A report in the New York Times, transparently timed and placed by officials within the intelligence apparatus trying to get out ahead of internal investigations, outlines how the FBI sent counterintelligence spies to engage with Trump campaign officials in 2016.
In a stunning admission The New York Times describes how the FBI enlisted a female agent to work the “operation” in the U.K. during August-September 2016 posing as an aide for U.S. intelligence asset/FBI informant Stefan Halper.
Halper was an FBI operative and  Cambridge professor who set up meetings with Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos.  The female agent used a fake name, Azra Turk, and presented herself as an assistant to Stefan Halper; however, she was actually an undercover intelligence operative of the FBI.

NYT […] The woman had set up the meeting to discuss foreign policy issues. But she was actually a government investigator posing as a research assistant, according to people familiar with the operation. The F.B.I. sent her to London as part of the counterintelligence inquiry opened that summer to better understand the Trump campaign’s links to Russia.

The American government’s affiliation with the woman, who said her name was Azra Turk, is one previously unreported detail of an operation that has become a political flash point in the face of accusations by President Trump and his allies that American law enforcement and intelligence officials spied on his campaign to undermine his electoral chances. Last year, he called it “Spygate.”

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Earlier today John Solomon wrote an article noting how congressional investigators were reviewing Nellie Ohr testimony against last month’s release of FOIA documents.  There are significant differences between Mrs. Ohr’s testimony about her communication and contacts with DOJ and FBI officials, and the scale of contact within the FOIA release.

According to an interview with Representative Jim Jordan, Rep Mark Meadows was considering a criminal referral.  This evening, John Solomon is following up and affirming Nellie Ohr has now been referred to the DOJ for criminal prosecution (pdf below).

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This doesn’t come as a surprise following the release of transcripts and the ability to contrast testimony from 2018 with recent discoveries and evidence.  As a point of fact, Ms. Ohr also lied in her testimony about the timing of her Ham Radio license and use.
Not coincidentally, Fusion-GPS owner Glenn Simpson is also being reviewed for lying to investigators about his contacts and activity in connection to the dossier.  Nellie Ohr worked for Fusion-GPS and it would appear Fusion was at the center of the effort to construct evidence to support the 2016 election operation against Donald Trump.
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During a round of questioning with Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) AG William Barr was asked about scale and scope of the current IG investigation [04:22 prompted].  In response to the question AG Barr replies:

“I don’t want to be too specific; I talked to Mike Horowitz a few weeks ago about it, and its focused on the FISA, the basis for the FISA, and the handling of the FISA application. But by necessity it looks back a little bit earlier than that.  The people I have helping me with my review will be working very closely with Mr. Horowitz.”

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Former Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama, Ben Rhodes, says any investigation of prior administration “will find nothing” that shows former President Obama or White House staff had any “involvement” in the origins of the surveillance of Trump campaign and Russia collusion investigation.

Prior to March 9th, 2016, the Obama-era political surveillance and spy operations consisted of using the FBI and NSA database to track/monitor their opposition. However, once the NSA compliance officer began initiating an internal review of who was accessing the system, the CIA and FBI moved to create ex post facto justification for their endeavors. [Full Backstory] Everything after March 9, 2016, became a cover-story.
Looking at White House engagement in the last half of 2016, The War Economy has done some excellent research on this period to contrast the reference of Ben Rhodes:

[Via TWE] […] On July 31, 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ran by Director James Comey, opened an investigation into the Trump campaign titled “Crossfire Hurricane”, named after the Rolling Stones documentary of the same name. It focused on the actions of four members of the Trump campaign:

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With the background of Sally Yates involvement outlined, it does not seem coincidental that immediately after President Trump begins discussing the “coup” and “overthrow”  former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates surfaces.
Smug Ms. Yates is interviewed by Hillary Clinton’s primary media mouthpiece, Mrs. Alan Greenspan. This is eight minutes of deliciously paranoid projection and ass-covering; and Little Ms. Sanctimony fears the music stopping without access to an escape pod…

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Prior to March 9th, 2016, the political surveillance and spy operations of the Obama administration were using the FBI and NSA database to track/monitor their opposition. However, once the NSA compliance officer began initiating an internal review of who was accessing the system, the CIA and FBI moved to create ex post facto justification for their endeavors. [Full Backstory]
After the November 8th, 2016, election everyone within the Obama network associated with the Trump surveillance operation was at risk. This is the impetus for the “Muh Russia” collusion- conspiracy narrative that was used as a mitigating shield. Within a few days after the election ODNI James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan began pushing the Russia election interference narrative in the media.

Without notifying anyone, NSA Director Mike Rogers went to Trump tower on November 18th, 2016.  Despite his compartmentalization it appears Rogers identified the NSA database abuse as the likely underpinning for some form of political surveillance.
By mid-December 2016 the Obama administration was deploying a full-court-press using their media allies to promote the Russia conspiracy.  However, despite their public proclamations Clapper and Brennan were refusing to give any specifics to congress.
The hard narrative was that Russia interfered. That was the specific push from within the Obama intelligence apparatus writ large.  All IC officials, sans Mike Rogers (NSA), had a self-interest in pushing this narrative; after all, it was the defensive mechanism to justify their illegal spying operation throughout 2016.  This was their insurance policy.
The media was doing their part; and using the information leaked to them by those who were part of the 2016 operation(s) began battering the Trump transition team every hour of every day with questions about the Russia hacking narrative; thereby fertilizing the seeds of a collusion conspiracy.
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The 2016 anti-Trump effort and 2017 soft-coup was not just an assembly created by Obama officials; there was/are a significant number of mutually aligned republican politicians willfully blind to the effort.
As a consequence, we see the administrative state holding a vested interest in retaining the originating Russia premise.
With President Trump openly stating “coup” and “overthrow“, those who participated in the coup and overthrow need to protect their involvement by substantiating the background lie they used to carry out the cover-up operation.  We note the media outlets used by the intelligence community never change. Cue the predictable:

New York Times – The F.B.I. director warned anew on Friday about Russia’s continued meddling in American elections, calling it a “significant counterintelligence threat.”
[…]  “We recognize that our adversaries are going to keep adapting and upping their game,” Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, said Friday in a speech in Washington, citing the presence of Russian intelligence officers in the United States and the Kremlin’s record of malign influence operations.

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Yesterday Senators Johnson and Grassley opened the door for the DOJ and FBI to justify the post-election investigation of President Donald Trump, based on a premise of a possible FBI counterintelligence operation ran against the office of the Vice-President, Mike Pence. And lickety-split the outrage voices jumped right to work. Predictable.

Discussions, conversations and displays of evidence outlining the efforts of the intelligence community, to defend against the potential of a compromised President, are exactly what the previous administration officials want to see.  This is the conversation President Obama, Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes and Denis McDonough would be happy to discuss.
Think of the worst or most shocking possibility you can imagine for what might have taken place.  Wiretaps on the White House? Enlisted assistance from staffers? Bugs placed in the cufflinks of Donald Trump?  So what?  From their position all of these efforts were undertaken because they were dealing with the possibility of a U.S. President who might be under the control of a foreign government.  This is the conversation they would enjoy.
From their ‘by-the-book‘ perspective the officials who ran the counterintelligence operation against President Trump have no fear of discussions about what they did in their post-election defense of the constitution (that’s how they will sell it). No fear.
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President Trump gave an extensive interview to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday evening.  The President made several stunning comments about the Mueller investigation, previous wiretaps, the upcoming inspector general report, the deep state, and his firm plans to declassify a significant amount of background documents.
For the first time President Trump used the terms “attempted coup” and “overthrow” to discuss the coordinated effort against his administration by the previous administration including James Clapper (ODNI), John Brennan (CIA), James Comey (FBI), and lower level officials within the intelligence apparatus.

Background Reports referenced by Hannity:

• Ukraine Report from John Solomon 
• Catherine Herridge Story – Grassley/Johnson Letter
• Sara Carter Column. Pence Chief-of-staff/Strzok Staffer

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CTH suspected this was sketchy when notorious Swamp Defender Chris Wallace was used as the point person to push it. FUBAR suspicions confirmed when looking at the construct.
Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson send a letter to AG William Barr questioning post election text messages by Lisa Page and Peter Strzok that outline questions about the FBI counterintelligence operation against the Trump transition team. First the letter:
[scribd id=407638522 key=key-P6WGecNAMQ7aMu9ud4L6 mode=scroll]
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If you’ve followed the DC pattern, you can pick up the purpose of sending a letter that walks directly, and purposefully, into the President Obama and Susan Rice justification trap, CTH warned about a few months ago.
Asking questions about the motives of Lisa Page, Peter Strzok and the FBI counterintelligence unit in the post election period is ridiculous; all it does is open the door for justification. The FBI has admitted on-the-record the operation picked up by Special Counsel Robert Mueller was an extension of an ongoing FBI investigation.
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