This is not your father’s FBI. This is not even Kevin Costner’s FBI. The FBI issued a “recall” of several agents in Asia whilst the agency investigates reports of “parties and interactions with prostitutes.”
Let’s recap the past 18 months of FBI activity:
25 FBI agents and Department of Justice officials have been fired and/or demoted and/or resigned (although not in that order)
These were not run-of-the-mill agents who were partying. The list is long and troublesome (Thanks to Seamus Bruner and the Epoch Times for keeping track of the comings and goings (mostly goings) https://www.theepochtimes.com/strzok-joins-list-of-25-top-fbi-doj-officials-who-have-been-recently-fired-demoted-or-resigned_2624607.html::
From the FBI:
James Comey, director (fired)
Andrew McCabe, deputy director (fired) (grand jury investigation into his activities is pending)
Peter Strzok, second in command at FBI counterintelligence (demoted to HR and then fired)
Lisa Page, attorney (demoted; resigned)(to add to the drama, Strzok and Page were paramours and used their work phones to send thousands of texts to each other in a discoverable way under Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (kind of the epitome of counterintelligence, wouldn’t one say?) including the following disturbing messages.
In a text message on August 8, 2016, Page stated, “[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!”
Strzok responded, “No. No he’s not. We’ll stop it.
And after Mr. Trump won the election:
09:38:14, FBI Attorney 2: “I am numb.”
09:55:35, FBI Employee: “I can’t stop crying.”
10:00:13, FBI Attorney 2: “That makes me even more sad.”
10:43:20, FBI Employee: “Like, what happened?”
10:43:37, FBI Employee: “You promised me this wouldn’t happen. YOU PROMISED.”
10:43:43, FBI Employee: Okay, that might have been a lie…”
10:43:46, FBI Employee: “I’m very upset.”
10:43:47, FBI Employee: “haha”
10:51:48, FBI Attorney 2: “I am so stressed about what I could have done differently.”
10:54:29, FBI Employee: “Don’t stress. None of that mattered.” 10:54:31, FBI Employee: “The FBI’s influence.”
10:59:36, FBI Attorney 2: “I don’t know. We broke the momentum.” 11:00:03, FBI Employee: “That is not so.”
11:02:22, FBI Employee: “All the people who were initially voting for her would not, and were not, swayed by any decision the FBI put out. Trump’s supporters are all poor to middle class, uneducated, lazy POS that think he will magically grant them jobs for doing nothing. They probably didn’t watch the debates, aren’t fully educated on his policies, and are stupidly wrapped up in his unmerited enthusiasm.”
Mr. Strzok was working on Robert Mueller’s team that was investigating the presidents for possible collusion. He was removed from that tema when the Inspector General found these texts. You can view the Inspector General’s full report on all of this: https://www.justice.gov/file/1071991/download
Other FBI employees:
James Rybicki, chief of staff (resigned)
James Baker, general counsel (resigned)
Mike Kortan, assistant director for public affairs (resigned)
Josh Campbell, special assistant to James Comey (resigned)
James Turgal, executive assistant director (resigned)
Greg Bower, assistant director for office of congressional affairs (resigned)
Michael Steinbach, executive assistant director (resigned)
John Giacalone, executive assistant director (resigned)
From the Justice Department
Sally Yates, deputy attorney general (fired)
Bruce Ohr, associate deputy attorney general (twice demoted) (working with Andrew McCabe)
David Laufman, counterintelligence chief (resigned)
Rachel Brand, deputy attorney general (resigned)
Trisha Beth Anderson, office of legal counsel for FBI (demoted or reassigned — remains unclear)
John P. Carlin, assistant attorney general (resigned)
Peter Kadzik, assistant attorney general, congressional liaison (resigned)
Mary McCord, acting assistant attorney general (resigned)
Matthew Axelrod, principal assistant to deputy attorney general (resigned)
Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney, SDNY (fired along with 45 other U.S. Attorneys)
Sharon McGowan, civil rights division (resigned)
Diana Flynn, litigation director for LGBTQ civil rights (resigned)
Vanita Gupta, civil rights division (resigned)
Joel McElvain, assistant branch director of the civil division (resigned)
If one were to diagram connections between and among these folks, there would be a lovely web. Regardless of where one sits on the political spectrum, there are serious issues at the FBI. The tone at the top is awful, the enforcement is slow and lax, and the rank-and-file need better leadership. This top-notch law enforcement agency, the one we could count on when organized crime escaped state and local authorities, is now an organization with serious ethical lapses and possible pending crimes. A top-to-bottom ethical culture assessment is the ticket for solving this crisis.
The FBI is anti constitutional in concept and scope. The only thing that is different is that now they are using that power against an American political party… Instead of against organized crime. The agency must be removed and is a classical example of why we must adhere to the constitution even when we are frustrated and driven by a collective desire to do good.
Yes, there is a problem at the top level of the FBI — the politicization should be clear to all, regardless of which side of the aisle or outside the aisles we sit. Those problems at the top are far more difficult to address because of the power struggles. However, the problems such as this one, occurring in the belly of the organization, cannot be addressed or solved unless and until there is effective, credible, apolitical, and ethical leadership at the top. Presently, those qualities are missing in the agency’s leadership.
And the agency’s mission (and it certainly has done its work in the past when state and local law enforcement proved to be ineffectual in addressing organized crime) has drifted significantly.
As for the collective desire to do good — tough to find the virtue in this agency these days. Those who are virtuous may find it difficult to speak up because of poor leadership and worse examples.