Catherine Herridge
@C__Herridge
TOP LINE:
@Kash_Patel
Reporting Most Media Missed
With Kash Patel’s nomination to lead the FBI, an independent watchdog may soon bring needed transparency to allegations of government overreach targeting GOP congressional investigators, including Patel, probing the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe, “Crossfire Hurricane.”
The findings may tell us a lot about the power of Washington’s unelected bureaucracy.
DEEP DIVE: In 2018, a review of congressional emails revealed a senior justice department official Rod Rosenstein had allegedly threatened staffers on the House intelligence committee, among them Kash Patel.
CONTEXT: At the time, Patel and his team were systematically dismantling the premise for the FBI’s 2016 “Crossfire Hurricane” probe that investigated alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Because Patel had deep experience at the Justice Department, he understood and could expose defects in the surveillance (FISA) warrants for Trump campaign aide Carter Page, among other irregularities in the FBI/DOJ case.
The 2018 FOX report read, “The DAG [Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein] criticized the Committee for sending our requests in writing and was further critical of the Committee’s request to have DOJ/FBI do the same when responding,” the committee's then-senior counsel for counterterrorism Kash Patel wrote to the House Office of General Counsel.”
The report continued, “Going so far as to say that if the Committee likes being litigators, then ‘we [DOJ] too [are] litigators, and we will subpoena your records and your emails,’ referring to HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] and Congress overall.”
Reps for the FBI and DOJ strongly disputed the email account.
My understanding of the 2018 meeting would change when new claims became public in a 2023 lawsuit brought by Patel against FBI Director Wray and former Justice Department officials.
According to the lawsuit, “On November 20, 2017, while Mr. Patel was still in his role as Senior Counsel and Chief Investigator for the HPSCI (House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence), the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) secretly sought a grand jury subpoena to compel Google to turn over Mr. Patel’s private email account data. They did so in complete contravention of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure.”
TIMING: Based on the lawsuit, the DOJ sought Patel’s records BEFORE the confrontational 2018 meeting.
The court records state, “Mr. Patel was wholly unaware of this subpoena until December 12, 2022, when, in line with its policy, Google notified Mr. Patel that DOJ issued it a subpoena for information related to his personal accounts.”
In September this year, a Memorandum Opinion from the court, said the defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint was granted. Among the arguments, that these officials are “entitled to qualified immunity…”
A separate watchdog report may soon bring needed transparency to these allegations of government overreach.
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8:39 AM · Dec 10, 2024
https://x.com/C__Herridge/status/1866477935676600746