with politicians (House and Senate) against candidate, president-elect and President Trump. No doubt the internal plans therein was a step too-far for Feinstein. She bailed.
However, Feinstein’s departure was only one aspect, there were many more – including: Senator Harry Reid working with CIA Director John Brennan on the dossier distribution (letter to FBI etc.); the 2017 censure of HPSCI Devin Nunes, after discovery of the Trump campaign unmasking etc; the 2016 use of FBI/NSA databases by political operatives and “contractors” to extract opposition research; and obviously the combined efforts of the CIA, DNI, FBI and DOJ in what is now known as “spygate”, the surveillance of the Trump campaign.
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Chopper pressers are the best pressers; even when they are from the tarmac at LAX in California.  Moments ago President Donald Trump talked to the press pool with his newly named national security adviser, Robert O’Brien.  [Video below Transcript ADDED]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. We’re with Robert O’Brien, who, as you know, is the new National Security Advisor. He’s worked with me for quite a while now on hostages, and we’ve had a tremendous track record with respect to hostages. Robert can tell you about it.
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To honor the memory of those lost on September 11th/12th 2012:

The Benghazi Brief

The “Benghazi Brief” remains the most controversial research report we have ever produced. The brief contains over two years of research and hundreds of very specific factual citations supporting it. Five years after it was originally written, and not a single aspect outlined within the brief has ever been identified as inaccurate.
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Former CEO Patrick Byrne has given four primary interviews where he outlines his knowledge of a 2015 and 2016 political espionage operation being run by the FBI.

Fox News, MacCallum – Fox Business #1 – Fox Business #2 – CNN, Cuomo

After a review of the interviews, and extracting specific points therein, here’s an overview.
The substance of Mr. Byrne claims does seem to align with what we already know about the DOJ and FBI activity during the 2016 election cycle, including the FBI operations.

First, Patrick Byrne claims he has spoken to the DOJ on April 5th, 2019, and again on April 30th, 2019.  Mr. Byrne states he told the DOJ all of the information he was aware of during those two interviews covering approximately seven hours of questioning.
The current public statements Mr. Byrne is making are not with the approval of the DOJ or any investigators therein.  His decision to go public with this information comes as a result of conversations with a life-long mentor and confidant, Warren Buffett.  Mr. Byrne states he has known Warren Buffett since Byrne was a teenager and Mr. Buffett was in his mid-forties.
According to his CNN interview Byrne talked to Buffett in June of 2019 about how he could be a witness in the DOJ investigation authorized by Attorney General Bill Barr and being conducted by U.S. Attorney John Durham.  After listening to the details, Buffett recommended Mr. Byrne go public with the story.
However, in order to go public Byrne would need to separate himself from his role as CEO of Overstock, the company Byrne founded.  Mr. Byrne resigned yesterday, August 22nd.
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After appearing on Fox Business, former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne appeared on Fox TV with Martha MacCallum.  In this interview Byrne explained his impetus for contacting the FBI in 2015, about Russian national Maria Butina, surrounded a low-level security clearance he held and a responsibility to report suspicious contacts.
Mr. Byrne then names Peter Strzok, Bill Priestap, Andrew McCabe and James Comey as the top of an operation where Byrne was instructed to guide Butina into the contact circle of republican presidential candidates in 2015, and then back away.
Curiously, if you get beyond the confusing mess of communication, what Byrne is describing does factually align with what is already known. However, Byrne is describing an aspect to the DOJ/FBI operation that has not been discussed very much.
Byrne is describing the DOJ-NSD and FBI using Russian national Maria Butina as an unwitting, walking, FISA surveillance virus.

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In addition to Strzok, Priestap, McCabe and Comey, Patrick Byrne cites “Carlin” as one of the “suits” involved.  Carlin is likely a reference to John Carlin who was head of the DOJ-National Security Division until October 2016.
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This interview is interesting from a few aspects.  First, Carter Page states he was a long-standing source of information for the intelligence apparatus, specifically for the CIA for decades.  Secondly, the framework by Page as outlined, and the underlying motive of the FBI to use him as an unwitting target for the FISA application, is essentially confirmation of our prior reconciled point on why the FBI exploited him.  [Watch]

It never made sense that U.S. Person Carter Page was an FBI witness from 2013 through to March/May 2016 and yet in October 2016, to achieve a FISA warrant, the FBI called him an agent of a foreign government.  [FISA APPLICATION]  It never made sense until with more information about the Mueller investigation we realized the FISA warrant was essentially irrelevant; what the Obama intel apparatus needed for their “insurance policy” was The Dossier.
Fusion GPS was not contracted in April 2016 to research Donald Trump. The intelligence community was already doing unlawful NSA-database surveillance and political spy operations. They already knew everything about the Trump campaign. The Obama intelligence community needed Fusion GPS to give them a plausible justification, an insurance policy of sorts, for pre-existing surveillance and spy operations.
Fusion-GPS fulfilled that contract by delivering the Steele Dossier.
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U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr gave a 48 minute interview to CBS on a variety of issues related to recent events. The interview is packed with insight about the ongoing DOJ investigations of prior DOJ and FBI conduct in the 2016 election.
Rather than post the edited excerpts of the interview as broadcast, the full audio and transcript is below. Very interesting. [Hit orange play arrow to begin]:
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[Transcript] JAN CRAWFORD: Mr. Attorney General, thank you very much for sitting down with us. So, obviously we saw the special counsel yesterday make that statement, he analyzed 11 instances where there were possible obstruction and then said that he really couldn’t make a decision- conclusion on whether or not the president had in fact committed obstruction because of the existing OLC opinion in the legal counsel’s office. Do you agree with that interpretation that that legal opinion prevented him from making a conclusion?
WILLIAM BARR: I am not sure he said it prevented him. I think what he said was he took that into account plus a number of other prudential judgments about fairness and other things and decided that the best course was not for him to reach a decision. I personally felt he could’ve reached a decision but–
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Former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia, Joe diGenova, discusses the declassification of intelligence documents relating to political surveillance; and the origin of the database abuses outlined by FISC Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer…

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With President Trump returning from Japan tomorrow (5/28); and with the upcoming state visit to the U.K. coming June 3rd; a declassification “window of opportunity” opens between this Wednesday 5/29 and Saturday 6/2.
Given last weeks visit to Main Justice by congressman Mark Meadows; and considering the visit was specifically to review unredacted Page-Strzok-McCabe messages; it could be surmised the first series of declassified documents might be those communiques. Additionally, John Solomon has stated “Bucket Five” is likely the first release prior to the IG report:

Bucket Five – Intelligence documents that were presented to the Gang of Eight in 2016 that pertain to the FISA application used against U.S. person Carter Page; including all exculpatory intelligence documents that may not have been presented to the FISA Court.  Presumably this would include the recently revealed State Dept Kavalac email; and the FBI transcripts from wiretaps of George Papadopoulos (also listed in Carter Page FISA).

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