FISA Court Calls out Comey’s Fraud

Today the highly secretive FISA court published an order whipping James Comey for the fraud he perpetuated on the American people.

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5 Questions Still Remaining After the Release of the Horowitz Report

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The Inspector General report on the Russia investigation was thorough, but it also raised some head-scratching questions

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Former Spy Details Israel’s Main Motive Behind Epstein’s Sexual Blackmail Operation

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Former Spy Details Israel’s Main Motive Behind Epstein’s Sexual Blackmail Operation

MintPress speaks with Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli spy who worked closely with Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, as part of their work with Israeli military intelligence and had frequent encounters with Jeffrey Epstein.

By Whitney Webb

December 15, 2019 “Information Clearing House” –  MONTREAL — In recent weeks, renewed attention has been brought to the allegations that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking and sexual blackmail operation was run on behalf of Israeli military intelligence. Those claims revolve around statements made by a former Israeli military intelligence official turned public relations consultant Ari Ben-Menashe, whose allegations regarding the Epstein scandal were reported by MintPress this past October.

Ben-Menashe’s claims related to Epstein first surfaced in an interview between Ben-Menashe and Zev Shalev of the independent news outlet, Narativ. As detailed in a MintPress summary and commentary of that interview, Ben-Menashe claimed to have seen Jeffrey Epstein in the office of Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, several times in the 1980s. 

At the time, Ben-Menashe was in close contact with Robert Maxwell regarding their work mutual work with Israeli military intelligence. Maxwell, in addition to heading a media empire and being a one-time member of U.K. parliament, was a longtime operative for Israeli intelligence, so much so that his 1991 funeral was attended by no less than six serving and former heads of Israeli intelligence as well as several high-ranking Israeli politicians and prime ministers. 

Maxwell is alleged to have recruited Jeffrey Epstein for Israeli intelligence and later introduced Epstein to Ben-Menashe and another operative, Nicholas Davies. Epstein was introduced to Ben-Menashe as having been pre-approved by leading figures in Israel’s military intelligence directorate, known as Aman. 

MintPress recently conducted its own interview with Mr. Ben-Menashe as part of an ongoing investigation on the life and connections of the now-infamous Jeffrey Epstein.

Part of that interview is provided below with relevant commentary, particularly regarding claims related to the relationship between Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Epstein’s trip to Tel Aviv immediately prior to his first arrest, and the reasons for Israeli military intelligence’s interest in orchestrating and financing a major sexual blackmail operation targeting top U.S. politicians.

“Israel Requested that Epstein Target Clinton”

MintPress News first asked Ben-Menashe about Robert Maxwell, a known asset and operative for Israeli intelligence, having recruited Jeffrey Epstein. Ben-Menashe = confirmed this to MintPress and also noted that, after their initial meeting, Epstein was frequently present in Maxwell’s office in London. 

During the 1980s, as MintPress previously reported, Epstein claimed to have been an intelligence operative and so-called “bounty hunter” in the world of shadow finance. During this time, he was known to have developed close relationships with several British arms dealers, particularly Sir Douglas Leese. Thus, Epstein appeared to frequently be traveling between the Middle East and London, which is also supported by Epstein’s now-infamous Austrian passport which he was believed to have carried during this period of time.

Ben-Menashe told MintPress that he had not only met Epstein after Epstein had been recently recruited by Israeli military intelligence, but had seen him on several occasions thereafter as Epstein “used to be in [Robert Maxwell’s] office [in London] quite often” and would arrive there between trips to and from Israel. 

In addition, Ben-Menashe revealed his understanding of why Epstein was eventually shepherded into acting as a professional sexual blackmailer on behalf of Israeli military intelligence. Per Ben-Menashe, there were concerns among Israeli intelligence figures that, following the Reagan Era, a new president would push for Israel to make peace with the Palestinians, something those officials sought to avoid by any means necessary. 

MintPress News (MPN) | Well, that’s interesting because the first year Clinton was in office, Epstein was already attending donor dinners at the White House and making White House visits as well.ABM | Here’s the thing… Mr. Carter… as in President Carter… the Israelis feared that Mr. Clinton, when he was campaigning for President, will be a repeat of Mr. Carter. He wanted to press them for peace with the Palestinians and all that stuff. They feared… Clinton wasn’t that… but they feared he was that… And I think Mr. Epstein was sent early on to catch up with President Clinton.

ABM | Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. I believe his biggest client was Mr. Clinton catch, or catch, or whatever, and he had a few other congressmen and what not but Clinton was, was his biggest catch.

Thus, Ben-Menashe argues, when Bill Clinton’s candidacy in the 1992 U.S. Presidential election became clear, efforts were made to target him via sexual blackmail and Jeffrey Epstein was chosen for that purpose. Bill Clinton was eventually blackmailed by the state of Israel and his administration was also targeted by Israeli espionage as part of the “Mega” spy scandal. Epstein’s involvement in the Clinton administration and his visits to the White House date back to Clinton’s first year in office. More information on the Epstein-Clinton relationship can be found in this MintPress report.

In addition, MintPress also asked Ben-Menashe if he was aware of Ghislaine Maxwell being directly involved with her father’s intelligence-related activities prior to his death in 1991. Ben-Menashe noted that Ghislaine accompanied her father so frequently, including on a now-infamous 1989 party on Maxwell’s yacht where Donald Trump and several key figures in the PROMIS software scandal were in attendance, that she was involved in his intelligence-related activities to some extent. However, he stopped short of saying how involved she was or what she has specifically been involved in prior to her father’s death. 

When did Epstein really meet Ehud Barak?

One of the more controversial ties between Epstein and powerful politicians is that between Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Barak has claimed to have only met Epstein in 2002 and, from that point on, their relationship was very public, with Barak frequently visiting and even spending the night at residences owned by Epstein, including apartments where he housed the underage girls that he exploited. Barak also visited Epstein’s now-infamous island and recruited him to help fund the Israeli intelligence-connected company, Carbyne911. 

However, there appear to be indications that Epstein and Barak may have met much earlier than Barak has since claimed. Given that Ben-Menashe claimed to have learned of Epstein’s recruitment by Israeli military intelligence in the 1980s, MintPress asked if one of the people involved in his recruitment was Ehud Barak. Barak served as head of Israel’s military intelligence directorate, Aman, from April 1983 to January 1986.

Ben-Menashe could not recall the exact year when he first became aware of Epstein’s recruitment by Israeli military intelligence but stated that it was “most likely” during Ehud Barak’s tenure as the head of Aman. Yet, even if Epstein’s recruitment did not take place while Barak headed Aman, it is highly likely — per Ben-Menashe — that Epstein had met Barak during this time because “Robert Maxwell became buddies with Ehud Barak…and he [Robert Maxwell] probably introduced them, the young man [Epstein] to Mr. Barak” if the two were not already acquainted. 

Since the Epstein scandal broke, Ehud Barak has insisted that he did not meet Epstein until the year 2002 and claimed that the two had been introduced by former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. Ben-Menashe dismissed the possibility that this claim was true, emphatically stating that he was “sure they had met before” and that he did not believe that their first meeting was in 2002.

Epstein’s 2008 Trip to Tel Aviv

Just a few months before he was sentenced to prison for the first time in June 2008, Jeffrey Epstein had made a sudden visit to the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv. In April of that year, the Palm Beach Daily News reported that Epstein was staying at the Tel Aviv Hilton and quoted an Epstein spokesman as saying that he was “spending Passover, meeting with Israeli research scientists, and taking a tour of military bases.”

Sometime prior to Epstein’s sentencing on June 30 of that year, Alexander Acosta –then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida– signed off on a lenient sentence for Epstein who was charged with soliciting sex from a minor. That legal arrangement has since been nicknamed the “sweetheart deal.” Acosta later told Trump transition officials prior to his nomination for Secretary of Labor that his decision to approve the “sweetheart deal” came after he had been told to back off in the Epstein case because Epstein “belonged to intelligence.”

Though Acosta did not specify from whom he had received this information, former CIA agent Phil Giraldi has made a convincing case that they originated from Epstein’s then-lawyer Alan Dershowitz, a close associate of Epstein with ties to high-ranking Israeli politicians, and Barry Krischer, then-Florida State Attorney for Palm Beach who recently received an award from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for his “outstanding contribution to the legal profession and to the community at large.” 

As detailed in a previous MintPress report on Epstein’s ties to Israel published this past August, the ADL’s long-time top funders have close ties to Epstein and his sexual blackmail network, particularly the Bronfman family of Seagrams fame.

Ben-Menashe told MintPress that Epstein’s 2008 Tel Aviv visit was likely “blowing smoke” and involved Epstein “trying to make himself important maybe not to get arrested” and “hoping that the Israelis would help him.” He then added that “At the time they probably did” help Epstein, but added that “the second time around [i.e. 2019], well…it would be a harder sell.”

Whitney Webb is a MintPress News journalist based in Chile. She has contributed to several independent media outlets including Global Research, EcoWatch, the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire, among others. She has made several radio and television appearances and is the 2019 winner of the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism.

This article was originally published by “MPN” 

 

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52712.htm

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Clint Eastwood's latest film stumbles after newspaper demands disclaimer

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Clint Eastwood's latest film, "Richard Jewell," earned only half of the projected box office sales during its opening weekend after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution demanded a disclaimer regarding the way one of the newspaper's former reporters is portrayed in the film.

Eastwood's movie tells the story of security guard Richard Jewell, who was falsely accused of being involved with the 1996 Olympics bombing in Atlanta.

Wow “Richard Jewell” is one of the most upsetting movies I’ve seen in a long time. Unbelievable what the media and govt did to that hero and his family. Highly recommend everyone go see it.

— Amanda (@AmandaPresto) December 14, 2019

The Warner Bros. film was projected to reach $9 million to $10 million in box office sales in its opening weekend, according to The Wrap.

It made about half of that, $4.7 million.

The only Eastwood movie that has done worse was his 1980 film "Bronco Billy," which came in at $3.7 million, according to Variety. Eastwood's highest-grossing opening weekend was for the 2014 film "American Sniper," which made $89 million.

Warner Bros. will likely lose a significant amount on "Richard Jewell" since it cost $45 million to produce.

On the Monday prior to the film's opening weekend, The Journal-Constitution demanded that the filmmakers add a disclaimer saying they used "artistic license" in their portrayal of the newspaper and its staff. Of particular concern is the film's implication that reporter Kathy Scruggs had sex with an FBI agent to find out that Jewell was under investigation.

Scruggs died in 2001 at the age of 42 from a drug overdose.

The newspaper sent a letter to Warner Bros., screen writer Billy Ray and Eastwood with a list of demands.

“We hereby demand that you immediately issue a statement publicly acknowledging that some events were imagined for dramatic purposes and artistic license and dramatization were used in the film’s portrayal of events and characters,” the newspaper said. “We further demand that you add a prominent disclaimer to the film to that effect.”

Kevin G. Riley, editor of The Journal-Constitution, told Variety that he felt that the movie participates in harmful stereotypes about female reporters by portraying them exchanging sex for information.

“I think this letter makes it clear how seriously we take the misrepresentation of our reporters’ actions and of the actions of the newspaper during that time,” he said. “We have been clear about how disturbed we are in the film’s use of a Hollywood trope about reporters … and how it misrepresents how seriously journalists concern themselves with reporting accurately and ethically.”

The Journal-Constitution published an article featuring interviews with people who knew Scruggs.

According to reporter Ron Martz, who co-bylined Scruggs' story about Jewell being investigated by the FBI, no one from the film contacted him.

“If they had actually contacted me it might have ruined their idea of what they wanted the story to be,” Martz told The Journal-Constitution. “It’s obvious to me they did not go to any great lengths to find out what the real characters were like.”

“She was one of the better reporters I ever worked with. She was really tough and hard-nosed,” he said. “When she went after a story she did what was necessary to get the story, within legal and ethical bounds.”

Olivia Wilde, who played Scruggs in the film, came under fire from some in the media.

The Daily Beast's Cassie Da Costa called Wilde's portrayal of the reporter "offensive" and said, "Even if it were to somehow come out that Scruggs did in fact sleep with an agent (a prospect I find highly unlikely, but we shall see), it wouldn’t change the wrongheadedness of how the character is written and portrayed."

The actress posted a series of tweets addressing the portrayal.

"I cannot speak for the creative decisions made by the filmmakers, as I did not have a say in how the film was ultimately crafted, but it’s important to me that I share my personal take on the matter," she said in one of her tweets.

I cannot speak for the creative decisions made by the filmmakers, as I did not have a say in how the film was ultimately crafted, but it’s important to me that I share my personal take on the matter.

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) December 12, 2019

"Contrary to a swath of recent headlines, I do not believe that Kathy 'traded sex for tips.' Nothing in my research suggested she did so, and it was never my intention to suggest she had. That would be an appalling and misogynistic dismissal of the difficult work she did," Wilde said in another tweet.

Contrary to a swath of recent headlines, I do not believe that Kathy “traded sex for tips”. Nothing in my research suggested she did so, and it was never my intention to suggest she had. That would be an appalling and misogynistic dismissal of the difficult work she did.

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) December 12, 2019

"I was asked to play the supporting role of Kathy Scruggs, who was, by all accounts, bold, smart, and fearlessly undeterred by the challenge of being a female reporter in the south in the 1990s. I cannot even contemplate the amount of sexism she may have faced in the way of duty."

I was asked to play the supporting role of Kathy Scruggs, who was, by all accounts, bold, smart, and fearlessly undeterred by the challenge of being a female reporter in the south in the 1990s. I cannot even contemplate the amount of sexism she may have faced in the way of duty.

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) December 12, 2019

Ray defended the way Scruggs was depicted in the film.

“This movie is about a hero whose life was completely destroyed by myths created by the FBI and the media, specifically the AJC,” the screenwriter said in an interview with Deadline. “The AJC hung Richard Jewell, in public.”

“They editorialized wildly and printed assumptions as facts,” he said. “They compared him to noted mass murderer Wayne Williams. And this was after he had saved hundreds of lives. Now a movie comes along 23 years later, a perfect chance for the AJC to atone for what they did to Richard and to admit to their misdeeds. And what do they decide to do? They launch a distraction campaign. They deflect and distort. They focus solely on one single minute in a movie that’s 129 minutes long, opting to challenge one assertion in the movie rather than accepting their own role in destroying the life of a good man.

"The movie isn’t about Kathy Scruggs; it’s about the heroism and hounding of Richard Jewell, and what rushed reporting can do to an innocent man. And by the way, I will stand by every word and assertion in the script."

Ray said the newspaper's "current motivation is to protect itself from the harsh light that this is movie is shedding on their behavior. I think the paper is trying to sully our movie in an effort to spare itself a justified embarrassment. That’s journalistic cowardice."

"What is so appalling," he said, "is that this is corporate ass-covering disguised as an effort to protect Kathy Scruggs.”

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post Clint Eastwood's latest film stumbles after newspaper demands disclaimer appeared first on WND.

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We Are In The Midst Of The Worst Drug Crisis In American History

There has never been a time in our history when more Americans have been on drugs. According to the most recent government numbers, 24.6 million Americans have used an illegal drug within the last 30 days. Of course the number of Americans taking legal drugs is actually far, far higher.

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Former AG: Horowitz missed key evidence in FBI conspiracy

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Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey pointed out a key text exchange between lead FBI investigator Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page indicating bias against Donald Trump that was left out of the latest inspector general report.

The Justice Department IG, Michael Horowitz, concluded in his report released last week that he found no "documentary or testimonial bias" in the Obama administration's launching of the investigation of Trump-Russia collusion.

However, in an interview Sunday with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, Mukasey pointed out that Strzok and Page expressed alarm on the night that Sen. Ted Cruz withdrew from the 2016 race and it became apparent that Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee.

"Now the pressure really starts to finish MYE," Strzok wrote.

The FBI special agent was referring to the investigation of Hillary Clinton's abuse of classified information, known as the Midyear Exam.

"Now, will someone explain to me in words of one syllable how it is that Donald Trump being the Republican candidate increases the pressure to end the investigation of Hillary Clinton?" Mukasey asked.

"Unless what you want is to curtail the damage to Hillary Clinton and assure that Donald Trump doesn't win."

Then-FBI Director James Comey took the unusual step of explaining to the public in July 2016 why the bureau would not refer criminal charges against Clinton to the Justice Department, even though there was considerable evidence she had mishandled classified information.

The Strzok text is never mentioned in any of the IG's reports, Mukasey noted.

The former AG acknowledged, however, that Horowitz didn't have subpoena power and had to rely on witnesses to volunteer information.

The person who does have subpoena power, however, Mukasey noted, is U.S. John Durham, whose broader Justice Department review of the origins of the Obama Trump-Russia collusion probe has become a criminal investigation.

The post Former AG: Horowitz missed key evidence in FBI conspiracy appeared first on WND.

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Destruction Of The Family: The U.S. Has The Highest Rate Of Children Living With A Single Parent In The Entire World

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The family unit is one of the fundamental pillars of any society, and so the weaker our family units become the weaker our entire nation is going to become. For decades, the traditional family unit has been under assault in America, and the consequences have been absolutely catastrophic. Today, the marriage rate has dropped to […]

The post Destruction Of The Family: The U.S. Has The Highest Rate Of Children Living With A Single Parent In The Entire World appeared first on The Most Important News.

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We Are In The Midst Of The Worst Drug Crisis In American History

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There has never been a time in our history when more Americans have been on drugs. According to the most recent government numbers, 24.6 million Americans have used an illegal drug within the last 30 days. Of course the number of Americans taking legal drugs is actually far, far higher. According to Bloomberg, 46 percent […]

The post We Are In The Midst Of The Worst Drug Crisis In American History appeared first on The Most Important News.

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Former CIA Spook: Eric Holder Just Revealed That The "Deep State Is Running Scared"

Former CIA officer and counter-intelligence expert Kevin Shipp says that former Obama Administration Attorney General (AG) Eric Holder gave a big Deep State panic signal when he wrote in an Op-Ed last week in the Washington Post trashing current AG William Barr and his top prosecutor John Durham.

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We Have Just Been Handed the Pentagon Papers of Our Generation

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Earlier this week, we learned that our leaders also knew the war was a fiasco, doomed to fail. But, unlike many of us, they chose not to speak out. Instead, as The Washington Post revealed in a series of stunning articles based on what it has labeled the Afghanistan Papers—a trove of previously classified documents that it is calling a “secret history of the war”—dozens of consecutive generals and senior US officials had repeatedly lied about, omitted, and obfuscated the facts to give an illusion of progress in that war.

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