Free Republic

You might remember FISA warrants from the infamous and disgraceful Russia hoax saga. Well, they’re making headlines again as lawmakers debate bringing back the use of the 702 FISA warrantless searches that came about after 9/11 and during the Patriot Act frenzy and were used and abused against innocent Americans. ... Everyone’s favorite warrantless surveillance tool, FISA Section 702, returns to the US House of Representatives this week and is expected to go to a full House vote on Thursday. Or, it may all fall apart (again) in the House Rules Committee on Tuesday. This week’s congressional action follows an...

Because they were co-conspirators in the hoax, too many in the corporate media are serving as obstacles to holding the FBI and other powerful government agencies accountable for their actions. A New York Times reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize for his role perpetrating the Russia collusion hoax was tasked with framing the news that a former top FBI lawyer was to plead guilty to deliberately fabricating evidence against a Donald Trump campaign affiliate targeted in the Russia probe. The resulting article is a case study in how to write propaganda.Adam Goldman broke, and cushioned, the news that former FBI...

“Gosh almighty.” Those words from former Vice President Joe Biden sum up plenty about the announced criminal plea by former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith. Of course, Biden was not referring to the implications of the FBI lawyer who lied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court for the efforts to continue the surveillance of an adviser to the campaign of Donald Trump. Nor was he referring to growing evidence that the Russia investigation was launched based on false and flawed evidence. Biden was referring to the federal investigation by United States Attorney John Durham that led to the criminal plea...

A top FBI lawyer who fabricated evidence in a federal spy warrant against Trump campaign affiliate Carter Page is expected to plead guilty to federal charges brought by U.S. Attorney John Durham. Kevin Clinesmith, who is expected to admit to deliberately fabricating evidence in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant application, used to spy on a former campaign affiliate of President Donald Trump, was a top attorney in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) and a key agency attorney under fired former FBI Director James Comey. Clinesmith is the first individual to be charged as part...

WASHINGTON — A former F.B.I. lawyer intends to plead guilty after he was charged with falsifying a document as part of a deal with prosecutors conducting their own criminal inquiry of the Russia investigation, according his lawyer and court documents made public on Friday. The lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, 38, who was assigned to the Russia investigation, plans to admit that he altered an email from the C.I.A. that investigators relied on to seek renewed court permission in 2017 for a secret wiretap on the former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who had at times provided information to the spy agency....

Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith will plead guilty to making a false statement in the first criminal case arising from U.S. Attorney John Durham's review of the investigation into links between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign, two sources close to the matter tell Fox News.

Important excerpt from the Kevin Clinesmith Criminal Information: On 8/17/16, the CIA informed the Crossfire Hurricane team that Carter Page had been a CIA source. They hid this fact from the FISA Court. I bet the DOJ will invalidate the first 2 FISAs.

Kevin Clinesmith, a former top lawyer in James Comey's FBI, pleaded guilty on Friday to falsifying a federal spy warrant against Carter Page. A top FBI lawyer who fabricated evidence in a federal spy warrant against Trump campaign affiliate Carter Page is expected to plead guilty to federal charges brought by U.S. Attorney John Durham. Kevin Clinesmith, who is expected to admit to deliberately fabricating evidence in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant application, used to spy on a former campaign affiliate of President Donald Trump, was a top attorney in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Office of General Counsel...

An internal audit of 29 warrant applications submitted by the FBI to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court found only minor clerical errors in a process that has come under heavy political scrutiny in recent years. The findings were revealed in a court filing Wednesday and stem from an independent review of the FBI's application process for surveillance warrants by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. The DOJ watchdog concluded in a report earlier this year that the FBI had made over a dozen errors in its applications to look into Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to President Trump's 2016...

The full bench of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington DC has agreed to consider whether judge Sullivan should be forced to dismiss a felony charge against Michael Flynn. The insanity continues. Everything about this case has been bizarre including Judge Sullivan’s refusal to accept the unopposed motion to dismiss the case. Now the full DC Circuit panel will hear arguments about why Sullivan should be allowed to continue the case without DOJ prosecution. It appears the court has pinned their en banc acceptance on the notion that Judge Sullivan had yet to issue a final ruling prior...

The Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday released newly declassified documents that they say “significantly undercut” the “reliability” of the infamous Steele dossier from the Russia probe, as well as the accuracy and reliability of the factual assertions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The first document, which the committee said spanned 57 pages, is a summary of a three-day interview with ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele’s primary sub-source. Steele authored the unverified anti-Trump dossier of claims about alleged ties between Donald Trump and Russia that served as the...

WASHINGTON – Today, as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s ongoing investigation into the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and related FISA abuses, Chairman Lindsey Graham (R- South Carolina) released two recently declassified documents that significantly undercut the reliability of the Steele dossier and the accuracy and reliability of many of the factual assertions in the Carter Page FISA applications.“I’m very pleased the investigation in the Senate Judiciary Committee has been able to secure the declassification of these important documents,” said Chairman Graham. “I want to thank Attorney General Barr for releasing these documents and allowing the American People to judge for...

In pursuit of surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser, the FBI consistently ignored exculpatory evidence In its pursuit of establishing surveillance on the Trump campaign, the FBI turned its attention to Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the spring of 2016, culminating in the issuance of a FISA warrant—which allows for some of the most intrusive spying methods on an American citizen. As part of this process, the FBI relied extensively on the flawed Steele dossier, leading an FBI legal counsel to note that this was “essentially a single source FISA.”

<p>Shortly after my colleague Sara Carter and I began reporting in 2017 on the possibility that the FBI was abusing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to spy on Americans during the Russia investigation, I received a call. It was an intermediary for someone high up in the intelligence community.</p>

Announces dedicated webpage related to Committee oversight efforts WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), today released declassified confidential human source transcripts related to the Crossfire Hurricane operation. In addition to the transcripts, the Committee released other material related to the Committee’s investigation into Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) actions leading up to and during the Crossfire Hurricane operation, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant process. “I’m committed to being as transparent as possible about the circumstances surrounding FISA abuse. The goal is to make sure it...

Amid a series of documents released by the Senate Judiciary Committee [SEE HERE] there is a rather alarming letter from the DOJ to the FISA Court in July 2018 that points toward an institutional cover-up. [Link to Letter] Before getting to the substance of the letter, it’s important to put the release in context. After the FISA Court reviewed the DOJ inspector general report, the FISC ordered the DOJ-NSD to declassify and release documents related to the Carter Page FISA application. In the cover letter for this specific release to the Senate Judiciary and Senate Intelligence committees, the DOJ cites...

Announces dedicated webpage related to Committee oversight efforts WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), today released declassified confidential human source transcripts related to the Crossfire Hurricane operation. In addition to the transcripts, the Committee released other material related to the Committee’s investigation into Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) actions leading up to and during the Crossfire Hurricane operation, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant process. “I’m committed to being as transparent as possible about the circumstances surrounding FISA abuse. The goal is to make sure it...

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified a slew of footnotes from Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse. Yesterday, Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified a slew of footnotes from Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse. In a cover letter to Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, the Republican senators who had pushed for the declassification, Grenell noted that “transparency is now needed more than ever.” Grenell added that Attorney General William Barr concurred in the declassification decision as it relates to DOJ interests. Wednesday’s declassification follows...

The Justice Department and FBI admitted surveillance applications in 2019 contained serious flaws in an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court about corrective actions being taken following a scathing watchdog report in December. Thirty accuracy reviews conducted by the DOJ’s National Security Division found “material errors or omissions” in two FISA applications across two field offices, according to a 54-page filing unsealed this week. The Justice Department said it is still compiling the final results of those field office accuracy reviews, but so far determined one FISA application contained “two material errors,” while another FISA application had “some material...

THE JUSTICE Department’s inspector general has followed up his devastating December report on the FBI’s securing of a secret intelligence-gathering warrant on U.S. citizen Carter Page and, once again, the news is not flattering. In December, the inspector general, Michael Horowitz, found that the FBI supplied a secret panel of judges with unverified, inaccurate and, in one case, falsified data in support of its warrant applications regarding Mr. Page. Mr. Horowitz’s new report, released March 31, makes clear that this was not an isolated incident. In 29 cases drawn from five years’ worth of FBI secret warrant applications, Mr. Horowitz...