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Video taken years before Epstein island purchase, sexual misconduct allegations
Following the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein on charges of molesting underage girls and sex trafficking children, media organizations have tried to tie him to President Donald Trump.
On July 17, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program aired footage showing Trump at a party with Epstein. The footage had previously been aired by NBC News during the presidential election race in 2016.Continue Reading
While media focus on Trump, larger questions remain about Epstein’s finances and ties to Bill Clinton
Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on July 6 after landing at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey upon his return from a trip to France. Epstein was previously indicted in 2007 on charges he abused underage girls, but reached a controversial plea deal, in which he served only 13 months in a low-security facility that allowed him to work from his office each day.
Epstein now faces federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking that may lead to him spending the rest of his life in prison. DOJ officials have indicated that they expect the charges against Epstein to expand as they delve further into the case. Attorney General William Barr has said he will not recuse himself from the newly opened Epstein case, although he “will remain recused from any retrospective review” of Epstein’s earlier case in Florida.
Questions surrounding Epstein have existed for a long time, including the source of his wealth and his relationship to former President Bill Clinton, who, according to flight logs, flew on Epstein’s personal jet 26 times.Continue Reading
Crucial questions that should be asked when former special counsel testifies before House committees on July 17
Robert Mueller, who investigated allegations of Russia collusion and obstruction of justice for nearly two years as special counsel, will be testifying before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on July 17.
Mueller’s investigation, which concluded there was no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia and that there was insufficient evidence to support obstruction charges, has been criticized for attempting to inflict political damage on President Donald Trump.
Specifically, Volume II of the Mueller report contained sections that were selectively edited, apparently in order to provide damaging portrayals. Examples include the representation of the transcript of a phone call between the president’s attorney, John Dowd, and the attorney for former national security adviser Michael Flynn; a letter from the attorney of an individual referenced in the Mueller report; and a sequence of dates concerning the meeting between Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos and Australian diplomat Alexander Downer. There are also disturbing details surrounding a heavily used witness in the Mueller report, George Nader.Continue Reading
Efforts by members of Congress to advance the narrative that President Donald Trump “obstructed justice” have now replaced the disproven claims of Trump-Russia collusion.
The public narrative of obstruction, however, originated prior to the conclusion of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller and his resulting report.
Less than six months after Mueller’s appointment—on Oct. 10, 2017—the Brookings Institution published the first of two reports titled “Presidential Obstruction of Justice: The Case of Donald J. Trump,” which outlined, among other things, a scenario whereby Mueller would refer his obstruction findings to Congress, which would then take up the matter and continue investigating. The report also discussed ways in which Congress could impeach the president, mentioning the word “impeachment” a total of 90 times.Continue Reading
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, sharply criticized the Mueller report during a June 12 hearing, saying the report failed to address key players and irregularities in the FBI’s investigation, and selectively edited certain information.
Nunes also called out his Democratic counterparts, saying that former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report did debunk many of the false claims of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia that had been perpetuated by Democrats, including members of the House Intelligence Committee.
Witnesses at the hearing—titled “Lessons from the Mueller Report: Counterintelligence Implications of Volume 1″—included Robert Anderson and Stephanie Douglas, described by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) as former executives from the FBI’s counterintelligence division. Left out of Schiff’s description of Anderson and Douglas was that both witnesses had worked under former FBI Director Mueller prior to his role as special counsel.Continue Reading
Terrorists linked to Iranian-backed Hezbollah were stockpiling bomb-making ingredients, including three tons of ammonium nitrate, in London in 2015 in what was described as a “secret British bomb factory,” the Daily Telegraph reported this week.
The 2015 case was kept “hidden from the public” until now.
The discovery of the explosives cache in 2015, and the subsequent decision to keep that information from the public, occurred during a period of intense public debate over the nuclear deal between the Obama administration and Iran.Continue Reading
Meadows discusses IG report, newly found documents, and FBI involvement in Spygate, with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), in an interview on “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,” touched on a wide range of issues including the investigation by Justice Department (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the potential testimony before Congress of former special counsel Robert Mueller, the release of new documents this week, and whether people in the FBI and DOJ will be held accountable.
About the investigation by Horowitz into alleged FISA abuse, Meadows said that he expects the report to be delayed.
“Only Michael Horowitz knows the exact timeframe of when it’s coming out. Obviously, the attorney general had indicated that he hoped to see it in June. I’m not as optimistic now. And one of the reasons for that is additional information has been given to the inspector general for them to investigate,” Meadows said.Continue Reading
The Mueller report appears to have been carefully worded by the lawyers working under former special counsel Robert Mueller, and perhaps Mueller himself, in a manner designed to inflict political damage on President Donald Trump.
Additionally, we now know that sections of the report were also selectively edited to provide damaging portrayals. Examples include the representation of the transcript of a phone call between the president’s attorney, John Dowd, and the attorney for former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a letter from the attorney of an individual referenced in the Mueller report, and a sequence of dates concerning the meeting between Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos and Australian diplomat Alexander Downer.
Lastly, there are troubling and disturbing details surrounding a heavily used witness in the Mueller report, George Nader.Continue Reading
US Attorney John Huber Looking Into Issues Relating to Hillary Clinton
In an hour-long, wide ranging interview with CBS News’ Jan Crawford, Attorney General Bill Barr provided a significant amount of new information regarding the Mueller Report, the Russia Investigation, and his examination of the events surrounding the 2016 presidential election.
Barr addressed the actions taken by the leadership of the FBI and other agencies, and noted the dangers of allowing “government power, law enforcement or intelligence power, to play a role in politics, to intrude into politics, and affect elections.”
He also addressed declassification, his ongoing investigation into surrounding matters, and the involvement of U.S. Attorney John Huber, Inspector General Michael Horowitz, and U.S. Attorney John Durham.Continue Reading
On May 23, 2019, President Trump issued a Memorandum giving declassification authorization to Attorney General William Barr. The memo noted that AG Barr has full authority to “declassify, downgrade, or direct the declassification or downgrading of information or intelligence that relates to the Attorney General’s review.”
The memo was addressed to the Secretaries of the State, Treasury, Energy, Defense, and Homeland Security Departments—along with the Directors for National Intelligence and the CIA. Also included was the Attorney General, which by default inherently covers the FBI.
The subject line, “Agency Cooperation with Attorney General’s Review of Intelligence Activities Relating to the 2016 Presidential Campaigns,” was particularly notable in its use of plurals, denoting the investigation was potentially looking at interference into campaigns beyond that of just President Trump.Continue Reading