Thread by @TimInHonolulu

1. How did I predict in May 2016 that Trump and his crew would be rolled up by #FISA? It was easy if you understand what FISA is and what it is not.

https://twitter.com/TimInHonolulu/status/735259427800899584

2. First a little background. I was harangued by family to go to law school. Janet Reno told me at her mother's 70's birthday party, if I was half as smart as my brother John, I'd be a good attorney. I eventually relented giving up my dreams of an acting career and went.

3. Two years after I passed the bar, my brother became the person handling FISA for Janet at the DOJ. He never said anything about it other than to read the statute. Having just passed the bar when most lawyers know more law than any time in their careers especially Con Law,

4. my eyes bugged out. Here's the title to the main section:
"Electronic surveillance authorization without court order."
Warrant-less searches? Say what?
Ex parte court that only hears from the Govt? Huh?
Most lawyers wouldn't believe it possible.

5. So what is FISA?
Remember Watergate? Nixon had used the CIA and the NSA to spy on his enemies. After the Church Committee the IC was the subject of Congressional oversight to prevent another Nixon from being able to spy on Americans.

6. So what is FISA?
Remember Watergate? Nixon had used the CIA and the NSA to spy on his enemies. After the Church Committee the IC was the subject of Congressional oversight to prevent another Nixon from being able to spy on Americans.

7. I was at a luncheon and the guest speaker was a Navy Captain who commanded NSA here. What became clear to me for the first time is the fact that the NSA is part of the DOD. They are war fighters who have been engaged in protecting America since

8. the 1930s. They don't get noticed because their mission is top secret. So how does that have anything to do with Trump in May 2016? It has to do with the mob that Trump chose to associate with. The Italian mob knew to never betray America. Perhaps a mix of myth and fact

9. Lucky Luciano is credited as having assisted the war effort. The fictional Godfather portrayed the Don's youngest son as a war hero. Whether true or just a nice story the fact is that the Italians in organized crime knew to never cross that line.

10. Then came the Russians starting in the 1970's. First the Refusnik Russian Jews were allowed to immigrate and that opened the door to more. As the Soviet empire collapsed and the criminals who had been the last ones on duty stole all the Russian people's wealth, they were able

11. to establish a broad and powerful network of Russian organized crime that were loyal to their patrons in Moscow. But the Italians were also loyal to their Italian patrons but with one big difference: They were never officially the government of Italy. For the Russians

12. Putin's huge mob syndicate not only ran the rackets they ran the country too. And that's why I said Trump would trigger FISA. The only probable cause needed for a FISA warrant is that the target is more likely than not "an agent of a foreign power." There is no need to

13. allege that a crime was committed. So the fact that Trump was a Russian mob underling made him an agent of a foreign power. Was there ever a Trump FISA warrant? First, there didn't have to be. Remember, the NSA can conduct surveillance in Russia without a warrant

14. How many times has Donald Trump been discussed by people associated with Russian government who were in Russia at the time in the past 30 years? All that is legal to intercept under FISA Section 702. The identity of US persons get masked and that data becomes NSA treasure.

15. When I saw the Nunes Gowdy team go after Carter Page's FISA, I laughed. Their document request didn't get the good stuff. But we got to see for the first time what a FISA application looks like. But there have likely been many many more Nunes clown car missed..

16. Now that the size and scope of the Russian infiltration is likely known to federal prosecutors their actions are being conducted under non-FISA investigative methods but those methods are cumbersome. I remember my brother telling me how much work it took to get a wiretap.

17. But once a FISA order is issued the scope of the surveillance is limitless and the tools used are the ones created by our war fighters, not our crime fighters. The people who betrayed us to Russia are all about to enter the deepest level of Hell.

18. There are certainly many loyal Americans who have been engaged in actions on behalf of the Russian mob. They have a very small window of time to come forward and provide evidence to the FBI. The ones who either through fear or treachery choose to remain in the conspiracy

19. may soon learn the high price of treason.