As Justice Department veteran David Laufman writes, “We are now truly at a break-glass-in-case-of-fire moment for the Justice Dept.” But does anyone give a damn
Why should they become so concerned now?
FBI, Justice Department officials upset by Barack Obama's comments on Hillary Clinton email use, watchdog finds
Then-President Barack Obama’s 2015 comments about the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server led to concern among top FBI and Justice Department officials, a new report from the Justice Department’s internal watchdog found.
The detailed report, released by the department’s inspector general Thursday, found that FBI officials, as well as prosecutors in the Justice Department, exchanged emails and told the Office of the Inspector General of their issues with the comments made during Obama's October 2015 interview with “60 Minutes.”
During the interview, Obama said Clinton’s use of a private email server was a “mistake,” but said it did not “pose a national security problem” and was “not a situation in which America’s national security was endangered.”
“[W]e opened up criminal investigations. And you have the president of the United States saying this is just a mistake. … That’s a problem, right?” former Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s National Security Branch John Giacalone told the Justice Department’s watchdog.
That sentiment was echoed by the former assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, Randy Coleman, who said the bureau had “a group of guys in here, professionals, that are conducting an investigation. And the … president of the United States just came out and said there’s no there there.”
Michael Steinbach, who also formerly served as the executive assistant director for the FBI’s National Security Branch, told the Office of the Inspector General that Obama’s comments created “controversy” within the bureau.
“[Y]ou’re prejudging the results of an investigation before they really even have been started,” he said, according to the report. “That’s … hugely problematic for us.”
Prosecutors within the Justice Department also exchanged emails raising concerns about Obama’s comments to “60 Minutes."
James Comey book: President Obama and Loretta Lynch 'jeopardized' the Hillary Clinton email investigation Comey said Obama’s public statements about the investigation “jeopardized” the investigation’s credibility in multiple interviews and seemed to absolve Clinton of any crime before FBI investigators completed their work.
“Contributing to this problem, regrettably, was President Obama. He had jeopardized the Department of Justice’s credibility in the investigation by saying in a 60 Minutes interview on Oct. 11, 2015, that Clinton’s email use was “a mistake” that had not endangered national security,” Comey writes. “Then on Fox News on April 10, 2016, he said that Clinton may have been careless but did not do anything to intentionally harm national security, suggesting that the case involved overclassification of material in the government.”
Maddow: Time For Warnings Is Past As Trump Openly Abuses Power | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC
"THIS IS HOW DEMOCRACY DIES - IN FULL VIEW OF A PUBLIC THAT COULDN'T CARE LESS"
• Feb 22, 2020
MSNBC
12:51 - Rachel Maddow points out that it is no longer accurate to frame Donald Trump's corruption as imminent or potential as he is openly abusing his power to make it clear that the power of the U.S. government will be used to punish people who oppose him and help people who demonstrate fealty. Aired on 02/21/20.
Nixon directed the IRS to audit every Democrat up for reelection. Plus activists, journalists, whoever indicated opposition to Nixon. Trump fund raiser leads to pardon. Continues to fire many top people for taking measures, or saying things which Trump doesn't like.
Trump Grants Clemency to Blagojevich, Milken and Kerik
The president also pardoned or commuted the sentences of eight others on Tuesday, including Edward DeBartolo, a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers.
Rod R. Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, on the second day of his sentencing hearing in 2011. Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press
By Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman
Published Feb. 18, 2020 Updated Feb. 19, 2020
WASHINGTON — President Trump, citing what he said was advice from friends and business associates, granted clemency on Tuesday to a who’s who of white-collar criminals from politics, sports and business who were convicted on charges involving fraud, corruption and lies — including the financier Michael R. Milken.
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