Is There A Rogue Element Within The FBI Determined To Destroy Hillary

It is becoming more and more apparent that there may be a cabal within the FBI that is determined to sabotage Hillary Clinton's election. It has already been reported that the FBI investigators looking into Hillary Clinton's emails have known of the existence of this new batch of emails for the last month but apparently made no effort to obtain a search warrant to review them. From the reporting, it is also seems likely that this group of investigators sat on this information until ten days before the election, leaked their existence to Jason Chaffetz, and then briefed the FBI Director about them, forcing him to choose between writing his ill-advised letter or have the story leak. By waiting until right before the election, there would be no time to evaluate the relevance of these emails and it would allow the story to be spun in the most negative light possible, which is exactly what has happened.

Additionally, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the FBI has been looking into the Clinton Foundation for most of the past year, trying to find evidence of financial crimes or influence peddling. The article shows that there are conflicting views within the FBI and the DOJ about the path of that inquiry. Initial investigative results were apparently summarily dismissed by DOJ anti-corruption lawyers. Some believe that is because those results were very weak, based mostly on information already in the public domain, and did not warrant expanded investigation. Others felt the DOJ was trying to hinder the investigation. Apparently, in early August, a DOJ official expressed concern that the FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation was continuing despite the earlier decision from the DOJ lawyers. Again, some viewed this as the DOJ trying to hinder the investigation while others believed it was an attempt by the DOJ to make sure the policy of not making any investigative moves that could be seen as influencing the election was followed. Then, in September, the FBI team looking into the Clinton Foundation asked to review the emails from Clinton's server in order to continue to pursue their investigation. That request was denied because the data in question had been obtained on a limited use basis and grants of partial immunity solely for the purpose of determining whether classified information was mishandled. Again, this struck some in the FBI as just another attempt to hinder their investigation while others saw it has another attempt to expand the Foundation investigation without having any real evidence to do so. Your view of the nature and character of Hillary Clinton will probably determine which side of this dispute you think is correct. Were there people who donated to the Clinton Foundation in the hopes of influencing the Secretary of State? Most probably, yes. But that is not a crime. The crime would be if Clinton actually acted on anything based on those donations. And, after a year-long investigation by the FBI and the media, there is virtually no evidence of this occurring. Now some in the FBI may believe that more aggressive techniques will develop that evidence but that looks increasingly like more of a fishing expedition than an investigation driven by evidence.

I have often wondered why the New York Times spent so much ink writing about the "clouds of suspicion" that supposedly was hanging over the Clinton Foundation but never produced any evidence of wrongdoing. It now certainly seems possible that those stories were prompted by selective leaks from within the FBI. The stories provided a two-fer for the agents working on the Foundation probe - they damaged Clinton and created external pressure to allow the probe to expand. It also seems amazing that the FBI has continued to spend this much time investigating the Clinton Foundation when no evidence of any wrongdoing has been uncovered. The question then has to be asked whether they have spent a similar amount looking at the Trump Foundation where there has been clear evidence of influence peddling and fraud as well as the possible coordination between Russian and the Trump campaign as Harry Reid alleges.

I admit that some of this sounds more like another crazy conspiracy theory. But some of the responsible press reports (some of which I’ve linked to) are out there that seem to back up these ideas and they do explain many of the actions of the people involved.

It is no wonder that career officials within the FBI and the DOJ are furious with Comey. His intemperate actions regarding this new batch of emails has tainted the impartiality of the Bureau, perhaps permanently damaging the institution, although it has to be said the FBI did survive J. Edgar Hoover. But, as we see with Harry Reid's letter accusing Comey of withholding information about the nexus between Russia and the Trump campaign, every possible investigation the FBI is involved in will now be perceived through a political lens. The Bureau will not be able to function effectively under that type of scrutiny. For all these reasons, Comey should have just kept his mouth shut until he knew he had actually had some new information. And if that came after the election was over and he was accused of withholding the information, that is the price the FBI Director has to pay. But Comey was more interested in protecting his own personal integrity. Unfortunately, that meant squandering the reputation of the FBI.