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Using exec prev in this way is an offensive move because it effectively neuters the House Judiciary Committee's (obstructive) power…
Steele's stunning pre-FISA confession: Informant needed to air Trump dirt before election
If ever there were an admission that taints the FBI’s secret warrant to surveil Donald Trump’s campaign, it sat buried for more than 2 1/2 years in the files of a high-ranking State Department official.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec’s written account of her Oct. 11, 2016, meeting with FBI informant Christopher Steele shows the Hillary Clinton campaign-funded British intelligence operative admitted that his research was political and facing an Election Day deadline.
And that confession occurred 10 days before the FBI used Steele’s now-discredited dossier to justify securing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and the campaign’s ties to Russia.
Steele’s client “is keen to see this information come to light prior to November 8,” the date of the 2016 election, Kavalec wrote in a typed summary of her meeting with Steele and Tatyana Duran, a colleague from Steele’s Orbis Security firm. The memos were unearthed a few days ago through open-records litigation by the conservative group Citizens United.
Kavalec’s notes do not appear to have been provided to the House Intelligence Committee during its Russia probe, according to former Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). "They tried to hide a lot of documents from us during our investigation, and it usually turns out there’s a reason for it," Nunes told me. Senate and House Judiciary investigators told me they did not know about them, even though they investigated Steele’s behavior in 2017-18.
One member of Congress transmitted the memos this week to the Department of Justice’s inspector general, fearing its investigation of FISA abuses may not have had access to them.
Nonetheless, the FBI is doing its best to keep much of Kavalec’s information secret by retroactively claiming it is classified, even though it was originally marked unclassified in 2016.
The apparent effort to hide Kavalec's notes from her contact with Steele has persisted for some time.
State officials acknowledged a year ago they received a copy of the Steele dossier in July 2016, and got a more detailed briefing in October 2016 and referred the information to the FBI.
But what was discussed was not revealed. Sources told me more than a year ago that Kavalec had the most important (and memorialized) interaction with Steele before the FISA warrant was issued, but FBI and State officials refused to discuss it, or even confirm it.
The encounter, and Kavalec’s memos, were forced into public view through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation by Citizens United. Yet, all but a few lines have been redacted after the fact. Officials are citing as the reason national security, in the name of the FBI and a half-century-old intelligence law.
David Bossie, head of Citizens United and an informal Trump adviser, said the documents suggest there was an illegal effort to “frame” the future president with bogus Russia collusion allegations. “This new information proves why the attorney general must conduct a thorough investigation of the investigators,” he said.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/442592-steeles-stunning-pre-fisa-confession-informant-needed-to-air-trump-dirt#.XNIAVvr8PT0.twitter
Department of Justice Issues Guidance on False Claims Act Matters and Updates Justice Manual
The Civil Division today announced the release of formal guidance to the Department of Justice’s False Claims Act litigators. The False Claims Act provides important remedies for fraud committed against the United States. The guidance announced today explains the manner in which the Department of Justice awards credit to defendants who cooperate with the Department during a False Claims Act investigation. The formal policy, included as of today in the Justice Manual Section 4-4.112, identifies the type of cooperation eligible for credit.
“The Department of Justice has taken important steps to incentivize companies to voluntarily disclose misconduct and cooperate with our investigations; enforcement of the False Claims Act is no exception,” Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt said. “False Claims Act defendants may merit a more favorable resolution by providing meaningful assistance to the Department of Justice – from voluntary disclosure, which is the most valuable form of cooperation, to various other efforts, including the sharing of information gleaned from an internal investigation and taking remedial steps through new or improved compliance programs.”
Under the policy, cooperation credit in False Claims Act cases may be earned by voluntarily disclosing misconduct unknown to the government, cooperating in an ongoing investigation, or undertaking remedial measures in response to a violation. Even if the government already has initiated an investigation, for example, a company may receive credit for making a voluntary self-disclosure of other misconduct outside the scope of the government’s existing investigation that is unknown to the government. Similarly, a company may earn credit by preserving relevant documents and information beyond existing business practices or legal requirements, identifying individuals who are aware of relevant information or conduct, and facilitating review and evaluation of data or information that requires access to special or proprietary technologies.
Under the policy, the Department of Justice will take into account corrective action that a company has taken in response to a False Claims Act violation. Such remedial measures may include undertaking a thorough analysis of the root cause of the misconduct, appropriately disciplining or replacing those responsible for the misconduct, accepting responsibility for the violation and implementing or improving compliance programs to prevent a recurrence.
Most frequently, cooperation credit will take the form of a reduction in the damages multiplier and civil penalties. If appropriate, the Department may also notify a relevant agency about the company’s voluntary disclosure, cooperation, or remediation so that the agency can take those actions into account in deciding how to apply administrative remedies. And the Department may publicly acknowledge the company’s cooperation.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-issues-guidance-false-claims-act-matters-and-updates-justice-manual
Trump court pick confirmed despite no blue slip from Schumer, Gillibrand
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed President Trump’s pick for an influential circuit court despite neither home-state senator returning a blue slip.
Senators voted 54-42 on Joseph Bianco’s nomination to serve as a judge for the second circuit. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Doug Jones (Ala.) voted with Republicans to confirm him.
Bianco’s confirmation comes despite neither Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) nor Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) returning a blue slip on his nomination. He is Trump’s 38th appeals judge to be confirmed.
Bianco was confirmed unanimously to serve as a district court judge in 2005 but his current nomination had run into controversy because of his ties to the Federalist Society.
Judicial nominations have also become a lightning rod during the Trump administration, with Republicans moving on appeals judge nominations despite the objections of Democratic senators.
The confirmation of Bianco marks the third circuit court judge to ever be confirmed without a blue slip, a sheet of paper that indicates if a home-state senator supports a nominee.
The blue-slip rule — a precedent upheld by Senate tradition — has historically allowed a home-state senator to stop a lower-court nominee by refusing to return the blue slip to the Judiciary Committee.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/442689-trump-court-pick-confirmed-despite-no-blue-slip-from-schumer-gillibrand
KEK! They must be fuming… comedic relief is important.
Facebook Now Demands That You Hate Targeted People Or You Will Be Banned, Too!
We have now reached the point of total insanity when it comes to extreme censorship by the tech giants. In what actor Rob Schneider calls a “real world Orwellian nightmare,” Facebook has now issued a gag order on 2.2 billion users, demanding that they must HATE certain selected individuals who are named as targets of censorship.
Those individuals include Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer (see FreeLoomer.com), Louis Farrakhan, Milo Yiannopoulos and others. From this point forward, you are only allowed to post content from these individuals if you express hatred toward them in your Facebook post.
This is “mandatory hate speech” by Facebook. That’s how insane all this has become now, which is why I have openly announced that every nation on Earth must declare war against Big Tech (or be destroyed by it).
THEN FACEBOOK CAME FOR PAUL JOSEPH WATSON…
Breitbart News writer James Delingpole has posted an extremely important article about all this that you absolutely must read. I’m re-publishing it here with credit and a link to Breitbart News, which is also fighting for survival in an age of outrageous Orwellian censorship. Here’s Delingpole’s article:
President Trump has retweeted a Breitbart News story headline about Facebook’s blacklist of prominent conservatives including Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-08/facebook-now-demands-you-hate-targeted-people-or-you-will-be-banned-too
wtf…