FISA Court picks Obama hack, Madcow contributor, to reform FISA Court

[Norman]

FISA court selects former Obama admin lawyer, left-wing blogger to oversee FBI's surveillance reforms
I cannot even fathom this.

When an American does something wrong... he will be put behind bars.

With these guys, they do not even receive slap on the wrists for the biggest crimes of the decade. Obviously they did it because they did not get paid enough and have their friends on the job.

 

[task0778]

What this appointment seems to suggest is that the FISA Court, or at least it's presiding judge James Boasberg, are not too concerned about possible multiple violations of our civil liberties. When he appoints someone like David Kris, who claimed that the Horowitz IG report that catalogued egregious abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) powers actually vindicated the FBI. He also smeared Rep. Devin Nunes in 2018, saying his initial sounding of the alarm about those abuses was incorrect, threatened national security, and should be harshly punished. This is the guy that:

The court “finds it appropriate to appoint David S. Kris, Esq., to serve as amicus curiae to assist the Court in assessing the government’s response to” a Dec. 17, 2019, order to “inform the Court . . . of what it has done, and plans to do, to ensure that the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application.”

The pick was justified on the grounds that he is one of the few officials with FISA experience. But Kris has repeatedly shown himself to be a reflexive defender of the FBI, even as evidence mounted of its malfeasance. Here are some examples of that.

Kris was one of the many Washington insiders who either fell for or pretended to fall for the validity of the Russia collusion hoax.

“I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in,” he opined on Twitter. As we now know, the Mueller Investigation Report found no evidence that it had colluded with any American, much less any Trump campaign affiliate, much less Trump himself, in its ongoing meddling campaign.

Kris’ biggest problem was his published denunciation of the now vindicated Nunes memo. He joined many other members of the Resistance, whether in the media, the Democratic Party, or the NeverTrump movement, in denouncing Nunes and defending the FBI as beyond reproach.

“The Nunes memo was dishonest. And if it is allowed to stand, we risk significant collateral damage to essential elements of our democracy,” Kris said. In fact, the Nunes memo was right, although it only touched on some of the FBI malfeasance that the inspector general report later confirmed in detail.

Kris specifically said the “fundamental claim” by Nunes that the FBI misled the court about Christopher Steele was “not true.” Kris said that the government “provided the court with enough information to meaningfully assess Steele’s credibility.” He accepted the FBI's claims that there was probable cause that Page was a secret Russian asset. “It’s disturbing that Page met that legal standard and that there was probable cause to conclude he was a Russian agent,” he wrote.

Kris said Nunes should be removed from office and removed as chairman of the committee. He floated the idea that Nunes should be charged with obstruction of justice. Kris called for voters to rise up against the GOP and unseat them to keep Nunes from performing oversight of the agency and intelligence community.

When the IG report came out, Kris was in lockstep with the spin that the leakers had put out for the weeks leading up to the release of the Horowitz report. He said, as the pre-report leakers asserted through friends in the media, that the “main finding” was that there was no bias and that the claims of critics were fully repudiated. He did acknowledge some mistakes, but downplayed them. This is bullshit, and this guy is the one the FISA Court wants to make sure the FBI changes it's ways?

Is he, and by extension Boasberg, defending the FBI or is he defending the Democrats in the FBI that so badly ruined that institution's reputation? The good news is that neither of these two asshats have any influence over the coming Durham Report and subsequent indictments, which I hope are many. And frankly, I'm not too happy with the way FBI Directory Christopher Wray has gone about cleaning up the FBI either. I'm thinking a really big cover-up is in the works.

 

[Nostra]

What this appointment seems to suggest is that the FISA Court, or at least it's presiding judge James Boasberg, are not too concerned about possible multiple violations of our civil liberties. When he appoints someone like David Kris, who claimed that the Horowitz IG report that catalogued egregious abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) powers actually vindicated the FBI. He also smeared Rep. Devin Nunes in 2018, saying his initial sounding of the alarm about those abuses was incorrect, threatened national security, and should be harshly punished. This is the guy that:

The court “finds it appropriate to appoint David S. Kris, Esq., to serve as amicus curiae to assist the Court in assessing the government’s response to” a Dec. 17, 2019, order to “inform the Court . . . of what it has done, and plans to do, to ensure that the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application.”

The pick was justified on the grounds that he is one of the few officials with FISA experience. But Kris has repeatedly shown himself to be a reflexive defender of the FBI, even as evidence mounted of its malfeasance. Here are some examples of that.

Kris was one of the many Washington insiders who either fell for or pretended to fall for the validity of the Russia collusion hoax.

“I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in,” he opined on Twitter. As we now know, the Mueller Investigation Report found no evidence that it had colluded with any American, much less any Trump campaign affiliate, much less Trump himself, in its ongoing meddling campaign.

Kris’ biggest problem was his published denunciation of the now vindicated Nunes memo. He joined many other members of the Resistance, whether in the media, the Democratic Party, or the NeverTrump movement, in denouncing Nunes and defending the FBI as beyond reproach.

“The Nunes memo was dishonest. And if it is allowed to stand, we risk significant collateral damage to essential elements of our democracy,” Kris said. In fact, the Nunes memo was right, although it only touched on some of the FBI malfeasance that the inspector general report later confirmed in detail.

Kris specifically said the “fundamental claim” by Nunes that the FBI misled the court about Christopher Steele was “not true.” Kris said that the government “provided the court with enough information to meaningfully assess Steele’s credibility.” He accepted the FBI's claims that there was probable cause that Page was a secret Russian asset. “It’s disturbing that Page met that legal standard and that there was probable cause to conclude he was a Russian agent,” he wrote.

Kris said Nunes should be removed from office and removed as chairman of the committee. He floated the idea that Nunes should be charged with obstruction of justice. Kris called for voters to rise up against the GOP and unseat them to keep Nunes from performing oversight of the agency and intelligence community.

When the IG report came out, Kris was in lockstep with the spin that the leakers had put out for the weeks leading up to the release of the Horowitz report. He said, as the pre-report leakers asserted through friends in the media, that the “main finding” was that there was no bias and that the claims of critics were fully repudiated. He did acknowledge some mistakes, but downplayed them. This is bullshit, and this guy is the one the FISA Court wants to make sure the FBI changes it's ways?

Is he, and by extension Boasberg, defending the FBI or is he defending the Democrats in the FBI that so badly ruined that institution's reputation? The good news is that neither of these two asshats have any influence over the coming Durham Report and subsequent indictments, which I hope are many. And frankly, I'm not too happy with the way FBI Directory Christopher Wray has gone about cleaning up the FBI either. I'm thinking a really big cover-up is in the works.

The FISA court should be disbanded.

 

[task0778]

What this appointment seems to suggest is that the FISA Court, or at least it's presiding judge James Boasberg, are not too concerned about possible multiple violations of our civil liberties. When he appoints someone like David Kris, who claimed that the Horowitz IG report that catalogued egregious abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) powers actually vindicated the FBI. He also smeared Rep. Devin Nunes in 2018, saying his initial sounding of the alarm about those abuses was incorrect, threatened national security, and should be harshly punished. This is the guy that:

The court “finds it appropriate to appoint David S. Kris, Esq., to serve as amicus curiae to assist the Court in assessing the government’s response to” a Dec. 17, 2019, order to “inform the Court . . . of what it has done, and plans to do, to ensure that the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application.”

The pick was justified on the grounds that he is one of the few officials with FISA experience. But Kris has repeatedly shown himself to be a reflexive defender of the FBI, even as evidence mounted of its malfeasance. Here are some examples of that.

Kris was one of the many Washington insiders who either fell for or pretended to fall for the validity of the Russia collusion hoax.

“I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in,” he opined on Twitter. As we now know, the Mueller Investigation Report found no evidence that it had colluded with any American, much less any Trump campaign affiliate, much less Trump himself, in its ongoing meddling campaign.

Kris’ biggest problem was his published denunciation of the now vindicated Nunes memo. He joined many other members of the Resistance, whether in the media, the Democratic Party, or the NeverTrump movement, in denouncing Nunes and defending the FBI as beyond reproach.

“The Nunes memo was dishonest. And if it is allowed to stand, we risk significant collateral damage to essential elements of our democracy,” Kris said. In fact, the Nunes memo was right, although it only touched on some of the FBI malfeasance that the inspector general report later confirmed in detail.

Kris specifically said the “fundamental claim” by Nunes that the FBI misled the court about Christopher Steele was “not true.” Kris said that the government “provided the court with enough information to meaningfully assess Steele’s credibility.” He accepted the FBI's claims that there was probable cause that Page was a secret Russian asset. “It’s disturbing that Page met that legal standard and that there was probable cause to conclude he was a Russian agent,” he wrote.

Kris said Nunes should be removed from office and removed as chairman of the committee. He floated the idea that Nunes should be charged with obstruction of justice. Kris called for voters to rise up against the GOP and unseat them to keep Nunes from performing oversight of the agency and intelligence community.

When the IG report came out, Kris was in lockstep with the spin that the leakers had put out for the weeks leading up to the release of the Horowitz report. He said, as the pre-report leakers asserted through friends in the media, that the “main finding” was that there was no bias and that the claims of critics were fully repudiated. He did acknowledge some mistakes, but downplayed them. This is bullshit, and this guy is the one the FISA Court wants to make sure the FBI changes it's ways?

Is he, and by extension Boasberg, defending the FBI or is he defending the Democrats in the FBI that so badly ruined that institution's reputation? The good news is that neither of these two asshats have any influence over the coming Durham Report and subsequent indictments, which I hope are many. And frankly, I'm not too happy with the way FBI Directory Christopher Wray has gone about cleaning up the FBI either. I'm thinking a really big cover-up is in the works.

The FISA court should be disbanded.

And replaced by what? Do you intend to disallow any surveillance at all on American soil? Gonna be a lot harder to find and prevent future terrorist attacks, no? And not just terrorism, but other crimes will not be prevented or uncovered afterwards.

 

[Nostra]

What this appointment seems to suggest is that the FISA Court, or at least it's presiding judge James Boasberg, are not too concerned about possible multiple violations of our civil liberties. When he appoints someone like David Kris, who claimed that the Horowitz IG report that catalogued egregious abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) powers actually vindicated the FBI. He also smeared Rep. Devin Nunes in 2018, saying his initial sounding of the alarm about those abuses was incorrect, threatened national security, and should be harshly punished. This is the guy that:

The court “finds it appropriate to appoint David S. Kris, Esq., to serve as amicus curiae to assist the Court in assessing the government’s response to” a Dec. 17, 2019, order to “inform the Court . . . of what it has done, and plans to do, to ensure that the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application.”

The pick was justified on the grounds that he is one of the few officials with FISA experience. But Kris has repeatedly shown himself to be a reflexive defender of the FBI, even as evidence mounted of its malfeasance. Here are some examples of that.

Kris was one of the many Washington insiders who either fell for or pretended to fall for the validity of the Russia collusion hoax.

“I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in,” he opined on Twitter. As we now know, the Mueller Investigation Report found no evidence that it had colluded with any American, much less any Trump campaign affiliate, much less Trump himself, in its ongoing meddling campaign.

Kris’ biggest problem was his published denunciation of the now vindicated Nunes memo. He joined many other members of the Resistance, whether in the media, the Democratic Party, or the NeverTrump movement, in denouncing Nunes and defending the FBI as beyond reproach.

“The Nunes memo was dishonest. And if it is allowed to stand, we risk significant collateral damage to essential elements of our democracy,” Kris said. In fact, the Nunes memo was right, although it only touched on some of the FBI malfeasance that the inspector general report later confirmed in detail.

Kris specifically said the “fundamental claim” by Nunes that the FBI misled the court about Christopher Steele was “not true.” Kris said that the government “provided the court with enough information to meaningfully assess Steele’s credibility.” He accepted the FBI's claims that there was probable cause that Page was a secret Russian asset. “It’s disturbing that Page met that legal standard and that there was probable cause to conclude he was a Russian agent,” he wrote.

Kris said Nunes should be removed from office and removed as chairman of the committee. He floated the idea that Nunes should be charged with obstruction of justice. Kris called for voters to rise up against the GOP and unseat them to keep Nunes from performing oversight of the agency and intelligence community.

When the IG report came out, Kris was in lockstep with the spin that the leakers had put out for the weeks leading up to the release of the Horowitz report. He said, as the pre-report leakers asserted through friends in the media, that the “main finding” was that there was no bias and that the claims of critics were fully repudiated. He did acknowledge some mistakes, but downplayed them. This is bullshit, and this guy is the one the FISA Court wants to make sure the FBI changes it's ways?

Is he, and by extension Boasberg, defending the FBI or is he defending the Democrats in the FBI that so badly ruined that institution's reputation? The good news is that neither of these two asshats have any influence over the coming Durham Report and subsequent indictments, which I hope are many. And frankly, I'm not too happy with the way FBI Directory Christopher Wray has gone about cleaning up the FBI either. I'm thinking a really big cover-up is in the works.

The FISA court should be disbanded.

And replaced by what? Do you intend to disallow any surveillance at all on American soil? Gonna be a lot harder to find and prevent future terrorist attacks, no? And not just terrorism, but other crimes will not be prevented or uncovered afterwards.

Replaced by a system with oversight so that they are held accountable for any abuses like we have seen.

 

[Zorro!]

WE NOW KNOW: FISA COURT MUST GO

Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday Morning Futures is the one Sunday morning gabfest worth watching. Yesterday morning she had a brief segment with Rep. Devin Nunes, who is a frequent guest on the show (video at the link). At around 3:30, Bartiromo asks Nunes about the appointment of one David Kris to serve as amicus curiae to the FISA court to help it assess the Department of Justice/FBI response to the court’s December 17
order.

We now know: The Kris cross.

Left Wing Blogger Kook Kris is a wildly inappropriate selection for the position to which he has been appointed by the court: Spy court picks FISA abuse denier to tackle FISA abuse.

Chuck Ross has more on Left Wing Blogger Kook Kris: Ex-DOJ Official Picked To Assist FISA Reform Was Ardent Defender Of FBI’s Illegal Surveillance Of Carter Page. Nunes told Ross:

“It’s hard to imagine a worse person the FISC could have chosen outside Comey, McCabe, or Schiff. The choice is shocking and inexplicable.”
​

I can explain it.

Left Wing Blogger Kook Kris’ appointment by the court is a bloody outrage. Rep. Nunes put it this way to Bartiromo:

“The court must be trying to abolish itself.”
​

The FISA court has to go.

 

[Billiejeens]

Looks like people are learning that Trump and his minions are not to trusted with anything justice related. Anyone you people would approve of would "fix" the FISA court so that no campaign would ever fear collaborating with foreign entities.

Just **** you
That's it
Just **** you.

 

[task0778]

What this appointment seems to suggest is that the FISA Court, or at least it's presiding judge James Boasberg, are not too concerned about possible multiple violations of our civil liberties. When he appoints someone like David Kris, who claimed that the Horowitz IG report that catalogued egregious abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) powers actually vindicated the FBI. He also smeared Rep. Devin Nunes in 2018, saying his initial sounding of the alarm about those abuses was incorrect, threatened national security, and should be harshly punished. This is the guy that:

The court “finds it appropriate to appoint David S. Kris, Esq., to serve as amicus curiae to assist the Court in assessing the government’s response to” a Dec. 17, 2019, order to “inform the Court . . . of what it has done, and plans to do, to ensure that the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application.”

The pick was justified on the grounds that he is one of the few officials with FISA experience. But Kris has repeatedly shown himself to be a reflexive defender of the FBI, even as evidence mounted of its malfeasance. Here are some examples of that.

Kris was one of the many Washington insiders who either fell for or pretended to fall for the validity of the Russia collusion hoax.

“I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in,” he opined on Twitter. As we now know, the Mueller Investigation Report found no evidence that it had colluded with any American, much less any Trump campaign affiliate, much less Trump himself, in its ongoing meddling campaign.

Kris’ biggest problem was his published denunciation of the now vindicated Nunes memo. He joined many other members of the Resistance, whether in the media, the Democratic Party, or the NeverTrump movement, in denouncing Nunes and defending the FBI as beyond reproach.

“The Nunes memo was dishonest. And if it is allowed to stand, we risk significant collateral damage to essential elements of our democracy,” Kris said. In fact, the Nunes memo was right, although it only touched on some of the FBI malfeasance that the inspector general report later confirmed in detail.

Kris specifically said the “fundamental claim” by Nunes that the FBI misled the court about Christopher Steele was “not true.” Kris said that the government “provided the court with enough information to meaningfully assess Steele’s credibility.” He accepted the FBI's claims that there was probable cause that Page was a secret Russian asset. “It’s disturbing that Page met that legal standard and that there was probable cause to conclude he was a Russian agent,” he wrote.

Kris said Nunes should be removed from office and removed as chairman of the committee. He floated the idea that Nunes should be charged with obstruction of justice. Kris called for voters to rise up against the GOP and unseat them to keep Nunes from performing oversight of the agency and intelligence community.

When the IG report came out, Kris was in lockstep with the spin that the leakers had put out for the weeks leading up to the release of the Horowitz report. He said, as the pre-report leakers asserted through friends in the media, that the “main finding” was that there was no bias and that the claims of critics were fully repudiated. He did acknowledge some mistakes, but downplayed them. This is bullshit, and this guy is the one the FISA Court wants to make sure the FBI changes it's ways?

Is he, and by extension Boasberg, defending the FBI or is he defending the Democrats in the FBI that so badly ruined that institution's reputation? The good news is that neither of these two asshats have any influence over the coming Durham Report and subsequent indictments, which I hope are many. And frankly, I'm not too happy with the way FBI Directory Christopher Wray has gone about cleaning up the FBI either. I'm thinking a really big cover-up is in the works.

The FISA court should be disbanded.

And replaced by what? Do you intend to disallow any surveillance at all on American soil? Gonna be a lot harder to find and prevent future terrorist attacks, no? And not just terrorism, but other crimes will not be prevented or uncovered afterwards.

Replaced by a system with oversight so that they are held accountable for any abuses like we have seen.

Oversight could be done better with the present system, no? Add the accountability into it, and require an independent 3rd party agency to cross-check the FISA application for 'errors' and look into the details. Such as who paid for what. Truth is, any system can be abused when biased people are involved. I also think the FISA judges need to be monitored too, for failures to adequately protect our civil rights.

 

[Zorro!]

What this appointment seems to suggest is that the FISA Court, or at least it's presiding judge James Boasberg, are not too concerned about possible multiple violations of our civil liberties. When he appoints someone like David Kris, who claimed that the Horowitz IG report that catalogued egregious abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) powers actually vindicated the FBI. He also smeared Rep. Devin Nunes in 2018, saying his initial sounding of the alarm about those abuses was incorrect, threatened national security, and should be harshly punished. This is the guy that:

The court “finds it appropriate to appoint David S. Kris, Esq., to serve as amicus curiae to assist the Court in assessing the government’s response to” a Dec. 17, 2019, order to “inform the Court . . . of what it has done, and plans to do, to ensure that the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application.”

The pick was justified on the grounds that he is one of the few officials with FISA experience. But Kris has repeatedly shown himself to be a reflexive defender of the FBI, even as evidence mounted of its malfeasance. Here are some examples of that.

Kris was one of the many Washington insiders who either fell for or pretended to fall for the validity of the Russia collusion hoax.

“I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in,” he opined on Twitter. As we now know, the Mueller Investigation Report found no evidence that it had colluded with any American, much less any Trump campaign affiliate, much less Trump himself, in its ongoing meddling campaign.

Kris’ biggest problem was his published denunciation of the now vindicated Nunes memo. He joined many other members of the Resistance, whether in the media, the Democratic Party, or the NeverTrump movement, in denouncing Nunes and defending the FBI as beyond reproach.

“The Nunes memo was dishonest. And if it is allowed to stand, we risk significant collateral damage to essential elements of our democracy,” Kris said. In fact, the Nunes memo was right, although it only touched on some of the FBI malfeasance that the inspector general report later confirmed in detail.

Kris specifically said the “fundamental claim” by Nunes that the FBI misled the court about Christopher Steele was “not true.” Kris said that the government “provided the court with enough information to meaningfully assess Steele’s credibility.” He accepted the FBI's claims that there was probable cause that Page was a secret Russian asset. “It’s disturbing that Page met that legal standard and that there was probable cause to conclude he was a Russian agent,” he wrote.

Kris said Nunes should be removed from office and removed as chairman of the committee. He floated the idea that Nunes should be charged with obstruction of justice. Kris called for voters to rise up against the GOP and unseat them to keep Nunes from performing oversight of the agency and intelligence community.

When the IG report came out, Kris was in lockstep with the spin that the leakers had put out for the weeks leading up to the release of the Horowitz report. He said, as the pre-report leakers asserted through friends in the media, that the “main finding” was that there was no bias and that the claims of critics were fully repudiated. He did acknowledge some mistakes, but downplayed them. This is bullshit, and this guy is the one the FISA Court wants to make sure the FBI changes it's ways?

Is he, and by extension Boasberg, defending the FBI or is he defending the Democrats in the FBI that so badly ruined that institution's reputation? The good news is that neither of these two asshats have any influence over the coming Durham Report and subsequent indictments, which I hope are many. And frankly, I'm not too happy with the way FBI Directory Christopher Wray has gone about cleaning up the FBI either. I'm thinking a really big cover-up is in the works.

The FISA court should be disbanded.

And replaced by what? Do you intend to disallow any surveillance at all on American soil? Gonna be a lot harder to find and prevent future terrorist attacks, no? And not just terrorism, but other crimes will not be prevented or uncovered afterwards.

Replaced by a system with oversight so that they are held accountable for any abuses like we have seen.

Oversight could be done better with the present system, no? Add the accountability into it, and require an independent 3rd party agency to cross-check the FISA application for 'errors' and look into the details. Such as who paid for what. Truth is, any system can be abused when biased people are involved. I also think the FISA judges need to be monitored too, for failures to adequately protect our civil rights.

All great points. The FBI was presumed to be unbiased and staffed with folks that were of the highest possible integrity, and so are given tremendous latitude. That presumption was false, and they illegally spied on American Citizens who they view as Political Enemies, a massive breach of trust.

The FISA court IS supposed to be the independent 3rd party. But they are Judges, not investigators, and they are going through these applications like Stevie Wonder. They basically just rubber-stamp what the FBI tells them. Then Comey acts as if slipping it past the Court gives it credibility. That we have a system that vile corrupt knuckleheads like Mueller, Ohr, Comey and McCabe could rise to the highest levels makes it clear that we have a very big problem.

Who is holding these Judges accountable? Roberts appoints them, and we aren't hearing squat about how he is cleaning this up.

No FISA Judge is threatening contempt citations for anyone who lied and and misled them. Nearly all the folks that lied to the Court are attorneys. We are hearing no news of pending bar sanctions or disbarment. And the FISA court is trying to hand off "clean up" to Cover Up Kris, a guy who lied about what was going on, the entire time.

It's a real problem, from top to bottom. We keep hearing about the "good folks" at the FBI and DOJ below the leadership level, but, between the White Wash of Hillary's espionage and the Trump Witch Hunt, not ONE FBI or DOJ employee resigned or blew the whistle. Not a single one. Hopefully Barr and Durham have some plans to restore integrity to these processes and department, because nothing we have heard so far suggests that solutions are immediately forthcoming.

 

[task0778]

What this appointment seems to suggest is that the FISA Court, or at least it's presiding judge James Boasberg, are not too concerned about possible multiple violations of our civil liberties. When he appoints someone like David Kris, who claimed that the Horowitz IG report that catalogued egregious abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) powers actually vindicated the FBI. He also smeared Rep. Devin Nunes in 2018, saying his initial sounding of the alarm about those abuses was incorrect, threatened national security, and should be harshly punished. This is the guy that:

The court “finds it appropriate to appoint David S. Kris, Esq., to serve as amicus curiae to assist the Court in assessing the government’s response to” a Dec. 17, 2019, order to “inform the Court . . . of what it has done, and plans to do, to ensure that the statement of facts in each FBI application accurately and completely reflects information possessed by the FBI that is material to any issue presented by the application.”

The pick was justified on the grounds that he is one of the few officials with FISA experience. But Kris has repeatedly shown himself to be a reflexive defender of the FBI, even as evidence mounted of its malfeasance. Here are some examples of that.

Kris was one of the many Washington insiders who either fell for or pretended to fall for the validity of the Russia collusion hoax.

“I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in,” he opined on Twitter. As we now know, the Mueller Investigation Report found no evidence that it had colluded with any American, much less any Trump campaign affiliate, much less Trump himself, in its ongoing meddling campaign.

Kris’ biggest problem was his published denunciation of the now vindicated Nunes memo. He joined many other members of the Resistance, whether in the media, the Democratic Party, or the NeverTrump movement, in denouncing Nunes and defending the FBI as beyond reproach.

“The Nunes memo was dishonest. And if it is allowed to stand, we risk significant collateral damage to essential elements of our democracy,” Kris said. In fact, the Nunes memo was right, although it only touched on some of the FBI malfeasance that the inspector general report later confirmed in detail.

Kris specifically said the “fundamental claim” by Nunes that the FBI misled the court about Christopher Steele was “not true.” Kris said that the government “provided the court with enough information to meaningfully assess Steele’s credibility.” He accepted the FBI's claims that there was probable cause that Page was a secret Russian asset. “It’s disturbing that Page met that legal standard and that there was probable cause to conclude he was a Russian agent,” he wrote.

Kris said Nunes should be removed from office and removed as chairman of the committee. He floated the idea that Nunes should be charged with obstruction of justice. Kris called for voters to rise up against the GOP and unseat them to keep Nunes from performing oversight of the agency and intelligence community.

When the IG report came out, Kris was in lockstep with the spin that the leakers had put out for the weeks leading up to the release of the Horowitz report. He said, as the pre-report leakers asserted through friends in the media, that the “main finding” was that there was no bias and that the claims of critics were fully repudiated. He did acknowledge some mistakes, but downplayed them. This is bullshit, and this guy is the one the FISA Court wants to make sure the FBI changes it's ways?

Is he, and by extension Boasberg, defending the FBI or is he defending the Democrats in the FBI that so badly ruined that institution's reputation? The good news is that neither of these two asshats have any influence over the coming Durham Report and subsequent indictments, which I hope are many. And frankly, I'm not too happy with the way FBI Directory Christopher Wray has gone about cleaning up the FBI either. I'm thinking a really big cover-up is in the works.

The FISA court should be disbanded.

And replaced by what? Do you intend to disallow any surveillance at all on American soil? Gonna be a lot harder to find and prevent future terrorist attacks, no? And not just terrorism, but other crimes will not be prevented or uncovered afterwards.

Replaced by a system with oversight so that they are held accountable for any abuses like we have seen.

Oversight could be done better with the present system, no? Add the accountability into it, and require an independent 3rd party agency to cross-check the FISA application for 'errors' and look into the details. Such as who paid for what. Truth is, any system can be abused when biased people are involved. I also think the FISA judges need to be monitored too, for failures to adequately protect our civil rights.

All great points. The FBI was presumed to be unbiased and staffed with folks that were of the highest possible integrity, and so are given tremendous latitude. That presumption was false, and they illegally spied on American Citizens who they view as Political Enemies, a massive breach of trust.

The FISA court IS supposed to be the independent 3rd party. But they are Judges, not investigators, and they are going through these applications like Stevie Wonder. They basically just rubber-stamp what the FBI tells them. Then Comey acts as if slipping it past the Court gives it credibility. That we have a system that vile corrupt knuckleheads like Mueller, Ohr, Comey and McCabe could rise to the highest levels makes it clear that we have a very big problem.

Who is holding these Judges accountable? Roberts appoints them, and we aren't hearing squat about how he is cleaning this up.

No FISA Judge is threatening contempt citations for anyone who lied and and misled them. Nearly all the folks that lied to the Court are attorneys. We are hearing no news of pending bar sanctions or disbarment. And the FISA court is trying to hand off "clean up" to Cover Up Kris, a guy who lied about what was going on, the entire time.

It's a real problem, from top to bottom. We keep hearing about the "good folks" at the FBI and DOJ below the leadership level, but, between the White Wash of Hillary's espionage and the Trump Witch Hunt, not ONE FBI or DOJ employee resigned or blew the whistle. Not a single one. Hopefully Barr and Durham have some plans to restore integrity to these processes and department, because nothing we have heard so far suggests that solutions are immediately forthcoming.

It is my hope that Congress for once can get this whole process corrected, at least as much as they can. I don't have a lot of faith that can happen though, cuz I think that would require a bipartisan effort that probably ain't going to happen. IMHO, there needs to be some teeth in the system for misconduct, I'm sick of this shit where people deliberately lie, deceive, or otherwise abuse the process for political purposes, and then get away with it. At most losing their job. **** that, throw them fuckers in jail where they belong. Deterrence needs to be significant.

 

[Zorro!]

The FISA court should be disbanded.

And replaced by what? Do you intend to disallow any surveillance at all on American soil? Gonna be a lot harder to find and prevent future terrorist attacks, no? And not just terrorism, but other crimes will not be prevented or uncovered afterwards.

Replaced by a system with oversight so that they are held accountable for any abuses like we have seen.

Oversight could be done better with the present system, no? Add the accountability into it, and require an independent 3rd party agency to cross-check the FISA application for 'errors' and look into the details. Such as who paid for what. Truth is, any system can be abused when biased people are involved. I also think the FISA judges need to be monitored too, for failures to adequately protect our civil rights.

All great points. The FBI was presumed to be unbiased and staffed with folks that were of the highest possible integrity, and so are given tremendous latitude. That presumption was false, and they illegally spied on American Citizens who they view as Political Enemies, a massive breach of trust.

The FISA court IS supposed to be the independent 3rd party. But they are Judges, not investigators, and they are going through these applications like Stevie Wonder. They basically just rubber-stamp what the FBI tells them. Then Comey acts as if slipping it past the Court gives it credibility. That we have a system that vile corrupt knuckleheads like Mueller, Ohr, Comey and McCabe could rise to the highest levels makes it clear that we have a very big problem.

Who is holding these Judges accountable? Roberts appoints them, and we aren't hearing squat about how he is cleaning this up.

No FISA Judge is threatening contempt citations for anyone who lied and and misled them. Nearly all the folks that lied to the Court are attorneys. We are hearing no news of pending bar sanctions or disbarment. And the FISA court is trying to hand off "clean up" to Cover Up Kris, a guy who lied about what was going on, the entire time.

It's a real problem, from top to bottom. We keep hearing about the "good folks" at the FBI and DOJ below the leadership level, but, between the White Wash of Hillary's espionage and the Trump Witch Hunt, not ONE FBI or DOJ employee resigned or blew the whistle. Not a single one. Hopefully Barr and Durham have some plans to restore integrity to these processes and department, because nothing we have heard so far suggests that solutions are immediately forthcoming.

It is my hope that Congress for once can get this whole process corrected, at least as much as they can. I don't have a lot of faith that can happen though, cuz I think that would require a bipartisan effort that probably ain't going to happen. IMHO, there needs to be some teeth in the system for misconduct, I'm sick of this shit where people deliberately lie, deceive, or otherwise abuse the process for political purposes, and then get away with it. At most losing their job. **** that, throw them fuckers in jail where they belong. Deterrence needs to be significant.

I agree. Schumer's warning shocked me. These rotten bastards may have most of the Congress blackmailed. It's a bit of a Hale Mary Pass to Trump Barr and Durham, but that's where we find ourselves. If these guys are all being blackmailed, then cleaning it up may mean they have to make a choice who exposes them, the crooked Deep State or Trump's DOJ that is cleaning it up. Certainly we have very few Senators and/or Congressman grabbing the flag and charging the hill. They seem to all want to find a way for it all to quietly go away, and that would clean up nothing.

And what the hell is up with Roberts? He appointed every FISA judge and they were worse than useless.