The Department of Justice lost its latest battle with Congress Thursday when it agreed to brief House Intelligence Committee members about a top-secret intelligence source that was part of the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign. Even without official confirmation of that source’s name, the news so far holds some stunning implications.

Among them is that the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation outright hid critical information from a congressional investigation. In a Thursday press conference, Speaker Paul Ryan bluntly noted that Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes’s request for details on this secret source was “wholly appropriate,” “completely within the scope” of the committee’s long-running FBI investigation, and “something that probably should have been answered a while ago.” Translation: The department knew full well it should have turned this material over to congressional investigators last year, but instead deliberately concealed it.

House investigators nonetheless sniffed out a name, and Mr. Nunes in recent weeks issued a letter and a subpoena demanding more details. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s response was to double down—accusing the House of “extortion” and delivering a speech in which he claimed that “declining to open the FBI’s files to review” is a constitutional “duty.” Justice asked the White House to back its stonewall. And it even began spinning that daddy of all superspook arguments—that revealing any detail about this particular asset could result in “loss of human lives.”

This is desperation, and it strongly suggests that whatever is in these files is going to prove very uncomfortable to the FBI.

Senator John McCain wrote in his upcoming memoir that he does not regret providing the FBI with the Steele dossier.

McCain said he gave the dossier to then FBI-head James Comey, back in late 2016.

The Arizonian senator discusses and defends his decision to share the information in his new book, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations,” which is scheduled to come out May 22.

According to The Guardian, who got an advanced copy of the book, McCain said, “I did what duty demanded I do. I discharged that obligation and I would do it again. Anyone who doesn’t like it can go to hell.”

Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain doesn’t believe Gina Haspel, President Trump’s pick to head the Central Intelligence Agency, should be confirmed by the Senate.

McCain’s office released a statement on Wednesday calling Haspel “a patriot” — but also said that the Senate should vote against her confirmation because of her connection to enhanced interrogation techniques employed in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

WASHINGTON — John Kerry’s bid to save one of his most significant accomplishments as secretary of state took him to New York on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, where, more than a year after he left office, he engaged in some unusual shadow diplomacy with a top-ranking Iranian official.

He sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It was the second time in about two months that the two had met to strategize over salvaging a deal they spent years negotiating during the Obama administration, according to a person briefed on the meetings.

With the Iran deal facing its gravest threat since it was signed in 2015, Kerry has been on an aggressive yet stealthy mission to preserve it, using his deep lists of contacts gleaned during his time as the top US diplomat to try to apply pressure on the Trump administration from the outside. President Trump, who has consistently criticized the pact and campaigned in 2016 on scuttling it, faces a May 12 deadline to decide whether to continue abiding by its terms.

 
 

ROBERT MUELLER: UNMASKED
 
by Congressman Louie Gohmert
 
Robert Mueller has a long and sordid history of illicitly targeting innocent people that is a stain upon the legacy of American jurisprudence. He lacks the judgment and credibility to lead the prosecution of anyone.
 
I do not make these statements lightly. Each time I prepared to question Mueller during Congressional hearings, the more concerned I became about his work ethic. Then as I went back to begin compiling all that information in order to recount personal interactions with Mueller, the more clearly the big picture began to come into focus. At one point I had to make the decision to stop adding to this or it would turn into a far too lengthy project. My goal was to share some first-hand information as other Republican Members of Congress had requested, adding,
“You seem to know so much about him.” This article is
prepared from my viewpoint to help better inform the reader about the Special Prosecutor leading the effort to railroad President Donald J. Trump through whatever manufactured charge he can allege. Judging by Mueller's history, it doesn't matter who he has to threaten, harass, prosecute or bankrupt to get someone to be willing to allege something
—
anything
—
about our current President, it certainly appears Mueller will do what it takes to bring down his target, ethically, or unethically, based on my findings.

Conservatives Saturday night and Sunday criticized the tenor and character of the White House Correspondents’ dinner after comedian Michelle Wolf ripped into Trump administration officials.

Wolf stunned the crowd at Saturday night’s dinner with biting jokes about President Trump and his White House, including top aides like counselor Kellyanne Conway and press secretary Sarah Sanders, who attended the dinner in his stead.

Trump, as he did in 2017, skipped the dinner in order to hold a campaign rally in Washington, Mich.

Many Washington conservatives felt the dinner was unnecessarily cruel toward Conway and Sanders, and other Republicans.

“My wife @mercedesschlapp and I walked out early from the wh correspondents dinner. Enough of elites mocking all of us,” said Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, in a Twitter post.

Wolf also told a joke about abortion that outraged conservatives.

The joke centered on Vice President Mike Pence's anti-abortion position.

“He thinks abortion is murder,” Wolf said, “which, first of all, don’t knock it ‘til you try it — and when you do try it, really knock it. You know, you’ve got to get that baby out of there. And yeah, sure, you can groan all you want. I know a lot of you are very anti-abortion. You know, unless it’s the one you got for your secret mistress."

Comedian Rob Schneider believes that 'Saturday Night Live' is beginning to beat a dead horse with their sketch jabs at the Trump administration.

The 54-year-old who got his big break with NBC's comedy series in the 1990s, feels the show has gotten its point across when it comes to its disdain for Trump.

'The fun of 'Saturday Night Live' was always you never knew which way they leaned politically,' he told the New York Daily News.

'You kind of assumed they would lean more left and liberal, but now the cat's out of the bag they are completely against Trump, which I think makes it less interesting because you know the direction the piece is going.'