Many people are understandably tentative about the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz.  How can this IG, or any IG, really be trusted to root out the rot that lies at the heart of the DC corruption?
Can we trust the IG to target the politicization of the FBI and DOJ, and do so with the righteous indignation necessary to tear out the corruptocrats? After all, what would motivate Inspector General Horowitz to participate in such a righteous endeavor?
How quickly some have forgotten:  DATELINE July, 2015:

WASHINGTON DC – The Obama administration formally announced that inspectors general will have to get permission from their agency heads to gain access to grand jury, wiretap and fair credit information — an action that severely limits the watchdogs’ oversight capabilities, independence and power to uncover fraud.
An opinion, issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, says the Inspector General Act of 1978 — which was written by Congress to create the government watchdogs in order to help maintain integrity within their agencies — does not have the authority to override nondisclosure provisions in other laws, most notably in regard to grand jury, wiretap or fair credit information.

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Merry Christmas.  Well, it appears people -lots of people- are quickly catching on.  As we shared earlier:

“The records IG Horowitz is sharing are details his investigation has uncovered that outline the larger FBI and DOJ collusion against candidate, and possibly President, Donald Trump.

While the partially recused Attorney General Jeff Sessions watches it play out, Asst. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein works as the conduit to ensure those records are provided to congress per request.   Yes, Rosenstein, like Horowitz, is also a white hat.

Their united approach with this information is essentially confirming what CTH has written about for the past several weeks.  There is a clear strategy here with the information that is surfacing for us to absorb.

Each piece of released information outlines the location of a larger piece of information.  Congressional committees just need to keep asking questions, follow the trail of evidence, seek more investigative discovery material, and interview the DOJ and FBI officials named along the way.” (more)

Um,… well,… Cue The Audio Visual – “where are we going?”:

…Giddy up!  Democrats just realized the years-long DOJ Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation is about to bite them, hard.  We are now entering the political combat zone where congressional democrats will attack the IG, in advance of the pending report.
Ironically, the Inspector General investigation led by Michael Horowitz was originally a lame-duck request (January 12, 2017) by Democrats prior to President Obama leaving office. [OIG Origination pdf HERE] That’s one of the more brilliant aspects towards its value.  The resulting investigation into the politicization of the FBI and DOJ is revealing details of how both departments were corrupted by political operatives friendly to Democrats.  Consequently, their own demanded investigation now becomes a risk.

(OIG Horowitz, AG Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Chris Wray)

As described by Politico: “Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerrold Nadler of New York and two other panel Democrats asked for a full review of DOJ’s decision making that led to Tuesday night’s release of about 375 texts that the FBI officials — Peter Strzok and Lisa Page — sent over a 15-month period during the 2016 presidential campaign.”
Democrats are furious the Strzok/Page text messages were released by DOJ Inspector General Horowitz to the House Committee.  They’re mad because the releases provide evidence of the corruption Jerold Nadler and Democrat leadership want to keep hidden.  However, as we have shared, the Inspector General is releasing some of the evidence collected so that the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees can question FBI and DOJ leadership about the content – and this approach rolls out the much bigger story.
In essence, Inspector General Horowitz is providing the American people with information the Democrats want to keep hidden.  Institutionally, the black hat usurpers, mostly mid-level management and staff within the DOJ and FBI, have been stalling and blocking congressional inquiry into their nefarious, and politically motivated schemes.
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During a recent rally in Pensacola President Trump remarked off-the-cuff: “we have a rigged system, we really do, we have a rigged system and we’re working hard to change it“. Against the backdrop of recent revelations with the stunning politicization of the FBI and DOJ, those words ring notes of truth, and also caution.
Over the past two weeks we have seen releases from the DOJ Office of Inspector General that appear to be building toward a much more consequential outcome. The corruption is jaw-dropping. The very heart of the U.S. system of Law (DOJ) and Order (FBI) is now being questioned. I would argue the IG obviously understands the need for caution within these discoveries and the recent releases are all purposeful, timed, planned and targeted.
Consider what is at stake; and further consider that you were given the task of revealing the outcome of an investigation of such consequence.  How would you introduce the findings to the larger U.S. electorate?   Given the timing of the releases from the IG’s investigation, I think that’s what we are seeing in the past two weeks.  A prosecutor laying out his case over the course of multiple media cycles.
For the past year plus, we have heard generalized terms of investigations.  However, since the beginning of December the information shifted and we begin hearing about specific names caught within the IG investigation.

Focusing only on the names from within the IG concern we find:  FBI Agent Peter Strzok; FBI/DOJ Attorney Lisa Page; DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr; his wife, Fusion GPS contractor Nellie Ohr; FBI Counterintelligence Director Bill Priestap; and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.  Each of these people appear to have been captured within the net at the heart of the politicization investigation.
Now, there’s bound to be more details; however, those names are all likely to face some form of congressional scrutiny, questioning, and possibly criminal charges.  Charges that will likely be based, in part, on the outlined information within the IG releases.
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The text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strozk and his mistress, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, have been released to both Fox News and CBS.  SEE HERE and SEE HERE.
The messages reflect a strong bias against President Trump. However, the bigger story is not the anti-Trump bias within the text communication, the BIGGER story is why the Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General (OIG), began even looking at Agent Peter Strozk’s communication in the first place.
Remember, the original mandate by the Inspector General’s office was initiated to review and discover any politicization of the FBI and/or DOJ officials.
After news broke of Strzok’s removal from investigative duty within the FBI counterintelligence unit, what the OIG responding statement said was for 11 months the Dept of Justice OIG office has been investigating the politicization within the DOJ and FBI and deciding if the actions, or lack of action, was driven by the political ideology of the participants therein:
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Last Thursday it was announced that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras was mysteriously recused from the Special Counsel case against General Mike Flynn, five days after Judge Contreras accepting the initial pleading.  No explanation as to ‘why’?

(Reuters) The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judge presiding over the criminal case for President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has been recused from handling the case, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday.  (read more)

One might think the media apparatus, or pundit proletariat writ large, might be curious about why a U.S. District Court Judge would be recused.  Alas One would be wrong.  The recusal angle is transparently missing from any follow-up by media; and apparently the judicial cat also has stolen the tongue of congressional curiosity.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.
The story has been memory holed into the concentric whirlpool of nothingness.
We have speculated that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras was recused, either by himself or by challenge, because he is also a FISA Court Judge and could have signed off on the October FISA warrant that led to the wiretapping and surveillance of General Flynn.  However, we have received information that it wasn’t ‘by challenge’, leaving the preponderance of the motive for recusal directly upon Judge Contreras personal decision.
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In an otherwise well-buried interview between former interim CIA Director Mike Morell, (the temp director following Petraeus ouster used during initial Benghazi cover), there’s an admission by Morell about the politicized Deep State Intelligence leadership targeting candidate Donald Trump.
What this interview tells CTH is that the Intelligence Community, writ large, is on the precipice of massive institutional change -perhaps high level firings of remaining mid level operators and management- and those who participated in the historic politicization are now attempting to shape an explanation.

[Via Politico] QUESTION: Was that a mistake?
Mike  Morell: So, I don’t think it was a mistake. I think there were downsides to it that I didn’t think about at the time. I was concerned about what is the impact it would have on the agency, right? Very concerned about that, thought that through. But I don’t think I fully thought through the implications.
And one of the ways I’ve thought about that, Susan, is—okay, how did Donald Trump see this? Right? And from—it’s very important—one of the things we do as intelligence analysts is make sure that our guy—the president—understands the other guy. Right?

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After spending a reasonable amount of time looking at the recent CNN Fake News story surrounding Donald Trump Jr; and accepting the leak that spurred that fake news story stemmed from inside the House Intelligence Committee; and after applying a reasonable amount of common sense to how it occurred; CTH believes Adam Schiff was the most likely source of the leak to CNN’s Congressional Correspondant, Manu Raju, that led to the fraudulent story.  Today’s discussion with Jake Tapper confirms that assertion:

There are obviously multiple investigative angles stemming from all the stories within investigations into the previous administration’s politicization of the FBI and DOJ.  One of those angles is the system of applying for FISA warrants and surveillance of U.S. persons.
Against the backdrop of FISA court judge Rudolph Contreras mysterious recusal from the Mike Flynn case; and against increasing sunlight upon FBI investigative agent Peter Strzok, yesterday House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, discussed his ongoing concerns about abuse within the FBI and DOJ process.

WASHINGTON DC – House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News on Friday that his investigators have already uncovered evidence of “abuse” in the U.S. government’s surveillance practices.

“I believe there’s evidence that abuses have occurred,” Nunes said in his first interview since the House Ethics Committee dismissed allegations he had wrongly released classified information as part of the panel’s Russia investigation.

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Last night news broke that U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras “has been recused” from the case overseeing the prosecution of General Mike Flynn. Details are vague. According to Reuters, both the judge and the Flynn legal team have yet to comment.
Additionally, there is no concrete answer as to whether the recusal was done by the judge himself or was forced upon him. While the reasoning is the key, the difference between the two options adds another layer of consequence within the rest of this outline.  Reuters News Service puts it this way:

(Reuters) – The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia judge presiding over the criminal case for President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has been recused from handling the case, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday.
According to a court filing, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras, who presided over a Dec. 1 hearing where Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his contacts with Russia, will no longer handle the case.
Court spokeswoman Lisa Klem did not say why Contreras was recused, and added that the case was randomly reassigned. Reuters could not immediately learn the reason for the recusal, or reach Contreras. An attorney for Flynn declined to comment. (Link)

Obviously, the customary reason for recusal is when there is a conflict of interest between the case as assigned and the judge overseeing it.  However, as you can clearly see, in this case it’s rather odd that if a conflict existed the judge would have even begun to oversee the case at the prior hearing.  Why wait until six days after the first hearing?
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