7/6/2016, "Comey says FBI did not 'give a hoot about politics' in Clinton email investigation," LA Times, Del Quentin Wilber
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12/13/17, "Ironically, Democrats pushed for the [IG] investigation."..."New Details Emerge About Discovery of FBI agents' Anti-Trump texts," Daily Caller, Chuck Ross
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12/12/17, "Peter Strzok, FBI agent removed from Robert Mueller's Russia probe, called Trump an 'idiot'," USA Today, Kevin Johnson
"Peter Strzok, a counter-intelligence agent who also helped run the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, expressed a clear preference for the Democratic candidate while leveling expletive-laden insults against Republicans. The GOP, he said in one exchange, “needs to pull their head out of their ass."...
The disclosure of 375 text message communications between Strzok and FBI colleague Lisa Page not only included disparaging references to Trump but also slammed former Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley – and pondered the sexual preference of Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
The communications obtained by USA TODAY late Tuesday covered more than a year’s worth of communications between Strzok and Page, beginning Aug. 16, 2015 to Dec. 1, 2016.
The communications between the two officials initially came to the attention of the Justice Department's inspector general during an ongoing inquiry into the department's handling of the Clinton email investigation. Page also had been assigned to the Mueller team but had returned to the FBI before the text messages were discovered....
During one Aug. 16, 2015 exchange, Page noted that she had just noticed “my first Bernie Sanders bumper sticker. Made me want to key the car.”...
During the Republican convention the two colleagues engaged in running commentary on the roster of speakers, including actor Scott Baio.
“Oooh, TURN IT ON, TURN IT ON!!! THE D----BAGS ARE ABOUT TO COME OUT,” Strzok writes.
Later, Strzok asks about Trump’s performance, also referring to him as “a d-----.”"...
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Source: Branco
"Evidence is building instead that some officials at the FBI—who have worked for him—may have interfered in an American presidential election." Wall St. Journal Editorial Board
12/13/17, "The FBI’s Trump ‘Insurance’," Wall St. Journal Editorial Board (Thurs., Dec. 14 print ed.)
"More troubling evidence of election meddling at the bureau."
"Democrats and the media are accusing anyone who criticizes special counsel Robert Mueller as Trumpian conspirators trying to undermine his probe. But who needs critics when Mr. Mueller’s team is doing so much to undermine its own credibility?
Wednesday’s revelations—they’re coming almost daily—include the Justice Department’s release of 2016 text messages to and from Peter Strzok, the FBI counterintelligence agent whom Mr. Mueller demoted this summer [after an IG report]. The texts, which he exchanged with senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page, contain expletive-laced tirades against Mr. Trump. Such Trump hatred is no surprise and not by itself disqualifying. More troubling are texts that suggest that some FBI officials may have gone beyond antipathy to anti-Trump plotting....
Meanwhile, we’re learning more about the political motives of Mr. Mueller’s lieutenant, Andrew Weissmann. Judicial Watch last week released an email in which Mr. Weissmann expressed his “awe” and praise for Sally Yates, after the then acting AG and Obama holdover refused to implement Mr. Trump’s travel ban.
This should trouble anyone who cares about the integrity of the Justice Department. Ms. Yates had every right to resign at the time if she felt she couldn’t implement Mr. Trump’s order. But she had no authority as an executive branch official to defy a legitimate presidential order. Mr. Weissmann's support for her insubordination was a declaration that he is part of the “resistance.” This should be unacceptable in a ranking FBI official, much less someone charged with conducting a fair-minded investigation.
Public confidence isn’t helped by the continuing Justice and FBI refusal to cooperate with Congress. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who supervises Mr. Mueller, toed the Mueller-FBI line on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee. He repeated FBI Director Christopher Wray’s preposterous excuse that he can’t answer questions because of an Inspector General probe. And he wouldn't elaborate on the news that Nellie Ohr, the wife of senior Justice official Bruce Ohr, worked for Fusion GPS, which hired Mr. Steele to gin up his dossier.
The man who should be most disturbed by all this is Mr. Mueller, who wants his evidence and conclusions to be credible with the public. Evidence is building instead that some officials at the FBI—who have worked for him—may have interfered in an American presidential election. Congress needs to insist on its rights as a co-equal branch of government to discover the truth."
"Appeared in the December 14, 2017, print edition."
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Added:
"Both were driven primarily by a desire by federal officials to protect Clinton's election chances, and hurt Trump in any way possible."
12/14/17, "Explosive Texts Point To FBI, Not Russian, Meddling In 2016 Election," IBD Editorial
"Scandal: For 18 months, the FBI has been fixated on determining whether President Trump worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election. But explosive text exchanges between top FBI agents suggest it should be looking in the mirror.
The text messages sent between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, which became public on Wednesday, provide a rare and illuminating window into just how rabidly partisan putatively nonpartisan law enforcement officials can be.
In the exchanges, they called Trump an "idiot," a "loathsome human," an "enormous do-che," and said "this man cannot be president."
When not berating Trump, they were praising Hillary Clinton. In one text, Strzok said: "God, Hillary should win 100,000,000-0." In another, he said that "a lot of people are holding their breath hoping" about Clinton....
During one of the presidential debates, he texted: "Oh hot damn. HRC is throwing down saying Trump in bed with Russia." In one of Page's texts, she said Hillary "just has to win now."
On their own, these texts might not be a big deal, even if the two are career government employees. Everyone is entitled to their opinions.
But Strzok and Page weren't just a couple of bureaucrats crunching numbers in a windowless office at the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Strzok was a key player in the FBI's investigation into whether Clinton had broken the law by using a private, unsecured email server to handle highly classified documents. He interviewed several of the people involved, including Clinton herself.
He was also the person who watered down the language in the statement used by Comey to exonerate Clinton, changing it from "gross negligence" to "extremely careless," which as we noted in this space was critical to Comey's claim that Clinton didn't break any laws.
Remember, too, that when Strzok was busy airbrushing Clinton's email crimes, he would have known that, had the FBI done the right thing and indicted her for putting national security at risk, it would have crushed her campaign, and helped elect the man Strzok clearly felt should never be president."...
[Ed. note: "Former Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell said that he believes some foreign intelligence agencies possess the contents of Hillary Clinton’s private email server." 5/15/2015, "Michael Morell: Foreign Governments have Hillary's email," Politico, Adam B. Lerner]
(continuing): "In other words, Strzok had motive, means and opportunity to sabotage that investigation.
Strzok and Page were also deeply involved in the FBI's investigation into alleged Russia meddling, which started almost immediately after Comey let Clinton off the hook, and was sparked by a dodgy Clinton-financed "dossier." In fact, according to CNN, Strzok signed the document making the Russia probe official.
So did these FBI agents act on their fervent anti-Trump beliefs in ways that might have compromised the integrity of both investigations?
The text exchanges suggest they very well may have. Consider:
*Strzok texted Page saying that while he wanted to believe "that there's no way he gets elected" he was "afraid we can't take that risk," then added cryptically that "it's like an insurance policy." The text doesn't make clear what the "it" was, but does suggest the topic was discussed with the deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe.
*In August, Page told Strzok he should stay where he is because "you're meant to protect the country from that menace," meaning Trump. She then sent a link to a David Brooks column in The New York Times which argued that, with Trump, "There comes a time when neutrality and laying low become dishonorable. If you're not in revolt, you're in cahoots." To which Strzok said "of course I'll try to approach it that way…I can protect our country at many levels."
At the very least, these messages cast still more doubt on both the Clinton email and the Russia investigations, and lend more credence to claims that both were driven primarily by a desire by federal officials to protect Clinton's election chances, and hurt Trump in any way possible."
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