FBI | The Georgia Star News

FBI Raided Overseas Chinese Government Police Station in New York, Seized Materials: Report

January 16, 2023January 15, 2023 Admin

FBI counterintelligence agents raided the New York office of an alleged overseas Chinese government police station sometime in fall 2022, The New York Times reported Thursday.

During the raid, federal authorities reportedly seized materials from the third-floor office of America Changle Association, a Manhattan Chinatown organization that claims to serve overseas Chinese, according to the report, which cites FBI agents who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The report comes several months after the Daily Caller News Foundation revealed in October that a March 2021 video conference between Changle and Chinese government officials had identified Lu Jianwang, Changle’s former chairman, as a “propagandist” and “special liaison officer” who worked with the United Front Work Department (UFWD).

Commentary: What the New January 6 Videos Will Show

January 15, 2023January 14, 2023 Admin

The jury trial of Richard Barnett, the man famously photographed with his feet on a desk in Nancy Pelosi’s office on January 6, 2021, is underway in Washington, D.C. Nearly two years to the date of his arrest, Barnett finally had a chance to defend himself in court on multiple charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding.

But it was not the fiery, outspoken Barnett who provided the most jaw-dropping testimony in the trial so far. To the contrary, one of the government’s own witnesses confirmed under defense cross-examination that “agents provocateur” were heavily involved in instigating the events of January 6.

House Democrats Oppose Resolution Condemning Violence Against Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers

January 13, 2023January 12, 2023 Susan Berry, PhD

Nearly all House Democrats opposed a resolution Wednesday condemning the political violence against pro-life pregnancy centers and their supportive allies that occurred in the aftermath of the leak of the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft opinion in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The House voted, 222-209, to approve the resolution, introduced by Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) that states since the leak of the draft opinion, “individuals professing anti-life views have targeted, destroyed, or vandalized numerous pro-life facilities, groups, and even churches to further their radical cause.”

Commentary: From What, Exactly, Is the FBI Protecting Us?

January 9, 2023January 8, 2023 Admin

After the tiered releases of the Twitter files, many suspicions have been thoroughly confirmed. Namely, social media monopolies like Facebook and Twitter worked hand-in-glove with the FBI, as well as other government agencies, to suppress accounts and censor stories they jointly deemed misinformation, disinformation, or otherwise harmful to the country during the 2020 election.

The most significant malfeasance arises from the coordinated campaign to suppress the New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop. The laptop exposed in great detail Hunter’s dissolute lifestyle, along with his role as the family “bag man” for various overseas financial interests.

Commentary: The Coup We Never Knew

January 6, 2023January 5, 2023 Georgia Star News Staff

Did someone or something seize control of the United States?

What happened to the U.S. border? Where did it go? Who erased it? Why and how did 5 million people enter our country illegally? Did Congress secretly repeal our immigration laws? Did Joe Biden issue an executive order allowing foreign nationals to walk across the border and reside in the United States as they pleased?

10 Major Revelations Exposing Extent of Government Pressure on Big Tech to Censor Americans

December 29, 2022December 28, 2022 Just the News

Two hundred and thirty-one years ago this month, America’s founders enshrined free speech as the first protection in the ratified Bill of Rights with a declaration that the government could not infringe expression. A series of blockbuster revelations at the end of 2022 show just how imperiled those protections have become in the era of Big Tech.

From Elon Musk’s “Twitter files” to an FBI agent’s candid testimony, Americans have gotten a glimpse into a once-hidden enterprise where federal agencies pressured social media platforms – directly and through proxies – to censor content under their terms of service. The goal, it appears, was to preserve the ruling elite’s favored narratives on everything from the pandemic to election integrity.

Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: Is There Anything the FBI Won’t Do?

December 27, 2022December 26, 2022 Star News Staff

The FBI on Wednesday finally broke its silence and responded to the revelations on Twitter of close ties between the bureau and the social media giant – ties that included efforts to suppress information and censor political speech.

“The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries,” the bureau said in a statement. “As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers. The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency.”

Republicans Poised to Approve Massive FBI Funding Boost in Wake of Twitter Files Revelations

December 22, 2022December 21, 2022 Star News Staff

Republicans are set to approve a massive spending bill which includes billions of dollars in funding for the FBI despite recently leaked information which found the federal agency colluded with Twitter to censor users.

The bill designated $11.33 billion for the FBI “to investigate extremist violence and domestic terrorism,” according to a summary of the bill by the House Appropriations Committee. The total is reportedly $569.6 million more than the enacted levels for the 2022 fiscal year and $524 million more than the president requested.

Commentary: The FBI Copied Parts of the Debunked Steele Dossier Directly into Its Spy Requests

December 21, 2022December 20, 2022 RealClearWire

The FBI relied more extensively on Christopher Steele’s debunked dossier in their Russiagate investigation than has been revealed, inserting key parts from it into their applications for warrants to spy on the 2016 Trump campaign.

Agents did this without telling the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the precise wording was plucked directly from a political rumor sheet paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign or providing judges with any independent corroboration of the explosive allegations.

GOP to Pursue FBI ‘Secret Files’ Regarding Contact with Big Tech

December 20, 2022December 19, 2022 Admin

On Sunday, Congressman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said that the new GOP majority in the House of Representatives will investigate recently-revealed examples of collusion between Big Tech and the FBI by pursuing any “secret files” the FBI may have kept on the matter.

The New York Post reports that Turner, the incoming Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that “it is my understanding from our contacts that we have had with the FBI that there are secret files that the FBI has of these contacts that they were having with social media and with mainstream media.”

FBI Paid Twitter Millions, Had Close Relationship with Execs and Staff, Emails Show

December 19, 2022December 19, 2022 Admin

The FBI paid Twitter millions as a reimbursement for the time the company spent processing the FBI’s requests, according to internal documents published by author Michael Shellenberger Monday, in the most recent installment of Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s ongoing “Twitter Files.”

In an email with the subject line “Run the business – we made money!” an employee, whose name was redacted, reports to then-Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker, that the FBI paid Twitter nearly $3.5 million dollars between October 2019 and February 2021, Shellenberger reported. Baker, a former FBI agent, was the agency’s general counsel during Operation Crossfire Hurricane, and approved the surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page via improper use of the Steele dossier, according to a report by the Justice Department’s inspector general.

FBI Sued for Suspending Analyst, Military Vet for Espousing ‘Conspiratorial’ January 6 Views

December 17, 2022December 16, 2022 Just the News

The government watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit against the FBI for having put on administrative leave an analyst for espousing “conspiratorial views” that suggest support for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The suit was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina on behalf of FBI analyst Marcus Allen.

Newest ‘Twitter Files’ Release Reveals Platform’s ‘Constant and Pervasive’ Dealings with FBI

December 16, 2022 Just the News

The latest “Twitter Files” release, on Friday evening, details the social media platform’s relationship with the FBI and outlined communications between the federal agency seeking takedowns of select posts.

The most recent release is from independent journalist Matt Taibbi, one of several individuals to whom new Twitter CEO Elon Musk has granted access to the company’s internal communications in a bid to highlight the prior management’s efforts to stifle posts that didn’t agree with their world view.

Commentary: The Fake, and Real, Domestic Terrorists

December 10, 2022December 9, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

To hear the government tell it, a homeless guy who lived in the dilapidated basement of a vacuum repair shop with no running water is as much a danger to society as was Timothy McVeigh and the Tsarnaev brothers.

Adam Fox, according to the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan, should spend the rest of his life in prison for conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. After a jury could not reach a verdict in Fox’s case last April, the Department of Justice retried Fox and his remaining co-defendant Barry Croft, Jr. in August; both men were found guilty the second time around.

Pro-Lifers Still Haven’t Received Any Meaningful Updates from FBI After Being Firebombed

December 8, 2022December 8, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

Three pro-life pregnancy centers have had no meaningful updates from the FBI since they were firebombed in early summer following reports that Roe v. Wade would be overturned, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

FBI Met with Twitter ‘Weekly’ Ahead of 2020, Warned of ‘Hack-and-Leak’ Operations

December 6, 2022December 5, 2022 Admin

In the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election, FBI agents would hold “weekly” meetings with Big Tech company Twitter to discuss content moderation, eventually leading to the agency warning the platform of so-called “hack-and-leak operations” by foreign “state actors” shortly before the company censored the Hunter Biden laptop story on these grounds.

Appeals Court Shuts Down Special Master Review of Mar-a-Lago Documents

December 2, 2022December 1, 2022 Just the News

A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that a Trump-appointed judge erred in appointing a special master to independently review the documents the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate in August.

An 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously determined that U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon was incorrect both to appoint a special master to independently assess Trump’s executive privilege claims and to bar the Department of Justice from conducting its own review, Politico reported.

Commentary: Congress Needs to Investigate Whitmer Kidnapping Hoax

November 28, 2022November 27, 2022 Aaron Gulbransen

A federal judge next month is scheduled to sentence two men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her lakeside cottage in the fall of 2020. Adam Fox, the alleged ringleader, and Barry Croft, Jr. face years in prison.

During the first trial in April, Fox and Croft received a hung jury while two co-defendants were acquitted on all charges based on extensive evidence of FBI entrapment. A jury found Fox and Croft guilty after a second trial in August thanks to the same judge putting his thumb—body?—on the scale in favor of the government.

40 Suspects on FBI’s Terror Watchlist Arrested at the Border in October

November 27, 2022November 26, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

The month of October alone saw the arrest of 40 different suspects on the FBI’s terror watchlist as they attempted to cross the border into the United States.

According to the New York Post, nine individuals were arrested attempting to sneak across the border, while another 31 were stopped by authorities at various ports of entry, and were subsequently arrested upon identification. Of the 31 who attempted to enter legally, 25 tried to come across the Canadian border while six tried to cross the southern border.

The terror watchlist was first established by the FBI after the 9/11 attacks, initially consisting of known terrorists who are not American citizens, but later expanded to include potential threats and associates of known threats. The actual list of names is kept secret for security purposes.

Commentary: Feds Had Informants in Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for January 6

November 16, 2022November 15, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

If Republicans eke out a win in the House of Representatives—which now seems likely—GOP leaders have promised to investigate numerous government scandals, including the irredeemably corrupt Federal Bureau of Investigation. One path of inquiry is how the bureau manufactures data to promote the phony narrative that “domestic violent extremists,” i.e., supporters of Donald Trump, pose a security threat to the country.

FBI Had Up to Eight Informants in Proud Boys on January 6, Court Docs Show

November 16, 2022November 15, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

The FBI had up to eight informants within the Proud Boys in the months surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, recent court filings suggest, according to The New York Times.

Defense attorneys for former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four members of the group, who are scheduled to stand trial in December for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to Jan. 6, filed court documents in the past several days revealing the informants’ presence in the Proud Boys’ ranks, the outlet reported. The defense contended that the prosecution had, until recently, improperly withheld some information the government received from the informants that was favorable to the accused.

Facebook Allegedly Gives The FBI Users’ Info Without Their Consent

November 5, 2022November 4, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

The FBI allegedly accepts private user information with “a partisan focus” from Facebook without users’ permission, avoiding the normal legal process the bureau would require to seek such information on its own, a new report from House Judiciary Committee Republicans claims.

The alleged information transfer between Facebook and the FBI is part of a program likely named “OperationBronze Griffin,” according to a report released Friday. Facebook allegedly gives the bureau data “tending only to concern users from one side of the political spectrum,” according to whistleblower intelligence.

‘Rotted at Its Core’: House Judiciary GOP Releases Massive 1,000 Page Report on Alleged FBI Misconduct

November 5, 2022November 4, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee on Friday released a 1,050-page report on alleged FBI misconduct, based primarily on the testimony of whistleblowers within the agency.

The report, titled “FBI Whistleblowers: What Their Disclosures Indicate About The Politicization of the FBI And The Justice Department,” began by stating that the FBI “is broken” under the leadership of Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Wray’s superior, while also blaming the “politicized bureaucracy” of the agency. It accused Garland and Wray of overseeing an agency that “altered and mischaracterized evidence to federal courts, circumvented safeguards, and exploited weaknesses in policies.”

Analysis: As Murders Soar, FBI Buries the Data

November 5, 2022November 4, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

Based on a misunderstanding of new FBI data, NewsNation is reporting that 14,677 murders occurred in the U.S. during 2021, a supposedly large decline from 2020. In reality, that figure is far from complete, and comprehensive records from death certificates show that about 24,493 people were murdered in 2021. This is about:

Commentary: Faulty FBI Data Obscures Successful Defensive Gun Use

November 2, 2022November 1, 2022 RealClearWire

With crime such an important issue, Americans depend on the FBI for accurate data. The crime data for 2021 is a mess, with almost 40% of law enforcement agencies around the country not submitting any data to the FBI. In California, 93% didn’t report crime data. In New York, 87% didn’t. Cities are embarrassed by the soaring crime rates, and even when they have collected the data they aren’t transmitting those numbers to the FBI.

FBI Agent Who First Censored Hunter Biden Story Now Playing a Key Role in Administration’s ‘Misinformation’ Strategy

November 2, 2022November 1, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

One of the FBI agents who was directly involved in the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal back in October of 2020 is now playing a lead role in the Biden White House’s efforts to suppress so-called “misinformation” as the 2022 midterms draw closer.

As reported by the Daily Caller, FBI agent Laura Dehmlow was a key part of the coordinated effort between the FBI and the social media giant Facebook to censor the New York Post’s bombshell story about Hunter Biden and the many scandals that were exposed on his laptop. Now, according to The Intercept, Dehmlow has been part of the administration’s deliberate efforts to censor various social media posts that it unilaterally determines to contain “misinformation.”

Commentary: Scandal-Ridden San Francisco FBI Field Office Involved in Pelosi Investigation

November 2, 2022November 1, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

No one should accept at face value the strange account of what happened to Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), at their California home last week.

Plenty of factors—a wholly dishonest news media, unsubstantiated claims the attacker was a foiled assassin who planned to kill the speaker of the House, and Mr. Pelosi’s recent legal troubles, to name a few—feed justified skepticism surrounding the alleged break-in and hammer attack that occurred in the wee hours of October 28. Details continue to change while leading Democrats including Hillary Clinton blame the incident, without evidence, on Republicans and Donald Trump.

Commentary: The FBI’s Million-Dollar Men

October 19, 2022October 18, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

Proceedings underway in three U.S. courtrooms are providing a coordinated view into the abuse of the FBI’s confidential human source (CHS) program, a cash-flush operation now primarily used to bolster Democratic Party narratives instead of detecting and preventing crime.

As I’ve reported, the FBI spends an average of $42 million per year to pay informants and does so with absolutely no financial or legal accountability. Confidential human sources are paid in cash; they can offer their services for a variety of reasons including financial need or to obtain a change in immigration status. FBI agents are required to keep at least one informant on the books, an FBI whistleblower told me; successfully using a CHS to bust up a crime is one way to get promoted.

Jury Finds Danchenko Not Guilty on All Counts of Lying to the FBI

October 19, 2022October 18, 2022 Just the News

A jury on Tuesday found Steele dossier contributor Igor Dancheko not guilty on all counts pursuant to charges of lying to the FBI about his relationship with the sources for the Trump opposition research documents.

The case was led by Special Counsel John Durham who led much of the prosecution’s questioning of witnesses in the case and whose intent for the trial was at least in part intended to expose the FBI’s mishandling of the large Russia-2016 Trump campaign collusion probe.

FBI Whistleblower: Bureau Using Excessive Tactics to Ensure ‘Process is the Punishment’

October 18, 2022October 17, 2022 Just the News

An FBI agent in Florida says he chose to blow the whistle on his agency because it has not been following its own rules while investigating the Jan. 6 riot, designing cases to exaggerate the threat of domestic terrorism in America and using excessive tactics to ensure “the process is the punishment” even if a suspect is innocent.

“We took an oath, before our family and our friends and the Lord Almighty, and we are supposed to be people of integrity,” suspended FBI Special Agent Steve Friend told Just the News in a wide-ranging interview. “And that’s not a leisure pursuit. And if you are indeed a person of fidelity, bravery, integrity — the FBI motto — and you have to be willing to do things that aren’t easy, especially when they’re as simple as stepping up and pointing out when we are not meeting the standards that we have set out for ourselves.”

John Durham Puts FBI on Trial Alongside Its Russian Collusion Informant

October 15, 2022October 14, 2022 Just the News

Igor Danchenko is the named defendant at this week’s trial, charged with lying as an informant in the now discredited Russia collusion investigation. But with probing questions and searing redirects, Special Counsel John Durham has turned the Russian researcher’s trial in the U.S. District courtroom in Alexandria, Va., into an expose of stunning FBI failures and omissions in its now-infamous pursuit of Donald Trump for crimes that turned out to be nonexistent.

‘Guns Pointed at Me’: FBI Arrests Father of 11 in Front of His Children for Pro-Life Work

October 13, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

The Federal Bureau of Investigation this week arrested a pro-life father of 11 children, charging him with “conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act, and committing FACE Act violations.”

Paul Vaughn of Centerville, Tennessee, told The Daily Signal in a Friday phone interview that FBI came to the door of his home, “guns pointed at the door, banging on the house, yelling and screaming, ‘Open up. FBI,’ that kind of thing. When I opened the door and saw the guns pointed at me, I asked them what they wanted, who they were looking for, and they said they wanted me.”

FBI to Investigate ‘Hate Speech’ Attack on School That Banned Girls from Their Own Locker Room

October 13, 2022October 12, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

The FBI is helping investigate an anti-LGBTQ hate speech attack that occurred on a Vermont school district’s website, according to a Tuesday statement by the superintendent.

The Orange Southwest School District’s website is currently disabled following an Oct. 1 attack to its website which included “hate speech, symbols, and photographs targeting transgender individuals,” according to the VT Digger. The FBI is working to investigate the attack, according to a statement by the superintendent Layne Millington.

Durham Shows Jurors Emails to Prove Danchencko Concealed, Lied to FBI About Steele Dossier Sources

October 13, 2022October 12, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

In the opening of the second day of Special Counsel John Durham’s case against Russia intelligence expert Igor Danchencko, Durham walked jurors through a series of emails to bolster his case that Danchenko lied to the FBI about gathering information in the agency’s 2016 Russia collusion probe.

Danchenko faces five counts for allegedly lying to the FBI about his role in gathering information about then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump during his 2016 White House bid, as part of a federal investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

FBI Intel Analyst Tells Durham Agency Offered Steele $1 Million to Corroborate Dossier

October 12, 2022October 11, 2022 Just the News

An FBI analyst on Tuesday in federal court told Special Counsel John Durham the agency offered former British spy Christopher Steele “up to $1 million” to corroborate evidence in his now-discredited dossier that was central to a federal investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.

Commentary: Liberal Media Brazenly Spin Rising Violent Crime as Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

October 10, 2022October 9, 2022 Admin

Violent crime remains intolerably high, but the left wants you to think that perception is just a concoction of right-wing media.

After more than a decade of violent crime decreases with just a few interludes, crime has shot back up to levels not seen since the early 1990s.

When the left acknowledges this fact, it often does so by tying the violent crime increase to the sale of guns. However, there’s no evidence that the additional crimes are being committed by law-abiding gun owners.

The FBI Has a Sexual Misconduct Problem, Whistleblowers Reveal

October 9, 2022October 8, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

Hundreds of FBI employees avoided discipline for sexual misconduct by retiring or resigning amid investigations from 2004 to 2020, according to Department of Justice records obtained by Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Whistleblower documents revealed that 665 FBI employees, including 45 senior executives, left their jobs following investigations into alleged sexual misconduct before they could be disciplined, according to Grassley. Higher ranking officials were subjected to less severe penalties than other staff, according to the documents.

Commentary: Steven D’Antuono Is the FBI’s Hatchet Man

October 8, 2022October 7, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

Defense attorneys representing two men recently convicted for conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 are seeking a new federal trial for their clients amid claims of jury and judicial misconduct. (The men, Adam Fox and Barry Croft were found guilty in August in a second trial; a jury in April failed to reach a verdict on them. Two co-defendants were acquitted after jurors concluded the men had been entrapped by the FBI.) A separate state trial for three other men accused of participating in the scheme is now underway in Jackson, Michigan.

Murder Rate Rose More than 30 Percent in Two Years, FBI Report Suggests

October 7, 2022October 6, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

The number of murders nationwide rose by approximately 30% during 2020 and 2021, according to the FBI National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

The estimated aggregate national murder volume increased by 4.3% in 2021, adding to the 29.4% rise from 2019 to 2020, the FBI’s NIBRS trend analysis report said. The bureau cited a 1% decrease in violent crime in 2021 compared to the year prior, stating that the crime rates were “consistent,” according to a 2021 release.

Commentary: National Archives Scraps ‘Transparency’ Mission When It Comes to Trump Documents

October 6, 2022October 5, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

The Biden administration has turned what should be the most transparent of government agencies, the National Archives and Records Administration, into one of the least transparent agencies—rivaling even the FBI.

Established in 1934, the National Archives has a mission to identify, protect, preserve, and make publicly available all historically valuable records.

FBI Doesn’t Say If Any Suspects Have Been Arrested in 150 Attacks on Pro-Life Groups and Churches

October 6, 2022October 5, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

It’s unclear whether the FBI has arrested a single person following at least 150 attacks, threats and other incidents against pro-life advocacy groups, crisis pregnancy centers and churches following the May 2 leak of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.

House GOP: FBI Retaliating Against Whistleblowers and Conservative Agents

October 2, 2022October 1, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

On Thursday, three Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives claimed that the FBI has been actively retaliating against agents who are suspected of being whistleblowers, as well as those who hold conservative beliefs.

As The Daily Caller reports, a letter was sent to Jennifer Moore, Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s Human Resource Branch, detailing these allegations. The letter was signed by three members of the House Judiciary Committee: Congressmen Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), and Mike Johnson (R-La.).

Trump Scores Another Win in Mar-a-Lago Case

October 2, 2022October 1, 2022 Just the News

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday scored a major win in the ongoing court battle pertaining to the FBI’s seizure of documents from his Mar-a-Lago estate in early August.

“There shall be no separate requirement on Plaintiff at this stage, prior to the review of any of the Seized Materials, to lodge ex ante final objections to the accuracy of Defendant’s Inventory, its descriptions, or its contents,” wrote U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in the Thursday ruling.

Commentary: Time to Investigate the FBI’s Confidential Human Sources Program

October 1, 2022September 30, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

To the surprise of no one paying attention, the Department of Justice recently acknowledged the use of several FBI informants in its investigation of the Oath Keepers, an alleged militia group tied to the events of January 6.

Prosecutors last week asked for a protective order to conceal from jurors information about confidential human sources (CHS) expected to testify during the seditious conspiracy trial of five members of the Oath Keepers; jury selection is now underway. Not only does the government want to prevent defense attorneys from asking personal questions that could reveal the informants’ identities but prosecutors don’t want the sources to publicly disclose any involvement in past or pending criminal investigations or details of “the FBI’s CHS program and the training and methods used by the FBI as part of their undercover operations.”

Commentary: Durham Prosecutes FBI Informants, Protects Their Handlers

September 30, 2022September 29, 2022 RealClearWire

Since being named special counsel in October 2020, John Durham has investigated or indicted several unscrupulous anti-Trump informants. But he has spared the FBI agents who handled them, raising suspicions he’s letting investigators off the hook in his waning investigation of misconduct in the Russiagate probe.

In recent court filings, Durham has portrayed the G-men as naive recipients of bad information, tricked into opening improper investigations targeting Donald Trump and obtaining invalid warrants to spy on one of his advisers.

Ex-FBI Official Who Led Unabomber Task Force Decries Deployment of SWAT Teams for January 6 Arrests

September 29, 2022September 28, 2022 Just the News

The man who led the FBI Unabomber task force — which ultimately arrested violent suspected terrorist Theodore Kaczynski without deploying a tactical team — is now decrying the use of SWAT teams to arrest Jan. 6 defendants for misdemeanors and warning of the politicization of the bureau.

The FBI doesn’t use SWAT teams for misdemeanors and has rarely used them to arrest nonviolent offenders, said Terry Turchie, former deputy assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI, in an interview with Just the News.

FBI Whistleblower: ‘Nobody I Know Signed Up’ to Investigate Parents Who Vented at School Board Meetings

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

An FBI whistleblower who was recently suspended said in an interview this week that he became a whistleblower last November because of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s email ordering the FBI to use Patriot Act counterterrorism tools to target parents at school board meetings.

Special Agent Kyle Seraphin, who was indefinitely suspended on June 1 after nearly six years with the Bureau, said that he was so disturbed by the directive, he went to his congresswoman’s office in New Mexico, and made a “protected disclosure.”

Key Lawmaker Worried FBI Whistleblowers Facing Retaliation as Evidence of Politicization Mounts

September 25, 2022September 24, 2022 Just the News

An FBI whistleblower who alleges the bureau has been diverting resources to create a false political narrative that America has a violent domestic extremism problem has been suspended, raising concerns about retaliation for cooperating with Congress.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and its likely chairman if the GOP wins the House in November, confirmed to Just the News that Steve Friend, a whistleblower whose identity was outed on TV recently, is facing some form of disciplinary action.