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FBI Agent Charged With Stalking Ex-Girlfriend

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A Montana FBI agent has been charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend and obstructing officers investigating the case.

Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said Ricky James Shelbourn was arrested on the misdemeanor charges on March 16, the Independent Record reported Monday.

Shelbourn, the supervisory senior resident agent in Montana, was released on his own recognizance. He is not allowed to possess or have access to any firearms. (Read more from “FBI Agent Charged With Stalking Ex-Girlfriend” HERE)

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Did This Spygate Source Work for the Hillary Clinton Campaign?

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It’s long been known that Stefan Halper served as a confidential human source (CHS) for the FBI. Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuse, while not identifying Halper by name, added many details concerning his extensive role in spying on the Trump campaign: Halper secretly recorded several conversations with Trump campaign advisors Carter Page and George Papadopoulos and, more troublingly, the FBI tasked Halper to tape an extensive conversation with Sam Clovis—a co-chair of the Trump presidential campaign.

Publicly available information on government contracts also reveal that Halper received hundreds of thousands of dollars for four projects he completed for the Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessments. As part of his oversight responsibilities as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley has raised concerns about the merits of those contracts and further questioned whether Halper “used any taxpayer money in his attempt to recruit Trump campaign officials as sources.”

Grassley has yet to receive answers to his questions. And it remains unknown which Trump campaign officials Halper “attempt[ed] to recruit as sources,” as the IG report—or at least the unredacted portions of that report—make no mention of such efforts.

Something Grassley hasn’t probed, however, but merits further investigation is whether Halper received further funding from the Department of Defense “off-the-books” or through some pass-through conduits. Publicly available information suggests Halper had done so in the past. (Read more from “Did This Spygate Source Work for the Hillary Clinton Campaign?” HERE)

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Buried From Trump Tower Meeting: Translator Telling FBI ‘No Collusion’

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Just days after news of the infamous Trump Tower meeting drew the attention of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, the translator present told the FBI there was no talk of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, according to recently released documents.

This exculpatory evidence – which backed accounts of Donald Trump Jr. and other campaign officials in attendance – was not mentioned in Special Counsel Mueller’s final report two years later. And the silence in the interim occurred as sinister theorizing on cable TV and in the press helped shape a public impression of the June 9, 2016 meeting as central to collusion.

The new documents record that on July 12, 2017, four days after the New York Times first disclosed the meeting, relying on government leaks, the FBI interviewed Anatoli Samochornov, a freelance translator with long ties to the U.S. government who had been engaged by the Russian side. Elaborating the day after its initial report, the Times used more leaks to report that Trump Jr. had agreed to the meeting because he was told that a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, would provide damaging information on Hillary Clinton.

Whatever the suspicions raised by the Trump son’s emailed response, “If it’s what you say I love it,” the meeting didn’t live up to the billing, judging from what the translator told the FBI. Bureau notes show he told agents, “There was no discussion of the 2016 United States presidential election or Collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.” The agent notes also state, “There was no smoking gun according to Samochornov. There was not a discussion about ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton. Samochornov did not think Hillary Clinton was mentioned by name.” (Read more from “Buried From Trump Tower Meeting: Translator Telling FBI ‘No Collusion'” HERE)

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Report: FBI Handed Over Classified Information to Spy Christopher Steele

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Inspector General Michael Horowitz discovered that FBI agents shared extensive classified materials with former British spy Christopher Steele, despite knowing the Democratic National Committee was paying Steele and that Hillary Clinton herself was aware of Steele’s research, according to a new report by Eric Felten at RealClearInvestigations.

FBI agents met with Steele in Rome just a month before the 2016 election, where they gave him a “general overview” of Crossfire Hurricane as well as details of the cases against Trump campaign staffers Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, and Michael Flynn. In addition to the intel, Steele was compensated $15,000 by the FBI for attending the three-hour meeting.

According to Felten, the FBI agent referred to as “Handling Agent 1″ in the Horowitz report is FBI agent Michael Gaeta, who worked on cases fighting organized crime in Russia. Gaeta and Steele met working on the investigation of corruption at international soccer organization FIFA. “Between 2014 and 2016, Steele collected $95,000 from the bureau for his work on the FIFA case and reports on corruption in Russia and Ukraine,” Felten reports. Gaeta became Steele’s go-to for work and began feeding Gaeta information on Trump and Russia connections that would eventually form the “dossier.” . . .

Horowitz’s IG report implies that permission was given to share classified information simply by the presence of the “section chief” at the meeting with Steele. “FBI Security staff told us [the IG’s office] that the Assistant Director for CD [Counterintelligence Division] can authorize the disclosure of classified information,” reads a footnote in the report. (Read more from “Report: FBI Handed Over Classified Information to Spy Christopher Steele” HERE)

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DOJ Concludes That Two FISA Surveillance Renewals on Carter Page Were Illegal

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By The Blaze. The Department of Justice concluded that two renewals of the FISA surveillance warrant against a former Trump campaign official were illegal, according to a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal.

Carter Page was targeted by the FBI for surveillance during the Obama administration because of ties he had to Russia, but critics have accused the government of acting improperly and out of political motivation.

Two of the renewals of the warrant against Page were made in 2017, and the DOJ now believes they had “insufficient predication to establish probable cause.”

The admission will undoubtedly help bolster claims of politically motivated abuse of power against former Obama officials.

“Today’s unprecedented court filing represents another step on the road to recovery for America’s deeply damaged judicial system,” said Page in a statement responding to the report. (Read more from “DOJ Concludes That Two FISA Surveillance Renewals on Carter Page Were Illegal” HERE)

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Justice Dept. Concedes It Had ‘Insufficient’ Cause to Continue Monitoring Former Trump Campaign Adviser in Russia Probe

By The Washington Post. The Justice Department secretly acknowledged last month that it had “insufficient predication” to continue monitoring a former Trump campaign adviser during the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to records made public Thursday — a notable admission likely to fuel continued criticism over how the bureau handled the high-profile case.

The concession was revealed in an order posted on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court’s website. In December, according to the order, the department told the court it had come to believe that in at least two of the four applications to monitor the former adviser, Carter Page, “there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause” to believe he was acting as a Russian agent. . .

The department’s concession is validating for conservatives who had long criticized the surveillance of Page, and it is likely to fuel continued attacks on the Russia probe, which was eventually taken over by former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Read more from “Justice Dept. Concedes It Had ‘Insufficient’ Cause to Continue Monitoring Former Trump Campaign Adviser in Russia Probe” HERE)

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Andrew McCabe Apologized for Lying to Investigators on Leak

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Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe apologized for lying to federal investigators concerning an October 2016 leak to The Wall Street Journal about the Hillary Clinton email probe, newly released transcripts indicate — underscoring McCabe’s legal jeopardy as U.S. Attorney John Durham continues the Justice Department’s criminal probe into bureau misconduct.

The transcripts specifically raised the possibility that McCabe, now a paid CNN commentator, could face a false statements charge similar to the one leveled against former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The account of McCabe’s remarks was released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general (IG) because of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, D.C.

The IG concluded in 2018 that McCabe “lacked candor” when speaking to then-FBI Director James Comey and DOJ Oversight and Review (O&R) internal investigators about the leak to the Journal on May 9, 2017. In the transcripts, released Thursday, an unidentified O&R investigator asserted that McCabe had claimed “he did not grant anyone permission to divulge the information to the media” and that he “personally hadn’t shared the information” or “granted anyone else permission to.”

But on Aug. 18, 2017, McCabe’s story changed when he was confronted with other evidence, including emails and witness accounts, that conflicted with his prior statements. Asked again whether he was aware of the leak to the Journal and had personally authorized it, McCabe was unequivocal. . .

The Journal story — written just days before the presidential election – focused on the FBI announcing the reopening of the Clinton investigation after finding thousands of her emails on a laptop belonging to former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, who at the time was married to Clinton aide Huma Abedin. (Read more from “Andrew McCabe Apologized for Lying to Investigators on Leak” HERE)

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Judge Gives Ex-FBI Agent a Week in Jail for Spying on Pro-Trump Activist

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A federal judge has sentenced an FBI agent who was fired for illegally accessing his neighbor’s email to spend a week in jail and serve 50 hours of community service.

Mark Tolson, 60, pleaded guilty in September to digging through the email account of Washington lobbyist Jack Burkman, who aided 22-year-old Jacob Wohl in a scheme to scuttle ex-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema sentenced Tolson on Friday, according to Politico.

Tolson accessed Burkman’s email account and combed through the lobbyist’s communications to head off Burkman and Wohl’s attempts to smear Mueller. Wohl had offered multiple women money to level sexual harassment allegations against Mueller, and Wohl and Burkman later claimed at a press conference that they had located a victim of harassment by Mueller.

Tolson’s wife had the password to Burkman’s email after doing some work for the lobbyist, and she provided the password to her husband. Tolson accessed Burkman’s email and sent screenshots of messages as well as the login information to Burkman’s email account to a journalist.

Tolson told Brinkema that he broke the law “to protect Director Mueller” from Burkman and Wohl’s smear campaign.

(Read more from “Judge Gives Ex-FBI Agent a Week in Jail for Spying on Pro-Trump Activist” HERE)

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FISA Court Releases Statement Blasting Comey’s FBI for ‘Misconduct’, Providing ‘False Information’ to Court

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Rosemary Collyer, Presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), released a rare statement on Tuesday slamming the FBI’s misconduct in surveilling the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election which occurred under the leadership of disgraced former FBI Director James Comey.

“This order responds to reports that personnel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) provided false information to the National Security Division (NSD) of the Department of Justice, and withheld material information from NSD which was detrimental to the FBI’s case, in connection with four applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) for authority to conduct electronic surveillance of a U.S. citizen named Carter W. Page,” Collyer wrote. “When FBI personnel mislead NSD in the ways described above, they equally mislead the FISC.”

Collyer explained in detail the process involved in obtaining a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application against a person suspected of being the agent of a foreign power, saying that it was necessary for people to understand the process in order to “appreciate the seriousness of that misconduct” that happened.

Collyer wrote that the inspector general report showed “troubling instances in which FBI personnel provided information to NSD which was unsupported or contradicted by information in their possession.

“It also describes several instances in which FBI personnel withheld from NSD information in their possession which was detrimental to their case for believing that Mr. Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power,” Collyer continued. “In addition, while the fourth electronic surveillance application for Mr. Page was being prepared, an attorney in the FBI’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) engaged in conduct that apparently was intended to mislead the FBI agent who ultimately swore to the facts in that application about whether Mr. Page had been a source of another government agency.” (Read more from “FISA Court Releases Statement Blasting Comey’s FBI for ‘Misconduct’, Providing ‘False Information’ to Court” HERE)

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FISA Report Was so Bad That FBI’s Top Lawyer During Russia Probe Felt ‘Distressed’ After Reading It

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Former FBI general counsel James Baker said Monday that he felt “distressed” after reading the Justice Department inspector general’s report laying out “significant” errors and omissions in the bureau’s applications to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

In an interview on CNN, Baker went further in his critique of the bureau than did FBI Director James Comey, who said Sunday that he believed the FBI was “sloppy” in its efforts to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Page.

“Sloppiness is completely unacceptable. That is not the way you operate in front of a federal court. I don’t know what word you want to use, it’s terrible, it’s unacceptable, it shouldn’t happen. That is not the way we should be filing matters in front of a federal court,” Baker told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

“I was distressed about it. I was completely distressed about it,” Baker said of his response to the inspector general’s (IG) findings.

Baker has testified that he personally reviewed the FISA applications against Page, given their political sensitivity. (Read more from “FISA Report Was so Bad That FBI’s Top Lawyer During Russia Probe Felt ‘Distressed’ After Reading It” HERE)

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Fox Host: ‘We Now Have Confirmation, Corroboration That the Deep State Exists’

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Reacting to the release of Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz’s report concerning the origins of the Russia investigation and the issuance of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, Judge Jeanine Pirro said Saturday, “We now have confirmation, corroboration that the deep state exists.”

In her opening statement on “Justice with Judge Jeanine” on Saturday night, Pirro said the deep state “worked to spy on and frame a presidential candidate and plant the seed for his overthrow in the ugliest, most corrupt attempted political coup in U.S. History.”

She went on to say, “That it occurred at all, is stunning. But that it was manipulated to take down a president and remove him from office almost as soon as we put him there, essentially overthrowing a government, is an outrage that demands the most severe consequence our criminal justice system has to offer.” . . .

However, Horowitz’s report revealed there were at least 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the Page FISA applications.

It also revealed that, at times, the Crossfire Hurricane investigation was not properly sharing information with the Justice Department or key figures who should have been privy to updated information. (Read more from “Fox Host: ‘We Now Have Confirmation, Corroboration That the Deep State Exists'” HERE)

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