Judicial Watch Sues for Records of Communication Between James Clapper, John Brennan and CNN

Dossier-Related Communications Between Clapper and ex-CIA Director John Brennan also Sought

(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch announced today it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) seeking records of communications between former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and CNN around the time the Clinton-Democrat National Committee Trump dossier was being pitched to key media outlets.

A House report detailed that Clapper leaked information regarding the dossier to CNN in January 2017. The former ODNI chief signed on as an analyst for CNN in August 2017.

Judicial Watch is also seeking records of communications between Clapper and Obama CIA Director John Brennan regarding the dossier , which was authored by former British spy and FBI payee Christopher Steele.

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Judicial Watch v. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency (No. 1:19-cv-00776)) after the agencies failed to respond to an April 23, 2018 FOIA request seeking:

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between officials in the office of the Director of National Intelligence, including but not limited to James Clapper, and employees, representatives and contractors of CNN.

The time frame for the records request is May 2016 through May 2017.

All records of communications between the office of the Director of Central Intelligence and representatives of CNN; DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding the collection of memos known as the “Steele Dossier:” and between DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding CNN.

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between officials in the office of the Director of Central Intelligence, including but not limited to DCI John Brennan, and employees, representatives and contractors of CNN. The time frame for the requested records is May 2016 through May 2017.

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding the collection of memos known as the “Steele Dossier”. The time frame for records requested in this bullet item is May 2016 through January 2017.

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding the news network CNN. The time frame for records requested in this bullet item is May 2016 through January 2017.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-sues-for-records-of-communication-between-james-clapper-john-brennan-and-cnn/

Federal Court Shuts Down South Florida Tax Return Preparers

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-court-shuts-down-south-florida-tax-return-preparers

Kim Foxx Never ‘Formally’ Recused Herself from Jussie Smollett Case

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx never “formally” recused herself from the Jussie Smollett case ― contrary to the Chicago prosecutor’s public announcement that she had done so ― a spokesperson for the prosecutor confirms.

In a statement Wednesday, Cook County State’s Attorney spox Kiera Ellis said Foxx “did not formally recuse herself or the [State’s Attorney] Office based on any actual conflict of interest. As a result, she did not have to seek the appointment of a special prosecutor.”

According to Ellis, Foxx’s announcement that she had recused herself “was a colloquial use of the term rather than in its legal sense.”

“Instead, in an abundance of caution, Fox informally separated herself from the decision-making over the case and left it to her Assistants, as happens in 99.9% of all cases handled by the Office,” the spokesperson added.

Prosecutors abruptly dropped all charges against Jussie Smollett on Tuesday after the Empire actor accused of faking a racist, anti-gay attack on himself agreed to let the city keep his $10,000 in bail. However, he maintained his innocence and insisted he was attacked.

Records show Cook County’s top prosecutor asked Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to let the FBI investigate the alleged attack on Empire actor Jussie Smollett before the actor was charged with lying to authorities.

Email and text messages given to the Chicago Sun-Times by Foxx show she made the effort after former first lady Michelle Obama’s chief of staff Tina Tchen contacted Foxx to set up a telephone conversation with a Smollett relative.

According to the USA Today, Foxx told the former Michelle Obama aide that she “convinced” Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to request the FBI “take over” the investigation. In a text message to a Smollett family member, Foxx confirmed that she had made the request. “Spoke to the superintendent earlier, he made the ask,” wrote Foxx. “Trying to figure out logistics. I’ll keep you posted.”

The ensuing conversations were cited by Foxx in recusing herself from Smollett’s prosecution.

Foxx told the Sun-Times the relative expressed concerns over leaked information that media outlets attributed to “police sources.”

Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says the FBI was involved from the start but there was never talk of turning the case over.

As Breitbart News reported Tuesday, progressive billionaire mega-donor George Soros donated $408,000 in 2016 to a super PAC which supported Foxx.

Smollett is accused of lying to the police about a racist and homophobic attack on himself in downtown Chicago on January 29th. The actor told police he was assaulted by two masked individuals, who hurled racist and homophobic insults at him. He said his attackers doused him with an unknown chemical substance, place a thin rope around his neck, and shouted “This is MAGA country!” before fleeing. Police charge Smollett paid $3,500 to the two men, both of whom are black.

The men were brothers Abimbola “Abel” and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo, and one of them had worked on Empire. An attorney for them, Gloria Schmidt, has said the brothers agreed to help Smollett because of their friendship with him and the sense that he was helping their careers.

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2019/03/27/kim-foxx-never-formally-recused-herself-from-jussie-smollett-case/

O’Rourke says special relationship with Israel goes against US values of equality and dignity

On Wednesday night, Beto O’Rourke spoke at the University of New Hampshire and said that Palestinian conditions don’t meet American values of “fundamental human rights and human dignity” and that the relationship with Israel is hurting America’s image in the world.

Asked if he would condemn Israeli, Saudi and Turkish human rights violation, O’Rourke said:

These truths that we hold so dear — that we are all created equal– “all of us” needs to mean, “All of us,” not relationships of convenience for short term security gains but relationships that allow us to continue to be the example for so much of the rest of the world. And we cannot be that if we do not believe in the fundamental human rights and human dignity and safety of our fellow human beings regardless of what side of the line they may stand or sit on.

The only way that I know that we can help to secure that in the Middle East specifically with the Palestinian Authority and Israel is to have two states whose people are guaranteed their security, their safety, their dignity and their political rights. Right now of course we do not have that.

O’Rourke was responding to a Palestinian-American woman. “As an American who stands for the ideals that this country was supposedly built on, dignity justice and equality, I really want those ideals to be seen in Israel and Palestine for both Palestinians and Israelis,” she said, and then went on to ask O’Rourke if he would “hold Israel accountable for its human rights and international law violations,” as well as Turkey and Saudi Arabia too. She was cheered by the crowed.

https://mondoweiss.net/2019/03/orourke-relationship-equality/

Seeing a pattern with this stuff, politician says a bunch of stuff your totally opposed to then attacks the Israel lobby, this is by design IMO to create confusion chaos and paint Israel as a victim. Always ask who benefits?

Let’s talk about food SHORTAGE: US grain bins collapse under catastrophic Iowa floods

After millions of dead calves in Nebraska, now thousands of tons of grain lost in Iowa! Flood waters are causing havoc in some mid-western states – Iowa; Illinois; Missouri; Kansas; South Dakota; Minnesota; and Nebraska – and have resulted in an estimated $3 billion in damages so far. The video below by Iowa resident Gracie Newman shows just a fraction of the losses that have been incurred as a result of the unprecedented flooding.

http://strangesounds.org/2019/03/food-shortage-garin-silo-collapse-iowa-video.html

Pompeo Requests $500 mln for ‘Regime Change’ in Venezuela – But the Twist Reveals more

WASHINGTON – The U.S has stated that it intends to spend up to five hundred million dollars to change the government in Venezuela, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

“The budget bill requests (from Congress) new moneys to support the democratic transformation in Venezuela, including the transfer of up to $ 500 million to accounts intended for foreign aid,” Pompeo communicated to Congress in a written testimony.

In addition, the Secretary of State said that the main priority of the budget of the United States is the fight against the “pernicious influence” of Russia in Venezuela.

Today Pompeo spoke at a meeting of the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives. He justified the budget request of the administration of Donald Trump for the next financial year.

However, there’s a twist here that may reveal something about how the U.S elites presently view the viability of regime-change policies in Venezuela.

The request in fact would require a cut in funding for related State Department programs by more than 20 percent to cover the cost, but Congress is unlikely to accept such a significant cost cut to other programs.

It appears that the U.S is backing off of public expenditures on measures which it deems unworkable.

https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/03/pompeo-requests-500mln-for-regime-change-in-venezuela-but-the-twist-reveals-more/

Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.?

BRIT HUME, HOST: It has been more than 16 years since a civilian working for the Navy was charged with passing secrets to Israel. Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and is serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders claimed Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took responsibility for his work.

Now Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe that there are Israelis again very much engaged in spying in and on the U.S., who may have known things they didn't tell us before September 11.

First Published: 12/12/01 FOX News. All 4 part of original series:

Reposted March 26, 2019

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51334.htm