President Obama White House Responds To McCabe’s Firing – Lisa Monaco Interview…


Before becoming President Obama’s key Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco was the head of the DOJ National Security Division. You might remember the DOJ-NSD is at the center of the “small group” collaboration between DOJ-NSD and FBI Counterintelligence unit.  Remember, it was the DOJ-NSD (via Sally Yates) who would not allow OIG Oversight.  (John Carlin quit; Mary McCord quit; David Laufman quit)

During the 2015/2016 presidential election Lisa Monaco was one of the key WH figures doing the unmasking of raw intelligence provided by the “small group” collaborators (with Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes). Monaco was also one of the key policy strategists, heck, she was the architect, who utilized the compartmentalization of intelligence to hide the fingerprints of collaboration. This was the issue that initially stymied HSPCI Devin Nunes.

Many people have wondered if the Obama White House, recognizing the empirical risk represented by McCabe’s insider knowledge, would distance themselves from McCabe -leaving him to swing in the wind- or whether they would circle the wagons to defend him. This interview should answer that question. Pay particular attention to the angst expressed by Monaco of Trump creating transparency within compartmentalized IC.

After watching the video, and understanding what battles are to come from within the Obama IC, you understand why THIS GROUP has assembled. It is all interconnected. It is all related. None of these alignments, moves, maneuvers and shifts are happening arbitrarily. They are all done purposefully knowing the biggest political battle in the history of U.S. politics is now visible on the horizon.

Additional Context:

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The Collapse of Society – Are the Doom & Gloomers Even on the Right Page?


QUESTION: Hey Marty,
Thanks for the incredible information you are sharing. I subscribe to your service and read your blog every day.
Do preppers have any justification in planning for a complete collapse, be it economic, political or otherwise? I keep a 30 day supply of freeze dried food but I have friends that are much more serious in their stockpile.

Thanks!

DL

ANSWER: The end of the world scenarios that the doomsday people forecast are over the top. If things unfolded as they proclaim, there would be no point in preparing for there would be nothing left. Movies like the Planet of the Apes were based upon this theory. The likelihood that there will be an economic and political upheaval is 100% on point. I have recommended keeping a stash of food, but not for the reasons they put out there by the doom & gloom people. The winters are going to keep getting colder. As they do, this will also disrupt the food supply. I have warned that historically, it is Global Cooling that kills off people – not Global Warming. Additionally, as political unrest rises, there will also be a disruption in the food supply. The majority of people are incapable of growing food for themselves, so society as a whole has this great vulnerability as was the case in in the eternal city of Rome. Historically, as taxes kept rising, and public safety became a growing concern in the urban life, more and more people began to migrate. There is simply a cycle where we all come together to form great societies, the ruling class becomes greedy, and then the cycle turns we migrate back to suburbia.

The political change we face is the collapse of socialism. That DOES NOT mean they go down without a fight. The French Revolution is where Communism began. They hunted the wealth of the rich, beheaded them, and they even seized all the property of the Catholic Church. Socialists always claim they are doing this to right all wrongs created by the rich, but in truth, they live in hate of anyone who possesses more than they do. I find it curious that this is listed in the Ten Commandments as something not to do, yet it is the cornerstone of the left. So even if someone does not believe in God and looks at the Ten Commandments simply as an ancient list of wisdom, this trait is still listed. Any way we slice it, religion aside, coveting their neighbor’s goods is the creed of a thief.

There have been uprisings against the rich and the bankers throughout history. When Florence was the financial capital of Europe, the banking family was the Bardi of Florence. They preceded the Medici and Rothschilds, yet remain unknown to most people. They were the famous bankers of the day. Because there was a dramatic shift in the silver to gold ratio, there was a major uprising when silver rose in value against gold because wages were paid in silver. An economic collapse unfolded and the people blamed the bankers when the source of the problem was the French king. They stormed the palaces of the bankers and set them on fire.

So history is littered with a cycle between all is well and then there is an economic collapse and civil unrest. This is the greate4st danger with the collapse of socialism, which the center portion is the collapse of the pension system. Rome also collapsed when it could not afford the promised pensions for the army. This led to generals rebelling and the troops followed sacking Roman cities that opposed them because they were ENTITLED to their promised pension.

History repeats because it is the same pattern over an over again. Those in power always promise everything assuming that the people are sheep to extract revenue whenever they need it. They fail to understand that EVERYTHING has its limit. Once they cross that line, the system collapses back in on itself. This is simply what we face. It is not a Planet of the Apes scenario and it does NOT even require World War III. It is already in motion and war will only be a result, not the initial cause.

 

Planning For OIG Release – President Trump Hires Joe diGenova….


Things are proceeding swimmingly.  How is it possible to outline the biggest political corruption scandal in modern U.S. history; which utilized the full weight of the institutions of government and the vast intelligence community; against the predictable tide of a mainstream U.S. media apparatus who will shout ‘conspiracy theory’; while every single entity associated with the collaborative effort will protect the group behind the scandal?

There’s the challenge.  How do you introduce the scale and scope of corruption to almost half the country who have relied upon the false narrative delivered by fake news for the past two years?

Answer: You assemble a strategic communications team, timed to activate when a key series of events takes place.   Joe diGenova is part of that strategic communications team. The triggering event is the OIG release.  The purpose of the team is to help the news consumer digest the corruption elephant one bite at a time.

As each individual indictment is parsed and delivered, there will be tens-of-thousands of pages of evidence, multiple witness statements, and a tsunami of investigative supporting material that needs to be unpacked -per person- and understood against the backdrop of the bigger story.

Understanding the scale and scope is why CTH put together the video series to help grasp the larger issues; and that video series only highlights the FBI and DOJ part of the story. [fyi, that video series will air as a single 30 minute documentary as part of the toolbox].

When does it all happen:

(LINK)

All by careful design…

Maria Bartiromo Interviews Alan Dershowitz About Andrew McCabe Firing and FBI Corruption…


Harvard Law Professor Emeritus, Alan Dershowitz, appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the DOJ firing FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. It’s a wide-ranging interview hitting on multiple angles of the ongoing issues at the top of the FBI and Dept of Justice.

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One of the common misunderstandings as highlighted within the interview is the 1.2 million investigative documents held by the Office of Inspector General, Michael Horowitz.

First, a massive amount of the ‘pages’ are likely transcripts from the Peter Strzok and Lisa Page text messages; as well as the likelihood of emails and other communications within the “small group” (co-conspirators) inside the DOJ and FBI.

Second, everyone seems to overlook that much of the evidence collected by IG Horowitz may also be evidence of criminality by those within the “small group”. As such the criminal evidence would NOT be, and SHOULD NOT be, released to congress because the assigned prosecutor would be using it for cases against those outlined in the investigation.

I know it seems frustrating, but there is a normal and methodical investigative process which needs to be followed; and criminal evidence needs to be closely guarded until the targets therein are indicted.

 

Footnote #5 – DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr Interviewed 12 Times By FBI Investigators…


Senator Chuck Grassley letter to Rod Rosenstein (Page 5, footnote #5) outlines the FBI interviews of twice demoted DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr:

Ohr FD-302 12/19/16 (interview date 11/22/16);
Ohr FD-302 12/19/16 (interview date 12/05/16);
Ohr FD-302 12/19/16 (interview date 12/12/16);
Ohr FD-302 12/27/16 (interview date 12/20/16);
Ohr FD-302 01/27/17 (interview date 01/27/17);
Ohr FD-302 01/31/17 (interview date 01/23/17);
Ohr FD-302 01/27/17 (interview date 01/25/17);
Ohr FD-302 02/08/17 (interview date 02/06/17);
Ohr FD-302 02/15/17 (interview date 02/14/17);
Ohr FD-302 05/10/17 (interview date 05/08/17);
Ohr FD-302 05/12/17 (interview date 05/12/17);
Ohr FD-302 05/16/17 (interview date 05/15/17).

Notice: DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr was interviewed after the election four times [November 22nd, December: 5th, 12th, 20th, 2016] by the Obama FBI.

During those four 2016 interviews: President Obama, James Comey (FBI), Andrew McCabe (FBI), Loretta Lynch (DOJ), Sally Yates (DOJ), James Baker (FBI), Peter Strzok (FBI), Lisa Page (FBI), Jim Rybicki (FBI), Mary McCord (DOJ), Mike Kortan (FBI), Bill Priestap (FBI) and David Laufman (DOJ) were all still in place. The Inspector General investigation had not yet begun.

Question(s):

Why was the FBI interviewing Bruce Ohr in 2016?

Who was interviewing Bruce Ohr in 2016?

Possibility/Theory:  After candidate Donald Trump won the election the “small group”  knew Bruce and Nellie Ohr were both big risks, and weak links.

If our prior research assumptions are correct, Bruce Ohr and Nellie Ohr were the two key participants at the heart of the raw FBI/NSA database intelligence surveillance ‘gathering‘, and intelligence ‘laundering‘ operation.

When Admiral Mike Rogers shut down contractor access to the NSA/FBI database (April 18th, 2016) the outside group needed a workaround. That’s where DOJ official Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie Ohr come into play. {Go Deep} The DOJ side of the operation was conducted within the National Security Division (John P Carlin head). {Go Deep} The DOJ-NSD via Bruce Ohr, could use the NSA/FBI database and pass information to, and receive information from, Nellie Ohr.

Nellie was hired by Fusion-GPS immediately after Admiral Rogers shut down the FBI ‘contractor’ use of the system. Nellie would be the go-between.  Nellie, working for Fusion GPS, took the raw intel (search results) from Bruce and passed it along to Christopher Steele.

Steele washed the unlawful Ohr raw intelligence by putting it into this “dossier”, and feeding it back into the FBI.  The DOJ/FBI then used the laundered intelligence to enhance their FISA Title-1 Surveillance warrant against Carter Page to gain access to the monitor the Trump campaign, legally.

Christopher Steele would never have found anything about Carter Page on his own.  Page was a nothing-burger; however, the FBI had previously used Page in a Russian operation.

Part of the raw intelligence the FBI fed to Chris Steele through Nellie Ohr was their intel on Page.  When Steele returned the dossier to the FBI the DOJ/FBI could present Steele’s construct of Carter Page to the FISA court as ‘collaborating evidence’.

The goal of all this activity was always the surveillance on Trump. They obtained the FISA-Title1 warrant on October 21st, 2016.  All retroactive surveillance was immediately lawful.

Bruce Ohr and Nellie Ohr connect the activity from the DOJ (national security division) and FBI (counterintelligence division) together with Fusion GPS (Nellie’s 2016 employer, Glenn Simpson) and Christopher Steele (the recipient of the unwashed intelligence product).

Remember, the Clinton-Steele Dossier was the primary intelligence product used to get the FISA-Title-1 (near unlimited scope) Surveillance Warrant, on October 21st, 2016.

Now look:

(Nunes Memo)

Now Look:

(ODNI Media Release January 11th, 2017)

  • October 2016 “corroboration was in its infancy.” ~ Bill Priestap (FBI)
  • January 2017 “the IC has not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable” ~ James Clapper

…Yet somehow on October 21st, 2016 the dossier was valid enough for a FISA warrant?  Doesn’t add up.  I digress.

Four Corners of the demonstrable justice dept. conspiracy:

  1. Exonerate Clinton
  2. Investigate/execute, IC surveillance of Trump.
  3. Collect and redistribute opposition research of Trump.
  4. The Insurance Policy.

Following the exoneration of Hillary Clinton, the next phase, the “Trump Operation”, was the need for the DOJ/FBI “small group” to have access to surveillance of Hillary Clinton’s political opposition, Donald Trump.  This was the U.S. government conducting political opposition research through a weaponized intelligence apparatus (DOJ and FBI).

Within the context of #2 and #3 you’ll note the entry and exit timeline of people connected to the same task is identical.  Christopher Steele, hired by Fusion-GPS, enters the timeline at the same time Nellie Ohr is hired by Fusion-GPS (May 2016).  Both Christopher Steele and Nellie Ohr exit the activity timeline at the same time as the FBI gets FISA Court “Title 1” surveillance authority over Carter Page, October 21st, 2016.

Everything after October 21st, 2016, when the FBI has “Title 1” surveillance authority over Carter Page and the Trump Campaign, is part of the “insurance policy”.   The Title 1 surveillance authority gave the “small group” the tools needed to execute #4, which included the 2017 “Russian Narrative” and the appointment of SC Robert Mueller.

That’s the rough outline.  Within the rough outline there are sub-chapters of how it all took place. How it all came together:  The ‘dossier’ is a sub-chapter.  The FISA warrant is a sub-chapter. Establishing Special Counsel Robert Mueller was a sub-chapter. Etc.

♦Nellie Ohr was needed because she was a go-between from Team Clinton (Fusion GPS) to her husband Bruce Ohr inside the DOJ.  Nellie Ohr relayed information into the DOJ and she extracted information from the DOJ that was passed back to Fusion-GPS and by extension Christopher Steele.

Nellie Ohr was a communication transfer hub.

♦Christopher Steele was needed because:

A) the Clinton Team (Fusion GPS) needed to wash their opposition research and have it come out as “Intelligence Product”; and B) the DOJ and FBI needed to present intelligence product to further their insurance policy goal.

The Clinton ‘opposition research,’ turned ‘intelligence product’. was carried by Nellie Ohr to Christopher Steele who then recycled it back to the FBI and DOJ and it was leaked to the media, as needed, to script the Russian narrative.  Brennan (CIA) and Clapper (ODNI) could enhance the IC product as needed [See: ‘Russian Election’ – Joint Analysis Report].

The Clinton-Steele Dossier was a collaboration. The FBI and DOJ used the Clinton-Steele Dossier, and leaks from those assembling the Clinton-Steele Dossier, as validation for an October 21st TitleI FISA surveillance warrant on Carter Page.

Three corners of the conspiracy construct relied upon the FISA “Title I” surveillance:

#2) Investigate, execute, IC surveillance of Trump; #3) Collect and redistribute opposition research of Trump; and #4) The Insurance Policy;

All three of those corners relied on the FISA surveillance warrant being granted.

Another example post-election use of the FISA surveillance was how the Intelligence Community positioned the story of Carter Page in April of 2017 to gain the Special Counsel appointment, ie. the Mueller investigation (another false construct.)

McCabe Firing Shows Evidence of IG and Outside Prosecutor Working Together…


What has become increasingly visible is the largest political scandal in the history of U.S. government.  A political conspiracy at the highest levels of the prior administration and across multiple agencies within the U.S. intelligence apparatus.  The scale of corruption being exposed is astounding.

The investigative effort to unravel and bring justice is almost overwhelming.  It is also very likely the issues surrounding Andrew McCabe are only just beginning.

Within the response letter from Michael Bromwich, the attorney representing fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, you might note the following (emphasis mine):

[…] The investigation described in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report was cleaved off from the larger investigation of which it was a part, its completion expedited, and the disciplinary process completed in a little over a week. Mr. McCabe and his counsel were given limited access to a draft of the OIG report late last month, did not see the final report and the evidence on which it is based until a week ago, and were receiving relevant exculpatory evidence as recently as two days ago. (pdf link)

Within the Office of Professional Responsibility guidelines for Attorney Representation you might also note the following (again, emphasis mine):

The majority of OPR investigations are administrative in nature, and employees are not entitled to counsel as a matter of law. However, counsel may be permitted if counsel does not interfere with or delay the interview. Counsel must be actually retained by the employee as his legal representative, not as an observer. Counsel are not permitted access to certain confidential criminal investigative information and may not be permitted access to grand jury information.. (link)

Put both of those statements together, along with the underlying issues that Inspector General Michael Horowitz was investigating, and there’s even more likely evidence of the “outside Washington DC” prosecutor noted in the following statement from Attorney General Jeff Sessions:

… I have appointed a person outside of Washington, many years in the Department of Justice to look at all the allegations that the House Judiciary Committee members sent to us; and we’re conducting that investigation. (read more)

I would strongly encourage readers to review the OPR standards –SEE HERE– and also review the information –HERE– to understand the process used by the Office of Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility, as well as the conclusions reached. It is an exhausting process and it is NOT easy to be fired.  Not by a long shot.

A few more important points:

♦First, the question:  If Jeff Sessions has appointed a prosecutor to work with Inspector General Horowitz, why do congressional reps keep asking for a second special council?

The answer is a lot simpler than we might think: They don’t know.

The legislative branch of the government doesn’t know what the criminal investigations are of the executive branch of government; AND AG Jeff Sessions has repeatedly said his intention is to restore the proper, appropriate and professional standards of the U.S. Department of Justice.  (ie. no talking about criminal investigations)

Within this specific investigation there is a triple role.  ¹A DOJ Inspector General conducting an internal investigation; ² Appropriate congressional oversight; and ³ the collection of evidence that might also be used in criminal indictments.

Within the IG collection of evidence there are two competing issues:  #1) Evidence of misconduct and political bias (shared openly with congress and oversight); and #2) evidence of illegal activity (retained from congress to preserve integrity of evidence for later used in criminal proceedings); this is where the “outside DC prosecutor” comes in.

Which brings us to point #2

♦Accusations of DOJ hiding evidence from congress.

Several congressional representatives have stated the information about Judge Rudolph Contreras was not readily know because his association with Peter Strzok was redacted within text messages sent from DOJ to congress.  Therefore the DOJ is trying to hide damaging information.  That claim is not the correct framework/context.

Congress as a whole (reps, staff and investigators) can go to the DOJ and look at ALL unredacted text messages.  However, if congressional staff wish to take copies with them the copies must be redacted. Why?  Because, just like the Contreras issue within the Strzok and Page text messages, there’s a possibility specific texts are evidence of a crime.

Go back to December 2nd, 2017, when the first reports of the IG investigative findings were hitting the news media and you’ll note IG Horowitz said he has no issues with congressional oversight getting his investigative evidence with the approval FROM the DOJ.   In this example the “prosecutor”, working with Horowitz, has to make a determination if a potential criminal case would be compromised by allowing the release of specific information/evidence gathered by the Inspector General.

Lastly, where all this appears to be going.  It is not likely there will be a ‘second special counsel’ per se’.  With a prosecutor already working with Inspector General Horowitz that person already has a thorough knowledge of all the evidence.  As soon as the IG publishes his report, the prosecutor can begin subpoenaing witnesses.  It’s more than likely there’s already a Grand Jury seated somewhere hearing the criminal evidence he/she has carved out from the overwhelming IG evidence as collected.

You and I might be frustrated with the pace of the activity for a myriad of righteous reasons.  However, we must also remind ourselves of the scale and scope of the corruption here that is inherent within the BIG PICTURE.  All of this was done on purpose.  None of this was accidental.

The prosecutor could, likely would, be having to outline the biggest political conspiracy in the history of politics.  It is entirely possible officials within the CIA, NSA, DOJ, FBI, State Department, ODNI, and national security apparatus along with the Obama White House, Clinton campaign officials, politicians, career bureaucrats and possibly judges are all entwined and involved.

Add into this likelihood the complicit ideological media who will go absolutely bananas about any single member of their team being indicted; and a better than average chance the media will follow instructions from their leadership and send tens-of-thousands of low-info sycophants into the streets in protest, and well… you see the picture.

The left only know one narrative: “Jeff Sessions is doing Trump’s evil bidding.” That’s it. That’s the drumbeat. 24/7/365 That’s the narrative pushed over and over.

Look at their reaction to Andrew McCabe’s simple firing, which Trump had nothing to do with, and think about what their response would be to indictments?…

Prequel – Reminder of The ‘Big Picture’ in Summary…


There are so many threads of information surrounding the 2016 operation to conduct political surveillance on the Trump campaign by various officials and offices within corrupt structures of government it’s easy to get lost. However, if we take all the various bits of information and place them together a less confusing picture emerges.

The {Go Deep Threads} look like this: The FISA-702(17) ‘About Queries’; the political opposition research of Fusion-GPS and Glenn Simpson; the DOJ officials and FBI officials; Bruce and Nellie Ohr; the U.S. State Department and U.N Ambassador Samantha Power; the Clinton-Steele Dossier and Christopher Steele; the FISA Title-1 surveillance warrant; and the unmasking by former Senior White House officials: Lisa Monaco and Susan Rice.

Here’s the basic overview of how all those threads come together to paint a picture.

The FBI group was participating in a plan to exonerate Hillary Clinton. That same FBI group was simultaneously conducting opposition research on candidate Donald Trump and the larger construct of his campaign team. Those FBI officials were allied by entities outside official government structures. The ‘outside group’ were “contractors”. It is likely one of the contractors was Fusion-GPS or entities in contact with Fusion-GPS. {Go Deep}

The contractors were using FBI intelligence databases to conduct opposition research “searches” on Trump campaign officials. This is where the use of FISA-702(16)(17) “To/From” and “About” queries comes in. {Go Deep} This FISA abuse was the allowed but unofficial process identified in early 2016 by NSA internal auditors.

This is where NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers steps in on April 18th, 2016, and stops the FBI contractors from having any further access. {Go Deep}

{Go Deep on NSA Rogers}

No longer having access to the FBI intelligence database the group needed a workaround. That’s where DOJ official Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie Ohr come into play. {Go Deep} Coincidentally(?), the following month, May 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras became a member of the FISA court.   Contreras was friends with lead FBI counterintelligence agent, Peter Strzok.{Go Deep}

The DOJ side of the operation was conducted within the National Security Division (John P Carlin head). {Go Deep} The DOJ-NSD could use the NSA/FBI database and pass information to, and receive information from, Nellie Ohr. Nellie was hired by Fusion-GPS immediately after Admiral Rogers shut down the FBI ‘contractor’ use of the system. Nellie would be the go-between.

The problem was that any information from within the FISA searches could not be directly used by the FBI because they would likely have to explain how they gained it and all search queries were illegal. This is where Fusion-GPS hires the retired British MI6 officer Christopher Steele. The FBI needed to launder the intelligence product:

Chris Steele would be the laundry for the intelligence information pulled from the U.S. system. Unauthorized FISA-702(16)(17) results were passed on to Christopher Steele, likely by Nellie Ohr. Steele would then wash the intelligence product, repackage it into what became known as his “Dossier”, and pass it back to the FBI ‘small group’ as evidence for use in their counterintelligence operation which began in July 2016 [ intentionally without congressional oversight {Go Deep}].

Evidence of this laundry process is found in a significant “search query” result that was actually a mistake. The faulty intelligence mistake was the travel history of Michael Cohen, a long-time Trump lawyer. The FISA search turned up a Michael Cohen traveling to Prague. It was the wrong Michael Cohen. However, that mistaken result was passed on to Chris Steele and it made its way into the dossier. Absent of a FISA search, there’s no other way Christopher Steele could identify a random “Michael Cohen” traveling to Prague.

The Cohen mistake created a trail from Chris Steele to the FISA database. {Go Deep}

All of the unauthorized FISA-702 search queries, “To From”(16) and/or “About”(17), of the NSA/FBI database were returning results. Those results were “raw intelligence”.

That raw intelligence needed “unmasking”, that’s where the Department of State (DoS) comes in. The U.N. Ambassador is part of the DoS. Samantha Power stated she wasn’t doing the daily “unmasking” identified by the House Intelligence Committee investigation {Go Deep}. Someone, or a group of people, within the State Department, were doing unmasking requests – presumably using Ms. Power’s authority.

The collaborative process by officials within the State Department, as outlined and supported by Senator Chuck Grassley and his investigation, explains why those officials were also communicating with Christopher Steele. {Go Deep}

The assembled but highly compartmentalized reports from the DOJ-NSD, FBI-Counterintelligence, Department of State, Office of National Intelligence (Clapper) and CIA (Brennan), was then constructed to become part of President Obama’s Daily Intelligence Briefing. That’s where National Security Adviser Susan Rice comes in and her frequent unmasking of the assembled intelligence product. {Go Deep}

The Obama PDB was then redistributed internally to more than three dozen administration officials who POTUS Obama allowed to access his PDB. This includes the heads of DOJ, DOJ-NSD, FBI, FBI-counterintel, CIA, DoS, ODNI, NSA and Pentagon.

The distribution of the PDB was how each disparate member of the administration, the larger intelligence apparatus, knew of the ongoing big picture without having to assemble together for direct discussion therein. That’s Lisa Monaco and “Operation Latitude”:

.

Additionally, remember this from the FBI?

January 31st, 2018, […] “With regard to the House Intelligence Committee’s memorandum, the FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it. As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

FBI Asst. Director Michael Kortan (aka text message “Mike”), the head of the FBI Public Affairs Office was the one who wrote it. Kortan was part of the scheme team. FBI Director Christopher Wray fired him the following week. {Go Deep}  Additionally, we now know the FBI was leaking stories to the media to help frame favorable narratives toward their political endeavors.  The leaks 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 to the journalists. McCabe is now saying that FBI Director James Comey sanctioned the leaks McCabe was authorizing. {Go Deep}

Sunday Talks: Former FBI Deputy James Kallstrom Interviewed By Maria Bartiromo…


CTH has a hunch the OIG report is going to come in multiple phases, containing multiple investigative facets, following the investigative mandate initially outlined when IG Horowitz began (also listed below for reference).  The first release will likely surround McCabe and (bullet point #4) “Allegations that department and FBI employees improperly disclosed non-public information.” I’m working on some summary information therein.

Lots to chew.

Former FBI Deputy Director James Kallstrom appeared on Fox News for an interview with Maria Bartiromo earlier today.  He conveys a common set of perspectives and concerns.

Dan Coats – Director of National Intelligence

Sunday Talks – Chairman Bob Goodlatte Interviewed by Maria Bartiromo…


House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is one of the top three people throughout the entirety of congress with a comprehensive knowledge of the events surrounding the investigations of the FBI and DOJ.  Chairman Goodlatte is one of only four people outside the DOJ who have read the full DOJ FISA application used for a Title-1 Surveillance warrant of Carter Page.

The House Judiciary Committee holds the primary statutory oversight over the U.S. Department of Justice.  Additionally, Chairman Goodlatte is the congressional office working closest with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.  In short, Goodlatte is the center of all ‘oversight’ information circling the investigations into the DOJ and FBI.

Interesting Response Statement By McCabe Attorney Michael Bromwich…


Michael R Bromwich (Twitter HERE) is the attorney of record for fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.  Mr. Bromwich responded to the firing of his client with the following statement (Pdf HERE)

March 16, 2018
STATEMENT BY FORMER IG MICHAEL R. BROMWICH

I have been involved in Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) disciplinary matters since 1994. I have never before seen the type of rush to judgment – and rush to summary punishment – that we have witnessed in this case. The result of this deplorable rush to judgment is to terminate Mr. McCabe before his long-anticipated retirement and deny him of the full pension and retirement benefits he would have otherwise earned through his 21 years of devoted service to the FBI and this country. This is simply not the way such matters are generally handled in the DOJ or the FBI.

It is deeply disturbing.

This distortion of the process begins at the very top, with the President’s repeated offensive, drive-by Twitter attacks on Mr. McCabe. These attacks began in the summer of 2017 and accelerated after it was disclosed that Mr. McCabe would be a corroborating witness against the President. The attacks have continued to this day, with the President’s press secretary stating Thursday, in response to a question about Mr. McCabe’s fate, “that is a determination that we would leave to Attorney General Sessions, but we do think it is well-documented that he has had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts a bad actor.”

This vile and defamatory statement is fully consistent with the attacks on Mr. McCabe that have come from the White House since last summer. And it was quite clearly designed to put inappropriate pressure on the Attorney General to act accordingly. This intervention by the White House in the DOJ disciplinary process is unprecedented, deeply unfair, and dangerous.

The investigation described in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report was cleaved off from the larger investigation of which it was a part, its completion expedited, and the disciplinary process completed in a little over a week. Mr. McCabe and his counsel were given limited access to a draft of the OIG report late last month, did not see the final report and the evidence on which it is based until a week ago, and were receiving relevant exculpatory evidence as recently as two days ago.

We were given only four days to review a voluminous amount of relevant evidence, prepare a response, and make presentations to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. With so much at stake, this process has fallen far short of what Mr. McCabe deserved.

This concerted effort to accelerate the process in order to beat the ticking clock of his scheduled retirement violates any sense of decency and basic principles of fairness. It should make all federal government employees, who continue to work in an Administration that insults, debases, and abuses them, shudder in the knowledge that they could be next.

Michael R. Bromwich served as the Inspector General for the Department of Justice from 1994 to 1999. He served as counsel to Andrew McCabe in this matter.

###

It is interesting to note the dates surrounding the preferred narrative as outlined by Andrew McCabe in his statement Friday evening, and this public letter from McCabe’s attorney, Michael Bromwich, also dated Friday March 16th, 2018.

Obviously, against the timing of a 10:00pm (EST) March 16th, 2018, public release from the DOJ Attorney General announcing McCabe’s termination of employment, in order for McCabe and Bromwich to have lengthy prepared statements ready for immediate release – they were well aware of the pending public release of the DOJ notice of termination.

Secondly, notice the timeline, and contacts, as described in the Bromwich letter:

[…] Mr. McCabe and his counsel were given limited access to a draft of the OIG report late last month, did not see the final report and the evidence on which it is based until a week ago.

[…] We were given only four days to review a voluminous amount of relevant evidence, prepare a response, and make presentations to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General.

It would appear toward the end of last month (February), McCabe and his attorney were given the summary outline of the OIG referral submitted to the Office of Professional Responsibility.  They had approximately three weeks to file a response.

Then a week ago, they received the finalized a copy of the OPR recommendation delivered to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.  They had four more days to respond to the Deputy AG.

Doesn’t sound rushed to me.

Mr. Michael Bromwich is also on record (Op Ed in WaPo) esupporting the Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz, January 14th, 2017, immediately after the OIG investigation was launched:

January 2017 – The announcement by the Justice Department’s inspector general that his office will look into FBI Director James B. Comey’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s emails reopens painful questions about the 2016 election, but it is also welcome news. The country needs this — an objective, independent and thorough investigation of issues that have roiled the country for months and continue to stir heated debate.

The investigation will address allegations that Comey violated established Justice Department and FBI policies and procedures in his July 5, 2016, public announcement concerning the Hillary Clinton email investigation. And it will explore allegations that Comey’s Oct. 28 and Nov. 6 letters to Congress, which jolted the presidential election — and may have changed its outcome — were improper.

The impact of Comey’s actions can never be definitively known. But it is important, for the Justice Department and for the country, to obtain a detailed accounting of what happened and why; to assign blame where it is warranted; and to understand how similar situations can be prevented.

In addition to looking into the actions of the FBI director regarding the email investigation, the probe will look into whether the FBI’s deputy director should have recused himself from the investigation because of his wife’s political involvement;whether a high-ranking Justice Department official or others improperly disclosed non-public information to both the Clinton and Trump campaigns; and whether the timing of the FBI’s election eve Freedom of Information Act disclosures relating to Bill Clinton’s 2001 pardon of Marc Rich was based on inappropriate considerations.  (read more)

So attorney Michael Bromwich was for the OIG investigation (January 2017) until his client, Andrew McCabe, was found to have acted inappropriately/unlawfully as a result of the OIG investigation (March 2018) – and now he’s against it.

Gotcha.

So goes life in the swamp.

The thing about advocating for the Sword of Damocles, is never knowing when you might be under it.

Next up… James Comey:

Michael R Bromwich (Twitter HERE) is the attorney of record for fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.  Mr. Bromwich responded to the firing of his client with the following statement (Pdf HERE)

March 16, 2018
STATEMENT BY FORMER IG MICHAEL R. BROMWICH

I have been involved in Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) disciplinary matters since 1994. I have never before seen the type of rush to judgment – and rush to summary punishment – that we have witnessed in this case. The result of this deplorable rush to judgment is to terminate Mr. McCabe before his long-anticipated retirement and deny him of the full pension and retirement benefits he would have otherwise earned through his 21 years of devoted service to the FBI and this country. This is simply not the way such matters are generally handled in the DOJ or the FBI.

It is deeply disturbing.

This distortion of the process begins at the very top, with the President’s repeated offensive, drive-by Twitter attacks on Mr. McCabe. These attacks began in the summer of 2017 and accelerated after it was disclosed that Mr. McCabe would be a corroborating witness against the President. The attacks have continued to this day, with the President’s press secretary stating Thursday, in response to a question about Mr. McCabe’s fate, “that is a determination that we would leave to Attorney General Sessions, but we do think it is well-documented that he has had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts a bad actor.”

This vile and defamatory statement is fully consistent with the attacks on Mr. McCabe that have come from the White House since last summer. And it was quite clearly designed to put inappropriate pressure on the Attorney General to act accordingly. This intervention by the White House in the DOJ disciplinary process is unprecedented, deeply unfair, and dangerous.

The investigation described in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report was cleaved off from the larger investigation of which it was a part, its completion expedited, and the disciplinary process completed in a little over a week. Mr. McCabe and his counsel were given limited access to a draft of the OIG report late last month, did not see the final report and the evidence on which it is based until a week ago, and were receiving relevant exculpatory evidence as recently as two days ago.

We were given only four days to review a voluminous amount of relevant evidence, prepare a response, and make presentations to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. With so much at stake, this process has fallen far short of what Mr. McCabe deserved.

This concerted effort to accelerate the process in order to beat the ticking clock of his scheduled retirement violates any sense of decency and basic principles of fairness. It should make all federal government employees, who continue to work in an Administration that insults, debases, and abuses them, shudder in the knowledge that they could be next.

Michael R. Bromwich served as the Inspector General for the Department of Justice from 1994 to 1999. He served as counsel to Andrew McCabe in this matter.

###

It is interesting to note the dates surrounding the preferred narrative as outlined by Andrew McCabe in his statement Friday evening, and this public letter from McCabe’s attorney, Michael Bromwich, also dated Friday March 16th, 2018.

Obviously, against the timing of a 10:00pm (EST) March 16th, 2018, public release from the DOJ Attorney General announcing McCabe’s termination of employment, in order for McCabe and Bromwich to have lengthy prepared statements ready for immediate release – they were well aware of the pending public release of the DOJ notice of termination.

Secondly, notice the timeline, and contacts, as described in the Bromwich letter:

[…] Mr. McCabe and his counsel were given limited access to a draft of the OIG report late last month, did not see the final report and the evidence on which it is based until a week ago.

[…] We were given only four days to review a voluminous amount of relevant evidence, prepare a response, and make presentations to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General.

It would appear toward the end of last month (February), McCabe and his attorney were given the summary outline of the OIG referral submitted to the Office of Professional Responsibility.  They had approximately three weeks to file a response.

Then a week ago, they received the finalized a copy of the OPR recommendation delivered to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.  They had four more days to respond to the Deputy AG.

Doesn’t sound rushed to me.

Mr. Michael Bromwich is also on record (Op Ed in WaPo) esupporting the Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz, January 14th, 2017, immediately after the OIG investigation was launched:

January 2017 – The announcement by the Justice Department’s inspector general that his office will look into FBI Director James B. Comey’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s emails reopens painful questions about the 2016 election, but it is also welcome news. The country needs this — an objective, independent and thorough investigation of issues that have roiled the country for months and continue to stir heated debate.

The investigation will address allegations that Comey violated established Justice Department and FBI policies and procedures in his July 5, 2016, public announcement concerning the Hillary Clinton email investigation. And it will explore allegations that Comey’s Oct. 28 and Nov. 6 letters to Congress, which jolted the presidential election — and may have changed its outcome — were improper.

The impact of Comey’s actions can never be definitively known. But it is important, for the Justice Department and for the country, to obtain a detailed accounting of what happened and why; to assign blame where it is warranted; and to understand how similar situations can be prevented.

In addition to looking into the actions of the FBI director regarding the email investigation, the probe will look into whether the FBI’s deputy director should have recused himself from the investigation because of his wife’s political involvement;whether a high-ranking Justice Department official or others improperly disclosed non-public information to both the Clinton and Trump campaigns; and whether the timing of the FBI’s election eve Freedom of Information Act disclosures relating to Bill Clinton’s 2001 pardon of Marc Rich was based on inappropriate considerations.  (read more)

So attorney Michael Bromwich was for the OIG investigation (January 2017) until his client, Andrew McCabe, was found to have acted inappropriately/unlawfully as a result of the OIG investigation (March 2018) – and now he’s against it.

Gotcha.

So goes life in the swamp.

The thing about advocating for the Sword of Damocles, is never knowing when you might be under it.

Next up… James Comey: