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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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Supercut of Media Declaring Discredited Steele Dossier Is Legitimate (VIDEO)

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The release of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on alleged misconduct by the FBI in its investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016 shredded any hint of legitimacy of the infamous Democrat-funded anti-Trump dossier compiled by Christopher Steele. The extensive IG report’s utter dismantling of any claims to the legitimacy of the dossier has given previous mainstream media coverage of the “dirty” document some rather devastating context.

The Steele Dossier, Horowitz’ investigation found, played a “central and essential role” in the FBI’s decision to surveil the Trump campaign. “We determined that the Crossfire Hurricane team’s receipt of Steele’s election reporting on September 19, 2016 played a central and essential role in the FBI’s and Department’s decision to seek the FISA order” targeting Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, reads the report.

Though it played a pivotal role in the decision to move forward with the surveillance of the Trump campaign, the dossier — created by oppo research firm Fusion GPS and funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign — was viewed by the CIA as based on “internet rumor” and was largely discredited by intelligence officials by the time it was used to help begin the surveillance of the Trump campaign, Horowitz explains. . .

Initially, mainstream outlets repeatedly assured their viewers that substantive details in the dossier had been “corroborated,” a claim that Horowitz made clear is false. When more and more claims in the Democrat-funded dossier were discredited, the media shifted to asserting that it hasn’t been “conclusively disproven.”

(Read more from “Supercut of Media Declaring Discredited Steele Dossier Is Legitimate” HERE)

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Former FBI Official Calls Revelations in IG Report on FISA Abuses ‘Terrifying’

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A former FBI official responded to the release of the Department of Justice Inspector General’s report about FISA abuses, calling the revelations “terrifying.”

Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker made the comments to Neil Cavuto on his Fox News show on Wednesday. . .

“These are serious abuses. FISA is the most intrusive technique you can use. You can put a microphone in someone’s house, you can put a camera in their house. You can intercept their phone calls, you can intercept their emails, their texts, you can mirror their hard drives,” he explained.

“You can look at every aspect of someone’s life with a FISA order. It’s extremely intrusive and to find out there were 17 different errors, omissions and unsupported assertions in there, is absolutely is terrifying to me,” he concluded.

“We gotta make sure that the people who did this are held accountable,” Swecker continued. “It’s not the FBI, it’s the Comey leadership team, it comes from the top.” (Read more from “Former FBI Official Calls Revelations in IG Report on FISA Abuses ‘Terrifying'” HERE)

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Former FBI Attorney Lisa Page Sues DOJ for Releasing Her Texts with Peter Strzok

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Former FBI attorney Lisa Page is suing the Department of Justice and the FBI for violating her privacy by releasing her personal information to the public.

Page, 39, announced her lawsuit over Twitter on Tuesday. The attorney alleges that the DOJ and the FBI’s release of text messages between her and then-FBI agent Peter Strzok violated Privacy Act provisions regulating the release of private information to the media.

“I sued the Department of Justice and FBI today,” Page said. “I take little joy in having done so. But what they did in leaking my messages to the press was not only wrong, it was illegal.”

The DOJ released 375 of Page’s texts to Strzok in December 2017. The DOJ inspector general compiled the messages as part of a larger investigation into alleged bias at the FBI. The messages were released as evidence that some FBI officials displayed bias against President Trump. (Read more from “Former FBI Attorney Lisa Page Sues DOJ for Releasing Her Texts with Peter Strzok” HERE)

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FBI Partners with the Postal Service to Get Your Fingerprints

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It wasn’t all that long ago that the public was made aware of the huge privacy concerns with sharing your DNA with consumer genetic testing companies to find out your origins. One such concern was the ability of the federal government and law enforcement agencies to gain access to your DNA. As the public has become more aware of such privacy concerns, it seems strange that on Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced a new partnership with the United States Postal Service where customers like you can voluntarily provide them with their fingerprints while you’re at the post office.

Isn’t that nice and convenient? The government is making it that much easier for you to give them your fingerprints! Gotta buy some stamps or mail a package, why not help the government build up a national database of fingerprints. That sounds great for your privacy. . .

According to the FBI website, “Only you may request a copy of your own Identity History Summary (or proof that one does not exist). You would typically make this request for personal review, to challenge information on record, to meet a requirement for adopting a child, or to meet a requirement to live, work, or travel in a foreign country.”

Of course, there are plenty of ways to obtain a criminal background check without providing the federal government your fingerprint. Most of the information is a part of the public record. If you’ve forgotten that you’ve been arrested in the past and want to check, you can start with local records before you give Big Brother your fingerprints. There are also some websites that can pull up records for a fee as well, without giving up your fingerprints. (Read more from “FBI Partners with the Postal Service to Get Your Fingerprints” HERE)

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Judge Says the FBI Can’t Keep Refusing to Confirm or Deny the Existence of Social Media Monitoring Documents

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The ACLU is one step closer to obtaining documents detailing the FBI’s use of social media monitoring tools. The FBI replied to the ACLU’s FOIA request with a Glomar and a denial.

First, it neither confirmed nor denied it had responsive records. Then it said even if it did have some, it still wouldn’t release them. According to the FBI, releasing documents about the government’s well-known use of social media monitoring software would somehow allow criminals to take a peek at super-secret law enforcement tools. It made these assertions despite the fact it publicly secured contracts for social media monitoring tools.

The ACLU sued. And now, it’s obtained at least a partial victory. The court says it’s not quite accurate to say the DOJ has already publicly acknowledged use of social media monitoring tools. Citing the ACLU’s victory in an FOIA lawsuit over drone strike documents, the court points out the bar to clear first is whether it can be said the DOJ — not the FBI — has made it clear it’s in the social media monitoring business. . .

But that’s not the end of the discussion. The FBI works with several other federal agencies and the documents requested would cover any secondhand use of monitoring tools. So, is it public knowledge other federal agencies engage in social media monitoring?

Given the wide array of evidence indicating (1) that other agencies engage in social media monitoring in the immigration and transportation contexts, and (2) that those agencies cooperate, coordinate, and share information with the FBI, the Court also considers whether such evidence makes it possible to impute, for purposes of applying Exemption 7(E), social media monitoring in the immigration and transportation contexts to the FBI. The ACLU presents extensive evidence that the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (“CBP”), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), and the Department of State (“DOS”) engage in social media monitoring.

(Read more from “Judge Says the FBI Can’t Keep Refusing to Confirm or Deny the Existence of Social Media Monitoring Documents” HERE)

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China-Born U.S. Navy Lieutenant, Wife Arrested Over Attempts to Export Guns to China

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A Navy Lieutenant and his wife were arrested in a joint FBI and NCIS raid Thursday in the San Jose area. The raid occurred at the home of Navy Lt. Fan Yang and his wife, Yang Yang on 6901 Salamanca Ave. Documents obtained by First Coast News say Fan Yang currently holds a top-secret US security clearance and is actively serving in the Navy in a sensitive anti-submarine warfare unit. He was assigned to the Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance Weapons School at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.

Fan Yang was born in China, emigrated to the United States in 1999 as a teenager, and became a US citizen in 2006, according to the documents. The accusations against the Yangs include conspiracy to defraud the United States, importing and manufacturing firearms, transfer of a firearm to a non-resident and conspiracy to violate federal law (specifically knowing submission of false and misleading export information).

Fan Yang is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm by an alien admitted under a non-immigrant visa. His wife is accused of submitting false and misleading export information and fraudulently trying to export illegal merchandise from the US to China.

The court documents say the couple worked together to assist a Chinese national in illegally possessing firearms between March 2017 and Sept. 2019. The documents indicate the couple lied to hide the true nature of that relationship. One account in the documents says Fan Yang requested time off from work to take his family to Disney. But investigators say credit cards linked to him and his wife show flights purchased to Sioux City, Iowa and a meal bought in Sioux City, Nebraska the weekend they were reportedly at the amusement park. That same weekend, documents say a one-way flight to an airport 100 miles away from Sioux City, Nebraska was also purchased by Fan Yang for the Chinese national. (Read more from “China-Born U.S. Navy Lieutenant, Wife Arrested Over Attempts to Export Guns to China” HERE)

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Newly Declassified Court Documents Reveal FBI FISA Violations in Targeting Americans

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Newly declassified court documents indicate that the FBI failed to comply with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in targeting Americans while searching through NSA records during President Trump’s administration and after James Comey’s tenure as FBI director.

An October 2018 ruling from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) found that the FBI violated Section 702 by not keeping track of searches that pertained to “United States persons,” and that proposed changes were still not enough to comply with the law. That ruling was later affirmed on appeal in July 2019. The documents were declassified and released Tuesday.

FISA Section 702, which deals with targeting people outside the U.S. for gathering foreign intelligence information, places restrictions on gathering information when it comes to Americans or people located in the U.S.

“Because the FBI’s proposed procedures do not require it to keep records that ‘indicate whether terms are United States person query terms,’ the FISC held that these procedures do not comply with Section 702(f)(l)(B),” said the decision from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISC-R), which heard the appeal.

The queries examined took place between 2017 and 2018, which would largely be during FBI director Chris Wray’s tenure and during the Trump presidency. The FBI did not immediately return a request for comment. (Read more from “Newly Declassified Court Documents Reveal FBI FISA Violations in Targeting Americans” HERE)

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