Washington, DC: In light of new evidence made public by the US DOJ Inspector General Horowitz and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), Southeastern Legal Foundation and John Solomon today filed a supplemental Motion with the FISC to seek publication of disciplinary actions taken by the FISC citing attorney wrongdoing with the FBI and DOJ – documents sought in SLF’s initial Motion in May this year on behalf of award-winning investigative journalist John Solomon.
Following are key excerpts from today’s filing:
“Attorneys play an integral role in the execution of our system of laws. As officers of the court, licensed lawyers voluntarily submit to regulatory governance under strict codes of conduct administered by quasi-governmental bodies charged with enforcement of those codes. On top of that, courts maintain and enforce their own rules to protect the integrity of the judicial system. While no rule is more important than another, an attorney’s duty to be open and honest with the court at all times must always remain at the forefront and should guide every action an attorney takes. This is true not only for private attorneys, but especially for our country’s government attorneys. President Bill Clinton’s surrender of his law license on his last day in office, followed by disbarment by the U.S. Supreme Court for his violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct, remind us that no one is above the law . . .
Movants file this notice because on December 9, 2019, the United States Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (OIG) released the IG Report and revealed that we again face a judicial crisis—this time it comes to us courtesy of the FBI and DOJ, and in the form of fraud on this Court. Because of the IG Report, we now know that to obtain permission to conduct surveillance of American citizen Carter Page (and by extension, a major party presidential campaign), our nation’s highest law enforcement officers, national security advisors, and government attorneys lied to, misled, and withheld material facts from this Court. And because of the IG Report, we now know that these misrepresentations amount to professional misconduct, including violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct in the various states where the attorneys are licensed and violations of the FISC Rules.
The public has an interest in transparent court proceedings, and this Court has the inherent power to release the requested records. Movants filed their original motion because facts had come to light surrounding an overall lack of candor by the FBI and DOJ to this Court regarding the series of memorandums known as the “Steele dossier,” which served as the primary basis for the application and renewal requests. We had also learned that DOJ and FBI officials approved the Carter Page applications and renewals, some without even fully reading them. This was despite warnings by multiple persons in the FBI, DOJ, and State Department that the applications and renewals were based largely on unverifiable and debunked information. And rather than address those concerns, the public record showed that the DOJ and FBI presented the already debunked information to this Court as both true and verified. We now know that the instances of alleged misconduct detailed in Movants’ original motion were just the tip of the iceberg, and that there is nothing “alleged” about the FBI and DOJ’s misconduct.”