Writes William Webster in "I Headed the F.B.I. and C.I.A./There’s a Dire Threat to the Country I Love/The rule of law is the principle that protects every American from the abuse of monarchs, despots and tyrants" (NYT).
William Webster was director of the F.B.I. from 1978-1987 and director of the C.I.A. from 1987-1991.
He is 95 years old.
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It's a wetland, not a swamp. Many species thrive.
Obama says get out of the way, Webster.
He’s demented. The fbi as it is constituted is a grave danger to this country.
He's just cheerleading, he's too far removed to know the current situation at the FBI.
"The rule of law is the principle that protects every American from the abuse of monarchs, despots and tyrants"
Yeah, Bill, we can handle that ourselves on the local level.
Someone should interview him on tv -- "heyyy, I don't remember saying that?!!? Whos'e the New York times again?
Richard Jewell did not incriminate himself.
He's part of the problem.
Please tell me the last sentence is "And I am Marie of Rumania."
He's just cheerleading, he's too far removed to know the current situation at the FBI.
Yup. Has no idea.
Bill, we've traced the call; it's coming from inside the house.
That treat to democracy is coming from inside your FBI.
"William Webster was director of the F.B.I. from 1978-1987 and director of the C.I.A. from 1987-1991."
The CIA missed the fall of the Soviet Union.
In fact, up until the moment the Soviet Union fell (Berlin Wall comes down, etc), the CIA was reporting the Soviet Union was financially and politically stable, in fact, never financially more stable!!
LOL
The CIA has been wrong about every single major geo-political event everywhere in the world for the last 70 years.
Every. Single. One.
Two things: 1) Mr. Webster was a swamp dweller himself and is perhaps still benefiting from the various systemic emoluments of his time and 2) he very likely thinks back on the good old days of FDR, Truman and Eisenhower as the pinnacle of American accomplishments though that would require his dismissal of CIA overreach (think Iran) and FBI scandal (think Hoover). How wonderful to live in the bubble of elitism. What is the present American equivalent of the British Men's Club? Whatever it is, Webster is a card carrying member.
Dangerous to whom? The citizens, or the heavily protected federal employees?
Susan: "Richard Jewell did not incriminate himself."
Steven Hatfill did not incriminate himself.
Waco, TX.
"The rule of law is the principle that protects every American from the abuse of monarchs, despots and tyrants"
Put the Comey et al. in jail and I will believe you.
Whitey Bulger did incriminate himself....and the FBI helped him and supported him and committed crimes for him for a decade.
What's this world coming to, when Glenn Greenwald is a more trustworthy and credible analyst of current events than William Webster is?
Mr. Webster, what steps were taken after Hoover's death to ensure the FBI would not be further politicized?
The FBI is no better than the LAPD. It never has been. And never will be.
And Ames and Hansen were spying for Russia while Webster was director of the FBI and CIA. He’s a fucking moron.
Webster is collecting his Swamp Pension.
Wray needs to resign. He’s not up to the job.
OMike,
Jail?
Well, sure, I'm fine with keeping him incarcerated while the gallows is being built.
OK Boomer!
Thanks Bill. I feel completely reassured now. Thank you for restoring my confidence in our heroes at the FBI. I don't know how I could ever have doubted them.
Appearing in the NYT as it does, I assume that this is meant to assure well heeled liberals that criticism of the FBI over the IG report and other matters is founded on nothing but right wing conspiracy theories.
J. Edgar Hoover could not have said it better himself.
Wow. In that article, did he answer a single one of the substantive criticisms? Did he even notice them?
William Webster was director of the F.B.I. from 1978-1987 and director of the C.I.A. from 1987-1991.
Oh? CIA Director in 1989? That was a pretty significant time, No?
But in most pivotal events of 1989, the CIA was decidedly behind the curve. In the second half of the 1980s it consistently failed to deduce Gorbachev’s true intentions. As late as September 1988 the CIA was still issuing memoranda that predicted the continued survival of the Eastern European regimes. When the Berlin Wall came down and the White House demanded information, the embarrassed U.S. spies had to admit that they had no agents in place in East Berlin or the Kremlin.
Wray knew King George III personally.
Per Barack, Webster is an old white guy who caused the problems.
I saw Slade Gordon and some other ancient Senator on CNN the other day attacking Trump or something. Pathetic.
and then there was that report re ft. hood, which had his name on it, which was quite embarrassing, he was also the director during pam 103,
Thanks Bay.
Webster presided over a gigantic CIA intelligence failure. Heck of a job, Bill.
and bcci if memory serves, he does seem out of the loop,
Get out of the way old man
We spend billions on the IC every year and all we get is wrong opinions and conclusions. Giant fuck ups. And most of the fuck ups are Ivy Leaguers although Brennan is a Fordham grad.
he had been head of the bureau in the post hoover era,
I was a metropolitan prosecutor during all of Webster’s tenure as Director of the Bureau. The agency was politicized then and mildly corrupt in that sense, as was the DOJ. More overt corruption came with the Clintons, but Obama seems to have iced the cake.
It is inconceivable that Webster could be abreast of current offense and assert such nonsense. This is like the three law profs, Blakey Ford, the “whistleblower” and Greta the truant, conjecturers whose claims would have been dismissed out of hand as unreliable prior to the succumbing of the left to the insanity they are inflicting on the rest of us. He’s just an out of touch old man telling us what he wishes were true.
The Whistleblower is a CIA analyst.
The same idiots who don’t understand the United States are the ones analyzing other countries.
the operation was a success, the patient died,
https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/testimony/report-of-the-william-webster-commission-and-the-events-at-ft.-hood
Oh bless his heart.
So Bill, was it gross incompetence or intentionality?
And what was it back in your day? How about when Hoover was running it? In fact, just what the hell period are you talking about?
the bulger op would go on for another 20 years, till durham uncovered the nexus, weld Delahunt (who was tipped in the departed) mueller were all apart,
Since Mr. Webster left these organizations there has been vanishingly close to 100% turn-over. And yet he is fully confident that they are A-OK. Further confirmation that he is out of touch is that he seems unaware that his efforts are most likely harming the reputations of the Agency and of the Bureau.
The quiet from within the FBI is astonishing.
Not quite young enough to run for president . . . .
Pre Clinton era. pre Patriot Act.
I don’t believe him. It looks like they dragged him out to front for them.
Apparently it is dangerous to accuse the FBI of the crimes they commit, this sounds familiar.
I did not read the NYT article.
What does Webster say about the FBI's framing and prosecution of Michael Flynn, the former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency?
It's always fun to watch the party-line flipping and flopping.
The FBI never commits a crime, only FBI agents do, so shut up.
The United States did very well without an FBI for 132 years, and without a civilian spy agency for much longer. The FISA court was created in the wake of Watergate and the Church Hearings as a means to ensure what happened to Carter Page and probably many others in the Trump campaign and White House, including the President himself, COULD NOT HAPPEN. For decades the FBI and the CIA were presented by "progressives" as villains, as threats to democracy and freedom. Lately, the so-called progressives have been down on democracy and indifferent at best regarding basic liberties such as freedom of speech (however, absolutely zoned on insane "liberties" like gender self-identification) and consequently they aren't concerned by secret police organizations. Probably because they come in handy when repression of fundamental rights is key to one's political goals.
The revelations of IG Horowitz suggests our national police is both out of control and contemptuous of the Constitution and expressed will of the nation. When John Durham brings down indictments it should send a clear signal to everyone of good will that the FBI must be abolished and a new, more decentralized national investigative agency must be created -- one more like the original FBI, disarmed and without the power of arrest.
"The rule of law is the principle that protects every American from the abuse of monarchs, despots and tyrants"
Just so. The FBI didn't abide by the rule of law.
when the progressives seize the commanding heights, comey made much on 60 minutes of his disapproval of the king wiretap, which did seem excessive, but security services of a certain era, in various countries, the French secret service chief, name escapes me, in the 80s, which commissioned the op against greenpeace warrior, the british security service, was inept at best allowing not only Philby but burgess, maclean, cairncross, klugmann, et al,
"The rule of law is the principle that protects every American from the abuse of monarchs, despots and tyrants"
And from dirty cops, like those who often run the FBI.
FBI agents falsifying evidence is something that could happen to anyone. It's like stepping on a lego piece at home.
The F.B.I. has been a "broken" (i.e., corrupt) organization from its founding.
this fellow,
https://www.amazon.com/Fourth-World-War-Diplomacy-Espionage/dp/0688092187
that was before the era when the service, employed the barbouzes, the Corsican rough men, to knee cap French military rogues as well as the errant Moroccan militant,
I read donner and theoharis and gid powers, I read felt's the fbi pyramid, which illustrates the extent of his folly, but that was all in the past we thought, halperins lawless empire was brief but rather belabored,
I wonder if he's paid any attention to the FBI lab scandals, with lots of innocent people in prison based on the lying testimony of FBI personnel? Along with the agency doing everything it could to NOT try to clean up the messes?
Wonder if he paid any attention to Wray basically saying "All this noise is nothing, the Bureau is just fine" while numerous senior people were being fired/demoted/looking at criminal charges for their crap?
Wonder if he paid any attention to the Pulse Nightclub terrorist's wife being acquitted in large part because the bloody FBI account differed with what was in the records the jury saw, and when asked why they hadn't recorded the interviews(despite even Eric Holder having ordered them to start doing that years before) the agent in charge replied "I never occurred us to do that"?
First step to actually fixing things would be for a new Director to say "We've got real problems, and we're going to clean them up, whatever it takes", and actually DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Chances of that happening without huge outside pressure: just about zero.
This opinion piece will age as well as the reactions to Nunes' memo when Durham's investigation is complete.
the british security service, was inept at best allowing not only Philby but burgess, maclean, cairncross, klugmann, et al,
The CIA did not cover itself with glory catching Aldrich Ames. I have the book by the co-workers. He was suspicious for years, coming into work areas and asking about stuff he had no need to know.
The FBI was no better with Hanssen.
Keystone Kops
In addition to the subjects father, had been an fbi informant for some 15 years, was that a reason he wasn't on the watchlist, of course this overlapped with phil haney's analytic cell that mapped the tabligh network, years before san Bernardino, that jeh Johnson shut down,
his brother in law, mark Waugh, was the one who suggested they look into him, that was the blog I referenced yesterday, some might say the attitude toward ames was a reaction to angleton's excessive inquiries but that's a misreading according to codevilla,
The revelations of IG Horowitz suggests our national police is both out of control and contemptuous of the Constitution and expressed will of the nation.
Britain's first police force was the "Bow Street Runners" founded by Henry Fielding a judge and the author of "Tom Jones."
They were finally coopted by the criminals and would make arrangements on who got caught.
Under the new legislation the Bow Street office maintained a privileged position among the other offices of the metropolis, due to the closer relationship of its magistrates with the Home Office and to the financial resources at their disposal, regulated by an informal agreement with the Treasury rather than by legislation, therefore increasing the policing resources available.[30] This made it possible for the government to use the Runners and the patrolmen as they thought necessary, increasing their range of investigation, that now included more engagement with threats to national security and social disorder,
Sounds like the FBI, doesn't it?
Flynn case over. Another disappointment.
past is not merely prologue,
https://twitter.com/paulsperry_/status/1206599445032386560
Senile coot is what I am looking for
oh this guy who had ties to McCain and jeb as well,
https://twitter.com/paulsperry_/status/1206419647056232448
LOL - no sale, Webbie
Drago said...
The CIA missed the fall of the Soviet Union.
In fact, up until the moment the Soviet Union fell (Berlin Wall comes down, etc), the CIA was reporting the Soviet Union was financially and politically stable, in fact, never financially more stable!!
___________&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&-------------
Putin was young KGB in East Germany at that time.
Boy, did he get a measure of our boys in CIA
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32066222
Vladimir Putin's formative German years
Anyone who wants to understand Vladimir Putin today needs to know the story of what happened to him on a dramatic night in East Germany a quarter of a century ago.
It is 5 December 1989 in Dresden, a few weeks after the Berlin Wall has fallen. East German communism is dying on its feet, people power seems irresistible.
Crowds storm the Dresden headquarters of the Stasi, the East German secret police, who suddenly seem helpless.
Then a small group of demonstrators decides to head across the road, to a large house that is the local headquarters of the Soviet secret service, the KGB.
"The guard on the gate immediately rushed back into the house," recalls one of the group, Siegfried Dannath. But shortly afterwards "an officer emerged - quite small, agitated".
"He said to our group, 'Don't try to force your way into this property. My comrades are armed, and they're authorised to use their weapons in an emergency.'"
That persuaded the group to withdraw.
But the KGB officer knew how dangerous the situation remained. He described later how he rang the headquarters of a Red Army tank unit to ask for protection.
The answer he received was a devastating, life-changing shock.
"We cannot do anything without orders from Moscow," the voice at the other end replied. "And Moscow is silent."
Wray immediately brought in as two of his top assistants two guys who were up to their eyebrows I the SpyGate scale. So no, I dot trust him.
They massively redacted, and continue to fight for the redactions, for many of the documents coming out of the FBI over the last several years, and their only real justification for the redactions is to protect reputations of their cronies. And protecting reputations is not a legitimate reason for redactions under for example, FOIA.
We still don’t know what contractors were accessing the NSA databases through theFBI’s FISA 702(16)(17) interface. The key points in the FISC opinion continue to be redacted. We know that 85% of x,xxxx queries trough this interface during the last six notes before Adm Rogers shut it partially down in May 2016 were by these contractors and there was no documented need or justification for those 85% of searches. We just don’t know whether that was 85% of 1,000 queries or 85% of 9,999 queries. We don’t know who was doing it or how frequently, just that it was common, egregious, and illegal (thank you Jim Comey and his predecessor Bob Mueller). Stuff that the American public have a right, and a duty to know, and don’t.
Keep this in mind. Dir Wray was picked by DAG Rosenstein who at the time appears to have been heavily compromised. We still don’t know what Rosenstein authorized Mueller to do, because of continued redactions, or how the group of highly political Clinton Supporting prosecutors were assigned to Mueller, led by the odious Andrew Weissman, who should have been conflicted out through his meetings with Steele and Simpson, along with his old boss Bruce Ohr. Indeed, how does someone who showed up at Crooked Hillary’s “victory” party election night get to run the investigation into her opponent?
Hillary gets away with egregious conduct for a cabinet official.
Crossfire Hurricane looks like the only thing our LEA’s were consumed with from 2016 and on.
Main justice then covers up Sen Warner’s directing James Wolfe to leak Carter Pages name to buzzfeed.
Yeah, everything seems great in that sphere.
Nothing to see here. Move on.
the last link involves serge milian, source d, supposedly in the dossier, who belatedly discovered this was a bad transaction,
in other news, judge Sullivan has decided not to stick his neck out,
And Ames and Hansen were spying for Russia while Webster was director of the FBI and CIA. He’s a fucking moron.
My theory on why the CIA is so inept: its upper-echelons are either compromised or are actual commies who have been ordered to allow obvious moles to function for years and tolerate lax standards on the handling of classified materials. Its the only theory that makes sense. Either that or they are inbred morons with IQs of 85 and the management skills of Barney Fife.
he was chris Christie's atty in bridge gate, that kept him ending up as a troll, but I mentioned the rest of his cv.
Whatever you do don't mention the muh-muh-muh mole the head of the FBI inserted into the trump campaign.
The rule of law is the principle that protects every American from the abuse of monarchs, despots and tyrants
What about faceless bureaucrats drunk on power? Are they completely immune from the rule of law, or just mostly immune?
It's either for show or it's a special kind of hubris to think that he knows enough about the current state of an organization, that he left decades ago, to be able to make any kind of firm statement about it.
Well hell.... he gets his pension(s) from the feds... and no doubt lots of extra $$$ from those connected. Plus his whole career.. so he has a vested interest of making them look squeaky clean.. I mean not a 'smidgen', as Obama would say, of bad in 'em!!
His word means nothing.
[Rory said...
"The rule of law is the principle that protects every American from the abuse of monarchs, despots and tyrants"
Yeah, Bill, we can handle that ourselves on the local level.]
What mechanism is there to protect us from the CIA, FBI, NSA, DOJ and all the rest of the unelected bureaucrats - aka, the Deep State? Certainly not the rule of law - they are the law and no laws pertain to them.
Nothing Could Have Changed In 30 Years Get Off My Lawn.
Yeah, well that's nice. I'm sure the FBI is not "Broken" - NOW. It WAS broken under Comey. But I don't remember Mr. Webster saying anything in 2013-2017.
Webster is another of these GRAND OLD MEN like Mueller. We aren't supposed to question or analyze what they say or do, because they are Life Long Republicans beloved by everyone in DC. Especially the Washington Post and the Democrats.
If you think Wray is bad, why did Trump appoint him? Trump really, really, has a problem in appointing subordinates who don't like him or are incompetent. Why he's constantly doing this, I have no idea.
You have got to be kidding me? What planet is this guy living on?
As much as I respect Webster, I have on the best of authority that a recent director didn’t know how an investigation involving the POTUS was handled, so I doubt Webster is current. Apparently that recent director refused to have his security clearance restored so that he could avoid being interviewed by the IG. What does Webster think of that?
My theory on why the CIA is so inept: its upper-echelons are either compromised or are actual commies who have been ordered to allow obvious moles to function for years and tolerate lax standards on the handling of classified materials.
It all went downhill after Colby railroaded James Jesus Angleton out as Counter-Intelligence chief.
Part of loving your institution is knowing when it's no longer the institution you've loved.
rcocean said...
If you think Wray is bad, why did Trump appoint him? Trump really, really, has a problem in appointing subordinates who don't like him or are incompetent. Why he's constantly doing this, I have no idea.
Obviously part of it is that appointments at that level have to be confirmed by the Senate, and the Senate is going to look askance at anyone who isn't an insider.
"I know that the F.B.I. is not a broken institution."
Apologies if someone made the point upthread, but then I'd hate to think how it would act if it were "broken."
"It is a professional agency worthy of respect and support."
By people who support the Dem deep state staging a coup against its opponents.
"The derision and aspersions are dangerous and unwarranted."
They are indeed dangerous to the prog project. Swampists gambled, and they failed. Trotting out Webster adds to the derision.
The key thing I've learned through all this is, never talk to law enforcement, especially the FBI. Don't answer any questions, not one. Even if they ask you the time of day...say nothing...don't even nod.
Comey was ALWAYS a bizarre choice for FBI director. NO FBI experience. Never a lawman or even in the military. Basically, the guy spent a lot of time as an assistant US attorney in the 90s, then became a US District Attorney under Bush_II, and was appointed by Ashcroft to be DAG in December 2003.
But he couldn't get along with Alberto Gonzales, so he was out as DAG after only 20 months. He then spent 8 years at Boeing and a Hedge Fund making $$$. Then suddenly, Obama picks him out of the blue as FBI director. The DNC press loves him. Chuck Schumer loves. Mueller loves him. Despite the fact he's a "Life long Republican". But why was he FBI director?
If you think Wray is bad, why did Trump appoint him? Trump really, really, has a problem in appointing subordinates who don't like him or are incompetent. Why he's constantly doing this, I have no idea.
You can't appoint an outsider or maverick to the post before it's been shown the beloved institution's leadership is corrupt.
The Horowitz Reports give Trump the opening he needs, and Barr has now had time to survey the field to recommend the right replacement.
Whether that's from inside or outside the Bureau remains to be seen.
We'll know the next FBI leader is well-chosen if the Democrats and Comey are apoplectic at the choice.
Bottom line: If the D's like someone and they're described as a "Life long Republican"
Look out and watch your back!
From a broad perspective, the FBI and CIA played critical roles during the Cold War to prevent the Soviets from: (a) getting a toe-hold here and (b) Taking all of Berlin and eventually most of western Europe.
However, they did so despite some terrible mistakes and misjudgments.
After the Cold War? It's really hard to say. Coasting off past successes? Allowing liberal/politicized ideologues like Brennan and Comey to run roughshod over individual liberties and opposition campaigns? Not so hot.
"If you don’t consider FBI lying, concealment of evidence, and manipulation of documents in order to spy on a U.S. citizen in the middle of a presidential campaign to be a major scandal, what is?"
See, Greenwald, the Websters and Comeys and Brennans and Obamas and Schiffs of the swamp do not care. They do not think the scandal is a scandal. They think they were right. They think they are right. They do not apologize. They rationalize. Who are you deplorables to tell us something's "broken"?
And that's how you get more Trump. Apart from a few Never-Trumpers, even those of us who considered him a clown at the outset are now absolutely opposed to the coup plotters and absolutely committed to his reelection.
Supposedly Wray was suggested to Trump and supported by Gov. Christie. And maybe Kushner and Ivanka liked him.
"Trump really, really, has a problem in appointing subordinates who don't like him or are incompetent. Why he's constantly doing this, I have no idea."
Now, that is an interesting question.
I dread the coming falling out with Barr, who I believe is serving the American people and their republic very well. It will happen something like this:
Barr will go with Durham to the Oval office to discuss the results of Durham's investigation. Barr will report that Brennan, McCabe, Strzok, and L. Page are goners and will be indicted. Trump will say what about that weasel Comey? Barr will say, and Durham will back him up, that Comey was such a slippery character that he didn't leave fingerprints on anything. It appears as though he left his subordinates alone, was never briefed on the bad stuff, and insofar as the witnesses and the documents are concerned, there is no Comey there, let alone a case beyond a reasonable doubt. Trump will say, let's indict him anyway, just to mess him up. Barr will say we can't do that. Trump will fire Barr. Barr will leave office and keep his thoughts to himself.
This FBI Director was out standing in his field and pretended to be pure and noble while the FBI under him diligently covered up all of the mega-crimes of the Bush Crime Family. The new facilities built at GITMO are designed with elder care for the aged for a reason.
Webster is % 1000 behind Wray.
He's the one who screwed up the prosecution of several FALN, BLA, Weatherman, and Black Panther terrorists, costing the lives of dozens of police, security guards, and civilians, and then he screwed the pooch on Iran.
Now he prattles on about sanctity of law with some 22 million illegal immigrants living with impunity in our country shoving their hands in honest people's pockets.
He should remain silent.
Trump really, really, has a problem in appointing subordinates who don't like him or are incompetent. Why he's constantly doing this, I have no idea.
He is not a member of the club. Come on. He is a business guy, not a bureaucrat. He's from Queens and you know how they are.
There is NOBODY in DC who voted for Trump and probably nobody who would return his phone calls. They returned them when he was a donor. Now, he is breaking rice bowls.
You've to know this.
rcocean: "If you think Wray is bad, why did Trump appoint him?"
Recommendations from Trumps early establishment advisors.
Plus, it would only take a handful of anti-Trump republican senators to sink any non-establishment nominee.
Look at what Burr and gang did to Ratcliffe.
This is the most important point: We now know conclusively that McCain was actively collaborating with his beloved dem pals and I would bet that a majority of republican Senators in 2017 actually believed the lies about Trump being pushed by the dems/deep staters/LLR's.
They know better now which explains some of the pro-Trump vehemence on the part of rep senators on the judiciary committee.
Even Sasse was going after FBI leadershio.
The FBI and IC couldn’t even stop the commies from stealing our nuclear secrets during the Manhattan Project.
I think Wray's view is that he was at King & Spaulding when all this happened, all the bad guys are gone, he has to keep the Bureau going and try to minimize the damage, Durham is on the case, and Barr is a real improvement on Holder, Lynch, Sessions, and Rosenstein.
The challenge for Barr and Wray is to sort this out without dumping the whole cart into the street. Those that remember the Church Committee hearings will know what I mean. It took twenty years, the unpredicted collapse of the USSR and and the Iron Curtain, the 1990 Gulf War, the Twin Towers attack, Aldrich Ames (CIA), Robert Hanssen (FBI), and numerous other fiascos before we recovered our intelligence and counter-intelligence capabilities.
Barr and Wray are trying to avoid that while cleaning up the FBI. Look at all the firings, demotions, early retirements, and resignations. I believe the same thing is going on at the CIA, but absent Brennan, things are probably better there then they have been in any case. Those folks are supposed to operate offshore (break the laws of other countries). Brennan really screwed the pooch when he tried to treat the US election like some South American soft coup.
Isn’t he the one who oversaw the appointment of Aldrich Ames as the CIA’s “mole hunter”?
they found a fifth one, fessedore, (sic) after 70 years, then there's wu tai chin, in the companies foreign intelligence branch, in milt bearden's memoir ghosted by risen, he was convinced there was another mole in the interval between ames and hanson, who's to say there wasn't
Leftist criminals who work for the Clinton Crime Syndicate - ruined the FBI and CIA.
Zrimsek @1:32 PM:
You really don't post here often enough, Paul.
it happened partially on his watch,
https://fas.org/irp/congress/1994_rpt/ssci_ames.htm
I linked the report on ft. hood upthread, which was insufficiently thorough,
At some point the most distinguished and intelligent of men (and I'm not saying that William Webster rose to that level) age sufficiently that they are drooling in their oatmeal. Some drool earlier than others. And Webster is way up there age wise.
Given the way they have handled major cases in my lifetime who says they need to continue?Ames Hanson Blind Sheikh Olympic Park TWA800 the list goes on.
Sounds like William Webster knows as much about what the FBI was doing in Crossfire Hurricane as James Comey admitted to knowing- which is jack shit.
that's about the size of it,
https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1206702936409223178
rcocean asked:
"If you think Wray is bad, why did Trump appoint him? Trump really, really, has a problem in appointing subordinates who don't like him or are incompetent. Why he's constantly doing this, I have no idea."
I suspect Wray was all he could get through the Senate. People say Rosenstein recommended him, but I doubt it- more likely was Sessions working on advice from the Senate.
Yes, Trump has made mistakes. He has knuckled under to the Senate, but actually had options he didn't utilize to get people he wanted and could trust- it involves firing people from the top down in each agency until you reach someone/s you don't mind having as the top management. Fuck the Senate, in other words. Leave everyone as acting Directors, ADs, and cabinet secretaries.
that's likely true,
https://www.wsj.com/articles/multiple-levels-of-hearsay-upon-hearsay-11576439564
"The rule of law is the principle that protects every American from the abuse of monarchs, despots and tyrants"
People like Obama.
And jail is too good for him.
L. Patrick Gray, W. Mark Felt, Clyde Tolson and Eliot Ness also haven't said anything against today's FBI.
The bureau was incompetent. The bias is implied, but authorities don't want to go out on a limb and say it. It's the political equivalent of hedging for legal purposes. Say it was bias and you open up a major can of political worms, so better just let people connect the dots themselves.
He has knuckled under to the Senate, but actually had options he didn't utilize to get people he wanted and could trust
I suspect he had no idea how bad it was. He has no one close he can trust other than his children.
Flynn would have been a good ally which is why they had to take him out early. I have hopes that he will be in position to take over the NSC before summer.
Pompeo has been good and Barr seems to be doing what needs to be done.
I wrote too soon. Sullivan has thrown out Flynn's defense.
It will be interesting to see what is behind this.
Trump now has to declassify everything,.
It is somewhat interesting how the list of material for declassification is a portion of the brady material. By withholding the classification material (particularly the Susan Rice memo to file) Attorney General William Barr has built the gallows upon which Flynn will hang….
Barr may not be a white hat in this.
“Trump now has to declassify everything,.”
You really live in fantasy land. Trump will declassify nothing, he has way too much to hide.
Under our constitutional and common law system, there is an explicit DISTRUST of institutions like the FBI.
“Flynn, who pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to FBI agents about his interactions with the Russian ambassador, was the first Trump associate to face charges in the Mueller investigation but among the last to be sentenced.
Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected a motion by Flynn's lawyers to hold prosecutors in contempt for failing to turn over evidence that they claimed would lead to the dismissal of his charges, rebuking his lawyers in one instance for plagiarizing in a court filing.”
Axios
“The sworn statements of Mr. Flynn and his former counsel belie his new claims of innocence and his new assertions that he was pressured into pleading guilty to making materially false statements to the FBI,” U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan wrote, The Washington Post reports.”
@rcocean
"But why was he FBI director?"
Short answer: Clinton.
Longer answer:
1. He took over the investigation of Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich. Rich's money was what got the Clinton Foundation off the ground. Suprisingly enough he couldn't find any problem with the pardon.
2. After his service to the Clintons during the Rich pardon he move to an executive position with Lockheed Martin. During his stay there LM got billions in contracts with the government, and donated millions to the Clinton Foundation. At the end of his stay at a job with LM that he had minimal qualifications for he got severance of $6M.
3. Then off to HBSC who was a major CF donor, and was in a major money laundering scandal. A lot of the laundered money was coming from governments and people who just happened to be CF donors. HBSC was also paying huge speaking fees to Bill at the time. HSBC got off with a 1.3B fine which was pretty minimal for what was going on. Credit for that can go to Holder as well as Comey. Comey wound up on the board of directors. Not sure what the payout was for this sevice to the Clintons.
4. Walla! Without any real qualifications Comey is the new FBI director. One might think he got the job because Clinton might need some cover in case they got caught in something shady like a secret server. Sure enough...
Comey is as dirty as they come. He's a rich man, and the money and power came in one form or another from the Clintons.
That's why he was the FBI Director.
Loyalty must play a part in an organization like the FBI, but I am looking forward to seeing evidence that would cause me to see the derision as inappropriate.
Michael K,
Flynn will have to take the courageous step of withdrawing the plea. That has always been the weakness in his and Powell's approach to this- until they withdraw the plea, they won't get the discovery they are asking for.
I have been reading Sullivan's decision- Sullivan is utterly ridiculous. The interview of Flynn by Pientka and Strzok wasn't any attempt to get at the truth or discover something about the Russian Collusion theory- all of their questions were about the Kisylak phone call, and Pientka and Strzok had transcripts and recordings of the phone call before they even did the interview. If Flynn really did lie, and I am not convinced he did despite the plea, then the lies can't have had a material effect on anything since the FBI already knew everything about the phone call before they interviewed Flynn.
Flynn has been asking for discovery when he isn't even facing a court case to be tried. To fix this problem, he has to withdraw the plea. Once he does that, then discovery will be much more difficult for Van Grack to fight against, and adverse ruling against Flynn will be much more easily appealed. However, to do that will require some courage on Flynn's part. I would withdraw the plea were I in Flynn's position, but that is just me.
How to sound completely out of touch in 36 words.
Flynn has been asking for discovery when he isn't even facing a court case to be tried. To fix this problem, he has to withdraw the plea.
Yeah, I agree. I have spent a lot of time in court cases but this is pretty complex. Sydney Powell's book in on the shelf next to me.
Maybe Sullivan is frustrated he hasn't done this. Hard to understand. Idiots like Inga appear like roaches when bad news appears.
HAH! What a concession that the swamp is running scared they have to get this "beloved" CIA/FBI mascot out of mothballs. What's the matter was Louis Freeh not available or "WMD Slam Dunk" George Tenet?
Shorter Jim Comey with Chris Wallace: What investigation?
Flynn took the plea because the government threatened his son and himself with the FARA charges, but those charges were always bogus ones and this was proven when Flynn's business partner, who refused to plead guilty, fought them in court and won a directed verdict- that is how bogus the charges were.
Flynn's real problem is going to be the plea agreement itself- to withdraw it, he is going to have to admit he lied in the plea itself, but he can definitely point to extreme coercion by the government, and I think it likely no jury would convict him on the facts as they stand, but it is a risk. The discovery will be difficult to deny, and I suspect if pushed, the prosecutors will withdraw the charges rather than be forced to comply.
Here is a way to understand what happened to Flynn. Investigators suspect Flynn and accomplices robbed a bank. They have a recording of a phone call in which Flynn talks to an account manager of the bank about opening an account. The investigators go and interview Flynn about the phone call, and ask him about which sorts of accounts he and the manager discussed, and Flynn only tells them about half the stuff discussed in the call, and tells them he can't remember about the rest, but the investigators have the recording right there and they know about everything that was discussed before they even sat down for the interview. The investigators then threaten to charge Flynn and his son with tax evasion because they made some tax deduction claims that some people think are not legal, and they get him to plead guilty of lying in the interview about the completely legal stuff in the phone call.
Later, as it turns out, the IG of the investigators' department writes a report that reveals the investigators knew all along that Flynn hadn't even robbed the bank- they literally knew the allegations were made up in a bar, and you also learn that Flynn wasn't even guilty of the tax evasion the investigators used to coerce the plea in the first place.
Flynn was the subject of a corrupt investigative team right from the start, and if he wants to dig it out into the open, he is going to have to withdraw that corrupt plea agreement he made with the Mueller team. There are no shortcuts.
If the FBI doesn't help General Flynn stay out of prison it is still corrupt.
Flynn was the subject of a corrupt investigative team right from the start, and if he wants to dig it out into the open, he is going to have to withdraw that corrupt plea agreement he made with the Mueller team. There are no shortcuts.
Part of Flynn's problem is that his first counsel, who advised him to plead , had a conflict on the Turkey thing. I have forgotten the details but they had a FARA issue that might be a conflict and they did not reveal it.
Now, Sydney Powell is a better counsel and has no conflict but he still has to withdraw that plea. He might even have a case of bad faith on the first law firm.
Papadopoulis also had incompetent counsel but I don;'t think it was a conflict of interest. He is going to withdraw his plea, I understand.
William Hedgcock Webster (born March 6, 1924) is an American attorney and jurist serving as Chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council since 2005.
_____&&&&&&-------
Please Thank him for TSA.
I'm reading Judge Sullivan called Gen Flynn traitor in open Court. What was that about?
Apparently one cant lobby for turkey unless youre richard armitage.
Here comes Ukraine:
New York Times
Feb. 19, 2017
A week before Michael T. Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia.
Mr. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Mr. Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
At a time when Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia, and the people connected to him, are under heightened scrutiny — with investigations by American intelligence agencies, the F.B.I. and Congress — some of his associates remain willing and eager to wade into Russia-related efforts behind the scenes.
Michael K said...
He's just cheerleading, he's too far removed to know the current situation at the FBI.
Yup. Has no idea.
Do you really think so?
Disagree. The FBI is fast becoming a domestic enemy, a political dirt machine masquerading as law enforcement. Time to clean house and decorate some lampposts.
Whose byline was that fandos haberman shane et al they are all fusion
What Comey and his goons did to Flynn is criminal.
There was a TV show in the early '80s called "Today's FBI." I wasn't quite old enough to be really interested in current events, but because my grandfather had been an agent, I did at least pay attention to reporting that stated that this show was explicitly an attempt to rehabilitate the FBI's reputation. I wish I could remember what would have prompted such a thing.
And then there was "The X Files," a Hail Mary pass to make what apparently often comes down to accounting and paperwork seem cool.
INga's favorite source.
Hundreds of freelance writers at Vox Media, primarily those covering sports for the SB Nation site, will lose their jobs in the coming months as the company prepares for a California law to go into effect that will force companies to reclassify contractors in the state as employees.
Amateur hour.
Wrong metaphor, doc. Hoisted on their own petard is more apted
It's not often I watch Hannity, but I'm watching him now. He just played a clip of Brennan testifying to Congress on May 23, 2017 that the Steele dossier was not "used as a basis" for the Intelligence Community Assessment that the Russians had interfered in the 2016 election. That's Hillary's "17 Agencies", right? Can't wait to learn what was the basis.
This was the legat on london who relayed reports through the philadelphia to the cyber division
https://www.fbi.gov/about/leadership-and-structure/boetig
Details here:
https://mobile.twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1205878214155022336
This crazy old man must know he has no way of knowing if what he says is true or not. He is an arrogant bastard at 95 and I wonder how bad he must have been when he was younger.
Or maybe he was a decent man when he was younger, and his current senile idiocy has been foisted on him by the sort of people who like to boss around the elderly and the infirm.
Sad!
Howard said...
Wrong metaphor, doc. Hoisted on their own petard is more apted
apted? Embrace the power of and , Howard
Howard said... [hush][hide comment]
Wrong metaphor, doc. Hoisted on their own petard is more apted
Worked, too easy, elder abuse..
FBI folk have...memos!
walter said...
FBI folk have...memos!
Sure was surprised to hear they do not record interviews. Makes no sense at all.
Via Rantburg:
...
Giuliani then said, "Shokin’s medical records show he was poisoned, died twice, and was revived."
"Lots of heads will roll in Ukraine if this opens up," he added.
"All of a sudden Shokin gets this communique from Latvia that shows a $16 million laundering transaction ‐ classic laundering transaction," Giuliani said. "It goes from Ukraine, to Latvia, it’s disguised as a loan to another company to ’Wirelogic’ I believe ‐ it then goes to Cyprus, gets disguised as another loan ‐ this is called "Digitech" then it’s dispersed as payment as board fees," he added.
Giuliani added, "Now you don’t make two loans to make board fees unless you’re laundering the money. $3 million gets to Hunter Biden in that way."
"That is a straight out violation of a money laundering statute," he said....
Things change a lot over time. A lot of people can't keep up.
It will be disgusting, but Hunter needs to open that kimono...
Shove Maddow's nose in there first.
Lol - they dragged out a 95 year old and had him 'write' an op-ed?
That's desperate, man. Holy shit - what a bunch of losers. They should be laughed out of every room they enter.
On Flynn's FARA violations:
Flynn apparently hadn't filed with accordance to FARA. A lot of lobbyists don't file when they should, and it is almost never prosecuted- you are just directed to file when it is found that you don't, unless you just happen to be someone they want to "get" but don't have a ready legal violation to do so- sort of like how Yates tried to get Flynn with the ridiculous Logan Act violation (Technofog has a pinned tweet discussing how the Federal Government routinely abuses FARA through selective enforcement).
In any case, when Flynn was undergoing his preconfirmation work, he was advised by the NSD to file FARA, and the NSD was very 'helpful' in working with Flynn's legal representation in doing so according to Flynn's own attorneys. However, it turns out the filing was done improperly, or at least that was the story that the Mueller investigation told Flynn and his lawyers. They threatened to charge him with knowingly signing an incorrect FARA document. They also threatened his son with the same charge over the same documents, and did charge his business partner. As it turns out, the charges were bullshit- the business partner got a directed verdict that outlined in excruciating detail why the charges were bullshit. Flynn's lawyers, responsible for the filing documents, urged Flynn to accept the plea to lying in order to make the FARA charges go away (this was late 2017). His lawyers had an incentive to make the FARA charges go away as they were on the hook for malpractice.
The truth is that I don't for a second think Flynn really believes he lied to Strzok and Pientka, he only pled guilty to save his son from the FARA morass. He has since learned that gun was a prop piece and he pled guilty for no good reason. I don't think Strzok and Pientka knows he lied either- I have read the notes on which the 302s are based, they don't even agree with each other what was said in the interview. I think a trial on the lying couldn't be won if Flynn had just refused to plead in the first place, and I don't the government would even have brought a case on the evidence itself- that is why they tried so hard to coerce the plea, and it was all political optics that they were worried about.
Flynn will eventually get the case dismissed on appeal, but if he wants justice sooner rather than later, he is going to have to withdraw that plea, and tell the court exactly why he falsely pled in the first place. It will be a sympathetic story- I can't imagine any honest American thinking it proper to charge someone with lying in an interview that wasn't discussing any illegal activity, and that the interview was only held as a perjury trap. An American who thinks that is proper is just a fucking fascist.
I don't know which is more disturbing - that Webster actually believes what he's saying, or that he doesn't but thinks the best thing for everyone is to make don't worry your pretty little head about it soothing noises.
Comey et al. filed false affidavits with the FISA courts to get an investigation on Carter Page started, and then Susan Rice widened the need-to-know list to a cast of thousands, guaranteeing somebody would leak any embarrassing details to the press. I know Trump doesn't want to be perceived as settling scores, but we can't have state security services using information asymmetries to bypass the only mechanism in place to keep them within the bounds of the law.
FBI secretly demands a ton of consumer data from credit agencies. Now lawmakers want answers
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/14/fbi-national-security-letter-credit-agencies/
He is not a member of the club. Come on. He is a business guy, not a bureaucrat. He's from Queens and you know how they are.
There is NOBODY in DC who voted for Trump and probably nobody who would return his phone calls. They returned them when he was a donor. Now, he is breaking rice bowls.
Almost nobody...
Hillary: 91%
"Other": 5%
Trump: 4%
I assume the 4% consists of misvotes and Chick-Fil-A franchise owners. Certainly not any entry-level-or-above bureaucrats.
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