Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered an amendment on March 28, which, if approved, would reveal what role former President Barack Obama played in the investigation of the Trump campaign and the use of the debunked Steele dossier.

Paul’s amendment would modify a resolution, which calls on the attorney general to release the full report by special counsel Robert Mueller to Congress and the public. The resolution passed the House by a vote of 420-0 on March 14 and is now before the Senate.

“What we need to discover, and we do not yet know, was President Obama involved? Was this done for partisan purposes? Was this done to try to elect Hillary Clinton?” Paul asked on the Senate floor.

According to a summary of Mueller’s final report released by Attorney General William Barr, the special counsel did not find any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Mueller’s finding raises questions about the origins of the investigation of the Trump campaign and suggests that the probe was started without evidence of wrongdoing.

According to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the House Intelligence Committee has enough evidence to establish that the investigation of the Trump campaign began much earlier than late July 2016. If Nunes is right, the bureau will be forced to produce what evidence, if any, it acted on to start the investigation.

Notably, the FBI’s current rationale for starting the investigation of the Trump campaign in late July 2016 is already questionable. According to the current narrative, the probe started on evidence that Trump-campaign associate George Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat that Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. There is no proof Papadopoulos ever had contact with Russian officials. Papadopoulos was convicted of lying to the FBI about contacts with Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese professor with extensive ties to Western intelligence, not Russia. In his new book, Papadopoulos claims he was caught in the crosshairs of a Western intelligence operation to take down Trump.

Paul’s amendment also calls for the public release of all documents relating to the communications of several Obama administration officials, including the former president himself, former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Susan Rice, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok, former FBI attorney Lisa Page, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and former senior DOJ official Bruce Ohr.

Paul’s amendment, if enacted, would also call on Brennan and Clapper to testify before Congress. Paul noted that Brennan and Clapper have both lied to the Senate.

More:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/senator-offers-amendment-to-reveal-obamas-role-in-probing-trump-campaign_2858353.html

A former employee with the National Security Agency (NSA) on Thursday pleaded guilty to stealing massive quantities of classified materials from his workplace.

Reuters and NPR report that Harold Martin, 54, pleaded guilty to stealing classified documents as part of a plea agreement following his indictment last year on 20 counts related to 50 terabytes worth of stolen NSA files prosecutors said he was hoarding at his house.

The Baltimore man's lawyers argued that his actions constituted those of someone who was mentally ill and was trying to take work home with him, not an attempt at treason.

Still, the scale of his document trove indicated that the theft could represent the greatest illegal attainment of classified information in U.S. history.

“His actions were the product of mental illness. Not treason,” his attorneys told Reuters.

Sentencing in Martin's case is set for July 19. If a judge agrees to his plea agreement, Martin could face nearly nine years in prison.

"The American people entrusted Harold Martin with some of the nation's most sensitive classified secrets," Assistant Attorney General John Demers said, according to NPR. "In turn, Martin owed them a duty to safeguard this information."

Martin's arrest occurred in 2016, and at the time the Justice Department claimed that his documents related to a wide range of national security issues.

“These documents were produced through sensitive government sources, methods and capabilities, which are critical to a wide variety of national security issues," the Justice Department said at the time. "The disclosure of the documents would reveal those sensitive sources, methods and capabilities."

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/436416-former-nsa-employee-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-classified-documents