Jordan subpoenas AG Garland over DOJ spying on Congress

"If the Department’s representation is accurate, it indicates that the Executive Branch used its immense law-enforcement authority to gather and search the private communications of multiple Legislative Branch employees who were conducting Constitutional oversight of the Department’s investigative actions—actions that were later found to be unlawful," Jordan wrote.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Tuesday issued a subpoena to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding that he provide information on the DOJ's spying on congressional employees.

In October of this year, Just the News reported that current and former congressional oversight staff were notified that the DOJ had seize their phone and email records in 2017 while investigating leaks. The belated notification came due to the government convincing a federal court to hide the communications seizure for five years. Among those who had their records seized were at least a dozen members of Congress from both parties and/or their staff.

The revelations prompted furor from Congressional Republicans, who that same month demanded that the DOJ explain itself. In the subpoena issued Tuesday, Jordan acknowledged that the DOJ had replied to his request, albeit not to his satisfaction.

File

Jordan subpoena of Garland

"In its letter to the Committee, the Department represented that the legal process used—which reportedly sought the private communications of both Republican and Democrat employees in both the House and the Senate—were related to one investigation 'into the unauthorized disclosure of classified information in a national media publication,'" Jordan wrote.

"According to news reports, this investigation centered on FISA warrants obtained by the Justice Department on former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. At the time, the FISA warrant on Mr. Page was the subject of robust Congressional oversight and vigorous debate in Congress," he continued. "The Justice Department Office of Inspector General later determined that the Department abused its FISA authority to surveil Mr. Page, and the Department admitted there was 'insufficient predication' for the warrant."

"If the Department’s representation is accurate, it indicates that the Executive Branch used its immense law-enforcement authority to gather and search the private communications of multiple Legislative Branch employees who were conducting Constitutional oversight of the Department’s investigative actions—actions that were later found to be unlawful," he went on. "Because the Department has not complied in full with our requests, we cannot independently determine whether the Department sought to alleviate the heightened separation-of-powers sensitivities involved or whether the Department first sought the information through other means before resorting to legal process."

"The Committee also has concerns that aspects of the Department's investigation may have been a pretext to justify piercing the Legislative Branch’s deliberative process and improperly access data from Members and staff involved in conducting oversight of the Department," Jordan concluded.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/jordan-subpoenas-ag-garland-over-doj-spying-congress

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Leader Of Colombian Criminal Organization Pleads Guilty To Sending Over 19,000 Kilograms Of Cocaine Via Semi-Submersible Vessels To The Sinaloa Cartel

https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/leader-colombian-criminal-organization-pleads-guilty-sending-over-19000-kilograms

>>20101054

>Say hello

to several years ago

>>20101051

>Colorado supreme court just ruled that Trump is not eligible to run for President.

Trump Is Disqualified From the 2024 Ballot, Colorado Supreme Court Rules

It’s the first court to find that the disqualification clause of the 14th Amendment applies to Mr. Trump, in addition to affirming that he engaged in insurrection.

Former President Donald J. Trump is ineligible to hold office again, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, accepting the argument that the 14th Amendment disqualifies him in an explosive decision that could upend the 2024 election.

In a lengthy ruling ordering the Colorado secretary of state to exclude Mr. Trump from the state’s Republican primary ballot, the justices reversed a Denver district judge’s finding last month that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — which disqualifies people who have engaged in insurrection against the Constitution after having taken an oath to support it from holding office — did not apply to the presidency.

They affirmed the district judge’s other key conclusions: that Mr. Trump’s actions before and on Jan. 6, 2021, constituted engaging in insurrection, and that courts had the authority to enforce Section 3 against a person whom Congress had not specifically designated.

Mr. Trump is expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Tuesday’s ruling applies only to Colorado, but if the Supreme Court were to affirm it, he could be disqualified more broadly. The Colorado Supreme Court stayed its ruling until Jan. 4, 2024, to allow time for appeals.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/us/politics/trump-colorado-ballot-14th-amendment.html

https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/Supreme_Court/Opinions/2023/23SA300.pdf

New Yorker Guilty of Defrauding 50+ Investors in Pre-IPO Scam Sentenced

The CEO of a New York-based venture capital firm who conspired to defraud more than 50 investors of millions of dollars in a pre-IPO scam was sentenced to prison today for his crime.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdga/pr/new-yorker-guilty-defrauding-50-investors-pre-ipo-scam-sentenced

What the Hell Is Going on with Zuckerberg's Hawaii Supervillain Lair?

According to an anonymous former contract employee who was willing to risk life and limb — not really (?!?) — to talk to Wired, "It’s fight club. We don’t talk about fight club." More ominously, he added, “Anything posted from here, they get wind of it right away.”

And you thought Zuckerberg just had algos scanning your Instagram feed for wrongthink.

Sources differ on the size and expense of Zuckerberg's compound. In its exposé last week, Wired claimed it spans 1,400 acres. Still, The Guardian reported two years ago that Zuckerberg had just spent $17 million adding another 110 acres to his property that already covered 1,500 acres. Even before then, "Zuckerberg angered neighbors" by building "a 6ft stone wall around his property that blocked easy access to Pila’a Beach."

The wall was meant to reduce road noise intruding on Zuck's Zen space, but it's also a perfect metaphor for the silence surrounding the construction site. In addition to the Beyond the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous home, under construction is a 5,000-square-foot underground lair featuring its "own energy and food supplies, and, when coupled with land purchase prices, will cost in excess of $270 million," according to Wired. The real estate alone accounts for more than two-thirds of the cost, at a staggering $170 million.

https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2023/12/19/what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-zuckerbergs-hawaii-supervillain-lair-n4924873

DOJ Unseals Charges Against Iranian and Chinese Nationals for Procurement Fraud Involving the Acquisition of Components for Drones on Behalf of the Iranian Government

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/doj-unseals-charges-against-iranian-and-chinese-nationals-procurement-fraud-involving

No Russia at Davos – ambassador

It’s a loss for the World Economic Forum, not for Moscow, Moscow's envoy in Switzerland says

Russia will again be absent from the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos early next year, Russian Ambassador to Switzerland Sergey Garmonin has confirmed.

The high-profile gathering of international business and political figures is scheduled to take place at the Swiss Alpine resort between January 15 and 19.

“Russia will not be represented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, since the organizers didn’t send invitations to the Russians last year and this year,” Garmonin told TASS news agency on Tuesday.

Russia skipped Davos 2023 after the organizers said its participation at the event would be “unwelcome” due to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. According to the WEF, its relations with Russian firms sanctioned due to conflict were frozen.

The ambassador said he didn’t think Russia would lose anything by missing out on the WEF again in 2024. “In my opinion, only the forum itself loses from such a decision,” he said. According to Garmonin, Moscow “will continue to solve… problems in other formats and on other platforms.”

The diplomat also criticized plans by the Swiss organizers to hold a meeting dedicated to discussions about Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s ten-point peace plan to settle the conflict with Russia. Meetings like this “are divorced from reality and lack any added value. They will not bring peace any closer,” he argued.

Zelensky’s “peace formula” calls for Russia’s withdrawal from all territories claimed by Kiev, reparations from Moscow, and a war crimes tribunal.

Ukraine “is in no position to put forward any ultimatums to Russia, and everyone understands this perfectly well,” Garmonin insisted. “The Kiev regime, which has no hopes of achieving even the slightest success on the battlefield, is denying the obvious and feeding the West with unfeasible projects in its attempts to solicit yet another military assistance package.”

Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said last week that Kiev had squandered its chances of a “favorable” agreement with Moscow. “Any possible deal now will be reflecting its capitulation,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter.)

During his Q&A session on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that “there will be peace [in Ukraine] when we achieve our goals.” The aims of the Russian military operation “are not changing,” and include the “denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, its neutral status,” Putin reiterated.

https://www.rt.com/news/589320-davos-wef-switzerland-ukraine/

>>20101177

yep

Congressional Democrats call for totalitarian central bank digital currencies and digital ID

During a meeting of the House Financial Services Committee this month, government officials discussed developments in digital identity technologies and central bank digital currencies. These technologies are terrifying to civil liberty advocates because of their potential to turbocharge government oversight and surveillance capabilities.

Democrat legislators expressed support for these surveillance tools while decrying legislative efforts aimed at halting the progress of CBDCs.

Digital IDs, in particular, received strong support from Rep. Bill Foster of Illinois. He endorsed them to be enforced to protect against artificial intelligence, whatever that means. Additionally, he commended the digital ID systems implemented in countries like India, Estonia, and Korea for their ability to police the web.

“A secure digital ID biometrically synced to your smartphone allows individuals to remotely verify that they are who they say they are, saving costs, reducing the likelihood of fraud, and to allow individuals to defend themselves against deepfake identity fraud,” Foster said.

https://www.theblaze.com/return/congressional-democrats-call-for-totalitarian-central-bank-digital-currencies-and-digital-id

Ex-Pakistani PM uses AI to deliver speech from prison

Imran Khan wrote a script that was turned into a four-minute speech with the help of a ‘voice clone’

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is currently imprisoned, has used artificial intelligence to deliver a speech to his supporters. The four-minute address was broadcast during a ‘virtual rally’ attended by more than 4.5 million people across Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.

Pakistani authorities have clamped down on gatherings organized by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party since he was briefly arrested for the first time in May. The former prime minister was sentenced to three years behind bars in August for illegally selling state gifts. The 71-year-old faces a slew of other charges, all of which he claims are politically motivated.

According to PTI representatives, the cricket-star-turned-politician wrote a script for the speech and passed it on to his supporters through lawyers. It was then dubbed with the help of a tool developed by the AI firm ElevenLabs, which can create a ‘voice clone’ of a person based on speech samples.

In his message, Khan accused the Pakistani government of kidnapping and harassing activists from his party.

He also stressed that his “determination for real freedom is very strong,” thanking the PTI social media team for “this historic attempt” to circumvent government restrictions.

Meanwhile, the NetBlocks watchdog reported that it had detected disruptions in social media availability in Pakistan, starting late on Sunday. The group alleged that this may have been due to deliberate “internet censorship.”

Khan was charged by a special court in October with breaching state secrecy laws over an alleged conspiracy to reveal what he characterized as proof of US interference in orchestrating his removal from power last year.

The diplomatic cable at the center of the case was sent by then-Pakistani Ambassador to the US Asad Majeed Khan after his meeting with two senior US State Department officials in March 2022. According to multiple media reports purportedly based on the document, Washington made clear that it was unhappy about Khan’s failure to toe the West’s line. The US officials allegedly hinted to the Pakistani diplomat that if the prime minister lost an impending no-confidence vote in parliament, “all will be forgiven in Washington.”

Khan was ousted about a month after the meeting, and has since mounted a major protest campaign.

While the US has denied exerting any pressure on Pakistan, the International Monetary Fund unexpectedly extended a $3 billion bailout for Islamabad in July – a decision that The Intercept has claimed was influenced by Washington.

https://www.rt.com/news/589307-pakistan-imran-khan-ai-speech/

>>20101206

this is why they are trying to get Justice Thomas to recuse from this matter

MUST SEE: MSNBC COMPARES 'MEIN KAMPF' TO TRUMP'S SPEECH

https://www.bitchute.com/video/Uq1XPm8ajgw/

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WATCH LIVE: President Trump Speaks to Massive Crowd in Waterloo, Iowa After Leftist Colorado Supreme Court Disqualifies Him From 2024 Ballot

https://rumble.com/v3zwjyv-president-trump-to-speak-at-iowa-commit-to-caucus-event-in-waterloo-iowa-12.html