{"id":1615836,"date":"2022-08-19T08:01:51","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T12:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1615836"},"modified":"2022-08-19T10:09:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T14:09:00","slug":"think-the-fbi-deserves-the-benefit-of-the-doubt-this-laundry-list-of-corruption-should-make-you-think-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/think-the-fbi-deserves-the-benefit-of-the-doubt-this-laundry-list-of-corruption-should-make-you-think-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Think The FBI Deserves The Benefit Of The Doubt? This Laundry List Of Corruption Should Make You Think Again"},"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\">38<\/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%2Fthink-the-fbi-deserves-the-benefit-of-the-doubt-this-laundry-list-of-corruption-should-make-you-think-again%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=1615836&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>Can the FBI be trusted? A Federalist analysis of agency lies over the last decade is an unequivocal no.<\/p>\n<h2>FISA Warrants<\/h2>\n<p>In the summer of 2016, FBI bureaucrats launched a deep-state operation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, to thwart then-candidate Trump\u2019s presidential ambitions. It began by targeting Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and quickly branched out as bureaucrats expanded their surveillance. The spy agency used the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as a legal pretext to investigate and spy on Papadopoulos, in addition to former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, and former Trump adviser Carter Page. Several were interviewed by undercover FBI informant <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/03\/17\/the-fbis-key-russia-spy-made-bizarre-resume-claims\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stefan Halper<\/a>, whose own investigation would prove a bust.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/04\/15\/newly-declassified-papadopoulos-transcript-exposes-crossfire-hurricane-corruption\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declassified transcript<\/a> between Papadopoulos and a Crossfire Hurricane confidential human source (CHS), Papadopoulos repeatedly denied the Trump campaign was working with Russian-backed entities to capture the 2016 election. The FBI, however, wrote off Papadopoulos\u2019s recorded answers as rehearsed and omitted his denials of campaign collusion with overseas actors in FISA court warrant applications and renewals. These were two of the 17 \u201csignificant inaccuracies and omissions\u201d identified in the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general\u2019s blockbuster report on the investigation in December 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Papadopoulos, who pled guilty to making a false statement to the FBI in a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/09\/04\/papadopouloss-court-docs-provide-evidence-russiagate-setup-get-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">perjury trap<\/a>, was far from the only individual to face political persecution from the federal government\u2019s dystopian investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Not one of the four FISA warrants obtained by the FBI was legally justified, according to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz\u2019s report. In fact, at least two of the warrant applications to spy on Page were <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/01\/23\/breaking-spy-court-admits-fisa-warrants-against-carter-page-were-not-valid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declared illegal<\/a> by a federal judge. Following Horowitz\u2019s blistering report outlining FBI misconduct throughout the entire operation, another federal judge <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/12\/17\/fisa-court-carter-page-misconduct-calls-into-question-every-warrant-fbi-ever-asked-for\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declared<\/a> that agency malfeasance \u201ccalls into question whether information contained in other FBI applications is reliable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Subsequent reporting revealed gross abuses of power within the FBI to prosecute political opponents. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/12\/11\/horowitz-fbis-fisa-applications-against-carter-page-relied-entirely-on-steeles-sources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">According<\/a> to Horowitz, the FBI\u2019s FISA warrants \u201crelied entirely\u201d on DNC-funded opposition research compiled by former British intelligence official Christopher Steele known as the \u201cSteele dossier.\u201d The dossier, which outlined supposed Trump-Russia collusion and has since been thoroughly debunked, included salacious allegations such as supposed \u201cpee tapes\u201d featuring Trump engaging in golden showers with Russian prostitutes at a Moscow hotel.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/12\/10\/fbi-lied-to-fisa-court-about-christopher-steeles-credibility\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">knew <\/a>the dossier lacked credibility as early as January 2017 and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/04\/13\/new-info-doj-fbi-knew-trump-surveillance-was-based-on-russian-disinformation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">knew<\/a> Steele\u2019s material itself contained Russian disinformation. Desperate to continue their deep-state operation, however, officials <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/12\/10\/fbi-lied-to-fisa-court-about-christopher-steeles-credibility\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lied<\/a> to the FISA court about Steele\u2019s credibility and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/01\/09\/ig-report-documents-how-the-fbi-hid-negative-information-about-christopher-steele\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hid<\/a> incriminating info related to the former British intelligence official who was later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/fisa-memo-steele-fired-as-an-fbi-source-for-breaking-cardinal-rule-leaking-to-the-media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fired<\/a> over leaks to the press. An <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/01\/02\/exclusive-the-inspector-general-missed-yet-another-lie-from-the-fbi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">18th omission<\/a>, overlooked by the inspector general\u2019s report but documented by Federalist Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland, was that Steele\u2019s sources did not include the ones he developed as a British official.<\/p>\n<p>Even after Steele\u2019s termination as a reliable source, DOJ attorney Bruce Ohr continued to feed information from Steele to the FBI over the course of its investigation. Steele met with Ohr 12 times after the former\u2019s tenure ended as a confidential human source for the bureau, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/12\/09\/doj-ig-report-slams-bruce-ohrs-failure-to-report-repeated-interactions-with-steele\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to the inspector general. Ohr also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/08\/16\/bruce-ohr-may-broken-law-pushing-wifes-opposition-research-fbi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">promoted<\/a> his wife\u2019s opposition research to FBI investigators and <a href=\"http:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2018\/02\/14\/exclusive-doj-official-bruce-ohr-hid-wifes-fusion-gps-payments-from-ethics-officials\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">did not disclose<\/a> she was paid by Fusion GPS, the DNC-contracted firm that commissioned the Steele dossier.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/02\/03\/5-things-fbi-never-told-fisa-court-trump-dossier\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">never told<\/a> the FISA court that the Trump dossier written by a source who was fired for lying, did not undergo independent verification, and was funded by Hillary Clinton and the DNC.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the overt abuse of the nation\u2019s surveillance apparatus to spy on political opponents, only one FBI official has faced criminal conviction for his role in the probe. In January last year, former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith was sentenced to just 12 months probation after pleading guilty to fabricating evidence to obtain a FISA warrant. By December, Clinesmith was <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/12\/17\/dc-bar-restores-convicted-fbi-russiagate-forger-while-hes-still-serving-probation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">re-admitted<\/a> to the D.C. Bar Association in good standing.<\/p>\n<p>Steele\u2019s primary sub-source, Igor Danchenko, was <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/11\/04\/primary-sub-source-for-bogus-steele-dossier-arrested-by-federal-authorities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">indicted<\/a> in November on five counts of making false statements to the FBI. In May, a D.C. jury <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/05\/31\/jury-acquits-clinton-campaign-attorney-but-prosecutors-prove-corporate-media-guilty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">acquitted<\/a> former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann on charges of lying to the FBI when submitting supposed evidence of Trump-Russian collusion to federal investigators.<\/p>\n<h2>Misleading Congress<\/h2>\n<p>Following the collapse of the grand Russia-collusion hoax, lawmakers on Capitol Hill began demanding answers about FBI misconduct. Former FBI Director James Comey <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/12\/10\/ig-report-shows-comey-lied-to-congress-about-fbi-investigation-of-trump-campaign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lied<\/a> to Congress, claiming the bureau was just investigating four individuals, not the Trump campaign, in a dubious spin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLate July of 2016, the FBI did, in fact, open a counterintelligence investigation into, is it fair to say the Trump campaign or Donald Trump himself?\u201d asked then-Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., in a 2018 hearing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not fair to say either of those things, in my recollection,\u201d Comey said. \u201cWe opened investigations on four Americans to see if there was any connection between those four Americans and the Russian interference efforts. And those four Americans did not include the candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Horowitz also contradicted the FBI in a December 2019 hearing on the release of his report documenting FISA abuses. In September 2017, the FBI told Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that the bureau gave the Trump campaign a defensive briefing about Russian interference in the 2016 race.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn August of 2016 the FBI provided a counterintelligence defensive briefing to then candidate Donald Trump and other senior campaign officials,\u201d wrote FBI Assistant Director of Congressional Affairs Gregory Brower in response to a letter from Grassley. \u201cThis defensive briefing was conducted by an experienced FBI counterintelligence agent and focused on the broad range of threats posed by foreign intelligence entities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Horowitz <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/12\/11\/fbi-lied-to-congress-about-fake-defensive-briefing-of-trump-campaign-in-2016\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">testified<\/a> before the Senate Judiciary Committee that there was no briefing given.<\/p>\n<h2>Misleading DOJ Leaders<\/h2>\n<p>Not only was Congress led astray as FBI officials conducted a rogue operation to defend the incumbent regime, but so was senior leadership in President Trump\u2019s DOJ.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/05\/19\/handwritten-notes-from-2017-show-fbi-agents-mislead-doj-on-the-trump-russia-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Handwritten notes<\/a> revealed in the Sussmann trial exposed how FBI agents sought to cover up malicious misconduct, wherein DOJ leaders tasked with FBI oversight were misled about the investigation\u2019s progress. The notes show FBI agent Peter Strzok wrongly told DOJ supervisors the surveillance warrant on Page had been \u201cfruitful.\u201d Strzok also concealed knowledge that Steele\u2019s sources were not credible and claimed instead that the dossier was \u201cCROWN reporting\u201d from MI6, the FBI\u2019s British counterpart. The FBI said the dossier was being used to examine the RNC and Trump campaign\u2019s effort to soften the GOP platform on NATO and Crimea for Russian energy stocks, but the document made no mention of NATO or Crimea.<\/p>\n<p>Strzok also said Trump\u2019s 2016 joke about Russia uncovering Clinton\u2019s 30,000 deleted emails triggered Crossfire Hurricane, with an Australian diplomat tipping off the government about Papadopoulos at the American embassy in London. The tip that Papdopoulos was coordinating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, however, came before Trump made the joke.<\/p>\n<p>Strzok is the same agent whose text messages show he conspired with his mistress and FBI colleague, attorney Lisa Page. Strzok, a lead investigator for Crossfire Hurricane, assured Page of a mysterious \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2017\/12\/15\/8-worst-defenses-of-fbi-agents-anti-trump-insurance-policy-texts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">insurance policy<\/a>\u201d in place if Trump were to be elected, likely in reference to the agency\u2019s inside operations. Page, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/06\/14\/fbi-lawyer-told-colleague-to-go-easy-on-hillary-during-investigation\/\">according<\/a> to the DOJ inspector general\u2019s 2019 report, told colleagues to go easy on investigating Clinton because \u201cshe might be our next president.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Page fretted that Trump might actually win the 2016 contest, Strzok <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/06\/14\/fbi-agent-running-russia-probe-vowed-prevent-trumps-election-well-stop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">assured<\/a> his romantic partner, \u201cwe\u2019ll stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Misleading Trump<\/h2>\n<p>Comey thought the Crossfire Hurricane investigation was important enough to brief outgoing President Barack Obama on the probe but kept Trump in the dark. In fact, Comey later <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2017\/06\/07\/comey-confirms-he-thrice-told-president-trump-he-was-not-being-investigated\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">confirmed<\/a> that he told Trump three times the president was not being investigated and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/04\/13\/comey-admits-he-refused-to-tell-trump-hillary-clinton-funded-dossier\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">refused<\/a> to tell him Clinton funded the dossier.<\/p>\n<h2>Michael Flynn<\/h2>\n<p>In June 2020, a federal judge <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/06\/24\/top-federal-appeals-court-orders-charges-against-michael-flynn-to-be-dismissed\/\">ordered<\/a> that all charges be dropped against Flynn, whom Trump subsequently pardoned in the waning days of his administration. Prior to his exoneration, Flynn was facing heavy fines and prison time for making false statements to federal officials in another perjury trap orchestrated by Comey, who <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/04\/30\/comey-bragged-about-violating-fbi-policy-to-ambush-flynn-in-corrupt-setup\/\">bragged<\/a> about the setup in the first week of the Trump White House.<\/p>\n<p>According to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Flynn lied to a pair of FBI agents about conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak as the incoming national security adviser. Flynn, prosecutors claimed, spoke with Kislyak about financial sanctions against Russian individuals after the 2016 election and then lied about it during an interview with Comey\u2019s agents. Sending a pair of agents to question a senior White House official in the Situation Room, Comey said at a 2018 conference, was \u201csomething I probably wouldn\u2019t have done or even gotten away with in a more organized investigation, a more organized administration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe placed a call to Flynn and said, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re sending a couple guys over, hope you\u2019ll talk to them.\u2019 He said \u2018sure,&#8217;\u201d Comey explained at the 92nd Street Y conference. \u201cNobody else was there, they interviewed him in a conference room at the White House situation room, and he lied to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Flynn initially pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI before firing his attorneys and hiring new representation to withdraw his guilty plea. His reversal followed the release of declassified transcripts, which revealed Flynn never spoke with Kislyak about sanctions. The two only discussed expulsions of Russian individuals under a different process. Handwritten\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/04\/29\/explosive-new-flynn-documents-show-fbi-goal-was-to-get-him-fired\/\">notes<\/a> from the FBI agents also revealed the sole purpose of their questioning was \u201cto get him to lie so we can prosecute him or get him fired.\u201d A bizarre 2017 inauguration day email by Susan Rice to herself also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/05\/20\/susan-rices-email-proves-fbi-had-no-legitimate-reason-to-question-flynn\/\">revealed<\/a> Comey knew there was no legitimate reason to question Flynn.<\/p>\n<h2>Andrew McCabe<\/h2>\n<p>Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/03\/17\/andrew-mccabe-fired-trump-exchange-words\/\">fired<\/a> from his top role at the bureau for lying to the agency inspector general four times over multiple abuses during his tenure in senior leadership. Those <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/02\/15\/7-big-takeaways-andrew-mccabes-planned-coup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">abuses<\/a> included efforts to set up former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus for obstruction charges, the sabotage of an investigation into Clinton emails on Anthony Weiner\u2019s laptop before the 2016 election, and failure to report conflicts of interest. While running for a Virginia state Senate seat in 2015, McCabe\u2019s wife <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/clinton-ally-aids-campaign-of-fbi-officials-wife-1477266114\">accepted<\/a> a political donation from a close Clinton ally as her husband was tasked with investigating the former secretary of state.<\/p>\n<p>A 2018 DOJ inspector general <a href=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/files\/2018\/us\/politics\/20180413a-doj-oig-mccabe-report.pdf\">report<\/a> blasted McCabe as a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/04\/13\/ig-report-andrew-mccabe-repeatedly-leaked-lied-about-it\/\">serial leaker<\/a> who lied about it. That same year, a letter from Grassley shined a spotlight on McCabe\u2019s purchase of a $70,000 table on taxpayers\u2019 dime that the agency sought to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/05\/24\/andrew-mccabe-spent-70000-table-fbi-hid-congress\/\">cover up<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Clinton Emails<\/h2>\n<p>The FBI repeatedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/fbi-no-evidence-clintons-email-was-hacked-by-foreign-powers-but-it-could-have-been\/2016\/07\/05\/93334ba0-42dc-11e6-8856-f26de2537a9d_story.html?utm_term=.9cb93e8fb006\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> journalists there was no evidence that a foreign power had reviewed Clinton\u2019s emails that she improperly handled on a private server. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/06\/14\/3-takeaways-from-the-ig-report-that-seriously-undermine-the-fbis-credibility\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">According<\/a> to an inspector general report in 2018, however, texts show they almost certainly did, \u201cat least one of them classified,\u201d as Federalist Senior Editor David Harsanyi wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is more accurate to say,\u201d read a text from Strzok, \u201cthat we know foreign actors obtained access to some of her emails (including at least one Secret one) via compromises of the private email accounts of some of her staffers.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Weiner Laptop<\/h2>\n<p>In 2018, Comey <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/08\/24\/despite-comey-assurances-fbi-failed-to-examine-vast-bulk-of-weiner-laptop-emails\/\">told<\/a> lawmakers over the course of the investigation into Clinton\u2019s emails that agency officials thoroughly reviewed the laptop belonging to Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her now-ex husband Anthony Weiner. The FBI was able to accomplish such a feat within a short timeframe \u201cthanks to the wizardry of our technology\u201d enabling agents who worked \u201cnight after night after night\u201d to comb through the remaining material before the 2016 election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut virtually none of his account was true,\u201d explained RealClearInvestigations\u2019 Paul Sperry.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>In fact, a technical glitch prevented FBI technicians from accurately comparing the new emails with the old emails. Only 3,077 of the 694,000 emails were directly reviewed for classified or incriminating information. Three FBI officials completed that work in a single 12-hour spurt the day before Comey again cleared Clinton of criminal charges.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Roger Stone<\/h2>\n<p>In 2019, former Trump associate Roger Stone was raided by the FBI after being indicted by Mueller. A CNN camera crew happened to be the only network present at Stone\u2019s Fort Lauderdale home before the sunrise raid, suggesting the friendly press had been tipped off in advance. The FBI, however, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/04\/02\/fbi-refuses-records-requests-for-e-mails-to-cnn-on-day-of-roger-stone-raid\/\">refused<\/a> to comply with a Federalist open records request for any and all emails to or from CNN on the day of the raid.<\/p>\n<h2>Jan. 6 Capitol Riot<\/h2>\n<p>The Jan. 6 saga has become the sequel in Democrats\u2019 efforts to indict Trump, before FBI agents hatched a plot to go after the former president over supposed espionage.<\/p>\n<p>In October, the bureau <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/10\/27\/exclusive-biden-fbi-joins-pelosi-in-blocking-gop-from-investigating-january-6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">refused<\/a> to offer House Republicans conducting their own independent investigation of the Capitol riot the same material given to congressional Democrats. The FBI\u2019s refusal, the agency claimed, was because officials were already working with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s Select Committee on Jan. 6. Pelosi\u2019s committee, however, was established in violation of House rules. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., the minority appointment as ranking member, is <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/11\/10\/j6-committee-misleading-witnesses-about-republican-staff-presence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">entitled<\/a> to the documents presented to Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>Senior FBI officials have also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/01\/11\/fbi-refuses-to-say-how-many-informants-were-involved-in-jan-6-violence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">refused<\/a> lawmakers\u2019 questions about how many informants were present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and stonewalled inquiries surrounding Ray Epps, the mysterious figure who disappeared from the most-wanted list after he encouraged rioters to swarm the Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>At an Aug. 4 Senate <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/04\/fbi-director-wray-sets-possible-new-record-for-how-many-times-a-person-can-fail-in-a-3-5-hour-hearing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hearing<\/a>, FBI Director Christopher Wray sought to downplay agency negligence, claiming \u201cwe did not have any credible intelligence that pointed to thousands of people breaching the Capitol.\u201d But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/exclusive-secret-commandos-shoot-kill-authority-were-capitol-1661330\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to Newsweek, the agency deployed commandos with \u201cshoot to kill authority,\u201d and even Capitol Hill parking attendants <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/12\/16\/nancy-pelosi-owns-january-6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">knew<\/a> there were going to be mass protests. The FBI has also been <a href=\"https:\/\/amgreatness.com\/2022\/02\/14\/the-january-6-pipe-bombs-look-like-another-fbi-hoax\/\">less than forthcoming<\/a> about a pair of pipe bombs planted at the RNC and DNC headquarters.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the FBI has embarked on a nationwide manhunt, to incarcerating demonstrators who have been declared such a threat to the republic over trespassing that they\u2019ve been denied a fair and speedy trial and held in detention for more than 18 months.<\/p>\n<p>Julian Khater, one of two accused of assaulting a Capitol Police officer with pepper spray and whose case has been <a href=\"https:\/\/amgreatness.com\/2022\/04\/01\/more-scandals-envelop-the-scandalous-fbi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">documented<\/a> by Julie Kelly at American Greatness, appears to have been outright coerced into making an unconstitutional confession. Khater was detained in March 2021 and has remained in federal custody ever since after intense interrogation without an attorney present.<\/p>\n<h2>Kamala Harris on Jan. 6<\/h2>\n<p>The presence of Vice President Mike Pence and then-Sen. Kamala Harris at the U.S. Capitol has been the basis for nearly 800 people being charged with at least one count of violating 18 U.S. Code, section 1752, <a href=\"https:\/\/amgreatness.com\/2022\/03\/17\/will-the-next-j6-trial-expose-another-justice-department-lie\/\">according<\/a> to Kelly, which indicates that any building or complex hosting the vice president is a restricted area and therefore closed to the public.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the Justice Department recently was forced to admit that Harris was <em>not <\/em>in the building for most of the day on January 6,\u201d Kelly reported, highlighting that Harris, at the time, remained a U.S. senator, not vice president. In the late morning, Harris was moved to the DNC headquarters where a pipe bomb had supposedly been planted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProsecutors have begun amending language in court filings to reflect the fact Harris was not inside the Capitol despite making the assertion in thousands of charging documents,\u201d Kelly wrote.<\/p>\n<h2>March 4, 2021<\/h2>\n<p>The FBI released a joint memo with the Department of Homeland Security <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/04\/12\/the-feds-are-so-desperate-for-white-supremacy-extremism-they-fabricated-their-own\/\">warning<\/a> that \u201cdomestic extremists\u201d were preparing to launch an insurrection by overwhelming the Capitol and removing Democratic lawmakers \u201con or about the 4th of March.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nothing happened.<\/p>\n<h2>Hunter Biden Suppression<\/h2>\n<p>In July, Grassley\u2019s office published a blockbuster whistleblower <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/news\/news-releases\/whistleblowers-reports-reveal-double-standard-in-pursuit-of-politically-charged-investigations-by-senior-fbi-doj-officials\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> wherein senior agency officials alleged that the bureau is actively trying to sabotage Trump and provide cover for President Joe Biden\u2019s son, Hunter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMultiple FBI whistleblowers, including those in senior positions,\u201d Grassley\u2019s office wrote in a press release, \u201care raising the alarm about tampering by senior FBI and Justice Department officials in politically sensitive investigations ranging from election and campaign finance probes across multiple election cycles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault and Director of Election Crimes Branch Richard Pilger, the whistleblowers alleged, coordinated to amplify defamatory information against Trump while giving cover to Hunter Biden, dismissing Biden intelligence as disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>The agency <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/08\/18\/exclusive-fbi-knew-of-hunter-bidens-missing-laptop-as-early-as-december-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> knew of Hunter Biden\u2019s abandoned laptop full of incriminating information on the first family as early as 2019, and Grassley\u2019s whistleblower report highlights how officials may have <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/27\/grassleys-whistleblower-report-vindicates-trumps-proposal-for-a-swamp-purge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">undermined<\/a> DOJ investigations into Hunter Biden\u2019s finances in Delaware and Pittsburgh. In March, FBI Assistant Director of the Cyber Division Bryan Vorndran <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepMattGaetz\/status\/1508842680830382089?s=20&amp;t=1ebF1P9678QAQIJm88Br8A\">told<\/a> lawmakers he did not know the whereabouts of Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop.<\/p>\n<h2>Gretchen Whitmer Plot<\/h2>\n<p>In October 2020, the FBI revealed that a plot to kidnap Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had been heroically foiled by federal law enforcement. A group of far-right militiamen, the story goes, conspired to kidnap the governor and try her as a \u201ctyrant\u201d in Wisconsin. In July last year, however, BuzzFeed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/kenbensinger\/michigan-kidnapping-gretchen-whitmer-fbi-informant\">revealed<\/a> that <em>at least<\/em> 12 people involved were FBI informants orchestrating another entrapment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem with the case is that it appears the FBI, through informants and undercover agents,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21011399-21-0113-croft-arraignment-iptc-detention-hearing-e-filed#document\/p41\/a2046414\">hatched the kidnapping plot<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21011328-dan-2nd-in-command\">served in the key leadership positions<\/a>\u00a0of the militia group,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21011389-bellar-morrison-musico-day-3-transcript#document\/p60\/a2046321\">trained the militia members<\/a>\u00a0in military tactics, actively\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/kenbensinger\/michigan-kidnapping-gretchen-whitmer-fbi-informant\">recruited participants<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21011389-bellar-morrison-musico-day-3-transcript#document\/p202\/a2046318\">and funded<\/a>\u00a0much of the militia\u2019s activities,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/07\/26\/the-fbis-whitmer-kidnapping-case-looks-like-a-potemkin-terror-plot\/\">reported<\/a> former CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer Max Morton. \u201cThen, when various members of the Watchman militia became uncomfortable with the kidnapping plot, with several quitting, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/kenbensinger\/michigan-kidnapping-gretchen-whitmer-fbi-informant\">FBI\u2019s primary informant pushed the plot along<\/a>, eventually becoming the militia group\u2019s leader.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In April, a jury <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/04\/08\/jury-refuses-to-convict-men-entrapped-by-fbi-in-whitmer-kidnapping-plot\/\">refused<\/a> to convict four of the 14 defendants charged. Two were found not guilty, another two concluded the trial with no verdict, and another two took plea deals.<\/p>\n<h2>Ralph Northam Plot<\/h2>\n<p>Dan Chappel, the primary informant in the Whitmer kidnapping conspiracy, targeted a senior disabled veteran named Frank Butler using the same formula to go after then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, another Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust as in the Whitmer plot, Chappel lured Frank Butler into attempting to build an explosive device,\u201d Kelly <a href=\"https:\/\/amgreatness.com\/2022\/04\/14\/the-other-fednapping-plot\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a> in American Greatness. \u201cChappel also invited Butler to a field training exercise in Wisconsin during the last weekend in October, an excursion attended by some defendants in the Whitmer caper.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the FBI\u2019s victims in the Whitmer plot, however, Butler did not participate and has not been charged with any crime.<\/p>\n<h2>Sen. Ted Stevens\u2019 Conviction<\/h2>\n<p>Former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, became the victim of FBI corruption in 2008 when forced to defend himself on charges of false statements to federal officials. Stevens lost his seat as the scandal played out, only to be later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2012\/03\/15\/148687717\/report-prosecutors-hid-evidence-in-ted-stevens-case\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exonerated<\/a> when a judge conducting an independent investigation concluded that prosecutors inappropriately hid evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors indicted Stevens on charges that he had concealed that he did not pay full value for renovations on an Alaskan cabin less than 100 days out from the 2008 election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn fact, Ted Stevens and his wife had paid more than $160,000 for renovations that independent appraisers valued at less than $125,000 at the time,\u201d Roll Call <a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/2014\/10\/28\/recalling-the-injustice-done-to-sen-ted-stevens-commentary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors, however, secured a conviction by hiding evidence that incriminated their own witnesses, one of whom came up with testimony right before trial, with inconsistent statements concealed from the defense, according to the D.C. paper.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Likewise, the government concealed evidence that its star witness had suborned perjury from an underage prostitute with whom the star witness had an illegal sexual relationship. And the government concealed evidence that another witness \u2014 whom the government flew back to Alaska away from the Washington, D.C., trial after their mock cross-examination of him went poorly \u2014 had told the senator that the bills he received and promptly paid included all of the work that was done. Government prosecutors mocked Stevens when he explained that on the stand \u2014 all the while knowing that they had a witness who would have supported him, but whom they had removed from the trial.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Rep. Jeff Fortenberry\u2019s Conviction<\/h2>\n<p>Former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., was sentenced to two years of probation with a $25,000 fine and 320 hours of community service in March after a Los Angeles jury convicted him of lying to the federal government after he was <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/29\/fbi-lies-and-entrapment-result-in-probation-sentence-for-former-republican-congressman\/\">entrapped<\/a> by the FBI.<\/p>\n<p>The saga began in 2019 when a pair of FBI agents showed up at Fortenberry\u2019s Nebraska home ostensibly over a national security issue, not a criminal investigation. Prosecutors ultimately convicted Fortenberry for scheming to conceal material facts to federal officials and two false statements to the FBI.<\/p>\n<p>One false statement was attributed to Forteberry not recognizing a person whose 10-year-old picture was presented to him by agents on their trip to his Nebraska residence. In July 2019, the FBI lied to Fortenberry and his attorney, Gowdy, claiming Fortenberry was not under federal investigation when he was. Fortenberry resigned from the House during his ninth term following conviction.<\/p>\n<h2>Pulse Nightclub Shooting<\/h2>\n<p>In June 2016, a 29-year-old gunman named Omar Mateen stormed the gay Orlando nightclub Pulse, killing 49 and injuring 53 more in the name of Islamic terrorists killed in Iraq and Syria. Mateen\u2019s father, Seddique, was an FBI informant, whom documents <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2018\/03\/26\/omar-mateen-father-fbi-noor-salman-pulse-shooting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published<\/a> by The Intercept suggest convinced the bureau to stop investigating his son.<\/p>\n<p>The bureau turned instead to charging Mateen\u2019s widow, Noor Salman, with material support and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors sought to conceal the father\u2019s status as an FBI informant, according to the Intercept, in pursuit of Salman\u2019s conviction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeddique Mateen has not faced criminal charges despite a tip to the FBI that he raised money for terrorism in Pakistan, and an ongoing investigation into money transfers he allegedly made to Turkey and Afghanistan,\u201d the Intercept reported. \u201cOmar Mateen was researching flights to Turkey at the same time that his father was sending payments there, according to defense lawyers\u2019 summary of FBI evidence.\u201d Salmon was apparently unaware of their possible plans to travel to either country.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/03\/30\/us\/noor-salman-pulse-trial-verdict.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> on Salmon\u2019s 2018 trial:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Testimony from an F.B.I. agent revealed that prosecutors knew early on, but did not reveal, that one of their crucial initial pieces of evidence \u2014 that Ms. Salman had admitted driving by the nightclub with her husband in the days before the attack \u2014 most likely did not happen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Salmon was ultimately acquitted after a 12-hour jury deliberation.<\/p>\n<h2>Texas Synagogue Attack<\/h2>\n<p>On Jan. 15, 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram took hostages in a Texas synagogue near Dallas and demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani national <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/01\/18\/texas-synagogue-attack-smells-like-more-evidence-of-fbi-corruption\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">also known as<\/a> \u201cLady Al Qaeda\u201d serving an 86-year sentence for assault and attempted murder of federal agents and military personnel.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew J. DeSarno, the FBI\u2019s special agent in charge of the Dallas field office, said the attack on a synagogue had nothing to do with targeting Jews.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do believe from our engagement with this subject that he was singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community,\u201d DeSarno said at a press conference.<\/p>\n<p>But as Chuck DeVore of the Texas Public Policy Foundation <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/01\/19\/fbis-explanation-for-attack-on-texas-synagogue-reeks-of-agency-politicization\/\">reported<\/a>, Akram \u201cwas heard to say via the live stream that operated from the synagogue for much of the incident that he chose it because he thought it was the closest assemblage of Jews to the federal facility holding Siddiqui.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are about 1,000 churches in the Fort Worth area within a half-hour drive of Siddiqui\u2019s place of incarceration, compared to seven Jewish centers of worship,\u201d DeVore wrote. \u201cBut sure, Special Agent DeSarno, the terrorism was \u2018not specifically threatening to the Jewish community.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Congressional Baseball Shooter<\/h2>\n<p>The FBI designated the death of a shooter who attempted to gun down Republican lawmakers at a 2017 congressional baseball practice as motivated by a desire to commit \u201csuicide by cop.\u201d Last year, the bureau doubled down on the designation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s fair to say the shooter was motivated by a desire to commit an attack on members of Congress and then knowing by doing so he would likely be killed in the process,\u201d Jill Sanborn, the executive assistant director of the FBI, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/04\/29\/fbi-suicide-by-cop-2017-baseball-shooting-485002\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> the House Appropriations subcommittee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe FBI still doesn\u2019t know exactly what the shooter was up to,\u201d McCabe, now a CNN contributor, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/06\/15\/andrew-mccabe-whitewashes-far-left-extremist-attack-on-republican-baseball-practice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> last summer. \u201cThey never really uncovered the sort of detailed evidence that laid out a specific plot or an objective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the contrary, the 66-year-old shooter who almost killed House GOP Whip Steve Scalise left behind a long record of extremist social media posts dripping with contempt for Republicans, even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/06\/14\/homepage2\/james-hodgkinson-profile\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">branding<\/a> them as the \u201cTaliban of the USA\u201d on Facebook. The FBI also found a list of six congressmen in a rented Virginia storage locker but refused to call it a \u201chit list.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Inflating Extremism Cases<\/h2>\n<p>Whistleblowers claim the FBI is inflating the number of \u201cdomestic violent extremism\u201d cases to fit President Biden\u2019s overarching narrative that home-grown extremism is the nation\u2019s worst national security threat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom recent protected disclosures, we have learned that FBI officials are pressuring agents to reclassify cases as \u2018domestic violent extremism\u2019 even if the cases do not meet the criteria for such a classification,\u201d Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote in July, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/28\/jordan-fbi-exaggerates-domestic-violent-extremism-cases-to-bolster-bidens-greatest-threat-narrative\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">detailing<\/a> whistleblower allegations in a letter to Wray. \u201cGiven the narrative pushed by the Biden Administration that domestic violent extremism is the \u2018greatest threat\u2019 facing our country, the revelation that the FBI may be artificially padding domestic terrorism data is scandalous.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Ignoring Larry Nassar Abuse<\/h2>\n<p>The FBI <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/07\/17\/the-fbi-turned-a-blind-eye-while-larry-nassar-assaulted-hundreds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">turned a blind eye<\/a> as former USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar abused dozens of young female athletes. According to the DOJ inspector general last year, \u201csenior officials in the FBI Indianapolis Field Office failed to respond to allegations of sexual abuse of athletes by former USA Gymnastics physician Lawrence Gerard Nassar with the urgency that the allegations required.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also found that the FBI Indianapolis Field Office made fundamental errors when it did respond to the allegations, failed to notify the appropriate FBI field office (the Lansing Resident Agency) or state or local authorities of the allegations, and failed to take other steps to mitigate the ongoing threat posed by Nassar,\u201d the inspector general added.<\/p>\n<h2>Kyle Rittenhouse<\/h2>\n<p>Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of politicized charges brought against him last summer when he shot three men in self-defense. Two died, and contrary to the media\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/11\/23\/rittenhouse-coverage-showcases-left-wing-obsession-with-stoking-race-wars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">racialized coverage<\/a> of the trial, all three were white.<\/p>\n<p>During the proceedings, wherein an 18-year-old Rittenhouse (now 19) faced life in prison, prosecutors <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/11\/11\/sen-johnson-probes-fbi-aerial-surveillance-after-rittenhouse-defense-suspects-foul-play-in-kenosha-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">used<\/a> aerial footage from FBI surveillance in their effort to convict Rittenhouse. When the defense tried to access \u201cthe rest\u201d of the FBI footage from the night in question, however, the bureau claimed it no longer existed.<\/p>\n<h2>Demonizing James Rosen<\/h2>\n<p>In 2010, the Obama administration began aggressive surveillance of journalist James Rosen who was working for Fox News at the time. The Justice Department tracked Rosen by <a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/blogs\/ticket\/obama-admin-spied-fox-news-reporter-james-rosen-134204299.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">falsely claiming<\/a> the reporter was a potential terrorist collaborator and accused him of violating the Espionage Act.<\/p>\n<p>The Obama administration tracked Rosen\u2019s movements and, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/doj-seized-phone-records-for-fox-news-numbers-reporters-parents\">according<\/a> to Fox News, even seized the phone records of his parents.<\/p>\n<h2>Deadly Wrongful Conviction<\/h2>\n<p>A 2007 ruling against the government cost the FBI $102 million after agency misconduct resulted in the deaths of two men. In order to protect a mob informant, the FBI was <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/05\/24\/fbi-used-secret-spy-program-protect-killers-jail-innocents-screw-victims\/\">caught<\/a> deliberately withholding evidence in a case that led to the wrongful convictions of four men, three of which were sentenced to death, two of whom died before true justice was served.<\/p>\n<h2>Martha Stewart<\/h2>\n<p>Most Americans today believe Martha Stewart was convicted 20 years ago on charges of \u201cinsider trading.\u201d Her actual conviction that sent her to federal prison was conspiracy to lie about the crime for which she was never charged over a trade that had already taken place.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart\u2019s quarter-million-dollar sale of ImClone stock served as the pretext for which federal prosecutors, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/12\/09\/5-reasons-its-time-for-donald-trump-to-pardon-martha-stewart\/\">led<\/a> by none other than Comey, went after the media mogul. Comey\u2019s case, however, was so weak that prosecutors pursued a novel legal theory to secure a conviction.<\/p>\n<p>According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/publications\/commentary\/lessons-martha-stewart-case\">theory<\/a>\u00a0they pursued, Stewart engaged in \u201csecurities fraud\u201d when she declared that she was innocent, which prosecutors said was designed to prop up the value of her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. In other words, Stewart\u2019s proclamation of innocence was declared a crime by federal law enforcement, and she spent six months incarcerated.<\/p>\n<h2>Mar-a-Lago Raid<\/h2>\n<p>The Department of Justice appears to be following the same playbook agency officials have used for years in the Democrats\u2019 series of manufactured scandals to bring down Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the FBI executed an unprecedented raid of the former president\u2019s Florida residence ostensibly conducted to enforce the Presidential Records Act. Federal officials confiscated more than a dozen boxes from the 128-room mansion pursuant to the rarely prosecuted law, claiming Trump harbored classified information related to the nation\u2019s nuclear secrets. Leaked claims to the Washington Post that Trump possessed sensitive nuclear records, which came hours after Attorney General Merrick Garland professed the agency\u2019s professionalism, however, showcase the sensationalism crafted by officials desperate to justify the raid, which included more than 30 agents.<\/p>\n<p>At a press conference last week, Garland admitted to personally signing off on the raid he called \u201cnarrowly scope[d].\u201d An examination of the warrant, however, reveals that it <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/12\/breaking-fbi-raid-warrant-demanded-seizure-of-literally-any-record-trump-ever-saw-during-4-year-presidential-term\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">authorized<\/a> FBI agents to seize any and every document Trump came into contact with as president. Furthermore, none of the three criminal statutes the DOJ cited in the warrant required the material to be classified, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/15\/from-bureaucrat-hack-to-grand-jury-witch-hunt-the-dojs-trump-raid-smells-like-spygate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to Cleveland.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI also attempted to dispel claims that federal officials stripped the president of his passports, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/16\/in-viral-tweet-cbss-norah-odonnell-parrots-doj-lie-that-fbi-didnt-steal-trumps-passports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">telling<\/a> CBS News that the agency was not in possession of the documents after Trump blasted that they had been confiscated. An email <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TayFromCA\/status\/1559562702271311872?s=20&amp;t=ljd5Je-4rSe9_GR5iehCng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">made public<\/a> by Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich, however, exposed the FBI\u2019s lie. The email from Jay Bratt, the chief of the counterintelligence and export control section in the DOJ\u2019s National Security Division, confirms that \u201cthe filter agents seized three passports belonging to President Trump, two expired and one being his active diplomatic passport.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" \/>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-on-white\" href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can the FBI be trusted? A Federalist analysis of agency lies over the last decade is an unequivocal no. FISA Warrants In the summer of 2016, FBI bureaucrats launched<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":1897943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1615836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/19\/think-the-fbi-deserves-the-benefit-of-the-doubt-this-laundry-list-of-corruption-should-make-you-think-again\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=think-the-fbi-deserves-the-benefit-of-the-doubt-this-laundry-list-of-corruption-should-make-you-think-again","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1615836","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\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1615836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1615836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1615836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1615836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1615836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}