Free Republic

Remember Eric Ciaramella? He’s the Ukraine whistleblower who lobbed a report sent to Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) office in 2019, which set off the first Trump impeachment effort. It’s where the whole drama started between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the perfect phone call where the crux of the charge against Trump is that there was an attempted quid pro quo arrangement: Zelensky would investigate Biden’s alleged felonious activities during the Burisma investigation, where a top Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, was fired, in return for the United States not cutting off military aid. [snip] Ciaramella’s role – including high-level discussions...

In a development that could have substantial implications to the ongoing "Russia hacked the US elections" narrative, United Arab Emirates media reports that Dubai police have arrested a group of foreign hackers that targeted five White House officials in an email blackmail scheme. The Arabic-language Al Bayan newspaper and the television channel Dubai One reported the arrests on Monday according to AP. Dubai police did not answer repeated calls for comment. The Al Bayan quoted Maj. Saud al-Khalidi of Dubai police as saying an "African gang", broke into the emails of the five senior officials and "got highly confidential information."...

... On Friday, Republicans leaked what they said was a quote from Rhodes: "We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don't want to undermine the FBI investigation." But it turns out that in the actual email, Rhodes did not mention the State Department. It read: "We need to resolve this in a way that respects all of the relevant equities, particularly the investigation." Republicans also provided what they said was a quote from an email written by State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland. The Republican version quotes Nuland...

New emails obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform show a direct link between the Department of Energy’s controversial green energy loan program and the White House, Republicans on the committee said Wednesday. The White House and Energy Department have long held there was no political influence in the decision-making process that awarded billions of dollars in federal loan guarantees to renewable energy companies. However, emails disclosed at the hearing reference to communications with the White House. House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) said the emails are the first in the committee’s more than yearlong investigation...