The Coverup
Amid the predictive discussions by those who have followed the three-year background of the potential DOJ & FBI FISA issues, there was one very specific aspect CTH was looking for: Would the IG report redact the dates of the Carter Page FISA application and renewals?
We got that answer today, and that answer, unfortunately, is yes:
Ask yourself what is the national security value in hiding those dates? Why does the DOJ need to hide them? Unfortunately the answer highlights an institutional decision.
On its face the dates seem like an overly granular question; perhaps even a small detail that few would notice. However, for CTH readers that little detail exposes so much.
In 2018 Main Justice made a very specific decision, a very specific lie, that once told would forever set them on a path – from which there is no return. It was during a time between July and December 2018 that CTH realized the DOJ had handcuffed themselves to a cover story; and that cover story foretold future conduct.
When Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chairman Mark Warner requested a copy of the FISA application back in early spring 2017, the Jeff Sessions’ DOJ produced a copy for review, date stamped by the FISC on March 17th, 2017. That copy was seeded with a false date of origination. The reason for the false date was the FBI leak taskforce initiated by Sessions. The false date was a leak trap.
Investigators provided the FISA application to SSCI Vice-Chairman Warner with a false date and then they looked to see if media reports of that FISA application would surface. If reports started surfacing, any report that used the false date would be attributable to the application given to the SSCI. The source of the leak would be identified.
That’s exactly what happened.
♦ On March 17th, 2017, the Senate Intelligence Committee took custody of the FISA application used against Carter Page. We know the FISA court delivered the read and return Top-Secret Classified application due to the clerk stamp of March 17, 2017.
The FISA application (original and first renewal) was delivered to Senate Security Director James Wolfe. Senator Mark Warner entered the basement SCIF shortly after 4:00pm on March 17, 2017, the day it was delivered (texts between Warner and Waldman):
Now, when SSCI Security Officer James Wolfe was indicted (unsealed June ’18), we could see the importance of the March 17th date again:
We could tell from the description within the Wolfe indictment FBI investigators are describing the FISA application. Additionally Wolfe exchanged 82 text messages with his reporter/girlfriend Ali Watkins. The FISA application is 83 pages with one blank page.
The logical conclusion was that Wolfe text Ali Watkins 82 pictures of the application.
FBI Investigators applied for, and received a search warrant for the phone records of journalist Ali Watkins through November 2017. Ms. Watkins was notified in February 2018, three months after Wolfe was questioned by FBI investigators in December 2017.
However, despite the overwhelming (public) circumstantial evidence that Wolfe leaked the FISA application, he was never charged with leaking classified information. Wolfe was only charged with lying three times to federal authorities, and he pled down to one count of lying to the FBI.
CTH made the case in mid 2018 that someone at the DOJ had influenced a decision not to charge Wolfe with the leaking of the FISA application; despite the FBI and DOJ having direct evidence of Wolfe leaking classified information.
The logical reason for the Rosenstein DOJ not to charge Wolfe with the FISA leak was because that charge would ensnare powerful Senators on the powerful committee. Worse still, in hindsight we now see how that committee was working to aide the purposes and intents of the corrupt DOJ and FBI officials as they built their impeachment agenda.
Remember, the SSCI has intelligence oversight of the DOJ, DOJ-NSD, FBI and all associated counterintelligence operations. Additionally, when the FBI was investigating Wolfe for leaking classified documents, according to their court filings they had to inform the committee of the risk Wolfe represented. Who did they have to inform?.. Chairman Richard Burr and Vice-Chair Mark Warner.
Think about it. Both gang-of-eight members (Warner/Burr), who happened -as a consequence of the jaw dropping implications- to be two SSCI members who were warned by the FBI that Wolfe was compromised…. and they, along with Feinstein in 2016, were the co-conspirators who used James Wolfe. The ramifications cannot be overstated.
Any criminal charges for leaking classified intelligence information against James Wolfe would likely result in a major scandal where the SSCI itself was outlined as participants in the weaponization of government for political intents. Thus, the perfect alignment of interests for a dropped charge and DC cover-up. REMEMBER:
If it wasn’t already transparently sketchy, in an act of serendipity and self-preservation, the accused Security Director James Wolfe evidenced the schemes when he threatened to subpoena members of the SSCI as part of his defense. [See Here]
[…] Attorneys for James A. Wolfe sent letters to all 15 senators on the committee, notifying them that their testimony may be sought as part of Mr. Wolfe’s defense, according to two people familiar with the matter.[…] Mr. Wolfe’s defense lawyers are considering calling the senators as part of the proceedings for a variety of reasons, including as potential character witnesses and to rebut some of the allegations made by the government in the criminal complaint, these people say. (link)
Immediately after threatening to subpoena the SSCI (July 27, 2018), the DOJ (Rosenstein authorizing) cut a deal with Wolfe and dropped the charges down to a single charge of lying to investigators. However, someone in the FBI who was doing the investigative legwork wasn’t happy with that decision.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence that Wolfe leaked the FISA application went from a strong suspicion, to damn certain (after the plea deal) when the DOJ included a sentencing motion in mid-December 2018.
On December 15th, 2018 the DOJ filed a response to the Wolfe defense teams’ own sentencing memo (full pdf), and within the DOJ response they included an exhibit (#13) written by the FBI [redacted] special agent in charge, which specifically says: “because of the known disclosure of classified information, the FISA application”… Thereby admitting, albeit post-plea agreement, that Wolfe did indeed leak the FISA:
Right there, in that FBI Special Agent description is the bombshell admission that James Wolfe leaked the Carter Page FISA application to journalist Ali Watkins at Buzzfeed.
We know the special agent who wrote exhibit #13 in the December filing was Special Agent Brian Dugan, Asst. Special Agent in Charge, Washington Field Office. The same investigator who originally signed the affidavit in the original indictment against Wolfe.
So with hindsight there was absolutely no doubt that James Wolfe leaked the 83-page Carter Page FISA application on March 17, 2017. Period. It’s all documented with circumstantial and direct evidence; including the admissions from the FBI agent in charge.
So, why was SSCI Security Director James Wolfe allowed to plea to a single count of lying to investigators? Because of the ramifications of Wolfe’s leak being directed by Senator Warner.
The DOJ covered-up the fact that Wolfe leaked the classified FISA application, and from that moment forward the DOJ was forever compromised by that corrupt decision.
During the 2016 and 2017 effort to weaponize the institutions of government against the outside candidacy of Donald Trump, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) was a participating entity. Dianne Feinstein, Richard Burr, Mark Warner, Daniel Jones, and James Wolfe were all participants of varying degrees. {Go Deep}
And it gets worse… because the corrupt small group appears to have leveraged what they knew about this DOJ coverup as recently as two months ago:
[…] The Senate intelligence committee examined the allegations about Downer, Mifsud and Halper, as part of its bipartisan investigation into the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was responsible for attacking the 2016 election, and found nothing to substantiate any wrongdoing, a committee aide said. (read full article)
Facing a great deal of public pressure, when the DOJ released a public version of the Carter Page FISA application (July 21, 2018) they had to use the same copy sent to the SSCI on March 17th, 2017, or their leak trap would be exposed; and subsequently the Wolfe non-prosecution would be at risk of exposure. The DOJ had to redact the dates because the leak trap FISA (dates) doesn’t match the original FISA application.
Once the DOJ made the March 17th, 2017, FISC copy the public copy they had to keep the dates redacted. Hence any further release of the FISA court needs to maintain that same date redacted standard.
Once the DOJ allowed James Wolfe to get away with leaking a highly classified FISA application, they committed themselves to always covering-up the fact the DOJ allowed James Wolfe to get away with leaking a classified FISA application.