Ukraine Fires Own Human Rights Chief For Perpetuating Russian Troop 'Systematic Rape' Stories

For over the past two months, an avalanche of stories have hit Western mainstream press which purported to document instances of mass rape carried out by Russian troops against Ukrainian civilians. One particular story in Time took off, driving outrage and condemnation by Western officials and receiving repeat coverage on CNN and other major US networks.

It alleged "a systemic, coordinated campaign of sexual violence" - relying chiefly on testimony gathered by Ukraine's appointed top human rights representative. It included a particularly shocking story of 25 teenage girls being gang-raped by Russian troops - nine of which became pregnant. According to the report:

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Lyudmyla Denisova said that 25 teenage girls were kept in a basement in Bucha and gang-raped; nine of them are now pregnant. Elderly women spoke on camera about being raped by Russian soldiers. The bodies of children were found naked with their hands tied behind their backs, their genitals mutilated. Those victims included both girls and boys...

As has been the pattern in prior wars, whether in Syria or Libya, the media claims got more and more sensational and over-the-top as the conflict intensified, and as Western powers became more deeply involved, yet with no concrete or definitive proof.

But one consistent detail in the majority of the stories is that the aforementioned Ukraine human rights ombudsman, Lyudmyla Denisova, is often the central figure feeding Western correspondents the shocking rape stories.

For example, she's featured in this April Newsweek piece: 

Lyudmila Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament's Commissioner for Human Rights, alleged on Friday that Russian soldiers have raped children during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

In a Facebook post, Denisova alleged that an 11-year-old boy was raped by Russians in front of his mother who was tied to a chair and forced to watch as it happened in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.

Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukrainian government image

Many such stories which presented ever-more horrifying details as the war progressed quickly went viral, particularly among pro-Ukraine activists on Twitter and other social media, to the point where prominent pundits would begin casually agreeing amongst themself that Russians simply are "animals".

And below is another example among many, which tended to be based on "reports say" for many of the most central, damning claims...

But recently, within the last couple of weeks, as investigators began to dig deeper into the allegations, it seems the media stories started to dry up. The geopolitical analysis blog Moon of Alabama details what happened in the following:

However, a bunch of eager NGOs in Ukraine, hoping for fresh 'western' money for new 'rape consultation and recovery' projects, tried to find real rape cases. They were disappointed when they found that there was no evidence that any rape had taken place 

(machine translation):

On May 25, a number of media outlets and NGOs published an open appeal to Lyudmila Denisova calling for improved communication on sexual crimes during the war.

The signatories insist that Denisova should disclose only information about which there is sufficient evidence, avoid sensationalism and excessive detail in their reports, use correct terminology and take care of the confidentiality and safety of victims.

"Sexual crimes during the war are family tragedies, a difficult traumatic topic, not a topic for publications in the spirit of the 'scandalous chronicle.' We need to keep in mind the goal: to draw attention to the facts of crimes," the appeal reads.

An entire global activist movement even sprang up which focused on highlighting Russian sexual crimes in Ukraine, based on the premise that Russia's military is using "rape as a tool" as part of its arsenal to spread a campaign of terror...

And now on Tuesday, Interfax, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, and others are reporting that Lyudmyla Denisova has been fired - precisely for floating and perpetuating fantastical claims of mass rape but without providing evidence...

"Ukrainian lawmakers dismissed the country’s ombudsman for human rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, in a no-confidence vote on Tuesday, concluding that she had failed to fulfill obligations including the facilitation of humanitarian corridors and countering the deportation of Ukrainians from occupied territory," The Wall Street Journal reported late in the day.

"Lawmaker Pavlo Frolov said Ms. Denisova was also accused of making insensitive and unverifiable statements about alleged Russian sex crimes and spending too much time in Western Europe during the invasion," the report added.

Frolov said in a Facebook post announcing her dismissal as the country's top human rights investigator: 

"The unclear focus of the Ombudsman's media work on the numerous details of ‘sexual crimes committed in an unnatural way’ and ‘rape of children’ in the occupied territories that could not be confirmed by evidence, only harmed Ukraine."

Needless to say this is an absolutely devastating blow to Ukraine's 'information war' which has been in full force since the Russian invasion (as naturally in war each side will enter into propaganda campaigns against the other simultaneous to the actual ground war, and while seeking to sway world opinion).

Angry pushback has started already within hours after the news of Denisova's removal was confirmed, including from UN accounts and US media pundits...

That Ukraine's parliament took the drastic step of dismissing her in such a public manner also speaks volumes - strongly suggesting that Ukrainian officials themselves don't believe the bulk of the 'systematic rape' claims.

Ukraine Fires Own Human Rights Chief For Perpetuating Russian Troop 'Systematic Rape' Stories | ZeroHedge

Dr. Peter Navarro Sues Pelosi and Her Unconstitutional Jan 6 Committee

 

Dr. Peter Navarro is suing Speaker Pelosi for the unconstitutional Jan 6 Committee she put in place to harass President Trump and those who support to the President. 

Yahoo news reported yesterday that Dr. Peter Navarro will sue the corrupt Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for her unconstitutional Jan 6 committee and its actions today.

Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser to then-President Donald Trump, announced he would file a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Capitol attack Jan. 6, 2021.

The panel subpoenaed him for testimony about a plan called the “Green Bay Sweep” to delay certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Navarro described the plan in his book “In Trump Time” as the “last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats’ jaws of deceit.”

But Navarro, who is representing himself in the lawsuit, called the Green Bay Sweep strategy legal and constitutional under the 1887 Electoral Count Act. He is fighting the subpoena by arguing the committee is illegitimate and partisan.

And Navarro invoked executive privilege to keep communications with the president confidential. He joined a handful of Republican members lawmakers defying the committee and more than a dozen Trump aides and advisers who have filed lawsuits challenging committee subpoenas in court.

“Each of the issues raised in the lawsuit – which took several months to prepare – are ripe for the judiciary to address; I find it my duty to raise these issues now rather than submit to the coercion of a kangaroo committee,” Navarro told USA TODAY. “This case ultimately is about whether partisans in Congress are free to weaponize their investigatory powers – I think not – as well as the critical role that executive privilege and testimonial immunity play in ensuring effective presidential decision-making.”

Dr. Navarro shared the following on his website:

On February 9, 2022, I received a subpoena in which I was “commanded to be and appear before a Kangaroo Court established by Nancy Pelosi, AKA the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.”

Upon receipt of this subpoena, as a former senior White House adviser to President Donald J. Trump clearly covered by testimonial immunity, I was faced with several choices, including: (1) respect President Trump’s invoking of executive privilege in the Committee’s investigation and fail to comply with the subpoena; or (2) unilaterally waive President Trump’s Executive Privilege and my own testimonial immunity by providing all of the requested documents and testifying before the Committee as commanded.

I chose Option #1; and Pelosi’s Kangaroo Court responded with a criminal contempt of Congress, with the intent to imprison me and fine me.  In this suit, I argue that the January 6th Committee is unconstitutional and unlawful and its subpoenas are thereby unenforceable.

The fact of the matter here is that if this Kangaroo Court of a Committee is allowed to continue in its present form, it will continue to make a mockery of due process, the separation of powers, any legitimacy behind the power of Congress to investigate, and thereby do great damage to our Republic.

Please read this case carefully and you will see that it is time for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on this whole issue.

They are not coming for me.  They are coming for Donald Trump.  I’m just in their way.

Earlier this year, Navarro shared that he would not comply with the Jan 6 Committee lie.

See the filing below from Dr. Navarro’s website.

Navarro v Pelosi Et Al 6-1-22 by Jim Hoft on Scribd

Dr. Peter Navarro Sues Pelosi and Her Unconstitutional Jan 6 Committee (thegatewaypundit.com) 

Iran’s World of Woe

It hasn't been a good month for the Mullahs.

It hasn’t been a good month for Iran.

In Lebanon, Iran’s chief ally, Hezbollah, lost seats in the Lebanese Parliament. The majority coalition it previously headed is now in the minority. The anti-Hezbollah forces now constitute the majority. The Free Patriotic Movement, the party of Hezbollah’s main Christian collaborator, President Michel Aoun, has lost seats to the Lebanese Forces, the party of his arch-rival, the anti-Hezbollah Samir Geagea, who has now replaced Aoun as the main leader of the Christians. Hasan Nasrallah has put a brave face on the loss, claiming it will “change nothing.” Few in Lebanon believe him.

The Iranian economy continues to crater. Now more than half the population lives below the poverty line. The crippling U.S. sanctions are still in effect. Iran had assumed that well before now a deal would have been reached in Vienna, so that the sanctions would be lifted. It hasn’t happened, and won’t, as long as Tehran insists on making its non-negotiable demands on the Americans. Biden has proven surprisingly stubborn in refusing Iran’s demand to remove the terrorist designation from the IRGC. Iran has been desperate for outside economic assistance. Iran has even ended its criticism of the UAE for joining the Abraham Accords, in order to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in investments from the Emirates.

The people in Iran have this May started their street protests against the regime, shouting “death to Khamenei” and “death to Raisi.” These protests have spread to a dozen cities across Iran, and have been put down with extreme violence, only to erupt again. The protests in 2019 were triggered by the removal of subsidies on gasoline. The latest protests – the largest since 2019 — began when the government removed $9 billion in subsidies for food and medicine, and soon morphed from demands that the subsidies be put back into a more general protest against the despotic rulers who through mismanagement and corruption have helped drive Iran’s economy ever downward. And the harsher the repression by the army and police, the more the anger grows.

In Abadan on May 23, a building collapsed, with at least 80 believed to be dead and many others injured. The 10-story building held a combination of commercial and residential tenants. Angry residents reportedly stormed the municipality, blaming faulty construction for the collapse. Locals also say that authorities first sent anti-riot police to the area, leaving those locals angry that instead of ambulances, the authorities first sought to control the people’s anger. The Iranian people know that the shoddy buildings that have been thrown up since 1979 – and have been prone to collapse — are a result of the country’s massive corruption; builders, especially if well connected, can bribe government officials and building inspectors to approve their projects.

The latest bad news for the regime of the ayatollahs is one more feat of derring-do by Mossad agents, who over the years have done so much to slow down Iran’s nuclear program, by cyberwarfare, sabotage, and assassination. Iran has been unable to prevent the Mossad running circles around it. In 2010, Israel infected Iranian computers that regulated centrifuges at Natanz with a computer worm, that caused the centrifuges to speed up so fast they destroyed themselves. Between 2010 and 2012, the Mossad assassinated four of Iran’s most important nuclear scientists. In 2018, Israel managed to steal Iran’s entire nuclear archive. In 2020, Mossad saboteurs caused a fire destroying part of the centrifuge plant in Natanz. In 2021, merely by cutting electric power to the centrifuge plant at Natanz, the Mossad again managed to destroy thousands of the centrifuges. Israel has also engaged in a campaign of blowing up chemical and electrical plants around the country, unsettling the ayatollahs, who never know what Mossad’s next target will be. Of course, the Iranians keep uttering bloodcurdling threats against the Jewish state; the Mossad shrugs these off, as Iran has not managed to carry out any of these threats. Not a single Israeli weapons scientist has been assassinated by Iran, not a single Israeli weapons plant or storehouse of weapons has been damaged. Still, the Iranians keep insisting that they will soon wreak a terrible vengeance on the Jewish state.

Now comes the glad news of another Israeli feat. The IRGC commander in charge of carrying out attacks against Israelis in foreign countries was just assassinated in broad daylight, while sitting in his car right outside his house, demonstrating the boldness of the Mossad agents, and the Islamic Republic’s inability to protect its highest officials. The Biden Administration reportedly had told Israel to stop acting in ways that could derail the nuclear attacks. The Israelis complied, deciding that instead of going after Iran’s nuclear scientists, they would go after other Iranians deemed to be particular threats to the Jewish state. Khodayari was high on the list. He is alleged to have smuggled weapons to Syria, and planned kidnappings and attacks against Jews around the world. He also commanded the Quds Force’s Unit 840, a relatively secret unit that builds terrorist infrastructure and plans attacks against Western targets and opposition groups outside Iran. For Israel, it was his being in charge of attacks on Israelis around the world that sealed his fate.

A report on this latest assassination is here: “Assassination of IRGC official shows Israel has shifted gears – analysis,” by Anna Ahronheim, Jerusalem Post, May 23, 2022:

We will not stop. The message could not be clearer, as Hassan Sayad Khodayari was killed outside his home in central Tehran.

A senior member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Khodayari was killed in his car by five bullets fired by two alleged Israeli assassins on a motorcycle.

Khodayari is not the first Iranian to have been killed in attacks blamed on the Jewish state. But his assassination marks a change in targets in Israel’s war-between-the-wars campaign (Hebrew acronym: Mabam)….

In April, Mansour Rasouli, a purported member of the IRGC who operated under Khodayari’s command in Unit 840, admitted to Mossad agents in his home that he was sent to target an Israeli diplomat in Turkey, an American general in Germany and a journalist in France.

Rasouli was later released by the Israelis and denied his earlier confession. It is hard to imagine that the information he revealed did not somehow contribute to the Unit 840 chief’s assassination.

The killing of Khodayari means Israel has expanded its war-between-the-wars campaign, and it has begun targeting IRGC officials on their home turf.…

The assassination of Khodayari – in an alleyway outside his home in broad daylight in Iran’s capital – is a message: Our abilities are incomparable. We will get to you if we need to.”

As I wrote at the beginning of this piece, this has not been a good month for Iran.

Iran’s World of Woe | FrontpageMag

Paul Pelosi Killed 19-Year-Old Brother in Car Crash When He Was 16

 

Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi killed his 19-year-old brother in a car crash when he was 16.

Paul Pelosi reportedly lost control of his sports car and the vehicle flipped over, killing his brother David in 1957.

David Pelosi was strangled by a neck brace he wore due to a diving accident.

According to the San Francisco Examiner, David Pelosi told his brother Paul to slow down before the fatal car crash.

The Daily Mail reported:

Nancy Pelosi’s husband killed his brother in an early morning car wreck 65 years before his latest arrest for drunk driving, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. 

Paul Pelosi was just 16, a high school sophomore, when his sports car flipped over in February 1957 in Northern California.

A newspaper report at the time said Paul, a high school sophomore, would be cited for misdemeanor manslaughter. In the end there was no court case and he was exonerated by a coroner’s jury.

His brother David, 19, had urged him to drive slower before the fatal smash, according to a patrolman quoted by the San Francisco Examiner.

‘This is a bad stretch – better slow down,’ David is said to have told his younger brother as he approached a tight curve near the Crystal Springs Dam on the Skyline Highway – now California State Route 35.

Paul, now 82, told Patrolman Thomas Ganley he tried to slow by shifting gears in the stick shift car, but lost control.

‘The car veered across the road, bounced back from a small embankment, climbed 20 feet up another, spun around and somersaulted simultaneously and ended upside down on the shoulder with both youths underneath,’ reported the Examiner.

Paul Pelosi was arrested on Saturday night for driving under the influence of alcohol.

According to reports, Paul Pelosi caused a car accident while he was driving home drunk from a dinner party in Napa County.

Mr. Pelosi was booked at 4:13 am and released at approximately 7:30 am on Sunday.

Paul Pelosi Killed 19-Year-Old Brother in Car Crash When He Was 16 (thegatewaypundit.com)

US Military Base Cancels ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ for Kids After Pressure from Senator

 

An Apache attack helicopter is being unloaded from a Galaxy C-5 transport plane at the US Air Base in Ramstein, western Germany, on Feb. 22, 2017. 

An overseas U.S. Air Force Base has canceled a children’s storytime hour program featuring a drag queen after a Republican congressman demanded the show be dropped.

The Ramstein U.S. Air Force Base in Germany canceled the event initially planned for June 2 called “Drag Queen Story Time” after Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sent a letter on May 26 to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall urging him to cancel what the congressman called a “public-funded propaganda.”

“I urge you to immediately cancel this politically divisive event, and take appropriate disciplinary action against all involved in allowing this gross abuse of taxpayer funding to place children in a sexualized environment,” Rubio’s letter reads.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in Washington on May 17, 2022. 

The event was to feature drag queen Stacey Teed at the military base’s Ramstein Library and was intended to celebrate the month of June as “pride month.”

“We’re celebrating Pride Month at the Ramstein Library with Drag Queen Storytime!” the now-deleted event announcement on Facebook read. “Join us with special guest reader Stacey Teed! Be sure to wear your brightest and most colorful outfits!”

An Air Force spokesperson later confirmed that the event had been scrapped.

“An advertisement was posted to the base library social media page before the event had completed Ramstein’s established processes for special observance coordination and approval,” a spokesperson from the 86th Airlift Wing told The Post Millennial on May 29.

“The advertisement has been removed and the event will not take place. Ramstein leaders strive to foster a culture based on inclusion where all people are treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their political views, color of their skin, or sexual orientation. The base’s established processes will ensure all future special observance events are properly reviewed and approved prior to advertisement,” the spokesperson said.

In his letter, Rubio noted that U.S. military bases are for warfighting, and the purpose of amenities in these bases, such as schools and libraries, is to support the needs of service members and their families.

“On installations outside the continental United States (OCONUS), these amenities play an even more central role in the life of our servicemembers and their families,” Rubio said. “In light of this, it is completely insane for Ramstein [Air Force Base] to use on-installation resources for rituals like ‘Drag Queen Story Time.’”

Rubio described events like the Ramstein Library’s “Drag Queen Story Time” as “extremely divisive,” because they cause children to interact with “intentionally and explicitly sexualized” adults.

“As I hope you can agree, decisions over children and their bodies should be left to moms and dads serving our nation, not mediated through publicly funded propaganda on U.S. Air Force bases,” the congressman said.

Queer author Michelle Tea was the first to coordinate “Drag Queen Story Hour” events in San Francisco in 2015. The events generally involved a grown male dressed as a female telling queer-related stories to children from 3 to 8 years old.

An example of materials featured at these events, according to Rubio, include books such as “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.”

“The author of the book said they wrote it so that children could ‘experience the magic of drag and to get a little practice shaking their hips or shimmying their shoulders to know how [they] can feel fabulous inside of [their] own bodies,’” Rubio said.

“The last thing parents serving their nation overseas should be worried about, particularly in a theater with heightened geopolitical tensions, is whether their children are being exposed to sexually charged content simply because they visited their local library,” the congressman added.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Ramstein Air Base for comment.

US Military Base Cancels ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ for Kids After Pressure from Senator (theepochtimes.com)

Tens Of Thousands Of Chickens Killed In Wright County Egg Farm Fire

 HOWARD LAKE, Minn. (WCCO) — Massive flames burned down a barn with tens of thousands of chickens in Wright County.

The fire started late Saturday night at Forsman Farms in Howard Lake, causing major damage.

The Trebesch family thought they would spend Saturday night around their bonfire, but just after 10 p.m. they noticed massive flames across the field at Forsman Farms.

“It was unbelievable how quick it grew, it was insane,” Andy Trebesch said. “It was the whole sky, it was quite large.”

(credit: Dassel Fire Dept.)

They called 911. Firefighters from multiple agencies across Wright County showed up, many volunteer firefighters. A barn housing tens of thousands of chickens was leveled, in what a farm spokesperson called a “tragic accident.”

According to Forsman Farms website, the farm started in 1918, and now the fourth-generation family farm sells more than three million eggs a day to some of the nation’s largest retailers.

“Overnight, a fire destroyed one of our barns at our Howard Lake farm. No one was injured and we are grateful that first responders were quickly on scene to put out the fire. Unfortunately, chickens were lost because of the fire. We are evaluating the extent of the damage – which appears to be confined to a single structure – as well as investigating the cause of the fire,” a Forsman Farms spokesperson said.

(credit: Dassel Fire Dept.)

Cokato resident Eddie Olson heard about the fire on his scanner that he typically uses during severe weather.

“Fires are scary in general, but when you see something of that scale you know, out of control It was just hard to, you know, to think about the chickens, the company, you know, people that work there,” Olson said. “It’s kind of a hard hit because we’re already struggling, you know, with the eggs and the cost of stuff and that takes kind of a bite out of the market.”

The farm is still evaluating the extent of the damage from the fire as investigators work to determine its cause.

Tens Of Thousands Of Chickens Killed In Wright County Egg Farm Fire – WCCO | CBS Minnesota (cbslocal.com)

‘Chews on it like it’s a treat’: Kathy Griffin explains her dog’s ‘bizarre’ behavioral issue and why she won’t let the vet fix it

So, we were taking a look at Lauren Windsor’s timeline this morning — she’s the blue-check lib journo-activist we told you about on Sunday who is getting a visit by the Secret Service after she bragged about getting past security during former President Donald Trump’s appearance at the NRA convention in Houston — but instead of finding an update to that story we saw this video of Kathy Griffin’s dog, um, well, just watch:

Kathy later shared the video herself, saying that the dog chews on his penis “like it’s a treat” and that she declined a surgical fix that would fix the problem:

Kathy also asked Lauren in the clip, “Why are you all filming this? It’s very embarrassing.”

Yes. Yes, it is.

Now, as far as the update to this story goes. . .

. . .she *still* is “eager to be helpful” to the Secret Service:

We’ll keep you posted.

‘Chews on it like it’s a treat’: Kathy Griffin explains her dog’s ‘bizarre’ behavioral issue and why she won’t let the vet fix it – twitchy.com

Report: Supreme Court Leak Investigation Intensifies as Cell Phone Data Is Requested

The Supreme Court’s investigation into who leaked the draft opinion that indicated the overturning of Roe v. Wade to Politico continues as law clerks are reportedly being asked to sign affidavits and hand over their cell phone records, according to a CNN report.

CNN’s report added that the move is extremely unusual, and clerks are even considering getting legal support of their own in case things go south. Chief Justice John Roberts also reportedly met with the law clerks after the leak, which occurred on May 2.

The specific details of the affidavits and the data requests are unclear. There are 36 clerks, so it is not exactly a large pool of people they are looking at.

While the move to investigate this deeply is rare, the circumstances arguably warrant such a strident response from Supreme Court officials. The move to reveal the opinion to the public was dangerous and reckless, regardless if it was a conservative or liberal clerk.

It unleashed a firestorm of political division preemptively, particularly from those who would like Roe v. Wade to stay in place. The leak gave the court a chance to get a taste of public opinion in the event that they would overturn Roe as part of the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, whether that was the leaker’s intention or not.

“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way,” Roberts said in a statement on May 3. He continued:

“We at the Court are blessed to have a workforce – permanent employees and law clerks alike – intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of law. Court employees have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Court. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here.”

Even though Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority draft opinion, it’s unknown at this time if scrapping the precedent in Roe will actually happen. Regardless, the decision will need to be released before the session ends in June, but it would not be surprising if the court waits until the last possible moment.

The person responsible for the leak will hopefully be fired and face the full consequences. At a time of high institutional distrust, the move only casts doubt on a key cornerstone of the American experiment. Americans should be able to have some trust in their government, but the social contract will never meet its full potential if bureaucrats have motives of their own.

Report: Supreme Court Leak Investigation Intensifies as Cell Phone Data Is Requested – RedState

D.C. Jury Finds Michael Sussmann Not Guilty of Lying to FBI

 

A Washington, D.C., jury found Michael Sussmann not guilty on Tuesday morning of lying to the FBI in 2016 about working on behalf of Hillary Clinton when he presented debunked information that he claimed showed a connection between Donald Trump and Russia — a report made to the FBI that would set off years of Russian collusion hoax-fury that ultimately was found to be nothing by Robert Mueller's independent investigation. 

As Mia explained at length here, the single charge brought by Special Counsel John Durham centered on the alleged false statement Sussmann made to the FBI when he denied he was working on anyone's behalf, thereby concealing his connection to Hillary Clinton:

Durham and the government allege that Sussmann told FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016 in the lead-up to the presidential election that he was not working "on behalf of a client or company." The Democratic cybersecurity lawyer is accused of lying during the meeting with the FBI attorney and "falsely stating to the general counsel that he was not providing the allegations to the FBI on behalf of any client." Durham claimed in a previous filing that the night before Sussmann met with Baker, he "conveyed the same lie in writing and sent the following text message to the general counsel’s personal cellphone."

[...]

Durham disclosed that the government would try to show in the trial that "exploited" data was weaponized to mine "derogatory information" about Trump to establish "an inference" and "narrative" tying the 45th U.S. president to Russia.

Mia also noted in her deep-dive on the first trial to come from Durham's probe that the jury which acquitted Sussmann didn't exactly have the appearance of impartiality and featured several Democrat donors who claimed they would be able to weigh the facts of the case without considering the partisan factor at play:

The jury includes a Treasury Department employee who told the judge he donated to Democrats in the 2016 primaries and another government worker who admitted she "strongly" dislikes former President Donald Trump. According to The Washington Examiner, the juror said in an eyebrow-raising statement that she didn’t think she could be impartial if the case was about a Trump team member but emphasized she could be fair "if it's not directly about Trump." Both of the questionable jurors insisted they could be impartial throughout the high-profile trial, per Fox News. The overwhelming majority of jurors selected had maintained to Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper that they had not previously heard of the case.

Also on the jury deciding whether or not Hillary Clinton's lawyer lied to the FBI to spur the beginning of the Russia Collusion Hoax(TM) were "[a]s many as three Hillary Clinton donors — including one who also supported US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez," according to additional reporting from The New York Post.

Concerns raised by the prosecution regarding jury impartiality were overruled by the judge — Christopher Cooper — who was appointed by former President Barack Obama. 

Tuesday's verdict casts a shadow of uncertainty over what's next for Durham's probe. Already, Democrats — who pretended the case was much ado about nothing — seized on Sussmann's acquittal as supposedly monumental proof that there was nothing shady going on inside Hillary Clinton's campaign. But that's a reality that conservatives, and any honest observer, knows is simply not true. 

D.C. Jury Finds Michael Sussmann Not Guilty of Lying to FBI (townhall.com)

Biden Reportedly ‘Unhappy’ That Aides Consistently Try To Clean Up, Walk Back His Off-The-Cuff Statements

 

President Joe Biden is reportedly “unhappy” that aides continuously walk-back and try to clarify statements and stances he’s made, according to a report published by NBC News.

The Biden White House has, on many occasions, issued statements walking back comments made by the president — like when Biden said the U.S. is willing to intervene militarily should China forcibly try to take Taiwan, or when he appeared to suggest U.S. troops are “helping train” Ukrainian troops in Poland, or when he suggested a U.S. response to Russia invading Ukraine would depend on whether it was “a minor incursion.”

According to NBC News, it’s a pattern that has not gone unnoticed by the president.

“Beyond policy, Biden is unhappy about a pattern that has developed inside the West Wing,” NBC News reported Tuesday. “He makes a clear and succinct statement — only to have aides rush to explain that he actually meant something else. The so-called clean-up campaign, he has told advisers, undermines him and smothers the authenticity that fueled his rise. Worse, it feeds a Republican talking point that he’s not fully in command.”

Frustration over the walk-backs reportedly reached a turning point when Biden, speaking on March 26 in Poland, declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.” (RELATED: White House Scrambles To Clean Up, Clarify Biden’s Comments On Ukraine And 2022 Election)

The administration walked back the comment moments after his speech concluded, with a White House official saying that Biden “was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia.”

“The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change,” the official said.

Biden became “furious” over this moment, according to NBC News.

“Biden was furious that his remarks were being seen as unreliable, arguing that he speaks genuinely and reminding his staff that he’s the one who is president,” NBC News reported.

U.S. President Joe Biden gets a message from an aide during a meeting with his White House COVID-19 Response Team on the latest developments related to the Omicron variant in the Roosevelt Room in the White House in Washington, U.S., December 16, 2021. 

The administration appeared to push back on the suggestion that Biden is frustrated — and perhaps doesn’t have full insight — over the clean-up campaigns, according to the network.

“We don’t say anything that the president doesn’t want us to say,” an official told NBC News.

This pattern has been noticed by other lawmakers, too. Democratic New Jersey Rep. Tom Malinowski suggested to The Washington Post that sometimes, aides should “let the president’s words stand.”

“There are times when presidents being human misspeak and the staff being responsible has to clarify, but I think in this, and other recent cases, Biden is just speaking plainly what we all understood to be the case anyway,” Malinowski, a former State Department assistant secretary, said. “In such cases, it’s generally best to let the president’s words stand rather than walking things back in ways that raise further questions.”

Still, the White House has stood by the barrage of clarifications made since Biden took office, with White House spokesman Andrew Bates telling The Post that the president “speaks directly and candidly.” (RELATED: Biden Whispers ‘I Am Your Commander-In-Chief’ Into Microphone At The Naval Academy Graduation Ceremony)

“The president speaks directly and candidly — straight from the shoulder, as he often says,” Bates said. “Doing so has been critical to his success in everything from rallying the world to support Ukraine to passing the most significant infrastructure law in generations. And when he feels the need to add context to something he said, as every president has, he doesn’t hesitate to do so.”

Biden Reportedly ‘Unhappy’ That Aides Consistently Try To Clean Up, Walk Back His Off-The-Cuff Statements | The Daily Caller