FBI – Greg Laden's Blog https://gregladen.com/blog Fri, 15 Feb 2019 04:56:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 https://i0.wp.com/gregladen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Greg_Ladens_Blog_Favicon_black_GLb.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 FBI – Greg Laden's Blog https://gregladen.com/blog 32 32 77525483 How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump https://gregladen.com/blog/2019/02/14/how-the-fbi-protects-america-in-the-age-of-terror-and-trump/ https://gregladen.com/blog/2019/02/14/how-the-fbi-protects-america-in-the-age-of-terror-and-trump/#respond Fri, 15 Feb 2019 04:55:49 +0000 https://gregladen.com/blog/?p=31601 Continue reading How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump →]]> This looks interesting:

The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump by Andrew McCabe

On March 16, 2018, just twenty-six hours before his scheduled retirement from the organization he had served with distinction for more than two decades, Andrew G. McCabe was fired from his position as deputy director of the FBI. President Donald Trump celebrated on Twitter: “Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy.”

In The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, Andrew G. McCabe offers a dramatic and candid account of his career, and an impassioned defense of the FBI’s agents, and of the institution’s integrity and independence in protecting America and upholding our Constitution.

McCabe started as a street agent in the FBI’s New York field office, serving under director Louis Freeh. He became an expert in two kinds of investigations that are critical to American national security: Russian organized crime?which is inextricably linked to the Russian state?and terrorism. Under Director Robert Mueller, McCabe led the investigations of major attacks on American soil, including the Boston Marathon bombing, a plot to bomb the New York subways, and several narrowly averted bombings of aircraft. And under James Comey, McCabe was deeply involved in the controversial investigations of the Benghazi attack, the Clinton Foundation’s activities, and Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.

The Threat recounts in compelling detail the time between Donald Trump’s November 2016 election and McCabe’s firing, set against a page-turning narrative spanning two decades when the FBI’s mission shifted to a new goal: preventing terrorist attacks on Americans. But as McCabe shows, right now the greatest threat to the United States comes from within, as President Trump and his administration ignore the law, attack democratic institutions, degrade human rights, and undermine the U.S. Constitution that protects every citizen.

Important, revealing, and powerfully argued, The Threat tells the true story of what the FBI is, how it works, and why it will endure as an institution of integrity that protects America.

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2019/02/14/how-the-fbi-protects-america-in-the-age-of-terror-and-trump/feed/ 0 31601 Flynn Lied to the FBI; Here is the charging document https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/12/01/flynn-lied-fbi-charging-document/ https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/12/01/flynn-lied-fbi-charging-document/#comments Fri, 01 Dec 2017 15:29:48 +0000 https://gregladen.com/blog/?p=28096 Continue reading Flynn Lied to the FBI; Here is the charging document →]]> If you lie to a US Federal agent, they can bust you, and my understanding is that judges like to sentence those convicted of this by juries to jail for long periods of time. But, if you are charged with this crime and plea guilty, so there is no jury trial, then there is room to negotiate.

“If I did a tenth of what she did, I’d be in jail today.”
LOL
Note that FBI agents know how to make sure prosecution will get a conviction. They write everything down carefully, have witnesses, etc. So, if they ask you a question and you lie, you are now in the process. It is just a matter of time until you are signing a plea agreement.

Michael Flynn, perhaps owing to hubris, perhaps owing to fear, perhaps owing to sub-average intelligence, perhaps to a combination, managed to lie, apparently multiple times, to FBI agents.

Unlike most of the other characters in the Trump-Russia scandal, Flynn has been more involved in Turkish shenanigans than Russian, but the charges going down today do relate to Russia.

He is charged with lying about his interactions with the Russian ambassador to the US about sanctions, and about a pending UN Security Council resolution related to Russia.

Here is the charging document:

Case Document 1 Filed 11/30/17 Page 1 of 2

UNITED STATES DISTRICT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Criminal N0.:
-Violation: 18 U.S.C. 1001 (False
– Statements)
MICHAEL T. LYNN,
Defendant.

The Special Counsel informs the Court: Case:
Assigned To Judge Contreras, Rudolph

QM Assign. Date: 1113012017

(False Statements) Description: INFORMATION (A)

On or about January 24, 2017, defendant MICHAEL T. FLYNN did willfully and knowingly make materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations in a matter within the jurisdiction of the executive branch of the Government of the United States, to wit, the defendant falsely stated and represented to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in Washington, DC, that:

(i) On or about December 29, 2016, FLYNN did not ask the Government of Russia’s Ambassador to the United States (“Russian Ambassador”) to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia that same day; and did not recall the Russian Ambassador subsequently telling him that Russia had chosen to moderate its response to those Sanctions as a result of his request; and

(ii) On or about December 22, 2016, did not ask the Russian Ambassador to delay the vote on or defeat a pending United Nations Security Council resolution; and that the Russian Ambassador subsequently never described Russia’s response to his request.

(Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001(a)(2))

ROBERT S. MUELLER, 111
Special Counsel

The penalty for that crime can be five years in prison. Two counts, that could be ten years in prison. Likely, a plea will result in some months in prison, or zero time. So, he’s looking at ten years vs. a walk in the park, but only if he is totally forthcoming about all he knows. All. He. Knows.

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2017/12/01/flynn-lied-fbi-charging-document/feed/ 33 28096 We Now Know FBI Is Rigging Election https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/11/04/we-now-know-fbi-is-rigging-election/ https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/11/04/we-now-know-fbi-is-rigging-election/#comments Fri, 04 Nov 2016 14:10:46 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=23231 Continue reading We Now Know FBI Is Rigging Election →]]> We now know that the several elements of the FBI, especially the New York Office, are manipulating this election in favor of Donald Trump, possibly in cahoots with Rudy Giuliani.

This is not FBI Director Comey releasing vague memos. Well, there is that, but it is not clear if Comey wrote that damaging memo because he wanted to hurt Clinton, or if it was because he was not fully in control of his agents and was trying to pre-empt a leak. What we now know is that several FBI agents, spread across the country but with a pernicious group in New York, are strong Trump supporters, and have been taking action to hurt Clinton and help Trump. The New York agents, in particular, seem to be doing so in cahoots with Trump Surrogate, syphilitic former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Behind the whole thing is Breitbart, the hard right wing crazies and conspiracy theorists, who took over the Trump Campaign a while back. And behind that, is Robert Mercer.

Robert Mercer, a billionaire hedge fund investor, is the main funding source for Breitbart. Robert Mercer also funds a major pro Trump super-pac. Breitbart and the super-pac have supplied the Trump campaign with their campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, and CEO. If Trump wins this election, Putin won’t be the main guy in charge of the US. It will be Robert Mercer pulling the strings.

This group of unsavory characters and their colleagues are linked to the right wing organization known as the “Government Accountability Institute” which produced an anti-Clinton (both Clintons) book, which has apparently become the Conspiracy Bible for a number of FBI agents, who attempted to use this source as the basis to launch at least one investigation against Hillary Clinton. Higher level, relatively normal, FBI personnel put the kibosh on that effort, but the Trump supporting agents apparently continue to agitate against Clinton and in favor or Trump.

Comey’s release of the memo was either an attempt to get ahead of those agents, whom he felt were going to send the info around anyway, or in support of these lower level efforts.

And all of this has a vague relationship to the concept of having sex with piles of hay, trees, and mulch. You’ll have to watch this excellent report by Maddow to get that, and to link together all these details.

It is a long report but very much worth watching every minute:

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