A lot of under-the-radar action happening today surrounding the upcoming DOJ Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz report.

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte called Inspector General Michael Horowitz earlier today to discuss the content of the subpoena he recently sent to the DOJ demanding investigative records related to the ongoing IG internal review and report.

Simultaneous to this oversight discussion, and related to the content therein, FBI Director Christopher Wray released a public statement announcing additional FBI staff resources committed to fulfillment of Chairman Goodlatte’s request.

FBI – As the Director of the FBI, I am committed to ensuring that the Bureau is being transparent and responsive to legitimate congressional requests.

Up until today, we have dedicated 27 FBI staff to review the records that are potentially responsive to Chairman Goodlatte’s requests. The actual number of documents responsive to this request is likely in the thousands. Regardless, I agree that the current pace of production is too slow.

Accordingly, I am doubling the number of assigned FBI staff, for a total of 54, to cover two shifts per day from 8 a.m. to midnight to expedite completion of this project. (link)

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has ‘at least’ 1.2 million documents gathered as part of his fourteen month investigation into the politicization of the FBI and DOJ.

Included within the exhaustive evidence is the total transcript of text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Attorney Lisa Page extending almost two years. Some of those text messages were previously released to congressional oversight committees and have structured much of the media storyline and investigative pathways for three congressional committees.  However, only a small portion of those texts were actually release so far.

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Senator Lindsey Graham appears on Fox News for an interview with Maria Bartiromo.  99.99% of the interview is country club Senator Graham repeating the same South Carolina white wine spritzer talking points he’s famous for.  That is to say lots of words amounting to nothing. The gastric equivalence of cucumber and mayonnaise triangle sandwiches on crust-less Wonder bread with a side of celery.

However, there is a reminder at 09:50 of a key and important point that tries to surface yet continues to get whacked down by the annoying duplicity of swamp creatures and a media that completely ignores the obvious.  Lindsey Graham claims Christopher Steele lied and told the FBI he never talked to media.

We do not know this to be true, and neither does he.

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It is far more likely the FBI:… #1) Ignored Chris Steele talking to media because they needed his Clinton-Steele dossier for a false FISA application; and #2) the FBI later told congress they didn’t know about Steele talking to media, but they really did; and #3) the FBI falsified FD-302 reports of their interview with Chris Steele to cover their tracks.

Here’s how we know:

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Maria Bartiromo has an interview with Devin Nunes encompassing multiple topics from China and Trade to the FBI/DOJ investigation.

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HPSCI recommendations below:

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Today chairman Bob Goodlatte sends a formal subpoena to the DOJ (Inspector General Michael Horowitz) for documents regarding the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server, potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility recommendation to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

However, it’s not the subpoena that should make the news.  Pay close attention to the DOJ response.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is one of the top three people throughout the entirety of congress with a comprehensive knowledge of the events surrounding the investigations of the FBI and DOJ. Chairman Goodlatte is one of only four people outside the DOJ who have read the full DOJ FISA application used for a Title-1 Surveillance warrant of Carter Page.

The House Judiciary Committee holds the primary statutory oversight over the U.S. Department of Justice. Additionally, Chairman Goodlatte is the congressional office working closest with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz. In short, Goodlatte is the center of all ‘oversight’ information circling the investigations into the DOJ and FBI.

However, all of that said, even Chairman Bob Goodlatte doesn’t, and shouldn’t, know what criminal investigations are underway.  We’ve explained this dynamic of disconnect numerous times.  We really began emphasizing this when AG Jeff Sessions admitted he brought in a prosecutor from outside Washington DC to work with Inspector General Horowitz.

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Before becoming President Obama’s key Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco was the head of the DOJ National Security Division. You might remember the DOJ-NSD is at the center of the “small group” collaboration between DOJ-NSD and FBI Counterintelligence unit.  Remember, it was the DOJ-NSD (via Sally Yates) who would not allow OIG Oversight.  (John Carlin quit; Mary McCord quit; David Laufman quit)

During the 2015/2016 presidential election Lisa Monaco was one of the key WH figures doing the unmasking of raw intelligence provided by the “small group” collaborators (with Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes). Monaco was also one of the key policy strategists, heck, she was the architect, who utilized the compartmentalization of intelligence to hide the fingerprints of collaboration. This was the issue that initially stymied HSPCI Devin Nunes.

Many people have wondered if the Obama White House, recognizing the empirical risk represented by McCabe’s insider knowledge, would distance themselves from McCabe -leaving him to swing in the wind- or whether they would circle the wagons to defend him. This interview should answer that question. Pay particular attention to the angst expressed by Monaco of Trump creating transparency within compartmentalized IC.

After watching the video, and understanding what battles are to come from within the Obama IC, you understand why THIS GROUP has assembled. It is all interconnected. It is all related. None of these alignments, moves, maneuvers and shifts are happening arbitrarily. They are all done purposefully knowing the biggest political battle in the history of U.S. politics is now visible on the horizon.

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Things are proceeding swimmingly.  How is it possible to outline the biggest political corruption scandal in modern U.S. history; which utilized the full weight of the institutions of government and the vast intelligence community; against the predictable tide of a mainstream U.S. media apparatus who will shout ‘conspiracy theory’; while every single entity associated with the collaborative effort will protect the group behind the scandal?

There’s the challenge.  How do you introduce the scale and scope of corruption to almost half the country who have relied upon the false narrative delivered by fake news for the past two years?

Answer: You assemble a strategic communications team, timed to activate when a key series of events takes place.   Joe diGenova is part of that strategic communications team. The triggering event is the OIG release.  The purpose of the team is to help the news consumer digest the corruption elephant one bite at a time.

As each individual indictment is parsed and delivered, there will be tens-of-thousands of pages of evidence, multiple witness statements, and a tsunami of investigative supporting material that needs to be unpacked -per person- and understood against the backdrop of the bigger story.

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Senator Chuck Grassley letter to Rod Rosenstein (Page 5, footnote #5) outlines the FBI interviews of twice demoted DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr:

Ohr FD-302 12/19/16 (interview date 11/22/16);
Ohr FD-302 12/19/16 (interview date 12/05/16);
Ohr FD-302 12/19/16 (interview date 12/12/16);
Ohr FD-302 12/27/16 (interview date 12/20/16);
Ohr FD-302 01/27/17 (interview date 01/27/17);
Ohr FD-302 01/31/17 (interview date 01/23/17);
Ohr FD-302 01/27/17 (interview date 01/25/17);
Ohr FD-302 02/08/17 (interview date 02/06/17);
Ohr FD-302 02/15/17 (interview date 02/14/17);
Ohr FD-302 05/10/17 (interview date 05/08/17);
Ohr FD-302 05/12/17 (interview date 05/12/17);
Ohr FD-302 05/16/17 (interview date 05/15/17).

Notice: DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr was interviewed after the election four times [November 22nd, December: 5th, 12th, 20th, 2016] by the Obama FBI.

During those four 2016 interviews: President Obama, James Comey (FBI), Andrew McCabe (FBI), Loretta Lynch (DOJ), Sally Yates (DOJ), James Baker (FBI), Peter Strzok (FBI), Lisa Page (FBI), Jim Rybicki (FBI), Mary McCord (DOJ), Mike Kortan (FBI), Bill Priestap (FBI) and David Laufman (DOJ) were all still in place. The Inspector General investigation had not yet begun.

Question(s):

Why was the FBI interviewing Bruce Ohr in 2016?

Who was interviewing Bruce Ohr in 2016?

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What has become increasingly visible is the largest political scandal in the history of U.S. government.  A political conspiracy at the highest levels of the prior administration and across multiple agencies within the U.S. intelligence apparatus.  The scale of corruption being exposed is astounding.

The investigative effort to unravel and bring justice is almost overwhelming.  It is also very likely the issues surrounding Andrew McCabe are only just beginning.

Within the response letter from Michael Bromwich, the attorney representing fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, you might note the following (emphasis mine):

[…] The investigation described in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report was cleaved off from the larger investigation of which it was a part, its completion expedited, and the disciplinary process completed in a little over a week. Mr. McCabe and his counsel were given limited access to a draft of the OIG report late last month, did not see the final report and the evidence on which it is based until a week ago, and were receiving relevant exculpatory evidence as recently as two days ago. (pdf link)

Within the Office of Professional Responsibility guidelines for Attorney Representation you might also note the following (again, emphasis mine):

The majority of OPR investigations are administrative in nature, and employees are not entitled to counsel as a matter of law. However, counsel may be permitted if counsel does not interfere with or delay the interview. Counsel must be actually retained by the employee as his legal representative, not as an observer. Counsel are not permitted access to certain confidential criminal investigative information and may not be permitted access to grand jury information.. (link)

Put both of those statements together, along with the underlying issues that Inspector General Michael Horowitz was investigating, and there’s even more likely evidence of the “outside Washington DC” prosecutor noted in the following statement from Attorney General Jeff Sessions:

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There are so many threads of information surrounding the 2016 operation to conduct political surveillance on the Trump campaign by various officials and offices within corrupt structures of government it’s easy to get lost. However, if we take all the various bits of information and place them together a less confusing picture emerges.

The {Go Deep Threads} look like this: The FISA-702(17) ‘About Queries’; the political opposition research of Fusion-GPS and Glenn Simpson; the DOJ officials and FBI officials; Bruce and Nellie Ohr; the U.S. State Department and U.N Ambassador Samantha Power; the Clinton-Steele Dossier and Christopher Steele; the FISA Title-1 surveillance warrant; and the unmasking by former Senior White House officials: Lisa Monaco and Susan Rice.

Here’s the basic overview of how all those threads come together to paint a picture.

The FBI group was participating in a plan to exonerate Hillary Clinton. That same FBI group was simultaneously conducting opposition research on candidate Donald Trump and the larger construct of his campaign team. Those FBI officials were allied by entities outside official government structures. The ‘outside group’ were “contractors”. It is likely one of the contractors was Fusion-GPS or entities in contact with Fusion-GPS. {Go Deep}

The contractors were using FBI intelligence databases to conduct opposition research “searches” on Trump campaign officials. This is where the use of FISA-702(16)(17) “To/From” and “About” queries comes in. {Go Deep} This FISA abuse was the allowed but unofficial process identified in early 2016 by NSA internal auditors.

This is where NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers steps in on April 18th, 2016, and stops the FBI contractors from having any further access. {Go Deep}

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CTH has a hunch the OIG report is going to come in multiple phases, containing multiple investigative facets, following the investigative mandate initially outlined when IG Horowitz began (also listed below for reference).  The first release will likely surround McCabe and (bullet point #4) “Allegations that department and FBI employees improperly disclosed non-public information.” I’m working on some summary information therein.

Lots to chew.

Former FBI Deputy Director James Kallstrom appeared on Fox News for an interview with Maria Bartiromo earlier today.  He conveys a common set of perspectives and concerns.

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