Dozens of FBI agents violating policy by schmoozing with the press: IG report

So many FBI officials are talking to the press and attending "social events" with the media that it's impossible to say who might have leaked confidential information to the media during the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private emails, according to a report from the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General.

That report said the IG has "profound concerns about the volume and extent of unauthorized media contacts by FBI personnel that we have uncovered during our review.”One mission of the IG was to see who might have leaked information from the FBI during the Clinton email probe. But it said that investigation had to continue, in part because so many FBI officials are talking to the press. “We frequently find that the universe of Department and FBI employees who had access to sensitive information that has been leaked is substantial, often involving dozens, and in some instances, more than 100 people,” the IG said. Despite FBI policy limiting the employees who are authorized to speak to the media, the IG found the policy was “widely ignored.""We identified numerous FBI employees, at all levels of the organization and with no official reason to be in contact with the media, who were nevertheless in frequent contact with reporters,” the IG said. “The large number of FBI employees who were in contact with journalists during this time period impacted our ability to identify the sources of leaks.” That number of FBI employees is in the dozens, said the report.

The IG also found social interactions between FBI personnel and journalists that “were, at a minimum, inconsistent with FBI policy and Department ethics rules.” “[W]e identified instances where FBI employees received tickets to sporting events from journalists, went on golfing outings with media representatives, were treated to drinks and meals after work by reporters, and were the guests of journalists at nonpublic social events.” The investigations into the leaks are ongoing, said the IG, and a report will be issued when concluded.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/unauthorized-fbi-leaks-hillary-clinton-email-case-under-investigation

>>1747958 (lb)

James Comey defiant after IG report release: I do not agree with all the findings, but I respect the process

>>1747274 Comes happy with IG report

Interesting view points, hmmm

Top GOP investigators: Report shows 'Hillary Clinton was treated differently'

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a top member of the House Oversight committee, said the inspector general report on the FBI’s probe of Hillary Clinton’s private email server showed the agency gave special treatment to the former Democratic presidential nominee. “Right from the beginning, it's clear that Secretary Hillary Clinton was treated differently, and not for good reason,” Meadows said in a statement Thursday. Goodlatte said the FBI and Justice Department overseeing the email probe “didn’t treat her like any other criminal suspect and didn’t follow standard investigative procedures.”

Meadows said Congress should have learned months ago about emails written by FBI agent Peter Strzok pledging to stop Donald Trump from becoming president. “Peter Strzok should not have a job anywhere near our Justice Department,” Meadows said.

Meadows said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “must be held accountable for his obstructionist conduct” for not turning the information over to Congress. He also said former FBI Director James Comey, who the report slammed for deviating from department policy, “should come before Congress and answer for his deeply improper handling of this investigation.”

Goodlatte said the Judiciary and Oversight panels will have a joint hearing on the report next week.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/top-gop-investigators-report-shows-hillary-clinton-was-treated-differently

Bill Clinton 'offended' by accusations he was trying to influence Loretta Lynch

Former President Bill Clinton told the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General that he was offended when many in the press accused him of trying to influence the investigation into his wife's private email server.

Bill Clinton in 2016 met with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch on the tarmac in Phoenix, Ariz. Both Bill Clinton and Lynch said they didn't discuss the ongoing investigation into Hillary Clinton.

But many Republicans and conservatives said the former president could have been trying to put his thumb on the scale in the investigation of his wife. Bill Clinton told the IG he was mad when those accusations were made.

"I thought, you know, I don’t know whether I’m more offended that they think I'm crooked or that they think I'm stupid," Bill Clinton said in his interview with the IG.

"I've got an idea, I'll do all these things they accuse me of doing in broad daylight in an airport in Phoenix when the whole world can see it in front of an Air Force One crew and I believe one of her security guards," Bill Clinton said after being asked if he discussed the investigation into his wife or Lynch taking a job in a Hillary Clinton administration. "It was an interesting proposition, but no we did not."

Bill Clinton said part of the reason why none of these issues came up is because he is "very superstitious."

"I never discuss anything like that," he said. "I want everybody to focus on the matter at hand and I thought the environment was much more volatile than a lot of people did."

Republicans at the time argued that the Clinton-Lynch meeting gave the appearance of a conflict of interest, and former FBI Director James Comey said that was partly why he kept Lynch out of the loop when he decided to publicly announce a reopening of the investigation just days before the election.

Lynch told the IG that Bill Clinton invited himself on her plane and sat down to talk, even though she thought it would only be a meeting lasting a few minutes long.

"At some point, after two or three minutes, President Clinton turned around," Lynch told the IG. "I had my tote bags on the bench seat of the plane, because I had put them there when he came on board."

"I had been holding them. I put them down," she said. "He picked up my tote bags and moved them, and then he sat down. So he sat down, and my husband and I were still standing in front of him having the discussion."

The report said Lynch's deputy chief of staff was "shocked" by Bill Clinton's long visit, and her senior counselor agreed that the "optics were not great."

Lynch's senior counselor told security detail that the meeting should end, but security initially did not let her on the plane. When she was finally let on the plane, she couldn't seem to work up the nerve to end the meeting.

"So then … I kind of didn’t know what to do because … it was a little bit unusual to be in a room with … a former president and say … you need to leave …. So … I think I stared at them for a little bit longer, and then went back to where [the head of Lynch’s security detail] was standing," she said.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/bill-clinton-offended-by-accusations-he-was-trying-to-influence-loretta-lynch