Posted on 06/29/2024 3:56:20 AM PDT by Libloather
Federal prosecutors said they are willing to disclose whether they used a controversial surveillance program to foil a Florida neo-Nazi leader’s alleged plot to attack Baltimore’s power grid last year, but will only do so in secret, during a classified meeting with the judge handling the case.
Government lawyers refused Thursday to disclose publicly whether they used Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to build the case against the accused plotter, Brandon C. Russell, but agreed to a private meeting with Senior U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar where they will provide more information.
Russell’s defense team remains skeptical. After Thursday’s hearing, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who recently joined the case said the government has a history of using a narrow interpretation of the law to avoid disclosing uses of FISA in prosecutions.
Russell, 28, is accused of plotting with a Catonsville woman, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, to destroy multiple electrical substations in the Baltimore region. The pair allegedly hoped to cause a “cascading failure” of the power grid by targeting energy facilities in Norrisville, Perry Hall, Reisterstown and other areas around Baltimore.
Clendaniel, 36, pleaded guilty in May in exchange for a recommended sentence of 18 years in prison.
Russell’s case has become increasingly shrouded in secrecy. Bredar ruled Thursday that three undercover witnesses will be able to testify at Russell’s trial using “light disguise,” such as altered facial hair or hairstyles, and will be able to use pseudonyms to protect their identities.
The government calls Russell a “racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist.” He is accused of offering instructions to Clendaniel and an undercover FBI informant online and tasking the pair with carrying out the energy station attacks, according to the indictment.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fbi-arrests-2-suspects-accused-planning-attack-baltimore-power-grid-rcna69324
>> Federal prosecutors said they are willing to disclose whether they used a controversial surveillance program to foil a Florida neo-Nazi leader’s alleged plot to attack Baltimore’s power grid last year, but will only do so in secret, during a classified meeting with the judge handling the case.
I don’t in any way agree with what the criminal did... but I am beyond sick and tired of all the “secret justice” BS deployed against We The People.
The prosecution has an effectively infinite budget,
unimpeachable witnesses unless caught self-contradicting,
evidence that is so secret that even knowing if it is being used is secret,
and the method of obtaining that evidence is by law directed at foreigners not American citizens.
Sounds like a fair trial to me.
Assuming that they will lie anyway.
If the answer was No they would have said so.
What if the secret evidence is in the minds of precogs sitting over at the DU?
Then gee, I wonder what the answer could be.
Secrecy involving cases against men under trial should have the least necessary restrictions possible. My gut reaction is to now disbelieve the Feds when they talk about white supremacists and or terrorists.
Why would anyone other than an anarchist or a complete crazy want to damage the power grid? Give it a few years and the farcical solar/wind generation along with the EPA’s forcing the closure of reliable coal and NG plants coupled with the demand increases for AI centers and EVs will destroy it for them.
I believe that the DOJ, FBI, and all law enforcement now use extra judicial surveillance in every case. They only get a FISA warrant when they want to proceed to court.
Is this like the plot to kidnap the Gov of MI where they talk people into doing crimes and then arrest them.
Seems like that’s exactly what it is. The feds go online and look for rightwing douchebags and loudmouths, then egg ‘em on and egg ‘em on until they do something indictable. “The accused was on our radar.”
Exactly right. They even use the surveillance to push around regular citizens. All I did was start a political website, and they were all over me for years, and still are. I started the site in my tag hoping to expose it all.
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