Hope Hicks interview fraught with objections, a Steele dossier dig, and fixation on Corey Lewandowski (Hope Hicks transcript included)

In closed-door testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks cited the chaos created by the Steele dossier as her reason not to accept opposition research from a foreign government if she were to again work on a political campaign. In part of an exchange intended to highlight the recent controversial interview by President Trump, in which he said he would be open to accepting political dirt in 2020, Hicks made clear she still has some alignment with the president since leaving the White House.

Wednesday's interview by the panel, led by longtime Trump foe Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., was primarily focused on special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction by President Trump and his associates. The 273-page transcript, released Thursday, show instances of Hicks snapping at the questions she faced – for instance, at one point she remarked to a lawyer representing the majority party, "we have this thing called Google now, so it's certainly helpful, I guess, to have it all in one place," when asked about opposition research from the opposing part, even when it is available to the public.

Meanwhile, Democrats were frustrated by the constant objections and appeared to fixate on former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, whom Hicks was rumored to have dated during the 2016 campaign. After the White House asserted executive privilege over any information Hicks might have been asked to give related to her work in the Trump administration, Democrats came out of that deposition complaining about Hicks' refusal to answer their questions while Republicans called it a "political stunt" and Trump said Hicks was put through "hell."

In one tense back-and-forth, Norm Eisen, counsel for the House Judiciary Democrats, pressed Hicks on foreign interference, bringing up Trump’s July 2016 remarks calling on Russia to find emails from Hillary Clinton, his 2016 rival. Hicks said that “was not a comment that was intended as an instructive or a directive to a foreign government” and characterized it as “a joke” and said it was “intended as a light-hearted comment. Pivoting, Eisen brought up Trump’s ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos from last week in which the president signaled an openness to accepting foreign assistance in the next president campaign. “Do you think that was a joke?” Eisen asked. Hicks responded, “I don't think that was a joke based on what I saw.” Eisen asked Hicks whether she would “take foreign oppo information from a foreign government, if that were offered when working on a political campaign.” “You know, knowing how much chaos has been sowed as a result of something like the Steele dossier, no, I would not,” Hicks replied.

The Steele dossier, which contained unverified claims about Trump's ties to Russia and that former intelligence officials have said may have contained Russian disinformation, was used by the FBI in its investigations and in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications targeting former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. It was put together by British ex-spy Christopher Steele while he was working for the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was being paid by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the Perkins Coie law firm. In his line of questioning, Nadler focused almost exclusively on issues related to Lewandowski. Throughout the session, Lewandowski’s name was mentioned 68 times. Nadler even referred to Hicks as “Ms. Lewandowski” on three separate occasions until Hicks was forced to correct him. “My name is Ms. Hicks," she said. “I'm sorry, Ms. Hicks,” Nadler replied. “I’m preoccupied.” It was Michael Wolff's book, Fire and Fury, claimed that Hicks was romantically linked to Lewandowski. After the deposition, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who is not a member of the committee, said his sources in the room noted how "old, pervy" Democrats pressed Hicks about her love life. Democrats asked Hicks about Trump's directive to Lewandowski, outlined in Mueller's report, to deliver a message directing Attorney General Jeff Sessions to “unrecuse” from the Russia investigation. Mueller's team, which interviewed Hicks, found that she typed up Trump's words. Hicks told the committee that she found the request "odd" but was blocked from providing much else information.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house-judiciary-releases-hope-hicks-transcript

Hope Hicks transcript

https://www.scribd.com/document/414007077/Hope-Hicks-transcript#from_embed

Prosecutors say Roger Stone violated gag order with social media posts (complaint included)

Federal prosecutors in the case against Roger Stone told the judge Thursday they believe recent posts by the former Trump associate on social media violate the court’s gag order. Jessie Liu, the U.S. attorney for D.C., filed a notice with U.S. District Court Judge Amy Jackson on Thursday evening, alleging that, on June 18 and 19, Stone posted on Instagram and Facebook “commenting about this case and inviting news organizations to cover the issue.” “This is a violation of the current conditions of release, and the government accordingly calls it to the Court’s attention,” prosecutors alleged.

Stone has been charged with obstructing a congressional investigation by making numerous false statements to Congress and tampering with witnesses. Jackson had entered a gag order in the case back in February, prohibiting Stone from making statements to the media or in public settings about the investigation or anyone involved. That gag order extended to radio, TV, interviews, press, blogs, and all social media. But that went out the window when Stone posted an image of the judge with crosshairs on Instagram.

While Stone apologized, Jackson didn’t buy it. “You appear to need clear boundaries, so there they are,” Jackson said, imposing the harsher gag order. Prosecutors say that Stone has blatantly violated that more restrictive gag order in recent days, saying that he “posted statements on social media about this case and the Special Counsel’s investigation and appears to have specifically targeted those posts at major media outlets.”

Over the past couple days, Stone posted multiple times on Instagram and Facebook about his claims related to the FBI and CrowdStrike, the firm hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate the hacking of DNC systems in 2016 that determined that it was carried out by the Russians. Stone alleges that the FBI relied on CrowdStrike to make its determinations about Russian culpability, a claim which the DOJ denies, stating that the special counsel came to these conclusions through an independent investigation. In an extensive footnote, prosecutors also pointed to previous social media posts in April, May, and June that they believed clearly violated the gag order as well. And they asked the judge to set up a court hearing to address these issues.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/prosecutors-say-roger-stone-violated-gag-order-with-social-media-posts

Roger Stone - Social Media

https://www.scribd.com/document/414010630/Roger-Stone-Social-Media#from_embed

Walmart to pay $282 million in foreign corruption settlement

Walmart settled a federal allegation of foreign corruption in a Virginia courthouse Thursday to the tune of $282 million. Federal investigation of Walmart began in 2012 over suspicions that they had been violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits companies and individuals from bribing foreign officials in furtherance of a business deal, according to the Associated Press.

Among other allegations, Walmart is accused of paying $500,000 to a Brazilian government official referred to as a 'sorceress' known for her ability to make construction permit problems go away. Payments to the official were recorded as payments to a construction company, though many red flags indicated that the money went to a civil servant. The large settlement also covered civil charges brought against Walmart by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Federal prosecutors and the SEC consider that the settlement effectively ends the investigation on the matter. Walmart is estimated to have lost over $900 million in the seven-year ordeal.

While Walmart avoided prosecution with their settlement, their Brazilian subsidiary, WMT Brasilia, pleaded guilty to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The SEC further cited Walmart for "failing to operate a sufficient anti-corruption compliance program" in not only Brazil, but also China, India, and Mexico.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/business/walmart-to-pay-282-million-in-foreign-corruption-settlement

>>6802770

Agreed, the only time these guys want someone to shut up is when the situation incriminates them or their client.

Mueller report hearing goes off the rails as Gaetz denounces 'farce'

No one raised their hands when Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., asked a panel of witnesses to acknowledge if they personally knew whether anything in the Mueller report was true or false, during a Thursday hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.

"If you have personal knowledge regarding the truth or falsity of a single material fact [from the Mueller report], just raise your hand," Gaetz said. "So, the record can reflect no witnesses have raised their hand. No witnesses have any personal knowledge regarding a single fact in the report. No witnesses last week had personal knowledge … This hearing should not be entitled 'Lessons from the Mueller Report,' it should be entitled 'Hot Takes from the Mueller Report,' because what we're getting are people who have no knowledge of the facts, no information as to the underlying information. They're just reading it and offering their analysis, their hot takes."

Gaetz vented his frustration with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., for not calling Mueller himself to testify in front of Congress, instead calling people like John Dean from the Nixon administration. Gaetz joked that perhaps the committee would call someone from the 1868 impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Nadler tried to argue that the White House was asserting executive privilege over witnesses, preventing them from testifying, but Gaetz argued that Mueller, who authored the report, was the one person the White House couldn't do that with. Gaetz then attempted to steer the conversation from the Mueller report to reforming asylum laws, much to the chagrin of his fellow committee members. One representative interrupted, saying the questions about the border crisis had nothing to do with the Mueller report, leading to Gaetz raising his voice and emphasize the lack of knowledge from the witnesses.

"I wish it was about the Mueller report. I really wish it was," Gaetz said. "But they don't know anything about the Mueller report. This is a total farce, and it's no wonder witnesses don't want to come here and testify for this committee." Members of the committee questioned the panel of witnesses for approximately three hours about the Mueller report and the Russia investigation.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mueller-report-hearing-goes-off-the-rails-as-gaetz-denounces-as-farce

TSA ready to deploy more workers to border if Congress blocks supplemental funding

The federal agency that oversees security at airports and transportation hubs may deploy additional employees to the southern border in the midst of its busiest time of year to assist other Homeland Security agencies should Congress not pass a supplemental funding bill in the coming weeks. "We would expect that to continue and maybe elevate if they do not receive additional funds, given the shortfalls," Patricia Cogswell, acting deputy administrator for the Transportation Security Administration, told reporters at a roundtable briefing Thursday.

The TSA partnered with Customs and Border Protection earlier this spring to deploy around 400 personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border to help with law enforcement and non-enforcement tasks related to the higher-than-normal numbers of migrant adults and families in federal custody after illegally crossing into the country. The agency is now at a standstill as it waits to see if Congress will pass a $4.5 billion supplemental bill that would give Customs and Border Protection and Health and Human Services additional money to expand operations and relieve TSA employees who volunteered as part of a “surge force” to the border. Cogswell said security officers are among the “several hundred” individuals deployed to the border but would not break down the larger figure. Those deployed are sent to various locations on the border and serve 45 days at a time. The continued loss of personnel comes as the agency's leader said Thursday it is focused on staying within current wait times as a record number of passengers pass through checkpoints at more than 440 airports this summer. The TSA's busiest days of the year, when it screens the most passengers at airport security checkpoints, typically come between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when families travel.

The agency expects to inspect 263 million travelers in that time frame, up 10 million from last summer. Cogswell said it has hired additional employees since the government shutdown earlier this year but did not share how many employees it lost during or after the shutdown. Cogswell said despite the loss of some officers and non-checkpoint employees, typical passengers can still expect to wait 30 minutes and those enrolled in PreCheck will not spend more than 10 minutes in security before boarding their plane.

A TSA official told the Washington Examiner in May the agency expects 1% of the estimated 44,000 employees to head down to the border. All will work with Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations, that is, officers who staff ports of entry. TSA workers will not help U.S. Border Patrol agents, who work on the land between border crossings. The briefing comes weeks after TSA administrator David Pekoske was tapped to serve as acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Pekoske’s boss, Kevin McAleenan, most recently served as the head of Customs and Border Protection.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/tsa-ready-to-deploy-more-workers-to-border-if-congress-blocks-supplemental-funding

>>6802957

Seriously?? This monster creature is her?

>>6803007

Kek..who ever or what ever they are it's just down right nasty…imagine having to wake up to that everyday!