How the FBI used Trump and Mueller to discredit Russia
The FBI’s “Russian collusion” probe has been beset by multiple missteps over the last year, from its mishandling of a key witness’s claims of wiretapping during the 2016 presidential campaign, to its failure to produce any evidence that Russia tried to meddle in the election.
But now, a new report suggests that the bureau used some of its own political enemies as political pawns to discredit and ultimately destroy the probe.
A report from Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog group, documents a variety of ways in which the FBI and other agencies used its own allies to undermine the Russia investigation.
The report details how the FBI, in its efforts to undermine Mueller’s investigation, relied on the political adversaries of the president.
And while some of the allies may have been Democrats, they were not always partisan allies.
A few examples include: In December 2016, the FBI had an internal memo that accused Mueller of leaking classified information to the press to “embarrass the FBI,” a charge the president adamantly denied.
A second memo, sent in February 2017, charged that Mueller had “misled” the public about the probe’s scope, stating that “there is no basis to believe there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.”
This month, the Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into a second leak, this one from the FBI itself.
But even the FBI’s own internal memo, which claimed that Mueller was “the ultimate source of the leaks,” was largely ignored.
It was only when Judicial Watch uncovered that the FBI also used the personal connections of its political adversaries to discredit Mueller and discredit his investigation that the story took off.
The FBI and the Trump administration have repeatedly denied any collusion, but it’s been a growing list of Democratic officials, former Justice Department officials, and the families of former Trump officials that have come forward to accuse the president of attempting to obstruct justice in the investigation.
In one case, former FBI Director Robert Mueller was accused of obstructing justice for refusing to cooperate with the Justice for Hillary Clinton campaign.
He has not been indicted.
In a statement, the Department of Justice said that “a number of individuals” have come forth to accuse Trump of colluding with the Russians to influence the election in 2016.
In the case of Robert Mueller, the “Trump-Russia collusion” allegation has been repeatedly cited in public statements by the president and his allies.
But this week, Judicial Watch released a new document that it said was the first public confirmation that the Trump and his team had been using its political allies to sabotage the Russia probe.
The document was a summary of an internal FBI memo obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
In it, an FBI agent describes a meeting at the FBI headquarters on January 18, 2018.
According to the FBI agent, a woman in the room spoke with the FBI senior leadership, asking them to investigate Trump’s associates and associates of the President.
She said she had some information on who was leaking information to journalists.
The agent went on to describe the meeting, which took place at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. “We have a meeting today, and it’s a very important meeting,” he said.
“There’s an important person, this person, and they want to talk about him.
And we want to get the information from him.”
“They want to find out who this person is.
They want to know who the source is,” he continued.
“I’m not gonna tell you.
But we have this person that’s very important, and we’re trying to get it from him, and if they tell us the source, that’s the end of it.”
The document continued: We’re asking them who this individual is, and then we’re gonna take this person and get the report.
We have the opportunity to ask that person questions and find out what the source was.
We’ll then take it and give it to you.
The person said he could see the source.
He had some sort of source information.
“The FBI has been working to discredit Robert Mueller and to discredit the Special Counsel’s investigation since January 2018,” the document read.
The next day, on February 1, the document states, the person spoke to a representative of the FBI in Washington and they shared information.
The representative said that if Mueller’s team told them what the FBI knew about a specific source, the source would be fired, the agent continued.
In that same meeting, the individual also discussed how the President would have to sign off on the FBI investigation, the article stated.
In March 2018, a week after the FBI made its own “confidential” disclosure to the Justice department, the agency sent another internal memo to the head of the Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
The memo stated that it had determined that the “unlawful conduct” by the FBI “threatened the integrity of the investigation.”
The memo, dated March 26, 2018, also noted that the
Mike Bostick resigns as Arizona State athletic director
Mike Boudreau, the athletic director of the University of Arizona, resigned Monday, the university announced in a statement.
Boudreau had been at the school for 11 years, the school said in a release.
Boden said he had been approached by several people about the job.
He is leaving the university to join a consulting firm.
He was appointed interim AD in January.
Bostick had led the athletic department for the past six years.
He is a graduate of UMass-Amherst, a public school in Massachusetts.
Boswell, the assistant athletic director, will serve as acting AD until the athletic directors’ election.
Bensinger said he was aware of Boudbachs departure, and he asked Bouda for his resignation.
He said he hopes to see a new AD with a different background, which he said has been lacking in recent years.
Boselli, the AD for the University and College Football Playoff, said Boudcbs departure was “devastating” to the institution.
He said he also has spoken to Boudache about his future, but that Boudach’s resignation will not affect Boselli’s ability to continue to lead the program.
“Mike Boudaczyk is a great person, he is a tremendous leader and a tremendous motivator,” Bosellisaid.
“He is one of the most respected and respected people in college athletics.”
Bosellisiathal also thanked Bouds team for being a “very, very successful group of men and women.”
He said the athletic program had achieved great success in recent seasons, and that he will miss his colleagues and teammates.
“He has been a tremendous coach and has built a great team.
He will miss this great group and the Arizona State family,” Bosesllisays.
Bosenbach, who served as Arizona’s AD from 2013-15, was hired in March.
He had a rocky tenure as the school’s AD, with the team losing four of its last six games, including a 38-20 loss to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl.
Bosenbach’s team finished 10-5 in 2015.
He resigned in May after the Wildcats finished the season 8-6.
NMS state’s latest action against NHS workers to be debated in Parliament
A government committee has been told that it will not be debating the government’s latest actions against staff who assist the NHS without the right to be heard.
The move comes after an outcry by members of the public, who claim staff are being discriminated against when they refuse to assist with an ambulance call.
NMS, the Department for Health and the NHS have all defended the action, which they say are aimed at protecting the NHS.
The action was introduced in December and has been challenged in the High Court by a number of members of staff.
One of the challenges, from the RNLI, was that staff could not be given the right of appeal against a decision to cease their work.
The RNLI says that staff have a right to challenge the decision.
NME is currently working on a story about the case.