Suffice to say it’s not a good look when lawyers representing the FBI are telling the central witness within a political conspiracy involving the FBI not to answer questions from congressional oversight.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte tells Martha MacCallum that FBI lawyers are instructing FBI Agent Peter Strzok not to answer questions from congress about the nature of his involvement within a DOJ/FBI conspiracy to stop a political candidate; and later to overthrow a presidency.
Additionally Chairman Goodlatte states the answers agent Strzok did give about his text messages was “not believable”.

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*Note* at 9:00pm EDT the deposition is ongoing.  They shifted into a classified setting at approximately 7:00pm.  The non-classified deposition transcript is something I am very much looking forward to reading.  Hopefully it will be released soon.
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FBI Agent Peter Strzok appears before a joint house committee today for a closed hearing deposition.  Mr. Strzok will appear before an open congressional hearing to be scheduled later.  Today’s deposition is an opportunity to ask questions and get an “official record” of specific answers to multiple lines of inquiry.
Peter Strzok is at the center of four specifically known corrupt DOJ and FBI operations. 1) The Clinton exoneration operation. 2) The Trump investigation “Crossfire Hurricane”. 3) “Spygate”, and the abuse of the FISA court; and 4) The origin of the Mueller probe.

The deposition questioning is being directed from a hand-picked group of lawmakers.  Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte determined who will ask the questions.  One of the lawmakers selected was Jim Jordan.

Heading to the Peter Strzok deposition. We have lots of questions that need answers.

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) June 27, 2018

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House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes appears on Fox New morning broadcast to outline the latest developments surrounding “Spygate”.
In addition to FISA abuse and fraud upon the FISA court, there is an increased likelihood the Obama CIA, DOJ and FBI ran agents and operatives into the Trump campaign.

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Due to the ongoing and unresolved scale of corruption within the administrative offices of the DOJ (Sessions/Rosenstein) and FBI (Wray/Bowdich), it is no longer possible to provide any benefit-of-doubt regarding their obstruction of oversight.   The IG report; the manipulation (red-lining) of the draft content therein; and the subsequent DOJ/FBI willful blindness toward the remaining content; affords no leniency toward motive.
In essence, if we are to honestly call the baby ugly, we are also to admit: there is an ongoing and institutional cover-up taking place. Yes, even by Trump officials.

In the latest development(s); and against the backdrop of previously unknown subpoenas from several House committees (HPSCI, Judiciary and the useless House Oversight/Reform committee), the FBI sends two compliance letters to congressional leadership.
It should be noted, lest we leave any transparent motive unspoken, the FBI responses are not from U.S. Attorney John Lausch, the *supposed* Sessions appointed facilitator of congressional requests and the person *reportedly* in charge of compliance production. I digress.
Backdrop: On June 15th, Paul Ryan, Devin Nunes, Trey Gowdy and Bob Goodlatte met with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray.  According to later media statements, the House congressional group notified Rosenstein and Wray of their intent to hold Rosenstein and Wray subject to “House Floor Measures”. That is  codespeak for *contempt of congress*, and/or *impeachment*.
What we did not know (they never said publicly) was that Ryan, Nunes, Gowdy and Goodlatte filed a compliance subpoena as an outcome of that June 15 meeting, listing a myriad of document requests previously ignored by the DOJ, specifically the FBI.  We discover this aspect in the response letter(s) from the FBI Acting Asst. Director, Offfice of Congressional Affairs, Jill Tyson.  (both pdf’s below)  [John Lausch, ::crickets::]
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Well, here’s a start.  Eight House Republicans have asked Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz for the specific names of FBI employees mentioned in last week’s report on the Hillary Clinton email investigation:

The letter is signed by Representatives: Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; Dave Brat, R-Va.; Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn.; Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.; Jody Hice, R-Ga., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and Ralph Norman, R-S.C.
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Representatives Matt Gaetz and Ron DeSantis appear on Fox News to discuss the DOJ inspector general report after release:

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Michael Horowitz: FBI Agent Peter Strzok walks like a biased duck… looks like a biased duck… sounds like a biased duck… has all the same characteristics of a biased duck… and took the exact action a biased duck would take; therefore “We do not have confidence” FBI Agent Peter Strzok is not a biased duck.

[…] when one senior FBI official, Strzok, who was helping to lead the Russia investigation at the time, conveys in a text message to another senior FBI official, Page, that “we’ll stop” candidate Trump from being elected—after other extensive text messages between the two disparaging candidate Trump—it is not only indicative of a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, implies a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate’s electoral prospects.

This is antithetical to the core values of the FBI and the Department of Justice. Moreover, as we describe in Chapter Nine, in assessing Strzok’s decision to prioritize the Russia investigation over following up on the Midyear-related investigative lead discovered on the Weiner laptop in October 2016, these text messages led us to conclude that we did not have confidence that Strzok’s decision was free from bias. (p.420)

Christopher Wray: “I take these findings seriously, and we accept these findings and recommendations.” … “This report did not find any evidence of political bias or improper considerations actually impacting the investigation under review.”

This is the infuriating part.  Think about this carefully.  This is not some arbitrary irrelevant institution within the bureaucracy of government.  The FBI is the “premier” law enforcement investigative apparatus within the entirety of the United States homeland security apparatus.  We rely upon the FBI’s investigative skills, training and application of common sense as they carry out their official responsibilities.

In essence the FBI has the primary responsibility for ensuring the internal safety and security of Americans through a process of evaluating evidence and threats; and more importantly taking action on clear evidence of those threats to avoid public safety issues.

Yet, the most important investigative body; within the system of U.S. law and order; cannot identify, admit, accept and take action upon a clear and present threat within its own organizational ranks. A political bias that is transparently obvious to the rest of America.

Allow me to put the IG/DOJ/FBI principle, at the heart of the matter, another way…

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FBI Director Christopher Wray will be holding a 5:30pn press conference to discuss the issues and fallout from the DOJ Inspector General report released earlier today.

UPDATE: Video Added

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Those reading the report will note the executive summary and conclusions were not written by the same IG officials who wrote the body of the investigative findings.  The investigation doesn’t match the summary.  The media is using the summary for their narrative; however the content within the IG report is entirely devastating.

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The 18-month Inspector General review of the DOJ/FBI investigation of the Hillary Clinton email has been released – OIG RELEASE LINK HERE

This IG inquiry is specifically looking into whether the FBI investigation was corrupted by political influence in their determination of the Clinton outcome. The IG report provides background on the overall issues, the potential crimes; the subsequent coverup; and the corruption that infested the 2016 Department of Justice and the FBI.

Here’s The Report:

[scribd id=381806566 key=key-4WfKaOih0Xm7EA7gdK93 mode=scroll]

(pdf link)

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Don’t Comment Unless You’ve Read The Full Report

Important note.  Read, but don’t focus on, the “executive summary” or “conclusions”; those two sections were written by political administrators in FBI and DOJ leadership.  Focus on the substance of the documented facts within the IG report.  You’ll note the specific facts don’t support the “summary/conclusion”.

Analysis will follow.

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The Potomac Two-Step

♦ Statement from Trey Gowdy. [SEE HERE] Given the nature and construct of the statement it was obviously written before today and timed for a release at a specific time of day today. Reeks of familiar UniParty swamp defense. Chaff and Countermeasures.

WASHINGTON, DC – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy released the following statement after the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report on FBI and DOJ actions in advance of the 2016 election.

“I am alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed by the Inspector General’s finding of numerous failures by DOJ and FBI in investigating potential Espionage Act violations by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (read more)

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