Reading this makes me sick. Nice job, NY FBI. Hope you are happy with a 'president' who hates you. How stupid can you get? Seriously.
39
So.... according to the writer there were FBI agents in NY motivated by politics and they harmed Hillary's campaign. Hasn't the liberal media lectured for months that a scenario involving DC FBI agents harming Trump was a dangerous and ludicrous allegation? The irony of the NYT publishing such an article about NY agents is stunning.
3
Strzok had every right to personal bias against Trump, just as all of us have every right to oppose an unfit narcissist occupying the White House. The fact that he never let that bias torpedo the Trump presidential campaign is proof of his integrity. The same cannot be said for his McCarthyite interrogators on the House committees, forever damned in my eyes.
38
Why is this not a top story?!?
21
Great job, NY Times! Glad you finally got around to the story that Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) broke on Twitter ages ago and continues to elaborate with evidence from the public record. Better late than never with this vitally important story that belies the claim that the FBI was actively pro-Hillary. Every time the president or his media and congressional co-conspirators repeat “witch hunt,” we get that much closer to blatant obstruction.
Simple fact: the FBI (and law enforcement in general) is overwhelmingly conservative. The president repeatedly lies about this reality, saying that the investigation is headed by “13 angry Democrats.” His constant efforts to undermine investigation by pretending it is politically motivated is the exact opposite of the truth. It is great to see some of this actuality in one of your stories.
22
Sure the names of FBI staff at the New York office should be available to NY Times journalists. Let's know their names, and let the would-be anti-Clinton leakers just try to wriggle out of their unprofessional and culpable behavior! Perhaps they were in the pay of the Russian consulate, or the Trump organization?
18
Have we become a banana republic?
6
Giuliani should be subpoenaed, especially since he likes to brag he knows everything.
26
What I don’t get about this whole thing who was looking at FBI agents private text messages and why. Please address that, NYT.
10
Are there two more despicable individuals in Congress than Trey Gowdy and Louis Gohmert?
33
As a former federal public corruption prosecutor (DOJ's Public Integrity Section), in my view this article properly points out the likelihood of a pattern of pro-Trump leaks from the NY field office of the FBI. DOJ IG Horowitz is presently investigating this issue.
It is important to set aside the rhetoric of higher level DOJ and FBI officials ("our only cause is to serve the country" or "protect the public" and the like). There is, in fact, a significant amount of ambition, bureaucratic maneuvering, and manufactured personalities amongst the leadership of both institutions. This can range from protection of one's turf (so to speak) to protecting superiors (by doing what they want without giving them the need to create explicit instructions that would be subject to scrutiny). By way of example, after I left DOJ I talked with a mid-level supervisor who told me he had been ordered to bring a significant criminal investigation to Main Justice from the LA US Attorney's Office because in his reading the higher-ups "wanted to kill the investigation" (this was of then VP Gore for possible criminal campaign finance violations).
While the article properly criticizes the leakers amongst the NY FBI, it without foundation dismisses as harmless the, in fact, highly revealing - and highly damning - texts that Strozk sent his lover - an FBI attorney. Those texts demonstrate that Strozk's entire attitude was infected by personal likes and dislikes - and by political sentiment ....
1
I wouldn't hold your breath
1
The lines of Matthew Arnold come to mind:
"Charge once more then! and be dumb.
Let the victors, when they come,
When the forts of folly fall
Find thy body by the wall."
I cling to this right now. The truth will out. The truth will out. The truth will out.
Like so many Americans, my disillusionment with the GOP is TOTAL. Long ago they made their choice:
"My PARTY first. . .
. . .THEN--my country."
The years go by. Nothing changes the disillusionment.
In the meantime, I pray God the truth prevail. That somehow--out of this concatenation of lies, insults, innuendos. . . ..
. . .the truth come out.
My hat is off to the Assistant DA--my hat is off to the thousands of agents toiling away in the FBI. . . .
. . .and New York Times, I don't give a RIP whether they supported Ms. Clinton or Mr. Trump or the Man in the Moon. . . ..
. . .my belief is: these men and women are toiling away in good faith to preserve and protect the liberties of the American people.
They CONTINUE to do this (and my heart flames up with anger as I write the words)--IN SPITE. . .
. .. of innumerable lies and insults flung at them . .
. .by the Republican members of Congress.
The Republican party!
Once the bulwark of "law and order."
And now (to quote an eminent Republican). . .
. "the party of Trump."
Shame on you!
Shame on ALL of you!
SHAME!
8
Cranks? Hardly. This is out-and-out treason. The Republicans have subverted our democracy, and looted our common wealth, among other vile crimes, while allowing their insane pet ferret (with apologies to the genuine article) to draw America's attention. McConnell, Ryan, Gowdy, Hatch, Pruitt, Zinke, DeVos, et al... Correct me if I'm wrong, but the classical corrective for this form and degree of conspiracy culminates at the end of a rope, does it not?
15
The journalism story I want to read is an interview with the leaking New York anti-Clinton agents, and I want them to be asked how they now feel about having broken their agency rules to help elect a president who is clearly in cahoots with Russia's Putin to undermine our democratic allies, weaken our alliances and thereby strengthen the criminal thug Putin. How do they feel about having helped elect someone who appears likely to be a traitor to our country? Do any of these men regret the damage they have done to our nation? Do they simply deny what Trump is, or what they did?I very much want to know and since Giuiliani knows who they are, it is certainly discoverable.
24
Trey Gowdy, Jim Jordan and the Republican vigilante committee had a noose around Peter Strzok's neck but something happened on the way to their necktie party. Strzok refused to play the victim and gave as good as he got at yesterday's kangaroo court hearing.
FBI bias towards Secretary Clinton was well known. Field agents did not want a Clinton presidency and James Comey, running scared and defying the advice of his boss Loretta Lynch, decided to throw the election to the secretary's opponent. Comey is the real culprit here, not Agent Strzok.
11
Perhaps it is time to roll some heads and reorganize the FBI, starting with that troublesome NY office.
6
We need to get to the bottom of this!
4
What we witnessed in the Strzok hearing was a gaggle of Republican traitors crowing with faux righteous indignation about ill-considered tweets. Where is their outrage now that we known Russian officers attacked our democracy?
21
So why isn't the media making a bigger deal of this story instead if of pretending all FBI agents are pure as the driven snow? These guys are a serious threat to our democracy and did at least as much damage as Russia in the last election. Spineless Comey announcing the reopening of the email investigation because he was afraid his own subordinates would leak the information. McCabe making it public that there was an investigating of the Clinton Foundation. Both men sitting on the info about the investigation of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - how is this not headline news??
And why are Democrats going along with this coverup of crucial information from the public?
13
A while back, I emailed the NYT news room and asked for some investigative journalism on the role of the FBI's NY field office in installing Trump -- and on how the agents are feeling now about their president's constant attacks on the FBI! How can we get this information?
13
This hearing was an exercise in bad faith that was disgusting even by congressional standards. And while both congressional parties have been pretty useless for some time, Trump's gold plated republicans are really starting to make my skin crawl.
13
Missing from this account is any mention of what exactly about Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation so offended the FBI in New York. Was is just misogyny? Did they feel she was not supportive of their mission? Did they feel that the Clinton Foundation was a personal slush fund for the Clintons (a claim that has been made officially by New York State about Trump's foundation, ironically). I too have encountered law enforcement that were strongly pro-Trump, largely based on the view that the "liberal" bias against law enforcement was both naive and insulting, particularly to people who were regularly risking their own safety to protect the public's.
More to come on this story, I hope.
6
This sounds like a real witch hunt. Well done Mr. Strzok.
The House Judiciary Committee is an oxymoron.
6
To my knowledge, no one has ever shown that information on Hillary Clinton's private e mail server was likely to compromise our national security, nor that any enemy agents ever penetrated or even knew about the server. Her "security violation" amounted to a minor administrative misdemeanor. The whole campaign to inflate this non-issue into some sort of terrible national danger (like the Benghazi investigation) shows the willingness of the right-wing media to falsify events in order to achieve political advantage. Unfortunately, the American people are easily deceived by these ploys, plus many of them just did not like Hillary Clinton and the e mail server was just an excuse for blackening her name.
8
Perhaps the agents at the New York Office were worried that if HRC got in as President she would clean house and for good reasons -- not the phony ones used by Republicans to destroy the career of stalwart public servants like Peter Strzok. What can the Republicans give us besides an endless circus of phony investigations that help them get the votes of the gullible? What policy or program have they enacted in the last twenty years that has benefited the public of strengthened the Republic? What is scary is that people do not seem to tire of these spectacles. And worse, that the Democrats do not seem to draw attention to them and speak up. What's the matter? Don't the Democrats know how to take the show on the road and right to the doorstep of every vulnerable Republican? Right now, Beto O'Rourke could defeat Sen. Ted Cruz in November 2016. With enough money, intelligence and energy Mitch McConnell can be put out of office. Let's learn from the Tea Party -- cross us and we will defeat you at the polls. Then let's see how many vote for Brett Kavanaugh, or destroy Health care, or endlessly leak phony dirt on Hillary. The Democrats don't know how to brag about what they have done and they don't know how to explain the philosophy behind what they do. Those leakers in the NY FBI office were emboldened to do what they did by Rudy Guilliani. Why is he not being investigated for interfering with the 2016 election?
12
The biggest favor Comey could have given to the nation would have been to indict HRC and let the Democratic Party quickly nominate someone like Biden as their nominee.
HRC lost the election for many reasons that were almost all her own fault. Anyone else running would have captured the Obama voters who switched to Trump in the crucial Mid West states HRC did not lower herself to campaign in.
Oh, what might have been.
1
Thanks to New York we got Trump.
9
Comey in his smug, self-superior way was easy to snooker into sinking Clinton- by the New York office where he worked for Guliani, and the Russian playbook.
He tipped the election towards Trump and will forever be known as the man who aided Putin in defeating the western alliance of nations that stood for democracy.
5
Gosh, what news organization has a *lot* of insight into the NY Field office I wonder? I understand this is an opinion piece but the news side has been dreadful on providing any real context about the FBI's role in the election something they have a wealth of knowledge about.
What did Michael Schmidt and Matt Apuzzo know and when did they know it?
2
I wonder how these agents feel now, having helped to elect a traitor. Well, at least he's not connected to organized crime...oh, wait...
These agents should not just be fired, they should be prosecuted. They betrayed us, the people that pay their salaries.
10
I would love for someone to uncover some pro Trump emails from FBI agents and see what the House Judiciary Committee does with them. From news reports, it seems as tho the NYC FBI office were mostly big Trump supporters. Surely some “biased”emails can be found!
9
If we are to extricate ourselves from the liars and thieves that manipulate the facts to promote this plutocratic, theocratic agenda and pass it off as patriotism- we need more articles like this and more importantly, more democrats shouting this from the highest mountain . The cost of saving a government of , by and for the people will be nothing less than everything.
8
Kudos to the NY FBI agents. Were it not for them, Comey would have remained mute on Weiner's laptop and Hillary would be President. They are patriots.
History, something the House Republicans apparently know little about, will say that Rudolph Giuliana knew in advance that Mr. Comey's fatal 11th hour bombshell was forthcoming and would mortally wound Hillary Clinton.
Circling the wagons now to protect our madman in the Oval Office will not provide the cover Trump needs to withstand what looms ever closer from Mr. Mueller. Someday soon, traitors and their minions will be called upon to explain themselves before federal judges in an effort to mitigate the length of prison sentences.
11
So the proof of how loyal Comey is to the FBI is that it never crossed his mind to expose the insipid influence of Republican-leaning Hillary haters within the NYC FBI office - rather than announcing a renewed investigation into Hillary's stray emails in Anthony Weiner's laptop.
It was pressure from within the department itself, brimming with not-so-quiet Trump support in its own ranks. Not surprising at all that law enforcement in general leans heavily Republican.
Nonetheless, really disgraceful and malicious. Why is this only coming out now? The same thin blue line as always...
No wonder Hillary supporters cannot ever view Comey as one of the good guys. Ultimately he watches his own back and that of the department first. Two-faced!!!!!
Where are the likes of Sam Ervin, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and other elected officials of integrity when we need them most?
8
Every time Mueller acts I am reassured that he is a million times smarter than Donald J. Trump. No wonder the Republicans are so terrified... he makes them all look like the Keystone Cops.
8
Wow, here I am a Blue guy in a consistnetly Blue urban area in a Red State. And, I'm far from young - I'm a 68 yo white guy - but so disheartened to read that the NY office office of the FBI is politically corrupt. And equally disheartened that the apparently well known political corruption of that office has been sidelined by the central FBI. Why is that? Fear of what? Democracy is at stake.
9
Well, I think we’ve found our ‘Deep State’, everyone.
5
How about a complete house-cleaning at the NY FBI office?
Rudy Giuliani admitted that they are leakers. Everybody KNOWS they are leakers. James Kallstrom was the deputy head of that office. He is a Rush Limbaugh "homie" and makes no bones about it.
They are violating the policy of the organization and should be brought to justice. (Really funny since they work for the "Department of Justice", right?)
What prison do we use to put former FBI agents in jail?
9
Um. It's no secret that House Republicans are "...not serious about learning the truth...". And never have been over the last 30 years.
7
Nothing befits bullies like bullying the defenceless. Strzok can try to explain how nothing means nothing till the cows come home. It's about as useful as questioning Auntie Em about the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard of Who?
2
Comey is disgrace! He boasts too much about integrity, but he couldn't even stand up to the bullying of this nasty New York FBI field office. The country would NOT have been reduced to play Putin's mistress had he not been just all cheap talk and no backbone!
5
Egad! Where are we if major elements of the FBI are renegade?
3
Let’s all stop pretending what the House is doing is an investigation. It is an extended “get out the base” rally. Nunes, Goodlatte, Jordan et al want to make sure their conspiracy theory-believing, non-critical thinking, blame-everyone-for-their-problems base continues to think that way.
Strzok said it best: The FBI could have easily tanked Trump by releasing evidence it had of the Russian hacking. But it didn’t. Yet according to Nunes, Goodlatte and Jordan, some texts between him and his girlfriend make him an enemy of the state after 26 years of loyal service.
These men are as bad, or worse, as Joe McCarthy. Their thirst for power and hatred for the institutions that are the backbone of our country is repulsive. They are neither competent nor fair nor intelligent. How sad that these men, combined with their Dear Leader Trump, are apparently the GOP’s “Best and Brightest.”
11
From the beginning of time...actually, from the beginning of America, politics and politicians have ruled this country. Sometimes it’s very difficult to understand who the real villains are. If you want to live in a Utopian Society, you’re probably going to have to wait until after this life ends. In the meantime, please wake up America. All we can really hope for is the “lessor of two evils”. There isn’t one country or religion on this planet that couldn’t learn from each other. Up until now, America has been a “beacon” NOT as a perfect country, but more like the adult in the room. Have you noticed recently that the candle is burning with less brilliance? We need someone or something to replace it with a new one. Any suggestions????
5
Mr. Graff's remarkable piece looks like an introduction to a book on the New York office of the FBI. I hope someday that we will find out more about this renegade office. However, given the proclivities toward bullying by the likes of Mr. Giuliani and others with connections to the "sovereign district," it is likely that this office will remain terra incognita for a long time.
10
Republicans have proved over and over that the truth matters only when it harms Democrats. Trey Gowdy's endless Benghazi hearings is but one example of Republican use of power to influence elections by bashing their opponents. They're now once again using their position of power to cover for Trump's Russia connections by use of hearings to find a way to shut down the Mueller investigation, even though Mr. Gowdy is on record as being for allowing that investigation to continue without interference, an obvious lie.
There's a reason for the Republican position, and that reason is that the Republican party no longer has the best interests of the American people at heart, but instead works only for those who pay and feed them, the oligarchs who now overtly run our government. It's obvious.
18
Why is this story not getting more attention from the press, both local and national? It is a blockbuster story yet it is repeatedly given short shrift by the press or no attention at all. It seems to me that the combination of Russian and FBI interference in the election swung it to Trump, thereby subverting our democracy. The results to our country and the world have been disastrous. Additionally, there should be a formal outside investigation of the FBI including its New York office and firings and arrests of those who broke the law should be made if warranted by the evidence. I really don't like the idea of rogue FBI agents, out of the New York office no less, working wittingly or unwittingly in concert with a Russian autocratic thug to swing our election. A formal investigation and further news reporting is urgently needed.
25
It's amazing Horowitz can go after Comey and McCabe and not find out who was leaking out of the New York field office. Whoever that person or persons was should be put in a nice little cell.
13
Outstanding research, Garret! Great and factually sourced information that warrants further scrutiny .
Great job !
24
It's certainly possible for people to have a deep and visceral dislike (hatred) and still do their job.
Look at some of the individuals (and their off-the-cuff comments) having to work with Trump as part of the "administration". And that includes individuals he selected.
9
And yet I still haven't heard of anyone in the FBI's NY office being disciplined. For that matter, there are no reports of an investigation into who was leaking information specifically designed to harm HRC. Why hasn't Giuliani been asked to testify about his sources of the e-mail "surprise"? Get Rudy up there under oath -- I don't care if it's now or when the day comes that the House flips -- make him admit his buddies in NY were showering him with information..
31
There was plenty of dirt, including the possibility of criminal malfeasance, that was out there about donald trump. The difference is that the trump supporters shrugged it all off while the Clinton supporters were conflicted. Worse, those who should have been in her corner found that they simply couldn't bear to vote for her given all of the turmoil. If those center and left thinking voters had any real clue that trump might actually win, they may have felt differently about the gravity of that private server.
12
The whole New York FBI Office needs to be disbanded, or relocated to Alaska, and built up with new employees. Not that this will happen under Trump.
11
The Republicans in the Congressional investigation couldn't have been serious or they are grossly ignorant of history when they asked about Dems in control of the FBI From the days of Edgar Hoover until today, the control of the FBI has been a nest of right wing Republicans. Ask any NAACP member who controls the FBI to get an honest answer.
30
The Russians and the NY Office of the FBI both actively worked against the election of Hillary Clinton. Hopefully, not together.
With those two groups putting their thumbs on the scale, she still managed to get 3 million more votes than Trump. Sorry, but Trump will always have an asterisk by his name.
And the NY FBI agents will have to consider the real possibility that they helped put a Russian Puppet in the Presidency.
Lost in the almost mindless screeching of Republicans on Thursday was Peter Strzok explaining the levels of review and needed authorizations above and below him at the FBI. These are the checks and balances that prevent one person’s bias from using the FBI for coups or personal vendettas.
What Congress should be looking at is the adequacy of the checks and balances to insure the FBI is not misused.
And how to control the leaks.
Get serious, Republicans. Your crazy conspiracy theories are being systematically debunked by Mueller. Start doing your job.
36
As a center-left voter since my first election in 1970, I’ve frequently disagreed with Republican positions but respected their right to hold them. But that started to change when Bush and Cheney made up the lie that Iraq possessed weapons of destruction as the reason for invading Iraq.
My respect for Republicans has disappeared as a result of them electing and continuing to support a man who is increasingly being shown if not a traitor, at least a man who’s shown he has no interest in serving the American people nor defending the Constitution.
55
If nothing else, this episode of American history clearly demonstrates that it's all about obtaining power at the expense of everything. Patriotism, religion, love of country, morals, ethics, all no longer matter. It's all about power and what some people are willing to do to obtain it.
62
It's ironic that those who deplore what they see as Strzok's "bias" are willfully ignoring the other biases in that New York Office. It's scary that our government seems intent on undermining the FBI when some who work for the FBI consciously helped Trump at the expense of Hillary Clinton. It would be different if they would recognize the real equivalencies and advocated for fixing FBI meddling in an election.
35
From what can be discerned, it appears that FBI agents from the New York Office deliberately leaked explosive, unproven innuendo to Rudy Guiliana with the intent to prevent Hillary Clinton from winning an election. This, if true. is a clear violation of their oaths and the provisions of the Hatch Act.
47
When does the billionaire class say enough, that the Republicans supporting the Russians is not worth any future tax cuts they might get.
In fact, the country can't afford any more tax cuts.
And the billionaire class know that Trump is a buffoon and a conman.
19
What is so maddening to anyone with a functioning brain is the the rank and file FBI agents were decidedly anti Clinton and pro Trump but somehow one agent has now created the witch hunt as Trump describes it. The level of cognitive dissonance with Trump supporters is beyond measure.
47
The Republicans are desperate to find a way to save their "malevolent fool" of a president and they don't care about following any laws. Mr. Strzok showed them what it means to be honorable in his job, despite whatever his personal decisions. They tried one low blow after another and raised issues that they had no right to raise. Although an FBI agent he is entitled to have a personal opinion all while following the rules and strictures imposed by the FBI. Because these Republicans can't resist their own personal bias to uphold their oaths of office and the rule of law they can't believe anyone else could possibly be capable of doing so!
53
The real culprit?
I watched the entire horror show yesterday and came away thinking that the foul and detestable Jim Jordan walked away with the title.
50
Other observers have drawn the lines connecting Russian attacks on Hillary Clinton with the New York FBI Field Office and noted that one of the important dots is Erik Prince, free-lance international military commander and arms merchant. Some suspect Trump rewarded Mr. Prince by appointing his sister, Betsy DeVos, to a cabinet position.
53
In the last paragraph of his rather biased, to put it kindly, column, Mr. Graff writes: "We need to understand the truth of the 2016 election — not just for the record, but to take steps to prevent any interference in future elections."
Yes, we need to understand why there is so much that the FBI is doing that is kept so secret, not just from our duly elected leaders in Congress, but from We the People. And this also goes for the CIA, the NSA, the military and all the other 'deep state' intelligence apparatus. We've gone from our federal military and law enforcement being here to serve and protect the people to it running amok as an out of control and unaccountable crypto-police state. The excesses of the post-9/11 diminishment of our rights needs to be massively checked.
As to the 2016 election, both campaigns were obviously up to a lot of dirty tricks. That is the nature of politics.
Yet, we keep obsessing about Russia and their alleged 'interference' - which, to the best I can tell, amounted to social media plants and the leaking of not so classified data from sources like Wikileaks, etc. How much of the same was going on with other nations? Israel, Saudi Arabia and China all come to mind as probable offenders. They were either more subtle about it than the ham fisted Russians - or the 'deep state' doesn't want to turn over those rocks.
Agent Strzok and the FBI's NYC office are two sides of the same coin - examples of the US's out of control intelligence apparatus.
3
Peter Strzok proved incapable of getting out his own way. How exactly does a seasoned FBI investigator not know that anything in written form is subject to discovery—text messages included? Bad behavior and worse judgment by Strzok tainted the Mueller inquiry, not irreparably, except for those desperate to derail its progress. Perhaps the larger story is that Strzok elected to continue working at the FBI. Meanwhile, FBI director Gray is to be admired for keeping his team on track and resisting frightening efforts to politicize the bureau. Fortunately, Gray reports to a leader in the Justice Department who evidences uncompromising integrity.
5
It's a very long list of things the FBI has been guilty during the course of it's history. Supporting left wing politics has never been one of them. The fact that the Republicans and Fox News have been able to convince a sizable number of Americans that the FBI, in spite of it's history has somehow morphed into a radical liberal pro-Democratic organization has been one of the most depressing things about this whole affair. Are people really that stupid or is it just that Americans have become willing to accept any lie as long as it fits their preferred narrative?
40
Trump supporters calling out people for cheating on their spouses. Jaw-dropping hypocrisy.
49
The very significant impact of illegal and unethical conduct of agents in the NY office of the FBI and their accomplices, Kallstrom and Giuliani, in tilting the election to Trump is underappreciated. Thank you for providing this concise summary.
59
Guliani is the absolute worst of the worst. He and Trump are two of the most despicable human beings. To think that either of them holds any kind of power is more than scary.
39
My favorite description of the Republican tongue-lashing of Peter Strzok was Rachel Maddow's: "the Republicans thought they were getting a piñata to hit, but this piñata was alive and also had a stick!"
86
One thing the Strzok inquisition yesterday proved without a doubt: one side of this debate has absolutely zero interest in any objective analysis or the truth. And despite their patriotic posturing, they are willing to defame those who strive every day to protect us, to avoid facing the truth. In my opinion, these people are the exact opposite of patriots. They are traitors.
85
And at the same moment that Stormy Daniels is back in the headlines , a GOP congressman would call out the witness for infidelity ! Beyond chutzpah !
6
Actually, the Republican's came up with everything, not nothing. Strzok admitted that he unilaterally decided to investigate Trump with no evidence. And he stated how much he hated him, which is why he started the false investigation in the first place. He is an arrogant liberal that believes his political views should be forced on all Americans, and he calls that "patriotic".
Patrick, no, Strzok did not decide unilaterally to investigate Trump. You must not have watched the entire hearing. He explained that there are layers of agents above and below him and that he could not act unilaterally; however, he could have chosen to leak to someone, say in the media or in the political class about how Trump was compromised. He didn’t. I will agree that nothing connects Trump, himself — yet. But he had many people surrounding him who had questionable contacts with Russians. I am willing to believe that Trump was merely a stooge.
Before Trump was even running for office Strzok was investigating Russian agents who had come to the US to spy on our intelligence agencies. He led the several years long investigation of a Russian couple who had stolen Canadian IDs and had two children born in Canada who had no idea their parents were Russian. They were arrested, charged with espionage, and exchanged for Americans hostages in Russia. Is it any wonder he was also involved in investigating Russian ties to the Trump campaign? Of course, I don’t expect you to open your mind to any of this, but in case others might not know, I wanted to clear up your misunderstanding.
7
Patrick, no, Strzok did not decide unilaterally to investigate Trump. You must not have watched the entire hearing. He explained that there are layers of agents above and below him and that he could not act unilaterally; however, he could have chosen to leak to someone, say in the media or in the political class about how Trump was compromised. He didn’t. I will agree that nothing connects Trump, himself — yet. But he had many people surrounding him who had questionable contacts with Russians. I am willing to believe that Trump was merely a stooge.
Before Trump was even running for office Strzok was investigating Russian agents who had come to the US to spy on our intelligence agencies. He led the several years long investigation of a Russian couple who had stolen Canadian IDs and had two children born in Canada who had no idea their parents were Russian. They were arrested, charged with espionage, and exchanged for Americans hostages in Russia. Is it any wonder he was also involved in investigating Russian ties to the Trump campaign? Of course, I don’t expect you to open your mind to any of this, but in case others might not know, I wanted to clear up your misunderstanding.
1
They are not serious about knowing the truth. They are serious about distracting everyone from further announcements about how the election was hindered and about Mr. Trump's relationship with Russian banks and Putin.
We need a "do-over" as the kids say. Hillary won by 3 million votes. Today, I'm sure it would be much more than that....although Maureen Dowd would probably find a way to discourage voters from supporting her.
36
First, the Inspector General needs to investigate the FBI New York Field Office.
Second, hopefully at least one body of Congress will go to the Democrats in November and an investigation by the Judiciary Committee and the Government Oversight committee will undertake their own investigation.
And, perhaps, a third thing - a reorganization of the New York Field Office - moving a significant number of agents out of that office to other offices in the country and moving agents from other offices into the office. Also, the Assistant Director for the Field Office needs to be put on a tighter leash and held accountable for leaks from his office.
47
I have this theory. Humor me.
The guy who really caused all the FBI chaos that led to the election of Donald Trump was (wait for it) … Jimmy Hoffa. No, it wasn’t Comey and while some may have cahooted in the NY FBI office, there needed to be a mastermind skilled at obscuring his tracks. It was Jimmy Hoffa.
Now, he would have needed to find a way out of his concrete tomb out in East Rutherford, NJ, within the foundations of the old Giants Stadium that became MetLife Stadium; and we need to keep in mind that he would have been just over 100 years of age, given that he was 62 when Jack Nicholson was shot in that car forty years ago. But both Hoffa and Nine-Iron Jack always were pretty gritty kinda guys.
And Hoffa always had a bent sense of humor. Kinda like Jack’s.
Consider. Private sector unions are pretty much dead, so Hoffa would have felt a free agent, unconcerned with Republican desires to see his former empire humbled further. And if anyone could appreciate Trump’s bellicosity, juvenile mannerisms and brinkmanship, and despise the political establishment so emblemized by Hillary, it would have to be Jimmy Hoffa (if not Roy Cohn and George Steinbrenner, who had been long dead by then as well, and not nearly as gritty as Hoffa OR Nicholson).
So, where is Hoffa today, after coming back from the dead to engineer the biggest political upset in U.S. electoral history? He’s in the back of a lime-green stretch-limo in La-La Land, naked, eating sushi with … Jack Nicholson.
3
I take it you didn't read the indictment.
4
People always assume others are just like them.
Way too many Democrats haven't realized that Republicans in office are so suspicious because they think Democrats would be just as corrupt as they are.
Obama was always fair-minded, and it took him way too long to realize that no amount of honesty and tolerance was going to get anything but goalpost moving to the right. Even his executive orders were carefully crafted to be fair and legal and relatively unbiased.
(I try to remember to say Republicans in office because I still believe there are baffled Republicans that resemble the ones I used to be friends with, who didn't lie and cheat and had principles; they have all switched parties now.)
91
Could there be a congressional oversight investigation into the behavior of the FBI New York Field Office? Probably not under this administration and this Congress. They are too busy with their oversight of a clumsy FBI agent, firing the FBI director, Deputy AG, and a whole bunch of other duty-bound people.
10
So effectively encapsulated, thank you, Mr. Graff excellent column and yet another poignant example of our insane current era of up=down/black=white/right=wrong, etc.
11
There's certainly no dearth of sordid unprofessional conduct in all of this. Even if some of what we 'know' about the FBI's decisions is wrong, the stuff we don't know probably makes up for it.
Still--when we're wandering around trying to pin blame for the Trump presidency on this person and that, we need to keep one important fact firmly in mind: There would have been nothing to leak had the Secretary of State made no more use of private email than her predecessors, and had she never had a private server installed in her home.
I repeat: There would have been nothing to leak, nothing even to investigate.
Oh please. The Republicans would have made something up to investigate. They’ve been hounding her for decades. Remember Benghazi?
4
Just ask yourself one question: Has there ever been a Russian or Soviet agent who has been as destructive of America’s social fabric and political discourse, who has so undermined public trust in our government, who has so fanned the flames of racism, xenophobia and resentment among Americans?
And has there ever, in history, been a Soviet or Russian agent who has so effectively undermined America’s military and economic alliances around the world?
If you can name someone, you’re a better historian than I, Gunga Din.
If Trump isn’t on Putin’s payroll, Vladimir is getting an awful lot of work done for him gratis.
16
I find it profoundly disturbing, to learn after the fact, that the New York office of the FBI is in thrall to Fox News and a cabal of Right-wing media executives and performers. Their intentional manipulation of the 2016 election based on the threat of mis-leading leaks demands intensive internal investigation & ultimately the dismissal & prosecution of any agent that took action, or threatened to take action to distort important information about any of the candidates.
Something that might even become feasible if the composition of both Houses of Congress can be changed to include a majority of patriots. No point in discussing this as a Republican vs. Democrat issue. It is transparently a matter of ejecting the traitors and filing their seats with members of either party able to recite their oathes of office with a straight face.
14
I read years ago that there was a determined effort to get Mormons selected as FBI agents. It would be interesting to know how many of them there are, as well as Evangelicals, because of their definite conservative view points.
19
From what I have read the NY office has a lot of right wing Catholic men in senior positions.
1
As a related aside. I recall reading some years ago that there had never been an FBI agent who was disciplined for the wanton killing of a suspect. It's been about 90 years and not one mistake. More than remarkable. This illustrates how mafia-like our law enforcement agencies can become. It all starts with cops not ticketing speeders who identify themselves as fellow officers and can easily work its way in from there. The rookie cop sees it happening when he rides with the more senior officers and he realizes what is expected of him. No one ever need say a word. The same thing can occur within the FBI. It becomes fashionable within the office to berate certain people or races and the younger more pliable recruits simply model themselves on what they see around them.
4
Peter Strzok's spirited defense of his illustrated political bias combined with partisans on both sides cherry picking facts during and after his testimony before the congressional judiciary committee. Indicates top layers of FBI in Washington DC are infused with politics. This is horrid. The FBI Director should clean house and reestablish an FBI independent of favor of either political party.
2
So far it seems like the GOP members of Congress, Pence and Trump have done nothing to address what is one of the biggest threats to our democracy. They would rather talk about Hilary’s email and go after agent Strzok’s character than address the extremely serious attacks on our electoral process.
I guess Trump is too scared of Putin to cancel the totally bizarre and inappropriate meeting with him. Every twist and turn of the Russian investigation so far has not made our President look good.
43
While his opinion is spot on in suggesting culpability by leaking agents in New York, I submit that Mr. Graff did not aim high enough in his search for “culprits”. Here’s why: between 2015-2016, operating within a leadership void created by the benign passivity of Loretta Lynch and Barack Obama, Comey repeatedly operated outside of the chain of command.
At any time between 2015-2016 Lynch and Obama could have exercised their vested authority to confront and stop the leaks. So why didn’t they?
I believe that Comey and other malicious FBI leakers should be prosecuted pursuant to 18 U.S. Code § 1512. While Comey spoke convincingly before Congress about why he leaked, the fact remains that he made his decision in concert with subordinates and did so outside of the chain of command. The leak was unwarranted and accomplished nothing other than to undermine Mrs. Clinton's constitutional rights as a U.S. citizen to fair and equitable treatment by government institutions.
25
“They should be dismissed” is the understatement of our lifetimes. This will not end well.
9
The discovery, control and release of information regarding Anthony Weiner's laptop does, indeed, require further investigation. The release of Comey's 10/28 private letter to the Congressional committees to whom he promised to deliver updates of any changes in status blew the Clinton campaign out of the water with this relatively harmless announcement that the FBI had new potentially important information. It might have helped if his letter had gone a bit further into the chain of custody - the NYPD had the laptop in custody on 9/28 - and the timing of the handover to the FBI - 10/11 -and the nature of the contents - Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, iPhone had been backed up to AW's laptop, it was unlikely to be anything new in these encrypted backups that hadn't already been seen. But without those details, the press played up the race against time for ten days, rather than dismiss the possibility. During those ten days of 'What if...' Mrs. Clinton's polls sank by four points.
Our Hatch Act applies to the Executive Branch, GOP congressmen felt justified in tweeting and web-publishing a less than complete update of the status of the Clinton email case. And Trump and the press ate it up.
We were punk'd by a GOP dirty trick. Again.
27
The emails could have been copied to Wiener's PC AFTER it came into the possession of the FBI. That should be the focus of Horowitz's efforts.
6
I would like to see all the emails of FBI agents who supported Trump. We need investigations and hearings. I'm sure the Republicans would agree!
46
So why isn’t Giuliani the subject of an investigation. If the FBI agents who broke the law or violated FBI policy spoke to Giuliani he’s a witness at the very least. No one’s mentioning any names, but it seems that everyone knows who in the NY FBI office was blabbing.
If everyone in the FBI is aware of the partisanship and lack of discipline that seems to be the hallmark of the NY field office, why has no one tried to stop it?
33
Trumpist Republicans carry out an actual witch hunt in attacking our Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies in trying to discredit in advance the likely findings of criminality, treason, and misprision by Trump and his campaign employees and hangers-on.
The attacks on Mr. Strzok and other FBI officials illustrate an Alice-in-Wonderland logic typical of Trump and his toadies:
"Only Republican officials in the government should investigate Republican suspects of wrong-doing (e.g., Trump), as Democrats would be biased against the target. And, only Republicans should investigate Democratic suspects (e.g., Clinton), as Democrats would be biased in favor of the investigatee."
Government employees do not give up every citizen's right to political opinions and to express them privately and publicly (although senior officials all should avoid appearing to imply these opinions are governmental policy). Nor do government employees need avoid political-campaign contributions and voting accordingly.
The Hatch Act bans active participation in campaigns and the use of Government resources in politicking (violated by Kellyanne Conway, who has yet to be prosecuted).
Officials like Stzok, Meuller, and most civil servants leave aside their political views in exercising their sworn duties.
Mr. Strzok was admirable in standing up to his Republican inquisitors with eloquent and inspiring statements that should make proud all current and past civil servants.
14
Apparently, many lawmakers in the GOP controlled Congress have swallowed whole Trump's backward view of the world, that our former enemies are now our allies (Russia is great friend now that their hackers are willing to help Republicans win at the polls), and our former allies are now our enemies (Canada, Britain, Europe have fought and died alongside us in times of war, but what have they done for us lately, meaning in the last 5 minutes?).
The biggest threat to America's future as a free nation is that our law enforcement agencies (the FBI, CIA, DHS) will adopt Trump's new backward rules of law. Let us pray that there are still some Republicans on Capitol Hill who have souls.
23
I am a trial attorney. I don’t to try cases at a high-level, but that dog and pony show at the Congressional hearing was a textbook example of defending a guilty party, not unlike a trial, where attorneys attempt to portray facts dramatically different than they occurred. It is laughable from A-to-Z that Republicans would suggest that the FBI was out to get Mr. Trump.
It is absolutely astounding that they are so bent on winning that they do not care if they trash the entire Country. They have chosen Party over the free press, our law enforcement agencies and even the Courts. It is truly sinister that they view this as nothing more than a contest. What do they think we will have left if they discredit these valuable institutions?
16
TRUTH? Watch the Strzok show trial. Oops, wrong venue. One leak to the Washington Post or this paper that the Russians are coming and we have at least a president willing to put in the hard work. The lack of a leak lost a kingdom.
The same cast of characters who waged the Benghazi fiasco were the lead enablers yesterday with the same lame results. Sadly, the base turns on Fox and gets the distilled, watered down, varnished truth. painting the deep state war on Trump.
Today's indictments garnered the response from the White House of see we were not involved.
The TRUTH is Republicans in Congress have sold its soul, beliefs, and ideals to stay in power.
8
Wow. Let's remember that Giuliani was a close adviser to Trump as well as then Senator Sessions, in the campaign. Trump has since appointed Sessions Attorney General who wisely saw this coming and recused himself from the investigation and Trump asked Giuliani to be his personal lawyer in this matter. Is this to keep them from testifying against him?
38
It's clearly labeled "Opinion".
Let's ask Michael Cohen. He might know.
3
When officials at the highest levels of our government get away with participating in, or ignoring this level of corruption and lawbreaking, this tells us much more than their tainted character. Oh, to be sure, they are absolutely corrupt, but in all our hand wringing, we are missing the importance of their actions.
We have a Republican Congress that will remove Rosenstein before the November elections. This will effectively end Mr. Mueller's investigation, as Rosenstein's replacement will order it so. Then Trump and the Republicans will have the wind at their backs. They know that half this nation will believe all their lies, and already believes Mr. Mueller's investigation is a "witch hunt".
So what we have here is not a corrupt dictator seizing power in the face of majority opinion against him. Instead, half of our citizens want Trump to do exactly what he is doing. They are among the most heavily armed of us, and this is no coincidence. If Charlottesville taught us anything, it is that Trump voters will not stop at anything to keep him in power. I attended a rally recently opposing Trump's order to place brown-skinned infants in cages. All of us who opposed this action were unarmed. Trump supporters, though, showed up with their weapons. They will literally take up arms against those who oppose Trump - bet the rent on it.
We who detest this "president" are looking at only two options at this point - leave, if we can, or live under a totalitarian regime.
7
This article is ridiculously one-sided. (Journalism schools will surely study this period in our country's political history.) The author makes NO mention, whatsoever, of the leaks and two-way conduits between FBI headquarters in Washington and the mainstream press (often through the DOJ, State Dept or Congress.) Comey's memos, the Steel dossier, the Trump tower meeting - all leaked. The AP gave our FBI the lead and a locker/gate code for Manafourt's storage unit (leading to his arrest) in exchange for inside info about the investigation. The FBI sat on Wiener's emails for A WHOLE MONTH before being prompted, apparently, by the growing risk of it finally becoming exposed/leaked by the NY field office. This was actually a LONG TIME, considering it was just before the election. What WASN'T leaked was the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's server and emails! This would have surely destroyed her campaign, at that time.
Ironically, we hear the argument today that the fact the FBI did NOT leak "operation crossfire" against Trump (until the day after the election) somehow proves their incapacity to do such things, at other times. This is just bad logic. Furthermore, NOBODY thought Trump would win. Why risk a felony and delegitimizing Hillary's election for this? And why risk exposing a legally dubious, secret investigation, involving questionable surveillance methods, that was likely used at the time to generate many leak-worthy products?
2
I have been waiting for the inevitable Trump tweet storm to be unleashed ever since those 12 indictments against Russian military officials were announced at noon. Nothing so far, but maybe it will be in a few hours - early morning, Scotland time - when his inner demons will be unleashed through his stubby fingers. No doubt today's events will be characterized as a witch hunt, Strzok, if he is mentioned at all, will be called a liar, innocence of any collusion will be professed, and attacks on the Clinton emails will be made once again.
But what a state of affairs Mr. Graff portrays! The thought that the election could have been tilted by a handful of people who violated their oath to 'support and defend' the Constitution because of their hatred for one set of individuals is stomach-turning. What also is stomach-turning is we have as much, if not more, to fear from domestic forces wanting to destroy all that is noble and good about the United States as we do from foreign ones.
9
In the midst of Comeys blatant anti-Hillary release of the fact that FBI was looking through another stash of Hillary related emails (that turned out to be another nothing burger) – Mr Strzok could have decided to provide some political bias balance by leaking what he knew about contacts between Trumps campaign and Russian agents. However, his professionalism was strong, so he kept quiet.
8
Supposedly the Republican attack on Mr. Strzok was pointless because the IG report had already investigated thoroughly and cleared him.
But on the contrary, what the IG report really showed was that House Republican pressure drove the IGs and FBI leadership on the whole email thing.
So it works. Why not keep doing it? Until the people in the institutions just say no.
4
I have no faith in the fairness of our upcoming elections. Our democracy has been hacked and hijacked. It is time to defend our country or lose it forever.
14
In a perfect world, where truth and justice matter, Mr. Giuliani would be facing indictment for fraud and criminal dissemination of confidential material. In addition, even in the real world, Giuliani should be put behind, rejected, like the rabid liar he is. In his so-called representation of Trump, Giuliani has lied, cheated, defamed, slandered and libeled, inter alia, Comey, Director Wray and Special Counsel Mueller, asserting without any basis that these individual have acted outside the law, outside the evidence, and with evil intent. While a majority of good citizens dismisses the inane rants of Giuliani as just that, he is still respected by many who consider his words to have truth to them. They are wrong, of course, but that does not matter, as Giuliani's actions are not meant to convince, but to inflame.
And it was he -- the former US Atty of the SDNY, former Mayor of NYC -- who was behind the threat of leaks that led to the decision by Comey to make public in his notorious letter the re-opening of the case against Hillary.
He should eventually serve time in jail.
9
It now appears that men all along the political spectrum joined forces to prevent being governed by a woman. From accused rapist Julian Assange's leaks to Bernie Bros' open misogyny and even death threats to female leaders of the DNC (while Bernie remained silent), to the male supremacy of the alt-right, and even the personal vendetta of a Russia patriarch with a bruised ego and hundreds if not thousands of intelligence operatives--and now the machinations of U.S. law enforcement at the highest levels. And Secretary Clinton still won by 3 million votes. The future is females and males working together. If these "old boys" would just get out of the way.
11
FBI, IRS, Police departments, SCOTUS, are all like Congress and most citizens. Biased and politically one-sided. It is the curse of democracy and all governments. Even religions.
Next you will telling us that Ronald Wilson Reagan met regularly with J. Edgar Hoover to destroy the careers and reputations of loyal Americans who were members of Reagan's Screen Actors Guild.
Some of us are in shock that there were thirteen members of the FBI that were Democrats or as they are called around Utah communists. I remember the memorial service for a family member who ran for congress as a Democrat and still was referred to as the town communist.
3
Giuliani straight up told us he had access to New York FBI information that should have been secure, and that would be used in the Presidential Election against Clinton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDY4tSibYpo
He did this with the obvious implication that this illegal circumstance was virtuously permitted to anti-Clinton political actors.
He was perfectly aware that if a Clinton supporter had made the same declaration, that person would be vilified as a traitor, criminal and a menace to the USA.
34
The new information in this article, e.g., Rudy Guiliani's firm represented the FBI Agents Association, adds to the likelihood that he is lying when he says no one in the NYC FBI Office was providing him with leaked information. I've always felt that James Comey should be a lot angrier about those leaks, and if that is what was driving his urgency to report on the "new" Hillary Clinton emails, he should have told us so. I want to see those FBI agents called before Congress, after the midterm elections.
11
Trump and just about every single Republican in Congress are traitors to the ideas upon which the country was built. Democracy, representative government, equality.
Trump because he is tearing down the institutions that actually did make America great. Congressmen because they are letting Trump get away with it.
4
One thing is certain; The FBI actions on several occasions hurt Hillary Clinton badly, not Mr. Trump.
Trump and the GOP should send the flowers and a thank you note.
27
Were I Ms. Clinton, I'd take this pretty personally.
So should everyone.
7
OK, if this is true I'll cut Comey some slack on his bigly faux pas 11 day prior to the election. But his grandstanding speech excoriating Clinton in July of that year made his "October Surprise" all that much more devastating.
And it appears that the FBI's New York field office needs some serious housecleaning.
5
I am increasingly stuck by the right wing's blatant and absurd gaslighting / projection.
It's their only offense and defense these days.
At some point even their supporters will clue in on what's happening. I can't think of an arena outside politics where you can consistently behave badly and get away with it by accusing others of what you've been doing. If there's any such thing as karma, or common sense, the Republican party is going to crash hard, and fairly soon.
5
If a different investigatir who had betrayed the public trust placed in him had been acting of behalf of a GOP candidate and had cheated on his wife, we can assume every Democrat present would have referred to that relationship repeatedly.
Because the man was the primary investigator of his STRONG:Y preferrd candidate, the country may never know how easily she could have been indicted, tried, convicted and sentence already.
Bias is a cancer that can't die, an ubdefeatable monster, feeding on not only the enforecment of the law but the public's trust in that agency.
Strzok didnt strongly prefer Clinton. He and Page were just as disparaging of her in their texts. He supported Kasich.
10
I did not vote for Trump and am no fan of his, but Strzok's blatant bias which obviously dictated the outcome of the investigation was extremely disturbing. Strzok emailed he would stop Trump. He tried: he gave HC a free pass! Had he not, Biden would be our president. It was Comey, McCabe, and Strzok that meddled in our election and helped to elect Trump. They do not get purple hearts: they should be prosecuted.
Horowitz's report on the actions of the NY field office should make for good reading.
1
The rogue FBI/NYPD national security types (evidently allied with Erik Prince as well as Giuliani) may presume patriotism to the USA, but they serve the stateless oligarchy. As does Trump. Trump doesn't care what nationality someone may claim - and some of these oligarchs obviously have some dirt on him, which is why the enabling Tea Party Republicans in Congress are desperately grandstanding for him to hold on to their power and sinecures. No, Trump doesn't care what your loyalties may be, as long as you're loyal to the buck, and therefore by affinity loyal to him.
The dollar rules, the dirtier the better.
14
When are the republicans going to question Rudy on when and how he knew of the coming "big surprise"? This is as much a smoking gun as DT's "Russia if you are listening...", which it turns out was the same day GRU started their efforts to hack DNC and Secretary Clinton's campaign.
We all know republicans, those paragons of virtues, morals and patriotism will never have a real investigation. They already sold their souls and our country.
America please vote D down the line in November if you want to save our country.
5
Many of the GOP lawmakers highly suspect what the truth is and that’s the problem. What the GOP is engaged in now is to do everything possible to stop the truth from ever coming out, or discredit the truth before it comes out.
Just like Congressman Jim Jordan knows fully about the sexual misconduct he failed to protect the OSU wrestlers from when he was a coach at Ohio State. The truth must never come out. Therefore, the investigations must be either stopped or discredited. The truth must be stopped or destroyed.
6
This article spells out one of the keys to the election. To the extent Comey's revelation of the Abedin/Weiner laptop hurt Clinton's chances (and certainly the nebulous tie-in to Anthony "Carlos Danger" Weiner and his shirtless photos didn't help any), it was forced by the anti-Clinton forces in the NY FBI Offices. Those NY agents and their communications with Guiliani and Comey should be carefully investigated and any traitors interfering with a Presidential election should be prosecuted. Unfortunately, those agents' plans worked in defeating Clinton and may not be subject to prosecution since they did not leak but forced Comey to do so, though there were obviously communications to Giuliani.
6
In their belligerent questioning, their talking over the witness, their twisting of facts and crazy conspiracy theories, I think the new magic word, replacing Benghazi, will be Strzok. As with the other Republican investigations, it will be much noise about nothing but it will be the new incantation that you will hear in conservative circles. They're called circles because they never go anywhere.
18
Clinton’s personal Benghazi file among others was hacked and stolen by GRU operations in the 2016 election. The Mueller indictments allege this. Perhaps in this case, the Republicans may be happy to move on from Benghazi as it has become an artefact, of what may yet prove to be the illegitimate election of a President.
2
Donald Trump's election has launched a dark and ugly period for our democracy and society. But what Mr. Graff offers here - with superb and clear-eyed focus - has haunted me the most.
We have known that several of the most respected statisticians are convinced that Hillary Clinton would have been elected President were it not for James Comey's October surprise.
Mr. Comey's voluminous public statements reveal that he is a sincere patriot, but he was also obsessed with maintaining the reputation of his beloved FBI.
If the New York office was about to go rogue - which seems likely given the evidence that has surfaced - the only way Comey could protect the FBI's reputation was to twist himself into a pretzel and make the fateful announcement.
Remember: Comey believed that Hillary Clinton was going to be elected, and therefore figured he had ingeniously protected the FBI, and insulated Secretary Clinton from potential calls of post-election illegitimacy once the information surfaced.
Tragically, however, Director Comey inexorably set into motion two dark chains of events: a de facto coup d'etat by members of the New York FBI, and the installation of the most damaging president in US history.
19
"I was totally going to vote for Hillary, until Comey came back in October saying the investigation was back on. That totally bummed me out. I could not vote for her."
Exactly how many times have you heard someone say that?
The real culprits as I see it are McConnell and Ryan. If they were truly patriotic and wanted what was best for our democracy they would be more interested in what really happened and want to get to the bottom of who did what when. They could put pressure on their membership not to be so partisan and more patriotic. But then they are republicans.
103
Behind this whole leak or don't leak business are two sad facts: First, that Comey revealed the investigation into the Weiner lap top but didn't reveal the investigation into possible collusion by Russia and the Trump campaign; second, that at the very top of the Obama administration, including AG Loretta Lynch and probably President Obama himself, the decision not to reveal the investigation into collusion was based, at least in part, on the assumption that Hillary Clinton would win. Another component of Mr. Obama's refusal to meet the Trump campaign on its own base terms appears to be a sense, I believe cultivated by David Axelrod, his top political adviser, that Obama, a mixed race person, could not push too hard against Trump without generating an unwanted backlash. As our incumbent chief executive would tweet: SAD.
16
I completely disagree. Since when is it required to reveal the facts of an investigation that is in progress. That just politicizes and ruins any chance of a full and fair investigation.
8
This is how it works. When they knew the NY FBI office would again leak info (again) they had to get ahead of that story because if they did not, the leakers could have put any kind of twist on the truth that they wanted. Therefore they decided to put what they defined as the truth out in public so they could, in essence, control the story. After that info was in the press any other story leaked by the NY FBI office would not be believed. It was a matter of being caught between a rock and a hard place and trying to control the outcome "as best they could." Which of course was what they believed to be the lesser of 2 evils. Just explaining the rationale, which doesn't necessarily reflect my personal opinion.
29
Thank you for this very fine article. I've never been a fan of Hillary Clinton but I was always shocked by the visceral hate for her by friends who generally fair minded.
The Republican Congress went after her for years with phony hearings on Benghazi and the e-mails simply to allow fox news and 100's of right wing radio stations across the country to effectively smear her reputation day after day.
What stroke me watching the hearings yesterday was that Peter Strzok had the power to bring down Trump by leaking the investigation before the election and he didn't. On the other hand Hillary Clinton's e-mail trove was leaked by the FBI right before the election essentially putting a nail in her election bid.
I really believe that the ginned up hate for Mrs. Clinton, done over a long period of time infected the entire country. This election isn't only about Russian interference. It's about the Republican led Congress long conspiracy to bring down Mrs. Clinton who was clearly a leading contender for President by the opposition.
I appreciate this very fine Opinion piece. It's much more important that we have institutional integrity here at home than the fact that Russia is meddling with our democracy. If our institutions are strong and professional we can deal with foreign interference. The Republican Party is looking more and more every day like a 5th column.
217
HL: Correct in every word of your post. Some Bernie supporters were stopped from voting for Hillary just because of the decades-long, incessant Clinton bashing of the Republican propaganda machine. Enough to swing the election, probably.
28
No, the article does not imply the New York office was working with the Russians. You infer that yourself.
It does support the idea that the New York office needs a thorough investigation and house-cleaning. I favor that entirely!
13
This article implies that the New York office of the FBI was working with the Russian operatives to undermine the Hillary Clinton campaign and an American democracy. Also, this helps explain why so many Trump supporters are nonchalant about Trump's relationship with Putin.
American democracy is in deep trouble. The entire New York office of the FBI needs investigating by a congressional investigation a la the Pecora Commission.
For more on the Pecora Commission, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecora_Commission .
72
All the more reason for the FBI to declassify and release everything related to their investigations of both Clinton and the Trump campaign. Perhaps there is a legitimate national security reason for not doing so, but the FBI's stonewalling of Congressional requests doesn't make the agency look good.
If Mr. Graff is correct, Democrats should want full disclosure even more than Republicans do.
21
A reasonable request after an investigation is completed, but not before.
65
Any suggestion that the present Congress actually wants to know the truth about the 2016 election is either naïve or insincere. Yet we desperately need to know if we are to prevent such serious damage to the election process from recurring.
124
Given the minority in Congress are eunuchs by comparison has assured ~ thanks to Citizen's United ~ a lot of dark money for the absolute majority. Lord Acton had it right as to the absolute corruption that follows thereby. Meanwhile, the skewed electoral college system coupled with ignorant, selfish voters assures the disastrous consequence we have today in the White House.
1
THANK you for highlighting the chronology that so often gets lost, along with Giuliani's bragging. What has already occurred under His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness is bad enough, but this Republican POTUS and his corrupt administration will undoubtedly get worse - and every time he berates the FBI and DOJ, there are people in the FBI who can look in the mirror to see exactly how this all happened.
It's an awful spectacle, but the details can't be glossed over.
108
Another rigged Republican dirty tricks election by a bunch of phony FBI patriots happily aligned with the Kremlin campaign to destroy the West.
The New York FBI office agents should be locked up for sedition and interference with free and fair elections.
What a wretched bunch of right-wing cranks.
294
Congressional oversight on target and in motion? No reason to think that will happen.
24
I will confess that, until I read it here, I was not certain if the inspector general looked into the leaks out of NY or not. I noted the surprising absence of any mention of that issue, and have discussed that apparent oversight in conversations with friends and colleagues. How in the world could any examination of the Clinton email investigation not look into leaks out of the NY office that seemingly forced the hand of FBI leadership? And we're to believe that the FBI is out to get Donald Trump?
217
As spying and cyber attacks become ever more intense and sophisticated, the autocratic power interests of our various intelligence services, if they are to serve the national interest and not some political agenda, must act as impartially as possible -- the very way Peter Strzok described repeatedly in his testimony to the hostile House Republicans. A return to the ignominious days of J. Edgar Hoover must be prevented, and reports such as those of Mr. Graff are vital to enlightening citizens about mischief and malice afoot that goes far beyond the Strzok email messages.
Unfortunately, the election of Donald J. Trump has opened vitriolic floodgates drowning ethics and humane, compassionate values.
Only a revolution by voters massing to the polls armed with facts, truth and fairness can rescue our ill-served nation.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
137
"Until congressional overseers make a serious attempt to get to the bottom of the New York field office’s role in the election, we’ll know they’re not serious about learning the truth."
Learning the Truth! This summation of the article is laughable. A responsible journalist may be reluctant to say that virtually every Republican politician in D.C. is completely committed to lying to hold onto their jobs, power, and the generous contributions of their right wing masters, but how can a journalist ignore the overwhelming evidence?
America is the only Democracy on the planet where the conservatives in government flat-out claim that man- made global warming is a hoax and climatologists are lying to the public. Not just the majority of them- almost every single one.
I choose this one example because the lie is so utterly indefensible. The GOP abandoned all semblance of responsibility to truth long before Trump crashed their party.
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Bravo! I think linking global warming to any and every relevant article is something every Times reader should do in order to demonstrate the seriousness of the threat the depraved Republican Party poses to millions of inhabitants and indeed the survival of civilization on what climate change already forces us to describe as semi-normal Earth.
The bogus and bizarre characterization of the Clinton foundation as a drug running, pimping, money laundering crime organization defies belief. Transparent, well-organized, examined by auditors and charity vetters for-ever, CF coordinates top scientists, activists, thinkers in a number of critically important fields all over the world. Who are these fantasists and why are they still employed?
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Mr. Graff is doing important work.
The only thing to argue with is his concluding statement:
"Until congressional overseers make a serious attempt to get to the bottom of the New York field office’s role in the election, we’ll know they’re not serious about learning the truth."
We already know that they aren't serious about learning the truth. They also aren't serious about democracy and aren't serious about the oaths they took to perform their duties.
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Could happen in the next Congress. Though a return to decorum might prevent it. Not nice to critique the FBI, especially after the current attacks by GOPers.
4
What with Donald Trump’s attempts at turning the F.B.I. into a stinking carcass, the Bureau itself is doing a splendid job of wresting away any public confidence in the agency.
What this item tells me is that former Director James Comey decided to take the public hit for “the letter” to Congress, 10 days before the election because he suspected damaging leaks out of the New York office, leaks that would be both anonymous and largely untraceable. If that was his motive, then he should be relieved of a major portion of the acid splash with which his name will forever be besmirched.
In any event, a scrupulously honorable president would want to know just how all this intrigue brought him the presidency. Rudy Giuliani’s hands are not clean in this matter either, and that he is now signed on as Donald Trump’s lead attorney in all matters dealing with Robert Mueller’s investigation, well, there’s a lot that’s rotten in this state of Denmark.
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"Scrupulously honorable?" Not even that. Just a president who was basically honest OR who cared about the democracy whose laws he had sworn to uphold would want to know.
5
This clarifies why the Obama administration might have taken such a hard line against leaks.
An unfortunate outcome was that leaks in the public interest, like about warrantless wiretapping, were prosecuted just as vigorously as ones described in this article were (or should have been.)
Thanks to the Times for shedding light on this important point.
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Thank you for this article. I recall Giuliani's gleeful recounting of the anti-Clinton animus in the NY FBI. Trump repeated the story, citing Giuliani as source. Giuliani withdrew his comments within days, but Trump did not. Conway said he would not, indicating that the story had served its purpose.
It's odd, however, that some think that police forces at any level are left-leaning. On the contrary, all evidence suggests the opposite. Police forces were formed to protect the powerful and their property. Nevertheless, some of us are optimists and expect better. Peter Strzock gave me hope in that direction. He was wrong to use government stuff for personal things. But let the one without sin in that regard cast the first stone. On the other hand, the conduct of the GOP at the hearings can only raise considerable concern for the future of American democracy.
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The GOP has advertised itself as the party of law and order for decades. According to their own advisors they must send direct mail pieces reminding voters that Democrats are soft on crime during election years. The roles have suddenly been reversed in front of the whole world with the threats and insults thrown at a senior FBI agent. I never thought it would be possible to paint the FBI as a leftist organization. Does anyone buy this except Trump?
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Instead of spending all their time on partisan vindictiveness, why don't the Republicans try to pass some legislation that will help ordinary Americans? Why do we even bother to send legislators to Washington? Is giving huge tax cuts to rich people all Congress needs to accomplish in order to earn their generous pensions and health care for life?
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In answer to your final question: yes.
4
I don't know where in the Midwest you live, but I hope you're talking to your neighbors. They, rather than the readers of this op-ed, should be able to answer your questions, since they might be supporting Congressional representatives who revel in what you aptly call "partisan vindictiveness."
5
Madeline Conant: Because they sincerely don't care.
This is shocking. There is a deep state conspiracy. It is powerful. It can influence national elections. It can control crucial governmental decisions. And it supports Donald J. Trump.
You got to hand it to Trump. He was right all along. We must drain the swamp and clean house. So who do we get rid of first? Trump or the horribly biased agents that got him elected?
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Good catch! Indeed, Trump is all about projecting (the FBI are so dishonest and against me, for but one of 1000s of examples). When are we going to get one step ahead of this narcissistic projector and prevent his destruction instead?
4
Exactly, agents have personal political opinions and some agents can end up letting that compromise their professional integrity. However, it is rare and should not be presumed to be true unless there is actual evidence to support that idea The anti-Hillary bias in the NY office is well know - as is their inability to keep things secret. Whether or not some of those agents would have leaked the information is not something that can be predicted - we do know that Comey failed to act on it as an urgent matter. Had he put all hands on deck to look through the emails as soon as they were discovered, they would have been determined to be a nothing burger before the leaks had revealed their existence.
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Members of the FBI, like members of the military, are overwhelming Republican, and even more overwhelmingly Clinton haters.
I remember being on an international flight back in the 90's, when a military attache (drunk) loudly complained "I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN MY COMMANDER IN CHIEF" - who was, at the time, Bill Clinton.
When I mentioned this to senior military, the uniform response was ... "I don't either."
Over the years, most of the conspiracy theories that make it to my in box come from various law enforcement and military friends.
They just hate the Clintons.
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My experiences are the same. I worked in the criminal justice system for decades and found the majority of the professional employees (men especially) to hold conservative views.
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Presumably they had confidence in dubya, who took us into an unneeded war and utterly botched the occupation that followed our easy victory. His dad had the sense to leave Saddam there.
7
This column gives the FBI more of a black eye than any other so far. That a New York Field office can act so irresponsibly is mind boggling. They should all be dismissed. First we have a Bpston Field office covering for Whitey Bulger and now the New York Field office covering for Trump. Unbelievable.
The ghost of J. Edgar Hoover still hovers.
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Have you ever read about the student pilots who did not want to learn to land?
Whatever you think of Comey’s choice...the letter has to be seen in the context of the notoriously leaky NY field office’s reach. Giuliani first serves himself with his maniacal riggedwitchdeepstateClinton babble on his broken leader’s behalf.
Agreed - a vindication that there is a 'deep state' mentality in the FBI specifically and the federal government in general that could care less about their responsibility to duly elected office holders - be they Democrats or Republicans - as long as they get to continue their unchecked powers as apparatchiks of the de facto police state run amok here in AmeriKa.
Hopefully Rudy Giuliani his link to the New York field office are being investigated.
This seems to be the real reason Comey felt he had to come out eleven days before the election and announce that the F.B.I. found more of Hillary's emails. He was worried there would be leaks that would undermine the entire investigation.
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Yes, and also it's appeared to me that trying to contend with the NY FBI's nefarious political efforts put a well-intended and ethical Andrew McCabe in an impossible situation that led to his downfall.
I really hope that R. Giuliani gets his just deserts for the role he has played in this. That would probably mean prison.
4
Hint ,read the emails .
21
It's called campaign chatter. Hack the e-mails from any of the campaigns and then cherry pick. Anyone with any experience in campaigns or in life itself knows you will find a treasure trove to release. Add in a bunch of naive Bernie supporters whom he has convinced that the nomination was stolen and you have well over the 77,000 votes withheld or given to Jill Stein and the election ultimately to Trump. The 3 million more votes that Hillary won would have been many millions more but for the emails and the fed information directly onto the sites of those further inclined to hate Hillary despite their agreement with her ideologically.
6
Curious how long it took you to read 33,000 emails.
Yet more proof that in 2016 the Democrats made a fatal mistake in ignoring the fact that the person they named as their Presidential candidate was someone who was known to have plenty of enemies and who was likely to generate much hatred and disdain among the voters.
30
Yes, Jay. It is always the woman's fault.
Keep a watch out while driving in Miami.
4
I don't understand why this is complicated for people. Strzok is on the hot seat because he went beyond his bounds. He stepped in it, so to speak, and now can't get it off his shoe. He is a law enforcement agent from the FBI no less and should have known that his communications would eventually be gotten by the House. That's why you keep your mouth shut and do your job. Don't talk about issues that are not pertinent to your job. Particularly with coworkers. Everyone who thinks he is a hero, I suggest you look at the people who really neglected to inform the public: That would be the Obama administration who arrogantly were so sure Hillary would win that they basically said nothing.
16
Having a political opinion is not "going beyond your bounds". Please repeat that to yourself three times.
Did you even read this article? The FBI is full of Trump supporters.
5
Benghazi Redux. Hearings on Benghazi had only one goal, to throw mud at Hillary and hope some would stick. The new goal is to throw mud at Mueller. Finding the truth is the last thing on the mind of GOP members of the judiciary. In fact they are afraid of it, hence all the yelling and posturing.
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When Hillary Clinton first claimed there was a "Right Wing Conspiracy" against her and her husband (POTUS at the time) I thought it was nonsense.
I have more recently concluded that HRC was right, there is an organized conspiracy against her and her husband.
Many Republicans just hate them.
There has been much speculation as to why, which I won't get into. But suffice it to say, 2016 showed me it is true.
That the FBI in general may lean towards Trump is not surprising. Much of law enforcement leans right.
I am a retired law enforcement officer who happens to be a Democrat, so I have seen this first hand.
But one thing I must point out is this: The Clintons seem to have a propensity to 'shoot themselves in the foot' with many of their actions and bring upon themselves criticism that is hard for Democrats to refute.
Would I prefer an HRC presidency to Trump, absolutely.
But I can also understand that not enough people could get themselves to the polls, hold their collective noses, and vote for Hillary for President.
It is those people who stayed home and Comey's reports, especially the October one, that suppressed the tenuous Democratic vote and handed Trump the victory.
Finally, the entire Republican Party, at this point in time, shall go down in history as abandoning their Constitutional Duties. It makes me so sad to be living through this awful time. I remember the days of bipartisanship and comity in the US Congress. I can only hope it returns very soon.
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Agree with your comments except for the Clintons propensity to shoot themselves in the foot. The media hold them to a higher standard than other politicians must meet. There are numerous examples, but just compare the treatment of the Clinton Foundation to that of the Trump charity during the campaign. Most articles about the Clinton Foundation had a negative tone even if they did not cite specific actions, while most articles gave the Trump charity "the benefit of the doubt" even when citing specific questionable or illegal actions.
17
A blind person could see the political gamesmanship taking place when Agent Peter Strzok testified in front of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees.
The culture of the FBI is overwhelmingly Republican, which makes the questioning Agent Strzok had to endure even more bizarre and even surreal.
For the Republicans to act like Donald Trump was the political equivalent of the second coming of Christ is a joke, since I would bet the farm a majority of Republicans, Trey Gowdy among them, share the sentiments expressed by Strzok in his testimony: that Donald Trump was not fit to be president of the United States.
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Except he is doing a pretty good job.