It’s Friday.
There are 6 days until Thanksgiving.
It’s day 59 of the Impeachment Inquiry.
For Friday President Trump has tweeted 2 times and retweeted 1 time, so far.
“Former FBI Employee Accused of Altering FISA Documents.” Hello, here we go! @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2019
On Thursday CNN reported that according to several people briefed on the matter, a former FBI lawyer is facing a criminal investigation following allegations that they altered a document related to the 2016 surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
That finding is expected to be part of the upcoming DOJ Inspector General report due to be released on Dec. 8th or the 9th.
The Washington Post reported shortly after CNN, that according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter that altered document “did not affect the overall validity of the surveillance application.”
According to the article the employee, a low-level FBI lawyer was fired after the incident was discovered. Inspector General Michael Horowitz is said to have found that, “the employee erroneously indicated he had documentation to back up a claim he had made in discussions with the Justice Department about the factual basis for the application. He then altered an email to back up that erroneous claim.”
Officials went on to tell the Post that Horowitz found that this conduct did not alter the findings that the surveillance application of Page had a proper legal factual basis.
In an early version of their article the Post reported that this former FBI Lawyer worked under former Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok, who has faced allegations that he was part of the “deep state coup” to remove President Trump. They have corrected the error and deleted the passage.
Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously stated that the FBI employee being investigated for altering a document worked underneath former Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok. The employee was a low-level lawyer in the Office of General Counsel and did not report to the deputy assistant director.
The Washington Post.
Horowitz is expected to testify publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee on December 11th.
I will be interviewed on @foxandfriends this morning at 8:00 A.M. I know that there’s not much to talk about, but we will try to keep the conversation going. Enjoy! @SteveDoocy @ainsleyearhardt @kilmeade
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2019
Highlights.
The Horowitz report and Attorney General William Barr’s origins of the Russia investigation.
Trump, to Fox & Friends, on Barr DOJ's probe of Russia investigation: "What you're going to see, I predict, will be perhaps the biggest scandal in the history of our country…I could get very much involved, but I don't…I don't have any obligation legally to [not get involved]" pic.twitter.com/t8OiTQzEa7
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 22, 2019
The debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine has the DNC server.
"They gave the server to CrowdStrike … that's what the word is" — here's Trump pushing the absolutely insane, debunked conspiracy theory that the DNC's server is in Ukraine and that Russia was framed for interfering in the 2016 election pic.twitter.com/PXClTXfJhd
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 22, 2019
In the clip the President says that CrowdStrike, founded in 2011, is owned by a wealthy Ukrainian.
In September following the release of the memorandum between President Trump and President Zelensky, The Daily Beast explained that co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch is not Ukrainian. He was born in Russia and fled the country with his family during the Soviet era. His partner is George Kurtz born in New Jersey.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, the company stood by their findings that it was Russia that hacked the DNC in 2016. Adding that they turned over all their evidence to the FBI.
With regards to our investigation of the DNC hack in 2016, we provided all forensic evidence and analysis to the FBI. As we’ve stated before, we stand by our findings and conclusions that have been fully supported by the US Intelligence community.
The Daily Beast.
Bashes a former Ambassador. Because she wouldn’t hang his picture in the Ukraine Embassy.
Trump on Yovanovitch: "She wouldn't hang my picture in the embassy. She is in charge of the embassy. She wouldn't hang it. It look a year-and-a-half, two years to get the picture up. She said bad things about me … This was not an angel this woman, okay?" pic.twitter.com/mayhFy8jSG
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 22, 2019
Reminder: Today is the deadline a judge gave for the State Dept. to turn over docs in response to a FOIA lawsuit from American Oversight about the recall of Marie Yovanovitch. Docs ordered to be handed over include comms between Giuliani and State officials, including Pompeo.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 22, 2019
What an ending!
— TrumpsTaxes (@TrumpsTaxes) November 15, 2019
Big round of applause for the exiting Marie Yovanovitch – and also likely for Adam Schiff’s great closing statement – drowning out the cries of the House GOP as their mics are turned off.
There’s your “pizzazz”, folks.#ImpeachingHearingpic.twitter.com/c3Ord2jHm1
From Daniel Dale.
Trump: "I just pulled out of Syria except I kept the oil."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 22, 2019
Kilmeade: "You have 600 guys there."
Trump: "If it weren't for me, Hong Kong would've been obliterated in 14 minutes."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 22, 2019
Trump calls George Conway a "wack job." He says of Kellyanne, "She must have done some baaad things to him," "some number on him," because he is "crazy."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 22, 2019
Full Interview.
This post will be updated within reason.
