(James Wolfe and Ali Watkins)
Posted on 09/19/2018 6:08:31 AM PDT by rlmorel
There have been multiple threads with posts that demonstrate that many people don't see the importance (and just as often or even more so, the futility) of President Trump's decision to declassify the FISA applications and FBI interview related documents.
For reference, the FISA applications are referred to as 702 documents and FBI interviews are known as 302 documents.
So. Why is this declassification important? It is vitally important for two main reasons:
First, it is going to demonstrate Media complicity in the propagandizing of this "Russian Collusion" hoax perpetrated by various entities and people throughout the government. These documents are going to undeniably show that various big players in the media were willing participants in this, even while knowing the truth.
Second, it is going to show the true nature of the rationale behind the FBI behavior in this in a way that will be irrefutable. Specifically, their use of Carter Page as the rationale.
From the stellar work by Jeff Carlson: Revisiting the Page FISA Applications & James Wolfe Indictment we can see why the indictment of Senate Intelligence Staffer James Wolfe, an event not generally known to average Americans is vitally important.
James Wolfe was indicted on a charge of lying to investigators (link to the indictment document here), but that isn't the main crime. He was being investigated for leaking information to a reporter.
The man in charge of Senate Intelligence Committee SECURITY was leaking classified documents. And when interviewed on October 30, 2017 and was pointedly asked if he knew certain specific named reporters for various media outlets, he not only said he didn't, he wrote it down that he didn't.
Well, he did. With one of those reporters he had a three year sexual relationship: Ali Watkins, then a reporter at Buzzfeed, now of The New York Times.
(James Wolfe and Ali Watkins)
On March 17, 2017, the unredacted 82 page FISA application was delivered to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
On March 17, 2017, James Wolfe, Head of Security for the Senate Intelligence Committee, made 82 separate texts to Ali Watkins. Which happens to be the length of the FISA Warrant (702 form) which was redacted and released to the public (click here to view it)
If you click the link and view the document, there are 37 FULLY REDACTED pages. Why would someone take the time (probably under time duress, in a locked room, hoping not to be interrupted) transmit 37 fully blacked out pages by individual text messages?
The answer is clear: Because Senate Intelligence Committee Staffer James Wolfe transmitted the entire UNREDACTED document to Ali Watkins, a woman he was having a multi-year sexual relationship with, who was also working for Buzzfeed AND New York Times at that time.
A key piece of info that is sure to come out in the unclassified version President Trump will release is...the date October 19, 2016. Why is that important?
It is important because it was a date referenced for a FISA warrant approval, previously unknown, for the first FISA warrant on Carter Page. In the Washington Post article, it said the date of approval was October 19, 2016. We know now, the real date was October 21, 2016. And why is it important? It is important because that was likely dis-information planted in the version to TRACK DOWN LEAKERS. (Remember, this was in the Trump administration, March 17, 2017 when this document was sent to the Senate Intelligence Committee)
If you look at the REDACTED version linked above (and here again for convenience, the documents released) You can see that no specific dates are visible in the entire sheet. All have the day redacted. So that is an indication that a reporter saw the date October 19, 2016, and ran with it. And with that, they had a starting point to determining where the leak came from. That resulted in the FBI knocking on James Wolfe's door on December 15, 2017, and his arrest on June 7, 2018.
SUMMARY: So, with all this, it means the Media (at least three major elements including the New York Times and Washington Post, and Buzzfeed) had access to the UNREDACTED version of the warrant. THEY KNEW THIS RUSSIAN COLLUSION FANTASY WAS PURE HOKUM, BUT CONTINUED TO REPORT ON IT AS IF IT WERE LEGITIMATE. And this will be confirmed when the UNREDACTED documents are released.
As for the FBI and DOJ malfeasance in getting the FISA warrant approved...They started out getting their surveillance info illegally from FBI contractors, but Admiral Michael Flynn shut that down when he saw the increase in query patterns into the NSA database. So they had to get a FISA.
For reference, here is the section of the FISA framework which states that Under Title 1 of the law, nicknamed “traditional FISA,” law enforcement must go before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to receive a warrant to surveil an individual or group of people. To get that warrant, law enforcement must show probable cause that a person is an agent of a foreign power. That means the government had to demonstrate someone was acting as an operative or agent for Russia.
They probably started out with George Papadopoulos as their target, but...he didn't pan out. He wasn't biting, even when Stefan Halper baited him with an all expenses paid trip to a conference in the UK and eagerly asked him "You know about the Hillary emails, right?" Stinks of desperation. But it wasn't working.
So they had to try to switch to Carter Page as an agent of Russia (See the summary of the guideline above. Also, check out this article by by Paul Sperry: Exclusive: FBI Kept From U.S. Spy Court Russian View of Carter Page as 'an Idiot' Except there was one thing...subsequently, surveillance sources on Russians had said that Russian Intelligence viewed him as a possible candidate for exploitation, but discarded the notion because they thought he was "unreliable" and "an idiot". IMPORTANT: THIS WAS KNOWN BY THE FBI BECAUSE THEY HAD CONDUCTED THE SURVEILLANCE.
If that is the case (read the article by Paul Sperry!) given the guideline for FISA warrants Under Title 1 of the law, nicknamed “traditional FISA,” law enforcement must go before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to receive a warrant to surveil an individual or group of people. To get that warrant, law enforcement must show probable cause that a person is an agent of a foreign power what is that going to say about the FBI if they DELIBERATELY WITHHELD EXCULPATORY INFORMATION ON THE FISA WARRANT AFTER IT IS CLEAR THEY KNEW HE WAS NOT A RUSSIAN AGENT?
Under Title 1 of the law, nicknamed “traditional FISA,” law enforcement must go before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to receive a warrant to surveil an individual or group of people. To get that warrant, law enforcement must show probable cause that a person is an agent of a foreign power. That means the government had to demonstrate Page was acting as an operative for Russia.
I hope this helps my fellow FReepers to have a better handle on why this is important.
I find the info about the date of October 19 very interesting. Trump’s few trustworthy allies may have other markers in some documents and conversations that also identify leakers. George W. Bush could not have protected himself like this, even if he was so inclined. Trump may be a LOT smarter than the Deep State understands.
He is no dummy. He may be obnoxious to some. He may be impulsive, he may be inappropriate. (I see two of those as virtues, and impulsiveness...people often mistake decisiveness as impulsiveness)
But he isn’t stupid.
You honestly thought we needed such an explanation?
What do I get out of this???
That we do have a secret police who believe that they are accountable to no one.
If this mindset is allowed to continue we will shortly lose our freedom.
The unredacted FISA sections will also reveal that before the FISA warrent, National Security Letters, signed by Lynch, were used to spy on various Trump people. Possibly including Trump himself.
“Wiretapped.”
Thank you. For people just catching up and on, this is great. Heck, I even learned something. I appreciate your time and effort.
Bump for later. Good information here!
I told him, and now you (all), that I remember an interview with Melania Trump somewhere near the inauguration ... either just before or just after, and she was asked about any specific elements in Trump's personality (or something like that) and she replied, "He can't stand stupid people"
That's our President in a nutshell ..... he can't stand stupid people.
A simple thank you would have been more mature.
“You honestly thought we needed such an explanation?”
Your statement lends directly to your character. rlmorel’s is the most cogent explanation I’ve read.
But, of course, you “could” share your own brilliant insight. That is, if you’re not exposing your envy of others here with your snarky comments...
What a weird comment.
Explain how a thank you would express my belief as to what the FBI, the CIA and other similar government agencies have become.
Is it unreasonable or perhaps forbidden to mention what I conclude from reading a post?
Presenting your conclusion would have been “mature”.
I thought some people could use it...the details help. For others, just the understanding and acceptance that it is amiss is okay without the details.
In reading about men in time of war, some men need a rationale they can cogitate on, turn over in their head, and come to grips with it in their own way, then they are good to go. Other men don’t need that, if they are told the cause is just and they are on the right side, they are good to go too.
I understand both sides of that. I find myself having to find a way to come to grips with certain things by getting my own thoughts in order, but I understand that isn’t the way everyone does it.
I am of the opinion of two things (and I think you and I agree...I hope):
1. This is the most serious scandal of any kind this country has ever seen. It strikes at the heart of the instruments of power in this country and how they can be used with impunity against us in the wrong hands...or even if some of those instruments of power should even exist.
2. If this isn’t brought into the open, punished and clearly made forbidden to serve as an example to any other police state tyrant like many of the people involved in this, we are going to see more of it. And it will be bolder, and more open, until one day like the frog in the pot of tepid water, we find ourselves boiled to death in a soup of surveillance and tyranny.
I viewed it as much the same way I feel about it...both comments "...That we do have a secret police who believe that they are accountable to no one..." and "...If this mindset is allowed to continue we will shortly lose our freedom..." are undeniably true...ESPECIALLY the first one.
They all thought (Obama, Hillary, Comey, Mueller, Strzok, Page, Clapper, Brennan, Feinstein, Schiff, frankly, all of the Democrat Party and a significant portion of the Republican Party) the laws that govern the FISA process were there to be bypassed by those like them who assert to "have the best interests of our country at heart"...or so they like to have the sheeple think. We all know it is about obtaining, holding, and exercising power over others.
The fundamental jewel on which our Republic moves is the Rule of Law, not the rule of men. If people think they are doing a good thing by ignoring or bypassing our law (instead of addressing it and changing the law) because they "think it is the best thing for our country" then we are not a Republic, we are a Banana Republic.
I read the book Let Trump Be Trump: The Inside Story of His Rise to the Presidency by Cory Lewandowski was remarkable in that it universally, unequivocally, and without exception highlighted in every anecdote and opinion of people who worked with Trump that, he is nearly superhuman in his level of energy and industriousness.
A common refrain was that nobody, NOBODY, could keep up with him. Not his staffers, not the Secret Service, and certainly, not his lazy ass enemies who probably wanted to wake up in the morning at 0500 to send out an anti-Trump tweet on something, only to find that Trump had been up at 0430 and sent a tweet that castigated them! (I'm just making that up as an example...:)
He isn't lazy, and a lot of highly successful people in all walks of life from the military to industry can't stand "stupid" people...and there are plenty of them in politics.
You both are most welcome. I am lucky (in a way)...I commute between two to three hours a day, so I have plenty of time to listen to content.
Dan Bongino is my preferred podcast now (when I can’t listen to Steven Crowder!) so he stokes my mind, when I get home, I generally don’t get to bed until after midnight (and get up at 0500 to start all over again) so before I go to bed I read a lot of his linked articles (which are superb) and I marvel that any Americans can follow this along.
Most people don’t have the good fortune I have, so I want to help wherever I can. I think this is critically important, and something we have to fight tooth and nail with.
If we don’t fight this, we are finished, because it is only going to get worse. That may happen, but I do believe we are going to see people punished...and while I don’t believe that justice will encompass people like Obama and Clinton who richly deserve it, I believe we will see people as high as Brennan and Comey (just to name a few) who will be brought to task.
Yep. Exactly.
By the way, how fast did you have to go to make sure you got that excellent handle?????
I am sure when Hillary said it, there was loud snapping of fingers minutes later when people tried to get that name on Free Republic only to find it had been snatched up!
This is great. Thank you.
I moved fast, and jimrob took pity on me for my previous handle.
(Cruz2Victory—ooops)
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