August 19, 2018
The Story of Ohr and More
By Clarice Feldman
A
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/08/the_story_of_ohr_and_more.html
The two big stories this week are interrelated: the utter collapse of the Russian Collusion Fantasy and the conclusion of the Manafort case, a case of selective and apparently not very persuasive prosecution which flows from that fantasy.
The Manafort Trial Ends
This week marked the end of the trial of Paul Manafort. The jury is now deliberating his fate. I cannot with certainty opine on the prosecution’s handling of the case. I can’t because all we know -- in the absence of transcripts of the trial -- is what reporters have told us. In my experience they often lack the background to adequately apprise us of what went on. Reporters also give more weight generally to salacious details -- in this case Manafort’s wardrobe and Gates’ affairs -- than they do to the more significant documentary evidence. Finally, as I learned in covering the Libby trial as an observer, even the best reporters have deadlines, which means their stories are often filed before the cross-examination of key witnesses and begin the next day with the direct examination of the next witness, which means half of what occurred -- often the most important part to my mind -- is unreported.
Nevertheless, from even those accounts, it would appear that the prosecution was hardly a slam dunk, and Manafort’s lawyers obviously thought so in closing without presenting any case.
In closing arguments, they hit upon those weaknesses.
As predicted, they argued that Manafort’s former aide, Rick Gates, (who received an exceptionally generous immunity agreement which violated Justice Department standards) was not credible. Admittedly he lied to the FBI, his wife, forged documents, embezzled from Manafort and others, including the Trump Inauguration Committee, suggesting, asserted defense counsel, that this was a weak reed upon which to prosecute someone.
After the jury began deliberations, there was a mysterious pause and after recessing the trial the judge inexplicably left the courtroom through the door reserved for jurors. That mystery was apparently solved on Friday when CNN, the Washington Post, BuzzFeed, POLITICO, the New York Times, NBC Universal, and the Associated Press filed a motion to obtain the names and addresses of the jurors. Judge Ellis then revealed that he had received death threats and is being accompanied by federal marshals. He said the jury had expressed to him their fears for their own safety and he denied the request, as he should.
The harassment of jurors who are not sequestered would surely have followed the grant of this motion. After the trial, one can imagine that they, like the judge, would receive threats on their lives. This is the first real test of the Mueller team -- and though it still has nothing to do with the fake collusion theory, it seems the notion has taken on some kind of religious fervor among the left, still smarting from their loss in 2016 who are determined to bring the infidels to heel.
After the jury submitted several questions to the judge, the trial was recessed until Monday.
(Please note I have not followed the usual “conservative” commentary on the trial which begins with distancing myself from Manafort and then heading into “but…” It’s a kind of virtue signaling I despise. Were the defendant Anthony Podesta, with whom Manafort worked, would PBS or NPR or any news organization begin with a distancing from him followed by “but…”? The man is entitled to fair and equal treatment under the law, and I see no reason to prejudge the defendant’s character while making that point.)
The Ohrs
As the selective prosecution of Paul Manafort draws to a conclusion, the villains of the Russian collusion fairy tale that was the impetus for the appointment of a Special Counsel who brought this case, are being further unmasked.
Reputable accounts reveal that former associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie (an undisclosed employee of GPS Fusion) continued to receive reports from Christopher Steele, author of the now discredited dossier. They did so after Steele was terminated as an FBI source because of Steele’s leaks to the press and lying to the agency about them. Ohr and his DOJ and FBI cohorts in this stove-piping operation apparently “operated outside the chain of command, misled their bosses (and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) and concealed evidence from Congressional oversight committees.” And they did this work even after Trump was elected and inaugurated.
The evidence to date suggests that Rod Rosenstein, who is tasked with supervising Robert Mueller and his team, was kept in the dark about Ohr’s continued work with Steele when he signed the last FISA warrant application, post inauguration, in June 2017. The Ohr-Steele exchanges which have made it to public view suggest that Ohr’s boss, now fired but then Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, most likely received the stove-piped reports, okayed this channel of information gathering, and even oversaw it.
John Solomon at The Hill broke the story about the Ohr-Steele work-around.
Bruce Ohr is scheduled to testify on August 28 before a joint committee of Congress (House Oversight and House Judiciary) in a closed hearing. As more information has finally been made available to Congress, the possibilities for selective disinformation become narrower.
And forces other than Congress are lifting the veil on the dirtiest official wrongdoing in U.S. history. Judge Amit O. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has issued a ruling which must frighten the FBI miscreants who have to date manage to conceal their actions from public scrutiny.
(Glomar responses are the means by which, in order to protect national security or privacy, official agencies can refuse information requests by answering they can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the information requested, the synopsis of the dossier.) Since the existence of the information requested was made known in the Nunes and Schiff memos, the Judge properly reversed his earlier decision.
The case before Judge Mehta concerns BuzzFeed's suit against GPS fusion.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018...-address-measures-taken-verify-steele-dossier
(BuzzFeed is being sued by Aleksej Gubarev for allegations about Russian collusion, specifically hacking the DNC computer, in the dossier which it published, and is seeking to find out how the DOJ and FBI verified the allegations in the dossier.
Judge Mehta explained:
Things seem finally to be moving, glacially, but at last more rapidly than before.
Like the army of white supremacists the media is always trumpeting, the Russian collusion evidence seems to be based on a media-induced hallucination. My friend “porchlight” observes, “Charlottesville proves once again that the demand for racism far outstrips the supply” and there’s much evidence this week for that. There must have been a million or more pixels expended per participant in the scare reporting about the Unite the Right rally in D.C. this week. As it happens the rally drew maybe two-dozen nutters and countless reporters and photographers.
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/where-are-all-the-white-supremacists/21701#.W3munRopChC
The Story of Ohr and More
By Clarice Feldman
A
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/08/the_story_of_ohr_and_more.html
The two big stories this week are interrelated: the utter collapse of the Russian Collusion Fantasy and the conclusion of the Manafort case, a case of selective and apparently not very persuasive prosecution which flows from that fantasy.
The Manafort Trial Ends
This week marked the end of the trial of Paul Manafort. The jury is now deliberating his fate. I cannot with certainty opine on the prosecution’s handling of the case. I can’t because all we know -- in the absence of transcripts of the trial -- is what reporters have told us. In my experience they often lack the background to adequately apprise us of what went on. Reporters also give more weight generally to salacious details -- in this case Manafort’s wardrobe and Gates’ affairs -- than they do to the more significant documentary evidence. Finally, as I learned in covering the Libby trial as an observer, even the best reporters have deadlines, which means their stories are often filed before the cross-examination of key witnesses and begin the next day with the direct examination of the next witness, which means half of what occurred -- often the most important part to my mind -- is unreported.
Nevertheless, from even those accounts, it would appear that the prosecution was hardly a slam dunk, and Manafort’s lawyers obviously thought so in closing without presenting any case.
In closing arguments, they hit upon those weaknesses.
As predicted, they argued that Manafort’s former aide, Rick Gates, (who received an exceptionally generous immunity agreement which violated Justice Department standards) was not credible. Admittedly he lied to the FBI, his wife, forged documents, embezzled from Manafort and others, including the Trump Inauguration Committee, suggesting, asserted defense counsel, that this was a weak reed upon which to prosecute someone.
After the jury began deliberations, there was a mysterious pause and after recessing the trial the judge inexplicably left the courtroom through the door reserved for jurors. That mystery was apparently solved on Friday when CNN, the Washington Post, BuzzFeed, POLITICO, the New York Times, NBC Universal, and the Associated Press filed a motion to obtain the names and addresses of the jurors. Judge Ellis then revealed that he had received death threats and is being accompanied by federal marshals. He said the jury had expressed to him their fears for their own safety and he denied the request, as he should.
The harassment of jurors who are not sequestered would surely have followed the grant of this motion. After the trial, one can imagine that they, like the judge, would receive threats on their lives. This is the first real test of the Mueller team -- and though it still has nothing to do with the fake collusion theory, it seems the notion has taken on some kind of religious fervor among the left, still smarting from their loss in 2016 who are determined to bring the infidels to heel.
After the jury submitted several questions to the judge, the trial was recessed until Monday.
(Please note I have not followed the usual “conservative” commentary on the trial which begins with distancing myself from Manafort and then heading into “but…” It’s a kind of virtue signaling I despise. Were the defendant Anthony Podesta, with whom Manafort worked, would PBS or NPR or any news organization begin with a distancing from him followed by “but…”? The man is entitled to fair and equal treatment under the law, and I see no reason to prejudge the defendant’s character while making that point.)
The Ohrs
As the selective prosecution of Paul Manafort draws to a conclusion, the villains of the Russian collusion fairy tale that was the impetus for the appointment of a Special Counsel who brought this case, are being further unmasked.
Reputable accounts reveal that former associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie (an undisclosed employee of GPS Fusion) continued to receive reports from Christopher Steele, author of the now discredited dossier. They did so after Steele was terminated as an FBI source because of Steele’s leaks to the press and lying to the agency about them. Ohr and his DOJ and FBI cohorts in this stove-piping operation apparently “operated outside the chain of command, misled their bosses (and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) and concealed evidence from Congressional oversight committees.” And they did this work even after Trump was elected and inaugurated.
The evidence to date suggests that Rod Rosenstein, who is tasked with supervising Robert Mueller and his team, was kept in the dark about Ohr’s continued work with Steele when he signed the last FISA warrant application, post inauguration, in June 2017. The Ohr-Steele exchanges which have made it to public view suggest that Ohr’s boss, now fired but then Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, most likely received the stove-piped reports, okayed this channel of information gathering, and even oversaw it.
John Solomon at The Hill broke the story about the Ohr-Steele work-around.
Bruce Ohr is scheduled to testify on August 28 before a joint committee of Congress (House Oversight and House Judiciary) in a closed hearing. As more information has finally been made available to Congress, the possibilities for selective disinformation become narrower.
And forces other than Congress are lifting the veil on the dirtiest official wrongdoing in U.S. history. Judge Amit O. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has issued a ruling which must frighten the FBI miscreants who have to date manage to conceal their actions from public scrutiny.
(Glomar responses are the means by which, in order to protect national security or privacy, official agencies can refuse information requests by answering they can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the information requested, the synopsis of the dossier.) Since the existence of the information requested was made known in the Nunes and Schiff memos, the Judge properly reversed his earlier decision.
The case before Judge Mehta concerns BuzzFeed's suit against GPS fusion.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018...-address-measures-taken-verify-steele-dossier
(BuzzFeed is being sued by Aleksej Gubarev for allegations about Russian collusion, specifically hacking the DNC computer, in the dossier which it published, and is seeking to find out how the DOJ and FBI verified the allegations in the dossier.
Judge Mehta explained:
Things seem finally to be moving, glacially, but at last more rapidly than before.
Like the army of white supremacists the media is always trumpeting, the Russian collusion evidence seems to be based on a media-induced hallucination. My friend “porchlight” observes, “Charlottesville proves once again that the demand for racism far outstrips the supply” and there’s much evidence this week for that. There must have been a million or more pixels expended per participant in the scare reporting about the Unite the Right rally in D.C. this week. As it happens the rally drew maybe two-dozen nutters and countless reporters and photographers.
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/where-are-all-the-white-supremacists/21701#.W3munRopChC