Free Republic

Our friend Julie Kelly gave us a heads-up there was massive drama in the Proud Boys January 6 trial yesterday after an FBI agent was caught lying on the stand and concealing evidence from defense attorneys. It turns out that Special Agent Nicole Miller (or someone) deleted thousands of messages in FBIs "Lync" messaging system--messages relevant to investigation and required to be produced to defense counsel. This brazen lawlessness at FBI in its biggest January 6 case, observed Ms. Kelly, because it appears Special Agent Miller’s “Boss” instructed the FBI agent to "destroy" hundreds of items of evidence. If this...

John Durham wants to use internal instant messages from an FBI analyst embroiled in the Hunter Biden saga in his trial against Christopher Steele’s main dossier source, Igor Danchenko. Danchenko, a Russian-born, U.S.-based lawyer, was charged by Durham last year with five counts tied to alleged lies he told the bureau about the Trump dossier, and he has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers revealed Thursday some of what Durham plans to use in the October trial, including Microsoft Lync chats from a bureau analyst who interviewed the Russian national in 2017 and went on to get mixed up in the...

“Stalinist tactics mandate immediate dismissal of this case,” Flynn’s attorneys say. In early September, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected Gen. Michael Flynn’s petition for dismissal and voted 8-2 to send the case back to judge Emmet Sullivan. The judge, who rejected the Department of Justice dismissal of the case, must now consider documents Flynn’s attorneys filed with the court on Thursday. “General Flynn has a Sixth Amendment right to a public exoneration regarding the proceedings against him,” the documents state, “and the American people have a right to know the truth about the nefarious conduct...

Lync to be retired. Microsoft's April update for Office 2013 is more than just a Patch Tuesday: for some users, it includes the new Skype for Business. A relatively low-key announcement from Microsoft today signals the beginning of the end for Lync, the Office collaboration tool that has run in parallel with Skype in the three years since Microsoft bought Skype. Office 365 customers using Lync Online are the first to receive Skype for Business Online in a rollout that will continue through into May. Skype for Business is also now available as a standalone plan.

The latest bombshell email revelation from former top IRS official Lois Lerner shows her actively trying to hide information from Congress just days after learning of the Investigator General report on the IRS targeting of the Tea Party and conservative groups. Lerner stated that she had been “cautioning” fellow IRS employees to be “cautious about what we say in emails” because “Congress has asked for emails”. She was also concerned with hiding information shared through an IRS internal messaging system known as OCS, previously unknown to congressional investigators and others. She asked another employee if “OCS conversations were also searchable.”

The very notion of telecommuting has been present in the mainstream white-collar workplace now for well over a decade. Yet for one of the worst offenders in padding operating and travel expenses, namely the U.S. Congress, the notion of mentioning telecommuting seems to be downright sinful. One would think that these calls for a "virtual Congress" come from watchdog groups of various political winds. But shockingly enough, one of Congress' very own -- House member Steve Pearce of New Mexico (R) -- is leading the push to bring our legislative branch full circle into the 21st century.