COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Tuesday, January 09, 2018

Joe DiGenova: Illegal FBI, DOJ and Intelligence services broke federal law in spying and wiretapping Trump Tower, lying to FISA court


"Comey is dead meat"... "John Clapper, John Brennan and the Obama Administration" misused the FISA court"... "The real Treason in FBI and DOJ"


FBI agents' text messages spur congressional probe into possible news leaks

Republican-led House and Senate committees are investigating whether leaders of the Russia counterintelligence investigation had contacts with the news media that resulted in improper leaks, prompted in part by text messages amongst senior FBI officials mentioning specific reporters, news organizations and articles.
In one exchange, FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and bureau lawyer Lisa Page engaged in a series of texts shortly before Election Day 2016 suggesting they knew in advance about an article in The Wall Street Journal and would need to feign stumbling onto the story so it could be shared with colleagues.

“Article is out, but hidden behind paywall so can’t read it,” Page texted Strzok on Oct. 24, 2016.

“Wsj? Boy that was fast,” Strzok texted back, using the initials of the famed financial newspaper. “Should I ‘find’ it and tell the team?”

The text messages, which were reviewed by The Hill, show the two FBI agents discussed how they might make it appear they innocently discovered the article, such as through Google News alerts.

“I can get it like I do every other article that hits any Google News alerts, seriously,” Strzok wrote, adding he didn’t want his team hearing about the article “from someone else.”

Strzok played a key role in the early Russia election meddling probe before he was removed last summer by special counsel Robert Mueller for exchanging text messages critical of President Trump, then still a candidate, with Page.

The Justice Department has told Congress that Strzok had engaged in an affair with Page, who served as a lawyer advising FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
The Hill reviewed nearly three dozen texts in which the two agents discussed articles, tried to track down information about a specific New York Times reporter or opined about leaked information in stories that they fretted were “super specific.”

Republican investigators in both the House and Senate say the text messages suggest FBI personnel may have had media contacts but don’t necessarily prove it. So they want to learn more about what the two agents were talking about and whether any FBI officials involved in the Russia probe engaged in leaking, sources told The Hill.

President Trump has bitterly complained about leaks in the Russia probe, suggesting the investigation had created a false narrative about his campaign and early administration. And FBI officials have taken the rare step of denouncing a few major stories in the Russia case as inaccurate.

FBI contacts with the media wouldn’t necessarily be improper unless they resulted in the release of confidential law enforcement information or classified information, such as the leak last February of an intercept of then-national security adviser Michael Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
The Justice Department says it currently has 27 ongoing criminal leak investigations, triple the amount of the prior three years combined.

FBI and Justice Department officials declined to comment about the Strzok-Page texts, noting the Justice Department inspector general is currently investigating the messages and any political bias or other wrongdoing that may have occurred in the Russia case.

Former FBI Director James Comey, on whose watch the Russia case began, has previously testified he did not authorize or engage in leaking while in office, though he admitted arranging a leak after he was fired by President Trump last spring in hopes it would prompt a special prosecutor appointment.

Separately, the House Intelligence Committee says it has obtained information that Mueller’s current deputy in the Russia probe, respected Justice Department financial fraud prosecutor Andrew Weissman, had contact with the news media last April, shortly before Mueller was named special prosecutor, according to a letter the committee has sent the department.

In a deal with current FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Justice officials have promised to provide the Intelligence Committee with information on the Weismann contacts later this week.

“I understand that your office is researching records related to the details of an April 2017 meeting between DOJ Attorney Andrew Weissman (now the senior attorney for Special Counsel Robert Mueller) and the media, which will also be provided to this Committee by close of business on Thursday, January 11, 2018,” Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) wrote in the letter.

Whatever Congress ultimately determines, the Strzok-Page text messages already provided to lawmakers show the two FBI agents were closely monitoring leaks in the news media and had strong opinions about reporters and media personalities.
In one string of text messages just five days before Election Day 2016, Page, the lawyer, alerted Strzok, the counterintelligence agent, to a story in The Washington Post about a timeline in the controversial Hillary Clinton email investigation.
Page mentions a conversation she had just had with FBI chief of staff James Rybicki and openly expressed concern the information about the FBI’s timeline was too specific for comfort in the article.

“Sorry, Rybicki called. Time line article in the post (sic) is super specific and not good. Doesn’t make sense because I didn’t have specific information to give.”
A few days earlier Strzok texted Page about another new article, suggesting it was anti-FBI. “Yep, the whole tone is anti-Bu. Just a tiny bit from us,” he wrote.
Page texted she had seen the article. “Makes me feel WAY less bad about throwing him under the bus to the forthcoming CF article,” she texted. Congressional investigators are still trying to determine what the “CF article” reference means and who the agents thought they were trying to throw “under the bus.”

Republicans want to interview Page to determine if she assisted with any “forthcoming” articles or helped another FBI employee “give” information to the news media, particularly because she helped advise then-deputy director McCabe.
Likewise, congressional investigators want to question Strzok about what he meant about the “tiny bit from us” reference.

The two agents also spent extensive time shortly before the 2016 election trying to track down information — including an address and a spouse’s job — about The New York Times reporter Matt Apuzzo, who has reported on numerous developments in the Russia case.

“We got a list of kids with their parents’ names. How many Matt Apuzzo’s (sic) could there be in DC,” Page texted. “Showed J a picture, he said he thinks he has seen a guy who kinda looks like that, but always really schlubby. I said that sounds like every reporter I have ever seen.”

A minute later, Page added another text: “Found what I think might be their address, too.”

Strzok writes back, “He’s TOTALLY schlubby. Don’t you remember?”
Page responded later by saying she found information on the reporter’s wife too. “Found address looking for her. Lawyer.”

Strzok cautions Page against using the work phone to track down information on the reporter. “I wouldn’t search on your work phone, ,,, no idea what that might trigger,” he texted.

“Oops. Too late,” she responded back.

Apuzzo declined comment when contacted on his cell phone.

The two agents exchanged numerous texts sharing links or information about stories in the Russia case, including one shortly before Election Day in which then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) expressed concerns there was evidence Trump associates had contacts with Russian figures.

When the two shared a National Public Radio article on the opening of Trump’s new hotel in Washington, the two could barely contain their disdain.
“That’s one place I hope I never stay in,” Page wrote.
Strzok replied. “Agreed. I hope it fails horribly.”

Occasionally the two also opined about the media in general. Strzok, for instance, called a New York Post article about agents unhappy with the outcome of the Clinton email case “stupid,” and referred to Fox anchor Chris Wallace as a “turd.”
After one of the presidential debates, Strzok also had an observation about then-Fox anchor and current NBC anchor Megyn Kelly. “Vaguely satisfying to see Megyn Kelly (who had Botox and looks HORRIBLE) utterly going after Trump,” he texted.

43 comments:

  1. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence members gained access to all Department of Justice and FBI documents it possesses on the Trump dossier, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

    The committee was able to review Friday all FBI and DOJ documents on the Trump dossier, former MI-6 British agent Christopher Steele who authored the dossier, and Fusion GPS, the political opposition firm that hired Steele. DOJ also provided Obama administration applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which could approve the surveillance of the Trump transition team, according to a source with direct knowledge of the case.

    The information could serve as a key breakthrough in the committee’s investigation of Steele, Fusion GPS and the Russians who influenced the dossiers’ contents.

    The only exception to the release was an FBI one FD-302 document that FBI Director Christopher Wray showed only to Nunes. The document pertains to interviews of sources or suspects.

    The committee also will have access to interview key Justice Department and FBI officials later in January.

    House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes announced on Jan. 3 that assistant Attorney General Rob Rosenstein approved committee access to documents pertaining to Steele, Fusion GPS and any applications for surveillance of Trump transition officials.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The "Treason", probably greatest act of treason in our country's history, belongs to the Obama Administration, aided and abetted by members of US media.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course "treason"! Since someone accused Trump's clan with treason then an obedient Trumpette must make the claim about Obama/Hillary.

      Delete
  3. There is a theory that this story is getting some serious legs because Sessions found out that he too was spied on.

    ReplyDelete
  4. As the presstitutes are aligned with the military/security complex, Hillary and the DNC, and the liberal/progressive/left, the Russiagate orchestration is a powerful conspiracy against the president of the United States and the “deplorables” who elected him. Nevertheless, the Russiagate Conspiracy has fallen apart and has now been turned against its originators.

    Despite the determination of the CIA and FBI to get Trump, these powerful and unaccountable police state agencies have been unable to present any evidence of the Trump/Putin conspiracy against Hillary. As William Binney, the former high level National Security Agency official who devised the spy program has stated, if there was any evidence of a Trump/Putin conspiracy to steal the US presidential election, the NSA would most certainly have it.

    So where is the evidence? Why after one year and a half and a special prosecutor whose assignment is to get Trump has no evidence whatsoever been found of the Trump/Putin conspiracy? The obvious answer is that no such conspiracy ever existed. The only conspiracy is the one against Trump.

    This has now become completely apparent. Russiagate originated in a fake “Trump dossier” invented by Christopher Steele, a former British MI6 intelligence officer. It is not yet clear whether it was the DNC, the CIA, or the FBI who paid Steele for the fake dossier. Perhaps he sold it to all three.

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
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    1. ...The orchestration of Russiagate is proof that the alleged “national security agencies” are an anti-American force detrimental to our survival as a free people. The criminals in the FBI, CIA, and DNC must be investigated, indicted, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned or freedom in America is forever dead.

      If President Trump fails in this task, he will have failed America. Everyone of us will be the victims.

      One question with which we are left is why has the mainstream media failed in its investigating and reporting responsibilities and instead served as a cheerleader for the orchestration known as Russiagate? The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, CNN, and the rest are serving as public relations agents for Russiagate, leaving it to Rep. Jim Jordan to ask the questions that the media should be asking. What explains the convergence of media and FBI/CIA interests? Are hidden subsidies involved? As the mainstream media is behaving as it would be if it were owned and controlled by the security agencies, this is a natural question. Why is the media not disturbed by its close relationship to the FBI and CIA? When did it become the function of the media to help the CIA and FBI control explanations?

      Delete
  5. Here are 18 questions asked by US Rep. Jim Jordan:

    1) Did the FBI pay Christopher Steele, author of the dossier?

    2) Was the dossier the basis for securing FISA warrants to spy on Americans? And why won’t the FBI show Congress the FISA application?

    3) When did the FBI get the complete dossier and who gave it to them? Dossier author Christopher Steele? Fusion GPS? Clinton campaign/DNC? Sen. McCain’s staffer?

    4) Did the FBI validate and corroborate the dossier?

    5) Did Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, or Bruce Orr work on the FISA application?

    6) Why and how often did DOJ lawyer Bruce Orr meet with dossier author Christopher Steele during the 2016 campaign?

    7) Why did DOJ lawyer Bruce Orr meet with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson after the election? To get their story straight after their candidate Clinton lost? Or to double down and plan how they were going to go after President-elect Trump?

    8) When and how did the FBI learn that DOJ lawyer Bruce Orr’s wife, Nellie Orr, worked for Fusion GPS? And what exactly was Nellie Orr’s role in putting together the dossier?

    9) Why did the FBI release text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page? Normally, ongoing investigation is reason not to make such information public

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
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    1. {...}

      10) And why did FBI release only 375/10,000+ texts? Were they the best? Worst? Or part of a broader strategy to focus attention away from something else? And when can Americans see the other 96% of texts

      11) Why did Lisa Page leave Mueller probe two weeks before Peter Strzok? This was two weeks before FBI and Special Counsel even knew about the texts.

      12) Why did the intelligence community wait two months after the election to brief President-elect Trump on the dossier (January 6, 2017)? Why was James Comey selected to do the briefing?

      13) Was the briefing done to “legitimize” the dossier? And who leaked the fact that the briefing was about the dossier?

      14) The New York Times reported last week that George Popadopoulos’ loose lips were a catalyst for launching the Russia investigation. Was President-elect Trump briefed on this?

      15) Why did Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson meet with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya before and after her meeting with Donald Trump Jr.?

      16) Why was FBI General Counsel Jim Baker reassigned two weeks ago? Was he the source for the first story on the dossier by David Corn on October 31, 2016? Or was it someone else at the FBI?

      17) Why won’t the FBI give Congress the documents it’s requesting?

      18) And why would Senator Schumer, leader of the Democrat party, publicly warn President-elect Trump on Jan. 3, 2017 that when you mess with the “intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you?"

      Delete
  6. FROM THE SAME ARTICLE:

    ...Insouciant trusting gullible Americans who “believe in our government” have no comprehension how totally corrupt “their” government is. It is the most corrupt in the world. The corruption in Washington is really unbelievable. You have to experience it to know it, and those who experience it are part of it and will not tell.

    The orchestration “Russiagate” proves that the CIA, the NSA, and the FBI are so corrupt and unaccountable that they comprise the greatest threat to the American people in the entire history of America. The only solution is to break these agencies into a thousand splinters, as President John F. Kennedy intended, and rebuild them from scratch with total transparency. No more protecting their vast crimes under the cloak of “national security.” No classification of any so-called intelligence unless it can pass a unanimous vote of Congress and the ACLU.

    The orchestration of Russiagate is proof that the alleged “national security agencies” are an anti-American force detrimental to our survival as a free people. The criminals in the FBI, CIA, and DNC must be investigated, indicted, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned or freedom in America is forever dead.

    If President Trump fails in this task, he will have failed America. Everyone of us will be the victims.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. no comprehension how totally corrupt “their” government is. It is the most corrupt in the world

      Hyperbole ...
      Brought on by hubris

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. The most corrupt President, ever.

      Sold US out for $320 million.

      Delete
  8. CHECK THIS OUT

    By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Monday, January 8, 2018

    Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy could have spent the rest of his life in jail, but instead he walked away Monday a free man, the case against him and his sons thrown out over what the judge decried as “outrageous” misconduct by federal prosecutors.

    In a stunning rebuke, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Gloria Navarro scolded the prosecution for violating the due process rights of the four defendants — Cliven Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan, and Ryan Payne — and dismissed the case “with prejudice,” meaning they cannot be retried on felony conspiracy and firearms charges stemming from the 2014 Nevada standoff.

    “The court finds that the universal sense of justice has been violated,” said Judge Navarro, appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2010, as reported by the Arizona Republic.

    Wearing a cream-colored cowboy hat, the 71-year-old Bundy was greeted by cheers from dozens of well-wishers as he emerged from the federal courthouse in Las Vegas with his arm around his wife, Carol Bundy.

    “How am I feeling? Well, I tell you, I’ve got my sweetheart beside me and I’m feeling pretty good,” said Mr. Bundy in video posted by KSNV-TV in Las Vegas. “I’m not used to being free, let’s put it that way. I’ve been a political prisoner for right at 700 days today.”

    ReplyDelete
  9. More Obama DOJ and FBI abuse of authority for political reasons. Must be a Kenyan thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...Corruption remains the biggest canker eating away at the fabric of the Kenyan society today, yet despite all the resources at its disposal, the Government has done little, if anything, to rein in the vice other than playing to the public gallery and paying lip service. In 2016, during the state of the nation address, President Uhuru Kenyatta wondered aloud what Kenyans expected him to do about corruption. Coming from the Head of State, that caused despondency and backlash from some quarters, but demands on the Government to act has continued to grow. In his speech during the 2017 International Anti-Corruption Day observed on December 9, President Uhuru assured Kenyans that: “On my part, I once again assure you that in this fight, I shall be daring, different and indefatigable.”
      Kenya

      Delete
  10. Hillary may soon be in the dead meat category too.

    Everything looks to be turning up roses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    2. It is a shame ...

      She had to serve a life sentence, to keep the prosecutor away, from you.

      Delete
    3. Pneumonia put her in the rest home not me, WAR Criminal.

      I didn't even drive her there the hospital did.

      And there was no crime commited Jew Hated hence no prosecutor.

      Just a bad loan credit card Cathectorat.



      Delete
  11. The Trimp Administration backs down on tightening Immigration controls.

    Leaving 7.5 million foreign workers from India in US jobs.

    Make America Great Again

    Send the Hindus home!


    : Trump govt drops plan to tighten visa rules

    There were reports that the Trump administration was considering tightening H-1B visa rules and end extensions, which could have led to the deportation of 7,50,000 Indians
    ...

    The USCIS "is not considering a regulatory change that would force H-1B visa holders to leave the United States by changing interpretation of section certain language in Section 104 C of the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21) statute that states that USCIS may grant the extensions," an official said

    ReplyDelete
  12. Trump is a smart man...

    He knows the difference between Hindus and nuzzles.

    The Hindus are the ones that work hard obey the law and don't blow stuff up.

    The muzzies are the ones that don't work hard don't obey the law and blow stuff up.

    ReplyDelete
  13. .

    Trump met with the Dems today to talk about immigration.

    Let the euphemisms and the bullshit (from both sides) start to roll.


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let the shot hit the fan and then hit all the participants !!!

      Delete
  14. Ive been getting ads from one Dr Fungus nearly every day. I don't have fungus.

    Is that one of your clients QUIRK?

    If it is could you delete me from the contact list ?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Small-business confidence hit a record high in 2017, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

    The right-leaning lobbying group on Tuesday released its latest index of small-business optimism, capping what it said was “an all-time record-setter” of a year.

    ...

    The NFIB survey is one of a slew of readings – such as consumer confidence and manufacturer surveys from the various Federal Reserve branches – that have improved over the past year. So far, that has contributed to a solid increase in economic activity, but not exceeding the long-term trend for the post-recession recovery.

    ReplyDelete
  16. https://scontent.fhnl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/10885453_1007061169310411_5757073426486651619_n.jpg?oh=8b78724ea32839d02da061b17aa9a88a&oe=5ABA49F1

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hollywood heroines say young boys molested by Hollywood star faggots can suffer alone in silence.

    ReplyDelete
  18. NOPRAH

    Oprah says she's not running for President.

    ReplyDelete
  19. BANNON BANNED AT BREITBART

    He's out the door and has lost platform.

    He will be remembered for a couple of weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm hoping for a damming IG REPORT against all the Democratic scoundrels soon.

    ReplyDelete
  21. in a 12-page decision, U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler sided with the Justice Department, which had alleged that Baljinder Singh of Carteret concealed and willfully mispresented information when he was applying for his U.S. citizenship.

    ...

    In 2016, the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Homeland Security found that 858 people had been granted citizenship despite having been previously ordered deported or removed under another identity because their digital fingerprints were not available. According to a September 2016 report, the old fingerprints had been taken on paper cards by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and had not been digitized and uploaded to the fingerprint repository.

    ICE has been digitizing and uploading the fingerprints taken on paper cards, but the process has not been completed, according to the Inspector General's report.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Judge Napolitano Warns Trump Against Communicating With Mueller

    See: American Thinker

    Trap Trap Trap

    Video

    GREAT ADVICE

    ReplyDelete
  23. Not even Alan Dershowitz, an ardent Trump defender who recently got his own show on Fox News, thought allowing the special counsel to grill Trump was the best play. “I would never let the prosecution interview my client,” Dershowitz told NBC News.

    “But I don’t represent the president of the United States, and presidents don’t want to plead the Fifth. So this route makes sense.”

    Come to think of it, Dershowitz was probably trying to send smoke signals to those who do represent Trump.


    Interview with Mueller

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If Trump communicates with Mueller do it in writing so Trumps lawyers can keep a watchful eye on the process

      That is what they earn the big bucks for doing.

      Delete
    2. Good comments after that article.

      Heh

      Delete
  24. "They never caught a fish that didn't open it's mouth."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Talking fly fishing here the only real kind of fishing.

      Delete