36. “Rod Rosenstein Full Remarks to Congress on Comey Memo,” Axios.
37. Ibid.
38. Washington Post Staff, “Full Transcript: Acting FBI Director McCabe and Others Testify Before Senate Intelligence Committee,” Washington Post, May 11, 2017.
39. “Rod Rosenstein Full Remarks to Congress on Comey Memo,” Axios.
40. Washington Post Staff, “Read Full Testimony of FBI Director James Comey in Which He Discusses Clinton Email Investigation,” Washington Post, May 3, 2017.
41. James B. Comey, “Statement for the Record,” Senate Selection Committee on Intelligence, p. 5, June 8, 2017.
42. Theresa Welsh and Matt Schofield, “Intel Officials Refuse to Answer Questions on Trump and Russia,” McClatchy Company, June 7, 2017.
43. Ibid.
44. Tim Haines, “President Trump’s Full Interview with Lester Holt: Firing of James Comey,” p. 2, RealClearPolitics, May 11, 2017.
45. Ibid., pp. 3 and 4.
46. Ibid., p. 4.
47. Ibid., pp. 4 and 5.
48. Ibid., pp. 6 and 7.
49. Ibid., pp. 7 and 8.
50. Ibid., p. 8.
51. Brooke Singman, “DOJ Turns Over Redacted Comey Memos to Congressional Committees,” Fox News, April 19, 2018; Samuel Chamberlain, “Trump Tweets That Comey Memos ‘Clearly’ Show No Obstruction, Collusion,” Fox News, April 20, 2018.
52. Politico Staff, “Full Text: James Comey Testimony Transcript on Trump and Russia,” pp. 8 and 9, Politico, June 8, 2017.
53. Matt Apuzzo, Maggie Haberman, and Matthew Rosenberg, “Trump Told Russians That Firing ‘Nut Job’ Comey Eased Pressure from Investigation,” New York Times, May 19, 2017.
54. David S. Cloud, “Mueller Calls Back at Least One Participant in Key Meeting with Russians at Trump Tower,” Los Angeles Times, January 6, 2018.
55. Ashley Parker, Carol D. Leonnig, Philip Rucker, and Tom Hamburger, “Trump Dictated Son’s Misleading Statement on Meeting with Russian Lawyer,” Washington Post, July 31, 2017; Liam Stack, “Donald Trump Jr.’s Two Different Explanations for Russian Meeting,” New York Times, July 9, 2017.
56. Jo Becker, Matt Apuzzo, and Adam Goldman, “Trump’s Son Met with Russian Lawyer After Being Promised Damaging Information on Clinton,” New York Times, July 9, 2017.
57. Catherine Herridge, Pamela K. Browne, and Cyd Upson, “Russian Lawyer at Center of Trump Tower Meeting Dismisses Dossier Shared With FBI,” Fox News, January 19, 2018.
58. Interview with Doug Burns, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, March 30, 2018.
59. Politico Staff, “Full Text: James Comey Testimony Transcript on Trump and Russia,” pp. 32 and 33, Politico, June 8, 2017.
60. Michael S. Schmidt, “Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation,” New York Times, May 16, 2017.
61. James B. Comey, “Statement for the Record,” Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, p. 5, June 8, 2017; Politico Staff, “Full Text: James Comey Testimony Transcript on Trump and Russia,” Politico, June 8, 2017.
62. Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Manual of Investigative Operations and Guidelines (MIOG),” available at https://vault.fbi.gov/miog/manual-of-investigative-operations-and-guidelines-miog-part-02-01-of-06/view.
63. FBI Employment Agreement, Including Provisions and Prohibited Disclosures, FD-291, available at https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/fd-291.pdf/view.
64. 44 U.S.C. 3101, “Records Management by Agency Heads, General Duties”; 5 U.S.C. 552a, “Records Maintained on Individuals”; 28 U.S.C. 1732, “Record Made in Regular Course of Business.”
65. Politico Staff, “Full Text: James Comey Testimony Transcript on Trump and Russia,” Politico, p. 16, June 8, 2017; https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/08/full-text-james-comey-trump-russia-testimony-239295.
66. 18 U.S.C. 641, “Public Money, Property or Records.”
67. 5 C.F.R. 2635.703, “Use of Nonpublic Information”; 29 C.F.R. 71.14, “Use of NonPublic Information.”
68. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Records Management Division, 0792PG, p. 1, June 4, 2015.
69. FBI Employment Agreement, Including Provisions and Prohibited Disclosures, FD-291, available at https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/fd-291.pdf/view.
70. 18 U.S.C. 793, “Gathering, Transmitting or Losing Defense Information.”
71. Politico Staff, “Full Text: James Comey Testimony Transcript on Trump and Russia.”
72. Letter from Charles E. Grassley, chairman of Committee on the Judiciary Committee, to Rod J. Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, January 3, 2018, available at https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-01-03%20CEG%20to%20DOJ%20(Classification%20of%20Comey%20Memos).pdf.
73. Ibid.
74. Brooke Singman, “Comey Memos Reportedly Had Classified Info,” Fox News, July 10, 2017.
75. 18 U.S.C. 1924, “Unauthorized Removal and Retention of Classified Documents or Material.”
76. 18 U.S.C. 793(f), “Gathering, Transmitting or Losing Defense Information.”
77. Catherine Herridge, Pamela K. Browne, and Cyd Upson, “Comey Memos Shared More Broadly Than Previously Thought,” Fox News, April 25, 2018.
78. Transcript of “James Comey on Clinton Probe, Russia Investigation,” Fox News, “Special Report With Bret Baier.” April 26, 2018, http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2018/04/26/james-comey-on-clinton-probe-russia-investigation.html.
79. Catherine Herridge, Pamela K. Browne, and Cyd Upson, “Comey Memos Shared More Broadly Than Previously Thought.”
80. Ibid.; Sean Davis, “Comey ‘Friend’ Who Leaked FBI Memos Now Claims to Be His Attorney,” Federalist, January 23, 2018.
81. Transcript of “James Comey on Clinton Probe, Russia Investigation,” Fox News, “Special Report With Bret Baier.” April 26, 2018; http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2018/04/26/james-comey-on-clinton-probe-russia-investigation.html.
82. Michael D. Shear and Nicholas Fandos, “GOP Push on Comey Files May Have Backfired,” New York Times, April 21, 2018.
83. United States Code, 18 U.S.C. 1001, “Statements or Entries Generally.”
84. Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary, “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Testimony of James B. Comey, September 28, 2016, available at https://judiciary.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/114-91_22125.pdf.
85. Senate Judiciary Committee letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, August 30, 2017, available at https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2017-08-30%20CEG%20+%20LG%20to%20FBI%20(Comey%20Statement).pdf.
86. Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey on the Investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s Use of a Personal Email System, FBI National Press Office, July 5, 2016.
87. Brooke Singman, Alex Pappas, and Jake Gibson, “More Than 50,000 Texts Exchanged Between FBI Officials Strzok and Page, Sessions Says,” Fox News, January 22, 2018.
88. Washington Post Staff, “Read Full Testimony of FBI Director James Comey in Which He Discusses Clinton Email Investigation.”
89. CNN Staff, “Read: Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s Statement on His Firing,” CNN, March 17, 2018, available at https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/politics/mccabe-fired-statement-fbi-deputy-director/index.html.
90. Letter from Sen. Charles E. Grassley and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, Judiciary Committee, to Michael Horowitz, Inspector General, Department of Justice, February 28, 2018, available at https://www.grassley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/judiciary/upload/2018-02-28%20CEG%20LG%20to%20DOJ%20OIG%20%28referral%29.pdf
91. Byron Tau and Aruna Viswanatha, “Justice Department Watchdog Probes Comey Memos Over Classified Information,” Wall Street Journal, April 20, 2018.
92. Interview with Joseph diGenova, former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and former independent counsel, January 26, 2018.
Chapter 11: The Illegitimate Appointment of Robert Mueller
1. Associated Press, “Law Is ‘Horrible’, Says Darrow, 79,” New
York Times, April 19, 1936.
2. Ibid.
3. Code of Federal Regulations, 28 C.F.R. 600.1, “Grounds for Appointing A Special Counsel.”
4. Code of Federal Regulations, 28 C.F.R. 600.4, “Jurisdiction.”
5. Washington Post Staff, “Full Transcript: FBI Director James Comey Testifies on Russian Interference in 2016 Election,” Washington Post, March 20, 2017.
6. Andrew C. McCarthy, “Rosenstein Fails to Defend His Failure to Limit Mueller’s Investigation,” National Review, August 7, 2017.
7. Order Issued by Acting Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein (Order No. 3915-2017), “Appointment of Special Counsel to Investigate Russian Interference With the 2016 Presidential Election and Related Matters,” Office of the Deputy Attorney General, May 17, 2017.
8. Michael B. Mukasey, “The Memo and the Mueller Probe,” Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2018.
9. Ibid.
10. PBS Newshour, “Justice Department Defends Russia Probe from GOP Claims of FBI Political Bias,” PBS, December 13, 207.
11. Order Issued by Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (Order No. 3915-2017), “Appointment of Special Counsel to Investigate Russian Interference With the 2016 Presidential Election and Related Matters,” Office of the Deputy Attorney General, May 17, 2017.
12. Ibid.
13. Code of Federal Regulations, 28 C.F.R. 600.4, “Jurisdiction.”
14. Memorandum from Rod J. Rosenstein, Acting Attorney General, to Robert S. Mueller, Special Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, August 2, 2017; Attachment C, Government’s Response in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss, United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 17-cr-201-1 ABJ), April 2, 2018.
15. Ibid.
16. Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383 (1914); Mapp v. Ohio, 368 U.S. 643 (1961).
17. Memorandum from Rod J. Rosenstein, Acting Attorney General, to Robert S. Mueller, Special Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, August 2, 2017; Attachment C, Government’s Response in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss, United States District Court for The District of Columbia (No. 17-cr-201-1 ABJ), April 2, 2018.
18. Interview by Gregg Jarrett of Alan Dershowitz, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Fox Business Network, April 6, 2018; Hannity, “Dershowitz and diGenova on Mueller Investigation,” Fox News Channel, April 4, 2018, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4u2YfDnAgc.
19. Government’s Response in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss, United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 17-cr-201-1 ABJ), p. 21, April 2, 2018.
20. Indictment, U.S. v. Manafort, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, February 22, 2018; https://www.justice.gov/file/1038391/download.
21. Mollie Hemingway, “Manafort Lawyers Claim Leaky Mueller Probe Has Provided No Evidence of Contacts With Russian Officials,” Federalist, May 3, 2018.
22. Jake Gibson, “Federal Judge Accuses Mueller’s Team of Lying, Trying to Target Trump: ‘C’mon Man!,” Fox News, May 4, 2018.
23. The Blaze, “Leaked Court Transcripts Reveal Showdown Between Judge and Mueller lawyer. It’s a Beatdown,” May 6, 2018, https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/05/06/leaked-court-transcripts-reveal-showdown-between-Judge-and-mueller-lawyer-its-a-total-beatdown. U.S. v. Manafort, “Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss the Superseding Indictment,” U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, March, 14, 2018.
24. Politico Staff, “Full Text: James Comey Testimony Transcript on Trump and Russia,” Politico, June 8, 2017.
25. Code of Federal Regulations, 28 C.F.R. 600.7, “Conduct and Accountability.”
26. Code of Federal Regulations, 28 C.F.R. 45.2, “Disqualification Arising from Personal or Political Relationship.”
27. Ibid.
28. Devlin Barrett, Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima, and Sari Horowitz, “Special Counsel Is Investigating Trump for Possible Obstruction of Justice,” Washington Post, June 14, 2017.
29. United States Code, 28 U.S.C. 528, “Disqualification of Officers and Employees of the Department of Justice.”
30. Ronald D. Rotunda, “Alleged Conflicts of Interest Because of ‘Appearance of Impropriety,’ ” Chapman University, Fowler School of Law, 2005, available at https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=law_articles.
31. Carl M. Cannon, “Comey, Mueller Bungled Big Anthrax Case Together,” Orange County Register, May 21, 2017.
32. Ibid.
33. Peter Holley, “Brothers in Arms: The Long Friendship Between Mueller and Comey,” Washington Post, May 17, 2017.
34. Garrett M. Graff, “Forged Under Fire—Bob Mueller and James Comey’s Unusual Friendship,” Washingtonian, May 30, 2013.
35. William G. Otis, “Robert Mueller Should Recuse Himself from Russia Investigation,” USA Today, June 14, 2017; Glenn Harland Reynolds, “We Need a Robert Mueller Resignation or a Second Special Counsel,” USA Today, June 19, 2017.
36. Jonathan Turley, “The Special Counsel Investigation Needs Attorneys Without Conflicts,” The Hill, December 8, 2017.
37. Sidney Powell, Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in The Department of Justice (Dallas: Brown Books, 2014).
38. Sidney Powell, “Political Prosecution: Mueller’s Hit Squad Covered for Clinton and Persecutes Trump Associates,” Daily Caller, December 6, 2017.
39. Byron York, “Is Robert Mueller Conflicted in Trump Probe?,” Washington Examiner, June 11, 2017.
40. Code of Federal Regulations, 28 C.F.R., “Grounds for Appointing a Special Counsel.”
41. Carol D. Leonnig and Robert Costa, “Mueller Told Trump’s Attorneys the President Remains Under Investigation but Is Not Currently a Criminal Target,” Washington Post, April 3, 2018.
42. Memorandum for the Attorney General, “Restoring Public Confidence in the FBI,” Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, May 9, 2017.
43. Sari Horwitz, Karon Demirjian, and Elise Viebeck, “Rosenstein Defends His Controversial Memo Used to Justify Trump’s Firing of Comey,” Washington Post, May 19, 2017.
44. Code of Federal Regulations, 28 C.F.R. 600.7, “Conduct and Accountable.”
45. Ibid.
46. Aruna Viswanatha and Del Quentin Wilber, “Special Counsel’s Office Interviewed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein,” Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2017.
47. Sari Horwitz, Karoun Demirjian, and Elise Viebeck, “Rosenstein Defends His Controversial Memo Used to Justify Trump’s Firing of Comey,” Washington Post, May 19, 2017.
48. Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.7—Conflict of Interest, “General Rule,” available at https://www.dcbar.org/bar-resources/legal-ethics/amended-rules/rule1-07.cfm.
49. Tweet of Donald J. Trump, Twitter, June 16, 2017, available at https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/875701471999864833?lang=en.
50. Jonathan Turley, “Do Rosenstein and Mueller Have Conflicts of Interest in the Trump Investigation?,” JonathanTurley.com, June 19, 2017, available at https://jonathanturley.org/2017/06/19/do-rosenstein-and-mueller-have-conflicts-of-interest-in-the-trump-investigation/.
51. Jonathan Turley, “It’s High Time Rod Rosenstein Recuse Himself,” The Hill, August 7, 2017.
52. Jack Goldsmith, “Why Hasn’t Rod Rosenstein Recused Himself from the Mueller Investigation?,” Lawfare, January 5, 2018.
53. Carrie Johnson, “Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein Supervises Mueller Probe but He’s Also a Witness,” National Public Radio, November 11, 2017.
54. Aruna Viswanatha and Del Quentin Wilber, “Special Counsel’s Office Interviewed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein,” Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2017.
55. Hannity, “Dershowitz and diGenova on Mueller Investigation,” Fox News Channel, April 4, 2018, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4u2YfDnAgc.
56. Brooke Singman, “Special Counsel Mueller’s Team Has Only One Known Republican,” Fox News, February 23, 2018.
57. Robert S. Mueller III, United States Department of Justice, available at https://www.justice.gov/cr
iminal/history/assistant-attorneys-general/robert-s-mueller.
58. CNN Wire Staff, “Obama Requests 2 More Years for FBI Chief,” CNN, May 13, 2011.
59. David Sivak, “Exclusive: Not a Single Lawyer Known to Work for Mueller Is a Republican,” Daily Caller, February 21, 2018.
60. Brooke Singman, “Special Counsel Mueller’s Team Has Only One Known Republican.”
61. Ibid.
62. Peter Nicholas, Aruna Viswanatha, and Erica Orden, “Trump’s Allies Urge Harder Line as Mueller Probe Heats Up,” Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2017; David Shortell, “Mueller Attorney Praised Yates as DOJ Official Emails Show,” CNN, December 5, 2017.
63. Brooke Singman, “More Clinton Ties on Mueller Team: One Deputy Attended Clinton Party, Another Rep’d Top Aide,” Fox News, December 8, 2017.
64. Sidney Powell, “Meet the Very Shady Prosecutor Robert Mueller Has Hired for the Russia Investigation,” Daily Caller, November 20, 2017.
65. Sidney Powell, “Political Prosecution: Mueller’s Hit Squad Covered for Clinton and Persecutes Trump Associates,” Daily Caller, December 6, 2017; Sidney Powell, “In Andrew Weissmann, the DOJ Makes a Stunningly Bad Choice for Crucial Role,” Observer, January 12, 2015.
66. Sidney Powell, “Judging by Mueller’s Staffing Choices, He May Not Be Very Interested in Justice,” The Hill, October 19, 2017
67. Brooke Singman, “Top Mueller Investigator’s Democratic Ties Raise New Bias Questions,” Fox News, December 7, 2017.
68. Brooke Singman, “More Clinton Ties on Mueller Team: One Deputy Attended Clinton Party, Another Rep’d Top Aide,” Fox News, December 8, 2017.
69. Josh Gerstein, “Another Prosecutor Joins Trump-Russia Probe, Politico, September 15, 2017.
70. Ibid.
71. Josh Delk, “GOP Senator: Mueller ‘Needs to Clean House of Partisans,’ ” The Hill, December 16, 2017; Ken Dilanian, “Republicans Step Up Attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller,” NBC News, December 13, 2017.
Epilogue
1. Franklin Foer, “Putin’s Puppet: If the Russian President Could Design a Candidate to Undermine American Interests—and Advance His Own—He’d Look a Lot Like Donald Trump,” Slate, July 4, 2016; Jeffrey Goldberg, “It’s Official: Hillary Clinton Is Running Against Vladimir Putin,” Atlantic, July 21, 2016; David Remnick, “Trump and Putin: A Love Story,” New Yorker, August 3, 2016.
The Russia Hoax Page 32