Another great CTH article on the Muller group.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/03/30/whats-in-the-full-mueller-report
What’s In The Full Mueller Report?…
FTA:
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This inherent sense of self-importance exists amid all of the officials discussed in the surrounding story of how the administrative state targeted Trump. Additionally, this social compact permits unlawful conduct if the tribe is threatened. Rules and laws do not apply when the DC tribe feels threatened.
With the Mueller probe officially concluding, people are starting to ask:
‘When exactly did Robert Mueller determine there was no Russian collusion/conspiracy?’
The answer is not complex, because all the characters knew there was no Russian collusion/conspiracy, ever. They knew the narrative was created; they participated in the creation; the Russian conspiracy narrative was a necessary element toward the goal of eliminating Trump. Remember what FBI Agent Peter Strzok said:
…”you and I both know the odds are nothing. If I thought it was likely, I’d be there no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there’s no big there there.”
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This investigative ‘small group’ are the people inside Main Justice (DOJ) and FBI headquarters who redacted the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages; removed messages and communication antithetical to their goals; kept key documents and information away from congress; stalled any effort to expose the unlawful aspects of “SpyGate’ and the fraudulent foundation behind the Carter Page FISA application; and undermined any adverse discoveries in the leak investigations (James Wolfe) writ large.
This investigative small group didn’t change when Mueller arrived, they just retooled the focus of their effort based on new leadership and new objectives. Those who created the Trump-Russia collusion/conspiracy case of 2016, evolved into creating the Trump obstructing justice case of 2017, 2018 and 2019.
In an interview yesterday Trump’s former lawyer John Dowd described the moment Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein blindsided everyone with the Special Counsel. [Interview Link at 49:00] Attorney General Jeff Sessions was in the oval office when White House counsel Don McGhan informed President Trump of the public announcement. A shocked Jeff Sessions immediately apologized to the President and offered to resign.
The special counsel was the evolution of investigating Trump.
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Remember, because there was no Trump-Russia collusion/conspiracy, it was always the “obstruction” investigation that could lead to the desired result by Mueller’s team of taking down President Trump through impeachment. The “obstruction case” was the entirety of the case they were trying to make from August 2017 through to March 2019.
These targets would generate pressure points against President Trump. If they could not deliver direct evidence against Trump (on any criminal angle) they could be used to bait Trump into taking actions that would assist the obstruction case.
Obstruction was always the impeachment long-game, and their political plan needed the 2018 mid-term election and the House of Representatives in Pelosi’s hands to work.
This is why DAG Rod Rosenstein pressured Trump in September of 2018 not to declassify the underlying SpyGate/FISA documents. Rosenstein knew it would have undermined the Russia narrative, and worse…. it might have upended the goal of winning the House (a key part of their long-term plan); so Rosenstein informed Trump declassification would be impeding the Mueller investigation.
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Andrew Weissmann and team were continually trying to bait and provoke President Trump into making statements, or taking action that could be added to the ‘obstruction’ file; while Mueller is simultaneously telling Trump’s legal team they were only a subject-witness in the Russia investigation.
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The entire Mueller team were working to goad President Trump into something Mueller could then color/construe as obstruction and then open House impeachment grounds; and they were having fun doing it.
The manner of the pre-dawn raid on Paul Manafort, and the way they treated him, along with the manner of the raid on Michael Cohen was all done purposefully hoping to draw a reaction from Trump, which they would add to the obstruction file. Simultaneously they had to keep the ‘Muh Russia’ narrative going to help Democrats win the House in 2018.
Once Rosenstein and Mueller had the mid-term election goal secure (Dec ’18), then they set about enhancing the impeachment narrative with even stronger ‘obstruction‘ provocations.
The outrageous manner of arrest of Roger Stone is an example. The scale of it; heavily armed swat teams, tanks etc; and the fact that Weissmann enlisted CNN for the purpose of intentionally broadcasting the outrageous nature of the arrest, was by design. Mueller and Rosenstein were intentionally trying to provoke a response from Trump:
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All of that stuff assembled for use against other members of Trump’s family is what’s likely inside the Mueller report. None of it has anything to do with Russia because investigating Trump and Russia was never the real purpose of the past twenty months.
The reason why Mueller’s team ended up stopping the scheme is because William Barr showed up and refused to participate. This would explain why a disgruntled Mueller team punted on the obstruction decision to AG William Barr. It was their last desperate effort, amid a failure to construct a solid legal case, to politicize the possibility and innuendo, and force Barr to be the one to say: “no obstruction.”
However, it’s also likely William Barr realized this was going to be one hell of a mess to clean up and he wasn’t going to let Rosenstein exit without participating in the process.
Once it became obvious Barr was not going to tolerate this agenda, that’s when Nancy Pelosi shifted her public tone on impeachment. However, it’s probable the salacious, unused and innuendo material is still inside the Mueller report; that’s why Nadler and Schiff want to get hold of it.
https://thefederalist.com/2019/03/29/germanys-refusal-fund-2-percent-defense-not-action-ally/
Germany’s Refusal To Fund 2 Percent Of Its Defense Is Not The Action Of An Ally
Sumantra Maitra
FTA:
Bob Gates, perhaps the most farsighted post-Cold War defense secretary, presciently predicted in 2011 “that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress—and in the American body politic writ large—to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense.”
Gates, who once rightly understood that the Saudis would fight Iranians to the last American, also essentially hinted the same with regards to Germany and Russia, “nations apparently willing and eager for American taxpayers to assume the growing security burden left by reductions in European defense budgets.”
Put simply, he was saying the Germans would talk about an international liberal order for as long as Americans would pay to defend it. The day they are caught not tangibly supporting this order, they would throw a tantrum and blame Washington. “Future U.S. political leaders– those for whom the Cold War was not the formative experience that it was for me—may not consider the return on America’s investment in NATO worth the cost,” he said.
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In short, Germany is not even trying to increase NATO funding, but actually planning to decrease it, in a rub to the American and British taxpayers who subsidize European security. Adding insult to injury, some German politicians accused the American ambassador to Germany, Richard Grennell, of acting like a colonial viceroy or high commissioner of an occupying force, and wished he would leave Germany immediately.
Yes, you read that right. Germany refused to pay for its share in NATO, and when the American ambassador pointed that out, the German leaders wanted to make him a “persona non grata” and take away his position. In a similar timeframe, which I am sure is “purely coincidental,” the EU fined Google for the third time, and Germany signaled it would continue to be protectionist in trade.
Grennell has been one of the most effective President Trump picks. He managed to align European sanctions against Iran, deport Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh, and get East European countries to agree to increase their defense budgets after 15 years of the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations failing to move the needle.
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Germany has stifled Euro growth, increasing its own competitive advantage, leaned towards Russia even at the cost of European security, and consistently opposed further European self-sufficiency in defense, while duplicating NATO bureaucracy and calling for an ineffectual EU army. Not to mention, again, Germany’s mindless sanctimony and holier-than-thou posturing.
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German leaders want to “decolonize” Europe from the United States. So be it. Let them take care of their own business, and see how safe and united the European Union remains when all the American troops move out from anywhere east of the Thames.
The return of geopolitics and great power rivalry also means sterner words instead of wishy-washy signaling. At the minimum, East and Central Europeans should be given a choice: to be under the dictates of Berlin, or to follow Washington. After all, that’s what Germany wants, isn’t it?
They talked 'obstruction' incessantly the past 18 months, but it was all politics, fund raising, rah rah.
I ask you, in a court of law, how do you prove obstruction where there is no crime to protect? This is doubly true when you consider that, IF there was collusion, there is no statute that outlaws it.