Fusion GPS/Steele and DOJ Connections Date Back to 2015

[INSIDE JW]

JUDICIAL WATCH ISSUES STATEMENT ON APPEALS COURT DECISION BLOCKING
HILLARY CLINTON TESTIMONY

[[link removed]]

Today I made the following statement about the decision
[[link removed]]
by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
regarding the request of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s
and her former Chief of Staff, Chery Mills to avoid testifying under
oath about Clinton’s emails. The court granted Clinton’s request
to avoid testimony but denied Mills’.

Today’s extraordinary Appeals Court decision protecting Hillary
Clinton from having to obey a court order requiring her to testify
about her emails is contrary to longstanding precedent and undermines
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The opinion’s deviation from
a long line of earlier mandamus cases creates the appearance of
favoritism towards Clinton and undermines the public’s confidence in
the fair administration of justice. One need only contrast the DC
Circuit’s agony over granting General Flynn mandamus relief with the
unprecedented mandamus relief so easily given to Clinton.

As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton hid her government emails, then
stole them when she left office. Her lawyers unilaterally determined
what would be returned later. The State Department knew this occurred
but tried to game a federal trial court into shutting down Judicial
Watch’s FOIA lawsuit before Clinton’s scheme became public. In
response, the trial court rightly ordered Clinton to testify about the
reasons for her actions and their impact on the public’s right to
know. That this was too much for the DC Circuit is a miscarriage of
justice.

In addition to today’s political decision, the Justice and State
Departments’ continuing efforts to avoid getting to the bottom of
Clinton’s email misconduct are a scandal. President Trump should
hold Secretary Pompeo and Attorney General Barr accountable for their
failures of leadership.

JUDICIAL WATCH UNCOVERS FUSION GPS/STEELE AND DOJ CONNECTIONS BACK TO
2015

As the clock ticks on William Barr’s and John Durham’s
investigations of Obamagate, we continue to reveal the true details of
the “Russia Investigation.” One thing is clear: there is much more
to be learned.

We released 168 pages
[[link removed]]
of records from the U.S. Department of Justice, including a
handwritten timeline of meetings going back to 2015 connected to Peter
Strzok, Lisa Page and Steele/Fusion GPS, as well as a list of records
the DOJ sent to Congress related to their investigation into the FISA
warrants involving the Clinton-funded dossier.

The records also include a letter from Congress demanding the
investigation into Hillary Clinton, James Comey and others, as well as
a scathing email from the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence on the lack of cooperation from the DOJ/FBI.

We obtained the records through our August 2018 Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) lawsuit
[[link removed]]
(_Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice_
[[link removed]]
(No.
1:18-cv-01854)) filed against the Justice Department after it failed
to respond to a May 29, 2018, FOIA request for:

* All records from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General
relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British national Christopher
Steele, including but not limited to all records of communications
about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and Christopher
Steele.
* All records from the office of former Associate Deputy Attorney
General Bruce G. Ohr relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British
national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all records
of communications (including those of former Associate Deputy Attorney
General Ohr) about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and
Christopher Steele.
* All records from the office of the Director of the Organized Crime
Drug Enforcement Task Force relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or
British national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all
records of communications (including those of former Organized Crime
Task Force Director Bruce Ohr) about and with Fusion GPS officials,
Nellie Ohr and Christopher Steele.

The newly released records include a handwritten note
[[link removed]]
with
the heading “FBI: 11/21, Lisa Page, Peter Strzok DAD, [Redacted]
SSA,” which has an attached page with the heading “Partial
Chron” and the following list:

2007 Met 1st time London
2008 Jun met UK
[Redacted]
11/21/2014 Met
2/10/2015 Call
[Redacted]
10/2/2015 Met
7/7/2016 Call
7/30/2016 Meeting in DC
[8/22/2016 Simpson DC]
9/23/2016 Met in DC
10/18/2016 Call
10/19/2016 Call

A heavily redacted six-page record
[[link removed]]
dated June 28, 2018, titled, “Summary of High Profile Congressional
Requests,” which has the corresponding headings “Congressional
Request” and “Department’s Accommodation,” lists various
documents requested by Congress and the DOJ’s response to each. The
documents that the DOJ provided to a Congressional Request titled
“Reliance on Dossier for FISA Application” included the following:


* The FISA application and three renewals from a FISA warrant
obtained “where information provided by Mr. Steele was utilized”
* An electronic communication that “describes the predicate for
the counterintelligence investigation, the date the investigation
began, and the name of the authorizing official.”
* “A Confidential Human Source validation report”
* “A summary of a defensive briefing provided to the Trump
Campaign by the FBI”
* “A timeline of payments to the Confidential Human Source.”

On April 20, 2018, Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools forwarded a
letter
[[link removed]]
from former Representative Ron DeSantis and other members of Congress
demanding a criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton, James Comey,
Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, former Deputy
Attorney General Sally Yates and former Acting Deputy Attorney General
Dana Boente to DOJ Acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan, US
Attorney for DC Jessie Liu, DOJ IG Michael Horowitz and FBI Deputy
Director David Bowdich.

This letter was initially sent to Attorney General Sessions, FBI
Director Christopher Wray and US Attorney John Huber.

On September 22, 2017, Damon Nelson, staff director for the House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, sent an email
[[link removed]]
to Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd,
copying other senior FBI and DOJ officials saying:

The rest of the IC (Intelligence Community) has found a way to provide
the committee access to all the docs it has requested for the
investigation – including raw intelligence. I find it interesting
that the FBI and Justice are taking a different approach. The
information is critical to the House’s investigation and access to
the raw documents are needed to complete the investigation (of Russian
interference in the US election).

These new documents further demonstrate that the Obama FBI and DOJ had
a close, working relationship with Fusion GPS/Christopher Steele.
These documents also show the agencies had zero interest in telling
Congress and the American people about their role in Obamagate.

This case is part of our ongoing investigation into Nellie and Bruce
Ohr’s involvement with Fusion GPS and the Clinton-funded dossier.
Previous document releases include Russia-related communications
between Nellie Ohr and high-ranking DOJ official Lisa Holtyn; a
conversation between former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Kathleen Kavalec and Bruce
Ohr discussing the targeting of Donald Trump with Steele dossier
material; Nellie Ohr telling Bruce Ohr that she was deleting emails
sent from his Department of Justice account; and Bruce Ohr sending an
email to his lawyer before his intelligence committee testimony about,
“possible ethics concerns.”

Previous document releases can be found here
[[link removed]],
here
[[link removed]],
here
[[link removed]],
and here
[[link removed]].

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES DC GOVERNMENT FOR ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER/DEFUND THE
POLICE’ STREET PAINTING RECORDS

It may sound strange, but we find ourselves in the position of suing
the local government of our nation’s capital city.

We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against District
of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, the DC Department of Transportation
and the DC Department of Public Works for records about the painting
of “Black Lives Matter” and “Defund the Police” on a DC street
in front of the White House (_Judicial Watch. v. Muriel Bowser, et
al._
[[link removed]]
(2020 CA 003357 B)).

We sued after Mayor Bowser failed to respond to three separate FOIA
requests, the DC Department of Public Works failed to respond to two
separate FOIA requests, and the DC Department of Transportation stated
that they located 616 pages of records, but could not provide 615 of
the pages, “due to deliberative process privilege (internal
discussions).”

Here’s a summary of the six FOIA requests:

* Three FOIA requests to the Mayor seek all records related to the
cost of, communications between District officials and outside
organizations about, and policy and procedure for painting “Black
Lives Matter” and “Defund the Police” on 16th Street. These
records also include communications related to our request to paint
“Because No One Is Above the Law!” on District streets.
* Two FOIA requests to the Department of Public Works seek all
records related to the cost of, communications between District
officials and outside organizations about, and policy and procedure
for painting “Black Lives Matter” and “Defund the Police” on
16th Street.
* One FOIA request to the Department of Transportation seeks records
of communication about the closure of 16th Street, N.W. between H and
K Streets.

Initially, the Department of Transportation improperly asked for
specific names of employees for emails and phone numbers for texts we
are seeking. After we responded with a previous DC Court of Appeals
ruling as to why the hold on the records search was improper, the
Department of Transportation stated that it “located 616 pages of
public records held by DOT that are responsive to your FOIA request”
and that “615 pages of these records have not been provided to you
because, although responsive, they are exempt in their entirety from
being disclosed due to deliberative process privilege (internal
discussions).”

Separately, we have filed
[[link removed]]
a civil
rights lawsuit against DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials for
First Amendment violations over their refusal to allow us to paint the
message “Because No One Is Above the Law!” on a DC street. We
filed this lawsuit after we sent a letter
[[link removed]]
requesting permission to paint the message on another DC street near
our headquarters by Capitol Hill in the identical size and coloring of
the “Black Lives Matter = Defund the Police” painting.

Mayor Bowser is playing games with the First Amendment, and the DC
government is now hiding documents on using tax dollars to paint
political messages on DC streets. First, Mayor Bowser refused to allow
us to paint our own message, and now we are facing a cover up about
this abuse.

JUDICIAL WATCH UNCOVERS THE COST OF TRAVEL EXPENSES FOR LOS ANGELES
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI’S LAPD SECURITY DETAIL

We have obtained the details
[[link removed]]
of the travel expenses of Garcetti’s LA Police Department security
detail from fiscal years (FY) 2015 – 2018. Over the four-year
period, taxpayers funded $438,195.06 on their flights, lodging, meals
and incidentals. These costs do not account for salaries and potential
overtime.

We obtained this information in our California Public Records Act
(CPRA) request seeking:

* Any and all record concerning, regarding, or relating to monetary
expenses of the Mayor’s security detail;
* Every fiscal year budget of the Mayor’s security detail;

* Any records and communications concerning, regarding, or relating
to the Mayor’s security between the LAPD and the following entities:


* The Office of the Mayor;
* The California Fraternal Order of Police.

The timeframe of the records was July 1, 2013, to present.

The security detail travel expenses from FY 2015-2018 break down as
follows:

TOTAL COST: $438,195.06
AIRFARE: $154,077.27
LODGING AND CAR RENTALS: $132,516.87
MEALS AND INCIDENTALS: $54,063.66

SPECIFIC INTERNATIONAL TRIP COSTS:
$16,408.81 to Paris
$5,525.47 to Aukland, New Zealand
$6,996.48 to Beijing
$22,270.16 to Rio de Janeiro
$4,842.52 to Doha, Qatar
$2,895.61 to Mexico City
$9,163.79 to Aarhus, Denmark
$10,712.44 to Berlin
$8,145.91 to Lausanne, Switzerland
$2,185.20 to Lima, Peru
$9,437.12 to Paris

On June 3, 2020, Fox News reported
[[link removed]]
that Mayor Garcetti said “that he tasked the city to ‘identify
$250 million in cuts’” from the police department budget. Adding
that, “Garcetti said it is incumbent on the city to ‘step up and
say, “What can we sacrifice?’”

On June 3, 2020, The _Los Angeles Times_ reported
[[link removed]]
that in response to Mayor Garcetti’s request, Los Angeles officials
stated that “they will look to cut $100 million to $150 million from
the city’s police budget as part of a broader effort to reinvest
more dollars into the black community.”

On November 2, 2018, The _Los Angeles Times_ also uncovered and
reported
[[link removed]]
that, “Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s security detail has
racked up nearly $450,000 in travel costs since 2015 as Garcetti
visited other parts of the United States and foreign countries …”
According to the Times, Garcetti’s travel was intended, “to
bolster his national profile ahead of a possible presidential run
…”

Mayor Garcetti would defund the police and thereby weaken police
protection for citizens while personally benefiting from police
protection as mayor on junkets abroad. Amazing.

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR HHS RECORDS OF SALES OF UNUSABLE RESPIRATOR
MASKS TO THE INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE

We have sued the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) for
records related to the contract given to former White House Deputy
Chief of Staff Zach Fuentes for KN95 masks, reportedly made in China,
in April 2020 (_Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Health & Human
Services
[[link removed]
(No. 1:20-cv-02147)).

We sued after the Indian Health Service (IHS), a component of HHS,
failed to respond to our May 28, 2020, FOIA request for:

* All records regarding the contract awarded to Zach Fuentes LLC for
KN95 masks in April 2020. For purposes of clarification, this contract
is identified by award number FY20-NAO-COVID19-PROFORMA KN95.
* This request includes, but is not limited to, any and all records
of communication between any official, employee, or representative of
the Indian Health Service and any other individual or entity regarding
the contract, as well as any and all records regarding the quality of
the masks provided under the contract.

The Indian Health Service in May 2020 acknowledged
[[link removed]],
as reported by ProPublica, that “1 million respirator masks it
purchased from a former Trump White House official do not meet Food
and Drug Administration standards for ‘use in healthcare settings by
health care providers.’” The Indian Health Service awarded a $3
million contract for the masks to an 11-day-old company run by former
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Zach Fuentes.

ProPublica reports that Indian Health Service confirmed that the masks
sold by Fuentes were “made by four Chinese manufacturers and are
registered in an FDA database, but have not met the regulator’s
relaxed pandemic-era standards for Chinese-made masks.”

HHS needs to get its act together and answer our simple request about
a coronavirus mask contract that seems to have wasted millions of tax
dollars and is obviously suspect.

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES MARYLAND COUNTY FOR BODYCAM FOOTAGE IN FATAL
POLICE SHOOTING

Judicial Watch filed a Public Information Act (PIA) lawsuit against
the Montgomery County, MD, Police Department (MCPD) seeking all
body-cam videos from the fatal shooting of Duncan Socrates Lemp.
The 21-year-old Lemp, a student and software developer, was shot and
killed by police in his Potomac, MD, home during the execution of a
“no-knock” search warrant in the early morning hours of March 12,
2020.

Lemp’s family reportedly said
[[link removed]]
that Lemp and his family were asleep “when police besieged the
residence from the front of the house” and the family was
“awakened by shots fired through Duncan’s bedroom window followed
by the sound of flash bangs.” According to the family’s attorney,
an eyewitness
[[link removed]]
said Lemp was asleep in his bedroom when police opened fire from
outside the house.

Police disputed that account. The MCPD said in a statement
[[link removed]]
that SWAT team officers were acting on an anonymous tip that Lemp was
in possession of firearms that he was prohibited from having “due to
his criminal history as a juvenile.”

The MCPD maintains that, upon making contact with Lemp, officers
identified themselves as the police and gave Lemp multiple orders to
show his hands and comply with the officer’s commands to get on the
ground. It also reportedly maintains that Lemp refused to comply with
the officer’s commands and proceeded towards an interior bedroom
door where other officers were located.

According to the Lemp family attorneys, SWAT officers shot Lemp
multiple times. They also reported that an eyewitness “told
investigators that police never made verbal commands upon either her
or Duncan until after Duncan was shot and lay bleeding on the floor.
Multiple eyewitnesses told investigators that the police only forced
entry into the home after Duncan was shot. According to those
eyewitnesses, the police had no contract with any family members until
after Duncan was shot.”

The MCPD statement said Lemp was out of bed and standing “directly
in front of the interior bedroom door” holding a rifle “he slept
with” each night as officers “made entry into the bedroom.”

We filed the lawsuit in the Montgomery County Circuit Court after the
Montgomery County Police Department failed to respond to our June 18
PIA request (_Judicial Watch v. Montgomery County Police Department
[[link removed]
(No. V482964)). We are asking for:

All body-worn camera videos relating to the raid on, and resulting
death of, Duncan Socrates Lemp by a Montgomery County Police SWAT team
on March 12, 2020 at Mr. Lemp’s home in Potomac, Maryland.

Given the vastly differing accounts of what happened, the Montgomery
County Police Department needs to release all body-cam footage from
the SWAT team raid on and shooting of Duncan Lemp. Withholding basic
public information about a police shooting undermines public
confidence in law enforcement.

Until next week …



[Contribute]
[[link removed]]


<a
href="[link removed]"
target="_blank"><img alt="WU01"
src="[link removed]"
style="width:100%; height:auto;" /></a>

[32x32x1]
[[link removed]]

[32x32x2]
[[link removed]]

[32x32x3]
[[link removed]]

[32x32x3]
[[link removed]]

Judicial Watch, Inc.
425 3rd St Sw Ste 800
Washington, DC 20024

202.646.5172



© 2017 - 2020, All Rights Reserved
Manage Email Subscriptions
[[link removed]]
|
Unsubscribe
[[link removed]]

View in browser
[[link removed]]