Sharyl Attkisson

Untouchable Subjects. Fearless, Nonpartisan Reporting.

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Court limits police power over smartphone access

iPhone with TouchID fingerprint scanner
Photo by Kelvinsong

A recent court ruling in Idaho finds police cannot conduct a forensic search on a phone by ordering the owner to unlock the phone using his fingerprint.

Judge Ronald E. Bush ruled that such an order would violate individual's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. According to court documents, the case involved an unnamed individual under investigation for possible possession of child pornography.

Police reportedly seized a Google Pixel 3 XL from the home of a suspect, but could not access the data and wanted to force the suspect to unlock the phone using his or her fingerprint.

Judge Bush's ruling saying that should not be permitted comes on the heels of a related ruling in California.

Read more in Forbes.

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10 Questions I'd Ask Robert Mueller (if I were allowed)

Robert Mueller, former FBI Director, Former Special Counsel investigating alleged Trump-Russia collusion

The following is an excerpt of my latest analysis in The Hill.

Most of now-former special counsel Robert Mueller’s public statement to the press last week seemed to fall under the category of “Fair enough.” After all, the man did nearly two years of work, he kept largely silent throughout, and he alternately was called a hero or a dog.

So the day Mueller resigns, he chooses to make a fairly brief statementputting a button on all of it, and at the same time declining to take any questions, before gliding back into private life.

But there’s at least one comment Mueller made that nags at me. It’s when he said, “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” Mueller must have had his reasons for shading his commentary in that way rather than in the other direction: If they’d found adequate evidence to implicate Trump in a crime, or even “collusion,” they would have said that, too.

The statement Mueller chose to give carries with it an implication that his team looked for evidence of President Trump’s innocence but simply could not find it. With that in mind, I thought of a short list of questions I’d like to ask Mueller, if ever permitted to do so:

  1. What witnesses did you interview and what evidence did you collect in an attempt to exonerate Trump or prove him not guilty? (I believe the answer would be, “None. It’s not the job of a special counsel or prosecutor to do so.” Therefore, was Mueller’s comment appropriate?

(Continued...)

Read the rest of the article in The Hill by clicking the link below:

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/446574-robert-muellers-parting-shot-10-questions-id-like-to-ask

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Police Scanner Audio: Virginia Beach Shooter DeWayne Craddock

Alleged shooter DeWayne Craddock, allegedly shown in work photo

The website Heavy.com has published some background about the latest mass shooter in the U.S.: DeWayne Craddock. Some of the information was gleaned from prior newspaper articles about Craddock, according to the website.

Craddock was a public utilities engineer whose name frequently appeared on city notices. He was entrusted with giving tours on pumping stations to community leaders, and he was a former member of the Army National Guard.

--Heavy.com

Heavy.com has also published the police scanner audio of exchanges recorded during the response to the shooting including, Craddock audio in which Craddock was named as the suspect. The audio also details the movement of the police SWAT team.

Please note: The audio may be disturbing to some. It can be found at the bottom of the Heavy.com article. The report of a police officer being shot-- but apparently protected in part by his bullet proof vest-- can also be heard.

(Opinion Note: In my opinion, the police scanner audio serves to emphasize the heroic nature of many law enforcement officers who find themselves in harm's way on a regular basis as they do the job of protecting the rest of us.)

According to Heavy.com: "In July 2018, the City of Virginia Beach published an article that suggested people contact 'DeWayne Craddock with Virginia Beach Public Utilities.' The article was about utility work affecting local traffic. There are many such city notices with his name listed. In 2014, he was listed as the contact person for the city’s “Public Utilities Design Standards Manual Update.”

Various news media published photos of the victims after the photos were released by police today. You can read CNN's article on the victims by clicking here.

Read more and listen to the police scanner audio at Heavy.com

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San Francisco bans facial recognition technology

Facial recognition art by teguhjatipras

The city of San Francisco has banned local government agencies from deploying facial recognition technology.

The recent vote by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors came in response to criticism about the technology.

Facial recognition identifies or verifies a person's identity by comparing digital images to faces in a database. It is controversial because critics say the method could be used to conduct real-time surveillance, invading individual privacy. There have also been questions about the technology's accuracy and about cases of mistaken identity.

The ban only applies to city agencies; not individuals, businesses or federal agencies. Observers say it's likely to inspire similar efforts elsewhere.

Read more in Wired.

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Senators ask about alleged abuse of illegal immigrant minors

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
Photo by Gage Skidmore

There's a bipartisan push in Congress to get answers about alleged abuse of illegal immigrant children.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R – Iowa) and the committee's lead Democrat, Ron Wyden, are looking for answers regarding serious accusations of physical and sexual abuse of migrant children. The abuse reportedly happened at federally funded housing facilities for the children.

The reports outline “horrific and intolerable” accusations of sexual abuse, as well as abuse of federal funds. Grassley and Wyden are asking for an accounting of exactly how the taxpayer funds were used, and whether or not the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement was negligent in its duties to keep the children healthy and safe.

For more information, and to read the full letter from Grassley and Wyden, click here: https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/wyden-grassley-demand-answers-misconduct-and-abuse-federally-funded-facilities

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Clinton email records were found in Obama White House

Bill Priestap, former assistant director of FBI counterintelligence

It's been a decade since Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State and used a private server for government business, transmitting sensitive and classified information in the process.

It's been exactly three years since the Inspector General said Clinton's actions were improper.

It's been a couple of years since the FBI under Director James Comey more or less cleared Clinton of criminal prosecution after granting immunity to her top aides, despite the destruction of subpoenaed emails.

So it's entirely possible you thought the case was closed.

But the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch has continued its court pursuit to expose secrets surrounding Clinton's case. The group recently revealed that a senior FBI official admitted, in writing and under oath, that "the FBI found Clinton email records in the Obama White House, specifically, the Executive Office of the President."

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Judicial Watch says the new disclosure was made by E.W. (Bill) Priestap, who was assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division until 2018. The information came as part of court-ordered discovery into the Clinton email issue.

Now, under the District Court's order, Priestap and other Obama administration senior officials, lawyers, and Clinton aides must answer questions under oath in writing or in person.

According to a news release from Judicial Watch:

Priestap was asked by Judicial Watch to identify representatives of Hillary Clinton, her former staff, and government agencies from which “email repositories were obtained.” Priestap responded with the following non-exhaustive list:

  • Bryan Pagliano
  • Cheryl Mills
  • Executive Office of the President [Emphasis added]
  • Heather Samuelson
  • Jacob Sullivan
  • Justin Cooper
  • United States Department of State
  • United States Secret Service
  • Williams & Connolly LLP

A complete copy of Priestap’s interrogatory responses is available here. Priestap, is serving as assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division and helped oversee both the Clinton email and the 2016 presidential campaign investigations. Priestap testified in a separate lawsuit that Clinton was the subject of a grand jury investigation related to her BlackBerry email accounts.

Priestap was said to have been responsible for overseeing both the Clinton email investigation and the controversial FBI Trump-Russia counterintelligence probe, which itself is under investigation after Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no coordination between any American and Russia.

Last year, Priestap told Congress that it was primarily FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI analyst Jonathan Moffa who were “driving the train" in the Trump-Russia probe. Strzok had key meetings with the number two FBI official at hte time, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, that Priestap seemed to know nothing about.

Read more about Judicial Watch's efforts here.

Fight improper government surveillance. Support Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI over the government computer intrusions of Attkisson's work while she was a CBS News investigative correspondent. Visit the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund. Click here.

Gowdy: FBI has important evidence in Trump-Russia probe of investigators

Former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.)

Former Congressman Trey Gowdy, a Republican from South Carolina, says he's seen evidence with his own eyes that even opponents of President Trump will find "persuasive"-- if it's ever made public.

Gowdy says the information has to do with "exculpatory" evidence that the FBI improperly withheld from a court.

Exculpatory evidence is that which supports the notion that the accused is not guilty.

In an interview on Sunday, Gowdy said the FBI has a transcript of a conversation between former Trump adviser George Papaopoulous and an "informant" assigned to spy on him.

Gowdy was a member of the House Judiciary and Oversight committee that investigated the Justice Department and FBI actions during the 2016 campaign in which they surveilled or spied on Trump associates. Ultimately, the officials accused Trump of being a Russian agent. However, an exhaustive investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded no American conspired, colluded or coordinated with Russia.

Click the link below to read more about Gowdy's statements in the following article in Epoch Times.

Epoch Times: "Game Changer" Evidence

Warrantless wiretapping lawsuit against government dismissed

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Bush Administration for "warrantless wiretapping." The judge cited national security concerns.

The group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed the suit more than a decade ago. It has said it plans to appeal the dismissal.

Read more in John Bowden's article in The Hill:

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Thursday against warrantless wiretap programs established during the Bush administration, ruling that the court could not determine the plaintiff's legal standing without endangering national security.

Politico reported that U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White dismissed a lawsuit originally filed in 2008 that argued that the Terrorist Surveillance Program set up by the NSA under President George W. Bush violated both the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

White wrote in his ruling that allowing the case to proceed could have "devastating" consequences for U.S. national security, according to Politico.

“The Court cannot issue any determinative finding on the issue of whether or not Plaintiffs have standing without taking the risk that such a ruling may result in potentially devastating national security consequences.”

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White

(Continued)

You can read the rest of the article here: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/440777-judge-dismisses-bush-era-warrantless-wiretapping-lawsuit-citing