Reports from inside the DOJ to allied resistance media announce that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will leave the DOJ once special counsel Robert Mueller (the team, not the person) submits their investigative report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Generally speaking, media reporting can be taken with a grain of proverbial salt; however, with these events it’s likely allied resistance media have embeds within the special counsel and DOJ coordinating leaks on their behalf. Additionally, this latest report aligns almost identically with the CTH prediction for legislative action. In short, it just makes sense.
WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who had been overseeing the special counsel investigation, plans to step down after Robert Mueller submits his report, according to administration officials familiar with his thinking.
A source close to Rosenstein said he intends to stay on until Mueller submits a report to the Justice Department on the Russian meddling investigation. The source said that would mean Rosenstein would remain until early March.
Several legal sources have said they expect the Mueller team to submit its report by mid-to-late February, although they said that timeline could change based on unforeseen investigative developments. (read more)
This report aligns with the predictable sequencing of events we previously outlined from reviewing Democrat plans and Pelosi’s legislative rules requests and schedules.
A mid-to-late February report drop would put the Mueller team activity right in the bulls-eye for predictable hearings and legislative usefulness by Chairman of the Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings.
Remember, Speaker Pelosi has modified Cummings committee responsibility to only look at White House targeted oversight.
Notice Speaker Pelosi requested the schedule for oversight hearings to be announced by April 15th, 2019. Additionally, by prior DOJ agreement, Michael Cohen was deferred from prison until March 6th, 2019. So it looks like the timeline is solidifying:
February/March: (event 1) Michael Cohen deposition (then straight to prison); Feb/March (event 2) the Mueller report; then in April Cummings announces oversight hearings using 1 & 2. [The sequencing for event 1 and 2 remains malleable] One aspect is very certain: all of this has been worked out well in advance.
As noted in December: The baseline is that Democrat leadership are cunning political strategists; and have likely already drawn out the big picture road-map with details to be filled in as they proceed.
- The first event is the congressional use of Michael Cohen for a series of public committee hearings. [Oversight (Elijah Cummings) and possibly -though less likely- Judiciary (Nadler) and HPSCI (Schiff)] This likely has to happen before March 6th, 2019, when Cohen is scheduled to enter federal prison. It’s almost certain Cohen’s incarceration deferment contains the unwritten agreement to appear. [Democrat leadership almost certainly coordinated this plan with team Mueller and the SDNY some time ago.]
- The second event is the release of the Team Mueller political report which, despite its inability to find criminal wrongdoing, will most certainly be written with highly charged innuendo as damaging to President Trump as possible. The release of this report will absolutely fuel several public committee hearings [Oversight/Reform (Cummings), HPSCI (Schiff) and Judiciary (Nadler)] without any doubt.
- The third event is the release of the OIG Horowitz report on possible FISA abuse. Due to the nature of Mueller’s proprietary investigative blackout (Horowitz not allowed to see investigative material or witnesses with Mueller probe ongoing), the Horowitz report will likely come out *after* Mueller.
That’s the three key events the Democrats and media will be most likely to exploit for maximum political benefit in the first quarter of 2019. The sequence between Mueller and Horowitz might reverse (though unlikely). Other investigative resistance paths will spur from these three primary Q1 events.
Again, there is very little doubt the approach has already been mapped out in post-election meetings between: Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, the Democrat committee heads, allies in the lawfare community, political allies inside the executive branch (IC, DOJ, FBI etc.), along with feedback from political networks, DNC (Perez) and major resistance donors.
The real trick to discovering the plan (as early as possible) is to spot the signals that will tell us where they are going before they shift in their planned direction. Example: We already know Michael Cohen is a key starting point (aforementioned reasons). We then add the Pelosi rules and instructions, and now begin overlaying the reports of Rosenstein and Mueller.
So if we take the first quarter resistance events/narratives (¹Cohen appearance, ²Mueller Report and ³Horowitz report); and we overlay what has already surfaced; we can then begin to get a picture of how things will reasonably be expected to play out.
SC Robert Mueller (the team, not the person) and DAG Rod Rosenstein have already explained to POTUS Trump that if he attempts any declassification of documents currently part of Mueller’s investigative purview (that’s literally everything and or anything they lay claim to), the Special Counsel investigative unit will consider that interference with their investigation of him (President Trump); and subsequent “obstruction” claims will immediately follow. That threat, and the advice of White House lawyers (prior counsel no longer present), led to Trump backing down in September, 2018:
[Obviously “speed” is a relative term, it’ has been 4 months]
So it stands to reason if they (Rosenstein, Mueller, etc.) are telling the president he can’t take any action,…. common sense says the same general ‘hands-off‘ principle has applied to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz; who is ultimately under much more of the institutional DOJ control system than President Trump.
The suspicion of how the corrupt system was going to control any damaging information was verified when FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch told congress recently they were not allowed to release any of the transcripts from all of the 2018 witness testimony.
FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch (example above), the ODNI (Coats), AG (Whitaker/Barr), DAG (Rosenstein), FBI Director (Wray) and Deputy FBI Director (Bowditch), along with Robert Mueller and/or any leadership member of his team (Weissmann), can block or deny any declassification request -or visibility of any evidence- that would be adverse to their interests. As we can see above, that is exactly what they are doing.
This ongoing process of control permits the House Democrats to begin framing the investigative narrative that will allow them to eliminate the DC threat created by President Donald Trump.
Again, overlay the CTH December prediction with today’s announcement from inside the DOJ about Rosenstein’s likely timing for departure:
…If we extend the sequencing with all the above in mind it looks like the House Oversight Committee (Cummings) and House Judiciary Committee (Nadler) will likely kick the resistance operation into action (after Superbowl) with Michael Cohen’s scheduled appearances broadcast on television for the better part of two weeks use.
That first phase event will likely be followed by a late Feb/early March dropping of the Mueller report. There will be a grand lead-in, roll-out and press spectacle designed for maximum exposure. The tail end of that phase will lead to more hearings throughout March perhaps into early April with subpoenas based on the report framework. (more)
Today the allied resistance media report:
(VIA NBC) […] A source close to Rosenstein said he intends to stay on until Mueller submits a report to the Justice Department on the Russian meddling investigation. The source said that would mean Rosenstein would remain until early March.
Several legal sources have said they expect the Mueller team to submit its report by mid-to-late February, although they said that timeline could change based on unforeseen investigative developments. (more)
If we simply accept things as they are; and we accept the level of corruption, if exposed, within the institutions represents a real threat to current and former officials and politicians; and we accept that Washington DC (writ large), the DOJ/FBI and the Mueller team is currently in alignment with the urgent needs of those corrupt officials; well, then the sequence of events -and the behavior of the officials- becomes entirely predictable.
Reference Information:
*NOTE* Each of these prediction outlines can also be located in the “Tripwire” category drop-down box (right margin of page) for later reference.
Centinel2012 