If you are exhausted from the drumbeat of doom and gloom surrounding the Corona virus pandemic, here is a welcome diversion–corruption and malfeasance by the FBI and the Department of Justice. The Senate Judiciary Committee dumped several critical documents Thursday night relevant to the Deep State plot to portray Donald Trump and his team as agents of Putin’s Russia. Jim Hoft was first out of the box posting the links to the damning documents (see here). You can click on the links in Jim’s article and read the original documents for your self.
The Conservative Treehouse also provided an excellent piece focusing on the cover letter sent to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court trying to explain why the errors in the FISA applications were not important errors. That was a big lie. The letter was signed by AAG John Demers in July 2018, when Jeff Sessions was Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein was Deputy AG; Christopher Wray was FBI Director, David Bowditch was the Deputy, and Dana Boente was FBI chief-legal-counsel. This letter was a lame effort at trying to cover the FBI’s crooked ass.
There are many fascinating and damning revelations in these documents. They confirm what I have written in the past about the FBI role in the attempted coup against Donald Trump. This July 12, 2018 letter to Judge Rosemary Collyer tries to put lipstick on the pig of FBI misdeeds and pretend that the FBI’s FISA applications were the equivalent of the gorgeous Marilyn Monroe in her heyday. Instead, the FBI misdeeds are exposed as a fat, ugly crone.
Demers’ letter continued to insist that four FISA applications to spy on Carter Page were properly predicated. That is balderdash.
Let me take you on a detailed journey through the first FISA application seeking permission to spy on Carter Page. Congressional Democrats falsely insisted that Steele’s lies and misinformation played little role. You can see from the following how wrong that assertion is:
pp. 2-3 Statements of “fact” about Russia as a threat, including a blacked out section attributed to a foreign government.
pp. 4-5 FBI tries to explain why they thought Carter was a bad guy.
p. 5 Uses statements of proven liar James Clapper as “evidence” of Russian bad intentions.
p. 6 Repeats the U.S. Government propaganda about Wikileaks (they’re bad because Julian Assange published information very embarrassing to the United States).
pp. 7-8 More historical (and semi-hysterical) boiler plate describing the evil intentions of Russia.
pp. 8-10 FBI states its “BELIEFS” about the nefarious intention of Carter Page and others linked to the Trump campaign.
pp. 10-15 FBI draws on open source information and previous interviews with Carter Page to paint in the darkest terms Page’s business contacts with Russians that Page voluntarily disclosed.
pp. 15-22 Now the dirt from Steele starts to flow. Steele and his sub-source are cited frequently in establishing the so-called “facts” of Page’s contacts with Russia.
pp. 22-26 The FBI plays the clever trick of citing journalist reports as further evidence to support the allegations against Page without disclosing that those reports were based on leaks from Steele. The FBI does acknowledge having multiple contacts with Page who denied these reports as scurrilous lies.
pp. 27-28 FBI admits it used a Confidential Human Source to try to bait Page but came up empty. That damn Carter Page kept telling the truth about not working with the Russians.
pp. 29-31 These are blacked out.
pp. 32-33 The FBI conclusion, which they use to justify spying on an innocent American.
As you can see, the majority of the so-called “evidence” presented to get permission to spy on Page came from Christopher Steele’s dossier, which was commissioned and paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
If you take time to read the first FISA application you will learn the following supposed “facts” that are in fact evidence of the FBI deliberately deceiving the FISC:
1. Christopher Steele had been an FBI informant since 2013.
(U) Source1 (Steele) is a (former member of Britain’s MI6) and has been an FBI source since in or about October 2013. Source #l’s reporting has been corroborated and used in criminal proceedings and the FBI assesses Source #1 to be reliable. Source 1 has been compensated approximately $95,000 by the FBI and the FBI is unaware of any derogatory information pertaining to Source 1. (See page 15)
But the FBI failed to include the actual facts about Steele’s misconduct, which led the FBI to terminate him around the same time they were affirming to Judge Collyer that he was a solid guy. Steele was spreading the dossier lies to the American media with the knowledge and consent of Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS “fame.” Most normal, sensible people understand that getting fired for lying to the FBI qualifies as “derogatory information.”
2. The FBI received so-called intelligence from Christopher Steele starting in June of 2016–one month before they launched Operation Crossfire Hurricane.
Source 1 (Steele) reported the information contained herein to the FBI over the course of several meetings with the FBI from in or about June 2016 through August 2016. (See page 17)
What could Christopher Steele tell the FBI in June of 2016 and why would the FBI even entertain getting political dirt from a biased source eager to trash the candidacy of Donald Trump? The only report Steele had in June (dated 20 June 2016) made the following claims:
- Russia cultivating, supporting and assisting Trump since at least 2011.
- Trump has declined various real estate deals in Russia but he and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin on his political rivals.
- FSB has compromising intel on Trump that they can use to blackmail him (e.g., coprophilia).
- A dossier of compromising material on Hillary Clinton is being held by the Kremlin but has not been distributed.
Steele’s FBI handler was required by practice and regulations of the FBI to write up a report (i.e. a 302) recounting what Christopher Steele told him. Where is that report and who at FBI headquarters read it?
3. The FBI claimed that Carter Page was an intelligence asset of the Russian Government.
This application targets Carter Page. The FBI believes Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian Government for a number or years and currently is acting as an unregistered agent of the Russian Government to undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election in violation of U.S. criminal law. (See page 4)
Here again the FBI chose to lie by failing to disclose that Carter Page had been working for the CIA from 2008 thru 2013. He was telling the CIA about his Russian contacts in order to help protect America.
Inspector General Horowitz called out this deceit in his December 2019 report:
Toward that end, on September 28, 2016, the 01 Attorney emailed Case Agent 1 a draft of the FISA application, copying other members of the Crossfire Hurricane team. In a comment in the draft application, the 01 Attorney asked “do we know if there is any truth to Page’s claim that he has provided information to [another U.S. government agency]-was he considered a source/asset/whatever?” In response to the 01 Attorney’s question, on September 29, Case Agent 1 inserted the following comment in the draft:
“He did meet with [the other U.S. government agency], however, it’s dated and I would argue it was/is outside scope, I don’t think we need it in. It was years ago, when he was in Moscow. If you want to keep it, I can get the language from the [August 17 Memorandum] we were provided [by the other U.S. government agency].”294
Based upon this response, the 01 Attorney did not include information about Page’s prior relationship with the other agency in the FISA application.
4. The FBI was investigating many members of the Trump campaign for allegedly helping Russia to interfere in the 2016 Presidential election.
The FBI is investigating several individuals associated with Candidate #1’s campaign, including Papadopoulos and Page, to determine the extent to which such individuals are engaged in unlawful activities in support of Russia’s efforts to undermine and influence the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. The FBI believes that Page is coordinating election influence efforts with the Russian Government.
We now know there was no real evidence to justify the investigation of Carter Page, George Papadopoulus, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and General Michael Flynn. This was not just a mistake by overly enthusiastic FBI gum shoes. It was an attempted coup.
Apologists for the FBI cannot argue that the “mistakes” in the first FISA application were just human error because those mistakes were compounded in the subsequent three FISA applications. Most damning is the failure to disclose in the second, third and fourth applications that the Russian sub-source for Steele’s outlandish claims disavowed his reporting during interviews with the FBI in January 2017, March 2017 and May 2017. Pay close attention to what Horowitz found:
In support of the fourth element concerning Carter Page’s alleged coordination with the Russian government on 2016 U.S. presidential election activities, the drafts of the application-and later the read copy and final application-relied entirely on information from Steele that Steele said was provided to him by his Primary Sub-source. Specifically, the following aspects of Steele’s Reports 80, 94, 95, and 102 were used to support the application:
• Compromising information about Hillary Clinton had been compiled for many years, was controlled by the Kremlin, and the Kremlin had been feeding information to the Trump campaign for an extended period of time (Report 80);
• During his July 2016 trip to Moscow, Carter Page attended a secret meeting with Igor Sechin, Chairman of Rosneft and close associate of Putin, to discuss future cooperation and the lifting of Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia; and a secret meeting with Igor Divyekin, another highly placed Russian official, to discuss sharing compromising information about Clinton with the Trump campaign (Report 94);
• Page was an intermediary between Russia and the Trump campaign’s then manager (Manafort) in a “well-developed conspiracy” of cooperation, which led, with at least Page’s knowledge and agreement, to Russia’s disclosure of hacked DNC emails to Wikileaks in exchange for the Trump campaign’s agreement to sideline Russian intervention in Ukraine as a campaign issue (Report 95);267 and
• Russia released the DNC emails to Wikileaks in an attempt to swing voters to Trump, an objective conceived and promoted by Carter Page and others (Report 102).
What is particularly galling is that the FBI peddled Steele’s crap to the U.S. Intelligence Community:
The FBI disseminated the Steele election reporting to the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) and sought to have it included in the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) relating to Russian interference with the U.S. elections, in large part because the FBI believed the information in Steele’s reports to be credible, although the FBI made clear to the USIC that the information in the reports had not been fully corroborated. (See page 172 of Horowitz’s December 2019 report).
Horowitz reported that the FBI met with Steele’s sub-source three times in 2017 and discovered he had no solid intelligence. He was fabricating:
The FBI conducted interviews of the Primary Sub-source in January, March, and May 2017 that raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting. In particular, the FBI’s interview with Steele’s Primary Sub- source in January 2017, shortly after the FBI filed the Carter Page FISA Renewal Application No. 1 and months prior to Renewal Application No. 2, raised doubts about the reliability of Steele’s descriptions of information in his election reports.
During the FBI’s January interview, at which Case Agent 1, the Supervisory Intel Analyst, and representatives of NSD were present, the Primary Sub-source told the FBI that he/she had not seen Steele’s reports until they became public that month, and that he/she made statements indicating that Steele misstated or exaggerated the Primary Sub-source’s statements in multiple sections of the reporting.
For example, the Primary Sub-source told the FBI that, while Report 80 stated that Trump’s alleged sexual activities at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Moscow had been “confirmed” by a senior, western staff member at the hotel, the Primary Sub-source explained that he/she reported to Steele that Trump’s alleged unorthodox sexual activity at the Ritz Carlton hotel was “rumor and speculation” and that he/she had
not been able to confirm the story.
The Horowitz audit presented in December 2019 makes it very clear that this was not mere administrative sloppiness by the FBI:
We found that members of the Crossfire Hurricane team failed to meet the basic obligation to ensure that the Carter Page FISA applications were “scrupulously accurate.” We identified significant inaccuracies and omissions in each of the four applications-7 in the first FISA application and a total of 17 by the final renewal application. (see page 413)
In the preparation of the FISA applications to surveil Carter Page, the Crossfire Hurricane team failed to comply with FBI policies, and in so doing fell short of what is rightfully expected from a premier law enforcement agency entrusted with such an intrusive surveillance tool. In light of the significant concerns identified with the Carter Page FISA applications and the other issues described in this report, the OIG today initiated an audit that will further examine the FBI’s compliance with the Woods Procedures in FISA applications that target U.S. persons in both counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations. (see page 414)
Call me a naive dreamer, but I still believe that those responsible for these crimes against Trump will be indicted and face trial. I pray for the sake of our nation that I am not proven wrong.
Could one venture that the post-Watergate incarceration of the Nixon team key and secondary players, that no one attempted the same degree of crimes and coverups that emanated from that White House?
As well as VP Sprio Agnew also getting caught red-handed taking bribes during his time sitting within the executive offices.
So call me naive too, but doing time for doing the crime does appear to work as deterance. Or did the same activity, just go further underground.
Lesson from Watergate for me: truth will out. Oh, what tangled webs we weave, when we first choose to deceive. Once one lies, cheats or steals they have turn their lives over to someone else. Not worth it.
The apparent crimes committed by what looks like a busload of zealots against Carter Page are straightforward, and uncomplicated to prosecute.
Why haven’t all of those involved with the apparent violations of CP’s first amendment rights not yet been criminally charged with violating his civil rights?
What happened to him is not a mystery anymore.
This is such a black and white case; the DOJ does these cases all the time. It’s their bread and butter.
The indictment list may run into dozens of DOJ/FBI/CIA officials, but so what.
This is the one crime I’ve waited years to be prosecuted. It is so pernicious, and this was an attack on anyone wanting to get involved in politics.
I’m also more and more curious about something I don’t think I’ll ever get to know for sure.
Are there in existence “sealed indictments” sitting in someone’s DOJ drawer — against CP — that is: FARA indictments against CP – was that also part of this tom foolery by FBI/DOJ/CIA/Barry?
Are there one or more “sealed” indictments on Gen. Flynn?
I would like a definitive answers on these Qs.
Cleaning up this ugly mess demands, among many things: a definitive Yes or No from AG Barr on whether there are any “sealed” indictments against anyone who volunteered to serve on the Trump 2016 presidential campaign.
Current practice prohibits disclosure of such; however, there is nothing to prohibit Barr or any of his deputies from clearly stating whether there are any unsealed indictments, stemming from the Barry Regime, against Trump campaign volunteers.
Of course, there is nothing preventing Sally Yates or Loretta Lynch from disclosing this too.
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Jim, could you please explain the significance of finding any ‘sealed indictments”. Are like they are ready made “insurance policies” waiting to be cashed in? Thanks.
Larry
Why is Wray still running the FBI?
Short and simple answer is: I never thought of sealed criminal indictment as insurance policy. They are supposed to be a tool to fight crime. As a practical matter, many criminal indictments are sealed just for a few days, or hours — between when an indictment is filed in a court, and when the alleged criminal is arrested and brought to court. When an alleged criminal is formally charged, there is no longer a practical reason to keep one sealed, as the suspect is in custody. Unsealing — before then — give suspect opportunity to flee.
Thinking of it this way, as an analogy, sealed indictment equals insurance policy — cries against all our justice system stands for — in cases when there may be no real evidence of a crime, rather, just to frame someone.
But your observation makes sense in a way, as it applies to Gen. Flynn and Carter Page.
I like the question Deap, simply because, this entire fiasco, including the so-called ‘insurance policy’ Strzok communicated to Lisa Page is serious but so slap stick.
A well known recent example is Julian Assange; there was at least one sealed indictment against him, that we know about, that was sealed for many months.
It was unsealed by US DOJ, when he was forcibly removed from Ecuador embassy in London.
An advocacy group [Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press], prior to when this was unsealed, filed a lawsuit to make it unsealed.
They failed.
The federal judge rejected this plea, which happened four months before the government unsealed it, when Assange was arrested in London, where he is in jail.
“What makes this case unique is that the Government [DOJ] has not acknowledged whether formal charges have been filed against Assange, and the Committee has not cited any authority supporting the notion that the public has a right to require the Government to confirm or deny that it has charged someone,” the federal judge in his opinion denying the petition to unseal an actually existing, albeit sealed, indictment.
Even the DOJ does not have automatic access to a sealed indictment. [Keep in mind grand jury proceedings are also sealed.]
This is what a federal court said, about even DOJ not having automatic access to a sealed indictment [this is a separate matter from the above judge’s ruling]:
[[Even if you represent the party who filed the sealed document, you must have a court order to obtain a copy from the Clerk’s Office. For example, if the U.S. Attorney’s Office wants a certified copy of a sealed indictment, either the order sealing the indictment or a separate order must give the Clerk’s Office permission to provide the U.S. Attorney’s Office with a copy.]] [this is on the government’s website at: https://www.mdd.uscourts.gov/content/sealed-criminal-document-procedures ]
While I would “like to think” there are no sealed indictments, that is, there was none filed against Carter Page and General Flynn when Obama was president, given all we know about this spectacle, I can’t in good conscience be sure of it.
So, if any were filed, one might infer they were quasi “insurance policies.”
The judge in the Flynn case, in December 2018, basically accused him of treason, a traitor to his country, etc.
The judge in the Roger Stone case, she is off her rocker, biased and malicious.
As Larry pointed out, and others, including the CTH: the 2018 DOJ letter [I’ve read it myself] — it is astounding what they were still trying to claim.
All I’m saying is that the treatment of Flynn and Stone, by two different federal judges goes way beyond odd, way beyond anything reasonable and rational.
Thus, I wonder if sealed indictments were filed by DOJ against Flynn [and against Page]. . . since trying to ascertain any plausible explanation for the queer behavior of these two lifetime judges. . .to try and come up with an explanation as to why these two judges, in particular, took the liberty to act like fools, buffoons.
Were there sealed indictments, I’d imagine the two judges could have had access to them. But I don’t know this either.
But the judges it is fair to say did gulp the cool aid, that is the most charitable explanation for their actions.
For my own taste, I would not say — if there was sealed indictments — that this was purely analogous to insurance policy.
The goal all along has been to create the illusion of crimes.
To the extent that: half the country apparently still believes many of these illusions.
Which includes politicians, judges, some of our neighbors.
This has been especially evident in what we saw play out in all the false “bombshells” that never exploded since Trump has been in office. The bombshells were all make-believe, based on fantasies.
Thus it is not unreasonable to wonder if make-believe indictments were also created, and remain sealed, never to see the light of day. [We all know the DOJ has power to indict the proverbial ham sandwich]
Former AG [acting] Sally Yates was among the most dishonest purveyor of patently false, and totally fabricated character assassinations on Flynn. And he is still in the dock, years later. Press outlets slandered Page based on anonymous sources based on the Sally Yates model: character assassination.
I have other thoughts about significance of getting a straight answer on whether there are, or are not, any sealed indictments. I sure hope there are none. If there are, well, can the corruption get any more fantastic? If there are, then, yes, it would become more outrageous. Which is why it’s in the public interest for us to know, one way or the other, if this is true or not.
And not to beat a dead horse on this: the DOJ 2018 letter Larry referenced is exactly why we should get an up or down yes or no on this. This letter will live in infamy.
I hope this helps answer the question.
Jim
PS
FBI Dir. Chris Wray was then-NJ Gov Chris Christie’s lawyer during “BridgeGate” back in Sept. 2013 [The Fort Lee lane closure scandal, also known as the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal or Bridgegate]
$2.1 million paid to King & Spalding, who employed Christie’s former personal attorney Chris Wray
https://nypost.com/2018/04/30/taxpayers-have-paid-over-15m-for-chris-christies-legal-fees/
Christie did not want Trump to appoint Flynn as the NSA.
“Suffice to say, I had serious misgivings, which I think have been confirmed by the fact that he pled guilty to a felony in federal court,” Christie said.
See
https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2017/12/06/christie-warning-about-flynn-among-reasons-i-was-fired-from-trump-transition-136432
Yeah, OK, another leak that tells us what we’ve all known for months and years.
So, when do we get to the fecal-ventilator interface with arrests, handcuffs and orange jumpsuits?
Never, I’m starting to think.
Which is what my cynical wife told me three years ago when I got excited about the latest Great Big Revelation and Sundance’s analysis.
Fugetaboutit! said she: neva gonna happen.
Nothing has proved her wrong yet.
Jim, that was a very helpful explanation about the role of “sealed indictments”. Struggling to keep all the names, code names, dates and redactions in place.
Assuming this is the referenced and damning 2018 DOJ Letter – legitimizing in no uncertain terms Steele as a trusted source, and legitimizing the predication for the FISA requests: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/04/17/declassified-doj-letter-to-fisa-court-highlights-severe-institutional-corruption-doj-blames-fbi-for-spygate/?shared=email&msg=fail
Forget my $1200 check, Mr Trump. I want the entire $23 million wasted on the Mueller. With punitive damages.
Patrick
Your cynical wife has the number down. The institutional DNA is to protect their own. This was a particularly egregious case with Brennan and Comey outright calling a duly elected president a traitor. As we saw with Roger Stone when they want to they move with guns drawn SWAT style they can move pretty fast. But in this instance everyone of those involved in the abuse of FISA and other statutes have been rewarded with lucrative GoFundMe and book deals and other types of sinecures. On the other hand all those in Trump’s orbit have been financially ruined and harassed to no end.
What culpability does Trump himself have in this inaction? It is after all his administration. Wray, Rosenstein and Barr are his nominees. Why hasn’t he pardoned Gen. Flynn?
Fleshing our Lisa Page cryptic email: “potus wants to know everything” allegedly required inclusion of the Steele dossier in the Obama-directed Russian election interference investigation. https://www.redstate.com/nick-arama/2020/04/22/ex-fbi-officials-confirm-in-new-report-they-included-dossier-in-russian-interference-because-of-obama-order/
However, the dossier inclusion did not include any known qualifications at the time this dossier was (1) unvetted, (2) produced by the Clinton campaign or (3) was a known product of Russian disinformation.
Comey additionally handed it -unqualified- to President Elect Trump – while surreptitously observing and reporting PEOTUS Trump’s reactions to this unqualified dossier- clearly a set-up sting operation.