Posted on 12/13/2019 5:30:05 PM PST by bitt
Judicial Watch sued the Department of Justice for records about former Democratic cybersecurity aide Imran Awan in order to square evidence of wrongdoing with prosecutors’ decision not to charge malpractices on Capitol Hill.
The DOJ said it could not produce records under FOIA because of “technical difficulties,” then said it was actually because of a secret case it had not wanted to mention, according to a court filing.
The Department of Justice is withholding documents about the Imran Awan cybersecurity scandal by saying there is an ongoing, secret case related to matter, according to court papers.
Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit Nov. 7, 2018, for 7,000 pages of Capitol Police records related to the cybersecurity investigation, and Aug. 2, the DOJ agreed to begin producing records by Nov. 5.
That deadline came and went with no records being produced; on a Nov. 13 phone call, the DOJ said “technical difficulties” had resulted in a delay, Judicial Watch stated in a court filing.
The DOJ later changed its story and said it was actually withholding documents “pursuant to an Order issued by the Honorable Tanya S. Chutkan who is presiding over a related sealed criminal matter,” prosecutors said in a Dec. 5 filing. (RELATED: Fifteen Things To Know About ‘Pakistani Mystery Man’ Imran Awan)
“The ‘difficulties’ in providing responsive material was [sic] due to the unexpected and unique set of facts described above that was out of control of the Defendant. Defendant’s only motivation was to maintain the integrity of the sealed matter as much as possible,” assistant U.S. Attorney Benton Peterson said in the filing.
Awan’s attorney, Chris Gowen, did not respond to a request for information about any ongoing case.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Plus, the dog ate the report.
And the copier is out of toner.
Nice summary.
Nor will they be.
Went to see Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewel” new movie tonight. Pretty revealing about some (and I do say “some”) of the FBI, and the way a few bad agents + crooked, eager-for-the-scoop journalists can easily destroy someone.
The timing of this movie with the revelations of Horowitz are pretty interesting.
That has been my thought since I first heard about it when it happened...
“The Department of Justice is withholding documents about the Imran Awan cybersecurity scandal by saying there is an ongoing, secret case related to matter, according to court papers.”
The FOIA is intended to stop the government from hiding inconvenient secrets from the public. “Sealed court records” is an attempt to evade the law. Either the DoJ unseals and delivers or somebody needs to sit in jail.
I agree. There is a small wish telling me that the “secret case” is related to Durham’s investigation... but I admit that’s a stretch. The article seems to say the seal is related to the wife’s plea agreement.
No, we can’t.
L
ping
Did you notice how Horowitz made sure that his answers never provided any sound mobiles for the media? I thought that his cryptic answers and/or his umm/err / cough interruptions of himself kept the question and answers disconnected. Dan Bongino highlighted this in his podcast. Those Dem-protectors are very cagy. Evil, but smart.
No more DOJ/eep State BS. The judge needs to give the government a hard and fast deadline with the ultimatum that failure to comply will result in a criminal contempt ruling against the government lawyers.
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Fat chance. The federal judge referred to in the article is a Jamaican born Obama appointed (confirmed 93-0) judge.
I would not be surprised if the DOJ is telling the truth in this case. The web of the deep state is very extensive. Taking them would be a major undertaking.
I admire your optimism. Have to admit that I assume it’s something that embarrasses DWS and the Dem House idiots.
Calling Bill Barr...
The entire Awan clan, including the wife, is dirty. I hope this is eventually exposed. Read Luke’s book.
This may have been the worst espionage case in American history. Based on the access these guys had, it could be worse than the atomic spies, or even the Cambridge 5. The cover up has been so good we may never know what the damage was.
Translation: Half of Congress would be indicted for treason or strung up on the National Mall if we released this.
IMHO the thing Barr and others may not comprehend is that it really doesn’t matter what he does. If he abandons our laws and let’s the coup conspirators skate he kills the country. He may “save the DOJ and FBI” but what good will that be if the USA dies in the process? OTOH he can start arresting coup conspirators and end the torture of our president at their hands. Either way he cannot accomplish his goal. So he does nothing, the rules go away, but the rules go away for EVERYBODY.
All this secrecy is getting creepy.
I suspect you are correct, and the endless resistance by the DOJ to JW is evidence that Bill Barr is not in full control of the DOJ or not what we hope he is.
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