Tag Archives: William Barr

Top Aides on Durham Team Resign

  ,
Leave a comment

by Daveda Gruber

US Attorney John Durham’s office has confirmed the resignation of a top aide to Duham.

On Friday it was confirmed that the federal prosecutor, Norah Dannehy, has resigned from the Department of Justice.

Dannehy was probing the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation and she had worked closely with Durham for years.

There was no reason given, at this time, as to why the resignation came about but The Hartford Courant in Connecticut reported that Dannehy informed colleagues in the New Haven US Attorney’s Office of her resignation on Thursday evening.

The paper mentioned that Dannehy resigned “at least partly out of concern that the investigative team is being pressed for political reasons to produce a report before its work is done.”

The investigation has reportedly been slowed down from the coronavirus pandemic and now this departure of a veteran team player can slow down the final stretch.

Attorney General William Barr appointed Durham over a year ago to investigate the origins of the FBI’s original Russia probe after former Special Counsel Robert Mueller completed his investigation into whether the campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election. That itself took years to complete and the end result left much to be desired.

Since Durham has been appointed,  he has questioned former law enforcement and intelligence officials, with former CIA Director John Brennan being among them, about decisions that had been made during the Russia probe.

Dannehy was present for interviews with top officials, including Brennan, because of her position.

This is combined with reports of other DOJ-related resignations on Friday.

It has been reported that John Choi, who served on the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, has resigned from the commission. He claimed its intent was providing cover for a predetermined agenda that ignores the lessons of the past.

Also on Friday, Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Morell left the DOJ.

Durham is focused on the time between July 2016, when the FBI’s original Russia probe began, through the appointment of Mueller in May 2017.

Now that the presidential is getting very close, some Republicans want to see what has been found out.

Even President Trump has asked for results.

At a White House press conference on Thursday Trump said that Durham was a “very, very respected man” and that his work would involve a “report or maybe it’s much more than that.”

One criminal charge against a former FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, who was accused of altering an email related to the surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide, Carter Page, has been dealt with.

That prosecution did not allege an extensive conspiracy within the FBI or with the conduct it involved.

That much was already laid out in a Justice Department inspector general report that came out last December.

Even though Barr has said that he has not ruled out the possibility of additional criminal charges, he did not affirm that there would be any.

Indictments were supposed to be out in March. Then that date was extended and finally we were told to expect them at the end of the summer.

Well, summer has come and gone. There is not much time left before the election. So, during all this time Clinesmith said he was sorry. Yes folks, that’s all we can be certain of at this time.

To me, it’s like watching a bombastic movie and then during the last half hour the power goes off.

I fear that I’m not going to get the end result that I had been hoping for, in fact, not even close.

Was GOP Video Cut Off at Barr Hearing?

  ,
Leave a comment

by Daveda Gruber

If you were watching the House Judiciary Committee hearing which was intended to question Attorney General William Barr yesterday, you’ve learned a few things.

Democratic Representatives enjoy reclaiming their time. As a matter of fact, they ask questions without wanting to hear the answers.

Democrats stopped Barr from answering several questions by reclaiming their time. It appeared that they never intended on giving Barr any time to explain himself.

Representative Jim Jordan R-OH., the top Republican, showed a video of so called peaceful protestors, rioting, setting fires, attacking law enforcement and looting but Chairman Jerrold Nadler D-N.Y., cut it off before it was shown in its entirety.

The ten minute video was cut off about two minutes before its conclusion.

Nadler said that the video was out of order. He went on to say that Republicans had not provided adequate notice that they were going to play it and criticized its length.

Well this video is available, so far, because you never really know how long it will take before a video will be available until it is zapped from view.

When Democrats, along with Internet moguls and the mainstream media don’t want something shown, it’s taken down.

Here watch this video before someone removes it.

Will there be a Durham Report?

  ,
Leave a comment

by Daveda Gruber:

The end of U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation will not be coming in March as sources were alleging. In fact, there won’t be a report at all.

Now it is being reported that the investigation into the origins of the Russia probe by the U.S. attorney for Connecticut will not be finished until the end of the summer.

The delay is alleged to be at least partly because of coronavirus pandemic that is affecting America and the rest of the world.

During a House Rules Committee meeting that was focused on reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act last week, Representative Jim Jordan, who is a Republican from Ohio, was reported to have conveyed the same timeline.

The Washington Examiner reported that in reference to Durham’s investigation that Jordan explained, “His investigation is due to be completed sometime this summer.”

In 2008, Durham was appointed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate the destruction of CIA videotapes of detainee interrogations. On November 8, 2010, Durham closed the investigation without recommending any criminal charges be filed.

Last year Attorney General William Barr appointed Durham to review the events leading up to the 2016 presidential election and through President Trump’s January 20, 2017 inauguration.

It has been reported that Durham has since expanded his investigation to cover a post-election timeline spanning the spring of 2017. That is when Robert Mueller was appointed as special counsel.

Representative Doug Collins, the Republican from Georgia, served as the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. He left the role after announcing a Senate campaign. It was reported to have said that Durham’s probe will likely lead to criminal charges.

It was reported by FOX News that Collins said, “This is not going to be a Mueller report; there won’t be a report.”

Collins  went on to say “When he’s ready to charge people, he’ll charge people. And that’s when we’ll know.”

It has also been reported that Collins explained that Barr had expanded Durham’s reach into the intelligence community.

He added that he has “grand juries” and “everything else” at his disposal.

CIA officials and other officials in the intelligence community were investigated by Durham and former CIA Director John Brennan has made it clear that Durham plans to interview him and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Those interviews have not taken place according to alleged reports.

It is alleged that a handful of House Democrats are asking that Durham step aside according to Congressman Andy Biggs the Republican from Arizona who is on the House Judiciary Committee.

Nothing in life is guaranteed but I was looking forward to a report by Durham. Now it appears that no report is coming and that government officials will know what Durham finds when indictments begin and the investigation is officially declared over.

So, toilet paper isn’t the only paper I may or may not have in the summer. I won’t have a report to read and I was looking forward to that.

More and more conspiracy theories are creeping into my head and building  up because Durham’s investigation has been slowed down by the coronavirus.

Does this little bit of information get you thinking? It should if you are inquisitive like I am. It will be a long summer.

 

Want to Read the Transcript of the Call Trump Made to Ukraine?

  ,
Leave a comment

by Daveda Gruber:

What could President Donald Trump have said to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July? You can actually see it here and decide for yourself.

The transcripts of the call have been released and nothing is redacted.

Of course, after reading, Democrats will interpret the wording one way and Republicans another way. Did you expect anything different?

Read the report here:

Ukraine Call Transcript by Fox News on Scribd

The person who is actually looking bad in the transcript is former Vice President Joe Biden.

Trump told the American people that the stock market rising after the transcript came up is a great indication that the phone call had nothing wrong in it and had more to say.

Here is Trump speaking:

Trump tweeted this:

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi came out of closed door meetings on Tuesday and said that the Democrats are opening an investigation into the impeachment of Trump. But the Democrats jumped the gun and didn’t bother to wait until the transcript was released today to look at the transcript of the phone call that was at the helm of the Whistleblower letter that allegedly accused someone of wrong doing.

But Democrats have not seen the Whistleblower report. The name of the Whistleblower is not known as of yet.

Democrats now want to see the Whistleblower’s accusation; in fact, they’re demanding it.

The mention of promised money being held back for information on Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden is what the Democrats were banking on. There was no such message in the phone call according to the transcripts.

But then, Democrats have an unusual way of reading and seeing documents in a rather different light than Republicans.

The blame game is in full force. Democrats, in fact, one in particular, Representative Adam Schiff, D-CA.,  is stating that money was withheld and that the president of the Ukraine allegedly got a Mafia like threat that didn’t have to be actually stated for him to assume he was being threatened by monies being withheld.

Hear/see Schiff speak here:

The question of the alleged deeds of Joe Biden being investigated for alleged possible wrong doing involving his son Hunter is actually something that should be investigated.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., is calling for Attorney General William Barr to recuse himself from a possible Ukrainian probe.

Haven’t we had enough with the Russia probe? Do we want to spend another few years on a new probe now that it is rather obvious that nothing came out of Mueller’s report on a very costly investigation? No!

The president has been talking to world leaders at the UN this week. The problems in the world are at the forefront but the Democrats have taken this week to over-shadow Trump with attacking him once more.

How many times can these lawmakers step away from the job that they are paid for and create investigations that are very expensive but produce no particular outcome?

It appears that the answer is as many as they can.

Get out the popcorn because this investigation cannot end well for the Democrats. They’ve been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. My humble opinion on this matter is that the former vice president is the one who will go down over this.

DOJ Will Not Prosecute Comey for Leaking Classified Information

  ,
Leave a comment

by Daveda Gruber:

The Conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch, announced that it had obtained an FBI log about special agents arriving at former FBI Director James Comey’s home in June 2017 to retrieve his memos.

Comey handed over four of them and said that two of them, to the best of his recollection, were missing.

Still, it is now allegedly been decided that Comey will not face prosecution on this matter. The Department of Justice has declined to prosecute in this case.

During congressional testimony, Comey admitted that he had hand written notes of his meetings with President Trump in the days before he was fired. He took those notes and shared them with a friend who passed them to The New York Times.

That, folks, is called leaking information.

Two of the memos were classified by the FBI as “confidential,” but after the fact.

Comey became a critic of the president ever since he was fired from his position at the FBI.

Look what Comey tweeted:

Comey’s feelings towards Trump are not hidden. He holds hate for the president.

And Comey is not out of hot water just yet. He is a possible target of Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s separate investigation into alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse.
The former FBI director also signed three out of the four FISA applications targeting former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Comey’s actions as an FBI Director will now probably be scrutinized in the “investigate the investigators,” which is a review of the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation that is being led by Attorney General William Barr and the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, John Durham.

It has been said that the bigger you are, the harder you fall. Comey is a tall man who stands 6 feet 8 inches tall. I predict that he falls hard.

Barr Puts Death Penalty Back into Effect

 
Leave a comment

by Daveda Gruber:

On Thursday, Attorney General William Barr put out a statement which details putting the death penalty back into effect in the judicial system.

The federal government will resume capital punishment after a lag of executions over the past fifteen years, which is not good news for those sentenced to be executed who are still on death row.

It was reported that the Justice Department has directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to adopt a proposed addendum to the Federal Execution Protocol. This will give a clear path for executions to go forward.

In the report, Barr has also made it clear that five executions of death row inmates will be scheduled and carried out. It would make for the first execution since 2003.

Barr said in a statement, “Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the President.”

He then added, “Under administrations of both parties, the Department of Justice has sought the death penalty against the worst criminals, including these five murderers, each of whom was convicted by a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding. The Justice Department upholds the rule of law—and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.”

In 2014, former President Barack Obama directed the department to conduct a review of capital punishment and issues surrounding lethal injection drugs. The review brought about a freeze on executions.

According to the department, the Bureau of Prisons has completed the review and the impending executions of death row inmates can now continue.

The executions will likely start in December of this year; just in time for Christmas.

Does Mueller Have a Way Out Not to Answer Questions?

  ,
Leave a comment

by Daveda Gruber:

Has anyone wondered why the Department of Justice has set guidelines for former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony before Congress? The answer proves to be quite simple.

According to reports, Attorney General William Barr, has said that it was Mueller’s team who had asked for Mueller’s testimony to House lawmakers to be kept “within the boundaries” of the public version of his Russia probe report.

Barr has responded that Mueller’s staff asked the department for guidance before the hearing. The DOJ complied with the request.

Barr has said in an interview, “At his press conference, Bob had said that he intended to stick with the public report and not go beyond that. And in conversations with the department, his staff was reiterating that that was their position and they asked us for guidance in writing to explain or to tell them our position was. So we responded in writing. The department sent the guidance that they requested.”

When Barr was asked if it was Mueller who asked for the letter, Barr replied, “Yes.”

The letter said:

“Should you testify, the Department understands that testimony regarding the work of the Special Counsel’s Office will be governed by the terms you outlined on May 29 — specifically, that the information you discuss during your testimony appears in, and does ‘not go beyond,’ the public version of your March 22, 2019 report to the Attorney General or your May 29 public statement.”

See the letter here:

Mueller Letter 072219 by Anonymous JAYve8 on Scribd

The letter was signed by Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer.

Mueller is set to testify on Wednesday, if all goes according to plan.

In the mean time, Mueller, who is not known to be a great public speaker, has asked for a special request. Mueller wants Aaron Zebley, his former chief of staff and his top aide on the Russia investigation, to accompany him at the witness table during the upcoming hearing.

Zebley would be able to answer for Mueller and Republicans are not happy with this. On the other hand, Democrats seem to be willing to go to any lengths to get Mueller on the stand to question him.

So, will we hear from Mueller at all? Time will tell. Stay tuned.

Did Mueller Hold Back his Report?

  ,
Leave a comment

by Daveda Gruber:

On Friday Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., came out with some interesting predictions on a New York radio show saying that there “no legal basis” for the Russian meddling investigation into the Trump campaign.

King spoke with New York radio host John Catsimatidis and said, “There was no legal basis at all for them to begin the investigation of his campaign, and the way they carried it forward and the way information was leaked, the improper applications they filed in the FISA court to get surveillance, all of this is going to come out.”

Attorney General William Barr is looking into the origins of the investigation and, along with others, I believe that there is much to expose from within the FBI and the CIA.

The big question is allegedly how information was leaked and how the warrant was obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Republicans claimed that federal authorities did not fully disclose their reliance on an unverified dossier compiled by Christopher Steele. That document, referred to as the Steele Dossier, was part of opposition research for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Democrats, on the other hand, do not believe that anything improper happened.

Besides this, King is of the belief that special counsel Robert Mueller knew that there was no collusion long before his report came out.

King said, “I think that the Mueller people had obligations to tell the president, to tell the country, to tell the world, that there was no collusion whatsoever as soon as they found out there was none. This isn’t like you’re dealing with some local drug dealer … You’re talking about, whether you like him or not, he is the leader of the country. The leader of the Free World. And they let this hang over him for at least a year. It was wrong not to make it known.”

Allegedly, people have come forward to speak about misconduct after not doing so earlier on. At least one witness outside the Justice Department and FBI started cooperating with the investigation.

When Barr ordered U.S. Attorney John Durham to lead a separate investigation into the origins of the bureau’s 2016 Russia case that laid the foundation for the “probe,” the information started to flow.

King stated, “Just from evidence I’ve seen over the last several years being on the Intelligence Committee, being a member of Congress, there’s no doubt to me there were severe serious abuses that were carried out in the FBI, and I believe the top levels of the CIA.”

According to King, the failed narrative of Trump campaign conspiracy has gone on too long. Mueller let the president of the United States work under a “cloud” for at least a year, when in fact, he found no evidence of collusion.

The report was way overdue.

Mueller is set to testify before Congress on July 17th. King is no longer on the House Intelligence committee but current members will be asking questions.

Folks, the show has begun. Get out the popcorn and prepare to be enlightened. If you’ve been waiting for justice to be served, this show will be entertaining and it should give you some satisfaction, at long last.

Is Pelosi Done with Trump?

 
Leave a comment

by Daveda Gruber:

On Tuesday Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was not backing claims on impeachment but rather implying that her caucus has more support for not pushing for it than it has members who do want to roll with it.

Pelosi was speaking at the Fiscal Summit in Washington hosted by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation when she made the comment, “It’s not even close in our caucus.”

Pelosi’s comment was in response to a question directed at her about if she would move on impeachment if a majority of her caucus supported it. She also added, “Why are we speculating on hypothetical’s?”

Madame Speaker, despite calls from her fellow Democrats, has so far resisted impeachment proceedings. The progressive wing of her party is not on the same track as their leader.

Pelosi is trying to cover all corners and would not rule out impeachment. She said, “It’s not off the table. I don’t think you should impeach for political reasons and I don’t think you should not impeach for political reasons.”

The Speaker then added, “It’s not about politics. It’s not about Democrats and Republicans. It’s not about partisanship. It’s about patriotism to our country.”

When Special Counsel Robert Mueller gave his public statement, he did emphasize that his report did not exonerate the president of obstruction of justice accusations. Many Democrats took this to mean that it was a call to action by Congress.

Some of us did not seem to feel the same way. Even Pelosi is reluctant to fall behind the strategy her progressive members want to go for. She’s did, however, she did say that she ultimately wants to see Trump “in prison.”

As you can well imagine, President Trump did not take Pelosi’s comments lightly.

The tweets from Trump were rather clear:

Pelosi also sad that she has had it with the president. She said, “I’m done with him.”

Pelosi mocked Trump on his tariff fight with Mexico. She also called him the “diverter of attention in chief.”

Pelosi declared that Trump doesn’t deserve attention for backing off his threat to impose escalating tariffs on Mexico. She also cast doubt on the idea that Trump struck a substantive deal that will benefit the United States.

Pelosi was in full force and mocked Trump’s tariff threats. She said, “They were designed to take your attention away from the Mueller report.”

On Tuesday the Democrats are pushing a resolution through the House that would make it easier to sue the Trump administration. They would also make it easier to sue potential witnesses. This would pave the way for legal action against those who defy subpoenas in Congress’ Russia probe and other investigations.

The Democratic members of the House, through their resolution, would authorize lawsuits against Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn for defying subpoenas pertaining to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

Not that committee chairmen don’t have enough authority, but the resolution would empower committee chairmen to take legal action to enforce subpoenas without a vote of the full House, as long as they have approval from a bipartisan group of House leaders.

What is the next move by the Democrats after they approve the resolution? It may be dealt with depending on what kind of a mood Pelosi is in.

On Monday House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler stated that they will hold off on suing Barr. The panel struck a deal with the Justice Department to receive some important documents from Mueller’s report and Nadler pushed the pause button.

All members of the committee will be able to view the material.

Did Nadler Hit Pause on Contempt by Barr?

  ,
Leave a comment

by Daveda Gruber:

On Monday Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, has announced that he had reached a deal with the Justice Department over access to evidence related to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report.

The chairman had said he would hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt. That vote had been scheduled for today but it appears that a pause has been taken.

Nadler, in a statement, announced an agreement with the Justice Department agreeing to turn over some crucial evidence.

Nadler said, “I am pleased to announce that the Department of Justice has agreed to begin complying with our committee’s subpoena by opening Robert Mueller’s most important files to us, providing us with key evidence that the Special Counsel used to assess whether the President and others obstructed justice or were engaged in other misconduct. These documents will allow us to perform our constitutional duties and decide how to respond to the allegations laid out against the President by the Special Counsel.”

Both Democrats and Republicans will have access and probably start sharing documents late Monday.

Nadler said, “Given our conversations with the Department, I will hold the criminal contempt process in abeyance for now. We have agreed to allow the Department time to demonstrate compliance with this agreement. If the Department proceeds in good faith and we are able to obtain everything we need, then there will be no need to take further steps.”

The full House is still expected to vote Tuesday on a resolution that would authorize Nadler to go to court to enforce the subpoena issued to Barr for special counsel’s full report and underlying evidence.

Nadler’s Monday statement more or less says that he will not go to court immediately to enforce the subpoena.

Nadler cautioned that if “important information is held back,” then the committee would have “no choice but to enforce our subpoena in court and consider other remedies.”

Last week the DOJ said it would revive negotiations with Nadler’s panel over the subpoenaed materials if he removed “any threat of an imminent vote by the House of Representatives to hold the Attorney General in contempt.”

Nadler is playing hard ball and it appears that he rejected the appeal and urged the Justice Department to return to the negotiating table “without conditions.”

The Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt last month. This came after the Justice Department did not comply with a subpoena seeking access to an unredacted version of Mueller’s Russia report, which would include underlying documents and evidence.

President Trump used executive privilege over the files in order to protect them from release.

House Democrats are still preparing to move forward on a separate contempt-related resolution to enforce subpoenas. Barr and former White House Counsel Don McGahn’s names would be on the subpoenas.

The measure is still scheduled to be prepared late Monday in the House Rules Committee and then possible floor action could be taken on Tuesday, if the plan doesn’t change.

Democrats are divided among themselves about what action to take while Republicans appear to be on the same train of thought.

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins, R-Ga., praised the Justice Department for making the accommodations. Collins’ did not give Nadler the same credit.

In a statement Collins said, “The Justice Department has yet again offered accommodations to House Democrats, and I am glad Chairman Nadler — for the first time in months — has finally met them at the negotiating table.”

He continued, “Is the chairman prepared to rescind his baseless recommendation to hold the attorney general in contempt, or do House Democrats still plan to green light lawsuits against the attorney general and former White House counsel tomorrow?”

The House Intelligence Committee and the Justice Department had an agreement last month. At the time, the Justice Department agreed to share some documents with Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) committee.

Collins went on to say, “Today’s good faith provision from the administration further debunks claims that the White House is stonewalling Congress, which Chairman Schiff’s successful negotiations with the Justice Department already showed.”

The antics that seem to be swirling around impeachment talks and subpoenas, are taking a lot of time and cost money. If look at Congress, it would appear that members on two sides of the aisle are seeing and hearing the same scenarios but are coming to opposite conclusions.

We all got to see and hear Barr and Mueller speak. Apparently, Democrats and Republicans really do have brains that function differently. I for one do not see any collusion or obstruction screaming out to be heard and dealt with. On the other hand, Democrats seem to think that there is something in the second half of the Mueller report  that they can clutch onto.