DOJ Investigation 2020: Comey, McCabe; Old Leaks of Classified Info

[Addie]

New York Times - Adam Goldman

Justice Dept. Investigating Years-Old Leaks and Appears Focused on Comey

An inquiry into years-old disclosures of classified information is highly unusual and leaves law enforcement officials open to accusations of politicizing their work.


WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in Washington are investigating a years-old leak of classified information about a Russian intelligence document, and they appear to be focusing on whether the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey illegally provided details to reporters, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

The case is the second time the Justice Department has investigated leaks potentially involving Mr. Comey, a frequent target of President Trump, who has repeatedly called him a “leaker.” Mr. Trump recently suggested without evidence that Mr. Comey should be prosecuted for “unlawful conduct” and spend years in prison.

The timing of the investigation could raise questions about whether it was motivated at least in part by politics. Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents typically investigate leaks of classified information around the time they appear in the news media, not years later. And the inquiry is the latest politically sensitive matter undertaken by the United States attorney’s office in Washington, which is also conducting an investigation of Mr. Comey’s former deputy, Andrew G. McCabe, that has been plagued by problems.

Law enforcement officials are scrutinizing at least two news articles about the F.B.I. and Mr. Comey, published in The New York Times and The Washington Post in 2017, that mentioned the Russian government document, according to the people familiar with the investigation. Hackers working for Dutch intelligence officials obtained the document and provided it to the F.B.I., and both its existence and the collection of it were highly classified secrets, the people said.

[Turtle]

They don't have to actually investigate, just go to a microphone and announce that they are.

[Slim Cognito]

They have to replace Clinton’s investigation with something.

[Addie]

Law & Crime: Comey Under Investigation? Latest News Raises ‘Suspicions’ of Political Revenge

[Sterngard Friegen]

Yeah, it's terrible if Comey is being investigated for payback. But it's also ironic since Comey's misbehavior is one of the reasons we have this RICO Adminstration.

[TexasFilly]

Yeah, it's terrible if Comey is being investigated for payback. But it's also ironic since Comey's misbehavior is one of the reasons we have this RICO Adminstration.

True. I guess Barr’s DOJ doesn’t care about the NY FBI leaking to Rudy though.

[Addie]

New York Mag - Jonathan Chait

William Barr Is Going After Trump’s Enemies One by One

In May of 2016, shortly after Donald Trump had wrapped up his party’s nomination, but when the notion he might win the presidency seemed remote at best, Benjamin Wittes wrote one of the very early essays attempting to analyze how an obviously authoritarian president might abuse his powers. “The soft spot, the least tyrant-proof part of the government, is the U.S. Department of Justice,” he argued, laying out how prosecutorial discretion could allow a president to harass his domestic enemies.

Yesterday’s news that the Department of Justice is exploring yet another probe of James Comey, the former FBI director turned Trump antagonist, would seem to confirm those fears have been borne out.

As the Times report notes, the investigation — the second the Department of Justice has brought against Comey — is highly unusual. The charge is that, in 2017, Comey leaked to the Times and Washington Post details of a dubious Russian document that the bureau had acquired in 2017. The document claimed Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch had assured the Clinton campaign that the FBI would not investigate the email scandal very deeply. The authenticity of this fact has never been established, and some members of the bureau suspect it was Russian disinformation, designed to discredit the FBI and stoke suspicion about Clinton’s corruption. But the memo’s existence made Comey paranoid about the appearance of favoritism toward Clinton, and helped push him toward his fateful decision to announce a reopening of the email probe days before the election — a decision that likely swung the election to Trump.

Leaking details of FBI investigations to the media is illegal. Prosecution, however, is rare, and it is even more rare — possibly unprecedented — to prosecute leaks that occurred several years ago. So Comey is not being hit with trumped-up charges. He is the apparent victim of selective prosecution.

[Sterngard Friegen]

The DoJ has nolle prossed McCabe.

(Nolle prosequi = we won't prosecute.)

[NotaPerson]

DOJ drops case against former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe

McCabe's lawyers were told last September that McCabe should expect to be indicted on charges stemming from inaccurate statements he made to FBI investigators about his actions around the time of the 2016 election. However, no indictment was ever returned, leading to speculation that the grand jury took the rare step of rejecting charges.

Prosecutors had been cagey since that time about the status of the investigation into McCabe, who has been a frequent subject of public attacks from President Donald Trump. But on Friday, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington informed McCabe's attorneys that prosecutors are giving up their effort to charge the FBI veteran.

"We write to inform you that, after careful consideration, the Government has decided not to pursue criminal charges against your client, Andrew G. McCabe," prosecutors J.P. Cooney and Molly Gaston wrote on behalf of the new U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Tim Shea. "Based on the totality of the circumstances and all of the information known to the Government at this time, we consider the matter closed."

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/1 ... abe-115251

[TexasFilly]

[Slim Cognito]

Matthew Miller
✔
@matthewamiller
Thread. If career prosecutors were telling a judge on Sep. 9 that a McCabe decision could be made "literally within days," why has this case languished so long?

Can't wait for the trump twitter tantrum.

[Orlylicious]

The queens are NOT amused at Jim Hoft's Gateway House of Boys and Pundits.

BREAKING: DOJ Will Not Charge Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe — Attorneys Say ‘Case is Closed’
by Jim Hoft February 14, 2020 1560 Comments

America’s Two-Tiered Judicial System Continues–

The Department of Justice on Friday announced it has dropped its criminal investigation of Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
His lawyers made the announcement on Friday morning. McCabe’s attorneys also said the case was closed.

Andrew McCabe leaked confidential investigation details and information to the media to “advance his personal interests” then lied about it to the Inspector General. The Inspector General released a scathing report on McCabe in April 2018 stating he “lacked candor”* following his illegal media leaks.

Only Republicans get convicted of crimes in today’s Justice system.** McCabe’s attorneys told reporters this morning, “We are pleased that Andrew McCabe and his family can go on with their lives without this cloud hanging over them.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/0 ... ew-mccabe/

* Wow, Good thing IMPOTUS and his crew have never lacked candor!
** maybe because only Republicans are committing crimes? Just a thought, Jim.

Included in the comments (Crossfire must be a concern troll, if not it's extra funny):

Mad Hatter• 3 hours ago
I think part of what Barr did was to frustrate us in order to put doubts in our minds about the process, thus putting doubts in our minds about Trump. The Swamp Creatures be it in DC or the Alinsky Media have been trying to do that before Trump was elected. Take a break, which is probably a good thing to do, but come back and don't give up.

CrossfireBoomerang • 3 hours ago
I stopped trusting Bill Barr when found out his DAD was the one who hired Jeffrey Epstein at the school in New York to teach....Just do the simple math- what are the "odds" of that? It's like Barr was a mole to put in to protect the elite involved with Epstein.....And he did just that by allowing him to either: off himself, go into witness protection, or be offed.

CrossfireBoomerang • 3 hours ago • edited
Yep, and now it is confirmed: Anybody who was trying to get other skeptics to believe in "Bill Barr", the game is finally over now. I'm done with this all now: Barr defenders, just like Sessions defenders originally, most who come from Qanon, and all the other defenders of why nobody in the coup has been charged yet despite recommendations against them (remember that Barr declined to prosecute at least 2-3 others from the IG report prior to this, too, over the summer). Barr also let Epstein get away one way or another. Either he is covering up the extraction and witness protection or he didn't do a good enough job protecting enemy #1 because of the powerful people involved. Barr needs to be fired, along with Wray.

O'Brien • 3 hours ago
Now we know Barr is also covering up Epstein's murder.

owl Cali K • 4 hours ago
Yes. As of today, I can't decide if I cry or hit something. I kept on keeping on....hope alive. Even a slither of it survived Barr's put down last night. Today...ZERO. If our s.o.b. DOJ can't charge and convict McCabe...........damn them all to hell and back. I purely hate almost all R Senators I have voted for 50 years. Ditto for half the House. Heroes for the other half. Only Trump and that House half fought for us. That s.o.b. Wray. Those sorry s.o.b. R Senators that enabled this all to happen with Mueller. Yes, that means you Graham. Those sorry s.o.b. 8 Senators who actually had the GALL to vote with the Ds to limit the President's war power while they sat on their hands and their mouths sealed as they watched Mueller interfere in the House election. Damn them all to hell and back. We are seeing why one man can't keep us from being attacked with ZERO justice. And McConnell just smiles and says "listen to Barr". S.O.B.

[Kendra]

Might even be worth the to watch Tucker and Hannity tonight. Judge J will likely go through the roof tomorrow

[Addie]

Salon - Igor Derysh

White House had "to calm" Trump after he learned Justice Department won't charge McCabe: report

President Donald Trump raged at White House officials after the Department of Justice said it would not charge former acting FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe after investigating whether he lied to investigators.

Prosecutors dropped the investigation into whether McCabe lied when questioned about a media leak related to a probe of the Clinton Foundation after nearly two years. The case was referred to a grand jury but stalled for months. No indictment came, even as prosecutors rejected McCabe's appeal to drop the case, according to The New York Times.

The decision infuriated Trump, who was "not given a heads-up and was upset" because he "believes very strongly that action should be taken," a White House official told The Washington Post. Trump was so angry that "White House lawyers moved to calm the president," according to the report.

Adding:

Talking Points Memo: ‘I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Be Free Of This President And His Maniacal Rage,’ McCabe Says

[pipistrelle]

Individual-1 lies thousands of times to the public. Barr prevaricates endlessly. Endless IG investigations into unethical behavior at many agencies. Yet we the people supposed to get hot and bothered by McCabe's "lack of candor"?

[Slim Cognito]

How does one "calm" a 72 year old narcissistic perv? An extra large banana split and a copy of Biggins Magazine?

[fierceredpanda]

How does one "calm" a 72 year old narcissistic perv? An extra large banana split and a copy of Biggins Magazine?

Reruns of The Apprentice and fake Time magazine covers with his face on them.

[pipistrelle]

I liked this fake tweet.

k6mur7ts_rvtd13_qvseu5.png

[Addie]

I didn't realize it was fake.

[Slim Cognito]

I didn't realize it was fake.

It was not instantly apparent to me, either.

[TexasFilly]

How does one "calm" a 72 year old narcissistic perv? An extra large banana split and a copy of Biggins Magazine?

He's 73.

[TexasFilly]

It would be interesting to learn the amount of legal fees McCabe and his wife have incurred as a result of all of this. While his wife is a pediatrician and appears to have some additional income as head of the Pediatric ED, etc. 2+ years of legal fees are staggering.

[RTH10260]

How does one "calm" a 72 year old narcissistic perv? An extra large banana split and a copy of Biggins Magazine?

reuse the banana skin, strategically placed it may cause collateral damage

[Somerset]

How does one "calm" a 72 year old narcissistic perv? An extra large banana split and a copy of Biggins Magazine?

90 seconds with Stormy Daniels should help

[Azastan]

How does one "calm" a 72 year old narcissistic perv? An extra large banana split and a copy of Biggins Magazine?

Honestly, how is he not dead yet? He is constantly in a rage.