Carter Page
DOJ and FBI officials involved in the wiretapping of Trump’s former campaign advisor Carter Page have been barred from seeking surveillance.
Presiding FISA judge James Boasberg on Wednesday issued the new rule in a 19-page order.
“There is thus little doubt that the government breached its duty of candor to the Court with respect to those applications,” Boasberg wrote.
“FBI personnel under disciplinary review in relation to their work on FISA applications accordingly should not participate in drafting, verifying, reviewing, or submitting such applications to the Court while the review is pending,” he said.
“The same prohibition applies to any DOJ attorney under disciplinary review, as well as any DOJ or FBI personnel who are the subject of a criminal referral related to their work on FISA applications.”
In December, DOJ IG Horowitz released a FISA abuse report revealing the FBI made 17 “significant” errors and omissions when seeking the Carter Page wiretaps.
In total, the appendix to Horowitz’s report identified a total of 51 Woods Procedures violations by Comey’s FBI.
The “Woods Procedures” were designed to protect American citizens to “ensure accuracy with regard to … the facts supporting probable cause” after recurring abuses where the FBI presented inaccurate information to the FISC.
FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith and FBI counterintelligence investigator Stephen Somma, recently identified as “Case Agent 1” mentioned in Horowitz’s report are likely included in the group of officials banned from seeking surveillance matters.
Kevin Clinesmith, who is currently under criminal investigation by John Durham, altered a document to say Carter Page ‘was not a source’ for the CIA, when he actually was.
Stephen Somma did not tell the FISA court that Carter Page had a prior relationship with the CIA and also withheld exculpatory information.
This order from Judge Boasberg does not go far enough.
These FBI and DOJ officials who illegally obtained wiretaps on Carter Page should not only be banned from seeking surveillance, they should be prosecuted and imprisoned.
