A Spy in the Other Guy's Camp

For John, BLUF:  I expect a lot of institutional protecting tocome out of this.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Did the bureau engage in outright spying against the 2016 Trump campaign?

From The Wall Street Journal, by Reporter Kimberley A. Strassel (Kim.Strassel@wsj.com), 10 May 2018.

Here is the lede plus three:

The Department of Justice lost its latest battle with Congress Thursday when it agreed to brief House Intelligence Committee members about a top-secret intelligence source that was part of the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign.  Even without official confirmation of that source’s name, the news so far holds some stunning implications.

Among them is that the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation outright hid critical information from a congressional investigation.  In a Thursday press conference, Speaker Paul Ryan bluntly noted that Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes’s request for details on this secret source was “wholly appropriate,” “completely within the scope” of the committee’s long-running FBI investigation, and “something that probably should have been answered a while ago.”  Translation:  The department knew full well it should have turned this material over to congressional investigators last year, but instead deliberately concealed it.

House investigators nonetheless sniffed out a name, and Mr. Nunes in recent weeks issued a letter and a subpoena demanding more details.  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s response was to double down—accusing the House of “extortion” and delivering a speech in which he claimed that “declining to open the FBI’s files to review” is a constitutional “duty.”  Justice asked the White House to back its stonewall.  And it even began spinning that daddy of all superspook arguments—that revealing any detail about this particular asset could result in “loss of human lives.”

This is desperation, and it strongly suggests that whatever is in these files is going to prove very uncomfortable to the FBI.

If true, thus won't end well.

As to "extortion", I think it would be if Congress exercised its Constitutional prerogative and cut the FBI (and Main Justice) budgets by 15%.  That might get someone's attention and create a window for more open Federal Government.

Regards  —  Cliff