Thread by @themarketswork

1) My latest @EpochTimes Dana Boente’s Many Critical Positions Within the Trump Administration

[Note: Lengthy article]
theepochtimes.com/dana-boentes-m…

2) Boente held key positions in the early days of Trump Admin - while retaining crucial position as US Attorney for Eastern Dist of VA until early 2018.

Acting AG
Acting Dep AG
Acting Head of DOJ NSD
FBI Gen Counsel

No other Trump official has been placed into so many key roles

3) On Jan. 13, 2017, Obama issued a last-minute executive order that altered the line of succession within the DOJ.

The action was not done in consultation with the incoming Trump administration.

Removed from the succession line by Obama was Boente.

4) Obama’s executive order placed the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia next in line behind the department’s senior leadership.

The US attorney at the time was Channing Phillips.

5) In 2010, Phillips served as a senior adviser to AG Holder.

Phillips was named as acting U.S. attorney by Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Oct. 19, 2015.

Phillips was never confirmed and remained as acting U.S. attorney throughout his tenure at the District of Columbia.

6) Phillips, as the U.S. Attorney for D.C., closed out a multi-year federal probe into illegal financing of former D.C. mayor Vincent Gray’s campaign with no charges filed against Gray.

7) Acting AG Sally Yates was fired on Jan. 30, 2017, by President Trump for refusing to uphold the president’s executive order limiting travel from certain terror-prone countries.

Yates was initially supposed to serve in her position until Sessions was confirmed as AG.

8) It appears the Obama was hoping the Russia investigation would default to Channing in the event Sessions was forced to recuse himself from the investigation.

Sessions, whose confirmation hearings began three days before the order, was already coming under intense scrutiny.

9) Trump ignored the succession order, as he is legally allowed to do, and instead appointed Dana Boente, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as acting attorney general on Jan. 30, 2017, the same day Yates was fired.

10) President Trump issued a new executive order on Feb. 9, 2017, the same day Sessions was sworn in, reversing Obama’s prior order.

Boente, meanwhile, became the acting Deputy AG, reporting to AG Sessions.

Boente remained the U.S. Attorney for the EDVA at the same time.

11) On March 10, 2017, Trump fired 46 Obama-era U.S. attorneys, including Preet Bharara.

These firings appear to have been unexpected.

12) Not all US Attorneys were affected by the firing.

16 US attorneys had left their posts since the November election.

The other 31 US attorneys were acting or specially appointed US attorneys since before the election — they kept their jobs for the moment.

Phillips included.

13) Phillips did not receive a resignation request, because of the nature of his appointment.

He was never actually confirmed as DC US Attorney and served under a court order.

But he said he expected to be replaced by a Trump appointee.

14) Of the 46 fired US Attorneys, President Trump ultimately kept five.

Two, Connecticut US Attorney Deidre Daly and Richard Hartunian of the Northern District, were granted an extension and allowed to stay for a few months to reach 20 years of service with the DOJ.

15) The other three US Attorneys whose resignations Trump rescinded were:

1) Rod Rosenstein
2) John Huber
3) Dana Boente

Rosenstein = DAG
Huber = Prosecutor assisting IG Horowitz
Boente = Various positions w/Trump Admin.

16) On March 20, 2017, Comey was scheduled to testify before Congress.

It was Boente who authorized Comey to confirm the existence of the Russia investigation as Sessions had recused himself.

17) Per Mueller Report, Boente told White House Counsel Don McGahn that there “was no good way to shorten the investigation and attempting to do so could erode confidence in the investigation’s conclusions.”

18) Following the confirmation of Rosenstein on April 25, 2017, Boente became the acting head of the DOJ’s National Security Division on April 28, 2017, following the sudden resignation of Mary McCord - who took over for John Carlin.

19) The NSD was a focal point of issues within the DOJ.

Carlin resigned in 2016 after misleading the FISA Court and McCord was the one who accompanied Yates in early Jan 2017 to first see WH Counsel McGahn about Gen. Flynn.

20) On June 12, 2017 President Trump nominated his first wave of US Attorney candidates.

Jessie Liu, Dep. General Counsel for the US Treasury, was nominated by Trump to replace Phillips.

Liu had also met with Trump prior to her nomination.

Liu was confirmed on Sept. 25, 2017.

21) Boente stayed in the NSD role until Jan 2018.

Interestingly, Boente retained his role as US Attorney for the EDVA until this same time.

Boente officially gave up his U.S. attorney role on Jan. 28, 2018

22) On Jan 23, 2018, Boente was tapped for the position of FBI General Counsel by FBI Dir. Chris Wray.

Given the importance of Boente to the Trump Admin. Trump may have been involved in the decision.

23) Boente replaced James Baker who was demoted and reassigned. Baker later left the FBI.

Baker is currently the subject of a criminal leak investigation.

Boente remains in his position as FBI general counsel.

24) Zachary Terwilliger ultimately replaced Boente as the U.S. attorney for the EDVA.

Prior to his appointment by Trump to the EDVA, Terwilliger served as an associate deputy attorney general, and was chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein.

25) Terwilliger previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney at the EDVA during Boente’s time as U.S. Attorney and also worked on criminal legislation under Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

26) Terwilliger’s father, George Terwilliger III, served as AG Barr's deputy attorney general in 1991-93.

Terwilliger III: "Barr and I worked side-by-side—some said joined at the hip—when we served as attorney general and deputy attorney general, respectively, together."

27) On March 5, 2019, President Trump nominated Liu for the 3rd highest post at DOJ - associate attorney general.

Liu had been specifically recommended for the post by AG Barr:

"It is clear that she will be an outstanding addition to our leadership team at the Department.”

28) Liu's nomination fell through on March 28, 2019 due to her prior role as vp of Ntl Assoc of Women Lawyers - which supported abortion rights.

Sen. Mike Lee led the opposition to her nomination.

29) AG Barr expressed his displeasure:

“She has been an outstanding United States attorney and would have made an outstanding associate attorney general. I have zero doubt she would have faithfully executed my priorities and advanced my rule-of-law agenda.”

30) Barr then appointed Liu to lead the AG Advisory Committee, which counsels the AG on policy, procedure and management matters that affect federal prosecutors.

Barr said he gave Ms. Liu the post so she could “play a broader role in the department.”

John Huber is vice-chair.

31) One of the cases Liu inherited as the U.S. Attorney for D.C. from Channing Phillips was the prosecution of Imran Awan.

Awan had pleaded guilty on July 3, 2018, to a federal charge stemming from a false statement made on a home equity loan.

32) A grand jury had been sworn in on Nov. 13, 2016, and formal charges were filed on on Aug. 17, 2017—prior to Liu’s Sept. 25, 2017, confirmation as U.S. attorney.

Phillips’s office had brought no charges against Awan related to allegations of hacking House IT systems.

33) Boente and Rosenstein both signed off on the 2nd and 3rd renewals respectively of the Page FISA - the last two FISA extensions.

This has often been referenced in relation to their roles.

Boente's FBI signer was Comey. Rosenstein's was McCabe.

34) Both signings came at critical times.

Boente - in the weeks before Comey’s firing.

Rosenstein - around the time of the discovery of the Strzok/Page texts

There remains a number of unanswered questions in relation to their signing of the Page FISA.

35) Rosenstein told Gaetz, "I dispute your characterization of what that FISA is about."

Rosenstein also said: "I’ve reviewed that one in some detail, and I can tell you the information that’s public about that doesn’t match with my understanding of the one that I signed."

36) For now, we do not know the answers behind the signing of those FISA renewals.

We do know that Trump entrusted Boente with crucial roles at crucial times during the first years of his administration.

And Obama tried to removed Boente from the AG succession line.

/End