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Undated: FBI Directors, Then and Now ...
Since its beginning in 1908, the FBI has been led by a single individual. At
first called “Chief,” this leader has been titled “Director” since the term of
William Flynn (1919-1921).
The FBI Director has answered directly to the attorney general since the 1920s.
Under the Omnibus Crime Control Act and Safe Streets Act of 1968, Public Law
90-3351, the Director is appointed by the U.S. President and confirmed by the
Senate. On October 15, 1976, in reaction to the extraordinary 48-year term of J.
Edgar Hoover, Congress passed Public Law 94-503, limiting the FBI Director to a
single term of no longer than 10 years.
https://www.fbi.gov/history/directors
January 29: Andrew McCabe Named Deputy
Director of the FBI ...
FBI Director James B. Comey has named Andrew McCabe as the Bureau’s new deputy
director. Mr. McCabe most recently served as the FBI’s associate deputy
director. As deputy director, Mr. McCabe will oversee all FBI domestic and
international investigative and intelligence activities and will serve as acting
director in the director’s absence.
May 18: So confident was [Trump] of his own
immunity to convention that he once boasted he could shoot someone in the middle
of New York's Fifth Avenue and wouldn't lose voters. But as President, that
impunity has been challenged and Trump's behavior became a liability.
Ultimately, had he not fired [FBI Director James] Comey in a fit of pique about
the Russia investigation, it might never [have] emerged that he reportedly asked
the FBI chief to cool it in his investigation. And [Deputy Attorney General Rod]
Rosenstein's hand may not have been forced and Trump may not have faced a
special counsel [Robert Mueller].
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/politics/donald-trump-robert-mueller-democracy/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlist
On Twitter: I will be nominating Christopher A.
Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI.
Details to follow.
June 7
@realDonaldTrump
February 24: Pelosi Statement on Trump
Administration’s Interference in FBI’s Russia Investigation
“Political interference in the integrity of an FBI investigation into the
conduct of White House officials is a grave abuse of power. The rule of law
depends on the FBI’s complete independence, free from political pressure from
the targets of its investigations.
https://www.democraticleader.gov/newsroom/22417/
February 24: The White House denies any inappropriate contact occurred
[with Russians], claims the FBI
initiated the conversation and insists Priebus only discussed the news story,
not the underlying pending Russia investigation.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/24/politics/fbi-white-house-communications-ongoing-investigation/index.html
February 24: The administration admits to
asking the bureau’s deputy director to help it knock down a damaging story about
the Trump campaign’s Russia contacts.
May 11: An FBI investigation into possible
links between Donald Trump's campaign and alleged Russian interference in the
2016 US presidential election continues despite the sacking of director James
Comey, the bureau's acting chief has said.
"There has been no effort to impede our investigation to date," Andrew McCabe
told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, two days after Comey's
dismissal by Trump, in a move that sent shockwaves across Washington.
June 1: Donald Trump’s white nationalist
campaign attracted anti-immigrant, pro-Russia politicians from across Europe. In
particular “Brexit” leader Nigel Farage, the proudly racist and sexist former
head of the nationalist UK Independence Party, made an unprecedented
trans-Atlantic push for Trump. Farage attended the Republican convention, did
media appearances to support Trump, joined in raising the rabble at Trump
rallies, and even defended Trump’s ugly Access Hollywood statements as
just the bragging of an “alpha male.” Farage is also an admirer of Trump adviser
Steve Bannon, with a Breitbart-friendly relationship that extends back at least
three years. And now Trump and Farage have
something else in common:
Nigel Farage is a “person of interest” in the US counter-intelligence
investigation that is looking into possible collusion between the Kremlin and
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the Guardian has been told.
Farage says he’s never even been to Russia … though he refuses to say if he’s
received payment from RT or other Russian state media. Farage has met with
Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, with Assange-friendly whackadoodle Roger
Stone, and seems to have just incidentally been involved with a lot of people
whose names keep showing up on the FBI radar.
“He’s right in the middle of these relationships. He turns up over and over
again. There’s a lot of attention being paid to him.”
Farage has some recent FBI experience. In July, the FBI
nabbed Farage’s top aide, for laundering drug money through the dark net.
July 26: Twice in two days, President Donald
Trump falsely tweeted that acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe’s wife received
$700,000 in campaign donations from Hillary Clinton.
October 19:
CIA Director Mike Pompeo declared Thursday that U.S. intelligence
agencies determined that Russia’s interference in the 2016 American presidential
election did not alter the outcome, a statement that distorted spy agency
findings.
October 19: The FBI, CIA, National Security
Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence ... all agree that
not only was the meddling the work of the Russians, but it was designed to help
Republican Donald Trump's campaign and hurt Democratic nominee Hillary
Clinton's.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/politics/cia-pompeo-russia-meddling-election/index.html
December 1: Why it’s much harder for Trump
to fire Robert Mueller than it was to fire James Comey ... It would be difficult
and costly. He might do it anyway.
If Trump wanted to get Mueller out quickly, though, the way to do that would be
to fire his supervisor, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein. Then he’d order the
Justice official elevated as Rosenstein’s temporary replacement — Associate
Attorney General Rachel Brand — to fire Mueller. If Brand also refused, Trump
would fire her, repeating the process until he finds someone willing to carry
out his order.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/1/16585934/mueller-trump-fired
December 2: President Trump's personal
attorney composed
a tweet that implied Mr. Trump knew his former national security
adviser Michael Flynn had lied to the FBI when he
demanded his resignation in February, sources with direct knowledge
of the situation tell CBS News.
On Saturday, a tweet from Mr. Trump's account stated that he "had to fire
General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI." John Dowd was
the principal wordsmith for the tweet, and it's unclear whether Mr. Trump saw
the final version, sources said. The president was in between fundraisers in New
York when the tweet was sent from an iPhone.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-lawyer-wrote-tweet-implying-trump-knew-flynn-lied-to-fbi/
December 7: FBI Director Christopher Wray
testified in front of a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Thursday,
telling lawmakers that "there is no finer institution than the FBI, and no finer
people than the men and women who work there and are its very beating heart."
... His remarks came after Trump slammed the federal law enforcement agency on
Twitter.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/07/who-is-fbi-director-christopher-wray.html
December 8: Fox News is practically begging
Trump to fire Mueller ...
In the aftermath of the Flynn
plea, Fox News’ attacks on Robert Mueller have become completely unhinged ... The network’s evening hosts have been in a highly
agitated state, filling the airwaves with grave warnings about totalitarianism,
covert subversion by anti-democratic forces, and midnight raids on the quiet
homes of unsuspecting citizens.
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/12/08/Fox-News-is-practically-begging-Trump-to-fire-Mueller/218781
December 14: The conservative case to fire
Robert Mueller, explained ... It relies on four pieces of “evidence.”
It’s important to note that top Republicans like
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say they
continue to support Mueller’s investigation. Officials in Trump’s orbit have
also
told him that removing Mueller would be a bad idea. And the White House
continues to say Trump has
“no intention” of removing the special counsel.
December 15: President Trump, minutes before
heading to speak at the FBI's National Academy, lashed out at the bureau,
saying, "It's a shame what's happened with the FBI" and claiming there are "a
lot of very angry people that are seeing it."
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn, Trump said, "We're going to
rebuild the FBI" after what he described as "really, really disgraceful"
documents. He appeared to be referring to text messages the Justice Department
provided Congress this week in which a senior agent described candidate Trump as
an "idiot" and made other political remarks in the course of the presidential
campaign.
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/15/570868360/after-months-of-withering-criticism-trump-prepares-to-visit-fbi
December 17: Fox News host Jesse Watters
suggested that the FBI investigation into whether Russia interfered in the 2016
presidential election has maybe transformed into a “coup”
against President Donald trump. Before a segment in which Watters
interviewed
Kellyanne Conway with the chyron, “A
COUP IN AMERICA?” the Fox News host
went on a rant
about what he described as “smoking gun evidence” that the FBI agents
investigating Trump are biased against the president.
December 18: Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s deputy director, was being
interviewed behind closed doors by the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday
after a senior senator demanded that he be fired.
December 20: A group representing more than
14,000 active and retired FBI agents has
fired back following President Donald Trump’s assertion earlier this month
that the agency’s “reputation is in tatters.”
“Attacks on our character and demeaning comments will not deter Agents from
continuing to do what we have always done—dedicate our lives to protecting the
American people,” the FBI Agents Association, FBIAA, said in a statement on
Tuesday, without mentioning Trump by name.
President Trump tweeted on Dec. 3 about the FBI, saying: “After years of Comey,
with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI,
its reputation is in Tatters – worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it
back to greatness.”
http://fortune.com/2017/12/20/donald-trump-fbi-group-fires-back/
December 23:Trump slams FBI leadership in series of
tweets ...
President Trump unloaded on Andrew McCabe Saturday amid reports that the
embattled FBI deputy director plans to jump from the agency in early March, when
he becomes eligible to retire.
December 24: Trump prolongs feud with FBI's
McCabe over Clinton ties
President Trump on Sunday extended his feud with the FBI's top brass, singling
out Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, whose wife's Virginia Senate campaign in 2015
received donations from the political action committee of Virginia Gov. Terry
McAuliffe, a Clinton ally.
".@FoxNews-FBI’s Andrew McCabe, 'in addition to his wife getting all of this
money from M (Clinton Puppet), he was using, allegedly, his FBI Official Email
Account to promote her campaign. You obviously cannot do this. These were the
people who were investigating Hillary Clinton,'" Trump tweeted, quoting Fox
News' Ed Henry.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/24/trump-slams-mccabes-alleged-misuse-fbi-email.html
December 25: ... Trump is repeating the same
lies about McCabe that he tried during the campaign, lies that were
debunked a year and a half ago.
What he’s referring to here is $675,000 that was given to McCabe’s wife’s
campaign for a state Senate seat. It wasn’t given by Hillary Clinton, it was
given by the Virginia Democratic Party. Gee, you mean a political party supports
its own Senate candidates during campaigns? How shocking! Alert the fake news
media! And incidentally, that donation took place before he was even named
deputy director. And he also was not “in charge” of the Clinton investigation,
he was just part of the FBI’s executive leadership. The ultimate decision on
whether to recommend criminal charges was up to Comey, who was a Republican who
served in the Bush DOJ (as was Robert Mueller).
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2017/12/25/trump-still-lying-andrew-mccabe/
December 26: President Donald Trump on
Friday morning said people are “very, very angry” with the Federal Bureau of
Investigations and the Department of Justice about what he sees as revelations
of political bias in its ranks, just before he boarded a helicopter headed for
Quantico.
“It’s very sad when you look at the documents, and how they have done that is
really disgraceful,” the president said, apparently referring to a batch of text
messages critical of Trump between a former agent and FBI lawyer involved with
the Mueller investigation released this week.
http://www.freedom970.com/syndicated-article/?id=507401
January 19: What's the Conspiracy Behind the
Right-Wing Meme? ... Republicans claim a secret document reveals a Hillary
Clinton plot "worse than Watergate" – and they're getting a big boost from
Russian bots ...
The "memo" in question is a confidential four-page document assembled by a ...
group of House Republicans, led by Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes,
over the past month. These members, as part of the G.O.P. effort to discredit
Robert Mueller and demolish his investigation into the Trump campaign's Russian
collusion, undertook to "probe" whether the FBI and Justice Department misused
the infamous dossier compiled by British intelligence expert Christopher Steele.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/release-the-memo-whats-the-conspiracy-behind-the-right-wing-meme-w515654
January 19: A group of 65 lawmakers signed a
letter Friday calling on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes to
publicly release a memo they say contains revelations about U.S. government
surveillance abuses.
January 21: The Justice Department has
turned over to Congress additional text messages involving an FBI agent who was
removed from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigative team following the
discovery of derogatory comments about President Donald Trump.
January 21: “The Department wants to bring
to your attention that the FBI’s technical system for retaining text messages
sent and received on FBI mobile devices failed to preserve text messages for Mr.
Strzok and Ms. Page,” Stephen Boyd, the assistant attorney general for
legislative affairs at the Justice Department, wrote to Wisconsin Sen. Ron
Johnson, the chairman of HSGAC.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/21/fbi-failed-preserve-anti-trump-texts/
January 21: The Department of Justice said
it will review why text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were not
preserved by the FBI’s system, and if they can be retrieved.
In a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, sent Friday
but released Monday, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd gave notice the
Justice Department was turning over the previously requested July 2015 to July
2017 texts between the two FBI agents. The latest batch provided is 384 pages of
text messages, which will be added to the department release of 375 individual
messages in December 2017.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/justice-department-to-probe-missing-texts-between-fbi-agents/article/2646745
January 22: The Justice Department will
"leave no stone unturned" to locate five months' worth of missing text messages
from an FBI agent who was removed last summer from special counsel Robert
Mueller's investigative team, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday.
The department last month began providing lawmakers with copies of text
communications to and from the veteran counterintelligence agent, Peter Strzok,
who was reassigned from Mueller's Russia investigation following the discovery
of anti-Trump messages he had traded by phone with an FBI lawyer.
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/justice-dept-to-leave-no-stone-unturned-to-find-texts-1.507993
January 22: Attorney General Jeff Sessions
has been pushing FBI director Christopher Wray to oust two key officials who
have been targeted by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.
January 23: FBI investigating whether
Russian money went to NRA to help Trump
The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin
illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump
win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.
FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of
Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for
his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA,
the sources said.
January 25: The Department of Justice has
recovered missing text messages between anti-Trump FBI officials Peter Strzok
and Lisa Page, the DOJ’s inspector general said Thursday.
Strzok and Page are under scrutiny after it was revealed that the former members
of Robert Mueller's team exchanged a series of anti-Trump texts during the
presidential campaign.
January 26:
Trump Launched Campaign to Discredit Potential FBI Witnesses ... The president targeted three bureau officials who
could provide key testimony in the Mueller probe.
President Donald Trump pressed
senior aides last June to devise and carry out a campaign to discredit senior
FBI officials after learning that those specific employees were likely to be
witnesses against him as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation,
according to two people directly familiar with the matter.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/26/trump-launched-campaign-to-discredit-potential-fbi-witnesses/
January 29: FBI Deputy Director Andrew
McCabe has told FBI staff he is stepping down effective Monday -- a move that
surprised even those expecting his March retirement, sources tell CNN.
McCabe was a central target of President Donald Trump's ire toward the FBI over
its involvement in the investigation into potential collusion between his
campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.
January 29: House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi expressed alarm Monday that House Republicans moved to release a memo
alleging FBI abuse of surveillance powers, accusing House Intelligence Committee
Chairman Devin Nunes of misleading the public.
January 29: FBI Director Chris Wray hinted
to FBI staff in an all-employee email that a government watchdog investigation
played a role in FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's departure Monday ...
January 29: Hours after it was announced
that Andrew McCabe would be stepping down from his post at the FBI, former FBI
Director James Comey responded to the surprising early departure of the agency’s
deputy director on Twitter.
“Special Agent Andrew McCabe stood tall over the last 8 months, when small
people were trying to tear down an institution we all depend on. He served with
distinction for two decades. I wish Andy well. I also wish continued strength
for the rest of the FBI. America needs you,” Comey tweeted from his verified
account on Monday night.
http://www.arkansasnewsonline.com/comey-mccabe-stood-tall-when-small-people-tried-to-tear-down-the-fbi.html
January 31: The FBI said on Wednesday it had
“grave concerns” about the accuracy of a top-secret House Intelligence Committee
memo alleging anti-Trump bias within the Justice Department, challenging
President Donald Trump’s pledge to release it.
February 1: Trump moves toward releasing
memo he hopes will undermine Russia probe ...
President Donald Trump, hopeful that a
controversial Republican memo about the FBI might undermine the Russia
investigation, appeared poised Thursday to allow the document's release ...
Trump and his aides signaled throughout the day they would not use executive
power to block Congress from making the memo public, setting up a clash with the
FBI and intelligence officials, who warn the memo distorts facts and could
jeopardize intelligence-gathering information. The document is said to allege
the FBI abused its surveillance tools.
Meanwhile, some White House officials downplayed the memo's significance, saying
the facts contained within the document have already been reported. The document
was crafted by staff Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, led by
Chairman Devin Nunes, a Trump ally.
"There may be editing of the text of this memo, but that doesn't change the
overall false narrative," a US official familiar with the FBI stance said on
Thursday. "There are still grave concerns."
http://www.wtva.com/content/national/472147553.html?ref=553
February 3: Josh Campbell, a special agent
at the FBI, resigned on Friday and wrote an
op-ed in the New York Times, citing dwindling public support and partisan
attacks. "To be effective, the F.B.I. must be believed and must maintain the
support of the public it serves. ... These political attacks on the bureau must
stop," he wrote. "If those critics of the agency persuade the public that the
F.B.I. cannot be trusted, they will also have succeeded in making our nation
less safe."
Why it matters: From the
anti-Trump texts between two agents to
the hyped-up memo, the FBI is losing support from the conservative public.
Campbell writes in the NYT that "scorched-earth attacks from politicians with
partisan goals" threaten the FBI's ability to do its job, and staying silent
risks letting the agency be "defined by those with partisan agendas."
https://www.axios.com/fbi-agent-resigns-amid-partisan-attacks-c25a0b9e-3050-4ecd-a966-d2cdc6e93359.html
February 2: Rep. Devin Nunes, who led the
release of the memo,
admitted to Fox News' Bret Baier that he hadn't read the FISA documents that
made up the basis of the memo.
Why it matters: The memo is largely based on the argument that there
were FISA abuses within the FBI, particularly relating to former Trump campaign
adviser Carter Page. As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, some are
criticizing Nunes for not reading these pertinent documents himself before
releasing the memo.
https://www.axios.com/nunes-response-to-the-memo-fisa-applications-f61bcd38-5bd7-458b-8781-e726e34d9fec.html
February 12: The White House is proposing to
spend more than $2 billion in funding for a new FBI headquarters, infusing cash
into a stalled effort to replace the downtown Washington building.
February 13:
FBI Director Wray contradicts White
House on Porter investigation
Wray told the Senate intelligence committee that the FBI had completed a partial
report on
Porter in March, finished its full report in late July, responded to a White
House request for follow-up information in November, and closed the file in
January.
February 17: US President Donald Trump said
Saturday the FBI was so caught up in the Russia probe that it failed to heed
signs which could have prevented the Parkland school shooting.
February 20: A lawyer connected to former
Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of lying to
investigators, as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
March 15: FBI agents unsuccessfully tried to
see a pair of self-styled "sex coaches" detained in a Bangkok jail who claim
they have evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, a
senior Thai...
April 10: The FBI raid on President
Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen sought information that included
payments allegedly made to keep women silent about affairs with Trump more than
a decade ago.
April 10: The FBI just proved Donald Trump
wrong on attorney-client privilege ... the specific limit here is something
called the crime-fraud exception.
April 24: On the fourth day of
James Comey’s promotional blitz for a blockbuster book, Christopher Wray was
quietly engaged in another kind of advocacy.
Last week at a ceremony honoring community leaders, the new FBI director started
by lauding the agency he leads.
May 18:Warner:
Identifying FBI source to undermine Russia probe could be a crime
The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee warned Friday that
his colleagues could be committing a crime if they obtain the identity of a
secret FBI source and use it to undermine the ongoing investigation into Russian
interference in the 2016 election.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) raised the alarm in a Friday evening statement, as
Republican allies of President Donald Trump have pressed the Justice Department
for details about a source believed to have aided the FBI and Special Counsel
Robert Mueller's probe into Trump campaign contacts with Russians.
"It would be at best irresponsible, and at worst potentially illegal, for
members of Congress to use their positions to learn the identity of an FBI
source for the purpose of undermining the ongoing investigation into Russian
interference in our election," the Virginia Democrat said in a statement.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/18/warner-russia-probe-source-fbi-crime-598042
Multiple media outlets have named Stefan Halper, 73, as the secret informant who
met with Trump campaign advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos starting in
the summer of 2016. The American-born academic previously served in the Nixon,
Ford and Reagan administrations.
May 18:
F.B.I. Used Informant to Investigate Russia Ties to Campaign, Not to Spy, as
Trump Claims President Trump accused the F.B.I. on Friday, without evidence, of
sending a spy to secretly infiltrate his 2016 campaign “for political purposes”
even before the bureau had any inkling of the “phony Russia hoax.”
In fact, F.B.I. agents sent an informant to talk to two campaign advisers only
after they received evidence that the pair had suspicious contacts linked to
Russia during the campaign.
May 22: 5 easy steps that explain just how
out-of-bounds Donald Trump's FBI move really is
Trump demanded the FBI/DOJ look into an idea he had heard about that an
informant may have been placed in his campaign as a spy. Numerous knowledgeable
sources made clear that the confidential source was a) never embedded in the
campaign and b) was part of a counter-intelligence operation aimed at rooting
out Russia's attempts to meddle in the 2016 election. The FBI/DOJ comply with
Trump's demands -- after being told to do so via Twitter and in person by the
President.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/22/politics/donald-trump-fbi-doj-mueller-rosenstein/
May 23: James Comey pushes back on Trump's
spying claims
Former FBI Director James Comey pushed back on President Donald Trump's spying
claims on Wednesday, warning that attacking the FBI "will do lasting damage to
our country."
In a tweet that did not address the President by name, the former FBI director
wrote, "Facts matter. The FBI's use of Confidential Human Sources (the actual
term) is tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country. Attacks on
the FBI and lying about its work will do lasting damage to our country. How will
Republicans explain this to their grandchildren?"
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/23/politics/james-comey-donald-trump-informant-spy-claims/
June 6: House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate
Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, both Republicans, broke with President
Donald Trump on Wednesday over allegations spies infiltrated his 2016 campaign,
saying they agree with GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy that the FBI did "exactly" what it
should have done over its handling of a confidential source.
The declarations by the leading Republicans are the latest indications that
Trump lacks any evidence to back up his claims of a major political scandal he
calls "spygate" -- since those lawmakers were among a select group briefed on
the classified intelligence at issue. The only Republican briefed on the
intelligence who has yet to break from Trump is Rep. Devin Nunes, the House
Intelligence chairman who has demanded more documents as part of his
investigation.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/06/politics/paul-ryan-fbi-trey-gowdy/index.html
June 7: Sanders: No question there was foul
play in FBI
June 14: FBI Director Christopher Wray
knocks down the bureau's biggest partisan critics after blistering watchdog
report
... "The opinions to me that matter are the opinions of the people that are
relevant to our work, day in and day out, all across this country," Wray said
during a press conference.
"Those people are having to make important decisions that protect lives," Wray
said. "The opinions of the people that they have to engage with on that work,
those are the opinions that matter to me."
June 17: Peter Strzok, the FBI agent removed
from the Russia probe for sending anti-Trump text messages, is willing to
testify before the House Judiciary Committee or any other congressional
committee, his lawyer wrote in a letter to the committee on Saturday.
July 20: The Journal reported that David Resch, a cybersecurity head in
the agency’s division that handles investigating financial crime and organized
crime; Scott Smith, assistant FBI director and head of the Bureau’s cyber
division; and Smith’s deputy, Howard Marshall, have either already departed or
will leave within the month.
Carl Ghattas and Jeffrey Tricoli, senior agents responsible for national
security investigations including elections security, departed the bureau
earlier this year
August 30: President Donald Trump attacked
his own Justice Department and FBI leadership and implied Hillary Clinton could
face criminal charges during a campaign rally Thursday night in Indiana.
"Our Justice Department and our FBI have to start doing their jobs and doing it
right and doing it now, because people are angry. People are angry," Trump said
at a rally in Evansville, where he was campaigning for Republican Senate nominee
Mike Braun.
Trump also suggested he could take a heavier role in the Justice Department --
comments that came hours after he told Bloomberg that Attorney General Jeff
Sessions would remain in his job until after November's midterm elections.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/30/politics/trump-evansville-rally/index.html
September 17: President Trump has ordered
the intelligence community to "provide for the immediate declassification" of
several documents related to the FBI and the Department of Justice, the White
House press secretary announced Monday.
The documents in question are specific pages of the June 2017 FISA warrant
application related to onetime Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter
Page, all FBI interview reports prepared in connection with all FISA warrant
applications in connection with Page, and all FBI reports of interviews with
Justice Department lawyer Bruce Ohr prepared in connection with the FBI's Russia
investigation.
November 27: US prosecutors say Paul
Manafort, Donald Trump's former campaign chief, has breached a plea bargain
agreement by repeatedly lying to the FBI.
In a court filing on Monday, Mr Mueller said that after signing the deal "Manafort
committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the
Special Counsel's office on a variety of subject matters".
December 16:
President
Donald Trump on Saturday angrily cited a story by a right-wing outlet
claiming that some 20,000 texts by a former FBI agent and bureau lawyer were
intentionally erased by an official of the Justice Department before its
inspector general could examine them. But that account has been contradicted by
his own administration— the Office of the Inspector General.
The OIG determined that the texts were initially missing due to faulty
technology, not malicious intent. More than 20,000 texts have been recovered,
according to an OIG
report issued this month.
In a new interview released this afternoon by ABC News, President Trump tells
George Stephanopoulos that he’d take information from a foreign government if
one offered dirt on his 2020 opponent. “I think you might want to listen, there
isn’t anything wrong with listening.”
President Trump rejected the idea that such foreign government interventions
amounted to election interference. “It’s not an interference, they have
information — I think I’d take it. If I thought there was something wrong, I’d
go maybe to the FBI — if I thought there was something wrong. But when somebody
comes up with oppo research, right, they come up with oppo research, ‘oh let’s
call the FBI.’ The FBI doesn’t have enough agents to take care of it. When you
go and talk, honestly, to congressman, they all do it, they always have, and
that’s the way it is. It’s called oppo research.”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-tells-abc-sure-id-collude-again
June 13:Pelosi: At Best, Trump Doesn’t Know ‘Difference Between Right And Wrong’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Thursday chalked up President Trump’s
foreign dirt remark to the President simply not knowing the difference
between right and wrong.
“What the President said last night shows clearly once again, over and over
again that he does not know the difference between right and wrong. And that’s
probably the nicest thing I can say about him,” she said. “If he doesn’t know
the difference, it could explain some of this ridiculous behavior.”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pelosi-trump-right-wrong
June 13:
Republicans lash Trump for being open to foreign oppo
GOP senators vowed they would immediately turn to the FBI if approached with
foreign dirt.
Soon after Donald Trump sparked his latest all-consuming controversy, Lindsey
Graham spoke to the president and urged him to rethink his willingness to use
foreign opposition research against his political opponents.
