About a year ago, a statement published online at the White House website form the press secretary said that President Trump, in response to “the request of a number of committees of Congress,” and in the interest of “transparency,” ordered the FBI and Justice Department to declassify a series of documents related to the Obama-era “Spygate” scandal.
According to a Sept. 17, 2018 statement:
…[T]he President has directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice (including the FBI) to provide for the immediate declassification of the following materials: (1) pages 10-12 and 17-34 of the June 2017 application to the FISA court in the matter of Carter W. Page; (2) all FBI reports of interviews with Bruce G. Ohr prepared in connection with the Russia investigation; and (3) all FBI reports of interviews prepared in connection with all Carter Page FISA applications.
Also, the statement notes, President Trump ordered the DoJ and FBI “to publicly release all text messages relating to the Russia investigation, without redaction, of James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Bruce Ohr.”
Granted, we haven’t heard much about this alleged order since. And we certainly have not seen any of the FISA warrant applications that were filed by fired FBI Director James Comey et. al. in the case of Page — the warrants obtained so spy on Page, allegedly because Trump was “colluding” with Russia to “steal the election” from Hillary Clinton.
But given that the order was publicized — or, more accurately, the press secretary’s statement that an order was issued — one would think that it was a) a real order; and b) complied with.
On Friday, however, Justice Department lawyers argued in federal court that the department had never received an actual order from the president to declassify those documents, The Gateway Pundit reported.
In fact, according to documents published online, DoJ lawyers have “confirmed with the White House that there was and is no order to declassify.”
The 10-page court filing also noted that Justice Department lawyers argued in court that they should not have to answer any questions to clear the air about what’s going on because discovery would “involve obviously privileged information and high level officials.”
Well…sure. But wasn’t that the point of the alleged declassification order? (Report: Report: All 4 FISA court warrants obtained to spy on 2016 Trump campaign adviser Carter Page were ILLEGAL, according to DoJ IG.)
What’s going on?
“As set forth in the renewed motion and the Weinsheimer Declaration, DOJ did not receive a declassification order, and following the press secretary statement that the President had directed DOJ ‘to provide for’ declassification, DOJ followed up with the White House to confirm that there was no order requiring immediate declassification or disclosure. ECF No. 52 (‘Def’s Renewed MSJ’). This declaration is entitled to a presumption of good faith,” the court filing stated.
“Plaintiffs argue that the Court already found that the President’s ‘intentions’ were clear and that the Government does not address whether the Order was treated by DOJ as a declassification order from the outset,” the filing notes.
“That is incorrect. In fact, the declaration plainly states: ‘DOJ did not receive an order related to the materials remaining at issue in this case.’ … Accordingly, DOJ never believed that the press release was a declassification order or treated it as one,” the Justice Dept. lawyers continued in their filing.
https://twitter.com/bradheath/status/1177639646915911680
What’s going on? What about the statement?
“…Defendants [the government] did not read the release itself as an order, never received an order, and subsequently confirmed with the White House that there was and is no order to declassify the pages at issue,” the filing adds.
That last part makes it pretty clear that the White House press release was a head fake aimed at placating congressional demands (from Republicans) to declassify key documents in what appears to be a clear coup attempt by Deep State actors to depose the president.
So — if he didn’t order declassification, two questions: Why not? What is the president waiting for?
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