Mistakes Were Made: Ted Cruz Obliterates the FBI For Willful, Deliberate Forging of Evidence, Frauds on the Court, and Framing An Innocent Man Serving as a Source for the CIA as a Traitor

Acrually, he just repeated what was in the report, which Sean Davis and Mollie Hemingway already wrote about a day or two ago.

But we know that most people in the media do not read, ever, and so Ted Cruz's televised interrogation is probably the first time they've heard these facts.

Cruz noted two deliberate frauds -- perjuries -- obstructions of justice -- perpetrated on the FISA court.

The first was that the FBI actually had contacted Steele's primary source -- who they call the "primary sub-source," because Steele, who knew nothing about anything, was considered the source itself -- and that primary sub-source completely repudiated all the claims that Steele had claimed he'd made, telling the FBI that the Steele was exaggerating some of the things he said, making up other things, and in other cases passing off things said in jest or as barroom rumor-mongering and speculation as "verified information."

Rather than inform the FISA court that Steele's "dossier" had been completely repudiated by the very source Steele himself claimed knew where all the bodies were buried, the FBI instead told the court that the primary sub-source had been "verified as honest and reliable."

Why did they say that? Well, apparently, they took his saying "all of that is bullshit" as an indicator of honesty and reliability, and reported he was such to the court.

But they forgot to tell the court that the thing he had been verified as "honest and reliable" about was calling the Steele dossier a parcel of lies. Instead, the FBI led the court to believe that he was "honest and reliable" about the things Steele claimed he'd said, which he himself denounced as either said in jest, or as gross speculation, or as simply untrue.

This is obviously the kind of fraud that people go to jail for.

Not DOJ employees, though!

But that was just his first point. The second point was this: Carter Page probably, at some point, told one of the spies assigned to him that he actually was a source for a US intelligence agency. I've heard the CIA, but no one is confirming that, and maybe it's the Naval Intelligence Service or something.

Why is this important? Well, if he's actually an asset for the CIA, that makes it pretty understandable why he's talking to Russians -- CIA assets often talk to Russians. That's what the CIA asks them to do.

And this is patriotic service, not Treason, as the FBI would then characterize it.

Realizing that they had a major problem on their hands if this were true -- because they're golden evidence that "Page has been seen talking to Russians" is not at all incriminating if he's a CIA (or NIS, etc.) asset -- the FBI or DOJ wrote to the intelligence agency and asked, "Is Carter Page a source for your organization?"

And that intelligence agency said: "Carter page is a source" for our organization.

So that's a big problem. If Carter Page is a CIA/NIS asset, then they can't use his contact with Russians as evidence for a FISA warrant against him.

So what's the DOJ/FBI response?

Well, a lawyer there -- Kevin Clinesmith -- deliberately changes the response of the organization from "Carter Page is a source" to "Carter Page is not a source," and sends this forged, fraudulent evidence along to the court as part of the FISA application.

This is CRIMINAL. They were specifically told by the agency involved that Page was a source and therefore had a very good and legal reason to have contact with Russians, but this guy forged the email, altering it to say he was not a source and so reported to the court that Page had no good reason to talk to Russians.

And here's the kicker:

He still works for the FBI!

Because of course he does.

Because Christopher "Straight-Shooter" Wray.

Here's Hemingway/Davis:

The 476-page report from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI falsely claimed to the FISA Court not only that Carter Page was a Russian agent, but also falsely claimed that an unnamed intelligence agency had told the FBI that Page was "not a source" in their efforts to surveil and curtail Russian intelligence efforts.

...

Ahead of an application to renew the spy warrant in 2017, a top FBI lawyer doctored evidence from the unnamed agency which confirmed that contrary to FBI claims that he was a Russian spy, Page had in fact assisted the United States in its efforts to counter Russian operations. An e-mail from the agency that clearly stated Page was "a source" for them was doctored by Kevin Clinesmith, a top FBI national security lawyer, to give the opposite impression to the federal spy court.

"The [Office of General Counsel] Attorney altered and sent the e-mail to a [supervisory special agent], who thereafter relied on it to swear out the third FISA application," the IG report notes. Upon learning that a top FBI lawyer doctored evidence against a former Trump campaign affiliate to justify spying on him, the IG referred the attorney to DOJ for criminal prosecution.

Text messages from that same lawyer after the 2016 election revealed that he was an anti-Trump activist. "Viva la Resistance!" he texted on November 22, 2016, while in the midst of investigating Trump. He would later be terminated from the Mueller probe for conduct which a previous IG report said "brought discredit" to the FBI. Of FBI documents he approved authorizing spying on Trump campaign, Clinesmith wrote "[M]y god damned name is all over the legal documents investigating his staff."

"[W]ho knows if that breaks to him what he is going to do," Clinesmith continued, apparently worried about the ramifications of his illicit behavior against the Trump campaign.

Below, Ted Cruz asks Horowitz about this second point.

Which Horowitz says does not indicate "bias."

Viva la Resistance, eh?

If the warrant authorizing surveillance was fraudulently, corruptly, criminally procured, what does that make the subsequent surveillance?

It makes it illegal spying.

National Review just began composing an editorial, "Two Cheers for Rampant FBI Corruption and Criminal Liberal Bias."

No but seriously: National Review is covering this to the same extent CNN and MSNBC are. In other words, they're embargoing a story that hurts their Orange Man Bad feelings.

They do however proudly feature this important story from liberal chubster Jonah Goldberg: "Trump Defenders Push Ukraine Conspiracy Theories."

As regards the incredible corruption disclosed by Horowitz and the dramatic confirmation of his report on live TV: Meh, not so important.

Always remember who it was in the alleged "conservative" media who swore up and down for the absolute, unquestionable integrity of their Deep State friends and sources, as well as for the truthfulness of their ally Adam Schiff.

And remember the people who were open to doubting the alleged LG Paladins of the Deep State.

And make your news and commentary consumption choices based on that knowledge.

posted by Ace of Spades at 03:42 PM

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