After Inspector General Michael Horowitz released his report and appeared in a Senate Judiciary hearing to explain it, former FBI Director James Comey found himself between a rock and a hard place. That report exposed 17 errors and omissions made by the FBI in seeking FISA warrants to spy on Carter Page and his associates. Horowitz refused to characterize the errors as intentional.
Had the FBI been sloppy in obtaining FISA warrants or was their behavior intentional misconduct?
Wallace Interview on FOX
Comey gave an exclusive interview to Chris Wallace in which he retreated to “sloppiness” to explain the misconduct of the FBI, and also threw FBI investigators under the bus, saying that he, as the director of 38,000 people, wouldn’t have hands-on knowledge of an investigation”7 layers down.”
In the video below, Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume rebutted Comey and pointed out that this investigation was not an ordinary investigation, and that is was run out of FBI headquarters. The investigation also implicated the president.
WATCH:
Reliance on Steele Dossier
The FBI and Comey denied that they relied heavily on the discredited “Steele Dossier,” but Horowitz confirmed that the dossier was “central and essential” to acquiring the FISA warrants to spy on Carter Page. The Steele Dossier had been paid for by the DNC to get “dirt” on candidate Trump. In the interview, Comey maintained that the dossier was just a part of the process, but Wallace pointed to the IG report on the centrality of the dossier in all the FISA applications.
Tampering With Evidence
Another issue brought out in the report that shows intentionality was what most people would consider “tampering with evidence.” An FBI lawyer altered an email that was exculpatory evidence, evidence that clears a person of guilt, evidence that would cause the FISA court judge to deny the warrant. Carter Page, the subject of the investigation, had contact with Russians because he was a CIA asset. The email said he was a CIA asset, but the lawyer altered the email to say he was not. Can altering an email just be “sloppiness?”
Errors Point One Way
Brit Hume pointed out that all the “mistakes” went one way, against President Trump. He scoffed at Comey’s explanation of sloppiness and calls it “misconduct,” which Comey absolutely rejected in the Wallace interview.
Nunes Memo
While Comey’s FBI was making “mistakes,” Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes and other Republicans investigated the FBI and released the “Nunes Memo” in February 2018, exposing the misconduct of the FBI in the Trump Russia affair.“The American people now clearly understand that the FBI used political dirt paid for by the Democratic Party to spy on an American citizen from the Republican Party,” Nunes said.
Schiff’s Memo
Adam Schiff immediately ran interference for the FBI and rebutted the Nunes memo with his own memo defending the FBI. “Our extensive review of the initial FISA application and three subsequent renewals failed to uncover any evidence of illegal, unethical, or unprofessional behavior by law enforcement and instead revealed that both the FBI and DOJ made extensive showings to justify all four requests.”
Wrong again, Mr. President. It confirms the FBI acted appropriately and that Russian agents approached two of your advisors, and informed your campaign that Russia was prepared to help you by disseminating stolen Clinton emails. https://t.co/G128SNicdn
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 24, 2018
Nunes Memo Vindicated
Last week the Horowitz report corroborated the Nunes Memo and revealed more about the misconduct of the FBI. Schiff claimed that he didn’t know about the misconduct at the time he wrote the Schiff memo, which you can see from the tweet above is nonsense.
If the investigation of Carter Page was illegitimate, then the Mueller investigation was also illegitimate. Without the Mueller investigation and the alleged “obstruction” of the president, the impeachment push in the House would be illegitimate and the claims of the Democrats that President Trump has manifested a pattern of corruption which will certainly affect the 2020 election is also illegitimate.
Considering what these investigations have done to the country, can we really afford a “sloppy” FBI?
