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Recent Appearances...

Home Front: Politix

FBI’s Kash Patel and Dan Bongino hit the talk circuit to explain everything

2025-05-19

FBI's top boss Kash Patel says bureau ran cover for Hillary but it all ends under Trump
[FoxNews] Kash Patel claims former FBI leadership also 'bastardized the FISA process' and hid documentation in Crossfire Hurricane investigation

FBI Director Kash Patel hinted at a "wave of transparency" on the horizon as the agency struggles to rebuild public trust, especially in the wake of longstanding controversy over alleged politicization and selective prosecution.

Sitting alongside FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino for a "Sunday Morning Futures" exclusive interview, Patel pointed to the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as an example of political bias and institutional failure. He claimed senior officials within the Department of Justice "hijacked" their constitutional responsibilities by selectively deciding which cases to pursue.

"You asked in the beginning how the FBI was weaponized," he said to host Maria Bartiromo. "Well, the FBI hijacked the constitutional responsibility of the Department of Justice and the Attorney General, and James Comey and others specifically decided what cases to prosecute and not prosecute. Don't believe me? Go to the videotape in the Hillary Clinton investigation."

"We don't decide prosecutions, and neither does any agent or intel analyst. We have great partners under Attorney General [Pam] Bondi. We work with them and discuss the matter with them, but the prosecutorial decision is with them," he said.

Patel said that new agency leadership has uncovered additional details regarding the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into President Donald Trump's alleged ties to Russia and are working with Congress to put out information surrounding the episode.

"That's how vindictive and vicious the former leadership structure here was. Not only did they bastardize the FISA process and lie to the American public, they withheld and hid documentation and put it in rooms where people weren't supposed to look," Patel said.

"It's a good thing we're here now to clean it up, and you're about to see a wave of transparency… Just give us about a week or two."

FBI Director Patel Says Transparency on Russia Collusion Claim in 'a Week or Two' ‐ 'The Biggest D.C. Deception Game We Have Ever Seen'
[Breitbart] During this week’s broadcast of FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” FBI Director Kash Patel discussed the 2017 claim that President Donald Trump’s first presidential election win resulted from Russian collusion.

Despite the statute of limitations having expired on prosecuting any criminality, Patel told host Maria Bartiromo to expect a “wave of transparency” in a week or two.

Partial transcript as follows:

BARTIROMO: I watched it with you and Devin Nunes, when you were truth-tellers on all of this, and you were as well, Dan, throughout the Russia collusion story and the rest.

PATEL: Look, I can speak to the folks that were in our seats, our predecessors, and they intentionally failed the American public by putting on the biggest D.C. deception game we have ever seen. They said the FBI was the most storied institution for law enforcement, and it was. And it will be again very soon.

But when the likes of Comey and McCabe and Strzok and company came in here with the James Bakers of the world and intentionally lied to a federal court, only to rig a presidential election by lying to the American public and using taxpayer dollars, likely illegally, to fund this entire operation, and then withholds sculptor information from a federal court that I used to appear before to manhunt terrorists, that’s what broke the FBI.

And then, when they were caught, they lied about it. And you and a few others like Dan and others were brave enough to cover it six, seven, eight years ago. And we’re still talking about it today, because, as Congress is working rigorously with us, the Crossfire Hurricane documents are coming fast and hard. And they’re being sent there unredacted, so we can have full accountability.

And that’s how you restore what the — the trust that was lost to the American public when it comes to the FBI.

BARTIROMO: Yes, but, come on, Director. With all due respect, we have been talking about this for a long time, and I have been demanding accountability for many, many years.

One of the — you mentioned Comey, Strzok and the rest. They have got TV shows. They have got media platforms. They’re fine. There’s been no accountability.

PATEL: Well, look, it’s a fair criticism. But what I will tell people is, we weren’t here in the FBI in the last five years, when we had statute of limitations that were still in play, where we could have investigated criminal conduct. Most of these statute of limitations are 5 years old.

And we will investigate criminal conduct where we find a righteous case to do so and the law and the facts allow us to. But a lot of it, we’re precluded from. So we will take the criticism, and it’s rightfully so, that could we have done more in the past? Sure, people before us could have.

But what we can do now is continue to put out the documents and the information that these people withheld from the American public. And I’m just telling you, right now, as much as we know about Crossfire Hurricane, he and I just found out more last week. And we’re continuing to work with Congress to put those documents out.

That’s how vindictive and vicious the former leadership structure here was. Not only did they bastardize the FISA process and lie to the American public. They withheld and hid documentation and put it in rooms where people weren’t supposed to look. And it’s a good thing we’re here now to clean it up, and you’re about to see a wave of transparency.

BARTIROMO: What do you mean?

PATEL: Just give us about a week or two.

Two from Besoeker:

Bartiromo to FBI Director Patel: Why Don't We Have More Info On Trump Assassination Attempts? (video)
[Real Clear Politics] FOX News host Maria Bartiromo asked FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino when we will learn more about the assassination attempts against President Trump last summer during an interview on "Sunday Morning Futures."
Worth the time to watch.

‘We're Gonna Ruin Your Summer': Dan Bongino Warns Americans Not To ‘Buy Movie Tickets' In Unhinged Rant About FBI (video)
[MSN-Maria Sara Bartiromo] Former podcaster and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino warned Americans not to buy movie tickets, and that he will 'ruin their summer' during an interview this morning.

“We’re going to ruin your summer …if you’re a bad guy.” That’s a malevolently bad headline. Interview with FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Dir Dan Bongino. They looked at the data to see where the problems are worst — Memphis,TN per capita murder capitol, human trafficking in Ohio because of the highways, domestic inner city gangs metastasized as well as the Latin American narco gangs — and will be concentrating on the basics to make a difference. More impressive hires by President Trump — this is an A Team bringing their A game.

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Government Corruption

Convicted FBI lawyer spared from prison by Boasberg far more involved in Russia probe than known

2025-04-18

Long and detailed. A taste:

[JustTheNews] The judge who has emerged as a top foe of Trump's deportation efforts previously let a well-known Trump-Russia collusion hoax proponent off the hook. But newly-declassified Crossfire Hurricane records show the FBI's Kevin Clinesmith was deeply involved in in the bogus Russiagate saga.

Convicted FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith — whom Judge James Boasberg gave a slap on the wrist for his crimes years before becoming a public foe of President Donald Trump’s deportation policies — was more deeply involved in the deeply flawed Crossfire Hurricane investigation than previously known.

Clinesmith, who worked on both the FBI’s Hillary Clinton email investigation and on the Trump-Russia collusion inquiry, pleaded guilty to falsifying a document during the bureau’s efforts to renew FISA authority to wiretap Carter Page, who was an adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign.

Newly-declassified details about Clinesmith’s involvement include a wide swath of information about his role in the case. He was a key go-to for former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and fired FBI special agent Peter Strzok throughout the debunked collusion saga and a main driver in obtaining a FISA warrant against Page based on the infamous Steele dossier.

Clinesmith also granted his seal of approval on a document describing the FBI’s pretextual briefing of then-candidate Trump, was deeply involved in the investigation into retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, played a role in going after former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, and more. He also helped the FBI push its “Cross Wind” investigation, which Just the News can confirm related to the targeting of security expert Walid Phares, which resulted in no accusations of wrongdoing and no charges.

KNEE-DEEP IN THE MUD
Clinesmith confessed in August 2020 that he had manipulated a CIA email in 2017 to state that Carter Page was “not a source” for the CIA when that agency had actually told the bureau on multiple occasions that Page was in fact an “operational contact” for the CIA.

Boasberg, the federal judge who is blocking Trump’s efforts to deport Venezuelan gang members, also played a key and controversial role in the aftermath of the Trump-Russia collusion saga as the leader of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The judge, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by then-President Barack Obama in 2011, is currently engaged in an all-out legal battle with the Trump Justice Department.

But in his role as the head of the FISA Court he made a number of divisive decisions, including a slap on the wrist for a member of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team, the appointment of officials who had defended the FBI’s actions during the Russiagate saga, the renewal of the FBI’s FISA powers, and more.

BOASBERG DEFENDS CLINESMITH
Boasberg ruled this week that “probable cause exists” to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt after they violated his orders by continuing deportation flights. But his ruling follows the Supreme Court holding that Boasberg's court was in an improper venue for the case altogether.

Boasberg, in his role as a federal judge, denied the Justice Department’s efforts to seek up to six months behind bars for Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty in Special Counsel John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation — instead giving Clinesmith a year of probation, 400 hours of community service, and no fine.

The remaining subheds:

Collaboration on the Carter Page FISA
Clinesmith altered docs, hid information from FISA court
Sign off on doc detailing pretextual briefing of Trump
Clinesmith Targets Flynn
Leaks and unmasking
"Out to get Trump"
Steele Dossier dissemination
Clinesmith and Papadopoulos
Strzok establishes a pattern of untruths
“Cross Wind”
Clinesmith: "Viva le resistance"
Comey arranges leaks to media
The Crossfire docs a profitable venture

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Government Corruption

Don Surber: Trump unleashes the crossfire hurricane

2025-03-28

The president sure is opening a lot of files. Sunshine, sunshine all around!

The Schiff is about to hit the fan. The White House tweeted with video, "President Trump signs a Presidential Memorandum requiring the immediate declassification of all FBI files relating to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation."

The operation’s title is a nod to Jumpin’ Jack Flash, a song by Trump’s favorite group, the Rolling Stones. Bureaucrats spend a lot of time amusing themselves.

Lawyer Rogan O'Handley (as DC_Draino) tweeted, "President Trump just declassified all Crossfire Hurricane documents.

"This is huge.

"The entire ’Russia, Russia!’ hoax that led to the FBI illegally spying on a sitting President is about to be exposed.

"This is why he removed secret clearances from Hillary and her friends.

"He’s going after them."

President Trump has no choice. Last time, he didn’t and they paid his civility—OK, inability to do so—with 91 indictments, a raid on his home, a mugshot and kangaroo court civil lawsuits to try to break him.

This time, Trump’s ducks are lining up.

His attorney general, Pam Bondi, may disappoint some readers with being slow to prosecutor and lightning fast to a microphone, but criminal cases take time to develop—lies must die a quick death. She earned Trump’s trust just like he’s earned ours.

Kash Patel is the key. We know this because only Pete Hegseth had a tougher time winning confirmation. Give Kash credit because he’s proved his loyalty under fire.

Jonah Goldberg once advised me to never read the comments, so I always try to.

Some Random Guy tweeted in response to DC Draino, "Just a reminder that Kevin Clinesmith, the FBI attorney who pleaded guilty to lying to the FISA court, only got 12 months of probation and 400 hours of community service. Guess who the judge was?"

I checked the tweet out. I got this from Politico:

Clinesmith insisted that he thought the statement was true at the time and only altered the message to save himself the hassle of procuring another email from the CIA. Prosecutors contested that claim, arguing that the FBI lawyer intended to mislead his colleague, but Boasberg sided with the defense on that point.

"My view of the evidence is that Mr. Clinesmith likely believed that what he said about Mr. Page was true," Boasberg said. "By altering the email, he was saving himself some work and taking an inappropriate shortcut."

While Trump and his GOP allies have suggested that Clinesmith was engaged in a political vendetta against Trump, Boasberg noted that a Justice Department inspector general investigation failed to establish that political considerations played a role in Clinesmith’s actions or numerous other errors and omissions that impacted filings with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Well, if Sergeant Schultz saw nothing, nothing happened. Judge Doom Boasberg’s personal rule on evidence holds that it is OK to alter evidence if it saves time.

The story also said, "While prosecutors urged the judge to send Clinesmith to prison to send a message to others in government not to try something similar, Boasberg said he believed that message had already been sent."

Oh the message was sent, which was go do the crime because you won’t do the time. He got community service for his felony and states no longer automatically disbar felons, even if they tampered with evidence.

I mention this to point out just what President Trump faces as he takes on the rich men north of Richmond.

Like Don Corleone, they own the judges and Justice Roberts, who appointed Boasberg as the chief of the secret FISA courts which gave Obama and Hillary 17 warrants to spy on their top political opponent. Who knows how many warrants FISA gave Democrats

...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy, white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects...
and the FBI to spy on opponents?

Maybe Kash Patel knows now. Maybe the FBI’s industrial-strength shredder does. If the evidence is there, Trump has it.

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Government Corruption

Time to Call Out Bull$h!t, Gowdy and Patel

2025-03-24

The comments pretty much sum it up. Video is a pathetic love fest.

[ConservativeTreehouse] Sunday Talks – Kash Patel Discusses His FBI Mission Priority with Good Friend and Mentor Trey Gowdy
March 24, 2025
FBI Director Kash Patel makes his first television appearance on Fox News to discuss his mission priority within the FBI. Defending the honorable rank and file FBI agents, Kash Patel notes his intention is to focus on the massive increase in violent crime that has come as an outcome of open borders and illegal alien inflows.

Kash Patel has a long relationship with both Trey Gowdy and current CIA Director John Ratcliffe going back to the days when Patel was the lead staffer for Devin Nunes on the House Intelligence Committee, and Gowdy with Ratcliffe were selected to review the FISA application at the center of ‘Russiagate.’

Mr. Gowdy puts the number of honorable FBI officials at 95% and Director Patel agrees, saying he wants to return to the time when he and his family would invite FBI agents for a cup of coffee. Patel then emphasizes he has already addressed the bad actors within the FBI and will continue to hold the internal investigative officers accountable with a zero-tolerance approach.

During the interview Trey Gowdy wants to emphasize how qualified Kash Patel is for this role in the FBI, delivering effusive praise for his mentee and friend, Director Patel. Gowdy calls Kash Patel the ’employee of the month’ for his excellence and brilliance in his first 30-days. WATCH:

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Government Corruption

More Background on Judge James Boasberg – The Fight Continues

2025-03-20

Masterful.

[ConservativeTreehouse] When you understand how Washington DC Judges view their role and responsibility, then you understand the scale of opposition that President Trump is facing. The false media framework of our "government" only makes the issues worse. So, here’s an explanation of Boasberg v Trump.

In 2016 the DOJ-NSD headed by Mary McCord filed a FISA application seeking a Title-1 search (full and unlimited) surveillance warrant against the leading presidential candidate, Donald Trump. The method to gain the surveillance authority was to use CIA informant Carter Page who had met with the Trump campaign and call Page an "agent of a foreign power."

The FISA Court knowingly and with specific intent approved the Title-1 surveillance warrant which was filed using false evidence (Clinesmith) and sketchy supporting documents (Steele Dossier), no Woods File was attached.

At the time of the application, Mary McCord was acting head of the DOJ National Security Division. McCord was responsible for filing the warrant application. The DOJ-NSD had no inspector general oversight. The targeting of candidate Donald Trump was entirely for political purposes and intents.

After President Trump won the 2016 election, he gave DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz authority to conduct oversight over the DOJ-NSD. IG Horowitz started investigating the FISA application. This is where things get interesting.

The FISA Court (FISC) was exposed by their willful blindness in allowing the Title-1 targeting of Donald Trump.

Justice John Roberts is in charge of the FISC.

The keystone point.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts then appointed Judge James Boasberg to the position of presiding judge over the FISA Court (FISC).

Judge Boasberg then selected Mary McCord to be an amicus or advisor to the court as Horowitz was investigating the fraudulent FISA application.

Boasberg put the person who was in charge of submitting the false FISA application in a position to filter the results of the Horowitz investigation of that same FISA application.

In essence, think of this as protecting the Judicial Branch. Justice Roberts appointed Boasberg to defend the FISC from scrutiny. Boasberg then moves Mary McCord into position to defend the FISC from scrutiny (McCord also protects herself).

At the time, Mary McCord’s husband Sheldon Snook was working within Justice Robert’s office.

That’s how John Roberts, James Boasberg and Mary McCord all connect. All the motives and intents go back to that original Title-1 FISA application.

Remember, this was a huge scandal all by itself. The FISA Court permitted a full-throated surveillance warrant against the leading presidential candidate, Donald Trump. The Judicial Branch was intentionally influencing the 2016 election. These are not stupid people; they were not duped, conned or fooled, they knew exactly what they were doing.

After appointing Mary McCord to take up a defensive position for herself and the FISA Court (cover), Judge Boasberg then becomes the presiding judge in the case against the FBI agent who falsified the FISA application, Kevin Clinesmith. Boasberg gives Clinesmith a slap on the wrist and a few months’ probation (more cover).

This is the same Judge Boasberg gave J6 FBI agent provocateur Ray Epps a sentence of probation. This is the same judge who, on his vacation, went to sit in the DC courtroom to observe defendant President Trump who was forced to appear in DC court. This is the same Boasberg who established a horrible precedent by forcing Vice-President Mike Pence to testify before a DC grand jury about his conversations with President Trump (breaking executive privilege).

♦ Now we go back to the John Durham investigation, because Bill Barr had to ask Presiding Judge Boasberg for guidance and direction as the Durham team looked at the FISA application (Title-1 surveillance warrant) against the backdrop of the Obama government targeting Donald Trump.

This is June of 2020, Bill Barr (who was running another cover-up angle) asked Judge Boasberg for guidance on five very specific issues centering around the Carter Page FISA application. Barr asked for legal guidance to assist John Durham in disclosing information in the FISA file & evidence attached to the FISA file.

The five issues all circle around the FBI/DOJ use of the Carter Page FISA application; and, more importantly, the underlying evidence that is attached to the FISA application. [source]

I. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material due to FOIA demands. FISC gives legal opinion

II. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material due to ongoing and anticipated civil litigation. The FISC gives legal opinion and expands to criminal litigation.

III. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material to internal investigative units from the FBI inspectors division (INSD). FISC gives opinion and advice.

IV. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of non-minimized information, and/or, minimized information as part of the ongoing Office of Inspector General oversight. FISC gives opinion and guidance.

V. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material to John Durham probe, both for criminal prosecution and possible evidence gathering attached to other ongoing investigative needs. FISC gives opinion and guidance.

Now, keep in mind, with hindsight we know the DOJ (Bill Barr) was essentially walking a fine line between uncovering information and trying to protect the DOJ as an institution. John Durham was never approved to investigate the government side of the Trump-Russia collusion nonsense.

At the same time, Judge Boasberg is trying to protect the FISC from their culpability and also protect the FISA Court as an institution. Everyone has an agenda here, and none of them are good.

That leads to Boasberg outlining a cautious approach toward distribution and/or sunlight on what took place. On this issue the court says allowing a target to escape prosecution is part of the penalty upon the DOJ for wrongful assembly; a nice way to cover the issue.

Judge Boasberg does not consider the DOJ is targeting the "assemblers" for their criminal conduct. Rather his response is general toward criminals who were targets of a FISA application assembled with corrupt intent. It seemed a little weird at the time, now notsomuch.

Pages #11 and #12 hit the topic of FOIA production. Boasberg says "some" FOIA requests might warrant document distribution, but not all. However, on the topic of Carter Page getting his FOIA fulfilled, the court supports expansive distribution to Mr. Page alone.

I find the arguments and issues in/around page #14 to be especially noteworthy. In this segment Judge Boasberg is responding to the underlying raw evidence that would normally be used to assemble a "woods file". The court notes the FBI Sentinel system would contain the minimized outcomes (redacted evidence) and this points to a bigger issue.

In response to this inquiry Judge Boasberg notes FBI investigators would have access to the minimized information within the Sentinel system; however, insofar as there was additional inquiry into the raw and non-minimized intelligence, a review and distribution would be permissible so long as there was a strong filter team in place to ensure statutes surrounding FISA securities (minimization requirements) were not violated.

Overall, Judge Boasberg gives permission and approval for all six aspects Bill Barr requested. However, he does so with several legal qualifiers and distinctions which the DOJ was told to observe. Those qualifiers were intended to protect the interests of both Main Justice and the FISA Court from sunlight upon their prior conduct in 2016.

SUMMARY — Judge Boasberg has been demonstrably political in all his determinations going all the way back to his position on the FISC when the FISA application was approved. Boasberg was then moved into position to protect the FISC from the outcome of their Title-1 search warrant approval.

Boasberg then used his position as Presiding FISC judge to protect the apparatus, while using his position as DC Circuit Court Judge to diminish, obfuscate and cloud the severe ramifications from all of the DC effort, including his rulings on the Kevin Clinesmith (FBI Agent) and Ray Epps (FBI Source) cases.

Judge Boasberg sits at the epicenter of a thoroughly corrupt and compromised DC court system.

I like this approach recommended by Hokkada:

..."It’s important to remind people that the inferior courts do not work for or report to the Supreme Court. CONGRESS creates the inferior courts and as such, Congress can eliminate courts, add courts, and control funding of the courts. Congress also can impeach. And a key element of impeachment is the hearings process.

A hearings process that subpoenas Federal district court judges to testify before Congress would cast a lot of sunlight on the corrupt Judicial-Lawfare-Complex. Could the end result be impeachment? Certainly.

But it could also lead to something better in the long run: descope of the Federal court system which has grown bloated, corrupt, and arrogant because it answers to nobody.

They’re the 3rd branch of government for a reason — they are not elected by anyone, and therefore hold the least amount of power when it comes to governance. SCOTUS doesn’t even control their own budget. They can’t levy taxes. They can’t declare war. They can’t decide what constitutes citizenship.

The answer to all of this is sunlight. Simply compel Biasberg to testify in open public hearings about his role in Lawfare and his interpretation of the Federal district court’s ability to direct the actions of the Commander in Chief, issue "nationwide injunctions" and so forth. Then let’s get into his direct role in Lawfare.

Roberts wants to pretend impeachment of Biasberg is about a "political disagreement". But it is not. This is a judicial coup d’etat we are witnessing. And the only way to stop it is to descope the judiciary and limit its ability to issue injunctions.

If crimes are discovered, such as aiding and abetting terrorist organizations, the judges should be removed. Judges can "obstruct justice" too. They are not Jesus in black robes. They are every bit as tempted by corruption — perhaps more so because they are deemed infallible by the Chief Justice — as any politician."...

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Home Front: Politix

Trump's CIA Director John Ratcliffe: John Brennan's ‘Tenure One of Worst Things That Ever Happened to Agency,' Need to Depoliticize Intelligence

2025-01-24

[Breitbart] President Donald Trump’s newly confirmed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, John Ratcliffe, told Breitbart News exclusively that he views his mission as restoring the world’s most preeminent intelligence agency to its core primary objectives and undoing the lasting damage that one of his predecessors, John Brennan, did to the CIA.

“It would be fair to say his tenure was one of the worst things that has ever happened to the Agency,” Ratcliffe told Breitbart News of Brennan on Thursday in his first interview as CIA director.

Ratcliffe, who served as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in Trump’s first term, was just confirmed Thursday afternoon as Trump’s new director of the CIA and sworn in shortly thereafter. He sat for his interview as CIA director on Thursday with Breitbart News, a broad and wide-ranging conversation that focused on the challenges that face the Intelligence Community (IC) as a whole, the CIA in particular, and how he views his role in terms of helping Trump execute his agenda. Ratcliffe also covered several major world theaters, from China to Russia to the Middle East, in this interview. But his very harsh criticism of Brennan, whose security clearance was just revoked by Trump along with the other 51 intelligence officials who falsely claimed Hunter Biden’s laptop was a product of Russian disinformation, is sure to make major news and marks a totally new era being ushered in at the CIA.

“There are challenges within the Intelligence Community and skepticism, I guess,” Ratcliffe told Breitbart News. “It’s because the American people saw examples of that. They saw the FBI misuse intelligence authorities at the FISA courts to spy on the Trump campaign. They saw through my declassification when I was DNI notes that the Intelligence Community knew in the summer of 2016 that Hillary Clinton had funded the Steele Dossier but yet it resulted in the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller investigation and the whole Russia collusion hoax. Then in 2020 they saw Brennan, [James] Clapper, and others amplify this lie that Adam Schiff started about Hunter Biden’s laptop being a Russian disinformation operation when everyone related to that did know and understand that there was no intelligence that supported that. Ultimately the FBI and Department of Justice used that laptop at the central piece of evidence in the prosecution of Hunter Biden and his guilty plea.”

Asked if former President Joe Biden pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, weeks before he left office and then doing the same for several of his family members in his final moments as president on Monday confirmed once and for all that the Biden family is corrupt and the critics are correct, Ratcliffe said it did. “Absolutely — it’s verification of that,” Ratcliffe said.

Ratcliffe said he also believes one of his main tasks as CIA director is to get the Agency “back to its core mission” and cut out the political nonsense that Brennan started back during President Barack Obama’s administration.

“So I do think the challenge is one of my focuses has to be not only to get the CIA back to its core mission and the things that it’s supposed to do like being the best foreign intelligence agency and collecting human intelligence and being objective in the analysis of that intelligence and conducting covert action as directed by the president and authorized by the president and only by the president, and then the counterintelligence mission of keeping America’s national security information safe — all of those things will remain the same,” Ratcliffe said. “But restoring the public’s confidence in the Intelligence Community, particularly the CIA, in the ability to do that. I talked about that in the confirmation process and how I would go about that. The number one thing is to move away from the things that have contributed to all of the failures and all of the mistakes and all of the lapses that we just talked about—the politicization of intelligence, and it really started under the tenure of John Brennan.”

Ratcliffe said that Brennan’s well-publicized efforts to “modernize” the CIA actually ended up hurting the agency in retrospect, and he will be spending a lot of time undoing the damage Brennan did to the CIA.

“His so-called ‘modernization’ of the CIA when he was director was in fact a politically motivated, bureaucratically imposed social justice agenda,” Ratcliffe told Breitbart News of Brennan. “The immediate impact of that and effect of that was that from that point forward every metric of success was that the CIA performed less well. The agency collected less intelligence, it was lower quality intelligence, and it was increasingly politicized in the analysis of that intelligence. That carried on throughout his tenure and then even after his tenure as we just talked about the timing of the letter of the 51 spies who lied was really the capstone of a career of politicizing intelligence. President Trump wants that to stop. He wants me to return the CIA to a meritocracy that produces better intelligence and addresses the kind of intelligence failures we talked about and things we’ve seen recently like with regard to Afghanistan, the assessments in Ukraine, the failure to see the October 7 Hamas talks, and now just a few weeks ago the fall of Syria. All of those things are because we haven’t done what we’re supposed to be doing to inform policymakers to make good decisions. Good decisions are hostage to good information and good intelligence and we’ve got to get back to that, so that’s the mandate from President Trump. As you know, my priorities will be his priorities. He makes the policy and I provide, as his CIA director, good intelligence to make that policy whatever it is. He needs good intelligence to end the war in Ukraine. He needs good intelligence to counter China’s moves in the Taiwan Strait or to hold them accountable with regard to COVID. He needs good intelligence to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and from their ability to fund terrorism throughout the Middle East. That’s what it’s all about and I’m excited about the opportunity to do it and I’m confident that we’ll do exactly that.”

Asked to further flesh out what went wrong with Obama’s CIA Director, Ratcliffe said that his well-documented radicalism—Brennan proudly acknowledged once voting for the Communist Party candidate for president—combined his devotion to radical social justice insanity rather than meritocracy severely hurt the Agency’s reputation in the long term. Ratcliffe said that he and Trump have discussed how to fix that, and undo that damage and return the CIA to a meritocracy where regardless of somebody’s background their qualifications and accomplishments determine their success.

“You start with someone whose political history involved voting for a member of the Communist Party,” Ratcliffe said. “So many people were surprised that President Obama chose him to be director in the first place, but we just walked through how what the CIA and the Intelligence Community should do is to be completely apolitical and to not let politics infect intelligence products. That’s where mistakes happen, that’s where lapses in judgment happen, and that’s where Americans lose their lives. So we just talked about how, when you move away from that and you move toward a social justice agenda where people move up because they check certain boxes, that’s something that we’re demonstrating isn’t going to be tolerated. So, the ending of DEI across all federal offices included the Central Intelligence Agency. I say this, under President Trump and under me at the CIA, someone’s race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation and preference shouldn’t inhibit anyone’s success but nor should it be an entitlement to success or advancement. In many cases, that is what happened and what has happened so we’re going back to a true meritocracy where everyone in the federal government can go as high and as far as their abilities can carry them and that’s what should be the metrics of success.”

Much more, including in-depth discussion about China and Artificial Intelligence, from Ratcliffe’s first interview as CIA director is forthcoming soon.

Link

Government Corruption

The last act of corruption by Biden out the door is hidden in the phrase "staff"

2025-01-21

[CTH] This is so far beyond corrupt, the light from where corruption emanates could not catch this level of corruption for a year.

Let us be clear. Joe Biden didn’t actually pardon anyone. Biden wouldn’t know who, how, or what a preemptive pardon actually is.

Nope, the non-pretending version of what just happened is: the people who control Joe Biden, just used the tool he represents to pardon themselves.

No one has picked up on this yet, but the people in control of the pardoning process Joe Biden represents, just pardoned themselves; including Mary McCord. Notice the wording (emphasis mine):

WHITE HOUSE – […] “some have even been threatened with criminal prosecutions, including General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, and the members and staff of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.”

[…] That is why I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee. {SOURCE}

Mary McCord was a lead staffer on the J6 Committee. REMINDER: November 3, 2021 – In Washington DC – “Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and the House Jan. 6 Select Committee has tapped Mary McCord, who once ran the Justice Department’s National Security Division, for representation in its fight to obtain former President Donald Trump’s White House records. (source)

General Mark Milley, Liz Cheney and Anthony Fauci are the shiny ‘look over there’ thing. Yes, Milley broke the chain of command and is guilty of usurpation of government. Yes, Liz Cheney conducted an unlawful and manipulative operation using the J6 committee as a vehicle against Donald Trump. Yes, Anthony Fauci lied to congress about his involvement in the creation of the SARS-CoV-2 bioweapon program. Yes to all of it…. But it’s the Lawfare operatives inside the machinery that are being overlooked in this “and staff” preemptive pardon.

To give you an idea of the scope of influence of Mary McCord as a key functionary, consider what we can document.

♦ McCord submitted the fraudulent FISA application to spy on Trump campaign.

♦ McCord created the “Logan Act” claim used against Michael Flynn and then went with Sally Yates to confront the White House.

♦ McCord then left the DOJ and went to work for Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler on Impeachment Committee.

♦ McCord organized the CIA rule changes with Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson.

♦ McCord led and organized the impeachment effort, in the background, using the evidence she helped create.

♦ McCord joined the FISA Court to protect against DOJ IG Michael Horowitz newly gained NSD oversight and FISA review.

♦ McCord joined the J6 Committee helping to create all the lawfare angles they deployed.

♦ McCord then coordinated with DA Fani Willis in Georgia.

♦ McCord was working with Special Counsel Jack Smith to prosecute Trump.

♦ McCord is now coordinating a Lawfare attack process against Donald Trump in term #2

♦ McCord just testified that AG Pam Bondi must recuse herself from investigating McCord.

♦ Joe Biden just pardoned Mary McCord.

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Government Corruption

McCabe ordered Apple+Google to turn over the text/phone records for 20 Republican staffers--inclg KASH PATEL--involved in investigating FBI's Russiagate

2024-12-11

[X]

BREAKING: Disgraced ex-FBI Dir Andrew McCabe ordered Apple+Google to turn over the text/phone records for 20 Republican staffers--inclg KASH PATEL--involved in investigating FBI's Russiagate scandal & its abuses of FISA spy warrants targeting Trump aide: new DOJ IG report reveals
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) December 10, 2024

Mr. McCabe was deputy director of the FBI 2016-2018, and acting director 2017-2018, following the dismissal of James Comey. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe just before he was to have retired.

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Government Corruption

Man Who Tried to Assassinate Trump Was Flagged by a Second Federal Agency, Then Ignored

2024-09-19

[Red State] When Ryan Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump on September 15, landed in Honolulu in June 2023 on his way home from Ukraine and went through customs, the spontaneous comments he made caused US Customs and Border Patrol agents to interview him on the spot and flag him for further investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, according to an exclusive report at Just The News.

Now to the bottom line:

Given what this guy was doing in Ukraine and his interactions with CBP agents and with a CIA agent (as Susie reported Monday), and the fact that a nurse working in Ukraine brought Routh to the attention of CBP as a dangerous person, there's no way the various intelligence agencies in our country didn't have him on their radar or under constant surveillance. If Tucker Carlson interacting with people in Russia for an interview was enough to have his Signal account hacked and communications tapped, with the level of interaction Routh was having with foreign agents around the world he had to have had a FISA warrant active on his communications, right? Perhaps we will find out.

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Government Corruption

Remarkable and Truthful Statement About FBI Political Surveillance

2024-05-29

[ConservativeTreehouse] Governor Phil Bryant: "I’m the campaign finance director for Donald Trump in Mississippi, so we raise money. I’ve talked to a number of very wealthy individuals that God has blessed that say I can’t give money to Donald Trump because the FBI will show up at my door."

One of the more sad, albeit predictable, aspects to the politicization of American justice institutions is that there’s less and less shock associated with the dropping of pretenses. Many people on these pages and in the discussions across the internet warned several years ago that downstream from the weaponized government was going to be an end-point era where all trust was dissolved. We are essentially at that point now.

While both wings of the UniParty apparatus in DC played together in the creation of the post 9-11 surveillance state, it was the Obama administration who added the weaponization knob based on political ideology.

Weaponizing the DOJ and FBI via the Intelligence Community (2012 and beyond) was an outcropping of the previous weaponization of the IRS and regulatory system (2009 to 2012). When I discuss this issue with people, I like to draw attention to the Obama and Eric Holder continuum.

The National Security Division of the DOJ (DOJ-NSD) was created by Eric Holder specifically to function as a weaponized agency, using FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act) as the tool for the surveillance and targeting. While the NSD system was being put into place (2009/2010), Main Justice requested the CD ROMs from the IRS containing the Schedule-Bs of every 501(c-4) political organization. The DOJ quickly settled the class action lawsuit brought by conservative groups.

With the spotlight on the Cincinnati office (Louis Lerner), Obama moved his Chief of Staff Jack Lew into position as Treasury Secretary. The DOJ under Eric Holder then moved away from using the IRS and began to using the NSA database (weaponized FISA-702 authority) in 2012.

More at the link...

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Government Corruption

Senior FBI Official Reportedly Instructed Agents To Utilize Warrantless Wiretap Tool Inside America

2024-05-09

[DC] A senior official in the FBI reportedly advised agents to use its warrantless surveillance authorities against targets on U.S. soil, according to an internal email obtained by WIRED.

In April, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate urged subordinates to find ways to use the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) Section 702 authority, which allows for warrantless surveillance under certain conditions, against "U.S. persons," according to WIRED, which obtained the internal email. While the FBI and other proponents of Section 702 have described the law as an essential tool for national security, the bureau controversially used the espionage tool to target former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, a sitting member of Congress and thousands of Americans.

"To continue to demonstrate why tools like this are essential to our mission, we need to use them, while also holding ourselves accountable for doing so properly and in compliance with legal requirements," Abbate wrote in the email, according to WIRED. "I urge everyone to continue to look for ways to appropriately use U.S. person queries to advance the mission, with the added confidence that this new pre-approval requirement will help ensure that those queries are fully compliant with the law."

Section 702 allows the FBI to request that American companies allow the bureau to access various communications without a search warrant, according to WIRED. However, the law requires that at least one of the targets is a foreigner who is reasonably thought to be somewhere other than the U.S.

"Today’s reporting in Wired magazine is a complete misrepresentation of the FBI Deputy Director’s email to the FBI workforce. Their allegation that the FBI instructed its employees to violate the law or FBI policies is categorically false and insulting," a spokesperson for the FBI told the Daily Caller News Foundation. "The email emphasized Congress’ recognition of the vital importance of FISA Section 702 to protect the American people and was sent to ensure that FBI personnel were immediately aware of, and in compliance with, the privacy enhancing changes the law has put in place."

In the 2016 election, the FBI spied on the Trump campaign using FISA, basing its application on information contained in the since-debunked Steele Dossier. After its role in the 2016 elections and subsequent allegations of abuse of the tool, many lawmakers opposed reauthorizing Section 702 when the time came to do so earlier this spring, but Congress ultimately reauthorized the program on April 20, the same day that Abbate sent the email in question.

The FBI first began disclosing statistics about its use of the surveillance tool in 2021, a year in which the bureau claims to have searched U.S. phone numbers or email accounts 2.9 million times, according to WIRED. Since 2021, the FBI has changed how it counts Section 702 searches, and it now discloses the total number of unique searches; for example, five distinct searches of the same phone number would count only as one search.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Irreconcilable Differences: Johnson on Brink of Permanent Power Sharing Agreement with Democrats as MTG, Massie Meeting Fails to Produce Accord with Republicans

2024-05-07

[Breitbart] Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) failed to concede to Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) after a two-hour meeting Monday in which the duo continued pressing for Johnson to resign and end his coalition government with Democrats.

Greene told reporters after the meeting that she and Massie “had a very long discussion with Speaker Johnson. We’ll be meeting with him again tomorrow based on the discussion and then I’ll have more information.”

The two conservative lawmakers have insisted that Johnson is compromised and will not be Speaker next Congress. They called for him to step down so Republicans can begin moving forward, arguing Johnson’s unofficial lame duck status will hurt Republicans as they fundraise and campaign for November’s elections.

“I have been patient, I have been diligent. I have been steady. And I’ve been focused on the facts,” Greene said. “And none of that has changed.”

The meeting came one day after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) bragged on CBS about controlling the House floor agenda — a characterization many conservatives agree with.

“Even though we’re in the minority, we effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority because we continue to provide a majority of the votes necessary to get things done,” he said. “Those are just the facts.”

Conservatives insist Johnson has capitulated to Democrats repeatedly, essentially forming a coalition government with Democrats by surrendering leverage on fighting President Joe Biden’s agenda and securing the border.

In what Massie has labeled Johnson’s “three betrayals,” Johnson ended the work to pass each of the 12 individual appropriations bills and passed a two-part omnibus bill overwhelmingly supported by Democrats, rammed through a reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) after casting the deciding vote to kill a warrant requirement for spying on Americans, and carried out a scheme to unlock tens of billions in Ukraine aid despite promising not to do so without addressing the border crisis

Johnson said after the meeting that he “understand[s] the frustration. I share it. I would really like to advance much more of our conservative policy on a daily basis here. But, the reality is we are working with the smallest majority in U.S. history with a one vote margin.”

He said his goal is to “keep advancing the ball, to get the next first down, to put points on the board and then, and get to November.”

Greene and Massie did not share what time they would meet with Johnson on Tuesday morning, but Greene could call for a vote on her motion at any time.

The House would then have two legislative days to hold a vote, although Johnson is expected to hold a vote to table the motion before the two legislative days expire, perhaps immediately after Greene makes her move.

Jeffries and his Democrat leadership have promised to save Johnson by voting to table the motion to vacate.

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