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Apr 12 2018

Former Key Defense Intelligence Agency Official Resurfaces in AG Jeff Sessions Top Staff…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on April 11, 2018 by

Do not get so caught up watching the granules moving at our feet that we forget to look up and notice the landscape is shifting….

A key DIA official from within the White House National Security Council has resurfaced today as reports show Ezra Cohen-Watnick has been hired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to assist on issues surrounding counterintelligence and counterterrorism.

WASHINGTON — A former American intelligence official who came under intense scrutiny during a stint at the White House last year is returning to government as the national security adviser to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to a person familiar with the decision.

The official, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, will play an important role at the Justice Department, advising Mr. Sessions on counterintelligence and counterterrorism.  (NYT Link)

Before getting to the big picture of Cohen-Watnick, let’s look at a few recent granules which at first might seem disconnected – but they are not.

♦U.S. Attorney John Lausch was brought on by AG Jeff Sessions to coordinate investigative document releases to congressional oversight.  Specifically, Lausch has been assigned as the point of contact for discussion with congress. This move keeps Federal DOJ Prosecutor John Huber (IG Horowitz’s investigative partner) away from political engagement, and allows Huber to continue culling through potentially criminal evidence without political concerns.

Earlier today Lausch was asked about the two-page “electronic communication” (EC) letter that initiated the 2016 FBI Counterintelligence operation against candidate Donald Trump and his campaign officials.  The “EC” relates to the origin of the surveillance conducted by the corrupt DOJ-NSD and FBI officials; and ties directly to the abuse of FISA(702((16)(17) search abuses – and later to the issues of a fraudulent, potentially criminally misrepresented, FISA Title-1 surveillance application by those same officials.

In responding to the questioning, Attorney Lausch stated the EC document, and as a consequence the FISA documents, are not under his authority for review and release.  So the DOJ has carved out the FISA and EC issues from the investigative releases to congress.

This distinction is important.

♦Remember, previously the Eastern District of Virginia attorney, Dana Boente, was identified as being a problem for the ‘small group’ of co-conspirators during their activity. Following the firing of AAG Sally Yates, April 2017, Boente was put in charge of the DOJ National Security Division.  Acting Attorney General Boente granted IG Horowitz previously denied access to oversight within the DOJ-NSD.  After Jeff Sessions confirmation Boente remained in charge of the DOJ-NSD.

Near the end of 2017 Dana Boente left Main Justice and then resurfaced late in January 2018 when FBI chief legal counsel James Baker was outlined as being a key participant in the 2015, 2016, 2017 anti-trump operation.  Baker was removed from all responsibilities  and replaced with Boente.  Mr. Boente remains the current chief legal counsel of the FBI serving under Christopher Wray.

♦The Head of the FBI Counterintelligence Unit is E.W. “Bill” Priestap.  In ’15, ’16, and 2017 Priestap was Peter Strzok’s boss.  Text messages between Andrew McCabe’s former office lawyer, Lisa Page, and FBI Agent Peter Strzok, during the DOJ/FBI operations against candidate Trump, showed multiple examples of the ‘small group’ working around Priestap.

FBI Agent Peter Strzok was even promoted to #2 without Priestap’s prior knowledge.

On March 20th, 2017, when FBI Director James Comey was asked by congress why he did not inform oversight -as required- about the 2016 counterintelligence operation against candidate Trump, James Comey stated the decision not to inform congress was recommended by his FBI Director of Counterintelligence, Bill Priestap.

There is also evidence from Priestap’s statements to investigative officials that contradicts FBI, DOJ-NSD and intelligence community leadership, McCabe, Comey, Brennan (CIA) and Clapper (ODNI); in that the source documents (Clinton/Steele Dossier) for the October 2016 FISA surveillance application were not vetted at the time they were used.

On January 30th, 2018, after Chairman Nunes personally took FBI Director Christopher Wray to view his HPSCI “FISA Memo”, and prior to the House Intel Committee vote to release the memo the next evening, FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a Main Justice official and a “counterintelligence official” to view the content. According to Catherine Herridge reporting: those officials: “could not point to any factual inaccuracies.”

Mr. Bill Priestap, has given statements to ongoing FBI investigators and remains the head of FBI Counterintelligence today.  [Absolutely no change in status, role or responsibility]

♦Responding to the initial results of an NSA FISA audit – on April 28th, 2016, NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers shut down the DOJ-NSD and FBI access to the NSA database based on 702(16) “about” search inquiries.  When the full audit was completed, October 2016, Admiral Rogers informed the FISC court of serious FISA search violations, breaches, extraction of raw intelligence information and misrepresentations by FBI and DOJ officials to the FISA court.

(source link)

In April 2017, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, declassified and released a substantive portion of the 99-page response from the FISA court. The FISC reviewed the DOJ-NSD and FBI FISA misrepresentations and the NSA compliance audit reports provided by NSA Director dmiral Mike Rogers.

On June 7th, 2017, Admiral Mike Rogers informed congress the NSA deleted all of the results of those unlawful FISA(702) searches, but also stated he directed “all audit logs of the activity to be preserved/retained”.  (ie. the NSA preserved the evidence of conduct)

♦Early April this month: (Via The Hill) […] Attorney General Jeff Sessions quietly tapped Prosecutor John Huber — apparently last fall — to work in tandem with the Justice Department’s inspector general to determine whether allegations of abuse at the FBI and the Justice Department merit investigation. […]  The Justice Department has declined to comment on his budget or what Sessions meant when he said that Huber is working “in cooperation” with Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Horowitz’s office also declined to comment.

♦Back to Today’s News – The IG Horowitz and Prosecutor Huber investigation is ongoing; the FBI has Dana Boente as chief legal counsel; Bill Priestap remains in place as head of Counterintelligence; and now Attorney General Jeff Sessions has added former DIA official Ezra Cohen-Watnick to “advise Mr. Sessions on counterintelligence” matters.

2017: […] “Washington got its first real look at Cohen-Watnick when he was identified as one of two White House sources who provided House Intelligence chairman Devin Nunes with evidence that former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the “unmasking” of the names of Trump associates in intelligence documents.” (Atlantic – link)

I think everyone can see how each of these moves and shifts relates to the larger matters at hand.  It is obvious Mr. Cohen-Watnick is part of the dynamic to capture all those who participated in the scheme to destroy the Trump presidency.

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

Apr 1 2018

Sunday Talks – Maria Bartiromo Interviews Darryl Issa


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on April 1, 2018 by

Congressman Darrell Issa appears on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ongoing DOJ and FBI investigation by Inspector General Horowitz and Federal Prosecutor John Huber.

It is important to remember when congress refers to “Main Justice” throughout the discussion, the “small group” of politically corrupt officials primarily worked inside a specific location within main justice; the Department of Justice National Security Division.  On the FBI side the group was assembled within the FBI Counterintelligence Division.

Apr 1 2018

Brilliant Agitprop Outlines Modern Media….


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 31, 2018 by

Oh, this is very well done – SOURCE:

Mar 27 2018

President Trump Leads 21 Nation Coalition In Simultaneous Expulsion of Russian Diplomats…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 26, 2018 by

Earlier today President Donald Trump led the largest ever coalition response in response to Russia’s alleged use of a nerve agent to poison a former Russian spy living in the United Kingdom. In total, 21 countries simultaneously expelled Russian diplomats.

The Trump administration ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats from the US identified as intelligence agents, and the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle. 48 of the intelligence agents worked at the Russian embassy in Washington DC and 12 were posted at the United Nations in New York.

President Trump was joined by simultaneous action from: France, Albania, Australia, Canada, Norway, Ukraine, Sweden, Spain, Romania, Poland, Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Croatia, Czech Republic and the U.K.

London – It’s the biggest collective expulsion of alleged Russian intelligence officers in history, according to British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Diplomats are being kicked out of at least 21 countries — 16 European Union states, the United States, Canada, Ukraine, Norway and Albania — in a coordinated effort that represents a significant diplomatic victory for the UK, which blames Russia for poisoning Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

The UK has already expelled 23 Russian diplomats. Moscow retaliated by sending the same number of UK diplomats back, and by shuttering British cultural institutions in the country. (read more)

Mar 25 2018

Change of Plans – Due To Conflict diGenova No Longer Joining Trump Legal Team…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 25, 2018 by

President Trump is no longer planning to utilize the services or representation of the legal husband and wife team of Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, within the ongoing Mueller probe, due to conflicts.

“The President is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the President’s Special Counsel legal team,” his lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the President in other legal matters. The President looks forward to working with them.”

[…] DiGenova and Toensing released a statement on the announcement Sunday, saying: “We thank the President for his confidence in us and we look forward to working with him on other matters.”  (link)

Just guessing, but it doesn’t seem surprising there would be a conflict considering Toensing is representing an FBI whistle-blower in the Clinton Uranium-One scandal.

 

Mar 25 2018

Dr. Robert Epstein Discusses The Battle for Your Mind…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 24, 2018 by

Yikes,….. lead the heart mind and the body will follow…

Mar 25 2018

Report: New NSA John Bolton Planning Deep State Purge Within National Security Council….


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 24, 2018 by

The National Security Council is a large intelligence bureaucracy, within the Washington DC intelligence apparatus, consisting of dozens of principles and hundreds of staff.   Many of those staffers are career officials, holdovers from prior administrations.

According to Foreign Policy, incoming National Security Adviser to the President, John Bolton, is planning a significant ‘clean house’ removing a significant number of people within the system.

(Via FP) Incoming National Security Advisor John Bolton and people close to him are expected to launch a massive shake-up at the National Security Council, aiming to remove dozens of current White House officials, starting with holdovers from President Barack Obama’s administration, according to multiple sources.

Those targeted for removal include officials believed to have been disloyal to President Donald Trump, those who have leaked about the president to the media, his predecessor’s team, and those who came in under Obama.

“Bolton can and will clean house,” one former White House official said.

Another source said, “He is going to remove almost all the political [appointees] McMaster brought in.”

A second former White House official offered a blunt assessment of former Obama officials currently detailed or appointed to the NSC: “Everyone who was there during Obama years should start packing their shit.”  (read more)

This should have happened earlier…. but at least it’s a good restart now.

Mar 23 2018

Why Are Dollar Bulls Almost Extinct?


Armstrong Economics Blog/USD $

Re-Posted Mar 23, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

Bloomberg has reported that dollar bulls are nearly extinct down to just 2.3 %. The majority, which is always wrong, are all focused on the nonsense of the budget and the current account deficits. The record high for the dollar was 1985 when even the British pound fell to $1.03. So the balance of payments went negative from 1980 to 1986 and the dollar rose. OMG! How was that possible? When you actually correlate the Balance of Payments with the dollar, something amazing emerged. The dollar rises with the balance of payments going negative. Gee whiz! That is against all perpetual bear’s reasoning.

Perhaps this magical logic is just sophistry because they use their theory and don’t bother to check if it holds up over the course of time. I have been warning countless times that the Balance of Payments is by no means simply TRADE. It includes all flows of capital outward. That includes interest. The biggest trade deficit of the USA is not with Europe, but China, who just so happens to be the LARGEST investor in US government bonds. That means they collect the lion share of interest expenditures. The days of buying just pick umbrella for your cocktail are long gone.

The Balance of Payments bottomed in 2006 and began to rise from that 3rd quarter low. When did the dollar bottom? In 2008 as the Balance of Payments was improving. Strange! Guess that logic does not hold up.

Most people look at the Dollar Index for a guide as to being bullish or bearish. What they do not realize is how it is constructed is not really relevant. Currently, the index is calculated by taking the exchange rates of six major world currencies the Euro, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound, Swedish krona and Swiss franc. Then they apply a weight which is arbitrary. The Euro, for example, has a weight factor of 58%. The Japanese yen has a weight of about 14%. From a trade flow and capital flow perspective China is at the top of the list. The trade deficit with China (with includes interest expenditures that flow to China) stands at 123,676 billion compared to 343,078 billion for the entire European Union with Germany coming in at 49,363 billion. Japan now is still more in capital flows than Germany coming in at 67,117 billion. The weights that make up the Dollar Index are not truly reflected in either trade or capital flows. Furthermore, the index was created only in 1973. It shows the high in 1985 and the low in 2008, which really does reflect Europe rather than trade or even capital investment flows.

Mar 22 2018

Peter Schweizer Explains How China Purchased U.S. Congress as a Trade Strategy…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House  on March 21, 2018 by

A timely book by Peter Schweizer, “Secret Empires”, explains how Chinese companies purchased U.S. politicians to gain trade advantages.   When you understand this process, you better understand why those same politicians today are against the Trump trade policy that is antithetical to their purchased interests.

.

Reminder: U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue is warning President Trump not to take any trade action against China or he will unleash his purchased control agents within congress and financial media to destroy his presidency.

Allow me to re-emphasize:

All opposition to President Trump stems from the underlying financial and economic policy. All opposition is about money!

When you ask the “why” question five times you end up discovering the financial motive for all opposition. It doesn’t matter who the group is; the opposition is ultimately about money. There are trillions at stake.

Donohue takes-in hundreds of millions in payments from multinational corporations who hold a vested interest in keeping the U.S. manufacturing economy subservient to China. The U.S. CoC then turns those corporate funds into lobbyist payments to DC politicians for legislative action that benefits their Chinese trade deals. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the #1 lobbyist in DC; there are trillions at stake.

Wall Street’s famous CONservative mouthpieces then take their cues from Donohue and decry any Trump trade policy that might impact their multinational benefactors.  They hide behind catch phrases like “free trade”, or “free markets”.  However, what they are really hiding is the truth, there is no free market – it is a controlled market.  It’s a circle of trade and economic propaganda driven by the most well known guests that appear on Fox News. Ben Shapiro is one such example; there are hundreds more.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the most influential U.S. business lobbying group warned the Trump administration that unilateral tariffs on Chinese goods could lead to a destructive trade war that will hurt American consumers and U.S. economic growth.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue said in a statement on Thursday that such tariffs, associated with a probe of China’s intellectual property practices, would be “damaging taxes on American consumers.”

His comments came after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said that Trump would in coming weeks get options to address China’s “theft and forced transfer” of American intellectual property as part of the investigation under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Trump was considering tariffs on up to $60 billion worth of Chinese information technology, telecommunications and consumer products, along with U.S. investment restrictions for Chinese companies.

Donohue said the Trump administration was right to focus on the negative economic impact of China’s industrial policies and unfair trade practices, but said tariffs were the wrong approach to dealing with these.

“Tariffs of $30 billion a year would wipe out over a third of the savings American families received from the doubling of the standard deduction in tax reform,” Donohue said. “If the tariffs reach $60 billion, which has been rumored, the impact would be even more devastating.”

He urged the administration not to proceed with such a plan.

“Tariffs could lead to a destructive trade war with serious consequences for U.S. economic growth and job creation,” hurting consumers, businesses, farmers and ranchers.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Donohue’s comments were correct, adding that recently more and more American intellectuals had made their rational voices heard. (read more)

Everyone admits the past 40+ years of U.S. trade deals have resulted in the massive export of U.S. wealth via jobs and manufacturing gains within other nations.  The financial beneficiaries of those prior trade positions were: Wall Street, multinational corporations and multinational banks.

The losers of all prior trade priorities was the U.S. middle-class.  This point is inarguable, just look around.  Stop the nonsense and quit listening to those who control the markets.

So ask yourself, friends and family this very important question:

If prior U.S. trade policies resulted in the export and redistribution of U.S. wealth… What happens when you reverse the process?

In the answer to that question you discover the opposition to U.S. President Trump.

When Main Street economic principles are applied Wall Street will initially lose. There’s no way for this not to happen. Most of Wall Street is built on the Multinational platform of economic globalism. Weaken the grip of the multinational corporations and financial interests on the U.S. economy and Wall Street will drop… this is not difficult to predict. This is also necessary.

Mar 17 2018

Fired FBI Director Andrew McCabe Hugs James Comey Upon Exit…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on March 17, 2018 by

In an effort to protect himself from criminal indictment fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe centered his defense last night around politics. This is the same ongoing approach deployed by fired FBI Director James Comey.

Within the McCabe statement he attempts to hug Comey tightly:

… […]  The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter [Devlin Barrett] through my public affairs officer [Michael Kortan] and a legal counselor [James Baker].

As Deputy Director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director [James Comey], were aware of the interaction with the reporter [Devlin Barrett].  (read full statement)

Which begs the question, if the intent to shape a more favorable narrative for McCabe “was not a secret” then why did the resulting article quote only innocuous “according to FBI officials” citations as oppose to quoting the actual people delivering the information?

It should be noted in the October 23rd, 2016, WSJ article – the overall narrative being sold by Andrew McCabe through Mike Kortan, Lisa Page and Peter Strzok was the decision to drop the Clinton investigation rested entirely on James Comey.  In essence, FBI Asst. Director McCabe was attempting to distance his sketchy financial ties to Hillary Clinton from the decision to drop the investigation.

(link)

Here’s the backstory:

Prior reporting showed Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe -along with the entire small group- became aware of the Clinton emails on the Huma Abedin/Anthony Weiner laptop on September 28th, 2016.  Attempting to protect Hillary Clinton, text messages showed McCabe and crew withheld that information for several weeks until October 28, 2016, when congress was notified and a public statement was made by Mike Kortan and FBI Director James Comey.

♦In January of this year Senator Chuck Grassley released a series of text messages between Page and Strzok (full pdf here). Within the release there is a portion of messaging where Lisa Page is identified on the phone with “Devlin” (see page #5 – screen grab below):

[Peter Strzok is ‘INBOX’ and Lisa Page is “OUTBOX’]

The “Devlin” in question is former Wall Street Journal National Security reporter Devlin Barrett, currently with The Washington Post.  In the above cited text message exchange Lisa Page is on the phone with Devlin Barrett when the news of the Abedin/Weiner laptop Clinton emails was released.  “Mike’s phone is on fire” is referencing former FBI Public Affairs Director, Michael “Mike” Kortan.

♦However, simultaneous to this October 2016 FBI/Clinton investigation matter there was internal “small group” discussion about another controversial issue: the need for Andrew McCabe to recuse himself from the financial investigation of Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation.

FBI Chief of Staff James “Jim” Rybicki held the opinion that McCabe should recuse himself.  However, taking that action may have compromised McCabe’s ability to protect Hillary Clinton.  Lisa Page was the legal counsel to McCabe during these events and discussions, and didn’t see the need for a recusal or change of prior plans.

On October 23rd, 2016, Devlin Barrett again reported on a scoop:

“Scoop: McAuliffe PAC gave $467,500 to campaign of wife of senior FBI official who oversaw Clinton email probe” (link)

(Tweet Link) and (Story Link)

This October 23rd, 2016, “scoop” aligns with the internal text messaging discussion between Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Attorney Lisa Page who were discussing James Comey’s chief-of-staff James Rybicki recommending that FBI Asst. Director Andrew “Andy” McCabe should be recused from the Hillary Clinton investigation.

From the messaging the recusal was discussed mid-through-late October 2016:

00:52am …”if it’s a matter similar to those we’ve been talking about lately”…

The sourcing for the exclusive report by Devlin Barrett contained great details about the internal discussion on the controversy of Andrew McCabe and his financial connections to Clinton/McAuliffe.

We now know the leaks for the story were coordinated by Asst. FBI Direct Andrew McCabe, communications officer Michael Kortan; legal counsel James Baker, and likely provided by FBI lawyer Lisa Page and FBI agent Peter Strzok.  McCabe is also now saying that FBI Director James Comey was aware of what they were doing:

“Article is out, but hidden behind paywall so can’t read it,” Page texted Strzok on Oct. 24, 2016.

“Wsj? Boy that was fast,” Strzok texted back, using the initials of the famed financial newspaper. “Should I ‘find’ it and tell the team?” (link)

According to the New York Times article spin earlier this month: […] “The inspector general has concluded that Mr. McCabe authorized F.B.I. officials to provide information for that article, according to the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the report before it is published. The public affairs office had arranged a phone call to discuss the case, the people said. Mr. McCabe, as deputy director, had the authority to engage the news media.”

Again, the October 2016 “public affairs office” was Michael “Mike” Kortan.

IG Horowitz ultimately confronted McCabe about the leak story to Devlin Barrett via the  ‘small group’ (McCabe, Baker, Kortan, Page and Strzok) to the Wall Street Journal.

This is where McCabe was less than forthcoming about his involvement. Those misleading statements and lies by McCabe led to a referral by the Inspector General to the Office of Professional Responsibility.  The OPR recommended McCabe firing, AG Jeff Sessions fired him.

Worth noting – Mike Kortan is the same FBI official who released the previous unauthorized FBI statement about the Nunes memo: “grave concerns about material omissions of fact” etc.  A few days later Kortan was advised to resign by current FBI Director Christopher Wray.