He’s the Forrest Gump of the Democrats’ never-ending effort to get Donald Trump, popping up at key junctures to lend a black-gloved hand to the cause. And now he’s looking for work.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-dni-john-ratcliffe-on-twitter-files-james-baker-an-olympic-champ-on-interfering-in-elections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Baker</a>, who shares a name and little else with former <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/story/transcript-james-baker-remembers-ronald-reagan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Reagan’s legendary adviser</a>, was a top FBI lawyer in 2016 when the bureau shamefully tried to frame Trump as a stooge of Russia. He helped get two absurd lies started by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign into the bureau&#8217;s bloodstream and opened the entire Trump operation up to secret surveillance.
The first ridiculous lie Baker helped spread was that Trump communicated with the Kremlin by sending mysterious <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/agent-who-probed-alfa-bank-claims-under-fbi-investigation-for-crossfire-hurricane-fisa-errors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bat signals from Trump Tower</a> to a Russian bank, and the other one was that a dossier full of phony dirt on Trump was legit. Baker can take a bow for his central role in ginning up a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/02/politics/mueller-report-cost/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$32 million investigation</a> that went nowhere and hamstrung an entire presidency.
Now, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-twitter-files-compromised-after-lawyer-involved-in-the-controversy-was-behind-vetting-the-files/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baker has resurfaced at Twitter</a>, where we – and new owner Elon Musk – are only just learning of his continued efforts to throw sand in the gears of transparency. After leaving his FBI gig in 2017, Baker did a short stint at <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/14/723134967/jim-baker-writes-in-lawfare-why-i-do-not-hate-donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lawfare</a>, the Democratic Party’s dirty legal tricks headquarters, then took a seven-figure job as Twitter’s deputy general counsel in June of 2020.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
In light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1600237095364096000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Three employers, but the same basic job: Get the Orange Man while covering up tracks and wiping fingerprints.
It was Baker who advised Twitter not to allow sharing of the Hunter Biden laptop story just before the 2020 election. Polls suggest the laptop story, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/reminder-these-50-intelligence-officers-claimed-without-evidence-that-new-york-posts-hunter-biden-story-was-russian-disinformation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broken by the New York Post</a> and full of shocking evidence of the younger Biden selling his father&#8217;s influence, would have <a href="https://tippinsights.com/shock-poll-8-in-10-think-biden-laptop-cover-up-changed-election/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">swung the election</a> if social media platforms Twitter and Facebook, together with legacy media outlets, hadn’t squashed it. But Baker wasn’t done sabotaging free speech from inside Twitter, even though he is now.
When Musk turned over the platform’s internal communications to a pair of respected journalists, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-twitter-files-show-2020-was-rigged-not-stolen-but-trump-is-hurting-himself/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Taibbi</a> and Bari Weiss, so they could raise the curtain on Twitter’s partisan, swamp-directed “content moderation,” Baker sprang into action one last time. Since Musk hadn’t yet rooted him out, Baker was the one in position to screen the communications given to Taibbi and Weiss.
Taibbi’s bombshell first review of the behind-the-scenes deliberations that led to killing the laptop story showed Twitter’s old regime looking hapless and corrupt. The Democrats appeared to dictate the platform’s social justice warriors&#8217; every decision. Baker let one email through that he undoubtedly thought portrayed him as a wizened attorney, out to protect the company.
“It’s reasonable for us to assume that they may have been [hacked] and that caution is warranted,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-fbi-lawyer-turned-twitter-counsel-supported-decision-to-suppress-hunter-biden-laptop-story-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baker opined</a> about the laptop to Twitter&#8217;s social justice warriors.
Astute observers like Miranda Devine, the indefatigable New York Post reporter and author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=laptop+from+hell+miranda+devine&amp;adgrpid=1346902504718127&amp;hvadid=84181633375201&amp;hvbmt=bp&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvlocphy=83836&amp;hvnetw=o&amp;hvqmt=p&amp;hvtargid=kwd-84181892496714%3Aloc-190&amp;hydadcr=20615_13322643&amp;tag=mh0b-20&amp;ref=pd_sl_5trisix487_p" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Laptop from Hell: Hunter Biden, Big Tech, and the Dirty Secrets the President Tried to Hide</a>,” noticed there was a dog that wasn’t barking in the first tranche of emails, texts, and Slack messages pored over and poured out by Taibbi.
Where was the FBI?
Yoel Roth, whose job at Twitter involved silencing conservatives and bore the absurd title of “global head of safety &amp; integrity,” had already let slip that the FBI had warned Twitter that the laptop story was coming, claiming that it was a Russian disinformation operation.
“I was told in these meetings that the intelligence community expected that individuals associated with political campaigns would be subject to hacking attacks and that material obtained through those hacking attacks would likely be disseminated over social media platforms, including Twitter,” he said in a Dec. 21, 2020 sworn declaration to the Federal Election Commission. “I also learned in these meetings that there were rumors that a hack-and-leak operation would involve Hunter Biden.”
That jibes perfectly with Facebook founder <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/evidence-of-fbi-meddling-in-2020-election-mounts-after-zuckerbergs-hunter-biden-laptop-revelation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Zuckerberg’s August revelation</a> to podcast king Joe Rogan that the FBI had warned the company just before the 2020 election that a “dump” of “Russian propaganda” was on the way.
Yet nothing in the first batch of Twitter files implicated the FBI. If you find that suspicious, so did Musk. He “<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1600237095364096000?s=20&amp;t=ctk9fY6WnPtFKEQrEKWiqA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exited</a>” the FBI operative post haste, allowing him to join fan favorites <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/elon-musk-rehires-recently-fired-twitter-employees-rahul-ligma-and-daniel-johnson-says-firing-them-was-the-biggest-mistake/ar-AA14bGnG" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ligma and Johnson</a> on the sidewalk outside Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters.
With the fox out of the henhouse, we may soon see more proof of the FBI’s complicity in burying the Hunter Biden laptop story. As for seeing more of James Baker, tune in to MSNBC. They’re probably reviewing his resume right now.

James Baker left the FBI and then resurfaced at Twitter.

The FBI’s Forrest Gump Strikes Again Before Getting Twitter’s Ligma, Johnson Treatment

The FBI's Forrest Gump Strikes Again Before Getting Twitter's Ligma, Johnson Treatment

Elon Musk

Robert Mueller

Twitter

U.S.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said that Robert Mueller’s report on former President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia failed to turn public opinion against Trump because Congress did not hold enough public hearings about it.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle told Rep. Schiff that his work on the January 6 commission “just takes me back to the definitive Mueller report that was filled with so many things that didn’t actually resonate or make their way to the American people. Why do you think it will be different?”
Schiff <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/now/rep-schiff-says-jan-6-191128104.html">replied</a>, “The Mueller report didn’t change many attitudes, because it really wasn’t brought to life through public hearings. I think that was one of the failings.”
In fact, Hollywood actors literally brought the report to life in a 10-act play that featured them reading Mueller’s transcripts: John Lithgow played President Trump on stage, alongside Annette Bening, Alfre Woodard, Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Kline, Joel Grey, and Ben McKenzie. “If you still can&#8217;t get enough or if you haven&#8217;t finished your own copy of the Mueller Report, well, you can head to Washington in the next few weeks for an 11-hour long reading of volume two. Also there are plans for a graphic novel,” <a href="https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/nday/date/2019-06-25/segment/01">reported</a> CNN’s Alexandra Field.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Celebs Stage Mueller Report Play &#039;The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts&#039; | NowThis" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jeGZ-xL6FNU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Experts said the greatest problem with the Mueller report was that it failed to deliver evidence of collusion between the Trump-led Republican Party and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. “The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” the report <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/8-things-you-need-know-about-mueller-report-ben-shapiro">concluded</a>.
“We did have obviously two hearings with Bob Mueller himself,” Schiff conceded on Thursday, “but what we really needed was I think to bring forward the actual witnesses to those events.”
Congressional hearings at which Robert Mueller appeared mentally inert and uninformed about the report, which was putatively his own work, did not help the prosecution’s case. President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-mocks-democrats-over-disastrous-mueller-ryan-saavedra">thanked the Democrats</a> for holding the spectacle publicly. Obama aide David Axelrod called Mueller’s performance “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/very-painful-democrats-left-wing-media-implode-ryan-saavedra">very, very painful</a>,” adding that the special counsel “does not appear as sharp as he was.” As Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/very-painful-democrats-left-wing-media-implode-ryan-saavedra">reported</a>:
<blockquote>Leftist Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe tweeted: “Much as I hate to say it, this morning’s hearing was a disaster. Far from breathing life into his damning report, the tired Robert Mueller sucked the life out of it. The effort to save democracy and the rule of law from this lawless president has been set back, not advanced.”
MSNBC’s Jeremy Bash complained that Mueller “sucked the life out” of the Russia report and seriously “set back” efforts to hold Trump “accountable” — meaning impeachment.
Bash added that Mueller was “evasive,” “lost at times,” and was “very ineffective” at defending “his own work.”</blockquote>
Schiff, who led the charge to tie former President Trump to the Kremlin, is now a member of the congressional committee investigating the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Ruhle interrupted Schiff’s remarks, which occurred after President Joe Biden’s speech about the riot last January 6, to return to Biden speaking with a gaggle of reporters.
“I did not want to turn it into a contemporary political battle between me and the president,” <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1479123344947617795">said</a> the president.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Q: &quot;Why didn&#39;t you mention President Trump by name?&quot;
President Biden: &quot;I did not want to turn it into a contemporary political battle between me and the president. It&#39;s way beyond that. It&#39;s way beyond that.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/5INA64BvoD">pic.twitter.com/5INA64BvoD</a>
&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1479123344947617795?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Adam Schiff

Adam Schiff: Biggest Problem With Mueller Report Was It ‘Wasn’t Brought To Life Through Public Hearings’

MSNBC

Russia

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has yet again jumped on the slightest adverse news regarding the Trump administration to call for an investigation.
Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, used a New York Times article from late August to draft <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/2020-10-28.Schiff%20CBM%20SFL%20Waters%20Nadler%20Pascrell%20to%20DOJ%20IC%20IGs%20re%20CI%20Investigation.pdf">a six-page letter</a> demanding inspectors general at the Justice Department and in the intelligence committee investigate allegations that former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein hampered the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. The letter quotes heavily from a Times report from Michael Schmidt, which was adapted from his book, “Donald Trump v. The United States: Inside the Struggle to Stop a President.”
Relying on anonymous sources, Schmidt wrote: “The Justice Department secretly took steps in 2017 to narrow the investigation into Russian election interference and any links to the Trump campaign, according to former law enforcement officials, keeping investigators from completing an examination of President Trump’s decades-long personal and business ties to Russia.” The report also claimed Rosenstein “curtailed the investigation without telling the bureau, all but ensuring it would go nowhere.”
As the Washington Examiner’s Jerry Dunleavy <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/adam-schiff-calls-for-watchdog-investigations-based-on-discredited-new-york-times-story">reported</a>, however, many of the prominent anti-Trump officials who worked on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation disputed the Times report shortly after it was published.
Fired FBI agent Peter Strzok, famous for having an affair with another FBI official and discussing an “insurance policy” in case Trump won the election, said in September that the Times reporting was inaccurate.
“During the time I worked at the Special Counsel’s Office, I didn’t feel such a limitation,” Strzok told The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum. “When I discussed this with Mueller and others, it was agreed that FBI personnel attached to the Special Counsel’s Office would do the counterintelligence work, which necessarily included the president. But that’s an extraordinarily complex task, one of the most difficult counterintelligence investigations in the FBI’s history.”
Andrew Weissmann, a prosecutor for Mueller, also disputed the Times article.
“NYT story today is wrong re: alleged secret DOJ order prohibiting a counterintelligence investigation by Mueller, ‘without telling the bureau.’ Dozens of FBI agents/analysts were embedded in Special Counsel&#8217;s Office and we were never told to keep anything from them,&#8221; Weissmann said after the article was published.
As Dunleavy noted, Mueller’s own report contradicted the claims in the Times article on which Schiff relied.
“From its inception, the Office recognized that its investigation could identify foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information relevant to the FBI’s broader national security mission. FBI personnel who assisted the Office established procedures to identify and convey such information to the FBI,&#8221; Mueller’s report said. &#8220;The FBI’s Counterintelligence Division met with the Office regularly for that purpose for most of the Office’s tenure. For more than the past year, the FBI also embedded personnel at the Office who did not work on the Special Counsel’s investigation, but whose purpose was to review the results of the investigation and to send — in writing — summaries of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information to FBIHQ and FBI Field Offices.”

Adam Schiff Calls For Investigation Based On New York Times Article Discredited By Anti-Trump Former FBI Officials

New York Times

Peter Strzok

CNN&#8217;s Brian Stelter chided Washington Examiner Chief Congressional Correspondent Susan Ferrechio for calling out the mainstream media&#8217;s &#8220;ethics&#8221; when it came to reporting on supposed Trump/Russia collusion conspiracies, which have been largely <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/09/25/primary-source-for-bogus-steele-dossier-was-deemed-a-national-security-threat/">discredited</a>.
To Ferrechio&#8217;s point, the sudden onset of supposed &#8220;media ethics&#8221; comes in time to protect Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden from a potentially damaging story concerning his son Hunter Biden and the alleged selling of political access.
On the panel, Stelter dismissed the potential bombshell as old news and railed against Big Tech for not censoring conservatives even more. (The New York Post has been suspended on Twitter for days now after releasing the Biden story.)
The reason conservatives are seeing their news and voices censored by Big Tech, rationalized Stelter, is because of &#8220;asymmetric nastiness,&#8221; meaning Team Biden is running a clean campaign without lies, and the Trump campaign is misinforming the public.
Conservatives are being censored more, he said, because there is &#8220;more (bulls***) being spread by the Right. It&#8217;s sad, hopefully it&#8217;ll stop, but right now it&#8217;s true.&#8221;
Ferrechio, however, would not allow Stelter to skate.
“This is not last year’s news,” she told the CNN host of the Biden story. “It’s whether or not his son was coordinating to get him to talk to these Ukrainian oligarchs, and he was benefiting from it. It’s really dirty, and it needs to be looked at.”
Stelter claimed “newsrooms in America are very careful about this stuff” and work to slowly and cautiously vet the news. “I think bottom line is we don’t know what is real and what is fake in these emails, if there is anything real in them,” Stelter said.
“Yeah, but that didn’t stop [anyone] from reporting the Mueller and the dossier and all that stuff,” Ferrechio shot back.
“I know you’re bitter. I understand that you have a lot of resentment about that,&#8221; Stelter dismissed Ferrechio.
“Now we have ethics,” Ferrechio mocked.
“Don’t you dare,” an angry Stelter scolded the reporter. “Don’t you dare act like newsrooms didn’t have ethics in 2017 and 2018.”
“You can ‘don’t dare’ me all you want, Brian,” Ferrechio responded. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years, so say whatever you want. It’s my view, and I have a right to say it.”
“I didn’t discard the Mueller stuff,&#8221; she later added. &#8220;I was much more skeptical because I knew the sourcing, and I knew where it came from on Capitol Hill, where I have stood in the building for the past few decades,” she said. “I had real reason to doubt that stuff, and I constantly did, and it turned out a lot of it was a bunch of bunk.”
“I think everybody deserved to look at the Mueller stuff, and everyone should look at this and give Biden the scrutiny,&#8221; Ferrechio said. &#8221; &#8230; He’s not running for president of the Glee Club; he’s running for President of the United States, and this is serious.”
LISTEN:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/susanferrechio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@susanferrechio</a> destroys Stelter in this interview. When she challenged the media on ethics, Stelter fumed, “Don’t you dare” twice.
“You can don’t dare me all you want, Brian. I’ve been doing this for 30 years, so say whatever you want. It’s my view.”<a href="https://t.co/vQOpi2nbJY">pic.twitter.com/vQOpi2nbJY</a>
&mdash; Cameron Cawthorne (@Cam_Cawthorne) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cam_Cawthorne/status/1319000079261368324?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The full exchange can be accessed <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000nmdb">here</a>.
Partial transcript <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/21/cnns-brian-stelter-destroyed-by-washington-examiners-susan-ferrechio-over-biden-email-scandal/">via</a> The Federalist.

Brian Stelter

‘Don’t You Dare!’: Brian Stelter Explodes On Female Reporter For Questioning Media’s Ethics During Mueller Probe

Media Bias

Numerous cell phones from special counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s team were &#8220;accidentally wiped&#8221; before the Department of Justice inspector general was able to review the devices, according to newly released government records.
&#8220;The records show at least several dozen phones were wiped of information because of forgotten passcodes, irreparable screen damage, loss of the device, intentional deletion or other reasons — and came before the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) could review the devices,&#8221; Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-records-mueller-team-wiped-phones">reported</a>. &#8220;The OIG opened an investigation into possible bias in the origins of the Russia Investigation, but determined that the FBI complied with policies in launching the politically explosive probe. Still, the OIG flagged &#8216;significant concerns with how certain aspects of the investigation were conducted and supervised.'&#8221;
The OIG&#8217;s investigation into possible political bias that was involved in the origins of the FBI&#8217;s counterintelligence surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016 was limited in scope. U.S. Attorney John Durham launched a full-scale administrative review over what happened, which quickly turned into a criminal investigation after he reportedly uncovered evidence of misconduct.
Federalist co-founder Sean Davis was the first to release the new records showing that Mueller&#8217;s team wiped their phones.
&#8220;Newly released DOJ records show that multiple top members of Mueller&#8217;s investigative team claimed to have &#8216;accidentally wiped&#8217; at least 15 (!) phones used during the anti-Trump investigation after the DOJ OIG asked for the devies to be handed over,&#8221; Davis wrote. &#8220;Federal records show that Mueller deputy Andrew Weismann claims to have &#8216;accidentally&#8217; wiped, via wrong passwords at least 2 phones detailing his activity during the anti-Trump probe. James Quarles&#8217; phone &#8216;wiped itself.&#8217; Greg Andre also made the same wrong password claim.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Federal records show that Mueller deputy Andrew Weismann claims to have &quot;accidentally&quot; wiped, via wrong passwords at least 2 phones detailing his activity during the anti-Trump probe. James Quarles&#39; phone &quot;wiped itself.&quot; Greg Andre also made the same wrong password claim&#8230;
&mdash; Sean Davis (@seanmdav) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1304132463527067649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Mueller deputy Kyle Freeny similarly claimed that his phone was accidentally wiped after too many wrong passwords were entered. Same with Mueller deputy Rush Atkinson. At least a 12 other officials whose names are redacted also claimed to have &#8216;accidentally&#8217; nuked their phones,&#8221; Davis continued. &#8220;The newly released DOJ records from the OIG investigation of corruption during the Mueller probe shows that a key tactic used by the Mueller team was to put the phones in airplane mode, lock them, and then claim they didn&#8217;t have the password.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The newly released DOJ records from the OIG investigation of corruption during the Mueller probe shows that a key tactic used by the Mueller team was to put the phones in airplane mode, lock them, and then claim they didn&#39;t have the password. <a href="https://t.co/KrRx99OU4u">pic.twitter.com/KrRx99OU4u</a>
&mdash; Sean Davis (@seanmdav) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1304134727570468864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Davis later <a href="https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1304135769490173953">added</a>: &#8220;What are the actual probabilities of more than a dozen top Mueller officials all &#8216;accidentally&#8217; nuking their phones or accidentally putting them in airplane mode, locking them, and &#8216;forgetting&#8217; their passwords so the DOJ OIG couldn&#8217;t access and examine them? Negative 100,000%?&#8221;
Durham&#8217;s criminal investigation has already netted at least one guilty plea as attorney Kevin Clinesmith admitted to a judge that he &#8220;had intentionally inserted words into the text of the email, which discussed past relations between the C.I.A. and Carter Page,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/politics/kevin-clinesmith-guilty.html">reported</a>.
&#8220;The alteration was uncovered last year by an inspector general report laying out a litany of errors and omissions in the Page wiretap applications,&#8221; the Times added. &#8220;They included the F.B.I.’s failure to tell judges about Mr. Page’s history of talking to the C.I.A. about his interactions with Russian intelligence officials, a fact that might have made him look less suspicious. The report suggested that Mr. Clinesmith’s move prevented a colleague from recognizing the problem.&#8221;

Mueller Testifies On Investigation Into Election Interference Before House Committees

Dozens Of Cell Phones Used By Mueller Team Were ‘Accidentally Wiped’ Before DOJ Could Review

Department of Justice

Federalist

John Durham

Joseph Mifsud, a mysterious professor who was central to the events that allegedly kicked off the FBI’s investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election, told FBI agents in February 2017 that he never had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton and therefore never told Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos that he did.
Further, recently declassified notes from the FBI’s interview of Mifsud reveal the bureau didn’t seem to consider him a “Russian spy,” as was alleged by the media and Democrats throughout the years spent suggesting Mifsud was such. Ex-FBI Director James Comey even called Mifsud a “Russian agent” in a May 2019 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/james-comey-no-treason-no-coup-just-lies--and-dumb-lies-at-that/2019/05/28/45f8d802-8175-11e9-bce7-40b4105f7ca0_story.html">op-ed</a> for The Washington Post.
Yet the FBI seemingly let this individual provide answers in a short interview and never charged him with any crimes relating to Russian interference in the election. Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russian narrative claimed Mifsud told Papadopoulos in April 2016 that the Russians had “dirt” on Clinton, referring to hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee. The FBI’s “302” file on its interview with Mifsud, however, states that the Maltese professor said he had “no advance knowledge Russia was in possession of emails from the Democratic National Committee and, therefore, did not make any offers or proffer any information” to Papadopoulos.
Mifsud told the FBI that he and Papadopoulos “spoke about cyber security and hacking as a larger issue,” and suggested Papadopoulos “must have misunderstood their conversation” to claim that Mifsud offered negative information on Clinton.
An attorney on Twitter who uses the handle Techno Fog <a href="https://twitter.com/Techno_Fog/status/1300998748722601984">explained</a> that Mueller’s report “played up Mifsud’s ‘connections to Russia,’” yet the FBI didn’t ask the professor about these alleged connections and didn’t appear to follow up on any additional questions raised during the investigation. Further, the Mueller report alleged that Papadopoulos lied to the FBI about whether he was working for the Trump campaign when he met with Mifsud in the United Kingdom &#8212; the meeting where Mifsud allegedly referenced dirt on Clinton &#8212; and that this lie impeded the bureau’s ability to question Mifsud effectively. Except, as Techno Fog pointed out, Mifsud himself told the FBI, according to the 302, that Papadopoulos was with the Trump campaign when the two met.
The Mueller report also suggested that Papadopoulos’ lies prevented them from figuring out Mifsud’s connection in the whole narrative, yet the documents released today make clear the FBI never followed-up with Mifsud and barely asked him any questions during his interview.
In May 2019, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) sent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/theres-glaring-contradiction-mueller-report-ashe-schow">a letter</a> to the U.S. State Department and the CIA suggesting that “if Mifsud is the dangerous liaison Mueller made him out to be, then many more Western politicians have been compromised, as many have had their own contact with the professor.”
“Alternatively, if Mifsud is not in fact a counterintelligence threat, then that would cast doubt on the Special Counsel’s fundamental depiction of him and his activities, and raise questions about the veracity of the Special Counsel’s statements and affirmations,” Nunes wrote.
“It should be noted that the Special Counsel declined to charge Mifsud with any crime even though, to justify seeking a prison sentence for Papadopoulos, the Special Counsel claimed Papadopoulos’ untruthful testimony ‘undermined investigators’ ability to challenge the Professor [Mifsud] or potentially detain or arrest him while he was still in the United States,’” Nunes continued. “Furthermore, it’s still a mystery how the FBI knew to ask Papadopoulos specifically about Hillary Clinton’s emails, on multiple occasions throughout 2016-17 before having interviewed Mifsud, if the FBI hadn’t already somehow received this information directly or indirectly from Mifsud himself.”

Mueller Testifies

Central Figure In Russia-Collusion Narrative Said He Never Offered Any Russian ‘Dirt’ On Hillary Clinton, FBI Interview Reveals

2016 Election

Donald Trump

George Papadopoulos

“The Comey Rule’s” release date is both unfortunate and hardly accidental. Showtime’s two-part miniseries, starring Jeff Daniels as former FBI Director James Comey, follows his attempts to tie President Donald Trump’s electoral victory to Mother Russia. The miniseries hits the pay channel Sept. 27-28. Creator Billy Ray all but demanded it drop prior to Election Day. Anyone interested in the truth, though, would argue production wrapped long before all the facts emerged. Maybe that was the plan all along. Here’s everything we know about the production, the timing and its intended impact.
Meet Your New POTUS
Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, a screen veteran for three decades, transformed himself to play President Trump. Gleeson won an Emmy in 2009 for portraying Winston Churchill in the TV project “Into the Storm.” Other notable films include “In Bruges,” the “Harry Potter” series and “Calvary.”
Gleeson initially turned down the Trump role for fear of potential blowback, but he later relented.
Billy Ray – Writer, Director and Partisan Cheerleader?
“The Comey Rule” comes courtesy of Billy Ray, who brings an impressive resume to Showtime. Ray wrote and directed the excellent spy thriller “Breach” as well as the journalistic expose “Shattered Glass.” Since then, he’s penned Tom Hanks’ “Captain Phillips” and, most recently, last year’s little-seen “Richard Jewell.”
Ray’s previous work suggests an apolitical mien with a dash of anger at the Fourth Estate. Both “Glass” and “Richard Jewell” excoriated reporters who failed to do their jobs. The latter proved so effective that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the newspaper at the heart of the story, demanded the film studio (Warner Bros.) add a disclaimer to the film. The outlet claimed the portrayal of late AJC journalist Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde) didn’t reflect her reportage.
<a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/12/richard-jewell-ajc-controversy-1202197083/">Ray wouldn’t budge</a>.
“The AJC hung Richard Jewell, in public. They editorialized wildly and printed assumptions as facts. They compared him to noted mass murderer Wayne Williams. And this was after he had saved hundreds of lives … I will stand by every word and assertion in the script.”
Ray proved equally outraged when Showtime flirted with a post-Election Day debut for “The Comey Rule.” He <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/06/the-comey-rule-billy-ray-cast-apology-note-post-election-airdate-president-trump-james-comey-jeff-daniels-1202967723/">all but demanded the pay channel</a> change course and release the miniseries prior to the Election. Someone leaked a letter written by Ray to his cast and crew on the subject.
“[W]hile I’ve made movies about my country before, this was the first time I ever made a movie for my country. We all were hoping to get this story in front of the American people months before the coming election.”
Deadline reported that the cast signed on for “Rule,” in part, believing it would hit small screens prior to Election Day.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="RICHARD JEWELL - Official Trailer [HD]" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gSMxBLlA8qY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Ka-Ching!
The miniseries price tag? $40 million.
That’s a Wrap
We don’t know the exact date of the film’s final shooting days, but press reports indicate cameras began rolling in November.
Ben-Adir says he shot his Obama footage around Christmas time.
We all know that in late March everything, from coast to coast, essentially shut down due to the pandemic. So we can safely assume the shooting part of the production ended at that time (more likely a month or two earlier).
Of course we’ve learned quite a bit since that time about the Russian collusion narrative, little of it flattering to Comey or the media narrative on the subject.
Meet the Cast
Showtime had little trouble assembling a crackerjack cast for the project. In addition to Daniels and Gleeson you’ll see Holly Hunter as former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, Michael Kelly playing former FBI Director Andrew McCabe, “Breaking Bad” favorite Jonathan Banks as James Clapper and Scoot McNairy as former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Co-star Kingsley Ben-Adir gets his closeup as President Barack Obama, whose role in the Russian collusion saga is continually downplayed by the press.
We’ll have to see if Peter Coyote, cast as former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, will create the real figure’s disastrous July 24, 2019 appearance on Capitol Hill.
<div id="attachment_143348" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-143348" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-143348" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Jeff-Daniels-864x576.jpg" alt="US actor Jeff Daniels attends the 73rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 9, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)" width="800" height="534" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Jeff-Daniels-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Jeff-Daniels-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Jeff-Daniels-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Jeff-Daniels.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images</div>
What the Pretend Obama Knows
Actor Ben-Adir is tasked with recreating one of the most famous people on the planet – former President Obama. He recently spoke to The LA Times about the gig and the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-08-27/kingsley-ben-adir-barack-obama-malcolm-x-comey-rule-one-night-miami">bigger picture.</a>
“I think the function of Obama in the piece is to provide contrast to Trump, as an example of a president who operates from decency and kindness, someone who just wanted to leave the country in a better place than when he found it.”
&#8220;A Higher Loyalty&#8221; – Fact or Fiction?
Ray based his miniseries partly on Comey’s best-selling memoir, “A Higher Loyalty.” He also leaned on, according to Showtime, “more than a year of additional interviews” to flesh out the narrative with “key principles” involved with the case.
What About the &#8220;FBI Lovebirds&#8221;?
“The Comey Rule” casts “Game of Thrones” co-star Oona Chaplin and Steven Pasquale as FBI agents Lisa Page and Peter Strzok,” respectively. The pair famously worked on the Russia collusion case and, more famously, had an affair they revealed via flirty phone texts.
That’s not all the pair revealed.
Their messages included a reference to an <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/devin-nunes-peter-strzoks-insurance-policy-was-about-carter-page-fisa-warrant">“insurance policy,”</a> something Page and fellow Democrats tsk-tsked as something inconsequential. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. disagreed. He describes the verbiage as plans to attack Trump via the now-discredited Steele Dossier. The latter was used by the FBI to spy on Page.
Phelim McAleer created “FBI Lovebirds: Undercover,” a stage play starring Dean Cain and Kristy Swanson, based on the couple’s text exchanges.
<div id="attachment_47417" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47417" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-47417" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/peter_strzok_gi.jpg" alt="Deputy Assistant FBI Director Peter Strzok prepares to testify before a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill July 12, 2018 in Washington, DC." width="800" height="480" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/09/peter_strzok_gi.jpg 974w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/09/peter_strzok_gi-300x180.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/09/peter_strzok_gi-768x460.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</div>
Will TV Comey &#8220;Go Rogue,&#8221; Too?
We recently heard <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sally-yates-comey-went-rogue-michael-flynn-senate-judiciary-committee/">Yates throw Comey under the Beltway bus</a> during testimony about the FBI’s farcical handling of the Russia investigation.
The former Deputy Attorney General testified that Comey went “rogue,” a term she approved of, by “unilaterally” directing fellow agents to interview Michael Flynn, the president’s former National Security Advisor.
Another key fact that won’t do Team Comey any favors? The 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” lurking in the FISA applications the FBI used to surveil Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Yes, &#8220;Comey Rule&#8221; Will Take Sides
The writer/director opened up about the <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/07/the-comey-rule-trump-brendan-gleeson-jeff-daniels-tv">creative process behind “The Comey Rule</a>” recently to Vanity Fair. Here’s how he described capturing the title figure for posterity.
“As a dramatic character, basic story structure, you want to put your hero between a rock and a hard place, write the hero into a corner, and then he has to overcome the obstacles to come out of it, one way or another. And Comey, what he went through was a rock and hard place.”
Ray also adores Mueller, whose titular Report proved a massive dud second only to his bumbling Congressional testimony which even the biased press said was disastrous to the Democrats. The writer/director dubbed <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jeff-daniels-stars-james-comey-miniseries-meet-cast-1245884">Mueller “iconic” and a “hero.”</a>
<div id="attachment_114119" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-114119" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-114119" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Robert-Mueller-958x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON - JULY 26: FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee July 26, 2007 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The hearing was held to examine whether the FBI have misused their power. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)" width="800" height="481" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Robert-Mueller-958x576.jpg 958w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Robert-Mueller-300x180.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Robert-Mueller-768x462.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Robert-Mueller.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Alex Wong/Getty Images</div>
Jeff Daniels, TDS Victim
The veteran actor’s career couldn’t be more diverse. He’s played a blithering idiot in two “Dumb and Dumber” films, a philandering father in “Terms of Endearment” and now an FBI director at the heart of a massive scandal.
In recent years Daniel has sounded as unhinged as Rob Reiner, John Cusack and other actors suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.
In fact, on a 2019 MSNBC interview he said Trump’s re-election would mean “<a href="https://deadline.com/2019/05/jeff-daniels-donald-trump-republican-party-msnbc-the-end-of-democracy-1202619265/">the end of democracy</a>” in America.
More from Christian Toto: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-ellen-degeneress-public-image-collapsed">How Ellen DeGeneres’s Public Image Collapsed</a>

James Comey

James Comey Mini-Series Drops Right In Time For Election. Here’s Everything We Know About It.

2020 Election

Hollywood

Showtime

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller seemingly pushed back against President Donald Trump’s decision to commute the prison sentence of Roger Stone, who was convicted of witness tampering, lying to Congress, and obstructing a Congressional investigation.
While Mueller does not directly address the Trump administration, the former special counsel writes in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/11/mueller-stone-oped/?arc404=true">Washington Post op-ed</a> that he is responding “both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office. The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so.&#8221;
“We now have a detailed picture of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election,&#8221; writes Mueller later in the op-ed. &#8220;The special counsel’s office identified two principal operations directed at our election: hacking and dumping Clinton campaign emails, and an online social media campaign to disparage the Democratic candidate. We also identified numerous links between the Russian government and Trump campaign personnel — Stone among them.&#8221;
While the former special counsel maintains that the investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its activities,” he notes that his team determined the Trump campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.”
In a statement Friday evening, the White House referred to Stone as the victim of a collusion hoax “that was perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency.”
“As it became clear that these witch hunts would never bear fruit, the Special Counsel’s Office resorted to process-based charges leveled at high-profile people in an attempt to manufacture the false impression of criminality lurking below the surface. These charges were the product of recklessness borne of frustration and malice. This is why the out-of-control Mueller prosecutors, desperate for splashy headlines to compensate for a failed investigation, set their sights on Mr. Stone,” said the Trump administration.
“Because no such evidence exists, however, they could not charge him for any collusion-related crime. Instead, they charged him for his conduct during their investigation,” added the Trump administration on Friday.
In The Washington Post op-ed, Mueller also outlines Stone&#8217;s alleged conduct that led to the charges, in more detail.
“A jury later determined [Stone] lied repeatedly to members of Congress. He lied about the identity of his intermediary to WikiLeaks. He lied about the existence of written communications with his intermediary. He lied by denying he had communicated with the Trump campaign about the timing of WikiLeaks’ releases. He in fact updated senior campaign officials repeatedly about WikiLeaks. And he tampered with a witness, imploring him to stonewall Congress,” writes Mueller.
“Russian efforts to interfere in our political system, and the essential question of whether those efforts involved the Trump campaign, required investigation. In that investigation, it was critical for us (and, before us, the FBI) to obtain full and accurate information. Likewise, it was critical for Congress to obtain accurate information from its witnesses. When a subject lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the government’s efforts to find the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable. It may ultimately impede those efforts,” writes Mueller.
“We made every decision in Stone’s case, as in all our cases, based solely on the facts and the law and in accordance with the rule of law. The women and men who conducted these investigations and prosecutions acted with the highest integrity. Claims to the contrary are false,” he concluded.
Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) have spoken out against Trump’s decision to issue a commutation to Stone, who was supposed to begin his 40-month prison sentence later this month.
“While I understand the frustration with the badly flawed Russia-collusion investigation, in my view, commuting Roger Stone&#8217;s sentence is a mistake,” said Toomey, reports CNN correspondent Manu Raju.
“He was duly convicted of lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing a congressional investigation conducted by a Republican-led committee,” he said, later adding, “Any objections to Mr. Stone&#8217;s conviction and trial should be resolved through the appeals process.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Toomey: “He was duly convicted of lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing a congressional investigation conducted by a Republican-led committee&#8230;. Any objections to Mr. Stone&#8217;s conviction and trial should be resolved through the appeals process.&#8221;
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) <a href="https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1282050457196810240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unprecedented-historic-corruption-romney-hammers-trump-over-roger-stone-decision">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported, Romney took to Twitter and said the commutation was, by its nature, an abuse of power: “Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) <a href="https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1281937795616067586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
The White House, in addition to questioning the nature of the investigation, observed that Stone has maintained his innocence — and “expects to be fully exonerated” in a new trial — and that he would be “put at serious medical risk in prison.”
While the statement maintains that the president does not wish to become involved in Stone’s efforts to receive a fair trial, or to interfere in his chance to “vindicate himself before the courts,” the Trump administration ultimately concludes that the circumstances warrant his commutation.
“At this time, however, and particularly in light of the egregious facts and circumstances surrounding his unfair prosecution, arrest, and trial, the President has determined to commute his sentence. Roger Stone has already suffered greatly,” said the Trump administration. “He was treated very unfairly, as were many others in this case. Roger Stone is now a free man!”
Grant Smith, an attorney for Stone, said that “Mr. Stone is incredibly honored that President Trump used his awesome and unique power under the Constitution of the United States for this act of mercy,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/us/politics/trump-roger-stone-clemency.html?action=click&amp;module=RelatedLinks&amp;pgtype=Article">The New York Times.</a>

Mueller Defends Case Against Roger Stone In Op-ed After Trump Commutes Stone’s Sentence

Roger Stone

One of the biggest problems in Washington, D.C., is that when people in government do bad things, they are not often held accountable. There is also a glaring double standard for who is charged and who isn’t.
For example, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn was charged with lying to the FBI even though the bureau had no reason to question him in the first place, and it was later shown that Flynn was interviewed in order to trip him up and get him fired. Meanwhile, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe – who also lied to the FBI – was not only not charged but received a CNN contract and book deal. The difference is that the media and career bureaucrats like McCabe because he went after someone they hated: President Donald Trump.
It appears that may be changing for the people who actively investigated Trump and his 2016 campaign for the sole purpose of spinning a narrative to damage his administration. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News’ Gregg Jarrett that criminal referrals would be made “in the coming weeks” against members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, many of which hid exculpatory evidence on FISA warrant applications that allowed the investigation to continue.
The Washington Examiner (my former employer) <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/devin-nunes-republicans-expanding-investigation-into-mueller-team">reported</a> on Nunes’ remarks, which aired Sunday evening on a special Fox News program titled, “Witch Hunt: The Flynn Vindication.”
&#8220;We’ve also expanded our investigation into the Mueller team and everything that happened with Mueller and the people at DOJ and FBI that were above Mueller. And so, we will be making criminal referrals in the coming weeks against the Mueller team. We&#8217;re just now putting that together and, of course, as always, waiting on more documents that we really need to come out,&#8221; Nunes told Jarrett on the program.
Mueller’s investigation determined after a two-year investigation that there was no collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia to steal the election. Nunes said on Fox that the investigation should have been shut down quickly since Mueller knew early on that there was no collusion.
While Nunes’ words may give hope to some Trump allies eager to see justice against those that participated in an attempted coup against the president, the likelihood of anything actually coming from the criminal referrals is minimal.
Remember that Michael Avenatti and Julie Swetnick received criminal referrals for falsely accusing then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh of being a teenage rapist. Nothing has come of those referrals.
Nunes also sent eight criminal referrals to the Department of Justice last year, yet nothing has been done so far. Attorney General William Barr, however, has appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate the misconduct of officials involved in the Mueller investigation. That probe is still ongoing.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Devin Nunes

Criminal Referrals Coming For People On Mueller Investigation, Devin Nunes Says

Andrew Weismann, lead prosecutor for ex-special counsel Robert Mueller, is headlining a fundraising event for former Vice President Joe Biden.
On June 2, Weismann will sit down with former New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram for a virtual “fireside chat” and fundraiser for Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee. Weismann was effectively Mueller’s right hand throughout the ex-special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and alleged collusion with the Trump campaign.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Andrew Weissmann, former lead prosecutor on Mueller’s special counsel team, is headlining a June 2nd virtual fundraiser for Biden. <a href="https://t.co/3lq7ld5m0u">pic.twitter.com/3lq7ld5m0u</a>
&mdash; Ken Thomas (@KThomasDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/KThomasDC/status/1263484423510638597?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
President Trump and critics of the Russian collusion conspiracy were vocal critics of Weismann and others on Mueller’s team throughout the special counsel investigation. Trump characterized Mueller’s team of prosecutors as agenda-driven Democratic agents who were willing to bend or discard the truth in order to get at Trump.
President Trump’s campaign is already preparing to use the Weismann event in campaign attack ads against Biden and the Democratic Party, as well as to bolster Trump’s claim that he has been a target of unfair investigations since he took office.
Trump campaign digital director Gary Coby confirmed as much in response to Axios’ Jonathan Swan.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🤔🤔🤔 <a href="https://t.co/RxtZkrdX6s">pic.twitter.com/RxtZkrdX6s</a>
&mdash; Text TRUMP to 88022 (@GaryCoby) <a href="https://twitter.com/GaryCoby/status/1263503617673347073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“It’s no surprise that a guy who tried to take down the President through the sham impeachment would also help Joe Biden’s campaign,” Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/lead-mueller-team-prosecutor-hosting-biden-fundraiser">the Washington Examiner</a>. “It doesn’t get any swampier than this: trying to stage a partisan coup against the President and then raising money for his political opponent.”
In October 2017, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/31/us/politics/andrew-weissmann-mueller.html">The New York Times</a> profiled Weismann, calling him Mueller’s “legal pit bull.”
“If Mr. Mueller is the stern-eyed public face of the investigation, Mr. Weissmann, 59, is its pounding heart, a bookish, legal pit bull with two Ivy League degrees, a weakness for gin martinis and classical music and a list of past enemies that includes professional killers and white-collar criminals,” the Times reported.
Weismann had a history of political engagements that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-prosecutor-step-down-mueller-probe-ashe-schow">aroused</a> suspicions from many of the president’s defenders and from skeptics of Mueller’s investigation. On election night in 2016, Weismann attended then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s election night party.
Weismann led the team of prosecutors arguing the case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Manafort was eventually convicted on eight counts of financial fraud.
In December 2018, Trump criticized Weismann directly over Twitter and suggested that the prosecutor’s biases were corrupting the special counsel investigation.
“Will Robert Mueller’s big time conflicts of interest be listed at the top of his Republicans only Report. Will Andrew Weissman’s horrible and vicious prosecutorial past be listed in the Report. He wrongly destroyed people’s lives, took down great companies, only to be overturned, 9-0, in the United States Supreme Court. Doing same thing to people now. Will all of the substantial &amp; many contributions made by the 17 Angry Democrats to the Campaign of Crooked Hillary be listed in top of Report,” Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-opens-fire-mueller-comey-new-revelations-joseph-curl">wrote</a>.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Mueller’s No. 2 Headlines Fundraiser For Joe Biden

Joe Biden

The Supreme Court has delayed House Democrats’ attempts to dig through secret grand jury testimony from the Robert Mueller investigation until at least June 1.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), asked the court on Monday to release sealed evidence referenced in the Mueller report. The Trump administration had requested that the court issue a stay against a lower court ruling directing the Department of Justice to release secret grand jury testimonies.
The Supreme Court sided against House Democrats on Wednesday, issuing a temporary stay until June 1 to give the Trump administration time to appeal the lower court’s decision. If the Trump administration appeals and the Supreme Court extends the stay until arguments can be heard, Democrats’ chances of securing the testimony by court order before the election are close to nil, according to <a href="https://freebeacon.com/courts/supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-house-democrats-from-reviewing-mueller-grand-jury-materials/">The Washington Free Beacon</a>.
The House is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-democrats-demand-mueller-grand-jury-testimony-to-bring-new-articles-of-impeachment">requesting</a> the grand jury testimony to continue its impeachment investigation into President Trump. Democrats’ first attempt at removing the president fell flat in January after the Senate acquitted Trump in almost entirely party-line vote.
“The Committee and the public continue to suffer grave and irreparable injury each additional day the district court’s order is prevented from going into effect: the Committee is being deprived of the information it needs to exercise its weighty constitutional responsibility,” the Democrat-led Judiciary committee’s Monday <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/462339449/DOJ-v-House-Judiciary-Committee-opposing-application-for-stay">filing</a> said.
“The Committee’s impeachment investigation related to obstruction of justice pertaining to the Russia investigation is ongoing. As the Committee has explained, it ‘has continued and will continue those investigations consistent with its own prior statements respecting their importance and purposes,’” the filing said.
Grand jury materials typically remain sealed during and after an investigation. The House is arguing that the testimonies should be released under an exemption that allows for the materials’ use in a court proceeding. The question is whether an impeachment trial qualifies as a court proceeding under the rules.
The House impeached Trump in December on charges of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power related to a phone call he had with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on July 25, 2019. Trump asked Zelensky to look into allegations of misconduct against former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Biden was in charge of the Obama administration’s foreign policy with Ukraine when he pushed the Ukrainian government to fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in March 2016. At the time, Shokin was reportedly looking into the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, for which Biden’s son was then a highly paid board member.
Audio released earlier this week has raised more questions about Biden’s motives for pushing for Shokin’s ouster. In an unconfirmed recording <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ukrainian-lawmaker-releases-recorded-phone-calls-of-biden-poroshenko-that-contain-eyebrow-raising-remarks">released</a> on Tuesday, Biden and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko purportedly discuss Shokin’s ouster, and Poroshenko admits that the Ukrainian government does not have “any information about him doing something wrong.” Shokin resigned from his position at Poroshenko’s request, however.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Jerry Nadler

SCOTUS Blocks Democrats’ Attempts To Dig Up Dirt On Trump In Mueller Grand Jury Evidence

House Democrats are continuing in their investigation for impeachable evidence against President Trump in the redacted version of the Mueller report.
Democratic lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday to release grand jury testimony from ex-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/politics/house-supreme-court-mueller-grand-jury/index.html">CNN</a>.
House counsel Douglas Letter, who wrote the <a href="http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2020/images/05/18/opposition.to.application.-19a1035.pdf">court filing</a>, said that lawmakers needed access to the sealed documents to gauge whether Trump should be impeached for obstruction of justice or some other crime. Letter said that every day the court delays, “the Committee and the public continue to suffer grave and irreparable injury.”
Letter continued:
<blockquote>The Committee is being deprived of the information it needs to exercise its weighty constitutional responsibility. The Committee first requested this information from DOJ more than a year ago. The district court issued its disclosure order more than six months ago. If DOJ’s request for a stay is granted, DOJ need not file its certiorari petition until August 2020, and therefore this Court likely would not determine whether to grant or deny that petition until at least October 2020. This substantial delay will seriously endanger the Committee’s ability to complete its impeachment investigation during the current Congress — which ends not long thereafter on January 3, 2021.</blockquote>
The House impeached Trump last year on a largely party-line vote on two charges of obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. Notably, neither is defined as criminal conduct under U.S. law. No Republicans voted for either measure. The Senate acquitted Trump on both counts in January.
“The Committee’s impeachment investigation related to obstruction of justice pertaining to the Russia investigation is ongoing. As the Committee has explained, it ‘has continued and will continue those investigations consistent with its own prior statements respecting their importance and purposes,’” Letter said.
The 2019 impeachment charges were based a redacted version of Mueller’s report to the Department of Justice on Russian interference in the 2016 election. After a roughly two-year investigation, Mueller turned up no evidence that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russian agents.
Democrats’ stated reason for getting the grand jury testimony is to potentially build a case against Trump for obstruction of justice, an unlikely proposition since Mueller could not uncover an underlying crime, necessary to mounting an obstruction of justice charge in the legal system.
Meanwhile, U.S. attorney for Connecticut John Durham is conducting a follow-up in investigation to the Mueller probe, intent on uncovering the basis of the Russia investigation and exposing abuses of power in the Department of Justice and Intelligence Community. Some abuses have already come to light, such as the FBI’s abuse of the FISA court system to obtain warrants to investigate the Trump campaign.
Other evidence suggests that the FBI abused its investigative powers to target former national security adviser Michael Flynn. In April, unsealed text message by Peter Strzok showed that FBI top officials interfered in the investigation into Flynn to keep it open, though agents investigating the retired lieutenant general were ready to close it.
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