Earlier today Bill Barr gave an interview to Fox News on the sidelines of a law enforcement event in Chicago.  The U.S. Attorney General discussed the ongoing investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham, and gave high praise to FBI Director Christopher Wray for his “outstanding support” therein.   [Link to Fox Interview]  Excerpt Video:

(Via Fox) […] The attorney general said that while he’s assisting in connecting Durham with countries that could have valuable information, Durham is running the show.

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An article today about Carter Page suing the DOJ in an effort to review the inspector general report on the FISA manipulation prior to publication provides an opportunity to review the insignificance of Carter Page.   First the Carter Page perspective:

(Via Epoch Times) The former Trump-campaign associate who was wiretapped by the FBI, sued the Department of Justice on Oct. 21, demanding that the government provide him with an opportunity to review, before it is made public, the forthcoming inspector general’s report on potential surveillance abuses in his case. (read more)

What Carter Page apparently doesn’t recognize is his insignificance in the overall DOJ and FBI purpose behind the FISA that carries his name. Page was never exploited by the FISA Title-1 warrant -as granted by the FISA court- for the same reason Page was never investigated by the FBI or Mueller team, he was irrelevant.
Carter Page was a means to an end; the end goal was to get the Steele Dossier into the FBI as an official investigative work product. Perhaps a little review of the three-year research detail will help us better prepare for the IG report.
The “Steele Dossier” was important to the FBI because the content within it is the material they needed to present as justification for an ongoing investigation… that ultimately was handed to Andrew Weissmann and Robert Mueller; and the investigation of the material therein was later authorized by Rod Rosenstein in his August 2017 expanded scope memo.
The dossier is what’s important. Carter Page never was.
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Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy weighs in on the latest developments within the Michael Flynn case.   As McCarthy points out, if Judge Sullivan doesn’t accept the defense position of gross misconduct by the prosecution; and if Sullivan does not dismiss the case; Flynn could end up on a worse position than the prior plea agreement.
Additionally McCarthy discusses the potential risks present for John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey; and then goes in to his perspective on the impeachment inquiry.

There’s a clear set of battle lines now evident amid the ongoing political and legal dynamic:  Nadler, Pelosi, Lawfare and the Deep State media -VS- Durham, Barr, Trump and the MAGA movement.
Playing directly into this dynamic today Obama appointed Judge Beryl Howell has ruled (full pdf below) an impeachment by unilateral decree is constitutionally valid; and as an outcome House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler can have access to some of the Mueller grand jury material that was used as evidence in the “Mueller-Weissmann Report”.

It’s important to note Judge Howell granted access to only that grand jury material that was used in the Mueller Report, not a blanket authority to gain all witness testimony or grand jury material writ large.  However, having said that, the most troubling part of the decision is the background construct of the Weissmann team’s original objective.
From the outset; from the moment they started; from day number one; Weissmann, Lawfare and crew (Mueller was a special counsel figurehead only) always intended for the grand jury material to be handed to Chairman Jerry Nadler for the specific purposes of writing articles of impeachment.   This is absolutely critical to remember.
The originating goal was to use the special counsel investigation to assemble evidence of obstruction. Then to frame the assembly of all evidence toward the future goal of writing articles of impeachment.  This was the sole purpose of their coordination with Lawfare.
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Representative John Ratcliffe is one of only four House members who have reviewed every known classified document surrounding the 2016 political surveillance, Spygate and the use of the FISA court; including John Brennan’s two-page ‘electronic communication’ that started the FBI investigation.  So when John Ratcliffe is discussing what potential criminal activity John Durham is investigating and he says “FISA act and court“, that specific use of wording is subtle like a brick through a window to those who follow closely.
Everyone is aware that IG Michael Horowitz is looking at the Carter Page FISA application and potential misrepresentations to the FISC; that’s the “FISA court” part.  However, no-one has even hinted that anyone in government might be looking at the FBI abuse of the NSA database; and/or the outlined surveillance violations by Judge Rosemary Collyer; which would fall under the “FISA act” part.   Interesting word choices.  WATCH:

In a lengthy court filing surrounding the issues of Brady discovery material, Mike Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, drops some serious evidentiary bombshells on the court.  Ms. Powell brings Lady Justice to the courtroom, and her revelations are stunning. [Full pdf’s below]

We’re going to go through the primary filing and four exhibits to the evidence Attorney Sidney Powell is delivering to Judge Emmet Sullivan which contain some explosive discoveries.  Toplines including:
(1) Lisa Page edited the Flynn 302’s, then forgot when questioned by DOJ officials, then re-remembered when shown her texts. (2) The 302’s themselves were written with lies that do not match notes taken during the interview. (3) The felony leaker of the Flynn-Kislyak phone call is named (James Baker). (4) New texts from Page and Strzok that highlight the entrapment plan. (5) ODNI James Clapper telling WaPo reporter Ignatius to “take the kill shot on Flynn“. (6) The purposeful use of Judge Contreras to take the December 1st 2017 plea agreement; and much, much more.

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The reaction from CNN to news that U.S. Attorney John Durham is now conducting a criminal investigation is actually quite funny when contrast against their positions in 2017 and 2018.  Jeffrey Toobin doesn’t have any idea about the background of Joseph Mifsud, and his narration is a jumbled mess of dissonance: “clearly no evidence” he proclaims.
When Weissman and Mueller were traveling the world to investigate Trump-Russia it was an example of prudent and thorough investigative approaches.  However, Durham and Barr doing the same thing is an example of the most horrific investigation imaginable.  When Mueller sent a subpoena it held a seriousness that could not be ignored; however, if Durham sends a subpoena, everyone can just shrug-it-off and “take the fifth”.
Accordingly, Weissmann & Mueller opened investigations, the targets were automatically guilty and should be alarmed.  However, when Durham & Barr open investigations, it means nothing to the targets and not even the possibility of guilt.  Meanwhile, former ODNI James Clapper’s muttering responses are, well, also quite humorous. WATCH

This would appear to be one of the few positive indicators that AG Bill Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham are indeed doing more than bondo.  The New York Times is reporting the Durham “review” has now officially moved into a full “criminal investigation”.  [All emphasis mine]

WASHINGTON — For more than two years, President Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russia investigation, portraying it as a hoax and illegal even months after the special counsel closed it. Now, Mr. Trump’s own Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into how it all began.

Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move gives the prosecutor running it, John H. Durham, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to impanel a grand jury and to file criminal charges.

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A letter from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz provides both good news and bad news.   The goods news is Horowitz letter says likely no need for a “classified version” which means AG Bill Barr likely declassifying a lot of it.
However, the bad news is on page #2 where Horowitz says the final draft assembly is still ongoing, and the “review phase” has not yet begun.  Which means the report is not likely to be made public before Thanksgiving.
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With media reporting that U.S. Attorney John Durham has expanded the timeline and scope of his investigation into U.S. government and intelligence community activity during the 2016 election, there’s an interesting quote from NBC:

…”Justice Department officials have said that Durham has found something significant, and that critics should be careful.”…

The expanded investigative timeline is now into May 2017 when Mueller was appointed special counsel, and would mean all of the preceding (and surrounding) activity leading up to Mueller would be reviewed.   With that carefully in mind….
During the 2016 effort to weaponize the institutions of government against the outside candidacy of Donald Trump, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) was headed by Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein.  After the 2016 election Senator Feinstein abdicated her vice-chair position to Senator Mark Warner in January 2017.
While the SSCI was engaged in their part of the 2016 effort Vice-Chair Feinstein’s lead staffer was a man named Daniel Jones. Dan Jones was the contact point between the SSCI and Fusion-GPS.
After the election, and after Feinstein abdicated, Dan Jones left the committee to continue paying Fusion-GPS (Glenn Simpson) for ongoing efforts toward the impeachment insurance policy angle.
Feinstein appears to have left because she didn’t want to deal with the consequences of a President Trump, IF he discovered the SSCI involvement. Dan Jones left because with a Trump presidency the SSCI, now co-chaired by Senator Mark Warner, needed arms-length plausible deniability amid their 2017 operations to continue the removal effort (soft coup).
The trail for this plausible deniability process and ongoing soft-coup effort first surfaces with Dan Jones appearing in the early 2017 text messages between Senator Warner and the liaison for Christopher Steele, lawyer and lobbyist Adam Waldman:
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