Byron York: Republicans seek release of secret Papadopoulos transcripts

Former Rep. Trey Gowdy stunned House investigators recently by all but announcing the existence of secret FBI recordings of Trump campaign foreign policy volunteer adviser George Papadopoulos, made in the summer of 2016 by an undercover FBI operation. Gowdy made the revelation in an interview Sunday with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo. "There are a lot of serious questions that need to be asked" during Attorney General William Barr's investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, Gowdy said. Among them: "Where are the transcripts, if any exist, between the informants and the telephone calls to George Papadopoulos?"

Papadopoulos, an energy consultant, was approached by at least two FBI informants in London in 2016. One was an academic, Stefan Halper, who had a long relationship with the FBI, and the other was an undercover investigator who went by the alias "Azra Turk." The reason Papadopoulos' experience is so important is because the FBI has cited it as the reason the bureau officially began the Trump-Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, on July 31, 2016. The FBI said that Australian diplomats, who talked with Papadopoulos in London, told U.S. government officials that Papadopoulos said Russia had damaging information about Hillary Clinton. After that, the FBI reportedly sent "Azra Turk" to London and also used other resources to find out what was going on with Papadopoulos. They created a record of their work, according to Gowdy. "If the bureau is going to send an informant in, the informant is going to be wired," Gowdy said. "And if the bureau is monitoring telephone calls, there's going to be a transcript of that." Gowdy cast his statement as a hypothetical, but it did not veil much of anything. "Some of us have been fortunate to know whether or not those transcripts exist, but they haven't been made public," he said. Gowdy strongly suggested at least one of the transcripts has information that would be exculpatory for Papadopoulos. "Very little in this Russia probe, I'm afraid, is going to persuade people who hate Trump or who love Trump," he said. "But there is some information in these transcripts that I think has the potential to be a game-changer, if it's ever made public."

"You say there's exculpatory evidence," replied Bartiromo,"and when people see that, they're going to say, wait, why wasn't this presented to the court earlier?" "Yes," said Gowdy. "You know, [Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe] is rightfully exercised over the obligations that the government has to tell the whole truth to a court when you are seeking permission to spy or do surveillance on an American. And part of that includes the responsibility of providing exculpatory information or information that tends to show the person didn't do something wrong. If you have exculpatory information, and you don't share it with the court, that ain't good. I have seen it. [Ratcliffe] has seen it. I would love for your viewers to see it."

Gowdy did not say so directly, but he clearly suggested the transcripts could change some views of the origins and legitimacy of the Trump-Russia investigation. In this way: The FBI received the Australian information. It dispatched investigators to London to learn what was going on with Papadopoulos. If the investigators confirmed the Australians' tip, then the investigation would surely continue and intensify. But what if the FBI did not confirm the Australians' information? And what if, after failing to confirm that information, the bureau pressed on with the investigation anyway? Finally, what if the FBI, which mentioned Papadopoulos in the application submitted to the secret FISA court for a warrant to wiretap Carter Page, did not tell the court that its own informants and agents had gathered information relevant to the case? That's a lot of what-ifs. Until the documents are released, there is no way for the public to know if that is what actually happened.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-republicans-seek-release-of-secret-papadopoulos-transcripts

Classified Iran briefing turns heated as Trump team clashes with Democrats

A classified Senate briefing on reported Iranian plots against the United States turned into a tense clash between top U.S. officials and lawmakers frustrated with President Trump’s strategy toward Iran. “I would say there was a lot of heat in that room,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told the Washington Examiner following the Tuesday afternoon briefing. Key congressional Democrats suggested that President Trump’s administration was preparing for military conflict with the regime based on faulty intelligence or even false pretenses after ambiguous U.S. warnings that Iranian proxies might attack American personnel in Iraq. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan sought to allay that suspicion in separate meetings, first with House lawmakers and then the Senate Tuesday afternoon.

“Today I walked them through what the Department of Defense has been doing since May 3, when we received credible intelligence about threats to our interests in the Middle East and to American forces, and how we acted on that credible intelligence,” Shanahan told reporters after the Senate briefing. "That intelligence has borne out in attacks, and I would say it’s also deterred attacks. We have deterred attacks based on our re-posturing of assets, deterred attacks against American forces.” The controversy shifted in the briefing to complaints that they didn’t communicate with Congress enough in recent weeks and a broader protest against the administration’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a top contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, was among the most aggressive in raising the specter of being misled into a conflict with Iran.

“Most Americans know way back when we were lied to about the situation in Vietnam and we went into a war which ended up costing us 59,000 lives, based on a lie,” he said. “In 2003, we were lied to in terms of Iraq supposedly having weapons of mass destruction.” Sanders refused to answer whether he believes such lies are being told now. “I won't talk about what we heard in the meeting,” he said. “But let me just say that I worry very much that, intentionally or unintentionally, we create a situation in which a war will take place.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer avoided that controversy entirely, focusing only on the frustration that the administration didn’t provide more information to lawmakers over the last three weeks. “I told the people who were briefing us that I thought the consultation with the American people and the Congress was inadequate,” the New York Democrat told reporters in a brief appearance, without taking additional questions. “Both the American people and the Congress read about a lot of actions in the newspapers and had no idea what was going on. I told them they had to make it better next time.”

Shanahan acknowledged that desire for more information. “We heard feedback that they’d like more conversation,” he said. “They’d also like us to be more communicative with the American public, and we agreed to do more of that.” Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, a senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, conceded that the meeting was a “very helpful” survey of the intelligence reports and U.S. responses. Another lawmaker confirmed that the meeting was testy, but in this telling the confrontation was bipartisan and focused more on the administration’s policies than suspicions that they are fabricating intelligence. “A number of them questioned the conclusions of the administration about the reaction of the Iranians and what it might lead to,” a Democratic senator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said after the briefing. “I think there's a lot of us with real misgivings about how serious this is and how much is a creation of the administration's own provocative policy.”

Shanahan stressed that the administration, which has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf and threatened devastating consequences for attacks on Americans, is trying to avoid a conflict. “Our biggest focus at this point is to prevent Iranian miscalculation,” he told reporters. “We do not want the situation to escalate." Cruz kept the focus on Democratic hostility to Trump and their fidelity to the nuclear agreement that former President Barack Obama’s team negotiated with Iran. “Far too many congressional Democrats are invested in appeasement for Iran, which manifests in effectively defending the mullahs against maximum pressure,” he told the Washington Examiner.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/classified-iran-briefing-turns-heated-as-trump-team-clashes-with-democrats

Senators demand answers over early release of 'American Taliban' John Walker Lindh

Senators have told the head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to explain why 'American Taliban' fighter John Walker Lindh is to be released this week two-and-a-half years before the end of his sentence. Richard Shelby of Alabama, a Republican, and his Democratic colleague, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, expressed their concern that Lindh, now 38, was being freed despite indication he had not renounced his radical Islamist beliefs. In addition, “as many as 108 other terrorist offenders," they said, are due to be released in the coming years.

Shelby is close to the family of CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann, who was killed in 2001 by Lindh's fellow Taliban prisoners moments after Spann had questioned him. Lindh traveled to Afghanistan in early 2001 to join the Taliban. He trained at the al-Farouq al Qaeda training camp and even met Osama bin Laden, who allegedly thanked him for his commitment to jihad. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he was captured by U.S.-backed Northern Alliance forces in November 2001. He was brought to the fortress of Qala-i-Jangi, where he refused to provide any answers under questioning by Spann, who was killed in an uprising by hundreds of captured Taliban fighters. Lindh pleaded guilty to serving as a soldier of the Taliban in 2002 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison — but is scheduled to be released this week after 17-and-a-half years behind bars.

The senators said Lindh remains a danger to society and was among a number of prisoners who "continue to openly call for extremist violence." This was a reference to two government assessments of Lindh leaked in 2017 that painted a picture of an unrepentant extremist who remained radicalized behind bars. The documents stated that Lindh “made pro-[Islamic State] statements” and “has continued to advocate for global jihad and to write and translate violent extremist texts.” Despite this, Lindh will be a free man on Thursday.

Shelby and Hassan said they had been kept in the dark about "who, when, and where these offenders will be released," adding that “federal agencies lack a coordinated and uniform assessment tool to judge whether a terrorist is likely to pose a public threat upon release." They added: "Mr. Lindh is not the only convicted ISIS, al-Qaeda, or Taliban-related terrorist who may soon exit federal custody,” Shelby and Hassan said. “Our highest priority is keeping America safe, secure, and free."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senators-demand-answers-over-early-release-of-american-taliban-john-walker-lindh