Posted on 03/24/2021 7:52:03 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Justice Department has informed current and former FBI officials sued by Russia probe target Carter Page that it is unlikely to represent them in the civil case, signaling they will need to get private lawyers, according to new court filings.
At least two defendants — fired FBI Director James Comey and current FBI intelligence analyst Brian Auten — have already hired private counsel and notified the presiding judge in the case of their representation.
Ordinarily, DOJ represents its employees sued by civilians over their official duties. But court records show the Justice Department has not committed to doing so in this case and told the court as recently as last week it "does not currently represent any of the individual capacity defendants" and needs time to sort through complex issues about whether it should assist in their defense.
"The Department of Justice must determine, among other things, whether the employee defendants reasonably appear to have acted in the scope of employment … whether their representation is in the interest of the United States … and whether legal or factual conflicts exist among the various defendants such that representation of all by the same attorney would be inappropriate," Justice lawyers argued in a motion dated March 15.
File DOJMarch152021Motion.pdf Then on Monday, Auten alerted the court in a new motion that DOJ had moved beyond its indecision and that he and other defendants were informed they needed private attorneys going forward.
"On March 15, 2021, Mr. Auten was informed that it was unlikely that DOJ would be able to represent any of the individual Defendants in this matter, including Mr. Auten," the new court filing. "On the same date, Mr. Auten requested that the undersigned attorneys of the law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP act as counsel of record on his behalf in this matter."
File AutenFilimng.pdf Comey, meanwhile, filed a notice late last week that he has retained David N. Kelley, a prominent and respected former federal prosecutor from New York City, to represent him personally in the lawsuit.
File ComeyLawyer.pdf The FBI on Tuesday declined to discuss the decision. A Justice Department spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.
A person directly involved in the case, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the DOJ's decision not to represent the defendants wasn't an acknowledgement it believed the case had merit or that it was legally abandoning its current and former employees, but rather a reflection of the reality that many of the defendants pose conflicts of interest.
For instance, former FBI lawyer and current defendant Kevin Clinesmith was indicted and convicted by DOJ for falsifying evidence in the Russia case that harmed Carter Page, making it difficult for DOJ to defend his conduct.
Other defendants — such as fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former bureau lawyer Lisa Page and former counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok — have lawsuits pending against the U.S. government for issues like wrongful termination or invasion of privacy, putting them in conflict with DOJ.
DOJ's own filing acknowledged its first responsibility in the lawsuit is "to attend to the interests of the United States."
Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser, was targeted for a full year of FBI surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Subsequent investigation revealed that applications the FBI submitted to obtain the Page surveillance warrants contained glaring factual errors, including falsified evidence, as well as unverified information marked as verified and omissions of evidence of innocence that the FBI should have disclosed to the judges. For instance, the FBI was alerted that Page was an asset for the CIA helping on Russia matters and not a Russian intelligence stooge, but that information was kept from the courts.
Carter Page sued the government and numerous current and former FBI officials for $75 million in damages last November, alleging he was the victim of "unlawful spying" based on erroneous or uncorroborated evidence from the Steele dossier and other sources that were found to be unreliable or infected with Russian disinformation.
File CarterPageLawsuitNov2020.pdf "Since not a single proven fact ever established complicity with Russia involving Dr. Page, there never was probable cause to seek or obtain the FISA Warrants targeting him on this basis," the suit said, alleging Page's constitutional rights were violated.
"This case is about holding accountable the entities and individuals who are responsible for the most egregious violation and abuse of the FISA statute since it was enacted over forty years ago," the lawsuit added.
Oh the irony, hoist on a petard of their own design.
May Mr. Page rip them a new one in the course of mining out all the wealth the defendants ever had or dreamed of having! Make those m************ pay!
Wow. This is interesting and unexpected.
This is the first good news I’ve seen this week!
Now they’ll see their fortunes bled out for legal fees.
Peter Strzok was not an ‘agent.’ He was the Director of Counterespionage. He was part of FBI leadership. I often see him described in the way that minimizes his authority and job scope at the Bureau.
What happened to Page (and Trump) was not perpetrated by rogue, ‘low-level’ field agents as the media loves to imply. It was a plot orchestrated at the highest levels of the agency.
A bombshell, tic tok...
Lol. The RATs are a criminal enterprise. As such they will discard each other when no longer useful. It’s how demonRATs roll.
Under the Bus they go!
Gotta luv Rats...eating their own!
Don't get to excited I am sure they all have professional liability insurance.
volunbeer :" Wow. This is interesting and unexpected."
Not really !
The DOJ will just pony up one of their already known sympathetic SWAMP attorneys who have represented them before.
After all, it is known as "The SWAMP", for a reason.
If this is the case, then these defendants who are forced to pay their own legal fees might begin their defense by filing a cross-claim for indemnification against the DOJ/FBI on those grounds.
The absence of such a cross-claim would seem to imply that they are, indeed, making an implicit admission that they were "rogue agents."
Sorta fun to see Stroczk, Page, Comey et al lose $500 every hour for the next couple of years. Will Strozck still have that smirk when this is over?
I doubt many understand it, but this is actually a bomb-shell in that DOJ will represent employees if they are carrying out their lawful duties in the course of official business.
By not representing them, this may indicate that somewhere within DOJ somebody has determined that their actions were not lawful or within DOJ policy. We already know they did not follow the rules for FISA AND that there were omissions of material facts not presented to the court.
Now we will see if they try to reach a “settlement” with Page.
For the record, I have pretty much given up on any “justice” being done over the Russia collusion delusion. They are shameless and Biden damaged our relationship with the other nuclear superpower again by playing the same accusations.
Yes, it’s a swamp.
Yes, this is still big news. DOJ does NOT represent employees who act outside the scope of their duties or who violate the law.
The lawsuit just got much more expensive for the former actors from the 7th floor of the FBI.
Any trial will be interesting to see who ordered them to act outside their normal duties,
as if we didn't laready know.
Interesting to see if they "roll over".
I don’t know that it will happen, but I hope you are correct.
One thing about the Comey and Obama gangs is irrefutable. They all got high paying jobs with lefty organizations. All of them. That was the payout....
Violate the law for partisan politics and you are likely to get a high paying gig with a law firm, think tank, or a multi-million dollar contract to be on the board of Netflix.
I expect an unexpected suicide in prison for these sacrificial lambs, just like Epstein.
Will the US try to dismiss the Carter Page lawsuit?
"Something stands out, however. In explaining the need for an extension, the Government Defendants (the US, DOJ, and FBI) stated “the need to coordinate multiple components of the Department of Justice to provide input on a motion to dismiss claims presenting multiple complex legal issues related to national security.”
Even if the government is forcing McCabe et al. to secure outside counsel (because of the conflicts of interest highlighted in this article), their motion-to-dismiss, if successful, might moot the actions against the individually named defendants as well.
At the end of the day, I don't see how this case ever precedes to the discovery phase. The FBI/DOJ can't allow that to happen, either in a case directed at them or a case directed at the individuals. If they can't get a MTD, then they'll settle...without an admission of guilt.
Does that mean that orchestrating and carrying out a coup against a sitting President and framing American citizens as part of that coup is not part of the FBI’s official duties? Sure would’ve fooled me given the demonstrable fact that the FBI is now a criminal enterprise.
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