John R. Houk, Editor
© May 6, 2018
Judge Ellis, Manafort,
Mueller & Rosenstein
On Friday I posted an
exposé on Robert Mueller written by Rep. Louie Gohmert. That post makes
remarkable sense after I read that Federal Judge T.S. Ellis III excoriated a
Special Prosecutor team member in charge of the Paul Manafort prosecution. WHY?
Judge Ellis caught Mueller’s team using a,
“… pre-existing FISA Title-1
warrant that was originally applied to U.S. person Carter Page and the Trump
campaign.
Under normal criminal
investigation any search warrant or surveillance warrant would normally proceed
through U.S. courts, under Title-3, where the Mueller team would need to show
probable cause for a warrant. However, by using the Title-1 warrant from
the FBI counterintelligence operation, as extended by AAG Rod Rosenstein,
Robert Mueller was able to use far more intrusive and unchecked searches and
seizures for his criminal probe.” (Federal
Judge Catches Robert Mueller Using Preexisting FISA Title-1 Warrant Against
Paul Manafort Instead of Title 3 Authority…; By sundance; The Last Refuge
[aka ConservativeTreeHouse.com];
5/4/18)
Good for Judge T.S. Ellis III!
Under any normal legal circumstances, I have little doubt
the bank fraud case would be dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct. Which
would mean the Special Prosecutor and his team must be discredited on ANY work
they have down to find collusion between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the
Russian government to become POTUS.
To get the gist of Judge Ellis’ legal anger, I have four
articles from Conservative sources (including the quote above) providing
perspectives that are doubtful to be heard or read from the Leftist MSM.
JRH 5/6/18 (Hat Tip Ali Hoppe posting at G+ Community United
We Stand One Nation Under God)
Please Support SlantRight 2.0
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Federal Judge Catches Robert
Mueller Using Preexisting FISA Title-1 Warrant Against Paul Manafort Instead of
Title 3 Authority…
By sundance
May 4, 2018
Well, well, well…. they say timing is everything.
Today U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III appears
to have caught on to an explosive issue CTH noted yesterday. In building the case
against Paul Manafort, special counsel Robert Mueller’s team used the
pre-existing FISA Title-1 warrant that was originally applied to U.S. person
Carter Page and the Trump campaign.
Under normal criminal investigation any search warrant or
surveillance warrant would normally proceed through U.S. courts, under Title-3,
where the Mueller team would need to show probable cause for a warrant.
However, by using the Title-1 warrant from the FBI counterintelligence
operation, as extended by AAG Rod Rosenstein, Robert Mueller was able to use
far more intrusive and unchecked searches and seizures for his criminal probe.
The media, and broad media-consumption public, are currently
unaware the Mueller probe was simply a continuance of the 2016 FBI
counterintelligence operation. Most people think the special counsel
investigation is a separate issue. It’s not.
However, in addition to a scathing rebuke of the underlying
prosecutorial premise, ie. Mueller trying to keep the originating
structure hidden, Judge Ellis demanded today that Mueller unredact the August
2, 2017, instructions from AAG Rosenstein. That removal will expose the
use of the FISA Title-1 warrant use that drove the investigative origin.
WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Friday
harshly rebuked Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team during a hearing for
ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort – suggesting they lied about the scope
of the investigation, are seeking “unfettered power” and are more interested in
bringing down the president.
“You don’t really care about Mr.
Manafort,” U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III told Mueller’s team. “You really
care about what information Mr. Manafort can give you to lead you to Mr. Trump
and an impeachment, or whatever.”
Further, Ellis demanded to see
the unredacted “scope memo,” a document outlining the scope of the special
counsel’s Russia probe that congressional Republicans have also sought. […] The
Reagan-appointed judge asked Mueller’s team where they got the authority to
indict Manafort on alleged crimes dating as far back as 2005.
The special counsel argues that
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein granted them broad authority in his May
2, 2017 letter appointing Mueller to this investigation. But after the revelation
that the team is using information from the earlier DOJ probe, Ellis said that
information did not “arise” out of the special counsel probe – and therefore
may not be within the scope of that investigation.
“We don’t want anyone with
unfettered power,” he said.
Mueller’s team says its
authorities are laid out in documents including the August 2017 scope memo –
and that some powers are actually secret because they involve
ongoing investigations and national security matters that cannot be publicly disclosed.
Ellis seemed amused and not
persuaded.
He summed up the argument of the
Special Counsel’s Office as, “We said this was what [the] investigation was
about, but we are not bound by it and we were lying.”
He referenced the common
exclamation from NFL announcers, saying: “C’mon man!” (read more)
The Mueller team saying: “some powers are actually secret”
is a direct reference to their use of the FISA Title-1 warrant, which they took
over from the FBI counterintelligence operation and applied to their criminal
investigation.
With the third 90-day extension of the FISA warrant, issued
by AAG Rod Rosenstein (July 18, 2017), Mueller’s team were obviously using the
FISA warrant from May through October of last year. [The FISA warrant
expired 90 days from July 18.]
+++++
Whoa: Judge Goes Off on Mueller
Staff Prosecutor, Says He’s Only Prosecuting Manafort for Bank
May 4, 2018
This has been the presumption for some time, of course.
Robert Mueller wasn’t appointed to prosecute bank fraud cases. He was appointed
to find out if the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. So why is he
prosecuting Paul Manafort on an unrelated bank fraud case?
The answer is obvious: He’s doing it for the same reason he
had his team stage a 6 a.m. raid of Manafort’s home at a time when Manafort was
already cooperating with him. He’s trying to harass and intimidate Manafort
into flipping and giving Mueller something he can use to bring down Trump.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, who drew the case, sees
exactly what’s going on here, and today in court he stunned Mueller’s
chosen man on the case by calling a spade a spade:
A federal judge expressed deep
skepticism Friday in the bank fraud case brought by special counsel Robert
Mueller’s office against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, at one
point saying he believes that Mueller’s motivation is to oust President Donald
Trump from office.
Although Mueller’s authority has
been tested in court before, Friday’s hearing was notable for District Judge
T.S. Ellis’ decision to wade into the divisive political debate around the
investigation.
“You don’t really care about Mr.
Manafort’s bank fraud,” Ellis said to prosecutor Michael Dreeben, at times
losing his temper. Ellis said prosecutors were interested in Manafort because
of his potential to provide material that would lead to Trump’s “prosecution or
impeachment,” Ellis said.
“That’s what you’re really
interested in,” said Ellis, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan.
Ellis repeated his suspicion
several times in the hour-long court hearing. He said he’ll make a decision at
a later date about whether Manafort’s case can go forward.
“We don’t want anyone in this
country with unfettered power. It’s unlikely you’re going to persuade me the
special prosecutor has power to do anything he or she wants,” Ellis told
Dreeben. “The American people feel pretty strongly that no one has unfettered
power.”
When Dreeben answered Ellis’
question about how the investigation and its charges date back to before the
Trump campaign formed, the judge shot back, “None of that information has to do
with information related to Russian government coordination and the campaign of
Donald Trump.”
When Ellis talks about someone having unfettered power, he’s
referring to Mueller. Mueller seems to think his original charge is irrelevant,
and that he can go beyond it and use his prosecutorial power to bring pressure
on anyone he wants, in any way he wants, regardless of the matter’s relevance
to the Russia investigation, if the end result is that it will yield him
something he can use to damage the president.
Judge Ellis is right to call BS on that.
If Mueller has evidence that the Trump campaign colluded
with the Russians, let’s see it. If he doesn’t, let’s wrap this up. He’s had
enough time.
If Paul Manafort committed bank fraud that’s worthy of
prosecution, let Mueller refer that to the Justice Department proper and then
stick to the matter he was appointed to deal with. Everyone can see what’s
going on here, but it’s really jarring to hear it from a federal judge, from
the bench. And today that’s exactly what happened.
A new edition of Dan’s book
“Powers and Principalities” is now available in hard copy
and e-book editions. Follow all of Dan’s work, including his series
of Christian spiritual warfare novels, by liking his page on Facebook.
++++++++
Federal Judge Drops Two-Word Bomb
on Mueller’s Prosecutors
For months, the special counsel led by Robert Mueller has
been spinning its wheels. Initially set up to investigate alleged “collusion”
between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign team, the probe has so far been
largely a dud … and now even a federal judge is fed up with it.
On Friday, Judge T.S. Ellis III had harsh words for
prosecutors who are working to charge former Trump adviser Paul Manafort.
Manafort, who served as a campaign leader for a few months
before leaving, is facing bank and tax fraud charges for activities that
happened over a decade ago, but they appear to be unrelated to the
administration.
The case looks increasingly like a “fishing expedition”
being conducted by Mueller to dredge up anything that can be used against
President Trump.
That’s certainly what Judge Ellis seems to think; he just
accused prosecutors of trying to gather unrelated evidence against Trump team
members in order to pressure them to “flip” on the president.
“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,”
Ellis told prosecutors on Friday, according to The Washington Post. “You really care about getting
information Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump and lead
to his prosecution or impeachment.”
According to
a report from The Daily Caller journalist Saagar Enjeti, Judge
Ellis went even further and openly scoffed at the prosecution’s insistence that
decade-old tax issues had anything to do with the special counsel’s mission.
“He summed up the Special Counsel’s Office as, ‘We said this
was what (the) investigation was about but we are not bound by it and we were
lying,'” Enjeti explained. At one point, the judge apparently stopped taking
Mueller’s team seriously, responding “C’mon man!” to their unconvincing
argument.
Manafort’s defense attorney Kevin Downing maintained
that the financial charges — which occurred in the state of Virginia — are not
connected to the Russia probe and that Mueller’s team is dramatically
over-reaching.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Downing said in court. “It’s
so unrelated as to be in violation (of the Mueller mandate).”
Judge Ellis seemed to agree and even warned prosecutors
about exceeding their purview. “The American people feel pretty strongly about
no one having unfettered power,” he said.
To be clear, Manafort could, in fact, be guilty of the
financial crimes he’s accused of in Virginia, although of course he is presumed
innocent at this time. That will be for a court to decide, but the larger
question right now is whether those accusations have anything to do with Donald
Trump, Russia, and the 2016 election.
For months, conservatives have maintained that the Mueller
investigation has dragged on too long and produced almost no solid results. The
response from Judge Ellis shows that he likely agrees.
While Manafort certainly has his problems, the overwhelming
indication after months of inquiries has been that it was the FBI and the DOJ,
not the Trump team, which has some serious explaining to do.
As evidence continues to show that there was political bias
and perhaps an active push to undermine Trump, it looks increasingly likely
that Mueller has ulterior motives.
It may be time to reel him back in and end the special
counsel circus once and for all.
+++++++++++++++++++
HUGE NEWS! As TGP Predicted —
Judge in Manafort Case BLASTS MUELLER SPECIAL COUNSEL on lawless “Unfettered
Power”
Post by Jim Hoft
Guest post by Joe
Hoft
May 4, 2018
In
April The Gateway Pundit reported that the US is now in a
constitutional crisis due to the unconstitutional and corrupt Mueller
investigation kept in place by corrupt FBI and DOJ Leadership.
Former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort may soon be
the one to shut it all down.
Mueller’s illegal Trump-Russia investigation continues to
take corrupt and unconstitutional actions while criminal activities in Obama’s
FBI, DOJ and State Department are ignored. If there is justice, America will
soon have a real investigation looking into the Obama and Clinton criminal acts
while in office.
Paul
Manafort first made arguments in a suit with Robert Mueller,
Rod Rosenstein and Jeff Sessions as Head of the DOJ, related to illegalities in
the way that Rosenstein set up the Mueller special counsel. Rosenstein’s
special counsel order was not based on a crime and unconstitutionally stated
that Mueller could basically look at anything he wanted to look at. These
provisions are against the law and are now for the courts to settle.
In addition to the above suit, Robert Barnes wrote last week
at Law
and Crimes that Mueller’s actions not related to the 2016 campaign
are outside the scope of Jeff Sessions recusal as AG and therefore
unconstitutional –
Paul Manafort‘s legal team
brought a motion to dismiss on Tuesday, noting that Rosenstein could not
appoint Mueller to any investigation outside the scope of the 2016 campaign
since Sessions did not recuse himself for anything outside the campaign. I
agree with this take on Mueller’s authority. If we follow that argument that
would mean Sessions himself has exclusive authority to appoint a special
counsel for non-collusion charges, and Sessions has taken no such action.
Sessions himself should make that clear to Mueller, rather than await court
resolution. Doing so would remove three of the four areas of inquiry from
Mueller’s requested interview with President Trump.
Sessions formally notifying
Mueller that he does not have authority to act outside of campaign-related
cases and cases related to obstruction of Mueller’s investigation would be
doing what the Constitution compels: enforcing the Appointments Clause of the
Constitution. Additionally, Sessions notifying Mueller that he does not have
authority to act outside of campaign-related cases would be exercising
Sessions’ court-recognized Constitutional obligation to
“direct and supervise litigation” conducted by the Department of Justice
Furthermore, Sessions notifying Mueller that he does not have authority to act
outside of campaign-related cases protects against the inappropriate use of the
federal grand jury that defendant Manafort now rightly complains about.
Sessions limiting Mueller to the
2016 campaign would also be restoring confidence in democratic institutions,
and restore public faith that democratically elected officials.
One thing to remember about
Sessions’ recusal:
Sessions only recused himself from “any existing or future investigations of
any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United
States.” This recusal letter limits the scope of Sessions’ recusal to the 2016
campaigns; it does not authorize Sessions’ recusal for anything beyond that.
Constitutionally, Sessions has a “duty to
direct and supervise litigation” conducted by the Department of Justice.
Ethically, professionally, and legally, Sessions cannot ignore his supervisory
obligations for cases that are not related to the “campaigns for President.”
In April Mueller and Rosenstein presented to the courts a
rebuttal for Manafort’s latest action – they presented a
previously undisclosed memo to a federal court in Washington
supposedly addressing Manafort’s argument. The problem is it doesn’t.
The memo is dated August 2, 2017 and is from Rosenstein to
Mueller supposedly directing Mueller to look into Manafort actions with a
Russian operative perhaps before 2016. This however is clearly outside the
scope of Sessions’ recusal as argued by Manafort and doesn’t even address
Manafort’s argument that these actions are not for Mueller to take or
Rosenstein to order but are Sessions actions alone as AG.
On Friday a federal judge agreed with Paul Manafort that
the Mueller witch hunt was out of control and out of bounds.
A federal judge in a hearing about @PaulManafort bank fraud charges, is saying the special counsel should not have "unfettered power," raising questions about the scope of the investigation.— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) May 4, 2018
Bank fraud charges did not arise from the Mueller probe and unrelated to #Russia or the @realDonaldTrump campaign, says federal judge.— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) May 4, 2018
Federal judge says special counsel's indictment against @PaulManafort serves to "assert leverage" to get information about @realDonaldTrump. The judge also questions whether the case in Virginia should not be handled by the US Attorney's office rather than the special counsel.— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) May 4, 2018
The hearing is taking place before US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in
Alexandria, Virginia.
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) May
4, 2018
++++++++++++++++++
Further reading from Gateway Pundit
The
Federal Judge in Paul Manafort’s case cast doubt on Friday over Mueller’s bank
fraud case against the former Trump campaign manager; By Cristina
Laila; Gateway Pundit; 5/4/18)
______________________
Judge Ellis Excoriates
Mueller & Team
It Should End Mueller Agenda,
But Will It?
John R. Houk, Editor
© May 6, 2018
_____________________
Federal Judge Catches
Robert Mueller Using Preexisting FISA Title-1 Warrant Against Paul Manafort
Instead of Title 3 Authority…
_____________________
Whoa: Judge Goes Off on
Mueller Staff Prosecutor, Says He’s Only Prosecuting Manafort for Bank
_________________________________
Federal Judge Drops
Two-Word Bomb on Mueller’s Prosecutors
______________________________
HUGE NEWS! As TGP
Predicted — Judge in Manafort Case BLASTS MUELLER SPECIAL COUNSEL on lawless
“Unfettered Power”
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