6-7-18 UPDATE:
Grassley’s office says DoJ Inspector General IG report on presidential election will be released on June 14. Inspector General Horowitz will testify before Senate Judiciary Cmte on June 18
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 7, 2018
The Inspector General’s Report should be released imminently. Anytime between now and Friday – absent further postponement of the Inspector General’s scheduled testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Examining the Inspector General’s First Report on Justice Department and FBI Actions in Advance of the 2016 Presidential Election is currently scheduled for June 11, 2018 at 2:00pm EST.
Another delay is entirely possible. A lot of parts are in flux behind the scenes.
It would seem DOJ has leaked at least a portion of the contents in advance of official release. Media spin immediately followed.
NEW- IG Horowitz finds James Comey defied authority as FBI director, sources say
https://t.co/FMgKDXqJOF— Falco (@Nick_Falco) June 6, 2018
DOJ watchdog finds James Comey defied authority as FBI director, sources say.
The spin attempt is obvious. Stop the political damage at Comey – who stands between the DOJ and more importantly, the Obama Administration.
We won’t know how high up the political echelon the Inspector General has climbed until the Report’s release but we do have another data point indicating severity.
Specifically, Andrew McCabe’s sudden offer to provide Congressional Testimony in exchange for Criminal Immunity.
McCabe has seen the full report. Copies were provided to the lawyers of those named by the Inspector General a few weeks back. McCabe’s obviously somewhat unnerved by what he’s seen in the Report.
Negotiations are being handled by Senate Judiciary Chairman Grassley, who doesn’t appear to be particularly accommodating.
The Conservative Treehouse has a piece on McCabe’s “offer”.
Expect leaks to continue in front of the IG Report’s release. Expect media spin to accelerate following the release.
Recall what will be covered in the pending Inspector General Report – events undertaken in the Clinton Email Investigation – along with actions by the DOJ & FBI in advance of the 2016 Election.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) will initiate a review of allegations regarding certain actions by the Department of Justice (Department) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in advance of the 2016 election.
The Inspector General’s Report is expected to between 400 to 500 pages in length. Importantly, it won’t be the last word. There will be at least one more Inspector General Report forthcoming – perhaps two.
This is how I loosely view the Inspector General’s series of Investigations:
- Preamble – The McCabe Report
- Phase I – The Clinton Email Investigation and certain Election events.
- Phase II – Carter Page FISA Application. Includes Stefan Halper’s actions.
- Phase III – Russia-Trump Investigation & Russia Narrative.
Segments and findings will bleed from one phase to other but this provides a simple framework of the Inspector General’s approach.
It’s equally possible Phase II & III are blended into one final IG Report.
In the meantime, keep a close eye on these sources of information:
Twitter account @JusticeOIG – Office of the Inspector General – DOJ
Companion website Office of the Inspector General – Justice.
Twitter account @OversightGov – All Federal Inspector General Reports.
Companion website Oversight.gov – All Federal Inspector General Reports.
Oversight.gov/reports – Data repository for Inspector General Reports.
Oversight.gov/investigations – Data repository for Inspector General Investigations.
Lastly, some newly discovered texts have been getting some attention recently:
Wow, Strzok-Page, the incompetent & corrupt FBI lovers, have texts referring to a counter-intelligence operation into the Trump Campaign dating way back to December, 2015. SPYGATE is in full force! Is the Mainstream Media interested yet? Big stuff!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2018
President Trump was tweeting about a Strzok text uncovered by Nick Falco:
1) BOMBSHELL- From DECEMBER 2015–The word LURES is redacted by FBI but not OIG
“OCONUS LURES”
OCONUS= Outside Contiguous US
LURES= In this context LURES = SPIES – multiple
Is this an admission that the FBI wanted to run a baited Sting Op using foreign agents against Trump? pic.twitter.com/OtLxlOEGsV
— Falco (@Nick_Falco) June 4, 2018
Nick’s explanation speaks for itself.
The strength of the media pushback to minimize this text should be an immediate indication of its true significance. This, along with a few other recent finds, appears significant.
This text does not come from a new release. It was included in Appendix C-Documents from a release made by Senator Ron Johnson back in early February 2018. We discussed the release when it occurred.
The full press release along with links to the Strzok/Page text messages and letters from Senator Johnson can be found here.
Document Pdf links:
Majority Staff Report: The Clinton Email Scandal and the FBI’s Investigation of it – 25 pages
Appendix C – Correspondence – 194 pages
Appendix C – Documents (Incld FBI Text Messages) – 502 pages
For those interested in exploring the Strzok/Page texts begin on page 119 of Appendix C – Documents.
It’s here the (sometimes) less-redacted versions of the Strzok/Page texts can be found. The texts begin on August 21, 2015 and end on June 25, 2017 with Lisa Page’s text “Don’t ever text me again.”
The “oconus lures” text can be found on page 159. Other dates worth checking are March 16, 2016 (“Our guy is talking…”) and April 30, 2016 (“And now we’ve switched from the Patriot Act to a wire carrying current.”).
Outbox = Lisa Page
Inbox = Peter Strzok
A wealth of information has been uncovered here. Relevance often requires hindsight. I always cross-check dates of other events against corresponding text time-frames.
It’s my hope in putting up this post it immediately becomes irrelevant through the release of the IG Report. It’s been a long wait. Hopefully, it will be worth it.
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