[ April 19, 2024 ]
“Unlawfully authorized.” When do we star seeing indictments?
FISA Court Admits Spy Warrants Against Carter Page Were ‘Not Valid’
The FISA court’s top judge wrote in a secret ruling on January 7 that at least two of the four spy warrants against Carter Page were invalid and not lawfully authorized.Authority granted to the federal government to secretly wiretap and spy on former Trump affiliate Carter Page was “not valid,” the nation’s top spy court noted in a secret ruling penned earlier this month. The order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which was created and authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), was initially signed and issued on January 7, 2020, but was not declassified and released until Thursday afternoon.
Judge James Boasberg, the current federal judge presiding over the FISA court, wrote in his order that at least two of the four FISA applications against Carter Page were unlawfully authorized. Additionally, according his order, the Department of Justice similarly concluded following the release of a sprawling investigate report on the matter by the agency’s inspector general that the government did not have probable cause that Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power. The FISA law states that American citizens cannot be secretly spied on by the U.S. government absent probable cause, based on valid evidence, that an American is unlawfully acting as a foreign agent.
“DOJ assesses that with respect to the applications in Docket Numbers 17-375 and 17-679, ‘if not earlier, there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that [Carter] Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power,’” Boasberg wrote, referring to the final two of the four FISA applications to spy on Page. “The Court understands the government to have concluded, in view of the material misstatements and omissions, that the Court’s authorizations in Docket Numbers 17-375 and 17-679 were not valid.”
Story continues below advertisementBoasberg’s ruling noted that DOJ had not yet taken a position on the lawfulness of the first two applications against Page, but was currently collecting information to assess whether those two spy applications were also invalid. The invalid applications specified by Boasberg were dated April 7 and June 29 of 2017. The false and invalid April 7 application was personally signed by James Comey, while the false and invalid June 29 application was signed by Andrew McCabe. Both men were referred for criminal prosecution by the inspector general. Former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who is alleged to have offered to wear a wire against President Donald Trump, also signed off on the false June 29 FISA warrant against Page.
The FISA court order also noted that it is a federal crime for any federal official to “intentionally…disclose[] or use[] information obtained under color of law by electronic surveillance, knowing or having any reason to know that the information was obtained through electronic surveillance not authorized” by law. The following sentence of Boasberg’s ruling is redacted, raising questions about whether the government used any information obtained pursuant to the now-invalid Page surveillance warrants in other cases.
The final warrant against Page overlapped with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The final three-month authorization to spy on Page was signed nearly six weeks after Mueller was appointed, meaning that Mueller may have had real-time access to and utilized nearly five months worth of surveillance of Page during the course of Mueller’s investigation. If his office used any of the information in subsequent cases, the declaration that the final two spy warrants against Page were invalid could potentially nullify previous or future convictions sought by Mueller’s office.
Surveillance under FISA is not limited to the individual targeted, as the government also surveils individuals with whom the target communicates, and individuals with whom those individuals communicate. That process is called the “two-hop” rule and allows the government to spy on and collect information and communications from individuals who are two degrees separated from the actual surveillance target. Therefore, even if Page never personally spoke to Trump on the phone, the government could still eavesdrop on Trump’s conversations if Page spoke to someone who had spoken to or electronically communicated with the president. It is not known whether the government used the two-hop process on Page to sweep up information from former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, or even the president himself.
In his January 7 order, Boasberg directed DOJ to retain and sequester all information and evidence relevant to both the Carter Page applications, the inspector general investigation of FISA abuse, and any additional DOJ investigations related to or spawned by the inspector general’s report. Boasberg told DOJ to provide all of the required information to the FISA court no later than January 28.
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25 Comments
4 years ago
But nobody in the deep state will be charged with Perjury, Obstruction of Justice, Abuse of Power, or any other crime. Federal employees get a free pass, where common citizenry land in jail.
4 years ago
Will anything come of this? Doubtful. Will heads roll? Doubtful, except perhaps a lowly scapegoat.
As Hillary would say, what does it matter; it was a long time ago.
4 years ago
Reply to
stephen5970
I wonder if a murder, a long time ago will also be ignored. Hang one! We have Epstein and a couple of months must be a “long time ago”
4 years ago
Reply to
stephen5970
Deliberately contrived & false evidence presented to a federal court as part of coup to remove and possibly prosecute a duly elected President is an extremely serious criminal offense. If serious accountability to all involved never happens then our system of justice is a joke except for all of us lowly non-elites.
4 years ago
“not valid”? The Obama FBI tried to frame him.
And the Clinton FBI tried to frame Richard Jewell.
and I’m pro law enforcement. this sucks.
4 years ago
Reply to
TD
“Not valid” means ILLEGAL.
It’s just like “lack of candor” means LIAR!
It’s deep state jargon to confuse people and minimize their corrupt deeds.
4 years ago
Until one of these swine do 10-20 years it is all just a joke. I realise that Trump has his hands tied but surely a blood offering must come or credibility will decrease.
4 years ago
Damn it! I want to see some of these swamp creatures doing the perp walk…
4 years ago
Will anything happen to corrupt Rosenstein?????
4 years ago
Could someone wake up Barr?
I could have sworn Barr said wrongdoers won’t sleep well.
I could have sworn Barr also said he was determined to get to the bottom of the Epstein situation. Amazingly he is very quiet there too and there are no leaks! How come Barr never seems to find any wrong doing?
I want to be wrong about Barr! Is it the SOS again? 
4 years ago
Reply to
felix1999
I hear ya and I feel the same about Barr. I think today was one milestone to get past by voiding the FISA the crap might hit the fan. Maybe AG Barr is a sleeping giant. I hope he isn’t just playing checkers.
4 years ago
Reply to
Jamfer Jones
Where in the heck is the Durham Report. The assault on Trump will continue until the Democrats find it necessary to defend their actions to destroy the results of the 2016 election and interfere in the 2020 election.
4 years ago
Reply to
nopeacenow
Just maybe when the Senate gets done with the current impeachment political scam the hammer might drop from Durham. I hope the burger isn’t just an empty bun. Doing nothing about known criminals is worse than the crime they committed.
4 years ago
Reply to
Jamfer Jones
The Durham Report better happen sooner rather than later. Indictments must follow or the assault on Trump will continue throughout this term and the next should he be re-elected.
4 years ago
Sydney Powell said there would be ‘Epic’ news today and this must be it. The crap just hit the fan.
4 years ago
If the FISA warrants (any warrant actually) are in fact defective, then any “evidence” obtained thereby is Poisoned Fruit. As such, that information is inadmissible and any convictions / plea bargains are null and void.
1st year law school.
4 years ago
Reply to
Daniel FX Dravot
This might have some bearing on , Manafort’s and Flynn’s convictions, although no outsider knows all the details of those cases, but the FISA court finding imputes the FBI leadership and should merit review of all their high profile politically motivated convictions.
4 years ago
It is a secret spy court. Of course it will be corrupt.
#~Constitutional~Carry!~
4 years ago
that ” Rule of Law ” thing ? It`s for thee to obey and not for ME ! { so sayeth our well paid,overly fed,tailor suited,pampered,intellectually challenged, politicians.) A worse pack of weasels,thieves,and charlatans can not be found anywhere but right here in the good ol U.S. of A. .
4 years ago
Although the FISA court finding of unpredicated surveillance does raise the credibility of possible accountability, as did the IG’s finding, I have no expectations of any of this having any effect on future activity.
This is the page 8 retraction for the crime spree headline four months ago.
So far, the networks are giving dawn to midnight coverage of the impeachment hearings and this doesn’t even merit mention on the 6 o’clock news, and I don’t think it will ever be covered.
As far as the news cycle is concerned, all the concerned were expendible.
The narrative is to get rid of Trump and they are blind to anything else, so don’t get you hopes up that anything will come of it.
4 years ago
Although the FISA court finding of unpredicated surveillance does raise the credibility of possible accountability, as did the IG’s finding, I have no expectations of any of this having any effect on future activity.
This is the page 8 retraction for the crime spree headline four months ago.
So far, the networks are giving dawn to midnight coverage of the impeachment hearings and this doesn’t even merit mention on the 6 o’clock news, and I don’t think it will ever be covered.
As far as the news cycle is concerned, all the concerned were expendible.
The narrative is to get rid of Trump and they are blind to anything else, so don’t get you hopes up that anything will come of it.
4 years ago
This ruling establishes that the DOJ and the FBI willfully and knowingly submitted false information to the Court to obtain a warrant. It was surely not the first time this was done.In fact, any defense attorney will affirm it is SOP for the DOJ and the FBI to obtain a warrant unlawfully and is normally overlooked by the courts or found to be “harmless error.”
4 years ago
Anyone with an IQ over that of a sack of rocks realizes the truth regarding Obama, every Democrat and their embedded hirelings were party to SPYGATE. Meanwhile, the seditionist Democrats are using Trump’s impeachment trial to deflect from their unmitigated criminality and treason. It is a feckin’ joke, yet, the aspirant neo-Bolshevists are near orgasmic with hatred, bigotry, and unbridled subversion.
4 years ago
Sooo, if the low life doesn’t matter why all the deception? We the People don’t matter in the issue at hand so why are the elites trying to hide? Who cares?
