Four FBI Probes Related to the Clintons

Posted on October 31, 2016October 31, 2016 by Denise Simon

How far behind in the investigation process is another dive into Sidney Blumenthal et.al?

Four FBI Probes Related to the Clintons Sharyl Attkisson

The following information is compiled from allegations contained in news reports and in public interviews by current and former law enforcement officials. All of those involved have denied any wrongdoing.

The FBI reportedly has 4 active probes related to the Clintons. Here’s how they dovetail.

1. Clinton Foundation: Four FBI field offices– New York, Los Angeles, Little Rock and Washington DC– have been involved in a lengthy probe of the Clinton Foundation charity. “Pay to play” allegations include the charity soliciting donations from corporations and foreign countries in exchange for access and policy considerations from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which she denies. Emails published this month by Wikileaks reflect consternation among various Clinton allies about the possible appearance of conflicts of interests. Chelsea, the Clintons’ daughter, worried about blurred lines between the charity and the for profit business of one of her father’s aides. In emails, the aide, Douglas Band, discussed how he’d arranged millions of dollars in income for Bill Clinton from foundation donors. He referred to the arrangement as “Bill Clinton, Inc.” Chelsea pleaded with her parents’ confidants to help get the charity’s house in order, and she enlisted outside lawyers to look at the foundation’s business practices. Emails indicate some interviewees told a team auditing the Foundation that donors “may have an expectation of quid pro quo benefits in return for gift[s].” Various FBI and Department of Justice officials have clashed over whether the probe into the charity is worthwhile. In February, senior Justice Department officials reportedly refused to authorize subpoenas, formal witness interviews or a grand jury in the case, believing the evidence was not compelling. In September, FBI investigators on the Clinton Foundation case asked to see the Hillary Clinton emails, but prosecutors reportedly denied them permission.

2. Anthony Weiner sexting: Weiner is the ex-Congressman who resigned in 2011 amid a sexting scandal. He’s married to top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. He withdrew from the race for New York mayor in 2013 amid another sexting scandal. And in August this year, he was caught allegedly sexting women again, sometimes with his infant son shown in photos. Abedin announced her separation from Weiner after the latest revelations. The FBI began a probe into whether Weiner had traded sexually explicit texts with a minor, and in the process of examining his computers, investigators ran across evidence of Abedin emails sent to and from Clinton’s insecure private server(s), which the FBI had previously investigated. The FBI Clinton email team met with the FBI Weiner team and they agreed the newly-discovered material was potentially relevant. FBI Director James Comey notified Congress on Friday.

Anthony Weiner, husband of top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Weiner is under FBI investigation in a sexual texting case.

3. Hillary Clinton email: In July, FBI Director Comey said that Hillary Clinton had been “grossly negligent” in the mishandling of classified emails on private servers as secretary of state, but that there was no basis under which to charge her with a crime. However, the revelations of new Abedin emails that could be relevant to the investigation have returned the status of the case to “open.”

FBI probe of Hillary Clinton email is still active

Read Devlin Barrett’s article in the Wall Street Journal

4. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe: Longtime Clinton ally, former Clinton Foundation board member, and former head of the Democratic National Committee, McAuliffe is also said to be under FBI investigation (led by the Washington Field Office). His lawyer has reportedly said the FBI probe is focused on whether McAuliffe failed to register as an agent of a foreign entity. There are also reports that the FBI is looking into six figures in campaign contributions from a Chinese businessman who also pledged $2 million to the Clinton Foundation while the donor was a member of China’s government, the National People’s Congress. Foreigners are prohibited from making political contributions in the U.S., but can donate personally if they have a green card, which the donor reportedly has.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a former Clinton Foundation board member, reportedly under FBI investigation

There are also questions surrounding McAuliffe’s campaign donations to the wife of a top FBI official, Andrew McCabe, as these various probes have moved forward. The Wall Street Journal reports that McAuliffe’s political action committee gave McCabe’s wife, Jill, $467,500 in late 2015 for her state senate race (which she lost). The FBI’s McCabe has reportedly been triaging for the two teams investigating the Weiner-Abedin email and the Clinton Foundation probes where they intersect. One official told the Wall Street Journal that on August 12, a senior Justice Department official called McCabe to express displeasure at learning New York FBI agents were still on the Clinton Foundation case. “Are you telling me that I need to shut down a validly predicated investigation,” McCabe reportedly asked. “Of course not,” reportedly answered the official, after a pause.

The FBI’s Andrew McCabe and wife, Jill

McCabe reportedly recused himself from a separate McAuliffe matter due to McCabe’s wife’s political contributions from McAuliffe, according to the Wall Street Journal. The McCabes and McAuliffe have denied any conflicts of interest or other wrongdoing.

Preorder The Smear

Watch Full Measure on TV Sundays and replays online anytime

Comey’s Decision on Hillary Investigation Due to Hatch Act?

Posted on October 30, 2016October 30, 2016 by Denise Simon

In 2012, Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder drafted an internal memo at Justice regarding election and Hatch Act guidance. The Hatch Act was likely under consideration in the decision for James Comey to pursue the Hillary email server investigation. The New York office of the FBI has taken possession of 4 devices from the Anthony Weiner/Huma Abedin home that include a laptop, a computer, an iPad and a cell phone. It is also noted there are as many as 10,000 (not confirmed) emails on the shared computer that was placed there by Huma, of which she says is unsure how they got there. To be clear, Hillary had a common practice of asking Huma to print out communications of email as they were difficult to read due to the size of the font. Huma complied at every request and often did so by forwarding emails to her yahoo account out of ease of the process. The hardcopies were then delivered to Hillary by courier or faxed on a secure fax machine located in SCIF’s in both Hillary homes.

It must be noted that several Hillary operatives were given ‘limited’ immunity by the Department of Justice and beyond the review of the emails found on the Huma Abedin devices, Comey also is tasked with the determination if any or all of those immunity agreements have been violate due in part to new evidence and most of all in provided testimony given by those such as Cheryl Mills, Justin Cooper and Heather Samuelson to list a few.

This matter will not be resolved before the general election however, it does have countless moving parts that will impact the winning candidate.

Additionally of particular note, David Kendall, Hillary’s long time lawyer of record had a number of boxes of printed out emails that were delivered to the State Department, 2 of which were never delivered. Further, the law firm, Williams and Connelly also made an arrangement with the FBI to turn over several computers. When the FBI arrived at the law office, 2 computers were in fact held back for reasons still unclear at this point. Both law firms did not have any security clearance to be in possession of any classified material.

https://founderscode.com/5164-2/

A Private Computer System at State for Hillary?

comey-hatch comey-hatch-2 It should be noted that a company exists named the Clinton Executive Services Corporation (CESC) which is named on the contracts of agreements that hosted the servers in question. Both Huma and Cheryl Mills were the managers and administrators of this company where the emails in question were controlled. When it comes to the FBI investigation, yet another wing of this RICO and private intelligence operation concocted by Hillary has been ignored and that is of Sidney Blumenthal. He was in business with Cody Shearer and Tyler Drumheller (former CIA and now deceased). These 3 had a company together that sought business opportunities in the Middle East exploiting conditions as a result of the Arab Spring and Libya. Blumenthal had his own server, yet the FBI has not sought control of his and the question is why. Could it be there was executive privilege applied by Obama in this regard? It must also be noted that several files and communications are in fact known to be on the computer of the hacker Guccifer located in Romania. (from the 302 summaries of the FBI)

drumheller

NSA Contractor Stole Names of Covert Agents

Posted on October 28, 2016October 28, 2016 by Denise Simon

WDEF: The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who’s been charged with stealing and keeping highly classified material over the course of two decades put U.S. intelligence officers and operations at risk by possessing their names, according to a court filing Thursday.

In the filing with a Maryland federal court, the Justice Department confirmed for the first time specific details about the type of information Harold Martin took from the NSA.

Indictment document is here.

Harold Martin’s Detention order filed on October 27, 2016 is found here. His bail hearing held on October 28 resulted in a denial of freedom and a bail release.

“As an example, information stolen by the Defendant includes numerous names of intelligence officers of the United States,” the filing said. “These officers operate under cover outside the United States, and putting the secrecy of their identities at risk by removing information about those identities from appropriate, secure storage not only endangers the lives and safety of those officers and the individuals with whom they work, but also risks exposure of American intelligence operations.”

The Justice Department added that if numerous intelligence sources and methods for highly sensitive intelligence operations fell into the wrong hands, they “could be rendered nearly useless.”

Prosecutors estimate that a substantial portion of the 50 terabytes of digital information found in Martin’s possession contains “highly classified information.” Authorities also found thousands of hard-copy documents containing “highly classified information” in his possession.

In the filing Thursday, the Justice Department did not say whether the names of intelligence officers were shared with U.S. adversaries and it’s still unclear whether Martin was selling this information or if he was simply hoarding the information in his home.

Regardless of his intentions, the Justice Department plans to charge Martin under the Espionage Act. He has already been charged with theft of government property and removal and retention of classified materials for stealing half a billion pages of U.S. secrets and records between 1996 and 2016.

Martin, 51, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, made his first public court appearance in a Baltimore federal courtroom on Friday and the judge ruled that he must remain detained because he poses a “serious risk to the public.”

In court documents filed last week, government lawyers said that Martin committed theft that was “breathtaking in its longevity and scale.”

The Justice Department revealed only earlier this month that Martin had been arrested in late August when officials used search warrants to look through his home, two storage sheds and car. Martin was a Booz Allen Hamilton Employee.

This comes three years after Edward Snowden, a NSA contractor who also worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, leaked top secret U.S. government documents from the agency.

FBI to Re-Open Hillary Clinton ServerGate Case Confirmed

Posted on October 28, 2016October 28, 2016 by Denise Simon

Update: There are countless investigations ongoing and as it relates to this reopen of the Hillary case:

New emails found on a government official’s device, likely Huma Abedin tied to the FBI’s Clinton inquiry were discovered during the investigation into Anthony Weiner’s sexting.

It appears there are countless emails coming into evidence that are the cause of the House Oversight Committee and the FBI may be re-opening the email/server investigation. Given the handful of days remaining before the general presidential election, it is assured that something significant has come to the surface that would approve this decision.

Speaker Paul Ryan has just called for cancelling all security briefings for Hillary Clinton.

Jason Chaffetz@jasoninthehouse13m

FBI Dir just informed me, “The FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation.” Case reopened.

Back in September:

Smith Calls for FBI to Reopen Clinton Investigation

Sep 28, 2016

Press Release

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, today urged FBI Director James Comey to reopen the FBI’s investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

At today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing titled Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rep. Smith questioned Director Comey and described several recent developments that would justify a reopening of the investigation, including:

Reports that an employee at a company that managed former Secretary Clinton’s private email server said on the forum Reddit.com, “ . . . I need to strip out a VIP’s (VERY VIP) email address from a bunch of archived emails….” This same employee called a new retention policy designed to delete emails after 60 days a “Hillary cover-up operation.”

A former Clinton Foundation employee who also managed the Clinton server destroyed devices used by Clinton by smashing them with a hammer.

Two employees involved in maintaining the Clinton server recently pleading the Fifth Amendment to Congress to avoid self-incrimination.

Rep. Smith also urged Director Comey to ensure that the FBI complied with the Science Committee’s recent subpoena of documents related to the server. More here.

****

Related reading: House Oversight Chairman promises years of Clinton investigations: ‘She’s not getting a clean slate’

We don’t know if another whistleblower has come forward or if the WikiLeaks emails are at the center of the decision to re-open the Hillary servergate issue but the letter signed by James Comey does offer some clues.

****

BusinessInsider: NBC News also reported that the FBI will reopen its investigation. In a letter to Congress, FBI director James Comey wrote that the investigative team in charge of looking into Clinton’s server briefed him on Thursday on new emails they found that might contain classified information.

“The FBI cannot assess whether or not this material may be significant,” Comey wrote.

****

NYPost: For months now, we’ve been told that Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 missing emails were permanently erased and destroyed beyond recovery. But newly released FBI notes strongly suggest they still exist in several locations — and they could be recovered, if only someone would impanel a grand jury and seize them.

In a May interview with FBI agents, an executive with the Denver contractor that maintained Clinton’s private server revealed that an underling didn’t bleach-clean all her subpoenaed emails, just ones he stored in a data file he used to transfer the emails from the server to Clinton’s aides, who in turn sorted them for delivery to Congress.

The Platte River Networks executive, whose name was redacted from the interview report, said PRN tech Paul Combetta “created a ‘vehicle’ to transfer email files from the live mailboxes of [Clinton Executive Services Corp.] email accounts [and] then later used BleachBit software to shred the ‘vehicle,’ but the email content still existed in the live email accounts.”

Unless one of Clinton’s aides had the capability to log in to the PRN server as an administrator and remove a mailbox, her archived mailboxes more than likely still reside somewhere in that system. And they may also materialize on an internal “shared drive” that PRN created to control access to the Clinton email accounts among PRN employees. PRN has been under FBI order to preserve all emails and other evidence since the start of its investigation last year.

Clinton’s missing “personal” emails may also be captured on a Google server. According to FBI notes, Combetta “transferred all of the Clinton email content to a personal Google email address he created.” Only the FBI never subpoenaed Google to find out.

The FBI documents also reveal that Hillary’s server was mirrored on a cloud server in Pennsylvania maintained by Datto Inc., a tech firm that performs cloud-to-cloud data protection.

When PRN contracted with Datto, it requested that Hillary’s server be backed up locally and privately. But the techs forgot to order the private node, and they sent the server backup data “remotely to Datto’s secure cloud and not to a local private node.” The FBI never subpoenaed Datto’s server, either.

Then there’s the laptop Combetta loaded with the Clinton email archive and allegedly shipped back to a Clinton aide in Washington, who claims it got “lost” in the mail. Not so fast: The latest FBI document dump includes a series of interviews with an unidentified former “special assistant” to Clinton at the State Department who said the elusive Apple MacBook laptop was actually “shipped to the Clinton Foundation in New York City.”

But in a June follow-up interview, FBI agents inexplicably left it up to this critical witness to “inquire about the shipment” with the foundation’s mailroom manager, who works in Rockefeller Center. The FBI still does not have the laptop in its possession.

It turns out that investigators also know the whereabouts of the original Apple server Clinton used in her first two months in office. Recovering that equipment is critical because it contains a mass of unseen emails from Jan. 21, 2009, to March 18, 2009 — a critical period in Clinton’s tenure at State. Witnesses say the equipment was not discarded, as first believed, but “repurposed” as a “work station” used by staff in Clinton’s Chappaqua residence.

Yet the FBI says it “was unable to obtain the original Apple server for a forensic review.” Instead of seizing it, the agency has taken Clinton’s aides’ and lawyers’ word that the server’s bereft of relevant emails. In fact, the agency confesses on Page 27 of its 47-page investigative case summary that it failed to recover other equipment and data as well: “The FBI’s inability to recover all server equipment and the lack of complete server log data for the relevant time period limited the FBI’s forensic analysis of the server systems. As a result, FBI cyber analysis relied, in large part, on witness statements.”

Congressional investigators say FBI Director James Comey in his year-long “investigation” didn’t even bother to send agents to search Clinton’s homes in Chappaqua or Washington, DC. Nor did he dispatch them to the offices of the Clinton Foundation or Clinton Executive Services Corp. in New York City.

“The Clinton residences and other locations should have been treated like any other criminal investigation — with federal grand jury subpoenas or search warrants issued by judges and served in the middle of the night,” said veteran FBI special agent Michael M. Biasello, who worked criminal cases out of New York and other field offices for 27 years.

“Never — I repeat, never — in my career have I or any FBI agent known to me investigated a criminal case without the use of a federal grand jury, grand jury subpoenas or search warrants,” he said. “It’s disgraceful they weren’t used in this case.”

The most damning evidence against Clinton may never have been actually destroyed. It was simply left untouched by the FBI.

*****

It should also be noted that many schedules have been applied to continue Congressional oversight after lawmakers return to session:

Chaffetz, Goodlatte Request Perjury Investigation of Hillary Clinton

Published: Jul 11, 2016

Share via Email

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (UT-03) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (VA-06) sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia requesting an investigation into whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton committed perjury and made false statements when testifying under oath before Congress.

The letter states:

“The evidence collected by the FBI during its investigation of Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal email system appears to directly contradict several aspects of her sworn testimony. In light of those contradictions, the Department should investigate and determine whether to prosecute Secretary Clinton for violating statutes that prohibit perjury and false statements to Congress, or any other relevant statutes.”

Background:

During a July 5, 2016 hearing before the House Oversight Committee, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey stated the truthfulness of Secretary Clinton’s testimony before Congress was not within the scope of the FBI’s investigation. According to Director Comey the Department of Justice requires a criminal referral from Congress to initiate an investigation into Secretary Clinton’s congressional testimony.

Additionally, Chairman Chaffetz sent a letter to Director Comey requesting the FBI’s full investigative file from its review of former Secretary Clinton’s use of an authorized private email server.

Chairman Goodlatte sent a letter to Director Comey pressing for more information about the FBI’s investigation and also led a letter signed by over 200 members of Congress demanding answers from FBI Director Comey regarding the many questions surrounding his announcement that he does not recommend federal prosecution against former Secretary Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information through private email servers.

Full text of letter:

The Honorable Channing D. Phillips
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
555 Fourth Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20530

Dear Mr. Phillips:

We write to request an investigation to determine whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton committed perjury and made false statements during her testimony under oath before congressional committees.

While testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 7, 2016, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey stated the truthfulness of Secretary Clinton’s testimony before Congress was not within the scope of the FBI’s investigation. Nor had the FBI even considered any of Secretary Clinton’s testimony. Director Comey further testified the Department of Justice requires a criminal referral from Congress to initiate an investigation of Secretary Clinton’s congressional testimony. We are writing for that purpose.

The evidence collected by the FBI during its investigation of Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal email system appears to directly contradict several aspects of her sworn testimony. In light of those contradictions, the Department should investigate and determine whether to prosecute Secretary Clinton for violating statutes that prohibit perjury and false statements to Congress, or any other relevant statutes.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

The Letter to James Comey, Director of the FBI

Posted on October 25, 2016October 25, 2016 by Denise Simon

October 25, 2016

A Retired FBI Agent Addresses James Comey on the Hillary Clinton Investigation

By Hugh Galyen

Mr. James Comey, Director

Federal Bureau of Investigation

J. Edgar Hoover Building

935 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W

Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

Sir,

I am writing regarding your public statement in July, 2016 informing the American people that the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton was being closed without referring it to a Federal Grand Jury or the Attorney General of the U. S. for a decision whether or not to indict her. Strangely, you eloquently laid out enough of the evidence deduced from the investigation to strongly indicate there was abundant evidence uncovered during the investigation and interview of her to not only indict but to convict her in Federal Court. However, you personally re-worded and soft-pedaled the actions she took as Secretary of State describing her actions as “extremely careless” in using a personal email and un-secured server for her communications while Secretary of State. You rewrote the statute, which is not your job.

As a retired Special Agent of the FBI, I have standing to write this letter. My thirty years in law enforcement, including 22 years as a Special Agent with the FBI have given me the knowledge, expertise and experience to question and confront you for your perplexing actions, which (as you well know) were outside the normal standard operating procedure of the FBI and Federal judicial procedures. Some of the finest people in the world proudly carry the credentials of FBI Agent and you have soiled them and not allowed them to speak. But I will not be silent.

Sorry, but NO SIR, MS Clinton was not merely careless or extremely careless. She was not even negligent or grossly negligent (as the statute requires). Hillary Clinton was knowingly purposeful in her decisions and actions to set up a server under her exclusive control and possession in order to control what information was available to the American public and Congress regarding her actions as Secretary of State. Furthermore, she took those government owned communications into her personal possession after leaving her position and knowingly and willingly attempted to destroy them so her nefarious actions could never be known or used as evidence of her corrupt moral character against her.

Sir, what possessed you? Did you cave in to political pressure to unilaterally come to this decision? I fear that is the case, and Rule of Law be damned. I am embarrassed for and ashamed of you. You have set a precedent that can never be rectified… and certainly not justified. Shame on you, Sir. You ought to resign right now in disgrace for what you have done to tarnish the reputation of the finest Law Enforcement Agency in the world… for entirely political reasons.

Normally, an investigation will be assigned to an agent, or team of agents with one being the Case agent, or the lead investigator. When the investigation is complete, an investigative report will be presented to the U.S. Attorney for the Federal District involved. It would be the U.S. Attorney who decides whether to decline prosecution for that investigation… NOT the FBI agent. But in the Clinton investigation, YOU (unilaterally) decided not to forward the investigation to the U.S. Attorney or the Attorney General of the U.S., but instead personally made the decision not to prosecute her or even provide the information to a Federal Grand Jury. You were wrong to take this upon yourself.

Sir, in order to indict a subject, only a preponderance of evidence, or 51% is needed for probable cause to exist. You did not think even that level of probability existed? Who do you think you are fooling? What judicial proceeding did you think you were following?

Throughout my years with the FBI, I (along with my fellow agents) took great pride in conducting each investigation in an unbiased manner regardless of the subject’s position or standing in the community.

All were treated equally under the law. But you, Sir, decided to allow this corrupt, evil and nasty human being to go free and unchallenged for her treasonous actions (yes, treasonous, in my opinion) which threatened the security of this nation. Furthermore, you stopped short of investigating the Clinton Foundation as a RICO case (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization. This is a RICO case if

there ever were one. Even an untrained person can tell from the communications which were recovered that Hillary Clinton spent more time working for the Clinton Foundation while Secretary of State than on State Business. It may be argued that Hillary did not do any State business UNLESS the Clinton Foundation benefitted. You decided to just let this uncomfortable truth alone without addressing it.

I will conclude with this: Following my retirement from the FBI, I volunteered for a 12 month tour of duty in Afghanistan as a Law Enforcement Professional, embedded with U.S. forces as a subject matter expert in counter-terrorism investigations. For most of that year I operated “outside the wire” patrolling with the troops, interviewing witnesses to IED incidents and gathering evidence on the bad guys. The results of my work would then be reported through secure channels to the Commanding Officer. All reports and communications were required to be transmitted via secure and encrypted devices. Occasionally my remote location in the mountains of Afghanistan made transmission impossible and I would have to fly back to Bagram Air Base in order to securely report to the Commander of the battle space. It would have been convenient if I could have just called the Commander on my personal cell phone or written him an email on my personal laptop. But, had I done so I would have been reporting classified information via an unsecured device and it could have been compromised. These were, relative to Secretary of State communications, low level classifications of Secret. Had I ever sent even one in such a manner I would have been prosecuted and sent to Federal Prison for 20 years or so. That is how serious this violation is considered.

Now, because of you, Hillary Clinton is allowed to continue her RICO activities and is running for President of the United States, the most powerful position in the world. You have trampled on the Rule of Law and destroyed the trust of the American people in the FBI and in unbiased enforcement of the law. How do you sleep at night? It is time for you to go and work for the Clinton Foundation.

Sincerely,

Hugh W. Galyean

(FBI Agent, Retired)

Hat tip to Mr. Galyean and American Thinker