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Anti-Trump FBI officials discussed ways to avoid transparency requirements

Newly released texts between the anti-Trump FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page show that they discussed ways in which they could evade regulations that made their communications public records.

Former FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page discussed getting new Apple iPhones, in lieu of their Samsung 5 government issued phones in text messages they exchanged in August 2016. They noted in the texts that the new phones would help keep their text messages from government collection after speaking with the FBI’s IT director, according to newly released August 2016 text messages.

“According to text messages produced by the committee, Ms. Page and Mr. Strzok make references to communicating with other FBI employees via text message, phone call, email, and voice mail,” stated Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Johnson, in a letter dated Jan. 31, to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. “Additional text messages suggest that FBI officials used non-official email accounts and messaging programs to communicate about official business.”

The article includes some texts, such as this juicy tidbit:

Strzok: “Hot damn. I’m happy to pilot that…we get around our security/monitoring issues?”

Page: “No, he’s proposing that we just stop following them. Apparently, the requirement to capture texts came from omb, but we’re the only org (I’m told) who is following that rule. His point is, if no one else is doing it why should we.”

Not only were these officials apparently conspiring to sabotage the election, they were eager to break basic transparency laws to do it.

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22 comments

  • Cotour

    This afternoon I listened for a while to Adam Schiff speaking at the University Of Pennsylvania. His focus was the “Memo” and related issues. And if you listen to him he comes across as fairly reasonable but being a democrat he focuses more on the potential of the Mueller / Trump Russia collusion potential / connection (He just knows there is something there there). How far does he insist that it go? All the way back many years to Trumps real estate business and his Deutsche bank relationship and the Russians possibly lending Trump Big $$$..

    Now I can make an argument that that might be interesting information to know but does it really belong in the investigation concerned with the 2016 election and what is turning out to be a contrived Russian connection? Their is a line and this Mueller investigation appears to be solely initiated by DOJ and FBI and the Hillary machine provided, lets be kind and say massaged intelligence.

    Schiff is entirely unable to see the documented abuse of power of any of the FBI or DOJ actors, he just will not have any of that. He apparently, and many Democrats agree, that the FBI and the DOJ are to never be challenged or questioned. Now that on its face is disturbing to me since we all understand that abuse of power is the natural state of government and government agencies especially if they understand that they will never be challenged or questioned. That position is very dangerous to my thinking.

    Schiff also very lawyerly states that unlike the Republicans who are “irresponsibly” demanding that the memo and its potential to undermine the abuse of power of the FBI and the DOJ to be corrupt be released, he wants to do things “Right”. But his interpretation of “Right” bothers me.

    Schiff, in his talk smoothly elevates himself to be the moral superior to anyone who demands that the memo be released and reveal all of the corruption and abuse of power and the threat to the Constitution itself that is going on and has been going on at the highest levels of both the FBI and the DOJ in order to promote a particular political power structure.

    Thats where this all boils down to, political party warfare and the ability of the people to know is predicated on political interests and who happens to be in power at the moment.

    I say, release the Memo and let the pieces fall where they may, and then we will rebuild what we need to rebuild, but do not strive to hide from the people what they plainly have a naturally born right to know. The government is a function of the people Mr. Schiff, its funny how lawyers can convince themselves to think (Read: Not funny).

  • wayne

    We need 8 years of the previous administration’s, Gmail account, traffic. Especially ALL the communications, to the server, in the guest-house, in Chappaqua.

    The relevant clip for Adam Schiffless to ponder, as he’s rendered off-shore, to sunny Cuba..

    (Language alert)
    True Grit 1969
    “Bold Talk for a One-Eyed Fat Man”
    https://youtu.be/9-cPWheNyaA?t=17

  • wodun

    Page: “No, he’s proposing that we just stop following them. Apparently, the requirement to capture texts came from omb, but we’re the only org (I’m told) who is following that rule. His point is, if no one else is doing it why should we.”

    The real story here isn’t the corruption of the FBI. The story is the entire Obama administration was corrupt. Secret emails and burner phones to conduct official business was the norm in every single Obama controlled agency. Obama could only get away with this level of corruption because the DOJ was corrupt and because the media was complicit in hiding this from the American people.

  • wayne

    wodun-
    Nicely stated.

  • Cotour

    ” Obama could only get away with this level of corruption because the DOJ was corrupt and because the media was complicit in hiding this from the American people.”

    More correctly, Obama and his minions felt un-threatened by the threat of any criminal consequences because………………………………..Hillary WAS GOING TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT.

    The entire operation and level of governmental corruption is based entirely on this “fact”, everything corrupt in this government leads to Hillary Clinton. No one felt that they had any exposure to charges of criminality because the head criminal was going to be the next president. This is how, whether through plan or association the communal criminality that the ruthless Hillary Clinton let be known effects all that came in contact with it.

    And a part of this thinking, like Strzok’s girlfriend pointed out to him “You don’t want to go in loaded for bear”, referring to his interview of Hillary on the email server.

    Fear that she would be the next president was a palpable fact that they ALL understood. Ma Barker had nothing on Hillary. “You mean wipe it with a cloth?”. A master criminal, no one has ever had more blind ambition than she, NO ONE.

  • wayne

    Cotour–
    -don’t get stuck in the last 2-3 years, Obama was president for 8 full years.

    V for Vendetta:
    “The Revolutionary Speech”
    https://youtu.be/KKvvOFIHs4k?t=66

  • wayne

    I don’t want to rain on this parade, ‘cuz every little bit, is at least some-thing.
    I just don’t think-
    These Are The Droids We’re Looking For
    https://youtu.be/GO_xfR64qSk
    0:20

    This goes way deep, and way back, from the bottom to the top.
    Yeah– we’ve always had a certain background rate of criminality in American-politics, but in my opinion, all this corruption & political criminality is at an intolerable rate & has almost totally institutionalized itself.
    The tipping point, came and went, (sometime in my lifetime, I don’t know. FRD & the New Deal weren’t so great either, but I wasn’t alive then, and can only compare how things were, to how things are, and something is terribly wrong in DC and I think a lot of us would agree on that) and these fellow-travelers, useful idiots, and mastermind weasels, have embedded themselves into the System to such a degree, getting them out or keeping them in line, is a chore unto itself.

  • Cotour

    No, Mr. Panetta, the system of checks and balances has already broken down, long ago broken down.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/371938-panetta-constitutional-crisis-if-trump-allows-memo-to-be-released

    Once again a government insider can only see as though the people are an extension of, in this case, the FBI.

    Being on the inside for so long just screws with your perspective and you forget, its understandable. Luckily WE THE PEOPLE are still able to remind them what is ultimately the proper sequence of concerns, this time. Shine the light, let resign whom ever needs to do so and fire whom ever needs to be fired, and indict whom ever needs to be indicted.

    Unfortunately it will be those in the rank and file of the agencies that were used as a political weapon who it will be easily proven have surrendered their fiduciary responsibilities, those politicians who have been empowered who are at the head of the guilt line have a whole nother level of culpability and evidence to be established before they too can be reconciled with their surrendered fiduciary responsibilities and sworn oath to uphold the Constitution.

    Let it shine.

  • wodun

    wayne
    February 1, 2018 at 5:25 pm

    Cotour–
    -don’t get stuck in the last 2-3 years, Obama was president for 8 full years.

    Yup!

    Yeah– we’ve always had a certain background rate of criminality in American-politics,

    And Obama was proof that the arc of history doesn’t always bend toward justice. He looked at all the past presidents, selected actions now considered their most corrupt acts, and then did them all himself.

    Reagan had Iran Contra. Obama had his own. Nixon had Watergate. Obama did ten times that. Obama viewed Bush as starting illegal wars, so he started his own. Obama was the worst of the modern presidents all wrapped into one.

  • Cotour

    With the release of the “Memo” which apparently establishes that the Steele dossier was a hit piece, ultimately paid for by the Hillary DNC, and was the essential foundation of all of the FISA court permissions to spy on then candidate Trump and also president elect Trump.

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/house-intel-memo-released-what-it-says/article/2647937

    The coup against Trump has now been revealed and smashed, today, February 2, 2018 is the first true day of the Trump administration. Stay tuned.

  • Cotour: This report does not show us the actual memo. It appears the House intelligence committee has voted to declassify after getting Trump’s approval, and will release later today. The information in this story is merely a new leak about what is in the memo.

    I want to see the memo itself. It is only four pages. There is no reason to read a summary, and no reason to read one that is merely a leak.

  • Cotour

    My not being a formal journalist I can come to certain logical conclusions about things that you may not be able to come to. I stand by my conclusions.

    We wait for the actual memo.

  • Cotour: In this case I do not speak as a journalist, but as an ordinary person who has learned that it is very unreliable to depend on leaks. I want to read the real thing.

    Though in this case I am confident the leaks are probably very accurate.

  • Cotour

    I will also conclude that if what I have put forth is true that by extension the Mueller special prosecutor investigation is over. If the investigation can reasonably answer the question: Did the Trump campaign collude with the Russians to secure the 2016 presidential election?

    If that answer is reasonably determined to be no then the investigation is over. And then we can investigate the level of Muellers involvement over the years in everything from 911 to the Trump investigation. It is reasonable
    that what will come out is that the leadership of both the FBI and the DOJ (and the Hillary DNC) are all dirty to some degree and by extension are a continuing threat to the Constitution.

  • wayne

    The actual memo is now available on-line. The government-server however, is currently overloaded. (it’s about a 1.5mb pdf file.)

    Now… we need to see ALL the gmails from the past 8 years.

  • Cotour

    We will view them soon enough.

    This, I was going to say has the potential to be sooooooo big that Water Gate will be seen as a little girls tea party is an understatement. That is and understatement.

    This Memo and what it reveals will be the foundation of fundamentally reconnecting with the Constitution.

  • wayne

    wodun–
    good stuff!

    “Mark Levin talks wiretapping of Trump campaign” (part 1)
    March 2017
    https://youtu.be/4X4sjJJqMIo

    I distinctly recall, Levin was attacked mercilessly as a right-wing-nazi, conspiracy nut, for simply compiling the facts, from MSM news reports at the time.

  • Cotour

    It can be read right now at Drudge.

  • Cotour

    Lets cherry pick the essential points, short and sweet:

    1. The initial Carter Page FISA warrant that set it all off was misrepresented to the court, they basically lied to the FISA judge so the entire special investigation I will assume is invalid.

    2. They also did not reveal to the judge that Steele revealed that he had extreme bias against Trump becoming president.

    3. It was not revealed that the DNC essentially paid Steele. The dossier is not research but a political hit piece paid for by trumps opposition.

    4. McCabe testified that no warrant would have been granted by the court if the court knew what the FBI / DOJ knew and understood.

    5. DOJ #4 Bruce Ohr, and the fact that his wife worked directly for Fusion, was concealed from the court.

    6. The Hillary interviewer and indictment softening Strzock, and his girl friend Page communications and conspiracy against Trump becoming president.

    7. Steele, an FBI agent essentially, fed information about the dossier to certain cooperative media outlets.

  • Edward

    wayne wrote: “these fellow-travelers, useful idiots, and mastermind weasels, have embedded themselves into the System to such a degree, getting them out or keeping them in line, is a chore unto itself.

    Especially since the government rules and laws hinder firing most of the people in government who need firing.

    wayne wrote: “The actual memo is now available on-line. The government-server however, is currently overloaded.

    Since the server is overloaded, it seems that this topic is especially important to Americans. Maybe this time something will get done, unlike Hillary Clinton and Lois Lerner.

  • wayne

    off thread, but I’ll toss this in, ‘cuz it’s in front of the pay-wall.

    Louder with Crowder #277
    “Crowder is Back; Trump did What?”
    featuring Ben Shapiro & Gavin McInnes
    https://youtu.be/jcsQBciFTRY
    1:12:50

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