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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere's Something Fatally Wrong in the IG Report on the FBI and DOJ - By Josh Marshall
By Josh Marshall | June 15, 2018 8:23 pm
A few weeks ago I explained in a post that the reason the investigation into Hillary Clintons emails was so freely publicized in 2016 while the Russia probe remained firmly under wraps was, paradoxically, precisely because it was an essential political and procedural probe. Indeed, this was understood by all involved. Yet this false equation of the two investigations remains embedded in the Inspector Generals report itself. Indeed, the IG Report is at war with itself at various points about the nature of the investigation and whether the recovery of the Weiner/Abedin emails in late September 2016 did or should have mattered.
The Inspector General was troubled by the fact that the FBI was prioritizing the Russia probe in the fall of 2016 over the Clinton email probe. The key passage comes on page 329 of the report where the Inspector General writes that in light of Strzok and Pages texts showing hostility to Donald Trump, we did not have confidence that Strzoks decision to prioritize the Russia investigation over following up on the Midyear-related investigative lead discovered on the Weiner laptop was free from bias.
The premise here is that the decision to prioritize the Russia probe over the emails found on the Weiner laptop requires an explanation or is suspicious on its face. But this is frankly absurd. By September/October 2016, the Clinton emails story had been investigated for more than a year. Senior officials are sometimes warned over sloppy handling of what is called spillage of classified information. In extreme cases they can lose their security clearances. Theres virtually no record of anyone in a comparable position to Secretary Clinton being charged with a crime over anything like this. This, as I note, is key to what the probe was so freely discussed: it was always largely political and to a great degree theater. However that may be, the matter was extensively investigated and investigators found no basis for filing charges. FBI Director James Comey still felt it was necessary to publicly chastise Clinton in order to protect himself and the FBI from claims of bias. But the decision was clear: no basis for filing charges.
The discovery of disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiners laptop, which contained his wife, Huma Abedins emails with Secretary Clinton, was at most notionally new evidence. There was very little chance that anything discovered in those emails would change the decision not to charge Clinton with a crime. Indeed, the people who ran the investigation told the IG as much. The report quotes Bill Priestap, head of the Counter Intelligence Division as follows
As Priestap makes clear, even though it was important to review the emails, as a matter of completeness, he did not see it as a high priority because it was highly unlikely they would change the investigators view of the case. In the event, they turned out to be duplicates of emails the FBI had already examined.
more
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/theres-something-fatally-wrong-in-the-ig-report-on-the-fbi-and-doj
DURHAM D
(32,611 posts)the part posted here. I encourage everyone to open the link and read the whole thing.
The problem with the NY FBI office is still being covered up.
I heard Rudy say on TV a couple of nights ago that all the high ranking FBI officials in DC need to be fired and replaced with good agents from NY. I assume that is Trump's plan.
LenaBaby61
(6,977 posts)I heard Rudy say on TV a couple of nights ago that all the high ranking FBI officials in DC need to be fired and replaced with good agents from NY. I assume that is Trump's plan.
TOTALLY AGREE with the bolded
Not many ever seem to mention the asses visit to Faux Noose either where he dropped his "Bombshell" announcement, concerning how tRump was going to make a big run late @ Hillary even though time was running out in the GE (October 2016):
The anchorwoman sits there seeming to be saying to herself is he talking about?
Ghouliani was sitting there with those upper Chicklet teeth, and & those lower nasty, rotten, yellow candy corn teeth 🤮
I normally DON'T waste time over @ The Hill, but this article printed there from The Guardian tells us something we already knew:
The FBI is Trumplandia, according to an agent who spoke anonymously to The Guardian newspaper.
In a report published Thursday, multiple sources within the FBI say that deep antipathy toward Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and anger that FBI Director James Comey did not bring charges against her this summer have motivated leaks that could damage her presidential campaign.
One agent told The Guardian that many at the bureau view Clinton as the antichrist and are supportive of Trump.
Thats the reason why theyre leaking is theyre pro-Trump, the FBI agent told The Guardian.
But another FBI source disputed the level of support Trump has within the bureau, according to The Guardian.
There are lots of people who dont think Trump is qualified, but also believe Clinton is corrupt, the source said. What you hear a lot is that its a bad choice, between an incompetent and a corrupt politician.
According to the report, the tensions boiled over in July when Comey declined to recommend charges against the Democratic presidential nominee for possibly mishandling classified information through her use of a private email server to conduct government business, according to the FBI agent.
Comey last week sent a letter to congressional committees notifying them that the FBI was looking at new emails uncovered in a separate investigation that could be related to the Clinton case. The FBI has come under tremendous criticism from Democrats and some Republicans for interfering with the election by releasing that information to Congress just under two weeks from Election Day.
There have been further leaks about internal fights within the FBI and other possible investigations since the Comey news broke, all of which has suggested an agency in a public war with itself.
http://thehill.com/regulation/304225-agent-fbi-is-trumplandia
I agree with the anonymous agents thoughts about the FBI, or at least about how some agents felt towards Hillary, because Ghouliani said HIMSELF that many of those agents in the SDNY told HIM that they thought that Hillary was crooked or that she got away with whatever and hated her. We also know that her being a woman also didn't set well with many of those sexist FBI asses either.
deurbano
(2,895 posts)And it actually impacted the election, unlike the private venting by Strzok and Page.
yardwork
(61,703 posts)asiliveandbreathe
(8,203 posts)makes me think, Strzok's saw the Russian probe as one of the highest priorities..for investigation..and as we know today, the Russians meddled in our election..Strzok saw this -
The email investigation was highly political..Gowdy and Co. made it so...
I believe the investigation, of the Russian probe, early on, discovered information that raised a red flag and alarm bells went off at the FBI..(thus, my pulling the above excerpt)
Strzok will have his day in court...he saw what was happening....
dicksmc3
(262 posts)"I'm tired of hearing about the damn e-mails!" HMMMM!!!
emulatorloo
(44,182 posts)And the IG drawing false equivalencies between the Clinton investigation (closed and cold) and the Trump-Russia investigation (new and hot). It is a pretty good analysis from Josh Marshall.
asiliveandbreathe
(8,203 posts)priority..they are trying to change the narrative..
emulatorloo
(44,182 posts)sweetroxie
(776 posts)deurbano
(2,895 posts)<<Last night on Fox News Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said that in late September 2016 good FBI agents from the New York field office told him and members of the House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) that theyd found new Clinton emails on Anthony Weiners laptop. Nunes presented these agents as whistleblowers and that can be the case when government employees believe theyve uncovered wrong-doing. But the timing suggests they more or less immediately went to congressional Republicans about six weeks before the election. The emails were discovered on September 26th. They were talking to Nunes in late September. That sounds more like politicized leaking of details of an on-going investigation than anything that could pass as whistle-blowing... They were clearly trying to force the matter...
...This hostility or bias toward Clinton seems like a very big driver of events in the fall of 2016. This would not absolve Comey of responsibility for his actions. But it seems impossible to understand the fullness of the situation without trying to get to the bottom of this part of the story. And yet, again, its largely ignored in the IG Report. No mention of Giuliani. No mention of the good FBI agents who went to House Republicans. I can only imagine what the texts of those good FBI agents might contain if scrutinized like Strzoks and Pages have been.
And LenaBaby61 (post #6) has a fantastic link documenting this in real time in early Nov, 2016:
http://thehill.com/regulation/304225-agent-fbi-is-trumplandia
Investigate them! Investigate those who leaked to Nunes, Giuliani, etc.. AND, investigate whoever "leaked" to the NY Times the LIE that "Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I Sees No Clear Link to Russia"-- the headline to a story the Times ran just 8 days before the election. (They were leaking to smear Clinton for nothing again, while ALSO "leaking' to falsely exonerate her revolting rival.)
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/new-york-times-still-cant-admit-it-botched-major-trump-story-election