The Communist media complex is up in arms this morning over the confiscation of journalist, Ali Watkins phone and email records by federal investigators, incident of which is connected to Thursday’s arrest and sealed grand jury indictment of former long-time staffer of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, James A. Wolfe.
Wolfe, the former head of Security, is alleged to have leaked information to Watkins with whom he “allegedly” had a clandestine relationship since 2014.
Scheduled to appear in a Maryland federal court today, Wolfe has been indicted on three counts under Violation 18 U.S.C. $ 1001, i.e., of “making false statements to special agents of the FBI during the course of an investigation into the unlawful disclosure of classified information” via “his use of encrypted messaging applications.” (Sound familiar?)
Long story short, he lied to the FBI last December (2017) about contacts with three reporters and having providing two of the three with non-public information about committee matters. (See sealed indictment at bottom of post.) Watkins (I suspect is a CIA operative but I’ll go there at a later time) is allegedly one of those reporters.
Wolfe should have known better.
Wolfe is married to Jane Rhoades Wolfe, a former FBI agent of 20 years. She investigated white collar crime and counter-terrorism violations from the New York Field Office.
In the presence of FBI investigators who late last year gave Wolfe an investigative questionnaire to complete, Wolfe allegedly lied on the questionnaire about his relationships with reporters, three in particular. It is only after signing the investigative questions then being shown pictures by investigators of Wolfe with one of the reporters (REPORTER # 2) did the former Senate Intel security director admit that he lied and maintained a relationship with REPORTER # 2.
REPORTER # 2 is alleged to be Ali Watkins, a national security reporter for the New York Times. Watkins “previously worked at BuzzFeed, Politico and McClatchy where she also covered national security—primarily the intelligence committees on Capitol Hill.” Her records are now in the possession of federal prosecutors.
It is alleged that Wolfe continued to lie to federal investigators.
Another Thread, Another Leak re Carter Page Trump Campaign?
What role did Wolfe play in the Buzzfeed’s infamous April 3, 2017 article entitled, A Former Trump Adviser Met With A Russian Spy authored by Watkins? Carter Page is MALE-1. (The plot thickens. Is there a John Brennan “deep state” connection?) See pages 6 and 7 of indictment (below_), REPORTER #2 PUBLISHED INFORMATION ABOUT MALE-1 AFTER COMMUNICATING WITH THE DEFENDANT, paragraphs 17 thru 21.
Both Wolfe and Watkins are of the swamp and it is against the leaking of classified information by government officials is illegal. It appears that the intent by both Wolfe and Watkins was to undermine and destroy President Donald J. Trump. Besides, they were warned that leaking would not be tolerated.
Actions have consequences.
Yet, the Communist media complex is reporting the leak from a violation of freedom of the press angle.
BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief Ben Smith said in a statement, “We’re deeply troubled by what looks like a case of law enforcement interfering with a reporter’s constitutional right to gather information about her own government.”
Politico spokesperson Brad Dayspring released a statement saying that the Senate Intelligence Committee was not Watkins’ primary beat and that she “did not disclose the personal nature of her relationship early on in her tenure, and she was managed accordingly thereafter…Any time that a journalist’s ability to do their job is threatened in a manner such as this, it’s a major concern….”
Note that these are the same propagandists who remained silent during Barack Obama’s war on the press, in particular, Obama’s war on Fox News and Fox News reporter, James Rosen. In fact, many of the propagandists shouting about the violation of freedom of the press by the federal law enforcement took sides against Fox News Eric Holder and Obama’s war on Fox News.
The media has benefitted from the leaks by advertising the availability of applications through which government staffers conspiring against the President are able to leak information to the press.
As expected, the Senate Intel Committee is co-operating by providing documents to the Department of Justice, if only the DOJ would reciprocate.
The Senate this week agreed to turn over documents to the Justice Department as part of the investigation in an unusual resolution that passed by unanimous consent on the Senate floor. Under Senate rules, the full body needs to approve any request to turn over its internal documents to the executive branch.
“The Select Committee on Intelligence has received a request from the Department of Justice for records pertinent to a pending investigation arising out of allegations of the unauthorized disclosure of information by a former employee of the Committee,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement entered into the congressional record.
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Below is the press statement from the Department of Justice followed by the grand jury sealed indictment and the unseal order.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Former U.S. Senate Employee Indicted on False Statements Charges
Attachment(s):
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SEALED GRAND JURY INDICTMENT.
If unable to view above, you can view it in pdf format here or here.
ORDER TO UNSEAL INDICTMENT.
You can also view the above document here in pdf format.
