Balls to the Wall! Has the Intrepid Sidney Powell Tapped into a Deep State Source?
The extraordinarily impressive Sidney Powell represents the long suffering General Michael Flynn in a case that is looking more and more like a setup coordinated by officials at the highest level of the Obama FBI.
On Thursday, Powell submitted a new court filing in which she accuses high ranking FBI officials of orchestrating an ambush-interview on Michael Flynn, “not for the purpose of discovering any evidence of criminal activity – they already had tapes of all the relevant conversations about which they questioned Mr. Flynn – but for the purposes of trapping him into making statement they could allege as false.”
The document alleges that then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page manipulated the original 302 report (FBI agent summary of interview with a subject), with the help of her paramour, then-FBI agent Peter Strzok. It claims that Peter Strzok, the lead agent on the case, suggested using news of the Steele Dossier as a “pretext to go interview people.” It shows that the FBI tried not to give General Flynn the impression they were interviewing him for a criminal matter. The filing also alleges that former DNI James Clapper, who will be interviewed by John Durham, alerted Washington Post writer David Ignatius to publish an article about Flynn’s conversation with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
The filing starts with the following:
For eighty seven years, the Supreme Court has held that “[t]he first duties of the officers of the law are to prevent, not to punish crime. It is not their duty to incite to or to create crime for the sole purpose of prosecuting and punishing it…
It appears as if the FBI were attempting to accomplish just that. Create a crime for the sole purpose of prosecuting and punishing it. A look into the actions of top Obama administration law enforcement officials sadly supports such a conclusion. For this reason, Powell and her legal team are requesting that the case be thrown out. Although I am not a lawyer, the evidence presented in this filing looks very compelling to me.
Blogger Techno Fog, an anonymous lawyer, dug into the lengthy document and highlighted several passages which illustrate what sure look to be unethical, if not illegal, behavior on the part of federal officials.
Here are a few of them. Flynn’s lawyers claim that the FBI added “or if Kislyak described any Russian response to a request from Flynn” and state “that question and answer do not appear in the [agent] notes, yet it was made into a criminal offense.”
The filing alleges that ONA (Office of Net Assessment in the Pentagon) Director Col. James Baker, “who regularly lunched with Washington Post reporter David Ignatius,” illegally leaked the transcript of Flynn’s calls to Ignatius. It also claims that Clapper called Ignatius on or before January 10, 2017 and said “words to the effect of ‘Take the kill shot on Flynn.'”
Leaking of this material is a felony, by the way.
The reference to “Halper” in the excerpt below is none other than Professor Stefan Halper, the longtime FBI informant who was enlisted to spy on the Trump campaign.
Flynn has requested records of Col. James Baker because he was Halper’s handler in the Office of Net Assessment in the Pentagon, and ONA Director Baker regularly lunched with Washington Post reporter David Ignatius. The defense has requested phone records of James Clapper to confirm his contacts with Washington Post reporter Ignatius – especially on January 10, 2017, when Clapper told Ignatius in words to the effect of “Take the kill shot on Flynn.” It cannot escape mention that the press has long had transcripts of the Kislyak calls the government has denied to the defense.
Next, the filing notes another instance where the FBI’s 302 on Flynn doesn’t match the FBI agents’ notes.
In the agent notes, Flynn says, “I don’t remember making 4-5 calls.”
The 302 says, “Flynn remembered making four to five calls that day about this issue.”
The filing states:
Lisa Page, Special Counsel to Deputy Director McCabe, resigned; she edited Mr. Flynn’s 302 and was part of a small, high-level group that strategically planned his ambush.
Page didn’t recall whether she took part in editing the FD-302.
Upon seeing her texts, she “believes she must have seen it at some point…”
Techno Fog provides a text message exchange between Strzok and Page in which they discuss the edits that were made to the Flynn 302.
New Page/Strzok texts also include this post-Flynn interview analysis of Strzok.
This appears to confirm they left the interview thinking Flynn didn't lie. pic.twitter.com/Gw99uMMrku
— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) October 25, 2019
The audacious attorney appeared on “Hannity” last night and spoke to former Congressman and current Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz (R-UT).
Powell was a federal prosecutor for ten years and she is bound to have connections inside of the Department of Justice. She has uncovered some pretty damning information to make the case that Flynn was ambushed by then FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe at the request of then FBI Director James Comey. She must have a high level source either inside the DOJ if she’s been able to obtain this kind of information. Questioned about this by Chaffetz, she of course, would not reveal her source.
Sidney Powell: We have requested his (James Clapper’s) phone records to corroborate the timing and everything about that call that we can possibly corroborate. And it is very concerning, of course it was the leak of the transcript of the call with Kislyak at the same time. And then two days after that the Ignatius story breaks, less than two days actually.
Jason Chaffetz: Sidney, so where is the evidence that that conversation and those words or the effect of those words took place?
Sidney Powell: I cannot reveal the source right now. But I do have a very good source for that information.
Jason Chaffetz: And you believe the Department of Justice is withholding that information from you?
Sidney Powell: I believe the Department of Justice is withholding a lot of information as is Mr. Clapper, Mr. Brennan and all the people who participated in the complete set up of General Michael Flynn.
Powell then describes some of the details of the case.
We have found additional text messages that the government suppressed, including one where agent Peter Strzok indicates he knows it’s a pretext to go interview General Flynn. They knew there was no Logan Act violation. They exonerated him completely of being an agent of Russia by the end of January and yet Mr. Comey still runs to the White House on February 14th and conjures up the entire obstruction of justice narrative against the President when Flynn had been cleared of everything long before that.
We also have information that the agents did manipulate the 302, you know it was long in a deliberative state which was highly unusual in and of itself, We attached as Exhibit 11 to our document a comparison of the February 10th and February 11th 302s that show the addition of substantial additional claims that were not in there before and are not supported by the notes which we also attach as exhibits to the document. So people can go to the actual document and read it and see a lot for themselves. It’s extremely concerning. It’s outrageous government misconduct. The agents deliberately calculated and met to plan and to strategize how to ambush General Flynn without letting him know he was officially under any kind of criminal investigation to keep him relaxed. And they wanted to be seen as allies when in fact they knew exactly what he had said in his conversations and they intended to create a situation in which anything he said could be used against him later as a false statement without any warnings to that effect whatsoever.
Finally, I want to mention that, following a Flynn hearing in September, it was said that Powell and Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is presiding over the case, seemed to have had a strong rapport, that the judge treated her with a great deal of respect. I believe the statement was made by Techno Fog who attended the hearing although I’m unable to locate a direct quote. For whatever it’s worth, I thought I’d pass that along.
Powell’s legal team took over Flynn’s defense in late 2018. It’s unfortunate he didn’t work with her from the start. Anyway, he’s got her now and she’s a smart lady. If anyone can get this sham of a case dismissed, it’s Powell.
Writer at RedState
MBA, former financial consultant, options trader
Mom of three grown children, grandmother
Email Elizabeth at [email protected]
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