{"id":1516115,"date":"2022-06-14T23:34:04","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T03:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1516115"},"modified":"2022-06-14T23:34:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T03:34:25","slug":"fbi-senior-official-had-numerous-improper-contacts-with-reporters-inspector-general-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-senior-official-had-numerous-improper-contacts-with-reporters-inspector-general-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Senior Official Had \u2018Numerous\u2019 Improper Contacts With Reporters, Inspector General Finds"},"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\">24<\/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%2Ffbi-senior-official-had-numerous-improper-contacts-with-reporters-inspector-general-finds%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=1516115&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--><p>Former FBI official Michael Steinbach repeatedly violated federal law and bureau policy in inappropriate interactions with members of the media while overseeing the discredited investigation into former President Donald Trump\u2019s alleged collusion with Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Steinbach was named the FBI\u2019s executive assistant director of its National Security Bureau in February 2016, five months before the FBI <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/CFH%20Timeline%20w%20Updates%2020201203%20(FINAL).pdf\">launched<\/a> the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Trump presidential campaign. Steinbach played a leading role in overseeing the investigation. He abruptly resigned from the bureau in February 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Steinbach \u201chad numerous unauthorized contacts with the media\u201d beginning before his ascension to executive assistant director and continuing after, according to a Department of Justice Inspector General report obtained by the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/06\/14\/fbis-michael-steinbach-had-numerous-contacts-with-media-watchdog\/\">New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>According to the official watchdog report, Steinbach leveraged his relationship with a reporter to score a $300 ticket to the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association gala in 2016. Steinbach also received an invitation from a reporter to the 2015 Radio and Television Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner.<\/p>\n<p>Steinbach\u2019s texts with reporters were relayed in the Inspector General report with some redactions. \u201cLots of [redacted] reporters here. May have to branch out!\u201d Steinbach wrote to one journalist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbsolutely not!!! But curious to know who you\u2019ve met so far?\u201d the reporter responded. \u201c[W]ell they will never be as good as me! and don\u2019t you get the big head! ;)\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut they are promising the WH Correspondents dinner,\u201d Steinbach said back, according to the Post.<\/p>\n<p>Steinbach\u2019s correspondence with reporters outside of the bounds of FBI policy continued for several years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSteinbach had hundreds of contacts with the media for several years,\u201d the report said, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/06\/14\/fbi-media-contacts-2016-campaign-00039383\">Politico<\/a>. \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>The report stated that the FBI\u2019s policy on media was \u201cunambiguous.\u201d An FBI official interviewed by the inspector general said that the policy as espoused by former FBI Director James Comey was much more flexible, however.<\/p>\n<p>Comey was \u201cwas trying to change the way the FBI dealt with the media,\u201d the official told the inspector general. \u201cI think Director Comey, more than any director I ever heard, fully understood the concept that we\u2019re only as good as our ability to listen to information with people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd when you take your credentials out, it needs to mean something. And the only way to do that is to have the trust. And the only way to get the trust is to have good will and the media is part of that, right?\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n<p>The report notes that \u201c[p]rosecution was declined.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former FBI official Michael Steinbach repeatedly violated federal law and bureau policy in inappropriate interactions with members of the media while overseeing the discredited investigation into former President Donald Trump\u2019s alleged collusion with Russia. Steinbach was named the FBI\u2019s executive assistant director of its National Security Bureau in February 2016, five months before the FBI &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":1516123,"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-1516115","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\/1516115","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\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1516115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1516123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1516115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1516115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1516115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}