There is a very important article posted last night on The Daily Caller [SEE HERE] The article surrounds a discovery that Robert Mueller’s lead attorney Andrew Weissmann worked with four AP journalists on both the story of Paul Manafort’s business interests; and, more importantly, and jawdroppingly, the evidence for Mueller to use against Paul Manafort.

Read the article HERE.  I’ll try to explain why this appears so important.

The gist of the story is that Andrew Weissmann was meeting with AP reporters in April of 2017, approximately a month prior to the formal construct of the Robert Mueller investigation.  The information from the meeting, which was essentially based on research provided by the “reporters” about Paul Manafort, was then later used in the formation of the underlying evidence against Manafort to gain a search warrant.

To understand the implications we must overlay a set of facts that has perplexed CTH for almost a year.  Back in April 2017 Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, declassified a FISA court ruling that had/has massive potential implications.  The 99-page ruling, written by FISA Court Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer, outlined structural issues and admissions by the DOJ and FBI about violations of search queries within the NSA and FBI database.

(PDF Link)

Essentially, the underlying evidence within the Collyer FISA report, outlines how the DOJ National Security Division (John P Carlin), FBI and NSA (Admiral Mike Rogers) informed the court that unauthorized access to the NSA/FBI database had been ongoing for a long period of time.  The “unauthorized access” was primarily driven by contractors who had access to the information database and were using it in 2015 and 2016.  According to the report over 85% of searches conducted were “unauthorized” abuses of the system.  DOJ-NSD head John Carlin resigned in 2016 immediately after informing the court.

Since the discovery of this issue a great deal of disconnected information has followed. Including how FBI Director James Comey allowed his friend Daniel Richman to have  “special access” to this information database.

The term “contractors” is opaque in the ruling, and there are hundreds of redactions protecting the names of the individuals and groups who participated in the unauthorized searches.  However, within the testimony of Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson; and the story of the Steele Dossier and Nellie Ohr; we discover a nexus of information users.

Fusion GPS was/is essentially in the ‘information for hire‘ business, selling to clients for a price and using networks of journalists and former government officials to transmit, share and disseminate information on behalf of their clients.  Essentially, Fusion GPS is an opposition research group with a network of journalists, paid and unpaid, that it uses to frame constructed narratives to the benefit of their clients.  In the spring, summer and fall of 2016, the Hillary Clinton campaign was one such client.

In April 2017, at the time of this meeting with AP reporters, Andrew Weissmann was chief of the Justice Department’s criminal fraud section.  Weissmann joined the special counsel a month later, May 2017.

We already know the FISA searches were essentially political opposition research being conducted by these opaque ‘contractors’.  We know the ideology within the DOJ-NSD and FBI, the generic intent of their motive, from the communication amid the group doing the Clinton and Trump investigations; text messages, memos and emails which have since become public.

A common sense review of all facts outlines a strong likelihood these database searches were ongoing by groups and individuals affiliated with Fusion GPS and other political networks.  It’s a simple process of selling information.

We also know that Christopher Steele was a beneficiary of information provided within this process; and we know that Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS) was conducting research into Paul Manafort as part of his personal oppo research and political/business endeavors.  We also know that Fusion-GPS paid journalists (would love to see those names now); and from British court documents -and Simpson transcript- we know Fusion-GPS coordinated meetings between journalists and contractors like Christopher Steele:

(Source – Page #8 pdf)

Within the underlying story of how a FISA Title-1 surveillance application was assembled against U.S. person Carter Page, we clearly see how intelligence was laundered through a process of leaking to the media and then cycling the media article back into official intelligence reports.  The Carter Page FISA application used media stories as underlying evidence for the search warrant.  The media stories came from officials within the FBI, and Fusion GPS; the FBI was essentially manufacturing the evidence they needed.

So, with all of that in mind, this meeting between Andrew Weissmann and AP reporters, as outlined by The Daily Caller, is essentially another round of same-method manufacturing of evidence; it is a collaborative effort.  The result therein is information to be exploited by Special Counsel Robert Mueller to gain search warrants against Paul Manafort.

(Story Link – email pdf link)

Here’s what I don’t understand.  Not a single congressional hearing has ever questioned the FISA search issues?  Not a single question to a single witness, specifically Comey or Yates, ever asked them about the DOJ-NSD and FBI abuse of the FISA database.

The origin of almost all of the corruption seems to consistently circle back to the abuse of the FBI and NSA database which is very much documented and never subject to being refuted.  Yet for some reason I cannot fathom, the historic FISA surveillance/search abuse issue is never brought up by anyone, any investigative authority, in any aspect of this ongoing storyline.

It all starts with abuses of the FISA system for political opposition research; yet we never hear a single voice calling attention to the DOJ-NSD and FBI abuse of this system.  Frustrating…

The Intelligence Laundry

With McCain dying, and Corker and Flake retiring, the Decepticon side of the deep swamp is being purged.  President Trump’s direct America-First policies and pragmatic common sense has severed one head from Cerberus, the three headed hound protecting Hades, DC.

In the geopolitical realm President Trump is using the U.S. atomic sledgehammer to reset decades of insufferable economic policy constructed specifically to the financial benefit of ideological ‘allies’; who have elevated their financial standing on the backs of U.S. deficits.

With Decepticons weakened, and many in DC realizing President Trump isn’t going to stop swinging the battle axe until the last one is crushed, politicians like Lindsey Graham have begun talking more truthfully about issues.  Watch in this interview as Graham is questioned about North Korea, and he immediately -and somewhat surprisingly- accurately identifies the core issue…. it ain’t North Korea.

HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes appeared on Fox News with Jeanine Pirro to discuss the ongoing investigations into the DOJ, FBI and State Department.

When in the course of corrupt events it becomes necessary for one president to confront the political bands which have connected politicians to each other; and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which national laws and common sense entitles’ them, a decent respect to the intellect of voters requires that he  should declare the causes which impel him to the orientation:

(link)

I have been asked about this repeatedly:

Validating Paul Sperry’s tweet.  Yes, FBI Agent Peter Strzok failed his polygraph and his supervisors were notified on January 16th, 2016, his results were “out of scope“. Meaning he failed his polygraph test.  Yet he was never removed from any responsibilities; and against dept policy, he did not have his clearance revoked until he could clear.

This was discussed during the Rosenstein testimony and overlooked by most.  WATCH:

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After Strzok was recently removed from official responsibility within the FBI, his security clearances were retroactively revoked.  That revocation was due to OPR review and was a retroactive revocation action initiated by career officials within the FBI to cover-up (ie. CYA) the two-and-a-half years he was allowed to work when he should not have been.

Current FBI officials, including Trump appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray, are covering up the scandal within the FBI in a misguided effort to save the institution.

This is the same reason the FBI hid the Strzok/Page memos and emails away from IG review and congressional oversight.

There is a massive, ongoing, ‘institutional’ cover-up within the DOJ and FBI.  These are simply examples highlighting the severity therein.  Peter Strzok and his legal team are counting on the need for the institution to be protected as their shield from any prosecution.

As long as AG Jeff Sessions, DAG Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Chris Wray and Deputy Director David Bowditch put the institution ahead of the need for accountability, there will be no repercussions against the former DOJ and FBI officials for unlawful conduct.

Well, this is interesting.  The substance of the latest information is better read by reviewing the presentation of John Solomon [SEE HERE].

The dynamic that catches my interest is how some unknown and unnamed officials inside the FBI apparently kept memos and emails between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok hidden while Inspector General Michael Horowitz was conducting his prior investigation into their conduct during the Clinton email investigation:

[…]  Memos the FBI is now producing to the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general and multiple Senate and House committees offer what sources involved in the production, review or investigation describe to me as “damning” or “troubling” evidence.

They show Strzok and his counterintelligence team rushing in the fall of 2016 to find “derogatory” information from informants or a “pretext” to accelerate the probe and get a surveillance warrant on figures tied to the future president. (read more)

The motive for releasing them now seems unfortunately related to the current focus of the IG review which is focused on FISA abuse, and the likelihood the DOJ/FBI constructed an intelligence apparatus to target the Trump campaign: ie. “Spygate“.

CTH selects the word “unfortunately” because in our estimation the FISA investigation is institutionally constructed to go no-where.  The FISA system was/is set up to protect the interests of all government agents and operators who would utilize the surveillance tools.

As the Solomon information infers, the Carter Page FISA Title-1 application, used to gain the most intrusive surveillance authority in the U.S. arsenal, is almost certainly of a sketchy and corrupt construct designed entirely for political exploitation.   However, that said, the opaque FISA rulebook allows, authorizes and permits a group of government officials to engage in almost unlimited activity without oversight or fear of repercussion.

As a consequence; and with the IG report of the Clinton email investigation as a precursor into the parameters of permissibility; the IG FISA review will undoubtedly extend and twist the parameters of allowable FBI conduct, to excuse any form of abuse therein.

If that analysis sounds too cynical, well, consider…. how is the current headline news not demanding buckets of Tar and Feathers based simply on the fact the FBI is only just now turning over these “memos”?

It is what?  ….Ok to have concealed them until now?  …or something.

I digress.

“Gut wrenching” when you watch the entire interview and reach the final minute where Ohio Republican Jim Jordan explains the past 24 hrs.

Jim Jordan appears on Brett Baier to push back against accusations he was aware of alleged sexual abuse by Ohio State University’s former wrestling team doctor when he was an assistant coach.

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*Note*, before this story hit the major headlines, CTH received an email about this story surfacing and how it likely was constructed to target Jim Jordan for political damage. That email is below. CTH is not revealing the name of the sender.

SUBJECT: “Ohio State made NIKE the sole vendor”!!

The only named and quoted source in this garbage Jim Jordan story is Mike DiSabato of Columbus Ohio.

I am well acquainted with Mike back from when I had a sideline writing/covering college wrestling and MMA for some websites.

Mike is a known scumbag. He is in the athletic apparel business and owns Cage Fighter, a semi well known brand of fighting and wrestling gear.

He also was the driving force behind Agon, a short-lived wrestling promotion where everyone involved was cheated out of their money.

Mike has been sued REPEATEDLY for breach of contract by almost everyone he has worked with. It is well documented.

If you check his Twitter account, @thenotoriousmds, you will see he is a wacky left winger supporter of Bernie Sanders who repeatedly retweets Nancy Hogshead-maker, herself a fraud and one of the leading public voices behind advocacy for the current enforcement if Title IX in varsity sports (aka a “quota queen”).

Mike has a personal vendetta against Ohio State and Jim’s brother, Jeff.

He is mad at Ohio State because they made Nike the sole vendor for athletic gear for every sport back in January. Before this Cage Fighter provided the gear for the Wrestling program (which is now a BIG TIME program)

Jeff, Jim’s Brother is the head wrestling coach at Graham high school in St Paris Ohio, one of the 5 most prestigious high school wrestling programs in the country. Jeff and some partners started the apparel line RUDIs which they now use to supply their team gear, no longer doing business with DiSabato and Cage Fighter.

Since ending their relationship with Cage Fighter, DiSabato has been out for blood and is lashing out at Jim to get back at Jeff and Ohio State.

He’s even been attacking 22 year old OSU alum, Olympic and World champ Kyle Snyder, whom I’ve been around since middle school. Kyle, as far as I can tell, is a young man of absolutely impeccable character.

Kyle recently signed a sponsorship deal with RUDIs