Our powerful and secretive spy agencies were unleashed, and the
Justice Department and the FBI is making it difficult for us and even
Congress to get to the bottom of it.

[INSIDE JW]

Judicial Watch Sues for Key SpyGate Document

[[link removed]]

Our powerful and secretive spy agencies were unleashed, and the
Justice Department and the FBI is making it difficult for us and even
Congress to get to the bottom of it.

We sued for one key record which led to the initiation of the
counterintelligence investigation of President Trump’s 2016
presidential campaign (_Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice
[[link removed]]
_(No. 1:19-cv-02743)).

We had to sue because, as per usual, the DOJ and FBI both failed to
respond to identical July 11, 2019, FOIA requests seeking access to a
single record: “The Electronic Communication that initiated the
counterintelligence investigation of President Trump’s 2016
presidential campaign.”

Included with each FOIA request was an April 2018 letter
[[link removed]]
from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
(Intelligence Committee) to the Justice Department concerning a
congressional subpoena for the same record.

The Justice Department initially provided the Intelligence Committee a
heavily redacted
[[link removed]]
copy of the electronic communication it sought. Only after the
Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena did the DOJ, on April 10,
2018, provide a less redacted
[[link removed]]
version, which has not been released publicly.

In March 2018, based upon the information contained in the DOJ
communication and other information, the Intelligence Committee
produced a 150-page report, the summary
[[link removed]]
of which states: “We have found no evidence of collusion,
coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the
Russians.”

In an interview after reviewing the Electronic Communication, U.S.
Rep. Devin Nunes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence, said
[[link removed]],
“We now know there was no official intelligence used to start this
investigation.”

So it took us a long time to actually get this … electronic
communication … What [were] the original reasons that the
counterintelligence investigation was started? Now this is really
important to us because the counterintelligence investigation uses the
tools of our intelligence services that are not supposed to be used on
American citizens, so we’ve long wanted to know … what
intelligence … actually led to this investigation. So what we found
now after the investigators have reviewed it is that in fact there was
no intelligence.

The FBI and DOJ are still covering up the corruption behind the Obama
administration’s illicit spying on President Trump. The original
document behind the ‘counterintelligence’ spy operation against
President Trump is key to exposing the corruption of Spygate. It is
beyond belief the FBI and DOJ are still hiding it.



JUDICIAL WATCH SUES OVER THE INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY AGAINST TRUMP


You probably aren’t familiar with FBI Special Agent Michael Gaeta,
but he played a critical role in getting the spurious Steele dossier
to his superiors in the FBI in Washington, where it would be used as a
pretext to spy on and try to destroy President Trump.

We’re now investigating his involvement in this abuse. We filed a
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit against the Department of
Justice for records about Mr. Gaeta
[[link removed]],
who had been legal attaché in Rome (_Judicial Watch v. U.S.
Department of Justice
[[link removed]]
_(No. 1:19-cv-02722)).

We were forced to sue after the Justice Department and FBI failed to
respond to our August 10, 2018, FOIA requests seeking:

* All records of communications, including emails (using [his or
her] own name or aliases), text messages, instant chats and encrypted
messages, sent to and from former FBI Legal Attaché in Rome, Special
Agent Michael Gaeta, mentioning the terms “Trump”, “Clinton”,
“Republican”, “Democrat”, and/or “conservatives.”
* All SF50s and SF52s of SA Michael Gaeta.
* All expense reports and travel vouchers submitted for SA Michael
Gaeta.

Here is the background. On August 28, 2018, Bruce Ohr testified
[[link removed]]
before a joint task force of the House Judiciary and Oversight
Committees that Christopher Steele, author of the Clinton-funded
dossier, gave two reports from the dossier to Gaeta.


> In the July 30 meeting, Chris Steele also mentioned something about
> the doping — you know, one of the doping scandals. And he also
> mentioned, I believe — and, again, this is based on my review of
> my notes — that he had provided Mr. Gaeta with two reports…”

> The only thing I recall him mentioning is that he had provided two
> of his reports to Special Agent Gaeta.
>

Gaeta reportedly
[[link removed]]
was authorized by then Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland to
meet with Steele at his office in London to receive reports from the
dossier.

The purpose of the London visit was clear. Steele was personally
handing the first memo in his dossier to Gaeta for ultimate
transmission back to the FBI and the State Department.

For this visit, the FBI sought permission from the office of Nuland,
the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.
Nuland, who had been the recipient of many of Steele’s reports, gave
permission for the more formal meeting. On July 5, 2016, Gaeta
traveled to London and met with Steele at the offices of Steele’s
firm, Orbis.

The FBI is covering up its role in the Russiagate hoax. We have had to
fight ‘tooth and nail’ for every scrap of information about the
illicit targeting of President Trump.

The Obama administration authorized a meeting abroad with a foreign
spy working for Hillary Clinton to target Donald J. Trump. We will
push hard in court to uncover the truth about this historic scandal.

JUDICIAL WATCH DEMANDS EXPANDED ETHICS INVESTIGATION OF REP. ILHAN
OMAR


In a July ethics complaint
[[link removed]]
to the House of Representatives, Judicial Watch demanded an
investigation of alleged marriage, immigration, tax, and other fraud
related to the allegation that Rep. Omar had married her brother.

Turns out that this is just one aspect of Rep. Omar’s ethics
problem.

Judicial Watch this week sent another complaint
[[link removed]]
to the U.S. House of Representatives Office of Congressional Ethics
calling for further investigation of Rep. Ilhan Omar over new
allegations that her alleged lover, Tim Mynett, received nearly
$230,000 from her campaign since July 2018.

The new campaign finance allegations arise as a result of divorce
filings
[[link removed]]
alleging the affair between Mr. Mynett and Rep. Omar.

Rep. Omar obviously has significant ethics problems, and the House
Ethics Committee must act to investigate the serious and substantial
allegations against her. Frankly, there’s more than enough evidence
for the Justice Department to initiate a criminal investigation of
Rep. Omar.

Here is our supplemental complaint:

> RE: SUPPLEMENTAL ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST REP. ILHAN OMAR CONCERNING
> POSSIBLE VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL AND STATE LAW
>
> Dear Chairman Skaggs,
>
> Judicial Watch is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation,
> promotingtransparency, accountability and integrity in government
> and fidelity to the rule of law. We regularly monitor congressional
> ethics issues as part of our anti-corruption mission.
>
> This letter serves as a supplemental complaint to an official
> complaint that we filed with the Office of Congressional Ethics
> (OCE) on July 22, 2019 (attached as Exhibit A), relative to
> potential felonies committed by Rep. Ilhan Omar involving tax fraud,
> marriage fraud, immigration fraud and perjury, principally involving
> Rep. Omar’s possible marriage to her biological brother,
> presumably as part of an immigration fraud scheme.
>
> In addition to those potential violations of law, new disclosures
> arising from civil litigation raise still more troubling
> allegations, suggesting more potential violations of law or
> regulations by Rep. Omar that require investigation.
>
> Specifically, in a divorce action, Dr. Beth Mynett of Washington,
> D.C., has accused her husband, political consultant Tim Mynett, of
> having an affair with Rep. Omar during which Mr. Mynett’s firm, E
> Street Consulting LLC, and Mr. Mynett directly, received nearly
> $230,000 from Rep. Omar’s campaign since July 2018.
>
> According to Dr. Mynett’s divorce filings, “[O]n reflection,
> Defendant’s [Tim Mynett’s] more recent travel and long work
> hours now appear to be more related to his affair with Rep. Omar
> than with his actual work commitments…”
>
> The bulk of the proceeds paid to E Street ($175,371.40) were
> funneled to E Street_after_the November 2018 congressional
> elections, thereby calling into question the true purpose of the
> payments.
>
> Additionally, according to a complaint
>
[[link removed]]
> filed with the Federal Election Commission, Ilhan for Congress
> campaign filings with the FEC indicate that eight disbursements were
> made to E Street Consulting totaling $21,546.94 for “travel
> expenses.” However, these expenses were not itemized, as required
> by FEC regulations.
>
> House Rules are quite specific about the improper use of campaign
> funds for personal expenditures. The Code of Official Conduct of the
> House of Representatives states:
>
> _A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner—_
>
> _(a) shall keep the campaign funds of such individual separate from
> the personal funds of such individual,’
>
> (b) may not convert campaign funds to personal use in excess of an
> amount representing reimbursement for legitimate and verifiable
> campaign expenditures; and
>
> (c) except as provided in clause 1 (b) of rule XXIV, may not expend
> funds from a campaign account of such individual that are not
> attributable to bona fide campaign or political purposes._
>
> The House Rules of Conduct are also quite explicit about the
> seriousness with which Congress takes such violations as have
> allegedly occurred with respect to Rep. Omar’s conduct. The very
> opening of Rule XXIII, the Code of Official Conduct, states:
>
> _There is hereby established by and for the House the following code
> of conduct, to be known as the “Code of Conduct”. 1. A Member,
> Delegate, Resident Commissioner, Officer, or employee of the House
> shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably
> on the House._
>
> As suggested by Dr. Mynett’s court filings and the FEC complaint,
> these payments may represent campaign funds being used to allow Mr.
> Mynett to accompany Rep. Omar in her travels for Rep. Omar’s
> pleasure, and thereby constitute campaign funds being used for
> personal expenses, in addition to the expenses not being properly
> itemized — both serious violations of House rules and campaign
> finance regulations.
>
> We call upon the Office of Congressional Ethics to launch an
> investigation into Rep. Omar’s conduct immediately for both these
> potential violations and those enumerated in our letter of July 22,
> 2019.
>
> Respondent, Rep. Ilhan Omar, has been provided with an exact copy of
> the filed complaint and all attachments.
>
> Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
>
> Submitted by,
>
> Tom Fitton
> President
> Judicial Watch

You can let your congressmen know what you think the House needs to do
about Rep. Omar’s mounting legal and ethics issues by contacting
them at 202-225-3121.

WHY WAS NELLIE OHR DELETING EMAILS FROM HER HUSBAND?

When the wife of a top Justice Department official tells her husband
that she’s “deleting these emails now,” it may well be innocent.
But when both of them are up to their necks in plotting against a
president of the United States, this potential destruction of evidence
needs to be investigated.

So, we have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit against the
Justice Department and the FBI for records of an “analytical
exchange” between German officials and top DOJ officials, including
Bruce Ohr, concerning possible Russian influence. Our suit was
prompted by our earlier discovery
[[link removed]]
of one of Nellie Ohr’s emails advising Bruce Ohr that “I am
deleting these emails now,” seemingly related to the “analytical
exchange” (_Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice_
[[link removed].
1:19-cv-02692)).

We sued after the Justice Department and FBI failed to respond to two
separate May 17, 2019, FOIA requests seeking:

* All records of DOJ officials’ communications, notes, call logs,
calendar entries, transcripts, audio-visual recordings and other
records relating to an “analytical exchange” between a delegation
of German officials and DOJ officials which occurred circa April 26,
2016 in Washington, DC.
* All records reflecting the identities and titles of the German
officials who attended the analytical exchange on April 26, 2016.

In May 2019, we released
[[link removed]]
records from the Justice Department that included an email exchange
between Ohr, his top aide Lisa Holtyn, his wife Nellie Ohr who worked
for Fusion GPS, and First Secretary at the German Embassy Stefan
Bress. The email discusses a meeting with German analysts for an
“analytical exchange” on topics including the “Impact of Russian
influence operations in Europe (‘PsyOps/InfoWar’).”

According to the emails, Bress had initiated the offer of the meeting
to which Holtyn responds, “I haven’t had a chance to confer with
Bruce yet, but would certainly love to meet with the ‘A Team’!”
Bruce Ohr says, “That time works for me as well.” Bress then
provides the personal details/passport numbers of the German analysts
who will be meeting with Holtyn and Ohr. Holtyn tells Bress that the
Ohrs would like to host the German delegation for dinner and notes
that Joe Wheatley and Ivana Nizich (a husband/wife team of DOJ
Organized Crime prosecutors and friends of the Ohrs) would join them
as well.

Included in that email exchange were records
[[link removed]]
we uncovered revealing that Nellie Ohr informed her husband that she
was deleting emails sent from his DOJ email account.

Here’s the crucial question: Was Bruce Ohr directing his wife Nellie
Ohr, who worked for the Clinton spy ring at Fusion GPS, to delete
emails about Russia? Our new lawsuit aims to uncover what was behind
this possible obstruction of justice.

We are on top of this scandal with several smoking gun disclosures.

In August 2019, we released
[[link removed]]
FBI 302 interviews with Bruce Ohr showing the efforts of the FBI, DOJ,
and State Department to find allegedly incriminating material about
President Trump through communications with Fusion GPS and
Clinton-funded dossier author Christopher Steele. Also released were
documents containing Russia-related emails
[[link removed]]
sent from Nellie Ohr to Holtyn during the time Nellie Ohr worked with
Fusion GPS.

In June, we uncovered
[[link removed]]
documents showing the removal of Bruce Ohr from the position of
Associate Attorney General in 2017; his transfer from the Organized
Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force to International Affairs in 2018;
and that Ohr received a total of $42,520 in performance bonuses during
the Trump/Russia investigation. Ohr’s bonus nearly doubled from
$14,520 (received in November 2015) to $28,000 in November 2016.

In May, our FOIA lawsuit produced
[[link removed]]
information from the DOJ showing 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. In discussing a meeting
with the potential source for a _Mother Jones_article accusing the
Trump campaign of taking money from a Russian-American oil magnate, as
well as Christopher Steele’s connection to that source, Kavalec
emails Ohr citing the accusatory _Mother Jones _article. Ohr says,
“I really hope we can get something going here.”

In March, we uncovered emails
[[link removed]]
from Ohr showing that he remained in regular contact with former
British spy and Fusion GPS contractor Christopher Steele after Steele
was terminated
[[link removed]]
by the FBI in November 2016 for revealing to the media his position as
an FBI confidential informant. The records show that Ohr served as a
go-between for Steele by passing along information to “his
colleagues” on matters relating to Steele’s activities. Ohr also
set up meetings with Steele, regularly talked to him on the telephone
and provided him assistance in dealing with situations Steele was
confronting with the media.

Nobody is doing more than your Judicial Watch – or with as much
success – to uncover the full truth of the worst corruption scandal
in American history!

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR DOCUMENTS ON FBI/CIA INFORMANT IN TRUMP
ORGANIZATION

All manner of buzzing starts when you poke the wasp nests of our spy
agencies, especially when they’re up to no good. Here’s the story
of one shady character who may have been setting a trap for Donald
Trump.

We filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) suit against the Department
of Justice seeking all records of communications, including FBI 302
interview reports and offer agreements, between former Special Counsel
Robert Mueller’s office and Felix Sater. Sater is a former Trump
organization official who was recently confirmed to be an informant
for the FBI and CIA. Sater reportedly pushed a Russian real estate
deal in 2016 while working at the Trump organization.

Sater reportedly
[[link removed]]
“began working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1998,
after he was caught in a stock-fraud scheme.” It was Andrew
Weissmann (of Mueller and Enron infamy) who, as supervising assistant
U.S. attorney, signed the agreement
[[link removed]]
that brought Sater on as a government informant. Federal prosecutors
wrote
[[link removed]]
a letter to Sater’s sentencing judge on August 27, 2009, in an
effort to get him a lighter sentence: “Sater’s cooperation was of
a depth and breadth rarely seen.”

Sater also was reportedly a CIA informant in the mid-2000s for the
CIA, doing undercover work with Russian military and intelligence
officers.

The Mueller report
[[link removed]]
mentions Sater more than 100 times but fails to mention that he was an
active undercover informant for the FBI/CIA for more than two decades.
In 2017, Sater was the subject of two interviews conducted under a
proffer agreement with Mueller’s office according to page 69
footnote 304 of Mueller’s report on his Russian collusion
investigation.

We sued in the United States District Court for the District of
Columbia after Mueller’s office, a component of the DOJ, failed to
respond to a June 12, 2019, FOIA request for FBI “302” interview
reports of Sater that are referred to in the Mueller report
[[link removed]
any offer agreements
between Sater and the U.S. government; and records of communications
between Sater and government employees (_Judicial Watch v. U.S.
Department of Justice
[[link removed]]
_(No. 1:19-cv-02568)).

In a June 25, 2019 report
[[link removed]],
our chief investigative reporter, Micah Morrison, highlighted that:

Beginning in late 2015, Sater repeatedly tried to arrange for [Trump
attorney Michael] Cohen and candidate Trump, as representatives of the
Trump Organization, to travel to Russia to meet with Russian
government officials and possible financing partners.

Though his proposal appears to have been rejected by the Trump
campaign, Sater persisted. “Into the spring of 2016,” the Mueller
Report notes, “Sater and Cohen continued to discuss a trip to
Moscow.” Sater emails Cohen that he is trying to arrange a meeting
between “the 2 big guys,” Putin and Trump.

Sater’s re-emergence “suggests the possibility of a more sinister
counter-narrative: that someone may have been trying to lure Trump
into a trap—a politically damaging entanglement with Moscow
money,” Morrison wrote.

Sater reportedly
[[link removed]]
testified for eight hours in a closed-door session before the
Schiff-led intelligence committee on July 9, 2019. Sater previously
said he believes the Trump Tower Moscow project was no different from
other Trump real estate projects that were also in the works. “I
have worked on probably five or six Trump Tower projects in the United
States and at least that many internationally….”

What we want to know is this: Was a Russian real estate deal being
pushed on the Trump Organization part of a set-up by an FBI/CIA
informant? Our lawsuit will shed light on what could be another aspect
of the Deep State abusive Spygate operation targeting President Trump.

JUDICIAL WATCH COURT VICTORY AGAINST CALIFORNIA EFFORT TO TARGET TRUMP

We had a great victory in federal court this week! A federal judge
issued a preliminary injunction at the request of Judicial Watch,
President Trump, and other challengers to a new California law that
attempted to require presidential candidates to disclose their tax
returns.

California politicians, in their zeal to attack President Trump,
passed a law that also unconstitutionally victimizes California voters
and the Constitution. A federal court seems to agree and granted our
request
[[link removed]]
for a preliminary injunction
[[link removed]]
that stops this scheme from interfering with the 2020 elections.

Under the law, known as the Presidential Tax Transparency and
Accountability Act, candidates who do not publicly disclose their tax
returns for the past five years were barred from having their names
printed on California’s primary ballots.

In our lawsuit
[[link removed]]
challenging the requirement on behalf of four California voters—two
Republicans, a Democrat, and an Independent—we argued that SB 27
imposes candidate qualifications beyond those allowed by the U.S.
Constitution and impermissibly burdens a voters’ expressive
constitutional and statutory rights.

The lawsuit claims violations of the U.S. Constitution’s
Qualifications Clause, the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and 42
U.S.C. § 1983 and 1988 (_Jerry Griffin et al. v. Alex Padilla
[[link removed]]
_(No. 2:19-cv-01477)).

Another victory for the Constitution – thanks to your support!

Until next week …

Tom Fitton



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