Fusion GPS Dossier demands presidential supervision
The Right Side
By J. Gary DiLaura
FBI Special Agent Ret.
Anyone who has prepared Affidavits for Search/Seizure/Overhear warrants and has examined what is posted on line as “The Trump Dossier”, (which was used as Probable Cause before the FISA Court for wiretap warrants); should be outraged.
The reason I say that is this: wiretaps are the most invasive warrants law enforcement can obtain. Most wiretaps go on for weeks and months. Think about someone monitoring all your private phone calls, emails, texts, computer searches for months!
Pretty invasive, isn’t it? Because of that, there are laws, rules, regulations, and even Amendments to the Constitution to protect us against unlawful search and seizure.
By law, the FBI conducts investigations inside the US and can make application to a Federal Court for a Title 3 Warrant (a wiretap) which targets US citizens. The CIA, by law, investigates outside the US, and, with other intelligence Agencies, can apply for FISA wiretaps against non US citizens.
If US citizens are overheard during a FISA overhear, their names must be “masked” or protected, as our laws require that people are innocent of any crimes until proven guilty. In order to disclose the identity of those citizens, there are procedures that must be followed. These are selective and restrictive; only certain, designated people can request or approve unmasking and the release of the name of the unmasked citizen is very restricted.
To obtain a FISA warrant or a Title 3 warrant, the Probable Cause is supposed to be “exhaustive” and very detailed; information from confidential sources, versus personal knowledge, must be extremely detailed and follows special rules.
Information from unidentified sources must contain detailed information that establishes the reliability of the unnamed source and the reliability of previous info supplied. Any negative info about the reliability of the source or their information “must” be disclosed. There are no exceptions.
If information, that is “important” and could have a negative impact on the warrant application, is omitted from the Affidavit or supporting documents, it could well be a Obstruction of Justice, and result in severe penalties to those who committed to telling the truth in the sworn affidavit.
For example, if Hillary Clinton paid for negative information on an opposition candidate (i.e. the Trump Dossier), and that information was put forth to the FISA court in an Affidavit, without disclosing the fact that Clinton paid for that negative information, whoever signed off on that one item alone would, in my opinion, be the subject of an Obstruction case.
According to the Congressional Intelligence Committee, that is exactly what happened.
I encourage anyone who has not read the 4 page memo released to the public by the Congressional Intelligence Committee to read it before they accuse anyone of not knowing what they’re talking about. Congress is making the allegations, not President Trump.
It is simple to discern what DOJ employees, namely Rosenstein, Sally Yates, James Comey, Peter Strzok, Page and others did and didn’t do.
I don’t believe that any of the “Dossier Memos” were provided to any Court as attachments to any Affidavits. I know of no Federal Judge who would give any credence to such “hogwash”, had the full facts been provided.
Certainly, former FBI Director James Comey is correct when he stated the Dossier is “salacious and unverified”. That, in my opinion, is an understatement.
My point is this: If this is what the FISA Court accepted, then the president needs to get directly involved in what has been going through the FISA Court to determine how many citizens’ civil rights have been trashed by a corrupted use of intelligence agencies, starting with the NSA.
I hope I’m wrong, but based upon the facts coming through the cracks, from many sources, I doubt we have even seen the tip of the iceberg.
A FOX News report, by Bret Bair, on Sept. 20, 2017 revealed that Obama’s UN Ambassador, Samantha Powers unmasked hundreds of Americans in Obama’s final year in office. If this is true, I believe, there is a real and devastating problem in the FISA Court system.
Also, and again, just as an example, why did Obama pass an Executive Order on Jan. 13, 2017 [just days before leaving office] that opened the raw NSA/FISA data to some 16 agencies?
Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan told Congressman Trey Gowdy, “I don’t know”, when asked if he recalled the unmasking of citizens by any US Ambassadors. If Samantha Powers, a UN Ambassador, unmasked one American per day, that’s 365 during Obama’s last year, and the CIA Director “can’t” remember. Neither did Susan Rice or James Clapper have any knowledge?
As a former FBI Special Agent, I have come to the conclusion that former president Obama ran the White House like a Racketeering Organization. If Obama used the NSA, CIA, FBI and FISA Court as his personal “private eye”, spying, then he, the agencies, and all those involved should be the targets of a criminal investigation. There is an easy way for President Trump to find out.
Comey, Rice and Clapper have been caught in obvious lies, stated under oath, before Congress. They could easily be made subjects of FBI Criminal Investigations. I believe that Brennan has been less than truthful with Rep. Gowdy.
These, if made subjects of a criminal investigation might try to hide behind the veil claiming,”It’s an intelligence secret”, which they usually and dutifully claim.
That’s why they knew they could get awat with using the FISA Court, in my opinion, for personal purposes, to monitor Obama’s /Hillary’s opposition, Donald Trump!!
President Trump must call in FISA judges and ask what was provided. Did the judge who authorized the warrant know Clinton paid for the Dossier? Would that have made a difference in issuing a warrant? Did the judge know of the connection between DOJ Ohr’s wife and the Dossier? Did the judge know she worked for Fusion GPS and helped write the Dossier? Did he know that the FBI Director said the Dossier is , “Salacious and unverified”,?
Would that have had an impact on the issuance of the FISA warrant?
Mr President, it’’s time to act.
J Gary Dilaura, a 28 year veteran of the FBI, spent his career in Charleston, SC, New York City, and Buffalo. He was active in the FBI’s Violent Crimes Program, finishing his career as Bank Robbery Supervisor. He worked White Collar Crime and his well known cases include the Oklahoma City Bombing & the Dustin Hoffman Dog Day Afternoon Bank Robbery. He holds a degree in Engineering, and established and ran the FBI’s Environmental Crimes Program for the Western District of NY.
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