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Why The Delay in Public Release of Key Documents?…

The possibility of U.S. Attorney John Durham exploiting/using documents declassified by his boss, AG Bill Barr, could suggest some of the material may not be made public; indeed that’s the inference from Representative John Ratcliffe three weeks ago as he outlined to Maria Bartiromo.

If accurate, it is worthwhile considering what *could be* publicly declassified by AG Barr, and yet not run afoul of any investigative value for Durham.   Example: the declassification of the Rosenstein scope memos to Robert Mueller (no longer a reason to be hidden) would not seem to materially affect the investigative intents of Durham.
So considering investigative value, what documents could be made public that would not impede Durham?
Here’s the list of material possible for declassification. This was the original list as outlined in 2018:
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Reminder: John Durham Questioning CIA Officials About Intelligence Community Assessment…

Against the backdrop of the DOJ admitting FBI investigators never had access to the DNC servers to verify a Russian hack; and with new information about the FBI receiving partial and redacted analysis from Crowdstrike; the review by U.S. Attorney John Durham toward the downstream assessment/claims of the CIA takes on new meaning.
CTH has previously outlined how the December 29th, 2016, Joint Analysis Report (JAR) on Russia Cyber Activity was a quickly compiled bunch of nonsense about Russian hacking.
The JAR was followed a week later by the January 7th, 2017, Intelligence Community Assessment.   The ICA took the ridiculous construct of the JAR and then overlaid a political narrative that Russia was trying to help Donald Trump.
The ICA was the brain-trust of John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey. NSA Director Mike Rogers would not sign up to the “high confidence” claims, likely because he saw through the political motives of the report.
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DOJ Admits FBI Never Saw Crowdstrike Report on DNC Russian Hacking Claim…

The foundation for the Russian election interference narrative is built on the claim of Russians hacking the servers of the Democrat National Committee (DNC), and subsequently releasing damaging emails that showed the DNC worked to help Hillary Clinton and eliminate Bernie Sanders.
Despite the Russian ‘hacking’ claim the DOJ previously admitted the DNC would not let FBI investigators review the DNC server.  Instead the DNC provided the FBI with analysis of a technical review done through a cyber-security contract with Crowdstrike.

The narrative around the DNC hack claim was always sketchy; many people believe the DNC email data was downloaded onto a flash drive and leaked.  In a court filing (full pdf below) the scale of sketchy has increased exponentially.
Suspecting they could prove the Russian hacking claim was false, lawyers representing Roger Stone requested the full Crowdstrike report on the DNC hack.  When the DOJ responded to the Stone motion they made a rather significant admission.  Not only did the FBI not review the DNC server, the FBI/DOJ never even saw the Crowdstrike report.
Yes, that is correct.  The FBI and DOJ were only allowed to see a “draft” report prepared by Crowdstrike, and that report was redacted… and that redacted draft is the “last version of the report produced”; meaning, there are no unredacted & final versions.
Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot!
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Attorney General Barr Sends DOJ Review Scope Letter to Chairman Nadler (full pdf)…

Responding to a request from Chairman Jerry Nadler, Attorney General William Barr has sent a letter (full pdf below)explaining the scope of the DOJ review of intelligence activities in the 2016 presidential campaign.  According to the letter AG Barr says the review is “broad in scope and multifaceted,” and includes examining actions by US and foreign intelligence agencies, “as well as non-governmental organizations and individuals.”
Here’s the letter:

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Carter Page Explains He Was "Decades Long" Source for FBI and CIA…

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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Mark Meadows: Don't Expect IG Report This Month – Do Expect Criminal Indictments…

Fox News host Maria Bartiromo interviewed Mark Meadows earlier today on her Sunday morning show.  This is quite possibly the most revealing interview so far this year on the Obama ‘Spygate’ and surveillance investigation.  The interview is jam-packed with info.

Clapper and Brennan demanding protection for sources and methods, but at the same time they’re saying people weren’t spied on. … Well, you wouldn’t need to protect sources and methods if people in the Trump administration weren’t spied on.

The segment with Meadows begins at 18:37 [prompted, just hit play] and includes multiple new aspects including: •Weissmann/Mueller report collapsing under scrutiny. •New investigative documents likely mean criminal indictments. •New evidence of a “cover-up” within the FBI. •AG Bill Barr has firm disposition to provide accountability. •Expect significant delay in OIG Horowitz report (ie. Steele interview etc.). •FBI Papadopoulos covert recordings likely to be public. •Overall declassification delayed; likely no release prior to OIG report.
https://youtu.be/qCJa3MDqEaE?t=18m30s
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Judge Rules FBI Must Release Declarations from Lead Mueller FBI Agent….

In federal court yesterday (Friday, June 7). In a FOIA case ruling (full pdf below)  Judge James Boasberg was deciding public release over two issues related to the memos of former FBI Director James Comey.  Backstory HERE and HERE.

Judge Boasberg was deciding what could be publicly released, meaning current redactions removed, based on two connected events: (#1) The content of the Comey Memos; and (#2) the declarations of lead FBI agent for Robert Mueller’s special counsel, David Archey, in describing those memos.  CNN had filed a lawsuit to gain full access.
[Note: the descriptions of the Comey memos by FBI agent David Archey are known as the “Archey Declarations” – Read Here.]
For those who may not be aware, there are so many memos (dozens) when assembled they seem to make up an actual diary of moment-by-moment events, during the FBI investigation of Donald Trump, as documented by FBI Director James Comey.
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True The Vote Wins Historic $2 Million Settlement Against IRS….

News we might have missed.  Last week Catherine Engelbrecht announced a historic legal victory in her decade long battle against the IRS for targeting her group, True The Vote, as part of the Obama administration’s weaponization program against political opposition.
U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton issued a stunning ruling (full pdf below) in favor of True the Vote, and penalized the IRS.  Judge Walton forced the IRS to pay maximum attorney’s fees due to discrimination against the conservative organization that stemmed from the Lois Lerner scandal.  The financial award is likely to exceed $2 million.


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Ms. Engelbrecht gave Breitbart News an interview where she discussed the victory, SEE HERE.
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FOIA Docs: Twice-Demoted DOJ Official Bruce Ohr Received $28,000 Bonus During Work on Sketchy Dossier…

This is a prime example of what historically sent people to the pitchforks.  According to newly released FOIA documents received by Judicial Watch, twice-demoted DOJ official Bruce Ohr received pay raises and a $28,000 bonus while working on the anti-Trump operation.  (full pdf below)

(Source pdf)

Bruce Ohr was originally demoted in December 2017 stripping away his title of associate deputy attorney general based on what DOJ officials said were “undisclosed contacts” with FBI informant Christopher Steele.   We later found out Bruce Ohr completely disclosed his contacts; so his first demotion was a complete CYA move by DOJ officials (ie. Rosenstein).
A month later, in January 2018, Bruce Ohr was demoted a second time, removing his title as head of the DOJ Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. No reason was given for the second demotion. His employment remained (as it does today) but no official word as to his title.
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Disappointing – Judge Sullivan Folds, Accepts Mueller Team Non-Production….


In the Weissmann/Mueller case against Michael Flynn there are two material points of evidence central to the underlying issue:

  1. The FBI 302 report written by agent Joe Pientka; as an outcome of the interview of Michael Flynn January 24th, 2017, conducted by Peter Strzok and Pientka.
  2. The recording/transcript of the December 29th, 2016, phone call intercept between Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

According to the special counsel position Flynn lied about the 12/29/16 phone call content during the 1/24/17 FBI interview. However, this always appeared to be a sketchy claim.  Seemingly suspecting something was amiss, in two separate court demands, Judge Emmet Sullivan requested production of both the Flynn 302 and the transcript of the call.
The special counsel’s office (Brandon Van Grack), and the DC U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu, refused to provide the underlying evidence to the court.  Instead they informed the court the material was irrelevant to their prosecution of Flynn:
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