From a combat-wounded Republican natsec staffer: "Sec. Esper and Gen. Milley have squandered the moral legitimacy of a nearly 245 year-old institution in a single farcical late spring promenade. They have no honor and to hell with them both"
EXCLU: We obtained the draft Trump executive order that would have seized the voting machines and named a special counsel to probe the 2020 election.
Read the whole thing here:
New: Tim Morrison said he didn't think the president broke the law on his call with Zelensky, and that he didn't think there were any meaningful lines missing from the WH memo about that phone call.
Republicans see the statement as very good news
Piece:
Hannity text to Meadows on 12/31/20, per Jan. 6 committee: “We can’t lose the entire WH counsels office. I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told."
Exclu: Congressional records show Nunes, Derek Harvey, and two other staffers traveled to Europe in late 2018. Lev Parnas helped set up meetings for them there, per his lawyer
One federal prosecutor on Trump's well-wishes to Ghislaine Maxwell:
“in the aftermath of the Stone pardon, it reeks of the president indicating to her that he might reward her if she’ll stay silent about whatever she knows about him."
NEW: The Jan. 6 committee has interviewed Robert Engel, the top Secret Service agent on Trump's detail the day of the attack.
It's also intv'd multiple other USSS personnel -- some in multiple sessions.
Story TK
Hi guys, just wanted to share that after almost five years, I'm leaving The Daily Beast (in two weeks) and heading to Politico. I'm really excited for this next step but will greatly miss the amazing reporters and editors here
From one federal prosecutor: "The president has nothing to say about a gun-toting madman who just murdered the son of a federal judge. But he takes time out of his press conference to send well wishes to a woman accused of trafficking teenager girls for sex..."
Can't overstate how crazy things are inside the NRA right now -- it's very unusual to see an organization this powerful become this chaotic (and publicly)
NEW: I viewed a letter from Trump's legal team to a person who the 1/6 committee subpoenaed. It says not to comply with the subpoena -- including to withhold documents and testimony
The Jan 6 committee is seeking all White House comms/docs on Jan 6 related whatsoever to:
Rudy Giuliani
Steve Bannon
All Trump's grown children except Tiffany
Roger Stone
Melania Trump
Jared Kushner
and many more
New: Two top DHS political appointees tried to get the White House to do more on right-wing terrorism. Both gave up on the Trump administration and have now endorsed Biden
"...That’s gross on its face, and in the aftermath of the Stone pardon, it reeks of the president indicating to her that he might reward her if she’ll stay silent about whatever she knows about him.”
Story:
Scoop: In mid-December, Treasury signaled it was about to roll out new sanctions against people and entities linked to Oleg Deripaska. Two months later, the sanctions haven't materialized, sparking concerns of political interference
Exclu: The Trump administration is fighting an aggressive new package of sanctions on Russia.
They sent the Hill a 22-page letter opposing the sanctions yesterday, which we have published here:
NEW: Lev Parnas told me this afternoon that part of the reason he's speaking out now is that his old friends––Rudy, DiGenova, and Toensing––were silent after his arrest. "I felt like my family left me." More TK
New: DOJ says it's investigating politicians and military officers for paying for sex through a high-end brothel network. One alleged brothel was in Tyson's
Scoop: Multiple US Attorneys Offices, including the Southern District of NY, wanted to handle investigations of lawmakers for coronavirus insider trading. But all the investigations have been centralized in the DC US Attorney's Office, w/ Public Integrity
Exclu: A senior intel official went to the IC inspector general with a warning about how the US handles intelligence on terrorism. The next week, that official tells me, Ric Grenell fired him without explanation
SCOOP: Four US troops were injured after a Russian vehicle intentionally rammed a US vehicle in N. Syria earlier this week, according to a draft CENTCOM statement that POLITICO reviewed. Pentagon currently declining to comment
Story w/
@laraseligman
TONS of Jan 6 news in the last 48 hours:
-Trump orders former staff to defy a subpoena
-Biden orders NARA to turn over lots of docs to committee
-Trump tells NARA he's claiming protective privilege over ALL docs
-USCP whistleblower letter we obtained makes big allegations
Hunter Biden has sued former White House aide Garrett Ziegler. He calls Ziegler "a zealot who has waged a sustained, unhinged and obsessed campaign" against him. Lawsuit here:
Scoop: After Jan. 6, Capitol Police intel analysts started quietly scrutinizing the social media feeds and backgrounds of some people meeting with members of Congress -- including donors and staff.
At the Trump rally, Brian Clothier, 61, is wearing an adult diaper over his pants that reads “Scientists say [farts] spread the virus. I COVID my ass to stop the spread.”
NEW: A draft DHS report I reviewed calls white supremacists the most dangerous terror threat to the US homeland.
Subsequent drafts of the same document, which I also reviewed, use slightly different language to describe the threat
Story here:
Per Politico, Gillibrand declined to fire a male staffer despite a female staffer quitting over alleged sexual harassment. But when Politico reached out about it, she finally fired him
Judge Jackson: “He was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president.”
The draft DHS reports note that 2019 was the most deadly year of domestic terrorism since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
White supremacists "conducted half of all lethal attacks (8 of 16), resulting in the majority of deaths (39 of 48)"
A week of huge departures from the senior ranks of ODNI: GC Jason Klitenic left earlier this week, Maguire ousted yesterday, PDDNI Andrew Hallman expected to depart tomorrow.
NEW: A former D.C. National Guard official is accusing two generals of lying to Congress about Jan. 6.
He detailed the accusation in a 36-page memo to the Jan. 6 committee. We obtained the memo and have published it here:
W/
@meridithmcgraw
Scoop: In a closed-door briefing last week, House Republicans were told it's likely most Americans will eventually be exposed to COVID-19
W/
@oliviamesser
New: USSS Spox Anthony Guglielmi tells me that in the 10 days before the Hutchinson hearing, the Jan. 6 committee did not reach out for more details regarding the Beast ride.
Story TK
Scoop: Sen. Rand Paul postponed the vote on a bill to sanction the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and has privately urged colleagues to oppose sanctioning it
NEWS: Then-VP Elect Kamala Harris was inside the DNC when a pipe bomb was found outside on Jan. 6 2021. She was evacuated after its discovery.
It raises major questions about the level of security she received that day.
Story TK w/
@ccadelago
and
@kyledcheney
One Dem lawmaker: “I think the combination of the chilling depictions in the Mueller Report and Trump’s opacity is moving some members into the impeachment camp,” said one Democratic lawmaker. “Translation: it’s always the cover-up that gets ‘em.”
NEW: In her 4th depo, Hutchinson told the J6 committee that a Mark Meadows intermediary called her the night before her 2d depo and said Meadows "knows you're loyal and you're going to do the right thing"
Huge news from ODNI - not the least because Giuliani has worked to amplify Derkach's criticisms of Biden; the IC now says those criticisms are part of a Russian effort to damage Biden's candidacy
"After the 6 th. [sic] He should announce will lead the nationwide effort to reform voting integrity. Go to Fl and watch Joe mess up daily. Stay engaged. When he speaks people will listen.”
1/ MORE: The draft executive order cites two classified documents: National Security Presidential Memoranda 13 and 21. The existence of NSPM 21 had not been previously reported.
Source familiar says both speak to the WH involvement in cyber attacks...
Exclu: Zelensky administration officials spent this weekend monitoring Trump's twitter feed in hopes he would make a supportive statement before their Putin talks
SCOOP: The NRA also suspended Steve Hart, longtime counsel to its board. He's another NRA insider who's now pushed out - anothe indicator of major major turmoil
STORY:
We reviewed three drafts of DHS's unreleased homeland threat assessment. None mention Antifa or anarchists, and all say white supremacists are the most lethal domestic terror threat
Parnas's lawyer: 'Parnas attended Rudolph’s meeting with Yermak, and witnessed Rudolph pressuring Yermak on behalf of Trump to compel Zelensky to announce his admin was launching a corruption investigation into the Bidens and alleged 2016 meddling'
I asked Rep. Mark Meadows what brought him to DOJ headquarters today. His response: "I was reviewing text messages and new correspondence that pertains to the Strzok coverup"
Scoop: Several months ago, Ken Cuccinelli reduced an internal DHS watchdog's ability to do oversight of DHS's intel office.
After that scrutiny ended, the intel office put out reports on journalists and protesters
Per doc we obtained, the Trump administration also criticized a proposal that would help Kurds who worked with US troops in Syria get Special Immigrant Visas (the program that brings Afghan and Iraqi interpreters to the US)
New: Per two sources familiar--including one Ukrainian official on the July 25 Trump/Zelensky call -- the Ukrainians had no idea what Trump was talking about when he mentioned Crowdstrike, and had to Google it afterwards