David Laufman was the Department of Justice, National Security Division, Deputy Asst. Attorney General in charge of counterintelligence, cyber security, counterespionage and export controls.

As most people are now aware the epicenter of the DOJ/FBI Clinton-Steele operation against candidate Trump stemmed from a collaborate “small group” effort of Main Justice officials within the National Security Division (John P Carlin – head), and officials within the FBI centered around the Counterintelligence Division (Bill Priestap – head).

According to the Washington Post, David Laufman resigned effective yesterday, Wednesday February 7th:

David Laufman, an experienced federal prosecutor who in 2014 became chief of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, said farewell to colleagues Wednesday. He cited personal reasons.

His departure from the high-pressure job comes as President Trump and his Republican allies have stepped up attacks on the Justice Department, the FBI and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III for their handling of the Russia probe. (more)

In his former position, Laufman would have been involved and hold knowledge of the FISA “Title-1” surveillance program initiated on target Carter Page and the “incidental” Trump campaign officials. Laufman would also have close contact with former Asst. Deputy Attorney Bruce Ohr; husband of Fusion GPS employee Nellie Ohr.

David Laufman also participated in the July 2nd 2016 interview of Hillary Clinton:

(Pdf Source Link)

Additionally, as a result of his specific responsibilities David Laufman would also have been involved in any FARA investigations of General Mike Flynn (Turkish lobbying), and/or Paul Manafort (Ukraine lobbying); and had access to FISA-702(16)(17) database use for incidental surveillance and subsequent unmasking etc.

National Security Division head John P Carlin resigned around the same time as the Carter Page FISA warrant application was submitted, October 21st, 2016. National Security Division head Mary McCord replaced Carlin, and she resigned shortly before Special Counsel Robert Mueller was assigned May 17th, 2017.

After President Trump won the election, Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed the prior position of Sally Yates who was keeping the DOJ National Security Division free from Inspector General Horowitz oversight. Now the DOJ-NSD has direct oversight, the officials within the DOJ-NSD have come down with a severe case of sunlight aversion.

Responding to a 2015 request by the DOJ Office of Inspector General, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates told the internal watchdog they cannot investigate the National Security Division. That’s right, there was essentially no oversight on any activity happening inside the NSD.

In 2015 the OIG requested oversight and it was Sally Yates who responded with a lengthy 58 page legal explanation saying, essentially, ‘nope – not allowed.’ (PDF HERE) All of the DOJ is subject to oversight, except the NSD.

The Department of Justice’s own Inspector General (currently Michael Horowitz who opened a January 2017 investigation into the 2016 politicization of the FBI and DOJ) was previously not allowed to investigate anything that happened within the NSD branch of the Department of Justice.

See the ‘useful arrangement‘?

Yeah, Funny that.

Typically speaking when a resignation is announced “effective immediately”, as with David Laufman, the announcement implies the individual is under ‘internal’ investigation.

It is not coincidental the players used on the DOJ side of “Operation Trump” (Bruce Ohr, John Carlin, etc.) all seem to come from within the National Security Division.

According to congressional sources, [Glenn] Simpson and [Bruce] Ohr met sometime around Thanksgiving last year, when President-elect Trump was in the process of selecting his cabinet, and discussed over coffee the anti-Trump dossier, the Russia investigation and what Simpson considered the distressing development of Trump’s victory. How exactly Simpson and Ohr came to know each other is still being investigated, but initial evidence collected by the House intelligence committee suggests that the two were placed in touch by Steele, a former FBI informant whose contacts with Ohr are said by senior DOJ officials to date back to 2006. (more)

All of the evidence points in one transparently obvious direction; toward a 2016 collaborative effort structured to use a counterintelligence operation to conduct wiretaps and surveillance on the presidential campaign of candidate Donald Trump. The FISA Title-1 surveillance approval of Carter Page was retroactive legal authority to do so.

The FBI and DOJ certainly went to extra-ordinary lengths to get that FISA Title-1 warrant approved; even to the extent of misleading the FISA court on the validity of the underlying documents. The DOJ/FBI ‘small group’ really seemed quite desperate to gain that FISA Title-1 surveillance authority…

…. they really, really needed it:

…”I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40″…

Accepting all of that mounting evidence, does this March 2017 interview with former Obama administration official Evelyn Farkas (Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense), appearing on MSNBC, make more sense now?

I was urging my former colleagues, and, and frankly speaking the people on the Hill [Democrat politicians], it was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people, get as much information as you can – get as much intelligence as you can – before President Obama leaves the administration. Because I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior [Obama] people who left; so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy, um, that the Trump folks – if they found out HOW we knew what we knew about their, the Trump staff, dealing with Russians – that they would try to compromise those sources and methods; meaning we no longer have access to that intelligence. So I became very worried because not enough was coming out into the open and I knew that there was more. We have very good intelligence on Russia; so then I had talked to some of my former colleagues and I knew that they were also trying to help get information to the Hill. That’s why you had the leaking”… (link)