Horowitz Examining Past FISA Applications to Determine if FBI’s ‘Basic Errors’ are Systemic.
FBI/DOJ:
—Spied on Trump campaign
—Found exculpatory evidence from own spies, ignored it
—Sought FISA based on uncorroborated dossier
—Interviewed Steele’s only primary source post election, he didn’t corroborate
—Repeatedly misled FISA court to imply source corroborated
— Undercover Huber (@JohnWHuber) December 10, 2019
JACOB SULLUM: The FBI’s Systematic Dishonesty: The problems revealed by the DOJ inspector general go far beyond “errors” and “sloppiness.”
Former FBI Director James Comey initially portrayed last week’s damning report on the bureau’s investigation of alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia as a vindication. This week Comey admitted that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz discovered “real sloppiness,” which is “concerning.”
That characterization does not begin to cover the problems described by Horowitz, which yesterday prompted a highly unusual public rebuke from the court that reviews secret warrant applications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The FISA court called the FBI’s conduct “antithetical to the heightened duty of candor” that applies in such cases.
The court cited Horowitz’s report, which found egregious and persistent omissions and misrepresentations in applications for warrants that otherwise probably would not have been sought, let alone approved. While Comey may take comfort from the fact that Horowitz “did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI’s decision” to eavesdrop on former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, the rest of us can hardly be reassured by the implication that the FBI is inept rather than corrupt.
THEY JUST CARED TOO MUCH! John Brennan Claims FISA Abuses were Committed by ‘Overly Aggressive’ FBI Agents ‘Doing Their Level Best.’
TRUMP: ‘If Comey and Top FBI People Were Dirty Wouldn’t All These Phony Cases Have to Be Overturned?’
Good question.
PROTECTING THE TEAM: Media Ignores FISA Court’s Scorching Criticism of FBI Conduct in Surveillance Applications.
WHY WOULD THEY? IT’S BEEN DOING THEIR DIRTY WORK FAITHFULLY, IF NOT WELL. Howie Carr: Unhinged Democrats should probe FBI.
“The Inspector General’s report — it’s worse than you’ve been told. A few years ago, you would have said that this sort of top-to-bottom corruption, even in the ethical cesspool that is the FBI, was beyond belief. But now it’s all too believable. The FBI has become the secret police of the Democrat party, their KGB, their Stasi. That’s my grievance on this Festivus, and it should be yours, too. We’re paying for an American Gestapo to railroad people like us into prison, on behalf of crooked Democrats. . . . Trump is being “impeached” for asking about corruption, while the people who actually were corrupt — a befuddled old hack and his crackhead son — cannot be questioned about their Quid Pro Joe.”
Tucker Carlson: Can we trust that the FBI is no longer being used as the left’s political tool?
For two long years, former FBI Director Jim Comey has played the role of America’s moral martyr, and for two years it’s basically worked for him.
In the closing days of 2016, you’ll remember, Comey was likely the most hated man on the American left. That bizarre press conference he held in July of that year in which he described Hillary Clinton as legally innocent but morally guilty may, in the end, have cost Democrats the election. It’s possible. And they hated him for it.
Less than a year later, though, Donald Trump fired Jim Comey as FBI director. And whatever Trump dislikes, liberals love, and so Comey was back in their good graces once again. He’s done his best ever since to remain there.
Comey titled his book, “A Higher Loyalty,” meaning that he, unlike you, is a man of principle, accountable only to his God and conscience, in contrast to your grubby little political concerns.
Jim Comey is the last honest man in America. He makes that point every time he appears in public.
And as a man of integrity, Jim Comey would like you to know that despite the fact he’s got no actual evidence to support the claim, he’s pretty certain Vladimir Putin has been blackmailing Donald Trump since day one.
h/t GR