CIA, DOJ Refuse To Acknowledge Whether Eric Ciaramella Records Exist

Tristan Justice reporting for The Federalist

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) each refused to either confirm or deny the existence of records related to Obama White House Ukrainian intelligence holdover Eric Ciaramella who is also charged with being the whistleblower at the heart of the Democrats’ recent impeachment proceedings kicked off last fall.

Judicial Watch received two letters from the top government agencies that were sent in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits filed in December. Judicial Watch reports that both the CIA and DOJ failed to provide communications between Ciaramella and former deep-state FBI operatives Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, or former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. The group also requested communications records between Ciaramella and the Special Counsel’s Office.

“The CIA can neither confirm or deny the existence or nonexistence of records responsive to the requests,” the CIA wrote in a letter to Judicial Watch.

The fact of the existence or nonexistence of such records is itself exempt from FO IA under exemption (b )(3) and Section 6 of the CIA Act of I 949, 50 U.S.C. § 3507, and, to the extent your request could relate to CIA intelligence sources and methods information, the fact of the existence or nonexistence of such records is exempt from FOIA under exemption (b)( I) and exemption (b)(3) in conjunction with Section 102A(i)(l) of the National Security Act of 1947, 50 U.S.C § 3024(i)( I).

The Justice Department also stonewalled the requests.

“I have decided to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of responsive records,” wrote DOJ attorney Timothy Ziese to the watchdog group.

In October, Real Clear Investigations identified Ciaramella as the whistleblower whose anonymous complaint charging Trump of tying foreign aid to politically motivated investigations sparked the Democratic impeachment inquiry launched in the House. The Federalist has not independently verified Real Clear Investigations’ reporting.

Since the outlet’s report, Democrats and media elites have worked to conceal the whistleblower’s identity while denying Ciaramella as the culprit.

In the final days of the Senate impeachment trial, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul twice attempted to ask a question to the House impeachment managers that would have offered insight into the alleged whistleblower that was suppressed each time by Chief Justice John Roberts presiding over the proceedings.

On the day before the final acquittal vote, Paul read the question out loud on the Senate floor anyway mentioning Ciaramella’s name.

This is a based Rand Paul speech that everyone needs to see
pic.twitter.com/4XGcfFQFTL

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 4, 2020