We Will Not Yield

WE WILL NOT YIELD. Attorney General Bill Barr is on the trail of Obama's Deep State anti-Trump cabal. And, as Representative Jim Jordan said last week while Jerry Nadler was leading the House Democrat Judiciary Committee charge to hold AG Barr in contempt, "I will not yield." • • • AG BARR IS CERTAINLY NOT YIELDING. The Gateway Pundit reported last Thursday that : "If House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler was trying to rattle Attorney General Bill Barr by voting to hold him in contempt of Congress, he failed miserably. Bill Barr is like a boxer who laughs after taking a hit. Barr laughed at Nadler and the Dems Thursday during Rod Rosenstein’s farewell ceremony. ‘This must be a record of Attorney General being proposed for contempt within 100 days of taking office,” Barr said laughing....President Trump on Wednesday asserted executive privilege over the full, unredacted version of Mueller’s report and the House Dems voted to hold AG Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to give Congress the full report and underlying grand jury material. Nadler and the Dems voted to hold Barr in contempt for following the law. This is the current state of affairs in this country. The Dem-controlled Judiciary Committee chaired by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), held a vote Wednesday morning and voted on party lines -- 22 Dems to 12 Republicans. The Justice Department hit back at Nadler and the Dems in statement Wednesday afternoon. The DOJ argued that AG Barr made 'extraordinary efforts to provide Congress' with information related to Mueller’s report, however the Attorney General was not going to break the law. Bill Barr does not seem fazed whatsoever by the Democrats, even though he is facing a contempt citation -- it takes a fearless Attorney General like Bill Barr to deal with the lawless Deep State-Democrat-media complex." • • • JIM JORDAN IS CERTAINLY NOT YIELDING. A Zero Hedge posting published by Gateway Pundit last Friday noted that : "As Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee - led by Chairman Jerry Nadler - voted to hold AG William Barr in contempt on Wednesday, one Republican wasn't having it. During a heated diatribe during the vote, Jordan refused to yield and instead accused Democrats of trying to punish Barr for vowing to expose skullduggery by the Democrats and the Deep State during the campaign -- particularly as it pertains to the provenance of the Russia collusion probe. When it came his turn to speak, Jordan laid out everything Barr had said about his efforts to investigate exactly how the Russia probe was initiated, and look into suspicions that senior FBI and DOJ officials colluded with the Democrats to create an 'insurance policy' to stop Trump. Jordan accused the Democrats of trying to punish Barr for simply following the law, while covering up for the FBI's malfeasance and politically motivated interference. 'He's going to get to the bottom of everything, he's going to find out how and why this investigation started in the first place..." • Jordan said, according to Zero Hedge, that when he [Barr] testified before the Senate Finance Committee...he said there was "a failure of leadership at the upper echelon of the FBI," adding that "Out of everything Barr has said during his appearances before Congress over the last month, Jordan focused on one : Barr's claim that he has found evidence suggesting that 'spying did occur,' and that said spying may have been politically motivated -- a reference to what has become known as 'spygate.' Second thing he said...spying did occur. Third, he said, there's a basis for my concern about the spying that took place. And maybe the most interest thing -- two terms he used that frankly I find frightening -- he said in his judgment that it looks like there might have been unauthorized surveillance and political surveillance." • During his speech, Jim Jordan cited a 2017 MSNBC Rachel Maddow interview with Senator Chuck Schumer where he said "if you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday for getting back at you." As quoted by Zero Hedge, far as Jordan can tell : "The intelligence community took two concrete steps to try and get back at Trump for all of his Deep State rhetoric. 'I don't know if the FBI went after Trump in six ways, but they sure went after him in two ways. One was the Dossier...the FBI used one party's oppo research to get a warrant from a secret court to spy on another campaign. When they went to the [FISA] court they didn't tell the court important things like who paid for it, that Christopher Steele had said he was desperate to stop Trump, and they didn't tell them that Steele had been fired by the FBI because he was out talking to the press." • Jim Jordan continued in the House Judiciary Committee meeting, according to Zero Hedge : "The second was spying on the Trump campaign. To support this, Jordan referenced a New York Times story recounting an example of FBI spying on the Trump campaign. 'Second, just last Thursday, New York Times story, the FBI sent an investigator pretending to be somebody else to talk with George Papadopoulos who was working with the Trump campaign. You know what they call that? It's called spying. Think about the term he used : Political surveillance.' " • When asked to yield his time, Jordan replied "I WILL NOT YIELD." But, the contempt vote moved forward, forcing President Trump to invoke executive privilege to protect the unredacted Mueller report and any related materials that Democrats had demanded Barr release to them. • Here is the video of Jordan's speech : < https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1126149693308796928 >. • Later, Jordan tweeted the exact truth : ""Bill Barr is following the law. What's his reward? Democrats are going to hold him in contempt. pic.twitter.com/slK3cXf3k2— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) May 8, 2019." • • • AG BARR ASSIGNS A NEW US ATTORNEY TO THE CABAL INVESTIGATION. Fox News reported on Monday that : "Attorney General William Barr has appointed a US attorney to examine the origins of the Russia investigation and determine if intelligence collection involving the Trump campaign was 'lawful and appropriate,' a person familiar with the situation told Fox News on Monday evening. Barr has appointed John Durham, the US attorney in Connecticut, to conduct the inquiry, the source said. Durham previously has investigated law enforcement corruption, the destruction of CIA videotapes and the Boston FBI office's relationship with mobsters. He is to continue to serve as the chief federal prosecutor in Connecticut." • It is interesting that in January, GOP Representatives Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows had already written to Durham seeking a briefing, saying they had "discovered" that Durham's office was "investigating [former FBI General Counsel James Baker" for unauthorized disclosures to the media." • If Durham undertakes a review, Fox News says it will add to "the ongoing probe by DOJ Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz, who is continuing to review potential surveillance abuses by the FBI -- an investigation that began last March and that Fox News is told is nearing completion." Republicans, states Fox News, "also have been looking for answers from US Attorney for Utah John Huber, who was appointed a year ago by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to review not only surveillance abuses by the FBI and DOJ, but also authorities' handling of the probe into the Clinton Foundation. Huber, Republicans have cautioned, apparently has made little progress and has spoken to few key witnesses and whistleblowers. But, in January, then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker reportedly indicated at a private meeting that Huber's work was continuing apace." • Durham's appointment; Fox News points out, comes about a month after Barr told members of Congress he believed "spying did occur" on the Trump campaign in 2016. He later said he didn't mean anything pejorative and was gathering a team to look into the origins of the special counsel's investigation. • Fox News noted that : "In obtaining a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil former Trump aide Carter Page, the FBI copy-pasted directly from a disputed Washington Post opinion article to suggest the Trump campaign may have been compromised. The bureau also repeatedly assured the court that it 'did not believe' British ex-spy Christopher Steele was the direct source for a Yahoo News article implicating Page in Russian collusion. But, London court records showed that contrary to the FBI's assessments, Steele briefed Yahoo News and other reporters in the fall of 2016 at the direction of Fusion GPS -- the opposition research firm behind the Dossier. Fusion GPS was retained by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee (DNC), a piece of information not stated in the FISA application." • Citing newly released records, Senate Republicans question whether a senior State Department official warned the FBI about the apparent political motivation of the Dossier's author, former British spy Christopher Steele, chief Fox News intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports : "The FISA application also copied and pasted directly from a Washington Post opinion piece that claimed the Trump campaign had 'worked behind the scenes' to 'gut' the GOP platform on Russia and Ukraine. Internal FBI text messages exclusively obtained by Fox News earlier this year showed that a senior DOJ official raised concerns about the bias in a key FISA warrant, but that FBI officials pressed on. 'There's a document that's classified that I'm gonna try to get unclassified that takes the Dossier -- all the pages of it -- and it has verification to one side,' Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham told Fox News 'Sunday Morning Futures' this weekend. 'There really is no verification, other than media reports that were generated by reporters that received the Dossier.' Graham specifically cited the report from TheHill's John Solomon that the FBI was expressly told that Steele, the bureau's confidential informant, had admitted to a contact at the State Department that he was 'keen' to leak his discredited Dossier for purposes of influencing the 2016 election. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec’s written account of her October 11, 2016, meeting with Steele was apparently sent to the FBI, according to records unearthed in a transparency lawsuit by Citizens United." • • • WHY DID ROSENSTEIN UNLOAD ON COMEY? Also on Monday, Fox News' Gregg Re reported : "Former Arkansas Republican Governor Mike Huckabee says Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's critical comments of the Russia election interference investigation is a soft way of saying there was a cover up. Rod Rosenstein unloaded on former FBI Director James Comey in remarks to the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) on Monday evening, slamming Comey's turn as a 'partisan pundit,' reiterating that he deserved to be fired, and faulting him for trampling 'bright lines that should never be crossed.' Rosenstein formally stepped aside as deputy attorney general two days ago. His speech specifically took aim at Comey's comments earlier this month implying that Rosenstein and Attorney General Bill Barr lacked the 'inner strength' to 'resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump.' Comey also derided Rosenstein's 'character' and suggested his 'soul' had been consumed 'in small bites.' The former FBI boss, who has taken to posting numerous photographs of himself in nature staring wistfully at trees and roadways since leaving public office, had been showered with media attention in recent months, and his memoir earned him over $2 million." • Gregg Re reported Rosenstein response to Comey's critical comments : "Now, the former director is a partisan pundit, selling books and earning speaking fees while speculating about the strength of my character and the fate of my immortal soul. That is disappointing. Speculating about souls is not a job for police and prosecutors. Generally, we base our opinions on eyewitness testimony....My soul and character are pretty much the same today as they were two years ago. I took a few hits and made some enemies during my time in the arena, but I held my ground and made a lot of friends. And thanks to them, I think I made the right calls on the things that mattered." • While, as reported by Gregg Re, Rosenstein told his GBC audience that he "did not dislike" and even "admired" Comey in the past, he asserted that the former FBI head's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation in 2016 was a grievous and defining professional error : "The clearest mistake was the director’s decision to hold a press conference about an open case, reveal his recommendation and discuss details about the investigation, without the consent of the prosecutors and the attorney general. Then, he chose to send a letter to the Congress on the eve of the election stating that one of the candidates was under criminal investigation, expecting it to be released immediately to the public." • Gregg Re reminded his readers that : "Comey later said he felt compelled to hold the dramatic July 2016 news conference -- in which he said that 'no reasonable prosecutor' would charge Clinton, even though he said she had been 'extremely careless' in handling classified information -- because then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch had compromised the DOJ's appearance of impartiality by allowing Bill Clinton to meet her privately on an airport tarmac as the investigation was ongoing. Rosenstein added : 'Those actions were not within the range of reasonable decisions. They were inconsistent with our goal of communicating to all FBI employees that they should respect the attorney general’s role, refrain from disclosing information about criminal investigations, avoid disparaging uncharged persons, and above all, not take unnecessary steps that could influence an election.' " • Concerning his memorandum supporting the firing of Director Comey, Rosenstein said his memorandum was "reasonable under the circumstances," and said he would have provided a more fleshed-out analysis of the "pros and cons" of terminating the FBI director had he been "asked to make a recommendation before the removal decision was made." BUT, Rosenstein emphasized, Trump "did not tell me what reasons to put in my memo." The President repeatedly has suggested that Comey's refusal to acknowledge publicly -- as he had privately -- that Trump was not under investigation ultimately played a role in his termination. Still, wrote Gregg Re, "Rosenstein sounded a note of sympathy for the manner in which Comey was fired. The ex-FBI director reportedly learned of his fate from TV reports. 'If I had been the decision maker, the removal would have been handled very differently, with far more respect and far less drama,' Rosenstein said, 'so I do not blame the former director for being angry.' " • WHY did Rod Rosenstein choose to bez so expansive in his criticism of former FBI Director Jim Comey? Gregg Re states : "Congressional Republicans have accused Rosenstein of intentionally withholding documents and information from Congress, failure to comply with congressional subpoenas and abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In particular, Rosenstein was at the DOJ in June 2017 when the third renewal of the government's FISA warrant to surveil ex-Trump aide Carter Page was submitted. The FISA applications flatly accused Page of conspiring with Russians and included citations to media sources that traced back to British ex-spy Christopher Steele -- who was funded in part by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The FISA applications did not state these connections clearly, nor did they mention new revelations that Steele apparently confided in the State Department that he wanted his since-discredited, now-infamous dossier to go public before Election Day in 2016. A DOJ watchdog review of the department's FISA practices, among other issues, is expected to be completed within weeks." • The question we have to ask now is whether Rosenstein is targeting Comey in order to set up his own legal defense, if it is needed later. Back on March 22, Fox News wrote : "Carter Page has not been charged with any wrongdoing despite more than a year of federal surveillance, and he has since sued numerous actors -- including the Democratic National Committee (DNC) -- for defamation related to claims that he worked with Russia." • And, states Gregg Re, one chain of Peter Strzok-Lisa Page texts indicates that the Obama White House was involved : "On October 14, 2016, [FBI attorney Lisa] Page again wrote to McCabe, this time concerning a meeting with the White House. 'Apparently the DAG [Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates] now wants to be there, and WH wants DOJ to host. So we are setting that up now....We will very much need to get Cohen’s view before we meet with her. Better, have him weigh in with her before the meeting. We need to speak with one voice, if that is in fact the case.' ('Cohen' is likely then-Deputy CIA Director David Cohen.) McCabe responded within the hour: 'Thanks. I will reach out to David.' On October 19, Page wrote to McCabe that the 'meeting with WH counsel is finally set up.' Lisa Page did not respond to Fox News' inquiries as to whether the meeting was designed to brief the White House on the FISA application or some other matter. Page also did not reply to Fox News' inquiries about the DOJ's concerns over the FISA application, or dispute that the texts related to the Carter Page warrant application. McCabe and the FBI declined to comment. Fox News has also reached out to the DOJ for comment. The FISA application eventually filed by the FBI on October 21, 2016, stated, 'The FBI believes [Carter] Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government.' The FBI went on to allege that Carter Page 'has established relationships with Russian government officials, including Russian intelligence officers,' and that the FBI believed 'the Russian government’s efforts are being coordinated with [Carter] Page and perhaps other individuals associated with' Trump's campaign. Page, the FBI told the FISA court, 'has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government.' " • Fake. Lies. Spying. Eventually, Rod Rosenstein will have to answer questions about what he knew about these actions and what role he played in them. Thus, attacking Comey could be part of a future legal defense strategy. • • • OBAMA DOJ PUT HILLARY'S PERSONAL EMAILS RELATING TO THE CLINTON FOUNDATION OUT OF REACH. Fox News reported on March 14 that : "The Justice Department 'negotiated' an agreement with Hillary Clinton's legal team that ensured the FBI did not have access to emails on her private servers relating to the Clinton Foundation, former FBI special agent Peter Strzok testified during a closed-door appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last summer, according to a newly released transcript. Republicans late last year renewed their efforts to probe the Clinton Foundation, after tax documents showed a plunge in its incoming donations after Clinton’s 2016 presidential election. The numbers fueled longstanding allegations of possible 'pay-to-play' transactions at the organization, amid a Justice Department probe covering foundation issues. Under questioning from then [GOP majority] Judiciary Committee General Counsel Zachary Somers, Strzok acknowledged that Clinton's private personal email servers contained a mixture of emails related to the Clinton Foundation, her work as secretary of state and other matters. 'Were you given access to [Clinton Foundation-related] emails as part of the investigation?' Somers asked. 'We were not. We did not have access,' Strzok responded. 'My recollection is that the access to those emails were based on consent that was negotiated between the Department of Justice attorneys and counsel for Clinton.' Although the FBI eventually took possession of the servers, Strzok continued, the possession was 'based upon the negotiation of Department of Justice attorneys for consent.'....'A significant filter team' was employed at the FBI, Strzok said, to 'work through the various terms of the various consent agreements.' Limitations imposed on agents' searches included date ranges, and names of domains and people, Strzok said, among other categories. The agreement was reached, Strzok said, because 'according to the attorneys, we lacked probable cause to get a search warrant for those servers and projected that either it would take a very long time and/or it would be impossible to get to the point where we could obtain probable cause to get a warrant.' Strzok did not elaborate on whether prosecutors made any effort to secure a search warrant, which could have delineated precisely what agents could and could not search. But, Strzok later said that agents had access to the 'entire universe' of information on the servers when using search terms to probe their contents. He also told Somers that 'we had it voluntarily,' although it was unclear if he meant all emails on the servers -- including ones related to the Clinton Foundation." • Former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who chaired the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee until 2017 and is now a Fox News contributor, said the arrangement signaled in March that agents wanted willful blindness : " 'They had no interest in pursuing the truth. What's bizarre about this, is in any other situation, there's no possible way they would allow the potential perpetrator to self-select what the FBI gets to see,' Chaffetz said, noting that the FBI was aware that the servers contained classified information in unclassified settings. 'The FBI should be the one to sort through those emails -- not the Clinton attorneys.' The DOJ's goal, Chaffetz said, was to make sure they hear no evil, see no evil -- they had no interest in pursuing the truth. Chaffetz added that the DOJ's behavior, including its award of immunity to top Clinton aides early on in the investigation, signaled a clear double standard : 'They didn't go make a deal with anyone in Trump's orbit. They seized it. They used guns and agents -- and just went in there and took it. The Clinton Foundation isn't supposed to be communicating with the State Department anyway,' Chaffetz continued. 'The Foundation -- with her name on it -- is not supposed to be communicating with the senior officials at the State Department.' The Clinton Foundation did not respond to Fox News' request for comment." • • • THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WAS COSY WITH THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN. Fox News reporters Gregg Re and Catherine Herridge wrote back in March that : "Republican-led concerns that the DOJ, under the Obama administration, was too cozy with the Clinton team during the 2016 presidential campaign have grown louder in recent days. Earlier this week, Fox News exclusively reviewed an internal chart prepared by federal investigators working on the so-called 'Midyear Exam' probe into Clinton's emails. The chart contained the words 'NOTE : DOJ not willing to charge this' next to a key statute on the mishandling of classified information. The notation appeared to contradict former FBI Director James Comey's repeated claims that his team made its decision that Clinton should not face criminal charges independently. But Strzok, in his closed-door interview, denied that the DOJ exercised undue influence over the FBI, and insisted that lawyers at the DOJ were involved in an advisory capacity working with agents. Fox News also confirmed the chart served as a critical tip that provided the basis for Texas Republican Representative John Ratcliffe's explosive questioning of former FBI lawyer Lisa Page last year, in which Page agreed with Ratcliffe's characterization that the DOJ had told the FBI that 'you're not going to charge gross negligence.'...Separately, in the closed-door session, Strzok defended his affair with Page, repeatedly denying that the relationship presented a security risk when challenged by GOP aides. Strzok, who was fired from the bureau after months of scrutiny regarding anti-Trump text messages between him and Page, confirmed he was involved in an extramarital affair when asked about it during his interview before the committee on June 27, 2018. But Strzok was also asked by Art Baker, the GOP investigative counsel for the committee, whether that affair could have made him 'vulnerable to potential recruitment' by 'hostile intelligence service[s].' 'Yeah, I don’t think I would characterize it that way,' Strzok said. 'I think it is not so much any particular action as it is the way that action might be used to coerce or otherwise get somebody to do something. I can tell you that in no way would that extramarital affair have any power in coercing me to do anything other than obeying the law and doing honest, competent investigation.' " AND, of course, playing footsie with the Obama White House. • • • WERE ALL THE FISA WARRANTS ILLEGALLY OBTAINED BY THE FBI? Restore American Glory published an article on Sunday that says 'maybe' : "According to former Trump lawyer Joe diGenova, the DOJ’s Inspector General may have determined that the FBI broke the law while trying to obtain FISA warrants against Trump campaign associate Carter Page in 2016. The attorney [DiGenova] told Fox Business that Democrats were blowing up the House of Representatives with investigations and subpoenas and other nonsense, largely in an effort to distract from the coming maelstrom. 'They are doing that as a diversionary tactic away from the inevitable conclusions of the DOJ inspector general, Michael Horowitz, who, by the way, we have learned has concluded that the final three FISA extensions were illegally obtained,' diGenova said. 'The only question now is whether or not the first FISA was illegally obtained.' Horowitz has been investigating the Justice Department’s activities in the early days of the Russia investigation since last year, and he is widely expected to reveal his findings within just a few weeks. At that point, there may be a reckoning for many of the most notorious figures in the FBI/DOJ, including Peter Stzrok, Lisa Page, Andrew McCabe, James Comey, Bruce Ohr, and others. As part of that investigation, Horowitz has been looking into the foreign surveillance warrants that the FBI obtained against [Carter] Page. Those warrants allowed the FBI to wiretap the Trump associate and use a broad palette of surveillance tools that are usually not permitted when the subject is an American citizen. To obtain those warrants, the FBI relied heavily (if not exclusively) on what’s come to be known as the Steele Dossier -- a work of almost total fiction financed by the Democratic National Committee [and the Hillary Campaign]. Justice Department officials went out of their way to disguise the Dossier’s political origins when presenting it to the FISA court." • To back up his assertion, diGenova told Fox Business News that : "Citizens United had obtained memos that implicate the FBI in a scheme to mislead the FISA judges. 'Apparently,' he said, 'as a result of those disclosures -- the Bureau hid those memos from Horowitz -- and as a result of that, they’re doing additional work on the first FISA. It may be that all four FISAs will have been obtained illegally.' " • We must now wait for the Horowitz report and hope that the truth will come out -- and that the consequences will follow swiftly. • • • DEAR READERS, on Monday, Newsmax reported that President Trump tweeted a long quote from Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton criticizing FBI Director Christopher Wray for “protecting” a “gang” that attempted “an illegal coup.” The President tweeted on Monday: "'Just another abuse of power in a long series of abuses of power by the Democrats that began during the Obama Administration, continued through the Mueller FBI operation, & now the baton has been passed to [House Judiciary Committee Chairman] Jerry Nadler to continue to abuse power to harass President Trump and the Democrat National Committee." President Trump later added in two tweets, another quote claiming that the FBI lacks “leadership,” in an apparent swipe at the FBI director. Here is that Trump Tweet : "The Democrat Party apparatus-has been caught using donor Dollars to Collude with Russian Intelligence to attack a domestic political opponent (me). The FBI has no leadership. The Director is protecting the same gang.....that tried to........overthrow the President through an illegal coup.” • The FBI’s former general counsel, James Baker, denied accusations of an “attempted ‘coup,’” last week, according to ABC News. "There was no attempted ‘coup,' " Baker said in an interview with the Brookings Institution. “There was no way in hell that I was going to allow some coup or coup attempt to take place on my watch.” • But, Baker's actions are now under scrutiny AND Washington rumors say that it's only a matter of time before President Trump fires the ineffectual and possibly compromised FBI Director Christopher Wray. • On June 4, 1940, after the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk, Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the House of Parliament and made one of his most famous, and immortel, speeches : "We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." Later, on October 29, 1941, with Britain still alone in the fight against Nazi Germany, Churchill told an audience of schoolboys at Harrow, his old school, "…never give in, never, never, never, never -- in nothing, great or small, large or petty -- never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense." • Sometimes, we who support President Trump and the constitutional American Republic must feel as alone as Winston Churchill did in those early, harrowing days of World War II. But, Jim Jordan got it right, in a broader sense than his audience could have understood. "I will not Yield." • My first thought was of Churchill, "we shall never surrender." • We will defend our Republic. We Will Not Yield.