Tag: FBI Director James Comey

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FBI Will Review 16,750 Pages of Comey Documents in Response to Judicial Watch FOIA

james-comey

FEBRUARY 16, 2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, Judicial Watch today announced that the FBI agreed to review 16,750 pages of records in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking the records for former FBI Director James Comey that were archived after he was dismissed. Judicial Watch came to this agreement with the FBI shortly after it filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to obtain the Comey records (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-00262)).

Judicial Watch discovered the cache of Comey records as a result of disclosures by the Justice Department in separate Judicial Watch litigation (here and here) to obtain the controversial “Comey memos” that allegedly memorialize conversations Comey had with President Trump.

There is significant public interest in Comey’s conduct and the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email and Russia collusion investigations and targeting of President (and candidate) Trump.

“The FBI has a terrible record of playing shell games with records – whether it be texts or memos by its disgraced former director James Comey,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Our lawsuit, we hope, will force the FBI to expedite the review and the release of the 16,750 pages of Comey documents. Open the files.”

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NY Times’ Krugman Takes the highly-anticipated “2017 Fake News Awards”

TIME FALSELY reported that President Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr

photo TIME FALSELY reported that President Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office.

January 18,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, President Trump presented the highly-anticipated “2017 Fake News Awards” last night on twitter of coarse . The GOP website listing the Fake News Awards crashed due to overwhelming public interest .

For those of you who missed it the Ridgewood blog has rounded out the top 10 . See if any of your favorites made the list. My personal favorite grabbed the number one spot . The New York Times’ Paul Krugman who has become emblematic for why so many people look down at the profession of “economist” . Once again he made a major fool of himself and his readers . For years Krugman has been the gold standard of ,what not to do . While even a broken clock is right twice a day Krugman has managed to underperform even that sad comparison.

So it is with great delight the Ridgewood blog presents the winners of President Trump’s 2017 Fake News Awards:

1. The New York Times’ Paul Krugman claimed on the day of President Trump’s historic, landslide victory that the economy would never recover.
2. ABC News’ Brian Ross CHOKES and sends markets in a downward spiral with false report.
3. CNN FALSELY reported that candidate Donald Trump and his son Donald J. Trump, Jr. had access to hacked documents from WikiLeaks.
4. TIME FALSELY reported that President Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office.
5. Washington Post FALSELY reported the President’s massive sold-out rally in Pensacola, Florida was empty. Dishonest reporter showed picture of empty arena HOURS before crowd started pouring in.
6. CNN FALSELY edited a video to make it appear President Trump defiantly overfed fish during a visit with the Japanese prime minister. Japanese prime minister actually led the way with the feeding.
7. CNN FALSELY reported about Anthony Scaramucci’s meeting with a Russian, but retracted it due to a “significant breakdown in process.”
8. Newsweek FALSELY reported that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake President Trump’s hand.
9. CNN FALSELY reported that former FBI Director James Comey would dispute President Trump’s claim that he was told he is not under investigation.
10. The New York Times FALSELY claimed on the front page that the Trump administration had hidden a climate report.
11. And last, but not least: “RUSSIA COLLUSION!” Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!

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Obama Doesn’t Believe FBI Director Trying to Influence Election With Clinton Email Investigation

130529194838 james comey story top

By MEGHAN KENEALLY
JORDYN PHELPS

Oct 31, 2016, 3:33 PM ET

The White House says it will remain neutral regarding the reopening of an investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server, after the discovery of more emails that FBI Director James Comey said may be relevant.

After a letter from Comey to Congress on Friday, which stated that new emails found on a laptop used by Clinton aide Huma Abedin “appear to be pertinent to our investigation,” members of both parties have criticized the timing of the move.

Today the White House declined to state an opinion on Comey’s action.

“I’ll neither defend nor criticize what Director Comey has decided to communicate to the public about this investigation,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in Monday’s press briefing.

In an effort to stay neutral on the topic, Earnest said, the White House will continue to be “scrupulous” in “avoiding even the appearance of political interference” in the investigation entrusted to the Department of Justice and the FBI.

He also said that President Barack Obama doesn’t think Comey is trying to sway the presidential race.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/white-house-defend-criticize-fbi-director-james-comey/story?id=43197456

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Hillary Clinton demands answers and Democrats call foul as FBI reopens email investigation over files found on sexting congressman’s computer

Clinton email scandal

Barney Henderson, new york

David Lawler, washington

The FBI has announced it is investigating new emails sent by Hillary Clinton on a private server during her time as Secretary of State, sending her campaign into panic mode just eleven days before the presidential election.

The emails were found during an investigation into illicit text messages between former congressman, Anthony Weiner, and a 15-year-old girl, according to the New York Times. Huma Abedin, Mr Weiner’s wife, is one of Mrs Clinton’s closest aides and was pictured with her yesterday as the news broke.

Moments after the FBI’s director James Comey announced the effective re-opening of the Clinton email investigation, Donald Trump seized the moment to go for the jugular at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, calling the announcement “bigger than Watergate”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/28/fbi-probe-newly-discovered-hillary-clinton-emails-and-reopen-inv/

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The FBI Investigation of EmailGate Was a Sham

FBI Director James Comey

NSA Analyst: We now have incontrovertible proof the Bureau never had any intention of prosecuting Hillary Clinton

By John R. Schindler • 09/25/16 8:30am

From the moment the EmailGate scandal went public more than a year ago, it was obvious that the Federal Bureau of Investigation never had much enthusiasm for prosecuting Hillary Clinton or her friends. Under President Obama, the FBI grew so politicized that it became impossible for the Bureau to do its job – at least where high-ranking Democrats are concerned.

As I observed in early July, when Director James Comey announced that the FBI would not be seeking prosecution of anyone on Team Clinton over EmailGate, the Bureau had turned its back on its own traditions of floating above partisan politics in the pursuit of justice. “Malfeasance by the FBI, its bending to political winds, is a matter that should concern all Americans, regardless of their politics,” I stated, noting that it’s never a healthy turn of events in a democracy when your secret police force gets tarnished by politics.

https://observer.com/2016/09/the-fbi-investigation-of-emailgate-was-a-sham/

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FBI releases report on Clinton email investigation

hillary-clinton-what-difference-does-it-make

By Katie Bo Williams – 09/02/16 01:26 PM EDT

The FBI on Friday released a detailed report on its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, including the summary of its three-hour interview with the former secretary of State.

The report totals 58 pages, although large sections have been redacted.

In July, FBI Director James Comey announced that he did not recommend charging Clinton with willfully mishandling classified information.

While Comey called the former secretary of State “extremely careless” for using the server, he repeatedly said that “no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/294309-fbi-releases-report-of-clinton-email-investigation

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Comey’s legal error undermines law enforcement with ‘Clinton Defense’

FBI Director James Comey

By Ron Sievert, contributor

As I read the recent comments of FBI Director James Comey regarding his recommendation not to pursue criminal charges against Hillary Clinton over the use of a private email server, I naturally wondered why an investigator was making final judgments on the interpretation of the law when that function has always been assigned first to the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney.

In doing so, he ignored one statute (18 USC 793 (f) related to gross negligence — see the recent The Hill article on the execution of an Iranian spy) — apparently disregarded the knowing destruction of government documents, and then, perhaps of equal legal concern, he added the wrong mental state to the statute prohibiting knowing removal of classified documents with intent to retain them at an unauthorized location. (18 USC 1924).

Specifically he required that the government prove “willfulness” or knowing violation of a specific law under 1924 before he would proceed against the improper removal of thousands of classified documents to her private Blackberry and server.

Ignorance of the language of the actual statutes was thus a defense. In his congressional hearing he seemed to attribute this to DOJ. Although I have no doubt that some in DOJ, given the Department’s reputation for caution, might have gone overboard and asked for this mental state, it is not the law and was never applied that way in my 25 years as a federal prosecutor with the exception of tax, export and currency prosecutions.

https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/crime/291796-comeys-legal-error-undermines-law-enforcement-with-clinton-defense

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Senate Judiciary Chair: ‘FBI Tried to Gag Its Agents With Non-Disclosure Agreement’ on Clinton Probe

fbi-jackets-generic


By Barbara Hollingsworth | July 7, 2016 | 12:31 PM EDT
(CNSNews.com) – In a strongly worded letter to FBI Director James Comey about his handling of the investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for government business, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said he was troubled that “the FBI tried to gag its agents with a non-disclosure agreement on this matter, in violation of whistleblower protection statutes.”

Noting the many “inconsistencies” in Comey’s announcement on Tuesday that he would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton, Grassley’s July 6 letter stated that “in light of these inconsistencies, it is even more troubling that the FBI tried to gag its agents with a non-disclosure agreement on this matter, in violation of whistleblower protection statutes.

“In your July 1st reply to my February 4th letter, you indicated that agents working on this case were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement that failed to exempt protected whistleblowing. Only after I wrote to you did you advise your FBI agents that they are still free to speak with Congress regarding waste, fraud, and abuse,” Grassley wrote.

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/senate-judiciary-chairman-fbi-director-tried-gag-agents-involved

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Lynch: “Partial Transcript” Of Orlando 911 Calls Will Have References To Islamic Terrorism Removed

Attorney General Loretta Lynch

Posted By Tim Hains
On Date June 19, 2016

Lynch: “Partial Transcript” Of Orlando 911 Calls Will Have References To Islamic Terrorism Removed

In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd, Attorney General Loretta Lynch says that on Monday, the FBI will release edited transcripts of the 911 calls made by the Orlando nightclub shooter to the police during his rampage.

“What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this man’s pledges of alleigance to terrorist groups, and further his propaganda,” Lynch said. “We are not going to hear him make his assertions of allegiance [to the Islamic State].”

The Washington Post reported last week that the gunman made multiple phone calls while holding hostages: “The gunman who opened fire inside a nightclub here said he carried out the attack because he wanted ‘Americans to stop bombing his country,’ according to a witness who survived the rampage.”

Salon reported that: “Everybody who was in the bathroom who survived could hear him talking to 911, saying the reason why he’s doing this is because he wanted America to stop bombing his country.”

The Washington Post also noted that during his 911 call from the club, the gunman referenced the Boston Marathon bombers and claimed “that he carried out the shooting to prevent bombings, [echoing] a message the younger Boston attacker had scrawled in a note before he was taken into custody by police.”

FBI Director James Comey said at a press conference that the shooter’s past comments about Islamist groups were “inflammatory and contradictory.”

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/06/19/lynch_partial_transcript_of_orlando_911_calls_will_have_references_to_isis_cut_out.html