- KGB (er, FBI) restricts information obtained from Carter Page FISA surveillance
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It seems to us…
The entire handling of the “surveillance” process against the Trump campaign and administration should scare the hell out of Americans.
And, if anyone thinks Christopher Wray is anything more than a corrupt Deep State operative, they haven’t been paying attention.
And the “FISA Court”? Which “way from Sunday” to destroy any political opponent of the Left in this nation, is it (1,2,3,4,5, or 6 ?) (Maybe Schumer knows)
How easy it must be to find and recruit corrupt judges and law enforcement elites in this country that they seem to permeate every aspect of life in this “free nation”. The FISA apparently aligns with the FBI, both when they are acting illegally…and when they’re caught doing so. This is the very definition of a ‘state security agency’.
One cannot make any statement regarding the shocking abuse of law enforcement and judicial power which has been revealed, without first disclaiming any possible lack of virtue on the part of any of the ‘hardworking, fully committed,, ‘life on the line’, rank and file current and former members of the FBI !
Really?! How many were ‘just following orders’? How did only the “rotten exceptions” among the bureau’s ‘long serving’ , hardworking, committed to their ‘high calling’ members, rise to the key leadership positions in the FBI?
And…where are all those “Efrem Zimbalists” now, when all the institutional rot has been disclosed? Where are the letters signed by hundreds…thousands of current and former agents decrying and condemning the actions of their current and former bosses?
The Left seems to have no shortage of ‘letter-signers’ condemning anything and everything Trump and his choices for leadership attempt to do, as example following : dlh
“HUNDREDS OF FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTORS ACCUSING TRUMP OF OBSTRUCTION” (May 17, 2019)
“Hundreds of additional former federal prosecutors have signed onto a statement asserting that President Trump would have been indicted for obstruction of justice were he not currently serving as president.
“The open letter organized by the nonprofit group Protect Democracy had roughly 400 signatures when it was initially posted Monday afternoon on Medium. The letter neared 700 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.
“Among the new signatories are Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a former U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Mass.), a former prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia. Both lawmakers have been critical of Trump.” ( Link above to read more)
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FBI restricts information obtained from Carter Page FISA surveillance
by Daniel Chaitin (bold our emphasis)
Revealed in a Jan. 7 filing by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that was made public on Thursday, the government said the bureau chose to “sequester all collection the FBI acquired pursuant to the Court’s authorizations” to grant a warrant and three extensions for the electronic surveillance of Page, a U.S. citizen who was suspected of acting as an agent of Russia but was never charged with any wrongdoing.
The filing, signed off by presiding FISA court Judge James Boasberg, further stated that the “sequester” would remain in place until the completion of a further review of the DOJ inspector general report on the Page FISA warrants and the “outcome of related investigations and any litigation.”
“The government has not described what steps are involved in such sequestration or when it will be completed,” Boasberg wrote. “It has, however, undertaken to ‘provide an update to the court when the FBI completes the sequestration.'”
Boasberg’s filing made headlines on Thursday for showing the Justice Department conceded that there was insufficient evidence to justify the last two of four orders covering the final several months of electronic surveillance of Page during the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign. The initial order came in October 2016, and the electronic surveillance stretched into the summer of 2017 with a trio of extensions at three-month intervals. It remains unclear whether the Justice Department believes the first two orders targeting Page were similarly flawed.
“Today’s unprecedented court filing represents another step on the road to recovery for America’s deeply damaged judicial system. I hope that this latest admission of guilt for these civil rights abuses by the Justice Department marks continued progress towards restoring justice and remedying these reputationally ruinous injuries,” Page said in a statement.
Another brief filing that quietly popped up on the FISA court website Thursday showed the Justice Department requested a deadline extension for the delivery of information regarding minimization procedures designed to stem the disclosure of information about U.S. citizens under surveillance. Boasberg, who seeks the information so that the FISA court can “assess whether the handling and disposition of the information acquired” comports with FISA provisions, wrote that the government’s request was granted, and a new deadline has been set for Feb. 5. The original deadline was Jan. 28.
In December, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report criticizing the DOJ and the FBI for 17 “significant errors and omissions” in its submissions to the FISA court seeking authority to surveil Page and the reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s salacious and unverified dossier. The watchdog report showed that FBI interviews with Steele’s primary source, beginning in January 2017 after the first FISA renewal, “raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting.”
Following Horowitz’s investigation, FBI Director Christopher Wray ordered more than 40 “corrective steps” to address the watchdog’s report, including 12 reforms related to the FISA process.
In a Jan. 10 response to the court, Wray said he “deeply regrets” the FBI’s failures in the Page FISA process and offered a timetable of reforms and training the bureau is undertaking. David Kris, a former Justice Department lawyer picked to advise the FISA court on the reform process, submitted a brief that pushed for improved communications between FBI and DOJ attorneys on FISA matters beyond what the bureau has proposed.
The FISA court also ordered a review of all FISA filings handled by Kevin Clinesmith, the FBI lawyer whoaltered a key document about Page in the process to obtain the third warrant renewal. He is now under criminal investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham, a prosecutor from Connecticut who was tasked by Attorney General William Barr with investigating the origins of the Russia inquiry.
