Tag Archives: Susan Rice

Feb 3 2018

Chuck Grassley Memo Comes Next – Question Surrounds FBI Knowledge of Steele Shopping Dossier To Media…


Re-Posted The Conservative Tree House on February 3, 2018 by

Democrats, media, and the aggregate DOJ/FBI intelligence community are finally seeing accountability.  With the HPSCI memo now in the rear-view mirror, and the content in the bloodstream of the U.S. electorate, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley is next.

Toward the end of December, the FBI provided the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, with FBI investigative documents (likely FD-302’s) from their contacts with Christopher Steele.  According to most reasonable timing we can discover Steele met with FBI officials sometime around October 1st, 2016.

From the U.K. lawsuit against Christopher Steele (pdf here), Steele admits to having shopped the Clinton-Steele dossier to U.S. media outlets “in person” in late September (New York Times, WaPo, New Yorker and CNN), and mid-October, 2016 (New York Times, WaPo, and Yahoo News), per instructions from Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS):

(Source – Page #8, pdf)

Additionally, in late October, 2016, Christopher Steele briefed Mother Jones via Skype.

According to the released HPSCI intelligence memo, the FBI sought a FISA application based on the Steele Dossier on October 21st, 2016.  From those UK court records at least two briefings with reporters, containing five outlets, took place prior to the FBI using the Clinton-Steele dossier in their FISA application.

The “late September” briefings with the New York Times, Washington Post, Yahoo News, New Yorker and CNN took place prior to Christopher Steele meeting with FBI officials early October.   The implication therein is that the FBI had to know prior to their October 21st, 2016, court application that the information they were presenting to the FISA court was being heavily shopped to media outlets. This would be immediately disqualifying.

However, in yesterday’s released HPSCI memo, it is noted that Christopher Steele lied to the FBI about those media engagements taking place.  See:

The HPSCI memo notes the FBI relationship with Christopher Steele was terminated after the FISA application (Oct. 21st, 2016), as a result of the Mother Jones article from October 30th, 2016.  Media contact by an FBI material witness is immediately disqualifying.

The question is: did the FBI submit the FISA application under false pretenses?  Did the FBI actually know Christopher Steele was shopping the dossier to the media prior to their FISA court submission?

The HPSCI memo gives the FBI the benefit of doubt by presuming the FBI were unaware or “lied to“.   The FD-302’s (FBI investigative interview notes), which appear to have been turned over to Senate Chairman Chuck Grassley, would contain the evidence to support the FBI being duped – OR – show the FBI knew, and proceeded in using the dossier despite disqualifying knowledge of media involvement.

The answers to those important questions appears to be the looming in the FBI classified documents behind the Grassley criminal referral.

In an effort to get the answer to those questions into sunlight; and with the understanding that Chairman Grassley has the FBI documents; Grassley has produced a memo for declassification that facilitates understanding how the FBI used the Clinton-Steele dossier.

Like the underlying documents behind the HPSCI (Nunes) memo, the Grassley memo cannot declassify the underlying information (ie. the FBI FD-302’s).  However, unlike the process in the House, Senator Grassley cannot declassify the memo and submit it for public review without approval from the DOJ, Rod Rosenstein, and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

On January 5th, 2018,  The Grassley Memo approach surfaces. Grassley issues a statement on the reason for the criminal referral. He let’s us know that he ALSO has a classified memo that he is trying to get released! Unlike Nunes he needs to go through DOJ:

January 24th, 2018, Grassley Speech: “Hiding From Tough Questions” – In his 17 minute speech Grassley reveals important details about his investigation into Steele and the FBI.

Thanks to the brilliant work of DaveNYviii we can walk through this carefully, and watch the outline in a logical sequence.

FIRST – The Criminal Referral:

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SECOND – The Discrepancies: “If those [FBI] documents are not true, and there are serious discrepancies that are no fault of Mr. Steele, then we have another problem—an arguably more serious one.

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THIRD – The Grassley Memo: “Judiciary Cmte has access to the same information that House Intel Cmte saw before drafting ITS SUMMARY MEMO. Our committee doesn’t have the same authority to release classified information. We have to rely on the agency to review & potentially DECLASSIFY OUR MEMO”:

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In his speech, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley lets us know that unlike Devin Nunes and the HPSCI he has to get agency approval (DOJ) to declassify his memo.

Chairman Nunes had the clearance and a process to release his memo to the Full House, Executive Branch and then to the public. Senator Grassley does not have that same process or clearance availability… Yet.

Feb 3 2018

Right Angle: Delete?


Bill finds an article detailing how the Constitution should to be thrown out to make room for more democracy. Except, the Constitution was designed to prevent everything this author claims are its failures …

Feb 2 2018

January MAGAnomics – Main Street Kicks Wall Street in the Teeth: Jobs Grow 200K, Wages Grow 3%…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 2, 2018 by

With the new year comes more Main Street winning; and the distinction between Wall Street’s economy and Main Street’s economy becomes stunningly clear.

The January jobs report showed a gain of 200,000 U.S. jobs, and more importantly, a 2.9% year-over-year growth in wages.  –SOURCE–  [Biggest wage rate jump since the phoney trillion stimulus-funded growth mid-2009.] We continue to remind of our two-year prediction that stunning wage growth will evidence in Q2 of 2018 (April-July)… today’s report is only the preview of that wage growth cycle.

Construction reported by the biggest gain by sector with 36,000. Bars and restaurants added 31,000 and health care was up 21,000. Manufacturing also showed a gain of 15,000 and durable goods-related industries added 18,000.

“Perhaps the biggest positive surprise on hiring is the continued surge for the goods-producing sector with manufacturing and construction leading the way,” said Mark Hamrick, Bankrate.com’s senior economic analyst. (link)

The Main Street economic engine is fundamentally detached from the drivers of the Wall Street economic engine (monetary policy).   While the paper wizards are getting kicked in the teeth, interest rate increases will not diminish Main Street gains because wage increases will remain ahead of price inflation.  Interest rate increases will, however, impact Wall Street because interest rates are monetary policy, and a great deal of Wall Street is based on speculation within the paper (false) economy.

Can you see now why we have been saying for two years MAGAnomics will draw out the new dimension in modern economics?  There is a distance between Main Street’s economic engine and Wall Street’s economic engine.  MAGAnomics operates in the space between them.

The stock market retracts today against fears of rising interest rates.  Many on Wall Street have not recognized that monetary policy will not influence Main Street growth until interest rates, and/or inflation, surpasses the rate of wage growth.   The parity within that dynamic is still about a year-and-a-half away.

If you pay attention the economic engine disconnect is visible.  Note the market schizophrenia as Gold didn’t climb while stocks/bonds dropped.

February 2018 wage growth will exceed January (driven in part by new tax rates); March will exceed February; April will exceed March…. and so on, and so on, (remember these are year-over-year comparatives).  This is the EXACT reversal of prior economic policies from several administrations that were killing Main Street.

At the very heart of America-First, MAGAnomics focuses on U.S. jobs and U.S. companies.  Investment growth drives labor demand; labor demand drives wage rates; wage rate growth increases consumer demand for goods and services; that demand drives investment; more investment is expansion of production capacity – ie. need more labor.

There will be natural price inflation to come as an outcome of Main Street’s economy expanding. However, two factors:  #1) inflation will creep slow, there’s a natural lag and built in downward price pressure within the gap of unfilled production capacity;  #2) Most importantly growth in wages will exceed the inflation rate -for approximately two years- thereby making increases in product costs irrelevant to consumer demands.

Inside this mix, off-shore manufacturers will continue trying to get their products into the hands of Americans who have more disposable income.  That unique aspect will continue to keep prices down during the phase of shifts from import manufacturing to domestic manufacturing.  Unfortunately, imports might keep GDP growth rates down – but the underlying economy will be expanding as domestic production begins to replace imports.

Ongoing financial results will be solid for companies doing business in the U.S., and actual profit results will gain market weight over speculation.   The Titans are rising.

Economic nationalism is winning…. globalism is losing…. multinationals are shrieking… paper weasels are crying…. Middle Class American workers are CHEERING!

Feb 2 2018

Inside The HPSCI Memo – A Key Distinction Being Conflated “Title I” -vs- “Title VII”…


Re-Posted from The Conservation Tree House on February 2, 2018 by

There is a key distinction being overlooked, perhaps conflated, by many who are reviewing the recently released HPSCI memo as it relates to the outlined targeting of U.S. individual Carter Page.

In the HPSCI outline it specifically notes the targeting of U.S. individual Carter Page was NOT a FISA Title VII search request.  Title VII is FISA(702), the incidental collection of U.S. person information as it relates to National Security or Counterintelligence operations targeting foreign individuals.

The FISA ‘warrant’ request, against Carter Page, was made October 21st, 2016, under Title I of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.  Meaning the surveillance application was specifically stating, to the court, the U.S. individual was likely an actual agent of a foreign government, ie. “a spy.”

The DOJ (National Security Division) and the FBI (Counterintelligence Division) were not asking to review ancillary data collected on U.S. Person Carter Page as an outcome of surveillance on a foreign person, or foreign agent; that would be Title 7 (FISA-702).

In action outlined within the HPSCI memo, the DOJ and FBI were specifically telling the FISA court they had evidence that U.S. Person Carter Page was working as an agent of a foreign government. He was their target, and therefore requesting direct FISA Title 1 surveillance of that target on October 21st, 2016.

To give validity to the underlying position of the DOJ and FBI, the justice department used: the Clinton-Steele Dossier; media reports from -and of- the Clinton-Steele dossier; and opposition research provided by Clinton financed Fusion-GPS through Nellie Ohr, so they could monitor U.S. Person Carter Page.

In total, this sketchy assembly of political campaign research was used by the FBI as evidence to back-up their claim U.S. person Carter Page was working as a foreign agent; essentially saying: he was a spy.  This application assembly was then certified on four different occasions by specific officials within the DOJ and FBI.

Without knowing the court had been provided political research, the FISA Court granted the FBI full surveillance authority for U.S. Person Carter Page.   The distinction is rather stark.

The FBI were not targeting Page incidentally as an outcome of foreign intelligence collection; the FBI was targeting Carter Page directly. AND as such they carried full surveillance authority upon all of this activities, interactions, communications and contacts therein.

Because of this direct approach, any group, organization or entity who came in contact with U.S. Person Carter Page was then open for ancillary review and FBI investigation.  Those who engaged in contact with Carter Page became subject to surveillance and searches in the same manner as if Page was an actual foreign agent.

Legal commentary thread on #Memo by Robert Barnes:

It is important to remember that FISA courts are not like other courts; there needs to be specific evidence of a particular national security threat to circumvent regular federal courts.

It is a HIGHER standard because its jurisdiction is LIMITED
FISA courts have LIMITED jurisdiction because the scope of the invasive tools of the NSA is far more INVASIVE than regular wiretaps, due to the SECRET nature of such courts, and from the risk of forum shopping with the limited number and deferential nature of FISA Judges.

That is why Congress imposed SPECIAL RESTRICTIONS on access to FISA courts and use of FISA evidence. To access FISA courts, only the highest ranking FBI officials must vet and approve, a high ranking DOJ official must authorize, and they must re-vet and re-approve every 90 days.

To spy on Americans through a FISA court, the FBI must show the target is an “agent of a foreign power,” not merely in contact with a foreign power. The law makes it difficult to show someone is an “agent of a foreign power” to make sure it is not misused to spy on Americans.

The law does not allow the FBI to call an American an “agent of a foreign power” unless they can show the person “knowingly engages in clandestine intelligence gathering activities for or on behalf of a foreign power” AND the nature of their activity is criminalized.

Claiming someone is an “agent of a foreign power” is a difficult standard to ever show, and should never happen to a domestic political opponent in a domestic political campaign. That is why the FBI had to cook the books — put a bogus informant on their team & lie to the courts.

Trump’s winning caused a problem for Comey & Comey’s firing caused a problem for Rosenstein. Both Comey & Rosenstein signed off on the bogus affidavits to the FISA court to continue spying on Trump team members post-election and post-inauguration. They needed Mueller to cover up.

Key fact about Mueller: he is very close friends with Comey, and was the mentor and close friend of Rosenstein. Mueller is also expert at covering up for lawless law enforcement: see his role with Whitey Bulger, BCCI, HSBC, Waco, Noriega, IRS/Tea Party & Fast & Furious.

FISA law protects Americans from lawless spying by masking & deletion of intercepted data. If an American’s conversations are intercepted, his identity must remain hidden, and if no p/c of a crime, his conversations deleted. Hence, the importance of @Cernovich Susan Rice story.

FBI turned over their NSA spying capacity to a private lobbying company in order to promote a smear campaign against a domestic political opponent. Fearing being caught, they appointed a special counsel (Mueller) to cover for them by accusing the man (Trump) who might expose them (link)

Here’s the HPSCI Point and Counterpoint as released earlier:

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/370616574/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-3M0Odh02jQcoh5EvW3LR

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Feb 2 2018

Brett Baier Interviews Devin Nunes After HPSCI Memo Release…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 2, 2018 by

Fox News host Brett Baier interviews Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes after the release of the House Intelligence Committee memo:

Feb 2 2018

Nunes Memo is Out


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption

Re-Posted Feb 2, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

 

Nunes Memo

Here is the Nunes memo the FBI and the Democrats did not want to be released. This confirmed that the FBI and Department of Justice abused their surveillance authority to target Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. This describes a criminal act on the part of the FBI – FRAUD UPON THE COURT.

White House made no redactions to the memo and declassified the document “in full.” The release puts Trump at odds with the FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, both who have urged Trump not to release it for fear that it really just makes them look very bad.

The memo lays out that the very top law enforcement officials knowingly used the unverified information to convince a court to give them a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. This is no different from Watergate that took Nixon down. Here the FBI and DOJ used a court by means of FRAUD to accomplish the very same thing as what took place in Watergate and it explains a lot as to why Comey never took notes on the interview with Hillary.

The FBI expressed “grave concerns” about the memo’s release, suggesting it is inaccurate. That is to be expected. They either told the source of their information to the court or they did not. All they need to do is come forward and prove that that did inform the court the source of the info came from the Hillary campaign.

The FBI has stonewalled Congress’ demands for information for nearly a year. They have had ample time to explain but have failed to do so. They are correct insofar as the release calls into question the integrity of the FBI and DOJ, but that becomes very obvious for months.

It’s no surprise to see the FBI and DOJ issue objections to allowing the American people to see information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies. The corruption in the FBI and DOJ has infected the agencies right to the top and it is highly questionable that simply removing the head of agencies will change anything. The disease has run very deep.

What should happen is very clear. Those who argued before the court should stand for criminal charges. Then they will sing and you will get to the full scope of how bad this infection really has become.

Feb 2 2018

FISA Memo Release – Here It Is…


Re-Posted from The Conservative House on February 2, 2018 by

The House Intelligence Committee released the much anticipated memo on Friday afternoon.  (pdf here) Full Memo Embed Below.  The memo discusses abuses involving FISA, or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, during the 2016 election.

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/370603711/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-fPY5BzDJxyAnWBuIM7vD

Feb 2 2018

“Tip of The Iceberg” – The Pending Intelligence Memo is The Beginning, Not The End…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 2, 2018 by

There continue to be questions about the substance behind the pending release of the House Intelligence Committee memo.  With that release in mind, today it is worthwhile remembering this is the beginning of exposing the corruption within the DOJ not the end.

For several years the U.S. justice department has maintained an attitude of non-accountability within its ranks.  The Obama years elevated that attitude and provided multiple examples of a DOJ gone rogue.

A complicit media enables that attitude by engineering a false narrative the U.S. Justice Department was/is an independent fourth branch of government; unaccountable to congress and entirely separate from the executive branch.

The House Intelligence Memo is simply using the example of currently known FISA abuse to open the door and show the U.S. electorate how corrupt this unaccountable institution has become.  Behind that door are very uncomfortable realities for all of those who constructed the weaponized agency; and also those who have benefited from it.

Consider:

♦When IRS head Lois Learner unlawfully sent the 21 CD-ROM’s containing the “Schedule B” filings of over a million Americans to the Obama administration, the recipient was the DOJ. (LINK)  It was the DOJ who was chosen to utilize the political lists in their “Secret Research Project“. ♦When U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen demanded DOJ lawyers attend ethics classes due to their false representations to his court – he was highlighting a corrupt DOJ. (LINK)

♦When the case against the Bundy family was recently thrown out of court, it was the “gross malicious conduct” of the DOJ highlighted by the judge. (LINK)

This is the same DOJ who denied their own Office of Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, the right to conduct oversight on DOJ internal action. (LINK – pdf)  The expressed Justice Department intent in every action has been an attempt to remain unaccountable.

The U.S. Justice Department has become a rogue agency weaponized against it’s political opposition in almost every jurisdiction.  This is the pervasive attitude, an air of ideological unaccountability, found rampant within every corrupt system.

So it doesn’t come as a surprise when the epicenter of that attitude in Washington DC balks at the concept of having oversight, and thumbs their nose at congress by refusing to turn over the underlying FISA application documents.

The House Intelligence Committee, Chairman Devin Nunes, has oversight over the entire intelligence apparatus, including DOJ/FBI counterintelligence and the FISA Courts.  The House Judiciary Committee, Chairman Bob Goodlatte, has statutory oversight over the entire Department of Justice.  The Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Chuck Grassley, has oversight over the federal court processes used by the U.S. Department of Justice.   The Office of Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, is the internal DOJ watchdog.

Unfortunately the corruption appears systemic within the entire justice system.  This is the problem currently being confronted.  This is also a system being defended by a political media apparatus who have benefited from seeing their opposition targeted.  The American people became the threat to their system.  The American people became their enemy. This outlook sounds stark, but this is exactly the way the DOJ has behaved.

We The People are in an abusive relationship with the Department of Justice.

Representative Mark Meadows puts it thusly:

THREAD: Because through all the “memo” news and headlines, it’s critical to remember why this issue is important and why it should matter to everyday Americans.

What this issue is all about: whether the Department of Justice and FBI, under President Obama, abused their surveillance authority against American citizens and political opponents. Put another way: was the Obama DOJ weaponized to spy on the Trump campaign?

Remember, in general, the DOJ and FBI spying on American citizens should automatically be met with MAJOR skepticism. That’s what the Fourth Amendment is designed to protect against. When those American citizens are ALSO political opponents? It should raise even more red flags.

So, take that principle, and look at what happened in this case. The DOJ spied on Carter Page, an American citizen. Red flag. Carter Page was also part of the Trump campaign. Double red flag. It should automatically raise questions.

Now, pause: we know about the Peter Strzok/Lisa Page texts, the “missing” texts, the McCabe concerns, etc. But this is about more. Focus on the dossier here–the political opposition research project put together by Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS, and the DNC by extension.

Quite simply: This infamous “Russian Dossier” was unverified political opposition research paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC. If the Department of Justice used information like that as a key part of getting a surveillance warrant, it would be a HUGE problem.

Now, from what we’ve already known for months, it sure looks like that’s exactly what happened: that the FBI used that very dossier to get a warrant. @Jim Jordan asked the FBI about it 2 months ago. I asked too. We asked for the FISA application, and the FBI wouldn’t show us. WATCH:

We’ve asked repeatedly for information from the FBI, both privately and publicly. We’ve openly told FBI and DOJ officials–if we’re wrong, tell us! Tell us what was in the FISA application. Let us see the document. But we’ve been stonewalled for almost a year.

So the bottom line is this: if, in 2016, the DOJ and FBI used an unverified, Clinton/DNC paid-for dossier to spy on American citizens (and political opponents) in the Trump campaign, that is as wrong as it gets. If that happened, Americans deserve to know about it. Period.

I know we live in a hyper-partisan environment, and I know it can be easy to disregard any inquiry like this as party politics. I understand that. But this is so far above politics, folks. Lady Justice wears a blindfold. Her scale is supposed to be balanced.

If any Department of Justice, Republican or Democrat, put their thumb on the scale for the sake of politics–it would undermine the very fabric of who we are as a nation. Americans deserve the truth, one way or the other.

Last point: If you remember anything from this news cycle, remember: your right as an American to privacy from your government spying on you is critical. It is foundational to who we are as a Republic. Never take that right for granted, no matter the political party you belong to.  (link)

The release of the House Intelligence Memo is only the tip of the iceberg; the crack in the door to see just how corrupt the unaccountable Justice System became.

There are going to be many more revelations as the investigations into the FBI and DOJ continue.  Combine that understanding with the pending OIG Horowitz report, and we have only just begun to see how bad this is…

The key aspect to begin restoring a system when it has fallen into the clutches of corruption, is to remove their internal image of unaccountability.  The DOJ and FBI are part of the Executive Branch and they are accountable to congressional oversight.  We need to constantly remind people of that, and push back against this insufferable media-generated narrative of the DOJ being an independent fourth branch of government.

Feb 1 2018

Curiouser and Curiouser: Rick Gates Attorneys Withdraw from Case Initiated by Robert Mueller…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 1, 2018 by

It was announced this afternoon the lawyers representing, Rick Gates, the business partner of Paul Manafort, have withdrawn from the case.  The judicial notification is HERE, and details of withdrawal were filed under seal.

Amid the news cycle of the HPSCI memo release, and considering there could be ripple effects therein, lots of media speculations follows:

WASHINGTON DC – Three attorneys representing Rick Gates told a federal court Thursday they are immediately withdrawing as counsel for the former Donald Trump campaign aide, who is fighting special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of him on money laundering and other charges.

Lawyers Shanlon Wu, Walter Mack and Annemarie McAvoy said in a two-page motion that they would explain the reasons for their abrupt move in documents filed under seal with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. (read more)

There is possibility the three lawyers could be withdrawing after discovery of the length of time the DOJ was investigating Manafort and Gates; and that might just dovetail into the FISA702 abuse story and the 2016 counterintelligence investigation of Donald Trump. I’ll try to explain.

If you go back to the original indictment (pdf below); you will note the charging document states: “In order to hide Ukraine payments from United States authorities, from approximately 2006 through at least 2016, Manafort and Gates laundered the money through scores of United States and foreign corporations, partnerships and bank accounts.”

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/363023679/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-tdVt4beet4y9WixlyJur

The indictment is purely focused on alleged financial crimes involving Paul Manafort and Rick Gates and does not include any charges related to the broader question that formed the basis of Mueller’s investigation – whether Donald Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with Russia.  In fact the indictment describes criminal allegations that predated the Trump campaign and President Trump’s name is not mentioned at all in the 31-page document.  This has nothing to do with candidate Trump or President Trump.

However, one of the key issues is the dates, and that might explain something else entirely.  Notice the indictment recognizes action from 2006 through 2016.

One of the key questions we have been unable to solve over the past eighteen months is what initiated the 2016 FISA surveillance of candidate Trump.  Others have asked the question: what was the predicate crime that initiated the FISA ‘warrant’? etc.

Last night, in a generally overlooked media interview, former DNI James Clapper stated the “Clinton-Steele Dossier” was used by the DOJ-FBI in gaining an “extension” of an original FISA-702 warrant.

Consider the word ‘extension’ would also likely mean ‘expansion’, and that might explain why there was never an originating FISA application directed specifically toward Donald Trump.

What if, there was an existing FISA-702 surveillance ‘warrant’ granted to the FBI, at some considerably earlier time-frame, based on the targeting of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates and their engagements with foreign actors, Russia, Ukraine, and foreign money laundering.

What if, the hiring of Manafort by candidate Trump, simply to manage the delegation process in advance of the convention, opened a back-door to expanding an existing FISA warrant of Paul Manafort.  The extended and expanded FISA surveillance now includes the Trump campaign and all associated officials.

In this scenario, there would never be an initiating FISA-702 surveillance request because the originating FISA authority was attached to Paul Manafort and pre-dated the Trump/Manafort relationship.

See where this is going?

In this scenario, all subsequent FISA filings would need to show a reason to continue the expanded FISA-702 surveillance authority to include candidate Trump and/or any other campaign officials.   That’s where the ‘Clinton/Steele’ dossier comes into play.

Look at the BIG PICTURE.

When you consider the FISA Court already admonished the FBI for allowing contractors unlawful use, access and removal of raw NSA and FBI intelligence database information….  and you consider that Fusion GPS (Bean LLC) was likely one of the contractors…. and when you overlay Glenn Simpson and his wife had already spent a great deal of time investigating Russian entities, Paul Manafort and Donald Trump…

Well, a pattern of convenient association and timing appears.

After months of prior opposition research, including what appears to be their access to FISA-702(17) “Search Queries“as a sub-contractor for the FBI, the wife of Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS), Mary B. Jacoby, with years of Russia-angled reporting –including Donald Trump– visits the White House.

This is April 19th 2016, the day after the FBI, stopped allowing Fusion-GPS access the NSA FISA-702 database.  Immediately following this White House visit the Clinton campaign hire Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Donald Trump, surrounding Russia.  Fusion GPS then hires Nellie Ohr.

[The Tablet] … Simpson and Jacoby had ID’d Manafort as a world-class sleazeball and they were right. A slick Georgetown Law grad running in GOP circles since the Reagan campaign, Manafort used his talents and connections to get paid by some very bad people.

I would only add here that, in my personal experience, journalists are not in the habit of forgetting major stories they’ve written, especially stories with a character like Manafort at the center.

So when the Trump campaign named Paul Manafort as its campaign convention manager on March 28, 2016, you can bet that Simpson and Jacoby’s eyes lit up.

And as it happened, at the exact same time that Trump hired Manafort, Fusion GPS was in negotiations with Perkins Coie, the law firm representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, to see if there was interest in the firm continuing the opposition research on the Trump campaign they had started for the Washington Free Beacon. (more)

D. Manny picked up on this connective tissue last night:

-Court found illegal surveillance was conducted on American citizens over a five year period.

-Judge chastised NSA’s inspector general and Office of Compliance for Operations for an “institutional ‘lack of candor’” for failing to inform the court.

-The judge called the breach “a very serious Fourth Amendment issue.”

-Redacted part of ruling is the extent of the illegal surveillance and number of analysts who made the searches and the number of queries.

-NSA blamed it on human error and system design issues.

-The court document also criticized the FBI’s distribution of intelligence data, saying it had “disclosed raw surveillance data to sectors of its bureaucracy” … “largely staffed by private contractors.”  Contractors had access to raw FISA information that went well beyond what was necessary to respond to the FBI’s requests.

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/349542716/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-72P5FzpI44KMOuOPZrt1

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The FBI was already conducting FISA Court authorized surveillance on Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, likely going back long before Manafort became engaged with the Trump campaign.   “Long before.”

And specifically because the DOJ and FBI Manafort/Gates investigation involved potential money laundering and financial schemes related to “organized crime” and Russian figures, who from the DOJ-NSD would have been intimately familiar?….

[…] Bruce G. Ohr held two titles at DOJ: associate deputy attorney general, a post that placed him four doors down from his boss, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein; and director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), a program described by the department as “the centerpiece of the attorney general’s drug strategy.” (link)

Perhaps, through sealed discovery, Rick Gates’ attorneys discovered their client was under FISA surveillance going back multiple years:

(pdf link)

Feb 1 2018

Super MAGA-Nomic Winning: Atlanta Fed Predicts 5.4% First Quarter GDP Growth…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 1, 2018 by

It can be a little confusing to listen to business or economic news analysts discussing the current state of the economy.  They are all generally positive, but the inherent delivery of their forecasts is cast against the backdrop of their experience.  Almost no-one, currently in the business of economic analysis, has experience, life skills, analytical training or educational understanding based on anything other than a Wall Street economic outlook.

Business Schools stopped teaching the principles of Main Street economics forty years ago.  All modern analytical tools, and the data-systems therein, were structurally built upon an economic theory that establishes Key Performance Indexes based on Wall Street economic models.  Titans of industry were replaced by fast-talkers pushing paper.

The paper economy and the monetary policy therein, has been the underlying architecture of economic analysis for decades.  Within this process Main Street U.S.A., was assigned the role of a “service driven” economy. Institutionally everyone accepted this reality.  Thus, those same voices are conflicted and cannot reconcile today’s economic shifts.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve is now estimating the potential growth for the first quarter of this year at 5.4%.  This is a stunningly high projection when historic assumptions are factored.  However, in the new MAGAnomic economy, it’s high, but not out of line.

The Main Street economic engine is roaring back to life.  Real consumer spending jumped from 3.1 percent to 4 percent in the latest quarter.  Consumer spending is approximately two-thirds of our GDP.  However, the real key figure is ‘investment”.   Private fixed-investment growth surged from 5.2 percent to 9.2 percent, that’s where the growth projections should be focused.  Trump’s MAGAnomic policies are driving investment in the U.S. economic base.  The current growth in private investment has doubled.

Business are building out their capacity.  Big and Small corporations and manufacturers are building manufacturing facilities, plants and expanding capacity.  Small companies are hiring and expanding.  Small manufacturers of U.S. goods and services are expanding to become mid-size manufacturers.

This is Main Street expansion, something that has not happened in 40 to 60 years.

This specific type of economic expansion is why most economists using Wall Street analytic models cannot accurately measure or predict growth.  The capital investment is not attached to U.S. Federal Reserve monetary policy; it is attached to the consumer.  It might sound weird but that’s what’s happening.

The Wall Street economic engine, fueled by monetary policy, is disconnected from the Main Street economic engine, fueled by consumer spending and demand for goods and services.

The paper economy is impacted directly by monetary policy; but the main street economy, actual goods, manufactured goods, is driven by consumer demand, wages, earnings etc.

Today Lowes announced they will give bonuses of up to $1,000 to more than 260,000 hourly workers and will expand benefits such as adoption assistance and paid parental leave as a result of the recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.   Lowes is positioning itself for increased in wages and benefits ahead of a tightening job market.  Upward wage pressure is an outcome of Main Street growth.

Today UPS announced: “more than $12 billion in investments to expand the company’s Smart Logistics Network, significantly increase pension funding, and position the company to further enhance shareowner value.”  UPS is investing in capital expansion, and simultaneously increasing its wage and benefits package for the same reason.

All of the Main Street MAGAnomic policies interact with each other and create a dynamic of internal domestic growth.  Building more industry creates a demand for more workers; the demand for more workers creates upward pressure on wages; increased wages makes consumer spending grow; consumer spending growth makes industry expand to capture the demand of consumers.   See how that works?  It’s a circle of growth.

It seems simple, and in many ways it is; however, it takes a person willing to look out for the domestic needs of the American Economy (Main Street) ahead of the global Wall Street economy.  President Trump is the first president in over a generation to actually put economic nationalism into place as the driver for economic policy.

Back in late 2015, and early 2016, when candidate Trump announced the outline of this America-First agenda, we predicted rapid wage growth would be triggered in the second quarter of this year (2018).  We stand by that prediction.

President Trump has aligned the economic planets; taxpayers are keeping more of their income; consumers have more to spend and the best play for business and manufacturers is to invest in America to capture that spending capacity; their investment drives even more jobs and higher wages… and the growth continues.

MAGAnomics.

It works.