Federal Bureau of Intimidation

[Newt]

The FBI just threw Comey under the bus, finally.

A day after Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, threatened the impeachment of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department on Wednesday turned over the document that launched the bureau’s Russia investigation in 2016, cooling the latest confrontation between House Republicans and intelligence community leaders.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news ... flynn-case


Nunes had to threaten Wray with impeachment in order to force him to do his job.
Wray has bee protecting the corrupt bureau from the day he was sworn in to head the bureau.

The FBI is fighting back against criticism leveled against Director Christopher Wray by Republicans who contend he botched the handling of the case against retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn.

Brian Hale, the FBI’s assistant director for the Office of Public Affairs, released a statement on Tuesday that said the bureau chief “has fully cooperated and been transparent with” U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen, appointed by Attorney General William Barr earlier this year to review the Flynn case. The FBI spokesman said Wray has also worked closely with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz in his Crossfire Hurricane investigation as well as with U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was handpicked by Barr to lead an investigation of the Trump-Russia investigators.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, and Mike Johnson of Louisiana sent a letter to Wray on Monday, saying that what they found “even more concerning” than the newly revealed details about the Flynn case was that “we continue to learn these new details from litigation and investigations — not from you.” They further stated, “It is well past time that you show the leadership necessary to bring the FBI past the abuses of the Obama-Biden era.”

FBI records released on Thursday have been touted by Flynn's lawyer, Sidney Powell, as exculpatory evidence heretofore concealed from the defense team. They suggest that now-fired FBI agent Peter Strzok and others in the FBI’s leadership stopped the bureau from closing its investigation into Flynn in early January 2017 after investigators had uncovered “no derogatory information” on him. Emails from later that month show Strzok, along with then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page and several others, sought out ways to continue investigating Flynn.


“With regard to certain documents in the Michael Flynn matter from the 2016-2017 time period that are now the subject of reporting by the press, the FBI previously produced those materials to the Inspector General and U.S. Attorney Durham,” Hale said.

Wray’s spokesperson also pointed the finger at the FBI’s prior leadership, not naming anyone but likely referring to at least fired FBI Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe.

“The Flynn investigation was initiated and conducted during this time period, under prior FBI leadership,” Hale noted. “Since taking office, Director Wray has stressed the importance of strictly abiding by established processes, without exception. Director Wray remains firmly committed to addressing the failures under prior FBI leadership while maintaining the foundational principles of rigor, objectivity, accountability, and ownership in fulfilling the Bureau’s mission to protect the American people and defend the Constitution.”

Flynn, 61, is fighting to dismiss the government's case against him. He pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to investigators about his conversations with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak about sanctions on Russia and a United Nations resolution on Israel. Flynn's contacts with Kislyak were swept up in U.S. surveillance reports, after which Strzok and another agent, believed to be Joseph Pientka, grilled him on the contents of the conversation on Jan. 24, 2017.

Flynn told the court earlier this year that he was “innocent of this crime” of lying to federal agents. He filed to withdraw his guilty plea after the Justice Department asked the judge to sentence him to up to six months in prison — though afterward, the department said probation would also be appropriate. Powell is pressing for the dismissal of his case by arguing that the FBI unfairly treated Flynn.

Jordan and Johnson's letter said, “The FBI’s mission is to do justice dispassionately, but these documents suggest" that the FBI had "the real goal of forcing LTG Flynn’s resignation or prosecution.”

Comey admitted last year he took advantage of the chaos in the early days of Trump's administration when he sent agent Strzok and another FBI agent to talk to Flynn. Records released last week included handwritten notes from former FBI Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division Bill Priestap on the day the FBI interviewed Flynn.

“I agreed yesterday that we shouldn’t show Flynn [REDACTED] if he didn’t admit,” but, “I thought about it last night and I believe we should rethink this,” Priestap wrote. “What is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”

In their letter, Jordan and Johnson asked Wray to make Priestap and Pientka available for interviews and pressed the bureau chief to hand over all documents and communications related to “Crossfire Razor” — the code name for the Flynn investigation. They also asked for all records relating to Flynn’s discussions with Russia’s envoy and pressed Wray for answers about what he knew about the Flynn case and when.

Horowitz’s report released late last year criticized the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the surveillance warrants against Trump campaign associate Carter Page in 2016 and 2017, and for the bureau's reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s unverified dossier. Declassified footnotes show the FBI was aware that Russian disinformation may have compromised the dossier.


Wray testified in February there had been at least some illegal surveillance and said he was working to “claw back” that information. Wray said every member of the FBI mentioned in Horowitz’s report had been referred for a disciplinary review, and "the failures highlighted in that report are unacceptable — period."