In particular, we learn that Mike Flynn was under surveillance before he ever made the phone call to the Russian ambassador that led to him first being declared clear by the FBI and then, rather inexplicably, Mueller indicting Flynn based on no new evidence.
The report doesn't say when the surveillance took place, but there is zero doubt that the Obama administration decided to sic the FBI on the national security adviser designate of the president-elect.
While it is easier to excuse the judges, who have to assume the FBI agents appearing before them are acting in good faith, the Carter page episode has showed us that this assumption is wildly misplaced.
So why was Page put under surveillance? The answer is easy, even though he was off the Trump campaign he was still in contact with people on the campaign and FISA allows surveillance at "Two hops." Anyone Page talked to could be put under surveillance and anyone those people talked to could be put under surveillance.
What this means in practice is that, under a single warrant, anyone Page had a text or phone call with in the Trump campaign during the brief months of his association with it in 2016, was fair game, as a direct connection, all the way through the end of the last warrant-extension period on Page in October 2017.
In other words, it's likely that almost everyone on the Trump campaign staff was included in the universe of first- and second-order contacts of Carter Page.
We got a glimpse of that reality from the recent report that Carter Page was in contact with Trump adviser Steve Bannon in January 2017, which could have allowed the FBI to look further into Bannon's communications through October 2017.
https://www.redstate.com/streiff/2019/04/20/carter-page-fisa-affidavits-false-fbi-guilty-perjury/
The report doesn't say when the surveillance took place, but there is zero doubt that the Obama administration decided to sic the FBI on the national security adviser designate of the president-elect.
While it is easier to excuse the judges, who have to assume the FBI agents appearing before them are acting in good faith, the Carter page episode has showed us that this assumption is wildly misplaced.
So why was Page put under surveillance? The answer is easy, even though he was off the Trump campaign he was still in contact with people on the campaign and FISA allows surveillance at "Two hops." Anyone Page talked to could be put under surveillance and anyone those people talked to could be put under surveillance.
What this means in practice is that, under a single warrant, anyone Page had a text or phone call with in the Trump campaign during the brief months of his association with it in 2016, was fair game, as a direct connection, all the way through the end of the last warrant-extension period on Page in October 2017.
In other words, it's likely that almost everyone on the Trump campaign staff was included in the universe of first- and second-order contacts of Carter Page.
We got a glimpse of that reality from the recent report that Carter Page was in contact with Trump adviser Steve Bannon in January 2017, which could have allowed the FBI to look further into Bannon's communications through October 2017.
https://www.redstate.com/streiff/2019/04/20/carter-page-fisa-affidavits-false-fbi-guilty-perjury/
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