Lately, republican lawmakers have been on the warpath against Joe Biden and his administration’s general irresponsibility. This time, they’ve formed a posse to round up the surveillance spooks. The GOP Future of American Freedoms task force vows to “hold U.S. intelligence agencies accountable after recent episodes that look like politically motivated use of power.” Obamagate for instance. More recently, the raid on Project Veritas to recover a diary somebody planted on them to start with.
Future of American Freedoms task force
The name says it all. If someone doesn’t do something, and fast, to get the rats away from guarding the cheese – then the future of American Freedom is grim. Thanks to the GOP task force, there’s a plan.
They “held a virtual roundtable” on Thursday, February 3, “to discuss agency practices, press freedom and the future of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.”
Jonathan Turley is a law professor at George Washington University and one of the most respected experts in beltway politics. He relates that “the threat to freedom of the press” is “underscored by the FBI’s recent investigation of right-wing media group Project Veritas.”
The task force will be probing the raid on James O’Keefe, over “a diary that allegedly belonged to President Biden’s daughter.” The Federal Bureau of Instigation probably mailed it to him. “Everything about Project Veritas — the federal investigation — strikes me as not just curious but chilling and alarming,” Mr. Turley notes.
As part of the task force investigation, the conservatives will probe the DOJ’s underlying investigation to find out how Biden and his minions define “who is a journalist and has protected press freedoms, guaranteed under the First Amendment.” James O’Keefe may not work for CNN but he should certainly qualify.
“It does hit this issue of who is a journalist,” Professor Turley explains. “But what Project Veritas did is indistinguishable from what media organizations do on a daily basis.”
Ashley Biden’s diary
It all started with Ashley Biden’s diary. Inside that diary was “newsworthy content.” O’Keefe didn’t publish a single word of it. How did the FBI know he had it in the first place, unless they used it as bait to set him up?
Staunch conservative Jim Jordan, who happens to lead the task force, “raised concerns with the practices of FISA, the laws covering the government’s use of electronic surveillance.” That’s an even bigger can of worms.
Jordan reminded his task force panel that back in 2019, toothless watchdog DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz “found the FBI deceived a secret FISA court to obtain a warrant to spy on” Carter Page. Jordan also happens to be ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee.
He promised his force “these issues would come to the fore during the upcoming debate about reauthorizing Section 702 of the law.” That’s the controversial provision “which permits the federal government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreigners outside of the U.S.” All too often, American citizens are caught up in the net.
Jordan has “real concerns” about “all aspects of FISA.” Republicans, he told the task force at the meeting, know “there’s a countless number of abuses that have taken place within the FISA court.” That’s only one of the reasons Americans are losing trust in “most federal agencies, including the FBI.”
Everyone is waiting for the really big nuclear bombshell when the Guy Fawkes mask gets ripped away from QAnon and Christopher Wray will be sitting there with that seemingly permanent amused look on his face.
