This is What The Declassified FISA Documents Will Reveal

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Sep 20, 2018

Tonight, many Americans are looking to President Trump’s rally in Las Vegas for an announcement on when the public with see the declassified FISA documents that launched the Russian Witch Hunt. President Trump announces the declassification on Monday, September 17th.

As reported by Sara Carter, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Monday, “the President is potentially risking the lives of our patriots by compromising sources and methods, all so he can advance falsehoods and false narratives that distract from the truth of the Trump-Russia scandal.”

In fact Chairman Goodlatte had sent a letter dated January 16, 2018  (HERE is the letter) asking the FISA court judge, Judge Collyer, if she refused to provide the FISA documents. Collyer also signed off on the first FISA warrant on Carter Page BLP reported a little over a month ago that this same judge was critical in her Memoradum of Opinion in 2017 about the FISA application and signing off on it.  EXCLUSIVE: Judge Who Signed FISA Warrant Strongly Criticized Lynch and Clapper

BLP’s exclusive sources have provided all the FISA documents with redactions (HERE) and we have been examining them for weeks. All non-redacted portions of the initial FISA warrant and application have been analyzed, along with all subsequent FISA renewal documents we have noticed a apparent trend.

It’s important to understand that to obtain a FISA warrant, you must apply for it. The application must detail the purpose of the intended warrant and what specific information is sought. It must also demonstrate how your application follows all laws and showcases the NATSEC need for it.

Before dissecting the primary FISA warrant application for Carter Page, we need to circle back to a previous article: SENATE DOCS: Manafort’s ‘Russian Partner’ In New Charges Is Linked To Fusion GPS Spy Natalia Veselnitskaya

This article referenced questions asked to the now known operative of Fusion GPS, Russian lawyer Veselnitskaya. Veselnitskaya underwent questioning in mid October of 2016.  Her questioning came before the FISA warrant application for Carter Page was submitted.  Looking through the primary FISA application you will see that Igor Divyekin is mentioned on page 20. Mr. Divyekin is also mentioned in the questions asked by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the Fusion GPS operative Veselnitskaya, along with Carter Page’s name.

Notably, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned the Fusion GPS operative and this is why Sessions was forced to recuse himself. In addition, Veselnitskaya’s meeting with Donald Trump Jr. in Trump Tower evidently provided a substantial amount of reasoning and the basis for warrants to surveil Trump Tower and for other FBI surveillance measures on the Trump campaign including the Carter Page FISA warrant.

Below are the four most telling portions of the initial application for the FISA warrant and the primary warrant itself and important parts are annotated in red.

The process to obtain a FISA warrant is to submit an application to the FISA court. A Supervisory Special Agent of the FBI is required to verify the information outlined in the FISA application and then the administration, in this case the Obama Administration signs off on it.  Once all the signatures have been gathered, it is submitted to the FISA court for review and issuance of the warrant by the designated Attorney of the DOJ for this case.

The RED ‘X’s are indicative that those persons no longer hold that position and or are no longer part of the current administration.

Notably, the first renewal application for the Carter Page FISA warrant was longer that the primary one and was executed in JANUARY 2017 before the Trump Administration had taken full control of office. It is important to note and observe that Andrew McCabe signed the Primary FISA application and all three subsequent renewals.

  

The second renewal of the Carter Page FISA warrant occurred in April of 2017.  Once again, we can see all the important signature pages, and again the majority of signers are no longer with the administration. These signers had just assumed their new position at the time of this second renewal or have been promoted to another position in the future.  One key person to pay attention to is Dana Boente who resigned as US attorney to the FBI on October 27, 2017.

 

The final FISA renewal happened in June 2017 and the only new hire was Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan.

Almost EVERYONE signing these FISA applications has been fired or has resigned with the exception of the newly hired Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, General Mattis, Rod Rosenstein and Dan Coats.

Recently, the New Yorker reported a video of the exchange that quickly went viral and sparked speculation that Coats’s future in the Administration might be short-lived. The exchange infuriated Trump and other White House officials, who saw it as disrespectful toward the President. Both Dan Coats and Rod Rosenstein have continuously dodged the questions about whether President Donald Trump asked them to intervene in or downplay the FBI’s ongoing Russia investigation in the past. Though, the pair have remained consistent saying that they have never felt pressure to act inappropriately.  During the time frame that they were signing off on the third and final Carter Page FISA renewal application they stated the same, as reported by Politico.

Last but not least, General Mattis claims that his run for 2020 on a ticket separate to that of President Trump is just rumor but he has never said that he will not be running in the future, in both past and recent news reports. This is the same General Mattis who has butted heads with President Trump on matters like pulling out of the Iran deal and moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

The trend is apparent and BLP has obtained exclusive information indicating that maybe President Trump isn’t wrong about considering removing General Mattis.

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