FBI/DOJ Likely to Throw the CIA and Clapper Under the Bus by Larry C Johnson

Law Enforcement versus the Intel Community. That's the battle we will likely see unleashed when the Horowitz report comes out next week. The New York Times came out Saturday with info clearly leaked from DOJ that can be summarized simply--the FBI was relying on the intel community (products from the CIA and NSA) under the leadership of Jim Clapper. If they relied on bad, unverified information it ain't their fault. They trusted the spies.

Let us start with a reminder of how damn corrupt the NY Times and its reporters are. Consider this paragraph penned by Adam Goldman and William Rashbaum:

Closely overseen by Mr. Barr, Mr. Durham and his investigators have sought help from governments in countries that figure into right-wing attacks and unfounded conspiracy theories about the Russia investigation, stirring criticism that they are trying to deliver Mr. Trump a political victory rather than conducting an independent review.

"Unfounded conspiracy theories?" What a damn joke. The facts of a conspiracy to take out Donald Trump or cripple him are very clear. Robert Mueller and Jim Comey lied when they claimed that Joseph Mifsud, who tried to entrap George Papdopoulus in London, was a Russian agent. Nope. He worked for western intelligence. Unless Comey and DOJ have a document or documents from the CIA or NSA stating that Mifsud worked for the Russians, they have no where to hide. Plus, prosecutor John Durham now has Mifsud's blackberries. What do you think is the likelihood that Mifsud was in communication with FBI or CIA or MI6 personnel? Very likely.

Then there is Stefan Halper, who played a key role in a sophisticated counterintelligence operation that involved the FBI, the CIA British Intelligence and the media. The ultimate target was Donald Trump. Halper's part of the operation focused on using an innocent woman who had the misfortune of being born in Russia, Svetlana Lokhova, to destroy General Michael Flynn. Halper and Mifsud both were involved in targeting General Michael Flynn. Not a conspiracy?

Halper's nefarious activities included manufacturing and publishing numerous false and defamatory statements. Halper, for example, falsely claimed that Svetlana Lokhova  was a “Russian spy” and a traitor to her country. He also circulated the lie that Lokhova had an affair with General Flynn on the orders of Russian intelligence. Not content to use the unwitting Svetlana as a weapon against General Flynn, Stefan Halper also acted with malice to destroy Svetlana Lokhova's  professional career and business by asserting that she was not a real academic and that her research was provided by Russian intelligence on the orders of Vladimir Putin.

Thanks to Robert Mueller we have clear evidence of a conspiracy against Trump. Mueller's investigation of Trump "collusion" with Russia prior to the 2016 Presidential election focused on eight cases:

Proposed Trump Tower Project in Moscow—

George Papadopolous—

Carter Page—

Dimitri Simes—

Veselnetskya Meeting at Trump Tower (June 16, 2016)

Events at the Republican Convention

Post-Convention Contacts with Russian Ambassador Kislyak

Paul Manafort

One simple fact emerges--six of the eight cases or incidents of alleged Trump Campaign interaction with the Russians investigated by the Mueller team, the pitch to "collude" with the Russian Government or Putin originated with FBI informants, MI-6 assets or people paid by Fusion GPS, not Trump or his people. There is not a single instance where Donald Trump or any member of his campaign team initiated contact with the Russians for the purpose of gaining derogatory information on Hillary or obtaining support to boost the Trump campaign. Not one.

Simply put, Trump and his campaign were the target of an elaborate, wide ranging covert action designed to entrap him and members of his team as an agent of Russia.

We do not need to say anything about Dmitri Simes, who was unfairly smeared by even being named as target in the investigation. And the "non" events at the Republican Convention, pure nonsense.

The other six cases "investigated" my Mueller and his team of clowns are damning.

THE PROPOSED TRUMP TOWER PROJECT IN MOSCOW, according to Mueller's report, originated with an FBI Informant--Felix Sater. Mueller was downright dishonest in failing to identify Sater as an FBI informant. Sater was not just a private entrepreneur looking to make some coin. He was a fully signed up FBI informant. Sater's status as an FBI snitch was first exposed in 2012. Sater also was a boyhood chum of Michael Cohen, the target being baited in this operation. Another inconvenient fact excluded from the Mueller report is that one of Mueller's Chief Prosecutors, Andrew Weissman, signed the deal with Felix Sater in December 1998 that put Sater into the FBI Informant business.

All suggestions for meeting with the Russian Government, including Putin, originated with Felix Sater. The use of Sater on this particular project started in September 2015.

GEORGE PAPADOPOLOUS. Papadopolous was targeted by British and U.S. intelligence starting in late December 2015, when he is offered out of the blue a job with the London Centre of International Law and Practice Limited (LCILP) , which has all the hallmarks of a British intelligence front. It is Joseph Mifsud, working for LCILP, who introduces the idea of meeting Putin following a lunch with George in London. 

And it is Mifsud who raises the possibility of getting dirt on Hillary. During Papadopolous' next meeting with Mifsud, George writes that Mifsud:

leaned across the table in a conspiratorial manner. The Russians have “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, he tells me. “Emails of Clinton,” he says. “They have thousands of emails.”

More than three weeks before the alleged Russian hack of the DNC, Mifsud is peddling the story that the Russians have Clinton's emails. Conspiracy?

CARTER PAGE. The section of the Mueller report that deals with Carter Page is a total travesty. Mueller and his team, for example, initially misrepresent Page's status with the Trump campaign--he is described as "working" for the campaign, which implies a paid position, when he was in fact only a volunteer foreign policy advisor. Mueller also paints Page's prior experience and work in Russia as evidence that Page was being used by Russian intelligence, but says nothing about the fact that Page was being regularly debriefed by the CIA and the FBI during the same period. In other words, Page was cooperating with US intelligence and law enforcement. But this fact is omitted in the Mueller report. The Christopher Steele dossier was used as "corroborating" intel to justify what was an illegal FISA warrant. The FBI lied about the veracity of that dossier. Conspiracy?

TRUMP TOWER MEETING (JUNE 9, 2016). This is another glaring example of a plant designed to entrap the Trump team. Mueller, once again, presents a very disingenuous account:

On June 9, 2016, senior representatives of the Trump Campaign met in Trump Tower with a Russian attorney expecting to receive derogatory information about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government. The meeting was proposed to Donald Trump Jr. in an email from Robert Goldstone, at the request of his then-client Emin Agalarov, the son of Russian real-estate developer Aras Agalarov.

The real problem is with what Mueller does not say and did not investigate. Mueller conveniently declines to mention the fact that Veselnitskaya was working closely with the firm Hillary Clinton hired to produce the Steele Dossier. Even the corrupt NBC News got these damning facts about Veselnitskaya on the record:

The information that a Russian lawyer brought with her when she met Donald Trump Jr. in June 2016 stemmed from research conducted by Fusion GPS, the same firm that compiled the infamous Trump dossier, according to the lawyer and a source familiar with the matter.

In an interview with NBC News, Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya says she first received the supposedly incriminating information she brought to Trump Tower — describing alleged tax evasion and donations to Democrats — from Glenn Simpson, the Fusion GPS owner, who had been hired to conduct research in a New York federal court case.

Unfounded Conspiracy?

PAUL MANAFORT. If Paul Manafort had rebuffed Trump's offer to run his campaign, he would be walking free today and still buying expensive suits and evading taxes along with his Clinton buddy, Greg Craig. Instead, he became another target for DOJ and intel community and the DNC, which were desperate to portray Trump as a tool of the Kremlin. Thanks to John Solomon of The Hill, we now know the impetus to target Manafort came from the DNC:

The boomerang from the Democratic Party’s failed attempt to connect Donald Trumpto Russia’s 2016 election meddling is picking up speed, and its flight path crosses right through Moscow’s pesky neighbor, Ukraine. That is where there is growing evidence a foreign power was asked, and in some cases tried, to help Hillary Clinton.

In its most detailed account yet, Ukraine’s embassy in Washington says a Democratic National Committee insider during the 2016 election solicited dirt on Donald Trump’s campaign chairman and even tried to enlist the country's president to help.

In written answers to questions, Ambassador Valeriy Chaly's office says DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa sought information from the Ukrainian government on Paul Manafort’s dealings inside the country, in hopes of forcing the issue before Congress.

Manafort was not colluding, but the Clinton campaign and the Obama Administration were colluding with Ukraine.

GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN. This is the biggest travesty. Flynn was being targeted by the intel community with the full collaboration of the FBI. Thanks to his new attorney, the Honey Badger Sidney Powell, there is an avalanche of evidence showing prosecutorial misconduct and an unjustified, coordinated effort by the Obama team to frame Flynn as catering to the Russians. It is a lie and that will be fully exposed in the coming weeks.

Any fair reporter with half a brain would see these events as pointing to a conspiracy. But not the liars at the New York Times. But the Times does tip us off to the upcoming mad scramble for life boats. It will it the FBI and DOJ against the DNI, the CIA and NSA. According to the Times:

It is not clear how many people Mr. Durham’s team has interviewed outside of the F.B.I. His investigators have questioned officials in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence but apparently have yet to interview C.I.A. personnel, people familiar with the review said. Mr. Durham would probably want to speak with Gina Haspel, the agency’s director, who ran its London station when the Australians passed along the explosive information about Russia’s offer of political dirt.

There is no abiding affection between the FBI and the CIA. They mix like oil and water. In theory the FBI only traffics in "evidence." The CIA deals primarily with well-sourced rumors. But the CIA will argue they were offering their best judgement, not a factual conclusion. Brennan and Clapper will insist they were not in a position to determine the "truth" of what they were reporting. It is "intel" not evidence.

The Horowitz report will not deal with the CIA and NSA directly. Horowitz can only point out that the FBI folks insisted that they were relying on the intel community and had no reason not to trust them. This is likely to get ugly and do not be surprised to see the intel folks try to throw the FBI under the bus and vice versa. Grab the popcorn.

Comments

[turcopolier]

LJ

They should squeeze Clapper. When he has been shown the instruments of torture he will squeal like the human piggy in "Deliverance."

[jonst]

I agree 100%, Clapper can be flipped.

[jonst]

You seem to have faith Larry, and I am not offering this sarcastically, that the Misfud Blackberries still have relevant data on them. I would be very surprised, (albeit pleasantly so) and disappointed, if MI6 was that sloopy.

[Jack]

Larry

Thanks for keeping on this story.

While I don’t have much confidence in Barr & Durham actually indicting Brennan, Clapper, Comey, et al, nor do I believe that they’ll lay out in clear terms the collusion between law enforcement, intelligence, corporate media, political operatives, foreign governments and intelligence agencies to frame a presidential candidate & campaign, I hope that some of these putschists will be made to pay at least a modest amount of their personal gains through their media and consulting gigs. As David Habakkuk has noted I hope the defamation lawsuit by Ed Butowsky is successful and that is then used as a template by others to go after all those complicit in this travesty.

What I find despicable is the hypocrisy and moralizing tone of all these smear merchants. These same characters now smearing Tulsi Gabbard using the same tropes. But even more, my utter disgust is with all the DC cocktail circuit propagandists in the media who are no longer even pretending.

I’m too old to see this happen, but my hope is that future generations will see the complete destruction of the political duopoly and the media-intelligence propaganda complex. They’ve been such a destructive force over the past five decades.

[eakens]

It's going to be a full court press to get Trump out of office if we are expecting things to start shaking loose in weeks.

[MP98]

Anyone know who Durham is using as investigators?
Not the FBI,I hope.

[Diana C]

This may seem a silly comment, but I really appreciate your calling out the "media-intelligence propaganda complex."

I taught journalism and was the adviser of a large high school newspaper. In our state, high school newspapers did not need to provide our paper to school administration for "prior review" before we published. Our state was one of only three states in the nation that gave high school newspapers that right--not to ask administration for approval before we sent the paper to the printers.

I did my best to instill in my student reporters the rules of good journalism procedure in reporting and opinion writing. On several occasions we were called in about stories the administration would have preferred we hadn't printed---or at least they would have preferred that we didn't give the other side of the story from their point of view.

We have a huge number of high school newspapers that now print only fluff and don't even try to print news or opinion pieces. Reporters have grown up feeling they can print gossip and provide only one-sided opinions.

Newspapers have gone out of business all over the country.

So, we are left with the old papers from the East Coast that are in bed with "sources that supply only the information the powerful want printed and that express only the opinions that the powerful provide.

That whole situation has bled into television news channels so completely now that the younger generations have no idea what the "fourth estate" should really be.

It all makes me very sad for our country and for the future of my grandchildren.

I am losing hope that the other three "estates" will find a way to do what they were put in place to do. Perhaps our only hope is in the judicial branch at this point, but that can easily be corrupted, too, as we've seen on several occasions.

[blue peacock]

Steve Bannon says President Donald Trump will be impeached in six weeks......

Bannon says House Speaker 'Nancy Pelosi is very focused,' about getting the process of impeachment started, and that even if Trump manages to avoid being removed from office, there are even greater threats waiting as the 2020 presidential election approaches......

'The problem we have is that the president needs a team around him and somebody has got to step up and make a play. Trump can't do everything,' Bannon said. 'There is just no coordination with the team.

'The fake news and witch hunt stuff is not working.'

Bannon urged Trump to 'augment the legal team' and cited that what helped the administration during Robert Mueller probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election 'was bifurcation of the White House Counsel's office. You need … a team put together than can focus on [impeachment] 24/7'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7593483/Steve-Bannon-says-Trump-impeached-six-weeks-Nancy-Pelosi-focused.html

As Rep. Al Green said if they can't impeach Trump, he'll get re-elected.

https://twitter.com/BParsonPNW/status/1185936579337936896?s=20

What's the over/under on 20 GOP senators voting to convict?

[casey]

Mr. Larry:

Very nice job indeed of explaining the various players involved in this complex, black comedy of treason and sedition. And while the prospect of Clapper being made to squeal like Ned Beatty has a powerful appeal, it is mighty hard for me to see how indictments come down, even with squealing. That photo of Comey in the pleasant reading nook in his home -- with children's toys in the foreground, no less! -- in that NYT preemptive puff piece tells me that the media will draw and quarter anyone how dares so much as write any one of the cabal a speeding ticket.

[Flavius]

Excellent summary. Taken together, the combination of actors is very comparable to a Mafia family. The question is how to bring justice to this malignant political enterprise as such, and where - in what venue? The binding element is obsessive Trump hate which however censurable and professionally incompetent, is not a crime. Among the Democrats in Congress it is a virtue. The reason they pursue impeachment so virulently is to distract from the investigation of the government racket that coalesced to first deny him office, and then to bring him down, actually to preempt it or geld it. If there are violations to be found here and there among the players and within the agencies both at home and abroad, I can't envision a criminal charge that comprehends all the individual acts that interrelate with respect to a common objective but that were not mutually devised and agreed upon. For example, how does one get from the malignant John Brennan, who is likely the origin of the scheme, through Jim Comey and the cabal of FBI bureaucrats, who were reduced to rank incompetency by their sanctimonious hubris, to Robert Mueller and his crew, relentless, overbearing, over reaching, abusive, destructive. They should all be brought into the same dock. It's really too bad that this political racket that combined ad hoc, almost willy nilly to meet the circumstances, and continues to mutate, seems destined to play out as politics - bad for the country. It is hard, frankly, to see 40:years after Watergate, small potatoes in comparison, that the structure of government in Washington was susceptible of such pervasive corruption.

[blue peacock]

Larry,

It seems that the DOJ/FBI and the CIA/DNI will play political football to justify their exoneration. Reminiscent of several DOJ inquiries recently wherein a DOJ/FBI official is not indicted while the inquiry showed law breaking. Just like Comey's exoneration justification for Hillary's classified information breaches.

I can see how Barr/Durham can say DOJ/FBI had reason to believe that the CIA/DNI information was accurate and would have been derelict if they didn't investigate allegations of a foreign government interfering in a presidential election. Consequently we will not indict the coup plotters. That would of course require them to whitewash the points you have so cogently made of the many entrapment efforts by law enforcement & counter-intelligence that would lead to a clear conclusion of a conspiracy.

The real question is how much heat can Barr take? If he concludes and presents evidence of a conspiracy, that would necessitate the the take down of not just CIA/DNI/FBI/DOJ but also MI6, Australian & Italian intelligence among others as well as several elite media figures. Barr must be thinking about the media firestorm as the corrupt MSM will be going all out hysterical and attacking him personally and accusing him of carrying Trump's water.

Since we are heading towards some kind of constitutional crisis with Nancy intent on impeachment and many of the establishment GOP like Romney itching to vote to convict in the Senate, I would very much like to hear your opinion/speculation if Barr would be willing to go down with the ship or would prefer to let Trump stew on his own and hang in with the Deep State apparatus to keep his wheels greased? What we see is the intensity of calculation around personal gain in our nation's capital and the major money centers. The NBA & Lebron being recent classic examples. It would appear that honor and principle have long left the station.

[different clue]

I was going to have said that . . . here's hoping the bus driver drives the bus real nice and slow, back and forth over Mister Clapper's hands and feet, over and over again.

But this suggestion is obviously better, and one hopes that the Clintonite embeds and Obamacrat agents inside the relevant parts of government can be kept away from this process so they can't interfere in the " been shown the instruments of torture" process.

[akaPatience]

I guess we'll find out before too long if the colonel's analogy to The Raft of the Medusa from a while back ends up being applicable to the conspirators or if, as in the examples of Comey's and McCabe's book deals, as well as Brennan's, Clapper's and McCabe's gigs as TV pundits prove that crime really does pay.

Why do I anticipate crowd funding as a means to bribe these malefactors and to control the narrative? It worked for the goofy woman who smeared Judge Kavanaugh. Didn't she end up with nearly a million dollars? This development is a dangerous and shameful trend that can too easily thwart truth and justice.

[Eureka Springs]

Oct 8 on CNN. Looks like Clapper's claiming he's was just following Obama's orders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CuO0i9xNY0

[Terry]

Pardon me if you reported on and I missed it, I am wondering about your thoughts on the Occionero affair. A serious coup attempt if true.

In this case Italian intelligence was going to plant evidence for the FBI to find.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/09/exclusive-obamas-deep-state-ties-to-italians-and-their-attempts-to-set-up-trump-are-finally-coming-to-light/

[Jim Ticehurst]

Well..Well...My Best Wishes to General Flynn..for complete Exoneration..Let it Be..Skywalker...This is the perfect Month..Oktober..for all The Spooks..Vampires ..Weird Wolfs..Witches..Warlocks..and Wackos.Conjured Up By Barack Obama..and The Clintions..with atheir Cigars.. .in The Crypts around Washington D.C. to Be Brought to Light..Squeeling..Howling..Moaning..and Groaning..Exorcised My Mr. Barr..and Mr.Durham..and Staffs...

All in the Anticipation That Hillary The Red Clinton would be Elected as The Queen of the Castle..With Full Power from the Dark Side..and that She would list Her New Address...As 1600 TRANSYLVANIA AVE..

[JerseyJeffersonian]

I commend IN THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE TERMS this post at Conservative Tree House. Senate Select Comm. On Intelligence implicated: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/10/20/durhams-trail-leading-to-ssci-ali-watkins-never-slept-with-james-wolfe-it-was-a-cover-story/#more-174163

[Factotum]

Don't take any free helicopter rides, Clapper.

[Factotum]

The deep cynic in me wonders if the FBI and/or the CIA have manufactured or real dirt on enough GOP Senate votes to force this impeachment.

Is that why the Democrats are acting so smug, even without facts against Trump. Or are they and the media, including FOX news just gaslighting.

[Factotum]

The big government unions very much wanted Clinton to win. Just like they wanted Obama to win. Those big public sector union bosses hold a lot of power and ability to move the deep state.

If you think Jimmy Hoffa played dirty with the private sector unions, why not the public sector union bosses and henchment at SEIU, AFT and AFSCME, ETC? Are they angels and exactly how much skin do they have in taking Trump down.

Millions of public sector union members and billions of dollars are at stake - all concentrating on a single purpose - get rid of Trump and get their hands back on the taxpayer checkbook. Game of Thrones.

[Christo Wraye]

Barr's recent secret meeting with Rupert Murdoch, who has monopoly on media in Australia, indicates that
the DOJ has found unsavory acts committed by Australia's Downer who is connected to Murdoch's media outlets, and James Murdoch's wife who worked for Clinton Foundation which Downer was deeply involved with and donated to. Its likely Barr is colluding with Rupert Murdoch on how to spin all of this. Meanwhile Barr has waived all criminal prosecutions the OIG has recommended including all of the FBI and DOJ folks that unlawfully accepted gifts/tickets (bribes) from CNN and Fox. Of course Barr is terribly conflicted because he was a Director of CNN (thru TimeWarner) in 2016 until early 2019 when all the bribes were being paid, thus he has criminal liability himself and should have already recused himself. Indeed, if Barr was meeting with Rupert Murdoch he was obligated to interview Murdoch in regards to Murdoch's knowledge of the criminal systemic tickets/gifts being offered to FBI/DOJ folks....But that didn't happen at the secret meeting or else it wouldn't have been a secret meeting 1:1 at Murdoch's home....

[walrus]

I have a sickening feeling that Clapper needs a reliable body guard right now. If the Clintons believe he is going to sing he won’t live long enough to testify. “Heart attack” will be the cause.

[turcopolier]

walrus

Prison flu would be another possibility if he is held in NY City.

[oldman22]

OT but timely
John Helmer says

Taking into account that the so-called withdrawal of US ground forces is westward to a base across the Iraqi border, al-Tanf is preserved, the USAF will operate over the eastern half of the Turkish zone -- https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-syria-security-turkey-usa-graham/syria-critic-lindsey-graham-reverses-stance-says-trumps-policy-could-succeed-idUKKBN1WZ0J2 -- and the Arab media are reporting the intention to hold the oil fields and prevent Syrian sovereignty, this is the real Trump-Erdogan plan: https://twitter.com/bears_with/status/1186193192187764736

[smoke]

"I would be very surprised, (albeit pleasantly so) and disappointed, if MI6 was that sloppy."

Reminds me of something a British tv commenter said shortly after the 7/7/05 London bombings. The story coming out was a jumble of confusion, and included the reports that one or more of the accused bombers were on various countries' watch lists and that Israeli P.M. Netanyahu, who was visiting in London, had been warned by Mossad not to go out of his hotel that morning. Said this commenter, either something was wrong in the bombing story or "the level of incompetence was unusually high, even for the security services."

British services clearly seem to have had a role in the machinations against Trump. If the design was to tie up the Trump administration in knots for 4 years, then maybe not so incompetent.

Better not to get caught, of course, but what penalty are they likely to suffer? If Trump is gone in a year, and if, in the meantime, the FBI and the CIA are cannibalizing one another, there won't be much chance to get around to British services. The U.S.security services could even decide to make the Brits the scapegoat, which might cause the least harm to all the guilty parties.