The Binder
What we already know about it
We know a considerable amount about the so-called binder from details published in connection with the following Judicial Watch FOIA request1 (link) and the corresponding documents in the FBI Vault (link). The FBI stated that they identified 815 responsive pages. They produced 569 pages and withheld 246 pages. The documents in the FBI production have Bates numbers going from (22-cv-2264) 1 to 815, matching the total reported number of pages.
Nearly all of the produced documents can be matched to documents previously published by HGSAC on December 6, 2020 or by John Solomon in early 2021. All of the documents submitted as an exhibit in Solomon v Garland can be identified in more redacted (often much more redacted) versions in the FBI Vault version (link).
In some cases, pages that are withheld in the FBI Vault version can be firmly identified by concordance with other versions, either HGSAC or Solomon.
In the following notes, I’ve done a concordance of 815 pages (22-cv-2264 Bates numbers) to known contents, together with known versions at HGSAC, Solomon or elsewhere.
The summary shows why I expect the binder to be a nothingburger. There are only a few ranges of withheld documents where I’m unable to presently propose a match, but, even in those cases, my base case is that they will come from already known documents which were quixotically withheld in the FBI Vault version.
Concordance
4-31: the 302 for the 2017 Christopher Steele interview. Only one page is in the FBI vault version. These correspond to A168-193 in Solomon v Garland and were fully published by Solomon in early 2021 link.
32-60. FBI emails from December 2016. These also have prior Bates numbers from Senate HGSAC Transition. These emails were previously published by HGSAC in less redacted format.(archive)
61-145. Various CHS reporting documents almost entirely redacted. Previously online (also almost entirely redacted) at FBI Vault entitled Records between FBI and Christopher Steele (link; link)
146-148. FBI email (Strzok) dated October 11, 2016. Withheld in volume 1 release. Issued in volume 3. Corresponds to A119-A121 in Solomon v Garland release. Previously released in HGSAC December 2020 FBI release, 17-19.
150-223. Withheld 74 pages (see redaction codes on page 1 of volume 1.) Good chance that these come from the HGSAC December 2020 FBI release. 224-225 are entitled Appendix B: Confidence in Assessments and Judgements Based on a Body of Information (FBI Internal Use Only) and are standard boilerplate, presumably as an appendix to an FBI report.
226-265. Numerous ECs connected to Halper. Correspond to Solomon v Halper A132-A168. Originally published in early 2021 by Solomon (link)
266-267. Steele closing document. See FBI Vault (link)
268-351. McCabe texts. See HGSAC, Oct 9, 2020 and Oct 14/2020: HGSAC, December 6, 2020. Also Solomon (link).
352-355. Comey texts: HGSAC, 10/15/2020; 10/19/2020. See HGSAC, December 6, 2020. Also Solomon (link).
356-357. Priestap texts, HGSAC, Oct 15, 2020. See HGSAC, December 6, 2020. Also Solomon (link).
358-393. Strzok texts, HGSAC Oct 20, 2020 and Dec 3, 2020. See HGSAC, December 6, 2020. Also Solomon (link).
394-419. Page texts, HGSAC, Dec 2,2020. See HGSAC, December 6, 2020. Also Solomon (link).
420-436. Page Lync, HGSAC, Dec 2, 2020 HGSAC. See HGSAC, December 6, 2020. Also Solomon (link).
437-461. Strzok lync, HGSAC Oct 22, 2020, Dec 3, 2020, Nov 10, 2020. HGSAC. See HGSAC, December 6, 2020. Also Solomon (link).
462-463. Page dividers - “Pending with DOJ”
464-475. Flynn 302s for January 24, 2017 dated 2/15/2017 and 5/31/2017. Long available.
476-483. Withheld. Referral/consult.
484-494. McCabe memos, May 2017. Previously available from Solomon (link; link; link)
495-521. Multiple Ohr 302s. Previously available including Mueller 302s. Solomon here.
522-522. Blank
523-560. Steele dossier reports. Widely available.
561-566. Defensive brief to Trump. Available in 2020 e.g. Politico here.
567-571. Blank or redacted
572-585. State department emails. In Vault, Volume 5. Previously released by HGSAC, December 6, 2020.
586-587. Placeholder for Request #14 re Perkins Coie. A saucy refusal by DOJ to outgoing Trump administration. This is indicative of the DOJ unresponsiveness that pervades the “binder”.
588-589. Mifsud 302. Also available in Mueller 302s.
590-591. Another placeholder and insolent DOJ refusal to request for information about meetings with FBI officials and DOJ officials Bruce Ohr, Andrew Weissman and (presumably) either Bruce Swartz or Zainab Ahmad.
592-685. 85 pages withheld. A rough guess: the redacted Danchenko EC, published in July 2020, was 59 pages and it might be included here. If it’s not included here, it would further demonstrate the lackadaisical and insolent incompleteness of the “binder”. For sure, the March 2017 and May 2017 Danchenko interviews are not included, though they should be.
686-694. Michael Rogers 302 for 6/12/2017 interview. Also available in Mueller 302s.
695-815. Third Renewal of Carter Page FISA. Also available from HGSAC and Solomon (link)
Here is the specific FOIA request made by Judicial Watch:
Russiagate Hoax my you-know-what.
What can you tell us about Harley Schlanger of the Lyndon LaRoche organization and Roger Stone, who met with recently-returned-from-Moscow Schlanger in early 2016? Stone thanked former Watergate attorney Douglas Caddy in an e-mail shortly thereafter for having set up the meeting and volunteered to him that he had “a back channel to Trump.”