FBI conceals State Department documents and misleads FISA court

The Democratic Party is bracing itself as written evidence has now been discovered supporting allegations that the FBI deliberately misled the FISA Court to obtain a warrant in October 2016 to spy on a former member of the Trump campaign committee - Carter Page. Open-records litigation by the conservative group Citizens United and superb investigative journalism by The Hill’s John Solomon have unearthed three critical State Department documents:

1. The typed notes of a meeting held on 11 October 2016 between between Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec and Christopher Steele – the author of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton-funded Steele dossier
2. an email Kavalec sent on 13 October 2016
3. Kavalec’s handwritten notes of the meeting (Kavelec Documents)

The Kavalec Documents reportedly were not provided to the House Intelligence Committee during its Russia probe, according to former Chairman Devon Nunes. One member of Congress has reportedly transmitted the Kavalec Documents this week to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General —fearing its investigation of FISA abuses may not have had access to them. The FBI is doing its best to keep the first two Kavalec Documents secret by retroactively claiming them to be classified as recently as 25 April this year—even though they were reportedly originally marked unclassified in 2016. Solomon evaluates the handwritten notes:

Kavalec’s handwritten notes clearly flagged in multiple places that Steele might be talking to the media. “June — reporting started,” she wrote. “NYT and WP have,” she added, in an apparent reference to The New York Times and The Washington Post. Later she quoted Steele as suggesting he was “managing” four priorities — “Client needs, FBI, WashPo/NYT, source protection,” her handwritten notes show. Those same notes suggest Steele spun some wild theories to State, including one that the Russians had a “plant in DNC” and had assembled an “HRC dossier,” apparent references to the Democratic National Committee and Clinton.”

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FBI director Christopher Wray needs to immediately name the persons in the FBI who made the recent redactions to the first two Kavalec documents in the interest of transparency – especially as Solomon is now in possession of Kavalec’s handwritten notes of the meeting. Indeed there is no reason why the redactions should not be reversed and the unredacted documents be made available to Citizens United. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and ranking member of its Subcommittee on Government Operations, has told Solomon he had confirmed with U.S. officials that Kavalec's typed memo was forwarded to the FBI in her October 13, 2016, email. The Verified Application subsequently filed with the FISA Court and signed by FBI Director James Comey in late October 2016 does not seemingly appear to have disclosed the Kavalec Documents to the Court. Misleading the Court and attempting to pervert the course of justice by not making full disclosure are serious charges that could impact on all those who played a part in drafting the Verified Application, signed it and presented it to the Court to enable a warrant to be obtained. The fact that three further FISA warrants to spy on Page were obtained in January, April and June 2017 from three different judges without the Kavalec documents being disclosed could see those involved subjected to similar charges. The floodgates opened by:

• the discovery of the Kavalec Documents and
• the FBI apparently weaponizing the discredited and unverified Steele dossier for political purposes seem certain to engulf the Democrats.

Attorney General Barr has been given a flying start as he investigates possible spying by the Democrats on the 2016 Trump campaign.