On July 21, 2018, amid the apex of all things Trump-Russia being carefully narrated by the special counsel team, why did the DOJ release the Top Secret Classified Intelligence document known as the Carter Page FISA application?
At the time it happened everyone was so consumed with the content of the release, almost no-one stopped to ask that question. Except, well, me.
Put yourself back into that 2018 time-frame: the Trump-Russia collusion hoax was being pushed hard; the Nunes memo -vs- the Schiff memo was being argued and the media was writing furiously about leaks from anonymous sources “with knowledge of the investigation” etc. Congress was being blocked from all their document requests and their bucket lists for declassification. Rod Rosenstein was refusing to testify to the House Intel Committee led by Devin Nunes. The DOJ was blocking documents related to surveillance of President Trump. The media was saying there was no surveillance of Trump. Congress was desperate to break the stonewalling and asked President Trump to declassify a list of documents they provided. Rod Rosenstein threatened Trump that if he declassified documents it would be adding to a potential obstruction investigation and claim. Etc. Etc.
Hell, despite his recusal from these matters, AG Sessions was getting major heat over the blockage from DOJ… the battle was intense. Sessions announced an Illinois USAO John Laush to try and mediate the issues. Laush was a major fail.
Then, amid all of that stonewalling, blocking, redacting of documents, failure to unredact, and refusal to declassify…. suddenly, all of a sudden, presto, here’s the most top secret classified document release ever.
To fulfill a FOIA request by Judicial Watch and the New York Times.
A FOIA request?
Seriously?
Considering all of the documents that would have been the easiest NOT to release because it is a top secret classified intelligence product; and considering the denial of that FOIA request would have easily withstood all judicial challenge because of the nature of its content; all of a sudden… hey, here you go. Here it is.
It just never made sense.
I have finally found the answer to that question; and while I must hold back on some details, we are at a point where you too should know.
First, an admission that I was wrong.
I always thought Robert Mueller was a false front, a semi-cogent face for a team of 17 lawyers that moved-in to take over Main Justice. I was not wrong about Mueller, he was exactly that: a hand selected name to give credibility to a team assembly, and a man who would acquiesce to the smart, familiar and legal minds that were really running the resistance operation.
Where I was wrong, was thinking Rosenstein was a countermeasure to those who took control over Main Justice.
He was not.
Rod Rosenstein was doing exactly the same as Mueller, acquiescing to every request, instruction and demand by the seventeen legal squatters who took over Main Justice.
As Rod Rosenstein recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he never once questioned the special counsel about any request, demand or instruction; and he never once challenged their motives for the requests they made.
As Deputy AG, and with AG Sessions recused, Rod Rosenstein should have been on top of the special counsel; but he wasn’t. He intentionally wasn’t.
The entire time the special counsel was operating, seventeen assembled members of the Trump resistance, were running the show inside the U.S. Department of Justice. They controlled everything.
AG Jeff Sessions was fire-walled; he saw nothing, and he had no input into anything. That was the first step in the resistance operation.
The second step was to instruct Rosenstein that every request made by the team was part of their investigation; regardless of how it might seem disconnected, it was all part of their investigative process. That’s how they steamrolled Rosenstein into sitting in a corner and waiting for documents to sign; authorities to grant (scope memos etc.); indictments to approve; and requests to be fulfilled.
Seventeen members of the special counsel were running Main Justice. Seventeen members of the resistance, with input guidance and assistance from Lawfare, were running Main Justice. That’s the paradigm shift needed to baseline everything.
When the FISA application was released in July 2018, it was released by the special counsel team. Technically Rosenstein released it; however, unofficially it was released by the demand of the resistance operators under the auspices that it was part of their investigative technique; part of the ongoing operation.
Except that wasn’t the real motive.
The real motive for releasing the FISA application, under the auspices of granting a FOIA request, was because the resistance already knew the New York Times had obtained it illegally.
In fact The New York Times had the FISA application since March 17, 2017, when SSCI Security Director James Wolfe, operating under instructions from SSCI resistance coordinator, Mark Warner, took pictures of each page of the FISA application and sent them to journalist Ali Watkins at Buzzfeed.
Ms. Watkins then shared the FISA with fellow resistance allies at the Washington Post and New York Times. To cover her tracks Ms. Watkins did not immediately write about the FISA application, and I suspect the editors at Buzzfeed may not have known.
In exchange for her pre-planned role, The New York Times then hired Watkins; and, under the legal tutelage of the NYT, Watkins based her reporting on the Trump-Russia narrative from there.
However, in March 2017 what Watkins, Wolfe, media and Mark Warner did not immediately know, was that the FBI was conducting a leak investigation; a genuine leak investigation, and the SSCI was suspected.
The FISA application picked up by James Wolfe and delivered to the SSCI contained a leak tracer, a trap. When the tracer showed up in media reports, the FBI knew where it leaked from – the SSCI.
[Note the FBI interception dates – The Wolfe leak was March 17, 2017]
Unfortunately, what the FBI did not know – was that SSCI Vice Chairman Mark Warner was the inside resistance operative giving Wolfe the instructions on how to proceed.
In May 2017, the FBI informed Vice-Chair Warner and Chairman Richard Burr that someone in the SSCI leaked the FISA application. In essence FBI investigators just told the culprit they were investigating a leak he created. Think about the ramifications.
As part of the overall investigation to locate the specific leaker, all of the SSCI was subject to review and quiet investigation. As the FBI worked through a process of elimination, that’s when the FBI discovered the Mark Warner text messages to Adam Waldman, the lawyer for Chris Steele. Not coincidentally the Warner text messages end in May 2017; exactly when he was first notified by the FBI about the specifics of the leak hunt.
What also started in May 2017?….. The special counsel.
One important aspect to the coordinated demand and incessant drumbeat by the media for a special counsel, was a need to control the outcome of the FBI leak investigation.
Total control. This was all connected.
The resistance took over Main Justice with the appointment of the special counsel; and one of their priorities was to stop anyone from: (a) finding out the FISA application had leaked; (b) block anyone from finding out how it was leaked; (c) block any independent FBI activity surrounding the leak.
Remember, in this period of 2017 the media side of the resistance operation were denying Trump was under any surveillance. They were denying anyone in/around the Trump campaign was under surveillance. However, they were also reporting on the investigation of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative from the investigative perspective, while using and exploiting the information they had in the March 17th leak of the FISA.
March 17th was less than two months after President Trump was inaugurated. The FISA was leaked even before it was renewed in April (Boente/Comey), and renewed again by the instructions of the special counsel team on June 29th.
When the New York Times sent a FOIA for the FISA application, they did so as a necessary legal cover because they already illegally possessed it. [Keep in mind, the copy they had was not redacted at all.]
When the Trump-Russia narrative was at it’s apex in July 2018; and with a need to deploy all weapons against the upcoming mid-term election; and when the resistance group needed to provide legal cover for the New York Times; the FISA application was released by the resistance unit running Main Justice.
It was released as cover for the New York Times (and others) who were already reporting on it; and it allowed the NYT, and others, to fully weaponize the fictitious aspect of the narrative about the FBI genuinely being concerned about Trump colluding with Russia.
The July 2018 release itself was not a clean copy of the FISA application; but rather the DOJ team re-released the March 17, 2017, release and then added the final two renewals to the total release. In 2018 the DOJ resistance group had to re-release the portion of the FISA application that was previously leaked in March 2017 (or else any reporting containing the leak tracer would not be covered/justified).
So who do you think released the Mark Warner text messages for the same purpose?
BINGO. Yup, the same resistance group. It was all an effort to cloud, cover and control.
Key takeaway. The seventeen members of the special counsel were intentionally brought into Main Justice to organize the resistance. The DOJ was running the resistance operation. AG Jeff Sessions was fire-walled and clueless; and DAG Rosenstein was just approving anything put in front of him because it was sold as part of the investigative process.
Regardless of the FBI investigation, the DOJ resistance operation held ultimate control.
Some in the FBI were not happy… not happy at all…. but not in a position to do anything about Main Justice patting them on the head and telling them to run along now.
Oh, there’s so much more…. this is just an appetizer.
The SSCI
The Gang of Eight
The DOJ
The ICIG
Why did Warner/Burr, the SSCI and the DOJ resistance need ICIG Michael Atkinson?
…..Control, in the event a whistle-blower tried poking his head up.
