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FBI Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 19, 2018 24 Comments
Pollster Frank Luntz recently conducted a focus group on former FBI Director James Comey's interview with George Stephanopoulos. The group was comprised of 15 people, Republicans and Democrats who provided feedback while watching the interview. Using hand-held dials, participants dialed up when something Comey said or did during his interview pleased them and dialed down when they had a negative reaction. They had at least one thing in common: all were bothered by Comey's claim that he didn't remember where he was on Election Night.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 19, 2018 20 Comments
CNN has reported that the Department of Justice's inspector general sent a criminal referral of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to the US attorneys office in DC. Last week, the IG office published its report on McCabe revealing that McCabe authorized a leak to The Wall Street Journal in an attempt to boost himself, but lied to investigators and former FBI Director James Comey.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 18, 2018 37 Comments
This is so perfect. Former FBI Director Comey has been on one heckuva book tour promoting his tell-all drama, "A Higher Loyalty." Comey's been busy filming interviews on broadcast and cable news channels, chatting with radio hosts, but it's starting to look like he's preaching to the choir. During a book event in D.C. Monday, press filled the Dupont Circle Kramer Books. Conspicuously absent? Normal people.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 16, 2018 88 Comments
The federal court in the Southern District of New York is continuing today the hearing on the objections of Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen regarding records seized from his law office and home. For the background and court pleadings, please see the prior post, Trump attorney Michael Cohen goes to Court to get back seized records. Last night we reported that Trump's attorney's had filed a Letter Motion objecting to the feds doing a privilege review of the seized materials, Trump court filing in Michael Cohen case: Objects to DOJ/FBI “taint team” deciding what is attorney-client privileged.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 15, 2018 30 Comments
On Monday, April 16, 2018, the court in the Southern District of New York will continue its hearing on the motion by Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen for return of records seized from his law office and home. In the alternative, Cohen seeks severe restrictions on the government's ability to review the records, even if the government follows its procedures to have a so-called "taint team" do so. For the background and court pleadings, please see the prior post, Trump attorney Michael Cohen goes to Court to get back seized records.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 14, 2018 43 Comments
Former FBI director James Comey's book reportedly includes unsubstantiated accusations against then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.  He reportedly writes that he was aware of “'unverified' information discovered by the U.S. government in 2016 from a classified source [that] 'would undoubtedly have been used by political opponents to cast serious doubt on the attorney general’s independence in connection with the Clinton investigation'.” Comey's book also reportedly reveals that his firm belief that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 presidential election influenced his decision-making process and that his goal in his October announcement was to help ensure the legitimacy of her presidency.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 13, 2018 36 Comments
The DOJ Inspector General dropped its report (pdf.)(full embed at bottom of post) on former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and it's a doozy. It turns out that McCabe authorized a leak to the Wall Street Journal in an attempt to boost himself, but lied to investigators and former FBI Director James Comey. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe in March due to recommendations from a department senior official and early reports on McCabe's behavior.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 13, 2018 44 Comments
Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen has filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York for a Temporary Restraining Order regarding the records and evidence seized by the government when it executed a search warrant on Cohen's offices and homes on April 9, 2018. According to news reports, a hearing started this morning and is ongoing this afternoon before Judge Kimba Wood.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 11, 2018 98 Comments
There isn't much of a pretense anymore that the Mueller investigation is about alleged Russian campaign collusion. Maybe it started out about collusion, but it veered off course within a couple of months, when Mueller decided that Paul Manafort needed to be investigated for conduct many years ago having nothing to do with the campaign, or even Russia. Rod Rosenstein created the paperwork in early August 2017 to retroactively expand Mueller's investigation and justify Mueller conduct that already had taken place.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 10, 2018 64 Comments
Monday, the FBI raided Michael Cohen's office. Cohen is Trump's personal attorney. Now, Geoffrey Berman, the Trump-appointed Interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is recused from the Cohen investigation. Berman's status as a Trump temporary appointee was used to claim that the warrant was not politically motivated. But now it turns out that Berman had recused himself and had nothing to do with the warrant against Cohen.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 09, 2018 108 Comments
The FBI raid on the home and office of Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen reportedly took place after a referral from Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The search warrant apparently was obtained by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 29, 2018 37 Comments
The breaking news last night was that the DOJ Office of Inspector General announced it was launching an investigation of possible Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court abuse. The presumption, though not literally in the OIG announcement, was that it concerned the FISA warrant to surveil Carter Page based on the Steele dossier.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 28, 2018 33 Comments
The surveillance of Carter Page, based in part on the Steele Memo, has been the subject of a House Intelligence Committee memo authored by the Republican majority, and a Democrat counter-memo. The heart of the dispute is the failure to inform the FISA court that the Steele memo, which is almost entirely unverified, was paid for by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee, and that Steele was hostile to Trump. Carter Page, however, clearly was not the target, he was the excuse, as I wrote last month:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on March 28, 2018 19 Comments
Terry James Albury was charged by the Department of Justice under the Espionage Act this week. Albury, who worked as a counterterrorism liaison for the Minneapolis--St. Paul International Airport was, "charged this week by the Justice Department's National Security Division with one count of "knowingly and willfully" transmitting documents and information relating to national defense to a reporter for a national news organization. Albury was also charged with a second count of refusing to hand over documents to the government," according to MPR.
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