Trisha Anderson told members of the House that she was one of only about 10 people who had known about the Trump-Russia investigation prior to its official opening Q2381 https://magaimg.net/img/7boz.png https://qmap.pub/read/2381 https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/fashion/weddings/trisha-anderson-charles-newman-weddings.html Q1807 https://qmap.pub/read/1807 https://magaimg.net/img/7bp1.png Q2692 https://magaimg.net/img/7bp2.png https://qmap.pub/read/2692 Q697 https://magaimg.net/img/7bp4.png https://qmap.pub/read/2697 Q2070 https://magaimg.net/img/7bp5.png https://qmap.pub/read/2070 A key player in the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of Donald Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign was Trisha Anderson, who, at the time, was the No. 2 lawyer at the agency’s Office of General Counsel. Despite having no specific experience in counterintelligence before coming to the FBI, Anderson was, in some manner, involved in virtually all of the significant events of the investigation. Anderson told members of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees in August last year during closed-door testimony that she was one of only about 10 people who had known about the Trump–Russia investigation prior to its official opening. A transcript of Anderson’s testimony, which was reviewed for this article, reveals that she had read all of the FBI’s FD302 forms detailing information that the author of the Steele dossier, former British spy Christopher Steele, had provided to high-ranking Department of Justice (DOJ) official Bruce Ohr. Anderson also told lawmakers that she personally signed off on the original application for a warrant to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page without having read it. The FBI relied heavily on the unverified information in the Steele dossier—which was paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee—to obtain the FISA warrant. Anderson also was part of a small group of FBI personnel who got to read then-FBI Director James Comey’s memos about conversations he had with President Donald Trump. Besides the investigation into Trump, Anderson also was involved in the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton for sending classified information using a private server. Anderson’s testimony reveals that she received the original referral from the inspectors general for both the State Department and Intelligence Community on Clinton after hundreds of classified emails had been found on her server. Her testimony also raises questions as to whether then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch had a conflict of interest. Lawmakers also questioned Anderson about whether she advised Comey against making a public announcement that the FBI had reopened its investigation into Clinton following findings on the laptop of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) because Comey would have been “responsible for getting Donald Trump elected.” Anderson Reviewed the Ohr 302s Anderson testified that she knew Ohr from her time in the deputy attorney general’s office, where she’d “had a couple of meetings with him,” but didn’t have any interaction with Ohr while she was with the FBI. Ohr was approached by Steele—whom he had known since 2007—in July 2016 with information about the Trump campaign. Ohr would pass the information to the FBI. After the FBI officially stopped working with Steele, Ohr would continue to meet with Steele and pass information to the FBI. These conversations between Ohr and his FBI handler, agent Joseph Pientka, were recorded by Pientka on FD302 forms. In response to a question regarding any information she might have gotten from Ohr, Anderson—after a brief consult with counsel—told congressional investigators that she had personally reviewed all of the 302s relating to Ohr’s meetings with Steele: Ms. Anderson: “Yeah, so at some point, I received the 302s, the written summaries of the interviews that FBI personnel conducted with Mr. Ohr about his interactions with Christopher Steele. But it was not contemporaneous with the drafting of those 302s; it was much later.” Anderson told investigators she reviewed the Ohr 302s “after the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence produced its memo on the Carter Page FISAs” in January 2018. Ms. Anderson: “So I received them in the course of the oversight process. So I believe the first time I reviewed them was probably after the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence produced its memo on the Carter Page FISAs. I believe there was a reference in that memo to statements that Mr. Steele made to Bruce Ohr that were documented in our 302s. And that was the first time I received those 302s and reviewed them.” Anderson didn’t reveal why she chose to review the Ohr 302s, nor what it was that she was specifically looking for. Anderson testified that she previously had been unaware that Ohr had been meeting with FBI personnel, and made no mention of Ohr’s FBI handler, Pientka. She said she was aware of one meeting Ohr had with McCabe, which almost certainly refers to the early August 2016 meeting that Ohr had with McCabe, following Ohr’s breakfast meeting with Steele on July 30, 2016. The Carter Page FISA Anderson signed off on the original application for a warrant to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page—before the application went to Comey—despite not having read it. During her testimony, Anderson highlighted the unusual nature of the Page FISA application process and the curious roles of McCabe and then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who provided approvals of the Page FISA before normal FBI and DOJ approvals had been obtained: Ms. Anderson: “All necessary approvals, including up through and including the leadership of the FBI and the leadership of the Department, by the time I put that signature on the cover page had already been obtained.” These early high-level approvals were distinctly outside of the normal FISA process. Anderson and others were supposed to have provided approvals before the FISA was presented to senior FBI and DOJ officials. Anderson appeared to be fully aware of the uniqueness of this particular application process: Ms. Anderson: “There were individuals, all the way up to the Deputy Director and the Deputy Attorney General on the DOJ side, who had essentially given their approval to the FISA before it got to that step in the process. That part of it was unusual, and so I didn’t consider my review at that point in the process to be substantive in nature.” Anderson told congressional investigators that with regard to the Page FISA, by signing off she “was simply signaling, yes, this package is ready to go forward.” Anderson attempted to provide an explanation for the unusual process, noting, “We understood, because of who Carter Page was, that people would second-guess the appropriateness of submitting the FISA application, and so we were taking extra care with the application itself.” Yet, at the same time, Anderson admitted that not only had she not read the original Page FISA application, but she was also unable to recall if she had read any of the Page FISA renewals. Anderson Defines ‘Spy’ Trump on several occasions has made reference to a spy placed within his campaign. We know the FBI used Stefan Halper as “a government informant” in relation to his contacts with Trump campaign advisers George Papadopoulos and Carter Page, but the FBI has denied the use of an actual spy. Anderson also stated she had no knowledge of a spy, but was later asked to define her understanding of the word: Mr. Breitenbach: “Does a spy, in your mind, include a human confidential source?” Ms. Anderson: “No.” Mr. Breitenbach: “Does a spy include an undercover FBI employee?” Ms. Anderson: “I don’t know.” After more questioning, Anderson provided her reasoning in stating there had been no spy in the Trump campaign. Ms. Anderson: “First, the word ‘spy’ did not seem commensurate with what I understood had been done in this particular case. And the other thing was the verb, the use of the verb ‘place’ a spy or ‘place’ a source within a campaign. To my knowledge, the FBI did not place anybody within a campaign but, rather, relied upon its network of sources, some of whom already had campaign contacts, including the source that has been discussed in the media at some length beyond Christopher Steele.” Anderson was referring back to the FBI’s use of Halper. Anderson was very careful during her testimony but, at times, her statements were contradicted by testimony from other individuals interviewed by the House committees. Her involvement in matters relating to both the Clinton and Trump–Russia investigations exceeded what had been publicly known and appears to have been at a level comparable to that of her former boss, FBI General Counsel James Baker. To Continue Reading on:  Anderson Briefed Early on Weiner Laptop... ‘You Might Be Helping’ Trump... The Comey Memos... Anderson Received First Call from IC Office... Conflict of Interest Discussions... Discussions Regarding Lynch ‘Classified Matter’... ‘Slightly More Than 10’... The Role of Lisa Page... Remaining Article found here: https://www.theepochtimes.com/exclusive-testimony-by-fbi-lawyer-trisha-anderson-reveals-extensive-role-in-trump-clinton-investigations_2806982.html