So a few of my followers have asked me how I feel about Rod & Wray now, given their apparent complicity in the Kavanaugh “process.” I will be honest: I’ve had a pit in my stomach since Saturday. I’m much less interested in a tidbit here or there about Russia. I don’t feel like /1 Being snarky or flip. I don’t feel like looking at the news or Twitter at all. I don’t care what any pundit has to say. I’m disappointed to say the least and my wise 15-year-old reminded me tonight that Trump is temporary, and Kavanaugh isn’t going to be on the wrong side of /2

I have already had 10 friends reach out about phone banking or canvassing over the next couple of weeks. I went today to canvass in VA for Jennifer Wexton who is running for the U.S. House and I was gone from 2:30-6:30. All the people I met were nice, polite, friendly. /1 It was a sunny day and I didn’t get asked any hard questions when I spoke to voters. It felt productive, it was uplifting of my spirits, and I got to spend time with a friend whom I usually don’t hang out with. Why I am I telling you? Because none of this is hard and it made /2

Friends: I know many of you feel as frustrated as me. Beginning October 1, it’s time to get off Twitter & get to work. There are many ways to help, but the 4 most effective ways are to knock on doors, phone bank, text voters, & donate directly to candidates. If not those, then /1 There are so many other ways to get involved. You can feed volunteers by buying snacks and drinks for campaign offices; you can open your home to host a phone bank even if you don’t want to make calls yourself; you can make lemonade stands with your kids to show support for /2

A thought on drinking memories: There was a night as a freshman in college where I got myself into a prickly situation while drinking. The guy involved didn’t take advantage of me, but I was drunk. I remember it decades later b/c it was a wake up call for ME. I scared myself /1 And had a talk w myself about how I could have had a bad result. It didn’t matter that I was drunk that night or that he didn’t cross a line (thankfully). What makes me think is that the evening made a decades long impression on me. I’m sure the guy doesn’t recall at all. But /2

“Sources inside FinCEN told BuzzFeed News that they were initially instructed not to hand over financial documents on certain individuals. The directive, these sources said, came from senior Treasury officials in the General Counsel’s Office.” In my /1 buzzfeednews.com/article/emmalo… Brief tenure at FinCEN, and after 18 years at DOJ (& before that 2 yrs in private practice), I found the attorneys serving in FinCEN Office of Chief Counsel and Main Treasury’s General Counsel’s Office to be among the most risk-averse, conservative lawyers I’d ever worked with./2

The rule of law requires us to reserve judgment until we have heard from all parties & completed a fair process. You cannot reach reliable factual conclusions unless you 1st weigh the credible evidence. You cannot offer reasoned legal opinions unless /2 justice.gov/opa/speech/dep… you consider conflicting arguments.
When you follow the rule of law, it does not always yield the outcome that you would choose as a policy matter. In fact, 1 indicator that you are following the rule of law is when you respect a result although you /3 justice.gov/opa/speech/dep…

Today, I had a healthy conversation with a long-time DC Republican who’s been involved with the Republican Party for ages, and worked on the Hill. He described himself as a moderate-conservative Republican. Among the things he told me: 1) Really no one expected Trump to win; /1 2) He went to bed early on election night 2016 because there wasn’t any need to stay up later than his usual early bedtime to see HRC win; 3) He thought Trump’s win was a joke when he started reading about it on Nov. 9; 4) The only real plan was to get the stock market above /2

I realize I don’t have 100,000 followers and I’m not regularly on the news, but I still think this is an important clarification to make. Rod didn’t ask for 100 prosecutors - he asked for AUSAs. That is different. Civil AUSAs do critical work too, and they are also being asked /1

https://twitter.com/yesmomscan/status/1017169911498633216

To participate in the Kavanaugh project. I believe we have to be accurate in noting what is crazy and what is usual, as well as being super accurate. DOJ has over 11,000 attorneys. Some are prosecutors and some are not. Using prosecutors for vetting would be extra odd, when /2

With respect the 24 guidance docs rescinded by Jeff Sessions on the eve of our country’s birthday, I am flagging that the non-education focused guidance that is being withdrawn was designed to provide protection and/or merely assist immigrants, especially non-English speakers. /1 For example, when in the DOJ Criminal Division I worked on the DOJ Language Access Plan which was about making sure witnesses and victims of crimes (not criminals) had the ability to understand processes & what their rights were in a language other than English. So imagine you /2

Not surprising that women are underrepresented in the ranks of criminal investigators & leadership roles at 4 of the nation's top federal law enforcement agencies. In the Holder era, I moderated a panel with 4 women leaders from USMS, FBI, DEA, & ATF /1 apnews.com/da6a1c14e26a48… At the time of the panel, DEA was led by a woman, Michele Leonhardt, and USMS was led by a woman, Stacia Hylton. Former NY field office director @JanFedarcyk joined the conversation as well. At the time — before the days of @SallyQYates & Loretta Lynch, there were not women /2

Great scoop from ⁦@LauraAJarrett⁩ - 2 of Rod Rosenstein’s closest advisors in the DAG’s office - including Scott Schools whom I have flagged for u before as someone likely involved whom we all trust - meet regularly w Mueller’s team. They help Rod /1 cnn.com/2018/06/21/pol… Oversee the Special Counsel’s investigation and are authorized to speak on Rod’s behalf in that role. Rod has a lot to do to run all 100,000+ of DOJ, which means some of his “staff” who are long-time prosecutors themselves, have to represent him with the authority to make /2

And here’s the inside baseball zinger for all of us from DOJ, which literally has me in tears right now. On July 6, 2016, Loretta Lynch and others received a briefing on the Clinton case and the LATE (as in he died days later that July) DAVID MARGOLIS - the heart & conscience /1 Said @ that meeting that he “did not see a prosecutable case, and that if the Department prosecuted ... Clinton, it would be because she was a high-profile public official.” Margolis described a would-be prosecution as “celebrity hunting” after hearing from prosecutors’ team. /2

A friend who is also on Twitter asked me if I was ok today. In short, yes I am. But this week has knocked me down a bit when it comes to DOJ. Many of you follow me because I know a thing or 2 about FinCEN, having worked there at the end of my 19 years with the fed government. /1 But I identify myself more as a DOJ alum, given my 18 yrs as a lawyer there. As many of you know, I have written & tweeted about my TREMENDOUS faith in the career employees at DOJ (including the FBI). I also have consistently tweeted about my similar faith in Rod, Wray, Comey /2

Even though the Mueller team has 16 or 17 attorneys dedicated full-time, we should all recognize that there are actually many more #DOJ attorneys helping the investigation as part of their day-to-day jobs, particularly from DOJ’s DC Criminal Division. /1 washingtonpost.com/news/post-nati… For example, in order to get wiretaps approved, the Criminal Division’s Office of Enforcement Operations would have to be involved. In order to manage the sharing of evidence and coordination on witnesses with international partners, Office of International Affairs attorneys /2

Let me remind you what I know about the women/men who work as attorneys (and agents) at #DOJ, based on my 18 yrs as an Attorney there. Even if Rod resigns or gets fired, I am confident that career men & women (many of whom are on Mueller’s team) will manage to pull us through./1

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1st: Rod & Mueller have a plan for if one or both get canned. Remember how Rod deftly went around Sessions and the WH to appoint Mueller way back in 2017? He is no dummy. And neither is Mueller or any member of his team. So remember they have a plan in place. That plan will /2

Last week I tweeted that I thought @MichaelAvenatti scoop about Cohen shell companies came from a #FinCEN leak. I went on @allinwithchris the following night & discussed that the info could have come from #Fincen or perhaps the financial institutions. Tonight @RonanFarrow /1 Confirmed that the leader of the #SARS was from #FinCEN. I must admit when @RonanFarrow and I spoke this week, I was stunned about the possibility that someone could have removed SARS. I felt that there is no way this could happen short of work by a nefarious actor. But, I also/2

Brief thread: Before the warrant for Cohen’s Office and Hotel would have been approved, it had to be reviewed by the Office of Enforcement Operations, led by Jennifer Hodge. /1 justice.gov/criminal-oeo Then, it would have needed approval by the Career (not political) Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) over OEO/Jennifer Hodge. The guy in that role is named Ray Hulser. Here’s what you need to know about Ray: he has spent his entire career at DOJ, most of which was in the /2

So here’s the thing. I’ve told you all repeatedly that I trust Scott Schools who would be the senior career official referenced below in Sessions’ statement. I stand behind that now. I trust Schools (and Rod) appropriately and honorably on what McCabe did. I also trust /1

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Robin Ashton who is career (not political) & the head of OPR. So what this tells me is 2 things: (1) McCabe screwed up something bad enough that Robin and Scott supported this; and (2) Sessions just put the icing on the politicization of DOJ cake. What is important to realize /2

Here are my (perhaps unconventional) thoughts on the McCabe departure today. I’m not a TV pundit but I did work @ #DOJ for 18 yrs, 15 of which I was employment counsel for DOJ. McCabe is career SES/not political. They couldn’t remove/fire him unless they all reached agreement. /1 I suspect new General Counsel Dana Boente worked on a settlement agreement over weekend to get McCabe to resign in return for McCabe getting to use paid administrative leave + benefits so that he won’t take financial hit. McCabe would have agreed to stop work & depart early. /2

This big story by @JasonLeopold and @a_courmier_ shows how #FinCEN uses it’s suspicious activity reports/SARs collected from financial institutions (like Citibank here) to track illicit financing and connect the dots for $ laundering. You can bet Mueller has it if he wants it.

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Please excuse spelling errors. A few words about SARS - #FinCEN requires banks, financial institutions, wire transfer companies, money services businesses, jewelers, etc. to file reports documenting suspicious banking activities that they witness online or in person./2