James B. Comey and Loretta E. Lynch during a news conference in 2016. They have each received a subpoena requiring them to appear in closed-door sessions with House lawmakers. (Credit: Mandel Ngan/Agence France Presse/Getty Images)
Alleged off-the-books investigation predated FBI’s Russia collusion probe
The House Judiciary Committee is examining a whistleblower report that the FBI targeted Donald Trump soon after he announced his presidential campaign in June 2015, an off-the-books operation ordered by FBI Director James B. Comey that predated the Crossfire Hurricane operation.
An FBI agent involved in the probe revealed the off-the-books criminal investigation on Tuesday in a protected disclosure sent to the committee.
The whistleblower disclosure said two female FBI undercover agents infiltrated Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign at high levels and were directed to act as “honeypots” while traveling with Mr. Trump and his campaign staff on the trail.
According to the disclosure, which The Washington Times reviewed, the investigation differed from the later Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence operation targeting Russian collusion. It said the early off-the-books probe was a criminal investigation targeting Mr. Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign staff.
The agent “personally knew” that Mr. Comey ordered an FBI investigation against Mr. Trump and that Mr. Comey “personally directed it,” according to the disclosure.
The off-the-books investigation did not appear to target a specific crime but was more of what agents would describe as a fishing expedition to find something incriminating about Mr. Trump.
(…) A House Judiciary Committee spokesman said the committee received the whistleblower allegations and “plans to look into them.”
The whistleblower said the undercover operation was hidden from Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, who investigated misconduct in the bureau’s probe of the Trump campaign.
The whistleblower disclosure also said the secret investigation may indicate institutional bias against Mr. Trump, though “it does not appear that any information about this investigation was turned over to Trump’s criminal defense counsels.”
Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker said the report, if true, is a “booming, egregious violation” of the rules governing the attorney general and the FBI.
“It’s an unpredicated infiltration of a presidential campaign which is sensitive,” he told The Times. “It’s sensitive to the point where it would have to have been approved by the [attorney general] and … would have to be predicated. And in this case, I’m not hearing any predication. It would have to be on the books anyway, regardless.”
David Bowdich (Credit: Wikipedia)
June 2023 – Paul Abbate admits to Senate Judiciary Cmte. it ‘unintentionally’ spied on 278,000 Americans. (Credit: Screenshot via Twitter/@HawleyMO)
(…) The disclosure said Deputy Director Dave Bowdich and Paul Abbate, assistant director in charge of the Washington field office, were also involved in helping Mr. Comey execute the secret probe.
The undercover “honeypot” agents targeted Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, according to the whistleblower.
(…) The FBI whistleblower said the off-the-books investigation was closed because a newspaper obtained a photograph of one of the undercover agents and was about to publish it.
The FBI press office, according to the agent’s disclosure, misled the newspaper by claiming the photograph was of an FBI informant, not an undercover agent. The FBI said the informant would be killed if the photograph was published.
Additionally, the FBI employee alleged that one of the undercover agents agreed to be transferred to the CIA so she would not be available as a potential witness, and another bureau employee involved in the operation was rewarded for her activities with a promotion and now is a high-level FBI executive. (Read more: Washington Times, 10/29/2024) (Archive)