Good article by Kevin Brock, former assistant director of intelligence for FBI.
Misfired 'Hurricane': Comey's team abused Carter Page and the FBI
By Kevin R. Brock, opinion contributor — 12/10/19 09:00 AM EST
Some highlights from the article:
The IG concluded that fired FBI director James Comey’s “Crossfire Hurricane” team had “sufficient” justification for starting the investigation so nicknamed. He then, conveniently, provided the exact words on which the team relied. These are telling.
The FBI received a notification from a friendly country, which is known to be Australia, that a Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, had received a “suggestion” from Russia that it could assist the campaign by releasing information “damaging to Mrs. Clinton (and President Obama).”
That was it. That’s the justification. Here’s what that thin predication was adequate for in the FBI I grew up in: An agent from a field office, not headquarters, would have contacted Mr. Papadopoulos, interviewed him to get more details, enlisted his cooperation against the Russians, if warranted, and that would have been it.
Instead, an investigative team of top officials at FBI headquarters, who disliked Trump very much, received this information that happened to threaten Trump’s rival, Hillary Clinton, and so initiated a full investigation with every intrusive investigative tool available to be used against the Trump campaign. Normally, the FBI starts a less intrusive preliminary investigation first — especially with such flimsy information — but not in this case. One wonders what explains such eagerness.
As a full investigation, the Comey “Crossfire Hurricane” team could unleash every investigative weapon at the bureau’s disposal — and they did. According to the report, the team used techniques usually reserved for suspects actively spying and stealing national security secrets on behalf of a foreign enemy.
The team ran confidential sources and undercover operatives against members of a presidential campaign and secretly recorded their conversations. Please understand, this was unprecedented in the history of the FBI.