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Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Grennell's Final Declassifications

FoxNews has a story out about formerly Acting DNI Grennell's final declassifications--Grenell declassifies slew of Russia probe files, as Ratcliffe takes helm as DNI. It will now be up to new DNI John Ratcliffe to decide which of the newly declassified documents will be made public. Of course the story leads with what, to my mind, will end up being a non-story--the call transcripts of Kislyak and Flynn. However there is mention of a document that is undoubtedly near the heart of the Durham investigation. It has to do with "manipulation of intelligence," which undoubtedly concerns John Brennan's "shaping" of the ICA, which was the basis for all subsequent coup and fake impeachment efforts. In that case, it's possible that Ratcliffe--undoubtedly in consultation with Barr/Durham--will withhold that document for the time being. As a former USA himself, Ratcliffe will fully understand whatever the dynamics are in that decision:

The documents include transcripts of phone calls that then-incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak had in December 2016, during the presidential transition period. Grenell said publicly last week that he was in the process of declassifying those files, after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., asked that he do so. 
Fox News has learned that the declassification review of those transcripts is now complete, and it will be left up to Ratcliffe on whether to release them publicly. 
Fox News has learned that Grenell also completed the declassification review of other documents related to the origins of the Russia probe — including one that a senior intelligence official told Fox News was “very significant in understanding how intelligence was manipulated to support launching the Russia investigation.” 
The official could not provide further details on that newly declassified document, but said that it will also be up to Ratcliffe to decide whether to make it public.

Speaking with Tucker Carlson, FoxNews' Ed Henry focused on the documentation regarding the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), stating that, if some of the other newly declassified documents are released, "it could get sticky for John Brennan in particular, because of some of the other info":


Another pivotal moment from January, 2017. Remember, the US Intel Community came out with that remarkable statement--an assessment [Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA)] declaring that Russian meddled in the 2016 election and, most importantly, the Intel report claimed that Russia interfered because they wanted Donald Trump to win. That, of course, followed the narrative of the now discredited Steele Dossier. Well, it turns out that Obama's CIA chief, John Brennan, also had intel saying, actually, Russia wanted Hillary Clinton to win, because she was a known quantity, she had been Secretary of State, and Vladimir Putin's team thought she was more malleable--while candidate Donald Trump was more unpredictable. Fred Fleitz should get credit for this. He's a former Chief of Staff at the National Security Council under President Trump. He's written a story at FoxNews.com that Brennan suppressed some of the intel that suggested Russia wanted Clinton to win. I separately have an intelligence source tonight who confirms that information is one of the four or five other batches of intel that Grenell is declassifying. That basically John Brennan, a CIA chief, held back--so there's some intel saying Putin wants Trump to win; there's other intel that may have been more serious suggesting that Russia wanted Hillary Clinton to win. Rather than balancing all that out in the assessment, they put out there in that assessment, and set the narrative, that Russia wanted Trump to win. This could be a bombshell. People on the inside are telling me, "Look, there are a lot of critics out there saying, 'This is hype, there's nothing here,'". They say, "Wait. There's a whole lot more coming."

Setting the narrative. That was the underpinning for the Mueller Witchhunt and the fake impeachment. So important.

17 comments:

  1. I am very impressed by Ric Grenell's short tenure. On a previous, I also linked to this Fox News article in a comment. I probably should have also linked THIS article describing a terrific exchange Ric Grenell had with Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, a known wannabe-colluder with Christopher Steele via Adam Waldman:

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2020/05/26/on-his-way-out-richard-grenell-writes-an-epic-letter-to-democrat-senator-mark-warner-n2569446

    So not only was Grenell's declassification work very notable, he also pushed back both against Schiff and Warner in strong fashion. Impressive!!

    I might disagree just a bit about the importance of the Flynn-Kislyak transcripts -- they will highlight, I suspect, the completely bogus move by senior Obama officials to lay the groundwork for a Logan Act violation. Not that that isn't already known, by as John O. Brennan would like to say, it adds to the "corpus" of fraudulent knowledge Dems perpetrated upon the public.

    As a current member of the IC that hasn't yet been politicized, I am looking forward to John Ratcliffe's tenure. I have very high hopes of him.

    PS - Joe diGenova's suggestion yesterday via the Howie Carr Show that Ric Grenell would make a fine 2nd term Sec'y of State should Pompeo depart is one I can applaud with enthusiasm.

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    1. Re the transcripts, the reason I said that is simply because that won't be news. We know already that it's all bogus. Absent Flynn offering to work for Russian intel there's just nothing that could possibly be an issue. He was doing his job.

      Brennan was, precisely, NOT doing his job. And these docs are said to show that.

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    2. isn't there also indication that the infamous 12/29 call is not part of this tranche because it was an FBI product?

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  2. Nice post, I am guessing this is not the lengthy one you referenced earlier? I was going to consume it with my afternoon coffee. Thanks for all of your insights.

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  3. I'll bet that "It has with manipulation...." was meant to say "It has TO DO with manipulation...."

    On Russian preferences in the '16 race, when have they *ever* preferred an unknown quantity, over a *known* one?
    The whole thing was laughable, to anyone who knew jack about history.

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    1. Tx.

      Re your second paragraph--absolutely. The whole thing was totally amateurish, redolent of the arrogant attitude that "we can fool most of the people all of the time."

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  4. I believe this is why Trey Gowdy continues to talk about Brennan, his role, and how predicate can be somehow directly attributable to the CIA. That is why I feel this all started long before the EC July, 2016th date.

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    1. I think you have Nunes on your side, too.

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    2. It appears factual. Nunes was in early on all of this.

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  5. CTH quotes Grenell, in his letter today to Warner, “*cherry picking* certain documents for release, while attacking the release of others that don’t fit *your political narrative*, is part of the problem the American people have with Washington DC politicians.”

    Beyond delicious.

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  6. Regarding the ICA, in the recently released transcript of Clapper's testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, Rep Wenstrup read a quote from the testimony of the NIO for Russia (who reported to Brennan) given to the committee only one month before release of the ICA: "It's unclear to us that the Kremlin had a particular - that they had a particular favorite or they wanted to see a particular outcome. That is what the reporting shows." (pp16-17)

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    1. It's difficult to stress how important the ICA was (1/17) for everything that followed. That's why Barr/Durham are focusing on it.

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  7. It's been clear for years that media has been complicit in using govt "leakers" as sources of classified information--to the point that media could be "used" to foist a false narrative on the public in furtherance of the partisan agenda of the coup/hoax.

    Since media information sources need a second source confirmation, yet "leaks," whether anonymous or classified, are good to go, the system was ripe for corruption. And media wasn't about to self-police what furthered their preferred partisan agenda, it reinforced editorial partisanship with corrupt means and methods.

    The agenda was to so pollute the atmosphere of public opinion that calls for Trump's resignation would be by acclaim.

    What I find so fascinating is that Twitter and Facebook are going through reforms and revisions to policies regarding misinformation/disinformation that would make George Orwell roll over in his grave--all while having looked the other way while the Deep State attempted to pull off the greatest misinformation hoax and political scandal of all time. The psychological projection to accuse your opponent of the behavior you're actually committing is quite telling.

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    1. I don't see how the post Watergate state of the law re the "press" can stand. It bears no relationship to the reality we face.

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    2. "...to the point that media could be 'used' to foist a false narrative on the public in furtherance of the partisan agenda of the coup/hoax."

      Has been used to foist a false narrative on the public in furtherance of [insert any and every Obama action—or inaction—here].

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  8. "[T]he guy the president turns to when he wants a bad guy blown away"

    http://tinyurl.com/yc9skdtc

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