Not because of the bottom, but because of the top.
Trust me when I tell you that it pains me to write this, after having worked in the federal system, for the FBI and also as a sworn US Marshal. I spent the last 35 of my 41 years with local California law enforcement agencies. I retired in 2016.
James Comey was, to date, the worst FBI Director I’ve encountered, and I’ve seen a few. He took bias, political insertion, corruption and manipulation to a level even greater than that of J Edgar Hoover on his worst day because, quite frankly, Hoover didn’t have the intrusive technology available to him then that Comey and Wray have now at their fingertips.
The jury may be officially out on Christopher Wray but, in my opinion, he is well on his way towards another serious precipice when I noted him parsing weasel words before Congress.
He is not the droid the FBI is looking for. And droid he is.
It’s clear, in one recent example, that a case worked by the FBI regarding the Bundy prosecution in Nevada, which resulted in Judge Gloria Navarro declaring a mistrial, wasn’t on the up-and-up.
The decision to intervene came after U.S. District Chief Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial over the government’s “willful failure to disclose information” to the defense, saying it would have been “impossible” for the four co-defendants to receive a fair trial.
Now, because of it, AG Sessions said it was time to find out why. From the WashingtonTimes.com:
AG Sessions orders examination of Bundy case after mistrial over prosecution bungling
by Valerie Richardson
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has stepped into the Bundy prosecution after Wednesday’s mistrial, ordering a third-party examination of the case in light of the latest government snafu.
“The Attorney General takes this issue very seriously and has personally directed that an expert in the Department’s discovery obligations be deployed to examine the case and advise as to the next steps,” said Ian D. Prior, principal deputy director of public affairs, in a late Wednesday statement.
The decision to intervene came after U.S. District Chief Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial over the government’s “willful failure to disclose information” to the defense, saying it would have been “impossible” for the four co-defendants to receive a fair trial.
The FBI was involved in the case, yes, but their role in the judge’s decision is unclear yet, for me, causes questions demanding answers.
What goes around comes around. And it appears that 2016 is morphing into 2017 and then continuing into 2018. Senator Rand Paul is already calling for an investigation of Obama officials colluding against Trump. Yes. That would include former FBI Director James Comey.
The FBI does have a recent tick in the “win” column with regard to the San Francisco Pier 39 Muslim terror plot they halted. I have and must continue to emphasize: this is the massive difference between line level agents who do their jobs and the upper echelons who so readily make compromises for political purposes.
FBI thwarts Christmas terror plot in San Francisco
by Douglas Ernst
The Federal Bureau of Investigation says it has thwarted a Christmas terror attack in San Francisco by a suspect inspired by ISIS.
U.S. officials say the City by the Bay narrowly avoided a massacre inspired by 2015’s terror attack in San Bernardino and October’s rental-truck attack in Manhattan, which killed eight. Court documents say Everitt Aaron Jameson was arrested this week while prepping for a rampage at the city’s Pier 39.
The suspect was charged with attempting to supply support to a foreign terrorist organization.
A local ABC affiliate reported Friday that Mr. Jameson, a convert to Islam who referred to himself as Abdallah adu Everitt ibn Gordon, eyed the location because he “knew it was a heavily crowded area,” and that Christmas would be “the perfect day.”
The suspect had some weapons training due to a brief stint — a few months — in the Marine Corps.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, perhaps finally semi-cognizant of the testicles between his legs, the most simpering, limp-wristed AG I’ve seen (otherwise known as the AG Who Didn’t — have to reveal Russian talks), also ordered a DOJ review after Obama gave a terrorist group a pass so he could finalize his much-vaunted and much-West-bertraying Iranian cash deal, as I wrote about here.
Sessions orders DOJ review after report Obama administration gave Hezbollah a pass
by Alex Pappas
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is launching a review of a law enforcement initiative called Project Cassandra after an investigative report was published this week claiming the Obama administration gave a free pass to Hezbollah’s drug-trafficking and money-laundering operations to help ensure the Iran nuclear deal would stay on track.
The Justice Department said in a statement to Fox News that Sessions on Friday directed a review of prior Drug Enforcement Administration investigations “to evaluate allegations that certain matters were not properly prosecuted and to ensure all matters are appropriately handled.”
“While I am hopeful that there were no barriers constructed by the last administration to allowing DEA agents to fully bring all appropriate cases under Project Cassandra, this is a significant issue for the protection of Americans,” Sessions said in a written statement. “We will review these matters and give full support to investigations of violent drug trafficking organizations.”
The FBI provided surveillance. Or so it’s said. How effectively? What was their role? And how might it have been muted by Barack Hussein Obama or his 57-year-old lackey, the 6’8″ James Brien Comey? Will we know?
As we all recall, FBI Director Comey independently decided in July of 2016 that he would not recommend an indictment for Hillary Clinton or even the impaneling of a Grand Jury. DOJ under Lynch and Obama, corrupt as they are, pretended to be professional and placed the decision right back squarely at the feet of James Comey as in: “whatever he decides is good enough for us.”
“[AG Lynch] said…she would accept whatever recommendations career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director made…” –NYTimes July 1, 2016
Though, of course, the fix was already in. Any logical thinking human being knew the meeting between AG Lynch and Bill Clinton at the airport was 1) not coincidental, and 2) an agreement by Lynch to assure Bill Clinton that Hillary would not be indicted. Judicial Watch has rightly filed a FOIA request for all documents related to that meeting.
We already know that Comey drafted Hillary’s exoneration letter literally months before even having any member of the FBI conduct an interview with Hillary herself. We know that FBI Super Agent Peter Strzok — as vehemently anti-Trump as he was — was the one who actually drafted that letter. Strzok wangled Comey’s initial finding that Hillary Clinton had been “grossly negligent” in her handling of sensitive and classified government documents with the use of her private email server. Weasel words.
It was Strzok who actually “interviewed” Hillary Clinton days before Comey released his “findings” in July of 2016. The “interview” with Hillary was conducted “without the benefit of any recording devices or a sworn oath.” Imagine my chagrin.
But wait; there’s more.
Peter Strzok also oversaw the questioning of then-National Security Director Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russian officials during the post-election transition process. Flynn’s answers to Strzok’s questions were later found to rise to the level of criminal deception leading Flynn to a guilty plea agreement with the Mueller investigation.
Translated: Flynn agreed to wear a wire. As did others who pled under lesser charges. None of which rose to, well, a few dribbles of piss in a sclerotic bladder.
But wait; there’s more.
We’ve also learned that Strzok was a “key figure” with regard to the acceptance of and possible dissemination of the infamous Russian Dossier, a collection of unverified tales about Donald Trump that was paid for by the Clinton campaign. Strzok reportedly briefed the House Intelligence Committee on the dossier in December of 2016, just one month after the presidential election and in the middle of the transition process.
I connected all the dots here, to that point. Those dots were many, varied, complex, tightly interwoven and crafted like the careful dovetailing on a fine piece of furniture. But it all depended on one highly critical element that cannot be maintained perpetually: believing the lies. When one lie breaks and is discovered, there can be an eventual unraveling. The unraveling is what were are seeing now, from early 2017 to late 2017. I call it the Tip of the Obama Iceberg.
But wait. Not only did FBI Director refuse to recommend either an indictment or even a Grand Jury for Hillary Clinton in July, the FBI has destroyed evidence (the FBI agreement to destroy the laptops of Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson), the Clinton campaign has destroyed evidence (the cell phones smashed by staffers with hammers as well as wiping of Hillary’s private servers with BleachBit), and the interview of Hillary Rodham Clinton was a sham, there were no subpoenas, no evidence collected.
Notes released from the FBI (pages can be viewed here) indicate Hillary Clinton could not recall much information and provided little detail in the 3.5 hours she was interviewed. Agents asked few direct and pointed questions and few follow-up questions (for example, regarding her health claims, documentation, doctors’ notes, etc). The takeaway was a weak interview consisting of softballs and puffy clouds. Even then, Hillary Clinton revealed her ignorance.
Angelina Jolie was interviewed for four hours regarding child abuse claims against Brad Pitt. The former Secretary of State and presidential candidate is taken less seriously than an actress in Hollywood.
Besides James Comey being an absolute dumpster fire in terms of logic, ethics, Constitutional law, betrayal, corruption and political bias, there was also his Number Two Dude, Andrew McCabe.
Assistant Director Andrew McCabe, the number two man in the FBI, directly supervised and monitored the Hillary Clinton email investigation. From the WSJ.com:
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Mr. McCabe’s wife, Jill McCabe, received $467,500 in campaign funds in late 2015 from the political-action committee of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime ally of the Clintons and, until he was elected governor in November 2013, a Clinton Foundation board member.
In February of this year, Mr. McCabe ascended from the No. 3 position at the FBI to the deputy director post. When he assumed that role, officials say, he started overseeing the probe into Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server for government work when she was secretary of state.
FBI officials have said Mr. McCabe had no role in the Clinton email probe until he became deputy director, and by then his wife’s campaign was over.
But other Clinton-related investigations were under way within the FBI, and they have been the subject of internal debate for months, according to people familiar with the matter.
Does the federal government purposely hire people, pay them large salaries and install them into positions of massive power, who are not only blind to ethics but tone deaf as well?
Others further down the FBI chain of command, however, said agents were given a much starker instruction on the case: “Stand down.” When agents questioned why they weren’t allowed to take more aggressive steps, they said they were told the order had come from the deputy director—Mr. McCabe.
From the microsecond McCabe had any linkage to an investigation with Clinton, Democrats or the Foundation, via his wife, he should have immediately recused himself and assigned supervision to others, making the conflict of interest apparent to the director himself verbally and on paper.
Then on the 20th there was this, after McCabe was “grilled” for over seven hours.
McCabe draws blank on Democrats’ funding of Trump dossier, new subpoenas planned
by James Rosen
Congressional investigators tell Fox News that Tuesday’s seven-hour interrogation of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe contained numerous conflicts with the testimony of previous witnesses, prompting the Republican majority staff of the House Intelligence Committee to decide to issue fresh subpoenas next week on Justice Department and FBI personnel.
While HPSCI staff would not confirm who will be summoned for testimony, all indications point to demoted DOJ official Bruce G. Ohr and FBI General Counsel James A. Baker, who accompanied McCabe, along with other lawyers, to Tuesday’s HPSCI session.
The issuance of a subpoena against the Justice Department’s top lawyer could provoke a new constitutional clash between the two branches, even worse than the months-long tug of war over documents and witnesses that has already led House Speaker Paul Ryan to accuse DOJ and FBI of “stonewalling” and HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., to threaten contempt-of-Congress citations against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“It’s hard to know who’s telling us the truth,” said one House investigator after McCabe’s questioning.
This is the same conundrum faced by anyone watching someone speaking from DC.
Then from everything upon which any molecule could be drawn, from the WashingtonTimes.com:
Faced with libel lawsuit, dossier drafter Christopher Steele hedges on linking Trump to Russia
by Rowan Scarborough
Christopher Steele, the former British spy who fueled an ongoing investigation into President Trump’s administration, was a lot more confident of his charges when he wrote his now-notorious 2016 dossier than he is today in defending it in a libel lawsuit.
While Mr. Steele stated matter-of-factly in his dossier that collusion between Mr. Trump and the Russian government took place, he called it only “possible” months later in court filings. While he confidently referred to “trusted” sources inside the Kremlin, in court he referred to the dossier’s “limited intelligence.”
Now that Mr. Steele must defend those charges in a London courtroom, his confidence level has shifted down several notches.
Huh. Imagine that. But wait; what of the consistent lies of Peter Strzok in House testimony? What of Lisa Page refusing to appear?
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
There is so much more yet to be revealed. Just wait until we find the smoking guns — and we will — that lead to McCabe, Comey, Lynch and ultimately to Obama.
It’s there. Why?
Because “digital never dies.”
Trust me when I tell you it pains line level agents to know that their beloved FBI has been tainted with bias, partisanship, corruption and politics.
It sickens them in their hearts.
Worse yet, they realize just how long it will take to untarnish and resurrect the reputation of a once fine organization.
Further, unfortunately, I fear it will get much worse for the FBI when even more corruption and scandal is uncovered — as it will be.
BZ
Surely from your decades long law career you have contacts. Perhaps you would spend some time compiling testimonies from these line level agent, the elusive good guys, so that they can provide their damning witness against those corrupt persons who seem to be legion. The American public will thank you.
BTW: right now, Mueller is again denying Manafort a defense. Whatever one may think of Manafort, the fact is he has only been accused yet he remains imprisoned.
Not as support of the FIB in the least but to show the corruption is prevalent beyond the FIB; it is systemic.
Let me tell you about FBI agents. They have a hesitancy to testify because they know the 7th floor will skewer their arses. That is why they are begging to be subpoenaed. That means they have no choice. They are begging to have no choice because otherwise inside elements will destroy their careers.
Manafort has been placed into solitary custody when, in terms of custodial situations, he merely had to be placed into what is termed ADSEG, or administrative segregation with others of a like ilk. This was done to destroy Manafort mentally.
And yes, it is systemic.
BZ
About those FBI agents begging to be subpoenaed, they are held out as white hats yet I find it difficult to comport their behavior with that of, say the Founders: ‘We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our honor’. I reckon a G-man is paid a pretty penny.
It is only their country at stake and there are other career paths available to them, not as if they would lose their lives as it was then. I reckon we have now found the true cost of that shekel. If a guy will not step up now of his own initiative, then when? It is all too easy after the ‘all clear’ has sounded.
“U.S. District Chief Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial over the government’s “willful failure to disclose information” to the defense, saying it would have been “impossible” for the four co-defendants to receive a fair trial”.
Given Judge Navarro’s liberal activist record, just how bad did the government’s case stink for even her to choke?
In a word? HORRIBLY.
You see, the government has to crush this out now, otherwise a government pushback in their minds becomes endemic.
BZ