I don't trust Barr to get anything done any time soon

for example, how difficult would it be to bring Logan Act charges against John Kerry?

really, how much mire cut and dried can it get

I will not be holding my breath that anyone will ever be prosecuted

The Joe DiGenova interview is great.

Here's a reporter asking Jim Jordan why Obama warned Trump about North Korea and General Flynn? I never heard that before.

https://youtu.be/msLLeaGNqBM?t=507

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
I don't trust Barr to get anything done any time soon
for example, how difficult would it be to bring Logan Act charges against John Kerry?

Barr is investigating an attempted coup. Why bother being petty when not one's ever been charged with a Logan Act violation.

The one thing I hope for is sound criminal justice Not petty partisanship. Barr is good to not to get bogged down in the pig stye and going after Kerry would muddy his reputation and focus.

I still have faith in AG Barr.

I've given up making predictions on what is going to happen. My optimism and "hopes" are always in conflict with reality.

Now on Judge Sullivan - he is one I don't trust.

From Undercover Huber:

FLYNN UPDATE: Judge Sullivan orders no more incremental filings from
@SidneyPowell1 until US Attorney Jensen completes “final” production of materials to Powell, then they can be filed with the court

Unless DOJ ask to drop the protective court order that prevents materials turned over to the defense from being made public, that means no more disclosures for a while, depending on how much more Jensen has to turn over

https://www.foxnews.com/politi...ing-to-him-every-day

U.S. Attorney for Connecticut John Durham has reviewed the bombshell files released earlier this week showing FBI officials discussed whether they wanted to interview Michael Flynn in order to “get him to lie,” sources familiar with his investigation told Fox News, as the document drop renews attention on his probe of the law enforcement community's Russia case.

Sources even said charges could be justified against officials, and that those reviewing the Justice Department and the FBI's actions are building a "serious case." Durham and Attorney General Bill Barr are said to be speaking regularly.

“Durham has seen all of this already,” one source told Fox News, adding that they “could be sufficient for some charges against agents.”

The source added that it is “disturbing to Durham” that “there weren’t any whistleblowers” that came forward in the FBI and Justice Department at the onset of the Russia probe.

Sources also told Fox News that more exculpatory documents are forthcoming, as Attorney General Barr continues to look over the DOJ's investigation into the handling of the Flynn case.

“Barr talks to Durham every day,” a source told Fox News. “The president has been briefed that the case is being pursued, and it’s serious.”

The source added: “They’ve asked the president to say nothing about it and not screw it up. He is laying back for a change.”

Multiple sources have also told Fox News that Durham is expected to wrap up his investigation by the end of the summer.

One source suggested the investigation could end as soon as July, while another said it could be closer to September, based on Durham's progress, which could be hindered by the coronavirus pandemic rocking the nation and the globe.

“If they don’t have it, they’re not going to bring it,” another source told Fox News. “But they think they’ve got it.”

The following opinion piece from The Wall Street Journal doesn’t really tell anyone who has been following this thread closely anything new, but it’s a nice summary and demonstrates that the case is getting some attention.

================================

The FBI’s Flynn Outrage

By Kimberley A. Strassel

The newest Federal Bureau of Investigation documents in the case of former White House national security adviser Mike Flynn are stunning in themselves. But the totality of Mr. Flynn’s treatment shocks the conscience.

Mr. Flynn in 2017 pleaded guilty to a single count of lying to FBI agents about conversations he had with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. Thanks to new documents the feds belatedly turned over to his attorneys, we know the FBI engineered this “crime.” Handwritten notes from former FBI counterintelligence head Bill Priestap, made before the bureau’s interview of Mr. Flynn, ask the following: “What is our goal? Truth/Admission, or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”

One of the frustrations of the Trump-Russia “collusion” narrative is that the evidence of law enforcement’s abuse of power keeps emerging in dribs and drabs. To grasp the outrageous conduct fully, the Flynn documents need to be added to what we already know. The overall evidence paints a scandalous picture: Having labored and abysmally failed in 2016 to build a case that Mr. Flynn was an agent of the Russians, the FBI and Justice Department changed gears—rifling through his communications, inventing a fake crime, and entrapping him on a “lying” charge.

The latest documents reveal the FBI was officially closing its Flynn case on Jan. 4, 2017. The FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team spent 2016 checking “databases” for “derogatory” information on him, running down accusations that he had ties to Russians. They struck out, and the closing document admits Mr. Flynn “was no longer a viable candidate” for investigation. Then, suddenly, also on Jan. 4, FBI agent Peter Strzok sends a text saying: “Hey, if you haven’t closed [the Flynn case], don’t do so yet.” Mr. Strzok explained: “seventh floor involved”— a reference to FBI top brass.

What changed? In late December, Mr. Flynn spoke to Mr. Kislyak. Federal law gives investigators the authority to wiretap foreigners but also requires strict privacy protections for U.S. citizens with whom they speak. The Obama administration superseded those protections and “unmasked” Mr. Flynn in the days following his discussions. They later leaked the classified contents of the call to the press.

The snooping gained them nothing substantive. Mr. Flynn’s conversations were lawful and routine. So Justice Department and FBI officials instead manufactured the absurd theory that Mr. Flynn had violated the Logan Act of 1799, which bars citizens from engaging in unauthorized negotiations in disputes between the U.S. and foreign governments. No one has ever been convicted of violating the act. This week’s handwritten notes show that among the FBI’s hopes in interviewing Mr. Flynn was to “get him to admit to breaking the Logan Act.” The real goal was to trap him. Remember, the FBI didn’t need to ask Mr. Flynn what he’d said to the Russian ambassador; they had a recording. The only reason for an interview was to coax Mr. Flynn into saying something at odds with that transcript. They worked hard at it. Then-Director James Comey has previously bragged that the FBI went around the White House legal counsel to make sure Mr. Flynn had no lawyer present.

This week’s documents include an email from former FBI lawyer Lisa Page debating ways for the bureau to get around its standard formal admonition against lying, suggesting agents just “casually slip that in” when talking to Mr. Flynn. A document from former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe says that he urged Mr. Flynn to conduct the interview without a lawyer, and that the FBI deliberately dispensed with the admonition altogether.

The abuse then continued under former special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr. Flynn initially explained that he misremembered what he’d discussed with the Russian, a highly plausible claim. But Mr. Mueller’s lawyers pursued him to near penury and threatened to prosecute his son. He succumbed and agreed to a plea deal.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this week’s documents is what isn’t in them. The FBI expresses no concern that Mr. Flynn was “colluding” with Russia or otherwise threatening national security— supposedly the rationale for the FBI’s intrusive investigation. By this point, it just wanted a scalp, a means to keep its broader narrative rolling.

The FBI exists to investigate crimes, not to create them. Some might add this shameful behavior to the long list of the FBI’s “collusion” malfeasance: the surveillance-court abuse, the Steele dossier, the leaks. But the Flynn case is something different. This isn’t the FBI playing fast and loose with sources or the courts. This is law enforcement abusing its most tyrannical power—to strip citizens of their reputations, their livelihoods and their liberty.

The FBI’s treatment of Mr. Flynn lives up to Americans’ worst fears. Attorney General William Barr was right to order a review of the case. Now someone must be held to account.

LINK

seen at CTH

Fox Business Host Lou Dobbs outlines some stunning information about the recently released FBI documents and how they align with President Obama’s involvement.

Additionally, General Mike Flynn’s defense counsel, Sidney Powell, gives her perspective on the release and what it could mean for their case. Additionally, Ms. Powell discusses a rather odd order from Judge Sullivan to stop the defense from submitting further evidence in the case until the DOJ attests there is no evidence left to deliver.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Amazing, Sidney Powell said the other FBI agent's name (who interviewed Gen Flynn) is under protective order.

She cannot say the name. But the name is well known - Joe Pientka

Pientka wasn't fired. He was promoted and moved from DC to the San Francisco area. The San Francisco FBI field office had his name on their site, but later removed it.

Pientka was sent into a summer 2016 "defensive briefing" to observe Gen Flynn and size him up for later investigation.

just read a report from EpochTimes that explains part of the last release to Sidney Powell.

One of the things at the heart of the FBI set up of Gen Flynn, is the original FBI 302 report of the 24 Jan 2017 interview w Flynn. We know Peter Strzok was one of the 2 FBI agents who did the interview. It has been widely reported that the other agent was Joe Pientka. Strzok asked the questions, Pientka took the notes and wrote the original 302 summary of the interview.

For some unknown reason, Pientka's name is always redacted from material from the DoJ and FBI.

The FBI claims the original 302 version has been lost.

Part of the recent DoJ release was a series of texts between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. The meaning of those texts wasn't clear at all.

Texts:
10 Feb 2017
Page to Strzok: "This document pisses me off. ? You didn't even attempt to make this cogent and readable.? This is lazy work on your part."

Strzok to Page: "Lisa, you didn't see it before my edits that went into what I sent you. I was 1) trying to completely re-write the thing so as to save xxxx voice and 2) get it out to you for general review and comment in anticipation of needing it soon"

Later Strzok texts that he meant to say "not completely re-write"



So why did the DoJ include this in the recent package to Sidney Powell ?

Powell believes Lisa Page and Peter Strzok are talking about the Flynn interview 302. They are rewriting it.

"xxxx voice" is "Joe's voice". Pientka the note taker.

The earliest 302 version shown to Gen Flynn was dated 10 Feb 2017.



The texts show “that there in fact exists an original 302 document created by SSA,” Powell said in an April 30 statement.

The FBI had no comment when asked to confirm or deny whether the texts pertained to the Flynn 302.

The failure to produce the draft 302 equals a violation of the court’s “Brady” order, which requires the government to hand over evidence helpful to the defense, Powell said.

“As repugnant as this conduct is on its face, the travel of this vital document establishes continuously—and until this day—the original FBI agents, the prosecutors, and FBI management’s determination to withhold exculpatory evidence required under Brady, among other violations of Gen. Flynn’s civil rights. They withheld it not only to try to convict an innocent man, but to hide their own crimes,” she said.

In an Oct. 24, 2019, court filing (pdf), Powell rejected the suggestion that the 302 draft was “missing,” saying neither the bureau nor its digital document system “loses the most important of its reports that is supposed to support the federal felony of the President’s National Security Adviser.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...ndicate_3335311.html

On Jan. 16, Powell disclosed that she has a witness who could attest to what was in the original draft.

“I’ve now found a witness who says the original 302 did in fact say that Flynn was honest with the agents and did not lie,” she told Larry O’Connor on his WMAL radio show. “So for somebody to delete that from the 302 is just beyond outrageous.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


This is like a jig saw puzzle that is 95% complete, but no one wants to admit what the puzzle shows. Flynn was framed. The FBI made up a crime and falsely charged him. Mueller's goons forced Flynn to "confess" to lying to the liars.

By the way, years ago Christopher Wray was Andrew Weissmann's boss at DoJ.

Wray was Assistant Attorney General from 2003 to 2005, working under Deputy Attorney General James Comey . While heading the Criminal Division, Wray oversaw prominent fraud investigations, including Enron

(Wiki)

From 2002 to 2005, Weissmann was the deputy director of the task force investigating the Enron scandal

In a follow-up case in U.S. District Court, Weissmann also was successful at arguing that auditing firm Arthur Andersen LLP had covered up for Enron. In that case, which resulted in the destruction of Andersen, he convinced the district judge to instruct the jury that they could convict the firm regardless of whether its employees knew they were violating the law

That ruling was later unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court in Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States, in which the court held that "the jury instructions failed to convey the requisite consciousness of wrongdoing."

Wray - Comey
Wray - Weissmann

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sdy,

Christopher Wray NEEDS to Go, NOW!

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Christopher Wray NEEDS to Go, NOW!

From all that I've seen, this guy is just another deep state swamp creature. Yup, needs to get the boot like last year.

from Undercover Huber

Why don’t Comey’s memos about Trump asking if he can “let Flynn go” mention that the *Comey’s own FBI field office* wanted to let Flynn go a month earlier, because they had *nothing*, zero on him?

Even after the plan Comey set in motion got Flynn fired in disgrace? Slip his mind?

Where are the notes of FBI agents or DOJ officials saying, “gee, setting up a pretext to interview someone as part of an investigation we know is bogus might violate this persons civil rights. It might harm their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness even. Let’s rethink this”

Where are the texts worrying about whether it is moral to try to get someone fired from the pinnacle of their career, a job as NSA in the White House, bringing their life crashing down around their ears?

Why is nobody writing a memo to themselves asking if they’re really doing things “by the book” when they keep sending in a spy they must know is lying to them, that they know is pals with “former” Russian intelligence chiefs, who keeps coming up empty, only with exculpatory info?

Why are there no minutes of any meeting between Comey’s crew debating whether it’s a good idea to flip a friend of George Papadopoulos, turning someone he trusted into a weapon wearing a wire against him, then suppressing that the one thing they got was yet more exculpatory info?

And when the “lead FBI attorney” on Crossfire Hurricane finds out that his prime target
@carterwpage
is a patriot assisting the CIA, rather than a traitor helping the Russians, why is there no email CC’d to everyone saying that, but a doctored, fraudulent one saying the opposite?

Nobody is writing that email, putting down those thoughts in notes, confiding to a close friend, sending an anguished text, worrying about what they could do to these people. Because they didn’t see them as people.

Just targets to be destroyed.

Bear in mind as you read this that Comey’s crew & all the people who worked on Mueller’s team, and all of the media people who helped them are unrepentant. They don’t care.

It hurts Orange Man, so it’s all justified. They’ll destroy anyone or anything, as long as it destroys him

Maybe Chris Wray can put some of this down in a memo and send it out on a training course. I’m sure that’ll fix this.

https://twitter.com/JohnWHuber.../1256898409405075457

Opinion piece from The Wall Street Journal:

================================================

‘Rewrite’ in Flynn’s Case Shows FBI Needs Reform

By Thomas J. Baker

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen found much wrong with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation of Mike Flynn. An aspect that deserves more attention than it has received is the alteration of an FBI agent’s account of the Flynn interview.

For more than half a century, FBI agents conducting interviews have been required to memorialize any information that might become testimony, on a form called the FD-302. It was always considered the interviewing agent’s FD-302. Supervisors never modified it; its purpose was to reflect what the agent observed and heard from the witness or suspect. As an FBI supervisor, I reviewed hundreds of FD-302s. Other than an occasional grammatical correction, I never changed a word.

So it was shocking for me to read the newly released text messages between Peter Strzok, then deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, and Lisa Page. They show that after Mr. Strzok and Agent Joe Pientka interviewed Mr. Flynn,

Mr. Strzok heavily edited Mr. Pientka’s FD-302—to the point that he told Ms. Page he was “trying not to completely re-write” it. Even more shocking, Ms. Page, an FBI attorney who wasn’t an agent and wasn’t at the interview, provided edits.

Worse still, the FD-302 that was eventually provided to the court wasn’t that of the agents’ interview of Mr. Flynn. It was instead a FD-302 of an interview of Mr. Strzok, conducted months later, about his recollections of the original interview. Truly bizarre.

The FBI was also aggressive in its use—or abuse—of Title 18, Section 1001, which makes it a crime to lie to an agent. Agents sometimes issue warnings about this violation to encourage witnesses to tell the truth. But in the past lying was seldom prosecuted as a stand-alone crime. Over the decades, many frustrated agents have pounded a prosecutor’s desk after being told this wouldn’t be prosecuted because “everybody lies.” Instead prosecutors treated it as an add-on offense when they’d already have nailed down a substantive underlying crime. In the Flynn case it was a perversion. Rather than using the 1001 warning

The bureau’s actions are even more shocking to me as a veteran agent.

to get to the truth, agents set a trap for a lie to manufacture a violation. That would be unimaginable in my time at the FBI.

Many are calling for indictments of past bureau officials and others who engaged in this treatment of Mr. Flynn. That may be warranted. But more fundamental is the need for cultural reform in the FBI. The guardrails that were respected in the past—including the integrity of an agent’s FD-302 and the appropriate use of 1001—need to be restored.

Attorney General William Barr ordered this inquiry by Mr. Jensen, a 10-year FBI veteran who operated within those guardrails. Mr. Barr, who served as attorney general in the early 1990s, knows what the FBI had been and can be again.

Mr. Baker is a retired FBI special agent and legal attaché.

LINK

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:

The source added that it is “disturbing to Durham” that “there weren’t any whistleblowers” that came forward in the FBI and Justice Department at the onset of the Russia probe.

While I'm skeptical about where this is headed, I find this part very refreshing. Finally, we seem to be able to dispense with the accolades and support for the "rank and file" heroes that are beyond any reproach.

I'd like to know where Internal Affairs were during all this...

Wray is looking ever more like a swamp creature.

“Two Republican lawmakers are demanding more information from the FBI after bombshell revelations in the case of former national security advisor Michael Flynn were brought to light last week.

Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mike Johnson of Louisiana said they are demanding meetings with FBI Director Christopher Wray and with an agent from the bureau, Joe Pientka.

Pientka had helped in the 2017 White House interview that led to Flynn's prosecution.”

https://mol.im/a/8287249

This was a tedious detailing of the timeline.

What stood out- The 3 civilian contractors accessing the classified files- They don't know who they worked for and what the purpose of their espionage was?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ0hS-eMVeQ

I'll restate the Obvious- Fynn was railroaded during and by the obama Justice Department.

I want the USG to make Lt. General Flynn WHOLE and THEN SOME financially, along with giving him a very public apology and a USG admission of guilt and acceptance of responsibility.

^^^This, plus I want all dirty actors and/or co-conspirators charged, indited and taken from their homes by armed SWAT Teams in a televised show of overwhelming force. They need to be perp-walked, tried & convicted, and then imprisoned w/o the opportunity for parole, Ever!

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
I'd like to know where Internal Affairs were during all this...

Like the FBI that organization or function needs to be torn down and rebuilt.

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
I'd like to know where Internal Affairs were during all this...

The FBI/DOJ's "Office of Professional Responsibility" and the "Office of Inspector General" are supposed to be responsible for investigating misconduct among FBI/DOJ employees, but just try and find someone there willing to even accept a complaint (written or otherwise). You won't. Ten years ago, I was involved in an incident where agent(s) clearly were either grossly negligent or committed serious violations of policy and/or law. Attempts to even find someone willing to hear my concerns were stonewalled. The FBI website didn't have either a phone number, email, or link to a site where complaints could be lodged and when I found the OIG's link and attempted to notify them of the issues, I received a formal letter indicating the Office of Inspector General (formed by Congress for the purpose of oversight) wasn't even going to conduct an investigation. Who made this decision and what supported it? Hell if I know as the letter was unsigned and unattributed!!! (As a 30+ year former LEO, I can safely say that I've never seen such a lack of accountability in my profession. As a sergeant for a local PD, I'd have treated the alleged theft of a candy bar more seriously if it involved one of our employees, than these idiots did about a far more serious allegation.)

As you can see here, nothing has changed regarding their lack of accountability. The FBI even has a "Citizens Academy", but no process for accepting citizens' complaints??? Note "What We Investigate", from their website doesn't include FBI wrongdoing:


What We Investigate

Terrorism
Counterintelligence
Cyber Crime
Public Corruption
Civil Rights
Organized Crime
White-Collar Crime
Violent Crime
WMD


https://www.fbi.gov/about/community-outreach

https://www.fbi.gov/about/faqs...-or-oversees-the-fbi

quote:

What We Investigate

Terrorism
Counterintelligence
Cyber Crime
Public Corruption
Civil Rights
Organized Crime
White-Collar Crime
Violent Crime
WMD
Ourselves

sooo...