By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Thread Song
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SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 17 – When jury selection was completed for the retrial of accused CIA Vault 7 leaker Joshua Schulte, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Jesse M. Furman told the jurors, Do not read or say anything about the case. Inner City Press was there, and live tweeted here.
Judge Furman: I'm going to announce the selected jurors. [He reads out 16 names. Inner City Press took fast notes - on on Patreon here]
Inner City Press has filed opposing the sealing of the courtroom for CIA witnesses, and once the witnesses begin anticipates making other filings.
The June 14, 2022 opening arguments, as live tweeted by Inner City Press, are here.
On June 15, Schulte in his own defense engaged in his first cross examination, of FBI Agent Evanchec. Inner City Press live tweeted it here.
On June 16, Schulte completed his cross of Evanchec - then the US put on CIA supervisor Anthony Leonis in a (mostly) sealed courtroom, Inner City Press which seeks to unseal was there then live tweeted here.
On June 17, Leonis finished his direct and was cross examined by Schulte, with a deadline to finish before the end of the trial day. Inner City Press live tweeted it here:
AUSA: Did you ever retaliate against him? Leonis: No. AUSA: Mr. Schulte wrote he has incurred the wrath of his supervisor Karen. How was Karen?
CIA's Leonis: Karen cared so much about people. She'd walk the halls and ask you about your family... We asked Josh and Amol to go to the Employee Assistance Program
Leonis: This not the kind of thing you want to deal with, 3 weeks into a job [as supervisor]. I just wanted to help people build tools to collect intelligence for our country. AUSA: Is there classified info in this email? Leonis: The 3d graf talks about developers
Leonis: And it talks about a vulnerability in one of our network. And it talks about foreign office West. So it gave the location. And it had the name of an undercover officer. So in my read, it is not unclassified.
Judge Furman: Jurors, I approved the substitution of the phrase "Foreign Office West" for the actual location. Just so you understand. Leonis: After Vault 7 was published, we became a crime scene. The investigators bought cameras into the SCIF, which was strange AUSA: No further questions.
Judge Furman: Cross-examination.
Schulte: Good morning. CIA's Leonis: Good morning.
Schulte: Didn't I have a great relationship with my management before you? Leonis: I can't say. Schulte: You didn't have my file? Leonis: No.
Schulte: I was promoted every year until my last year, right? Leonis: I don't know.
Schulte: You didn't have access to promotion records? Leonis: I don't remember. Schulte: But you began keeping a dossier (says the "R") on me, in a white binder, right? Leonis: No.
Schulte: You never kept a white binder? Leonis: Later we did. Schulte: Before you became a manager at the CIA, where did you work before? AUSA: Objection! Judge Furman: Sustained. Schulte: Had you ever managed people? Leonis: No.
Schulte: Did you ever get training on conflict resolution? CIA Leonis: I had experience in getting people to sit down and talk. Schulte: Just hash things out.. When Jeremy Weber wrote to you, not copying me, did you know he had stopped talking with me? Leonis: No. Schulte: So this email that Mr. Weber sent --
Leonis: Mr. Weber should not have sent that email. Schulte: So that's over-reaching. Let's go to 1062. Mr. Weber is escalating the issue directly to you, correct? Leonis: I'm in his management chain.
Schulte: You never asked me my side of the story, right? CIA's Leonis: I needed more information -
Schulte: I'm sorry, sir, just answer yes or no. Leonis: No.
Schulte: You could have called a meeting between us and resolved it? Leonis: I needed info first.
CIA's Leonis: My concern was who had admin privileges to the libraries. Schulte: What does that entail? Leonis: Control over the libraries. Being able to change or modify things. Schulte: But you also said everyone has the ability to do that, to write code
Schulte: So on April 18 you begin to write the memo of warning, right? CIA Leonis: No. Schulte: You didn't? Leonis: It was a memorandum. Schulte: You wrote it without even speaking with me, right?
Leonis: We were going to talk with you about it. Schulte: The question is, you had decided on April 18 you were going to issue me the memorandum? Leonis: Yes. But then we were going to have a conversation.
Schulte: But H.R. wasn't even there, right? CIA Leonis: I think they were there. Schulte: But they didn't sign the memorandum as a witness. Aren't they supposed to sign the memo? AUSA: Objection. Judge Furman: Sustained.
Schulte: Did you know that the Atlassian tools were installed by Patrick? AUSA: Objection! Judge Furman: Sustained.
Schulte: This cut-off had only to do with Atlassian, and no other servers like IRC, right? AUSA: Objection. Judge Furman: Sustained. It speaks for itself, Mr. Schulte.
Schulte: Are you aware of Dave D. who worked in RDB? CIA's Leonis: I don't know how to answer your question.
Schulte: Uh, with yes or no? Leonis: I'm aware of a Dave. Schulte: And he moved. Leonis: Yes.
Judge Furman: OK, jurors, we'll take our break now.
Do not discuss the case. And Mr. Leonis, you remain on cross examination, do not discuss it with the government. Thread will continue. Jury entering!
Judge Furman: You may proceed. Schulte: Good afternoon. Before testifying, you met with AUSA Denton 15 times, correct?
CIA's Leonis: Less. Maybe 10. Schulte: Some lasted several hours, right? Leonis: Maybe two hours.
Schulte: Brutal Kangaroo is the project, right? CIA's Leonis: It is the tool suite.
Schulte: Shattered Assurance is one of the tools, and uses Drifting Deadline, right? Leonis: That's what it says here. Judge Furman: I think we've covered this.
Schulte: Let's talk about Weekly Activity Reports. Did I submit mine to you? Leonis: Yes. Schulte: I'd like to read this --
Judge Furman: Don't. It's in evidence. Move on. [With jury out of room, Judge Furman urged Schulte to finish his cross of Leonis today
Leonis: Shattered Assurance was inside Brutal Kangaroo. It was your job to --
Schulte: I object, Judge.
Judge Furman: Overruled. Schulte: I move to introduce the stipulation 3008. Judge Furman: You don't have to read the first paragraph.
Judge Furman: I'm giving you fifteen or twenty minutes more. Schulte: Can we have a sidebar? Judge Furman: No. Let's do it more quickly please.
Schulte: I want to talk about the 'fight back' statement. Is there not a formal way for CIA employees to fight back?
CIA Leonis: Fight back is not language we use. But there are mechanisms to address concerns. Schulte: Did you know that through the CIA's formal process my performance report (PAR) was modified? Leonis: No.
Schulte: How do you characterize my demeanor at the meeting? Leonis: You were frustrated. Schulte: When was the first time you talked to me about access to Brutal Kangaroo? Leonis: We said, all projects. Schulte: But project were transferred with me.
CIA Leonis: You were told which projects would could take with you. Schulte: It never said Brutal Kangaroo. Judge Furman: Mr. Schulte, you may not testify. Put on your mask and let me see counsel at sidebar.
[After long sidebar] Schulte: OK I want to talk about security. Did you know that the CCI site was an SC Zero cite?
AUSA: Objection. Judge Furman: Just yes or no. CIA's Leonis: Yes. Schulte: And what does that mean? AUSA: Objection. Judge Furman: Sustained.
Schulte: The CIA interviews and tests applicant there, right? CIA's Leonis: I don't know.
AUSA: Your Honor we are getting into the issue that came up the other day. Schulte: May stand-by counsel hand a copy -- AUSA: We object! Judge Furman: At the sidebar again.
[Back up] Schulte: I want to ask you about DEVLAN. Have you heard it described as the Wild, Wild West?
CIA's Leonis: No. Never heard that. Schulte: Did you know that a developer put the Stash backup on a public page? Leonis: No.
Schulte: Is it CIA policy to basically close up shop after a leak? AUSA: Objection. Judge Furman: Sustained. Let's wrap this up. Schulte: Are you aware of the Wikileaks task force? CIA's Leonis: Yes. But I was not party to it.
Schulte: No further questions. Judge Furman: Any re-direct? AUSA: No, Your Honor. Judge Furman: Mr. Leonis you are free to go. Have a nice weekend. Next witness. Patrick of Microsoft, an "incident response" specialist; previously with "an FFRDC called MITRE."
Patrick: I did work with the FBI's Cyber Action Team. We'd deploy to victim organizations. I personally deployed about five times. AUSA: What is a virtual machines? Patrick: Essentially a computer inside a computer.
AUSA: What is an insider threat investigation? Patrick: Where we suspect someone inside the company did it. AUSA: Have you been trained? Patrick: Yes, in cyber security. AUSA: Any awards? Patrick: Yes. Internal awards. Also from the Polish military intelligence
AUSA: Did you investigate Wikileaks publications? Patrick Leedom: Yes. Of Vault 7 and Vault 8. AUSA: Where did the leak come from in Confluence? Patrick: From back-up files. The March 3 back-up.
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Judge Furman: It's 2:47 pm so we'll end for the week. [With jury gone] AUSA: Mr Schulte wants 18 witnesses. Some raise CIPA issues; some have not been subpoenaed. Judge Furman: Then they're not subject to subpoena. Maybe we'll have a classified hearing next week
Schulte: They are not letting me use the laptop in the MDC. Judge Furman: Did you ask them? I am surprised. As I said at the sidebar, I urge you to pare down your questions. Your cross examination of Mr. Leonis was not efficient. Sometimes less is more.
And with that, Judge Furman leaves the bench
The trial and this coverage will continue.
Here's from Judge Furman June 13 Order: "as discussed on the record at the classified hearing held on June 8, 2022, the Court concludes that the particular statement Defendant seeks to admit is admissible. The Court further concludes that the information should likely be admitted as a stipulation, which would give Defendant “substantially the same ability to make his defense as would disclosure of ” a portion of the document itself, pursuant to CIPA Section 6(c). See 18. U.S.C. app. 3 § 6(c). Accordingly, the parties shall propose an agreed upon stipulation or competing stipulations for the Court’s approval no later than June 17, 2022."
Previously, in the conclusion of the month long trial of accused CIA leaker Joshua Schulte, on the morning of March 9, 2020 the jury returned guilty verdicts on Counts 8 and 10, with mistrial granted on all other counts. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul A. Crotty set March 26 for the next date.
Then it was moved to April 22 (then May 18). March 9 thread here. Song here.
On November 9, 2021, a status conference was held before Judge Jesse M. Furman to whom the case was reassigned. Inner City Press live tweeted it here - the upshot was a May 23, 2022 trial date was set. Vlog here.
That has since been moved to June, with the admonition that it will not be further moved. Schulte has raised issues of how his right to represent himself is possible with law library, turned off computers and printer paper issues in the MDC.
This was was one of the issues at a May 18 pre-trial conference held on Courtroom 15A of 500 Pearl Street, where Judge Furman has been overseeing a drug trial Inner City Press is also covering, along with other criminal and civil trials. It stepped out - then found that a window had been opened to oppose courtroom sealing. It wrote in to Judge Furman, see below and The New Yorker of June 16: "Matthew Russell Lee, an independent journalist who covered the first trial, recently filed an objection to the government’s motion to seal the courtroom during testimony from C.I.A. officers, but it appears that that condition will again apply."
On June 8 there was a final pre-trial conference, also in courtroom 15A; Inner City Press live tweeted:
OK- at #CIA #Vault7 leak case of US v. Schulte, Inner City Press which has opposed sealing is here, with half dozen gov't reps.
Now US wants to quash subpoena on a witness.
Judge: I would like to avoid sidebars... esp due to Mr Schulte's US Marshals issue. [He has 2 Marshals sitting behind him]
AUSA: When we move to sealed witnesses... Judge: We'll have the jury leave too, to make no one is in the courtroom who shouldn't be. Openings at earliest Tuesday [and probably later]. Four alternates.
Judge: 10 peremptories for the defense. 6 for the US. I'll tell jurors Mr Schulte is charged with 9 crimes [incl with] Wikileaks.
Schulte: Stress that I am presumed innocent.
Judge: I intend to ask jurors if they are vaccinated and boosted.
AUSA: We want our experts and former case agent in the court during other witnesses' testimony. Judge: Experts yes, case agent no.
Judge: Witnesses cannot read transcripts or media. A/V dry run, you can do it when in the courtroom, Mr Schulte.
Schulte: I'll be here til 4 on my Friday SCIF day.
Judge: We'll take up the rest in our classified setting. Adjourned.
Then the prosecutors and Marshals stood around Schulte as he tried to charge his laptop. The continued session would be elsewhere in the courthouse, sealed.
Back on April 13, 2022, Judge Furman held a conference with Schulte present. Inner City Press live tweeted it here....
Previously, Judge Crotty held another proceeding with Schulte and his stand-by counsel. Schulte was moved to the MDC: "JOSHUA ADAM SCHULTE Register Number: 79471-054 Age: 33 Race: White Sex: Male Located at: Brooklyn MDC Release Date: UNKNOWN." [And see its Oct 15 MCC video here]
On March 2, 2021 were the closing arguments [in the first trial], which Inner City Press tweeted, thread here
More on Patreon here.
See Inner City Press filing into the docket on Big Cases Bot, here. Watch this site. The case is US v. Schulte, 17-cr-548 (Furman).
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