https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVhW-4wqL5Q

The abuse of power by officials at the top levels of the Department of Justice, including Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch, became clearer than ever due to Rep. Doug Collins’ (R-GA) release of transcripts from the 2018 Bruce Ohr and Lisa Page hearings in the last week. Their testimonies both corroborated many of Devin Nunes’ previous findings and provided new information.

In addition, Fox News obtained a copy of an internal FBI chart with a written comment next to the section of the statute which most closely applied to Hillary Clinton which said: “Note: DOJ not willing to charge this.” I posted about this earlier today here.

As incriminating as this is all by itself, my RedState colleague, JohnCV, brought up the excellent point that the same people who have been freaking out and accusing Trump of “obstructing justice” for asking then-FBI Director James Comey to cut then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn some slack, don’t seem to have a problem with the DOJ asking FBI officials to cut Hillary Clinton some slack. What hypocrisy. 

The other revelations of the past week include the following.

DOJ official Bruce Ohr warned FBI officials about the dossier’s origin.

In his testimony, Ohr told investigators that when he brought the Steele dossier to then-FBI Deputy Director McCabe and FBI lawyer Lisa Page on July 30, 2016, he emphasized that it was opposition research paid for by Hillary Clinton and the DNC. He stressed that it was “uncorroborated” and that it had been compiled by Christopher Steele, a man who “hated” Donald Trump and wanted to prevent him from winning the election.

Yet, in October 2016, fully aware of these facts, the FBI used the unverified document as the basis for their application to the FISA Court for a warrant to spy on Carter Page. In what journalists refer to as “circular reporting,” the FBI used a Yahoo News article written by Michael Isikoff, who had used Steele as his source, to corroborate the dossier. And knowing this, Comey signed off on the application.

In January 2017, three months after using the dossier to obtain the FISA warrant, Comey met with President-elect Trump to brief him on the dossier and indicated it was “unverified” and “salacious.” So, a document that was submitted as “evidence” to a FISA Court was presented to Trump as dirty politics.

The duplicitous FBI Director then notified James Clapper, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, who alerted CNN that the President had been briefed and it was now okay to publish the dossier story they had been sitting on.

Lisa Page testified that the DOJ pressured the FBI to scuttle the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

During questioning by Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), Page confirmed that the DOJ pressured (possibly ordered) the FBI not to charge Hillary Clinton with gross negligence.

The FBI had no evidence that Trump had colluded with the Russians at the time the special counsel was appointed.

This was the biggest bombshell in Page’s testimony. By May 2017, the FBI had been investigating Trump for ten months and still had not found evidence of collusion, nor had they been able to corroborate any of the claims made in the dossier.

So, what did they do? They opened up a new criminal investigation of Trump for obstruction of justice because he had fired their leader. And Rod Rosenstein, who had written a memo in which he made the case for firing Comey,  appointed Robert Mueller to the Special Counsel.

Page testified that the FBI had sworn (on the October 2016 FISA Court application and on two renewals by that time) that they had verified the dossier, a document which no one has been able to verify to this day.

It’s amazing to me that no Republican lawmakers leaked any of the information learned from the Ohr and Page hearings.

The encouraging wins of the past week appear to have fired up Republican lawmakers and they plan to act.

1. Rep. Doug Collins says he will continue to review and release additional documents so the American people can learn the truth.

2. On Monday night, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” and said he will be announcing criminal referrals in the next 2-4 weeks.

3. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), currently the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, plans to call the appropriate officials to testify before his committee. Appearing on “Sean Hannity” last night, he said he will be seeking the answers to the following questions:

Did they short-circuit the Clinton email investigation because they wanted her to win, and they knew if they charged her, they might lose?

Did they start the Russian investigation against Trump as an insurance policy in case he did win?

4. Graham added:

[DOJ Inspector General Michael] Horowitz is going to look at the FISA abuse. Did the DOJ corruptly get a warrant against an American citizen, Carter Page? I think they corruptly got a warrant against Page and that should scare every American.

You’ve got a Utah US Attorney acting as a quasi Mueller when it comes to all things DOJ [and] FBI. I think we need a special counsel to look at the potential crimes of the DOJ and the FBI regarding the Clinton email investigation and the Russian investigation early on.

…

We’re going to call them all before the committee. Did they try to invoke the 25th Amendment to take the President down? Did they get a warrant against an American citizen using information they know was flawed? Did they tank the Clinton email investigation because they were afraid if they indicted her, she would lose an election they wanted her to win?

5. Once Mueller submits his report, Trump can release all of the relevant documents at the stroke of a pen.

Stay tuned.