Thread by @ClimateAudit

I've long commented that the most interesting and disquieting period in Russiagate is period from commissioning of the in early December to appointment of Mueller. I've been cataloguing leaks and documents day-by-day.

does anyone recall any memorable Strzok texts from this period? We all remember the "insurance policy" and smell of Walmart, but those were during the campaign, not the "resistance" period leading up to Mueller. I'll bet that you have a hard time recalling a good one.

There's a reason why it's hard to recall a memorable text from the "resistance" period: there weren't ANY published Strzok-Page texts in original drop between December 13, 2016 and May 18, 2017 (day after Mueller appointment).

this is not news. It was discussed in OIG report here oig.justice.gov/reports/2018/i…. But it's easy to lose track of.

in January 2018, it was reported cnn.com/2018/01/25/pol… that OIG had managed to recover texts from the 5-month period, but only a small fraction were reported or published prior to 2020 election, nearly three years later. A very incomplete drop after election.

in April 26, 2018, CNN reported 7 texts from May 9, 2017. A drop in bucket for 5 months given that Strzok and Page sometimes exchanged that many texts in 10 minutes.
cnn.com/2018/04/26/pol…

in Sept 2018, a handful of texts were published by Mark Meadows

https://twitter.com/MarkMeadows/status/1039582215229857795

, Sara Carter foxnews.com/politics/new-s… and , ABC abcnews.go.com/Politics/batch…

next that I've noticed are in "exculpatory" information presented to Flynn defense in 2020 and promptly filed as exhibits. Flynn docket here courtlistener.com/docket/6234142… . Texts pertaining to 302 in document 189-1 (filed 4/29/2020), some texts from Jan 3/17 in 228-2,

some 2016 texts in 248-1 and an important tranche of 25 pages, including 2017 texts in 248-5 (filed Sep 24, 2020 courtlistener.com/docket/6234142…)

the 248-5 tranche in Flynn docket goes to May 18, 2017 - the date marking the end of the original gap.

after the election, there were two important tranches in Grassley drops: in the FBI document drop on Dec 3, 2020, Strzok texts are mostly from 2016 (including texts not available in original drop) and have some 2017 - see pages 149-182. It also contains McCabe texts.

there was another tranche of Strzok texts in Grassley December 9, 2020 drop. There's substantial overlap with Flynn tranche, but also differences.

the incipient lawfare insurrection in 2017 was marked by a series of leaks. I've been rather laboriously collating Strzok (and other texts) in this period to clarify. It's quite interesting but also not easy to compile into a narrative.

overall, my impression is that content of withheld Strzok texts is more interesting than content of the original texts. Which tended to be bitchy, but nothing much more than that. Many "new" texts contain information on contacts between FBI and media during leak insurrection

here and there, they also contain perspective on CIA and ICA that is not available elsewhere. Not great sound bite material, but perhaps more interesting ultimately.