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Monday, February 15, 2021

Unbelievable

My very bad--I somehow missed this terrific article by John Solomon back on February 5th. While I admit that my interest in the Russia Hoax has flagged due to, well, Barr and Durham, I do follow Solomon. This somehow eluded me, and it offers a picture of just about unbelievable corruption:


FBI's desperate pretext to keep spying on Carter Page: He might write a book!

Newly declassified FISA application shows FBI, without proof, portrayed First Amendment-protected activities as Russian plot.


Solomon is not making that up. Here is the passage from p. 57 of the third renewal FISA against Page in which that pretext is presented to the court:


"The FBI also notes that Page continues to be active in meeting with media outlets to promote his theories of how U.S. foreign policy should be adjusted with regard to Russia and also to refute claims of his involvement with Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election. [REDACTED - SENSITIVE INFORMATION] The FBI believes that Page may have been instructed by Russian officials to aggressively deny, especially in the media, any Russian involvement with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The FBI believes this approach is important because, from the Russian government's point of view, it continues to keep the controversy of the election in front of the American and world medium, which has the effect of undermining the integrity of the US electoral process and weakening the effectiveness of the current US administration. The FBI believes Page also may be seeking media attention in order to maintain momentum for potential book contracts."


Where to begin? Let's start with the redaction. Solomon points out that in the copy of the FISA application that was given to the Senate Judiciary Committee just last fall--meaning, it was provided by Trump's FBI Director, Chris Wray--the portion about "the FBI's unsubstantiated theory that Russia had instructed Page to [write a book and do media interviews] was [also] blacked out." On what basis would idle, unsupported speculation have been redacted? It makes you wonder about the "sensitive information" that remains redacted.

Moving on from that subterfuge, realize that this was presented to the FISA court judge for review. And yet, as Solomon points out, 


[The FBI] offered no proof for such a dramatic allegation. No source. No document. No intercept. Nothing. Just the affirmation "The FBI believes ..."


I did a double take when I read that, and referred to the actual application. There are not even footnotes referencing other documentation. In a document that is supposed to be building the case that the FBI has probable cause to believe that Carter Page is an agent of Russia who is engaged in clandestine intelligence activity that may involve violations of criminal statutes, how could such unsupported speculation appear as part of that effort? It's a mockery of the entire FISA process. And bear in mind, this isn't just the FBI--this garbage was approved at the highest levels of DoJ, as well. Supposedly the government's top legal minds.

But perhaps even more to the point--how could a federal judge reading this stuff possibly take the document seriously at all? How could a judge take the FBI's word for anything else that appeared in the document? Wouldn't a self respecting judge send this document back with a sharp note--don't ever insult my intelligence again in this way? Wouldn't a self respecting judge tell the FBI: I'm not going to edit this for you. You rewrite this and get rid of everything you know is questionable or unsupported, doesn't legtimately add to probable cause, and if you miss the deadline--tough. The FISA will lapse.

Adding to this sordid spectacle is the fact that this application was signed on June 28, 2017. In other words, this ridiculous speculation was joined with the Steele "dossier" material, which had long since been utterly debunked. Now look at the people who signed on to the certification of this travesty that allowed the Mueller Witchhunt to continue spying on Trump--you'll find this list on p. 98:


Andrew McCabe - Acting Director, FBI

Rex Tillerson - Secretary of State

John J. Sullivan - Deputy Secretary of State

Michael Pompeo - Director, CIA

James Mattis - Secretary of Defense

Daniel Coats - Director of National Intelligence

H. R. McMaster - Ass't to the President for National Security Affairs

 

In the total context of the first six months of the Trump administration, don't you think these guys had a duty to read this particular FISA application--certainly the probable cause portion--closely and to question such transparent nonsense? What a bunch of snakes Trump was surrounded with! The scope of the plot against the President is simply mind boggling.

Here's what Kevin Brock, the former FBI Ass't Director who helped put together the FBI's intelligence guidelines, says about this:


Kevin Brock, the FBI's former chief of intelligence who helped craft most of the bureau's current human source and spy rules before he retired a decade ago, told Just the News on Thursday that the FISA application's use of unfounded speculation undercut the very requirement that warrants contain verified evidence.

"It is a desperate attempt to keep an investigation, which had no predication in the first place, going with conjecture, speculation and manufactured belief," Brock said in an interview.

The newly declassified document also furnishes another example of how the FBI has slow-walked the disclosure of the most embarrassing aspects of the Russia probe.


And where were Barr and Durham while Wray was engaged in all this slow-walking? As if they couldn't read the unredacted documents?

As if that weren't bad enough, Solomon then goes to document the FBI blatantly lying to the court in another important matter. I'll quote the entire passage:


"On or about October 17 2016, Page met with Source #2 [Halper], which meeting the FBI consensually monitored and recorded," the FISA application read. "According to the FBI's review of the recorded conversation, Source #2 made general inquiries about the media reporting regarding Page's contacts with Russian officials.


Note that well--the FBI had a recording of the conversation, so they had a verbatim transcript as well as the actual sound of the voices, to catch every nuance.

 

"Although Page did not provide any specific details to refute, dispel or clarify the media reporting, he made vague statements that minimized his activities. Page also made general statements about a perceived conspiracy against him mounted by the media," the FBI told the court.

But the transcript of Page's conversation with Halper, obtained by Just the News, shows that Page did in fact directly deny all four of the primary allegations made about him in the Steele dossier that supported the FISA application, including specific denials he had met with two Russian officials named Igor Sechin and Igor Diveychkin.


That's hugely important, because the alleged meetings with Sechin and Diveychkin were what supported the FISA requirement for both "clandestine intelligence activity"--Steele characterized the meetings as "secret" meetings--as well as possible violation of criminal statutes--Sechin and Diveychkin were sanctioned individuals. Without those meetings the entire probable cause for the FISA simply collapses. In that regard, Solomon quotes directly from the transcript of Page's actual words:

 

"The core lie is that I met with these sanctioned Russian officials, several of which I never even met in my entire life, but they said that I met them in July," the FBI transcript quotes Page as telling Halper during the Oct. 17, 2016 interaction at Halper's farm in northern Virginia.

Nothing vague about that denial. Yet that statement to Halper was never acknowledged in the FISA application, even nine months after it happened.


Please don't anyone try to tell me that the FBI didn't understand that this recorded meeting, if presented to the FISA court, would have tanked the entire FISA. They knew. They lied. It was their duty to present to the court all exculpatory information.

This is just so far beyond outrageous. Not just for what it says about the FBI--that goes without saying. Rather, it's the scope of the plot against the President and the extent to which the coup plotters were willing to trash every aspect of the rule of law that we as Americans should hold dear.


25 comments:

  1. Unbelievable!

    More...
    https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/comey-told-intel-chief-steele-dossier-was-not

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  2. Seems To me John Sullivan is writing one juicy story a week using the Trump declassifications he received.

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    1. I assume you meant to say John Solomon, not "John Sullivan" (the BLM activist at the capitol on Jan. 6). Al C.

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    2. John Solomon has been writing at least one major, "juicy" story a week for the past 4 years. To date he has been spot-on in his reporting of the coup against PDJT.

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    3. That's one way to keep pressure on the investigation in order to make sure that the Biden admin does not shut things down. I have to wonder if Trump kept copies of anything he declassified--surely he would be entitled to hold onto unclassified records even if bureaucrats jammed up their release. We certainly have not seen too many releases of all these docs that Trump claimed to have declassified.

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  3. The Halper, Page conversation about Igor Sechin, and Igor Diveychkin were old news to me. I can't remember the source but that's been hanging out there for some time now.

    The rest of this, you are bringing the hammer to the nail, and rightfully so!!!

    ALL of it is why I say you really can not trust anyone or anything related to Washington. Not now, not in the last 20+ years. People get snippy when I say it but Trump was surrounded by DC players (Repubs) and drowned by them. The above sign-offs is another great list of names to understand how bad that was.

    The issue with FISA is there's no recourse for bad actors / actions. Sure it's illegal to falsify information but what is the actual penalty for it? Pretty much a meeting with HR Monday morning. That's if someone complains, and no one does because they don't even know there is a warrant.

    Secret courts are unconstitutional for a reason! No I don't care what the SCOTUS had to say about it. Their another branch of the corruption. (Just saying)

    Also, redacting information as classified to hide it because it looks bad is also illegal...
    "the FBI's unsubstantiated theory that Russia had instructed Page to [write a book and do media interviews] was [also] blacked out." But hey, who's ever been prosecuted for it?

    Slightly OT but not... Did anyone notice my other favorite John retired last week? Huber rides off into the sunset. Next up, Durham, but after the Page lawsuit closes out. Their gonna need him to keep playing hide the ball until that's over with!!!

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    1. I was well aware of the Page/Halper recorded conversation and vaguely understood that the FBI had failed to disclose it to the FISC. However, Solomon's quotes really brought home to me that their actions went well beyond a failure to disclose and became outright falsehoods.

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    2. Where was President Trump’s leadership on this. Deliberately lying about what a recording says is perjury.

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  4. @Mark W

    "Solomon's quotes really brought home to me that their actions went well beyond a failure to disclose and became outright falsehoods."

    Its worth going back to justthenews.com and reading all of the articles Solomon has written since January 20. Lot's there.

    Most of the lies and deception upon which the Russia Hoax rested are already well known here and elsewhere.

    As a lawyer, what I am seeing more clearly now is the outlines of a massive coverup (call it a conspiracy?) of a phony investigation of the President, which involved numerous omissions, deceptions and false statements made by high-ranking federal officials to U.S. agencies, federal courts, and the United States Congress. Which had to have been co-ordinated omissions, deceptions and false statements.

    As Michael Van Der Veen wondered when being interviewed by CBS Saturday, "I can't believe you would ask me a question indicating that it's all right just to doctor a little bit of evidence. There's more stuff that we uncovered that they doctored, to be frank with you. And perhaps that will come out one day," he said.

    Doctoring evidence. Covering up. It all amounts to the same thing. When conducted as a secret plan by multiple people acting together to do something illegal...that's a conspiracy.

    One way or another the whole story needs to come out.

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    1. Makes covering up for the Watergate 'plumbers' look like small potatoes.

      Comey should be given the opportunity to contemplate his 'higher loyalties' for eternity from a 4x8 bedroom with bars and a small window.

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  5. Whats as remarkable about these revelations is that to my knowledge there is not yet a single elected official willing to push for the elimination of FISA. Maybe Carter Pages lawsuit will seee traction ip through SCOTUS, but it likely won't change a thing.

    Obama and Clinton must be soiling themselves with glee.

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  6. What is more shocking, that a FISA judge actually believed the lies.


    Rob S

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    1. what makes you think so?? Remember, they socialized with Strzok... They probably just went along with the plan. Sullivan showed how that works!

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    2. FISA Judge "Collyer" "believed the lies"? How about didn't do her job, didn't care, who knows what else. Months from retirement and all. No repercussions. Government jobs must be nice.

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  7. My question is, where is John Roberts in all of this. Isn't the FISA court directly
    under his jurisdiction, or am I mistaken.
    Maybe he was too busy drafting statements reminding us that there are no Obama judges, no Clinton judges, but just impartial above reproach judges.
    Yes, I'm sure that must be the case.

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    Replies
    1. Note that clear. The CJ appoints the FISC judges. He has no formal "jurisdiction" over them in any way that I'm aware of. Control would come from hearing an appeal, but I'm not even sure whether there has been such an appeal that reached SCOTUS.

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  8. The saying is two can keep a secret, if one is dead applies.

    The good news is the truth is slowly dribbling out. There seems to be several lawsuits that are making this happen.

    And the truth is exposing the corruption, incompetence, and bias in the media, elite class, and government, and destroying their credibility.

    Trump has, and is doing an amazing job of ripping off the masks and showing reality. The first step in fixing anything is to see how bad things are. I had no idea things were this bad. And remember evil, such as vampires, die when exposed to sunlight. Credibility once lost, is hard to regain.

    And what of Trump?

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  9. Apologies. Reality has intruded and I may be away for a fair amount of the day. Will enable comments as I'm able.

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, it's worse than that. Furnace trouble. Seems to be sorted, but now ... shoveling.

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    2. Ouch. Heard 18 inches by Midway. Up here in the North suburbs we're close to that.

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  10. The thing about this type of corruption is that it never gets fixed. As it's exposed it just becomes more normal.

    Mark and Cassandar (rightfully) are both pecking at it, but that's been my issue with Durham and the whole ball of wax against Trump for the past 3+ years. If justice was truly blind you would be arresting and prosecuting 100's if not a 1000 individuals in DC and beyond in just this ONE case. Because honestly what is worse, the original IC, CIA, FBI crimes (pre FISA) Or the cover-up of those crimes (post Page FISA), or the cover-up of that cover-up (Muller, Rosenstein), or the cover-up of that cover-up, (Horowitz) or the cover-up of that cover-up, (Durham, Barr). Or the dozens of other splinters of cover-up's (Wolfe, Clinesmith, etc).

    Big fish, medium fish, little fish... Take your pick of whatever shotgun and barrel of fish you like.

    Now think about Horowitz's review of other FISA cases, 95% + with the same issues. That's just FISA, consider the hundreds of other more questionable collection methodologies and actions going on out there exposed by Snowden, Wikileaks, Sibel Edmonds, William Binney, Sidney Powell, etc, etc, etc.

    What transpired against Trump isn't "a" conspiracy case, it isn't the exception, it's the norm. This is the Federal SOP, well oiled, well practiced, well known paths developed over decades.

    The problem is no one wants to thread together the big picture despotism. It's become systemic of every part of every piece of what our government is. 5 million + directly depend on paychecks from this mess. None will lift a finger against it.

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  11. Where to begin? How about collusion, conspiracy, and sedition? Where's Durham?

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  12. The truth is slowly “dribbling out”, Barr has left the building, Huber has left the building and other than a tap on the wrist- didn’t seem to me to raise to the level of a slap-for someone very far down the totem pole, nothing has been done!
    How does the Republic survive with such corruption going unchecked?
    With every new revelation, my head hangs lower and my hope dwindles more.

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