{"id":1515307,"date":"2022-06-14T12:19:43","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T16:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1515307"},"modified":"2022-06-14T12:20:03","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T16:20:03","slug":"ex-fbi-official-who-oversaw-clinton-and-trump-probes-had-unauthorized-media-contacts-doj-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-fbi-official-who-oversaw-clinton-and-trump-probes-had-unauthorized-media-contacts-doj-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-FBI Official Who Oversaw Clinton and Trump Probes Had Unauthorized \u2018Media Contacts,\u2019 DOJ Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fex-fbi-official-who-oversaw-clinton-and-trump-probes-had-unauthorized-media-contacts-doj-says%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1515307&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><ul>\n<li><strong>An FBI official who retired in 2017 violated bureau policy for having unauthorized \u201ccontacts\u201d with media members, a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) watchdog report found.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Michael Steinbach, who was the FBI\u2019s acting director of the counterterrorism division, met in person with 27 reporters between 2014 and 2017, according to the report obtained by Politico.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cSteinbach had hundreds of contacts with the media for several years,\u201d the report says, according to Politico. \u201cThis media contact included social engagements outside of FBI headquarters without any coordination from Office of Public Affairs (OPA), involving drinks, lunches and dinners.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A former senior FBI official who oversaw investigations involving both former President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton violated bureau policy for his \u201cextensive contacts\u201d with media members, according to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) watchdog report obtained by Politico Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Steinbach, the bureau\u2019s former acting director of the counterterrorism division, met with reporters 27 times between 2014 and 2017, according to the DOJ\u2019s 27-page Inspector General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/f\/?id=00000163-ff91-d9aa-af77-ffd162320001\">report<\/a> obtained <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/06\/14\/fbi-media-contacts-2016-campaign-00039383\">by<\/a> Politico. Steinbach also was a guest of one reporter at two black tie dinners in Washington, D.C., an investigative summary by the DOJ in 2021 that <a href=\"https:\/\/oig.justice.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/21-096.pdf\">withheld<\/a> Steinbach\u2019s name shows, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSteinbach had hundreds of contacts with the media for several years,\u201d the report says, according to Politico. \u201cThis media contact included social engagements outside of FBI headquarters without any coordination from Office of Public Affairs (OPA), involving drinks, lunches and dinners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2018, the DOJ released a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/f\/?id=00000163-ff91-d9aa-af77-ffd162320001\">report<\/a> on \u201cvarious actions\u201d by the FBI and DOJ \u201cin advance of the 2016 election\u201d that did not name Steinbach. The FBI\u2019s policy on officials having contact with media was \u201cwidely ignored\u201d due to a \u201ccultural attitude,\u201d the report said, and \u201cnumerous FBI employees, at all levels of the organization and with no official reason to be in contact with the media [] were nevertheless in frequent contact with reporters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Steinbach was a senior FBI official, the bureau was probing alleged ties between Trump and Russia partly stemming from a dossier funded by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee. The FBI was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/news\/press-releases\/press-releases\/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system\">also<\/a> probing Clinton\u2019s handling of classified and \u201chighly sensitive\u201d information as secretary of state via her usage of a private email server.<\/p>\n<p>The former FBI official went to both the Radio &#038; Television Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner in 2015 and the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner in 2016 after accepting free tickets, Politico reported.\u00a0The official did not obtain approval from FBI ethics officials, the outlet reported, and did not list the tickets on his annual financial disclosure form.<\/p>\n<p>At the Radio &#038; Television dinner, Steinbach solicited a reporter from a undisclosed outlet for a White House Correspondents\u2019 dinner ticket, Politico reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLots of [redacted] reporters here. May have to branch out!\u201d the former FBI official reportedly texted a journalist at the 2015 dinner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbsolutely not!!! But curious to know who you\u2019ve met so far?\u201d the journalist reportedly said in response, adding, \u201cwell they will never be as good as me! and don\u2019t you get the big head! ;)\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In one year\u2019s time Steinbach made his way to the White House Correspondents\u2019 dinner and also a reporter\u2019s party, according to Politico.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI put you on the map and now you\u2019re cheating on me with [redacted],\u201d one reporter for CNN texted Steinbach, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n<p>He reportedly responded, \u201cI kept waiting for my invite from you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Restaurants Steinbach and members of the media frequented included Capital Grille, Gordon Biersch, Asia Nine and Central, according to Politico, which are all located nearby the FBI\u2019s headquarters. However, investigators \u201cwere unable to determine who paid for the drinks or meals during these social engagements,\u201d according to the outlet.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the DOJ.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/02\/01\/fbi-chief-christopher-wray-speech-hacking-stealing-china-olympics\/\"><strong>(RELATED: <\/strong><strong>\u2018More Damaging Than Ever Before\u2019: FBI Chief Calls Out China Ahead Of Olympics)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7450194\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7450194\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Steinbach, assistant director in the FBI\u2019s Counterterrorism Division, speaks during a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee on Capitol Hill June 3, 2015 in Washington, DC. The committee held the hearing about the use of social media by terrorists. AFP PHOTO\/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>While Steinbach told the FBI after he had already retired that he was \u201cauthorized\u201d to \u201cprovide non-case related information to the media as background,\u201d he declined a request by the DOJ for an interview, according to Politico. One unnamed official in the report, the outlet says, told the inspector general that then-FBI Director James Comey wanted officials to speak with the media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text__paragraph\">\u201cComey\u2019s approach entailed proactively trying to find media sources that the FBI could trust to get stories right and to protect the brand of the FBI,\u201d the unnamed official said, according to Politico.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Caller News Foundation could not reach Steinbach for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An FBI official who retired in 2017 violated bureau policy for having unauthorized \u201ccontacts\u201d with media members, a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) watchdog report found.\u00a0 Michael Steinbach, who was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1515307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1515307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1515307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1515307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}