Tag: FOIA

HUNDREDS OF LOCKDOWN ‘SNITCHES’ FEAR BACKLASH AFTER NAMES, ADDRESSES PUBLISHED ONLINE

Hundreds of Lockdown 'Snitches' Fear Backlash After Names, Addresses Published Online

Most cases involved small business owners trying to survive amid economic disaster

Zero Hedge – MAY 4, 2020

People across the US have been using quarantine lockdown violations to snitch on others.

Sometimes, it’s a stranger, but more often than not, people are snitching on others they know – sometimes all too well.

Arguably the best single piece of reporting ever published by the now-defunct Splinter News was a piece resulting from a FOIA request on immigration ‘snitches’ – people who report the undocumented to ICE or other federal immigration authorities. Splinter found a surprising pattern of people trying to have family members – more often than not their in-laws – deported.

Now, the Independent reports that hundreds of Missouri residents have had their personal details shared online after the publication of a document that recorded reports made by people tattling on lockdown violators.

Some individuals – who asked to remain anonymous despite being named in a public Facebook group as lockdown snitches – reportedly told the Independent that they are seriously concerned about facing consequences for ‘snitching’ on coronavirus rulebreakers in St Louis County.

The people who were ratted on included mostly small business owners who were reported for flouting lockdown laws – i.e. (in many cases) simply trying to survive – by patrons, competitors and, of course, the haters.

The names and addresses of the 900 ‘snitches’ were released totally legally – via an FOIA request (any jailhouse snitch will tell you to beware the fact that there will always be a record of cooperation for constitutional reasons). They were then rounded up and posted in the Facebook group with the explicit intent of ‘naming and shaming’ them.

“I’m not only worried about COVID, I’m worried about someone showing up at my door, showing up at my workplace or me getting fired for doing what is right,” said a woman named Patricia, who was named as one of the ‘snitches.’

“When there is something that happens next time, I’m not going to feel safe or protected enough to call the local authorities.”

“We’re in a society where doing what’s right doesn’t always get rewarded,” added Patricia. “We have to be extra careful because we don’t have the strength to fight this.”

The complaints resulted in 29 businesses receiving court summons in April. Some of the snitches said they snitched on their employers for abusing them or other workers.

This might be the only incidence where snitching on your small-business tyrant boss might be acceptable, though it’s important to take into consideration the fact that sometimes good, reliable and fair people will do desperate shit to save their livelihoods.

Missouri’s St Louis County has confirmed the most cases and deaths from COVID-19 than any other part of the state. Doug Moore, the head of communications for the county executive, said the names and details of the complainants simply couldn’t be legally redacted.

Moore added that “withholding information goes against what journalists push us to be – as transparent as possible.”

Like the old saying goes: “Snitches get stitches.”

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JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR RECORDS OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CLAPPER, BRENNAN, CNN

Judicial Watch Sues for Records of Communication Between Clapper, Brennan, CNN

Watchdog files FOIA to unearth truth about Steele dossier

Judicial Watch – MARCH 28, 2019

Dossier-Related Communications Between Clapper and ex-CIA Director John Brennan also Sought

(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch announced today it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) seeking records of communications between former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and CNN around the time the Clinton-Democrat National Committee Trump dossier was being pitched to key media outlets.

A House report detailed that Clapper leaked information regarding the dossier to CNN in January 2017. The former ODNI chief signed on as an analyst for CNN in August 2017.

Judicial Watch is also seeking records of communications between Clapper and Obama CIA Director John Brennan regarding the dossier , which was authored by former British spy and FBI payee Christopher Steele.

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Judicial Watch v. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency (No. 1:19-cv-00776)) after the agencies failed to respond to an April 23, 2018 FOIA request seeking:

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between officials in the office of the Director of National Intelligence, including but not limited to James Clapper, and employees, representatives and contractors of CNN.

The time frame for the records request is May 2016 through May 2017.

All records of communications between the office of the Director of Central Intelligence and representatives of CNN; DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding the collection of memos known as the “Steele Dossier:” and between DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding CNN.

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between officials in the office of the Director of Central Intelligence, including but not limited to DCI John Brennan, and employees, representatives and contractors of CNN. The time frame for the requested records is May 2016 through May 2017.

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding the collection of memos known as the “Steele Dossier”. The time frame for records requested in this bullet item is May 2016 through January 2017.

All records of communication, including emails (whether on .gov or non-.gov email accounts), text messages and instant chats, between DCI John Brennan and DNI James Clapper regarding the news network CNN. The time frame for records requested in this bullet item is May 2016 through January 2017.

In a March 2018, report, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee said, “Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, now a CNN national security analyst, provided inconsistent testimony to the Committee about his contacts with the media, including CNN.” And, “when questioned by the Committee … Clapper admitted that he confirmed the existence of the dossier to the media.

Clapper later admitted he had discussed the Steele dossier with CNN’s Jake Tapper and other journalists in early 2017, shortly before President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

In a January 10, 2017 report with bylines from Tapper, Evan Perez, Jim Sciutto and Carl Bernstein, CNN first revealed that then-FBI Director James Comey had briefed then-President-elect Trump on the dossier’s allegations.

The Intelligence Committee’s report said that “Clapper subsequently acknowledged discussing the ‘dossier with CNN journalist Jake Tapper,’ and admitted that he might have spoken with other journalists about the same topic. Clapper’s discussion with Tapper took place in ‘early January 2017,’ around the time [intelligence officials] briefed President Obama and President-elect Trump, on ‘the Christopher Steele information.’”

Shortly after CNN’s January 10, 2017 report, BuzzFeed News published the dossier in full.

The four CNN reporters were awarded the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Merriman Smith Award for their coverage of the dossier story.

Brennan, in an interview with NBC News on February 4, 2018 insisted that the Steele dossier “did not play any role whatsoever” in early intelligence assessments on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Several subsequent reports strongly contradict Brennan’s claim.

In a June 4, 2018 report for National Review, Victor Davis Hanson noted that Brennan “served as a stealthy conduit” to ensure the dossier was “disseminated widely.”

Hanson wrote: “Brennan, in May 2017, as an ex-CIA director, again almost certainly did not tell the truth to Congress when he testified in answer to Rep. Tray Gowdy’s questions that he neither knew who had commissioned the Steele dossier nor had the CIA relied on its contents for any action. Yet both the retired National Security Agency director, Michael Rogers, and the former director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, have conceded that the Steele dossier — along with the knowledge that it was a Clinton-campaign-funded project — most certainly did help shape the Obama intelligence communality interagency assessments and actions, often under the urging of Brennan himself.”

“Judicial Watch is again in court trying to get the truth about the Obama gang illegal leaks and conspiracy targeting President Trump,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Clapper and Brennan were key proponents of the big lie, exposed by the Mueller report, that President Trump colluded with the Russians. Judicial Watch FOIA litigation is the best hope for getting full accountability on this attack on our constitutional republic.”

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The LAST RECORDS: Chicago Police Department Releases Jussie Smollett Investigation Files Before Case Is Sealed

By EMILY ZANOTTI

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 14: Jussie Smollett attends the 2018 Fox Network Upfront at Wollman Rink, Central Park on May 14, 2018 in New York City.

Wednesday morning, the Chicago Police Department fulfilled a Freedom of Information Act request from WGN News and CWB Chicago, and released complete but redacted files from the Jussie Smollett investigation — the last such documents that can be expected, according to CPD’s spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi.

The documents, first posted by CWB, show the progression of a police investigation that began on January 29th, when Smollett and his friend summoned Chicago Police to Smollett’s downtown apartment to file a police report, indicating that Smollett had been assaulted and battered while walking home from a local Subway sandwich shop.

You can find File #1 on CWB’s page here, and File #2 here. Both files are heavily redacted, and were apparently resubmitted to the Chicago Police Department on Tuesday, after the Cook County State’s Attorney dropped all charges against Smollett, apparently in anticipation of FOIA requests.

There are several items in CPD’s investigative files that have not appeared in prior reporting, including that, by late January, just days after Smollett reported the incident to Chicago Police, the police had shifted their investigation, reclassifying it from an “aggravated battery” to a “public peace violation” or false police report.

By January 31st, it appears that CPD detectives had requested surveillance footage from buildings surrounding Smollett’s residence, and had determined that it was likely Smollett had either orchestrated or fabricated the “hate crime” initially reported to police.

The files also catalog CPD’s interactions with the now-infamous Osundairo brothers — the two men Smollett allegedly hired to help him carry out the attack. CPD interviewed the Osundairo brothers several times, connecting the pair to the scene of the crime through a hot sauce bottle that one brother admitted he had filled with bleach, and then poured on Smollett during the attack. A New York Post reporter later found the hot sauce bottle while poking around the scene of the alleged crime.

The brothers also indicated that a $3500 check they’d received from Smollett was for more than just “training,” which they charged only $30 to $50 per hour for.

According to the reports, police investigators and prosecutors worked hard to keep developments of the case — particularly grand jury witnesses like the Osundairo brothers — out of the public eye, driving witnesses to and from courthouses outside of downtown Chicago, so that they could testify without triggering a media frenzy.

Perhaps most interestingly, the files show that the Chicago Police Department cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the Smollett case as early as late January, as well. According to one of the files, the FBI requested — and received — a copy of a the results of a search warrant served on Smollett’s Apple iCloud account. The FBI is reportedly still conducting its own investigation into Smollett over a letter sent to Smollett at Fox Studios containing a “white powder” that turned out to be crushed Tylenol.

Although the files don’t provide much more in the way of damning evidence against Smollett, the circumstances surrounding their release are part of an interesting twist in the Smollett case. After the Cook County State’s Attorney decided to drop the 17 charges against Smollett, the court case was wiped off the books — a highly unusual move — and Smollett’s records were sealed.

According to CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, speaking to Chicago’s ABC news affiliate, Wednesday’s document release is the final release — all other documents pertinent to the investigation and case against Smollett are going under seal.

Screen Shot 2019-03-27 at 3.01.25 PM

Initially, the order delivered on Tuesday was not read to apply to city or police records. An updated order, issued Wednesday morning, now covers all records pertinent to the Smollett case.

Screen Shot 2019-03-27 at 3.04.19 PM

The Chicago Police have gone on the offensive against the prosecutor’s office following yesterday’s developments. In a tweet issued yesterday afternoon, Gugliemi took on Jussie Smollett’s proclamation of innocence, noting that “Chicago police detectives did an excellent investigation and their work was reaffirmed by an independent grand jury who brought 16 criminal counts. In our experience, innocent individuals don’t forget bond & perform community service in exchange for dropped charges.”

The Fraternal Order of Police — Chicago’s primary police union — has already delivered a request to the United States Attorney’s office in Chicago requesting that a federal investigaiton into the decision to clear Smollett of all charges.

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