FBI agents involved in the investigation of President Trump and his associates during and after the 2016 election were so concerned about the agency’s corrupt and possibly illegal behavior, they bought liability insurance in early January of 2016 to protect themselves, newly released FBI text messages show.
Michael Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell, revealed the explosive new FBI communications in federal court filings on Thursday, the Federalist reported.
Powell points out in the filing that the transcripts show that by December 5, 2016, FBI analysts recognized that it was not a “logical investigative step” to seek General Flynn’s financial records at that time and that ‘this is a nightmare.’”
“[W]e all went and purchased professional liability insurance,” one agent texted on Jan. 10, 2017.
“Holy crap,” an agent responded. “All the analysts too?”
“Yep,” the first agent said. “All the folks at the Agency as well.”
“That really, really sucks,” another agent said.
“The whole thing is pretty ugly,” the first agent admitted. “We shall see how things pan out.”
“[C]an I ask who are the most likely litigators?” an agent inquired. “[A]s far as potentially suing y’all[?]”
“[H]aha, who knows….I think [t]he concern when we got it was that there was a big leak at DOJ and the NYT among others was going to do a piece,” the first agent said.
On Jan. 10, 2017, CNN reported that then-President-elect Trump had been briefed by Comey about the now debunked and discredited Steele dossier.
That briefing of Trump was leaked to media outlets eager to report on the salacious dossier, and was used by CNN as a “news hook” to report on the story. The anti-Trump dossier, we would later find out, was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign and compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, who was working for a sanctioned Russian oligarch.
Moreover, records released on Thursday revealed that the primary source for Christopher Steele’s phony dossier had actually been investigated by the FBI during the early Obama years for being a “national security threat” and a “Russian spy” who allegedly offered to pay Democrats for ‘classified information’ if they got jobs in the administration. Incredibly, the FBI still used the Steele’s fatally flawed dossier to get a FISA investigation.
#Durham BREAKING: The primary sub-source for the Steele dossier was deemed a possible “national security threat” + the subject of 2009 FBI counter-intel probe. According to new records, those facts were known to Crossfire Hurricane team in December 2016. @LindseyGrahamSC pic.twitter.com/I6Gp4fv98C
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) September 24, 2020
The names of the FBI employees involved in the text exchanges are redacted, but Powell’s legal filing “states that the latest document production included handwritten notes and texts from Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, and FBI analysts who worked on the FBI’s investigation of Flynn,” according to the Federalist.
During the Jan. 10 exchange, agents seemed worried that the attorney general would catch wind of their operation to take down Trump before the election.
“[T]he new AG might have some questions….then yada yada yada…we all get screwed,” an agent wrote.
On March 3, amid overwhelming pressure from Obama holdovers in the Justice Department, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from overseeing the department’s investigations against Trump and his associates.
In October of 2016, months before the Flynn case was closed, certain FBI analysts appeared concerned that the investigation’s leadership was consumed with conspiracy theories rather than evidence.
“I’m tellying [sic] man, if this thing ever gets FOIA’d, there are going to be some tough questions asked,” one agent wrote. “[A]nd a great deal of those will be related to Brian having a scope way outside the boundaries of logic[.]”
“[REDACTED] is one of the worst offenders of the rabbit holes and conspiracy theories,” an agent texted. “This guy traveled with that guy, who put down 3rd guy as his visa sponsor. 3rd guy lives near a navy base, therefore…[.]”
Several texts show that the order to close the criminal investigation against Flynn came as early as Nov. 8, 2016, the same day as the 2016 presidential election. It was later re-opened in early January of 2017.
“We have some loose ends to tie up, and we all need to meet to discuss what to do with each case (he said shut down Razor),” one agent texted, referring to Crossfire Razor, the FBI’s internal code name for the investigation of Flynn.
“[S]o glad they’re closing Razor,” an agent responded.
The new disclosures made by DOJ also show that the FBI used so-called national security letters (NSLs) to spy on Flynn’s finances. Unlike traditional subpoenas, which require judicial review and approval before authorities can seize an innocent person’s property and information, NSLs are never independently reviewed by courts. One of the agents noted in a text message that the NSLs were just being used as a pretext by FBI leadership to buy time to find dirt on Flynn after the first investigation of him yielded no derogatory information.
“[T]he decision to NSL finances for Razor bought him time,” one agent said nearly two weeks after the initial order to shut down the anti-Flynn case. It is not known to whom the agent was referring in that text.
“What do we expect to get from an NSL[?]” an agent texted on Dec. 5, 2016. “We put out traces, tripwires to community and nothing.”
“[B]ingo,” another FBI agent responded. “[S]o what’s an NSL going to do – no content.”
“Hahah this is a nightmare,” an agent said.
“If we’re working to close down the cases, I’m not sure what NSL results would do to help,” one agent wrote.
“[E]xactly that makes no sense,” an agent wrote back.
The new text messages also demonstrate that agents knew the investigation was being run by FBI officials who were in the tank for Hillary Clinton.
“[D]oing all this election research – I think some of these guys want a [C]linton presidency,” an agent wrote on Aug. 11, less than two weeks after the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation against Trump.
In one series of texts sent the same day as the infamous Jan. 5 Oval Office meeting between Obama, Biden, Comey, Sally Yates, and Susan Rice, one agent admits that “Trump was right” when he tweeted that the FBI was delaying his briefings as incoming president so they could cook up evidence against him. As The Federalist first reported last May, that Jan. 5 meeting was the key to understanding the entire anti-Trump operation run out of Obama’s FBI.
“The ‘Intelligence’ briefing on so-called ‘Russian hacking’ was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case,” Trump tweeted on January 3. “Very strange!”
You're going to want to remember this tweet. https://t.co/OBPXgGFJ76
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 24, 2020
“So razor is going to stay open???” an agent wrote on Jan. 5.
“[Y]ep,” another FBI agent responded. “[C]rimes report being drafted.”
“F,” the first agent wrote back.
“[W]hat’s the word on how [Obama’s] briefing went?” one agent asked, referring to the Jan. 5 meeting.
“Dont know but people here are scrambling for info to support certain things and its a mad house,” an FBI agent responded.
“[J]esus,” an agent wrote back. “[T]rump was right. [S]till not put together….why do we do this to ourselves. [W]hat is wrong with people[?]?
A week later, the FBI agents dished about the illegal leak of top secret information about Flynn’s phone calls with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak to the news media, speculating gleefully that they came directly from the White House.
“FYI – someone leaked the Flynn calls with Kislyak to the WSJ,” the agent wrote.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” another FBI agent responded sarcastically. “I’ll resume my duties as Chief Morale Officer and rectify that.”
“Published this morning by Ignatius,” an agent said, referring to the now infamous Jan. 12 column from Washington Post writer David Ignatius.
“It’s got to be someone on staff,” an agent wrote. “[Presidential Daily Briefing] staff. Or WH seniors.”
As the Federalist notes, “not a single person” has been held responsible for the illegal and malicious leak.
And as concerned as the line agents appeared to be in some of the text messages, none of them came forward to blow the whistle on the FBI’s egregious abuses of power.
The Federalist’s Sean Davis appeared on Fox News with Tucker Carlson Thursday night to discuss the latest shoe to drop in the FBI’s “anti-Trump jihad.”
“These were rank and file agents talking about this,” Davis pointed out. “Where were the whistleblowers? And why are we learning about this three years after Christopher Wray took over the FBI? Why are we having to learn about this from a court case? Why was this not disclosed to Congress? It’s a complete disgrace that it’s taken this long to get any real information about it,” he declared.
When asked if he thinks the FBI has reformed since 2016/2017, Davis responded not that he could see. “I think the best reform you could have would be putting people in prison for their crimes on this and to date we’ve seen one person brought not by Durham but by the OIG on facts that he found,” Davis added, referring to FBI agent Kevin Clinesmith, who was found to have altered an exonerating email during the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
“One person has been indicted,” Davis repeated. “One person in that entire building. So until we see people indicted and go to prison for what we know are crimes, I don’t think what reform they do matters whatsoever.”