'White House is running this' mystery has top Republican squeezing DOJ to unredact Strzok-Page texts

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley on Wednesday pushed the Justice Department to release unredacted copies of text messages between FBI employees that displayed a bias against President Trump.

Specifically, the Iowa Republican drew attention to one text that says former President Barack Obama's "White House is running this."

“Congress, and the public, have a right to know how the Department spends taxpayer money,” Grassley said in a letter sent to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein calling for an uncensored release of messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Page resigned from the FBI earlier this month.

Strzok and Page, who previously served on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, found themselves at the center of a Senate investigation after their private text messages revealing an anti-Trump bias, among other tidbits of gossip from the department, were leaked. To aid in the investigation, the Justice Department allowed members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to view redacted versions of their conversations earlier this month.

One particular text, which was redacted, said "the White House is running this," referring to an investigation, and Grassley now wants to know which one.

Also at issue for the chairman were details of excessive spending, including a $70,000 conference table.

“I am unaware of any legitimate basis on which the cost of a conference table should be redacted,” Grassley wrote. “Embarrassment is not a good enough reason. The manner in which some redactions have been used casts doubt on whether the remaining redactions are necessary and defensible.”

Grassley set a June 6 deadline for DOJ to turn over the unredacted text messages or provide a legal basis for withholding the information from Congress.

The request comes shortly after it was revealed that an FBI informant met with members of the Trump campaign, which has angered a number of Republicans, including Trump, about a possible effort to spy on his campaign.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/white-house-is-running-this-mystery-has-top-republican-squeezing-doj-to-unredact-strzok-page-texts

White House planning bipartisan briefing on FBI informant amid Democratic fury about being left out

The White House is planning to have top intelligence and law enforcement officials brief a bipartisan group of House and Senate leaders on the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, following widespread outcry from Democrats about being left out of a classified briefing on the topic Thursday.

Details for the follow-up meeting are still being finalized, but House and Senate leadership from both parties, as well as top lawmakers on the congressional intelligence committees, collectively known as the Gang of Eight, are among those likely to be attend.

“Tomorrow’s meeting will proceed as previously scheduled. A separate meeting of the bipartisan Gang of 8 with DOJ, law enforcement and intelligence officials is being planned following the Memorial Day recess,” White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah said in a statement, according to ABC News.

The classified briefing this week will include House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and will reportedly broach details about an FBI informant who had contact with members of the Trump campaign. Revelations about this FBI source has riled Republicans, including Trump, who are raging about possible improper spying on his 2016 campaign.

Nunes and Gowdy will join representatives from the Justice Department, the FBI, and the director of national intelligence to look at the documents after Trump ordered that the Justice Department respond to months of their requests.

The effort to plan a bipartisan follow-up briefing marks a shift from the White House's stance Tuesday, when press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that Democrats would not be allowed to review classified documents used to launch the federal investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign — and may have led to the FBI's use of one or more informants during the presidential election — because they "never asked" to see the materials.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Tuesday had called the White House's choice to exclude Democratic and Senate colleagues "outrageous."

He and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote in a letter Wednesday to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray that "this meeting is completely improper in its proposed form and would set a damaging precedent for your institutions and the rule of law."

Like Schumer and Pelosi, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, D-Calif., also demanded that the meeting be opened up to the Gang of Eight.

Earlier in the day, on the GOP side of Congress, Nunes shot down another Democratic member of his panel, Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, who asked if Democrats could attend the planned briefing Thursday.

“I’m not going to play that game," Nunes said in response.

Meanwhile, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a key Trump ally who is head of the conservative Freedom Caucus, downplayed the Thursday meeting's importance, speculating it was unlikely the Justice Department would share materials, per Politico.

"They’re not going to see any documents tomorrow, so it doesn’t matter," Meadows said, adding his prediction was based on "rhetoric" and his previous dealings with DOJ. "Going to a briefing without seeing the documents is worthless."

Loudest Voices

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house-planning-bipartisan-briefing-on-fbi-informant-amid-democratic-fury-about-being-left-out

U.S.-led coalition hits Syrian army positions: Hezbollah media unit

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition targeted two Syrian army positions in the eastern Syrian desert, a military media unit run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said early on Thursday, but U.S. military officials denied any knowledge of the strikes.

The unit, a Damascus ally, said the strikes took place near T2, an energy installation located near the border with Iraq and about 100 km (60 miles) west of the Euphrates river where the coalition is backing ground forces against Islamic State.

A U.S. military official denied any knowledge of the strikes.

“We have no operational reporting of a U.S.-led coalition strike against pro-Syrian regime targets or forces,” Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, told Reuters.

Another Pentagon spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “We have no information to substantiate those reports.”

Syrian state media did not immediately report the strikes.

Eastern Syria was mostly held by Islamic State until last year, when two rival campaigns, one by the Syrian army backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, the other by Kurdish and Arab militias backed by the U.S. coalition, took most of its land.

Communication between Russia and the United States averted most clashes between them. However, the coalition has struck Syrian pro-government forces that it said were attempting to attack coalition positions.

The U.S. military operating outside the coalition also maintains a base at Tanf in the eastern Syrian desert near the borders with Iraq and Jordan and last year struck pro-government forces moving along a road towards it.

https:// www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-coalition/u-s-led-coalition-hits-syrian-army-positions-hezbollah-media-unit-idUSKCN1IO3HB

Army units repel Daesh attack in al-Mayadeen countrysideArmy units repel Daesh attack in al-Mayadeen countryside

Deir Ezzor, SANA-Units of the Syrian army repelled terrorist groups affiliated to Daesh (ISIS) terrorist organisation which attacked military outposts in al-Mayadeen area in Deir Ezzor southeastern countryside.

SANA’s reporter said the units engaged in clashes with the attacking groups in al-Mayadeen Badiya (Desert).

The infiltration attempt was aborted with over 10 of the attacking terrorists killed, among them terrorists of foreign nationalities, according to the reporter who added that scores others were injured, a vehicle mounted by a heavy cannon was destroyed and narcotic drugs seized.

This is what is coming directly out of Syria

https:// sana.sy/en/?p=138574

Army discovers a tunnel network and headquarters for terrorists in Yarmouk camp-Photo report

https:// sana.sy/en/?p=138624

>>1523202

>>1523285

>>1523264

Interesting to note, there is no mention of US troops flushing out Hezbollah

I wonder what is really going on?

>>1523275

I don't think we are bombing, Military says they know nothing of it, and the last few posts I did, do not mention any of the same information provided by Reuters. (Fake News?)

>>1523334

That's interesting..can see where, hmmm

>>1523362

Interesting, the posts directly from Syrian News, was 7:30

>>1523369

That is entirely possible, cabal will stop at nothing to drag us in.