Deep State, FBI, and FISA Developments

Back in November, I posted two essays on the Deep State. In the first essay, I attempted to try to both define and call attention the term Deep State (and its companion term, Shadow Government) and what it means to we the people. In my second essay, I referenced posts by "Q" anon on 4chan which related to the Deep State. Later "Q" moved to 8chan and is still posting there.

It has been three months since "Q" began posting and I am definitely of the opinion that "Q" is very close to President Trump, and is most likely more than one person, at least one whom has a military intelligence background. While this is difficult to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, "Q" has predicted numerous events before they have happened and a good number of Trump's tweets have used the same words or phrases that had appeared earlier in "Q" posts.

On November 17,2016, ten days after Trump won the Presidential election, Admiral Mike Rodgers, head of the NSA, paid a visit to Donald Trump in New York City. Rodgers did not notify President Obama of this visit. It is believed that Rodgers went to visit Trump to notify him that he was being "wiretapped."

Sometimes the utilization of Timelines means you have to look at the new information with a keen awareness of specific events. In hindsight, NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers may have notified Team Trump of Obama’s Intelligence Community (James Clapper and John Brennan) spying on their activity.

As you look at the FISA request dates below, it’s important to note that NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers would be keenly aware of both the June request – Denied, and the October request – Granted. Pay specific attention to the October request. “

Recently, information has come out in the form of an internal House memo that relates to the election and possible conspiracy against Donald Trump. As of the writing of this essay (Monday, January 29 at 3:00 pm), the memo has not yet been released although there are rumors that the House Intelligence Committee chaired by Republican Devin Nunes is planning on a public release of the memo no later than next week. I personally believe that it will be released tomorrow in advance of the State of the Union address. Republicans have characterized the memo as explosive with most pundits believing that one of the main revelations will be the Obama administration's abuse of FISA as a means to spy upon the Trump campaign.

The FISA warrants were issued based upon the contents of an opposition research dossier produced by former British spy Christopher Steele. Steele was hired by the Clinton campaign through a third party, Fusion GPS, who was contracted and paid by the DNC's law firm, Perkins Coie.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, California Republican, signed a subpoena for Fusion’s bank records. He wanted to determine who bankrolled a partisan unproven dossier that has become such a large part of the FBI’s, Congress’ and journalists’ investigations.

The Nunes subpoena forced the law firm Perkins Coie to admit that the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign paid the bills. The money went from Democrats to Perkins Coie to Fusion to British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who then paid Kremlin sources for dirt on Mr. Trump.

None of Mr. Steele’s core charges of collusion has been publicly confirmed.

While it is not known if the FISA court was aware of the dossier being an opposition paper contracted by and paid for by the Clinton campaign through third parties, it is evident that a number of very highly placed members in the Obama administration (and even perhaps Obama himself) were definitely aware of the dossier, including upper ranks of the FBI and Justice Departments.

The Washington Post has reported that Steele’s reports were first transmitted “by an intermediary” to the FBI and other U.S. intelligence officials after the Democratic National Convention (which, to repeat, ended on July 28). The intermediary is not identified. We do not know if it was Fusion, though that seems likely given that Fusion shared its work with government and non-government entities. Steele himself is also said to have contacted “a friend in the FBI” about his research after the Democratic convention.

We do know from the several hundred released text messages of over 50,000 that were exchanged between paramours Peter Strzok and Lisa Page of the FBI, that there was extreme bias at the upper levels of the agency. Strzok and Page implicated through their exchanges, Andrew McCabe, number two man at the FBI, and Bill Priestap, director of counter intelligence at the FBI and Peter Strzok's immediate superivsor. McCabe resigned from the FBI today, January 29, 2018.

Peter Strzok was the deputy director for counterintelligence under Bill Priestap. He was also the author of the Comey memo which "exonerated" Hillary Clinton of wrong doing regarding her emails. Strzok wrote the Comey memo before Clinton was ever interviewed by the FBI. He also participated in that interview of Clinton.

Peter Strzok was the head FBI Agent in charge of the ‘Clinton Operation’ (exoneration), and ‘Trump Operation’ (political surveillance). Strzok reported to the FBI Director of Counterintelligence, Bill Priestap. Lisa Page was the DOJ attorney assigned to the FBI and key legal aide for FBI Asst. Director Andrew “Andy” McCabe.

There is so much more that I could write, especially with some of the most recent "Q" posts. But based upon the text messages that have been released thus far, there appears to be a concerted effort by individuals high in the FBI and DOJ to prevent the election of Donald Trump and then to set him up for removal from office based upon a dossier that was compiled from gossip and much of which was falsely promoted with absolutely zero documentation for the charges contained within it.

Think what you want of Donald Trump. I personally abhor most of his policies, but I also believe in abiding by the political process. The bottom line is that Trump was the duly elected by the people as President of the United States and any effort to bring him down based upon completely undocumented information is symptomatic of a totally corrupted deep state within our government.

Depending upon how this story proceeds, I may do a follow up with some of the more recent "Q" anon posts that hint at a potential assassination plot.

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Meteor Man's picture

It looks to me like every story connected to Russiagate is a big nothing burger. Your conclusion seemed like a little bit of a stretch:

The bottom line is that Trump was the duly elected by the people as President of the United States and any effort to bring him down based upon completely undocumented information is symptomatic of a totally corrupted deep state within our government.

My apologies gulfgal, but I I could not find this conclusion in your link:

Strzok wrote the Comey memo before Clinton was ever interviewed by the FBI. He also participated in that interview of Clinton.

From your link:

July 2nd, 2016 Hillary Clinton is interviewed by FBI investigator Peter Strzok. No transcripts or recordings of the interview are made.

July 5th, 2016, FBI Director James Comey exonerates Hillary Clinton.

There is no shortage of corruption at the FBI, CIA or pretty much every other federal agency. Some sort of Deep State exists, but I have to question whether or not there is a "unified effort to bring him down based upon completely undocumented information,".

I just don't see it.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

gulfgal98's picture

@Meteor Man The first version of the memo was written in May 2016, followed by the Strzok edited memo for which I could not find a date.

The former FBI director's announcement ignited swift and sustained criticism from Republican lawmakers and Clinton's critics who believed she had been treated with leniency. That scrutiny reemerged in full force last month, when news of the memo's change in language came out.

"Apparently, as of May 2016, then-Director Comey and other FBI officials believed the facts fit that gross negligence standard until later edits were made," Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley said in a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray. He also asked the FBI to elaborate on who was responsible for the change and the reasoning behind it.

We must also remember that Clinton was interviewed without being put under oath, nor were there any permanent records of the interview made.

I knew that when I decided to write this that there would be problems with documentation, just as there are problems with documenting anything involving bad actors in the deep state. But I do believe that it is important to recognize just how dangerous corruption within our government is to each of us which was my purpose in putting this out there.

I will try to provide more documentation when I find it.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Meteor Man's picture

@gulfgal98
Ok, but it's no big deal. Frankly, I doubt if any American election is legitimate. This one could have easily flipped either way. Neither Trump nor Hillary represents the American people or a national consensus.

There are so many problems with gerrymandering, black box voting, vote suppression, voter ID and media coverage that I personally do not believe the U.S. President, Senate or House has represented the American people for decades or perhaps even centuries. Maybe never.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

gulfgal98's picture

@Meteor Man was completely destroyed by Clinton's cheating in the primaries, for which we have some verifiable proof. I suspect that there was cheating by both sides in the general, but that is not the point of this essay.

The point of this essay is that our unconstitutional programs by which the government can suck up any and all information on any of us appears to have been weaponized by the Obama administration in order to try to install Hillary Clinton as President. When that failed, it appears that it is still being utilized by the deep state for nefarious purposes.

I don't give a flying fruitcake if it was being utilized against Trump or whomever. It is wrong and very disturbing what appears to be going on with the use of a dossier that has yet to be demonstrated to be based upon any facts as the basis for political spying. It is another example of the tearing down of our Constitutional rights.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98

My only nitpick is with "duly" elected. There was nothing duly about the last election.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

snoopydawg's picture

as gulfgal stated. This is what kept Her out of prison. FBI Agent Strzok Changed Comey's Clinton Language From "Grossly Negligent" To "Extremely Careless"
Imagine how it would have gone over if it said this instead:

Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless grossly negligent in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.

Here's a great write-up on how the FISA warrant was obtained. It also talks about what Rogers found and why he informed the FISA Court of numerous unauthorized FISA-702(17) “About Query” violations. There is much more information in the article.

In essence, as of yesterday, the FBI used Clinton opposition research -via Fusion GPS- on candidate Donald Trump, to generate surveillance authority over her political opponent.

That sounds bad; however, what we have discovered is worse.

This has been seen as bad as Watergate was. Using the agencies of the current president (who plays for the same team) to get information on your opponent kinda backs this up.

Clinton campaign propaganda appears to have triggered Obama administration spying on Trump’s campaign.

After it came out that the FBI used the Steele dossier to get a FISA warrant, the NYT went out of its way to debunk it. They stated that someone who was in Trump's campaign leaked the information to the FBI. It has been the Times and Washington Post that have been spreading the Russian propaganda the hardest.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Meteor Man's picture

@snoopydawg
My take is that this whole story is so tangled up in mutual corruption by Trump and Her that we may never unravel what really happened or who all the players were.

I think Trump's criminal financial ties to Russian mobsters is an under reported problem and The Clinton Foundation's dark money shenannigans are bigger problems than what the media focuses on.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

snoopydawg's picture

@Meteor Man @Meteor Man

and I also believe that the PTB decide before the elections who they want as president. Hillary would never have been able to get the tax cuts passed. Her supporters would have crucified her. She also wouldn't have been able to gut the regulations like Pruitt is doing as well as the other agencies heads. Huff post had an article on how Trump doesn't want to do any work required of the office and he has turned things over to the military, the banks and to the oil companies. Think Hillary would have been able to gut the last vestiges of the government working for us like Trump is doing? Not a chance, IMO.

The Usefulness of Trump's Idiocy

Apparently the FBI is looking into the Clinton foundation, but what will come of it, who knows? The pay for play was so obvious to anyone who was looking at it. 9 other secretaries of states worked on the uranium deal, but only the Clintons received money after it was done. Nope, no graft there.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

ggersh's picture

@Meteor Man @Meteor Man

I think Trump's criminal financial ties to Russian mobsters is an under reported problem and The Clinton Foundation's dark money shenannigans are bigger problems than what the media focuses on.
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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

@ggersh come out if they can help it. They're all in on it and they very well know they're vulnerable, hence the desperation.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

ggersh's picture

@lizzyh7

And the reason it will not
@ggersh come out if they can help it. They're all in on it and they very well know they're vulnerable, hence the desperation.

hence him wanting it out, the damn fool thinks. Face to hand.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

@snoopydawg
"grossly negligent" is the criteria for whether laws have been broken according to the statutes. Using that phrase would trigger criminal charges.

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Orwell: Where's the omelette?

gulfgal98's picture

@snoopydawg @snoopydawg One thing the second article gets to is what is the alleged crime that served as the basis for the FISA warrants? This was laid out very well in the case of Carter Page in the article.

Even FBI agent Peter Strzok said in a text message to Lisa Page that he believed that there was no "there" there in the Mueller investigation into Donald Trump.

Newly released text messages between FBI agents Peter Strzok and his colleague Lisa Page reveal that Strzok was reluctant to join special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference because he feared the team wouldn't find anything noteworthy.

"You and I both know the odds are nothing," Strzok said in a text to Page on May 19, 2017. "If I thought it was likely, I'd be there, no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there's no big there there."

Regardless of who the targets were, this is the type of abuse of our Constitutional rights under NSA and FISA that should concern every American.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Thanks gulfgal98, it is kinda like following George Webb for me, I'm intrigued but not enough to follow along. I do appreciate your essays, and the comments they generate. Who knew documenting deep state shenanigans could be so hard? heh

cheers

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gulfgal98's picture

@eyo that it is very difficult to report in an essay.

In this essay, I have tried to focus on the issue of the misuse of FISA and spying by deep state agencies to affect an election and to change its outcome. Regardless of political leanings, every American should be concerned if what has thus far been leaked is indicative of something more sinister, and that is the misuse of our national security agencies to manipulate our elections.

It is also not meant to pass judgment upon whether or not Trump is a good President, but is more focused upon what little integrity is left in our system.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98 He recommended some videos but they were long and I just kinda gave up. It is convoluted but that is also part of their methods. Like Wall Street in that way, make it so arcane and full of detail most people just give up. And it works. It's nothing less than a coup, not that we already haven't been couped in this country, but to me it's their final version. Even our owners know they only have to much time left before climate does us all in, they need to bleed us while they can, while we are fearful and hateful. And hey, a "limited nuclear exchange?" What the hell, maybe that'll tamp down that whole warming thing. s/ It will for sure cull the herd though...

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

snoopydawg's picture

@lizzyh7

This was part of the coup attempt that was meant to cripple his administration and not let him work on making relations between the two countries better if what I've read is correct. Of course this is being played as he's kissing up to Putin. We'll see if he stops the planned war or pulls the troops out of Norway and other countries that have a border with Russia.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Pluto's Republic's picture

@gulfgal98

The FBI should be shut down and cleared out. We have no need for their services. In the end, they simply create and entrap would-be terrorists, and spend a stupid amount of time doing what any other intelligence agency or police department can do better. The Secret Service calls them the F.umbling B.umbling I.diots, although they are hardly in a position to be pointing fingers.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
gulfgal98's picture

@Pluto's Republic the CIA and NSA, among others.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

ggersh's picture

http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/stormy-weather/

I’m not comfortable acting as a supporter or defender of Trump, but I’m even less comfortable with the appearance of a rogue security and law enforcement apparatus gone blatantly political. The so far poorly-explained antics at the FBI and DOJ reflect badly on all vested authority in the country — and especially for any faction that pretends to be on the side of justice. This is a much larger problem than the public debate seems to recognize. We are not far from a point where nobody will be able to believe anything official in this land.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Meteor Man's picture

@ggersh @ggersh
A year or two after he was elected Mayor of Chicago I read an article that Rahm had managed the challenging feat of making Chicago politics even more corrupt than they had ever been.

I think Atty. Gen. Sessions and Trump have accomplished the same goal with the FBI. A moderately corrupt FBI (by law enforcement standards) is now more corrupt and less deserving of respect than it ever was.

The FBI may have been more corrupt under J. Edgar Hoover. I dunno. Any stories about recent FBI activity in South America? Would Whitey Bulger be an FBI Special Agent?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation

(See Controversies)

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

gulfgal98's picture

@ggersh This article comes closest to my own observations and conclusions regarding the debacle before us.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98

....regarding the debacle before us.

President Pence will try to put the pieces back together....
or
Trump somehow continues in office despite the concerted efforts of both the Democratic and Republican Parties to remove him at all cost.....
or
recent history is buried in the chaos of collapse and we learn to love our oppressors and embrace the orderliness of martial law....
or
(Insert your prediction here)

I'm having a very difficult time imagining a resolution that we can all look forward to, one that does not feel like a free fall into an abyss. Toto is tugging on the curtain and I'm wondering if maybe that's not such a good idea.

Red pill or blue? Which will it be?

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

is the technical term, if what looks like what was happening, actually happened at DoJ and the FBI leadership.
Trump is the worst character to be president, but the game is the game, and people need to remember what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. There are lines civil servants must not cross or even allow themselves to think of crossing if we're to have any chance at democratic and sound governance.

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Orwell: Where's the omelette?

@jim p Advocacy of violence is required for that charge.

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Orwell: Where's the omelette?

gulfgal98's picture

@jim p the misuse and abuse of power, not just toward a candidate in an election, but toward every one of us. The deep state and all of these internal spy organizations must be dismantled and then what is left must be severely regulated to adhere to the protections guaranteed by the Constitution, which in this case is the Fourth Amendment.

We have lost so much of our Constitutional rights since 9/11 and now we are getting a glimpse of the awful potential of the provisions of the Patriot Act being used against us.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

polkageist's picture

@gulfgal98 The proliferation of "homeland security" under Bush, et. al., was one of the best-worst political coups ever made in this country. In effect no one is in charge, no one is accountable, and the powers-that-be can use them to offset each other and obfuscate the truth as well as render them harmless to the representatives of money and power. And all done in the name of control. Genius of a very evil kind.

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

Wink's picture

make for a great Oliver Stone movie. A 2.5 hour monster.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

SnappleBC's picture

Glen Greenwald had some pretty choice things to say both about the House Intelligence Committee and Nunes himself. Both are proven liars. So any release of a memo without externally verifiable supporting evidence is not something I care about.

Insofar as various investigations, I assume they will end however the plutocrats want them to end. When was the last time you saw an actual investigation at this level? Watergate maybe?

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

Strife Delivery's picture

I watched a video about this "Q" thing.

Kind of long, 30 minutes. He still was firmly in this Trump delusion: Trump is secretly for us, breaking up the Deep State. He thought Q was Trump or had the potential to be.

Look, if anything pans out, I'll eat crow. But, power always protects power.

Clintons/Bushes/Trump/Obama - all protect each other.

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