LETTER: FBI Deceived DOJ Lawyer Who Signed Off on FISA Warrants

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LETTER: FBI Deceived DOJ Lawyer Who Signed Off on FISA Warrants

The Justice Department lawyer who signed off on all of the FBI’s surveillance warrant applications during the Russia-Gate investigation admitted that he or she would not have approved the FBI’s requests had he or she known about the agency’s many “errors and omissions,” which were discovered during an investigation by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

In his report earlier this year, Horowitz found at least 17 errors and omissions in the FBI’s FISA warrant applications and subsequent investigation, which undermined the legitimacy of the entire operation, according to Senate Republicans.

Indeed, these errors were so widespread that the DOJ lawyer assigned to the application case said that the Russia-Gate investigation would never have been allowed to move forward had the FBI acted honestly, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC revealed in a hearing Wednesday for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd conveyed the unnamed attorney’s remorse in a letter sent to Graham, the committee chairman.

“The OI attorney advises that had he/she been aware of the significant errors and omissions identified by the OIG and the errors in the Woods process, he/she would not have signed the filed Page FISA applications,” the letter said.

“The OI attorney further advises that he/she is not aware of any additional errors or omissions in the Page FISA applications or in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation more generally that were not identified in the OIG Report,” it continued.

Graham entered the letter into the record during the hearing with former FBI Director James Comey, according to the Washington Examiner.

Comey has denied any wrongdoing, but admitted to Graham on Wednesday that he also would not have signed off on the FBI’s FISA warrant applications without a “much fuller” discussion about the material being presented to the FISA court.

WATCH: Graham Shuts Down ‘Completely Clueless’ Comey for Ignoring FBI’s FISA Abuse

Ben Sellers
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WATCH: Graham Shuts Down ‘Completely Clueless’ Comey for Ignoring FBI’s FISA Abuse

It may not have been as melodramatic as his pivotal moment in the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation, but two years later, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, showed he’s still unafraid to call out his colleagues for putting politics ahead of the country’s best interest.

Graham, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had invited former FBI Director James Comey to appear voluntarily as part of a probe following up on the findings of a damning inspector general’s report into the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane sting against the Trump campaign.

Democrats on the committee—including Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Dick Durbin of Illinois—made it clear that they deemed the hearing to be a waste of time.

“I think it is entirely appropriate that we are meeting today to discuss Russian influence,” Durbin said snidely after asking Comey whether President Donald Trump’s recently leaked financial statements constituted a national security threat due to the president’s loan debt on his vast real estate holdings.

“I can’t think of anything more insidious than Vladimir Putin trying to affect the outcome of an American election and overruling the democracy by the American people,” Durbin continued. “… There’s one problem. Today we’re focusing on the wrong election.”

Durbin rightly noted that other recent reports have suggested Russia may be attempting to interfere in the upcoming election (although he followed a Democratic talking point by ignoring concerns regarding China’s anti-Trump influence).

He then tried to downplay the influence of the Steele dossier in the anti-Trump smear campaign that transpired in 2016 and 2017, enabling Obama officials to spy on their political adversaries.

“The agenda here is all about a dossier written 5 or 6 years ago,” he said, accusing Graham of using the hearings to benefit Trumps—and Graham’s own—re-election campaigns.

But after allowing Comey to respond with a Pollyannish naiveté about criticisms from the current attorney general, William Barr, who denounced the “false and utterly baseless Russia collusion narrative,” Graham used his gavel powers to bring the focus back into perspective.

The concern, he noted, was not the enemies abroad trying to undermine the elections, but the ones within—entrusted with and protected by the duty to uphold the law—who instead did the opposite.

“The committee is trying to save the FISA system,” Graham said.

“The FISA warrant applications against Carter Page should make every American concerned about how off the rails this system got,” he continued. “That the document necessary to get the warrant against an American citizen—the key document—was prepared by somebody on the Democratic payroll who hired a Russian suspected spy, and all the information in the dossier fell apart over time and the court was never informed of the exculpatory evidence that was coming in.”

Graham said it was past time someone in the intelligence community was held accountable for the FISA abuses.

“What astounds me the most is that the director of the FBI in charge of this investigation involving a sitting president is completely clueless about any of the information obtained by his agency to throw suspicion over the document,” Graham said.

“… How is it possible that an investigation at this level, that none of this information that’s damning to the case against Mr. Page never makes it to the top? And you want us to reauthorize this program with a system like that?”

Biden Denies Support for Green New Deal but Endorses on Campaign Website

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Biden Denies Support for Green New Deal but Endorses on Campaign Website

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden claimed during Tuesday’s debate that he did not support the Green New Deal, despite the fact that his campaign website calls it a “crucial framework” for his climate change initiative.

“The Green New Deal is not my plan,” Biden said of the radical policy proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., and sponsored by Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

When asked again whether he would support the plan, since his own campaign has adopted some of its elements, Biden replied, “No, I don’t support the Green New Deal.”

“Oh, you don’t? Well, that’s a big statement,” President Donald Trump interjected. “That means you just lost the radical Left. It’s gone.”

Biden continued, ignoring Trump: “I support the Biden plan that I put forward, which is different than what he calls the ‘radical Green New Deal.’”

Biden’s campaign website, however, offers a different message.

The “Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice” would cost $1.7 trillion and take 10 years to fully implement, his website states, and it relies on the Green New Deal as a “crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face.”

The Green New Deal “powerfully captures two basic truths, which are at the core of his plan: (1) the United States urgently needs to embrace greater ambition on an epic scale to meet the scope of this challenge, and (2) our environment and our economy are completely and totally connected,” his website states.

Ocasio–Cortez responded to Biden’s comments during the debate and claimed that his opposition to the Green New Deal is “why I joined Biden’s Climate Unity Task Force.”

GOP Rep. Doubts Postal Service’s Biased Unions Can Impartially Handle Ballots

Joshua Paladino
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GOP Rep. Doubts Postal Service’s Biased Unions Can Impartially Handle Ballots

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy asking him to ensure that two US Postal Service unions, which endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, will not manipulate the results of the Nov. 3 election.

“Americans cannot have confidence in the outcome of the election if these openly biased groups are given a significant role in the conduct of vote-by-mail without equally significant measures to ensure fairness,” Comer wrote.

As a check on the Democrat-run USPS, Comer said DeJoy should establish ballot watch programs at post offices where Republicans and Democrats monitor workers, similar to poll watchers at voting locations.

The USPS expects to handle as many as 80 million mail-in and absentee ballots in the 2020 election.

With about 140 million ballots set to be cast, the government-run organization will have a significant role in monitoring the election’s integrity. Yet, the USPS has openly declared its partisan interest in the election, a situation that the Democrats would not accept were the situation reversed.

Almost all USPS employees, not only the unions, have a partisan interest in the race.

“The Postal Service website says that nearly 550,000 of the 600,000 USPS employees are covered by some sort of collective bargaining agreement,” wrote Comer, a ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. “At least two major postal unions have endorsed Joe Biden for president.”

One of the unions, the National Association of Letter Carriers, represents more than 275,000 workers.

The NALC is affiliated with the highly partisan American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, which consistently backs the Democratic Party.

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign received inappropriate help from the NALC in 2016, according to a 2017 Office of Special Counsel report that found “institutional bias.”

Comer wrote that he has not been able to determine whether institutional bias still remains at the USPS union.

The other union that endorsed Biden is the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and it represents 50,000 workers. It it also affiliated with the AFL–CIO.

“This obvious bias raises questions about whether the USPS plan’s strong reliance on highly partisan organizations for election-related operational matters–up to and including the actual handling of ballots in the case of Ballot Monitors–risks creating doubts about election results,” Comer wrote.

DeJoy said at a previous hearing that the USPS is training employees in a “Ballot Ambassador” program, which gives them the knowledge needed to prevent errors and fraud when handling ballots.

Another of Comer’s concerns is that the USPS is relying on decisions being made at the local level, where pro-Democrat bias may affect the persons who serve as Ballot Monitors.

He wrote that USPS headquarters should take a greater role in promoting election integrity.

“To ensure operations are fair and efficient for a national election, it is important for USPS to communicate standards and processes to local officials and to make these transparent to the public,” he wrote.

Presidential Commission May Let Moderators Turn Off Mics for Remaining Debates

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Presidential Commission May Let Moderators Turn Off Mics for Remaining Debates

(Headline USA) The presidential debate commission says it will soon adopt changes to its format to avoid a repeat of the disjointed first meeting between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.

The commission said Wednesday the debate “made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.”

One possibility being discussed is to give the moderator the ability to cut off the microphone of one of the debate participants while his opponent is talking, according to a person familiar with the deliberations who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The next presidential debate is a town hall format scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami.

Moderator Chris Wallace struggled to gain control of the 90-minute debate in Cleveland because of frequent interruptions, primarily by Trump.

Wallace, of Fox News, pleaded for a more orderly debate, at one point looking at Trump and saying, “the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I’m appealing to you, sir, to do that.”

“Ask him, too,” Trump said.

“Well, frankly, you’ve been doing more interrupting than he has,” Wallace said.

Biden on Wednesday called the debate “a national embarrassment.” But despite some suggestions that the final two presidential encounters be canceled, both campaigns said they expected their candidate to attend.

ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, who moderated one of the three debates between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016, said Wallace was put in nearly an impossible situation. Faced with the same behavior, she said she might have called a full stop to the debate for a moment to recalibrate.

She never had the option, technically, to cut off the microphone of a candidate four years ago, she said. It also wasn’t in the rules that were agreed to in advance by the candidate and commission.

“To say, ‘he’s not going to follow the rules so we aren’t, either?’ It’s an unprecedented situation,” Raddatz said. “That was so out of control.”

Twitter was ablaze with criticism for Wallace early in the debate for losing control of the proceedings. That was illustrated by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who tweeted “what is Chris Wallace doing? He has no control over the debate. He asks a question and let’s Trump continue yelling. This is a disgrace.”

By the time he was on “Morning Joe” the next morning, Scarborough had cooled off. He called on the debate commission to act.

“While it was extraordinarily frustrating, I think all of us need to walk a mile in his shoes before saying the morning after, ‘he could have done this, he could have done that,’” Scarborough said.

Some of the president’s supporters felt that Wallace was too hard on their candidate. Trump himself suggested he was also debating Wallace, “but that’s no surprise.”

Wallace even got some criticism from opinion personalities on his own network.

“Trump is debating the moderator and Biden,” prime-time host Laura Ingraham tweeted during the debate.

Another Fox colleague, Geraldo Rivera, expressed more sympathy.

“The guy signed up to moderate a debate and he ended up trying to referee a knife fight,” he said.

Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday,” was not immediately made available for comment by Fox.

Wallace is the only presidential debate moderator this cycle with prior experience, after receiving praise for handling the final Clinton-Trump debate in 2016. The other two moderators are Steve Scully of C-SPAN and Kristen Welker of NBC News.

Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.

Comey Can’t Recall CIA Warning of Hillary Clinton’s Plan to Smear Trump

Ben Sellers
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Comey Can’t Recall CIA Warning of Hillary Clinton’s Plan to Smear Trump

During his remote testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, former FBI Director James Comey claimed to know very little about what was happening at the levels beneath him in one of the agency’s more important investigations.

The release of a bombshell Monday from Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe revealed that the US intelligence community was aware of a plan approved by Hillary Clinton in July 2016 to smear her opponent, then-candidate Donald Trump, by linking him to Russian interference.

In September of that year, the CIA referred the matter directly to Comey and top counterespionage agent Peter Strzok.

They warned that Clinton was promoting the false claims against Trump “as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private mail server,” Ratcliffe said in his letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, the Judiciary Committee chairman.

Although Comey acknowledged reading about it, he drew a blank about the case itself.

“That doesn’t ring bells with me,” he told Graham during the Wednesday hearing.

As to whether his underlings followed up on the referral by investigating Clinton, “I can’t answer that,” he said. “I’ve read Mr. Ratcliffe’s letter, which frankly, I have trouble understanding.”

Comey also said he never recalled discussing with the “Crossfire Hurricane” investigative team—which was using the Clinton-commissioned Steele dossier to pursue eavesdropping warrants against Trump adviser Carter Page—any of the mounting the concerns about the information’s reliability.

“The investigation, overall, was incredibly important,” Comey told Graham. “The piece you’re focused on is important, but it’s a small slice,” he said of the monitoring of Page, an American citizen, under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Graham pointed out that the FISA court had later rebuked the FBI for its mishandling of the application process, which came to light with the release of an inspector general’s report in December 2019.

Well after Trump had been elected and the information in the Steele dossier was disavowed by its primary sub-source—himself a suspected Russian agent—Comey seemed to maintain only a passive interest in the work being done under him by Strzok, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and others.

In fact, although Comey long boasted of being a man of the people during his FBI tenure—leaving his seventh-floor hideaway at the J. Edgar Hoover Building to have lunch in the cafeteria with lowly plebeian line-agents and signing off with complete confidence on the work of his subordinates—he testified that he did not even know who FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith was.

“I know nothing about Mr. Clinesmith, other than what I’ve read,” Comey claimed before the Judiciary Committee—despite the fact that Clinesmith, one of several alarmingly biased agents working the case, had led some of the key interrogations with Trump staffers.

Clinesmith, to date, has been the only FBI staffer to face criminal indictment in the ongoing probe being led by US Attorney John Durham.

As outlined in Inspector General Michael Horowitz‘s report, Clinesmith intentionally altered an email from the CIA that provided exculpatory evidence against claims that Page was a Russian agent.

The use of the false information in the Steele dossier and the withholding of critical pieces of exonerating evidence ultimately allowed the FBI to continue spying on the Trump campaign whereas the FISA court claimed it would not otherwise have granted warrant approval.

Comey’s role in the anti-Trump effort became more pronounced in the lead-up to Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

He was present at a Jan. 5, 2017 meeting with then-President Barack Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, national security adviser Susan Rice and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates during which the idea of setting a perjury trap for Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, may have first been discussed.

Yates later testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Comey had gone “rogue” by directing FBI agents to interrogate Flynn at the White House without briefing his own immediate bosses in the Justice Department.

Comey also admitted using his first official meeting with Trump as an intelligence-gathering operation to assess whether the president might be a Russian operative.

When his work and loyalties came under fire, Comey acknowledged leaking the memos from his conversations with Trump in order to help trigger what would become the two-year, $30+ million Mueller investigation, which is now itself under scrutiny by the Durham probe.

“We’re trying to find out … how this happened and to make sure it never happens again,” Graham said in his opening statement.

Utah Republicans Feel Romney Regret, But Support for Barrett May Earn Him Favor

Joshua Paladino
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Utah Republicans Feel Romney Regret, But Support for Barrett May Earn Him Favor

Some Utah Republicans said they feel that they were “tricked” into voting for their Senator, Mitt Romney, in 2018.

They question his loyalty to his conservative constituents, KUER reported.

Romney has indeed proven fickle to the Republicans, especially since he voted to impeach President Donald Trump.

Last week, however, the senator promised to consider Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, surprising conservatives and disappointing liberals.

“He really does seem like a chameleon to me,” said Maribeth Merton, a Republican from Tooele.

Merton, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, voted for Romney in 2018 because the senator also attended an LDS church. She was mostly concerned about his stance on abortion.

Early in his career, Romney was pro-choice, and he said that abortion should be “safe and legal.” Romney said in 2005 that he had changed his opinion, that he was pro-life, and that Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

“My main opposition to Romney now is his stand on abortion and how it keeps changing,” she said. “As an LDS person, which is what he is, I feel like we are pro-life. And he has not always supported that.”

Dave Evans, a Hyde Park Republican, was disappointed with Romney’s decision to impeach Trump.

“We were tricked into believing that he was going to really stand up for the values of Utah, support our president, support the Republican Party,” Evans said.

On paper, however, Romney agrees with Trump the majority of the time. According to FiveThirtyEight, he votes with the president 81.6 percent of the time.

“It’s not that he’s not conservative, it’s that he’s not loyal,” said Weber State University Political Science Professor Leah Murray. “It’s more of a branding thing than I think it is an actual understanding of Mitt Romney’s positions.”

Sarah Stone, a liberal from Salt Lake City, wrote a letter to Romney in the Salt Lake Tribune, begging him to “not fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court during this election year.”

“Though I tend to vote for liberal candidates, I voted for you for president and Senate. I have always been impressed by your intellect, integrity and public service,” Stone wrote. “I was moved by your speech that justified the vote to impeach Trump. You spoke about doing what’s right and upholding the Constitution, even if it goes against what your political party is pressuring you to do.”

A number of Democrats have been disappointed with the senator’s choice regarding the Supreme Court.

Trump, however, has announced that he has forgiven Romney, Deseret News reported.

“Do you see what’s going on with the Republican Party, how unified the Republican Party is? We’re unified. It’s a beautiful thing to say. Thank you, Mitt,” the president said at a campaign rally Thursday night in Jacksonville, Florida.

“Even Mitt’s on board,” he said. “It’s a good thing to see.”

But this isn’t enough to convince some that Romney has not been unfaithful to his party.

“You’re either on the team or you aren’t,” Evans insisted. “And for the last quite a while, he hasn’t been, in my opinion, on the team.”

Texas Grand Jury: No Action Against Hero Who Killed Deranged Church Shooter

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Texas Grand Jury: No Action Against Hero Who Killed Deranged Church Shooter

(Associated Press) A grand jury in Texas decided Monday to take no action against a man who fatally shot an armed man who killed two people at a Fort Worth-area church in late December, prosecutors said.

Jack Wilson, a firearms instructor who trained a volunteer security team at the West Freeway Church of Christ in the town of White Settlement, fatally shot Keith Thomas Kinnunen during a Dec. 29 service after he shot and killed 67-year-old Richard White, another security volunteer, and 64-year-old Anton “Tony” Wallace, a server.

As the attacker shot the two men, congregants scrambled for cover.

The gunman was heading to the front of the sanctuary as Wilson searched for a clear line of fire.

His single shot quickly ended the attack.

Prosecutors said there were about 260 people in the church at the time.

Tim Rodgers, a prosecutor with the Tarrant County district attorney’s office, said Monday that Texas law allows a person witnessing someone placing others at risk of serious injury or death to act with deadly force to protect others.

“Mr. Wilson did just that. He did it responsibly and, as a result, he was justified under the law in his actions,” Rodgers said. “Based upon the grand jury’s decision, the law enforcement investigation and our review of the case are complete.

‘We believe the grand jury made the right decision.”

After the shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott gave Wilson Texas’S highest civilian honor: the Governor’s Medal of Courage.

Salon Owner Shelley Luther, Who Defied Lockdown, Makes Texas Senate Runoff

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Salon Owner Shelley Luther, Who Defied Lockdown, Makes Texas Senate Runoff

(Associated Press) A Dallas salon owner who was sent to jail for defying coronavirus lockdown orders and became a symbol of conservative angst over COVID-19 restrictions advanced to a runoff for a Texas Senate seat on Tuesday night.

Republican Shelley Luther finished in a virtual dead heat with four-term Republican state Rep. Drew Springer as both advanced.

Luther had 31.7% of the vote in a special election to fill a vacated seat in a heavily Republican North Texas district.

Springer, a Muenster tax consultant, tallied 31.83% of the vote.

Jacob Minter, the lone Democrat in the six-candidate race and an electrician heading up a quality control team for a union in Sherman, finished third with 21.06% of the vote.

The district reaches from Stephenville and the northern suburbs of Dallas and Fort Worth to Wichita Falls and the Red River.

Luther’s springboard into politics came in May when she spent about two days in jail for refusing to shut down her salon despite Republican Gov. Greg Abbott‘s emergency orders.

She received $500,000 in donations with the help of conservative activists at a time when protests over COVID-19 restrictions unfolded across the country.

She has hammered Abbott and effectively made her campaign a referendum on the governor’s handling of the pandemic.

Nationwide, other GOP candidates are also counting on lingering voter resentment of lockdown orders to help boost them into office, at a time when President Donald Trump’s reelection may hinge on persuading voters that the worst is behind America.

A date for the runoff election has not yet been scheduled.

The winner will succeed Republican Pat Fallon, who resigned to run for a seat in the U.S. House.

Christian Groups Sue Va. to Overturn Law That Infringes on Religious Liberty

Joshua Paladino
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Christian Groups Sue Va. to Overturn Law That Infringes on Religious Liberty

Religious institutions in Virginia have filed a lawsuit to prevent the state from effectively outlawing Christian ministry through anti-discrimination laws and fines.

Alliance Defending Freedom represents two churches, three schools, and a pregnancy center in a state lawsuit filed Monday that seeks relief from the anti-religious Virginia Values Act, ADF reported in a press release.

The lawsuit challenges the Virginia Values Act, a product of the state’s far-left legislature and Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam, that forces Christian churches, schools, health centers, and other ministries to hire employees who reject their beliefs about marriage, sexuality, and gender identity.

If Christian institutions do not abandon their faith, then Virginia will punish them with $100,000 fines for each violation.

“Such government hostility toward people of faith has no place in a free society,” ADF Senior Counsel Denise Harle said.

Not only do Christian institutions have to disobey God to serve the god of anti-discrimination, Virginia requires them to actively affirm and fund what they believe to be evil.

Christian ministries must offer employees health care plans that cover sex organ mutilation surgeries, which the left euphemistically calls “gender affirming” surgeries, as if there is a disconnect between a person’s body and mind.

Virginia’s anti-discrimination laws will also prevent Christian institutions from organizing athletic and ministerial classes for one sex at a time.

For example, girls cannot play in a church softball group that excludes boys.

ADF also represents photographer Bob Updegrove in a separate federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit challenges the Virginia Values Act because it prevents Updegrove from refusing to photograph homosexual weddings.

If he leaves a statement on his website that explains his decision to refrain from such events, Virginia will punish him with a minimum $50,000 fine.

“Our clients offer spiritual guidance, education, pregnancy support, and athletic opportunities to their communities because of the religious beliefs that motivate them,” Harle said.

“But Virginia’s new law forces these ministries to abandon and adjust their convictions or pay crippling fines—in direct violation of the Virginia Constitution and other state laws,” she said.

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