Outside the Beltway

The former president shopped for the right judge.

After a two-year investigation, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice found no basis for the conspiracy theories being pushed by the Republicans regarding the Russia investigation.

An empty column with a seed of one good point buried in a bunch of nothing.

Attorney General William Barr has opened a new investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation, a move that seems suspiciously political.

With the President’s “Spygate” allegations standing largely discredited, his attorney and at the moment chief spokesperson Rudy Giuliani admits that the entire conspiracy theory was created to discredit the Mueller investigation.

The House Intelligence Committee’s report is being touted as vindication by the Trump Administration and its supporters. It’s not.

President Trump took to Twitter this morning and decided poke a stick in the eye of the Russian bear.

President Trump isn’t reacting well to the raid on his attorney’s office.

The head of the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation admitted yesterday that the committee was never focused on any potential evidence of collusion.

Ending an investigation that was flawed and tainted with partisanship from the start, the House Intelligence Committee has abruptly concluded its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Yet another top appointee is in the awkward position of having to defend himself from the Tweeter-in-Chief.

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have released a memo that completely eviscerates the memo prepared by Committee Chairman Devin Nunes.

Donald Trump has blocked the release of a memo prepared by House Intelligence Committee Democrats to rebut the Nunes memo. It’s hard not to see this as a blatantly partisan move.

Contrary to the claims that were made by conservatives and Trump supporters before its release, the memo prepared by Congressman Devin Nunes has done nothing to undermine the Russia investigation.

The two most important allegations in the Nunes memo appear to be complete lies.

Mostly it just tells us that Nunes and his allies are hacks.

President Trump is claiming that the Nunes memo vindicates him. He’s wrong.

National Review legal analyst David French argues that the Nunes memo actually undermines the central claim its proponents were seeking to bolster.

Republicans have released the memo prepared by Congressman Devin Nunes that purports to call into question the basis for the Russia investigation. In the end, though, it amounts to much ado about nothing.

John Kelly continues to throw away the good name he earned in decades of service as a Marine to serve the agenda of President Trump.

Special counsel Robert Mueller could be looking to “flip” Paul Manafort, giving President Trump and those close to him something new to worry about.

A top Trump campaign adviser was the subject of a FISA warrant for at least part of last year.

The Senate passed a bill that renews, and modifies, the Patriot Act

A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that the N.S.A.’s data mining program is illegal, but its ruling may not have a very big impact.

The NSA and FBI are doing more spy stuff.

The “paper of record” joins the call for some kind of deal with Edward Snowden.

In a new interview, Edward Snowden explains his motives for absconding from the country with NSA secrets.

A potentially big legal setback for a big National Security Agency program.

An unusual challenge to the NSA’s data mining program reaches its expected end in the Supreme Court.

Prism ain’t got nothin’ on the Hemisphere Project.

A husband and wife do unrelated, and perfectly innocent, Google searches, and get a visit from the FBI.

Think of it as the spy version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

A privacy rights group has filed a Petition with the Supreme Court regarding recent actions by the FISA Court.

Chief Justice Roberts is the only person who gets to say who sits on the FISA Court.

Don’t blame “secret courts” for the government’s expanded spying on American citizens and allies.

New revelations from The Guardian

Exploring data from 33 years’ of FISA reports to Congress

Contrary to President Obama’s assertion today, the NSA’s operations don’t have proper legislative or judicial oversight.

The government has your cell phone and credit card records. What can they do with that information?

Big Brother is doing more than just checking your phone records.

The NSA’s data mining project is about more than just subpoenas for cell phone records.

Apparently, it’s not just reporters whose phone logs the Obama administration is tracking.

Looking at the data? Not very.