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Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Peter Strzok ' investigation'... Clinton vs Trump
HILLARY'S SERVER PROBE
Peter Strzok was a key investigator into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified intelligence when she was Secretary of State. Here is how his role affected the key players.
Huma Abedin: Cleared despite telling untruths
Hillary Clinton's right-hand woman was interviewed by Strzok and questioned about her knowledge of the existence of Clinton's secret server.
Strzok wrote a summary of the interview which said: 'Abedin did not know that Clinton had a private server until about a year and a half ago when it became public knowledge.'
In fact, Abedin had been involved in a series of email exchanges which demonstrated that she knew about the server, including one from an IT aide which said: 'I had to shut down the server. Someone was trying to hack us...'
Cheryl Mills: Cleared despite telling untruths
Mills was chief of staff and counselor to Clinton when she was Secretary of State.
Strzok summarized the interview with her which he conducted in April 2016, saying: 'Mills did not learn Clinton was using a private server until after Clinton’s tenure. Mills stated she was not even sure she knew what a server was at the time.'
In fact, a series of emails from the time demonstrated that neither assertion by Mills could be true.
'HRC email coming back — is server okay?' Mills emailed to Justin Cooper, the IT aide in February 2010.
Despite that email, Strzok accepted that she did not know what a 'server' was at the time.
In August 2011 she received an email from Stephen Mull, a State Department IT official, which said Clinton had asked for a new Blackberry which was malfunctioning 'possibly because of her personal email server is down'.
Abedin was also sent the email.
Hillary Clinton: Cleared her of criminal level gross negligence by removing term from critical Comey memo
Then FBI Director James Comey sent a message to three top officials in the bureau on May 2, 2016, summarizing the latest position on the Clinton probe.
It included the damning sentence: 'There is evidence to support a conclusion that Secretary Clinton, and others, used the private email server in a manner that was grossly negligent with respect to the handling of classified material.'
The phrase 'grossly negligent' was critical as that is the standard which needs to be reached to bring a federal prosecution for mishandling classified intelligence. In other words, Comey was saying that she should be charged.
But the language was changed on June 10 and the phrase 'grossly negligent' replaced by Strozk with 'extremely careless' - below the standard for prosecution.
The memo then formed the basis for James Comey's July statement on Clinton which said she would not be charged.
THE RUSSIA PROBE
After Robert Mueller was appointed Special Counsel to look into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, Strzok was assigned to his team. He was removed when his anti-Trump texts to his mistress came to light. Here is what is known and what is still unknown about his actions
Mike Flynn: Oversaw interviews where he lied to FBI
Strzok was the official overseeing FBI interviews of Mike Flynn, the former general who was Trump's first national security adviser.
It is unknown exactly how many times Flynn was interviewed by the FBI but he dramatically pleaded guilty last Friday to lying to the feds in an interview in January when he was still in office.
Flynn admitted lying about his dealings with Sergey Kislyak, then Russia's ambassador to the U.S.
He was interviewed at least once more and now faces a sentence of up to five years in prison for his crime.
However, it appears likely he will receive a far lighter sentence as he is a cooperating witness with the Mueller investigation and has even agreed to take part in covert evidence-gathering for the FBI.
Jared Kushner and other Trump officials: Did he oversee interviews and charges?
Mugshot: George Papadopolous, first Trump aide to plead guilty in the Mueller probe
As the FBI's most senior counter-intelligence agent on the Mueller taskforce, it appears certain that Strzok would also have overseen the interviews it is known the FBI has conducted so far, but his involvement has not been confirmed.
One of those questioned by FBI agents includes Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.
Others known or reported to have been interviewed include Hope Hicks, now Trump's White House director of communications.
She had been his campaign spokeswoman and steamed his suits while he wore them on his plane.
Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign director, was interviewed by the FBI after his home was raided in a dramatic pre-dawn entry, and has now been charged with counts including conspiracy.
Also charged was Rick Gates, Manafort's aide in the campaign and Manafort's long-time right-hand man.
And the first guilty plea in the Mueller probe was by George Papadopolous, a campaign aide who admitted lying to the FBI. Again Strzok's role is still to be made public.
Nothing going on here right?
FBI Agent Strzok fired from Mueller probe for sending anti-Trump texts to his lover interviewed Mike Flynn before his guilty plea AND Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills before Hillary was cleared
A top FBI official who was tossed from the Russia probe was behind FBI Director James Comey's use of the phrase 'extremely careless' about Hillary Clinton
The phrase replaced Comey's 'grossly negligent' wording, which would have mirrored a criminal statute that Clinton was never prosecuted for violating
Peter Strzok, the partisan agent, was also involved in questioning Michael Flynn before he was prosecuted for lying to the Bureau
And Strzok also helped interrogate Hillary Clinton lawyer Cheryl Mills and top aide Huma Abedin, but that case produced no criminal charges
Emails show Mills and Abedin referring to Clinton's server, but they told the FBI they were unaware it existed until it because public knowledge
President Trump has tweeted about the Strzok story, suggesting both the Flynn and Clinton investigations were tainted by bias
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This stinks about as blatantly as the tarmac meeting! So here we have an FBI agent leading an investigation of Trump, who hates Trump, and just so happens he is the agent who also investigated Clinton and her email scandal. What a fucking coincidence! Now you know why the Clinton team was granted immunity. Now you why Comey decided weeks before interviewing her he wasn't going to bring any charges... even after that blistering dissertation. Probably to relieve is own sense of shame.
And finally Lynch's big lie "I will accept whatever recommendation the FBI and prosecutors make about charges in the inquiry over Hillary Clinton’s email server." Which dovetailed perfectly with the Comey 'recommendation' .
"Although there is evidence of potential violations regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case."
The fix was in.
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Peter Strzok has been involved in both Trump and Clinton-focused probes - and texted his lover anti-Trump messages
The FBI agent who was dismissed from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe for sending his lover anti-Trump text messages is turning into a Forrest Gump character who figured in a number of key moments in the Bureau's recent history.
Peter Strzok was reassigned to the FBI's human resources department after the text messages between him and FBI lawyer Lisa Page were uncovered.
He was already known to be the agent who edited then-Director James Comey's reprimand of Hillary Clinton for using an unsecured private email server for classified messages.
Strzok, among the top officials investigating Clinton, changed Comey's description of her conduct from 'grossly negligent' – language that mirrors the criminal code – to the softer words 'extremely careless.'
His photograph was revealed by Fox News.
Now it can be revealed that Strzok was also part of the team that quizzed disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn before he pleaded guilty to lying during that interview.
And he participated in the FBI's sit-down interviews with two Clinton insiders linked to her email scandal, both of whom got a free pass despite making statements to agents that were later challenged by other records.
Clinton aide Huma Abedin was interviewed by Strzok, but he didn't refer her for criminal charges despite proof she was not forthcoming about what they knew of the presidential candidate's classified email scandal
An FBI agent already under scrutiny for sending anti-Trump text messages was behind changing James Comey's description of Hillary Clinton's behavior in regards to her private email server then went to work for Mueller's Russia probe
The email probe included question-and-answer sessions with several senior Clinton aides including lawyer Cheryl Mills and chief of staff Huma Abedin.
And when those two friends-of-Hillary sat down for their third-degree sessions, Strzok – the partisan anti-Trump agent – was asking many of the questions.
Mills and Abedin both denied knowing of Clinton's unorthodox email server setup, according to summaries of their interviews that the Bureau released last year.
'Mills did not learn Clinton was using a private server until after Clinton's [State Department] tenure. Mills stated she was not even sure she knew what a server was at the time,' one agent's interview notes read.
And Abedin told agents, they wrote, that she 'did not know that Clinton had a private server until about a year and a half ago when it became public knowledge.'
But in emails released by State, Mills and Abedin both referred to Clinton's server specifically, The Daily Caller reported Monday.
Then-FBI Director James Comey defended the Clinton aides' contradictory statements when he testified in a House Judiciary Committee hearing about six weeks before the 2016 election.
'Having done many investigations myself, there's always conflicting recollections of facts – some of which are central, some of which are peripheral,' Comey said then.
President Trump railed against Strzok's actions on Sunday, as the Washington Post and New York Times reported that his text messages 'expressed anti-Trump sentiments and other comments that appeared to favor Clinton.'
ABC News had reported Strzok's departure from the Russia probe in August, but without offering a reason.
Now the controversy could taint not one, but two of the biggest federal investigations in the last year.
President Trump latched onto news reports that said FBI agent Peter Strzok was pulled off the Mueller probe after anti-Trump text messages were found. Strzok was also a lead investigator on the Hillary Clinton email probe, with Trump now suggesting bias
'Tainted (no, very dishonest?) FBI "agent's role in Clinton probe under review,"' Trump tweeted Sunday morning. 'Led Clinton Email probe. @foxandfriend Clinton money going to wife of another FBI agent in charge.'
The latter dig was meant for Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, whose wife took campaign donations from a Clinton ally, the outgoing Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
The FBI has pointed out that McCabe had no role in the Clinton investigation until months after his wife's political campaign had concluded.
But Page, the lawyer who exchanged anti-Trump texts with Strzok, was on McCabe's staff.
Trump went after Strzok again by writing, 'Report: "ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENT LED CLINTON EMAIL PROBE"'
'Now it all starts to make sense,' Trump said.
Republicans...McCain's a traitor and Jeff is a Flake
Jeff Flake donates to Roy Moore's Democratic opponent
Flake is too 'righteous' to be aligned with the Republican party.
"Country over Party," he says.
Translation:
With an 11% approval rating, I haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of getting reelected.
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Republican Sen. Jeff Flake donated $100 on Tuesday to the U.S. Senate campaign of a Democrat opposing GOP hopeful Roy Moore in Alabama.
Flake, who has sparred with President Donald Trump over the Moore campaign, tweeted a photo of his check written to Democrat Doug Jones. In the memo field, he scrawled: 'Country over Party.'
Earlier in the day, Flake and five other Republican senators sat with Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House to talk about hammering out differences between House and Senate versions of a tax reform bill.
The White House sat him next to Trump, with cameras and TV footage catching him looking very uncomfortable as the president endorsed Moore for the third time in less than a week.
Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake fidgeted in his chair next to Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday as he listened to the president defend Roy Moore on Tuesday
Flake tweeted a photo of his check on Tuesday, with 'Country over Party' written in the memo field
Moore has been accused of fondling a 14-year old girl and dating sixteen-year-old decades ago when he was a prosecutor.
But Trump said Tuesday that 'he's going to do very well. We don't want to have a liberal Democrat in Alabama, believe me.'
'We want strong borders, we want to stop crime. We want to have the things that we represent, and we certainly don't want a liberal Democrat that's controlled by Nancy Pelosi and controlled by Chuck Schumer. We don't want to have that for Alabama.'
Flake could hardly contain his eye-rolling.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday afternoon that the allegations against Moore are 'concerning' but Trump 'would rather have a person that supports his agenda versus somebody who opposes his agenda every step of the way.'
Moore 'should step aside' if his accusers are telling the truth, she added. 'But we don’t have a way to validate that, and that's something for the people of Alabama to decide.'
Flake and Trump have been at loggerheads over tax and Obamacare repeal legislation, and the president has lashed out at him in the past
Trump blasted Flake last month, saying calling him 'Senator Jeff Flake(y)'
Trump blasted Flake on Twitter two weeks ago, calling his political career 'toast' after he was caught on a hot mic criticizing Moore and the president.
After a town hall event Flake hosted in Mesa, Arizona, he stepped off the stage without removing the microphone on his lapel – letting TV camera crews eavesdrop.
Speaking to Mesa Mayor John Giles, Flake said if the GOP becomes 'the party of Roy Moore and Donald Trump, we are toast.'
Great News!
Federal grand jury indicts Mexican man acquitted in Kate Steinle killing on new charges
Look at this through the eyes of common sense. If you came to this country illegally 5 times, committed 7 felonies, and you're responsible for the death of a young woman...there just has to be a crime in there somewhere right?
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A federal grand jury has indicted a Mexican man on immigration and weapons charges after he was acquitted of murder in the 2015 shooting death of Kathryn Steinle, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
Each of the the two new federal charges carries a maximum of 10 years in prison if Jose Ines Garcia Zarate is convicted, the government said. He was indicted on one count each of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and being an illegally present alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The killing of Steinle became linked with the controversy over illegal immigration, and President Donald Trump referred to the case in pushing for stricter policies and in criticizing so-called "sanctuary cities."
Garcia Zarate has been deported and had returned to the United States five times. A San Francisco jury found him not guilty of murder on Thursday but he was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The charge carries up to three years in prison, but he has been jailed for two years and could get credit for time served.
Steinle, 32, was fatally shot on San Francisco’s Pier 14 on July 1, 2015. Defense attorneys argued that Garcia Zarate found the handgun and that it went off accidentally.
The Justice Department said that the federal charges are the result of an investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Trump in a tweet called the not guilty verdict in the case "disgraceful" and said, "No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration."
In this July 7, 2015 file photo, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, right, is led into a courtroom by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, and Assistant District Attorney Diana Garciaor. Michael Macor / San Francisco Chronicle via AP/Pool file
Garcia Zarate, who had served a federal prison sentence for illegal re-entry to the United States, was transferred in March of 2015 to San Francisco’s jail to face a 20-year-old charge for selling marijuana.
But when the district attorney dropped that charge, Garcia Zarate was released despite a request by federal immigration authorities to detain him for deportation.
San Francisco prohibits city law enforcement officers from asking about immigration status or detaining people solely on the basis of civil immigration detainers after they are eligible for release. The city says the policy helps people report crimes without fear of immigration status.
Lawyers for San Francisco have also argued that holding people on immigration detainers could expose the city to lawsuits over unconstitutional detention.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Tom Homan said in a statement after the verdict that the agency would seek his removal from the United States, and blamed San Francisco’s policies for him even being on the street when Steinle was killed.
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