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A Letter from Devin – Unmasking the Leakers

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Devin Nunes, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has sent a letter to Daniel Coates, the Director of National Intelligence regarding the issue of unmasking and intelligence leaking.

We have found evidence that current and former government officials had easy access to U.S. person information and that it is possible that they used this information to achieve partisan political purposes, including the selective, anonymous leaking of such information.

The committee has learned that one official, whose position had no apparent intelligence related function, made hundreds of unmasking requests during the final year of the Obama administration. Of those requests, only one offered a justification that was not boilerplate and articulated why that specific official required the U.S. person information for the performance of his or her official duties.

That unnamed individual is almost certainly former UN Ambassador Samantha Power.Continue Reading

14 Issues Worthy of Investigation – A House Judiciary Request

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The House Judiciary Committee issued a press release on July 27, 2017, stating that a formal request for the appointment of a second Special Counsel has been made to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The actual letter may be viewed here.

The Judiciary Committee members were specific in their request. They are asking for investigation into the following:

The members call for the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate grave concerns such as former Attorney General Lynch’s directive to former FBI Director Comey to mislead the American people on the nature of the investigation into former Secretary Clinton; the FBI and Justice Department’s investigative decisions related to the Clinton email investigation, including the immunity deals given to potential co-conspirators; selected leaks of classified information that unmasked U.S. persons incidentally collected upon by the intelligence community; and the FBI’s reliance on “Fusion GPS” in its investigation of the Trump campaign, among many others issues.Continue Reading

Russian Dolls – A NYT Correction & An Intelligence Fabrication

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An interesting correction appeared in the New York Times from a Maggie Haberman article on June 25th. I missed the actual correction but was alerted to it by a later article on the matter.

Part of what made the correction interesting was the manner in which the article was rewritten – done in a fashion that made it difficult to see where the correction actually applied – thereby attempting to render the whole correction moot.

Equally interesting was how the correction glossed over the makeup of our intelligence agencies – and inadvertently exposed how the Times – and almost every other news organization – exaggerated the role of the intelligence agencies in promoting the notion of Russian Collusion. It also highlights the roles played by the intelligence agencies actually involved:Continue Reading

James Comey & Questions That Linger

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“If I find out that people were leaking information about our investigation, whether to reporters or private parties, there will be severe consequences.” – James Comey – May 3 2017

James Comey released a surprisingly detailed Opening Statement the day before his infamous hearing. I discuss it here. It was so detailed that many predicted Comey’s actual testimony would prove to be a non-event. That view was not entirely accurate. Comey’s actual testimony proved to be a layered affair. There were the first impressions, then some deeper takeaways – and then further questions. I cover Comey’s testimony here. In it I discuss some serious timeline inconsistencies – and some inconsistencies in how he handled this affair versus the Clinton Criminal Investigation.

Despite the analysis, nagging questions remain. Questions that I do not have immediate answers to.Continue Reading

The Timeline Problems of James Comey’s Testimony

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FBI Director James Comey delivered his long-awaited testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee today. There are at least two significant timeline issues with Comey’s testimony.

Marco Rubio’s questioning summed up the hearing succinctly and in the most salient manner:

RUBIO: What it comes down to is the president asked three things of you. Asked for your loyalty. You said you’d be loyally honest.

COMEY: Honestly loyal.

RUBIO: Honestly loyal. He asked you on one occasion to let the Mike Flynn thing go because he was a good guy. By the way, you’re aware he said the same thing in the press the next day. He is a good guy, treated unfairly, et cetera. I imagine your FBI agents read that.

COMEY: I’m sure they did.Continue Reading

Comey’s Statement & His Political Undermining of President Trump

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Former FBI Director James Comey released his opening statement ahead of his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8 2017. My assessment follows the highlights of Comey’s statement.

Comey notes nine one-on-one interactions – three in person and six on the phone – with President Trump but highlights only five. He states:

January 6 2017:

on January 6 2017, he informed President Trump that he was not under investigation – without President Trump asking him about the matter.

he documented his first conversation with President Trump on a laptop immediately after the meeting.

he decided to create written records of conversations with President Trump from that point forward.

he did not engage in this practice with others – including written documentation of conversations with Obama – of which he says there were only two in eight years.

the FBI Investigation is a counter-intelligence investigation – not a criminal one.Continue Reading

Three Subpoenas – Unmasking the Unmaskers

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Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that seven subpoenas were issued by the House Intelligence Committee.

Four of the Subpoenas were for Mike Flynn and President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen – one for each man and one for their respective companies. According to Fox News, these four subpoenas were “issued at behest of the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and were said to be duplicative of subpoenas already issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting a parallel probe”. As such they are not the real story – indeed, they were almost certainly issued by Schiff as a distraction from the real story.Continue Reading

John Sununu and the CNN Russian Smackdown

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Just as Democrats are allergic to the truth, I’m allergic to stupidity. Which is why I missed this epic takedown provided by John Sununu during an interview on CNN. This video – at bottom of page – comes to you courtesy of The Conservative Treehouse. Folks over there apparently have a higher pain threshold than do I. Give their site a look-see. Always thought-provoking.

Sununu utterly destroys CNN’s Alisyn Camerota’s attempts at maintaining the Russian Narrative. Note that Sununu was highly critical of Trump during the campaign – which is perhaps why CNN put him on. The interview did not go as they expected…

A couple of varied quotes to give you a taste:Continue Reading

John Brennan Heads for the Exits

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CIA Director John Brennan testified before the full House Intelligence Committee on May 23, 2017. And judging from his opening statements, Mr. Brennan had closely watched former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony on March 20th 2017.

The full video of Brennan’s testimony is below (transcript here). I will highlight some key moments:Continue Reading

President Trump, Special Counsel & Some Relevant Facts

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The Democrats have managed to pressure Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein into appointing former FBI Director Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to handle the Russian Investigation.

My question is – other than being a pressured response to external political forces – why?

There is no evidence of collusion between President Trump and the Russian Government. None.

This has been repeatedly – although reluctantly – stated by senior Democrats like Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein is the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. She has access to the best levels of information. Here is her May 18th, 2017 exchange with Wolf Blitzer of CNN:Continue Reading