Last month the DOJ admitted to the FISA court that two of the four FISA warrants used against Carter Page were fraudulently obtained.
The “DOJ assesses that with respect to the applications in [April and June 2017] “if not earlier, there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that [Carter]Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power.”” (link)
However, what the DOJ did not admit publicly was how the current FBI Chief Legal Counsel, Dana Boente, participated in obtaining the April 2017 warrant. Additionally, a review of the internal FBI & DOJ scheme to obtain the fraudulent April warrant shows FBI Director James Comey couldn’t get the renewal unless he convinced Main Justice to trick the President into issuing an executive order to grant surveillance on himself.
In hindsight this story explains the ongoing issues within the FBI.
The original FISA application was October 21st, 2016. The first FISA renewal was January 12, 2017 (84 days from origination) and prior to the inauguration of President Trump. The second renewal was April 7, 2017 (85 days from prior renewal). The third renewal was on June 29th, 2017 (83 days from prior renewal).
The originating FISA and first renewal were authorized by the Obama administration officials. However, it was the second renewal -now identified as fraudulent- on April 7th 2017, under the Trump administration, when the conniving FBI ran into a problem.
Here’s what happened.
On January 30th, 2017, Sally Yates was fired for refusing to defend the Trump travel ban from extremist countries. Yates was replaced on January 31st by the U.S. Attorney from the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA), Dana Boente. There wasn’t any existing AG because Loretta Lynch had left.
As a result of Yates exit and Dana Boente’s entry, Boente was Acting Deputy Attorney General, and in charge until Jeff Sessions was confirmed on February 8th, 2017.
When Jeff Sessions became Attorney General, Dana Boente became Acting Deputy AG, a role he would retain until Rod Rosenstein was confirmed on April 25th, 2017.
However, on March 2nd, 2017, Dana Boente was one of a small group who participated in a conversation that led to the recusal of Jeff Sessions from anything related to the 2016 election. This recusal included the ongoing FBI counterintelligence investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane, which was later picked up by Robert Mueller.
The other attendees for the recusal decision-making meeting (see above schedule) included Sessions’ chief of staff Jody Hunt; Criminal Chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, Jim Crowell; Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) in the Department of Justice National Security Division Tash Gauhar (FISA lawyer); and Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools. [Note: Tash Gauhar was lawyer for FBI Clinton case; and Scott Schools was part of drafting Clinton exoneration letter.]Boente, Crowell, Gauhar and Schools convinced AG Jeff Sessions he must recuse himself. In hindsight each of the people giving Sessions advice was connected to previously corrupt activity within Main Justice that included the Clinton and Spygate operations. Not knowing the conflict each advisor was carrying Sessions took their advice and recused himself; a big mistake.
With AG Jeff Sessions recused from anything involving the 2016 election; which included the Russia investigation; effective the evening of March 2, 2017, FBI Director James Comey now reported to Acting Deputy AG Dana Boente.
Technically, as this point in March 2017 Boente is still U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) and is only ‘acting’ as Deputy AG. This becomes an issue a few weeks later when the Carter Page FISA would be up for renewal (April, 2017).
With Sessions recused from the Russia investigation, and without a confirmed Deputy AG able to sign the FISA application, there was no-one in Main Justice who could authorize and sign-off on the FISA renewal. [Note: Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein was not confirmed until April 25th.]
The January 12th renewal was going to expire on April 12th, 2017 (90-days). FBI Director James Comey had a problem if he was going to extend the FISA warrant.
Toward the end of March 2017 FBI Director Comey was in discussions with Dana Boente about the issue.
We discover the hand-written notes later on as they were leaked to MSNBC, almost certainly leaked by the people within the Mueller investigation in April 2018. [You’ll see how we know in a minute] However, at the time of the 2018 leak there was no context for the notes that Boente was taking.
It was only after the FISA application was declassified in July 2018 that Boente’s hand-written notes and the topic therein made sense. To date no-one has connected this issue… until now. (Pay attention to the date, Comey March 30th, 2017):
“Cloud as a result of Russia bus. – This makes running the country difficult.”
Note Boente puts the next note in quotations, implying a direct quote from Comey:
“”what can I do to relieve the cloud!””
Then:
“Kept coming back to it. makes it hard to difficult do best. For the country”
“-We will do the work well.”
“-Reminded him we are not invest. agency”
“”-Moft would be great to get out””
-Told AG, before recusal, I [cannot] be speaking [with] the Pres. Alone..
Obviously these notes are from a conversation between then Acting AG Dana Boente and FBI Director James Comey on March 30th, 2017. It appears to be a phone call.
In hindsight the subject matter almost certainly relates to the issue of the Russia investigation, and needing to extend the FISA warrant on behalf of the FBI’s ongoing investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane. However, with Jeff Sessions recused, and Boente in an non-senate-confirmed “acting” position, neither the AG nor the Acting DAG can sign the renewal application.
Nothing can stop whats coming, there will be a few things perhaps we did not expect.
I almost believe there might be some indictments.
Devin Nunes suggests that the Mueller prosecutors are going to face some serious problems as their involvement in perpetuating the Russian hoax through bogus investigations is exposed
John Durham’s criminal investigation continues apace; sources say a mountain of evidence has been uncovered “beyond expectations”