If 1 Of These Bastards Is Your Leader You Will Be Corrupt.
A bombshell inspector general report released Thursday revealed that several FBI employees improperly received gifts from reporters, in connection with possible leaks of sensitive information.
Although public details of these exchanges are scant, they could constitute prosecutable violations of federal gift-giving rules.
The gifts in question included “tickets to sporting events, golfing outings, drinks and meals, and admittance to nonpublic social events.”
A Monkey Could See This Corruption.
“We will separately report on those investigations as they are concluded, consistent with the Inspector General Act, other applicable federal statutes, and OIG policy,” the report reads.
Gifting rules for executive branch officials are strict and exacting. The U.S. Office of Government Ethics provides that “executive branch employees may not solicit or accept gifts that are given because of their official positions or that come from certain interested sources (‘prohibited sources’).”
The rules define a prohibited source as a person who:
Is seeking official action by, is doing business or seeking to do business with, or is regulated by the employee’s agency; or
Has interests that may be substantially affected by performance or nonperformance of the employee’s official duties.
These rules apply to government officials, and it is not clear if any reporters involved in these dealings could face any sort of punishment.
It’s also not clear a reporter should be considered a “prohibited source” within the meaning of the provided definitions.
Violations of gift-giving rules are sometimes prosecuted as violations of the honest services fraud (HSF) statute. High profile office-holders indicted for gift violations under this law include Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and former GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia. Jack Abramoff, the notorious Washington lobbyist, was convicted of honest services fraud.
The HSF statute is a controversial tool, as its vague provisions permit an enterprising prosecutor to make a criminal case out of good faith mistakes or generally harmless conduct. The U.S. Supreme Court dramatically narrowed the reach of the law in a 2010 case called Skilling v. U.S., confining its use to cases involving bribes or kickbacks.
Violations of federal anti-corruption laws occur when a public employee takes “official action” in exchange for gifts. The high court has confined the meaning of “official action” to include only formal exercises of power in official proceedings. It’s not clear that leaking to a reporter falls within this definition, although other federal laws may criminalize this conduct.
Criminal cases notwithstanding, unauthorized media contacts involving the exchange of gifts could serve as a basis for other administrative penalties, like reassignment, suspension or termination.
Former FBI Director James Comey told the inspector general that he forgot Hillary Clinton’s aide Huma Abedin was married to Anthony Weiner, according to a report released Thursday.
In 2016, the FBI identified work-related Abedin emails on a laptop owned by Weiner. A handful contained “confidential” information, the FBI found later.
Andrew McCabe, then FBI-Deputy Director, told the DOJ inspector general that he thought the finding was a “big deal.” Comey, however, acknowledged to the inspector general that at this point he didn’t understand why this was important.(RELATED: Comey Used A Private Email Account For Official FBI Business)
“I don’t know that I knew that [Weiner] was married to Huma Abedin at the time,” Comey told the IG.
FIVE ANTI-TRUMP FBI OFFICIALS REFERRED FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION OVER PRIVATE MESSAGES
Five FBI officials, including Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, have been referred to the bureau for possible disciplinary action over anti-Trump text messages.
In addition to Strzok and Page, the three other officials referred for disciplinary action are two FBI agents and an attorney who worked on the special counsel’s Russia investigation. The investigation will focus on whether the employees violated the FBI’s Offense Codes and Penalty Guidelines.
“The conduct of the five FBI employees … has brought discredit to themselves, sowed doubt about the FBI’s handling of the Midyear investigation, and impacted the reputation of the FBI,” reads the report.
“In its review of collected materials, the OIG found that several FBI employees had exchanged text messages, instant messages, or both, that included political statements hostile to or favoring particular candidates, and appeared to mix political opinion with discussions” about the Hillary Clinton email probe.
Anti-Trump exchanges between Strzok and Page have been well documented. The pair, who were having an extramarital affair, frequently criticized Trump while they were both working on the FBI’s Russia investigation.
“F Trump,” Page, an FBI attorney, wrote in one message to Strzok, the bureau’s deputy chief of counterintelligence.
Strzok was removed from the special counsel’s investigation last July after the OIG discovered the messages.
Thursday’s report reveals for the first time that three other FBI officials exchanged anti-Trump and pro-Clinton messages. One FBI lawyer who worked on the Clinton investigation and served as the bureau’s top attorney on the Russia probe said he felt “numb” by Trump’s November 2016 election win.
And on Nov. 22, 2016, he wrote “Viva le Resistance” when asked about Trump.
The lawyer, who has not been identified, joined Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team last May but left in late February 2018 after the OIG revealed the private messages.
The OIG report also flags messages exchanged between two agents referred to as “Agent 1” and “Agent 5.” Both worked on the Clinton investigation but not on the Trump-Russia probe.
Agent 1 was one of the agents who, along with Strzok, interviewed Hillary Clinton in July 2016.
“I’m done interviewing the President,” the agent wrote, referring jokingly to then-candidate Clinton.
In another exchange, the agent wrote that they were “Not sure if Trump or the [FBI’s] fifth floor is worse.”
Agent 5 responded “I’m so sick of both.”
The agents also suggested in text messages on Election Day that there would be riots if Trump defeated Clinton.
“You think HRC is gonna win right? You think we should get nails and some boards in case she doesnt,” Agent 1 wrote.
“She better win… otherwise i’m gonna be walking around with both of my guns,” Agent 5 responded.
Though the OIG, led by Michael Horowitz, blasted the FBI officials over the messages, the agency said it “found no evidence to connect the political views expressed by these employees with the specific investigative decisions” in the Clinton email probe.
The report did not assess whether Strzok, Page or the other agents displayed bias that affected their work on the Trump-Russia investigation.
Internet Responds To Hillary’s Three Word Fit At James Comey
Hillary Clinton threw an absolute fit when it was revealed in the IG report that James Comey had himself had a private email with which he had conducted some business.
It got over a half a million likes and was cheered by many on the left. Despite the fact that it basically amounts to a “he did it too!” which doesn’t excuse her. Not to mention what she did was far worse because she created a private server specifically to avoid government oversight of her emails, she sent and received classified emails, she exposed the server to attack and it was in fact breached with secret info taken by foreign actors, and she wiped the server and her assistants destroyed their phones.
Inspector general’s report examines allegations of misconduct by the FBI and DOJ; Catherine Herridge has the details.
“Foreign actors” obtained access to some of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails — including at least one email classified as “secret” — according to a new memo from two GOP-led House committees and an internal FBI email.
Fox News obtained the memo prepared by the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, which lays out key interim findings ahead of next week’s hearing with Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. The IG, separately, is expected to release his highly anticipated report on the Clinton email case later Thursday.
The House committees, which conducted a joint probe into decisions made by the DOJ in 2016 and 2017, addressed a range of issues in their memo including Clinton’s email security.
“Documents provided to the Committees show foreign actors obtained access to some of Mrs. Clinton’s emails — including at least one email classified ‘Secret,'” the memo says, adding that foreign actors also accessed the private accounts of some Clinton staffers.
The memo does not say who the foreign actors are, or what material was obtained, but it notes that secret information is defined as information that, if disclosed, could “reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the national security.”
The committees say that no one appears to have been held accountable either criminally or administratively.
Relatedly, Fox News has obtained a May 2016 email from FBI investigator Peter Strzok — who also is criticized in the House memo for his anti-Trump texts with colleague Lisa Page. The email says that “we know foreign actors obtained access” to some Clinton emails, including at least one “secret” message “via compromises of the private email accounts” of Clinton staffers.
The question of whether foreign actors penetrated the Clinton email system has been a significant one ever since the private server was revealed. Then-FBI Director James Comey, in his July 2016 statement on the Clinton case, did not go as far as Strzok in his assessment of that possibility. At the time, he said only that, “We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial email accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account.”
Fox News also reported in March that Strzok was advised of an irregularity in the metadata of Clinton’s server that suggested a possible breach, but there was no significant follow up, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
Clinton’s use of a private email server when she served as the nation’s top diplomat became a central issue of the 2016 campaign. After a lengthy investigation, Comey controversially announced in July 2016 that the agency would not recommend charges, but said that Clinton was “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information.
He then announced he would revisit the probe just days before the election after the discovery of new emails, a move that the Clinton camp has blamed for her loss to President Trump.
Horowitz was due to release his long-awaited report into the FBI and DOJ’s actions on Thursday afternoon.
In the House memo, lawmakers questioned whether the DOJ and FBI properly analyzed and interpreted the law surrounding mishandling of classified information.
“Officials from both agencies have created a perception they misinterpreted the Espionage Act by stating Secretary Clinton lacked the requisite ‘intent’ for charges to be filed,” the memo says, before pointing to statements by Comey that indicated a belief that intent was required — which the memo says ignored “meaningful aspects” of the law.
The committees’ memo also says it appears the outcome of the investigation was “predetermined” in May, two months before Comey’s press conference and before multiple interviews had taken place.
It also accuses Comey of getting ahead of the DOJ on the final decision on whether to prosecute Clinton.
“Mr. Comey, as the FBI Director, was the chief investigator, not the prosecutor. It was not up to him to determine what a ‘reasonable prosecutor’ would do with the evidence the FBI had collected,” the memo says.
If You Don’t Do The Right Thing I Will Have To Take You Out.
Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard Break with Pelosi on Trump-Kim Summit: ‘Important First Step’ Towards Peace
In a revolt against the Democratic Party establishment, anti-war leftists Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) are praising President Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
After Trump’s historic summit — where he successfully lobbied Kim Jong-un to sign documents agreeing to “complete denuclearization” — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi released an unhinged statement in which she attacked the peaceful meeting as handing “Kim Jong-un concessions” and claimed Trump helped to “preserving the regime’s status quo.”
Breaking with Pelosi, anti-war leftists Sanders and Gabbard praised Trump’s summit with Kim, calling it an “important first step” towards peace and a “positive step in de-escalating tensions.”
While very light on substance, Trump and Kim Jong Un’s meeting is a positive step in de-escalating tensions and addressing the threat of North Korea’s nuclear weapons. Congress has a key role to play in making sure this is a meaningful process, not just a series of photo ops.
Diplomacy & peace are better than war. #TrumpKimSummit was historic & an important first step, with Kim committing to ‘complete denuclearization.’ But we can’t blindly take him at his word. Final deal must ensure complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization. Nothing less.
Diplomacy can be the difference between war and peace. Which is why it’s so important that we be willing to meet with anyone, even those who are not our friends, to further the cause of peace. There’s a lot more work to do. #NorthKoreaSummit
Trump and Kim spent five hours meeting in Singapore for the summit, where the end result was a joint signing of documents that commit the U.S. and North Korea to a “peace regime” in the Korean peninsula.
“We had a really fantastic meeting. A lot of progress,” Trump said after the meeting. “Really, very positive, I think better than anybody could have expected, top of the line, really good. We’re going right now for a signing.”
Liberals Were So Excited When Obama Was Giving Iran $150 Billion.
Donald Trump on Kim Jong-un: ‘I Think He Trusts Me and I Trust Him’
President Donald Trump says he believes that Kim Jong-un wants to denuclearize his country and feels he can trust him.
“I think he trusts me and I trust him,” he said in an interview with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday after his summit with Kim in Singapore.
Trump said that he would have left the summit if Kim had failed to agree to “complete and total denuclearization.”
The president also hosted a press conference for over 60 minutes after the summit to detail his meetings with the North Korean dictator.
Trump admitted it was fully possible that Kim would backtrack on his promise in 6-12 months.
“I think he will do these things,” he said, and added frankly, “I may be wrong. I may stand before you in six months and say, ‘Hey, I was wrong.’”
But Trump seemed optimistic about Kim’s intentions to shut down his nuclear programs, even though he admitted that it would take time.
“I think he will do it. I really believe it,” he said.
Trump opened his press conference celebrating the accomplishment of the historic summit, but said that his administration would keep “our eyes wide open.”
“Chairman Kim has the chance to seize an incredible future for his people,” he said. “Anyone can make war, but only the most courageous can make peace.”
The president repeated that he felt confident about his conversations with Kim Jong-un.
“All I can say is they want to make a deal. That’s what I do. My whole life has been deals. I have done great at it and that’s what I do,” he said. “I know when somebody wants to deal and I know when somebody doesn’t.”
The discussion of trust came after Stephanopoulos asked the president: “What other kinds of security guarantees did you offer?” Trump responded that he did not want to offer specifics, but “He’s going to be happy. His country does love him — his people, you see [ABC makes a mid-sentence edit] the fervor, they have a great fervor.”
Stephanopoulos shot back: “You say his people love him. Just a few months ago, you accused him of starving his people.” He recited Kim’s long list of human rights abuses, then asked, “How do you trust a killer like that?”
“George, I’m given what I’m given,” Trump replied. “I can only tell you from my experience — I met him, I’ve spoken with him, and I’ve met him, and this was, you know, starting very early and it’s been very intense. I think that he really wants to do a great job for North Korea. I think he wants to de-nuke — it’s very important. Without that, there’s nothing to discuss.”
“According to a source close to Cohen, Cohen has told friends that he expects to be arrested any day now. (Reached for comment, Cohen wrote in a text message, “Your alleged source is wrong!”) The specter of Cohen flipping has Trump advisers on edge,” reportsVanity Fair.
Cohen, whose New York office was raided by the FBI in April, is under investigation for crimes ranging from campaign finance violations to bank fraud.
Following the raid, Stephen Ryan, an attorney for Cohen said in a statement that the raid was conducted based on a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller.
“The decision by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York to conduct their investigation using search warrants is completely inappropriate and unnecessary,” said Raid. “It resulted in the unnecessary seizure of protected attorney-client communications between a lawyer and his clients.
“These government tactics are also wrong because Mr. Cohen has cooperated completely with all government entities, including providing thousands of non-privileged documents to the Congress and sitting for depositions under oath,” he added.
Shortly after the raid, President Trump called the law enforcement action “disgraceful,” while flanked by members of his Cabinet.
TheBeat w/Ari Melber
✔@TheBeatWithAri
Breaking: Trump responds to Michael Cohen raid “It’s a disgrace… it’s an attack on our country”
“It’s frankly, a real disgrace. It’s an attack on our country in a true sense. It’s an attack on what we all stand for,” the president said.
“It’s a total witch hunt. I’ve been saying it for a long time. I’ve wanted to keep it down. We’ve given, I believe, over a million pages worth of documents to the special counsel.
“They continue to just go forward, and here we are talking about Syria… and I have this witch hunt constantly going on, for over 12 months now, and actually much more than that. You could say it was right after I won the nomination, it started. And it’s a disgrace. It’s frankly, a real disgrace. It’s an attack on our country in a true sense. It’s an attack on what we all stand for,” he added.
