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

[different clue]

Well, even if they ( in the House) CAN impeach Trump, if they ( in the House) can't secure a conviction and removal from the Senate; Trump may still get re-elected.

Part of the spirit of the campaign would be: "Trump 2020! Because F-ck You Twice."

[different clue]

Your theory may well be correct, in whole or in part . . . but a question of terminology occurs to me.

How is it that Union Leaders become "Union Bosses", whereas Business Bosses become " Business Leaders"?

[jonst]

I'm waiting Col, for stories that reflect poorly (as the Left would see it, he already looks pretty poor to me and has for a long time) on Clapper beginning to appear in the once friendly (to him) media. That will be a significant clue the worm is turning.

[oldman22]

the fat lady has not sung
quote
. The principal mission for the handful of U.S. troops that stay would be to keep Syria’s oil fields, which are mostly in Kurdish-held territory, out of Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s hands. The decision would also allow U.S. troops to keep a toehold in the counterterrorism fight against the Islamic State, and maintain a relationship with the Syrian Kurds as they negotiate a shaky ceasefire with Turkey
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/21/trump-weighs-leaving-skeleton-force-in-northeast-syria/

[Phil Cattar]

Probably 4

[Patrick Armstrong]

Thanks for your work on this; I will give it all the publicity I can.

[Factotum]

Trump will not be gone in a year. So any unraveling with be complete with another four years. This will not stitched over. You can count on it. Trump is on to the game. So are the voters.

[Factotum]

From IndependentSentinnel.com: When it rains, it pours.

"On Monday Judicial Watch founder Tom Fitton stated that he now has smoking gun documents that show Obama and Clinton were aware arms were going to Syria through Benghazi. They were also warned about the rise of ISIS. If you will remember, Hillary insisted on deposing Gaddafi and destroying Libya.

Benghazi was a base for illegal arms running to Syria from Libya. Hillary Clinton lied about knowledge of the arms shipments under oath, which is a crime.

Fitton believes this may be why General Flynn was so desperately targeted by the Obama Deep State......."

[Paul]

In the end, the CIA is way too corrupt to be cleansed or securely managed, and it might even be shut down, according to some. It could well happen.

[Factotum]

Here is the difference: Leaders produce things. Bosses take things.

[Factotum]

Legacy of Ashes concluded: CIA is an agency in search of a mission. RX: close it down. It was a creation of WWII and the need for wartime intelligence. Nothing but a house of bungles today. According to the author. Sounds good in theory but fails in execution. Too many times. According to the author. Any rebuttals?

[Jeanna Green]

What worries me, is it is already proven that the DNC & the whole Dem. Party has the MSM & social Media in their back pocket & the media could care less that their viewers are screaming for the truth & not just their fake crap they keep putting out. Why are they allowed after its been proven, to continue to lie & miss inform the American people.
How can their attacks & lies be allowed to cont. against a sitting President. I don't care who it is, their lies should get their stations closed down. They can not stand behind their Constitutional 1st amendment right. They are lies. Not their voice, just their weapon. SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE!! Break up to big of britches companies who abuse their power, just like get rid of Politicians who do the same!

[turcopolier]

Jeanna Green

Do not post comments more than once. They are individually moderated.

[Larry Johnson]

I agree. The CIA needs to be dismantled.

[j]

It's interesting how Brennan is connected to the Brit private intel business Haklyut & Company, the same Haklyut that put the sim cards in Mifsud's phones.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/mifsuds-phones-obtained-by-durham-have-uk-sim-cards-tying-them-to-the-uk-and-back-to-john-brennan/

[jonst]

Trump may, or may not, be "gone in a year". But if he is "gone" I fully believe a lot of angry supporters will be around, and perhaps, predominate, by a slight majority. Trumpism, absent Trump, may turn out to be stronger than Trump, given the burden of the latter's personality and 'working habits'. The Dems might be unpleasantly surprised by all this.

[Factotum]

Unmaksing the "Whistle-Leaker" and his past associations? https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1184854506435239937.html

[Factotum]

As the "whistle-leaker" saga unfolds to a group of young Obama pajama boys and girls, the question must be asked: is misguided young idealism as sinister as craven old lust for power?

Do two wrongs make a rightous virtue-signaling?

[Jim Ticehurst]

Larry and Factotum...Do You think all Aspects of CIA should be dismantled..?Both the Intelligence gathering and Operations.. Covert and Overt..? Do you think The United States ?has to many Organizations in The IC Now...Would you Consolidate any of them.??? ...After the Prospective Dismantle of CIA..My Concerns about todays CIA Is that it was Very Easy to Plant this New Garden back in the OSS Days and Without The type of Proper Vetting ...And in Rapidly became a Very Elegible Political Tool..As did FBI..Now ..It has Bad Produce...and..lots of Weeds...Worms..and Moles..They even shut down Counrer Intel Operations and Staff in the last Two decades..when they have been needed the Most..We all see who is Winning the Propognda Game..Right Now.They even Now Control The Print Media...and Bought out Our Local Newspaper...they are Still..The Master.Planters....and We..The People..Have Been Mushrooms..And Larry..I hope you get back on TV..Any Opportunity you Can..

[Procopius]

I saw a comment this morning concerning the FTFNYT, but it would apply to all the East Coast papers: "Caged birds refuse to shit on it, and fresh fish wrapped in it wriggle free to escape."

[Procopius]

Even if they do impeach him, he's not going to get convicted in the Senate, and it will probably gain him a lot of votes. The FTFNYT misquotation of what Hillary actually said about Tulsi is going to hurt the Democrats, too, especially the "centrist" ones.

[Diana C]

I like that saying.

When I taught research writing, one of the sources that students could check for what was being said in regard to issues in the past (since many students picked topics that required they find contemporary news reports in regard to their issues) was the NYT. Almost every research library has copies of that rag from its beginning.

As far as I could tell, the NYT has always been worthless for anything but lining birdcages or wrapping fresh fish.

Maybe if those birds and the fish get their way, the NYT will finally die away, as it should have long ago.

[Tom]

they are notoriously sloppy, forever leaving laptops with sensitive intel in pubs, on train seats, etc. - in every terror attack it always turns out they were aware of the terrorists. they couldn't foresee the obvious fall of the ussr, when any moscow cabbie could have told them it was imminent - not surprising considering they're only a branch office of the cia.

[Factotum]

I think foreign intelligence gathering is very important. Like to see more of it. That is the issue - too many failures, outright bungles and what now appears to be dangerous subterfuge. Can it be reformed or does it need to be dismantled entirely and restarted with a new verifiable mission with truly sufficient internal controls.

In today's "transparent" universe, how much intelligence can now be obtained electronically, versus boots on the ground and calculated honey traps. Final analysis of present system is now in the hands of the Executive Branch and the attendant IG and/or special counsel reports.

Who spies on the spies. Will what will soon be emerging be a case study for an "intelligence" agency run amok?

What would you like to see? What did you think of "Legacy of Ashes" - was that a disgruntled hit job or a neutral analysis from within?

[different clue]

( oooo looky! My little hypothetical slogan has showed up in someone's comment on Naked Capitalism!)

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jeremyharrison
October 22, 2019 at 7:27 am
Great line in the comments of the Sic Semper Tyrannis piece:

Slogan for the upcoming election – “Trump 2020! Because f- you twice.”

Reply ↓

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Me so prideful . . . if that slogan becomes an informal battle standard of enough Trump supporters that the FSM can't pretend they don't hear it, that might possibly be me having a politicultural impact. ( Well, a mere layman without power has to dream . . . )