Tag: Russia probe

Judge Napolitano Thinks Bob Mueller’s Tactics Amount To ‘Bribery’

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by Nick Givas   Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said special counsel Bob Mueller’s tactics of squeezing witnesses for information amounts to “bribery,” Thursday on “Fox & Friends.” “I have argued that prosecuting somebody like they did to [former national security adviser] Mike Flynn, squeezing him, reducing his jail exposure so he’ll say what you want him to say is a form of bribery. I’ve been arguing that for years,” Napolitano said. Napolitano said he is in the minority in the legal field and said the courts have deemed Mueller’s tactics to be perfectly legal, despite the ethical implications. “I am in the distinct minority in the legal and judicial community,” Napolitano concluded. “The courts have said this is fine. If defense counsel gave a witness so much as a lollipop, the lawyer and the witness would be indicted for bribery.” – – – Nick Givas is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. You can Follow Nick on Twitter and Facebook.                   The Daily Caller News Foundation is working hard to balance out a biased American media. For as little as $3, you can help the DCNF. Make a one-time donation to support the quality,…

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Report: Porn Star Lawyer Avenatti Accuses The Wrong Michael Cohen Of Making ‘Fraudulent’ Payment

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by Chuck Ross   Michael Avenatti, porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, released a seven-page dossier on Tuesday containing a list of payments purportedly made to Michael Cohen, the lawyer for President Donald Trump. But there is one problem with the document: two of the allegedly “fraudulent” payments were made to men named Michael Cohen who have no affiliation with Trump. Avenatti’s report includes a section listing “possible fraudulent and illegal financial transactions” involving Trump’s lawyer. One of the payments is a $4,250 wire transfer from a Malaysian company, Actuarial Partners, to a bank in Toronto. The other is a $980 transfer from a Kenyan bank to Bank Hapoalim — the largest bank in Israel. Zainal Kassim, a representative for Actuarial Partners, told The Daily Caller News Foundation Avenatti’s report is a case of mistaken identity. He forwarded an email the falsely accused Michael Cohen sent to Avenatti requesting the lawyer “correct this error forthwith and make it known publicly” there is no connection to Trump’s Michael Cohen. “You are surely aware of the fact that this is an extremely common name and would request that you take care before involving innocent parries in this sordid affair,” wrote Cohen, who told Avenatti he…

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Democrats Ignore Dossier In Russia Report, In Stark Contrast To Their Early Rhetoric

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by Chuck Ross   What a difference a year makes. At a House Intelligence Committee hearing just over a year ago, Democrats on the panel focused heavily on the infamous Steele dossier, the salacious and unverified report alleging that the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election. California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, made numerous references to Steele’s claims during an opening statement for the hearing, which was held on March 20, 2017. Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro pressed then-FBI Director James Comey about specific allegations made about Trump associates in the dossier, which was written by former British spy Christopher Steele. Indiana Rep. Andre Carson and California Rep. Jackie Speier, two other committee Democrats, also hyped the dossier. Democrats seemingly had high hopes for the dossier back then. The report, published two months earlier by BuzzFeed News, included damning allegations that if true would likely lead to Trump’s impeachment. “According to Steele, it was Manafort who chose Page to serve as a go-between for the Trump campaign and Russian interests,” Schiff said in the hearing, referring to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Steele’s dossier alleged…

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DOJ Gives Congress Missing Strzok-Page Text Messages

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by Chuck Ross   The Justice Department on Thursday gave Congress five months worth of text messages exchanged between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page — two FBI officials involved in the investigations into Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump’s campaign. The messages, exchanged between Dec. 14, 2016, and May 17, 2017, were initially thought to be missing due to a technical glitch on FBI-issued cell phones. But the texts were recovered by the Justice Department’s office of the inspector general, which is investigating the FBI’s handling of both the Clinton and Trump campaign investigations. Approximately 300 messages were given to Congress, a Justice Department official told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Strzok, the former deputy chief of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, was removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia team in July 2017 after the discovery of the text messages. They showed Strzok and Page expressed deep hostility to Trump during the 2016 campaign. Strzok oversaw the FBI’s Russia investigation when it began on July 31, 2016. He was also a top investigator on the Clinton email probe. He helped conduct the interviews of Clinton and several of her top aides. The congressional committees that received the text messages are likely…

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EXCLUSIVE: In Private, Trump Aide George Papadopoulos Denies Collusion

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Robert Mueller, George Papadopoulous, Donald Trump

by Chuck Ross   More than six months have passed since George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and began cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. In that span, speculation has swirled about whether the President Donald Trump’s former campaign adviser holds the keys to collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. Democrats, including California Rep. Adam Schiff, routinely cite Papadopoulos as a possible Trump campaign conduit to Russia, and his Oct. 5 guilty plea and subsequent cooperation with Mueller has fueled speculation that he has provided damaging information about the Trump campaign’s activities. Papadopoulos, an energy consultant who lives in Chicago, has not spoken publicly about the case against him. But two sources familiar with his thinking say that he has privately denied that he was involved in any collusion scheme. Sources say he has also downplayed the significance of conversations that he had in London with two separate diplomats in which Hillary Clinton’s emails were allegedly discussed. Those alleged discussions about emails would later prompt the FBI to open a counterintelligence intelligence investigation into the Trump team. As part of his plea deal with Mueller, Papadopoulos acknowledged Joseph Mifsud, a professor and former Maltese diplomat, told…

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Nunes: ‘Major Irregularities’ In State Department’s Handling Of Trump-Russia Info

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by Chuck Ross   The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairman provided an update on Sunday of the panel’s investigation into what he says are “major irregularities” at the State Department regarding its handling of information about President Donald Trump’s campaign. California Rep. and Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’s investigators are looking into the State Department’s handling of information about George Papadopoulos, the Trump campaign adviser whose discussions about Hillary Clinton emails are what led the FBI to open its counterintelligence investigation in July 2016, the chairman suggested when he appeared on Fox News. “We are investigating the State Department. We think there are some major irregularities at the State Department, and we’re trying to figure out how it is that this information about Mr. Papadopoulos of all people, who was supposedly meeting with some folks in London, how that made it over across into the FBI’s hands,” Nunes told Maria Bartiromo, the host of “Sunday Morning Futures.” ,@DevinNunes: “We do know that longtime associates of @HillaryClinton, including Sidney Blumenthal and another person named, I think, Cody Shearer, were actively giving information to the @StateDept that was somehow making its way to the @FBI.” #[email protected]/nUw5gIHCB7 — Fox News (@FoxNews) April…

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Republicans Call for Justice Department Investigation Into Comey, Clinton, Others

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by Robert Donachie   A group of House Republicans are calling for the Department of Justice to investigate a laundry list of former agency heads and people involved in the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server. The letter is addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah John Huber. It asks that each of these men use their respective powers to investigate “potential violation(s) of federal statues” on the part of Clinton and of former FBI Director James Comey, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, FBI agent Peter Strzok, and FBI counsel Lisa Page. The representatives include members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus—including Rep. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Dave Brat of Virginia, and Paul Gosar of Arizona—and other GOP House members, like Claudia Tenney of New York. “Those in positions of high authority should be treated the same as every other American” and because of that the members want to be sure that any “potential violations of law” be “vetted appropriately,” the group of Republican lawmakers wrote. “In doing so, we are especially mindful of the dissimilar degree of zealousness that has marked the…

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Rep. Peter King Claims IG Report On McCabe’s Lies Is ‘Devastating’ for Comey

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James Comey, Andrew McCabe

Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Michael Horowitz’s report is “devastating” for former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Monday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” The DOJ’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released its internal report Friday reviewing the department’s conduct during its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct official business while serving as Secretary of State.

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Office of President Trump’s Personal Lawyer Michael Cohen Raided by FBI

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The FBI on Monday raided the Manhattan office of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, seizing scores of records including documents related to hush money paid to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels. The FBI on Monday raided the Manhattan office of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, seizing scores of records including documents related to hush money paid to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels.

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Five Facts About the Prosecutor Probing FBI, Justice Department Actions

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by Fred Lucas   While Attorney General Jeff Sessions has decided to hold off on naming a second special counsel, he reached well outside Washington for a federal prosecutor to investigate possible wrongdoing by the FBI and Justice Department. “The [Justice] Department is not above criticism and it can never be that the department conceals errors when they occur,” AG Jeff Sessions says. Sessions announced Thursday in a letter to members of Congress that, rather than name another special counsel, he has tapped Utah U.S. Attorney John Huber to work with the Justice Department’s inspector general to review multiple issues of Justice Department and FBI conduct. The conduct under scrutiny occurred during the Obama administration as FBI and Justice officials investigated matters connected with 2016 presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution.  Find out more >> “We understand that the [Justice] Department is not above criticism and it can never be that the department conceals errors when they occur,” Sessions said in the letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; and House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey…

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Harvard Legal Icon Doubts Pardon-Obstruction Narrative

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Famed Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz disputed a Democratic senator’s contention Thursday that a reported pardon discussion involving President Donald Trump’s lawyer amounts to “textbook” obstruction of justice. The New York Times reported Wednesday that John Dowd, who then was representing the president in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, floated the idea of a presidential pardon for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign boss Paul Manafort in conversations with their attorneys.

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Donald Trump Moves to Discredit James Comey, Andrew McCabe; Claims Bias in Robert Mueller Probe

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President Trump on Sunday used his Twitter platform to try and discredit James Comey and Andrew McCabe, whose FBI careers were cut short amid acrimony over the Russian-meddling probe and how the bureau handled probes into the Clinton family. Both men reportedly kept memos detailing their interactions with Mr. Trump, which could factor into Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of any ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, or fuel potential obstruction of justice charges against the president.

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Commentary: The Left is Going Crazy – This Time, Over the Andrew McCabe Firing

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By Rick Manning   Former Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Andrew McCabe has been fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the left is going crazy. McCabe’s firing was recommended by the FBI’s internal career civil service run Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Attorney General acted accordingly. The Office of Professional Responsibility has been run by Robin Ashton who was appointed to the post in 2010 by former Attorney General Eric Holder, who extolled her, “As a veteran career prosecutor, Robin is uniquely qualified to serve as Counsel for Professional Responsibility, and I am confident she will lead the office with the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and dedication.” During Holder’s tenure as Attorney General, Ashton was awarded the Attorney General’s Claudia J. Flynn Award for Professional Responsibility in 2013, the Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Leadership in Management in 2010, as well as receiving was the recipient of the United States Attorney’s Award for Meritorious Service in 2010. The Washington Post reported about the March 14, 2018 recommendation saying, “The FBI office that handles employee discipline has recommended firing the bureau’s former deputy director over allegations that he authorized the disclosure of sensitive information to a reporter and misled investigators…

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Trump’s Personal Lawyer John Dowd Calls for End to Mueller Probe After McCabe Firing

Tennessee Star Staff

President Trump’s personal attorney called on the Justice Department Saturday to immediately shut down special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Attorney John Dowd said Mr. Mueller’s investigation has been “corrupted” by political bias since the beginning.

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Report: FBI Agent Peter Strzok Didn’t Follow Up on Possible Breach of Clinton Email Server

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The FBI agent charged with investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server became aware of a possible breach, but never followed up, Fox News Channel has reported. Citing sources familiar with the investigation, Fox News reported Peter Strzok discovered an irregularity in the server’s metadata in 2016 – just before the presidential election – but did not conduct a formal damage assessment.

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13 Russians Charged in Mueller Investigation

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A federal grand jury investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election on Friday indicted 13 Russian nationals including 12 employees of a St. Petersburg, Russia-based company that carries out online influence operations on behalf of Moscow. The indictment alleges that Internet Research Agency, a propaganda outfit tied to the Kremlin, engaged “in operations to interfere with elections and political processes” during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

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Devin Nunes Wants ‘Ridiculous’ Democratic Memo Released

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Rep. Devin Nunes wants the public to see the Democrats’ “ridiculous” rebuttal memo on possible FBI misconduct in the Russia probe. In an interview on Fox News Channel on Sunday, Mr. Nunes, California Republican and House intelligence committee chairman, accused the Democrats of playing political games by trying to make an issue of President Trump’s demanding redactions for national-security purposes.

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Trump Tells Democrats to Refile Probe Memo

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US President Donald Trump on Saturday told Democratic lawmakers to refile a memo about the probe into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russia, leaving a chance the document could still be released. The document is the Democrats’ response to a four-page memorandum written by Republican legislator Devin Nunes, which Trump agreed to declassify and release on February 2 — against the advice of his own FBI director and the Department of Justice.

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Commentary: Did Anyone REALLY Believe the Steele Dossier?

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George Rasley, CHQ Editor As a veteran of over 300 political campaigns I’ve compiled dozens of opposition research memos. Almost every time I did one someone would come forward with salacious charges. Running down these allegations never revealed proof; no affidavits from spurned lovers, no credit card receipts from the Chicken Ranch, etc., so I refused to include those allegations in my work product. From what I’ve read from the Steele dossier very little of it passes those most basic tests of sourcing. No candidate I’ve ever worked with would have paid me for such a document, unless of course they didn’t care if it was true or not. This experience begs the question: Given the problematic sourcing, did anyone involved on the FBI or Hillary Clinton side really believe the allegations in the Steele dossier? Or was it always known to be a cynical lie? Certainly, Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson went to great lengths in his testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) to avoid saying he believed the Steele dossier was true – credible was as close as he would go. On Page 9 of the transcript of Simpson’s testimony before HPSCI he responded to…

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Commentary: Did the Obama Justice Dept. and the Clinton Campaign Coordinate to Place the Isikoff Piece to Obtain the FISA Warrant on the Trump Campaign in 2016?

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By Robert Romano   Besides the DNC and Clinton campaign-funded Christopher Steele dossier that alleged Trump campaign-Russia collusion that was used as evidence by the Obama era Justice Department to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court warrant against Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, another piece of evidence was a Sept. 2016 Yahoo! News piece by Michael Isikoff that alleged the same. A news story, which turns out, was sourced to Steele himself, anonymous at the time, and was presented as evidence to the FISA court to “corroborate” the Steele dossier. It was circular confirmation, Steele confirming himself in essence, according to the now-released House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence memorandum by Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.): “This article does not corroborate the Steele dossier because it is derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo News.” But what stands out about the Isikoff piece, besides the fact it became one of the bases on which to spy on a presidential campaign smackdab in the middle of the election, is the fact that Isikoff quotes Justice Department officials confirming that Page was already under investigation. Isikoff referred to a Congressional source who alleged that, in Isikoff’s words, “U.S. officials in the briefings indicated…

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New Texts Between FBI’s Peter Strzok, Lisa Page Show Obama Wanted Updates on Clinton Investigation

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A new batch of text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page revealed President Barack Obama wanted updates on the bureau’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email serve, according to a Fox News report. On Sept. 2, 2016 – just weeks away from election day – Ms. Page texted Mr. Strzok, her lover, about preparing a report for then-FBI Director James B. Comey because “potus wants to know everything we’re doing,” Fox News said.

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Commentary: Unprincipled ‘Devil’s Advocates’ Like John McCain Are the Deep State’s Friends and Protectors

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by Jeffery Rendall   Every company, organization and family has one – a so-called “Devil’s advocate.” Wikipedia defines “Devil’s advocate” as “someone who, given a certain point of view, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with (or simply an alternative position from the accepted norm), for the sake of debate or to explore the thought further.” Needless to say American politics is full of loathsome “Devil’s advocate” troublemakers. These naysayers take cover behind self-styled “principled” objections to deserving actions when they’re really just seeking sympathetic media attention for themselves – or even worse, they have an axe to grind against rivals in the party. Sometimes they’re known as “independents” or “mavericks” but they’re not individualistic at all – they’re agitators. Senator John McCain played “Devil’s advocate” last week after the newly released House Intelligence Committee memo detailed multiple abuses by FBI officials in pursuit of a vendetta against then candidate and now President Donald Trump. While conservatives and Republicans reacted with stunned horror to the notion of government officers deliberately employing surveillance powers to play politics, “D.A. McCain” took the opposite approach. Elena Schor of Politico reported, “The statement from McCain, who is away from Washington undergoing treatment for…

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Glenn Simpson Retracts Claim FBI Had a Mole Inside Trump Team

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Glenn Simpson, the Fusion GPS founder who sponsored the unverified anti-Trump dossier, claimed in August and again Jan. 2 that the FBI has a source inside the Trump camp who lent credence to the document. When a transcript of his secret August testimony was released on Tuesday, news headlines immediately latched onto the disclosure as a boon to a dossier whose core charges of Donald Trump-Russia collusion have been denied and not confirmed publicly.

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