It Ain't Your Momma's FBI

[Cow Poke]

FBI agent removed from Mueller investigation over anti-Trump messages

(CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller removed one of the FBI's top Russian counterintelligence experts from his team of investigators after an internal investigation found messages he sent that could be interpreted as showing political bias for Hillary Clinton and against President Donald Trump, according to US officials briefed on the matter.

Peter Strzok, who led the investigation of the Hillary Clinton email server as the No. 2 official in the FBI's counterintelligence division, left the Mueller team this past summer, multiple sources said.
Investigators from the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General have been reviewing both the FBI's and the Justice Department's handling of the Clinton probe, which cleared the former Democratic presidential candidate of criminal wrongdoing, sources said.

The messages from Strzok to another FBI expert assigned to the Mueller team were discovered in the course of that internal review. The wording of the messages sent during the 2016 campaign appeared to be making fun of then-candidate Trump, and raised concerns that they could be seen as being pro-Clinton, the sources said.

Yeah, I know, there's another thread about Strzok in particular, but this is about the FBI in general.

It used to be assumed (as portrayed in The Untouchables) that the FBI was an institution without bias and full of integrity and honor. (yeah, J Edgar was a colorful figure, and....)

It is appearing more and more that the FBI seems incapable of acting without bias.

Looks like investigations will be focusing on the FBI itself.

[One Bad Pig]

The FBI, like every other organization, is comprised of humans, and is therefore prone to human failings.

[Cow Poke]

Absolutely, but it appears the degree to which it allows those feelings to affect its work is changing.

[mikewhitney]

Trump really is cleaning out the swap. It is sort of like when Jonathan went against the Philistines and they started killing each other (1 Samuel 14)

Maybe more, this was like when a righteous king resulted in the people following the Lord. It may not be exactly that people are following the Lord more in Washington DC but rather that the more decent people are able to get some footing

[Psychic Missile]

Absolutely, but it appears the degree to which it allows those feelings to affect its work is changing.

To affect it less due to greater transparency compared to the days of COINTELPRO.

[Sparko]

Where are Mulder and Scully when you need them?

[rogue06]

The FBI, like every other organization, is comprised of humans, and is therefore prone to human failings.

They had a largely deserved squeaky clean reputation for decades which has completely turned around in just a few years.

[Cow Poke]

They had a largely deserved squeaky clean reputation for decades which has completely turned around in just a few years.

That. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a policeman. When I was a policeman, I wanted to be a "G-man". That was what so may law enforcement members aspired to.

[rogue06]

That. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a policeman. When I was a policeman, I wanted to be a "G-man". That was what so may law enforcement members aspired to.

I know you left the "n" out of "many" on purpose just so I might think I caught you misspellinating sumethin

[Cow Poke]

I know you left the "n" out of "many" on purpose just so I might think I caught you misspellinating sumethin

Yeah, and I also did that thing where I ended a sentence with one of those proposition thingies you're never spose to end a sentence with.

[rogue06]

Yeah, and I also did that thing where I ended a sentence with one of those proposition thingies you're never spose to end a sentence with.

You purposely prepositioned your spouse?

[Cow Poke]

You purposely prepositioned your spouse?

Only once. It worked.

[One Bad Pig]

The plot thickens....

Source: Congressional investigators find irregularities in FBI's handling of Clinton email case

Republicans on key congressional committees say they have uncovered new irregularities and contradictions inside the FBI’s probe of Hillary Clinton’s email server.

For the first time, investigators say they have secured written evidence that the FBI believed there was evidence that some laws were broken when the former secretary of State and her top aides transmitted classified information through her insecure private email server, lawmakers and investigators told The Hill.

That evidence includes passages in FBI documents stating the “sheer volume” of classified information that flowed through Clinton’s insecure emails was proof of criminality as well as an admission of false statements by one key witness in the case, the investigators said.

The name of the witness is redacted from the FBI documents but lawmakers said he was an employee of a computer firm that helped maintain her personal server after she left office as America’s top diplomat and who belatedly admitted he had permanently erased an archive of her messages in 2015 after they had been subpoenaed by Congress.

The investigators also confirmed that the FBI began drafting a statement exonerating Clinton of any crimes while evidence responsive to subpoenas was still outstanding and before agents had interviewed more than a dozen key witnesses.

Those witnesses included Clinton and the computer firm employee who permanently erased her email archives just days after the emails were subpoenaed by Congress, the investigators said....

Former FBI Director James Comey has testified he made the decision not to seek criminal charges against Clinton — with no Justice Department input — because he feared any involvement from the department might taint the findings after then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac during the closing days of the probe in June 2016.

He also argued in an initial July 5, 2016, press conference announcing the decision that he did not believe he could show that Clinton intended to send classified information over her server.

But Gaetz said his panel has evidence the FBI took actions while writing the exoneration statement that required Justice input, such as immunizing witnesses in June 2016....

Republicans on three House committees and the Senate Judiciary Committee have pieced together new evidence from recent interviews and document productions.

That information wasn’t available to them when Comey announced in July 2016 that he would not seek charges against Clinton even though she and her aides had transmitted more than 110 pieces of classified information through her insecure email server, some of it at the “top secret” and “secret” levels.

One storyline that has emerged is that the FBI’s own documents stated there was evidence some laws had been broken, but bureau leaders declined to pursue charges on the grounds they could not prove Clinton and her aides intended to violate the law.

Those concerns were reflected in the initial draft statements Comey and his leadership team began writing in spring 2016. The Hill first reported in November that Comey’s original May 2, 2016, draft included the words “grossly negligent” — the language supporting a criminal charge for mishandling classified information — but it was later changed to the softer “extremely careless.”

GOP congressional investigators told The Hill multiple drafts of the statement also included specific language acknowledging there was “evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information.”

Furthermore, the May 2, 2016, draft included a second passage that suggested the large amount of highly classified information — eight top secret passages and 37 secret passages — that passed through Clinton’s private server suggested criminality.

“The sheer volume of information that was properly classified as Secret at the time it was discussed on email (that is, excluding the “up classified” emails) supports an inference that the participants were grossly negligent in their handling of that information,” the FBI’s original draft read, according to a source who has seen it.

The FBI also confirmed that a key witness, a computer technician who deleted Clinton emails from her server in March 2015 after a congressional subpoena had been issued for them, originally lied to the FBI during his interviews, memos show. The witness's name was redacted from documents released by the FBI but he was identified as an employee of a computer firm that helped maintained Clinton’s email server.

His admission of false statements came one day after the Comey statement was already being drafted, investigators told The Hill.

The computer employee originally told the FBI in a February 2016 interview that he did not recall making any deletions from Clinton’s server in March 2015, FBI records show.

But then on May 3, 2016, the same employee in a subsequent FBI interview told agents he had ... in late March 2015 deleted Clinton’s email archive from the server, according to FBI documents reviewed by The Hill.

Lying to the FBI is a federal felony, a crime that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn recently pleaded guilty to. But the FBI decided not to pursue criminal charges against the witness, and instead gave the technician an immunity deal so he could correct his story, congressional investigators said.

link

© Copyright Original Source

Clinton hack lies to FBI, gets immunity. Manafort lies to the FBI, gets charges.

ETA: language warning

[Zymologist]

The plot thickens....

Source: Congressional investigators find irregularities in FBI's handling of Clinton email case

Republicans on key congressional committees say they have uncovered new irregularities and contradictions inside the FBI’s probe of Hillary Clinton’s email server.

For the first time, investigators say they have secured written evidence that the FBI believed there was evidence that some laws were broken when the former secretary of State and her top aides transmitted classified information through her insecure private email server, lawmakers and investigators told The Hill.

That evidence includes passages in FBI documents stating the “sheer volume” of classified information that flowed through Clinton’s insecure emails was proof of criminality as well as an admission of false statements by one key witness in the case, the investigators said.

The name of the witness is redacted from the FBI documents but lawmakers said he was an employee of a computer firm that helped maintain her personal server after she left office as America’s top diplomat and who belatedly admitted he had permanently erased an archive of her messages in 2015 after they had been subpoenaed by Congress.

The investigators also confirmed that the FBI began drafting a statement exonerating Clinton of any crimes while evidence responsive to subpoenas was still outstanding and before agents had interviewed more than a dozen key witnesses.

Those witnesses included Clinton and the computer firm employee who permanently erased her email archives just days after the emails were subpoenaed by Congress, the investigators said....

Former FBI Director James Comey has testified he made the decision not to seek criminal charges against Clinton — with no Justice Department input — because he feared any involvement from the department might taint the findings after then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac during the closing days of the probe in June 2016.

He also argued in an initial July 5, 2016, press conference announcing the decision that he did not believe he could show that Clinton intended to send classified information over her server.

But Gaetz said his panel has evidence the FBI took actions while writing the exoneration statement that required Justice input, such as immunizing witnesses in June 2016....

Republicans on three House committees and the Senate Judiciary Committee have pieced together new evidence from recent interviews and document productions.

That information wasn’t available to them when Comey announced in July 2016 that he would not seek charges against Clinton even though she and her aides had transmitted more than 110 pieces of classified information through her insecure email server, some of it at the “top secret” and “secret” levels.

One storyline that has emerged is that the FBI’s own documents stated there was evidence some laws had been broken, but bureau leaders declined to pursue charges on the grounds they could not prove Clinton and her aides intended to violate the law.

Those concerns were reflected in the initial draft statements Comey and his leadership team began writing in spring 2016. The Hill first reported in November that Comey’s original May 2, 2016, draft included the words “grossly negligent” — the language supporting a criminal charge for mishandling classified information — but it was later changed to the softer “extremely careless.”

GOP congressional investigators told The Hill multiple drafts of the statement also included specific language acknowledging there was “evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information.”

Furthermore, the May 2, 2016, draft included a second passage that suggested the large amount of highly classified information — eight top secret passages and 37 secret passages — that passed through Clinton’s private server suggested criminality.

“The sheer volume of information that was properly classified as Secret at the time it was discussed on email (that is, excluding the “up classified” emails) supports an inference that the participants were grossly negligent in their handling of that information,” the FBI’s original draft read, according to a source who has seen it.

The FBI also confirmed that a key witness, a computer technician who deleted Clinton emails from her server in March 2015 after a congressional subpoena had been issued for them, originally lied to the FBI during his interviews, memos show. The witness's name was redacted from documents released by the FBI but he was identified as an employee of a computer firm that helped maintained Clinton’s email server.

His admission of false statements came one day after the Comey statement was already being drafted, investigators told The Hill.

The computer employee originally told the FBI in a February 2016 interview that he did not recall making any deletions from Clinton’s server in March 2015, FBI records show.

But then on May 3, 2016, the same employee in a subsequent FBI interview told agents he had ... in late March 2015 deleted Clinton’s email archive from the server, according to FBI documents reviewed by The Hill.

Lying to the FBI is a federal felony, a crime that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn recently pleaded guilty to. But the FBI decided not to pursue criminal charges against the witness, and instead gave the technician an immunity deal so he could correct his story, congressional investigators said.

link

© Copyright Original Source

Clinton hack lies to FBI, gets immunity. Manafort lies to the FBI, gets charges.

There are some pretty damning claims in the rest of the article, too. If true, it'll be interesting to see when nothing happens.

[Sparko]

I don't want to read such articles. They are too long and boring. I think I will just wait here till JimL tells me what to think. He has an inside line on the whole thing.