FBI Used Steele Dossier for Months After 2016 Election for FISA Warrants, Despite Having Documented Steele’s Anti-Trump Bias

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FoxNews.com reports that

The FBI formally documented the anti-Trump bias of British ex-spy Christopher Steele months shortly after the November 2016 presidential election — yet despite the red flags, continued to use his unverified dossier in multiple Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court warrant application renewals, records obtained by Fox News show.

The partially redacted documents, first obtained by Judicial Watch, also revealed that top Justice Department official Bruce Ohr maintained contact with Steele for at least six months after Steele was fired by the FBI for unauthorized media contacts in November 2016.

The records further confirm that Ohr knew of Steele’s anti-Trump bias before the 2016 election.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News’ “Hannity” Thursday evening. “I know personally there’s a lot more out there.”

The summaries of FBI interviews with Ohr, known as 302s, showed that Ohr knew by September 2016 — a month before the initial FISA application to surveil the Trump campaign — that Steele was “desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being the U.S. President.”

A source close to the matter told Fox News “this had the effect of putting a senior DOJ official on notice that a witness/source had an extreme bias.”

Nevertheless, the FISA warrant application went through in October 2016 with multiple renewals.  While the FISA records are heavily redacted, it does not appear that the FBI’s documentation about Steele’s bias was ever shared with the FISA court.

Proceedings before FISA courts are ex parte, meaning defendants are not aware of them or able to attend in any capacity. The FBI has a legal and procedural obligation to reveal exculpatory evidence to the FISA court on its own.

However, on four occasions, the FBI told the FISA court that it “did not believe” Steele was the direct source for a Yahoo News article written by Michael Isikoff implicating former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page in alleged collusion with Russian officials.

While FBI told the FISA court that the Yahoo article represented independent evidence to support Steele’s claims, the 302s show that by November 2016 — before several FISA warrant renewals — the FBI had made the connection between Steele and the Yahoo News article.

According to documents, Ohr apparently met with Steele in Washington, D.C. in late September, “possibly close to the time when the Yahoo news article was published on September 23, 2016.”

The materials indicate that Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS, and Steele “could have met with Yahoo or Michael Isikoff jointly, but Ohr does not know if they did.”

Fusion GPS is the opposition research firm behind the dossier, and was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee (DNC).

It is not clear from the interviews whether Ohr made the connection between Steele and the Yahoo article, or the interviewing agent did.

London court records have shown that contrary to the FBI’s assessments, Steele briefed Yahoo News and other reporters in the fall of 2016 at the direction of Fusion GPS.

The 22 pages of reports on interviews with Ohr also revealed his extensive contacts with Steele. The two communicated on the encrypted messaging app “WhatsApp,” according to the records.

The FBI documents showed Ohr’s contacts with Steele extended through May 2017, when Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed. Ohr then became a kind of backchannel linking Steele to the FBI after his termination.

House Oversight Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News’ “Hannity” late Thursday: “Why do you terminate your direct relationship with Christopher Steele and then encourage a top Justice Department official to keep meeting with him, and then coming and briefing you about each of those meetings and conversations?”

“Seems to me you’re trying to hide something when you do that,” Jordan continued, adding that the 302s indicated that some at the bureau were seeking to take out Trump.

What could they be hiding, hmmm?

Kimberley A. Strassel, in an article published on Thursday, February 8, 2018 in The Wall Street Journal, states that the FBI swallowed whole the story pushed by a paid political operative of a subcontractor for Hillary Clinton’s campaign for President.

To be sure, the FBI should have known better. Even if Mr. Steele had previously been helpful, the bureau had every reason to be wary in 2016. This wasn’t like prior collaborations. He was coming to the FBI as a paid political operative, hired by Fusion, as a subcontractor for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Opposition researchers are not retained to present considered judgment. They are retained to slime an opponent and benefit a client.

The FBI also had reason to view his research with skepticism—on grounds of its tabloid-like allegations, and also on the near-fantastical claim of skill that underlay it. To wit, that a man who had been out of official spy rings for seven years was nonetheless able, in a matter of weeks and with just a few calls from London, where he lives, to unravel an international conspiracy that had eluded the CIA, FBI, MI6 and every other Western intelligence agency, all of which have access to the globe’s most sophisticated surveillance tools.

But rather than proceed with caution, the FBI swallowed the whole package. According to Sen. Chuck Grassley’s declassified criminal referral, former Director James Comey testified that the bureau couldn’t meaningfully corroborate the dossier, but used it in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court proceedings anyway because Mr. Steele had previously provided “reliable” information.

Of course, Comey denies knowing who funded the Steele Dossier.

If you believe that the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation did not know what his top agents were involved in nor have any knowledge of the Secretary of State’s activities and those of her confidantes’, I have two bridges over the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee to sell you.

President Ronald Reagan used to say that the nine words that you never want to hear were

I’m from the Government and I’m here to help.

The Deep State Operatives within the FBI and the DOJ conspired to overturn the results of the 2016 Presidential Election via means of a seditious plot which like a Machiavellian spider’s web, reached into the Halls of Power in Washington, D.C.

Being political appointees holding political opinions, while carrying political obligations to a certain political party, never bodes well in a position of legal authority.

Add into that mix an extra-marital affair between these bureaucrats and, to paraphrase, “the affairs of mice and men (and agents) will indeed go awry”.

Since the kinky days of J. Edgar Hoover, the hierarchy of the FBI have run clandestine investigations of public figures, both political and cultural leaders.

J. Edgar did it to hold onto his office and to have political leverage against his enemies, as he had skeletons in his own closet…and dresses, too.

But, I digress.

In this case however, the hierarchy of the FBI did it to circumvent the will of the American People and to install Hillary Clinton as the 45th President, thus protecting the status quo in the Halls of Power in Washington, DC.

When that didn’t happen, they determined to bring President Trump down, by any means necessary, including creating a fake story of Russian Collusion.

Thanks to two agents who decided to do the Extramarital Mattress Mambo and text each other thousands of times, written evidence was provided to support the FISA Memo.

And now, with more and more documentation on the verge of being released, several of these professional bureaucrats may start singing like canaries in a coal mine before the spider’s web of corruption which they helped to spin collapses down around them.

My late Former Father-in-law was a retired Police Lieutenant, who had worked with the FBI on several high-profile cases.

To say that he wasn’t a fan would be an understatement.

According to him, the letters FBI stood for “F—ing Bunch of Idiots”.

In the case of the DOJ’s and FBI’s “Secret Society” of Deep State Covert Operatives, darned if he wasn’t right.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Trump Vows to Get Rid of the “Lingering Stench” in the DOJ/FBI…Why He Needs to Start With “Deputy Director Stinker”

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s actions, as recounted by the New York Times Friday, are the equivalent of an attempted coup — a plot to overthrow the president. – Gregg Jarrett, Fox News

FoxNews.com reports that

During a rally in Springfield, Missouri, Friday night, President Trump took aim at the FBI and the Department of Justice, vowing to “get rid of” what he described as “a lingering stench.” 
 
His remarks come amid reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last year suggested secretly recording Trump to expose chaos in the White House and enlisting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

Trump did not specifically mention Rosenstein during the rally, who has adamantly denied the accusations.

“Just look at what is now being exposed in our Department of Justice and the FBI. Look at what’s going on,” Trump said. “And I want to tell you, we have great people in the Department of Justice. We have great people. These are people, I really believe, you take a poll, I gotta be at 95 percent. But you got some real bad ones. You’ve seen what’s happened at the FBI. They’re all gone. They’re all gone. They’re all gone. But there’s a lingering stench and we’re going to get rid of that too.”

One Political Pundit wishes to advise the President that fumigating the Halls of Justice might be a bad idea.

According to FoxNews.com,

In the wake of a New York Times report Friday alleging Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made statements about secretly recording President Trump and invoking the 25th Amendment, law Professor Jonathan Turley said it likely put a strain on an already tough White House relationship.

Rosenstein denied the report.

The vice president and a majority of cabinet members would have the power to collectively direct Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to remove Trump under the 1967 amendment.

Turley, of George Washington University, said on “Your World” that there is already a lack of a working relationship between Rosenstein and Trump, and that the president is also on icy terms with Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

He said there is also other reports Rosenstein did say such things while meeting with then-Deputy FBI Director Andy McCabe and FBI attorney Lisa Page, but that he was “joking.”

“Joking about recording the president or having him forcibly removed [from office] does not help their relationship either,” he said. 

Noting the upcoming midterm elections, Turley said that if Trump were to respond to the report by conducting a mass firing of DOJ officials, “the optics would be perfectly horrible for the White House.”

I disagree.

However, lets put first things first, shall we?

Gentle Readers, do you remember when Rosenstein appeared before the House Judiciary Committee last summer?

Dep. Director Rosenstein’s smugness in answering the tough questions thrown at him by Rep. Ron DeSantis and others seemed to be the reaction of a professional bureaucrat, not someone interested in “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” to borrow a phrase from the opening of the “Superman” Television Series which I used to watch with my Daddy at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday mornings.

To this day, I remain both disgusted and concerned about a Deputy Attorney General of the DOJ acting as if it was beneath him to answer questions which Congress and the American People have a right to know concerning the attempted interference in the 2016 Presidential Election by Deep State Operatives within our own government.

The Hierarchy of the DOJ, like our municipal police organizations around the nation, are supposed to “serve and protect” the citizens of our great country.

Not themselves and the Democratic Party.

The silly games which Rosenstein and the Hierarchy of the FBI and the Special Counsel which he appointed have been playing for the entirety of the Trump Presidency became old, stale, and unappreciated by the American Public a long time ago.

A Deputy Attorney General of the Department of Justice repeatedly told members of the House of Representatives that he did not know diddly-squat about the activities of those under him.

And even now, he is allowing those under him to drag their feet in producing the un-redacted documents pertaining to the DOJ/FBI’s Deep State Operation against Candidate Trump which President Trump has ordered to be released.

President Trump is absolutely correct. It is time to begin the process of restoring the System of Checks and Balances to the Three Branches of Government which our Founding Fathers so magnificently created and bequeathed to us.

Certain representatives of the Judicial Branch have decided that they outrank the Legislative and the Executive.

The Founders created all three branches to be servants of the American People.

My friend and fellow writer at SpartaReport.com, Fossten made an excellent point about this situation,

“You know how I know he (Rosenstein) wasn’t “joking”?

He signed the FISA Warrant!”

It’s time to re-introduce Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein to a concept personified by a statue, known as “Blind Justice”.

Mr. President, fire Rod Rosenstein.

Now.

Fire his boss and the remainder of the “Silent Coup” after the Republicans sweep the Midterm Elections.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Nunes: FBI “Violated Criminal Statutes” By Using Steele Dossier. Is IG Horowitz “Deep State”, Too?

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FoxNews.com reports that

The FBI may have violated criminal statutes, as well as its own strict internal procedures, by using unverified information during the 2016 election to obtain a surveillance warrant on onetime Trump campaign aide Carter Page, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee charged Thursday in a letter obtained by Fox News.

House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., wrote in his letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions that “in this instance, it’s clear that basic operating guidance was violated.”

Nunes cited the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG), which was created by the bureau and approved by the Justice Department, to say he believed the FBI violated procedures requiring verified and documented evidence in applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

An Oct. 2011 version of the operations guide states that the “accuracy of information contained within FISA applications is of utmost importance… Only documented and verified information may be used to support FBI applications to the court.”

The guidance also states that information in a FISA application must be “thoroughly vetted and confirmed.”

A memo released by the intelligence committee last month stated that the FBI and DOJ sought surveillance warrants to spy on Page by using an infamous, Democrat-funded anti-Trump dossier that included salacious and unverified allegations about Trump’s connections to Russia.

“Former and current DOJ and FBI leadership have confirmed to the committee that unverified information from the Steele dossier comprised an essential part of the FISA applications related to Carter Page,” Nunes wrote Thursday.

“Former and current DOJ and FBI leadership have confirmed to the committee that unverified information from the Steele dossier comprised an essential part of the FISA applications related to Carter Page,” Nunes wrote Thursday.

Nunes listed five criminal statutes that were possibly violated, including conspiracy, obstruction of justice, contempt of court. It also cites statues that make it a crime to willfully deprive a person of a right protected by the Constitution and another preventing unauthorized electronic surveillance.

In the letter, Nunes asks Sessions whether these protocols requiring verified information have changed, and if not, what steps the DOJ or FBI taken to hold officials behind the Page application accountable.

The letter is carbon copied to FBI Director Christopher Wray and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

And, there’s the rub.

Sessions has now confirmed that he has IG Horowitz investigating the surveillance of Page.

And, President Trump is not happy about it.

He believes Horowitz to be an “Obama Guy”.

Is the President right?

Let’s look at the IG’s history.

  • He received his Juris Doctor from Harvard, where he was taught by the likes of upstanding individuals like Barney Franks.
  • Horowitz worked in DOJ from 1991 to 2002. In the early 1990s, he worked for former fired FBI Director Comey while the two of them were in the Southern District of New York.
  • He worked from 2002 to 2012 as a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham, & Taft LLP, where he specialized in on white-collar defense, internal investigations, and regulatory compliance.
  • Horowitz was nominated by President Obama in July 2011 to be Inspector General of the DOJ.
  • He has been Inspector General since starting in 2012 under the Obama Administration.

To this day, there is no evidence that he ordered any sort of inspection into AG Lynch’s meeting with Former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac in 2016 and then a week later when Hillary Clinton was given a pass by crooked FBI Director Comey.

In fact, we don’t know that the IG looked into any number of Obama era crimes and corrupt actions.

It appears that as far as he and his boss, President Barack Hussein Obama were concerned, Obama did indeed have a “Scandal-Free Administration”

However, we know that was not the case.

So, AG Sessions has turned over the investigation of possible criminal activities by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to someone who used to work with Former FBI Director and Bureaucratic Weasel, James Comey.

Wouldn’t this be grounds for the IG to recuse himself from the investigation in the same manner that AG Sessions recused himself?

Just how well-connected within the Bureaucratic Deep State is IG Horowitz?

Meanwhile, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his cadre of Liberal Democratic Donors continue to undermine Trump through the continuance of their Dog and Pony Show, which they euphemistically call “an investigation”.

The rumor going around now is that they are about to indict some more Russians .

I suppose that they are attempting to show that they are actually doing something through the indictment of individuals who will never set foot in this country again.

But, I digress…

The more that Mueller and his SS Troops insist that they are non-biased, the more information comes forth that they have been and still are holdovers from the Clinton Administration, working as Deep State Operatives to do unto Trump as Brutus did unto Caesar.

They are proving themselves to be nothing but Trump Haters with no actual evidence of any kind that President Trump “colluded” with the Russians.

Being an Obama “Holdover” himself, I wonder how well IG Horowitz knows Mueller and his “Investigators”?

The only way for a happy ending to this real life spy novel is for the 45th President of the United States to fulfill another one of his campaign Promises and “Drain the Swamp”, i.e., the Justice Department and all of the “alphabet agencies” of disloyal embedded operatives left behind by previous Administrations, including Mueller and his “SS Troops”.

And, if HIS true colors reveal themselves as Former FBI Director James Comey’s did, Inspector General Michael Horowitz should be shown the door, as well.

Until He Comes,

KJ