Obama Conspiracy Theories

In a nutshell:

Larry Klayman suggested to the Post & Email that Dennis Montgomery might have had something to do with the resignation of the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.

Rambling details:

You may recall that Larry Klayman filed a lawsuit over federal surveillance of telecommunications records. As a result of his actions, injunctions were issued preventing the government from collecting this information on Larry Klayman himself and his 4 co-defendants. This all came out of the revelations of former CIA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden about what the government was doing.

But a less well-known former CIA contractor who paints himself as a whistleblower is represented by Larry Klayman, and that is Dennis Montgomery, a figure in the Melendres v. Arpaio contempt of court proceedings earlier in the year. Montgomery, unlike Snowden, didn’t actually blow any whistle, at least not that you could hear. He pursued immunity before he would toot, immunity that was not forthcoming.

It is an open question so far as I am concerned whether Dennis Montgomery himself had any personal knowledge of the secret government collection of telecommunications metadata, and whether he had possession of any of this data. The 50 hard drives Montgomery provided to Sheriff Joe Arpaio were examined by two former NSA experts, and they used the words “total fraud.”

Anyhow, Director of National Intelligence Clapper has resigned, effective January 17, right before the new administration begins, capping a 50-year career in public service. I don’t quite see how Montgomery’s not really whistleblowing and Clapper’s 3-day-early resignation, is something that one could draw an inference from. But then, I am not a birther.

Clapper himself offered this reassurance to the American people on Thursday about the upcoming Trump presidency:

It will be okay.

A postscript to this story concerns a remark appearing in the P&E article:

Klayman represents Montgomery in a defamation lawsuit against New York Times writer and book author James Risen as well as in Montgomery’s meetings last year with the FBI, when [Montgomery] was granted two separate immunity agreements by the agency.

What might be more informative is to say that Klayman represents Montgomery in the appeal of his loss in the Montgomery v. Risen lawsuit. Writer Risen called Montgomery a con man, and Montgomery sued for defamation. In a order this past July 15, United States District Judge Rudolph Contreras granted the defense motion for summary judgment: “Defendants’ motion for summary judgment (DCF No. 201) is GRANTED and JUDGMENT IS ENTERED in favor of Defendants on all counts of the Amended Complaint.” The Defendants’ motion for sanctions was denied. Judge Contreras opened his Memorandum Opinion with the words: “The twists and turns of this case could fill the pages of a book. In fact, much of it already has,” referring to Risen’s book, Pay any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War.

Klayman has filed notice of appeal. The case number of the appeal with the DC Circuit is 16-7096; final briefs are due in February of 2017.

[Update: The DC Court of Appeals denied a renewed petition from Montgomery for oral arguments on 9/26/2017 and the case will be decided on the trial record and the appeal briefs.]