Posted on 12/13/2019 5:01:52 PM PST by bitt
Inspector General Michael Horowitz's long-awaited report this week on FBI and Justice Department surveillance abuses does not provide the name of an unidentified FBI supervisory special agent (SSA) who made a series of apparent oversights in the bureau's so-called "Crossfire Hurricane" probe into the Trump campaign.
However, a review of Horowitz's findings leaves little doubt that the unnamed SSA is Joe Pientka -- someone who could soon play a prominent role in the ongoing prosecution of Michael Flynn, as the former Trump national security adviser fights to overturn his guilty plea on a single charge of making false statements.
Specifically, Horowitz's report states that "SSA 1" was one of the FBI agents to interview Flynn at the White House on Jan. 24, 2017, in a seemingly casual conversation that would later form the basis for his criminal prosecution.
It was previously reported that the interviewing agents were Peter Strzok, who was later fired by the FBI for misconduct and anti-Trump bias, and Pientka, whom Strzok previously identified as his notetaker for the Flynn interview. Flynn's attorney has also mentioned Pientka's role during past court proceedings. Of the two agents, only Strzok is openly named in the Horowitz report, which strongly indicates that the other is Pientka.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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They know all about this SSA. Unless anyone is charged this will go nowhere. The only thing holding the entire matter is Flynn’s Judge who is dragging this out. Soon they will dismiss Flynn’s case and this information never gets out.
Why was his name omitted in the IG Report?
Bttt.
Probably because he wasn’t charged with anything, and wasn’t part of Crossfire Hurricane.
He is the one whose name the FBI switched on the 302 with Strzok, and didn’t inform the court for over two years.
“Why was his name omitted in the IG Report?”
Good question — and it’s not just the IG report. Even though somehow we all “know” about Joe Pientka’s participation in the Flynn interview, the Hillary whitewash, etc., it’s not from official sources. The feds seem to always mask his identity, while throwing out other agents’ names willy-nilly. It is a mystery why they continue to try to hide him. Were I Judge Sullivan, long ago I would have ordered Pientka to appear before me in court for a little answer session. He knows critical info about the Flynn case that the lawyers keep hiding — just force it out of the guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bui45pQcy6E
March 2, 2016 Carter Page meeting – during a meeting where they are discussing him testifying against the three Russians in the case that resulted from his informing between 2008-2013, Page advises he recently volunteered for the Trump campaign.
Remember that they got the *first* FISA warrant AFTER Page had already left the Trump Campaign.
The lawyer goes back after the meeting and asks whether he has a clearance, and inquires as to what kind of investigation to open on him.
Absolutely correct; Pientka and the agent in Rome who worked with Steele, Halper and Joseph Mifsud... can't recall his name without my archive files. Both disappeared off the face of the earth. One suspects there are deep waters thereabouts.
Perhaps Elon Musk sent them to man the first FBI office on Mars.
Pientka himself a spy perhaps? Strzok is supposed to be on loan from CIA. Perhaps Pientka is as well.
Neither are "on loan" from the CIA. Both are long term agents of the FBI. Strzok is the second in command of the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Department. Pietka is a high-level Special Agent in that department.
I remember my briefing at Officer Basic from the JAG officer. IIRC we were told it was our duty to arrest a superior officer trying to get an illegal order obeyed. Why is this not true at the FBI?
I suspect that the reason it did not happen at the FBI is found in another part of the OIG’s report. It’s the part where it says the members of Crossfire Hurricane were all handpicked. . . and I suspect that meant from Andy McCabe down. Comey selected McCabe and McCabe selected every his lead agent who then selected every other person involved, and all had the same end goal in sight. They were of a same mind and were in agreement toward that goal. They did not arrest their superior officers because they could not see anything wrong with what they were doing, despite the illegality.
Recall what Comey named his book? “A Higher Loyalty”! There you have your answer.
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