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Barr
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[h1][b]Dem Staffer Was Initial Focus of Leak Investigation[/b][/h1] [b]
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[link=https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/20/politics/justice-department-subpoenas-congressional-democrats-trump/index.html]CNN[/link]: The subpoena that swept up the records of two Democratic congressmen, their staff and family members in 2018 appears to have been the result of a leak investigation that initially included scrutinizing a senior aide on the House Intelligence Committee, and not the lawmakers themselves.
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[link=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-06-22/demers-trump-appointee-at-justice-department-leaves]DOJ national security official says he didn’t know of subpoena for lawmakers’ records
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John Demers, the top national security official at the Department of Justice, { and the highest-ranking Senate-confirmed Trump appointee still at the Justice Department}, says he was unaware federal prosecutors had secretly obtained records concerning Democratic lawmakers, a move that generated intense controversy when it became public this month.
The 49-year-old announced his departure days after news broke earlier this month that the Justice Department in February 2018 subpoenaed records from Apple. That subpoena, obtained as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information, ultimately swept up records concerning California Reps. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) and Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin), both members of the House Intelligence Committee, as well as their relatives and staff members.
Demers took over as assistant attorney general for national security about two weeks after the prosecutors sent the subpoena to Apple. He said he was not told about the subpoena at the time; a spokesman later said Demers did not learn about it until last month.
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Swalwell was on tv last night saying that Merrick Garland called him about the Trump DOJ subpoenas. Implies: 1) Garland taking this very seriously, 2) the AG does not believe that Schiff and Swalwell were just innocently caught in probe of staffers.
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I was reading the House Judiciary was going to be doing an investigation. I’m not sure Garland wouldn’t say something like the DOJ will defend the Trumpsters.
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Good Story on Former Attorney General William Barr, in [link=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/06/william-barrs-trump-administration-attorney-general/619298/]The Atlantic[/link]
[b]Inside William Barrs Breakup With Trump[/b]
[b]In the final months of the administration, the doggedly loyal attorney general finally had enough.[/b]
My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time, Barr told me. If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bullsh*t.
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Barr, Levi, and Cipollone walked to the presidents personal dining room near the Oval Office. Trump was sitting at the table. Meadows was sitting next to him with his arms crossed; the White House adviser Eric Herschmann stood off to the side. The details of this meeting were described to me by several people present. One told me that Trump had the eyes and mannerism of a madman.
He went off on Barr.
I think youve noticed I havent been talking to you much, Trump said to him. Ive been leaving you alone.
Barr later told others that the comment was reminiscent of a line in the movie [i]Dr. Strangelove[/i], in which the main character, Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, says, I do not avoid women, Mandrake, but I do deny them my essence. Trump, Barr thought, was saying that he had been denying him his essence.
Trump brought up Barrs AP interview.
Did you say that?
Yes, Barr responded.
How the f*ck could you do this to me? Why did you say it?
Because its true.
The president, livid, responded by referring to himself in the third person: You must hate Trump. You must hate Trump.
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As Trump ranted about other examples of fraud, Meadows continued to sit silently with his arms crossed, his posture suggesting that he, too, was upset by what Barr had done.
You know, you only have five weeks, Mr. President, after an election to make legal challenges, Barr said. This would have taken a crackerjack team with a really coherent and disciplined strategy. Instead, you have a clown show. No self-respecting lawyer is going anywhere near it. Its just a joke. Thats why you are where you are.
Interestingly, Trump didnt argue when Barr told him that his clown show legal team had wasted time. In fact, he said, You may be right about that.
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Will anyone ever be able to confirm some of these stories? They’re outlandish but only the people in the room would know.
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Will anyone ever be able to confirm some of these stories? They’re outlandish but only the people in the room would know.
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Quote from DICOM_Dan
Will anyone ever be able to confirm some of these stories? They’re outlandish but only the people in the room would know.
Bolton and Kushner know all that and will be glad to sell you a book about it.
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Effort to Seize Emails Came Day Before Barr Quit:
The Justice Department sought the email records of three Washington Post reporters the day before William P. Barr stepped down as attorney general in a last-ditch effort to identify who had told the newspaper about conversations between Trump campaign officials and the Russian ambassador, the New York Times reports
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It might actually be Durham Day …
[link=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/john-durham-michael-sussmann-hillary-clinton/2021/09/16/ed8ba0e6-1696-11ec-a5e5-ceecb895922f_story.html]https://www.washingtonpos…eecb895922f_story.html[/link]
Durham is said to be seeking indictment of lawyer whose firm represented Hillary Clintons campaign[/h1]
Special counsel John Durham, appointed during the Trump administration to investigate possible wrongdoing at the FBI and other agencies dating to the 2016 election, is preparing to seek the indictment of an attorney whose firm has close ties to Democrats, according to two people familiar with the matter.
These two people, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive political investigation, said Wednesday that the lawyer, Michael Sussmann, is bracing for the possibility he will be charged with lying to the FBI in September 2016, when he raised concerns about possible ties between a Russia-based bank and a computer server at one of former president Donald Trumps companies.
A charging decision could come within days, as the statute of limitations is due to expire on the fifth anniversary of Sussmanns meeting with the FBIs general counsel at the time, James Baker. That meeting took place Sept. 19, 2016. The prospect that Durham could bring charges against Sussmann was first reported by the New York Times.[/QUOTE]
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[link=https://thehill.com/regulation/national-security/585440-border-protection-unit-used-terrorist-database-to-research]https://thehill.com/regul…t-database-to-research[/link]
Border Protection unit used terrorist database to research journalists: report
In one instance, per the investigation, a CBP agent named Jeffrey Rambo pulled information about Ali Watkins, a reporter who has covered top national security issues for multiple news outlets.
The Counter Network Division was formed in 2016 as part of the CBP’s National Targeting Center, which was created to identify potential dangers following 9/11. The unit was initially meant to help investigate threats such as terrorism, human smuggling and illicit trading. But agents have since tapped into the databases to “vet” journalists and even “Congressional referrals,” according to Yahoo News.
This appears to be an example of journalists being targeted for simply doing their jobs, which is a violation of the First Amendment, said Lauren Easton, the AP’s director of media relations.
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[h2][link=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/15/durham-special-counsel-trump-report/]Durham report sharply criticizes FBIs probe of 2016 Trump campaign[/link][/h2]
The long-awaited report on how the government probed Russian interference in the 2016 election seems likely to fuel, rather than end, partisan debates about politicization within the Justice Department and FBI.The report ended with a short recommendation for the FBI: Create a position for an FBI agent or lawyer to provide oversight of politically sensitive investigations. That person would be tasked with challenging every step of such investigations, including whether officials appropriately adhered to the rules governing applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which handles matters of national security.
In a statement, the FBI said the conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Durham examined “was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time. Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented. This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect.
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The report means Durhams time as a special counsel is coming to an end, while two other special counsels continue: one to investigate Trump and people close to him for classified documents found at his home, as well as events leading up to the [link=https://www.washingtonpost.com/january-6-capitol-riot/?itid=lk_inline_manual_35]Jan. 6[/link], 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, and another to investigate President Biden and people close to him for classified documents found at his home and office.[/QUOTE]
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Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) tries to sell the Durham FBI report about the Trump-Russia investigation as a smoking gun to justify the end of elections:
If people dont go to jail for this, the American people should just stand up and say, Listen, enoughs enough. Lets dont have elections anymore.
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Dud.
Shades of Bill Clinton’s/Ken Starr’s “investigation,” as the special prosecutors failed to turn up anything, the “investigations” widened in a strained effort to find something, anything.
No stained dress this time to rescue the rationale for the investigation from being only political persecution protecting the guilty.
How embarrassing.
[link=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/us/politics/durham-report-trump-russia.html]https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/us/politics/durham-report-trump-russia.html[/link]Quote from Charlie Savage
the much-hyped investigation by Mr. Durham, a special counsel, into the Russia inquiry [link=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/us/politics/trump-russia-investigation-durham.html]ended with a whimper[/link] that stood in contrast to the [link=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/us/politics/durham-report-conservative-reaction.html]countless hours of political furor[/link] that spun off from it.
Mr. Durham delivered a report that scolded the F.B.I. but failed to live up to the expectations of supporters of Donald J. Trump that he would uncover a politically motivated deep state conspiracy. He charged no high-level F.B.I. or intelligence official with a crime and acknowledged in a footnote that Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign did nothing prosecutable, either.
There were real-world flaws with the Russia investigation, especially how the F.B.I. botched applications to wiretap a former Trump campaign adviser. But the Justice Departments inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, [link=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/us/politics/fisa-surveillance-fbi.html]found those problems[/link], leaving Mr. Durham with depleted hunting grounds.
Indeed, credit for Mr. Durhams only courtroom success, a [link=https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/fbi-attorney-admits-altering-email-used-fisa-application-during-crossfire-hurricane]guilty plea by an F.B.I. lawyer[/link] who doctored an email during preparations for a wiretap renewal, belongs to Mr. Horowitz, who uncovered the misconduct.
At the same time, Mr. Horowitz kneecapped Mr. Durhams investigation by finding no evidence that F.B.I. actions were politically motivated. He also concluded that the basis of the Russia inquiry an Australian diplomats tip related to the release of Democratic emails hacked by Russia was sufficient to open a full investigation.
A remaining rationale for the Durham investigation was that Mr. Horowitz lacked jurisdiction to scrutinize spy agencies. But by the spring of 2020, according to officials familiar with the inquiry, Mr. Durhams effort to find intelligence abuses in the origins of the Russia investigation had come up empty.
Instead of wrapping up, Mr. Barr and Mr. Durham shifted to a different rationale, hunting for a basis to blame the Clinton campaign for suspicions surrounding myriad links Trump campaign associates had to Russia.
By keeping the investigation going, Mr. Barr initially appeased Mr. Trump, who, as Mr. Barr recounted in his memoir, was angry about the lack of charges as the 2020 election neared.
But Mr. Barrs public statements about Mr. Durhams investigation also helped foster perceptions that he had found something big. In April 2020, for example, he [link=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/us/politics/barr-atkinson-trump.html]suggested in a Fox News interview[/link] that officials could be prosecuted and said: The evidence shows that we are not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness. There is something far more troubling here.
While in office, Mr. Barr worked closely with Mr. Durham, regularly meeting with him, sharing Scotch and accompanying him to Europe. When it became clear that Mr. Durham had found no one to charge before the election, Mr. Barr pushed him to draft a potential interim report, prompting Mr. Durhams No. 2, Nora R. Dannehy, to [link=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/us/politics/nora-dannehy-durham-russia-investigation.html]resign in protest over ethics[/link], The New York Times has reported.
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The Durham molehill to Mueller’s mountain. But reading right-wing BS propaganda you’d think it the other way around. Worse than Watergate by magnitudes! Conservatives live in that alternate universe of alternate facts called Faux News, NewsMax et al.
“A conservative mind is a terrible thing to lose,” to paraphrase Dan Qualye. -
Barr op-ed:
[link=https://www.thefp.com/p/bill-barr-the-truth-about-the-trump?r=2k4r8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web]https://www.thefp.com/p/b…ost&utm_medium=web[/link]
[h1]Bill Barr: The Truth About the Trump Indictment[/h1] This time the president is not a victim of a witch hunt. The situation is entirely of his own making.
[b]For the sake of the country, our party, and a basic respect for the truth, it is time that Republicans come to grips with the hard truths about President Trumps conduct and its implications. Chief among them: Trumps indictment is not the result of unfair government persecution. This is a situation entirely of his own making. The effort to present Trump as a victim in the Mar-a-Lago document affair is cynical political propaganda.[/b]
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Many loyal Republicans have instinctively rushed to the ramparts to defend Trump. I understand that impulse. But with each new revelation, they look more and more foolish. Remember when [link=https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/politics/mar-a-lago-search-warrant-fbi-donald-trump/index.html]news first broke[/link] of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago? The roars of Trump supporters were deafening. Why didnt the government simply ask for the documents back? Well, as it turns out, they did ask, politely, for about a year, and they were jerked around. Trumps supporters then shifted tack. Well, why didnt they use a subpoena first before conducting a search? Well, as it turns out, they did issue a subpoena, quietly and discreetly, three months before the search, and the search was done only after the government got [link=https://www.businessinsider.com/aide-moved-mar-a-lago-boxes-before-raid-identified-reports-2022-10]surveillance video[/link] suggesting that, in responding to the subpoena, documents had been illegally withheld. And on and on and on.
Whenever defending Trump is concerned, it is always prudent not to get too far out on a limb until the facts are known. It would be wise to consider that the DOJ has held back a lot of information, and it will be coming out in the weeks ahead. But what we already know about Trumps behavior is indefensible.
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[link=https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1688005876475727872]https://twitter.com/Acyn/.atus/1688005876475727872[/link]
Trump promises a complete overhaul of the DOJ … no more wimps like Bill Barr
Get ready for AG Giuliani!
