Tag: FBI

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BREAKING: President Trump Fires FBI Director James Comey

Click to enlarge

Whoa.

President Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey just days after Comey testified on Capitol Hill about the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s election interference and connections between Russia and Trump’s campaign.

The firing comes at the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. See Sessions’ letter below,  along with Trump letter of termination to Comey.

It is odd that (but not un-Trumpian), in his letter to Comey, Trump co-mingles statements of “not being investigated” in the same sentence he fires the man leading that investigation. He wrote that for the masses, not Comey.

Every time someone gets close to Trump and Trump adviser’s ties to Russia, the president does something like this.

Rather Nixonian, no?

I wonder if Trump thinks this will end investigations into Russian ties…?

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BREAKING: Michael Flynn Told FBI He Did Not Discuss Sanctions With Russian Officials

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn may be in legal trouble for lying to the FBI when he was interviewed about his contact with Russian officials during the Trump transition period.

From the Washington Post:

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn denied to FBI agents in an interview last month that he had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States before President Trump took office, contradicting the contents of intercepted communications collected by intelligence agencies, current and former U.S. officials said.

The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy, as lying to the FBI is a felony, but any decision to prosecute would ultimately lie with the Justice Department. Some officials said bringing a case could prove difficult in part because Flynn may attempt to parse the definition of sanctions.

A spokesman for Flynn said he had no response. The FBI declined to comment.

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FBI & Dept Of Justice To Be Reviewed Over Handling Of Clinton Email Investigation

FBI Director James Comey

In light of FBI Director James Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation ahead of the 2016 election, Comey, the FBI and the Department of Justice will now be the subject of an investigation themselves.

The review was requested by several sources including members of Congress and outside organizations.

Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz will be investigating these issues (via press release):

Allegations that Department or FBI policies or procedures were not followed in connection with, or in actions leading up to or related to, the FBI Director’s public announcement on July 5, 2016, and the Director’s letters to Congress on October 28 and November 6, 2016, and that certain underlying investigative decisions were based on improper considerations;

Allegations that the FBI Deputy Director should have been recused from participating in certain investigative matters;

Allegations that the Department’s Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs improperly disclosed non-public information to the Clinton campaign and/or should have been recused from participating in certain matters;

Allegations that Department and FBI employees improperly disclosed non-public information; and

Allegations that decisions regarding the timing of the FBI’s release of certain Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents on October 30 and November 1, 2016, and the use of a Twitter account to publicize same, were influenced by improper considerations.

FBI Director Comey issued this statement in response:

“I am grateful to the Department of Justice’s IG for taking on this review,” he said. “He is professional and independent and the FBI will cooperate fully with him and his office. I hope very much he is able to share his conclusions and observations with the public because everyone will benefit from thoughtful evaluation and transparency regarding this matter.”

I can’t imagine this going anywhere as of January 21st, the day after Donald Trump becomes president, can you?

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FBI Director Now Supports CIA Position That Russia Interfered In US Election To Help Trump

FBI Director James Comey

The FBI now supports the findings by the CIA that the Russian government interfered in the U.S. presidential election to throw the win to Donald Trump.

From The Washington Post:

FBI Director James B. Comey and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. have backed a CIA assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in part to help Donald Trump win the presidency, according to U.S. officials.

Comey’s support for the CIA’s conclusion suggests that the leaders of the three agencies are in agreement on Russian intentions, contrary to suggestions by some lawmakers that the FBI disagreed with the CIA.

“Earlier this week, I met separately with (Director) FBI James Comey and DNI Jim Clapper, and there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature, and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election,” CIA Director John Brennan said in a message to the agency’s workforce, according to U.S. officials who have seen the message.

“The three of us also agree that our organizations, along with others, need to focus on completing the thorough review of this issue that has been directed by President Obama and which is being led by the DNI,” Brennan’s message read.

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Rudy Giuliani Admits Trump Campaign Receiving Leaked Info From FBI

During a television interview today, Donald Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani admitted he and the Trump campaign have been receiving leaked information from inside the FBI for months, including the agency’s plan to review additional emails found on a laptop shared by Clinton aide, Huma Abedin.

From Huffington Post:

The former New York City mayor and Trump surrogate has recently dropped a series of hints that he knew in advance that the FBI planned to look at emails potentially connected to Clinton’s private server. The agency discovered the messages while investigating former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) for allegedly sexting with a minor. (Weiner’s estranged wife, Huma Abedin, is a top aide to Clinton.)

Giuliani has bragged about his close ties to the FBI for months, mentioning in interviews that “outraged FBI agents” have told him they’re frustrated by how the Clinton investigation was handled. And two days before FBI Director James Comey announced that the agency was reviewing the newly uncovered emails, Giuliani teased that Trump’s campaign had “a couple of surprises left.”

“You’ll see, and I think it will be enormously effective,” he said in an interview with Fox News.

All of this has led to suspicion that someone in the FBI is leaking information to Giuliani and the Trump campaign. The Daily Beast’s Wayne Barrett explored those suspicions on Thursday, detailing how Giuliani’s ties to the agency date back to his days as a U.S. attorney in the 1980s.

Giuliani confirmed that notion Friday during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“I did nothing to get it out, I had no role in it,” he said. “Did I hear about it? You’re darn right I heard about it, and I can’t even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents.”

Watch Giuliani’s brag below:

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President Obama On Comey Announcement: We Don’t Operate On Innuendo, Incomplete Facts Or Leaks

In a radio interview with NowThisNews, President Obama made his first comments after FBI Director James Comey made the unusual announcement that new emails possibly related to its investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had been found on a laptop computer used by Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

“I do think that there is a norm that when there are investigations we don’t operate on innuendo and we don’t operate on incomplete information and we don’t operate on leaks,” Obama said during the radio interview.

Comey was noticeably vague on whether the emails were significant to the investigation or not. At the time, neither he nor his agents had obtained a search warrant to examine the emails even though the FBI knew of the emails for weeks.

Comey’s departure from normal FBI protocol in announcing the finding roiled the presidential campaign 11 days before the Nov. 8 election and drew heavy criticism from Democrats.

(source)

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FBI: Newly Discovered Emails Were Not Sent To Or From Clinton

FBI Director James Comey

FBI investigators, looking into former Congressman Anthony Weiner’s “sexting” scandal, realized that his now-estranged wife Huma Abedin had shared use of a laptop computer. And it turns out, Abedin occasionally used the laptop to email.

Director James Comey took the very unusual tact of writing a letter to members of Congress to let them know of the discovery, and insinuated that some of the emails may (or may not) be of any significance to the Hillary Clinton email case. 

From the L.A. Times:

The emails were not to or from Clinton, and contained information that appeared to be more of what agents had already uncovered, the official said, but in an abundance of caution, they felt they needed to further scrutinize them.

Because Comey had told Congress that the FBI had finished investigating Clinton’s server, he felt he needed to let lawmakers know that agents were looking into the case again in light of the recent discovery, the official said.

Speaking briefly to reporters after an event in Des Moines on Friday, Clinton called on Comey to release more information. She said neither she nor her campaign staff was contacted by the FBI and noted twice that the bureau communicated only with Republican congressional investigators, though Democratic lawmakers also said they were informed by the agency.

“The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately,” she said.

The decision to send a letter updating Congress while an investigation is ongoing breaks decades of longstanding Federal practice to not comment on ongoing investigations, or discuss details of concluded investigations.

An anonymous Justice Department official told The New Yorker:

“You don’t do this,” one former senior Justice Department official exclaimed. “It’s aberrational. It violates decades of practice.” The reason, according to the former official, who asked not to be identified because of ongoing cases involving the department, “is because it impugns the integrity and reputation of the candidate, even though there’s no finding by a court, or in this instance even an indictment.”

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House Republicans Ask FBI Director To Defend Decision To Not Charge Hillary Clinton

Because the House Republicans haven’t wasted enough time and money chasing empty dreams of bringing Hillary Clinton down.

In the wake of the FBI’s recommendation to not charge former Secretary of State over her use of a private email server, Rep, Jason Chaffetz, current chair of the House Oversight Committee, has summoned FBI Director James Comey to the hill to testify (read that – “defend”) the decision.

Less than a day after the FBI’s announcement, Chaffetz has set a hearing for Thursday at 10 a.m. ET, where Comey will testify before the committee regarding the Bureau’s investigation.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan foreshadowed such an event Tuesday night when speaking to Fox News saying, “There are a lot of unanswered questions here.”

Clearly, the Republicans are disappointed in the loss of attack fodder for the next four months of the presidential election, and are choosing to draw the issue out in the headlines as long as possible.

It’s worth noting that James Comey is a long-time Republican with no political allegiance to Hillary Clinton. So, the idea that Hillary somehow curried private favor with the FBI Director is nonsense.

(source)

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Hillary Clinton Interviewed For 3+ Hours By FBI On Her Use Of Private Email Server

"Secretary Clinton gave a voluntary interview this morning about her email arrangements while she was Secretary. She is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Department of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion. Out of respect for the investigative process, she will not comment further on her interview."

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton interviewed this morning by the FBI for 3.5 hours at the agency’s DC headquarters regarding the use of a private email server in her home during her tenure at the State Department.

Most legal experts are of the opinion that criminal prosecution is exceedingly unlikely. The interview today looks to be one of the last steps in the year long investigation.