Free Republic

Special counsel Robert Mueller is churning in uncharted legal waters as he tries to nail a Russian firm for bankrolling Moscow’s deceptive social media invasion into the 2016 election. It is not only Concord Management and Consulting LLC’s attorney saying this. Defense attorney Eric Dubelier said in court that Mr. Mueller created a “make-believe crime” and that the “real Justice Department” would never have brought such an indictment. U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich also is expressing doubts about Mr. Mueller’s unique prosecutorial adventure, though she is not saying she will dismiss the charges, as Mr. Dubelier has requested. A...

**SNIP** In a hearing in a Washington, D.C. courtroom on Monday, Eric Dubelier of the American law firm Reed Smith argued that the case against the Russian consulting company known as Concord, which allegedly operated a “troll factory” in which the Russians created or stole the identities of hundreds of Americans online in order to sow discord and spread propaganda, should be dismissed. If people lying about who they are on the Internet and engaging in political speech is a crime, he argued, then every politician in America would be in prison. “This argument is beyond belief,” Dubelier said. “They...

President Donald Trump's critics have spent the past 17 months anticipating what some expect will be among the most thrilling events of their lives: special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report on Russian 2016 election interference. They may be in for a disappointment. That’s the word POLITICO got from defense lawyers working on the Russia probe and more than 15 former government officials with investigation experience spanning Watergate to the 2016 election case. The public, they say, shouldn’t expect a comprehensive and presidency-wrecking account of Kremlin meddling and alleged obstruction of justice by Trump — not to mention an explanation of...

House conservatives are fuming over the format of an upcoming interview with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, saying the closed-door setup will hinder transparency. Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), both key figures in the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, have criticized the logistics of Wednesday's planned sit-down with Rosenstein which will be limited to the top Republicans and Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees and a court reporter. “Why are we continuing to do hearings in private where we don’t have press or the American people to be the arbiter of what is fair...

FBI ACKNOWLEDGES USING MULTIPLE INFORMANTS IN INVESTIGATION OF TRUMP CAMPAIGN AIDE. -The U.S. government revealed Friday that it used multiple informants to obtain information against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. -In court filings, government officials also revealed confidential human sources were paid for their work. -The FBI relied heavily on an uncorroborated dossier to obtain warrants to spy on Page. The U.S. government revealed in court filings Friday that the FBI used multiple confidential informants, including some who were paid for their information, as part of its investigation into former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. “The FBI has protected...

News broke on Oct. 19 that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein agreed to appear before both the House Judiciary and Government Oversight committees on Oct. 24, when he will testify under oath about the supposed “25th Amendment” wire rumor, among other topics. Because this testimony is slated to be before only the chairmen and ranking members of the committees, several people who will be excluded from the hearing raised immediate objections. Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) criticized—in the strongest terms—the decision to hold the hearing under those circumstances. In two earlier columns, “Rod Rosenstein:...

The indictment of US Treasury officials yesterday is more important than first thought. The individuals indicted have close ties to demoted DOJ lawyer Bruce Ohr and Mueller team corrupt attorney Andrew Weissmann! https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/10/breaking-yesterdays-indicted-leakers-are-linked-to-mueller-team-member-andrew-weissman-and-doj-fusion-gps-collaborator-bruce-ohr/

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said Thursday that lawmakers in recent days have "learned" information that warrants Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to step down "immediately." “Based on additional information we've learned over the last week, it is clear Rod Rosenstein should resign immediately,” Meadows, R-N.C., tweeted Thursday afternoon. “He has not cooperated with Congress, failed to be transparent about his actions, and shown a lack of candor in the way he's characterized a number of events.” Mark Meadows ✔ @RepMarkMeadows Based on additional information we've learned over the last week, it is clear Rod Rosenstein should resign immediately....

Graham Stack, a freelance journalist hired by Fusion GPS, says the opposition research firm was “almost completely wrong” about former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Stack says Fusion GPS provided most of the research cited by the media that suggested Manafort was a Kremlin stooge. Stack says he “shares the blame” for pushing the research, which he now says is part of a false narrative. A former contractor for Fusion GPS claims the opposition research firm got its investigation of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort “almost completely wrong.” Graham Stack, who was hired by Fusion GPS in July 2016,...

FULL TITLE: BACKFIRE: Probe Of Manafort Leads To Possible Federal Charges For Lawyer With Ties To Obama And Clinton Greg Craig is a lawyer who served in the Obama and Clinton administrations. He is now likely to face federal charges for failing to register as a foreign agent. The irony is that this probably would never have come up without the investigation of Paul Manafort. FOX News reports: Lawyer with Obama, Clinton ties may face federal charges: report A lawyer with ties to the Obama and Clinton administrations may face federal charges for failing to register as a foreign agent,...

A former British spy has vanished after being named as the author of a ‘dirty’ file smearing Donald Trump and fled his £1.5million mansion in fear telling his neighbour: ‘Look after my cat.’ Ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele has been named as the author of the salacious Russian dossier containing outlandish claims about Donald Trump’s sex life and bizarre footage allegedly held by the Kremlin’s blackmail unit. The 35-page briefing, which is littered with spelling mistakes, includes an unsubstantiated and far-fetched claim Trump watched prostitutes perform a ‘golden shower (urination) show’ in the Presidential Suite of a Moscow hotel. Mr Trump...

A top Republican lawmaker has revealed that the FBI has evidence that "directly refutes" the foundation for Robert Mueller's investigation the Trump Campaign's alleged collusion with Russia. Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe said on Sunday that the Bureau is withholding vital information that directly contradicts the evidence that was provided to federal judges on the surveillance court in order to get a FISA warrant to spy on Donald Trump and officials working on his election campaign.

A top Republican lawmaker said Sunday that the FBI failed to provide a federal surveillance court with evidence that “directly” contracted the bureau’s rationale for opening the Trump-Russia investgation Rep. John Ratcliffe told Fox News that the evidence related to former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos The FBI opened its investigation in July 2016 based on intelligence from the Australian government about Papadopoulos Republican lawmakers have hinted for months that the FBI failed to provide federal judges on the surveillance court with information that undercut the government’s premise for opening the Trump-Russia probe in 2016. Republicans have suggested in interviews...

The identity of one of the key SpyGate leakers inside the Department of Justice appears to have been revealed this Monday morning (15 Oct 18), thanks to a surprise document dump. The Department of Justice, without any advance announcement that it would do so, suddenly released... 341 pages from the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility’s report on Andrew McCabe. If you’ll recall, this is the report that resulted in McCabe, then the FBI’s #2 official, being summarily fired by Jeff Sessions back in March of this year.

Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page said Monday that he has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee over a dossier that alleges ties between Page and Russia. Page said on Fox News's "Hannity" that his lawsuit "goes beyond any damages or any financial aspects." "There have been so many lies as you’re alluding to and you look at the damage it did to our Democratic systems and our institutions of government back in 2016. And I’m just trying to get some justice," he said. Page's lawsuit is against both the DNC and its law firm, Perkins Coie,...

There are a lot of reasons I’m not a Democrat. For example, I believe that… 1. Jesus, America, and capitalism have been the three greatest forces of good in world history. 2. An attractive woman posing with an AR-15 beats a screaming feminist in a pussy hat 10 times out of 10. 3. You can’t #believeallwomen or #believeallmen; you have to #believetheevidence. 4. It’s wrong and disgusting to harass people in restaurants and at their home just because you disagree with them politically. Also if you block traffic to get attention for your cause, whatever it may be, I am...

A former security director for the Senate Intelligence Committee has pleaded guilty to one count of giving a false statement to FBI agents looking into leaks of national security information to several reporters, including one at the New York Times he dated, the Justice Department announced Monday. James A. Wolfe, 58, was in charge of maintaining all classified information coming from the executive branch to the Senate panel. He served as the panel's security director for 29 years. "Did you make a false statement to the FBI?" D.C. district court judge Ketanji B. Jackson asked Wolfe in court on Monday....

The FBI opened an investigation into an unauthorized media leak of a comment made by former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe about former national security adviser Michael Flynn and President Trump, according to bureau documents released Monday. The documents show that the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs received a complaint about an alleged leak that involved “a statement overheard in early February 2017.” “Specifically, the alleged comments were made by DD AG McCabe and pertained to General Michael T. Flynn and the POTUS,” one document states. The investigation into the unauthorized media disclosure appears to have started on March 20,...

A former security director for the Senate Intelligence Committee (James Wolfe) has pleaded guilty to one count of giving a false statement to FBI agents looking into leaks of national security information to several reporters, the Justice Department announced Monday. ...Wolfe had been scheduled to appear for a routine status hearing, before prosecutors announced that "substantial" negotiations had produced a guilty plea.

House Republicans still want Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of the firm behind the anti-Trump dossier, to comply with their subpoena to appear on Capitol Hill despite his plans to invoke Fifth Amendment protections, a GOP House Judiciary Committee aide told Fox News on Friday. The tension with the Fusion GPS co-founder comes as new details emerge about just how widely distributed the unverified and politically funded dossier was back in 2016. A Fox News review of congressional testimony, British court records, emails and other documents indicate that at least five sources worked through other government agencies or fed the dossier...