A federal grand jury in Washington, DC, under the authority Special Counsel Robert Mueller, approved charges Friday against 13 Russian nationals for offenses related to the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.
The defendants are all alleged to be part of the “Internet Research Agency,” a company the indictment alleges is based in St. Petersburg, Russia, and operates through a number of front organizations with the aim on influencing American elections, Breitbart reports.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller’s special counsel investigation, announced the indictment at the main Department of Justice building in Washington, DC.

“There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity,” Rosenstein said. “There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.”

Special Counsel’s Office spokesman Peter Carr described the indictment as covering “13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities accused of violating U.S. criminal laws in order to interfere with U.S. elections and political processes.”

The group is alleged to have spent years, back to at least 2014, building a social media following of hundreds of thousands by playing off of existing divisions and sympathies in the American political landscape. When 2016 rolled around, the groups operatives are alleged to have disparaged Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio, and used its influence to support Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

As Rosenstein explained, the goal of the alleged conspiracy is not as simple as supporting one candidate. The conspirators are alleged to have held rallies for and against president-elect Donald Trump on the same day in November, 2016.

“After the election, the defendants allegedly staged rallies to support the president-elect, while simultaneously staging rallies to protest his election,” Rosenstein told reporters. “For example, the defendant organized one rally to support the president-elect and another rally to oppose him, both in New York, on the same day.”

The indictment strongly implies links to the Kremlin. Over $1 million in rubles is alleged to have been funneled into the conspiracy through sources like “Concord Catering,” a company with significant contracts with the Russian government. http://www.breitbart.com/big-governme...

Editor's Note: What does this tell you about the piece of crap Mueller? Knowingly forcing Flynn to plead guilty to something he didn't do just to create the appearance of some progress in going after Trump. The ONLY REASON Flynn plead guilty was to protect his son, who Mueller used to coerce the guilty plea and because Mueller was bleeding him dry financially. Sickening.

by Byron York
The Washington Examiner

In March 2017, then-FBI Director James Comey briefed a number of Capitol Hill lawmakers on the Trump-Russia investigation. One topic of intense interest was the case of Michael Flynn, the Trump White House national security adviser who resigned under pressure on Feb. 13 after just 24 days in the job.

There were widespread reports that Flynn had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about telephone conversations that he, Flynn, had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition in late December 2016. On Jan. 24, 2017, two of Comey's FBI agents went to the White House to question Flynn, and there was a lot of speculation later that Flynn lied in that interview, which would be a serious crime.

"The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy," the Washington Post reported in February. "Lying to the FBI is a felony offense."

There was also a lot of concern in Congress, at least among Republicans, about the leak of the wiretapped Flynn-Kislyak conversation. Such intelligence is classified at the highest level of secrecy, yet someone — Republicans suspected Obama appointees in the Justice Department and intelligence community — revealed it to the press.

So in March, lawmakers wanted Comey to tell them what was up. And what they heard from the director did not match what they were hearing in the media.

According to two sources familiar with the meetings, Comey told lawmakers that the FBI agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe that Flynn had lied to them, or that any inaccuracies in his answers were intentional. As a result, some of those in attendance came away with the impression that Flynn would not be charged with a crime pertaining to the Jan. 24 interview.

Nine months later, with Comey gone and special counsel Robert Mueller in charge of the Trump-Russia investigation, Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the FBI in that Jan. 24 questioning.

What happened? With Flynn awaiting sentencing — that was recently delayed until at least May — some lawmakers are trying to figure out what occurred between the time Comey told Congress the FBI did not believe Flynn lied and the time, several months later, when Flynn pleaded guilty to just that.

None of those congressional investigators has an answer; they're baffled by the turn of events. But they know they find the Flynn case troubling, from start to finish.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes appears on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo for an extensive interview discussing the ongoing investigation into the DOJ, FBI and State Department; and their collaboration with the Hillary Clinton campaign to weaponize political opposition research in the 2016 election.

Chairman Nunes describes how the Democrats on the HPSCI put classified information into their memo intentionally in an effort to create political benefit; and now refuse to redact and release their own work product.

Chairman Devin Nunes keeps a big picture focus while also describing how corrupt officials within the DOJ and FBI continued to use the “Title-1” surveillance warrant in 2017 to monitor and track all of the communication between Carter Page and congress. In essence, the ‘small group’ within the DOJ and FBI were likely spying on the congressional investigation into their own unlawful activity. 

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released a majority staff report Wednesday titled “The Clinton Email Scandal And The FBI’s Investigation Of It,” along with text messages between two agents that shed light on the investigation. The report details the congressional investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s involvement with their investigation of Secretary Clinton’s private server.

The report outlines how information available to the committee at this time raises serious questions about how the FBI applied the rule of law in its investigation. The majority staff report found that:

• The FBI did not use a grand jury to compel testimony and obtain the vast majority of evidence, choosing instead to offer immunity deals and allow fact witnesses to join key interviews.

• There were substantial edits to former FBI Director James Comey’s public statement that served to downplay the severity of Secretary Clinton’s actions, and that the first draft of the memo was distributed for editing two months before key witnesses were interviewed.

• Director Comey stated that he had not consulted with the Justice Department or White House, when text messages among FBI agents involved in the investigation suggest otherwise. Two key investigators discuss an “insurance policy” against the “risk” of a Trump presidency, and “OUR task.”

• Messages discuss “unfinished business,” “an investigation leading to impeachment,”

• and “my gut sense and concern there’s no big .” The messages strongly underscore the need to obtain still-missing text messages and other information regarding the FBI’s actions and investigations into the Clinton email scandal and Russian involvement in the November 2016 election.there there

• Senior FBI officials—likely including Deputy Director Andrew McCabe— knew about newly discovered emails on a laptop belonging to former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner for almost a month before Director Comey notified Congress.
•  

The full report can be found here.

The FBI text messages can be found here.

The letters Chairman Johnson has sent to various agencies and source documents can be found here.

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton, Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett and former U.S. attorney Joe DiGenova reacts to newly released FBI text messages on 'Hannity.'

This is a very concise and clear explanation of the implications of the Nunes FISA memo.

Download the 4-Page Nunes FISA Memo.

Download the 99-Page FISA Court Memorandum and Order which is the document that provides the basis for the 4-Page Intel Committee Meno.

A controversial memo that shows alleged U.S. government surveillance abuses is a "devastating blow" to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, according to Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

The memo, which was released on Friday by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, contains a number of allegations, including that the FBI and Justice Department relied on the infamous anti-Trump dossier to secure FISA surveillance warrants to spy on at least one member of the Trump team.

On "Outnumbered Overtime," Fitton said if that's true, then that means there would be no Mueller investigation without the unverified dossier, which was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) revealed Friday that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee would examine other agencies, including the State Department, after releasing a controversial memo alleging surveillance abuses.

Speaking on Fox News just hours after Republicans on the committee released a memo alleging surveillance abuses by the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ), Nunes said the panel was moving to “phase two” of its investigation.

“We are in the middle of what I call phase two of our investigation, which involves other departments, specifically the State Department and some of the involvement that they had in this,” Nunes said.

“That investigation is ongoing and we continue work towards finding answers and asking the right questions to try to get to the bottom of what exactly the State Department was up to in terms of this Russia investigation.”

by Mandy Mayfield
WashingtonExaminer.com

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., called for the criminal prosecution of multiple former FBI and Justice Department officials after the release Friday of the Republican memo about surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser.

Gosar said in a statement posted to Twitter Friday that he will be co-authoring a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeking the "criminal prosecution" of former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for their "illegal misconduct and abuse of FISA."

"I will be leading a letter to the Attorney General seeking criminal prosecution against these traitors to our nation," Gosar said in a statement.

The House Intelligence Committee released the memo on Friday after voting to declassify it. President Trump approved the release, which he had the power to block.

The memo was compiled by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and other Republican lawmakers, and explains how FBI and DOJ officials depended on information from a dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to obtain and renew a warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Gosar said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that the former director and deputy FBI director, and two former deputy attorneys general "have made a mockery of the FBI."

"This is precisely why I voted no on the FISA Reauthorization," Gosar added.

Congressional Republicans are saying the memo proves the anti-Trump bias of the Justice Department during their investigation into Russian election meddling. Democrats say the memo is missing important context, gets certain details wrong and otherwise paints a misleading picture of the investigation.

"Congressman Gosar applauds President Trump's decision to declassify the memo, and he demands swift justice," Faith Vander Voort, spokeswoman for Gosar told the Washington Examiner.