DCNF Has A Wikileaks SIGTARP Leaking Propaganda Issue With Jeannie Rhee

The one reason I just adore The Daily Caller New Foundation is because it was captured as a leaking tool for the DOJ.

Suckers.

Yes, you can construct a distractive narrative through controlled leaking.

FUN FACT! JEANNIE RHEE, FORMER ATTORNEY OF WILMER HALE, THE LAW FIRM OF BOB MUELLER, WAS HIRED TO REPRESENT THE DETROIT LAND BANK AUTHORITY AND PAID WITH TARP.

Brett M. Kavanaugh argued the cause for the United States. With him on the brief were Kenneth W. Starr and Craig S. Lerner.^[*]The Independent Counsel argues that the attorney-client privilege should not prevent disclosure of confidential communications where the client has died and the information is relevant to a criminal proceeding.

Now, let us just see how long it takes the DCNF to report on the fact that Jeannie Rhee was hired to represent the Detroit Land Bank Authority in SIGTARP matters, considering the fact that I was nice enough to provide all the links and it was found in Wikileaks.

MUELLER GRAND JURY WITNESS ACCUSES CLINTON-LINKED PROSECUTOR OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST

• An associate of Roger Stone who appeared before the Mueller grand jury on Nov. 2 is accusing the special counsel of a conflict of interest.
• Tyler Nixon says that he was questioned prior to his testimony by Jeannie Rhee, a prosecutor who previously represented the Clinton Foundation.
• Nixon says he finds it “deeply troubling” that Rhee is involved in the investigation, which has recently focused on Stone.

An attorney who appeared as a witness before the Mueller grand jury is accusing the special counsel’s office of a conflict of interest because one of the prosecutors involved in the special counsel’s case has worked for Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation.

The prosecutor, Jeannie Rhee, has questioned witnesses about Roger Stone, the Trump confidant who is one of the targets of the investigation, numerous sources tell The Daily Caller News Foundation. Rhee questioned Tyler Nixon, an attorney for Stone, just before his grand jury appearance on Nov. 2.

“[Rhee’s involvement] was not disclosed to me prior to my testimony, and I find this to be deeply troubling and certainly Ms. Rhee should be recused or removed from the investigation,” Nixon told TheDCNF.

Recusals related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe became an issue after the appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general on Nov. 7.

Among the reasons that Democrats have called for Whitaker’s recusal are his comments criticizing the Trump-Russia probe as well as his work in 2014 on a political campaign for Sam Clovis, a former Trump campaign official who testified before the Mueller grand jury as a witness in 2017.

Seven top congressional Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and California Rep. Adam Schiff, cited Whitaker’s work with Clovis in a letter Sunday to the Justice Department’s top ethics official. The Democrats asked DOJ whether Whitaker has been advised on whether he should recuse himself from the probe.

Rhee’s work on the special counsel’s team poses a larger conflict of interest than Whitaker’s links to Clovis, Nixon asserts.

“I find it astonishing that there are cries for the recusal for Mr. Whitaker when I know that I was personally interviewed on behalf of the special counsel by an attorney, Jeannie Rhee, who was Hillary Clinton’s and the Clinton Foundation’s personal attorney not one or two years prior to her joining the special counsel,” Nixon told TheDCNF.

As a partner at Wilmer Hale, Rhee represented the Clinton Foundation in a 2015 racketeering lawsuit filed by the conservative watchdog group Freedom Watch. That lawsuit sought access to the private email account that Clinton used as secretary of state. Rhee, who did not represent Clinton herself, also donated the maximum allowed under federal law to Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

 (RELATED: Not A Single Lawyer Working On The Mueller Team Is A Republican)

Nixon said that while Rhee was friendly, even “jovial,” during his interaction with her, he takes issue with Rhee investigating people like Stone who investigated the Clintons and Clinton Foundation during the campaign.

Stone, a longtime confidant of President Donald Trump, is also critical of Rhee’s involvement in the investigation.

“It seems somewhat incredible that Democrats are calling for Acting Attorney General Whitaker to recuse himself from the Mueller investigation based on his prior political activities, but they think it’s perfectly alright for Hillary Clinton’s personal attorney and campaign donor to lead a potential prosecution of Roger Stone,” Stone told TheDCNF.

A spokesman for the special counsel’s office told TheDCNF that Rhee was cleared by Justice Department ethics experts to work on the Mueller team.

“Department ethics experts reviewed the matters to which the Special Counsel was appointed and determined that Ms. Rhee is authorized to participate,” said Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller.

Nixon testified in favor of Stone during his grand jury appearance regarding a conversation he witnessed between Stone and Randy Credico, a comedian and longtime acquaintance.

Stone has claimed that Credico was a confirming source for him during the 2016 campaign about WikiLeaks’ plans to release information damaging to the Clinton campaign. Stone has insisted that he did not know the content, source or timing of WikiLeaks’ releases.

Credico, who was in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the campaign, has denied being Stone’s source. But Nixon testified to the grand jury about a dinner he attended with Stone and Credico in mid-November 2017 in which Credico indicated that he was the link between Stone and WikiLeaks.

David Lugo, a filmmaker who knows both Stone and Credico, also testified to the grand jury on Oct. 19 that Credico told him that he was a source for Stone.

Credico has contradicted his denials in various public comments. He filmed himself on April 28 at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner describing himself as “the guy that was the in-between guy between Assange and Roger Stone.”

Rhee also took part in the questioning of Jerome Corsi, an associate of Stone who said Monday that he expects to be indicted for lying to prosecutors.

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Cocktails & Popcorn: Jeannie Rhee's Got A New Job

Jeannie's got a new job.

Jeannie should thank me by offering the services of her new employer, pro bono, as I still hail from the land of "The Poors", to stop her former clients from shutting off my water.

I got the police report already, if that helps.

Tell Loretta I send my love.

Call me, girl.  I know you still have my number in PACER.

#perkinscoiesucks

Jeannie Rhee, Mueller Prosecutor and Ex-Wilmer Partner, Joins Paul Weiss

Rhee is the latest big name to land at Paul Weiss in recent months. In an interview, Rhee said she is "eager to go back to representing clients. It's something that I've done for a really long time."

Jeannie Rhee, former defense counsel for the
Detroit Land Bank Authority

Jeannie Rhee, a leading prosecutor who served for two years on Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s investigation team, is joining Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a partner in the firm’s white-collar litigation practice in Washington.

Rhee had been one of three Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partners to join Mueller’s team in May 2017. Mueller had been a partner at the firm before his appointment as special counsel overseeing more than a dozen lawyers investigating the ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia and the president’s purported efforts to obstruct the inquiry.

“We are delighted to welcome Jeannie, who brings unrivaled experience as one of the nation’s leading white-collar and regulatory defense lawyers and as a first-chair trial lawyer,” Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp said in a statement. “Jeannie’s years of government service—as a senior Justice Department prosecutor, a member of the Mueller investigative team and an advisor to the U.S. Attorney General and to the White House—will be an invaluable asset to our clients.”

Rhee joined Mueller’s team with then-Wilmer partners James Quarles and Aaron Zebley. Robert Novick, co-chairman of Wilmer, recently called Mueller, Quarles, Rhee and Zebley “highly valued partners and friends.” He added: “If they’re interested in talking, we’re certainly going to talk to people.”

Representatives from Wilmer did not immediately comment Friday.

On Mueller’s team, Rhee was a top prosecutor in the case against three Russian firms and 13 individuals charged with carrying out an alleged campaign to sow discord within the U.S. electorate during the 2016 presidential election. Only one of the 16 defendants in that case, a Russian company called Concord Management and Consulting, has answered the charges in Washington’s federal trial court.

Rhee was a mainstay in court over the past two years as the special counsel’s case against Concord Management played out in front of U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich. The judge has issued several rulings that have kept the charges in place. The company, represented by Reed Smith partners Eric Dubelier and Katherine Seikaly, has pleaded not guilty.

In an interview, Rhee said she is “eager to go back to representing clients. It’s something that I’ve done for a really long time.” She added: “It was really the opportunity to be part of a dynamic office in Washington, D.C., that is nevertheless part of the large powerhouse that is Paul Weiss. It’s a terrific opportunity, and I couldn’t turn it down.”

Rhee reported receiving more than $3.5 million in partner compensation from Wilmer since 2016, according to federal ethics disclosures she filed in 2017 and in 2018. Rhee rejoined the firm in 2011 after a two-year stint at Main Justice, where she had been a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel. The Yale Law School graduate first joined Wilmer in 2006 from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

“As an Asian-American woman, I am often not expected to be a fierce litigator,” Rhee said in a 2014 spotlight at The Diversity Journal. “It takes that extra effort on my part, when I meet with clients face-to-face, to have them see me in action to convey how my ethnicity, gender, stature, and the like do not at all prevent me from being a formidable advocate.”

Rhee is the latest high-profile partner hire at Paul Weiss.

Her arrival comes just weeks after former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch joined the firm as a partner in New York. In January, the heavyweight appellate lawyer Kannon Shanmugam left Williams & Connolly to become managing partner of Paul Weiss’ growing Washington office.

“I think my vision for the office is that I want Paul Weiss to be the best place to be a litigator in D.C.,” Shanmugam told The National Law Journal in a recent interview. “I really want this to be the best little law firm in Washington, that’s kind of how I think about it, and to have all of the benefits of a boutique-type practice within one of the world’s greatest law firms.”

Other former members of Mueller’s team are returning to law firms and other posts since the Russia investigation culminated in a 448-page report published in April. The investigation documented connections between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign, but prosecutors did not recommend criminal charges. Mueller’s team also showed what they believed were obstructive acts taken by Trump to thwart the investigation. The report said that while no charges were being recommended, Trump was not being exonerated.

Another prosecutor on Mueller’s team, Greg Andres, returned to Davis Polk & Wardwell earlier this year. Andres played a lead role in the prosecution of Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, on charges related to his lobbying work for Ukraine. Manafort is serving a prison sentence of more than seven years for charges brought in Washington and in Virginia.

Michael Dreeben, who joined the Mueller team from the Justice Department’s solicitor general’s office, has announced plans to retire from government service. Dreeben, formerly a deputy solicitor general and one of the department’s top criminal-law experts, has not said where he is going next. Dreeben has been a DOJ lawyer for some 30 years.

Andrew Weissmann, a former top fraud section prosecutor at Main Justice, has taken a post teaching at New York University School of Law. Weissmann, also formerly a Jenner & Block partner and general counsel to the FBI, is reportedly out with a book proposal, according to CNN. The book will recount Weissmann’s work on Mueller’s team, The New York Times reported Friday.

Mueller, meanwhile, has not announced his plans. He joined Wilmer in 2014 from the FBI, where he had served as director for more than a decade.

Report: Detroit Land Bank had $500,000 in legal costs for investigation of demolition program

The Detroit Land Bank Authority had more than $500,000 in legal expenses amid a federal investigation into the city's multimillion-dollar demolition program, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The newspaper said its analysis of legal invoices through April 8, obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, found the land bank paid the money to two firms to represent it, the city and the Detroit Building Authority. WilmerHale and Miller Canfield were paid $537,414 for legal representation since June 29, 2016, the report says.

The land bank defended the amount, saying: "the top priority is to make sure we comply fully with the investigation."

Detroit has received $258 million in federal funding since 2013 to target blight by tearing down vacant structures. The investigation has led to guilty pleas.

On Thursday, Mayor Mike Duggan said he would seek a $200 million bond to help Detroit continue demolitions and eliminate blight in five years.

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Will Buzzfeed Publish The Notes Of Jeannie Rhee - The Mueller Report Working Papers

The DOJ is executing a selective, slow, distractive release of the Mueller notes to Buzzfeed.

Why, you may ask?

Well, Buzzfeed, particularly Jason Leopold, has a few questions which need to be answered regarding the funeral of Monday.

I am waiting for Jeannie Rhee and her notes.

What if all those documents were unsealed after the grand jury votes to indict, a key component of due process, you know?

#perkinscoiesucks

Buzzfeed publishes 'The Mueller Report’s Secret Memos'

BuzzFeed News published the first tranche of FBI documents related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the 2016 election and Russian efforts to aid Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Many of roughly 500 pages of documents – in a package BuzzFeed called “The Mueller Report’s Secret Memos” – relate to interviews with FBI agents. Various email correspondence is also included.

BuzzFeed and CNN sued for access to Mueller’s witness interview notes. In October, a judge ordered the Justice Department to release new tranches of the notes monthly to the two news organizations.

BuzzFeed News published the first tranche of FBI documents related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the 2016 election and Russian efforts to aid Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

The documents are heavily redacted and feature some of the headline names from the two-year Mueller investigation, including Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, both of whom are currently serving federal prison sentences.

More: Mueller documents: Manafort pushed Ukraine hack theory

In one document, former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon refers to Manafort in an Nov. 5, 2016, email to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, days before the presidential election and months after Manafort supposedly parted ways with the campaign.

“We need to avoid this guy like the plague,” Bannon wrote to Kushner. “They are going to try and say the Russians worked with WikiLeaks to give this victory to us. Paul is a nice guy but can’t let word get out he is advising us.”

Manafort had started the email string on the subject of “Securing the Victory,” telling Kushner that he was “really feeling good about our prospects.” Fox News host Sean Hannity was also mentioned in Manafort’s note and in other documents.

Russia, if You’re Listening
Another revelation from the cache was a reflection made to the FBI by Rick Gates, Trump’s former deputy campaign chair, about then-candidate Trump’s infamous comment about Russia in July 2016.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said, referring to Hillary Clinton’s deleted messages.

The remark was an ad lib, Gates contended. The same document showed Gates remembering staff conversations that “someone out there” must have the missing Clinton emails.

Gates also said Manafort had offered the theory that Ukraine, not Russia. was behind a June 2016 hack on the Democratic National Committee computers. That idea, which has been discredited by U.S. intelligence agencies, is still pushed by Trump and others, and has become central to the current Democratic impeachment inquiry into the president.

For what country?
In another document posted by BuzzFeed, drawn from the summary of Bannon’s interview with the FBI, the former Goldman Sachs investment banker recalled having first met Trump in 2010. Conservative activist David Bossie, president of Citizens United, was also present, and said that Trump was thinking of running for president in 2012. According to the recap, Bannon asked, “for what country?”

After making requests through the Freedom of Information Act, BuzzFeed and CNN sued the U.S. government for the right to see the primary-source information that Mueller’s team didn’t disclose when it published its 448-page report in March. Justice Department lawyers say the material could run to 18 billion pages.

The process of releasing all the documents monthly will probably take eight or more years.

Here's the full file:

DOCUMENT

PAGES

Zoom

«

Page 1 of  278

»

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https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/mueller-report-secret-memos-1

Merry Christmas To The Office Of Special Counsel, Bob Mueller, Jeannie Rhee & Nolan Finley

"Look what I can do, Nolan!"

As we approach the joyous merriment of this winter holiday, I would like to give a very special, sacrificial offering in a Detroit, Michigan promulgation of propaganda, by the one and only Nolan Finley, to the Office of Special Counsel, Bob Mueller & Jeannie Rhee.

"See Nolan spin."

"Spin, Nolan, spin".

"Nolan likes to hide."

"Hide, Nolan hide."

Finley and Jacques: Snyder leaves behind a better Michigan

Michigan never warmed to Rick Snyder the way it should have. The Republican governor took over an economic wasteland and, through innovative, growth-focused leadership, made it one of America's great comeback stories.

He saved the state's largest city from sure ruin, lifted Michigan from the bottom of every business climate ranking and set a course for a fiscally sound future.

And yet Snyder will leave office with an approval rating lower than that of President Donald Trump, who couldn't be further away from the governor in either style or substance.

An easy answer to why Snyder isn't more celebrated is Flint. And certainly the water contamination crisis there called into question the governor's decision making, as well as his empathy. Coming as it did at the beginning of the 2016 presidential campaign, Snyder became an easy whipping boy for every Democratic politician, liberal activist and Hollywood know-it-all.

But even before Flint, Snyder struggled to keep his popularity numbers above water. Remember that in 2014, with Michigan's economy rebounding and Detroit's turnaround assured, Snyder won reelection by just a 4 percentage point margin against a poorly financed and unfocused opponent.

Snyder came to office via a coalition of Republicans, Independents and business-minded Democrats. In doing so, he became the first governor to move from the business world into the statehouse with no political stops in between since George Romney in 1962.

Democrats seemed to expect him to govern as a progressive, and turned away from Snyder when he signed many of the conservative bills generated by the Republican-led Legislature.

Republicans, by contrast, turned on him for not being conservative enough. Unlike most past governors, Snyder never became the head of his party, leaving the political games to those who better enjoyed them. Republican politicians talk about Snyder in language normally reserved for Democrats.

Yet in the business world, Snyder remains a hero because he delivered exactly what he promised: relentless, positive action to improve the competitiveness of Michigan. Consider the numbers:

• As of October, Michigan hit its lowest unemployment rate since 2000. The 3.9 percent rate is the result of a growing economy and the addition of 560,000 private sector jobs in the past eight years. 
• In June, Snyder signed the 2019 budget, marking eight years in a row the state budget has reached a balanced spending plan months ahead of deadline. 
• The state's rainy-day fund has grown to more than $1 billion from just $2 million in 2011.
• Snyder has steadily tackled long-term debt, reducing it by more than $20 billion. By around 2038, he estimates the billions in unfunded liabilities in the state's teacher pension system should be gone -- assuming a continued commitment to paying down these obligations. 
• In 2011, Snyder spearheaded the effort to get rid of the Michigan Business Tax, which was replaced with a corporate income tax that encourages job creation and investment. 

And then there's Detroit. Without Rick Snyder, there would be no Motor City comeback.

The governor brilliantly directed the city -- kicking and screaming, by the way -- first through emergency management and then a bankruptcy crafted by him not just to settle a horrendous debt, but to give Detroiters a fighting chance to rebuild.

Those who blame the Snyder-ordered emergency management of Flint for nearly ruining that city, must also recognize emergency management saved Detroit.

We visited Snyder in the darkest hours of the Flint crisis, when calls for his resignation were ringing through the Capitol. His name was fast becoming synonymous with heartless Republicanism, and his family was being shouted out of restaurants.

Heartless is far from what we saw in that interview. Snyder was visibly shaken by what had happened in Flint, and he wasn't hiding his emotion. He promised to take responsibility and committed to making things right for the people who had been harmed by government's failures. And he followed through.

Flint's water tainted water lines are nearly all replaced, affected children are receiving ongoing attention and businesses are showing interest in the city.

Set aside the balance sheet of Snyder's achievements/failures. Measure him instead by the way he conducted himself in office. He was unique in his constant civility. We never heard the governor engage in a personal attack. Never heard him disparage his opponents.  Never saw him waver in his commitment to stay positive. Even during Flint, when his character was being assassinated by those who didn't even know him, he never lashed out in anger.

We expect that Snyder will become a much more popular governor over time. And we expect Michigan will miss him even sooner.

THE MICHIGAN PENAL CODE (EXCERPT)Act 328 of 1931

750.249 Forgery of records and other instruments; uttering and publishing; exception.

Sec. 249.

(1) A person who utters and publishes as true a false, forged, altered, or counterfeit record, instrument, or other writing listed in section 248 knowing it to be false, altered, forged, or counterfeit with intent to injure or defraud is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 14 years.

(2) This section does not apply to a scrivener's error.

History: 1931, Act 328, Eff. Sept. 18, 1931 ;-- CL 1948, 750.249 ;-- Am. 2008, Act 378, Imd. Eff. Dec. 23, 2008 ;-- Am. 2011, Act 206, Eff. Jan. 1, 2012
Former Law: See section 2 of Ch. 155 of R.S. 1846, being CL 1857, § 5803; CL 1871, § 7632; How., § 9214; CL 1897, § 11660; CL 1915, § 15433; and CL 1929, § 17049.

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Day 50 Part 1 - Survey of All The Working Stories

More Clinton ties on Mueller team: One deputy attended Clinton party, another rep'd top aide

More Clinton connections have emerged for members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team, amid growing Republican complaints about potential bias inside the office created to lead an independent probe.

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mueller investigator Andrew Weissmann, a former partner at WilmerHale, attended Hillary Clinton’s election night party last November at the Javits Center in New York City. Fox News reported earlier this week that Weissmann in January also praised outgoing acting Attorney General Sally Yates, after she was fired for refusing to defend President Trump’s travel ban.

Andrew Weissmann, reportedly attended the Hillary Clinton election night party in November 2016. He has donated thousands of dollars to former President Barack Obama's campaign and the DNC.  (Reuters)

Aaron Zebley, another former partner at WilmerHale and a former chief of staff to Mueller when he served as FBI director, represented Justin Cooper, a key figure in the Hillary Clinton email controversy.

Cooper is the longtime Bill Clinton aide responsible for helping set up the now-infamous private email server. Cooper later admitted to “two instances where he destroyed [Hillary] Clinton’s old mobile devices by breaking them in half or hitting them with a hammer.”

Aaron Zebley, a Mueller investigator, represented Justin Cooper. Cooper was a longtime- Bill Clinton aide who set up Hillary Clinton's private email server.

Jeannie Rhee, another former partner at WilmerHale, represented ex-Obama National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, the Clinton Foundation in a 2015 racketeering case, and Hillary Clinton herself in a lawsuit seeking access to her private emails.

TOP MUELLER INVESTIGATOR'S DEMOCRATIC TIES RAISE NEW BIAS QUESTIONS 

“You’ve got Donald Trump being persecuted by Hillary Clinton’s fan club—that’s inequitable,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News on Friday. “Many of the members of Mueller’s team donated to the Clinton campaign. We have a lot of highly qualified federal prosecutors in the Justice Department and we could have found a bunch of them who didn’t donate to either candidate. But that didn’t occur, and that’s troubling.” 

'[Y]ou might start seeing a real death-spiral in terms of any public support for the investigation.'

- former Justice Department official James Trusty

Those political donations have been well-known since the start of the Mueller probe. At least seven of Mueller's investigators on the Russia meddling case have donated to Democratic candidates and the Democratic National Committee.

Weissmann donated a combined $2,300 to the Obama campaign in 2008, and at least $2,000 to the DNC in 2006. Rhee donated a total of $5,400 to Hillary Clinton in 2015 and 2016 and a combined $4,800 to former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2011.

MUELLER PROBE: MEET LAWYERS WHO GAVE $$ TO HILLARY, NOW INVESTIGATING TEAM TRUMP 

Zebley has no history of political donations or any affiliation with a political party.

Neither political donations nor past legal work alone proves that an investigator is biased or unable to work a case objectively. But the revelation last weekend that another investigator, Peter Strzok, was removed from the Russia probe over anti-Trump texts has critics looking closely at every bio.

“Mueller did not have to select attorneys who had made donations to, or even represented,
Democratic candidates, but as those partisan connections are becoming clearer, it gives an appearance of bias that could have been avoided,” former high-ranking Justice Department official James Trusty, who served under the Bush and Obama administrations, told Fox News on Friday.

“Add a lead investigator having a 10,000 text affair with an already dubious selection for the team (in terms of litigation experience) and you might start seeing a real death-spiral in terms of any public support for the investigation,” Trusty added in an email to Fox News.

Peter Strzok was removed from Mueller's team after the discovery of anti-Trump text messages he exchanged with another former Mueller investigator. (FBI )

Strzok, who was an FBI counterintelligence agent, was reassigned to the FBI’s human resources division after the discovery of the texts. Page was briefly on Mueller’s team but returned to the FBI over the summer. The two exchanged more than 10,000 text messages, Fox News reported.

Strzok has been involved in a host of significant developments in both the Clinton and Russia probes. He was present during the FBI’s July 2016 interview with Hillary Clinton at the close of the email investigation, shortly before then-FBI Director James Comey called her actions “extremely careless” without recommending criminal charges.

Strzok also oversaw the FBI’s interviews with Trump’s fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty last week to lying to FBI investigators in the Russia probe.

Trump allies routinely have sought to raise bias concerns about Mueller's team to discredit the Russia investigation.

The special counsel’s office told Fox News this week that they had no comment on such allegations, but pointed to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s comments earlier this year.

“If there were conflicts that arose, because of Director Mueller or anybody employed by Director Mueller, we have a process within the [Justice Department] to take care of that,” Rosenstein said on Fox News.

The special counsel himself has been appointed to five Senate-confirmed positions by four different presidents – two Republicans, and two Democrats. Mueller is said to be a life-long Republican, serving as FBI director for President George W. Bush.

Justice Department policies and federal law prohibit discriminating based on political affiliation when it comes to hiring for nonpolitical positions, like the FBI and Justice Department.

MUELLER DEPUTY PRAISED DOJ OFFICIAL AFTER SHE DEFIED TRUMP TRAVEL BAN ORDER: 'I AM SO PROUD' 

A spokesman for the special counsel told Fox News on Friday Weissmann is still a member of Mueller's team. 

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Detroit Land Bank defends hiring of $760-an-hour attorney in federal investigation

The Detroit Land Bank will spend up to $760 an hour for outside legal counsel during the federal investigation into the city’s massive demolition program, according to records obtained by Motor City Muckraker under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Land Bank hired two outside law firms that will charge between $300 and $760 an hour. The top attorney, Jeannie Rhee, of Washington D.C.-based WilmerHale, will be paid $760 an hour, a 20% discount from her normal fees.

Rhee is a former assistant attorney general, veteran trial attorney and expert in handling government-related investigations and white-collar crime.

The Land Bank defended the hourly rate, saying it was critical for experienced lawyers to help assemble and review documents that are requested by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). The FBI is assisting in the investigation.

“In my 30 years of the practice of law in Washington, I always had the best possible counsel who specialized in dealing with each federal agency,” said Erica Ward Gerson, chairwoman of the Land Bank Board of Directors. “It’s essential to make sure that we comply fully and seamlessly with whatever that agency is seeking.”

What remains unclear is how the Land Bank, which uses federal funds to demolish houses, will pay for the legal fees.

In a letter to Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, Detroit Corporation Counsel Melvin “Butch” Hollowell said it’s his “understanding that funding for the legal services will be paid from the Detroit Land Bank General Operating Account which includes Hardest Hit Fund allocations, proceeds from real estate sales, and foundation grants.”

The Land Bank is prohibited from using federal demolition funds on legal bills.

Federal investigators haven’t revealed what they are looking into, but questions have been raised about the rising cost of demolitions.

The Land Bank, which has received more than $170 million in federal funds in the past 30 months, has demolished nearly 9,000 houses since Mayor Duggan took office.

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2016/05/26/land-bank-defends-hiring-of-760-an-hour-attorney-in-federal-investigation/

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The Great Water Shutoff Debacle - The Accidental Legal Geniuses LARP

Guess what time I was on the phone.

Egads!

The Great Detroit Water Shutoff Debacle continues.

It seems I have created LARP, but not intentionally, though.

I was just extremely upset that the Detroit Water and Sewer Department had me pay, then shutoff my account the next day, then took my name off my account, with no access, refers me to Water Residential Assistance Program (which does not assist in the sewage portion, which is the largest component of the bill due to all the bonds and stealin') to inform me that I had to open an account, because there was no account, to eventually be met Saturday morning, the National Day Against Violence, by a young gentleman who was attempting to shutoff my water.

Then, due to technical difficulties, and a few questions, I found out that he was called out on a Saturday, when nothing is open, mind you, to terminate illegal water usage.

Yes, my water shutoff, I guess the physical water shutoff, was, I shall assume as I have yet to request a formal investigation, triggered me.

So, these people can just, up and shutoff water, know fully well they are on the international stage for water shutoffs, through their fraud division.

Oh my, that sounds like a Bill Browder move.

Well, going down to the main office early Monday morning, I was informed of an IT account billing system update, then everything made perfect sense to me.

The systemsucks!

The supervisor was very nice to waive the reconnection fee, after I had to vehemently argue with her that my water was never shutoff, even though it showed in the system that it was shutoff.

So, you know the water accounts are meshed with just about every other city, county, state and federal database, through Microsoft, which has highjacked my computer with the Vietnamese version that I cannot remove.

This means I know I have one of those endogenous variables in their predictive modeling crappy models as being labeled as engaging in utility theft, an illegal hook up.

Do I have due process to correct this matter of a public smear of character?

Was this an intentional hack?

When your water is shutoff, your property is condemned by the city, foreclosure procedures will commence, you will be determined in a court of law as being homeless, which means you are stripped of your right to vote, if they can time it properly.

Anyway, I suffered a Post Traumatic Fraud Disorder attack and sent emails to the attorneys who represented the defendants in my qui tam.

I am not going to lose my house and I will not tolerate retaliation with their petards.

It was not difficult to figure out what retaliation as a federal witness looks like because it has become a part of my daily life.

I also reached out to my City Councilman.

Rod Liggons was a bit too enthusiastic and took it upon himself to respond to an email sent to legal counsel of the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

I was nice and kindly informed him to refer all future communications to his legal counsel.

I guess Michael Brady has yet to be replaced.

Such a shame Jeannie Rhee could not continue her representation.

Well, within 24 hours, it seems I must have flustered a few "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) because the courtroom chatter is that they are starting to figure out who the Celestial Goddess of the Woodshed truly is, and that is the original source.

FUN FACT! THE DETROIT WATER AND SEWER DIRECTOR GARY BROWN DOES NOT POSSESS A MICHIGAN S1 LICENSE.

Now, we wait to see if they are going to finally stop stealin'.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©