Russia investigation
July 24, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Newly declassified FBI documents disclose how the agency used a so-called defensive briefing of the Trump campaign on August 17, 2016, to spy on and collect information about Donald Trump himself. Michael Flynn and Chris Christie also attended the briefing. The Federalist’s Sean Davis has posted the documents via Scribd together with his story on them. I have embedded the documents below. Davis notes that the documents were formally declassified
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July 20, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Eric Felten is a meticulous reporter and analyst of the Russia collusion hoax. We have previously posted several of Eric’s RealClearInvestigations columns on the subject. RCI has just posted Eric’s column “The ‘Primary Subsource’s’ Guide to Russiagate, as Told to the FBI.” RCI authorizes the republication of its articles with attribution and we are happy to take advantage of the opportunity here. Eric writes: Much of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation
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July 18, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Kim Strassel has tweeted out the Wall Street Journal editorial “The FBI’s dossier deceit.” It bears the hallmarks of her excellent work on the Russia hoax. The editorial is based on the declassification via the Senate Judiciary Committee of the FBI’s interviews over three days in January 2017 with the primary source for the infamous Steele dossier. Strassel reminds us: “The bureau used the dossier’s accusations as the basis for
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July 13, 2020 — John Hinderaker
In her press conference earlier today, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked about President Trump’s commutation of the sentence of Roger Stone. She responded, I think, appropriately, concluding that “[t]here really are two standards of justice in this country.” Press Sec. Kayleigh McEnany: "There really are two standards of justice in this country." pic.twitter.com/ASbT6g2NCx — The Hill (@thehill) July 13, 2020
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July 13, 2020 — Scott Johnson
John Solomon has posted an interesting report on the findings in the defamation lawsuit in London against Christopher Steele’s intelligence outfit for its role in disseminating the Steele Dossier. Among other things, following trial, the London court has found elements of the Steele Dossier false and defamatory as to two plaintiff Russian oligarchs. We may have the makings of a Robert Ludlum novel here. Call it The Steele Defamation. The
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July 10, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump has commuted the sentence of Roger Stone, who was convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency.” But the congressional investigation of Russian interference in the
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June 25, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Before the D.C. Circuit granted General Flynn’s petition for writ of mandamus in relevant part yesterday morning, prosecutors had produced newly discovered exculpatory evidence to Flynn as a result of the review conducted by United States Attorney Jeffrey Jensen. The newly discovered evidence is identified as notes taken by former Assistant FBI Director Peter Strzok. FOX News covers the production here and here. The cover letter states: “While the page
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June 10, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The Obama administration’s investigation and of the Trump presidential campaign — and the continuation of the investigation into the Trump presidency itself, by the executive branch instrumentalities of law enforcement and intelligence — is the greatest scandal by far in American history. We have never seen anything remotely like it. With any luck, Attorney General Barr and United States Attorney John Durham will get to the bottom of it. They
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June 3, 2020 — John Hinderaker
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany conducted a press briefing today in which she talked, among other things, about Rod Rosenstein’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She summed up the outrage of Obamagate succinctly: It’s a pretty grave thing to spy on an American citizen, to violate his Fourth Amendment rights, to not have a basis to do so, and to rely on a Russian dossier full of lies
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May 31, 2020 — Scott Johnson
I wrote an appreciation of Andrew McCarthy’s Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency on its publication date this past August in “All the president’s men, Obama style.” I wrote a little bit more about the book when I posted a video of McCarthy speaking about it. I also put Ball of Collusion first among my books of 2019, which were heavy with books
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May 26, 2020 — Scott Johnson
President Trump sat for an interview with Sharyl Attkisson for her Full Measure show this past Sunday morning. The video and transcript are posted here. The good stuff is to be found in the second segment of the interview, which RealClearPolitics has now broken out and posted here. I have embedded it at the bottom of this post. This is the nub of it: I have a chance to break
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May 23, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Judicial Watch has uncovered a document that on its face purports to be the origin of the Crossfire Hurricane “investigation.” It was authored by Peter Strzok, is heavily redacted and requires some knowledge of FBI protocols to understand fully. Nevertheless, the general import seems clear: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Electronic Communication Title: Crossfire Hurricane Date: 07/31/2016 Cc: [Redacted] Strzok Peter P II From: COUNTERINTELLIGENCE [Redacted] Contact: Strzok Peter P II,
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May 21, 2020 — John Hinderaker
Michael Ramirez comments on Susan Rice’s infamous CYA memo to herself, in which she repeatedly says that the Obama administration’s investigation of the Trump campaign–really, its effort to destroy the Trump administration by fraudulent means–was done “by the book.” On Michael’s web site, the cartoon is accompanied by my post, Explosive Rice Memo Declassified. Click to enlarge:
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May 19, 2020 — John Hinderaker
We have known for more than two years that, on the day of President Trump’s inauguration and just minutes before she left the White House for the last time, Susan Rice, then President Obama’s National Security Adviser, wrote a memo to herself about “Russia.” Specifically, she documented the fact, presumably for her later protection should the matter become public, that on January 5, 2017, President Obama had directed her to
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May 13, 2020 — Scott Johnson
David Rutz has put together a hilarious Washington Free Beacon SUPERcuts video of Brian Stelter calling out conservatives for their obsession with the Russia probe (via Twitter below). The video has struck a nerve; it has garnered more than 1.5 million viewers on Twitter. It is also posted here on YouTube. There are a lot of us out here laughing at and hating on Brian Stelter and CNN. This is
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May 13, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The famous hack of the Democratic National Committee email account during the 2016 campaign somehow escaped serious investigation by the FBI, but was nevertheless attributed by American intelligence authorities and others to the Russians in part because of the analysis performed by CrowdStrike for the DNC. Now Aaron Maté reports for RealClearInvestigations on the newly declassified testimony by CrowdStrike President Shawn Henry — testimony that Adam Schiff sought to keep
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May 12, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Outlets including ABC News, FOX News, and the Daily Caller all have stories on the declassification and possible release of the names of Obama administration officials who sought the unmasking of Michael Flynn’s name in transcripts of his intercepted conversations with Sergey Kislyak. Acting DNI Richard Grenell has reportedly prepared the list and declassified it. Someone on the list is highly likely to have leaked word of the conversations to
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