[Wash Examiner] Emails in 2016 between former British spy Christopher Steele and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr suggest Steele was deeply concerned about the legal status of a Putin-linked Russian oligarch, and at times seemed to be advocating on the oligarch's behalf, in the same time period Steele worked on collecting the Russia-related allegations against Donald Trump that came to be known as the Trump dossier. The emails show Steele and Ohr were in frequent contact, that they intermingled talk about Steele's research and the oligarch's affairs, and that Glenn Simpson, head of the dirt-digging group Fusion GPS that hired Steele to compile the dossier, was also part of the ongoing conversation. All of which appears to indicate the allegations against Donald Trump are little more than deep state projection.
In 2009, when Mueller ran the FBI, the bureau asked Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to spend millions of his own dollars funding an FBI-supervised operation to rescue a retired FBI agent, Robert Levinson, captured in Iran while working for the CIA in 2007.
Yes, that’s the same Deripaska who has surfaced in Mueller’s current investigation and who was recently sanctioned by the Trump administration.
In April 2018, the United States imposed sanctions on him and 23 other Russian nationals.[117][118] In the statement from the United States Department of the Treasury it was stated that Deripaska "has been accused of threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering". According to the US treasury statement there are allegations that Deripaska ordered the murder of a businessman, and had links to a Russian organized crime group.[119]
[The Hill] The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is readying subpoenas for people connected to the controversial "Steele" dossier, sources tell The Hill.
Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is preparing subpoenas for Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, his wife Nellie Ohr and Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, according to two congressional sources familiar with the matter.
The committee will also go after other current and former FBI and DOJ officials including Jim Baker, Sally Moyer, Jonathan Moffa and George Toscas, the sources said.
Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores told The Hill that Goodlatte has been in touch with the DOJ about seeking testimonies from these officials.
A Republican House Judiciary Committee aide confirmed to The Hill they plan to seek such interviews.
[NR] Emails recently provided to Congress by the Department of Justice (DOJ) reveal that Christopher Steele, the former British spy contracted by opposition-research firm Fusion GPS, was in regular contact with senior DOJ official Bruce Ohr as he compiled his infamous dossier on then-candidate Trump.
The emails, reviewed by the Washington Examiner, largely pertain to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, and appear to indicate that Steele was lobbying Ohr, then the fourth-ranking official at the DOJ, to help improve the billionaire aluminum magnate’s visa status.
Deripaska, who was barred from traveling to the U.S. in 2006 due to alleged ties to organized crime, is connected to Vladimir Putin and owns the massive Russian aluminum company Rusal.
"I heard from Adam WALDMAN [a Deripaska lawyer/lobbyist] yesterday that OD is applying for another official US visa ice [sic] APEC business at the end of February," Steele wrote in a Jan. 12, 2016, email to Ohr, referring to Adam Waldman, an American lobbyist Deripaska hired to improve his diplomatic status.
In a subsequent email, Steele informs Ohr that Deripaska received a visa to travel to the U.S. and asks that Ohr "monitor" the situation should any "complications arise."
"As far as I’m concerned, this is good news all round although as before, it would be helpful if you could monitor it and let me know if any complications arise," Steele wrote of Deripaska’s prospective visa on February 8, 2016.
#1
On Wednesday, Ellis ripped into prosecutors for letting a witness, IRS Agent Michael Welsh, sit in the courtroom before his testimony.
Given that the IRS has not to our knowledge filed charges and / or assessed a tax liability against either Manafort or Rick Gates on the basis of tax fraud, here's a question - why is IRS Agent Welsh a witness in the first place? The only reason I can figure is to create doubt in the jury's mind, as if to say 'the IRS looked at one / both of these guys, so they must be guilty of something.', which is scumbaggery at it's worst.
#4
Goofing aside, let me restate things. I am fully aware of the weaponization of the IRS, so why wasn't Manafort or Gates taken out on the initial shot? I believe it's because the initial charges were bullshit, and now Mueller gets to take a second shot at them.
#5
Witnesses are not allowed to view or listen to other testimony to prevent them from shading theirs to knowingly match/compliment/repair. Court 101
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/10/2018 7:54 Comments ||
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#6
Don't forget Raj that the real target is Trump, so it matters not at all what they are doing with Manafort or Gates.
BTW glad that you are still here to share your thoughts on the 'burg. There ain't many of our kind in Massaholia and there will be one less when I move to NH next week. Illegitimi non carborundum.
#9
Just a wild guess but maybe the IRS never went after Manafort because that was back in 2005, before Baraq was president. Now, let's see, who was president than?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/10/2018 11:30 Comments ||
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#10
Is their case really going that badly?
Posted by: Tom ||
08/10/2018 12:34 Comments ||
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#11
Case is not going their way, the judge isnt letting them play fast and loose. Mueller is a liar and should be up on charges himself along with Comey, and a whole pile off the Obama-Clinton cabal.
Posted by: Boss Spoper5850 ||
08/10/2018 13:05 Comments ||
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#13
It it common for the prosecutors to spar with the judge like this? I can understand they are pouty for not getting their way, but it seems counter-productive in the long run.
/disclaimer: Not A Lawyer
BLUF:
[The Federalist] This Is About Much More than a Chinese Spy
Let us review the facts here. China has for almost 40 years cultivated warm relations with Feinstein.
Feinstein has uniformly taken political positions supporting greater ties with China while taking a relatively dovish and strictly apologist line on its human rights atrocities.
Feinstein’s husband has profited handsomely during Feinstein’s career from the greatly expanded China trade she supported. It is of course possible that the Feinstein family’s privileged position with the Chinese regime improved his investment opportunities.
Feinstein has served as a key intermediary between China and the U.S. government, while serving on committees whose work would be of keen interest to the PRC.
A staffer of almost two decades in close proximity to Feinstein was allegedly successfully recruited by China’s MSS and fed China "political intelligence."
Imagine for a second how a motivated and empowered prosecutor would operate in this situation if tasked with exploring "any links and/or coordination" between the Chinese government, Feinstein, and individuals associated with her office.
Few American officials could have been as potentially exposed to the PRC’s skilled intelligence service as Feinstein. Here we have not only proof of a spy, but real evidence of consistently pro-Chinese policy that at very best created the appearance of a financial conflict of interest.
Recall that the Chinese regime conducted the cataclysmic U.S. Office of Personnel Management hack, arming it with the most compromising possible information on 21 million government employees and applicants. Then the PRC liquidated America’s entire informant network on the Chinese mainland. So why isn’t this a major national story drawing hysterical cries of treason and calls for impeachment?
Feinstein’s dealings with the Chinese must be investigated. But so too ought the links between federal officials and all of our adversaries, be it the Chinese and Russians, the Pakistanis and Iranians, or the Muslim Brotherhood and its state supporters. Feinstein is only one politician. How many other relationships with American politicians have the Chinese and our other adversaries fostered? How many spies might they have recruited?
#1
One reason why Muh Russia is such a hobby horse for the Uniparty is because it's a handy distraction form the far greater threat that the PRC poses.
The same PRC that owns at least half the Ruling Class in this country.
[HotAir] Boston University’s economics program apparently never included a biology requirement ‐ or math, for that matter. BU’s most notable graduate these days, Democratic Socialist candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tried explaining to CNN’s Chris Cuomo last night why people shouldn’t have "sticker shock" over the price tag of her core agenda item, Medicare for All. Emphasis on tried, as Ocasio-Cortez’ answer would have some thinking that Medicare for All would end death as we know it: Ocasio-Cortez: "Socialized medicine is cheap because people will no longer have to pay for funerals." Who is going to tell this poor, ignorant young woman that people will still die? More at the link.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/10/2018 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11128 views]
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#3
BU must be proud of their exhibited knowledge imparted to a celebrated Econ/Int'l Relations graduate
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/10/2018 8:06 Comments ||
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#4
no one on socialized medicine ever dies.
They might die, but they never stop voting.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/10/2018 12:05 Comments ||
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#5
Here's what she said when Chris Cuomo asked her if Nancy Pelosi is the leader of the Democrats: "I think absolutely right now..she is the leader of..no no, um, she is speaker..or rather leader Pelosi..hopefully we’ll see..she’s ah..she’s the current leader of the party and..the party absolutely does have its leadership in the House and Senate"
How does she get dressed in the morning?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/10/2018 14:17 Comments ||
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#6
Boston University should be embarrassed to see their reputation so publicly smeared by an alumni.
#8
From Wiki: "She graduated cum laude from Boston University's College of Arts and Sciences in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in economics and international relations."
And BU got another twofer (Female of Color) to pad their numbers in keeping the fed affirmative action $ flowing in.
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.
[The Hill] The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is readying subpoenas for people connected to the controversial "Steele" dossier, sources tell The Hill.
[NR] Emails recently provided to Congress by the Department of Justice (DOJ) reveal that Christopher Steele, the former British spy contracted by opposition-research firm Fusion GPS, was in regular contact with senior DOJ official Bruce Ohr as he compiled his infamous dossier on then-candidate Trump.
