Posted on 09/10/2018 2:35:59 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Just last week I opined on how troubling it was that the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) apparently targeted and used media to further, in the court of public opinion, an as-yet-unproven Russia-collusion case against Donald Trump.
Now, belatedly released information from the files of those favorite FBI lovebirds — Peter Strzok and Lisa Page — has created even more concern that the top echelons of America’s premier law enforcement were involved in name-smearing media leaks.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, disclosed in a letter Monday to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that, in April 2017, Strzok and Page discussed a specific media-leak strategy about Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Carter Page, of course, was subjected to a year-long FBI surveillance warrant but never has been charged with any wrongdoing — yet, somehow, nearly all the FBI’s suspicions about his ties to Russia made it into media reports.
Meadows’ letter suggests a possible reason why and how that happened.
On April 10, 2017, Strzok texted Lisa Page the following message: “I had literally just gone to find this phone to tell you I want to talk to you about media leak strategy with DOJ before you go.”
The next day, according to Meadows, the Washington Post broke a story on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant application against Carter Page.
And then, on April 12, 2017, Strzok texted regarding two articles coming out about Carter Page — whom he refers to as Lisa Page’s “namesake” — and that one is more damaging than the other.
Strzok, according to Meadows, then congratulated his FBI colleague Lisa Page, with whom he allegedly was having an affair. “Well done, Page,” he texted.
Meadows, who has led the charge against the FBI’s conduct in the Russia probe, told Rosenstein the “text exchange should lead a reasonable person to question whether there was a sincere desire to investigate wrongdoing or to place derogatory information in the media to justify a continued probe.”
FISA warrants are among the most secretive tools in the FBI’s arsenal, and information contained in them is supposed to be guarded closely from public release, in part because innocent people sometimes can be caught up in surveillance in complex espionage and terrorism cases.
In his letter, Meadows asks the deputy attorney general to provide more documents to explain what the FBI and the DOJ were up to in devising a “media leak strategy” and whether there was a “systemic culture of media leaking by high-ranking officials at the FBI and DOJ related to ongoing questions.”
I asked the FBI and DOJ for comment. So far, crickets.
But I asked Carter Page what he thought of the text messages. He had his own very personal observation, starting with “it seems pretty obvious” the FBI texts referred to leaking about him. But he also was happy that the DOJ is finally giving the light of day to what happened over the past two years.
“After so much damage has been done to this new administration, I’m happy steps are being take to correct this. It’s not about me; it’s about us and our country,” Page told me.
“In the southern district of New York and the foreign intelligence surveillance court, the Department of Justice and their affiliates made a kangaroo court out of some of the most important courts of our country,” he added. “There will be civil liability but all I really want is for DOJ just to do the right thing.”
In the end, the new text messages aren’t dispositive but raise obvious and disturbing questions. And that means a real investigation should be conducted to determine if anyone in government leaked something as sensitive as a FISA warrant or the intercepts between former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador.
Honest, independent answers to those questions are especially warranted inside an FBI where:
- the former FBI director, James Comey, authorized a leak in hopes of securing a special prosecutor in the Russia case;
- the former deputy director already has been fired for lying about another leak;
- agents used leaked stories as corroborating evidence in court, even though they knew the leaks were simply circular intelligence flowing from their tainted source, former British intelligence operative Christopher Steele.
The FISA court that approves secret surveillance warrants operates on an honor system, so much so that the judges never bothered to hold a hearing about the four warrants they issued on Carter Page.
That honor system requires the FBI to disclose everything they know — the good, the bad and the ugly.
There’s growing evidence the bad and the ugly (i.e., the exculpatory evidence) was carefully omitted from the FBI’s submissions. And that should concern anyone who believes in a fair and honest court system.
John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist whose work over the years has exposed U.S. and FBI intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal scientists’ misuse of foster children and veterans in drug experiments, and numerous cases of political corruption. He is The Hill’s executive vice president for video.
The big picture here is that if these unelected Deep Staters can, with complete impunity, even do this to the President of the United States - what chances do you have as a regular citizen to defend yourself from them?
No such thing.
At the end of the day, none of these players will face even an hour in court, much less years in prison.
It's all kabuki theatre.
The 'lovers' narrative was FABRICATED in order for the FBI to be able to HIDE AND REDACT large numbers of texts, claiming that they were personal in nature because the two were lovers. TOTAL BS, we saw Strzok and he's more FLAMING than a meteor blazing through our atmosphere.
No way these two were lovers.
Glad I read the article. I really need to get my mind out of the gutter.
Carter Page was framed.
He was never charged with a crime.
The entire Mueller witch hunt is based on the fruits of the poisoned tree.
None of it has found anyone even suspected of colluding with Russia to elect Donald Trump President.
When all is said and done, that’s the bottom line.
I wouldn’t be so sure that he was framed. He had worked as a CIA/FBI stooge in the past, and he may have been doing the same thing here. I don’t know if he was a victim in this saga or if he was a co-conspirator.
Lots of people need to swing for this.
Lots.
.
>> “No way these two were lovers.” <<
More likely she was being used. She seems very emotionally fragile.
I couldn’t get past “leaking lovers”.
The insurance policy won’t do anything!
Isn’t it amazing how the FBI chose to subvert the American citizenry? I thought they were suppose to protect us from organized crime. Not be the organized crime. I guess this was one of Obama’s accomplishments.
Depends on the kink. Maybe he’s the type that likes women equipped with, um... toys.
>> “No way these two were lovers.” <<
More likely she was being used. She seems very emotionally fragile.
There was another cheating couple in the FBI that were conspiring against Trump as well. It must be an intelligence agency (CIA) tool to evade scrutiny and have a good alibi if ever caught.
Kinda like Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie in the beginning of Mr & Mrs Smith: Nothing to see here, we’re together.
“Carter Page was framed.
He was never charged with a crime.”
Why was Carter Page never set up in a perjury trap?
Why was Carter Page never set up in a perjury trap?
Carter Page was a FBI asset used in a sting against Russians previously. He was likely used by the FBI to get a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign even though he did nothing wrong. Either that or he was working with the FBI from the beginning.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, The Battle of the Mueller cover-up and coup attempt is over. The Trump counter-attack is about to begin.
Always been a honor system. Judges know the lawyers professionally and privately. The prosecutors the same. Many live and play in same circles. These texts messages alone should have ended this farce. Trump was played for the first year at least...End this.
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