Not A Tick-Tock

Last week Fox News journalist Catherine Herridge announced she had received 40 pages of text messages between former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and his FBI Lawyer Lisa Page. [See Here]  These text communications have not been seen by congress, and were not released during prior requests for documents.  Herridge, released and wrote about two of the pages. [See Here]
Today, Herridge releases two more pages….  She’s awesome, and likely slow in the overall release to absorb the import; and for good reason.  Herridge’s release today highlights an important meeting as discussed within the texts:

In a Dec. 12, 2016, text reviewed by Fox News, Page wrote to McCabe: “Btw, [Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper told Pete that he was meeting with [CIA Director John] Brennan and Cohen for dinner tonight. Just FYSA [for your situational awareness].”

Herridge’s angle is questioning why Peter “Pete” Strzok would be told about a meeting between CIA Director John Brennan, ODNI James Clapper and Deputy CIA Director David Cohen.  Current officials cannot explain the context of this December 12th, 2016 meeting and why “Pete” would know about it.
However, there’s an aspect to the background of this time-frame that Catherine Herridge is overlooking…. bear with me.
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Whooo doggies….  President Trump attended a working policy luncheon today with Senate Republicans.  Making brief remarks to the media, President Trump answered questions about the Mueller report and the manufactured false Russian narrative.
While avoiding the specifics, President Trump directly implied the involvement of former President Obama.  [Video and Transcript below]

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[Transcript] 1:05 P.M. EDT – Q Some Democrats, sir, are still talking about impeachment. What’s your response to that?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think they’re talking about impeachment. We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had. Our country is in incredible shape. They and others created a fraud on our country with this ridiculous witch hunt, where it was proven, very strongly, no collusion, no obstruction. No nothing.
We are doing so well. We’ve never probably had a time of prosperity like this. It’s been great.
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White House and administration officials were on multiple news outlets today giving interviews about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.  Below you will find interviews with Attorney Jay Sekulow, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and White House Senior Advisor to the President, Kellyanne Conway.
Jay Sekulow:

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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham holds a press conference after receiving the Principal Conclusion notification from AG William Barr.  Within this presser Lindsey Graham starts the process toward public discussion of investigations against the FBI and DOJ around the fraudulent FISA application against Carter Page.

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We shared a discussion thread several months ago about how the media are enmeshed within the story of the DOJ and FBI corruption. The media engagements with the parties swirling around the FBI, DOJ and Clinton-Steele Dossier are so pervasive they cannot reasonably report on any aspect of the story without exposing their own duplicity.
As more and more information surfaces about corrupt DOJ and FBI activity, it’s worth remembering the media’s complicit role. Here’s an updated review for context:

Michael Isikoff highlighted that level of how enmeshed media is with the story in February when he admitted his reporting was being used by the DOJ and FBI to advance the political objectives of the intelligence community. Additionally, FBI investigator Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page were shown in their text messages to be leaking stories from the Clinton Investigation, the Trump investigation and the Mueller investigation to journalists at Politico, The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. –SEE HERE–
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was busted by the Inspector General leaking stories to the media and then lying about it to INSD and IG investigators. FBI Director James Comey admitted to leaking stories to the New York Times, and even hired his friend Andrew Richman (off-the-books), gave him access to FBI and NSA databases, and then leaked information to Richman along with another friend Benjamin Wittes at Lawfare blog.
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The Mueller investigation was cited to President Trump, by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, as a specific reason not to declassify certain documents.  Here’s a link to the General Principles of declassification [SEE HERE] Yes, the President can declassify anything; however, there is a process that must be followed.

With the completion of the Mueller investigation, it would appear that President Trump could now declassify the documents as requested by congress on September 6th, 2018.  Additionally, after the original declassification request, there were other documents added to the list.  Perhaps it is worthwhile remembering what those declassification documents are:
♦ The first item(s) is/are the Carter Page FISA applications (including specifically pages 10-12 and 17-34 and relevant footnotes).  This request was modified to include the last 22 pages of the third renewal of the FISA application (dated July 2016).
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Fox News ran a special report on the Mueller investigation concluding with several key interviews.  ♦Devin Nunes discusses the recent revelations around the McCabe text messages, and material he wants to see declassified, along with his intent to submit several criminal referrals. ♦David Bosse discusses the political ramifications of the Mueller probe. ♦Gregg Jarrett discusses the issues within the DOJ and FBI. ♦Alan Dershowitz discusses the FISA court and possible abuse.

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According to most media reporting AG William Barr is meeting with Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein today and reviewing the completed Mueller report.  At the end of this review, according to statute, AG Barr will commission a “Principle Conclusion” summary report that he will deliver to congress.  As of 4:00pm EST, the White House has not been privately briefed on the Mueller findings.

The summary report from AGBarr will be given to House and Senate judiciary oversight committees before wider dissemination. The Chair of the House Judiciary Committee is Jerry Nadler (ranking member Doug Collins); the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee is Lindsey Graham (Vice-Chair Dianne Feinstein).  AG William Barr may also brief those committees, or he may assign DAG Rosenstein to the briefing.
Depending on conversations between the DOJ and congressional leadership, there’s also a possibility of a more extensive briefing covering details within the Mueller investigation.  However, that briefing would likely be reserved for the intelligence oversight group known as the “Gang of Eight”: Nancy Pelosi, Kevin McCarthy, Adam Schiff, Devin Nunes, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Richard Burr and Mark Warner.
Due to the politics surrounding the Barr report, it is likely the White House will be given the Principle Conclusion Summary around the same time as congress.  The White House (executive branch) may also be able to review the full underlying documentation behind the summary…. that’s likely where the political fight for the ‘narrative’ will take place.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi tipped her hand at the Democrat approach during a strategy meeting today.  According to early reporting Pelosi will refuse to attend any ‘Gang of Eight’ briefing and will demand the full investigative file be declassified:
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Not a Tick-Tock

All day long, even before the Mueller news broke, Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge has really been leaning-forward, giving insight into the pending Inspector General report by OIG Michael Horowitz. Herridge is one of those reporters who is careful not to get out in front of her skis.  Ms. Herridge is not a book-selling member of the tick-tock community of pundits.

We noted earlier how the specific emphasis of Ms. Herridge seemed to indicate the Horowitz report was closer to the surface of completion than previously thought.
Immediately after the Mueller news broke (around 5pm EST), Herridge filed her first live report providing details of the Mueller report.  Within that first report Herridge stated she was previously bound to “confidences” until the Mueller probe was complete.
In subsequent reporting we begin to see what those confidences are, and how they connect to her exclusive reporting on text messages between Andrew McCabe and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
Ms. Herridge is strongly emphasizing a few key points that need additional emphasis:
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House Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the reasoning and sequencing of congressional transcript releases highlighting the FBI and DOJ officials who participated in the political weaponization of their offices.
According to Representative Collins there will be more releases of congressional transcripts timed and sequenced to tell the details behind a very complex story.

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