by Tom Fitton
Agents said in a series of notes from December 2016 that Ohr told them Simpson from Fusion GPS “directed” Steele to speak to press “as that was what Simpson was paying [Steele] to do.” Michael Isikoff, the chief investigative correspondent for Yahoo News whose September 2016 news article based on the dossier was used to bolster the FISA applications, later said the media should have shown more skepticism over Steele’s dossier, which he described as “third-hand stuff.” Steele also passed along information to numerous other media outlets.
Agents also noted in December 2016 that Ohr told them his wife, Nellie, was hired by Simpson to work for Fusion GPS during the presidential election, and Ohr provided the FBI with all the work his wife conducted for Simpson.
Agents further wrote in February 2017 that Ohr reminded them that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec spoke with Steele several times prior to the presidential election. Steele met Kavalec ten days before the first FISA application was submitted, and he admitted to her that he was encouraged by his client to get his research out before the 2016 election.
The notes were just the beginning. Judicial Watch then forced out the release of about a dozen FBI 302 reports that provided more evidence that the Steele operation was a hit job and the FBI knew all about it.
Again, Bruce Ohr was removed from his post of associate deputy attorney general on December 6, 2017, after it was uncovered that he was working with his wife and Christopher Steele on the Trump dossier.
Ohr was corruptly used by the FBI as a conduit to Clinton spy Christopher Steele and the Clinton-DNC spy ring at Fusion GPS, and we now have thirty-four pages of “302” report material from the FBI interviews of Ohr—documents that Congress has been seeking but have been unable to get for over a year. (FBI agents use a Form 302 to summarize interviews and record notes taken during an interview.) Here is what we found:
On November 22, 2016, Bruce Ohr said that “reporting on Trump’s ties to Russia were going to the Clinton Campaign, Jon Winer at the U.S. State Department and the FBI.”
In late September 2016, Ohr describes Christopher Steele as “desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being the U.S. President.”
“Ohr knew that [Fusion GPS’s] Glen[n] Simpson and others were talking to Victoria Nuland at the U.S. State Department.”
Glenn Simpson directed a person whose name is redacted to speak to the press. It appears as if the press that person went to was the far-left-leaning Mother Jones.
On December 5, 2016, Ohr promised to “voluntarily” give his wife Nellie Ohr’s Fusion GPS research to the FBI. He also provided the FBI with a report on Paul Manafort titled “Manafort Chronology.”
On December 12, 2016, Simpson gave Ohr a thumb drive with Fusion GPS research on it. Ohr claims to not know what is on that drive. During the meeting Simpson, based evidently on a meeting with Glenn Simpson, identified Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, as having “many Russian clients.” Simpson also told Ohr that Cohen “may have” attended a meeting in Prague.
Ohr describes Simpson directing someone to talk to the Mother Jones reporter as “Simpson’s Hail Mary attempt.”
On December 20, 2016, Ohr provided the FBI with his wife’s Fusion GPS research, “which contained the totality” of her work, “but the Fusion GPS header was stripped.”
On January 23, 2017, Ohr tells the FBI that Steele told him that Steele “spoke with a staff member of Senator John McCain’s office sometime prior to October 2016.”
The FBI interviews show that Ohr texted and talked to Christopher Steele using the WhatsApp application.
On February 2, 2017, the FBI tells Ohr to see if Steele would be “comfortable getting the name of an FBI agent” as a contact. Ohr tells the agents that State Department official Kathleen Kavalec spoke with “Steele several times prior to the U.S. Presidential election and believed Steele’s reporting to have [been] generated mainly from [REDACTED].”
On February 14, 2017, Ohr tells the FBI that Steele communicated with him via FaceTime that Steele was “beginning to worry about his business.” Steele discussed brokering new business with the FBI and told Ohr, “You may see me re-emerge in a couple of weeks.”
On May 3, 2017, Steele called Ohr to tell him that he “had been worried about Director Comey’s upcoming testimony to Congress, especially his response to questions that would be raised by [Senator] Grassley.” Although what he was specifically worried about is redacted, Steele was “happy with Director Comey’s response.”
Steele also stated that he was limited in “his ability to testify before Congress” because of disclosure laws in the United Kingdom being more narrow than the United States.
On May 12, 2017, Steele called Ohr to discuss a letter the Senate Intelligence Committee sent him. According to Ohr, “The letter requested answers to the following questions”:
Had Steele provided information to the U.S. government?
What was the scope of Steele’s investigation?
Did Steele have any additional information to provide?
In May 2017, Ohr was asked by the FBI to ask “Steele if he would be willing to have a conversation with FBI agents in the UK.” Steele responded that he would, but he would need to check with a redacted name.
These new Bruce Ohr FBI 302s show an unprecedented and irregular effort by the FBI, DOJ, and State Department to dig up dirt on President Trump using the conflicted Bruce Ohr, his wife, and the Clinton/DNC spies at Fusion GPS. The FISA courts weren’t informed of this corrupted process when they were asked to approve and reapprove extraordinary spy warrants targeting President Trump.
One would think that a senior DOJ official such as Ohr would think that something was off after his third, let alone twelfth, interview with the FBI about his spy game communications with Steele and Ohr’s wife. In what universe is this appropriate! To this day, Ohr remains employed by the DOJ. Which is outrageous enough on its own, but as Judicial Watch found, in addition to the bonuses we uncovered, got a pay increase after his misconduct was exposed!
Bruce Ohr was removed because of his tainted conflict of interest role as a conduit for Fusion GPS material. The documents show that Ohr was removed from his position as associate deputy attorney general on December 6, 2017. On January 7, 2018, Ohr was reassigned from his position of director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and shifted to Counselor for International Affairs in the Department of Justice Criminal Division. Ohr received a $2,600 pay increase.
Unusual bonuses and a raise after misconduct is exposed—this is how the Deep State “punishes” its operatives.
IF YOU FLIP OVER ENOUGH ROCKS, YOU FIND MUELLER’S PUPPET MASTER
Part of uncovering that truth means we have to flip over a bunch of rocks. And what lives and thrives under those large, slime-covered flat rocks? Creepy and even venomous things, as it turns out.
One in particular.
As Daniel John Sobieski at American Thinker pointed out:
Robert Mueller—the former director of the FBI under George W. Bush and whom Rod Rosenstein appointed special counsel for the Department of Justice investigating Trump—was revealed to be an empty suit during his feeble performance before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees [… ], unable to answer questions on a report that it became painfully clear he could not defend because he did not write it. The true author is likely longtime associate Andrew Weissmann, often called Mueller’s “pit bull,” who perhaps should also have the title of Mueller’s “Rasputin.”11
Sobieski also highlighted Congressman Louis Gohmert (R-TX) regarding Weissmann’s immense power:
“It’s also clear… that Weissmann was the driving force behind all this.”12
To the congressman’s point, Weissmann’s record speaks to his ruthlessness in pursuing a target, doing such things as withholding exculpatory evidence. As noted at USAPoliticsToday.org:
The top attorney in Robert Mueller’s
Special Counsel’s office was reported to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General by a lawyer representing whistleblowers for alleged “corrupt legal practices” more than a year before the 2016 presidential election and a decade before to the Senate.13
Weissmann, among his other jobs, was lead prosecutor in the trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Weissmann was the point man in the predawn raids on Manafort’s home and offices, which involved more armed force than we employed at Benghazi, and was condemned by a judge for withholding exculpatory evidence in a criminal case. As the Daily Caller News Foundation reported:14
Weissmann has a reputation for pushing the boundaries on prosecutions. The New York Times called him a “pit bull” who used “scorched-earth tactics” against opponents.
In the 1990s, Chief Judge Charles P. Sifton reprimanded Weissmann as “reprehensible” during a trial regarding the Colombo crime family for withholding evidence.
“The judge described then (Assistant U.S. Attorney) Weissmann’s conduct as the ‘myopic withholding of information’ and ‘reprehensible and subject, perhaps, to appropriate disciplinary measures,’ ” according to a February 2018 article by investigative reporter Sara Carter.
As our friends at American Thinker further noted when referring to our investigations:15
Mueller’s professed lack of knowledge regarding Fusion GPS is inexplicable since… as former deputy assistant attorney general Bruce Ohr’s closed-door testimony before Congress shows, Weissmann had full knowledge of the fake nature of the Steele dossier that was a major predicate of the Russian witch-hunt that became the Mueller probe.
Bruce Ohr was the number four official at the Justice Department as U.S. Deputy Associate Attorney General and the highest ranking non-appointee in the building with an office a couple of doors down from Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein. Ohr continually kept Weissmann “in the loop” about the fake dossier and its journeys through the deep state swamp, along with a myriad of other co-conspirators in a web of conspiracy and deceit so vast that Watergate trivia question Carl Bernstein may be right in a way he did not intend when he suggested this whole matter might be bigger than Watergate. It seems only the DOJ janitor was not involved.
Weissmann had to know the dossier was fake and that its use in obtaining FISA warrants to conduct surveillance on Team Trump and provide a predicate for the Mueller witch hunt was a fraud committed upon the FISA court. If he knew, Robert Mueller should have known.
Weissmann is a partisan hack and Mueller thug who sent an email to Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, one of those who signed the fraudulent FISA applications, congratulating her for refusing to defend in court President Trump’s travel ban.
It is shocking that a senior member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team, set up to reassure Americans that justice will be impartially pursued, said he was in “awe” of former acting attorney general Sally Yates the day she was fired for refusing to defend President Trump’s controversial travel ban.
“I am so proud and in awe,” Weissmann wrote, according to emails obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request. “Thank you so much.”
He also attended Hillary Clinton’s 2016 almost-victory party, probably shedding a tear over her loss and fueling his desire to overturn Trump’s surprising victory.
Andrew Weissmann is a virulent Trump-hater who, the record shows, had no interest in going after Fusion GPS and the real collusion between Team Hillary, the DNC, Christopher Steele, and the Russians.
Sadly for our nation, people like Andrew Weissmann—and countless like him—littered the Department of Justice while working on several missions simultaneously.
The first mission was to always cover up for any Obama-Clinton mistakes or crimes. Next, to do all in their power to stop candidate Trump. And then, when they failed at that, orchestrate an illicit and un-American soft coup against then President Trump. And finally, use every resource at their disposal to cover up that high crime.
Knowing all that, it is little wonder why the FBI could never seem to see or expose the coup attempt hiding in plain sight before their very eyes.
This truly is the biggest corruption scandal in American history.
SEVEN DAYS IN MAY—THE COUP ACCELERATES AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP
There’s a leftist fantasy book and movie from the sixties, Seven Days in May, in which far-right military leaders unsuccessfully plot to overthrow a liberal president in a coup. In reality, it turned out to be the anti-conservative Left who plotted a coup. And, ironically, it happened over a seven- to ten-day period in May 2017, after President Trump fired corrupt FBI director James Comey on May 9.
Comey’s firing unhinged Deputy Director McCabe (who became acting FBI director for a time) and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein. Rosenstein was “acting” attorney general for the purposes of all things Russia because of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s precipitous and unneeded “recusal” decision.
Leaky DOJ officials soon disclosed that three issues popped up immediately—all elements of the coup attack against President Trump:
Rosenstein and McCabe discussed invoking the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to remove President Trump. (The Twenty-Fifth Amendment is designed for the transfer of power if a president is incapacitated, not as a punishment for exercising his power as president to fire a FBI director!)
Rosenstein discussed wearing a wire while in the Oval Office with President Trump to somehow entrap him.
Rosenstein appointed anti-Trump former FBI director Robert Mueller as a roving special counsel to investigate the nonsense theory of Russia collusion.
The Mueller appointment and its woeful abuses and aftermath are in the books, but Rosenstein, most recently earlier this year, in Senate testimony has downplayed or denied the other coup discussion topics.
But Judicial Watch uncovered documentary evidence of these seditious discussions.16
The records show that, following a September 21, 2018, report on Rosenstein suggesting he would wear a wire to secretly record Trump and his discussions on using the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, Rosenstein sought to ensure the media would have “difficulty” finding anyone in the DOJ to comment and a concerted effort within the DOJ to frame the reporting as “inaccurate” and “factually incorrect.”
The records show DOJ officials had also discussed characterizing Rosenstein’s reported offer of wearing a wire to record Trump as merely “sarcastic.”
Additionally, the records show that DOJ public affairs officer Sarah Isgur Flores, after conferring with other top DOJ officials and Rosenstein’s office about her email exchange with New York Times reporter Adam Goldman, waited twelve hours to forward the email exchange to DOJ chief of staff Matthew Whitaker. Former White House chief of staff John Kelly had referred to Whitaker as the president’s “eyes and ears” in the DOJ.
We obtained the records through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed after the Justice Department failed to respond to three separate FOIA requests dated September 21, 2018 (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-00388)). The lawsuit seeks all written and audiovisual records of any FBI/DOJ discussions regarding the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and plans to secretly record President Trump in the Oval Office.
The records we obtained include a September 21, 2018, email from Assistant U.S. Attorney (DOJ/NSD) Harvey Eisenberg to Rosenstein informing the deputy attorney general that Washington Post reporter Ellen Nakashima had called inquiring about a New York Times report on the Twenty-Fifth Amendment/wire discussion, Rosenstein responds: “Thanks! Hopefully we are being successful, and the reporters are having difficulty finding anybody to comment about things. [Remainder of email redacted.]” Apparently in response to the redacted portion of Rosenstein’s reply, Eisenberg responds, “I’m aware. Besides letting you know, [redacted]. My best to you and the family.” Rosenstein replies, “I don’t mean about me. [Redacted.]”
The emails also detail the DOJ’s response to the i
nitial story as it was being prepared by the New York Times. On September 20, 2018, the Times’ Goldman emailed DOJ’s Flores that he and fellow reporter Mike Schmidt were working on a story and wanted a DOJ response to certain questions, including that at a May 16, 2017, meeting of senior federal law enforcement officials, Rosenstein offered to wear a “wire” to record his conversations with Trump. “He also said McCabe could wear a wire.”
In a second request for comment, Goldman alleges that in a separate conversation between Rosenstein and McCabe, they discussed using the Twenty-Fifth Amendment “to remove President Trump” and “Rosenstein said that he may be able to get (then–Attorney General Jeff) Sessions and Kelly to go along with the plan.”
In a third request for comment, Goldman said he’d learned that Rosenstein in a May 12, 2017, conversation at the DOJ Command Center “appeared ‘upset’ and ‘emotional’ over the Comey firing.”
In a fourth request for comment, Goldman said that in a May 14, 2017, conversation with McCabe, “Rosenstein asked McCabe to reach out to Comey to seek advice about appointing a special counsel. McCabe believed that was a bad idea.”
In a fifth and final request for which he sought DOJ comment, Goldman wrote, “Rosenstein considered appointing (former Deputy Attorney General) Jim Cole as the special counsel.”
On September 20, 2018, Flores forwarded the Goldman email to “Annie” and “Bill”—apparently White House deputy counsel Annie Donaldson and White House communications director Bill Shine—telling Donaldson, “Boss calling Don re the below—if you think appropriate, share with Don [presumably referring to White House Counsel Don McGahn].” She tells Shine, “We’ve sent a response from the DAG that’s below and had someone in the room dispute the ‘wire’ part noting the dag was being sarcastic.” She then includes the DAG response, which reads, “The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect. I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the Department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this: based on my personal dealings with the President, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”