In this series we have provided the expert commentary of a former FBI Special Agent with two decades of experience in counterintelligence. He has brought his expertise to bear on the investigation of President Trump for alleged collusion with Russia in the course of the presidential campaign. President Trump himself could remove much of the mystery regarding this matter if he were to order release of the FISA warrants obtained by authorities to conduct surveillance of his associates with whatever redactions might be necessary to protect national security information.
Were FISA warrants improperly obtained in part on the basis of the Trump Dossier? Were FISA warrants used improperly to monitor him and his associates?
President Trump has the authority to order the release of the documents that would answer these questions. Andrew McCarthy addressed these questions in his August 3 NRO column “Why doesn’t Trump just unmask the unmasking?” One might draw adverse inferences from Trump’s failure to order the release of the documents, although I think it is equally plausible that the president has been otherwise engaged and poorly served by his putative subordinates in the bureaucracy.
Our friendly former FBI Special Agent adds this final word in the context of the Uranium One case that is back in the news:
You can imagine that for most of the agents involved in the Uranium One case, that was the case of a lifetime. While it was a criminal case, because of the national security ramifications, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were FISA orders for some of the players–if you have a certain level of predication it’s an easier process than Title III, more flexible. Updates on progress are required, so those documents would constitute a treasure trove of information about the subjects, evaluations, direction of investigation — all in a nice summary form, to save you the trouble of reading individual investigative reports. The people who deep-sixed the case wouldn’t want anyone reading that stuff.
Previous installments in this series are posted here (part 1), here (part 2), here (part 3) and here (part 4).
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