Justice, Not Revenge

For John, BLUF:  Did not NYC DA Alvin Bragg set a precedent by indicting someone for trying to cover up potentially harmful ihnformatoin during a Federal Election?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Do the Plotters of the ‘51 Intel Experts’ Coup Deserve Prison?

From American Thinker, by Author Jack Cashill, 17 June 2024.

Here is the lede plus nine:

People of a certain age will remember the name “Donald Segretti.” In the 1972 re-election campaign of President Richard Nixon, this youthful campaign aide made the phrase “dirty tricks” part of the American political lexicon. Segretti’s mischief included sending embarrassing letters under the names of Nixon’s political rivals. Although his dirty tricks had little or no effect on the election’s outcome, Segretti served four and a half months in prison.

With Segretti’s four and a half months as a baseline, the 51-plus dirty tricksters who conspired successfully to get Joe Biden elected president in 2020 would seem to deserve no less. Confident to a fault about the Democrat control of the media, 51 intel officials signed on to the most flagrant disinformation campaign in anyone’s memory. “I think there needs to be an investigation into every single one of them,” said Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), and that investigation deserves a special counsel.

More deserving of prison time than the 51 were the Biden apparatchiks who set the plot in motion. On October 14, 2020, when they saw the New York Post headline “Smoking-Gun Email Reveals How Hunter Biden Introduced Ukrainian Businessman to VP Dad,” they were ready to roll. They had known since December 2019 that this story might drop. That was when Mac Isaac alerted the FBI to a laptop Hunter Biden had abandoned at his computer repair shop in Delaware.

Fearing that the story might break at any time, operatives within the FBI reached out to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms well before the 2020 election and warned them of a potential Russian pre-election “hack and dump” operation. If done with ill intent, these operatives deserve prison time as well.

On the day the Post story broke, representatives from the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force met with Facebook execs. As would later be confirmed at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing, the FBI knew that the laptop was, in fact, Hunter Biden’s.

Facebook founder — and future un-indicted co-conspirator — Mark Zuckerberg did not need to have his arm twisted. He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, had already invested $300 million, in CNN’s words, toward “enhancing access to voting in the United States.” CNN failed to add that the Zuckerbucks enhanced access almost exclusively in Democrat districts.

With a little prodding from the FBI, Facebook promptly “deamplified” the Post story, dramatically reducing its circulation. On the same day the story broke, the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force also leaned on Twitter. The Twitter people needed little persuasion — some 98 percent of their political donations went to Democrats. They were all in for Biden, and Twitter blocked not only the Post story, but also the Post itself.

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing, former disgraced FBI general counsel-turned Twitter exec James Baker was asked about his role in silencing the Post. To virtually every salient question regarding the laptop, Baker pleaded — in vintage Watergate fashion — memory loss.

“You were entrusted with the highest level of power at Twitter, but when you were faced with the New York Post story, instead of allowing people to judge the information for themselves, you rushed to find a reason why the American people shouldn’t see it,” said committee chair James Comer. “You did this because you were terrified of Joe Biden not winning the election in 2020.

A May 10, 2023 report by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government filled in the details. The plot was hatched on October 17, 2020, when Biden campaign adviser — now secretary of state — Antony Blinken contacted Michael Morell. Morell had served as acting director of the CIA under Obama. At Blinken’s request, Morell began assembling the draft of a statement that would dismiss this epic October surprise as more of the same old Russian disinformation. At the very least, Blinken should resign immediately.

I admit that I am surprised that Citizens are not outraged over this informstion suppression effort.  At this point there should be no doubt that the 51 Intel Leaders who signed the letter suggesting the Laptop From Hell was Russisn Disinformstion did it to influence the election.  And one can understand their concern.  President Trump's first National Security Advisor, Retired Army Liueutenant General Michael Flynn, wanted to shake up the Intelligence Community, to make it more effective.

While the term Deep State has been used to describe the bureaucratic interactionsz in the Federal Government, I am suspect of it as an actuality.  Who is pulling those different gruops together to create a Deep State?  In Turkey there was such an organization, the Turkish General Staff (TGS).  However, the current President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, put a stop to the practice.  Was that an improvement?

My personal view is that one Alvin Bragging event is suffficient.  I would be happy to see one of the 51 come forward, under immunity, and say that what they did was wrong.  I don't think they have to cop to swinging the election.  That is for the Voters to decide, in their hearts.♠

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  And, I guess, the pollsters.

Michael Flynn Pushes Back

For John, BLUF:  And why shouldn't he, after the way he has been treated by the DC Establiahment?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Morning Briefing:  Michael Flynn vs. Granny Boxwine—Make Extra Popcorn

From PJ Media, by Columnist Stephen Cruiser, 22 December 2021, 2:39 AM ET.

Here are three key paragraphs:

It’s been a slog watching Granny Boxwine preside over her revenge-porn January 6 kangaroo trial. Some of the higher-profile people she’s harassed have pushed back a little, which has just made her want to play the strongarm game even more. The whole thing was getting a little stale. Enter one Michael Thomas Flynn. Flynn introduced a little spice into the proceedings on Tuesday by filing a restraining order against Nancy Pelosi, which Robert [Spencer] wrote about:

No, she isn’t stalking him, but it is almost as bad: Gen. Michael Flynn, who knows a thing or two about witch hunts, is taking action to stop the latest one.  Naming all the members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol as defendants, he has filed a complaint intended to stop a subpoena from that committee.  At the same time, according to the Western Journal, Flynn “filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction specifically” against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Smirnoff).  It is always refreshing, and far too rare, to see someone fighting back against this latter-day American version of the Stalinist show trials.

Remember: Flynn served as Trump’s National Security Adviser for less than a month before he resigned under a cloud in Feb. 2017, having become a central focus of the Russian collusion hoax. He wasn’t serving in the Trump administration in any capacity on Jan. 6, 2020, and had not done so for nearly three years.  But that didn’t stop the rabid partisans of the Jan. 6 committee from trying to rope him into something he had absolutely nothing to do with.

Yes, it looks like a fishing expedition.

Then there is this, from Rasmussen, on the 22nd.

Most Voters Think Capitol Riot Committee Is ‘Partisan’

While Democratic voters strongly support the House Select Committee’s investigation of the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, most Republicans and independents believe the committee has become a partisan weapon.

A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports finds that 59% of Likely U.S. voters believe the congressional investigation of the riot at the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump is important, including 43% who say it is Very Important.  Thirty-nine percent (39%) don’t think the investigation is important, including 21% who say it is Not At All Important.  (To see survey question wording, click here.)

I would think that part of the proble3m for the House Select Committee on 6 January is that the term "insurrection" has been used in a fairly indiscriminate way.  Only one person was shot and killed in the incident, and that ws a rioter, who was deliberately shot by a Capitol Policeman.♠  At this point there doesn't appear to have been a plan to take over the Governent.  This was not Oliver Cromwell replacing the king.  This was not the Long Parliament, which was a precident to the American Revolution.  This was a bunch of rambuctious Citizens, tired of being lied to by politicians and media that the November election was "perfect".  What might have caused it not to happen might have been a little humility, which was, unfortunately, in short supply on the Democratic side, and the Republican.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Fortunately, for the shooter the victim was Caucasian and he is Black.  I expect there would have been quite a hue and cry had it been otherwise.

Corruption from 2016

For John, BLUF:  This whole collection of items from the 2016 Election should have gone away several years ago, but it hasn't.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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FBI official on Mueller team said Flynn prosecution had 'get Trump' attitude, collusion probe was 'not there'

Here is the sub-headline:

FBI official William Barnett was assigned to lead the bureau's original investigation into Michael Flynn

From Fox News, by Reporter Brooke Singman, 25 September 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

An FBI official who served on Robert Mueller’s team said he believed the special counsel’s prosecution of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn was part of an attitude to “get Trump,” and that he did not wish to pursue a Trump-Russia collusion investigation as it was “not there" and considered it to be a "dead end."

FBI agent William J. Barnett made the comments during an interview on Sept. 17 at the Justice Department, before Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Jeffrey Jensen, who was tapped by Attorney General Bill Barr to review the case against Flynn. Jensen has joined U.S. Attorney John Durham’s team in his review of the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. Those comments have surfaced in new government documents.

Fox News reviewed Barnett’s FBI 302, which was filed by the U.S. government early Friday as part of the Flynn case.

Barnett, during his interview, detailed his work at the FBI, and his assignment to the bureau’s original cases against Flynn and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Barnett said the Flynn investigation was assigned the code name “Crossfire Razor,” which was part of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation — the bureau’s code name for the original Trump-Russia probe.

In another thread someone wrote:

Oh, quit going on about acceptance of the 2016 result. Every has yielded to the result; the Dems just don’t like it. What do you care? He’s been doing everything a president is constitutionally able to do and more.

Here is my response:

I think it is the time lapse problem here.  If everyone had agreed after the Inauguration it would have been OK with me.  But, things continued after the Inauguration.  DOJ Career people seemed to just carry on.  Jim Comey was unable to walk away.  I wonder about the role of Sally Yates, or DNC Apparatchiks.  There were FBI guys who took out extra liability insurance.

Lawyer and Author Sidney Powell just got a “302” that indicates that even after the election they kept after the “Trump Team” in a less than professional way.  FBI Agent William Barnett talked of “Lack of integrity on the part of the Bob Mueller Team.”  Where is Inspector Lewis Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr) when you need him?

So, yes, I would like it to all go away.  I especially don’t want to see it reach into the Oval Office. That would blight the process for a long time.  But, the story keeps dripping out, drop by drop.  And, because the Judiciary wouldn’t let LTG Michael Flynn walk away they just keep it going.

In early this year we had an Impeachment on flimsy grounds, so Ms Pelosi hadn’t yet given up in the first part of this year.  Then Judge Emett Sullivan, a hero to me for his handling of the Ted Stevens case, stopped DOJ from dropping chargers against LTG Flynn.  I was very disappointed.

Now we are in the political silly season again and we are back to Trump being illegitimate.  Sure, he is President and gets to sign legislation and appoint Ambassadors, but the Dems have become cranky again.  Everything is off the table.  (Or is it Nothing is off the table?)  Please tell me Rep Gerry Nadler is not running again.

But, in closing, one wonders, in the back of the mind, if Judge Emmet Sullivan has keep the Michael Flynn thing going because he wants to smoke out these sub-rosa activities that tainted the “peaceful transfer of power”. Maybe he is a hero this time also.

Hat tip to News Reader Elizabeth MacDowell.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who is a Paying the Piper?

For John, BLUF:  This is your classic "follow the money" approach.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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What the Media will not ask

From The New Reform Club,by Mr Seth Barrett Tillman, 24 May 2020.

In which the Author asks about who is pay for the participation of Judge John Gleeson and Lawyer Beth Wilkinson in the Michael Flynn case.

A good question, with appropriate supplemental questions.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Pearl Harbor File

For John, BLUF:  Just because I am curious, I would like to know what was going through Ms Susan Rice's mind when she typed her memo of the 5 January 2016 White House meeting on Investigating retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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EXPLOSIVE RICE MEMO DECLASSIFIED

From Powerline, by Mr John Hinderaker, 19 May 2020.

Here is the lede:

We have known for more than two years that, on the day of President Trump’s inauguration and just minutes before she left the White House for the last time, Susan Rice, then President Obama’s National Security Adviser, wrote a memo to herself about “Russia.”  Specifically, she documented the fact, presumably for her later protection should the matter become public, that on January 5, 2017, President Obama had directed her to lie to her incoming counterpart, General Michael Flynn, about the Russia investigation that was then ongoing, in which General Flynn himself was, unbeknownst to him, one of the targets.  This deception violated all historic norms, but it was vital if the Obama holdovers (James Comey et al.) were to be able to continue their “Russia investigation,” a bare pretext for unraveling Trump’s presidency, post-inauguration.

I see this problem at two levels:

• At one level we see harassment of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn because he is a trouble maker, both within the Intelligence Community and, as Director of DIA, with President Obama's Foreign Policy, especially Syria.
• At the second level there is the question of how the Obama Administration handled the handover of power in January 2017, and whether the Obama Administration was prepared to actually turn over to the incoming Trump Administration or whether it was trying to hold some things back for the deep state?

Are we going to just let this pass by and not look into it?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Previous Administration

For John, BLUF:  It appears the previous Administration is still fighting a rear guard action against the current Administration, which has hamstrung it a bit in dealing with ongoing problems.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Barack Obama is Worried About Something, That Is Obvious

From PJ Media, by Reporter Matt Margolis, 11 May 2020.

Here is the lede plus four:

Barack Obama’s decision to comment about the Michael Flynn case has the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial board scratching their heads as to “what he’s really worried about.”

“Barack Obama is a lawyer, so it was stunning to read that he ventured into the Michael Flynn case in a way that misstated the supposed crime and ignored the history of his own Administration in targeting Mr. Flynn.  Since the former President chose to offer his legal views when he didn’t need to, we wonder what he’s really worried about.”

In the past couple of weeks, evidence that Trump’s former national security adviser Gen. Michael Flynn was set up by FBI agents in a perjury trap resulted in his case being dropped by the Justice Department.  Soon after, the release of declassified documents and testimony revealed that Barack Obama was aware that Flynn was being wiretapped and was briefed on the details of conversations he was having with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

In a private call with former members of his administration, Obama weighed in on the DOJ dropping the charges against Flynn, bizarrely claiming that it was unprecedented, and incorrectly claiming that Flynn was charged with perjury.  Audio of the call was leaked to the media.

“The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed — about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn,” Obama said.  “And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free.  That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk.  And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”

I can appreciate that the members of the previous Administration wish to save the American People from the follies of the new Administration, but that is the nature of Democracy--As H L Mencken would have it, "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."  While the job of the opposition is to oppose, the job of the previous administration is to move on.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Smart Move

For John, BLUF:  With DOJ moving to drop charges against Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, Democrats from President Obama to Representative Adam Schiff to Brookings Analyst Benjamin Witten have said DOJ is corrupt  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Judge Halts Justice Dept. Move to Drop Flynn Charges

From The Wash Post, by Reporters Spencer S Hsu and Carol D Leonnig, 12 May 2020.

Here is the lede plus two:

A U.S. judge on Tuesday put on hold the Justice Department’s move to drop charges against Michael Flynn, saying he expects independent groups and legal experts to argue against the bid to exonerate President Trump’s former national security adviser of lying to the FBI.

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington D.C. said he expects individuals and organizations will seek to intervene in the politically charged case.

Sullivan’s order came after the government took the highly irregular step last Thursday of reversing its stance on Flynn’s charges and embracing Flynn’s move to dismiss his own guilty pleas.

This seems a smart move.  If you have something to say, say it directly to the Judge.  Don't just give us a tweet or a sound-bite.

As for myself, I say DOJ has finally done the proper thing.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Real Reason

For John, BLUF:  Maybe not the sole reason, but an important reason the "system" went after Lieutenant General Michael Flynn.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Real Reason for Flynn's First Firing

From PJ Media, by Mr Jim Fanell, 11 May 2020.

Here is the lede plus two:

The Department of Justice has requested, with prejudice, to withdraw the case former Obama administration officials built against retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn.  Americans now need to investigate why outgoing President Obama told incoming President Trump that after Kim Jong-un, the only other issue he had to worry about was General Flynn.  The answers will lead us to intelligence reform.

We don’t have a fully coherent explanation in the public discussion for why Director Comey’s FBI targeted General Flynn in a perjury trap.  The dominant media narrative asserts attacking General Flynn was a stepping-stone to weakening President Trump’s administration by targeting his appointed officials.  However, the Washington establishment’s fear and animus toward Mr. Trump only partially explains the FBI’s extraordinarily corrupt conspiracy targeting and trapping the retired war veteran general.

There’s more. The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC), of which the FBI is a member, deeply feared General Flynn because of his attempted reforms as director of the underperforming Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which for $22 billion dollars per year was not able to recognize Islamic terrorism, assess the People’s Republic of China (PRC) being engaged in expansionism, or warn of other threats to the United States, even as those issues were discussed in newspapers around the world.

It seems the US Intelligence Community is not the benign group one would expect it to be in a democracy.  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, back in early January 2017a, before the Trump Inauguration, told MSNBC Host Rachel Maddow, "Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community — they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you".

One would think that both Senator Schumer and Ms Maddow would have been alarmed by that thought.  Apparently not.  At the time I thought it was just senator Schumer talking like he was from New York City.  Now I am not so sure, and I am alarmed.  The fact is, if they can do it to President Trump they can do it to anybody, of any party.  The is not Democracy.  It is more like Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), or, before the rise of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish General Staff.  Recall that when there was some question of who would be the new Turkish Prime Minister, in 1993, the head of the Turkish General Staff paid a visit to Ms Tansu Çiller, signaling her acceptability to the Turkish General Staff, the protector of the Constitution.

Frankly, the idea that the Intelligence Community in the United States might put its thumb on the scale of Presidential Election should be anathema to all believers in Democracy.  The fact that Senator Schumer or Journalist Rachel Maddow accepts this idea with equanimity should be additionally disturbing to us all.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Let Us Hope

For John, BLUF:  First with Judge Emmet Sullivan and then with Defense Lawyer Sidney Powell there was this hope that justice would be done.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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AP Exclusive:  Justice Dept dropping Flynn’s criminal case

From The Seattle Times, by Reporters Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker, 7 May 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Justice Department on Thursday said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying cry for the president and his supporters in attacking the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation.

The move is a stunning reversal for one of the signature cases brought by special counsel Robert Mueller.  It comes even though prosecutors for the past three years have maintained that Flynn lied to the FBI in a January 2017 interview about his conversations with the Russian ambassador.

It appears it was time for the Justice Department to cut losses.  I am guessing we were at the point where careers were going to be broken.

Regards  —  Cliff

Michael Flynn in the Dock

For John, BLUF:  Looking for an historical analogy, I go back to the Dreyfus Affair.  The lying and coverup by the bureaucracy to protect the bureaucracy.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"Dismiss this matter as they should."

Sidney Powell on Lou Dobbs Fox Business Show now.

The revelations about the FBI, and DOJ, in their quest to disqualify National Security Advisor nominee Michael Flynn are astounding.  In the words of Broadcaster Lou Dobbs, "stunning".

Today continues a telephone interview between Broadcaster Lou Dobbs and Attorney Sidney Powell from yesterday.

My personal opinion is that this is about concern that as National Security Advisor Michael Flynn would have reorganized the Intelligence Community.  That would have destroyed empires within the Bureaucracy.

And perhaps have revealed malfeasance.

Lawyer Sidney Powell is the new Émile Zola, but with a better sword.

Regards  —  Cliff

Summary Judgement

For John, BLUF:  Elements within the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Obama National Security apparatus could not wait for the system to work through issues with the Trump Campaign, but took justice into their own hands, to the detriment of the Republic Now the President has a not unreasonable distrust of things coming out of Main Justice and from his own National Security Council.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Flynn prosecution now stands exposed as massive FBI and DOJ abuse of power

From The New York Post, by the Post Editorial Board, 31 January 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

Here’s another black eye for the Justice Department’s Obama-era leadership: The case against Gen. Michael Flynn is in full collapse.

Federal prosecutors just backed down from their demand that Flynn — President Trump’s first, short-lived national security adviser — serve jail time for lying to FBI investigators, telling a court Wednesday that probation would be a “reasonable” sentence.

In fact, Justice had long wanted leniency, since Flynn cooperated fully with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigations.  But last month it started seeking up to six months of confinement — mainly because he’s no longer taking responsibility for his crime.

“I am innocent,” he writes in a new filing, explaining that he pleaded guilty in 2017 to making false statements to the FBI because he felt helpless to fight the charges:  He’d already had to sell his home to pay legal costs and was told his son could be indicted, too.

Involved in this imbroglio was FBI agent Peter Strzok, who is no Inspector Lewis Erskine.

Then there is the role played by National Security Adviser Susan Rice, someone I used to feel sorry for.nbsp; She leaked the fact of General Flynn’s conversations with Russian Ambassador Kislyak.nbsp; Tacky, at best.

This whole episode is a blot on not just the FBI, but on the Department of Justice as a whole.

How do we fix this, make it better for the future?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Russiagate Slowly Eroding

For John, BLUF:  There is a breakdown in the self-discipline of our Civil Servants and a breakdown in the wall between the Free Press and the Civil Service.  This likely won't end well.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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SCOOP:  CIA, FBI Informant Was Washington Post Source For Russiagate Smears

Here is the sub-headline:

These close connections between the Washington Post’s David Ignatius and people connected to U.S. and U.K. intelligence raise grave concerns about the deep state using media to push propaganda.

From The Federalist, by Ms Margot Cleveland, 4 November 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Federalist has learned that the now-outed CIA and FBI informant Stefan Halper served as a source for Washington Post reporter David Ignatius, providing more evidence that the intelligence community has co-opted the press to push anti-Trump conspiracy theories.  In addition, an email recently obtained by The Federalist from the MI5-connected Christopher Andrew bragging that his long-time friend Ignatius has the “‘inside track’ on Flynn” adds further confirmation of this conclusion.

Svetlana Lokhova, the Russian-born English citizen and Soviet-era scholar, told The Federalist that she only realized the significance of her communications with and about Ignatius following the filing of attorney Sidney Powell’s reply brief in the Michael Flynn case.

It is beginning to look like the Press was the stooges of Government Officials trying to hobble, if not overthrow, the Presidency of Donald Trump.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Trusting DoJ

For John, BLUF:  The Department of Justice seems to be more about winning than about justice.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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New Filing in Flynn Prosecution Casts Further Doubt on the Government’s Case

From American Greatness, by Mr Adam Mill, 4 November 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Michael Flynn’s attorney filed a response Monday to the federal government’s defense against several shocking claims of misconduct.  Attorney Sidney Powell alleged in an earlier filing that federal prosecutors, led by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller alumnus Brandon Van Grack, hid or destroyed evidence and used an edited account of Flynn’s statement as a basis for charging the former national security advisor with lying to the FBI.

Powell inferred that an earlier version of Flynn’s statement, as recorded by the interviewing agents, was suppressed or destroyed.

The case against retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn seemed to me to be a little far-fetched.  And, in my mind LTG Flynn seemed a bomb thrower, wanting to reorient the Intelligence Community toward the "coal face", toward the soldier on the front line.

General Flynn's Lawyer, Ms Sydney Powell, is not a stranger to DoJ prosecutorial misconduct, having handled the appeal of Senator Ted Stevens against a Federal Corruption Prosecution.

We must expect and demand better from the Department of Justice.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Getting Justice in Trump's DC

For John, BLUF:  Justice, viewed through a partisan lens, is not justice.  Further, the proliferation of laws means that Federal Prosecutors can go after an accused six ways from Sunday, more often than not, forcing a plea deal  Look what they are doing to Actress Lori Laughlin for asking for her right to a trial by a jury of her peers.  Yes, she did wrong and deserves punishment, but this kind of bullying is wrong.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Sidney Powell:  FBI Agents Manipulated Flynn 302 File

From The David J Harris Show, by Reporter Rich Welsh, 25 October 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Sidney Powell, General Michael Flynn’s new attorney, filed a 37-page motion on Thursday that alleges that FBI agents manipulated the official 302 records of the former national security adviser’s 2017 interview with now fired and disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok. That manipulation of the records was what led to the general being charged with lying to FBI investigators.

The motion is requesting that the government produce all evidence as it relates to Flynn asking the court to “dismiss the entire prosecution for outrageous government misconduct” and hold the prosecutors in contempt.

Lawyer Sidney Powell was the person who Rescued Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) from his corruption conviction by showing that the Department of Justice prosecutors had acted unethically, withholding exculpatory evidence, violating the Brady Rule.

The "302" is the fOrm the FBI uses to formalize an interviewer's notes.  It is the formal record of the FBI Agent's interview of someone who they talked to.  No, they don't use the modern tape recorder or the even more modern video recorder.

I would like Attorney General Barr, or the US Congress, to drag the FBI into the late Twentieth Century by mandating the use of electronic recording devices in formal settings.

It is interesting to me that the Federal Judge who picked up the Flynn case when the previous judge stepped aside, is Judge Emmet G Sullivan, who took over the Senator Stevens case and brought justice to Senator Stevens and a rebuke to DoJ.

And,it would be nice if the Congress passed legislation removing Qualified Immunity protections from Federal Prosecutors and Law Enforcement personnel who abuse their positions to abuse the innocent.  And then DoJ starting enforcing it, recognizing that even some of its own sin from time to time.I wouldn’t,even mind if they later took back their now chastened employees.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff
small>

President Obama on Russia Gate before November 2016

For John, BLUF:  Do you think they were trying to stitch up LTG (ret) Michael Flynn, who was probably a pain in the rear?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Colluders, Obstructionists, Leakers, and Other Projectionists

From American Greatness, by Professor Victor Davis Hanson, 26 May 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Before the defeat of Hillary Clinton, the idea that the Russians or anyone else could warp or tamper with our elections in any serious manner was laughed off by President Obama.  “There is no serious person out there who would suggest that you could even rig America’s elections,” Obama said in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election.

Obama was anxious that the sure-to-be-sore-loser Trump would not blame his defeat on voting impropriety in a fashion that might call into question Clinton’s victory.  After Clinton’s stunning defeat,  Russian “collusion”—thanks initially to efforts by Obama holdover Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to go after Michael Flynn and the successful attempts of the CIA and FBI to seed the bogus Steele dossier among the government elite—became a club to destroy the incoming Trump Administration.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Releasing Federal Government Information

For John, BLUF:  This is about getting out the facts favorable to my side, but not the facts favorable to your side.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Flynn's case could prompt release of some redacted parts of Mueller report

From CNN, by Reporter Katelyn Polantz, 27 May 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

Sought-after parts of the Mueller investigation may be made public this week, thanks to a federal judge who's taken an unusual approach in former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn's case.

Judge Emmet Sullivan of the US District Court in DC set a Friday deadline for the Justice Department to make public unredacted portions of the Mueller report that pertain to Flynn, plus transcripts of Flynn's calls with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and of a voicemail during which someone connected to Trump referenced Flynn's cooperation.

Taken together, the judge's orders look like a shortcut to transparency in a moment of executive branch stonewalling.

My question is, why are people, on the one hand, screaming for release of redacted parts of the Mueller Report, and on the other hand, screaming about President Trump giving Attorney General William Barr authority to declassify relevant documents relating to RussiaGate, such as FISA Court subpoena requests?

Hat tip to the Memeorandum.

Regards  —  Cliff

It Wasn't Originally About Mr Trump

For John, BLUF:  But Mr Trump got swept up in it, which, I am sure, made him leery of the Intelligence Community.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Russia Hoax was originally aimed at Flynn, not Trump.

From The Chicago Boyz, by Mr Michael Kennedy, 4 April 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

I am more and more coming around to the opinion of David Goldman and Michael Ledeen.

The Russia hoax was aimed at Michael Flynn and his role as a Trump advisor.

It was all about General Flynn.  I think it began on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, when Flynn changed the way we did intelligence against the likes of Zarqawi, bin Laden, the Taliban, and their allies.

General Flynn saw that our battlefield intelligence was too slow.  We collected information from the Middle East and sent it back to Washington, where men with stars on their shoulders and others at the civilian intel agencies chewed it over, decided what to do, and sent instructions back to the war zone.  By the time all that happened, the battlefield had changed.  Flynn short-circuited this cumbersome bureaucratic procedure and moved the whole enterprise to the war itself.  The new methods were light years faster.  Intel went to local analysts, new actions were ordered from men on the battlefield (Flynn famously didn’t care about rank or status) and the war shifted in our favor.

One can imagine the corporate Intelligence Community, centered in DC, not being happy about someone like Lieutenant General Mike Flynn ascending to the job of the President's National Security Advisor, especially someone not steeped in the ways of the Federal Government, someoe who was pledging to drain the swamp.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fear of Flynn?

For John, BLUF:  This is a phantasmagoric view of the Russiagate story, but not one to be dismissed too lightly.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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To Stop the Deep State, Bring Back Mike Flynn!

From PJ Media, by Mr David P Goldman, 3 April 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

Why did the Deep State throw caution to the winds in an desperate effort to frame Donald Trump for alleged collusion with Russia--and failing that, to entrap him in an obstruction of justice case?  There are a lot of reasons for the Establishment to hate Donald Trump, but one of them stands out.  During the campaign, Donald Trump denounced the Obama administration for having created ISIS.  That claim drew ridicule from the mainstream media, but it is entirely correct.  Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, Trump's campaign adviser, was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 when the DIA blew the whistle on CIA backing for Sunni Islamists fighting the Assad regime during the then-raging Syrian civil war.  As my friend Michael Ledeen wrote at PJ Media on March 26, the Mueller investigation was all about Flynn.

President Trump should pardon Gen. Flynn right now and summon him back to Washington.  Mueller forced Flynn to plead guilty to an invented charge of lying to FBI agents, even though the FBI agents who interviewed him about Russian contacts said that they thought he was telling the truth.  Now that the Mueller investigation has come up with nothing, the frame-up of Gen. Flynn appears all the more heinous.  The Deep State feared Mike Flynn, with good reason. Trump should reappoint him to a top job, and really terrify his opponents.

Flynn's Defense Intelligence Agency produced a now-notorious 2012 report warning that CIA backing for Sunni rebels fighting Assad would lead to the rise of a new Caliphate movement, namely ISIS.  The Obama administration threw its support behind the "Arab Spring" rebellion in Syria, ignoring the fact that Islamist terrorists led the opposition to Assad.  This was reported exhaustively in specialist media, for example, Brad Hoff's July 2016 essay in Foreign Policy Journal:  Flynn humiliated the bungling CIA and exposed the incompetence and deception of the Obama administration, and got fired for it.

For sure, within the Intelligence Community, Lieutenant General Flynn was a disruptive force.  Perhaps what happened was that what started as a small, quiet, effort to keep Candidate Trump's campaign advisor on national security under control got away from them.  It morphed into an insurance policy, if you will.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Flynn Case Confuses Me

For John, BLUF:  If the press tries to sweep this Flynn imbroglio under the rug it will just make them look bad.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Neverending, Mysterious Saga of Michael Flynn

From American Greatness, by Professor Victor Davis Hanson, 23 December 2018.

Here is the lede plus four:

Certainly, no one should defend a top-ranking federal employee’s lying to federal investigators or to his superiors in the Trump Administration, if that is what former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn did, as evidenced by his own confession.

Note if Flynn lied to President Trump or Vice President Mike Pence about details of his private conversations, then that is unethical and understandably should be grounds for dismissal. The distinction, however, is whether Flynn deserved to be fired or to be in jail.

What put Flynn in legal jeopardy were the general’s statements to FBI investigators that purportedly were false, and allegedly given deliberately to mislead two federal investigators.

I express doubt here only because of media reports and leaks that Special Counsel Robert Mueller later either pressured Flynn for a confession, by strategies of financial exhaustion or leveraged him by threats to indict his son, or both.

Without that pressure, one wonders how Flynn might have explained his earlier alleged inconsistencies in recounting a private off the record conversation with a foreign diplomatic official to two FBI officials. That is, had he had adequate legal resources or not faced prosecutorial threats to indict his son, would he have later claimed that months earlier that he had been dishonest to Peter Strzok and his fellow FBI investigator?

I think Judge Emmet Sullivan smells a rat.

The Special Counsel investigation by Mr Robert Mueller has uncovered veniality in several places, but seems not to have uncovered a smoking gun with regard to Russian collusion.  Is it out there?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Job Isn't Yet Complete

For John, BLUF:  Cleaning up old items, but this is one of those things that should cause an ordinary citizen to pause.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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‘WHERE is Flynn’s original 302?!’ Kimberley Strassel RIPS Comey’s testimony and the Deep State apart even MORE and WOW

From Twitchy, by Sam J., 16 December 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

Kimberley Strassel once again has wrapped up what is happening with the Flynn case in a few simple tweets so the rest of us can follow along.  No shame in it, so much of what we’re hearing about with these multiple investigations reads a lot like stereo instructions written backward in Japanese.

Kimberley Strassel
@KimStrassel
Fascinating that the 302 referenced in the Flynn filing is actually an August interview of Peter Strzok--recounting the Flynn meeting.  Though this raises the question... where is the original Flynn 302? Did special counsel file it to judge?
12:58 PM - 14 Dec 2018

I think it is questions like this which make Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan nervous about the Lieutenant General Michael Flynn case.

The job isn't over until the paperwork is complete.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff