A three panel DC Appeals Court Panel, Judge Henderson, Judge Wilkins and Judge Rao have ordered Michael Flynn’s Judge, Emett Sullivan, to respond to the defense petition for a writ of mandamus within ten days:

Quoting the U.S. vs Fokker ruling the panel is not responding directly to the Flynn petition with an immediate decision; instead they are requiring Judge Sullivan to explain his decision to engage with extra-party amicus actions despite the DOJ and Flynn defense agreement on the motion to dismiss.

The order can be viewed as a smart move by the appeals panel because Judge Sullivan has yet to rule on the original unopposed DOJ motion. In essence, Sullivan has never explained himself; and this approach will require Sullivan to put his proverbial cards on the table.  The DC panel has given Judge Sullivan ten days to respond.

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It is quite remarkable how quickly the senate can move on a confirmation vote when there is a heavy dose of self-preservation in play.   Only two days after the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) voted to advance the nomination of John Ratcliffe as Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the full senate takes up the nomination and ‘presto’… Ratcliffe is confirmed.  [Vote Tally Here] Huh, funny that.

Perhaps another way to look at it….  two days after the SSCI cried uncle in an attempt to rid themselves of the atomic sledgehammer of transparently perpetual sunlight known as Ric Grenell, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell rushed the quick dispatch.

Seriously, it’s a little unfair to cast a great man like John Ratcliffe as ‘less than’, because he truly is not less than anyone; however, boy howdy the deep state couldn’t get rid of their nemesis Richard “Ric” Genell quickly enough.

Mr. Grenell quietly brought more declassified sunlight upon the swamp than decades of prior transparency efforts; and he did it with a very deliberate flair, quite fun.

DNI John Ratcliffe will do an excellent job, and I seriously doubt this is the last we have seen of the Mr. Grenell.

FBI Director Grenell does have a nice ring to it.

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Michael Flynn defense attorney, Sidney Powell, appears on Lou Dobbs tonight to discuss the ongoing case against a background of daily revelations showing Flynn was the target of the Obama-era FBI.

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For more than a year the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) led by Chairman Jerry Nadler has been seeking: (1) Mueller grand jury material; (2) a deposition by former White House counsel Don McGahn; and  (3) Trump financial/tax records.  Each of these issues have slowly worked their way to the Supreme Court.

Today, in the first step to take up the grand jury issue, the Supreme Court has placed a stay on a divided lower court ruling to grant the HJC access to Mueller’s grand jury material:

While the stay is only temporary, pending the DOJ requesting a writ of certiorari for the Supreme Court to take up the 6(e) grand jury issue, it is very likely the DOJ will make the request; and also likely the Supreme Court will take up the case.

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KT McFarland provides her perspective on the newly unclassified segment of the Susan Rice memo to herself.

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The bottom line about what took place in the 48 hours of January 4th and January 5th 2017 is not that complex.  Remember, the position of President Obama and Susan Rice is that the White House was unaware of any FBI investigation of Flynn (or the Trump campaign); nor did they have any involvement in directing it to take place.

When Clapper briefed Obama (Jan 4th) about the Flynn intercept the White House lost deniability; Obama was now demonstrably aware of an FBI investigation.  The stay behind meeting (Jan 5th) was the result of the White House reassembling deniability.

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HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes appears for an interview with ¹Liz MacDonald to discuss his current House investigation and the latest declassification of the Susan Rice memo to file.

Nunes asks the basic question about the Rice memo: “why was it ever classified in the first place?”  The answer to that question points to current DOJ/FBI and intelligence officials.

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¹Watch Liz Mac closely now. A little over a week ago she began catching-on to the substantive story about FISA, NSA database abuses, and how Obama’s overall political surveillance operation was conducted.

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A very interesting letter from Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Ron Johnson asking DNI Richard “Ric” Grenell to declassify and release all of the unmasking requests from January 2016 to January 2017.

Results to be provided in tranches if needed.

Within the letter (pdf here) the senators appear to be targeting specific dates for cross referencing with previously identified NSA database abuses.  Some of their inquiry appears to be guided by ‘open source’ reporting on the issue.

(pdf here)

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It looks like Sidney Powell has angered Emett Sullivan as the DC judge has now granted all of the requests by prosecuting amicus John Gleeson.

In an order today Judge Sullivan granted Gleeson with the requested schedule to include a July 10th briefing deadline and oral arguments scheduled for July 16th.

Just as the news broke Flynn’s defense attorney Sidney Powell appeared on Lou Dobbs to react.

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Acting DNI Richard Grenell declassified the hidden paragraph of the Susan Rice memo and it was released earlier today.  Our suspicions about the content of the redacted paragraph being Michael Flynn connected are confirmed.

On January 5, 2017, President Obama and Susan Rice were discussing incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn with FBI Director James Comey. The motive for Susan Rice to write the January 20, 2017, memo to file becomes clear.  Here’s the paragraph:

Within this paragraph we find the motive for writing it (emphasis mine):

“Director Comey affirmed that he is proceeding “by the book” as it relates to law enforcement.” … “Comey said he does have some concerns that incoming NSA Flynn is speaking frequently with Russian Ambassador Kislyak.”  “Comey said that could be an issue as it relates to sharing senssitive information.”  “President Obama asked if Comey was saying that the NSC should not pass sensitive information related to Russia to Flynn.”  “Comey replied “potentially.””  “He added that he has no indication thus far that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak, but he noted that “the level of communication is unusual.”

Remember, the position of President Obama and Susan Rice is that they were unaware of any FBI investigation of Flynn (or the Trump campaign); nor did they have any involvement in directing it to take place.

The content of this January 5th meeting makes the first part of their claim challenging to accept.   Thus the need for Susan Rice to cover for it.

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Moments ago Michael Flynn defense counsel Sidney Powell filed an appeal to the D.C. Circuit, a Petition for Writ of Mandamus (pdf link here), asking for intervention to correct Judge Sullivan’s unauthorized action.

Within the request Flynn’s defense requests the DC Appeals Court to order district court judge Emett Sullivan to: (1) grant the Justice Department’s Motion to Dismiss; (2) vacate its order appointing amicus curiae; and (3) reassign the case to another district judge as to any further proceedings.

The request cites numerous legal precedents in favor of granting the writ; but it’s a DC panel of judges so politics will likely play a role in determining what the appeals court decides to do.  Given the nature of this extraordinary situation it is difficult to predict success or failure for the request to intervene.   The whole darn thing is bizarre.

Within the petition the defense team notes:

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