Yesterday Federal Judge Reggie Walton questioned the credibility and truthfulness of Attorney General Bill Barr.  [SEE HERE]  Today AG Barr responded:

(Source Link)

Federal Judge Reggie Walton delivered a ruling today (pdf version here) creating a firestorm narrative fight around the Mueller report.   However, before reviewing the substance of the ruling it’s important to remember where Walton comes from.

For more than a decade DC Judge Walton has been skeptical of official government statements and the officials who deliver them.  Going back to the early years of the Obama administration, and continuing through the IRS case(s) in Obama’s second term, Judge Walton’s suspicions have been consistent.  Walton consistently wants to see the raw data, and doesn’t trust government presentations or interpretations of the underlying data.

It is against this outlook from the bench where Judge Walton tells the DOJ he wants to see the unredacted Mueller report so he can evaluate whether a FOIA lawsuit has any merit.

In the FOIA lawsuit Buzzfeed wants the unredacted Mueller report.  The DOJ has refused to release the unredacted report because, despite Bill Barr’s instructions to the corrupt Mueller group, team Mueller included grand jury information in their final version.

This is the heart of the issue.  The DOJ is saying all redactions were made based on DOJ policy and laws; Buzzfeed is challenging that assertion and saying they suspect the DOJ removed material from the Mueller report simply to advance a political narrative.

Judge Walton is saying he wants to see the unredacted report so he can make up his own mind on whether legally FOIA-able material exists.  However, Walton is also going one big step further and actually questioning the credibility of AG Bill Barr.  That’s the part where the resistance media is having a field day.

The media have been trying to portray Bill Barr as lacking credibility for a year.  With a federal judge now putting that exact issue into his order the media are intoxicated with the smell of blood in the water… [pg #19]

HERE’s the FULL RULING:

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There are a couple of issues:

First, we know Team Mueller intentionally manipulated the report; including their decision to put grand jury 6(e) material into the report; specifically to contrast President Trump in the worst light possible.

Second, we know AG Bill Barr recognized the political narrative written within the corrupt outline authored by Andrew Weissmann and the Mueller team; and took action to eliminate that politicization.

Third, from looking at Judge Reggie Walton’s decisions through the years; and looking at the ruling on the part where he wants to see the raw underlying material; he’s not doing anything out of the ordinary from what he normally does. However, that said, Walton calling AG Barr’s credibility into question is quite remarkable.

Judge Walton did a good job calling the Obama administration and DOJ to task in the IRS targeting of conservative groups [SEE HERE] and [SEE HERE] ultimately resulting in the DOJ and IRS admitting what took place and settling class-action lawsuits as a result.

If AG Bill Barr did what he said he did, there shouldn’t be an issue.

Representative Doug Collins appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the expiring FISA authorization and a push by some in DC for a clean renewal instead of structurally changing the FISA system to prohibit abuse.

Additionally, Mr. Dobbs asks Collins about Mitch McConnell’s back-room effort to block his senate campaign.  McConnell has a well-used playbook he deploys to retain power at all costs and select candidates that will be indebted to his Senate schemes. Doug Collins is up against the same Senate machine readers here are very familiar with:

Initially the DOJ and FBI wanted to include (bury/hide) a FISA renewal effort within the Coronavirus spending bill.  However, facing sunlight and backlash from democrats & republicans in congress, along with push-back from President Trump, that approach appears to have been scrapped. Hence the current timing of a FISC opinion and order.

The FISA Court has responded to the overall reform proposal of the DOJ and FBI [FISC Link Here]. However, in the opinion & order today, written by Presiding Judge Boasberg, the court does not address the ongoing downstream investigative consequences from the fraudulent Carter Page FISA application.  Instead the presiding judge focuses narrowly on the DOJ and FBI proposals for future applications.

The issues of what evidence the FBI/DOJ gathered from the exploitation of the fraudulent warrant is not addressed.  Nor does the court deal with the downstream issues of what cases may have been enhanced with illegally obtained surveillance authority.  Additionally, how the DOJ and FBI are attempting to round-up (“sequester”) any evidence that was gathered as a result of the fraudulent and unlawful FISA application is also not addressed.

Instead, within his opinion & order Judge Boasberg focuses exclusively on the recommendations from Amici Curiae David Kris, the appointed arbiter and liaison between the court and the DOJ, along with the changes proposed by FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. AG Bill Barr to the FISA application process.

The FISC opinion and order is embedded below and available in pdf form here.  I would strongly urge everyone to read it and make up your own mind.  From my perspective the 19-page outline is ridiculous.

The only FISC reform proposed, that could dissuade corrupt exploitation of the court, is simply a ruling that no DOJ or FBI official is allowed to participate in the FISA process if they are caught -and under review- for engaging in illicit conduct.   There are no legal consequences upon any DOJ or FBI member for any fraud upon the court in the past, present or future; they just get put in time-out.

The court walks through some of the Carter Page issues that need to be addressed by the FBI to ensure they do not take place again.

The court then asks the obvious question:  How to keep it from happening again?

The court points out that reminding FBI and DOJ officials they are not allowed to falsify information to the FISA court is a little weak… all things considered:

The court also notes, obliquely, that unlawfully accessing a database to acquire evidence to support a FISA application is itself an issue of unlawful application assembly.

Hence the FISC notes the FBI is committed to “short and long-term technological improvements” that might stop the unlawful exploitation of databases containing the private information of Americans….  That’s the unwritten and implied message.

So that’s nice.

The court ends up agreeing mostly that FISA applications are based on the honor system, and in that process the only thing the FISC can suggest/order is for the FBI to have stronger attestations to the truthfulness and fullness of the application itself.

The court revises the language suggested for compliance forms and asks the DOJ and FBI to change the applications to include these more strongly worded promises and affirmations.

However, when there’s no legal punishment (serious prison time) for lying or manipulating the FISA applications, there is no reason to believe that double-dog swearing and promising will mean anything different when it comes to corrupt intents and purposes within the secret court process.

Here’s the opinion and order.  Judge for yourself:

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ps. It should be noted that Judge Boasberg was also the federal judge who blocked the release of the Comey memos and declarations by Mueller’s lead FBI agent David Archey.

Senator Rand Paul reported earlier this evening that he met with President Trump in the White House to discuss the pending FISA reauthorization.  According to Senator Paul President Trump will not support reauthorization without “significant FISA reform”.

Senator Paul appears with Lou Dobbs to discuss the latest developments.  The position being put forth by Rand Paul is exactly correct.  Change the law so that FISA can only be used against foreign actors, and force the DOJ or intelligence apparatus to go to a normal Title-3 court for a search/surveillance warrant against any American. WATCH:

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The Senate is scheduled to go back into recess March 13, 2020.  Additionally, the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court order (due February 5th) has still not been made public.  If congress is going to reauthorize the controversial FISA provisions, they have nine days.

In November of 2019 buried deep in the congressional budget Continuing Resolution (CR) was a short-term extension to reauthorize the FISA “business records provision”, the “roving wiretap” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], all parts of the Patriot Act.  As a result of the FISA CR inclusion the terminal deadline was pushed to March 15, 2020.

Prior to the December 9, 2019, inspector general report on FISA abuse, FISA Court judges Rosemary Collyer (declassified 2017) and James Boasberg (declassified 2019) both identified issues with the NSA bulk database collection program being exploited for unauthorized reasons. For the past several years no corrective action taken by the intelligence community has improved the abuses outlined by the FISA court.

Keep in mind the deadline for the DOJ to respond to the FISA court about the abusive intelligence practices identified in the Horowitz report was February 5th, more than four weeks ago. The responses from the DOJ and FBI have not been made public.

FISA Court Order – FISA Court Notice of Extension.

It appears the DOJ is trying to get the FISA reauthorization passed before the FISC declassifies the corrective action outlined from the prior court order. This response would also include information about the “sequestering” of evidence gathered as a result of the now admitted fraudulent and misrepresented information within the FISA applications.

The FISA “business records provision”, the “roving wiretap” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], again all parts of the Patriot Act, must not be reauthorized without a full public vetting of the abuses that have taken place for the past several years.

At a minimum the pending DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court needs to be made public prior to any reauthorization by congress. And to better understand the scale of the issue, the consequences when the system is abused, the upstream sequester material needs to be made public.

Let the American public see what investigative evidence was unlawfully gathered, and let us see who and what was exposed by the fraudulently obtained FISA warrants. At a minimum congress and the American people need to understand the scale of what can happen when the system is wrong – BEFORE that exact same system is reauthorized.

Declassification of existing records would reveal the November 2015 through April 2016 FISA-702 search query abuse as outlined in the April 2017 court opinion written by FISC Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer.  Who exactly are these private sector FBI contractors behind the 85% fraudulent search queries?  This was a weaponized surveillance and domestic political spying operation. [The trail was laid down in specific detail by Judge Collyer – SEE HERE]

The U.S. constitution’s fourth amendment is being violated by the continued abuse of bulk metadata collection, particularly when private contractors and government officials illegally access the system.  The 2016 FISA review (party declassified in 2017) and the 2018 FISA review (party declassified in 2019) both show ongoing and systematic wrongdoing despite all prior corrective action and promises.

This needs to be stopped.

Ohio congressman Jim Jordan appears on Fox News to discuss the current status of FISA reauthorization and the reason why reforms to the process are needed.   Additionally, Jordan outlines why there is partisan resistance to the nomination of John Ratcliffe as Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

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Representatives requesting FISA reform prior to renewal include: Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, Doug Collins, Jody Rice, Devin Nunes and Steve Scalise. Additionally, Senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Senator Rand Paul are trying to force reform or let the current version expire. AG Bill Barr is requesting a clean FISA renewal with no reforms or revisions. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham support the AG request.

The Senate is scheduled to go back into recess March 13, 2020.  Additionally, the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court order (due February 5th) has still not been made public.  If congress is going to reauthorize the controversial FISA provisions, they have ten days.

In November of 2019 buried deep in the congressional budget Continuing Resolution (CR) was a short-term extension to reauthorize the FISA “business records provision”, the “roving wiretap” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], all parts of the Patriot Act.  As a result of the FISA CR inclusion the terminal deadline was pushed to March 15, 2020.

AG Bill Barr is requesting a clean FISA renewal with no reforms or revisions. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham support the AG request.

Representatives requesting FISA reform prior to renewal include: Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, Doug Collins, Jody Rice, Devin Nunes and Steve Scalise. Additionally, Senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Senator Rand Paul are trying to force reform or let the current version expire. The American people want it scrapped, or, at a minimum strongly revised.

Congress is trying to hide the FISA renewal within the Coronavirus appropriations bill.

Prior to the December 9, 2019, inspector general report on FISA abuse, FISA Court judges Rosemary Collyer (declassified 2017) and James Boasberg (declassified 2019) both identified issues with the NSA bulk database collection program being exploited for unauthorized reasons. For the past several years no corrective action taken by the intelligence community has improved the abuses outlined by the FISA court.

Keep in mind the deadline for the DOJ to respond to the FISA court about the abusive intelligence practices identified in the Horowitz report was February 5th, more than four weeks ago. The responses from the DOJ and FBI have not been made public.

FISA Court Order – FISA Court Notice of Extension.

It appears the DOJ is trying to get the FISA reauthorization passed before the FISC declassifies the corrective action outlined from the prior court order. This response would also include information about the “sequestering” of evidence gathered as a result of the now admitted fraudulent and misrepresented information within the FISA applications.

The FISA “business records provision”, the “roving wiretap” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], again all parts of the Patriot Act, must not be reauthorized without a full public vetting of the abuses that have taken place for the past several years.

At a minimum the pending DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court needs to be made public prior to any reauthorization by congress. And to better understand the scale of the issue, the consequences when the system is abused, the upstream sequester material needs to be made public.

Let the American public see what investigative evidence was unlawfully gathered, and let us see who and what was exposed by the fraudulently obtained FISA warrants. At a minimum congress and the American people need to understand the scale of what can happen when the system is wrong – BEFORE that exact same system is reauthorized.

Declassification of existing records would reveal the November 2015 through April 2016 FISA-702 search query abuse as outlined in the April 2017 court opinion written by FISC Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer.  Who exactly are these private sector FBI contractors behind the 85% fraudulent search queries?  This was a weaponized surveillance and domestic political spying operation. [The trail was laid down in specific detail by Judge Collyer – SEE HERE]

The U.S. constitution’s fourth amendment is being violated by the continued abuse of bulk metadata collection, particularly when private contractors and government officials illegally access the system.  The 2016 FISA review (party declassified in 2017) and the 2018 FISA review (party declassified in 2019) both show ongoing and systematic wrongdoing despite all prior corrective action and promises.

This needs to be stopped.

A comprehensively corrupt U.S. intelligence apparatus warns voters that foreign influences are attempting to support any candidate adverse to the interests of a corrupt Intelligence Community. Americans “must remain aware that foreign actors continue to try to influence public sentiment and shape voter perceptions.”

(LINK)

What a Deep State message.  According to the interests who transmit the warning…

It’s not the demonstrably proven history of corrupt political activity by officials running U.S. intelligence agencies that has eroded public trust in these institutions.   Why no, it’s foreign actors who amplify the sunlight upon proven corrupt political activity by officials running the intelligence agencies….. We swear, it’s their fault – Trust us.