Big Day For The Swamp – Gang of Eight, Plus Gowdy and Kelly, Meet With DOJ, FBI and DNI To Debate Transparency…
May 24, 2018
A historic set of meetings within the deepest parts of the DC Swamp is on the schedule for this afternoon with a rather unusual set of alliances, conflicts and competing interests amid both parties and all three branches of government.
After much debate, scheduling, positioning, narrative selling, re-scheduling and changes in attendees, the legislative branch and executive branch are set hold a meeting to discuss oversight, document production and investigative authority over prior intelligence and justice department abuses. It’s a very odd day indeed.
2017/2018 Intelligence Oversight “Gang of Eight”
♦At high-noon House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R), and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R), are meeting with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. (link) and (link)
In this first meeting the legislative branch will be asking the executive branch, yet again, for unredacted documents relating to their oversight over the Intelligence Community and Department of Justice. The concerns are prior IC, DOJ and FBI conduct in spy operations against the former campaign of current President Donald Trump. ie. “SpyGate”.
The Chief Executive of the Executive Branch, President Donald J Trump, supports full transparency and his interests are represented by Chief-of-Staff John Kelly. However, the representative cabinet officer of the executive branch, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is not permitted to attend; and the subordinate cabinet officers DAG Rosenstein and FBI Director Wray, seemingly are reluctant to support current transparency requests.
This apparent non-compliant split within the executive branch is unusual to say the least and unfortunately the primary reconciliation officer, Jeff Sessions is recused. Making the issue(s) more complex is current President being the likely victim of an abuse of power by the former cabinet officers of the prior President Obama administration.
To defend the interests of the prior cabinet and prior administration, the co-dependent facilitators of SpyGate, the 2016 Gang-of-Eight (sans Senator Feinstein, replaced by Senator Warner), come from both the Republican and Democrat side of the legislative branch. Thus…
♦At 2:00pm, an additional group of legislative branch oversight members, seven additional members of the Intelligence Oversight “Gang of Eight”, will join Devin Nunes for a second meeting/briefing to discuss similar issues.
House Speaker Paul Ryan; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer; House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member, Adam Schiff; Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr; and Vice-Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner will join House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. This represents the Gang-of-Eight.
[It is presumed at this point Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy will exit the venue.]
♦ At the 2:00pm meeting seven well known Deep State members of the Gang of Eight, both Democrats and Republicans, will align with the subordinate cabinet officers DAG Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray, against the sunlight and oversight demands of Devin Nunes, John Kelly and presumably Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats.
2017/2018 Intelligence Oversight Gang of Eight
Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Mark Warner are democrats. They will be supported in the briefing by Richard Burr, Mitch McConnell and possibly Paul Ryan, all republicans. [Although Ryan has expressed ambivalence on his alignment]
Five of these seven Go8 members (Pelosi, Schiff, Burr, McConnell and Ryan) were co-facilitators for the 2016 operation “SpyGate” along with Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Senator Harry Reid. Feinstein abdicated her Vice-Chair position and was replaced by by Mark Warner. Harry Reid retired and was replaced by Chuck Schumer.
2016 “SpyGate” was a multi-department intelligence plan involving former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and an unknown number of Obama administration members.
According to Brennan’s former congressional testimony he briefed each of the 2016 Gang of Eight members on the origination of the intelligence information, and the beginning of the counterintelligence operation against candidate Donald Trump and his campaign. However, curiously John Brennan stated he briefed each of the members “individually”.
John Brennan structured his self-defense with great specificity: (@13:35)
Ex-CIA Head Quizzed On Trump-Russia Ties- Full House Intelligence Hearing
“Again, in consultation with the White House, I PERSONALLY briefed the full details of our understanding of Russian attempts to interfere in the election to congressional leadership; specifically: Senators Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Dianne Feinstein and Richard Burr; and to representatives Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Devin Nunes and Adam Schiff between 11th August and 6th September [2016], I provided the same briefing to each of the gang of eight members.”
“Given the highly sensitive nature of what was an active counter-intelligence case [that means the FBI], involving an ongoing Russian effort, to interfere in our presidential election, the full details of what we knew at the time were shared only with those members of congress; each of whom was accompanied by one senior staff member.”… (link)
As a consequence of their oversight responsibility, if gross misconduct of unlawful activity is evidenced within the presented documentation from the tightly held vault of the FBI and DOJ, all members of the 2016 intelligence oversight are at risk; presumably excluding Devin Nunes.
Thus those remaining members of the 2016 Go8 have a motive to keep all evidence of prior activity sealed from current congressional oversight and inquiry. That’s why they will likely align with the interests of the subordinate cabinet members who also have an institutional interest in keeping DOJ and FBI secrets from exposure; against the requests of Chief Executive President Trump.
At the 2:00pm larger briefing Devin Nunes will likely only find White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and DNI Dan Coats as open allies. Predictably House Speaker Paul Ryan will hide behind the potted plant until the smoke clears; while Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff, Warner, McConnell and Burr attack Nunes for requesting oversight.
Predictions:
♦If historic patterns repeat, at approximately 2:30pm Adam Schiff will excuse himself to use the restroom and place a guarded phone call to congressional correspondent Manu Raju of CNN, whereby he will leak briefing details for the lead story at the 3:00pm hour.
Awaiting Schiff’s return signal, Pelosi and Schumer will run a distraction campaign discussing tea biscuits and gun control efforts, while Mark Warner uses his blackberry under the table to text message the Russian couriers waiting outside.
Mitch McConnell will find his way to the plant in the corner and begin mumbling something to Paul Ryan who will ask the Senate Majority leader if he remember to bring a mirror. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr will pause from glaring at the unfamiliar Ukrainian female staffers, strategically selected for attendance by Mark Warner, and begin guilty engagement with DNI Dan Coats and John Kelly while the room awaits Shiff’s return.
At approximately 3:30 to 4:00pm the group will begin to exit FBI Headquarters and after reaching the third concrete step the first very detailed question from the awaiting media will be shouted at Chairman Devin Nunes asking why he has already leaked the classified content of the briefing. Prior to answering Chairman Nunes will catch Pelosi and Schumer slyly smiling back as they enter their escorted vehicles.
Ranking member Adam Schiff will be positioned slightly behind Nunes waiting for the bombardment of seeded rapid-fire questioning of Nunes to cease; at which time Schiff will step forward and the media will listen intently in hushed compliance for fifteen minutes as Schiff explains how today’s critically important briefing has laid the groundwork for future impeachment proceedings.
Toward the end of his rehearsed remarks Adam Schiff will note the likelihood that that several dozen FBI intelligence assets and their families are now at risk; adding a possibility that right now FBI intelligence sources are being assassinated in grocery stores as a result of the grossly irresponsible requests by Chairman Nunes for the most sensitive national security secrets.
At 4:00pm Jake Tapper will carry the choreographed Schiff exit remarks live; with James Clapper and Carl Bernstein pre-positioned in the CNN studio, complete with the leaked narrative provided by Jim Scuitto and congressional correspondent Manu Raju.
Soon thereafter Wolf Blitzer will come in for the structured assist with a ‘Breaking News’ live-feed from Senator Mark Warner who just arrived back on Capitol Hill.
….And so it goes.
A historic day in the swamp.
