John Solomon has a new article at The Hill centered around this email from State Department official Kathleen Kavalec after her October 11, 2016, interaction with dossier author Christopher Steele.
The substantive point of the article is how the email proves the political motives of Steele two weeks prior to the FBI/DOJ seeking a FISA application using his work product, the dossier.  Despite knowing the bias motive, the FBI/DOJ persisted in using the dossier for a Title-1 FISA warrant against U.S. person Carter Page on October 21, 2016.

A second issue, perhaps more alarming, surrounds: (1) how the current DOJ and FBI kept the email hidden from congressional investigators; and (2) how the current DOJ and FBI have recently redacted the email, highlighting an ongoing institutional cover-up.
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This is frustrating, but not surprising.  In the updated DOJ court filing today (pdf link here) the DOJ tells the court they want to keep the Comey Journal (memos) hidden from public review {BACKSTORY HERE}:
Hat Tip Techno-Fog: The release of Mueller’s Report… “does not alter the FBI’s position with regard to the remaining redactions in the Comey Memos.”
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We have discussed the Chinese outlook toward trade and negotiations at great length.  One of the overriding issues has always been the zero-sum disposition of China as it relates to any engagement. To wit: if it does not benefit China, it simply is not done.

Peace or war. Win or lose. Yin and Yang. Culturally there is no middle position in dealings with China; they are not constitutionally capable of understanding or valuing the western philosophy of mutual benefit where concession of terms gains a larger outcome.  If it does not benefit China, it is not done. The outlook is simply, a polarity of peace or war.  In politics or economics the same perspective is true.  It is a zero-sum outlook. (link)

Against the collapse of trade negotiations, the ideology of Chairman Xi Jinping is showcased today in the first official responses from the Chinese government toward the U.S. initiating tariffs due to Beijing’s duplicitous reversal on prior commitments.

(SCMP) Beijing will not make concessions in trade talks in response to Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats, Chinese state media said in a commentary published a day after the US president announced increases in duties on Chinese goods.
“Things we think are advantageous for us, we will do it even without anyone asking,” People’s Daily reported on its WeChat account on Tuesday.
“Things that are unfavourable to us, no matter how you ask, we will not take any step back. Do not even think about it.”

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It didn’t work out too well the last time New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen asked Attorney General Bill Barr about the term ‘spying’.  This time the intentionally obtuse senator questions the term “spying” on the Trump campaign by conflating a Title III criminal investigation (which never happened), with Title I counterintelligence investigation (which did happen).
Senator Shaheen uses a criminal example, operations against the mob, to ask FBI Director Wray about ‘spying’.  As expected, Director Wray delivers the reply she was seeking.

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At this point in the ongoing slow boil of FBI corruption it has become obvious why DAG Rod Rosenstein recommended Chris Wray for the position in 2017.  Wray picked up, right were James Comey left-off.  What the heck kind of answer is this?

…”I don’t think I personally have any evidence of that sort”.

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It is worth remembering a recent court filing by the FBI where we discover James Comey documented each “Crossfire Hurricane” intelligence decision. Within the CYA memos  Comey included the ID of code-named spies in a journal of sorts, that remains hidden for now.  I have a hunch the full Comey journal will soon be released.
A court filing originally scheduled for April 15th, to determine the outcome of the multiple memos, and FBI closed-court discussion therein, was delayed until May 7th, tomorrow:

The number of Comey memos is why I now describe them collectively as the Comey “journal”.  {Go Deep} The reason I suspect the “journal” will soon be released is connected to the recent New York Times release admitting to the use of FBI intelligence assets (Stefan Halper and Azra Turk)) in the Trump operation.
Last week’s NYT “spy” admission followed a report a month earlier (everyone forgot) that DOJ Inspector General was investigating the FBI use of Stefan Halper.
CTH notes a conspicuous similarity where all FBI leaks are positioned to present justifications ahead of document/investigative releases adverse to the group’s interests.  These leaks appear to be planned releases from corrupt officials still employed within the FBI, and political allies outside government (Lawfare and MSM).
All of the leaks are justifications.  The Comey’s memos, as described by Weissmann and Mueller’s lead FBI Agent, David Archey, are also based around “justification”.
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The Treasury Department informed congress Monday it will not release President Trump’s tax returns.  This follows a politically motivated request from House Democrats, and potentially sets-up a legal battle to be resolved by the Supreme Court.
Letter from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin:

(Link to Letter)

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins appears on Fox News to respond to the latest political ploy by Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Nadler to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of congress.

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(Link to statement from Doug Collins)

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House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler has scheduled a markup vote for contempt proceedings for Wednesday May 8th at 10:00am.  The markup vote begins the process for debating the democrat-claimed violations by the Attorney General, and the creation of a report (a contempt resolution) outlining the issues therein.

A full contempt vote normally follows the creation of the contempt resolution; which is an outcome of the debate.  However, to showcase just how ridiculous and political the agenda of Nadler has become, the actual contempt resolution is already written – SEE HERE.
Chairman Nadler and House Democrats are framing the contempt accusations around AG William Barr not publicly releasing a fully unredacted version of the Weissmann-Mueller report, and the underlying evidence.  AG Barr has made the unredacted version available to congressional leadership; however, Barr cannot release the unredacted version publicly because the Mueller-Weissmann report contains grand jury information, and such a release is unlawful.
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Following the arc of the 2016 election surveillance story, Representative Jim Jordan and Maria Bartiromo discuss the reasons why the administrative state now needs to remove AG Bill Barr with a sense of increased urgency.
Attorney General Bill Barr has vowed to get to the bottom of the surveillance and spy operations conducted against the Trump campaign -and Trump administration- in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Barr is now a threat to the system.

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Maria Bartiromo follows up her interview of ‘spygate’ target George Papadopoulos with an interview of HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes.  Together they expand the background for how Joseph Mifsud connected to George Papadopoulos.

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