In 2018, Obama-era lawyer David Kris wrote that Devin Nunes “falsely accused the FBI of deceiving the FISA Court.”
In 2019, a comprehensive Inspector General Report concluded that the FBI deceived the FISA court in several material ways, and that one FBI agent fabricated evidence in a FISA warrant application.
In 2020, the FISA Court appointed David Kris to oversee the FBI’s compliance with FISA reform.
The FISA Court has endorsed the FBI’s FISA abuse by appointing a biased, hyper-partisan lawyer to oversee the FBI’s compliance with FISA.
David Kris’ past writings reveal an apologist for the FBI’s abuse of the FISA Court.
David Kris spent years at an anti-Trump blog Lawfare running interference for the FBI’s abuse of FISA. In one comprehensive article, Kris made the following assertions:
- “The central irony of the memo prepared by House intelligence chairman Devin Nunes, we now know, is that it tried to deceive the American people in precisely the same way that it falsely accused the FBI of deceiving the FISA Court.”
- “The Nunes memo was dishonest. And if it is allowed to stand, we risk significant collateral damage to essential elements of our democracy.”
- “The Nunes memo’s fundamental claim was that the FBI misled the court about Christopher Steele, the former British agent who was a source of information in the FISA applications on Carter Page…. Today we know that it was not true.”
Kris’ claims in his 2018 blog post have all be repudiated by Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on FISA. Congressman Devin Nunes did not falsely accuse the FBI of deceiving the FISA Court. Several FBI agents did in fact deceive the FISA Court.
Kris also made what we now know is a false claim in his 2018 article on the Nunes memo: “It’s even more disturbing that a purported oversight memo would withhold key facts from the American people in accusing the government of withholding key facts from the court. Had the FBI done in its FISA applications what Nunes did in his memo, heads would have rolled on Pennsylvania Avenue.”
The IG Report established that the FBI and DOJ withheld key facts from the FISA Court.
Reality is contrary to Kris’ claim that “heads would have rolled” if the FBI had withheld material facts from the FISA Court. One FBI lawyer who fabricated evidence, Kevin Clinesmith, has been referred for criminal investigation. He has not been indicted.
FBI Director Chris Wray has not fired any of the agents who withheld material information from the FISA Court. According to Wray’s most recent filing, he did email the entire FBI a video telling agents to stop lying.
David Kris is a hyper-partisan. Since much of the FISA abuse was potentially politically motivated, the FISA Court cannot appoint someone with a clear political agenda.
David Kris, along with many others, claimed that the IG Report stated that the “FBI errors weren’t political.”
Kris wrote the following:
These FBI errors weren’t political, the IG concluded, but neither are they acceptable, particularly in an investigation involving a presidential campaign. 9/9
— David Kris (@DavidKris) December 9, 2019
Inspector General Michael Horowitz, in his testimony before the Senate on December 18, 2019, rejected Kris’ assertion that the FBI errors weren’t political.
An exchange between IG Horowitz and Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri reveals that there remain substantial questions about political bias within the FBI:
Sen. Hawley: “Was it your conclusion that political bias did not affect any part of the Page investigation, any part of Crossfire Hurricane?”
IG Horowitz: “We did not reach that conclusion.”
Sen. Hawley: “Because I could have sworn, in fact, I know for a fact that I’ve heard that today from this committee. That’s not your conclusion?”
IG Horowitz: “We have been very careful in the connection with the FISA’s for the reasons you mentioned to not reach that conclusion in part – as we’ve talked about earlier – the alteration of the email, the text messages associated with the individual who did that, and our inability to explain or understand, to get good explanations so that we could understand why this all happened.”
Watch IG Horowitz’s testimony here:
David Kris defended the FBI from claims of FISA abuse on Maddow in 2018. Kris in a regular guest on Maddow, in fact, and his position is always hyper-partisan.
With @Maddow discussing “asymmetric political warfare” as Trump & Co. push for further releases of Page FISAs knowing FBI can’t do so without risking compromising investigation, sources and methods. https://t.co/qItZC5WgKD
— David Kris (@DavidKris) July 24, 2018
In a recent court argument in defense of a defamation lawsuit brought against Rachel Maddow, a lawyer for Maddow claimed that Maddow engages in “rhetorical hyperbole, incapable of being proved true or false.” Alex Jones has used a similar defense in defamation cases brought against him.
Kris also believed, falsely, that Mueller would indict Donald Trump for “Russiagate” related crimes.
I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in. 6/6
— David Kris (@DavidKris) July 13, 2018
The FISA Court’s decision to appoint a hyper-partisan who had made repeated false claims about the FBI’s FISA Abuse reveals an attempt by the FISA Court to cover-up the FBI’s crimes.
FISA Warrant applications are made under oath.
FBI agents didn’t let a few typos accidentally slip into their applications.
They lied about material facts.
They lied when they claimed they did not withhold any material evidence from the FISA Court.
These lies are crimes.
How we can Stop the FISA Court from Covering Up the FBI’s Crimes
The FISA Court intends to let the FBI get away with their crimes by appointed a hyper-partisan to oversee the FBI.
This is who the FISA Court appointed to assess FBI proposals to clean up their FISA act.
A vocal @DevinNunes critic and apologist for FBI misconduct.
— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) January 11, 2020
Send this article to Senator Josh Hawley by clicking here.
I kept this article very clean and well-sourced.
There is no speculation.
The information speaks for itself.
Even if a person for some reason doesn’t “like me,” they can repurpose this article by using the sources contained in the above article.
We must not let the FISA Court get away with committing fraud on the American people.
The FISA Court must appoint someone non-partisan to oversee the FBI.