Law Trump orders feds to declassify key FISA documents, text messages in FBI Russia probe

Heads are gonna roll....

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...uments-text-messages-in-fbi-russia-probe.html

President Trump on Monday ordered the declassification of several key documents related to the FBI's probe of Russian actions during the 2016 presidential election, including 21 pages of an application for a renewed surveillance warrant against former campaign aide Carter Page, and text messages from disgraced FBI figures Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump had ordered the documents released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Justice Department "[a]t the request of a number of committees of Congress, and for reasons of transparency."

The documents to be declassified also include all FBI reports on interviews with Justice Department official Bruce Ohr and all FBI reports of interviews prepared in connection with all other applications to surveil Carter Page.


Trump also ordered the Justice Department to release text messages from a number of the key players in the Russia investigation "without redaction" -- including Ohr, Strzok, Lisa Page, former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

The 21 pages only make up a small part of the 412 pages of FISA applications and warrants related to Page released by the FBI earlier this year in heavily redacted format. The June 2017 application was the last of four filed by the Justice Department in support of FISA court orders allowing the monitoring of Page for nearly a year.

According to the redacted version, three of the declassified pages involve information included in a section titled "The Russian Government's Coordinated Efforts to Influence the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election." That section includes reference to potential coordination between people associated with Trump's campaign and the Russian election interference effort.

The other 18 pages appear to relate to information the government submitted that came from former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled a dossier detailing the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia. The document has been a partisan lightning rod since it was published in January 2017.

It was not immediately clear when or how the documents would be released. A source familiar with the timing of the declassification told Fox News that they expected the Carter Page warrant application to be declassified first, followed by the FBI reports on agent interviews with Ohr.

The source added that the Justice Department is working on a "compressed timeline" and they expect the first release of records in days or sooner. The text messages are expected to take longer because of the sheer number involved and the fact that Trump ordered their release without redactions.

A Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News that the DOJ and FBI "are already working with the Director of National Intelligence to comply with the President's order."

ODNI spokesperson Kellie Wade told Fox News: "As requested by the White House, the ODNI is working expeditiously with our interagency partners to conduct a declassification review of the documents the President has identified for declassification."

Congressional sources told Fox News that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., does not know how soon he will get the documents, but said Trump's order covers "pretty much everything that he wanted ... and the text messages are a bonus."

According to the sources, Nunes added: "Wow! This is a direct order."

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., called Trump's decision "a clear abuse of power."

CARTER PAGE REACTS TO CALLS FOR DECLASSIFICATION OF DOCUMENTS

"[Trump] has decided to intervene in a pending law enforcement investigation by ordering the selective release of materials he believes are helpful to his defense team and thinks will advance a false narrative," Schiff said. "With respect to some of these materials, I have been previously informed by the FBI and Justice Department that they would consider their release a red line that must not be crossed as they may compromise sources and methods.

"This is evidently of no consequence to a President who cares about nothing about the country and everything about his narrow self-interest," Schiff added.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, praised Trump's order to declassify the documents.

"As Congress has investigated, we've continued to see more and more troubling evidence suggesting multiple senior level FBI and DOJ officials acted in a deeply unethical fashion during the 2016 campaign and throughout the early stages of the Trump administration," Meadows said. "Enough is enough--the time for full transparency is now. Let's bring the full truth to light, while protecting sources and methods, and allow the American people to judge for themselves."

Meadows is one of 12 GOP members of Congress who earlier this month publicly asked Trump to declassify the June 2017 application for a warrant against Carter Page as well as the FBI reports of interviews with Ohr, known in bureaucratic parlance as "Form 302s."

Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. -- the ranking members of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, respectively -- said Trump's "reckless and irresponsible decision" was "a desperate attempt to distract from ... the mounting evidence of multiple criminal enterprises among his closest advisors.

"For the past year, Republicans in Congress have been running interference for President Trump, promoting baseless conspiracy theories, mischaracterizing numerous documents, and attacking our law enforcement and intelligence officials," Cummings and Nadler added. "This effort has been devoid of facts, but it has been incredibly destructive to our democracy."

On Sunday, Nunes told Fox News that witness interview transcripts and other documents from the House Intelligence Committee's now-concluded Russia investigation should be made public before November's midterm elections.

NUNES JOINS CALLS FOR RUSSIA PROBE DOCUMENTS TO GO PUBLIC

"If the president wants the American people to really understand just how broad and invasive this investigation has been to many Americans and how unfair it has been, he has no choice but to declassify," Nunes said on "Sunday Morning Futures."

House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said last week that it would be "beneficial" for Americans to see those documents.

Trump made a similar move in February when the White House, over the objections of the FBI and intelligence community, cleared the way for the Republican-led House intelligence committee to release a partisan memo about the surveillance warrant on Page. Democrats weeks later released their own memo.

The disclosures were unprecedented given that surveillance warrants obtained from the secret court are highly classified and are not meant to be publicly disclosed, including to defendants preparing for or awaiting trial.

 

[8777BB5]

Surly this'll be the end of the tinkle traitor Russian Spy Blonad Brumph

 

[Derp Potato]

In short, we won't see @It's HK-47 for a few days.

Trump is releasing the milk gates.

 

[Bagronkleton]

Anyone else get the feeling that this is a pop to the dem's snout for the kavanaugh clown show?

Bonus points for it being Constitution Day and all.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Anyone else get the feeling that this is a pop to the dem's snout for the kavanaugh clown show?

Bonus points for it being Constitution Day and all.

Most likely.

Trump has always struck me as a man who does not suffer slights with good grace. Quite the opposite.

I have a feeling the Dems may have just fucked themselves.

 

[TowinKarz]

Transparency! No hiding behind executive privilege! The public needs to know!!! Agencies Must be Accountable!!!!! Impeach him now!!!!!

That's what they'd have said if Trump had NOT wanted them declassified... but because he DOES:

Treason! Abuse! Putting our Valuable Intelligence Agencies' Operations at Risk! Tranny Lives Will be Lost, Somehow!!!! Impeach him now!!!!!!

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

FBI thread in Community Watch when?

 

[The Great Chandler]

FBI thread in Community Watch when?

Bad idea, they'd take this site down out of butthurt.

 

[Agent of Z.O.G.]

FBI thread in Community Watch when?

Don't we already have a bunch of threads on neo-nazis

 

[Iwasamwillbe]

>tfw your post gets deleted for just being a reaction image

Now, there are only two ways for the mainstream media and the Trump deranged to go about this:

1. Spin-doctoring: attempting to downplay this, while decrying Trump for putting the "intelligence community" "at risk", while simultaneously calling for more transparency from Trump.

2. Memory-holing: attempting to willfully ignore this, and to suppress anybody trying to put the story "out there", because the Streisand Effect apparently no longer exists.

 

[It's HK-47]

I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop so I can actually dig in there and see what's inside of all these documents we're about to get, but I really have to pause here for a minute and say that I don't think I've ever been in a situation where I was watching elected officials, journalists, and the mainstream media argue against more transparency and the release of classified government documents. Apart from shithole third-world dictatorships where the media is just as corrupt as the government and serves as nothing more than a propaganda arm for the establishment figures, I've never seen that happen.

That alone should really give people pause and will hopefully make them question why exactly all these reporters are suddenly busting their asses to try and not report on a story and not see the public be given more information about the inner-workings of a scandal in government. I seriously can't get over that. How the fuck is a journalist not interested in seeing classified, government documents declassified and put into circulation?

 

[Regu]

I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop so I can actually dig in there and see what's inside of all these documents we're about to get, but I really have to pause here for a minute and say that I don't think I've ever been in a situation where I was watching elected officials, journalists, and the mainstream media argue against more transparency and the release of classified government documents. Apart from shithole third-world dictatorships where the media is just as corrupt as the government and serves as nothing more than a propaganda arm for the establishment figures, I've never seen that happen.

That alone should really give people pause and will hopefully make them question why exactly all these reporters are suddenly busting their asses to try and not report on a story and not see the public be given more information about the inner-workings of a scandal in government. I seriously can't get over that. How the fuck is a journalist not interested in seeing classified, government documents declassified and put into circulation?

Easy, they're not Journalist, but sock puppets for as you said it, a propaganda arm for the establishment figures. They just don't count Trump as part of their establishment.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop so I can actually dig in there and see what's inside of all these documents we're about to get, but I really have to pause here for a minute and say that I don't think I've ever been in a situation where I was watching elected officials, journalists, and the mainstream media argue against more transparency and the release of classified government documents. Apart from shithole third-world dictatorships where the media is just as corrupt as the government and serves as nothing more than a propaganda arm for the establishment figures, I've never seen that happen.

That alone should really give people pause and will hopefully make them question why exactly all these reporters are suddenly busting their asses to try and not report on a story and not see the public be given more information about the inner-workings of a scandal in government. I seriously can't get over that. How the fuck is a journalist not interested in seeing classified, government documents declassified and put into circulation?

The saddest thing is that this wasn't a result of top down efforts of a totalitarian government. The bulk of the entire industry decided independently, and of their own free will, that they wanted to be Pravda. That freedom of speech was overrated. That transparency was dangerous. That the plebs needed to be told whatever it took to get them to do what was good for them, whether it was true or not.

 

[Alfons Schmitler]

Surly this'll be the end of the tinkle traitor Russian Spy Blonad Brumph

Glompf is finished. This time for real.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I just wanna bring this quote to the forefront because something about the way this smug fuck said it pisses me off, but I can't put my finger on why:

"[Trump] has decided to intervene in a pending law enforcement investigation by ordering the selective release of materials he believes are helpful to his defense team and thinks will advance a false narrative," Schiff said. "With respect to some of these materials, I have been previously informed by the FBI and Justice Department that they would consider their release a red line that must not be crossed as they may compromise sources and methods.

"This is evidently of no consequence to a President who cares about nothing about the country and everything about his narrow self-interest," Schiff added.

Like for one thing, why the fuck should you care, Schiff? Are you inadvertently revealing yourself to be part of the collusion and you fear you're going to be name-dropped?

Or are you worried your career is dead in the water?

Also this isn't the first time he's spoken out about this. He made a statement back in April berating the Committee Republicans for not continuing to further investigate into the Russia collusion.

Today [April 27, 2018], Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, made the following statement after the Committee released the Majority’s Russia Report, accompanied by Minority Views:

“The release of this Report and Minority Views follow the decision by committee Republicans to curtail their involvement in the Russia investigation. The Majority provided its draft one hundred fifty-page report to the Minority for review only days before the Committee was set to vote on its adoption. The content of the report changed daily, including on key assessments, demonstrating the Majority’s fundamentally flawed approach to the investigation and the superficial and political nature of its conclusions.

“For example, in announcing their report on March 12, and in public appearances by Majority Members, the Majority took issue with the Intelligence Community’s central assessment that Russia sought to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. But by the time the Majority sent its final report draft to the IC ten days later, it could no longer defend this claim and watered down its supposed findings.

“Throughout the investigation, Committee Republicans chose not to seriously investigate — or even see, when in plain sight — evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, instead adopting the role of defense counsel for key investigation witnesses. In fact, we found evidence of collusion in the abundant secret meetings and communications between Trump campaign officials and associates such as Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, Donald Trump Jr., Michael Flynn, Carter Page, and others, with emissaries and officials from, or linked to the Russian government. The Trump campaign and Administration’s efforts to deny, conceal and, when discovered, misrepresent what took place in these interactions with the Russians is powerful evidence of a consciousness of wrongdoing.

“To determine whether this evidence of collusion reaches the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt of criminal conspiracy, we must await the report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, since the Majority refused to interview the witnesses and obtain the documents necessary to find out. Regardless, there is no denying the abundant evidence that the Trump campaign sought, and was eager to accept, the assistance of a hostile foreign power bent on interfering in our election. It is also uncontroverted that the Russians assisted the Trump campaign through a surreptitious social media campaign, an overt paid media effort, an elaborate hacking and dumping operation targeting the DNC and Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta, and potentially through additional means still under investigation.

“Our Minority Views are not a substitute for a final report. We highlight just some of the unclassified information obtained by the Committee, but substantial additional classified and unclassified evidence further illustrates a concerted campaign by Russia to help the candidacy of Donald Trump, and the willingness of the Trump campaign to accept that help. The Minority Views also correct the record on a raft of misleading conclusions, insinuations, attempts to explain away inconvenient facts, and arguments meant to protect the President and his campaign found in the Republican report.

“Because the public must now attempt to distinguish between Majority and Minority Views, we have sought to publicly release the transcripts so that the public might see some of that evidence for themselves and judge accordingly. We are confident that the record is at odds with the Republicans’ conclusions and that this transparency will help inform the public. We also believe that when the American people see the often-superficial nature of the questions posed to witnesses by the Majority and the degree to which they sought to help witnesses avoid answering important questions, it will see firsthand what a disservice the Majority has done to the nation. Apparently, the Majority fears the transcripts will show exactly that, and have violated their explicit commitment to release the transcripts now that they have concluded their work on the investigation. As recently as March 5, Rep. Conaway, the lead Republican on the Russia investigation, was asked whether he planned to release the transcripts. He replied, “Absolutely.”

“The Majority claims they are reneging on their commitment to release the transcripts to protect the Special Counsel’s investigation. This claim is absurd on its face, given the lengths to which the Majority has gone to impeach the work of the FBI, DOJ and Special Counsel. We emphasize the following: The Minority checked with the Special Counsel’s Office to see if they had any objection to our releasing the transcripts and they expressed no reservation about our doing so. Indeed, we believe that giving the Special Counsel access to the transcripts through their publication will assist their efforts.

“Finally, notwithstanding the decision by the Majority to end its work and turn its attention to counter-investigations designed to serve the President’s interests, the Minority work on the Russia investigation continues. This week, we interviewed a key witness to the corrupt work of Cambridge Analytica, and received new documents from another important witness. We will continue our investigation using every means at our disposal; to do otherwise would ignore our responsibility to conduct meaningful oversight and insure that the Russians do not possess leverage over the President of the United States.”

The Majority Report can be found here. The Minority Views can be found here.

And then there's this:
"I have been previously informed by the FBI and Justice Department that they would consider their release a red line that must not be crossed as they may compromise sources and methods."

Doesn't matter, the President ordered it, so they have to release it or they'll find their asses thrown out. It's still going to clean house no matter what (so win/win), but while it's best to go quietly, go ahead and further screech to the heavens how this is compromising your methods and sources. Fucking hypocrites, I hope all of your football teams lost when you attended those games during times of crisis.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

Well slap me with an optimistic rating now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed here.

But it's gonna be a platter of nothingburgers isn't it...

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

We have entered an era of politics where the major political figures of the left are lolcows with patreons and gofundmes, and the right are trolls from 4chan.

 

[TerminalTryHard]

We have entered an era of politics where the major political figures of the left are lolcows with patreons and gofundmes, and the right are trolls from 4chan.

It's truly the greatest time to be alive.

 

[The Fool]

Watching literally everything the left ever does backfire in their face horribly never gets old.

It's like watching someone slip on the same banana peel over and over.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Watching literally everything the left ever does backfire in their face horribly never gets old.

It's like watching someone slip on the same banana peel over and over.

Right now the Democratic party is basically Sideshow Bob in that episode of the Simpsons where he gets trapped in the middle of a bunch of rakes.