Last week, the firm behind the contract for the Russian Dossier, Fusion GPS, requested that a U.S. District judge block congressional investigators from access, via a previous subpoena, to its bank records. The judge gave the House Intelligence Committee lawyers and Fusion GPS a week to see if they could work out a mutual agreement on the production of the records.
Yesterday the attorneys for Fusion GPS and the House Intelligence Committee agreed to terms for releasing the bank records.  The intel committee will receive the bank records to continue their investigation, but the documents will be sealed from public scrutiny:
[scribd id=362870671 key=key-dEKnARTWraVaAkzejfyv mode=scroll]
During the week-long negotiations between Fusion GPS and congressional lawyers, multiple funding sources were mysteriously leaked.   One of the leaks showed The Washington Free Beacon and billionaire Paul Singer initially contracted with Fusion GPS in 2015 for initial opposition research against candidate Donald Trump, seemingly for the benefit of WFB and Singer’s preferred candidate Marco Rubio. That commissioned research ended in March/April of 2016 when it was clear that Rubio could not win the nomination.
(more…)

Washington (CNN) A federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources briefed on the matter.
The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, the sources said. It is unclear what the charges are. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment. (read more)

(Article Link) – (Tweet Link)

First wave of arrests to begin on Monday?
(more…)

Apparently, prior to the Washington Post revealing the DNC  and Clinton Campaign paid for the “Russian Dossier”, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (DNC) and John Podesta (campaign) testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee they knew nothing about who and how the Steele Dossier was financed…

…but wait, it gets better.
Sitting beside John Podesta when he gave his Senate testimony was, wait for it,..  attorney Marc Elias.  Yup, the campaign and DNC lawyer who actually wrote the checks to Fusion GPS to pay Christopher Steele.  Whoopsie.
(Via CNN) Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta and former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz both privately denied to congressional Russia investigators that they had any knowledge about an arrangement to pay for opposition research on President Donald Trump, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The interviews happened before this week’s disclosure that the Clinton campaign and DNC paid for the research. Senate investigators may seek to further question the two top Democrats and dig deeper on the origins of the so-called Trump dossier, one of the sources briefed on the matter said.
(more…)

In the 48 hours since the Washington Post outlined the financial backing for the Christopher Steele “Russian Dossier” as the Hillary Clinton campaign and DNC, the Democrat apparatus writ large has been trying to obfuscate and distance themselves from it. Yesterday Clinton campaign Spokesman Brian Fallon denied his knowledge of the campaign financing Fusion GPS for the commissioned dossier contract.
Today, in the latest laughable attempt at dodge-ball Hillary Clinton is now stating she didn’t know her campaign was paying for it:

(NYT) […] Officials from the Clinton campaign and the D.N.C. have said they were unaware that Perkins Coie facilitated the research on their behalf, even though the law firm was using their money to pay for it.
Even Mrs. Clinton only found about Mr. Steele’s research after Buzzfeed published the dossier, according to two associates who discussed the matter with her. They said that she was disappointed that the research — as well as the fact that the F.B.I. was looking into connections between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia — was not made public before Election Day. (read more – link)

The reason the financing of the dossier is ultimately so relevant is because it shreds the entire narrative that the Russians were trying to help candidate Donald Trump.
A strong, heck, even a moderate application of common sense would accept that the dossier was created to undermine candidate Trump, to the benefit of Hillary Clinton, and the publication of the generally refuted and debunked material post-election was only intended to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump.
(more…)

There’s a myriad of angles within this that must be reviewed prior to absorbing content.

First, do not think the Washington Post is ever going to frame a damaging article against the Clinton’s or DNC; it is beyond their inherent ideology to do so.  Therefore the motive of any media expose’ must be kept in mind.
Second, while the article itself states the Clinton Campaign and the DNC paid Fusion GPS to contract Christopher Steele, the researcher and dossier author, the article also tries to lend some credibility toward the content therein.  This is another possible angle.

Third, the judge in case of the congressional subpoena into Fusion GPS bank records -to discover the funding of the dossier- gave Fusion GPS until Friday of this week to work out an agreement with congress that would eliminate the need for a judicial decision.  It is entirely possible this WaPo article was advanced by a risk averse Fusion GPS in order to dilute the need for the bank record inquiry.  No doubt the bank records would contain far more information than just the Clinton Campaign and DNC.
Fourth, with #3 in mind, and considering this report is from within the Washington Post, there is a strong possibility the other finance mechanisms for the dossier might include the U.S. government (FBI and CIA).  Additionally likely – knowing the WaPo has a history of defending, and working on behalf of, the intelligence community.
Fifth, the sourcing within the Washington Post article is weak, vague and disingenuous with verbiage such as: “people familiar with the matter”, “according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity”, “people involved in the matter“, etc.  Notice how the term “matter” repeats.  That familiar term is frequent throughout the article.
As to the substance:
(more…)

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held an unusual press event, and delivered an unusual statement to the media, specifically refuting the content of an NBC report –READ HERE–

[Transcript] SECRETARY TILLERSON: Good morning. There were some news reports this morning that I want to address. First, my commitment to the success of our President and our country is as strong as it was the day I accepted his offer to serve as Secretary of State. President Trump’s “America first” agenda has given voice to millions who felt completely abandoned by the political status quo and who felt their interests came second to those of other countries.
President Trump’s foreign policy goals break the mold of what people traditionally think is achievable on behalf of our country. We’re finding new ways to govern that deliver new victories. Our job is now to achieve results on behalf of America, and we are doing that.
(more…)

The Weaponized Administrative State is Protecting Itself

A report from Reuters highlights the DOJ and FBI refusing to hand over documents related to the Steele Dossier on candidate Donald Trump, and the FBI (Via James Comey) involvement in assembling the content therein.   However, the lede is buried in paragraph four of the article.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI are resisting demands from a Republican lawmaker to hand over documents about a former British spy’s dossier on purported Russian support for Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, because the FBI has its own open criminal investigation, officials said.
The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas in August seeking “any and all documents” about both agencies’ dealings with former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, according to a letter seen by Reuters from committee chairman Devin Nunes, a Trump supporter.

(more…)

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper appears on CNN last night to deny knowledge of the wiretapping of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
In March Clapper stated he would specifically have known if a FISA warrant was issued against any Trump campaign officials. Last night Clapper stated he held no knowledge of the FISA warrant. Clapper is walking through a legal minefield. WATCH:

.
It is important to remember that FBI Director James Comey stated on March 20th 2017 he briefed the DNI (James Clapper) and the National Security Adviser (Susan Rice) on the details of the counter intelligence operation. By all intents and appearances the statement last night by Clapper denying knowledge is essentially refuting James Comey’s earlier testimony and throwing Comey under the bus.
They both cannot be telling the truth.
Either Comey told Clapper which means Clapper is lying.  Or Comey never told Clapper, which provides evidence of the FBI collusion with the White House; and the FBI working as a rogue intelligence agency for political targeting.
In the abstract the Obama authorized wiretapping of a Trump campaign official is alarming. However when these recent revelations are added to FBI James Comey admitting to keeping the investigations hidden from congressional oversight an even more alarming picture emerges.
(more…)

Knowing that former Campaign Manager Paul Manafort was wiretapped by the Obama Administration via the FBI, James Comey, let’s take another look at Comey’s testimony.
New York Representative Elise Stefanik begins her March 20th, 2017, questioning by asking director Comey what are the typical protocols, broad standards and procedures for notifying the Director of National Intelligence, the White House and senior congressional leadership (aka the intelligence Gang of Eight), when the FBI has opened a counter-intelligence investigation.
The parseltongue response from Comey is a generalized reply (with uncomfortable body language) that notification of counter-intel investigations are discussed with the White House, and other pertinent officials, on a calendar basis, ie. “quarterly”.
With the statement that such counter-intel notifications happen “generally quarterly”, and against the backdrop that Comey stated in July of 2016 a counter-intel investigation began, Stefanik asks:

…”when did you notify the White House, the DNI and congressional leadership”?

Watch an extremely uncomfortable Director James Comey lie by claiming there was no active DNI -which is entirely false- James Clapper was Obama’s DNI.

.
Watch it again.
Watch that first 3:00 minutes again. Ending with:

…”Because of the sensitivity of the matter” ~ James Comey

(more…)

There will be much discussion and speculation about a recent “leaked” FBI FISA warrant surrounding former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. However, the interesting aspect always falls upon the timeline, not necessarily the wiretapping itself per se’.
According to the CNN report the wiretapping and surveillance of Manafort started sometime in 2014 and then was discontinued after nothing of criminal value or significance was gained.  [NOTE: FISA warrants must be updated in 90 day increments; continued surveillance involving U.S. persons must be justified; if nothing exists the court orders the surveillance to cease the warrant is no longer valid.]  However, according to the same leaked source reporting from CNN the wiretapping began again in 2016.
The July/August 2016 time frame is interesting because that coincides with the surfacing of the ridiculous opposition research “Steele Dossier” on Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. Further recently revealed information about the “steele dossier”, interestingly surrounds the James Comey FBI paying for the information contained therein.
Bear with me on this… So the James Comey FBI paid a British informant, former MI6 operative Christopher Steele, for content within the Steele Dossier, which was originally financed by the Jeb Bush campaign and Never Trumpers, and later passed on to Hillary Clinton allies via continued investigative funding by Fusion GPS. Christopher Steele is the same guy the DNC contracted to research the “DNC hacking” (which many think was actually DNC leaking).
(more…)