Barack Obama has been out of office for almost six years now, and his allies are still busy hiding and covering up his unlawful actions while president. Now his presidential library is flouting the law trying to hide presidential records that go to the heart of the Obama administration’s efforts to…
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Judicial Watch On Issue: The Battle for Election Integrity Judicial Watch On Issue: Leading the Battle Against Illegal Immigration View All Podcasts Tom Fitton’s Weekly Update Podcast Chris Farrell’s On Watch Podcast Act Now Donate Shop The Verdict Special Report Sign Now Press Room Document Archives Donate SEARCH Happening Now California Reparations Task Force Floats $223,000 Housing-Discrimination Payment for Black Residents Soros-backed labor organization gets $12 million in taxpayer funding to back Latin American workers Secret Service Finds Records In Hunter Biden Gun Case After ‘Error’ Secret Service finds more than 100 records on Hunter Biden gun case that agency earlier said didn’t exist Fauci Claimed He Had ‘No Involvement’ In Redacting Sensitive Emails, But Legal Filings Tell A Different Story Tom Fitton's Judicial Watch Weekly Update Share November 11, 2022 | Judicial Watch Obama Library Secrets Judicial Watch Sues for Obama White House Records about the 2016 ‘Russia Collusion Hoax’ Defense Department Records Reveal U.S. Funding of Anthrax Laboratory Activities in Ukraine Taliban Uses U.S. Military Equipment, IG Withholds Records of Afghan Security Forces Collapse Veterans Day – Why We Fight Judicial Watch Sues for Obama White House Records about the 2016 ‘Russia Collusion Hoax’ Barack Obama has been out of office for almost six years now, and his allies are still busy hiding and covering up his unlawful actions while president. Now his presidential library is flouting the law trying to hide presidential records that go to the heart of the Obama administration’s efforts to undermine then-incoming President Donald J. Trump and tie up his new administration in a phony scandal. The American people have a right to access materials in presidential libraries, and we here at Judicial Watch are going to court to prevent the Obama Library from hiding these key records away from the public. We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Barak Obama Presidential Library for White House records about the 2016 “Russia Collusion Hoax.” The records, which by law were not available under FOIA until five years after President Obama left office, are held at the Library, which is part of the National Archives system (Judicial Watch, Inc. v National Archives and Records Administration (No. 1:22-cv-03310)). The lawsuit was filed after the Library failed to respond to a March 4, 2022, FOIA request for records of former Obama White House National Security Advisor Susan Rice regarding alleged efforts by the Russian government to interfere with the 2016 presidential election and collude the Trump campaign and the alleged hacking of Democratic National Committee and/or Clinton campaign computer systems. On March 7, 2022, we submitted a second FOIA request to the Obama Library for Obama White House records about the infamous January 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting between President Obama and Vice President Biden, Rice, FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and others. Rice oddly memorized the meeting more than two weeks later in an email written in the final hours of the Obama Administration on January 20, 2017, stating: President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities ‘by the book’. The President stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book. Acting Attorney General Sally Yates also attended the January 5, 2017, meeting. A December 2019 report from the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General added to the list of attendees at the meeting: “On January 5, 2017, Clapper, then NSA Director Michael Rogers, Brennan, and Comey briefed the ICA [Intelligence Community Assessment] report to President Obama and his national security team.” Comey also confirmed in a book that he briefed Obama at the January 5, 2017 meeting on his plan to confront President-elect Trump with the Clinton campaign “dossier:” Obama did not appear to have any reaction to any of this—at least none he would share with us. In a level voice, he asked, “What’s the plan for that briefing?” With just the briefest of sidelong glances at me, Clapper took a breath, then said, “We have decided that Director Comey will meet alone with the president-elect to brief him on this material following the completion of the full ICA briefing.” The president did not say a word. Instead, he turned his head to his left and looked directly at me. He raised and lowered both of his eyebrows with emphasis, and then looked away. I suppose you can read whatever you want into a wordless expression, but to my mind his Groucho Marx eyebrow raise was both subtle humor and an expression of concern. It was almost as if he were saying, “Good luck with that.” I began to feel a lump in my stomach… Your Judicial Watch has taken a leading role in uncovering the Obama/Deep State spying and other abuses targeting Trump world. In August of this year, we sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for records ordered declassified and released by President Trump the day before he left office. The records relate to “Crossfire Hurricane,” the controversial spy operation against President Trump, his 2016 presidential campaign, and other Trump associates, and have yet to be made public by the Biden administration. In May 2020, Judicial Watch litigation, we uncovered the “electronic communication” (EC) that officially launched the counterintelligence investigation, termed “Crossfire Hurricane,” of President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The document was written by Strzok. In March 2019 Judicial Watch released heavily redacted records from the DOJ that reveal Bruce Ohr remained in regular contact with former British spy and Fusion GPS contractor Christopher Steele after Steele was terminated by the FBI in November 2016 for revealing to the media his position as an FBI confidential informant. In August 2019, our team at Judicial Watch uncovered “302” report material from FBI interviews with Bruce Ohr, showing that in November 2016, Ohr said that “reporting on Trump’s ties to Russia were going to the Clinton Campaign” and “Jon Winer at the U.S. State Department and the FBI.” The documents also showed that Ohr knew that Fusion GPS’s Glenn Simpson and others were “talking to Victoria Nuland at the U.S. State Department.” (A Form 302 is used by FBI agents to summarize the interviews that they conduct and contains information from the notes taken during the interview.) In August 2018, the Justice Department admitted in a court filing that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court held no hearings on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) spy warrant applications targeting Carter Page, a former Trump campaign part-time advisor who was the subject of four controversial FISA warrants. Judicial Watch litigation also uncovered the secret FISA warrants that confirmed the FBI and DOJ misled the courts in withholding the material information that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC were behind the “intelligence” used to persuade the courts to approve the FISA warrants that targeted the Trump team. Also, in August of that year, we discovered FBI records about Christopher Steele, the former British spy, hired with Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee funds, who authored the infamous dossier targeting President Trump during the presidential campaign. The documents show that Steele was cut off as a “Confidential Human Source” (CHS) after he disclosed his relationship with the FBI to a third party. The documents show at least 11 FBI payments to Steele in 2016 and document that he was admonished for unspecified reasons in February 2016. And we should also not that the Obama Presidential Library is part of the same National Archives system that is subjecting President Trump to unprecedented harassment (raiding Trump’s home!) about Trump White House record keeping practices. Defense Department Records Reveal U.S. Funding of Anthrax Laboratory Activities in Ukraine The American people have a right to know the nature and extent of our government’s involvement in the network of biolabs scattered across Ukraine. Here at Judicial Watch, we have been working overtime to shed needed light on U.S. involvement in the management and handling of pathogens in those Ukrainian biolabs. We just received 345 pages of records under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), a component of the U.S. Department of Defense. These documents reveal that the United States funded anthrax laboratory activities in a Ukrainian biolab in 2018. Dozens of pages are completely redacted, and many others are heavily redacted. The records show over $11 million in funding for the Ukraine biolabs program in 2019. We obtained the records in response to a February 28, 2022, Judicial Watch FOIA request to the DTRA for records regarding the funding of Black & Veatch involving work of any manner with biosafety laboratories in the country of Ukraine. Three phases of work are discussed in the records, several of which are indicated to have occurred “on site” at the Ukrainian labs. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency provided a report titled “PACS [Pathogen Asset Control System] at the [redacted (b)(3), which exempts information from disclosure when a foreign government or international organization requests the withholding, or the national security official concerned has specified in regulations that the information’s release would have an adverse effect on the U.S. government’s ability to obtain similar information in the future] Phase 2 On-the-Job Training Report, December 11-13/December 26, 2018” The Executive Summary includes information regarding “on-site” activities, likely referring to a Ukrainian biolab: PACS [Pathogen Asset Control System] on-the-job training was conducted for users of the [redacted (b)(3)] on December 11-13, under Phase 2 implementation activities, Anthrax Laboratory activities were conducted on December 28, 2018. PACS existing configuration and customization were checked jointly with the on-site PACS Working Group Phase 1 implementation activities including progress and current status were reviewed; issues and problems discussed and resolved; Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for PACS use at [redacted (b)(3)] was updated to include Subculturing Operation process – the updated SOP submitted to the on-site Working Group. The report provides a list of titles of “OJT [on-the-job training] Participants” with all participants names from Black & Veatch redacted, citing exemptions (b)(6) for personal privacy and (b)(3): Senior Researcher Laboratory of Anacrobic Infections Leading Researcher Laboratory of Anacrobic Infections Senior Researcher Laboratory of Anacrobic Infections Researcher Laboratory of Anacrobic Infections Leading Veternarian Laboratory of Anacrobic Infections Senior Researcher Laboratory of Bacterial Animal Diseases Head of Anthrax Laboratory Researcher Anthrax Laboratory Senior Research Scientist Laboratory of Mycotoxicology Leading Veternarian Laboratory of Mycotoxicology Junior Researcher Laboratory of Leptospirosis Laboratory Assistant Neuroinfection Laboratory Research Scientist Sector of International Relationships and Geoinformation A section titled “Future Activities” notes: “Phase 3 implementation agreed for March 2019.” Included in the records is an Order for Supplies or Services dated August 1, 2019, is issued by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to Black and Veatch Special Projects Corp. The total amount of the contract award is $11,289,142.00. The order contains approximately 35 contract line items set forth in a statement of work (SOW), dated March 5, 2019, titled: “Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance (EIDSS) and Pathogen Asset Control (PACS) Implementation” The statement of work, consisting of 24 pages, was not provided, nor was there an explanation for the withholding. A report titled “PACS [Pathogen Asset Control] Implementation at the [redacted (b)(3)]. Phase 3 On-the-Job Training Report, November 28-29.2018” states in its Executive Summary: B&V has completed the final stage of PACS implementation at the [redacted (b)(3)]. The site has been fully commissioned in operations of PACS functionality. PACS on-the-job training and on-site activities were conducted for users on November 28-29, 2018 under Phase 3 implementation activities PACS existing configuration and customization were checked jointly with the on-site PACS Working Group Phase 2 implementation activities were reviewed; issues and problems discussed and resolved; A report titled “PACS [Pathogen Asset Control] Implementation at the [redacted (b)(3)]. Phase 3 On-the-Job Training Report, April 3-5, 2019” has its Executive Summary and other portions redacted, citing FOIA exemptions (b)(4) trade secrets, (b)(5) interagency or intra-agency communications and/or attorney-client privilege. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency also provided a 2018 report titled “PACS [Pathogen Asset Control System] Implementation Plan at [redacted (b)(3)]. Phase 2 On-the-Job Training Report, September 25-27, 2018.” The Executive Summary includes: “PACS on-the-job training was conducted for users of the [redacted (b)(3)] on September 25-27, 2018, under Phase 2 implementation activities.” A list of “OJT [on-the-job-training] Participants” from contractor Black & Veatch includes job descriptions but all names have been redacted through exemptions (b)(6) personal privacy and (b)(3). Some of those job descriptions include: Head of Laboratory Virology Department of Molecular Diagnostics and Control Researcher of Pigs Diseases Research Laboratory Scientist of Laboratory of Virology Department of Avian Diseases Researcher of Department of Avian Diseases Laboratory for Biosafety, Quality Management Engineer of the Laboratory for Biosafety, Quality Management Laboratory of Biotechnology Researcher of the Laboratory of Biotechnology Head of the Brucellosis Laboratory Senior Researcher of the Brucellosis Laboratory Head of the Molecular Diagnostics and Control Head of the Tuberculosis Laboratory Researcher of Tuberculosis Laboratory Researcher of the Laboratory of Virology The report also contains a section titled “Future Activities:” PACS [Pathogen Asset Control System] users to continue with material registration, moving and destruction operations. PACS users to reflect the process of Subculturing in PACS. B & V to update Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to include the Subculture operations process. [Redacted (b)(3)] to perform check of PACS interface and provide feedback (if any). Phase 3 implementation agreed for December 2018. A December 19-21, 2018, Pathogen Asset Control System report begins with an Executive Summary that states: “B & V has completed the final stage of PACS [Pathogen Asset Control System] implementation at the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Veterinary Medicine of the National Academy Agrarian Sciences (NAAS) of the Ukraine. The site has been fully commissioned in all operations of PACS functionality.” In a report titled “PACS Implementation Plan at the [redacted (b)(3)]” has the subtitle “Phase 3 On-the-Job Training Report, October 30 – 31, 2018 / November 14, 2018” The Executive Summary provides in part: B & V has completed the final stage of PACS implementation at the [redacted (b)(3)]. The site has been fully commissioned in all operations of PACS functionality. PACS on-the-job training and on-site activities were conducted for users on October 30 – 31, 2018, under Phase 3 implementation activities. Virology Department “activities” were conducted on November 14. A section of the order titled “Special Contract Requirements” cites the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act and states the contractor “shall not engage in activities that incur expenditures in the Russian Federation, such as project management activities, procurement and shipping activities, travel or direct and indirect cost incurrences.” The contractor may, however, procure Russian-origin equipment from a Russian or non-Russian vendor located outs… truncated (12,234 more characters in archive)