Following Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein’s testimony to the House Judiciary Committee CTH has been mostly quiet on issues surrounding SpyGate and the DOJ/FBI corruption investigations. The reason was/is: during the Rosenstein testimony something became obvious.

In mid 2017 the DOJ-NSD small group executed a strategy to continue their Insurance Policy efforts; the FISC was a critical component and Rosenstein was a participant, wittingly or unwittingly, in the outcome. More on that will follow later.

However, today, the downstream consequences from the Rosenstein revelations, missed by almost all who follow the details closely, begin to surface. This is going to take a great deal of explanation; and believe me – there is no fun in writing this outline.

FLAK ♦It starts with a seemingly ‘out-of-nowhere’ tweet from President Donald Trump about the NSA and a data purge. This tweet was actually anticipated; or, well, at least a few of us were looking for a signal that would confirm the ramifications to Rosensteins’ earlier testimony.

Remember, the NSA and FBI database abuse is at the heart of the FISA abuse story:

It might seem disconnected, but this tweet is directly in line with a finding from within Rosenstein’s testimony about the FISA application he signed (against Carter Page).

In 2015 and 2016 the FBI, DOJ (and approved “contractors” therein), were using FISA-702(16) “To/From” and (17) “About” database queries as tools to conduct political opposition research. In a FISA court ruling, declassified in April 2017, the DOJ National Security Division and NSA admitted more than 85% of the prior searches were unauthorized. [FISA Court Ruling – Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer]

NSA Director Mike Rogers had shut out “contractor access” in April of 2016; and in October 2016 he stopped allowing FISA-702 (17) “About Queries” entirely. There was no identifiable process which could be put into place to stop the human factor from abusing the process.

Later in 2017, as a result of the 2016 NSA compliance audit; and as a result of admitting no system change could stop future abuse; and immediately following the FISA Court opinion on the abuse; NSA Director Mike Rogers made an official statement ending the FISA-702(17) “about” search process completely. Within the statement:

[…] After considerable evaluation of the program and available technology, NSA has decided that its Section 702 foreign intelligence surveillance activities will no longer include any upstream internet communications that are solely “about” a foreign intelligence target. Instead, this surveillance will now be limited to only those communications that are directly “to” or “from” a foreign intelligence target. These changes are designed to retain the upstream collection that provides the greatest value to national security while reducing the likelihood that NSA will acquire communications of U.S. persons or others who are not in direct contact with one of the Agency’s foreign intelligence targets. In addition, as part of this curtailment, NSA will delete the vast majority of previously acquired upstream internet communications as soon as practicable. NSA previously reported that, because of the limits of its current technology, it is unable to completely eliminate “about” communications from its upstream 702 collection without also excluding some of the relevant communications directly “to or from” its foreign intelligence targets. That limitation remains even today. Nonetheless, NSA has determined that in light of the factors noted, this change is a responsible and careful approach at this time. (link – and read more)

Obviously with the tweet today from President Trump reflects this purge. The NSA continues to inappropriately capture phone calls and communications of U.S. citizens within its network.

POTUS Trump, and his campaign, having been victims to the abuse of the database, has an aversion to allowing warrant-less NSA communications captures; yet understands the importance of data collection as a tool for national security. The intelligence apparatus wants to keep all FISA processes as tools; however, the executive branch is in a tenuous position if those tools are abused.

CHAFF ♦ The second related event that surfaced today was the replacement of Scott Schools.

Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he will be appointing Bradley Weinsheimer as Acting Associate Deputy Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice. Weinsheimer will replace Scott Schools, who is leaving on July 6th to take a position in the private sector after close to two decades of service in the Department of Justice. Weinsheimer will began serving as Acting Associate Deputy Attorney General upon Schools’ departure. In this position he will have no role in overseeing the Special Counsel. “Scott Schools has been a fabulous lawyer for the Department of Justice for close to twenty years, rising through the ranks at the Department to become our most senior career attorney,” said Attorney General Sessions. “He has served with distinction in several positions in the Department, including as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, the U.S. Attorney for South Carolina and the Northern District of California, and as an Associate Deputy Attorney General. Scott has provided invaluable leadership and counsel in his years at the Department, and his service is an example to all. He will be greatly missed, and I wish him the best in his future endeavors.” (read more)

As @almostjingo points out: Scott Schools authorized Robert Mueller (link) Scott Schools delivered Page/Strzok text messages to Horowitz [He could also filter them] (link) Scott Schools was a decision-maker in Jeff Sessions recusal (link). The guy is all over the DOJ aspects to the issues surrounding prior conduct.

Scott Schools looks to have been a key player; a careerist within the DOJ who was likely part of the internal self-preservation system. A defensive position for the interests of the Main Justice “small group” who were engaged in all of the political activity.

COUNTERMEASURES ♦ The third related event is a release of a report by Richard Burr and Mark Warner from the highly corrupt Senate Intelligence Committee.

Those of you who have been around a while might remember this exact playbook from the Benghazi corruption scandal. Remember when HPSCI Chairman Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger report. I don’t like cussing for a whole bunch of reasons, but I’ll be damned if the similarities to 2014 are not jaw dropping [SEE HERE]

For the 2018 version, Deep State Richard Burr and Deep State Mark Warner team up with the Deep State Senate Intelligence Committee to produce a report that tries to make the 2015/2016 [Brennan/Clapper/Comey] Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA).

The Committee has concluded an in-depth review of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) produced by CIA, NSA, and FBI in January of 2017 on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election (Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections; declassified version released January 6, 2017) and have initial findings to share with the American people. • The ICA was a seminal intelligence product with significant policy implications. In line with its historical role, the Committee had a responsibility to conduct an in-depth review of the document. • In conducting its examination, the Committee reviewed thousands of pages of source documents and conducted interviews with all the relevant parties – including agency heads, managers, and line analysts – who were involved in developing the analysis and drafting the assessment. • The Committee is preparing a comprehensive, classified report detailing our conclusions regarding the ICA on Russian activities. That report, when complete, will be submitted for a classification review, and the unclassified version will be released to the public.

Senators Burr and Warner, both gang-of-eight members, are attempting to bolster manufactured lies from the Obama administration about Russian election interference in an almost identical way that Rogers and Ruppersberger, also former gang-of-eight members, were bolstering manufactured lies from the Obama administration about the precipitating events in Benghazi. The parallels and similarities around both sets of reports are spooky.

Here’s the nonsense from Burr and Warner:

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This is getting too long, so I’m cutting it off here and will write a Part II with a specific breakdown of the Rod Rosenstein testimony and how it overlays all of these issues and highlights a predictable DC end to this entire investigative outcome.