Amid the revelations of the FISA abuses memo, former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom claimed Obama administration officials knowingly "committed perjury" to the FISA court for political gain.
"They all had knowledge that this [dossier] was phony – that information was not true – basically, they all committed perjury," Kallstrom – long decrying the existence of a "fifth column" working to undermine the president – told "The Cats Roundtable" on 970 AM-N.Y. "They're in big trouble, and they should be.
"They have taken a tool of the United States that's used to protect our country from terrorism and foreign counterintelligence transfer of intellectual property . . . and used it for political reasons in a campaign to really try to ruin a candidate for the office. And then, after he's elected, to try to continue to ruin him. And that continues to this day, which is really a big, huge disgrace."
Kallstrom was referring to the Christopher Steele-authored, Democrat-funded anti-Trump dossier critics say the Obama administration Justice Department and FBI used to obtain a FISA warrant to surveil Carter Page and members of the Trump campaign and transition team.
"The [FBI] and Justice Department used that phony dossier as probable cause in an application to the federal FISA court, and now we know actually that happened – and John, that is a serious, serious offense, and it involves now not only Jim Comey, but it involves the deputy FBI director, [Andrew] McCabe. It involves the acting Attorney General under Obama, Sally Yates," Kallstrom told told host John Catsimatidis.
". . . They're saying is the information in this affidavit is true, is trustworthy, and it sets out the reason why the subject that they want to cover is affecting our national security. First off, I doubt that this American citizen [Carter Page] was much involved in national security matters. It could be, but I think it's a stretch."
Kallstrom said he is not "one for special counsels," but there needs to be an independent investigation of the FISA abuses and criminal negligence of the Obama administration, because the "I don't think we can trust the Justice Department" to conduct this.
"There’s a cabal of people around [former FBI Director James] Comey that put not country first, not the Constitution first, not the rule of law first, but their own political aspirations," Kallstrom said. "They violated numerous, numerous laws: The federal records act, perjury, obstruction of justice. That's not what the FBI is there for. The FBI is there to protects the citizens of this country."
Kallstrom added a defense for the FBI as a whole – most of which "didn’t have a clue of what was going on because they were walled off from this."
"It was just a small group of people that really, really went off the rails," he said. "They were so sure that Hillary [Clinton] was going to win, they just figured they could do anything and the light of day would never shine on it."
Kallstrom also rebuked Comey's politicization of the FBI after his firing, including his tweets this week, calling the ex-director the "largest weasel of all," using Comey's Twitter term.
"These people have really lost their minds," Kallstrom said. "They've really really done a horrible thing to the United States. They should be ashamed."