a new DoJ IG report is out on their review of a sampling of FISA warrants.

The review was not good for the FBI.

But I do think that team Horowitz writes some of the worst reports I have ever read. They are hard to follow. They mix trivia with critical issues and you are always trying to figure out how significant some of these things are. The summaries are terrible.

https://theconservativetreehou...details/#more-187937

report

https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2020/a20047.pdf

After the DOJ Offfice of Inspector General (OIG), Michael Horowitz, presented his December 2019 findings of the FISA application used against U.S person Carter Page, the gross deficiencies and intentional fraud were so extensive the IG said he was going to review a sample of FISA applications to identify if the fraud and abuse was widespread.

The OIG began reviewing FISA applications from eight field offices (the proverbial “rank and file”). The OIG selected 29 FISA applications from those field offices over the period of October 2014 to September 2019. Additionally, every field office and the DOJ-NSD generate internal “Accuracy Reviews”, or self-checks on FISA applications; so the OIG inspected 42 of the accuracy review FISA files to determine if they were compliant.

The results were so bad the IG produced an interim memorandum to the DOJ and FBI

Within the 17-page-memo the IG notifies Attorney General Bill Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray that all of the claimed FISA processes, in every field office, are grossly deficient, and in most cases there is zero compliance with FISA standards

The IG reviewed 29 FISA applications, surveillance warrants, used against U.S. persons.

The FISA applications were from Oct/2014 through Sept/2019.

The ‘Woods File’ is the mandatory FBI evidence file that contains the documentary proof to verify all statements against U.S. persons that are contained in the FISA application.

Within the 29 FISA applications reviewed, four were completely missing the Woods File. Meaning there was zero supportive evidence for any of the FBI claims against U.S. persons underpinning the FISA application

Of the remaining 25 FISA applications, 100% of them, all of them, were materially deficient on the woods file requirement; and the average number of deficiencies per file was 20.

Half of the FISA applications reviewed used Confidential Human Sources (CHS’s). The memo outlines that “many” of applications containing CHS claims had no supportive documentation attesting to the dependability of the CHS.

Two of the 25 FISA applications reviewed had renewals; meaning the FISA applications were renewed to extended surveillance, wiretaps, etc. beyond the initial 90-days. None of the renewals had any re-verification. Both FISAs that used renewals were not compliant.

when the OIG inspected 42 of these Accuracy Reviews, the IG identified that only three of them had accurately assembled documents (Woods File) supporting the application.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


as best I can tell, the Woods file concept is a complete joke. A concept to make it sound like things are verified, but in reality there is frequently zero verification.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
...but in reality there is frequently zero verification.

You seem surprised by that.

You shouldn't be.

quote:

zero verification

Given that the dems were running DOJ for 8+ yrs, I thought it would actually be lower than that.

hmmmmm

https://hotair.com/archives/ed...es-american-history/

Attorney General William Barr’s interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham airs tonight


John Durham’s investigation will finish soon, but Barr’s seen enough to call it a travesty with “no basis” for opening the probe in the first place. Barr says the effect of the probe, if not its explicit intent, was to “sabotage the presidency”

Barr interview with Ingraham: “What happened to POTUS was one of the greatest travesties in American history, no basis for this investigation, what’s even more concerning is what happened after the campaign, a whole pattern of events... to sabotage the presidency”

video at link


Ingraham’s full interview tonight at 10 pm ET

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
hmmmmm

https://hotair.com/archives/ed...es-american-history/

Attorney General William Barr’s interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham airs tonight


John Durham’s investigation will finish soon, but Barr’s seen enough to call it a travesty with “no basis” for opening the probe in the first place. Barr says the effect of the probe, if not its explicit intent, was to “sabotage the presidency”

Barr interview with Ingraham: “What happened to POTUS was one of the greatest travesties in American history, no basis for this investigation, what’s even more concerning is what happened after the campaign, a whole pattern of events... to sabotage the presidency”

video at link


Ingraham’s full interview tonight at 10 pm ET

Knowing what occurred is nice, but only through vigorous prosecutions can the agencies involved be reformed. I'd like to say that the FBI differs from the KGB in ways other than the initials, but when management is so vested with a political administration (Obama and the Clintons) that it ferociously attacks political opponents with the unfettered power of the State, what's the distinction?

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:

Barr interview with Ingraham: “What happened to POTUS was one of the greatest travesties in American history, no basis for this investigation, what’s even more concerning is what happened after the campaign, a whole pattern of events... to sabotage the presidency”

video at link


Ingraham’s full interview tonight at 10 pm ET

AND THEN??? [/Dude where’s my car]

https://theconservativetreehou...-issues/#more-188772




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/asLCEg4Ik7E

BARR – “I think the president did the right thing in removing Atkinson. From the vantage point of the Dept. of Justice, he had interpreted his statute; which is a fairly narrow statute that gave him jurisdiction over wrong-doing by intelligence people; and tried to turn it into a commission to explore anything in the government, and immediately report it to congress without letting the executive branch look at it and determine whether there was any problem. He was told this in a letter from the department of justice, and he is obliged to follow the interpretation of the department of justice, and he ignored it. So I think the President was correct in firing him.”

INGRAHAM – What can you tell us about the state of John Durham’s investigation? People have been waiting for the, the final report, on what happened with this, what can you tell us?

BARR – “Well I think a report y’know, may be, and probably will be, a by-product of his activity; but his primary focus isn’t to prepare a report, he is looking to bring to justice people who were engaged in abuses if he can show that there were criminal violations; and that’s what the focus is on. And, uh, as you know, being a lawyer yourself, building these cases, especially the sprawling case we have between us that went on for two or three years here, uh…, it takes some time, it takes some time to build the case.”

“So he’s diligently pursuing it, uh.. My own view is that, uh, the evidence shows that we’re not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness, there was something far more troubling here; and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. And if people broke the law, and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted.”

INGRAHAM – “The president is very frustrated, I think you, you obviously know that; about Andrew McCabe, uh, he believes that people like McCabe and others just were able to basically flout the laws, and so far with impunity.”

BARR – “I think the president has every right to be frustrated, because I think what happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in American history. Without any basis uh, they, uh, they started this investigation of his campaign; and even more concerning actually, is what happened after the campaign; a whole pattern of events while he was President. uh, So I, to sabotage the presidency; and I think that, uh, or at least had the effect of sabotaging the presidency.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com...f9d2e3288_story.html

Justice Dept. finds material errors in two 2019 FISA applications in counterintelligence cases

By Devlin Barrett
April 10, 2020 at 10:46 a.m. CDT

The FBI made material errors in at least two applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2019, according to a newly unsealed court filing that shows Justice Department internal reviews of such national security cases have been put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a 54-page submission to the court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, better known as the FISA court, the Justice Department explained in detail how it was trying to correct problems in the FBI’s FISA process that came to light as a result of the 2016 investigation into advisers to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The FISA court is used to pursue the most important national security cases involving terrorism or espionage.

Last year, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found 17 serious errors or omissions in FISA applications for surveillance on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser. As a result, Horowitz launched a broader audit of the FBI’s FISA work. In a memorandum filed last month, Horowitz said he had also found problems with every one of more than two dozen FISA applications sampled as a part of that audit, which is not yet complete.

President Trump has argued that the errors in the Page case showed the FBI launched a politically-motivated witch hunt against him, although Horowitz’s subsequent findings suggest a wider, systemic accountability problem in how the FBI has used the secret surveillance program. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray has announced more than 40 corrective actions to reform its FISA process.

In Horowitz’s recent memorandum, he said it was too early to say whether the new errors he had found were material, a legal term used to describe facts so central to the matter that they could have affected the court’s finding of probable cause to surveil a FISA target.

In the new Justice Department filing submitted last week and released in redacted form this week, the agency said its 2019 accuracy reviews of FISA applications found material errors in two applications, both counterintelligence cases. One application contained two material errors, while the other omitted material facts, according to the filing, which said the department has not completed its assessment of accuracy reviews for the year.

“In both of these cases, the Government reported these errors and omissions to the Court and assessed that, notwithstanding these errors or omissions, probable cause existed to find that the targets were acting as an agent of a foreign power,” the filing said.

A year earlier, the Justice Department found 329 errors in a sampling of 40 FISA applications, but determined none of them were material.

{IG finds Trump campaign probe justified, but marred by serious failures}

The filing also said that in March, the Justice Department suspended accuracy reviews due to the coronavirus, and will resume them once the pandemic has passed.

John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, said the filing shows the department “takes its oversight responsibilities seriously and reports all potentially material errors to the Court promptly.”

Demers said the department will re-start accuracy reviews of FISA applications — which involve travel and face-to-face meetings — “as soon as we can,” and that the oversight work will boost staffing by 50 percent for more rigorous examinations and unannounced reviews. Some of those reviews, Demers said, will probe more deeply into FISA files to “ensure the completeness of the representations made in the applications.”

In a statement, the FBI said the bureau is confident the corrective actions laid out last year by Wray “will address the errors in earlier FISA applications,” and will continue to update the court “to ensure that our corrective steps are implemented in a timely manner and that our FISA authorities are exercised responsibly.”

In an interview on Fox News that aired Thursday, Attorney General William P. Barr said he felt officials could install safeguards that would make it “very hard” for agents to circumvent the FISA rules, either intentionally or out of sloppiness. Without naming anyone, he lashed out at those found to have done wrong in applying for surveillance warrants.

“The people who abused FISA have a lot to answer for, because this was an important tool to protect the American people,” Barr said. “They abused it. They undercut public confidence in FISA, but also the FBI as an institution, and we have to rebuild that.”


Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.

BREAKING: DOJ Declassifies 3 Footnotes From Horowitz's Report Revealing FBI Assessed Steele Dossier Was 'Russian Disinformation' - Used it Anyway

CBS News reporter Catherine Herridge obtained an April 2 letter responding to Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley over four key footnotes in IG Horowitz’s report.

As TGP previously reported, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee Ron Johnson and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Chuck Grassley Tuesday sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr asking him to declassify four footnotes in Horowitz’s report on FISA abuse.

The Senators stated that the classified footnotes contradict what is publicly available in Horowitz’s report related to Crossfire Hurricane, the CI investigation opened into Trump’s campaign in July of 2016.

Grassley and Johnson wrote, “The American people have a right to know what is contained within these four footnotes and, without that knowledge, they will not have a full picture as to what happened during the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.”

The DOJ declassified 3 footnotes with minimal redactions and kept the fourth footnote completely blacked out citing, “unique and significant concerns. The redacted information refers to information received by a member of the Crossfire Hurricane team regarding possible previous attempts by a foreign government to penetrate and research a company or individuals associated with Christopher Steele,” Herridge reported.

One declassified footnote revealed Comey’s FBI knew the Hillary Clinton-funded dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele was bogus Russian disinformation — but they used it anyway to spy on Trump’s campaign.

“The (redacted) stated that it did not have high confidence in this subset of Steele’s reporting and ASSESSED that the referenced subset was part of a Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate US foreign relations” — Catherine Herridge said.




Herridge: READ FULL footnote 302 Steele dossier sub-source “According to a document circulated among Crossfire Hurricane team members and supervisors in early October 2016, Person 1 had historical contact with persons and entities suspected of being linked to RIS (Russian Intel)



Enter Bruce Ohr (who STILL has a job at the DOJ):

In addition, in late December 2016, Department Attorney Bruce Ohr told SSA 1 that he had met with Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS) and that Simpson had assessed that Person 1 was a RIS (Russian intel) officer who was central in connecting Trump to Russia.”

This message has been edited. Last edited by: feersum dreadnaught,

Footnote Declassification Highlights Ongoing DOJ Cover-Up Operations…
Posted on April 10, 2020 by sundance

There are multiple stories today about the declassification of three footnotes from within the DOJ IG report on the Carter Page FISA application. Many voices are calling the declassification of those three footnotes “bombshells”, and “the beginning of the great reveal“; however, that’s not accurate. [Neither Is This From Congress] Exactly the opposite is true… the release today is purposeful misdirection.

Everyone seems to be overlooking the obvious… Why were these footnotes classified four months ago when the report came out? Who classified them? There are no protected “sources or methods”; and the only reason for the redactions was to protect the corrupt interests of the DOJ.

With that said, I find no reason to celebrate the un-redaction of redacted information that should never have been classified in the first place. Factually, the information revealed by the footnote declassification was already well known. Worse still, the interpretation of the information within the footnotes is propaganda, purposeful ‘misinformation’.

Additionally, if these declassified footnotes are an example of a new DOJ shift to allow sunlight; as in: some newly discovered interest in truthfulness; then why are the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages still redacted? Why is the Susan Rice memo on inauguration day still redacted? And, more importantly, more tellingly, why is the DOJ still hiding the ‘scope memos’ that authorized Mueller’s investigation?

Nope. What was released today was an example of the state moving in a very specific way to protect itself. I’ll explain after we first review what happened today: [h/t Catherine Herridge]

As a result of the declassification, the media and congressional takeaway is this:

The “central and essential” evidence used to justify invasive surveillance of an American citizen in the FBI’s probe into Russian interference was, itself, an example of Russian interference, according to once-secret footnotes declassified at the urging of two U.S. Senators. (link)

According to these interpretations, which are fully supported by the DOJ and FBI, the former administration officials were duped, tricked, into believing Russian disinformation that was seeded into the Chris Steele dossier.

That interpretation is the official U.S. Government position.

That interpretation is also pure nonsense. Here it is again:

[…] The footnotes reveal that, beginning early on and continuing throughout the FBI’s Russia investigation, FBI officials learned critical information streams that flowed to the dossier were likely tainted with Russian Intelligence disinformation. But the FBI aggressively advanced the probe anyway, ignoring internal oversight mechanisms and neglecting to flag the material credibility concerns for a secret court. Despite later intelligence reports that key elements of the FBI’s evidence were the result of Russian infiltration to undermine U.S. foreign relations, the FBI still pushed forward with its probe. (more)

That is not just a wrong interpretation; it is an intentionally wrong interpretation.

That interpretation comes from interests of the U.S. government, all sides; and it is intended to help protect and insulate the institutions of U.S. government.

The truth is the CIA and FBI worked to plant disinformation in the Steele dossier. The CIA/FBI did not get duped by Russian Disinformation. The CIA/FBI knowingly and willfully solicited Russian disinformation to be channeled to Chris Steele.

The current DOJ, current FBI, and current political class (both parties), do not want to reveal that U.S. intelligence agencies worked with Russian actors to seed disinformation into the Steele Dossier that could then be laundered and returned to the U.S. intelligence apparatus for exploitation – via political surveillance – using FISA.

♦ FACTS – In addition to working in collaboration with Fusion-GPS and Nellie Ohr (CIA), Christopher Steele was simultaneously employed by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Our current DOJ and FBI are well aware of this; so too is congress.

Oleg had hired Christopher Steele at the same time Steele was working with Nellie Ohr and Fusion GPS to write the Trump dossier. [LINK] Also WATCH:



They were ignoring all of this because the goal changed after the November 8, 2016, election. In January 2017 the goal to get rid of Trump was now centered around creating the special counsel.

The special counsel would then use the pre-existing FISA surveillance authority to conduct intelligence operations against the administration. The DOJ/FBI needed to hand Mueller the tools to investigate Trump; that’s why they kept renewing the FISA warrant despite the collapse in provenance. This was all by design.

No-one participating was unaware of the background of their participation. No-one was duped; no-one was a victim of Russian disinformation. Everyone knew the operational goals and objectives to target Trump. Everything was done purposefully and with specific intent, including Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein...
And that’s why we cannot see the expanded scope memos.

The current DOJ and FBI are protecting themselves and their institutions.



https://theconservativetreehou...cover-up-operations/

focusing on footnote 350 to the Horowitz FISA report:

In addition to the information in Steele’s Delta file documenting Steele’s frequent contacts with representatives for multiple Russian oligarchs, we identified reporting the Crossfire Hurricane team received from xxxxxxxxx indicating the potential for Russian disinformation influencing Steele’s election reporting.

We know Steele worked for oligarch Oleg Deripaska

What is the blanked out part ? Who is identifying potential Russian disinformation ?

A xxxxxxxxxx 2017, report relayed information from xxxxxxxx xxxxx outlining an inaccuracy in a limited subset of Steele’s reporting about the activities of Michael Cohen.

is the blanked out part the name of a foreign intel agency ? There was serious talk of a Jan 2017 note from the UK to the Trump administration w neg comments about Steele. Is this that note ?

The xxxxxxxxxxxxxx stated that it did not have high confidence in this subset of Steele’s reporting and assessed that the referenced subset was part of a Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate U.S. foreign relations.

Now it really sounds like the blanked out part is a foreign intel agency. They "assess" that part of the Steele dossier was Russian disinformation.

Who in the U.S. govt saw this assessment ? They let the media pound away w the Steele dossier while some agency had assessed it was at least partly Russian disinformation.

A second report from the same xxxxxxxxxxxxx five days later stated that a person named in the limited subset of Steele’s reporting had denied representations in the reporting and the xxxxxxxxxxxxx assessed that the person’s denials were truthful

Who is the "person" named in the Steele dossier ?

A xxxxx report dated xxxxxxxxxxxx 2017, contained information about an individual with reported connections to Trump and Russia who claimed that the public reporting about the details of Trump’s xxxxxxx activities in Moscow during a trip in 2013 were false, and that they were the product of RIS ‘infiltra[ing] a source into the network’ of a xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx who compiled a dossier of information on Trump’s activities.


RIS = Russian Intelligence Services

When was this reported in 2017? These redactions are hiding a lot of critical info from the American people.

This almost certainly refers to the false claims of the sex tape.

Who else compiled a "dossier" ? Cody Shearer - H Clinton dirty trickster

This claim is that the Russians planted a source into the network of whoever compiled this other dossier.

Did the Russians plant a source into Cody Shearer's network ?

We need full redaction.

Our new DNI has declassified more of the footnotes.

W every declassification it becomes more obvious how badly the FBI tried to destroy Donald Trump. They lied. Over and over. They hid information that showed there was no Russia / Trump campaign collusion. Over and over. They spied on the Trump campaign.

Here is an article on the new declassifications and a link to the DNI ltr. I haven't had a chance to do a detailed look yet.

Chuck Grassley is the hero that demanded answers once again.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...usegrassley-n2567020

Newly Unclassified Footnotes Show FBI Knew Documents Used For FISA Warrants Were Bogus

Thanks to newly declassified and released footnotes from Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell , it is confirmed the FBI knew the Steele dossier -- a false document full of Russian propaganda that was cobbled together by Fusion GPS on behalf of the Clinton campaign -- was used by agents to pursue FISA warrants even though they knew it was unreliable.

"Despite multiple reports in 2017 warning that claims in an anti-Trump dossier were 'false' and 'part of a Russian disinformation campaign,' the FBI continued to rely on the Democrat-funded opposition research to spy on a Trump campaign aide. The once-classified details contained in footnotes of the Justice Department Inspector General’s postmortem of the FBI’s flawed spying operation were unmasked at the repeated urging of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)" Grassley released Wednesday night.

Details in the footnotes reveal the FBI knew the dossier wasn't credible before applying for FISA renewals on at least one Trump campaign official. This information was also known before the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Adding insult to injury, Russian intelligence officials were aware of Steele's investigation into the Trump campaign in July 2016. This information helped Russia with disinformation campaigns against the United States.

"Having reviewed the matter, and having consulted the heads of the relevant Intelligence Community elements, I have declassified the enclosed footnotes. I consulted with the Attorney General William Barr, and he has authorized the ODNI to say that he concurs in the declassification insofar as it relates to DOJ equities," Acting DNI Director Richard Grenell wrote in a letter to Grassley and Johnson with the attached footnotes.

Further, the "FBI had open counterintelligence case on Steele’s key source, but failed to apprise the FISA Court" and "despite repeated warnings of tainted evidence, FBI continuously sought FISA renewals."

"As we can see from these now-declassified footnotes in the IG’s report, Russian intelligence was aware of the dossier before the FBI even began its investigation and the FBI had reports in hand that their central piece of evidence was most likely tainted with Russian disinformation,” Senators Grassley and Johnson said about the confirmed revelations.

“Thanks to Attorney General Barr’s and Acting Director Grenell’s declassification of the footnotes, we know the FBI’s justification to target an American Citizen was riddled with significant flaws. Inspector General Michael Horowitz and his team did what neither the FBI nor Special Counsel Mueller cared to do:

examine and investigate corruption at the FBI, the sources of the Steele dossier, how it was disseminated, and reporting that it contained Russian disinformation," they continued.

We continue to learn just how corrupt and dishonest our system is. High ranking FBI, DOJ and Intelligence officials can brazenly commit felonies and actual attempted Coup and nothing is done. Even more amazing is how they clearly committed perjury (a felony itself) before a court and the judge takes no action. Does anyone truly believe that if you or I did that, we would not be behind bars? FISA courts just invite corruption and there is the proof.
All these officials are covering each others asses while proclaiming how terrible this is. Nothing will ever happen to these criminals.

going thru declassified footnotes

some good stuff. One thing is that most had assumed the FISA warrants against Carter Page were for electronic snooping. But they also included physical searches of Page's property. Those physical searches continued thru the last extension when Mueller investigation (coup) was going on.

Sen Graham has also released more redacted versions of the full Page FISA Warrants. If the FISC judges have the slightest bit of integrity, they should be enraged over how the FBI tricked them.

The FBI used material from Stefan Halper (their spy) who recorded conversations w Carter Page.

Source 1 = Christopher Steele

Source 2 = Stefan Halper

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Previously at the direction of the FISC court, DoJ agreed to “sequester” the information it has gathered as a result of all the Page surveillance, meaning that it will locate, isolate, and restrict access to any such information. (because the Page FISA warrants may be invalid)

In the newly released warrants for Carter Page, significant sections are labeled:

"FISA-Acquired Information Subject to Sequestration"

on all 3 of the extensions.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Remember all the times Devin Nunes said the investigation was not opened by Five Eyes Intel?

The answer is in the unredacted footnotes

FFG = Friendly Foreign Government

FFG official = Alexander Downer (Australian)

legat = FBI legal attaché in a foreign citty

Wikileaks released hacked emails on 22 July 2016

" 26 July 2016 the FFG official spoke w a U.S. govt official in a European city "

London ?

" 27 July 2016 the USG official called the FBI legal attache in the European city to her office. A senior intelligence officer said it sounded like an FBI matter."

xxxxxxxxxxx

From WSJ in May 2018
https://www.wsj.com/articles/t...mr-downer-1527809075

Downer who at some point decided to convey his information—to the U.S. Embassy in London.

it is not how things are normally done

The Downer details landed with the embassy’s then-chargé d’affaires, Elizabeth Dibble , who previously served as a principal deputy assistant secretary in Mrs. Clinton’s State Department

xxxxxxxxxxx

back to the story

The FBI legal attache did not know what FBI case number to file the FFG info under

He called the FBI field office in Philadelphia. The Assistant Special Agent in Charge in Philadelphia believed Downer’s info was related to the DNC hack.

On 29 July 2016 the legal attache then filed Downer's info under the DNC hack case number. The legat sent an EC to Philadelphia and it was immediately passed to FBI HQ in the Cyber Counterintelligence Coordination Section

30 July 2016 Steele is in DC and meets w Bruce Ohr. Ohr briefs McCabe

31 July 2016 Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence operation is initiated.

The FBI Electronics Communicationn EC opening Crossfire Hurricane was based on Downers info

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

So Downer just said the Russians may have "negative info" on H Clinton, and an FBI agent in Philadelphia said to file that under the DNC leak. Without having any idea what the "negative info" was. Or even if it existed at all.

Negative info that was never passed to a single member of the Trump campaign. Papadopoulos did not even report up the campaign chain that he had been told of the negative information.

In April 2016 all the buzz was about Clinton's missing emails from her server. That had nothing to do w the DNC leak

Based on the possibility of "negative info" that was not even part of the DNC leak, the FBI opened a counterintelligence operation into the Trump Campaign.

" this investigation is being opened to determine whether individual(s) associated with the Trump campaign are witting of and/or coordinating activities with the Government of Russia”

Based on who the FBI knew had association w Russia, they opened individual cases against Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, and Michael Flynn

A "full investigation" that requires "articulable factual basis" that reasonably indicates an activity constituting a threat to national security

xxxxxxxxxxx

and that's why there was no Five Eyes Intel

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sdy,

Was looking at the Dec 2019 Horowitz report (seems like a long time ago)

It is still incredible that Joseph Mifsud is still missing.

At least I haven't found any reports that he has resurfaced. The mysterious man who started the FBI counterintel investigation into the Trump campaign - and no one can find him.

In the Horowitz report FBI agent Bill Preistap (Strzok's old boss) "explains" why there was no defensive briefing to Donald Trump. Priestap's story smells like a pile of dog crap.

Remember - the FBI filed w the FISC court that Carter Page was a Russian foreign agent.
And they were investigating Page and 3 others for coordinating w Russia. But they didn't tell Donald Trump.

Priestap told Horowitz that in regard to Alexander Downer's report, "We had no indication as to which person in the Trump campaign allegedly received the offer from the Russians. There was no specific U.S. person identified"

? Downer said Papadopoulos told him the Russians might have neg Clinton info. So why not talk to Papadopoulos ?

Priestap: " We had no indication that the person affiliated w the Trump campaign had rejected the alleged Russian offer"

So rather than talk w Trump and Papadopoulos, they spied on the campaign. Or rather they "continued" to spy on the campaign.

Priestap said that Papadopoulos told Downer the Trump campaign had plenty of material to use against Clinton.

Wow, what a shocking piece of "intelligence" that was.

Priestap said Papadopoulos hadn't told Downer where they got that "material" So Priestap: "one could reasonably infer that some of the material might have come from the Russians".

"reasonably" infer neg material on Clinton had to come from Russia? As if there wasn't tons of neg info on Clinton publicly available ?

Priestap said the FBI didn't brief Donald Trump because then anyone working w the Russians would hide the truth.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx


So the FBI opened the counterintel op on 31 July 2016. Page was still a minor campaign supporter. They didn't tell Trump that Page was a "Russian agent". August went by.

Half of Sept went by. All those weeks where the FBI thought Trump campaign people were directly working w Russia, but they never told Donald Trump.

It was only about 23 Sep 2016 when the planted Yahoo story broke about Carter Page. Page quit the campaign to avoid the distraction.

It is still not clear to me when the FBI ever told Donald Trump that his campaign was being investigated. When and how did Trump find out about the Carter Page FISA warrants ? It had to be sometime after Jan 2017.

The answer is of course obvious. The big fish to catch was Donald Trump himself. The FBI believed Christopher Steele and thought Trump was working directly w the Russians.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/0...leted-emails-source/

Christopher Steele told a British court last month that he no longer has documents and other information from his meetings with the main source for his Trump dossier, suggesting that the former British spy has no way of backing up his side in a dispute with the Justice Department’s inspector general (IG), according to a deposition transcript obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Steele also told the court that his communications regarding the dossier, including with Fusion GPS, were “wiped” in December 2016 and January 2017 , the transcript shows.

how convenient

The former MI6 officer made the disclosures during a March 17-18 deposition in a defamation case related to the dossier. The DCNF obtained a transcript of the deposition.

POS Steele is still being sued by Russians over the fake dossier

Steele suggested in a Dec. 10 statement that he had evidence that would shed light on what his main dossier source told him back in 2016, when Steele was working for the firm Fusion GPS to investigate the Trump campaign.

Steele’s statement was a response to an IG report released the day before that said that Steele’s source — dubbed the “Primary Sub-Source” — told the FBI in January 2017 that Steele misrepresented or embellished information in the dossier.

In a rebuttal to the IG, Steele’s lawyers disputed what the dossier source purportedly told the FBI, and said that the source’s debriefings to Steele “were meticulously documented and recorded.”

but now they are missing

They also asserted that if Steele had been given a chance to respond to the IG report, “the statements by the ‘Primary Sub-Source’ would be put in a different light.”

It is unclear if Steele made audio or video recordings of the debriefings with the source, or if the retired spy was referring to written or electronic documents. It is also unclear whether Steele got rid of the information himself, or if it was lost through other means. Steele’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

The status of the information was revealed during an exchange Steele had on March 18 with Hugh Tomlinson, a lawyer for Petr Aven, German Khan, and Mikhail Fridman, the owners of Alfa Bank.

The three Russian bankers are suing Steele for defamation over a memo in the dossier that accused them of making illicit payments to Vladimir Putin.

Tomlinson pressed Steele over the accuracy of his memo, as well as his relationship with “Primary Sub-Source,” the transcript shows.

The lawyer asked Steele about the existence of the documents and recordings that his attorneys mentioned in their rebuttal to the IG report.

“But none of these documents exist, so they have all been destroyed?” a lawyer asked Steele.

“ They no longer exist,” Steele said .

did they ever exist ?

Steele learned from Clinton

Steele indicated that many other records related to the dossier were deleted, including from a personal email account he used for the Fusion GPS project.

“As I understand your position, you have no contemporaneous notes or emails, save for your notes of interactions with the FBI; is that right?” Tomlinson asked.

“I believe that is true, yes,” Steele replied.

Steele said he had no records related to the creation of his dossier memos, including “Report 112” from the dossier, which dealt with the Alfa Bank owners.

“You have no record of anything, have you?” Tomlinson asked.

“I haven’t got any records relating to the creation of 112,” said Steele.

“Or indeed any of the other memoranda?”

“ No, they were wiped in early January 2017.”

another amazing coincidence - Buzzfeed released the Steele dossier on 10 Jan 2017

Steele said that a Hushmail account he used in late December 2016 was “wiped” clean. He also said that communications with Fusion GPS on his company’s computer network were scrubbed on Jan. 5, 2017.

BuzzFeed News published Steele’s dossier five days later.

Steele has closely guarded the identity of his dossier source, including during the Alfa Bank deposition. But he said the source had done work for his firm for “several years,” and that his firm Orbis paid retainers to sources of between $3,000 and $5,000 a month.

The source allegedly used a network of contacts inside and outside of Russia to gather tips about Donald Trump, his associates, and Kremlin officials. Steele alleged that the Trump campaign took part in a “well-coordinated conspiracy of cooperation” with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election. The special counsel’s report found no evidence of a conspiracy, and the IG report cast significant doubt on Steele’s allegations.

Footnotes from the IG report declassified this month showed that the FBI received evidence that Russian operatives may have fed disinformation to Steele.

One footnote said that the U.S. intelligence community gave the FBI a report in June 2017 that said two Russian intelligence officers knew as of July 2016 that Steele was investigating Trump.

Steele also appears to have made an inaccurate claim about the IG report in his haste to defend the dossier during his court deposition. He told Tomlinson, the lawyer for the Alfa Bank owners, that the IG has had to “significantly” amend sections of the IG report dealing with what the dossier source told the FBI.

Steele claimed in the deposition that the IG had retracted claims in the report about the primary dossier source.

“So you think that the U.S. Inspector General’s office has got it wrong and you are right; is that your position?” Tomlinson asked Steele.

He said that the IG report “has already been revised by the Department of Justice in terms of its interviewing of this primary sub-source.” He asserted that the revision “completely changed the nature of the interview that he gave to them in January 2017.”

It is not clear what Steele was referring to since the IG report has not had any significant revisions.

Two separate new inputs to help Sidney Powell defend Michael Flynn

both seen at CTH

#1
Sidney Powell fought to get communications between Flynn's prior legal team. Powell is Flynn's current lawyer. She has filed a motion to have Flynn's prior conviction dismissed. (Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI about a phone call to the Russian ambassador)

Part of the new material released shows Flynn's prior lawyers writing "We have a lawyers' unofficial understanding that they are unlikely to charge Junior in light of the Cooperation Agreement" (19 Mar 2018)

MTF = Gen Michael T Flynn
Michael Jr = MGF = Flynn's son

Then about a week later, the prior lawyers write about a "Memo to MTF" (27 Mar 2018)

"The only exception is the reference to Michael Jr. The government took pains not to give a promise to MTF regarding Michael Jr, so as to limit how much of a "benefit" it would have to disclose as part of its Giglio disclosures to any defendant against whom MTF may one day testify"

Powell writes about misconduct by Mueller prosecutor Van Grack: "Not only did he make baseless threats to indict Michael G Flynn, he made a side deal not to prosecute Michael G. Flynn as a material term of the plea agreement, but he required that it be kept secret between himself and the Covington attorneys expressly to avoid the requirement of Giglio v. United States."

Powell: This court must dismiss this concocted prosecution of General Flynn in full recognition of the travesty of Justice that it is.

#2

Sidney Powell just received a letter from a Missouri U.S. attorney who was assigned to review all the evidence in the Flynn case.



Sean Davis reports that the new documents under seal include significant exculpatory information about Michael Flynn

The new documents allegedly include exonerating evidence as well as evidence of malfeasance by the FBI during its investigation of Flynn.

According to the FBI official who spoke to The Federalist, FBI general counsel Dana Boente led the charge internally against DOJ’s disclosure of the new materials. Boente, who briefly served as acting Attorney General after Trump became president, personally signed off on one of the federal spy warrants against former Trump campaign affiliate Carter Page. The new documents, which were filed under a protective order by DOJ on Friday, will reflect poorly on the FBI, the official told The Federalist.

https://thefederalist.com/2020....XqMnsV4mrpI.twitter

https://theconservativetreehou...er-seal/#more-189950

^^^ It's so brazen... it's unbelievable that they have gotten away with it this far... Boente and the rest should hang.

April 25, 2020

Leak of sealed evidence in the Michael Flynn case points to a high-ranking deep state operative as a key to the Russia hoax conspiracy at DOJ and FBI

By Thomas Lifson

General Michael Flynn was the first victim of the conspiracy of senior officials at the CIA, DOJ and FBI to unseat President Trump, and a leak about court-sealed new evidence in the legal case against him, under review by a US Attorney, upon close analysis points to a new key member, a point man of the conspiracy, a name until now only familiar to students of the Russia Hoax. A new visage is going to join Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Strzok, Page, and Rosenstein on the front page of the cabal’s rogues’ gallery: Dana Boente.



On April 24, The US Attorney reviewing the case against Flynn released new evidence to Flynn’s lawyers, putting it under seal. His lawyer Sidney Powell gleefully tweeted:

@SidneyPowell
Apr 24
#BREAKING The government just provided the #Flynn defense with remarkable new & long withheld BRADY evidence. Letter below just filed. Stay tuned.

Sean Davis of the Federalist received a leak from an unnamed FBI official:

New court documents filed under seal include significant exculpatory information about Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser, an FBI official familiar with the situation told The Federalist on Friday. The new documents, which were filed under seal by the Department of Justice Friday, allegedly include exonerating evidence about Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his conversations with foreign diplomats as Trump’s top incoming foreign policy adviser and is currently attempting to withdraw his plea, as well as evidence of malfeasance by the FBI during its investigation of Flynn.

According to the FBI official who spoke to The Federalist, FBI general counsel Dana Boente led the charge internally against DOJ’s disclosure of the new materials. Boente, who briefly served as acting Attorney General after Trump became president, personally signed off on one of the federal spy warrants against former Trump campaign affiliate Carter Page. The new documents, which were filed under a protective order by DOJ on Friday, will reflect poorly on the FBI, the official told The Federalist. It is not clear when, or even if, those documents will be unsealed and made available to the public for review.

Boente was covering up the railroading of General Flynn, which is bad enough. And he signed off on a phony FISA warrant, a crime. But that is far from Boente’s only role in the conspiracy. Sundance of The Conservative Treehouse, who has a matchless command of the minutiae of the evidence of this conspiracy so far, has been arguing for years that Boente was a key conspirator. Now, with this latest disclosure, he fits together the pieces in a meticulous fashion.

Early on CTH identified Dana Boente as part of the problem. Dana Boente was part of the group who advised Sessions to recuse. Boente later authorized the second renewal of the Title-one surveillance warrant and worked with James Comey. Boente then leaked his Comey notes to the media (MSNBC), essentially to support Comey’s narrative about Trump; and participated from within the FBI as legal counsel to Chris Wray who told everyone in July 2018 there was no political bias in the FBI…

A long and detailed review of Boente’s very curious career moves follows. Sundance doesn’t mention this as even a hypothesis, but to my eyes it looks a lot like he was moved around among important posts in the FBI and Justice Department (sometimes holding multiple jobs at once) as a kind of hatchet man to get the necessary job done. Just a theory, though, until we learn more, maybe when that evidence is unsealed.

Here is the beginning of the deep dive, a brief sample of the sort of analysis that comprises this long article. If you want to understand how the conspiracy was actually carried out – and you should because it is the greatest political scandal in American history – then I recommend this article. Read it here.

Here’s the backstory on Dana Boente as a key player in the Spygate cover-up, as we presented the information over a year ago. [NOTE: feeling confident that Boente was one of the key corrupt actors, I noted originally to bookmark that post]:

If you followed closely, and accept that Rosenstein was part of the problem, then you see how FBI Director Christopher Wray came into office; and, more importantly how/why Wray selected former DOJ-NSD head Dana Boente to shift from main justice to be legal counsel for the FBI.

Boente took over for former chief legal counsel James Baker, after the discoveries around Baker and McCabe could no longer be hidden. After being removed from responsibility eventually Baker resigned and went to work with the Lawfare group. Boente’s job at FBI was/is to bury information, block congressional inquiry, and protect the crew. Boente, along with Christopher Wray, is still there.

In a Fox News interview on Sunday, June 23, 2019, Devin Nunes said “someone at the FBI” appears to have been “determined to hide” then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec’s notes from both the FISA court and Congress. Our research identified that “someone” as Dana Boente and crew in 2018.

Near the end, Sundance eummarizes some points:

Dana Boente was part of the group who advised Sessions to recuse. Boente later authorized the second renewal of the Title-one surveillance warrant and worked with James Comey. Boente then leaked his Comey notes to the media, essentially to support Comey’s narrative about Trump; and participated from within the FBI as legal counsel to Chris Wray who told everyone in July 2018 there was no political bias in the FBI… but hey, everyone is going to bias training….. and pay no attention to the 40 FBI agents who were investigating an invisible Trump Russia-Collusion-Conspiracy for two years.

Update: When contacted for comment by The Epoch Times, an FBI spokesman denies that Director Wray pushed to withhold exculpatory evidence:

“The assertion that Director Wray pushed to withhold exculpatory evidence in the Michael Flynn case is absolutely false,” said Brian Hale, assistant director of the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs in an emailed statement.

An FBI official speaking on the condition of anonymity told The Epoch Times that the denial applied to the allegation against Boente too


Read more: https://www.americanthinker.co..._.html#ixzz6Kek0kI3C

Boente signed the second FISA warrant extension in April 2017.

Did Boente tell President Trump ?

Did Boente sign a document that said Carter Page, a former member of the Trump campaign, was a Russian foreign agent --- and not tell the President ?

If he didn't then he should have been fired long ago.

I have zero confidence in Christopher Wray. His public statements have indicated his prime concern is the reputation of the FBI. The FBI will not be reformed under Wray. Until there is a hard shake up, and the rot removed, the FBI deserves to have lost the trust of the American people.

Why are these traitors still employed? It is well beyond time that they were all indicted. We know what they did, now just arrest them and proceed with their prosecutions.

Enough is enough! Regards 18DAI