While Democrats dispute that anything untoward took place against Trump or his campaign, Republicans have called out the FBI for relying on an unverified dossier compiled, and possibly fabricated, by a former UK spy on behalf of the Clinton campaign.

Republicans, including California Rep. Devin Nunes, claimed that federal authorities did not fully disclose their reliance on an unverified dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, which was part of opposition research for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Democrats dispute the notion that anything improper took place. They claim the dossier did not play a major role, and point to a footnote in the warrant application that acknowledged that some of the information came from research on Trump that was likely meant to hurt his campaign, even if it did not spell out exactly who paid for it.
Republicans are now waiting on a report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, following an investigation of possible FBI abuses of the FISA system. Fox News has learned that key witnesses have come forward, after previously holding out. –Fox News

Meanwhile, special counsel Robert Mueller is set to appear on July 17 before the House Intelligence Committee, where he will face questions about his investigation into the events surrounding the 2016 US election.

17 juli krijgen we echter eerst nog de getuigenis van Robert Mueller voor het Huis van Afgevaardigden. Mueller is er door de Democrten met de haren naar toe gesleept omdat men lijkt te denken dat dit de zaak van de Democratische partij goed zal doen. Het omgekeerde lijkt intussen logischer. Van de suggesties in het Mueller-rapport blijft juist steeds minder overeind.

Mueller’s Own Report Undercuts Its Core Russia-Meddling Claims Brooklyn-based journalist Aaron Maté has absolutely destroyed the notion that the Mueller report supports its core claim of “sweeping and systematic” Russian government election interference.

Mueller heeft heel nadrukkelijke en stellige uitspraken gedaan, die vooral echo’en wat eerder door de geheime diensten werd verklaard – die Rusland uitdrukkelijk beschuldigden van interferentie met USA2016.

At a May press conference capping his tenure as special counsel, Robert Mueller emphasized what he called “the central allegation” of the two-year Russia probe. The Russian government, Mueller sternly declared, engaged in “multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election, and that allegation deserves the attention of every American.” Mueller’s comments echoed a January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) asserting with “high confidence” that Russia conducted a sweeping 2016 election influence campaign. “I don’t think we’ve ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process,” then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told a Senate hearing.

Maar hier blijft eenvoudig niets van heel.

While the 448-page Mueller report found no conspiracy between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia, it offered voluminous details to support the sweeping conclusion that the Kremlin worked to secure Trump’s victory. The report claims that the interference operation occurred “principally” on two fronts: Russian military intelligence officers hacked and leaked embarrassing Democratic Party documents, and a government-linked troll farm orchestrated a sophisticated and far-reaching social media campaign that denigrated Hillary Clinton and promoted Trump.

But a close examination of the report shows that none of those headline assertions are supported by the report’s evidence or other publicly available sources. They are further undercut by investigative shortcomings and the conflicts of interest of key players involved:

De clou is dat het rapport die beschuldging niet onderbouwt. Dat verzwakt het hele discours op onnavolgbare wijze als je het niet nauwkeurig volgen zou.

Ironisch genoeg poogt de Democratische frontrunner voor USA2020 zich te afficheren al iemand die dit nooit zou zijn overkomen. Mogelijk heeft Joe Biden daar gelijk in. Want er is alle reden om Biden’s verhouding met de Amerikaanse Deep State met achterdocht te bezien.

Valt er binnenkort nog iets te genieten? Nu het onderzoek iettwat achter de schermen is verdwenen (tot premature opluchting van veel Amerikaanse MSM) mist men het spektakel dat was beloofd:

.. Justice Department’s review, ordered by Attorney General William Barr, would prove that former officials acted improperly. He was alluding to the investigation led by John Durham, U.S. Attorney in Connecticut. Sounds nice. But waiting for Durham to complete his investigation at a typically lawyerly pace would, I fear, be much like the experience of waiting for Mueller to finish his; that is, like waiting for Godot. What about now?

Het wachten is op het verslag van Horowitz

If Horowitz is able to speak freely about what he has learned, his report could lead to indictments of former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Attorneys General Sally Yates and Rod Rosenstein, and Dana Boente — Boente being the only signer of the relevant FISA applications still in office.

Het is klaar, maar wordt nog een maand vastgehouden:

The Washington Examiner reported last Tuesday, “The Justice Department inspector general’s investigation of potential abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is complete, a Republican congressman said, though a report on its findings might not be released for a month.”  The report continued:

“House Judiciary Committee member John Ratcliffe (R, Texas) said Monday he’d met with DOJ watchdog Michael Horowitz last week about his FISA abuse report. In a media interview, Ratcliffe said they’d discussed the timing, but not the content of his report and Horowitz ‘related that his team’s investigative work is complete and they’re now in the process of drafting that report. Ratcliffe said he was doubtful that Horowitz’s report would be made available to the public or the Congress anytime soon. ‘He [Horowitz] did relay that as much as 20% of his report is going to include classified information, so that draft report will have to undergo a classification review at the FBI and at the Department of Justice,’ Ratcliffe said. ‘So, while I’m hopeful that we members of Congress might see it before the August recess, I’m not too certain about that.’”

Is dat uitstel erg?

Earlier, Horowitz had predicted that his report would be ready in May or June but there may, in fact, be good reason for some delay. Fox News reportedFriday that “key witnesses sought for questioning by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz early in his investigation into alleged government surveillance abuse have come forward at the 11th hour.” According to Fox’s sources, at least one witness outside the Justice Department and FBI has started cooperating — a breakthrough that came after Durham was assigned to lead a separate investigation into the origins of the FBI’s 2016 Russia case that led to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

Sommige mensen met kennis van zaken beginnen nattigheid te voelen, en komen vrijwillig getuigen. Dat is uitstekend nieuws. Dat de Deep State zich tot het uiterste zal verzetten is duidelijk:

Judging by past precedent, Deep State intelligence and law enforcement officials will do all they can to use the “but-it’s-classified” excuse to avoid putting themselves and their former colleagues in legal jeopardy.

Hoewel hier een sterk ironisch punt in het spel komt:

..this would violate Obama’s executive order 13526, prohibiting classification of embarrassing or criminal information.

Want dit is precies het punt waarop Obama zelf in het spel zal komen:

Meer lezen? Op VoL leest u een ander relaas over Russiagate, The Memo, USA2016, Midterms2018, Spygate, de Deep State en Trump, en vanuit andere bronnen dan de bevooroordeelde verhalen van NOS en RTL.

Voor mensen die nieuw zijn in het scepticisme van het NOS/RTL-verhaal raden we dit stuk aan, dat een en ander in het perspectief van het heden zet.