Politics EXPOSING THE DEEP STATE

Discussion in 'Blazers OT Forum' started by MARIS61, Jan 24, 2018.

  1. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    Ambassador Sondland is going to prison?
     
  2. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    US informant may have received taxpayer funds to spy on Trump campaign, Grassley says

    By Gregg Re | Fox News

    The Department of Defense may have used taxpayer funds to pay longtime informant Stefan Halper, a Cambridge University professor, to recruit members of the Trump campaign as sources in the run-up to the 2016 election, Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in an explosive letter on Wednesday.

    Grassley, writing to James Baker, the director of the Office of Net Assessment (ONA) at the Defense Department, or DOD, also flagged other suspicious payments to Halper -- including some for DOD contracts that he may not have performed, and others from "unknown" foreign entities. (In response to a lawsuit last year alleging that he was part of a smear campaign to discredit the Trump campaign, Halper claimed a kind of immunity ordinarily afforded to government agents.)

    The GOP senator asserted that it was "unacceptable" that the DOD spent most of 2019 dodging his requests for information about Halper's contacts with U.S. officials, before saying that the information the DOD has provided raised more troubling questions. The ONA essentially functions as the Pentagon's internal think tank.

    In one DOD contract awarded in September 2015, Grassley noted, "Professor Halper lists former Deputy Foreign Minister for Russia, Vyacheslav Trubnikov, as a consultant and advisor to a paper delivered" to ONA.

    That's significant, Grassley went on, because Trubnikov is a "known Russian intelligence officer, who was listed by Christopher Steele as a source in the now-debunked Steele dossier, which was used as a predicate to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page."

    CARTER PAGE FISA WARRANTS LACKED PROBABLE CAUSE, DOJ ADMITS IN BOMBSHELL FILING

    Page previously told Fox News that Halper "intensified" communications with him just prior to the FISA warrant application.

    [​IMG]
    Professor Stefan Halper is at the center of a Republican complaint with the DOD over questionable payments. (Voice of America, File)

    "I had a longstanding relationship with Professor Halper," Page told host Maria Bartiromo. "I always believe in 'innocent until proven guilty,' but my conversations with him intensified right in the month before my illegitimate FISA warrant in September 2016, when all these defamatory articles are being placed by the [Democratic National Committee]. ... Professor Halper was being very positive, you know, like a Harriet Tubman figure. He understands sort of the injustices, or he presented himself as understanding that ... and I sort of trusted him."

    The DOJ acknowledged on Thursday that the Page FISA warrants were legally insufficient and should never have been issued. Much of the Steele dossier has been proved unsubstantiated, including the dossier's claims that the Trump campaign was paying hackers based out of a non-existent Russian consulate in Miami or that ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen traveled to Prague to conspire with Russians. Special Counsel Robert Mueller also was unable to substantiate the dossier's claims that Page had received a large payment relating to the sale of a share of Rosneft, a Russian oil giant, or that a lurid blackmail tape involving the president existed.

    "It is unclear from the contracting officer file whether Professor Halper paid Trubnikov for his assistance in gathering information for this paper, or in what capacity Professor Halper interacted with Trubnikov during the course of performing work for this contract," Grassley said. "Further, reports indicate that Halper offered [former Trump aide] George Papadopoulos $3,000 for assistance in completing an energy study and met Carter Page at a Cambridge conference. Given Professor Halper’s intelligence connections and government funding, it is reasonable to ask whether he used any taxpayer money in his attempt to recruit Trump campaign officials as sources."

    Papadopoulos has told Fox News that his meetings with Halper were "clearly" part of a CIA operation.

    Additionally, Halper was apparently paid for some work he did not perform, raising the question of whether he was actually providing some off-the-books services, Grassley noted.

    And, the senator wrote, "Halper’s file for a contract, awarded in September 2016, also contains unusual references to unknown third parties paying for portions of his travel and hotel expenses for a trip to Japan where he conducted several interviews with Japanese officials for a government project relating to the relationship between China and India." The unusual payments, Grassley said, raise the "question as to who exactly paid for the travel and hotel expenses and why?"

    PAGE TELLS FOX NEWS THAT HALPER 'INTENSIFIED' COMMS JUST PRIOR TO FISA WARRANT

    Grassley flagged other potentially problematic ONA projects, including a paper that "focuses largely on Vladimir Putin’s neurological development and potential Asperger’s diagnosis."

    "The fact that taxpayer money was used to support these projects calls into question ONA’s ability to be a proper steward of the people’s money and whether ONA has acted consistent with its mission and purpose," Grassley said.

    He demanded that DOD explain how much it paid for papers like the Putin deep dive, as well as more information on Halper's contacts with U.S. officials.

    "Did Professor Halper ever disclose his relationship with former Deputy Foreign Minister for Russia Vyacheslav Trubnikov to yourself or any other ONA official prior to completion of contract number HQ0034-15-C-0100 (The Russia-China Relationship: The Impact on the United States’ Security)?" Grassley asked. "Does this relationship with a Russian intelligence officer suggest that there may be biased and unreliable information contained within the deliverable?"

    He continued: "Can ONA state for certain that Halper did not use taxpayer money provided by DoD to recruit, or attempt to recruit, sources for the FBI investigation into the now-debunked theory of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia? Are you, or any other ONA official, aware of any other relationships Professor Halper had with foreign intelligence officers?"

    Matt Wolking, the Trump campaign's deputy director of communications, called the DOD's actions as described in Grassley's letter "shady as hell."

    "Grassley raises questions about whether Stefan Halper's work for DOD at taxpayer expense was 'influenced by foreign individuals or entities,'" Wolking wrote. "Seems like a good question given Halper's collaboration with a known Russian intelligence officer."

    Wolking added: "Did Halper use taxpayer money to target the Trump campaign?"
     
  3. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Carter Page FISA warrant lacked probable cause, declassified DOJ assessment finds

    By Gregg Re, Brooke Singman | Fox News

    At least two of the FBI’s surveillance applications to secretly monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page lacked probable cause, according to a newly declassified summary of a Justice Department assessment released Thursday by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).

    The DOJ's determination essentially means that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant authorizations to surveil Page, when stripped of the FBI's misinformation, did not meet the necessary legal threshold and should never have been issued.

    “Today’s unprecedented court filing represents another step on the road to recovery for America’s deeply damaged judicial system," Page said in a statement to Fox News. "I hope that this latest admission of guilt for these civil rights abuses by the Justice Department marks continued progress towards restoring justice and remedying these reputationally ruinous injuries.”

    Added Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, who previously chaired the Judiciary Committee: “It’s about time. It’s about time federal authorities entrusted with our most powerful and intrusive surveillance tools begin to own up to their failures and abuses, and take steps to restore public confidence. ... Time will tell if the department will continue working to fix its errors and restore trust that it won’t disregard Americans’ civil liberties. Its admission and cooperation with the FISC is a step in the right direction."

    FISC Presiding Judge James Boasberg, in the Jan. 7 order that was published for the first time Thursday, further required the government to explain in a written statement by Jan. 28 the "FBI's handling of information" obtained through the Page warrants and subsequent renewals.

    Boasberg specifically noted the DOJ found "there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power" because of the "material misstatements and omissions" in the warrant applications.

    Although the DOJ assessment technically only covered two of the applications to renew the Page FISA warrant, the DOJ "apparently does not take a position on the validity" on the first two Page FISA applications, Boasberg said, seemingly indicating that the DOJ seemingly did not want to defend their legality either. The government "intends to sequester information acquired pursuant to those" FISA applications "in the same manner as information acquired pursuant to the subsequent dockets," the judge said.

    The June 2017 Page FISA warrant renewal, which was among the two deemed invalid by the DOJ, was approved by then-Acting FBI Director (and now CNN contributor) Andrew McCabe, as well as former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The April 2017 warrant renewal was approved by then-FBI Director James Comey.

    Boasberg noted that it is illegal for the government to intentionally disclose or use "information obtained under color of law by electronic surveillance, knowing or having any reason to know that the information was obtained through electronic surveillance not authorized." A lawful FISA warrant, when approved by the FISC, allows the FBI to surveil not only the target of the warrant, but also individuals who communicate with the target and the target's associates.


    The revelations Thursday were yet another embarrassment for the FBI, which DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has found made repeated errors and misrepresentations -- and, in one case, deliberately falsified evidence -- before the FISC as the bureau sought to surveil Page in 2016 and 2017.

    The FBI's FISA applications to monitor Page heavily relied, Horowitz confirmed, on a now-discredited dossier funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee (DNC), as well as on news reports that secretly relied on the dossier's author.

    Much of the Steele dossier has been proved unsubstantiated, including the dossier's claims that the Trump campaign was paying hackers in the United States out of a non-existent Russian consulate in Miami, or that ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen traveled to Prague to conspire with Russians. Special Counsel Robert Mueller also was unable to substantiate the dossier's claims that Page had received a large payment relating to the sale of a share of Rosneft, a Russian oil giant, or that a lurid blackmail tape involving the president existed.

    Pursuant to Boasberg's order, the government must also sequester relevant information and provide further "explanations" concerning the damning findings of bureau misconduct contained in Horowitz's recent report, as well as "related investigations and any litigation."

    That could be a reference to a variety of outstanding matters concerning the FBI's apparent mischaracterization of evidence before the FISC.

    For example, the FISC has already ordered the bureau to look at all previous FISA applications involving ex-FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith, whom Horowitz found to have doctored an email from the CIA. The FBI had reached out to the CIA and other intelligence agencies for information on Page; the CIA responded in an email by telling the FBI that Page had contacts with Russians from 2008 to 2013, but that Page had reported them to the CIA and was serving as a CIA operational contact and informant on Russian business and intelligence interests.

    Clinesmith then allegedly doctored the CIA's email about Page to make it seem as though the agency had said only that Page was not an active source. The FBI also included Page's contacts with Russians in the warrant application as evidence he was a foreign "agent," without disclosing to the secret surveillance court that Page was voluntarily working with the CIA concerning those foreign contacts.

    "Today’s unprecedented court filing represents another step on the road to recovery for America’s deeply damaged judicial system."

    — Former Trump aide Carter Page
    Further, Horowitz found specific evidence of oversights and errors by several top FBI employees as they sought to obtain a warrant to surveil Page. In particular, an unidentified FBI supervisory special agent (SSA) mentioned in the IG report was responsible for ensuring that the bureau's "Woods Procedures" were followed in the Page warrant application, but apparently didn't do so.

    According to the procedures, factual assertions need to be independently verified, and information contradicting those assertions must be presented to the court. Horowitz found several instances in which the procedures were not followed. Horowitz's report leaves little doubt that the unnamed SSA is Joe Pientka -- a current bureau employee.

    Pientka briefly appeared on the FBI's website as an "Assistant Special Agent in Charge" of the San Francisco field office late last year, according to the Internet archive Wayback Machine -- although Pientka no longer appears on any FBI website. Pientka was removed shortly after Fox News identified him as the unnamed SSA in the IG report. Twitter user Techno Fog first flagged the Wayback Machine's archive of the page.

    The FBI has repeatedly refused to respond to Fox News' request for clarification on Pientka's status, even as Republicans in Congress have sought to question him.

    While the FBI has promised corrective action, it apparently has not gone far enough. Earlier this month, David Kris, who has been appointed by the FISC to oversee the FBI's proposed surveillance reforms, alerted the court that the bureau's proposals are "insufficient" and must be dramatically "expanded" -- even declaring that FBI Director Christopher Wray needs to discuss the importance of accuracy and transparency before the FISC every time he "visits a field office in 2020."

    The unclassified findings were a stark rebuke to Wray, who had filed assurances to the FISC that the agency was implementing new procedures and training programs to assure that the FBI presents accurate and thorough information when it seeks secret warrants from FISC judges. At the same time, Wray acknowledged the FBI's "unacceptable" failures as it pursued FISA warrants to monitor Page.

    Kris is a former Obama administration attorney who has previously defended the FISA process on "The Rachel Maddow Show" and in other left-wing venues, making his rebuke of Wray something of an unexpected redemptive moment for Republicans who have long called for more accountability in how the bureau obtains surveillance warrants. ("You can’t make this up!" President Trump tweeted on Sunday. "David Kris, a highly controversial former DOJ official, was just appointed by the FISA Court to oversee reforms to the FBI’s surveillance procedures. Zero credibility. THE SWAMP!”)

    Wray had specifically promised to change relevant forms to "emphasize the need to err on the side of disclosure" to the FISC, to create a new "checklist" to be completed "during the drafting process" for surveillance warrants that reminds agents to include "relevant information" about the bias of sources used, and to "formalize" the role of FBI lawyers in the legal review process of surveillance warrants.

    Additionally, Wray said the FBI would now require "agents and supervisors" to confirm with the DOJ Office of Intelligence that the DOJ has been advised of relevant information. Wray further indicated that the FBI would formalize requirements to "reverify facts presented in prior FISA applications and make any necessary corrections," as well as to make unspecified "technological improvements."

    But in a 15-page letter to Judge Boasberg, obtained by Fox News, Kris declared that the proposed corrective actions "do not go far enough to provide the Court with the necessary assurance of accuracy, and therefore must be expanded and improved" -- and he took aim at Wray himself.

    "The focus on specific forms, checklists and technology, while appropriate, should not be allowed to eclipse the more basic need to improve cooperation between the FBI and DOJ attorneys," Kris said, noting that the FBI and DOJ have historically not always worked well together.

    "A key method of improving organizational culture is through improved tone at the top, particularly in a hierarchical organization such as the FBI," Kris said, noting that Wray's public statements on the matter, while positive, have not gone far enough. "Director Wray and other FBI leaders, as well as relevant leaders at the Department of Justice, should include discussions of compliance not only in one or two messages, but in virtually every significant communication with the workforce for the foreseeable future."

    Republican calls for more accountability may not go unanswered for long. Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham announced last year that he did not "agree" with the IG's assessment that the FBI's probes were properly predicated, highlighting Durham's broader criminal mandate and scope of review.

    Durham is focusing on foreign actors, as well as the CIA, while Horowitz concentrated his attention on the Justice Department and FBI.

    "Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened," Durham said in his statement, adding that his "investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department" and "has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S."
     
  4. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    Explain to me why there will never be an associated indictment.
     
  5. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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  6. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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  7. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    When is that indictment coming?
     
  8. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    'Certainly will be a standout': John Durham appoints new criminal chief
    by Daniel Chaitin
    | January 27, 2020 08:52 PM

    • The federal prosecutor in charge of the Justice Department inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation appointed a new criminal division chief.

      John Durham, a U.S. attorney from Connecticut, announced on Monday that the role will be taken by Sarah Karwan, who has prosecuted a wide variety of criminal cases.

      “I am thrilled that Sarah Karwan will lead our criminal division,” Durham said in a statement. “During her more than 12 years as an [assistant U.S. attorney], Sarah has done it all, prosecuting violent criminals, drug traffickers, financial fraudsters, corrupt public officials, and a wide variety of other wrongdoers. Given the breadth of her experience and her exceptional lawyering skills, she certainly will be a standout as our new criminal chief.”

      Karwan replaced William Nardini, who now has a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. She graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1997 and from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2000. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2007, she spent roughly six years in the private sector specializing in securities litigation.

      As head of the criminal division, Karwan will oversee the violent crimes and narcotics, financial fraud and public corruption, national security and cybercrime, and major crimes program-based units.

      Durham has been tasked by Attorney General William Barr with conducting a review of the FBI's Russia investigation.

      In October, it was reported that Durham was expanding the scope of his investigation, adding agents and resources, to examine the post-election timeline up to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel in May 2017. The "investigation into the investigators" was reported to be upgraded to a criminal inquiry later that month, which gives Durham the power to impanel a grand jury and hand down indictments.

      Durham's team is exploring whether a crime was committed by Kevin Clinesmith, a former FBI lawyer who was found by the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to have altered a document during the FBI's efforts to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant renewal to continue wiretapping onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
     
  9. CupWizier

    CupWizier Well-Known Member

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    Ever notice how many of your posts end up being nothing burgers? :biglaugh:
     
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  10. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Treasury complies with GOP Senate inquiry, hands over highly confidential info on Hunter Biden, report says

    By Edmund DeMarche | Fox News
    There are legitimate questions surrounding Hunter Biden's Ukraine ties that should be followed through on, says Arizona Senate Martha McSally, Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

    The Treasury Department complied with a Republican-controlled Senate inquiry into Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine and handed over highly sensitive financial records and "evidence' of questionable origin," a report on Thursday said.

    Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, has been a favorite target for President Trump and other Republicans who use him as an example of an extreme case of crony capitalism. He once held a $50,000-a-month job with Ukrainian gas giant, Burisima Holdings while his father served under then-President Obama. His father was tasked with handling Ukraine policy at the time.

    Joe Biden, who is running for president, has consistently said his son did nothing wrong.

    Yahoo News first reported that the Treasury Department began to turn over the documents related to the Senate inquiry late last year.

    Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Ron. Johnson, R-Wisc., the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, requested the records in the form of a suspicious activity report, also known as a SARs. They also requested financial records through FinCEN, which is a branch of the Treasury Department that eyes money laundering.

    Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who sits on the Finance Committee, told Yahoo News that the swift response from Treasury is a "blatant double standard" considering how the Trump administration responded to Democrats' effort to obtain documents and witness testimony in his impeachment trial.

    "The administration told House Democrats to go pound sand when their oversight authority was mandatory while voluntarily cooperating with the Senate Republicans’ sideshow at lightning speed," a spokesman from Wyden told the website.

    Grassley refused to identify what information Treasury provided when reached by the New York Times, but said through a spokesman, "It's unfortunate that Democrats whom we’ve kept in the loop on our investigations would recklessly seek to interfere with legitimate government oversight."

    Grassely and Johnson announced in a letter Wednesday they are also seeking “records of Hunter Biden’s travel while he was under U.S. Secret Service protection as they continue to investigate potential conflicts of interest to boost his business ventures in Ukraine and China."

    "We write to request information about whether Hunter Biden used government-sponsored travel to help conduct private business, to include his work for Rosemont Seneca and related entities in China and Ukraine," the senators wrote, referring to the company co-founded by the younger Biden.

    Trump's impeachment trial was based on a phone call he had with his Ukrainian counterpart where he asked him to investigate the Bidens' dealings in the country. Democrats alleged that Trump withheld military funding in order to put pressure on Kiev. Trump denied any wrongdoing, was impeached in the House and acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial.

    The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News
     
  11. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    There are no legitimate reasons to investigate Biden's son, Hunter. He was cleared by Ukraine's chief prosecutor among others.
    Any legitimate reasons should have been dealt with by our Justice department years ago. Trading life and death self defense weapons for the mere mention of an investigation is not a real investigation on more than one level. That sort of quid pro quo is totally illegal and counter to our country's best interest.
     
  12. Hoopguru

    Hoopguru Well-Known Member

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    I agree with ya Lanny about the difference, but to be honest its still appears very slippery to me about his role and conduit to his pop. Isn't illegal, but since when does that make something right or slippery?
    I look at it as slippery politics and its nothing new or unusual, its all being exposed more these days.
     
  13. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    I'm not saying it was the right thing to do. I'm just saying that no one has shown any evidence that Hunter did anything illegal except that he tried to make a buck playing on the company's mistaken view that they were gaining Washington D.C. influence which they were not. It was a stupid move on Hunter's part in that he should have seen that his father would be a front runner in a future Presidential election and that deal with Birisma would not help his father.
     
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  14. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Nunes threatens to refer watchdog's handling of whistleblower complaint to DOJ

    By Brooke Singman | Fox News

    Rep. Nunes: ICIG Michael Atkinson still facing serious questions about whistleblower complaint


    Califronia Congressman Devin Nunes weighs in on the House Republicans investigating origins of the Ukraine whistleblower complaint.

    EXCLUSIVE: Republican Rep. Devin Nunes on Friday threatened to escalate his concerns about Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson’s handling of the Ukraine whistleblower complaint to the Justice Department unless Atkinson complies with congressional requests for information and documents.

    In a letter obtained by Fox News Friday, Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, issued the stark warning to Atkinson, giving him a Feb. 14 deadline to comply with past congressional requests.

    HOUSE INTEL REPUBLICANS INVESTIGATING ICIG HANDLING OF WHISTLEBLOWER COMPLAINT

    “I will be referring this matter for investigation by the Department of Justice if you once again refuse to comply,” Nunes, R-Calif., wrote in the letter.

    Nunes, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, first penned a letter to Atkinson in September, requesting specific documents for investigation. Last month, Nunes sent another letter requesting documents that he claims are “well within this committee’s oversight responsibilities related to the Intelligence Community

    House Intelligence Committee Republicans are investigating Atkinson’s “unusual handling" of the whistleblower complaint that formed the basis of President Trump's impeachment.

    “The investigation is particularly focused on the guidelines that appeared on a whistleblower complaint submission form that was changed—after the submission of the whistleblower complaint—to eliminate language excluding hearsay information,” Nunes wrote Friday.

    House Republicans, in their letters, had requested answers to why the revision on the complaint was changed and who was involved in the revisions.

    Last month, Fox News reported that the committee was also investigating the veracity of Atkinson’s testimony about the whistleblower complaint and the explanations he offered for changes made to the intelligence community inspector general's guidance on accepting secondhand information.

    Republicans for months have complained that the whistleblower made contact with Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff's, D-Calif., staff in advance -- though Schiff has downplayed the nature of that contact.

    Whether Republicans are looking further into that contact as part of their review is unclear. But since last fall, they have specifically challenged intelligence community officials over changes to a key form that dropped a requirement for “firsthand information” in whistleblower complaints.


    The White House released a declassified version of the complaint, which revealed that the whistleblower’s concerns stemmed from the secondhand accounts of “more than half a dozen U.S. officials.”

    After the form change was first noticed in media reports, Atkinson said in a lengthy statement that the whistleblower had actually filled out the older version of that form, which retained the requirement that whistleblowers have firsthand information. The intelligence community inspector general revealed that the whistleblower had said he or she had firsthand information, as well as secondhand information, but it was unclear what the firsthand information was.

    The declassified whistleblower complaint, though, stated: “I was not a direct witness to most of the events described. However, I found my colleagues’ accounts of these events to be credible, because, in almost all cases, multiple officials recounted fact patterns that were consistent with one another.”

    Republicans have previously questioned whether the timing of the form revision was related to the Ukraine complaint.

    Meanwhile, Atkinson found that the whistleblower showed indications of “political bias” and was “in favor of a rival political candidate,” while still deeming the complaint a matter of “urgent concern.”

    The Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel later released a contrary opinion determining that the complaint did “not involve an ‘urgent concern’” and did not require that the director of national intelligence “transmit the complaint to the intelligence committees.”

    On Wednesday, the Senate voted to acquit Trump on both charges against him stemming from the whistleblower complaint--abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
     
  15. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    Empty threat based on fantasy only.
     
  16. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Pompeo warns governors of Chinese infiltration into US: 'It's happening in your state'
    By Nick Givas | Fox News

    China's Communist Party has infiltrated various levels of America's infrastructure and is working to destroy the values of the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a speech Saturday, while also warning state governors to be wary of China's infiltration.

    “We can’t ignore China’s actions and strategic intentions," he said while addressing the National Governors Association winter meeting. "The Chinese government has been methodical in the way it's analyzed our system... it's assessed our vulnerabilities and it's decided to exploit our freedoms, to gain an advantage over us at the federal level, the state level and the local level."

    “Competition with China is happening. It’s happening in your state," Pompeo added. "In fact, I'd be surprised if most of you in the audience had not been lobbied by the Chinese Communist Party directly."

    He said groups loyal to communist China are operating out in the open in Virginia, Minnesota, Florida and dozens of other states all around the country. Other Chinese groups, however, practice their nefarious actions in the shadows in an attempt to exercise influence over U.S. citizens and lawmakers.

    Pompeo cited a letter from a diplomat at the Chinese Consul in New York to the speaker of an unnamed state legislature, advising that U.S. officials refrain from independent interaction with Taiwan.

    “You add a diplomat from China, assigned here to the United States, a representative of the Chinese Communist Party, in New York City, sending a letter urging that an American elected official shouldn’t exercise his right to freedom of speech," he explained.

    The secretary said this isn't an uncommon event and that Chinese officials based in the U.S. are actively seeking to sow seeds of chaos at the state and local level -- specifically in the realm of education on college campuses and K-12 classrooms.

    “Maybe some of you have heard about the time when the Chinese consulate paid the UC San Diego students to protest the Dalai Lama," he continued. “It shows depth. It shows systemization. It shows intent.”

    He added: “Chinese Communist party officials, too, are cultivating relationships with county school boards and local politicians -- Often through what are known as 'Sister City Programs' ... This competition is well underway."

    Pompeo also spoke about China's campaign to recruit U.S. scientists and academics to share vital secrets, in exchange for monetary gain through their "Thousand Talents Plan," a campaign that has already targeted scientists and professors on campuses such as Virginia Tech and Harvard and triggered investigations by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

    He also explained how Beijing pressures Chinese students in the U.S. to keep an eye on their fellow countrymen and report back to the government about their activities.

    "China’s propaganda starts even earlier than college. China has targeted K-12 schools around the world," he said. "Do you know that we have no ability to establish similar programs in China? We should have reciprocity in all things. Today they have free reign in our system and we're completely shut out from theirs... Beijing knows that today’s kids are tomorrow’s leaders."

    Pompeo then warned state governors about doing business with China and said it is common to indirectly finance communism without realizing it. He then extended the hand of the federal government and said the Trump administration is standing by, ready to help states with this growing problem.

    “I want to urge vigilance on the local level too," he said. "It’s worth trusting but verifying. There are federal officials prepared to help you work your way through these challenges when they arise. Don’t make separate individual deals that undermine our national policy. I know none of you would do so intentionally. Let us help you."

    “I hope you will all take on board what I've said today," Pompeo added. "Don’t lose sight of the competition from China that's already present in your state. Let's all rise to the occasion and protect our security, our economy, indeed all that we hold dear."
     
  17. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Federal prosecutors seek to delay Michael Flynn's sentencing date

    By Andrew O'Reilly | Fox News
    Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn seeks to formally withdraw his guilty plea, saying federal prosecutors breached their deal with him; insight from Michael Flynn's attorney Sidney Powell.

    Federal prosecutors are looking to move back the sentencing date for Michael Flynn after President Trump’s former national security adviser withdrew his plea in December for lying to the FBI.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington did not specifically call for a postponement of Flynn’s Feb. 27 sentencing hearing in its most recent filing, but it did propose delaying a number of approaching deadlines that would ultimately make his sentencing unlikely.

    Prosecutors argue in the new filing that Flynn’s former attorneys should testify after he claimed to have received ineffective assistance from them. Flynn had previously hired the premier D.C. law firm, Covington & Burling. Federal lawyers also want Judge Emmet Sullivan to order that Flynn has waived his attorney-client privileges in his communications with Covington & Burling.

    “The government requests that the Court suspend the current briefing schedule concerning the defendant’s [motion] until such time as the government has been able to confer with Covington regarding the information it seeks,” prosecutors wrote. “While Covington has indicated a willingness to comply with this request, it has understandably declined to do so in the absence of a Court order confirming the waiver of attorney-client privilege.”

    [​IMG]Video
    Flynn in January moved to withdraw his guilty plea for lying to the FBI in the Russia probe, citing "bad faith" by the government. That court filing came just days after the Justice Department reversed course to recommend up to six months of prison time in his case, alleging he was not fully cooperating or accepting responsibility for his actions.

    "The prosecution has shown abject bad faith in pure retaliation against Mr. Flynn since he retained new counsel," Flynn’s attorneys wrote in the filing. "This can only be because with new, unconflicted counsel, Mr. Flynn refused to lie for the prosecution."

    The filing continued: "Justice is not a game, and there should be no room for such gamesmanship in the Department of Justice."


    [​IMG]Video
    Flynn's case stemmed from a 2017 FBI interview, in which he was asked about his conversations with former Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. Flynn ultimately pleaded guilty to making false statements regarding those conversations during his interview, as part of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

    Judge Sullivan in December rejected claims from Flynn's lawyers that he was pressured to plead guilty to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with the Russian diplomat.
     
  18. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Judicial Watch Sues FBI for Records on Seth Rich
    [​IMG]
    (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the FBI for all records related to murdered Democratic National Committee (DNC) Voter Expansion Data Director Seth Rich.

    Rich, 27, was murdered on July 10, 2016, according to the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. The DC police reports that Rich was killed at approximately 4:19 a.m. in the 2100 block of Flagler Place NW, Washington, DC.

    No one has been charged in connection with Rich’s death. The case has not been closed, and the DC police are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible.

    Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the FBI failed to respond to a July 26, 2019, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking all records related to Rich and his murder (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:20-cv-00385)).

    “There is significant public interest in the Seth Rich murder and the FBI’s game-playing on document production in this case is inexcusable,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

    In a recent production of Peter Strzok-Lisa Page emails obtained by Judicial Watch, the Seth Rich controversy was the subject of one FBI email exchange. In a heavily redacted August 10, 2016, email exchange Strzok sends Page a forwarded message from unidentified agents from the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO) discussing Rich.

    A public affairs official whose name was redacted opens the WFO email chain, writing:

    Various news outlets are reporting today that Julian Assange suggested during a recent overseas interview that DNC Staffer, Seth Rich was a Wikileaks source, and may have been killed because he leaked the DNC e-mails to his organization, and that Wikileak’s was offering $20,000 for information regarding Rich’s death last month. Based on this news, we anticipate additional press coverage on this matter. I hear that you are in class today; however, when you have a moment, can you please give me a call to discuss what involvement the Bureau has in the investigation.

    An unidentified WFO agent responds: “I’m aware of this reporting from earlier this week but not any specific involvement in any related case.”

    An unidentified WFO agent subsequently writes deputy assistant director in the bureau’s Counterintelligence Division Jonathan Moffa and Strzok: “Just FYSA. I squashed this with [redacted]”.

    Strzok then forwards the email chain to Page.
     
  19. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

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    Soros-Tied Group Run by Top Dem Operatives Promotes Global Leftist Agenda
    [​IMG]
    Another influential group aiming to spread leftist billionaire George Soros’ radical global agenda has popped up in the United States. It’s called the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group (TDWG) and it is an offshoot of the Soros-funded German Marshall Fund, a liberal foreign policy think tank based in Washington D.C. The TDWG is operated by dozens of former senior government bureaucrats, national security experts and human rights advocates, including former Obama administration officials and staff members of Democratic politicians. The group’s director, Susan Corke, was previously Deputy Director of the Europe Section in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Corke is a registered Democrat and all her federally reported campaign contributions have gone to the Democratic fundraising clearinghouse Act Blue, which has raised billions.

    Obama’s law school classmate, Norm Eisen, is the co-chair of the TDWG’s steering committee. Eisen also served as the deputy counsel of Obama’s presidential transition team and ambassador to the Czech Republic. During President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry, Eisen, a longtime Trump critic, served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee. In 2003 he co-founded the liberal nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) with fellow Democratic operative Melanie Sloan and others. Eisen has contributed approximately $94,000 to Democratic candidates and committees through the years, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch.

    The TDWG was founded in April 2018 purportedly to combat what it perceives as “democratic erosion in key NATO and EU countries.” The organization, which is housed at the German Marshall Fund headquarters, advocates for strengthening the NATO alliance, increasing integration among European Union member states, a more active U.S. role in Europe, and effective measures against Russia’s influence in the West. The group has been highly critical of the Trump administration’s foreign policy and has used its podcast to promote Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

    A chunk of the TDWG’s attention has focused on three countries—Hungary, Poland, and Turkey—that it accuses of becoming increasingly authoritarian and undemocratic. While legitimate concerns exist involving the Tayyip Erdoğan regime in Turkey, the group’s criticisms of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Poland’s governing Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice) party largely focus on efforts to preserve their national identity, reduce the influence of foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations in their domestic affairs and limit third-world immigration. In November 2019 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment, Corke claimed that, “Hungary is no longer a democracy, and Orbán is the architect of its transformation into an illiberal autocracy.”

    Of particular interest to the TDWG have been Hungarian and Polish initiatives to combat the influence of Soros and his generously funded OSF. One of the policy statements posted on the TDWG’s website specifically deals with Orbán’s successful effort to expel Soros’ Central European University from Budapest. The statement, whose signatories include Corke, Eisen, and several former State Department officials, alleges that Hungary’s, “campaign against the CEU is a highly symbolic move against a vital institution founded to promote the transatlantic values of democracy, openness, and equality of opportunity.” In her November 2019 Congressional testimony, Corke claimed that Orbán, “relied on one tired trick in particular, one that served as a dog whistle for the far right; he used the spectral image of George Soros, using anti-Semitic tropes, as the ultimate bogeyman to stir up fear of migrants and other non-Christians.” Orbán counters that it has nothing to do with Soros’ religion or background. It’s about his politically driven activity aimed at undermining national governments that oppose his pro-migration agenda. The Hungarian prime minister assures a migration crisis in the Balkans was organized by the Soros network.

    Soros’ OSF donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to the German Marshall Fund in 2019, records obtained by Judicial Watch show.
     
  20. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

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    Look, I'm trying to sleep here and you keep waking me up with these rumors. Please wait until there's an indictment before you get all excited about your fantasies.
     

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