Things are getting increasingly interesting and simultaneously obvious. Thursday night the Washington Post reported that FBI Director Christopher Wray had relieved FBI Chief Legal Counsel, James Baker, of his responsibilities within the department.

Attorney James Baker accompanied FBI Asst. Director “Andy” McCabe to the Tuesday congressional hearing with the House Intelligence Community. Curiously, in addition to other lines of inquiry, during the questioning McCabe was asked about whether James Baker was authorized to speak to the media about the Steele Dossier and the underlying ‘counterintelligence’ operation. Asst. Director McCabe responded that Baker would not be authorized to take such action.

Following the HPSCI hearing, republican committee leadership announced their plan to subpoena James Baker for further questioning. [Keep in mind Baker was there.] Two days later, at the Thursday Judiciary and Oversight Committee hearings, James Baker did not accompany Andrew McCabe. Hours later, James Baker is removed from his responsibilities as legal counsel within the FBI. Cause: ‘unknown‘.

Back in July, 2017, it was reported that James Baker was under a criminal investigation for leaking classified information from within the FBI, although the details of the leak content were unknown. Politico today reports that James Baker has been identified as the likely source that released information about the Fusion-GPS/Christopher Steele “Russian Conspiracy Dossier” to David Corn of Mother Jones in October of 2016:

(Via Politico) House Republicans are investigating contact between the FBI’s top lawyer and a Mother Jones reporter in the weeks before the left-leaning outlet broke the first news story about the existence of a disputed dossier alleging ties between President Donald Trump and the Kremlin, according to two congressional GOP sources who described documents linking the two men. The GOP sources said the documents — made available recently to lawmakers by the Department of Justice — revealed that James Baker, the FBI’s general counsel, communicated with Mother Jones reporter David Corn in the weeks leading up to the November 2016 election. Corn was the first to report the existence of the dossier on Oct. 31 and that it was compiled by a former high-level western spy.

[…] Corn’s story indicated direct contact with Steele: “[A] former senior intelligence officer for a Western country who specialized in Russian counterintelligence tells Mother Jones that in recent months he provided the bureau with memos, based on his recent interactions with Russian sources, contending the Russian government has for years tried to co-opt and assist Trump — and that the FBI requested more information from him,” he reported. Corn then added that a “senior U.S. government official not involved in this case but familiar with the former spy,” told him that the agent “has been a credible source with a proven record of providing reliable, sensitive, and important information to the U.S. government.” The news of Baker’s reassignment came just days after congressional Republicans began asking questions about his contacts with media. (read more)

A couple of interesting points to remember here.

♦Less than a week after the July 2017 report of the investigation of James Baker, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats instructed Asst. DOJ AG Rod Rosenstein to create a new special unit inside the FBI and DOJ to target intelligence leaks.

04:30 …”The FBI has created a new counterintelligence unit to manage these [leak] cases”… 08:17 …”these National Security breaches do not just originate from within the Intelligence Community. They come from a wide range of sources within the government, including the Congress.”…

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Two days later, Sunday August 6th, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein reiterated he was going to follow through on the investigative demand of AG Sessions and DNI Coats and again referenced a “new counterintelligence division within the FBI”.

00:50 …“we’re responding appropriately. We’re going to devote more resources, re-evaluate our procedures and make sure we investigate every one of those leaks in an appropriate way.”… 1:07 “We have seen a surge in referrals (of leaks). We’ve seen an increase in the number of leaks. And we’re going to respond appropriately and try to establish an effective deterrent. Criminal prosecution isn’t the only way to prevent leaks but it’s an important part of the solution.”… 1:43 “That significant increase has necessitated an increase in resources. And so we have re-prioritized our cases within the National Security Division, we’re providing appropriate supervision at a high level, we’ve created a new unit within the FBI to focus on those leaks, and we’re going to devote whatever resources are necessary to get them under control.”…

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♦All indications are that James Baker was/is part of the FBI/DOJ “small group”, the co-conspirators behind the 2016 plan to assist Hillary Clinton with her email investigation. James Baker was one of the participants in the wording of the highly dubious exoneration script read by FBI Director James Comey:

Following the successful operation to cover for Hillary Clinton in the email investigation. The FBI/DOJ “small group” moved on to create the 2016 FBI counterintelligence operation known as the “Trump Project”.

The “Trump Project” was a thinly veiled political spying operation monitoring and wiretapping candidate Donald Trump with the use of weaponized FBI and DOJ FISA warrants.

April 2016: •Mary Jacoby, wife of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, visits the White House. •The Clinton Campaign and DNC then hire Fusion GPS to conduct ‘Opposition Research’, with a Russian emphasis. •Fusion GPS then hires Nellie Ohr who specializes in Russian-centric counterintelligence. •Nellie Ohr then contacts MI6 agent Christopher Steele to write a Russian Dossier. A month later, May 2016: Nellie Ohr’s husband inside the DOJ, Bruce Ohr, is then working with FBI counterintelligence head Peter Strzok. •The same month Strozk and the “small group” are crafting the exoneration letter. •By June 2016: Peter Strzok, Bruce Ohr and DOJ Attorney Lisa Page then apply for the first FISA warrant. •In July 2016 the official counterintelligence operation “The Trump Project” begins.

However, in the aftermath of the election they didn’t expect to lose, the “small group” behind the politicized operations shifted their efforts toward creating the Special Counsel Mueller Investigation, many of them remain there today.

James Baker is a key. As a known friend and confidant of both James Comey, Andrew McCabe and Robert Mueller, Baker would have been one of the primary FBI investigative and legal resources used to guide and assist the Special Counsel with who to place on his team. The goal of the “small group” was/is to shield their prior activity from sunlight.

As time has progressed, and the plot details have become evident, it is increasingly clear the entire purpose of creating Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe was not to investigate some nefarious Russian election interference; but rather with a Trump victory the same people who weaponized the FBI and DOJ to conduct the “Trump Project” needed control. The “small group” needed a shield or firewall to protect them from sunlight. The Mueller probe is that shield.

Those who are seeking answers to the most critical questions are now running into the officials within the scheme using the Mueller probe as a defensive shield so they do not have to answer investigative questions from congress. This motive is now the primary purpose and benefit of the Mueller probe.

With hindsight it is now clear why the Democrats, the intelligence operatives, and their media allies were so adamant a Special Counsel probe be initiated. They planned to use Mueller’s investigation as a shield all along.

This purpose is why those behind the Obama administration, the “small group” plot, the network of co-conspirators and their allies in the media, are demanding the Mueller probe remain untouched.

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RESOURCES:

IG Stimulated Releases of Information:

♦Release #1 was the FBI Agent Strzok and Attorney Lisa Page story; and the repercussions from discovering their politically motivated bias in the 2015/2016 Clinton email investigation and 2016/2017 Russian Election investigation.

♦Release #2 outlined the depth of FBI Agent Strzok and FBI Attorney Page’s specific history in the 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton to include the changing of the wording [“grossly negligent” to “extremely careless”] of the probe outcome delivered by FBI Director James Comey.

♦Release #3 was the information about DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr being in contact with Fusion GPS at the same time as the FISA application was submitted and granted by the FISA court; which authorized surveillance and wiretapping of candidate Donald Trump; that release also attached Bruce Ohr and Agent Strzok directly to the Steele Dossier.

♦Release #4 was information that Deputy Bruce Ohr’s wife, Nellie Ohr, was an actual contract employee of Fusion GPS, and was hired by F-GPS specifically to work on opposition research against candidate Donald Trump. Both Bruce Ohr and Nellie Ohr are attached to the origin of the Christopher Steele Russian Dossier.

♦Release #5 was the specific communication between FBI Agent Strzok and FBI Attorney Page. The 10,000 text messages that included evidence of them both meeting with Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe to discuss the “insurance policy” against candidate Donald Trump in August of 2016.

Those seeking to expose the conspiracy include: Inspector General Michael Horowitz (OIG), Attorney General Jeff Sessions (DOJ), FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Another video interview today worth watching: