It was curious to see Michael Cohen walk out of his sentencing hearing last week without having to report to jail/prison for the punishment therein.  Generally speaking when the final adjudication is presented the accused begins to serve his/her punishment. However, not in this case; and not with the construct of this pleading, this quid-pro-quo.

In the prosecutorial agreement within the Cohen case, there obviously remains the fulfillment of terms.  Michael Cohen doesn’t report to prison until March 6th, 2019.  Why the exceptional judicial delay and generosity?….  The incoming Chairman for the House Government and Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings, explains:

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There it is; transparently obvious for any political observer who has a modicum of intellectual honesty. House committees will use testimony from Michael Cohen as the cornerstone for their well-structured political strategy to eliminate the existential threat to their ongoing DC livelihood, President Trump.

There should be no doubt this plan was conceived well before Special Counsel Robert Mueller passed the investigative torch to his compatriots in the Southern District of New York. This impeachment/removal approach is a synergy between multiple benefactors, and is entirely by design.

Former U.S. Attorney General under President George W. Bush Michael Mukasey weighs in on Trump’s appointment of William Barr to U.S. attorney general.

Congressman Darryl Issa appears for an interview with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the sketchy Mueller case against Michael Flynn; the likelihood that someone in the administration is going to have to talk to the FISA court about likely DOJ abuse; and the second round of questions for James Comey scheduled for tomorrow.

Former New York Mayor and current lawyer for President Trump appears on Fox News as swamp guardian Chris Wallace constructs the opposing argument for Robert Mueller.

It is hard to believe this was written a year ago; time flies.  However, we are repeating a FISA-702 explanation thread below because as the year has evolved; and understanding FISA-702 process abuse is now the specific focus of Inspector General Michael Horowitz; there is an aspect to the FISA-gate story that must be expanded.

The United States intelligence community, writ large, will likely never allow the structural abuse of the FISA-702 system by the Obama administration to surface.  Consider it a third rail of unspoken agreement. A similar motive for the DIA to keep the Flynn file under wraps.  However, before going into the complexities of the FISA conundrum, which would also envelop any Horowitz report, it is important to revisit the basics.

We’ll break down the term: “ FISA-702(16)(17) ” into the elements that will help make sense of this story in the future.

• FISA – Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
• 702 – An American caught up in the process of Foreign Surveillance
• (16) – A search query based on “TO” and/or “FROM”
• (17) – A search query based on “ABOUT” (now removed)

Again, to repeat, there are differing FISA rules for use of the NSA or FBI database depending on the originating intelligence compartment.

If a search is conducted from an intelligence compartment within the U.S. government whose objective is to ensure “National Security” there are different FISA rules than a search from an intelligence compartment not engaged in “National Security”.

The DOJ has a “National Security Division”. Their compartment rules on FISA searches and reviews are different from the DOJ “Civil Rights Division”. There are 30 DOJ divisions.

The FBI (a department within the DOJ) has a Counterintelligence Division that focuses on terrorism threats etc. A FISA search from within the Counterintelligence Division has different rules than a FISA search from the Science and Technology Division.

So, We Begin: FISA searches can be conducted on any foreign person without issue. All non-U.S. citizens on the entire planet can be searched 24/7/365 no issues. FISA searches on foreign people have no restrictions at all.

However, when the FISA search returns data identifying a U.S. citizen, everything changes. Those changes are under the identifying term “702”. A “702” is an American person associated with the FISA process; and that person has 4th amendment rights.

All U.S. citizens are protected by the fourth amendment against unlawful search and seizure. All searches of U.S. people must have a valid reason. Title III says any search for a potential criminal investigation must have a judicial warrant. Additionally, any criminal search of the FISA database must also have a warrant (technically, ‘approval’).

Any FISA searches of foreign subjects, might need FISA Court approval if the returned data includes a U.S. subject (“702”).

However, When a FISA-702 search is conducted based on the need for “national security” no approval from the FISA court is needed. Search away. If the FISA search is because of a “vital national security interest” the resulting search data can be opened, and all ‘upstream’ connections explored, without seeking permission from the FISA court.

♦A “FISA-702(16)” Search Result – would be a search result of the FBI (counter terrorism) database or NSA database that returns an American person as a result of a “To” or “From” (16) type data search.

EXAMPLE: Querying phone data (phone number) TO: Operator BadGuy or FROM: Operator BadGuy – might return a list of phone numbers that also contains an American persons’ phone number. That American person is protected by the fourth amendment. To look at the “upstream” connections of the American Person to other people, likely more Americans, the search operator would need to ask permission of the FISA Court to review the upstream results.

This is the minimization process. The U.S. person must be minimally exposed, or protected, to avoid having any specific rights violated.

[NOTE: *Exception* – the search was vital to national security. If so, the upstream phone numbers could be reviewed without asking FISA permission.]

♦A “FISA-702(17)” Search Result – would be a search result of the FBI (counter terrorism) database or NSA database that returns an American person (702) as a result of an “ABOUT” (17) type data search.

EXAMPLE: Querying everything in email ABOUT: Mohammed BadGuy – might return communication of an American who wrote a letter about Mohammed BadGuy or maybe he told a friend in a text to check out a media story about Mohammed BadGuy. To look at the email or text of the American, the search operator would need to ask permission of the FISA Court to see the email/text content.

[NOTE: *Exception* – the search was vital to national security?. If So, the email and text could be looked at without asking permission]

The “about queries” are exceptionally problematic.  The user can input a phone number, an ip address, a name, an email account, or virtually anything related to the identity of a person or group and receive thousands of search results to sort and filter.

November 2015 through April 2016 FISA-702(17) “About Queries”, returns from searches, were identified by NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers, being conducted by the intelligence community (FBI), by “contractors” and “individuals” for reasons that: •were unauthorized; •were directly related to U.S. persons; •and had nothing to do with National Security; •and were conducted by people who did not request FISA Court Approval.

Director Mike Rogers discovered FBI contractors doing FISA-702 “About Searches” that resulted in returns providing information on Americans. Those results were passed on to people outside government.

Pg 83. “FBI gave raw Section 702–acquired information to a private entity that was not a federal agency and whose personnel were not sufficiently supervised by a federal agency for compliance minimization procedures.”

(2017 FISA Court Opinion – 99 Page Brief)

Someone inside the FBI was giving FISA-702 search results on U.S. individuals to a private entity that had nothing to do with government. Those 702 (American Citizen) results were not “minimized” and exposed the private data of the American citizen(s).

In addition, NSA Director Mike Rogers, who is also in charge of Cyber Command, discovered people within the intelligence community were doing “searches” of the NSA and FBI database that were returning information (a non-compliant rate of 85%),  that had nothing to do with “Foreign Individuals”.

Rogers requested a full FISA-702 Compliance Review.

As an outcome of that review, the DOJ/FBI compliance officer noted FISA violations. Again, the FISA Court (page 84):

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/349542716/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-72P5FzpI44KMOuOPZrt1

We do not know how exactly many FISA-702 violations took place prior to NSA Mike Rogers initiating the full FISA-702 review in April 2016. [There were thousands during the period reviewed by the compliance audit] Nor do we know who the insider FBI individuals were; or what results were passed on; or what was done with the results.

However, given the nature of what was taking place at the time (March, April, May, 2016) it appears likely this was part of the DOJ/FBI/Fusion-GPS collision to gather information on the candidacy of Donald Trump.

CTH received a tip that Fusion GPS [either ‘individuals’ (Nellie Ohr) or the company] were one of the “contractors” mentioned, additionally the “private entity” could also be inside the Fusion GPS network (think Daniel Richman).  Another “contractor” could possibly be CrowdStrike. From all appearances there were multiple people involved.

These ‘passed-along’ FISA-702 raw search results appear to be the seeds which were fertilized by Glenn Simpson, Mary Jacobs, Nellie Ohr; “unmasked” by Obama administration officials; and enhanced/laundered by Christopher Steele – to end with a “Steele Dossier” returned to the FBI via Counterintelligence Agent Peter Strzok, DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr, and DOJ/FBI lawyer Lisa Page, for their “insurance policy”.

The DOJ and FBI then took the dossier, full circle, back to the FISA Court to gain 702 surveillance authority and approval (media says ‘warrant’), upon the Trump Campaign (October 2016), and President-Elect (after November 8th, 2016).

In October 2016, immediately after the DOJ lawyers formatted the FBI information (Steele Dossier etc.) for a valid FISC application, the head of the DOJ National Security Division, Asst. Attorney General John P Carlin, left his job. Carlin’s exit came as the DOJ-NSD and Admiral Rogers informed the FISC that frequent unauthorized FISA-702 searches had been conducted. Read Here.

All research indicates the intelligence information the DOJ and FBI collected via their FISA-702 queries, combined with the intelligence Fusion GPS created in their earlier use of contractor access to FISA-702(17) “about queries”, was the intelligence data manipulated by Nellie Ohr, and laundered by Christopher Steele for use in creating “The Russian Dossier”.

Well, well, well.  This is likely to be quickly brushed under the proverbial rug.  If you have followed the case against SSCI Security Director James Wolfe you will note the original indictment against him outlined, obliquely, how Wolfe took custody of the Carter Page FISA application and then leaked it to his concubine at Buzzfeed Ms. Ali Watkins.

The leak of the FISA application was a rather explosive issue not readily identified when Wolfe’s indictment was first presented (June ’18).  It was only possible to connect the dots after the FISA application was released (July ’18) and a comparison on specific dates, times, contacts and chain-of-custody, was possible.

In response to his indictment, Wolfe’s lawyers said they would force Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) members to participate and testify in any trial.  This was a rather stunning approach.  A few months passed and a plea bargain was struck.  Wolfe would plead guilty only to one count of lying to FBI investigators.  The charges of the leaking “top secret and classified” intelligence were dropped.

Wolfe was not ultimately charged with leaking the FISA application.  We sniffed a quid-pro-quo.  We suspected Wolfe was instructed by at least one senator, likely  SSCI Vice-Chairman Mark Warner, to leak the information.  This would explain Wolfe’s extraordinary defense position – and the DOJ response therein.

Think about it.  A gang-of-eight member (Warner), who happened -as a consequence of the jaw dropping implications- to be one of only TWO SSCI members who was notified by the FBI that Wolfe was compromised. The ramifications cannot be overstated.

After the sketchy plea agreement the DOJ filed a sentencing memo, on ONLY the lying aspect, claiming –contrary to the original indictment– their investigation could not prove classified intelligence leaks.  However, the DOJ also argued for a sentence of two years incarceration, far exceeding the judicial sentencing standard for a single count of lying.  Again, rather dubious DOJ positioning.

CTH still believes Wolfe leaked the FISA application to Ali Watkins and the DOJ was in a tenuous position due to the strong likelihood of key and powerful senators being involved.

  Well, yesterday the DOJ filed a response to the Wolfe defense teams’ own sentencing memo (full pdf below), and within the DOJ response they, perhaps inadvertently, posted an exhibit (#13) written by the FBI special agent in charge, which specifically says:

….”because of the known disclosure of classified information, the FISA application”…

“known disclosure”…

I don’t think the DOJ meant to allow or file that.

Here’s the full DOJ responsive filing to the Wolfe defense sentencing memo:

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/395775597/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-Ri1zx4Lgs43CF6bIoj4s

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As a reminder, we know the FISA court delivered the read and return Top-Secret Classified Carter Page application due to the clerk stamp of March 17, 2017.

That stamp date, March 17, 2017, and the content therein, matched the date and details of the original Wolfe indictment:

On that same date, March 17th, 2017, within the text messages of SSCI Vice-Chairman Mark Warner and Lobbyist/Lawyer Adam Waldman – as they were working out details of how to meet covertly with dossier author Christopher Steele, we find Warner going into the Senate Intelligence Committee SCIF.

SSCI Vice-Chairman Mark Warner is a central figure in the scheme to entrap the incoming administration under the auspices of the fraudulent Russia probe.

(Washington, DC – December 14th, 2018) Judicial Watch today released two sets of heavily redacted State Department documents, 38 pagesand 48 pages, showing classified information was researched and disseminated to multiple U.S. Senators by the Obama administration immediately prior to President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The documents reveal that among those receiving the classified documents were Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN).

Judicial Watch obtained the documents through a June 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the State Department after it failed to respond to a February 2018 request seeking records of the Obama State Department’s last-minute efforts to share classified information about Russia election interference issues with Democratic Senator Ben Cardin (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:18-cv-01381)).

The documents reveal the Obama State Department urgently gathering classified Russia investigation information and disseminating it to members of Congress within hours of Donald Trump taking office.  (read more)

This DOJ deal with James Wolfe is one big, FUBAR, Deep State example of a cover-up operation.  Each side is deploying leverage to avoid accountability the DOJ is trying to preserve and protect multiple institutions.

The motives are all the same….  because the ramifications, if fully exposed, would tear at the very fabric of a democratically elected constitutional republic…

Decide for yourself.

Joe diGenova appears on Fox News with Tucker Carlson to discuss the case against Michael Flynn and calls out the specifics behind the fraud.

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Byron York and Jonathan Turley also have a reaction to today’s Mueller filings below.

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Forget the unmentioned brutally obvious political motives and intents behind the operation against Donald Trump for a moment; and focus on the collective Obama activity as if they actually believed the claims they have since presented…

The counterintelligence investigation into candidate, president-elect, and president Donald Trump was predicated on the Obama’s intelligence community believing that campaign officials were colluding, conspiring and otherwise coordinating to take over the office of the presidency, with help from a foreign government.  So why wouldn’t the intelligence services of the United States government conduct wiretaps and full blown surveillance upon that incoming administration?

The John Brennan CIA presented a classified electronic communication, “ec”, origination memo (we are not allowed to see) to ODNI (Clapper) and FBI (Comey); who then opened a full-blown counterintelligence operation against officials within the Trump campaign.

We know this operation was political, but again, ignore that aspect and just look at the issues, details and activity while accepting -at face value- their demonstrably dubious claims.

Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn provided the opening for operational surveillance of the Trump team. We can argue about how they were framed in that regard; however, it is factual that FISA-Title-One surveillance is all encompassing.

The target is validated and defined by the FBI as “an agent of a foreign government”. This legal distinction permits full surveillance: electronic, physical, the works.  Everything is on the table, no limits or boundaries.

FBI Director James Comey told congress (March 20th, 2017) the reason the intelligence community did not disclose their counterintelligence operation against candidate, president-elect and President Trump was “because of the sensitivity of the matter.”  As such the required congressional oversight notifications were bypassed.

Outgoing National Security Advisor Susan Rice documented on inauguration day that a meeting was held on January 5th, 2017, to discuss the Russia concerns with Rice, James Clapper, James Comey and President Obama.  According to Rice President Obama said they were to make sure “everything was by-the-book“.

In the weeks and months that followed, we learn in hindsight the Trump Transition team was under electronic surveillance.  This surveillance also included the capture of all of their transition email accounts, the content was later given -without prior approval- to Robert Mueller by the GAO.  This is not disputed.

Remember, as an outcome of the concern and in combination with the counterintelligence operation, the incoming National Security Advisor, General Michael Flynn, was designated as a national security risk by the intelligence apparatus that he would be part of.  Flynn was under electronic surveillance as part of the Obama authorized operation.

Pause / Repeat:

Why wouldn’t the Obama intelligence apparatus be wiretapping the White House if they believed a foreign adversary was in control of the Trump administration?

I digress, moving on…

On January 27th, 2017, FBI Director James Comey attended a Green Room dinner with President Trump just about a week after the inauguration. This is the meeting where, according to Comey, President Trump asked for “loyalty”.  [This is also the date when Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates confronted White House counsel Don McGahn about Flynn’s interview with the FBI a few days earlier on Jan 24th.]

It would only be a few weeks later [Follow Link] when President Trump remodeled the “Green Room” (presidential dining room) adding a flat screen TV and a chandelier he paid for personally. During the remodel the dining room was “taken down to the studs”, and according to a quote later delivered by Time Magazine:

TIME – […] But few rooms have changed so much so fast as his dining room, where he often eats his lunch amid stacks of newspapers and briefing sheets. A few weeks back, the President ordered a gutting of the room. “We found gold behind the walls, which I always knew. Renovations are grand,” he says, boasting that contractors from the General Services Administration resurfaced the walls and redid the moldings in two days. “Remember how hard they worked? They wanted to make me happy.”

On February 14th, 2017 President Trump and James Comey were again alone was in the Oval Office. February 14th was also the day when the head of the Secret Service, Joseph Clancy, announced his resignation.  Clancy’s resignation was effective March 4th, 2017.

After he was fired James Comey testified to congress on June 8th, 2017, saying he delivered his memos of the meetings with President Trump to his friend at Columbia University, Professor Daniel Richman, on/after May 15th. He said the intent was to initiate a “special prosecutor”:

“I woke up in the middle of the night on Monday night, ‘cause it didn’t dawn on me originally that there might be corroboration for our conversation; there might be a tape.” [Referring to Monday May 15] “And my judgment was I needed to get that out in the public square so I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. I Didn’t do it myself for a variety of reasons but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel. So I asked a close friend of mine to do it.”

However, the content of the memo was leaked to the New York Times on or before Thursday May 11th for an article that was originally posted at 5:26pm:

Quite simply James Comey lied to congress about when and why he initiated leaking the memos to his friends in the media.  Comey claimed a tweet from President Trump spurred him to share his memo.

The tweet from President Trump (May 12th) was in response to the New York Times article (May 11th) which was quoting from the Comey memo.  So Comey was lying when he said he gave the memo to the New York Times (Via Daniel Richman) on Monday May 15th.

This false motive, claimed by Comey, was highlighted by President Trump’s attorney at the time:

I bring up this example because of the Trump tweet that surrounds it.

President Trump tweeted about a “recording” after reading the New York Times article that was written from the memo account of James Comey; however, the tweet was also made after the Green Room was “taken down to the studs” and remodeled.

Everyone assumed President Trump was talking about a recording that he might have made of the Comey conversation; however, in hindsight given the nature of what is described above – wouldn’t it be more likely the recording was external to the White House; as a part of the surveillance.

“By the book”.

If they truly believed a foreign adversary was in control of the Trump administration; a claim they already made to the FISA court; why wouldn’t the Obama intelligence apparatus be wiretapping the White House?

In hindsight we already know the Trump campaign, Trump transition team and Trump administration were under surveillance.