According to NBC News, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team recently began asking witnesses “pointed questions” about whether Donald Trump was aware that the Democratic National Committee’s emails had been stolen before that was publicly known, and whether he was involved in their “strategic release” during the presidential campaign. NBC states that the “line of questioning suggests the special counsel, who is tasked with examining whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, is looking into possible coordination between WikiLeaks and Trump associates in disseminating the emails, which U.S. intelligence officials say were stolen by […]
Nunes ups the ante
Did the FBI commit crimes by using the infamous Steele dossier about President Trump as grounds for FISA warrants to spy on Trump campaign aide Carter Page? This is the issue raised yesterday by House Intelligence Committee chief Rep. Devin Nunes’ letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The dossier contains claims that were assembled by Christopher Steele, a former British spy and FBI informant, using Russian sources for Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm, that was paid by the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign. Former FBI Director James Comey has characterized those claims as “salacious” and “unverified”. Nevertheless, the […]
I had a wide range of investigative and prosecutorial duties as a special attorney with the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the Department of Justice in the 1970s. From trying cases in court and conducting grand jury investigations, to visiting crime scenes, developing confidential informants, and taking to the streets to locate and interrogate witnesses, I was privileged to work closely with the FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS and state and local police agencies. I also prepared numerous applications for court-ordered electronic surveillance and monitored the wiretap and bugging operations that followed. If we wanted authorization to plant a listening […]
Nelly’s new hobby
In the late 1950s, when I was entering early adolescence, I became an amateur radio operator. It was like joining a very large audio-visual club whose geekiness was on steroids. Along with knowledge of electronics and Morse code, being a total techno-weirdo was an absolute pre-requisite. The world back then seemed to be a much larger place, and communicating with foreign countries via the short-wave spectrum was a challenging and random proposition. So it was fun and exciting to communicate by code or voice with hams in remote parts of the planet. At least at first. Unfortunately, the conversations were […]
In 1953, when I was a nine year old growing up in Georgia, I saw an ad in the back of Popular Mechanics or some similar magazine by Golden State Arms, a mail order firearms dealer in California. It announced the sale of surplus Russian Moisin-Nagant 7.62 mm bolt-action rifles with fifty rounds of ammunition for just $9.99 each. Wow! The rifle shown in the tiny ad looked cool, and the price was right. So, after robbing my piggy bank and without parental consultation, I sent a postal money order to California and waited. A month later, a Railway Express […]
The longer I look at the Mueller indictment of the 13 Russians, the more questions that come to mind. For starters, the indictment describes a multi-year disinformation campaign involving over 100 foreign agents operating in and outside the United States who used social media and internet communications to carry out their plot. So, where were our vaunted intelligence agencies while this was going on? Where was the National Security Agency which has the resources to suck up every electron moving in cyberspace? Same for the FBI which has primary responsibility for domestic counterintelligence. Were they aware of this Russian plot? […]
Today’s federal indictment of 13 Russians for interfering in our political process is a fascinating document. The object of the conspiracy is alleged to have been “impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the United States by dishonest means in order to enable Defendants to interfere with U.S. political processes, including the 2016 presidential election.” According to the indictment, the defendants started their nefarious activities in 2014 by studying groups on U.S. social media sites. Posing as U.S. persons, they contacted American political and social activists, and, using information derived from these contacts, determined how to structure their disinformation […]
Another deranged killer has used a semi-automatic firearm to commit mass mayhem at a Florida high school. While the nation’s thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones, the never-ending gun control debate has reached new levels of intensity. What measures can be taken to prevent another slaughter? Is there a real world solution? In June 2016, I wrote an op-ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer regarding the Orlando nightclub massacre committed by jihadist Omar Mateen. While the venue and religious motivation of the killer presented somewhat different security issues, I believe that the rationale of my […]
Joseph DiGenova, the former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, speaks like a man with strong convictions and solid inside information about the DOJ Inspector General’s ongoing investigation of the train wreck at the FBI. In a recent segment on Sean Hannity’s show, DiGenova stated flatly what many of us have suspected, i.e., that the recently retired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe “is gone because [FBI Director] Wray knows what is in the other emails and the other texts. McCabe was sent packing as a result of Christopher Wray being briefed by a number of people who have access […]
#MeToo and McCabe
In April 2015, National Public Radio reported on the case of former FBI Special Agent Robyn Gritz who had been forced out of the bureau after she “got crosswise with her supervisors.” “When you’re fighting terror and you’re seeing buildings come down before you, you’re passionate and you’re emotional, and I think the American people want you to be that way when you’re fighting terror and keeping them safe,” she said. For fifteen years, she worked non-stop investigating the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, helping to rescue Western hostages and tracking down global terrorists. She […]
In today’s Washington Examiner, under the headline “Comey told Congress FBI agents didn’t think Michael Flynn lied”, Byron York explores the labyrinthian twists and turns of the events leading up to General Flynn’s baffling plea of guilty to one charge of lying to the FBI. It’s a well-done piece and well worth reading. Despite his best efforts, York was unable to posit why Flynn pled guilty when, based on what is known, there appears to be no evidence that he intentionally lied. So, why would an innocent man plead guilty? To those of us who have made a handsome living […]
In Ben Hur, once the hero and his fellow slaves have been chained to their oars, Quintus Arrius, the galley master, gives them a pep talk. “Now listen to me, all of you. You are all condemned men. We keep you alive to serve this ship. So row well, and live.” Watching the North Korean Olympic cheerleaders flawlessly perform their robot-like routines and cheer like frenzied lunatics before, during and after their hockey team was crushed 8 – 0 by Switzerland, I was reminded of Arrius’ words. How well they translate from the ancient Roman tyranny to today’s communist hellhole […]
A review of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court’s docket discloses that earlier this week the New York Times moved for the publication of all “orders authorizing surveillance of Carter Page, a United States citizen, together with the application materials and renewal application materials upon which those orders were issued.” In its motion, the Times summarizes the controversial contents of the declassified “memorandum authored under the direction of Rep. Devin Nunes, Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence concerning the surveillance of Mr. Page.” Citing “the overwhelming public interest in assessing the accuracy of the Nunes Memorandum and knowing […]
Cupid Saves America
As Valentine’s Day approaches, it occurs to me that all of us should be grateful that Special Agent Peter Strzok, former second-in-command of FBI counterintelligence, got the on-the-job hots for FBI lawyer Lisa Page. Driven by urges the intensity of which they probably hadn’t felt since late adolescence, the eager paramours produced a most revealing and totally unsecure mountain of text messages. The latest tranche of their online correspondence provides a damning timeline regarding the FBI’s reaction to the discovery of Hillary Clinton’s classified emails on the laptop belonging to Anthony Weiner a/k/a Carlos Danger, the online pedo-perv married to […]
Way back in 1972, when I was a freshly minted Special Attorney with the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the U.S. Justice Department, my fellow newly hired colleagues and I attended a lecture at Main Justice given by John Dowd, a well-regarded veteran prosecutor. His topic was the then little known and almost never used Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Dowd explained in detail the vast sweep of the statute and described the mind-boggling powers that Congress had conferred on us. In those days of limited federal jurisdiction, we had a hard time processing what Dowd was […]