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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Victor Davis Hansen - The FISA-Gate Boomerangs
2018-02-07
Selected excerpt:
[Victor Davis Hanson Papers] Democrats allege that, given Carter Page’s familiarity with Russians, it was logical for the Obama administration to use the dossier’s references to him to substantiate FISA warrants.

But is not the opposite more likely true?

He was apparently known to intelligence agencies for years (supposedly under investigation variously by the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), and he may have been the object of a 2014 FISA warrant. But such intelligence agents were never able to bring charges against him, and it appears he even cooperated with American intelligence in gathering info against the Russians. So why would the FBI and DOJ, suddenly in 2016, believe that mention of Page’s name in an unverified opposition-research dossier warranted four FISA warrants to find wrongdoing?

After all, if he was so well known to the FBI for so many years, during which they never charged him with being a Russian agent, and if the FBI nonetheless still regarded him as suspicious in 2016, why not simply go to a regular court to obtain a warrant to wiretap him? Such a court, of course, would be less secretive, not known for a 99 percent approval rate, subject to far more deliberation, and less useful for surveilling Trump associates.
Of course he was 'not charged.' Witting or unwitting, what good is a jailed source ?
A more likely supposition is that it was not Page’s past flirtations with the Russians (who supposedly dubbed him an "idiot") that abruptly brought him back into the sights of the DOJ and FBI in 2016. Instead, it was his brief and minor relationship with Trump, and his appearance in a bogus dossier, that offered useful pretexts for court-ordered surveillance sweeps and indirect targeting of possible Trump associates.
Bingo! VDH nails it squarely. Page had placement and access and was a convenient tool and cover for action for "incidental collection." The bureau had mountains of data on Page, and mountains of data is what the FISA court demands. Page was their ticket to ride.
Page was simply a tool, to be surveilled in hopes of also sweeping up other names and information that might corroborate some shred of the dubious Steele dossier. In that narrow sense, his name might as well have been Jones or Smith.
My emphasis added.
Posted by:Besoeker

#14  Admiral Rogers to POTUS: Sir, parhaps you should be seated whilst we discuss this matter.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-07 15:23  

#13  Thank you for explaining, Sock Puppet of Doom.
Posted by: trailing wife   2018-02-07 15:21  

#12  And the only hero in this kak is a man in uniform.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-07 13:14  

#11  A 702 is a foreign surveillance authorization.

A 702 audit is a review of those authorizations. Rogers staff noticed something hinky about what was surveilled versus what was authorized and did an audit. He went to FISA with the preliminary findings and FISA wrote a determination that found irregularities in the FISA process.

Rogers went to Trump and warned him of those irregularities.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2018-02-07 12:38  

#10  What are 702 audits?
Posted by: trailing wife   2018-02-07 12:06  

#9  ....lines gone dead.

i.e. UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) intercepts.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-07 10:05  

#8  So the request to fire Rogers probably lines up with the FISA determination and the information that Rogers was running a series of 702 audits?

If I were the DIRNSA and an analyst brought the monitoring anomaly to me, I would STILL be running the audits, even it POTUS didn't specifically request they be continued.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-07 09:56  

#7  So the request to fire Rogers probably lines up with the FISA determination and the information that Rogers was running a series of 702 audits?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2018-02-07 09:51  

#6  Trump Campaign Adviser Steps Down While Disputing Claims Of Russia Ties - 26 September 2016.

On Thursday November 17th, 2016, NSA Director Mike Rogers traveled to New York and met with President-Elect Donald Trump.

Link

26 September to 17 November.... about 7 Washington D.C. working days, give or take. Just enough time for NSA analysts and Admiral Rogers to confirm that the lines had gone dead.

Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-07 09:13  

#5  What's the timeline on Page's dismissal and Rogers meeting with Donald?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2018-02-07 09:04  

#4  Also in the 'never charged' category; has Katherine Russell ever turned up? You know the young lady, now widowed, who had to step over pressure cooker bomb components and fireworks in that crowded Boston apartment.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-07 06:09  

#3  I still believe that Page - an old time FBI collaborator - was inserted into Trump's campaign.

That certainly is a possibility.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-07 04:46  

#2  I still believe that Page - an old time FBI collaborator - was inserted into Trump's campaign.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2018-02-07 01:51  

#1  Ya gotta love Hanson!
Posted by: Bobby   2018-02-07 00:31  

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