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Tuesday, November 14, 2017 - 1:30pm

 

Tom Fitton's Video Weekly Update

 

 

 

 

 

Inside Judicial Watch: The Forgotten Soldier -- a Fort Hood Survivor's Tragic Story 

 

 

 

JW Pres. Tom Fitton on Sanctuary Cities, Voter Fraud by Illegal Aliens, & Enforcing Immigration Laws

 

 

 

 

 

 

Judicial Watch sues DOJ over Comey’s Senate testimony

 

 

 

 

Fusion GPS co-founder cuts deal to talk about Trump dossier

 

 

 

 

In The News

 

 

 

 

Watchdog sues to see if James Comey 'coordinated' testimony with Robert Mueller

 

(Washington Examiner) A conservative watchdog group is suing the Justice Department to find out if former FBI Director James Comey “coordinated” with special counsel Robert Mueller before Comey's appearance before Congress. Judicial Watch wants “all records of communications” between Comey and the Justice Department, which would include communications to Mueller, in the run-up to Comey's appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June. Congressional investigators wanted information on Comey’s firing by President Trump, as some lawmakers suspected the move was an attempt to impede a federal investigation into whether his campaign coordinated with the Russian government’s cyber attacks against the Democratic party in 2016.
READ MORE

 

Records show funds from companies sued by DOJ steered by DOJ to leftist causes

 

(World Tribune) A $1 billion “slush fund” set up by companies which were sued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) went to nonprofits allied with the Obama administration, a government watchdog group said.

DOJ records obtained in a lawsuit by Judicial Watch reveal the Obama administration’s policy of settling government lawsuits against corporate defendants by requiring the corporations to make “donations” to leftist interest groups.
READ MORE

 

Under Obama’s leadership, Border Patrol used faulty IT system that didn’t keep border safe

 

(The Blaze) Under former President Barack Obama’s leadership, the Department of Homeland Security failed to equip its employees at the border with the tools they needed to effectively do their jobs. What happened? According to a new report released by conservative watchdog Judicial Watch, the IT system that Customs and Border Protection agents use is unreliably slow, frequently blacks out and fails to prevent entry to foreigners with “harmful intent.” A recent DHS inspector general’s report revealed the faulty systems, which thousands of CBP agents rely on.
READ MORE

 

 

 

BEST OF THE REST

 

 

 

 

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Corruption Chronicles

 

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NewsWatch 

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In September 2015, 193 countries signed up to support the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals for our planet and the people that live on it. “The promise to leave no one behind is the most difficult commitment of this new social contract,” says Thomas Gass. “It requires that we all seek to understand who the most vulnerable people are and what risks they face, and then systematically empower these people and build their resilience.”

Thomas Gass was appointed by the UN Secretary-General as Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs in UN DESA and he took office on 3 September 2013. Gass believes the SDG’s are a “shared vision of humanity” and not just a “development strategy for big international organizations to fix the problems in the South.” Leaders need to understand that “sustainability has been redefined,” and that “no group must be left behind.” He adds that when “poverty or pollution or climate change happen in another country far away, that does not mean that we are not part of the cause of these problems and their necessary solution.”

Read the full article here

CMRubinWorld launched in 2010 to explore what kind of education would prepare students to succeed in a rapidly changing globalized world. Its award-winning series, The Global Search for Education, is a highly regarded trailblazer in the renaissance of 21st century education, and occupies a widely respected place in the pulse of key issues facing every nation and the collective future of all children. It connects today’s top thought leaders with a diverse global audience of parents, students and educators. Its highly readable platform allows for discourse concerning our highest ideals and the sustainable solutions we must engineer to achieve them. C. M. Rubin has produced over 500 interviews and articles discussing an extensive array of topics under a singular vision: when it comes to the world of children, there is always more work to be done.

For more information on CMRubinWorld

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Comey’s Illegal Leak?
November 10, 2017
 

 

(Weekly Update: Live with Tom Fitton)

Justice Department: Comey’s Leak to New York Times was Unauthorized, Compares to Wikileaks
We Sue Department of Justice Over Comey’s Controversial Senate Testimony
Happy Veterans Day 

 

Justice Department: Comey’s Leak to New York Times was Unauthorized, Compares to Wikileaks

There are too many contradictions and curiosities in the James B. Comey affair for it to stay covered up forever.
 
This week we announced that the Justice Department is now comparing former FBI Director Comey to WikiLeaks. After Comey was fired by President Trump on May 9, 2017, he gave the New York Times a February 14, 2017, memorandum written about a one-on-one conversation he had with President Trump regarding former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
 
We are asking a federal court to order the release of all Comey’s unclassified memoranda about his one-on-one conversations with the president.
 
Comey testified under oath before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that he authored as many as nine such memos about his one-on-one conversations with President Trump. He also admitted, regarding the “Flynn” memo, “I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter [for The New York Times] … I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.” The New York Times published a report about the memo on May 16, 2017. Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed the following day.
 
On June 16, 2017, we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the Department of Justice failed to respond to a May 16 FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:17-cv-01189)). Judicial Watch seeks:

FBI Director James Comey’s February 14, 2017 memorandum … memorializing an Oval Office conversation he had with the President on that date regarding former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

In our lawsuit we refute the Justice Department’s claim of exemption for law enforcement purposes:

Ex-Director Comey plainly did not use the February 14 Memo for any recognized or legitimate law enforcement purpose. He used it to settle a score with the President, who had just fired him.

We argue that if disclosure of the “Flynn” memo would harm the Russia investigation, then the Justice Department should have taken steps to “address Ex-Director Comey’s removal of the memo from the FBI, leaking of the memo to the media, and subsequent testimony about the memo, to the extent that testimony was unauthorized and not coordinated with [the Justice Department], the FBI, and/or Special Counsel Mueller. Removal of government records is a federal offense.”
 
While the Justice Department compares Comey to WikiLeaks, it makes no claim to have addressed Comey’s misconduct. We point out that its “failure to do so further undercuts any claim of harm” to an ongoing law enforcement investigation.
 
On September 7, 2017, we filed another FOIA lawsuit on behalf of the Daily Caller News Foundation after the Department of Justice failed to respond to a June 9 FOIA request (Daily Caller News Foundation v. U.S. Department Justice (No. 1:17-cv-01830)). The lawsuit seeks:

All unclassified memoranda authored by former FBI Director James Comey that contemporaneously memorialized his discussions with President Donald Trump and his aides [during] the time frame…November 8, 2016 to May 9, 2017.

In the Daily Caller News Foundation suit Judicial Watch argues that neither the FBI nor the Justice Department prevented Comey from testifying, nor do they dispute anything he said. Comey is not under investigation for violating any non-disclosure agreements or removing records from the FBI when he was fired. “Their silence and inaction speak volumes,” Judicial Watch argues.
 
We further debunk the notion that Comey wrote the memos for law enforcement purposes:

[Director Comey] explained, “I knew that there might come a day when I would need a record of what happened, not just to defend myself, but to defend the FBI and – and our integrity as an institution and the independence of our investigation.” … He authored the records not for law enforcement purposes but for administrative and institutional purposes. His testimony could not be clearer.

We argue in both filings against withholding the memoranda under the guise of a national security exemption: The FBI fails to demonstrate that material contained in the memoranda was classified through proper procedures.
 
In its court filing opposing the release, the Justice Department also asserts that some of the Comey memos contain classified material. Both cases have been consolidated in (Cable News Network, Inc., v. Federal Bureau of Investigation (No. 1:17-cv-01167)).
 
“The Freedom of Information Act was designed to give the American people access to the records its government keeps,” said Neil Patel, publisher and CEO of the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This access is fundamental in a democracy like ours. Today, when so many Americans feel detached from a government that they feel often doesn’t serve their interests, this sort of access is more important than ever. When the Daily Caller News Foundation made a reasonable request for access to FBI Director Comey’s memos we were completely stonewalled. Our request is legally sound and completely within the public interest so with the help of our friends at Judicial Watch we are fighting in court to see it through.”
 
We are happy to help our friends at the Daily Caller News Foundation!

And we now have Justice Department confirmation that Comey was wrong to have leaked records to the media to settle a score with President Trump. How can this Justice Department defend its position that memos written for the pernicious purpose of targeting a sitting president with a criminal investigation should remain secret? Mr. Mueller may have an interest in protecting Comey, but the public’s interest demands transparency about Comey’s vendetta against President Trump.

We Sue Department of Justice Over Comey’s Controversial Senate Testimony

What did James Comey know, what were his intentions, and with whom did he discuss them, before his controversial testimony to the Senate?
 
This week, we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for all records of communications relating to former FBI Director Comey’s testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:17-cv-02316)).
 
We sued after the Justice Department failed follow federal law and respond to an August 14, 2017, FOIA request seeking:

All records of communications between the Department of Justice and former FBI Director James Comey prior to and regarding Comey’s testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 8, 2017.

Fox News reported: “A source close to James Comey tells Fox News the former FBI director’s Senate testimony has been ‘closely coordinated’ with Robert Mueller, whom the Justice Department appointed as special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation.”
 
As discussed above, Comey gave testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, in which he admitted he leaked one of the memos in order to get a special counsel appointed to target President Trump.
 
In his testimony Comey detailed multiple conversations with President Trump. Comey confirmed he told President Trump three times that he was not a target of investigation and testified about President Trump’s firing of him.
 
Indeed, on May 16, 2017, The New York Times reported that it received a leaked memorandum from former Director Comey detailing a conversation between President Trump and Comey regarding the FBI’s investigation of potential Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election.
 
Mr. Comey may have violated the law in leaking these memos to the media. It would be a scandal if Comey coordinated his Senate testimony with Mr. Mueller’s special counsel office. That we have had to sue in federal court speaks volumes.
 
We are pursuing numerous additional FOIA lawsuits (see hereherehere, and here) relating to former Director Comey’s memoranda and FBI exit records.
 
We also sent Acting FBI Director Andrew G. McCabe a warning letter concerning the FBI’s legal responsibility under the Federal Records Act (FRA) to recover records, including memos Comey subsequently leaked to the media, unlawfully removed from the Bureau by former Director James Comey.
 
We will keep pushing for the truth about what looks to be the scandal of the century.

 

Happy Veterans Day

 

Judicial Watch’s anti-corruption work is the least we can do for our country compared to the risks and sacrifices taken by those who protected our Republic in military service. We all should pray for peace – but Judicial Watch will, in the meantime, fight for the truth.  As President Reagan said in his 1985 Veterans Day remarks:

We endanger the peace and confuse all issues when we obscure the truth; when we refuse to name an act for what it is; when we refuse to see the obvious and seek safety in Almighty.  Peace is only maintained and won by those who have clear eyes and brave minds.

Judicial Watch benefits from the unique experience of the veterans on our staff.  And we are proud that countless veterans who, with “clear eyes and brave minds,” generously support Judicial Watch’s work. Thank you all for your service and have a wonderful Veterans Day.
 

Until next week …

 

 

 
Tom Fitton
President