Commentary: ‘Russia Forever’ Is an Anatomy of a Left-Wing Obsession

The more candidate Trump in 2016 trolled the Clinton campaign (e.g., “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press”), the more the irate left bought into hysterical conspiracy theories.

Finally, the left became completely unhinged after the 2016 victory. An Obama-era Pentagon lawyer published an essay exploring the chance for a military coup. Retired lieutenant colonels called for a Pentagon intervention. Retired four-stars could not decide whether he was Hitler-like, Mussolini, or the architect of Auschwitz. Celebrities competed to find the most savage image of eliminating Trump—whether by combustion, incineration, decapitation, lethal shooting, or stabbing.

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Top Mueller Probe Attorney Turned Powerful FBI Office Into a Place of Dysfunction, Fear: REPORT

Former FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann, who later became a leading figure in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, negatively impacted the FBI general counsel’s office’s culture during his tenure there, his immediate successor alleged, according to Politico.

During a trial this month for an unsuccessful gender discrimination lawsuit against the FBI, former bureau General Counsel Jim Baker described starting his tenure and discovering a fearful office atmosphere left by Weissmann, who was general counsel from 2011 to 2013, the outlet reported. Baker said the office’s personnel “didn’t tell each other what they were doing,” claiming the issue was “inherited from Andrew” and mentioning “negativity that flowed from” him.

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Commentary: Is the Justice Department Blackmailing President Joe Biden?

by Robert Romano   In 2016, the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, Hillary Clinton, had an FBI investigation because she was storing classified information on her private server for the convenience of reading her classified emails on a smartphone. Details of the investigation came out throughout the campaign, resulting in former FBI Director James Comey’s July 2016 determination not to pursue charges and then an Oct. 2016 surprise that he was reopening the matter. Determined to ensure that her opponent, then candidate Donald Trump, would not be without an investigation of his own, the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee sought to frame him as a Russian agent who had helped Moscow hack the DNC and put the emails onto Wikileaks. It resulted in a top secret FBI investigation and FISA warrants that all carried over after the 2016 election when Trump won and into his administration, ultimately resulting in Special Counsel Robert Mueller being appointed to investigate—severely hampering the Trump presidency. Mueller found there was no Trump campaign conspiracy with Russia to hack the DNC and give the emails to Wikileaks. According to Mueller’s final report to the Attorney General, “the evidence was not sufficient to charge that any member of the Trump Campaign…

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Commentary: From What, Exactly, Is the FBI Protecting Us?

After the tiered releases of the Twitter files, many suspicions have been thoroughly confirmed. Namely, social media monopolies like Facebook and Twitter worked hand-in-glove with the FBI, as well as other government agencies, to suppress accounts and censor stories they jointly deemed misinformation, disinformation, or otherwise harmful to the country during the 2020 election.

The most significant malfeasance arises from the coordinated campaign to suppress the New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop. The laptop exposed in great detail Hunter’s dissolute lifestyle, along with his role as the family “bag man” for various overseas financial interests.

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CIA Conduct During Russia Assessment May Be Next Boomerang in Probe of Investigators

By his own admission, ex-CIA Director John Brennan chafed at being questioned earlier this month by federal prosecutor John Durham about the Obama administration’s intelligence assessment that Russia’s meddling in 2016 election was designed to help Donald Trump.

Brennan “questioned why the analytic tradecraft and the findings of the ICA are being scrutinized by the Department of Justice, especially since they have been validated by the Mueller Report and the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Review,” a statement issued by his spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

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Commentary: Attorney General Barr’s Intelligence Review Should Include the DNC Servers

by Robert Romano   The Hill’s John Solomon made big news on June 6 when he reported that Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, said in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report to be a Russian agent, was an intelligence source for the U.S. State Department. “In a key finding of the Mueller report, Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked for Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is tied to Russian intelligence… What it doesn’t state is that Kilimnik was a ‘sensitive’ intelligence source for State going back to at least 2013 while he was still working for Manafort, according to FBI and State Department memos I reviewed.” This is as startling revelation as any that has been discovered, since it calls into question whether somebody purported to be a Russian intelligence officer by the Justice Department really was. It also calls into question other contacts Trump campaign officials were said to have had with supposed Russian agents, and other actions said to have been perpetrated by supposed Russian agents. Kilimnik was practically the entre basis for saying that Paul Manafort had at least been in touch with somebody connected with Russian intelligence. The Mueller report stated, “[O]n August 2, 2016, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met…

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Commentary: Democrats’ Fantasies of ‘Barr Perjury’ Defy Logic and the Record

by Paul J. Larkin Jr.   Disappointed with, frustrated by, and angry at special counsel Robert Mueller’s unhelpful conclusion that President Donald Trump was not in cahoots with the Russians during the 2016 campaign, Democrats are desperately searching for something, anything, that they can use to impeach the Mueller report by impugning the integrity of Attorney General William Barr. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went so far Thursday as to accuse Barr of committing perjury when he answered a question by Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., of the House Appropriations Committee on April 9. She is flat wrong. Crist started by asking Barr several questions about the statement in his March 24 letter that the special counsel’s report does not “exonerate” Trump. After the attorney general answered those inquiries, the following exchange occurred: The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more >> Crist: Reports have emerged recently, General [Barr], that members of the special counsel’s team are frustrated at some level with the limited information included in your March 24 letter, that it does not adequately or accurately necessarily portray the report’s findings.  Do you know what they’re referencing with that?…

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Mueller Agrees To ‘Tentative’ Date To Testify Before House Judiciary, Democrat Says

by Chuck Ross   Special counsel Robert Mueller has set a “tentative” date of May 15 to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, Democratic Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline told “Fox News Sunday.” Democrats have ramped up calls for Mueller to testify to Congress in the wake of Attorney General William Barr’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1 about his interactions with the special counsel’s office regarding the release of the Russia report. Mueller, a former FBI director, was unable to establish that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election. He declined to make a decision on whether President Donald Trump should be charged with obstructing the investigation. That left the decision up to Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who decided against pursuing an obstruction case. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, offered Mueller a chance Thursday to testify before that panel if he feels the need to correct any statements made by Barr. Mueller sent Barr a letter on March 27 raising concerns about a four-page memo that Barr sent Congress summarizing the main conclusions of the special counsel’s probe. Mueller claimed that Barr’s letter lacked “context” and had…

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DOJ: The Long-Awaited Mueller Report Will Be Released Thursday Morning

by Chuck Ross   Attorney General William Barr plans to release a redacted version of the special counsel’s Russia report on Thursday morning, a Justice Department official told reporters. The report is expected to contain redactions for classified information as well as information provided to a grand jury that special counsel Robert Mueller used in his 22-month investigation. The Justice Department is planning to release the 400-page report to both Congress and the public. White House lawyers have reportedly been briefed on the Mueller report, but are not expected to invoke executive privilege to block other information from being released. Barr sent Congress a letter on March 24 summarizing Mueller’s main conclusions. In the letter, Barr said that Mueller did not establish that the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign. Mueller was less decisive on the question of obstruction of justice. Barr said that while Mueller’s team did not recommend charges for obstruction, they also did not exonerate Trump on that question. Barr said that after consulting with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Justice Department lawyers, he decided not to pursue an obstruction case. One of his arguments was that since nobody was being charged…

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House Democrats Move to Subpoena Mueller Report

The majority Democrats on a House of Representatives committee are moving this week to subpoena the full report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and five former White House officials. The House Judiciary Committee had called for full disclosure by Tuesday of the nearly 400-page report and its underlying evidence. Attorney General William Barr said last week that he would release the report by mid-April, “if not sooner,” after confidential material had been redacted. With its Tuesday deadline unlikely to be met, the House panel plans to vote to authorize the subpoenas on Wednesday, allowing the committee’s chairman, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, to actually issue them as he sees fit. The House committee also plans to subpoena some of President Donald Trump’s closest one-time advisers — White House strategist Steve Bannon, communications director Hope Hicks, his first chief of staff Reince Priebus, White House counsel Donald McGahn and McGahn’s chief of staff, Ann Donaldson. The five officials were likely key witnesses during Mueller’s investigation of whether Trump obstructed justice by trying to thwart the prosecutor’s 22-month probe. A week ago, Barr released a four-page summary of the Mueller report, telling top lawmakers…

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Sen. Blackburn Commends Attorney General Barr For Quickly Releasing Summary of Mueller Findings That Clear President Trump of Collusion With Russia

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) praised Attorney General William Barr for quickly releasing the summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s findings to Congress that show President Donald Trump did not collude with Russia. Mueller’s investigation found no evidence President Donald Trump, his campaign or associates conspired or coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, according to a summary released Sunday by Attorney General William Barr, The Tennessee Star reported. Blackburn tweeted her statement. My statement on today’s letter from Attorney General Barr: pic.twitter.com/1xpZQDtWdZ — Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) March 25, 2019 Blackburn’s statement reads: “After two years of thorough investigation, led by a team of 19 lawyers and 40 FBI employees, costing over $25 million in taxpayer dollars, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusions confirm that President Trump’s campaign did not collude with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. “Attorney General Bill Barr, in a jointly reached conclusion with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, determined the evidence from the Special Counsel report was ‘not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.’ “Attorney General Barr is to be commended for his quick release of the findings to Congress as well as his commitment to continue reviewing…

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Pennsylvania Democrat Rep. Madeleine Dean Retreats from ‘Russia Collusion,’ Promotes ‘No Exoneration’ Straw Man

by Nick Givas   Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania listed special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings from the Russia probe on CNN Monday, and it’s not good news for Democrats. “My reaction is a couple of things. We ought to recognize something good. Number one, special counsel Mueller completed his investigation with a team of able investigators and prosecutors, and I’m thankful that that investigation has come to a close,” she said on “CNN Today.” “Number two, we should be glad that the preliminary finding that we know of the Mueller report is that there was no coordination, no conspiracy,” Dean said. “Notice the words that they used:  no coordination, no conspiracy of the Trump campaign with Russia’s known interference with the 2016 election. Number three, there was known interference by Russia in a very serious and great way with the election of 2016. I hope this administration, and I’m certain Congress will take that very seriously, as we head into the next election.” Dean’s statement is a vast departure from the Democratic narrative of collusion and obstruction of justice. Congressional Democrats had expressed concern that President Donald Trump would fire Mueller, but he was allowed to finish his investigation. Trump was also…

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Attorney General Barr Sends Mueller’s Conclusions to Congress: No Collusion Found

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation found no evidence President Donald Trump, his campaign or associates conspired or coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, according to a summary released Sunday by Attorney General William Barr. “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” Mueller wrote, according to Barr. Barr handed over to Congress his main conclusions and summary of the long-awaited Muller report. Mueller spent 22 months looking into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians and if the president obstructed justice by trying to stop the investigation. Barr and his aides spent hours Saturday poring over the report Mueller handed them late Friday. Key lawmakers, opposition Democrats and some of Trump’s Republican allies, have all called for release of the full report, but it is not clear whether Barr will do so. Trump said last week he did not object to the full release to the public but also has said it is up to Barr, whom he appointed as the country’s top law enforcement official, to decide how much of it is disclosed. White House aides say Trump has not been briefed on the outcome…

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Adam Schiff ‘Absolutely’ Willing to Go to Court to Obtain Mueller Report

by Chuck Ross   House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Sunday that House Democrats will issue subpoenas and go to court, if necessary, to obtain special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation. “We will obviously subpoena the report. We will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress. We will take it to court if necessary,” Schiff said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” Mueller is expected to submit a final report to the Department of Justice within weeks. From there, the Justice Department is required to provide a summary of the findings to Congress, which could then choose to make unclassified portions of the report public. Rep. Adam Schiff tells me he is “absolutely” prepared to sue Trump administration if Mueller report is not made public: “We will obviously subpoena the report. We will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress. We will take it to court if necessary” https://t.co/lSX5poLKT9 pic.twitter.com/kKtMjf1Wo3 — GeorgeStephanopoulos (@GStephanopoulos) February 24, 2019 But Democrats have said they are concerned Attorney General William Barr will withhold key portions of the report. Barr, who was confirmed to office Feb. 14, has said he plans to provide as much transparency as possible, though he has stopped short…

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Commentary: The Real Reason Democrats Have Postponed Barr’s Confirmation Is All About ‘Russia’ and 2020

by Julie Kelly   After what seemed to be a done deal following a relatively smooth public hearing last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee now has delayed until February 7 the vote to confirm William Barr, President Trump’s nominee for attorney general. The reason, according to news reports, is lingering concerns about how Trump’s incoming attorney general would manage the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which is soon expected to conclude. Despite Barr’s repeated assurances that he will follow Justice Department rules in his handling of Mueller’s final report, as well as a pledge to resist any attempted interference by the White House, Democrats on the committee remain unconvinced. “[Barr’s] answer was not particularly reassuring or clear as to the public disclosure of the Mueller report,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell earlier this week. Democrats also have accused Barr of bias against the Mueller investigation based on a detailed memo he authored last year that objected to the special counsel’s reported interest in whether President Trump obstructed justice. Some have suggested Barr should recuse himself from the investigation, which would be a repeat of a terrible mistake made by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017. The committee’s vote is scheduled to take…

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Half Of America Doesn’t Have Confidence Mueller’s Report Will Be Fair

FBI Mueller and President Trump

by Hanna Bogorowski   The majority of Americans support congressional Democrats’ calls to investigate President Donald Trump’s past communication and financial ties with Russia, but half of them lack confidence that special counsel Robert Mueller’s report will be fair and even-handed. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday showed that 50 percent of Americans surveyed don’t believe Mueller’s probe, which is currently investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, will result in an unbiased, fair report. A random sample of 1,001 U.S. adults were asked between Jan. 21-24 how much confidence they have that Mueller’s report will be even-handed, to which 28 percent responded “Just some” and another 22 percent responded “None at all.” Just 24 percent said they have “A great deal” of confidence in the report, which stands in contrast to the large public support for such investigations. The poll, which had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, showed that 57 percent of respondents support a Democratic investigation into potential collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia, 61 percent support investigations of suspected financial ties between Trump and foreign governments, and 59 percent support investigations into Trump’s relationship and communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, a plurality…

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Mystery Mueller Case Reaches The Supreme Court

by Kevin Daley   An unnamed foreign corporation appears to be fighting a subpoena from Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Supreme Court. The unidentified entity filed an application for a stay with Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit turned down their request to quash a subpoena. Saturday’s application was the first time a matter arising from the Mueller probe has reached the high court. Very little is known about the case, which apparently arose on Aug. 16 in the Washington, D.C. federal trial court. The entire matter has proceeded under seal, meaning all filings are closely held by court officials, hearings take place in secret, and attorneys are forbidden from discussing details in public. One of the few documents made public in the case was released on Dec. 18, when the corporation lost its appeal of a lower court ruling requiring their compliance with the subpoena. The corporation argued it was immune to U.S. subpoenas under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, since their firm is owned by a foreign government. They also sought relief under a federal rule allowing courts to suppress subpoenas if compliance would be “unreasonable or oppressive.” In this instance, the…

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Michael Cohen Sentenced to Three Years in Federal Prison

by Chuck Ross   Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney for Donald Trump, was sentenced to three years in prison by a judge in New York on Wednesday. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley, is lower than prosecutors’ recommendation that the longtime Trump fixer receive slightly less than between 51 and 63 months in prison. Pauley cited a “smorgasbord” of Cohen crimes before announcing the jail term. Cohen, 52, pleaded guilty on Aug. 21 to tax evasion, bank fraud and making illegal campaign contributions over his payments to Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000, he claims at the direction and in coordination with Trump. Legal analysts have debated for days whether Trump is in legal jeopardy, with some observers saying that he could be impeached or even indicted after leaving office. Cohen created shell companies both to avoid paying taxes on his taxi business as well as to make the payment to Daniels. Trump defended the payment on Tuesday, telling Reuters that he did not view it as a campaign contribution. “Michael Cohen is a lawyer. I assume he would know what he’s doing,” he said…

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Mueller and Manafort Have a Lot Riding on a Supreme Court Double Jeopardy Case

by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court appeared skeptical Thursday of overturning an exception to the Constitution’s double jeopardy prohibition, which allows state and federal prosecutors to bring successive prosecutions for the same offense. The case is carefully followed in Washington because of its potential ramifications for special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. “The notion that the federal government would step in and prosecute a defendant after a state jury acquitted him of the same offense would have shocked the founding generation,” one of the briefs at the high court reads. Thursday’s case arose in Alabama, when Terence Gamble was arrested during a 2015 traffic stop after police recovered two baggies of marijuana and a 9mm handgun from his car. State prosecutors charged Gamble, a convicted felon, for illegal possession of a firearm. A federal charge for the same crime followed. The so-called separate-sovereigns doctrine allows state and federal courts to prosecute individuals for the same offense, double jeopardy notwithstanding. The question in Thursday’s case was whether that rule should be overturned. That move could hinder the Mueller probe, should President Donald Trump choose to pardon aides and associates who the special counsel has since indicted. Since the president can only issue…

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Is the Mueller Special Counsel Probe All About Protecting Rod Rosenstein’s Reputation?

by Robert Romano   The key facts to remember in the whole investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, not into Russian interference in the election, but into the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, are these: 1) Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommended to Attorney General Jeff Sessions that Comey be fired; and 2) Rosenstein appointed Mueller to investigate President Donald Trump for following through on his recommendation. And reports the New York Times on Sept. 21, Rosenstein was angry at the President: “The president’s reliance on his memo caught Mr. Rosenstein by surprise, and he became angry at Mr. Trump, according to people who spoke to Mr. Rosenstein at the time. He grew concerned that his reputation had suffered harm and wondered whether Mr. Trump had motives beyond Mr. Comey’s treatment of Mrs. Clinton for ousting him, the people said.” Read that again and the likely true motive for the Mueller probe is revealed: “He grew concerned that his reputation had suffered harm…” Comey was fired on May 9, 2017. Mueller was appointed on May 17, 2017. There’s a lot of fluff in the Mueller appointment about investigating Russian interference. Comey was investigating Trump for assisting Russia, somehow, with…

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

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

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

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

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: Paul Manafort Is a Political Prisoner

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

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

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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Disgraced NY AG Schneiderman Resigns Over Domestic Abuse Allegations

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democratic women’s rights advocate, resigned Monday over allegations of physical violence against four women. “While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time,” Schneiderman said as reported by The New Yorker. “I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018.” The publication’s Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow spoke to two accusers on the record: Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam. They allege that Schneiderman “repeatedly hit them, often after drinking, frequently in bed and never with their consent,” the story said. In response, Republican Attorneys General Association Chairman (RAGA) and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said, for RAGA, “The allegations against Eric Schneiderman are sickening. With devastating detail, the courageous women involved shared the horror and abuse they endured at the hands of a disturbed monster. I commend these strong women for standing up, speaking out and sharing their stories which will hopefully empower other victims to speak out against violence. These women will be the ones who are remembered, not this sick man. While Schneiderman has…

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Commentary: Did Anyone REALLY Believe the Steele Dossier?

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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Trump: Missing FBI Texts ‘One of the Biggest Stories in a Long Time’

President Donald Trump called the missing texts between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page “one of the biggest stories in a long time.” The two FBI officials, who were romantically involved, were part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Mr. Trump and his supporters have criticized the couple, alleging texts critical of the president is proof of bias in Mr. Mueller’s investigation.

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