Can Comey have an attorney client privilege with Fitzgerald or his first attorney if he gave them classified information?

I agree. But Trump is our President and there are very,very few people that have the ability to deal with the anarchists.

The real question in all this, with the new revelation that the "best friend" is now a covert unpaid agent under the premise as an SGE with full access, is whether or not Comey had the permission to pass government work product off and even have it in his personal possession once he was fired. Regardless if the "best friend/lawyer/007" has clearance or not. Comey was a civilian with stolen documents.

I'm certain he was asked to return all work product upon termination. Unauthorized copes is a crime. 18 USC 1924a (same thing Petraeus was prosecuted for.) or 18 USC 793f Was Daniel Richman's unfettered access contingent to Comey being director? Or was he a true agent. Don't forget Paula Broadwell was a US Army Intelligence Officer, an American writer, academic, and anti-terrorism professional. She had clearance too.

Horowitz needs to step it up.

And Sessions should be okay to work on this since it's not a campaign issue, just a criminal act

Comey's screwed either way, unless there is some immunity agreement out there somewhere. I seriously doubt there is now, after all of the media he has done. No prosecutor worth their salt would ever allow that to happen without rescinding the immunity.

He described Richman as a "friend," not his attorney, not a person in anyway affiliated with the FBI. Seems to me he omitted something pretty damn important from his rehearsed story for the Senate committee. AFTER he had already been in consultation with Mueller.

More and more you can see that these SOB's are experts at lying by omission. " Omission is the most powerful form of lie " -------- George Orwell

aggiehawg said:

---

drcrinum said:

---

Two immediate thoughts:

1) Richman could now be in big trouble -- he's no longer just a friend, he's implicated as a government employee mishandling/leaking classified materials...an accomplice in criminal behavior.

2) I wonder if Richman ever performed 702 Queries at the FBI? I think someone needs to find out if Richman was also a friend of Glenn Simpson at Fusion GPS or the former FBI chap at Crowdstrike.

---

Number 2 is highly unlikely.

Number 1 earns him jail time. Well maybe not, because Hillary will get him to a country with no extradition treaty,

---

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/04/25/curiouser-and-curiouser-james-comey-leak-recipient-daniel-richman-had-special-access-to-fbi-databases/

Quote:

---

...

Quote:

---

"I did indeed have SGE status with the Bureau (for no pay)," Richman wrote in an email.
Richman emerged last year as the former FBI director's contact for leaking memos documenting his private discussions with President Trump memos that are now the subject of an inspector general review over the presence of classified material. Sources familiar with Richman's status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to "special projects" by Comey, and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building. Richman's status was the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding. (read more)

---

Wait, let's look at something here. From the article the benefits included: "Sources familiar with Richman's status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to "special projects" by Comey, and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building. Richman's status was the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding."

A few paragraphs later, this: "Richman's portfolio included the use of encrypted communications by terror suspects."

Oh my. Well, well, well You see what's being described here. There's only one way to gain access to "encrypted communications" and that means having access to the FBI and NSA database.

Accepting he obviously had such access. what would be the probability that Daniel Richman was one of these?

---

The Conservative Tree House is suspicious of the same thing that I am. Comey is a deep dark plotter. I wonder if he is friends with Steele, not to mention other chaps in UK Intel like Hannigan & Dearlove.

Didn't she also say that The memos didn't just go to Richman, but possibly Fitz as well?

Strange if true, since Comey didn't mention that during his testimony

mrad85 said:

---

Didn't she also say that The memos didn't just go to Richman, but possibly Fitz as well?

Strange if true, since Comey didn't mention that during his testimony

---

Yeah. Heard that, too.

Number 1: FBI have their own in-house lawyers not to mention unfettered access to DOJ lawyers.

Number 2: Comey himself is a lawyer.

So why the need for outside lawyers to weigh in on these matters?

This isn't Hank Paulson calling Warren Buffet to pick his brain during the financial crisis in 2008. This is more an admission that Comey wasn't getting the feedback he wanted from his usual legal sources. Took matters into his own hands. Without authority to do, I might add.

Good ole Louie Gohmert just absolutely went full yard on Robert Mueller with an epic 48-Page diatribe

MUST READ




https://www.scribd.com/document/377409983/Gohmert-Mueller-UNMASKED#from_embed

Well HELLO Rudy

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-reopens-negotiations-about-presidential-interview-with-mueller-but-cautions-special-counsel-that-trump-remains-resistant/2018/04/25/91ce79de-48a1-11e8-9072-f6d4bc32f223_story.html

Quote:

---

Giuliani reopens negotiations about presidential interview with Mueller, but cautions SC that President remains Resistant

---

Comey just said he gave his memos to three lawyers "on my legal team." That it was "just for advice." Also claimed they didn't give them to anyone else...guess he forgot about the NYT.


ETA: Why did Comey need a three outside lawyer legal team? Because he knew he was planning to subvert the President?

Richman was only given privileges at the FBI in 2015-Feb 2017 according the KellyAnne Conway.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/04/25/comey-memos-likely-shared-with-former-us-attorney-patrick-fitzgerald-sources-say.html

This gets better and better: Patrick Fitzgerald is named in the Strzok-Page text messages:

Quote:

---

On March 18, 2016, Strzok wrote -- "Thought of the perfect person D (Director Comey) can bounce this off of."
Page: "Who?"
Strzok: "Pat (redacted) You gotta give me credit if we go with him. (redacted) And delay briefing him on until I can get back and do it. Late next week or later."
Page: "We talked about him last night, not for this, but how great he is. He's in private practice though, right? Suppose you could still bring him back. And yes, I'll hold."
Strozk identifies Fitzgerald's law firm as "Skadden in Chicago", and then continues "Don't forget that Dad Comey appointed him as special counsel in the Plame matter, and that he was there for Comey's investiture. I could work with him again (redacted) And damn we'd get sh*t DONE.
Page: "I know. Like I said, we discussed boss and him yesterday."

---

Comey likely leaked the memos to Fitzgerald as well, and Fitzgerald works for Skadden Arps!

How can he represent Comey when he will be a witness and maybe even an accomplice?

RoscoePColtrane said:

---

The web of conflicts in this thing is unlike ever seen before.

---

Actually, it's probably always been there but the Trump admin is the first to shine the spotlight on the swamp, mostly self inflicted by swamp critters themselves.

Decent read on Dossier #2

Quote:

---

A copy of the little-publicized second dossier in the Trump-Russia affair, acquired by RealClearInvestigations, raises new questions about the origins of the Trump investigation, particularly about the role of Clinton partisans and the extent to which the two dossiers may have been coordinated or complementary operations.

The second dossier -- two reports compiled by Cody Shearer, an ex-journalist and longtime Clinton operative -- echoes many of the lurid and still unsubstantiated claims made in the Steele dossier, and is receiving new scrutiny. On Sunday, Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a TV interview that his panel is shifting its investigative focus concerning the origins of the Russia investigation from the FBI to the State Department. This probe will include the Shearer dossier.

In late September 2016, Sidney Blumenthal, a close Clinton confidant and colleague of Shearer's, passed Shearer's dossier on to State Department official Jonathan M. Winer, a longtime aide to John Kerry on Capitol Hill and at Foggy Bottom.

According to Winer's account in a Feb. 8, 2018 Washington Post op-ed, he shared the contents of the Shearer dossier with the author of the first dossier, ex-British spy Christopher Steele, who submitted part of it to the FBI to further substantiate his own investigation into the Trump campaign. Steele was a subcontractor working for the Washington, D.C.-based communications firm Fusion GPS, which was hired by Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee to compile opposition research on her Republican opponent.

---

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2018/04/25/test.html

RoscoePColtrane said:

---

Decent read on Dossier #2

Quote:

---

A copy of the little-publicized second dossier in the Trump-Russia affair, acquired by RealClearInvestigations, raises new questions about the origins of the Trump investigation, particularly about the role of Clinton partisans and the extent to which the two dossiers may have been coordinated or complementary operations.

The second dossier -- two reports compiled by Cody Shearer, an ex-journalist and longtime Clinton operative -- echoes many of the lurid and still unsubstantiated claims made in the Steele dossier, and is receiving new scrutiny. On Sunday, Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a TV interview that his panel is shifting its investigative focus concerning the origins of the Russia investigation from the FBI to the State Department. This probe will include the Shearer dossier.

In late September 2016, Sidney Blumenthal, a close Clinton confidant and colleague of Shearer's, passed Shearer's dossier on to State Department official Jonathan M. Winer, a longtime aide to John Kerry on Capitol Hill and at Foggy Bottom.

According to Winer's account in a Feb. 8, 2018 Washington Post op-ed, he shared the contents of the Shearer dossier with the author of the first dossier, ex-British spy Christopher Steele, who submitted part of it to the FBI to further substantiate his own investigation into the Trump campaign. Steele was a subcontractor working for the Washington, D.C.-based communications firm Fusion GPS, which was hired by Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee to compile opposition research on her Republican opponent.

---

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2018/04/25/test.html

---

Quote:

---

The inaccuracies in Shearer's account fuel suspicions that he misidentified the source of the information on who was funding the Steele dossier. What matters is that Shearer knew who was paying for Fusion GPS's work on Trump. More important, if Steele received both of Shearer's reports in September 2016, that would contradict the information in the FBI's warrant application that said Steele didn't know who was paying for his work. The source of the funding was right there in Shearer's first memo. The FBI's warrant application, however, says Simpson "never advised Source No. 1 [Mr. Steele] as to the motivation behind the research into candidate's #1 [Mr. Trump's] ties to Russia." If Steele had both of Shearer's reports, he knew he was being paid by the DNC.

---

Quote:

---

The U.S. and U.K. are part of an intelligence-sharing arrangement known as the "Five Eyes," which includes the three other major English-speaking world powers: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The arrangement is premised on trust. All five members trust each other not only to share information vital to their national security but also to not collect intelligence against each other by spying on officials, or businessmen and each other's citizens. When former British spy Christopher Steele brought his memos to Winer, one senior U.S. intelligence official explained to RCI, "Steele was violating the fundamental premise of the Five Eyes relationship."

Further, even if Winer had no idea who was funding Steele's work or that it was opposition research, Steele was a foreign national spying on a fundamental American political institution, a presidential campaign. If he had possession of the Shearer memo disclosing that the DNC had hired Simpson and Fritsch, Winer knew at the very least that there was a politically funded campaign to find dirt on the Republican candidatea campaign that certainly resembled Steele's research. This appears not to have bothered Winer, who turned Shearer's memos over to Steele.

---

Some 'real' investigative journalism in this article.

I have never seen a link where I can read the actual Shearer dossier...have you? I've read the Steele dossier multiple times although a few parts are redacted.

Haven't yet, Judicial Watch is after it, but I've yet to see it

There's a ton of different information on this so called "2nd Dossier" Reportedly Steele provided part of the Shearer report along with his own memos to the FBI, noting similarities between the two but acknowledging that he had not verified the sources or the information, according to The Washington Post.

http://wapo.st/2BMGgeC?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.38f331293af2

Nunes is saying that Steele received material on Trump and Russia written by Shearer, What is really Shearer's raw collection of notes, but the left is calling a second dossier. Somehow made its way to Steele on this path, from Shearer to Blumenthal, who gave it to a lackey at Kerry's State Department, who then passed it along to Steele.

Then there are reports that Blumenthal walked it into the FBI himself, because he had unfettered access. Now we find out we have professors with carte blanche access, who the hell knows how anything ended up anywhere.

RoscoePColtrane said:

---

Haven't yet, Judicial Watch is after it, but I've yet to see it

---

Wouldn't it be something if the Shearer Dossier was the primary source for parts of the Steele Dossier? In other words, Steele was acting as a cutout to give credentials/credibility to the oppo research that had been performed by Shearer/DNC. Oh my....and throw in Nellie Ohr & some 702 Query info for icing effect on the cake. You couldn't make this stuff up...if it is true.

I'm not a lawyer, but it appears that there was a group within the FBI and DOJ who were conspiring to influence the presidential election and after the election to overturn the results. It appears that some are still using the DOJ and FBI to overturn the results.

I am trying to understand what is so important that these people willingly and knowingly commit crimes that you can go to prison for a long time?

Coverup other criminal acts? Protect powerful people?
Money? Stupidity.? I don't believe it is because they hate Trump. There is another election in 2 years that they can win.

coyote68 said:

---

I'm not a lawyer, but it appears that there was a group within the FBI and DOJ who were conspiring to influence the presidential election and after the election to overturn the results. It appears that some are still using the DOJ and FBI to overturn the results.

I am trying to understand what is so important that these people willingly and knowingly commit crimes that you can go to prison for a long time?

---

Once you go down the road of corruption with the Clintons you have to see it to the end because they have you. "In for a penny, in for a pound" as it were.

What is surprising is that they are too stupid to know that up front.

Then again maybe it isn't.

Just finished reading and was coming here to post it. What is most striking to me is that after all this time, with all of the journalists and various governmental agencies desperately trying to verify either Shearer's or Steele's claims on both, they can't.

Steele who is being sued has every reason in the world to produce evidence in support of his dossier. He knows who his supposed sources are and there access and reliability. Instead he has taken the "raw unverified data" approach in his court case(s). It's possible Steele is willing to be ruined financially to protect a source, I guess but seems unlikely to me.

Somewhat unrelated but I also want to discuss why the State Department needs to sign off on the Strzok/Page formerly "missing" text messages as referenced HERE.

The time frame of the missing texts begin in mid December 2016 and extends to Mueller's appointment in May 2017. That time frame leads me to the assumption that Strzok and Page were not discussing the Shearer dossier, Winer or Nuland as it would have been "old news" by that time.

Yup!

Quote:

---

Wouldn't it be something if the Shearer Dossier was the primary source for parts of the Steele Dossier? In other words, Steele was acting as a cutout to give credentials/credibility to the oppo research that had been performed by Shearer/DNC. Oh my....and throw in Nellie Ohr & some 702 Query info for icing effect on the cake. You couldn't make this stuff up...if it is true.

---

The reporting has been mixed, whether Fusion approached Perkins, Coie or the other way around but I think Fusion was looking for funding and they approached Perkins. Reason being that once Manafort became attached to the Trump campaign (first in a lower capacity then elevated to campaign manager) Simpson and his wife had an ax to grind against Manafort.

I have never fully subscribed to the notion that Fusion was one of the government contractors with access to NSA metadata that Admiral Rogers discovered. Just can't wrap my head around how that would be possible for a self-branded oppo research firm would be allowed such access and on whose authority. Rogers sure as hell didn't know about it in advance.

But you raise a good point, what came first? The Shearer Dossier? Or the Steele Dossier? If it was the Shearer one, then it would make sense that they needed a cut out with some level of credibility to peddle it to news outlets. Particularly since Shearer was getting no traction with the press on his own. Enter from stage left, Christopher Steele.

aggiehawg said:

---

Quote:

---

Wouldn't it be something if the Shearer Dossier was the primary source for parts of the Steele Dossier? In other words, Steele was acting as a cutout to give credentials/credibility to the oppo research that had been performed by Shearer/DNC. Oh my....and throw in Nellie Ohr & some 702 Query info for icing effect on the cake. You couldn't make this stuff up...if it is true.

---

The reporting has been mixed, whether Fusion approached Perkins, Coie or the other way around but I think Fusion was looking for funding and they approached Perkins. Reason being that once Manafort became attached to the Trump campaign (first in a lower capacity then elevated to campaign manager) Simpson and his wife had an ax to grind against Manafort.

I have never fully subscribed to the notion that Fusion was one of the government contractors with access to NSA metadata that Admiral Rogers discovered. Just can't wrap my head around how that would be possible for a self-branded oppo research firm would be allowed such access and on whose authority. Rogers sure as hell didn't know about it in advance.

But you raise a good point, what came first? The Shearer Dossier? Or the Steele Dossier? If it was the Shearer one, then it would make sense that they needed a cut out with some level of credibility to peddle it to news outlets. Particularly since Shearer was getting no traction with the press on his own. Enter from stage left, Christopher Steele.

---

There may be more to the story. Steele was consulting with Dearlove and prossibly other persons related to MI6/GCHQ, so British Intel may have made a few contributions as well...which ups the credibility issue, not to mention what Hannigan was feeding to Brennan. This may not be Russian collusion at all...it may be HRC/DNC collusion with British Intel (former & current). Remember that business in the Strzok-Page texts about not wanting to embarrass a certain country? I had always assumed that text referenced Downer & the Aussies, but now...maybe it was a reference to Hannigan & UK Intel = Brits.

MouthBQ98 said:

---

This makes Mueller look more like a cleanup guy for a desperate last ditch coverup attempt instead of a legitimate investigator. If not for the OIG and a handful of honest good faith actors like Adm. Rodgers, we might not know any of this, and it might have been efficiently buried by an ongoing intervention against Trump until the Dems could retake some or all of Congress and take more definitive action to suppress corruption investigations.

---

Hence my comment earlier about the swamp, swamp critters and self-inflicted wounds

Does it seem odd to anyone else that Comey never consulted with Mueller, his mentor? Why Richman and Patty Fitz but not Mueller?

ETA: Particularly with respect to Mueller's input when Comey was having doubts about what Lynch was doing. As his predecessor as Director and mentor, wouldn't Mueller be the logical choice for guidance as to how to handle a hinky Attorney General? Mueller had to deal with Holder for a long time after all.

I don't think that was the original purpose of bringing him in but I do think once the top guys involved realized how exposed what they had been doing was and the full implications of it being entirely unraveled, and that while they might perceive their acts as justified, a different interpretation of the law might perceive it as felonious or even treasonous, the purpose quickly became circling the wagons and trying to take out Trump and by extension Republicans in Congress ASAP to re-bury it all.

Maybe he did, but do you think either of them would EVER mention it?

I just finished reading the Gohmert document that basically compiles all of Mueller's past indiscretions.

It is pretty damning, and isn't too much of a stretch to say paints Mueller, Comey, & Rosenstein as Clinton goons/enforcers from way back.

It also was very informative about some of the goings-on around 9/11 and the FBI relations with the Islamic community over the years that were new to me (relatively young and haven't been politically "woke" for very long).

He probably did. We'll just never hear about it.

Seriously, how many names have already been mentioned as possible players in this crime ring?

I'd venture to say there are probably close to 50-60. We may top 100 if the "good guys" really get to the bottom of it.