CTH wants details. Details on the process of this testimony from Rod Rosenstein; how it will be structured, how much time the committee will allow; who is questioning, Skype or in-person? Why are details important? Because CTH has enough questions to take more than a full day just from our independent research.
Additionally, Rosenstein is at the epicenter of the ‘insurance policy’ phase of the coup against President Trump. If the intent of Graham is to provide both transparency or a cover-up, former Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is who you’d start with on both fronts.
According to numerous media reports Rod Rosenstein is scheduled to be the first witness to testify before Senator Lindsey Graham’s Judiciary Committee.
We have over two dozen documented contacts between Rosenstein and Robert Mueller before the special counsel was launched. The first contact was a phone call the morning after former FBI Director James Comey was fired. Literally hours after Comey was fired, based -in part- on a letter written by the former DAG recommending the firing, Rosenstein was coordinating the appointment of the special counsel to investigate President Trump.
You could spend several hours of inquiry into just that part of the decision-making process alone; without even touching the ramifications of his role in the Carter Page FISA applications and what came next. Rosenstein was also the principle influence agent in 2018 who told President Trump not to declassify any documents requested by congress or POTUS would be facilitating an ‘obstruction’ charge against the office of the President.
Yeah, Rosenstein has a lot to answer for.
Rosenstein also was in charge of the July 2018 response from the DOJ to the FISA court where both the DOJ and FBI lied to the court about the predicate of the FISA warrant’s validity a full fifteen months after the DOJ and FBI were aware the underlying predicate was built upon fraudulent representations. There’s another several hours.
Additionally, and adverse to the interests of Lindsey Graham, Rosenstein -together with DC Attorney Jessie Liu- was the architect of the agreement not to prosecute SSCI Security Director James Wolfe for leaking classified ‘top-secret’ documents (the FISA warrant) to reporter Ali Watkins. Within that story the corruption within the Senate intelligence committee surfaces. Chairman Graham wouldn’t want to touch that issue, but there’s more than a few hours of inquiry justified.
What was the purpose of the expanded scope memos; including the still hidden third scope memo written October 20, 2017, that allowed Mueller to target Michael Flynn Jr. in the effort to coerce General Flynn into a plea agreement. Under what principle was Rosenstein acting when he expanded the scope of Mueller on August 2nd and October 20th?
Then you get into the ridiculous indictment of Russian actors (Concord LLC Inc.) that was a completely fabricated pretense, created seemingly only to give some sketchy justification for the Mueller probe’s origin. How was the special counsel team communicating that activity and under what pretext was Rosenstein convinced to even pursue indictments the DOJ was later forced to drop because of their false pretense.
Rosenstein was also the primary person who blocked the production of documents to congress during their investigation of the Russia collusion-conspiracy nonsense. What justification does Rosenstein carry for blocking the production of those documents?
You see, Rosenstein is found at the heart of corrupt activity within the DOJ, and by extension the Mueller investigation. His testimony will either begin the reveal of the story, or his testimony will be purposefully shaped to avoid sunlight and shape public knowledge of the truth behind the events.
WASHINGTON DC – […] The hearing, scheduled for June 3, marks the first public hearing Graham will hold as part of his deep dive into “Crossfire Hurricane,” the name for the investigation into Russia’s 2016 election interference and the Trump campaign.
Graham said that Rosenstein will speak about “new revelations” included in Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz’s report on surveillance warrant applications tied to former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Rosenstein, who was interviewed as part of Horowitz’s investigation, signed off on the third Page warrant renewal application. (more)
And don’t forget Rosenstein’s sister, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, was the launch vehicle for the COVID-19 shut down back in February; and effort that looks increasingly political in hindsight. Perhaps a more nuanced extension of the removal effort itself.
So yeah, color me suspicious….
♦Tuesday May 16th – Per the IG report: “On the morning of May 16, Comey took digital photographs of both pages of Memo 4 with his personal cell phone. Comey then sent both photographs, via text message, to his friend Daniel Richman to send to the New York Times.
Back in Main Justice at 12:30pm Rod Rosenstein, Andrew McCabe, Jim Crowell and Tashina Guahar all appear to be part of this meeting. I should note that alternate documentary evidence, gathered over the past two years, supports the content of this McCabe memo. Including texts between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok:
[NOTE: pay attention to the *current* redactions; they appear to be placed by existing DOJ officials in an effort to protect Rod Rosenstein for his duplicity in: (A) running the Mueller sting operation at the white house on the same day; (B) the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel, which was pre-determined before the Oval Office meeting.]
While McCabe was writing this afternoon memo, still May 16th, Rod Rosenstein took Robert Mueller to the White House for a meeting in the oval office with President Trump and VP Mike Pence.
After six days of phone calls, emails and in person meetings, this visit to the White House was clearly Rod Rosenstein introducing Robert Mueller to the target of the investigation. Rosenstein already knew he was going to appoint Mueller; and Mueller, along with the small group in the FBI, already knew Mueller was going to be appointed. {Go Deep}
As one of his last actions before leaving his post, former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard “Ric” Grenell has declassified the transcripts of the wiretapped phone conversations between former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Additionally, it appears that Grenell has declassified some of the origination documents from the CIA and U.S. intel community that were manipulated in the assembly of the Intelligence Community Assessment (an aspect of particular importance to USAO John John Durham). As we suspected Ric Grenell is leaving the decision, and timing for their release to incoming DNI John Ratcliffe.
WASHINGTON DC – Richard Grenell has declassified a new batch of Russia probe documents on his way out as acting director of national intelligence, leaving the decision on whether to make those files public up to newly sworn-in Director John Ratcliffe.
The documents include transcripts of phone calls that then-incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak had in December 2016, during the presidential transition period.
Grenell said publicly last week that he was in the process of declassifying those files, after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., asked that he do so.
Fox News has learned that the declassification review of those transcripts is now complete, and it will be left up to Ratcliffe on whether to release them publicly.
Fox News has learned that Grenell also completed the declassification review of other documents related to the origins of the Russia probe — including one that a senior intelligence official told Fox News was “very significant in understanding how intelligence was manipulated to support launching the Russia investigation.”
The official could not provide further details on that newly declassified document, but said that it will also be up to Ratcliffe to decide whether to make it public. (read more)
If Grenell has declassified the Flynn-Kislyak transcripts, it’s almost certain that he’s declassified ALL THE TRANSCRIPTS – including those the former administration and politicians did not expect he could recover, and did not want to see released.
Oh my, acting DNI Ric Grenell was/is buckets of brutally honest awesome.
In a departing letter to SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner, Grenell responds to a Warner inquiry demanding justification for his blitz of sunlight and naming of unmaskers.
Specifically pointing to the release of names that unmasked Trump administration officials Grenell notes “the decision to declassify the names of individuals who sough to unmask the identity of General Flynn poses absolutely no risk of compromise of either sources or methods.” Grenell also tells Warner, “cherry picking certain documents for release while attacking the release of others that don’t fit your political narrative is part of the problem the American people have with Washington DC politicians.”
The Daily Caller has compiled a partial list of Grenell’s accomplishments to include:
— Completed the IC review of 53 transcripts from the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 election and made the transcripts publicly available
— Declassified previously redacted footnotes from the Justice Department Inspector General’s report into the origins of the Russian collusion investigation
— Declassified a list of government officials who requested the unmaskingof National Security Advisor Michael Flynn
— Replaced FBI with ODNI as the primary group responsible for briefing presidential campaigns on information derived from national intelligence
— Declassified former national security adviser Susan Rice’s email to herself regarding a January 2016 Oval Office where progress on the Russia investigation was discussed
And even that list doesn’t include the declassification of the Rosenstein/Mueller scope memos and several more important contributions during his tenure.
Grenell’s greatest contribution as DNI was personifying a belief that government, including the intelligence apparatus, works for the people; and as a direct result the intelligence apparatus has a responsibility to provide sunlight upon all aspects of their function that does not impede national security.
The way to keep politics out of intelligence matters is to keep as much of their activity as public as possible. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
I hope we see more of Ric Grenell in another capacity soon.
Tomorrow morning ends the tenure of Richard “Ric” Grenell as the acting Director of National Intelligence. At 12:15pm DNI John Ratcliffe will be sworn-in [LINK] and the declassification/sunlight baton will be passed to senate confirmed DNI John Ratcliffe.
On the topic of the FBI capture and use of the December 29, 2016, Flynn-Kislyak phone call… First we had a hunch; then it became a suspicion… that evolved into a likelihood… that has now become a strong probability.
The capture of the December 29th phone call, which generated the raw “CR cuts“, was an FBI summary, modified for a specific interpretation. Much like the missing 302 there is now a very strong probability the FBI ‘CR cuts’ do not represent the actual call content.
Within a twitter response by Grenell, part of the riddle behind the transcripts gets a little more clarity: “The IC doesn’t have all the transcripts/summaries…. it wasn’t our product.”
The implication here is the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) did not generate one of the transcripts; that evolved into an FBI equity, and was later used in their case against Lt. General Michael Flynn. The December 29, 2016, intercept was not exclusive to the U.S. intelligence apparatus, and the call summary became proprietary to the FBI; the agency exploiting the underlying content.
This makes sense and explains how the FBI was able to manipulate the framework of the call and keep the remaining U.S. intelligence system away from their internal plan.
There was more than one phone call and conversation between Flynn and Kislyak. Some immediately after the election and in/around mid-December 2016. Reports of those contacts and communications WERE in the U.S. IC network and those reports led to unmasking requests. However, the specific December 29th communication was not an exclusive intercept of the U.S. intelligence community and therefore easier for the FBI to shape.
When Susan Rice, and now all of the downstream politicians, are requesting the release of the Flynn-Kislyak transcripts, those specific demands do not encompass the Dec.29th call; and it appears from the political narrative being assembled, the democrats do not necessarily expect DNI Grenell to be able to release the transcript of that specific call.
DNI Ric Grenell is signaling that he intends to release all the call transcripts not just the ones obtained by U.S. intelligence intercepts.
The “CR cuts” are summaries of the intercepted communication and therefore subject to being manipulated or shaped by the FBI official doing the summary. The call summary is subject to interpretation and shaping much like a 302 report would be. However, Grenell doesn’t just want to release the FBI summary, he wants to release the full transcript.
This approach by Grenell seems to confirm what we have been assembling about the transcripts, the “CR cuts”, and how the FBI used them.
There are intercepted communications between Flynn-Kislyak that were part of the ongoing FBI investigation of Flynn and monitoring of Russian interests. Those intercepts became reports, and within those reports Flynn was masked; and later unmasked by political operatives.
However, the specific December 29, 2016, call while Flynn was in the Dominican Republic was a third party intelligence intercept; transferred to the FBI exclusively as part of their counterintelligence operation. That 12/29/16 intercept generated proprietary FBI “CR cuts” or summaries of that intercepted communication specific to the FBI investigation. That call content remained outside the larger intelligence community. Hence Grenell saying: “The IC doesn’t have all the transcripts/summaries…. it wasn’t our product.”
But Grenell is working to bring that specific FBI equity (call transcript) into the IC and release it -in total- along with all other transcripts that were already within the control of the IC; thus Grenell gives an honest presentation of the totality of the contact, not just the parts that have been manipulated and shaped by officials in their targeting of Flynn.
Combine what Grenell is doing along with the announcement by FBI Director Chris Wray to review FBI action in the Flynn investigation, and a more fulsome picture emerges.
As many have long suspected the FBI shaped the December 29, 2016, call content; the FBI biased interpretation of what took place on that call; specifically to target Flynn. They were able to do this, in part, because they exclusively held the evidence they were shaping.
With U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen now reviewing the background evidence, and with DNI Ric Grenell declassifying and releasing the underlying documents, the truth is being pushed to the surface….
For well over a year we’ve been saying AG Bill Barr’s biggest challenge is not investigating the soft-coup but rather managing through what We The People are already aware of.
With that in mind; and with congress moving to put former DAG Rod Rosenstein and former Special Counsel Robert Mueller under a microscope; it is interesting to note AG Bill Barr recently conceding his two friends were corrupt. WATCH:
[Transcript] …”Now what happened to the president – and I’ve said this many times – what happened to the president in the 2016 election; and throughout the first two years of his administration was abhorrent. It was a grave injustice and it was unprecedented in American history.”
“The law enforcement and intelligence apparatus of this country were involved in advancing a false and utterly baseless Russian-collusion narrative against the president.”
The proper investigative and prosecutive standards of the Dept of Justice were abused, in my view, in order to reach a particular result.” ~ (AG Barr, May 18, 2020)
How can AG Barr say the DOJ/FBI conduct during the first two years of the administration “was abhorrent” without specifically implying his two friends, Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein were complicit in the “grave injustice” he outlines?
It is interesting that no media (of any disposition) has ever questioned AG Barr about Rosenstein and Mueller considering his words that outline their behavior as abhorrent.
With that in mind it’s worth revisiting the only case of Russian election interference that was ever brought by Special Counsel Mueller and DAG Rosenstein. The case that was dropped by the Dept. of Justice, and ignored by media, on March 16, 2020:
Almost everyone who researched the substance behind Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller’s heavily promoted Russian indictments knew the underlying claims were centered on the thinnest of evidence.
A few Facebook memes were used to accuse Russian company Concord LLC of violating FARA and FEC election laws.
In July,2018, Robert Mueller asked a federal judge in Washington for an order that would protect the handover of voluminous evidence to lawyers for Concord Management and Consulting LLC, one of three companies and 13 Russian nationals charged in a February 2018 indictment. They are accused of producing propaganda, posing as U.S. activists and posting political content on social media as so-called trolls to encourage strife in the U.S.
Indeed, to an incurious media, a Russian catering company posting Facebook memes might sound like a good justification for a vast Russian election interference prosecution; however, when Concord & the accused Russians show up in court and request to see the evidence against them, well, the prosecutors might just have a problem.
It was that problem that dogged the Mueller prosecution since 2018. In March, of this year predictably and finally, the DOJ dropped the nonsense case (full pdf below):
The Russia election interference narrative was always a farce. The ridiculous Russian indictments were only created to give some sense of validity to a premise that did not exist; and to allow the Robert Mueller investigation to continue operating when there was never a valid justification for doing so.
This was perhaps the biggest shell game operation, with a non-existent pea, using the DOJ and FBI to give the impression that something nefarious had happened; when factually the ‘Russian Conspiracy Narrative’ was all just one big hoax upon the American people.
The purpose of Robert Mueller was to create something, find anything, that would lead to their political allies being able to remove a sitting president. Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein participated in that hoax for those intents….
When contemplating the malign activity of Rod Rosenstein; and how angered President Trump is with former AG Jeff Sessions; it is worth remembering that Sessions requested Rod Rosenstein as his deputy, and then immediately thereafter Sessions recused himself, effectively positioning Rosenstein to run the operation against President Trump.
That’s the background context for a great interview by Gregg Jarrett where Jarrett walks through the timeline of events with former HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes. At the 5:30 point of the interview, Nunes identifies Rosenstein as part of the coup attempt and blasts him for how Rosenstein structured the fraudulent scope memos.
Nunes says his investigation is now looking at the part of the effort where Robert Mueller’s investigation was used as part of the initiating effort to remove President Trump. With the focus on the Mueller team, Nunes is now making additional criminal referrals based on his findings. WATCH:
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The Obama-era surveillance network is at the center of all of this.
It’s worth remembering Sharyl Attkisson has identified Rosenstein as a defendant in her lawsuit about illegal surveillance operations carried out while she was a CBS reporter.
According to the lawsuit (full pdf) Rod Rosenstein, as the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, was in charge of the Obama 2011 and 2012 operation to monitor journalists specific to Ms. Attkisson’s reporting on Fast-n-Furious and Benghazi.
Former DOJ Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is named in the Attkisson lawsuit as the person who was in charge of the operation; and the former head of the FBI DC field office, Shawn Henry is also outlined.
Mr. Henry is the head of Crowdstrike, a contractor for the government and a politically connected data security and forensic company. Those who have followed the aspects related to the FBI use of the NSA database to illegally monitor U.S. persons; and those who followed the DNC cover story of Russia “hacking”; will be familiar with Crowdstrike.
What I find additionally interesting is the overall timeline in the bigger picture.
In the April 2017 release from FISC Judge Rosemary Collyer outlining the abuses of the FISA-702 process by FBI “contractors”, where the NSA database was being use for unlawful surveillance of U.S. persons, Collyer specifically noted the findings of her review of the period from November ’15 to May ’16 (85% non compliant rate) was likely to have been happening since 2012. [Go Deep]
The “IRS Scandal” were the DOJ was creating a list of U.S. persons for political targeting, and requested CD ROM’s of tax filings, was the lead-up to the 2012 exploitation of the NSA database. [The Secret Research Project] So there’s a larger picture of government surveillance under the Obama administration that becomes more clear.
Political spying 1.0 was actually the weaponization of the IRS. This is where the term “Secret Research Project” originated as a description from the Obama team. It involved the U.S. Department of Justice under Eric Holder and the FBI under Robert Mueller. It never made sense why Eric Holder requested over 1 million tax records via CD ROM, until overlaying the timeline of the FISA abuse:
The IRS sent the FBI “21 disks constituting a 1.1 million page database of information from 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The transaction occurred in October 2010 (link)
Why disks? Why send a stack of DISKS to the DOJ and FBI when there’s a pre-existing financial crimes unit within the IRS. All of the evidence within this sketchy operation came directly to the surface in early spring 2012.
This is the same time-frame when DNI James Clapper falsely denied to congress about the U.S. government -through the NSA- collecting metadata on all U.S. electronic communication. This is the same time-frame where CIA Director John Brennan was monitoring the computer networks of congressional intelligence oversight staff.
Within the Attkisson lawsuit the DOJ inspector general is identified as adverse to the interests of the case. Meaning DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz was engaged in behavior to help the institution cover-up what independent computer forensic technicians were able to discover. Employees from the IG’s office also told Ms. Attkisson they had received instructions from the DC offices adverse to the interest of truthful discovery.
In addition to the institutional cover-up effort; it would be worth noting that current DOJ and FBI officials, who have been identified as holding corrupt motives, are still being positioned at key offices. An example is FBI Supervisory Special Agent David Archey (Mueller Team) being promoted to head up the Virginia FBI field office.
Obviously the DC institutional swamp is very deep and very corrupt. Current and former politicians and federal officials who have engaged in corrupt behavior, or who have facilitated corrupt -potentially unlawful- surveillance activity, are still working within the system to avoid exposure.
Another recent example is former Christine Blasey-Ford hoax facilitator and Andrew McCabe attorney, Michael Bromwich, being hired by corrupt Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx in an effort to protect herself from the outcome of the Jussie Smollett hoax in Chicago. Why does a Cook County, Illinois, State Attorney need to hire a DC-based lawyer?
It was obvious early on the Jussie Smollett hoax was connected to several members of the Obama team and network. Michael Bromwich is a former DOJ inspector general with ongoing direct contacts with corrupt DOJ and FBI officials inside the institutions. Chicago State Attorney Foxx hiring Bromwich is yet another example of DC managing the cover.
Whether it’s the identified weaponization of NSA databases; or whether it’s corrupt FBI officials covering for each-other and the DOJ ‘declining to prosecute’; or whether it’s current AG Bill Barr appearing to cover for the transparently corrupt former DAG Rod Rosenstein; or whether it’s the need for the DOJ to hide the scope memos until DNI Ric Grenell showed up; one thing remains brutally obvious…
…This entire surveillance network hits on the epicenter of DC’s corrupt interests.
Through a FOIA request Judicial Watch received Rod Rosenstein’s email communication around the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller [See Here]. The content further confirms when Rosenstein took Mueller to the White House on May 16th, 2017, the purpose was for Mueller to preview his target, President Trump.
Rosenstein took Mueller to visit Jeff Sessions on May 13th, the specifics of that email likely concern keeping prior private conversations out of the discussion with Sessions.
If we insert the Rosenstein email conversation into our timeline the picture is clear.
Perhaps the most important aspect is how DAG Rosenstein took Robert Mueller to the White House on May 16th, to interview President Trump. The decision to appoint Mueller as special counsel was pre-determined prior to the White House visit:
♦James Comey was fired at approximately 5:00pm EST on Tuesday May 9th, 2017. The next morning, less than 15 hours after Comey was fired, Rosenstein contacted Robert Mueller about the special counsel appointment.
During the congressional testimony of Robert Mueller, Representative Andy Biggs noted evidence of a phone call between Mueller and Rod Rosenstein on Wednesday May 10th, 2017, at 7:45am. Listen carefully at the 2:26 point of the video.
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From the Judicial Watch FOIA release we can see that following the 7:45am phone call Rod Rosenstein received contact info from Mueller’s asst (8:09am), and Rosenstein emailed his assistant at 8:13am with instructions to contact Mueller’s asst and set up a meeting for Friday May 12th:
Marcia Murphy from the Office of the DAG, then followed through and set up a meeting for 8:00am, Friday May 12th at Main Justice, between Rosenstein and Mueller:
Following that May 12th 8:00am meeting with Mueller, Rod Rosenstein then met with Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe Andrew McCabe. – According to McCabe:
… “[Rosenstein] asked for my thoughts about whether we needed a special counsel to oversee the Russia case. I said I thought it would help the investigation’s credibility. Later that day, I went to see Rosenstein again. This is the gist of what I said: I feel strongly that the investigation would be best served by having a special counsel.” (link)
Later that night (May 12th), at 9:15pm Rosenstein then emails Robert Mueller: “I assume you realize the boss and his staff do not know about our discussions.”
That email is directly related to a meeting scheduled on Saturday May 13th between Rosenstein, Mueller and Jeff Sessions; which is confirmed in the Andy Biggs questioning.
♦Sunday May 14th – Comey transmitted copies of Memos 2, 4, and 6, and a partially redacted copy of Memo 7 to Patrick Fitzgerald, who was one of Comey’s personal attorneys. Fitzgerald received the email and PDF attachment from Comey at 2:27 p.m. on May 14, 2017, per the IG report.
♦Monday May 15th, McCabe states he and Rosenstein conferred again about the Special Counsel approach. McCabe: “I brought the matter up with him again after the weekend.”
On this same day was when James Rybicki called SSA Whistleblower to notify him of Comey’s memos. The memos were “stored” in a “reception area“, and in locked drawers in James Rybicki’s office.
♦Tuesday May 16th – Per the IG report: “On the morning of May 16, Comey took digital photographs of both pages of Memo 4 with his personal cell phone. Comey then sent both photographs, via text message, to Richman.
Back in Main Justice at 12:30pm Rod Rosenstein, Andrew McCabe, Jim Crowell and Tashina Guahar all appear to be part of this meeting. I should note that alternate documentary evidence, gathered over the past two years, supports the content of this McCabe memo. Including texts between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok:
[Sidebar: pay attention to the *current* redactions; they appear to be placed by existing DOJ officials in an effort to protect Rod Rosenstein for his duplicity in: (A) running the Mueller sting operation at the white house on the same day; (B) the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel, which was pre-determined before the Oval Office meeting.]
While McCabe was writing this afternoon memo, still May 16th, Rod Rosenstein took Robert Mueller to the White House for a meeting in the oval office with President Trump and VP Mike Pence.
After six days of phone calls, emails and in person meetings, this visit to the White House was clearly Rod Rosenstein introducing Robert Mueller to the target of the investigation. Rosenstein already knew he was going to appoint Mueller; and Mueller, along with the small group in the FBI, already knew Mueller was going to be appointed.
Later that night (May 16th), following the Mueller visit, there was a debriefing session back at Main Justice. This evening meeting appears to be Lisa Page, Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe; along with Tashina Gauhar again taking notes.
♦ Wednesday May 17th, 2017: Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe go to brief the congressional “Gang-of-Eight”: Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Devin Nunes, Adam Schiff, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Richard Burr and Mark Warner.
… […] “On the afternoon of May 17, Rosenstein and I sat at the end of a long conference table in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol. We were there to brief the so-called Gang of Eight—the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Rosenstein had, I knew, made a decision to appoint a special counsel in the Russia case.”
[…] “After reminding the committee of how the investigation began, I told them of additional steps we had taken. Then Rod took over and announced that he had appointed a special counsel to pursue the Russia investigation, and that the special counsel was Robert Mueller.” (link)
Immediately following this May 17, 2017, Go8 briefing, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein notified the public of the special counsel appointment.
According to President Trump’s Attorney John Dowd, the White House was stunned by the decision. [Link] Coincidentally, AG Jeff Sessions was in the oval office for unrelated business when White House counsel Don McGahn came in and informed the group.
Jeff Sessions immediately offered his resignation, and Sessions’ chief-of-staff Jody Hunt went back to the Main Justice office to ask Rosenstein what the hell was going on.
Yesterday we noted a rather important, yet less discussed, motive for the strength of the DC Circuit Court position against Judge Emmet Sullivan. I’ll expand after the video.
In this interview Gregg Jarrett talks with Flynn’s defense lawyer Sidney Powell about the rather unusual behavior of Judge Emmet Sullivan. WATCH:
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A DC judge hiring a well connected DC lawyer to write his response to a DC circuit court appeals panel is the part that’s interesting. There’s no guarantee the appeals court will accept such a response; but that’s also another issue. Bottom line: Judge Sullivan is importing a lawyer to represent his interests. Very unusual.
CTH readers are smart; aware and smart enough not to get stuck in the weeds; so let’s stay elevated on this and look at the whole picture. Consider this decision by Judge Emmet Sullivan through the prism of recent events surrounding Flynn:
♦ The DOJ, joined with the defense position and filed an unopposed motion to drop the case against Michael Flynn.
♦ A USAO from Missouri, Jeff Jensen, has discovered a trail of internal evidence pointing toward a corrupt originating prosecution for the case against Flynn. Mr. Jensen has been revealing those documents and providing them to the court (and defense).
♦ Meanwhile DNI Ric Grenell has declassified and revealed documents showing a corrupt intent by the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) against Michael Flynn.
♦ On Friday (5/22/20) the FBI Director announced an internal investigation into officials inside the FBI for wrongful conduct specifically as it relates to a corrupt operation, now discovered and public, against Michael Flynn.
Additionally, we shall not play games and ignore the obvious.
Judge Emmet Sullivan is well aware of the reason why former Judge Rudolph “Rudy” Contreras was recused from the Flynn case; only days after accepting the first plea agreement, and less than 72 hours after the Peter Strzok and Lisa Page text messages publicly surfaced.
Lisa Page: “Rudy is on the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]! Did you know that?” “Just appointed two months ago””..
Peter Strzok: “I did. We talked about it before and after. I need to get together with him.”…
Notice Strzok is saying he and Rudy had a talk about the judge joining the FISA court both before and after Judge Contreras was appointed. There is a friendship connection, not just a professional relationship. This will come into play later on.
Lisa Page and Peter Strzok even discussed the friendship between the FBI Agent and Judge Contreras being an issue that might cause a conflict of interest within the activity of Strzok as lead agent within the counterintelligence division within the FBI.
The issue was enough for Peter Strzok to say he was planning to discuss the conflict with Rudy. Specifically Strzok was aware his work and Contreras position would likely lead to an investigation where the judge would have to recuse himself.
Agent Strzok planned to have this conversation with Rudy, and he preferred to have the discussion informally just days before Strzok official launched operation crossfire hurricane.
As the texts outline the issue of Rudy and Peter’s friendship is known to the small group in the FBI, being talked about internally, and Strzok is keenly aware he will have to approach it. As Peter Strzok replies to Lisa Page: “M suggested a social setting with others would probably be better than a one on one meeting.”
The informal nature of a social conversation about it, with others who could corroborate if needed, would provide plausible deniability on both ends and dilute the toxicity of any issue that surfaced later on. The conflict was enough of a concern to require a strategy.
Fast forward to the following year…
The special counsel investigation was absorbing 100% of the media’s attention. Within DC all that anyone was talking about was the Mueller investigation and the “Trump-Russia” narrative. The indictment of Lt. General Michael Flynn has led the news headlines for months.
There is no way a DC district court judge ; especially one that has sat on the FISA court during the time the DOJ and FBI were abusing the process; would be unaware of the investigation. Additionally and more importantly, there is no way a DC district judge, FISA judge and good friend of Peter Strzok, would be unaware that Flynn’s prosecution was an extension of an FBI counterintelligence case against all of the Trump officials.
Holding a position of justification by saying DC district court Judge Rudolph Contreras would be unaware of the nature and circumstances of the Flynn case prior to assignment would be intellectually silly and obtuse in the extreme. Contreras knew the case; perhaps not the granular details, but he knew the case and who was prosecuting it.
On November 30th, 2017, Mike Flynn signed a guilty plea; ostensibly admitting lying to FBI investigators. The plea was accepted the next day by Judge Rudolph “Rudy” Contreras (who is also a FISA court judge). Six days later, December 7, 2017, Judge Contreras “was recused” from the case without explanation.
It’s important to note that Judge Contreras did not recuse himself, he was recused by the U.S. District court for the District of Columbia. [Source]
The court made the public announcement that Judge Contreras “has been recused from handling the case.”
If the conflict -which required recusal- existed on December 7, 2017, wouldn’t that same conflict have existed days earlier on November 30th? Of course it did. And of course Judge Rudolph Contreras would be aware of that conflict long before engaging in the case itself.
The moment the case was assigned, Contreras knew there was a conflict for him.
Again, if the conflict existed on December 7th, the conflict certainly existed on December 1st. So why did he accept the case? Why did he participate in the case until the district court intervened and removed it from him?
There has been a transparent lack of media curiosity on this issue from the day the court announced his recusal. Apparently those questions did not fit the media objective.
This context is important because the DC circuit court is now ordering district Judge Sullivan to explain his decision-making. They are using very strong language toward Judge Sullivan and have surprised many legal experts in the way the circuit court panel has approach it.
The panel of circuit judges: Henderson, Wilkins and Rao, did not rule on the petition for the writ of mandamus; instead they “ordered” Judge Sullivan to explain himself within ten days. The same panel “invited” the DOJ to participate:
I would suggest to you the reason for the strength in the circuit court position is entirely connected to their knowledge of the back-ground of the Flynn case which included the recusal of Judge Contreras. None of this, specifically the tone of the panel in their order, is disconnected from the larger background.
Whether they want to admit it or not, and they would never do so publicly, the DC court has to be keenly aware of the material behind this case. They have to be aware of what DNI Grenell has exposed; they have to be aware the FBI is now investigating itself based on how the FBI handled the Flynn case; and this same DC circuit knows the FISA court process was abused by the exact same participants involved in this Flynn prosecution.
The media, and some DOJ and FBI defenders are playing too-cute-by-half in providing justifications for the DOJ/FBI activity. But the bigger picture is in full sunlight.
The media ignoring it, and the legions of former DOJ and FBI employees attempting to be disingenuous about it, does not change our level of information about it; and certainly does not change the disposition of a DC court system that has watched this playing out in their back yard.
It’s a question that has been asked several times: why is FBI Director Christopher Wray now starting an internal review of those within the FBI who were engaged with the events around Lt. General Michael Flynn. Why did he wait so long?
In this interview Representative Andy Biggs discusses that question. WATCH:
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The most likely answer is simply sunlight. The corrupt FBI activity was clearly evident within the organization in 2018 and 2019. However, the recent change is the public awareness of it with documented evidence.
Keep in mind there are dozens of currently employed FBI officials, agents, analysts and administrators who participated in the effort. As a result of USAO Jeff Jensen reviewing the activity; and in combination with DNI Ric Grenell declassifying and releasing the information to the public; FBI Director Chris Wray has no choice.
Remember, despite his involvement FBI supervising agent David Archey was promoted and now leads the Virginia field office. Additionally, one of the key actors, FBI Agent Joe Pientka, was transferred to San Francisco. Both Archey and Pientka are part of a much larger network of FBI officials that remain currently employed and have never been held accountable.
Agent’s Pientka and Archey were coordinating their corrupt operations with several dozen FBI officials and staff.
Trisha Anderson, Brian Auten, James Baker, William Barr, Dana Boente, Jennifer Boone, John Brennan, James Clapper, Kevin Clinesmith, James Comey, Patrick Conlon, Michael Dempsey, Stuart Evans, Tashina Gauhar, Carl Ghattas, Curtis Heide, Kathleen Kavalec, David Laufman, Stephen Laycock, Jacob Lew, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, Mary McCord, Denis McDonough, Arthur McGlynn, Jonathan Moffa, Sally Moyer, Mike Neufield, Sean Newell, Victoria Nuland, Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, Stephanie L. O’Sullivan, Lisa Page, Joseph Pientka, John Podesta, Samantha Power, E.W. “Bill” Priestap, Sarah Raskin, Steve Ricchetti, Susan Rice, Rod Rosenstein, Gabriel Sanz-Rexach, Nathan Sheets, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Glenn Simpson, Steve Somma, Peter Strzok, Michael Sussman, Adam Szubin, Jonathan Winer, Christopher Wray, and Sally Yates.
Once you get on the Sunlight Express you can’t get off ’til the ride’s over.
The defensive posture by those attempting to deflect attention from the political unmasking requests made by the Obama-era administration and embed career officials is to highlight the volume of unmasking requests made in 2017 and 2018.
“Sundance what is your take on this fact that’s getting thrown around about 16,000 unmaskings in 2018? Wallace makes sure to point that out, and that it is not a crime itself, but leaking it is a crime. Although if the unmasking isn’t for the purpose stated it should be a crime.”
The answer is really quite simple. Think about what the Special Counsel’s office [Mueller Team] previously explained about the SCO investigation… These requests flowed through a very facilitating DNI Dan Coats and explains the vast majority of “unmasking” requests:
Again, in order for the media to retain their resistance bona fides, and keep the flow of their cocktail party invites, they have to pretend not to know things.
Carry on.
We have not yet gotten to the point of the reveal where the Mueller probe is identified as the insurance policy; and thankfully it now appears AG Bill Barr recognizes that his good friend Mueller was part of the abuse; but it will come. Hopefully not too much longer.
Apparently the Fox News crew doesn’t like the effective approach by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. During the pearl clutching discussion the panelists are aghast at an administration spokesperson who articulately presents and defends the office of the president in a manner that doesn’t fit their approved norms.
Having dropped his conservative pretense behind the can of unused shaving cream in the non-mirrored bathroom cabinet, Jonah Goldberg, who has a long history of attacking strong and articulate conservative women who dare exit the kitchen, pontificates that McEnany is “grotesque” in her approach. Meanwhile Chris Wallace clutches his pearls and pretends not to know the press pool is fraught with Trump derangement resistance.
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Kayleigh McEnany is really good. She effectively shows the American electorate the ridiculous hypocrisy of the beltway media at each event, by drawing attention to their non-coverage. McEnany does a better job in her position than any before her.
McEnany is smart, articulate, joyful and christian. This puts a unique target on her back for those in opposition desperate to retain the DC fraud, two-party pretense and cocktail party invitations.
Infected with a toxic strain of metastasized TDS, his Trump-era irrelevance now painfully transforms his physical appearance into that of Canis Lupus. Alas, methinks the Goldberg doth howl too much.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Additionally, Rosenstein is at the epicenter of the ‘insurance policy’ phase of the coup against President Trump. If the intent of Graham is to provide both transparency or a cover-up, former Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein is who you’d start with on both fronts.
Centinel2012 