House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) on Saturday called documents released by the Department of Justice “groundbreaking.”
He also called for the declassification of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications for surveillance warrants on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
The documents, released by the Department of Justice earlier Saturday, were heavily redacted but indicated that the FBI “believes Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government … to undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in violation of U.S. criminal law.”
“If the previous admin was funneling campaign research toward surveillance, we need to know,” Meadows tweeted.
Potentially groundbreaking development here. The Carter Page FISA docs should be declassified and further unredacted (protecting only sources and methods) so Americans can know the truth.
If the previous admin was funneling campaign research toward surveillance, we need to know. https://t.co/vWfeatCdUk
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) July 22, 2018
The lawmaker was responding to Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton’s claim that the documents appear to “confirm the FBI and DoJ misled the courts in withholding info about Clinton-DNC being behind the info used to get the FISA warrant.” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Documents Released On Saturday Related To The Wiretapping Of Former Trump Campaign Adviser Carter Page Reveal Information That Contributed To The Government’s Application To Monitor Page Originated With The State Department Under The Obama Administration In October 2016.
That detail may be particularly relevant since numerous officials from John Kerry’s State Department have been fingered for playing roles in the distribution – and in one case, possibly also the compilation – of the largely discredited, 35-page anti-Trump dossier which focused in significant part on Page.
Much of the interaction between the State Department and the dossier author took place just prior to the October 2016 date mentioned in the newly released Page documents. Dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British spy, was commissioned to produce the questionable document by the controversial Fusion GPS opposition research firm, which was paid for its anti-Trump work by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
State Department official Jonathan Winer admitted to exchanging documents and information with Steele, and passed the dossier contents to other officials at the State Department. Winer also admitted to receiving information from Clinton associate Sidney Blumenthal that originated with Cody Shearer, a shadowy former tabloid journalist who has long been closely associated with various Clinton scandals. Winer conceded that he passed Shearer’s anti-Trump material to Steele.
Most of the more than 400 pages were redacted. The second bullet point in each of the applications reveals that the information of Page’s “status” was first provided to the FBI by the State Department in October 2016.
That section states: The target of this application is Carter W. Page, a US person, and an agent of a foreign power, described in detail below. The status of the target was determined in or about October 2016 from information provided by the US Department of State. – READ MORE
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