Tag: FBI

Devin Nunes Threatens To Go After FBI Officials Who Investigated Trump

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is threatening to go after career FBI officials who investigated Trump and his campaign’s misdeeds during the 2016 election, telling Fox News on Sunday that he’s planning to file eight “criminal referrals” to the Department of Justice against unnamed investigators.

Nunes gave few specifics, including no names and no actual evidence of possible crimes that were committed by these officials.

But the “referrals” seem to hinge on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants issued against members of Trump’s campaign.

View the complete April 8 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here. 

Comey: Mueller findings show Trump lied about FBI, his attempt to destroy the agency failed

The former FBI director spoke to NBC News in his first on TV interview since the special counsel ended his investigation.

Former FBI Director James Comey, in his first television interview since special counsel Robert Mueller concluded his investigation, said the principal findings of the probe show President Donald Trump’s blistering criticism of the FBI were lies and his attempt to destroy the agency had failed.

Comey, in an exclusive interview with NBC News, told “Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt that the release of Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Mueller’s investigation“establishes, I hope, to all people no matter where they are on the spectrum, that the FBI is not corrupt, not a nest of vipers, of spies, but an honest group of people trying to find out what is true.”

Responding to Holt’s question about whether the “damage to the reputation of the justice system, FBI in particular, been worth it,” Comey replied that “on balance” it had.

View the complete March 27 article along with video of the interview on the NBC News website here.

In newly released transcript, former FBI lawyer fires back on charges that anti-Trump bias affected Trump and Clinton probes

Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page defended herself and the bureau last year against accusations that bias against Donald Trump affected federal investigations of the Trump campaign’s suspected Russia ties and of Hillary Clinton’s emails, according to a transcript released Tuesday by the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

Page, who came to prominence over anti-Trump texts she exchanged with former FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok while both were assigned to the Clinton and Trump investigations, stressed that senior bureau officials were also expressing anti-Clinton animus — but that neither affected how agents working those cases carried out their jobs.

“Many of us in law enforcement dislike the subject of our investigations. We are not keen on pedophiles and fraudsters and spies and human traffickers,” Page said. “That is fine. What would be impermissible is to take that harsh language and to act in some way that was illegal or against the rules. And we don’t do it.”

View the complete March 13 article by Karoun Demirjian, Aaron Blake and Rosalind S. Helderman on The Washington Post website here.

Arrests in domestic terror probes outpace those inspired by Islamic extremists

Most people arrested as the result of FBI terrorism investigations are charged with non-terrorism offenses, and more domestic terror suspects were arrested last year than those allegedly inspired by international terror groups, according to internal FBI figures reviewed by The Washington Post.

As government officials and activists debate the best way to pursue violent extremists, the figures show how much of counterterrorism work goes undeclared and unnoticed. Thousands are investigated each year. Hundreds are charged with crimes. But the public and the media see only dozens.

The debate centers on whether federal law and law enforcement are too focused on Islamic terrorism and not paying enough attention to the rise in far right-wingextremism. In fact, according to the data, more domestic terrorist targets are being charged, and in both categories, law enforcement officials often leverage simpler crimes, such as violations of gun or drug laws, to prevent violence.

View the complete March 9 article by Devlin Barrett on The Washington Post website here.

Why allegations of a ‘coup’ against Trump are unfounded

President Trump woke up at his private club in Florida on Monday and watched just enough Fox News to lift up a quote making an unfounded allegation that someone had attempted a coup against him.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

“This was an illegal coup attempt on the President of the United States.” Dan Bongino on @foxandfriends True!

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Then he went to play golf for the third day in a row. Continue reading “Why allegations of a ‘coup’ against Trump are unfounded”

DAY 32: FBI Agents Warn The Trump Shutdown Is Hurting Their Ability To Protect Us

On the 32nd day of the Trump Shutdown, FBI agents have warned that the shutdown is hampering their ability to “protect the people of our country from criminals and terrorists.” Here’s that and more:

The FBI Agents Association warned Trump that his ongoing shutdown is hurting FBI agents and their ability to protect Americans.

CBS News: “The FBI Agents Association warned Tuesday that the ongoing government shutdown is not only hurting individual FBI employees and their families, but hampering key operations. Some of those affected operations, according to a series of statements the association released Tuesday, include efforts to thwart the same criminal enterprises President Trump claims the shutdown is meant to defeat in the long run. ‘The failure to fund the FBI is making it more difficult for us to do our jobs, to protect the people of our country from criminals and terrorists,’ FBIAA President Tom O’Connor told reporters in a conference call Tuesday.”

More than 13,000 FBI agents are on track to lose their health benefits for the rest of the year because of the Trump Shutdown.

WUSA9: “January 25 will add another pressure point to end the perilous and poisonous government shutdown, when thousands of FBI agents are on track to lose health benefits for the rest of the year. Agents learned Thursday their supplemental health insurance, specifically vision and dental, will lapse if the shutdown extends past two pay periods.” Continue reading “DAY 32: FBI Agents Warn The Trump Shutdown Is Hurting Their Ability To Protect Us”

Comey defends FBI and himself in interview with House panels

ormer FBI director James B. Comey arrives for a closed-door session with House lawmakers Friday on Capitol Hill. Credit: Drew Angerer, Getty Images

Former FBI director James B. Comey’s closed-door interview with House lawmakers on Friday was largely a repetition of themes and facts that have emerged in previous public sessions, according to a transcript of the six-hour session that panel leaders released on Saturday.

Republicans from the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees peppered Comey with questions about the FBI’s investigation into former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, including whether Comey would have dismissed former officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page from the probe had he known they were exchanging texts disparaging then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Comey said he probably would have. However, the former director repeatedly declined to answer questions seeking detailed answers about elements of the FBI’s Russia investigation, which Comey either could not recall — such as who prepared the document launching the bureau’s counterintelligence investigation of individuals affiliated with Trump — or thought came too close to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s ongoing investigation of Russian interference.

View the complete December 8 article by Karoun Demirjian and Matt Zapotosky on The Washington Post website here.

White House lawyer’s presence at briefings on FBI’s Russia source roils lawmakers

The following article by Matt Zapotosky, Devlin Barrett, Karoun Demirjian and Seung Min Kim was posted on the Washington Post website May 24, 2018:

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his longtime business associate Konstantin Kilimnik were indicted on June 8, on obstruction of justice charges. (Jenny Starrs /The Washington Post)

Justice Department and intelligence community leaders conferred twice with top Republican and Democratic lawmakers Thursday, hoping to defuse a partisan conflict over the FBI’s use of a confidential source to aid the investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia.

After hours of discussion, though, there seemed to be little in the way of resolution. Instead, the meetings spawned classic Washington fights over who was there, who wasn’t, and how it all might look. Continue reading “White House lawyer’s presence at briefings on FBI’s Russia source roils lawmakers”

Informants, infiltration and spying: Some definitions in the FBI investigation of team Trump

The following article by Jon Greenberg was posted on the Politifact website May 22, 2018:

Informant, infiltration, spying. The words were thrown around freely as President Donald Trump tweeted his frustration with the FBI investigation of Russian involvement with his campaign.

“I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump campaign for political purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration,” Trump tweeted May 20. Continue reading “Informants, infiltration and spying: Some definitions in the FBI investigation of team Trump”

Justice Department calls for inquiry after Trump demands probe into whether FBI ‘infiltrated or surveilled’ his campaign

The following article by Matt Zapotosky, Robert Costa and David Nakamura was posted on the Washington Post website May 20, 2018:

President Trump said on May 20 that he will ask the Justice Department to look into whether the Obama administration infiltrated his 2016 campaign. (Reuters)

Under pressure from President Trump, the Justice Department on Sunday asked its inspector general to assess whether political motivation tainted the FBI investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign — a remarkable step officials hoped might avert a larger clash between the president and federal law enforcement officials.

Trump, who spent much of Sunday railing against the year-old special counsel probe, tweeted in the afternoon that “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” Continue reading “Justice Department calls for inquiry after Trump demands probe into whether FBI ‘infiltrated or surveilled’ his campaign”