Judicial Watch Sues for Texts Deleted by Mueller Special Counsel!

[WEEKLY UPDATE]

Strzok-Page Emails Show Special Treatment of Clinton Email Witnesses

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Do you remember all the cloak and dagger meetings in a parking garage
in the movie about Watergate, “All the President’s Men?” Guess
what. Barack Obama’s FBI was still looking for secret places to
carry out their efforts to protect Hillary Clinton. Here’s a quote
that would work on the big screen: “Is there an offsite somewhere in
the DC area that might be better? If so, don’t tell me where it
is.”

We read this in 35 pages
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of records of communications between former FBI official Peter Strzok
and former FBI attorney Lisa Page that show the attorney representing
three of Hillary Clinton’s aides met with senior FBI officials. We
received the documents in response to our January 24, 2018, lawsuit
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filed after the Department of Justice failed to respond to a December
4, 2017, FOIA request (_Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice_
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(No. 1:18-cv-00154)).

Two March 2016 emails show then-FBI General Counsel James Baker and
then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe had discussed meeting with
attorney Beth Wilkinson, who was representing Clinton aides Cheryl
Mills, Heather Samuelson, Jake Sullivan and Philippe Reines.

The FBI officials discussed holding “discreet” meetings with
Wilkinson in secure locations that were set up to avoid any
“stakeouts” by the press. (In a separate Judicial Watch Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit
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U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth said that he was
“dumbfounded” that Cheryl Mills had been given immunity and was
allowed to accompany former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to her
FBI interview:

> I had myself found that Cheryl Mills had committed perjury and lied
> under oath in a published opinion I had issued in a Judicial Watch
> case where I found her unworthy of belief, and I was quite shocked
> to find out she had been given immunity in — by the Justice
> Department in the Hillary Clinton email case. So I did not know that
> until I read the IG report and learned that and that she had
> accompanied the Secretary to her interview.
In an email exchange with Deputy Assistant Director in the
Counterintelligence Division Jonathan Moffa, Strzok discusses Clinton
aides’ laptops, and that Wilkinson said that the laptops in the
FBI’s possession did not contain Clinton’s 60,000 emails. She also
said that the two laptops that had them are the personal laptops of
Mills and Samuelson that were still in use at that time.

Strzok and Page were lead investigators in the Clinton email and
Russia collusion investigations. The newly released records include:

On March 1, 2016, an unidentified official from the FBI Office of
General Counsel asks
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Baker if he’d had a chance to speak with Wilkinson, noting “CES
[Counterespionage Section] wants to reach out to discuss scheduling
additional interviews but wanted some feedback from you first.”
Baker replies, “Just did… She appreciated the heads up about the
pending press articles. She wants to meet with the DD [Deputy
Director] but can only meet on the weekends right now. I will check
his availability tomorrow.”

In a follow up email
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thread on March 4, Wilkinson tells Baker that she would be able to do
the meeting with McCabe that day. Baker forwards the note to McCabe,
saying “Andy, do you want to try to do this today?”, and copies
numerous top FBI officials, including Michael Steinbach, Bill
Priestap, Trisha Anderson, and Page. Page forwards the note to Strzok.
Strzok then tells Page that he’s been “Talking to DOJ, they
([George] Toscas and CES) have strong opinions about it. Call me.”
Page replies, “He’s not calling. Don’t worry about it.” Strzok
then adds, “Also you need to know what [redacted] and she discussed.
I can tell you over lunch…”

In a March 4, 2016, email
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with the subject line “Interview,” Baker emails the same top FBI
officials, saying that he’s just spoken with Wilkinson and “I
think we are now back on track. She is going to call [redacted] today
or tomorrow about scheduling the next interview. Given the witness’s
personal schedule, Beth said that it may not happen for a few weeks
but she will work that out with [redacted]. We also discussed making
sure that this is done in a secure location in a discreet way; she
will work with [redacted] and the FBI team on that as well but I said
that we will make sure that it happens in a high quality way.”

In a follow-up email sent only to Strzok, Baker writes, “She
understands that it needs to be in a SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented
Information Facility]. She seems more comfortable with NYFO [New York
Field Office], but I think would be open to WFO [Washington Field
Office] if she can get in and out in a discreet manner (i.e., no
chance of a press stakeout or too many people in the office seeing
them and having awareness of what is going on). Is there an offsite
somewhere in the DC area that might be better? If so, don’t tell me
where it is.”

On March 20, 2016, Strzok emails
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FBI Deputy Assistant Director Moffa, writing: “Big news of the day?
Beth [presumably Wilkinson] said none of the laptops we have had the
original 60k [presumably Hillary’s 60,000 emails]. The two that did
were - and are - the personal laptops of Cheryl [Mills] and Heather
[Samuelson]. [Redacted] That they are still using now. Funny that
never cane [sic] up before now.” Strzok forwards this email with
Moffa on to Page with the note: “My frustration.”

The new documents show Strzok expressing concern about the office of
DNI using private email in an exchange containing information
regarding a sensitive U.S.-European Community information sharing
agreement. On January 31, 2016, Strzok writes
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“GIVEN EVERYTHING GOING ON WHY IS [redacted] USING A YAHOO! ACCOUNT
FOR THIS? [Emphasis in original] (Actually, apparently a Yahoo!
account from [redacted] iPad”) Make him stop!!!!!!”

Page responds: “What do you want me to do?!”

Strzok replies, “I have no idea. It’s not clear what account
[redacted] iPad used. [Redacted] at DNI is the one with the Yahoo!
account. Maybe tell [redacted] with the IC IG [Intelligence Community
Inspector General] investigating use of private servers and webmail,
perhaps it’s not an opportune time for he/DNI staff to be doing the
same? I don’t know.” (Judicial Watch had previously reported
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that FBI officials used unsecure devices in discussing how the U.S.
could improve the sharing of sensitive data with the European Union
top executive governing commission.)

In a February 29, 2016 email exchange
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Strzok tells Page he tried to reach “Bill” [presumably Strzok’s
boss, Bill Priestap, Assistant Director of FBI Counterintelligence] to
get him to pass some information to Baker but was unable to via email.
Page says, “Just call him.” Strzok replies, “I can’t. This
isn’t life or death and I need to give the chain of command a few
minutes to work.” Further along, Page agrees, saying, “I totally
get it. I completely hate this about our organization, but it is what
it is. Np.” Strzok responds, “It’s necessary to have a chain of
command and gatekeepers. Otherwise you’d have 790 idiots calling the
GC, EADs, and DD every day.”

The FBI will continue producing Strzok-Page documents through 2021.

These documents show that the Hillary Clinton team had advocates at
the top of the Obama FBI – no wonder their investigation of her was
a sham. With explosive material such as this, no wonder the FBI is
slow-rolling the release of Strzok-Page documents to us – wanting to
wait until late 2021 to produce records!

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR THE ‘MISSING’ STRZOK-PAGE TEXTS
MUELLER’S OFFICE DELETED

We’ve never considered Bob Mueller’s special counsel
“investigation” of Donald Trump to be anything more than a
political vendetta, and nothing confirms this better than his
office’s deliberate erasing of key text messages between two
anti-Trump FBI executives.

So we are suing the Justice Department for text messages of former FBI
officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that are believed to be in the
possession of the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and for
other special counsel communications with the FBI relating to Strzok
and Page (_Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice_
[[link removed]]
(No. 1:19-cv-02693)).

The text messages in question would have been sent and received on
Justice Department issued iPhones assigned to Strzok and Page during
their assignments to the Special Counsel’s Office and should have
been recovered, reviewed and preserved by the Special Counsel Office
before the phones were sent back to the Justice Department’s Justice
Management Division for reassignment.

Strzok was removed
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from the Special Counsel team and Page stepped down in the summer of
2017 after their anti-Trump/pro-Clinton texts written during their
tenure at the FBI were uncovered. Once the Office of the Special
Counsel became aware of the incendiary text messages, and at the time
Strzok and Page were notified of their termination from the special
counsel team, the duo’s special-counsel phones normally would have
been confiscated and the content on the phones recovered, reviewed and
preserved. Those are the records we want. Strzok and Page are no
longer
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with
the FBI.

We sued after the Justice Department and FBI failed to respond to
December 17, 2018, FOIA requests seeking access to the following:

* All records related to the hardware, software and contents of
mobile phones issued to FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page for
their use while they served on the investigative team of Special
Counsel Robert Mueller.
* All records of communication (whether on government or non-.gov
email accounts and whether using real names or aliases), with FBI
officials relating to the hardware, software and contents of mobile
phones issued to FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page for their
use while they served on the investigative team of Special Counsel
Robert Mueller.

The time frame for the requested records is May 1, 2017, to December
17, 2018.

In December 2018, the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General
issued a report
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regarding
the recovery of “thousands of text messages.” The IG “initiated
this investigation upon being notified of a gap in text message data
collection for the period December 15, 2016, through May 17, 2017,
from Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) mobile devices assigned to
FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.”

> The OIG asked the FBI Inspection Division to locate the FBI issued
> Samsung Galaxy S5 devices formerly assigned to the subject employees
> and to obtain from the same individuals their assigned FBI issued
> Samsung Galaxy S7 devices…. The result of these steps was the
> recovery of thousands of text messages within the period of the
> missing text messages, December 15, 2016 through May 17, 2017, as
> well as hundreds of other text messages outside the gap time period
> that had not been produced by the FBI due to technical problems with
> its text message collection tool.
Because of the content of many of the text messages between Strzok
and Page, the IG also asked Mueller’s office for the DOJ-issued
iPhones that had been assigned to Strzok and Page. The phone assigned
to Strzok had been “reset to factory settings” and “reconfigured
for the new user to whom the device was issued.” Page’s iPhone had
been reset but had not been reassigned.

The IG also said that as of the date of its report, the FBI wasn’t
reliably collecting text messages of all its employees.

Strzok and Page were key investigators in the Clinton email and Russia
collusion investigations. Strzok was removed from the Mueller
investigative team in July 2017
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and
reassigned to a human resources position after it was discovered that
he and Page exchanged pro-Clinton and anti-Trump text messages.

Strzok worked for FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe
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and was carrying on an extramarital affair with Page. Page resigned
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in
May 2018. Strzok was dismissed
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from
the FBI in August 2018.

The Justice Department IG was unable to recover any text messages from
Strzok’s and Page’s phones because the compromised Mueller
operation wiped them. However, we are skeptical that these texts are
really gone, and the DOJ’s stonewalling suggests we are right to be
suspicious.

100,000 DACA APPLICANTS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED—MURDER, RAPE, DUI

President Obama created a program called Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, better known as DACA, simply by signing an order. Today, the
Supreme Court is considering whether President Trump has the authority
to undo this amnesty by fiat. There are many sound reasons to end this
travesty, not the least of which is the people this program puts on
our streets. Our _Corruption Chronicles_ blog tells the story
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> More than 100,000 illegal immigrants who requested a special
> Obama-era amnesty for adults who came to the U.S. as children have
> criminal histories, according to an alarming report
>
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> released this month by the government. Offenses committed by the
> illegal aliens seeking protection, benefits and rights under the
> policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
> include murder, rape, weapon and assault charges. DACA has shielded
> nearly 800,000 illegal aliens under the age of 31 from deportation
> and allowed them to obtain work permits and drivers licenses. Obama
> launched the outrageous measure through executive order in 2012 to
> help children who came to the U.S. “through no fault of their
> own.” The Trump administration tried to end DACA in 2017 but open
> borders groups sued to keep it going and now the Supreme Court is
> set to decide the matter.

> Regardless of how the high court may rule, the fact remains that a
> big chunk of DACA applicants have arrest records, according to the
> figures released by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
> (USCIS), the Homeland Security agency that administers the
> nation’s lawful immigration system. The stats show that nearly
> 110,000 DACA requestors out of nearly 889,000 had arrest records,
> accounting for 12% of applicants. “Offenses in these arrest
> records include assault, battery, rape, murder and driving under the
> influence,” USCIS writes in a statement
>
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> announcing the report.

> Here’s another disturbing fact; of approved DACA requestors with
> an arrest, a whopping 85% (67,861) were arrested right before the
> U.S. granted them amnesty. Nearly 25,000 DACA recipients with
> arrests had multiple arrests and 218 had more than 10 arrests.
> Incredibly, around one-fourth of the illegal immigrants with more
> than 10 arrests were approved by the government as of last month. In
> all, the government reveals that it has approved 79,398 DACA
> requestors with arrest records. Not all the delinquents are
> approved, the figures show. More than 100,000 with criminal arrests
> were denied or terminated.

> Most of the arrested DACA approvals involve driving infractions and
> immigration related civil and criminal offenses, but thousands were
> granted amnesty after committing serious crimes. Nearly 8,000
> illegal immigrants granted protection under DACA committed theft or
> larceny, the records show, and nearly 7,000 drug-related offenses.
> More than 4,000 were apprehended for driving under the influence,
> 3,421 for battery and 3,308 for assault. Thousands of others
> rewarded with DACA committed vandalism, burglary, offenses against
> children and weapons crimes. Hundreds of others were approved for
> DACA despite arrests for sexual abuse and rape, kidnapping or
> trafficking, hit and run, embezzlement and a variety of other
> serious offenses. Fifteen illegal aliens with murder charges got
> DACA as well as 15 street gang members and two arrested for child
> pornography. Most of the DACA candidates were arrested between the
> age of 19 and 22 though tens of thousands were also arrested between
> 23 and 26, well into adulthood. Mexicans account for the
> overwhelming majority of DACA recipients arrested (91,272) followed
> by El Salvador (4,998), Honduras (4,597) and Guatemala (4,304).

> “This agency is obligated to continue accepting DACA requests
> from illegal aliens as a direct result of
> the previous administration’s decision to circumvent the laws as
> passed by Congress,” according to USCIS Acting Director Ken
> Cuccinelli. “We hope this data provides a better sense of the
> reality of those granted the privilege of a temporary deferral of
> removal action and work authorization under DACA.” USCIS
> figures
>
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> released last year show that the biggest concentration of illegal
> aliens protected by DACA are in California (197,900) and Texas
> (113,000), though states such as Illinois (35,600), New York
> (32,900), Florida (27,000) and Arizona (25,500) also have
> significant numbers.
This illegal amnesty is “criminal” in more ways than one.

Until next week…





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