The FISA Court is Compromised

I hate to write this, but there is just no good way to look at this. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, specifically Presiding Judge James Boasberg, has hired former DOJ National Security Division head, Mary McCord, as amici curiae advisor to the court. [LINK] The placement was first noted by an announcement from Georgetown Law ICAP.

Presiding Judge James Boasberg, is the decision-maker in the appointment of Amici Curiae to the FISA court. There is no way, NO WAY, Judge Boasberg does not know Mary McCord was at the epicenter of the fraudulent FISA application used against Carter Page. Remember, in addition to being the FISC Presiding Judge, Boasberg was also the trial judge in the case against Kevin Clinesmith, the FBI lawyer who lied about Page working for the CIA on the FISA application. {Go Deep}

Boasberg knows Mary McCord took over from former DOJ-NSD head John Carlin (October 2016); and it was McCord who guided the Carter Page FISA application through the court and across the finish-line (October 2016 and January 2017). That FISA application was built upon fraud and Mary McCord was at the center of it.

Mary McCord was also the DOJ-NSD official who went with Sally Yates to confront the White House Counsel, Don McGhan, about the Michael Flynn interview with the FBI. {Go Deep} It was also Mary McCord who had Michael Atkinson as the chief-legal-counsel for the DOJ-NSD -that’s her office attorney- when the FISA application was submitted in October 2016, and renewed in January 2017.

Michael Atkinson went from DOJ-NSD counsel to become the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG). {Go Deep} In that new role Atkinson changed the rules to allow an anonymous CIA whistleblower (Ciaramella on behalf of Vindman) to file the complaint that led to the Ukraine impeachment effort. {Go Deep} Who was the lead lawyer in the Jerry Nadler led House Judiciary Committee? Why Mary McCord of course. Judge Boasberg knows all of this… AND MORE.

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The content of the story is less important than the network within it.

The New York Times writes a story about John Durham issuing subpoenas to the Brookings Institute for records of Igor Danchenko’s work there.   Danchenko was Chris Steele’s primary sub-source for the infamous Steele Dossier.

The material provided by Danchenko to Steele was described as unsubstantiated “gossip”, “rumor”, “hearsay” and innuendo by Danchenko himself after he was questioned by the FBI.

New York Times – […] Mr. Durham has keyed in on the F.B.I.’s handling of a notorious dossier of political opposition research both before and after the bureau started using it to obtain court permission to wiretap a former Trump campaign adviser in 2016 and 2017 and questioned witnesses who may have insight into the matter.

In particular, Mr. Durham has obtained documents from the Brookings Institution related to Igor Danchenko, a Russia researcher who worked there a decade ago and later helped gather rumors about Mr. Trump and Russia for that research, known as the Steele dossier, according to people familiar with the request.

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The Washington Examiner notes an interview with Rod Rosenstein, and he now admits to having a conversation with Andrew McCabe where recording President Trump was discussed by Main Justice and the FBI group targeting the administration.

WASHINGTON – In his first TV interview since leaving the Trump administration in May 2019, Rosenstein told FOX 5 that there was talk of recording the 45th president for the inquiry but denied that he ever intended to wear a “wire” during the turbulent days that followed Trump firing FBI Director James Comey in 2017 before the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel.

“I had a conversation with Andrew McCabe about an investigation that he was conducting involving the president. And there was a discussion about whether or not the president would be recorded in the course of that investigation. I never intended to wear a wire, and I think that if Mr. McCabe asked me to wear a wire, we would’ve had to reconsider the whole thing. Because you can’t run an investigation and serve as a witness,” Rosenstein said in an episode of the Siege on Democracy podcast published last month.” (read more)

Those who followed the details closely, read the overlay of timelines, FOIA releases, congressional releases and testimony CTH provided, already know Rosenstein and Robert Mueller DID record President Trump in the Oval Office on May 16, 2017.  The evidence was within a series of disconnected memos, interview notes and the inspector general report.  The reason no-one reported on the evidence was because it was a series of events only evident if disconnected data was put together.

~ READ IT HERE ~

An announcement today from the U.S. District of Connecticut John Durham is a little perplexing.  According to the announcement USAO John Durham is resigning from office effective February 28.   However, there is no information about his prior appointment as special counsel to review the DOJ and FBI conduct in the Trump investigation.

Here’s the announcement:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham released 11 transcripts of interviews conducted during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s inquiry into the origins and aftermath of the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation.  (press release)

1. Handling Agent 1: Interviewed on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 (Transcript)
2. Michael B. Steinbach: Interviewed on Friday, June 12, 2020 (Transcript)
3. Stephen C. Laycock: Interviewed on Monday, June 15, 2020 (Transcript)
4. Dana J. Boente: Interviewed on Monday, June 22, 2020 (Transcript)
5. Bruce Ohr: Interviewed on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 (Transcript)
6. Stuart Evans: Interviewed on Friday, July 31, 2020 (Transcript)
7. Supervisory Special Agent 1: [Joseph Pientka, the name no-one is allowed to repeat] Thursday, August 27, 2020 (Transcript)
8. Jonathan Moffa: Interviewed on Wednesday, September 9, 2020 (Transcript)
9. Deputy Chief, Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, Justice Department: Interviewed on Friday, September 18, 2020 (Transcript)
10. Case Agent 1: Interviewed on Friday, September 25, 2020 (Transcript)
11. Supervisory Intelligence Analyst: Interviewed on Thursday, October 29, 2020 (Transcript)

“The bottom line is that going forward we must have more checks and balances when it comes to political investigations. We must have more meaningful sign-offs on warrant applications, and we need to restore the trust to the American people in this system.”  – Press Release

Lots of reading to do… I shall be starting with #4 Dana Boente, the FBI legal counsel hired by FBI Director Chris Wray who was removed from his position by AG Bill Barr.

President Trump issued full pardons to 15 individuals and commuted part or all of the sentences of an additional five people, the White House announced Tuesday.

Included in the list are Duncan Hunter, a former GOP congressman from California, Chris Collins, a former GOP representative from New York and former Trump campaign advisor George Papadapoulous who was targeted by Robert Mueller as part of building the Russian conspiracy theory.

[Read White House Statement Here]

In May 2016 George Papadopoulos was contacted by two members of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA),Terrence Dudley and Greg Baker, working out of the U.S. embassy in London.

Two American spies working in London put Papadopoulos in contact with their ally/counterpart in the Australian Embassy, Erika Thompson. [ie. ‘unofficial channels’] After meeting with Downer’s aide, Erika Thompson on May 6th, she sets up a meeting between George Papadopoulos and her boss for May 10th.

On May 10th, 2016, Ms Erika Thompson and Mr. Alexander Downer then meet with George Papadopoulos.  After the meeting, Ambassador Downer reports back to the Australian government on his conversation with Papadopoulos. [document release]. It is from this May 10th, 2016, meeting where communication from Downer, July 26th, 2016, is referenced as the origin of Crossfire Hurricane July 31st.

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In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe explains the scale of declassified evidence he has produced to special counsel John Durham.

Whether Durham or AG Bill Barr does anything with the evidence is an unknown; however, according to Ratliffe there is enough detail in the evidence provided to show gross abuses of power by the FBI, DOJ and intelligence community under the Obama administration.  This aspect becomes important as you realize almost all of Joe Biden’s executive staff is from the identical pool of former Obama officials.

WASHINGTON DC – “Between my predecessor Richard Grenell in an acting capacity and myself, we have declassified most of the intelligence community documents that would be suitable for the public to see, that wouldn’t jeopardize sources and methods,” Ratcliffe said in a phone interview with the Washington Examiner on Thursday. “There are others, many many documents — I think it’s been out there that I’ve provided literally thousands of documents to John Durham, but many of those do contain sources and methods that we can’t make public for a number of reasons, including to jeopardize any investigation that’s going there. So I think the level of cooperation — I’ve given them everything that they’ve asked for.”

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It looks possible AG Bill Barr is trying to pull a sneaky fast-one against President Trump and the American people. Because what Barr is claiming to do, he really isn’t doing.

According to a stunning article by Associated Press, AG Bill Barr appointed John Durham as a special counsel on October 19th, and did not tell anyone.

[…]  Barr told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he had appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham as a special counsel in October under the same federal statute that governed special counsel Robert Mueller in the original Russia probe. He said Durham’s investigation has been narrowing to focus more on the conduct of FBI agents who worked on the Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane.

[…] “I decided the best thing to do would be to appoint them under the same regulation that covered Bob Mueller, to provide Durham and his team some assurance that they’d be able to complete their work regardless of the outcome of the election,” Barr said Tuesday. (Link)

Today the Attorney General notifies congress in a letter:

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Amid all of the election ramifications and discussions, Donald Trump Jr. outlined a thought today that has likely been on the mind of many, myself included.

I have spent a great deal of time thinking about this since the media began their insufferable onslaught and “president-elect Biden” narrative.  The time has long past for President Trump to fully demand his executive cabinet members declassify the evidence outlining intrusive government surveillance upon not only himself, but all Americans.

CTH has a rather unique perspective on the declassification angle. This conversation has traveled with me for over two years as I have talked to people inside the machinery. Ultimately the discussion ends around something like this:

Is the DC political surveillance state, and all of the ramifications within that reality, so fundamentally corrupt and against our nation’s interests, that no entity dare expose the scope and depth of it?  And ultimately… is it the preservation of institutions that is causing so many disconnected outcomes from evidence intentionally downplayed?

If we assume the scale of unconstitutional conduct has become systemic, that likely answers the questions.  Personally, I believe this is the most likely scenario.

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An interesting note from Catherine Herridge today outlines that DOJ official Bruce Ohr resigned from the FBI shortly before being terminated as a result of the IG report on his activity:

As TechnoFog notes, this resignation is likely tied to this Office of Professional Regulation announcement on July 24th of this year:

OPR received a referral from another Department entity regarding allegations that a senior Department attorney failed to apprise his supervisor of his interactions with a law enforcement agency and a source concerning the subject matter of an ongoing high-profile investigation.

Although the attorney eventually recognized the need to inform his supervisor, who was overseeing the investigation, of his involvement and provided some information about the general topic, the senior Department attorney failed to provide a complete disclosure of his role as a conduit of information between the source and the law enforcement agency. As a result, the supervisor was unaware of the attorney’s activities related to the investigation until learning of them through other means.

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