Posted on 05/23/2018 9:12:06 AM PDT by FtrPilot
Here's my analysis and rationale for why the DOJ IG is the best agency to investigate #SPYGATE.
1. Rod Rosenstein has already assigned the investigation to DOJ IG. All we can do at this point is complain, write our congresspeople, etc. Won't do any good.
2. Crossfire Hurricane is/was a Top Secret, NOFORN, WNINTEL, LIMDIS, Special Access Required (SAR) program. As a minimum, anyone investigating #SPYGATE will require a current SBI, TS clearance, and inbrief on the program. If a second independent counsel were assigned, it could take months to build the team and get the clearances needed to start gathering evidence.
3. Without a doubt, #SPYGATE is intertwined with FISA abuse. DOJ IG should already have access to any/all Crossfire Hurricane documents. DOJ IG team already have clearances in place to start the investigation.
4. DOJ IG cannot subpoena anyone outside of current government employees. True. However, I can assure you there is a paper trail. The early part of any investigation is gathering all of the written evidence. DOJ IG is best positioned to gather the written evidence.
5. Current government employees, if called in for an interview, must attend. Interviews are under oath and recorded, with the employee's attorney present. The employee can invoke 5th Amendment right. Testimony from any/all interviews can and will be used in a court of law.
6. Three key individuals are still government employees...Strzok, Ohr, and Priestap. Strzok knows where all the bodies are buried. His only hope of staying out of prison is to deliver McCabe, Comey, Brennen, and Clapper.
7. For these dirt bags to stay our of prison (or get a reduced sentence of raking sand traps at the Eglin AFB golf course), they will have to deliver Yates, Lynch, Susan Rice, and Samantha Power.
8. McCabe might be able to stay our of prison if he can deliver Terry McAuliffe.
9. We know for a fact that a U.S. Attorney has been assigned to the investigation (Huber). We don't know the status of any grand jury investigations. With a U.S. Attorney assigned, grand jury subpoenas can be issued in a matter of hours.
10. DOJ IG has published one related report involving McCabe's unauthorized leaks and perjury. The report details an ironclad case against McCabe. The DOJ IG has made a criminal referral to the D. C. U.S. Attorney. I would not want to be in McCabes shoes, as this case will be used to convince the leakers to stop leaking and the perjurers to stop lying under oath. I expect President Trump and Sessions will keep the pressure on to prosecute the case.
11. DOJ IG has completed a draft report on the DOJ/FBI handling of the Hillary e-mail investigation. The report is out for review & rebuttal by individuals cited in the report. Any rebuttals will be included as an attachment. The report is not edited to reflect the rebuttal.
12. Expectation is the report will be released in 3 to 4 weeks. Mr. Horowitz will then testify to congress regarding the report's findings.
If the Hillary e-mail report is a whitewash, we will know as there is too much information in the public domain for an attempted whitewash to succeed. But if a whitewash is attempted, then that will be the trigger for a second independent counsel.
My expectation is that the report will be devastating to all of the individuals involved. I also expect that a criminal referral will be made. Actually, I believe the criminal referral has already been made. The referral will be come public knowledge. If this is the case, then the next report #SPYGATE/Crossfire Hurricane is going to be exposure of the worst conspiracy in U.S. history.
I trust President Trump to do the right thing. If a second IC is needed, he will tweet for it.
For those demanding a second IC now, keep your powder dry and wait for the Hillary e-mail report.
IG is toothless. Can’t empanel a grand jury. Waste of time exactly what deep state wants.
The IG doesn’t have the power to resolve this matter, and America doesn’t have the time to wait for a IG non-resolution of this matter.
I’m tired of arguing with idiots, but Rosenstein just stated: “If an IG investigation involving “any past or present Department employee requires criminal process, the IG’s sworn and armed federal agents work with U.S. Attorneys to obtain grand jury subpoenas and search warrants, just like FBI agents”.
I disagree that the DOJ represented by anyone in the DOJ can investigate the DOJ and anyone investigating the DOJ should never have been a part of the DOJ or the FBI.
Maybe the Trump campaign knew about the surveillance while it was going on, and used it to their advantage.
For those who are saying the DOJ is “toothless”, understand that the IG is playing an invaluable role in Trump’s master plan. Every agency has an IG. Under Obama, the power of the IG to investigate wrongs and crimes was eviscerated. It took Sen Grassley to restore their legal authority and power. Huber was brought in to add the “teeth” to the IG. Read what professor Jonathon Turley has said: Huber is BETTER than a Special Counsel. Huber has a staff of 450, he has been investigating since November, and he teamed up directly with the DOJ IG long ago.
A second Special Counsel will proceed at a glacial pace. Years, not months. Huber can and probably will act quickly (in legal terms).
The IG has and will refer people for prosecution. Not only will the IG lay out the legal case for doing so, but it provides political armor against the partisan attacks of the media and Democrats.
The board is set, and the pieces are moving.
The IG has led to zero prosecutions, zero people in jail. Nothing. All it serves is to bury the problems and suggest how to do things differently next time. We need prosecution and justice which only an independent special counsel can do. I like the idea of a prosecutor tied to the IG but so far that’s been with zero results. Maybe best we start with new DOJ and FBI leadership with marching orders to get it all out and public. We need a Church-like series of hearings to air the dirty laundry once and for all. And we need it now, this year, not next decade. And, yes, I want whirled peas as well.
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IG has no authority with CIA, NSA, State, Yates, Clapper, Brennan, Comey, McCabe, and Samantha Power.
18 months and No Indictments.
The Intell Communuty would love Toothless IG that has no authority over them.
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I sense that is coming too. The recent letters out of Grassley, Goodlatte and others are at the point of revealing what happened. After the reveal, there will be justification to impanel a group to deal with the exoneration of Hillary and frame-up of Trump.
The genesis of the Trump frame-up is the same sort of wholesale snooping abuse that triggered Church Commission. We can go back and visit that. And maybe disband the waste of a FISA Court. It doesn't curtail abuse of snooping power, it legitimizes the abuse. Waste of money, a charade conducted in secret, to give the public the illusion the government practices restraint in snooping. It never did, and it never will.
Lol. The IG just released his first report. A Draft, not even a final. How is he supposed to make criminal referrals when he does not even yet have a final report? And he has been working on his report a shorter time than Mueller.
Assigning a SC or IC at this point will only delay things possibly for years.
Actually, the IG released his first related report a couple of months ago. As a result of that report, McCabe was fired, denied early retirement, and has a criminal referral pending at the D.C. U.S. Attorney.
As I stated in my original post, the draft report will not be edited. It is called a draft report so the impacted personnel can respond. Their response is included as an attachment.
The checks and balance system and the rule of law are essential in our system of government. They are not working as intended and THAT is the crisis. Our Constitution is worthless with those who have no intention to uphold their sworn duty. “Protect and defend” means something different to them. I raised my hand three times and took those words extremely seriously because American lives and our country depend upon it.
I can assure you that if any of the offices or individuals mentioned generated notes, memos, e-mails, correspondence of any kind related to Crossfire Hurricane, the DOJ IG will get access to them.
I expect the DOJ IG already has the Crossfire Hurricane paper trail.
18 months and No Indictments
IMHO, this is not about Indictments. It is about convictions. This conspiracy involves personnel at the highest levels of the DOJ, FBI, CIA, DNI and the White House.
It is going to take an ironclad case to convict all of the guilty parties. If the guilty parties get off scott free, then we will never remove the corruption out of Washington D.C.
May God Bless and protect President Donald Trump.
In a lot of instances, you are correct. For example, the IG report on Fast & Furious was a complete whitewash. Not because of the IG, but because the Attorney General and Obama declared most of the evidence to be covered by "Executive Privilege" and the IG did not have access to it. So, the IG wrote the Fast & Furious report based only on the evidence given to him by the AG and Potus.
In this instance, President Trump and AG Sessions (hopefully) want the information to be made public. Therefore, the IG will have access to the evidence and will publish an accurate report on what actually occurred, and will make criminal referrals as required by law.
As I have stated earlier in this thread, and in other threads, if the IG report on Hillary's e-mails is a whitewash, then that will show that AG Sessions is a swamp creature and that a second IC is mandatory.
AG Sessions has recused himself from matters concerning Hillary Clinton and all "election related matters". I don't think he's involved in the investigation in any way. He has basically recused himself from being the Attorney General.
Your point is valid. Here's a link to Attorney General Sessions Statement on Recusal:
What I find confusing regarding Session's recusal is that he assigned the U.S. Attorney for Utah (Mr. Huber) to parallel the IG. Mr. Sessions is also the person who informed the press of Mr. Huber's appointment.
So, is an investigation of the investigation that initiated the Mueller investigation require recusal?
The pick of a group (headed by Huber) to “make recommendations” about Congressional concerns was actually revealed by Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd.
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000015f-b85c-d93c-a77f-b9dfe5950000
Note that this is not an assignment of prosecution, but rather a determination of whether prosecution might be warranted. Bloggers have jumped to unwarranted conclusions about this.
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