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  • Joe Biden bribery allegations involve Ukraine, first raised with FBI in 2017, key investigator says

    Joe Biden bribery allegations involve Ukraine, first raised with FBI in 2017, key investigator says

    Joe Biden bribery allegations involve Ukraine, first raised with FBI in 2017, key investigator says

    Allegations that Joe Biden partook in a $5 million bribery scheme involve Ukraine where his son scored a lucrative energy job and were first presented to the FBI by a reliable and well-paid informant back in 2017, House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer told Just the News on Tuesday evening.

    Comer made the bombshell revelation just a day after reviewing an FBI FD-1023 form that memorialized the informant’s allegations, and two days before he plans to hold a vote in Congress to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt for failing to provide a copy to his committee as demanded by a subpoena. He said the version of the informant report he was allowed to review by Wray had about 10% of information redacted and made clear the allegations were first reported to the FBI back in 2017 as Donald Trump was beginning his term as president.

    “Yes, it is Ukraine,” Comer told the Just the News, No Noise television show when asked what country the alleged bribery involved. “This form 1023 involves a business person from Ukraine, who allegedly sent a bribe, a substantial bribe to then Vice President Joe Biden.”

    Asked whether the allegation involved the Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, whose Burisma Holdings energy firm first hired Hunter Biden into a lucrative board and consulting job in 2014 when Joe Biden was vice president, Comer carefully demurred. “I probably better punt on that question. The name was redacted,” the powerful House committee chairman answered.

    But Comer said markings on the document he was shown – including footnotes – made clear the informant first provided the bribery allegations to the FBI in 2017 and then again one more time before he raised them a third time in the June 2020 informant report

    “This first started in 2017,” he said, citing footnotes in the informant report he reviewed that listed two prior reports. “There are two notes, or footnotes, whatever you want to call them. They listed them as notes. I will say footnotes for better explanation, that reference 2017. And it was either 2018 or 2019. So this wasn’t the first time that the informant had mentioned a bribery scheme pertaining to Joe Biden to the FBI.

    Comer’s disclosures came the same day that his colleague in the Senate, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, revealed the FBI informant who provided the intelligence was deemed so credible and valuable that he was paid $200,000 by the bureau over several years. The comments by the two GOP lawmakers pushed back on Democrat claims that the allegations were old, disproven or tied to an effort by attorney Rudy Giuliani to investigate the Bidens’ Ukraine ties that led to Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.

    “Partisan media, most likely in conjunction with the Biden FBI, have misleadingly reported the 1023 is from a tranche of information provided by Rudy Giuliani. News reports last week dispel that notion and make clear the 1023 information that we request is independent of Giuliani,” Grassley stated in a speech given on the Senate floor.

    “Those news reports also show that the source who formed the basis of the 1023 is a long-serving FBI source. The source reportedly received numerous validations from the FBI. The source reportedly operated even during the Obama administration. Based on what I’ve been told about yesterday’s meeting, the FBI didn’t contradict these findings,”

    “Today, I can say that based upon unclassified and legally protected whistleblower disclosures the FBI source in the 1023 has been paid at least two-hundred thousand dollars by the FBI since the source was opened and operational,” he added. “High dollar payments obviously mean the FBI believes the source to be credible and reputable.”

    Comer said the informant’s core allegation is a Ukrainian businessman was to pay $5 million to the Biden family in return for a U.S. policy decision that Joe Biden could impact. He said his investigators have not yet found any money directly to the current president but they are “following the money” through numerous limited liability corporations and bank accounts and have begun a search for off-shore accounts as well.

    “When you first read about it, it’s hard to believe,” he said. “It’s hard to believe that a vice president of the United States would try to take a bribe from a from a foreign national, in a company in a country that’s, at the time not noted for anything other than a lot of corruption, and then asked that the money be sent through shell companies and various banks to launder it to where no one would know about it,” he said.

    Comer said he has strong reason to believe the FBI never properly investigated the Biden bribery allegations, matching a pattern he also saw when the Obama Treasury Department began receiving suspicious activity reports involving transactions associated with Hunter Biden and his associates but did little to investigate them.

    “I think what we’re gonna find out is the same thing we found out in the Treasury Department with the Suspicious Activity Reports,” he said. “Once you get in there, there’s a whole lot more of them than what was previously reported. And this particular (1023) form we want is very important. But I can already tell from reading the form, there are other forms, as well. So we don’t know how many form 1023s are pertaining to Biden-bribery.

    Grassley suggested the FBI may have ditched the Biden bribery allegations based on an intelligence analysis by FBI analyst Brian Auten in summer 2020 suggesting there was a Russian disinformation campaign making such allegations.  Just the News first reported that possibility in a story Monday.

    “Did the FBI follow normal investigative process and procedure? Or did they try to sweep it under the rug?” the senator asked. “For example, did the FBI try to improperly use the August 2020 Brian Auten assessment to shut down the 1023 reporting by falsely labeling it disinformation? “

    The bureau told Comer on Monday the allegations in the bribery memo are part of an ongoing but unspecified investigation. The lawmaker said he was suspect of that claim. “My theory is they never investigated the claim to begin with, for whatever reason,” he said.

    Comer said he hopes the contempt vote slated for Thursday will “send a message to the FBI if they don’t comply with my subpoena in the next 48 hours. And hopefully, from that point on, we can we can start having a better level of cooperation with the FBI.

    via Just The News https://justthenews.com

    June 7, 2023 at 06:58AM

  • UPDATE: Here are the 44 Republicans Who Stand with “We the People” and Won’t Vote for Biden & McCarthy’s Flawed Uniparty Bill

    UPDATE: Here are the 44 Republicans Who Stand with “We the People” and Won’t Vote for Biden & McCarthy’s Flawed Uniparty Bill

    UPDATE: Here are the 44 Republicans Who Stand with “We the People” and Won’t Vote for Biden & McCarthy’s Flawed Uniparty Bill | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft

    On Tuesday night, the House Rules Committee on Tuesday voted to advance the McCarthy-Biden Fiscal Responsibility Act.

    The 9-majority and 4-minority committee voted 7-6 to advance the bill with Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman voted against the measure. “House Rules Cmte approves rule to govern floor debate on debt ceiling bill tomorrow. The vote was 7-6. Roy and Norman defected Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) votes yes on the rule. Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Ralph Norman (R-SC) were nays,” Fox News Congress reporter Chad Pergram reported. See below:

    The full House of Representatives will vote on the bill Wednesday night.

    House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry on Tuesday left open the possibility of filing a motion to vacate and get rid of McCarthy if the Speaker pushes through the debt deal.

    Under new House rules, it only takes one member of Congress, from either party, to bring a ‘motion to vacate’ which forces a vote on removing the Speaker of the House.

    It would only take a simple majority vote to remove McCarthy.

    So far, 44 Republicans are a “no” vote on the Biden-McCarthy scam debt bill.

    UPDATE: Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX), Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX), Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) will also vote against the bill.

    Below is the list of Republicans who agreed with the “We the People.”

    Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) – “The McCarthy-Biden plan doesn’t stop, or even slow down, deficit spending. The plan doesn’t bend the spending curve down. The plan keeps us moving over the debt cliff with the GOP leadership’s mantra of “We’ll fight harder next year!” Americans deserve better.”

    Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) – “This is a lousy deal for the American people. When you read the text of the bill, none of the purported benefits are there!”

    Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) – “The debt limit deal is a bad deal for America. As the bill is currently presented, my vote will be NO on tomorrow’s anti-deal. Unit then, I hope the House will either amend it or kill it entirely.”

    Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) – “Nobody wants to default on our debt, but neither can we afford to keep spending money we don’t have. Very disappointed to see this bill increase the national debt by $4 trillion in half as many years and do very little to actually get our fiscal house in order. I will be voting NO. Enough is enough!”

    Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) – “This is just a bad deal. I won’t vote to add $4 trillion more to the deficit within the next 20 months. This is a plan for continuing the bipartisan bankruptcy in Washington D.C.”

    Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) – “After carefully reviewing the bill text and fielding phone calls from my constituents, I will not be supporting H.R. 3746.”

    Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) – “Absolutely no one wants to default but this current deal is unacceptable. I have read this bill twice and as the language currently stands, I will be voting no to raise the debt ceiling.”

    Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) – “The Biden Admin is openly admitting that they will take full advantage of the PAYGO waiver authority in the debt ceiling deal. They didn’t just steamroll us in negotiations. They’re laughing at the concessions that were made. NO Republican should vote for this nonsense.”

    Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) – “And while there are good pieces to the deal, it doesn’t go far enough. Supporting this legislation would send the wrong message about how seriously we must take our debt problem. For those reasons, I will vote against the bill.”

    Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) – “Adding $4 trillion to our debt isn’t a deal “worthy of the American people. It’s a sell-out of the American people.”

    Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) – “This bill keeps all of Joe Biden’s policy, all of Joe Biden’s spending intact. This bill does nothing for the Green New Deal subsidies that are going to cripple our electric grid. To my Republican colleagues, vote no, vote no. And do the right thing. And let’s go find a better deal.”

    Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) – “President Biden jeopardized our nation’s fiscal stability by refusing to come to the negotiating table for far too long. While the Fiscal Responsibility Act includes some positive economic policies, it does not go far enough to gain my vote.”

    Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) – “I will be voting NO on the Biden/McCarthy debt limit legislation this week.”

    Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) – “This debt “deal” is bad for the country. It will increase our debt by at least 10% over 2 years without substantial reforms to our long-term fiscal situation—making an eventual default even more likely.”

    Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) – “Republicans do not need to negotiate with ourselves” when it comes to the debt ceiling situation, but also said that McCarthy had “gone above and beyond” in his negotiations with Biden.

    Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) – “I am voting NO on passing down trillions more in debt to our children and grandchildren while giving Democrats a blank check to pay for their radical agenda, including the weaponization of federal agencies. Its time to get our fiscal house in order and rein in wasteful spending.”

    Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) – “For these reasons and more, I will be voting NO on the Biden-McCarthy proposal to raise our nation’s Debt Ceiling. I urge my Republican colleagues to do the same.”

    Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) – “I’m voting NO on the $4T debt bill. BTW If you’re on social security, with the current debt and irresponsible spending, social security will be gone within 10 years.”

    Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) – “Washington is broken. Republicans got outsmarted by a President who can’t find his pants. I’m voting NO on the debt ceiling debacle because playing the DC game isn’t worth selling out our kids and grandkids.”

    Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) – “I will vote NO on increasing the debt on our children and grandchildren by $4 trillion because this deal does not contain anywhere near the CUTS and policy changes we need in order to stop Joe Biden’s war on the American people.”

    Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) – “It sets the record high emergency spending as baseline, eliminates debt ceiling through 2025, clawbacks are weak. $1.3B of $80B for IRS under IRA and Biden’s EO for student debt is still in the deal. Encourage your Rep to vote NO if you care about Americans financial future.”

    Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) – “This “deal” is insanity. A $4T debt ceiling increase with virtually no cuts is not what we agreed to. Not gonna vote to bankrupt our country. The American people deserve better.”

    Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) – “The Fiscal Irresponsibility Act is an insult to the American people. It adds $4 trillion to our existing $31 trillion national debt and continues to fund the Democrats’ and Biden Administration’s radical agenda. I will NOT be supporting this deal crafted by the Swamp!”

    Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) – “I think [McCarthy’s debt ceiling deal] is a betrayal of the power sharing arrangement we put in place that would protect the House GOP to make sure we could advance the ball forward.”

    Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) – “I am voting NO on the debt ceiling deal which does nothing to reform Washington’s spending addiction or address the core drivers of our nation’s nearly $32 trillion (and growing!) national debt.”

    Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) – ““We have to stop this out of control spending, that’s what this bill seeks to do, and I’ll look to have everything that’s in it, in some future deal.”

    Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) – “I cannot in good conscience vote for a deal that continues to kick the can down the road at the expense of our kids and grandkids. This is a huge missed opportunity to turn our nation away from a fiscal cliff and I urge my colleagues to vote NO on the Biden-McCarthy agreement as it currently stands.”

    Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) – “It’s very simple. When you come to Washington, you do what you say you’re going to, If you say you’ll get rid of 87,000 agents, you do it. You don’t play a shell game…at best this outcome funds the same leftist, woke, weaponized government at 99%.”

    Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) – “No Deal”

    Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) – “Biden’s debt ceiling deal surrenders almost EVERYTHING Republicans fought for in the Limit, Save, Grow Act. Americans deserve better. I am voting NO on this bill.”

    Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) – “For too long Washington has kicked this can down the road ignoring hard choices while putting future generations at risk. Now, at $31.8 trillion in debt, we are feeling the effects of Washington’s insatiable appetite for overspending as inflation is driving up prices and is eating away at the American dream and our quality of life.“

    Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va) – “I came to Washington four years ago to drain the Swamp, not to make it deeper. That’s why I CANNOT in good conscience vote for a roughly $4 trillion debt increase “deal,” which can only be characterized as a capitulation to the Liberal Left.”

    Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) – “Doesn’t add up to me. So today I’m going to vote against this new deal. It falls way short of what I expected and had hoped for to do something to send us back on a path to bring down the national debt, not to allow it to grow even further.”

    Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) – “Although I appreciate the hard work put into negotiating a debt ceiling deal with the president, I cannot in good conscience vote for the current version of the debt ceiling bill.”

    Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) – from TGP reader, “I just called my representative – Rep. Pete Sessions office in Washington, DC & his assistant said he is against the Biden-McCarthy debt limit deal & is going to vote NO tonight.”

    Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) – “The latest debt limit deal is a missed opportunity that: Adds $4 trillion to our national debt. Keeps $1.2 trillion in unreliable green energy giveaways. Forces 87% of Americans without federal student loan debt to pay for those that do. That’s why I am voting NO.”

    Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) – “I’m a NO on this $4 trillion debt limit deal. Why? Because the bill: – Won’t repeal billions for Biden’s weaponized IRS – Keeps in place Biden’s student loan bailout for gender studies degrees – Fails to ensure our defense spending keeps pace with Bidenflation.”

    Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) – “I’m a no. While I was originally optimistic about some of the conservative wins found in the negotiated debt ceiling package, I have read the bill, heard from hundreds of my constituents, and ultimately cannot in good conscience vote for this legislation.”

    Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) – “The Limit, Save, Grow Act, passed by House Republicans, responsibly raised the debt limit while reining in spending. The Fiscal Responsibility Act simply does not live up to the expectations we set, and I cannot in good conscience vote for it. I will be a no vote.”

    Potential Republican ‘no’ votes:

    Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.)
    Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.)
    Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.)
    Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN)
    Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX)

    A simple majority – at least 218 votes if all members are present – will be needed for passage. The Democrats will all likely vote in favor of the passage, excluding AOC (D-N.Y.) and Greg Casar (D-Texas). Democrats have 212 seats in the House of Representatives.

    Some of the Republican congressmen who have been outspoken in their support of the deal are Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL, Miami-Dade), Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY), Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), Rep. Mike Lawler (R-(NY), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL), Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), REp. Greg Murphy (R-NC), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

    The deal includes keeping a portion of the $80 billion increase in IRS funding and the 87,000 additional agents tasked with going after middle-class families.

    Only $1.9 billion of the $80 billion to fund 87,000 IRS agents were removed from the budget. 98% of the 87,000 agents are here to stay.

    “Of the $80 billion Democrats appropriated to the IRS over ten years, the “deal” rescinds $1.9 billion. You read that right. That’s the kind of “get” that’s so good McCarthy agreed to increase the debt ceiling $4 trillion,” said Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC).

    CALL YOUR REP NOW AND TELL THEM TO VOTE NO. 

    You can call Congress at 202.224.3121. Tell the Members to vote NO on the rule and vote no on the bill.

    Let us know if your state’s representative will vote against the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Send us an email at [email protected].

    Here is a visual from FOX News on 31 of the no-votes.

    via The Gateway Pundit

    May 31, 2023 at 05:16PM

  • Biden DHS Funding University Programs Claiming Infowars Part Of Far-Right Extremist Network

    Biden DHS Funding University Programs Claiming Infowars Part Of Far-Right Extremist Network

    Biden DHS Funding University Programs Claiming Infowars Part Of Far-Right Extremist Network

    https://ift.tt/q0kW4zi

    The corrupt Biden administration Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate college students into believing right-wing Americans are dangerous and racist extremists.

    Under DHS’ Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program (TVTP), university pupils are taught the Republican Party along with conservative news outlets are leading people to adopt fringe beliefs associated with neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

    The disturbing government-run propaganda scheme was exposed thanks to FOIA requests submitted by conservative watchdog group the Media Research Center (MRC).

    The group revealed the entire program has been dubbed a “high priority” of the Biden administration.

    A graph depicting the “Pyramid of Far-Right Radicalization” that has recently gone viral online can be seen below:

    MRC

    Media Research Center founder and president Brent Bozell said, “This terrorism task force is engaged in an active effort to demonize and eliminate Christian, conservative, and Republican organizations using federal taxpayer dollars. What we have uncovered calls for criminal prosecution. The American people need to know those who are abusing their positions in the federal government will be held accountable for their criminal behavior.”

    Fox News reported, “The Biden administration has awarded 80 grants through the TVTP totaling just under $40 million. The lowest grant was for $85,000, the highest was over $1.1 million, and the median was about $442,000. TVTP grant recipients are prohibited from engaging in viewpoint discrimination, according to DHS.”

    A University of Dayton program funded by DHS to the tune of $352,109 in 2022 called PREVENTS-OH used the graph, according to the New York Post.

    When the Post asked about the DHS funding the Dayton program, a DHS spokesperson said, “The presented chart was not developed, presented, or endorsed by the Department of Homeland Security, and was not part of any successful grant application to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS does not profile, target, or discriminate against any individual for exercising their constitutional rights protected by the First Amendment.”

    However, a vice president at MRC named Dan Schneider told the Post, “DHS is lying through its teeth once again. DHS did indeed fund the PREVENTS-OH program a year after a graph and documents were presented that equated Nazis to conservatives, Christians, and Republicans.”

    Schneider went on to accuse DHS Ohio of scrubbing its website to remove proof of funding the PREVENTS-OH program and told the government agency he already copied the documents before they were deleted.

    “We also have proof that ‘PREVENTS-OH’ actually hosted the conference and that DHS was an active participant, including featuring a senior DHS official at the conference,” he added.

    Schneider also called for Congress to launch a criminal investigation into DHS and to make criminal referrals to hold the government accountable.

    It’s imperative for citizens of the United States to begin speaking out against the weaponized federal government at every chance we get!

    Infowars’ War Room host Owen Shroyer discussed the “far-right” pyramid during a recent live transmission:

    Because Infowars relies on YOUR SUPPORT in order to continue funding the operation, we urge you to visit the Infowars Store to do your part in the battle against globalism by purchasing great products such as dietary supplements, books, t-shirts, survival gear and much more. Thanks!

    via Infowars

    May 31, 2023 at 07:07AM

  • False Flag Alert! Media & Homeland Security Warn ‘Right-Wing Extremists’ Or Russia Set To Attack Power Grid

    False Flag Alert! Media & Homeland Security Warn ‘Right-Wing Extremists’ Or Russia Set To Attack Power Grid

    False Flag Alert! Media & Homeland Security Warn ‘Right-Wing Extremists’ Or Russia Set To Attack Power Grid

    Several recent mainstream media reports reveal potential predictive programming being used to get the public ready for alleged right-wing or Russian attacks on the power grid.

    CBS Mornings covered a recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report warning far-right activists could be targeting the U.S. power grid as a way to disrupt the country and the government’s ability to operate.

    Despite first claiming the attacks would be done by “right-wing” extremists, the actual DHS paper states individuals “adhering to a range of ideologies will likely continue to plot and encourage physical attacks…”

    Another CBS fear campaign recently told viewers Russia could target the American power grid system to create chaos.

    The entire U.S. could allegedly suffer a power blackout if just nine key power substations were targeted either physically or by hackers.

    Of course, Infowars and Alex Jones have warned the global elite have prepared tools to intentionally turn off the U.S. power grid as part of the openly planned series of disasters ushering in the Great Reset.

    When the world’s social engineers plotted the release of a deadly bioweapon pandemic, we exposed their sinister agenda.

    Now, the same key players have been warning the next pandemic will be a “cyber” one where critical infrastructure is attacked.

    Conservative journalist and activist Candace Owens discussed a government-induced power grid collapse in a recent viral video, saying, “The World Economic Forum is predicting a cyber pandemic is inevitable.”

    Always ahead of the information curve, Infowars warned its followers back in December 2020 the next pandemic could be cyber.

    In fact, we played footage of WEF founder Klaus Schwab eerily stating the cyber attack would make the COVID-19 crisis appear to be a “small disturbance in comparison” to a power grid collapse.

    Alex Jones warned way back in 2010 the leftist green movement’s war on coal power and fossil fuels in general would lead to power grid failures.

    Jones also exposed the WEF’s power grid collapse scheme during a recent live transmission of The Alex Jones Show.

    Don’t miss a recent conversation between Alex Jones and the Health Ranger Mike Adams about the dangers of a cyber attack and how to best prepare to ensure your family stays safe.

    Red Pilled TV looks into the rising trend of power grid attacks:

    via Infowars

    May 30, 2023 at 05:05PM

  • “Multiple Steps – Slow Walked at Direction of Department of Justice” – IRS Whistleblower in Hunter Biden Probe Goes Public, Speaks to CBS News

    “Multiple Steps – Slow Walked at Direction of Department of Justice” – IRS Whistleblower in Hunter Biden Probe Goes Public, Speaks to CBS News

    “Multiple Steps – Slow Walked at Direction of Department of Justice” – IRS Whistleblower in Hunter Biden Probe Goes Public, Speaks to CBS News (UPDATE: Full Video of Interview) | The Gateway Pundit | by Kristinn Taylor

    The IRS whistleblower who went to Congress with claims the Justice Department interfered with a years-long high profile tax investigation–reported to involve Hunter Biden–has gone public, granting an interview with CBS News that aired Wednesday evening. (Update: Full video added at end of article.)

    Supervisory Criminal Investigative Agent Gary Shapley, a 14-year IRS veteran, spoke to CBS two days before he is scheduled to give closed door testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday. Shapley, a registered Republican, says he is non-partisan in his work and does not make political contributions, telling CBS, “I’m just simply not a political person. This is a job, and my oath of office is to treat everybody fairly that we investigate.”

    Shapley had fruitlessly gone to multiple in-house whistleblower channels at the IRS and DOJ before turning to Congress in frustration.

    A second IRS whistleblower, a member of Shapley’s team, contacted Congress last week with similar concerns of DOJ interference.

    Shapley’s attorney Mark Lytle informed Congress last week that Shaplry and his team of investigators had been abruptly pulled off the investigation on orders of the Justice Department.

    CBS posted a brief clip of Shapley saying, “There was multiple steps that were slow walked at the direction of the Department of Justice.”

    Excerpt from the CBS report online:

    “There were multiple steps that were slow-walked — were just completely not done — at the direction of the Department of Justice,” said Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency, who spoke exclusively to CBS News chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod on Tuesday. “When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw deviations from the normal process. It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past.”

    …Shapley told CBS News he became increasingly concerned about measures being taken that he said appeared to shield the target of the investigation — which CBS News independently confirmed is Hunter Biden.

    “Each and every time, it seemed to always benefit the subject,” Shapley said. “It just got to that point where that switch was turned on. And I just couldn’t silence my conscience anymore.”

    …”For a couple years, we’d been noticing these deviations in the investigative process. And I just couldn’t, you know, fathom that DOJ might be acting unethically on this,” he said.

    CBS News obtained a letter Shapley’s attorneys sent last week to the Office of the Special Counsel, a federal agency dedicated to assisting government whistleblowers. The letter alleges “irregularities” in the Department of Justice’s handling of the case, and cites a “charged meeting” Shapley’s team had with Justice Department prosecutors last October. According to the letter, following that meeting, Shapley’s team was effectively excluded from the investigation. Shapley would not say if he made prosecutors aware of his concerns but did acknowledge the incident prompted him to blow the whistle.

    “It was my red-line meeting,” Shapley said. “It just got to that point where that switch was turned on, and I just couldn’t silence my conscience anymore.”

    End excerpt. Please read the complete CBS report at this link.

    Breitbart reported earlier Wednesday that IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel sent a letter to Congress last week blaming the DOJ for the removal of the whistleblower (excerpt):

    IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel told Congress the Justice Department (DOJ) made the decision to purge an IRS whistleblower from the DOJ’s probe into Hunter Biden, according to a letter sent to House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO).

    Werfel’s letter on May 17 responded to Smith’s May 16 inquiry about concerns that a high-ranking IRS agent faced retaliation for raising red flags about alleged political interference in the tax probe of Hunter Biden.

    Werfel said the decision to remove a whistleblower from the tax investigation was at the DOJ’s direction, confirming what a second IRS whistleblower alleged Monday.

    “The IRS whistleblower you reference alleges that the change in their work assignment came at the direction of the Department of Justice,” reads the letter, obtained by Fox News. “As a general matter and not in reference to any specific case, I believe it is important to emphasize that in any matter involving federal judicial proceedings, the IRS follows the direction of the Justice Department.”

    Werfel disavowed any potential role he allegedly had in removing the IRS whistleblowers from the case.

    “I want to state unequivocally that I have not intervened – and will not intervene – in any way that would impact the status of any whistleblower,” Werfel said.

    Featured Image via Kevin Tober with the Media Research Center.

    UPDATE: Brief report on Gary Shapley by John Solomon:

    UPDATE: Complete CBS interview:

    via The Gateway Pundit

    May 25, 2023 at 07:08AM

  • A 30-ton shipment of explosive chemicals traveling from Wyoming to California by rail disappeared en route, officials say

    A 30-ton shipment of explosive chemicals traveling from Wyoming to California by rail disappeared en route, officials say

    A 30-ton shipment of explosive chemicals traveling from Wyoming to California by rail disappeared en route, officials say

    https://ift.tt/4A1QvFd

    • A 30-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate disappeared from a railcar, KQED reported.
    • The chemical is used to make both fertilizer and explosives.
    • The chemical’s supplier said that it thought the shipment, which was in pellet form, fell from the railcar.

    Officials are investigating the disappearance of a 30-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used to make both fertilizer and explosives, PBS affiliate KQED reported.

    A railcar loaded with 60,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate from explosives company Dyno Nobel left Cheyenne, Wyoming, on April 12, heading to California, according to KQED, which cited an incident report from the company. But two weeks after leaving Cheyenne, the railcar arrived at a rail stop in the Mojave Desert where it was found to be empty, per the report.

    Ammonium nitrate is used as an agricultural fertilizer, to manufacture first aid products such as cold packs, and in explosives for the mining and construction industries, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.

    It was also the primary explosive used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people and was at the time was the worst terror attack in US history, and there have been incidents of supplies of the chemical exploding when not stored correctly.

    The National Fire Protection Association says that because ammonium nitrate can accelerate fires and explosions, it can present a “significant explosive threat,” but needs another element to destabilize it first.

    Dyno Nobel said that it thought the chemical, which was in pellet form, fell from the covered hopper car it was transported on, similar to what coal is transported on, KQED reported.

    “The railcar was sealed when it left the Cheyenne facility, and the seals were still intact when it arrived in Saltdale,” a Dyno Nobel spokesperson told KQED. “The initial assessment is that a leak through the bottom gate on the railcar may have developed in transit.”

    Union Pacific, which transported the railcar, told Insider it was in the “early stages” of an investigation into the lost freight.

    “The fertilizer is designed for ground application and quick soil absorption,” a spokesperson for Union Pacific told Insider. “If the loss resulted from a rail car leak over the course of transportation from origin to destination, the release should pose no risk to public health or the environment.”

    “At this point in the investigation, we do not believe there is any criminal or malicious activity involved,” the spokesperson added.

    A Federal Railroad Administration representative told Insider that it was investigating whether the railroad or shipper committed any federal violations under the Department of Transportation’s regulatory authority.

    Dyno Nobel told KQED that it had “limited control” over the railcar while it was in transit and that it was being moved back to Wyoming for inspection. It added that it would work to prevent similar incidents in the future.

    The California Public Utilities Commission told KQED that it was also investigating.

    via Business Insider

    May 23, 2023 at 06:50AM

  • CIA: Undermining and Nazifying Ukraine Since 1953

    CIA: Undermining and Nazifying Ukraine Since 1953

    CIA: Undermining and Nazifying Ukraine Since 1953, by Wayne Madsen

    The CIA programs spanned some four decades. Starting as a paramilitary operation that provided funding and equipment for such anti-Soviet Ukrainian resistance groups as the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UHVR); its affiliates, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), all Nazi Banderists. The CIA also provided support to a relatively anti-Bandera faction of the UHVR, the ZP-UHVR, a foreign-based virtual branch of the CIA and British MI-6 intelligence services. The early CIA operation to destabilize Ukraine, using exile Ukrainian agents in the West who were infiltrated into Soviet Ukraine, was codenamed Project AERODYNAMIC.

    A formerly TOP SECRET CIA document dated July 13, 1953, provides a description of AERODYNAMIC: «The purpose of Project AERODYNAMIC is to provide for the exploitation and expansion of the anti-Soviet Ukrainian resistance for cold war and hot war purposes. Such groups as the Ukrainian Supreme Council of Liberation (UHVR) and its Ukrainian Insurgent Army (OUN), the Foreign Representation of the Ukrainian Supreme Council of Liberation (ZPUHVR) in Western Europe and the United States, and other organizations such as the OUN/B will be utilized». The CIA admitted in a 1970 formerly SECRET document that it had been in contact with the ZPUHVR since 1950.

    The OUN-B was the Bandera faction of the OUN and its neo-Nazi sympathizers are today found embedded in the Ukrainian national government in Kiev and in regional and municipal governments throughout the country.

    AERODYNAMIC placed field agents inside Soviet Ukraine who, in turn, established contact with Ukrainian Resistance Movement, particularly SB (intelligence service) agents of the OUN who were already operating inside Ukraine. The CIA arranged for airdrops of communications equipment and other supplies, presumably including arms and ammunition, to the «secret» CIA army in Ukraine. Most of the CIA’s Ukrainian agents received training in West Germany from the US Army’s Foreign Intelligence Political and Psychological (FI-PP) branch. Communications between the CIA agents in Ukraine and their Western handlers were conducted by two-way walkie-talkie (WT), shortwave via international postal channels, and clandestine airborne and overland couriers.

    Agents airdropped into Ukraine carried a kit that contained, among other items, a pen gun with tear gas, an arctic sleeping bag, a camp axe, a trenching tool, a pocket knife, a chocolate wafer, a Minox camera and a 35 mm Leica camera, film, a Soviet toiletry kit, a Soviet cap and jacket, a .22 caliber pistol and bullets, and rubber «contraceptives» for ‘waterproofing film’. Other agents were issued radio sets, hand generators, nickel-cadmium batteries, and homing beacons.

    An affiliated project under AERODYNAMIC was codenamed CAPACHO.

    CIA documents show that AERODYNAMIC continued in operation through the Richard Nixon administration into 1970.

    The program took on more of a psychological warfare operation veneer than a real-life facsimile of a John Le Carré «behind the Iron Curtain» spy novel. The CIA set up a propaganda company in Manhattan that catered to printing and publishing anti-Soviet ZPUHVR literature that would be smuggled into Ukraine. The new battleground would not be swampy retreats near Odessa and cold deserted warehouses in Kiev but at the center of the world of publishing and the broadcast media.

    The CIA front company was Prolog Research and Publishing Associates, Inc., which later became known simply as Prolog. The CIA codename for Prolog was AETENURE. The group published the Ukrainian language «Prolog» magazine. The CIA referred to Prolog as a «non-profit, tax exempt cover company for the ZP/UHVR’s activities». The «legal entity» used by the CIA to fund Prolog remains classified information. However, the SECRET CIA document does state that the funds for Prolog were passed to the New York office «via Denver and Los Angeles and receipts are furnished Prolog showing fund origin to backstop questioning by New York fiscal authorities».

    As for the Munich office of Prolog, the CIA document states that funding for it comes from an account separate from that of Prolog in New York from a cooperating bank, which also remains classified. In 1967, the CIA merged the activities of Prolog Munich and the Munich office of the Ukrainian exiled nationalist «Suchasnist» journal. The Munich office also supported the «Ukrainische Gesellschaft fur Auslandstudien». The CIA documents also indicate that US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents may have interfered with AERODYNAMIC agents in New York. A 1967 CIA directive advised all ZPUHVR agents in the United States to either report their contacts with United Nations mission diplomats and UN employees from the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR to the FBI or their own CIA project case officer. CIA agents in charge of AERODYNAMIC in New York and Munich were codenamed AECASSOWARY agents. Apparently not all that taken with the brevity of MI-6’s famed agent «007», one CIA agent in Munich was codenamed AECASSOWARY/6 and the senior agent in New York was AECASSOWARY/2.

    AECASSOWARY agents took part in and ran other AERODYNAMIC teams that infiltrated the Vienna World Youth Conference in 1959. The Vienna infiltration operation, where contact with made with young Ukrainians, was codenamed LCOUTBOUND by the CIA.

    In 1968, the CIA ordered Prolog Research and Publishing Associates, Inc. terminated and replaced by Prolog Research Corporation, «a profit-making, commercial enterprise ostensibly serving contracts for unspecified users as private individuals and institutions».

    The shakeup of Prolog was reported by the CIA to have arisen from operation MHDOWEL. There is not much known about MHDOWEL other than it involved the blowing of the CIA cover of a non-profit foundation. The following is from a memo to file, dated January 31, 1969, from CIA assistant general counsel John Greany, «Concerns a meeting of Greaney, counsel Lawrence Houston and Rocca about a ‘confrontation’ with NY FBI office on January 17, 1969. They discussed two individuals whose names were redacted. One was said to be a staff agent of the CIA since 8/28/61 who had been assigned in 1964 to write a monograph, which had been funded by a grant from a foundation whose cover was blown in MHDOWEL (I suspect that is code for US Press). One of the individuals [name redacted] had been requested for use with Project DTPILLAR in November 1953 to Feb. 1955 and later in March 1964 for WUBRINY. When the Domestic Operations Division advised Security that this person would not be used in WUBRINY, Rocca commented that ‘there are some rather ominous allegations against members of the firm of [redacted],’ indicating one member of that firm was a ‘card-carrying member of the Communist Party.’ The memo went on to say that Rocca was investigating the use of the individual in Project DTPILLAR concerning whether that person had mentioned activities in Geneva in March 1966 in connection with Herbert Itkin». Raymond Rocca was the deputy chief of the CIA’s Counterintelligence Division. Itkin was an undercover agent for the FBI and CIA who allegedly infiltrated the Mafia and was given a new identity in California as «Herbert Atkin» in 1972.

    In 1969, AERODYNAMIC began advancing the cause of the Crimean Tatars. In 1959, owing to Canada’s large Ukrainian population, Canada’s intelligence service began a program similar to AERODYNAMIC codenamed «REDSKIN».

    As international air travel increased, so did the number of visitors to the West from Soviet Ukraine. These travelers were of primary interest to AERODYNAMIC. Travelers were asked by CIA agents to clandestinely carry Prolog materials, all censored by the Soviet government, back to Ukraine for distribution. Later, AERODYNAMIC agents began approaching Ukrainian visitors to eastern European countries, particularly Soviet Ukrainian visitors to Czechoslovakia during the «Prague Spring» of 1968. The Ukrainian CIA agents had the same request to carry back subversive literature to Ukraine.

    AERODYNAMIC continued into the 1980s as operation QRDYNAMIC, which was assigned to the CIA’s Political and Psychological Staff’s Soviet East Europe Covert Action Program. Prolog saw its operations expanded from New York and Munich to London, Paris, and Tokyo. QRDYNAMIC began linking up with operations financed by hedge fund tycoon George Soros, particularly the Helsinki Watch Group’s operatives in Kiev and Moscow. Distribution of underground material expanded from journals and pamphlets to audio cassette tapes, self-inking stamps with anti-Soviet messages, stickers, and T-shirts.

    QRDYNAMIC expanded its operations into China, obviously from the Tokyo office, and Czechoslovakia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Soviet Central Asia, the Soviet Pacific Maritime region, and among Ukrainian-Canadians. QRDYNAMIC also paid journalist agents-of-influence for their articles. These journalists were located in Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Israel, and Austria.

    But at the outset of glasnost and perestroika in the mid-1980s, things began to look bleak for QRDYNAMIC. The high cost of rent in Manhattan had it looking for cheaper quarters in New Jersey.

    Assistant Secretary of State for European/Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, the baked goods-bearing «Maiden of Maidan,» told the US Congress that the United States spent $5 billion to wrest control of Ukraine from the Russian sphere since the collapse of the Soviet Union. With the recent disclosures from the CIA it appears that the price tag to the American tax payers of such foreign shenanigans was much higher.

    via Voltaire Network

    May 22, 2023 at 07:22AM

  • Bombshell Closing Arguments in Signature Verification Trial – DAY THREE

    Bombshell Closing Arguments in Signature Verification Trial – DAY THREE

    WATCH LIVE: Kari Lake’s Attorneys to Cross Examine Maricopa County Elections Director and Give Closing Arguments in Signature Verification Trial – DAY THREE | The Gateway Pundit | by Jordan Conradson

    https://ift.tt/IwuGWtr

    Maricopa County ballot affidavit signatures

    Kari Lake is in court today for the third and final day of her trial for her lawsuit contesting the stolen 2022 Midterm.

    Lake is fighting Maricopa County’s failure to verify ballot affidavit signatures before Judge Peter Thompson after the Arizona Supreme Court remanded the claim.

    The Gateway Pundit reported live on days one and two of the trial.

    Damning evidence of at least one Maricopa County signature reviewer simply clicking through signature checks significantly faster than their colleague seated next to them was released before trial and shown to the judge by Lake’s attorneys.

    The Gateway Pundit reported on another video showing the same Maricopa County employee failing to verify signatures and likely approving over 5,600 signatures in about two hours.

    The person in the videos “verified” almost 27,000 signatures alone, which is 10,000 more than the margin of victory. The defense later claimed the individual was fired or removed from his level-one role.

    However, as The Gateway Pundit reported, this individual was seen in his same role on Maricopa County’s cameras from October 17 to November 15. Who knows how many ballots he carelessly approved without comparison in the roughly one month he worked?

    Maricopa County Claims Employee Was Removed After Kurt Olsen Plays BOMBSHELL Video of Signature Reviewer “Verifying” Signatures in LESS THAN 2 Seconds Each – Employee Seen Working Until The End of Signature Review

    Over 274k ballot signatures were approved by Maricopa County signature reviewers in less than 3 seconds each. At least one individual had a 100% acceptance rate.

    While attorneys for Maricopa County, Katie Hobbs, and Adrian Fontes claim the evidence shows they completed signature verification, it is impossible to compare and verify signatures in less than three seconds. Nobody can read and compare signatures or voter registration information so quickly.

    According to trial testimony by Jacqueline Onigkeit, signature reviewers “were told to scroll down and make sure that we verify the present green affidavit with the past history affidavits.” Because of the massive number of rejected signatures, ballots were sent back to level one reviewers by direct supervisors and full-time County employees because they were “overwhelmed.” Onigkeit said they were “pressured” to approve these bad signatures.

    Forensic document analyst Eric Speckin also testified yesterday that one cannot accurately verify signatures in two or three seconds, especially on such a mass scale as Maricopa County’s election.

    The trial yesterday ended in the middle of Maricopa County’s direct examination of Maricopa County Election Director Rey Valenzuela. Lake’s attorneys will cross examine Valenzuela and give closing arguments today.

    via The Gateway Pundit

    May 20, 2023 at 09:06AM

  • FBI misused surveillance tool on Jan. 6 suspects, BLM arrestees and others

    FBI misused surveillance tool on Jan. 6 suspects, BLM arrestees and others

    The FBI has misused a powerful digital surveillance tool more than 278,000 times, including against crime victims, Jan. 6 riot suspects, people arrested at protests after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020 and — in one case — 19,000 donors to a congressional candidate, according to a newly unsealed court document.

    FBI officials say they have already fixed the problems, which the agency blamed on a misunderstanding between its employees and Justice Department lawyers about how to properly use a vast database named for the legal statute that created it, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

    But the failures to use the database correctly when collecting information about U.S. citizens and others may make it harder for the agency to marshal support in Congress to renew the law, which is due to expire at the end of this year. It may also create additional head winds for the FBI, which has been under attack for years by former president Donald Trump and his political supporters. House lawmakers aligned with Trump held a hearing this week trying to show that the nation’s premier law enforcement agency is biased against conservatives.

    The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees Section 702, has pressured the FBI to address the problems, writing in the April 2022 opinion that was unsealed Friday that if the agency doesn’t perform better, the court will crack down and order its own changes to FBI practices.

    The Section 702 database is a vast trove of electronic communications and other information that can be searched by the National Security Agency and the FBI. The FBI is authorized to search the database only when agents have reason to believe that such a search will produce information relevant to foreign intelligence purposes, or evidence of crimes.

    Built in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the database is seen by U.S. officials as one of the prize jewels of the national security apparatus. Its primary purpose is targeting foreign intelligence or terrorism information. But the sweeping nature of the information in the database has long worried civil rights advocates, who argue that the government has proved it cannot be trusted to use the system carefully.

    The court “is encouraged by the amendments to the FBI’s querying procedures,” Judge Rudolph Contreras of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court wrote in the opinion, which detailed the nearly 300,000 abuses logged between 2020 and early 2021. “Nonetheless, compliance problems with the querying of Section 702 information have proven to be persistent and widespread. If they are not substantially mitigated by these recent measures, it may become necessary to consider other responses, such as substantially limiting the number of FBI personnel with access to unminimized Section 702 information.”Read the opinion by Judge Contreras of Section 702 abuses by the FBI

    While House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has argued that the FBI has mistreated conservatives and applied a liberal bent to its investigations, the examples cited in Contreras’s opinion suggest that the bureau was multifaceted in its failure to live up to the legal standards of the courts and the Justice Department. In a written statement, Jordan said that FBI Director Christopher A. Wray “told us we can sleep well at night because of the FBI’s so-called FISA reforms. But it just keeps getting worse.”

    In June 2020, the FBI searched for digital data and communications of 133 people arrested “in connection with civil unrest and protests between approximately May 30, and June 18, 2020,” a time when demonstrations erupted across the country over Floyd’s death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

    That search was done, officials said, to see if there was counterterrorism information about those individuals. When questioned about the searches later, FBI officials said it was reasonable for agents to think the searches would return foreign intelligence. The parts of the court papers describing that effort have significant redactions, making it unclear why the FBI developed its theory. The filing also doesn’t make clear how many of the individuals whose information was sought from the database were arrested while protesting police conduct, how many might have been counterprotesters or what, if anything, was done with the information gathered.

    Around that same time, an FBI analyst conducted 656 queries of FISA information, apparently because the bureau was considering whether to use people as informants and wanted to check for any derogatory information, the court filing says. The FBI did not have any reason to believe that agents would find such information, officials said.

    Officials also found a long pattern between 2016 and 2020 in which the FBI conducted FISA searches about “individuals listed in police homicide reports, including victims, next-of-kin, witnesses, and suspects,” according to the court opinion. The Justice Department found that these searches violated the rules “because there was no reasonable basis to expect they would return foreign intelligence or evidence of crime.” The FBI, however, argued “that querying FISA information using identifiers of the victims — simply because they were homicide victims — was reasonably likely to retrieve evidence of crime.”

    After the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, an FBI employee ran batches of inquiries that amounted to 23,132 separate queries of presumed Americans “to find evidence of possible foreign influence, although the analyst conducting the queries had no indications of foreign influence related to the query term used,” Contreras found. There, too, Justice Department officials concluded that there was no specific factual basis to think the searches would turn up foreign intelligence information or evidence of a crime. The court opinion also noted that “no raw Section 702 information was accessed as a result of these queries.”

    In a different incident, an FBI analyst “conducted a batch query for over 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign” because the analyst said the campaign was “a target of foreign influence,” the opinion said. But Justice Department officials found in an audit that “only eight identifiers used in the query” — often a name, phone number or an email address — “had sufficient ties to foreign influence activities” to comply with FISA standards. It’s not clear what, if anything, was done with the information collected.

    Officials said the candidate in question did not ultimately win a seat in Congress, and the incident was distinct from an instance in which Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) said FISA surveillance wrongly targeted him.Facial recognition software used to identify Lafayette Square protester accused of assault

    Officials said lawmakers who were briefed months ago about the problems have been pushing authorities to make them public. The delay in doing so was due to discussions of redactions in a separate part of the opinion, which described a novel application of surveillance techniques, said the officials, who like others interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security matters. The details of that part of the opinion are redacted in a way that makes it difficult to determine the technique, target and purpose of that surveillance.

    Senior law enforcement officials said Friday that the problems in the report do not represent the FBI’s current practices. The problems were discovered largely because of Justice Department audits, they said, and have been remedied.

    “We’re not trying to hide from this stuff, but this type of noncompliance is unacceptable,” a senior FBI official said.

    “There was confusion historically about what the query standard was,” said another senior law enforcement official.

    Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a longtime critic of what he says is dangerous overreach by U.S. intelligence officials, decried what he called the “shocking abuses of FISA Section 702.” He said that the abuses have been going on for years and that officials are still withholding key details from the public.

    “There is important, secret information about how the government has interpreted Section 702 that Congress and the American people need to see before the law is renewed,” Wyden said in a written statement.

    The FBI has rolled out a host of changes to how agents and analysts use the Section 702 database. While a previous version of the system automatically included it in a list of areas that agents could search for information, agents and analysts must now specifically seek and choose to search Section 702 information. FBI users of the database are also required to write, in their own words, why they think their search will return foreign intelligence information or evidence of a crime, and an attorney must approve any “batch” searches involving large numbers of people.

    In recent months, authorities have touted that the number of Section 702 searches that involve U.S. residents or companies has dropped dramatically — more than 90 percent from last year. Officials said Friday that the decline happened largely because the Justice Department audit found significant compliance failures by the FBI.

    The problems identified by the court and the Justice Department are separate from criticism lodged against the FBI in 2019 by the Justice Department’s inspector general, and again this week by special counsel John Durham, over the bureau’s use of a different kind of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order, which specifically targeted a former Trump adviser in 2016 and 2017 based on faulty and incomplete FBI applications.

    In 2021, a follow-up report by Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz found “widespread” failures by the FBI to follow one of the key rules of FISA surveillance, indicating that the problems went far beyond the agency’s investigation of the former Trump adviser, Carter Page.

    That earlier criticism has led some Republicans to suggest that the FBI cannot be trusted with these surveillance powers — criticism that may intensify with the new findings of misuse.

  • Durham Report Reveals FBI Shut Down Four Criminal Investigations into the Clintons

    Durham Report Reveals FBI Shut Down Four Criminal Investigations into the Clintons

    Durham Report Reveals FBI Shut Down Four Criminal Investigations into the Clintons

    Special Counsel John Durham’s highly-anticipated report on the origins of the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016 revealed that top leaders at the Bureau shut down four criminal investigations into Hillary and Bill Clinton.

    In 2014, the FBI investigated a “well-placed” confidential source’s claims that an unnamed foreign government intended to “contribute to Hillary Clinton’s anticipated presidential campaign, as a way to gain influence with Clinton should she win the presidency,” the report said.

     

    The field office investigating these claims “almost immediately” sought a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant, but it remained “in limbo” for approximately four months, primarily due to Clinton’s then-expected presidential campaign.

     

    As stated in Durham’s report:

    According to another agent, the application lingered because “everyone was ‘super more careful’” and “scared with the big name [Clinton]” involved. 321 “[T]hey were pretty “tippy-toeing’ around HRC because there was a chance she would be the next President.”

    Durham’s report also revealed that three separate FBI field offices in Washington, DC; Little Rock, Arkansas; and New York City, New York, opened investigations into “possibly criminal activity involving the Clinton Foundation” less than one year before the November 2016 presidential election.

    Read more

    via Infowars

     

     

    May 19, 2023 at 07:01AM