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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMore background on Rudy Giuliani, Comey and "the letter"
Late on Thursday afternoon, a bombshell dropped inside the normally extremely tight-lipped investigation office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Peter Strzok, a veteran FBI counterintelligence agent, was suddenly transferred from the Trump-Russia probe. An official announcement said Strzok was transferred to human resources at the FBI. Ive never heard of an agent being moved to the human resources department. Asha Rangappa, a former FBI counterintelligence agent and associate dean at Yale Law School, told the Business Insider.
In October, with Trumps poll numbers plunging, Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani promised a surprise.
On November 4th, a week after Comey sent that letter, Peter Strzok, the FBI counterintelligence investigator who was transferred out of Muellers investigation this week, interviewed Hillary Clinton about the e-mails. Three days later, Comey cleared the Democratic Presidential candidate. By then, Clintons poll numbers had begun to take a dive and didnt have much runway to recover before the November 8 election.
Now it seems elements within the Trump campaign with connections to law enforcement had been ratcheting up the narrative of the Clinton e-mails. In addition to Giuianis tip of something up our sleeve, former Blackwater CEO, mercenary Erik Prince, told Breitbart Radio on November 4th (the same day Clinton was interviewed by Strzok) the NYPD had found explosive evidence on the Weiner hard drive and the FBI national office had refused to follow-up. Citing a source at the NYPD, Prince claimed the NYPD forced Comey to act threatening to take revenge action if he didnt.
Now that senior FBI investigator Peter Strzok who helmed the Clinton e-mail investigation has been relieved of any counter-intelligence duties, its worth asking if the Office of the Inspector General has indeed turned up evidence to suggest elements in the FBI and the NYPD had been working to interfere in the election campaign on behalf of Trump and against Clinton and did the former hero Mayor of New York have a role?
A number of malcontents here, myself among them, have argued all along that Comey was a "white hat" who had been pressured or blackmailed by a faction within the NYPD and FBI's NY field office, in order to torpedo Hillary's campaign. It's looking as though that may be closer to the truth than the simplistic take of "Comey is a Republican enemy."
greeny2323
(590 posts)I know Norm Ornstein has also been convinced that Giuliani was the main force (through NY surrogates) of putting pressure on Comey to make public statements.
brush
(53,764 posts)what rogue agents wanted him to do?
Did they put a gun to his head. God!
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)that would make it appear that the DC FBI was covering up FOR Hillary -- and there wouldn't have been time before the election to recover from a story like that, even if it was fake.
Many FBI people in NY -- Giuliani territory -- hated Hillary.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/03/fbi-leaks-hillary-clinton-james-comey-donald-trump
Deep antipathy to Hillary Clinton exists within the FBI, multiple bureau sources have told the Guardian, spurring a rapid series of leaks damaging to her campaign just days before the election.
Current and former FBI officials, none of whom were willing or cleared to speak on the record, have described a chaotic internal climate that resulted from outrage over director James Comeys July decision not to recommend an indictment over Clintons maintenance of a private email server on which classified information transited.
The FBI is Trumpland, said one current agent.
This atmosphere raises major questions about how Comey and the bureau he is slated to run for the next seven years can work with Clinton should she win the White House.
The currently serving FBI agent said Clinton is the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel, and that the reason why theyre leaking is theyre pro-Trump.
SNIP
brush
(53,764 posts)He's no dummy. He was a US Attorney in NY before, and was also in the Bush admin where he knew how to thwart Gonsalves skullduggery at Ashcropt's hospital bed. That was heroic. He knew how to handle bad actors then.
He was the fu_king director. He had the power over the plotters/Giuliani and should have know how to use it.
What, he forgot how to act when took the Director's job? He got fooled by fake reports to him? He of all people should've known of the Hatch Act and not to get involved in an election that close to its finale.
IMO he was no weak figurehead at the mercy of connivers in his agency. He could have put on the brakes to the whole deal agency-wide with threats of dismissals.
He didn't. He sent that letter and got trump elected because, IMO, he was more loyal to his party than the electoral process and the country. He himself went "cowboy" just as he did in the summer without the AG's knowledge when he publicly chastised Hillary instead of just absolving her in the fake email scandal.
He tried to make up for it later once he realized the monster trump is with his investigation but was turned on by the bastard he helped get in office hoisted on his own petard.
It's Shakespearean, no doubt, and tragic, but he contributed to his own downfall. He has to live with what his letter wrought, and unfortunately, so do the rest of us.
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)enough time.
brush
(53,764 posts)If the FBI Director instead had publicly stated there was a plot to discredit Hillary with fake, planted emails, IMO things would have turned out differently.
Instead he sent the letter and we got trump.
The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)If this was part of a Russian intel op (which it looks to me like it is) there is bound to be a major back-story that is invisible to us at this point.
Making the sorts of conclusions you are without any evidence except the public actions, is likely to be wrong. It's emotionally satisfying to have someone to blame, but usually leads to incorrect conclusions.
brush
(53,764 posts)He's no dummy.
He knew the letter would tilt the election to trump.
Why all of sudden the Comey apologists are out again?
We had this argument here last fall.
The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)dhol82
(9,352 posts)Was hoping that Mueller would ferret out the collaborators in the NY office.
Looks like he did.
PearliePoo2
(7,768 posts)Does this rat have a name? Peter Strzok?
K&R
The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)Tatiana
(14,167 posts)Is there a connection between Giuliani and Strzok? Is there a connection between Russian operatives and Strzok?
Why would such an important FBI counterintelligence agent be transferred to HR? He did something. We need to know what.
Ligyron
(7,624 posts)Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Malcolm Nance has said,"this is now a Counter Intelligence Investigation",so get ready for some real nasty info to surface. Also,the so called e-mail thing started with a fake e-mail that was planted.
UTUSN
(70,674 posts)mitch96
(13,885 posts)From what I'm reading, Strzok fed Comey fake info on Clintons email, and then retracted it. Clinton did not have enough time to recover from the FBI "ding" to her credibility.. yes?
m
The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)SonofDonald
(2,050 posts)Why the head of the counterintelligence department had been demoted?, I've read that Giuliani had insiders in the FBI that hated Hilary enough to break their oathes and commit an illegal act to keep her out of the whitehouse.
The article also said that doctored emails may have been put onto wieners laptop that indicated shady dealings by Hilary, the article was of course supposition but as in all rumors there may have been a kernel of truth involved.
We may see everything that has transpired sometime in the future but it just adds to the really long list of things we don't know but have been hinted about.
It just gets deeper and deeper, better buy shovels in bulk.
It's obvious Mueller is the right man for the job, I just hope he gets them all, every last one of them.
The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)Crataegus
(60 posts)Is Peter Strzok the source of Rudy Giuliani and Bannons 'inside info?'