Tag: FISA

Commentary: The Neverending, Mysterious Saga of Michael Flynn

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by Victor Davis Hanson   Certainly, no one should defend a top-ranking federal employee’s lying to federal investigators or to his superiors in the Trump Administration, if that is what former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn did, as evidenced by his own confession. Note if Flynn lied to President Trump or Vice President Mike Pence about details of his private conversations, then that is unethical and understandably should be grounds for dismissal. The distinction, however, is whether Flynn deserved to be fired or to be in jail. What put Flynn in legal jeopardy were the general’s statements to FBI investigators that purportedly were false, and allegedly given deliberately to mislead two federal investigators. I express doubt here only because of media reports and leaks that Special Counsel Robert Mueller later either pressured Flynn for a confession, by strategies of financial exhaustion or leveraged him by threats to indict his son, or both. Without that pressure, one wonders how Flynn might have explained his earlier alleged inconsistencies in recounting a private off the record conversation with a foreign diplomatic official to two FBI officials. That is, had he had adequate legal resources or not faced prosecutorial threats to indict his son,…

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Judicial Watch Busts FISA Court Corruption

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Tom Fitton

by CHQ Staff   In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by our friends at Judicial Watch the Department of Justice release this bombshell admission: [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. (Emphasis ours.) Just make this clear; 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. The initial warrant was first issued in 2016 and subsequently renewed three times. In February, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a memo criticizing the FISA targeting of Carter Page. The memo details how the “minimally corroborated” Clinton-DNC dossier was an essential part of the FBI and DOJ’s applications for surveillance warrants to spy on Page. Judicial Watch recently filed a request with the Foreign…

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The Carter Page FISA Application: Four Key Takeaways (Plus One More)

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Carter Page and Trump

As experts comb through the newly-released, heavily redadcted FISA application to surveil former Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page, John Hinderaker at PowerLineBlog noticed four key takeaways. First, he notes, the application – which was renewed several times by the Obama-Holder-Lynch Department of Justice – strongly suggests Page is a Russian agent actively engaged in criminal activity. However, to date, Page has never been charged with a crime. Secondly, the government describes Christopher Steel and the origin of the dossier in a way that Hinderaker generously calls “misleading at best.” The application says: US-based law firm had hired the identified US person to condict research regarding Candidate #1’s ties to Russia (the identified US person and Source #1 have a long-staning relationship). The identified US person hired Source #1 to conduct this research. The identified US person never advised Source #1 as to the motivation behind the research into Candidate #1’s ties to Russia. The FBI speculates that the identified US person was likely looking for information that could be used to discredit Candidate #1’s campaign. Legend: Identified US person = Glenn Simpson, the head of Fusion GPS Source #1 = Christopher Steele Candidate #1 = Donald Trump Hinderaker explains: The…

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FISA Memo Released: Raises ‘Concerns With the Legitimacy and Legality of Certain DOJ and FBI Interactions With the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court’

Tennessee Star Staff

On Friday, the White House authorized the release of a controversial House Intelligence Committee memo. “Our findings, which are detailed below, (1) raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI Interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), and 2) represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process,” the memo began. “The FBI and DOJ obtained one initial FISA warrant targeting Carter Page and three FISA renewals from the FISC. As required by statute . . . a FISA order on an American citizen must by renewed by the FISC every 90 days and each renewal requires a separate finding of probable cause,” the memo noted. “Then-Director James Comey signed three FISA applications on behalf of the FBI, and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed one. Then-DAG Sally Yates, then-Acting DAG Dana Boente, and DAG Rod Rosenstein each signed one or more FISA applications on behalf of DOJ,” the memo continued. “In the case of Carter Page, the government had at least four independent opportunities before the FISC to accurately provide an accounting of the relevant facts. However, our findings indicate that . . .…

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Representative Jim Jordan Calls for Second Special Counsel over FISA Warrant on Trump Aides

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Rep. Jim Jordan said Thursday that an additional special counsel needs to be appointed to look into how a FISA warrant was obtained to look at members of President Trump’s campaign team. “The only logical way to get to the answers for the American people is to appoint a second special counsel. And if the attorney general is not going to do it, frankly, I don’t think he should be the attorney general,” Mr. Jordan, Ohio Republican, said on Fox News.

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