This is a post that provides even more damning information about the deceitful FISA warrants against Carter Page.

It makes the FBI and Adam Schiff look like the liars that they are

Senator Grassley put out a letter on 15 Mar 2018.

link:

https://www.scribd.com/documen...l-Counsel-March-15th

The most interesting part of the letter is in the second attachment.



The yellow highlighted sections are the parts that the FBI unredacted

why were these parts ever redacted ? Maybe because they made the FBI look bad.




This is the case where in 2013, the Russians did try to exploit Carter Page. He didn't know the Russians he was talking to were Russian spies. The Russian spies amongst themselves said Page was an idiot. Carter Page was not indicted as part of this case. Nothing from this case shows that Page did anything wrong.

To get the warrant, the FBI had to argue that Carter Page was a Russian foreign agent.




This is a big one. Here is where the FBI hid the fact that the dossier material was opposition research for Clinton.

The footnote just says the material was done to conduct research. Then the FBI "speculates" it could be used to discredit Trump.

The FBI knew the dossier was done entirely to attack Donald Trump. The FBI deceived the court.

Why isn't the FISC court raising hell ?



Another big one. In all 4 FISA warrant applications, the FBI told the court that Steele only provided the info to Fusion GPS and the FBI. The FBI knew that was false.

Steele had briefed Michael Isikoff, NYT, WaPo, Yahoo News, New Yorker, CNN, and Mother Jones.




The key point here is that the FBI told the court about a) the dossier parts regarding Carter Page (leaving out the crazy stuff that the court might be suspicious of) and

b) the Isikoff story of 23 Sep 2016 which appeared to corroborate Steel, but actually was planted by Steele


The Nunes memo was a first cut. It is the Grassley memo and letters that are just sledge hammers to the FBI credibility.

The only reason for the FBI to have redacted those parts initially, was to cover up what they did.

I’m not sure if this has been revealed before, or obscured among the rest of the details but Sarah Carter is reporting that Steele knew the funding source before he met with the FBI.

quote:

Former British spy Christopher Steele was informed months after accepting the job to compile a dossier on then-candidate Donald J. Trump that the Hillary Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee were paying the bills but that’s not what the FBI told the secret FISA court when it sought a warrant to spy on one of Trump’s campaign volunteers.

This bit of explosive information was revealed in an expose on Steele by The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer but the implications for the FBI are profound. Why? Because the bureau explicitly stated in its Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Application to the secret court that Steele was unaware of who backed Fusion GPS, the firm which hired him, for the research.

Steele, however, claimed in the expose titled Christopher Steele, The Man Behind the Trump Dossier that he did know who was paying his bill.

“Under the arrangement, Orbis was a subcontractor working for Fusion GPS, a private research firm in Washington,” according to the article. “Fusion, in turn, had been contracted by a law firm, Perkins Coie, which represented both Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Several months after Steele signed the deal, he learned that, through this chain, his research was being jointly subsidized by the Clinton campaign and the D.N.C. In all, Steele was paid a hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars for his work.”

There is more at the link.

Link

Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, today subpoenaed the Department of Justice for documents regarding charging decisions in the investigation surrounding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server, potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility recommendation to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.










saw this on Conservative Treehouse

"The House Judiciary Committee holds the primary statutory oversight over the U.S. Department of Justice. Additionally, Chairman Goodlatte is the congressional office working closest with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz"

The theory at CTH is that Jeff Sessions has been working with the DoJ IG and has a prosecutor doing the things that the IG cannot do.

As a result, the release of some the docs requested may be part of an ongoing investigation into people such McCabe, Strzok, Page, etc.

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

So Goodlatte subpoenas Rosenstein for being too slow in turning over documents to the House Judiciary Committee.

Rosenstein is to appear 5 April 2018.

In response, FBI Dir Wray doubles the number of agents working this matter from 27 to 54.

http://dailycaller.com/2018/03...inton-emails-russia/

The bureau has been “too slow” in providing Congress with documents related to investigations into Hillary Clinton’s email server and Russian meddling in the 2016 election, FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledged on Tuesday.

To remedy the situation, Wray will double the number of FBI staff working on the document production, he said. The announcement comes in response to a subpoena House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte issued to the Justice Department March 22 for records related to the two investigations.

An announcement came out today from DoJ IG office:



I have mixed thoughts on this. It is good that Horowitz is looking at this, but disappointing that it is starting so late.

Am assuming the announcement is about Carter Page ("a certain U.S. person") and the "alleged source" is Christopher Steele.


one of the main triggers for this investigation was a Sen Grassley letter to Horowitz on 28 Feb 2018.

Too long to print out, but the letter is here:

https://www.judiciary.senate.g...or-review?download=1

check out the list of 31 questions that starts on page 3

lots of questions about the dossier and the FISA warrant against Carter Page

And lots of questions about Comey and Bruce Ohr

This is an excellent breakdown of what's going on.

https://theconservativetreehou...ecutor-john-w-huber/

It's too long to copy/paste, unless sdy or JALLEN get ambitious. It would do everyone some good to read up on this though. Especially those that keep railing on about Sessions and their misconceptions as to his role overall, and his role in the mess being unwound in D.C.

quote:

Originally posted by Veeper:
This is an excellent breakdown of what's going on.

https://theconservativetreehou...ecutor-john-w-huber/

It's too long to copy/paste, unless sdy or JALLEN get ambitious. It would do everyone some good to read up on this though. Especially those that keep railing on about Sessions and their misconceptions as to his role overall, and his role in the mess being unwound in D.C.

I read this yesterday, and was searching around for a cut and paste version of Sessions letter when I was distracted by other cares.

Once again, what we see in news reports are the tip of the iceberg. A lot is going on below the surface of public fake news. This is not merely Sessions fiddling while Rome appears to be burning. This non public activity is how DOJ has operated for decades. FBI, too, when they are doing it right.

For these reasons, I continue to urge restraint when frustrations with the seeming slow pace, or seeming no-pace, of events.

I dislike comparisons to Watergate, but it might be worth noting that the burglary was discovered on June 17, 1972. April 30, 1973, Nixon fired Erlichman, Haldeman and Dean. The Senate Committee started up in May, 1973. The Independent Prosecutor was named in May, 1973.

Indictments came in the spring of 1974. Nixon resigned August 8, 1974. Trials started in October, 1974.

These things take time.

Sessions letter:

https://www.scribd.com/documen...5121590/?format=pdf]

part of it:

From reporter Sarah Carter:

Communications uncovered by congressional investigators reveal the FBI may have improperly coordinated with Department of Justice officials in an effort to pressure those officials to expedite a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance warrant on a former volunteer with the President Trump’s campaign, congressional officials said.

Text messages obtained by investigators reveal that FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and his colleague Lisa Page were discussing the FBI’s difficulty in obtaining the warrant to spy on Carter Page, who worked for a short stint with the Trump campaign. The FBI obtained its first warrant to spy on Page on Oct. 19, 2016, and there would be three subsequent renewals every 90 days for the warrant on Mr. Page.

“At best, it’s a strange coincidence worth investigating further—but it’s likely much more…”
The communications, which were first released last week and obtained by congressional investigators, occurred roughly one month before the Page warrant was obtained. The communications suggested that there was possible coordination by Obama White House officials, the CIA and the FBI into the investigation into President Donald Trump’s campaign, as reported earlier.

In one of the September 2016 text message chains, Strzok tells Lisa Page about an argument that occurred with former DOJ prosecutor David Laufman. Laufman, who was then chief of the DOJ’s National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, oversaw the probe into former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, as well as the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Laufman left the DOJ earlier this year citing personal reasons for leaving his post, according to news reports.


In the text message, Strzok complains that Laufman told him the hold-up for the application “EDVA is/was the delay.” The EDVA refers to the Eastern District of Virginia—a court that has previously issued subpeonas in the Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigation. This exchange raises concerns about FBI agents potentially pressuring prosecutors and the courts to speed up the production of information related to issuing FISA warrants, congressional staffers added. Congressional investigators originally stated that the EDVA had possibly been involved in the issuing of a FISA warrant. [Add: Conservative Treehoise points out that “EDVA” is likely Dana Boente, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia]

“Everything here—from the texts complaining about FISA delays to the exchanges indicating coordination, to the White House visitor logs—seems to match to a disturbing degree. At best, it’s a strange coincidence worth investigating further—but it’s likely much more,” a congressional investigator told this reporter. “Congress has to take this information seriously if we hope to restore Americans’ trust in our federal justice system.”

In March 2016 there was already tension brewing between the FBI and Laufman.

“I am getting aggravated at Laufman,” a March 2016 message from Strzok to Lisa Page said.

According to congressional investigators, the new communications suggest that conflict only got deeper in the following months.

In a Sept. 8, 2016 text message, Lisa Page told Strzok: “Oh, just make sure I understood where things were on the [redacted] paper, trying to talk to Axelrod [Matthew Axelrod, DOJ prosecutor] because he’s ‘so angry’ with how this came over to them. I told her not to put herself out too much if Matt wants to call and yell at Andy it’s fine.” Matthew Axelrod was the former top deputy to then acting attorney general Sally Yates. Yates was fired by Trump in January 2017 after she refused to enforce his executive travel ban order.

The reference to ‘Andy’ is former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was fired on March 16, by the Department of Justice at the request of the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). Only several days after the text was sent, White House visitor logs reveal that on Sept. 12, 2016, Axelrod met with President Obama at the White House.

McCabe may now be looking at possible charges for lying under oath to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who is investigating the FBI’s handling of its investigation into Clinton. His firing came days before he would have been eligible for a lifetime pension. The bureau fired McCabe based on evidence that he lied to the DOJ’s Inspector General’s office four times regarding leaks to the media during the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s use of the unsecured private server to send classified messages.


McCabe contended in a statement shortly after his firing that he was fired as part of the administration’s “ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation.”

However, current FBI Director Christopher Wray disputed McCabe’s assertion that he was fired for political reasons saying in an interview with NBC’s “Nightly News” that his “commitment to making sure that our process is followed, that it relies on objective input, and that most importantly, it is not based on political or partisan influence is something I am utterly unyielding on.”

Clarification: This story has been updated with additional information from Congressional investigators on the Eastern District of Virginia court. They had originally stated that a FISA warrant was issued in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Link

More from Sarah Carter:

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) demanded Wednesday that the FBI and DOJ comply with the committee’s subpoena to review documents pertaining to the bureau’s Russia investigation. In particular, the committee wants the un-redacted version of the original investigative document, also known as “Electronic Communication” that launched the FBI counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign, according to a letter issued by the Chairman.

Chairman Devin Nunes, R-CA, sent the letter to Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray warning them that their lack of compliance with the committee’s original Aug. 24, 2017 subpoena to turn over all requested documents could result in “the Committee pursuing all appropriate legal remedies, including seeking civil enforcement” in a federal district court. The committee gave the FBI and DOJ until April 11 to turn over all the documentation requested.


The request for the un-redacted version of the originating “electronic communication” is new and it reveals that the committee is looking into the FBI’s initiation of the investigation into alleged collusion between President Trump and Russia in the 2016 presidential election. The document would be a detailed report of the FBI’s reasoning to move forward with the investigation into the Trump campaign after the bureau was informed by Australian authorities of a conversation Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos had with one of their diplomats at a London bar.

“This is a key document in getting the whole thing started,” Nunes stated. “The DOJ and FBI are attempting to keep us from seeing an un-redacted copy of it.”

Nunes had originally asked Wray for assistance on Feb. 27 for an un-redacted copy of the originating “Electronic Communication” but on March 14 when committee investigators were given access to the document from the FBI it was a heavily redacted version, according to the letter and congressional officials.

Nunes called Wray the next day and voiced his dissatisfaction with the FBI’s failure to produce the UN-redacted documents.

“At your request, I have endeavored to execute the Committee’s oversight responsibilities more informally,” Nunes said. “On March 23, 2018, FBI’s Assistant Director for Legislative Affairs informed the Committee that FBI would refuse to further un-redact the EC based on its supposed sensitivity. The document in question is not highly classified, and law enforcement sources have apparently not been shy about leaking to the press information that the Department and Bureau refuse to share with Congress.”

Read the Nunes letter to Rosenstein and Wray

FBI officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

The committee had requested all the documents and information from the DOJ’s Office of Legislative Affairs on Feb. 7 and later followed up with an email on Feb. 8, 14 and 26, the letter states.

“After nearly three weeks without a meaningful response, (Office of Legislative Affairs) finally informed the Committee on Feb. 26, 2018, that ‘the Department has not agreed to allow further member access.'” Nunes said in his letter “this arbitrary resistance to legitimate oversight is unacceptable.”

The letter stated that the “DOJ has for months restricted Member access to other documents responsive to the August 24 subpoenas, including Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications targeting Carter Page.” Page, a short-term volunteer for the Trump campaign, told this reporter that he wanted the committee to have access to his FISA applications, which were approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in October 2016.

The committee’s final report on the Russia investigation criticized the FBI for withholding information from the court that the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton Campaign paid for former British spy Christopher Steele’s work on the unverified dossier, which accused Page of colluding with the Russians.

On Nov. 2, 2017, Nunes sent a letter to Rosenstein, informing him that he had designated Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-SC, to review the documents and that decision was “made without prejudice to, and shall not limit or waive the authority of all Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from reviewing the document at a later date upon request.”

Despite promises made by both DOJ Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Wray to comply with the congressional requests, investigators on numerous committees tell this reporter they failed to do so.

“We’ve been dealing with this for more than a year now and they always have some excuse,” said a congressional official. “One example is the information we’ve seen lately on the redactions they kept from the committees in the (FBI Special Agent) Peter Strzok and (FBI Attorney Lisa) Page text messages regarding FISC Court Judge (Rudy) Contreras. It’s really hard to believe that they didn’t find this FISA stuff on Contreras relevant to our investigation. Congress is having continual problems getting information from the DOJ and FBI, even in the face of subpoenas.”

Late last month, new redacted text messages uncovered by congressional investigators revealed Strzok and his paramour Page discussed Strzok’s relationship with U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras. Contreras presided over Dec. 1, 2017, hearing where former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and on Dec. 7, he was recused from the case without explanation, as previously reported.

Strzok was removed from Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office last year after the DOJ’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz uncovered thousands of text message revealing the agent’s anti-Trump bias.

Numerous Republican congressional officials have told this reporter that the FBI and DOJ have continually stonewalled on delivering the requested information.

House Intelligence Committee members, however, have received “all FBI Form FD-I 023s” and all remaining FBI Form FD- 302s responsive to the Committee’s August 24, 2017 subpoenas,” a congressional source said.

Nunes and the FBI agreed on one exception, which “pertains to a single FD-302, which, due to national security interests, will be shown separately by Director Wray to myself and my senior investigators” according to a letter issued from the committee to the DOJ and FBI in January.

A congressional source said “in addition to the Inspector General investigation, the DOJ has committed to making Bruce Ohr, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and other officials available to Congress for interviews. On top of that, you have the Goodlatte subpoena. So it’s a safe bet there will be a lot of new revelations about this issue.”

In January, the DOJ agreed to make DOJ Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr; FBI Supervisory Special Agent Peter Strzok; former FBI General Counsel James Baker; FBI Attorney Lisa Page; FBI Attorney Sally Moyer; FBI Assistant Director Greg Brower; FBI Assistant Director Bill Priestap; and FBI Special Agent James Rybicki, available to the committee for questioning.

Link

The Nunes ltr to Wray is pretty strong. Nunes threatens to follow up with the 24 Aug 2017 subpoenas. Last paragraph of his ltr:



One of the reasons that this is so important is the dossier. As the credibility of the Steele dossier kept looking more and more doubtful, the DEMs, the media, and FBI/DoJ started down playing it's importance.

from:

https://www.washingtonexaminer...i-trump-russia-probe

"The originating document has been the subject of much controversy. After some Republicans alleged that the FBI used never-verified parts of the Trump dossier as part of its reason to begin the investigation in July 2016, some "current and former" officials leaked to the New York Times that no, it was the case of George Papadopoulos, reported to U.S. authorities by foreign intelligence agents, that prompted the FBI investigation.

"The information that Mr. Papadopoulos gave to the Australians answers one of the lingering mysteries of the past year: What so alarmed American officials to provoke the FBI to open a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign months before the presidential election?" the Times reported on Dec. 30. "It was not, as Mr. Trump and other politicians have alleged, a dossier compiled by a former British spy hired by a rival campaign. Instead, it was firsthand information from one of America's closest intelligence allies.""

*************

to argue that Papadopoulos was the trigger for an FBI investigation into the Trump campaign colluding w Russia is pretty far out. Papadopoulos was talking in a bar that he heard the Russians have Clinton emails. big deal.

All signs point to the fact that the FBI/DoJ used the unverified dossier to get the FISA warrants.

The people pushing the collusion BS keep moving the goalposts as their stories keep getting proven wrong. Their last line of defense is now refusing to reveal info because they claim it is too sensitive.

Nunes should give them 24 hours to provide it, and then nail them hard if they don't.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:


Nunes should give them 24 hours to provide it, and then nail them hard if they don't.

Then, call Rod Rosenstein and tell him to to have DOJ file suit against the DOJ to compel compliance.

FBI and DoJ fought Nunes to not put out his FISA memo some weeks ago.

President Trump and his staff over ruled Wray and Rosenstein. Time for another power mtg w Donald Trump or his key staff. This nonsense has to stop.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
FBI and DoJ fought Nunes to not put out his FISA memo some weeks ago.

President Trump and his staff over ruled Wray and Rosenstein. Time for another power mtg w Donald Trump or his key staff. This nonsense has to stop.

It’s tricky.

If Rosen and or Wray refuse to release the material, Sessions and/or Trump could order them to do so. If they, or either, resigns rather than comply, that sets up a very dicy confirmation process for a successor, and of course, the chorus that Trump is strong arming the special prosecutor.

They has best have a damned good explanation for not handing it over. They must believe they do.

Has Schiff or the others ever conceded that their claims about national security harmed by the FISC memo were bullshit?

BREAKING: JUDICIAL WATCH BOMBSHELL=> FISA Court Held NO HEARINGS on Carter Page Warrants

Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch dropped a bombshell on Spygate Friday.

The Justice Department admitted in a court filing this week that the FISA court never held hearings on the FISA applications for former Trump advisor Carter Page.

One FISA warrant and three subsequent FISA renewals on Carter Page were obtained by Obama’s corrupt FBI in order to spy on Trump’s campaign.

‘[N]o such hearings were held with respect to the acknowledged FISA applications. Accordingly, no responsive hearing transcripts exist.’

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today announced that in response to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the Justice Department (DOJ) admitted in a court filing last night that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court held no hearings on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) spy warrant applications targeting Carter Page, a former Trump campaign part-time advisor who was the subject of four controversial FISA warrants.

In the filing the Justice Department finally revealed that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court held no hearings on the Page FISA spy warrants, first issued in 2016 and subsequently renewed three times:

[National Security Division] FOIA consulted [Office of Intelligence] … to identify and locate records responsive to [Judicial Watch’s] FOIA request…. [Office of Intelligence] determined … that there were no records, electronic or paper, responsive to [Judicial Watch’s] FOIA request with regard to Carter Page. [Office of Intelligence] further confirmed that the [Foreign Surveillance Court] considered the Page warrant applications based upon written submissions and did not hold any hearings.
President of Judicial Watch Tom Fitton had this to say about the new developments:

“It is disturbing that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance courts rubber-stamped the Carter Page spy warrants and held not one hearing on these extraordinary requests to spy on the Trump team. Perhaps the court can now hold hearings on how justice was corrupted by material omissions that Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the DNC, a conflicted Bruce Ohr, a compromised Christopher Steele, and anti-Trumper Peter Strzok were all behind the ‘intelligence’ used to persuade the courts to approve the FISA warrants that targeted the Trump team.”

In July, Judicial Watch obtained over 400 pages of heavily redacted Carter Page FISA documents.

Comey, Rosenstein, McCabe and Sally Yates all signed the FISA applications even though Hillary’s fraudulent Russia dossier was used as a pretext to obtain the warrants.

Obama’s Deep State DOJ and FBI withheld information about Hillary Clinton and the DNC being behind the information used to obtain the FISA warrant.

President Trump is reportedly moving to declassify the June 2017 FISA renewal which was signed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

Trump’s ace card is a declassification order on all Carter Page FISA docs and other documents related to the Russia witch hunt.

Mr. President, it is time to declassify all the Russia docs.


https://www.thegatewaypundit.c...arter-page-warrants/

FISA Court work is almost entirely what is called “ex parte” so I am not sure what significance not holding a hearing, as that term is popularly understood, might have.

A hearing in the popular mind has a judge in a black robe appearing while all stand, the clerk announces the case, parties and counsel give appearances and the presentation to the judge proceeds. Ex parte “hearings” aren’t that way usually. One side is present, counsel goes in, often to judge’s chambers, the judge reviews the papers, asks questions, decides and signs, or not. There may, or may not, be a court reporter involved.

I have no real idea how these are handled, but I imagine the papers are delivered to the court clerk for in processing, then given to the duty judge for reading and review. In these highly specialized cases, a DOJ lawyer might not even go in, but be available for a call if there are questions.

The Judicial Watch report is significant.

In Feb 2018, Devin Nunes asked for the Carter Page FISA warrant transcripts:



Judge Rosemary Collyer responded:





Rosemary Collyer doesn't say "none exist"; she says go talk to the DoJ.

Back in Feb 2018 I thought her response was lacking, and now it looks even more shady

The 4 judges who signed the FISA warrants were:

Rosemary Collyer
Michael Mosman
Ann Conway
Raymond Dearie

So these 4 judges each approved a warrant that said Carter Page was a Russian foreign agent.

The last 2 warrants were signed while Donald Trump was officially president.

And not one of them thought it was important to ask questions.

Why are these people still FISA judges ?

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
The Judicial Watch report is significant.

.....

Back in Feb 2018 I thought her response was lacking, and now it looks even more shady

The judge said ”in a typical process...., we make no systematic record of the questions we ask or the responses the government gives.”

This is consistent with what I believe happens in the context of these ex parte applications, and while the response is not fully descriptive, it doesn’t strike me as sinister or shady.

lots of daylight between

"we make no systematic record of questions or responses"

and

we didn't ask anything. all four times. we just rubber stamped lies.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
lots of daylight between

"we make no systematic record of questions or responses"

and

we didn't ask anything. all four times. we just rubber stamped lies.

One is probably factually accurate, although incomplete. The other is the product of imagination unsupported by articulable facts.