HILLARY’S RECKLESSNESS AND WILLFUL MISCONDUCT IN USING HER PRIVATE EMAIL

The overlooked Hillary email bombshell of the IG report

By Marc Thiessen

Fox News
June 20, 2018

When the Justice Department inspector general's report revealed that former FBI director James B. Comey had used a personal email account to conduct official business, Hillary Clinton claimed vindication. "But my emails," she tweeted.

Yes, Madam Secretary, your emails.

In fact, the overlooked bombshell of the report is the inspector general's confirmation that classified information contained in Clinton's emails was in fact compromised by foreign intelligence services, and that Clinton had recklessly emailed President Barack Obama using her unsecured personal email from the territory of a hostile foreign adversary.

Before the report was released, we knew from Comey's July 2016 statement that Clinton's private emails included "seven e-mail chains concern matters that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level when they were sent and received." We also knew that the FBI "also found information that was properly classified as Secret by the U.S. Intelligence Community at the time it was discussed on e-mail." Comey further declared, "We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial e-mail accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account." And he speculated that, given how "extremely careless" Clinton had been, it was "possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's personal e-mail account."

Well, it turns out, the FBI knew with certainty at the time that hostile actors had in fact gained access to classified information via Clinton's emails. According to the inspector general, a special review of the Clinton email investigation in 2017 by the Office to the FBI's Inspection Division (INSD) found that, before Comey's 2016 statement, "the FBI ... successfully determined classified information was improperly stored and transmitted on Clinton's email server, and classified information was compromised by unauthorized individuals, to include foreign governments or intelligence services, via cyber intrusion or other means."

The initial draft of Comey's 2016 statement said it was "reasonably likely" that hostile actors had gained access to Clinton's private email account. Moreover, the inspector general quotes FBI agent Peter Strzok as commenting on that "It is more accurate to say we know foreign actors obtained access to some of her emails (including at least one Secret one) via compromises of the private email accounts of some of her staffers." These facts were inexplicably left out of the final statement.

We still don't know the full extent of the damage Clinton caused, because the inspector general reports that the FBI intentionally chose not to follow every potential lead of compromised classified information. The report notes that "Strzok further stated that the FBI's 'purpose and mission' was not to pursue 'spilled [classified] information to the ends of the earth' and that the task of cleaning up classified spills by State Department employees was referred back to the State Department."

We also learned new details about Clinton's recklessness and willful misconduct in using her private email. The final version of Comey's statement did note that Clinton "used her personal e-mail extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related e-mails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries." But we did not know at the time that the original draft included one more sentence: "That use included an email exchange with the President while Secretary Clinton was on the territory of such an adversary." According to the inspector general, "This reference later was changed to 'another senior government official,' and ultimately was omitted."

When I worked in the George W. Bush White House, and traveled to certain foreign countries with the president, we were required by the Secret Service to remove the batteries from our BlackBerrys, place them in a sealed plastic bag, and leave them on Air Force One for the duration of our visit to prevent foreign adversaries from hacking into the White House email system. But Clinton was so cavalier that she actually used not her government communications device, but her unsecured private email to communicate directly with the president of the United States from the territory of a foreign adversary. By emailing Obama directly from hostile territory, she put both her own email system and the president's at risk of foreign intrusion.

Many Democrats blame Comey's July 2016 statement for causing Clinton irreparable harm in the election. But we now know Clinton's actions were worse than what Comey presented to the American people. Just imagine if his statement had been full and complete.
__________

CLINTON EMAI IG REPORT
Why Is The FBI Still Covering For Discredited Agents At The Heart Of The 'Investigation'?

Editorial

Investor’s Business Daily
June 20, 2018

Scandal: Two agents and an attorney at the heart of the FBI's Clinton email "investigation" expose flagrant political bias at the heart of that probe. So why won't the FBI release their names to the public? And given what these key players said, how did the inspector general come to conclude that the "investigation" was unbiased? Were changes made to water it down?

Before the Justice Department's inspector general report came out, virulently anti-Trump texts between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page had already become public — except for a particularly troubling exchange revealed by the IG for the first time. That's the one, sent in August 2016, in which Page says Trump's "not ever going to become president, right? Right?!" To which Stzork promises: "No. No he's not. We'll stop it."

Less discussed, but just as important, are the texts between FBI agents identified by the IG only as "Agent 1" and "Agent 5."

Both played key roles in the Clinton email "investigation," both were at Clinton's interview, and both repeatedly admitted their utter disdain for Trump and their belief that the Clinton probe was a huge waste of time. In addition, there's the mysterious anti-Trump Attorney 2, who was involved with both the Clinton email and Trump Russia investigations.

At a hearing on Tuesday, IG Michael Horowitz said the FBI wants the names. (Rep. Mark Meadows claims that names of two of them — Agent 5 and Attorney 2 — are Sally Moyer and Kevin Clinesmith.)

After reviewing their texts, the IG concluded that all five "brought discredit to themselves, sowed doubt about the FBI's handling of the Midyear investigation, and impacted the reputation of the FBI." ("Midyear" was the code name used for the Clinton email probe.)

Their conduct was serious enough the IG wants the FBI itself to investigate.

No kidding.

Here, for example, are texts sent by Agent 1 throughout FBI's alleged Clinton investigation.

• Sept. 2, 2015: "the most meaningless thing I've ever done with people acting like f***ing 9/11."
• Sept. 25, 2015: "I dont care about it. I think its continued waste of resources and time and focus ..."
• Oct. 26, 2015: "Its just so obvious how pointless this exercise is."
• Jan. 15, 2016: Responding to a question of when the investigation would be finished, Agent 1 stated, "my guess is March. Doesnt matter what we have, political winds will want to beat the Primarys."
• Jan. 28, 2016: " Alot of work and bulls**t for a political exercise."
• Feb. 1, 2016: "This is the biggest political s**t show of them all. No substance. Up at dawn — pride swallowing seige."
• Feb. 2, 2016: "Going well ... Busy, and sometimes I feel for naught (political exercise), but I feel good ..."
• Feb. 9: "You guys have a sh**ty task, in a sh**ty environment. To look for something conjured in a place where you cant find it, for a case that doesnt matter and is predestined."
• May 6, 2016, to Agent 5: "pretty bad news today ... someone has breathed some political urgency into this." (May 6 was the day news broke that the FBI was likely to interview Clinton "in the next few weeks.")

Just before Agent 1 interviewed Clinton, he sent a text saying: "We have nothing — shouldn't even be interviewing. My god ... I'm actually starting to have embarrassment sprinkled on my disappointment ... Ever been forced to do something you adamantly opposed."

After conducting that interview, Agent 1 texted: "I'm done interviewing the President" — referring to Clinton.

There's also the fact that Agent 1 found what he believed to be instances of people lying to the FBI — including Hillary Clinton — but did nothing.

The IG report says that Agent 1 interviewed "a witness who assisted the Clintons at their Chappaqua residence." Here's the exchange after the interview:

FBI Employee: "boom ... how did the (witness) go"
Agent 1: "Awesome. Lied his ass off."

In addition, after interviewing Clinton, Agent 1 admitted that Clinton's claim that she didn't know what the "C" marking meant on a classified document was "hard to impossible to believe."

In other words, he believed she lied.

As to Agent 5, she's just as bad. At one point she texts Agent 1 referring to Trump's "supporters like the ones from ohio that are retarded".

On Election Day, she texted that Clinton "better win ... otherwise i'm gonna be walking around with both of my guns … and likely quitting on the spot". Later she sent a text saying "f(---) trump."

Other Nuggets Of Bias

The IG report unearthed other such nuggets, such as the text from "FBI Attorney 2," who said after the November election: "Viva le resistance."

So who are these FBI officials? Why do they get to remain anonymous when others, like Page and Stzork, are already public? Are they still at the FBI? If so, what are they doing?

This week, eight lawmakers sent a letter to the IG demanding the names.

"These individuals need to be held accountable and only transparency will ensure that action," the letter states.

Naturally, when the IG confronted these FBI officials with their texts, they all denied up and down that their views about the investigation or about Clinton and Trump in any way, shape, or form colored their efforts.

Right.

Yet, somehow the IG swallowed their excuses so it could report finding no bias in the investigation, a claim that stretched credulity with increasing strength the closer one looks at the report itself.

Which leads to the next burning question about this report: Was it watered down by officials at Justice and the FBI who were able to review it before it got published?

FBI Tinkering?

Earlier this month, Rep. Andy Biggs sent a letter to the IG asking to see original drafts of the report.

"We are concerned that during this time, people may have changed the report in a way that obfuscates your findings," the letter, signed by two other congressmen, says.

Meadows says he believes the FBI officials also may have altered documentation of witness interviews.

Given the recent track record of these highly politicized agencies, these lawmakers are right to want to see any such changes.

Meanwhile, the IG says it found "instances where FBI employees improperly received benefits from reporters, including tickets to sporting events, golfing outings, drinks and meals, and admittance to nonpublic social events."

But the report simply states that an investigation into that troubling revelation is still ongoing. So who are these employees? And just as important, who are the journalists who were apparently buying information from them?

The IG report answered plenty of questions about the FBI's Potemkin investigation into Clinton's illegal use of a private email server.

But plenty of questions remain.