The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence responds to common claims of opposition who support FISA Title I abuses as outlined in the DOJ/FBI action against American citizen Carter Page:
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Representative Jim Jordan appears on Fox News with Ed Henry to discuss the ramifications of the FBI using the “Clinton-Steele dossier” to secure “Title I” surveillance authority through the FISA court system.
Title I FISA approval is made with the implicit understanding the FBI is presenting factual and irrefutable evidence that the American citizen targeted, Carter Page, is operating as a foreign agent on behalf of a foreign government. Mere contacts with governmental officials is not enough to gain a Title I FISA warrant; “agent of a foreign power” who is “knowingly engaging in clandestine intelligence activities.” The evidence must show the American Citizen is an agent of a foreign government.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Carter Page was on the radar of the FBI since 2013 “when Russian spies made an attempt to recruit him.” However, for some undetermined reason the FBI waited until October 21st, 2016, to apply for Title I surveillance authority through the FISA court.
Additionally, according to their reporting, after FISC approval there were three more renewal applications for a total of four submissions to the FISA court. A source tells the Journal all four FBI requests were reviewed by four different judges:
[…] The memo describes the process by which the government got a secret warrant under the law that governs the secret court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, for Mr. Page.
[…] At least two of those renewals occurred while Mr. Trump was president and at least one was authorized by a Justice Department official he appointed. A person familiar with the matter said that four separate federal judges approved the surveillance of Mr. Page, and all of those judges were appointed by Republican presidents. (link)
If this is factually correct it raises an interesting dynamic because there are not that many FISA Court Judges in Washington DC. [FISA Court Link]
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Democrats, media, and the aggregate DOJ/FBI intelligence community are finally seeing accountability. With the HPSCI memo now in the rear-view mirror, and the content in the bloodstream of the U.S. electorate, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley is next.
Toward the end of December, the FBI provided the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, with FBI investigative documents (likely FD-302’s) from their contacts with Christopher Steele. According to most reasonable timing we can discover Steele met with FBI officials sometime around October 1st, 2016.
From the U.K. lawsuit against Christopher Steele (pdf here), Steele admits to having shopped the Clinton-Steele dossier to U.S. media outlets “in person” in late September (New York Times, WaPo, New Yorker and CNN), and mid-October, 2016 (New York Times, WaPo, and Yahoo News), per instructions from Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS):
Additionally, in late October, 2016, Christopher Steele briefed Mother Jones via Skype.
According to the released HPSCI intelligence memo, the FBI sought a FISA application based on the Steele Dossier on October 21st, 2016. From those UK court records at least two briefings with reporters, containing five outlets, took place prior to the FBI using the Clinton-Steele dossier in their FISA application.
The “late September” briefings with the New York Times, Washington Post, Yahoo News, New Yorker and CNN took place prior to Christopher Steele meeting with FBI officials early October. The implication therein is that the FBI had to know prior to their October 21st, 2016, court application that the information they were presenting to the FISA court was being heavily shopped to media outlets. This would be immediately disqualifying.
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Fox News host Brett Baier interviews Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes after the release of the House Intelligence Committee memo:
There is a key distinction being overlooked, perhaps conflated, by many who are reviewing the recently released HPSCI memo as it relates to the outlined targeting of U.S. individual Carter Page.
In the HPSCI outline it specifically notes the targeting of U.S. individual Carter Page was NOT a FISA Title VII search request. Title VII is FISA(702), the incidental collection of U.S. person information as it relates to National Security or Counterintelligence operations targeting foreign individuals.
The FISA ‘warrant’ request, against Carter Page, was made October 21st, 2016, under Title I of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Meaning the surveillance application was specifically stating, to the court, the U.S. individual was likely an actual agent of a foreign government, ie. “a spy.”
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Like you, I’m going through the HPSCI Memo release FISA and mining some of the more nuanced facts the media will overlook. This one is quite explosive (memo page 3 pdf-pg 4):
That is a stunning aspect. Nellie Ohr was hired by Fusion GPS in/around the end of April, beginning of May, 2016. According to the memo, while employed by the Clinton Campaign (via Fusion) to do opposition research on Donald Trump, Nellie Ohr’s findings were delivered directly to the FBI by her husband Bruce Ohr.
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THE WHITE HOUSE – WASHINGTON – February 2, 2018
The Honorable Devin Nunes Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence
United States Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
On January 29,2018, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (hereinafter “the Committee”) voted to disclose publicly a memorandum containing classified information provided to the Committee in connection with its oversight activities (the “Memorandum,” which is attached to this letter). As provided by clause II(g) of Rule X of the House of Representatives, the Committee has forwarded this Memorandum to the President based on its determination that the release of the Memorandum would serve the public interest.
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While meeting with victims of a brutal North-Korean regime, President Trump made a few remarks about the newly released HPSCI memo:
The House Intelligence Committee released the much anticipated memo on Friday afternoon. (pdf here) Full Memo Embed Below. The memo discusses abuses involving FISA, or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, during the 2016 election.
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