DOJ Prosecutors Using Grand Jury to Subpoena Financial Records of 2020 Election Audit Groups
I hate to say I toldyaso, but…. well, {Go Deep}. The Washington Post is writing a story today about federal prosecutors using grand juries to subpoena the financial records of individuals and groups who were associated with the 2020 election audit efforts. The motives here are very predictable.
Remember, when the political agencies under the umbrella of the Fourth Branch of Government (CIA, FBI and DOJ) use their aligned media they follow a particular pattern of using New York Times, Politico and the Washington Post to build the framework of their investigative narratives.
The specifics of this first report surround attorney Sidney Powell and her ‘Defend The Republic‘ organization, one of several individuals and groups who were raising money to support 2020 election audits. The Sidney Powell, Mike Flynn, and Patrick Byrne network are under review.
As you review the article it is important to note few key elements: (1) The subpoena document’s were leaked to the Washington Post by someone inside the investigation; that speaks toward the larger motive of the DOJ/FBI effort itself. (2) The specific DOJ prosecutors are the same ones working hand-in-glove with the J6 committee.
WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors have demanded the financial records of multiple fundraising organizations launched by attorney Sidney Powell after the 2020 election as part of a criminal investigation, according to a subpoena reviewed by The Washington Post.
The grand jury subpoena, issued in September by the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia, sought communications and other records related to fundraising and accounting by groups including Defending the Republic, a Texas-based organization claiming 501(c) 4 nonprofit status, and a PAC by the same name, according to the documents and a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of the probe.
As part of the investigation, which has not been previously reported, prosecutors are seeking records going back to Nov. 1, 2020.
The subpoena reviewed by The Post was signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gaston, who is also handling politically charged matters related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including contempt of Congress charges brought against former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon for refusing to testify in front of the House committee investigating the pro-Trump riot.
[…] Powell was soliciting contributions from Trump supporters to help fund her efforts. She began asking for donations as early as Nov. 10, 2020, a week after the election, telling viewers of the “Lou Dobbs Tonight” show on Fox Business that she had started a website called defendingtherepublic.org where they could donate.
Visitors reached a site that requested donations to support her election litigation. “Over $500,000 must be raised in the next twenty-four hours for these suits to be filed. Millions more will need to be raised to ensure victory,” the site stated around that time, according to an archived version.
By Nov. 25, 2020, the day Powell filed the first two of her lawsuits claiming widespread fraud, the website included a large picture of Powell and said her aim was to use the courts to block the certification of Biden’s victory. The website solicited donations for “Sidney Powell’s Legal Defense Fund” and indicated to potential donors that they would be contributing to a 501(c) 4 social welfare organization. Donors were asked to make checks payable to Sidney Powell P.C., Powell’s law firm.
It was not until Dec. 1, 2020, that Defending the Republic was incorporated as a business in Texas, with Powell listed as its agent and director, according to state records. An authorized representative for the group, Brandon Johnson, said in an August deposition taken as part of a defamation lawsuit against Powell that he knew nothing about donations made online before Dec. 1. “I don’t know where they went, but they did not go to Defending the Republic,” Johnson said in the deposition.
It is not clear how much money the organization has raised since it was incorporated or how that money has been spent. Defending the Republic contributed $550,000 to fund a Republican-commissioned review of nearly 2.1 million ballots cast last year in Arizona, according to an accounting released in July by Cyber Ninjas, a contractor that led the review.
Powell, when asked in a July deposition whether her law firm would receive compensation through donations made to Defending the Republic, replied, “I certainly hope we will,” maintaining that her firm had not been paid for bringing election-related lawsuits.
In an estimated budget submitted this summer to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Defending the Republic projected revenue from donations of just over $7 million for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
[…] According to Johnson’s deposition, the group’s directors have included Flynn and Flynn’s brother Joseph Flynn, as well as Patrick Byrne, the millionaire founder of Overstock.com. The Flynn brothers are listed as directors, alongside Powell, in corporate records filed in December 2020. Both brothers, as well as Byrne, have departed their roles, Johnson said in his deposition.
Byrne told The Post he agreed to serve as chief executive of Defending the Republic at Powell’s request in March, but left after only a few weeks in early April, in part because of different management styles and concerns about the business’s financial oversight. He said that he doesn’t know how much Powell had raised and that when he urged a full audit of the organization’s finances, she resisted. Byrne said the Flynn brothers and the executive staff left the organization on the same day he did. He said he hasn’t communicated with Powell since he departed and he has not received a subpoena. (read more)
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services was likely the investigative triggering mechanism as the Powell group was originally looking to stand up a headquarters somewhere in the state. The Florida Agriculture Commissioner is Nikki Fried, the current Democrat opponent to Ron DeSantis in the 2022 governors race.
Interestingly, the Washington Post positions Patrick Byrne as an innocuous player in the story line who has not received a subpoena. However, for those who follow the deep weeds of FBI operations you can see the familiar shadow of a confidential informant; a person in place to participate as an ally yet subversively gathering information for later use.
As CTH previously predicted, there is a point of political merge in the DOJ/FBI motive to investigate two sets of people, The J6 group and the Audit group.
The motives are obvious: (1) tamp down any election integrity measures; (2) demoralize the MAGA or spirited America-First base of opposition against Democrats; (3) put the Republican Party on the defensive; (4) take attention away from the economic mess caused by the current administration; and (5) provide political turmoil in the ranks of their opposition.
The DOJ/FBI will be used for maximum political damage, and as you know, the professional Republican Party stands to gain just as much by this effort as the Democrat Party. Similar to how the GOPe supported the targeting of the Tea Party by the DOJ using the IRS, so too will the GOPe support the targeting of the various support networks behind the audit the election groups; what John McCain called, “the whacko birds.”
Put the J6 investigation and Audit investigation together, and you can see the DNC approach for 2022. (read more)
Unfortunately, this is how a highly political DOJ/FBI operate their targeting mechanisms in this new era of openly visible weaponization.
The Republican silence on the issues of how the DOJ and FBI are weaponized is indicative of their alignment with the targeting motives.
The Fourth Branch of Government will activate against any individual, entity or group who is perceived as a threat.
~ Prior Warning Here ~
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