Friday we heard that Congressional Democrats came out of a meeting with FBI Director James Comey incensed and questioning his integrity and ability to lead the organization. Here may be one of the reasons why:
According to a new exclusive report in the UK’s Independent newspaper, former MI6 agent Christopher Steele became so alarmed at the national security threat Donald Trump’s Russian ties posed to the US and the UK, he turned over copies of his findings to both British and American intelligence way back in July and continued working on the case without pay even after the election in November.
But after months of inaction, the report says
...Mr Steele became increasingly frustrated that the FBI was failing to take action on the intelligence from others as well as him. He came to believe there was a cover-up, that a cabal within the Bureau blocked a thorough inquiry into Mr Trump, focusing instead on the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.It is believed that a colleague of Mr Steele in Washington, Glenn Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who runs the firm Fusion GPS, felt the same way and, at the end also continued with the Trump case without being paid.
Steele sent repeated and increasingly urgent memos to the FBI throughout the summer, finally compiling them all into one document (the dossier published on Buzzfeed). This was sent to the FBI in September.
But there seemed to be little progress in a proper inquiry into Mr Trump. The Bureau, instead, seemed to be devoting their resources in the pursuit of Hillary Clinton’s email transgressions.The New York office, in particular, appeared to be on a crusade against Ms Clinton. Some of its agents had a long working relationship with Rudy Giuliani, by then a member of the Trump campaign, since his days as public prosecutor and then Mayor of the city.
The report notes Giuliani’s boasting in a televised interview of “a surprise or two you’re going to hear about in the next few days...a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn things around” just prior to FBI director James Comey’s the release of Comey’s infamous letter reopening the Clinton e-mail investigation announcing further inquiries into Clinton e-mails. (edited to address complaints about wording in the comments)
In desperation, a “frustrated and demoralized” Steele finally turned to Mother Jones reporter David Corn in October in hopes of bringing wider attention to his investigation. However, with the FBI focusing all of its attention on Clinton’s e-mails, the Independent notes that the Corn story sparked little press interest and quickly died.
The only apparent reason that Steele’s blockbuster research has finally come to light is through the efforts of Sen. John McCain.
It was against this background that Senator John McCain, who had been hearing with growing alarm reports about Mr Trump and the Kremlin, met Sir Andrew Wood, a former British ambassador to Moscow, who had spent 10 years in Russia and is highly respected for his knowledge of Russian affairs, at a security conference in Halifax, Canada.Sir Andrew stressed to Senator McCain that he had not read the dossier, but vouched for Mr Steele’s professionalism and integrity. The chair of the Senate Armed Forces Committee then sent an emissary to London who picked up the dossier from an intermediary acting on behalf of Mr Steele. The Senator personally took the material to Mr Comey.
It really appears that the FBI was in no hurry to look into any of the Trump team’s numerous Russian connections and may not have acted at all if it were not for McCain pressing the issue by forcing the dossier into Comey’s hands. What an alarming and frightening situation.
David Corn story about his interview with Christopher Steele in October www.motherjones.com/…
The former spy told me that he was reluctant to be talking with a reporter. He pointed out this was not his common practice. "Someone like me stays in the shadows," he said. But he indicated that he believed this material was important, and he was unsure how the FBI was handling it. Certainly, there had been no public signs that the FBI was investigating these allegations. (The FBI at the time refused to tell me if it had received the memos or if it was examining the allegations.)"This was something of huge significance, way above party politics," the former spy told me. "I think [Trump's] own party should be aware of this stuff as well." He noted that he believed Russian intelligence's efforts aimed at Trump were part of Vladimir Putin's campaign to "disrupt and divide and discredit the system in Western democracies."
Maddow asks the essential question: "what is going on with the FBI?"
Source DailyKos.com
http://footprintsstrategies.com
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