The Curious DC Judicial Moves Continue – Page v Comey Case Reassigned, With Even Sketchier FISA Court Background
Yesterday, we noted the curiously random set of coincidences taking place amid an internecine DC judicial system {GO DEEP}. The network of DC relationships, specifically judges, connected to prior Main Justice DOJ, FBI and FISA Court activity could not be as random as the process defenders would claim.
The latest revelation came from the “random” civil case assignment of Carter Page -v- James Comey. The case was reassigned to Judge James Boasberg, who held a major conflict of interest in the specifics of the Carter Page lawsuit against James Comey {Again, Go Deep}.
Today, perhaps partly in response to the sunlight provided by the extensive background; or perhaps related to the reality that Boasberg could not possibly sit as the judge in the lawsuit; the Carter Page case was again reassigned. However, this time it is not the reassignment that draws attention, it is the reassigner, the Chairman of the Case Calendar and Case Management Committee, Rudolph Contreras:
As we can see, the civil case has been reassigned from Judge James Boasberg to Judge Timothy J Kelly, that’s good.
There was no way for Boasberg to sit as the judge in this case given his connections and rulings on prior cases like the (1) James Comey memos, the (2) case against Kevin Clinesmith; and (3), the fact that Boasberg was a FISA court judge, and he personally approved the June 29, 2017, FISA warrant against Carter Page – which was constructed by fraudulent manipulation of the underlying affidavits. There are massive conflicts for Boasberg in all aspects of the Carter Page civil suit against James Comey.
However, it is also interesting to see the name Rudolph Contreras appear again. The DC judicial system is getting very interesting with all of the sunlight upon it. Specifically, in this instance, the role of the FISA court in the controversial Fourth Branch of Government {Go Deep} is starting to make a lot more sense.
You may remember, on November 30th, 2017, Mike Flynn signed a guilty plea; ostensibly admitting lying to special counsel investigators. Flynn took this plea because his son was being threatened for prosecution by the Weissmann-Mueller team. The 2017 plea was accepted by Judge Rudolph Contreras; who was/is also a FISA court judge.
The public finds out about the Flynn plea the following day, December 1st, 2017. Immediately after that guilty plea, literally 24 hours later, we first learn of Lisa Page, Peter Strzok and Bruce Ohr. All three people connected to the background of the Trump-Russia investigation were removed from their official duties and suspended inside the FBI and Main Justice.
Lisa Page was the legal liaison assigned to FBI Director Andrew McCabe by the DOJ National Security Division. Peter Strzok was the lead FBI Counterintelligence Division agent assigned to the Trump-Russia investigation (aka Crossfire Hurricane); and Bruce Ohr was the #4 person in Main Justice inside the DOJ National Security Division.
A few days later, on December 3rd and 4th, the first batch of text messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok were released to the public showing an extensive background discussion about the targeting of Donald Trump and the inner-workings within the FBI and DOJ that related to their corrupt investigation.
Two days after the text messages were released, on December 7, 2017, Judge Contreras “was recused” from the Michael Flynn case without explanation:
The Contreras recusal always seemed sketchy. The key question was: If the conflict existed on December 7th, wouldn’t that same conflict have existed on November 30th, 2017 when the plea was accepted?
What we did not know in December of 2017 was that inside the text messages of Lisa Page, and lead FBI Counterintelligence investigator, Peter Strzok, were outlines of a personal relationship between Peter Strzok and FISA Court Judge Rudolph “Rudy” Contreras. We do not find out about the Contreras relationship until March 16, 2018, when more texts were released and a lot of texts were unredacted.
[IMPORTANT SIDEBAR – Keep in mind the Mueller-Weissmann special counsel was in control of these text messages, the redactions within them, and when they would be released. THIS IS KEY. The Mueller special counsel kept a lid on the damning texts until *after* they got the Flynn guilty plea, then they released them with redactions… and then later -as they accomplished more objectives- the special counsel then removed the redactions and re-released them. The Weissmann-Mueller crew was in charge of Main Justice for anything that related to the Trump-Russia investigation, and everything involved the Trump-Russia investigation.]
We discover in March 2018 that Lisa Page and Peter Strzok discussed the FBI agent needing to talk with “Rudy” about the Crossfire Hurricane case and the use of the FISA court to gain their Title-1 search warrants. Agent Peter Strzok noting he would likely have a casual conversation in a “social setting” at a “cocktail party” with Judge Contreras about the overall Trump-Russia investigation. In hindsight, it became obvious the December 2016 recusal of Judge Contreras from the Flynn case was due to the unstoppable public release of these text messages.
Judge Contreras was appointed to the FISA Court court in May 2016. The FISA court eventually approved a Title-1 Surveillance Warrant against Trump campaign aide Carter Page on October 26th, 2016, essentially placing the entire Trump campaign under FBI surveillance.
The authorities within the Crossfire Hurricane surveillance was used against incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The FBI agent questioning Michael Flynn in January 2017 was Peter Strzok. The judge presiding over the sketchy Flynn plea, an outcome of that interview, was Strzok’s friend Judge Rudolph “Rudy” Contreras. Therein lies the conflict.
From the text messages, we discover conversations in July of 2016 between Lisa Page and FBI Agent Peter Strzok where they talk about using the FISA court (FISC), and the relationship between Strzok and Rudy Contreras might be an issue for their use of the court for Title-1 search warrants. Ironically they were predicting the kind of recusal that eventually materialized in 2017.
The recusal of Judge Contreras in the Flynn case resulted in Judge Emmett Sullivan being assigned. We all know the FUBAR that fiasco turned into when it became obvious the Weissmann special counsel was manipulating evidence, hiding Brady material favorable to the defense, and attempting to proceed with a fraudulently based prosecution of Flynn, based on fabricated evidence. The entire Flynn prosecution boiled down to the definition of “sanctions”, I digress.
The bottom line was – once the Page/Strzok texts were released by the special counsel (which they withheld until they achieved the Flynn guilty plea), Judge Rudolph Contreras recused ‘was recused’ from the Flynn case.
[NOTE: Because the “Rudy” relationship to Strzok was not publicly visible in the texts until March 2018; yet Contreras recused himself less than a week after the plea in December of 2017; it can reasonably be assumed that someone from the special counsel team told Judge Contreras about his mentions in the text messages after Judge Contreras took the guilty plea.]
Now, we go back to today and Judge Contreras as Chair of the Washington DC Calendar and Case Management Committee. By “random assignment” Contreras notes the civil lawsuit Carter Page -v- James Comey has been reassigned away from James Boasberg who was the previous presiding judge on the FISA Court.
Who is the current Presiding Judge on the FISA Court?
…wait for it:
You just can’t make this stuff up folks.
On the positive side, I now realize something -with a bit more clarity- that I did not emphasize enough before….
The Fourth Branch of Government has their own judiciary.
It’s called the FISA Court.
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