Lawmakers Recommend Clinton, Comey, Lynch, McCabe for Criminal Referrals
- Thread starter Optionpro007
- Start date
CONFIRMED: Former Feinstein Staffer Raised $50 Million, Hired Fusion GPS And Christopher Steele After 2016 Election
A declassified congressional report confirms that Daniel Jones, a former intelligence committee staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, hired Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to push the Russian collusion narrative against Donald Trump.
APRIL 27, 2018 By Sean Davis
A declassified congressional report confirms prior reporting by The Federalist that Daniel Jones, a former staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), hired Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele after the 2016 election to push the anti-Trump Russian collusion narrative.
According to the report, Jones, who runs an investigative outfit called the Penn Quarter Group (PQG), told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in March of 2017 that he had retained the services of Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to “continue exposing Russian interference” in the 2016 election. Steele is the former British spy who authored the infamous unverified dossier of allegations against President Donald Trump.
Although Jones’ name is redacted in the report, the biographical details plus previous reporting on the matter make clear that he is the individual referenced. The report also revealed that Jones told federal investigators that he had raised $50 million from “7 to 10 wealthy donors located primarily in New York and California.”
As The Federalist first reported in February, Jones previously worked as a senior intelligence staffer for Feinstein, who currently serves as the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is currently investigating Fusion GPS. In that capacity, she violated committee precedent by unilaterally releasing a transcript of the testimony of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson without disclosing that a top former staffer of hers was directing the firm’s efforts during the Judiciary committee’s investigation.
The congressional report stated that Jones “planned to share the information he obtained with policymakers on Capitol Hill and with the press, and also offered to provide PQG’s entire holdings to the FBI.” That information was gleaned from an FBI interview document called an FD-302, which was prepared on March 28, 2017. Feinstein’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment about her interactions with Jones during the course of her committee’s investigation of Fusion GPS prior to the publication of this article.
The former Feinstein staffer’s involvement with Fusion GPS’s and Steele’s post-election dossier efforts was first publicly hinted at in January in several inquiry letters from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to various Democratic party leaders who were likely responsible for funding Fusion GPS’s 2016 dossier work. That letter named Jones in a lengthy footnote listing a host of characters involved with the dossier and its financing, creation, and dissemination.
His name also came up in leaked texts between Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Adam Waldman, a registered foreign agent for Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska:
“Chris Steele asked me to call you,” Waldman wrote to Warner on March 16, 2017. That text touched off a back-and-forth conversation about how Warner could get access to Steele, a key witness in an ongoing congressional investigation. According to Waldman, Steele demanded a bipartisan letter from Warner and Burr requesting that he present himself for questioning.
“I spoke w Steele,” Waldman wrote on April 25, 2017. “He repeated the same position which is that he wants to be helpful but is fearful of the triumvirate of cost, time suck and reputation.”
“He asked me what your concern was about a letter first and I explained it but he would still like as a first protective step from you and [Sen. Richard] Burr asking him and his partner to assist w the investigation by answering questions,” Waldman added. “He said he will also speak w Dan Jones whom he says is talking to you.”
“I pointed out there is no privilege in that discussion although Dan [Jones] is a good guy and very trustworthy guy. I encouraged him again to engage with you for the sake of the truth and of vindication of the dossier,” he wrote.
It is not known how many members of Congress Jones worked with during the course of multiple congressional investigations into Fusion GPS’s involvement in the 2016 election and its simultaneous work on behalf of a Kremlin-linked company previously charged by U.S. authorities for money laundering and evading U.S. sanctions against Russia.
Jones did not respond to a request for comment on the nature of his work with Fusion GPS and Christopher prior to publication of this article.
Sean Davis is the co-founder of The Federalist.
A declassified congressional report confirms that Daniel Jones, a former intelligence committee staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, hired Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to push the Russian collusion narrative against Donald Trump.
APRIL 27, 2018 By Sean Davis
A declassified congressional report confirms prior reporting by The Federalist that Daniel Jones, a former staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), hired Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele after the 2016 election to push the anti-Trump Russian collusion narrative.
According to the report, Jones, who runs an investigative outfit called the Penn Quarter Group (PQG), told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in March of 2017 that he had retained the services of Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to “continue exposing Russian interference” in the 2016 election. Steele is the former British spy who authored the infamous unverified dossier of allegations against President Donald Trump.
Although Jones’ name is redacted in the report, the biographical details plus previous reporting on the matter make clear that he is the individual referenced. The report also revealed that Jones told federal investigators that he had raised $50 million from “7 to 10 wealthy donors located primarily in New York and California.”
As The Federalist first reported in February, Jones previously worked as a senior intelligence staffer for Feinstein, who currently serves as the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is currently investigating Fusion GPS. In that capacity, she violated committee precedent by unilaterally releasing a transcript of the testimony of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson without disclosing that a top former staffer of hers was directing the firm’s efforts during the Judiciary committee’s investigation.
The congressional report stated that Jones “planned to share the information he obtained with policymakers on Capitol Hill and with the press, and also offered to provide PQG’s entire holdings to the FBI.” That information was gleaned from an FBI interview document called an FD-302, which was prepared on March 28, 2017. Feinstein’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment about her interactions with Jones during the course of her committee’s investigation of Fusion GPS prior to the publication of this article.
The former Feinstein staffer’s involvement with Fusion GPS’s and Steele’s post-election dossier efforts was first publicly hinted at in January in several inquiry letters from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to various Democratic party leaders who were likely responsible for funding Fusion GPS’s 2016 dossier work. That letter named Jones in a lengthy footnote listing a host of characters involved with the dossier and its financing, creation, and dissemination.
His name also came up in leaked texts between Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Adam Waldman, a registered foreign agent for Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska:
“Chris Steele asked me to call you,” Waldman wrote to Warner on March 16, 2017. That text touched off a back-and-forth conversation about how Warner could get access to Steele, a key witness in an ongoing congressional investigation. According to Waldman, Steele demanded a bipartisan letter from Warner and Burr requesting that he present himself for questioning.
“I spoke w Steele,” Waldman wrote on April 25, 2017. “He repeated the same position which is that he wants to be helpful but is fearful of the triumvirate of cost, time suck and reputation.”
“He asked me what your concern was about a letter first and I explained it but he would still like as a first protective step from you and [Sen. Richard] Burr asking him and his partner to assist w the investigation by answering questions,” Waldman added. “He said he will also speak w Dan Jones whom he says is talking to you.”
“I pointed out there is no privilege in that discussion although Dan [Jones] is a good guy and very trustworthy guy. I encouraged him again to engage with you for the sake of the truth and of vindication of the dossier,” he wrote.
It is not known how many members of Congress Jones worked with during the course of multiple congressional investigations into Fusion GPS’s involvement in the 2016 election and its simultaneous work on behalf of a Kremlin-linked company previously charged by U.S. authorities for money laundering and evading U.S. sanctions against Russia.
Jones did not respond to a request for comment on the nature of his work with Fusion GPS and Christopher prior to publication of this article.
Sean Davis is the co-founder of The Federalist.
That guy is talking too much. Impossible for him not to trip himself on the many lies sorrounded by the criminal creation and use of the dossier. Hope he ends up in jail where he belongs, with Hillary and all the other lawbreakers.
Preparing that spot for Hillary at the White House...
Comey, Mueller and the poisonous tree
BY MARK PENN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 04/26/18
It is a strange and curious America that fêtes a former FBI director who was fired from his job after exceeding his authority in ways that two presidential campaigns condemned, and who then leaked confidential memos about a president he clearly despises.
But that is the circus our media, politics and legal system has become. Indeed, on one channel, James Comey is one step from jail and, on another channel, he is the spear that will bring down the presidency. On one network the Russia collusion theory is done and, on another network, it’s just a matter of time before Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, flips on the president.
In the latest Harvard Caps-Harris Poll, nearly 70 percent say that special counsel Robert Mueller and deputy attorney general Rod Rosensteinshould not be fired. But 72 percent also say that a second special prosecutor needs to appointed and the actions of Comey and fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe should be criminally investigated.
The more we learn about how these massive investigations were started, the more they look so corrupted that this entire investigation now could now qualify as the fruits of a poisonous tree, a doctrine first adopted by Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter as the only way to prevent government agents from abusing the rights of citizens and benefitting from those actions. The government can’t violate people’s rights with impunity and then just say “oops.”
The investigation was polluted from the beginning. Former British spy Christopher Steele was a government contractor when he illegally leaked the dossier and lied about it. Mueller team members and FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok operated with such open hatred for Trump that they were removed from the investigation after managing key parts of it. The heads of the FBI and CIA participated in spreading and vouching for a Trump dossier they never verified and yet used to spy on Americans.
The yarn leaked to the press about the start of the investigation doesn’t add up. They say it started because Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos said in a bar to an Australian diplomat that he heard from a Maltese professor that the Russians had some emails damaging to Clinton. But the source turns out to be a diplomat who happened to have shepherded a $25 million contribution to the Clinton Foundation. The report didn’t come through the official channels but likely through a Democratic operative who worked for the Clinton Foundation.
Perhaps most puzzlingly, Rosenstein wrote a critical memo supporting the Comey firing and then appointed a special counsel after the firing. By doing this, combined with the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Rosenstein set up a government within the government, with a super broad charter and practical immunity from being removed. The Mueller investigation then operated without any independent supervision from outside the agency, review by any elected officials or contemporaneous judicial review.
With this kind of freedom, it’s no surprise the treatment of their early targets involved guns-drawn searches, threats to prosecute family members and plea bargains for dubious process crimes even for those who did no actual underlying wrongdoing. Only one of the early targets, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, is even in a position to challenge the special counsel, and he has been all but denied bail, had his assets frozen and even placed under a highly unusual gag order
Mueller knew he may have had an obligation to set aside all of the work of Page and Strzok when he removed them from the case. Instead he simply ignored congressional demands for information on why they were fired until months later, when the Justice Department’s inspector general forced release of their text messages.
The FBI’s stonewalling of the document starting the Russia investigation engenders similar suspicions, especially since House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who has seen it, has reported it has no intelligence from official channels. The farther the investigators get from all this initial wrongdoing, the more they believe that their work product and witness interviews are free from being thrown out as fruits of a tree of illegal actions, which explains the endless foot-dragging.
In typical cases, much of what the prosecutors gathered might be exempt from the rule. But if runaway investigations are going to be corralled, then it will take judges who hold special counsels to the strictest possible standards in all their actions and limit any exemptions because such prosecutors have vast, largely unsupervised and unchecked power along with unlimited budgets.
The best way to end all this is not to fire Mueller and Rosenstein or wait for them to wrap it up but to challenge this entire process in court as irretrievably tainted. If Mueller does not agree to end the investigation in exchange for presidential interrogatories, then it may be time to try to block the whole thing in court, with full discovery into whether its foundation was so corrupted — and the stonewalling actions so blatant — that the doctrine of the fruits of a poisonous tree can be invoked to stop this national distraction.
Mark Penn served as pollster and adviser to President Clinton from 1995 to 2000, including during his impeachment. In 2008, he served as chief strategist to Hillary Clinton's campaign for president. He is chairman of the Harris Poll and author of the recently released book, “Microtrends Squared.”
http://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/384963-comey-mueller-and-the-poisonous-tree
BY MARK PENN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 04/26/18
It is a strange and curious America that fêtes a former FBI director who was fired from his job after exceeding his authority in ways that two presidential campaigns condemned, and who then leaked confidential memos about a president he clearly despises.
But that is the circus our media, politics and legal system has become. Indeed, on one channel, James Comey is one step from jail and, on another channel, he is the spear that will bring down the presidency. On one network the Russia collusion theory is done and, on another network, it’s just a matter of time before Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, flips on the president.
In the latest Harvard Caps-Harris Poll, nearly 70 percent say that special counsel Robert Mueller and deputy attorney general Rod Rosensteinshould not be fired. But 72 percent also say that a second special prosecutor needs to appointed and the actions of Comey and fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe should be criminally investigated.
The more we learn about how these massive investigations were started, the more they look so corrupted that this entire investigation now could now qualify as the fruits of a poisonous tree, a doctrine first adopted by Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter as the only way to prevent government agents from abusing the rights of citizens and benefitting from those actions. The government can’t violate people’s rights with impunity and then just say “oops.”
The investigation was polluted from the beginning. Former British spy Christopher Steele was a government contractor when he illegally leaked the dossier and lied about it. Mueller team members and FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok operated with such open hatred for Trump that they were removed from the investigation after managing key parts of it. The heads of the FBI and CIA participated in spreading and vouching for a Trump dossier they never verified and yet used to spy on Americans.
The yarn leaked to the press about the start of the investigation doesn’t add up. They say it started because Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos said in a bar to an Australian diplomat that he heard from a Maltese professor that the Russians had some emails damaging to Clinton. But the source turns out to be a diplomat who happened to have shepherded a $25 million contribution to the Clinton Foundation. The report didn’t come through the official channels but likely through a Democratic operative who worked for the Clinton Foundation.
Perhaps most puzzlingly, Rosenstein wrote a critical memo supporting the Comey firing and then appointed a special counsel after the firing. By doing this, combined with the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Rosenstein set up a government within the government, with a super broad charter and practical immunity from being removed. The Mueller investigation then operated without any independent supervision from outside the agency, review by any elected officials or contemporaneous judicial review.
With this kind of freedom, it’s no surprise the treatment of their early targets involved guns-drawn searches, threats to prosecute family members and plea bargains for dubious process crimes even for those who did no actual underlying wrongdoing. Only one of the early targets, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, is even in a position to challenge the special counsel, and he has been all but denied bail, had his assets frozen and even placed under a highly unusual gag order
Mueller knew he may have had an obligation to set aside all of the work of Page and Strzok when he removed them from the case. Instead he simply ignored congressional demands for information on why they were fired until months later, when the Justice Department’s inspector general forced release of their text messages.
The FBI’s stonewalling of the document starting the Russia investigation engenders similar suspicions, especially since House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who has seen it, has reported it has no intelligence from official channels. The farther the investigators get from all this initial wrongdoing, the more they believe that their work product and witness interviews are free from being thrown out as fruits of a tree of illegal actions, which explains the endless foot-dragging.
In typical cases, much of what the prosecutors gathered might be exempt from the rule. But if runaway investigations are going to be corralled, then it will take judges who hold special counsels to the strictest possible standards in all their actions and limit any exemptions because such prosecutors have vast, largely unsupervised and unchecked power along with unlimited budgets.
The best way to end all this is not to fire Mueller and Rosenstein or wait for them to wrap it up but to challenge this entire process in court as irretrievably tainted. If Mueller does not agree to end the investigation in exchange for presidential interrogatories, then it may be time to try to block the whole thing in court, with full discovery into whether its foundation was so corrupted — and the stonewalling actions so blatant — that the doctrine of the fruits of a poisonous tree can be invoked to stop this national distraction.
Mark Penn served as pollster and adviser to President Clinton from 1995 to 2000, including during his impeachment. In 2008, he served as chief strategist to Hillary Clinton's campaign for president. He is chairman of the Harris Poll and author of the recently released book, “Microtrends Squared.”
http://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/384963-comey-mueller-and-the-poisonous-tree
Last edited:
Ha ha ha. Classified ??? Like my to do list is classified.
Yup, memorandum of his private conversation with the President as the FBI Director. Nah, that's not official classified information. Work product is not his to disseminate.
Yup. I guess there must also be a bunch of 'unclasssified' memos on Hillary and the Foundation investigation. Or is there? If not, why not?
These people need to be tried for treason.
This is the very best thing that can happen for the Deep State opposition. Get the Deep State fighting against each other.
Now they have to turn on each other to save themselves. Hillary/Obama can no longer protect them as Captain of the ship. Fuel should be poured on this fire.
This could be the beginning of the end.