Did the Obama administration spy on Republican Senators and Supreme Court Justices? Judge Napolitano just weighed in on what Justice Scalia told him. Senator Rand Paul also accused the Obama administration of spying on him and others…

“The use of intelligence data for political purposes is a felony … Unmasking is illegal if done for any reason other than national security.”

Judge Andrew Napolitano said on Fox Business Monday that the late Justice Antonin Scalia told him “that he often thought that the court was being surveilled” roughly four or five years ago.

Napolitano appeared on the program to discuss the claim made by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., accusing the Obama administration of spying on him and another senator.

When asked about Paul’s claim, Napolitano said, “Well, they’re most likely true. Think of this as a three-step process: Surveillance, which is acquisition in a digital version of every keystroke on every computer, and every communication on every cell phone phone and landline phone; storage, which is the maintenance of the digital versions of these communications; and then unmasking, which is accessing this data and finding out the names of the people who are actually surveilled.”

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released a majority staff report Wednesday titled “The Clinton Email Scandal And The FBI’s Investigation Of It,” along with text messages between two agents that shed light on the investigation. The report details the congressional investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s involvement with their investigation of Secretary Clinton’s private server.

The report outlines how information available to the committee at this time raises serious questions about how the FBI applied the rule of law in its investigation. The majority staff report found that:

• The FBI did not use a grand jury to compel testimony and obtain the vast majority of evidence, choosing instead to offer immunity deals and allow fact witnesses to join key interviews.

• There were substantial edits to former FBI Director James Comey’s public statement that served to downplay the severity of Secretary Clinton’s actions, and that the first draft of the memo was distributed for editing two months before key witnesses were interviewed.

• Director Comey stated that he had not consulted with the Justice Department or White House, when text messages among FBI agents involved in the investigation suggest otherwise. Two key investigators discuss an “insurance policy” against the “risk” of a Trump presidency, and “OUR task.”

• Messages discuss “unfinished business,” “an investigation leading to impeachment,”

• and “my gut sense and concern there’s no big .” The messages strongly underscore the need to obtain still-missing text messages and other information regarding the FBI’s actions and investigations into the Clinton email scandal and Russian involvement in the November 2016 election.there there

• Senior FBI officials—likely including Deputy Director Andrew McCabe— knew about newly discovered emails on a laptop belonging to former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner for almost a month before Director Comey notified Congress.
•  

The full report can be found here.

The FBI text messages can be found here.

The letters Chairman Johnson has sent to various agencies and source documents can be found here.

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton, Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett and former U.S. attorney Joe DiGenova reacts to newly released FBI text messages on 'Hannity.'

By Greg Corombos
WorldNetDaily.com

JW President Tom Fitton's Latest Reaction to FISA Memo, JW Uncovers ANOTHER Russian Dossier, McCabe Forced Out of FBI, & Late Breaking FISA Doc Lawsuit

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) revealed Friday that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee would examine other agencies, including the State Department, after releasing a controversial memo alleging surveillance abuses.

Speaking on Fox News just hours after Republicans on the committee released a memo alleging surveillance abuses by the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ), Nunes said the panel was moving to “phase two” of its investigation.

“We are in the middle of what I call phase two of our investigation, which involves other departments, specifically the State Department and some of the involvement that they had in this,” Nunes said.

“That investigation is ongoing and we continue work towards finding answers and asking the right questions to try to get to the bottom of what exactly the State Department was up to in terms of this Russia investigation.”

by Mandy Mayfield
WashingtonExaminer.com

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., called for the criminal prosecution of multiple former FBI and Justice Department officials after the release Friday of the Republican memo about surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser.

Gosar said in a statement posted to Twitter Friday that he will be co-authoring a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions seeking the "criminal prosecution" of former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for their "illegal misconduct and abuse of FISA."

"I will be leading a letter to the Attorney General seeking criminal prosecution against these traitors to our nation," Gosar said in a statement.

The House Intelligence Committee released the memo on Friday after voting to declassify it. President Trump approved the release, which he had the power to block.

The memo was compiled by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and other Republican lawmakers, and explains how FBI and DOJ officials depended on information from a dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to obtain and renew a warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Gosar said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that the former director and deputy FBI director, and two former deputy attorneys general "have made a mockery of the FBI."

"This is precisely why I voted no on the FISA Reauthorization," Gosar added.

Congressional Republicans are saying the memo proves the anti-Trump bias of the Justice Department during their investigation into Russian election meddling. Democrats say the memo is missing important context, gets certain details wrong and otherwise paints a misleading picture of the investigation.

"Congressman Gosar applauds President Trump's decision to declassify the memo, and he demands swift justice," Faith Vander Voort, spokeswoman for Gosar told the Washington Examiner.

Editor's Note:  HERE WE GO!! NO REDACTIONS.  FISA Memo Confirms Surveillance of Trump Campaign Was Based on Dodgy Steele Dossier and FBI/DOJ Officials withheld their knowledge of the political sources and funding behind the dossier from the FISA Court - ON THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS.  FBI Officials Knew Political Origins of Dossier, But Used It Anyway.

The whole cooked-up probe is the fruit of a poisoned tree, which in legal terms means everything that follows from it is completely inadmissible in court. Not that anything has ever been forthcoming to take to court.  The whole thing was cooked up to keep a cloud over the Presidency until the 2018 midterms and hope Meuller could find something, somewhere to justify removing Trump from office. Well over a year and untold $MILLIONS wasted on this fraud on the American People to commit treason, to remove a duly elected president.
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By Byron York
The Washington Examiner

The House Intelligence Committee has released its controversial memo outlining alleged abuses of secret surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department in the Trump-Russia investigation. Here are some key points:

• The Steele dossier formed an essential part of the initial and all three renewal FISA applications against Carter Page.
• Andrew McCabe confirmed that no FISA warrant would have been sought from the FISA Court without the Steele dossier information.
• The four FISA surveillance applications were signed by, in various combinations, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates, Dana Boente, and Rod Rosenstein.
• The FBI authorized payments to Steele for work on the dossier. The FBI terminated its agreement with Steele in late October when it learned, by reading an article in Mother Jones, that Steele was talking to the media.
• The political origins of the Steele dossier were known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, but excluded from the FISA applications.
• DOJ official Bruce Ohr met with Steele beginning in the summer of 2016 and relayed to DOJ information about Steele's bias. Steele told Ohr that he, Steele, was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected president and was passionate about him not becoming president.

The FBI and Justice Department mounted a monthslong effort to keep the information outlined in the memo out of the House Intelligence Committee's hands. Only the threat of contempt charges and other forms of pressure forced the FBI and Justice to give up the material.

Once Intelligence Committee leaders and staff compiled some of that information into the memo, the FBI and Justice Department, supported by Capitol Hill Democrats, mounted a ferocious campaign of opposition, saying release of the memo would endanger national security and the rule of law.

But Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes never wavered in his determination to make the information available to the public. President Trump agreed, and, as required by House rules, gave his approval for release.

Finally, the memo released today does not represent the sum total of what House investigators have learned in their review of the FBI and Justice Department Trump-Russia investigation. That means the fight over the memo could be replayed in the future when the Intelligence Committee decides to release more information.

By Jasper Fakkert and Joshua Philipp
TheEpochTimes.com

How did a piece of opposition research, described by former FBI Director James Comey as both “salacious and unverified,” become the driving force behind the allegations that Trump colluded with Russian authorities?

Research conducted by The Epoch Times, using public sources, shows a web of connections related to the dossier reaching the highest levels of the FBI, CIA, and the Obama administration.

Paid for by the Clinton Campaign and the DNC, and produced by Fusion GPS—whose other clients include the Russian government—the dossier appears to have been the basis for the FBI’s investigation into Donald Trump.

The FBI used the dossier, in part, to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on Trump’s team, according to national security reporter Sarah Carter. Two of President Barack Obama’s top officials also surveilled the communications of Trump’s team, both before and after the elections.

The unverified allegations in the dossier were also actively spread to media organizations, both by Fusion GPS as well as other key players involved, to cast a shadow over Trump’s run for president and his presidency.

Text messages obtained by the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general show high ranking FBI officials discussing an “insurance policy” to prevent Trump from becoming president.

The connections presented raise many questions, including the following: Why was the FBI so willing to accept the allegations made by Fusion GPS? And what did Obama obtain in monitoring the communications of Trump, the opponent of the candidate he supported?

These matters are currently under investigation by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the DOJ inspector general, and possibly special counsel Robert Mueller.