It certainly seems likely, based on the facts developed by IG Horowitz's FISA investigation--and, of course, it was always likely simply as an a priori assumption. Today TGP continues the deep dive into the facts assembled by Horowitz that's being conducted by independent internet researchers, and they come up with some goodies for the holiday season: IG Report Reveals Someone’s Not Telling the Truth – AG Lynch, Comey, McCabe and Rosenstein All Caught in Conflicting Accounts.
With regard to disgraced former FBI execs Comey and McCabe vis a vis former AG Loretta Lynch, the issue is whether Lynch was ever briefed on Crossfire Hurricane and the Carter Page FISAs. She says she didn't know anything about the FISA--which can't possibly be true--but that Comey told her about the investigation of Page as a Russian agent. That, of course, is highly likely, but Lynch says that happened in "spring of 2016." Woops! Not good for Comey and McCabe, since they claim they weren't doing much of anything until the end of July, so they have to deny Lynch's story. Uh oh! Deep State, we have a conflict!
As interesting as all that is--and TGP has lots of details--the Rosenstein information is, to me, the most fascinating for the long run, because it inevitably leads right into the Mueller Witchhunt. I've called Rosenstein a "weasel" in the past, but I've never suggested he's stupid. But you'd have to be stupid yourself to believe the things he told the IG. Check this out:
Rod Rosenstein made some suspect claims as well concerning this topic. Again, on page 74 of the FISA Report:
Rosenstein claims that he was “most focused on information that had developed into criminal investigations”. Rosenstein recalled Page was suspected of being a foreign (Russian) agent and didn’t recall details of what was the predication for the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
This too doesn’t make sense because there were already three FISA warrants signed out on Carter Page by the time Rosenstein arrived in office as DAG. You would think Rosenstein would be fully briefed and aware on all aspects of that issue? Also, they were calling somebody a foreign spy which no doubt qualifies as a criminal investigation.
And Rosenstein didn’t even find out until 2018 the predication for Crossfire Hurricane?
Think about that. Rosenstein finds out that there's a big FBI investigation that everybody knows is all about Trump, and he tells the FBI and his DoJ subordinates--"OK, guys, just tell me about any criminal investigations on little people like Carter Page that are ongoing and don't bother telling me how it all got started."
As TGP points out, since there were FISAs on US persons, that means we know there were criminal violations being alleged--so none of what Rosensteing said there makes any sense at all. Since the FISAs arose out of Crossfire Hurricane related cases, CH would have had criminal elements, too. And then, to compound the idiocy of this narrative, Rosenstein wants us to believe that he didn't know what the predication for Crossfire Hurricane was until 2018? Excuse me, but RR approved the Mueller Witchhunt in May, 2017, and that investigation was explicitly a continuation of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation that Comey had described to Congress in March, 2017. Rosenstein approved a Special Counsel--and, once again, no matter what was said, everyone knew this was all about Trump--without knowing the predication for it all? Really?
I'm not buying it, and I'll bet Barr/Durham aren't buying it either. Durham's going to be having some very interesting conversations with this collection of liars, and his grand jury will be having some fun trying to work all this out.
UPDATE: Commenter Monsieur America has clarified matters re Loretta Lynch on his Twitter thread. One thing needs to be clear up front, however: Loretta Lynch was NOT "recused" from "all matters FISA/@carterpage." She simply delegated FISA matters to Sally Yates. However--and this is a big however--there was nothing to stop Sally from telling Loretta, Hey, we just got a FISA that will cover Trump's campaign and transition. In fact, Sally would be a complete moron not to have done so and memorialized that conversation in writing. In that light, note that Loretta says, over and over, "I don't have any recollection." Not about FISA. Maybe Sally did tell her, but she can't recollect. Very careful.
OTOH, Loretta does remember that as soon as Carter Page joined the Trump campaign she started getting briefings from Comey and McCabe--under the bus you go, guys!
Now, note carefully what Monsieur America points out and what we've also noted--that the focus on Carter Page long predates Page's famous trip to Moscow and his appearance in the Steele "dossier":
In fact, there were two such meetings, and the first one was as far back as March 21, 2016:
UPDATE: Commenter Monsieur America has clarified matters re Loretta Lynch on his Twitter thread. One thing needs to be clear up front, however: Loretta Lynch was NOT "recused" from "all matters FISA/@carterpage." She simply delegated FISA matters to Sally Yates. However--and this is a big however--there was nothing to stop Sally from telling Loretta, Hey, we just got a FISA that will cover Trump's campaign and transition. In fact, Sally would be a complete moron not to have done so and memorialized that conversation in writing. In that light, note that Loretta says, over and over, "I don't have any recollection." Not about FISA. Maybe Sally did tell her, but she can't recollect. Very careful.
OTOH, Loretta does remember that as soon as Carter Page joined the Trump campaign she started getting briefings from Comey and McCabe--under the bus you go, guys!
Now, note carefully what Monsieur America points out and what we've also noted--that the focus on Carter Page long predates Page's famous trip to Moscow and his appearance in the Steele "dossier":
In earlier testimony to Intel Committee (vs Judiciary), Lynch ALREADY testified that Comey was briefing entire NSC cabinet **by JUNE 2016** about @carterwpage.— ❌Austere Scholar Monsieur ❌ (@MonsieurAmerica) September 3, 2019
That predates both Carter's July trip to moscow, any Dossier claims, or Papa's predicate to open Investigation. pic.twitter.com/NJpoiisYdp
Joe Hoft gets a bit off the rails with respect to AG Lynch. He says she "must" be lying about her involvement with FISA because "we know" that AG's sing the FISA apps. Well, the fact is she DIDN'T sign any apps. Moreover, Lynch has testified (closed door) to the identical details she's given Horowitz:that she had cut herself out of all jurisdiction over FISA, which was delegated to Yates. Most importantly, the ONLY association or knowledge she claims of Carter Page, FISA or otherwise, is her alleged oral, off-record briefing by Comey/McCabe in the Spring re Carter Page being 'compromised'. As noted this completely wrecks Comey/McCabe purported 'timeline' of CrossFire investigations.
ReplyDeleteIn my view Hoft has it backwards. Lynch appears to have seen this coming a mile away, and not only excised herself COMPLETELY from Page FISA issues, she also slyly dropped a hand-grenade into the lap of Comey/McCabe.
Here are some prior notes on Lynch's closed door testimonies:
https://twitter.com/MonsieurAmerica/status/1168885394269564928
Thanks--I'll read your notes a bit later. She should have signed off on the FISA, SOP, but does appear from what I've heard to have tried to insulate herself. To what extent she was successful remains to be seen. My view is that even if she didn't sign the FISA she had to have taken steps to avoid it, and so she knew about it.
DeleteYes, if she saw this coming, she had an obligation to stop it from continuing.
DeleteRob S
MA's hypothesis is consistent with my own hypothesis about Lynch's infamous tarmac meeting with Bubba Clinton: it was LYNCH, not Clinton, who engineered the meeting, IMHO, precisely for the same reason she insulated herself from the FISA warrants -- she doesn't want to get dragged into either mess.
DeleteSpecifically, wrt to the meeting with Clinton days before the FBI recommended no prosecution for Hillary's email scandal, I believe Lynch was being told from above that Hillary and her minions were not to be prosecuted, but did not want to face Congressional questioning over such a decision. She therefor was desperate to dump the problem on someone else. Knowing that Comey was a glutton arrogating authority, and loved to be at the center of all attention, she would have realized that if she create a scenario in which there were an appearance of conflict of interest for herself, Comey would not be able to resist the temptation to jump in and arrogate unto himself the decision for NOT prosecuting Hillary.
That, of course, is how Lynch got off the hook for having to explain the non-prosecution, and thus is the motive for HER to have engineered the Tarmac meeting with Bubba. All she needed to do was to show up at the same airport as Bubba, and orchestrate a "leak" about BOTH of them being there to a local TV station whose camera crew caught Bubba strolling over to the AG's plane. Voila! Instant appearance of a conflict of interest, allowing her to back away from the decision on Hillary, and opening the door through which she KNEW Comey could not resist walking.
Right. Comey didn't do that without at least a wink and a nod from Lynch.
DeleteThis is also presumably where they brokered the deal that Lynch would follow FBI's recommendation. Of course, that recommendation was already known to team Clinton.
DeleteThe argument cuts both ways. Lynch could have engineered the meeting to give herself cover. Clinton could have engineered it to advise her to follow the FBI's lead, since the Clintons, with so many friends among FBI leadership, would already have known how Hillary was going to be protected.
I believe the latter to be the more compelling argument. It's more consistent with how the Clintons and their allies operate and doesn't depend on Lynch being a genius.
I have believed that Clinton explained to Lynch precisely why she would allow Comey to present his findings (i.e., what was in it for Loretta) and Lynch, having zero desire to take responsibility for this hot potato, readily agreed.
DeleteHate to go off-topic but wondering about this:
ReplyDeletehttps://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/12/26/doj-requests-one-week-delay-for-second-flynn-sentencing-brief/
Sundance seems to believe that “with AG Bill Barr and U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu; and given the events over the past year, including 6(e) grand jury information; there is a possibility the DOJ will now request a much more harsh sentence to include time in prison”
Jessie Liu is gone, returned to Commerce….and AG Barr? Puzzled by this conclusion… SD does not like Barr.
All I can say is that I'll watch this with interest. I find it hard to believe that Barr will allow this to go down.
DeleteI have not trusted Rosenstein since the first time I saw him appear before Congress. As my late Grandmother used to say, “there’s just something about him”. He gives off a shifty aura. Now it seems Grandma would have been right on Rosenstein!
ReplyDeleteHe suffers from weaselitis.
DeleteRob S
Well, this explanation of Rosenstein's knowledge of CH details reinforces my weeks ago observation that both the FBI/DOJ and the OIG report take as an assumption that it's the responsibility of the low-level players to keep the high-level players informed--that supervisors don't actually supervise, but wait to be briefed.
ReplyDeleteIt's a (plausible) deniability game: "I don't know what I don't know, therefore I can't be called to account." Accountability goes down to the lowest level, not up to the highest level.
There's a conscious effort to limit anyone's scope of knowledge about the investigation and surveillance in order to limit any liability exposure. Also, there's a conscious effort to be excused as incompetent in order to avoid charges of corruption. Innocent errors rather than malignant malfeasance. They were, in actuality, Keystone Kops, not the world's most fearsome law enforcement agency.
As I recently explained to a friend, "I didn't do my job" is an almost foolproof defense in the federal bureaucracy, so it's no surprise to see them all resorting to it. I signed it but I didn't read it, etc.
DeleteImagine walking in Durham's shoes for a minute. Every time he turns around, there is a new rabbit hole of criminality to go down. And it leads to a new maze of criminal acts that, in itself, could be classified as the "Crime of the Century." It must be daunting, if not staggering to encounter the expansiveness of criminal conspiracy within the highest levels of the Federal government. And so if Barr is serious about putting a dent in the Swamp, he's likely going to need more than one AUSA working the problem.
ReplyDeleteIt may well turn out that the Deep State's best defense is the enormity of the criminal enterprise that the Obama Administration hath wrought. How do you root out all the rot without revealing the systemic cancer to public revelation. And there is much, much more yet to be revealed.
The good news is that I doubt any of this is a "new" rabbit hole. They've known all this for a long time.
DeleteI have great confidence in both Barr and Durham. Although Barr has made a few public statements lately, they operate pretty much within a veil of silence which I find encouraging. I would not want to be up against John Durham.
ReplyDeleteWait until the shoes drop on the FFG involvement in the coup conspiracy. Multiple foreign intelligence services participated, one of which conducted covert operations run out of it's embassy in DC. Durham is unlikely to indict any foreign IC participants (although that didn't stop Mueller), but you can bet that Trump will use the leverage it offers.
ReplyDeleteAs a federal employee, I can tell you that managers want to know everything. I used to manage a project with milestones that could be presented green, yellow or red for on-time, slipped or in trouble. I could color the milestones any color that I wanted as long as they were green.
ReplyDelete