Attorney General William Barr is closing in on a smoking gun regarding official malfeasance in the Trump – Russia probe.
The probe is over but the damage has already been done, probably not lasting damage to President Trump but it’s fair to say that the probe almost derailed his presidency.
Luckully it didn’t and AG Barr is now going to find out what the hell happened and he will make sure it never happens again.
Fox News reported that the recordings in question pertain to conversations between government sources and Papadopoulos, which were memorialized in transcripts. One source told Fox News that AG Barr and Durham are reviewing why the material was left out of applications to surveil another former Trump’s campaign aide, Carter Page.
“I think it’s the smoking gun,” the source said.
“These recordings have exculpatory evidence,” other sources added. “It is standard tradecraft to record conversations with someone like Papadopoulos—especially when they are overseas and there are no restrictions.”
Prior to the 2016 presidential election, Papadopoulos met with Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud in London, who told him that the Russians had dirt in the form of emails that could potentially damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Papadopoulos then told Australian diplomat Alexander Downer of the new information. Downer reported Papadopoulos’ comments to him to the FBI.
Sources told Fox News that the “exculpatory evidence” included in the transcripts is Papadopoulos denying having any contact with the Russians to obtain the supposed “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.
Former Rep. Trey Gowdy, now a Fox News contributor, first signaled the existence of transcripts of secretly recorded conversations between FBI informants and Papadopoulos few months ago.
“If the bureau’s going to send in an informant, the informant’s going to be wired, and if the bureau is monitoring telephone calls, there’s going to be a transcript of that,” Trey Gowdy said back in May on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” acknowledging he was aware of the files and suggesting they included exculpatory information.
“Some of us have been fortunate enough to know whether or not those transcripts exist. But they haven’t been made public, and I think one, in particular … has the potential to actually persuade people,” Gowdy continued. “Very little in this Russia probe I’m afraid is going to persuade people who hate Trump or love Trump. But there is some information in these transcripts that has the potential to be a game-changer if it’s ever made public.”
This Monday, Attorney General Bill Barr condemned the spread of anti-Semitism, comparing hatred against Jews to a form of metastasizing cancer.
“A healthy body with a strong immune system can have success in preventing cancer from emerging or spreading, but if the immune system weakens, cancer can emerge,” Barr told the crowd while speaking at the Department of Justice’s summit on anti-Semitism as The Daily Wire reported.
“Some might be localized, but others can rapidly metastasize and become systemic. Just like the physical body, a body politic must have an immune system that resists anti-Semitism and other forms of racial hatred.” He continued.
“What is the state of our immune system within American society?” Barr added. “In a pluralistic society like ours, I think the ability to resist hate comes from cultivating a civil society that on the one hand nurtures the freedom of each group to pursue their faith and distinctive way of life, while at the same time fostering the ties that bind us together into a genuine broader community.”
Back in early July, the Justice Department revealed that it will be hosting the summit, bringing together officials from Trump’s administration and Jewish leaders to discuss combating anti-Semitism on colleges campuses and throughout America, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.
Referring to the hatred against Jewish people as “the most ancient and stubborn form of racism throughout western history,” AG Barr said that combating anti-Semitism is a “critical priority” of his department.
“The causes have been varied; at times it has been driven by religious intolerance, cultural differences, economic envy and ideological dogma,” AG Barr said. “Sometimes those disappointed with their own rotten life seize on conspiracy theories to blame the Jewish people for their own discontent, and some times political factions competing for power find in the Jewish people a convenient scapegoat to unify and inflame their political base.”
He also put forth that while there is no state-organized violence in the U.S., this country has faced a surge in political violence over the past years, especially regarding reported instances of anti-Semitic hate crimes.
“This past year in particular, the entire nation saw the evil fruits of this anti-Semitism in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Synagogue and in California at the Chabad at Poway,” said AG Barr. “In both instances, gunmen motivated by hatred against Jews opened fire killing worshipers and injuring others.”
“Of course it is one thing for the nation to pull together in condemning anti-Semitism when confronted with front-page stories about horrific shootings, as in Pittsburgh and in Poway, but far too often Jews and Jewish communities in America suffer outside the spotlight,” Barr continued, noting the desecration of graves in Jewish cemeteries and the uptick in attacks of Orthodox Jews in New York City as instances of anti-Semitism that received only local attention.
“While the tragic attacks in Pittsburgh and Poway appropriately drew national attention, these attacks and others like them in communities across the country, sadly are less well-known outside the Jewish community, but they form the daily background of concerns about security and safety that many in the Jewish community feel,” said AG Barr. “The nation as a whole must be aware of these concerns and reject the forces that motivate them.”
The Attorney General assured the Jewish community that the Department of Justice, along with the entire government, will not tolerate religious-based attacks, but also expressed his concern over political factions dividing Americans to obtain power in the name of identity politics.
“They undermine the values that draw us together, such as a shared commitment to our country’s success,” AG Barr added. “This is the breeding ground for hatred and we must reject it.”
Attorney General Bill Barr is done messing around with the Democrats. The left wing is in disarray and has no idea what to do next.
Some Democrats want to impeach President Trump and lose in the Senate, if not lose in the House, during the process.
Others know that this course of action would sink their chances of beating President Trump in the next election to say nothing of the House and the Senate and prefer the cautious approach.
So off they go, with no clear goal, other than to create as many public spectacles as they can to try and damage the President politically.
Luckally, AG Barr sees through them all.
The Associated Press reported on Monday that Attorney General William Barr accused the Dems of trying to create a “public spectacle” by subpoenaing Special Counsel Mueller to testify before Congress about the Russia investigation.
In an interview with the AP , AG Barr stated that the Justice Department would support Robert Mueller if he decides that he “doesn’t want to subject himself” to congressional testimony. AG Barr also said the Justice Department would seek to block any attempt by Congress to subpoena members of the special counsel’s team.
There is no indication that Robert Mueller doesn’t want to appear before Congress on July 17. But he put lawmakers on notice that any testimony he gives won’t go beyond his 448-page report that was released back in April. At a news conference in May, Robert Mueller claimed that his team chose the words in the report carefully and that the work literally speaks for itself.
“I’m not sure what purpose is served by dragging him up there and trying to grill him,” AG Barr said. “I don’t think Mueller should be treated that way or subject himself to that, if he doesn’t want to.”
Robert Mueller no longer works for the Justice Department, but the department could attempt to limit his testimony about decisions he made during his time as a special counsel.
This Monday, AG Barr spoke to the AP in South Carolina, where he visited a prison to discuss the criminal justice reform that the President signed into law last year.
The Dems criticized AG Barr, clamming that he acts more like President Trump’s personal lawyer than the attorney general. Bill Barr enthusiastically embraced President Trump’s political agenda, cast Robert Mueller’s report as a vindication for the president and launched an investigation into the origins of the probe — something Trump has repeatedly said should happen.
AG Barr said the investigation is ongoing and claimed, from what he has seen so far, that it’s “essential to take a deeper look at how things unfolded.” Barr said he hasn’t received a satisfactory answer about why a counterintelligence investigation was opened on President Trump’s campaign, or whether there would have been a less drastic measure that could’ve been taken at the time.
Trump’s administration is furious with a federal judge who just added complications to the crisis at the southern border.
Judge Marsha Pechman blocked Attorney General Barr’s order regarding detaining asylum seekers indefinitely until we can figure out what is going on at the southern border.
There are overwhelming evidence that people are gaming the asylum system and they shouldn’t even take the blame. All they want is a better life and they can get it here, we would probably do the same. The problem is with our politicians who refuse to accept the new reality and change our laws to reflect the situation.
On Tuesday, The Hill reported that a federal judge blocked an order from Attorney General Bill Barr that stated certain asylum-seekers can be detained indefinitely.
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Washington state wrote that it was “unconstitutional” to deny asylum-seekers a bond hearing while they wait for their asylum claims to be processed.
“It is the finding of this Court that it is unconstitutional to deny these class members a bond hearing while they await a final determination of their asylum request,” Pechman, a Clinton appointee, wrote in her ruling.
Earlier this year, he judge issued a preliminary injunction that required asylum-seekers who are given a hearing in their proceedings to be released within one week after that hearing is granted.
Trump’s administration asked her to dismiss that ruling after AG Barr issued his new asylum order. But Pechman rejected the request in her order on Tuesday, finding that the policy implemented by AG Barr’s order was unconstitutional.
In the order issued in April, AG Barr had written that asylum-seekers who are able to demonstrate a “credible fear” and are sent to full deportation proceedings cannot be released on bond.
That directive overturned a ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2005 that found asylum-seekers could be released on bond if they are able to exhibit they have credible fear of persecution or danger if they leave the U.S.
“I conclude that such aliens remain ineligible for bond, whether they are arriving at the border or are apprehended in the United States,” AG Barr wrote at the time, invoking a statute included in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Pechman wrote that she was adjusting her previous preliminary injunction requiring the release of those impacted asylum-seekers to also address AG Barr’s order and that the new injunctions will go into effect within 14 days of it being issued.
Judge Pechman cited a previous Supreme Court ruling that “definitively established the immigrant detainees’ constitutionally-protected interest in freedom from unnecessary incarceration.”
She also wrote that the migrants are “are entitled to due process protections,” including a “longstanding prohibition against indefinite civil detention with no opportunity to test its necessity.”
“The Court finds that Plaintiffs have established a constitutionally-protected interest in their liberty, a right to due process which includes a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker to assess the necessity of their detention, and a likelihood of success on the merits of that issue,” Pechman wrote.
And the judge again ruled that asylum-seekers are likely to face “irreparable harm” under the policy.
“The decision ignores an express statutory prohibition on granting class-wide injunctive relief against enforcement of the immigration laws and also holds unconstitutional a statute passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress during the Clinton administration that specifically prohibits the release of certain immigrants on bond,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said on Wednesday.
Attorney General Bill Barr just got a standing ovation from his colleagues in the Department of Justice for having a little fun today.
AG Barr is actually an accomplished bagpipe player. He played from the early-1980s until the early-1990s in many bands. He also competed in different competitions, including the World Championships.
CBS reported that AG William Barr took a break from his job to showcase one of his talents during an event with U.S. attorneys. Seated on stage on Wednesday during the Justice Department event, our top law enforcement official disappeared behind a curtain as a group of Pipes and Drums bagpipers from the New York Police Department, the Emerald Society, assembled in front of the auditorium stage.
Bill Barr re-appeared onstage and tucked a bagpipe under his arm as the crowd of government attorneys laughed and applauded.
A low drum beat sounded and the traditional bagpipe march “Scotland the Brave” began with AG Barr joining in. The crowd gave him a standing ovation at the end of his wonderful performance.
The Attorney General explained that this was the first time he had played since his daughter’s wedding. He found out that the Emerald Society pipers were coming as a surprise for him — so he thought he would surprise them by bringing his bagpipes.
Bill Barr’s bagpipe playing is far from just a hobby. As the Pipes and Drums Magazine reported, Bill Barr takes the bagpipe very seriously — he has been playing since before his legal career began. Bill Barr was a member of the now defunct U.S.-based Grade 2 Denny & Dunipace Pipe Band – which later evolved into the Scottish & Irish Imports and City of Washington – from the early-1980s until the early-1990s. Bill Barr played with the band in many competitions, including the World Championships.
Soon afterward, William Barr joined the Bush administration to serve his first stint as attorney general, effectively putting his competitive piping career on hold.
Ex-President Obama’s wingman, Eric Holder, blasted AG Bill Barr. “I’m both surprised and extremely disappointed,” Holder stated speaking at the Iowa Public Television’s Iowa Press.
“I actually thought that he was an institutionalist and I thought that he would actually be at odds with President Trump relatively soon in his tenure, and he has proved to be anything but that.” He added.
“Barr has become a defender of the president, a protector of the president, and has done things inconsistent with what I think an attorney general is supposed to do,” he said. “I think he has tended to think of himself as the lawyer for the president as opposed to the attorney for the people of this country.”
“That’s shocking. It’s appalling to have a president of the United States say that if a foreign power was to offer me information, I wouldn’t immediately reject it and report it,” the former attorney general added.
“It’s pretty frightening because the reality is once you interact with that foreign power, they’ve got something on you. They have something on you that they will undoubtedly try to use. And the fact that the president doesn’t understand that either expresses to me some degree of venality or ignorance or some combination thereof.”
The Sioux City Journal also reported that AG Barr received a less-than-glowing job performance appraisal from one of his predecessors Friday in Iowa.
Eric Holder, said he is “extremely disappointed” in current attorney general, the second to serve during Republican president Donald Trump’s tenure.
Holder gave his assessment of AG Barr on Friday during the filming of this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa Public Television.
He also was critical of President Trump’s comments this week in an ABC-TV interview that he would not go to the FBI if a foreign government were to reach out to his campaign with information on one of his political opponents.
Holder pushed back at suggestions from Republicans, including Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, that the reaction to the President’s comments is hypocritical for anyone who didn’t have a similar reaction when it was revealed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign paid a former British spy to look into Donald Trump’s past.
Holder called the comparison a “red herring.”
“This is really just an attempt to divert attention from the very real concerns that we ought to have about the degree of cooperation that existed between a foreign government and the Trump campaign,” Holder said. “That’s nonsense. That’s absolutely nonsense.”
Holder has similarly found himself on the receiving end of such criticism, having described himself in 2013 as former President Barack Obama’s “wingman,” as Breitbart reported.
The comment came in response to a question about when may leave his post. “I’m still enjoying what I’m doing, there’s still work to be done. I’m still the President’s wing-man, so I’m there with my boy, so we’ll see,” he told the Tom Joyner radio program at the time.
In case someone forgot, Holder was held in contempt of Congress for refusing certain subpoenas in the Fast and Furious scandal.
In a new interview, AG William Barr accused the mainstream media of being uninterested in finding out about the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, and of shirking their duty as watchdogs for the public.
“Normally the media would be interested in letting the sunshine in and finding out what the truth is,” AG Barr claimed in an interview with CBS News. “And usually the media doesn’t care that much about protecting intelligence sources and methods. But I do and I will.”
On the interview, AG Barr discussed his plans for declassification of documents related to the surveillance activities against President Trump’s campaign during the Russia investigation.
The President ordered the heads of few government agencies, including the FBI and CIA, to provide materials to AG Barr. He also granted AG Barr the authority to declassify documents as he sees fit.
This decision generated criticism from former intelligence officials, TV pundits and many journalists.
Outlets like Politico, The New York Times, The Washington Post and others published stories that quoted former intelligence officials fretting that the declassification order would allow AG Barr to disclose the identities of confidential sources used in the Russia investigation. The New York Times article asserted that the CIA is concerned that the declassification order will lead to the unmasking of a sensitive Kremlin source close to Vladimir Putin.
The New York The Times reported that the source, which CIA has spent years cultivating, provided the information that Vladimir Putin directed the election interference in 2016.
Former CIA Director John Brennan responded to President Trump’s order on May 24, stating that he was worried that AG Barr would release information on sources and methods in “willy nilly” fashion.
“The concern is that very, very precious source and methods of the United States intelligence community as well as our partners and allies abroad — those who share this sensitive information with us,” said Brennan.
But Attorney General Barr dismissed that argument, clamming that he will consult with the heads of intelligence agencies before revealing any sensitive information.
“I’m amused by these people who make a living by disclosing classified information, including the names of intelligence operatives, wringing their hands about whether I’m going to be responsible in protecting intelligence sources and methods,” said Barr.
“I’ve been in the business as I’ve said for over 50 years long before they were born and I know how to handle classified information and I believe strongly in protecting intelligence sources and methods.”
The AG didn’t specify instances where reporters have published information about sources and methods. But as previously reported, outlets like The New York Times and Washington Post have published numerous stories disclosing classified information about sources and methods used in the Russia probe.
The Times published stories confirming that the FBI used former Cambridge professor Stefan Halper as an informant to make contact with President Trump’s campaign aides George Papadopoulos and Carter Page. The newspaper also reported that a woman who posed as Halper’s assistant was actually a government investigator.
The Post on April 11, 2017 broke the story revealing that the FBI obtained a warrant to wiretap Page.
Government officials behind those leaks have not been identified. But there is some evidence that the CIA was involved in at least one leak of highly sensitive intelligence regarding the U.S. government’s assessment of Vladimir Putin’s role in the cyber attacks against Democrats in 2016.
Peter Strzok, the former FBI counterintelligence official who opened the Trump-Russia probe, speculated in text messages that the CIA was behind one leak about Vladimir Putin.
“Think our sisters have begun leaking like mad. Scorned and worried and political, they’re kicking in to overdrive,” he wrote in a text message on Dec. 15, 2016. One day earlier, NBC News reported that the CIA believed that Vladimir Putin directed the computer hacks against the Dems.
In his CBS interview, AG Barr also suggested that the media has largely ignored the government’s surveillance activities against the President Trump’s campaign.
“The fact that today people just seem to brush aside the idea that it is okay to you know, to engage in these activities against a political campaign is stunning to me especially when the media doesn’t seem to think that it’s worth looking into,” Barr said.
“They’re supposed to be the watchdogs of, you know, our civil liberties.”
Barr also claimed that the info he received about the origins of the Russia probe and counterintelligence activities doesn’t square up with what former intelligence officials have said publicly.
He also stated that he has questions about the timeline of the investigation, which the FBI has claimed was opened on July 31, 2016.
“I assumed I’d get answers when I went in and I have not gotten answers that are well satisfactory, and in fact probably have more questions, and that some of the facts that- that I’ve learned don’t hang together with the official explanations of what happened.” Barr said.
Attorney General William Barr appointed U.S. attorney John Durham to oversee an investigation of the government’s surveillance against President Trump’s campaign.
On late Friday evening, former FBI Director James Comey took aim at Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump.
The former FBI Director began by attacking AG Barr and his investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. “The AG should stop sliming his own Department,” James Comey tweeted.
“If there are bad facts, show us, or search for them professionally and then tell us what you found. An AG must act like the leader of the Department of Justice, an organization based on truth. Donald Trump has enough spokespeople.” He added.
The AG should stop sliming his own Department. If there are bad facts, show us, or search for them professionally and then tell us what you found. An AG must act like the leader of the Department of Justice, an organization based on truth. Donald Trump has enough spokespeople.
The former FBI Director then turned to President Trump, accusing him of lying. “The president claiming the FBI’s investigation was ‘TREASON’ reminds me that a Russian once said, ‘A lie told often enough becomes the truth.’” Comey said.
“That shouldn’t happen in America. Who will stand up?” Former FBI Director James Comey asked in his post on Twitter, hoping that people will follow his lead in to further trashing the attorney general and the President.
The quotation, which former FBI Director Comey wrote came from “a Russian,” has actually been attributed to both Communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin and Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
The president claiming the FBI’s investigation was “TREASON“ reminds me that a Russian once said, “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” That shouldn’t happen in America. Who will stand up?
It is funny that James Comey uses that phrase, “sliming his own department,” and like so many liberals he accuses other people of doing exactly what he did.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Barr reportedly poked fun at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the two crossed paths at the annual Peace Officers Memorial Service at the U.S. Capitol.
Attorney General Bill Barr spoke to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in person today, after the National Peace Officers Memorial Service at the Capitol. A source close to Barr says he asked Pelosi if she had brought her handcuffs. There was laughter but no word on Pelosi's response.
AG Barr, as Fox News producer Jake Gibson reported, joked with the Democratic Party leader about the upcoming contempt vote and threats to put him in prison if he failed to comply with subpoenas that demand the full and unredacted Mueller report.
“Attorney General Bill Barr spoke to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in person today, after the National Peace Officers Memorial Service at the Capitol,” Gibson tweeted. “A source close to Barr says he asked Pelosi if she had brought her handcuffs. There was laughter but no word on Pelosi’s response.”
Today at a law enforcement ceremony at Capitol:
AG Barr approached Pelosi, shook her hand: "Madam Speaker, did you bring your handcuffs?"
Pelosi smiled and, per a bystander, told Barr the House Sergeant at Arms was there should an arrest be needed. Barr laughed; walked away
Another bystander tweeted on thhe subject and said that Pelosi noted that the House Sergeant-at-Arms was at the event “should an arrest be necessary,” to which AG Barr reportedly chuckled at before walking away.
“The Speaker, not missing a beat, smiled and indicated to the attorney general that the House sergeant-at-arms was present at the ceremony should an arrest be necessary. The attorney general chuckled and walked away.” He tweeted.
As previousley reported, one week age the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold AG Barr in contempt of Congress after he refused to show up to a House Judiciary hearing that had a provision in place to allow staffers to AG Barr questions during it, prompting a full House vote on the issue.
On Friday, House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler stated that lawmakers may consolidate different committee’s contempt citations into a single legislative package for the House to vote on.
MSNBC host Chris Matthews slammed Attorney General Barr for being a “hit-man” for President Trump in launching an investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
On Tuesday, host Matthews unloaded on AG Barr and his handling of special counsel Mueller’s investigation during “Hardball,” accusing him of trying to “destroy the FBI” in order to protect President Trump.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, a guest on the MSNBC show, also agreed with Chris Matthews, and added his own description of AG Barr as a “fixer” and “protector” of President Trump following reports that AG Barr had appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate the investigators.
It has been reported that Durham has been working on the investigation “for weeks” and, despite the President denying that he asked AG Barr to appoint the federal prosecutor, host Matthews accused AG Barr of doing just what Trump wanted.
“No, I didn’t ask him to do that. I didn’t know it,” President Trump told reporters on Tuesday outside the White House. “I think it’s a great thing that he did it.”
“Well, even if Trump didn’t discuss it with the Attorney General, he wouldn’t have needed to do since he’s been calling for it. He’s been calling for that inquiry for many occasions,” host Matthews declared. “It’s an embarrassment to have an attorney general who looks like a Roy Cohn, a guy who will do anything to defend the president and now has become his hit-man.”
“Not only will he play defense, he’s out to destroy the government, the FBI, everything in order to cover the tracks of the president,” he continued.
“What do you make of this guy and how can you stop Barr from doing what he’s out to do now, destroy the FBI?” Host Matthews asked Castro, a Democrat from the House Intelligence Committee.
“Barr is a very quiet and somewhat unassuming guy in his demeanor, but really he’s been a fixer for the President and a protector,” the Texas Democrat stated. “I think the reason they’re opening this investigation is because they want to chill anybody else from looking into anything else that the President does.”
MSNBC host Matthews interjected to ask about AG Barr’s allegations that the FBI was “spying.”
“What do you make of the fact that the Attorney General of the United States refers to the FBI, which is under his supervision in the chain of command, as a spying operation, it was spying on the Trump campaign?” the MSNBC host asked. “He likes that word. It’s Trump’s word, it’s now his word.”
Castro found it “remarkable” but concluded that “this wasn’t a case of spying, this was an investigation.”
https://youtu.be/YehEj_S8axk?t=429
“It would be the most derelict of things if the FBI had good information that a presidential candidate for his campaign or her campaign was working with a foreign government and did absolutely nothing to investigate it,” Castro replied. “In some ways, that would be an even bigger scandal, if we found out that they had solid information about that and didn’t lift a finger to protect the country.”
On Monday, Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham that AG Barr’s move to assign the special ‘bulldog’ prosecutor to investigate the probe is an indication that he thinks something criminal took place and that Demos should be “quite worried.”
AG Barr is reportedly working “collaboratively” on the investigation with FBI Director Chris Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, according to Fox News and Durham is also working directly with Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
