Judicial Watch Sues for Text Messages of FBI’s Strzok and Page
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit against the Justice Department for text messages and other records of FBI official Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-00154)).
Judicial Watch filed suit after the Justice Department failed to respond to a December 4, 2017, FOIA request for:
The time frame for the requested records is February 1, 2015 to the present.
The text messages are of public interest because Strzok and Page were key investigators in the Clinton email and Trump Russia collusion investigations. Strzok was reportedly removed from the Mueller investigative team in August and reassigned to a human resources position after it was discovered that he and a FBI lawyer, Lisa Page, who worked for FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and with whom Strzok was carrying on an extramarital affair, exchanged pro-Clinton and anti-Trump text messages.
Strzok reportedly oversaw the FBI’s interviews of former National Security Adviser, General Michael Flynn; changed former FBI Director James Comey’s language about Hillary Clinton’s actions regarding her illicit email server from “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless;” played a lead role in the FBI’s interview of Clinton; and is suspected of being responsible for using the unverified dossier to obtain a FISA warrant in order to spy on President Trump’s campaign.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, revealed in a letter dated January 20 that the FBI claimed it is unable to preserve text messages for a five-month period between December 14, 2016, and May 17, 2017, due to “misconfiguration issues” with FBI-issued phones used by Strzok and Page. The missing messages span dates between the presidential transition and the launch of Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, where both Strzok and Page were employed.
The Strzok-Page text messages are potentially responsive to several pending Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuits, but the FBI has yet to produce any of the records, explain the missing records to the courts, or otherwise be forthcoming about these newly disclosed materials.
“I don’t believe for one minute that the Strzok-Page texts are really missing,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The IRS told us that Lois Lerner’s emails were ‘missing,’ and we forced them to admit they existed and deliver them to us. The State Department hid the Clinton emails but our FOIA lawsuits famously blew open that cover-up. We fully intend to get the ‘missing’ Strzok and Page documents. And it is shameful the FBI and DOJ have been playing shell games with these smoking gun text messages. Frankly, FBI Director Wray needs to stop the stonewalling”
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Hunting Guide Illegally Kills Desert Bighorn Sheep in Utah
Arizona man pays more than $30,000 for illegally taking a trophy bighorn ram
Kanab – A well known hunting guide won’t be hunting in Utah—or 46 other states—anytime soon. In addition to losing his hunting privileges for the next 10 years, the guide and outfitter has paid more than $30,000 in fines and restitution.
In July 2017, Larry Altimus of Pearce, Arizona was found guilty of wanton destruction of protected wildlife – trophy desert bighorn sheep, which is a 3rd degree felony in Utah.
An eight-person jury in Kane County listened to three days of testimony before finding Altimus guilty of illegally obtaining a Utah resident hunting permit and then using the permit to kill a desert bighorn sheep ram on the Zion hunting unit in southwestern Utah.
“Kane County Deputy Attorney Jeff Stott did an outstanding job prosecuting this case,” says Mike Fowlks, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. “Hats off to the attorneys in Kane County. Stott and Kane County Attorney Rob Van Dyke did an amazing job.”
Acquiring a permit through fraud
Every time a hunter applies for a Utah big game hunting permit, but doesn’t draw one, he or she receives a bonus point. Every point a hunter obtains increases the odds the hunter will draw a permit in the future.
By 2013, Altimus had earned 21 desert bighorn sheep bonus points in Utah. Even with a high number of points, the chance he’d draw a non-resident bighorn sheep permit were still slim. “But,” Fowlks says, “if he claimed residency in Utah, he knew he had a good chance of drawing a permit reserved for Utah residents.”
In August 2013, Altimus rented a house in Kanab, Utah. In March 2014, he used his Kanab address to apply for one of 10 desert bighorn sheep permits available to Utah residents that year.
In May 2014, he drew the permit. In June 2014, he moved back to Arizona.
In October 2014, Altimus came back to Utah where he killed a huge desert bighorn ram using his fraudulently obtained permit.
Severe penalties
Fowlks says Utah is one of 47 states that are part of the Interstate Wildlife Violators Compact. “If you lose your hunting privileges in one of the states,” he says, “you automatically lose your privileges in all of them. Altimus won’t be hunting in any of the 47 states for a long, long time.”
In addition to losing his hunting privileges for the next 10 years, Altimus paid $30,000 in restitution and a $750 fine for killing the ram. And Utah DWR investigators seized the head and horns of the illegally taken ram.
Utah Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline
If you have information about a poaching case in Utah, or you see something suspicious while you’re in the out-of-doors, please let Utah DWR officers know by calling Utah’s Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline.
The hotline number is 1-800-662-DEER (3337).
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