Obamagate in Federal Court

[INSIDE JW]

Judicial Watch Goes to Federal Court To Battle for Key Document Used
to Justify Obama Spying on Trump

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We were in court this week arguing for the right of the people to
know the extent of corruption in the FBI when it accused President
Trump of conspiring with Russia. That fraudulent notion has long been
discredited, but virtually all of those responsible have not been held
to account or even exposed.

U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols ordered
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a
hearing in our FOIA lawsuit involving the full declassification and
release of the “electronic communication” (EC) that officially
launched the counterintelligence investigation, termed “Crossfire
Hurricane,” of President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The hearing addressed our argument against the Department of
Justice’s attempt to close the case and withhold a full, unredacted
version of the EC. In May 2020 we obtained
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a
redacted version of the EC, which was written entirely by former FBI
official Peter Strzok.

We filed the September 2019 FOIA lawsuit
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after
the DOJ and FBI both failed to respond to identical July 11, 2019,
FOIA requests, which asked for access to a single record: “The
Electronic Communication that initiated 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))

In its effort to close the case, the Biden DOJ argues that there is
not significant public interest in the full contents of the EC that
initiated the counterintelligence investigation of former President
Trump’s campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

We filed a motion
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countering
that, “Disclosure of the full EC advances the public’s right to
know what the government did, who was involved, and why the
investigation into Trump and Russian interference was necessary.”

We cited two declarations from Kevin Brock, former assistant director
of the Directorate of Intelligence and former principal deputy
director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) for the FBI.
Brock testified that it is not standard procedure to have an EC
drafted, approved, and sent to and from the exact same agent and that
this is a violation of FBI oversight protocols:

In the EC document here, the “From” line indicates the EC – and
authorization to begin an investigation as required under FBI policy
– is from a part of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. The
contact listed is Peter Strzok. The EC was drafted by Peter Strzok.
The EC was approved by Peter Strzok. On the face of the document
produced, it appears the EC that initiated a criminal FARA
investigation of unidentified members of the Trump presidential
campaign was created by Peter Strzok, approved by Peter Strzok, and
sent from Peter Strzok to Peter Strzok. This is not usual procedure.

FBI policy prohibits an agent from initiating and approving his or her
own case. Such action violates FBI oversight protocols put in place to
protect the American people from an FBI agent acting unilaterally.

***

In fact, the EC does not identify any individual by name as a target
of the investigation. It does not articulate any factors that address
the elements of FARA as required by routine FBI policy and procedure
and the Attorney General Guidelines and, therefore, does not contain
sufficient justification for initiating an investigation into USPERs
[U.S. persons].

Based upon my experience, no reasonable and experienced FBI
counterintelligence squad supervisor in the field would have approved
the EC at issue here – as released – which opened the Crossfire
Hurricane investigation.

The unredacted information released in the EC document here offers no
legitimate predication justifying the investigation of USPERs involved
in a presidential campaign or subsequent FISA intercept of a U.S.
citizen

The corruption is real and we’re not going to let the DC
establishment consign this shameful episode to the memory hole. We
expect a court decision in a few months…

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES HHS FOR DIRECTOR’S EMAILS ON CHINA AND COVID
RESEARCH

Our government’s medical bureaucrats seem determined to obscure
their entanglement with China and coronavirus research before the
pandemic struck. We’re equally determined to get to the bottom of
it.

We filed a FOIA lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) for all emails of National Institutes of Health
Director Francis Collins related to gain of function research,
hydroxychloroquine and the Wuhan Institute of Virology (_Judicial
Watch v U.S. Department of Health and Human Services_
[[link removed]]
(No.
1:21-cv-02302)).

We sued after the National Institutes of Health failed to respond to
our June 8, 2021, FOIA request for:

All emails sent to and from Director Francis Collins related to
“gain of function”, “hydroxychloroquine”, “HCQ”, and/or
“Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

When challenged about whether the National Institutes of Health
supported gain of function research, Collins released a statement on
May 19, 2021, claiming
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Based on outbreaks of coronaviruses caused by animal to human
transmissions such as in Asia in 2003 that caused Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome
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(SARS),
and in Saudi Arabia in 2012 that caused Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome
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(MERS),
NIH and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAID) have for many years supported grants to learn more about
viruses lurking in bats and other mammals that have the potential to
spill over to humans and cause widespread disease. However, neither
NIH nor NIAID have ever approved any grant that would have supported
‘gain-of-function’ research on coronaviruses that would have
increased their transmissibility or lethality for humans.

An August 26, 2021, report
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by
the _Washington Post_ claims the NIH has been funding gain of
function research for years. Gain of function
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research
involves experimentation that aims to increase the transmissibility
and/or virulence of pathogens. According to the report:

In the United States, NIH Director Francis S. Collins and Anthony S.
Fauci, director of the agency’s National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, have led the federal funding and oversight of
gain-of-function research.

Eight years ago, Collins and Fauci helped put in place high-level
reviews and other safeguards in response to concerns raised by Relman
[David A. Relman, a Stanford University physician and microbiologist]
and aides to President Barack Obama, who were alarmed by what they saw
as insufficient scrutiny of the research with ferrets. The NIH leaders
and the Department of Health and Human Services pledged to subject the
work to increased transparency and vetting. This included forming a
review group of federal officials — known informally as a “Ferrets
Committee” — to vet proposed projects for safety and worthiness.

However, Collins and Fauci in recent years have helped shape policy
changes, directly and through their aides, that undercut the
committee’s authority, according to federal documents, congressional
testimony and interviews with dozens of present and former officials
and science experts.

***

Since then, the experiments have continued to unfold amid secrecy, and
HHS, which administers the review committee, has kept its work
confidential: No agendas, meeting minutes or other records of its
proceedings are public. Even the names of the federal officials
assigned to serve on the committee, which has spanned the Obama, Trump
and Biden administrations, are kept secret

On Sunday, March 7, 2021, Collins argued
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to
CBS News that hydroxychloroquine was a “bust:”

“Basically it was a bust ... maybe it got in the way of trying other
kinds of repurposed drugs. All the enthusiasm about hydroxychloroquine
was basically dependent on anecdotal reports,” Collins said. “And
that did leave everybody with kind of a sour taste in their mouths ...
we had to get over that. I think we're over it now.”

Bottom line: The NIH, our nation’s medical research agency, is in
full cover-up mode about the COVID-19 controversies and politics.
Where are the emails?

Our “big dig” into this issue is well underway with respect to Dr.
Fauci.

On August 25, 2021, we made public 129 pages
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of records from HHS that included an “urgent for Dr. Fauci”
email chain which cites ties between the Wuhan lab and the
taxpayer-funded EcoHealth Alliance. The government emails also
reported that the foundation of U.S. billionaire Bill Gates worked
closely with the Chinese government to pave the way for
Chinese-produced medications to be sold outside China and help
“raise China’s voice of governance by placing representatives from
China on important international counsels as high level commitment
from China.

In July, we obtained records
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from
NIAID officials in connection with the Wuhan Institute of Virology
revealing significant collaborations and funding that began in 2014.
The records revealed that NIAID gave nine China-related grants
to EcoHealth Alliance
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to
research coronavirus emergence in bats and was the NIH’s top issuer
of grants to the Wuhan lab itself.

Also in July, we uncovered
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CDC
records revealing that Facebook coordinated closely with the CDC to
control the COVID narrative and “misinformation” and that over
$3.5 million in free advertising has been given to the CDC by social
media companies.

In June, we announced that we had filed FOIA lawsuits
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against
the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the
State Department for information on the Wuhan Institute of Virology
and the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Also in June, we obtained records
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from
HHS revealing that from 2014 to 2019, $826,277 was given to the Wuhan
Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research by the NIAID.

In March, we publicly released
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emails
and other records of Fauci and Dr. H. Clifford Lane
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from
HHS showing that NIH officials tailored confidentiality forms to
China’s terms and that the WHO conducted an unreleased, “strictly
confidential” COVID-19 epidemiological analysis in January 2020.
Additionally, the emails reveal an independent journalist in China
pointing out the inconsistent COVID numbers in China to NIH’s
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Deputy
Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects Lane.

In October 2020, we uncovered emails
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showing
a WHO entity pushing for a press release, approved by Fauci,
“especially” supporting China’s COVID-19 response.

You can see how Judicial Watch is again stepping up to the plate to
investigate one of the biggest stories in our nation’s and the
world’s history.

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR DETAILS OUTSOURCING ASYLUM PROCESS IN
MEXICO TO UN, FOREIGN NGOS

Why is the Biden administration involving the United Nations in the
destruction of our borders?

We’d like to know, so we filed a FOIA lawsuit against the U.S.
Department of State for details on the Biden administration’s
outsourcing the U.S. asylum process in Mexico to the United Nations
(UN) and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (_Judicial
Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State_
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(No. 1:21-cv-02303)).

We sued on August 30, 2021, after the State Department failed to
respond to a May 12 FOIA request for:

All records regarding to the role of the office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization
for Migration (IOM), and/or any non-profit organization in the
processing of asylum seekers or other undocumented migrants in
northern Mexico seeking entry into the United States. This request
includes any related records of communication between any
representative of the Department of State and any representative of
the UNHCR and/or the IOM.

All records of communication between any representative of the
Department of State (including, but not limited to, the United States
Mission to the United Nations) and any representative of the United
Nations or any United Nations agency related to the allocation of U.S.
contributions to the UNHCR to nonprofit organizations providing
assistance to asylum seekers and other undocumented migrants in
northern Mexico.

In May 2021 Reuters reported
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that
the Biden administration had initiated a “new process task[ing] a
handful of non-profits working in Mexico with identifying and
referring” asylum seekers and that “a spokeswoman for the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the United States
requested the agency channel U.S. funds to the non-profit groups
involved.”

On August 13, 2021, a federal judge ruled
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the
Biden administration must reinstate MPP, finding that the Department
of Health and Human Services was “arbitrary and capricious” in
rescinding the program. On August 24, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld
the lower court’s reinstatement order and denied
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the
government’s request for a stay of that order.

The Biden administration funneled tax dollars through the United
Nations and non-profits as part of its unlawful open borders strategy.
The Biden administration should stop the stonewalling and follow the
law so the American people can follow their money.

In August, we announced a FOIA lawsuit
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against
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for information on
asylum-seekers and other aliens participating in the Migrant
Protection Protocols program (MPP) (“remain in Mexico” policy) who
have been charged with crimes after entering the United States.

In other actions provoked by the Biden administration border crisis,
we filed a FOIA lawsuit
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against
HHS for COVID-19 technical guidance provided to the Office of Refugee
Resettlement relating to illegal aliens released by DHS and U.S.
Customs and Border Patrol in June.

On April 30, we filed a FOIA lawsuit
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against
HHS for records about assaults on and abuse of unaccompanied alien
children in its custody after it was disclosed
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that
multiple facilities where children are being held are unsafe.

Stay tuned, as more lawsuits and documents are coming soon…

Until next week,






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