The Russia Hoax TakeAways

Based on the book by Greg Jarrett and other sources

Summary by Stan and Sheila Hartzler

CROOKS

Entities

Dossier

Collection of seventeen consecutive memos written by former British spy Christopher Steele between June and September 2016.  pp. 127-28

News media FAKE NEWS

Outlets ABC, CNN, and NBC reported acts of collusion between Trump and Russia, but later retracted and corrected when these reports turned out to be false.

Fusion GPS:  Political smear organization 

Founded by Glen Simpson, former journalist.  More than anyone else, he was responsible for initiation and proliferation of the term “collusion.”

At first, a conservative website hired Fusion GPS to find dirt on Trump.  That funding stopped when effort was seen as futile.  Then Clinton/DNC lawyer Marc Elias hired Fusion GPS and Simpson.  Then Simpson hired Steele and his company, Orbis.

Fusion GPS and Steele also promoted dossier to Bruce Ohr (associate deputy attorney general) at Justice Department.  Ohr’s wife Nellie was paid employee of Fusion GPS and contributed to the dossier.  Bruce Ohr was legally required to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation, but did not.

Uranium One: Russian-controlled business

• Seized control of a sizeable percentage of America’s uranium assets.
• Giustra company founded by acquisition of Kazakh uranium mines, and a subsequent merger approved by Kazakhstan government after Hillary intervention
• Acquired uranium deposits in four USA states.
• Russian State Atomic Nuclear Agency (Rosatom) bought majority control of Uranium One, with approval of US Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), a group presided over by Hillary as Secretary of State.
• Uranium One and half of American uranium production transferred to Russian Rosatom, the latter owning Salida Capital (Canadian) that gave $2.6 million to Clinton Foundation.
• Shareholders gave $145 million to Clinton Foundation.  p. 72
• Obtained permission to export uranium from USA by hiring a third party to obtain an export license.
• Rosatom deal of 2010 secured through extensive Russian conspiracy, known to the FBI but kept secret from Congress and CFIUS committee.

FISA:  Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.  A United States federal law which establishes procedures for physical and electronic surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence information between foreign powers and agents of foreign powers suspected of espionage or terrorism.

Five immunity agreements (without “proffers”):

• Cheryl Mills, Hillary’s former chief of staff.  Disclosed classified information  to Clinton family foundation.  Improperly sat in on Hillary’s interview.  p. 45.  Lied about knowing of Hillary’s private server.  p. 62
• John Bentel, State Department staff
• Heather Samuelson, State Department staff.  Destroyed Hillary emails.  Improperly sat in on Hillary’s interview.  p. 45
• Bryan Pagliano, Hillary’s IT aide.  Established the system that illegally transferred classified and top-secret information to Hillary’s private server.
• Paul Combetta, an employee of Platte River networks, managers of Hillary’s server after Hillary left the State Department.  Used Bleachbit to destroy Hillary’s records after Congress ordered them preserved.

Midyear Team – – FBI team leading investigation into Hillary emails.  Included Sally Moyer, lead FBI attorney, and Peter Strzok.  “Midyear Team” was not used in the Jarrett book.

People – –  The SAVAGE SIXTEEN are marked with *.

*Bruce Ohr, associate deputy attorney general  

• Was legally required to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation, but did not.  Should have recused himself because his wife Nellie was paid employee of Fusion GPS and contributed to the dossier.  
• Conducted undisclosed meetings with Steele and Simpson.
• Continued to receive information from Steele in 2017 after FBI discontinued its relationship with Steele. 
• Passed results of Fusion GPS opposition research to FBI.
• Demoted when his ties to dossier promoters was exposed.  December 2017.

*Nellie Ohr, wife of Bruce Ohr  (from Conservapedia)

• Employee of FusionGPS since late 2015
• Worked with Christopher Steele to write Trump dossier
• Is a Ukrainian holocaust denier

*Glen Simpson, former journalist.  

• Was responsible for initiation and proliferation of the term “collusion.”
• Hired by Clinton/DNC lawyer Marc Elias.  
• Hired Steele and his company, Orbis, after being hired by Elias.
• Promoted dossier to Bruce Ohr (associate deputy attorney general) at Justice Department.  

*Christopher Steele: former British spy.  

• Claimed to have dirt on Trump, collected from Russian sources.
• Met with several US news organizations to promote his dossier.
• Hated Trump
• Promoted dossier to Bruce Ohr (associate deputy attorney general) at Justice Department.  

*John Brennan:  Obama’s CIA chief.  

• Known partisan favoring Hillary and loathing Trump.  
• Politicized and weaponized the false intelligence against Trump – – for example, inspiring Harry Reid to make inflammatory accusations in late August of 2016.
• Gave information from dossier to the FBI, Capitol Hill Democrats, and President Obama.
• Told top members of Congress that Russia was helping Trump win the election.
• Was called on to resign as CIA Chief in 2014 by Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) when CIA was spying on Senate Intelligence Committee.  CIA officers sent criminal referral to Justice Department based on false information.  Harry Reid: “Appalling.”  [This note was not in the Jarrett Book.]
• History from Stephen F. Hayes, Editor in Chief of The Weekly Standard:
  • Was an adviser on Obama’s first presidential campaign.
  • Intimidated Benghazi survivors into silence by having them sign extra Non-Disclosure Agreements, and then lied about it three times.  May 20, 2013.
  • As one of the chief architects of Obama’s “strategy” for fighting terrorism, he downplayed Islamic territorial ambitions (caliphate), Al Qaeda strength, Bin Laden influence, and Taliban-AlQaeda unity. 2011-2012
  • Fought public release of documents contradicting his downplays.
  • Blocked other elements of intelligence community from having access to the same documents.  
  • Downplayed terror threat from Iran as groundwork for the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).  2015.

James Clapper, director of National Intelligence.  

• Helped peddle fake dossier, including to CNN, where he now works.
• Was not forthcoming about media leaks, providing inconsistent information to the House Intelligence Committee.  
• Later confirmed that he had no evidence of collusion, citing reports from the National Security Agency, the FBI, and the CIA.  p. 109

*Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader.  

• Accused Trump of being a Russian agent. p. 100.  
• Initialized publicity for the Trump-Russia investigation.  
• Helped publicize investigation.  
• Falsely claimed in 2012 that Republican candidate Mitt Romney had paid no taxes for ten years.  For this lie, Reid was awarded Four Pinocchios from Fact Checker, and Pants on Fire from PolitiFact.
• Claimed that the Trump campaign was involved in Russia’s hacking of election emails.  He offered no evidence.  Neither did Debbie Wasserman Schultz nor Maxine Waters, who made the same claims.

*Loretta Lynch, Attorney General for Obama.  

• Met with Bill Clinton five days before Hillary questioned by FBI.  Eight days later came exoneration.  Beyond improper.  p. 38.  
• Was nominated by Bill Clinton to serve as U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of New York – – sufficient reason for recusal, required by law, which did not happen.
• Asked Comey to soften language about Clinton investigation, to call it a “matter.”  Comey failed to expose this as he should have.
• Knew before Hillary’s interview that no charges would be filed against her
• Finalized Comey exoneration statement
• Called on McCabe and Sweeney to fix leaks regarding Weiner laptop
• Urged expeditious processing of laptop files

*James Comey, FBI Director.  

• FBI Director during Russian Uranium probe
• Never advised Congress of Russian Rosatom corruption
• Should have demanded that McCabe disassociate himself from Clinton investigation, but did not.
• Exonerated Hillary before her investigation had been completed, and lied to Congress about that.  p. 61
• Lied under oath to House Judiciary Committee, Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senate Intelligence Committee.  
• Lied about coordination of his exoneration statement with others in government.  (He said there was no such coordination.)
• Should have sent Hillary case to a grand jury. Never advised Congress of Russian Rosatom corruption
• Signed FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrant applications permitting spying on Carter Page, in spite of believing that the dossier was unverified.  Took advantage of FISA court trust in officers of the court.  Signed initial warrant application and first two renewals.
• Obstructed justice.  Failed to notify FISA court of Steele’s termination for speaking to media and lying about it.  Signed more warrants thereafter and allowed the spying to continue.
• Engineered appointment of Mueller as special counsel
• Described Mueller probe as counterintelligence regarding the Russian government, not criminal investigation of Trump and his campaign, whereas the Mueller probe was really the latter 
• Took seven presidential memos with him when he was fired (illegal)
• Leaked to reporters for self-serving reasons
• Gave classified information to an unauthorized friend
• Was deceptive as to the FBI’s assessment of Michael Flynn.
• Began drafting second Hillary exoneration statement before sham investigation was complete
• Lied about “huge breakthrough” for rapidly reviewing 675,000 Clinton-related emails from Weiner laptop.  
• Lied to Senate Judiciary Committee about extent of sham investigation of Weiner laptop

*Robert Mueller, Special Counsel.  

• FBI Director during Russian Uranium probe
• Never advised Congress of Russian Rosatom corruption
• Should have recused himself from Trump-Russia probe because of conflicts of interest.  p. 265-268 
• Removed Strzok and Page from Trump-Russia probe when Strzok-Page emails were exposed; did not inform Congress of possible corruption of Hillary case or Trump-Russia.
• Launched an investigation in search of a crime – – backwards.
• Ordered FBI to raid Paul Manafort’s home a week before authorization was given.

*Rod Rosenstein

• U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland during Russian probe
• Supervised Russian bribery prosecutions
• Signed plea agreement related to Russian Rosatom corruption
• Never advised Congress of Russian Rosatom corruption
• Signed FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrant applications permitting spying on Carter Page.
• Appointed a special counsel (Mueller) when there was no justification – – no crime had yet been found
• Appointed Robert Mueller (former colleague and good friend of James Comey) as Special Counsel to investigate Trump when Trump fired Comey.
• Misused regulations governing the selection of the special counsel
• Did not provide the special counsel with a specific factual statement of the matter to be investigated, as was required.  p. 255

*Sally Yates, Deputy Attorney General, predecessor to Rod Rosenstein.  

• Signed off on FISA warrants.  Signed initial warrant application and first renewal.
• Was acting Attorney General (an Obama holdover) until Jeff Sessions was confirmed
• Directed Comey’s agents to interview Michael Flynn, Trump’s candidate for national security advisor, with no legal justification for such an interview and without notifying Trump about such an interview
• Was deceptive about the results of the Flynn interview, raising suspicions
• Fired by Trump for refusing to have DOJ defend Trump’s initial immigration order

Andrew Weissman 

• Chief of the Fraud Section in the Criminal Division at the Justice Department during the Russian probe
• Signed plea agreement related to Russian corruption
• Never advised Congress of Russian Rosatom corruption

Douglas Band, employee of Clinton Foundation.

• Described Foundation activity in an email exposed by Wikileaks, October 2016.
• Runs consulting firm, Teneo.
• Raised money for Foundation but also steered money to Bill Clinton personally (“Bill Clinton Inc.”), constituting criminal fraud.
• Helped Bill Clinton secure and engage in for-profit activities, gaining him more than $30 million personally, with another $66 million coming if he continues with current engagements.

Bryan Pagliano (and Justin Cooper) installed Hillary’s Chappaqua basement server, and were instrumental in operation and maintenance thereof.

David Kendall, Hillary lawyer, confirming removal of her emails.

*Huma Abedin, Hillary’s top aide.  

• Was concerned about traffic of unclassified documents.
• Lied about knowing of Hillary’s private server.  p. 62
• Was simultaneously (A) deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary, (B) Clinton Foundation paid consultant, and (C) income-earning consultant to Douglas Band’s Teneo company.
• Worked the three simultaneous positions well for pay-for-play. p. 84

*Hillary

• Failed to capture and preserve records as required by law while Secretary of State
• Illegally created a private server, with conspiracy, for all communications as Secretary of State
• Lied about permissibility of server, Blackberry, and classified documents
• Mishandled and stole classified documents, breaking federal laws
• Gave classified documents to people known to be without security clearances
• Replied “Don’t recall” or “Don’t remember” 39 times during 3.5 hours of FBI interview, never under oath.
• Lied about being in debt when leaving White House in 2001.
• Lied about disclosure of Clinton Foundation contributions.  p. 74
• Pressured Kazakhstan government to approve Uranium One merger while on the Senate Armed Services Committee 
• Lied about involvement in Uranium One decisions
• Through Uranium One, secretly helped $25 million find its way to Clinton Foundation through a Giustra-Telfer-UraniumOne charity
• Obtained “special” exception to conflict-of-interest rules to allow Huma Abedin to hold three positions simultaneously.  
• Claimed that the Trump campaign was involved in Russia’s hacking of election emails.  She offered no evidence.  
• Had allies contribute bogus information to Steele and dossier. pp. 160-61
• Paid a foreign national (Steele) for the anti-Trump dossier.  p. 169
• Did not properly disclose dossier payments.  p. 169

*Bill Clinton 

• Earned $48,000,000 while Hillary was Secretary of State for speeches, the majority happening in foreign countries.
• With Hillary, established Clinton Foundation as end of his presidency, the Foundation earning an estimated one billion dollars over time. 
• Met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch days before his wife was exonerated by Lynch’s Justice Department.

*Barak Hussein Obama 

• Knew of Hilary’s private server and did nothing
• Falsely claimed to have not communicated with FBI regarding pending investigations
• Received constant foreign policy briefings from his CIA chief, Brennan. 
• Was aware of Russian meddling in uranium deal.  p. 77
• Sanctioned Brennan’s visit to Harry Reid, beginning the publicizing of the Trump-Russia investigation.
• Never nominated anyone for the position of internal inspector general for the State Department while Hillary was Secretary of State – – only an Acting Inspector General.  

Samuel “Sandy” Berger, national security adviser for Bill Clinton, John Deutch, CIA director for Bill Clinton, and David Petraeus, CIA director for Obama, pled guilty of security clearance violations.  Berger and Petraeus were fined, put on probation, and were stripped of security clearances.

Other cases similar to Hillary’s: Bryan Nishimura, Harold T. Martin III, and Kristian Saucier.  Comey’s exoneration claim was thus quite flawed.

*Peter Strzok, key FBI investigator

• emailed hostility toward Trump
• Used his private email to send and receive classified information
• Leaked to reporters for self-serving reasons.
• Became deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division at start of Trump-Russia “collusion” investigation
• Led the FBI’s investigation into Trump-Russia “collusion”
• Executed documents launching Russia hoax.
• Signed off on Trump dossier before a FISA judge to obtain warrant for spying on Carter Page 
• Suggested overturning the result of an election if Trump won
• Changed wording (to soften) in Comey’s exoneration statement.
• Knew before Hillary’s interview that no charges would be filed against her
• Joined Mueller’s team when Mueller was appointed special counsel to control the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation.
• Was removed from Mueller team when emails with Lisa Page were uncovered.
• Was “front and center” in conducting interviews in Clinton investigation in spite of personal prejudice, including the 7/2/2016 interview with Hillary, and interviews with Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills.
• Delayed communication from NY Weiner agent John Robertson regarding existence of Hillary emails (etc.) on Weiner laptop
• Created false timeline to hide delay of action on Weiner laptop files
• Talked about drafting a second Hillary exoneration statement before laptop investigation was declared complete
• Participated in sham investigation of Weiner laptop files
• Lost security clearance 6/21/18
• Was fired from FBI 8/10/18

*Lisa Page, FBI lawyer

• Senior adviser to McCabe; worked on Hillary email investigation
• Knew before Hillary’s interview that no charges would be filed against her
• Joined Mueller’s team when Mueller was appointed special counsel to control the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation.
• Was removed from Mueller team when emails with Peter Strzok were uncovered.

*Andrew McCabe, FBI deputy director

• Appointed FBI deputy director (second in command of FBI) by Comey January 2016.
• Assumed oversight of Clinton case
• Involved in decision to exonerate
• Wife Jill was recruited to run for office in New Jersey in 2015, five days after Hillary’s email scandal became public.
• Received $675,000 in campaign money for Jill, from Clinton and McAuliffe groups
• Recused himself from Hillary investigation one week before 2016 presidential election, four months after Hillary “cleared.”
• Violated Hatch Act (certain government officials do not help with political campaigns)
• Altered language in Comey’s statement of Hillary exoneration (to soften)
• Leaked to media and lied about that leaking
• Was told twice by Bill Sweeney 9/28/16 about Weiner laptop; McCabe then told Comey and Strzok, who did nothing. 
• Signed off on last FISA warrant, knowing of the dossier’s deficiencies
• Testified that no FISA warrants would have been issued without the dossier.

Sally Moyer, lead FBI attorney for the Hillary email investigation (from RealClearInvestigations – – RCI – – and Judicial Watch).  

• registered Democrat
• obtained legal authority to examine contents of the Weiner laptop
• significantly limited the scope of the Weiner laptop examination
• led filtering team for Weiner laptop documents

*Stefan Halper  (from Sara Carter)

• American professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge (England).
• Received funds for Cambridge seminar from Putin-friend Russian billionaire.
• Asked former Director of Russian Intelligence to co-teach courses.
• Contractor for U.S. Defense Dept. for $1,000,000-plus to write foreign policy reports.
• Per former Defense Dept. analyst Adam Lovinger, Halper illegally conducted diplomatic meetings with Russians on behalf of the USA while a contractor. 
• By 2016, had become a spy for CIA/FBI to trap Trump per “Crossfire Hurricane,” setting up faux meetings with Carter Page, Michael Flynn, and George Papadopoulos, involving Russians.
• Made first contact with Michael Flynn (an Obama antagonist over al-Qaeda, etc., before joining Trump campaign) when Harper invited Flynn to Cambridge in February 2014, for a dinner hosted by Halper.
• Planted suspicion with FBI about a brief conversation Flynn had with a Russian academic at the February 2014 seminar dinner and some generic follow-up emails.
• Made first contact with Carter Page at Cambridge Seminar in July 2016; stayed in touch until September 2017.
• Left Cambridge Seminar December 2016 over “unacceptable Russian influence.” Smoke and mirrors.
• Made first contact with Papadopoulos in September 2016, inviting him to London.
• Leaked news of the faux meetings to the media, providing “collusion” illusion.

Adam Lovinger, Pentagon lawyer, leader at ONA (Office of Net Assessment – – an internal Pentagon think tank)

• Flagged concerns (2016) about a contractor conducting foreign relations (Halper) and gross waste and excessive expenditures by such contractors
• Had security clearance suspended and then revoked

Michael Hayden, retired Air Force General and former CIA Director  [These notes were not in the Jarrett Book.]

• Tweeted an inference that Trump’s enforcement of existing immigration policy was comparable to separation of Jewish children from their mothers in Nazi Germany.
• Per the 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture, CIA Director Hayden instructed that out-of-date data be used in briefing Congress so that fewer than 100 Gitmo detainees would be reported.
• History of developing National Security Agency programs for spying on citizens of USA:  
  • Trailblazer, 2002, an NSA electronic and warrantless surveillance program, wasting billions of dollars. 
  • Domestic telephone call database, 2006, to override privacy protections such as those found in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
• Was listed as a source for a Stephan Halper paper published in 2015

Terry McAuliffe, Virginia Governor 

• Longtime friend of Clintons 
• Former board member of Clinton Global Initiative 
• Personally recruited Jill McCabe to run for office.

Christopher Wray, FBI Director after Trump fired Comey, May 2017.  Stonewalled Jim Jordan’s questions about relation between the FISA application for the spying warrant and the Trump “dossier.”

Frank Giustra, Canadian investor, friend of Bill Clinton

• Purchased uranium mines in Kazakh in 2005
• Gave $31.3 million to Clinton Foundation shortly after Kazakh purchase, with pledge for $100 million more

Ian Telfer, major Clinton Foundation donor.  

• Chairman of the board of Uranium One
• Controlled Canada’s Fernwood Foundation through which $2 million plus went to Clinton Foundation.

Adam Schiff, D-CA, Ranking Democrat on House Intelligence Committee.  

• Spent more than a year condemning Trump for “collusion” with Russians, claiming evidence was ample and damming.
• Could offer no actual evidence to support his claims
• Pestered Carter Page about Page’s speaking at a Moscow commencement ceremony in 2016.
• Wrote a rebuttal memo to answer the Nunes memo.  Not substantive.

*John McCain, Republican presidential candidate, 2008, Viet Nam POW

• sent the fake dossier to the FBI and media November 2016
• known in Middle East as the Godfather of the Muslim Brotherhood

GOOD PEOPLE

George Papadopoulos: energy consultant who promoted idea of Trump-Putin dialog during campaign.  Idea was rejected.

Carter Page, investment banker at Merrill Lynch, private citizen.  

• Worked for Merrill Lynch for three years in Moscow, after which he started his own energy investment firm in New York City.
• Had assisted the FBI and became a cooperating witness in prior Runnian prosecutions.
• Worked with Trump campaign as an unpaid peripheral advisor on the foreign policy council but never met or spoke with Trump.  
• Disliked Obama’s Russian foreign policy.  
• Mentioned several times in the dossier.
• Was the person spied on by FBI and DOJ in Mueller’s probe.  Conversations listened to and past text messages and emails seized. 
• Never charged, never committed a crime.
• Described the dossier as totally preposterous.  

Michael Flynn, Army Lt. Gen., former head of Defense Intelligence Agency (from Sara Carter)

• Deeply disagreed with Obama and CIA over al-Qaeda and extremist groups policy
• Joined Trump campaign as National Security Advisor.
• Questioned by FBI about conversation with former Russian ambassador
• Declared honest by the questioning FBI agents, but pled guilty to one count of lying to Mueller.  
• Spent $1,000,000-plus for lawyer fees related to FBI harassment. 

House Benghazi Committee discovered Hillary private server mid-2014.

John Robertson, NY FBI Agent (per RealClearInvestigations & Judicial Watch)

• Found Hillary-related email cache on Weiner’s laptop 9/26/16.
• Notified Bill Sweeney, head of FBI New York office, 9/27/16
• Began reporting details about Weiner laptop 9/28/16
• Finished Weiner sex case use of laptop 10/4/16; estimated 675,000 emails related to Hillary 
• Informed Hoover Building executives after Sweeney communication to McCabe (and from him to Comey and Strzok) goes nowhere, 10/20?/16
• Briefed Strzok’s team 10/26/16

James Kallstrom, former assistant director of the FBI.

• Brennan was leaking regularly, actively peddling dossier to Congress and the media.
• Believed that Obama was involved.

Joseph diGenova, independent counsel.  

• Accused Hillary of knowing that she was breaking the law regarding classified documents.  
• “Everything that Comey said at the news conference was false.  Clinton had clearly violated the Espionage Act.”
• Comey committed multiple crimes.
• Comey should be indicted for false testimony to Congress and for obstructing an investigation.

Doug Burns, assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.  Stated that Hillary broke the law and should have been indicted for several crimes, and that Comey rewrote the law and shaped facts to try to clear her.

Andrew McCarthy, former federal prosecutor.  “Gross negligence” equals “extreme carelessness.”

Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), member of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.  Found troubling evidence of coordination between White House, CIA, and FBI at the outset of the Trump-Mueller probe.

John Solomon of The Hill.  

• Found revision of Comey’s report to soften language
• With Alison Spann, broke story of William Douglas Campbell, undercover informant who worked inside Rosatom

William Douglas Campbell, undercover informant who worked inside Rosatom

• Helped convict several Russian and American executives
• Was astonished that CFIUS approved the uranium sale
• Gathered evidence that Russia was helping Iran’s nuclear program
• Briefed three congressional committees concerning millions of dollars from Moscow to an American lobbying firm, APCO, employer of many former Clinton staff.

John Huber, U.S. Attorney now in charge of Hillary investigation, appointed by Jeff Sessions in March 2018.

Fred Tecce, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney at the Department of Justice.  

• Very sarcastic assessment of special treatment given Hillary.  p. 34.  “It was a joke.”
• Believed that the FBI launched an unlawful investigation against Trump, searching for a crime 

Bill Gavin, former FBI assistant director.  Exoneration statement was unprecedented and wrong.

Buck Revell, former assistant deputy director of FBI.  The exoneration statement would have caused him to go to Congress, charging conflict of interest.  p. 37

Dennis V. Hughes, first chief of FBI’s computer investigations unit.  FBI is politicized.  Comey responsible.  p. 45

I. C. Smith, section chief of FBI’s National Security Division.  Different standard for Hillary.  “What she did was absolutely abhorrent for anyone who has access to classified information.”  p. 45

Michael M.  Biasello, retured FBI agent.  “Comey has singly-handedly ruined the reputation of the FBI.”

Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover Institution (Stanford University) historian.  Clintons peddled access and influence shamelessly with inordinate greed.

Richard Burr, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which investigated exhaustively and found nothing.  “…quite a few news organizations ran stories that were not factual.”

Devin Nunes (R-CA), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.  

• No evidence to support investigation.  p. 107   
• Nunes Memo (2/2/2018) detailed thirteen main points exposing the fraud of the FBI and Department of Justice.  p. 150-51

Charles Grassley, House Intelligence Committee Chairman, and

Lindsey Graham, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism

• Memorandum signed by Grassley and Graham made a compelling case, equal to that of the Nunes Memo, of wrongdoing by the FBI and Department of Justice.  
• Memo completely confirmed Nunes Memo and added nine more points.  p. 157.  FISA warrant application failed to disclose that Simpson’s ultimate clients were Hillary and the DNC.

Trey Gowdy, R-SC, Chairman of House Oversight Committee.  Confirmed that there was no evidence of “collusion.”

Gene Coyle, thirty-year CIA veteran.  Brennan was the greatest sycophant (loyalist) in the history of the CIA.

Michael Morell, twice the acting director of the CIA for Obama, on the investigation:  “…there is smoke, but there is no fire at all.  There’s no little campfire, there’s no little candle.  There’s no spark.  And there’s a lot of people looking for it.” 

George Toscas, top executive at Justice Department working on Hillary emails

• informed of Strzok’s delay in responding to discovery of Hillary emails on Weiner laptop, 10/20?/16
• pushed FBI headquarters to initiate search of laptop and tell Congress

Ned Ryan, columnist for The Hill.  “…Fusion GPS more deeply colluded with the Russians than anyone else.”  p. 147

Fred Fleitz, 19-year CIA veteran.  Emphasized the veracity of McCabe’s claim that no warrants would have been issued without the dossier.

Bob Woodward, former Washington Post writer/journalist and Watergate hero.

• Called the dossier a “garbage document.”
• Told Chris Wallace that the American intelligence chiefs made a mistake and should apologize.

Newsweek also ridiculed the dossier.

Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman.  Confirmed that Ambassador Sergei Kislyak had lots of meetings with Clinton advisors during the 2016 campaign.

Michael Horowitz, Inspector General of Department of Justice.  Investigated Comey’s decision on Hillary.  

American Center for Law and Justice.  Requested records of Lynch-Clinton tarmac meeting; was told no such records existed.  A year later, more than 400 pages of relevant emails were turned over by the Department of Justice, heavily redacted.  

IMPORTANT EXTRAS

Case for prosecuting high-ranking officials at the FBI and DOJ for abuse of power – – at least six different felony statutes were violated.  pp. 165-168.  Others as well, pp. 168-170.

Chronology, p. 148

Justice Department =  Office of USA Attorney General

FISA Warrant Judges

Initial October 21, 2016  Rosemary Collyer.  Warrant signed by Comey, Yates, more.

Renewal January 12, 2017  Michael Mosman.  Warrant signed by Comey, Yates, more.

Renewal April 7, 2017  Anne Conway.  Warrant signed by Comey, Dana Boente (acting AG), more.

Renewal June 29, 2017  Raymond Dearie.  Warrant signed by McCabe, Rosenstein, more.