[USA Today] WASHINGTON ‐ In early January, news that the Justice Department’s inspector general launched an investigation into the government's disputed handling of the Hillary Clinton email inquiry was quickly overtaken by the chaotic run-up to President Trump’s inauguration.
Nearly a year later, Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s wide-ranging review of the FBI and Justice’s work in the politically-charged Clinton case now looms as a potential landmine for Russia special counsel Robert Mueller.
For months, Horowitz’s investigation ‐ which has amassed interviews with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former FBI Director James Comey and other key officials ‐ had been grinding on in near anonymity. That is, until earlier this month when the inspector general acknowledged that Mueller was alerted to a cache of text messages exchanged between two FBI officials on his staff that disparaged Trump.
The communications, involving senior counter-intelligence agent Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page, were gathered in the course of Horowitz’s internal review of the Clinton case, which Strzok also helped oversee. Horowitz’s investigation is not examining Mueller’s operation. But the disclosures already have provided a hammer to Trump loyalists who are escalating their criticisms of the legitimacy of the special counsel’s inquiry.
Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein only highlighted the potential gravity of the inspector general's work when they repeatedly urged Republican House committee members during separate hearings to withhold judgment about allegations of bias within the FBI until the internal Justice probe is completed.
Justice officials have indicated that a report is likely in the next few months.
"The inspector general's investigation is very important," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told Rosenstein at a Dec. 13 hearing. The deputy attorney general cited the probe multiple times as the reason for declining to respond to lawmakers' questions about how the texts might affect Mueller's probe.
"It is very encouraging to us that (Horowitz) is doing what I think is good, unbiased work," the chairman said.
#4
Fun fact: you know who wrote the infamous WMD memo that got us into the Iraq War? Robert Mueller. Yup, the same one. And people claim the Deep State doesn't exist.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
12/26/2017 14:34 Comments ||
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#5
Comey and Mueller are up to theri necks in their dishonesty and obstruction of justice when it comes to the Benghazi and Clinton Emails investigation.
[The Hill] Former CIA director defends top FBI officials amid Trump attacks. Former CIA Director John Brennan came to the defense of two senior FBI officials on Saturday after President Trump targeted the pair on Twitter.
Brennan tweeted that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and top FBI lawyer James Baker "epitomize integrity, competence, and respect for rule of law."
"Not surprised @realDonaldTrump fears them, along with the rest of FBI," continued Brennan, who served as CIA chief under former President Obama.
"I just donated to @FBIAgentsAssoc as a small way of saying #thanksFBI," Brennan tweeted, along with a link explaining how to donate to the association.
Brennan's tweet came after Trump took took aim at the senior FBI officials earlier Saturday, ratcheting up his feud with leadership of the law enforcement agency.
Trump first jabbed at McCabe after it was reported he would be stepping down from his FBI post in March when he is eligible for full pension benefits. Trump wrote that the No. 2 FBI official is "racing the clock to retire with full benefits."
Render unto Caeser, dude. Jesus worked in a different sphere.
[Guardian] The archbishop of Canterbury has spoken out against "tyrannical and populist" world leaders in a Christmas message likely to be seen partly as a rebuke against US president Donald Trump.
Justin Welby was preaching at Canterbury cathedral at the same time as Pope Francis made oblique criticism of Trump in his traditional Christmas address in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
The pontiff made particular reference to the situation in the Middle East just two weeks after the US president inflamed tensions in the region by controversially recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
In Canterbury, Welby told worshippers that much could be learnt from the nativity story, where Jesus is "power seen in humility".
He said: "In 2017, we have seen around the world tyrannical leaders that enslave their peoples, populist leaders that deceive them, corrupt leaders that rob them, even simply democratic, well-intentioned leaders of many parties and countries who are normal, fallible human beings."
#6
As for the pope, in the Middle Ages popes were calling on Christians to liberate the Holy Land. Now they're calling on Christians to surrender it. Question: If the pope is infallible why do different popes tell us to do different things?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/26/2017 17:46 Comments ||
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#7
hmmm....my understanding is that papal infallibility is much more like 'the science is settled', ie the discussion is over.
[ConservativeTreehouse] To put a fine point on the anticipatory fireworks for mid-January, let us remind ourselves of what can be anticipated when everyone gets back to DC from the holiday break.
Following a week of growing pressure and sunlight, last week Asst. FBI Director Andrew "Andy" McCabe used The Washington Post -the PR transmission media of the Deep State Intelligence Community- to announce his career saving terms. Essentially McCabe presented the deal that he would leave office in March, in exchange for no returning fire.
President Trump, immediately spotting the intent of the public resignation announcement, responded by saying on Twitter: "NO DEAL".
On January 15th, 2018, the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz will deliver approximately 1.2 million pages of documentation and evidence gathered in the year-long investigation
...they started during President Obama’s term, then, and possibly conceived the need while it was still assumed that Hillary Clinton would inherit the mantle...
into the politicization of the DOJ and FBI, by senior leadership and upper-level career leadership lawyers and bureaucrats.
IG Horowitz, having utilized the OIG’s vast 500+ investigative agents, is giving that preliminary evidence -in advance of pending full report- to the congressional committee in charge of DOJ/FBI oversight: House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte. ‐OUTLINED HERE‐
So by mid-January the House Judiciary Committee will have massive investigative documentation surrounding Andrew McCabe, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Sally Yates, and all of the top-tier team members around them for all of their principle activity throughout the past few years; with emphasis on 2016.
Put another way, Andrew McCabe, is going to be in FULL SUNLIGHT on or around January 15th, 2018, for any misconduct.
That explains the transparent reason for McCabe offering terms. However, the content of that year-long investigation is also the transparent reason for President Trump refusing McCabe’s terms.
In addition to McCabe, and depending on how well they have covered their political tracks, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Sally Yates, and all of the top officials -lawyers mostly- within the FBI and DOJ will be part of that investigative release.
Depending on IG release content, there will also be downstream officials who will have likely taken action, or positioned themselves with prior public releases of intelligence information (ie. narratives), containing historic support toward the actions taken by those top-tier FBI and DOJ officials.
Those downstream Deep State positions include CIA John Brennan, DNI James Clapper, and all of the officials contained in known communication therein: Continues.
#1
Those downstream Deep State positions include CIA John Brennan, DNI James Clapper, and all of the officials contained in known communication therein:
I won't dispute the watery reference, but I believe you'll find Brennan and Clapper at the headwaters.
[Washington Times] The FBI is declining to repudiate the Russia dossier on which it partially relied to start an investigation into the Trump campaign, but it concedes the document’s major core charges of election collusion remain unsubstantiated.
Sources familiar with House and Senate investigations say this is the FBI’s dossier talking point 17 months after agents were first briefed in July 2016 as Donald Trump battled Hillary Clinton for the White House.
The most recent FBI witness was Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who spent nearly eight hours last week in a closed session before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Republicans believe they have unearthed a scandal inside the bureau’s top echelons over its determination to target Trump associates based on flimsy evidence and improper Justice Department contacts.
Republican committee members pressed Mr. McCabe about a dossier that was financed by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign based on gossip-tinged information from paid, unidentified Kremlin operatives.
Mr. McCabe declined to criticize the dossier’s 35 pages of salacious and criminal charges against Donald Trump and his aides, but he said it remains largely unverified, according to a source familiar with ongoing congressional inquiries.
#1
Unable to verify it? Then why was it given to then President Soetoro and why was community wide distribution made on it? Let's be honest here, we all know what this was about, we're just not fully briefed on the individuals responsible.
#2
Beso, coming clean would result in a severe shortage of cells in various correctional facilities........not that there's anything wrong with that mind you.
#3
...Remember what I said back when all this started - the Democrats expected that when it came out, Trump would go into a defensive crouch and spend all his time addressing what was in it, while Hilary would tut-tut and cruise to a secure win. And after January 20th, President Clinton would have made sure that the dossier was quietly burned/shredded/reduced to atoms.
Trouble is, 1) Trump didn't follow the script...hell, he ignored it, and 2) Hilary was still so disliked that she lost a rigged election. So now what you have is a situation where the Dems fired their 'secret weapon'...and (to use USAF Ammo terminology) it hung up on the rack, and there's no place to jettison it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/26/2017 9:08 Comments ||
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#4
we're just not fully briefed on the individuals responsible
I think both sides are scrambling for cover stories to keep us from knowing the truth.
#5
If the dossier was used as supporting evidence for a FISA warrant, someone must eventually own it. I suspect this is a very sticky wicket. There is the possibility that Soetoro provided the authorization for the use of the dossier.
[WorldTribune] A report by an IT specialist gives detailed information on how Democratic National Committee (DNC) files that were given to WikiLeaks were copied locally, contradicting the narrative that the DNC was hacked by Russia.
The leaked DNC emails detailed efforts by the committee to rig the Democratic primary in favor of Hillary Clinton.
Private investigators have claimed there is evidence that DNC staffer Seth Rich was the source WikiLeaks used to obtain the emails, which were copied on July 5, 2016. Rich was murdered on July 10, 2016.
The DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz as well as Chief executive Amy Dacey and Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall all resigned after the devastating release of hacked emails from the committee.
Key findings in the report by the IT specialist known as The Forensicator:
On 7/5/2016 at approximately 6:45 PM Eastern time, someone copied the data that eventually appears on the "NGP VAN" 7zip file (the subject of this analysis). This 7zip file was published by a persona named Guccifer 2, two months later on September 13, 2016.
Due to the estimated speed of transfer (23 MB/s) calculated in this study, it is unlikely that this initial data transfer could have been done remotely over the Internet.
The initial copying activity was likely done from a computer system that had direct access to the data. "Direct access" means that the individual who was collecting the data either had physical access to the computer where the data was stored, or the data was copied over a local high speed network (LAN).
This initial copying activity was done on a system where Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) settings were in force. Most likely, the computer used to initially copy the data was located somewhere on the East Coast.
The data was likely initially copied to a computer running Linux, because the file last modified times all reflect the apparent time of the copy and this is a characteristic of the Linux ’cp’ command (using default options).
A Linux OS may have been booted from a USB flash drive and the data may have been copied back to the same flash drive, which will likely have been formatted with the Linux (ext4) file system.
Analysts believe the most important aspect in The Forensicator’s report is the "estimated speed of transfer (23 MB/s)" at which the documents were copied. Analysts say it’s "inconceivable" the DNC documents could have been copied at such speed from a remote location.
Disobedient Media noted that "The Forensicator concluded that the chance that the files had been accessed and downloaded remotely over the Internet were too small to give this idea any serious consideration. He explained that the calculated transfer speeds for the initial copy were much faster than can be supported by an Internet connection.
"This is extremely significant and completely discredits allegations of Russian hacking made by both Guccifer 2.0 and Crowdstrike."
#1
Samsung 16GB Class 6 Micro SDHC up to 24MB/s with Adapter (MB-MS16DA/AM)
The transfer rate indicates the data copied was possibly copied onto the above memory card in a smart phone that was attached to the database server or a local network server with access to the DNC database. That would eliminate tracing to an IP address of a pc.
#2
Seth's brother was trying to get in touch with Israeli cell phone digital forensics CellBrite after Seth's death. However, if the data passed through to the Samsung Micro card the phone would not have the data. And who knows if WikiLeaks are the ones that ended up with the card.
#4
Vince Ricardo: Are you interested in joining? The benefits are terrific. The trick is not to get killed. That's really the key to the benefit program.
Posted by: Hupusonter Oppressor of the Brontosaurs5491 ||
12/26/2017 9:26 Comments ||
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#5
Read this last Fall. Simple answer is maybe.
The internet data download would depend on the host server's bus, NIC and internet throughput. Without having the hardware specs it is impossible to tell.
#6
Yeah, the Left is going to construct a scenario in which the fastest possible fiber-optic lines are in use, barely available in America, and say "naah naah you can't prove it naah naah".
23 MB/s is crazy fast, hardly possible over Comcast or any of the other ISPs. It was a local copy to a USB stick.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
12/26/2017 17:16 Comments ||
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#7
I am amazed that a system admin would leave a server vulnerable to USB sticks when the defense is so trivial. The DNC must have hired a bunch of Pakistani spies to administer their systems. Oh yeah ...
Posted by: P. Speaking for B. ||
12/26/2017 17:24 Comments ||
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#8
We're not talking about computer geniuses here, Speaking. Whatever means were used to copy that data from the host server, it's the system administrator's fault and also the fault of whoever was dumb enough to hire him (cough, Debbie, cough, cough, Wasserman, HACK!!!, Schultz, cough, cough). Blaming Trump and the Russians is so damn ludicrous that only the mainstream media could take it seriously. If your company is a victim of industrial espionage via the Internet, the CIO gets fired. If the CIO keeps his or her job after that the shareholders need to raise hell and then the CEO gets fired. You certainly don't want simpletons like that trying to run the country.
And it is truly amazing what you can do these days with USB memory sticks. A lot of mid sized companies could probably put their entire database on one of those things. I was personally amazed the first time I ever booted a Linux OS from one. The possibilities are astounding but the IT staff needs to keep those USB ports secure and anybody caught with an unauthorized memory stick gets promptly escorted to the parking lot minus the stick.
Finally, if the data went over the Internet, it didn't have to go just from the local host server's I/O bus and the local fiber optic network. That was just the beginning. There would have been an unknown number of intermediate nodes and cables between the host and the client covering several thousands of miles if the client was in Russia. All that takes time.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/26/2017 18:26 Comments ||
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#9
Wasn't there an article or something about four months ago that said the DNC files were copied, not hacked???
I wonder why someone on one of those Congressional committees hasn't brought this up?
[TabletMag] News of the News: Why the timeline of the scandalous report that fuels Russiagate matters.
To date the investigation into the Fusion GPS-manufactured collusion scandal has focused largely on the firm itself, its allies in the press, as well as contacts in the Department of Justice and FBI. However, if a sitting president used the instruments of state, including the intelligence community, to disseminate and legitimize a piece of paid opposition research in order to first obtain warrants to spy on the other party’s campaign, and then to de-legitimize the results of an election once the other party’s candidate won, we’re looking at a scandal that dwarfs Watergate‐a story not about a bad man in the White House, but about the subversion of key security institutions that are charged with protecting core elements of our democratic process while operating largely in the shadows." And this is why determining what document(s) were used in obtaining the Trump FISA Warrant is so important.
[NY Post] An LA psychologist who thinks President Trump’s tax bill is a load of crap says he presented Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin with a stinker of a Christmas present, according to a report.
Robby Strong told AL.com he dropped off the box of horse manure at Mnuchin’s house as an "act of political theater" to hammer home the point that "Republicans have done nothing for the American worker."
On Saturday, he posted several images on Facebook, one of which shows him posing with a shovel next to a gift-wrapped box, and another that shows the box full of what appears to be dung.
"I need someone to ride along and document my Secret Santa project. I’m going to hand deliver boxes of horse s‐t to Steve Mnuchin over in Beverly Hills," he added in a message.
Strong told AL.com that he delivered one box to a home Mnuchin owns in Beverly Hills, and another to the home in Bel Air, where the LAPD’s bomb squad responded to.
Another Facebook photo shows a card addressed to Mnuchin and Trump.
"We’re returning the ’gift’ of the Christmas tax bill. It’s bulls‐. Warmest wishes, The American People. P.S. ‐ Kiss Donakld for me," the card states.
"The thing I live by is a rule of transparency and I was exercising my First Amendment rights," Strong told the Alabama news outlet.
"A few years ago when [a Supreme Court ruling] said that corporations are persons and money equals free speech, that is so absurd and my rule of thumb is now that if corporations are free speech, then so is horses‐t."
Strong claimed the Secret Service questioned him at his home, but did not arrest him.
"I just got interviewed by the Secret Service and I’ve now joined some of my heroes like Timothy Leary and Martin Luther King," he told AL.com. "[The agents] just showed up in my yard."
Strong pooh-poohed suggestions the prank could have alarmed Mnuchin or his family.
"It was a gift-wrapped package of poo, something a frat boy may do to another frat boy," he said. "I was hoping to meet [Mnuchin.] I wanted to ring the door and hand it to him myself."
He also said he didn’t violate laws about mailing hazardous waste.
"I kind of dodged that whole issue. Is there a law that you can’t drop off a box of poo? Not really," he said.
Strong said he aimed to inspire people to join the movement of political advocacy.
"The fact that [Republicans] can be so brazen and act with such impunity tells me that we have to be more brazen with our activism and maybe a bit more aggressive," he said. Brazen enough to be charged with transport of a potentially dangerous bio-agent?
Yahoo reports that the Secret Service has interviewed the (unnamed by them) person responsible for the so clever box o’poo. Update from the Daily Mail at 7:10 a.m. ET:
Strong, who works for the LA Department of Mental Health, was an organizer of the Occupy LA movement.
#8
Maybe this fellow needs some. Turnabout is fair play.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/26/2017 11:30 Comments ||
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#9
DarthVader, I've heard that people with mental issues are drawn to the field of psychology to better understand themselves, so I think you are totally correct.
"A psychologist decided to protest Donald Trump’s presidency by leaving large boxes of poop at a pair of home owned by PDT’s Secretary of the Treasury. He says that this act puts him in the company of Martin Luther King, and he hopes that leaving poop at the homes of administration officials will sweep the country as a form of protest.
Remember, he’s a psychologist… from California.
The intellectual and philosophical cupboard of the Progressive left is so bare that flinging poo is literally all the left has left.
The psychological term for smearing feces is ‘scatolia.’ Furthermore, “scatolia tends to occur in individuals with a history of obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, ADD, autism or post-traumatic stress, especially trauma related to physical or sexual abuse or people who are still butthurt and deranged that Donald Trump was elected president.”"
[Last Refuge] Last week Politico reported on an explosive in depth investigation surrounding how the former President Obama administration allowed the terrorist group Hezbollah to continue a multinational drug running and money-laundering operation to fund terrorism in order to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran.
The DEA’s "Operation Cassandra" was intentionally blocked; while the administration allowed drug-running into the U.S., weapons procurement to kill Americans and money laundering to facilitate all the terrorist activity. Supporting Hezbollah was down-played and intentionally permitted by the Obama administration.
Under any normal circumstances, other than an Obama presidency, this entire scandal would have been explosive headlines. [Insert comparison to media coverage of "Iran-Contra" here.] However, the response from U.S. media has been essentially nothing other than to attack the intensely well-sourced author of the expose’.
Now, pause for a minute and really think about this next question.
Consider how the same U.S. media will respond to the sunlight upon President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s "Operation Trump"?
In 2016 senior leadership within the Obama FBI and Department of Justice, with direct and provable ties straight to the White House, planned and conducted a targeted political operation against a presidential candidate by weaponizing the intelligence community against Donald Trump.
Using sketchy, intentionally misleading and false information provided to a U.S. District Court Judge, the Obama FBI and DOJ colluded to present an application for wiretaps and surveillance authority to the FISA court; subsequently, they used a FISA warrant as part of an exhaustive counterintelligence operation against their political opposition.
This is no longer some pie-in-the-sky conspiracy. There is massive evidence, including statements from the co-conspirators, that highlights this exact operation in detail.
However, using the media response to the "Operation Cassandra" scandal as a baseline for expectation, how do you think the same media will respond to discoveries within "Operation Trump"? Continues.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources ||
12/26/2017 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11126 views]
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#1
Unfortunately for the media, they have not read the memo that a majority of the American public no longer uses the MSM as their primary source of news and information.
With Drudge, Rantburg, Breitbart, Politico, and other media outlets providing sunlight on this, much like they did fast and furious, will keep this out in the open.
Neither the Zerobama sycophants in the media, nor the deep state can keep this one under wraps.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Those downstream Deep State positions include CIA John Brennan, DNI James Clapper, and all of the officials contained in known communication therein:
[NY Post] An LA psychologist who thinks President Trump’s tax bill is a load of crap says he presented Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin with a stinker of a Christmas present, according to a report.
[Last Refuge] Last week Politico reported on an explosive in depth investigation surrounding how the former President Obama administration allowed the terrorist group Hezbollah to continue a multinational drug running and money-laundering operation to fund terrorism in order to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran.
