Free Republic

Republican-led House and Senate committees are investigating whether leaders of the Russia counterintelligence investigation had contacts with the news media that resulted in improper leaks, prompted in part by text messages amongst senior FBI officials mentioning specific reporters, news organizations and articles. In one exchange, FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page engaged in a series of texts shortly before Election Day 2016 suggesting they knew in advance about a Wall Street Journal article and would need to feign stumbling onto the story so it could be shared with colleagues. “Article is out, but hidden behind paywall...

The Wall Street Journal increased the pressure on embattled FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Tuesday with a scathing op-ed from its editorial board, calling on Mueller to resign over the controversy surrounding a lead investigator’s anti-Trump texts. The New York Times and the Washington Post reported over the weekend that Mueller dismissed FBI agent Peter Strzok over anti-Trump texts he sent to an FBI lawyer with whom he was having an extramarital affair. Since then, outlets have reported that Strzok was involved in the interview of former national security Michael Flynn, who was charged last week for lying to the...

On Monday, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed calling for Mueller to resign from the probe. WSJ reports: The Washington Post and the New York Times reported Saturday that a lead FBI investigator on the Mueller probe, Peter Strzok, was demoted this summer after it was discovered he’d sent anti- Trump texts to a mistress. As troubling, Mr. Mueller and the Justice Department kept this information from House investigators, despite Intelligence Committee subpoenas that would have exposed those texts. They also refused to answer questions about Mr. Strzok’s dismissal and refused to make him available...

Some of what former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page disclosed in testimony to the House Intelligence Committee last week matches up loosely with allegations made in the infamous Steele dossier, according to a transcript of his interview released on Monday. In particular, Page’s statements about a trip he made to Moscow in July 2016 included details that are laid out in the dirty document, which was financed by the Clinton campaign and DNC and authored by former British spy Christopher Steele.

To put things into perspective, President Trump called on Thursday for the Manhattan Islamic terrorist to be put to death; obviously, we’re referring to the Uzbek national who killed 8 innocent people and maimed 12 (one of the survivors suffered a double amputation) by mowing them with a rented truck on November 1st. The Muslim radical entered the US via the Diversity Visa Lottery program, which is also under scrutiny, as the POTUS asked for the respective program to be scrapped as soon as possible by the Congress. President Trump tweeted on Thursday morning: NYC terrorist was happy as he...

The Justice Department reportedly has garnered enough evidence to charge at least six Russian government operatives with hacking the Democratic National Committee's computers during the 2016 presidential election. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that federal prosecutors could bring charges earaly next year. The Journal reported that dozens of others may have also played a role in the cyberattack. Multiple congressional probes and federal intelligence investigations are focusing on Russian interference and meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Those probes are ongoing and began even before the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate similar charges.

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board called this week for a full Russia investigation — not into President Donald Trump, but into the Democratic party, the FBI, and special counsel Robert Mueller. "It turns out that Russia has sown distrust in the U.S. political system—aided and abetted by the Democratic Party, and perhaps the FBI," the editorial began. "This is an about-face from the dominant media narrative of the last year, and it requires a full investigation." The editorial argued that a Washington Post report published Tuesday "revealed" that Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee hired the Perkins...

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called Thursday for FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller to step down from his role in investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying that he lacks the “critical distance” to analyze recent revelations about the FBI’s role in the saga.“It is no slur against Mr. Mueller’s integrity to say that he lacks the critical distance to conduct a credible probe of the bureau he ran for a dozen years,” the Journal’s editorial board wrote. “He could best serve the country by resigning to prevent further political turmoil over that conflict of interest.” The...

NEW YORK—Trump administration officials said Saturday the U.S. wouldn’t pull out of the Paris Agreement, offering to re-engage in the international deal to fight climate change, according to the European Union’s top energy official. The shift from President Donald Trump’s decision in June to renegotiate the landmark accord or craft a new deal came during a meeting of more than 30 ministers led by Canada, China and the European Union in Montreal. “The U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this...

The Wall Street Journal and its publisher Rupert Murdoch appear to be using President Donald Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster as their latest weapon in their continuing battle against Trump’s America-first agenda and movement that enabled Trump to shock the world on election night.

Wall Street Journal writer Joseph Rago found dead in his apartment . He was reportedly investigating Hillary's involvement in the purchase of Russian drug company Veropharm by Abbot Labs at a time in 2014 when sanctions against Russia would have prevented the sale. The purchase was accomplished by a US shell company named Kew Garden Hills, LLC (registered in Delaware –and- Hillary Clinton’s home State of New York) acquiring approximately 98% of Veropharm shares—and then their being bought by Abbott Laboratories. Hillary has ties to both Abbot Labs and Kew Garden Hills LLC. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/wall-street-journal-writer-joseph-rago-found-dead-in-his-apartment-20170722.html Critical to note about Abbott Laboratories...

Pulitzer Prize winner was known for his well-reported pieces and policy influence Joseph Rago, a Pulitzer Prize winning editorial writer at The Wall Street Journal who was known for his richly reported pieces and influence on policy makers, was found dead Thursday evening at his home in Manhattan. He was 34 years old. “It is with a heavy heart that we confirm the death of Joseph Rago, a splendid journalist and beloved friend,” Mr. Gigot said in a statement. “Joe and his family are in our thoughts and prayers, and we will be celebrating his work in Saturday’s paper.” Mr....

Joseph Rago, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal, was found dead in his New York City apartment Thursday night.

Joseph Rago, a 34-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for The Wall Street Journal, was found dead at his home on Thursday evening. Police officers discovered Mr. Rago’s body at his apartment in Manhattan at around 8 p.m. after a request to check on him, a spokeswoman for the New York Police Department said.

The GOP operative who admitted reaching out to Russian hackers for Hillary Clinton’s emails killed himself days after opening up to a reporter. Peter Smith told the Wall Street Journal in May that he reached out to people he believed were affiliated with the Kremlin to find messages from the Democrat’s private server. The Journal report from late last month, which showed that he had claimed to be working with future National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, said Smith died about 10 days after the conversation.

The firm behind the salacious and unsubstantiated Trump dossier is refusing to to cooperate with the Senate Judiciary Committee's request to provide documentation or respond to questions sent from the committee in March about the clients who paid for the dossier that launched the investigation into the administration and its alleged Russian connections. The Republican Chairman of the committee, Senator Charles Grassley, warned Fusion GPS, the firm that compiled the dossier, in March about its obligation "to provide details on the history of the dossier" including the clients who paid for it. The committee also wanted information on Christopher Steele,...

ICYMI: WSJ Editorial: “Trump’s Defining Speech” “The White House description of Donald Trump’s speech Thursday in Warsaw was simply, ‘Remarks by President Trump to the People of Poland.’ In truth, Mr. Trump’s remarks were directed at the people of the world. Six months into his first term of office, Mr. Trump finally offered the core of what could become a governing philosophy. It is a determined and affirmative defense of the Western tradition.” Trump’s Defining Speech Editorial Wall Street Journal July 7, 2017 The White House description of Donald Trump’s speech Thursday in Warsaw was simply, “Remarks by President Trump...

So the WSJ et al who have spent the better part of the last 18 months blocking anything positive about Trump, now want Twitter to block Trump?! The Wall Street Journal took to Twitter over the weekend to coyly ask: “When President Trump blocks Twitter followers, does it violate the Constitution?” What else are WSJ journalists drinking in their all-day coffee break caramel infused frappés and lattés?

- Publisher says Google visitors dropped after hardening paywall - Google says ‘first click free’ good for users and publishers After blocking Google users from reading free articles in February, the Wall Street Journal’s subscription business soared, with a fourfold increase in the rate of visitors converting into paying customers. But there was a trade-off: Traffic from Google plummeted 44 percent. -snip- The reason: Google search results are based on an algorithm that scans the internet for free content. After the Journal’s free articles went behind a paywall, Google’s bot only saw the first few paragraphs and started ranking them...

The liberal network shows were all busy Sunday morning pushing accusations and speculation about President Trump and his adviser Jared Kushner. Their discussion was drive by more anonymous sources telling The Washington Post that Kushner tried to set up a backchannel discussion between Trump and the Russians to talk about Syria. CNN even accused the action of being “treasonous.” The hysteria was also present on NBC’s Meet the Press, but theirs was shattered by The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel after she introduced facts to the discussion. “I think we are having a discussion that is absolutely divorced from reality...