A Law Unto Itself
If The FBI’s Contempt For The Law Is Not Reined In, Its Abuses Will Get Worse
The former CIA and FBI director’s article is a symptom of how the establishment media has become the propaganda arm of an increasingly robust U.S. authoritarian movement.
Adam Mill
The Federalist
In 2018, the U.S. government filed 1,117 final applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] court for authority for the FBI to conduct electronic surveillance and physical searches. One application was withdrawn. One other was denied. The remaining 1,115 were granted.
Hours before the FISA court issued a December 17 order openly declaring that it could no longer trust any of the sworn statements the FBI had submitted to justify spying on Americans, The New York Times published an opinion article by William Webster, a former director of both the FBI and the CIA. Webster wrote, “Today, the integrity of the institutions that protect our civil order is, tragically, under assault from too many people whose job it should be to protect them.”
Gone are the days The New York Times worked to expose government abuse of power. The New York Times now defends power from truth.
No More ‘Dissent Is Patriotism’
Setting aside the very dubious propositions that the FBI and the CIA should be protected from criticism, let’s plumb the depths of the Webster/NYT argument. Who, according to Webster, has the job of protecting the FBI and the CIA? Webster explains exactly who he means: “I am deeply disturbed by the assertion of President Trump that our ‘current director’ — as he refers to the man he selected for the job of running the F.B.I. — cannot fix what the president calls a broken agency.”
Webster goes on to suggest that the FBI should operate as an independent agency and that he is outraged by the “president’s thinly veiled suggestion that the director, Christopher Wray, like his banished predecessor, James Comey, could be on the chopping block.” He adds, “The independence of both the F.B.I. and its director is critical and should be fiercely protected by each branch of government.” Webster goes on to make it clear that the “rule of law” is threatened by the president criticizing the FBI.
The article is a symptom of how the establishment media has become the propaganda arm of an increasingly robust authoritarian movement in the United States.
Showing posts with label FBI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FBI. Show all posts
Monday, 30 December 2019
Tuesday, 17 December 2019
Far, Far Worse Than Watergate
The FBI is corrupt, and Also the U.S. Media
The Inspector General’s Report on 2016 FBI Spying Reveals a Scandal of Historic Magnitude
Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept
December 13 2019
JUST AS WAS TRUE when the Mueller investigation closed without a single American being charged with criminally conspiring with Russia over the 2016 election, Wednesday’s issuance of the long-waited report from the Department of Justice’s Inspector General reveals that years of major claims and narratives from the U.S. media were utter frauds.
Before evaluating the media component of this scandal, the FBI’s gross abuse of its power – its serial deceit – is so grave and manifest that it requires little effort to demonstrate it. In sum, the IG Report documents multiple instances in which the FBI – in order to convince a FISA court to allow it spy on former Trump campaign operative Carter Page during the 2016 election – manipulated documents, concealed crucial exonerating evidence, and touted what it knew were unreliable if not outright false claims.
If you don’t consider FBI lying, concealment of evidence, and manipulation of documents in order to spy on a U.S. citizen in the middle of a presidential campaign to be a major scandal, what is? But none of this is aberrational: the FBI still has its headquarters in a building named after J. Edgar Hoover – who constantly blackmailed elected officials with dossiers and tried to blackmail Martin Luther King into killing himself – because that’s what these security state agencies are. They are out-of-control, virtually unlimited police state factions that lie, abuse their spying and law enforcement powers, and subvert democracy and civic and political freedoms as a matter of course.
In this case, no rational person should allow standard partisan bickering to distort or hide this severe FBI corruption. The IG Report leaves no doubt about it. It’s brimming with proof of FBI subterfuge and deceit, all in service of persuading a FISA court of something that was not true: that U.S. citizen and former Trump campaign official Carter Page was an agent of the Russian government and therefore needed to have his communications surveilled.
Just a few excerpts from the report should suffice to end any debate for rational persons about how damning it is.
The Inspector General’s Report on 2016 FBI Spying Reveals a Scandal of Historic Magnitude
Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept
December 13 2019
JUST AS WAS TRUE when the Mueller investigation closed without a single American being charged with criminally conspiring with Russia over the 2016 election, Wednesday’s issuance of the long-waited report from the Department of Justice’s Inspector General reveals that years of major claims and narratives from the U.S. media were utter frauds.
Before evaluating the media component of this scandal, the FBI’s gross abuse of its power – its serial deceit – is so grave and manifest that it requires little effort to demonstrate it. In sum, the IG Report documents multiple instances in which the FBI – in order to convince a FISA court to allow it spy on former Trump campaign operative Carter Page during the 2016 election – manipulated documents, concealed crucial exonerating evidence, and touted what it knew were unreliable if not outright false claims.
If you don’t consider FBI lying, concealment of evidence, and manipulation of documents in order to spy on a U.S. citizen in the middle of a presidential campaign to be a major scandal, what is? But none of this is aberrational: the FBI still has its headquarters in a building named after J. Edgar Hoover – who constantly blackmailed elected officials with dossiers and tried to blackmail Martin Luther King into killing himself – because that’s what these security state agencies are. They are out-of-control, virtually unlimited police state factions that lie, abuse their spying and law enforcement powers, and subvert democracy and civic and political freedoms as a matter of course.
In this case, no rational person should allow standard partisan bickering to distort or hide this severe FBI corruption. The IG Report leaves no doubt about it. It’s brimming with proof of FBI subterfuge and deceit, all in service of persuading a FISA court of something that was not true: that U.S. citizen and former Trump campaign official Carter Page was an agent of the Russian government and therefore needed to have his communications surveilled.
Just a few excerpts from the report should suffice to end any debate for rational persons about how damning it is.
Saturday, 14 December 2019
The Elites Have Been Lying Like Hound Dogs
It's Early Days, But The Guillotine Is Being Polished Up
It is becoming more clear that there has been a rogue element within the FBI in the United States which has acted to pervert the course of justice. It's exposure will doubtless eventually result in criminal prosecutions. There are some people (now retired or moved on) who will likely see the inside walls of the penitentiary.
John Davidson, writing at The Federalist, explains what has gone down and how the FBI has been corrupted. The corruption occurred, of course, because the FBI leadership had gone rogue and were committed to removing newly elected Donald Trump from office by fair means or foul, since the public was "dumb" enough to elect him to the Presidency. This is truly historic. When the clean up is finally complete its ramifications will echo for decades, if not centuries.
We expect that the rank and file in the FBI will be incandescent with anger around now. Their former bosses and masters have dragged them through their own putrescent mud.
FBI Lied To FISA Court About Christopher Steele’s Credibility
The IG report shows how the FBI kept crucial information about Steele’s reliability out of its FISA application in order to spy on [innocent US citizen and Trump supporter] Carter Page.
John Daniel Davidson
The Federalist
The mainstream media is anxious—desperate, even—to claim that the report issued Monday from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz dispels once and for all the “conservative conspiracy theories” about the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign ahead of the 2016 election.
The report, The New York Times assures us, “debunked President Trump’s accusations that former bureau leaders engaged in a politicized conspiracy to sabotage him.” Nothing to see here, move along.
But in fact the IG report does reveal that something is very wrong at the FBI.
It is becoming more clear that there has been a rogue element within the FBI in the United States which has acted to pervert the course of justice. It's exposure will doubtless eventually result in criminal prosecutions. There are some people (now retired or moved on) who will likely see the inside walls of the penitentiary.
John Davidson, writing at The Federalist, explains what has gone down and how the FBI has been corrupted. The corruption occurred, of course, because the FBI leadership had gone rogue and were committed to removing newly elected Donald Trump from office by fair means or foul, since the public was "dumb" enough to elect him to the Presidency. This is truly historic. When the clean up is finally complete its ramifications will echo for decades, if not centuries.
We expect that the rank and file in the FBI will be incandescent with anger around now. Their former bosses and masters have dragged them through their own putrescent mud.
FBI Lied To FISA Court About Christopher Steele’s Credibility
The IG report shows how the FBI kept crucial information about Steele’s reliability out of its FISA application in order to spy on [innocent US citizen and Trump supporter] Carter Page.
John Daniel Davidson
The Federalist
The mainstream media is anxious—desperate, even—to claim that the report issued Monday from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz dispels once and for all the “conservative conspiracy theories” about the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign ahead of the 2016 election.
The report, The New York Times assures us, “debunked President Trump’s accusations that former bureau leaders engaged in a politicized conspiracy to sabotage him.” Nothing to see here, move along.
But in fact the IG report does reveal that something is very wrong at the FBI.
Thursday, 12 December 2019
More and More Like an Agatha Christie Crime Novel
Twists and Turns.
Something continues to rot in the State of the Union. The FBI has been criticized by the Justice Department's Inspector General for for "wrong doings" in its investigation of former President Trump's campaign staffer.
Now this is starting to get down into the weeds, but nonetheless it is surprising that the FBI would not have been thoroughly scrupulous in its processes.
The over 400-page report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz criticizes the FBI for “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the bureau’s applications to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, stating agents “failed to meet the basic obligation” to make sure their applications were accurate. [Breitbart News]The Inspector General has been focusing on the procedures and activities surrounding applications by the FBI to spy upon a US citizen, Carter Page--who was an election campaign adviser to Donald Trump. It's all a bit abstract and distant now. But it appears as though the FBI was less than thorough and professional.
Tuesday, 19 June 2018
Irony of Ironies
A Strange Tale
How the FBI’s Anti-Trump Bias Helped Elect Trump
David French
National Review Online
The decision to prioritize the Russia investigation ended up harming Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
If you wade through the entire inspector general’s report, consider the content and tone of the FBI correspondence quoted within it, and ponder the timeline, you will finally get an answer to the key question I, and millions of Americans, have asked: If key members of the FBI were actually biased against Donald Trump, why did the FBI so dramatically damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the last days before the election? Why did it draft a letter to Congress announcing that it was reopening its email investigation a month after it found Anthony Weiner’s laptop, a letter that detonated like a bomb in the campaign and had a measurable effect on Hillary’s polling?
Now we know. The decisions leading up to that moment were influenced by a toxic stew of anti-Trump bias and institutional self-interest. The combination of those two factors sent an FBI torpedo straight at the SS Hillary, blasting another hole in a ship that was already taking on water.
The vast majority of the report simply reaffirms and amplifies previous reporting. It provides an interesting window into the shock and concern inside the FBI when Barack Obama appeared to prejudge the case and exonerate Hillary. It details how the FBI focused on Hillary’s alleged intent, even though one of the relevant statutes imposes criminal penalties for mere “gross negligence,” when it declined to recommend Espionage Act charges against her. And it provides a blow-by-blow account of James Comey’s defiant decision to depart from DOJ policy and practice and make an independent announcement of the FBI’s recommendation.
But then, when the story moves into the fall, things change.
How the FBI’s Anti-Trump Bias Helped Elect Trump
David French
National Review Online
The decision to prioritize the Russia investigation ended up harming Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
If you wade through the entire inspector general’s report, consider the content and tone of the FBI correspondence quoted within it, and ponder the timeline, you will finally get an answer to the key question I, and millions of Americans, have asked: If key members of the FBI were actually biased against Donald Trump, why did the FBI so dramatically damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the last days before the election? Why did it draft a letter to Congress announcing that it was reopening its email investigation a month after it found Anthony Weiner’s laptop, a letter that detonated like a bomb in the campaign and had a measurable effect on Hillary’s polling?
Now we know. The decisions leading up to that moment were influenced by a toxic stew of anti-Trump bias and institutional self-interest. The combination of those two factors sent an FBI torpedo straight at the SS Hillary, blasting another hole in a ship that was already taking on water.
The vast majority of the report simply reaffirms and amplifies previous reporting. It provides an interesting window into the shock and concern inside the FBI when Barack Obama appeared to prejudge the case and exonerate Hillary. It details how the FBI focused on Hillary’s alleged intent, even though one of the relevant statutes imposes criminal penalties for mere “gross negligence,” when it declined to recommend Espionage Act charges against her. And it provides a blow-by-blow account of James Comey’s defiant decision to depart from DOJ policy and practice and make an independent announcement of the FBI’s recommendation.
But then, when the story moves into the fall, things change.
Saturday, 16 June 2018
Old News--But Essential Nonetheless
FBI Corrupted By Its Senior Leadership
For those of our readers who follow US politics and have some knowledge of the US Justice Department and the FBI you will find a lot of damning material recently released by the Justice Department's inspector general report into the conduct of the FBI. It reveals a shocking anti-Trump, pro-Hillary bias endemic to the agency's related investigations.
Now this has been both suspected and alleged by various parties and agencies of government and politicians for a long, long time. On Thursday 14th June, the Inspector General's [IG] report was released. Mollie Hemingway, Senior Editor of The Federalist has written a summary. Keen students of the ineptitude, corruption, bias, and arrogance of the FBI will find all of the proof and evidence you want to establish "beyond reasonable doubt" that the senior leadership FIB has indeed become politicised, has been thoroughly anti-Trump, and in the tank for the Democrats. [Note, however, that indictment is pointed at senior leadership in the FBI, not the rank and file.]
OK--so it's "Old News". But it's more than that: it is now proven beyond reasonable doubt.
For those of our readers who follow US politics and have some knowledge of the US Justice Department and the FBI you will find a lot of damning material recently released by the Justice Department's inspector general report into the conduct of the FBI. It reveals a shocking anti-Trump, pro-Hillary bias endemic to the agency's related investigations.
Now this has been both suspected and alleged by various parties and agencies of government and politicians for a long, long time. On Thursday 14th June, the Inspector General's [IG] report was released. Mollie Hemingway, Senior Editor of The Federalist has written a summary. Keen students of the ineptitude, corruption, bias, and arrogance of the FBI will find all of the proof and evidence you want to establish "beyond reasonable doubt" that the senior leadership FIB has indeed become politicised, has been thoroughly anti-Trump, and in the tank for the Democrats. [Note, however, that indictment is pointed at senior leadership in the FBI, not the rank and file.]
OK--so it's "Old News". But it's more than that: it is now proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Monday, 26 June 2017
Why is the FBI Being Deliberately Obtuse?
Bizarre FBI Briefing On The GOP Baseball Shooting Case
The FBI tried to claim that the shooting at the baseball field was spontaneous and had no target, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Mollie Hemingway
The Federalist
The FBI gave an utterly bizarre update on its investigation into an attempt to assassinate Republican members of Congress. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) remains in the hospital from the attempt on his life in which two police officers and a congressional staffer were also shot. The hospital upgraded his condition to “fair” and said he faces a long recovery.
Americans may know, thanks to public social media profiles, that attempted murderer James Hodgkinson was an active Democratic activist and Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer who hated Republican members of Congress. He held membership in multiple social media groups strongly opposed to Republicans, such as “The Road to Hell Is Paved With Republicans,” “Join the Resistance Worldwide,” “Donald Trump is not my President,” “Terminate the Republican Party,” “Boycott the Republican Party,” and “Expose Republican Fraud,” among dozens of other groups. He was a voracious consumer of liberal media and believed the conspiracy theory that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to secure the White House.
The FBI admits that Hodgkinson:
The FBI tried to claim that the shooting at the baseball field was spontaneous and had no target, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Mollie Hemingway
The Federalist
The FBI gave an utterly bizarre update on its investigation into an attempt to assassinate Republican members of Congress. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) remains in the hospital from the attempt on his life in which two police officers and a congressional staffer were also shot. The hospital upgraded his condition to “fair” and said he faces a long recovery.
Americans may know, thanks to public social media profiles, that attempted murderer James Hodgkinson was an active Democratic activist and Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer who hated Republican members of Congress. He held membership in multiple social media groups strongly opposed to Republicans, such as “The Road to Hell Is Paved With Republicans,” “Join the Resistance Worldwide,” “Donald Trump is not my President,” “Terminate the Republican Party,” “Boycott the Republican Party,” and “Expose Republican Fraud,” among dozens of other groups. He was a voracious consumer of liberal media and believed the conspiracy theory that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to secure the White House.
The FBI admits that Hodgkinson:
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