[ April 23, 2024 ]
Walls are closing in on Obama.
"A clearer picture is emerging of the drastic steps that were taken to accomplish Obama’s goal in the following weeks and months… At each major point in the operation, explosive media leaks were a key strategy in the operation to take down Trump." https://t.co/LaluiilSr0
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 8, 2020
Russia investigation transcripts show Obama knew of wiretapped Flynn phone calls
May. 08, 2020
Story continues below advertisementFormer DOJ official Francey Hakes reacts.
Obama knew details of wiretapped Flynn phone calls, surprising top DOJ official in meeting with Biden, declassified docs show
By Gregg Re, FOX News, May 8, 2020:
President Obama was aware of the details of then-incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn’s intercepted December 2016 phone calls with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, apparently surprising then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, according to documents released Thursday as exhibits to the government’s motion to dismiss the Flynn case.
Obama’s unexpectedly intimate knowledge of the details of Flynn’s calls, which the FBI acknowledged at the time were not criminal or even improper, raised eyebrows because of his own history with Flynn — and because top FBI officials secretly discussed whether their goal was to “get [Flynn] fired” when they interviewed him in the White House on January 24, 2017.
Obama personally had warned the Trump administration against hiring Flynn, and made clear he was “not a fan,” according to multiple officials. Obama had fired Flynn as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014; Obama cited insubordination, while Flynn asserted he was pushed out for his aggressive stance on combating lslamic extremism.
READ THE DOJ’S MOTION TO DISMISS W/ EXHIBITS
On January 5, 2017, Yates attended an Oval Office meeting with then-FBI Director James Comey, then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-CIA Director John Brennan, and then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, according to the newly declassified documents, including an FD-302 FBI witness report. They were discussing Russian election interference, along with national security adviser Susan Rice and other members of the national security council.
After the briefing, Obama asked Yates and Comey to “stay behind,” and said he had “learned of the information about Flynn” and his conversation with Russia’s ambassador about sanctions. Obama “specified that he did not want any additional information on the matter, but was seeking information on whether the White House should be treating Flynn any differently, given the information.”
A previous memo from Rice stated that Biden also stayed behind after the main briefing had ended.
At that point, the documents showed, “Yates had no idea what the president was talking about, but figured it out based on the conversation. Yates recalled Comey mentioning the Logan Act, but can’t recall if he specified there was an ‘investigation.’ Comey did not talk about prosecution in the meeting.”
The exhibit continues: “It was not clear to Yates from where the President first received the information. Yates did not recall Comey’s response to the President’s question about how to treat Flynn. She was so surprised by the information she was hearing that she was having a hard time processing it and listening to the conversation at the same time.”
Yates, who was fired by the Trump administration after taking the extraordinary step of refusing to defend its travel ban executive order in court, would later say that she was concerned Flynn would be vulnerable to blackmail because of his interactions with Russia.
The Logan Act, an obscure statute, has never been used successfully in a criminal prosecution; enacted in 1799 in an era before telephones, it was intended to prevent individuals from falsely claiming to represent the United States government abroad. In its motion to dismiss Flynn’s case on Thursday, the DOJ noted that the law was an unserious dead letter.
Also released as an exhibit Thursday was a head-turning two-page document outlining why the FBI opened its counterintelligence probe into Flynn in August 2016. The FBI offered only three reasons: that Flynn was “cited as an adviser to the Trump team on foreign policy issues February 2016; he has ties to various state-affiliated entities of the Russian Federation, as reported by open-source information; and he traveled to Russia in December 2015, as reported by open-source information.”
The “state-affiliated entities” line was an apparent reference to Flynn’s paid appearance at a Moscow gala for Russian state TV network RT in 2015. Flynn also reportedly received thousands more in expenses covered by the network and in speech fees from other Russian firms, including some payments that he initially didn’t disclose on ethics forms. The payments raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, although Republicans pointed out that many other prominent officials, including Bill Clinton, have traveled to Russia for highly paid speaking engagements.
I'd still like to understand what was improper about the incoming National Security Advisor of a newly elected administration calling his Russian counterpart to try to tamp down tensions in the weeks before he took office.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 7, 2020
Ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok approved opening a full-fledged national security probe on those apparently weak grounds, according to the FBI document, even though Flynn’s speaking engagements in Russia were public knowledge. DOJ guidelines call for the FBI to open such counterintelligence probes only when there is a reasonable and articulable basis to believe that criminal activity has occurred or that a threat to national security may exist.
Strzok later would intervene and push to keep the Flynn probe open in January 2017, even after the FBI’s Washington office signaled it wanted to close it because no “derogatory” information had been unearthed after consulting with other intelligence agencies in an exhaustive search.
On the recommendation of U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen, who served as an FBI agent for more than a decade, the Justice Department on Thursday moved to drop its case against Flynn. The stunning development came after internal memos were released raising serious questions about the nature of the investigation that led to Flynn’s late 2017 guilty plea of lying to the FBI as his legal fees mounted.
JAMES GAGLIANO, FMR FBI SWAT OFFICER, CHANGES MIND, NOW SAYS FLYNN WAS ‘RAILROADED’
One of the documents was a top official’s handwritten memo debating whether the FBI’s “goal” was “to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired”; other materials showed efforts by Strzok to pursue Flynn on increasingly flimsy legal grounds.
Here’s the 2 page “justification” for opening a full CI case against a 30 year combat veteran, general and former Director of an intelligence agency
1. Foreign policy advisor to Trump
2. Unspecified “ties” to “various” “state-affiliated” entities of Russia
3. Travelled to Russia pic.twitter.com/9hyqSfnqkL— Undercover Huber (@JohnWHuber) May 7, 2020
The FBI possessed word-for-word transcripts of Flynn’s December 2016 conversations with Kislyak, and publicly admitted to reviewing those transcripts and clearing Flynn of any wrongdoing.
Both during and before the January 24, 2017 White House interview that led to Flynn’s prosecution for one count of lying to the FBI, the bureau acknowledged having those full transcripts, raising the question of why agents would need to ask Flynn about what he said during the calls with Kislyak, except potentially as a pretext to obtain a false statements charge.
Flynn was accused specifically of giving equivocal and evasive answers to FBI agents in the White House during a casual interview concerning those phone calls, but no transcript of the conversation exists. Instead, after-the-fact FBI notes of the interview with Strzok and Joe Pientka were the primary evidence.
During the interview, Flynn told the agents “not really” when asked if he had sought to convince Kislyak not to escalate a brewing fight with the U.S. over sanctions imposed by the Obama administration, according to a FD-302 witness report prepared by the FBI. Flynn also demurred when asked if he had asked Russia to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution that condemned Israel’s settlements in the West Bank. The Obama administration abstained in that vote.
At various points, Flynn also suggested that such conversations might have happened or that he could not recall them if they did, according to the 302. The 302 indicated that Flynn apparently was aware his communications had been monitored, and at several points he thanked the FBI agents for reminding him of some of his conversations with Russian officials.
The FBI said Flynn had in fact discussed with Kislyak the need for Russia not to escalate the situation in response to sanctions just imposed by the Obama administration. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report stated that “Flynn requested that Russia not escalate the situation, not get into ‘tit for tat,’ and only respond to the sanctions in a reciprocal manner.” Flynn did not discuss an effort to undo the Obama sanctions, contrary to some media reports.
Strzok later was removed from then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team when his anti-Trump text messages surfaced, and Pientka now has been under scrutiny for his role in various Trump probes.
Pientka has been scrubbed from the FBI website after Fox News asked the bureau about him, and Republican lawmakers (including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and GOP Reps. Jim Jordan and Mike Johnson) are seeking to question him. The FBI told Fox News last year that reporting Pientka’s name was irresponsible and endangered his life for no journalistic purpose.
But, Fox News has previously determined that Pientka was also intimately involved in the probe of former Trump aide Carter Page, which the DOJ has since acknowledged was riddled with fundamental errors and premised on a discredited dossier that the bureau was told could be part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
The FBI’s recently released handwritten notes in advance of the Flynn interview — which the FBI’s former head of counterintelligence Bill Priestap wrote after a meeting with Comey and then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Fox News is told — suggested that agents planned in the alternative to get Flynn “to admit to breaking the Logan Act” when he spoke to Kislyak during the presidential transition period.
“What is our goal?” one of the notes read. “Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”
Another note read, “If we get him to admit to breaking the Logan Act, give facts to DOJ + have them decide.” Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley called the document’s implications “chilling.”
Earlier Thursday, Brandon Van Grack, a top Justice Department prosecutor and former member of Mueller’s team, withdrew from the Flynn case.
DOJ DROPS FLYNN CASE, AFTER HE SOLD HIS HOME, LOST HIS CAREER
Van Grack also was withdrawing from other unrelated cases as well, raising questions about his future at the DOJ. No explanation was given for Van Grack’s abrupt withdrawal from the Flynn case, which was recorded in a brief filing with the court on Thursday. An administration official told Fox News that Van Grack was still at the DOJ and has not resigned.
Van Grack’s removal from the cases came just days after Fox News reported that the explosive, newly unsealed evidence documenting the FBI’s efforts to target Flynn called into question whether Van Grack compli
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43 Comments
3 years ago
the muslim is too stupid to have set all this up. someone was telling him what to do. the story of this century is who that was. a true pulitzer prize waits for this reporter
3 years ago
Reply to
T.A. Parnell
Valerie Jarret is most definitely an Iranian asset and an agent of the CCP. Throughout Ovamit’s career Jarrett has been his handler, his most trusted confidant, and today lives and travelswith the Ovamits wherever they venture. The other suspect is David Axelrod, whose mother was a high ranking member of the US Communist Pa
3 years ago
Reply to
T.A. Parnell
She was Obama’s conniving political wife and SOROS was his sugar daddy that over saw him with money and ultimate guidance. OOPS! Missing the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR.
3 years ago
3 years ago
3 years ago
Reply to
Mathew M
It’s really a shame what happened to him. He was like a misguided Boy Scout when they WERE a respectable organization. Now they are going bankrupt due to sexual assaults by homosexuals. Who didn’t see that coming? There is no honor among homosexuals and AGE is not a barrier.
3 years ago
Reply to
felix1999
Age is an advantage to homosexuals. They take advantage of young boys when ever they think they can get away with it.
3 years ago
Is it futile for me to wish that I live to see Obama perp walked? I find it difficult to think Obama is going to get away with his coup attempt. There is a reason the penalty for treason is death. The previous administration did a great job ruining my love of America
3 years ago
Reply to
tn_tea _ partyer_420
Think of it this way, the America we knew might be re-emerging. I don’t let others spoil my love of country. I took allot for granted in the past. Now I don’t and appreciate more of what we had.
3 years ago
Plenty of room in Guantanamo, since he let the terrorists out 🙂
3 years ago
Reply to
AlgorithmicAnalyst
Execute them. Why pay for their upkeep.
Hell is allot worse than any prison on earth.
3 years ago
This is a solid indication of just how politically polarized the US has become. It has gotten to the point where people’s judgment is so clouded that they cannot recognize justice.
This changes the entire complexion of the upcoming election since Biden had his finger in the pie every step of the way.
Weaponizing the IRS against conservative groups seeking tax exempt status was merely the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
3 years ago
Reply to
Drew the Infidel
Once the sky is “so clouded” there will be cloud burst
Once there is cloud burst there will be flood
Once there is flood the dirt get’s washed out
3 years ago
Reply to
Drew the Infidel
All Jeff Session required was an “I’m sorry” and a promise to never do it again by the IRS. I was OUTRAGED!
3 years ago
The terms “politicizing,” “weaponized.” or “incompetence ” are simply not correct. Do not think for a moment that the tactics, lies, subterfuge utilized by the DOJ/FBI is reserved for specific political targets. It is Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the DOJ and the FBI who are populated by the worst vermin and scum this nation can produce. They may be more sophisticated than the NKVD or the KGB, or the Gestapo, but are far more villainous and evil as their arrogance, hubris and practiced deceit poison the well of our Republic. Moreover, they commit these crimes with impunity as the system will protect them and render them immune not only from prosecution butl reward them with promotion and applause. The federal judges are part of the problem as they allow and even encourage this evil behavior. In fact, a large part of the federal judiciary are part of the problem. Now, Flynn is free and I know Sydney Powellwill pursue the DOJ for damages, but what about the thousands of innocent Americans who have fallen victim to the DOJ and whose lives were ruined, families destroyed, languished in prison. What about them? Are they to be ignored? Will their grievances go unaddressed? What will be done now is to review every case of the DOJ/FBI where the same tactics enumerated so well in the case of Gen Flynn was employed?
3 years ago
3 years ago
Reply to
williamdiamon
The DOJ and FBI are still REDACTING he released documents because they are
“still under invesigation” and may give away “sources and methods”. LOL!!!
3 years ago
3 years ago
3 years ago
3 years ago
Reply to
williamdiamon
That might be tough… I have no confidence in Barr.
Shock me Barr!
3 years ago
3 years ago
Reply to
williamdiamon
Rod Rosenstein isn’t looking to good. He submitted the phony FISA warrants to the OBAMA FISA appointed judge knowing they were garbage. That judge, forget his name, wouldn’t have cared anyway. They JOKED about their socializing together. This FISA court has to END.
3 years ago
3 years ago
Well, well, well….wonder how long it’ll be until Obama and his minions take off for a country with a non extradition policy..
3 years ago
Reply to
Political_qrm
I’d bet Obama still believes he can over come this. He has a home in Dubai. They have no extradition agreement with the U.S..
OBAMA PURCHASED A MANSION IN DUBAI
January 20, 2016 by Frank de Varona –
…
Rear Admiral Richard Williams, Jr. was fired for leaking that Obama bought a mansion in Dubai, UAM, a non-extradition country.
http://www.alertadigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/almiran.jpg
MORE details here:
http://bwcentral.org/2016/01/obama-purchased-a-mansion-in-dubai/
.
3 years ago
By now everyone other than liberal liars knows that Barack is a sub-grade, low-life excuse for a human being, a liar and Islam sympathizer piece of dirt, yet he escapes prosecution and should have been thrown out of office, but how the devil does a total nothing like Chris Wray remain director of the FBI? The evidence is that he is next to useless, acts as if a tool of Comey and Strzok, yet remains director of the now almost entirely discredited FBI. Can those in power at least do something right and remove the garbage before the stink is overwhelming?
3 years ago
Of course President Obama was fully aware of the attacks on Trump, General Flynn and this whole attempt to destroy Trump, OBAMA PERSONALLY ORDERED THE ATTACKS !
3 years ago
I love it, but this is just the start. ALL of his background docs must come fully to light – take off the locks on his college papers, his citizenship papers (seems he is still an Indonesian citizen), his campaigns histories, and on and on. Let the world see what a phony he is, not even eligible for the Great seat he held for two terms.
3 years ago
Time for OBOZO to be prosecuted for his outright corruption and coup attempt. Traitorous piece of ????
3 years ago
If you bother to actually read the article what it says is that Obama was aware of the Kislyak wiretaps.
3 years ago
Reply to
DVader
If you follow the entire story what it also shows is that Obama was aware of the “pee” dossier… what it said… and the fact that Hillary paid for it.
3 years ago
That cover picture of this despicable human being, this empty suit, this lying SOB says it all by flipping off The United States of America. What an arrogant ass who has never been, is not now nor ever will be in a league like President Donald Trump. Obama belongs behind bars along with Killery Clinton, a couple of good for nothing government gangsters!!!
3 years ago
Did not Nixon spy on his enemies kinda like this
3 years ago
Hillary and Bill used the FBI and IRS to go after their political enemies. FDR did exactly the same.
Democrats and Liberals are hideous.
3 years ago
Sorry to say or even think this……nothing will happen to these traitors..nothing..they got away with it. The establishment will cover for them they will get heir mega millions in retirement. They will laugh all the way to the bank. Really we need Vinny from NJ. Give him a couple days he would fix it. The questions would be…What ever happen to…..
