Guest Post by Sara Carter
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was forced to resign Monday, just as the House Intelligence Committee is expected to vote on the public release of a classified memo this afternoon revealing extensive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse under the Obama administration, sources told this reporter.
McCabe apparently lashed out to his colleagues when he was told he would be asked to resign, according to sources. FBI Director Christopher Wray viewed the four-page memo on Sunday, sources familiar with the discussions said.
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McCabe, who is facing three federal inquiries for conflicts-of-interest during his time at the FBI, is one of the numerous names mentioned in the classified memo detailing FISA abuse, according to sources who reviewed the memo.
The federal inquiries into allegations against McCabe, who was expected to resign in March, are based on documents and interviews conducted by this reporter over the past year and range from sexual discrimination to improper political activity.
McCabe, a central figure in the ongoing Russia investigation against Trump, is also part of the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s ongoing review into the FBI’s handling of former Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to send classified information.
Current and former FBI officials said McCabe’s resignation is the beginning of more resignations to come.
“There are people lining up in the bureau to go after McCabe,” said a former FBI official, with knowledge. “There will be a clean up at the Bureau of his cronies.”
According to several U.S. officials, McCabe’s government communications were collected as part of the ongoing DOJ Inspector General investigation, which is expected to be completed by March.
FBI spokeswoman Carol Cratty declined to comment on the resignation.
The process to declassify the document could take anywhere up to five days. President Trump is not expected to object to the memo’s release and the House Intelligence Committee is expected to pass it, stated White House officials in an earlier report.
“My understanding is they will proceed with the vote tonight,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican. “This memo is something I want every single journalist and American to see, I think it’s that important. If Wray saw the memo, there maybe something to McCabe’s resignation. Or it could also be something as innocent as him using his sick time or leave up until retirement.”
The classified memo is considered “explosive and shocking” and hundreds of Republican members and only a dozen or so Democrats have taken the opportunity to review the report in a secured area, according to congressional sources. The memo also contains information that suggests Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein reauthorized warrants based in part on the unverified dossier to gather communications on former Trump advisor Carter Page, sources said.
House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows, R-NC, said that he is hopeful the memo will be released to the public and called its contents “shocking.”
“I think from my standpoint there are concerns about political interference by law enforcement and judiciary agencies,” said Meadows, as he prepared to board a flight back to Washington D.C. “These important issues require greater transparency ad it’s critical lady justice remains blindfolded and that the privileged do not have the upper hand in the judicial system.”
Democrat Adam Schiff, D-CA, who has long stated he believes President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia but has offered no proof, said the classified memo is “profoundly misleading” and asked that it not be released
Carter Page, who is one figure at the center of the memo’s revelations, filed his most recent libel lawsuit against Oath and Broadcasting Board of Governors, Radio Free Europe for the story “Report: U.S. Intelligence Officials Examining Trump Advisor’s Russia Ties” written Sept. 23, 2016. The report came a day after Yahoo published a report, which cited multiple sources that suggested Page was under investigation for his ties to Russia. Page has also filed libel suits against Yahoo News and Buzzfeed. Page asserts in the lawsuit that he was a victim of “swatting,” a term used when a group or person provides false information to law enforcement to provoke an emergency action to be taken against a target.
The dossier, which was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, was paid for by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign. The DNC and Clinton campaign had hired now embattled research firm Fusion GPS to compile the research. Fusion GPS had previously lobbied on behalf of companies closely connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin against the Magnitisky Act, a U.S. law prohibiting companies and people connected to the death of Sergei Magnitsky from owning property or conducting business in the United States. Magnitsky was an auditor at a law firm in Moscow who uncovered $230 million worth of fraud by Russian tax officials and police officers. After he reported the fraud he was detained by Russian authorities and then died in a prison under suspicious circumstances in 2009.
“By falsely and publicly identifying Dr. Page in the U.S., Europe and worldwide as the main accomplice in the most prominent crime story in recent history and simultaneously mischaracterizing the libelous articles as primarily stemming from slightly more legitimate leakers within USG (U.S. government) agencies rather than the opposition political research consultant Christopher Steele, BBG and RFE played an essential roles in the USG’s black propaganda campaign by branding him as the subject of completely outrageous criminal allegations instigated by earlier excerpts from Mr. Steele’s final report (the “Dodgy Dossier”),” Page states in his complaint filed on January, 19.
Page, who lists a number of previous ‘swatting’ cases, states in his complaint, “In these more benign and little-known swatting cases, defendants have been held accountable by courts…The alleged untruthfulness attached to the DOJ’s allegations in the illegitimate FISA warrant issued against Dr. Page and related abuse of process in 2016 based on the dodgy dossier helps to directly fulfill that burden.”
The Department of Justice and some leading Democrats attempted to stop the committee from releasing the classified FISA abuse memo, citing that the classified nature of the document could threaten national security. The DOJ argued in a letter written by Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd that the department had not been given the document for review.
However, several members of the committee told this reporter that the information contained in the memo is lists extensive FISA abuse that occurred before and after the 2016 presidential election cycle.
“What’s important is that the American people will be informed and that the corruption by a few people inside the bureau and DOJ will be exposed,” said a former FBI source with knowledge of the situation. “We can’t move forward unless we as a nation are willing to come clean about what’s been going on and the first step is telling the truth.”
Get this: They are giving him a desk job until March – so he can retire with a full pension.
He needs to be drawn and quartered. not trying to be excessive , just the minimum for posterity
McCabe, pension or no pension, is in deep doo-doo. Lawyer fees will drain his wallet for years to come.
I don’t trust Christopher Wray!
I Do Declare Chistopher Wray, You’re Glowing – It Must Be From the Plutonium – Andrea Iravani
i don’t trust you
Trump “Erupted In Anger” Over DOJ Refusal To Release FISA Memo: Report
by Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/29/2018 – 15:41
Over the weekend, and ahead of what may be an imminent release of the notorious FISA memo, we reported that President Trump allegedly broke off with the Department of Justice last week by calling for the release of the four-page “FISA memo” purportedly summarizing widespread surveillance abuses by the FBI, DOJ and Obama Administration.
As the WaPo detailed then, the President’s desire was relayed to AG Jeff Sessions by White House Chief-of-Staff John Kelly last Wednesday – putting the Trump White House at odds with the DOJ – which said that releasing the classified memo written by congressional republicans “extraordinarily reckless” without allowing the Department of Justice to first review the memo detailing its own criminal malfeasance during and after the 2016 presidential election.
And now, we have some additional information on how Trump’s furious disagreement with the DOJ evolved.
According to a Bloomberg report, Trump “erupted in anger” while traveling to Davos on Air Force One when he learned that a top DOJ official – Associate Attorney General Stephen Boyd – sent a letter, warning that it would be “extraordinarily reckless” to release the classified 4-page FISA memo written by House Republican staffers, and that it would undercut the Russian collusion probe.
For Trump, the letter was “yet another example of the Justice Department undermining him and stymieing Republican efforts to expose what the president sees as the politically motivated agenda behind Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.”
Ultimately, Jeff Sessions’ job may be on the line depending on whether the FISA memo is kept secret:
Trump’s outburst capped a week where Trump and senior White House officials personally reproached Attorney General Jeff Sessions and asked White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to speak to others — episodes that illustrate Trump’s preoccupation with the Justice Department, according to two of the people.
Trump warned Sessions and others they need to excel at their jobs or go down as the worst in history, the two people said.
After Trump’s strong reaction on Air Force One over the Boyd letter, White House officials, including Kelly, sprang into action again, lashing Justice Department officials Thursday over the decision to send the letter, according to the people.
Furthermore, according to Bloomberg while Trump insist he isn’t preparing to fire Wray, Sessions or other senior officials, “the DOJ’s decision to send the Boyd letter to the House Intelligence Committee last week has intensified Trump’s concern that his own department is undercutting him, several people familiar with the matter said.”
The president is frustrated that Justice Department officials keep getting involved in issues related to the probe when they don’t need to, leading him to wonder if anyone was trying to protect people implicated in the Nunes memo, according to one person familiar with the matter.
In a separate striking development, today FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who has been blasted by Trump and other Republicans, stepped down and will be on leave until he retires sometime in the spring, just hours before the FISA memo’s contents may be publicly disclosed.
Republicans had criticized McCabe’s involvement in aspects of the Trump probe and the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email practices, even though his wife had accepted donations from Democratic political organizations for an unsuccessful election bid in 2015.
Trump’s anger was exacerbated by reports last week that the president had wanted to fire Mueller last June. The New York Times reported Thursday that the pressure to fire Mueller was averted after White House counsel Don McGahn made clear he would resign before carrying out such an order
As reported earlier, the House Intelligence Committee plans to vote Monday evening on whether to release its classified memo, which contains allegations of counterintelligence surveillance abuses against at least one Trump campaign aide. If the panel votes to release it, it would fall to the White House, perhaps with the advice of intelligence agencies, to decide whether some of the contents are too sensitive and need to be redacted.
Three House lawmakers who have read it said the memo claims FBI officials didn’t provide a complete set of facts in requests made to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to obtain a warrant or warrants on Carter Page, a Trump campaign associate.
And the punchline: the memo claims important details were left out that might have kept a judge from issuing a surveillance warrant, or possibly two, targeting Page, according to the lawmakers, who asked for anonymity to describe the sensitive document. Those include its claims that investigators were relying partly on an unverified dossier put together by an opposition research firm that hired a former British spy, Christopher Steele — work that was funded by Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, and Democrats.
House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes and other Republicans have also blasted the FBI over thousands of text messages sent between the two anti-Trump FBI officials, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who criticized Trump in their exchanges. Some Republicans were angered when the bureau said it had lost some of the texts before the Justice Department’s inspector general announced Thursday that the missing texts had been recovered with forensic tools.
One almost wonders why Trump is so “paranoid” that the deep state is out to get him when – not only do we get we hints of that every single day – but we may be just one memo release away from confirming all of the president’s worst fears.
The deep state is out to get Trump. That is why. He should release the memo, unredacted.
The president doesn’t need the goddamn permission of the FBI or the DOJ to release anything he wants to – especially a memo that the House Intelligence Committee votes to have released. The brass at DOJ & FBI need a serious attitude adjustment. They are fucking employees – part of the executive branch. They don’t have a veto.
Onceuponatime, I worked for a program management team at Tinker AFB. I was the administrator/controller of the Tinker feed to the costs and analysis tools used by various Pentagon facilities to track and, theoretically, control labor and overhead costs.
The Pentagon wanted reports and I asked for permission. The boss, a two star general, said no. The information was too sensitive.
Since I’d already run the report, assuming the answer was gonna be “yes” and planning on surprising the financial top dogs by having it ready to send, I knew immediately WHAT was too sensitive. A week later, after some intense work after hours by some people in financial accounting, I got the order to “run” the report and a team of important people in suits watched me over my shoulder while I downloaded the results of the query the Pentagon asked for.
What did I do with my original CD-ROM and its copy intended to impress both the Pentagon AND the General? Hmmm. What did I do with that? The numbers were quite different in some key areas.
The longer it takes to release it, the more sure you can be the fix is in.
The problem is, if he released it, it would be another black mark the Demwits can use against him in an obstruction of justice case against Mueller. I think he’s playing it right by allow the majority Republicans to pass this. If for some reason they don’t, then we’ll see.
Poetic justice when the Fed Gvt with unlimited resources go after McCabe and he has to spend his life savings and go in debt for millions$$$ to attempt to defend his treason!
Hey Andy, just sign over your pension to the lawyers you won’t need it in Levenworth while playing drop the soap in the shower!
Hilarious fact!
Wasn’t McCabe the one who is/was racing toward retirement in a month or so? Didn’t Trump tweet that “He better hurry.”?
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BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
S is going to HTF at DOJ soon, I hope. I would derive considerable satisfaction watching some of those slimy snakes get theirs. It appears that the heat has been turned up. Please let it be.
Just out of curiosity, I texted my RINO Never Trumper friend and another friend who is a raging libtard to see if they heard of The Memo. They had not. My RINO friend said that, unlike me, “he doesn’t read illuminati blogs”. Then, he asked if it was reported on in the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times.
The irony. I can’t stand it sometimes.
McCabe is being forced out…with FULL PENSION and everyone says, “Its the Memo”. If it was the memo, McCabe wouldnt be throwing a fit about getting booted from his position and getting a full pension on top of it. Instead, he would have been packed and running to country of zero extradition with the US and asking for asylum. He is getting this as a DEAL … no one thus far is going to see a trial, or jail (much like the Too Big To Fail bankers).
I agree
If it’s a deal, then he has to roll on others.
If the cabal thinks they’re going to pin it all on McCabe, they’ve got another think coming. He’s undoubtedly part of the cabal, but it’s entirely possible that Nunes crafted his “memo” to put attention on McCabe with an eye to pressuring him to sing about the higher-ups behind the conspiracy to topple the already-elected Trump. IMO, this thing goes all the way up to Obama & Brennan. The stench of sulfur hangs in the air behind Brennan. Hillary and Podesta didn’t send Robbie friggin’ Mook to shoot Seth Rich or Jake Sullivan to push the pillow down onto Scalia. (Yes, they wanted a hung SCOTUS unable to overturn the 3rd or 6th Circuit Courts of Appeals.) There are professionals for things like that.
Nothing will ever be enough. People want blood and at this point, maybe that’s the only thing that will satisfy them.
4th turnings, can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em.
Farmer, sometimes it’s necessary to have some blood spilled.
Its impossible to deny McCabe his pension since has not yet been convicted of any crime. In any event his wife is a doctor so he won’t starve and to be honest, so important is he to the Democrats, some donor will be found to give him a ‘keep quiet’ job. This is why we need a special prosecutor. To squeeze these guys just like in Watergate. People will take the Fifth and shut up until they realize they are heading to a federal prison if they dont’ start cooperating.
I just hope the memo is worth all the excitement being ginned up, rather than everything we know being rehashed. In other words, it better be enough to bring these corrupt crooks down.
The memo’s just the start. Dems will complain it’s just a partisan summary of raw data. Then Nunes will declassify and release the raw data. None of it endangers national security or “sources and methods”. It’ll be like Chinese water torture all the way to the 2018 fall election and it’ll suppress democrat turnout and spur republican turnout – eliminating any chance of impeachment.
I really, really hope you’re right, Iska. That would be the best thing that could ever happen.
Here we are, the champagne bottles have been opened and victory is in the air.
Stay tuned for the State of the Union tomorrow and further merriment along the way.
I still feel it’s a dangerous game being played out and in the end, I hope the truth prevails.
Not Sure, oh it’s definitely dangerous right now. Anything can happen. Super Bowl next weekend.
Prep, pray and stay out of the way, it will be in my backyard.
I hope security is tight around Trump. These psychopaths don’t care how many they harm to get to one.
Can’t see why he is still breathing…
Because USMC. Plus private security and SS.
Damn right it’s dangerous. People are dying in this CIA-NSA war.
Q “drop” #70:
Q !UW.yye1fxo 01/27/18 (Sat) 13:09:33 No.70
@Snowden.
The clock is ticking.
How’s Russia?
[Mr. Contractor]
Freedom of the Press.
John Perry Barlow.
https://freedom.press
SecureDrop [Whistleblowers]?
SecureDrop>Clowns In America.
NOBODY IS SAFE.
Q
———
https://gizmodo.com/james-dolan-co-creator-of-securedrop-dead-at-36-1821921230
“James Dolan, former Marine and co-creator of the whistleblower submission system SecureDrop alongside Aaron Swartz and Wired editor Kevin Poulsen, has died. The Freedom of the Press Foundation, which took over SecureDrop, reports that Dolan, age 36, took his own life.
First deployed as StrongBox with The New Yorker, organizations such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Associated Press, and Gizmodo Media Group have all come to rely on SecureDrop—which allows highly secure communication between journalists and sources in possession of sensitive information or documents. As an industry tool, it has become invaluable for reporters.”
Suicide my ass…
Is “The Hill” report John Solomon next?
“The Hill’s John Solomon has been silenced after a coordinated effort by the Washington Post and The Hill staffers upset with his reporting and appearances on the Hannity program on the Fox News Channel. It has been two weeks since Solomon had a byline at The Hill, his last being January 8. He has not tweeted since January 11.
Solomon had been churning out exposés for the Hill on the corrupt FBI investigation into President Donald Trump. Those articles were usually accompanied by appearances on the Hannity TV show or other Fox News Channel programs. Solomon is absent from reporting even as as explosive reports on the investigation that he’s been reporting on keep coming.”
Rise Up…hmmm…I was wondering where he was.
Hannity lauded a roll call of people who have been cracking the eggs tonight and mentioned Soloman.
Damn politics – killing this country. I wish somebody would just think of the entire country and what’s best, not Communisticly, of course, but Constitutionally. I’m sick of them all!
I’ve got plenty of popcorn, coffee, Guinness and cigarettes. Waiting for the heads to hit the chopping block. Should be quite a show.
I think firing squads should be used for the guilty. Who agrees? Or maybe public hangings should come back in style for the politically corrupt (only).
Excellent.
Looking at my comments on this thread, I’m doing a lot of hoping.
I think at this point, all of us at TBP just want to see the damn memo and determine if the fuss is warranted.
Maggie, El Doggy said that before a woman checks her husband’s phone, she should already know what she will do if she finds incriminating texts.
What do you propose to do if you find evidence of criminal mischief in the various agencies? Will you demand action or will you waffle and call your friends to complain, like Monica Lewinsky, about the big brute?
Don’t ask to see a memo if you have no plan of action. I am by no means trying to obstruct the correction of the country’s problems, mind you.