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Sharyl Attkisson: Republican staffer says he was spied on in Trump’s first term

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nyt

Whistle-Blower Groups Push to End Secret Seizure of Congressional Communications

During the Trump administration, the Justice Department subpoenaed congressional aides’ communications without their knowledge while hunting for leakers. Advocates say the practice must stop.

A group of men wearing suits facing the same direction during a meeting.

Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, center, during a House Intelligence Committee meeting in 2022. Mr. Schiff was one of about a dozen people tied to the committee whose records were turned over to law enforcement.Credit...Michael A. McCoy for The New York Times

By Luke Broadwater

Reporting from Washington

Aug. 31, 2024

As President Donald J. Trump hunted for people inside the government who were divulging details of an investigation into whether his 2016 election campaign colluded with Russia, the Justice Department turned to a covert tactic.

Beginning in 2017, department officials secretly collected the phone and email records of roughly a dozen people connected to Congress, including lawmakers and aides who routinely deal with anonymous whistle-blowers, in an effort to see who might be coming forward with confidential information.

Some of the aides, from both political parties, learned only recently that their communications were collected, because the government for years hid the existence of the subpoenas with nondisclosure orders.

Now, whistle-blower advocacy groups are trying to pry more information out of the Justice Department, through court filings and public records requests, in the hopes of shaming the agency into ending the practice of secretly collecting congressional communications records.

Critics say it is not just the privacy of the aides at stake, but also Congress’s ability to carry out its oversight role. In large part, that role depends on a confidential channel of communication with government whistle-blowers who report wrongdoing or internal failures.

“Blanket subpoenas for anybody who’s communicated with an office that may be conducting adversarial oversight — it’s a severe threat to institutional constitutional checks and balances,” said Tom Devine, the legal director of the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower protection group. “It’s a severe threat to whistle-blowers who want to share their evidence in Congress, and is likely to have a chilling effect.”

The effort to end the practice is spearheaded by a group led by former Republican aides, Empower Oversight. The group’s founder, Jason Foster, learned only recently that his records had been collected without his knowledge.

Mr. Foster and others say the subpoenas raise constitutional issues about whether Congress can conduct oversight of the Justice Department without the agency learning which of its employees are communicating with lawmakers.

Justice Department officials point out the records collection was ordered during the Trump administration, and say Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has taken steps to overhaul the practice, though the agency is fighting attempts to disclose records about the subpoenas. Mr. Garland referred the handling of the leak investigation to the agency’s inspector general for a “thorough and independent investigation.”

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Merrick Garland sitting at a table with a group of people behind him.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in June.Credit...Tom Brenner for The New York Times

In a letter to Congress this year, the agency said it has made changes since the Trump administration to prevent abuses during leak investigations. The letter, which was obtained by The New York Times, described “the significant steps taken since 2021 to enhance its policies and procedures and to ensure compliance with them.”

Under Mr. Garland, the Justice Department is now requiring a member of its Public Integrity Section to sign off on any subpoena that goes to a technology company for a congressional aide’s communications.

“The new policies require additional consultations and approvals,” Carlos Felipe Uriarte, an assistant attorney general, wrote to the House Judiciary Committee in January.

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But whistle-blower advocates are demanding more information from the government about the practice, including documents that would shed light on how federal officials have leaned on technology companies to keep secret their subpoenas of congressional aides’ records during leak investigations.

At issue are covert activities that began in 2017, when the Justice Department, under the Trump administration, carried out leak investigations into Congress. Officials issued subpoenas for the phone and email records of lawmakers and their staffs as they hunted for the sources behind news media reports about contacts between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.

The subpoenas, some of which have only been discovered years later, prompted outrage and accusations that the Trump administration was targeting Democratic politicians, their aides and their families.

Prosecutors subpoenaed Apple for data from the accounts of at least two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, aides and family members, one of whom was a minor. All told, the records of about a dozen people tied to the committee and several others were seized in 2017 and early 2018, including those of Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, then the panel’s top Democrat.

Ultimately, the data and other evidence did not tie the committee to the leaks, but did result in one prosecution. The leak investigation led to the prosecution of a former Senate Intelligence Committee aide, who pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with a reporter.

“I hope every prosecutor who was involved in this is thrown out of the department,” Representative Eric Swalwell of California, a Democrat on the intelligence panel whose records were also seized, said at the time. “It crosses the line of what we do in this country.”

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Two men in suits walk down stairs in front of white columns.

“I hope every prosecutor who was involved in this is thrown out of the department,” Representative Eric Swalwell of California, right of center, a Democrat on the intelligence panel whose records were seized, has said.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times

In the past year, more information has come to light as technology companies have disclosed to users that their records were collected, and it has become clear the practice of issuing subpoenas for congressional aides’ records and then blocking providers from disclosing that fact was more widespread than previously known and affected members of both parties.

Several former aides to Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, including Mr. Foster, have been informed that their records were among those collected. They said that raises constitutional concerns, given that they were conducting oversight of the Justice Department and receiving information from whistle-blowers.

One of those affected was Patrick Davis, who at the time was a top investigative counsel on the Judiciary Committee under Mr. Grassley.

Mr. Davis had worked for years at the Justice Department as a career trial attorney — and would leave Congress to work there again — but did not find out until late last year that investigators had quietly collected his phone and email records.

“It felt like a violation, not simply on a personal level, but more importantly of the separation of powers given the nature of our oversight work,” Mr. Davis said.

Advocates for whistle-blowers are now seeking sealed court motions for nondisclosure orders requested by the Justice Department regarding subpoenas to phone and email companies.

“There are multiple layers of secrecy standing between the public and important documents that the Department of Justice filed in this case,” wrote Brian J. Field, an attorney representing Empower Oversight. After obtaining a subpoena, the Justice Department requested and received nondisclosure orders that prohibited Google from notifying “any other person of the existence of the subpoena,” according to Mr. Field’s motion.

The Justice Department has opposed releasing additional information and documents, though its reasons for doing so are also under seal. Generally, the Justice Department opposes efforts to make more of the grand jury process public, arguing that doing so could harm sensitive investigations.

But whistle-blower advocates say more information must be released so the public can know exactly how the Justice Department pursued aides’ records and kept the practice quiet for years.

Tristan Leavitt, the president of Empower Oversight, criticized the government’s insistence that even its arguments against releasing the documents be kept secret.

“The government’s continued secrecy in a closed investigation that very well could cross lines of separation of powers confounds anyone we have spoken with,” Mr. Leavitt said.

Luke Broadwater covers Congress with a focus on congressional investigations.

A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 1, 2024, Section A, Page 15 of the New York edition with the headline: Push to End Secret Seizure Of Phone and Email Data.

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budget salary

Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica

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pp mar 2018

a Partisan Combatant, a Remorseful Blogger: The Senate Staffer Behind the Attack on the Trump-Russia Investigation

Jason Foster, chief investigative counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, once blogged under the handle “Extremist,” expressing worry about a Muslim takeover and whether Joe McCarthy got a bum rap. Today, as he helps lead an explosive investigation, he says the blogging was satire and asks for forgiveness.

by Robert Faturechi

March 28, 2018,

Jason Foster, chief investigative counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, fits a classic Washington profile: A powerful, mostly unknown force at the center of some of the most consequential battles on Capitol Hill.

For the last year, Foster — empowered by his boss, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee’s chairman — has been the behind-the-scenes architect of an assault on the FBI, and most centrally its role in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to interviews with current and former congressional aides, federal law enforcement officials and others.

With Foster in charge of his oversight work, Grassley has openly speculated about whether former FBI director James Comey leaked classified information as Comey raised alarms about President Donald Trump’s possible interference in the Russia probe. Grassley and the other Republicans on the committee have questioned the impartiality of a former member of Mueller’s team, cast doubt on the credibility of the FBI’s secret court application for permission to surveil a Trump campaign associate and called for a second special counsel to investigate matters related to Hillary Clinton. A firm that conducted opposition research on Trump has made clear in court it believes Grassley’s committee, with Foster as its lead investigator, had leaked sensitive information about its business.

Most recently, many of those interviewed by ProPublica said, Foster engineered Grassley’s highly unusual public announcement asking federal authorities to consider criminal charges against Christopher Steele, the ex-British spy who compiled the dossier warning of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

For Foster’s critics, and they include Republicans as well as Democrats, his provocative work on the Trump-Russia investigation is just the latest chapter in the career of a partisan combatant willing to discard norms and indulge in conspiratorial thinking as he pursues investigations favorable to Republicans.

Foster — who cut his teeth on Capitol Hill working on the staff of former Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., who fueled the theory of foul play in a Clinton aide’s suicide and called for required AIDS testing for all Americans — drew the ire of many for his role in various Judiciary Committee investigations of the Obama administration.

“That’s the way it seemed to go every time with Jason, conspiracy to the point it was ridiculous,” said one Democratic aide who had dealt with Foster. The aide was one of several interviewed by ProPublica, Democrat and Republican, who would not be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the inner workings of Congress.

Foster’s career, including his work on the committee’s Russia investigation, has caught the attention of the Trump administration. Foster has twice been approached about a possible job, an inspector general role, with the administration, a situation that some say should have required his recusal from work on the collusion inquiry.

Foster, 46, would not respond to questions about his work on the committee, and Grassley’s office said its policy was not to comment on specific claims about individual staffers.

But the office offered a broad defense of both Foster and what it regards as the committee’s efforts to aggressively investigate the FBI’s handling of the Trump-Russia probe. The office said Grassley has moved to examine potential misdeeds by Trump and his campaign and would be willing to do so even more vigorously if Democrats would agree to investigate the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton and the firm that produced the Trump-Russia dossier.

Foster has admirers beyond his own office. Some of those interviewed by ProPublica, including several suggested by Foster himself, describe him as a fierce and detail-oriented investigator who is protective of whistleblowers who come to the committee looking to tell their stories. His tough approach with the FBI, they said, long predated the Trump-Russia investigation and he has been willing to take on Republican administrations.

“He isn’t especially deferential but he’s fair,” Hannibal Kemerer, a former judiciary aide, said of Foster’s style. “If he should retire or resign, nobody from the FBI is going to throw him a party. He’s not in it to make friends.”

In examining Foster’s role in the committee’s Trump-Russia investigation, ProPublica discovered that a decade ago he had written an anonymous blog, using the handle “extremist.” The posts by Foster, who was then working for Grassley on the Senate Finance Committee, made clear he was some sort of D.C. insider, and he came across as a knowing observer as the country navigated the thorny political fights of the Bush and Obama eras.

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But there were also plenty of times “extremist” lived up to his chosen name.

He warned of an Islamic takeover. He wrote that homosexuality was akin to incest. He questioned whether waterboarding really amounted to torture. He derided Obama’s proposal to negotiate with the Taliban, and was particularly galled that the president doing so had the middle name Hussein. Liberals? They were anti-American.

He even mused about whether Sen. Joseph McCarthy, condemned as a demagogue for his 1950s anti-Communist crusade, should be remembered more kindly.

Foster, in an email sent this week to ProPublica, apologized for his inflammatory posts, saying his “pen name” had been satirical and that his writings had been “stupid and wrong.”

Taylor Foy, a spokesman for Grassley, said the office had no prior knowledge of the blog, but that the beliefs expressed by “extremist” were “not relevant” to Foster’s professional work.

Foy, however, added of Foster’s online opinions, “That persona does not represent the professionalism Jason has exhibited while working on behalf of a broad array of people across the political spectrum, including whistleblowers who face retaliation and discrimination in the workplace.”

None of those ProPublica spoke to about Foster, admirers or critics, were aware of his blogging. Some, upon learning of his posts, said they were completely at odds with the public servant they knew. Others, however, said they were disturbed, but not entirely surprised by his words, given his recent work.

“It’s not a total shock,” a former Republican aide said. “But it went beyond what I expected from the person I knew.”

Foster attended Georgetown Law School, and immediately after finishing went to work on Capitol Hill. He started as a legislative assistant in the House of Representatives, but was quickly tapped to work on Burton’s Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The Indiana congressman was known for outlandish beliefs: He frequently pushed the theory that vaccines cause autism and was said to avoid soup in restaurants for fear of contracting HIV.

Burton‘s investigations of the Clinton White House were so extreme many mainstream Republicans were repelled. He aggressively pursued the theory that Clinton aide Vince Foster, who committed suicide, had been murdered and that the Clintons may have been involved. Burton reenacted the alleged killing by shooting a melon in his backyard. An expert at a conservative think tank called it all “investigation as farce.”

Foster eventually joined Grassley’s staff in 2005, when Grassley was the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. Grassley’s office had developed a reputation for a willingness to conduct exacting oversight of both parties. And Foster’s team, by all accounts, found common ground with Democratic staffers.

But during those years, Foster privately expressed intensely partisan and controversial beliefs on his blog, which he maintained from 2005 to 2009. He initially took the name “extremist,” an alias he described to his readers as a tongue-in-cheek joke, then later discarded it and wrote under his first name.

While examining Foster’s record on the Hill, ProPublica discovered the blog by conducting web searches for various usernames Foster had employed online. Its contents were publicly accessible.

But after we contacted Foster for this story, the blog was set to private, requiring permission from the site’s owner to enter. (Foy, Grassley’s spokesman, initially declined to answer questions about the blog, saying the office did not have access to its contents.)

On the blog, one of Foster’s primary targets was Islam. He described Muhammad as a rapist and child abuser who had spawned “a religion that tends to lead large numbers of its followers to excuse the murder of innocents as God’s will.”

After the mayor of London spoke out against vilifying Muslim residents of the city in the wake of a foiled car bomb attack there, Foster labeled him a “Dhimmi” — a historic term that describes non-Muslims in Muslim-controlled lands.

While Foster acknowledged that most Muslims “are not terrorist sympathizers,” he referred to “the Islamic propensity for violence” and declared that “some cultures are better than others, no matter what the multicultural fetishists say.”

Jason Foster sits behind Sen. Chuck Grassley as former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 3, 2017, in Washington, D.C. PBS

Foster took a more forgiving tone with Christian extremists: “Are there a couple of isolated violent nuts who call themselves ‘Christian.’ Sure. Do you see posters and t-shirts of these people on sale throughout the Bible belt? No.”

Foster also held forth on a variety of other subjects. For instance, he dismissed criticism of the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina: “Some here are complaining that hurricanes don’t practice affirmative action.”

On multiple occasions, he drew parallels between same-sex marriage and incest: “What neutral principle,” he asked, “distinguishes brother-sister marriage from homosexual marriage?”

Foster called former Attorney General Eric Holder’s stance that waterboarding was torture “more than just wrong. It’s dangerous.”

He also described immigration as one of his top concerns, framing the state of play in stark terms: “I’m not willing to go so far as to say that we are under invasion,” he said, but he worried that it sure seemed like “we want to be annexed.”

In multiple posts, he questioned the patriotism of liberals, who he accused of “anti-American tendencies.”

Of Joe McCarthy, he opined that history’s condemnation of the disgraced Wisconsin politician may have been too harsh, suggesting his excesses were less of a problem than the Communist threat he was fighting.

For weeks, Foster did not respond to ProPublica’s questions about the contents of his blog. On Monday night, however, he sent a lengthy explanation. He said he thought he had taken the blog offline years ago “after people in my life helped me learn from my mistakes.”

“I regretted it then and thought I had put it behind me,” Foster said in an email. “I was mortified to learn recently that an old copy was still accessible and have since taken it down as well.”

Foster said he believed the blog was “read mostly, if at all, by a small group of friends, family, and acquaintances with a shared religious tradition and philosophical interests.” He said his writings were not meant to be taken seriously, and were not “part of my professional demeanor then or now.”

“It’s embarrassing to re-read some of the overly-provocative comments many years later with their tortured logic, dumb analogies, sarcasm, and self-righteousness,” he wrote. “Especially in the context of a vigorous discussion about controversial topics, trying to make points through excessive exaggeration was unwise and unproductive. It reminds me of why I stopped and is reinforcing the lessons I learned from the experience.”

Foster said that in certain instances, concerning harsh comments on Islam, he had been quoting others and merely wondering about the implications if such ideas were true.

“Regardless,” he wrote, “I do not excuse my poor judgment. To those hurt by what I said, I am sorry and ask for your forgiveness.”

It’s impossible to determine how large a following the blog had. Comments on the posts make it clear Foster had fans as well as detractors, some of whom challenged him on his more controversial ideas.

Stephen Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblower Center, contacted ProPublica Tuesday to vouch for Foster’s integrity. Kohn said Foster was responsible for Grassley’s intervention on behalf of an FBI agent of Egyptian Coptic Christian descent, who accused the bureau of freezing him out of terrorism investigations after 9/11 because of his ancestry. Asked about the contents of the blog, Kohn said:

“In my dealings with him on this case, not only was there no evidence of discrimination, he was the driving force to defend him on the Hill,” Kohn said of Foster’s support for his client.

Foster had set aside the blog by the time he went to work on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2011, when Grassley traded in his leadership role on the Finance Committee to become the top Republican on the panel.

Judiciary Committee investigators such as Foster enjoy broad authority to probe the Justice Department and its various components, such as the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Initial leads for investigations can come from whistleblowers or news reports. Investigators have the power to demand agencies turn over documents, to subpoena witnesses who don’t cooperate or cite them for contempt. Ultimately, they chronicle their findings in public reports, refer their targets for criminal prosecution or shape legislative reforms meant to address problems they discover.

Foster was credited for his commitment to protecting whistleblowers.

Peter Forcelli, who had been a supervisor in the Phoenix field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, described being “radioactive” at work after he testified before Congress about problems with the agency’s “Fast and Furious” operation. Foster led the congressional probe into the Obama-era scandal, in which federal authorities lost track of hundreds of firearms, including two found at the scene of a shootout that killed a Border Patrol agent.

Sen. Grassley and Foster, right, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about Operation Fast and Furious, on Nov. 8, 2011 C-SPAN

“Jason kept his word throughout the entire time. When I had problems, they were very responsive in keeping me protected,” said Forcelli, who now heads up the agency’s Miami field office.

But Foster’s investigation, done in conjunction with Rep. Darrell Issa’s staff in the House, was also marred by leaks of sensitive law enforcement information and allegations of partisan mischief directed at both Grassley and Issa. The probe seemed to generate outlandish accusations, unsubstantiated by evidence but aired publicly.

One theory was that the Obama administration had somehow purposely sabotaged the Fast and Furious program to win support for tougher gun control restrictions. Former aides recall that soon after Foster shared such suspicions privately, his boss began raising them publicly, even though the committee had found no proof of the claim.

“My suspicion is they don’t like the Second Amendment the way it is, and they want to do everything they can to hurt guns and restrict guns,” Grassley said at the time. “So they could have been building a case for that. But I can’t prove that.”

Foy, Grassley’s spokesman, denied being responsible for leaks about the Fast and Furious inquiry and defended the office’s practice of airing allegations publicly.

“When Senator Grassley seeks answers from government agencies about allegations his office receives from others, it is often misreported as the Senator accusing an agency of wrongdoing,” Foy said. “However, his letters give agencies an opportunity to respond, and making the correspondence public incentivizes them to do so.”

Following Trump’s inauguration, Grassley, as the judiciary chairman, found himself and his staff at the center of a series of explosive events.

The FBI was investigating potential links between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions had been an adviser for that campaign, and recused himself from overseeing the FBI’s investigation.

Then FBI director James Comey was fired, raising questions of whether the president was attempting to obstruct the Russia probe.

Some held out hope that as complicated and fraught as the issues were, the Judiciary Committee might be able to conduct a bipartisan investigation.

But as Mueller’s team has brought charges against 19 people, including former Trump campaign officials, and the president has pushed back with claims of a “witch hunt” and made repeated attacks on the FBI, Democrats have accused Grassley’s office of helping to muddy the waters.

Danielle Brian, director of the Project on Government Oversight, a good government group that has worked closely with Grassley’s office, said she was initially optimistic because Grassley and Foster had shown a willingness to take on the White House.

When the Trump administration, for example, allowed federal agencies to essentially stop responding to requests for information from Democrats in Congress, Grassley blasted the decision and said the Justice Department’s legal rationale supporting the policy showed a “shocking lack of professionalism and objectivity.”

“That was Jason,” said Brian. “It’s deeply ingrained in Grassley and his team: They are institutionalists, they remember being in the minority. They care about the institution of Congress.”

But Brian and others have been baffled by what has happened in the months since – by the open hostility between the committee’s two sides, the unusual criminal referral, the seemingly disproportionate scrutiny Grassley and Foster have been applying to those involved in the investigation of Trump and his team.

“It’s impossible for me to reconcile,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

In addition to questioning Comey’s handling of classified material and calling for another investigation of matters related to Hillary Clinton, Grassley’s office took aim at Fusion GPS, the firm that commissioned what became known as the Trump-Russia dossier. Grassley asked whether the firm had violated the law by not registering as a foreign agent for work it did on another case. Grassley and Foster also brought Glenn Simpson, the firm’s co-founder, in for a confidential interview.

In that August interview with Foster and other judiciary staffers, Simpson confirmed the identity of his company’s bank. The information was sensitive because the firm’s bank records, if successfully subpoenaed, could reveal clients who are promised confidentiality.

In October, the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed the bank for Fusion’s records.

Fusion fought the requests in court, suggesting to the judge that someone on Grassley’s committee provided information to the House committee “in order to circumvent the rules.” The Senate panel cannot issue subpoenas without bipartisan support, but the House committee can.

One of the people in court to watch the proceedings was Foster.

Grassley’s spokesman said they became aware of the bank name from a confidential source before the Simpson interview, and that no one from the senator’s staff leaked the name. Asked about Foster’s presence in court, the spokesman said “these proceedings are relevant to our work.”

Another incendiary matter involved the public disclosure of the names of Fusion GPS employees, something the firm complained might endanger them. Grassley’s office blamed Fusion for the disclosure, and downplayed the risk to the employees since the firm had not provided the committee with “specific threat information.”

Democratic frustration with Grassley boiled over when he and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., produced the public criminal referral against Steele.

A former Republican congressional aide said it was particularly puzzling that the referral was made publicly because if charges were filed, it may have appeared as though the DOJ caved to political pressure.

A current Republican aide familiar with Judiciary Committee operations told The Washington Post: “It’s pretty clear that Grassley and Graham are interested in carrying water for the White House, but that is not reflective of the whole committee.”

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The criminal referral appeared to be the last straw for the committee’s top Democrat. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who said she wasn’t consulted beforehand and called it “another effort to deflect attention.” A few days later, she released the committee’s confidential Fusion interview transcript, a move she made without Grassley’s permission and that further inflamed partisan distrust on the committee.

Feinstein said the disclosure would dispel the “innuendo and misinformation” being circulated by Republicans seeking to deflect attention from the committee’s look at Trump and his campaign.

Several current and former legislative aides noted that, in an earlier statement, Feinstein seemed to indicate it wasn’t Grassley who she considered primarily responsible for the growing divide.

She blamed “staff” for trying to shift the focus of the committee’s work to Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration.

In a lengthy series of written responses to ProPublica’s questions, Foy, Grassley’s spokesman, denied that Foster or the chairman’s other staffers had placed the interests of the president over an independent investigation. The Democrats, Foy said, were the ones playing politics.

“Ranking Member Feinstein has personally told Chairman Grassley on multiple occasions that she is unwilling to look into Clinton-related matters, and has staunchly resisted oversight efforts relating to Fusion, Steele, the dossier, and the FBI,” Foy wrote. “Refusing to look at issues on your own side of the aisle seems like the definition of partisanship. Accusing the other side of playing defense for the White House while your side plays defense for the DNC and the Clinton campaign looks like the very definition of partisanship.”

Foy said there were attempts by Grassley’s office “to be good faith partners to work together to ask hard questions of both sides.” Grassley, Foy said, had supported information requests related to the Trump camp, helping to secure thousands of pages of documents from the Trump campaign, companies and presidential transition. Grassley’s office also pointed to its work to get interviews with Donald Trump Jr., along with others present at the now infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving Trump’s family members, campaign officials and Russians allegedly looking to provide dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Grassley’s office provided ProPublica with a private letter from Grassley to Feinstein, in which he criticizes Feinstein for requesting the committee withdraw its subpoena requiring Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s testimony at a public hearing last year, because she was unsatisfied with the limited scope of questions he would answer. Since Manafort has now been indicted, his attorney has indicated he would refuse to answer any questions. In the letter, Grassley blames Feinstein for not being “willing to move more quickly and take ‘yes’ for an answer.”

The failure to interview Manafort is considered one of the committee’s most significant errors.

“The Chairman was then criticized for letting him off the hook,” Foy said. “In reality, the Ranking Member requested that the Chairman dismiss Manafort from the subpoena. He acquiesced to her request, even though it was the Chairman’s preference to require him to appear.”

Feinstein would not be interviewed for this article, and her spokesman would not comment on Foster, his role on the committee or his blog. The office repeated Feinstein’s insistence that the committee’s mandate was to investigate Russian interference in an American election, and the president’s possible role in obstructing the criminal inquiry into the nature of that interference.

“As a rule, Judiciary Committee Democrats have made their investigative decisions based on an objective review of facts,” said Tom Mentzer, a spokesman for Feinstein.

Kris Kolesnik, a former top adviser to Grassley, was asked years ago to help train young aides arriving on Capitol Hill on how to conduct fair investigations. In a recent column about the experience, Kolesnik recounted the advice he gave.

“Construct a wall between campaigning and governing. In a campaign, you can knock yourself out playing politics. But once you’re in government, you can only go as far in successful oversight as your credibility takes you,” Kolesnik wrote.

The column went on to lament how battered that notion has become. Kolesnik blamed his own party, accusing Republicans of standing in the way of the truth for political gain.

He wrote he knew “a congressional player in the Russia probe is having discussions with the White House about a possible job.”

According to Foy, Grassley’s spokesman, Foster was “encouraged by others” last year to consider an inspector general position in the Trump administration. After he interviewed with the independent body that vets candidates, Foster learned the panel recommended him to the White House Counsel’s office. Foster solicited advice about continuing the process, but declined to pursue it further in September. Then, in November, he was again encouraged to consider an inspector general post, mulled it over, but ultimately declined in December.

Foy would not say who specifically encouraged Foster to consider such an appointment, or whether he discussed the job with a White House official, saying any such preliminary conversations with the White House were routinely kept confidential. (A person who spoke to Foster told ProPublica Foster had indeed talked to a White House official during his deliberations.)

Foy said Foster notified Grassley of the job possibility, and pledged to recuse himself from White House matters if he consented to go through the full White House vetting process, rather than waiting until a formal offer had been made, as required by Senate ethics rules.

Still, during the period that Foster was considering an executive branch appointment, the committee’s inquiries relating to the Russia investigations were in full swing and Democrats were growing increasingly frustrated with what they perceived as stalling by Grassley’s office.

Grassley’s spokesman said there is nothing unusual about an administration soliciting congressional staffers from their own party for positions, and that “such preliminary discussions do not trigger an obligation to recuse from White House related matters.”

Congressional experts from left- and right-leaning organizations countered that taking part in a sensitive investigation relating to a sitting president while under consideration for a job in that president’s administration creates the appearance of a conflict even if it’s not a violation of ethics rules. Foster’s deliberations about a job with the administration, they said, should have been disclosed to ethics officials and the rest of the committee, and likely required his recusal.

“Frankly on its face, this is unethical behavior,” said Norman Ornstein, who helped create the House’s ethics watchdog agency and is now a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Experts were also concerned that Foster was being considered for an inspector general role considering the beliefs he expressed on his blog.

Stephen Street, president of the Association of Inspectors General, speaking generally, said bigoted views should be disqualifying.

“When you talk about racism, that obviously can’t be tolerated,” he said. “You don’t want to have a situation where people don’t trust your work product because of views you may have expressed that show bias.”

Robert Faturechi}:

I am a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at ProPublica.

terminated?

-- SCOOP: JASON FOSTER, chief investigative counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee under Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), is joining DCI Group in September to be part of its investigations practice.

illinois lobbyist

DCI GROUP AZ, LLC 2000 K STREET NW 9TH FLOOR WASHINGTON, DC 20006 TELEPHONE: (202)777-1566 FAX: CONTRACTUAL STRICKLIN & ASSOCIATES CLIENT 2U, LLC

DCI Group AZ, LLC #6278 1828 L Street, NW Suite 400 Washington, DC 20036 Foreign Principal: Alvaro Uribe through 31416 S.A.S. (t) Nature of Services: Public Relations Activities: The registrant provided communications and public affairs support to the foreign principal in support of its advocacy efforts regarding the former President of Columbia Alvaro Uribe. Finances: $124,503.20 for the six month period ending March 31, 2021

DCI Group AZ, LLC #6278 1828 L Street, NW Suite 400 Washington, DC 20036 Foreign Principal: Political Union of Citizens Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia (t) Nature of Services: Media Relations Activities: The registrant promoted the foreign principal's unwavering commitment to democracy and the special Georgia - United States relationship through the preparation and dissemination of information to the media. Finances: $999,999.00 for the six month period ending March 31, 2021

DCI Group AZ, LLC #6278 1828 L Street, NW Suite 400 Washington, DC 20036 Foreign Principal: Democratic Party of Mongolia (t) Nature of Services: Media Relations Activities: The registrant will promote the foreign principal as the vanguard of Mongolian democracy through the preparation and dissemination of information to the media. Finances: None Reported

fedsoc dci

Foster served as counsel to four congressional committees in the U.S. House and Senate, where he directed fact-finding inquiries to inform their oversight and legislative functions. He draws on his decades of experience navigating a broad array of high-profile disputes to help clients develop strategic research and intelligence useful in tackling legal, regulatory, and public affairs challenges.

As Chief Investigative Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Foster led its Oversight and Investigations team in reviewing allegations of waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and misconduct at the Justice Department and federal law enforcement agencies. For example, he worked to help protect law enforcement agents who blew the whistle on the government’s involvement in the gun trafficking operation known as “Fast and Furious.”

He also conducted oversight of the government’s response to the financial crisis for the Senate Finance Committee, helped negotiate legislation implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and investigated controversial Presidential pardons for the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee.

Necessary & Proper Episode 53: Congressional Oversight with Jason Foster

Jason Foster

Jason Foster of Good Government Now shares his experiences as counsel to four congressional committees in...

2017 subpoena ggl phone; collusion/mueller? shar att

wiretap carter page; grass offends sep of powers weaponize those trying to hold it acctable. also kash lead lawyer collusion?

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GoodGovernmentNow2@gmail.com

off bs

Foster conducted oversight and investigations as counsel to four congressional committees in the U.S. House and Senate before becoming a Senior Fellow at Good Government Now. For 14 of his 22 years on Capitol Hill, he served as counsel to Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), working closely with whistleblowers and offices of inspectors general to help Congress oversee the Executive Branch. He helped Grassley create the Senate’s bipartisan Whistleblower Protection Caucus and pass the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2016. He assisted Grassley in strengthening inspector general independence and access to agency records through the Inspector General Empowerment Act of 2016.

Mr Foster also helped negotiate policy concessions for greater voluntary access to Executive Branch information for all Members of Congress following a controversial Justice Department legal opinion threatening to limit access to only committee chairs. He has advised congressional committees in hundreds of disputes with the Executive Branch over access to documents and witnesses in a broad array of contexts over the years.

As Chief Investigative Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Foster led its oversight and investigations team in reviewing allegations of waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and misconduct at the Justice Department and federal law enforcement agencies. He also conducted oversight of the government’s response to the financial crisis for the Senate Finance Committee, helped negotiate legislation implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and investigated controversial Presidential pardons for the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee.

He is an Arkansas native and a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center.

Morton Rosenberg

Morton Rosenberg, a graduate of New York University (BA, 1957) and the Harvard Law School (LLB, 1960), was a Specialist in American Public Law with the American Law Division of the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress for thirty-five years. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow at Good Government Now and a Constitution Fellow at The Constitution Project. He authored the “Inherent Contempt Procedure Rule for the U.S. House” Good Government Now is recommending to develop an effective capability for the House to enforce its subpoenas and contempt citations. Read full bio.

Michael L. Stern

Michael L. Stern specializes in legal issues affecting Congress and the legislative process, including congressional ethics, elections, investigations, lobbying and constitutional reform. He is a Senior Fellow at Good Government Now and the author of the “Rule on Information Requests and Subpoenas to the Executive Branch” GGN is proposing to strengthen enforcement of congressional subpoenas of federal government officials.

Mr. Stern served as Senior Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives from 1996 to 2004. He later served as Deputy Staff Director for Investigations for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Special Counsel to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Prior to his congressional service, he was an associate at Shaw Pittman and clerked for Chief Judge Charles Clark, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He has co-chaired the D.C. Bar’s Administrative Law and Agency Practice Section and served on the ABA Task Force on Lobbying Reform.

He currently serves on the board of the Committee for a Fiscal Responsibility Amendment, is a founding member of the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force, and sits on the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council. Michael is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and Haverford College where he majored in History. He blogs about congressional legal issues at www.pointoforder.com.

Jason Foster

Jason Foster conducted oversight and investigations as counsel to four congressional committees in the U.S. House and Senate before becoming a Senior Fellow at Good Government Now. For 14 of his 22 years on Capitol Hill, he served as counsel to Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), working closely with whistleblowers and offices of inspectors general to help Congress oversee the Executive Branch. He helped Grassley create the Senate’s bipartisan Whistleblower Protection Caucus and pass the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2016. He assisted Grassley in strengthening inspector general independence and access to agency records through the Inspector General Empowerment Act of 2016.

Mr Foster also helped negotiate policy concessions for greater voluntary access to Executive Branch information for all Members of Congress following a controversial Justice Department legal opinion threatening to limit access to only committee chairs. He has advised congressional committees in hundreds of disputes with the Executive Branch over access to documents and witnesses in a broad array of contexts over the years.

As Chief Investigative Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Foster led its oversight and investigations team in reviewing allegations of waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and misconduct at the Justice Department and federal law enforcement agencies. He also conducted oversight of the government’s response to the financial crisis for the Senate Finance Committee, helped negotiate legislation implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and investigated controversial Presidential pardons for the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee.

He is an Arkansas native and a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center.

Teka Thomas

Teka Thomas is an entrepreneur and business attorney. He is the founder of Vrypac LLC, a sports and travel accessories company. He also has a small business law practice in Washington DC. Mr. Thomas served in the U.S. Air Force as a procurement officer, and later at National Defense University as a consultant on procurement reform. He has been published in the defense press writing about procurement and domestic security issues.

Mr. Thomas has a BBA in political science from the University of Miami, a Masters in government from Harvard, and a JD from the University of San Francisco. He has extensive experience in political campaigns and voter protection.

Mattew L. Fabisch, Esq.

Matthew Fabisch is a distinguished attorney, judge, and policy advocate who is devoted to promoting the fundamental political and civil rights espoused in the federal and state constitutions. He serves as President and General Counsel of the Stephen Hopkins Center for Civil Rights, a public interest law firm dedicated to defending the rights of citizens. His public interest work includes assignments as a probate court judge, Policy Director for a campaign for state Attorney General, and Executive Director and General Counsel of the Rhode Island Republican Party.

His private practice experience includes service as managing partner of Fabisch Law, an associate at Cicione and Associates, and an associate at Smith and Brink. Mr. Fabisch assists clients and their children with a full range of elder law services including estate planning, wills, trusts, probate, medicaid planning, disability planning, and tax planning. He also practices in the areas of Bankruptcy and Appellate matters.

Mr. Fabisch attended Roger Williams University Law School where he was the Editor-In-Chief of the Roger Williams University Law Review and President of the Federalist Society. He also served as a law clerk for the Rhode Island Superior Court and a law clerk at the Institute of Justice. Mr. Fabisch is a founding board member of Good Government Now.

Brad Miller

Brad Miller represented North Carolina’s 13 ^th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2003-2013. Prior to that, he served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1993-1994 and North Carolina Senate from 1997-2002. He returned to private legal practice in 2013 after leaving Congress and is now Of Counsel to Guttman, Buschner & Brooks PLLC. Mr. Miller has served as a Congressional Fellow at Good Government Now since June 2019.

He is a distinguished expert on congressional oversight and investigations, financial regulation and reform, environmental issues, and health. He was the principal author of an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Members of Congress to oppose President Trump’s pardon of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio for criminal contempt of court as an unconstitutional encroachment against the inherent contempt authority of the judicial branch. Mr. Miller also authored the “Special Criminal Contempt of Congress Procedures Act of 2009” which sought to ensure that criminal contempt of Congress citations would be prosecuted by a court-appointed special counsel if the Department of Justice failed to do so itself as requied by law.

As chairman of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science Committee, Brad led investigations into the health effects of environmental exposures, including the contamination by formaldehyde of trailers that FEMA provided families displaced by Hurricane Katrina; the contamination by lead of drinking water in Washington, D.C. and other major cities; and the contamination by toxic chemicals of drinking water to which a million Marines and their family members were exposed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina over a thirty-year period. See full bio.

Dr. William J. Murphy

Dr. William J. Murphy is the founder and president of Good Government Now where he advocates for proposals to strengthen congressional institutional capacities for oversight and investigation of the executive branch.

Dr. Murphy is active with several advocacy and policy research organizations. He is a policy advisor to The Center for Constitutional Reform at The Heartland Institute and a Co-Chair of Physicians Against Drug Shortages, an advocacy group dedicated to promoting competition in the pharmaceutical and medical product markets.

He is an Associate Professor of Social Science at the New England Institute of Technology in East Greenwich, RI where he teaches American government, economics, and U.S. national security policy. He previously served as a lecturer in the International Relations Program at the University of Pennsylvania, an adjunct faculty member at Villanova University, and a visiting professor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea.

Dr. Murphy holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania as well as an A.B. in Government from Harvard College. Dr. Murphy is also a veteran of enlisted and officer service in the armor branch of the United States Army from 1988-1991, including assignments as a tank platoon leader and battalion staff officer with the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea.

stream [of piss

By Katelynn Richardson Published on November 4, 2025

An Obama-appointed judge may have violated federal law by greenlighting a Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) effort to secretly secure Republican senators’ private cell phone data, legal experts say.

Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court James Boasberg signed orders in 2023 preventing cell phone carriers from notifying 11 Republican members of Congress about special counsel Jack Smith’s subpoenas seeking their cell phone data from Jan. 4 and Jan. 7, 2021.

The subpoenas were part of Smith’s investigation to build his 2020 election case against President Donald Trump. They sought call “detail records for inbound and outbound calls, text messages, direct connect, and voicemail messages” from Republican members, though he did not request contents of any messages, according to records released by Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley.

The judge claimed disclosing the subpoenas could “result in destruction of or tampering with evidence” to justify keeping them hidden, records show.

These orders could violate a federal law if they involved an “official” phone line, Mike Fragoso, who served as chief counsel to former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, noted.

Lawless Judges and Rogue Prosecutors

Federal law states that communications providers for Senate offices “shall not be barred, through operation of any court order or any statutory provision, from notifying the Senate office of any legal process seeking disclosure of Senate data.”

“If Smith or Boasberg violated that statute, it’s a very serious problem that probably justifies a bar investigation and could predicate an impeachment inquiry,” Fragoso wrote on X.

A media liaison for the judge declined to comment.

IFrame Content

“Safe bet: All the legal ethics ‘experts’ trotted out on CNN who mercilessly hounded @JeffClarkUS and @DrJohnEastman for giving legal advice around Jan. 6th will be MIA on the issue of the proper discipline for actual defiance of a federal statute by a biased anti-Trump judge,” Heritage Foundation Vice President of Domestic Policy Roger Severino wrote on X.

Smith sought records from Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Ted Cruz of Texas, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alaska, along with Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly.

Democracy Becomes an Illusion

“Congress enacts laws,” Empower Oversight Founder Jason Foster wrote on X. “The perma-Executive and Judicial Branches simply ignore them. If your elected Congress can’t or won’t control unelected bureaucrats in DC, then representative gov’t is merely an illusion.”

AT&T and Verizon both received subpoenas, though AT&T did not comply.

(RELATED: Jack Smith And Allies Are Making New Moves As Republicans Mount Pressure)

“In May 2023, Special Counsel Smith sent AT&T a grand jury subpoena that included a request for phone records associated with AT&T accounts for two other members of Congress,” the company wrote in an Oct. 24 letter to Grassley. “However, when AT&T raised questions with the Special Counsel Smith’s office concerning the legal basis for seeking records of members of Congress, the Special Counsel did not pursue the subpoena further, and no records were produced.”

Verizon produced information because the subpoena was “facially valid” but noted it would be making some changes to its practices going forward, according to the company’s letter to Grassley.

Ted Cruz Calls for Impeachment

Cruz called on the House to impeach Boasberg, an Obama appointee, during a Wednesday press conference.

“Judge Boasberg put his robe down, stood up and said, ‘Sign me up to be part of the partisan vendetta against 20% of Republicans in the Senate,’” Cruz said. “Mark my words: there will be accountability.”

Boasberg’s order amounts to “legal slander,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday, adding that he “would like to know the factual predicate for issuing the gag order.” He called for a “Watergate-style investigation” on potential misconduct by both Smith and Boasberg.

“My carrier, Verizon, was extremely irresponsible by complying with this subpoena,” Graham said in a statement Friday. “Instead, they should have followed AT&T’s example and declined to turn over the records because it is a violation of the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution. I also expect the House of Representatives to investigate Judge Boasberg’s potential misconduct, which could be grounds for his impeachment.”

IFrame Content

“Jeb Boasberg should definitely be impeached by the House of Representatives because not only are his rulings lawless, extremely lawless, they’re extremely dangerous,” Article III Project President Mike Davis told Laura Ingraham on Friday. “This is part of a pattern.”

Several members of Congress are already calling to impeach Boasberg, with Republican Texas Rep. Brandon Gill indicating Wednesday that he is “working” on articles of impeachment.

Gill previously introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg in March after the judge ordered the Trump administration to turn around planes carrying alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador, though the effort has not moved forward.

“The @HouseGOP should act swiftly to impeach Boasberg as well as other indefensibly lawless judges like Boardman (reduced sentence for would be killer of Kavanaugh because he’s ‘trans,’” Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy wrote Friday on X.

Republican Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt also called for Boasberg’s impeachment, writing Friday he is “openly biased, gone rogue, and likely broken the law.”

Smith’s attorneys wrote in an Oct. 21 letter to Grassley that the “subpoena for toll records was entirely proper, lawful, and consistent with established Department of Justice policy.”

“Although you have not reached out to us to discuss this matter, we are compelled to correct inaccurate assertions made by you and others concerning the issuance of a grand jury subpoena for the toll records of eight Senators and one Member of the House of Representative,” attorneys Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski wrote on Smith’s behalf. “Mr. Smith’s actions as Special Counsel were consistent with the decisions of a prosecutor who has devoted his career to following the facts and the law, without fear or favor and without regard for the political consequences.”

Smith was forced to drop his case after Trump won the 2024 election.

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tristanleavitt

• DelegateDelegate West Virginia House of DelegatesWest Virginia House of DelegatesJan 2025 - Present · 1 yr 1 moJan 2025 to Present · 1 yr 1 moCharleston, West Virginia, United StatesCharleston, West Virginia, United States
• 

PresidentPresident Empower OversightEmpower OversightMar 2023 - Present · 2 yrs 11 mosMar 2023 to Present · 2 yrs 11 mos

U.S. Merit Systems Protection BoardU.S. Merit Systems Protection Board 4 yrs 5 mos4 yrs 5 mosWashington, District of Columbia, United StatesWashington, District of Columbia, United States

• • Board MemberBoard Member Mar 2022 - Feb 2023 · 1 yrMar 2022 to Feb 2023 · 1 yr

• • Confirmed by U.S. Senate to help hold federal employees accountable for misconduct and poor performance and federal agencies accountable for whistleblower retaliation and other violations of the law.Confirmed by U.S. Senate to help hold federal employees accountable for misconduct and poor performance and federal agencies accountable for whistleblower retaliation and other violations of the law.
    • Acting Chief Executive and Administrative OfficerActing Chief Executive and Administrative Officer Mar 2019 - Feb 2022 · 3 yrsMar 2019 to Feb 2022 · 3 yrs

• • Led agency in absence of Senate-confirmed Board members.Led agency in absence of Senate-confirmed Board members.
    • General CounselGeneral Counsel Oct 2018 - Feb 2022 · 3 yrs 5 mosOct 2018 to Feb 2022 · 3 yrs 5 mos
• 

U.S. Office of Special CounselU.S. Office of Special Counsel 1 yr 5 mos1 yr 5 mosWashington, District of Columbia, United StatesWashington, District of Columbia, United States

• • Principal Deputy Special CounselPrincipal Deputy Special Counsel Jun 2017 - Oct 2018 · 1 yr 5 mosJun 2017 to Oct 2018 · 1 yr 5 mos

• • Helped ensure accountability and expose waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government, such as $32 million in lost inventory at the Naval Sea Logistics Center in Port Hueneme, California.Helped ensure accountability and expose waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government, such as $32 million in lost inventory at the Naval Sea Logistics Center in Port Hueneme, California.
    • Acting Special CounselActing Special Counsel Sep 2017 - Oct 2017 · 2 mosSep 2017 to Oct 2017 · 2 mos

• • Notified President Trump of veteran wait time data at the Clarksburg (WV) VA Medical Center being intentionally manipulated for seven years.Notified President Trump of veteran wait time data at the Clarksburg (WV) VA Medical Center being intentionally manipulated for seven years.
• 

Senior Counsel (Chairman Jason Chaffetz)Senior Counsel (Chairman Jason Chaffetz) House Committee on Oversight and Government ReformHouse Committee on Oversight and Government ReformJan 2015 - Jun 2017 · 2 yrs 6 mosJan 2015 to Jun 2017 · 2 yrs 6 mosWashington, District of Columbia, United StatesWashington, District of Columbia, United States

• • Investigated Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State and the FBI's decision not to recommend charges.

Worked closely with Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Mark Meadows to expose security breaches and misconduct within the U.S. Secret Service.

Led investigation into conflicts of interest caused by Hillary Clinton fundraising for the political campaign of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s wife.

Staffed Subcommittee Chairmen Ron DeSantis, Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows, and others.Investigated Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State and the FBI's decision not to recommend charges. Worked closely with Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Mark Meadows to expose security breaches and misconduct within the U.S. Secret Service. Led investigation into conflicts of interest caused by Hillary Clinton fundraising for the political campaign of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s wife. Staffed Subcommittee Chairmen Ron DeSantis, Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows, and others.

• Investigative Counsel (Ranking Member Chuck Grassley)

Investigative Counsel (Ranking Member Chuck Grassley)Investigative Counsel (Ranking Member Chuck Grassley) U.S. Senate Committee on the JudiciaryU.S. Senate Committee on the JudiciaryFeb 2011 - Jan 2015 · 4 yrsFeb 2011 to Jan 2015 · 4 yrsWashington, District of Columbia, United StatesWashington, District of Columbia, United States

• • Helped expose ATF's Operation Fast and Furious, the gunwalking scheme that armed Mexican drug cartels and the murderers of a Border Patrol agent.

Exposed cronyism in the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, where decisions by Director Alejandro Mayorkas benefited Terry McAuliffe and Hillary Clinton's brother Anthony Rodham while raising national security concerns about visas granted to rich investors from China, Iran, and more.

Partnered with Chairman Jim Jordan's staff to investigate Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez suppressing a whistleblower recovery to taxpayers of over $200 million in exchange for protecting a legal theory favored by Perez regarding racial discrimination.Helped expose ATF's Operation Fast and Furious, the gunwalking scheme that armed Mexican drug cartels and the murderers of a Border Patrol agent. Exposed cronyism in the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, where decisions by Director Alejandro Mayorkas benefited Terry McAuliffe and Hillary Clinton's brother Anthony Rodham while raising national security concerns about visas granted to rich investors from China, Iran, and more. Partnered with Chairman Jim Jordan's staff to investigate Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez suppressing a whistleblower recovery to taxpayers of over $200 million in exchange for protecting a legal theory favored by Perez regarding racial discrimination.

Volunteer AssociateVolunteer Associate Republican National CommitteeRepublican National CommitteeAug 2010 - Nov 2010 · 4 mosAug 2010 to Nov 2010 · 4 mosWashington, District of Columbia, United StatesWashington, District of Columbia, United States

• • Worked in the office of General Counsel Reince Priebus to monitor around the country for election fraud.Worked in the office of General Counsel Reince Priebus to monitor around the country for election fraud.
• 

Summer AssociateSummer Associate Steptoe & Johnson PLLCSteptoe & Johnson PLLCJun 2010 - Aug 2010 · 3 mosJun 2010 to Aug 2010 · 3 mosCharleston, West Virginia, United State

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Just the News: Empower Oversight Whistleblower Center founder Jason Foster highlights classified annex tied to Clinton email scandal

In The News

July 17, 2025

Jason Foster, the founder of the Empower Oversight Whistleblower Center and former chief investigative counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee, discusses the classified annex related to the Hillary Clinton email scandal and its implications in the ongoing investigations with John Solomon on this episode of the podcast.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

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duck 10 26 schmitt? fail

1. 
2. goodgovernmentnow.org
3. https://goodgovernmentnow.org › jason-foster-bio

Jason Foster Bio - Good Government Now

1. Jason Foster conducted oversight and investigations as counsel to four congressional committees in the U.S. House and Senate before becoming a Senior Fellow at Good Government Now. For 14 of his 22 years on Capitol Hill, he served as counsel to Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), working closely with whistleblowers and offices of inspectors ...

### Subpoena Enforcement Rule

• • Six Advantages of the Proposed Rule on Information Requests and Subpoenas 1) Congressional Control of Calendar - Forces the executive branch to act on congressionally-mandated timetables, not their own, thereby preventing federal officials from "slow walking" congressional information requests unaccountably. 2) Imposes Political Accountability on Executive Branch - Holds the president ...

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• • Donation Options Help us stop abuses of power in Washington! Donate today to ensure federal officials obey subpoenas in congressional investigations of government wrongdoing! *Please consider using the bank account transfer donation option to minimize transaction charges and maximize the impact of your gift.

2. 
3. ProPublica
4. https://www.propublica.org › article › jason-foster-the-senate-staffer-behind-the-attack-on-the-trump-russia-investigation

A Partisan Combatant, a Remorseful Blogger: The Senate ... - ProPublica

1. Sen. Grassley and Foster, right, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about Operation Fast and Furious, on Nov. 8, 2011 C-SPAN "Jason kept his word throughout the entire time.
3. 
4. jasonfoster.net
5. https://jasonfoster.net

Jason Foster

1. A collection of links related to Jason Foster, former investigator to Senator Charles Grassley, and his work on Capitol Hill—including his writings in the Federalist, Newsweek, The Washington Examiner, and the Wall Street Journal as well as media appearances, Congressional hearings and reports.
3. 
4. Talking Points Memo
5. https://talkingpointsmemo.com › news › senate-staffer-jason-foster-trump-russia-investigation

The Senate Staffer Behind The Attack On The Trump-Russia ... - TPM

1. Jason Foster, chief investigative counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, fits a classic Washington profile: A powerful, mostly unknown force at the center of some of the most consequential ...
3. 
4. about.me
5. https://about.me › jasonfoster

Jason Foster - Washington, DC, Georgetown University Law Center | about.me

1. Helping clients tackle legal, regulatory, and public affairs challenges through strategic research and advice. 22 years on Capitol Hill conducting oversight and investigations for four committees in the U.S. House and Senate. Former Chief Investigative Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee for Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-IA)
3. 
4. Law360
5. https://www.law360.com › articles › 1402435 › ex-grassley-atty-says-trust-is-key-to-whistleblower-venture

Ex-Grassley Atty Says Trust Is Key To Whistleblower Venture

1. Jason Foster, ex-chief investigative counsel to former Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks to Law360 about the mission behind his new nonprofit Empower Oversight, an ...
3. 
4. workplacepromiseinstitute.org
5. https://www.workplacepromiseinstitute.org › 2021 › day-2 › jason-foster

WORKPLACE PROMISE INSTITUTE - Jason Foster

1. As Chief Investigative Counsel to then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Foster helped whistleblowers expose some of the biggest scandals of the Obama and Trump administrations. Including Fast and Furious, the gun-walking scheme that armed the murderers of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, and the partisan funding behind the infamous Steele dossier, which initially ...
3. 
4. Just The News
5. https://justthenews.com › accountability › political-ethics › doj-asked-court-hide-its-surveillance-congressional-investigators

DOJ asked court to hide surveillance of congressional investigators for ...

1. Jason Foster is now the head of the Empower Oversight whistleblower center. In 2017 at the time of the secret surveillance, he was the chief investigative counsel for Sen. Chuck Grassley on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
3. 
4. Empower Oversight
5. https://empowr.us › inspector-general-confirms-allegations-in-empower-oversight-court-filing

Inspector General Confirms Allegations in Empower Oversight Court ...

1. Dec 10, 2024Empower Oversight's Chairman and Founder, Jason Foster, was one of the targets of the Justice Department's surveillance, collecting his phone and email records when he led the Senate Judiciary Committee's Oversight and Investigations unit for then-Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA).
3. 
4. Empower Oversight
5. https://empowr.us › leadership

Leadership - Empower Oversight

1. With more than two decades of experience conducting oversight and investigations on Capitol Hill, Jason Foster has represented four different congressional committees in hundreds of disputes with the Executive Branch over access to documents and witnesses in a broad array of contexts over the years. As Chief Investigative Counsel to then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R ...

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August 30, 2025

In The News

“Just the News, No Noise” with Marcus Allen, Tristan Leavitt, Jason Foster, Monica & Randy Shillenburg, Mike Zummer

August 29, 2025

In The News

New York Post: 10 FBI whistleblowers – who warned of ‘political weaponization’ and faced retaliation from Biden admin – reach settlements with DOJ

August 28, 2025

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Breitbart: DOJ Settles With Ten FBI Whistleblowers Targeted By Biden Administration

August 27, 2025

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Washington Examiner: FBI reinstates agents who faced Biden-era politicization

August 27, 2025

In The News

AP: FBI agents who had accused bureau of politicization during Biden administration reach settlements

August 27, 2025

In The News

New York Post: 10 FBI whistleblowers – who warned of ‘political weaponization’ and faced retaliation from Biden admin – reach settlements with DOJ

August 27, 2025

In The News

RedState: Vindication: FBI Whistleblowers Reach Long Overdue Settlements With DOJ

August 26, 2025

Press Release

Empower Oversight Inks 8 More FBI Whistleblower Settlements with DOJ

August 26, 2025

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jsnfostr

# Jason Foster

3rd degree connection3rd

Founder, Empower Oversight

Empower Oversight

Washington DC-Baltimore Area Contact info

• 660 followers
• 394 connections

About

Accountability and public integrity through the power of information.Accountability and public integrity through the power of information.

Featured

• [PostPost

Please share [Empower Oversight](https://www.linkedin.com/company/empower-oversight/)’s [hashtag#FightTheLies](https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23fightthelies&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED) Fund at GiveSendGo, and give if you can. Thanks.

https://lnkd.in/e44gRXkh

[DefendWhistleblowers.com](http://defendwhistleblowers.com/)](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7246145859992662016?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7246145859992662016%29)- 2

SHAPLEY

• [PostPost

Great to see the U.S. House of Representatives doing more than just paying lip service to [hashtag#whistleblower](https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23whistleblower&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED) protections—but actually going to court to fight for them.

As the filing notes: the Congress has a fundamental institutional interest in whistleblower protections—because they are key to obtaining information essential to its constitutional function of Executive Branch oversight.

At [Empower Oversight](https://www.linkedin.com/company/empower-oversight/) we are honored to represent these brave public servants along side you [Justin Gelfand](https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-gelfand-1024194/).](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7241769831321014272?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7241769831321014272%29)[- 15

• • • 1 comment](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7241769831321014272?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7241769831321014272%29)
• [PostPost

People with power and deep pockets often lash out and smear anyone who makes a legally protected disclosure they don't like, attacking the messenger rather than the message.

So, whistleblowers need people like [Mitchell Langberg](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mlangberg/) to stand-up for them, and for the truth, when those attacks cross the line.

That's why at [Empower Oversight](https://www.linkedin.com/company/empower-oversight/), we've set up a crowdfunding campaign to level the playing field and give whistleblowers a fighting chance to do what's right *and* protect their reputations. Thank you, Mitch, for your work on this case and others. We should all be able to unite on these neutral principles regardless of partisan or ideological divides. Truth matters.

Please consider donating and sharing this link: https://lnkd.in/eVYWpYAJ](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7241223171335426048?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7241223171335426048%29)[

Complaint](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7241223171335426048?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7241223171335426048%29)[- 14

• • • 1 comment](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7241223171335426048?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7241223171335426048%29)
• [PostPost

Whistleblower Groups Push to End Secret Seizure of Congressional Communications

via @nytimes

Beginning in 2017, department officials secretly collected the phone and email records of roughly a dozen people connected to Congress, including lawmakers and aides who routinely deal with anonymous whistle-blowers

:{“Blanket subpoenas for anybody who’s communicated with an office that may be conducting adversarial oversight — it’s a severe threat to institutional constitutional checks and balances," said Tom Devine, the legal director of the nonprofit [Government Accountability Project](

https://www.linkedin.com/company/government-accountability-project/), a whistle-blower protection group. "It’s a severe threat to whistle-blowers who want to share their evidence in Congress, and is likely to have a chilling effect.”}:

The effort to end the practice is spearheaded by a group led by former Republican aides, [Empower Oversight](https://www.linkedin.com/company/empower-oversight/). The group’s founder, Jason Foster, learned only recently that his records were collected without his knowledge.

Mr. Foster and others say the subpoenas raise constitutional issues about whether Congress can conduct oversight of the Justice Department without the agency learning which of its employees are communicating with lawmakers.

In the past year, more information has come to light as technology companies have disclosed to users that their records were collected, and it has become clear the practice of issuing subpoenas for congressional aides’ records and then blocking providers from disclosing that fact was more widespread than previously known and affected members of both parties.

[Tristan Leavitt](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanleavitt/), the president of Empower Oversight, criticized the government’s insistence that even its arguments against releasing the documents be kept secret.

“'The government’s continued secrecy in a closed investigation that very well could cross lines of separation of powers confounds anyone we have spoken with,' Mr. Leavitt said."

X thread - https://lnkd.in/eHtwCPRi

Full article - https://lnkd.in/e8A5Xie3](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7235612612070182913?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7235612612070182913%29)- 18

• [PostPost

In a Saturday letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, [Empower Oversight](https://www.linkedin.com/company/empower-oversight/) President [Tristan Leavitt](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristanleavitt/) revealed that his group obtained the “pre-printed” questions fellow bureau employees were presented with about their client.

The Clearance Investigations Unit questionnaire asks whether the client would ever “vocalize support for President Trump,” “vocalize objection to Covid-19 vaccination,” “vocalize intent to attend 01/06/2021” or “attended the Richmond Lobby Day event on 1/18/2021.”

:{His colleagues were told they had a “duty to reply” to each question “fully and truthfully” or “action against your security clearance may be undertaken and you may be referred to Inspection Division for possible disciplinary action.”]

(https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7206383757719695360?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7206383757719695360%29)[}:

FBI grilled colleagues on suspended whistleblower’s support for Trump, views on COVID-19 vaccine: docs

nypost.com](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7206383757719695360?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7206383757719695360%29)[- 16

• • • 3 comments](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7206383757719695360?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7206383757719695360%29)

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• Jason Foster reposted this

Peter J. ForcelliPeter J. Forcelli • 3rd+Premium • 3rd+Author of ‘The Deadly Path’ | Retired ATF Deputy Assistant Director | Former NYPD Homicide Detective | Consultant | Keynote SpeakerAuthor of ‘The Deadly Path’ | Retired ATF Deputy Assistant Director | Former NYPD Homicide Detective | Consultant | Keynote SpeakerView my services7mo • Edited • 7 months ago • Edited • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn

[Setting the record straight…

Last month I had the honor of speaking with law enforcement leaders at the DHS Leadership Academy at FLETC. When I lecture, I have one rule: All questions are fair game. Nothing is off the table. There weren’t many questions in the classroom that morning.

Later that night at the firepit back at the hotel; it was an entirely different story. One of the attendees was a police chief from the Phoenix area. He had approached me saying that he was a little embarrassed because he owned two guns that he purchased from one of the "dirty dealers that was involved in Operation Fast and Furious."

“Which one?” I asked.

“Lone Wolf Trading Company” he responded.

I told him they weren’t dirty.

His eyes shot open wide. “But they were shut down. The building was bulldozed.”

I told the chief that Andre, the owner of Lone Wolf, was the most cooperative gun dealer we dealt with in Arizona. There were others of course. Many of them.

Andre’s calls to my agents led to an untold number of interdictions involving unlawfully purchased firearms bound for Mexico.

Our vault filled to capacity. We had to get a variance memo approved from HQ to buy and use a conex box to store future seizures. That box quickly filled. We got another. We had ordered our third when my team’s mission changed. We were now the home invasion investigation group.

Not long after the change, Andre called us. He asked “why are my guns being traced out of Mexico?”

When we interdicted guns that were observed leaving the store we had no need to trace them. The trace only referred to the point of the gun’s first retail purchase. We knew that. We were there.

Phoenix VII got those same calls. Instead of interdicting the guns, they watched them ride off into the sunset, hoping to be able to put pins in maps when those traces came back.

Andre and his lawyer met with ATF Agents and Emory Hurley, a federal prosecutor and said they were done selling to suspected straw purchasers and that agents from Phoenix VII betrayed their trust. Andre was ordered to keep selling. He was told he was helping his country.

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered with a gun that was part of that case. The rest is history. It’s all in my book—“The Deadly Path.” That and much more.

Never leave a man behind.

The Agents in Phoenix VII who were involved in Operation Fast and Furious left Andre and those other cooperative FFLs behind. They helped us, putting themselves at risk for doing so.

I’m glad the chief knows the real story now. Carry those firearms with pride, Chief. It was an honor meeting you.

Read a lot more here: https://a.co/d/eni82AB

[hashtag#JusticeForBrianTerry](https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23justiceforbrianterry&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED)

…more](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7337534049504161792/)

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• Jason Foster reposted this

Todd TatelmanTodd Tatelman • 3rd+Verified • 3rd+Deputy General Counsel at Office of General Counsel - U.S. House of RepresentativesDeputy General Counsel at Office of General Counsel - U.S. House of Representatives8mo • 8 months ago • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn

[This platform seemed the proper place to pay tribute to my friend and mentor, Mort Rosenberg, who sadly passed away on May 4. To say that Mort was a giant in the oversight world is an understatement. He was a legend. I had the good fortune to meet Mort more than 20 years ago when I was a junior attorney just starting at CRS. Mort, who had a distinguished reputation in the halls of Congress, was incredibly welcoming and engaging. He had endless patience for the ever-curious new lawyer who had been assigned to handle congressional procedure and oversight for the law division. Not knowing anything about the topics, I was constantly afraid that I bothered Mort with my stupid questions and nearly daily attempts to get advice or a point in the right direction.

Mort was everything you could want in a mentor and teacher. He was a master storyteller, with a steel trap memory. He would regale anyone who would listen with endless tales of congressional history, recalling meetings, hearings, briefings, and memoranda he wrote on incredibly esoteric subjects with such detail that you had to listen. He would constantly suggest reading material, leaving things in my office, or digging through piles of papers in his office to find some memo he had written or law review article so that I would know what he was talking about. Mort was a proverbial firehose of oversight information and knowledge.

I learned so much from Mort that people often called me “Mini Mort,” which I took as the best possible compliment. The truth is that Mort forgot more about congressional oversight than I will ever know. But Mort also taught me how to advocate for the prerogatives of Congress (e.g., oversight, Speech or Debate, contempt, to name but a few). Many of the legal positions that I hold and defend today are because Mort showed me the way. He didn’t demand that I think the way he did or force me into agreeing with him; rather he got me the only way he knew how, he persuaded and convinced me over time that the positions he advocated for were legally and constitutionally sound.

Mort always spoke fondly about the details he did with the House Office of General Counsel. After eight years at CRS, when I was offered a chance to join OGC, Mort was the first one to encourage me to leave the comfortable confines of CRS and join the House. 14 years later, it is impossible for me to think about getting this job, without thinking about the stories Mort told, the documents he shared, the conversations we had, and most of all the many CRS Reports and memos we co-wrote together (and that I typed after deciphering Mort’s handwriting with a Rosetta Stone). Mort was the driving force behind my now more than two-decade career serving and advancing the interests of the Congress. I would not be the lawyer I am without having met and been guided by Mort Rosenberg.

Thank you, Mort. Rest in Peace. The Congress is better because of your wisdom and advice.

…more](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7326954880818900992/)

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ExperienceExperience

FounderFounder Empower Oversight · Full-timeEmpower Oversight · Full-timeApr 2021 - Present · 4 yrs 10 mosApr 2021 to Present · 4 yrs 10 mos

• • Dedicated to enhancing independent oversight of government and corporate wrongdoing by helping insiders safely report waste, fraud and abuse.Dedicated to enhancing independent oversight of government and corporate wrongdoing by helping insiders safely report waste, fraud and abuse.

• • • [

Empower OversightEmpower Oversight

Accountability and public integrity through the power of information.Accountability and public integrity through the power of information.](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsnfostr/overlay/1635462557678/single-media-viewer?type=LINK&profileId=ACoAAAHsnJwBEZUuutOLDSkaflgACGVXiB6s-9c)

Vice President & Special CounselVice President & Special Counsel DCI GroupDCI GroupSep 2018 - Feb 2021 · 2 yrs 6 mosSep 2018 to Feb 2021 · 2 yrs 6 mosWashington, District Of ColumbiaWashington, District Of Columbia

• Chief Investigative Counsel

Chief Investigative CounselChief Investigative Counsel Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. SenateCommittee on the Judiciary, U.S. SenateJan 2011 - Sep 2018 · 7 yrs 9 mosJan 2011 to Sep 2018 · 7 yrs 9 mos

• Senior Investigative Counsel

Senior Investigative CounselSenior Investigative Counsel Committee on Finance, U.S. SenateCommittee on Finance, U.S. SenateMar 2005 - Jan 2011 · 5 yrs 11 mosMar 2005 to Jan 2011 · 5 yrs 11 mos

• Senior Counsel

Senior CounselSenior Counsel Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. U.S. SenateCommittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. U.S. Senate2003 - 2005 · 2 yrs2003 to 2005 · 2 yrs

Show all 6 experiences

Education

Georgetown LawGeorgetown Law J.D.J.D.1993 - 19961993 - 1996

Harding UniversityHarding University B.S., American StudiesB.S., American Studies1989 - 19931989 - 1993

SkillsSkills

• Congressional InvestigationsCongressional Investigations

• [-

Endorsed by 3 colleagues at U.S. House of RepresentativesEndorsed by 3 colleagues at U.S. House of Representatives](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsnfostr/overlay/urn:li:fsd_skill:%28ACoAAAHsnJwBEZUuutOLDSkaflgACGVXiB6s-9c,1%29/endorsers?profileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAHsnJwBEZUuutOLDSkaflgACGVXiB6s-9c&tabIndex=1&modalTabIndex=1)

• • - 7 endorsements7 endorsements
• Legislative ResearchLegislative Research

• [-

Endorsed by Michael Stern and 2 others who are highly skilled at thisEndorsed by Michael Stern and 2 others who are highly skilled at this](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsnfostr/overlay/urn:li:fsd_skill:%28ACoAAAHsnJwBEZUuutOLDSkaflgACGVXiB6s-9c,2%29/endorsers?profileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAHsnJwBEZUuutOLDSkaflgACGVXiB6s-9c&tabIndex=1&modalTabIndex=1)

• • [-

Endorsed by 3 colleagues at U.S. House of RepresentativesEndorsed by 3 colleagues at U.S. House of Representatives](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsnfostr/overlay/urn:li:fsd_skill:%28ACoAAAHsnJwBEZUuutOLDSkaflgACGVXiB6s-9c,2%29/endorsers?profileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAHsnJwBEZUuutOLDSkaflgACGVXiB6s-9c&tabIndex=2&modalTabIndex=2)

• • - 16 endorsements

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---

AN 1 26

President Donald Trump is deploying old-school tactics against some of his enemies: using FBI files to target them.

*The New York Times* reported Sunday morning that FBI Director Kash Patel is helping Trump target his foes using the information it has collected.

Now, the report said, "the bureau has added payback to its portfolio."

While Trump spent years alleging the “weaponization” of law enforcement against political foes, the new administration is “using federal law enforcement to carry out a partisan opposition research operation.”

The report said that Patel has been poring over files, trying to uncover documents that can “expose and discredit federal law enforcement officials who investigated Mr. Trump and his allies.”

The Times noted that it is currently unknown how “wide-ranging” Patel’s coordination with political appointees and Republican allies has been. The official overseeing the operation was Patel’s deputy, Dan Bongino, who recently left the FBI after a tumultuous year in the post. Internally, they referred to Bongino’s unit as the “director’s advisory team.”

Most of the focus has been on the investigation into the 2020 efforts to overturn the election and stage an attack on the U.S. Capitol. Former special counsel Jack Smith spoke to the House late last year about the findings of the probe and said he had "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" that what Trump did was unlawful.

During Trump’s last administration, the IRS was used to go after former FBI Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe.

While President Joe Biden’s administration refused to turn over documents tied to the ongoing investigation, Patel is now claiming that Smith broke the law. Speaking to the House, Smith said that all of the information he gathered was approved by a federal judge, which will make it difficult to argue that he went rogue or violated the law with his probes.

J. Edgar Hoover ran his own operations while overseeing the FBI. Recently released information detailed the way in which the FBI was surveilling civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences detailed, the counterintelligence campaign against MLK involved "illegal wiretaps on his phone and bugging hotel rooms when he traveled."

The FBI also spread misinformation about King being an "immoral communist."

The Times reported that the FBI now claims it is the “most transparent in history,” even as it refuses to release the legally required files on the investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The bureau has strategically released batches of anti-Smith material right before he testified behind closed doors.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who once cast himself as a champion of whistleblowers, is now helping funnel FBI leaks through his office. An unnamed FBI whistleblower, for example, alleged that one member of Jack Smith’s team was not “impartial.”

That agent, who no longer works at the FBI, is Walter Giardina, whom Trump has personally attacked for supposedly having “animosity” toward him. “Mr. Giardina vehemently denied those allegations in a meeting with bureau officials last July, two days after the funeral of his wife, who died of adrenal cancer at 49,” the report continued.

Lawyers representing FBI agents who have been fired under the Trump administration’s weaponization effort are calling out the double standard of using the government to attack someone for their politics while accusing others of doing the same. Those making the accusations are granted anonymity, allowing them to hide behind their own partisan protectors.

*Read the full report here.

---

---

REF

Inside the Hidden Conservative Network Bankrolling an “Ecosystem” of Right-Wing News – Mother Jones

GFX

“Now more than ever, the world needs an honest newsroom.” With these words, the little-known Informing America Foundation was awarded the $250,000 Gregor G. Peterson Prize in “venture philanthropy” last December for its “high-quality journalism.”

If few had heard of IAF, hinted the nonprofit’s CEO, Debbie Myers, it was by design. “We stay very much under the radar,” she said, accepting the prize at the 2024 annual summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the corporate-funded group that works to advance conservative policies at the state level. IAF’s goal, Myers explained, was to create an “ecosystem” of news. The group boasts of funding a network of thousands of platforms that have quietly shaped public opinion by stoking an array of right-wing conspiracy theories, from the alleged corruption of Joe Biden to the supposedly nefarious mission of the US Agency for International Development, along with more recent attacks on critics of President Donald Trump.

Myers, who once led Gingrich 360, Newt Gingrich’s multimedia production firm, is a longtime TV executive who helped produce shows such as Little People, Big World; Talk Soup; and Punkin Chunkin. Her “partner in crime” in launching IAF in 2021, as she described him as he joined her onstage, is John Solomon, a former investigative reporter for the Associated Press and Washington Post and a DC fixture who has drawn criticism for pushing right-wing stories and smearing Democrats with the kind of allegations that a Post ombudsman once described as “‘gotcha’ without a gotcha.”

In 2019, Solomon was at the forefront of efforts to tie Biden to shady dealings in Ukraine on his son Hunter’s behalf, penning a series of columns for The Hill that reported dubious information from Ukrainian prosecutors with an axe to grind. A 2020 review of his work by the paper called its reliability into question, concluding Solomon had “failed to identify important details about key Ukrainian sources, including the fact that they had been indicted or were under investigation.”

In the wake of the controversy, he set up the independent outlet Just the News and launched a podcast, John Solomon Reports. In an email, Solomon defended his Hill reporting’s accuracy and claimed he has no formal role at IAF, while confirming he provides it an office at the same K Street address as Just the News and another Solomon enterprise, Bentley Media Group. In 2021, Myers and Solomon also formed the Affinity Media Exchange, an advertising business that soon inked a deal with Trump’s Truth Social to be one of the platform’s ad representatives.

IAF’s tax filings, which say its mission is funding “investigative, explanatory, data-driven and multimedia journalism,” show it brought in close to $8 million in contributions during its first year, with the largest nonprofit donation coming from the family foundation of Diana Davis Spencer, whose late father, an investment banker, once chaired the Heritage Foundation. In subsequent years, millions have flowed to IAF through donor-advised charities that do not disclose the source of their initial contributions.

IAF, in turn, has doled out funds to an array of right-leaning outlets, including Just the News and Off the Press, run by Joseph Curl, a veteran of Drudge Report and the Washington Times. ADN América, aimed at Spanish speakers, received more than $1 million from IAF in the site’s first three years of operation. The foundation sent another million-plus to Performance One Media, which owns Real America’s Voice, the right-wing network best known for carrying Steve Bannon’s War Room. Real America’s Voice gave Solomon his own nightly show in 2022, which he has used to promote IAF allies.

IAF has also directed more than $1.7 million to Star News Digital Media, a conglomerate of 12 mostly battleground state sites whose names suggest a local focus but that actually push pro-GOP partisan news. Star News’ Tennessee Star, for instance, featured a section called “KamaLawfare” prior to the 2024 presidential election that highlighted incidents from Kamala Harris’ prosecutorial tenure in California, but seemed to ignore top news events in the state. One day this past June, the homepages of Star News outlets in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, and Virginia looked almost identical, all covering transgender youth health care in California, New York City’s mayoral race, and a Florida sheriff’s threats against anti-Trump protesters.

Media observers have dubbed such agenda-driven news sites “pink slime”—so named for by-products added as filler to ground beef. Pink slime news is a growing phenomenon, according to University of Cincinnati journalism professor Jeffrey Blevins, rising as partisan interests take advantage of the devastated newspaper market. “We saw these news deserts popping up,” he says. “It was very cheap to put in a website and say, ‘Okay, we’re doing local news.’ Local news is always seen as being more credible.” Sites like the Tennessee Star, he explains, use that perception to push “poor-quality” coverage “funded by some outside political interest.”

In 2023, the most recent year tax records are available, filings show IAF’s largest contribution—more than $1 million—went to the Institute for Citizen Focused Service, a secretive nonprofit set up by Interior Department officials from Trump’s first term. In turn, ICFS has funneled money to Pipeline Advisors, which holds a portfolio of local outlets—including the Midland Times, Austin Journal, Federal Newswire, and others—that have also been described as pink slime. All told, IAF says its news “ecosystem” includes “more than 2,000 hyperlocal platforms and 10 national platforms” reaching an audience of more than 50 million people.

One hallmark of IAF-connected organizations is that they often promote the same allegations and storylines. This is no accident: At the award ceremony last December, Myers provided a glimpse into how IAF works, explaining that each morning, the team gathers on a call to choose the stories they believe the mainstream media is ignoring. After hanging up, “we amplify each other,” she said, “and get it to the hands of the American people.”

Star News outlets regularly repackage Just theNews articles. Just the News writes stories based on Off the Press coverage and vice versa. They do not disclose their financial links. For example, Just the News covered the 2021 launch of Off the Press without noting that either organization was funded by IAF.

The network’s thousands of platforms have quietly shaped public opinion by stoking an array of right-wing conspiracy theories.

Solomon’s podcast often features guests from the broader IAF universe, including Mike Benz, a right-wing influencer and former Trump State Department official whose attacks targeting USAID as a “censorship octopus” helped fuel Elon Musk’s crusade to feed the agency to the “wood chipper.” Benz, a onetime alt-right Twitter troll, has appeared on Solomon’s show to rail against social media censorship and US foreign aid. In such appearances, he’s been identified as the executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online—which is not a foundation, but which launched as a project of an organization called Empower Oversight that has also been heavily funded by IAF. An Empower Oversight spokesperson said the group served as FFO’s fiscal sponsor through February 2023. That year, Benz was paid $253,889 by ICFS.

In 2022, Benz began issuing reports from his one-man think tank positing a conspiracy to silence conservatives online. IAF-funded outlets have presented a drumbeat of interviews with him, in which he argued that outfits battling online disinformation—from media watchdogs like NewsGuard to the US military and Big Tech—were actually undertaking a project to suppress conservative voices. The interviews presented Benz as an independent expert—“Mike Benz exposes State Department’s use of USAID as an ‘intelligence cloak,’” said one Just the News headline—without revealing that his think tank was little more than a website whose existence seems to have been made possible by IAF. The interviews got repackaged as news by other outlets in the IAF stable, expanding their reach.

Empower Oversight, the organization that originally backed Benz, was formed in Virginia in 2021, just one day before IAF was registered in Washington, DC. IAF supplied Empower Oversight with the sole grant it received that year, a $400,000 allocation whose purpose, according to tax filings, was to “develop an infrastructure to cultivate, protect and work with whistleblowers.” Since its founding, Empower Oversight has focused heavily on typical MAGA obsessions, including the Russian collusion probe, purported FBI involvement in January 6, and Hunter Biden.

Empower Oversight is headed by Jason Foster—a longtime aide to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley—whom ProPublica exposed in 2018 as an inflammatory blogger who wrote under the handle “Extremist.” According to ProPublica, Foster, a “partisan combatant” known for his “conspiratorial thinking,” was the main force behind the Senate Judiciary Committee’s scrutiny of research firm Fusion GPS and ex–British spy Christopher Steele, author of the 2016 memos alleging collusion between Trump and Russia.

Empower Oversight, which continues to receive most of its funding from IAF, represented Gary Shapley, an IRS criminal investigator who alleged that the Biden administration sandbagged a tax fraud investigation into Hunter Biden. (Earlier this year, Shapley briefly served as Trump’s IRS director.) Shapley’s allegations were heavily promoted by members of the IAF network, including Just the News, the Tennessee Star, and other Star News outlets such as the Pennsylvania Daily Star and the Arizona Sun Times.

During the Biden years, Empower Oversight’s work followed a familiar formula: First, it would file a battery of Freedom of Information Act requests to a federal agency, usually related to some right-wing intrigue or a query Grassley’s Senate office had submitted to that department. Empower Oversight then would frequently follow up with a lawsuit alleging deficiencies in the agency’s response. With the help of Solomon’s Just the News, it turned routine records requests and civil complaints into a PR bonanza, while fueling a narrative that the Biden administration and its supposed deep state allies were suppressing information.

While Benz did not respond to our requests for comment—and hung up when we called—he’s arguably delivered the most impact for IAF’s supporters. In April, the State Department shuttered its Global Engagement Center, which focused on combating foreign disinformation but which Benz had alleged was a government tool of anti-conservative censorship.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio rewarded Benz with an exclusive interview announcing the move. The next day, Just the News announced that the “censorship nerve center” had been shut down, and multiple Star News platforms dutifully signal-boosted the news. All cited Benz as merely a “former State official.”

---

storm

• Email, work:

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• Full Name: Jason A. Foster
• Pronouns: Masculine

Miscellaneous Links:

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Social Networking:

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About.me

Education

• Georgetown University Law Center - JD (1993-1996)
• Harding University - BS, American studies (1989-1993)

Employment History

• Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research (April 2021-)

Founder/Chair

• DCI Group AZ LLC (Sept. 2018-Feb. 2021)

Vice President and Special Counsel

• Senate Judiciary Committee (Jan. 2011-Sept. 2018)

Sen. Chuck Grassley (**R**-IA)

Chief Investigative Counsel

• Senate Finance Committee (March 2005-Jan. 2011)

Sen. Chuck Grassley (**R**-IA)

Senior Investigative Counsel

• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (2003-March 2005)

Sen. Susan Collins (**R**-ME)

Senior Counsel

• House Government Reform Committee (1997-2003)

Rep. Dan Burton (**R**-IN)

Senior Counsel

2018 Reports Available
Annual 2018-05-15
Termination 2018-10-04
Termination Amended 2018-10-12

2015 Reports Available
Annual 2015-06-10

2014 Reports Available
Annual 2014-05-12

2013 Reports Available
Annual 2013-05-15

2012 Reports Available
Annual

2011 Reports Available
Annual

---

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[Our Mission | Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research empowr.us

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[### Leadership

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Jason Foster. Founder & Chair. With more than two decades of experience conducting oversight and investigations on Capitol Hill, Jason Foster has ...Read more

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Jason Foster, the founder of the Empower Oversight Whistleblower Center and former chief investigative counsel for the Senate Judiciary ...Read more

[### Jason Foster Bio

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Jason Foster conducted oversight and investigations as counsel to four congressional committees in the U.S. House and Senate before becoming a Senior Fellow ...

[### Jason Foster - Founder, Empower Oversight

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Jason Foster, Founder and Chairman of Empower Oversight, has 22 years of Capitol Hill experience, including 14 years as counsel to the “patron saint of ...Read more

[### Empower Oversight Founder Jason Foster to be Featured ...

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Dec 7, 2024 — Foster will discuss with Attkisson Empower Oversight's lawsuit to unseal documents relating to the Justice Department's subpoenas for activity ...Read more

[### Empower Oversight Opposes DOJ Effort to Submit Secret ...

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Jul 2, 2025 — Empower Oversight Opposes DOJ Effort to Submit Secret Arguments in Congressional Spying Case. Press Release. July 2, 2025. WASHINGTON, D.C. – ...Read more

[### Jason Foster: The Public's Business Ought to be Public

Empower Oversight

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Apr 13, 2022 — Jason Foster is the founder and president of Empower Oversight, a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization dedicated to enhancing ...Read more

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Aug 26, 2025 — Thank you. Sincerely,. /Jason Foster/. /Tristan Leavitt/. Jason Foster. Tristan Leavitt. Empower Oversight. Empower Oversight. Founder & Chair.Read more

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[### Justice Department Continues to Sidestep Grassley, Leahy ...

Grassley.Senate.gov

https://www.grassley.senate.gov › news › news-releases](https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/justice-department-continues-sidestep-grassley-leahy-questions-about)

... Jason Foster at (202) 224-4515 with Senator Grassley. All responses should be faxed to both (202) 224-9516 and (202) 228-2131. Sincerely,. Patrick Leahy ...Read more

video: Jason Foster is the senior investigative counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee. He’s one of the staffers working behind the scenes to go after the FBI and the handling of the Trump-Russia probe.He also had a personal blog where he disparaged Muslims and gay people, wondered if Joseph McCarthy got a bad rap and described liberals as anti-American.Here's more on Foster: https://propub.li/2IftDHY | ProPublica

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[### ProPublica profiles Jason Foster, Arkansas-born staffer for ...

Arkansas Times

https://arktimes.com › arkansas-blog › 2018/04/01 › pr...](https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2018/04/01/propublica-profiles-jason-foster-arkansas-born-staffer-for-chuck-grassley-turns-up-controversial-blog-posts)

Apr 1, 2018 — ProPublica profiles Jason Foster, Arkansas-born staffer for Chuck Grassley; turns up controversial blog posts. by David Ramsey April 1, 2018 ...Read more

[### Jason Foster

YouTube · Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson

1.9K+ views · 1 year ago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slvtNmg2AYY)

4:54

Full Measure has learned that in the coming days, an Inspector General report is expected to be released related to a disturbing and ...

Missing: grassley ‎| Show results with: grassley

[### Jordan subpoenas Garland for records of DOJ spying on ...

House Judiciary Committee Republicans | (.gov)

http://judiciary.house.gov › media › in-the-news › jorda...](http://judiciary.house.gov/media/in-the-news/jordan-subpoenas-garland-records-doj-spying-congressional-aides)

Dec 19, 2023 — Foster, who worked for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) at the time the DOJ sought his data about private messages, was among the numerous staffers ...Read more