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Vance to Meet With FBI, DOJ Officials Over Epstein Strategy, Possible Maxwell Interview Release

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Vice President JD Vance is expected to meet with senior officials from the Department of Justice and the FBI to determine the administration’s next steps in handling the ongoing fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal — including whether to release the administration’s July interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, multiple sources confirm.

The high-stakes meeting will take place at the vice president’s residence and is expected to include Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, according to CNN and a source familiar with the planning who spoke to the Daily Caller.

The central topic of discussion will be how to craft a unified and credible response to mounting public and political pressure surrounding the Epstein case. During a two-day interview in July, Blanche reportedly questioned Maxwell about nearly 100 individuals allegedly tied to Epstein’s operations — a move many believed would lead to long-awaited transparency. However, expectations were dampened after a leaked memo, published by Axios, claimed that the investigation had concluded and no formal “client list” would be released.

Vice President Vance’s scheduled meeting comes amid growing frustration among the president’s base, many of whom feel misled after years of speculation surrounding Epstein’s network and the individuals allegedly involved. Former President Trump has recently attempted to downplay the investigation, calling the public narrative a “hoax.”

Following her interview with federal officials, Maxwell — who is currently serving a 20-year sentence — was quietly transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security facility in Texas. Meanwhile, her legal team continues to push for privacy, filing a motion earlier this week to keep grand jury transcripts sealed in the Southern District of New York.

Public pressure has continued to mount for transparency, with one official telling the Caller, “You can arrest all the drug leaders and cartel leaders, but people want closure on this case, and the attorney general must find a better way to reconcile that.”

As the administration weighs whether to release the Maxwell interview — or potentially other sealed materials — the outcome of Vance’s meeting could signal a turning point in one of the most secretive and politically charged investigations in recent history.

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DOJ Requests DNI Documents Following Gabbard Criminal Referral on Russiagate Conspiracy

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has sent the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) a request for a treasure trove of documents related to the ongoing federal investigation into the Obama administration’s Russiagate operation, The Federalist has learned. According to a letter to ODNI senior adviser Paul McNamara, which was obtained by The Federalist, the DOJ has requested from ODNI a wide array of documents about the Obama administration’s 2016 and 2017 attempts to frame then-President-elect Donald Trump as an agent of Russia who stole the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton.

The request comes on the heels of the declassification and public release of records from late 2016 and 2017 which show how top intelligence and law enforcement officials — including former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former DNI James Clapper — conspired to fabricate a narrative that Russia meddled in the 2016 election in order to elect Trump. The declassified records showed that top intelligence experts objected to the narrative, highlighted myriad issues with the so-called intelligence used to support false claims about Trump, and even told Brennan that he was misrepresenting facts and ignoring counter-evidence as part of a push to attack Trump, cripple his transition, and even hijack his presidency.

Fox News reported on Monday that the DOJ had authorized the empaneling of a federal grand jury to investigate whether Comey, Brennan, or other top Obama administration officials committed any crimes as part of their operation to use the nation’s top intelligence and law enforcement agencies to smear Trump.

The DOJ letter from a federal prosecutor, which was sent in response to a request from Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard for the DOJ to investigate any potential criminal wrongdoing related to the production of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that claimed without evidence that Russia sought to elect Trump in 2016, asks for 12 different categories of documents related to Gabbard’s criminal referral.

“Pursuant to the authority and director of the United States Attorney General, I have been assigned responsibility for investigating this criminal referral,” the letter states. (Read more from “DOJ Requests DNI Documents Following Gabbard Criminal Referral on Russiagate Conspiracy” HERE)

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Docs: Clinton Team Denied Knowledge Of Russia Hoax Despite Email Saying She ‘Approved’ Plan

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The newly declassified annex to the Durham report purportedly shows that Hillary Clinton approved the Russia collusion hoax but then lied to the FBI about her knowledge of the plot.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley released on Thursday the declassified appendix to Special Counsel John Durham’s 2023 report. The Durham report vindicated President Donald Trump and others who insisted the FBI acted improperly when it opened its investigation into the Trump campaign over allegations of collusion with Russia.

The declassified annex includes two Russian intelligence memoranda that purportedly contain information about Obama’s involvement in what is now known as the Russia collusion hoax, as well as private conversations between members of Clinton’s campaign.

In June 2016 the Democratic National Committee confirmed that its server had been hacked, allegedly by Russian military intelligence groups. Among the materials purportedly obtained by hackers were emails.

Leonard Benardo, of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, purportedly said in one version of a July 25, 2016, email that the hacking story was important, and “politicization is on the table.” Benardo then went on to suggest that Julianne Smith, Clinton’s foreign policy adviser, was concocting a plan to “demonize Putin and Trump.” (Read more from “Docs: Clinton Team Denied Knowledge Of Russia Hoax Despite Email Saying She ‘Approved’ Plan” HERE)

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REPORT: DOJ Official Tied to Left-Wing Activism Approved $2 Million Settlement for Russiagate FBI Agents Strzok and Page

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A former top Department of Justice official — now linked to prominent left-wing legal advocacy groups — approved a stunning $2 million payout to disgraced former FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, whose anti-Trump messages became central to accusations of political bias in the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation.

According to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Center to Advance Security in America, Brian Netter, then Deputy Assistant Attorney General under Attorney General Merrick Garland, greenlit the settlement agreements in 2024. The revelations were first reported by The Federalist.

Netter, who has since taken a role as Legal Director of Democracy Forward, a progressive legal nonprofit chaired by Clinton-aligned election lawyer Marc Elias, has long been affiliated with Democratic legal causes. Democracy Forward’s mission includes challenging GOP-backed election reforms and advocating for “social progress through litigation.”

The group’s website explicitly claims that individuals “responsible for January 6th have returned to power” — signaling its partisan orientation.

The settlement comes despite the controversial roles of Strzok and Page in the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign. Their leaked texts from 2015-2017, obtained from government-issued phones, included open disdain for then-candidate Trump and alarming references to an “insurance policy” in the event he were to win the presidency.

“I want to believe the path you threw out in [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s] office—that there’s no way he gets elected—but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk,” Strzok wrote to Page in one infamous 2016 exchange. “It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”

Republican lawmakers and watchdogs said the messages suggested the FBI was politicized at the highest levels — undermining its role as a neutral investigative agency.

Strzok, who was later fired by the FBI, and Page, who resigned, sued the DOJ, alleging their privacy was violated when their texts were leaked in 2017. The DOJ ultimately awarded $1.2 million to Strzok and $800,000 to Page, according to Politico.

Netter’s involvement adds a layer of political intrigue to the case. While at DOJ, he actively fought against Trump’s attempt to block the release of presidential records to the House January 6 Committee.

According to The New York Times, Garland officiated Netter’s wedding to Karen Dunn, a Democratic legal operative who later co-founded a firm with Jeannie Rhee — a former Clinton Foundation attorney and senior lawyer on Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.

Mueller’s final report found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, though the investigation itself inflicted political damage and remained a dominant narrative throughout Trump’s presidency.

Adding to the controversy, newly released transcripts from the House Judiciary Committee show the FBI ignored intelligence suggesting that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign planned to fabricate links between Trump and Russian operatives — information allegedly included in the Durham report’s annex.

Critics now say that the DOJ, under Garland, is not only protecting former operatives who pushed the discredited Russia narrative — but actively rewarding them using taxpayer dollars.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Declassified Report Links George Soros to Early Trump-Russia Narrative

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A newly unsealed intelligence appendix to the Durham Report has raised serious questions about the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, and it may implicate one of the world’s most influential political financiers.

The declassified annex, released Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee under the direction of Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), suggests that key players within the U.S. intelligence community were warned as early as 2016 that a coordinated effort was underway to tie Donald Trump to the Kremlin, before the FBI formally launched its “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation.

According to the document, those early signals came from credible foreign intelligence sources. Those sources were reportedly tied to George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

The appendix, which was part of Special Counsel John Durham’s broader review of the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe, reveals that multiple foreign entities believed the FBI and senior Obama-era officials were preparing to promote a disinformation campaign aimed at Trump. These claims were flagged before July 31, 2016, the date the FBI officially opened its investigation.

One explosive email cited in the document allegedly comes from Leonard Bernardo, a senior figure at the Open Society Foundations. The message outlines a strategic plan to link Trump with Russian cyberattacks as a means of diverting public attention from then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email controversy.

“HRC approved Julie’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections… this should distract people from her own missing email,” one message reads, as quoted in the annex.

Another message reportedly describes plans to funnel disinformation through private cybersecurity firms like CrowdStrike and ThreatConnect, both of which would later become central players in pushing the DNC hacking narrative to major U.S. news outlets.

Sources familiar with the appendix told Fox News Digital that the foreign intelligence warnings, while not fully understood at the time, now appear “alarmingly specific” in their foresight.

“Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire,” one foreign operative is quoted as saying in a now-public message, referencing the plan to amplify the Trump-Putin narrative.

These revelations call into question not only the impartiality of the original investigation but also the media and institutional alignment that enabled it.

While it remains unclear how directly involved Soros himself was, the appendix does note that two hacked communications appear to originate from Open Society accounts.

The fallout from the Durham investigation continues to ripple across Washington. The final report concluded that the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane operation was launched without sufficient evidence, findings that many conservatives have pointed to as proof of a politically motivated witch hunt.

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Details Buried In Recently Declassified Docs Further Implicate Obama In Russia Hoax

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Documents released over the last month have exposed a post-election plot designed to derail President Donald Trump’s first term. The recently declassified material reveals former President Barack Obama sought to continue the Russia-collusion hoax Hillary Clinton had launched during the presidential campaign by directing select members of his intelligence community to craft the deceptive Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election. However, a close reading of these documents reveals Obama holds even more culpability than previously discussed.

As The Federalist reported earlier, the CIA’s review of the ICA established Obama not only knew of and “condoned the politicalization of the intelligence community, but that the former president directed the politicalization.” According to the CIA’s “lessons learned” analysis of the deceptive ICA released by the Obama Administration, on December 6, 2016, then-President Obama directed “then-Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper to conduct a comprehensive review of all available intelligence and provide the IC’s best assessment of Russian activities related to the election,” ordering Clapper to complete the review before Trump’s inauguration. And according to former CIA Director John Brennan, the White House worked with him to “established crucial elements of the process,” including directing the CIA to take “the lead drafting the report.”

That White House-directed process included sidelining the National Intelligence Council (“NIC”) which, under standard protocols held “control over drafting assignments, coordination, and review processes” for intelligence assessments. Not only that, but Brennan — the man Obama charged with leading the drafting of the ICA — also marginalized CIA and ODNI analysts, ignoring their conclusion that intel did not support the view that Russia “aspired” to help Trump win the 2016 election. Brennan also trumped the analysts’ objection to referencing the Steele dossier in the text of the ICA and including a summary of the Clinton-funded fake dossier in an annex to the report.

Last week’s release of the House Permanent Selection Committee on Intelligence’s (“HPSCI”) report summarizing the results of its investigation into the drafting of the ICA exposed further corruption behind the assessment that falsely reported Russia aspired to help elect Trump. That 46-page report revealed how, after the election, Brennan ordered the publication of three substandard intelligence reports which, along with the Steele dossier, “became foundational sources for the ICA judgments that Putin preferred Trump over Clinton.”

The HPSCI report also detailed the flaws in that intel, as well as how the ICA further misrepresented what the belatedly created intelligence reports stated. The HPSCI report further highlighted the extensive evidence omitted from the ICA — intel which conflicted with the Obama-ordered assessment’s conclusion that Russia aspired to help Trump. The Federalist summarized these top take-aways last week. (Read more from “Details Buried In Recently Declassified Docs Further Implicate Obama In Russia Hoax” HERE)

Senior DOJ Officials Didn’t Know Database Allowed FBI to Bury Existence of Russiagate Documents

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People familiar with the investigation into the Russia collusion hoax told The Federalist that senior officials did not know the FBI case management database, Sentinel, allowed agents to conceal the existence of evidence. Nor did anyone from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office mention that documents related to the investigation into the Trump campaign had been rendered invisible by use of the “Prohibited Access” coding in Sentinel — even though they knew the Department of Justice was investigating the origins and handling of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

On Monday, a former political appointee at the DOJ expressed surprise that no one from Special Counsel Mueller’s team mentioned the “Prohibited Access” functionality of Sentinel to senior officials. This news follows last week’s release by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, of a recently declassified FBI report that revealed that Special Counsel Mueller’s office used a “Prohibited Access” restriction during the Trump/Russia-collusion investigation.

As The Federalist detailed earlier today, the “Prohibited Access” coding in the FBI’s Sentinel case management system, “precludes investigators from detecting the existence of potentially relevant serials.” “In other words,” according to the just-released FBI report, “when search terms that exist in the Prohibited Access-status cases are searched in Sentinel, the particular search will receive a false-negative Sentinel search response.” (Read more from “Senior DOJ Officials Didn’t Know Database Allowed FBI to Bury Existence of Russiagate Documents” HERE)

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Judge Who Tried to Block Trump Migrant Deportations Spared Russiagate Lawyer (and was a Member of Skull and Bones While at Yale)

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By The Telegraph. The judge who tried to block Donald Trump’s deportation of 200 alleged Venezuelan gangsters previously spared a Russiagate lawyer from jail.

Judge James Boasberg spared Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer, from prison after he was convicted of forgery during the federal investigation of Russian interference into the 2016 election.

Clinesmith pleaded guilty to a felony in August 2020, admitting to doctoring an email that served as support for a Russiagate wiretap of Carter Page, a former campaign official for Mr Trump. . .

However, Judge Boasberg sided with Clinesmith’s attorney, who argued that probation would be more appropriate as Clinesmith said he was not motivated by political bias.

Appearing sympathetic to the cost the lawyer had paid by “standing in the eye of a media hurricane,” he instead ordered him to work 400 hours of community service and 12 months probation. (Read more from “Judge Who Tried to Block Trump Migrant Deportations Spared Russiagate Lawyer” HERE)

Editor’s note: This activist judge was also a member of Cross and Bones while at Yale.

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Federal Judge Appoints Himself President [Satire]

By The Babylon Bee. The Trump Administration agenda was stopped in its tracks this week after a federal judge appointed himself the new President of the United States.

“There’s nothing we can do,” said legal experts. “He’s a federal judge.”

Sources confirmed that Judge Mortimer Dithers of the Northern District of California granted himself all the powers of the executive branch in an emergency move to stop Trump. “Last night, the Constitution appeared to me in a dream and told me to do this,” said Judge Dithers. “You can’t argue with that. Also, my word on this is law because I’m a federal judge.”

President Judge Dithers has already issued several executive actions, including orders for Tesla to stop making cars, Elon Musk to punch himself in the face, and Trump to not move his head next time someone shoots at him. “This is the bidding of your new leader,” said Judge Dithers. “So let it be done, by the order of your new Federal Judge President.”

Trump later responded to the ruling on Truth Social by accusing the judge of “looking like a potato.” (Read more from “Judge Who Tried to Block Trump Migrant Deportations Spared Russiagate Lawyer” HERE)

New Election Year Means Another Russiagate as Biden, Dems Try to Smear Impeachment Probe

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For the 2016 election, Democrats launched Russiagate 1.0: the Trump-Russia collusion hoax proven groundless by the Mueller investigation.

For the 2020 election, it was Russiagate 2.0. Biden campaign adviser Antony Blinken prompted former CIA Acting Director Mike Morell to concoct the “Dirty 51” letter falsely claiming that Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop was Russian disinformation.

That lie justified censorship of The Post’s accurate stories from the laptop of Joe Biden’s involvement in his son’s international influence peddling schemes.

Now that we’re heading into the 2024 election, we have Russiagate 3.0. Democrats pretend the impeachment inquiry has “utterly collapsed” because of the curious indictment last week of trusted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov on false statement charges after he allegedly told his FBI handler that Hunter and Joe each had received a $5 million bribe from the Ukrainians.

In a frantic effort to keep Smirnov in jail pre-trial, prosecutors for notorious Biden protector David Weiss, the Delaware US attorney, used language ripped straight out of the Russiagate textbook: “Smirnov’s efforts to spread misinformation about a candidate of one of the two major parties [Joe] continues.” (Read more from “New Election Year Means Another Russiagate as Biden, Dems Try to Smear Impeachment Probe” HERE)

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Trump Records Negotiator Warns of Russiagate Materials Cover-up

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Justice Department officials appear to be maneuvering to block the disclosure of documents from the so-called “Russiagate” controversy, according to a top Pentagon official from the Trump administration.

Kash Patel appeared on Fox News on Sunday and defended former President Donald Trump’s claims that he issued sweeping declassification orders of documents after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago resort and seized more than a dozen boxes of materials in an investigation that could have national security implications.

Patel, who was chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and held other high-ranking positions in the Trump administration, said Trump named him his representative to the National Archives, and they have been locked in a “bureaucratic battle” over documents that were taken to his Florida club.

Because there appears to be an “ongoing” counterintelligence investigation, he argued, “you will never be allowed to see the Russiagate docs or any other docs that President Trump lawfully declassified, and they will hide it from the public,” Patel told Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo. Patel was being interviewed along with Devin Nunes, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who is now the CEO of Trump’s social media company. (Read more from “Trump Records Negotiator Warns of Russiagate Materials Cover-up” HERE)

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