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Showing posts with label T.S. Ellis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label T.S. Ellis. Show all posts

Friday, May 18, 2018

Deep State Crimes Beginning to Spill

John R. Houk, Blog Editor
© May 18, 2018



Hardly any media outlets whether TV, radio or print; inform on Deep State matters are being exposed. Why? Because the Mainstream Media (MSM) is Leftist and is the propaganda machine of the Deep State dedicated to take down our duly Elected President Donald Trump by whatever lie they can get to stick on the memories of the Americans that are gullible.

Because of this MSM blackout, I’m doing my part of cross posting the increasingly growing steady stream of news showing Deep State cadres are extremely close to being exposed form criminal activities.

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Ex-US Attorney: Obama CIA Chief Led Operation To Frame Trump


BY BEN MARQUIS
MAY 16, 2018 AT 2:16PM

The Trump campaign/Russian collusion narrative — which led to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — has been steadily unraveling in recent weeks.

Despite a year long investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, “no credible evidence” of collusion with the Trump campaign has been found, and the “evidence” and intelligence that has been offered up appears to be false and manufactured.

Former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova spoke about that and other recent developments during an appearance on Fox News with Laura Ingraham on Tuesday night, and cast the blame on the operation, which he viewed as a set up to frame President Donald Trump, on former Obama administration CIA Director John Brennan.

“It was abundantly clear that there was no legitimate basis even for a counter intelligence investigation, let alone a criminal investigation,” DiGenova said.

“It is quite obvious that John Brennan was at the head of the group of people who were going to create a counter intelligence investigation against Trump by creating false information that was going to be fed through Carter Page, and fed through George Papadopoulos so that it would be picked up, reported back to Washington and provide the basis for a counter, a fake, counter intelligence investigation,” he continued.

“And it was all Brennan’s doing,” DiGenova stated emphatically.

“And that is why the Justice Department is viciously fighting revealing everything they can about the source in London, who everybody knows the identity of.”

Ingraham asked the former U.S. attorney to further explain recent reports about an unnamed “source” in London who allegedly provided information that was used as a basis for the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign.

“The source in London was another person who was feeding false information to George Papadopoulos and others about collusion which did not exist,” DiGenova replied.

Another guest on the program, former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, spoke about another aspect of the creation of the Trump/Russia collusion narrative and the anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele on behalf of Democrat-funded political opposition research firm Fusion GPS.

She noted how the FBI had granted access to a handful of private contractors, likely to include Fusion GPS, to sift through raw intelligence gathered under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This was then passed on to Steele and others and recycled back to the U.S. intelligence community with a false air of legitimacy to help form the narrative used as the basis for the investigation into Trump.

DiGenova picked up on what Powell had mentioned and pointed out that there had been two opinions issued by the FISA court in opposition to that illegal practice of allowing private contractors access to the sensitive raw intelligence data.

“All of that was designed for the unmasking and the leaking of the names, and that was all done by private contractors,” DiGenova said. “The FISA court objected to it and it never stopped.”

The supposition that Brennan was the ringleader of an attempt to “frame” Trump is little more than DiGenova’s opinion, informed however well it might be by experience and information obtained through public and private sources.

That said, it increasingly appears as though the entire Trump/Russia collusion narrative was indeed created wholly out of false, manufactured or misconstrued information in order to provide justification for the investigation that was likely intended to prevent Trump from winning the election, or at least hamstring his agenda and lead to his impeachment once he took office.

On top of that, Brennan has made it blatantly obvious that he loathes Trump, so it isn’t too much of a stretch to think he may have used the powerful intelligence tools at his disposal in order to “frame” an innocent man and destroy him politically. Hopefully we will find out the truth soon when the DOJ inspector general’s report is released.

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Trump: Obama FBI Spied on Campaign, ‘Bigger Than Watergate’


By Chris Agee
May 17, 2018 at 10:16am

One paragraph from a recent New York Times article has sparked indignant reactions from President Donald Trump and a number of his political allies.

According to Fox News, the revelation that “at least one government informant met several times” with two advisers during the 2016 presidential cycle led to speculation that the FBI was conducting espionage within the Trump campaign.

The Times report indicated the informant met with both Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, prompting Trump and others to speculate about the extent of the operation within the Trump campaign.

In a tweet on the topic Thursday morning, the president cited National Review columnist Andrew McCarthy’s assessment of the new details.



“Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI ‘SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT,'” Trump wrote. “Andrew McCarthy says, ‘There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.'”

He claimed the allegation, if true, would be a conspiracy “bigger than Watergate!”

That tweet came one year after the appointment of Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller, who has gone on to secure indictments against some of the figures involved in the investigation. Trump marked the anniversary by attacking those in charge of the probe.



In one tweet, he once again called the investigation a “Witch Hunt,” this time adding “disgusting” and “illegal” to his description.

Trump went on to claim that despite the DOJ probe, he has had “the most successful first 17 month Administration in U.S. history – by far!”

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who was added to the president’s legal team last month, weighed in on the latest news by discusing [sic] a scenario in which former FBI Director James Comey should face criminal prosecution.

He appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday to decry the behavior outlined in The Times article.

“That would be the biggest scandal in the history of this town, at least involving law enforcement,” Giuliani said.

According to The Times report, however, the FBI had been investigating Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton for some time regarding her email server controversy prior to dedicating any resources to Trump’s team. When the assignment came late in the election season, officials were reportedly specifically tasked with investigating four campaign associates: Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and the aforementioned Page and Papadopoulos.

Regardless of the extent of the investigation, Giuliani expressed confidence that the FBI did not gather any evidence against the Trump campaign.

“If there’s a spy, they got nothing from it,” he said.

Nevertheless, Giuliani suggested Comey “should be prosecuted” if he ordered the investigation.

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Here We Go=> Mueller Gives Manafort Judge Unredacted Rosenstein Memo


By Cristina Laila
May 17, 2018

Robert Mueller’s office begrudgingly gave Judge T.S. Ellis the unredacted Rosenstein memo detailing the Special Counsel’s scope in a sealed court filing Thursday.


Reuters reported:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office notified a federal court in Virginia on Thursday it had filed under seal an unredacted memorandum that is expected to shed light on the scope of his wide-ranging probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Judge T.S. Ellis lost his temper a couple weeks ago in a Manafort hearing and accused Mueller’s prosecutors of using the case against Trump’s former campaign chairman to oust the President from office.

The Reagan-appointed judge also ordered the government to hand over the unredacted Rosenstein memo.

The Judge told Mueller’s prosecutors, “We don’t want anyone with unfettered power.”

Mueller’s prosecutors argued they have certain authorities given to them which were laid out in Rosenstein’s August 2017 memo.

Judge Ellis scoffed at Mueller’s prosecutors who argued the memo has to be kept a secret because of ongoing investigations and ordered the unredacted memo to be released within a two week time frame.

And here we are; Judge Ellis now has the unredacted memo.

Stay tuned. The Gateway Pundit will be reporting on Judge Ellis’ response to this memo and to Manafort’s motion to have Mueller’s case against him dismissed.
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IG Report: FBI & DOJ Broke Law In Clinton Email Investigation - Referred For Criminal Charges


IG Horowitz has found "reasonable grounds" for believing there has been a violation of federal criminal law in the FBI/DOJ's handling of the Clinton investigation/s and has referred his findings of potential criminal misconduct to Huber for possible criminal prosecution

MAY 17, 2018

The Department of Justice's Inspector General has released a report which indicated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the DOJ both broke the law during the probe into Hillary Clinton's illegal email server.

The report was kept private, but The Wall Street Journal reported:

Those invited to review the report were told they would have to sign nondisclosure agreements in order to read it, people familiar with the matter said. They are expected to have a few days to craft a response to any criticism in the report, which will then be incorporated in the final version to be released in coming weeks.

However, Former D.C. bureau chief for Investor's Business Daily, Hoover Institution media fellow, and author of several books, including bestseller INFILTRATIONhttps://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?source=bk&t=freedomoutpos-20&bm-id=default&l=ktl&linkId=626ad3bdb7b3798f0c4860278521887b&_cb=1526594974640 (https://amzn.to/2Iyv2u6), Paul Sperry, tweeted out that the IG is turning over a referral to the DOJ for possible criminal charges in the matter.

"IG Horowitz has found "reasonable grounds" for believing there has been a violation of federal criminal law in the FBI/DOJ's handling of the Clinton investigation/s and has referred his findings of potential criminal misconduct to Huber for possible criminal prosecution," he tweeted.


Sperry continued, "Comey/Yates targeted Gen. Flynn in C.I. investigation a yr BEFORE he communicated w Russian ambassador in Dec 2016 as a transition official--and the trigger was Flynn sitting at same table w Putin at Dec 2015 Moscow event, even tho Green Party's Jill Stein also at table."


"As the IG prepares to release his next report, Sally Yates is suddenly animated & agitated. She is tweet-storming against Trump, giving speeches bashing Trump, and spinning her role in the investigations in the New York Times. Yates appears worried about something ahead of report," Sperry added.


Tyler Durden goes into detail over at Zero Hedge on recapping what all has taken place and what is expected to take place as a result of the report.  He believes that this is the foundation for appointing a Special Counsel.

He writes:

Once congress has reviewed the OIG report, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees will use it to supplement their investigations, which will result in hearings with the end goal of requesting or demanding a Special Counsel investigation. The DOJ can appoint a Special Counsel at any point, or wait for Congress to demand one. If a request for a Special Counsel is ignored, Congress can pass legislation to force an the appointment.

And while the DOJ could act on the OIG report and investigate / prosecute themselves without a Special Counsel, it is highly unlikely that Congress would stand for that given the subjects of the investigation.

After the report's completion, the DOJ will weigh in on it. Their comments are key. As TrumpSoldier points out in his analysis, the DOJ can take various actions regarding "Policy, personnel, procedures, and re-opening of investigations. In short, just about everything (Immunity agreements can also be rescinded)."

...

With the wheels set in motion last week seemingly align with Congressional requests and the OIG mandate, and the upcoming OIG report likely to serve as a foundational opinion, the DOJ will finally be empowered to move forward with an impartially appointed Special Counsel.


The question now though is, will we ever see any justice in the matter concerning Hillary Clinton's crimes?  It's one thing to deal with criminal activity in the DOJ and the FBI, even though it's like the fox guarding the henhouse (https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?source=bk&t=freedomoutpos-20&bm-id=default&l=ktl&linkId=ba8c5c3217811856d2bea629482893d7&_cb=1526595654518https://amzn.to/2Iyv2u6).  It's another to actually deal with a woman, who we know because of the evidence we've seen and the laws we have, who knowingly broke the law.


Tim Brown is an author and Editor at FreedomOutpost.comSonsOfLibertyMedia.comGunsInTheNews.com and TheWashingtonStandard.com. He is husband to his "more precious than rubies" wife, father of 10 "mighty arrows", jack of all trades, Christian and lover of liberty. He resides in the U.S. occupied Great State of South Carolina. . Follow Tim on Twitter. Also check him out on Gab and Steemit
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WSJ Reporter: We’ve Confirmed the Worst – US Intel Truly Was Spying on Trump Camp


BY CILLIAN ZEAL
MAY 17, 2018 AT 7:05AM

Kimberley Strassel (WSJ) & James Comey

A Wednesday piece by The New York Times which details the FBI’s investigation into Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign may have revealed more than intended, at least if a Wall Street Journal reporter who has covered the surveillance previously is correct.

The Journal’s Kimberley Strassel has written about the investigation in the past. In a piece last week, she posited that the FBI may have used a mole in the Trump campaign, particularly given the Department of Justice’s reluctance to turn over information about the informant to congressional investigators.

The Times piece revealed more details about the Trump campaign surveillance operation — called “Crossfire Hurricane” in reference to the Rolling Stones song “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” — and just how extensive it was.

While the tenor of the article, which was written by Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman and Nicholas Fandos, is overwhelmingly favorable to the FBI and dismisses any claims that the surveillance was politically motivated, (“I never saw anything that resembled a witch hunt or suggested that the bureau’s approach to the investigation was politically driven,” one DOJ official is quoted as saying) there were a few things buried deep in there that specifically caught Strassel’s attention.

In a tweetstorm Wednesday evening, Strassel noted key problems in The Times’ narrative, particularly when the story appeared and significant facts that they glossed over.

Strassel first argued that the article was a calculated leak of sorts in an effort to get out ahead of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and the information that he’s gathering and releasing regarding the FBI’s sources on the Trump investigation.


However, she says it proves what Trump was claiming all along: namely, that his campaign was being spied upon.


The story briefly mentions that “one government informant met several times with Mr. Page and Mr. Papadopoulos, current and former officials said. That has become a politically contentious point, with Mr. Trump’s allies questioning whether the FBI was spying on the Trump campaign or trying to entrap campaign officials.”

However, if that informant met several times with two low-level Trump campaign officials, one wonders just what his role — if any — in the Trump campaign might have been. It seems somewhat unlikely that a random individual outside the campaign would have had the opportunity to meet with both George Papadopoulos and Carter Page without some suspicion being aroused if the informant didn’t have extremely close ties to the campaign.



Strassel then noted the fact that if the FBI is willing to leak information that makes them look good to media sources, they shouldn’t have any problem complying with the subpoena that the House Intelligence Committee issued.

She also pointed out that the FBI had claimed the dossier had little to no influence on the investigation.




Sally Yates, for those of you with short memories, was the deputy attorney general under former President Barack Obama.

Strassel closed with a shot at the DOJ and James Comey.


This is arguably the biggest story in quite some time. We already knew that intelligence had been weaponized by Obama-era apparatchiks to get a FISA court to agree to surveillance and that the Trump dossier had been prepared using money from the Clinton campaign. However, we’re beginning to realize it went deeper than that — and it could have included a mole in the Trump campaign itself.

If it did, we need to know. No more of this drip-drip-drip of information specifically designed as a limited hangout. It’s time that the American people are appraised, once and for all, just how far the Obama administration went in using the apparatus of the federal government to infiltrate the campaign of their political adversary.

Facebook has greatly reduced the distribution of our stories in our readers' newsfeeds and is instead promoting mainstream media sources. When you share to your friends, however, you greatly help distribute our content. Please take a moment and consider sharing this article with your friends and family. Thank you.
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Deep State Crimes Beginning to Spill
John R. Houk, Blog Editor
© May 18, 2018
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Ex-US Attorney: Obama CIA Chief Led Operation To Frame Trump

Trump: Obama FBI Spied on Campaign, ‘Bigger Than Watergate’

WSJ Reporter: We’ve Confirmed the Worst – US Intel Truly Was Spying on Trump Camp

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Here We Go=> Mueller Gives Manafort Judge Unredacted Rosenstein Memo

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IG Report: FBI & DOJ Broke Law In Clinton Email Investigation - Referred For Criminal Charges



Sunday, May 6, 2018

Judge Ellis Excoriates Mueller & Team

It Should End Mueller Agenda, But Will It?

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…


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.]

 
The Conservative Treehouse on Scribd


Michael Caputo discusses the scope of the Mueller Evidence – HERE

The timeline of Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller – Available HERE

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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.

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com

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.
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Federal Judge Drops Two-Word Bomb on Mueller’s Prosecutors


BY BENJAMIN ARIE
MAY 4, 2018 AT 4:12PM

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.
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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.




The hearing is taking place before US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Alexandria, Virginia.
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) May 4, 2018

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Further reading from Gateway Pundit

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Judge Ellis Excoriates Mueller & Team
It Should End Mueller Agenda, But Will It?

John R. Houk, Editor
© May 6, 2018
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Federal Judge Catches Robert Mueller Using Preexisting FISA Title-1 Warrant Against Paul Manafort Instead of Title 3 Authority…

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Whoa: Judge Goes Off on Mueller Staff Prosecutor, Says He’s Only Prosecuting Manafort for Bank

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Federal Judge Drops Two-Word Bomb on Mueller’s Prosecutors

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HUGE NEWS! As TGP Predicted — Judge in Manafort Case BLASTS MUELLER SPECIAL COUNSEL on lawless “Unfettered Power”

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