FISA Court ~ Nothing To See Here

We are all-abuzz about the diGenova revelations with Mike Huckabee last night. Here is the full tape of the Laura Ingraham show, so the reader can understand all details in context. LINK
Here is the video link, again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_yMcVq6-ak
I have transcribed all of diGenova’s comments in the color blue or red, so we can evaluate his words, verbatim. diGenova comments occur at 11:20, 16:20, 19:15. All emphasis is mine. Please note, last night, we learned diGenova was one of the first FISA Court Judges.
One more tidbit, my husband, made an interesting observation last night. Husband is the Boston Lawyer, with several family members who were US Attorneys, Chief Judges, and many employees of DOJ (they argue for sport which makes Christmas exciting). When diGenova was talking last night, husband stopped in his tracks to listen, which is unusual for husband. This morning, he went over diGenova’s words, carefully and rewinding several times. Can’t remember him ever doing that before. Husband said the following thing, “Joe diGenova could not have said what he said, last night, without permission.” Reiterating, “He’s been told it’s okay to talk now, on this specific issue, what to let go of, and where to stop talking.” Implying, Joe knows and has been authorized, by the powers that be, to release the information.
At 11:20, diGenova drops the first bombshell. Four contractors, via the FBI, were allowed to spy on Americans and the information was used for political purposes.
diGenova:
“This is pretty simple stuff for career prosecutors like Rudy and myself.”
“It’s been evident from day one, that there was a brazen plot to exonerate Hillary Clinton, illegally, and then, if Trump won, frame him.
The Dossier was a known part of it. It was created by Hillary Clinton. It was created, knowingly, by John Brennan, as part of a scheme to do everything they could to harm Donald Trump.
The problem for Brennan, and Clapper, and Comey, and Baker, and all of them, now, is, that the FISA Court has already communicated with the Justice Dept about its findings. And their findings are, that for more than 4yrs before the election of Donald Trump, there was an illegal spying operation going on, by FBI Contractors, 4 of them, to steal personal information, electronic information about Americans, and to use it against the Republican Party. 
There’s going to be indictments, there’s going to be grand juries. John Brennan isn’t going to need one lawyer, he’s going to need five.
At 16:20minutes, the convo comes BACK to diGenova.
Paraphrasing
Huckabee asks, “Why is this important to average American sitting at home eating popcorn..”
diGenova: “Because it’s about the rule of law and privacy. The Obama Administration for more than 4yrs before the 2016 election, allowed 4 contractors, working for the FBI, to illegally surveil American citizens. Illegally. The FISA Court has already found that.
By the way, Robert Wray mentioned that there is the Horowitz report coming out in May or possibly early June. There is another report that everyone has forgotten about involving James Comey, alone. That report will be out in 2 weeks. That report is going to be a bombshell. That report is going to open up the investigation on a very high note and there will be criminal referrals in it. The FISA Court abuse is the center of this entire abuse of governmental power. And the Chief Judge of that Court has already ruled that the FBI broke the law and that the people at the head of the Justice Dept, Sally Yates, John Carlin, the Asst Attorney for the National Security (Division), all knew about it and lied to the Court, the FISA Court, about it.
Huckabee goes back to “Robert” who was the on the Whitewater Special Counsel, who makes excellent comments. He notes the “leveraging” of information used by the Justice Department and the Intelligence Community against the President and concludes Trump was right, no future President should ever have to go through this again.
DiGenova is back at 19:15 minutes.
DiGenova: There’s a hero in this story and it’s not a lawyer. All the bad people in this story are lawyers. There’s a hero. His name is Admiral Mike Rogers. He was the head of the National Security Agency. He discovered the illegal spying. He went personally to the FISA Court and briefed the Chief Judge and worked with her for months to uncover the people who did it. The FISA Court has already been told the Justice Dept who lied to that court and that has been given to Bill Barr already.
There’s so much to unpack, here.

1. diGenova was one of the original FISA Court Judges?
2. Four Contractors, allowed by the FBI to spy on Americans for 4yrs, for the purposes of using the info against Republicans. Still can’t wrap my head around the allegation. We have so many questions. Was it four companies or four people? Who were these ‘contractors’? Are we talking about raw intel from NSA, 702 search queries? How many people were spied upon? Is this part of the Samantha Powers unmasking operation? Is this what Evelyn Farkas meant by “can’t let them discover HOW we got the information”?
3. We all know Admiral Rogers went to Rosemary Collyer the FISA Court Judge, when he learned what was happening, late October 2016, only a few days after Carlin GOT the FISA warrant on Carter Page. We had no idea Rogers worked with Collyer for months to figure out who was doing it.  
4. And we had no idea Bill Barr already knew.
5. Or that the FISA Court had already made a ruling the FBI LIED.
6. Who would be handling this investigation?
7. Was this investigation born from Sessions investigation of the 27 leaks? Or Samantha Powers? Or something else?
8. diGenova specifically named John Brennan and Hillary as the creators of the Dossier. Note that diGenova did not say “Comey”, or “McCabe”, or “Strzok and Page”. Nope, diGenova fingered John Brennan. Brennan could NOT have acted in such a way without express permission from Obama and ValJar.
9. Remember the spook story from John Solomon? When Solomon started investigating, two guys showed up, late one night, by his mailbox. They did not identify themselves. They wanted Solomon to investigate but they were worried about losing the FISA warrant altogether. The FISA warrant was good for them, when it came to tracking terrorist, etc. They needed the ability to get a warrant but were worried about the illegality by political appointees and thought, maybe, the whole program could be in danger. Makes sense now, eh?
10. Michael Caputo was on Tucker, several times, and I vaguely remember him talking about HUNDREDS (600+) people who had been ‘surveilled’. Part of the same Obama Admin effort?
11. When diGenova talks about the Comey report, coming out in 2 weeks, diGenova says it will “open up the investigation on a very high note”…. “with criminal referrals”. Curious sentence, yes? It sounds like the way a coach opens a football game with a trick play, or an entertainer opens a concert with a favorite song. It definitely implies there is MORE TO COME.
12. Finally, since the whole mess centers on the FISA Court, what is the involvement of Chief Justice, John Roberts?

Seems to be quite a bit going on at the Justice Department. Do we have any independent confirmation of diGenova’s comments?
We recall the 99 page release from FISA. We remember Chairman Goodlatte and Nadler fighting and Dan Coats, DNI, released the 99 pages from Collyer. Review here: Link
From the FISA Court ruling:
The October 26, 2016 Notice informed the Court that NSA Analysts had been conducting such queries in violation of that prohibition, with much greater frequency than had previously been disclosed to the Court.
The Court ascribed the government’s failure to disclose the IG and OCO reviews at the October 4, 2016 hearing [Obama’s NSD Director John Carlin – NOT Rogers] to an institutional “Lack of Candor” and emphasized that “this is a very serious Fourth Amendment Issue”.
A non-compliance rate of 85% raises substantial questions about the propriety of using of [Redacted – likely “About”] query FISA data.
There is no apparent reason to believe the November 2015-April 2016 period coincided with an unusually high rate.
The FBI had disclosed raw FISA information, including but not limited to Section 702-acquired information, to a [Redacted].
Is largely staffed by private contractors.
The {Redacted} contractors had access to raw FISA information that went well beyond what was necessary to respond to the FBI’s requests.
The FBI discontinued the above-described access to raw FISA information as of April 18, 2016.
Their [contractors] access was not limited to raw information for which the FBI sought assistance – and access continued even after they had completed work in response to an FBI request.
The FBI had given the information to the private entity [Redacted] not to an assisting federal agency.
The Court is nonetheless concerned about the FBI’s apparent disregard of minimization rules and whether the FBI may be engaging in similar disclosures of raw Section 702 information that have not been reported.
The improper access granted to the [Redacted] contractors was apparently in place [Redacted] and seems to have been the result of deliberate decision-making.
This all points to substantial instances of improper surveillance. Going back to at least November 2015 – probably longer.
We do not have Goodlatte’s letter. But Judge Collyer has already issued a damning Opinionof FISA Court abuse under the Obama Administration.
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