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

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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.
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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:

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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.
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This is a fantastic and well-timed video that cuts to the heart of the matter.  John Spiropoulos has produced an exceptional video outlining the structural issues within the FISA process.  This video succinctly outlines the modern history of FISA abuse issues and highlights why we must use this critical moment to reform the FISA process.  WATCH:

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Share this video with those who need a fast encapsulation of the FISA issues at hand.
According to Senator Rand Paul, President Trump is committed to seeing that FISA is not reauthorized without “significant” reform.  Senator Paul has proposed to significantly change the FISA process by forcing the DOJ, FBI and Intelligence Community to apply for search and surveillance warrants to Title-3 courts in order to access any NSA database containing private information of American citizens.
Current FISA authority expires on March 15th.  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 now have nine days.
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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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It should not be a 5-4 split and majority decision, but that just goes to reflect how radical and structurally political the Supreme Court has become.  In an important ruling today the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that illegal aliens can be prosecuted by the states for stealing the identity of U.S. persons on employment eligibility paperwork.  [Direct pdf link]

Stunningly four justices (BREYER, GINSBURG, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN) dissented from the majority decision; and instead gave their minority opinion that federally mandated I-9 employment eligibility certifications should not be permitted for use as evidence in cases surrounding identity theft.
According to the dissenting opinion, if your identity or social security number was stolen by an illegal alien; and used to falsify employment eligibility documents; that illegal action is not itself criminal conduct because the documents are not permissible as evidence to show the alien falsified information. An absolutely bizarre position in a nation of laws.
The primary issue surrounds federal laws that state employment affidavits, like an I-9 eligibility declaration, cannot be used to prosecute illegal aliens, unlawfully residing in the U.S.  However, it is simultaneously unlawful under federal law to provide false information on those employment eligibility documents.
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A federal judge has ruled that Hillary Clinton and her former chief of staff Cheryl Mills must sit for a deposition within 75 days (full ruling pdf below).   Judicial Watch won the court ruling despite the ongoing efforts by the DOJ to block their inquiry. [JW Link]

From the Ruling – “The Court has considered the numerous times in which Secretary Clinton said she could not recall or remember certain details in her prior interrogatory answers. In a deposition, it is more likely that plaintiff’s counsel could use documents and other testimony to attempt to refresh her recollection. And so, to avoid the unsatisfying and inefficient outcome of multiple rounds of fruitless interrogatories and move this almost six-year-old case closer to its conclusion, Judicial Watch will be permitted to clarify and further explore Secretary Clinton’s answers in person and immediately after she gives them. The Court agrees with Judicial Watch – it is time to hear directly from Secretary Clinton.”

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Quite a bit to unpack here, and most of it is very good news.  First, this re-nomination was almost predictable when you look at the totality of the landscape:

President Trump needed to generate an official DNI nomination in order to retain the current acting DNI authorities for Richard “Ric” Grenell; so that’s one aspect.
However, beyond the procedural move there’s the larger background of the FISA reauthorization; and, in my opinion, that larger dynamic is the majority consideration.
The FISA reauthorization and the need for President Trump to support any type of reauthorization that eventually gets through the complex political dynamics within congress; and considering Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell traveled to the White House to discuss this issue yesterday; the outcome is considerable leverage for Trump.
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Completely agree with Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton here. During a discussion of congress trying to pass a clean FISA reauthorization or a reform version, Tom Fitton says the only way to really reform the process is to arrest, prosecute & jail those who abused it.
Fitton’s point is similar to the CTH argument surrounding SSCI leaker James Wolfe.  If the DOJ had prosecuted Wolfe for the criminal leaks of classified intelligence, the landscape of an adversarial intelligence apparatus over the past two years would be completely different.   The same general perspective applies to the FISA abuse issue.

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