Earlier today President Trump highlighted the activity of the politically weaponized intelligence community:
Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel appears on Tucker Carlson TV show to discuss the decision by the FBI and DOJ not to declassify the Democrats’ rebuttal memo without redactions; and the report U.S. deep state operatives paid $100K to a Russian agent for damaging information on President Trump.
The minority members (Democrats) of the House Intelligence Committee, ie the legislative branch, submitted a 10-page memo for declassification by the executive branch. The comensurate process involves the National Security Council, Office of Legal Counsel and all executive agencies within the national security apparatus (CIA, NSA, ODNI, State Dept., DoD, FBI, DOJ) to review the request prior to declassification approval.
Apparently the U.S. Department of Justice – National Security Division, and Federal Bureau of Investigation – Intelligence operations, do not approve of the current submission without redactions:
WH response letter:
Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand is leaving the Department of Justice. Ms. Brand was the #3 official in main justice holding a position immediately behind Rod Rosenstein.
Rachel Brand was to FISA surveillance what Tom Selleck is to reverse home mortgages. Indeed almost all of Ms. Brands’ exclusive recent responsibility has been to advocate for national surveillance authority within the DOJ. She was a very effective spokesperson.
Ms. Brand is now going to be the legal head of Wal-Mart as the global governance director.
Good luck with that Wal-Mart workers. Enjoy your future microchip. All your biometrics are belong to us…
Yesterday the news broke of Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chairman, Mark Warner, seeking covert contact with ‘Clinton-Steele Dossier’ originating entity Christopher Steele.
Within the March/April 2017 communication, the back-and-forth centered around Chris Steele wanting a written request signed by both the Vice-Chair (Warner) and the Senate Committee Chairman, Richard Burr.
Without that bi-partisan request, Steele was not willing to engage with Warner unilaterally. If you consider the timing of the attempted communication (March ’17), and you overlay the expressed concerns therein; against the backdrop of the 2016 DC severe ideological effort the push for a special counsel probe based on false pretense against newly-elected President Trump; a picture emerges of Christopher Steele recognizing his endeavors within the enterprise carried considerable risk.
Vice-Chairman Warner didn’t want a ‘paper trail’ and transparently didn’t want the political opposition (republican members), to know of his political intent. Therefore Warner never asked Chairman Burr for his signature upon the letter requested by Steele. Ultimately Mr. Steele was correct in his suspicions, and prudent in his risk avoidance.
All of that is true, however, very few have stopped to ask: how did we, the viewing public, discover the Warner messaging and communication story in the first place?
How did the story of the Warner text messaging get into the media bloodstream? Who was the ‘entity’ who investigated, discovered, and eventually released the Warner messaging?
Mid-January House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte sent a letter to FISA Court presiding judge Rosemary Collyer requesting all the documents presented by the DOJ in their application for a “Title-1” FISA surveillance warrant over Carter Page. The House Judiciary Committee holds primary statutory oversight over the Justice Department and the FISA Court.
The DOJ has the Carter Page surveillance application (the DOJ also has the authority to declassify the FISA appliction). However, other than Chairman Goodlatte, the DOJ would only permit one person from each side of the House Intel Committee (HPSCI) to review the application. Trey Gowdy and Adam Schiff were those two reviewers.
[*NOTE: We cannot confirm but strongly suspect – due to DOJ conduct and ongoing DOJ motives, Goodlatte wants to rule-out the possibility of two versions: an original application to the FISC, and an application the DOJ may have modified for congressional review. Hence, Goodlatte wants to see the application in the hands of the court.]
While Chairman Goodlatte is focused on the application, HPSCI Chairman Nunes is requesting the FISA Court transcript from the DOJ/FBI application hearing. Nunes is seeking to understand how the “Title-1” application was presented to the court.
I’m not going to spend a great deal of time on this because the story is just affirmation and takes away from research and value-added discussion.
Tonight Fox News is reporting on the efforts of Senator Mark Warner to make secret and off-the-record contact with Christopher Steele in March of 2017. Warner, a rabidly partisan Democrat, is the minority Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The Majority Chairman is Richard Burr (R-NC) and also corrupt as hell. Not surprisingly, Burr is covering for Warner. –You can read the STORY HERE–
Throughout the entire story-line behind the ongoing conspiracy to destabilize the presidency of Donald Trump we have pointed out that Mark Warner and Richard Burr were compromised. The corruption within the Senate Intelligence Committee is specifically why House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes, House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, do not share information with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The corrupt Senate Intel Committee, and all their corrupt staff members, are cut-off from contact with those who are fighting the corruption. Everyone on the committee has been compromised by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman participating with, and being in ideological agreement with, the Uniparty conspiracy effort to take-down President Trump. Yes, that includes Marco Rubio, James Lankford and Tom Cotton. None of them can be trusted. [If Lankford and/or Cotton quit the committee in the next 72 hours we can re-evaluate them, but only them.]
Researchers will share the value of pausing, going back, and looking upon previous information with new insight gained from current discoveries. In hindsight there are many contexts that shape a new understanding. Fired FBI Director James Comey ran a corrupt and heavily political organization. He himself helped to shape the politics of it.
On Comey’s watch he allowed the FBI to become a weaponized tool against political enemies. The upper-level officials within the FBI are now under scrutiny as their actions are increasingly transparent in their political motives. With James Comey sitting in the sunlight, I doubt there is a more apropos example for the value of hindsight-review than to visit the 2016 writing of Benjamin Wittes.
Mr. Wittes is a close personal friend of Mr. Comey, and was the go-between used by Director Comey to leak information to the media, and specifically to the New York Times.
Three days after the FBI secured the FISA “Title-1” surveillance authority over former Trump campaign official Carter Page (using the Clinton-Steele Dossier), Benjamin Wittes wrote a column in his blog titled: “What if Trump Wins” – “We need an insurance Policy“.
For over ten months we have been asking about one FBI official who has been mysteriously missing from the story within the DOJ/FBI ‘Small Group’ activity in the Counterintelligence operation, his name is E.W. “Bill” Priestap.
Bill Priestap is the FBI Asst. Director in charge of all counterintelligence operations. Priestap was FBI Agent Peter Strzok’s boss; he is also at the epicenter of the story surrounding every action taken by the FBI in the Clinton investigation and the Trump campaign investigation.
Bill Priestap was copied on every email of consequence including the writing of the Clinton exoneration talking points delivered by FBI Director James Comey. Priestap is the central figure on the FBI side of both Clinton and Trump operations. “Bill” is mentioned in hundreds of text messages sent by Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
In short, Bill is everywhere – except where you would most likely expect to find him, in media discussion.
Priestap is so important that during FBI Director James Comey’s March 20th, 2017, congressional testimony Director Comey told congress it was Bill Priestap who recommended that congressional oversight should not be notified of the ongoing counterintelligence operations. Priestap’s instruction was so important that despite the statutory rules violation FBI Director Comey followed his recommendation and kept congress in the dark.
(more…)
David Laufman was the Department of Justice, National Security Division, Deputy Asst. Attorney General in charge of counterintelligence, cyber security, counterespionage and export controls.
As most people are now aware the epicenter of the DOJ/FBI Clinton-Steele operation against candidate Trump stemmed from a collaborate “small group” effort of Main Justice officials within the National Security Division (John P Carlin – head), and officials within the FBI centered around the Counterintelligence Division (Bill Priestap – head).
According to the Washington Post, David Laufman resigned effective yesterday, Wednesday February 7th:
David Laufman, an experienced federal prosecutor who in 2014 became chief of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, said farewell to colleagues Wednesday. He cited personal reasons.
