January 22, 2024

"'The F.B.I. invented the conspiracy; identified the targets; manufactured the ordnance,' Judge McMahon wrote, adding that officials had 'federalized' the charges..."

"... ensuring long prison terms — by driving several of the men into Connecticut to 'view the "bombs."' ... [The judge wrote that] what undermined respect for the law in the case was sending a 'villain' like Mr. Hussain to 'troll among the poorest and weakest of men for "terrorists" who might prove susceptible to an offer of much-needed cash in exchange for committing a faux crime.'"

From "Judge Rebukes F.B.I. and Orders Release of Man in ‘Newburgh Four’ Case/The judge said James Cromitie, like his co-defendants, should be freed because he had been duped into an 'F.B.I.-orchestrated conspiracy' by an 'unsavory' informant" (NYT).

77 comments:

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Now a judge Must do the fake FBI Whiter kidnapping scheme.

n.n said...

Whitmer conspiracy. J6 triple incitement.

gilbar said...

serious question: what was the last crime the FBI investigated, that wasn't Done BY the FBI?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

How many FBI fake-Maga instigators were in the crowd on Jan 6th?

Wray won't answer.

The FBI needs to be gutted and rebuilt - or just dissolve the thing.

Dave Begley said...

Vivek is right. The FBI needs to be abolished. Keep the 15k cops and get rid of the 30k bureaucrats.

Jason said...

MANY SUCH CASES

RideSpaceMountain said...

I'm actually an informant for the FBI. I inform them that they are gay and that they suck constantly online and elsewhere. My handler's name for me is "Beefcake", and my bureau file is so Top Secret it requires its own SCIF at Langley.

Narr said...

Go see Kunstler's take on the DNC/RNC "pipe bombs."

The Blobtales are unraveling left and right.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

"Whitmer"

Yancey Ward said...

Would this judge have made the same decision for 4 white Christians plotting to kidnap a governor?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

the FBI is the KGB.

Dude1394 said...

So now the FBI agents will go to jail for inciting a crime, right,RIGHT?

The FBI should be completely gutted and abolished. Get rif of all of them, the cops are just as culpable.

Just doing my job was not a defense for the nazis either.

rehajm said...

Yes. Needs to go. Enough please…

Dude1394 said...

First few comments from the NYtimes article would be great. I can read the article, but the comments are always as illustrative or more.

Paul said...

Defund the FBI... now I don't like defunding police.. but the FBI... yea. Corrupt to the bone.

RNB said...

In the last five years, I have seen the U.S. government (among many other institutions) do things I would never have believed Americans would do to each other. My faith in our institutions has been destroyed. And I don't think I'm the only one...

Ice Nine said...

Now do 378 jailed January 6 FBI-fomented "insurrectionists."

FullMoon said...

Hold on a dang second, plenty of TV shows prove F.B.I. is honest, respected and brave.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Incidentally, it was also the bureau that was heavily involved in trying to keep the Nashville girl's - Miss Audrey Hale's - manifesto from the public.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Speaking of corruption and vile behavior...

Hamas breaks Geneva contention protocol... again.
Leftists everywhere ignore and lie


Hamas releases video of hostages as Israel completes 100 days of war

Quaestor said...

The FBI has become America's Okhrana.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Almost forgot. Remember Matt Taibbi finding out about those backdoor tech searches on Americans? He disclosed that the FBI ran more than 23,000 queries on people involved in the J6 protest, 19,000 on political campaign donors associated with Trump, churches, and conservatives, and 133 on protesters identified during the riots after St. Fentanyl of Floyd got his wings.

They don't call it the Federal Bureau of Instigation for nothing.

FWBuff said...

So the blog has a theme today -- things are not what they seem.

Well done, Professor!

Aggie said...

The checklist approach to Crime - once all the evidence requirements and conspiracy indicators are checked off, begin the prosecution.

The unstated part of this story is the parallel tale about career advancements - how FBI workers take an assignment like this one, and are eventually promoted to the home office to take on bigger assignments with similar methods & tactics, but bigger workscope - as in the Whitmer case, and subsequently January 6th.

Narayanan said...

nickname fibbies derive from fibbing?

Oligonicella said...

I stand w Isreal. Leftists, Mullahs, Hamas-Palistinian terrorists can suck it:
The FBI needs to be gutted and rebuilt - or just dissolve the thing.

Just gutted. Rebuilding it will lead to the same thing (see CIA).

Jupiter said...

The FBI needs better judge control. I'm sure they're working on it.

Roger Sweeny said...

But, but, on CBS the FBI are all good guys.

Limited blogger said...

Ron DeSantis has moved himself way back up my list of conservative leaders.

He can misquote Churchill if he wants to.

Temujin said...

Well...it's already been said and repeated, but cannot be repeated enough times.

>Gretchen Whitmer's faux kidnapping plot. (She got mileage out of it.)
>January 6 'insurrection' complete with FBI planted pipe bombs by DNC and RNC HQ's, a Capitol Hill policeman murdering a protestor, another beating to death a dying protestor, and thousands of protestors being funneled (herded) through gates opened by police, and led by FBI informants and/or FBI plain-clothed agents themselves. Insurrectionists armed with....with...iPhone cameras.

Our DoJ needs to be gutted.

Dude1394 said...

"Blogger FullMoon said...
Hold on a dang second, plenty of TV shows prove F.B.I. is honest, respected and brave.

1/22/24, 10:01 AM"

What a sad state of affairs. I wouldn't watch an FBI show if you paid me. I used to watch/read quite a few Tom Clancy ish thrillers. But I have become so disgusted with those entities that I cannot do it anymore. As I just find bile building up while watching them.

The FBI is corrupt as I expect the CIA is as well. The FBI in particular however since it can spy on americans legally, needs to be dismantled completely. Scorched earth.

Original Mike said...

What was Trump thinking when he appointed Wray?

Just an old country lawyer said...

FBI delenda est.

gadfly said...

I stand w Isreal(sic), Leftists, Mullahs, Hamas-Palistinian terrorists can suck it said...

Now a judge Must do the fake FBI Whitmer kidnapping scheme.


"A man accused of aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor pleaded guilty Wednesday, the ninth conviction in state and federal courts since agents broke up an astonishing scheme by anti-government rebels in 2020.

Shawn Fix said he provided material support for an act of terrorism, namely the strategy to snatch Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home in Antrim County. Prosecutors agreed to drop a weapon charge.

Fix trained with a militia, the Wolverine Watchmen . . ."

Antrim County Michigan is also the place where extremists attempted to fake election machine fixing in 2020, but that didn't work either.

Bob Boyd said...

Think about J Edgar Hoover, founder of the FBI, using his agency to collect information on people and control them. The FBI was founded in corruption and abuse of power.

Look at the tools they have to do that today.
We'll be lucky if anyone can ever get control of them.

They seem to be very afraid of Trump getting re-elected. What other reason do you need to vote for Trump?

You find Trump repulsive? Wake up. What kind of American...what kind of human being supports a candidate approved by the secret police?

Hold your nose, Precious and vote for the guy the secret police hate and fear. Maybe he can defeat the deep state and maybe he can't, but who else is even going to try?

Trump 2024
Sorry, you really have no choice.

Bob Boyd said...

Would the New York Times even carry this story if the men railroaded by the FBI were white?
Maybe, but the spin would be entirely different.

Enigma said...

The FBI has literally and precisely recreated the post-WW2 East German Stasi. See The Lives of Others.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/

Speak up now and make it end, or your will not be able to speak up later.

The very first FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, was a power-mad creep. He stayed in control for life only because he had dirt on everyone in D.C.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover

The D.C. Deep State learned from Hoover, and either imitated his methods and/or set up their systems so that they alone would have power. The information security rules have turned many federal agencies into creepy black-box secret societies.

n.n said...

The affirmative misattribution of the contemplative cuckoo targeting the Democrat congresswoman. Not FBI, but a conspiracy of congress and JournoLists.

MadisonMan said...

I wonder what the FBI had on Quinn Martin.

gadfly said...

According to the NYT, ". . . the judge’s order called for Mr. Cromitie’s sentence to be reduced to time served plus 90 days. The order did not reverse his conviction."

Real actions on the part of the judge are more indicative than her words. She called it a "compassionate release." The real culprit in the story seems to be an FBI informant, not the FBI.

cfs said...

Read Darren Beattie's report at Revolver News regarding the "pipe bombs" at the RNC and DNC headquarters on Jan 6th. His site suffered from a DOS attack this morning but I think the site is now back online. Or, watch Dan Bongino's podcast from yesterday. That entire incident was a FBI production. The same goes for the Whitmer kidnapping plot. The FBI is a mob organization and should be disbanded and defunded, and the building razed to the ground.

tim maguire said...

Good. The standard for proving entrapment is much too high. It should apply to any crime that would not have happened but for government involvement. That courts take a much more lenient view of government participation in criminal activity just increases the amount of useless expensive prosecutions that do nothing to make people safer.

Prof. M. Drout said...

Where exactly are the good and honest FBI agents who stepped forward to put an end to these travesties?

It seems to me that ALL the apples are bad (and if they’re not bad, they’re cowardly careerists who are willing to go along with grotesque abuses of their fellow citizens).

Dissolve the entire agency, take away the pensions of anyone who won’t testify against their “leadership,” and raze the J Edgar Hoover building and sees the ground with salt.

Greg the Class Traitor said...

Hi Prof Althouse. Did you see this story?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/18/us/ohio-niki-frenchko-arrest.html

Does it interest you?

Greg the Class Traitor said...

If you do find the case interesting, the judge's ruling is here: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ohnd-4_23-cv-00781/pdf/USCOURTS-ohnd-4_23-cv-00781-0.pdf

John henry said...

Can anyone point me to a law or act of congress creating or authorizing the FBI or its predecessor the Bureau of Investigation?

My understanding is that Teddy Roosevelt, allegedly "The good Roosevelt" cooked it up with his AG, Charles Bonapart (Yeah, the terror's great nephew). He wanted an agency to go after political enemies like anarchists, communist, labor unions like IWW and other groups he deemed UnAmerican etc.

He went to Congress to try to get authorization and they said "Not only no, but HELL NO!!" as the expression goes. From Tim Weiner's history of the FBI:

On May 27, 1908, the House emphatically said no. It feared the president intended to create an American secret police. The fear was well-founded. Presidents had used private detectives as political spies in the past. “American ideas of government” prohibited “spying on men and prying into what would ordinarily be considered their private affairs,” said Representative Joseph Swagar Sherley, a Kentucky Democrat. Representative Walter I. Smith, an Iowa Republican and later a federal appeals court judge, objected strongly to the creation of a “system of espionage” in America. Representative John J. Fitzgerald, a New York Democrat, warned against “a central police or spy system in the federal government.” Representative George E. Waldo, a New York Republican, said it would be “a great blow to freedom and to free institutions if there should arise in this country any such great central secret-service bureau as there is in Russia.”

Congress banned the Justice Department from spending a penny on Bonaparte’s proposal. The attorney general evaded the order. The maneuver might have broken the letter of the law. But it was true to the spirit of the president. Theodore Roosevelt was “ready to kick the Constitution into the back yard whenever it gets in the way,” as Mark Twain observed. The beginnings of the FBI rose from that bold defiance.


It needs to be banned now. Not just for this but for the Michigan case, the Ruby Ridge murders of Randy Weaver's family and ten thousand other crimes against the constitution and the American citizenry.

Since it, apparently, has no legal foundation in the form of a congressional act, it should not require anything more than a presidential memo to disestablish. Probably not even an executive order.

Just a Trumpian "Begone, evildoers"

John Henry

John henry said...

The FBI and predecessor BI were never intended as crime fighting organization. They were founded strictily as a political police.

J Edgar Hoover, when he got saw a problem with this: Americans then, even more than now, detested political police. Many had emigrated here from countries that had terroristic political police and it was one of the reasons they had fled.

Hoover that by billing FBI as a crime fighting, rather than a political spying, agency, he could get better public support and he was right. We didn't need the FBI for that. We had marshalls, Coast Guard, ATF, Secret Service and other agencies to go after the relativly few federal crimes.

A second benefit to going after crime, from Hoover's standpoint was that he also got to be in charge of a much bigger agency.

John Henry

wendybar said...

Original Mike said...
What was Trump thinking when he appointed Wray?

1/22/24, 10:47 AM

Ask his buddy at the time, corrupt fat Christie, who recommended him to Trump. He unfortunately made the mistake of trusting fat Rinos.

Leland said...

The FBI is not my top issue in this election, but it is a litmus test for me. If a candidate hesitates to call out the FBI's atrocious behavior over the past 10 years, then I don't trust them either. Set aside Jan. 6th. Set aside the Steele Dossier, Comey's clearing of Hillary, the Hunter Biden laptop, and various other political stories. This is the same FBI that for years ignored multiple claims of sexual assault by the US Women's Gymnastic Team because the Special Agent in Charge was angling for a spot on the US Olympic Committee. The FBI refused to protect young women because it got in the way of others' aspiration within their ranks.

If a politician can't call this behavior out and demand all those involved in covering up these events be fired and lose their pensions; then they won't care about other FBI abuses that we are noticing. Ivy League Presidents are not nearly as harmful as Garland, Wray, and their predecessors that allowed this behavior.

John henry said...

Sort of on topic:

There have been a number of reports ab out the demo by the so-called "Patriot Front" in NYC on Sunday. Glenn Reynolds pointed out that they all wore Vertx tactical khakis. Cost about $80/pr

If you go to the Vertx website, these are from their pro line. Mere civilians like you and me can't even buy them.

Who?

Vertx Pro items are available for purchase by:

Active and Reserve US Military

Active Law Enforcement

Active & Volunteer Firefighter

Active EMT/Paramedic

State and Federal Government Employees



You have to have a GOVX ID

Vertx Pro utilizes GovX ID for authentication. GovX ID instantly and securely verifies your military, first responder and government employee status online. That means you don’t have to upload documents or share sensitive information on multiple websites to access discounts. Simply log in with your GovX ID. As of 2023, GovX ID is trusted by more than 5 million members and over 1,000 brands.

https://vertx.com/pro-faq

John Henry

Big Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mason G said...

"It seems to me that ALL the apples are bad (and if they’re not bad, they’re cowardly careerists who are willing to go along with grotesque abuses of their fellow citizens)."

You're going to have to be more specific, you've just described pretty much the whole of the federal government there.

Big Mike said...

Repeating from my late comment on yesterday's "Not my first rodeo" thread (edited):

Interestingly, yesterday I stumbled across this short clip. Apparently the judge is irked that a police officer lied under oath, causing the defendant to lose her driver's license, and wonders out loud whether the prosecutor shouldn't nolle pros the case and probably go after the officer on a charge of perjury. The female prosecutor becomes combative, speaks over the judge, and at one point appears to call the judge a liar in open court. Whoa.

Now I'm neither a lawyer nor do I play one on TV, but is this how thingskare handled out in real courtrooms? Can someone explain to me how a prosecutor can basically call a judge a liar to his face in the open courtroom and not be hit with contempt of court and given some time in the local jail to cool down? Could the law professor blog hostess and some of you lawyerly commentators explain this whole thing to me? Because it sounds as though the prosecutor thinks she runs the court, and not the judge.

Humperdink said...

gadlfy said: "The real culprit in the story seems to be an FBI informant, not the FBI."

A left-handed defense of the agency in question.

Coming of age in the late 60's, I recall how the lefties had a huge distrust of all things law enforcement. At the top of the list was none other than the FBI. How times have changed for lefties.

Original Mike said...

Blogger MadisonMan said..."I wonder what the FBI had on Quinn Martin."

The FBI are The Invaders! Would explain a lot.

ObeliskToucher said...

I'm shocked - shocked, I say - that an organization led for nearly 50 years by J. Edgar Hoover might be corrupt.

Iman said...

When they aren’t planting explosives, they’re dreaming up crime scenarios.

Iman said...

Hoover must be rolling in his dressing gown…

Iman said...

“The real culprit in the story seems to be an FBI informant, not the FBI.”

FBI’s contracted employee… the buck stops way over nowhere.

Jamie said...

In the last five years, I have seen the U.S. government (among many other institutions) do things I would never have believed Americans would do to each other.

In the Loury-McWhorter YouTube video linked elsewhere (last night's cafe post?) in which the two of them are talking about J6 and whether anyone has a justifiable reason to believe that the 2020 election was "stolen" by whatever means, McWhorter's reason for dismissing and denigrating everyone who does think the fix was in is that this sort of thing - media suppressing stories unfavorable to their candidate and favorable to the guy they hate, boosting stories that make their candidate look good and those that reflect badly on their guy's opponent - have always happened; we just didn't know about them.

In other words, [shrug] forget it, Glenn - it's Chinatown.

It's a pathetic defense.

Earnest Prole said...

Sadly the Right was uninterested in post-9/11 FBI abuses because they largely targeted Muslims.

mikee said...

Earnest Prole said...
"Sadly the Right was uninterested in post-9/11 FBI abuses because they largely targeted Muslims."

Bullshit, on stilts. The Right has been upset with the FBI since before the illegal wiretaps of MLK, at least, or if you want to argue that, how about since the siege of Ruby Ridge or the Atlanta Olympic bombing or the FBI Lab scandal? Your lack of memory, or lack of knowledge, serves no purpose but to make you look ignorantly partisan.

tim maguire said...

Earnest Prole said...Sadly the Right was uninterested in post-9/11 FBI abuses because they largely targeted Muslims.

Of course, why focus on an out-of-control FBI? Why try to fix a problem when one can just twist it into an attack on the right? Nice job, Prole.

Joe Smith said...

Anybody know what page this was on in the print edition?

Now do January 6, Patriot Front, etc...

Hassayamper said...

Sadly the Right was uninterested in post-9/11 FBI abuses because they largely targeted Muslims.

Guilty as charged. That is a mistake I will never make again.

I will say, I disliked the FBI intensely during the time from the Ruby Ridge and Waco massacres until 9/11. I gave them quite a lot more benefit of the doubt thereafter.

I am not a conspiracy theorist who thinks September 11 was orchestrated by a government cabal, not just yet anyway, but I would not dismiss out of hand the notion that forces in our own government (and perhaps some of our putative allies) knew about the hijackers' plan and saw more benefit in allowing it to proceed than in putting a stop to it without fanfare.

Goldenpause said...

Care to bet whether anyone at DOJ will be disciplined for this unethical and illegal abuse of power? Didn't think so.

Leland said...

Sadly the Right was uninterested in post-9/11 FBI abuses because they largely targeted Muslims.

So that's your excuse now? As mikee and others point out, where was your interest pre-9/11, Prole?

Narr said...

"Hoover must be rolling in his dressing gown."

Ha. More likely, that little black dress.

Earnest Prole said...

how about since the siege of Ruby Ridge or the Atlanta Olympic bombing

It’s easy to be furious when your ox is gored; the question is whether you fought for Muslim civil rights post-9/11. Most of the Right didn’t, and now the ludicrous government entrapment schemes are coming for them.

Earnest Prole said...

Of course, why focus on an out-of-control FBI? Why try to fix a problem when one can just twist it into an attack on the right? Nice job, Prole.

I’m telling you directly how to fix the problem: Defend the civil rights of all Americans, including your enemies, the way the ACLU used to do before they became just another Democratic Party interest group.

D.D. Driver said...

To the FBI! The orginators and the investigators of all major criminal conspiracies! 🍻

Ace detectives at the FBI can always get to the bottom of the crimes they imagine. I feel so much safer knowing they are out there protecting me from their own brainstorming sessions.

KellyM said...

Blogger Hassayamper said...

"...I am not a conspiracy theorist who thinks September 11 was orchestrated by a government cabal, not just yet anyway, but I would not dismiss out of hand the notion that forces in our own government (and perhaps some of our putative allies) knew about the hijackers' plan and saw more benefit in allowing it to proceed than in putting a stop to it without fanfare."

Sweetheart, you're a lot closer than you think you are.

Enigma said...

@John Henry There have been a number of reports about the demo by the so-called "Patriot Front" in NYC on Sunday. Glenn Reynolds pointed out that they all wore Vertx tactical khakis. Cost about $80/pr

Documented left-wing "fact twister" Snopes has a very, very loooooong defense of the Patriot Front and discusses the "baseless" accusations of PF being feds. Coming from Snopes, that too confirms PF must be feds. He, he. I'm guessing the feds are managing, supporting, and manipulating a group of non-fed not-too-bright PF honeypots to lure out joiners as well as generate propaganda for the left. See my post above on The Lives of Others.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/05/22/patriot-front-feds/

Snopes is rated as having a left-leaning bias by Allsides.com, and say they rely on media sources for fact checks rather than original sources.

https://www.allsides.com/news-source/snopes

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nancy Reyes said...

Back in the 1990s, when I worked in central Pennsylvania, I read about a case where men were planning to blow up a dam, but the jury said they were not guilty. When I wondered about it, the guys I worked with just laughed and said they were just loud mouths who fell into a trap. Most of them knew if someone suggested such things, they were probably the feds, but these guys were dumb.

John henry said...

Blogger Earnest Prole said...


It’s easy to be furious when your ox is gored; the question is whether you fought for Muslim civil rights post-9/11.

Could you elaborate?

Unless you are talking about the so-called "Muslim Ban" that banned North Koreans, Venezuelans and people from 5-6 predominently Muslim countries. While not banning citizens of most of the big Muslim countries like India, Indonesia, Pakistan and other.

Then I would call bullshit.

John Henry

Kirk Parker said...

10 years, Leland? Ruby Ridge was 33 years ago!