FISC Declassifies Order About Carter Page FISA Applications
Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) has declassified an order about the Department of Justice's handling of 2016 and 2016 applications for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant for Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The Dec. 2019 Office of Inspector General (OIG) Report about the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election devoted considerable discussion to the Page warrants. The order reveals that the government believes that in applications for two of the FISA warrants there was "insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power" and that "Court's authorizations" for the two warrants "were not valid." The order details that the FBI has agreed to "sequester all collection the FBI acquired pursuant to" all of its wiretaps of Page authorized by the FISC, pending "further review of the OIG Report," and "related investigations and any litigation." In the order, the court directs the FBI to submit a written statement that details its sequestering procedures and explains what it means by "further review of the OIG Report" and "related investigations and any litigation." The order can be viewed here and below.
