FBI Just Told Judicial Watch It Would Take 3 Years to Process Request FBI Agents Communications

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By Bizpac Review. Monday the FBI informed Judicial Watch that it would need at least three years to release communications between anti-Trump FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

On January 24th watchdog filed an FOIA lawsuit against the Justice Department for communications between Strzok and Page. (Read more from “FBI Just Told Judicial Watch It Would Take 3 Years to Process Request FBI Agents Communications” HERE)

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Judicial Watch Sues for Text Messages of FBI’s Strzok and Page

By Judicial Watch. The text messages are of public interest because Strzok and Page were key investigators in the Clinton email and Trump Russia collusion investigations. Strzok was reportedly removed from the Mueller investigative team in August and reassigned to a human resources position after it was discovered that he and a FBI lawyer, Lisa Page, who worked for FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and with whom Strzok was carrying on an extramarital affair, exchanged pro-Clinton and anti-Trump text messages.

Strzok reportedly oversaw the FBI’s interviews of former National Security Adviser, General Michael Flynn; changed former FBI Director James Comey’s language about Hillary Clinton’s actions regarding her illicit email server from “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless;” played a lead role in the FBI’s interview of Clinton; and is suspected of being responsible for using the unverified dossier to obtain a FISA warrant in order to spy on President Trump’s campaign.

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, revealed in a letter dated January 20 that the FBI claimed it is unable to preserve text messages for a five-month period between December 14, 2016, and May 17, 2017, due to “misconfiguration issues” with FBI-issued phones used by Strzok and Page. The missing messages span dates between the presidential transition and the launch of Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, where both Strzok and Page were employed.

The Strzok-Page text messages are potentially responsive to several pending Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuits, but the FBI has yet to produce any of the records, explain the missing records to the courts, or otherwise be forthcoming about these newly disclosed materials. (Read more from “Judicial Watch Sues for Text Messages of FBI’s Strzok and Page” HERE)

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New Calif Bill Aims to Control Speech With ‘Fact Checkers’ to Regulate Social Media, Websites

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The state of California might be going full-tilt totalitarianism if a new bill that seeks to stifle opposing views and differing opinions is passed.

California Sen. Richard Pan introduced SB1424 “Internet: social media: false information: strategic plan” that on the surface seeks to regulate social media within the state. But, a deeper look into the bill, shows that the speech stifling consequences could spread well beyond the Golden State. . .

The bill reads in part:

Existing law prohibits a person, among others, from making or disseminating in any advertising device, or in any manner or means whatever, including over the Internet, any statement concerning real or personal property or services that is untrue or misleading, as specified.

This bill would require any person who operates a social media, as defined, Internet Web site with a physical presence in California to develop a strategic plan to verify news stories shared on its Web site. The bill would require the plan to include, among other things, a plan to mitigate the spread of false information through news stories, the utilization of fact-checkers to verify news stories, providing outreach to social media users, and placing a warning on a news story containing false information.

(Read more from “New Calif Bill Aims to Control Speech With ‘Fact Checkers’ to Regulate Social Media, Websites” HERE)

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Mattis Says U.S. Hasn’t Ruled out Action Against Assad

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By CNN. The US has not ruled out launching airstrikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in response to the weekend’s suspected chemical gas attack on civilians, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Monday.

“I don’t rule out anything right now,” Mattis said while hosting Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, at the Pentagon.

“The first thing we have to look at is why are chemical weapons still being used at all when Russia was the framework guarantor of removing all chemical weapons, and so working with our allies and partners from NATO to Qatar and elsewhere we are going to address this issue,” Mattis continued.

President Donald Trump strongly condemned the “atrocious” chemical weapons attack in Syria during a Cabinet meeting at the White House Monday and said a decision on US action would be made over the next 24-48 hours. (Read more from “Mattis Says U.S. Hasn’t Ruled out Action Against Assad” HERE)

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‘I Don’t Rule Anything Out’: Mattis on Taking Action in Syria

By AFP. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday pointed toward Russia’s role in a suspected poison gas attack on the Syrian rebel-held town of Douma, and said he would not rule out a military response.

Russia was supposed to guarantee the disposal of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons in September 2013, but President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is suspected of conducting repeated gas attacks since then.

“The first thing we have to look at is why are chemical weapons still being used at all when Russia was the framework guarantor of removing all the chemical weapons,” Mattis said at the Pentagon in a meeting with his Qatari counterpart.

“Working with our allies and our partners from NATO to Qatar and elsewhere, we are going to address this issue … I don’t rule out anything right now.”

Syria has been accused multiple times of using toxic weapons including sarin gas in the country’s seven-year war, which has killed more than 350,000 people. (Read more from “‘I Don’t Rule Anything Out’: Mattis on Taking Action in Syria” HERE)

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Facebook Admits to Helping Mueller Probe

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By AP. . .Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg disclosed Tuesday his company is “working with” special counsel Robert Mueller in the federal probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign — and working hard to change its own operations after the harvesting of users’ private information by a Trump campaign-affiliated data-mining company.

The founder of the social media giant publicly apologized for his company’s errors in failing to better protect the personal information of its millions of users, a controversy that has brought a flood of bad publicity and sent the company’s stock value plunging. He seemed to achieve a measure of success: Facebook shares surged 4.5 percent for the day, the biggest gain in two years.

Zuckerberg told the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees that he has not been personally interviewed by Mueller’s team, but “I know we’re working with them.” He offered no details, citing a concern about confidentiality rules of the investigation. (Read more from “Facebook Admits to Helping Mueller Probe” HERE)

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The Bubble: Mueller Has ‘Declared War Against the President,’ Sean Hannity Says

By USA Today. This week, commentators reacted to the stunning news that FBI agents raided the office of President Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

Some conservatives reacted to the news as an attack on Trump and the rule of law, declaring it proof that special counsel Robert Mueller is out to get the president. Others were less concerned about the legality of the move than the risk that the investigation, like the Monica Lewinsky scandal, will shift from its primary focus to a crime related to a personal affair.

Many liberal commentators, on the other hand, saw the raid as an affirmation of Mueller’s commitment to focus on Russian meddling because he referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Others argued the FBI’s action spells imminent doom for Trump.

“It is clear, as I have been warning, Mueller is out to get the president and it appears at any cost,” said visibly agitated Fox News host Sean Hannity after the raid.

Mueller has effectively “declared war against the president of the United States,” Hannity said. “Clearly, his objective is to remove him from office. Now, I told you and I’ve told anyone who will listen: Mueller’s team is corrupt, starting with him, and it has been from the beginning.” (Read more from “The Bubble: Mueller Has ‘Declared War Against the President,’ Sean Hannity Says” HERE)

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DEEP STATE IN TOTAL CONTROL: President’s FBI Raids Home of Trump Lawyer Following Recent Scandal

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By WND. The FBI raided the office, home and hotel room of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, on Monday and seized records there, according to the New York Times.

And now federal authorities have possession of emails and other communications exchanged between Trump and his personal lawyer, which could expose the president to further scrutiny.

Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, three sources told the Washington Post Monday evening.

The records taken by the federal bureau include those related to payments made to a pornographic actress known as Stormy Daniels, a woman who claims she had sex with Trump in 2006. In addition to records related to payments made to Daniels, the FBI also reportedly took copies of emails, tax records and business documents. The investigators also confiscated Cohen’s phone and computer.

The Times noted, “The seized records include communications between Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen, which would likely require a special team of agents to review because conversations between lawyers and clients are protected from scrutiny in most instances.” (Read more from “FBI Raids Home of Trump Lawyer Following Recent Scandal” HERE)

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What to Make of the FBI’s Raid of Michael Cohen’s Office: A Former Agent Reads the Tea Leaves

By NY Daily News. . .What today’s action demonstrates is that the special counsel is not only conducting a serious investigation of Russia interference in our democracy, and of those U.S. persons who may have colluded or conspired or otherwise enabled it, but a thorough one.

As one who’s seen Mueller in action up close and personally for a lot of years, I have long expected nothing less.

What is particularly interesting about today’s action, however, is not that it is serious or thorough, but that it was based on a referral from the special counsel to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.

Media speculation has suggested the primary basis for the referral was the $130,000 “hush money” payment Cohen made to pornographic-film actress Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, who has said repeatedly and quite convincingly that she had an affair with Trump.

But it is quite possible that was not the only basis for the search warrant used to authorize the action. Scope is a big deal in a federal search warrant. Typically, investigators can’t just take anything they please. This is particularly true in a search of a lawyer’s office, where protection of “privileged information” is the most sacred of legal cows. (Read more from “What to Make of the FBI’s Raid of Michael Cohen’s Office: A Former Agent Reads the Tea Leaves” HERE)

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James Woods Calls Authorities on California Senator’s Immigrant Pity Party: Shuts That Shindig Right Down!

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. . .The California senator was shredded on Twiitter by actor James Woods when she whined about illegal immigrants not getting “critical health care.”

. . .

America’s homeless as well as “overwhelming numbers” of American veterans go without proper health care everyday, but apparently for Harris and her Democratic cohorts, those who came to the U.S. illegally should be the ones getting the priority on health care.

Others on Twitter agreed with Woods.

(Read more from “James Woods Calls Authorities on California Senator’s Immigrant Pity Party: Shuts That Shindig Right Down!” HERE)

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De Blasio’s Criminal Justice Deputy Arrested for Having Loaded Gun

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By The Daily Caller. A high-level deputy in New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Office of Criminal Justice was arrested Saturday evening for being in a car with a loaded 9mm handgun that had its serial number scratched off.

Reagan Stevens, 42, was with two men in a dark red Infiniti SUV when police caught up with them in Queens, where they found the loaded gun inside the glove compartment, the New York Post reports.

Police were searching for the car in connection to an alleged shooting — surveillance footage from nearby shows several shots fired from the SUV, sources told the Post.

None of the three in the car admitted to owning the gun, so the authorities charged each of the three with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. The driver, 25-year-old Caesar Forbes and Montel Hughes, 24, who sat in the front seat, were also charged with carrying knives. (Read more from “De Blasio’s Criminal Justice Deputy Arrested for Having Loaded Gun” HERE)

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Mayor De Blasio Aide Arrested on Weapons Charges

By CBS New York. . .City Hall reacted quickly.

“The employee has been suspended immediately without pay pending investigation. We take these allegations very seriously,” the de Blasio administration said in a statement. . .

Until now, Stevens worked in the Office of Criminal Justice, where she fought against trying 16- and 17-year-olds as adults. (Read more from “Mayor De Blasio Aide Arrested on Weapons Charges” HERE)

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Democratic Caucus Chair Kicks Around the Big Nancy Pelosi Elephant in the Room

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By The Daily Caller. House Democratic Caucus chairman Joe Crowley showed support for Nancy Pelosi on “Fox News Sunday” and said he will not be challenging her for a leadership position.

Host Chris Wallace asked if Pelosi has become a liability for Democrats, but Crowley dodged the question by bashing the GOP.

“I think it was more reflective of the fact that Republicans are bankrupt on ideas. They don’t have anything else to offer except to go after Nancy Pelosi to win elections,” Crowley said. “If they think that’s a winning strategy, they are completely mistaken and wrong.” . . .

“Conor Lamb won because he ran a local election,” Crowley replied. “He talked about that the cuts that the Republicans were attempting to make into privatized Social Security. He talked about what affect the federal government has on local politics, on people’s lives. And that’s why he won that election, not because of Nancy Pelosi.”

Crowley’s not planning on running against Pelosi and claims he’s only focused on winning back the House for Democrats this November, he said.

“I would wait and see just what would happen in terms of that if Nancy Pelosi decided not to run,” Crowley added. “But if Nancy Pelosi stays, I don’t see a scenario by which I would challenge her for that position.” (Read more from “Democratic Caucus Chair Kicks Around the Big Nancy Pelosi Elephant in the Room” HERE)

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Pelosi Urges Dems to Stick to Economic Script

By The Hill. House Democratic leaders are sticking to their script as the midterm elections inch closer, largely disregarding the turmoil surrounding President Trump to focus instead on the economic consequences of the Republicans’ legislative agenda.

In a Dear Colleague letter sent to Democrats on Monday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged her troops to highlight new funding hikes in areas like health care, veterans services and education — adopted as part of the recently passed 2018 spending package — while hitting Republicans over tax reform and a proposed balanced budget amendment, which Democrats consider a threat to domestic programs like Medicare and Social Security.

“With a strong first quarter behind us, we must now step up our efforts to protect Americans from the ongoing assault by the Trump Administration and Republican Congress on hard-working families,” Pelosi wrote.

The strategy builds on the Democrats’ “Better Deal” agenda, launched over the summer, which is designed to speak to the economic insecurities of middle class voters in lieu of spotlighting the turbulence within Trump’s White House, including the ongoing investigation into Moscow’s 2016 election meddling and potential collusion with the Trump campaign. (Read more from “Pelosi Urges Dems to Stick to Economic Script” HERE)

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Wells Fargo Threatened by Teachers Union Over Bank’s Refusal to ‘Ditch’ the NRA

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After being called the “go-to bank for gun makers and the NRA” by Bloomberg over the weekend, Wells Fargo is now being attacked by the American Federation of Teachers.

AFT president Randi Weingarten announced on Saturday: “We’re issuing Wells Fargo an ultimatum. They can have a mortgage market that includes America’s teachers, or they can continue to do business with the NRA and gun manufacturers. They can’t do both.”

Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan offered to meet with Weingarten during written correspondence between the two, but added, “When dealing with the safety of our families, children, and other issues of this magnitude, there are no easy or satisfying solutions. In fact, as I have publicly stated, I do not believe that the American public wants banks to decide which legal products consumers can and cannot buy.”

Sloan’s statement comes weeks after Citigroup announced it would implement restrictions on gun sales for their retail clients. Citi’s move was met with ridicule from Congressional Republicans, with Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) telling the bank’s CEO Michael Corbat in a letter, “The very fact that Citi remains operational is due entirely to the generosity of the American taxpayers. Please don’t forget that.”

Citi said the intent of their new policy was to do their part in implementing gun control after “tragedy and inaction.” (Read more from “Wells Fargo Threatened by Teachers Union Over Bank’s Refusal to ‘Ditch’ the NRA” HERE)

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Woman Has Hilarious — and Extremely Unlikely — Excuse as to Why Police Found Drugs in Her Purse

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A Florida woman reportedly told cops that a windy day was the reason law enforcement officers found illegal drugs in her purse.

According to a report by WPLG-TV, Fort Pierce cops pulled over Kennecia Posey, 26, in late March for a reported driving infraction.

After noting that Posey’s vehicle was swerving, cops pulled the car over and reportedly smelled marijuana inside.

During a search of the vehicle, officers discovered cocaine and marijuana bagged separately inside Posey’s purse, which was resting on her lap.

When questioned about the drugs, Posey reportedly told officers that the marijuana belonged to her, but that the wind must have blown cocaine through the window and into her bag. (Read more from “Woman Has Hilarious — and Extremely Unlikely — Excuse as to Why Police Found Drugs in Her Purse” HERE)

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