Rep Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) appeared on CNN’s The Source show (07/12/23) where she discussed among other things, her questioning of FBI Director Christopher Wray about warrantless searches at a recent House hearing. Specifically, Rep Jayapal wanted to know why the FBI and other federal agencies are buying vast quantities of personal data from data brokers, and how the agencies use this warrantless search data.
Rep Jayapal dropped a bombshell during her interview, telling host Kaitlan Collins that if the FBI doesn’t provide a satisfactory answer to this important question, she will have no other choice but to vote against reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) when it expires later this year–a very big deal.
What makes this a very big deal, you ask? Well, Rep Jayapal heads the House Progressive Caucus. If she decides to vote against reauthorizing FISA, you can rest assured that nearly all House Progressives will vote with her, killing FISA.
Asked by host Kaitlan Collins whether she was satisfied by the answers she got from FBI Director Wray, Rep Jayapal said she wasn’t, adding( 1:29), “We do have significant concerns, It’s not just I. The Office of Director of National Intelligence(ODNI) is where the report came from, that said that the FBI is purchasing large amounts of data from these data brokers, and that information contains everything, from your location information, your medical information, it could contain information about all kinds of private things that American people understandably don’t want the FBI to have…These are warrantless searches…they are backdoor searches. The information is used in ways we don’t know…”
Bottom line folks, Rep Jayapal is absolutely correct that warrantless surveillance by the FBI and other federal agencies is out of control, and in serious need of a fix. We’ve become accustomed to hearing members of Congress threatening to block FISA reauthorization over the same surveillance abuses, only to have them cave at the end due to pressure from the national security establishment. Something however tells me (not exactly sure what that is), that 2023 may be the year members of Congress finally drop the hammer on FISA, or as legal eagle Jonathan Turley puts it, the year they decide against being “chumps”.
US will become 'nation of chumps' if Congress allows FBI's warrantless surveillance of Americans, Turley warns https://t.co/NX1ZlY9nQB
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) July 15, 2023
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On 12/9/21 Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez(D-NY) introduced an amendment(Amendment 148 to H.R. 5314–Protect Our Democracy Act), that would have restored the oversight powers Congress always intended the Government Accountability Office(GAO) to have, including over our intelligence agencies. Our intelligence agencies, as everyone knows, are notoriously impervious to any Congressional oversight, and often hide behind a vague 1988 Department of Justice opinion to justify their need for secrecy. Rep Ocasio-Cortez’s amendment would have taken away that cover, ensuring much-needed transparency from our intelligence agencies. Surprisingly, 23 Centrist Democrats voted with House Republicans to kill her amendment.
As Rep Ocasio-Cortez correctly pointed out on the House floor, given the kinds of abuses we’ve witnessed during Trump’s presidency, it is only prudent that we restore GAO’s oversight powers over all federal agencies, including our intelligence agencies. Any reasonable person would agree, that it is foolhardy to assume that former President Trump abused all other federal agencies for his selfish political interests, except our intelligence apparatus, the easiest ones to abuse given the secrecy with which they are allowed to operate.
.@USGAO has the authority to conduct oversight of all federal agencies. However, most U.S. intelligence agencies don't fully cooperate.
Today, we introduced an amendment to put that to an end. GAO should be able to fulfill its mission of rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. pic.twitter.com/7lOl9E3Zwb
Rep Ocasio-Cortez said on the House floor: “Since it’s creation in 1921, the Government Accountability Office(GAO) has had the purview to conduct oversight of all federal agencies with the goal of reducing waste, fraud and abuse, and holding accountable bad actors. However and unfortunately, most of our intelligence agencies today are not fully cooperative with the GAO, pointing to an outdated and vague 1988 Department of Justice opinion. Our amendment would allow the GAO to act as a check on this behavior, not creating new powers, but restoring the power Congress always intended the GAO to have. This amendment is welcomed by many in the intelligence community, who want to protect their important work and resources from abuse, particularly after the last presidency we just endured. We drafted this amendment in partnership with the community and I’m proud to have the support of Representative Adam Schiff who serves as the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In fact many of my colleagues have already taken a stand in support of this legislation because in 2010, the House passed a virtually identical amendment.”
The amendment failed with a final tally of 233 nays, 196 yeas, with 4 members not voting. Among the 233 nays were 23 Centrist Democrats who Yours Truly is compelled to name. The nay Dems included Reps Cynthia Axne(IA), Cheri Bustos(IL), Matt Cartwright(PA), Angie Craig(MN), Antonio Delgado(NY), Val Demings(FL), Jared Golden(ME), Josh Gottheimer(NJ), Chrissy Houlahan(PA), Conor Lamb(PA), Susie Lee(NV), Elaine Luria(VA), Tom O’Halleran(AZ), Chris Pappas(NH), Kurt Schrader(OR), Kim Schrier(WA), Terri Sewell(AL), Mikie Sherrill(NJ), Abigail Spanberger(VA), David Trone(MD), Filemon Vela(TX), Jennifer Wexton(VA), Susan Wild(PA).
Ever since the Patriot Act was enacted after the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001, there have been growing calls from civil libertarians and others, for there to be some checks on the almost absolute powers we granted our intelligence agencies after the 9/11 attacks. The reasoning behind this is pretty simple–power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Fast forward to the Trump administration and the abuses we witnessed occurring across all federal agencies–(DOJ being used for the Big Lie, Military on Black Lives Matter protesters in DC, numerous abuses of DHS, “failure” by our intel agencies to anticipate Jan 6th insurrection)– and the need to look into our intel agencies becomes an absolute necessity. It’s against this backdrop that Rep Ocasio-Cortez, with the support of many in the intel community, are pushing for more transparency. One would assume given these set of circumstances, that more oversight would be a no-brainer for Democrats, but apparently not.
Concerns about possible abuses of our intel agencies run the gamut, from the mundane warrantless snooping of our electronic communications (emails, texts, voicemails, etc), to much more serious allegations that if proven, constitute serious violations of our commitments under the United Nations Conventions Against Torture(CAT). These include allegations of 24/7 organized stalking, non-consensual for-profit human experimentation on people entered on terrorism watchlists by weapons manufacturers and others in Big Tech(remote neuromonitoring), militarized attacks on civilians(usually watchlisted) with directed energy weapons, manufactured terrorism cases, etc. These are serious human rights violations that can only come to light through proper oversight. It also bears pointing out that similar egregious abuses have in the past been attributed to our intel agencies, a recent good example being the non-consensual experimentation on U.S. civilians using radiation. President Clinton in 1995, did the just and moral thing by not only exposing this inhumane conduct, but also making whole the surviving victims. The same can be done today.
Is this happening again? Or are PRIVATE military corporations doing this now unbeknown to most in Washington? This was 1995. 👇🏻
Bottom line folks, Rep Ocasio-Cortez deserves a lot of praise for pushing for reform on a topic most politicians, and quite frankly the mainstream media, have been terrified to venture into. One only hopes that she musters the courage to push on with it, despite the recent setback on the House floor. Simply put, time has come for our intel agencies to be subjected to some real oversight.
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CNN’s Brianna Keilar did an interesting segment on her New Day show (10/21/2021), where she explored Rep Jim Jordan’s very shifty answers to questions about his conversations with then President Trump on January 6th 2021. It appears Rep Jim Jordan’s accounts of his conversations with Trump on that fateful day appear to be changing with every subsequent interview, meaning he may be hiding, or attempting to hide some details about his interactions with Trump on that day.
After stating categorically in previous interviews that he spoke to Trump on January 6th, but only after the insurrection, the Ohio Congressman appears to be changing his tune lately, suggesting that he spoke to Trump on January 6th, but he doesn’t know “when those conversations happened.” Basically, he now doesn’t remember whether he spoke to Trump before or after the insurrection.
Any reasonable person presented with Rep Jim Jordan’s conflicting statements as to whether he spoke to Trump before or after the January 6th insurrection will arrive at the same conclusion, and that is, Rep Jim Jordan is attempting to hide details of his January 6th conversations with Trump from the public. Rep Jordan’s phone records on January 6th can solve this mystery instantly.
Bottom line folks, one doesn’t have to be an experienced investigator to deduce from the CNN segment that Rep Jordan should be a person of interest for the January 6th Commission. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll remember the exact time he spoke to Trump on January 6th, if he is forced to testify under oath.
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Former Congresswoman Renee Ellmers (R-NC) and Rep Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
During the last few days the public has been inundated by unflattering mainstream media reports about Congresswoman Katie Hill (D-CA). This started when nude photos of her surfaced online showing her engaged in an affair with one of her female campaign staffers. Rep Hill initially defended her conduct, blaming the release of the photos on what she alleged was her spiteful ex-husband out to ruin her career. Her biggest problem however was not the fact that her nude photos had been published against her will, but rather that they proved she was engaged in an affair with her campaign staffer–a violation of congressional code of conduct. With Speaker Pelosi, a known disciplinarian at the helm, Rep Hill read the tea leaves and correctly opted for resignation.
With Rep Hill’s resignation however, new questions are emerging about an explosive story that first surfaced in 2015 regarding an alleged long term romantic affair between Rep Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and then Rep Renee Ellmers (R-NC) both of whom were married with children at the time (Ellmers no longer serving). Rep Kevin McCarthy was considered by many of his House Republican colleagues as the natural replacement for then outgoing Speaker John Boehner.
Many of Rep McCarthy’s Republican supporters did not give much credence to the rumors about an extramarital affair and he was still considered the heavy favorite to succeed Speaker Boehner. However in a strange and shocking twist, right before the votes were cast for the Speakership, Rep McCarthy took himself out of contention (withdrew)–something his colleagues reasonably interpreted as an admission of guilt. In the end, Paul Ryan succeeded John Boehner as the 54th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Both Reps McCarthy and Ellmers vehemently denied the allegations, with Ellmers calling them “batsh*t crazy” and adding, “As someone who has been targeted by completely false accusations and innuendo, I have been moved by the outpouring of support and prayers from my colleagues, constituents and friends. Now I will be praying for those who find it acceptable to bear false witness.”
Yours Truly will not go out on a limb and accuse the two members of congress of having an extramarital affair based on the 2015 allegations. However, given the recent Katie Hill resignation, reasonable people will agree that someone needs to look into these allegations so as to establish conclusively that there was no affair between McCarthy and Ellmers. Nothing in the media reports suggest that there was any investigation into the allegations against these two members of congress. The media simply accepted their denials as fact.
In addition to that, reasonable people will also agree that Rep McCarthy’s abrupt decision not to pursue the Speakership gives these allegations some modicum of weight. Why would Rep McCarthy relinquish a position as cherished as the House Speakership simply because someone was spreading baseless rumors about him? Surely this knee-jerk reaction by Rep McCarthy flies in the face of Rep Ellmers’ characterization of the rumors as “batsh*t crazy”.
Bottom line folks, Rep Katie Hill was a young and very promising member of congress whose political career came to a crushing halt because she exercised poor judgement while serving. It is only fair that Reps McCarthy be held to the same standard, and if found to have similarly exercised poor judgement while serving, be shown the exit door. Congressional code of conduct is meaningless if the public views it as only applicable to one political party and not the other.
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