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- Feb 16, 2016
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Enemies of the Administrative State
7 Jan 2024 ~~ By Benjamin WeingartenAmid allegations from conservative lawmakers and activists that Washington, D.C.’s most powerful agencies have been weaponized against their critics, one organization has not only played a key role in helping marshal evidence of such malfeasance, but found itself at the center of an emerging government targeting scandal that would seem to only further substantiate the claims of administrative state critics.
That organization is Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research. It has represented whistleblowers at the heart of some of the most consequential and contentious congressional investigations in recent years, touching on matters ranging from the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, to alleged FBI inflation of the domestic terror threat.
In a perhaps telling response to these efforts, the nonprofits’ whistleblowing clients have faced not only alleged reprisals from their government employers but also condemnation from Democrats in Congress and skepticism from media outlets that have often uncritically supported whistleblowers.
Recently, evidence has come to light suggesting the Justice Department spied on one of Empower Oversight’s principals while he was serving as a congressional investigator tasked with probing DOJ malfeasance. The man in question, Empower Oversight founder and chairman Jason Foster, is seeking to shed light on this conduct.
Foster launched the watchdog group in July 2021 for the purpose of “helping insiders safely and legally report problems to the proper authorities and … to hold those authorities accountable for fixing them.” Its lawyers help whistleblowers come forward, use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain documents, and when necessary, litigate “so that Americans can confront abuses of authority.”
Foster formed Empower Oversight after accumulating years of experience conducting congressional investigations often built on facilitating protected disclosures from federal employees – including as a top staffer for Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican.
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Had Shapley not come forward and been shepherded through Congress with Empower Oversight’s assistance, Americans might never have learned of myriad aspects of the Biden family’s foreign dealings and the DOJ’s seeming reluctance to investigate.
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In a cover letter, Jordan noted that the executive branch had targeted those “conducting Constitutional oversight of the Department’s investigative actions – actions that were later found to be unlawful.”
For now, Foster chooses his words carefully when asked about the government’s rationale regarding the subpoenas. “We don’t know enough yet to draw conclusions about an ulterior motive beyond legitimately investigating the leak,” he said. “But there has been far too little independent oversight and scrutiny of the process to just presume good faith on the government’s part.”
To get to the bottom of this spying story, Foster recommends that the inspector general and congressional probes should focus on several key questions: Was the government truthful with the court in obtaining the non-disclosure orders? Did it apply the same level of scrutiny to senior executive branch officials with access to the Page FISA application? Did it keep the information it gathered on congressional staff for purposes other than the leak investigation? Finally, were other, more intrusive steps taken to intercept congressional communications than is currently known?
One thing he’s convinced of: If you’re taking flak, chances are you may be getting close to the target. For Empower Oversight, this adage would seem to apply both to its clients and its own principals.
Commentary:
It shows that the DSA Democrat Marxist Left is willing to do anything to hold on to power. Hope I'm wrong but, it feels a lot like 1861 and the country is inching itself closer and closer to a Civil War.
Intelligence agencies with too much power seek to control all leaders, elected or otherwise. To control from behind the scenes with no repercussions is ultimate power.
Everything written about US Democratic political operatives must be viewed as propaganda. Joe Biden reinforces that every time he speaks.
Biden Saves Our Democracy by:
- Operating an international bribery racket to enrich his family by selling out America
- Weaponizing DOJ against political opponents
- Deliberately violating Supreme Court rulings
- Allowing Foreign Invasion at our borders
- Allowing Chinese Spy balloons to traverse U.S.
- Giving $80 Billion in U.S. Military equipment to Taliban Terrorists
