By Sean Davis and Mollie Hemingway
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents tasked by fired former Director James Comey to take down Donald Trump during and after the 2016 election were so concerned about the agency’s potentially illegal behavior that they purchased liability insurance to protect themselves less than two weeks before Trump was inaugurated president, previously hidden FBI text messages show. The explosive new communications and internal FBI notes were disclosed in federal court filings today from Sidney Powell, the attorney who heads Michael Flynn’s legal defense team.
“[W]e all went and purchased professional liability insurance,” one agent texted on Jan. 10, 2017, the same day CNN leaked details that then-President-elect Trump had been briefed by Comey about the bogus Christopher Steele dossier. That briefing of Trump was used as a pretext to legitimize the debunked dossier, which was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign and compiled by a foreign intelligence officer who was working for a sanctioned Russian oligarch.
“Holy crap,” an agent responded. “All the analysts too?”
“Yep,” the first agent said. “All the folks at the Agency as well.”
“[C]an I ask who are the most likely litigators?” an agent responded. “[A]s far as potentially suing y’all[?]”
“[H]aha, who knows….I think [t]he concern when we got it was that there was a big leak at DOJ and the NYT among others was going to do a piece,” the first agent said.
While the names of the agents responsible for the texts are redacted, the legal filing from Powell, quoting communications from the Department of Justice (DOJ), states that the latest document production included handwritten notes and texts from Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, and FBI analysts who worked on the FBI’s investigation of Flynn.
Agents also said they were worried about how a new attorney general might view the actions taken against Trump during the investigation. Shortly after then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) was confirmed to be Trump’s new attorney general, congressional Democrats, media, and Obama holdovers within DOJ immediately moved to force Sessions to recuse himself from overseeing the department’s investigations against Trump.
“[T]he new AG might have some questions….then yada yada yada…we all get screwed,” one agent wrote.
The FBI agents also discussed how the investigation’s leadership was consumed with conspiracy theories rather than evidence.
“I’m tellying [sic] man, if this thing ever gets FOIA’d, there are going to be some tough questions asked,” one agent wrote. “[A]nd a great deal of those will be related to Brian having a scope way outside the boundaries of logic[.]”
“[REDACTED] is one of the worst offenders of the rabbit holes and conspiracy theories,” an agent texted. “This guy traveled with that guy, who put down 3rd guy as his visa sponsor. 3rd guy lives near a navy base, therefore…[.]”
Several texts show that the order to close the criminal investigation against Flynn came as early as Nov. 8, 2016, the same day as the 2016 presidential election. It was later re-opened in early January of 2017.“We have some loose ends to tie up, and we all need to meet to discuss what to do with each case (he said shut down Razor),” one agent texted, referring to Crossfire Razor, the FBI’s internal code name for the investigation of Flynn.
“[S]o glad they’re closing Razor,” an agent responded.
The new disclosures made by DOJ also show that the FBI used so-called national security letters (NSLs) to spy on Flynn’s finances. Unlike traditional subpoenas, which require judicial review and approval before authorities can seize an innocent person’s property and information, NSLs are never independently reviewed by courts. One of the agents noted in a text message that the NSLs were just being used as a pretext by FBI leadership to buy time to find dirt on Flynn after the first investigation of him yielded no derogatory information.
“[T]he decision to NSL finances for Razor bought him time,” one agent said nearly two weeks after the initial order to shut down the anti-Flynn case. It is not known to whom the agent was referring in that text.
“What do we expect to get from an NSL[?]” an agent texted on Dec. 5, 2016. “We put out traces, tripwires to community and nothing.”
“[B]ingo,” another FBI agent responded. “[S]o what’s an NSL going to do – no content.”
“Hahah this is a nightmare,” an agent said.
“If we’re working to close down the cases, I’m not sure what NSL results would do to help,” one agent wrote.
“[E]xactly that makes no sense,” an agent wrote back.
The explosive new text messages also show agents believed the investigation was being run by FBI officials who were in the tank for Hillary Clinton.“[D]oing all this election research – I think some of these guys want a [C]linton presidency,” one agent wrote on Aug. 11, shortly after the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation against Trump.
In one series of texts sent the same day as the infamous Jan. 5 Oval Office meeting between Obama, Biden, Comey, Sally Yates, and Susan Rice, one agent admits that “Trump was right” when he tweeted that the FBI was delaying his briefings as incoming president so they could cook up evidence against him. As The Federalist first reported last May, that Jan. 5 meeting was the key to understanding the entire anti-Trump operation run out of Obama’s FBI.
Between this and the confirmation tonight by Graham via Barr and Durham that the primary subsource for the Dossier was a possible national security threat and it looks like Obamagate is imploding tonight.
@another vet:
This exactly why they had to silence Flynn. Flynn would have exposed everything that the corrupt obama regime had done, everything. That includes the IRS targeting citizens, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, AP Phone Records Scandal, Keystone XL Pipeline Controversy, Illegal Immigrants and Obamacare, Sequestration and the Federal Budget, Use of Executive Power and, National Security Agency PRISM Surveillance System.
The New York FBI field office was ready to close the Flynn case because there was nothing there. Then, the seventh floor of FBI headquarters stepped in to breath life into a dead investigation in order to protect their crimes.
As if the piece from the Federalist was not damning enough, there is this:
Robert Mueller Investigative Agent Recently Testified Special Counsel Operation was “Intended to Get Trump”
Well, this MUST READ INTERVIEW should bring all efforts against Flynn to a halt.
@July 4th American: Ahile back, Flynn’s son said to wait, all hell was going to break loose and people were going to be named or something to that effect. Gen. Flynn is no doubt licking his chops at payback. It’s probably why Sullivan is doing what he is doing- covering it up or at least delaying it until after the election.
As VP, Uncle Pervy was in on all of this and what happened before the election was Watergate on steroids. In the unlikely event voters choose Communism in November and vote the crook in, Congress has both a legal and historical precedent in Watergate to impeach him ASAP. Perhaps that is one reason he picked Harris- impeachment insurance.
@another vet:
Flynn is the plug in the dam. Sullivan has to keep Flynn on ice in order to protect those involved. The democrats in particular are desperate to avoid a second term for President Trump. The second term will pull the plug on the dam and it is going to be ugly. And, the trail of those guilty leads all the way to obama.
Definitely a failed coup. Heads MUST roll.
How long before Greg is here asking about Trump’s tax returns? They don’t want to discuss THIS.