Some things are just so predictable they become funny.  The story of Oleg Deripaska is a little bit convoluted and challenging to keep up with.  The short version is that former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, FBI Agent Peter Strzok and corrupt U.S. DOJ officials tried to recruit Deripaska in 2016 for their vast Russian conspiracy plot against candidate Trump, President-Elect Trump and President Trump.

Because of the associations with the scheme and coup-plotters, Oleg has buckets of dirt on corrupt U.S. officials who were trying to target Donald Trump.  In the wake of a soft-coup failure, Oleg then became a risk. So it comes as no surprise to see today the U.S. DOJ and Treasury turn on him and confiscate his U.S. assets.

It means any American companies engaging in business with him must cease operations by November 12, extended from the original October 23 deadline reports Crime Russia. (read more)

CTH predicted this would happen when we wrote:

“All of a sudden Deripaska the asset becomes a risk to the corrupt Scheme Team (DOJ/FBI et al); especially as the DOJ/FBI then execute the “insurance policy” effort against Donald Trump…. and eventually enlist Robert Mueller.”

“It is entirely possible for a Russian to be blackmailing someone, but it ain’t Trump vulnerable to blackmail; it’s the conspiracy crew within the DOJ and FBI. Deripaska now has blackmail material on Comey, McCabe and crew.”

Oleg Deripaska is a typical Russian gremlin, and if you research him you can tell he loves mocking the corrupt elements within U.S. politics.  I’m almost positive it was Oleg who put the Trump “pee tapes and hookers” into the Steele Dossier just to see if the knuckleheads in the DOJ/FBI would actually use it.

Considering Christopher Steele was a contracted employee of the billionaire it just looks like something Oleg would do.   Deripaska and many Russian political types just work that way.  To them, manipulating U.S. officials is funny….. ‘stoopid Amerikans‘ etc.

Here’s the Oleg Story from August, 2018:

Catherine Herridge report available here.  The name Oleg Deripaska has resurfaced, this time with some more attention. Oleg Deripaska, is a Russian billionaire and is likely much more of a central figure than previously discussed.

Byron York previously outlined new documents showing the communication between Trump Dossier author Christopher Steele and DOJ official Bruce Ohr.

Within the early 2016 discussions, Chris Steele appeared to be advocating to Bruce Ohr on behalf of Oleg Deripaska who was banned from travel into the U.S. by the State Department.

(Byron York) Emails in 2016 between former British spy Christopher Steele and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr suggest Steele was deeply concerned about the legal status of a Putin-linked Russian oligarch, and at times seemed to be advocating on the oligarch’s behalf, in the same time period Steele worked on collecting the Russia-related allegations against Donald Trump that came to be known as the Trump dossier. The emails show Steele and Ohr were in frequent contact, that they intermingled talk about Steele’s research and the oligarch’s affairs, and that Glenn Simpson, head of the dirt-digging group Fusion GPS that hired Steele to compile the dossier, was also part of the ongoing conversation. (more)

I strongly urge you to read the York article because I’m going to expand on the Deripaska angle from the context of the reader understanding the relationship.

From the emails it appears Steele and Ohr were discussing Deripaska during a period of February to May (ish) of 2016. This is important context moving forward because this was the period during the presidential primary candidacy of Donald Trump as the GOP nominee was solidified; Trump won. This is also the period when we know that “contractors” with the FBI were doing unauthorized searches of the NSA and FBI database for opposition research…. this connects to Fusion GPS.

In essence, Christopher Steele was interested in getting Oleg Deripaska a new VISA to enter the U.S. Steele was very persistent on this endeavor and was soliciting Bruce Ohr for any assistance. This also sets up a quid-pro-quo probability where the DOJ/FBI agrees to remove travel restrictions on Deripaska in exchange for cooperation on ‘other matters’.

Now we skip ahead a little bit to where Deripaska gained an entry visa, and one of Oleg Deripaska’s lawyers and lobbyists Adam Waldman was representing his interests in the U.S. to politicians and officials. In May of 2018, John Solomon was contacted by Adam Waldman with a story about how the FBI contacted Deripaska for help in their Trump Russia investigation in September of 2016.

Keep in mind, this is Waldman contacting Solomon with a story.

Waldman told Solomon a story about how his client Oleg Deripaska was approached by the FBI in September of 2016 and asked for help with information about Paul Manafort and by extension Donald Trump. Within the backstory for the FBI and Deripaska was a prior connection between Robert Mueller and Deripaska in 2009.

Again, as you read the recap, remember this is Waldman contacting Solomon. Article Link Here – and my summary below:

♦In 2009 the FBI, then headed by Robert Mueller, requested the assistance of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska in an operation to retrieve former FBI officer and CIA resource Robert Levinson who was captured in Iran two years earlier. The agent assigned to engage Deripaska was Andrew McCabe; the primary FBI need was financing and operational support. Deripaska spent around $25 million and would have succeeded except the U.S. State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton, backed out.

♦In September of 2016 Andrew McCabe is now Deputy Director of the FBI, when two FBI agents approached Deripaska in New York – again asking for his help. This time the FBI request was for Deripaska to outline Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort as a tool of the Kremlin. Deripaska once hired Manafort as a political adviser and invested money with him in a business venture that went bad. Deripaska sued Manafort, alleging he stole money. However, according to the article, despite Deripaska’s disposition toward Manafort he viewed the request as absurd. He laughed the FBI away, telling them: “You are trying to create something out of nothing.”

This story, as told from the perspective of Adam Waldman -Deripaska’s lawyer/lobbyist- is important because it highlights a connection between Robert Mueller and Oleg Deripaska; a connection Mueller and the DOJ/FBI never revealed on their own.

I wrote about the ramifications of the Solomon Story HERE. Again, hopefully most will review; because there’s a larger story now visible with the new communication between Christopher Steele and Bruce Ohr.

It is likely that Oleg’s 2016 entry into the U.S. was facilitated as part of a quid-pro-quo; either agreed in advance, or, more likely, planned by the DOJ/FBI for later use in their 2016 Trump operation; as evidenced in the September 2016 FBI request. Regardless of the planning aspect, billionaire Deripaska is connected to Chris Steele, a source for Chris Steele, and likely even the employer of Chris Steele.

The FBI used Oleg Deripaska (source), and Oleg Deripaska used the FBI (visa).

Here’s where it gets interesting….

In that May article John Solomon reports that Deripaska wanted to testify to congress last year (2017), without any immunity request, but was rebuked. Who blocked his testimony?

In 2017 Oleg Deripaska was represented in the U.S. by Adam Waldman. Mr. Waldman was also representing Christopher Steele, the author of the Dossier. Waldman was the liaison Senator Mark Warner (Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chairman) was using to try and set up a secret meeting with Christopher Steele. {Text Messages}

As you can see from the text messages (more here), the House Intelligence Committee wanted to interview Deripaska. However, based on their ongoing contact and relationship Deripaska’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, asks Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chair Mark Warner for feedback.

Oleg Deripaska was blocked from testifying to congress. Now, it was obviously not from the HPSCI (Nunes Committee), but rather by the Senate Intel Committee, via Vice-Chair Senator Mark Warner. Oh yes, THAT Senator Mark Warner again.

Now, think about this…. Yes, with Oleg Deripaska in the picture there was indeed Russian meddling in the 2016 election; only, it wasn’t the type of meddling currently being sold. The FBI/DOJ were using Russian Deripaska to frame their Russian conspiracy narrative. It is almost a certainty that Deripaska was one of Chris Steeles sources for the dossier.

Now, put yourself in Deripaska’s shoes and think about what happens AFTER candidate Donald Trump surprisingly wins the election.

All of a sudden Deripaska the asset becomes a risk to the corrupt Scheme Team (DOJ/FBI et al); especially as the DOJ/FBI then execute the “insurance policy” effort against Donald Trump…. and eventually enlist Robert Mueller.

It is entirely possible for a Russian to be blackmailing someone, but it ain’t Trump vulnerable to blackmail; it’s the conspiracy crew within the DOJ and FBI. Deripaska now has blackmail material on Comey, McCabe and crew.

After the 2017 (first year) failure of the “insurance policy” it now seems more likely President Trump will outlive the soft coup. In May 2018, Oleg tells Waldman to call John Solomon and tell him the story from a perspective favorable to Deripaska.

As the story is told, in 2017 Oleg was more than willing to testify to congress… likely laughing the entire time… but the corrupt participants within congress damned sure couldn’t let Deripaska testify. Enter corrupt SSCI Vice-Chairman Mark Warner:

Um, we’ve got a problem here Mark…

The Russians (Deripaska) really do have leverage and blackmail… but it ain’t over Trump. Oleg has blackmail on Comey, McCabe and conspiracy crew. Oleg Deripaska must be kept away from congress and away from exposing the scheme.

Control is needed.

You can almost hear the corrupt U.S. intelligence officials calling their U.K. GCHQ partners in Britain/Australia and trying to coordinate an escape plan.

View image on Twitter

WikiLeaks

✔ @wikileaks

BREAKING: US Senate Intelligence Committee calls editor @JulianAssange to testify. Letter delivered via US embassy in London. WikiLeaks’ legal team say they are “considering the offer but the conditions must conform to a high ethical standard”. Also: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/19/uk-should-reject-extraditing-julian-assange-us …

10:29 AM – Aug 8, 2018

Well, well, well…. Lookie here? Who dat? Apparently the SSCI wants to interview WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, in a closed session. Signed by none-other than our corrupt-o-crats Richard Burr and Mark Warner. Yeah, funny that.

Lest anyone need a reminder…. “The most corrupt part of congress is the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). The SSCI is the center of the deepest part of the Deep State swamp. The SSCI never, ever, E.V.E.R… does anything that does not protect and advance the self-interest of the corrupt Washington DC professional political class.”

Now do we see why the SSCI is the center of protecting the entire fraudulent apparatus?

It’s somewhat humorous to look at this fiasco from the perspective of Oleg Deripaska. He must be having a lot of laughs with his Ruskie friends about these stupid Americans and how the intelligence apparatus of the United States of America is controlled by corrupt politicians trying to save themselves and the corrupt institutions.

The Russians, notorious for sowing discord, are being used as a shield from sunlight upon actions taken by U.S. own intelligence officers: James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Loretta Lynch, Sally Yates, John Brennan, James Clapper etc.

There’s a reason why I keep emphasizing the source of the John Solomon story was Adam Waldman. Think about it from the perspective of the conspiracy group reading how Oleg instructed Waldman to present his story.

With Deripaska telling Solomon how the FBI contacted him; the background of their prior collaborative relationship; and the likelihood of Deripaska giving information to Chris Steele for the dossier; the scheme team really, really, needed to double down on the Russian conspiracy narrative in case Oleg ever did testify to congress.

By doubling down on the Russian Collusion narrative the conspirators created a ‘catch-22’ defense. They could/can claim Deripaska was/is giving disinformation in his version of events to support the interests of Russia and sewing chaos in America etc. And any Republican who would give Deripaska a platform to tell what happened in 2016 would be doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin. See how that works?

The soft coup team protects themselves by impugning the motive of Deripaska, and diminishing his credibility under the auspices of Russian disinformation.

[Oleg being Oleg] Everyone was wondering how the salacious and ridiculous Russian “hookers” and “pee tapes” story went into the Steele Dossier.  Well, in recent discoveries, including text message and emails between DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr and Christopher Steele, it was uncovered that Christopher Steele was representing Oleg Deripaska; and was also likely employed (at least in part) by Oleg Deripaska.

It now stands as a virtual certainty that Deripaska was the source of those ridiculous claims that Steele put into the dossier.

Further, and in full appreciation for Ziiggii’s discovery, here is a picture of Anastasia Vashukevich (the Russian escort currently imprisoned in Thailand) and Russian Billionaire Oleg Deripaska on his boat in October 2017:

Pay close attention to the caption (translated):

Training: Hunting for the Oligarch.
Mistress Olegarkha Nastya Rybka🐠 together with the heroine of sex on the quay Sasha Travkoy☘️ will conduct an exclusive outreach training for girls👗 from 18 to 23 years old. 📌The training they will teach:
How and where to meet people from Forbes🏆, techniques of dating and attracting attention. 🥊Effective patterns of behavior.
🎭How and about what to communicate with the billionaire, to support the conversation, so that it would be fun and interesting;
How can you satisfy a man who is tempted by a woman’s attention in bed and probably uncover his sexual potential, find his fetishes and hidden sexual desires; 🌪How to tear down the roof of the oligarch, make his life fascinating😈; how to stand out in a highly competitive environment, to be remembered and become unique for him;
💣Strategies of the impact on a married object; How to merge your wife / mistress / official favorite;
💏How to fall in love with yourself with chips and methods of falling in love.
🔛How to be bold, ready for any moves, dare change his life and his status in it! 🎯Best pupils will receive a bonus 🍒 on the results of the training: the opportunity to meet Oleg 🦌Deripaska, Mikhail 🐿Prokhorov and Roman 🦃Abramovich on January 2 at a closed event and try to seduce them.
The training will take place from November 18 to 26 in Thailand. After the training, homework will be given, carried out under the supervision of trainers, to prepare for the meeting with billionaires. ⚠️There is a Schengen visa for the meeting. 💵The cost of training is 20 thousand rubles when paid before November 1.
After November 1, the training price is 30 thousand rubles.
The price does not include accommodation and meals, only training. ✅Recording to 📩direct, ⚠️⚠️payment ⚠️⚠️ is possible only after the interview.
# Deripaska # olegtinkov # prokhorov # abramovich

What becomes clear from all of this is that Anastasia Vashukevich was positioned as a Red Sparrow; a recruiting agent for prostitutes and escort workers – under the employ of Oleg Deripaska, likely using the sex trade as Russian trade-craft.

Anastasia Vashukevich was busted in Thailand for her recruiting efforts, as outlined in the media report.  Ms. Vashukevich tried to extricate herself from the trouble by signaling/leveraging her knowledge of the communication between Deripaska and Christopher Steele to the media.

It is entirely possible Ms. Vashukevich even had the recording of Deripaska telling Steele the ridiculous Trump-Russian-Hookers story; and was trying to use that tape as an exit from the Bangkok prison….. Which, given the current situation and collapsing narrative, Deripaska would not want to have public.

This further proves the extent to which the corrupt FBI/DOJ were willing to use  Deripaska through the intermediary of Chris Steele.  Remember, the DOJ allowed Deripaska to enter the U.S. by dropping the VISA block on his travel.  In return for removing his travel restriction, the FBI asked Deripaska for help in framing Donald Trump and providing information about Paul Manafort in September of 2016.

This is one of those side-stories that comes from the ridiculous Russian conspiracy nonsense.  The DOJ and FBI have this crap all over themselves; it doesn’t bother President Trump one bit…. Actually, it’s kinda funny.

References:

♦John Solomon approached by Adam Waldman (Oleg’s lobbyist/lawyer) HERE

♦Oleg’s Story and connection to the DOJ/FBI Scheme outlined HERE.

♦Bruce Ohr and Chris Steele connecting to Oleg Deripaska HERE

♦Adam Waldman (Oleg’s lawyer) now refusing to cooperate with investigators HERE.

Unless something consequential happens as a result of congressional oversight,… if there’s one official who will be in place through the mid-term elections it’s DAG Rod Rosenstein.  Through the declassification agreement between President Trump and Rosenstein, POTUS carries tremendous leverage and he’s in no hurry to fire him.

As The Worm Squirms

(Source Article Here) 

President Trump and President Trump’s supporters have two slightly different sets of priorities when it comes to the DOJ and FBI. From President Trump’s perspective the thorn in his administration has been Special Counsel Robert Mueller.  The agreement between Rosenstein and Trump negates any concern about Mueller.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein created the special counsel under fraudulent pretense.  That origination material (Ohr 302’s, FISA pages, origination EC, and Page/Strzok messages) is now a risk to the Deputy AG.

DAG Rosenstein does not want his involvement in the fraud to be exposed; hence his request to block/stall/delay the declassification directive. However, at any time President Trump can declassify all the documents and outline the fraudulent basis that originated the special counsel. This is essentially President Trump’s leverage.

The Robert Mueller investigation is the priority for removal for President Trump in order to continue the MAGA agenda.  For well over a year Mueller has been the cloud over the administration and has been the primary focus of most media antagonism therein.

For the Office of the President, the Mueller probe is the immediate thorn.  Ergo leverage over the DAG toward the removal of that thorn is a priority.  Exposing the previous and current DOJ and FBI corruption is of less importance to President Trump.

However, from the perspective of President Trump supporters, especially those who have done deep research into the former and ongoing abuse, the aggregate DOJ and FBI corruption is the priority; and exposing the soft-coup is the ultimate goal.

See the difference?

The ongoing efforts of the FBI and DOJ to hide their malfeasance, does not interrupt or impede Trump’s MAGA agenda; the special counsel does.  Having leverage over the special counsel is more valuable than exposing the soft-coup plotters.

If the corrupt current and previous FBI and DOJ officials are laid naked to their enemies, great; but from President Trump’s unique perspective it’s not actually a priority.

Exposing the FBI/DOJ dirty deeds is a major priority for a contingent within congress and a multitude of Trump supporters – but for the office of the President, in the immediate future, not-so-much.  Our Cold Anger is a beneficial weapon in the 2018 mid-terms. ‘We The People’ are the people we’ve been waiting for to restore the nation.

Frustrating to us, President Trump’s declassification agreement with Rosenstein, which created the leverage over Mueller, has the downstream consequence of allowing currently corrupt DOJ and FBI officials to continue trying to cover-up the prior schemes.  However, again, that doesn’t impact President Trump or the MAGA agenda – that is an institutional issue and the President is okay with a slow-drip reveal through congressional review.

If President Trump needs to fire people down the road, likely after the mid-terms, he will; until then – we wait and watch the slow reveals.  Meanwhile, the current corrupt officials within the FBI and DOJ will do everything they can to delay the sunlight on their endeavors.  Currently the institutional leadership is hoping for a change in party in control of the House to aid their avoidance.

Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and James Baker were part of the corrupt DOJ/FBI inside network conspiring to take-down the President. Hence the: “what do you want me to do Andy, wear a wire?” conversation from Rosenstein.

Because Rosenstein either: (a) participated; or (b) was a useful idiot, he put himself into a massive position of compromise. His stewardship over the DAG position (which is more powerful due to AG recusal), has failed massively.

And now there’s the stuff behind the declassification directive (temporarily on hold) which makes DAG Rosenstein look even worse.

Either: (a) Rosenstein is more corrupt; or (b) Rosenstein is more stupid.

So prior reports all had Rod Rosenstein wanting to get out before it got worse. According to the New York Times (Team McCabe) the Deputy AG tried to politely resign five times recently. Once to Don McGahn, twice to John Kelly, and twice to President Trump.

However, the response from the White House echoed president Trump’s priority perspective.  The White House effectively saying…. ‘not so fast knucklehead, you willfully made this mess – now clean it the hell up’!!

Forget the media spin on Rod Rosenstein. This is his actual position. President Trump has him cornered.  Eighteen months worth of headaches as a result of his: (a) intentional efforts; or (b) ineptitude; because for all things that mattered AG Sessions was recused, and the DAG was in charge.

When you have this much leverage on someone, you don’t want them to quit. You want to use their damaged and tenuous position to your advantage. President Trump is in no hurry to fire Rosenstein (not yet); because the DAG is so weak and President Trump holds all the leverage in the relationship.

Rod Rosenstein knows what he did wrong; and President Trump knows what Rosenstein did wrong.  Though it could change based on new discoveries of how far the DAG went along within the soft-coup process, President Trump isn’t likely to let Rosenstein go until everyone else knows what Rosenstein did wrong.

I can imagine the conversation:

“Okay Rod, *YOU* want to quit right? Well, then *YOU* get rid of the Special Counsel *YOU* started, and then *YOU* can quit. Until then, you can feel the stress and endure your reputation being shredded – death by a thousand congressional paper cuts….

….As long as I’ve got to deal with this nonsense, you ain’t going anywhere. You can deal with it right along with me….  And if congress wants to haul your butt up to Capitol Hill and have you explain why you said you’d “wear a wire”etc., then you need to go explain and deal with it…

Oh, and how’s that IG report on FISA abuses coming along?”

Deputy AG Rosenstein is scheduled to testify to congress on October 11th.

Critical – Critical – Critical

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ongoing FISA abuse investigation; the use of Michael Sussmann to act as a go-between for the DNC and FBI; the status of Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, and his upcoming (10/11) testimony; current visible activity within the DOJ that points to their ongoing corruption; and how all of that relates to the Robert Mueller investigation.

This is a very important interview segment because it dovetails with the much larger issue CTH outlined about: “How Deep Is This Swamp“?  Believe me, you’re going to want to watch this several times to absorb the bigger-big picture that Nunes is careful to explain.

.

Working backwards from the interview content is perhaps the best way to discuss.  Nunes cannot say it out loud, but when he outlines what the Mueller investigation *is not* doing, he is highlighting the purpose of Special Counsel placement.

Robert Mueller (the entire team) was put into place, carefully selected by James Baker and Andrew McCabe, specifically to cover for the DOJ and FBI activity that preceded the firing of James Comey.   Mueller’s role has two essential aspects:

♦(1) Create an investigation – Just by creating the investigation it is then used as a shield by any corrupt FBI/DOJ official who would find himself/herself under downstream congressional investigation.  Former officials being deposed/questioned by IG Horowitz or Congress could then say they are unable to answer those questions due to the ongoing special counsel investigation.  In this way Mueller provides cover.

♦(2)  Use the investigation to keep any and all inquiry focused away from the corrupt DOJ and FBI activity that took place in 2016, 2016, 2017.  Keep the media narrative looking somewhere, anywhere, other than directly at the epicenter of the issues.

In both of these objectives the Mueller special counsel has been stunningly effective.

That leads to the second aspect of Nunes discussion, the role of Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein.  All of the visible activity being conducted by Rosenstein has been an intentional effort to keep as much of the evidence hidden from public review.  When Nunes points out that Rosenstein’s motives are to keep the documentary evidence classified he is speaking directly to this aspect.

But the current corrupt DOJ activity is not isolated to FISA abuse and documents the usurping officials want to keep hidden.  The corrupt activity also flows outward and can be found in the DOJ behavior surrounding James Wolfe; the busted Senate Intelligence Security Official who was caught leaking the classified FISA application to the media.

The reason Wolfe was not indicted for the more serious charges of leaking classified intelligence is because the *CURRENT* DOJ needs to hide what was taking place.  Wolfe is simply a benefactor of current DOJ officials who need to hide their fingerprints and activity in 2016 and 2017.

Those currently corrupt DOJ and FBI officials are not protecting Wolfe as much as they are protecting themselves.  This includes Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy FBI Director David Bowditch and current FBI general counsel Dana Boente; as well as all the second level and third level carry-over career officials.  The failure to accept this currently corrupt DOJ and FBI is where most of the “Stealth Jeff” and “Q” believers are entirely wrong.

The efforts of Rosenstein, Wray, Bowditch, Boente et al, to cover-up the institutional corruption extends far beyond their blocking activity of the declassification requests; and shows up in the lack of substance behind the Wolfe indictment and the ability of the external Lawfare group, former officials, to influence current activity.

Part of that current influence is keeping the most severe elements of investigative sunlight away from review.  These officials have done this in many visible ways.  Three of them are inarguable:

(1) By redacting innocuous, albeit highly damaging information, within the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages and emails.  Officials within the agencies are hiding information and even eliminating the most damaging material.

(2) By controlling what records IG Horowitz has access to; in addition to who he is interviewing. The IG is only as effective as the material he has to review.

(3) By shaping the executive summaries of the two previous IG reports to ensure the specific material within the report is diluted as much as possible in the summary and conclusions.

The collaborative efforts of the current group of corrupt officials is also evident in the hit job against Judge Brett Kavanaugh.  Those corrupt former DOJ/FBI officials (Bromwich, McLean, Laufman, etc.), who are part of the Blasey-Ford construct, were clearly working with a set of current officials. [This collaborative interest extends to people within government (the legislative branch) and those outside government (media allies).]

The appearance of former DOJ lawyer Michael Sussmann working with Perkins Coie and on behalf of the DNC, to feed information to former FBI legal counsel James Baker, only highlights this systemic collaboration and corruption within the DOJ and FBI.   That corruption has not been addressed; it is currently being protected from sunlight.

AG Jeff Sessions is recused; he is useless.  As a specific outcome, Rod Rosenstein, Christopher Wray, David Bowditch, Dana Boente, Robert Mueller and the affiliated network of political operatives within the DOJ and FBI held free reign to shape everything in the past two years.

This is the current state of the challenge; refusing to accept it doesn’t make anything improve.

On March 28th, 2018, the DOJ Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz formerly announced an additional investigation of how the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation engaged with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in matters relating to the FISA Title-1 application filed against U.S. person Carter Page.  However, one part of the OIG notification was generously overlooked by a defensive and IC compliant media:

As part of this examination, the OIG also will review information that was known to the DOJ and the FBI at the time the applications were filed from or about an alleged FBI confidential source. Additionally, the OIG will review the DOJ’s and FBI’s relationship and communications with the alleged source as they relate to the FISC applications.  (pdf link)

Two months later on Monday May 21st, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein added a significant DOJ mandate to the Inspector General review.  Rosenstein expanded the original FISA review to include looking at whether officials within the intelligence community may have unlawfully used human intelligence assets to “spy” or “surveil” the Trump campaign:

“The Department has asked the Inspector General to expand the ongoing review of the FISA application process to include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election.” (link)

The IG process for the FISA report is structural.  Once the interviews and investigation is complete the “IG referencer” phase takes several weeks.  The referencer could be a person or a group of people depending on the size of the report.

The referencer has the responsibility for going through every statement of fact and providing the citation or footnote for the assertion. The person(s) doing the reference review has/have the most arduous of tasks.

The referencer checks every sentence, every assertion, and ensures only provable facts with citations are part of the report. Every assertion of fact must be cited (or footnoted) to include the investigative material that proves the fact.  After the footnotes, citations and all fact assemblies are reconciled a draft report is written. The Draft Report encompasses the findings.

The Draft Report is then sent to the principals to review.  The Draft Report review allows the principals to provide input on the facts identified and outlined within the draft.  This part of the process takes at least two weeks.  Responses from the principals about the facts outlined in the draft report are then reviewed, cleared for addition if appropriate, and included in the final report.  Then the final report goes to print.

The election is 30 days away from today.  There is almost no way the IG report on FISA abuse and “spygate” will be completed prior to the mid-term election.

John Solomon writing for The Hill, presents an important article highlighting the current corruption within the DOJ and FBI that began under the Obama administration (Lynch/Comey) and continues today within the Trump administration (Sessions/Wray).

After breaking the story that in 2016 DNC lawyer Michael Sussmann was providing information to former FBI General Counsel James Baker for exploitative use against the Trump campaign, Solomon goes back to the HPSCI report on Russian Active Measures in the 2016 election [pdf here] and connects the Sussmann/Baker dots to an FBI redaction in the HPSCI report.

What Solomon shows is how the redaction, made by current DOJ/FBI officials under the ruse of national security, was nothing more than a current year effort to protect the activity and interests of the former politically motivated DOJ and FBI officials.

(Via The Hill) […] It was the same DNC, along with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, that funded the unverified, salacious dossier by a British intel operative, Christopher Steele, that became a central piece of evidence used to justify the FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign in the final days of the election.

And it was the same law firm that made the payments for the dossier research so those could be disguised in campaign spending reports to avoid the disclosure of the actual beneficiaries of the research, which were Clinton and the DNC.

And it was, in turns out, the same meeting that was so heavily censored by the intel agencies from Footnote 43 in the House report — treated, in other words, as some big national security secret.

What makes this so extraordinary is that the FBI and the DOJ would have Americans believe that a contact with a lawyer for a political party during the middle of the election is somehow a matter of national security that should be hidden from the public.

Well, that argument was proven to be a lie by the very way the interview with Baker played out last Wednesday on Capitol Hill. Baker was not interviewed in a “SCIF” — a “sensitive compartmented information facility” routinely used to discuss super-secret, highly sensitive information. There was no claim of classification over any information he provided Congress that day.  (read more)

The big picture behind this specific point of irrefutable evidence is that current DOJ and FBI officials are redacting information to protect former DOJ and FBI officials.  This is the essential point CTH has been pointing out in recent days, weeks and months.

Current officials within the DOJ (Sessions/Rosenstein), and current FBI (Wray/Bowditch/Boente), are protecting Obama administration officials and manipulating, redacting, hiding and controlling evidence to block full public review of prior events.

Solomon goes on to connect the redactions within the Page/Strzok messages to the issue of redacting the name and contact of Michael Sussmann within the HPSCI report.  None of it has anything to do with national security; all of it is directly related to hiding the corrupt behavior that took place in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

These examples highlight the ongoing problem and specifically cast sunlight upon Trump administration officials who are continuing the institutional corruption.

There is no reason for current FBI Director Christopher Wray to continue these efforts to hide information except for his intentional decisions to participate in covering up the historic abuse.  The only other option is that he is completely clueless about the activity of the officials under his authority and is blind to their ongoing efforts under his nose.  Neither of those two possibilities is good.

As Solomon ends his discovery article:

The Founding Fathers intended government to be open and transparent except when national security was at risk. They never intended national security to be used to hide old-fashioned politics.

So, Mr. President, when you weigh those DOJ/FBI arguments against declassification, please don’t forget the ruse of the redaction that was Footnote 43.  (link)

So how did we get here?

Start with how Rod Rosenstein was hired:

03:15 “[Rosenstein] was hired by Jeff Sessions. I was not involved in that process because, you know, they go out and they get their own deputies, and the people that work in that department and Jeff Sessions hired him.”

~ President Donald Trump

I post this recent interview with President Trump because so many people keep claiming some complex strategy surrounding President Trump hiring/nominating Rosenstein etc.

President Trump brought the CEO perspective to the White House. Part of that perspective is to let Department Executive Officers (ie. cabinet members) select their own deputies. Attorney General Jeff Sessions wanted Rod Rosenstein as Deputy AG. That’s why President Trump nominated Rosenstein. Nothing more. Not strategic Machiavellian deep state chess nonsense. Sessions wanted him, so Trump nominated him.

This is not difficult to ascertain. It is not complex. It is quite simple.

So the question becomes why did President Trump select Jeff Sessions as Attorney General?

Again, not a difficult question to answer. President Trump has repeatedly said why he selected Jeff Sessions. (His biggest mistake).

(SOURCE)

Senator Jeff Sessions told President-elect Trump he wanted to be the Attorney General. Senator Sessions lobbied P-E Trump for the job. Trump gave Sessions the position out of appreciation for his campaign support.

There wasn’t a political strategy behind selecting Senator Jeff Sessions, other than thinking he would likely do a good job. President-elect Trump did not know Sessions was going to recuse himself from the biggest drain on his term in office, and create two-years of DOJ chaos.

Senator Jeff Sessions wanted to be the U.S. Attorney General, President-elect Trump gave the position to him. AG Jeff Sessions wanted Rod Rosenstein as his Deputy AG; President Trump gave Rosenstein to him.

These are not complex multidimensional strategic decisions. These are straightforward reasons for what transpired. Not complex. That’s why we are here, where it all stands today.

DAG Rosenstein then hired former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel. In part due to the recommendation of FBI Legal Counsel Jim Baker and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

All current DOJ and FBI officials need to be removed and replaced because evidence clearly shows they are participating in the cover-up; either directly, or through acts of willful blindness.

FUBAR.