It wasn't available before bedtime (mine) last night, but is now. It's long and detailed and will take time to digest. Early reviews appear totally devastating. I have some reading to do.
ADDENDUM: I've only read the summary at CTH so far, will spend the morning reading the whole thing. "Totally devastating" seems a pretty fair initial assessment.
This strikes at the heart not only of the original Russia Hoax but it's Team Mueller continuation.
I am reading the entire brief right now. I had read the Techno Fog Twitter discussion late last night, but I just now noticed something else that is in the brief that is very, very odd- in a section and a footnote on the bottom of page 11 is a description about David Laufman of the National Security Division of DoJ calling up Flynn's lawyers and pressuring them to file Flynn's FARA registrations. One of Flynn's lawyers described the call and the subsequent meetings to draft and finalize the FARA registrations with the NSD/DOJ FARA team as extraordinary. And note- this was instigated the after Flynn had resigned and the F-302 from interview was finalized and "launched".
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation of this (and what Powell is clearly implying) is that after they had Flynn on the run, the DoJ deliberately set him up for the FARA attack by "helpfully" aiding Flynn's lawyers in the registration. Remember, they never threatened Flynn with non-filing, of which literally no one ever is, but instead tried to charge him with lying in the registration, the charge they did make against Rafiekin whose case got tossed on a directed verdict of not guilty.
In my opinion, Durham should be looking at this as a criminal matter, too.
Yes. Powell has mentioned this before. And while Laufman denies being fired, he left DoJ precipitously. This case works two ways--OPR or OIG, I'm not sure which, could do it, but it might fit into Durham's conspiracy case, too.
DeleteOn reconsidering, they may need a Grand Jury for this.
DeleteAnd what is particularly striking here is the date of the FARA stuff- February 14th- the day after Flynn resigned and the day that Comey and Trump met where Trump suggested that pursuing Flynn was inappropriate given the actual nature of the reason he was fired/allowed to resign. It does look like they all knew that the interview and deliberate F-302 wasn't a strong ground to force future cooperation from Flynn, so they immediately started up the FARA attack (probably from long practice if you believe the pinned tweet at TechnoFog). They were diberately working overtime to create a crime to charge Flynn with.
ReplyDeletePerhaps at that point they needed to shut Flynn up?
DeleteAnd Powell returns on page 21 to the FARA mess by pointing out that the DoJ's demands from February 14 2017 had conflicted Flynn's legal team because he was being threatened with the FARA violations caused by his own lawyers work with the NSD/DoJ.
ReplyDeletePowell is going for big game now. She laid into the government's suppression of Flynn's regular pre-brief and de-briefing notes and interviews. This goes to the heart of the matter where the investigation of Flynn as a foreign agent for any government could not have possibly ever had a proper predicate.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there was one piece of information I did not know, or hadn't remembered. As you know, Flynn's plea was entered in front of Contreres the day before the first batch of Page/Stzok texts were released. Now, that always seemed like an organized plan on the part of the Mueller team who we know had knowledge of these texts months before the plea was entered- we know this because it was why Strzok and Page were removed from the SC team in the Summer of 2017. Powell asserts that Mueller was pressing the media to not publish the texts before the plea was entered. Powell pointed to a WaPo story that a SC FBI agent was reassigned for releasing the texts to the media- and this does support Powell's theory that Mueller etal were actively suppressing Brady material so that Flynn would back out of his plea.
ReplyDeleteYes, big game--Team Mueller. Brace yourself!
DeleteDavid Laufman was not a minor player.
DeleteLaufman's story was that he, like so many, wanted to spend more time with his family. But he was also known to love his job. The well-informed believe he felt the heat and made his escape. It is interesting to note that in his tenure at the DoJ he focused on FARA violations. How did he manage to miss the Podestas? He was an Obama supporter.
Laufman went on - as did so many others flushed out of the DoJ and the FBI - to Ben Wittes's nefarious Lawfare organization. (Wittes is the friend of Comey who publicly admitted sharing with a NYT reporter Comey’s confidential memos on meetings with the President. He set up Lawfare to be the legal counterpart of Warfare.) McCabe went there, so did FBI top attorney James Baker and others They have showed up in many interesting places. Laufman was seen at the Christine Blasey Ford vs. Kavanaugh "hearing". He represented former FBI attorney Monica McLean, Ford's "beach friend" who assisted her with her complaint letter regarding Kavanaugh. It is also believed that Lawfare played a part in the Rumorblower's complaint, possibly drafting it or assisting in its drafting. Schiff and Lawfare are likethis.
This archival WaPo article was intended to be a puff piece on Laufman. Knowing what we know, there is a lot here that is not so complimentary.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-dept-official-who-helped-oversee-clinton-russia-probes-steps-down/2018/02/07/ab19f24e-0b69-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html
We do indeed live in interesting times!
Some coverage I saw yesterday:
ReplyDeletehttps://amgreatness.com/2019/10/24/flynn-attorney-accuses-government-prosecutors-of-suppressing-evidence-the-defense-uncovered/
FWIW.