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BREAKING: DOJ Inspector General investigates alleged FISA abuses by DOJ, FBI
Tag: FISAGate
‘THE DEEP STATE IS REAL’: FISA memo proves collusion between media and shadow government, says Post’s Michael Goodwin
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The deep state is alive an well, says New York Post Michael Goodwin, and Friday’s release of the FISA memo (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CXFnepvQamNJyuhSsVQazBO7p3-ZxVOL/view) proves it.
“Now that we know what the declassified House memo says about government misconduct, we also know what it means: The Washington swamp — the deep state — is bigger, more vicious and more dangerous to American liberty than even a cynic could have imagined,” Goodwin wrote in an opinion piece for Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/05/michael-goodwin-fbi-memo-proves-deep-state-is-real-and-press-is-part-it.html). “Because of the memo and previous revelations, we know that swamp creatures are embedded in the top of the FBI and the Department of Justice. Some used their power to try to tip a presidential campaign based on their personal politics.”
They conducted a sham investigation of the Democratic candidate and misled federal judges to spy on at least one associate of her Republican challenger,” Goodwin continued. “To block exposure of their misdeeds, these officials falsely claimed that national security would be damaged. Add that despicable lie — issued in the name of the FBI itself — to their shameful records.”
However, Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano says the much-anticipated release of the controversial memo turned out to be much ado about nothing.
“The president has claimed total vindication. That’s the president being the president. … I understand why he says things like that, it gins up his base and it may help him politically, but legally it’s of no moment,” Napolitano said during an appearance of “America’s Newsroom” (http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/02/05/judge-napolitano-fisa-memo-mueller-probe-republicans-underdelivered-trump-not-vindicated). Still, says Napolitano, in fairness, he’s also calling for the Democrats’ version of the controversial memo to be made public.
“I want it to come out. I want to see who on [the intelligence] committee is spinning,” Napolitano said.
Despite Napolitano’s playing down of the memo’s importance, most lawmakers and legal analysts have gone on record in agreement with Goodwin.
The abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by senior Obama administration officials is “worse than Watergate” House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said of the matter.
“The facts contained in this memo are jaw-dropping and demand full transparency. There is no higher priority than the release of this information to preserve our democracy,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a member of the Judiciary Committee, which oversees the DOJ and the FBI, said in agreement.
“You think about, ‘is this happening in America or is this the KGB?’ That’s how alarming it is,” Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) told Fox News.
Regardless of which side you’re on, the key question in regard to FISAGate, as it’s come to be known, is what happens next?
There is a great deal of speculation that President Trump may, in response to the memo, fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw one of the renewals of FISA warrants on Carter Page.
However, as warned in an editorial for the National Review (http://www.nationalreview.com/article/456089/memo-released-what-should-come-next), doing so may cause a semi-collapse of his Justice Department, causing Republicans to undo the political headway they’ve have made in recent weeks.
No matter which direction the president takes, one thing is for certain. Critics on both sides of the fence will be ready and eager to pounce.
In an interview with the Washington Post (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/us/politics/robert-mueller-special-counsel-russia-investigation.html), former federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg said, “Rosenstein is in charge of the Mueller probe. He picked Mueller and has testified under oath that he won’t fire him absent clear misconduct. So if Rosenstein goes, Trump would pick a new deputy attorney general who would no doubt be much more compliant to Trump.”
But should the president choose to take that path, rest assured that Democrats will utilize the decision to call for impeachment.
“I cannot possibly imagine the president terminating Bob Mueller,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said in June. “It just cannot happen.”
MCCABE STEPS DOWN: FBI Director resigns as vote on FISA memo looms
WASHINGTON, D.C. — FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe announced Monday that he will be stepping down immediately.
The news comes as McCabe, who The Daily Beast reports is named in a controversial FISA memo, has found himself increasingly under fire.
According to the Beast report, McCabe, former FBI Director James Comey, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein are each named in the “shocking” FISA abuse memo which allegedly details unlawful surveillance practices carried out on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his associates during the campaign of the 2016 presidential election.
“A controversial Republican memo alleging surveillance abuse specifically names FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein along with former FBI Director James Comey,” the Beast report states (https://www.thedailybeast.com/doj-warns-that-releasethememo-would-be-extraordinarily-reckless?ref=home).
“Capitol Hill sources on both sides of the aisle say the memo’s release is only a matter of time. And when it comes out, these current and former officials — all GOP bêtes noires — are likely to face even more criticism from the right over their involvement in FBI counterintelligence work.
Republicans, including Trump himself, have spent months attacking McCabe and Comey while special counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating Team Trump’s connections to the Kremlin. Rosenstein put that probe in place—a move Trump has derided as a witch hunt. […]
Rep. Chris Collins, a New York Republican, told The Daily Beast that Nunes has told Republicans his staff spent months putting the memo together.”
According to White House sources, President Trump was briefed on McCabe’s intent to vacate his role Monday morning. McCabe became Trump’s acting director of the FBI in May after the president fired then director James Comey.
The president has made no secret of his mistrust of McCabe since he was appointed to his role, tweeting on several occasions that he believed the FBI colluded to protect former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton from prosecution for illegally storing classified materials on a private server in her home during her tenure as Secretary of State.
“How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin’ James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife’s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?” Trump tweeted in December of 2017.
McCabe, who was already expected to step down in early 2018 upon becoming eligible for his pension, reportedly told no one of his intent to depart his role ahead of schedule.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is expected to take a vote Monday afternoon to decide whether or not the FISA memo should be released to the public.
DOWN TO THE WIRE: Dems fight back on Republican efforts to release FISA memo as vote looms
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democrats on Monday stepped up their efforts to prevent House Republicans from revealing the contents of a FISA memo which Republican leaders have referred to as “shocking”.
The contents of the memo, which those who have read claim to be “worse than Watergate”, allegedly details government surveillance abuses against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and what role the now discredited anti-Trump “dossier” played in the securing a surveillance warrant on at least one Trump associate, Carter Paige. Further, it is alleged that officials who secured the warrant unlawfully failed to disclose that the dossier in question was financed by Democrats.
South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, who helped write the four-page memo, said Sunday the American people deserve to see what’s in it.
“If you want to know whether or not the dossier was used in court proceedings, whether or not it was vetted before it was used. … If you are interested in who paid for the dossier … then, yes, you’ll want the memo to come out,” Gowdy told “Fox News Sunday.”
Gowdy, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs, also dropped several hints as to what else may be contained in the document.
“I can’t prove that they were the final decision makers,” Gowdy told “Fox News Sunday.” “But I don’t have to. Two really important people hated (Trump) and would have done anything to protect” (Hillary Clinton).
“Did they have the power to protect her?” Gowdy asked of the FBI’s decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton for illegally storing classified emails on a home server during her tenure as Secretary of State. “The decision not to charge (Clinton) was made even before they interviewed her. How would you like that deal?”
Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said when asked about the controversy that the issue goes far beyond government surveillance of Trump. What’s worse, he said, is unlawful spying on the American citizen.
“Let the American people decide,” said Napolitano (http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/01/29/judge-andrew-napolitano-calls-release-fisa-memo-documents). “If Congress knew of the alleged abuses of FISA — that’s the government’s ability to spy on us — by the NSA, our domestic spies, and by the intelligence division of the FBI, they might not have expanded FISA the way they did.”
Rep. Rodney Davis said Monday that he, too, is for the memo’s release.
“I am for more transparency. Let’s start with four pages,” Davis, an Illinois Republican, told CNN. “Then let’s talk about releasing more.”
So far, Democrats have fought hard against the memo’s release.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said last week that Republicans on the committee are seeking to “selectively and misleadingly characterize classified information” in an effort to “protect” President Trump.
Calling the memo a “desperate attempt” by Republicans “to distract attention from the Russia probe” Schiff told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that Republicans are trying to “put the federal government on trial” by intentionally making “scandalous accusations.”
Former secret service agent Dan Bongino slammed Schiff’s comments during an appearance on Fox News, however, calling Schiff “the slimiest of the slimy in the swamp”.
“This is nonsense. Trump has constitutional rights too… The government was unleashed on him during the Obama years,” Bongino said. “Schiff has lied about this memo multiple times now. He’s deliberately manipulating the American public.”
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is expected to take a vote Monday afternoon to decide whether or not the memo should be released.
NY POST: Mueller “Gonna be in a world of hurt” once explosive FISA Memo goes public
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FBI, Department of Justice and special counsel Robert Mueller will all be in a “world of hurt” once a four-page memo detailing FISA abuses that took place under the Obama administration are revealed, says The New York Post’s Paul Sperry.
“I’m told Steele & Simpson + the FBI & DOJ/NSD + even FISC are all gonna be in a world of hurt when this 4-pp memo + underlying docs hit the fan,” Sperry tweeted on Thursday. (https://twitter.com/paulsperry_/status/956737620758974465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2018%2F01%2Fsperry-fbi-doj-mueller-gonna-world-hurt-explosive-fisa-memo-goes-public%2F).
“Steele & Simpson are caught in a sh*tstorm of lies, which further tainted the FBI’s FISA warrant to spy on Team Trump,” Sperry continued. “And as a result, the memo is going to create a BIG credibility problem for Mueller, since his team debriefed Steele and tapped into Simpson’s “research” on Manafort and Deutsche Bank. Buckle your seatbelts, sports fans …”.
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton concurred with Sperry’s comments, adding that Mueller likely knows his clock is ticking.
“My guess is Mueller is racing to “interview” @RealDonaldTrump before his own investigation further implodes with revelations of illegal anti-Trump actions/bias from the “Memo” and text messages. #ReleaseTheMemo”, Fitton tweeted (https://twitter.com/TomFitton/status/956548403831418880).
Fox News legal contributor Judge Andrew Napolitano also said during an apperance on Fox & Friends that, for the good of the American people, the content of the memo should be revealed on the House floor.
“[They] sat on it while the rest of Congress debated and expanded FISA. The rest of Congress should have known what the House Intelligence Committee knows,” said Napolitano (http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/01/25/fisa-surveillance-memo-judge-napolitano-says-contents-must-be-released).
Further, added Napolitano, should the committee vote against releasing it, a member should defy the vote and disclose the memo’s contents on the House floor in order to make it a matter of public record.
“The speech and debate clause of the Constitution protects members of Congress from the legal consequences of what they say on the floor,” said the judge.
The comments come after a New York Times report was published claiming that Trump demanded Mueller’s firing just weeks after the special counsel was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The president denied those allegations as he arrived Friday at the site of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Fake news, folks. Fake news. Typical New York Times fake stories,” he told reporters.
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