FBI Memo Raises New Questions About Timing Of Andrew McCabe’s Firing

The FBI’s top internal affairs official did not believe that the investigation of former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe could be resolved prior to his retirement, according to a memo released Tuesday. That assessment proved wrong, as McCabe was fired on March 16, two days before his retirement. The document raises questions about the decision-making process to fire McCabe. The memo noted that any disciplinary decisions against McCabe would have to be made by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

The FBI’s top internal affairs official told bureau leaders that it was “unlikely” that a final decision would be made on whether then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe could be fired before his March 18 retirement date, according to documents released Tuesday. But that assessment, which was laid out in the documents, ended up being wrong. McCabe was fired two days before retirement for a “lack of candor” with investigators probing leaks that McCabe authorized to the press.

The memo, sent by Candice Will, the head of the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), to FBI Director Christopher Wray and current Deputy Director David Bowdich, raises questions about whether the FBI and Justice Department sped up the investigation of McCabe in order to fire him before his scheduled retirement. McCabe and his attorneys have argued that the FBI and Justice Department caved to pressure from President Donald Trump, who called for McCabe to be fired and stripped of his pension for various alleged misdeeds. Trump cited political donations from a top Hillary Clinton ally to McCabe’s wife’s political campaign for Virginia state Senate. Had McCabe reached retirement, he would have been able to begin immediately drawing from his pension. But the early termination means that he has to wait several years before drawing from his pension. McCabe also lost access to some health coverage, Politico reported in March.

In a handwritten memo dated March 7, 2018, Will told Wray and Bowdich that a report of the investigation into McCabe would be provided to Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Rod Rosenstein, “as he has final decision making authority over adverse disciplinary actions impacting the [deputy director].” “It seems unlikely that this will reach final resolution before Mr. McCabe’s March 18 retirement date, but that is up to the DAG,” wrote Will, who referred to the OPR investigation as the “McCabe [Wall Street Journal] leak matter.”

McCabe was unceremoniously fired just over a week later. OPR submitted the recommendation to the Justice Department on March 14. McCabe appealed to top Justice Department officials the next day, but was fired a day later. McCabe’s legal team declined comment on the latest FBI disclosure. The Justice Department and FBI did not respond to requests for comment.

McCabe was under investigation by OPR and the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) over a leak to The Wall Street Journal before the 2016 election. Investigators found that McCabe authorized his deputy, Lisa Page, to disclose information to WSJ regarding an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. OPR and the OIG accused McCabe of a “lack of candor” in four separate interviews — some under oath — with investigators. McCabe authorized the leak “in a manner designed to advance his personal interests at the expense of Department leadership,” the OIG determined in a report issued on April 13. “We therefore concluded that McCabe’s disclosure of the existence of an ongoing investigation in this manner violated the FBI’s and the Department’s media policy and constituted misconduct,” reads the OIG report.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/12/18/fbi-memo-andrew-mccabe-firing/

>>4371702

So it would seem…interesting indeed

Judicial Misconduct Council Dismisses Complaints Against Brett Kavanaugh

A judicial conduct council dismissed dozens of complaints lodged against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh alleging he lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings. A 10-page decision released Tuesday concluded Kavanaugh’s purported misdeeds can no longer be investigated by a judicial panel due to his confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Over 80 misconduct complaints were submitted to Kavanaugh’s old court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, after Democratic lawmakers and liberal activists accused him of lying to the Judiciary Committee about his connection to particular policies or episodes of interest during his service in the George W. Bush administration. The chief judge of the relevant court typically handles such complaints, in this case Judge Merrick Garland, but Garland recused himself from the matter. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson disposed of the complaints by referring them to Chief Justice John Roberts. In turn, Roberts forwarded them to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for further proceedings.

Judge Timothy Tymkovich, the 10th Circuit’s chief judge, chaired the investigatory panel. Some observers criticized that move, as Kavanaugh worked on judicial nominations in the White House counsel’s office when Tymkovich was elevated to the federal bench. As was widely expected, the panel concluded Tuesday it had no power to pursue the allegations since Kavanaugh, as a Supreme Court justice, is no longer subject to the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act. That statute covers federal magistrate, district, circuit, and bankruptcy judges but excludes Supreme Court justices. “The allegations contained in the complaints are serious, but the Judicial Council is obligated to adhere to the Act,” Tuesday’s order reads. “Lacking statutory authority to do anything more, the complaints must be dismissed because an intervening event — Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court — has made the complaints no longer appropriate for consideration under the Act.”

Gabe Roth of Fix the Court, a nonpartisan watchdog that lobbies for greater transparency in the federal courts, said Tuesday’s decision shows judicial conduct rules are antiquated and in need of reform. “The Tenth Circuit Judicial Council may have reached the conclusion required by law, but it is wholly unsatisfactory to anyone looking for moral leadership from our nation’s top jurists,” Roth said. “Today’s decision underscores the need for the Supreme Court to adopt its own code of conduct or for Congress to write one if the justices cannot be bothered, and it demonstrates that the judicial misconduct rubric passed four decades ago needs a serious rewrite,” he added. A copy of the order will be forwarded to congressional committees. The incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, has suggested the Democratic Congress will investigate Kavanaugh for wrongdoing.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/12/18/kavanaugh-complaints-dismissed/

Judicial Council of the 10th Circuit Court Decision (Found Here)

http://www.uscourts.gov/courts/ca10/10-18-90038-et-al.O.pdf

Establishment Republicans Tell Supreme Court Trump’s Asylum Ban Is Unlawful

A coalition of former Republican politicians and executive branch officials filed an amicus — or a “friend-of-the-court” — brief at the Supreme Court, arguing that President Donald Trump’s asylum rules are unlawful. “The Attorney General’s regulation is inconsistent with the plain text and meaning of [federal law],” the brief reads. “That should be the end of the matter.” The Trump administration issued new rules governing asylum claims in November as a migrant caravan coalesced in Tijuana, Mexico, near the border with the United States.

The rules operate in two parts: the departments of Justice and Homeland Security issued a regulation on Nov. 9 denying asylum eligibility to any alien subject to a presidential proclamation regulating immigration at the southern border. That same day, Trump issued an order suspending the entry of all aliens along the Mexican border, except those who arrive through designated points of entry. Taken together, the president’s revisions disqualify illegal aliens from receiving asylum. Critics say the move clearly contradicts federal law and U.S. treaty obligations. For its part, the administration says the reforms are necessary to address an unprecedented security situation while it seeks a resolution with the Mexican government.

In reply, the former GOP officials’ brief says the government is essentially arguing that the attorney general has a “a free hand to suspend asylum categorically for any reason for any duration.” “Even if the attorney general only acted wisely, and only in response to a crisis, in issuing a suspension, that would be no substitute for a statutory limit, which is what separation of powers requires,” the brief reads.

The brief twice cites Justice Neil Gorsuch’s opinions on immigration issues — Gorsuch is probably the most likely of the conservatives to join with the liberal bloc on this matter. For example, the brief cites Gorsuch’s separate opinion from an April case called Sessions v. Dimaya, in which Gorsuch and the four liberal justices voted to strike down a deportation statute as unconstitutionally vague. A federal judge issued an injunction barring enforcement of the new rules on Nov. 20. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision on Dec. 8, prompting the federal government’s appeal to the Supreme Court. At this stage, the Justice Department is only asking the high court to lift the injunction and allow the rules to take effect while legal challenges work their way through the courts.

Richard Bernstein of Willkie Farr & Gallagher wrote the brief. The case is Trump v. East Bay Sanctuary Covenant. Signatories to the brief include William Webster, a Republican appointee to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals President Ronald Reagan named CIA director; Peter Keisler, a senior Justice Department lawyer former President George W. Bush nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; Stuart Gerson, a former acting attorney general; and John Bellinger III who held several top legal posts in the Bush administration, among others.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/12/18/republican-lawyers-asylum-ban/

The Brief can be read here:

https://www.scribd.com/document/395981089/Brief-of-former-GOP-officials-in-Trump-v-East-Bay-Sanctuary-Covenant

Universities Took $600 Million Tied To Muslim Nations While Forming Grade School Curricula For US Students

A Department of Education program funds colleges to teach about the Arab world, but upcoming payments are going to colleges that have received millions of dollars from Arab countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, data shows. One critic said that coupling the program with the foreign funding is “a back-door route to Saudi influence.” Some of the universities employ faculty or have hosted guests who made anti-semitic remarks.

Universities funded by the Department of Education to help shape the way U.S. K-12 schools and colleges portray the Middle East and Israel are simultaneously bankrolled by $600 million tied to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Muslim-majority countries, a Daily Caller News Foundation data analysis found. One critic called the payments “a back-door route to Saudi influence over America’s K-12 curriculum.”

The Cold War-era Higher Education Act of 1965 created a program called “Title VI” that pays colleges to help students better understand international relations and includes funds earmarked for studying the Middle East. It was intended to help prepare a cadre of intelligence agents and diplomats. Instead, the money has funded anti-Americanism and anti-semitism in U.S. higher education, according to a November 2014 report by the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. There have been instances where some of the universities hosted or employed anti-semites, with some facing accusations of having ties to terror groups.

For 2019 through 2021, the Education Department has allocated nearly $7.5 million to 16 universities for Middle East studies and outreach, according to Title IV records. Twelve of those have recently received money affiliated with Muslim-majority nations in the Middle East, and in each case, that money dwarfed the U.S. funding, a DCNF data analysis found. The nations included in TheDCNF’s analysis incorporate Islam or Sharia law in their governments or had an overwhelmingly Muslim population, such as in the case of Turkey. Lebanon was excluded, since Islam only holds a small majority and has a large Christian population, according to the CIA’s World Factbook.

The Education Department says that “In addition to supporting foreign language and area studies instruction and research, Title VI” recipients will “conduct outreach and develop programs that expand global opportunities for K-16 educators.” A senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Stanley Kurtz, has been warning about the issue for years. The system “has opened up a back-door route to Saudi influence over America’s K-12 curriculum,” he wrote in the National Review in 2007. “Believe it or not, the Saudis have figured out how to make an end-run around America’s K-12 curriculum safeguards, thereby gaining control over much of what children in the United States learn about the Middle East.” The Muslim nations awarded $603 million to the 12 universities from 2011 to 2016 — 80 times more than the allocated Title VI funding, TheDCNF found. Israeli interests donated a total of $13 million to eight of the schools, but in every case, their funding was only a fraction of the Muslim nations’. “As a U.S. Department of Education-sponsored National Resource Center on the Middle East and North Africa (NRC-MENA), the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown conducts workshops for educators throughout the year,” Georgetown University notes on its website. “The K-14 Education Outreach program focuses on the needs of K-14 educators in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and beyond.” “The program helps teachers convey a nuanced and realistic view of Arabs and Islam to overcome stereotypes and shallow media presentations, supplementing the often inadequate treatment in curriculum and textbooks,” it continues.

But Kurtz wrote: “Outreach coordinators or teacher-trainers at a number of university Middle East Studies centers have themselves been trained by the very same Saudi-funded foundations that design K-12 course materials.”

https://www.dailycaller.com/2018/12/18/muslim-middle-east-universities/

>>4372126

Indeed, but you have to watch the private schools as well….

State Department Pledges $10 Billion to Develop Central America, Southern Mexico

The U.S. State Department announced on Tuesday that it is pledging more than $10 billion to help strengthen the economies of Central America and Southern Mexico to stem the flow of thousands of migrants surging into the country. “The United States pledged $5.8 billion in aid and investment Tuesday for strengthening government and economic development in Central America and another $4.8 billion in development aid for southern Mexico,” the Associated Press (AP) reported. “The U.S aid aims to promote better security conditions and job opportunities as part of a regional plan to allow Central Americans to remain in their countries and not have to emigrate,” the AP reported.

Mexican Foreign Relation Secretary ‎Marcelo Ebrard‎ read the State Department announcement aloud in the Mexican capital. “In sum, I think this is good news, very good news for Mexico,” Ebrard said in the AP report. “I have a dream that I want to see become a reality … that nobody will want to go work in the United States anymore,” newly inaugurated President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at a press conference ahead of the announcement.

“The United States and Mexico today commit to strengthen and expand our bilateral cooperation to foster development and increase investment in southern Mexico and in Central America to create a zone of prosperity,” a joint Mexico/U.S. declaration released by the State Department on Tuesday said. “Both countries recognize the strong links between promoting development and economic growth in southern Mexico and the success of promoting prosperity, good governance, and security in Central America.” “The United States welcomes the Comprehensive Development Plan launched by the Government of Mexico in concert with the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to promote these goals,” the declaration said. “The United States and Mexico will lead in working with regional and international partners to build a more prosperous and secure Central America to address the underlying causes of migration, and so that citizens of the region can build better lives for themselves and their families at home.”

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/12/18/state-department-pledges-10-billion-to-develop-central-america-southern-mexico/

The U.S. Strategy for Central America and Southern Mexico

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https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/12/288168.htm

>>4372236

Everyone gets what they want that way..agreed.

>>4372315

None of us did…however..with the opposition over illegal immigration in the courts, I can see why this would be viable. How do you solve a problem without the courts constantly subverting the plans, you find a solution the helps everyone and keeps the migrants home where they want to be in the first place.