Judicial Watch Sues DOJ for FISA Court Hearing Transcripts Tied to Clinton-DNC Dossier

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for all hearing transcripts of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants related to Carter Page and Michael Flynn (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-01050)).

Judicial Watch filed the FOIA lawsuit after the DOJ failed to respond to a February 26, 2018, FOIA request for:

Copies of all transcripts of hearings before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court regarding applications for or renewals of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants relating to Carter Page and/or Michael Flynn.

On February 7, 2018, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes wrote a letter to Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, the presiding judge at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) requesting transcripts of “any relevant FISC hearings associated with the initial FISA application or subsequent renewals related to electronic surveillance of Carter Page.” On February 15, Judge Collyer replied that the FBI and DOJ “possess most, if not all, of the responsive materials the Court might possess, and we have previously made clear to the Department, both formally and informally, that we do not object to any decision by the Executive Branch to release any such FISA materials to Congress.”

“It is outrageous the Justice Department is covering up key FISA court transcripts that would shed light on how the Clinton-DNC Dossier was used to obtain surveillance of the Trump team,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Frankly, President Trump should order that the DOJ and FBI release all documents about the FISA court process that was subverted by the corrupt use of the Clinton-DNC dossier.”

In January 2018, Judicial Watch sued the DOJ 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)). 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.

In February 2018, Judicial Watch sued the DOJ for FBI documents regarding the FISA warrant application submitted to – and responses from – the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court related to alleged collusion between Russia and Trump campaign associates (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-00245)).

In May 2017, Judicial Watch sued the DOJ for records of communications and payments between the FBI and former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and his private firm, Orbis Business Intelligence (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:17-cv-00916)).

And last month, Judicial Watch sued the DOJ for records about top Justice Department official Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie Ohr’s involvement in the Trump dossier authored by Christopher Steele (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No.1:18-cv-00490)) and (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No.1:18-cv-00491)).

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