FOIA – The Conservative-Patriot Christian Right

Judge Lambeth Orders Crooked Hillary Deposition

Judge Royce C. Lamberth rules Crooked Hillary must face an in-person deposition from Judicial Watch over her illegal mail server that corrupt FBI Director James Comey gave her a pass. Hopefully enough dirt is exposed in this deposition that not even Teflon Dem crooks have to face jury trials.

Below is the Fox News and Judicial Watch versions of the Crooked Hillary deposition news.

JRH 3/3/20

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BLOG EDITOR (In Fascistbook jail since 1/20/20): I’ve apparently been placed in restricted Facebook Jail! The restriction was relegated after criticizing Democrats for supporting abortion in one post and criticizing Virginia Dems for gun-grabbing legislation and levying protester restrictions. Rather than capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I choose to post and share until the Leftist censors ban me completely. Conservatives are a huge portion of Facebook. If more or all Conservatives are banned, it will affect the Facebook advertising revenue paradigm. SO FIGHT CENSORSHIP BY SHARE – SHARE – SHARE!!! Facebook notified me in pop-up on 1/20/20: “You’re temporarily restricted from joining and posting to groups that you do not manage until April 18 at 7:04 PM.”

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Federal judge orders Hillary Clinton deposition to address private emails: ‘Still more to learn’

By Ronn Blitzer

March 2, 2020

Fox News

A federal judge Monday granted a request from conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch to have former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sit for a sworn deposition to answer questions about her use of a private email server to conduct government business.

Clinton has argued that she has already answered questions about this and should not have to do so again — the matter did not result in any charges for the then-presidential candidate in 2016 after a high-profile investigation — but D.C. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth said in his ruling that her past responses left much to be desired.

“As extensive as the existing record is, it does not sufficiently explain Secretary Clinton’s state of mind when she decided it would be an acceptable practice to set up and use a private server to conduct State Department business,” Lamberth said.

The judge went on to recognize that while Clinton responded to written questions in a separate case, “those responses were either incomplete, unhelpful, or cursory at best. Simply put her responses left many more questions than answers.” Lamberth said that using written questions this time “will only muddle any understanding of Secretary Clinton’s state of mind and fail to capture the full picture, thus delaying the final disposition of this case even further.”

Lamberth even gave some examples of lingering questions about Clinton’s emails, such as how did she come to believe that her private emails would be preserved under normal State Department processes, who told her this and when, at what point did she learn department records management officials did not know about the server, “[a]nd why did she think that using a private server to conduct State Department business was permissible under the law in the first place?”

The ruling comes after Judicial Watch revealed at a December 2019 status conference that the FBI released “approximately thirty previously undisclosed Clinton emails,” and that the State Department “failed to fully explain” where they came from.

The State Department has been pushing for the discovery phase of the case to come to a close, but Lamberth said he is not ready to do so, saying that “there is still more to learn.”

Judicial Watch, which initiated this case in 2014, is looking for information regarding whether Clinton used her private email server to intentionally get around the Freedom of Information Act, whether the State Department acted in bad faith when they tried to settle the case years ago, and whether the department had adequately looked for records in response to Judicial Watch’s initial FOIA request.

Given that the settlement attempts and records search took place after Clinton left office, the judge ruled that the deposition should focus on whether she intentionally tried to use her private server to evade FOIA and her understanding of the State Department’s record management requirements.

Lamberth also granted Judicial Watch’s request to depose former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills, IT specialist Paul Combetta who was involved in deleting Clinton’s emails, as well as Brett Gittleson and Yvette Jacks, who were State Department officials familiar with Clinton’s private email server.

Judicial Watch also wanted to question Clinton and Mills about government talking points in the aftermath of the 2012 Benghazi attack. Lamberth said that while they “cannot be questioned about the underlying actions taken after the Benghazi attack,” they can face questions regarding “their knowledge of the existence of any emails, documents, or text messages related to the Benghazi attack.”

Fox News’ Bill Mears contributed to this report.

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Judicial Watch Victory: Federal Court Orders Deposition of Hillary Clinton on Emails and Benghazi Attack Records

Crooked Hillary JW Photo

Press Releases

March 02, 2020

Judicial Watch

Court: ‘It is Time to Hear Directly from Secretary Clinton’

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch today announced that U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted Judicial Watch’s request to depose former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her emails and Benghazi attack documents. The court also ordered the deposition of Clinton’s former Chief of Staff, Cheryl Mills and two other State Department officials.

Additionally, the court granted Judicial Watch’s request to subpoena Google for relevant documents and records associated with Clinton’s emails during her tenure at the State Department.

The ruling comes in Judicial Watch’s lawsuit that seeks records concerning “talking points or updates on the Benghazi attack” (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01242)). Judicial Watch famously uncovered in 2014 that the “talking points” that provided the basis for Susan Rice’s false statements were created by the Obama White House. This Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit led directly to the disclosure of the Clinton email system in 2015.

In December 2018, Judge Lamberth first ordered discovery into whether Secretary Clinton’s use of a private email server was intended to stymie FOIA; whether the State Department’s intent to settle this case in late 2014 and early 2015 amounted to bad faith; and whether the State Department has adequately searched for records responsive to Judicial Watch’s request. The court also authorized discovery into whether the Benghazi controversy motivated the cover-up of Clinton’s email. The court ruled that the Clinton email system was “one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency.” The State and Justice Departments continued to defend Clinton’s and the agency’s email conduct.

Judge Lamberth today overruled Clinton’s and the State and Justice Department’s objections to limited additional discovery by first noting:

Discovery up until this point has brought to light a noteworthy amount of relevant information, but Judicial Watch requests an additional round of discovery, and understandably so. With each passing round of discovery, the Court is left with more questions than answers.

Additionally, Judge Lamberth said that he is troubled by the fact that both the State Department and Department of Justice want to close discovery in this case:

[T]here is still more to learn. Even though many important questions remain unanswered, the Justice Department inexplicably still takes the position that the Court should close discovery and rule on dispositive motions. The Court is especially troubled by this. To argue that the Court now has enough information to determine whether State conducted an adequate search is preposterous, especially when considering State’s deficient representations regarding the existence of additional Clinton emails. Instead, the Court will authorize a new round of discovery

With respect to Clinton, the court found that her prior testimony, mostly through written sworn answers, was not sufficient:

The Court has considered the numerous times in which Secretary Clinton said she could not recall or remember certain details in her prior interrogatory answers. In a deposition, it is more likely that plaintiff’s counsel could use documents and other testimony to attempt to refresh her recollection. And so, to avoid the unsatisfying and inefficient outcome of multiple rounds of fruitless interrogatories and move this almost six-year-old case closer to its conclusion, Judicial Watch will be permitted to clarify and further explore Secretary Clinton’s answers in person and immediately after she gives them. The Court agrees with Judicial Watch – it is time to hear directly from Secretary Clinton.

“Judicial Watch uncovered the Clinton email scandal and we’re pleased that the court authorized us to depose Mrs. Clinton directly on her email conduct and how it impacted the people’s ‘right to know’ under FOIA,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

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Federal judge orders Hillary Clinton deposition to address private emails: ‘Still more to learn’

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Judicial Watch Victory: Federal Court Orders Deposition of Hillary Clinton on Emails and Benghazi Attack Records

Judicial Watch is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are received from individuals, foundations, and corporations and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

U.S. Muslim Disinformation from Dearborn to Ann Arbor

John R. Houk

© August 23, 2019

Dearborn, MI is a suburb of Detroit. Dearborn at one time was the epicenter of Ford Motors manufacturing assembly line of cars. Now days Dearborn has gained a reputation of a huge anti-Christian Muslim population. Expressing hate via Muslims is so virulent the city could be renamed Dearbornistan.

The Lower Courts and initial 6^th Circuit Appeals Court (by obvious appointees od Constitution-hating Dems) initially supported Sharia over the Constitution favoring hate-filled Muslim violence against Christians between 2012 – 2014. Thank God a fuller panel of the 6^th Circuit Appeals Court of 15 Justices on 10/28/15 discovered the First Amendment:

The court then took the rare action of rehearing the case “en banc,” meaning all 15 judges on the court heard the case together. In an opinion authored by Judge Eric Clay, by a 10-5 vote the court held that the officers had violated the First Amendment. The court also held 8-7 that the unconstitutional conduct was so inexcusable that the officers are not immune from personal financial liability for their actions. The case is Bible Believers v. Wayne County. (Bold text Blog Editor’s – Fed Appeals Court: Police Violated Christians’ Rights by Stopping the Evangelizing of Muslims; By KEN KLUKOWSKI; BREITBART; 10/31/15)

Here’s what concerned 1^st Amendment conscious Appellate Justices:

VIDEO: Muslims Stoning Christians in Dearborn, Michigan

Posted by American Freedom Law Center

Published on Aug 6, 2012

READ post description

Thanks to The Gateway Pundit (TGP), I have discovered Michigan’s seemingly increasing Muslim population is influencing the Michigan Public School system to become a lying propaganda tool forcing teachers in Ann Arbor to teach a sanitized therefore untrue version of Islam. Untrue as in only the nicey-nice of Islam rather than the Liberty-robbing Islamic Supremacist actual Islam. Ann Arbor is a mere 36 miles from Dearbornistan.

The TGP cross posted below.

JRH 8/23/19

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FOIA Uncovers Taxpayer-Funded Islamic Propaganda Forced on Teachers, ‘Islam Glorified, Christianity Disparaged and America Bashed’

By Cristina Laila

August 22, 2019

The Gateway Pundit

School Teachers – Islam’s Secret Agents (Graphic via TMLC)

The Thomas More Law Center, a national nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, uncovered a massive Islamic propaganda campaign which is being forced onto teachers in public school systems in Michigan and many other states.

TMLC was concerned after hearing about a two-day MANDATORY Islamic training course for teachers taught by a Muslim consultant who was hired by Michigan’s Novi Community Schools District, according to TMLC.

The Thomas More Law Center filed a FOIA request for documents related to this two-day Islamic training workshop and discovered that the teachers were being told lies about Islamic terrorism, jihad and Sharia law.

Furthermore, the teachers were also being told by the Muslim consultant, an Arab, hijab-clad woman named Huda Essa, that white males are more dangerous than Islamic terrorists.

Richard Thompson, the president of TMLC and chief counsel said, “We found that the teachers were subjected to two days of Islamic propaganda, where Islam was glorified, Christianity disparaged, and America bashed—all funded by Novi taxpayers.”

“This type of infiltration amounts to an Islamic Trojan horse within our public-school systems,” Thompson said. “No other religion gets this kind of special treatment in our schools.”

Even worse, according to TMLC’s investigation, out of more than 400 teachers who attended the Islamic propaganda workshop, NOT ONE teacher challenged Huda Essa’s denigration of Christianity or attacks on the United States.

Via TMLC

TMLC inspected dozens of internal school documents, including audio recordings of Essa’s presentation.

The information on Islam she provided to Novi teachers was riddled with falsehoods and errors of omission that were clearly meant to deceive.

Essa provided no truthful information on Sharia law and jihad, two of the most important aspects of Islam. All references to terrorism were dismissed as having nothing to do with Islam. White Christian males, she suggested, are more dangerous than Islamic radicals.

Essa is the face behind Culture Links LLC, a Michigan-based consultancy. She describes herself on the Culture Links website as an advocate of social justice who encourages children to “take pride in their many identities.”

But, as TMLC discovered from the Novi documents, the one identity Essa does not celebrate is that of patriotic Americans who believe in our nation’s exceptionalism.

And her message extends far beyond Novi.

Essa’s client list reveals she has been spreading her “trash America first” philosophy to colleges, universities, schools and professional educator associations throughout Michigan, California, Georgia, Texas, Florida and beyond. In Michigan alone her website lists nine school districts as clients – Oakland County Schools, Ann Arbor Schools, L’Anse Creuse Public Schools, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, Roseville Community Schools, Farmington Public Schools, Dearborn Public Schools, Birmingham Public Schools and Melvindale Public Schools.

Under the banner of promoting diversity, inclusion and a multicultural approach to education, Essa sets about comparing Islam to Christianity, calling them “mostly similar.” The one big difference, she claims, is that Islam is the world’s “only purely monotheistic religion.”

Her message was clear: The Koran is superior to the Bible. But she did not address the fact that it calls for the extermination of Christian and Jews.

While quick to indict America as guilty of “cultural genocide,” Essa was silent on the 1400 years of actual genocides, also known as jihads, in which Muslims wiped out Jewish tribes on the Arabian Peninsula, and slaughtered millions of Christians throughout the Middle East, North Africa and the European Continent. Referring to Islam, Winston Churchill wrote, “No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.”

Read TMLC’s entire investigative findings here.

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U.S. Muslim Disinformation from Dearborn to Ann Arbor

John R. Houk

© August 23, 2019

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FOIA Uncovers Taxpayer-Funded Islamic Propaganda Forced on Teachers, ‘Islam Glorified, Christianity Disparaged and America Bashed’

The Thomas More Law Center is involved in many cases exposing the Islamic infiltration in public schools. You can support TMLC by clicking here.

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Judicial Watch Sues DOJ for Records of Investigations into the Awan Brothers, Congressional Democrat IT Scandal

Unless the FBI rank and file begin contacting Congress (Probably the Senate since blind voters gave the House to the Dems) and blowing the whistle on what is apparent FBI leadership corruption and coverups to protect Dems & Obamanites, I will begin to consider the rank and file to be just as corrupt.

AND YES, fired/resigned former AG Jeff Sessions is part of this problem for failing in DOJ transparency of which the FBI is supposed to answer. So when hear Dems, many Republicans and definitely the Mainstream Media (including Fox News) tell you Sessions you a raw deal; those people are liars or idiots for being deceived.

Judicial Watch smells yet another FBI coverup to protect Dems. In this case Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz in relation to (Pakistani) Awan family members acting as IT specialists working for the Dems: Abid, Imran, Jamal and Hina R. Alvi.

JRH 11/9/18

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Judicial Watch Sues DOJ for Records of Investigations into the Awan Brothers, Congressional Democrat IT Scandal

JW Press Room

NOVEMBER 08, 2018

Judicial Watch

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Justice Department for all records of communications relating to the investigation into former Democratic information technology (IT) staffers Abid Awan, Imran Awan, Jamal Awan and Hina R. Alvi (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-02563)).

Imran Awan and his family were banned from the House computer network in February 2017 after the House’s top law enforcement officer wrote that Imran is “an ongoing and serious risk to the House of Representatives, possibly threatening the integrity of our information systems,” and that a server containing evidence had gone “missing.” The inspector general said server logs showed “unauthorized access” and procurement records were falsified.

Imran Awan was Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s top information technology aide. Most lawmakers fired Awan in February, but Wasserman Schultz kept him on until he was arrested in July, trying to board a flight for Pakistan.

Imran Awan was allowed a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud but prosecutors found no evidence that Awan “violated federal law with respect to the House computer systems.”

The Judicial Watch lawsuit was filed after the FBI failed to respond adequately to two FOIA requests.

The FBI claimed it could neither confirm nor deny records related to the first request, filed on May 26, 2017, seeking:

All records related to any investigations or preliminary investigations involving former congressional IT support staffers Abid Awan, Imran Awan, Jamal Awan, and Hina R. Alvi. As part of this request, searches should of records [sic] should include, but not be limited to, the FBI automated indices, its older manual indices, and its Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Data Management System (EDMS), as well as cross-referenced files.

All records of communication sent to or from FBI employees, officials or contractors involving the subjects in bullet item 1.

The timeframe for the requested records is May 2015 to the present.

Further, the FBI claimed that records related to a July 3, 2018, FOIA request were located in an investigative file and exempt from disclosure. That request sought:

All records related to any investigations or preliminary investigations involving former congressional IT support staffers Abid Awan, Imran Awan, Jamal Awan, Hina R. Alvi and Rao Abbas. As part of this request, searches of records should include, but not be limited to, the FBI automated indices, its older manual indices, and its Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Data Management System (EDMS), as well as cross-referenced files.

All records of communications, including but not limited to emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages, instant chats or messages on the Lync system, sent to or from FBI employees, officials or contractors involving the Awan brothers, Ms. Alvi and Mr. Abbas. Records of communications searched should include but not be limited to those between FBI officials, employees and contractors and officials with the Capitol Police, the Office of the Inspector General of the House, and the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer of the House.

“It’s time for the full truth to come out about the House Democrat IT scandal, especially with impending change of power in the House,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “There is hope that the new leadership at the DOJ will bring transparency to this case, as well as many pending FOIA investigations.”

On October 11, 2017, Judicial Watch President, Tom Fitton participated in a discussion between House members and experts regarding the Wasserman Schultz/Awan Brothers/IT scandal. During this discussion, Fitton stated:

“Frankly when it comes to crimes with a political component, I fear the Justice Department is going to fear to tread. And because of the political nature of what went on (with the Awan family) they’re not going to push the House … and I fear that the Justice Department will be fearful of raising these issues with the House for fear of embarrassing the leadership of both parties … and that’s something we need to push the Justice Department on. That they don’t under-charge or under-investigate this for fear of the consequences that will happen if they push further and find something that no one wants to find, which is a national security threat at our breast here in the House.”

On June 7, 2018, President Donald Trump tweeted, “Our Justice Department must not let Awan & Debbie Wasserman Schultz off the hook. The Democrat I.T. scandal is a key to much of the corruption we see today. They want to make a “plea deal” to hide what is on their Server. Where is Server? Really bad!”

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Weekly Update: Strzok Drafted Comey’s Letter to Congress About Weiner’s Laptop

In Judicial Watch’s Weekly Update Tom Fitton exposes the blatant corruption of the Deep State against President Donald Trump and his Administration. Fitton also delves into a Federal Judge telling the Department of Army to reconsider its refusal to award Staff Sgt. Joshua Berry a Purple Heart for wounds received from Islamic Terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan during the Fort Hood Massacre in 2009.

Staff Sgt. Joshua Berry – Wounded at Ft. Hood

In case you haven’t figured it out, Deep State is simply another name for the Democratic Party. And the Dems have string pullers largely embodied under the auspices of former President Barack Hussein Obama. And at the risk of sounding the Conspiracy Theorist nut, you can globalist string pullers such as George Soros.

JRH 9/8/18

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Weekly Update: Strzok Drafted Comey’s Letter to Congress About Weiner’s Laptop

Email sent by Tom Fitton

Email sent 9/7/2018 5:31 PM

Judicial Watch (online version)

Strzok’s ‘Fingerprints’ Are on Comey’s Letter About the Weiner Laptop

Army Must Rethink Purple Heart for Joshua Berry in Fort Hood Terror Attack

State Dept. Uses Outdated, Unsecure System to Spot Visa/Passport Fraud

Strzok’s ‘Fingerprints’ Are on Comey’s Letter About the Weiner Laptop

We have added two new pieces to the giant jigsaw puzzle showing the effort to undermine President Trump. They show more of the workings of the disgraced former FBI Director James Comey and fired FBI official Peter Strzok.

We have released 424 pages of FBI records, including an email revealing that Strzok created the initial draft of the October 2016 letter Comey sent to Congress notifying lawmakers of the discovery of Hillary Clinton emails on the laptop of disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

Another email suggests that the FBI had not yet completed its review of Clinton’s emails by the time Comey sent a second letter to Congress on November 6, 2016, reconfirming his belief that Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be charged with a crime.

The records were produced as a result of a June 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed after the DOJ failed to respond to a September 1, 2017, request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-01448)). Judicial Watch is seeking:

All drafts of James Comey’s statement closing the Clinton email investigation, from his original draft in April or May 2016 to the final version.

All records of communications between or among FBI officials regarding Comey’s draft statement closing the Clinton email investigation, including all memoranda and/or analyses of the factual and/or legal justification for his July 5, 2016 announcement regarding his decision not to seek Mrs. Clinton’s prosecution.

All records previously provided to the Office of Special Counsel in the course of its now-closed Hatch Act investigation of Mr. Comey.

The documents reveal that on October 27, 2016, Peter Strzok emailed other senior FBI officials a draft notice letter from Comey to Congress about the Weiner laptop discovery and the reopening of the Clinton investigation. The emails indicated that Strzok and another official Jon (Last Name Unknown) authored the notification to Congress. The notification, according the DOJ IG, came a full month after the emails were discovered by the FBI on the Weiner laptop.

According to the documents, at 11:04 p.m. on Saturday, November 5, 2016, FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki sent Comey an email containing a redacted draft document which he referred to as a “New Proposal” saying: “Folks, Per our 1000pm conversation, below is a revised straw man for discussion. Again, we could use this if the review when completed supports our conclusions. My comments again in ALL CAPS and bold italics.”

Rybicki’s “New Proposal … straw man” apparently refers to a draft of Comey’s letter to Congress concerning the FBI’s review of the 650,000 Clinton emails found on Weiner’s laptop. At the time of the Rybicki email, Comey was preparing his letter informing Congress of the FBI’s findings, and according to page 390 of the June 2018 report from the DOJ Office of the Inspector General, the deliberations regarding the letter began on the afternoon of November 3 and concluded “very early on November 6.”

Despite Rybicki’s email suggesting late on November 5 that the review of the new emails had not been completed, Comey’s November 6 letter to Congress stated, “[W]e reviewed all of the communications that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State. Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton.”

Comey’s “conclusions” in July were that no charges should be filed against Clinton, despite her repeatedly having sent classified information over her unsecured, non-State-Department server. Comey later admitted that he had drafted his July exoneration more than a month earlier.

Real Clear Investigations’ reporter Paul Sperry recently reported that “only 3,077 of the 694,000 emails [found on the Weiner laptop] were directly reviewed for classified or incriminating information. Three FBI officials completed that work in a single 12-hour spurt the day before Comey again cleared Clinton of criminal charges.”

These new documents provide more details of the corrupt and dishonest FBI investigation of the incredible revelations that Clinton’s classified and other emails were present on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. When will the Sessions DOJ and Wray FBI finally begin an honest investigation of Hillary Clinton’s national security crimes?

In a related Judicial Watch lawsuit, the State Department told the court in October 2017: “The State Department identified approximately 2,800 work-related documents among the documents provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

In January 2018, in accordance with a court order, the State Department began turning Weiner emails over to us. Initially, 18 classified emails were found in the 798 documents produced by the State Department.

Further examples of our work in this case on your behalf can be found here.

Army Must Rethink Purple Heart for Joshua Berry in Fort Hood Terror Attack

We’ve helped the father of a deceased Army sergeant get a step closer to winning the recognition his son deserves for his role in a terrorist attack within our borders.

U.S. District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper has ordered the Army to reconsider its decision denying a Purple Heart to Sgt. Berry for injuries sustained in the 2009 international terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas.

If the Army wishes to stick with the denial, it must sufficiently explain why Sgt. Berry is not entitled to the Purple Heart.

On remand, the Army, assuming it wishes to stick with its determination, must explain why Berry is not entitled to a Purple Heart and do so with sufficient clarity that “a court can measure” the denial “against the ‘arbitrary or capricious’ standard of the [Administrative Procedures Act].”

On October 12, 2017, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of Sgt. Berry’s father, Howard M. Berry, who is challenging the Army’s denial of the Purple Heart under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) (Howard M. Berry v. Mark Esper, Secretary of the Army, et al. (No. 1:17-cv-02112)).

Following the Fort Hood attack, the Secretary of Defense declined to recognize the mass shooting as an international terrorist attack against the United States. Instead, the attack was characterized as “workplace violence.” As a result, active duty service members injured in the attack were ineligible for the Purple Heart, among other awards and benefits.

In response, Congress enacted legislation in 2014 mandating that service members killed or wounded in an attack targeting members of the armed forces and carried out by an individual in communication with and inspired or motivated by a foreign terrorist organization be eligible for the Purple Heart.

As a result, in 2015, the Secretary of the Army announced that service members injured or killed in the Fort Hood attack were eligible for the Purple Heart if they met the regulatory criteria.

The Purple Heart is not a “recommended” decoration for soldiers killed or wounded in combat or under attack. Rather, a soldier is entitled to a Purple Heart upon meeting specific criteria. Sgt. Berry met the regulatory criteria for an award of the Purple Heart.

Sgt. Berry suffered a dislocated left shoulder during the November 5, 2009, terrorist attack on Fort Hood by Maj. Nidal Hasan. Hasan, who admitted during his 2013 court martial that he had been influenced by al Qaeda, killed 13 people and injured 30 others.

In witness statements given to the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Command (“CID”) and in a separate statement given to a Texas Ranger, Sgt. Berry had estimated that Hasan fired 30-40 rounds outside Building 42004 at Ft. Hood. Sgt. Berry told those around him to get down on the floor and stay away from the doors and windows. When Sgt. Berry heard gunshots hit the metal doors near him, he leaped over a desk to take cover and, in so doing, dislocated his left shoulder. He then heard Hasan trying to kick in the doors. According to a witness statement from another individual, Hasan fired three rounds at the briefing room doors.

Mr. Berry applied for a posthumous award of the Purple Heart to his son. The U.S. Army Decorations Board denied Mr. Berry’s application. In April 2015, the Army awarded the Purple Heart to 47 service members injured in the Fort Hood attack. Sgt. Berry was not among them.

On April 17, 2016, upon Mr. Berry’s application for review, a three-member panel of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records recommended that all Army records concerning Sgt. Berry be corrected to award Sgt. Berry the Purple Heart. The panel found “[t]here is no question that [Sgt. Berry]’s injury met the basic medical criteria for award of the [Purple Heart].” The Board’s eight-page determination provided a detailed analysis of “the degree to which the enemy (i.e., the terrorist) caused [Sgt. Berry’s] injury.”

A few months later, however, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Review Boards) Francine C. Blackmon issued a single paragraph memorandum rejecting the Corrections Board’s recommendation:

I have reviewed the findings, conclusions, and Board member recommendations. I find there is not sufficient evidence to grant relief. Therefore, under the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 1552, I have determined that the facts do not support a conclusion that his injury met the criteria for a Purple Heart.

In his ruling, Judge Cooper said the court could not “meaningfully evaluate the reasoning behind” Blackmon’s decision. Decisions which are “utterly unreviewable,” the judge added “must be vacated as arbitrary and capricious.” Judge Cooper noted the Army’s final memorandum:

provides no meaningful analysis—only a boilerplate determination “that the facts do not support a conclusion that [Berry’s] injury met the criteria for a Purple Heart.” Why not? Was there conflicting evidence regarding how immediate of a threat Hasan posed to Berry as he sat inside the building? Was the evidence clear but the Deputy Assistant Secretary thought that Berry could have taken cover without injuring himself? Or did she read the regulations as categorically taking the Purple Heart off the table for service members injured while taking cover?

The denial letter provides no hints. In turn, the Court cannot meaningfully evaluate the reasoning behind it. That is enough to warrant remand.

We are thrilled by the court’s ruling and hope the Army quickly comes to its senses and finally awards Sgt. Berry a well-deserved Purple Heart.

State Dept. Uses Outdated, Unsecure System to Spot Visa/Passport Fraud

You will no longer wonder how Hillary Clinton got away with using a non-government email system housed in her home basement when you read this incredible story from our Corruption Chronicles blog. And you’ll wonder if the government learned anything at all from 9/11.

Though it claims the 9/11 attacks “reenergized” its mission, the State Department branch responsible for spotting visa and passport fraud fails to practice basic security protocols, leaving the nation extremely vulnerable to foreign threats. To keep potential terrorists from entering the United States, the monstrous agency with a $37 billion annual budget uses outdated machines that are poorly monitored and fails to protect data and perform basic security scans, according to a distressing federal audit. The report documents the alarming inefficiencies in a decades-old system—Bureau of Consular Affairs Fraud Prevention Program (CA/FPP)—used by the State Department to determine if foreigners seeking U.S. visas are being candid about their identity and where they have traveled. The goal is to oversee and coordinate the integrity of U.S. visa and citizenship processes by stopping fraud in the visa and passport system, a crucial tool to protect national security.

It turns out that the State Department’s security team is a bit of a joke, according to the incredible lapses documented in the report, which was made public recently by the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG). The team doesn’t even bother to patch the system, scan it for computer viruses or audit for evidence of breaches or compromises by hackers. In short, the State Department consular division ignores basic information security practices in this essential program used to screen potential threats. Nearly two decades after the worst terrorist attack on American soil, this is incredibly disturbing. In fact, the report states that “the events of September 11, 2001, reenergized CA/FPP’s mission.” Not enough, apparently. “OIG found deficiencies that included shared passwords and lack of access control lists or visitor logs,” the watchdog writes in its report. In addition, the flawed system’s “security officer did not perform regular patch management or anti-virus scanning on the network or regular audit and accountability reviews to identify data loss or potential intruder activities.”

It gets better, or rather, more enraging. The OIG found that no one monitors the server and the State Department doesn’t keep adequate logs of who accesses the information on the database. In fact, a SharePoint site established by the agency a decade ago to track “possible consular malfeasance” has never even been examined. Auditors found that management was not even aware that the system had never undergone an assessment to determine whether it contained information that exceeded SharePoint’s security categorization. “Without applying appropriate controls, the case management system and its information are vulnerable to unauthorized access or compromise,” the report states. This indicates that breaches could very well have occurred, but we’ll never know for sure thanks to the government’s incompetence. This may seem inconceivable to most Americans as the nation faces serious threats from radical elements.

OIG investigators gathered mountains of evidence in the course of their probe, which considered interviews with hundreds of State Department personnel and contractors as well as observations of daily operations and written questionnaires. This includes 178 interviews and 224 questionnaires completed by consular officers in the field as well as 54 filled out by agency employees and contractors domestically. The watchdog makes a multitude of recommendations to fix this laughable “security” system, but this very basic one sticks out: “The Bureau of Consular Affairs should implement a website content management process for the Office of Fraud Prevention Programs that includes a dedicated team responsible for the regular updating of website content.” Another simple recommendation is that the State Department’s Office of Fraud Prevention Programs implement required security controls in accordance with federal standards. It’s troubling that the agency watchdog has to suggest these elementary, common sense approaches to a program that is so imperative to national security.

Then again, this is the same agency that allowed Hillary Clinton to traffic highly classified information on an unsecure, personal email server. It is also the agency run by high-level officials who knew weak security at U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide could result in a tragedy like Benghazi long before Islamic jihadists raided the Special Mission, killing four Americans.

Every big organization has IT troubles, but this ineptitude imperils our country.

Until next week …

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VIDEO: Tom Fitton’s Weekly Update – Deep State Sedition against Trump!

Posted by Judicial Watch

Streamed live 9/7/18

Deep State Sedition against Trump, Court Victory for Ft. Hood Soldier, Mueller-Weiner Laptop Docs, NEW Fusion GPS/Steele Docs.

… READ THE REST

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About Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. Through its educational endeavors, Judicial Watch advocates high standards of ethics and morality in our nation’s public life and seeks to ensure that political and judicial officials do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American people. Judicial Watch fulfills its educational mission through litigation, investigations, and public outreach.

The motto of Judicial Watch is “Because no one is above the law”. To this end, Judicial Watch uses the open records or freedom of information laws and other tools to investigate and uncover misconduct by government officials and litigation to hold to account politicians and public officials who engage in corrupt activities.

Litigation and the civil discovery process not only uncover information for the education of the American people on anti-corruption issues, but can also provide a basis for civil authorities to criminally prosecute corrupt officials. Judicial Watch seeks to ensure high ethical standards in the judiciary through monitoring activities and the use of the judicial ethics process to hold judges to account.

Judicial Watch’s investigation, legal, and judicial activities provide the basis for strong educational outreach to the American people. Judicial Watch’s public education programs include speeches, opinion editorials (op-eds), publications, educational conferences, media outreach, radio and news television appearances, and direct radio outreach through informational commercials and public service announcements.

Through its Open Records Project, Judicial Watch also provides … READ THE REST

Judicial Watch: FBI Records Show Dossier Author Deemed ‘Not Suitable For Use’ as

Something Never Trumpers, brainwashed Lefties, overtly lying Lefties and just simple apolitical Americans who get most of news from local networks that are subsidiaries of MSM networks all should know. The FBI pushed the Steele Dossier (or whatever name you choose) as a legitimate source to take down President Trump EVEN THOUGH the FBI discredited Christopher Steele as a legitimate “Confidential Human Source”.

JRH 8/6/18

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Judicial Watch: FBI Records Show Dossier Author Deemed ‘Not Suitable For Use’ as Source, Show Several FBI Payments in 2016

Documents Reveal Steele Was Admonished in February, 2016

Judicial Watch PRESS ROOM

Email Date: August 4, 2018

JW Website Date: AUGUST 03, 2018

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today the FBI turned over 70 pages of heavily redacted records about Christopher Steele, the former British spy, hired with Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee funds, who authored the infamous Dossier targeting President Trump during last year’s presidential campaign. The documents show that Steele was cut off as a “Confidential Human Source” (CHS) after he disclosed his relationship with the FBI to a third party. The documents show at least 11 FBI payments to Steele in 2016 and document that he was admonished for unknown reasons in February, 2016. The documents were turned over in response to Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for records of communications and payments between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and his private firm, Orbis Business Intelligence (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:17-cv-00916)).

The documents include a “source closing communication” that states that Steele (referred to as “CHS” or Confidential Human Source) “is being closed” because:

CHS confirmed to an outside third party that CHS has a confidential relationship with the FBI. CHS was used as a source for an online article. In the article, CHS revealed CHS’ relationship with the FBI as well as information that CHS obtained and provided to FBI. On November 1, 2016, CHS confirmed all of this to the handling agent. At that time, handling agent advised CHS that the nature of the relationship between the FBI and CHS would change completely and that it was unlikely that the FBI would continue a relationship with the CHS. Additionally, handling agent advised that CHS was not to operate to obtain any intelligence whatsoever on behalf of the FBI.

The documents also show that Steele was paid repeatedly by the FBI and was “admonished” for some unknown misconduct in February, 2016. The documents include:

Fifteen (15) FD-1023, Source Reports.

Thirteen (13) FD-209a, Contact Reports.

Eleven (11) FD-794b, Payment Requests. (It appears Steele was paid money eleven of the thirteen times he met with the FBI and gave them information.)

An Electronic Communication (EC) documenting that on February 2, 2016, Steele was admonished in accordance with the Justice Department guidelines and the FBI CHS Policy Manual.

The documents were obtained as a result of a lawsuit was filed after the Department of Justice failed to respond to a March 8, 2017, FOIA request seeking:

All records of communications between any official, employee, or representative of the FBI and Mr. Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer and the owner of the private firm Orbis Business Intelligence.

All records related to the proposed, planned, or actual payment of any funds to Mr. Steele and/or Orbis Business Intelligence.

All records produced in preparation for, during, or pursuant to any meetings or telephonic conversations between any official, employee, or representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mr. Christopher Steele and/or any employee or representative of Orbis Business Intelligence.

“These new docs show the shady, cash-based relationship the Obama FBI had with Clinton operative Christopher Steele,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The anti-Trump Russia ‘investigation’ had Christopher Steele at its center and his misconduct was no impediment to using information from his Russia intelligence collaborators to spy on the Trump team. The corruption and abuse is astonishing.”

Last week, a separate Judicial Watch lawsuit uncovered the FISA warrant documents used to justify spying on Carter Page. The warrants are controversial because the FISA court was never told that the key information justifying the requests came from a “dossier” that was created by Fusion GPS, a paid agent of the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee. Fusion GPS hired Steele to create the Dossier and Steele is referenced repeatedly as “Source #1” in the warrants. The initial Carter Page warrant was granted just weeks before the 2016 election. Steele and his “minimally corroborated” Clinton-DNC dossier was an essential part of the FBI and DOJ’s applications for surveillance warrants to spy on Page.

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Tom Fitton: At Least 11 FBI Payments went to Steele

AUGUST 06, 2018

Judicial Watch

August 5, 2018- JW President Tom Fitton appeared on “Fox and Friends” on the Fox News Channel to discuss The FBI released 71 pages of redacted documents tied to the bureau’s relationship with Christopher Steele.

[Blog Editor: I can’t figure out how to embed the JW video version watch is about 5-minutes. You’ll have to go to JW link to watch that video. Fortunately I found a 10-minute version on Youtube, but only 1^st five-minutes are relevant to this post..

VIDEO: Breaking News 8/5/18 – Tom Fitton on FBI Releases 71 Pages of Docs Tied to Steele

Posted by American Latest NEWS

Published on Aug 5, 2018

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True Collusion: Obama’s FBI, DOJ & CIA

John R. Houk, Editor

Posted July 8, 2018

Even as the Mainstream Media (MSM) continues to harangue the Trump Administration over Crooked Hillary’s loss to President Trump, more and more documented information is rising to the top like scum purified out of metal. Emails and memos substantiate just how corrupt the Obama Administration’s FBI, DOJ, CIA, etc. leadership indeed was in creating ex nihilo fake evidence of Trump wrongdoing with Russian help.

Below are three documented stories of where the actual collusion originated and guess what? TRUMP IS NOT THE CULPRIT!

JRH 7/8/18

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Bombshell: Even More Evidence of FBI anti-Trump Bias Uncovered!

By Onan Coca

July 7, 2018

Eagle Rising

FBI-DOJ Corruption

At some point, some rational journalist is going to have to start openly wondering if they’ve been wrong about this FBI/DOJ/Mueller stuff all along, won’t they?

The overwhelming majority of agents working for the FBI/DOJ are wonderful, hard-working professionals, which begs the question, how did so many anti-Trump, pro-Hillary Clinton agents get in on the Clinton investigation, the Russia investigation, and the Mueller investigation?

The material that has leaked out over the last few months has proven that at least 4-5 of the agents had a definite anti-Trump animus and that animus was bad enough that Mueller canned them from his investigation.

Now, we’re learning that there is even more evidence of the intelligence community working against Trump for partisan reasons.

Here’s what the Hill found in recently uncovered memos:

Multiple reviews of whether FBI agents’ political bias affected the Russia-Trump collusion case remain in their infancy, but investigators already have unearthed troubling internal communications long withheld from public view.

We already know from FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok’s now-infamous text messages with his fellow agent and reported lover, Lisa Page, that Strzok — the man driving that Russia collusion investigation — disdained Donald Trump and expressed willingness to use his law enforcement powers to “stop” the Republican from becoming president.

The question that lingers, unanswered: Did those sentiments affect official actions?

Memos the FBI is now producing to the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general and multiple Senate and House committees offer what sources involved in the production, review or investigation describe to me as “damning” or “troubling” evidence.

They show Strzok and his counterintelligence team rushing in the fall of 2016 to find “derogatory” information from informants or a “pretext” to accelerate the probe and get a surveillance warrant on figures tied to the future president.

The memos prove that Strzok and his team railroaded Trump associate Carter Page (who has still never been accused of any kind of wrongdoing) and used him as a scapegoat to spy on the Trump campaign. Strzok’s own words in the memos damn him for his immoral tactics and obvious partisan behavior.

The memos also indicate that certain FBI officials were knowingly and maliciously leaking information from their investigations to Democrats in Congress and to the media.

These and other documents are still being disseminated to various oversight bodies in Congress, and more revelations are certain to occur.

Yet, now, irrefutable proof exists that agents sought to create pressure to get “derogatory” information and a “pretext” to interview people close to a future president they didn’t like.

Clear evidence also exists that an investigation into still-unproven collusion between a foreign power and a U.S. presidential candidate was driven less by secret information from Moscow and more by politically tainted media leaks.

And that means the dots between expressions of political bias and official actions just got a little more connected.

In response to all of the bad news, Democrat leader Adam Schiff (D-CA) has been trying to obfuscate what is really happening by attacking Republicans for being on Trump’s side.

Schiff has even begun mocking a few GOP Congressional leaders as ‘The Four Horsemen,” but Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) isn’t worried about anything Schiff has to say. In fact, to hear Gowdy talk about it… nobody in the GOP “gives a damn” about what Schiff thinks.

From RCP:

“Let me tell you this about Adam,” Gowdy began. “Adam’s had a terrible last couple of years. He wanted to be the attorney general under Hillary Clinton and no one in the country worked harder to protect her than Adam Schiff.”

“He wanted to be the head of the CIA. He wanted to run for California and the run for Senate and the People’s Republic of California, but he couldn’t win either of those seats. So, now, now, he wants to be the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Speaking of the apocalypse, Adam Schiff wants to be the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee,” he said.

“If you ever have — I don’t know — a couple of three months with nothing else to do, I want you to go back, Jason, and think of all the things you would not know if you had taken Adam Schiff’s advice. You wouldn’t know the whole — the spontaneous reaction to a video was a hoax in Libya. You would never have read the first Chris Stevens email. You wouldn’t know that Hillary Clinton had this unique email arrangement with herself because Adam Schiff did everything in his power to keep you from finding out,” Gowdy continued.

“You wouldn’t know about the dossier. You wouldn’t know who funded it. You wouldn’t know it was used in a court proceeding. You wouldn’t know about Strzok and Page. In fact, you wouldn’t even be having the show tonight. You wouldn’t be having the show about Strzok and Page if Adam Schiff had had his,” Gowdy finished.

VIDEO: Gowdy to Schiff: GOP doesn’t give a damn what you think

Posted by Fox News

Published on Jul 5, 2018

On ‘Hannity,’ the Republican sounds off on the Democrat calling him one of the ‘four horsemen of this apocalypse.’

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Emails Appear To Blow a Hole in Strzok’s Statement on Page FISA

By CHUCK ROSS
JULY 6, 2018 AT 3:46PM

Conservative Tribune

During a closed-door interview on June 27, former FBI official Peter Strzok downplayed his role in obtaining surveillance warrants to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

The Daily Beast reported that Strzok, the former deputy chief of counterintelligence, claimed in the interview that he had no substantive input on drafting or securing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants used to spy on Page, an energy consultant who left the Trump team in September 2016.

Strzok also denied providing evidence for the FISAs, the first of which was granted on Oct. 21, 2016.

A Republican in the June 27 interview confirmed that Strzok, who oversaw the Russian investigation, denied having a direct role in the FISA process. But the Republican was also incredulous at Strzok’s suggestion that he had little to do with the spy warrants obtained against Page.

A new report appears to justify the Republican’s skepticism.

John Solomon reported on The Hill that Strzok exchanged emails with FBI attorney Lisa Page regarding the Carter Page surveillance.

Strzok and Lisa Page exchanged numerous anti-Trump text messages during their work on the Russia probe, which was codenamed “Crossfire Hurricane.” In one Aug. 8, 2016, message, Strzok told Page that “we’ll stop” Trump from becoming president.

Strzok, who was the FBI’s top investigator on Crossfire Hurricane, sent an email with the subject line “Crossfire FISA” to Lisa Page discussing a set of talking points aimed at getting then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to push the Department of Justice to approve a surveillance warrant against Carter Page, according to Solomon.

“At a minimum, that keeps the hurry the F up pressure on him,” Strzok emailed Lisa Page on Oct. 14, 2016, according to Solomon.

Strzok also commented on a letter that Lisa Page sent to then-FBI Director Jim Comey offering to meet with the FBI to discuss allegations made against him in a Yahoo News article published on Sept. 23, 2016.

“At a minimum, the letter provides us a pretext to interview,” Strzok wrote to Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair, on Sept. 26, 2016.

The Yahoo News article claimed that U.S. government officials were looking into allegations that Page met secretly in Moscow in July 2016 with two sanctioned Kremlin insiders.

It would later be learned that the article, written by Michael Isikoff, was based on information from Christopher Steele, the author of the dossier.

The dossier claimed that Page was the Trump campaign’s conduit to the Kremlin for the collusion conspiracy. Page has vehemently denied all of the allegations, and no evidence has emerged to support the Steele dossier’s claims about him.

The FBI and DOJ’s spy warrants relied heavily on the Steele dossier, which remains largely unverified and uncorroborated, in order to persuade a federal judge to allow spying against Carter Page. The FISA applications also cited the Isikoff article that relied on the dossier, though without disclosing that the article was derived from Steele.

The applications also did not disclose that the Hillary Clinton campaign and DNC had financed the dossier. A law firm for both organizations hired opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which in turn hired Steele.

Despite Strzok’s suggestion of an interview with Carter Page, the FBI did not meet with him until March 2017, six months after the email and two months after BuzzFeed News published the dossier. Page has questioned why the FBI waited so long to interview him.

The FBI used other methods to keep tabs on the former Trump aide. As The Daily Caller News Foundation first reported, an FBI informant named Stefan Halper made contact with Page during a conference at the University of Cambridge on July 11, 2016, nearly three weeks before the start of Crossfire Hurricane.

Halper, a veteran of three Republican presidential administrations, maintained contact with Page for over a year, until September 2017. That was the same month that the fourth and final FISA warrant against Carter Page expired.

Halper met with two other Trump campaign advisers, Sam Clovis and George Papadopoulos. Halper paid Papadopoulos $3,000 in September 2016 to travel to London under the guise of writing a policy paper and Mediterranean energy issues.

Papadopoulos has told associates that during dinner one night in London, Halper asked him about Russian efforts to steal Hillary Clinton emails.

Strzok’s attorney, Aitan Goelman, did not respond to an email seeking comment for this article.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Facebook has greatly reduced the distribution of our stories in our readers’ newsfeeds and is instead promoting mainstream media sources. When you share to your friends, however, you greatly help distribute our content. Please take a moment and consider sharing this article with your friends and family. Thank you.

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Judicial Watch Sues CIA for Documents on Dossier Leak to Senator Harry Reid

JW Press Room

JULY 06, 2018

Judicial Watch

Reid Publicized Clinton-DNC Dossier Allegations Following Brennan Briefing

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for records of communications with former Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and his staff regarding the anti-Trump dossier funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency (No. 1:18-cv-01502)).

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid reportedly believed then-Obama CIA Director Brennan was feeding him information about alleged links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government in order to make public accusations.

According to “Russian Roulette,” by Yahoo! News chief investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff and David Corn, the Washington bureau chief of the left-wing Mother Jones magazine, Brennan contacted Reid on Aug. 25, 2016, to brief him on the state of Russia’s interference in the presidential campaign. Brennan briefed other members of the so-called Gang of Eight, but Reid is the only who took direct action.

Two days after the briefing, Reid wrote a letter to then-FBI Director James Comey asserting that “evidence of a direct connection between the Russian government and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign continues to mount.”

Reid called on Comey to investigate the links “thoroughly and in a timely fashion.”

Reid saw Brennan’s outreach as “a sign of urgency,” Isikoff and Corn wrote in the book.

“Reid also had the impression that Brennan had an ulterior motive. He concluded the CIA chief believed the public needed to know about the Russian operation, including the information about the possible links to the Trump campaign.”

According to the book, Brennan told Reid that the intelligence community had determined that the Russian government was behind the hack and leak of Democratic emails and that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind it. Brennan also told Reid that there was evidence that Russian operatives were attempting to tamper with election results.

On August 27, 2016, Reid wrote a letter to Comey accusing President Trump’s campaign of colluding with the Russian government.

The Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the CIA failed to respond to a February 12, 2018, FOIA request for:

All records of communications, including but not limited to letters, emails, text messages, and instant chats, between former CIA Director John Brennan and/or officials in the CIA Director’s Office on the one hand, and Senator Harry Reid and/or members of Senator Reid’s staff on the other hand, regarding, concerning or relating to the Christopher Steele “dossier” and/or alleged “collusion” between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia.

Copies of any reports, memoranda or other materials provided to Senator Reid and/or members of his staff by the CIA relating to alleged Russian “collusion” or cooperation between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia.

All materials, including briefing reports and memos, audio/video presentations, PowerPoint presentations and any other records, used by CIA Director Brennan and/or other CIA officials to brief Senator Reid and/or members of his staff on alleged “collusion” between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia.

All notes, minutes, transcripts, and audio and/or visual recordings made of any and all briefings provided by the CIA to Senator Reid and/or members of his staff regarding alleged “collusion” between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia.

Brennan has come under public scrutiny as one of the suspected prime movers of the “Spygate” scandal against then-candidate Trump and his team during 2015 and 2016 and later against President Trump and members of his administration.

Brennan himself has revealed his deep-seated animus toward President Trump and used his media platform as an MSNBC commentator to repeatedly attack the president.

When President Trump tweeted about FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s firing in March 2018, Brennan retweeted and responded:

When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America…America will triumph over you.

In response to the president’s tweet that former FBI director Comey is a “proven leaker and liar,” Brennan retweeted and responded in April 2018 that President Trump’s administration is a failing “kakistocracy.”

“Obama CIA Director John Brennan’s unhinged attacks on President Trump help explain the Obama administration spying abuses targeting Trump,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The mere fact that we had to file this lawsuit shows the CIA has something to hide on Obama-era abuses and collusion with Democrats in Congress to target then-candidate Trump.”

Judicial Watch filed a separate FOIA lawsuit against the CIA on March 6, 2017, for records related to the investigation of former Trump National Security Advisor and retired United States Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak (Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency et al. (No.1:17-cv-00397)).

The National Security Agency refused to confirm or deny the existence of intelligence records about communications between Gen. Flynn and Amb. Kislyak.

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Bombshell: Even More Evidence of FBI anti-Trump Bias Uncovered!

Onan Coca is the Editor-in-Chief at Romulus Marketing and Bravera Holdings. He’s also the managing editor at Eaglerising.com, Constitution.com, Godfather.com and the managing partner at iPatriot.com. You can read more of his writing at Eagle Rising.

Onan is a graduate of Liberty University (2003) and earned his M.Ed. at Western Governors University in 2012. Onan lives in Atlanta with his wife and their five wonderful children.

About Eagle Rising

Eagle Rising seeks to share commentary and opinion about culture, media, politics, etc., from a Christian and politically conservative perspective. … READ THE REST

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Emails Appear To Blow a Hole in Strzok’s Statement on Page FISA

Conservative Tribune by Western Journal

The Western Journal is a news company that drives positive cultural change by equipping readers with truth. Every day, WesternJournal.com publishes conservative, libertarian, free market and pro-family writers and broadcasters.

As Americans — and indeed, readers around the world — continue to lose trust in traditional newspapers and broadcast networks and their claims of objectivity and impartiality, The Western Journal is rapidly filling the gap as a trusted source of news and information. The Western Journal is … READ THE REST

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Judicial Watch Sues CIA for Documents on Dossier Leak to Senator Harry Reid

Judicial Watch is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are received from individuals, foundations, and corporations and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

About Judicial Watch

The motto of Judicial Watch is “Because no one is above the law”. To this end, Judicial Watch uses the open records or freedom of information laws and … READ THE REST

Intro to JW’s ‘Exposing the Deep State’

Intro by John R. Houk

© June 30, 2018

I received an email from Judicial Watch wanting to take a look at their 3-minute video on the Deep State. The email says the video is four minutes long but really the actual time is 3:02. The email is dated 6/28/18. The most interesting part for me was the link attached to phrase, “Read more about the Deep State”. That link goes to a 64-page PDF called a JW special report entitled, “Exposing the Deep State”.

I encourage to read the Deep State report that includes an appendix of documents won by JW use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Naturally, in the name of National Security many of those documents are redacted.

To inspire you to read the whole report I am cross posting the Executive Summary and Introduction. I am also including the Conclusion section. Here is the Table of Contents so that know which sections are missing in my cross post:

Table of Contents

Executive Summary-3

I. Introduction and Background-5

Four Case Studies-8

Case Study # 1: The Environmental Protection Agency-8

Case Study # 2: The Internal Revenue Service-13

Case Study # 3: Outside Organizations, Inside Operations-16

Case Study # 4: The Intelligence/Law-Enforcement Community-19

III. Conclusion-37

IV. Appendix-41

And here is the text of the email:

Announcing a compelling new short-form video:
On Issue – “Inside the Deep State!

Dear Editor/Broadcaster,

I am pleased to announce that Judicial Watch is now launching an exciting new educational, cutting edge video series I believe many in your audience will find captivating and informative…

And, the first, 4 minute edition is now available HERE!

It’s called On Issue – “Inside the Deep State”…

And it provides vital insights into a topic that grows increasingly salient with every passing day.

Fast-paced and fact-filled “Inside the Deep State,” features JW’s highly respected Director of Investigations, Chris Farrell, laying it all out – in his own captivating and highly informative style.

And he does it all in just under four minutes!

Click here now to watch Inside the Deep State…

And then please feel free to use it however you wish to keep your audience On Issue!

Sincerely,

Carter Clews

VIDEO: JW On Issue: Exposing the Deep State

Posted by Judicial Watch

Published on Jun 25, 2018

The Deep State is comprised of legions of political appointees, career civil servants and powerful private contractors who run the government–no matter who sits in the Oval Office–no matter which political party controls Congress–and no matter what is the will of the American people.

No matter who’s in power, they exert control.

Read more about the Deep State here: http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/JW-Special-Report-Deep-State-2017.pdf

And now – the Deep State analysis.

JRH 6/30/18

Please Support NCCR

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Exposing the Deep State

A Judicial Watch Special Report

September 2017

Judicial Watch Logo

Executive Summary

“They pride themselves on operating below the radar – and above the law”

We face a crisis of the Deep State – “Alt-government,” I sometimes call it. The actions of the Deep State constitute a direct challenge to our republican form of government. Working primarily through the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, the Deep State is actively engaged in subversive measures designed to delegitimize Donald Trump, cause the American people to lose faith in their president, destroy the Trump presidency and eventually impeach him or put him in jail. — Judicial Watch President, Tom Fitton

This Judicial Watch Special Report analyzes the Deep State, which comprises legions of political appointees, career civil servants and powerful private contractors who run the government no matter who sits in the Oval Office. No matter which political party controls Congress. And, no matter what is the will of the American people. No matter who’s in power, they exert control. Oftentimes, the liberal media effectively operates as the propaganda arm of the Deep State.

The shadowy world in which Deep State actors maneuver is characterized by three disturbing proclivities: Secrecy, surveillance and subterfuge.

The operatives manning and manipulating the Deep State demand an activist, interventionist government, both domestically and internationally. Importantly, their worldview often rejects the beliefs and values of a majority of patriotic Americans.

As time goes on, the disparity between the values and beliefs of the people and those of the Deep State becomes cumulative, and no matter whom the people elect to public office, the Deep State takes the nation in a direction that increasingly diverges from where the people desire to go.

Sometimes, as it has with the Trump presidency, the Deep State rises to the surface in rebellion, taking aggressive, seditious measures against a president whose election it opposed and who it perceives to be a threat to its own agenda and, perhaps, its very survival. As already is clear with the Trump presidency, the Deep State can turn on any president that threatens its interests and survival. And left unchecked, it may illegally destroy him.

This Special Report explores the workings of the Deep State through four case studies, in each of which Judicial Watch is involved in investigative action and litigation:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), involving three JW Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits. One lawsuit focuses on the efforts by agency political officials and civil servants to hide their communications and circum-vent the Federal Records and Freedom of Information Acts. The second law-suit demands to see documents surrounding the EPA’s cost-benefit analysis of the Clean Power Plan, which Judicial Watch suspects to be “fake science” used to justify the Obama EPA’s health claims in the Clean Power Plan, a scheme to end coal energy under the guise of combatting alleged global warming. The third lawsuit is aimed at EPA’s efforts to propagandize the American People illegally to promote its power grab over a clean water rule it was attempting to promulgate at the time.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), involving four JW FOIA lawsuits focusing on the political targeting of President Barack Obama’s political enemies, including conservative non-profit organizations and individuals, and the unlawful collusion among the IRS and other agencies of government, such as the Justice Department, the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services, to spy on innocent American citizens, propagandize them and bring criminal charges against political enemies of the Obama administration and/or the Deep State.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Soros Open Society Foundations, involving two JW FOIA lawsuits focusing on the Soros Open Society Foundations’ use of U.S. taxpayer money channeled through USAID to destabilize and overthrow the democratically elected governments of Macedonia and Albania.

The Intelligence/Law-Enforcement Community, involving six JW FOIA law-suits, an additional FOIA request and an advisory/demand letter, all focused on the surveillance, unmasking and illegal targeting of President Trump and his associates during the government’s investigation of purported Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election and alleged collusion with the Russians by Trump and his team. The Special Report examines the flood of leaks and innuendos coming out of the government surrounding Trump and his associates, including the Gen. Michael Flynn episode; the Obama administration’s misuse of the NSA database of surveillance intercepts to target and unmask the identities of Americans; the Trump Dossier and the FBI’s involvement in it; along with James Comey’s purloined memoranda and the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Trump and his associates, including unsubstantiated accusations of obstruction of justice by the president when he allegedly ask Comey to shut down the Flynn investigation. The Report assembles the evidence at hand and finds it supports the conclusion that the Deep State, working primarily through the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, is actively engaged in subversive measures (a “soft coup”) designed to delegitimize Donald Trump, cause the American people to lose faith in their president, destroy the Trump presidency and eventually impeach him or put him in jail.

At the beginning of this Special Report, it is observed that the Deep State is not monolithic but it shares a common mindset and worldview, and it is characterized by three disturbing proclivities: Secrecy, surveillance and subterfuge. Secrecy catalyzes and enables surveillance and subterfuge. The only way to observe and evaluate the workings of the Deep State is to penetrate the veil of Deep State secrecy that shields the actions of political appointees, career civil servants, private contractors and their relationship with the media and outside agents of influence that comprise the Deep State.

This Special Report concludes that it is time to tear down the wall of secrecy surrounding the Deep State. President Trump should order federal agencies to stop the stalling and start obeying the nation’s open-records laws. Until they do, the dangerously malignant Deep State will continue to grow and undermine American democracy.

Exposing the Deep State

“They pride themselves on operating below the radar – and above the law”

We face a crisis of the Deep State – “Alt-government,” I sometimes call it. The actions of the Deep State constitute a direct challenge to our republican form of government. Working primarily through the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, the Deep State is actively engaged in subversive measures designed to delegitimize Donald Trump, cause the American people to lose faith in their president, destroy the Trump presidency and eventually impeach him or put him in jail. – Judicial Watch President, Tom Fitton

I. Introduction and Background

There is a deeply embedded shadow government in the United States running the affairs of state – The Deep State or Alt Government, as Judicial Watch President, Tom Fitton describes it. This shadow government is not monolithic. But, it does not have to be. Its operatives share a common mindset and worldview. They travel in the same social circles. And, they walk the same corridors of power.

No matter who’s in power, they’re in control.

They pride themselves on operating below the radar – and above the law. And, the shadowy world in which they maneuver is characterized by three disturbing proclivities: Secrecy, surveillance and subterfuge.

In the words of Judicial Watch Director of Investigations Chris Farrell, the decidedly left-leaning Deep State is “quite comfortable exercising all of the levers of the organs of the state.” Farrell explains:

They come from a Franco-Germanic political philosophy that, historically, has always placed the state over the citizenry. They derive their power and exercise it vigorously through the state.

As time goes on, this disparity between the values and beliefs of the people and those of the Deep State becomes cumulative, and no matter whom the people elect to public office, the Deep State takes the nation in a direction that increasingly diverges from where the people desire to go.

Deep State operatives are ensconced in every agency of the government; they have their own agendas; and many of them think they don’t have to answer to an elected president, the rule of law or the American people. They also are enmeshed in and interface with outside networks of organizations, media companies, universities, think tanks and corporations that share their views, help shape their views and exert enormous influence on policy and its day-to-day implementation. The “military-industrial complex” President Dwight Eisenhower warned about is a reality but it is not the only complex providing the architecture of the Deep State; there are several of them: the intelligence/security-industrial complex, the environmental/academic-industrial complex, to name but two.

The American media complex effectively operates as the propaganda arm and transmission belt of the Deep State. In a 2013 article (updated in 2016), former State Department foreign service officer and congressional policy adviser and analyst, James George Jatras, explains:

American media increasingly have operated uncritically in conjunction with the bipartisan Washington political establishment…Among the key features of such cooperation…are:

Deficiency of geographic and historical knowledge as the American norm (the less people know the more likely they are to believe what they are told, with the least informed most persuaded of the need to “do something”);

Reliance on government sources, “ventriloquism,” and “information incest” (unknown to the public, much media “information” comes from government sources);

Centralized corporate ownership (official policy imperatives interface with ratings dollars for six giant corporate conglomerates);

“Para-journalism,” “infotainment,” and “atrocity porn” as a war trigger (atrocities appear seemingly on cue and then receive saturation coverage);

Demonization “Hitler” memes and “weaponization” of media (compromise and negotiation have no role in confronting absolute evil – war is the default option);

America and the “international community,” the “Free World,” and American “exceptionalism” and “leadership;” disregarding “alternative” media, Ameri-can samizdat (accurate information is available in “alternative” media, but the major[s] still decide if it exists or not);

“We never make mistakes,” “stay the course,” and “MoveOnism” (U.S. policy has no rearview mirror);

Authors of past blunders are not discredited, while those who said “tolya so” are ignored).

In turn, media themselves are an integral part of a multifaceted, hybrid public-private entity with broad range and depth. Variously known as the Establishment, the Oligarchy, or the Deep State, this entity includes elements within all three branches of the U.S. government (especially in the military, intelligence, and financial sectors), private business (the financial industry, government contractors, information technology), think tanks, NGOs, the “Dem intern,” both political parties and campaign operatives, and an army of lobbyists and PR professionals.

Looking into the future in light of 2016 anti-Establishment challenges from Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, the shortcomings of Barack Obama’s policies in Libya, Syria, and Ukraine on top of those of George W. Bush in Iraq and Afghanistan, shrinkage of the American Middle Class, and increasing public skepticism of the “MSM” in favor of digital “alternative media,” both the Washington-based oligarchy and its media component show signs of losing their grip.

The possibility exists for a peaceful evolution to a less warlike posture (impacting media as well) that would refocus on America’s domestic needs. Alter-natively, the existing order could risk a major war in a desperate bid to save its wealth, power, and privileges – with unforeseeable consequences for America and the world.

The operation of the Deep State is not a meticulously organized conspiracy, mastermind-ed and controlled by any central authority operating out of a fortified bunker. Nor does it need to be. The agendas of the politicians, bureaucrats and contractors that populate the Deep State are frequently the same, or complementary, and the huge sums of taxpayer money involved tie them together inextricably. And, they ineluctably travel in the same, invariably elitist circles. Rather, the Deep State is like a systemic disease of run-away cells, replicating and metastasizing to serve their own interests and survival. In short, a cancer.

The Deep State has a life of its own, independent of whoever is president or whichever political party controls the Congress. Though it prefers to operate through sleight of hand, with smoke and mirrors, at times it may rise to the surface and become the handmaiden of overzealous and overreaching presidents who serve its interests – as it did when Barack Obama weaponized the permanent bureaucracy inside the IRS, the FBI and other intelligence and regulatory agencies against the American people and his (and the Deep State’s) political opponents.

Most frequently, the Deep State recedes back into the shadows where its agents quietly advance their own agenda and obstruct troublesome elected officials (and the public that supports them) in a million different ways, large and small, deliberate and devious. Sometimes, of course, it rises to the surface in rebellion – as it has with President Donald Trump, taking aggressive, seditious measures against a president whose election it opposed and who it perceives to be a threat to its own agenda and, perhaps, its very survival.

The Deep State is more insidious than mere partisanship, and it is more dangerous because it is permanent. While presidents and Members of Congress come and go, the Deep State remains permanently, growing ever more powerful – and predatory. As already is clear with the Trump presidency, the Deep State can turn on any president that threatens its interests and survival. And left unchecked, it may destroy him.

III. Conclusion

Professor Patrick H. O’Neil of the University of Puget Sound, in a January 2015 article, “The Deep State: An Emerging Concept in Comparative Politics,” concisely elucidates the underlying foundation of the Deep State (p.4):

… as a foundational logic, the deep state justifies its existence through the necessity of tutelage over both state and society. The deep state views itself guardian of national values against internal and external foes. In short, the deep state does not necessarily trust the government, state (perhaps even military) or society to pre-serve the nation. Accordingly, actors within the deep state can justify an array of actions against the government, society, and state as necessary to defend against “traitors” to the nation and national ideology. The amorphousness of the deep state is accompanied by the belief that its members are the symbolic core of the nation. (Emphasis added.)

At the beginning of this Special Report, it was observed that the Deep State is not monolithic but it shares a common worldview and is characterized by three disturbing proclivities: Secrecy, surveillance and subterfuge. Secrecy catalyzes and enables surveillance and subterfuge. The only way to observe and evaluate the workings of the Deep State is to penetrate the veil of Deep State secrecy that shields the actions of political appointees, career civil servants, private contractors and their relationship with the media and outside agents of influence that comprise the Deep State.

That’s why Judicial Watch is in court day after day shining the light on the activities of the Deep State. It is time to put an end to the obsessive, oppressive and destructive secrecy in government. If the rule of law is to survive, if America’s constitutional protections are to endure, it is essential to roll back the sinister secrecy that allows, indeed encourages those operating in the Deep State to hold themselves above the law and beyond the Constitution.

There is a way to rein in the Deep State but it requires a commitment to extreme transparency by elected officials. It requires determined leadership from the White House and serious bi-partisan action on the part of a committed Congress to expose the goings on inside the permanent D.C. bureaucracy and the connections between the Deep Staters, the media and the outside agents of influence.

There is plenty of blame to go around for the transparency failures that foster the Deep State, most recently the Obama administration’s executive over reach and the veil of secrecy President Obama pulled over his administration to hide it. And now, unbelievably, those same secrecy policies seem to be on auto-pilot in the Trump administration. Thank-fully, though, when it comes to sunshine actions, the Trump White House has a solution at hand – if only it would use it – that is both elegantly simple and breathtakingly radical. The Freedom of Information Act allows for the executive branch to make “discretionary disclosures.”

As Judicial Watch Director of Investigations, Chris Farrell has noted:

“In plain English, that means President Trump and his cabinet secretaries can release whatever they want—whenever they wish to do so. They can exercise their discretion to release records that are of broad general and news media interest concerning important policy issues and/or the operation of the federal government. These discretionary disclosures take nothing more than the stroke of a pen.”

Beyond the “discretionary disclosures” provision of the Freedom of Information Act, Executive Order 13526, signed by President Obama in 2009, and the Supreme Court ruling in Department of the Navy v. Egan (484 U.S. 518 (1988)) confirm that under the Constitution, as chief executive, the president has the legal power to declassify information immediately, on his say so alone. As the Court stated in Egan:

The President, after all, is the “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States.” U.S. Const., Art. II, 2. His authority to classify and control access to information bearing on national security…flows primarily from this constitutional investment of power in the President and exists quite apart from any explicit congressional grant.

During the presidential campaign, Candidate Trump pledged to drain the swamp. There is no better way to drain the swamp than to impose extreme transparency on the Deep State where the swamp festers and putrefies. Regrettably, however, instead of applying the transparency remedy, as JW’s Chris Farrell reports, “The Department of Justice under Attorney General Sessions is currently making the exact same legal arguments as the Obama administration—and using all the double-talk and excuses from the Obama era, too.”

Freedom of Information Act officers in the executive branch are over-worked and under-appreciated, a situation that has severely restricted the effectiveness of the law. But it doesn’t take congressional action or a spending increase to change that. President Trump could trigger a FOIA revolution simply by ordering a new era of extreme transparency and discretionary disclosure.

Micha Morrison said it perfectly in Judicial Watch’s Investigative Bulletin:

“Extreme transparency could bring huge benefits. Swamp draining would get super-charged boosters. The president could seize the moral high ground in the Russia-connection case with the re-lease of his tax returns and all relevant White House documents. On the Judicial Watch docket, among the records that could be quickly produced are: the Comey memo; records related to former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and the “unmasking” controversy; re-cords related to the so-called “Russian dossier;” records relating to the controversial “tarmac meeting” in Arizona between former President Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch; FBI and intelligence community files on the Hillary Clinton email investigation; never-revealed draft indictments of Mrs. Clinton in the Whitewater investigation; and notes and reports to then-Secretary of State Clinton in the Benghazi affair.”

Beyond the president’s imposing extreme transparency through discretionary disclosures, immediate action also is needed to pave the way for activist citizens and outside watchdogs, such as Judicial Watch, to investigate and expose corruption and malfeasance within the government.

President Trump not only should use the power of discretionary disclosures, he also should commit to a revolution of “extreme transparency” and set it in motion by issuing an executive order to break the logjam of FOIA requests he inherited from President Obama and which are now piling up under his own administration.

Congress should join the revolution by reforming the Freedom of Information Act and giving private citizens, the press and watchdog groups stronger and better tools to hold the government to account.

Congress and the president together should seize the opportunity when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act comes up for reauthorization later this year and:

Provide for greater public access to government records inside the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, and especially the proceedings in and opinions of the FISA Court; and

Place new limits on the NSAs authority to conduct warrantless searches and restrict other agencies’ authority to use NSA intercepts to conduct domestic surveillance on Americans.

It’s time to tear down the wall of secrecy surrounding the Deep State. President Trump should order federal agencies to stop the stalling and start obeying the nation’s open-records laws. Until they do, the dangerously malignant Deep State will continue to grow and undermine American democracy.

______________________

Intro to JW’s ‘Exposing the Deep State’

Intro by John R. Houk

_______________________

Exposing the Deep State

If you would like additional copies of the report please contact:

Judicial Watch 425 Third Street, SW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20024

Member Services: 1 (888) 593-8442 FAX: (202) 646-5199

Email: info@JudicialWatch.org – www.JudicialWatch.org

SEKULOW: Deep State Admitted to Having 16 MORE PAGES of Clinton-Lynch Tarmac Meeting…

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has forced the FBI to divulge more documents pertaining to then Attorney General Loretta Lynch meeting with former President Clinton at an airport tarmac thanks to FOIA. Apparently, the FBI has been lying to the ACLJ claiming no such documentation existed.

Due to FBI lying, Jay Sekulow has called the stall/cover-up as a move by the FBI Deep State. This Court victory by the ACLJ may be significant because even a few members of the Leftist MSM are beginning to report IG Michael Horowitz’s impending report will implicate the FBI 7^th Floor in criminal activities against the 2016 Trump campaign and perhaps even while Trump has been POTUS.

Further Reading:

3RD SEARCH FINDS STILL MORE CLINTON-LYNCH TARMAC-MEETING RECORDS: 16 pages, 2 text messages scheduled to be turned over; By BOB UNRUH; WND; 5/8/18

JRH 5/13/18

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SEKULOW: Deep State Admitted to Having 16 MORE PAGES of Clinton-Lynch Tarmac Meeting Docs That it Will be Forced to Turn Over by Month End

By Cristina Laila

May 11, 2018

Gateway Pundit

An attorney for Trump, Jay Sekulow celebrated another victory against the Deep State in federal court.

After twice-denying their existence, the Deep State admitted to Sekulow in court it has magically found more Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting docs and will be forced to turn them over to the ACLJ by the end of this month.

These Clinton-Lynch tarmac documents were located after a THIRD ‘search’.

Jay Sekulow

Via the American Center for Law and Justice:

After twice denying their existence – first lying to the ACLJ, and then once caught, claiming it had turned over all documents to the ACLJ – the FBI Deep State has just admitted in federal court that is has found new documents – 16 pages and 2 text messages – that it will be forced to turn over to the ACLJ by the end of the month.

In recently filed court documents, the FBI finally admitted – on its supposedly third search attempt – that it has located another batch of documents responsive to the ACLJ’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information relating to former Attorney General Lynch’s suspiciously timed and highly secretive meeting with former President Clinton on a tarmac in Arizona just days before it publicly exonerated Hillary Clinton.

Specifically, the FBI reported that it has located an additional 16 pages and 2 text messages. The FBI informed the court that it will produce these documents to the ACLJ on or by May 31, 2018.

Jay Sekulow tweeted: After twice denying their existence, the #DeepState just admitted in federal court is has found new documents on the #Clinton-Lynch meeting that it will be forced to turn over to the @ACLJ by the end of the month. The wins keep adding up – thanks to you.

After twice denying their existence, the #DeepState just admitted in federal court is has found new documents on the #Clinton-Lynch meeting that it will be forced to turn over to the @ACLJ by the end of the month. The wins keep adding up – thanks to you. https://t.co/IY13u4iO6O

— Jay Sekulow (@JaySekulow) May 11, 2018

Here are the two St[r]zok-Page text messages about the Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting recently uncovered by the ACLJ:

Now, the FBI has just produced the two text messages to the ACLJ – texts between FBI agent Peter Strzok and now former FBI agent Lisa Page.

The texts dated June 30, 2016, three days after the tarmac meeting, state:

“All the airport tarmac articles finally burst out. Took a little bit. Not a big deal, just ASTOUNDINGLY bad optic.”

“Omg he is spinning about the tarmac meeting, viewed in conjunction with the {REDACTED} Wants to meet at 4, have us bring lists of what we would do in an ordinary circumstance (easy, refer to PC) and in this circumstance (easy, refer to 7th floor)….”

The “he” referenced in the second text, based on the context of already released text messages, is likely Bill Priestap, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. The “7th floor” is a clear reference to the upper echelon of FBI management – then-Director Comey and his top advisors and lieutenants. The texts paint an even clearer picture of just how high up the FBI chain the Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting was. They knew it was bad and were in full crisis management mode. Yet, it also shows how the mainstream media buried the story waiting several days to really cover it at all. In the end, we know it was the 7th floor – and Director Comey himself – who decided what the FBI would do – publicly exonerating Clinton just days latter [sic] – something that was anything but “ordinary.”

____________________________

About The Gateway Pundit

In late 2004 I started The Gateway Pundit blog after the presidential election. At that time I had my twin brother Joe and my buddy Chris as regular readers. A lot has changed since then.

Today The Gateway Pundit is one of the top political websites. The Gateway Pundit has 15 million visits each month (Stat Counter – Google Analytics). It is consistently ranked as one of the top political blogs in the nation. TGP has been cited by Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, The Drudge Report, The Blaze, Mark Levin, FOX Nation and by several international news organizations.

Jim Hoft was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013. Jim Hoft received the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2015.

… READ THE REST

HILLARY, HUMA CARTED OFF ‘MUSLIM’ FILES, OTHER DOCS

Yesterday I posted a Judicial Watch press release about Huma Abedin removing State Department Documents that I interpreted as Classified in the tags. Apparently, the documents were a part of a deal between Crooked Hillary and the Obama Administration to be kept secret and not susceptible to a FOIA request. JW did point that out, I just interpreted it incorrectly.

The premise that JW was establishing was an Obama Administration/Crooked Hillary cover-up to protect her Secretary of State dealings from incriminating her of personal gain. That brings us back to the criminality of a Clinton Crime Syndicate and Pay-to-Play.

See Also:

It’s Time to Prosecute the Clinton Political Crime Syndicate; By Scott Powell; Canada Free Press; 12/1/17.

The Clinton Crime Syndicate; By Mark Alexander; The Patriot Post; 8/24/16.

Senate Investigates Russia, Hillary Clinton, Obama, Uranium And Bribes — And It’s About Time; Investor’s Business Daily; 10/18/17.

This WND article brings more clarity to the Judicial Watch press release.

JRH 12/15/17

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HILLARY, HUMA CARTED OFF ‘MUSLIM’ FILES, OTHER DOCS

State allowed them to classify work-related items as ‘personal’

By ART MOORE

12/14/17

WND

Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin

Faced with allegations of mishandling classified information, the State Department allowed Hillary Clinton and top aide Huma Abedin to take files of telephone calls, schedules and other work-related information under the claim they were “personal” and “unclassified, non-record” materials, according to newly released documents.

The records newly obtained by the Washington watchdog Judicial Watch show that Abedin was allowed to take five boxes of “physical files” out of the State Department that include records described as “Muslim Engagement Documents.”

And Clinton was allowed to take personal correspondence and gift binders, which could be relevant to allegations that donations were made to the family’s Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative in exchange for favorable policy decisions.

WND previously reported emails obtained by Judicial Watch showed Abedin doing favors for a Russia-connected group on behalf of the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.

Abedin, who grew up in Saudi Arabia, worked for an organization founded by her family that promotes the kingdom’s strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam. She was a member of the executive board of the Muslim Student Association, which was identified as a Muslim Brotherhood front group in a 1991 document introduced into evidence during the terror-financing trial of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation

Previous Judicial Watch investigations revealed numerous examples of Clinton’s schedule being broadcast via email through her unsecure, non-government server.

The records newly uncovered by Judicial Watch also contain a list of materials removed by Clinton that were accumulated by Robert Russo, Clinton’s then-special assistant, including PDFs of Clinton’s “correspondence in response to gifts … thank you and acknowledgements.”

Former senator Tom Coburn provides the solution to how “we the people” can finally wrest control from Washington insiders in “Smashing the DC Monopoly,” available at the WND Superstore.

The documents indicate that Clinton removed a physical file of “the log of the Secretary’s gifts with pictures of gifts.” Judicial Watch noted the receipt of gifts by federal employees in the Executive Branch is regulated. A “prohibited source” of gifts, for example, is “one whose interests may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of the employee’s official duties.”

The documents show the State Department records would not be “released to the general public” under any Freedom of Information Act request.

“These new documents show the Obama State Department had a deal with Hillary Clinton to hide her calls logs and schedules, which would be contrary to FOIA and other laws,” Fitton said.

“When are the American people going to get an honest investigation of the Clinton crimes?”

Hillary team gets a pass

The revelations come amid news that FBI agent Peter Strzok, who was dismissed by special counsel Robert Mueller in the “Russia collusion” investigation for demonstrating personal bias against President Trump, was a key figure in the bureau’s investigation of Clinton’s mishandling of classified information.

FBI agent Peter Strzok

It was Strzok who, according to sources cited by CNN, changed the language of FBI Director James Comey’s earlier draft describing Clinton’s actions as “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless.” It was a critical legal distinction that Comey used to explain why he did not refer charges to the Justice Department.

Abedin and longtime Clinton counsel Cheryl Mills, according to official FBI summaries of their interviews with Strzok, made misleading statements regarding Clinton’s mishandling of national secrets but faced no consequences, unlike former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was charged with a felony, the Daily Caller reported.

Clinton violated State Department standards by using several home-brew email servers to conduct her official government business as secretary of state. In his July 5, 2016, announcement, Comey said the bureau’s investigation found that of 30,000 emails Clinton handed over to the State Department, 110 contained information that was classified at the time she sent or received them. A few, Comey said, bore markings that identified them as classified.

The bureau also discovered “several thousand” work-related emails that Clinton had not turned over to the State Department – three of those emails contained classified information. And Comey said it was “possible” that hostile foreign governments had gained access to Clinton’s personal account, noting she also regularly used her mobile device on foreign trips, including “in the territory of sophisticated adversaries.”

Comey’s finding conflicted with Clinton’s repeated assertions that none of the emails were classified at the time she sent or received them.

State required keeping released docs secret

The new information obtained by Judicial Watch includes a list of official and personal calls, and schedules that carry a special notation that the documents were released to Clinton on the condition that they not be made public.

Judicial Watch point out that the notation is on an addendum to a DS-1904 form, which authorizes the removal of personal papers and non-record materials. The form was signed by Clarence N. Finney Jr., then-director of the Office of Correspondence and Records.

Judicial Watch said it has a pending request to depose Finney in separate litigation concerning Clinton emails and the Benghazi terrorist attack.

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About WND

WND, formerly WorldNetDaily, can best be explained by its mission statement: “WND is an independent news company dedicated to uncompromising journalism, seeking truth and justice and revitalizing the role of the free press as a guardian of liberty. We remain faithful to the traditional and central role of a free press in a free society – as a light exposing wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power.

“We also seek to stimulate a free-and-open debate about the great moral and political ideas facing the world and to promote freedom and self-government by encouraging personal virtue and good character.”

Indeed, WND is a fiercely independent news site committed to hard-hitting investigative reporting of government waste, fraud and abuse.

Founded by Joseph and Elizabeth Farah in May 1997, it is now a leading Internet news site in both traffic and influence.

WND has broken some of the biggest, most significant and most notable investigative and enterprising stories in recent years. See “WND Scoops” for a comprehensive list of major WND exclusive reports that first saw the light of day in … READ THE REST

State Department Made Deal with Hillary Clinton to Keep Call Log, Schedules Secret

Judicial Watch, thanks to FOIA requests, has released documents that goes further to the FBI, DOJ and surprise – the State Department; are covering up Crooked Hillary crimes. If my thought is correct, Obama Administration collusion must have been involved in covering for their then hoped for 2016 Crooked Hillary election victory.

JRH 12/14/17

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Judicial Watch: State Department Made Deal with Hillary Clinton to Keep Call Log, Schedules Secret

JW Press Release – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 14, 2017

Judicial Watch

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released new U.S. Department of State documents showing former Secretary Hillary Clinton and her then-Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin were permitted to remove electronic and physical records under a claim they were “personal” materials and “unclassified, non-record materials,” including files of Clinton’s calls and schedules, which were not to be made public. The documents show the Obama State Department records would not be “released to the general public under FOIA.”

The new records also show that Huma Abedin was allowed to take five boxes of “physical files” out of the State Department that include records described as “Muslim Engagement Documents.”

Judicial Watch obtained the reports about the records from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for:

Any and all DS-1904 (Authorization for the Removal of Personal Papers and Non-Record Materials) forms completed by, or on behalf of, any of the following individuals:

Former Secretary Hillary Clinton

Former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills

Former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin

Former Deputy Chief of Staff Jacob Sullivan

The documents include a list of official and personal calls and schedules that Clinton removed, which carry a special notation that the documents were not to be made public records. The notation is on an addendum to a DS-1904 signed by Clarence N. Finney Jr., then-director of the Office of Correspondence and Records, who was the reviewing officer. (Judicial Watch has a pending request for the deposition of Finney in separate litigation concerning Clinton emails and the Benghazi terrorist attack.):

NOTE: The Secretary’s call log, grid and schedules are not classified, however, they would not be released to the general public under FOIA. They are being released to the Secretary with this understanding. (Emphasis in original)

***

Electronic copy of “daily files” – which are word versions of public documents and non-records: speeches/press statements/photos from the website, a non-record copy of the schedule, a non record copy of the call log, press clips, and agenda of daily activities

Electronic copy of a log of calls the Secretary made since 2004, it is a non-record, since her official calls are logged elsewhere (official schedule and official call log)

Electronic copy of the Secretary’s “call grid” which is a running list of calls she wants to make (both personal and official)

16 boxes: Personal Schedules (1993 thru 2008-prior to the Secretary’s tenure at the Department of State.

29 boxes: Miscellaneous Public Schedules during her tenure as FLOTUS and Senator-prior to the Secretary’s tenure at the Department of State

1 box: Personal Reimbursable receipts (6/25/2009 thru 1/14/2013)

1 box: Personal Photos

1 box: Personal schedule (2009-2013)

The originals of some Clinton documents were retained, such as the call logs and schedules. For other records, including material that predates Clinton’s tenure, there is no indication that a copy was made. The most significant of these are her personal correspondence and gift binders, which could reflect Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative ties.

Through its previous investigations Judicial Watch made public numerous examples of Clinton’s schedule being broadcast via email through her unsecure, non-government server (for example, see here, here, here and here.)

The records uncovered by Judicial Watch also contain a list of materials removed by Clinton accumulated by Robert Russo, Clinton’s then-special assistant, including PDFs of Clinton’s “correspondence in response to gifts … thank you and acknowledgements,” as well as other records.

The documents indicate that Clinton removed a physical file of “the log of the Secretary’s gifts with pictures of gifts.”

The receipt of gifts by federal employees in the Executive Branch is regulated:

A “prohibited source” [of gifts] under the regulations is one who seeks official action from the employee’s agency; one who does business or seeks to do business with the agency; one whose activities are regulated by the employee’s agency; one whose interests may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of the employee’s official duties; or an organization a majority of whose members fit any of the above categories.

A gift is given “because of” the employee’s official position if it would not have been offered “had the employee not held the status, authority or duties associated with his Federal position.” Gifts that are “motivated by a family relationship or personal friendship” may therefore be accepted without limitation.

“We already know the Obama State Department let Hillary Clinton steal and then delete her government emails, which included classified information. But these new records show that was only part of the scandal. These new documents show the Obama State Department had a deal with Hillary Clinton to hide her calls logs and schedules, which would be contrary to FOIA and other laws,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “When are the American people going to get an honest investigation of the Clinton crimes?”

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Judicial Watch is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are received from individuals, foundations, and corporations and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

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