Rumor in the DC grapevine is that a few weeks ago Tashina Guahar was quietly removed from her position as lawyer for the DOJ National Security Division (in charge of FISA applications). This removal happened immediately after IG Michael Horowitz submitted his first draft report to Attorney General Bill Barr for classification review. Ms. Gauhar now reportedly works for Boeing.
If confirmed, Guahar’s exit in advance of the IG report could indicate helpful participation, or DOJ Main Justice may be providing cover to protect Tash Guahar as they did with SSCI Security Director James Wolfe. Keep eyes on a swivel, here’s why:
♦ On March 2nd, 2017, Tashina “Tash” Guahar was one of a small group of DOJ officials who participated in a conversation that led to the recusal of Jeff Sessions from anything related to the 2016 election. This recusal included the ongoing FBI counterintelligence investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane, later picked up (May 17th) by Robert Mueller.
Immediately following this meeting, AG Jeff Sessions announced his recusal.
The attendees for the recusal decision-making meeting (see above schedule) included Sessions’ chief of staff Jody Hunt; Criminal Chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, Jim Crowell; Acting Deputy AG, ¹Dana Boente; Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) in the Department of Justice National Security Division Tash Gauhar (FISA lawyer); and Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools.
[Note: Tash Gauhar was lawyer for FBI Clinton case; and Scott Schools was part of drafting Clinton exoneration letter.]
This was the Main Justice group who influenced Jeff Sessions to recuse.
Now, fast-forward to May, 2017:
Tuesday May 16th, 2017 – In Main Justice at 12:30pm Rod Rosenstein, Andrew McCabe, Jim Crowell and Tashina Guahar are again part of another meeting. I should note that alternate documentary evidence, gathered over the past two years, supports the content of this McCabe memo. Including texts between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok:
[Sidebar: pay attention to the *current* redactions; they appear to be placed by existing DOJ officials in an effort to protect Rod Rosenstein for his duplicity in: (A) running the Mueller sting operation at the white house on the same day; (B) the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel, which was pre-determined before the Oval Office meeting.]
While McCabe was writing this afternoon memo, still May 16th, Rod Rosenstein took Robert Mueller to the White House for a meeting in the oval office with President Trump and VP Mike Pence.
After six days of phone calls, emails and in person meetings, this visit to the White House was clearly Rod Rosenstein introducing Robert Mueller to the target of the investigation. Rosenstein already knew he was going to appoint Mueller; and Mueller, along with the small group in the DOJ and FBI, already knew Mueller was going to be appointed.
Later that night (May 16th), following the Rosenstein-Mueller WH sting operation, there was a debriefing session back at Main Justice. This evening meeting appears to be Lisa Page, Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe; along with Tashina Gauhar taking notes.
Considering the 2016 operation against candidate and president-elect Trump, as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) in the Department of Justice National Security Division, FISA lawyer Tash Gauhar would have a specific, material and self-interested alignment with the ongoing DOJ/FBI effort to remove President Trump.
Either Tashing Guahar has cooperated with the Horowitz, Durham and Barr probes and left the DOJ prior to the IG report on FISA abuse (and her role therein) being made public, as part of an internal dynamic; -OR- the IG discoveries about direct and affiliated activity that surrounded Ms. Gauhar led to her pre-report exit as a Main Justice coverup.
Hope for the former; but keep an eye open for the latter.
With hindsight it is now clear the various players inside Main Justice and the FBI had a vested interest in maintaining the assault against Trump. In late 2019 everyone can see the bigger goal was against the office of POTUS. [“obstruction” etc.] All of the personnel moves should be reviewed with hindsight of the larger anti-Trump objective in mind.
Important Point – Against the known fraud that was the Trump-Russia Collusion-Conspiracy narrative, there are no visible 2016 and 2017 top-level DOJ/FBI people who didn’t participate in one form or another.
¹When Jeff Sessions became AG, Dana Boente became Acting Deputy AG, a role he would retain until Rod Rosenstein was confirmed on April 25th, 2017. [Mary McCord remained head of the DOJ-National Security Division] In 2019 Dana Boente is currently FBI chief legal counsel.
Tashina Guahar, Jim Crowell and Dana Boente all advised Jeff Sessions to recuse himself.
With AG Jeff Sessions recused on March 2, 2017, FBI Director James Comey reported to Acting Deputy AG Dana Boente. [Technically, Boente was still EDVA U.S. Attorney and was only ‘acting’ as Deputy AG] Additionally, on March 31st, 2017, President Trump signs executive order 13787 making the U.S. EDVA Attorney the 3rd in line for DOJ succession.
In the period between March 2nd and April 25th – With AG Sessions recused, and without a Deputy AG confirmed, Dana Boente is simultaneously:
- U.S. Attorney for EDVA
- Acting Deputy AG.
- Acting AG for all issues related to Sessions recusal.
James Comey & Dana Boente sign the April 2017 FISA renewal against Carter Page.
This dynamic would later become important as notes Boente took from conversations with James Comey became evidence for Mueller’s expanded obstruction investigation. [3/2/17 Mary McCord is still head of DOJ-NSD]
Dana Boente was head of DOJ-NSD from May 11th, 2017 through end of October 2017 when he officially announced his intent to retire. However, the timeline gets cloudy here because Boente said he was staying on until an official replacement was announced. There’s no indication of when he actually left the DOJ-NSD or the EDVA role.
On January 23rd, 2018, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced Boente has shifted over to the FBI to be Chief Legal Counsel (replacing James Baker). This decision is made while Weissmann and Mueller are using 19 lawyers, and 40 FBI investigators to continue their investigation of President Trump.
As FBI legal counsel Dana Boente now becomes a legal adviser to Christopher Wray while the Mueller probe is ongoing. From the Mueller Report:
As we discovered earlier this year, Mueller’s lead FBI agent for the corrupt Russia collusion-conspiracy investigation, was David W. Archey. Archey was selected by Robert Mueller when FBI Agent Peter Strzok was removed. The Mueller probe took over the counterintelligence investigation May 17, 2017, a few months later Special Agent Peter Strzok was removed (July) and David W. Archey was brought in:
As David Archey arrives in August 2017, Mueller is getting the new scope memo from Rod Rosenstein. The August scope memo authorizes the Mueller team to investigate the Steele Dossier. There’s little doubt the entire FBI group would have known the Trump-Russia collusion-conspiracy narrative was false. So David Archey status as lead agent has to be considered *corrupt/sketchy*; FBI activity was likely focused on the obstruction angle.
Interestingly at the conclusion of the Mueller investigation Archey was promoted by Christopher Wray to head of the Richmond, Virginia FBI field office on March 4, 2019. This FBI field office overlaps with another FBI/DOJ filing from the EDVA.
A little more than a month after Archey takes over the Virginia FBI field office, on April 11th, 2019, the Julian Assange indictment was unsealed in the EDVA. From the indictment we discover it was under seal since March 6th, 2018:
On Tuesday April 15th more investigative material was released. Again, note the dates:
Grand Jury, *December of 2017* This means FBI investigation prior to….
The FBI investigation took place prior to December 2017, it was coordinated through the EDVA where Dana Boente was still, presumably, U.S. Attorney. The grand jury indictment was sealed from March of 2018 until after Mueller completed his investigation, April 2019.
Why the delay? Here’s where it gets interesting….
This FBI submission to the Grand Jury in December of 2017 was four months after congressman Dana Rohrabacher talked to Julian Assange in August of 2017: “Assange told a U.S. congressman … he can prove the leaked Democratic Party documents … did not come from Russia.”
(August 2017, The Hill Via John Solomon) Julian Assange told a U.S. congressman on Tuesday he can prove the leaked Democratic Party documents he published during last year’s election did not come from Russia and promised additional helpful information about the leaks in the near future.Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who is friendly to Russia and chairs an important House subcommittee on Eurasia policy, became the first American congressman to meet with Assange during a three-hour private gathering at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been holed up for years.Rohrabacher recounted his conversation with Assange to The Hill.“Our three-hour meeting covered a wide array of issues, including the WikiLeaks exposure of the DNC [Democratic National Committee] emails during last year’s presidential election,” Rohrabacher said, “Julian emphatically stated that the Russians were not involved in the hacking or disclosure of those emails.”Pressed for more detail on the source of the documents, Rohrabacher said he had information to share privately with President Trump. (read more)
It would appear the FBI took keen interest after this August 2017 meeting and gathered specific evidence for a grand jury by December 2017. Then the DOJ sat on the indictment (sealed in March 2018) while the Mueller probe was ongoing; until April 11th, 2019, when a planned and coordinated effort between the U.K. and U.S. was launched. Assange was arrested, and the EDVA indictment was unsealed (link).
To me, as a person who has researched this three year fiasco; including the ridiculously false 2016 Russian hacking/interference narrative: “17 intelligence agencies”, JAR report (needed for Obama in December ’16), and political ICA (January ’17); this looked like a Deep State move to control Julian Assange because the Mueller report was dependent on Russia cybercrimes…. AND that entire narrative is contingent on the Russia DNC hack story which Julian Assange disputes.
The Weissmann/Mueller report contains claims that Russia hacked the DNC servers as the central element to the Russia interference narrative in the U.S. election. This claim is directly disputed by WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, as outlined during the Dana Rohrabacher interview.
There is the corrupt DOJ/FBI motive to shut Assange down.
There are no “good guys” in this. There are no “white hats” here. Certainly not Mueller, Rosenstein, Wray, Bowditch, Boente or Tashina Guahar. Instead, this is a matrix of broad interests positioned only to benefit and sustain the status quo of the administrative state; and protect the larger DC community from the Trump disruption.