As I've indicated, I think the two recent posts on the Steele - Papadopoulos connection
An Update Re Steele - Papadopoulos
A Steele - Papadopoulos Connection?
take us to the heart of John Durham's investigation. Just as AG Bill Barr has been telling us all along, Durham wants to get to the origins of the Russia Hoax. The thing is, getting to the origins doesn't just take us back, it also points us forward to later events that flowed from the original Russia Hoax--like, forward to the Mueller Witchhunt. The reason for that is the realization that the FBI knew--NO LATER THAN JANUARY, 2017--that the Steele "dossier" that was key to the Russia Hoax was, not to put too fine a point on it, bullsh*t that was paid for by Hillary. If the FBI knew that--and they did, as we know from the Strzok/Page texts--then that has to mean that Rod Rosenstein and Team Mueller knew it, too. And if they knew that, exactly what was going on when Rosenstein appointed Mueller?
Senators Grassley and Johnson have done the American public the favor of pointing to some footnotes in the Horowitz Dossier--the so-called FISA abuse report. Those footnotes are almost certainly what led Bill Barr and John Durham to take very public exception to Horowitz's take on the predication for the FBI's Russia Hoax investigations.
We have also learned that there is a Steele - Papadopoulos connection that runs through Steele associate Sergei Millian. That helps explain the use of the bogus narratives about Papadopoulos' supposed chatter about the Hillary "dirt". Since the FBI has claimed that Crossfire Hurricane was predicated on the Papadopoulos narrative rather than the Steele "dossier," the discovery of the connection for this to Steele puts the FBI players on ever shakier ground. Their last line of defense may be starting to crumble.
We're just learning some of this, but there's no secret what Durham is after. He's been gathering documentary evidence, much of it already gathered by Horowitz re the FISA applications, and is now looking for human evidence--i.e., witnesses who can testify that specific persons in the US government (FBI, DoJ, DoS, CIA, DNI) knew exactly what they were doing. It's that combination of documentation plus credible witness testimony that will make or break the conspiracy case. The combination of the two, if possible, will make for a powerful case. Will Rod Rosenstein be one of those key witnesses?
Durham isn't about to rush through this. There's too much at stake. He's moving full speed ahead, but there will be no shortcuts.
UPDATE: Not entirely clear--"separate [from]" or "separate [part of]" John Durham probe?
Catherine Herridge
@CBS_Herridge
#SCOOP Source familiar with process tells @CBSNews staff assigned by AG Barr, outside Main Justice, to review Ukraine matter. CBS News told this review is separate John Durham probe into origins FBI 2016 Russia case and being handled by US Attorney Pittsburgh...
12:21 PM · Feb 11, 2020
I appreciate this entry.
ReplyDeleteIf we step back and look at the forest, and not the trees, we can see that events are unfolding in ways that suggest a methodical and through investigation is happening.
The right senators are asking the right questions. The President is trimming the NSC. The right people are squawking on Twitter. The Stone prosecutors are slapped down, behind the scenes.
We have to read the tea leaves. The conclusion that I'm drawing is that Barr and Durham are serious and determined.
Somebody tell that to Sundance.
I think so. It's very reassuring.
DeleteI hear you about sundance, but last nite he posted on key questions, for the Senate Committee on Banking to ask Jessie Liu this Thurs., about Warner, Wolfe etc.
DeleteSundance fears that, in this case, the right Senators won't be asking the right questions.
But, yeah, I really do like how fast the Stone sentencing outrage got squashed.
If Barr/ Durham are indeed tackling this D.S. etc. horde, it's analogous, if I may, to the (jurisprudential) launching of Operation Barbarossa (as described by Der Oberbefehlshaber): "The world will hold its breath".
(Except, of course, that the moral case for this current tackling dwarfs that which was said to justify Barbarossa.)
Nadler having a hissy fit about Giuliani Ukraine papers going directly to Barr for vetting and Barr’s having set up vetting process. I smell Lawfare in Nadler’s 4 page letter to Barr:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/02/11/nadlers-panic-letter-to-barr-demands-to-know-why-doj-is-looking-at-giulianis-biden-ukraine-info-885590
OT, but here's buzz at CTH, about how the new Smollett charges might be real trouble for Kamala. I don't know what to make of this, but, if Kamala can be pressed to sing, is she close enough to Schiffty, Nadler etc., for her to be helpful to Durham?
ReplyDeleteActually, the theory is that Kamala coordinated this Smollett Hoax with Michelle.
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