FBI agent Strzok reportedly texted 'we'll stop' Trump from becoming president

[Cebu_4_2]

FBI agent Strzok reportedly texted 'we'll stop' Trump from becoming president

Strzok's role in Clinton, Russia probes in focus (http://video.foxnews.com/v/5793969064001/strzoks-role-in-clinton-russia-probes-in-focus)

Republican lawmakers press FBI espionage chief Bill Priestap on his former number two's role in the Clinton email and Russia investigations; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports.

FBI agent Peter Strzok texted a fellow bureau official in August 2016 that “we’ll stop” Donald Trump from becoming president, the Justice Department inspector general reportedly reveals in his highly anticipated report on the Hillary Clinton email case.

The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-receiving-briefing-ahead-of-public-release-of-report-expected-to-criticize-fbi/2018/06/14/c08c6a5a-6fdf-11e8-bf86-a2351b5ece99_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.14da24ae0100) reported that Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report includes an August 2016 text message exchange between Strzok and then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page about Trump’s chance of being elected president.

“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page texted Strzok.
“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded.

Horowitz's review months ago revealed other anti-Trump texts between the two officials, who were romantically involved. The "stop" Trump text goes further, and is likely to fuel claims from the White House that the bureau was working against him.

Republican lawmakers pounced on the new text.

http://a57.foxnews.com/media2.foxnews.com/BrightCove/694940094001/2018/03/29/896/504/694940094001_5760471744001_5760450222001-vs.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 (http://video.foxnews.com/v/5760450222001/new-strzok-page-texts-suggest-coordination-in-russia-probe)

“In Louisiana, we call that bias, we don't call that objective,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said on Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime” on Thursday.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said in a statement the report shows “an alarming and destructive level of animus displayed by top officials at the FBI.”

“Peter Strzok's manifest bias trending toward animus casts a pall on this investigation…His bias impacted his decision making and he assigned to himself the role of stopping the Trump campaign or ending a Trump Presidency,” Gowdy said. “This is not the FBI I know.”

But Bloomberg News (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-14/comey-broke-from-fbi-procedures-in-clinton-probe-watchdog-finds), which also reported the new Strzok message, said Horowitz’s report says investigators “did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative actions we reviewed.”

STAGE SET FOR BOMBSHELL IG REPORT ON CLINTON EMAIL CASE (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/13/stage-set-for-bombshell-ig-report-on-clinton-email-case-whos-in-crosshairs.html)

For more than a year, Horowitz has been reviewing the FBI and DOJ’s actions related to its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

The report is not expected to address the DOJ and FBI’s actions taken in the Trump-Russia investigation, or relitigate the Clinton case itself. But it will mark the most definitive accounting of the email probe to date, looking at -- among other things -- whether “certain underlying investigative decisions were based on improper considerations.”

The report is set to be released later Thursday. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was seen arriving at the White House, where he was expected to brief Trump on its findings.

The inspector general’s review months ago uncovered a trove of anti-Trump texts from Strzok, who famously called Trump an “idiot” and texted about an “insurance policy” against a Trump presidency.

Strzok was reassigned to the FBI's human resources division. Page has since left the bureau.
A congressional source told Fox News that Page’s text about Trump “not ever going to become president” was produced to Congress, but Strzok’s response that “we’ll stop it” was not.

According to the Associated Press, the Justice Department's watchdog also faults former FBI Director James Comey for breaking with established protocol in his handling of the Clinton email investigation, but it says his decisions before the 2016 elections were not driven by political bias, according to a person familiar with the findings.

The report from the inspector general also criticizes Comey for not keeping his superiors at the Justice Department, including former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, properly informed about his handling of the investigation, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the report is not yet public.

[I]The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Cebu_4_2]

IG report on Clinton email probe reveals FBI agent's 'stop'-Trump text, calls Comey 'insubordinate'

IG Report: Comey broke protocol (http://video.foxnews.com/v/5797639566001/ig-report-comey-broke-protocol)

Comey's decisions had a fateful impact on the 2016 campaign; Catherine Herridge reports from the Justice Department.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, in a comprehensive and at-times scathing report on the handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, exposed extraordinary text messages by a top FBI official vowing to "stop" Donald Trump -- while calling then-director James Comey's actions in the case "insubordinate."

The long-awaited report was released Thursday afternoon, spanning nearly 600 pages and scrutinizing the actions of numerous figures who played a key role in the Justice Department and FBI's investigation. It is the product of an 18-month review, incorporating dozens of witness interviews and hundreds of thousands of documents.
But one of the most stunning findings concerns texts between agent Peter Strzok and bureau colleague Lisa Page.

According to the report, Page texted Strzok in August 2016 and said: “[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!”
“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded.

Strzok was a lead investigator on the Clinton case and later worked the Russia investigation before being removed from that assignment.

“In particular, we were concerned about text messages exchanged by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, Special Counsel to the Deputy Director, that potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper considerations,” the IG report said.

Still, the report said investigators found “no evidence that the conclusions by the prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations.”

Months ago, Horowitz revealed other anti-Trump texts between the two FBI officials, who were romantically involved. The "stop" Trump text goes further, and fueled claims from the White House that the bureau was biased against him.

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the report "reaffirmed the president's suspicions about Comey's conduct and the political bias amongst some of the members of the FBI."

The FBI, in its response to the review, said the inspector general “found no evidence to connect the political views expressed by these employees with the specific investigative decisions.”

But it said the inspector general has referred five employees for investigation into whether the messages violated the FBI’s Offense Codes and Penalty Guidelines.
Horowitz’s investigation looked at a variety of other allegations, including whether it was improper for Comey to make a public announcement recommending against prosecution over the Clinton email arrangement while calling her actions "extremely careless."

"We found that it was extraordinary and insubordinate for Comey to conceal his intentions from his superiors, the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, for the admitted purpose of preventing them from telling him not to make the statement, and to instruct his subordinates in the FBI to do the same," Horowitz’s report says.

CLICK TO READ THE FULL REPORT (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2018/06/14/read-ig-report-on-hillary-clinton-email-case.html)

Comey responded to the report on Thursday by tweeting that he believes the “conclusions are reasonable, even though I disagree with some.”


https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/925105891044745216/qZVnNnWB_normal.jpg (https://twitter.com/Comey)James Comey
✔@Comey (https://twitter.com/Comey)

I respect the DOJ IG office, which is why I urged them to do this review. The conclusions are reasonable, even though I disagree with some. People of good faith can see an unprecedented situation differently. I pray no Director faces it again. Thanks to IG’s people for hard work.
2:28 PM - Jun 14, 2018 (https://twitter.com/Comey/status/1007328935842123777)


“People of good faith can see an unprecedented situation differently,” Comey said.

Trump fired Comey in May 2017, citing the Clinton email probe -- though he later cited the Russia probe as well.

The report also faults the FBI – and specifically Strzok – for not acting quickly enough after the discovery of Clinton emails on the laptop of ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner in the fall of 2016. The report says Strzok and others argued that the Russia investigation was a “higher priority” at the time than reviewing the laptop.

“We found this explanation unpersuasive and concerning,” the report said, noting the FBI could have gotten a search warrant in late September, but waited more than a month to do so -- ultimately revisiting the case days before the election. Clinton has long said that announcement contributed to her defeat. But the report also suggested that Strzok, ironically, may have acted out of bias for Clinton in slow-walking the laptop review.

Based on the Strzok text messages, the report said, “We concluded that we did not have confidence that this decision by Strzok was free from bias.”

In the report, Horowitz also criticized then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s infamous meeting on an Arizona tarmac with former President Bill Clinton just days before the FBI decided it would not recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton.

The report said investigators "found no evidence" of an "inappropriate discussion." But it found that Lynch’s "failure to recognize the appearance problem created by former President Clinton’s visit and to take action to cut the visit short was an error in judgment."

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said in a statement the report shows “an alarming and destructive level of animus displayed by top officials at the FBI.”

Other Republican lawmakers pounced on the newly revealed Strzok text.
“In Louisiana, we call that bias, we don't call that objective,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said on Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime” on Thursday.
Strzok had been assigned to Robert Mueller’s special counsel probe, but has since been reassigned. Page later resigned.

An attorney for Strzok, Aitan Goelman, denied the agent’s personal political views influenced his work. “His dedication to unbiased service is a fact that would be universally echoed by the thousands of people who have worked with Pete during his 26 years of service in the FBI and U.S. Army,” Goelman said.
The final report could lead to repercussions for some in the DOJ and FBI.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement that the report “reveals a number of significant errors by the senior leadership of the Department of Justice and the FBI during the previous administration.”

In an interview with The Hill’s new web show “Rising” on Wednesday, Sessions said the option of “termination” is on the table for those accused of serious wrongdoing. Some of the key figures, though, have already been fired or left the government.

A related review already has put former top FBI official Andrew McCabe in legal jeopardy. The Justice Department’s internal watchdog sent a criminal referral for McCabe in April to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.

That was in response to Horowitz’s finding that McCabe leaked information to the press and later lied about it to Comey and federal investigators, prompting Sessions to fire him in March. The Washington Post reported that Comey has since been questioned by the U.S. attorney’s office as part of a McCabe investigation.
In his report Thursday, Horowitz also reviewed the circumstances of whether McCabe should have recused himself earlier from the Clinton probe because of his family’s ties to the Democratic Party.

McCabe’s wife took campaign money from a group tied to then-Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton ally, during her unsuccessful run for office in Virginia in 2015. McCabe did not recuse himself until a week before the 2016 election.

Horowitz said McCabe “did not fully comply with his recusal in a few instances” related to the Clinton Foundation investigation. He also said the FBI’s ethics officials and attorneys “did not fully appreciate the potential significant implications” to McCabe and the FBI from campaign contributions to his wife’s campaign.
An attorney for McCabe, Michael Bromwich, said in a Thursday statement that “any and all claims that political bias or political influence affected Mr. McCabe’s actions” are “entirely baseless.”

In a New York Times op-ed (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/opinion/comey-clinton-inspector-general.html) on Thursday, Comey stood by his decision not to recommend prosecuting Clinton over her emails while secretary of state.
“The report also resoundingly demonstrates that there was no prosecutable case against Mrs. Clinton, as we had concluded,” Comey said. “Although that probably will not stop some from continuing to claim the opposite is true, this independent assessment will be useful to thoughtful people and an important contribution to the historical record.”

[Neuro]

An attorney for Strzok, Aitan Goelman, denied the agent’s personal political views influenced his work. “His dedication to unbiased service is a fact that would be universally echoed by the thousands of people who have worked with Pete during his 26 years of service in the FBI and U.S. Army,” Goelman said.

Baghdad Bob is that you? ;D

[Cebu_4_2]

Baghdad Bob is that you? ;D

That a member here? I couldn't find it. I must think about making another sock puppet tho.

[Neuro]

That a member here? I couldn't find it. I must think about making another sock puppet tho.
“Baghdad Bob” was the guy who was the PR officer of Saddam Hussein’s regime during the invasion in 2003. According to Baghdad Bob the Iraqi forces was beating the shit out of the allied forces, until the end. Baghdad Bob was not his real name though, but the nick name given him by the Bush regime. Anyway Baghdad Bob is the patron saint of outlandish claims, after converting to Catholicism and being canon fodderized by archpope Ratsinger...