They’re going to investigate the investigators
by digby
Top Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) sent a letter to the intelligence community’s inspector general, pushing for a probe of “apparent leaks” from its agencies during the Russia probe.
The letter focuses on “leaks” of information to the media that are referenced in text messages exchanged between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who have been vilified by Republicans for exchanging anti-Trump text messages while working on special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the Trump campaign and Russian election meddling.
“We are looking forward to the Justice Department Inspector General’s forthcoming reports reviewing potential FISA abuses and leaks from FBI personnel in order to gain a better understanding of what happened during the Russia investigation,” the two wrote. “However these texts and emails demonstrate the need to investigate leaks from agencies or entities other than FBI. Accordingly has the intelligence community office of the inspector general initiated an investigation into these apparent leaks? If not, please explain why not.”
The move signals top Republicans will continue their investigate-the-investigators response to Mueller’s probe, rhetoric that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been spinning since the redacted version of the report was released last month. During his appearance before Graham’s committee last week, Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers that the Justice Department was reviewing various steps taken at the onset of the Russia probe.
I’m sure you recall this right before Comey announced that he was re-opening the email case in October:
Brian Kilmeade, a Fox News host, asked Mr. Giuliani about the presidential campaign during its last two weeks.
“Does Donald Trump plan anything except a series of inspiring rallies?” Mr. Kilmeade asked.
“Yes,” Mr. Giuliani replied.
Another host, Ainsley Earhardt, jumped in.
“What?” she asked.
“Ha-ha-ha,” Mr. Giuliani laughed. “You’ll see.”
Appearing to enjoy his own coy reply, Mr. Giuliani resumed chuckling: “Ha-ha-ha.”
“When will this happen?” Ms. Earhardt asked.
“We got a couple of surprises left,” Mr. Giuliani said, smiling.
Daughter-in-law Lara Trump said the same thing:
Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, married to middle son Eric, hinted on ‘Fox & Friends’ this morning that the Republican nominee may be holding onto an ‘October surprise’ to drop on Hillary Clinton.
‘Well there’s still a couple days left in October,’ said Lara Trump. ‘We’ve got some stuff up our sleeve.’
This piece by the late Wayne Barret remains the Rosetta Stone of the Rudy/FBI story:
Two days before FBI director James Comey rocked the world last week, Rudy Giuliani was on Fox, where he volunteered, un-prodded by any question: “I think he’s [Donald Trump] got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises.”
Pressed for specifics, he said: “We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn this thing around.”
The man who now leads “lock-her-up” chants at Trump rallies spent decades of his life as a federal prosecutor and then mayor working closely with the FBI, and especially its New York office. One of Giuliani’s security firms employed a former head of the New York FBI office, and other alumni of it. It was agents of that office, probing Anthony Weiner’s alleged sexting of a minor, who pressed Comey to authorize the review of possible Hillary Clinton-related emails on a Weiner device that led to the explosive letter the director wrote Congress.
Hours after Comey’s letter about the renewed probe was leaked on Friday, Giuliani went on a radio show and attributed the director’s surprise action to “the pressure of a group of FBI agents who don’t look at it politically.”
“The other rumor that I get is that there’s a kind of revolution going on inside the FBI about the original conclusion [not to charge Clinton] being completely unjustified and almost a slap in the face to the FBI’s integrity,” said Giuliani. “I know that from former agents. I know that even from a few active agents.”
And it’s obvious that this was deep-sixed:
James Comey, based on public comments from top Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani and others in October 2016, launched an investigation into leaks about the Hillary Clinton email investigation that he suspected originated in the New York field office, he told congressional investigators Friday, but said he was fired from the FBI before it reached a conclusion.
Comey said Giuliani appeared to be making statements at the time “based on his knowledge of workings inside the FBI,” raising concerns to him “that we may have a leak problem,” according to a transcript of the former FBI director’s testimony released Saturday.
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