We have a rogue Federal bureaucracy

Emails show FBI investigated Trump tweets criticizing Obama and FBI, watchdog says

New emails between Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and a number of their colleagues reveal the timeline of events leading up to the renewal of the FISA application on Carter Page and the investigation of the president following his criticism of Obama and the FBI.By Sophie Mann

Updated: August 31, 2020 - 6:31pm

• Article
• Dig In

The conservative watchdog Judicial Watch says it has received more than 300 pages of emails between former FBI official Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page that includes records of the FBI discussing an investigation into tweets sent by President Trump in early 2017 about the agency spying on him at the behest of former President Obama.

In a March 2017 exchange, Strzok emails several of his colleagues, including Page, about several tweets the President Trump had sent earlier in the month commenting on suspected wire tapping at Trump Tower during the 2016 election.

"Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!" wrote POTUS on March 4.

"Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!" Trump continued. "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!"

He concluded the March 4 tweet storm with: "How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate Bad (or sick) guy!"

On March 29, 2017, then-FBI Director James Comey's chief of staff emailed Strzok, Page and several of their colleagues saying that the director would like a briefing on a "sensitive matter."

A followup email says that Comey requested the briefing so that he would be able to brief then-acting U.S. Attorney General Dana Boente.

One week after the email exchange and director's briefing, the second renewal and order of the FISA warrant on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was filed. 

The new emails also detail exchanges between FBI officials and reporters at CNN and the New York Times pertaining to the Russia investigation.

One exchange features Strzok emailing Page, with whom he had an affair, saying, "It makes me angry" that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had published a letter demanding answers from the FBI about Deputy Director Andrew McCabe overseeing the Russia investigation, when his wife accepted $700,000 from associates of Hillary Clinton during her run for the Virginia state senate. 

A third exchange features FBI colleagues passing around an article from Gizmodo revealing Comey's private Twitter handle.

"My respect for the D [Director] only solidifies when I see that he named himself after America's preeminent 20th century political theologian." Gizmodo reported that Comey used the Twitter handle Reinhold Niebuhr, a prominent American theologian who embraced a non-absolutist Marxist philosophy.

"These astonishing emails, which have been hidden for years, show the Comey FBI was investigating President Trump over his critical tweets of the agency and Obama's spying abuse and misconduct," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "These emails also show that Comey was intimately involved with illegal and dishonest FISA spy op against President Trump."

 

In California, cops banned from pro-police speech but pro-BLM speech is mandatory

Posted on 08/25/2020 7:14 am

Staff Report

A California Highway Patrol division in Southern California prohibited officers this month from displaying Thin Blue Line items, meant to honor law enforcement. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Police Department is decorating its precincts with materials celebrating Black Lives Matter, an organization calling for the defunding of the police.

The CHP memo, a roll call briefing document with the Border Division dated Aug. 14, directed officers to “remove all Thin Blue Line paraphernalia, including anything resembling it … immediately. This includes any paraphernalia hung anywhere in the office, stickers/patches on State or personal property that may be seen by the public during the course of duties, and email signature blocks.”

The Thin Blue Line, depicted as a black and white U.S. flag with a blue stripe, represents the sacrifices that law enforcement make to protect the public and prevent civil unrest. Civilians display the symbol to show their support for the nation’s authorities. Progressive activists, however, liken the symbol to white supremacy and police misconduct.

A California police officer who reviewed the document said it amounted to an official order because of the use of the word “shall.”

“It’s all political so I understand why they sent it out,” he said.

Given the sensitive nature of the matter, there’s a reason the mandate was not sent out as an official public memorandum, a CHP representative in the field said. However, he said the directive came from the commissioner’s office in CHP headquarters.

“CHP wants to stay neutral and not appear to endorse any particular group,” he said.

A representative from the commissioner’s office said the memo, which was leaked to Press California, was not an official directive.

“The item … was included as part of a shift briefing for one area command within Border Division and has since been rescinded since it was a misinterpretation of department policy,” said Fran Clader, CHP’s Director of Communications in Sacramento.

“[It] was intended as a generic reminder to personnel to refrain from promoting any social cause on state property or equipment visible to the public,” she continued. “The advisement does not pertain to personally owned items. “

San Francisco seems to have missed that memo. SFPD weeks ago unveiled prominent Black Lives Matter messages to display in police stations. Few would disagree with the phrase, but the organization is another story. It has conducted campaigns nationwide to defund the police and its supporters have led protests in which officers have been attacked, injured and killed.

The San Francisco Police Commission, made up of civilians, passed the resolution requiring the BLM displays.

“The poster employs the Pan-African colors of red, yellow, green, and black in lettering related to Black lives matter terminology,” the SFPD wrote in a press release.

Not everyone was impressed.

“For me, they’re like absolutely meaningless. These are just platitudes and it’s just tokenism,” Kaylah Williams, an organizer for the Defund SFPD Now Campaign, told KGO News.

The American public are being played by their own intelligence agencies and corporate media with covert agendas that are deeply anti-democratic.

CIA Behind Guccifer & Russiagate – A Plausible Scenario

by Tyler Durden

Sun, 08/16/2020 - 00:00

Print

Via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

William Binney is the former technical director of the U.S. National Security Agency who worked at the agency for 30 years. He is a respected independent critic of how American intelligence services abuse their powers to illegally spy on private communications of U.S. citizens and around the globe. 

Given his expert inside knowledge, it is worth paying attention to what Binney says.

In a media interview this week, he dismissed the so-called Russiagate scandal as a “fabrication” orchestrated by the American Central Intelligence Agency. Many other observers have come to the same conclusion about allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections with the objective of helping Donald Trump get elected.

But what is particularly valuable about Binney’s judgment is that he cites technical analysis disproving the Russiagate narrative. That narrative remains dominant among U.S. intelligence officials, politicians and pundits, especially those affiliated with the Democrat party, as well as large sections of Western media. The premise of the narrative is the allegation that a Russian state-backed cyber operation hacked into the database and emails of the Democrat party back in 2016. The information perceived as damaging to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was subsequently disseminated to the Wikileaks whistleblower site and other U.S. media outlets.

A mysterious cyber persona known as “Guccifer 2.0” claimed to be the alleged hacker. U.S. intelligence and news media have attributed Guccifer as a front for Russian cyber operations.

Notably, however, the Russian government has always categorically denied any involvement in alleged hacking or other interference in the 2016 U.S. election, or elections thereafter.

William Binney and other independent former U.S. intelligence experts say they can prove the Russiagate narrative is bogus. The proof relies on their forensic analysis of the data released by Guccifer. The analysis of timestamps demonstrates that the download of voluminous data could not have been physically possible based on known standard internet speeds. These independent experts conclude that the data from the Democrat party could not have been hacked, as Guccifer and Russiagaters claim. It could only have been obtained by a leak from inside the party, perhaps by a disgruntled staffer who downloaded the information on to a disc. That is the only feasible way such a huge amount of data could have been released. That means the “Russian hacker” claims are baseless.

Wikileaks, whose founder Julian Assange is currently imprisoned in Britain pending an extradition trial to the U.S. to face espionage charges, has consistently maintained that their source of files was not a hacker, nor did they collude with Russian intelligence. As a matter of principle, Wikileaks does not disclose the identity of its sources, but the organization has indicated it was an insider leak which provided the information on senior Democrat party corruption.

William Binney says forensic analysis of the files released by Guccifer shows that the mystery hacker deliberately inserted digital “fingerprints” in order to give the impression that the files came from Russian sources. It is known from information later disclosed by former NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden that the CIA has a secretive program – Vault 7 – which is dedicated to false incrimination of cyber attacks to other actors. It seems that the purpose of Guccifer was to create the perception of a connection between Wikileaks and Russian intelligence in order to beef up the Russiagate narrative.

“So that suggested [to] us all the evidence was pointing back to CIA as the originator [of] Guccifer 2.0. And that Guccifer 2.0 was inside CIA… I’m pointing to that group as the group that was probably the originator of Guccifer 2.0 and also this fabrication of the entire story of Russiagate,” concludes Binney in his interview with Sputnik news outlet.

This is not the first time that the Russiagate yarn has been debunked. But it is crucially important to make Binney’s expert views more widely appreciated especially as the U.S. presidential election looms on November 3. As that date approaches, U.S. intelligence and media seem to be intensifying claims about Russian interference and cyber operations. Such wild and unsubstantiated “reports” always refer to the alleged 2016 “hack” of the Democrat party by “Guccifer 2.0” as if it were indisputable evidence of Russian interference and the “original sin” of supposed Kremlin malign activity. The unsubstantiated 2016 “hack” is continually cited as the “precedent” and “provenance” of more recent “reports” that purport to claim Russian interference.

Given the torrent of Russiagate derivatives expected in this U.S. election cycle, which is damaging U.S.-Russia bilateral relations and recklessly winding up geopolitical tensions, it is thus of paramount importance to listen to the conclusions of honorable experts like William Binney.

The American public are being played by their own intelligence agencies and corporate media with covert agendas that are deeply anti-democratic.

Trust government bureacracies? The power elites are ruthless liars..

Clinesmith Charging Documents: FBI Withheld Page’s CIA Work From FISA Court, Then Lied About It

Clinesmith falsified documents and helped the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Team omit exonerating evidence about Carter Page on four separate FISA applications. 

Exposing Biden

Senate Chairman Subpoenas FBI Director Wray For Russiagate Records; Puts Bidens On Notice Over Ukraine Dealings

by Tyler Durden

Mon, 08/10/2020 - 10:50

TwitterFacebookRedditEmailPrint

FBI Director Christopher Wray has been subpoenaed by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to produce "all documents related to the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation," which includes "all records provided or made available to the Inspector General" regarding the FISA probe, as well as documents regarding the 2016-2017 presidential transition, according to Politico.

The subpoena was issued by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) as part of his investigation into the origins of Russiagate. It gives Wray until 5 p.m. on Aug. 20 to produce the documents.

Johnson also released a lengthy letter on Monday in which he defended his Committee's investigation and accused Democrats of initiating "a coordinated disinformation campaign and effort to personally attack" himself and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in order to distract from evidence his committee has gathered on Joe and Hunter Biden's Ukraine dealings.

"We didn't target Joe and Hunter Biden for investigation; their previous actions had put them in the middle of it," reads the Monday letter, which outlines the timeline and connections between Joe Biden's policy actions in Ukraine and his son Hunter's relationship with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company, according to Just The News.

"Many in the media, in an ongoing attempt to provide cover for former Vice President Biden, continue to repeat the mantra that there is 'no evidence of wrongdoing or illegal activity' related to Hunter Biden's position on Burisma's board," wrote Johnson. "I could not disagree more."

Johnson noted evidence gathered by his committee showed Joe Biden met with his son's business partner, Devon Archer, in April 2014 and within a month the vice president then visited Ukraine and both his son Hunter and the business partner were put on the Burisma board as the firm faced multiple corruption investigations.

"Isn't it obvious what message Hunter's position on Burisma's board sent to Ukrainian officials?" Johnson asked. "The answer: If you want U.S. support, don't touch Burisma. It also raised a host of questions, including: 1) How could former Vice President Biden look any Ukrainian official (or any other world leader) in the face and demand action to fight corruption? 2) Did this glaring conflict of interest affect the work and efforts of other U.S. officials who worked on anti-corruption measures?" -Just The News

Johnson also denied that he had been on contact with, or received documents from, Russian-tied Ukrainians.

"The only problem with their overblown handwringing is that they all knew full well that we have been briefed repeatedly, and we had already told them that we had NOT received the alleged Russian disinformation," wrote Johnson. "The very transparent goal of their own disinformation campaign and feigned concern is to attack our character in order to marginalize the eventual findings of our investigation."

Soros-backed St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner allegedly busted flying around the globe on a progressive organization's dime — without reporting it

She did not disclose the paid-for trips

Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

 PHIL SHIVER

George Soros-backed St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has come under fire recently for allegedly traveling across the country and world on a criminal justice reform organization's dime without reporting it, in apparent violation of city and state law.

According to an investigation into the matter by local news station KMOV-TV, the progressive attorney embarked on numerous trips in 2018 and 2019 that were "paid for in full, or in part, by an organization called Fair and Just Prosecution, a group that professes to support progressive prosecutors," yet she did not disclose the trips on travel reports.

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has also contributed to Fair and Just Prosecution, the report said.

Gardner, who has risen to the national spotlight in recent weeks after filing charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey for brandishing guns while defending their home from Black Lives Matter protesters, was also allegedly unresponsive on trips, causing work to be back-logged.

Sources reportedly told KMOV that Gardner's traveling was "prolific and problematic," and that she was often "unreachable."

Gardner had previously reported trips to New York, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, and other places paid for by the organization in 2017. But when the news outlet submitted a public information request about any trips during the following two years, nothing turned up, despite pictures of Gardner posted on social media showing her on several trips.

"When something isn't reported, the public has a right to ask well, why wasn't it?" Patrick Ishmael, who works for the St. Louis-based Show-Me Institute, said. "Elected officials have an obligation to be transparent and that's especially true related to their duty because the public wants to know their officials are working for the interest and not someone else's."

KMOV noted that "St. Louis' laws require every elected official report their travel and whether it was paid for with public or private funds" and that "sometimes Missouri law also mandates information about who paid for travel and lodging."

In response to the allegations, Gardner's office said: 

The suggestion that there is any quid pro quo involved here is patently absurd. By working with FJP, she has access to a network of prosecutors who are also implementing change in their communities across the country, prosecutors who are working to create a fairer, more equitable justice system and move beyond the failed policies of the past that created our mass incarceration crisis ...

Circuit Attorney Gardner refuses to apologize for seeking reasonably opportunities to further her knowledge and access prosecutors from throughout the nation for best practice. The suggestion that she would be persuaded to follow an alternative that is not focused on addressing the root causes of crime for a few plane tickets and hotel rooms is insulting.

The Circuit Attorney is confident that the public will see through this veiled attempt to disparage her and her efforts to continue to change our criminal justice system to be more just and fair.

In response to KMOV's inquiry, Fair and Justice Prosecution acknowledged that it is standard practice for the organization to pay for a prosecutor's food, lodging, and airfare for their events. They did not confirm the number of trips that Gardner has been on.

Earlier this year, Gardner faced criticism after a grand jury probe was launched into her failed prosecution against former Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens.