A very interesting letter from Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Ron Johnson asking DNI Richard “Ric” Grenell to declassify and release all of the unmasking requests from January 2016 to January 2017.
Results to be provided in tranches if needed.
Within the letter (pdf here) the senators appear to be targeting specific dates for cross referencing with previously identified NSA database abuses. Some of their inquiry appears to be guided by ‘open source’ reporting on the issue.
(pdf here)
Earlier today President Trump held a cabinet meeting to discuss ongoing COVID-19 mitigation efforts and the ongoing policies to reopen the U.S. economy. The presentation included powerful remarks from Assistant HHS Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Dr. Eli McCance-Katz. [Video and Transcript Below]
.
[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. Please. So, welcome to our Cabinet meeting. And every member of my Cabinet is working tirelessly to defeat the invisible enemy. That should have never happened to our country. It should have never happened to the world. It’s a disgrace. It could have been stopped at the source, but they decided not to do that.
But we’re going to safely reopen our country and our economy, and it’s happening very rapidly. And it’s happening, interestingly, where numbers are actually going down; you look at Florida, the state of Florida. Done a great job. You look at Georgia, you look at others — they’re open. And some are doing extremely well, far beyond what people thought.
Acting DNI Richard Grenell declassified the hidden paragraph of the Susan Rice memo and it was released earlier today. Our suspicions about the content of the redacted paragraph being Michael Flynn connected are confirmed.
On January 5, 2017, President Obama and Susan Rice were discussing incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn with FBI Director James Comey. The motive for Susan Rice to write the January 20, 2017, memo to file becomes clear. Here’s the paragraph:
Within this paragraph we find the motive for writing it (emphasis mine):
“Director Comey affirmed that he is proceeding “by the book” as it relates to law enforcement.” … “Comey said he does have some concerns that incoming NSA Flynn is speaking frequently with Russian Ambassador Kislyak.” “Comey said that could be an issue as it relates to sharing senssitive information.” “President Obama asked if Comey was saying that the NSC should not pass sensitive information related to Russia to Flynn.” “Comey replied “potentially.”” “He added that he has no indication thus far that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak, but he noted that “the level of communication is unusual.”
Remember, the position of President Obama and Susan Rice is that they were unaware of any FBI investigation of Flynn (or the Trump campaign); nor did they have any involvement in directing it to take place.
The content of this January 5th meeting makes the first part of their claim challenging to accept. Thus the need for Susan Rice to cover for it.
Moments ago Michael Flynn defense counsel Sidney Powell filed an appeal to the D.C. Circuit, a Petition for Writ of Mandamus (pdf link here), asking for intervention to correct Judge Sullivan’s unauthorized action.
Within the request Flynn’s defense requests the DC Appeals Court to order district court judge Emett Sullivan to: (1) grant the Justice Department’s Motion to Dismiss; (2) vacate its order appointing amicus curiae; and (3) reassign the case to another district judge as to any further proceedings.
The request cites numerous legal precedents in favor of granting the writ; but it’s a DC panel of judges so politics will likely play a role in determining what the appeals court decides to do. Given the nature of this extraordinary situation it is difficult to predict success or failure for the request to intervene. The whole darn thing is bizarre.
Within the petition the defense team notes:
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence voted today to approve Rep. John Ratcliffe to be the next US intelligence director. Senators approved Ratcliffe in an 8 to 7 vote along party lines during a closed-door meeting. The previous SSCI vote to approve Dan Coats in 2017 was 14 to 2. DNI Coats turned out to be a disappointment protecting the swamp.
Mr. Ratcliffe now moves to be confirmed by the full Senate before replacing acting Director of National Intelligence Richard “Ric” Grenell, who also is US ambassador to Germany. As acting DNI Grenell built a strong foundation for Ratcliffe to build upon; and there is a strong likelihood Grenell will stay close to the administration and lead President Trump’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
The ODNI position is important within the intelligence apparatus as the DNI is the hub for all intelligence agencies and the director controls the overall intelligence community. The DNI also coordinates the declassification and release of executive branch documents.
Politico reports Ratcliffe is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate in a vote likely to be held after Memorial Day, according to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo).
On April, 17, 2020, President Trump directed Secretary Perdue to expedite assistance to America’s farmers, ranchers and consumers. The President directed USDA to use all funds and authorities at its disposal. In addition to the $16 billion in direct payments, the details of which are expected to be announced shortly, USDA has begun to purchase & distribute up to $3 billion of ag products to those in need through the Food Box Distribution Program.
On Friday, May 15, 2020, Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump and Secretary Perdue toured Coastal Sunbelt Producers in Laurel, MD, which has begun the packing and distribution of these boxes to families in need. Contracts to distributors have been awarded by USDA.
Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks on supporting our Nation’s farmers, ranchers, and food supply chain in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
Kayleigh McEnany is very impressive as a press secretary. Today, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ this morning to discuss President Trump’s announcement that he is taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure.
Additionally, McEnany discusses the ongoing White House economic recovery policy; the decision to withhold funding from the WHO until answers are given and reforms are made; and recent remarks by AG Bill Barr.
An exclusive Treasury Department whistleblower outline in the Ohio Star is almost an absolute match to our research {Go Deep} on how President Obama constructed the political surveillance network during his second term.
According to the article in mid-December 2015 the Treasury whistleblower started noticing data-search transactions with the Treasury Dept. for specific people that aligned with the 2016 GOP primary. The searches included Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Donald Trump and his family as well as certain members of congress.
[(L-R) Denis McDonough, Joe Biden, President Obama, Tom Donolin, Jack Lew]
The complaint outlines an unnamed database [likely NSA] was used as the first search mechanism. After initial data was extracted the results were then used to transfer more specific searches to the Treasury dept. The level of detail within the whistleblower complaint is eerily familiar to our own research based on declassified records.
OHIO STAR – […] By March 2016, the whistleblower said she and a colleague, who was detailed to Treasury from the intelligence community, became convinced that the surveillance of Flynn was not tied to legitimate criminal or national security concerns, but was straight-up political surveillance among other illegal activity occurring at Treasury.
“When I showed it to her, what she said, ‘Oh, sh%t!’ and I knew right then and there that I was right – this was some shady stuff,” the whistleblower said.
House Intel Committee ranking member Devin Nunes appears on Fox News to discuss the remarks earlier in the day where AG Bill Barr does not foresee any criminal investigation of President Obama or Vice-President Joe Biden.
Rep. Nunes again refers to the buckets of intelligence that would help outline everything that has taken place. Bucket-1 DOJ/FBI activity prior to July 31, 2016. Bucket-2 DOJ/FBI activity between July 31, 2016 and the inauguration. Bucket-3 everything that takes place after the Trump inauguration, to include the Mueller investigation.
.
The bottom line is we need full transparency and a complete declassification of the underlying documents that were redacted and hidden to protect the prior behavior.
We are nearing the end of the beginning of the end, as Senator Lindsey Graham announces a request for a senate hearing to consider scheduling another senate hearing to consider the possible subpoenas for witnesses to appear at a later senate hearing over potential testimony at a possible senate hearing or deposition thereafter.
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today announced that the Committee would debate and vote on a subpoena authorization related to the FISA abuse investigation and oversight of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Graham’s subpoena authorization covers a number of documents, communications and testimony from witnesses, including James Comey, Andrew McCabe, James Clapper, John Brennan, Sally Yates, and others.