Do not get so caught up watching the granules moving at our feet that we forget to look up and notice the landscape is shifting….

A key DIA official from within the White House National Security Council has resurfaced today as reports show Ezra Cohen-Watnick has been hired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to assist on issues surrounding counterintelligence and counterterrorism.

WASHINGTON — A former American intelligence official who came under intense scrutiny during a stint at the White House last year is returning to government as the national security adviser to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to a person familiar with the decision.

The official, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, will play an important role at the Justice Department, advising Mr. Sessions on counterintelligence and counterterrorism.  (NYT Link)

Before getting to the big picture of Cohen-Watnick, let’s look at a few recent granules which at first might seem disconnected – but they are not.

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During an interview with Fox News host Harris Faulkner today U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) discussed a response letter he received from FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Senator Paul inquired with the FBI Director about whether reassigned FBI Agent Peter Strzok and DOJ/FBI Attorney Lisa Page still retained their Top Secret FBI clearances.

According to Senator Paul, the FBI director would not respond to specific agent inquiry, however, Wray did affirm that all existing FBI officials retain Top Secret clearances.

In essence, Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, despite being removed from investigative authority over their role in the political efforts to target President Trump, retain employment within the DOJ/FBI apparatus in an unknown capacity and thereby their clearances.

This information by Rand Paul dovetails into an increasingly obvious storyline where Lisa Page and Peter Strzok remain employed because they are cooperating with the internal investigation by Inspector General Michael Horowitz and parallel federal prosecutor John Huber.

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Tomorrow Attorney General Jeff Sessions will announce the assignment of U.S. Attorney John Lausch to facilitate the production of documents from the DOJ (Horowitz/Huber) to the House Judiciary Committee, and Chairman Bob Goodlatte.

Mr. Lausch is a Trump appointed U.S. Attorney from outside Washington DC.  John Lausch currently heads the Northern District of Illinois which includes Chicago, and this specific U.S. Attorney has extensive experience in complex cases of conspiracy and political corruption; a key skill-set given the issues within the Horowitz/Huber investigation of potential politicization of the FBI and DOJ offices.

Accepting the OIG report is almost certainly the most complex undertaking of IG Horowitz career; and accepting the multitude of possible angles within each section of the investigative inquiry are so consequential; there’s a strong likelihood the report could come out in stages.

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A very well informed Maria Bartiromo has an interesting interview with Trey Gowdy this morning.  In the first section of the interview Representative Gowdy reveals he has seen some of the originating “electronic communication” (EC) source material that initiated the 2016 counterintelligence operation against the Trump campaign.

An interesting aspect to this interview is how much ‘deep-weed’ background information Mrs. Bartiromo is aware of. [Obviously Maria has a direct network to some very specific information.]  WATCH:

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Representative Gowdy seems to using the Mamet Princple in this interview. Gowdy is obviously aware the DOJ cannot, and should not, release all evidence in their custody if some of that evidence outlines the basis for criminal referrals and will be used later by Prosecutor John Huber. So why does he demand access to it, and public release of it?

Gowdy’s presentation is almost enough to make a person wonder if he’s not trying to protect entities that might be at risk from sunlight or prosecution. It couldn’t be that perhaps there were/are 2016 republican political campaigns (*cough* Rubio), and/or uniparty leadership, who were in common-cause alignment with an operation that might eliminate Trump? Wait… wha?

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A few hours ago President Trump tweeted a curiously specific pair of tweets targeting the FBI, DOJ and FISA investigations as it relates to the House Judiciary Committee and Chairman Bob Goodlatte.  Something’s up:

Against the backdrop of the DOJ notifying the House Intelligence and House Senate committees last night of their ability to review the DOJ/FBI submission of the FISA Court application used to target U.S. person Carter Page, the specificity of POTUS Trump’s direction is curious.

As we previously discussed the DOJ allowing expanded congressional oversight over the FISA application, against the backdrop of a previously announced IG review of this specific FISA application, would indicate Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Federal Prosecutor John Huber signed-off on, or perhaps directed, last night’s approval.

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Sara Carter has a new ‘exclusive’ report from congressional sources who are sharing new text messages with her surrounding the timeline of the Justice Department’s National Security Division compiling the FISA Title-1 application that was eventually authorized to conduct FBI surveillance on Carter Page and the Trump Campaign.

A note of caution within the story as outlined by Carter, there’s some granular details -subject to interpretation- that she appears to be misconstruing. Additionally, it is important for emphasis to remember the Main Justice side of the scandal stems from rogue officials within the DOJ national Security Division [DOJ-NSD].

According to Carter, Peter Strzok was expressing frustration about the FISA application being challenged. DOJ Attorney Lisa Page, assigned to Andrew McCabe by the DOJ ‘small group’ leadership, was explaining to Strzok who, how and where the slowdown was coming from.

Sara Carter – […] Text messages obtained by investigators reveal that FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and his colleague Lisa Page were discussing the FBI’s difficulty in obtaining the warrant to spy on Carter Page, who worked for a short stint with the Trump campaign. The FBI obtained its first warrant to spy on Page on Oct. 19, 2016, and there would be three subsequent renewals every 90 days for the warrant on Mr. Page.

[…] In one of the September 2016 text message chains, Strzok tells Lisa Page about an argument that occurred with former DOJ prosecutor David Laufman. Laufman, who was then chief of the DOJ’s National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, oversaw the probe into former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, as well as the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Laufman left the DOJ earlier this year citing personal reasons for leaving his post, according to news reports.

Here’s where Sara Carter gets “BOMBSHELL” sideways:

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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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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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House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Devin Nunes appears for an interview with Sean Hannity to discuss the firing of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and ongoing investigative issues.

Chairman Nunes points out the HPSCI is not related to the Office of Inspector General report that flows through the oversight of  the Judiciary Committee (Goodlatte).  While there can be overlap, such as the FISA issues, Chairman Nunes oversight encompasses the intelligence community writ large, not specifically the FBI or DOJ.

Nunes’ primary intelligence oversight encompasses: DOJ-NSD, FBI-CoIntel, NSA, DoD (Pentagon), CIA, ODNI, and DoS (State).  The Chairman of the HPSCI is also the head figure within internal oversight for the Gang of Eight and the highest ranking member of legislative branch oversight over the intelligence apparatus of U.S. government along with the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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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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