Would NOT Have Sought FISA Warrant

Obama DOJ Wouldn’t Have Sought FISA Warrant on Trump Advisor Without Clinton-Campaign-Funded Dossier By CNSNews.com Staff

(CNSNews.com) - Then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe testified in the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in December that the Obama Administration Justice Department would not have sought a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to put surveillance on volunteer Trump campaign advisor Carter Page without a dossier that had been funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, according to a memorandum released by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

The application for the FISA warrant did not inform the FISA court that approved the warrant that the DNC and Clinton campaign had been involved in financing the dossier that provided information used in the application.

The memorandum written by the staff of the Intelligence Committee says:

“On October 21, 2016, DOJ and FBI sought and received a FISA probable cause order (not under Title VII) authorizing electronic surveillance on Carter Page from the FISC. Page is a U.S. citizen who served as a volunteer advisor to the Trump presidential campaign.

Consistent with requirements under FISA, the application had to be first certified by the Director or Deputy Director of the FBI. It then required the approval of the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General (DAG), or the Senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division.

“The FBI and DOJ obtained one initial FISA warrant targeting Carter Page and three FISA renewals from the FISC. As required by statute (50 U.S.C. 1805(d)(1), a FISA order on an American citizen must be renewed by the FISC every 90 days and each renewal requires a separate finding of probable cause.

"Then-Director James Comey signed three FISA applications in question on behalf of the FBI, and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed one. Then-DAG Sally Yates, then-acdtin DAG Dana Boente, and DAG Rod Rosenstein each signed one or more FISA applications on behalf of DOJ.”


The memorandum goes on to say:
“In the case of Carter Page, the government had at least four independent opportunities before the FISC to accurately provide an accounting of the relevant facts. However, our findings indicate that, as described below, material relevant information was omitted.

The ‘dossier’ compiled by Christopher Steele (Steele dossier) on behalf of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign formed an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application. Steele was a longtime FBI source who was paid over $160,000 by the DNC and Clinton campaign, vial the law firm Perkins Coie and research firm Fusion GPS, to obtain derogatory information on Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.

“Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele’s efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were the known to senior DOJ and FBI officials.”

The Intelligence Committee memorandum then reveals that without this dossier the FBI would not have applied for the warrant:

According to the head of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, Assistant Director Bill Priestap, corroboration of the Steele dossier was in its ‘infancy’ at the time of the initial Page FISA application.

After Steele was terminated, a source validation report conducted by an independent unit within FBI assessed Steele’s reporting as only minimally corroborated. Yet, in early January 2017, Director Comey briefed President-elect Trump on a summary of the Steele dossier, even though it was—according to his June 2017 testimony—“salacious and unverified.”

While the FISA application relied on Steele’s past record of credible reporting on other related matters, it ignored or concealed his anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations. Furthermore, Deputy Director McCabe testified before the Committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information.