On Sunday night’s episode of “Life, Liberty and Levin” on Fox News, LevinTV host Mark Levin spoke with former solicitor general and Clinton-era independent counsel Ken Starr about the differences between his investigation and Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
While Mueller and his investigative team have been largely free from mainstream media criticism, Levin said that Starr and his investigation were attacked “relentlessly.” Starr noted that the media often camped outside his house. While he wouldn’t wish that invasion of privacy on Mueller, he said, he had to wonder if the Washington-area media just didn’t know where the current special counsel lives.
Levin asked, “Why do you think the distinction, the difference in coverage?”
“There’s got to be a treaty of peace,” Starr explained, “with the networks, platforms, and so forth, they said, ‘We’re going to leave him alone.’”
“They like him,” Levin remarked. “They didn’t like you. Do you think it’s because of who you were investigating and who he’s investigating? I mean, isn’t that a logical conclusion?”
“It’s a very logical conclusion,” said Starr.
(For more from the author of “The Media’s Incredible Double Standard for the Mueller Probe and Starr’s Clinton Investigation” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Hillary_Clinton_AIPAC_2016_cropped.jpg12101209Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2019-02-25 20:14:252019-02-25 20:12:08The Media’s Incredible Double Standard for the Mueller Probe and Starr’s Clinton Investigation
CNN’s report that special counsel Robert Mueller could wind up his investigation and deliver his much-anticipated report as early as next week has the anti-Trump ‘Resistance’ seemingly struggling to sustain a consistent narrative.
Some speculated that Mueller could have been pressured by recently-confirmed Attorney General William Barr to end the investigation prematurely.
If #Mueller says he’s done and was allowed to follow the evidence, then let’s see the report. America will welcome it. But if he’s been forced to stop investigating, there will be hell to pay. We’re not powerless anymore.
Some took the James Clapper approach, managing expectations by acknowledging that the report could be “anti-climactic,” but arguing that Trump should still be impeached nonetheless.
We don’t need a report from Mueller or more evidence to impeach him. He’s already committed thousands of impeachable offenses. It’s time to #ImpeachTrump.
In fact, Mueller report or no Mueller report, it is absolutely evident that no American in our history has betrayed the country as egregiously or damagingly as Trump and that it is vital that we recognize this fact or the risks of further damage will be compounded.
Re: CNN report on Mueller, it makes me realize how much more of a credibility problem CNN gave itself yesterday. When you come out with news you bring on a GOP operative on the editorial side, don’t expect anyone to immediately buy what you sell as fact and not spin.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/41897045061_564e7202b8_b-1.jpg460789Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2019-02-20 17:29:292019-02-20 17:25:57Mueller Is Finishing up, and the ‘Resistance’ Has Nothing
During a press conference on Monday Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is coming to an end.
“The investigation is, I think, close to being completed, and I hope that we can get the report from Director Mueller as soon as possible,” Whitaker said. “I’ve been fully briefed, and I look forward to Mueller delivering the final report. Right now, the investigation is close to being completed…Fundamentally, the Mueller investigation has a very defined scope.” . . .
NEW: Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker says Mueller investigation "is, I think, close to being completed, and I hope that we can get the report from Director Mueller as soon as possible." https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fPpic.twitter.com/HL7XCGTohV
According to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), Whitaker’s remarks were inappropriate, clearly referencing Whitaker’s past comments on limiting Mueller’s authority:
An Acting Attorney General who refuses to follow the advice of ethics lawyers and recuse himself from an investigation in which he has shown a clear bias is the last person who should speak for the Special Counsel.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, told Fox News the Trump administration wants as much information as possible to be released to the public. (Read more from “Brace Yourselves: The Mueller Probe May FINALLY Be Completed” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Robert_Mueller_2012-1.jpg11421625Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2019-01-28 18:25:292019-01-28 18:22:16Brace Yourselves: The Mueller Probe May FINALLY Be Completed
A senior Department of Justice official says he repeatedly and specifically told top officials at the FBI and DOJ about dossier author Christopher Steele’s bias and his employer Fusion GPS’ conflicts of interest, information they kept hidden from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. These conversations involved high-level officials, including some who are now senior officials in the special counsel probe. And the conversations began taking place in the earliest days of August 2016, much earlier than previously revealed to congressional investigators seeking to learn the facts about the FBI’s decision to spy on the Trump campaign.
Testimony from Bruce Ohr, the demoted associate deputy attorney general at Justice, informs a years-long partisan debate about the role he played in funneling information to the FBI from the terminated source.
Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, led by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., expressed concern in February 2018 about Ohr’s role in their memo warning about abuses of the process by which the federal government spied on Trump affiliates. They claimed the high-ranking Justice official was in contact with Steele after the foreign actor had supposedly been terminated with cause as the primary source of negative and outlandish information on Trump.
They also said Ohr, whose wife worked for the very same information operation that Steele did, had shared critical information about the source that did not appear in the applications to spy on Carter Page. Finally, they claimed that Ohr funneled to the FBI his wife’s opposition research, which had been secretly bought and paid for by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton Campaign. . .
Meanwhile, Democrats on the committee, led by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the Republican majority overstated Ohr’s role. They claimed Steele’s conversations with the FBI “occurred weeks after the election and more than a month after the Court approved the initial FlSA application.” (Read more from “Top Mueller Officials Coordinated With Fusion GPS Spouse” HERE)
Andrew Weissmann, the lead prosecutor for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, has a history of questionable conduct. But the full extent of Weissmann’s alleged prosecutorial misconduct is unclear because some of the most serious charges were hidden behind redactions and secreted in sealed court filings.
Two months ago I sued to have these records released, but late Friday federal Judge Sim Lake’s case manager confirmed that several of the sought-after documents are missing from the court record.
In early November, Houston attorney Kevin Fulton of the Fulton Law Group filed a motion in a Texas federal court to unseal and unredact court records related to claimed prosecutorial misconduct by Weissmann during the latter’s stint as the head of the Enron Task Force. . .
Even if cause originally existed to keep the content of this email secret, with the underlying criminal cases now complete, there is no longer a basis to hide the details from the public. Thus, my motion to unredact the public record asked Judge Lake, who had presided over the criminal cases, to release unredacted copies of several court filings, most significantly the joint motion to dismiss, which included this email and other relevant details.
Over the holidays, though, the court entered an “amended notice,” announcing that after “a full and exhaustive” search by the clerk, certain court filings “were unrecoverable in their original or un-redacted form,” including the unredacted copy of the joint motion to dismiss and the supporting memorandum. Also missing from the court record was the government’s unredacted response to this motion, which likely would have included the full text—or relevant portions—of the Weissmann email. (Read more from “Missing: Key Documents About Alleged Misconduct by Robert Mueller’s Lead Prosecutor” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/614px-Director_Robert_S._Mueller-_III-1.jpg768614Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2019-01-14 21:15:242019-01-14 21:11:24Missing: Key Documents About Alleged Misconduct by Robert Mueller’s Lead Prosecutor
By The Daily Caller. A federal grand jury being used by special counsel Robert Mueller received an extension on Friday, signaling that the Russia probe may be further from ending than previously thought. . .
Grand juries are initially impaneled for up to 18 months and can be extended six additional months if doing so is in the public interest.
The length of the extension is unclear, but reports have circulated that Mueller is close to ending his investigation, which focuses on possible collusion between the Russian government and Trump campaign, as well as possible obstruction of justice on the part of President Donald Trump. (Read more from “Judge Extends Mueller Grand Jury” HERE)
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Federal Grand Jury Working in Mueller Probe Is Extended
By The Washington Post. A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., working with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has been extended, officials said, but it is not clear for how long.
The grand jury, empaneled July 5, 2017, had been set to end Saturday after an 18-month term. Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of D.C., who oversees grand jury activities, said she approved the extension.
Howell declined to comment on how much longer the grand jury could sit. Under federal rules of criminal procedure, a grand jury may serve more than 18 months only if a judge finds an extension is in the public interest, and then generally for no more than six additional months. . .
Five aides to now-President Trump have pleaded guilty to various charges stemming from the wide-ranging probe, most recently his former personal att orney Michael Cohen in November. The others include former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his deputy, Rick Gates, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn and campaign aide George Papadopoulos. (Read more from “Federal Grand Jury Working in Mueller Probe Is Extended” HERE)
After 19 months, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has charged a number of targets with almost every conceivable sin — except collusion with Russia to throw an election. Yet suspicion of collusion was the reason that Mueller was appointed in the first place. . .
Instead, the accusation is that [Michael] Cohen and Trump used Trump’s own money, but they did not report the payout as a “contribution” to his campaign. But Trump likely would have paid off Daniels anyway to protect his marriage, family and reputation, regardless of whether he was running for office.
If you take media-sensationalized sex out of the equation, Trump, like any other American, has the right to pay anyone whatever he wishes to keep quiet about past embarrassing behavior, whether that be secretly gulping down too many Big Macs or cheating on the golf course. . .
Next, former FBI Director James Comey counted on the Trump administration’s inexperience and broke normal protocol by sending investigators to interrogate Flynn directly without bothering with the usual administration intermediaries. Comey’s deputy director, Andrew McCabe, misled Flynn into assuming that the interview would be a friendly chat among “allies.” Flynn was told he would not need a lawyer. . .
It gets worse. The FBI agents, who presumably had transcripts from Flynn’s talks with the Russian ambassador to compare to Flynn’s interview answers, expressed the belief that Flynn did not seem as if he was lying to them. Yet that conclusion was apparently overturned at some point by the FBI. To this day, the only real evidence that Flynn lied is his confession — and apparently the second thoughts of the FBI investigators, who reinterpreted their initial impressions in a much later official report. (Read more from “Mueller Investigation Stirring up More Trouble Than It’s Finding” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/614px-Director_Robert_S._Mueller-_III.jpg768614Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2018-12-27 21:25:162018-12-27 09:29:06Mueller Investigation Stirring up More Trouble Than It’s Finding
By Washington Examiner. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary administrative stay of contempt sanctions that have been brought against an unknown company in a mysterious grand jury subpoena fight thought to be linked to special counsel Robert Mueller.
The move is a fairly procedural one, and gives the federal government until Dec. 31 to respond. Roberts, or all of the Supreme Court, could easily decide to lift the stay even before then, depending on how soon as it hears from the federal government. . .
The challenge reached the Supreme Court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday night. rejected the company’s appeal to quash the grand jury subpoena to turn over records.
Then on Saturday, the company formally filed an application with the Supreme Court, asking it to intervene and stay the lower court’s decision to comply with the subpoena — and also asked that the case remain under seal.
The company had also asked the Supreme Court to halt the continuing $5,000 per week fine it is incurring for not complying with the subpoena, an effort Judges David S. Tatel, Thomas B. Griffith, and Stephen F. Williams of the D.C. Circuit also rejected this week. (Read more from “Supreme Court Halts Fines Against Mystery Company Possibly Linked to Mueller Investigation” HERE)
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Chief Justice Roberts Issues Stay in Case of Unknown Subpoena
By Politico. Chief Justice John Roberts has stepped into a grand jury subpoena dispute that appears to involve special counsel Robert Mueller and an unknown company owned by a foreign country.
Roberts issued an order Sunday temporarily staying a contempt citation against the firm, as well as an escalating financial penalty a judge imposed for failing to comply with the subpoena.
The firm filed a stay petition at the Supreme Court on Saturday. Roberts did not grant the motion, but issued what appears to be a temporary stay designed to allow the court to consider whether to wade into the fight. He ordered the government to file a response by Dec. 31 at noon.
The identity of the firm and the foreign country at issue remain a mystery, but POLITICO first reported earlier this year that the dispute appeared to involve Mueller’s prosecutors. A POLITICO reporter stationed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals clerk’s office in October heard a person connected to the appeal request a copy of the special counsel’s latest filing in the case. (Read more from “Chief Justice Roberts Issues Stay in Case of Unknown Subpoena” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/41897045061_564e7202b8_b-3.jpg460789Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2018-12-23 21:44:142018-12-23 20:51:15Supreme Court Halts Fines Against Mystery Company Possibly Linked to Mueller Investigation
Late Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office filed its reply brief to the sentencing memorandum Michael Flynn had filed early last week with a D.C. federal court. Mueller’s reply brief revealed several new tidbits about the special counsel’s probe and the earlier investigation into Flynn, President Donald Trump’s short-lived national security advisor.
Mueller’s filing came in response to a hastily issued order by presiding judge Emmet Sullivan, which directed the government to file its reply brief by 3 p.m. on December 14. Sullivan also directed Flynn to file with the court two documents he referenced in his sentencing memorandum: a January 24, 2017 memorandum authored by former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, and a FD-302 interview summary dated August 22, 2017. . .
Since news broke of Flynn’s guilty plea last year on one count of lying to the FBI, there has been speculation about the contents of the FBI’s interview summary form, or FD-302, sparked by reports that the two FBI agents who questioned Flynn did not think he lied during their interview. The public’s interest in the interview summary form (or forms) then peaked when Flynn cited to a FD-302 dated August 22, 2017 in his sentencing memo.
The FBI had interviewed Flynn on January 24, 2017. Why a seven-month delay in completing the 302? And why didn’t Flynn reference the initial 302 drafted following his interview? From Sullivan’s order directing Mueller’s team to file “any 302s or memoranda,” the presiding judge apparently wondered the same thing.
Then came Friday’s filing of the special counsel’s reply brief, which included in its appendices McCabe’s January 24, 2017 memorandum and the FD-302 recorded on August 22, 2017, the latter of which summarized the FBI’s interview with now-former FBI agent Peter Strzok. But no other 302s were included. (Read more from “Here’s What’s Weird About Robert Mueller’s Latest Michael Flynn Filing” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Robert_Mueller_2012.jpg11421625Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2018-12-17 21:40:442018-12-17 21:27:03Here’s What’s Weird About Robert Mueller’s Latest Michael Flynn Filing
By The Blaze. A top congressional Republican predicted Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s case against Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser who pled guilty to lying to the FBI, will soon be thrown out of court. . .
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who is retiring from Congress next month, explained on Fox News Sunday that it is his belief, and indeed that of a federal judge, that FBI investigators “violated” Flynn’s Miranda rights when they interrogated him. It’s that “misconduct” that Issa alleged would lead a judge to toss Mueller’s case against Flynn.
“I would not be surprised a bit that the conviction of Flynn is overturned because of the Justice Department and the FBI’s misconduct,” Issa said.
He further explained: “Judge Sullivan has made it pretty clear that they, in layman’s terms, violated his Miranda rights, tricked him into not having a lawyer, when, in fact, he was not only a suspect, but a target, and they had transcripts, this kind of conduct, we haven’t seen in a long time.” . . .
“In fact, we go potentially all the way to Supreme Court with new protections when the FBI and the Department of Justice lies to somebody and tricks them into making statements, and then charges them with a lie that they entrapped them in,” Issa explained.
(Read more from “Top Republican Predicts Flynn’s Guilty Plea Will Be Tossed. Here’s Why.” HERE)
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Where Is the Flynn 302?
By National Review. . .My purpose in this post is not to rehash the column. It is to highlight something I address in the middle: the missing FBI report of Flynn’s interview on January 24, 2017 — i.e., the Flynn 302. As I write in the column:
It was only after Mueller was appointed in May 2017 that the investigation of Flynn appears to have picked up steam and a false-statements plea was finally negotiated in late November.
There are many peculiarities about this. Pressing at the moment, for example, is the special counsel’s release yesterday of the FBI report (the “302” form) pertaining to Flynn’s interview. Media reports had said that even though Flynn was interviewed on January 24, 2017, the 302 documenting the interview was not completed until August 22, 2017, seven months later. Clearly, this raises the possibility that the interview report was drafted not when the agents formed their initial impressions, but months later when the special counsel was squeezing Flynn and there was a motive to make the interview appear more deceptive than it seemed at the time.
To my eye, the situation is even more disturbing than the press reporting suggests. It appears that there is no 302 of the Flynn interview. The 302 dated August 22, 2017, which Mueller submitted to the court, documents an interview of Peter Strzok, not of Flynn. It appears that this interview of Strzok took place on July 19, notes of the interview were drafted the next day (July 20), and the 302 was approved and entered into the FBI’s files on August 22. The question obviously arises: Where is the Flynn 302? FBI procedures would have called for a report within a few days of the interview. It is not that there wasn’t one for seven months. For now, it looks like none has been produced at all.
