Free Republic

Republicans created the Patriot Act, the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The same agencies that Barack Obama later weaponized with the creation of the Dept of Justice National Security Division (DOJ-NSD). The root issue around domestic surveillance and ultimately power & control, underlines Washington DC’s united opposition to Donald Trump. Barack Obama and Eric Holder did not create a weaponized DOJ and FBI; the institutions were already weaponized by the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act turned the surveillance radar from pointing outwardly, to pointing inwardly, monitoring activity inside our nation....

Tucker Carlson hit the nail on the head in his opening monologue tonight. This is the first time the DOJ National Security Division (DOJ-NSD) has been spotlighted as the center of Main Justice’s political targeting operation. One small but important point Tucker got wrong was the timeline of the DOJ-NSD being weaponized for domestic political targeting operations. Tucker puts the shift as recent; however, the shift actually took place when Obama took office with Eric Holder as AG. Some CTH readers may remember how the DOJ-NSD refused to accept inspector general oversight {pdf here} as led by AG Eric Holder...

Just before Thanksgiving, House Republicans amended the list of documents they’d like President Trump to declassify in the Russia investigation. With little fanfare or explanation, the lawmakers led by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) added a string of emails between the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to their wish list. Sources tell me the targeted documents may provide the most damning evidence to date of potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), evidence that has been kept from the majority of members of Congress for more than two years. The email exchanges included then-FBI...

A judge ruled Monday that a "firewall counsel" will be employed to protect sensitive information during federal court proceedings against Russians who allegedly attempted to influence the 2016 U.S. election through a widespread online campaign. The new team, to be made up of attorneys from the Department of Justice's National Security Division who are not involved in the case, was previously requested by Robert Mueller's Special Counsel's Office to restrict the defense's ability to share sensitive discovery information with others, including the Russian government. (clip) Concord is one of three business entities, along with 13 individuals, charged in relation to...

The Justice Department has filed charges against a former FBI agent accusing him of leaking classified documents to a news outlet. Terry Albury, whom Minnesota Public Radioreported worked on counterterrorism matters at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, stands accused of two counts — “knowingly and willfully” transmitting national defense information to The Intercept, and refusing to hand over a document related to terrorism recruitment. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, officials filed a two-page felony information document, which the paper described as “a charging document that typically signals an imminent guilty plea.” The documents Mr. Albury is accused of giving to the...

A former Minneapolis FBI agent has been charged after allegedly leaking secret documents to a national news reporter, according to federal criminal charges filed in Minnesota this week. The charges, filed by prosecutors for the Justice Department’s National Security Division, are the first to come in Minnesota since Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a broad crackdown on government leaks last year. A two-page felony information, a charging document that typically signals an imminent guilty plea, outlines two counts filed against Terry J. Albury of unlawfully disclosing and retaining national defense information. Albury is accused of sharing a document on assessing...

‘[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...

An FBI agent who quit his top position over the bureau’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation is heading to Congress to testify. John Giacalone, who led the Clinton investigation for the first seven months, will reportedly expose former President Barack Obama and fired FBI Director James Comey for corruptly helping Clinton. There’s a massive media blackout on this because Giacalone is expected to testify that top brass at the FBI rigged the investigative process so that Clinton could skirt charges for clear violations of the law. Exposing Comey also shines a big light on Obama, who many believe...

A top FBI official who oversees the bureau's counterintelligence division faced questions from lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday about the role of FBI agent Peter Strzok in federal probes, The Hill has learned. Lawmakers and congressional staff questioned Bill Priestap behind closed-doors for several hours as part of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees' joint probe into the FBI's decision-making during the 2016 election. Republicans have been eager to talk to Priestap about his involvement with the bureau's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as well as its probe into Hillary Clinton's use of...

Peter Strzok, who was pulled off Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigative team last year, played a more central role than previously known in both the Russia and Hillary Clinton email probes, a lawmaker familiar with the matter told Fox News Tuesday. The lawmaker's assessment of Strzok's role in both investigations was based on the most recent records and testimony, including a closed-door interview with FBI espionage chief Bill Priestap. Priestap was interviewed Tuesday as part of an ongoing joint investigation by the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. Priestap was Strzok's supervisor and oversaw both the Russia and Clinton investigations. The...

Representative Matt Gaetz sent out a tweet today that is absolutely accurate. You can call it a soft-coup, or you can call it politicization of the DOJ and FBI, but the end result is the same – the intentional effort to manipulate, influence, and ultimately subvert an election for the presidency of the United States…. and that’s what the DOJ is trying to hide. If you peel the skin off the onion, and get down to the substantive core issue that represents the biggest risk to the entire collective group who worked to subvert the 2016 presidential election, you get...

Most of the ‘vast-Russian-conspiracy‘ media presentations seem to start with a discussion of intelligence gathering beginning in July of 2016. The GOP convention to nominate Donald Trump was July 18-21st of 2016. Adding to the July 2016 origination narrative FBI Director James Comey stated the counterintelligence operation against candidate Trump began in July 2016. However, not a single MSM entity has looked at the FISA-702(16)(17) abuses by the FBI and DOJ-NSD outlined by the FISA court and NSA well before July 2016. It is a matter of unclassified public record the FBI and DOJ-NSD were allowing “contractors” to conduct searches...

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has named a new acting deputy of his own. The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced Edward O'Callaghan will be the acting principal associate deputy attorney general. O'Callaghan will replace Robert Hur, who is taking Rosenstein's old job as the U.S. Attorney in the District of Maryland. O'Callaghan's new position is key, as it will involve oversight of the FBI's probe of Russian election meddling and any ties to the Trump campaign. O'Callaghan has been serving as the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the DOJ's National Security Division. "Edward O'Callaghan has served the Department...

Shortened title. Full title: Concerns With Fraudulent Justice Department FISA Application Highlighted by New Page/Strzok Text Messages Sara Carter has a new ‘exclusive’ report from congressional sources who are sharing new text messages with her surrounding the timeline of the Justice Department’s National Security Division compiling the FISA Title-1 application that was eventually authorized to conduct FBI surveillance on Carter Page and the Trump Campaign. A note of caution within the story as outlined by Carter, there’s some granular details -subject to interpretation- that she appears to be misconstruing. Additionally, it is important for emphasis to remember the Main Justice...