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.

 

[Polyboros]

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...

I predict it'll be official black and white proof of what we already know to be true. Out going executive worked with intelligence community to subvert the election on a running candidate, and the feeble discredited evidence was all they used to do it.

The other side will still stamp their feet and scream Putin, and use their retarded fervor to justify breaking the law and subverting democracy.

At best, we'll get a new name or two that expand the picture a little, or connect a few more push pins with red yarn.

Edit: After spending a long time lurking here, I think that's the first time I got word filtered to exceptional, rather than spelling it out myself.

 

[thismanlies]

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?

Either you or someone else said that there are certain people who need the Trump/Russia collusion horseshit to be true. The media would fit into this category because admitting the collusion narrative isn't true means admitting that they've been lying to the public for two years.

 

[blax]

Remember when Adam Schiff was screaming about Russia 24/7? I wonder what happened that made him quiet down.

 

[Antipathy]

"Selective release."

Why are you trusting someone if they're 'releasing' documents that make them seem not guilty? I'm not pushing for one side or another, I'm just saying, do you really trust someone who can, has, and probably will fabricate for their own benefit?

Trump is a politician now. He's not a businessman in this context, he's the President, and therefore should be considered a politician. And politicians lie to save themselves.

 

[It's HK-47]

"Selective release."

Why are you trusting someone if they're 'releasing' documents that make them seem not guilty? I'm not pushing for one side or another, I'm just saying, do you really trust someone who can, has, and probably will fabricate for their own benefit?

Trump is a politician now. He's not a businessman in this context, he's the President, and therefore should be considered a politician. And politicians lie to save themselves.

Because the alternative is that people like Pelosi, Waters, Comey, Brennan, Clinton, McCabe, Schiff, and Schumer are telling the truth, and I find that concept infinitely more laughable and impossible to believe. If all of this information about the FISA warrants was damning enough to set up a United States citizen for investigation and prove beyond any doubt that they were targeted for legitimate reasons, then there should be nothing to be afraid of when it comes to releasing the information to the general public.

They've been pushing to get this released for ages now because the public "deserves to know", but now that they had their bluff called it's suddenly the worst thing since unsliced bread. If there's nothing to hide, then let's see it. What's all the panic about?

 

[Antipathy]

Because the alternative is that people like Pelosi, Waters, Comey, Brennan, Clinton, McCabe, Schiff, and Schumer are telling the truth, and I find that concept infinitely more laughable and impossible to believe. If all of this information about the FISA warrants was damning enough to set up a United States citizen for investigation and prove beyond any doubt that they were targeted for legitimate reasons, then there should be nothing to be afraid of when it comes to releasing the information to the general public.

They've been pushing to get this released for ages now because the public "deserves to know", but now that they had their bluff called it's suddenly the worst thing since unsliced bread. If there's nothing to hide, then let's see it. What's all the panic about?

And what if the simple answer is that they're all lying about something or another? Quite simply, I find it astonishing that you trust any of them in any capacity, even if it's one of their words against another. Trump almost certainly has some corruption in his cabinet, and some dirt that would get anyone out of politics thrown in jail. They all do. But as long as they release a slip of paper exonerating themselves of something when it's taken in the context of their word, it's suddenly okay?

 

[It's HK-47]

And what if the simple answer is that they're all lying about something or another? Quite simply, I find it astonishing that you trust any of them in any capacity, even if it's one of their words against another. Trump almost certainly has some corruption in his cabinet, and some dirt that would get anyone out of politics thrown in jail. They all do. But as long as they release a slip of paper exonerating themselves of something when it's taken in the context of their word, it's suddenly okay?

"There's a possibility that Trump is almost certainly guilty of something. It's just a matter of time before we figure out what it is!"

Yeah, I don't think we're going to have a very productive conversation, since it seems as though you've already come to a guilty verdict in your own mind. The fact that an entire swathe of the government and nearly the entirety of the U.S. media tried to frame someone for colluding with a hostile, foreign power to overthrow the election is a pretty big deal and I'd say that they have every right to combat that claim with any evidence that they can find. I'm just going to go back to drumming on my desk and waiting for the release of all these documents, so I wish you the best of luck in your search for that totally real four-leafed unicorn that no one seems to be able to find.

 

[Pope Negro Joe the XIIIth]

The fact that an entire swathe of the government and nearly the entirety of the U.S. media tried to frame someone for colluding with a hostile, foreign power to overthrow the election is a pretty big deal

This is what boggles my fucking mind. How do you not understand the absolute gravity of that? Our democratic process being undermined, openly, with support gained through a well-funded campaign of misinformation and propaganda. How do you handwave that fact away? Even if you hate Trump, that should worry the shit out of you.

 

[It's HK-47]

Alright, no. Time-out.

The Gang of Eight are eight congressional leaders who are briefed on intelligence by the Executive Branch. Title 50 U.S.C. § 3091(a)(1) requires that the president keep Congress informed, not the other way around. Congress does not run this show, this is entirely up to the discretion of the Executive Branch. The Executive Branch gets the intelligence first and then briefs the Gang of Eight. Everyone who signed this letter knows this, but they wrote this letter in order to give the impression to the general public that Trump is asking the Intelligence Community to do something outlandish and unlawful, so therefore Congress will step in and "save the day!"

"The President shall ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity as required by this subchapter. Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as requiring the approval of the congressional intelligence committees as a condition precedent to the initiation of any significant anticipated intelligence activity." - Title 50 U.S.C. § 3091(a)(1)
​

Unsurprisingly, declassifying intelligence is an intelligence activity. Hence, Pelosi, Schiff, Schumer, and Warner have written an intentionally dishonest letter for the purpose of misleading the public into believing that Trump has gone "off the rails" and is ignoring Congress. I'm trying to wrack my brain come up with any sort of situation like this in the past that could be used as a precedent, but I'm honestly coming up at a loss. I'm not sure if anything like this has ever happened before.

The intelligence community can't defer to Congress above the President. Congress does not have the authority to make the demand in this letter.

 

[DrunkJoe]

Alright, no. Time-out.

The Gang of Eight are eight congressional leaders who are briefed on intelligence by the Executive Branch. Title 50 U.S.C. § 3091(a)(1) requires that the president keep Congress informed, not the other way around. Congress does not run this show, this is entirely up to the discretion of the Executive Branch. The Executive Branch gets the intelligence first and then briefs the Gang of Eight. Everyone who signed this letter knows this, but they wrote this letter in order to give the impression to the general public that Trump is asking the Intelligence Community to do something outlandish and unlawful, so therefore Congress will step in and "save the day!"

"The President shall ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity as required by this subchapter. Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as requiring the approval of the congressional intelligence committees as a condition precedent to the initiation of any significant anticipated intelligence activity." - Title 50 U.S.C. § 3091(a)(1)
​

Unsurprisingly, declassifying intelligence is an intelligence activity. Hence, Pelosi, Schiff, Schumer, and Warner have written an intentionally dishonest letter for the purpose of misleading the public into believing that Trump has gone "off the rails" and is ignoring Congress. I'm trying to wrack my brain come up with any sort of situation like this in the past that could be used as a precedent, but I'm honestly coming up at a loss. I'm not sure if anything like this has ever happened before.

The intelligence community can't defer to Congress above the President. Congress does not have the authority to make the demand in this letter.

Whats sad is so many moderates / a lot of normal Amerucans are not going to realize this. The media will be spinning this hard. I bet there will tons of effort to scrub these facts off social media. Trump just waited right before midterms to throw this Russia shit into the dems face. Hopefully enough people get the message about the level of attempted corruption to unseat an elected president.

 

[Nobunaga]

Alright, no. Time-out.

The Gang of Eight are eight congressional leaders who are briefed on intelligence by the Executive Branch. Title 50 U.S.C. § 3091(a)(1) requires that the president keep Congress informed, not the other way around. Congress does not run this show, this is entirely up to the discretion of the Executive Branch. The Executive Branch gets the intelligence first and then briefs the Gang of Eight. Everyone who signed this letter knows this, but they wrote this letter in order to give the impression to the general public that Trump is asking the Intelligence Community to do something outlandish and unlawful, so therefore Congress will step in and "save the day!"

"The President shall ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity as required by this subchapter. Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as requiring the approval of the congressional intelligence committees as a condition precedent to the initiation of any significant anticipated intelligence activity." - Title 50 U.S.C. § 3091(a)(1)
​

Unsurprisingly, declassifying intelligence is an intelligence activity. Hence, Pelosi, Schiff, Schumer, and Warner have written an intentionally dishonest letter for the purpose of misleading the public into believing that Trump has gone "off the rails" and is ignoring Congress. I'm trying to wrack my brain come up with any sort of situation like this in the past that could be used as a precedent, but I'm honestly coming up at a loss. I'm not sure if anything like this has ever happened before.

The intelligence community can't defer to Congress above the President. Congress does not have the authority to make the demand in this letter.

Who do you think is sweating harder and trying their hardest to stop the orange cheeto yunald yumpft
The inteligence community made up of a bunch of autistic good for nothing retards, the corrupt fbi, the ((((left wing party))))) or the retards from congress?

 

[Marvin]

Trump almost certainly has some corruption in his cabinet, and some dirt that would get anyone out of politics thrown in jail. They all do.

"There's a possibility that Trump is almost certainly guilty of something. It's just a matter of time before we figure out what it is!"

Yeah, I don't think we're going to have a very productive conversation, since it seems as though you've already come to a guilty verdict in your own mind. The fact that an entire swathe of the government and nearly the entirety of the U.S. media tried to frame someone for colluding with a hostile, foreign power to overthrow the election is a pretty big deal and I'd say that they have every right to combat that claim with any evidence that they can find. I'm just going to go back to drumming on my desk and waiting for the release of all these documents, so I wish you the best of luck in your search for that totally real four-leafed unicorn that no one seems to be able to find.

I think it's likely there's corruption in Trump's cabinet, not only because he's picking pretty sleazy people (I mean he is, but...), but because the US code is complicated and full of bullshit.

A big chunk of it, as it applies to federal politicians, hasn't been tested very thoroughly. Constitutional protections and a lack of political will keep most politicians from actually being tested on this stuff.

Like questions about what crimes the president can or cannot be prosecuted on. Or the extent of campaign finance laws. It's not like everyday robbery or assault where the laws have been through the ringer hundreds of millions of times.

Example of a sleazy person: Ajit Pai.

So I guess I would say there's a solid chance that someone in Trump's cabinet has done something prosecutable.

Edit: And because of the handwavy nature of these crimes, most politicians constantly push the envelope as a matter of everyday habit.

 

[It's HK-47]

I think it's likely there's corruption in Trump's cabinet, not only because he's picking pretty sleazy people (I mean he is, but...), but because the US code is complicated and full of bullshit.

A big chunk of it, as it applies to federal politicians, hasn't been tested very thoroughly. Constitutional protections and a lack of political will keep most politicians from actually being tested on this stuff.

Like questions about what crimes the president can or cannot be prosecuted on. Or the extent of campaign finance laws. It's not like everyday robbery or assault where the laws have been through the ringer hundreds of millions of times.

Example of a sleazy person: Ajit Pai.

So I guess I would say there's a solid chance that someone in Trump's cabinet has done something prosecutable.

Edit: And because of the handwavy nature of these crimes, most politicians constantly push the envelope as a matter of everyday habit.

By that logic every single person in the United States is guilty of a crime on some level, based on some fiddly nonsense scribbled in the back of some dust-encrusted tome that hasn't been taken off the shelf since the mid-1800s. That's digging down so deeply into raw semantics and outlandish technicalities that it's not worth even talking about. My point is that if this administration is so corrupt that it should be so obvious how corrupt that they are: Prove it.

I don't give a shit about semantics, I don't give a shit about statistics, and believe it or not I actually don't give a shit which side of the fence it falls on. We've heard over and over again--every single day for nearly two years-- that this President and this administration are so corrupt that it should be a matter-of-fact, irrefutable course of action that every last one of them should be ousted and hung out to dry. So, let's see it, otherwise we might as well just whip out the old, "Show me the man and I'll show you the crime" and stop pretending that there's any other pretense involved.

 

[Marchesa of the Vast]

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.

I didn't think I could be turned off a political party as much as I was of the Republicans in the late Bush years.
How the fuck are the Democrats making themselves more and more reprehensible while not even being in office?

 

[RodgerDodger]

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?

Mark Penn, not exactly a Right Wing type, has a story out in The Hill today talking about just that.

 

[1Tonka_Truck]

By that logic every single person in the United States is guilty of a crime on some level, based on some fiddly nonsense scribbled in the back of some dust-encrusted tome that hasn't been taken off the shelf since the mid-1800s.

Probably a huge tangent, but I can't help this one. Several States West of the Mississippi still require schools to provide a hitching post and water for horses. My Dad wanted me to start riding to school when I was 8 just to fuck with school district. It was his way of getting back at them for being shitty with eminent domain and wasting tax dollars. While my mom is normally game, she was not impressed.

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

Remember when Adam Schiff was screaming about Russia 24/7? I wonder what happened that made him quiet down.

I like how the article makes certain to note that he's not just any Congressman, but a Jewish Congressman.

 

[The Fool]

Whats sad is so many moderates / a lot of normal Amerucans are not going to realize this. The media will be spinning this hard. I bet there will tons of effort to scrub these facts off social media. Trump just waited right before midterms to throw this Russia shit into the dems face. Hopefully enough people get the message about the level of attempted corruption to unseat an elected president.

I'm just as shocked as you might be to hear this, but, the average American actually is beginning to hear about this shit. I hear it on TV and radio talk shows all the time, like, people are genuinely getting sick of this dumb shit.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

"Selective release."

Why are you trusting someone if they're 'releasing' documents that make them seem not guilty? I'm not pushing for one side or another, I'm just saying, do you really trust someone who can, has, and probably will fabricate for their own benefit?

Trump is a politician now. He's not a businessman in this context, he's the President, and therefore should be considered a politician. And politicians lie to save themselves.

OK.... he's releasing existing documents, not writing up documents. Sure, they'll be selectively redacted, so some context could be lost, but it's not as if he can make things up from whole cloth.

I mean, like you say, politicians are liars. So.... shouldn't we then go to the objective source of the facts, or at least as close ass we can get? I mean, the logic of "Well you can't trust him, he's the president, and you can't trust the accusers, they're politicians so... I'll just believe whatever random bullshit I feel like" doesn't make sense to me.

Like, you realize in a court case the prosecution and the defense use evidence selectively to prove their case, ignoring or downplaying evidence that doesn't support it. We know lawyers aren't trustworthy (Their job sort of depends on it). But I don't think you'd suggest we stop using evidence in trials because it's all being used selectively to help the lawyer's arguments.

Yeah, the republicans will spin whatever the contents of this are to their favor as much as possible. The dems will spin it the other way as much as possible. Yes, they're both dishonest and untrustworthy. That's why you need to look at the evidence yourself, including the redactions and context, and make your own determination. Use the various liars takes on the evidence as guides to see how truthful they seem to be to you, looking at the evidence yourself.

No, of course we shouldn't just blindly trust after these documents are released and trump says "See, it proves me right about everything" that he's telling the truth. It's just more actual fact for us to consider in who we believe more, if either.

 

[RodgerDodger]

"Selective release."

Why are you trusting someone if they're 'releasing' documents that make them seem not guilty? I'm not pushing for one side or another, I'm just saying, do you really trust someone who can, has, and probably will fabricate for their own benefit?

Trump is a politician now. He's not a businessman in this context, he's the President, and therefore should be considered a politician. And politicians lie to save themselves.

Why yes I do expect someone to specifically release documents that prove they are not guilty. This is a core element of our system of Justice. One that has actually been perverted in this situation by claims of state secrets and classification. The FISA court itself is an unconstitutional abomination that needs daylighting.