The OIG report on former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is devastating to the “small group” and not just for what it outlines, but also for what it doesn’t provide.

There are bound to be multiple reports and discussions which will flow from an outcome of the content therein.  However, here’s some of the ‘big picture’ takeaways for those who have followed the very granular details.

One of the more pertinent issues – it is now demonstrably proven that Andrew McCabe lied to FBI investigators, on several occasions, and also that he lied to the Inspector General. Note the criminally important factor here is: “lied to FBI investigators”.

On page #29, there’s some very specific and interesting details that deserve to be highlighted (emphasis mine).

We concluded that McCabe lacked candor during his OIG audio-recorded interview under oath on July 28, 2017, when he falsely stated that: (a) he was not aware of Special Counsel being authorized to speak to reporters around October 30 and (b) he did not know, because he was out of town, “where [Special Counsel] was or what she was doing” during the relevant time period.  (pdf link)

It is not just the next few paragraphs that outline the scope of the attempted duplicity and fraud by McCabe, but also the footnotes.

Remember, we know specifically from congressional evidence, provided by the FBI investigative unit, the FBI took custody of the initial batch of text message between DOJ-FBI Special Counsel Lisa Page and Peter Strzok on July 22nd, 2017.  It is clear those text messages were provided by Lisa Page to clear up the contradiction between her truthful statements and the lies told earlier by Andrew McCabe.

(more…)

The DOJ Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz, has released the investigative report of Asst. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe that led to his firing. (full pdf below)

Inspector General Michael Horowitz referred McCabe’s false OIG testimony, made under oath, to the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). [Full Backstory]

After a review of the IG investigation, and after discussion with Deputy Director Andrew McCabe (and counsel), the OPR recommended to the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, that Andrew McCabe be terminated from employment.

This is the Inspector General report:

[scribd id=376296306 key=key-IkIgjc3szdKINfgMHWaC mode=scroll]

(more…)

Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers the White House press briefing for Friday April 13th. Anticipated start time 2:30pm EST

UPDATE: Video Added

(more…)

As previously stated, the FBI raid was directed by ideologues working with special counsel Robert Mueller.  The intent of the FBI home and office raid upon Michael Cohen was to assemble political opposition research.   The U.S. Department of Justice and FBI confiscated files, devices, and electronic data from attorney Cohen.

Predictably, we asserted, those corrupt law enforcement officials would scrape the files for any material that would damage their political opposition.  They would then leak that material to the media.  This is exactly what is happening.  Here’s another example today:

(Twitter Link) – (WSJ Story Link)

We are now living in a post-constitutional era where the full weight of the federal law enforcement apparatus (FBI and DOJ) has been weaponized for political purposes.  The United States Government is now, essentially, a Nicaragua model.

WHITE HOUSE – Today, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Grant of Clemency (Full Pardon) to I. Scooter Lewis Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Richard Cheney, for convictions stemming from a 2007 trial. President George W. Bush commuted Mr. Libbys sentence shortly after his conviction. Mr. Libby, nevertheless, paid a $250,000 fine, performed 400 hours of community service, and served two years of probation.

In 2015, one of the key witnesses against Mr. Libby recanted her testimony, stating publicly that she believes the prosecutor withheld relevant information from her during interviews that would have altered significantly what she said. The next year, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals unanimously reinstated Mr. Libby to the bar, reauthorizing him to practice law. The Court agreed with the District of Columbia Disciplinary Counsel, who stated that Mr. Libby had presented credible evidence in support of his innocence, including evidence that a key prosecution witness had changed her recollection of the events in question.

(more…)

In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Earlier today I wrote on Twitter: “The raid on Michael Cohen’s home and office was gov. directed political opposition research. The FBI/DOJ officials who carried out the raid will leak the content to media to damage POTUS & engineer narratives for election(s). That was the intent of the raid.”

Allow me to provide the fact-based argument behind that statement. Beginning with a very basic baseline fact:

You can call it a soft-coup, or you can call it politicization of the DOJ and FBI, but the end result is the same – the intentional effort to manipulate, influence, and ultimately subvert an election for the presidency of the United States.

It is an inarguable reality that ideologues within the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation used their positions to conduct a political operation against the candidacy of President Trump.  There is currently an Office of Inspector General investigation by Michael Horowitz to discover the scale of that basic truth.

The ongoing OIG investigation has already released some of the investigative evidence proving the motives of the participants.  Additionally, through records and releases stemming from outside the OIG investigation, it is a fact the intelligence apparatus within the national security divisions of the DOJ and FBI used their databases to conduct unlawful searches of political opposition; and allowed ‘contractors‘ to do the same.

These clear facts exist regardless of opinion or sentiment therein.

(more…)

Oh, heck yes.  This is exactly what we have been talking about.  In an interview with Neil Cavuto, Senator Rand Paul shares his opinion that President Trump should respond to the coordinated political attacks by FBI and DOJ operatives by declassifying the information underneath all their shenanigans.

Good advice.  Without interfering with the IG Horowitz and parallel Proseuctor John Huber approach, President Trump should immediately begin declassifying the documents surrounding the FISA abuse scandal.

Start by declassifying the 99-page opinion of FISA Court Presiding Judge, Rosemary Collyer.  Remove all the redactions and let us see who the FBI/DOJ officials were allowing to have access to the NSA database to conduct searches.  Then declassify the full FISA Title-1 surveillance application used by the FBI and DOJ against U.S. person Carter Page.

If these releases of information create a need for prosecution of the people, entities and former officials behind the documents, then so be it. These documents are unrelated to the issues of the FBI conduct review of IG Horowitz, and extend outside the DOJ. WATCH:

(more…)

The Eagle and the Arrow – An Aesop’s Fable

An Eagle was soaring through the air. Suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt the dart pierce its breast. Slowly it fluttered down to earth. Its lifeblood pouring out. Looking at the Arrow with which it had been shot, the Eagle realized that the deadly shaft had been feathered with one of its own plumes.

Moral: We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.

The United States economy is the Eagle; the shaft is Wall Street; the feather is the U.S. middle-class, and the archer is U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue.

Need proof?  Please, don’t take my word for it, read:

Tom Donohue: Tonight feels like a gathering of old friends. Five years ago, I had the pleasure of being in this beautiful city to help start a hemispheric business dialogue, and I’m pleased to be back in Lima for this year’s CEO Summit of the Americas.

[…] I also want to talk a little about the priorities within our government. Because, as everyone knows, many of the policy decisions coming out of Washington today not only impact the U.S. economy and its businesses and workers, but indeed those across this hemisphere and around the world.

[…] The Chamber has helped lead the fight to protect the status of more than one million people who are at risk of deportation. It makes no sense to send one million talented workers back to their home countries when we don’t have enough labor to get the job done in our own. This includes the young men and women who were brought to our country as children through no fault of their own—known as “the Dreamers”—as well as hundreds of thousands of individuals who are working in the U.S. under temporary protected status.

(more…)