During today’s House Judiciary hearing, Rep Cline grilled special counsel John Durham on the details of the falsified FISA documents that allowed the FBI to spy illegally on a very innocent Carter Page. Cline confirmed the shocking details from Durham’s disturbing report. At one point, Cline asks Durham to explain how FBI agents falsified evidence when submitting the FISA report.
Durham stated that the FBI did not have a predicate for the investigation. Durham also confirmed that the FBI failed to examine all exculpatory evidence.
When no evidence turned up, the FBI leadership continued the case. They never interviewed key witnesses. Agents abused their authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Durham confirmed.
Rep. Cline asked what the FBI could have done outside of immediately opening a full counterintelligence investigation.
Mr. Durham replied:
“Attorney General Edward Levy essentially created the guidelines in this area, these three divisions of assessments, preliminary and then full, although they were different names at the time. That has evolved over time and become more particular.
“In this instance, the information that they had received from Papadopoulos about a suggestion of a suggestion and not anything about emails, but just a suggestion of a suggestion, was sufficient and would have been, would have required the FBI to take a look at, well, what is this about?
“The opening is an assessment, and then you would analytically go try to collect intelligence that either supports or refutes or explains that information. That’s the whole purpose of it.
“You assess it, and if the evidence bears it out, you go to a full investigation where you have all the tools available, including the most intrusive physical surveillance and electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens.
“Here they just immediately want to open it as a full investigation without ever having talked to the Australians or gathered other evidence.”
Cline then confirmed. “Right. So investigators relied on misstatements by the confidential human source, ignored exculpatory statements made by Papadopoulos in submitting the FISA application to surveil Carter Page, correct?”
He answered in the affirmative. Cline then asked him to expand the deceit used for the FISA application.
Durham elaborated:
“In connection with one of the agents who had come on board, wanted to be certain that there was information that, was their information as to whether or not Carter Page had been a source of information to the CIA, and pressed Kevin Clinesmith, in the General Counsel’s Office of the FBI, on that point.
“Clinesmith got a hold of people at another government agency, intelligence agency on the issue, and that person indicated, not indicated, said that yes, in the FBI parlance, Carter Page was the source, and put that in writing.
“When Clinesmith talked to the agent who was saying, we want to be sure on this, was he or was he, not a source, Clinesmith said, no, he said he’s not. He said, did we get that in writing? Clinesmith said yes, and they said, well, I want to see it. And then Clinesmith altered the other government agency document to reflect this, to say that Page was not a source when he, in fact, was a source. That’s the gist of it.”
Rep. Cline asked: “What did the investigators mean when they said they hoped the returns on the Carter Page vice application would, quote, self-corroborate? That is another troublesome thing.”
Mr. Durham’s response was troubling. “Maybe Agent was, they’re saying, well, if we can get on surveillance, electronic surveillance of Page, then we’ll find out, essentially, whether we really do have probable cause or not. He would self-corroborate in that sense.”
This is something Lavrentiy Beria would do.
We are all familiar with this Beria quote, “Show me the man, and I’ll find you the crime.” But do you know this next one? “Given a short time with a psycho-politician you can alter forever the loyalty of a soldier in our hands or a statesman or a leader in his own country, or you can destroy his mind.”
This comes on top of the latest James O’Keefe undercover report. That report suggests US senators can be bought for $10,000.
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