[USA Today] WASHINGTON ‐ In early January, news that the Justice Department’s inspector general launched an investigation into the government's disputed handling of the Hillary Clinton email inquiry was quickly overtaken by the chaotic run-up to President Trump’s inauguration.
Nearly a year later, Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s wide-ranging review of the FBI and Justice’s work in the politically-charged Clinton case now looms as a potential landmine for Russia special counsel Robert Mueller.
For months, Horowitz’s investigation ‐ which has amassed interviews with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former FBI Director James Comey and other key officials ‐ had been grinding on in near anonymity. That is, until earlier this month when the inspector general acknowledged that Mueller was alerted to a cache of text messages exchanged between two FBI officials on his staff that disparaged Trump.
The communications, involving senior counter-intelligence agent Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page, were gathered in the course of Horowitz’s internal review of the Clinton case, which Strzok also helped oversee. Horowitz’s investigation is not examining Mueller’s operation. But the disclosures already have provided a hammer to Trump loyalists who are escalating their criticisms of the legitimacy of the special counsel’s inquiry.
Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein only highlighted the potential gravity of the inspector general's work when they repeatedly urged Republican House committee members during separate hearings to withhold judgment about allegations of bias within the FBI until the internal Justice probe is completed.
Justice officials have indicated that a report is likely in the next few months.
[WASHINGTONPOST] The four-page memo, written by House Republicans, said its findings "raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain [Justice Department] and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)," which authorizes surveillance of individuals believed to be agents of foreign powers. The memo cites "a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process," a reference to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The memo alleges that a surveillance warrant was obtained and renewed on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, with information from an individual with an anti-Trump agenda. And Republicans have charged that the warrant taints the origins of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into possible coordination between Trump associates and agents of the Russian government during the 2016 campaign.
It is unclear whether Trump will use the memo to fire people involved in the Russia probe, including Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees it. Asked Friday by a news hound whether he was more likely to fire Rosenstein after the release of the memo and whether he had confidence in him, Trump replied, "You figure that one out."
Democrats warned against any dismissals at the Justice Department, saying such moves would trigger a constitutional crisis.
Matthew Olsen, a former Justice Department official who used to oversee the FISA process, called the memo "a transparently political, amateurish effort" that does not raise meaningful legal questions about the application to surveil Page. "Not only does it not undermine the basis for the surveillance, but it reinforced that there was real merit and foundation for the application, because this application was approved and renewed multiple times," he said. Previous articles involving Matthew:2015-09-12,2014-09-10,2014-09-06, 2012-09-27 where Clinton gave her speech on Libya to the UN,2009-06-14,2009-01-16, 2009-02-21 BTW he's had many long titles.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security,
a 12-year career prosecutor and acting assistant attorney general for national security,
head of the Obama administration's Guantanamo Review Task Force,
the director of the National Counterterrorism Center,
US terrorism expert Matthew Olsen,
Former National Counterterrorism Center Director
a former Justice Department official who used to oversee the FISA process
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Democrats warned against any dismissals at the Justice Department, saying such moves would trigger a constitutional crisis.
No need for 'dismissal' prior to the appointment of a Special Counsel or Prosecutor. Assign these people to the personnel department pending the outcome of investigations. Let's get on with it please.
#3
Let me get this right, the cabal of actors engaged in undermining the Constitutional process of freely electing a man for the office of president and that isn't a "Constitutional Crisis"?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2018 20:07 Comments ||
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#12
Just transfer them to some shithole FBI office with an assignment to count all the ceiling tiles to be sure that they (the ceiling tiles) are all in place.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/04/2018 20:44 Comments ||
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h/t Instapundit
Wow, wow, and double wow. Now we are starting to get a look at a conspiracy so immense it can scarcely be believed. The media, the Democrat National Committee, a genuinely brain dead FISA judge, and now the media over and over again are shown to be working night and day to destroy the constitutional system of government.
The media, apparently believing it is above the law (and I guess it is), has been working hand in glove with the HRC campaign to ensure that the GenSec of the Democrat/MSM Party could not lose the election of November 2016. Yet somehow, the GenSec, Madame Mao, Jing Qing (or however the hell it’s spelled) lost to a man who should never in a million years come even close to winning. So now the DNC/MSM coalition has had to go into the highest possible gear to cover up the failed conspiracy against the nation.
Instead of trying to get the big news out, the DNC/MSM apparatus worked like demons to bottle up the news. But now the news is out: The DNC/MSM Gang illegally spied on Trump. They didn’t use a bunch of burglars at the Watergate. They used the courts and they succeeded. They actually used a Russian or Russian friendly ex-spy, gossip, and bought paid for lies to violate the election laws and the civil rights of Americans.
Still, the media tries to make light of it.
Can you in your wildest dreams imagine if the GOP had done that to Mrs. Clinton? Can you imagine the blood in the eyes of the media pooh-bahs if they found the GOP doing exactly what HRC and the media did?
Thank God that Trump won. Otherwise, this deeply disturbing behavior of the DNC/MSM/Deep State/Russia cabal would go utterly unnoticed and we would continue to snooze as the left emasculated the Constitution.
Three cheers for Devin Nunes. And a special prosecutor now, if you please, to go after the people behind the phony dossier and Mr. Steele and the FISA warrant. These are real crimes. Real subversion of the justice system. What Nixon did was a high school boy’s snatching hubcaps by comparison. Will the media ever be held accountable?
Of course not. Not one person has ever been charged or prosecuted for the tens of millions of deaths under Stalin. The left takes care of its own. The right has a conscience. Big difference. But maybe we have a fighter this time.
#2
They are not the loyal opposition. They are not well-meaning people with whom we have a good faith dispute. They are the enemy. They want to destroy us and everything we value, and they will do or say anything to accomplish that goal.
#5
DiGenova mentioned a FISA opinion, based upon an NSA audit initiated by ADM Rogers.
Do you supposed the findings of that audit and the FISA determination had anything to do with the forced recusal of the FISA judge???
Yes we dodged a bullet. Taken with her mean spirited attitudes, the weaponized IRS, DoJ, FBI, BLM, etc., and the never ending quest for tax revenue and give away programs to buy votes for illegal aliens, had Shillary been elected, it would have been "bread and circuses" for eight years and the end of the Republic.
I would be willing to state that by year three of a Hillary presidency, we would have suffered either a catastrophic terrorist attack (nuclear) on a major city or/and a major war in which our emasculated military led by Zero sycophants would be thoroughly humiliated and defeated.
After reading things on Rantburg for eight years, it was clear where things were going with the previous administration and what they wanted to do, and how she would have not only continued the programs, but expanded them. We were in deep trouble until DJT came along.
It should be obvious that only deep blue urban areas pay any attention to the MSM. It is also obvious that identity politics only resonates with those same areas, perpetual victims and children of critical theory education.
That should bode well for the GOP but then that party has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory often. I don't know why the MSM or the Dems think they are going to win a tidal wave of disgruntled voters and a landslide majority in Congress.
The memo and continuing investigations and other future disclosures will blow things sky high.
Of course the second Shillary or zero is arrested it will be a political banana republic arrest and not due to malfeasance or traitorous activity
#6
It should be obvious that only deep blue urban areas pay any attention to the MSM.
"Urban areas"....by construct and design. The recusal of the FISA judge.... interesting observation and question. Let us hope those bastids are clean. Nice analysis as usual SPOD.
#8
I would be willing to state that by year three of a Hillary presidency we would be embroiled in a civil war amidst a total economic collapse. That, SPoD, was my nightmare.
[WeaselZipper] "You’ve been around for 13 months. We've been around since 1908. I know how this game is going to be played. We're going to win" I hope "Former" can be taken in this case to mean "Bat$hit Crazy." Vid at link. Phil Mudd
Click on his name. He has quite a history of threats like this.
Hayden isn't protecting Mudd so much as he is attempting to insulate the real architects of Deep State corruption, Brennan and Obama.
Phil Mudd:
Continued on Page 49
#2
Mike Hayden - As deputy director of national intelligence in 2005, I thought so highly of Phil that I personally pressured him to leave the CIA and his comfort zone there to take on a challenging new task as deputy head of the FBI's fledgling National Security Branch.
Translation: The Klingons needed a man in the top echelons of the Bureau. Phil Mudd was that man.
#6
Or, they just wanted to unload the idiot on somebody else. Posted by g(r)omgoru
Yes, very likely as well. DIA had a liaison program like that once. If thru longevity, they somehow climbed into the more senior grades, but were so helpless no one in the Silver Bullet would talk to them, they become candidates for external liaison positions. If they were so helpless as to be an actual embarrassment to the agency, they were shuffled off to internal personnel, VIP visit coordination, or financial roles.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/04/2018 8:42 Comments ||
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#9
Hire the GRU, on a short term contract.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/04/2018 9:06 Comments ||
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#10
Dang, missed the /sarc tag.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/04/2018 9:07 Comments ||
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#11
Do we have a scenario where the "police" are so corrupt that the army has to play that role?
I thought the army was the ultimate protector of the government, particularly of the executive branch.
#13
US Marshalls. They seem like the only ones untainted.
"Around D C and in the territory out west, there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers and that's with a U.S. Marshal and the smell of gunsmoke."
#14
Kinda makes me wonder if it'd be enough just to shut down the State Department and the CIA. Might have to send 'em all to Guantanamo.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/04/2018 10:59 Comments ||
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#15
This is the kind of comment that can cause paranoia and when people become paranoid there is no telling what they might do. One has to wonder if this is a loose cannon or if he is delivering a message from his bosses. It is very disturbing.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/04/2018 13:45 Comments ||
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#16
paranoia can quickly lead to situations like this:
[Chicago Tribune] The Democratic Media Complex is once again suffering hysterics, pulling out its hair and screaming over the release of the House Republican report, aka “the memo.”
The memo alleges abuses by top officials of the FBI and the Justice Department in their investigation of President Donald Trump and suspected Russian collusion.
Democrats are furious and say the memo is incomplete, full of lies and half-truths, and they’re busy telling their followers not to read the memo, while heaping hate on one of the authors, House Intelligence Committee chairman U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes.
Democrats, the FBI and the Justice Department argued that the memo should not be made public, because it endangered national security. But after reading it, those claims appear to be nonsense.
Asked about the political hate coming his way, Nunes said, “It’s actually quite enjoyable. You know you’re over the target when you’re being attacked.”
Each side wants to convince Americans that they’re on the side of the angels. But if you look for angels in politics, you are apt to be driven mad.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
"Millions of people are gonna die in horrible, flame-broiled deaths!"
#3
Y'know, these idjits have a serious problem. James Mattis is SecDef. He is also an honorable man, and takes his oath to the Constitution seriously. I'm sure he's developing options to deal with the loony left, and it won't be pretty.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2018 20:16 Comments ||
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#4
If they get this overwrought about the memo, just image what happens when the IG report comes out
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[USA Today] WASHINGTON ‐ In early January, news that the Justice Department’s inspector general launched an investigation into the government's disputed handling of the Hillary Clinton email inquiry was quickly overtaken by the chaotic run-up to President Trump’s inauguration.
The Democratic Media Complex is once again suffering hysterics, pulling out its hair and screaming over the release of the House Republican report, aka “the memo.”
