For those following the increasingly curious case against General Mike Flynn, events take another unusual turn today.  Congressional investigators have shared a set of unredacted text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strzok and his cohort DOJ Attorney Lisa Page which reveal a personal friendship between Agent Strzok and Flynn’s initial presiding judge Rudolph Contreras.

On November 30th, 2017, Mike Flynn signed a guilty plea; ostensibly admitting lying to investigators.  The plea was accepted by Judge Rudolph Contreras; who is also a FISA court judge.  Six days later, December 7th, 2017, Judge Contreras “was recused” from the case without explanation.

The case was reassigned to DC District Judge Emmet Sullivan.  The Contreras recusal always seemed sketchy. The key question was: if the conflict existed on December 7th, wouldn’t that same conflict have existed on November 30th, 2017?

Today questions about the conflict seem to have been answered. Text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page reveal the FBI agent and Judge Contreras were close personal friends.  –SEE HERE–

Apparently DOJ lawyer Lisa Page was unaware that “Rudy” was a FISA court judge until July 25th, 2016, when she posited a question to her small group co-conspirator FBI agent Peter Strzok.

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White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers the White House press briefing for Friday March 16th.  Anticipated start time 2:00pm

UPDATE: Video added

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes appears on Fox News at Night to discuss the ending of the Trump-Russian investigation and the continuance of the ongoing FISA abuse and FBI/DOJ corruption investigations.

Part of the interview surrounds the new request by Senator Chuck Grassley for a second special counsel. As Nunes notes the Grassley request is almost identical to his own.

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Chairman Chuck Grassley along with republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are formally requesting a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and DOJ involvement in the Clinton-Steele Dossier.

The republicans asked Office of the Inspector General to explore the FBI and DOJ’s handling of dossier in February; but now they are requesting Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DAG Rod Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel (full pdf below) because the IG does not have the ability to obtain testimony from witnesses who are not DOJ employees. This is the same motive of request from HPSCI Chairman Nunes and Trey Gowdy.

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The leaks are real; the news is fake. That’s the underlying dynamic behind ‘Black Hat Hunting’.

The PR Firm for the corrupt U.S. intelligence apparatus known as The Washington Post, runs a story about H.R. McMaster being fired tonight.

The Washington Post quotes “five people with knowledge of the plans”.

Except there’s a problem, there are no plans.

No plans except to entrap staff and intelligence community leakers; likely those five ‘leakers’ are in/around the National Security Council, and they just got caught.

WaPo – President Trump has decided to remove H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser and is actively discussing potential replacements, according to five people with knowledge of the plans, preparing to deliver yet another jolt to the senior ranks of his administration.

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Earlier today President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to the White House.  Part of the festivities included the presentation of a Shamrock Bowl by the Prime Minister to the American people.

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A surveillance video released on Thursday shows a sheriff’s deputy assigned to the Parkland, Florida high school staying outside while a former student fatally shot 17 people, according to the sheriff’s office.
The 27-minute video shows Broward County Deputy Sheriff Scot Peterson failing to enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where he worked as an armed guard.

The majority of the video shows Deputy Peterson cowering under a stairwell [01:30] between two of the buildings.

Peterson resigned on Feb. 22 rather than face suspension. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel has said Peterson stayed outside the high school during the attack, instead of going inside to confront the gunman.  “The video speaks for itself. His actions were enough to warrant an internal affairs investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement accompanying the video’s release following a judge’s order on Monday.

Interestingly Reuters is continuing the McCabe narrative with an article quoting an unnamed FBI official who urges Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to fire Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Given the rather expansive wealth of McCabe the angle of preserving his pension seems more than a little odd.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who stepped down in January after criticism from President Donald Trump, met on Thursday with a U.S. Justice Department official in an effort to preserve his pension, according to a source familiar with the matter.

McCabe planned to retire on Sunday with full benefits, but some or all of his pension could be at risk after the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Office of Professional Responsibility recommended firing him for misleading Justice Department investigators about his supervision of probes into Hillary Clinton, Trump’s presidential opponent, said the source, who requested anonymity.

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