James Comey’s decision to revive the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server and her handling of classified material came after he could no longer resist mounting pressure by mutinous agents in the FBI, including some of his top deputies, according to a source close to the embattled FBI director.
‘The atmosphere at the FBI has been toxic ever since Jim announced last July that he wouldn’t recommend an indictment against Hillary,’ said the source, a close friend who has known Comey for nearly two decades, shares family outings with him, and accompanies him to Catholic mass every week.
‘Some people, including department heads, stopped talking to Jim, and even ignored his greetings when they passed him in the hall,’ said the source. ‘They felt that he betrayed them and brought disgrace on the bureau by letting Hillary off with a slap on the wrist.’
According to the source, Comey fretted over the problem for months and discussed it at great length with his wife, Patrice.
He told his wife that he was depressed by the stack of resignation letters piling up on his desk from disaffected agents. The letters reminded him every day that morale in the FBI had hit rock bottom.
‘He’s been ignoring the resignation letters in the hope that he could find a way of remedying the situation,’ said the source. …
‘The people he trusts the most have been the angriest at him,’ the source continued. ‘And that includes his wife, Pat. She kept urging him to admit that he had been wrong when he refused to press charges against the former secretary of state. … ‘It shattered his ego. He looks like he’s aged 10 years in the past four months.’
This seems to confirm our post yesterday, FBI Revolt Forced Comey’s Hand?
UPDATE: Former U.S. Attorney: Comey’s Hand Forced by FBI ‘Seething’ Anger at Botched Hillary Email Investigation, by Lee Stranahan. The picture painted by former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Joseph DiGenova, based on what he says are discussions with current and former FBI agents, is one of “seething” rage inside the Bureau at the way Comey handled the investigation concerning Hillary Clinton’s private email server:
The original investigation was not intended to be a real investigation. Comey decided — for political reasons — that he wanted to exonerate Hillary Clinton and the only answer to why he wanted to do that was because he didn’t want to be responsible for recommending the prosecution of the first female nominee of a major political party for President of the United States.
They followed none of the protocols that they ordinarily would have attained in such a prosecution. And the proof that that is the case is the letter that he sent to Congress, in which he announced that he was basically reopening the case because they had newly discovered evidence which was evidence on the laptop shared by Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner. If the original investigation had been conducted properly they would have known about that laptop, and they would have known about the tens of thousands of emails that related to the earlier investigation. …
It’s no wonder that people who I have spoken to inside the Bureau and outside the Bureau view Comey as a dirty cop because they believe he has brought disrepute on the agency. The letter he sent just shows how bad the first investigation was.
People in the FBI are very disappointed in Comey’s leadership. They believe that he is unfit to serve, they believe he has no moral authority to lead the Bureau, they believe that he has created a double standard of justice established by his investigation into Clinton, that he has undermined the rule of law, that he has no credibility, and that he has become an embarrassment to the Bureau.
That is generally the thought certainly among former Bureau people, and it is certainly among the field agents and among the people in that building in Washington. There just is no doubt that the manner in which he has conducted himself has really, really sent a shiver through that building. And had it not been for that letter that he sent the other day, that he would be probably be facing a joint-Congressional resolution of no confidence in his leadership of the Bureau. …
This is going to unravel:
I think there’s going to be leaks. If this is gonna be the Democrat’s strategy to save Hillary Clinton, there will be further leaks. There will be leaks of substance, there will be leaks about emails. Comey cannot control the investigation in New York. The reason the first investigation was a flop was that, it wasn’t a real investigation, he kept it at headquarters, he kept it at his office, so there were no field agents involved even though there were a lot of people assigned to it they were given very limited rolls. You look at the 302s, which are questions from the FBI, these are interview notes, the questions are sophomoric, there’s no follow up.
Hillary Clinton says she can’t remember 39 times in her interviews. They went to Comey and said she can’t remember because she had a head injury — alright, let’s get her medical records. Comey said absolutely not, we are not subpoenaing her medical records. So it’s fairly obvious that he cut them off at the pass, he didn’t allow them to do their job and they all knew that.
Interesting that this broke just before the election. I’ll bet the Clintons are furious, because the FBI are culturally and militarily too much for them. Merely buying off the third in command and applying political pressure wasn’t enough — the culture of the FBI appears to be have been just strong enough to withstand it. The Clintons have got away with so very much in the past, so it’s good to see things finally catching up to them. It Hillary is elected, there will be years of impeachment and scandal coming out.
hat-tip Charles
