Obama-Era State Department Official Provides More Evidence Of FISA Abuse

The Federalist:  Kathleen Kavalec’s notes provide at least four more pieces of proof to the already-conclusive case of FISA abuse and wrongful government targeting.

In October 2016, the Obama administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) obtained the first of four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court surveillance orders on former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page. More than a year later, and following an intensive investigation into the FISA process by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), Rep. Devin Nunes (R–Calif.) released a four-page memorandum detailing FISA abuse related to the Page surveillance order.

Since then, there has been a constant stream of evidence exposing the abuse. The most recent addition came last week when news broke that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec met with dossier author Christopher Steele on October 11, 2016—two weeks before the DOJ and FBI relied on the Steele dossier to obtain a FISA surveillance order targeting Page.

Notes Kavalec took memorializing her meeting with the former MI6 spy, and reports that Kavalec shared with the FBI details of her confab with Steele, provide more proof that Obama administration officials and career DOJ and FBI employees abused the FISA court process.

Ample Evidence of FISA Abuse

Kavalec’s notes provide at least four more pieces of proof to the already conclusive case of FISA abuse. First, as John Solomon highlighted at The Hill, the FISA application stated the FBI had determined Steele to be “reliable” and was “unaware of any derogatory information pertaining” to their source, while Kavalec’s memorandum showed just the opposite—that Steele was not reliable.

In her notes, Kavalec wrote that Steele claimed “the Russians had constructed a ‘technical/human operation run out of Moscow targeting the election’ that recruited emigres in the United States to ‘do hacking and recruiting,’” and that “payments to those recruited are made out of the Russian Consulate in Miami.” But in Kavalec’s log of her meeting with Steele, she corrected his “intel,” writing: “It is important to note that there is no Russian consulate in Miami.”

Second, Kavalec’s meeting notes prove that Steele lied to the FBI and that the FBI, in turn, lied to the FISA court. The FISA application stated that Steele “told the FBI that he/she only provided [the results of his research] to [his] business associate and the FBI.” But in her notes, Kavalec wrote that in “June—reporting started,” and the “NYT and WP have,” indicating both The New York Times and The Washington Post had Steele’s research. Kavalec also added that Steele said he was “managing” four priorities—“Client needs, FBI, WashPo/NYT, source protection.” more here