The Spygate Scandal

[Mystic Wanderer]

Drip, drip...

In a declassified Jan. 7, 2020, order released by Presiding FISA Court Judge James Boasberg, it was revealed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has determined that two of the four FISA applications on former Trump 2016 presidential campaign adviser Carter Page were “not valid.”

The court wrote that it had received notice of “material misstatements and omissions” in the FISA applications made on Page, apparently with respect to the final two FISA renewals. The court also noted that the DOJ had made the assessment that with regard to these two applications, “there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that [Carter] Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power.”

Surveillance of American citizens is supposed to be tightly controlled by FISA law and probable cause that one is acting “as an agent of a foreign power” is a prerequisite for a Title I FISA application such as the one Page found himself subject to.
The order noted that the “FBI has agreed to sequester all collection the FBI acquired pursuant to the Court’s authorizations” of the two now-invalid FISAs “pending further review of the OIG Report and the outcome of related investigations and any litigation.”

The order also notes that while the DOJ has not yet made a determination on the validity of the first two FISA applications, the DOJ intends to have the FBI sequester information relating to those first two orders “in the same manner as information acquired” in the final two renewals that have now been determined to be invalid.

The order by Boasberg closed with a series of demands for disclosure regarding the manner in which the government will be handling the information collected under the now-invalid Carter Page FISAs, along with updates on any ongoing investigations.

Typically, FISA renewals would be expected to be backed up by additional information and details, and would therefore build upon and make a stronger case than the original application. The fact that this does not appear to be the case calls into question the ongoing validity of the original FISA and the first renewal as well.

The finding by the DOJ that the final two Page FISA renewals were “not valid” appears to stem from the recent report by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, which identified “at least 17 significant errors or omissions in the Page FISA applications, and many additional errors in the Woods Procedures. These errors and omissions resulted from case agents providing wrong or incomplete information to the OI (Office of Intelligence) and failing to flag important issues for discussion.”

(highlights by me)

Read more:  DOJ Determines 2 FISA Spy Warrants on Trump Campaign Adviser Were “Not Valid”