PrairiePundit

 Victor Davis Hanson: ... The FBI did not merely engage in “correspondence” with Twitter to protect the company and its “customers.” Instead, it effectively hired Twitter to suppress the free expression of some of its users, as well as news stories deemed unhelpful to the Biden campaign and administration—to the degree that the bureau’s requests sometimes even exceeded those of Twitter’s own left-wing censors. The FBI did not wish to help Twitter “to protect themselves [sic],” given the bureau’s Twitter liaisons were often surprised at the FBI’s bold requests to suppress the expression of those who had not violated Twitter’s own admittedly biased “terms of service” and “community standards.” The FBI and its helpers on the Left now reboot the same boilerplate about “conspiracy theorists” and “misinformation” smears used against anyone who rejected the FBI-fed Russian collusion hoax and the bureau’s peddling of the “Russian disinformation” lie to suppress accurate pre-election news ...

 Washington Examiner: John Durham ' s  next big hurdle is his only remaining criminal case — the one against Igor Danchenko, British ex-spy  Christopher Steele ’s alleged main source for his infamous anti-Trump dossier. Danchenko was  charged  “with five counts of making false statements to  the FBI ,” which Durham says he made about the information he provided to Steele for the dossier. The Department of Justice's watchdog said FBI interviews with Danchenko “raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting” and  concluded  Danchenko undermined Steele’s unfounded claims of a “well-developed conspiracy” between former President Donald Trump and Russia. Danchenko has  pleaded  not guilty and will face a Virginia jury in October. The Russia-born lawyer and researcher who has lived and worked in the Washington, D.C., area for many years was indicted in November for lying to the bureau. He allegedly relied o...

 Washington Times: Attorneys for Hillary Clinton‘s campaign lawyer asked a court Monday to bar federal prosecutors from using evidence from former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and his debunked dossier in prosecuting their client. Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann is charged with lying to the FBI for not disclosing he was working on behalf of Mrs. Clinton when he told an FBI official about alleged contacts between a Russian bank and the Trump Organization in 2016. Mr. Sussmann‘s attorneys appear concerned that prosecutors, led by special counsel John Durham, may try to introduce the dossier or testimony from Mr. Steele, who compiled salacious unfounded allegations that Donald Trump had worked with Russian officials to defeat Mrs. Clinton. “The manner in which the data was gathered, the objective strength and reliability of that data and/or conclusions drawn from the data, and the information that Christopher Steele separately provided to the FBI all have no...

 Washington Examiner: A  nonprofit group run by a former top aide for Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein who has pushed  debunked claims  about a secret back channel between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank spent the post-2016 era funneling millions to Christopher Steele’s company and the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. Daniel Jones, lead author of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s  report  on the CIA’s interrogation program, founded the Democracy Integrity Project in January 2017. Tax records show he  funded  Steele, Fusion, and others, keeping a web of groups working and donor money flowing to the tune of millions of dollars for years, helping the groups continue their Russia-related research into 2020. The filings contend the mission of the nonprofit is to provide research “to educate the public on matters such as foreign election interference, global extremism, corruption, and coordinated disinformation.” Tax  records  from ...

 Eric Felton: The indictment of Igor Danchenko, the “primary sub-source” of Christopher Steele’s infamous dossier, reveals that the FBI electronically recorded several previously undisclosed interviews with the Brookings Institution researcher. Separately, it raises suspicions, according to congressional sources, that his Brookings superior Fiona Hill may have committed perjury when testifying about Steele during President Trump’s first impeachment. ... As part of the impeachment proceedings, Hill gave closed-door testimony to House lawmakers and investigators for the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. During that testimony in October 2019, Hill answered many questions emphatically and apparently without leaving herself wiggle room. Hill did not express the sort of memory fog that often afflicts well-coached, evasive witnesses. Asked whether she was “aware of any interaction between Mr. Steele and ...

 Washington Free Beacon: The primary source for the infamous Steele dossier fabricated information out of whole cloth, a group of Russian nationals is alleging. The allegations emerged in court filings released this week in a dossier-related lawsuit. The Russians say U.S.-based analyst Igor Danchenko falsely identified them as sources for information he passed to former British spy Christopher Steele. Danchenko served as a contractor for Steele during the ex-spy's investigation of the Trump campaign. The FBI used the Steele dossier to obtain surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The Russians' statements further call into question the credibility of the dossier, which has been largely disproven in the four years since it was released. The Justice Department inspector general identified numerous issues with the dossier in a December 2019 report. The court filings are part of a lawsuit brought by the owners of the Russian Alfa-Bank, who are accused ...

  Washington Examiner: Carter Page sues James Comey, Andrew McCabe, the FBI, and others for $75M ...   “The more fundamental problem was that the FBI was so intent on obtaining a FISA warrant to enable it to spy on the Trump campaign that it did not fully and accurately disclose to the FISC the evidence it had obtained as to whether Dr. Page was a Russian agent. To persuade the FISC that there was probable cause to believe that Dr. Page was a Russian agent, the Defendants provided false or misleading information to the FISC,” Page’s lawyers told the court on Friday, adding, “The individual Defendants fabricated or intentionally disregarded critical evidence, and misled the FISC, in order to obtain the FISA warrants. This case is about holding accountable the entities and individuals who are responsible for the most egregious violation and abuse of the FISA statute since it was enacted over forty years ago.” Page’s lawyers pointed to recent comments made by McCabe before the S...

Colbert King: ... But Steele has done little to cause even a few to take a second look. It's not as if Steele lacked role models. He isn't the first African American trailblazer to reach a political party's "pinnacle" of power. That honor belongs to the late Democratic National Committee chairman Ron Brown. Steele could have learned from him. Brown was an organizer, conciliator and effective fundraiser. He learned and practiced the nuts and bolts of politics. And he was a key strategist in developing a Democratic unity message and then moving his party to a place on the political spectrum where it earned respect and the presidency. Brown made it clear from the outset that, as The Post reported, his chairmanship would not be about race, "it will be about the races we win." Steele needs to reread his job description and focus on what he's paid to do. Get to know his own mind. And put some of his name in his backbone. Steele is not a bad speak...