Wednesday, December 11, 2019

The Barr Video That Sums Up How Despicable the Behavior of the FBI Was



We’ve done a lot of coverage on the reaction of 
Attorney General Bill Barr to the IG report. 

Each piece has delved into a different aspect of the problematic nature of the FBI investigation and/or the FISA abuse. You can check them out here, here and here. 

Each has revealed how important it is given what was done and what is being done, to have such a dedicated public servant as Barr to stand in the breach to uphold the Constitution, with a clear head and a brilliant mind. He’s said a lot and it’s all important. 

But if you want a simple couple of minutes to summarize, this Barr interview today at a Wall Street Journal event might perhaps be the video for you. 

Barr is talking about how the FBI failed to warn the Trump campaign about any perceived efforts from the Russians. Instead, the FBI just wired up people and put confidential human sources (otherwise known as spies) next to Trump folks in monitored meetings. 



But those meetings and the monitoring proved that there wasn’t any Russia collusion or connection, they were exculpatory. But, Barr said, the FBI continued on anyway and never informed the court that the evidence was exculpatory. They didn’t have probable cause, he continued, so they used the Steele Dossier, which they had never verified, to get the warrant. They also withheld information from the court about the lack of reliability of Steele. 

The major takeaway, Barr said, came after the election. He said that in January 2017, they spoke to Steele’s “subsource,” Steele was only talking to one sub source, who was the person who had other sources. When the FBI spoke to him, he called into question the dossier, basically saying it was mostly “barroom talk” and “rumor,” not confirming what Steele had said. 

Here’s the kicker. According to Barr, the FBI then told the court that the sub source had been honest and credible, suggesting that he was backing up what Steele claimed in the dossier, when in fact what he was being honest and credible about was the fact that the dossier was garbage. 

That’s pretty despicable. Not just an incredible violation of the rights of the people spied on like Carter Page, but a violation of our basic understanding of American justice. And depending on what was said and how it was said in the process, could be perjury or a violation of other laws as well. Certainly a misleading of the court, whatever name you choose to put on it.



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