Against the backdrop of all things DC swamp, this move was entirely predictable. No-one takes over as chair of the SSCI without senate leadership having (blackmail) material on the appointee to have full control over their activity. Marco Rubio is fully compromised.
Today Mitch McConnell announces that Senator Marco Rubio will replace Richard Burr as chairman of the notoriously corrupt Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI):
MITCH McCONNELL – “I am glad to announce that Senator Marco Rubio has accepted my invitation to serve as Acting Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
“The senior senator for Florida is a talented and experienced Senate leader with expertise in foreign affairs and national security matters. Senator Rubio was the natural choice for this temporary assignment on the basis of accumulated committee service. His proven leadership on pertinent issues only made the decision easier.
This is so far outside the bounds of traditional judicial activity it is unprecedented. In the case against Michael Flynn the court appointed amicus curiae, essentially a court appointed outside lawyer enlisted to prosecute the case despite the DOJ withdrawal motion, John Gleeson has now filed a motion requesting: (1) a briefing schedule, (2) oral arguments; and (3) the possibility of interviewing witnesses.
Within Mr. Gleeson’s motion (link here) he will file his amicus brief on June 10th, and asks Judge Sullivan to set up a briefing schedule and allow him to make oral arguments.
President Trump is holding a roundtable discussion today with restaurant executives and national leaders within the industry. Anticipated remarks at 2:00pm ET
UPDATE: Video Added
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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. We’re here with the leaders of the restaurant industry. It’s an industry that’s been tremendously impacted by what’s happening with COVID, and it’s an industry that we’re working very hard with and on. We’re looking at doing deductibility so that a corporation can use a restaurant or entertainment clubs, et cetera, and get deductibility. I think that’ll really have a big impact. Steve can maybe talk about it — Steve Mnuchin.
But I’d like to have some of these leaders talk about — real quickly — about their company and the industry and any ideas they have, and I think we can do it in front of the media for a little while, and then we can answer a couple of questions, and we’re going to get back to business. Okay?
During a press conference to outline new evidence in the Pensacola terror case, Attorney General William Barr coordinated a pre-staged question from the media. Responding to a question about President Trump’s tweets the AG said: based on his knowledge of the Durham probe so far, he does not expect the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into former President Barack Obama or Vice President Joe Biden.
Curiously within the statement Bill Barr notes: “what happened to the president during the 2016 election and throughout the first two years of his administration was abhorrent”, within that statement he is now saying the activity by special counsel Mueller was part of the “grave injustice”.
Representative Doug Collins of Georgia appears for an interview with Maria Bartiromo to discuss holding China accountable and the ongoing revelations surrounding the Obama administration targeting of Michael Flynn and President Trump.
More than a week after CBS first constructed their editorial narrative they finally released the full interview between Catherine Herridge and AG Bill Barr. Many people read the transcript; however, thankfully Michael Sheridan excerpts a portion of the video that doesn’t come across in the transcript.
When the attorney general is questioned about “still having confidence” in FBI Director Christopher Wray, a newly articulated hesitancy is visible that doesn’t come across in the transcript. WATCH:
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Since February 2019 Bill Barr has been a staunch and very public defender of Chris Wray. However, with new revelations about recent FBI efforts to block the release of information as it relates to Michael Flynn, it now appears the AG has less confidence.
This shift is important because as the public have a renewed focused on the question of who illegally leaked Flynn’s communication with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, there has always been a rather curious contrast issue with the known classified intelligence leaking of James Wolfe. If finding Flynn’s leaker is important then why didn’t the DOJ/FBI take action when they found a classified intelligence leaker in 2018?
Matt Taibbi writes a lengthy column calling out his colleagues for abandoning all pretense of civil liberties in an effort to ‘resist’ President Trump.
Within the column Taibbi walks-through the ridiculous Russia collusion story and notes the necessary use of the media pretending not to know what took place within the Obama administration; including what continues today in the prosecution of Flynn.
MATT TAIBBI – […] ” After Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations about mass data collection, a series of internal investigations began showing officials were breaking rules against spying on specific Americans via this NSA program. Searches were conducted too often and without proper justification, and the results were shared with too many people, including private contractors. By October, 2016, the FISA court was declaring that systematic overuse of so-called “702” searches were a “very serious fourth Amendment issue.”
In later court documents it came out that the FBI conducted 3.1 million such searches in 2017 alone. As the Brennan Center put it, “almost certainly… the total number of U.S. person queries run by the FBI each year is well into the millions.”
Maria Bartiromo broadcasts a taped interview with President Trump discussing the topic of Obamagate and how the IC, FBI and DOJ was weaponized against the Trump campaign and incoming administration.
This interview is interesting as to how much President Trump is aware of what took place.
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During the Obama administration the NSA database was continually used to conduct surveillance. This is the critical point that leads to understanding the origin of “Spygate”, or “Obamagate” as it unfolded in the Spring and Summer of 2016.
Earlier today President Trump was again ‘subtle as a brick through a window’ in a tweet requesting the senate get serious in exposing Obamagate and the soft coup effort:
Unfortunately, due to the dynamics of the UniParty, Mitch McConnell is very unlikely to take any action to expose prior misconduct; it would be against McConnell’s interests.
The Senate was not a passive entity in the various hoaxes against President Trump. Factually, the Senate Intelligence Committee, and individual senators themselves, were active participants. As a result just like AG Barr knows any discussion of SSCI security director James Wolfe’s non prosecution would expose DOJ corruption, so too does Mitch McConnell know senate investigations would expose senate corruption in both parties.
Republican members like John McCain actively participated; and republican members like Richard Burr willfully allowed the framework to continue. Don’t forget it was Republican Senator Marco Rubio who first came to the defense of Democrat SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner when the covert communication with Chris Steele became evident.
Former Chief Asst. U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy has an article written today pointing to the primary issue about former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn: “The Real Story is When Flynn Was Not Unmasked” – READ HERE.
McCarthy has reviewed the documents; looked at the research; reviewed what the IG said was not happening; and came to the same conclusion as CTH. The Obama surveillance of Flynn did not include ‘unmasking’ because the collection was not incidental.
McCarthy points the media’s incurious compass needle toward the CIA, but don’t expect any DC media to follow it. The truth is adverse to MSM interests. There’s only one way for the Flynn-Kislyak call and content to be tracked, captured, discussed and shared by the Obama administration without the unmasking between 12/29/16 and 01/04/17. A reverse targeted intercept on Flynn through Kislyak. [CIA/NSA] Read McCarthy Column Here
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The previous administration, and their resistance defenders in the current administration embedded within the DOJ and FBI, are desperate to avoid any admission that incoming NSA Michael Flynn was under surveillance. As soon as they can no longer hide the surveillance story, the shift to question the predicate of the Mueller investigation starts.
President Obama’ entire team (staff, officials, politicians); along with Republican allies like Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell et al; along with DOJ, FBI and IC preservationists like Bill Barr, Chris Wray et al; along with the entire DC media apparatus do not want to admit the Trump administration was under surveillance by the Obama administration. However, they can’t hide it because it happened.
On the Flynn 302 (the research evidence and documents are clear):
