The Christopher Steele dossier was called “Crown Material” by FBI agents within the small group during their 2016 political surveillance operation. The “Crown” description reflects the unofficial British intelligence aspect to the dossier as provided by Steele.

Recently, former House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy stated there are emails from former FBI Director James Comey that outline instructions from CIA Director John Brennan to include the “Crown Material” within the highly political Intelligence Community Assessment.

Specifically -as outlined by Gowdy- the wording of the Comey email is reported to say:

…”Brennan is insisting the Crown Material be included in the intel assessment.”

However, on May 23rd, 2017, in testimony -under oath- to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) John Brennan stated [@01:54:28]:

GOWDY: Director Brennan, do you know who commissioned the Steele dossier?

BRENNAN: I don’t.

GOWDY: Do you know if the bureau [FBI] ever relied on the Steele dossier as part of any court filing, applications?

BRENNAN: I have no awareness.

GOWDY: Did the CIA rely on it?

BRENNAN: No.

GOWDY: Why not?

BRENNAN: Because we didn’t. It wasn’t part of the corpus of intelligence information that we had. It was not in any way used as a basis for the Intelligence Community Assessment that was done. Uh … it was not.

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Video of the exchange [prompted 01:54:28 just hit play]

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As Victor Davis Hanson writes:

[…] James Clapper, John Brennan, and James Comey are now all accusing one another of being culpable for inserting the unverified dossier, the font of the effort to destroy Trump, into a presidential intelligence assessment—as if suddenly and mysteriously the prior seeding of the Steele dossier is now seen as a bad thing. And how did the dossier transmogrify from being passed around the Obama Administration as a supposedly top-secret and devastating condemnation of candidate and then president-elect Trump to a rank embarrassment of ridiculous stories and fibs?

Given the narratives of the last three years, and the protestations that the dossier was accurate or at least was not proven to be unproven, why are these former officials arguing at all? Did not implanting the dossier into the presidential briefing give it the necessary imprimatur that allowed the serial leaks to the press at least to be passed on to the public and thereby apprise the people of the existential danger that they faced?  (read more)

Fox News Maria Bartiromo has more knowledge of the details within the 2016 political surveillance scandal than any other MSM host.  Bartiromo has followed the events very closely and now she is the go-to person for those who are trying to bring the truth behind the scandal to light.

This morning on her Fox Business Network show Ms. Bartiromo outlined the current issues between Comey and Brennan.  WATCH:

It certainly looks like former CIA Director John Brennan has exposed himself to perjury.  However, beyond that and even more disturbing, what does this say about the political intents of a weaponized intelligence apparatus?

(Read ICA via pdf)

Most media have avoided highlighting how Jerry Nadler has not demanded testimony from presumed author of the special counsel report, Robert Mueller.  It is likely the Judiciary Committee’s lack of interest surrounds the fact they know Mueller was a figurehead with no substantive control over the small group led by Andrew Weissmann.  The special counsel probe, with sunlight upon Mueller, would be a risk to Nadler.

AG Bill Barr has no issue with Mueller testifying; likely because he too knows Mueller appearing for testimony without his “small group” handlers could lead to a full collapse of the special counsel/media narrative. Meanwhile, the White House delivers a response to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler following his subpoena for former White House Counsel Don McGahn:

WHITE HOUSE – At the President’s direction, the White House has been completely transparent with the Special Counsel’s investigation. The Special Counsel received more than 1.4 million documents and hours and hours of interviews from White House officials, including more than 30 hours from former Counsel to the President, Don McGahn. The Democrats do not like the conclusion of the Mueller investigation – no collusion, no conspiracy, and no obstruction – and want a wasteful and unnecessary do-over.

The House Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena to try and force Mr. McGahn to testify again. The Department of Justice has provided a legal opinion stating that, based on long-standing, bipartisan, and Constitutional precedent, the former Counsel to the President cannot be forced to give such testimony, and Mr. McGahn has been directed to act accordingly. This action has been taken in order to ensure that future Presidents can effectively execute the responsibilities of the Office of the Presidency. (link)

Formal notification letter (source pdf available here):

(source pdf)

Legal guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, below:

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Mark Meadows is John Solomon’s primary source.  During this interview Mark Meadows discusses transcripts and recordings of George Papadopoulos which were part of the ‘SpyGate’ operation.  The transcripts were first revealed by former congressman Trey Gowdy yesterday.

On June 14th, 2018, the DOJ Inspector General delivered a 568 page report on the DOJ and FBI handling of the Clinton investigation.

Those who reviewed the full report noted the executive summary was entirely disconnected from the body of material. Additionally, beyond the content disconnection, there was transparent coordination from the institutions of the DOJ and FBI which highlighted an unnerving sense of ongoing corrupt intent.

The IG report on FBI Clinton bias was released to the public Thursday June 14th, at approximately 1:00pm EDT.  Within 13 minutes Trey Gowdy released a public statementon the content.  Within 90 minutes the report was downloaded and shared by most media and investigation followers.  Within two hours the FBI announced a national press conference by FBI Director Chris Wray for 5:30pm EDT.  Four short hours after release.

When FBI Director Chris Wray approached the podium to announce the Inspector General had found “no evidence of political basis influencing the investigation”, but he was going to have everyone in the FBI undergo “bias training”, no-one at the press conference had read the full report.  No-one had time.

The 5:30pm presser looked like a strategic political move to capture the oxygen for the 6:00pm EDT nightly news lead and defend the institutions.

As the hours progressed, and more of the actual content of the report was able to be reviewed, it became obvious the ‘executive summary’ was written specifically to dilute the most damaging information.  Additionally, the full IG report was/is a challenging read.

In hindsight, and with full acceptance of a highly political special counsel investigation happening in the background of the FBI and DOJ, it became more obvious corrupt and sketchy officials within both institutions had a vested interest in the report content. The same “small group” is at the epicenter of both reports.

In short, the 2018 IG report of DOJ/FBI conduct during the Clinton investigation was heavy on narrative engineering; contained the fingerprints of institutional participants focused on justification (ie. ‘small group’); and was devoid of accountability for the bigger issues outlined within it.

The question becomes: will the 2019 IG report on DOJ/FBI handling of the FISA application process suffer the same outcome?

For the upcoming report the diminutive influence of Jeff Sessions is gone; the institutional protective influence of Rod Rosenstein is gone; and the corrupt intents of Andrew Weissmann and Robert Mueller are gone.  Unfortunately, on the FBI side, Chris Wray, David Bowditch and Dana Boente remain; along with the 40 “rank and file” FBI investigators who participated in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 operations.

Will Attorney General Bill Barr be more willing to allow the IG report to shine a light on DOJ/FBI issues and politically manufactured FISA submissions?

If the intent is to build public confidence in both institutions a third IG report without accountability is not likely to advance the goal.  And, as we see with the Papadopoulos entrapment operation and the recent redactions to the Kavalec report, the corrupt ‘rank and file’ are very clearly still present.

In September 2016 the FBI used a longtime informant, Stefan Halper, to make contact with George Papadopoulos, pay him $3k and fly him to London for consulting work and a policy paper on Mediterranean energy issues.

As part of the spy operation the FBI sent a female intelligence operative (a spy) under the alias Azra Turk to pose as Halper’s assistant and engage Papdopoulos.  A month later the FBI used Papadopoulos as a supplemental basis for a FISA warrant against Carter Page.

Former Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Trey Gowdy, tells Maria Bartiromo that he has seen transcripts of the Halper/Turk operation, and those transcripts exonerate Papadopoulos.  WATCH:

[Transcript Video 01:10] Bartiromo: I’m really glad you brought that up; the FBI agents’ discussion with George Papadopoulos. Because when the FBI sends in informants to someone they’re looking at, typically those conversations are recorded right? Those people are wired?

Gowdy: Yeah, I mean if the bureau is going to send an informant in, the informant is going to be wired; and if the bureau is monitoring telephone calls there’s going to be a transcript of that.

And some of us have been fortunate enough to know whether or not those transcripts exist; but they haven’t been made public and I think one in-particular is going – it has the potential to actually persuade people.  Very little in this Russia probe I’m afraid is going to persuade people who hate Trump, or who love Trump, but there is some information in these transcripts that I think has the potential to be a game-changer if it’s ever made public.

Bartiromo: You say that’s exculpatory evidence and when people see that they’re going to say: wait, why wasn’t this presented to the court earlier?

Gowdy: Yeah, you know, Johnny Ratcliffe is rightfully exercised over the obligations that the government has to tell the whole truth to the court when you are seeking permission to spy, or do surveillance, on an American.  And part of that includes the responsibility of providing exculpatory information, or information that tends to show the person did not do something wrong.  If you have exculpatory information, and you don’t share it with the court, that ain’t good.  I’ve seen it, Johnny’s seen it, I’d love for your viewers to see it.

[End Transcript]

(Page FISA Application)

(HPSCI Memo)

(Downer Operation Link)

Maria Bartiromo discusses ongoing investigative events with House Judiciary Ranking Member Doug Collins.  In addition to discussing the direction of the attorney general inquiry, Rep. Collins notes his intent to release more investigative transcripts next week.

As suspected Bartiromo notes the IG Horowitz investigation is continuing as more evidence is uncovered, and has not yet reached the preliminary draft report phase. This would indicate none of the DOJ/FBI officials, ‘principals’ who would be permitted to review the OIG draft, have any indication of the IG evidence.

Sharyl Attkisson discusses Spygate from the position of the Obama intelligence apparatus having a history of political surveillance they needed to cover-up.  A Trump victory in 2016 sent panic throughout the intelligence apparatus.

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CTH agrees, everything after March 9th, 2016, is a function of two intelligence units, the CIA and FBI, operating together to cover-up prior political surveillance operations.

Prior to March 9th, 2016, the surveillance and spy operation was using the NSA database to track and monitor their political opposition.  However, once the NSA compliance officer began initiating an internal review of who was accessing the system, the CIA and FBI moved to create ex post facto justification for their endeavors. [Full Backstory]

Michigan Republican Congressman Justin Amash made headlines Saturday by declaring on Twitter that President Trump deserved impeachment.  The media was quick to promotehis position and advance an anti-Trump narrative.  However, a review of Amash’s financial interests quickly reveals a very personal business motive.  His family tool business is heavily invested in Chinese manufacturing.

In his 2017 financial disclosure forms (pdf here), Representative Amash reports income of between $100,000 to $1,000,000/yr. for his ownership stake in Michigan Industrial Tools.  Michigan Industrial Tools is the parent company, manufacturing in China, that produces Tekton Tools, Justin Amash’s Michigan family business.

According to an earlier Michigan article “Amash is a co-owner of Dynamic Source International, a Chinese company that supplies Michigan Industrial Tools.”  A visit to the website of Dynamic Source International (link) shows the company operates “manufacturing and factory facilities located in Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang Province”, China.

When you follow the internal link [“MIT-Tool“] within Dynamic Source International website, it connects to the portal of  Tekton Tools:

Dynamic Source International Link -and-  Tekton Tools Link

What you quickly discover is it appears Republican Congressman Justin Amash was challenged in 2010 [News Link] for his family business claiming to sell hand tools made in the U.S.A. but were actually manufactured in China.

Dynamic Source International and “Michigan Industrial Tools” (financial disclosure) appear as same corporation doing manufacturing in Hangzhou, China.  The finished product is then shipped/sold in the U.S. by the Amash family (Justin and his brother Jeff) under the name Tekton Tools.

Justin Amash was called out for lying about his product being manufactured in America during a campaign challenge.  For some reason the local media didn’t call Amash to task on the connection to his DC financial disclosures (maybe they didn’t look).

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It is demonstrably a fact (as above) that “Michigan Industrial Tools” operates as a manufacturer in China, and the product they produced is Tekton Tools which is Amash’s family company (as admitted in the interview).

Obviously President Trump’s tariff and trade position against China is adverse to the financial interests of Justin Amash.

In addition to previously lying about his Michigan company selling product “Made In USA” and the nature of his business relationship with China, the family business contains the financial motive for Representative Amash to call for President Trump’s impeachment.

Excellent presentation by Kimberley Strassel discussing the scale and scope of the government weaponization during the 2016 election; and the willful assistance by an ideological U.S. media.

CTH noted yesterday that things in/around the Michael Flynn investigation could get very interesting…. not because of what is visible, but rather because of what is likely to surface.

Today, President Trump draws attention to Michael Flynn being under DOJ/FBI investigation during 2016; AND specifically, that candidate Trump and President-elect Trump was never notified of the potential issues:

The backstory issues within the Flynn case may soon surface; so it’s worth a few minutes to describe where this could be heading. Specifically, how a series of data-points are coming together and building toward a strong probability Flynn was under a FISA surveillance warrant during a key part of the 2016 election campaign.

By now everyone is aware General Michael Flynn was under FBI investigation throughout a significant portion of 2016.  There are strong indications Flynn was under surveillance even as far back as early to mid 2015.

Yesterday when Judge Sullivan instructed the DOJ to turn over recordings and transcripts of the Flynn-Kislyak phone call, there was a part of Sullivan’s order that indicated his suspicion there was more than just a singular record of a December 29th, 2016, intercept.

You will note that Judge Sullivan requested: …“and the transcripts of any other audio recordings of Mr. Flynn, including, but not limited to, contacts with Russian officials.”

As many are aware, there is a trail of evidence that suggests, strongly suggests, Flynn was subject to an FBI FISA Title-1 surveillance warrant as a result of his being a target in the 2016 counterintelligence operation.  Now, if there was ongoing FISA-authorized surveillance, think about the problem Judge Sullivan’s request would present to the DOJ.

In essence, the DOJ is required to deliver evidence of more than just the one Flynn-Kislyak call.  As a result of the way Sullivan framed the judicial request, the DOJ would end up having to produce evidence that would outline a time-line of Flynn’s surveillance.  As a problematic consequence the DOJ would be proving a FISA warrant existed.

Guess what happened today…  the Sullivan order was modified:

Taken in combination, here’s what seems likely.

It is a fact Flynn was a target under the pre-existing 2016 counterintelligence operation conducted by the FBI.  The HPSCI report and the Mueller report clearly identify this issue.  This is not in doubt.  It is demonstrably true.  However, what has not yet surfaced is that Flynn was under a FISA Title-1 surveillance warrant during 2016.

It’s likely that during the key election time-frame, the last five months of 2016 (Aug-Dec), a FISA warrant authorized by Judge Rudolph Contreras was present.  The timing here will be important, because it’s almost guaranteed that when President-elect Donald Trump selected Michael Flynn to be his National Security Advisor he had no idea Flynn was under a counterintelligence investigation.

Additionally, there were three FISA applications denied in 2016.  This is exceptionally rare.  It has always looked like the FBI unit was trying to gain surveillance on a key official, possibly Flynn, while getting pushback from the FISA court. {Go Deep} <-IMPORTANT

The stunning evidence of malicious DOJ and FBI political intent would be evident because no-one in the DOJ or FBI informed President-elect Trump his key national security selection was an issue.   This is one big example of what current Attorney General William Barr seems to be indicating.  There is no valid reason why the incoming President would not be notified of the potential compromise and the inherent issues.  This looks like where the arc of the Flynn story is going.  This is what could surface soon.

Remember, on a professional and somewhat personal level, Michael Flynn and Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice were friends.  This angle of Flynn being under Title-1 surveillance would explain why Rice specifically was doing so much unmasking of intelligence information toward the end of 2016.  This is also likely a key part of what Devin Nunes saw at the White House SCIF in March 2017.

I also suspect FBI Director James Comey has made specific notations about the Flynn FISA in his memos.  You might remember in the David Archey declarations to the court, about the Comey memos, he was specific in his late 2017 reasoning why the Comey Memos must remain sealed and redacted:

To this day the FBI is still fighting to keep the Comey memo content hidden and away from public review.

Judge Sullivan has now extended the DOJ deadline for filing a response to his request until May 31st.  It will be very interesting to see exactly what happens.

With AG William Barr making inquires, and with the FBI’s inability to explain to AG Barr what was going on, the potential for the DOJ and FBI to be in conflict is very real.  We know the disposition to hide information is still inherent within the FBI due to their recent attempts to hide evidence of FBI corruption within the Kavalec State Department memos.

FBI Director Chris Wray, FBI Deputy Director David Bowditch, and more specifically FBI chief legal counsel Dana Boente are in the cross-hairs of these issues.  They, along with the corrupt Washington Field Office FBI investigators, appear to be working against the interests of U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr; and thanks to Judge Sullivan these background schemes and plots are likely to be exposed.

Interesting times….

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