POLITICS: House Oversight Com. Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) on IG Report: ‘I’m Alarmed, Angered … This Is Not The FBI Our Country Needs’

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Photo: House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) (YouTube)

By Brady Kenyon, CNSNews, June 14, 2018

Commenting on the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General report on the FBI and DOJ, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said he was “alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed” in the DOJ/FBI failures and added, “This is not the FBI I know” and “not the FBI our country needs.”

“I am alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed by the Inspector General’s finding of numerous failures by DOJ and FBI in investigating potential Espionage Act violations by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” said Gowdy, who was briefed on the report today. The report is expected to be released today, June 14.

“This is not the FBI I know,” said Gowdy.  “This is not the FBI our country needs. This is not the FBI citizens and suspects alike deserve.”

Gowdy commented on the political bias of the FBI stating, “The report also conclusively shows an alarming and destructive level of animus [against Donald Trump] displayed by top officials at the FBI.”

Former FBI Director James Comey.  (YouTube)

“Peter Strzok’s manifest bias trending toward animus casts a pall on this investigation,” said Gowdy.  “Bias is so pernicious and malignant as to both taint the process, the result, and the ability to have confidence in either.”

Strzok, the former top counterintelligence officer at the FBI – he was demoted last year – was a lead investigator in the Hillary Clinton email/private server scandal. Strzok also was a top investigator for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is examining alleged collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.

Mueller was the FBI director from 2001 to 2013. He was succeeded by Director James Comey, who was in charge of the Clinton email case and who was fired by President Donald Trump in May 2017.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.  (YouTube)

Rep. Gowdy further said that Strzok’s “bias was so persuasive and toxic as to call into question any other investigations he was part of, including his role in the investigation of what Russia did in 2016. His bias impacted his decisions making and he assigned to himself the role of stopping the Trump campaign or ending a Trump Presidency.”

Strzok, during his Clinton investigation, reportedly was having an extramarital affair with FBI attorney Lisa Page. She also worked briefly for Special Counsel Mueller, and she reported to Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.  McCabe was fired by the DOJ in January 2018 because he lied to FBI investigators, three times under oath.

McCabe’s wife, Dr. Jill McCabe, received $675,288 in campaign donations from Democratic PACs in 2015, one of which was run by then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a long-time, close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Rep. Gowdy’s full statement is below:

“I am alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed by the Inspector General’s finding of numerous failures by DOJ and FBI in investigating potential Espionage Act violations by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“This report confirms investigative decisions made by the FBI during the pendency of this investigation were unprecedented and deviated from traditional investigative procedures in favor of a much more permissive and voluntary approach. This is not the way normal investigations are run.

“The investigation was mishandled. The investigatory conclusions were reached before the end of the witness interviews. The July 5th press conference marked a serious violation of policy and process. And the letters to Congress in the fall of 2016 were both delayed in substance and unnecessary in form.

“Moreover, the treatment afforded to former Secretary Clinton and other potential subjects and targets was starkly different from the FBI’s investigation into Trump campaign officials.

“Voluntariness and consent in the former were replaced with search warrants, subpoenas, and other compulsory processes in the latter. Many of the investigators and supervisors were the same in both investigations but the investigatory tactics were not.

“Former Director Comey violated Department policy in several significant ways. The FBI’s actions and those of former Director Comey severely damaged the credibility of the investigation, the public’s ability to rely on the results of the investigation, and the very institutions he claims to revere.

“The report also conclusively shows an alarming and destructive level of animus displayed by top officials at the FBI. Peter Strzok’s manifest bias trending toward animus casts a pall on this investigation. Bias is so pernicious and malignant as to both taint the process, the result, and the ability to have confidence in either.

“The law enforcement community has no greater ally in Congress than me. But continued revelations of questionable decision making by FBI and DOJ leadership destroys confidence in the impartiality of the institutions I have long served, respected, and believed in.

“This is not the FBI I know. This is not the FBI our country needs. This is not the FBI citizens and suspects alike deserve.

“It is now urgently incumbent on Attorney General Sessions and Director Wray to take decisive action to restore Americans’ confidence in our justice system.”

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/brady-kenyon/gowdy-ig-report-im-alarmed-angered-not-fbi-our-country-needs