Featured Timeline Entries
April 7, 2023 - More on Kathy Chung appearances in the Biden laptop report

The surname of a petite woman of Korean extraction is found 31 times in our dossier: Chung. She was Ted Kaufman’s aide in the U.S. Senate (Kaufman, by the way, was practically hand-picked by Joey when Joey left the “upper chamber” for the vice presidency). Chung was then installed by Joey’s son, Hunter, to be Joey’s personal aide at the White House. After Joey’s stint as the V.P., she followed the crew to Joey’s “transition” office & then to his smattering of “centers,” “foundations,” & other slush funds. All of these movements by Chung & Joey’s broader entourage—including the two federal crimes that Chung participated in—are explained in our nonprofit’s Report on the Biden Laptop.

Earlier this week, Chung—who you, as a federal taxpayer, still subsidize as Chung is currently the deputy Director of Protocol at the Department of Defense—appeared before the U.S. House Oversight Committee & (to her credit) answered some of their questions about Joey’s document fiasco & (hopefully) other matters. Accordingly, we felt it our duty to provide the public with more granularity on this figure who had/has such close access to the man with the nuke codes. We’ll copy directly from the Report:

—

Page 106 in the dossier: Organized a Biden family luncheon for ChiComs

Page 488: Hand-picked for a White House gig by the “smartest man” Joe knows

Pages 188-190: Facilitated FARA violations with Mexican foreign principals & shared non-public information with Hunter

Page 53: The federal statutes & the federal regulation violated:

Lastly, we felt the need to include some photos of the woman. After all, many outlets (Fox News, the Daily Mail, CNN, the New York Post, Axios, & many others) released stories about Chung, but did not include photos. Here are a few:

Rep. Jamie Comer, chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, was smart to bring her in. What our tour through the Biden Laptop has shown us is that rank is oftentimes untethered to value creation and proximity. In other words, the younger or lower-ranking people (e.g. executive assistants) typically know much more about the operations of an enterprise (in this case, a political mafia) than many people might suspect. Marco Polo recognizes this fact and does not get distracted by mere titles—and we take pride in turning over every rock, no matter how small.

–Garrett Ziegler, Founder

If you want to support Marco Polo (EIN: 61-199994), you can do so here.

(More pics: Garrett Ziegler/Substack, 4/07/2023)  (Archive)

April 11, 2023 - DCCC, Marc Elias firm accused of 'apparent civil violations' of federal election law

Attorney Marc Elias preps on Aug. 3, 2016, before the hearing for his lawsuit against Arizona over voting rights. (Credit: David Jolkovski/Getty Images)

An anti-Biden political action committee (PAC) filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) alleging “apparent civil violations” of election law between the House Democrats’ campaign arm and top liberal lawyer and former Hillary Clinton attorney Marc Elias’ law firm.

Dan Backer (Credit: LinkedIn)

Counsel for the Committee to Defeat the President Dan Backer, who sent the letter to the DOJ, told Fox News Digital for “years, the infamous Marc Elias and the corrupt Democrats in his orbit have violated federal campaign finance laws, and it’s high time to hold them accountable.”

(…) “Americans deserve to know the truth about the Democratic Party’s shady money laundering schemes, especially when campaign funds are supposed to be spent in one way and they get spent in another,” Backer said.

“Based on the Committee’s robust research, and Elias’ own shady past, it seems pretty clear that Elias and other Democrats have engaged in false reporting, and that cannot go unchecked,” he continued.

A letter from the FEC obtained by Fox News Digital acknowledged the receipt of the complaint.

In the letter, Backer wrote to Heberle about “possible criminal violations of both the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and the federal Criminal Code” allegedly committed by the DCCC and Elias Law Group.

“I hope that you will not allow the Biden Administration’s political appointees within the Department of Justice to allow President Biden’s close political allies to gain an unfair advantage in the electoral process by violating federal criminal law with impunity,” Backer wrote.

Backer pointed out the “FECA requires each political committee to report to the FEC the purpose of each of its operating expenditures over $200” and that in “a series of FEC filings over the course of 2021 and 2022, the DCCC reported making a total of $5,177,460.62 in payments between October 19, 2021, and July 15, 2022, to Elias Law Group for ‘RECOUNT LEGAL [SERVICES].’

(…) ”Backer also alleged that Elias, “the name partner of Elias Law Group, has a history of allowing Democratic political committees to misrepresent the nature of his firm’s legal services to shield their activities from public scrutiny,” pointing to his former firm, Perkins Coie’s work on the debunked Steele dossier.

“Elias has also been sanctioned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for lack of candor,” Backer wrote. “Another federal court accused him of attempting to ‘impinge[]’ upon ‘free, open, rational elections.’”

“It is reasonably possible Elias Law Group facilitated the DCCC’s false reporting by providing fraudulent billing statements misrepresenting the purpose of the firm’s charges, to assist in shielding the true nature of their activities from public scrutiny,” Backer alleged.

Backer alleged Elias Law Group and the DCCC “may have violated four federal statutes:” “FECA criminal provisions,” the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act,” statutes regarding “false statements,” and “conspiracy” statutes. (Read more: Fox News, 4/17/2023)  (Archive)

April 12, 2023 - DNC parts ways with Marc Elias, the Clinton lawyer behind the Clinton/DNC/Steele dossier

“The Democratic National Committee is cutting ties with lawyer Marc Elias, who heavily pushed the discredited Steele dossier that sought to link the former president to Russia falsely.

Elias, who has represented the DNC since 2009, has had several disagreements with the committee, according to sources who spoke with PunchBowl News. Elias Law Group, his firm founded in 2021, works on behalf of many Democratic lawmakers and entities, such as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, records show.

Elias was general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and commissioned the Trump-Russia dossier. The lawyer hired the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which, in turn, brought on British ex-spy Christopher Steele in 2016. Steele was offered “up to $1 million” in the run-up to the 2016 election by the FBI to prove the dossier’s allegations against Trump but did not get the money due to lack of evidence, FBI supervisory analyst Brian Auten testified in October 2022.

The following month, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent several written questions to the FBI in the wake of “bogus information” being received from informants, including Steele, the Washington Examiner first reported. Then-prosecutor Andrew DeFilippis for John Durham, who was appointed as special counsel to investigate the FBI’s 2016 Russia election interference inquiry, grilled Elias in May 2022 over his role in pushing the collusion narrative. (Read more: Washington Examiner, 4/12/2023)  (Archive)

April 17, 2023 - House Oversight: Six additional Biden family members may have benefited from the family business schemes

Vice President Joe Biden, flanked by his wife Jill Biden and family members, acknowledges the audience at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sept. 6, 2012, on the final day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC). (Credit: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) issued the following statement after he and several lawmakers went to the U.S. Department of the Treasury to view financial records related to the Biden family and their associates’ business transactions:

“Thousands of pages of financial records related to the Biden family, their companies, and associates’ business schemes were made available to members of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, which confirm the importance of this investigation. The Biden family enterprise is centered on Joe Biden’s political career and connections, and it has generated an exorbitant amount of money for the Biden family. We’ve identified six additional members of Joe Biden’s family who may have benefited from the Biden family’s businesses that we are investigating, bringing the total number of those involved or benefiting to nine.

“The Oversight Committee will continue to pursue additional bank records to follow the Bidens’ tangled web of financial transactions to determine if the Biden family has been targeted by foreign actors and if there is a national security threat. We will soon provide the public with more information about what we’ve uncovered to date. The American people need transparency and accountability, and the Oversight Committee will deliver much needed answers.”  (oversight.house.gov, 4/17/2023)  (Archive)

April 18, 2023 - Hillary’s 2016 campaign CFO and current SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler, claims he wasn’t aware of payment for Steele Dossier

(…) It was also clear at this time that Gensler was running Hillary’s campaign finances.  Gensler also worked with Hillary’s attorney Marc Elias in creating the Hillary Victory Fund, according to Bloomberg in a piece in June 2016:

Gensler’s portfolio stretches into other areas as well. He, along with campaign lawyer Marc Elias and national finance director Dennis Cheng, led the process last year to create the Hillary Victory Fund, which jointly raises money for the campaign, the DNC, and state Democratic parties.

Elias was Hillary’s general counsel at the time Gensler was CFO.

It was during this time when Gensler oversaw the Hillary campaign’s finances that Hillary’s campaign paid millions to law firm Perkins Coie.  This was also the time that the Steele dossier was paid for.

We know that Gensler has hidden meetings he had with  Hillary, Soros, Pelosi and others from his calendar.

Today Gensler was asked whether he facilitated the payment for the Steele dossier for the Hillary campaign.  He claimed after much hesitation that he wasn’t aware of the payment for the Steele campaign.

(Read more: Gateway Pundit, 4/18/2023)  (Archive)

April 18, 2023 - American black leftist groups and activists are being charged with felonies for posting memes and other political content against the war in Ukraine

A federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida, returned a superseding indictment charging four U.S. citizens and three Russian nationals with working on behalf of the Russian government and in conjunction with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to conduct a multi-year foreign malign influence campaign in the United States. Among other conduct, the superseding indictment alleges that the Russian defendants recruited, funded and directed U.S. political groups to act as unregistered illegal agents of the Russian government and sow discord and spread pro-Russian propaganda; the indicted intelligence officers, in particular, participated in covertly funding and directing candidates for local office within the United States.

Additionally, in a separate case out of the District of Columbia, a criminal complaint was unsealed charging Russian national Natalia Burlinova with conspiring with an FSB officer to act as an illegal agent of Russia in the United States.

“Russia’s foreign intelligence service allegedly weaponized our First Amendment rights – freedoms Russia denies its own citizens – to divide Americans and interfere in elections in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The department will not hesitate to expose and prosecute those who sow discord and corrupt U.S. elections in service of hostile foreign interests, regardless of whether the culprits are U.S. citizens or foreign individuals abroad.”

“Efforts by the Russian government to secretly influence U.S. elections will not be tolerated,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As today’s announcement demonstrates, the Criminal Division is committed to eradicating foreign malign influence from the U.S. political system and helping ensure the integrity of our elections.”

“Today’s announcement paints a harrowing picture of Russian government actions and the lengths to which the FSB will go to interfere with our elections, sow discord in our nation and ultimately recruit U.S citizens to their efforts,” said Acting Assistant Director Kurt Ronnow of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “All Americans should be deeply concerned by the tactics employed by the FSB and remain vigilant to any attempt to undermine our democracy. The FBI remains committed to confronting this egregious behavior and ultimately disrupting our adversaries and those who act on their behalf.”

United States v. Ionov, et al.

According to the superseding indictment returned in the Middle District of Florida, Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a resident of Moscow, was the founder and president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), an organization headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and funded by the Russian government. Ionov allegedly utilized AGMR to carry out Russia’s malign influence campaign. Ionov’s influence efforts were allegedly directed and supervised by Moscow-based FSB officers, including indicted defendants Aleksey Borisovich Sukhodolov and Yegor Sergeyevich Popov.

“The prosecution of this criminal conduct is essential to protecting the American public when foreign governments seek to inject themselves into the American political process,” said U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “We thank our partners at the FBI for their tireless investigation of these events and their commitment to ensure justice is done.”

Among other illegal activities, the superseding indictment alleges that Ionov, Sukhodolov and Popov conspired to directly and substantially influence democratic elections in the United States by clandestinely funding and directing the political campaign of a particular candidate for local office in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2019. For instance, the superseding indictment alleges that Popov expressly referred to this effort on behalf of the FSB as “our election campaign,” and Ionov referring to the candidate as the “candidate whom we supervise.” Ionov and Popov allegedly intended that this election interference plot would extend beyond the 2019 local election cycle in St. Petersburg, and subsequently discussed that the “USA Presidential election” was the FSB’s “main topic of the year.”

Moreover, from at least November 2014 until July 2022, Ionov allegedly engaged in a years-long foreign malign influence campaign targeting the United States. As a part of the campaign, Ionov allegedly recruited members of political groups within the United States, including the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement (collectively, the APSP) in Florida, Black Hammer in Georgia and a political group in California (referred to in the superseding indictment as U.S. Political Group 3), to participate in the influence campaign and act as agents of Russia in the United States, including the following indicted defendants:

  • Omali Yeshitela, a U.S. citizen residing in St. Petersburg, Florida, and St. Louis, Missouri, who served as the chairman and founder of the APSP;
  • Penny Joanne Hess, a U.S. citizen residing in St. Petersburg, Florida, and St. Louis, Missouri, who served as the leader of a component of the APSP;
  • Jesse Nevel, a U.S. citizen residing in St. Petersburg, Florida, and St. Louis, Missouri, who served as a member of a component of the APSP; and
  • Augustus C. Romain Jr., aka Gazi Kodzo, a U.S. citizen residing in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Atlanta, who served as a leader of the APSP and a founder of Black Hammer in Georgia.

APSP Chairman Omali Yeshitela (Credit: African Peoples Socialist Party)

One focus of Ionov’s alleged influence operation was to create the appearance of American popular support for Russia’s annexation of territories in Ukraine. For example, in May 2020, Ionov allegedly sent a request he stated was from “Russia, the Donetsk People’s Republic” – an apparent reference to a Russian-occupied region in eastern Ukraine – to Yeshitela and members of other U.S. political groups to make statements in support of the independence of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, a Russian-backed breakaway state in eastern Ukraine. Ionov later allegedly touted to the FSB that Yeshitela’s video-recorded statement of support was the first time that “American nonprofit organizations congratulated citizens” of the occupied region.

Ionov’s use of the APSP to promote Russian propaganda relating to Ukraine allegedly continued after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2022, Ionov allegedly emailed Nevel an “URGENT MESSAGE” which contained pro-Russian talking points in support of the invasion. Thereafter, throughout March 2022, the APSP repeatedly hosted Ionov via video conference to discuss the war, during which Ionov falsely stated that anyone who supported Ukraine also supported Naziism and white supremacy, and Yeshitela and another APSP member allegedly made statements of solidarity with the Russian government.

Ionov, Sukhodolov, Popov, Yeshitela, Hess, Nevel and Romain are charged with conspiring to have U.S. citizens act as illegal agents of the Russian government within the United States without providing prior notification to the Attorney General, as required by law. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel are also charged with acting as agents of Russia within the United States without such prior notification. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel J. Marcet and Risha Asokan for the Middle District of Florida, Trial Attorney Menno Goedman of the Justice Department’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Trial Attorney Demetrius Sumner of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.

United States v. Burlinova

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint unsealed in the District of Columbia, Russian national Natalia Burlinova, a resident of Moscow, conspired with an FSB officer to recruit U.S. citizens from academic and research institutions to travel to Russia to participate in a public diplomacy program called Meeting Russia. The program was operated by PICREADI, a Russian organization led by Burlinova, funded by the Russian government and devoted to promoting Russian national interests.

“The defendant is accused of subverting our foreign agent notification laws to promote Russian national interests here in the United States, concealing from the public that her recruitment efforts were funded by a Russian security service,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia. “We will continue to expose these serious crimes and hold all who perpetrate them accountable.”

The affidavit alleges that the FSB officer provided funding and other support for Burlinova’s foreign recruitment and her efforts to advance Russian interests in the United States. In return, Burlinova provided the FSB officer with extensive information about U.S. citizens who were recruited to attend her programs, including their résumés, passport information, photographs and analyses of their views toward Russia. Burlinova further identified for the FSB officer particular U.S. citizens who, in Burlinova’s view, had expressed positive attitudes towards Russia and were prepared to continue to collaborate. During a recruitment trip to the United States in fall 2018, Burlinova met with U.S. citizens at various universities and research institutions and provided to photographs of her meetings to the FSB officer. The FSB officer used the information Burlinova provided prepare FSB intelligence reports. Burlinova never notified the Attorney General of these efforts or otherwise disclosed to the public that her recruitment efforts were supported and funded by a Russian security service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Friedman for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney Emma D. Ellenrieder of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case. (justice.gov, 4/18/2023)  (Archive)

Glenn Greenwald adds an important perspective to this story in this Twitter thread:

April 20, 2023 - Fake news reckoning...Buzzfeed shuts down their news service

BuzzFeed News Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith talks with colleagues BuzzFeed headquarters, December 11, 2018 in New York City. (Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti’s memo announcing the mercy killing Thursday morning and the memo was tweeted out by a media reporter* for the far-left New York Times.

In part, the memo read:

Additionally, I made the decision to overinvest[**] in BuzzFeed News[***] because I love their work and mission so much. This made me slow to accept that the big platforms wouldn’t provide the distribution or financial support required to support premium, free journalism[****] for social media.

…

Just as we reduced our footprint in NYC last year, we will be reducing our real estate in Los Angeles from four buildings to one[.]

…

HuffPost and BuzzFeed Dot Com have signaled that they will open a number of select roles for members of BuzzFeed News

…

As part of today’s changes, both our CRO Edgar Hernandez and COO Christian Bressler have made the decision to exit the company.

Overall, BuzzFeed will cut 15 percent of its 1200-person staff.

(…) In its early days, BuzzFeed News made a cottage industry out of attacking Breitbart News with lies and gossip. You see, they were angry about us telling the truth about them. But the whole thing was biased and dull and doomed from the start. Then, eight or nine years ago, BuzzFeed News fell off the radar entirely until Christian Bressler violated every journalistic protocol ever written to publish the Deep State’s phony Russia dossier on Donald Trump.

Then everyone forgot about BuzzFeed News again. Then Ben Smith left to do business with the Nazis in China, and now it’s finally over. (Read more: Breitbart, 4/20/2023)  (Archive)

April 21, 2023 - Trump tells Gen Flynn, “it’s only a year and a half, just stay healthy”...why Flynn is still dangerous to establishment neocon and neoliberal globalists

April 21, 2023 - The ‘senior’ official accused of political interference in Hunter Biden case is Merrick Garland

Merrick Garland (Credit: Andrew Harnik/Associated Press)

Attorney General Merrick Garland is under fire for allegedly obstructing the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of current President Joe Biden, after a whistleblower came forward in sworn testimony to name a “senior” official who is supervising the case.

The whistleblower, represented by a lawyer who sent a bombshell letter to Congress, has claimed that a “high-profile, controversial” case managed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), believed to be the investigation into Hunter Biden’s alleged failure to pay taxes, faced “clear conflicts of interest.”

The whistleblower claimed to have information that contradicted the sworn testimony of a “senior” Biden administration official, who has been identified as Merrick Garland. The identification was first made by the New York Post, and later by the Washington Examiner and Daily Mail, all citing anonymous sources.

Thus, the Attorney General would be guilty of committing perjury in statements given to Congress under oath, if the accusations are shown to be accurate.

Garland’s testimony to Republican Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee in April 2022, where he assured that there would be no political interference in the investigation into Hunter Biden, has been called into question.

Garland had also stated that U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware, a Trump appointee, was the supervisor of the investigation and had full authority to bring charges. Garland reiterated this promise in March 2023 during testimony to Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. However, it remains unclear which specific testimony the whistleblower was referring to. (Read more: Becker News, 4/21/2023) (Archive)

April 21, 2023 - Blinken was on Facebook and Google's payroll three weeks before 2020 election

Source: (Fast Company, 10/29/2017)

April 21, 2023 - Ex-CIA official: Biden campaign behind letter framing Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation

A former deputy director of the CIA was prompted by the Biden campaign to frame the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation in a letter signed by dozens of former senior intelligence officials ahead of the 2020 presidential election, according to testimony revealed by Congressional lawmakers.

Former CIA deputy director Michael Morell was among the 51 signatories of an open letter (pdf) that said the New York Post’s October 2020 report dismissing the explosive contents of a laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden.

The letter said that the “arrival on the U.S. political scene of emails purportedly belonging to Vice President Biden’s son Hunter, much of it related to his time serving of the Board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

Subsequent reporting has confirmed that the laptop wasn’t part of a Russian disinformation campaign but had been abandoned at a computer repair shop. Some of the contents found on the laptop included embarrassing photos of Hunter Biden, including one apparently showing him passed out with a crack pipe.

At the time, Biden’s presidential campaign cited the letter in framing the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation. Polling suggests that if voters had been aware of the laptop’s contents, some would have voted differently, with a potentially different outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Morrell said in Congressional testimony cited by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that Morrell had organized the letter at the urging of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who at the time was serving as an adviser to Biden’s presidential campaign.

Jordan, who heads both the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, has demanded that Blinken answer a series of questions about Morrell’s testimony and provide records of related communication. (Read more: The Epoch Times, 4/21/2023)  (Archive)

UPDATE:

(…) The decision to drop the appeal came on Friday night after Bragg’s office said they had come to an agreement with the committee.

“Our successful stay of this subpoena blocked the immediate deposition and afforded us the time necessary to coordinate with the House Judiciary Committee on an agreement that protects the District Attorney’s privileges and interests. We are pleased with this resolution, which ensures any questioning of our former employee will take place in the presence of our General Counsel on a reasonable, agreed upon timeframe,” a spokesperson for his office said.

A spokesman for Rep. Jordan’s office also confirmed that the parties had reached an agreement.

“This evening, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office withdrew its appeal in Bragg v. Jordan. Mr. Pomerantz’s deposition will go forward on May 12, and we look forward to his appearance,”  spokesman Russell Dye said.

This week a federal judge rejected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s request to block a former prosecutor in his office from testifying before the House Judiciary Committee about the criminal case against former President Donald Trump.

“The committee and its chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), had subpoenaed ex-assistant district attorney Mark Pomerantz to give testimony about the DA’s investigation into Trump, 76, that culminated in the former president’s indictment in March. Bragg filed suit against Jordan and the Judiciary Committee, claiming the subpoena was an overreach by the GOP-led House and an attempt to influence a state criminal proceeding,” the New York Post reported. “But Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil found the subpoena was issued with a valid legislative purpose and that it was not the role of the federal judiciary to dictate how Congress operates.”

“Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law,” Judge Vyskocil wrote in an opinion issued after a Manhattan federal court hearing. (Read more: Conservative Brief, 4/21/2023)  (Archive)

April 25, 2023 - Former DNI Ratcliffe: Media ‘knew’ intel community concluded Hunter laptop wasn’t Russian misinformation

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Ingraham Angle,” former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe pointed out that the media knew that the intelligence community had already concluded that the Hunter Biden laptop story wasn’t Russian misinformation when they used “Mike Morell and Antony Blinken’s coordinated letter” on the laptop story as a reason to falsely declare the story Russian misinformation.

Ratcliffe said that not only have the media largely ignored the new developments on the letter, “It’s that the media [were] in on it. [14] hours before Mike Morell and Antony Blinken’s coordinated letter was published in POLITICO, I went on national TV and put out a statement refuting what Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was saying that the Hunter Biden laptop was a Russian disinformation campaign. So, they all knew that the official position of the intelligence community was that this was not Russian disinformation. But they all went with it anyway. Laura, remember, this was just two weeks before the presidential election. They just had to mislead the American people and keep this false narrative alive for two weeks to pull off the election interference that they were clearly engaged in.” (Breitbart, 4/25/2023)  (Archive)

April 26, 2023 - Trump lawyers provide key insight on background of Mar-a-Lago raid via letter to Gang of Eight

If you are deep in the political research weeds about the weaponization of government, there is a letter from lawyers representing President Trump to the chair of the House Intel Committee that is very interesting [pdf available here].

The letter is written to HPSCI Chair Mike Turner and copied to the other seven members of the gang-of-eight in the Senate and House.  The letter outlines the details of the documents that became the contested issue between the DOJ-National Security Division (‘NSD’, important distinction), specifically a DOJ-NSD official named Jay Bratt, and the attorney for President Trump, Mr. Evan Corcoran.

(Credit: Conservative Treehouse)

The letter is fascinating because it outlines how the process of moving documents from the White House was weaponized by a politically motivated National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”), and the letter also gives fulsome context to the types of “classified materials” that have been insanely over emphasized by media.

[…] “Tim Parlatore and Jim Trusty, two of the undersigned counsel for President Trump, reviewed all 15 boxes at NARA earlier this year and based on that review, it is clear to us what happened. The boxes contain all manner of documents from the White House, are loosely grouped by date, and include newspapers, magazines, notes, letters, and daily schedules. Following its review of the materials, NARA inserted placeholder pages where it had removed documents with classification markings. That allowed Messrs. Parlatore and Trusty to discern what the documents were, as well as what other materials in the boxes were in the proximity of the marked documents when the White House staff packed them. The vast majority of the placeholder inserts refer to briefings for phone calls with foreign leaders that were located near the schedule for those calls.”  (page 3, pdf link)

Additionally, get this part…  despite the standard process that has been in place for the prior four administrations, the NARA refused to participate in the collection of any documents from the White House during the transition phase following the November 2020 election.

The NARA refused to assist in the collection of the Trump records for national archive holding and review, and then the NARA triggered a sequence of events that led to the DOJ using a reference from the NARA, to weaponize a process they refused to engage in.  The NARA refused to do their specialized bureaucratic job, and then the NARA used what they defined as an incomplete job as a reason to refer the outcome to the DOJ.   The details are quite interesting.

The letter details how the DOJ-NSD then weaponized the process, fought with the FBI investigative and supervisory agents who were saying Trump was doing nothing wrong, and then culminating in a documented lie to the Florida magistrate, in order to get a politically motivated search warrant.

The DOJ will not release the documents they used to convince the judge to obtain the warrant.  Additionally, the DOJ will not release a list of the documents, or even describe the documents, they later claimed are classified.   To this date, the Trump defense team is being told President Trump held classified documents, yet the DOJ will not describe to the lawyers who represent President Trump, what those classified documents are.

I strongly urge anyone interested to read the 10-page letter.  It is a key part of the puzzle being explained and outlined.

(Read more: Conservative Treehouse, 4/27/2023)  (Archive)

April 27, 2023 - House Ways and Means protects IRS whistleblower claiming political interference in Hunter Biden tax probe

House Ways and Means Committee Chair, Jason Smith (Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) has permitted an IRS agent to inform Congress about alleged political interference by the Justice Department in the Hunter Biden tax probe.

The Ways and Means Committee has authorized two lawyers for the IRS whistleblower to collect information about what their client witnessed at the IRS regarding Hunter’s tax probe.

Specifically, the IRS agent claims two Biden administration political appointees within the DOJ are working to block charges against Hunter for tax violations despite recommendations. In addition, the IRS agent believes Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to name a special counsel in the probe to provide a degree of separation between the probe and President Joe Biden.

“Last week, a whistleblower came forward with troubling claims about abuses of power,” Chairman Smith told IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel during a congressional hearing Thursday. “We are conducting a review of this matter and will go wherever the facts lead us. I expect full cooperation from the IRS, particularly with regard to ensuring this whistleblower is protected from retaliation.” (Read more: Breitbart, 5/1/2023)  (Archive)

April 27, 2023 - DOJ IG Horowitz testifies there were 3.4 million backdoor FISA searches on American citizens in 2021 with a 30% error rate

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz (Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz could not answer how many people in the federal government can use the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) on Americans through backdoor searches when Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz asked him at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Thursday.

FISA Section 702 enables intelligence agencies to carry out targeted surveillance of foreigners outside the U.S., but they have improperly used it on Americans. There were 3.4 million backdoor searches in 2021, according to an Office of the Director of National Intelligence 2022 Transparency report.

There was around a 30% error rate in these queries, Horowitz said in his testimony.

“How many people can perform these backdoor queries?” Gaetz asked.

“I’m gonna defer to board members ’cause you have the review ongoing,” Horowitz responded, referring to Sharon Bradford Franklin, Chair of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. (Read more: The Daily Caller, 4/27/2023)  (Archive)

April 28, 2023 - After Hunter Biden divested from Chinese firm BHR Partners, his top attorney, Kevin Morris, obtains control of a ten percent stake

Author Kevin Morris, who is also Hunter Biden’s attorney, attends his “White Man’s Problem” book release party on June 3, 2014, in Los Angeles, California. (Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Kevin Morris, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, controls an entity with a ten percent stake in BHR Partners, a Chinese state-backed investment fund founded just days after Hunter and President Joe Biden visited China in 2013, a source confirmed Friday to Breitbart News.

After pressure increased on Hunter Biden to divest from BHR Partners due to a conflict of interest upon Joe Biden assuming the White House, Hunter Biden’s lawyer told the New York Times in the fall of 2021 that his client “no longer holds any interest, directly or indirectly in either BHR or Skaneateles.”

Skaneateles LLC, the entity which owns ten percent of BHR Partners, according to Chinese public records from Baidu, was controlled by Hunter as the sole governor until its dissolution in September 2021, a Washington, DC, registration indicated. 

But new documents obtained by Breitbart News, first revealed by nonprofit Marco Polo, show the control of Skaneateles LLC is being held by Kevin Morris, Hunter’s top attorney, who also paid Hunter’s IRS debts.

In a document entitled, “AMENDED AND RESTATED JOINT VENTURE CONTRACT of BHR PARTNERS (SHANGHAI) EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND MANAGEMENT CO., LTD. A FOREIGN-FUNDED ENTERPRISE,” Kevin Morris is listed as the Managing Member of Skaneateles LLC.

The document shows Skaneateles LLC holds a ten percent stake in BHR Partners, equivalent to $3 million.

Breitbart News also obtained a copy of an email with the subject line, “Signing Instructions,” sent by a BHR Partners’ company email address from the name Heng-Yin Zhang to Jimmy Bulger, who is a Biden family longtime business partner. Hunter Biden previously was a BHR Partners board member with Bulger.

Bulger’s firm, Thornton Group LLC, is deeply connected with business in China. Thornton Group LLC is also listed in the agreement, the document shows.

“We have mailed you the documents for signing (Fedex tracking no.: 8137 6269 8141 0448). We would like to share with you the signing instructions of the documents in the order of their placements inside the envelope we send to you,” an email reads to Bulger from Heng-Yin Zhang, an individual with a BHR Partners’ email address. 

Breitbart News confirmed and authenticated the venture contract and the “Signing Instructions” email with a source with knowledge of the transaction. In addition, the source confirmed “Kevin Morris is the ‘managing partner’ of Skaneateles, LLC’ and that ‘Skaneateles has a 10 percent stake in the [BHR] venture.’” (Read more: Breitbart, 4/28/2023)  (Archive)

May 2, 2023 - Lawsuit against key speech silencers threatens to blow open the Censorship-Industrial Complex

The members of the Election Integrity Partnership and Virality Project conspired with government actors to censor speech at Big Tech companies in violation of the First Amendment, a class-action lawsuit filed on Tuesday alleges. The case, Hines v. Stamos, promises to blow open the Censorship-Industrial Complex.

Jim Hoft, founder of The Gateway Pundit, and Jill Hines, the co-director of Health Freedom Louisiana, a consumer and human rights advocacy organization, filed suit earlier today in a federal court in Louisiana against the organizations and individuals behind the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) and Virality Project, seeking to represent a class of similarly situated plaintiffs. The 88-page complaint alleged four claims against the defendants, all of whom held roles in the EIP and Virality Project’s efforts to censor the plaintiffs’ speech.

According to its website, the Election Integrity Partnership was formed in 2020 “between four of the nation’s leading institutions focused on understanding misinformation and disinformation in the social media landscape: the Stanford Internet Observatory, the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, Graphika, and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.” Then, in early 2021, the same four entities expanded their focus to address supposed Covid-19 “misinformation” on social media, calling the efforts the “Virality Project.”

The class-action lawsuit named as defendants Stanford Internet Observatory as well as the Leland Stanford Junior University and its board of trustees, the latter two of which are allegedly legally responsible for the observatory’s conduct. The complaint also named Alex Stamos, the director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, and Renée DiResta, its research manager. Plaintiffs also sued the Atlantic Council, the group’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, and the lab’s senior director, Graham Brookie, who is alleged to have played a “leading role in the censorship activities.”

The Allegations

Over the course of the nearly 90-page complaint, the plaintiffs alleged the defendants caused the censorship of Hines, Hoft, and other similarly situated individuals, based on their viewpoints related to the 2020 election and Covid-19. Significantly, the complaint also detailed the extensive connections between, and involvement with, the government and the individual defendants and private entities.

Those allegations indicate government actors helped coordinate the establishment of the EIP, funded its activities, and fed it complaints of supposed election and Covid disinformation and misinformation that the EIP then forwarded to the social media companies for censorship. The complaint also alleged the defendants viewed the EIP as a way to skirt the First Amendment and do for the government what the Constitution prohibited the government from doing for itself: censor speech.

Based on these allegations, the plaintiffs alleged in count one that the defendants conspired to violate the First Amendment. Count two alleged the defendants, while not government employees, were nonetheless acting “under color of State law,” and as such violated the First Amendment. The class-action complaint added two more state law claims, one based on the defendants’ alleged interference with the plaintiffs’ contractual and business relationships. The final claim alleged the defendants intentionally breached the duty they owed the plaintiffs “not to interfere unlawfully with their freedom, rights, and ability to speak, write, listen, read, and communicate freely on social media with others.” (Read more: The Federalist, 5/02/2023) (Archive)

May 3, 2023 - House and Senate GOP seek document from FBI alleging a pay-to-play bribery scheme involving then VP Joe Biden

House and Senate GOP investigators said Wednesday they have learned the FBI possesses a document alleging a pay-to-play bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden and have subpoenaed it in an explosive new twist in their long running corruption probe of the first family.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member and long-time whistleblower advocate Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said they learned of the document, known as FD-1023, from a whistleblower.

 Grassley – Comer letter.pdf

“We believe the FBI possesses an unclassified internal document that includes very serious and detailed allegations implicating the current President of the United States,” Grassley said. “What we don’t know is what, if anything, the FBI has done to verify these claims or investigate further. The FBI’s recent history of botching politically charged investigations demands close congressional oversight.”

Said Comer: “The information provided by a whistleblower raises concerns that then-Vice President Biden allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national. The American people need to know if President Biden sold out the United States of America to make money for himself. Senator Grassley and I will seek the truth to ensure accountability for the American people.”

 Comer Subpoena cover letter and Wray Subpoena 050322 (1).pdf

Comer said his committee issued a subpoena designed to compel the FBI to produce the memo. (Read more: Just the News, 5/03/2023)  (Archive)

May 3, 2023 - Epstein was an FBI source before his 2007 plea deal

Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest drew national attention, particularly focusing on a deal that allowed him to plead guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida and avoid more serious federal charges. | (Credit: Richard Drew/Associated Press)

Back in 2007, the Department of Justice gave Jeffrey Epstein a sweetheart deal that deferred prosecuting Epstein for federal offenses – including the interstate sex trafficking of minors and recruiting minors to engage in commercial sex acts – in exchange for Epstein pleading guilty to Florida state-level solicitation of prostitution and procurement charges.

The deal was shocking in both its timing and scope. It was made before the FBI had interviewed all of Epstein’s victims and before the FBI had seized Epstein’s computers.

It immunized Epstein’s known and unknown co-conspirators who were credibly accused of trafficking and abusing minors, a rare and troubling agreement you will not find in any other federal non-prosecution agreement:

“if Epstein successfully fulfills all of the terms and conditions of this agreement, the United States also agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, or Nadia Marcinkova.”

And it implicated both the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida (Alex Acosta) and Main Justice in Washington, D.C., which approved of the plea deal, delayed the grand jury, and stopped victims from being notified of the agreement in violation of federal law.

Adding to the intrigue were the words of Alex Acosta, the then-US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida who gave Epstein his non-prosecution agreement. According to the Daily Beast:

Acosta cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein’s attorneys because he had “been told” to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade. “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone.”

Then we discovered (in 2018) that Epstein had been informing the FBI way back in 2008 after his plea deal with the DOJ had been signed.  In the FBI’s words: “Epstein has also provided information to the FBI as agreed upon.”

That raised a red flag, and caused us to suspect that Epstein’s relationship with the FBI went back further than 2008. So we demanded all of Epstein interviews from the FBI. The FBI didn’t deny these records existed; instead, it hid behind the FOIA law enforcement exemption.

Good news – we have defeated that exemption, at least partially. In doing so, we have uncovered records concerning Epstein’s history as a source for the FBI. And it dates back before his 2007 plea deal.

Here’s what we can confirm: Epstein’s history of cooperation with the FBI goes as far back as 2002. We have the summary of his FBI interview – the 302 – in which he reported financial fraud from concerning a potential telecommunications investor. (Read more: Techno Fog/Substack, 5/03/2023)  (Archive)

May 4, 2023 - How Corrupt Is Our Current Situation? It’s Worse Than Most Can Fathom…

Everything that preceded the 2020 federal election was a complex system of control by a network of ideologues, federal agencies, allies in the private sector, financial stakeholders and corrupt interests all working toward a common goal.  There’s no need to go through the background of how the election was manipulated and how the government and private sector, specifically social media, worked to influence the 2020 outcome because you have all seen it.

Whether it was local election officials working to control outcomes, federal agencies working to support them (CISA, FBI, DHS), financial interests working to fund them (Zuckerberg et al), or social media platforms controlling the visible content and discussion (Twitter Files, Google, Facebook etc.), the objective was all the same.  It was a massive one-sided operation against the freewill of the American voter.

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, those same system operators, govt officials, corporate media, private sector groups and social media platforms then circled the wagons to scatter the evidence of their conduct.  If you questioned anything you were a threat.  That’s the context to the dynamic that unfolded.

Lawfare operatives joined forces with Democrat staffers, and allies in social media platforms all worked in concert to target the voices of anyone who would rise in opposition to the corruption that was stunningly clear in the outcome of the election process.  Corporate media then labeled, isolated, ridiculed and marginalized anyone who dared to point out the obvious.

When AG Merrick Garland says this of January 6, 2021: (…) “the Justice Department has conducted one of the largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in our history. We have worked to analyze massive amounts of physical and digital data. We have recovered devices, decrypted electronic messages, triangulated phones, and pored through tens of thousands of hours of video. We have also benefited from tens of thousands of tips we received from the public. Following these digital and physical footprints, we were able to identify hundreds of people.” {link} The targeting operation needs context.

Do you remember on April 27th when DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz recently said, “more than 3.4 million search queries into the NSA database took place between Dec. 1st, 2020 and Nov. 30th, 2021, by government officials and/or contractors working on behalf of the federal government.”  The result was “more than 1 million searches of private documents and communication of Americans that were illegal and non-compliant,” and over “10,000 federal employees have access to that database.” {OIG Testimony}.

Put the statement from Garland together with the statement from Horowitz, and you get an understanding of what was done.

Hundreds of stakeholders in the Lawfare network joined forces with hundreds of people who became staff researchers for a weaponized Congress.  Hundreds more social media background agents then poured thousands of hours into feeding private information to the DOJ, FBI, J6 Committee and all of their hired staff working on the project.

How do I know?

I was one of their targets.

Before telling the rest of the story, some background is needed.

I am well versed in the ways of the administrative state and the corrupt systems, institutions and silos that make up our weaponized government. I can (a) see them; (b) predict their activity; and (c) know where their traps and operations are located.

Traveling the deep investigative weeds of the administrative state eventually gives you a set of skills.  When people ask how the outlines on this website can seem so far ahead of the sunlight that eventually falls upon the outlined corruption, this is essentially why.  When you take these skills on the road, you learn to be a free-range scout, and after a long while you learn how to track the activity.

When I was outlining how the Fourth Branch of Government works and/or Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop and the DHS system operating inside it, I wasn’t shooting from the hip. However, people will always seek to dismiss the uncomfortable truth.

Sometimes you just have to wait for the evidence you know exists to surface, or for a situation to unfold that is driven by a self-fulfilling prophecy. The bizarre CTH predictions turn out to be the truth of the issue because they are based on the factual evidence of the issue.

That level of how the system works came in very handy when I received this subpoena from Chairman Bennie Thompson and the J6 Committee.  Warning, things are about to get very uncomfortable if you don’t accept the scale of corruption that exists.

Pay attention to the red box on the page shown. This is essentially the probable cause that justifies the subpoena itself.  I have redacted a name in the box for reasons you will see that follow.

I was never in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, nor did I work with or communicate with anyone who was involved in any of the activities that are subject to the J6 committee investigative authority.

I’m going to skip a lot of background noise, irrelevant legal stuff, jurisdictional issues, discoveries from discussions with lawyers and the experience gained in association with this ridiculous subpoena.  I am going to focus on the biggest story within it.

Sticking to the information in the Red Box above, notice how the J6 committee has evidence, “public-source information and documents on file”, showing my participation, communication, and contact with people and technology that are material interests to the committee.

Here’s the kicker…. I had no clue what the hell they were talking about.  There’s not a single aspect of their outline that I had any knowledge or connection of.

I had no idea what Zello was. I had no idea who 1% watchdog might be. I had never heard of “Stop the Steal J6” or associated “channel.”  I had never heard of the person redacted, and I had never communicated with any Oath Keeper, any communication system, or platform, or anyone or anything – nothing – that is outlined in that subpoena.

Those points of evidence outlined in the subpoena had no connection to me at all.

The subpoena might as well have been asking me to appear in Michigan because my Red Ferrari was involved in a hit and run accident, during my trip to Detroit.  I don’t own a Ferrari; I have never been to Michigan; I certainly never had an accident; I wasn’t on a trip and have never visited Detroit.  The entire construct of their probable cause for the subpoena was silly. Complete and utter nonsense.

That said, how could there be “public records” and “documentary” evidence of something that never happened?

At first, I thought this was some silly case of mistaken identity and they just sent a subpoena to the wrong person.  However, the investigators were adamant the evidence existed, and the need for testimony was required.

After taking advice from several smart people, and after discovering the costs associated with just the reply to the committee and/or representation therein; suddenly I realized there might be more value for me in this subpoena than the committee.  After all, how can there be public-records and documents that I own a red Ferrari and went to Michigan when I don’t and never did.

After several back and forths I discovered, through their admissions of their own research, and through documents they extracted as an outcome of their tasks to prove the merit of their claims, that someone *inside* Twitter had created a fictitious identity of me associated with the networks and communications as the investigators described them.

Think about what was discovered here.

Someone inside the Twitter platform, an employee of Twitter, had made a decision to target me. As a result: (a) they had been doing this for a long time with a specific goal in mind; and (b) they created an elaborate trail of background activity and identity that was entirely fabricated.

Eventually, my assigned investigative unit admitted this.

Once, the federal investigators realized what took place they wanted to get rid of me -and my snark filled curiosity- with great urgency.

They also had an ‘oh shit’ moment, when they contemplated everything, including what they had revealed to me from the outset of my contact, now several months prior.

What I discovered in this experience was that DHS, and by extension DOJ/FBI and the January 6 investigators, had direct administrative level backdoors into all social media platforms.

Overlay the Twitter files now, and then expand your thinking….

In their quest to prove that I owned a Red Ferrari, traveled to Michigan and had a hit-and-run accident, these investigators outlined to me how the United States Government, through their DHS authority, has employees, agents and contractors with open portals into all social media platforms.

Yes, the federal government is inside the mechanics of the systems (Twitter, Facebook, Meta, Instagram, Google, YouTube, WhatsApp, Zello, etc) and they have administrative access in real time to monitor, review, extract and evaluate everything, soup-to-nuts.

It was only because the investigators and forensic data knuckleheads have these portals, that they were able to locate the source of the fabricated evidence they were originally attributing to me.  This was an investigative process and research discovery being conducted in the data processing systems of Twitter in real time as they questioned me.

Once they realized what had taken place, and as soon as I started asking how they were making these admissions (now carrying an apologetic certainty), suddenly the investigators wanted no further contact or communication with me.  You’re good, whoopsie daisy, our bad, sorry.

Now, take some time to fully digest and absorb what I have just shared.

The U.S. government is worried about TikTok, because U.S. citizen data might be extracted?

Meanwhile, the U.S. government, at a fully unrestricted administrative level, is inside Twitter, Facebook, Meta, Insta, YouTube etc., running amok and extracting anything – including private messages… and they’re somehow worried about protecting us from TikTok data collection.  Think about it.

(Conservative Treehouse, 5/4/2023)  (Archive)