Representative Mark Meadows dropped a few bombshells at the very end of almost seven hours of testimony from Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

Meadows follows up on numerous rounds of questions challenging the reason why the Inspector General was forced to hide the names of FBI employees within his report.

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Sally Moyer and who?

According to multiple confirmed reports last Friday FBI Agent Peter Strzok was escorted out of the building.  His employment status is unknown/pending.

According to the DOJ Office of the Inspector General a referral for conduct review was sent to the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility for several people outlined within the IG report.   Presumably Peter Strzok was part of that OPR review process.

Coincidentally, or not considering the delay in reporting of the escorted removal, today Mr. Strzok’s attorney had an Op-Ed in The USA Today defending his client.   It would appear the article –published today– was written after Mr. Strzok was escorted out of the FBI.  Apparently, with the Op-ed published, a green-light was given to release the information surrounding Strzok’s hidden status.

A letter from Peter Strzok’s attorney accompanies the latest news:

My guess/supposition would be that Strzok was a cooperating element during the IG investigation as it pertains to the Clinton-email probe (w/ perhaps immunity therein); however, Strzok was not a cooperating element in the current IG investigation of the Trump-Russia probe and FISA abuse.

In reality it could be likely that Peter Strzok is a target as an investigative outcome of the ongoing IG probe and the OPR referral.

The last few paragraphs of the USA Op-Ed defending Strzok are, well, pure spin:

[…] With all of the texts released and the independent investigation completed, it’s clear that Pete is far from the monster that political operatives have self-servingly tried to create. But if what Pete has done in 20 years of law enforcement is not enough to convince you, consider what he hasn’t done.

In October 2016 Pete was one of a handful of people at the FBI who knew the full scope and gravity of the Russia investigation. Significantly harming — even stopping — the Trump presidency could have been accomplished by leaking that information to the news media. Instead, Pete and others at the FBI went out of their way to prevent leaks and, in the weeks before the election, actively ensured that news reports didn’t overplay the seriousness of the investigation.  (link)

A joint committee from House Oversight and House Judiciary are conducting a hearing today at 10:00am EDT with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Unlike the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday the House team has representatives far more knowledgeable of the issues. Hopefully, expertise will deliver better questions.

Members to watch: Jim Jordan, Trey Gowdy, Ron DeSantis, Mark Meadows, Louie Gohmert, John Ratcliffe, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs and Steve King. (list) and (list)

Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte has direct primary oversight authority over the DOJ.  Chairman Trey Gowdy comes from the aggregate Oversight/Reform Committee. Far more House members have read the 568-page IG report.  Due to a better informed group of members we are more optimistic for detailed, specific, confrontational and challenging questions to draw out the key issues.  Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Judiciary Committee Livestream – RSBN Alternate Livestream

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Inspector General Michael Horowitz Advanced Opening Statement:

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/382072761/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-bIlEbBrkywjMjqhJkR3q

A joint committee from House Oversight and House Judiciary are conducting a hearing today at 10:00am EDT with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Unlike the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday the House team has representatives far more knowledgeable of the issues. Hopefully, expertise will deliver better questions.

Members to watch: Jim Jordan, Trey Gowdy, Ron DeSantis, Mark Meadows, Louie Gohmert, John Ratcliffe, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs and Steve King. (list) and (list)

Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte has direct primary oversight authority over the DOJ.  Chairman Trey Gowdy comes from the aggregate Oversight/Reform Committee. Far more House members have read the 568-page IG report.  Due to a better informed group of members we are more optimistic for detailed, specific, confrontational and challenging questions to draw out the key issues.  Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Judiciary Committee Livestream – RSBN Alternate Livestream

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Inspector General Michael Horowitz Advanced Opening Statement:

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/382072761/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-bIlEbBrkywjMjqhJkR3q

Well, here’s a start.  Eight House Republicans have asked Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz for the specific names of FBI employees mentioned in last week’s report on the Hillary Clinton email investigation:

The letter is signed by Representatives: Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; Dave Brat, R-Va.; Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn.; Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.; Jody Hice, R-Ga., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and Ralph Norman, R-S.C.

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/381806566/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-4WfKaOih0Xm7EA7gdK93

Inspector General Michael Horowitz and FBI Director Christopher Wray will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow at 2pm. Thus begins the Potomac Two-Step; a generally well known DC approach to protect the interests of the swamp.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley might ask some pointed questions; however, other than re-election ‘talking point’ campaign questioning by Senator Ted Cruz, expect little in the way of actual accountability with this crew.  A person only needs to look at the names on the Senate Judiciary Committee to predict the insufferable obfuscation.

Senators: Orrin Hatch, Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee, John Cornyn, Ben Sasse, Jeff Flake, Mike Crappo, Thom Tillis, John Kennedy, Kamala Harris, Corey Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Chris Coons, Amy Klobuchar, Sheldon Whitehouse, Dick Durban and Dianne Feinstein…. resist we much, and we must, we much, about that, be committed.

It is the Tuesday joint-house hearings, when the actual questions *might* be raised:

For about eight months columnist Andrew McCarthy appeared on television and wrote dozens of articles about the slow-drip of information stemming from the Trump-Russia probe and the IG Horowitz investigation.  Almost all of the articles were sympathetic to the institutions being challenged. However, in mid-May a funny thing happened.

The weekend before May 15th McCarthy actually broke down and read the six-month-old Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages he had been delivering opinion on; and guess what happened?  Yup, his perspective changed within a period of 36-hours, and with it – a radical shift in tone and delivery.  In essence, he red-pilled himself.

What does that have to do with FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Jeff Sessions?  Please bear with me.

When Christopher Wray appeared before the media three hours after the IG report, one thing was stunningly obvious: he never read the report.  Wray might have been briefed on a summary of the report, but there was no way Director Wray actually read the documented substance, the details and the facts, within the center of the report.

As a direct consequence Chris Wray looked and sounded like Baghdad Bob standing in front of the cameras.  “There are no Americans bombing Baghadad”, as the explosions are seen over his shoulders, was akin to “there’s no structural or institutional bias” as nom de plume FBI agents madly wave “F**k Trump” banners in the background.

It was an absurd display of a disconnect from the institution he is leading.

If you only read the executive summary of the IG report, you might not see how ridiculously absurd Director Wray’s presentation was.  In the old school corporate world we used to have a saying: “never allow your leadership to be compromised“; obviously those who briefed Wray had no issue watching him make a professional ass out of himself. Then again, perhaps that was the intention.

That stark reality should be alarming to everyone given the intended responsibilities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Alas, the reality now highlights why the FBI is a collapsing institution.  With a reputation in tatters, it is soon to become a caricature of its former self…. unless something happens quickly.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions didn’t read the IG report either.  If he did he would have quickly called Wray and asked him ‘what the f**k‘ he was doing. Instead the AG doubled-down on the Baghdad Bob approach.

When CTH says that neither AG Jeff Sessions nor FBI Director Wray actually read the report, that statement is not from some snarky click-bait arbitrary opinion. In the same way the lack of informational absorption was visible with Andy McCarthy from Oct. 2017 through May 2018, some things are transparently obvious.  We just have to accept them.

It takes a good 30 hours to fully read the IG report; approximately the same amount of time it takes to read all of the Page/Strzok text messages.  There’s lots of back and forth cross referencing needed.  My current review of media analysis lends me to believe that only a few, perhaps three so far, have actually read the 568-page report.

And that brings me to another reason why, at least to me, both Jeff Sessions and Christopher Wray are suffering from Battered/Disconnected Institutional Syndrome.

Within the IG report almost all of the key participants’ names are hidden.  Instead the reports’ authors chose to use descriptions like: “FBI Agent #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, etc.” Or “Analyst 1, 2, 3”; or “FBI Lawyer-1, FBI Lawyer-2”; or the ridiculously byzantine insider acronyms for all of the positions of the officials.  A conveniently useful bureaucratic mess of acronyms to hide behind.  Flippin’ ridiculous is what it is.  I digress…

The point is – by using descriptions the IG hides the obvious.  Those acronym-hidden officials still work inside the current FBI and DOJ; and that’s another big issue creating the Battered Institutional System that infects both of the Trump appointees.

Case in point: FBI Lawyer #1.  We know who she is because we’ve done a great deal of research on the issues, and many of these titles/acronyms are listed by name in the Page/Strzok messages.  FBI Lawyer #1 is Tashina “Tash” Gauhar, literally from the school and law firm of former Obama “wingman” Attorney General Eric Holder.

2009- Tashina Gauhar is the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Intelligence. Ms. Gauhar has extensive experience working with the U.S. Intelligence Community and has held a variety of national security positions within the Department since 2001, including serving as an Assistant Counsel in the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review and later as the Deputy Chief of Operations in the Office of Intelligence, and recently the Chief of Operations. Prior to joining the Justice Department, Ms. Gauhar was an associate at the law firm of DLA Piper (then Piper Marbury Rudnick and Wolfe, LLP).  (link)

Tashina was the MYE team member who was on a September 29, 2016, conference call with the FBI New York field office about the Weiner/Abedin laptop.  FBI Lawyer #1 Tashina Gauhar was directly at the center, no, the epicenter, of the most controversial time frame for the Mid-Year-Event team.

Tashina was one of only three MYE people who actually had the responsibility to review the Clinton emails from the Weiner/Abedin laptop. [The other two were Peter Strzok and the unknown “lead analyst]

Tashina is probably only eclipsed by Lisa Page and Peter Strzok in the level of influence within the entire Mid-Year-Team apparatus.  “Tash”, as she was known to the team, is a hub amid a very tight circle.  Tashina Gauhar held a great deal of influence…  Suffice to say, the spawn of Eric Holder is a big deal in the story.

You know what other decision Tashina Gauhar was influential in?

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusal:

(link to pdf)

Note this meeting was on March 2nd, 2017.  Which prompted this announcement:

WASHINGTON POST, March 2 2017 – Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday that he will recuse himself from investigations related to the 2016 presidential campaign, which would include any Russian interference in the electoral process.

Speaking at a hastily called news conference at the Justice Department, Sessions said he was following the recommendation of department ethics officials after an evaluation of the rules and cases in which he might have a conflict.

“They said that since I had involvement with the campaign, I should not be involved in any campaign investigation,” Sessions said. He added that he concurred with their assessment and would thus recuse himself from any existing or future investigation involving President Trump’s 2016 campaign. (link)

Yes, the DOJ/FBI lawyer at the heart of the Clinton-email investigation; the DOJ/FBI lawyer hired by Eric Holder at his firm and later at the DOJ; the DOJ/FBI lawyer who was transferred to the Clinton probe;  the DOJ/FBI lawyer at the epicenter of the Weiner laptop issues, the only one from MYE who spoke to New York; the DOJ/FBI lawyer who constructs the FISA applications on behalf of Main Justice;…. just happens to be the same DOJ/FBI lawyer recommending to AG Jeff Sessions that he recuse himself….

Battered Institutional Syndrome!

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/381806566/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-4WfKaOih0Xm7EA7gdK93

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A letter from FBI Agent Peter Strzok’s attorney (presented below)  outlines his client’s joyful willingness to testify before any congressional committee that invites him, and welcomes the opportunity to clear his name.  According to the Washington Post:

(Via WaPo) Peter Strzok, who was singled out in a recent Justice Department inspector general report for the politically charged messages, would be willing to testify without immunity, and he would not invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in response to any question, his attorney, Aitan Goelman, said in an interview Sunday. Strzok has become a special target of President Trump, who has used the texts to question the Russia investigation.

Goelman said Strzok “wants the chance to clear his name and tell his story.”

“He thinks that his position, character and actions have all been misrepresented and caricatured, and he wants an opportunity to remedy that,” the lawyer said.

[…] Goelman said he had not discussed any dates with lawmakers on when Strzok might appear at a hearing.

[…] Goelman, who is with the firm Zuckerman Spaeder, wrote in a letter to Goodlatte that a subpoena would be “wholly unnecessary.”  (read more)

However, don’t get too excited…. remember, Peter Strzok is the primary witness in both the Trump-Russia investigation (ongoing Mueller probe), and the more recent OIG FISA Abuse/Campaign Spying investigation initiated by Michael Horowitz.

As such, dontchaknow, Mr Peter Strzok would have to politely refuse to answer questions about “ongoing investigations”, and could only testify issues specifically related to the Clinton-email probe which was the subject of the most recent IG report release.

And the administrative state, both inside government and outside government, have had over a year to assist Mr. Strzok in the coordination of his narrative and talking points.

Swampy.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the particulars of the IG report and the upcoming week.

Bartiromo is one of the few pundits who has actually absorbed the entire landscape of the back-story, read the actual reports and invested her time into the details.  As such Ms. Bartiromo is able to take a comprehensive understanding forward into her interviews:

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When we see that justice is measured, not by due process, but by compulsion; when we see that in order to invoke our fourth or sixth amendment right to privacy and due process, we need to obtain permission from men who rebuke the constitution; when we see that justice is determined by those who leverage, not in law, but in politics; when we see that men get power over individual liberty by graft and by scheme, and our representatives don’t protect us against them, but protect them against us; when we see corruption holding influence and individual liberty so easily dispatched and nullified; we may well know that our freedom is soon to perish.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy discusses the recently released Inspector General report on FBI and DOJ conduct in the run-up to the 2016 election and the exoneration of Hillary Clinton.

Additionally, Chairman Gowdy discusses the meeting held last Friday night with FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein. In the meeting Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, along with a group of house chairmen (Gowdy, Nunes, Goodlatte), told the FBI and DOJ the House of Representatives will move forward with “floor action” to enforce compliance.