Posted on 12/10/2019 6:23:13 AM PST by sickoflibs
We got a hint of this finding in a preemptive (i.e. damage control) leak a few weeks ago, but today’s IG report confirms that the FBI did doctor evidence in their quest to mislead the FISA court. This of course revolves around a warrant on Carter Page, which was renewed multiple times relying on bad information within the Steele Dossier.
With the report now in our hands, The Federalist provides the details.
A wide-ranging investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general (IG) found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) deliberately doctored evidence it presented to the nation’s top spy court in order to gain authority to spy on a key Trump affiliate.
The 476-page report from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI falsely claimed to the FISA Court not only that Carter Page was a Russian agent, but also falsely claimed that an unnamed intelligence agency had told the FBI that Page was “not a source” in their efforts to surveil and curtail Russian intelligence efforts.
What this deals with is the now revealed fact that Carter Page worked for the CIA as an informant prior to anything to do with Donald Trump. For years, that allegation was called a conspiracy theory (including by a former writer on this site), but it turned out to be true.
Instead of letting the FISA court know that, the FBI chose to deliberately lie and claim Page never worked for the intel community. Further, the FBI chose to claim that Carter Page was a Russian spy. This despite the fact that they had no evidence of such.
So what were they relying on? You guessed it, the Steele Dossier.
Chuck Ross ✔ @ChuckRossDC FBI relied on Steele's two most ridiculous claim about Carter Page -- that he was involved in the "conspiracy" with Manafort, and that it was Page's idea to release DNC emails through WikiLeaks. View image on Twitter 500 1:55 PM - Dec 9, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 292 people are talking about this
Things got even worse, as an FBI lawyer doctored an email that also played a part in lying to the FISA court. That’s the aforementioned action at the beginning of this article that we got leaks of recently.
The FBI’s malfeasance in the matter did not stop there. Ahead of an application to renew the spy warrant in 2017, a top FBI lawyer doctored evidence from the unnamed agency which confirmed that contrary to FBI claims that he was a Russian spy, Page had in fact assisted the United States in its efforts to counter Russian operations. An e-mail from the agency that clearly stated Page was “a source” for them was doctored by Kevin Clinesmith, a top FBI national security lawyer, to give the opposite impression to the federal spy court.
This was all done to keep the judge in the dark about who Carter Page really was. Far from being a Russian agent, he was actually a past friendly source for the FBI and CIA. Had the judge known this, he likely would have concluded the warrant was not proper and lacked credible evidence. Instead, bad information was coupled with lies about Page’s prior work and the warrant was granted.
The lawyer who changed the email, a Mr. Clinesmith, is now under criminal referral for his actions and will almost certainly be prosecuted by John Durham’s investigation.
While the report does not go so far as to definitively claim bias against Trump in the investigation (mostly due to the ridiculously high standard of proof Horowitz set), it is still a damning rebuke of FBI misconduct. Anyone claiming this exonerates James Comey or clears the department is lying to you. We also know that Durham’s investigation is heating up and that he claims to have evidence Horowitz doesn’t have. Things are going to get very interesting in 2020.
Just like with Comey's Clinton report.
They say anything contrary is a lie. That Trump is lying about the report
So what’s going to be done about it?
Letters of reprimand?
Wrist slapping?
Training?
Or if anything serious how many YEARS will it take?
Screw that! I vote those responsible be charged. Arrest them and keep them confined until their trial. Push for the maximum punishment.
What we are “going to do about it” is get POTUS reelected and stick another thumb in eyes of the Deep State rats.
Deep Throat was sentenced to prison for abuses while investigating the Weatherman terrorist group.
March these perps off in orange jumpsuits.
And the ACLU is silent. Anti-Christian Commies who never actually gave a damn about civil rights and the rule of law.
The summary of this report is in the mold of Comey’s summary of the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email abuse. It was positioned so that no one was held accountable, and it gave fuel to both the left and right, so both could claim victory.
I can imagine the IG as he finished the report... “That’ll keep them fighting.”
The abusers of process and the architects of the whole “Crossfire Hurricane” are now executives and content editors at the news media outlets. Facts go in one end of the beast and nonsense comes out.
Clinesmith and his bosses who let it happen.
What we are “going to do about it” is get POTUS reelected and stick another thumb in eyes of the Deep State rats.
That’s not enough for me. I want to see people in prison.
“That’s not enough for me. I want to see people in prison.”
Until they are, our domestic enemies keep doubling down against us, and are patient enough to wait for 2025 to come for US.
Every prosecution resulting from any investigations justified by this must be set aside.
SCOTUS Chief Justice Roberts is responsible for the FISA court. If he doesn’t do his job he should be impeached.
LIKE NOW.
“The lawyer who changed the email, a Mr. Clinesmith, is now under criminal referral for his actions and will almost certainly be prosecuted by John Durham’s investigation.”
If Clinesmith has a single functioning brain cell he’ll flip and demand to be placed in Witness Protection.
L
That’s not enough for me. I want to see people in prison.
So do I. But that’s not going to happen without the full support of the GOP. Unfortunately, that won’t be happening.
Are you talking about Mark Felt as related to Watergate?
My takeaway from all this coming out over time: the FISA judge ought to be livid at being lied to and used but apparantly he’s not. So he’s in on it, it was a all just a wink and a nod. “Bring me a rationale, make it up if you have to, and you’ll get your warrant.”
Question...WHERE does this leave Flynn? I have a terrible feeling the judge will side with the swamp! Evil always escapes accountability on this earth maybe not in the next but here on earth where it damages and hurt people the most! Flynn better brace himself...I feel so sorry for him he’ll be the rats further vindication for the criminal swamp rats!!
Two things to look for in the coming weeks. First, what does the FISA Court do about the results of the IG’s report. If the Court has any credibility at all, they will schedule a contempt hearing to bring in the affiants of the affidavits (Comey and Rosenstein) to determine if they did indeed submit false information to the Court in order to obtain a warrant.
Using the IG’s report as a basis of fact, Comey and Roesenstein may be blind-sided because they aren’t expecting this to happen.
The FISA Court is in a box. Should they do nothing, they are just as complicit in this coup as the others and should the Republicans gain control of the House next cycle, there could be some major changes to the law regarding the FISC and FISA warrants. If they do act, then Comey and Rosenstein may find their actions with the Court to be just the start of their legal troubles.
Second, Horowitz is scheduled to appear in front of the Senate Judiciary committee tomorrow. He will have to “flesh-out” the report from its bare-bones language to the background on the “how” and “why” of the report.
The Democrats will not be able to protect him from some very disturbing questions that may be asked.
While I hold out no hopes for Lindsay Graham to ask tough questions. There could be some fireworks raised by Grassley, Lee, Sasse, and Cruz.
The Dems only position will be to hang on to the first part of the report where Horowitz states there was no documentary evidence of political bias. It will be a difficult task to defend. I can see how the Republicans (assuming they grow a set) can get Horowitz to admit the report addresses this in a very narrow context.
Another issue for Horowitz is that of the predicate. It will probably come out that since he was looking at the FBI only and not other intelligence agencies, the predicate offered to the FBI by others was “sufficient” enough to start the investigation. Since his report only covers the DOJ, he has no authority to look at other intel groups (Brennen, Clapper). If you take the 30,000 foot view, the predicate the FBI used to open the investigation was tainted by bad information received from other agencies, such as Mifsud and Halper.
This will negate the Democrat and media talking point there was no political bias on the part of the FBI towards the Trump campaign and Presidency.
The media is taking a victory lap here but I don’t believe they understand nor will they report just how devastating the report is against the FBI.
Unfortunately, the Republicans have few fighters in their midst. We are overloaded with RINO’s who have their hands in the cookie jar just as deeply as the Democrats and as long as we continue to re-elect these representatives, we have only ourselves to blame. It’s time to replace the go-along-to-get-along types with some bare-knuckled fighters if we ever hope to change things.
Sorry, but I have to disagree. The Clinton email investigation was a criminal investigation undertaken by the FBI from the get-go; this was an IG investigation that, at the very best, could have resulted in a recommendation/referral for prosecution.
I believe that the immediate public comments from Barr and Durham are quite telling. disagreements of that type are generally restricted to private discussions in a conference room, not on the evening news.
What we will find out in the coming months is that Stefan Halper, Joseph Mifsud and Azra Turk, with the assistance of Alexander Downer, were running a CIA/FBI-led intel op on Carter Page and George Papadopoulos. We will learn that the intent of that op was to plant the seeds that would give the FBI sufficient cause - at least on paper - to open the Crossfire Hurrican investigation. In other words, the Bureau didn’t act on source information, it planted source information. Furthermore, don’t be surprised if that’s only the tip of the iceberg regarding overseas operations.
If this wasn’t because if political bias, then is it routine and acceptable conduct by the DOJ? If this is so, how can we Have a legal system when the guardians of that system are corrupt?
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