When President Trump announced the futility of attempting an infrastructure bill with Pelosi and Schumer as they simultaneously tried to impeach him, the president certainly knew he was going to issue a declassification memo within hours.
The declassification directive to AG Bill Barr creates a dynamic ensuring Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer will align with the former intelligence officials and further attack the offices of the President and Attorney General; they have few options.
Those who participated in the creation of Russia-Gate or Spy-Gate have few options except to manufacture a narrative shield and accuse the President of unethical, immoral and criminal conduct.  See: Pelosi’ recent “cover-up” charge.
By advancing even stronger attacks against the president, the ‘small group’ position any investigation into their wrong-doing as political retaliation.  Their best defense is to build a deeper foundation for their political retaliation claim.  Therefore a House impeachment investigation, in some manner or form, is more likely than ever.
The legal risk for participants in ‘Russia-Gate’/’Spy-Gate’ seems very real.  The best defense against that risk is political.  Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer know how to lead the defense by saying any evidence discovered by AG Barr is merely weaponized retaliation from the Trump DOJ.  The media are already supporting that cause.
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Repost by Request – Considering the upcoming declassification window…between Trump’s state visit in Japan (5/25 – 5/28) and the state visit with the U.K (6/3 – 6/5).

Bucket Five – Intelligence documents that were presented to the Gang of Eight in 2016 that pertain to the FISA application used against U.S. person Carter Page; including all exculpatory intelligence documents that may not have been presented to the FISA Court.  Presumably this would include the recently revealed State Dept Kavalac email; and the FBI transcripts from wiretaps of George Papadopoulos (also listed in Carter Page FISA).

Now that we have significant research files on the 2015 and 2016 political surveillance program; which includes the trail evident within the Weissmann/Mueller report; in combination with the Obama-era DOJ “secret research project” (their words, not mine); we are able to overlay the entire objective and gain a full understanding of how political surveillance was conducted over a period of approximately four to six years.
This is why there’s panic.
Working with a timeline, but also referencing origination material in 2015/2016 – CTH hopes to show how the program operated. This explains an evolution from The IRS Files in 2010 to the FISA Files in 2016.
More importantly, research indicates the modern political exploitation of the NSA database, for weaponized intelligence surveillance of politicians, began mid 2012.
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The day after President Trump authorized AG Bill Barr to declassify documents relating to 2016 political activity by the intelligence apparatus, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler appeared to almost collapse when he slumped and said he was not well as he sat beside New York mayor Bill de Blasio at a press conference.

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The 71-year-old congressman was put on a stretcher and taken to a waiting ambulance for transfer to a local hospital. A representative for Nadler told NBC4 News he was ‘responsive and receiving a check-up.’ He was taken to the hospital for medical attention and later tweeted that he was ‘feeling much better.’ Media Report
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Now that President Trump has officially designated the Declassification Memorandum we can review the specifics for process, content and timing.  Our previous research led to a set of expectations for the directive. Now, that we have the directive in hand, we gain increased clarity of purpose.

♦ First, President Trump has assigned ownership of the Directive to U.S. Attorney General William Barr. This part was predictable because the purpose of declassification would be to facilitate a DOJ review of how the intelligence apparatus was used in the 2016 election.
Additionally, because the DOJ review encompasses intelligence systems potentially weaponized in 2016 for political purposes and intents, President Trump carries: (a) declassification authority; but also: (b) an inherent conflict.  In this DOJ endeavor candidate Trump would have been the target of corrupt agency activity; and therefore would be considered the target/victim if weaponization were affirmed by evidence.
To avoid the conflict President Trump designates the U.S. Attorney General as arbiter and decision-maker for the purposes of declassifying evidence within the investigation:

…”The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information.” (link)

Additionally, AG Bill Barr does not need to assemble the intelligence product for approval by the executive (Trump).  Instead the office of the president is granting the AG full unilateral decision-making as to each product being considered for declassification.
This is a huge amount of trust from the President to the Attorney General, and a big responsibility for William Barr:
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There was a DC rumor that “a website” was “surprisingly spot-on” when CTH posted the likely declassification structure, agency process and timing… [Here and Here and  Here]
Tonight, President Trump signs a declassification memo that identifies the intelligence units, and issues guidelines therein:

WHITE HOUSE: “Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election.

The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information. Today’s action will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions.” (read more)

Memorandum for Agency Guidance below:
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Ranking member of the judiciary committee, Doug Collins, challenges Chairman Jerry Nadler to compel testimony from Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi states that President Trump is guilty of a “cover-up”.  But notice no-one in media asks her what he’s supposedly covering up.
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Can you imagine the questions:

Q: Mr. Mueller, did you go to Oval Office on May 16, 2017, because you wanted to apply for the job of FBI Director?
A: No.
Q: Mr. Mueller, was the mysterious cell phone you left behind in the oval office that day actually yours?
A: No.

And then, as Rod Rosenstein takes a hard and uncomfortable swallow, the Weissmann constructed house-of-cards starts to collapse….

(CNN) Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has expressed reluctance to him testifying publicly in front of the House Judiciary Committee, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The special counsel’s team has conveyed the notion that Mueller does not want to appear political after staying behind the scenes for two years and not speaking as he conducted his investigation into President Donald Trump.

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Creepy Porn Lawyer Michael Avenatti has been indicted for identity theft, fraud, and ripping off his porn star client Stormy Daniels (indictment pdf below). Additionally, Avenatti has also been indicted for his extortion scheme against Nike apparel (indictment pdf below).

(U.S. Attorney SDNY) Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced the indictment today of MICHAEL AVENATTI on fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.
As alleged, AVENATTI used misrepresentations and a fraudulent document purporting to bear his client’s name and signature to convince his client’s literary agent to divert money owed to AVENATTI’s client to an account controlled by AVENATTI. AVENATTI then spent the money principally for his own personal and business purposes. The fraud and aggravated identity theft case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts of the Southern District of New York.

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President Trump was scheduled to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for a discussion over an infrastructure spending bill.  However, after partisan remarks by Nancy Pelosi accusing President Trump of a cover-up, any hope of negotiating an infrastructure bill collapsed.  President Trump is angered:

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Journalist John Solomon reports the first batch of documents to be declassified in the next seven to eight days will surround “bucket five“:

Bucket Five – Intelligence documents that were presented to the Gang of Eight in 2016 that pertain to the FISA application used against U.S. person Carter Page; including all exculpatory intelligence documents that may not have been presented to the FISA Court.

Presumably this would include the recently revealed State Dept Kavalac email; and the FBI transcripts from wiretaps of George Papadopoulos (also listed in Carter Page FISA).

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Note “7 to 8 days” would put the release in the short window between Trump’s state visit in Japan (5/25 – 5/28) and the state visit with the U.K (6/3 – 6/5).
No-one really knows the extent of the current documents and/or information that may be subject to a Trump declassification request.  However, this is the original list as outlined in September 2018, and the agencies who would be involved in the declassification process:
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