Justice under AG Barr began vast surveillance program without legal review – in 1992, inspector general finds
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department under Attorney General William Barr launched a vast surveillance program that gathered records of innocent Americans’ international phone calls without first conducting a review of whether it was legal, the department’s inspector general concluded Thursday.
It happened in 1992, the last time Barr served as attorney general.
The secret program, run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, ultimately gathered billions of records of nearly all phone calls from the United States to 116 countries, with little oversight from Congress or the courts, a USA TODAY investigation found. It provided a blueprint for far broader phone-data surveillance the government launched after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The Justice Department’s inspector general said both the DEA and the Justice Department “failed to conduct a comprehensive legal analysis” of its authority to gather those records.
The Inspector General’s report identified areas in which the program would be vulnerable to legal challenges, but did not reach a conclusion about whether it was lawful.
He is so far in over his head and it shows every time he opens his mouth. #everthingtrumptouchesdies
And I predict Mnuchin is the next one to get spanked by reality.
I really hope you’re right because I have been getting my hopes up way too much lately.-
This is one dumb member of Congress. Like making Louie Gohmert look smart dumb!
It’s never too early to think about Halloween.
I only caught a snippet on the radio this afternoon, but heard that Chuck Schumer is asking Barr to retract something from today’s testimony. Anyone know which of the AGs various absurdities the minority leader was concerned about?
Thanks.
@TaMara (HFG): He’s doesn’t realize it’s not the 80’s and 90’s. That you need a marginally competent party and President to fix for. And a large percentage of people that aren’t completely fed up with your bullshit. About the only thing he has going for him is a media that is actually worse or at least not any better than when he last played the game. And that he’s extremely unlikely to face any real consequences other than loss of reputation.
@Adam L Silverman: “And isn’t it true the planet was much hotter back 200 million years ago?” I’m betting he’s a secret flat-earther.
@Adam L Silverman:
I had hear about this, but the fullness of Massie’s moronitude was not clear.
Until now.
I guess that only thing left for him to say was “Game, set, and touchdown, libtard! Pwned!!!”
@Raoul:
“All of ’em, Katie”?
@Adam L Silverman: How did Rep. Massie pass a drivers license test? I mean, the level of stupidity, one wonders if he has to have a minder who presses elevator buttons for him … such technology is confusing!!
The Senate ought to remove Barr from office.
Well, that and where Sally Jesse Raphael buys her glasses.
@Raoul: It’s the spying bit referred to in this post. Especially because Barr claimed that the FBI never notified the Trump campaign that the Russian’s were trying to infiltrate the campaign, which is not true. The FBI did brief them in early summer 2016. The President, his campaign officials including members of the House and Senate like Jeff Sessions, Devin Nunes, Richard Burr, Lee Zeldin, former NJ Governor Chris Christie, LTG (ret) Flynn, and other others, his sons and daughter, they all blew the FBI off and when they were actually contacted by Russians they never notified the FBI.
Adam,
How is the IC going to react to these JoeMcCarthy/RoyCohn type smears?
@Adam L Silverman: I kinda figured, though I wondered if he said something worse. Which seemed possible.
this makes me think he’s gonna push the report off further.
the first third or so of the mueller report just lays out all the shit russia and russian intelligence did to try to infiltrate the trump campaign to try to win the election for the guy (even if trump was innocent, it’s a big reason why trump doesn’t want the report public, cause it makes him look illegitimate). assuming that the FBI got a whiff of this back in ’16, it would have been a no brainer to open an investigation into it.
why would barr claim to investigate this unless he was going to work as hard as he could to make sure the report never saw the light of day? if the report came out everyone would be be all ‘oh yeah, the FBI should have been on that shit!’
@TaMara (HFG): I had the same feeling when I watched him in the hearing. Very low energy!
@TaMara (HFG): Bless his heart.
@Raoul: He passed more than that. He has a Bachelors and a Masters in engineering from MIT
He’s a “libertarian”, which I always assume means at least halfway to crazy, the kind of crazy that eats your brain
ETA: I got that from the Hayes show
@Raoul: Kentucky.
@Mike in NC:
@Adam L Silverman:
to quote my dad, “oh deh fuck” (rubs bridge of nose)
@Keith P.: You never see Bill Barr and Sally Jesse Raphael together. Coincidence?
@David 🎅🎄Merry Christmas🎄🎅 Koch: There will be pushback. I’m honestly not sure how much Barr can really investigate here without DNI Coats agreeing to it. And I’ve gotten the impression that Coats fun meter is pegged out.
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m curious how much blowing off the FBI by GOP functionaries like Christie, Sessions, Burr, etc, had to do with willingness to conspire with a hostile foreign power like Russia to win an election or simply because it was Obama’s FBI and therefore not to be trusted; IOW petty partisanship and racism blinded them. Or perhaps both?
@chopper: His remarks were for an audience of one: the President.
The only way the Barr surveillance story could get better is if Trump was one of the people he spied on.
@🇺🇸🌎 Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) 🗳🌷: I don’t know. I don’t think that Sessions or Zeldin are very smart. Burr is sort of meh. I think Christie is just so enamored with himself that he blew it off. As for Flynn, I have a different theory on Flynn that I’m not sharing publicly.
But the question will still remain: Is he smarter than a fourth grader?
@chopper:
The real question that should be asked of Barr is this, over and over again:
If you have nothing to hide, than release the report.
The same can be said for Trump’s tax returns, which the IRS commissioner is required by law to turn over to Congress upon request.
@Adam L Silverman: That last sentence seems to end prematurely.
@Waldo: They did. From the article:
@Gin & Tonic: Fixed. Thanks.
As they display daily, every accusation is a confession.
I hope Barr is going to be very sorry for coming out of retirement but it doesn’t appear that the Senate is going to lift a finger against anyone in this regime. McConnell is fine with the corruption as long as rightwing extremist judges continue to be confirmed.
are the Dems going to have to get the Capitol Police to arrest one of these lying fucks to put a stop to this endless fucking kabuki of the GOP?
@🇺🇸🌎 Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) 🗳🌷:
The phrase “required by law” doesn’t really mean anything to Republicans. It’s been optional for them since Oliver North.
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s so mean to tease us with the knowledge that you have a sekret theory you can’t share!
But that’s OK too. All will come out. I just hope I live long enough to see it unfold. I’m healthy, so I’m also optimistic I’ll get to watch it unfold eventually.
These guys are so, so stupid and evil~!!~
as are Susan Collins, Willard “Mitt” Romney, Marco Rubio, Cory Gardner…
@trollhattan: UK is doing a great job of dissuading other countries from trying to leave the EU, all by itself, without even leaving. And in a fumbling understated panicky chaotic, but stately and processional, way that seems very English somehow.
Bravo. Well done. Carry on.
I say English, not British, since not sure that is relevant in this context. The English part of the Union seems to want shit up their bed without regard to anyone else.
@Adam L Silverman:
We need a not-Adam nym attached to an anonymous email address. (I presume that’s a serious no-no in your world, sigh. But I’ll keep an eye out for such theories. :-)
@J R in WV: @Bill Arnold: I’m not sharing it because I can’t prove it. It is logically and internally coherent in regard to what is known about Flynn based on open sources. I’ve sent it to several people, including one or two front pagers, in case it should turn out that I’m right. If that happens I’ll post it with a reference when I emailed it to those couple of front pagers (which was way back in 2017). There was some reporting back in November or December that, I think, verifies my theory, but it isn’t enough to go public yet.
@Adam L Silverman:
WHOAAAAA!
@Keith P.:
Good one!
@trollhattan:
Whew! I still have time to get some of my retirement money to a safe haven in Asia.
@zhena gogolia: NELLY!
I thought this was an interesting article from law prof on the corrupt hack and abject Trump flunky Barr. Points up more self-contradictions in his testimony and bogus ‘summary’.
Barr Sounds More and More Like Trump’s Roy Cohn
The attorney general contradicts himself on Mueller and obstruction and starts talking like a true-believer on intelligence agencies ‘spying’ on the Trump campaign.
Barbara McQuade, Daily Beast, 04.10.19
https://www.thedailybeast.com/barr-sounds-more-and-more-like-trumps-roy-cohn
Found via Josh Marshall twitter
@Patricia Kayden:
Barr might regret it if he gets the same treatment by protesters that Nielsen got. What we need to do is basically make his life a living hell. I’m not sure if this type of civil disobedience will be effective against Barr since they’ve had over a year or so to adjust to it. I’m also not sure if Barr would have better security arrangements given his position as AG (higher up the line of succession for president) than the Secretary of Homeland Security
@Adam L Silverman: How about links to the ‘some reporting’? And commenters can see if they can figure it out. We can have a BJ blog contest!
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, that was a quick honeymoon. Barr, meet the undercarriage of the next available bus
@Adam L Silverman:
I admire your restraint.
But I was mostly teasing… you’re priviliged to keep an inference secret until you know for sure.
@Adam L Silverman: That’s exactly what you’d expect them to say if they *had* wiretapped the place.
@jl: She’s a former US Attorney. As in one of the presidentially nominated, Senate confirmed ones.
@Adam L Silverman:
Let me guess: he’s a willing traitor?
If only it would end here. But Koch-supported challenges (or by whomever) to fed land will continue.
@jl: The place is being held together with bailing wire and Alain’s spit, the servers couldn’t handle the traffic.
@🇺🇸🌎 Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) 🗳🌷: Those DOJ affidavits are from last year.
@Gin & Tonic: I can neither confirm nor deny anything.
@TaMara (HFG): Yup, #ETTD is a thing, with Barr and Mnuchin being among the most recent examples.
Thinking lots about you and Bixby and Scout and the ducks and the bobcat. Oh wait, the bobcat was at Cheryl’s… and it was the lovely critter as opposed to equipment.
@Adam L Silverman: I had a few beers and then dinner with one of those last night in Virginia. Sharpnguy, but boy is he impressed with himself!
@jl:
I loved that headline. Piece is good too.
(fwiw been using the free version of https://www.hvper.com/ , a (meta)aggregator which has dailybeast links.)
@Adam L Silverman:
Flynn seems to be the key to this whole thing, whatever the fuck this thing is.
@🇺🇸🌎 Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) 🗳🌷:
The One Neat Trick when Yurtle the Turtle has the Senate and Nancy Smash has the House, is that Nancy give the Barr’s of the world enough rope to hang themselves with.
It’s not a Quick Trick, but it works.
@Adam L Silverman: Ahh… so the server’s the key, huh? Anks-thay or-fay the Fo-inway.
@The Dangerman:
Intuition keeps suggesting there is more to be revealed to be true about certain aspects of The Dossier. Flynn being involved would be … fun. Sorta.
@Steve in the ATL: As they are wont to be. One I’ve had a couple of dinners with still rather is, though to be fair she’s now a US District judge. Remind me some time to tell you a funny story about another federal judge here; it’s not suitable for sharing here.
Re that USA Today piece (Brad Heath, Mar 28, 2019), the last sentence is interesting. (bold mine)
@Steve in the ATL: I’m sure.
@Bill Arnold: Yep.
@Bill Arnold:
Hmmm. No, I don’t think it has anything to do with the Dossier. What spun that one judge up to ask about treason when Flynn was about to be sentenced (and why hasn’t Flynn been sentenced yet)? Has it got anything to do with why Flynn was fired by Obama?
@Adam L Silverman:
My theory is that Flynn is a greedy evil ass. I draw my conclusions from publicly available information. Does that come close to your theory?
Haha! Seems John Kerry has looked in his bag of fucks and found it empty.
Trump seems to have fairly uncanny intelligence-draining abilities, reflecting on his track record.
@The Dangerman: No, Flynn was fired for being a disaster as the DIA director, being a toxic leader, creating a toxic work environment, and refusing to do what his superiors at DOD (Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence), the Director of National Intelligence, and the President told him to do. And then angrily fighting with them about it.
Also:
Kerry’s reply in next comment.
@rk: No. It is clear he was desperate for money and it is clear he’s an asshole. The former is a pathway for controlling him as a witting or unwitting asset. The latter is that he’s just an asshole.
@jl:
“Savvanah will be your server tonight, can I take your drink order?”
If I recall an email from Adam long ago, these posts aren’t part of that, but they’re interesting in the larger story of Michael Flynn.
A Quick Post On Selling Nuclear Technology To The Saudis
Mike Flynn’s Nuclear Adventure – The Companies
Mike Flynn’s Nuclear Adventure – The Plan
Michael Flynn’s Nuclear Adventure – The People
It looks like Congress will be investigating the organization pushing nuclear sales to Saudi Arabia – IP3. I suspect that his original role, with a predecessor organization, was to get sanctions removed on Russia so that their objective of selling Russian reactors could be carried out. The objectives have changed over time, which I’ve gone into in more detail in the posts. The whole thing makes sense as a con to make these guys a bunch of money, but I’m not convinced that’s the whole story.
@Cheryl Rofer: And why would you not? You can’t get bespoke emails like that just anywhere!!!!!//
@Adam L Silverman: Did you see the ruling by a judge that the Federal law banning FGM is unconstitutional? That’s shocking enough, but Barr says the DOJ will not defend the statute.
I feel really sick about this.
@Adam L Silverman:
And “Flynn Facts”,
@Cheryl Rofer:
Boo! Hiss! CATCALLS!!
@🇺🇸🌎 Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) 🗳🌷: I do wonder if that’s a bigger pattern than we know from the public record. It’s been a GOP failing for their last two Presidents, ignoring their Democratic predecessors’ warnings. Bush blew off the bin Laden warnings, & Trump & the GOP members of the gang of 8 blew off the Russia warnings. I wouldn’t be surprised if Reagan blew off some kind of warning from Carter during that transition too, although I don’t think anything as bad as the above two things has been reported. And considering that Nixon interfered with the peace talks and Reagan interfered with the hostage negotiations, confirmation of this supposition wouldn’t be a big surprise. It’s always projection, and I cannot help wonder how long it’s been going on.
@opiejeanne: I just read the write ups from last November when the ruling was handed down. It appears the Federal judge who issued the ruling thinks this is covered under assault and battery, up to, potentially, sexual assault. Especially of children.
@opiejeanne: Didn’t recognize what that was about, so I looked it up. Wow. it is sickening. Looks like a states rights issue, legally. I’m tired of the double standard on states rights. It’s used as a political weapon. Seems to me on, for example, draconian laws on recreational drugs and harm reduction for users of illegal recreational drugs, feds do all sorts of things that violate states rights, but something like this, oh, well, have to be real careful of states rights.
@Adam L Silverman: reasoning on the international treaty aspect seems to be just ‘too vague’. I’d like more detail on that than in the news stories I just read. The judge better have more than that.
@opiejeanne: And the people who will applaud this are the same ones worried about “creeping Sharia law.”
@Cheryl Rofer: It is a small Shiite Muslim sect. On the other hand, we are increasing BFF with Sauid Arabia, which does worse than ‘ritual nicks’, if that is what this procedure actually is. Thing is, these are kids. The religion should just adjust itself so when people are adults they can get ritual nicked if they want.
@jl: I’m not willing to split hairs on this. Just no.
@Tenar Arha: Reagan conspired with the Iranians to delay the release of the hostages until after the election in order to depress votes for Carter’s reelection by making him look weak. The source for the Newsweek article (third link) is Dewey Claridge, who was the Chief of the Latin American Section at the CIA from 1981 to 1987.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-bird-conspiracies-october-surprises-20170620-story.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/15/world/new-reports-say-1980-reagan-campaign-tried-to-delay-hostage-release.html
https://www.newsweek.com/2016/05/06/duane-dewey-clarridge-october-surprise-spies-cia-451611.html
The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) Tweeted:
A 21-year-old named Holden Matthews has reportedly been arrested in connection with fires that destroyed 3 predominantly black churches in Louisiana. On social media, he was active on black metal and pagan pages, scenes with large neo-Nazi fanbases https://t.co/3XAPXnh569 https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1116168144471695360?s=17
@rikyrah: Glad they got him. Not surprised at his description. Of course, i’m sure he’s innocent because Candace Owens told me yesterday that there’s no such thing as white supremacy.
@rikyrah: Isn’t his daddy a deputy sheriff in that parish? I can’t find it now but I thought I read that earlier.
@Adam L Silverman: I read what the judge said, but only 27 states have laws against FGM, and who is going to bring the child abuse charges.
Just a nick? My ass. Let’s give the doctor a little nick.
@opiejeanne: His daddy is indeed a deputy sheriff in that parish.
@Cheryl Rofer: The Talibanvagelicals. After reading about the period/fertility/pregnancy apps for women to keep track of their cycles, but that the data collected by the app is available to employers and health insurance companies, I feel like the war against women is moving toward becoming a Hot War.
@opiejeanne: I’m not agreeing with the ruling.
@matt:
You follow, admire, vote for, in any fucking way appreciate Trump and it proves that your IQ is in single digits, no matter what it might have ever been.
It’s a magic, semi secret society that stamps out every working neuron you ever possessed. There’s nothing difficult to understand why or how it works, just being a republican gives one an automatic card that they carry, which works on a world wide network out of a lair on a small island off of Bermuda.
It’s the AWNC – Anti Working Neuron Club.
@opiejeanne: I highly recommend you all adopt the Lysistrata strategy.
@Adam L Silverman:
Yup, double yup.
@Tenar Arha:
You said it yourself – always.
Conservatives do not trust anyone more liberal than themselves, because the reason those people are more liberal is that they respect others, they don’t mind helping others and they do not consider theft as a proper way to enrich themselves, nor do they consider that enriching one’s self can only be done by increasing a bank account.
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks, I didn’t think you were. I’m just really starting to get worried. The asshat in Texas who proposed that a woman who gets an abortion, even in another state should be executed, and so many other recent horrors are just getting to me.
@Adam L Silverman: The women who need to hear this aren’t listening or have had their ears plugged.
@Tenar Arha: And the W campaign undermined Middle East peace talks, don’t forget that one!
@opiejeanne: I understand.
@Adam L Silverman: Robert Pastor was a friend of my parents when he lived in Atlanta. He and his family lived one street over; his son and my younger brother were best friends.
Dr. Pastor, who was working in the White House at the time of the 1980 election, was adamant that the Reagan campaign did this. I remember him sitting in our living room recounting that experience.
It made quite an impression on a much younger me, and I’ve never doubted the subterfuge since.
@worn: I know of him. And thanks for the info, I appreciate it.
You’re welcome. It’s rare (read: never before) that I have some direct experience that has any bearing on these sorts of high level matters, so I couldn’t resist delurking for a moment.
My dad was managing editor of the AJC at the time, so I got to meet some interesting folks – and hear some interesting stories. Maybe at some point I will recount when the GBI attempted to entrap Vince Dooley on a cocaine charge. They were not successful. But it was a shit show.
Sometimes I miss my home state…
@worn: Feel free to comment as much as you’re comfortable with.
I did my undergrad at Emory and interned at the Carter Center.
@opiejeanne: Although abortion rates have declined significantly, nearly 25% of women in the USA will have an abortion by age 45. Do these idiots have any clue what horror they are proposing?
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, I know. I’ve read* most of your posts since your arrival here. And this background is part of why I spoke up. I grew up a few miles from Emory, though I bounced for the left coast in the early 90’s.
*quite look forward to them, actually!
@Mart: Yes they know. They don’t care. If they would just put it in the law that any aborted fetus must have a paternity test and the father must suffer the same consequences.
@piratedan: Seconded. They have a jail in the Capitol Building.
@jl:
Sadly, this is not quite true. A majority of Wales also voted to leave the EU – not just the English.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum
@Steve in the ATL:
I worked for on, former US Attorney guy, years ago. When he fired my direct supervisor for allowing some contractors to run wild in our network architecture, serving illegal first-run movies from a government server, etc instead of doing the job they undertook to do, he didn’t read the agreement he sent to my former boss to sign.
It didn’t fire my former boss when former boss was thru with it and sent it back signed, then former U S Attorney guy signed it, and former boss was good for as long as he wanted to work… never sign a binding document without reading it. Nothing wrong with making a doc read as you want it to, signing it and sending it back. Part of negotiating.
My new boss was dumb founded when he dug out the old doc when former boss showed up to work after 2 years working at a local state college. But nothing he could do at that point.
Former US Attorney is now selling real estate…
@TaMara (HFG): I want John Goodman to play Barr on SNL!