Tag Archives: Hillary Clinton emails

FBI agents know the fix was in on Director James Comey’s decision not to recommend prosecution of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal. From Michael Krieger at libertyblitzkrieg.com:

This is a story that refuses to go away. Recall the post from earlier this month, Backlash Grows Months After the FBI’s Sham Investigation Into Hillary Clinton, in which we learned:

Feeling the heat from congressional critics, Comey last week argued that the case was investigated by career FBI agents, “So if I blew it, they blew it, too.”

But agents say Comey tied investigators’ hands by agreeing to unheard-of ground rules and other demands by the lawyers for Clinton and her aides that limited their investigation.

“In my 25 years with the bureau, I never had any ground rules in my interviews,” said retired agent Dennis V. Hughes, the first chief of the FBI’s computer investigations unit.

Instead of going to prosecutors and insisting on using grand jury leverage to compel testimony and seize evidence, Comey allowed immunity for several key witnesses, including potential targets.

What’s more, Comey cut a deal to give Clinton a “voluntary” witness interview on a major holiday, and even let her ex-chief of staff sit in on the interview as a lawyer, even though she, too, was under investigation.

Agreed retired FBI agent Michael M. Biasello: “Comey has singlehandedly ruined the reputation of the organization.”

Comey made the 25 agents who worked on the case sign nondisclosure agreements. But others say morale has sunk inside the bureau.

“The director is giving the bureau a bad rap with all the gaps in the investigation,” one agent in the Washington field office said. “There’s a perception that the FBI has been politicized and let down the country.”

While the above article focused on the opinions of retired agents, today’s article zeros in on the growing frustrations of current agency employees.

The Daily Caller reports:

FBI agents say the bureau is alarmed over Director James Comey deciding not to suggest that the Justice Department prosecute Hillary Clinton over her mishandling of classified information.

According to an interview transcript given to The Daily Caller, provided by an intermediary who spoke to two federal agents with the bureau last Friday, agents are frustrated by Comey’s leadership.

“This is a textbook case where a grand jury should have convened but was not. That is appalling,” an FBI special agent who has worked public corruption and criminal cases said of the decision. “We talk about it in the office and don’t know how Comey can keep going.”

Another special agent for the bureau that worked counter-terrorism and criminal cases said he is offended by Comey’s saying: “we” and “I’ve been an investigator.”

After graduating from law school, Comey became a law clerk to a U.S. District Judge in Manhattan and later became an associate in a law firm in the city. After becoming a U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Comey’s career moved through the U.S. Attorney’s Office until he became Deputy Attorney General during the George W. Bush administration.

After Bush left office, Comey entered the private sector and became general counsel and Senior Vice President for Lockheed Martin, among other private sector posts. President Barack Obama appointed him to FBI director in 2013 replacing out going-director Robert Mueller.

“Comey was never an investigator or special agent. The special agents are trained investigators and they are insulted that Comey included them in ‘collective we’ statements in his testimony to imply that the SAs agreed that there was nothing there to prosecute,” the second agent said. “All the trained investigators agree that there is a lot to prosecuted but he stood in the way.”

To continue reading: Internal Anger at the FBI Over Clinton Investigation Continues to Grow

FBI Director James  Comey’s justification for not recommending an indictment of Hillary Clinton in the matter of her emails grows flimsier and flimsier the more it is probed. From the staff at thedailybell.com:

Comey on Clinton email probe: ‘Don’t call us weasels’ … The normally-stoic FBI chief grew emotional as he rejected claims that the FBI was in the tank for Clinton. -Politico

James Comey appeared today before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about the FBI’s decision not to recommend prosecution of Hillary Clinton regarding misuse of classified emails – and in the process told members that once the politics stopped circulating, the FBI would again be seen as the institution “you know and love.”

This hyperbolic statement certainly set the tone for the larger hearing which saw Comey testifying with unusual emotionalism, adding at one point that people ought not to see those involved in the decision as “weasels.”

“You can call us wrong, but don’t call us weasels. We are not weasels,” he said. “We are honest people and….whether or not you agree with the result, this was done the way you want it to be done.”

Despite Hillary’s destruction of various phones with hammers (to mention only one issue), he spent several hours insisting, often querulously, that there was no evidence that she intended to obstruct justice or to hide evidence. His statements were mostly a repetition of already presented justifications. As they made little sense previously, they added neither clarity nor insight.

Republican congressmen – many of whom were increasingly incredulous – pressed him in startling ways. Several virtually demanded he reopen the case and others told him bluntly that “you blew it.”

“I would be in big trouble and I should be in big trouble if I did something like that,” said Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.). “There seems to be different strokes for different folks. I think there’s a heavy hand coming from someplace else.”

Comey was confronted with new evidence including a Reddit post from July 2014 probably authored by Platte River Networks specialist Paul Combetta seeking information on how to delete a “VIP” email address. (Platte River provided Clinton server support.) Republican Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said, “This clearly demonstrates an action to destroy evidence by people operating Clinton’s private server and her staff.”

Comey’s response: It seemed to him to be merely an effort to deal with privacy considerations.

At every turn, Comey simply explained and re-explained the logic of determining that there was no evidence to move forward with prosecution of Hillary Clinton for mishandling emails of the most sensitive kind – and with little new information to bolster his perspective.

Now, following this hearing, the public accusation stands front and center: The director of the FBI, James Comey, himself allowed the FBI to be influenced by political considerations.

We previously published an article here anticipating Comey’s eventual resignation based on his inability to muster further evidence to justify the FBI’s decision. We continue to believe this may be the only feasible outcome. He made few new points and his testimony today was directly confronted by a series of Republican Congressmen who were neither convinced by his further elaborations nor apparently cowed by his power and position.

To continue reading: Madness Swirls at House Judiciary Committee as Comey Attempts to Justify Hillary Innocence