Free Republic

It isn’t Carter Page who should be apologizing to his family for what they’ve gone through. It’s the Crossfire Hurricane team, the members of the special counsel team, and the press. The media contacts began in July 2016. First, it was the Wall Street Journal. The Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, and CNN soon followed. The questions posed — all similar — perplexed Carter Page.No, he hadn’t met with Igor Sechin or Igor Divyekin while in Russia. No, Page hadn’t suggested the new administration would lift sanctions if then-candidate Donald Trump won the presidency.It was not until years later...

That the majority of the D.C. Circuit cannot see that Judge Sullivan has a vendetta against Michael Flynn makes one wonder if they are blinded to their own bias as well? In an 8–2 decision, the D.C. Circuit yesterday denied Michael Flynn’s petition for a writ of mandamus that would have ordered district court Judge Emmett Sullivan to dismiss the criminal charge against Flynn. While the majority’s opinion presented a methodical analysis, devoid of the partisanship Sullivan displayed in handling the case against Trump’s former national security advisor, only politics can explain the D.C. Circuit’s decision. Here’s why. Flynn’s attorney,...

Because they were co-conspirators in the hoax, too many in the corporate media are serving as obstacles to holding the FBI and other powerful government agencies accountable for their actions. A New York Times reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize for his role perpetrating the Russia collusion hoax was tasked with framing the news that a former top FBI lawyer was to plead guilty to deliberately fabricating evidence against a Donald Trump campaign affiliate targeted in the Russia probe. The resulting article is a case study in how to write propaganda.Adam Goldman broke, and cushioned, the news that former FBI...

Federal surveillance laws put in place after Nixon were supposed to protect U.S. citizens. The Obama administration used them to spy on political opponents. The drip-drip-drip of newly declassified documents related to the Trump-Russia investigation, together with recent reports that a classified leak against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn might not have come from an unmasking request, leaves little doubt that the Obama administration weaponized federal surveillance laws to target Trump associates and undermine the incoming administration.The story thus far is complex, but it reveals a disturbing abuse of power by the Obama administration that suggests congressional reform of...

Two top Republican senators have expanded their request for records related to the “unmasking” of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn to include information prior to the start of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane operation, which began in July 2016. On Wednesday, acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified the names of those in the White House involved in revealing Flynn’s identity as a U.S. citizen corresponding with a foreign actor, as requested by Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Flynn had held discussions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition as the...

If you are among the many who are beyond frustrated over the legal abuses that General Michael Flynn has endured, be of stout heart. The worm is about to turn. Clutching to the hope of a last-second Hail Mary pass, CNN gushed as they introduced the “esteemed” retired judge appointed by Judge Emmet Sullivan to take up the never-ending persecution of General Michael Flynn. “Nearly three decades ago,” CNN said, “John Gleeson made his name by successfully prosecuting the man known as ‘The Teflon Don.’” This turn represents the last slender reed upon which they and their fellow travelers might...

In 1980, 15-year-old Amy Carter left a burnt cake in the oven of the White House’s family quarters in a reflex of childish revenge for her father’s landslide loss to Ronald Reagan. In 2017, Barack Obama and Joe Biden avenged Donald Trump’s surprise victory over Hillary Clinton by leaving what they claim was a Russian agent in the West Wing. That conclusion inevitably follows if one accepts as credible the FBI’s supposed predicates for launching the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Trump campaign and the four related probes into George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, and Michael Flynn. On July...

Announces dedicated webpage related to Committee oversight efforts WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), today released declassified confidential human source transcripts related to the Crossfire Hurricane operation. In addition to the transcripts, the Committee released other material related to the Committee’s investigation into Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) actions leading up to and during the Crossfire Hurricane operation, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant process. “I’m committed to being as transparent as possible about the circumstances surrounding FISA abuse. The goal is to make sure it...

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified a slew of footnotes from Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse. Yesterday, Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified a slew of footnotes from Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse. In a cover letter to Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, the Republican senators who had pushed for the declassification, Grenell noted that “transparency is now needed more than ever.” Grenell added that Attorney General William Barr concurred in the declassification decision as it relates to DOJ interests. Wednesday’s declassification follows...

A newly declassified transcript calls into question the entire Crossfire Hurricane investigation: Why was it started, and why did it continue? Attorney General William Barr said last week that “the evidence shows that we’re not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness” in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Rather, “there is something far more troubling here.” “Without any basis,” Barr added in his sit-down interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, “they started this investigation of [Trump’s] campaign, and even more concerning actually is what happened after the campaign, a whole pattern of events while he was president to sabotage his presidency —...

These facts establish the FBI used Russia’s meddling with the 2016 election as a pretext to investigate Donald Trump and the special counsel’s office was complicit in this ploy. On Friday, the Department of Justice released newly declassified information from an inspector general report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuse, revealing for the first time that the FBI had received information indicating the Christopher Steele dossier contained Russian disinformation. The newly unredacted portions of the IG’s report also confirmed there was no “network of sources” backing up Steele’s reporting. While both revelations provide further fodder for attacking the Carter...

For anyone who is paying attention, it’s beginning to look more and more like there won’t be any serious consequences for wrongdoing inside the FBI and DOJ. Yes, Attorney General Barr understands the critical nature of all this. The Durham investigation grinds on at glacial speed. They face a herd of musk ox. The insiders have formed a circle, horns out. Insiders are clearly signaling that they are far more interested in defending their institutions than in defending the truth. If there were any serious attempt to hold the bad apples accountable, we would have seen evidence of it long...

Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) are working to kill a House deal to reauthorize expiring intelligence programs and reform the surveillance court, throwing up an eleventh hour roadblock to the agreement. The two libertarian-minded Republicans, who are close allies of President Trump's, are urging Trump to veto the House agreement, which pairs a reauthorization of expiring intelligence programs with broader changes to the court associated with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). "The president I think really would like to see real reform, and I think the open question is whether or not he'll take what [Attorney...

In November of 2019 buried deep in the congressional budget Continuing Resolution (CR) was a short-term extension to reauthorize the FISA “business records provision”, the “roving wiretap” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], all parts of the Patriot Act. As a result of the FISA CR inclusion the terminal deadline was pushed to March 15, 2020. ~ Something has to happen this week The Senate is scheduled to recess March 13, 2020. Additionally, the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court order (due February 5th) has still not been made public....

President Donald Trump wants to see reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance process before he endorses extending spying powers that are slated to expire in less than two weeks, according to one of the senators who met with Trump on the topic. Trump “made it exceedingly clear” that he won’t accept a straight reauthorization, said Sen. Rand Paul, (R-Ky.), who has led efforts to curtail the federal government’s ability to spy on Americans. “The president said he’s not signing without something happening,” Paul told reporters after the nearly 90-minute meeting with top lawmakers. “He pushed back very...

The New York Times admitted on Thursday that the Obama administration deployed multiple spies against the Trump campaign in 2016, confirming recent comments by Attorney General William Barr that 'spying did occur' during the campaign. Following months of angry claims by journalists and Democratic operatives that the Obama administration never spied on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, The New York Times admitted Thursday that multiple overseas intelligence assets were deployed against associates of the Republican nominee. It is not the first time the Times has revealed widespread spying operations against the campaign. In addition to noting that long-time informant Stefan...

A stunning April 2017 report from the FISA Court received no publicity until nearly a year after it was released to the public. The report covered results of an investigation or audit into FISA searches made by Obama’s NSA, FBI and DOJ during Obama’s time in office. On April 26, 2017, an unsealed FISA Court Ruling unveiled a number of criminal activities that Barack Obama’s FBI, NSA and DOJ participated in during his time in office. The report was actually completed before the 2016 election. The FISA Court Ruling showed widespread abuse of the FISA mandate. According to the report,...

The U.S. Founders never would have adopted Chuck Todd's dangerous proposition that bureaucrats be allowed to operate a police force without political accountability. So much of the drama of the last three years of the Trump administration is about the conflict between the Constitution, which requires political oversight of the bureaucracy, and the Resistance’s strongly held view that political oversight of the administrative state is evil.The Russia collusion hoax was perpetrated by bureaucrats who admitted they were motivated by a a belief that their foreign policy vision was more appropriate and legitimate than the one chosen by the American people...

The two lawmakers suggested in a letter to Attorney General William Barr that the footnotes contradict key claims made in Inspector General Michael Horowitz's declassified version of his spy abuses investigative report. Two top Republican senators on Tuesday alleged that claims made in a report from Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz mischaracterized evidence about the government’s secret surveillance of the Trump campaign during and after the 2016 presidential election. Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., wrote to Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday demanding that the Justice Department declassify four footnotes in the inspector...

Last week, President Trump triggered the left when he tweeted a Photoshopped picture that portrayed former President Barack Obama perched midair outside Trump Tower, binoculars and listening device in hand.The liberal outlet Vox condemned the president for his “increasingly bad tweets,” before declaring “there’s no evidence the Obama administration spied on Trump.” Vox then regurgitated the false narrative that, while the FBI did surveil former Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page, “that didn’t happen until after Page left the campaign.” For years, conservatives tried to correct the record, noting that a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) order gave the...