News Analysis 🔎 | Following AG William Barr’s refusal to recuse himself from the #SpecialCounsel probe, a series of revealing and interconnected events rapidly unfolded. (Thread 👇) theepochtimes.com/a-common-threa…

Barr-Huber Meeting
On March 7, Barr had a notable meeting with Attorney John Huber of #Utah, who had been appointed as vice chair of the AG’s Advisory Committee by former AG @JeffSessions to investigate “all the allegations that the House Judiciary Committee members sent to us.”

Sessions wrote:
“Mr. Huber is conducting his work… in cooperation with the Inspector General. The additional matters raised… fall within the scope of his existing mandate, and I am confident that Mr. Huber’s review will include a full, complete, and objective evaluation…”

Release of Congressional Testimonies
@RepDougCollins released a transcript of a congressional interview with #DOJ official #BruceOhr.

The release would be the 1st in a series including those of #PeterStrzok, #LisaPage, #BillPriestap, #JamesBaker, @GeorgePapa19, and #NellieOhr.

McCain Aide Deposition Unsealed
An unsealed deposition of David Kramer, longtime associate of the late Sen. #JohnMcCain, revealed he had contact with at least 14 members of the media regarding the #SteeleDossier…

… which was produced by former #MI6 official #ChristopherSteele, who was hired by #FusionGPS, which, in turn, was contracted by @HillaryClinton’s campaign and the @DNC through their law firm Perkins Coie.

Kramer also confirmed that he was @BuzzFeedNews’ source for the dossier.

Chair Ceremony for Sessions
On March 21, a Chair ceremony was held for former AG Sessions.

Attending was Deputy AG Rosenstein, Barr, Huber, former acting AG Whitaker, and Trump’s recent pick for associate AG, Jessie Liu. (Liu has since withdrawn her name from consideration.)

Barr stated that Sessions, who received a standing ovation, “set an agenda and priorities that are just what the coountry needs.” Rosenstein stated that “Sessions stayed true to his values.”

Global Money-Laundering Case
The same day, #Bloomberg reported the #Swedish bank #Swedbank “may now be facing substantial fines for money laundering that could put pressure on its capital buffers.”

Allegations were made by Swedish press that Trump’s former campaign chairman…

…received “nearly one million dollars in black money through Swedbank” from accounts linked #Ukraine's former president.

This investigation, which remains under-reported, is looking into allegations of #moneylaundering across financial institutions in multiple countries.

McCabe-Page Text Messages
Catherine Herridge of @FoxNews released 2 pages of texts between former Deputy @FBI Director #McCabe and #LisaPage, some of which related to obtaining the #FISA warrant of former Trump campaign adviser #CarterPage.

Specifically, some of the texts reflect concerns from @TheJusticeDept over “possible bias of the chs,” or confidential human source, likely referring to #Steele.

#Page noted that “This might take a high-level push.”

#Mueller Concludes Investigation
Mueller had finished his investigation and submitted his report to #Rosenstein, who in turn, gave it to #Barr. It was from this point that the true fireworks and posturing began.

The #SpecialCounsel’s report was divided into 2 parts:

• #Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election
• Allegations of #ObstructionOfJustice

Notably, the report “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”

#Horowitz Probe to Conclude in Months
Following the delivery of Barr’s letter to Congress, @RepRatcliffe said Horowitz hoped to be done with his investigation into #FISAabuses in May or June.

Calls to Investigate the Investigators
@RudyGiuliani sounded a note of offense, saying the #MuellerReport provided complete vindication.

He also called for an investigation into the origins of the #Collusion claims, saying “this had to come from somewhere. It didn’t just…

… come out of thin air. I want to know who did it, who paid for it, who fueled it, because the person who did it, and the group who did it, knows it’s untrue because they invented it.”

President Trump said of the #MuellerProbe, “It was 100 percent the way it should’ve been.”

He continued: “There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things, very bad things, I would say treasonous things, against our country.”

Brennan Changes His Tone
Former @CIA director and the instigator of the @FBI’s investigation John Brennan struck a very different tone on @MSNBC than previously.

When asked if he had received bad information, Brennan responded, “Well, I don’t know if I received bad information…

… but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was. I am relieved that it’s been determined there was not a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government over our election.”

#MichaelAvenatti Arrested
@TheJusticeDept and #IRS would unveil a 36-count grand jury #Indictment against #Avenatti, who could now face a “sentence of more than 300 years in federal prison.”

White House on Offensive
Trump's Comms Director Tim Murtaugh sent out a memo to all TV producers regarding the “credibility of certain guests.”

In particular, the memo cited a list of “guests who made outlandish, false claims, without evidence, on your airwaves.”

Included:
• @SenBlumenthal
• @RepAdamSchiff
• @RepJerryNadler
• @RepSwalwell
• @DNC Chairman @TomPerez
• Former @CIA Director Brennan.

The memo asked the producers to “employ basic journalistic standards when booking such guests.”

Additionally, Sen. @RandPaul broached the question that many have been asking: “What did President Obama know and when?”

Calls for #Schiff to Resign
House Republicans called on @RepAdamSchiff to resign as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in a letter: “we have no faith in your ability to discharge your duties in a manner consistent with your Constitutional responsibility…”

Biden’s Behavior Questioned, Ukraine Allegations Raised
@JoeBiden, who played a large role in US involvement in #Ukrainian politics, claimed to have caused the firing of a #Ukraine prosecutor.

That same prosecutor was reportedly “leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into…

… the natural gas firm Burisma Holdings that employed Biden’s younger son, Hunter, as a board member.”

Expect to hear more on @JoeBiden’s #Ukrainian involvement in the future.

On April 4, Kerri Kupec, a DOJ spokesperson, rebutted @nytimes and @washingtonpost reports, noting that every page of the #MuellerReport was marked with notations that they may contain “confidential grand jury information – and therefore could not be publicly released.”

Kupec said that @TheJusticeDept was actively working directly with #SpecialCounsel #Mueller on “appropriate redactions to the report so that it can be released to Congress and the public.”

Ukraine-Democrat Ties
April 7, @thehill published an article, “Ukrainian to US prosecutors: Why don’t you want our evidence on Democrats?”

The article touched on numerous aspects of Ukrainian-Democrat ties in the 2016 election and highlighted #Biden’s previously mentioned role.

Giuliani Comments on #Ukraine, #Biden Role
@RudyGiuliani made some notable comments concerning #Biden’s role in #Ukraine.

Accused of bringing the issue up because Biden was considering running for president, Giuliani responded, stating “I’m bringing it up now because I want…

… the Ukraine investigated. I don’t care about Joe Biden. I want the Ukraine investigated. Because I think, in the Ukraine, we’re going to find a lot of answers for how the Steele dossier was put together, how the Manafort case was revived…”

Criminal Referrals
Rep. @DevinNunes said he was ready to send 8 criminal referrals to the AG, 3 of which included conspiracy to lie to Congress and/or the #FISA court.

@RepMarkMeadows commented on the Nunes interview, noting there would be additional criminal referrals to come.

.@RepMarkMeadows stated that “Overwhelming evidence shows multiple FBI and DOJ executives abused their power to undermine a duly elected President Trump. They will be held accountable.”

#Mueller Team Assisting With Redactions
On April 10, @RepMarkMeadows noted that the #MuellerReport would be released shortly, but more importantly he divulged that #SpecialCounsel Mueller and his team were actively assisting #Barr in the preparation of the redactions.

Trump: ‘An Attempted Coup’
President @realDonaldTrump blasted former @FBI Director @Comey and former Deputy FBI Director #McCabe as dirty cops, saying, “This was an attempted coup. This was an attempted takedown of a president. And we beat them.”

Barr Says ‘#SpyingDidOccur’
He followed up by noting the question was if the spying “was adequately predicated.”

The implications behind Barr’s comments, particularly as a newly installed attorney general, are notable.

#JulianAssangeArrested
On April 11, @WikiLeaks founder #JulianAssange was evicted from the #EcuadorianEmbassyLondon and arrested on 2 warrants from the US and the UK.

Notably, charges unsealed by the US against #Assange carry a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison.

Former @BarackObama White House Counsel Charged
That same day, former White House counsel to the Obama admin #GregCraig was charged by a federal grand jury with “making false statements and concealing material information about his activities on behalf of Ukraine.”

Criminal Referrals Made to DOJ
On April 15, @DevinNunes sent his 8 criminal referrals to Barr, as he had promised on April 7:

Neither Nunes, nor his referral letter, identified the 8 individuals or the specific details of the alleged crimes.

Giuliani: #Assange Could Expose a Plot
@RudyGiuliani stated that “Julian Assange could expose a ‘plot’ involving Ukraine to falsely accuse Trump of colluding with Russia.”

Giuliani noted that he was referring to…

…“Assange exposing the origins of the federal investigation of possible Trump collusion with Russia and was not raising the possibility of Assange disproving that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta.”

#MuellerReport to Be Made Public
On April 15, it was reported that @TheJusticeDept was planning on making the Mueller report public on the morning of April 18.

The report will contain redactions that have been agreed upon by #Barr and #Mueller.

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