Thats one thing thats important about obstruction but there is Something Else important about obstruction of justice, as well. Which is that it might work. Highranking government officials dont obstruct justice because they misunderstand the law and nobody has ever told them its a crime. Highranking government officials risk that criminal liability because isnsometimes s worth it to try. Sometimes you want to obstruct justice depending on what you might otherwise be on the hook for if justice proceeds. Given how many famous people have been busted so badly for obstruction of justice, nobody would try it unless it sometimes still worked. During the president ial campaign in 2016, the u. S. Intelligence community saw something going on with regard to russia and that election of ours and part of what they were noticing was that russia seemed to be taking more than an acute interest in our election that year. They seemed to be making moves to interfere with, to try to influence that election. But simultaneously they saw something that concerned them that was going on between russia and the Trump Campaign. Did evidence exist of collusion, coordination, conspiracy between the Trump Campaign and russian state actors at the time you learned of 2016 efforts . I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between russian officials and u. S. Persons involved in the Trump Campaign. There was a sufficient basis of information and intelligence that required further investigation by the burro to determine whether or not u. S. Persons were actively conspireing, colluding with russian officials. I was aware of intelligence and information about contacts between russian officials and u. S. Persons that raise concerns in my mind about whether or not those individuals were cooperating with the russians in a witting or inever unwitting f and served the basis to term which collusion, cooperation. That served as the basis for the fbi investigation. Thats how the fbi investigation came into being. The fbi investigation not just into russian interference but the possibility of the Trump Campaign being involved in it, cooperating in that effort somehow. That is is how that fbi investigation started, right . U. S. Intelligence obtained information, obtained intel about suspicious contacts between the Trump Campaign and russia. While russia was trying to influence the election to trumps benefit. Fbi john bennen testiro brenhamt that. Thats how and why that investigate started. Basically why we are going through this as a country. Thats the best information and most direct information we got about what the Intelligence Community saw that freaked them out about the Trump Campaign. I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between russian officials and u. S. Persons involved in the Trump Campaign that i was concerned about because of known russian efforts to support such individuals and it raised questions in my mind again, whether or not the russians were able to gain the cooperation of those individuals. Thats what it boils down to. Right . That was the seed, right . That was what grew this tree. All right. Given the contacts and interactions between russian officials and u. S. Persons involved in the Trump Campaign, u. S. Intelligence was concerned about whether or not the russians were able to gain the cooperation of those people while they were attacking our election. Thats it. All right . And that question while russia was attacking our election, did they have help from the campaign they were assisting . That remains the biggest foreign influence National Security scandal to ever afflict any american presidency and that central question is still an open question and it remains under investigation. Now, though, increasingly and particularly on insane news days like today, that central question is being almost eclipsed by the matter of what happened when the Trump Campaign became the trump presidency. Did President Trump and other Trump Administration officials move to obstruct justice . What, if anything, have the president and his administration done to try to block that investigation that started with intelligence agencies being worried about what they were seeing between the Trump Campaign and russia. What have they done to block that investigation, if anything, if they have moved to block that investigation, did they do so by means that are illegal . If they did act illegally to block that investigation, what is the remedy to that . Lets looked at everybody, everybody that had a role in that investigation since trump was sworn in, when the president took office the acting attorney general was sally yates. They went to the white house and warned about the national sec e security advisor, both of those officials that warned the white house are gone. The acting head of the National Security division was marry mccord and salary yates is gone. The president fired her. Jeff session was confirmed as attorney general. There were intelligence intercepts it turns out that revealed that Jeff Sessions had conversations with russia that he hadnt disclosed. The president nevertheless forced him to not recuse himself. The president told his white house chief of staff to tell Jeff Sessions told his white house cancel to tell Jeff Sessions he shouldnt recuse. When sessions recused anyway, the Washington Post reports the president then sent the chief of staff to go secure Jeff Sessions resignation. Within the Justice Department, at the fbi, the fbis director was fired after he says the president told him to lay off the investigation. He conveyed the content to a number of fbi senior officials at the time so they could corroborate what comey said about how the president pressured him to lay off the russia investigation before he refused and he was fired. Comey says he reported the president s behavior, the directors about the russia investigation at the time to the p fbi chief of staff. Last week that official was let go. He says he conveyed that information to the fbi general counsel who was vently misst re reassigned to a noshow job around christmas with no explanation. James comey reported the president s directors to the fbu Deputy Director who today was forced out of his job, as well. Less than a week ago there was dramatic reporting at axios. Com crihristopher wray threatened t resign to protect mccabe. Today Andrew Mccabe was pushed out of his job. Christopher wray does not seem to have resigned. Whatever is going on where Christopher Wray was inspiring people with him standing up against white house pressure, he was going to resign than see officials pushed out of their job after being publicly if you were thinking Christopher Wray would resign rather than let that happen, Andrew Mccabe is gone after today. The fbi director Christopher Wray was seen at the white house with Rod Rosenstein. He oversees Robert Muellers special investigation since Jeff Sessions recused himself. The reason i go through that list is just to be i mean, to be blunt about it, the president has fired or tried to fire everybody in an oversight role in the russia investigation up to and including the special counsel himself. Rod rosenstein is the only one left who he hasnt fired or tried to fire yet. But Rod Rosenstein were told today is increasingly a focus of the president s attentions and not in a good way. He really has fired or tried to fire everybody except rosenstein and they have a plan for rosenstein, too. Three years ago this week in 2015 Justice Department, the u. S. Attorneys office and Southern District of new york made a dramatic announcement. They had arrested a guy who appeared to be a random Bank Employee, he was picked up by fbi agents at a Shopping Center in riverdale new york. Nobody knew what he was getting arrested for at the time but it turned out according to the indictment and trial and conviction the random Bank Employee they arrested in 2015 turned out to be a key figure in an active russian spy ring. This was the headline from the press release. Attorney general, manhattan u. S. Attorney and fbi announced charges against russian spy ring in new york city. Attempted to collect economic intelligence and recruit residents as intelligence sources. Attorney general eric holder said these charges demonstrate the Firm Commitment to combatting attempts by agents to illegally gather intel and recruit spies in the United States. Well use every tool to identify and hold accountable agentis no matter how deep their cover. Three people were charged in this indictment. The cover for two is they worked for the russian government. One of them worked in the Russian Mission to the u. N. In new york. One of them worked as a trade representative for the russian government but the third guy in the spy ring, he worked at a russian bank at the Branch Office in new york city. The two guys running their spy ring here in new york while purportedly having normal russian government jobs escaped back to moscow. The third guy, hes the one that got arrested and put on trial and convicted and served a good chunk of time in federal prison in ohio. They only sent him back to moscow this past spring and one of the spy movie inspector gadget details from that court case is that the fbi fed these russian guys and this russian spy ring, they fed them documents with bugs in them, listening devices. They are trying to cultivate assets that will give them sensitive or secret or stolen information. This is purr spying stuff. The fbi found what they were doing and trapped them. They arranged to give them documents that seemed awesome like super juicy stuff they would want to feed home but the fbi gave them these documents in binders and the fbi had put little microphones inside the binders. These russian guys from the spy ring, they bought this info they thought they extracted from their American Assets. They didnt know it had come from the fbi. They didnt know it had listening devices. They brought the binders into the russian governments facilities in new york so they could convey it home through secure channels to moscow but even though they were in a secure facility inside the russian government building, the fbi was listening the whole time to everything they were saying because they had bugs in the binders. They were unaware they were being bugged and no idea they were found out. They thought they were in a secure facility so they spoke totally freely about how they were running the spy ring about their strategy. About the American Assets they were recruiting. Including the fbi described as a male working in new york city. Male one met the russian spy defendant in january 2013 in new york city. During this meeting defendant gave him his Business Card and two email addresses. Over the following months, male one and the defendant exchanged emails about the Energy Business and met on occasion in person with male one providing the defendant with male ones outlook on the current and future of the energy industry. Male one provided documents to the defendant about the Energy Business. So these russian guys, right, two of them working as russian Government Employees and one of them as a russian Bank Employee, its a spy ring. And they got an american asset, they got male one. They got this American Energy consultant guy who was happily shoveling them information, giving them documents, communicating with them and meeting with them in person. In the course of the investigation into this russian spy ring operating in new york, the fbi paid a visit to male one, to this american guy who was successfully being recruited by russian spies. And we later found his name. Carter page. The same carter page that turned up as one of the five named Foreign Policy advisors to the donald trump for president campaign. The Washington Post reported in april that the Justice Department had obtained a fisa warrant to conduct surveillance on carter paige as early as the summer of 2016 and that was a remarkable thing to learn about a president ial campaign. President ial candidate has announced Foreign Policy advisor, somebody the Justice Department has under surveillance on the fact the Justice Department was able to convince a judge there was reason to believe he was a foreign agent. Right . From that initial Washington Post reporting on them getting a fisa warrant, the application for the order targeting carter paige included a decoloration, for believing he was an agent of the russian government and knowingly engaged in intelligence activities on behalf of moscow. So the Justice Department laid out that case about carter paige in the summer of 2016 to get a warrant to surveil him. They were granted initially and apparently renewed every 90 days thereafter. You have to keep bringing it back before a judge. 90 days and 90 days and t90 day and even though this warrant is removed multiple times since applied for and granted by a judge, eventually the person that had to sign off on the next application to renew that warrant was a trump appointee. It was Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein. And that is reportedly the basis on which republicans in congress and the Trump White House are going to go after Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein who oversees the Mueller Investigation and the one remaining figure overseeing the russia investigation who the president hasnt fired or tried to fire. Led by Trump Transition Team member devin nunes voted to release a memo nun yes, ses and staff wrote. It names rosenstein as a villain for him signing off on one of the many renewals of the warrant against carter paige. The surveillance warrant against carter page that says he was recruited by an actual russian spy ring in new york city. One which ended up with two of the spies fleeing to moscow and one of the spies going to prison and the fbi broke that spy ring apart. The fsbi knew about it for year and had carter paige in their sights for years because he was recruited by russian i intelligen intelligence. This whole thing, our lives, this whole scandal, the biggest National Security scandal to afflict anpresidency, it remains a scandal about a russian government to target the u. S. President ial election to tip it their way. And all of the signs that many people asoesociated appeared to have something to hide about contacts with the russian government and intelligence during the time of that attack. All right. That is what this is all about. That the the reason for the initial investigation. Thats why Robert Mueller ended up getting appointed special counsel. Carter paige and his russia ties, they were not a figment of Christopher Steeles imagination. All right . It is remarkable to think that the Republican Party and Trump White House are going to try to make it a scandal, that carter paige of all people was being surveilled as a potential agent given his background of being rekrur recruited as a russian former age agent. You should Google Carter paige or the spy rings where he surfaces but republicans in congress voted to release this memo that they wrote tonight and cnn is reporting that President Trump said act Rod Rosenstein, quote, lets fire him. Let get rid of him. The Washington Post is reporting the president thinks this nunes memo, obstruction of justice is a crime. It is a crime for which even president s can get in a whole lot of trouble and it is fascinating to game out which of the president s actions might be legally actionable if he gets im pee impeached or indicted. I get it. But i also get that people try to obstruct justice for a reason. It is to stop an investigation, to stop prodeceedings of just