Trump's granted Barr the rare unilateral power to declassify sensitive documents held by the CIA and FBI to help him examine events that took place before July 31, 2016, when the FBI claims it opened its probe.
Barr's probe of the probe will seek to answer several bedeviling questions.
First, what was CIA chief John Brennan up to in arranging secret interagency task force meetings on alleged collusion in the spring, summer and fall of 2016? He sent classified memos related to these meetings in envelopes to former FBI boss James Comey, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and national security adviser Susan Rice, according to a 2018 House Intelligence Committee report.
Plus, did Brennan argue for using the dossier in early drafts of the task force's much-hyped January 2017 intelligence assessment, which spread the narrative that Putin ordered the alleged Clinton campaign hacking to steal the election for Trump? Emails or other communiqués from Brennan are likely to establish that.
More generally, Barr will need to get his hands on case files put together by these agencies as well as the sourcing that informed them, including confidential-source reports summarizing briefings between FBI agents and the informants and assets they jointly handled with the CIA. Barr should also press for FBI, CIA and State Department records related to Joseph Mifsud, the mysterious Maltese professor whose conversations with Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos allegedly triggered the original "Collusion" probe.
The Obama administration's inappropriate use of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act wiretaps has also been at the heart of this outrage, and Barr will want to uncover how that came about, as well.
Anticipating obstruction and stonewalling, a Barr spokesman said his team of investigators, led by chief investigator John Durham, has directed the FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies to preserve relevant records and make witnesses available for interviews.
https://nypost.com/2019/07/09/did-a-dirty-intelligence-op-create-the-collusion-probe/
Barr's probe of the probe will seek to answer several bedeviling questions.
First, what was CIA chief John Brennan up to in arranging secret interagency task force meetings on alleged collusion in the spring, summer and fall of 2016? He sent classified memos related to these meetings in envelopes to former FBI boss James Comey, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and national security adviser Susan Rice, according to a 2018 House Intelligence Committee report.
Plus, did Brennan argue for using the dossier in early drafts of the task force's much-hyped January 2017 intelligence assessment, which spread the narrative that Putin ordered the alleged Clinton campaign hacking to steal the election for Trump? Emails or other communiqués from Brennan are likely to establish that.
More generally, Barr will need to get his hands on case files put together by these agencies as well as the sourcing that informed them, including confidential-source reports summarizing briefings between FBI agents and the informants and assets they jointly handled with the CIA. Barr should also press for FBI, CIA and State Department records related to Joseph Mifsud, the mysterious Maltese professor whose conversations with Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos allegedly triggered the original "Collusion" probe.
The Obama administration's inappropriate use of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act wiretaps has also been at the heart of this outrage, and Barr will want to uncover how that came about, as well.
Anticipating obstruction and stonewalling, a Barr spokesman said his team of investigators, led by chief investigator John Durham, has directed the FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies to preserve relevant records and make witnesses available for interviews.
https://nypost.com/2019/07/09/did-a-dirty-intelligence-op-create-the-collusion-probe/
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