Posted on 02/02/2018 9:25:29 AM PST by dragnet2
The House Intelligence Committee has released the, "Memo".
Precisely.
Truly unremarkable in terms of "new" information.
I guess now, though, the information is "official."
Question remains, is a grand jury empaneled to investigate and hand out indictments on any of this?
That’s it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.
The entire, “Memo”
_________________________________________
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 2, 2018
The Honorable Devin Nunes
Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
United States Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
On January 29, 2018, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (herein after “the Committee”) voted to disclose publicly a memorandum containing classified information provided to the Committee in connection with its oversight activities (the “Memorandum,”which is attached to this letter). As provided by clause 11(g) of Rule of the House of Representatives, the Committee has forwarded this Memorandum to the President based on its determination that the release of the Memorandum would serve the public interest.
The Constitution vests the President with the authority to protect national security secrets from disclosure. As the Supreme Court has recognized, it is the President’s responsibility to classify, declassify, and control access to information bearing on our intelligence sources and methods and national defense. See, Dep of Navy v. Egan, 484 US. 518, 527 (1988). In order to facilitate appropriate congressional oversight, the Executive Branch may entrust classified information to the appropriate committees of Congress, as it has done in connection with the Committee’s oversight activities here. The Executive Branch does so on the assumption that the Committee will responsibly protect such classified information, consistent with the laws of the United States.
The Committee has now determined that the release of the Memorandum would be appropriate. The Executive Branch, across Administrations of both parties, has worked to accommodate congressional requests to declassify specific materials in the public interest. However, public release of classified information by unilateral action of the Legislative Branch is extremely rare and raises significant separation of powers concerns. Accordingly, the Committee’s request to release the Memorandum is interpreted as a request for declassification pursuant to the President’s authority. The President understands that the protection of our national security represents his highest obligation. Accordingly, he has directed lawyers and national security staff to assess the declassification request, consistent with established standards governing the handling of classified information, including those under Section 3.1(d) of Executive Order 13526. Those standards permit declassification when the public interest in disclosure outweighs any need to protect the information. The White House review process also included input from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice. Consistent with this review and these standards, the President has determined that declassification of the Memorandum is appropriate.
Based on this assessment and in light of the significant public interest in the memorandum, the President has authorized the declassification of the Memorandum. To be clear, theMemorandum rejects the judgments of its congressional authors. The President understands that oversight concerning matters related to the Memorandum may be continuing. Though the circumstances leading to the declassification through this process are extraordinary, the Executive Branch stands ready to work with Congress to accommodate oversight requests consistent with applicable standards and processes, including the need to protect intelligence sources and methods.
Declassified by order of the President
February 2, 2018
January 18, 2018
To: HPSCI Majority Members
From: HPSCI Majority Staff
Subject: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Abuses at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Purpose
This memorandum provides Members an update on significant facts relating to theCommittee’s ongoing investigation into the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and their use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (F ISA) during the2016 presidential election cycle. Our findings, which are detailed below, 1) raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions with the Foreign IntelligenceSurveillance Court (FISC), and 2) represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the ISA process.
Investigation Update-
On October 21, 2016, DOJ and FBI sought and received a ISA probable cause order(up; under Title VII) authorizing electronic surveillance on Carter Page from the FISC. Page is aUS citizen who served as a volunteer advisor to the Trump presidential campaign. Consistent .with requirements under FISA, the application had to be first certified by the Director or Deputy Director of the FBI. It then required the approval of the Attorney General, Deputy AttorneyGeneral (DAG), or the Senate confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division. The FBI and DOJ obtained one initial FISA warrant targeting Carter Page and three FISA renewals from the FISC. As required by statute (50 U.S.C. a FISA order on an American citizen must be renewed by the ISC every 90 days and each renewal requires a separate finding of probable cause. Then-Director James Comey signed three FISA applications. in question on behalf of the FBI, and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed one. Sally Yates, then-Acting DAG Dana Boente, and DAG Rod Rosenstein each signed one or more FISA applications on behalf of DOJ.
Due to the sensitive nature of foreign intelligence activity, FISA submissions (including renewals) before the ISC are classified. As such, the public’s confidence in the integrity of the FISA process depends on the court’s ability to hold the government to the highest standard,particularly as it relates to surveillance of American citizens. However, the rigor in protecting the rights of Americans, which is reinforced by 90-day renewals of surveillance orders, is necessarily dependent on the government’s production to the court of all material and relevant facts. This should include information potentially favorable to the target of the FISA application that is known by the government. 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, as described below, material and relevant information was omitted.
1. The “dossier” compiled by Christopher Steele (Steele dossier) on behalf of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign formed an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application. Steele was a longtime FBI source who was paid over $160,000 by the DNC and Clinton campaign, via the law firm Perkins Coie and research firm Fusion GPS, to obtain derogatory information on Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.
a. Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or. any party/campaign in funding Steele’s efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior and FBI officials
b. The initial FISA application notes Steele was working for a named US. person, but does not name Fusion GPS and principal Glenn Simpson, who was paid by a US. law firm (Perkins Coie) representing the DNC (even though it was known by DOI at the time that political actors were involved with the Steele dossier). The application does not mention Steele was ultimately working on behalf of — and paid by — the DNC and Clinton campaign, or that the FBI had separately authorized payment to Steele for the same information.
2. The Carter Page FISA application also cited extensively a September 23, 2016, YahooNews article by- Michael Isikoff, which focuses on Page’s July 2016 trip to Moscow.- This article does not corroborate the Steele dossier because it is derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo News. The Page FISA application incorrectly assesses that Steele did not directly provide information to Yahoo News. Steele has admitted in British court filings that he met with Yahoo News — and several other outlets — in September 2016 at the direction of Fusion GPS. Perkins Coie was aware of Steele’s initial media contacts because they hosted at least one meeting in Washington DC in 2016 with Steele and Fusion GPS where this matter was discussed.
a. Steele was suspended and then terminated as an FBI source for what the FBI defines as the most serious of violations — an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI in an October 30, 2016, Mother Jones article by David Corn Steele should have been terminated for his previous undisclosed contacts with Yahoo and other outlets in September — before the Page application was submitted to the FISC in October — but Steele improperly concealed from and lied to the FBI about those contacts
b. Steele’s numerous encounters with the media violated the cardinal rule of source handling — maintaining confidentiality — and demonstrated that Steele had become a less than reliable source for the FBI.
3. Before and after Steele was terminated as a source, he maintained contact with DOJ via then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce 0hr, a senior DOJ official who worked closely with Deputy Attorneys General Yates and later Rosenstein. Shortly after the election, the FBI began interviewing Ohr, documenting his communications with Steele. For example, in September 2016, Steele admitted to Ohr his feelings against then-candidate Trump when Steele said he “was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not, being president.” This clear evidence of Steele’s bias was recorded by Ohr at the time and subsequently in official FBI files — but not reflected in any of the Page FISA applications.
a. During this same time period, Ohr’s wife was employed by Fusion GPS to assist in the cultivation of opposition research on Trump. Ohr later provided the FBI with all of his wife’s opposition research, paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign via Fusion GPS. The Ohrs’ relationship with Steele and Fusion GPS was inexplicably concealed from the FISC.
4. According to the head of the counterintelligence division, Assistant Director Bill Priestap, corroboration of the Steele dossier was in its “infancy” at the time of the initialPage FISA application. After Steele was terminated, a source validation report conducted by an independent unit within FBI assessed Steele’s reporting as only minimally corroborated. Yet, in early January 2017, Director Comey briefed President-elect Trump on a summary of the Steele dossier, even though it was — according to his June 2017 testimony — “salacious and unverified.” While the FISA application relied on Steele’s past record of credible reporting on other unrelated matters, it ignored or concealed his anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations. Furthermore, Deputy Director McCabe testified before the Committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information.
5. The Page FISA application also mentions information regarding fellow Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos, but there is no evidence of any cooperation or conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos. The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016 by FBI agent Pete Strzok. Strzok was reassigned by the Special Counsel’s Office to FBI Human Resources for improper text messages with his mistress, FBI Attorney Lisa Page (no known relation to Carter Page), where they both demonstrated a clear bias against Trump and in favor of Clinton, Whom Strzok had also investigated. The Strzok/Lisa Page texts also reflect extensive discussions about the investigation, orchestrating leaks to the media, and include a meeting with Deputy Director McCabe to discuss an “insurance” policy against President Trumps election.
#DisbandCleanupTheFBI
The FBI is a constitutional department pursuant to U.S. Const, art. II, sec. 3 - “[The President] shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
The FBI is a constitutional department in the Executive Branch used to “take care” that valid federal laws are enforced. However, Trump should disband the stupid, useless, and wasteful DHS and streamline the CIA and the FBI to work together on intelligence and enforcement.
Of course the unconstitutional 80% of the alphabet soup of federal departments, agencies, and bureaucracies which are prima facia illegal and corrupt should be nuked as well.
Start with NUKING these unconstitutional, useless, and harmful departments, agencies, and bureaucracies:
Department of Health and Human Services ($1 TRILLION budget!!!)
Department of Energy
Department of Education
Department of Labor
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of Transportation
The 440 unconstitutional Federal Administrative Agencies including
EPA
FCC
SBA (Small Business Administration)
Clean up the rest of the constitutional departments.
Our Goal: RESTORE OUR FREE CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC!
BTW, I can't believe how difficult it is to find the overall budget for the Federal Administrative Agencies. They don't want you to know. If anyone has it, lemme know. Thanks.
This is the first of many memos that will be released.
They used a foreign agent to weaponize the FBI against a candidate, and then a President, knowing there was no criminal act to investigate.
By involving the limey, its treason. Treason carries the death penalty. In this case, using the FBI as a secret police, the penalty may well be justified.
That whole,
“Obama had no scandals”
narrative is aging really poorly right now.
That’s the end of the FBI as you know it.
President Trump already laying pipe work behind the scenes to chop it up.
Wray, you are free to go before the Special Counsel is appointed. The IG is running your agency right now anyway. And wait until that report drops... Wow!
Perino and that porky pig anti-Trumper (don’t know his name) were poo-pooing the memo.. 80% of Fox News Stinks.
This is great!! Truth.
They applied for the warrant by withholding information they knew to be true. The Judge was either a partner in the process or not. Would the court have approved a warrant if all info was provided? Did FBI/DOJ actors commit a fraud against the FISA Court? Voiding the warrant in light of a fraud, makes the activities unquestionably Illegal. Opens up all sorts of people to be sued, even Obama and his DOJ for obstructing IG oversight! They are all multi- millionaires!
It's past time. Yet...
AG Sessions in wake of explosive memo: ‘No department is perfect’
Yes Ben Garrison nails it every time!
Love his work!
Unless and until Trump fires “No department is perfect” Sessions, this all goes nowhere, and the Leftist Media/Democrat Complex wins. Its all up to Trump
Deborah Weiss has given me permission to post her very recent Facebook post about the memo on Free Republic. She is a lawyer and a well-known free-speech advocate, who will I think be speaking at CPAC. Many of you know all or some of this, but I think it is a super-clear rundown of all the legal issues.
>>Deborah Weiss: “BREAKING NEWS: THE NUNES MEMO HAS BEEN RELEASED! It reveals that:
1) the Steele Dossier which was initially campaign opposition research funded by the DNC and the Clinton campaign, was dressed up as an intelligence document and USED AS THE BASIS FOR A FISA WARRANT
2) Just FYI, FISA warrants allow the government to spy on people when there is probably cause to believe they are a spy for a foreign government
3) Rod Rosenstein, Sally Yates and Andy McCabe each signed off on at least one such FISA application, and in some cases more than one
4) None of them were “tricked” into believing this was actual intelligence info; they all KNEW the SOURCE was a document put together funded by a POLITICAL CAMPAIGN for a POLITICAL PURPOSE (to do in a potential Trump Presidency)
5) The attorneys making the case for the FISA warrant FAILED TO INCLUDE THIS INFORMATION. In other words, they intentionally gave the court the misimpression that the “information” they had in their FISA application came from intelligence sources rather than political sources.
6) I think you can make a good case that this is CRIMINAL CONDUCT (my opinion) as LYING to a court or LYING BY OMISSION to a court constitutes a CRIME.
7) The court, based on the information provided in the FISA applications, granted DOJ/FBI permission to SPY/SURVEILLE/Listen in on phone calls to CARTER PAGE, who was simply an AMERICAN CITIZEN.
8) THUS, CARTER PAGE’S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED.
9) In the course of eavesdropping on
Carter Page’s calls, of course the government heard many other American citizens on the call too, thus VIOLATING THEIR RIGHTS AS WELL.
10) one FISA application cited a Yahoo news article about Ash Carter travelling to Moscow. The article did not mention the dossier because the source for the article was Michael Steele (whom if you don’t recall, was the source of the info contained in the dossier).
11) the FISA application against Carter page incorrectly stated that Steele was NOT the source of the info in the Yahoo article. Later, Steele admitted that he WAS the source.... leaking this information not only to Yahoo News, but to Mother Jones and other left wing media outlets.
12) Steele admitted that he hates Donald Trump and was desperate for him not to become President.
13) After Steele’s initial admission to leaking info to Yahoo News in September, considered an “unauthorized leak” of “intelligence info”, the FBI continued to work with him until the leak to Mother Jones.....
I’d attach the damn thing, but then FB will not circulate it. The bulk of the “news” out there on the memo is political biased, left wing commentary -— never commenting, from what I can tell on how the factual assertions made are incorrect, but merely that revealing these facts is a “distraction” from the Russian investigation!
If you are interested in reading the memo first hand, google “Nunes Memo Full Text” and a number of locations provide it: Vox, Politico, etc.
LAWYER UP ANDY MCCABE!! (and company!)”
Oh: PS: Even though McCabe is not longer Working there, fyi, he is still getting paid... with YOUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS!
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