HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes appears for an interview with ¹Liz MacDonald to discuss his current House investigation and the latest declassification of the Susan Rice memo to file.
Nunes asks the basic question about the Rice memo: “why was it ever classified in the first place?” The answer to that question points to current DOJ/FBI and intelligence officials.
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¹Watch Liz Mac closely now. A little over a week ago she began catching-on to the substantive story about FISA, NSA database abuses, and how Obama’s overall political surveillance operation was conducted.
A very interesting letter from Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Ron Johnson asking DNI Richard “Ric” Grenell to declassify and release all of the unmasking requests from January 2016 to January 2017.
Results to be provided in tranches if needed.
Within the letter (pdf here) the senators appear to be targeting specific dates for cross referencing with previously identified NSA database abuses. Some of their inquiry appears to be guided by ‘open source’ reporting on the issue.
An exclusive Treasury Department whistleblower outline in the Ohio Star is almost an absolute match to our research {Go Deep} on how President Obama constructed the political surveillance network during his second term.
According to the article in mid-December 2015 the Treasury whistleblower started noticing data-search transactions with the Treasury Dept. for specific people that aligned with the 2016 GOP primary. The searches included Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Donald Trump and his family as well as certain members of congress.
[(L-R) Denis McDonough, Joe Biden, President Obama, Tom Donolin, Jack Lew]
The complaint outlines an unnamed database [likely NSA] was used as the first search mechanism. After initial data was extracted the results were then used to transfer more specific searches to the Treasury dept. The level of detail within the whistleblower complaint is eerily familiar to our own research based on declassified records.
OHIO STAR – […] By March 2016, the whistleblower said she and a colleague, who was detailed to Treasury from the intelligence community, became convinced that the surveillance of Flynn was not tied to legitimate criminal or national security concerns, but was straight-up political surveillance among other illegal activity occurring at Treasury.
“When I showed it to her, what she said, ‘Oh, sh%t!’ and I knew right then and there that I was right – this was some shady stuff,” the whistleblower said.
House Intel Committee ranking member Devin Nunes appears on Fox News to discuss the remarks earlier in the day where AG Bill Barr does not foresee any criminal investigation of President Obama or Vice-President Joe Biden.
Rep. Nunes again refers to the buckets of intelligence that would help outline everything that has taken place. Bucket-1 DOJ/FBI activity prior to July 31, 2016. Bucket-2 DOJ/FBI activity between July 31, 2016 and the inauguration. Bucket-3 everything that takes place after the Trump inauguration, to include the Mueller investigation.
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The bottom line is we need full transparency and a complete declassification of the underlying documents that were redacted and hidden to protect the prior behavior.
Matt Taibbi writes a lengthy column calling out his colleagues for abandoning all pretense of civil liberties in an effort to ‘resist’ President Trump.
Within the column Taibbi walks-through the ridiculous Russia collusion story and notes the necessary use of the media pretending not to know what took place within the Obama administration; including what continues today in the prosecution of Flynn.
MATT TAIBBI – […] ” After Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations about mass data collection, a series of internal investigations began showing officials were breaking rules against spying on specific Americans via this NSA program. Searches were conducted too often and without proper justification, and the results were shared with too many people, including private contractors. By October, 2016, the FISA court was declaring that systematic overuse of so-called “702” searches were a “very serious fourth Amendment issue.”
In later court documents it came out that the FBI conducted 3.1 million such searches in 2017 alone. As the Brennan Center put it, “almost certainly… the total number of U.S. person queries run by the FBI each year is well into the millions.”
Former Chief Asst. U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy has an article written today pointing to the primary issue about former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn: “The Real Story is When Flynn Was Not Unmasked” – READ HERE.
McCarthy has reviewed the documents; looked at the research; reviewed what the IG said was not happening; and came to the same conclusion as CTH. The Obama surveillance of Flynn did not include ‘unmasking’ because the collection was not incidental.
McCarthy points the media’s incurious compass needle toward the CIA, but don’t expect any DC media to follow it. The truth is adverse to MSM interests. There’s only one way for the Flynn-Kislyak call and content to be tracked, captured, discussed and shared by the Obama administration without the unmasking between 12/29/16 and 01/04/17. A reverse targeted intercept on Flynn through Kislyak. [CIA/NSA] Read McCarthy Column Here
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The previous administration, and their resistance defenders in the current administration embedded within the DOJ and FBI, are desperate to avoid any admission that incoming NSA Michael Flynn was under surveillance. As soon as they can no longer hide the surveillance story, the shift to question the predicate of the Mueller investigation starts.
President Obama’ entire team (staff, officials, politicians); along with Republican allies like Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell et al; along with DOJ, FBI and IC preservationists like Bill Barr, Chris Wray et al; along with the entire DC media apparatus do not want to admit the Trump administration was under surveillance by the Obama administration. However, they can’t hide it because it happened.
On the Flynn 302 (the research evidence and documents are clear):
Against the unmasking discussion currently underway, it is worthwhile contrasting the distinctions between: (1) the NSA unmasking of incidental collection; and (2) the FBI unmasking as a result of targeted investigations.
There is a big difference between the two types; and Mike Flynn was a subject of both.
Appearing before a congressional committee on March 20, 2017, FBI Director James Comey outlined the FBI parameters for unmasking U.S. persons who are captured as part of domestic FBI surveillance.
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The distinction between the two unmasking aspects is becoming increasingly important. The FBI is currently claiming the Flynn-Kislyak call was due to “incidental collection”; this is a lie. The New York Times is pushing that lie today:
There has been a shift; it’s subtle, it’s nuanced, but it’s there. Against the revelations that Ric Grenell has declassified multiple component parts of weaponized intelligence used against candidate, President-elect and President Trump; and with the unmasking data as only one part of that larger component grouping; DOJ Spokesperson Kerri Kupec says: “what happened to candidate Trump was one of the greatest political injustices in history.”
While AG Bill Barr doesn’t need to sign-off on the specific wording by the DOJ spox, the overarching public statement would never be articulated without institutional approval. The AG cannot make public comments that are too strong, but authorizing the spokesperson to articulate the position is one way to accomplish the same. WATCH:
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Insufferably Martha MacCallum ‘pretends not to know’ the distinction in intelligence equity; she asks the same question repeatedly. The answer is clear. DNI Ric Grenell has presented one component group of intelligence data, the identity of the unmaskers and who they unmasked, to the DOJ. The DNI retains ownership and can release.
During testimony in June 2017 Admiral Mike Rogers helps to explain what documents would be available to identify who was making unmasking requests. WATCH:
Note: “you must make that request in writing”; which explains the documents Ric Grenell has declassified and the probability that AG Bill Barr will soon release.
ABC News first reported the news but initially said in the title that Grenell was in the process of trying to declassify the list of Obama officials.
A source with knowledge of the matter told The Daily Wire that the list has already been declassified and now it’s on Attorney General William Barr to release the list. (LINK)
FULL BACKGROUND – However, a strong note of caution. Sometimes the specificity of the intelligence operation itself means the U.S. target will already be named in the originating intelligence document and would not require an unmasking request.
An interesting dynamic unfolds tomorrow as the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) will be holding the confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee, John Ratcliffe. As a result of earlier political moves the SSCI is between a rock and a hard place.
The SSCI is the drain-plug in the swamp. They use their corrupt oversight power and confirmation authority to control the intelligence apparatus (swamp guards) and ensure that no executive branch officer can disrupt or disclose their corrupt Senate schemes.
President Trump nominated Representative John Ratcliffe, an intelligence community reformer, for the position of Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The SSCI previously rejected Ratcliffe because his existence is adverse to their interests. However, in response Trump installed honey badger Richard “Ric” Grenell as the acting DNI.
The SSCI hates Grennel with the ferocity of a thousand supernovas because Grenell doesn’t give a f**k about their swamp life. Better yet, Grenell smacks them around publicly on Twitter whenever the SSCI dispatch the orcs from the deep swamp intelligence apparatus. Every time orcs poke their heads out of the DC labyrinth, Grenell smacks them with a billion mega-watt sunlight hammer. They shriek and retreat to the dungeon.
The good news for the SSCI is that Grenell can only stay in the ‘acting’ role until September of this year. However, the bad news is if the SSCI rejects John Ratcliffe then Ric Grenell gets another year to antagonize the corrupt senators, swing the sunlight hammer & expose the darkest secrets of their beloved swamp. {{Grumble – Grumble}}
