Pelosi rejects any classified briefings on Mueller report

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Saturday she will demand open briefings from the administration on the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, rejecting any attempt by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to limit the disclosures to a classified setting.

During a Saturday afternoon conference call with roughly 120 members of the Democratic Caucus, Pelosi amplified earlier vows that Democrats will insist Mueller's full report be released to the public. Mueller filed a confidential version of the document to Attorney General William Barr on Friday.

Democrats are also pushing to make public any underlying documents that could guide the Democrats' ongoing investigations and potential legislative response. And Pelosi said she'll also demand that the DOJ's promised briefings be unclassified so lawmakers can speak publicly about the full scope of those discussions.

"The takeaway from this call is that the American [people] deserve the truth," she said, according to a person on the call. "Transparency is the order of the day."

The demand sets the stage for what are likely to be tense negotiations with the administration officials over how much of Mueller's highly anticipated report about the Russia probe will be disclosed — and to whom.

Classified briefings are a regular occurrence on Capitol Hill when executive-branch officials convey sensitive information to Congress. In such cases, a select group of lawmakers representing both parties and chambers — a group known as the Gang of Eight — typically acts as a conduit between the branches.

Pelosi, as Speaker, is a member of that group. Nonetheless, she said she would reject briefings limited to the Gang of Eight, or any other classified arrangements, according to the person on the call.

The Democrats' strategy call came a day after Mueller submitted his long-awaited report to the Justice Department, but before any of the details have been revealed, even to Congress. The call appears designed to assure rank-and-file members that party leaders will accept nothing short of full disclosure of Mueller's findings.

"Right now, we are in the mode wanting to know the truth, wanting the facts so that our chairpersons and members of the committees can take a look into this going forward," Pelosi said, according to the person on the call.

In a letter sent Friday to the bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Barr vowed "as much transparency as possible" under the regulations governing the special counsel's charge, vowing to brief the committee heads on Mueller's "principal conclusions" as early as this weekend.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/435450-pelosi-rejects-any-classified-briefings-on-mueller-report

FISA Overseer Had ‘Concerns’ About Spying Warrant on Trump Campaign Aide, FBI Texts Indicate

A senior Justice Department official that was in charge of the FISA warrants issued in 2016 that allowed spying on Americans had concerns about the warrant on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, according to text messages between then-high ranking FBI officials obtained by Fox News.

Apparently, due to those concerns, the FBI provided the Justice Department’s Office of Intelligence, which manages the FISA warrants, with “robust explanation” regarding “any possible bias” of a confidential human source used in the warrant. The source for the core claims in the warrant was Christopher Steele, a former British spy who authored the infamous Steele Dossier.

Steele used second- and third-hand sources connected to the Kremlin to collect unsubstantiated claims about Trump-Russia ties. He was commissioned by an opposition research outfit, Fusion GPS, which was in turn paid for the work by the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 presidential campaign of former State Secretary Hillary Clinton through the law firm Perkins Coie.

“[Office of Intelligence] now has a robust explanation re[garding] any possible bias of the [confidential human source] in the package,” reads a text sent on Oct. 12, 2016, by Lisa Page, then-special counsel to then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

“Don’t know what the holdup is now, other than Stu’s continued concerns. Strong operational need to have in place before Monday if at all possible, which means to ct [sic] tomorrow. I communicated you and boss’s green light to Stu earlier, and just sent an email to Stu asking where things stood. This might take a high-level push. Will keep you posted.”

The text was addressed to McCabe and “Stu” was near-certainly Stuart Evans, deputy assistant attorney general in the National Security Division, where he headed the Office of Intelligence. “Boss” likely referred to then-FBI Director James Comey.

Fox News was told that this and some following texts pertained to the Carter Page FISA warrant.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fisa-overseer-had-concerns-about-spying-warrant-on-trump-campaign-aide-fbi-texts-indicate_2850477.html

>>5852189

sure seems that way

>>5852214

"I was totally worried back then when I said and did nothing about it"

Netanyahu welcomes new US sanctions on Iran, congratulates Trump

PM says Iran continues to deceive international community, lie about its military nuclear program

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed on Saturday the imposition by Washington of new sanctions on Iran, announced a day prior.

In a press statement, Netanyahu congratulated US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton on the move, which imposes punitive measures on the heads of Iran’s military nuclear program.

US officials said the decision to move ahead with the sanctions was in part based on Israel’s recovery of what it and the US call a “secret archive” of documents from Tehran, which they said shows that Iran deliberately preserved and stored its early nuclear weapons work, known as the “Amad plan,” with the intent to someday resume development of a bomb.

“Iran continues to deceive the international community and lie to the world about its military nuclear program. The Iranian regime continues to conceal its capabilities and to strive for nuclear weapons. Iran endangers the peace of the Middle East and the entire world and must be blocked,” Netanyahu said Saturday.

The US Treasury Department said the sanctions target 31 Iranian scientists, technicians and companies affiliated with Iran’s Organization for Defense Innovation and Research, which had been at the forefront of the country’s former nuclear weapons program.

US officials said those targeted continue to work in Iran’s defense sector and form a core of experts who could reconstitute that program. Fourteen people, including the head of the organization, and 17 subsidiary operations are covered by the sanctions.

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted may have in US jurisdictions and bar Americans from any transactions with them. But, US officials say the move will also make those targeted “radioactive internationally” by making people of any nationality who do business with them subject to US penalties under so-called secondary sanctions.

US secondary sanctions apply to foreign businesses and individuals and can include fines, loss of presence in the American economy, asset freezes and travel bans. Officials said the threat of such sanctions will significantly limit the ability of those designated to travel outside of Iran, participate in research conferences or be hired for other jobs.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-welcomes-new-us-sanctions-on-iran-congratulates-trump/