Geust post by Larry C. Johnson
For those who have not taken time to read what Michael Flynn’s lawyer filed with the court (it was initially sealed) you now no longer have an excuse. I am going to spoon feed you. The motion is compelling and tells a very different story about General Flynn’s case. Here’s the bottomline–the Obama Administration illegally spied on Flynn and were working in concert with Fusion GPS. This was illegal.
Flynn’s attorney, the amazing Sidney Powell, is demanding access to forty items of information. Let’s review them one-by-one:
- A letter delivered by the British Embassy to the incoming National Security team after Donald Trump’s election, and to outgoing National Security Advisor Susan Rice (the letter apparently disavows former British Secret Service Agent Christopher Steele, calls his credibility into question, and declares him untrustworthy).
Got that? With Trump on his way to the White House the Brits realized that their previous actions of spying against Trump were likely to be exposed. They were witting of Christopher Steele’s efforts to paint Trump as a Russia stooge and apparently decided to try to get out front and, like the police inspector in Casablanca, profess shock that there was gambling in the casino. Untrustworthy? One more nail in the whole sordid FISA warrant fiasco. If the Brits had informed the U.S. Government that Steele could not be trust then how could Comey and McCabe and Rosenstein sign off on the FISA warrant to spy on Carter Page? I also would like to know who tipped off Sidney Powell to this juicy piece of evidence.
2. The original draft of Mr. Flynn’s 302 and 1A-file, and any FBI document that identifies everyone who had possession of it (parts of which may have been leaked to the press, but the full original has never been produced). This would include information given to Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates on January 24 and 25, 2017.
What did the FBI and Obama DOJ know and when did they know it? There was nothing that General Flynn did the met the threshold for allowing the U.S. Government to collect against him. But that did not stop the lawless Obama team from going after him.
3. All documents, notes, information, FBI 302s, or testimony regarding Nellie Ohr’s research on Mr. Flynn and any information about transmitting it to the DOJ, CIA, or FBI.
This is a bombshell. We already know, thanks to testimony from Nellie’s husband, Bruce Ohr, that he was passing info gathered by Nellie as an employee of Fusion GPS to the FBI. This means Fusion GPS was not collecting only on Donald Trump, but was going after others in the Trump campaign. If the FBI used any of this information to target Flynn with FISA collection they have a big problem.
4. All payments, notes, memos, correspondence, and instructions by and between the FBI, CIA, or DOD with Stefan Halper—going back as far as 2014—regarding Michael Flynn, Svetlana Lokhova, Mr. Richard Dearlove (of MI6), and Professor Christopher Andrew (connected with MI5) and Halper’s compensation through the DOD Office of Net Assessment as evidenced by the whistleblower complaint of Adam Lovinger, addressed in our brief. This includes David Shedd (former Deputy Director of DIA) and Mike Vickers, who were CIA officers; James H. Baker; former DIA Director LTG Stewart; former DIA Deputy Director Doug Wise; and the DIA Director of Operations (DOD). This should also include any communications or correspondence of any type arising from the investigation or alleged concerns about Mr. Flynn that contained a copy to (as a “cc” or “bcc”) or was addressed directly to the DNI James Clapper and his senior staff; to CIA Director Brennan and his senior staff; or to FBI Director Comey, his Deputy Andrew McCabe and senior staff.
Sidney Powell knows what the feckless, corrupt media staunchly refuse to consider–the targeting of Michael Flynn for a bogus counter intelligence investigation was part of a larger act of sedition on the part of the CIA, the FBI and even DOD. Operatives like Stefan Halper were trying to manufacture crimes rather than uncover actual bad behavior. This material is radioactive as far as the Trump coup plotters are concerned and I am certain that John Brennan, Jim Clapper, Susan Rice, Sally Yates and Jim Comey are praying that this info stays hidden.
5. The Flynn 302 dated January 19, 2017, mentioned in the Mueller Report.
John Solomon reported earlier this year that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, appearing before the House Intelligence Committee, testified under oath that the two agents who interviewed Flynn “didn’t think he was lying.” This kind of information should appear in the Flynn 302.
6. All and unredacted Page-Strzok text messages. Mr. Van Grack’s October 4, 2018, letter asserts: “To the extent the text messages appear to be incomplete or contain gaps, we do not possess additional messages that appear to fill such gaps.” The government should be compelled to identify to whom “we” refers, where the originals are, and whether any of the gaps have been filled or accounted for.
The FBI has tried various tactics to thwart the release of the Page-Strzok messages, but the damning texts continue to trickle out.
7. All documents, reports, correspondence, and memoranda, including any National Security letter or FISA application, concerning any earlier investigation of Mr. Flynn, and the basis for it. (The existence of these earlier investigations was disclosed in the Mueller Report; see Vol. II at pp. 24, 26.)
This is the heart of the matter–on what basis was a counter intelligence investigation of General Flynn authorized? What Sidney Powell knows is that there is no foundation to justify such an investigation.
8. All transcripts, recordings, notes, correspondence, and 302s of any interactions with human sources or “OCONUS lures” tasked against Mr. Flynn since he left DIA in 2014.
“OCONUS lures” is bureaucratic speak for human spies operating outside the United States trying to entrap a target. Think of it this way, you are a fat, old guy. You sitting in a pub in London. A beautiful woman walks in and decides you are the most interesting man in the world. She plies you with drinks and intimates that you will enjoy sexual congress with her. But she also is asking if you’ll be willing to meet with a nefarious Russian. You are only thinking about how lucky you are to be on the verge of scoring with this babe. You agree to anything. Welcome to an OCONUS lure. She’s the bait and you are the fat fish eager to gobble it down.
9. The unredacted Page-Strzok text messages as well as text messages, emails and other electronic communications to, from, or between Andrew McCabe, James Comey, Rod Rosenstein, Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, John Carlin, Aaron Rouse, Carl Ghattas, Andrew Weissmann, Tashina Gauhar, Michael Steinbach, , and Zainab Ahmad, regarding Mr. Flynn or the FISA applications or any surveillance (legal or illegal) that would have reached Mr. Flynn’s communications.
If you think that the targeting of Flynn was a rogue operation or the work of one crazed FBI agent, think again. The effort to take out and destroy Michael Flynn was a top down operation. Sidney Powell wants the communications outlined above in order to flesh out her allegation of an Obama directed plot.
10. All evidence concerning notification by the Inspector General of the DOJ to the Special Counsel of the Strzok-Page text messages, including the actual text of any messages given to the Special Counsel, and the dates on which they were given. Although the Inspector General notified Special Counsel of the tens of thousands of text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page no later than July 2017—the prosecutors did not produce a single text message to the defense until March 13, 2018.
This is a simple Brady matter–the prosecution is withholding information the defense is entitled to.
11. All evidence of press contacts between the Special Counsel Office, including Andrew Weissmann, Ms. Ahmad, and Mr. Van Grack from the departure of Peter Strzok from Special Counsel team until December 8, 2017, regarding Mr. Flynn.
Any covert action requires an information warfare component, i.e., propaganda. Weissmann and his team were briefing the press on background in order to portray Michael Flynn as a Russian stooge. Getting these documents helps prove that the prosecutors were operating illegally and unethically.
12. Unredacted copies of all memos created by or other communications from James Comey that mention or deal with any investigation, surveillance, FISA applications, interviews, or use of a confidential human source or “OCONUS lures” against Mr. Flynn.
What did Jim Comey, former FBI Director, know and when did he know it? Sidney Powell would not be asking for memos that did not exist.
13. An unredacted copy of all of James Comey’s testimony before any Congressional committees.
There is still Comey testimony Congress that is sealed. This tells me that Ms. Powell has been briefed on key material that has not been made public.
14. The James Comey 302 for November 15, 2017, and all Comey 302s that bear on or mention Mr. Flynn.
Demonstrating Comey’s role in the effort to destroy Michael Flynn is part of the “fruit of the poisonous tree” strategy that Sidney Powell is pursuing. “Fruit of the poisonous tree” refers to evidence illegally or improperly collected. Such evidence can destroy a case. I think the evidence currently in the public domain indicates that Flynn was a victim of this nefarious tactic.
15. Notes and documents of any kind dealing with any briefings that Mr. Flynn provided to DIA after he left the government.
When Michael Flynn went to Russia or spoke to foreigners, even after he no longer worked at DIA, he followed protocol and let the folks handling his clearance know that he was so engaged. Do not be surprised to discover that someone at DIA was passing Flynn’s info (which was provided by Flynn to DIA) was being passed to the Obama White House and ultimately DOJ.
16. Any information, including recordings or 302s, about Joseph Mifsud’s presence and involvement in engaging or reporting on Mr. Flynn and Mifsud’s presence at the Russia Today dinner in Moscow on December 17, 2015.
Was British spy Joseph Mifsud, who was posing as some sort of Russian operative, wired for sound and directed to target Michael Flynn? Mifsud’s presence at the December 2015 Russia Today dinner was not a coincidence. He was an intelligence asset carrying out a mission for the Brits that had the blessing of the CIA and the FBI.
17. All notes, memoranda, 302s, and other information about the McCabe-Strzok meeting or meetings with Vice President-Elect or Vice President Pence (these meetings were referenced in the Mueller Report at Vol II, p. 34).
Did Andrew McCabe, as has been reported, direct Peter Strzok to change the original draft of his 302 interview with Michael Flynn? That is what this documentary evidence can show.
18. All Mary McCord 302s or interviews, including when she knew that Mr. Flynn did not have “a clandestine relationship with Russia.”
Mary McCord was head of the FBI’s National Security Division. She knows what questions Flynn was being asked and she knows how information he provided was being used in other investigations. She is a fact witness regarding the allegation that Flynn had a clandestine relationship with Russia.
19. Any Sally Yates 302s or other notes that concern Mr. Flynn, including treatment of her meetings with FBI Agents on January 24 and 25, 2017, her meetings with anyone in the White House, and the draft 302 of the Flynn interview on January 24 she reviewed or was read into.
When you are building a case of Government misconduct, the communications and knowledge of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates will be an important piece of the picture.
20. An internal DOJ document dated January 30, 2017, in which the FBI exonerated Mr. Flynn of being “an agent of Russia.”
Sidney knows. There is a DOJ document that acknowledges Michael Flynn is innocent of the original charge (and justification for the FISA warrant) that he was acting on behalf of Russia.
21. All information provided by Kathleen Kavalec at the Department of State to the FBI regarding Christopher Steele prior to the first FISA application.
When you show that a senior State Department officer was telling DOJ prior to the first FISA application that Christopher Steele was a fraud, then you have established more grounds that the foundation of the case against Flynn was “poisoned.”
22. Any and all evidence that during a senior-attended FBI meeting or video conference, Andrew McCabe said “First we fuck Flynn, then we fuck Trump,” or words to that effect.
Someone who sat in on that meeting has alerted the Flynn team to McCabe’s reckless and immature outburst. I think it is unlikely that this meeting was recorded, but let’s not discount the FBI’s ability to act stupidly.
23. The two-page Electronic Communication (EC) that allegedly began the “Russia Collusion” investigation.
This is a document sent by CIA Director John Brennan to FBI Director Jim Comey. It references the intel collected, largely by the Brits, in the previous ten months that implicated Trump and his team in Russian subterfuge. Left unsaid in the memo was the fact that much of the so-called “intel” was the product of directed intelligence dangles and lures designed to create or fabricate such a narrative.
24. All information that underlies the several FISA applications, including any information showing that any of the assertions in the applications were false, unverified, or unverifiable.
This is real simple. Senior DOJ and FBI officials (e.g., Lynch, Yates, Comey and McCabe) affirmed or swore under oath that the information in the FISA application for Carter Page was true and verified. It was based almost entirely on the Steele Dossier. There already is ample evidence in the public arena that these officials should have known that Steele was a fabricator. Is there any document they relied on to reject the information coming form Kathleen Kavalec and Bruce Our warning them to stay away from Steele?
25. All documents, notes, information, FBI 302s, or testimony regarding any debriefing that Bruce Ohr gave to anyone in the FBI or Department of Justice regarding Christopher Steele.
Based on testimony before the House Government Operations committee we already know that Ohr doubted Steele but was passing the bogus info to the FBI. Sidney Powell just wants the actual documents to buttress the Ohr testimony.
26. Testimony, interviews, 302s, notes of interviews of all persons who signed FISA applications regarding Mr. Flynn or anyone that would have reached Mr. Flynn’s communications, without regard to whether those applications were approved or rejected.
Sounds like there were some failed attempts to get a FISA warrant on Flynn. This is one more bit of circumstantial evidence that insiders are talking to Flynn’s lawyers.
27. All FISA applications since 2015 related to the Russia matter, whether approved or rejected, which involve Mr. Flynn or reached his communications with anyone.
Up to this point we have been told the first FISA application was made in October 2016. This is Sidney Powell’s way of telling you that these efforts started in 2015 and were motivated by Democrat politics rather than legitimate national security concerns.
28. Information identifying reporters paid by Fusion GPS and/or the Penn Quarter group to push “Russia Collusion,” communications regarding any stories about Mr. Flynn, and any testimony or statements about how the reporters were used by the government regarding Mr. Flynn.
Part of the “fruit of the poisonous tree” defense entails showing the conspiracy between the U.S. Government and the press to portray Michael Flynn as a Russian colluder. The Carter Page FISA application shows one facet of this technique. Christopher Steele’s report was “leaked” to Michael Isiskoff, a marginally competent hack pretending to be a journalist. Isikoff wrote it up and published it. The FBI cited this as “evidence” in the FISA application. Total bullshit but who cares when you are running a covert operation.
29. FBI 302s of KT McFarland, notes of interviews of her or her own notes, and text messages with Mr. Flynn from approximately December 27, 2016, until Flynn’s resignation.
These notes are important because they are likely to show that Flynn’s communications with Russia’s Ambassador (and other foreign ambassadors) was known to the Trump campaign and was appropriate and legal activity for an incoming National Security Advisor.
30. Any information regarding the SCO’s and DOJ’s destruction of the cell phones of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page (after being advised of the thousands of text messages that evidenced their bias) that has been classified or otherwise not available to the public from the published Inspector General Report.
Destroying evidence in a criminal investigation is obstruction of justice. This is just one more example of the FBI’s illegal conduct with respect to investigating General Flynn.
31. Any information regarding eradication of cell phone data, texts, emails, or other information belonging to Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that created the “gap” identified by the IG.
Just part of a thorough request for evidence of FBI misconduct, such as withholding or hiding evidence.
32. Information about any parts of any polygraph examinations failed by Peter Strzok after Mr. Flynn was first the subject of any FBI investigation—authorized or unauthorized.
Not sure what this means. Was Peter Strzok subjected to a polygraph? If so, when?
33. Brady or Giglio material newly discovered by the government (and by the Inspector General in his separate investigations) in the last two years.
This is a blanket request. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that established that the prosecutionmust turn over all evidence that might exonerate the defendant (exculpatory evidence) to the defense. Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the prosecution’s failure to inform the jury that a witness had been promised not to be prosecuted in exchange for his testimony was a failure to fulfill the duty to present all material evidence to the jury, and constituted a violation of due process, requiring a new trial.[1]
34. A full unredacted and copies of the recordings of Mr. Flynn’s calls with Ambassador Kislyak or anyone else that were reviewed or used in any way by the FBI or SCO in its evaluation of charges against Mr. Flynn.
Will be interesting to see if the FBI as well as the NSA has these recordings. The recordings exist. They are routinely vacuumed up by NSA. Was anyone else on the U.S. side snooping?
35. All FBI 302s, notes, memoranda of James Clapper regarding Mr. Flynn, and the cell phone and home phone records of Mr. Clapper and David Ignatius between December 5, 2016, and February 24, 2017. Although not previously requested, the government should be compelled to produce:
Clapper was working frantically behind the scenes to fan the flames of the Russian collusion delusion. There is strong evidence he was the source for the David Igantius piece in the Washington Post on 12 January 2017, where he began creating the public case against General Flynn. Ignatius wrote: “According to a senior U.S. government official, Flynn phoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak several times on Dec. 29, the day the Obama administration announced the expulsion of 35 Russian officials as well as other measures in retaliation for the hacking. What did Flynn say, and did it undercut the U.S. sanctions?”
Let me reiterate one critical fact–IT WAS NOT ILLEGAL OR IMPROPER FOR GENERAL FLYNN TO TELL THE RUSSIANS THAT OBAMA WAS AN IDIOT AND THE SANCTIONS WERE STUPID. In my book that would have been a truthful statement. But that is not what Flynn said. He was far more professional. But the Obama Administration, knowing that Flynn had talked to the Russian Ambassador decided to use that specific act to attack Flynn and get him charged.
36. Unredacted scope memos written for the Special Counsel and any requests by Special Counsel that mention Mr. Flynn or his son.
The misconduct did not stop with the firing of Jim Comey. Robert Mueller and his team continued to pour poison on the prosecution tree of General Flynn.
37. All FBI 302s or any notes of interviews of David Ignatius or any other reporter regarding the publication of information concerning Mr. Flynn and/or the reporters’ contacts with James Clapper, Andrew McCabe, John Brennan, Michael Kortan, or anyone in the FBI, DNI, DOD, DOJ, or CIA regarding Mr. Flynn.
This tells me that Sidney Powell has been tipped that during the course of the Inspector General’s investigation, evidence of improper contacts with Mr. Ignatius emerged and that there are documents about this.
38. FBI 302s and interview notes of Jim Woolsey, including notes by SCO members of conversations with Woolsey about Mr. Flynn, Flynn Intel Group, the Turkey project, and his separate meeting with officials of Turkey after the meeting that was the subject of the FIG FARA filing.
“Ambassador Woolsey and his wife have been in communication with the FBI regarding the Sept. 19, 2016 meeting Ambassador Woolsey was invited to attend by one of Gen. Flynn’s business partners,” Woolsey spokesman Jonathan Franks said in a statement. Franks clarified that the FBI has been “in communication” with Woolsey both before and after the matter was taken over by Mueller’s office.”
This effort to frame Flynn turned up nothing of importance. As I have written previously, the so-called FARA violation by Flynn was a CIA setup, made possible with the help of Israeli intelligence.
39. All communications between Mr. David Laufman, Ms. Heather Hunt and any other member of the National Security Division regarding the FARA registration for Mr. Flynn and FIG and notes, reports or recordings of their interaction with Covington & Burling with regards to the filing and its contents. See Def.’s Resp. to the Ct.’s Order of July 9 & Gov.’s Filing of July 10, Ex. D, July 11, 2019, No. 17-232-EGS.
I published a piece in August outlining the elements of this attempt to entrap Flynn on a FARA violation. You can read it here.
40. Unredacted notes of the [FBI’s Pientka?] and Strzok from the interview of Mr. Flynn on January 24, 2017.
These notes will tell the story of whether or not the two FBI agents believed Flynn or thought he was lying. McCabe stated the Agents did not believe Flynn was lying.
Sidney Powell’s demand for Brady and Giglio material is not a desperation play. The desperation will be on the part of the prosecutors who are being exposed and liars and lawbreakers. Fortunately, Judge Sullivan hates such prosecutorial misconduct and has a long record of coming down hard on such actions.
Sidney Powell’s actions also highlights the incompetence of General Flynn’s original lawyers. They should be disbarred in my view. They facilitated a miscarriage of justice and the improper prosecution of an American patriot.
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