ESSAY: Disturbing bias findings in IG report on FBI, DOJ
Aug. 28, 2018
Everyone knows that internal investigations of wrongdoing are reviewed and filtered by the bosses and subject to the tendency to protect associates. But what if the bosses are the very people accused of being accomplices?
Such was the dilemma this year of Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz in assembling his 568-page report on the FBI and DOJ's
Dr. Harold Pease
Courtesy photo
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The report is titled “A Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election.” It can be accessed at this link.
If one will but open the pages of this report and read with an open mind, without regard for political party or philosophy, one cannot miss what it says. It reveals a near-successful plot to overturn a presidential election by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) because they did not like the results of the last presidential election. This was a scandal many time more grave than Watergate and perhaps all the wrongdoings of previous administrations combined. And this was an internal review.
So what do we actually know about the Obama DOJ/FBI's involvement in attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump? The IG report revealed:
1) That the long-standing and required political neutrality of the FBI and DOJ was politicized by the Obama administration. That, although there was Russian collusion, as in previous elections, there existed no evidence that such changed a single vote or that the Trump Administration had any part in it.
2) That FBI agents of the previous administration produced an extensive line of anti-Trump hating emails before, during, and after Trump's election. Five high level agents, notably Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, were identified as political activists for Clinton and against Trump. Three others cited as Agents 1, 2, and 5 were also noted. Kevin Clinesmith is said to be Agent 2 and Sally Moyer Agent 5. Agent 1 remains redacted.
Agent 1 e-mailed, when asked by another FBI Agent if Trump's election caused him to rethink his commitment. “Hell no…. Viva le resistance.” In an email
The cover of the IG Report, which raised
questions about high-level bias in the FBI and DOJ against Donald Trump, the
Republican candidate who was elected president of the United States in 2016.
Courtesy of U.S. Department of Justice
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3) That the scandal over Hillary Clinton's 3,500 e-mails on an unapproved and unsecured server was apparently washed over quickly by the FBI, without a “real” investigation and without indictments and in time for her election as president… thus giving time for the FBI role in the Trump-Russian-Collusion story.
Writing for the National Review, Andrew C. McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, observed: “At the moment the FBI is moving aggressively to turn its counterintelligence powers against the Trump campaign, an informant has already been deployed, intelligence agents are mobilizing, foreign intelligence contacts have been tapped, and the bureau will soon submit to the FISA court an application to surveil Trump adviser Carter Page - an application that breaks every rule in the book: anonymous foreign sources spouting multiple hearsay, no corroboration, no disclosure to the court that it comes from the opposition presidential campaign, no explanation that the foreigner who supplied the unverified allegations has been booted from the investigation for lying, etc.” (“The IG's Report May Be Half-Baked,” McCarthy, June 2018).
4) That Trump-hater Peter Strzok, FBI former No. 2 counterintelligence officer and top investigator in the Clinton investigation whitewash, was a signatory of the FISA court application initiating the Trump-Russian-Collusion Investigation; then, with Lisa Page, was an original member of the Robert Mueller team to investigate Trump for the crime Strzok helped create.
5) That Horowitz confirmed a text message from Strzok reassuring Lisa Page that Trump “was not going to become president” because, “We'll stop it.” The numerous emails between them had referred to Trump as an “idiot,” a “douche,” and a “loathsome human.” It also revealed the existence of an anti-Trump “secret society” within the agency and its plans for and “insurance policy,” presumably the Mueller Team, to remove him from power should he be elected.
6) That Comey, like Hillary, was using an unsecured personal email account for official classified FBI matters while investigating her for the same thing.
7) That Andrew McCabe, then second in command of the FBI, lied under oath about leaking sensitive information to a Wall Street journalist.
8) That FBI leaks to undermine the Trump candidacy, election and presidency were encouraged and “widely ignored… at all levels of the organization and with no official reason to be in contact with the media…. We identified instances where FBI employees received tickets to sporting events from journalists, went on golf outings with media representatives, were treated to drinks and meals after work by reporters, and were the guests of journalists at nonpublic social events.”
If this is what an internal review discloses - bias at high levels, albeit a conclusion that it did not change FBI or DOJ decision-making - one must wonder what an external review might add. This is the job of Congress.
Dr. Pease is a specialist on the United States Constitution and its application to current events. He has taught history and political science for more than 25 years at Taft College. To read more of his articles, go to libertyunderfire.org.
(Opinion: General)
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