Good News / Bad News – Horowitz Report: Likely No Classified Appendix / Review Phase Has Not Started
A letter from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz provides both good news and bad news. The goods news is Horowitz letter says likely no need for a “classified version” which means AG Bill Barr likely declassifying a lot of it.
However, the bad news is on page #2 where Horowitz says the final draft assembly is still ongoing, and the “review phase” has not yet begun. Which means the report is not likely to be made public before Thanksgiving.
Knowing how carefully the OIG chooses words when describing inter-agency discussions and contacts, a note of caution is also warranted for this part:
Instead of “redactions” and/or the need for a classified version (or appendix), the FBI process for a full release could also be requesting “removals”.
Lastly Horowitz notes the “review”, “accuracy” and “comment” period, which we customarily know as the “Principal Review Phase”, is not “anticipated to be lengthy”. In general the principal review phase under Horowitz has been around two-to-three weeks.
During that phase the sections of the report that pertain to specific DOJ and FBI officials will be sent to them (w/ a required NDA) for review and their feedback. The feedback may or may not be included in the final report as published. If principal feedback is included, the IG will generally provide additional rebuttal evidence.
When the principals get their copies, despite the non-disclosure agreement, they will undoubtedly start leaking to their media allies and lawyers on their behalf will begin the process to undermine any damaging information within the report.
Based on today being October 24th, I wouldn’t look for the final report until after Thanksgiving.
Once the DOJ (Rosenstein and Mueller) made the 2018 intentional decision to cover-up the FISA leak by Senate Intelligence Committee Security Director, James Wolfe, they set themselves upon a path where truthful disclosures would be adverse to their interests.
Think about it….
Think about what would have happened in mid 2018 if the DOJ prosecuted James Wolfe for leaking the FISA application…. Think about what would have been revealed about the role of Glenn Simpson and Christopher Steele… Think about how damaging that would have been to Robert Mueller… Think about all the ramifications four months prior to the mid-term election.
Remember, Rod Rosenstein authorized the second Scope Memo in August 2017 specifically so Weissmann & Mueller could investigate the claims within the ‘Dossier’. Think about what would have happened to the institution of the DOJ if they had proceeded with the prosecution of James Wolfe for leaking the FISA application; and all of the connections around the Steele Dossier and the FISA application came into light.
Don’t just do a cursory thinking about it, really think carefully about it.
Think about what would have happened to the SSCI and Mark Warner, if James Wolfe had been prosecuted…. Think about all of the April ’17 through 2018 media reporting on the FISA application; the Jan/Feb ’18 media arguments about the Nunes memo…. Think about every narrative the media was selling about the Steele Dossier and then later the FISA application….. and then think about Wolfe’s prosecution proving the media has the actual FISA application in their hands when they were writing all those false stories about it…
The ramifications of prosecuting Wolfe would have collapsed the entire Russian Collusion-Conspiracy narrative; and destroyed the reputations of the SSCI, the Mueller investigation, the DOJ, the FBI and the media.
Now do you see why they covered it up?
Once the DOJ and FBI leadership made the 2018 decision to cover-up the Wolfe leak of the FISA application, they set themselves on a path of no retreat and no return.
People often ask me why I changed my perspective in July/August 2018 and dropped the outlook of optimism toward accountability. Well, there ya’ go. I just explained why.
Put on your memory cap and think about the downstream ramifications for prosecuting James Wolfe. What would have changed?….. EVERYTHING.
Now, think about the downstream ramifications from covering-up the Wolfe leak of the FISA application. Think about all the officials who have first-hand knowledge they covered it up…. Think about the political participants that know the DOJ covered it up… Think about the FBI officials who investigated Wolfe, and who know their institutional leadership made the decision to cover-up what they found….
So what exactly will this same DOJ and FBI do in 2019 with an IG report that is specifically focused on the Carter Page FISA application?
Think about it carefully, and please share your thoughts.
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