Free Republic

A Republican senator said he would vote to repeal the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act following a scathing report that found serious problems in how the FBI sought to wiretap a former Trump campaign adviser. Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a longtime critic of the FISA program, told One America News Network on Saturday that the audit released last month by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz was a wake-up call to "stop allowing the American people to be subjected to this type of abuse and manipulation." "We should all be scared to death," Lee said. "We shouldn't rest until FISA is...

Former FBI Director James Comey said President Trump has become a “shrunken, withered figure,” and urged Americans to challenge his actions. Comey outlined the urgency in what he defined as the “fourth, and final, stage,” of dealing with Trump’s rhetorical attacks on his critics as part of an op-ed published Monday in The Washington Post. “What’s it like to be personally and publicly attacked by the president of the United States? Like many others in and out of government, I have some experience,” wrote Comey, who was fired by Trump and has feuded with the president for more than two...

In October 2016, and then on two subsequent occasions, then-FBI Director James Comey lied to the secret court overseeing warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Full stop. Here is that lie: I, the undersigned, having been designated as one of the officials authorized to make the certifications required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, as amended, do hereby certify with regard to the [redacted] requested in this verified application targeting Carter W. Page, an agent of the Government of Russia, a foreign power, as follows . . . The foreign intelligence information sought by the authorities requested...

The historic fast-track impeachment of President J. Trump by the House Democrats may re-elect President Trump. The House followed party lines except for 4 Democrat representatives. The House vote is merely the charging document — tantamount to a grand jury indictment. The Senate is the trial court — the jury, the trier of fact.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy asserted on Tuesday that former FBI agent Peter Strzok will not succeed in suing the government for violating his rights, saying “he is going to strike out.” McCarthy made the statement on “Fox & Friends” one day after Strzok filed the lawsuit in Washington, D.C., federal district court arguing that his politically charged anti-Trump messages were protected by the First Amendment — even though he sent them from bureau-issued phones while playing leading roles in the probes into both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. McCarthy, a Fox News contributor, said Strzok, who is suing the...

The FBI official who led the team effort to violate the fourth amendment rights of U.S. person Carter Page via unlawful surveillance, is now claiming his first amendment rights to free speech were violated when the FBI fired him for gross misconduct. WASHINGTON DC – Former FBI agent Peter Strzok, a onetime member of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, is claiming the FBI and Justice Department violated his rights of free speech and privacy when firing him for uncovered texts that criticized President Trump. (link) Our research indicates the lawsuits filed by Peter Strzok & Lisa Page have...

Inspector General Michael Horowitz's long-awaited report this week on FBI and Justice Department surveillance abuses does not provide the name of an unidentified FBI supervisory special agent (SSA) who made a series of apparent oversights in the bureau's so-called "Crossfire Hurricane" probe into the Trump campaign. However, a review of Horowitz's findings leaves little doubt that the unnamed SSA is Joe Pientka -- someone who could soon play a prominent role in the ongoing prosecution of Michael Flynn, as the former Trump national security adviser fights to overturn his guilty plea on a single charge of making false statements. Specifically,...

Presidential historian Doug Wead joined Fox News‘ Molly Line on Thursday morning to discuss the upcoming impeachment trial. (Video below) Line first asked Wead for his take on reports that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is “disturbed” over Mitch McConnell’s approach to the trial, which frankly, I see as a non-story. Line asked specifically if Wead thought Murkowski’s position could throw a monkey wrench into McConnell’s plan for a quick trial. The very amiable Wead replied, “I think this is Sen. Murkowski signaling who she is. She’s an establishment Republican…but I don’t think it’s going anywhere and it’s certainly not outrageous...

The FBI’s top counterintelligence agent, Bill Priestap, originally wanted controversial FBI agent Peter Strzok removed from the team investigating unsubstantiated claims of collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the recently released Justice Department’s Inspector General report revealed. Priestap’s request was overruled by former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who served under disgraced ex-FBI chief James Comey, the report further related. The report related that Steinbach was particularly concerned “about Strzok and [FBI attorney] Lisa Page working together because he was aware of instances where they bypassed the chain of command to advise McCabe about case related information that...

VIDEO Lisa Page appeared on the Rachel Maddow show on December 17 to offer excuses for displaying her deranged hate for President Trump in her many many texts with her lover, Peter Strzok. She whined that Trump was making fun of her. Waaaaaaah!!!

The [new IG Report] reveals that Comey told Obama and other officials at a White House Situation Room meeting...that "the FBI was trying to determine whether any U.S. person had worked with the Russians" and that they were looking into "four individuals with some association or connection to the Trump campaign." Others present at the meeting [were Rice, Clapper, and Brennan], none of whom were interviewed for [the new IG Report]. Incredibly, Comey claimed that no one at the meeting "responded or followed up with any questions" (p. 110).

The newly released report by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, along with his groundbreaking testimony before Congress, noted the material failures of the FBI—“not only the operational team, but also of the managers and supervisors, including senior officials, in the chain of command”—with regard to the FISA warrant application on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The inspector general’s findings were so significant that he recommended the FBI’s “entire chain of command” outlined in his report to the DOJ for “consideration of how to assess and address their performance failures.” According to Horowitz, these failures prevented the Office of...

Regardless of whether you would support or not support the vigorous defense of Michael Flynn, I would hope we would all agree a fulsome discovery of all relevant background material is a cornerstone of justice appropriately applied. With that in mind it is concerning how Attorney General Bill Barr would prefer to keep DOJ conduct against Flynn hidden from public review. Consider… ♦Would it be valuable for Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan to know the FBI was discussing how to “lock in” charges against [Flynn] in a “formal chargeable way”? Would it be valuable for Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan to consider...

In an order released moments ago, Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan has denied all of the Brady requests by the Flynn defense lawyer and summarily rejected the position of defense counsel. Flynn sentencing is scheduled for January 28th, 2020. Judge Sullivan relies heavily on the Mueller report and finds: the case was adequately predicated and authorized by Rod Rosenstein; the original guilty plea to Judge Contreras was appropriately informed; the government followed all appropriate notifications for brady material; the evidence of Flynn’s guilt is accurately demonstrable to the guilty plea Mr. Flynn accepted; and there was no prosecutorial misconduct.

President Donald Trump again challenged James Comey on Sunday, demanding an apology from the former FBI Director after he admitted he “was wrong” to defend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant for the surveillance of former Trump foreign-policy adviser Carter Page. So now Comey’s admitting he was wrong. Wow, but he’s only doing so because he got caught red handed. He was actually caught a long time ago. So what are the consequences for his unlawful conduct. Could it be years in jail? Where are the apologies to me and others, Jim? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15,...

For more than two years, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told us President Donald Trump has done something wrong. He didn't know exactly what but he just knew Trump was involved in some sort of wrong doing. First, it was Russia! Russia! Russia! Once Special Counsel Robert Mueller proved that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia, he latched onto Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. And that's how we're currently at the impeachment fiasco that the Democrats are ramming through the House. What's interesting, however, is Schiff is suddenly changing his tune. During a Sunday morning interview with...

On Tuesday, attorneys for Michael Flynn filed a sentencing memorandum and letters of support for the former Army lieutenant general in federal court. The sentencing memorandum reveals for the first time concrete evidence that the FBI created multiple 302 interview summaries of Flynn’s questioning by now-former FBI agent Peter Strzok and a second unnamed agent, reported to be FBI Special Agent Joe Pientka. Further revelations may be forthcoming soon following an order entered late yesterday by presiding judge Emmet Sullivan, directing the special counsel’s office to file with the court any 302s or memorandum relevant to Flynn’s interview. Flynn, who...

One section of the Justice Department’s Inspector General (IG) report that hasn’t gotten as much attention highlights how the FBI not only altered evidence against one-time Trump campaign aide Carter Page, but also ignored exculpatory evidence to continue obtaining FISA warrants against him. The FBI had believed Page was a foreign agent working with the Russians to help Donald Trump steal the 2016 election. In reality, Page had previously worked with an unnamed U.S. intelligence agency dealing with Russians for years at the beginning of the Obama administration. After the FBI started surveilling Page, he made several public statements about...

Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the bureau and the Justice Department, alleging privacy violations. In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Page alleges the agencies unlawfully provided text messages between her and former FBI agent Peter Strzok to members of the media in December 2017.

The Justice Department’s inspector general (IG) report states fired FBI Director James Comey conceded that the Steele dossier was “not ripe enough, mature enough,” to be a complete “intelligence product,” yet it was still used by the bureau to obtain a FISA warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. “According to Corney, the inclusion of the Steele election reporting as an appendix to the ICA was not a value judgment about the quality of the information. Instead, it reflected the relatively uncorroborated and incomplete status of the FBI’s assessment. Corney told the OIG that the Steele election reporting...