By Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch
The Impeachment Vote Farce
As I told the press today in a statement, the Judiciary Committee’s vote on the articles of impeachment was both a tragedy and a farce. Truly, it was a sad day for America because a grave injustice was committed. There is no abuse of power by President Trump, however, it is clear that abuses were committed against him by the DOJ, the State Department, the FISA court, and certainly by Democrats in the House.
This impeachment scam was corruptly formed and is being corruptly pursued. A coup cabal has hijacked the House to violate the rights of President Trump and undermine our constitutional republic. It is not too late to “stop the coup.” Americans should call their members of Congress to share their views on this wild attack on self-government.
The House vote is set for next week, so contact your congressman ASAP. You can find all the contact details here: www.house.gov.
The FBI and DOJ Massively Violated the Law
As the coup proceeds against President Trump, the Justice Department’s inspector general finally issued his report on the Russiagate Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuse this week, and it provides abundant evidence that the FBI and DOJ massively violated the law to obtain the Carter Page spy warrants targeting President Trump.
As IG reports are both exposés and cover-ups at the same time, it is no surprise that the IG punted on implicating senior officials directly in the spy scandal.
President Trump should appoint a special counsel from outside of the DOJ and FBI to investigate the Obama/Clinton/Deep State Spygate scandal and other crimes that are in plain sight.
In the meantime, we will continue our dozens of FOIA lawsuits and investigations, which have already revealed much of what is known about Spygate – the biggest corruption scandal of all time.
Truth is, President Trump is actually the victim of a crime, as I explain here and here. The IG report provided our team with many investigative leads – so you can be sure that your Judicial Watch will continue to uncover more truths (and get more accountability) on what is the worst corruption scandal in American history.
Court Hearing on House Democrat IT Awan Bros Scandal
While the House Democrat leadership fiddles with impeaching it President, it is also has been long busy trying to squelch a serious scandal involving the contractors who managed information technology for top Democrats.
Now it seems that Deep State bureaucrats in the Justice Department are sticking their heads in the sand as well. We’re not. We sued in November 2018 to dig out the details, and this week we were in court for a hearing on the matter.
U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta ordered the hearing in our lawsuit, which we filed after the FBI failed to respond adequately to our two separate FOIA requests (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-02563)).
Our first request, filed on May 26, 2017, sought:
- All records related to any investigations or preliminary investigations involving former congressional IT support staffers Abid Awan, Imran Awan, Jamal Awan, and Hina R. Alvi. As part of this request, searches should of records [sic] should include, but not be limited to, the FBI automated indices, its older manual indices, and its Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Data Management System (EDMS), as well as cross-referenced files.
- All records of communication sent to or from FBI employees, officials or contractors involving the subjects in bullet item 1.
We are seeking records from May 2015 to the present.
Our second request, submitted on July 3, 2018, sought:
- All records related to any investigations or preliminary investigations involving former congressional IT support staffers Abid Awan, Imran Awan, Jamal Awan, Hina R. Alvi and Rao Abbas. As part of this request, searches of records should include, but not be limited to, the FBI automated indices, its older manual indices, and its Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Data Management System (EDMS), as well as cross-referenced files.
- All records of communications, including but not limited to emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages, instant chats or messages on the Lync system, sent to or from FBI employees, officials or contractors involving the Awan brothers, Ms. Alvi and Mr. Abbas. Records of communications searched should include but not be limited to those between FBI officials, employees and contractors and officials with the Capitol Police, the Office of the Inspector General of the House, and the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer of the House.
In August 2019, the Justice Department told the court that it would begin producing records by November 5, 2019. After producing no records, the agency told us on November 13, 2019, that it was having “technical difficulties,” and in a recent email claimed that, “difficulties with the production remain.”
In a joint status report filed on December 5, 2019, we reported to the court that the DOJ claimed in a phone call that it was now unable to produce any records to either of the FOIA requests “because the agency was waiting for some unspecified action by Judge [Tanya S.] Chutkan in some other matter so as to avoid having to produce records in this case.” In that same report the DOJ told the court that Judge Chutkan is “presiding over a related sealed criminal matter” that prohibits the government from releasing the requested FOIA information. [Emphasis added]
At the court hearing today, the Court ordered the Justice Department to provide, by January 10, an explanation to him on the issues Judicial Watch raised.
Imran Awan and his family were banned from the House of Representatives computer network in February 2017 after the House’s top law enforcement officer wrote that Imran is “an ongoing and serious risk to the House of Representatives, possibly threatening the integrity of our information systems,” and that a server containing evidence had gone “missing.” The inspector general said server logs showed “unauthorized access” and procurement records were falsified.
Imran Awan was Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) top information technology aide. Most lawmakers fired Awan in February, but Wasserman Schultz kept him on until he was arrested in July 2017 trying to board a flight for Pakistan.
In July 2018, Imran Awan was given a plea deal, and pled guilty to federal bank fraud, but prosecutors found no evidence that Awan “violated federal law with respect to the House computer systems.”
The Awan brothers reportedly “were not given background checks before being given access to highly sensitive government information and no explanations have been given as to why.” Additionally, “If they would have run this background check it would have found out not only multiple criminal convictions, but $1 million bankruptcy, a dozen lawsuits … it would have found a whole host of major red flags and the Democrats didn’t do any of those checks.”
This scandal is a matter of national security. It involves a cover-up by House Democrat leadership and, now, the Deep State DOJ. We won’t let this go.
New York Becomes 13th State to Give Illegal Immigrants Driver’s Licenses
Given the murders committed by a Saudi national in Pensacola this week, and daily reports of violent crimes by illegal aliens across the country, everyone is more alert to who comes into our country. Everyone but New York state politicians, that is. Our Corruption Chronicles blog reports on that state’s move to make it easier for illegal aliens to reside here in violation of the law:
This month New York will become the 13th state in the U.S. to give illegal immigrants driver’s licenses, and officials in counties throughout the Empire State warn they are not equipped to handle the predicted onslaught. One state lawmaker is offering free care for the children of illegal aliens who attend a workshop to help them navigate the process of obtaining a license. More than half a million undocumented immigrants are expected to qualify, and all they need is an expired passport, consulate identification or license from their country of citizenship.
Local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) clerks throughout New York are deeply concerned about their ability to authenticate the unfamiliar documents—written in foreign languages—acceptable under the new law to obtain a license. One county clerk in the state’s eastern region said in a local news report that his office, which services a population of about 160,000, will not issue licenses to illegal aliens and instead will let the state deal with the applicants. “They want to us to make a decision right at the window as to whether something is fraudulent or acceptable,” Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola said in the article. “I’m not going to make a major mistake.” In the state’s southern tier, Chemung County Clerk Catherine Hughes blasted lawmakers for leaving her and her colleagues to deal with the mess. “They don’t really realize the ramifications that it causes by doing something like this,” said Hughes, who serves a population of about 90,000. “There are no set of rules and regulations on how to get it done. And that puts us county clerks in a very precarious situation because we don’t know how to do it.”
Officials in some New York counties have filed lawsuits to block the measure, officially called the Driver’s license Access and Privacy Act but popularly known as the Green Light Law, from being implemented. It was passed by the legislature over the summer and signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo after he was assured federal immigration officials would not be able to obtain DMV records. That’s where the “privacy” portion of the bill’s language comes in. Officials in several counties—including Erie, Monroe and Rensselaer—are suing to thwart the law, which is scheduled to take effect on December 14. New York State Senator Julia Salazar, a former community organizer and proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, announced this week that she is holding an“informational session” to guide illegal immigrants through the process of obtaining a license. Free childcare will be provided, according to the announcements, which were issued in English and Spanish.
Besides New York, a dozen states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. They include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Vermont and Washington. More than half of the states passed their measures in 2013. In 2019 several states—including Florida, Kansas, Minnesota and North Carolina—introduced legislation to grant illegal aliens driver’s licenses, but those haven’t been resolved and it’s not clear if they’ll pass. This week the Department of Justice (DOJ) challenged New York’s soon-to-be-implemented measure, writing in a federal court filing that it conflicts with federal law.
New York is also undermining national security, according to a report published by a Washington D.C. think tank dedicated to researching U.S. immigration policy. New York’s Green Light Law equips illegal aliens and others with nefarious intentions with legitimate, state-issued identification, prohibits federal authorities from using information maintained by the state’s DMV and inhibits public safety as well as immigration enforcement. “The federal government should not simply surrender to the unreasonable and potentially unconstitutional limitations imposed on federal immigration and local law enforcement agencies by this law,” the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) writes in its extensive report, which includes ideas to circumvent New York’s law. Among them is withholding federal funding and taking legal action. Over the summer a federal appellate court ruledthat the Trump administration could withhold federal funding to local governments that offer illegal immigrants sanctuary.