The House of Representatives GOP leadership team held a press briefing earlier today.  During the Q&A Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, was asked about the House Intelligence Committee memo that has been released to the Executive Branch.The full presser is below.
The memo remarks by Speaker Ryan occur at 15:00 of the video.  Notice the appropriate, constitutional, and purposeful explanation of the process.  The executive branch (President Trump) and legislative branch (Ryan, Nunes, etc.) are continuing to emphasize the structural framework of U.S. government, and the seperation of powers therein, to return the rule of law during the Trump administration.  This is NOT accidental. [Video prompted to start @15:00]

.
The prior administration weaponized the executive branch against its political enemies.  Repeat: The prior administration weaponized the executive branch against its political enemies.  U.S. citizens, Americans, were targeted by corrupt officials within the Justice Department for political purposes.  Never lose this critical reference point and context.
(more…)

Paul Sperry is breaking some news that will generally be lost on most who are not deep in the weeds; however, this news is exceptionally important and explains the back-story to why Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley called the FBI’s bluff.

(LINK)

It is important to understand what Chairman Chuck Grassley has done with the criminal referral and how he is calling out the FBI.  Taken at it’s face value, which is what the tweet does, it seems that Christopher Steele lied to the FBI by saying the “dossier” information was not shared with media, therefore the dossier was not opposition campaign research.
The intent of this FBI claim (to the FISA court) is to give the “dossier” enhanced value as source material for a FISA warrant (request for surveillance authority). However, the underlying facts behind the FBI assertion are false; and it’s not Steele making the claim.
The FBI is the entity attempting to inflate the credibility of the application by claiming  Steele never shopped the dossier, ergo it is not political opposition research.  There is ZERO evidence Steele made any such claim to the FBI. There is ample evidence from the senate testimony of Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS) to the contrary.
(more…)

Imagine that despite your always knowing the DC swamp was deep (dangerous and full of terrors), corrupt, and generally horrible, you decided to do it anyway. You “just had to”.
Imagine you have spent years thinking about it; thinking about every angle within it; thinking and talking to people who know almost everything about it, well, from their perspective anyway; and ultimately you decided to do it.
Imagine that even though you knew it was bad, it wasn’t until you actually began running that you discovered the depth of the corrupt nature with it. –SEE HERE– You see things in the campaign you never expected; things no-one ever talked about.
(more…)

Well, this is good news.  Chairman Devin Nunes, and House Speaker Paul Ryan have had ample time to discuss the larger ramifications to “The Big Ugly”.
Late last week Ryan and Nunes traveled together to Saudi Arabia to review the new Saudi Counter-Extremism Intelligence Center *cough* that President Trump, Saudi King Salman, MBS and Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi *cough* opened last year.   Obviously Devin Nunes, Paul Ryan and their collective senior staffs would have a lot of time during travel to discuss the intelligence committee memo release.

*nudge*nudge*wink*wink*say-no-more*say-no-more*

According to Byron York when the House comes back into session tomorrow, the Intelligence Committee has a meeting scheduled for 5:00pm.  Likely that’s when the vote will happen to ‘release the memo’.

WASHINGTON DC – The House Intelligence Committee meets at 5 p.m. Monday in the Capitol. The meeting will give the committee its first opportunity to vote on the question of releasing the so-called “FISA abuse” memo that has captured Washington’s attention in recent days. Since the GOP holds a 13 to 9 advantage on the committee, the overwhelming likelihood is that if there is a vote, the panel will decide, along party lines, to release the memo.

(more…)

Since Thursday night we’ve been combing the FBI files to figure out exactly what FBI Agent Peter Strzok was referencing in one of the most recently released text messages.  We have discovered the context and the text is now damning.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte read this specific text message on Thursday night during an interview with Sean Hannity:

At first, the context behind the September 10th, 2016, message was elusive, however it is now clear.
On September 2nd, 2016, during the (pre-election) apex of the FBI providing the documents behind their investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of her personal email, and the subsequent decision by FBI Director James Comey not to pursue criminal charges therein, the FBI released their investigative files:
September 2nd, 2016 FBI Press Release:

“Today the FBI is releasing a summary of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s July 2, 2016 interview with the FBI concerning allegations that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on a personal e-mail server she used during her tenure. We also are releasing a factual summary of the FBI’s investigation into this matter.
We are making these materials available to the public in the interest of transparency and in response to numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Appropriate redactions have been made for classified information or other material exempt from disclosure under FOIA. Additional information related to this investigation that the FBI releases in the future will be placed on The Vault, the FBI’s electronic FOIA library.” (link)

The FBI was under pressure to release their investigative documents.  On Sept 2nd, 2016 the release included the FBI investigative notes (FD-302’s) from the questions and answers during Hillary Clinton’s interview.  This investigative release was big news at the time.
(more…)

WASHINGTON – As part of their ongoing oversight efforts to ensure that the FBI’s law enforcement activities are free of improper political influence, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) yesterday sent six letters seeking information and documents regarding Christopher Steele’s work on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary for America.

The letters seek information and documents relating to those political organizations’ knowledge of and involvement in Mr. Steele’s work and his reported interactions with the FBI while he was working on behalf of these political organizations.

The letters were sent to:

• The Democratic National Committee (DNC)
• Hillary for America (HFA)
• Former DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
• Former DNC Chair Donna Brazile
• HFA Chair John Podesta
• HFA Chief Strategist Joel Benenson

(more…)

Well, well, well…. that’s a shift in language.  Congressional Rep Matt Gaetz: “I believe there’s been a criminal conspiracy”…  This specific language elevates the current political dynamic toward an exponential level of risk for those within the “conspiracy”.

.
18 U.S. Code § 241 – Conspiracy against rights: If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured — They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. (link)
(more…)

With the latest information revealing that FBI Agent Peter Strzok and DOJ/FBI Attorney Lisa Page were specifically leaking to their media sources to shape the underlying story of their political efforts, everything presented by the recipients of those leaks should now be questioned.
Page and Strzok were the “sources” for stories written by Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post.
As such, obviously the network of Page and Strzok’s professional colleagues, would also be considered part of a grouping of people who would benefit from specific leaks intended to shape the stories.
One of those initial stories was a December 2nd, 2017,  WaPo outline describing Page and Strzok against the backdrop of the DOJ Inspector General Horowitz investigation.
The Washington Post presented the story of Lisa Page and Peter Strzok having an affair to the world.
That presentation became the underlying assumption for all reporting that followed (despite the lack of supporting evidence).  That WaPo story (narrative), “The affair” was written by Devlin Barrett, who we now know was in direct contact with Page and Strzok.
As with all new information, all assumptions –driven by that WaPo original story– should be carefully reconsidered.
(more…)

There has been a great deal of speculation about FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Attorney Lisa Page leaking to media in their efforts to shape stories conducive to their pro-Clinton/anti-Trump efforts. Prior reporting showed the strong possibility Page and Strzok were leaking to the Wall Street Journal.

“Article is out, but hidden behind paywall so can’t read it,” Page texted Strzok on Oct. 24, 2016.
“Wsj? Boy that was fast,” Strzok texted back, using the initials of the famed financial newspaper. “Should I ‘find’ it and tell the team?” (link)

Some new information today, and some additional research, and we can not only confirm the prior suspicions outlined by John Solomon (The Hill) – but we also discover the actual Wall Street Journal reporter they were leaking to.
Yesterday Senator Chuck Grassley released a series of text messages between Page and Strzok (full pdf here). Within the release there is a portion of messaging where Lisa Page is identified on the phone with “Devlin” (see page #5 – screen grab below):

[Peter Strzok is ‘INBOX’ and Lisa Page is “OUTBOX’]

It now appears the “Devlin” in question is former Wall Street Journal National Security reporter Devlin Barrett, currently with The Washington Post.
Here’s why? On October 28th, 2016 (as above), at the exact time the re-opening of the Clinton investigation hit the media news-cycle, Page and Strzok were texting.  From the released messaging we see at 5:19pm Lisa Page is on the phone with “Devlin”:
(more…)

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte is a key figure in the overall investigation and reform effort needed within the U.S. Justice System because the House Judicial Committee holds primary oversight over the U.S. Department of Justice.
By statutory construct the DOJ and FBI are directly and primarily accountable to Chairman Bob Goodlatte and the House Judicial Committee, on all matters.  This primary oversight structure is why Chairman Goodlatte and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz are working so closely during the ongoing justice department investigation.
Chairman Goodlatte appears on Sean Hannity television show to discuss one of the more concerning and troubling recent revelations about the FBI; and their investigative bias within the Hillary Clinton investigation and subsequent surveillance on her political opponent Donald trump.

(more…)