David Laufman was the Department of Justice, National Security Division, Deputy Asst. Attorney General in charge of counterintelligence, cyber security, counterespionage and export controls.
Laufman would have been involved and hold knowledge of the FISA “Title-1” surveillance program initiated on target Carter Page and the “incidental” Trump campaign officials. Laufman would also have close contact with former Asst. Deputy Attorney Bruce Ohr; husband of Fusion GPS employee Nellie Ohr.
Additionally, as a result of his specific responsibilities David Laufman would also have been involved in any FARA investigations of General Mike Flynn (Turkish lobbying), and/or Paul Manafort (Ukraine lobbying); and had access to FISA-702(16)(17) database use for incidental surveillance and subsequent unmasking etc.
After President Trump won the election, Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed the prior position of Sally Yates who was keeping the DOJ National Security Division free from Inspector General Horowitz oversight. Now the DOJ-NSD has direct oversight, the officials within the DOJ-NSD have come down with a severe case of sunlight aversion.
Responding to a 2015 request by the DOJ Office of Inspector General, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told the internal watchdog they could not investigate the National Security Division.
There was essentially no oversight on any activity happening inside the NSD.
So it might not be so coincidental the players used on the DOJ side of “Operation Trump” (Bruce Ohr, John Carlin, etc.) all seem to come from within the National Security Division.
Their desperation seems to have gone even to the extent of misleading the FISA court on the validity of the underlying documents. The DOJ/FBI ‘small group’ really seemed quite desperate to gain that FISA Title-1 surveillance authority…
From the Strzok texts: “…. they really, really needed it:”
…”I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40″…
Considering that mounting evidence, does this March 2017 interview with former Obama administration official Evelyn Farkas (Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense), appearing on MSNBC, make more sense now?
“I was urging my former colleagues, and, and frankly speaking the people on the Hill [Democrat politicians], it was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people, get as much information as you can – get as much intelligence as you can – before President Obama leaves the administration.”
“Because I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior [Obama] people who left; so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy, um, that the Trump folks – if they found out HOW we knew what we knew about their, the Trump staff, dealing with Russians – that they would try to compromise those sources and methods; meaning we no longer have access to that intelligence.”
“So I became very worried because not enough was coming out into the open and I knew that there was more. We have very good intelligence on Russia; so then I had talked to some of my former colleagues and I knew that they were also trying to help get information to the Hill. That’s why you had the leaking”…
The Department of Justice’s own Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, was previously not allowed to investigate anything that happened within the NSD branch of the Department of Justice.
According to the Washington Post, David Laufman resigned effective yesterday, Wednesday February 7th when he said farewell to colleagues. He cited personal reasons.
My opinion is that he personally wanted to avoid criminal charges.
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