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TheLastRefuge Profile picture
@TheLastRefuge2
Sep 23, 2020 • 28 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
Worth remembering this statement from the day when IG Horowitz released his report on four FISA applications.
Also worth remembering there is an unknown letter from the DOJ, specifically including Durham requested guidance, that precipitated a response from FISA court presiding judge Boasberg.

intelligence.gov/index.php/ic-o…
We are looking at this in hindsight. The response from the FISC was dated June 25, 2020, so the request for opinion from the court was before June 25th.
The court opinion tells us for the first time, the DOJ is admitting/stating that ALL FOUR of the Carter Page FISA applications were corrupt upon origination. This is a big deal.
In previous filing with the court (January 2020) DOJ only refuted the predication for the second and third renewal.
Within the FISC reply we see the DOJ stating all four submissions contained material omissions and violations of “the duty of candor” (ie. lying) by the FBI investigative unit and the DOJ team that assembled the application(s).

All four of them.
As we look closely at the response from Judge Boasberg we see some very specific language that tells a story.

intelligence.gov/assets/documen…
Apparently the DOJ asked the FISA court for guidance on five very specific issues centering around the Carter Page FISA application. The DOJ was asking for legal guidance to assist them in disclosing information in the FISA file & evidence attached to the FISA file.
The five issues all circle around the FBI/DOJ use of the Carter Page FISA application; and, more importantly, the underlying evidence that is attached to the FISA application. The five topics are very interesting:
I. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material due to FOIA demands. FISC gives legal opinion.
II. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material due to ongoing and anticipated civil litigation. The FISC gives legal opinion and expands to criminal litigation.
III. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material to internal investigative units from the FBI inspectors division (INSD). FISC gives opinion and advice.
IV. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of non-minimized information, and/or, minimized information as part of the ongoing Office of Inspector General oversight. FISC gives opinion and guidance.
V. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material to John Durham probe, both for criminal prosecution and possible evidence gathering attached to other ongoing investigative needs. FISC gives opinion and guidance.
The opinion from the FISC is only 20 pages long, and if you skip the citations it’s a pretty straight forward answer from Judge Boasberg to review. I would urge everyone to take a few minutes and read it… carefully…. to see what John Durham was asking.

intelligence.gov/assets/documen…
Pages #6 and #7 talk specifically about the different requirements for retention and distribution and outlines a cautious approach toward distribution. On this issue the court says allowing a target to escape prosecution is part of the penalty upon the DOJ for wrongful assembly.
The court does not consider the DOJ is targeting the “assemblers” for their criminal conduct. Rather the response is general toward criminals who were targets of a FISA application assembled with corrupt intent. A little weird.
Pages #11 and #12 hit the topic of FOIA production. The court says “some” FOIA requests might warrant document distribution, but not all. However, on the topic of Carter Page getting his FOIA fulfilled, the court supports expansive distribution to Mr. Page.
I find the arguments and issues in/around page #14 to be especially noteworthy. In this segment the court is responding to the underlying raw evidence that would normally be used to assemble a “woods file”.
The court notes the FBI Sentinel system would contain the minimized outcomes (redacted evidence) and this points to a bigger issue.
Note the woods file would be what is in the Sentinel system.

The government (Durham Probe) needs “access to the case file” beyond what is in the Sentinel system. Durham wants to see the raw data, the underlying raw intelligence.

Why?
It looks like Durham investigators were already on the trail of the special counsel creating a Woods file…. and/or wants to see if the Steele Dossier is the original substantive documentation that underpins the Woods file.
Notice how INSD previously received “hard copies” of documentation that is presumed to be the Woods file.
Regardless of motive or investigative suspicion, someone wants to compare the raw intel to the intel that made it into the FBI/DOJ Sentinel system.
In response to this inquiry Judge Boasberg notes FBI investigators would have access to the minimized information within the Sentinel system; however, insofar as there was additional inquiry into the raw and non-minimized intelligence....cont.
cont... a review and distribution would be permissible so long as there was a strong filter team in place to ensure statutes surrounding FISA securities (minimization requirements) were not violated.
Overall, Boasberg gives permission and approval for all six aspects requested. However, he does so with several legal qualifiers and distinctions which the DOJ was told to observe.

/END

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More from @TheLastRefuge2

TheLastRefuge Profile picture
May 1
1. Something really weird is going on here....

It didn't just surface with this oddity.

FOR THE RECORD: I have two decades of documented direct connection between Qatar and the CIA.
2. Here is another QATAR example, of just brutally odd statements that run counter to reality. This time by Steve Witkoff.

theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/03/2…
3. And it just continues... Note the 7-minute mark with Tucker Carlson, and his recent statements to Megyn Kelly.

Read 7 tweets
TheLastRefuge Profile picture
Apr 30
1. The absolute key to the first quarter GDP result is to remember that ‘imports‘ are a deduction in the economic equation of Gross Domestic Product.  The GDP is the valuation of all goods and services produced in the USA *minus* the value of imports.

cc: The insufferable @RandPaul

bea.gov/news/2025/gros…Image
2. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases the results of the first quarter GDP.  The overall economic growth seems low at 0.3% until you look at how U.S. companies responded in February and March to the tariff announcement.

Companies proactively purchased massive amounts of products in advance of the tariffs leading to an overall increase in imports of 41.3%.  Which results in a 5.3% deduction to GDP.  Every dollar of those imports is a deduction to the GDP equation, giving the false appearance of lower domestic production.Image
3. There was a massive surge in import goods purchases of 50.9% versus the prior period [Table 1, line 20].  That’s the largest periodic increase in import purchases I have ever seen.  Simultaneously, fixed asset investment in equipment for domestic production surged 22.5% [Table 1, line 11].

Put both of these metrics together and what you see are U.S. companies building consumer inventory from overseas (imports) while simultaneously preparing themselves to shift production into the USA. 

The massive import purchases are a bridge to cover the time needed to shift the manufacturing from overseas to the USA.  This is exactly what we want to see.
Read 8 tweets
TheLastRefuge Profile picture
Apr 18
1. I'm getting hit with a lot of newly awakened people wondering about AG Pam Bondi; wondering if the stuff from her old days surfacing is accurate.

I will try to encapsulate and provide receipts. The issues with Pam Bondi are much more serious than most understand.

Pam Bondi was the Florida Attorney General during the incident when George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin.

“When I worked with Governor Scott to appoint State Attorney Angela Corey to the case involving Trayvon Martin, I did so with the full confidence that a swift and thorough investigation would be conducted."Image
2. On the evening of February 26, 2012, in Sanford Florida, George Zimmerman fired one shot into the heart of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, fatally killing him.

The Sanford Police lead investigator into the shooting was Chris Serino; the Police Chief was Bill Lee, and the local prosecutor was Norm Wolfinger.

Detective Chris Serino questioned and investigated George Zimmerman, who used a traditional “self-defense” justification for the shooting.  Eventually the case went to trial and the same “self-defense” justification was used in court.  Despite what you might have heard in the media, it was never a “stand your ground” defense.  It simply was not needed.

In addition to questioning Zimmerman, Serino documented two eye-witnesses to the shooting.  One woman in an apartment who saw the initial encounter between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman, and another eye-witness, a man in an adjacent apartment who saw and partially recorded, the entire confrontation as it unfolded on the pathway approximately 20 feet from him.

The second witness called 911 and described in real time what he was seeing.  Trayvon was straddling George in an “MMA style” position and slamming Zimmerman’s head into the sidewalk.  During the 911 recording you can hear Zimmerman calling out, “help me; somebody help me.” [NOTE: Both of those witnesses as well as the recording were later buried but came out at trial.]

After a thorough investigation, all of the statements by George Zimmerman were corroborated by the eye-witnesses, the forensic evidence, the audio recording, and all the physical evidence found at the scene.  Detective Chris Serino gave his investigative report to Police Chief Lee along with the recommendation that Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense was valid and justified.  Serino and Lee then consulted with prosecutor Norm Wolfinger who reviewed the evidence and agreed.Image
3. Trayvon's father, Tracy Martin, was in a new relationship with his girlfriend Brandy Greene. Ms. Greene was a corrections officer.

Ms. Brandy Greene was eventually put into contact with a Florida “civil rights lawyer” named Benjamin Crump.  After some back-and-forth positioning and discussion, Crump decided to champion a wrongful death case for the Martin family against George Zimmerman, the City of Sanford and the Sanford Police Department.

Benjamin Crump hired a PR firm run by Ryan Julison to create media pressure.  Using his civil rights contacts, Crump requested support from groups like Al Sharpton, Dream Defenders, and allies in the DOJ.  That approach led to AG Eric Holder and eventually President Barack Obama.

Additionally, having worked previously (2007) with Florida prosecutor Pam Bondi in the Martin Lee Anderson case, Benjamin Crump called the now Florida Attorney General Bondi for support. 

The detective (Serino) sided with George Zimmerman.  The Police Chief, Bill Lee, agreed with Serino and the evidence.  The local Sanford prosecutor (Norm Wolfinger) refused to bring a case against Zimmerman based on the evidence.

…. Enter Florida AG Pam Bondi, who told Florida Governor Rick Scott a special prosecutor was needed for her friend Ben Crump.
Read 11 tweets
TheLastRefuge Profile picture
Apr 15
1. OK you want to go there? I'm game.

Bongino said "Mistakes were made." You concur. So, let's look at these FBI "mistakes."

Start with this one. This was an FBI mistake? Image
2. 40 FBI agents investigated Trump for two years, knowing there was nothing to investigate.

"mistakes were made?" Image
Image
3. “If these allegations are true and accurate, the Justice Department and FBI are – and have been – institutionally corrupted to their very core to the point in which the United States Congress and the American people will have no confidence in the equal application of the law. Attorney General Garland and Director Wray, simply put, based on the allegations that I’ve received from numerous whistleblowers, you have systemic and existential problems within your agencies.”

drive.google.com/file/d/1EuxPN1…
Read 24 tweets
TheLastRefuge Profile picture
Mar 27
1) **ahem** Also, every argument for retention of 702 is a false premise. Americans either have a 4th Amendment, or we do not. It really is that simple.

Want to conduct electronic surveillance on an American; want to read their "private papers," GET A WARRANT!

This is my hill!
2) Why is this my hill?

Because every downstream action for the surveillance state is predicated on the legal arguments behind FISA 702.

Real ID, facial recognition surveillance, metadata collection, AI enhanced trace and tracking, etc, all of it is contingent upon the arguments within the FISA 702 issue as it relates to the 4th amendment.

If FISA 702 is not a violation of the 4th amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure, then all domestic downstream DHS surveillance, collection and exploitation is similarly not a violation.

If FISA 702 is determined to be a violation of privacy, a violation of the 4th amendment to be secure in your papers and effects (which it is), then all approaches to conduct domestic electronic surveillance through the network of DHS data assembly is also a violation of privacy.

This is a privacy argument that has not reached SCOTUS. It is still being fought with success at state level.

If you are being monitored without a warrant, you have no privacy. The core argument behind 702 authorizes warrantless monitoring.Image
3) This is why the DC system supports FISA 702 with such severity. It is essentially the path through which the U.S. Govt is authorizing itself to conduct surveillance.

This is why the SSCI will not confirm a nominee without them supporting 702. Congress demands every member of the national security apparatus approve domestic surveillance, on behalf of the Intelligence Community who create and operate the systems.

Remove 702 authority and Palantir stock drops overnight. Why? Because the predicate of their domestic product intents, the surveillance software, are dependent on the legal arguments behind it.

Destroy 702, you destroy the 'one ring.'Image
Read 4 tweets
TheLastRefuge Profile picture
Mar 27
Billions of dollars of German auto manufacturing (assembly) investment in Mexico were just vaporized by President Trump. Image
This is a very big kick in the teeth to Germany.  Previously in a long-term strategy to avoid U.S. tariffs, German automakers invested billions in auto assembly plants in Mexico.  Ex. the BMW parts were shipped from Germany and the cars assembled in Mexico.  Now that investment is worthless as the vehicle will be taxed at a rate of 25% regardless of whether it is assembled in Germany or Mexico.
It cannot be overstated how big a hit this will be to the German economy specifically.  That’s why EU President Ursula von der Leyen is couching her words very carefully.

Germany drives the economic engine of the EU, and the Germans care about their money far more than they care about the security of Ukraine.

“As I have said before, tariffs are taxes – bad for businesses, worse for consumers equally in the US and the European Union,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. “We will now assess this announcement, together with other measures the US is envisaging in the next days.”

The EU outlook, specifically financial support, toward the EU/NATO Ukraine strategy will change in 3.... 2....1....Image
Read 8 tweets

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