Nunes blasts DOJ, FBI for 'failure' to produce records relating to anti-Trump dossier
- Thread starter dukkha
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The image of the FBI is also made worse by their pervasive stonewalling.
Kimberley Strassel of the Journal added that these antics were being done to save the FBI from embarrassment. They’re abusing secrecy powers if that’s the case.
The FBI had until yesterday to turn over the unredacted transcripts of the interviews between former FBI Director James Comey’s two top aides—FBI chief of staff James Rybicki and FBI attorney Trisha Anderson—who might shed light into the activities of Strzok, Sally Yates, and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, demanded these documents be turned over to congressional investigators. In typical fashion, the FBI failed to meet the deadline, or purposefully ignored it.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattv...ier-could-be-the-fbis-insurance-plan-n2427659
Kimberley Strassel of the Journal added that these antics were being done to save the FBI from embarrassment. They’re abusing secrecy powers if that’s the case.
The FBI had until yesterday to turn over the unredacted transcripts of the interviews between former FBI Director James Comey’s two top aides—FBI chief of staff James Rybicki and FBI attorney Trisha Anderson—who might shed light into the activities of Strzok, Sally Yates, and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, demanded these documents be turned over to congressional investigators. In typical fashion, the FBI failed to meet the deadline, or purposefully ignored it.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattv...ier-could-be-the-fbis-insurance-plan-n2427659
as we sink deeper in the FBI’s spiral of secrets, McCarthy wonders about the dossier, was it used to secure a FISA warrant against Trump adviser Carter Page? He thinks all arrows point to the dossier. While offering his reasons for why the dossier is the “insurance,” McCarthy also offers a thorough timeline of the bias within the FBI as well (via NRO):
Was it the Steele dossier that so frightened the FBI? I think so. There is a great deal of information to follow. But let’s cut to the chase: The Obama-era FBI and Justice Department had great faith in Steele because he had previously collaborated with the bureau on a big case. Plus, Steele was working on the Trump-Russia project with the wife of a top Obama Justice Department official, who was personally briefed by Steele. The upper ranks of the FBI and DOJ strongly preferred Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, to the point of overlooking significant evidence of her felony misconduct, even as they turned up the heat on Trump. In sum, the FBI and DOJ were predisposed to believe the allegations in Steele’s dossier. Because of their confidence in Steele, because they were predisposed to believe his scandalous claims about Donald Trump, they made grossly inadequate efforts to verify his claims. Contrary to what I hoped would be the case, I’ve come to believe Steele’s claims were used to obtain FISA surveillance authority for an investigation of Trump.
There were layers of insulation between the Clinton campaign and Steele — the campaign and the Democratic party retained a law firm, which contracted with Fusion GPS, which in turn hired the former spy. At some point, though, perhaps early on, the FBI and DOJ learned that the dossier was actually a partisan opposition-research product. By then, they were dug in. No one, after all, would be any the wiser: Hillary would coast to victory, so Democrats would continue running the government; FISA materials are highly classified, so they’d be kept under wraps. Just as it had been with the Obama-era’s Fast and Furious and IRS scandals, any malfeasance would remain hidden.
[…]
Of course, no sensible person suspects that the FBI was plotting Trump’s assassination; the suspicion is that, motivated by partisanship and spurred by shoddy information that it failed to verify, the FBI exploited its counterintelligence powers in hopes of derailing Trump’s presidential run.
[…]
At a high level, the DOJ and FBI were in the tank for Hillary Clinton. In July 2016, shortly before Steele’s reports started floating in, the FBI and DOJ announced that no charges would be brought against Mrs. Clinton despite damning evidence that she mishandled classified information, destroyed government files, obstructed congressional investigations, and lied to investigators. The irregularities in the Clinton-emails investigation are legion: President Obama making it clear in public statements that he did not want Clinton charged; the FBI, shortly afterwards, drafting an exoneration of Clinton months before the investigation ended and central witnesses, including Clinton herself, were interviewed; investigators failing to use the grand jury to compel the production of key evidence; the DOJ restricting FBI agents in their lines of inquiry and examination of evidence; the granting of immunity to suspects who in any other case would be pressured to plead guilty and cooperate against more-culpable suspects; the distorting of criminal statutes to avoid applying them to Clinton; the sulfurous tarmac meeting between Attorney General Lynch and former President Clinton shortly before Mrs. Clinton was given a peremptory interview — right before then–FBI director Comey announced that she would not be charged. The blatant preference for Clinton over Trump smacked of politics and self-interest. Deputy FBI director McCabe’s wife had run for the Virginia state legislature as a Democrat, and her (unsuccessful) campaign was lavishly funded by groups tied to Clinton insider Terry McAuliffe. Agent Strzok told FBI lawyer Page that Trump was an “idiot” and that “Hillary should win 100 million to 0.” Page agreed that Trump was “a loathsome human.” A Clinton win would likely mean Lynch — originally raised to prominence when President Bill Clinton appointed her to a coveted U.S. attorney slot — would remain attorney general. Yates would be waiting in the wings.
Was it the Steele dossier that so frightened the FBI? I think so. There is a great deal of information to follow. But let’s cut to the chase: The Obama-era FBI and Justice Department had great faith in Steele because he had previously collaborated with the bureau on a big case. Plus, Steele was working on the Trump-Russia project with the wife of a top Obama Justice Department official, who was personally briefed by Steele. The upper ranks of the FBI and DOJ strongly preferred Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, to the point of overlooking significant evidence of her felony misconduct, even as they turned up the heat on Trump. In sum, the FBI and DOJ were predisposed to believe the allegations in Steele’s dossier. Because of their confidence in Steele, because they were predisposed to believe his scandalous claims about Donald Trump, they made grossly inadequate efforts to verify his claims. Contrary to what I hoped would be the case, I’ve come to believe Steele’s claims were used to obtain FISA surveillance authority for an investigation of Trump.
There were layers of insulation between the Clinton campaign and Steele — the campaign and the Democratic party retained a law firm, which contracted with Fusion GPS, which in turn hired the former spy. At some point, though, perhaps early on, the FBI and DOJ learned that the dossier was actually a partisan opposition-research product. By then, they were dug in. No one, after all, would be any the wiser: Hillary would coast to victory, so Democrats would continue running the government; FISA materials are highly classified, so they’d be kept under wraps. Just as it had been with the Obama-era’s Fast and Furious and IRS scandals, any malfeasance would remain hidden.
[…]
Of course, no sensible person suspects that the FBI was plotting Trump’s assassination; the suspicion is that, motivated by partisanship and spurred by shoddy information that it failed to verify, the FBI exploited its counterintelligence powers in hopes of derailing Trump’s presidential run.
[…]
At a high level, the DOJ and FBI were in the tank for Hillary Clinton. In July 2016, shortly before Steele’s reports started floating in, the FBI and DOJ announced that no charges would be brought against Mrs. Clinton despite damning evidence that she mishandled classified information, destroyed government files, obstructed congressional investigations, and lied to investigators. The irregularities in the Clinton-emails investigation are legion: President Obama making it clear in public statements that he did not want Clinton charged; the FBI, shortly afterwards, drafting an exoneration of Clinton months before the investigation ended and central witnesses, including Clinton herself, were interviewed; investigators failing to use the grand jury to compel the production of key evidence; the DOJ restricting FBI agents in their lines of inquiry and examination of evidence; the granting of immunity to suspects who in any other case would be pressured to plead guilty and cooperate against more-culpable suspects; the distorting of criminal statutes to avoid applying them to Clinton; the sulfurous tarmac meeting between Attorney General Lynch and former President Clinton shortly before Mrs. Clinton was given a peremptory interview — right before then–FBI director Comey announced that she would not be charged. The blatant preference for Clinton over Trump smacked of politics and self-interest. Deputy FBI director McCabe’s wife had run for the Virginia state legislature as a Democrat, and her (unsuccessful) campaign was lavishly funded by groups tied to Clinton insider Terry McAuliffe. Agent Strzok told FBI lawyer Page that Trump was an “idiot” and that “Hillary should win 100 million to 0.” Page agreed that Trump was “a loathsome human.” A Clinton win would likely mean Lynch — originally raised to prominence when President Bill Clinton appointed her to a coveted U.S. attorney slot — would remain attorney general. Yates would be waiting in the wings.
What we do know is that what is corroborated in the dossier could have been easily pieced together. As for allegations of collusion in the dossier proper, we don’t know. The FBI won’t say.
That was taken from Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s testimony to Congress last week, where he only said that the bureau corroborated that Carter Page went to Russia.
As for who funded the dossier and the meetings Page allegedly held in Moscow, McCabe either didn’t recall or couldn’t say.
The House Intelligence Committee might issue new subpoenas as a result. This part is key for three reasons that McCarthy had written about in a previous column:
1) The Steele dossier was a Clinton campaign product. If it was used by the FBI and the Obama Justice Department to obtain a FISA warrant, that would mean law-enforcement agencies controlled by a Democratic president fed the FISA court political campaign material produced by the Democratic candidate whom the president had endorsed to succeed him. Partisan claims of egregious scheming with an adversarial foreign power would have been presented to the court with the FBI’s imprimatur, as if they were drawn from refined U.S. intelligence reporting. The objective would have been to spy on the opposition Republican campaign.
(2) In June of this year, former FBI director James Comey testified that the dossier was “salacious and unverified.” While still director, Comey had described the dossier the same way when he briefed President-elect Trump on it in January 2017. If the dossier was still unverified as late as mid 2017, its allegations could not possibly have been verified months earlier, in the late summer or early autumn of 2016, when it appears that the FBI and DOJ used them in an application to the FISA court.
(3) The dossier appears to contain misinformation. Knowing he was a spy-for-hire trusted by Americans, Steele’s Russian-regime sources had reason to believe that misinformation could be passed into the stream of U.S. intelligence and that it would be acted on — and leaked — as if it were true, to America’s detriment. This would sow discord in our political system. If the FBI and DOJ relied on the dossier, it likely means they were played by the Putin regime.
There are more questions than answers still, and the FBI is dragging its feet regarding releasing such information that they have on this subject to authorized individuals investigating this matter.
One thing that has been constant in this Russia clown show: there is zero evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to tilt the 2016 election. Zero.
That was taken from Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s testimony to Congress last week, where he only said that the bureau corroborated that Carter Page went to Russia.
As for who funded the dossier and the meetings Page allegedly held in Moscow, McCabe either didn’t recall or couldn’t say.
The House Intelligence Committee might issue new subpoenas as a result. This part is key for three reasons that McCarthy had written about in a previous column:
1) The Steele dossier was a Clinton campaign product. If it was used by the FBI and the Obama Justice Department to obtain a FISA warrant, that would mean law-enforcement agencies controlled by a Democratic president fed the FISA court political campaign material produced by the Democratic candidate whom the president had endorsed to succeed him. Partisan claims of egregious scheming with an adversarial foreign power would have been presented to the court with the FBI’s imprimatur, as if they were drawn from refined U.S. intelligence reporting. The objective would have been to spy on the opposition Republican campaign.
(2) In June of this year, former FBI director James Comey testified that the dossier was “salacious and unverified.” While still director, Comey had described the dossier the same way when he briefed President-elect Trump on it in January 2017. If the dossier was still unverified as late as mid 2017, its allegations could not possibly have been verified months earlier, in the late summer or early autumn of 2016, when it appears that the FBI and DOJ used them in an application to the FISA court.
(3) The dossier appears to contain misinformation. Knowing he was a spy-for-hire trusted by Americans, Steele’s Russian-regime sources had reason to believe that misinformation could be passed into the stream of U.S. intelligence and that it would be acted on — and leaked — as if it were true, to America’s detriment. This would sow discord in our political system. If the FBI and DOJ relied on the dossier, it likely means they were played by the Putin regime.
There are more questions than answers still, and the FBI is dragging its feet regarding releasing such information that they have on this subject to authorized individuals investigating this matter.
One thing that has been constant in this Russia clown show: there is zero evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to tilt the 2016 election. Zero.
Really ?....wow......what lies ?.....did they make Comey testify with lies ?
Your ignorance is becoming wearisome.
Darth Omar
Russian asset
And I asked if anyone in the solar system takes Junior’s supposed breaking of that law seriously, besides yourself lol?
You asked if meeting with Russians is illegal, fucking idiot. 11CFR300.2 says it is, dimwit. And, yeah, plenty of people are taking Junior's meeting seriously, as almost everybody in that room has been interviewed by one committee or another.
I can't help it if you possess insufficient literacy to read and comprehend the law that I've quoted multiple times. Find someone to assist you and quit posting the same stupid fucking question time after time.
Darth Omar
Russian asset
I don’t care if they interviewed Trump’s janitor for meeting with Russians.
I want to know if there’s someone, we should take seriously, that cites the specific law that you harp about constantly.
there isn't. it's bogus
Run, you're a moron!
Yet, it was the Hillary camp who colluded with, and bought, a fake dossier the corrupt FBI agent used to create the myth that the Trump campaign did something wrong.
I am pretty sure you were born a moron and that this is not an act.
11CFR300.2 has NOTHING to do with the Mueller investigation. Moron.
PostmodernProphet
fully immersed in faith..
we thought maybe this time you would remember that you've been proven wrong, over and over......
Darth Omar
Russian asset
A Dossier that originated with...wait for it...Russians! Lol
Bigdog
Harris - make America a 3rd world shithole
We knew politicians and bureaucrats were abusing their gov't authority, but the depth of the corruption at the FBI and DOJ (and IRS) is astounding.
evince
Truthmatters
nope idiot
a long time trusted british intel guy who retired with a stellar record after doing russian intel for decades asked his long time russian assets about what happened and they told him.
how stupid are you?
but you will believe what Putin says instead huh russo bot
we would never have known if Hillary had been elected ( and she'd be singing the praises of Comey et all)
Darth Omar
Russian asset
So, you like some Russians better than others lol?
The bit with urinating prostitues should have alerted the geniuses in the IC that they were dealing with dubious Russian sources—-or that Steele’s Russian sources were dubious, if you prefer it that way to shield Hillary and the DNC from colluding with Russians.
In fact, no one was taking the Dossier serious. Some of the media were even aware of it but it was too ‘salacious and unverified’ [and likely unverifiable] to release.
But along comes Strzok who was fresh off helping Comey to exonerate Hillary in the email investigation. He and Andy decided they needed ‘an insurance policy’ in the unfortunate event Trump won the election. And the Dossier fit the bill.
I think getting an SP appointed was their goal along. Too many of the pieces fell together a little to conveniently. Comey gets Trump to fire him, Rosenstein steps in and appoints Comey’s BFF to lead the *criminal* investigation into Trump/Russian collusion even though there wasn’t the first shred of evidence of a crime. And still isn’t.
Unless, you consider the salacious and unverified ‘insurance policy’ as evidence.
The left and the Deep State rightly deserve to have the whole thing blow up in their faces. And I’ll rejoice in the long lasting political consequences when it happens.