90 Miles From Tyranny

Friday, December 27, 2019

Two Possibilities in Trump Wiretapping, and Neither Is Good

The report of the I.G.'s findings on the use of FISA in the FBI Crossfire Hurricane investigation is an outrage. As a 22 year FBI Agent, I have personally conducted multiple investigations using both Title III "wiretaps" and FISA authorized intercepts. From this perspective, I can only see two possible interpretations of the actions of the FBI and DOJ. Either scenario should anger and frighten every fair minded citizen who takes the time to read the report and understand its implications. To comprehend the magnitude of the wrongdoing, consider the following:

First, an American citizen, Carter Page, was targeted by our government for electronic surveillance under FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). Per the Act, his Fourth Amendment guarantee of privacy was judicially "suspended" to allow law enforcement to intercept and monitor his private communications. Ostensibly, the FISA court would allow this intrusion based on presented facts that indicated that Page was participating in an activity that was reasonably considered to be a threat to national security and was, in effect, the agent of a foreign power.

According to the I.G., the determination to surveil Page was based on second hand information provided by a member of a friendly foreign government and bolstered by reporting in the "Steele dossier". Accepting the subjective judgement that the investigation was adequately predicated does not mitigate the disaster that followed.

Typically, a FISA warrant is issued to target a foreign national and, in general, the resulting intercepts come largely from overseas communications. FISA generally requires a lower evidentiary threshold than a "Title III wiretap" (used to intercept and monitor communications in domestic criminal matters). To use a FISA surveillance against a US citizen is a somewhat exceptional step. Basically, it negates Constitutional protections afforded to all Americans based on the judicial determination that the citizen is acting as an agent of a foreign power.

Because electronic surveillance (wire tap) is so intrusive, it is rightfully subject to intense judicial scrutiny. Additionally, because the evidence gathered in its use is singularly effective, law enforcement in general, and the FBI and DOJ in particular, scrupulously protect the integrity of the process. No law enforcement officer of any worth would stand before a judge and swear to an affidavit that...

Jill Biden, meet Cpl. Ronil Singh and Deputy Brian Ishmael

The last time I checked, Joe Biden was running for president of the United States. But his wife, Jill Biden, demonstrated where the beltway Democratic couple’s allegiance and compassion are rooted this Christmas season: Mexico.

Biden traveled to a camp in Matamoros on the southern border this week bearing gifts and meals for Central American migrants — all hoping to trespass across the border illegally or exploit our asylum system with the help of “Open Borders Inc.” profiteers. Biden was accompanied by the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.

Holiday spirit or something else? Follow the money; find the truth.

For Catholic Charities, mass illegal and legal migration is a billion-dollar business. The behemoth nonprofit is a prime contractor for the Unaccompanied Alien Children racket created by President Obama, and it’s one of the nine lucrative government contractors for refugee resettlement. Its single largest source of “revenue”: the federal government. Taxpayers. You and me. Nearly 60 federal agencies fork over money to Catholic Charities, as well as international donors from the European Union to the United Nations to the governments of Austria, Columbia, El Salvador, Germany, Honduras, the U.K. and the World Bank.

Wall-bashing Pope Francis met with the U.N. secretary general to deliver a joint holiday message condemning opposition to the refugee camp explosion as a “sin.” The moral preening of border-busting elites who live behind gilded gates with 24/7 armed guards is unholy.

“Heart-breaking,” Biden sniffed, as she doled out goodies to those whom she undoubtedly hopes will be her husband’s future constituents. It’s “not who we are,” she intoned.

Now, lean in and listen more closely. Do you hear that? Yes, the silence. I’m talking about the thick, impenetrable wall of silence built by Catholic officials and Democratic leaders in the face of American suffering caused by immigration chaos.

Dec. 26 marks the anniversary of the brutal murder of Cpl. Ronil Singh at the hands of a Mexican gang member here illegally who was protected by “sanctuary policies” that obstruct local, state and...

Durham interviewing former NSA leader who alerted court of other FISA abuses

The former director of the National Security Agency is the latest to sit down with U.S. Attorney John Durham in the widening inquiry into the origins and conduct of the Trump-Russia investigation.

Adm. Mike Rogers, who retired in 2018 after four years as NSA chief and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, has met with Durham, who is working at the behest of Attorney General William Barr, multiple times and is cooperating voluntarily in Durham's deep dive into the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation related to the Trump campaign and the Russian government, according to the Intercept. Rogers is likely being talked to because of his key intelligence perch, experiences uncovering Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act violations, and his role in the intelligence community's assessment of Russian interference.

The December report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on FISA abuses by the DOJ and the FBI criticized the bureau’s reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s unverified dossier in pursuing electronic surveillance against Trump campaign associate Carter Page.

In 2016, Rogers helped expose FISA flaws of a different kind by the NSA and the FBI. That October, as the bureau received its first Page surveillance warrant, Rogers notified the FISA Court of an NSA inspector general report that found the agency was pulling data directly from the internet and improperly searching it for information related to Americans in violation of FISA laws dealing with foreigners outside the United States targeted by U.S. intelligence agencies.

A FISA Court ruling from April 2017 revealed the...

Judith Miller: ‘Richard Jewell’ raises troubling questions about how FBI and media operate

"Richard Jewell," Clint Eastwood’s drama about the security guard falsely accused of bombing the 1996 Olympics, opened Friday in over 2,500 cinemas to a dismal box office of $5 million — one of the worst debuts in the iconic actor and director’s career. With luck, word of mouth will overcome this poor debut. Despite one serious misstep, Eastwood’s film about the power of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, aided and amplified by the media, is a brilliant, emotional gut punch that raises important questions about the unfettered power of law enforcement, especially the FBI.

The Centennial Park bombing on July 27, 1996, killed two and wounded 111 people. Jewell, the private security guard on duty that night, initially spotted the military-style backpack filled with explosives and nails and sounded the alarm that helped save hundreds of lives. But three days after being hailed as a hero, he saw his life, and that of his mother, Barbara “Bobi” Jewell, upended by an FBI leak to an Atlanta Constitution-Journal reporter identifying him as the bureau’s prime suspect.

At the time, the AJC’s banner-headline story, triggering his reversal of fortune, was accurate — Jewell was indeed the bureau’s leading “person of interest.” And yet the FBI, the press would later learn, had no credible evidence linking Jewell to the plot. His alleged guilt was based largely on a profiling theory that the bomber, like Jewell, was a frustrated wannabe law-enforcement official seeking attention, a loser/loner who lived with his mother in a cramped apartment in Atlanta.

Though the FBI concluded within days that Jewell was not the bomber, 88 days passed before it exonerated him; the film explores what happened in between. The actual bomber, Eric Rudolph, was eventually caught and convicted in a plea deal in 2005. Two years later, Jewell died at 44.

Eastwood and his gifted veteran screenwriter Billy Ray rely heavily on Marie Brenner’s 16,000-word Vanity Fair profile of Jewell, “American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell.” They also draw on "The Suspect," a 2019 book coauthored by former U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander, who was involved in the investigation, and former Wall Street Journal editor Kevin Salwen, who helped cover the bombing.

Published in February 1997, Brenner’s article savaged Louis Freeh’s FBI for running roughshod over a suspect’s civil rights and privacy, and the print and broadcast media that rushed to judgment and generated a frenzy that nearly destroyed ...

Ari Behn, a former member of Norway’s royal family who was one of Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault accusers, is dead.

Behn, the author of several novels and plays, was married Princess Märtha Louise of Norway before their divorce in 2016.

His spokesman told Norway’s NTB agency that Behn had taken his own life.

In a statement, Norway’s king and queen said he had been “an important part of our family for many years and we carry warm and good memories of him with us”.

As Breitbart News reported, Behn accused embattled actor Kevin Spacey of sexual misconduct, claiming that he touched him “right on the balls” during a party for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ari Behn told Norwegian radio station P4 that Spacey proposed the pair go outside.

“We had a nice conversation, he was sat next to me,” Behn said. “After five minutes, he says ‘Hey, let’s go out and have a cigarette,’ and then he touched me right on the balls under the table.”

“I had black hair back then and was 10 years younger so was right up his alley,” he said, adding that “I got more than...