One significant gap in media coverage concerns the potential complicity of former FBI Director James Comey in the FISA abuse-a possibility the IG report hints at in several spots.
"Certain former FBI employees who agreed to interviews, including Comey and Baker, chose not to request that their security clearances be reinstated for their OIG interviews," read the IG report.
The IG report also stressed Comey's lack of a security clearance in discussing inconsistencies between his and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch's statements to the IG. The report noted that "Lynch told the OIG that after one of her weekly security meetings at FBI Headquarters in the spring of 2016, Comey and McCabe pulled her aside and provided information about Carter Page, which Lynch believed they learned from another member of the Intelligence Community."
The IG report noted that "Lynch's recollection of what Comey and McCabe told her is consistent with information referenced in connection with the 2015 indictment and subsequent conviction of a Russian intelligence officer referenced earlier in this chapter." However, "Comey told the OIG that he did not recall having such a conversation with Lynch, and that he did not think it was possible for such a conversation to have occurred in the spring of 2016 because the FBI did not receive the information concerning Papadopoulos until late July.".
Notwithstanding these inconsistencies, the IG report stressed, that the IG "Was unable to question Comey further using classified details Lynch described to us because, as noted in Chapter One, Comey choose not to have his security clearances reinstated for our interview."
"These factors included, among other things," the IG report noted, "Limited recollections, the inability to question Comey or refresh his recollection with relevant, classified documentation because of his lack of a security clearance, and the absence of meeting minutes that would show the specific details shared with Comey and McCabe during briefings they received, beyond the more general investigative updates that we know they were provided."
While noting the IG's inability to determine the "Extent of FBI leadership's knowledge," the report highlighted reasons to believe such knowledge existed: "As the FBI's senior leaders, Comey and McCabe would have had greater access to case information than Department leadership and also more interaction with senior officials and the investigation team. Further, as described in Chapter Three, officials orally briefed the Crossfire Hurricane cases to FBI senior leadership throughout the investigation. McCabe received more briefings than Comey, but both received oral briefings of the team's investigative activities."
https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/20/ig-report-hints-james-comey-was-in-on-fbis-fisa-misconduct/
"Certain former FBI employees who agreed to interviews, including Comey and Baker, chose not to request that their security clearances be reinstated for their OIG interviews," read the IG report.
The IG report also stressed Comey's lack of a security clearance in discussing inconsistencies between his and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch's statements to the IG. The report noted that "Lynch told the OIG that after one of her weekly security meetings at FBI Headquarters in the spring of 2016, Comey and McCabe pulled her aside and provided information about Carter Page, which Lynch believed they learned from another member of the Intelligence Community."
The IG report noted that "Lynch's recollection of what Comey and McCabe told her is consistent with information referenced in connection with the 2015 indictment and subsequent conviction of a Russian intelligence officer referenced earlier in this chapter." However, "Comey told the OIG that he did not recall having such a conversation with Lynch, and that he did not think it was possible for such a conversation to have occurred in the spring of 2016 because the FBI did not receive the information concerning Papadopoulos until late July.".
Notwithstanding these inconsistencies, the IG report stressed, that the IG "Was unable to question Comey further using classified details Lynch described to us because, as noted in Chapter One, Comey choose not to have his security clearances reinstated for our interview."
"These factors included, among other things," the IG report noted, "Limited recollections, the inability to question Comey or refresh his recollection with relevant, classified documentation because of his lack of a security clearance, and the absence of meeting minutes that would show the specific details shared with Comey and McCabe during briefings they received, beyond the more general investigative updates that we know they were provided."
While noting the IG's inability to determine the "Extent of FBI leadership's knowledge," the report highlighted reasons to believe such knowledge existed: "As the FBI's senior leaders, Comey and McCabe would have had greater access to case information than Department leadership and also more interaction with senior officials and the investigation team. Further, as described in Chapter Three, officials orally briefed the Crossfire Hurricane cases to FBI senior leadership throughout the investigation. McCabe received more briefings than Comey, but both received oral briefings of the team's investigative activities."
https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/20/ig-report-hints-james-comey-was-in-on-fbis-fisa-misconduct/
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