Tag: Russia probe

BuzzFeed Doubles-Down on Trump Story, but Won’t Discuss Documents or Sources

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by Chuck Ross   BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith and reporter Anthony Cormier doubled down Sunday on their bombshell report that President Donald Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his efforts to build a Trump Tower in Russia. “I have further confirmation that this is right. We are being told to stand our ground. Our reporting is going to be borne out to be accurate, and we’re 100 percent behind it,” Cormier told CNN’s Brian Stelter during an interview about their report, which has been directly disputed by the special counsel’s office. “The same sources that we used in the story are standing behind it, and so are we.” But while Smith and Cormier expressed unwavering confidence in their story, the pair declined to discuss the specifics about how their report came together. Cormier dodged Stelter’s questions about documents that his colleague, Jason Leopold, claims to have seen as part of the reporting process. Cormier also acknowledged he is not certain what Cohen specifically told the special counsel or what Trump allegedly told Cohen. Cormier and Leopold reported Thursday night that Cohen told the special counsel’s office Trump directed him to lie to Congress in 2017 about his efforts to build…

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Mike Huckabee Calls For Prosecution Of Politically Biased FBI Agents

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by Nick Givas   Former Republican Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee called for the prosecution of politically biased FBI agents, on “Fox & Friends” Monday, and said the agency needs to clean house. “I think, you know, at some point, somebody’s got to take a good Dyson vacuum cleaner to go over to the FBI and just clean out the leadership. Because there’s something wrong at the top,” Huckabee said. “There needs to be, then, accountability for those who are being cleaned out and there’s still some there that shouldn’t be. The rank and file deserve better leadership than this,” he continued, adding: They’re good people in the FBI. They’re good, hard-working people of integrity that are disgusted with what’s happened to their agency that they committed themselves to. And they deserve better leadership. And I’m really hoping that there will be people truly held accountable. Not just fired, but I’m talking about truly held accountable. And some need to be prosecuted for using their positions as a political weapon.   Huckabee had been discussing stories from The New York Times and The Washington Post about the FBI’s inquiry into President Donald Trump’s supposed connection with Russia and said the agency’s actions should scare the public. “What scares…

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NBC Suggests Jill Stein Played A Part In A Russian Conspiracy To Beat Clinton

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by Chris White   NBC News believes that failed presidential candidate Jill Stein might have inadvertently played a substantial role in what some media believe is a Russian conspiracy to defeat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A Russian troll farm called the Internet Research Agency worked diligently to bolster Stein’s campaign ahead of the 2016 presidential election, NBC reported Saturday. The outlet analyzed a Dec. 17 report commissioned by the Senate that detailed the extent of the IRA’s role in the election. An NBC analysis found that Russians working under the direction of the troll farm tweeted the phrase “Jill Stein” more than 1,000 times during the election. The report, which was conducted by the New Knowledge cybersecurity firm, found the campaign targeted mostly black Americans. Clint Watts, an NBC News analyst at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told reporters that Russia’s decision to lean in toward Stein should not be that surprising. NBC reviewed archives of RT and Sputnik, which the CIA believes are Russian propaganda, and found more than 100 stories supporting Stein. “Is Stein a fellow traveler or a useful idiot?” he asked, rhetorically. “I don’t know, but even after the election she played into Russia disinformation by pursuing a…

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Comey Admits Dossier Was Unverified Before And After FBI Used It To Obtain Spy Warrants

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by Chuck Ross   Former FBI Director James Comey told Congress Friday that the FBI had not verified the Steele dossier prior to relying on the salacious document to obtain spy warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. According to a transcript of Comey’s testimony released on Saturday, the former FBI chief also asserted that it was “not necessary” for the FBI to assess the sources that dossier author Christopher Steele used to compile his report, which was funded by the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign. “I think I’ve dealt with warrants where you just identify that your primary [confidential informant], or primary source, has subsources, and so long as the court is aware of that phenomenon and that you’re speaking to the reliability of the primary source, to my mind, that’s a totally legit warrant application,” he said. Comey told lawmakers that “work was ongoing” by the time he was fired on May 9, 2017, to “to replicate, either rule in or rule out” as much of the dossier as possible. He said that by the time he was fired on May 9, 2017, he “still didn’t know whether there was anything to it,” referring to the investigation into possible…

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Key House Lawmaker: Trump Impeachment Hearings Possible

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A key U.S. lawmaker said Sunday that Democrats in the House of Representatives could pursue impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump, saying that the U.S. leader had “surrounded himself with crooks” and was part of a broad “conspiracy against the American people” to win the 2016 election. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat set to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee when Democrats take control of the chamber next month, told CNN that lawmakers have to decide “how important” allegations are against Trump, but should pursue impeachment charges “only for serious offenses.” Nadler offered his thoughts two days after federal prosecutors accused former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, “in coordination with and at the direction” of Trump, of orchestrating $280,000 in hush money payments shortly before the 2016 election to two women who alleged they had affairs with Trump so they would stay silent before Election Day. Nadler said that if proven, the allegations against Trump were “certainly impeachable offenses.” That could lead to his removal from office, if the Senate were to convict him by at least a two-thirds vote, a doubtful proposition with Republican control of the Senate continuing in the Congress that takes office in January.…

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Rep. Steve Cohen Says President Donald Trump is a ‘Criminal Enterprise’

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09), the same man who said he wants U.S. Sen.-elect Marsha Blackburn to jump off a bridge, has concluded that President Donald Trump is a “criminal enterprise.” On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” Steve Cohen spoke about the sentencing memos on former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. He said, “Donald Trump is a criminal enterprise.” Host Lawrence O’Donnell said, “Only three presidents of the United States have been accused of federal crimes by … a prosecutor, a federal prosecutor of any kind while in office, and Donald Trump is now one of them.” O’Donnell pointed out that any impeachment proceedings would start in the House Judiciary Committee, where Cohen is a member. Steve Cohen said, “I think that what we’ve learned today is what we — many of us have known for at least two years, and some for maybe 10 or 15, that Donald Trump is a criminal enterprise. The Trump family is a criminal enterprise, and that most of the people he’s involved with, like Michael Cohen and Manafort, are shady folks.” The representative said many committees would investigate “Trump activities” but they would not start out with impeachment. Steve Cohen added, “proof…

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A Senate Democrat Reportedly Outsourced Parts of the Trump-Russia Probe to Operative Linked to Soros, Fusion GPS

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by Chuck Ross   A Democratic senator outsourced parts of the investigation into possible Trump-Russia collusion to a former Senate staffer with links to George Soros and Fusion GPS, according to a New Yorker report. The New Yorker reports the unidentified senator contacted Daniel Jones, a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer, around March 2017 to review data regarding a possible link between the computer servers of the Trump Organization and a Russian bank called Alfa Bank. Jones, who worked under California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein when she chaired the intelligence panel, had just formed a non-profit group called the Democracy Integrity Project. The organization worked closely with Fusion GPS and former British spy Christopher Steele, the tag-team duo that produced the Democrat-funded dossier accusing the Trump campaign of colluding with the Kremlin. Jones’s operation was also funded by a small group of billionaires, including left-wing philanthropist George Soros. Jones told the FBI in March 2017 that between 7 and 10 billionaires had put up $50 million to continue an investigation into Russian meddling in elections. Jones also told the FBI that he had secured the services of Steele and Fusion GPS “to continue exposing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.” The goal…

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Mark Meadows: ‘Strong Suggestion’ that Undercover FBI Sources Taped Trump Campaign

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Mark Meadows

by Chuck Ross   North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows said Wednesday that there is a “strong suggestion” that undercover FBI sources secretly taped members of the Trump campaign. “Now whether that was a confidential human source taping an individual, that’s what I believe it is, but it’s important that we look at this because the whole narrative of ‘Spygate’ and tapping and all of that have been narratives that are out there but unproven,” Meadows, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, told Hill.TV. “There’s a strong suggestion that confidential human sources actually taped members within the Trump campaign,” the Republican continued. “There is strong suggestions in that some of the text messages, emails, and so forth who was involved, that extraordinary measures were used to surveil.” Meadows, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, did not specify what information he has seen. But the Department of Justice has recently provided documents about the FBI’s investigation to several House committees, including Oversight and the House Judiciary Committee. Republicans on both committees have formed a task force of sorts aimed at investigating possible FBI abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The FBI obtained four FISA warrants against…

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Trump Dossier Research Chief Glenn Simpson Declines US Congress Interview Request

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Reuters   The Republican chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Friday subpoenaed a U.S. research firm founder to give a deposition on his hiring of a former British spy to compile a dossier on alleged links between U.S. President Donald Trump’s associates and Russia. Representative Bob Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia, announced the move on Twitter a day after receiving a letter in which lawyers for Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS, said that their client “will not agree to an interview” requested earlier this week. “As part of our joint investigation into decisions made by DOJ in 2016, today I subpoenaed Glenn Simpson to appear for a deposition,” Goodlatte posted on Twitter. Goodlatte said in a separate Twitter post that former FBI Director James Comey, former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other former Justice Department officials have been invited “as witnesses. Will subpoena them if necessary.” Simpson’s lawyers also sent their letter to House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, who is conducting with Goodlatte a probe into the Justice Department’s decision to investigate possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. The top Democrats on the committees, Elijah Cummings and Jerrold Nadler, in a statement…

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US House Intelligence Committee to Vote on Release of Trump Russia Transcripts

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Reuters   A U.S. House of Representatives committee will vote on Friday on whether to release dozens of transcripts of interviews from its investigation of Russia and the 2016 U.S. election, including conversations with senior associates of President Donald Trump. The House Intelligence Committee is expected to agree to send transcripts of the 53 interviews to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for review before they are made public, congressional aides said on Thursday. That would pave the way for the public to see thousands of pages of conversations with people including the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former advisor to President Trump, Steve Bannon. Interviews with officials from former President Barack Obama’s administration, including former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power are also among the transcripts. The transcripts are likely to provide the first public look at how some key witnesses described events such as a June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower in New York at which a group of Russians offered to provide damaging information about Trump’s Democratic rival at the election, Hillary Clinton.…

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Gowdy: Russia Docs Are ‘Embarrassing’ For John Brennan, DOJ And FBI

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by Chuck Ross   South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy said the information in a batch of Russia investigation documents that President Donald Trump was considering for declassification will prove “embarrassing” for the Department of Justice, FBI and former CIA Director John Brennan. Gowdy made the remarks in an interview with Fox News on Thursday. The next day, President Donald Trump retracted his order to the Justice Department to declassify and release the documents. But the Republican left open the possibility that the records could be released down the road. But Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, provided a preview of what to expect from the documents if they are eventually released. “I’ve read it. Some of it’s embarrassing for the Department of Justice — some of it’s embarrassing for the FBI. Embarrassment is not a reason to classify something,” said Gowdy. “A lot of it should be embarrassing to John Brennan, and maybe therein lies why he is so adamant that this information not be released.” Brennan suggested Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that government officials resign rather than comply with Trump’s directive to release the records. Brennan, who now serves as an…

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EXCLUSIVE: Released Texts Messages And Emails Show Mueller Team’s Cozy Relationship With Press

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by Joe Simonson   Hundreds of pages of emails and texts messages released from the Justice Department’s special counsel office through a FOIA request document shows an ongoing relationship between Robert Mueller’s team and the press, according to an investigation by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The documents, released in September, span months of communication and include messages from reporters ranging from a variety of outlets including TheDCNF to the Washington Post and BuzzFeed. While the vast majority of correspondences between Mueller’s spokesman Peter Carr and a variety of journalists ends with a “no comment,” the messages expose that Mueller’s team was willing to meet with a number of  reporters in private meetings and over the phone. Coordinating such meetings cuts against the narrative that the special counsel has been hesitant to give information to the press, instead opting to give information only through public announcements and statements. Just in August, The New York Times ran a story poking fun at the secrecy of the special counsel, with one reporter writing that Carr’s “‘no comment’ replies have become a running dark joke among the Washington press corps.” Yet on July 21st, 2017, Adam Goldman from The Times sent an email to Carr…

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DOJ Official Bruce Ohr’s Congressional Testimony Contradicts Fusion GPS Founder Glenn Simpson’s

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Glenn Simpson, Bruce Ohr

by Chuck Ross   Department of Justice (DOJ) official Bruce Ohr told Congress in August that he met before the 2016 election with Glenn Simpson, a direct contradiction to what the Fusion GPS founder said in a congressional deposition in 2017. Sources familiar with Ohr’s Aug. 28 testimony tell The Daily Caller News Foundation that Ohr said he met with Simpson in August 2016. But Simpson, whose firm commissioned the infamous Steele dossier, told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during a Nov. 14 deposition that he did not have contact with anyone from the DOJ or FBI until after the election. Ohr’s comments came during an exchange with Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, sources tell TheDCNF. “I think you said earlier today sometime this morning that you met with Glenn Simpson twice in person,” Jordan said, according to a transcript of the interview read out to TheDCNF. “But you met in person in 2016, is that right?” Jordan pressed. “That is my recollection,” Ohr said. “Once in August and once in December?” Jordan asked. “Yes,” said Ohr. Simpson told House investigators in November that he had contact with Ohr only after the 2016 election. “Did the FBI ever…

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Nellie Ohr To Testify Before Congress About Work For Fusion GPS

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by Chuck Ross   Congress will interview Nellie Ohr, the wife of Department of Justice official Bruce Ohr, later this week, Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe said on Sunday. Ratcliffe said Sunday that Ohr is expected to appear for a closed-door interview with the House Judiciary and House Oversight & Government Reform Committees, in an interview on Fox News. Ohr worked during the 2016 election cycle for Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that investigated Donald Trump on behalf of the Clinton campaign and DNC. Fusion hired former British spy Christopher Steele, the author of the infamous anti-Trump dossier that was used to obtain spy warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. While she worked for Fusion, Ohr’s husband, Bruce Ohr, was in contact with both Steele and Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS. A former assistant deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, Bruce Ohr was interviewed by the congressional committees on Aug. 28. Republican lawmakers have questioned the Ohrs’ relationship to Fusion GPS and Steele. The husband-and-wife duo met with Steele on July 30, 2016, a day before the FBI opened its counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia. Nellie Ohr began working for Fusion…

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Nunes: Democrats, Journalists Will Be ‘Frightened’ By Declassified Trump-Russia Documents

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by Chuck Ross   House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said this week that Democrats and the media are likely to be “frightened” by the information contained in Trump-Russia documents that Republicans are asking President Donald Trump to declassify. Speaking at an event hosted by the Center for Security Policy on Thursday, Nunes said that Trump is close to declassifying portions of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant granted against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. On July 21, the Justice Department released heavily redacted versions of four FISA warrants granted against Page from Oct. 2016 through June 2017. The unredacted portions showed that the FBI relied heavily on the infamous Steele dossier to obtain the warrants. Republicans have accused the FBI of abusing the FISA process by citing the dossier even though it was unverified and financed by Democrats as part of an opposition research project. Before that release, Nunes and other Republicans on the House Intelligence panel sent a letter to Trump calling on him to declassify and release 21 pages of the fourth and final FISA warrant. “In the course of the Committee’s investigation, we have uncovered irregularities with the process by which DOJ and FBI obtained information…

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New Text Messages Show FBI Officials Discussed ‘Media Leak Strategy’ Ahead Of Major Trump-Russia Revelation

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McCabe Page and Strzock

by Chuck Ross   Newly released text messages show that disgraced FBI official Peter Strzok asked to speak to former FBI lawyer Lisa Page about a “media leak strategy” during a crucial period of the Trump-Russia investigation last year. The text messages were revealed on Monday by North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a member of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee. “Our review of these new documents raises grave concerns regarding an apparent systemic culture of media leaking by high-ranking officials at the FBI and DOJ related to ongoing investigations,” Meadows wrote to Rosenstein in the letter, which was obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation and first reported by Sara Carter. Meadows pointed to text messages that Strzok sent to Page on April 10, 2017 and April 12, 2017. In the first message, Strzok, who then served as deputy chief of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, wrote to Page that: “I had literally just gone to find this phone to tell you I want to talk to you about media leak strategy with DOJ before you go.” Strzok was at that time the lead investigator on the FBI’s probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. He joined…

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New Text Messages Show FBI Officials Discussed ‘Media Leak Strategy’ Ahead Of Major Trump-Russia Revelation

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McCabe Page and Strzock

by Chuck Ross   Newly released text messages show that disgraced FBI official Peter Strzok asked to speak to former FBI lawyer Lisa Page about a “media leak strategy” during a crucial period of the Trump-Russia investigation last year. The text messages were revealed on Monday by North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a member of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee. “Our review of these new documents raises grave concerns regarding an apparent systemic culture of media leaking by high-ranking officials at the FBI and DOJ related to ongoing investigations,” Meadows wrote to Rosenstein in the letter, which was obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation and first reported by Sara Carter. Meadows pointed to text messages that Strzok sent to Page on April 10, 2017 and April 12, 2017. In the first message, Strzok, who then served as deputy chief of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, wrote to Page that: “I had literally just gone to find this phone to tell you I want to talk to you about media leak strategy with DOJ before you go.” Strzok was at that time the lead investigator on the FBI’s probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. He joined…

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Maria Butina Worried Russian Email Hacks Would Hurt Attempts To ‘Befriend Politicians’

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Maria Butina

by Chuck Ross   Maria Butina, a Russian national accused of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, expressed concern in July 2016 that her efforts to establish relationships with American politicians would be disrupted by Russian hacks of Democrats’ emails. “Right now I’m sitting here very quietly after the scandal about our FSB hacking into [Political Party 2’s] emails. My all too blunt attempts to befriend politicians right now will probably be misinterpreted, as you yourself can understand,” Butina wrote in an email to a Russian government official believed to be Alexander Torshin, the deputy chief of Russia’s central bank. The message was revealed in court documents submitted Friday night. Federal prosecutors have charged the 29-year-old Butina with conspiracy and with acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Russia. She allegedly acted under the direction of Torshin to infiltrate conservative political groups, including the National Rifle Association. [ RELATED: Russian National Linked To NRA Is Charged With Conspiracy ] Around the time of Butina’s message, Wikileaks published emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee. Special counsel Robert Mueller has since charged intelligence officials with Russia’s military intelligence bureau, the GRU. The FSB mentioned by Butina is a reference to Russia’s domestic spy service. Butina’s…

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Papadopoulos Verdict: 14 Days in Jail, 200 Hours of Community Service, and a $9,500 Fine

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Robert Mueller, George Papadopoulous, Donald Trump

by Chuck Ross   Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos was sentenced to 14 days jail in a federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday. District Judge Randolph D. Moss also ordered a year of supervision, 200 hours of community service and a $9,500 fine for the 30-year-old former Trump aide. Special counsel Robert Mueller had requested a sentence of between zero and six months for Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty on Oct. 5, 2017 to lying to the FBI. Papadopoulos becomes the first Trump associate sentenced in cases involving the special counsel’s office. Alex van der Zwaan, an attorney who worked with Paul Manafort, was sentenced to 30 days in jail on April 3 after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his pre-election work with the former Trump campaign chairman. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty on Oct. 5 to lying to the FBI in a Jan. 27, 2017 interview about the timing and extent of his contacts with a European professor named Joseph Mifsud. Papadopoulos falsely told the FBI that his contact with Mifsud occurred before he joined the Trump team in March 2016. While Papadopoulos lied about the timing of his interactions with Mifsud, he told FBI agents that he…

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Judicial Watch Busts FISA Court Corruption

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Tom Fitton

by CHQ Staff   In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by our friends at Judicial Watch the Department of Justice release this bombshell admission: [National Security Division] FOIA consulted [Office of Intelligence] … to identify and locate records responsive to [Judicial Watch’s] FOIA request…. [Office of Intelligence] determined … that there were no records, electronic or paper, responsive to [Judicial Watch’s] FOIA request with regard to Carter Page. [Office of Intelligence] further confirmed that the [Foreign Surveillance Court] considered the Page warrant applications based upon written submissions and did not hold any hearings. (Emphasis ours.) Just make this clear; the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court held no hearings on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) spy warrant applications targeting Carter Page, a former Trump campaign part-time advisor who was the subject of four controversial FISA warrants. The initial warrant was first issued in 2016 and subsequently renewed three times. In February, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a memo criticizing the FISA targeting of Carter Page. The memo details how the “minimally corroborated” Clinton-DNC dossier was an essential part of the FBI and DOJ’s applications for surveillance warrants to spy on Page. Judicial Watch recently filed a request with the Foreign…

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FBI Fires Anti-Trump Agent Peter Strzock

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Peter Strzok

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has fired agent Peter Strzok, who had become the target of Republican anger over his text messages disparaging President Donald Trump, Strzok’s lawyer said Monday. Strzok was a key figure in the early stages of the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, until his anti-Trump text messages to his lover, former FBI attorney Lisa Page, were discovered. In one of them, Strzok vowed to keep Trump from winning the election, though there was no evidence he and Page imposed their political views on the investigation. Earlier, Strzok helped investigate Trump’s Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton, over her use of a private email server while she was the U.S. secretary of state. Trump praised the firing, saying in a Twitter comment, “Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI – finally.” Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI – finally. The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer. Based on the fact that Strzok was in charge of the Witch Hunt, will it be dropped? It is a total Hoax. No Collusion, No Obstruction – I just fight back! — Donald J. Trump…

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Daily Caller News Foundation Sues To Obtain Information On Comey’s Leaker

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James Comey

by Richard Pollock   The Daily Caller News Foundation is suing the Department of Justice for failing to produce records regarding the Columbia University professor who received four memos from former FBI Director James Comey, one of which was leaked to The New York Times. Cause of Action Institute, a conservative nonprofit watchdog, filed the lawsuit on behalf of TheDCNF Monday after the Justice Department and the FBI failed to produce any records related to Daniel Richman in response to the news organization’s April 25 Freedom of Information Act request. Richman is a long-time friend and confidante of Comey and obtained at least four of the former FBI director’s memos about his conversations with President Donald Trump, two of which contained classified information, according to news reports. He leaked at least one Comey memo to The New York Times. Meanwhile, Comey, in a July 5, 2016 press conference, absolved then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton of any criminal activity in using her private server for government business while she served as secretary of state, saying that she was “extremely careless,” but not grossly negligent in using a private server for official government business. Gross negligence would constitute a federal offense tied to the mishandling of classified government secrets. Comey hired Richman as a…

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Memphis Democrat Steve Cohen Increasingly Unhinged, Calls President Trump and Rudy Giuliani ‘Pathological Liars’

Steve Morley
Steve Cohen

Memphis-area Democrat Representative Steve Cohen appeared on MSNBC’s “Live With Alex Witt” Sunday to react to the latest, if unusual, developments with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen (no relation) and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing ‘Trump-Russia Collusion’ investigation. The five-term congressman has a well-established record of vitriolic statements aimed at conservative and Rebublicans, but Cohen managed to “find a new gear” when President Trump surprised the world with his election victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Since then, the avowed progressive has become uncreasingly unhinged as his efforts to block, obstruct, resist, and even oust President Trump or his policy agenda have failed. Regarding new questions about Michael Cohen’s credibility, Alex Witt asked if the fact that Cohen has been exposed as “wiretapping” his clients impairs his belivability on the stand, “Or do you believe it is the President who loses in the credibility department?” Rep Cohen, who is a member of the House Judiciary Committee answered, “I think that Michael Cohen, Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump have about the same amount of credibility. They all use, at best, situational ethics – but probably more likely they just lie constantly, and they’re all three pathological liars.” (emphasis added) Surprised at the…

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President Of Judicial Watch Tom Fitton Trashes DOJ And FBI For Abusing ‘Awesome Powers’ Without Accountability

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Tom Fitton

by Nick Givas   Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton trashed the FBI and Department of Justice for abuse of power on “Fox & Friends First” Tuesday and said they are not being held accountable for their actions. Fitton’s group sued under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain surveillance warrant documents related to President Donald Trump’s former adviser Carter Page, but the information was heavily redacted. “[Trump has] to intervene,” Fitton said. “Rod Rosenstein signed that [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)] renewal. So he’s being asked to release information that may reflect poorly on him. He’d have to take himself out of the decision-making as to whether that material’s released. The president should step in like he did last time, that resulted in the release of this partial disclosure. And there’s more information to be gotten.” Fitton said Judicial Watch plans to file a motion Tuesday to get access to transcripts of the FISA hearings from the Page case and demanded better transparency from the federal government. “We plan to file a motion today with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get access to any hearing transcripts of any hearings that took place about the Carter Page warrant applications,” he continued. “We ask the Justice…

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Commentary: The ‘Self Licking Ice Cream Cone’ of Mueller’s Russia Probe

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James Brennan

by George Rasley   Senator Rand Paul met with President Donald Trump Monday and asked him to consider revoking former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance. Our friend Sara Carter reports the Kentucky Senator later took to Twitter and wrote, “Just got out of WH meeting with @RealDonald Trump. I restated to him what I have said in public: John Brennan and others [sic] partisans should have their security clearances revoked.” Prior to his meeting with the President, Carter reports Rand Paul questioned on Twitter if Brennan was “monetizing” his clearance by divulging secrets to the “mainstream media.” White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said during today’s press briefing that President Trump is seriously considering revoking Brennan’s privilege, along with other senior top intelligence officials from the Obama and Bush administration. “Not only is the president looking to take away Brennan’s security clearance, he’s also looking into the clearances of (former FBI Director James) Comey, (former Director of National Intelligence James) Clapper, (former CIA Director Michael) Hayden, (former National Security Advisor Susan) Rice and (former FBI Deputy Director Andrew) McCabe,” Sanders told reporters. Senator Paul is on to something with his charge that Brennan and others have “monetized” their clearances by…

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The Carter Page FISA Application: Four Key Takeaways (Plus One More)

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Carter Page and Trump

As experts comb through the newly-released, heavily redadcted FISA application to surveil former Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page, John Hinderaker at PowerLineBlog noticed four key takeaways. First, he notes, the application – which was renewed several times by the Obama-Holder-Lynch Department of Justice – strongly suggests Page is a Russian agent actively engaged in criminal activity. However, to date, Page has never been charged with a crime. Secondly, the government describes Christopher Steel and the origin of the dossier in a way that Hinderaker generously calls “misleading at best.” The application says: US-based law firm had hired the identified US person to condict research regarding Candidate #1’s ties to Russia (the identified US person and Source #1 have a long-staning relationship). The identified US person hired Source #1 to conduct this research. The identified US person never advised Source #1 as to the motivation behind the research into Candidate #1’s ties to Russia. The FBI speculates that the identified US person was likely looking for information that could be used to discredit Candidate #1’s campaign. Legend: Identified US person = Glenn Simpson, the head of Fusion GPS Source #1 = Christopher Steele Candidate #1 = Donald Trump Hinderaker explains: The…

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President Trump Says DOJ and FBI ‘Misled’ Surveillance Court to Wiretap a Former Aide

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Donald Trump

President Donald Trump claimed Sunday that newly released documents about the origins of an investigation of a former adviser’s links to Russia help vindicate his claim that U.S. government investigators were spying on his 2016 election campaign. He contended in Twitter remarks that “as usual,” the documents “are ridiculously heavily redacted but confirm with little doubt that the Department of ‘Justice’ and FBI misled the courts. Witch Hunt Rigged, a Scam!” Congratulations to @JudicialWatch and @TomFitton on being successful in getting the Carter Page FISA documents. As usual they are ridiculously heavily redacted but confirm with little doubt that the Department of “Justice” and FBI misled the courts. Witch Hunt Rigged, a Scam! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2018 It was not immediately clear how Trump felt the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was misled in the government’s four applications in 2016, and last year after Trump took office, to wiretap Carter Page, his one-time aide. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a 2016 opponent of Trump’s, told CNN that he did not think the Federal Bureau of Investigation “did anything wrong” in surveilling Page. The FBI said in the first application in October 2016 that it “believes Page has been…

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Commentary: Why Should Trump Pick A Fight With Putin Over The Failures Of Obama, Clapper, Strzok and Brennan?

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Russia meddling

by George Rasley   President Trump’s statement about the poor state of US – Russian relations, “I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish. We should have had this dialogue a long time ago — a long time, frankly, before I got to office. And I think we’re all to blame,” seems to have sent the establishment media and #NeverTrump crowd into chicken little-level fits of hysteria never before seen in American politics or media. Pearl Harbor, Kristallnacht and treason were just a few of the insane comparisons Democrats and Republicans have made to denigrate the President’s performance in Helsinki. Keep in mind, what all the hysteria is obfuscating is that President Trump did discuss Russian interference in our election with President Putin, “During today’s meeting, I addressed directly with President Putin the issue of Russian interference in our elections. I felt this was a message best delivered in person. We spent a great deal of time talking about it…” With all the brouhaha about what Trump said or meant to say during his post-Summit news conference with Putin one important thing seems to be lost on Trump’s critics.…

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Trump Says He Misspoke at Helsinki Press Conference: ‘I Accept Our Intelligence Community’s Conclusion’ That Russia Meddled in 2016 Election

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Donald Trump

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he accepts the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia sought to influence the 2016 U.S. election. “I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people also. A lot of people out there,” Trump told reporters in remarks from the White House. His comments come a day after the president publicly accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denial that Moscow was involved in election interference, drawing sharp criticism from U.S. lawmakers for taking the foreign leader’s word over his own intelligence agencies. The president said that after he reviewed a transcript of his Helsinki remarks, he said he realized he misspoke. “In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word would instead of wouldn’t. The sentence should have been…’I don’t see any reason why it WOULDN’T be Russia,” he said. The president continued to assert Tuesday that the media misrepresented his remarks while traveling abroad. On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, responded to Trump’s rosy assessment. “Let’s be very clear: Russia meddled in our election,” Ryan said. “We know they interfered with our elections, and we have passed sanctions…

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Commentary: Obama Cybersecurity Failures Are The Real 2016 Election Story

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Barack Obama

by George Rasley   Remember when the Democrats lost the 2016 election and the charge was that the Russians “hacked” the election? Then the charge morphed into, the Trump campaign, or maybe even Trump himself, “colluded” with the Russians to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House? As Rowan Scarborough of the Washington Times summarized the charges: Christopher Steele’s Democratic Party-financed dossier said Mr. Manafort worked with Russia to coordinate the hacking of Democratic Party computers. In addition, a number of media reports last year claimed that Mr. Manafort, Mr. Trump’s erstwhile campaign manager, sought Russia’s help to bolster his candidate. U.S. surveillance captured the collusion in copious amounts of phone records, the stories said. CNN declared in September: “Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, which is leading the investigation into Russia’s involvement in the election, has been provided details of these communications.” But, reported Scarborough, that and similar reports seemed to be dashed by Kevin Downing, Mr. Manafort’s attorney. He filed a brief in U.S. District Court subject to an accuracy review by a federal judge. In a cut-and-dried manner, he said Mr. Mueller has no evidence that Mr. Manafort communicated with Russian officials. Mr. Downing is defending Mr. Manafort against federal charges…

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Commentary: Paul Manafort Is a Political Prisoner

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Paul Manafort

By Printus LeBlanc   Paul Manafort is in a fight for his life, literally. He is currently facing up to 305 years in prison if he is convicted of all the crimes he is alleged to have committed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Manafort is currently in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day now as terrorists at GITMO are live better than he does. For what? Did this man murder, rape, or commit an act of violence? No. Surely, he is a mastermind behind a criminal organization spanning the globe? No. Paul Manafort is in jail for one reason and one reason only, he worked for President Trump during his election campaign. The trial of Paul Manafort makes participation in the political process illegal. The Mueller investigation has been tainted from the beginning. Robert Mueller staffed the investigation with over a dozen partisan lawyers and investigators. Many of the investigators also have disturbing conflicts of interests while others have horrendous records at the DOJ. It is easy to call the investigation phony because Mueller’s team hasn’t investigated anything to do with Russia collusion. The team has not taken control of the DNC server to prove Russia hacked the server. The Russian lawyer…

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Special Counsel Robert Mueller Will NOT Present ‘Collusion’ Evidence at Manafort Trial

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Paul Manafort

by Chuck Ross   Special counsel Robert Mueller said in a court filing Friday that his prosecutors will not present evidence regarding Trump campaign collusion with Russia at an upcoming trial for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. “The government does not intend to present at trial evidence or argument concerning collusion with the Russian government,” reads a filing submitted by Mueller’s team in federal court in Virginia on Friday. The filing sheds light on one of the largest questions looming over the Manafort case. Mueller’s prosecutors have indicted Manafort in federal court in Virginia and Washington, D.C., on a slew of charges related to his consulting work for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort ended the work in 2014, and it has been unclear whether Mueller’s team planned to reveal evidence about Trump or the campaign. Manafort is accused in the unverified Steele dossier of directing the Trump campaign’s efforts to coordinate with the Kremlin to help Trump in the 2016 election. The dossier, which was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and DNC, claims that Manafort worked with former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page on the effort. Both Page and Manafort have said they have never met each other. Manafort has…

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The Two Justice Systems in America

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Lady Justice

By Printus LeBlanc   This week the American people learned there are two justice systems in the United States. There is a system for the politically connected and illegal immigrants, and then there is the system for the regular Americans. Can you guess who the system is toughest on? The much-anticipated Department of Justice Inspector General’s report was released last Thursday. As Congress and the press had the weekend to digest the voluminous report (500+ pages) and prepare for Inspector General Horowitz’s testimony before the Senate and House on Monday and Tuesday, it became increasingly clear the Clinton email investigation was handled unlike any normal investigation. The tactics used by the DOJ and FBI during the Clinton investigation could not be more different than the actions taken against the President and members of his campaign. The IG report reported, during the Clinton email investigation, an FBI agent and FBI employee exchanged text messages discussing how a witness in the Clinton investigation lied to the FBI. On page 147 of the report, the agent texted, “Awesome. Lied his ass off. Went from never inside the scif [sensitive compartmented information facility] at res, to looked in when it was being constructed, to…

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Rep. Mark Meadows: Growing Evidence FBI Documents Were Altered in Clinton Email Investigation

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Mark Meadows

by Chuck Ross   North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows made two startling claims in a House hearing on Tuesday, asserting that there is “growing evidence” that FBI officials altered documentation of witness interviews in the Hillary Clinton and Russia probes. The Republican also revealed the name of an FBI attorney he believes is the bureau employee who was removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation in February after he was found to have sent anti-Trump text messages. Meadows made the revelations in a round of questioning with Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz. On Thursday, Horowitz’s office released a scathing report that documented FBI officials’ mishandling of the Clinton investigation. It also laid out a slew of text messages that FBI officials and attorneys sent criticizing Donald Trump. “I think the other thing that I would ask you to look into, there is growing evidence that 302s were edited and changed,” Meadows said. “Those 302s, it is suggested that they were changed to either prosecute or not prosecute individuals. And that is very troubling.” Meadows was referring to forms that FBI agents use to summarize witness interviews. He told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing that he has seen evidence that 302s filled out…

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DOJ IG: McCabe Used Strzok’s Mistress To Bypass Chain Of Command To Monitor Clinton Probe

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McCabe Page and Strzock

by Luke Rosiak    – Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe used Peter Strzok’s mistress, Lisa Page, to get information on the FBI probe into investigation of Clinton’s private servery  – McCabe used Page to “circumvented the official chain of command”  – Other bureau officials took issue with the decision Then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe tasked the mistress of lead agent Peter Strzok to stay appraised of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s private server — a decision that other bureau officials took issue with at the time, according to the Department of Justice Inspector General’s bombshell report. McCabe was supposed to be insulated from the probe by two levels of management: Strzok worked for counterintelligence head Bill Priestap, who worked for national security head Michael Steinbach, who reported up to McCabe. However, Strzok communicated about the probe with his mistress, Lisa Page, who worked directly for McCabe and acted as a liaison for the Clinton investigation for the deputy director. The report says: Lisa Page, who was Special Counsel to McCabe, became involved in the Midyear investigation after McCabe became the Deputy Director in February 2016. Page told the OIG that part of her function was to serve as a liaison between the Midyear team and…

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‘We’re Getting Close:’ Nunes Says Impeachment Is On The Table For Rod Rosenstein

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Devin Nunes, Rod Rosenstein

by Chuck Ross   House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said Sunday that “there will be hell to pay” — including impeachment for top Justice Department officials — if the agency fails this week to give Congress documents about an FBI informant used to spy on the Trump campaign. “We can’t force the resignation, but we can hold in contempt, we can pass resolutions, we can impeach. I think we’re getting close to there,” Nunes said of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” Nunes has battled Rosenstein for months over other documents related to the Russia investigation. The Justice Department and FBI stalled for months to provide information about the Steele dossier as well as about a secret surveillance warrant taken out against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The most recent standoff concerns Nunes’ request for documents related to a longtime FBI and CIA source who the bureau tasked to meet with three Trump campaign advisers, including Page. Nunes and other members of the so-called Gang of Eight met with Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday to discuss Intelligence Committee’s requests for documents about the informant,…

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Nunes Accuses DOJ Of ‘Obstruction’ In Battle Over FBI Informant Documents

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Devin Nunes, Rod Rosenstein

by Chuck Ross   House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is giving the Department of Justice until Tuesday to provide documents about an FBI informant used to spy on the Trump campaign. In a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Friday, Nunes accused the agency of “obstruction” and using “an array of tactics” to withhold the documents about the spy, who is believed to be former University of Cambridge professor Stefan Halper. In the letter, Nunes said he wants the documents provided to the Intelligence committee and “designated staff” instead of only to the so-called Gang of Eight, as the Justice Department has requested. “DOJ continues to obfuscate and delay its production using an array of tactics, such as incorrectly categorizing the requested documents as Gang-of-Eight-level material in order to limit access,” Nunes wrote, according to Fox News. “Such conduct by DOJ is unacceptable because the Gang-of-Eight is a legal fiction that has no basis outside of the confines of Presidential approval and reporting of covert actions.” The Gang of Eight consists of the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees, as well as Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The battle…

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Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Seeks Immunity For Senate Testimony

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James Comey, Andrew McCabe

by Chuck Ross Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, is seeking immunity in order to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to documents released Tuesday. “This is a textbook case for granting use immunity,” Michael Bromwich, an attorney for McCabe, wrote Monday in a letter to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the judiciary panel. “Mr. McCabe is willing to testify, but because of the criminal referral, he must be afforded suitable legal protection,” Bromwich said. “Accordingly, we hereby request that the Judiciary Committee authorize a grant of use immunity to Mr. McCabe.” Grassley invited McCabe and other FBI officials to a hearing tentatively scheduled for July after the expected release of a Justice Department inspector general’s report on the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. McCabe was fired in March, two days before his retirement, for a “lack of candor” during interviews with the office of the inspector general (OIG) and the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility about his role in authorizing FBI contacts with the media about the Clinton probe. The OIG found McCabe gave misleading statements in three interviews when asked whether he authorized former FBI lawyer Lisa Page to talk…

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White House Official Feels ‘Duped’ By FBI Informant Who Sought Ambassadorship

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Navarro

by Chuck Ross   White House trade czar Peter Navarro said he feels “duped” by Stefan Halper, the FBI informant who sought out members of President Donald Trump’s campaign and applied for an ambassadorship in Trump’s administration. “I feel duped, yeah, pretty much,” Peter Navarro told Fox Radio’s Brian Kilmeade on Wednesday. “It’s baffling,” Navarro added. Halper, a former Cambridge professor with deep ties to the CIA and MI6, approached Navarro in 2017, seeking a nomination to an ambassadorship to an unidentified Asian country, Axios reported on May 21. At the time he submitted his application for the ambassadorship, Halper was working as an informant for the FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign. As part of that under cover operation, Halper met with three Trump campaign associates — Carter Page, Sam Clovis and George Papadopoulos. [ RELATED: Stefan Halper Pitched Himself For Trump Administration Ambassadorship ] Halper maintained contact with Page from July 2016 through Sept. 2017, as The Daily Caller News Foundation has reported. He met Clovis once, on Sept. 1, 2016. And Halper paid Papadopoulos $3,000 to write a policy paper that appears to have been cover to arrange a series of meetings in London. Papadopoulos has told associates Halper…

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Commentary: Time For Democrats and The Media To Admit the Russia Investigation Was Illegitimate from the Start

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by George Rasley   In the last week, as revelation upon revelation hit that Obama administration officials and career employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) spied on the Donald Trump campaign in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, Margot Cleveland writing for The Federalist, observed that the mainstream media, the Left, and Never Trump Republicans have fallen back on three ready responses: A solid plurality of this contingent continue to avert their eyes from the facts and dismiss the claims of misconduct as peddled by tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorists. There is not much you can say to this faction, because they refuse to consider the proof. A second – and more extreme group – believes Trump conspired with the Russians to steal the election from Hillary Clinton. There is not much you can say to this bunch either, because they are tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorists. But the final group sees things differently. While they don’t necessarily believe Trump was treasonous, they argue that the FBI and other intelligence-gathering agencies rightly targeted the Trump campaign. With Russian-leaning Paul Manafort and Carter Page involved in the campaign, and Trump trolling Hillary with praise for Vladimir…

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Senator Grassley: Fusion GPS Founder Gave ‘Extremely Misleading’ Testimony About Trump Work

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by Chuck Ross   The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is accusing Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson of giving “extremely misleading” statements, if not telling “outright lies,” during Senate testimony in 2017. Simpson may have lied when he denied working for clients to investigate President Donald Trump after the 2016 election, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said in a May 24 letter made public on Tuesday. Fusion GPS, which Simpson started in 2011, worked for the Clinton campaign and DNC to investigate Trump’s possible ties to Russia. The opposition research firm hired former British spy Christopher Steele, who would go on to write a dossier alleging Trump’s campaign colluded with the Kremlin. Grassley noted that in his Aug. 22, 2017, testimony, Simpson claimed after the election, he was not working for a client to continue his Trump work. [ RELATED: Back Channel To Christopher Steele Goes On The Record About Senate Testimony ] “So you didn’t do any work on the Trump matter after the election date; that was the end of your work?” Simpson was asked during the interview. Simpson responded, saying: “I had no client after the election.” Grassley said Simpson’s denial was false. “As we now know, that was extremely misleading, if…

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Trump Contends Prosecutors Will ‘Meddle’ in 2018 Elections

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U.S. President Donald Trump contended Tuesday that prosecutors investigating his 2016 campaign’s links to Russia “will be MEDDLING” in November’s congressional elections. The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018 Trump offered no explanation how he thinks the legal team of special counsel Robert Mueller would interfere with the voting for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and a third of those in the 100-member Senate. Last week he suggested that the length of Mueller’s year-long investigation could turn voters against candidates he favors and “put some hurt on the Republican Party.” Trump, in a string of Twitter comments, ignored the conclusion last week by his new secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, that U.S. officials expect “continued efforts” by Russia to interfere with the congressional elections, just as the U.S. intelligence community concluded it did in the presidential election two years ago to help Trump win. With the congressional campaigns now in…

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Commentary: Time to Fire Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein

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by CHQ Staff   We’ve said many times that we think Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should be fired, but his latest round of tone deaf pronouncements ought to be the final straw for the President and Attorney General. After President Trump rightly complained about the latest revelations about the Obama administration spying on his campaign, Rosenstein snarked back at his ultimate Boss during a presser discussing the Justice Department’s approach to corporate crime. Rosenstein said current policy discourages “piling on” penalties. He paused to prepare his New York audience for the punchline. “The dictionary defines piling on as joining with other people in criticizing someone, usually in an unfair manner,” Rosenstein said. “I also have experience with that.” This snide complaint about “piling on” came as the Daily Caller and Breitbart are reporting that FBI agents out in the field are begging to be subpoenaed to blow the whistle on Obama administration skullduggery. “There are [FBI] agents all over this country who love the bureau and are sickened by [James] Comey’s behavior and [Andrew] McCabe and [Eric] Holder and [Loretta] Lynch and the thugs like [John] Brennan–who despise the fact that the bureau was used as a tool of political intelligence…

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Commentary: Time For Chairman Nunes To Subpoena Trump Campaign Spy Stefan Halper

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by George Rasley   Last Friday, the Washington Post and New York Times published articles that shed much more light on the Obama administration’s surveillance of the Trump campaign. There was indeed an FBI informant – Stefan Halper – spying on Trump campaign officials. The New York Times and Washington Post, by the way, were apparently aware of Halper’s identity, but chose not to publish it, probably because it did not advance the narrative that there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. According to New York Magazine’s Benjamin Hart, the Times said it made its decision because it “typically does not name informants to preserve their safety.” The Post reports that it received “warnings from U.S. intelligence officials that exposing him could endanger him or his contacts,” and that “the stakes are so high that the FBI has been working over the past two weeks to mitigate the potential damage if the source’s identity is revealed, according to several people familiar with the matter.” Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who has struggled mightily to make himself relevant in the congressional investigations, ludicrously called outing him “potentially illegal.” Similarly, the Justice Department allegedly strongly pushed back on revealing the informant’s identity, but anyone with a passing familiarity with establishment Republican national security figures from the Cold…

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President Trump Says He’ll Order DOJ Probe of Alleged Campaign Surveillance

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by Steve Herman U.S. President Donald Trump says he will order an investigation Monday about a secret source of the country’s top law enforcement agency he claims infiltrated his 2016 election campaign – setting up a potential showdown with his Department of Justice, which oversees the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Trump tweeted Sunday from the White House, “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2018 Within minutes, members of the Obama administration and others reacted with alarm, perceiving the Trump threat as potentially the most serious intervention into the American judicial system since the president last year fired FBI Director James Comey, who was investigating Trump’s campaign. Trump’s…

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Trump’s Attorney Says Special Counsel Has Narrowed Questions

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President Donald Trump’s attorney said Friday the special counsel in the Russia probe has narrowed the scope of potential questions for the president, even as Trump advanced an unverified theory that the Justice Department planted a spy in his 2016 campaign and is now “out to frame him.” Rudy Giuliani said Friday on CNN that special counsel Robert Mueller has narrowed his question subject areas from five to two, as negotiations continue over whether the president will sit down for an interview. Giuliani said they don’t expect to be asked about the president’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who faces a separate criminal investigation in New York. But Giuliani did not provide many additional details, saying that some of it is “subject to negotiation.” His comments came after Trump sent out an early morning tweet that seemed intended to undercut the ongoing Russia investigation, which he has repeatedly called a “witch hunt.” Promoting a theory that is circulating in conservative circles, Trump quoted Fox Business anchor David Asman and tweeted: “Apparently the DOJ put a Spy in the Trump Campaign. This has never been done before and by any means necessary, they are out to frame Donald Trump for crimes he…

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Mueller Says He Won’t Indict Trump. Here’s Three Things You NEED To Know

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FBI Mueller and President Trump

by Kevin Daley   Rudy Giuliani told CNN Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller informed President Donald Trump’s legal team that his office concluded a sitting chief executive cannot be indicted. Here are three things you need to know about this revelation. 1. The special counsel could still recommend action against Trump As most news accounts noted, Mueller still has other options with respect to Trump. Should he find compelling evidence of criminal behavior on the president’s part, he can make an impeachment referral to the House of Representatives. Congress has always been the most appropriate venue for a criminal complaint against Trump, and that alternative (dramatic though it may be) remains available. Should Democrats assume control of the lower chamber in the November elections, such a referral would provide the perfect pretext for an impeachment vote many progressives have agitated for since Mueller’s appointment. 2. Trump might still be named as an unindicted co-conspirator On occasion, prosecutors name individuals involved in a criminal conspiracy as unindicted co-conspirators, though these individuals are never subject to criminal charges. There aren’t categorical rules in this area. Individuals are most often made to accept such designations in exchange for immunity. The U.S. attorney’s manual advises…

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Ron DeSantis Says He May Know Who Was Spying On The Trump Campaign: ‘There Needs To Be Follow Up’

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DeSantis Spy Insite

by Nick Givas   Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis of Florida thinks he may know who was spying on President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, but said further investigation is needed to get to the truth. Rumors of an FBI mole planted within the campaign have surfaced and DeSantis, a Florida gubernatorial candidate, believes the accusations have merit. “I know that we’re actively trying to get the underlying documents that would tell us — did they spy on the Trump campaign or not?” DeSantis said on “Fox & Friends” Monday. “The reason why a lot of us were suspicious was because Glen Simpson at one point, the head of Fusion GPS, testified that there was a human source inside the Trump campaign, based on his conversations with Christopher Steele. So it suggests that Steele as a British agent, may have been working with somebody who the FBI was also working with.” DeSantis said he may know the identity of the mole but believes it’s more important for Congress to confirm that the federal government was spying on the Trump campaign. “I think I may know the person just based on what I’ve learned, not even classified. But we don’t even need to know the name. We just…

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Grassley Flags ‘Apparent Contradictions’ In Comey’s Testimony About Michael Flynn

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by Chuck Ross   The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is trying to get to the bottom of “apparent contradictions” in former FBI Director James Comey’s claims about former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey told a Senate Judiciary panel in a March 15, 2017 interview that the FBI agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe he intentionally lied about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December 2016, according to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. Comey also “led us to believe” that the Justice Department “was unlikely to prosecute [Flynn] for false statements” made during his Jan. 24, 2017 interview with FBI agents, Grassley wrote Friday in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Comey’s remarks conflict with what he has claimed in recent interviews for his book tour, said Grassley. To get to the bottom of the matter, the Republican is asking Wray and Rosenstein to provide FBI notes taken during both the Comey and Flynn interviews. Comey denied, in an April 26 interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, telling lawmakers that the FBI agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe that Flynn was intentionally lying. “Did you tell lawmakers that FBI agents didn’t believe former…

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