CNN’S WORST MOMENTS OF 2018

It’s always a good idea to do some self-reflection before the start of a new year, and the establishment media sure has a lot to think about.

MSNBC has been covered by the Washington Free Beacon, but in order to help CNN in this process, we’ve compiled the most insane moments that happened on their airwaves in 2018.

CNN kicked off the year in style by having anchors Brooke Baldwin and Don Lemon get wasted in a New Orleans bar on New Year’s Eve. Fellow reporter Randi Kaye, meanwhile, was in Colorado worrying about getting a “contact high” on a party bus filled with pot-smokers.

The nonsense continued through February when CNN sent a reporter to the home of an elderly woman who unwittingly shared pro-Trump Facebook posts that were created by Russian trolls. After CNN aired the video of their reporter confronting the woman, she was exposed to vicious and constant online harassment and threats.

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LIBERAL BILLIONAIRE APOLOGIZES FOR FUNDING RUSSIAN BOT ‘FALSE FLAG’ — BUT QUESTIONS REMAIN UNANSWERED

• Billionaire tech entrepreneur Reid Hoffman apologized for funding a false flag operation suggesting Russian bots supported Alabama Republican Roy Moore’s failed Senate bid.
• Hoffman did not mention in his apology who executed a disinformation campaign designed to tie Moore to Russian internet trolls. 
• One of the officials who was responsible for the Russian bot “false flag” operation is an Obama-era official.

Billionaire Reid Hoffman apologized Wednesday for funding an effort to dupe Alabama voters into believing Russian bots were fueling Republican Roy Moore’s failed senatorial bid. But he left crucial questions unanswered.

His statement left several important facts about the so-called experiment unaddressed, including a detailed accounting of everyone involved in the caper, as well who crafted and executed the campaign. The effort was the subject of a closed-door presentation in Washington, D.C., to a group of liberal technology experts, The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous sources.

“I find the tactics that have been recently reported highly disturbing,” Hoffman said in his statement. “For that reason, I am embarrassed by my failure to track AET — the organization I did support — more diligently as it made its own decisions to perhaps fund projects that I would reject.”

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ERICKSON: THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION’S SILVER LINING FOR THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT

Over the past 40 years, the American conservative movement has taken on a lot of unneeded and somewhat useless baggage. Go to any meeting of the vast right wing conspiracy and you will find all sorts of accomplished individuals many of whom run their own organizations. Sometimes the organizations are so intimately connected to the individuals that when the individual dies the organization will fade away. But most have worked hard to ensure their organizations survive beyond them.

There is another cast of character you will also find at these gatherings. These are the men and women who show up to orbit the actual influencers then claim influence for themselves. They pay the membership fees and get to hang out with the powers that be. Occasionally, they luck into seats at the table where they get to influence the direction of the organizations, but typically they are the people in the hallway passing out business cards regaling everyone of their next big project that rarely happens. The conservative power brokers may pass them a few scraps off the board room table while whispering amongst themselves not to get too close.

One of the silver linings of the Mueller investigation is that many of these charlatans, grifters, and conmen are finally getting their comeuppance. During the 2016 Republican primary, roughly 1.2 million candidates sought the nomination. They hired the A teams and the B teams. No one really took Donald Trump seriously as a candidate. But Trump had millions of dollars, high name identification, and Mar-a-Lago. The grifters of the conservative movement knew the doors would not open at the other campaigns, but they could sail into the Trump campaign. The conservative movement had done such a poor job of policing its own that these hangers-on could honestly show they had credible access.

They had the calling cards, the memberships in all the super secret organizations, the books published by the conservative publishers, the rolodex with names, etc. Trump, not having anyone else to turn to at the time, turned to them. Miracle of miracles, Trump won. Over the past two years, a great sorting has taken place where many of those who were on the outside looking in found themselves on the inside, but slowly saw themselves pushed back out.

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SUPREME COURT INTERVENES IN APPARENT MYSTERY MUELLER CASE

Chief Justice John Roberts stayed a contempt order in a case that likely arose from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation on Sunday night.

Roberts’ order could mark the first time that the Supreme Court has intervened in the Mueller inquiry.

Very little is known of the case, which reached the justices on Saturday, because the matter has proceeded through the federal courts under seal, meaning strict confidentiality prevails over every detail.

The scant facts which are available about the case are these: a grand jury issued a subpoena to an unnamed company owned by a foreign government some time during the summer of 2018. That firm, referred to in court filings as “the corporation” has been fighting the subpoena in federal court since August.

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POLICY FORCES MIGRANTS TO WAIT IN MEXICO AFTER CLAIMING ASYLUM

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced migrants who seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border must return and wait in Mexico while their claims are processed.

In what might be one of the Trump administration’s most aggressive reforms of the U.S. immigration system to date, Secretary of Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen revealed Thursday her department will no longer allow migrants to enter the U.S. after claiming asylum. Instead, asylum seekers who tried getting into the country through the U.S. southern border will have to wait in Mexico while their cases move through the immigration courts.

It won’t apply to “children traveling alone or to Mexican asylum seekers,” according to The Associated Press.

The change in policy comes after immigration officials have had to deal with an influx of Central American migrants attempting to cross the U.S. border with Mexico. Applications for asylum reached all-time highs.

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AG NOMINEE WILLIAM BARR LAMBASTED MUELLER TACTICS IN PRIVATE MEMO TO ROSENSTEIN

Attorney General nominee William Barr sent a memo to the Department of Justice criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, particularly those aspects of the probe relating to obstruction of justice in June.

The unsolicited document, whose existence was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, argues President Donald Trump’s dismissal of former FBI Director James Comey does not rise to obstruction of justice, since the president was carrying out his constitutional responsibilities.

“As I understand it, [Mueller’s] theory is premised on a novel and legally insupportable reading of the law,” Barr wrote. “Moreover, in my view, if credited by the Justice Department, it would have grave consequences far beyond the immediate confines of this case and would do lasting damage to the presidency and to the administration of law within the executive branch.”

Barr conceded a sitting president could obstruct justice by destroying evidence or tampering with witnesses, according to the Journal. Still, he insisted that the president cannot commit obstruction of justice when exercising his lawful powers.

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COMEY CONTINUES TO FALSELY CLAIM THAT REPUBLICANS STARTED STEELE DOSSIER

• Former FBI Director James Comey continues to falsely claim that Republicans were the initial backers of Christopher Steele and his infamous dossier.
• In congressional interviews on Dec. 7 and Monday, Comey repeatedly claimed that Steele had Republican backers.
• In reality, Steele was hired in June 2016 by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was working at the time for the law firm for the DNC and Clinton campaign.

Former FBI Director James Comey falsely claimed throughout two recently congressional interviews that Republicans were the initial backers of the infamous Steele dossier, which alleges a vast conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian government to influence the 2016 election.

Comey claimed twice in an interview Monday with the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committees that Republicans initially commissioned the work of Christopher Steele, the former British spy behind the dossier. He made similar claims twice more in an interview with the same committees on Dec. 7.

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FORMER PROSECUTOR: MY COLLEAGUES COERCE INNOCENT PEOPLE — LIKE FLYNN — TO PLEAD GUILTY EVERY DAY

Countless people, including a former federal prosecutor, seem oblivious to one of the greatest abuses, outrages, and tragedies of our criminal justice system: innocent people are forced to plead guilty every day.

Indeed, the Innocence Project alone has exonerated 31 people who spent a combined 150 years in prison on guilty pleas. That is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

This horrific injustice is solely attributable to the unchecked power of prosecutors who now function as prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner. They have unfettered discretion, no supervision, no limits, and most federal judges defer to them at every turn.

There are two judges who I know do not simply defer. One is Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, the judicial hero of my book who will preside tomorrow over the proceedings against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

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NEW FACTS INDICATE MUELLER DESTROYED EVIDENCE, OBSTRUCTED JUSTICE

The Supreme Court held long ago in Brady v. Maryland that the Constitution requires the prosecution, which holds all the cards in a criminal case, to give the defense all evidence favorable to the defendant, whether it impeaches a witness, mitigates punishment or shows his innocence. Indeed, the burden is on prosecutors to find anything in the possession of the government that is favorable to the defense.

From the minute Judge Emmet G. Sullivan received the case against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, which will be decided on Tuesday, he ordered Mueller to provide the defense with all Brady material. Last week, Judge Sullivan specifically ordered Mueller to produce any FBI interview reports — called 302s — or memoranda relevant to the original interview of Gen. Flynn. Ironically, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley has been requesting the agents’ notes and 302s for two years. Did Mueller comply?

Remarkably, but not surprisingly to those who have read my book, Mueller has thumbed his nose at Judge Sullivan’s order. He produced only a 302 created by his own squad seven months later from his own agent’s interview of none other than the infamous, fired-for-bias, disgraced, Trump-loathing, former Agent Peter Strzok — the guy who swore he’d “stop” President Trump and devised “an insurance policy” with his mistress Lisa Page and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in case Trump won the election. We are watching Mueller execute that insurance policy by the day.

The evidence indicates Mueller has destroyed or is suppressing Brady material. There was an original 302 created within five days — by FBI protocol — of the Jan. 24, 2016 ambush interview of General Flynn by two agents — Strzok and Special Agent Joe Pientka. It is mentioned in the Strzok-Page text messages and on page four of the recrafted 302 Mueller filed. Comey read the original 302 before he was fired.

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DOJ WATCHDOG WAS UNABLE TO RECOVER PETER STRZOK’S TEXT MESSAGES DURING MUELLER TENURE

Department of Justice investigators were unable to recover text messages Peter Strzok and Lisa Page sent during their short tenure on the special counsel’s investigation, according to a report released Thursday by the DOJ’s office of the inspector general (OIG).

According to the OIG report, iPhones issued by the special counsel’s office to Strzok and Page were reset after they left the special counsel probe in July 2017, making it impossible to retrieve text messages sent and received on those devices.

There is no allegation of wrongdoing on the part of Strzok and Page in the report, which was issued by Inspector General Michael Horowitz. But the absence of text messages from a crucial period of time prevents Congress and the public from seeing whether Strzok and Page’s anti-Trump sentiments carried over into the special counsel’s probe.

Strzok and Page exchanged tens of thousands of text messages in the months before joining the special counsel’s office. Exchanges retrieved from their FBI-issued devices showed a deep animus toward President Donald Trump. Some of the exchanges even suggested Strzok and Page, who were having an affair, actively sought to prevent Trump from becoming president.

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MEET THE BOARD OF THE FUSION GPS-LINKED GROUP INVESTIGATING TRUMP

• A mysterious nonprofit group backed in part by George Soros and linked to Fusion GPS has investigated President Donald Trump and possible Russian interference.
• The Democracy Integrity Project has largely remained a mystery, but The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned new details about the group’s board of directors.
• One board member is an attorney who has worked closely with Fusion GPS in the past. The lawyer, Adam Kaufmann, has worked for Derwick Associates, a Venezuelan power company accused of bribery and money laundering.

Days after Donald Trump’s inauguration, a nonprofit organization opened up shop in Washington, D.C., to continue a private investigation into the president’s possible ties to Russia.

Only a few details of the group, the Democracy Integrity Project, have trickled out over the nearly two years since its founding.

The organization’s founder, a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer named Daniel J. Jones, hired opposition research firm Fusion GPS and dossier author Christopher Steele as part of the initiative, he told the FBI in March 2017. And it has been revealed that billionaire financier George Soros has given at least $1 million to the group and is considering giving more.

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CHRISTOPHER STEELE PROVIDED INFORMATION TO LONGTIME CLINTON CRONY

• Christopher Steele disclosed information from his infamous dossier to Strobe Talbott, a longtime Clinton insider and former State Department official.
• Court documents released on Tuesday show that Steele shared information with Talbott because of the latter’s position on the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.
• Talbott’s link to the dossier has not been previously reported. His brother-in-law, another Clinton insider, compiled an anti-Trump dossier of his own during the campaign. 

Christopher Steele, the author of the infamous anti-Trump dossier, disclosed information from his Trump-Russia investigation to a longtime Clinton crony because of his position on a State Department advisory board, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.

According to the court filing, Steele told a court in the United Kingdom on Aug. 1 that he provided Strobe Talbott, the Clinton insider, with anti-Trump research because of his position on the Foreign Affairs Policy Board, an independent advisory board set up in 2011 by then-Sec. of State Hillary Clinton.

Clinton appointed Talbott chairman of the advisory board, and he served in that role through John Kerry’s tenure.

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DOJ WANTS TO KEEP JUSTIFICATION FOR RAIDING REPORTED CLINTON FOUNDATION WHISTLEBLOWER SECRET

The Department of Justice is requesting that the justification of an FBI raid on a reportedly recognized whistleblower’s home remain secret, according to a letter from U.S. Attorney Robert Robert Hur.

The letter was sent to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on Dec. 7 in response to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Nov. 30 request to unseal court documents that would show the FBI’s rationale for the raid.

The documents could potentially reveal whether the bureau and the magistrate who signed the court order allowing the raid, Stephanie A. Gallagher, knew that the subject was, according to his lawyer, a recognized whistleblower.

Sixteen FBI agents raided Dennis Cain’s Union Bridge, Maryland, home on Nov. 19 for six hours, even though Cain told them that he was a recognized whistleblower and handed classified documents over to the agents.

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COMEY: FBI PROBE INITIALLY FOCUSED ON FOUR AMERICANS

• James Comey made the surprise revelation in his congressional testimony on Friday that the FBI opened investigations into four Trump associates in late July 2016.
• It was previously known that four Trump advisers were the focus of the FBI probe, but it was not known that they were targeted at the outset of the investigation.
• It was previously believed that former Trump aide George Papadopoulos was the catalyst for the investigation, which was dubbed Crossfire Hurricane.

The FBI opened counterintelligence investigations into four Trump campaign associates in late July 2016, earlier than previously known, former FBI Director James Comey told Congress Friday.

“I was briefed sometime at the end of July that the FBI had opened counterintelligence investigations of four individuals to see if there was a connection between those — any of those four and the Russian effort,” Comey said during a seven hour interview with the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committees.

The revelation comes as something of a surprise because Democrats and many in the media have insisted that the probe, dubbed Crossfire Hurricane, was launched solely based on information that the Australian government provided the FBI on Trump aide George Papadopoulos.

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FBI EMAILS SHOW INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY HAD CONCERNS ABOUT STEELE DOSSIER

• FBI officials discussed intelligence community concerns about the infamous Steele dossier in a lengthy email thread in October 2016, according to a new report.
• The FBI relied heavily on the dossier to obtain warrants to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
• But Republicans have questioned whether the FBI relied on unverified or inaccurate intelligence to obtain the warrants.

Justice Department and FBI officials exchanged emails during the late stages of the 2016 presidential campaign discussing concerns within the intelligence community about the infamous Steele dossier, according to a new report.

The emails also show that top government officials were aware that Christopher Steele, the author of the dossier, was in contact with reporters regarding his investigation into President Donald Trump and his possible links to Russia.

The emails, first reported by The Hill, were exchanged in October 2016, before the FBI submitted its first of four applications for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

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PROSECUTORS RESUME FOREIGN LOBBY PROBE OF PODESTA GROUP, MERCURY PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Federal prosecutors have recently resumed interviewing witnesses in an investigation of two lobbying firms that worked with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, including one operated by the brother of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

According to The Associated Press, prosecutors in New York have in recent weeks started contacting witnesses and attorneys as part of an investigation into the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs.

The two firms worked with Manafort through 2014 on a consulting project aimed at fluffing the public image of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Prosecutors have also focused on Greg Craig, the former White House general counsel under then-President Barack Obama and a former partner at the firm Skadden Arps. CNN reported in September that prosecutors were weighing charges against Craig, who has since left his firm.

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ALLEGED FABRICATOR CONTRIBUTED TO THE GUARDIAN’S MANAFORT-ASSANGE ‘BOMBSHELL’

• The Guardian is under fire over a questionable article published in November that alleged former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met secretly with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
• But as The Washington Post notes, one of the reporters who helped write The Guardian piece has been accused of fabricating documents provided to The Guardian for a 2014 story about an oil deal between Ecuador and China.
• WikiLeaks and Manafort have vehemently denied the latest story, and The Guardian has issued a tepid response supporting the article.

An Ecuadorian journalist who has been accused of fabricating documents in the past helped write a would-be bombshell for The Guardian in November that alleged former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met multiple times, including during the 2016 presidential campaign, with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Fernando Villavicencio was listed as one of three reporters, along with Luke Harding and Ben Collyns, on the print version of the Guardian’s story, which was published on Nov. 27. His name was left off of the web version of the article.

As The Washington Post’s Paul Farhi notes, the Ecuadorian government previously accused Villavicencio, a vocal critic of Ecuador’s former president, Rafael Correa, of fabricating documents related to an agreement between Ecuador and China to drill for oil in the Amazon forest.

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GRASSLEY DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM WRAY OVER RAID OF WHISTLEBLOWER ON CLINTON FOUNDATION

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley wants answers from FBI Director Christopher Wray about a Nov. 19 bureau raid on the home of a recognized whistleblower.

The whistleblower, Dennis Cain, who was once employed by an FBI contractor, reportedly turned over documents to the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz regarding the bureau’s failure to investigate potential criminal activity regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation and the Russian company that purchased Uranium One.

Horowitz subsequently deemed Cain a whistleblower protected under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, Cain’s lawyer, Michael Socarras, told The DCNF.

Grassley sent a letter to Wray on Nov. 30 asking pointed questions about the raid on Cain’s private residence in Union Bridge, Maryland.

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COMEY STRIKES DEAL REGARDING CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY

Former FBI Director James Comey ended a legal battle with House Republicans on Sunday, announcing that he will testify behind closed doors on Capitol Hill this week after receiving assurances that a transcript of his interview will be released to the public.

Comey’s announcement brings to an end a short-lived standoff over the former FBI chief’s congressional testimony. Republicans on the House Judiciary and House Oversight and Government Reform Committees subpoenaed Comey on Nov. 21 to appear for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 3 to face questions about his handling of the Clinton email and Trump-Russia collusion investigations.

Comey sought a public hearing, claiming in a court filing Thursday that he feared “selective leaks” from Republicans. But in an emergency court hearing Friday, Comey’s attorneys acknowledged that the request to quash the congressional subpoena was unorthodox, suggesting the motion had little chance of succeeding.

Comey wrote Sunday on Twitter that he was “grateful for a fair hearing from judge.”

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FBI RAIDS HOME OF WHISTLEBLOWER ON CLINTON FOUNDATION, LAWYER SAYS

• The FBI raided the home of a whistleblower who was in possession of documents regarding the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One, according to the whistleblower’s lawyer, Michael Socarras.
• The whistleblower, Dennis Nathan Cain, had turned the documents over to the Department of Justice’s inspector general and both the House and Senate Intelligence committees, according to the lawyer.
• The FBI rummaged through Cain’s home for six hours, even after the whistleblower handed over the documents, according to Socarras.

FBI agents raided the home of a recognized Department of Justice whistleblower who privately delivered documents pertaining to the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One to a government watchdog, according to the whistleblower’s attorney.

The Justice Department’s inspector general was informed that the documents show that federal officials failed to investigate potential criminal activity regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation and Rosatom, the Russian company that purchased Uranium One, a document reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation alleges.

The delivered documents also show that then-FBI Director Robert Mueller failed to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct pertaining to Rosatom and to other Russian government entities attached to Uranium One, the document reviewed by TheDCNF alleges. Mueller is now the special counsel investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.

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TRUMP THREATENS TO ‘HIT [DEMS] SO HARD’ BY DECLASSIFYING ‘DEVASTATING’ DOCUMENTS RELATING TO SPECIAL COUNSEL

President Donald Trump threatened to declassify documents that would be “devastating” to the Democratic Party on Wednesday in an exclusive interview with the New York Post — if House Dems launched investigations into his administration.

“If they go down the presidential harassment track, if they want to go and harass the president and the administration, I think that would be the best thing that would happen to me. I’m a counter-puncher and I will hit them so hard they’d never been hit like that,” the president stated to the outlet.

He continued, “I think that would help my campaign. If they want to play tough, I will do it. They will see how devastating those pages are.”

The Department of Justice released the Carter Page FISA documents back in July, but they were heavily redacted. Many other select sections have been released as well. A memo released by Committee Chairman Devin Nunes showed that the Justice Department and FBI relied heavily on the Democrat-funded Steele dossier in the FISA applications.

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MUELLER PLEA DOCUMENTS OUTLINE EMAILS BETWEEN JEROME CORSI AND ROGER STONE

• The Daily Caller News Foundation has obtained drafts of a plea agreement and a statement of criminal offense that Special Counsel Robert Mueller prepared for Jerome Corsi, an associate of Roger Stone’s.
• The documents show that Mueller’s team wanted Corsi to plead guilty to making false statements about three email exchanges he had with Stone regarding WikiLeaks.
• One of the emails shows that Corsi told Stone on Aug. 2, 2016, that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was planning to dump Clinton-related emails.
• Corsi rejected the plea offer.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller cited three email exchanges between right-wing author Jerome Corsi and Trump confidant Roger Stone in a draft court filing submitted to Corsi earlier this month.

The emails show that in late July 2016, Stone suggested that Corsi or one of his associates get in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Another email, from Aug. 2, 2016, shows that Corsi suggested to Stone that he knew of WikiLeaks’ plans to release information that would damage the Clinton campaign.

Corsi also referred to “hackers” and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in the email.

The emails are laid out in a statement of offense that Mueller’s team prepared as part of a plea agreement offered to Corsi.

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ROGER STONE ASSOCIATE REVEALS WHAT SHE TOLD MUELLER GRAND JURY

• At least three Mueller grand jury witnesses have testified that left-wing comedian Randy Credico acknowledged being a source for Trump confidant Roger Stone regarding WikiLeaks.
• Kristin M. Davis, a former New York gubernatorial candidate, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that she testified on Aug. 10 that she overheard a conversation in which Credico asked Stone not to reveal him as the source to WikiLeaks.
• The testimony undercuts Credico’s public denials that he was Stone’s link to WikiLeaks.

A former New York gubernatorial candidate who once operated a high-end escort service, Kristin M. Davis, testified over the summer to a grand jury in the special counsel’s Russia investigation that she overheard left-wing comedian Randy Credico admit that he was a back channel between Trump confidant Roger Stone and WikiLeaks.

Davis, a longtime friend of Stone’s, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that she testified on Aug. 10 that she “heard the tail end of a conversation where Credico was trying to impress upon Roger not to disclose his name.”

That makes her the third grand jury witness who has testified in support of Stone and against Credico, who has publicly denied being a link between WikiLeaks and Stone.

Speculation has swirled for months over the special counsel’s interest in Davis, who is known as the Manhattan Madam for operating an escort service that she claims was used by former Democratic New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and other politicians. Davis has discussed some of her interactions with Mueller’s team in the past, but has not previously revealed that Credico, a comedian and radio show host, was a topic in her grand jury appearance.

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SECRETARY NIELSEN ISSUES STATEMENT ON MIGRANTS STORMING BORDER — ‘DHS WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS TYPE OF LAWLESSNESS’

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen issued a statement Sunday afternoon regarding the closure of the San Ysidro port of entry.

Nielsen’s statement condemns the “lawlessness” displayed on Sunday after migrants tried to storm the border. Nielsen promised to prosecute “to the fullest extent of the law anyone who destroys federal property, endangers our frontline operators, or violates our nation’s sovereignty.”

The port, the United States’ largest, was closed to traffic and pedestrians after several hundred mostly male migrants tried to physically storm the area in an effort to illegally gain entry into the country.

Nielsen’s statement revealed that several migrants not only tried to “breach” the fence, but also “sought to harm CBP personnel by throwing projectiles at them.”

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HERE’S EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT ROGER STONE, RANDY CREDICO AND WIKILEAKS

• Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly close to finishing his investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
• Mueller and his team recently focused on Trump associates’ potential contacts with WikiLeaks regarding the group’s publication of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
• Two former friends, longtime GOP operative Roger Stone and left-wing radio host Randy Credico, have been key players through this portion of the investigation.

As special counsel Robert Mueller wraps up his investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, he has focused heavily on direct and indirect contacts Trump associates potentially had with WikiLeaks, the group that released emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

The probe has honed in on two former friends: Roger Stone, a longtime GOP political operative, and Randy Credico, a left-wing radio host who Stone claims was his source for claims during the campaign about WikiLeaks’ plans to release anti-Clinton information.

Stone and Credico have engaged for months in a public dispute over Stone’s claims. Credico adamantly denies he was Stone’s link to WikiLeaks.

Stone and Credico’s public and private statements throughout the spat provide context to the events leading up to the WikiLeaks release. To help make sense of the dispute, here’s a timeline of events before and after the Podesta dump, which occurred on Oct. 7, 2016.

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REPORT: TRUMP WANTED THE JUSTICE DEPT TO PROSECUTE CLINTON AND COMEY

President Donald Trump told his White House counsel earlier this year that he wanted the Department of Justice to prosecute former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources.

Then-White House Counsel Donald McGahn told the president that he had no authority to order a prosecution, according to the report, which did not directly quote the sources. He also warned the president that directing the DOJ to investigate Clinton could risk unraveling Trump’s administration, the sources noted.

McGahn allegedly provided Trump with a memo from White House lawyers that effectively confirmed his warnings. The president has considered possibly appointing a second special counsel to investigate both Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey, the sources note.

He has also expressed annoyance at FBI Director Christopher Wray for not closing in on the failed presidential candidate – Trump has even called him weak, according to one of the sources who claims to have discussed the matter with the president.

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REPUBLICANS WANT TRUMP TO DECLASSIFY A NEW BATCH OF FBI DOCUMENTS

Republicans for months have pressed the Justice Department to turn over classified emails that show that the FBI “withheld evidence” from the federal court that authorized surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday.

California Rep. Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the Intelligence panel, said in an interview on Fox News that Republicans have recently added the documents to a list of records that they hope President Donald Trump will declassify.

“For months, we have been reviewing emails between FBI and DOJ and others that clearly show that they knew of information that should have been presented to the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance] Court. It is real evidence that people within the FBI withheld evidence from the FISA court,” Nunes said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo.

Nunes did not further describe the documents, except to say that some contain information that remains redacted, even from congressional review.

The issue has gone “to the highest levels” of Congress, with House Speaker Paul Ryan “requesting the Department of Justice to give us those emails, to give us as many of those as possible,” Nunes said.

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MUELLER WILL MEET AGAIN WITH ROGER STONE’S ALLEGED LINK TO WIKILEAKS

Special Counsel Robert Mueller wants to meet again with Randy Credico, the New York comedian who was revealed this week as having tipped off Trump confidant Roger Stone to WikiLeaks’ plans to release information that would harm the Clinton campaign.

Credico’s attorney, Martin Stolar, told The Daily Beast that his client will meet with Mueller’s team at some point after Thanksgiving.

Credico testified to Mueller’s grand jury on Sept. 7. He claimed in a CNN interview after his testimony that he told the grand jury that he was not Stone’s source for information about WikiLeaks’ plans to release information damaging to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Prosecutors reportedly want to know whether Stone had advance knowledge that WikiLeaks would release emails hacked from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

Stone made several comments on social media leading up to the Oct. 7, 2016, release that indicated he had inside knowledge that WikiLeaks would release information damaging to the campaign.

But Stone insists that he did not know the source or content of the WikiLeaks dump beforehand. He’s claimed for more than a year that Credico provided him with accurate tips that the WikiLeaks’ release would “roil” the Clinton campaign.

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BOMBSHELL TEXT MESSAGES SUPPORT ROGER STONE’S CLAIMS ABOUT WIKILEAKS BACKCHANNEL

• New text messages show that Roger Stone learned about WikiLeaks’ plans to release Clinton-related emails through Randy Credico.
• The messages, which Stone’s lawyers extracted from an old phone on Wednesday, back up Stone’s claims about how he learned of WikiLeaks’ plans. The messages severely undercut Credico’s denials that he was a source for Stone.
• Robert Mueller has been investigating whether Stone had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to release emails stolen from John Podesta.

Text messages released on Wednesday appear to support Trump confidant Roger Stone’s testimony that a New York radio show host was his source for information about WikiLeaks’ plans to release information damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

“Julian Assange has kryptonite on Hillary,” Randy Credico wrote to Stone on Aug. 27, 2016, according to text messages that Stone provided to The Daily Caller News Foundation.

“You are not going to drag my name into this are you,” Credico wrote on Sept. 29, 2016, suggesting that he was worried that Stone would identify him as his source for public claims he was making about WikiLeaks’ plans.

“Big news Wednesday,” Credico wrote on Oct. 1, 2016, days before WikiLeaks began releasing emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. “Now pretend u don’t know me.”

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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 Hillary Clinton and 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.

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ROGER STONE: CORSI ‘SQUEEZED HARD’ BY MUELLER BUT REFUSES TO BREAK

Conservative operative Roger Stone believes journalist Jerome Corsi is being unfairly targeted by special counsel Robert Mueller, he told The Daily Caller in a statement.

“Where is the Russian collusion? Where is the Wikileaks collaboration? Where is proof that I knew about the theft or content of John Podesta’s emails or the content or the source of any of the allegedly hacked or stolen e-mails published by Wikileaks?” Stone asked.

Stone’s statement follows Corsi’s revelation that he expects to be indicted by Mueller in the coming days. “I fully anticipate that in the next few days I will be indicted by Mueller for some form or another for giving false information the special counsel or the grand jury,” he revealed in his daily YouTube show, adding, “I had nothing to hide, I feel like I’ve committed no crimes.”

Corsi was a subject of interest to Mueller regarding whether he or Stone had any advanced knowledge of the impending release of emails from Wikileaks during the 2016 presidential campaign. Corsi testified twice to a grand jury in Washington D.C. at the behest of the special counsel’s team.

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NADLER: HOUSE DEMS ‘COULD SUBPOENA MUELLER’ IF RUSSIA PROBE IS SHUT DOWN

Robert Mueller could be subpoenaed by Congress if the Trump Justice Department prematurely ends the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Sunday.

“We could subpoena the final report. We could subpoena Mueller and ask him in front of the committee ‘what was in your final report?'” Democratic New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Nadler will take over as chairman of the House judiciary panel in January.

Nadler and his fellow Democrats have expressed concern that acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker will stifle Mueller’s investigation, which is reportedly in its final phases. Mueller and his team have reportedly started writing a final report of the investigation, which has lasted 18 months.

Whitaker was appointed acting attorney general after Jeff Sessions was forced to resign on Wednesday. President Donald Trump had for months railed against Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.

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RUBIO WARNS: DEMS ARE ACTIVELY TRYING TO STEAL THE FLORIDA ELECTION

• Florida’s Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, head of Broward County’s election board, has repeatedly been accused of misconduct.
• The Florida governor and Senate races could lie in her hands.
• A lawyer tied to the Democratic National Committee and Fusion GPS, the group behind the Steele dossier, has now gotten involved in a recount effort.
• Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Democrats are trying to “change the results” of the election, and a liberal said Snipes belongs in prison.

Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is warning that the fate of his state’s governorship could hang in the hands of Florida’s Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, whom he’s called incompetent for violating state and federal laws. A liberal candidate similarly painted her as incompetent and corrupt.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum initially conceded the Florida race to Republican Ron DeSantis, but backtracked after vote totals changed Thursday, narrowing the gap to less than half a percent in both the gubernatorial and senatorial races. Broward County is often the slowest of the state’s 67 counties to count votes, and its election department has repeatedly been faulted for wrongdoing.

Now, Perkins Coie lawyer Marc Elias has been enlisted in a recount effort. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson is retaining Elias, who said it’s “not plausible” that, as Broward statistics suggest, 14,000 people voted in sometimes-obscure state-level races but left the Senate one blank.

Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who, by initial appearances, beat Nelson in a race for Senate, said Elias will use aggressive techniques to “steal” the election.

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FILMMAKER BACKED UP ROGER STONE’S CLAIMS IN MUELLER GRAND JURY TESTIMONY

• Filmmaker David Lugo recently provided the FBI and the special counsel with hundreds of text messages and emails he exchanged with Trump confidant Roger Stone and Randy Credico, the comedian who Stone claims was his intermediary to Julian Assange.
• Lugo said he testified to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s grand jury on Oct. 19 that Credico admitted he was Stone’s back channel.
• Lugo also testified that Credico threatened him after he began publicly questioning Credico’s denials about being Stone’s conduit to WikiLeaks.

An associate of Roger Stone’s has provided the FBI and the special counsel’s office with more than a year’s worth of emails and text messages he exchanged with the Trump confidant and Randy Credico, the left-wing comedian who Stone claims was his source of information about WikiLeaks’ plans during the 2016 campaign.

Filmmaker David Lugo, who has worked with both Stone and Credico, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that he provided the communications to the FBI during an interview at his home on Oct. 11.

He also appeared before a federal grand jury being used in the special counsel’s investigation on Oct. 19.

Lugo said he testified in support of Stone’s claim that Credico was his conduit of sorts to WikiLeaks. He also testified that Credico made threatening remarks to him over text message and email in what he claims was an intimidation campaign.

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EXIT POLLS: MORE THAN HALF OF VOTERS BELIEVE MUELLER PROBE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED

More than half of voters polled at election sites on Tuesday said that they believe the Mueller probe is politically motivated, according to exit polling data compiled by CNN.

Only 40 percent of voters said they approve of the Mueller investigation, which is looking into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Slightly more voters said they disapprove, according to CNN.

Six in 10 Democrats and only two in 10 Republicans support the investigation. Independents were closely divided with 43 percent approving of the investigation and 42 percent disapproving.

Those numbers track closely with NBC News’ exit polling data.

According to NBC, 45 percent of voters said they disapprove of Mueller’s handling of the investigation, which began with an FBI probe on July 31, 2016. Forty-two percent of voters said they approve of Mueller’s handling of the inquiry.

The polling data is a drastic reversal from polls taken in recent months. A poll conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post between Aug. 26-29 found that 63 percent of adults said they approved of Mueller’s investigation. Only 29 percent opposed. 

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THESE ARE THE KEY RACES TO WATCH IN THE 2018 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

• Republicans are expected to pick up seats in the Senate, but Democrats might win back a majority in the House, though it could be fewer seats than projected.
• There are dozens of tight races to keep an eye on Tuesday night.
• The Daily Caller News Foundation wrote up a list of the races to watch on Nov. 6. 

Polling locations for the 2018 midterm elections are just hours away from opening, and both Democrats and Republicans are gearing up for some extremely tight races across the country.

According to a majority of polls, Republicans are expected to lose control of the House but keep control in the Senate after the Nov. 6 midterm elections. However, there is growing speculation that Republicans could be more successful than polls suggest.

In the Senate, there are six seats that are currently listed as “toss-up” elections, four of which belong to current Democratic senators, according to Real Clear Politics (RCP). Republicans need to maintain 51 seats in the Senate in order to keep their majority.

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SENATE JUDICIARY FINDS ‘NO EVIDENCE’ TO SUPPORT SEX ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST KAVANAUGH

• The Senate Judiciary Committee has released its final report of an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
• In a 414-page report released Saturday, the committee said it found “no evidence” to support the misconduct claims.
• None of the 40-plus witnesses interviewed in the investigation were able to corroborate allegations that Kavanaugh attempted to sexually assault women he knew in high school and college, according to the report.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Saturday released its final report of an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, finding “no evidence” to corroborate the claims.

“After an extensive investigation that included the thorough review of all potentially credible evidence submitted and interviews of more than 40 individuals with information relating to the allegations, including classmates and friends of all those involved, Committee investigators found no witness who could provide any verifiable evidence to support any of the allegations brought against Justice Kavanaugh,” reads the 414-page report.

The report, which contains 53 exhibits, focused heavily on allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick. Kavanaugh denied all of the allegations.

Blasey Ford was the first woman to come forward with allegations against Kavanaugh, who was confirmed to the Supreme Court on Oct. 6. She claimed that he attempted to sexually assault her in Summer 1982, when they were both in high school.

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REP LOUIE GOHMERT DOUBLES-DOWN AFTER ENDING DOBBS SEGMENT WITH ‘IT’S NOT ANTI-SEMITIC TO CRITICIZE [GEORGE] SOROS’

Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert fired back at those who accuse him and others of anti-Semitism for criticizing liberal billionaire financier George Soros.

At the end of a segment on Wednesday night’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” Gohmert said, “It’s not anti-Semitic to criticize Soros, and Israel issued a statement a year ago saying just that.”

Gohmert’s televised comments came less than a week after Judicial Watch’s Chris Farrell was banned from Fox-affiliated networks after accusing the “Soros-occupied State Department” of funding the caravan of migrants on its way through Mexico to the United States, a claim that the Texas congressman himself has echoed.

The left has made a concerted attempt to link any criticism of the billionaire financier with anti-Semitism. In an article titled, “‘Dripping with poison of antisemitism’: the demonization of George Soros,” The Guardian’s Jason Wilson makes his case:

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SOROS HAS GIVEN $1 MILLION TO GROUP LINKED TO FUSION GPS FOR TRUMP-RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

George Soros, the billionaire financier who supports numerous progressive causes, has provided $1 million in funding for a nonprofit group that works closely with Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that commissioned the infamous Steele dossier.

Soros is considering providing more funding for the group, the Democracy Integrity Project, according to The New York Times.

The Democracy Integrity Project, which was founded in January 2017 by Daniel Jones, a former Democratic staffer on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has worked with Fusion GPS and dossier author Christopher Steele to investigate Russian interference in American elections. The group has also investigated President Donald Trump’s possible links to Russia.

The $1 million in funding matches what the Democratic National Committee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign paid Fusion GPS during the campaign to investigate Trump and his campaign.

Details of Soros’ links to the Democracy Integrity Project and Fusion GPS have trickled out since March, when an attorney for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska revealed his interactions with Jones.

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