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Tom Fitton's Judicial Watch Weekly Update

Coup Against President Trump?

Nancy Pelosi’s Coup Resolution against President Trump Undermines the Constitution
DOJ Finds Records On Strzok and Ohr It Claimed It Couldn’t Find
Obama State Dept Official Tied to Steele Dossier Talked to Russian ‘Political Chief’ One Month Before Trump Inauguration
Scandal: Gov. Ralph Northam Took His Talking Points from Planned Parenthood
Mexico Reports 250% Spike in Africans Trying to Cross U.S. Border

Nancy Pelosi’s Coup Resolution against President Trump Undermines the Constitution

The House of Representatives’ impeachment resolution vote this week endorses an abusive process that rolls over the rights of President Trump and undermines the rule of law. This was no impeachment resolution – it was a coup resolution.

This coup attack was corruptly formed and corruptly pursued. The U.S. Senate should rule out a trial on any so-called impeachment arising from the Pelosi-Schiff abuse of the U.S. Constitution.

In the meantime, we will continue our dozens of FOIA lawsuits that have already uncovered so much about the related abuse of President Trump – Spygate, which is the worst public corruption scandal in American history.

To see an interview I had with Fox Business News’ Lou Dobbs prior to the vote, click here.

DOJ Finds Records On Strzok and Ohr It Claimed It Couldn’t Find

You must give the Deep State points for trying. If citizens make a legitimate request for information, just say you can’t find it, and maybe they will go away.

Judicial Watch doesn’t go away.

Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit we recently received 13 pages (out of 42 responsive pages) of communications between former FBI official Peter Strzok and DOJ official Bruce Ohr that the DOJ claimed previously it could not find.

We obtained the documents in an April 2019 FOIA lawsuit we filed after submitting July 2018 FOIA requests to the DOJ and the FBI. The FBI failed to respond, while the Justice Department claimed to find no records of communications between Strzok and Ohr (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:19-cv-01082)). The lawsuit seeks:

All records of communications between FBI official Peter Strzok and Bruce Ohr, in either his role as Associate Deputy Attorney General or Director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), including but not limited to emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts, and whether using their real names or aliases), text messages, encrypted app messages and/or instant chats.

In our lawsuit, we challenged the DOJ’s extraordinary claim that there were no records of communications between Strzok and Ohr in light of the preeminent role both individuals played in the anti-Trump collusion investigation. In addition, Ohr himself testified before Congress that he did, in fact, meet and communicate with Strzok.

The documents show contact between Ohr and Strzok in the weeks after the 2016 presidential election, during the presidential transition, and in the days following President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page arranges a November 21, 2016, meeting from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at FBI headquarters. “Required attendees” include Ohr, Strzok, and FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Jonathan Moffa.

On November 29, 2016, Ohr attempts to arrange a meeting between Strzok, Page, himself, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General (Criminal Division) Bruce Swartz.

Ohr writes to Strzok and Page under the subject Meeting with Bruce Swartz: “Thanks again for taking the time to chat today. As I mentioned, I would like to set up a short meeting for us with Bruce Swartz. Would next Monday at 5:30 p.m. work? Also, is there any chance you guys could come over to our building?”

Page responds: “Unfortunately, Pete is briefing HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] from 5-6:30 on Monday. Just about any other time that day would work. And we’re happy to come to you (especially because Bruce S. always has good snacks…)” [smile emoticon]

Ohr responds to Page: “No problem – is 6:30 (or later) that day too late? Otherwise we may be into the next week. I will ensure the snacks are up to snuff!”

Page writes to Ohr at 5:46 p.m.: “Unfortunately, it is. Have a flight later that night. Sorry about that.”

Ohr responds at 6:32 p.m.: “Got it. I’ll find a few dates/times for the week after and shoot them to you.”

A meeting with importance classified as “high” is scheduled for December 5, 2016. Strzok, Ohr and Swartz are scheduled to meet from 5:30 to 6 p.m. at Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) 2213, and later is canceled.

On January 4, 2017, a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) official in the Office of Special Measures [a unit within FinCEN set up to sanction foreign and domestic financial institutions] forwards to Ohr an unclassified but fully redacted FinCEN document, which Ohr then forwards to Strzok on February 1, 2017.

Ohr writes to Strzok: “Pete – As we discussed. I will forward the classified document as well, as well as one more unclassified document.”

On January 30, 2017, FinCEN sent protected information and its password to [Redacted].

On February 1, 2017, at 2:11 pm Lisa Holtyn, Ohr’s assistant, sends to members of Bruce Ohr’s former team at Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) password protected information from FinCEN, saying “I’ll send the password separately.” Minutes later, she sends the same email to Bruce Ohr. Seconds after that, Ohr forwards the email to Strzok, followed by the password.

Ohr and Strzok clearly were working regularly with each other during the time the illicit Spygate operation heated up against President Trump. It speaks volumes that Judicial Watch was forced to drag the DOJ and FBI into court in order to force the agency to admit to documents they’ve obviously had all along.

(To see my interview with One America News’ Graham Ledger on this latest find click here.)

Obama State Dept Official Tied to Steele Dossier Talked to Russian ‘Political Chief’ One Month Before Trump Inauguration

Our heavy lifting using the FOIA law continues to reveal bit by bit the unprecedented effort by the Obama administration to use the offices of government to target President Trump – both before and after he was elected to the presidency. The implications of this abuse are staggering. Even Watergate fails as a frame of reference for understanding what happened – and is still happening.

Here is the latest. Thanks to a joint Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, we and The Daily Caller News Foundation just released eight pages of State Department documents revealing that on December 23, 2016, 28 days before the inauguration of President Donald Trump, State Department Special Coordinator for Libya Jonathan Winer had a 10-minute phone call with Alexey Vladimirovich Skosyrev, the “political chief” at the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC.

The documents also show that State Department officials continued to use unsecure BlackBerry devices for the transmission of classified material more than a year after Hillary Clinton’s use of an unsecure, non-government email system had been revealed.

We obtained the documents in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit we filed on April 25, 2018, on behalf of the Daily Caller News Foundation, against the State Department after State failed to respond to three separate FOIA requests (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:18-cv- 00968)). The lawsuit seeks:

  • All records of communications between State Department officials, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, on the one hand, and British National Christopher Steele and/or employees or contractors of Steele’s company, Orbis Business Intelligence, on the other hand.
  • All records and/or memoranda provided by Christopher Steele and/or his firm Orbis Business Intelligence or by others acting on Steele’s/Orbis’s behalf, to State Department officials.
  • Any and all records in the custody of the State Department related to the provision of documents to British national Christopher Steele and/or his firm, Orbis Business Intelligence, or the receipt of documents from Steele or his firm. Time period is January 20, 2009 through the present.
  • All records created in 2016 by Jonathan M. Winer relating to research compiled by Christopher Steele.

Following Winer’s December 23 call with Russian political operative Skosyrev, State Department official Anne Sackville-West provides a “read-out” of the call to department colleagues in which she updates the “S-Lavrov points” (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov). The body of the read-out is entirely redacted as classified for reasons of national security or foreign policy.

Despite the classification, Eric Green, then-director of the Office of Russian Affairs in the Eurasian Bureau of the State Department, forwarded the exchange via his unsecure BlackBerry to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Kathleen Kavalec, to Obama Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Ambassador Victoria Nuland, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary John Heffern. Kavalec then responds, saying “Jonathan called me after first trying to get through to Toria and John. He relayed this readout, noting that Skosyrev emphasized that [redacted].”

The Kerry State Department and Jonathan Winer worked hand-in-glove with the Clinton Fusion GPS spy Christopher Steele. It is suspicious, to say the least, that Winer was in contact with a senior Russian government official as the Kerry State Department was simultaneously pushing the Russia smear against then President-elect Trump.

Daily Caller News Foundation President Neil Patel offers this perspective: “The State Department has still not fully explained its role in collecting and disseminating Christopher Steele’s false allegations about President Trump’s ties to Russia. The latest documents obtained by Judicial Watch on behalf of The Daily Caller News Foundation raise new and important questions about the role played by Jonathan Winer, who played a key role as Steele’s conduit to U.S. diplomats.”

Here’s what we know about Winer.

We uncovered State Department documents showing that Winer played a key role in facilitating Steele’s access to other top government officials and prominent international business executives. Winer was even approached by a movie producer about making a movie about the Russiagate targeting of President Trump. In September 2019, we released State Department documents revealing that former British spy and dossier author Christopher Steele had an extensive and close working relationship dating back to May of 2014 with Winer and Nuland.

In July 2019, we uncovered a series of documents from the State Department that include a September 2016 email exchange between Nuland and Winer, discussing a “face-to-face” meeting on a “Russian matter.”

In December 2018, we released documents revealing that Nuland was involved in the Obama State Department’s urgent gathering of classified Russia investigation information and disseminating it to members of Congress within hours of Trump taking office.

In May 2019, we released documents showing a conversation between Kavalec and Bruce Ohr, discussing the targeting of Donald Trump with Steele dossier material. In discussing a meeting with the potential source for a Mother Jones article accusing the Trump campaign of taking money from a Russian-American oil magnate, as well as Christopher Steele’s connection to that source, Kavalec emails Ohr citing the accusatory Mother Jones article. Ohr says, “I really hope we can get something going here.”

As you can see from our latest find, Judicial Watch is the one getting “something going.” Let’s hope that the U.S. Attorney Durham and the DOJ follow up.

Scandal: Gov. Ralph Northam Took His Talking Points from Planned Parenthood

On January 31, 2019, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam stated: “If a mother is in labor … the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desires, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and mother.”

This unbelievable statement caused a firestorm, and so his staff needed to prepare some talking points. We now know where they got them, and we aren’t surprised.

We just released 115 pages of documents from the Office of the Governor of Virginia that show he received abortion talking points directly from Planned Parenthood.

These documents were obtained as a result of two separate Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Our February 1, 2019, request was seeking all records of communications of Northam or members of his staff related to “abortion, women’s reproductive health, and/or Virginia House Bill 2491.” We likewise requested communications records between Northam and his staff with Virginia State Representative Kathy Tran or her staff. We also asked for communications records between Northam, his staff and employees and representatives of Planned Parenthood and/or Emily’s List.

Our February 4, 2019, request was seeking records of communications, of Northam or members of his staff related to abortion, blackface, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and/or the possible resignation of Governor Northam.

The documents show that Alexsis Rodgers, a former policy director in the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, who went to work for Planned Parenthood of Virginia, was a key figure in helping Northam respond to public outrage about his pro-infanticide comments.

Several hours after Northam gave the viral interview on WTOP, Rodgers sent talking points from her ppav.org email account titled “Topline messages for Northam” to PPAV representative Missy Wesolowski, who then forwarded them to the Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Services, Gena Berger.

Rodgers’ suggested general talking points included:

“There is no such thing as an abortion up until birth.”

“Making a decision about whether to continue a pregnancy is a complex and personal decision. Politicians have no place in this process.”

“As a physician, I know how important it is to trust my patients and for my patients to trust me.”

“These are complicated medical decisions that families deserve to make in private without political interference.”

In a section of the talking points titled “Tricky Q&A,” Rodgers advises, “If possible, answer on background, not for attribution.” She adds that, “If a woman is in labor, she couldn’t and wouldn’t have an abortion,” and that politicians and pro-life groups were characterizing “safe, legal abortion” in a “completely inaccurate and misleading” way.

The documents also show that on January 17, 2019, Michelle Woods, communications manager of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, forwarded to Northam’s Press Secretary Alena Yarmosky, a press release announcing the appearance of Northam, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring with NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia and Whole Woman’s Health Alliance. At this appearance they announced a “Statement of Intent” to promote two bills to ensure abortion rights in Virginia. Woods tells Yarmosky: “I hope you win the day [smiley emoji]”

On January 16, 2019, Berger asked Woods to provide “talking points” for Northam to use for his upcoming appearance with NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia in order to promote abortion bills in the legislature.

Woods replies offering to, “send over some talking points in case they’re helpful.”

Berger replies: “Thanks, Michelle. I am working on the talking points so it would be very helpful if you could send those and the briefing form to me and I will get the final to scheduling this afternoon.”

On January. 20, 2019, LaTonya Joyner-Gregory, a policy analyst of Planned Parenthood, gives Berger suggested amendments to two “Maternal Mortality Bills” put forth in the Virginia legislature (HB 2581 and HB 2546). These amendments would require the state to investigate all pregnancy-related deaths.

One of Joyner-Gregory’s suggestions would require the investigators to consider “socioeconomic status and/or insurance status” of the deceased women as factors, as well as opioid/drug abuse issues. Joyner-Gregory also recommended that medical providers like “doulas” and “home health workers” be included on the investigative team “for breadth of experience and perspective, and adding language requiring that the team members receive training on “implicit bias, structural racism, and/or cultural sensitivity.”

Berger responds (but unclear to whom), “Let’s chat today.” Northam’s policy advisor Melissa Peeler responds: “Sounds good!”

These new emails show beyond a shadow of a doubt that Planned Parenthood was running the press operations of the Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam after he endorsed infanticide during a radio interview.

Mexico Reports 250% Spike in Africans Trying to Cross U.S. Border

With a wide-open southern border, it’s no wonder people from all over the world are taking advantage. Our Corruption Chronicles blog reports a 250% increase in Africans trying to enter the U.S.

Mexico has seen an astounding 250% increase in Africans trying to enter the United States through the southern border, according to the latest figures released by the Mexican government’s immigration agency, known as Unidad de Política Migratoria. The stats include the first eight months of 2019 and reveal that, during the same period last year, 1,507 Africans were apprehended in the country compared to 5,286 this year. During the same period 4,783 migrants from India and Bangladesh were also detained in Mexico, according to the data made public this month.

The information is alarming considering Africa and Bangladesh are hotbeds of terrorism and the fact that all the migrants are heading north into the United States. “These migrants, although less in numbers compared to migrants from Central America, increased significantly in the country,” a Mexican newspaper article states, confirming that “their principle objective is not to stay in Mexican territory but rather cross the border towards the United States.” The story also reveals that a growing number of Cubans, Haitians and south Americans, mainly from Brazil and Colombia, have also been apprehended by Mexican authorities trying to make their way to the U.S. border.

The spike in Africans is worrisome considering the State Department has determined that Africa is a major hub of Islamic terrorism, including al-Shabaab in the eastern part of the country and Boko Haram and ISIS in the west. Bangladesh is also a national security concern because the south Asian Islamic country is well known as a recruiting ground for terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Earlier this year a congressional probe revealed that migrants from terrorist nations, especially Bangladesh, are trying to enter the United States through Mexico at record rates. Texas alone saw a whopping 300% increase in Bangladeshi nationals attempting to sneak into the country, according to the federal investigation outlined in a lengthy report.

Just weeks ago federal authorities arrested a Mexican-based Bangladeshi smuggler in Houston and charged him with bringing in 15 fellow countrymen through the Texas-Mexico border. His name is Milon Miah and he lives in Tapachula, in the southeast Mexican state of Chiapas bordering Guatemala. The case was announced months after Judicial Watch reported large groups of Africans, Indians, Bangladeshis, Afghans, Syrians and Pakistanis are in Tapachula awaiting asylum in the U.S. as part of the monstrous Central American caravan. The Africans are incredibly coordinated and have formed an official organization—Assembly of African Migrants in Tapachula—to boldly demand passage into the U.S. The African migrants want the Mexican government to process them collectively, rather than individually, and demand better living accommodations as well as the freedom to leave Tapachula where they feel “blocked and desperate.” They insist it is their right to travel north “in search of protection in the United States or Canada” and that Mexico has an obligation to grant them visas without delay so they can move from Tapachula.

Islamic terrorists infiltrating the country via the Mexican border is nothing new. As part of an ongoing investigation into the national security crisis created by the dangerously porous border, Judicial Watch has uncovered evidence of Islamic terrorists coming in through Mexico. Judicial Watch has interviewed local, state and federal law enforcement officials as well as U.S. and Mexican military sources and has traveled to remote Mexican border towns to interview American ranchers. When the Central American caravan got started last fall, Judicial Watch deployed an investigative team to the Guatemala-Honduras border after Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales confirmed that nearly 100 ISIS terrorists had been apprehended in the impoverished Central American nation. Judicial Watch’s reporting has confirmed that ISIS has a training cell just a few miles from El Paso, Texas in an area known as “Anapra” situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. We also verified that Mexican drug cartels are smuggling foreigners from countries with terrorist links to stash-areas in a rural Texas town (Acala) near El Paso. Back in 2014 Judicial Watch reported that four ISIS soldiers, who entered the U.S. through the Mexican border, were arrested in McAllen and Pharr Texas.

Thanks to those in Washington who see the border as a political game, we are unable to protect ourselves from an obvious threat.

Until next week …


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