Declassified: Trump-Russia Launch Document Authored by Strzok and Investigated by Durham; Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Release of Testimony From Mueller Investigation

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By Washington Examiner. The document that greenlighted the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign has been unveiled, giving the public a look at a key focus of U.S. Attorney John Durham’s inquiry into the Trump-Russia investigators.

An “opening electronic communication,” which was authored by fired FBI agent Peter Strzok, was released through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch.

Typed up in late July 2016 with the approval of William Priestap, then-assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, the document outlines the reasoning for the bureau’s decision to launch the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The investigation looked into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia after an Australian diplomat, Alexander Downer, informed the United States that Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos told him he learned Russia had damaging information on Hillary Clinton, President Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2016 presidential election. . .

Attorney General William Barr, who appointed Durham to conduct the inquiry, agreed with his hand-picked prosecutor, saying Horowitz’s report “makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken.”

The document, which Strzok wrote “opens and assigns” the investigation, is covered in redactions. It does not show Downer’s name, but his presence is made clear by what is already known about the lead-up to the inquiry, saying he provided information “related to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s website/server.” (Read more from “Declassified: Trump-Russia Launch Document Authored by Strzok and Investigated by Durham” HERE)

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Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Release of Testimony From Mueller Investigation

By The Guardian. The US supreme court has temporarily prevented the House of Representatives from obtaining secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

The court granted the Trump administration’s request to keep previously undisclosed details from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election out of the hands of Democratic lawmakers, at least until early summer.

The court will decide then whether to extend its hold and schedule the case for arguments in the fall. If it does, it’s likely the administration will be able to put off the release of any materials until after election day on 3 November. Arguments themselves might not even take place before Americans decide whether to give Donald Trump a second term.

For justices eager to avoid a definitive ruling, the delay could mean never having to decide the case, if either Trump loses or Republicans regain control of the House next year. If Democratic candidate Joe Biden were to win the election against Trump, it’s hard to imagine his administration would object to turning over the Mueller documents, or if Republicans won the House, it would be equally hard to see them continue to press for them. (Read more from “Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Release of Testimony From Mueller Investigation” HERE)

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Trump Declares Churches ‘Essential’ as CDC Releases Reopening Guidelines

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President Donald Trump’s declaration that houses of worship are “essential places that provide essential services” comes at a precarious point in the national balancing act that pits the call of worship against the risk of coronavirus.

Even before Trump’s comments Friday, which came alongside the release of guidance for reopening faith organizations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Christian leaders in several states made plans to welcome back congregants on the week of Pentecost, May 31.

The new CDC guidance could energize houses of worship that might want to reopen their doors, despite evidence of ongoing risk of the virus spreading through communal gatherings. While it suggests steps such as asking congregants to cover their faces and limiting the sharing of worship aids, the CDC document says it is “not meant to regulate or prescribe standards for interactions of faith communities.” (Read more from “Trump Declares Churches ‘Essential’ as CDC Releases Reopening Guidelines” HERE)

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FBI Director Orders Internal Investigation of Mike Flynn Probe (VIDEO)

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By The Blaze. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray announced an internal investigation into the alleged misconduct by FBI agents in the probe of former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn.

Wray made the announcement in a statement on Friday after revelations about the FBI questioning of Flynn that led him to plead guilty for lying.

“FBI Director Christopher Wray today ordered the Bureau’s Inspection Division to conduct an after-action review of the Michael Flynn investigation,” said the Bureau in the statement according to Fox News.

The statement said that the purpose of the probe was to see if any FBI employees acted improperly, and also to determine whether the bureau’s policies need to be amended and updated.

“Although the FBI does not have the prosecutorial authority to bring a criminal case, the Inspection Division can and will evaluate whether any current onboard employees engaged in actions that might warrant disciplinary measures,” the FBI added.

(Read more from “FBI Director Orders Internal Investigation of Mike Flynn Probe” HERE)

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Grenell Moving to Declassify Flynn-Kislyak Transcripts

By Politico. Outgoing national intelligence chief Richard Grenell says he is in the process of declassifying some of the transcripts of phone calls between former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia’s U.S. Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December 2016.

“The [intelligence community] doesn’t have all the transcripts/summaries,” Grenell tweeted Friday. “But I already started the declassification for the few we received. They should be released in full, though. The public deserves to see it.

Grenell’s comment came in response to a demand from House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, who called on Grenell to declassify and release the transcripts of the heavily scrutinized calls between Flynn and Kislyak — an episode that has fueled myriad political storms in the Trump era.

President Donald Trump fired Flynn weeks after those calls for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about the substance of those conversations, which included a request that Russia not escalate a tit-for-tat with the outgoing Obama administration over sanctions related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Read more from “Grenell Moving to Declassify Flynn-Kislyak Transcripts” HERE)

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Appellate Court Slaps Down Out-Of-Control General Flynn Judge, Orders Sullivan to Respond

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By Fox News. Is U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan’s collusion cameo nearing its end?

On Thursday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, on its own motion, ordered Judge Sullivan to respond within 10 days to the petition for a writ of mandamus filed by former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Earlier this week, Flynn’s counsel, Sidney Powell, filed the petition for that extraordinary writ, asking the appellate court to instruct Sullivan to grant the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the case against Flynn.

That was after Judge Sullivan not only declined to grant the prosecution’s motion, but (a) invited non-parties to intervene in the case by filing amicus briefs (transparently, to make arguments that he somehow has authority to deny DOJ’s motion); and (b) appointed one amicus, former federal judge John Gleeson, as a quasi-prosecutor to make arguments that prosecutors are declining to make in favor of entering a judgment of conviction and sentencing Flynn. (Read more from “Appellate Court Slaps Down Out-Of-Control General Flynn Judge, Orders Sullivan to Respond” HERE)

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Mollie Hemingway: Obama Becoming ‘Chattier’ as More Is Learned About Flynn Investigation

By Fox News. The Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway told “The Brian Kilmeade Show” Wednesday that former President Barack Obama is “a little bit chattier” as more information regarding the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is revealed.

“[Obama’s] becoming more public as we learn more about how he went after him and undermined the peaceful transfer of government from his administration to the Trump administration and I think that’s why he’s a little bit chattier,” Hemingway, a Fox News contributor, told host Brian Kilmeade.

On Saturday, former President Obama, while speaking at an event for students graduating from historically black colleges and universities that was broadcast on social media, took a shot at government officials in charge of responding to the coronavirus, arguing that the pandemic showed they were incompetent.

Although Obama didn’t directly name President Trump, he has previously criticized the administration’s response as plagued by selfishness.

Obama’s comments came following the Justice Department’s move earlier this month to drop its case against Flynn after internal memos were released raising serious questions about the nature of the investigation that led to Flynn’s late 2017 guilty plea of lying to the FBI. (Read more from “Mollie Hemingway: Obama Becoming ‘Chattier’ as More Is Learned About Flynn Investigation” HERE)

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Italy Arrests Sicily’s Coronavirus Tsar on Corruption Charge; Bill Gates Blasted as “Vaccine Criminal” in Italian Parliament (VIDEO)

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By The Blaze. Sicily’s coronavirus emergency coordinator was arrested along with nine other people on Thursday on suspicion of corruption and rigging of health sector tenders while in his previous role, police on the Italian island said.

Antonino Candela was allegedly part of a “power base made up of businessmen and corrupt public officials” the police statement said, referring to activity before he became head of Sicily’s coronavirus response unit.

He was among those responsible for helping to rig public tenders for medical equipment and services worth nearly 600 million euros ($660.30 million) since 2016, in return for promised bribes of around 1.8 million euros, the police alleged.

Candela, who is under house arrest, was not immediately available for comment.

Candela was director of a provincial health authority in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, which issued the tenders along with a regional agency. (Read more from “Italy Arrests Sicily’s Coronavirus Tsar on Corruption Charge” HERE)

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Bill Gates Blasted as “Vaccine Criminal” in Italian Parliament

By The New American. Billionaire “philanthropist” and population-control zealot Bill Gates is a criminal madman who must be arrested and tried for “crimes against humanity” and attempted “genocide” through vaccines, according to a firebrand Italian lawmaker who sent shock waves around the world. The member of Parliament also called for Italians to resist vaccines and Deep State tyranny. Fellow legislators applauded.

In the impassioned speech on the floor of Italy’s Parliament exposing the Microsoft founder, the parliamentarian, Sara Cunial of Veneto, charged Gates with a long list of crimes, many involving his obsession with vaccinations and population reduction. She also argued that Gates and his toadies were instrumental in shaping the Italian government’s disastrous and totalitarian response to the coronavirus outbreak that shredded liberty and left many thousands dead.

Within days, the powerful speech had been seen by millions of people worldwide. Establishment sources tried to ignore it, but some were eventually left attempting to downplay or discredit it. The fake fact-checking site “Snopes” even tried to claim it was “mostly false” by picking up on one phony headline claiming the Italian government wanted Gates arrested, and acting like that was the substance of the criticism.

Apparently MP Cunial’s fury was sparked after Nigerian lawmakers accused Gates, whom she said had numerous conflicts of interest, of trying to bribe them into approving legislation that would force mandatory vaccines on the population there. Opposition parties in Nigeria blasted the “foreign-sponsored bill” and called for the speaker to be impeached if he attempted to force it on members despite the growing resistance.

(Read more from “Bill Gates Blasted as “Vaccine Criminal” in Italian Parliament” HERE)

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WATCH: White House Press Secretary Gets Emotional While Discussing Ravi Zacharias’ Influence on Her Faith

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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany recently got emotional while discussing the passing of renowned Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias, who died Tuesday morning from a rare form of cancer.

During an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, McEnany explained how Zacharias’ lifetime of reasoned defense of Christianity helped equip her during her time at Oxford University, an institution prevalent with distinguished atheist scholars.

“It’s a huge loss. You know, my dad said to me that Billy Graham was the great evangelist, and I think Ravi Zacharias is the great apologist,” McEnany said as tears welled up in her eyes.

“To have someone from an academic place, as an apologist could equip you with those arguments where you didn’t have to check your brain at the door when you became a Christian where there is the intellectual foundation for everything we believe,” McEnany explained. “There’s prophecy. There’s the human cell. There’s the amazing creation of the human body and all of its complexity and the planet, the universe.”

(Read more from “WATCH: White House Press Secretary Gets Emotional While Discussing Ravi Zacharias’ Influence on Her Faith” HERE)

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FBI Declares Texas Navy Base Shooting ‘Terrorism-Related’ (VIDEO)

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The FBI has declared a Thursday morning shooting at Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi a “terrorism-related” incident.

“We have determined that the incident this morning at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is terrorism-related,” FBI Special Agent Leah Greeves said. “We are working diligently with our state, local and federal partners on this investigation, which is fluid and evolving.”

Officials are still working around the clock on the scene. A motive has not yet been revealed.

“We may have a potential second related person of interest at large in the community,” Greeves said, and encouraged the public to report any suspicious activity.

The shooting took place early Thursday morning after a man attempted to ram a vehicle through the base gate. Security personnel raised a barrier, preventing the man from breaching the gate, which prompted him to exit his car and begin shooting at Navy personnel, officials told The Associated Press. (Read more from “FBI Declares Texas Navy Base Shooting ‘Terrorism-Related’” HERE)

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Trump Pulls the U.S. out of Surveillance Treaty, His Latest Withdrawal From a Major Pact

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The Trump administration said Thursday that it will withdraw from another major international treaty, a decision expected to disturb European allies as Washington pulls back further from global arms commitments and other pacts.

The Open Skies treaty allows 35 nations, including Russia, to conduct unarmed surveillance flights over each other’s territory in order to assure that nations are not preparing for military action.

The Trump administration has previously said that Russia has repeatedly violated the terms of the pact, which was brokered three decades ago. Washington maintains that Moscow uses the flights as an opportunity to identify critical infrastructure to target during a potential conflict.

“President Trump has made clear that the United States will not remain a party to international agreements that are being violated by the other parties and are no longer in America’s interests,” said national security advisor Robert O’Brien in an emailed statement.

“We look forward to negotiating with both Russia and China on a new arms control framework that moves beyond the Cold War constructs of the past and helps keep the entire world safe,” the statement added. (Read more from “Trump Pulls the U.S. out of Surveillance Treaty, His Latest Withdrawal From a Major Pact” HERE)

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GOP Senators ‘Increasingly Concerned’ Surveillance of Trump Associates Began Earlier Than Previously Known

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By Daily Caller. Two Republican senators dramatically expanded their request for so-called Obama administration unmasking records on Tuesday, saying in a letter to the U.S. government’s top spy chief that they are “increasingly concerned” that surveillance of Trump campaign aides began earlier than the FBI has previously acknowledged.

Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson sent a letter to acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell on Tuesday asking him to provide their committees unmasking records submitted for any Trump campaign associate between January 2016 and January 2017.

“Based on our investigation and recent press reports, we are increasingly concerned that the surveillance of U.S. persons affiliated with the Trump campaign began earlier than the opening of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation in late July 2016,” the senators wrote in a letter to Grenell.

“It has become evident that the FBI, and possibly members of the U.S. Intelligence Community, were focused on U.S. persons affiliated with the Trump campaign in early 2016, if not even earlier.”

The senators on May 13 released a list of 39 Obama administration officials who submitted requests during the presidential transition period for intelligence reports that mentioned retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. (Read more from “GOP Senators ‘Increasingly Concerned’ Surveillance of Trump Associates Began Earlier Than Previously Known” HERE)

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McEnany Accuses Susan Rice of a ‘Lie’ Over 2017 Interview Answer About Alleged Trump Team Surveillance

By Fox News. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany accused former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice of a “lie” in a 2017 interview, when Rice said she knew nothing about the Trump transition team being caught up in surveillance of foreign officials.

“She was asked specifically about [Devin] Nunes’ claims,” McEnany told reporters Wednesday. “She said ‘I know nothing about this,’ so that was a lie.”

During an appearance on PBS News Hour in 2017, Rice was asked about then-breaking revelations about members of President Trump’s transition team having been surveilled before he took office.

“In the last few hours, we’ve been following a disclosure by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, that in essence, during the final days of the Obama administration, during the transition after President Trump had been elected, that he and the people around him may have been caught up in surveillance of foreign individuals and their identities may have been disclosed. Do you know anything about this?” PBS anchor Judy Woodruff asked. (Read more from “McEnany Accuses Susan Rice of a ‘Lie’ Over 2017 Interview Answer About Alleged Trump Team Surveillance” HERE)

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WATCH: McConnell UNLOADS on Dems Criticizing Senate ‘Obamagate’ Inquiry; Next Coronavirus Package Not Too Far Off; Dems Trying to ‘Incentivize Unemployment’ in Latest Relief Bill

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By Breitbart. Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) responded to criticism from his House of Representatives counterpart Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding the House Homeland Security Committee’s use of subpoena power in the lead-up to the 2017 investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. . .

“I’d say to the speaker, after the impeachment, you — you’re not in a position to be lecturing us about what the appropriate use of Senate time is,” he said. “The House of Representatives is arguing before the Supreme Court that they’re still looking at yet another impeachment. They’re arguing that before the Supreme Court this week. Look, this is the legitimate oversight responsibility of the Senate.” (Read more from “WATCH: McConnell Unloads on Dems Criticizing Senate ‘Obamagate’ Inquiry” HERE)

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Next U.S. Coronavirus Rescue Package Not Too Far Off, McConnell Says

By Yahoo News. U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday another stimulus package to deal with the impact of the coronavirus was “not too far off.”

“I think there is a high likelihood we will do another rescue package,” McConnell told Fox News Channel in an interview.

“But we need to be able to measure the impact of what we’ve already done, what we did right, what we did wrong … We’re not quite ready to intelligently lay down the next step, but it’s not too far off.” (Read more from “Next U.S. Coronavirus Rescue Package Not Too Far Off, McConnell Says” HERE)

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McConnell: Dems Trying to ‘Incentivize’ Unemployment in Latest Coronavirus Relief Bill

By Breitbart. Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) rejected congressional Democrats’ calls for passage of the HEROES Act, the latest measure promoted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Well, we know these are desperate times as a result of the pandemic,” he said. “The CARES Act, which we passed a few — a month or so ago, on a bipartisan basis, only about half of that money has gone out yet. I think there’s a high likelihood we will do another rescue package. But we need to be able to measure the impact of what we have already done, what we did right, what we did wrong, correct that. And we’re not quite ready to intelligently lay down the next step, but it’s not too far off. Let me tell you what it won’t be. It won’t be a $3 trillion left-wing wish list that passed the House that they almost — couldn’t get all the Democrats to vote for, that Senator Schumer is in favor of. That’s not going to pass the Senate. It’s not going to become law.” . . .

“The problem was, by paying people more not to work than to work, it’s making it difficult to get people back to work,” he explained. “You can understand that. We do need to continue unemployment insurance. It’s extremely important at a time like this. But to pay people more not to work than to work doesn’t encourage resuming your job. And that will end in July. And we think that, in order to create jobs, we need to incentivize people to go back to work, not encourage them to stay home.” (Read more from “McConnell: Dems Trying to ‘Incentivize’ Unemployment in Latest Coronavirus Relief Bill” HERE)

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