Vigilant News

Eternal Vigilance is the price of liberty.

Congress

Election Observers Deployed by House Republicans to Investigate Irregularities in Tight Races

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Republicans in Congress, determined to use their oversight authority to keep tabs on midterms, have deployed dozens of trained observers to key races around the country.

The effort is being led Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Il), who is the top Republican on the House Administration Committee, and includes the training and deployment of House staff as observers under the authority of Congress and investigating how federal agencies are implementing Joe Biden’s executive order to expand voter registration.

Davis has so far written to at least one state election chief that the effort preserves the right for a candidate who feels his or her race was wrongly counted to contest it in Congress.

“As in past elections, the House will use this legal authority to credential and deploy trained congressional staffers to serve as official House election observers in close, or particularly cumbersome congressional elections, in the coming weeks,” the Illinois Republican wrote Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Oct. 20, laying out his plans. “This allows us to prepare for the possibility that a candidate could later contest the race in the House of Representatives.

“The Committee takes seriously its responsibility regarding federal elections, and we are committed to making sure all lawful ballots in congressional races are counted fairly, accurately, and according to law.”

Davis Letter to Frank LaRose (PDF)

Davis wrote that House staffers who will deployed have been “trained by experts in election observation and instructed that they play no formal or advocacy role in the administration of the election or the vote counting process; they are to function exclusively as observers.”

In addition to the observers, Davis and other ranking Republicans on committees have been peppering state, local and federal agencies with questions about tactics they are using and disputes that have already arisen early in the midterms.

For instance, Davis sent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton a letter Wednesday demanding an investigation into voter registration mailers sent out by Planned Parenthood and Democrat candidate for governor Beto O’Rourke that he said might not have complied with state law.

“It is deeply troubling that Planned Parenthood and Mr. O’Rourke’s campaign sent voter registration forms that may not conform to state law to individuals who, in some cases, have been deceased for over a decade,” Davis wrote. “It goes without saying: Situations like this have a negative effect on voter confidence at a time we can least afford it. Texas voters must be assured not only that their vote will count, but that all — and only — legal votes will be counted.

“I understand you have launched your Election Integrity Division to investigate instances like this, and I encourage you to direct them to pursue this with all due haste.”

Letter to AG Paxton (PDF)

Likewise, earlier this month Davis sent a letter to Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold asking to be briefed on an investigation into how voter registration notices were sent out to 30,000 non-citizens who aren’t legally allowed to cast ballots.

“As you know, situations like this have a negative effect on voter confidence in elections at a time we can least afford it,” the Illinois lawmaker wrote. “Colorado must ensure that its voter registration lists are well-maintained and accurate and hold itself to the highest standards for all registration notices. The fact that roughly 30,000 names and addresses ‘accidentally’ slipped through the process is deeply concerning.”

Letter to Colorado SOS (PDF)

The effort stretches all the way back to the spring, when House Administration Committee Republicans were flabbergasted by what they witnessed at Atlanta voting centers in Fulton County during the spring primaries. Davis said the problem observed, including polling locations that could not operate at full capacity, “do real damage to voter confidence in our election systems and outcomes at a time when we can least afford it.”

“I write today to express my concern about information my staff received during their trip regarding last minute security and other software updates that were made to the county’s electronic pollbooks (EPBs), which caused polling locations to open at less-than-full capacity, and request an explanation on how you will ensure that all of the county’s devices will be updated in time for the polls to open in November, specifically ensuring that minority and majority polling locations are not disproportionately affected,” Davis wrote the chairwoman of the Fulton County Elections Board on June 3.

Letter to Fulton County Elections (PDF)

Davis and other GOP colleagues in the House have also been investigating how federal agencies have been responding to Biden’s executive order to use tax dollars to expand voter registration across the country.

Rep. Glenn Thompson (Pa.), the top Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, was able to confirm that the U.S. Agriculture Department is helping collect voter registrations when poor Americans seek food stamps and other welfare benefits.

USDA believes the National Voter Registration Act 1993 requires it “to offer voter registration opportunities to any person who applies for or renews an application for public assistance, which includes the acceptance of the completed voter registration form and transmittal to State election officials,” the agency wrote recently.

Davis wrote several agencies this summer expressing concern that Biden’s order to agencies “goes beyond the power of the President and the statutory authority given to federal agencies” by Congress and digging into the tactics they are using to encourage voter registration.

GOP’s Lead in Bid to Recapture Congress Widens According to Rassmussen

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It seems as though the US Congress is moving towards the GOP in the most recent Rasmussen polling.

According to their latest poll, the 2022 midterm elections are now just 11 days away, and Republicans have a seven-point lead in their bid to recapture control of Congress.

If the elections for Congress were held today, 49% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for the Republican candidate, while 42% would vote for the Democrat. Just four percent (4%) would vote for some other candidate, but another five percent (5%) are not sure.

The GOP lead has increased by three points from last week when they led 47% to 43%. Republicans have led the Generic Congressional Ballot all year, although their lead has narrowed since mid-July when they led by as much as 10 points.

n October 2018, before voters handed Democrats their first House majority in eight years, Democrats held a three-point advantage (47% to 44%) in the generic ballot question. The margin was still a statistical dead heat – Republicans 46%, Democrats 45% – in the final poll before Democrats won a slim House majority while Republicans gained Senate seats to maintain control of that chamber.

The results of the polling are shown below:

 

FBI Mislead Congress, Offered Christopher Steele $1 Million to Corroborate Bogus Intel

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The trial of Igor Danchenko is entering its second day and there has already been a bombshell revelation showing that the FBI offered Christopher Steele $1 million to corroborate his now-debunked dossier, the piece of intel that initiated the Russiagate scandal.

Former House Intelligence Committee investigator Kash Patel said this proves the bureau knew it hadn’t been able to verify the Trump-Russia collusion narrative and that they knowingly misled Congress.

Igor Danchenko, who was the primary source for the dossier, is being charged with five counts of lying to the FBI.

After the prosecution opened its case against Danchenko on Tuesday, ​​Special Counsel John Durham questioned his first witness, FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten.

Auten’s testimony revealed that in early October 2016, the FBI offered Steele “up to $1 million” to provide corroborating evidence for his dossier, but the former British spy didn’t provide any such information to the bureau. As a result, Steele wasn’t given the money because he was unable to “prove the allegations.”

The FBI submitted an application to a FISA court on Oct. 21, 2016 for a warrant to initiate electronic surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page that included uncorroborated information from the dossier. Auten testified that before the FBI received the dossier, it didn’t have enough evidence to obtain a FISA warrant. 

Durham asked Auten, “On October 21, 2016 did you have any information to corroborate that information?”  

“No,” Auten replied. 

Rep. Devin Nunes and the House Intelligence Committee sent 17 congressional subpoenas to the FBI “for information specifically related to payments and confidential human sources, were denied this information, and we learn it four years after our investigation,” said the lead investigator of the panel’s probe into the FBI’s Russia Collusion investigation.

“That means somebody obstructed a congressional investigation with congressional subpoenas,” said Patel, a former national security prosecutor. 

This exposes “the depths that [the FBI] would go to to falsely corroborate the Steele dossier, which … shows they didn’t have it verified, which we’ve said the whole time,” Patel added. 

“And more importantly,” he continued, “they were willing to spend a million taxpayer dollars on shoveling political hot garbage through the federal court system just to surveil a political target that would have been totally baseless — it was baseless then.”

Patel referred to a group of senior FBI leaders during the James Comey era as “government gangsters,” saying “were so arrogant, that they said, ‘Nobody is going to catch us. We are going to break a constitutional republic’s 250-year tradition because we don’t like the guy in the White House, and we’re going to manufacture a crime on it.'”

We will continue to follow the trial of Igor Danchenko and provide updates as more information becomes available.

Resolution to Investigate Hunter Biden Temporarily Killed by House Democrats

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A resolution that would have ordered President Joe Biden’s administration to turn over documents about Hunter Biden’s business deals died on Tuesday after House Democrats on the Oversight Committee voted against it.

Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the top republican on the Oversight Committee, championed the “resolution of inquiry” that would have ordered the Biden Administration to provide a wide range of documents regarding the Biden family’s overseas business deals, particularly those involving the 1st Son Hunter Biden.

The vote turned out with 19 republicans in favor and 23 democrats voting to kill the resolution after only two hours of debate. During the debate, Comer accused the Biden family of peddling “access to the highest levels of government to enrich themselves,”

Comer elaborates:

“If the Democrats vote against this resolution, then they are continuing in their coordinated effort to shield a potentially compromised President from necessary congressional oversight… We must shed light on the Biden family’s international business schemes to determine if there is a national security threat.”

Comer previously sent a letter to the U.S. Treasury requesting more information about Hunter and his business associates’ finances. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, called the resolution a “nakedly partisan effort” and accused Republicans of being “obsessed” with Hunter Biden.

The question now is whether or not this will be the final nail in the coffin, or only just delay the inevitable.

The Oversight Committee’s proposed resolution of inquiry regarding the Biden family’s business dealings comes after reports that House Republicans are gearing up to investigate Hunter Biden if they regain majority control of the House after November’s midterms.

“The House Oversight Committee has expansive oversight authority under House rules,” a GOP Oversight Committee aide told the Washington Post. “Next Congress, Oversight Committee Republicans will continue their investigation into the Biden family’s suspicious business dealings using the power of the gavel to get answers for the American people.”

Calls Grow among Prominent Figures to Create a New ‘Church Committee’ to Probe FBI Abuses

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Reposted from Just the News

A half century ago, Americans held grave concerns that J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies had abused civil rights, improperly targeted enemies and illegally gathered evidence, so Congress set out on a great cleansing mission. It formed a special committee chaired by Idaho Sen. Frank Church that laid bare the wrongdoing, overhauled the bureau and created new guardrails to protect civil liberties.

A growing number of influential figures in Washington are arguing it’s time for another Church Committee after a tumultuous six years in which the FBI admitted it misled the FISA court while spying on Donald Trump’s campaign, had executives who lied, doctored evidence or usurped prosecutors’ authority, and employed agents who dropped the ball on a sexual abuse scandal involving Olympians and overcollected evidence in a raid of a former president’s home.

The revelation this week that the bureau secretly paid a Russian businessman as a confidential informant against Trump even though he was suspected of lying and having ties to the Kremlin’s intelligence agencies only accelerated support for a sweeping, independent probe of the FBI now under the control of Director Christopher Wray.

“I think, frankly, it would be great for the FBI,” Kevin Brock, the bureau’s first-ever intelligence chief, said of the notion of a new Church Committee. “They find themselves obviously in a very challenging situation, some of which they brought on themselves, others kind of imposed upon them.

“But they find themselves in a place right now where well over the half the country believes they’re working on behalf of one political party over another,” he said during a wide-ranging interview with the John Solomon Reports podcast this week. “And that can’t stand … the agency can’t survive if that persists.”

Brock, a former assistant director who helped write the rules the FBI currently uses for informants, is a widely respected voice inside the bureau. But many outside it echo his support for a 21st  century Church Committee or something like the 9/11 Commission that investigated the worst terror attacks in American history.

Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who helped unravel the false Russia collusion narrative, said the highly partisan tensions in Washington these days make it hard for a traditional congressional committee to do the sort of oversight it needs, citing examples of how Democrats thwarted his effort to probe FBI failures in the Russia case. He said that reality makes a blue ribbon commission or select committee a better option to investigate and reform the FBI.

“You know, we weren’t really designed to run these types of investigations,” said Nunes, recalling his time on the House Intelligence Committee. “And for so long, the process actually worked. It was relatively bipartisan for the most part. But when you have corruption at that level, it becomes so hard to run these investigations right.

“You have to ultimately have Congress involved doing a real investigation, and I think it’s going to be very, very difficult if you use just the current committee structure that they have.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the likely House Judiciary Committee chairman next year if the GOP wins control of Congress, supports the idea of a select committee like the one Church chaired, even if his panel does aggressive oversight on its own.

“I think that that exercise is definitely needed, whether it’s done in a special select kind of committee or a blue ribbon commission,” said Jordan, who himself has been contacted by five FBI whistleblowers in recent months alleging political manipulation of investigations and even crime data. “That’s even maybe with some members outside of Congress.”

“We need to seriously look at how this all has to change in a way that respects the liberties of the American people,” Jordan said, adding he has increasing concerns about the influence that politically “woke” intelligence analysts are having inside the bureau in shaping allegations and investigations.

The Church Committee ultimately assembled some of the biggest names in the Senate, including three members who ran for president. All brought intellectual and political heft from both sides of the aisles in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal and the end of the Hoover era. Figures like Walter Mondale, Howard Baker, Barry Goldwater, John Tower and Gary Hart were able to find consensus, issuing numerous volumes of reports that exposed intelligence death squads and civil liberty violations that included unlawful snooping and spying.

Ultimately, that committee’s greatest contribution was a series of legal reforms that reined in the FBI and governed two generations of agents to color inside the lines after a dark history of past abuses.

“They pointed out a lot of these abuses and from that gave birth the attorney general guidelines, which the FBI still operates under today,” recalled Brock, who joined the FBI in the aftermath of the Church Committee.

The new, post-Church guidelines “in stark terms stipulated how, and when an FBI agent can open up a case against a subject,” Brock explained. “And those were great bumper pads that were put in place. Now the bureau knew, ‘Okay, we can’t go beyond these boundaries. We’re safe as long as we stay inside these boundaries.’ And it worked wonderfully for years.”

Nunes said one reason outside forces are needed to press FBI reform is that its current leader, Wray, hasn’t been willing to make the sweeping changes the public needs to restore trust, even if he has put in place some new reforms of tactics involving, for example, FISA warrants.

“We cannot trust after all this time, that Wray has done one damn thing to clean up this agency,” Nunes said. “In fact, it’s gotten worse. The American people know it’s worse.”

Whatever solution the next Congress chooses, the status quo is not an option, said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.”We have to find out what is going on in the FBI,” she told the “Just the News, Not Noise” show earlier this week. “I know a lot of people that work with the FBI are good, hard-working people. But there is a political cabal inside the FBI that has to be dealt with. It’s inside the Department of Justice also.”