UNDER THE BUS: FBI Agent Faulted In FISA Report For ‘Significant’ Errors Has Finally Been Identified

By Chuck Ross

An FBI agent faulted for some of the most significant problems laid out in the Justice Department’s inspector general report on FISA abuse against a Trump campaign associate has been identified.

The New York Times, citing people familiar with the FBI’s Russia probe, identified Stephen A. Somma, a counterintelligence investigator who works out of the bureau’s New York field office, as “Case Agent 1” from the inspector general’s (IG) report.

The IG blasted the FBI for its handling of information used to obtain four surveillance orders against Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide.

“Case Agent 1” is singled in the report as being “primarily responsible for some of the most significant errors and omissions in the FISA applications.”

DOJ: At Least Two of FBI’s Four FISA Warrants ‘WERE NOT VALID’

By Debra Heine

In a December letter to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the Justice Department officially determined that at least half of the secret surveillance applications the FBI sought to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page were illegal.

FISA FOLLIES: "I Got This, Beyatch!" Edition

By Biff Spackle, Cub Reporter

"YOU’RE FIRED, MR. WRAY": FBI Director Christopher Wray Is Part of the Problem

By Julie Kelly

The nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency is in shambles. Following a series of internal investigations, in addition to extensive reporting on the misconduct of former top officials, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is suffering a crisis in confidence from the very people it has a sworn duty to protect: the American public.

Considering its behavior over the past four years, one could be forgiven for thinking that the FBI exists only to serve the interests of the political aristocracy. From the Clinton email server cover-up to the unfounded counterintelligence probe into four Americans working for the Trump presidential campaign and the corruption of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the FBI has exploited its power to defend partisan allies and punish foes.

AG BARR: @Comey is a Liar

Just thought you'd want to see this.

Barr accusing Comey of lying. This is not over by a long way. pic.twitter.com/5gm7OLhSAQ

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) December 19, 2019

With that said, I'll reserve judgment until people start getting charged with the actual crimes they committed. Americans are right to be leery of our system of justice. Hillary Clinton destroyed 33,000 emails that were under Congressional subpoena and isn't serving time. Gen. Michael Flynn is about to be sentenced for "lying" to the FBI. Meanwhile, coup plotters are on CNN, opining on impeachment (hat tip: BadBlue Uncensored News).

DEVIN NUNES ON THE FISA COURT: Shut It Down. Shut It All Down.

By Debra Heine

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is ringing alarm bells about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court [FISC], saying that it is culpable, along with the FBI, for the improper wiretapping of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, and needs to be dismantled.

Nunes, the ranking Republican member on the House Intelligence Committee, joined Fox News’ Martha MacCallum Tuesday evening to discuss the FISA court’s tardy rebuke of the FBI’s handling of its surveillance-application process, and for the second time this week, he called for the secret court to be shut down.

In a four page order (PDF) Tuesday, the court’s presiding judge Rosemary M. Collyer gave the bureau until Jan. 10 to come up with solutions, a week after Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz issued his scathing report detailing the FBI and DOJ’s misconduct during the Trump–Russia investigation.

A REMINDER OF THE REAL SCANDAL: Here are the FISA Court Documents Revealing How the Obama-Comey FBI abused surveillance powers

Lest we forget, one of Barack Obama's dozens of scandals historic firsts was turning the FBI into a massive political surveillance operation. That's not my subjective spin, that's the written opinion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).

In a little-publicized opinion issued on April 26, 2017, FISC Judge Rosemary Collyer scalded Obama-era intelligence agencies for rampant abuse of NSA databases.

These agencies, including the FBI, routinely accessed the communications (emails, texts, etc.) of American citizens. Nearly 90 percent of all such queries were deemed violations of various laws, starting with the Fourth Amendment prohibiting illegal searches.

And no one, to my knowledge, has ever been held accountable.

Below are the key paragraphs describing the scope of the abuse.

A #SPYGATE WARNING: How the Leaders of the Coup Could Escape Justice

By Thomas J. Farnan

The Russian collusion conspirators spend a lot of time in public seemingly unconcerned they will go to jail. That tells me they know something we don’t.

Here’s what I think it is.

AT LAST: Real Evidence of Russian Collusion Emerges

For those looking for evidence -- hard evidence -- of actual Russian collusion, look no further than The Hill's John Solomon's reporting. About a week ago, he published a summary of dealings between members of the Obama administration and Russian state actors entitled "The case for Russia collusion … against the Democrats".

The executive summary represents a stunningly underreported scandal:

We Must Protect Democrats by Voting Them Out of Office

By The EIB Network

Let us review what we have been told today. We could sum this up by saying that many Democrats today have been targeted by bombs.

CNN was sent a bomb. Bill and Hillary Clinton were sent a bomb. Barack Hussein Obama was sent a bomb. George Soros was sent a bomb yesterday. Eric Holder has been sent a bomb. And Debbie “Blabbermouth” Schultz, the former chairman of the Democrat National Committee was also said to be recipient of a bomb.

MONUMENTAL: The Naked Truth About Robert Mueller

By Rep. Louis Gohmert

Robert Mueller has a long and sordid history of illicitly targeting innocent people. His many actions are a stain upon the legacy of American jurisprudence. He lacks the judgment and credibility to lead the prosecution of anyone.

I do not make these statements lightly. Each time I prepared to question Mueller during Congressional hearings, the more concerned I became about his ethics and behavior. As I went back to begin compiling all of that information in order to recount personal interactions with Mueller, the more clearly the big picture began to come into focus.

10 Key Insights From Today's Deep State Coup News

For your review:

10. Lisa Page, Cooperating Witness Against the Deep State
Lisa Page, the DOJ special counsel for the FBI during Obamagate, is a cooperating witness with Inspector General Horowitz. Her testimony -- and text messages -- are laced throughout today's IG report on Andrew McCabe's lies that led to his firing. Page's evidence is very likely instrumental to the more complete IG report due out in May.

9. Andrew McCabe Freaked Out About Reports of His Conflict of Interest
When The Wall Street Journal's Devlin Barrett reported on Andrew McCabe's conflict of interest with respect to the Hillary Clinton email investigation, the then-deputy director had a panic attack.

HOGAN’S ZEROES: The "I Know Nothing" Dossier Gang

By Daniel Greenfield

"I know nothing," isn't just the motto of Sergeant Schultz. It's also the Clinton motto. And Christopher Steele, the Brit whom the Clinton campaign hired to find out things for them, also knows nothing.

Or at least that's the theme of the sprawling New Yorker profile of Steele, his dossier and his associates.

Steele, Jane Mayer, its authoress, tells us, is a brilliant researcher and we should take his word about all his allegations involving President Trump. Even the ones that aren't true and don't make any sense.

The Andrew McCabe Domino is Only the First to Fall

By Daniel John Sobieski

Oh, what a tangled web the unindicted co-conspirators in the Deep State coup to keep Hillary Clinton out of prison and Donald Trump out of the White House have woven.  When you tell the truth, the adage goes, you never have to remember anything.  But when you lie, you have to remember the lies you told to cover the earlier lies, and you certainly have to keep your story in line with your other co-conspirators.

That Andrew McCabe, in his response to his firing, failed miserably on this score, implicating former FBI Director James Comey, is the conclusion of George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley:

JUSTICE FOR BRIAN TERRY? Eric Holder In Hiding as DOJ to Release "Fast and Furious" Documents

By Daniel John Sobieski

Have they no shame?  Just days before it was announced that documents regarding the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal were to be released after being hidden for six years under executive  privilege, there was former Obama attorney general Eric Holder responding to a question on Bill Maher's show:

The former attorney general drew applause from the studio audience when he quipped: "The difference between me and Jeff Sessions is, I had a president I did not have to protect."

Holder had used nearly the same line in an interview with The Washington Post last month.  Maher didn't challenge him to defend it, but some critics have accused Holder of protecting Obama for years.

In 2012, Holder became the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress – in a 255-to-67 vote – for refusing to turn over documents related to a botched gun-running investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Holder did have a president to protect, as well as himself, partners in a criminal scheme to run guns into Mexico and into the hands of Mexican drug lords, guns that led to the deaths of border agents Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata.  He was protecting a president who recently made his own self-serving and false claim:

SURFACING LIKE U-571: Obama’s Secret Involvement in the Clinton Foundation Scandals

By Charles Ortel

Last week, former President Barack Obama claimed his eight years in the Oval Office were "scandal-free". The remarks seemed, charitably, one part Clintonian (depends what "scandal" and "free" mean) and another part delusional (Editor: See the complete list of Mr. Obama's "historic firsts").

Today, the strategy of getting captured corporate media to repeat unvetted wishful thinking falls flat because Americans like the quick work President Donald Trump has made of reigniting growth in after-tax paychecks. More of us question Obama's success fables spun during eight long years, too. We want and deserve answers to tough questions.

COLLUSION DELUSION: Trump Squeezing Russia Like a Lemon

By Caroline Glick

In her daily press briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders rejected the contention that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of 13 Russian nationals for interfering with the 2016 election proves the Trump administration is soft on Russia.

To back up her point, Sanders drew a distinction between former president Barack Obama's policies towards Russia and President Donald Trump's Russia policy, and insisted Trump has been much tougher on Russia than Obama was.

LEVIN: New Reports Only Strengthen My Argument That Obama Must Answer Some Very Hard Questions

By Chris Pandolfo

The media is finally catching up to Mark Levin on the Obama administration surveillance abuse scandal.

Now, a growing body of documentation from congressional investigations into the FBI’s politicized conduct during the 2016 election confirms that Levin, a former chief of staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese, was right about the Obama administration spying on Trump world; he was right about the FBI using the “35 pages of crap” Russian dossier to seek a FISA warrant; and he was right about President Barack Obama keeping tabs on the FBI’s investigations.

Fox News reported Wednesday that President Obama was briefed on the status of the Hillary Clinton email investigation some time in September 2016. A text message sent by FBI official Lisa Page to her colleague Peter Strzok on Sept. 6 said that “potus wants to know everything we’re doing.”

Democrats’ #ReleaseTheMemo Hysteria: “If you’re not catching flak, you’re not over the target”

The hysterical bleatings of Democrats who are in the final stages of dealing with a political earthquake are entertaining, to be sure. Among the assertions:

• The pencil-necked recipient of -- reportedly -- a mysterious $7.8 million, Adam Schiff, says that House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes modified the FISA memo. Retreating from the matrix, we find that Nunes corrected a few typos and redacted a statement based upon an FBI request;

• The Wicked Witch of the West (Nancy Pelosi) wrote Paul Ryan demanding that Nunes be removed from his chairmanship;

• An MSNBC analyst asserted that Nunes is a Russian agent;

• Jerrod "Jabba the" Nadler has asked for an emergency meeting with the FBI to somehow stop the release of the memo.

Yes, this is what passes for informed debate on the left side of the aisle. The reality is quite simple.

TICK TOCK: The Clinton Foundation In the Crosshairs of Justice

By By Daniel John Sobieski

Whether it is merely the FBI trying to restore its shattered credibility or justice finally being done, the news that the pay-to-play activities of the Clinton Foundation are going to get renewed and serious attention is welcome.  The Clintons have made a career of ignoring, skirting, and breaking the law.  Up to this point, crime has paid off handsomely for the Clintons, but now they may find themselves caught between Little Rock and a hard place: