The case of James Wolfe: National Security vs the First Amendment
A former Senate aid has been arrested for lying to the FBI about his contacts with reporters. James Wolfe faces 3 counts of making false statements. The case is slightly complicated since one of the reporters he leaked to was Ali Watkins, who was then a "Buzzfeed" reporter and is now with the New York Times, was his girlfriend. Wolfe has not been charged with leaking classified information for whatever reasons (maybe so they won't be an issue in Court).
Watkins phone records were seized by the DOJ, so the essential question may be "was that the only way to prove that classified information was being disseminated"?
The media is sure to be outraged, rightfully so, but on the other hand something had to be done about the outrageous number of leaks of classified information involving the Trump Administration. AG Jeff Sessions fulfilled a promise he made to get to the bottom of the leaks. Wolfe would be a major player since he has access to all the classified material given to the US Congress. Hopefully the DOJ thread the needle here.
"In his role with the committee, Mr. Wolfe was responsible for safeguarding classified and other sensitive information shared with lawmakers. He stopped performing committee work in December and retired in May.
Court documents describe Mr. Wolfe’s communications with four reporters — including Ms. Watkins — using encrypted messaging applications. It appeared that the F.B.I. was investigating how Ms. Watkins learned that Russian spies in 2013 had tried to recruit Carter Page, a former Trump foreign policy adviser. She published an article for BuzzFeed News on April 3, 2017, about the attempted recruitment of Mr. Page in which he confirmed the contacts."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/us/politics/times-reporter-phone-records-seized.html
Article is LOCKED by author/seeder
Who is online
54 visitors
"The Justice Department will weigh journalists' concerns and modify its guidelines for investigating potential national security leaks, Attorney General Eric Holder told media outlets today."
Were the guidelines followed?
"Something had to be done about the outrageous number of leaks of classified information involving The Trump Administration." A partial sentence from the 'article.'
If 'the leak' involves national security that is one thing. If 'the leak' involves deceit, malfeasance, cover up or corruption, that is quite another thing.
On the whole I suspect Sessions is doing what he can to protect a criminal White House. Which in itself also makes Sessions a complicit criminal.
"The indictment indicates James A. Wolfe leaked information to reporters on Trump campaign figure Carter Page."
His girlfriend, working at Buzzfeed published the Carter Page info. I believe she was first to do so. It was picked up by multiple news organizations and it became a narrative of a Trump official having Russian contacts. I would say that not only involved classified information, but it helped perpetuate a false narrative. I think that leak by itself was extremely serious.
Carter Page? That Carter Page? The strange guy with the strange hat that visits Russia a lot? Yeah, right. Don't look there.
Thanks for making the point. That became the battle cry of the left. Now we know who was a key leaker.
From leaks come truth. I know where you stand.
You do? Read the title of the Article.
At least Sessions didn't charge any of the reporters as "criminal conspirators" as Eric Holder did. Where were you back then?
You stand with Putin's Russia, right?
Putin's Russia?
Why don't you tell us how you see it?
Is leaking classified info a treasonable offense? Or is this simply a matter of a free press providing facts to the American public?
How do you feel about President Obama's use of the Espionage Act? The surveillance of James Rosen?
Would that not depend upon the information?
Yup.....Info like this maybe:
"Roughly one month before the Buzzfeed article appeared, the Senate intelligence committee received a classified document detailing Mr. Page’s activities. That day, Mr. Wolfe — who received, maintained and managed the document — exchanged 82 text messages with Reporter #2 as well as a 28-minute phone call later that evening, according to the indictment."
So here is what I find interesting.
Per the indictment, the Buzzfeed article appeared "on or about April, 3, 2017". So that means that the Senate IC was informed, via a classified document, about Carter Page's activities LONG BEFORE they started bitching about the FISA warrant that the GOP insists was base on the Steele dossier. Could the FISA application instead have been equally justified by the classified document supplied to the SSCI in March of 2017?
Oh and presuming that at some point the SSCI shared this information with the HSCI, could that information be hidden under the blackout in the Democratic response to the GOP House memo?
One has to wonder WHY, if Page was on the up and up, any information on the activities of Page would be classified in the first place. Also, if in fact Page's activities were rightly classified WTF was he doing?
It seems to me that Trump's minions want it both ways. Either Page is an innocent caught up in a unwarranted 'deep state' conspiracy, OR his activities constituted a national security risk and the FISA warrant was justified. They can't have both.
Evasion and deflection
That's interesting because a couple of weeks ago Hillary Clinton spoke at Yale and I didn't see any shackles on her wrists. So by your standards Hillary Clinton is innocent. You've really come around...
She's as innocent as you think Trump is.
The topic isn't Trump, it's Page.
Do you have anything to say about Carter Page?
The topic isn't Hillary either yet you brought her up.
Go look up the word context.
BTFW, I see that you had nothing to add about Page.
And my comment is no more or less contextual than yours. Hillary's guilt or "innocence" has nor relationship to the topic at had..
Agree to disagree...
Aren't you suppose to supply a link to the story? I don't see one.
It's my article. Are you denying that it's a story? Check Post #2.1. It is a major news story.
Not if he wrote it and put it together, homeybear.
Thanks
So, the same counts that Flynn pled guilty to. So, what are ya going to do when the case is finished and, Wolfe walks out of the courthouse a free man? It is possible, if it is shown that what he "leaked" wasn't classified, secret or, top secret and, had nothing to do with the Senates investigation except to expose corruption in the way the investigation is being run or, the House investigation was run.
And yet, the DOJ felt they had enough to issue the indictment. Here's a thought, they might know more than you about the evidence they have.
I would hope so, this seems like a slam dunk and I believe they finally have the right people in place. The Sally Yates & Preet Bharara types are finally gone. The question now is the seizure of phone records
And yet the indictment isn't for leaking classified information. If the had 'enough to issue' an indictment for leaking, they would have.
That's the funny part of it. He is only being charged with lying to the FBI. So, right back at ya: What are you gonna do if/when he is found guilty (it's 5 years for each count) and he only gets sentenced to a fraction of the 15 years ?
That's just it, I think that Flynn will probably get probation or, at the most three years total for the same crime and, I'm ok with that, if/when Wolfe is convicted and, he only gets a lite sentence, I'll accept that too, after all, the judge has a reason for the way he/she sentences people, who am I to question that.
Chalk it up to our fucked up justice system.
Hey if Petraeus, who did FAR WORSE for pussy, could get a slap on the wrist, NO TIME and still collect his pension, why not this guy.
Petraeus took CODE WORD LEVEL TOP SECRET documents that included the names of confidential military informants and gave some to his main squeeze and hid the rest in his home. THEN he LIED about it to the FBI.
So please DO explain WHY you think that lying about TALKING about 'classified' information about Page, who Trump called a 'volunteer', is WORSE than divulging CODE WORD TOP SECRET documents. and lying about it. I'll wait...
The only information that we have at this point is in the indictment and it says nothing about form which device the evidence was garnered.
Until somebody has the gonads to stand up to the DOJ in cases like this, the question is moot because they've gotten away with it for so long.