Ratcliffe: James Comey “under investigation for violations of the espionage act”?…
If this were anyone except Judiciary Committee member John Ratcliffe, it would be easier to ignore…. but it’s not. John Ratcliffe is a very tempered and deliberate voice; he has a strong reputation in DC and doesn’t speak in riddles, hype, or disingenuous terms.
During an interview with Maria Bartiromo discussing the recent comments by former FBI Director James Comey, Ratcliffe replied [Must Watch at 26:48 – prompted]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoN-CZA2VEo
[@31:18] “Gosh, y’ know, as I listen to that, Jim Comey is proud and wouldn’t change a thing? Really? He’s proud that he put Peter Strzok in charge of investigating Donald Trump? The same Peter Strzok who, while he was investigating Donald Trump, promised to “f*ck” him and to “stop” him? He’s proud of his hand-picked deputy director, Andrew McCabe who lied under oath; lied to the inspector general, and has been criminally referred for that?
And we know Jim’s proud of himself, but the inspector general found him insubordinate, and many of us believe that he either is or should be under investigation for violating the espionage act; for recording his conversations with President Trump in the oval office, and then intentionally leaking classified information to start this investigation”…
Note: “is, or should be”. So there’s a possibility of “is”.
Remember, Ratcliffe is one of only a handful of people who saw, and continues to see, all of the highly classified intelligence documents (fully unredacted) currently under consideration for declassification by President Trump. Ratcliffe was also strongly considered for the U.S. Attorney General position. This is a deliberate man.
Setting an optimistic tone, Representative John Ratcliffe expresses an unusual amount of confidence in U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr.
WSJ article was published, McCabe lacked candor when he told Comey, or made statements that led Comey to believe, that McCabe had not authorized the disclosure and did not know who did. This conduct violated FBI Offense Code 2.5 (Lack of Candor - No Oath).
We also found that on May 9, 2017, when questioned under oath by FBI agents from INSD, McCabe lacked candor when he told the agents that he had not authorized the disclosure to the WSJ and did not know who did. This conduct violated FBI Offense Code 2.6 (Lack of Candor - Under Oath).
We further found that on July 28, 2017, when questioned under oath by the OIG in a recorded interview, McCabe lacked candor when he stated: (a) that he was not aware of Special Counsel having been authorized to speak to reporters around October 30 and (b) that, because he was not in Washington, D.C., on October 27 and 28, 2016, he was unable to say where Special Counsel was or what she was doing at that time. This conducted violated FBI Offense Code 2.6 (Lack of Candor - Under Oath).
We additionally found that on November 29, 2917, when questioned under oath by the OIG in a recorded interview during which he contradicted his prior statesments by acknowledging that he had authorized the disclosure to the WSJ, McCabe lacked candor when he: (a) stated that he told Comey on October 31, 2016, that he had authorized the disclosure to the WSJ; (b) denied telling INSD agents on May 9 that he had not authorized the disclosure to the WSJ about the PADAG call; and (c) asserted that INSD’s questioning of him on May 9 about the October 30 WSJ article occured at the end of an unrelated meeting when one of the INSD agents pulled him aside and asked him one or two questions about the article. This conduct violated FBI Offense Code 2.6 (Lack of Candor - Under Oath).
(IG Report on Andrew McCabe Leaking to Media)
https://www.scribd.com/document/376296306/DOJ-OIG-Report-on-Andrew-McCabe-April-13th-Release
Happy Birthday Bagster! Q has gifts for you.
Leaking to the press??? Normally, a slap on the wrist …. but …
Media, lots of them, have violated FARA by taking money from … foreign … whatever, making those media entities "agents of a foreign …" whatever, and they forgot to register their agency relationships.
Now, all of a sudden, "leaking classified … to the media" magically becomes "leaking classified … to agents of a foreign …" whatever.
And now, the "slap on the wrist" offense magically becomes espionage, a "capital offense".