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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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Originally posted by THGRRI:
In a lengthy statement, McCabe said he believes he is being politically targeted because he corroborated former FBI Director James Comey’s claims that Trump tried to pressure him into killing the Russia probe.

This statement now makes him a witness in any obstruction case Mueller may be contemplating. Actually, I think he already was. Lets not forget all Trumps tweets and public statements about him going back. This seems like a slam dunk.

T

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Yet another pitiful attempt to rewrite history, rearrange chronology. The Mueller Fishing Expedition did not even begin until after McCabe, Page, Strzok, et al endeavored to fabricate documents to facilitate the Witch Hunt.

Your poor brain must gasping and grasping amidst quicksand.

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Oops


T

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Originally posted by THGRRI:

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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Originally posted by THGRRI:
In a lengthy statement, McCabe said he believes he is being politically targeted because he corroborated former FBI Director James Comey’s claims that Trump tried to pressure him into killing the Russia probe.

This statement now makes him a witness in any obstruction case Mueller may be contemplating. Actually, I think he already was. Lets not forget all Trumps tweets and public statements about him going back. This seems like a slam dunk.

T

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Yet another pitiful attempt to rewrite history, rearrange chronology. The Mueller Fishing Expedition did not even begin until after McCabe, Page, Strzok, et al endeavored to fabricate documents to facilitate the Witch Hunt.

Your poor brain must gasping and grasping amidst quicksand.

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Andrew McCabe was just offered a job by a congressman so he can get his full retirement. And it just might work.

That's one way of protesting Andrew McCabe's firing as deputy FBI director, roughly a day before he was set to retire: At least one Democratic congressman has offered McCabe a temporary job so he can get full retirement benefits — and McCabe appears to be considering.

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) announced Saturday afternoon that he has offered McCabe a job to work on election security in his office, “so that he can reach the needed length of service” to retire.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/andrew-mccabe-was-just-offered
-a-job-by-a-congressman-so-he-can-get-his-full-retirement-and-it-just-might-work/ar-BBKlTAR?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp
Oops

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Documents suggest possible coordination between CIA, FBI, Obama WH and Dem officials early in Trump-Russia probe: investigators

... Newly uncovered text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page suggest a possible coordination between high-ranking officials at the Obama White House, CIA, FBI, Justice Department and former Senate Democratic leadership in the early stages of the investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to GOP congressional investigators on Wednesday.

The investigators say the information provided to Fox News “strongly” suggests coordination between former President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, then-Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, and CIA Director John Brennan — which they say would “contradict” the Obama administration’s public stance about its hand in the process.

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Inspector General Confirms Probe Of FBI's Criminal FISA Warrant Abuse To Spy On Trump

The DOJ's Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced Wednesday that he is expanding his internal investigation into alleged FBI abuses surrounding Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications - and will be examining their relationship with former MI6 spy Christopher Steele. The announcement follows several requests from lawmakers and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

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Sessions Names Prosecutor [but not a Special Counsel- SIGNY] To Investigate FBI Misconduct Claims
Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed Thursday that John Huber - Utah's top federal prosecutor, will be paired with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz to investigate a multitude of accusations of FBI misconduct surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The announcement comes one day after Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirmed that he will be investigating allegations of FBI FISA abuse.

Sessions' decision stops short of formally appointing a special counsel to investigate - noting in a lengthy letter written to Chairmen Grassley, Goodlatte and Gowdy, Sessions that regulations recognize "the Attorney General may conclude that the circumstances do not justify such a departure "from the normal process of the department," and that he may instead determine that other "appropriate steps" can be taken..."

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Comey & Mueller Ignored McCabe’s Ties to Russian Crime Figures & His Reported Tampering in Russian FBI Cases, Files

For years James Comey and Robert Mueller, as FBI directors, knew Andrew McCabe maintained problematic contacts with Russian officials including organized crime figures yet did little to investigate the now-FBI deputy director’s relationships even after other agents caught McCabe tampering in Russian-linked cases, FBI sources said.

And while both Comey and Mueller have used the unlimited resources of the United States government to try and tie President Donald Trump to Russia, the former FBI chiefs largely ignored McCabe’s associations with Russian mobsters and a Putin-linked billionaire under federal investigation by their own Bureau.

The same Russian billionaire at the center of Mueller’s recent indictment of Paul Manafort.

Incredibly, Comey put McCabe in charge of running the FBI’s Russian investigation of President Trump to find supposed election collusion by Trump and his inner circle – including family members and Gen. Mike Flynn. McCabe’s probe of Trump and its evidence, which was spearheaded by now disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok, was turned over to Mueller when he was appointed Special Counsel after Comey’s firing by Trump.

Likewise, FBI sources confirmed Mueller was aware of McCabe’s problematic Russian contacts yet still took the now-disgraced Strzok on as a lead investigator to his Special Counsel team as well as the physical and witness evidence that McCabe had amassed on the Trump probe during his investigation under Comey.

Even officials at CIA were concerned about McCabe’s Russian contacts, sources confirm.

So how could a FBI agent – let alone the deputy director of the Bureau – be permitted to lead or conduct an investigation of the president of the United States for Russian collusion when the FBI agent in question has problematic associations with shady Russians himself?

McCabe climbed quickly through the FBI’s ranks forging a reputation as a supervisor who always got the job done while his bosses often looked the other way. That seems to be a recurring theme when investigating the day-today operations of the FBI in recent years.

But both Mueller and Comey seemed to either miss or ignore — or condone — major signs of problematic Russian associations and case red flags linked to McCabe, including:

FBI Agents accused McCabe of interfering with Russian-linked investigations, including the Boston Marathon terror bombing and the Robert Levinson kidnapping cases, even making a formal complaint with FBI Security Division about the incidents.

McCabe for years worked Russian organized crime in New York for the FBI, previous to his Washington D.C. rise. He led the FBI’s Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force, a joint operation with the NYPD.

While in New York, McCabe worked in tandem with Bruce Ohr, the recently demoted DOJ official linked to the Trump fake dossier who often coordinated with McCabe’s Russian organized crime task force. Ohr worked Organized Crime too for DOJ. Ohr’s wife Nellie worked for Fusion GPS and previously worked for the CIA.

McCabe maintained an alliance with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska a tycoon and close associate of Vladimir Putin. And McCabe apparently met with him in Europe without proper clearance from FBI, while Deripaska was a possible target on a FBI organized crime probe. McCabe also privately acknowledged to FBI agents that Deripaska was a friend.
Yes, this is the same Deripaska who was trumpeted as part of Mueller’s recent Paul Manafort indictment. If Manafort’s connections to Deripaska’s billions helped indict him, why didn’t McCabe’s associations with the oligarch warrant similar investigation by the very man, Mueller, who slammed Manafort?

During McCabe’s liaisons with Deripaska, Strzok was running the FBI’s Post-Adjudication Risk Management plan, or PARM, a program initiated to catch problematic and criminal associations of FBI agents. Strzok and PARM should have snagged McCabe’s Russian associations, especially Deripaska. Many agents were fired for far less, under the stringent internal program. Where was Strzok’s oversight of McCabe or did Strzok simply look the other way?

CIA officials looked at McCabe’s Russian contacts, especially Deripaska, fearing a possible data breach like convicted FBI spy Robert Hanssen.

Just months before the Trump launched his presidential bid, FBI agents had complained and lodged at least one formal grievance with supervisors and the FBI Security Division detailing how McCabe had been meddling with a number of cases with Russian links, suspects and witnesses. Similar complaints reached Sen. Chuck Grassley as early as June 2015, FBI sources confirm.

When Special Agents worked the Boston Marathon bombing, they kept tripping over McCabe who was the Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) of the task force investigating the terror incident.

When agents accessed computer databases searching for suspects, McCabe had already been there. When they looked at banking records and financials of suspects, McCabe had already been there.

When Special Agents worked the Robert Levinson kidnapping case in Iran — another McCabe-supervised case – they found McCabe had been accessing databases and performing the work of a case agent without debriefing Comey or members of the task force he was supervising

“Really strange things kept showing up with his (McCabe’s) tag on it,” one FBI source said.

Why was McCabe seemingly conducting his own private Intel sweeps on Russian-related cases, even interviewing fact witnesses instead of the agents he was charged with supervising? ASAC’s and SAC’s very rarely roll up their sleeves and jump into the grind of an investigation.

Yet McCabe did.

THE PUTIN-LINKED OLIGARCH

And by 2015 even officials at the Central Intelligence Agency became concerned about McCabe’s contact with Russian officials, according the federal law enforcement sources. The CIA’s Counter Espionage Division may have opened a formal a case on McCabe, after intelligence about his contacts with Russians sparked a review of his foreign associates, sources said.

“There may have been an official case,” one CIA source confirmed. “I know for a fact he was looked at informally, where we would see what he was doing with foreign contacts. A formal case would be classified and I couldn’t get into the details if it hinged on Russian organized crime.”

The agency source said McCabe was on the CIA’s radar after 2009 and 2010 when agency officials got word McCabe may have he met with Deripaska in Europe.

FBI organized crime investigators had apparently been looking at Deripaska at the time of the meeting, FBI sources said and McCabe, as FBI brass, did not seek the proper approval from Mueller — FBI director at the time — or DOJ brass to sit down with the Deripaska.

“He really had no business meeting with Deripaska and sort of forced his way into the trip at the last minute,” one FBI source said. “He kept in touch with Deripaska and was very touchy about anyone else (from the FBI) speaking to him. Andy took an active role (with Deripaska).”

Two FBI Agents were sanctioned by Mueller’s office to interview Deripaska in Europe. McCabe was FBI upper echelon and was not approved to speak to Deripaska, sources said. In fact, it appears FBI policy would have required McCabe to get a waiver signed by DOJ officials to be permitted to meet with Deripaska, especially since Deripaska was a potential player in an open FBI investigation.

McCabe had pulled a similar move later, meeting with Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to hatch out McCabe’s wife’s run for the Virginia State Senate. But McAuliffe was a target of a FBI corruption probe at the time, yet McCabe – as deputy director – sat with the governor and later accepted over $700,000 in campaign funds for his spouse’s failed political bid.

Like McAuliffe, McCabe did not have the proper waiver from DOJ to meet with Deripaska.

“You fucking need really high level approvals for that,” one FBI agent familiar with both cases said. “These people are potential targets in a FBI investigation.”

Many FBI sources too questioned why Mueller would sign off on McCabe’s trip to Europe to meet with Deripaska.

But McCabe and Deripaska apparently were old friends. Before McCabe’s meteoric rise in the FBI’s Washington D.C. offices, he led the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force, a joint operation with the New York City Police Department run out of the FBI’s New York Field Office in Manhattan. McCabe supervised the task force who were aggressively chasing and flipping and in many cases – paying Russian organized crime figures as snitches to make high profile cases.

The CIA was quite sensitive about growing reports from FBI about McCabe’s Russian contacts, having learned hard lessons years earlier when Robert Hanssen was arrested for spying for the Russian government and the Soviet Union for more than two decades from his FBI perch. CIA assets died because of Hanssen.

After Hanssen, the Agency and the FBI vowed to instill tight controls on databases access, SIGINT, HUMINT after the Hanssen Damage Assessment Team (HDAT) shone light on how the Russian spy was able to infiltrate the federal law enforcement’s electronic backbone to sell secrets out the back door to the Russians for cash and diamonds.

Hanssen’s spying was investigated by the joint Justice Department and CIA HDAT task force. A report was issued by the Department of Justice’s Commission for the Review of FBI Security Programs and called the Hanssen data breaches “possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.”

Mueller was FBI chief when the report was released and was tasked with implementing controls to prevent another Hanssen.

He failed.

Putin and Russian oligarch Deripaska

BOSTON BOMBING

On April 15, 2013, two homemade bombs detonated near the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon. Three people were killed while several hundred others were injured, including 16 who lost limbs.

A task force of FBI agents led the investigation, assisted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Counterterrorism Center, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

For the initial 48 hours after the blasts, FBI agents combed through news leads, old jackets of perps, and financial databases to pinpoint and whittle down the list of suspects.

By the third day, FBI had isolated two Kyrgyz-American brothers who they linked to the blast: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. That was no simple task given that much of the massacre was captured on hundreds of public and private video feeds already recording the marathon. The images and video of the carnage went viral overnight.

One agent who helped comb through the clues and suspects said FBI agents combed numerous internal databases looking for suspects and noticed something strange. When referencing files and suspect database entries in Kyrgyzstan and the Chechen Republic, it appeared the FBI task force ASAC McCabe had already conducted many of the investigative sweeps in two countries linked heavily with Russia.

When FBI agents looked at the U.S finances of the Tsarnaevs, including their parents, McCabe too had apparently already accessed the files or looked at the brothers as suspects.

“McCabe always seemed one step ahead of the search,” the FBI agent said. “But he never shared any leads with us and we were working days without sleep. I still don’t understand why he was accessing one database at all, why a supervisor would be in there. That’s perfectly fine for a SSA (Supervisory Special Agent) but not a boss.”

The FBI agent would not disclose the name of the database in question but said after more than a decade working high-profile FBI cases they had never seen a highly-placed FBI brass access that particular database which was reserved for case agents.

“Whole thing was bizarre,” the FBI agent said.

Bizarre perhaps. But not unprecedented in FBI annals. This was right out of the Robert Hanssen trade-craft.

Robert Philip Hanssen, the former FBI brass who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services.

For over 22 years, Hanssen rose through the FBI ranks, selling U.S. intelligence secrets from 1979 to 2001. He is currently serving 15 consecutive life sentences at a federal supermax prison in Colorado.

Hanssen too was often caught by agents overstepping his bounds and access, looking at all things Russia the FBI was involved in whether he was permitted to do so or not.

Asking whether McCabe is another Hanssen is really a question best reserved for Comey and Mueller, who were supposed to clamp down on the ability of anyone in the FBI going rogue and accessing Intel in such a sweeping manner, absent setting off internal red flags, alarm bells, and compliance audits.

Both Mueller and Comey clearly failed. It appears, sources said, like Hanssen, McCabe always seemed to have his fingers in all things Russia the Bureau did. Hanssen worked the same angle for over $1 million in cash and diamonds, working as an inside counterintelligence agent reporting back to Russia the bureau’s moves like any good double-agent should.

Many agents pondered, what was McCabe’s angle?

IRAN

Eight months after the Boston marathon bombing, FBI agents again experienced problematic case meddling by McCabe, sources said.

Robert Alan “Bob” Levinson is a former Drug Enforcement Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who disappeared in Iran in 2007, where it is believed he remains captive today.

U.S. officials believed Levinson was grabbed by Iranian intelligence to be dangled as a bargaining chip in sanction negotiations with Washington. After, of course, he was interrogated and likely tortured. Levinson was likely working an OP for the CIA at the time of his arrest, according to numerous public sources.

Originally, Iran disavowed any involvement in his disappearance and many in the U.S. government believed Levinson was dead. In December 2013 – almost six years after he vanished on Iran’s Kish Island – it was confirmed that Levinson indeed was alive and in Iranian captivity.

A FBI task force who had previously worked his original disappearance was quickly reassembled and dispatched with the perceived goal of getting Levinson back on U.S. soil. U.S. Diplomatic relations with Iran are almost always a mine field but U.S. Intel HUMINT connections are even worse. FBI sources said agents on the task force began reaching out to sources with better diplomatic and business ties to Iran to work back channels to start a dialogue for Levinson’s release. Special agents do what special agents do the find a trail: shake the investigative tree of former snitches to see what they know, who they know that can help. And so FBI agents began canvassing Russian mobsters, contacts, and rats who were previously on the FBI payroll. Russia and Vladimir Putin enjoyed decades of strong diplomatic alliances with Iran and for seasoned FBI agents, this was a logical place to start.

But agents working the case soon learned that McCabe had already talked to Russian sources and dialed up snitches and contacts without debriefing the team he was supervising. This was beyond bizarre. FBI ASAC’s don’t conduct ground level investigations.

And when task force members made their way up the Russian investigative food chain to Deripaska, the “shit really hit the fan,” as one agent put it.

“What happened was we got the referral from some of our other sources to talk to Deripaska who tried to help us free Levinson,” one FBI agent who worked the case said. “Then Andy (McCabe) became angry that he wasn’t told about Deripaska so he wanted to be involved. He inserted himself into the investigation and Deripaska.”

“People on the squad were like ‘What the fuck is the ASAC getting involved with this for? This is insane. What the fuck is going on here?’ “

But what the hell was McCabe doing conducting his own probe with Bureau resources and not updating his team verbally and via computer logs meant to enhance the direction of the investigation? It was his Op after all.

This was again right out of the Hanssen playbook, always having his fingers in all things Russia the Bureau did, working as an inside counterintelligence agent reporting back to Russia all the bureau’s moves like any good double-agent should.

“Looking back on it at the time you don’t recognize what is really happening because you are focused on getting Levinson back to his wife,” a FBI agent said. “But there were negotiations over the nuclear deal and sanctions and money that were heating up between Iran and Obama. We (United States) ended up paying them billions (of U.S. dollars) and McCabe may have been reporting our progress to the White House or State (Department) behind our backs. I mean, what the hell else was he doing? It makes no sense.”

Another FBI agent reflects on the Levinson case with frustration and an even more haunting revelation: “I always felt like no matter what we did it was being delayed or obstructed,” the agent said. “Like they wanted to keep him there for some reason. Or getting him back was in the way of something else that was happening. We could have done more.”

When FBI team members pitched other ways they thought they could help free Levinson from Iran, the ideas were shot down, squelched or stalled by McCabe and others.

“Every time we wanted to try something new, we were blocked,” one agent said.

Levinson worked for DEA, FBI and CIA but at the end of the day, he was a pawn. A forgotten pawn, seemingly deserted by politicians and perhaps the hierarchy of the FBI.

But where was Comey while McCabe was seemingly conducting his own investigations into the Boston Marathon Bombing, the Levinson kidnapping, and other cases? Where was the oversight, the same controls the FBI was supposed to have in place after Hanssen torched the Bureau with 22 years plus of selling America’s secrets out the back door?

And why – knowing all this – would Comey still allow McCabe and Strzok to be running point on the Hillary Clinton email investigation after Comey realized the duo withheld crucial evidence from him about Hillary’s emails.

Yes, Comey understood there was an apparent attempt to cover up Hillary evidence until after the November 2016 presidential election, when presumably Hillary would be president and none of it would have mattered anyway.

More details about that cover up on Monday.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Interesting if true. It DOES seem to be exceptionally well-detailed, but the sources are all anonymous.

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Sharyl Attkisson: 8 Signs Pointing To A Counter-Intel Op Deployed Against Trump
Authored by Sharyl Attkisson, op-ed via The Hill http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/388978-growing-signs-of-a-count
erintelligence-operation-deployed-against-trumps

It may be true that President Trump illegally conspired with Russia and was so good at covering it up he’s managed to outwit our best intel and media minds who've searched for irrefutable evidence for two years. (We still await special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.)

But there’s a growing appearance of alleged wrongdoing equally as insidious, if not more so, because it implies widespread misuse of America’s intelligence and law enforcement apparatus.

Here are eight signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump for political reasons.
1. Code name

The operation reportedly had at least one code name that was leaked to The New York Times: “Crossfire Hurricane.”
2. Wiretap fever

Secret surveillance was conducted on no fewer than seven Trump associates: chief strategist Stephen Bannon; lawyer Michael Cohen; national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn; adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner; campaign chairman Paul Manafort; and campaign foreign policy advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.

The FBI reportedly applied for a secret warrant in June 2016 to monitor Manafort, Page, Papadopoulos and Flynn. If true, it means the FBI targeted Flynn six months before his much-debated conversation with Russia’s ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.

The FBI applied four times to wiretap Page after he became a Trump campaign adviser starting in July 2016. Page’s office is connected to Trump Tower and he reports having spent “many hours in Trump Tower.”

CNN reported that Manafort was wiretapped before and after the election “including during a period when Manafort was known to talk to President Trump.” Manafort reportedly has a residence in Trump Tower.

Electronic surveillance was used to listen in on three Trump transition officials in Trump Tower — Flynn, Bannon and Kushner — as they met in an official capacity with the United Arab Emirates’ crown prince.

The FBI also reportedly wiretapped Flynn’s phone conversation with Kislyak on Dec. 31, 2016, as part of “routine surveillance” of Kislyak.

NBC recently reported that Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, was wiretapped. NBC later corrected the story, saying Cohen was the subject of a “pen register” used to monitor phone numbers and, possibly, internet communications.
3. National security letters

Another controversial tool reportedly used by the FBI to obtain phone records and other documents in the investigation were national security letters, which bypass judicial approval.

Improper use of such letters has been an ongoing theme at the FBI. Reviews by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General found widespread misuse under Mueller — who was then FBI director — and said officials failed to report instances of abuses as required.
4. Unmasking

“Unmasking” — identifying protected names of Americans captured by government surveillance — was frequently deployed by at least four top Obama officials who have subsequently spoken out against President Trump: James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence; Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Susan Rice, former national security adviser; Sally Yates, former deputy attorney general.

Names of Americans caught communicating with monitored foreign targets must be “masked,” or hidden within government agencies, so the names cannot be misused or shared.

However, it’s been revealed that Power made near-daily unmasking requests in 2016.

Prior to that revelation, Clapper claimed ignorance. When asked if he knew of unmasking requests by any ambassador, including Power, he testified: “I don't know. Maybe it's ringing a vague bell but I'm not — I could not answer with any confidence.”

Rice admitted to asking for unmasked names of U.S. citizens in intelligence reports after initially claiming no knowledge of any such thing.

Clapper also admitted to requesting the unmasking of “Mr. Trump, his associates or any members of Congress.” Clapper and Yates admitted they also personally reviewed unmasked documents and shared unmasked material with other officials.
5. Changing the rules

On Dec. 15, 2016 — the same day the government listened in on Trump officials at Trump Tower — Rice reportedly unmasked the names of Bannon, Kushner and Flynn. And Clapper made a new rule allowing the National Security Agency to widely disseminate surveillance material within the government without the normal privacy protections.
6. Media strategy

Former CIA Director John Brennan and Clapper, two of the most integral intel officials in this ongoing controversy, have joined national news organizations where they have regular opportunities to shape the news narrative — including on the very issues under investigation.

Clapper reportedly secretly leaked salacious political opposition research against Trump to CNN in fall 2017 and later was hired as a CNN political analyst. In February, Brennan was hired as a paid analyst for MSNBC.
7. Leaks

There’s been a steady and apparently orchestrated campaign of leaks — some true, some false, but nearly all of them damaging to President Trump’s interests.

A few of the notable leaks include word that Flynn was wiretapped, the anti-Trump “Steele dossier” of political opposition research, then-FBI Director James Comey briefing Trump on it, private Comey conversations with Trump, Comey’s memos recording those conversations and criticizing Trump, the subpoena of Trump’s personal bank records (which proved false) and Flynn planning to testify against Trump (which also proved to be false).
8. Friends, informants and snoops

The FBI reportedly used one-time CIA operative Stefan Halper in 2016 as an informant to spy on Trump officials.

Another player is Comey friend Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor, who leaked Comey’s memos against Trump to The New York Times after Comey was fired. We later learned that Richman actually worked for the FBI under a status called “Special Government Employee.”

The FBI used former reporter Glenn Simpson, his political opposition research firm Fusion GPS, and ex-British spy Christopher Steele to compile allegations against Trump, largely from Russian sources, which were distributed to the press and used as part of wiretap applications.

* * *

These eight features of a counterintelligence operation are only the pieces we know.

It can be assumed there’s much we don’t yet know. And it may help explain why there’s so much material that the Department of Justice hasn’t easily handed over to congressional investigators.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SOMEBODY SAT DOWN AND GAVE THE ANTI-TRUMP INTEL OP THE THOUGHT IT SO RICHLY DESERVES

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Sharyl Attkisson: 8 Signs Pointing To A Counter-Intel Op Deployed Against Trump
Authored by Sharyl Attkisson, op-ed via The Hill http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/388978-growing-signs-of-a-count
erintelligence-operation-deployed-against-trumps
H
It may be true that President Trump illegally conspired with Russia and was so good at covering it up he’s managed to outwit our best intel and media minds who've searched for irrefutable evidence for two years. (We still await special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.)

But there’s a growing appearance of alleged wrongdoing equally as insidious, if not more so, because it implies widespread misuse of America’s intelligence and law enforcement apparatus.

Here are eight signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump for political reasons.
1. Code name

The operation reportedly had at least one code name that was leaked to The New York Times: “Crossfire Hurricane.”
2. Wiretap fever

Secret surveillance was conducted on no fewer than seven Trump associates: chief strategist Stephen Bannon; lawyer Michael Cohen; national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn; adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner; campaign chairman Paul Manafort; and campaign foreign policy advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.

The FBI reportedly applied for a secret warrant in June 2016 to monitor Manafort, Page, Papadopoulos and Flynn. If true, it means the FBI targeted Flynn six months before his much-debated conversation with Russia’s ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.

The FBI applied four times to wiretap Page after he became a Trump campaign adviser starting in July 2016. Page’s office is connected to Trump Tower and he reports having spent “many hours in Trump Tower.”

CNN reported that Manafort was wiretapped before and after the election “including during a period when Manafort was known to talk to President Trump.” Manafort reportedly has a residence in Trump Tower.

Electronic surveillance was used to listen in on three Trump transition officials in Trump Tower — Flynn, Bannon and Kushner — as they met in an official capacity with the United Arab Emirates’ crown prince.

The FBI also reportedly wiretapped Flynn’s phone conversation with Kislyak on Dec. 31, 2016, as part of “routine surveillance” of Kislyak.

NBC recently reported that Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, was wiretapped. NBC later corrected the story, saying Cohen was the subject of a “pen register” used to monitor phone numbers and, possibly, internet communications.
3. National security letters

Another controversial tool reportedly used by the FBI to obtain phone records and other documents in the investigation were national security letters, which bypass judicial approval.

Improper use of such letters has been an ongoing theme at the FBI. Reviews by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General found widespread misuse under Mueller — who was then FBI director — and said officials failed to report instances of abuses as required.
4. Unmasking

“Unmasking” — identifying protected names of Americans captured by government surveillance — was frequently deployed by at least four top Obama officials who have subsequently spoken out against President Trump: James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence; Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Susan Rice, former national security adviser; Sally Yates, former deputy attorney general.

Names of Americans caught communicating with monitored foreign targets must be “masked,” or hidden within government agencies, so the names cannot be misused or shared.

However, it’s been revealed that Power made near-daily unmasking requests in 2016.

Prior to that revelation, Clapper claimed ignorance. When asked if he knew of unmasking requests by any ambassador, including Power, he testified: “I don't know. Maybe it's ringing a vague bell but I'm not — I could not answer with any confidence.”

Rice admitted to asking for unmasked names of U.S. citizens in intelligence reports after initially claiming no knowledge of any such thing.

Clapper also admitted to requesting the unmasking of “Mr. Trump, his associates or any members of Congress.” Clapper and Yates admitted they also personally reviewed unmasked documents and shared unmasked material with other officials.
5. Changing the rules

On Dec. 15, 2016 — the same day the government listened in on Trump officials at Trump Tower — Rice reportedly unmasked the names of Bannon, Kushner and Flynn. And Clapper made a new rule allowing the National Security Agency to widely disseminate surveillance material within the government without the normal privacy protections.
6. Media strategy

Former CIA Director John Brennan and Clapper, two of the most integral intel officials in this ongoing controversy, have joined national news organizations where they have regular opportunities to shape the news narrative — including on the very issues under investigation.

Clapper reportedly secretly leaked salacious political opposition research against Trump to CNN in fall 2017 and later was hired as a CNN political analyst. In February, Brennan was hired as a paid analyst for MSNBC.
7. Leaks

There’s been a steady and apparently orchestrated campaign of leaks — some true, some false, but nearly all of them damaging to President Trump’s interests.

A few of the notable leaks include word that Flynn was wiretapped, the anti-Trump “Steele dossier” of political opposition research, then-FBI Director James Comey briefing Trump on it, private Comey conversations with Trump, Comey’s memos recording those conversations and criticizing Trump, the subpoena of Trump’s personal bank records (which proved false) and Flynn planning to testify against Trump (which also proved to be false).
8. Friends, informants and snoops

The FBI reportedly used one-time CIA operative Stefan Halper in 2016 as an informant to spy on Trump officials.

Another player is Comey friend Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor, who leaked Comey’s memos against Trump to The New York Times after Comey was fired. We later learned that Richman actually worked for the FBI under a status called “Special Government Employee.”

The FBI used former reporter Glenn Simpson, his political opposition research firm Fusion GPS, and ex-British spy Christopher Steele to compile allegations against Trump, largely from Russian sources, which were distributed to the press and used as part of wiretap applications.

* * *

These eight features of a counterintelligence operation are only the pieces we know.

It can be assumed there’s much we don’t yet know. And it may help explain why there’s so much material that the Department of Justice hasn’t easily handed over to congressional investigators.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SOMEBODY SAT DOWN AND GAVE THE ANTI-TRUMP INTEL OP THE THOUGHT IT SO RICHLY DESERVES

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Sharyl Attkisson: 8 Signs Pointing To A Counter-Intel Op Deployed Against Trump
Authored by Sharyl Attkisson, op-ed via The Hill http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/388978-growing-signs-of-a-count
erintelligence-operation-deployed-against-trumps

It may be true that President Trump illegally conspired with Russia and was so good at covering it up he’s managed to outwit our best intel and media minds who've searched for irrefutable evidence for two years. (We still await special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.)

But there’s a growing appearance of alleged wrongdoing equally as insidious, if not more so, because it implies widespread misuse of America’s intelligence and law enforcement apparatus.

Here are eight signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump for political reasons.
1. Code name

The operation reportedly had at least one code name that was leaked to The New York Times: “Crossfire Hurricane.”
2. Wiretap fever

Secret surveillance was conducted on no fewer than seven Trump associates: chief strategist Stephen Bannon; lawyer Michael Cohen; national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn; adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner; campaign chairman Paul Manafort; and campaign foreign policy advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.

The FBI reportedly applied for a secret warrant in June 2016 to monitor Manafort, Page, Papadopoulos and Flynn. If true, it means the FBI targeted Flynn six months before his much-debated conversation with Russia’s ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.

The FBI applied four times to wiretap Page after he became a Trump campaign adviser starting in July 2016. Page’s office is connected to Trump Tower and he reports having spent “many hours in Trump Tower.”

CNN reported that Manafort was wiretapped before and after the election “including during a period when Manafort was known to talk to President Trump.” Manafort reportedly has a residence in Trump Tower.

Electronic surveillance was used to listen in on three Trump transition officials in Trump Tower — Flynn, Bannon and Kushner — as they met in an official capacity with the United Arab Emirates’ crown prince.

The FBI also reportedly wiretapped Flynn’s phone conversation with Kislyak on Dec. 31, 2016, as part of “routine surveillance” of Kislyak.

NBC recently reported that Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney, was wiretapped. NBC later corrected the story, saying Cohen was the subject of a “pen register” used to monitor phone numbers and, possibly, internet communications.
3. National security letters

Another controversial tool reportedly used by the FBI to obtain phone records and other documents in the investigation were national security letters, which bypass judicial approval.

Improper use of such letters has been an ongoing theme at the FBI. Reviews by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General found widespread misuse under Mueller — who was then FBI director — and said officials failed to report instances of abuses as required.
4. Unmasking

“Unmasking” — identifying protected names of Americans captured by government surveillance — was frequently deployed by at least four top Obama officials who have subsequently spoken out against President Trump: James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence; Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Susan Rice, former national security adviser; Sally Yates, former deputy attorney general.

Names of Americans caught communicating with monitored foreign targets must be “masked,” or hidden within government agencies, so the names cannot be misused or shared.

However, it’s been revealed that Power made near-daily unmasking requests in 2016.

Prior to that revelation, Clapper claimed ignorance. When asked if he knew of unmasking requests by any ambassador, including Power, he testified: “I don't know. Maybe it's ringing a vague bell but I'm not — I could not answer with any confidence.”

Rice admitted to asking for unmasked names of U.S. citizens in intelligence reports after initially claiming no knowledge of any such thing.

Clapper also admitted to requesting the unmasking of “Mr. Trump, his associates or any members of Congress.” Clapper and Yates admitted they also personally reviewed unmasked documents and shared unmasked material with other officials.
5. Changing the rules

On Dec. 15, 2016 — the same day the government listened in on Trump officials at Trump Tower — Rice reportedly unmasked the names of Bannon, Kushner and Flynn. And Clapper made a new rule allowing the National Security Agency to widely disseminate surveillance material within the government without the normal privacy protections.
6. Media strategy

Former CIA Director John Brennan and Clapper, two of the most integral intel officials in this ongoing controversy, have joined national news organizations where they have regular opportunities to shape the news narrative — including on the very issues under investigation.

Clapper reportedly secretly leaked salacious political opposition research against Trump to CNN in fall 2017 and later was hired as a CNN political analyst. In February, Brennan was hired as a paid analyst for MSNBC.
7. Leaks

There’s been a steady and apparently orchestrated campaign of leaks — some true, some false, but nearly all of them damaging to President Trump’s interests.

A few of the notable leaks include word that Flynn was wiretapped, the anti-Trump “Steele dossier” of political opposition research, then-FBI Director James Comey briefing Trump on it, private Comey conversations with Trump, Comey’s memos recording those conversations and criticizing Trump, the subpoena of Trump’s personal bank records (which proved false) and Flynn planning to testify against Trump (which also proved to be false).
8. Friends, informants and snoops

The FBI reportedly used one-time CIA operative Stefan Halper in 2016 as an informant to spy on Trump officials.

Another player is Comey friend Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor, who leaked Comey’s memos against Trump to The New York Times after Comey was fired. We later learned that Richman actually worked for the FBI under a status called “Special Government Employee.”

The FBI used former reporter Glenn Simpson, his political opposition research firm Fusion GPS, and ex-British spy Christopher Steele to compile allegations against Trump, largely from Russian sources, which were distributed to the press and used as part of wiretap applications.

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These eight features of a counterintelligence operation are only the pieces we know.

It can be assumed there’s much we don’t yet know. And it may help explain why there’s so much material that the Department of Justice hasn’t easily handed over to congressional investigators.

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Democrats and their media allies are again shouting “constitutional crisis,” this time claiming President Trump has waded too far into the Russia investigation. The howls are a diversion from the actual crisis: the Justice Department’s unprecedented contempt for duly elected representatives, and the lasting harm it is doing to law enforcement and to the department’s relationship with Congress.

The conceit of those claiming Mr. Trump has crossed some line in ordering the Justice Department to comply with oversight is that “investigators” are beyond question. We are meant to take them at their word that they did everything appropriately. Never mind that the revelations of warrants and spies and dirty dossiers and biased text messages already show otherwise.

We are told that Mr. Trump cannot be allowed to have any say over the Justice Department’s actions, since this might make him privy to sensitive details about an investigation into himself. We are also told that Congress - a separate branch of government, a primary duty of which is oversight - cannot be allowed to access Justice Department material. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes can’t be trusted to view classified information - something every intelligence chairman has done - since he might blow a source or method, or tip off the president.

That’s a political judgment, but it holds no authority. The Constitution set up Congress to act as a check on the executive branch—and it’s got more than enough cause to do some checking here. Yet the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation have spent a year disrespecting Congress—flouting subpoenas, ignoring requests, hiding witnesses, blacking out information, and leaking accusations.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has not been allowed to question a single current or former Justice or FBI official involved in this affair. Not one. He’s also more than a year into his demand for the transcript of former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s infamous call with the Russian ambassador, as well as reports from the FBI agents who interviewed Mr. Flynn. And still nothing.

Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, is being stonewalled on at least three inquiries. The House Judiciary and Oversight committee chairmen required a full-blown summit in April with Justice Department officials to get movement on their own subpoena. The FBI continues to block a fuller release of the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia report.

Not that the documents that Justice sends over are of much use. Mr. Grassley this week excoriated the department for its routine practice of redacting key information, and for similarly refusing to provide a “privilege log” that details the legal basis for withholding information.

His team recently discovered that one of the items Justice had scrubbed from the Peter Strzok-Lisa Page texts was the duo’s concern that former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe had a $70,000 conference table. (Was it lacquered with unicorn tears?)

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A separate text refers to an investigation that the White House is “running,” but conveniently blacks out which one. The FBI won’t answer Mr. Johnson’s questions about who is doing the redacting.

This intransigence is creating an unprecedented toxicity between law enforcement and Congress, undermining what has long been a cooperative and vital relationship. It is also pushing lawmakers ever closer to holding Justice Department officials in contempt or impeaching them. Congress hasn’t impeached a member of the executive branch (presidents excepted) since the 19th century. Let’s agree such a step would amount to a real crisis. And the pressure to use these tools to get disclosure is growing, as congressional Republicans worry about losing their oversight authority in the midterms, and suspect the Justice Department is stringing them along for that very reason.

Which is why Mr. Trump was right to order that Justice comply with Mr. Nunes’s demands for documents about the alleged FBI spy Stefan Halper and other information related to the catalyst of this investigation. As president, he has a duty to protect the reputation and integrity of the Justice Department—even from its own leaders. Forcing officials to comply with legitimate congressional oversight is far better than sitting back to watch those same officials singe the institution and its relationship with Congress in a flame of impeachment resolutions. ...

Mr. Trump has an even quicker way to bring the hostility to an end.

He can - and should - declassify everything possible, letting Congress and the public see the truth.

That would put an end to the daily spin and conspiracy theories. It would puncture Democratic arguments that the administration is seeking to gain this information only for itself, to “undermine” an investigation.

And it would end the Justice Department’s campaign of secrecy, which has done such harm to its reputation with the public and with Congress.

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Originally posted by THGRRI:



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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
#releasethememo

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What would be a valid reason for why this isn't released already ? Why orchestrate a #releasethememo movement and then just .... not ?

If the damn thing exists, and says anything remotely close to what it's alleged to say... release the mother fucker now.

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Word has gotten out that Rod Rosenstein's Obstruction has included, in January 2018, direct threats by him against all Congressional Oversight Committee members that he will start SC Witch Hunts against every single one of them, their families, and friends if they continue to do their jobs.

I have not heard the source of this specific new revelation.

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Originally posted by THG:
There are many many posts in this thread that need to be addressed by Trumps supporters. Or should I say traitors.

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