Mueller – Politically Short

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President Donald Trump spoke this morning to the press to give his reaction to Robert Mueller’s farewell performance yesterday and rightly blasted the Special Counsel for his conflict of interest.

Transcript from Grabien:

TRUMP: “I think he’s totally conflicted because as you know, he wanted to be the FBI director and I said no. As you know, I had a business dispute with him after he left the FBI. We had a business dispute. Not a nice one, he wasn’t — he wasn’t happy with what I did, and I don’t blame him but I had to do it because that was the right thing to do. But I had a business dispute. And he loves Comey. You look at the relationship that those two, so whether it’s love or deep like, but he should — he was conflicted.

Look, Robert Mueller should have never been chosen because he wanted the FBI job and he didn’t get it, and the next day he was picked as special counsel. So you tell somebody, I’m sorry, you can’t have the job and then after you say that, he’s going to make a ruling on you, it doesn’t work that way. Plus, we had a business dispute, plus his relationship with Comey was extraordinary. Now one other thing I’ll say, why didn’t he investigate Strzok and Page and McCabe and Comey and all the lies, and Brennan and the lies, and Clapper and the lies to Congress, and all of the things that happened to start this investigation?

Why didn’t Comey come clean? Why didn’t Comey come clean and say the things that he knows are fact? Why didn’t Mueller investigate Comey, his best friend or his very good friend? And there’s so many other things. Here’s the question. This is a study of Russia. Why didn’t they invest the insurance policy? In other words, should Hillary Clinton lose, we’ve got an insurance policy. Guess what? What we’re in right now is the insurance policy.

I think he is a total conflicted person. I think Mueller is a true never Trumper. He’s somebody that dislikes Donald Trump. He’s somebody that didn’t get a job that he requested that he wanted very badly, and then he was appointed. And despite that, and despite $40 million, 18 Trump haters, including people that work for Hillary Clinton and some of the worst human beings on Earth, they got nothing. It’s pretty amazing.”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1134057302821150722

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How did the FBI not violate the Woods Procedures when it presented unverified opposition research paid for by the opposing party — the “Steele dossier” — to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court to obtain a warrant to spy on an American citizen for over a year? Moreover, were the FISA court Judges who signed off on the application and three separate renewals aware of the origins of the dossier and if not, why not?

How did the FBI not violate Woods Procedures by presenting unverified material to FISA court?? https://t.co/fm8A7hACpO
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) December 6, 2018

I wish I knew the answer to this question and I’m sure Carter Page, the American citizen targeted by the FBI for surveillance for over a year, feels the same. As Julie Kelly of American Greatness noted last year, “even while Page was meeting with congressional investigators, the FBI, and Robert Mueller’s team, the government continued to spy on him, listening to his phone calls and seizing all of his electronic communications. At the same time, the news media continued its assault on Page aided by illegal leaks of information from people at the top echelons in government.”

The result of this surveillance? Page was never charged with a crime as the Mueller investigation “did not establish that Page coordinated with the Russian government in its efforts to interfere with the election.”

That was quite a statement in the Mueller report given what the spying of Page allowed the FBI to do in terms of surveilling members of President Trump’s team. Rep. Devin Nunes elaborated on this point last year in the following interview with Maria Bartiromo.

In terms of FBI surveillance, anyone who was talking to Carter Page likely had their communications picked up by authorities, including members of Congress who have interviewed Page as well as the WH if they communicated with Page. @DevinNunes explains https://t.co/W0MNPyztlA pic.twitter.com/aJaSwrCJln
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) February 11, 2018

Where does Carter Page go for his apology? How about those Americans picked up by authorities incidentally? What court does Page appeal to when the court that ran roughshod over his rights is too “secret” for even the falsely accused to know what they were being targeted for? Is there a court above the FISA court that holds the unelected accountable? Without any representation, Americans simply have no rights under FISA.

Given this proves the dossier was a fabrication, how did the FBI not violate the Woods Procedures by presenting unverified material to the FISA court? What are the consequences of that? How many prior FISA warrants have been based upon “research” such as the garbage in dossier? https://t.co/sTw2lf0Kvs
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) March 25, 2019

So, what are the Woods Procedures? They were instituted in April 2001 and require the FBI to vet and support the facts it presents to a FISA court when it seeks a warrant to eavesdrop on a U.S. citizen. The individual who knows this process best is none other than the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller. In a response to questions from Sen. Leahy back in August of 2003, then FBI Director Mueller explains the significance of the procedures highlighting that they were instituted in order to “minimize factual inaccuracies in FISA packages.”

Mueller continues, “specifically, the goal of the procedures is to ensure accuracy with regard to: (1) the facts supporting probable cause; (2) the existence and nature of any related criminal investigations or prosecutions involving the subject of the FISA; (3) the existence and nature of any prior or ongoing asset relationship between the subject and the FBI.”

Starting in 2003, field offices were required to follow an eight page FISA request form when eliciting information about a targets status as well as the facts and circumstances that establish probable cause to believe the target is an agent of a foreign power.

Reading the testimony from Mueller a decade and a half ago is truly stunning as it shows just how hypocritical the “Special Counsel” was in both his actions and inactions by failing to investigate, let alone acknowledge, the violations of the Woods Procedures he once so vehemently defended. This may come back to bite the government as Department of Justice court records from 2015 have provided details about how Carter Page previously cooperated with FBI agents in exposing and helping to catch Russian spies working inside the United States.

If Page’s prior asset work was not included in the FISA application or the three renewals, then what is the point of the Woods Procedures to begin with?

"Pg 53 of FISA docs on Carter Page, FBI notes that it 'has reviewed this verified application for accuracy in accordance with its procedures.' They never verified it & it’s not accurate, the 2 most important things…they couldn't even get that right." –@AndrewCMcCarthy pic.twitter.com/nkAvcPufZv
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) July 22, 2018

Let’s see the Woods Procedures. The omissions of material facts by FBI when applying for FISA warrant against Page. FBI is obligated to disclose evidence of both guilt & innocence about the target of a FISA warrant. Mueller knows all about this from 2002. https://t.co/XorRNe9e2e https://t.co/iK7KgDF2hG
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) March 31, 2019

Tag Archives: Mueller

Trump: Mueller should have never been chosen, he wanted the FBI Director job and didn’t get it, the next day he was picked as Special Counsel.

FISA Court, Woods Procedures And Carter Page

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