Posted on 12/18/2019 5:36:36 AM PST by Kaslin
Former FBI Director James Comey initially portrayed last week's damning report on the bureau's investigation of alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia as a vindication. This week, Comey admitted that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz discovered "real sloppiness," which is "concerning."
That characterization does not begin to cover the problems described by Horowitz, which include egregious and persistent omissions and misrepresentations in applications for secret surveillance warrants that otherwise probably would not have been sought, let alone approved. While Comey may take comfort in the fact that Horowitz "did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI's decision" to eavesdrop on former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, the rest of us can hardly be reassured by the implication that the FBI is inept rather than corrupt.
Comey, who ran the FBI from September 2013 to May 2017, is not just self-interested but demonstrably untrustworthy on this subject. Last year, he claimed information from former British spy Christopher Steele, which according to Horowitz "played a central and essential role" in the decision to surveil Page, was merely "part of a broader mosaic of facts" supporting the four warrants issued by judges under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- "not all of it or a critical part of it."
Comey also said he had "total confidence that the FISA process was followed and that the entire case was handled in a thoughtful, responsible way by DOJ and the FBI." Yet Horowitz found that the first warrant application included "seven significant inaccuracies and omissions" that were not corrected in the three renewal applications, which were marred by "10 additional significant errors."
Those "errors" included blatant exaggerations of Steele's proven reliability, the failure to note that his work was opposition research commissioned by the Democratic National Committee, even after that became clear, the omission of the fact that Steele himself was "desperate" to prevent Trump's election and a false denial of Steele's contacts with the press. The FBI also neglected to mention that people who had worked with Steele questioned his judgment, that Steele's "primary sub-source" had directly contradicted claims in his "dossier," that Page had reported his contact with a Russian intelligence agent to the CIA, and that Page said he had never met key figures in the purported conspiracy described by Steele.
"FBI personnel fell far short of the requirement in FBI policy that they ensure that all factual statements in a FISA application are 'scrupulously accurate,'" Horowitz concluded. Even that assessment is charitable, especially since an FBI lawyer deliberately doctored an email to conceal Page's relationship with the CIA, which had deemed him truthful.
The pattern of these "errors" is not random, of course, since all of them served to bolster the appearance of probable cause. Horowitz told the Senate Judiciary Committee his investigators "did not receive satisfactory explanations for the errors or problems we identified," and he allowed that they might reflect "intentionality," saying "it's fair" to "look at all of these 17 events and wonder how it could be purely incompetence."
It would be reassuring, in a sense, if the FBI's misfeasance could be explained by anti-Trump bias. But as Horowitz noted in his report, the fact that "so many basic and fundamental errors were made by three separate, hand-picked teams on one of the most sensitive FBI investigations," one that "was briefed to the highest levels within the FBI" and "FBI officials expected would eventually be subjected to close scrutiny," suggests a much deeper problem involving unrestrained overzealousness, confirmation bias, and tunnel vision, tendencies that threaten all Americans who value their privacy and reputations.
Even Comey, who claims the dishonesty described by Horowitz "does not reflect the FBI culture of compliance and candor," wonders if the failure might be "systemic," meaning there could be "problems with other cases." Too bad he was never in a position to explore that issue.
Why does the FBI even Bother lying to the FISA Court?
It’s going to be approved anyway.
AG Barr is busy giving speeches and blowing bagpipes.
That’s comforting.
L
I believe that the word nobody has the nads to use is sedition.
The federal statute needs revisiting, however, depending upon how the word force is interpreted.
In the internet age, the mouse can be mightier than the sword.
Yes, they are out of control.
I’m a fan of accusing them of nonviolent sedition. It’s not a crime, but it is still sedition.
...but he is getting much better with his bagpipes.
I went to see Richard Jewell this past weekend. Great, Clint Eastwood flick. 4**** for sure.
If anyone wants to see first hand, through the eyes of a movie director, exactly what the FBI is all about, go see Richard Jewell.
In summary, the FBI is there to convict you. It is not there to exonerate you. That’s the mind set. Trump was guilty, in their mind, right out of the gate. Maybe you can say there’s no bias, because that’s how the FBI operates. “Show me the man, and I’ll find you a crime.”
President Trump's letter to Nancy Pelosi seems to make it clear -- we are going down a road which leads to Democrat leaders being charged with Sedition. It's going to happen.
It occurs to me that should the country survive for another few years everything everyone of these dirty cops, Mueller, Rosenstein, Comey, Wray, EVERYTHING everyone of them have done for the last few decades will have to be reviewed and thrown out. Meaning they have essentially destroyed the FBI as it is right now.
There is gonna be justice. One way or another. If Barr wants to be involved in that it would be a good thing but ultimately justice is coming for these criminals.
“Mistakes were made” = Crimes were committed
“In summary, the FBI is there to convict you. It is not there to exonerate you. That’s the mind set. Trump was guilty, in their mind, right out of the gate. Maybe you can say there’s no bias, because that’s how the FBI operates. “Show me the man, and I’ll find you a crime.””
Funny how the “Bikers at Waco got what they deserved” SMALL, MEDIUM and LARGE fascists HERE are in lockstep with that statement...
The first Carter Page warrant application was rejected.
Pretty rare occurrence.
There is a Senate hearing today with Horowitz, but I can find little info on it. Does anyone know if it might be televised? Thx.
I've been around a very long time and I have never seen it in my lifetime...unless the target is a Republican.
I do not expect that to change at all with the years (hopefully) I have left.
I'd like a nickle for every time they've spied on an American citizen, never having bothered to get a FISA.
Me too, and I have yet to see a Washington bureaucrat turn on one of their own. Only the grace of God will pull us out of this mess.
Sort of like saying the victim who made a rather large “withdrawal” of someone else’s money made some “errors”. And, that the victim clearly made a mistake by pointing the gun at the teller’s head. Although, the police claimed when the victim pointed a gun at the teller, he “misspoke” when he told the teller to hand over the money or die. Then, the final police analysis was that the victim did miscommunicate, but that an untold number of “errors” can be explained away by “sloppiness”.
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