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Devin Nunes, His Growing List of Names & Victoria Nuland

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On June 29, 2018, Devin Nunes sent a letter to Chairman Gowdy and Chairman Goodlatte (discussed here).

Nunes referred seventeen highly recognizable names to the joint task force of Committees on Oversight & Government Reform and the Judiciary for open-setting interviews.

On July 2, 2018, Nunes added ten names to his list in a follow-up letter, expanding it to twenty-seven individuals (complete list w/descriptions at bottom). The new names are:

Note that names cut off at a certain political level. Below Sally Yates at DOJ. Below Comey at FBI. Below Kerry at State.

Following the addition of new names, Nunes appeared on the Laura Ingraham Show. His comments were noteworthy. I encourage you to read them in full. Nunes specifically notes he intends to refer more names later this week.

Video & comments below (transcript here):

INGRAHAM: House Intel Chair Devin Nunes is tightening the screws in his investigation into alleged surveillance abuses of the Trump campaign. The Congressman in now referring the names of 17 current and former justice department and FBI officials to the heads of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees for interviews. Just hours ago he added ten more names to the list, this time former Obama state department employees…there are a lot of people on this list that are new names to people like Victoria Nuland. Tell us why you want her to testify.

NUNES: Well first of all I want to make sure the American people know that this is just one more step in the process. I think we’ve been very transparent about how we’ve conduct this process. We went on to FISA abuse and other matters and I’ve said for a long time that we are looking at the state department. When we began looking state department, you had Victoria Nuland and other people who decided to go out and talk about things publicly which actually helped our investigation out quite a bit. The reason why is we still don’t understand how this investigation was actually opened but we know that many people in the Obama era state department were involved in the opening of that investigation. So it all comes down to how did the information make it from – supposedly – from an Australian High Commissioner Ambassador to the FBI?

So we know that didn’t come through what I would call Five Eyes Intelligence, it wasn’t real intelligence product. It somehow short circuited that process. We also know that many people in the state department were also meeting with Christopher Steele. Christopher Steele is the person who was hired by the Democrats to dig up dirt on President Trump. So this is why this investigation has taken a while, but the good thing is that I believe that Chairman Gowdy and Goodlatte, I believe that their task force will interview these people and they will interview them in public so it will be the first time during this entire investigation that the American people get to see actual questions get answered to these potential witnesses.

INGRAHAM: Again, now why would the state department be involved with the Christopher Steele Dossier issue? Again, phony Dossier, Christopher Steele, MI6, worked as an agent, supposedly has all these Russian sources. And why would this woman Elizabeth Dibble be on your list. She was the deputy chief of the Mission in London for the state department? That seems like someone you might be looking at for one of the people put into the Trump campaign, allegedly, as an informant, correct?

NUNES: Well I wouldn’t go there but the two parallel tracks here, you kind of touched on both of them. So one we have the London episode, somehow information made it from the Australian government to the FBI. We believe that went through London and somehow went to the Obama state department but then ended up in the justice department. So that’s one track, the second track is Christopher Steele. What on earth was Christopher Steele doing meeting with state department officials? Why was the Steele Dossier that supposedly the FBI was trying to get their hands on, why was that also going through the state department?

So a lot of people had their hands on the Steele Dossier including many people in the media who knew about the Steele Dossier. And this is really a collapse. What we’re having to do here as the legislative branch of government, we’re having to do the work that the media won’t do – because there are very few in the media that actually cover this story to try to get to the bottom of it – and that’s part of what’s taking so long. Typically you would have a free and fair and transparent media trying to get to the truth but in this case we haven’t had that.

INGRAHAM: So Jonathan, is it Weiner, was on your list. Who was he and, I guess several months ago, he said he’s being unfairly targeted by you?

NUNES: Yeah that was quite interesting that he thought that we were targeting him because, at the time, we weren’t sure exactly what he knew or didn’t know but thankfully he was very clear in the statements that he made that he was one of the people that was looking at the Steele information and was conveying that information in some form or fashion to the FBI. So look, we want to interview these folks. These folks work for the American tax payer, they were paid by the American tax payer.

INGRAHAM: But how do you compel that Congressman? How do you compel that? I’m sorry, you can subpoena them?

NUNES: Oh they’re going to testify. Well they can plead the Fifth but this isn’t like the documents where we’ve had to continue to fight with the justice department in order to have access to documents. This is much different, these are all American citizens. If they do not agree to appear under oath and testify, then they will be subpoenaed, that I can tell you for sure.

INGRAHAM: I want to get your reaction to something Congressman Schiff, ranking Democrat on your committee said about you and your colleagues last week on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM SCHIFF: The four horsemen of this apocalypse have been Devin Nunes and Trey Gowdy, Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan. They have been leading the charge, basically to require the justice department to give them materials that can be leaked of fed or misrepresented like the infamous Nunes Memorandum in the service of the President. And in the meantime they do enormous damage to these institutions. Ultimately they’ll be held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Sounds like a threat Congressman.

NUNES: Yeah, we are not going to be threatened by the Democrats. They are the ones that have all this blood on their hands. They are the ones who have completely destroyed the FBI and DOJ. How did they do that? They did that by digging up dirt, the Clinton campaign dug up dirt, put it into a dossier, fed into the FBI, and the FBI used our counterintelligence capabilities against a political campaign. That’s what happened here.

So the Democrats in the House and Senate, they continue to want to obfuscate. They continue to want to cover up. If we’d listened to the Democrats, we would have never even found out that the Democrats and Hillary Clinton paid Christopher Steele to generate this dirt on President Trump.

So I tend to ignore everything that they say. We continue to do our work day in and day out to get you the truth, and gradually we are gritty to the truth. And I believe as these hearings take place and testimony is are given to Congress, it will be much needed sunlight in this investigation. I think the American people will begin to see who is telling the truth and who’s not telling the truth.

INGRAHAM: Congressman, I think we all want an open session. A lot of us are getting tired of this closed session deal where the America people are kept in the dark, and then people come out, and somehow mysteriously we hear little bits and pieces about what happened, or the flavor of what happened behind closed doors. With someone like a Victoria Nuland, other Obama State Department people, and maybe even Joseph Pientka who interviewed Michael Flynn, he could — sources tell me he could be a potential whistleblower to tell what he actually understood in that interview, namely, reportedly that Michael Flynn did not lie.

NUNES: I agree with you 100 percent. I agree with you 100 percent, and that is partly why I am sending these names over to Judiciary and Oversight Committee because they already have a task force that has been convened. They should be able to do all of these hearings in the public, full transparency, so that people can watch on live television. That is my recommendation to the committee chairman. I believe they will follow that recommendation. And they may have other names. So far we sent them the 17 plus the 10, it’s 27 names we have sent them. We will be sending more names here later this week this week.

INGRAHAM: All right, congressman, thank you so much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it.

“We will be sending more names here later this week this week…”

Victoria Nuland likely plays a large part in this. I’ve been pounding the table on her role for some time. More here and here.

  • Nuland approved the FBI meeting with Steele. Did she also require that she be presented information from the Steele meeting ahead of anyone else.
  • Nuland says she and the State Department received the talking points of the Dossier in mid-July 2016 – either directly from Steel or via an intermediary – and they passed the information to the FBI.
  • The implication seems to be that Nuland received the talking points before FBI leadership ever saw the information.
  • Nuland and Winer have both stated the information was given to Secretary of State John Kerry.
  • Which raises the question. Did Nuland share the Dossier with anyone other than the FBI.

Here’s what Nuland said on the matter during a February 4, 2018 appearance on Face the Nation (begins at 4:23 mark):

During the Ukraine crisis in 2014-15, Chris Steele had a number of commercial clients who were asking him for reports on what was going on in Russia, what was going on in Ukraine, what was going on between them. Chris had a friend [Jonathan Winer] at the State Department and he offered us that reporting free so that we could also benefit from it. It was one of, you know, hundreds of sources that we were using to try to understand what was going on.

Then, in the middle of July, when he was doing this other work and became concerned, he passed two to four pages of short points of what he was finding and our immediate reaction to that was, this is not in our purview. This needs to go to the FBI if there is any concern here that one candidate or the election as a whole might be influenced by the Russian Federation. That’s something for the FBI to investigate.

Nuland said the State Department received the Dossier directly from Steele in mid-July 2016, whereupon the State Department turned it over to the FBI (segmented video here – transcript here).

Here’s a short video of Nuland testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee (h/t @Freelassie). Nuland appears a bit more…nervous…than previously:

Listen closely:

“I was first shown excerpts of the dossier in mid-July 2016…I actively chose not to be part of that briefing…I was not aware of it until afterwards…”

I’m confident you’ll be hearing Nuland’s name with greater frequency going forward.

Here’s the full list of individuals referred to Gowdy & Goodlatte’s joint task force – the Committees on Oversight & Government Reform and the Judiciary – for open-setting interviews. As Nunes noted, this list is expected to grow.

Names have been added to A Listing of Participants.

Original Names:

  • Trisha Anderson – DOJ lawyer – Adviser in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, was previously an attorney at Attorney General Eric Holder’s former firm, Covington & Burling.
  • James Baker – Former FBI General Counsel – demoted and reassigned on December 20, 2017. Working member of “Insurance Policy” group. Senior-most legal counsel at FBI.
  • Gregory Brower – Former FBI Congressional Liaison. Assistant Director for the Office of Congressional Affairs. Resigned suddenly on March 30, 2018.
  • John Carlin – Former Assistant Attorney General – Head of DOJ’s National Security Division – announced resignation on September 27, 2016 after filing the Government’s proposed 2016 Section 702 certifications on September 26, 2016. The filing does not disclose known FISA Abuses.
  • Kevin Clinesmith – FBI lawyer. Outed as “FBI Attorney 2” on Mueller Team. Removed by IG/Mueller.
  • Tashina Gauhar – DOJ official. Deputy Assistant Attorney General. National Security Division. FISA lawyer. Appears in Strzok Texts as “Tash”.
  • David Laufman – DOJ National Security Division, Former Deputy Asst. Attorney General in charge of counterintelligence – resigned on February 7, 2018. Laufman “played a leading role in the Clinton email server and Russian hacking investigations.”
  • Andrew McCabe – Former Deputy FBI Director – on December 23, 2017 announced retirement effective March 22, 2018. Forced to resign active position on January 29, 2018. Fired on March 16, 2018. Involved in all aspects. Subject of IG Report
  • Mary McCord – Former Acting Assistant Attorney General – Acting Head of DOJ’s National Security Division (replacing John Carlin) – announced resignation on April 17, 2017 – Left on May 11, 2017. Complicit in Flynn Surveillance and surveillance of Trump Campaign.
  • Jonathan Moffa – FBI official. Copied on Comey’s Draft Statement exonerating Clinton of Email Scandal. Mentioned in Strzok/Page texts. Surprisingly hard to find any information on Moffa.
  • Sally Moyer – FBI lawyer. Outed as “FBI Attorney 1” on Mueller Team.
  • Bruce Ohr – Former Associate Deputy Attorney General – demoted twice. Stripped of Associate Deputy Attorney General title on December 6, 2017. Removed as head of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force January 8, 2018. Unofficial liaison between Fusion GPS and FBI/DOJ. Wife worked at Fusion. Long-standing ties to both Christopher Steele and Glenn Simpson/Fusion GPS.
  • Lisa Page – Former FBI/DOJ Lawyer – forced off Mueller’s team – demoted August 16, 2017. IG Horowitz discovered texts July 27, 2017. Working member of “Insurance Policy” group. Page resigned/fired May 4, 2018.
  • Joseph Pientka – FBI Agent – Counterintelligence Division. Pientka potentially identified by Grassley as second FBI Agent (Strzok the other) present at Flynn Interview.
  • E.W. “Bill” Priestap – Assistant Director – Head of FBI Counterintelligence – Holds same position. Strzok’s boss – reported directly to McCabe. More here, here and here.
  • Peter Strzok – Deputy Assistant Director of FBI’s Counterintelligence – forced off Mueller’s team – demoted August 16, 2017 to FBI’s Human Resources. IG Horowitz discovered texts July 27, 2017. Strzok involved in all facets of Clinton exoneration. Working member of “Insurance Policy” group.
  • George Toscas – Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the National Security Division. Toscas contacted by NY Prosecutors (possibly Preet Bharara) about Weiner investigation re: HRC/Huma emails on Weiner computer. Toscas contacts FBI, forcing McCabe to tell Comey of emails.

Newly Added Names:

  • Elizabeth Dribble – Chargé d’affaires & former Deputy Chief of the Mission in London – received tip on Papadopoulos via Downer (h/t @JohnWHuber).
  • Jonathan Finer – Chief of Staff and Director of Policy Planning for former Secretary John Kerry.
  • Colin Kahl – National Security Advisor to former VP Biden and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East.
  • Kathleen Kavalec – Deputy Assistant Secretary – Department of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Served under Nuland.
  • Lewis Lukens – Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in London – also likely involved in Downer interactions.
  • Shailagh Murray – Assistant to Obama and Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications.
  • Victoria Nuland – former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at State Department. Gave permission for FBI Agent Michael Gaeta to meet with Christopher Steele in London. Received abbreviated copy of Steele Dossier directly from Steele in mid-July 2016 (see here).
  • Jake Sullivan – Senior Policy Advisor to Clinton Campaign – expertise in foreign policy. Along with Jennifer Palmieri, Sullivan took the lead in briefing the press on the Trump-Russia collusion story.
  • Thomas Williams – Deputy Chief of Mission – State Department.
  • Jonathan Winer – Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Law Enforcement and former Special Envoy for Libya. Received copy of Shadow Dossier from Blumenthal. Also received copy of Steele Dossier in September 2016. Has known Steele for some years.

After yesterday’s somewhat somber post, I’ve been asked to what extent this type of ongoing investigation matters. My response:

As to the Swamp:

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