Sketchy Changes to IG FISA Report Cover-Up Major Discrepancy in First Version

credit: sundance at CTH

There was a major discrepancy in the Inspector General report on FISA abuse, that appears to have been overlooked and casts a considerable cloud upon the DOJ Office of Inspector General and Michael Horowitz.

In chapter ten of the report, on page #312 you will find the following information.  The claim is that no-one in the FBI initiated any use of “Confidential Human Sources” into the campaign prior to opening the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.  Read Carefully:

(Page #312 – pdf link)

“In our review, we did not find any evidence that the FBI used CHSs or UCEs to interact with members of the Trump campaign prior to the opening of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.”…

However, in the very next chapter (#11, page #400), in the original IG report as released on December 9th, 2019, you will find the following statement:

(Page #400 – pdf link)

The two statements are completely contradictory.

Carter Page and George Papadopoulos started working for the Trump campaign in early March 2016.  The Crossfire Hurricane investigation began on July 28th, 2016.

If the FBI tasked CHS’s before and after they were affiliated with the Trump campaign, that was certainly before the opening of Crossfire Hurricane.   That statement was also included in the original Executive Summary (page xvi) as below:

The IG report was modified after publication to change this paragraph to:

“We determined that the Crossfire Hurricane team tasked several CHSs and UCEs during the 2016 presidential campaign, which resulted in multiple interactions with Carter Page and Papadopoulos, both during and after the time they were affiliated with the Trump campaign”…

However, that still presents an issue with this statement:

“In our review, we did not find any evidence that the FBI used CHSs or UCEs to interact with members of the Trump campaign prior to the opening of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.  All of the members of the Crossfire Hurricane team told the OIG that no investigative steps of any type were taken prior to receipt of the predicating information for the Crossfire Hurricane investigation on July 28, 2016, and we found no evidence to the contrary.

If no investigative steps “of any type” were taken prior to July 28th, 2016, then how does George Papadopoulos run afoul of meeting(s) being monitored in March 2016 with the “overseas professor” Joseph Mifsud (DOJ Statement of Offense – Papadopoulos):

Indeed the original IG report text would indicate that George Papadopoulos was subject to Confidential Human Sources (CHS’s) and/or Undercover Employees (UCE’s) during the earliest part of his activity with the Trump campaign (literally within a week), and would refute the claim “we did not find any evidence that the FBI used CHSs or UCEs to interact with members of the Trump campaign prior to the opening of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation” (July 31st, 2016).

That revelation and conflict is likely why the IG had to modify the text of the report after publishing it.

By modifying the language to “during and after“, the tasks against Papadopoulos could be somewhat reconciled…. so long as the IG report also stated that Mifsud was not a tasked source against Papadopoulos in March…. however, how did the DOJ know about the content of the conversation in order to use it against Papadopoulos in 2017?

The FBI sticking to the statement that: “all of the members of the Crossfire Hurricane team told the OIG that no investigative steps of any type were taken prior to receipt of the predicating information for the Crossfire Hurricane investigation on July 28, 2016” is a very strong motive to bury Maltese Professor Joseph Mifsud.

Is that why Mifsud was disappeared?

Was Mifsud disappeared because the DOJ and FBI needed to cover-up the use of any CHS prior to the official opening of Crossfire Hurricane on July 31st?

Is that why Mifsud went into hiding?

Is that why Mifsud recorded a police statement with his attorney before he went into hiding?

Is that why AG Bill Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham went to listen to that recording?

Keep in mind this is AG Bill Barr’s DOJ inspector general now saying no CHS’s were used prior to the opening of Crossfire Hurricane.

Is that why U.S. Attorney John Durham said:

“I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff. However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department.

Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.”(link)

Was the original IG report correct when it said twice that: “we determined that the Crossfire Hurricane team tasked several CHSs and UCEs during the 2016 presidential campaign, which resulted in multiple interactions with Carter Page and Papadopoulos, both before and after the time they were affiliated with the Trump campaign” ?

It seems unlikely a mistake of that importance, on a key and very specific issue, could be made twice in an heavily reviewed inspector general report.  However, if the IG didn’t change the text then this statement would be a lie:

The FBI wouldn’t try to lie and cover-up to protect themselves right?

Right?

Boy, if the FBI is lying to the IG about predictation that would put Durham and Barr in a precarious position.

Preserve the institution, or highlight that FBI leadership have lied?

Is that why FBI Agent SSA-1, Joseph Pientka, the primary culprit in this mess, was shipped to San Francisco and then scrubbed?

I mean we’re putting a ton of ‘hope’ on the moral character of John Durham and Bill Barr to tell the truth here…. and there are clear and present signals the current FBI backstory is full of lies, bigger than what is currently known.

Joseph Mifsud is the key.  No surprise he disappeared.

What would the intelligence community, especially the CIA and FBI, do to retain their lies?

Unfortunately, I think we all know the answers to most of those questions.

I think what we don’t see happening is shouting at us….

….the question is: