FBI document proves no justification to investigate Trump campaign

task0778

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Mar 10, 2017
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Keep in mind the FBI cannot begin to investigate anyone, especially a U.S. citizen or entity, without first creating a document that lists the reasonably suspicious factors that would legally justify the investigation. That’s FBI 101, taught Day 1 at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Va.

First, the document is oddly constructed. In a normal, legitimate FBI Electronic Communication, or EC, there would be a “To” and a “From” line. The Crossfire Hurricane EC has only a “From” line; it is from a part of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division whose contact is listed as Peter Strzok. The EC was drafted also by Peter Strzok. And, finally, it was approved by Peter Strzok. Essentially, it is a document created by Peter Strzok, approved by Peter Strzok, and sent from Peter Strzok to Peter Strzok.

On that basis alone, the document is an absurdity, violative of all FBI protocols and, therefore, invalid on its face. An agent cannot approve his or her own case; that would make a mockery of the oversight designed to protect Americans.


Here's the FBI document: https://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/JW-v-DOJ-reply-02743.pdf

[NOTE: why do you think there is no 'TO' line? Cuz nobody wanted to have to explain why they knew about the lack of justification and did nothing.]

Second, the Crossfire Hurricane case was opened as a Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) investigation. A FARA investigation involves a criminal violation of law — in this case, a negligent or intentional failure to register with the U.S. government after being engaged by a foreign country to perform services on its behalf — that is punishable by fines and imprisonment. It is rarely investigated.

In a normal EC opening a FARA case, we should expect to see a list of reasons why the FBI believes individuals associated with a U.S. presidential campaign had been engaged by the Russian government to represent and advocate that government’s goals.

This, however, was no normal EC. Try as we might to spot them, those reasons are not found anywhere in the document. Despite redactions, it has been fairly well established that an Australian diplomat, Andrew Downer, met a low-level Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, in a London bar for drinks; Downer then reported the conversation, which eventually made its way to U.S. officials in London.

The Strzok EC quotes verbatim an email authored by Downer. In it, Downer claims Papadopoulos “suggested” to him that the Trump team had received “some kind of suggestion” of assistance from Russia regarding information damaging to Hillary Clinton and President Obama. In other words, a suggestion of a suggestion.


[A suggestion of a suggestion from a guy who talked to a guy in a bar. If there was any substantial reason to think any of this was true, it is not listed.]

Strzok apparently took this nebulous reporting by Downer and then leapt to the dubious conclusion that Papadopoulos and unnamed others were engaged by the Russians to act as foreign agents on Russia’s behalf. This, despite Downer also offering two exculpatory statements in the same email: 1) It was “unclear” how the Trump campaign might have reacted to the Russian claims and 2) the Russians likely were going to do what they were going to do with the information whether anyone in the Trump campaign cooperated with them or not.

Strzok then concludes the EC by moving the goalposts. He writes that Crossfire Hurricane is being opened to determine if unspecified “individual(s)” associated with the Trump campaign are “witting of and/or coordinating activities” — also unspecified — “with the Government of Russia.” He doesn’t even mention Papadopoulos.

Ultimately, there was no attempt by Strzok to articulate any factors that address the elements of FARA. He couldn’t, because there are none. Instead, there was a weak attempt to allege some kind of cooperation with Russians by unknown individuals affiliated with the Trump campaign, again, with no supporting facts listed.

What this FBI document clearly establishes is that Crossfire Hurricane was an illicit, made-up investigation lacking a shred of justifying predication, sprung from the mind of someone who despised Donald Trump, and then blessed by inexperienced leadership at the highest levels who harbored their own now well-established biases.

Instead, the nation was left with an investigation of a presidential campaign that had no legitimate predication; that spawned a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act intercept of a U.S. citizen that had no legitimate predication; that resulted in a confrontation with a new administration’s national security adviser that had no legitimate predication; and, finally, that led to an expensive special counsel investigation that had no legitimate predication. No pattern-recognition software needed here.


What we have here without a doubt is an example of the weaponization of the FBI for purely political reasons, to go after a presidential candidate and his campaign. Apparently, the bar for justifying an FBI investigation of an American citizen is so low that anybody can be investigated for anything if somebody in the upper reaches of management. You can't tell me that the top levels of the FBI, DOJ, and the Obama Administration, including Obama himself did not know of this extremely illicit action. "By the book", my ass.
 
the weaponization of the FBI for purely political reasons, to go after a presidential candidate and his campaign.
I categorically, unequivocally, do not believe that part of it. Strozk and the FBI were suspicious of Russian involvement in a Presidential campaign. That alone would send any cop in this country tearing up all the rules to get a peek...
 
the weaponization of the FBI for purely political reasons, to go after a presidential candidate and his campaign.
I categorically, unequivocally, do not believe that part of it. Strozk and the FBI were suspicious of Russian involvement in a Presidential campaign. That alone would send any cop in this country tearing up all the rules to get a peek...

First, with respect, any cop that is willing to 'tear up all the rules' should not be a cop. Hey, I'm as much for national security as the next guy, BUT - in this country we do not subvert or ignore any American citizen's right to Due Process under the 4th Amendment. There's a reason why we have rules and regs, policies and protocols to ensure that everyone is supposed to be treated fairly and impartially.

Second, the FBI and every other gov't investigative agency is not supposed to open an investigation into any American citizen without just cause. To do so is an abrogation of a person's civil rights and an abuse of gov't power. If you think a guy talking to a guy who heard a suggestion and then jumped to an unwarranted conclusion is good enough to open an FBI investigation of a political opponent, then I don't know what to tell you. Especially someone (Strzok) who absolutely hates that political opponent (Trump).

Bottom line: Strzok and the FBI may have had their suspicions about Russian involvement, I get that. BUT - they had no reason whatsoever to believe that Trump or anyone in his campaign had anything at all to do with it. If he/they had any, they would have listed them in the document, which probably would have had someone higher up as the recipient of the document who could justify their involvement and approval. But they didn't, which to my mind is a weaponization of the FBI's power and authority to conduct unjustified investigations for purely political reasons.
 
the weaponization of the FBI for purely political reasons, to go after a presidential candidate and his campaign.
I categorically, unequivocally, do not believe that part of it. Strozk and the FBI were suspicious of Russian involvement in a Presidential campaign. That alone would send any cop in this country tearing up all the rules to get a peek...
So what you're saying is that Strozk tore up the rules, Old Lady...and you're OK with that? I'm curious...would you feel the same way if it was Joe Biden they were after?
 
they had no reason whatsoever to believe that Trump or anyone in his campaign had anything at all to do with it.
They got the information from someone IN Trump's campaign!!!! Who said the campaign had Russia wishing to assist them.

Strozk knew the allegations were fuzzy and that they didn't even know if the campaign had been friendly toward the offer. But of course it was worth looking into. NOT for political reasons but for national security reasons. There are no higher stakes than the person running for President. Please tell me you understand this.
 
they had no reason whatsoever to believe that Trump or anyone in his campaign had anything at all to do with it.
They got the information from someone IN Trump's campaign!!!! Who said the campaign had Russia wishing to assist them.

Strozk knew the allegations were fuzzy and that they didn't even know if the campaign had been friendly toward the offer. But of course it was worth looking into. NOT for political reasons but for national security reasons. There are no higher stakes than the person running for President. Please tell me you understand this.

"They got the information from someone IN Trump's campaign!!!!"

No, Strzok got it in an email from an Australian diplomat, Andrew Downer, who met a low-level Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, in a London bar for drinks; Downer then reported the conversation, which eventually made its way to U.S. officials in London. It was SUGGESTED that GP met with or heard from some unidentified Russian person who might have dirt on Hillary, nothing at all about what GP or anyone else in the Trump campaign said or did at that point. And THAT's your idea of a sufficient threat to national security that warrants an FBI investigation into a presidential candidate and his campaign? Really? Somebody suggests something to somebody in a bar, and that's grounds for an FBI investigation into a presidential candidate? With no authorization from above in writing, no top cover? I have no doubt everybody above Strzok all the way to Obama knew about it, but nobody took responsibility or accountability for opening an investigation on such flimsy data.

"NOT for political reasons but for national security reasons."

Please. There was no evidence prior to opening up the investigation that Trump or anyone in his campaign was endangering national security. NOTHING. Some guy in a bar says a Russian talked to him about dirt on Hillary, BFD. That's hearsay, there is no indication whatsoever that anyone on Trump's side did ANYTHING at all suspicious at the time Strzok opened the investigation. Are you getting what I'm saying here? Sure, the FBI can be worried about Russian influence in the election, but they had no reason at all to suspect Trump or anyone in his campaign to be a threat to national security. That's why I say this was totally a political operation because the FBI has no reason at the time to believe national security was at stake.
 
The Trump campaign was setup from day-1.
The CIA, FBI, DOJ, DNC, Hillary Campaign, and Obama's WH were all in on the biggest scandal in US history. We need Barr and Durham to start the indictments ASAP.
 
they had no reason whatsoever to believe that Trump or anyone in his campaign had anything at all to do with it.
They got the information from someone IN Trump's campaign!!!! Who said the campaign had Russia wishing to assist them.

Strozk knew the allegations were fuzzy and that they didn't even know if the campaign had been friendly toward the offer. But of course it was worth looking into. NOT for political reasons but for national security reasons. There are no higher stakes than the person running for President. Please tell me you understand this.
Even if all your bullshit was true, that’s no excuse for how he went about this. Get a fucking clue.
 
If Strzoc doesn’t go to prison there is no justice in DC.
 
the weaponization of the FBI for purely political reasons, to go after a presidential candidate and his campaign.
I categorically, unequivocally, do not believe that part of it. Strozk and the FBI were suspicious of Russian involvement in a Presidential campaign. That alone would send any cop in this country tearing up all the rules to get a peek...

Strozk? The one that had an "insurance policy"....dumbass.
 
A fresh look:

The FBI document upon which the Russian collusion investigation was originally based has nothing in it related to national security. The whole thing is based on 3rd-hand 'suggestions' that the Russians had dirt on Hillary that might be useful for the Trump campaign. That conversation took place in early May, but by late July the FBI had nothing to indicate that the Trump campaign tried to contact the Russians, hence no reason to believe there was any shenanigans going on. IOW, no reason to believe there was a reason to open the Crossfire Hurricane operation. They had nothing but 2 guys talking in a bar; that is nowhere near enough to start an investigation into the campaign of a presidential candidate. Did anyone from the Trump campaign contact the Russians about the dirt? NO. We know this because Strzok would have said so and Mueller's team would have found it and made it known to the world at large. Had anyone contacted the Russians, THEN you might have a predicate. Clearly, that didn't happen; 2 years of tryng to find anything they could to prove otherwise yielded absolutely NOTHING that linked the Trump campaign to Russian collusion.

Think about it for a minute. The FBI is going to investigation a presidential campaign with no more than that as their predicate. It's ridiculous, and I'm sorry but I do not see the national security threat here; not enough to open an FBI investigation at any rate. One in which no one in the hierarchy of the FBI, DOJ, or the WH would put their name on it. What does that tell you? It tells me the whole thing was bogus and everyone knew it. No one knows anything about the dirt, what it was, how damaging, how current, or the person who 'suggested' it to Papadopoulis. How can anyone suggest that this whole thing was anything other than politically motivated? Would Strzok have done this if Trump wasn't the GOP presidential nominee? Get real.

The entire Russian Collusion mess was a political witch hunt, first to try to prevent Trump from getting elected and then to de-legitimize his presidency. And yes, that's getting close to treason IMHO. I do not know if sufficient evidence exists to indict and convict anybody, but this kind of crap should not go unpunished.
 
the weaponization of the FBI for purely political reasons, to go after a presidential candidate and his campaign.
I categorically, unequivocally, do not believe that part of it. Strozk and the FBI were suspicious of Russian involvement in a Presidential campaign. That alone would send any cop in this country tearing up all the rules to get a peek...
yet we have no real link to a solid basis for this except people choosing to believe it.
 
[NOTE: why do you think there is no 'TO' line? Cuz nobody wanted to have to explain why they knew about the lack of justification and did nothing.].;
I can't think anything because your link doesn't take me to Strozk's memo, which is the subject of this whole conversation.

I know this:
A subsequent review done by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, released in redacted form in December 2019, did not find political bias in the initiation of the FBI investigation...Inspector General Horowitz found no testimonial or documentary evidence that political bias against Trump tainted the initiation of the investigation.

Strozk came on board the Crossfire Hurricane investigation in July '16, AFTER the Trump Tower meeting and the email from Rob Goldstone that we've all read, and Don Jr.'s response. I notice you conveniently close your eyes to that in your timeline, saying there is no reason whatsoever to think the Russians have had any contact with the Trump campaign. That is just plain not true. And of course, there were also the DNC hacks, which was seriously attacking the Clinton campaign.

But bottom line is, if they were using it for political fodder, why in HELL did they not breathe a word of this investigation until December, well after Trump was elected?

Yes, the FISA applications on Carter Page got beat to shit. Those two were not the only ones. They found problems with -- what was it -- 177? Widespread problems apparently, agency wide, not just in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. You are assuming a political motive but have no evidence it was used for political reasons. Comey told us that they were not investigating the President. If I remember correctly, neither did Mueller.

I honestly don't see what purpose ANY of this serves. If you really think that President Obama and his administration did this solely because Trump is a Republican who was running for President, I'll not change your mind. I know a lot of the parrots here are calling for prison/executions for all involved. I've not known you to call for blood from the opposition like that. Do you think by undermining the reasons for its beginning that it will somehow negate what WAS found? It is so ironic that actually NO COLLUSION was found. Bottom line.

It might be better to let sleeping dogs lie, in this case, instead of stirring up a lot of conjecture and paranoia and reminding people of the whole Special Investigation. It's over. It's been over.

This is as far back a walk down memory lane that I plan to take. Rehashing this stuff is fruitless unless it's to put Obama in prison. Or give the Dems an extra black eye during the campaign season. I've had enough.
 
[NOTE: why do you think there is no 'TO' line? Cuz nobody wanted to have to explain why they knew about the lack of justification and did nothing.].;
I can't think anything because your link doesn't take me to Strozk's memo, which is the subject of this whole conversation.

I know this:
A subsequent review done by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, released in redacted form in December 2019, did not find political bias in the initiation of the FBI investigation...Inspector General Horowitz found no testimonial or documentary evidence that political bias against Trump tainted the initiation of the investigation.

Strozk came on board the Crossfire Hurricane investigation in July '16, AFTER the Trump Tower meeting and the email from Rob Goldstone that we've all read, and Don Jr.'s response. I notice you conveniently close your eyes to that in your timeline, saying there is no reason whatsoever to think the Russians have had any contact with the Trump campaign. That is just plain not true. And of course, there were also the DNC hacks, which was seriously attacking the Clinton campaign.

But bottom line is, if they were using it for political fodder, why in HELL did they not breathe a word of this investigation until December, well after Trump was elected?

Yes, the FISA applications on Carter Page got beat to shit. Those two were not the only ones. They found problems with -- what was it -- 177? Widespread problems apparently, agency wide, not just in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. You are assuming a political motive but have no evidence it was used for political reasons. Comey told us that they were not investigating the President. If I remember correctly, neither did Mueller.

I honestly don't see what purpose ANY of this serves. If you really think that President Obama and his administration did this solely because Trump is a Republican who was running for President, I'll not change your mind. I know a lot of the parrots here are calling for prison/executions for all involved. I've not known you to call for blood from the opposition like that. Do you think by undermining the reasons for its beginning that it will somehow negate what WAS found? It is so ironic that actually NO COLLUSION was found. Bottom line.

It might be better to let sleeping dogs lie, in this case, instead of stirring up a lot of conjecture and paranoia and reminding people of the whole Special Investigation. It's over. It's been over.

This is as far back a walk down memory lane that I plan to take. Rehashing this stuff is fruitless unless it's to put Obama in prison. Or give the Dems an extra black eye during the campaign season. I've had enough.
You've had enough? Really? It hasn't started for the democrats yet.
We've had enough. 3-years of "Russian collusion", "Trump is a Putin asset", Trump's team being jailed for 20-year old crimes unrelated to the investigation about Russia. Strzok's "insurance policy" to damage Trump's 1st term...Russian Collusion and the Mueller Investigation.

What I hope you will see in the coming months is a prosecution of the biggest scandal in US history. Involving the FBI, CIA, DOJ, the DNC and the Hillary campaign to hire Russians to write the Steele Dossier to help Hillary and hurt Trump. Then the FBI illegally open the "investigation" into all things Trump, with no real evidence. General Flynn was perjury trapped, Popadope was setup by the CIA, Carter Page was illegally surveilled after an FBI lawyer falsified evidence. Roger Stone?? The Trump Tower meeting, etc. Barr and Durham have a lot of crimes to prosecute, and they need to get busy.
 
the weaponization of the FBI for purely political reasons, to go after a presidential candidate and his campaign.
I categorically, unequivocally, do not believe that part of it. Strozk and the FBI were suspicious of Russian involvement in a Presidential campaign. That alone would send any cop in this country tearing up all the rules to get a peek...
yet we have no real link to a solid basis for this except people choosing to believe it.
No, if you were saying that about Task's theory, you would be right. And I am in a particularly ready-to-trigger mood right now due to that EO that just got passed, so keep a good ten feet away if you want to argue any further.
 
the weaponization of the FBI for purely political reasons, to go after a presidential candidate and his campaign.
I categorically, unequivocally, do not believe that part of it. Strozk and the FBI were suspicious of Russian involvement in a Presidential campaign. That alone would send any cop in this country tearing up all the rules to get a peek...

First, with respect, any cop that is willing to 'tear up all the rules' should not be a cop. Hey, I'm as much for national security as the next guy, BUT - in this country we do not subvert or ignore any American citizen's right to Due Process under the 4th Amendment. There's a reason why we have rules and regs, policies and protocols to ensure that everyone is supposed to be treated fairly and impartially.

Second, the FBI and every other gov't investigative agency is not supposed to open an investigation into any American citizen without just cause. To do so is an abrogation of a person's civil rights and an abuse of gov't power. If you think a guy talking to a guy who heard a suggestion and then jumped to an unwarranted conclusion is good enough to open an FBI investigation of a political opponent, then I don't know what to tell you. Especially someone (Strzok) who absolutely hates that political opponent (Trump).

Bottom line: Strzok and the FBI may have had their suspicions about Russian involvement, I get that. BUT - they had no reason whatsoever to believe that Trump or anyone in his campaign had anything at all to do with it. If he/they had any, they would have listed them in the document, which probably would have had someone higher up as the recipient of the document who could justify their involvement and approval. But they didn't, which to my mind is a weaponization of the FBI's power and authority to conduct unjustified investigations for purely political reasons.
Considering the fact that the information Popodopolous relayed was fed to him by a CIA spy, the whole thing is even more preposterous.
 
[NOTE: why do you think there is no 'TO' line? Cuz nobody wanted to have to explain why they knew about the lack of justification and did nothing.].;
I can't think anything because your link doesn't take me to Strozk's memo, which is the subject of this whole conversation.

I know this:
A subsequent review done by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, released in redacted form in December 2019, did not find political bias in the initiation of the FBI investigation...Inspector General Horowitz found no testimonial or documentary evidence that political bias against Trump tainted the initiation of the investigation.

Strozk came on board the Crossfire Hurricane investigation in July '16, AFTER the Trump Tower meeting and the email from Rob Goldstone that we've all read, and Don Jr.'s response. I notice you conveniently close your eyes to that in your timeline, saying there is no reason whatsoever to think the Russians have had any contact with the Trump campaign. That is just plain not true. And of course, there were also the DNC hacks, which was seriously attacking the Clinton campaign.

But bottom line is, if they were using it for political fodder, why in HELL did they not breathe a word of this investigation until December, well after Trump was elected?

Yes, the FISA applications on Carter Page got beat to shit. Those two were not the only ones. They found problems with -- what was it -- 177? Widespread problems apparently, agency wide, not just in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. You are assuming a political motive but have no evidence it was used for political reasons. Comey told us that they were not investigating the President. If I remember correctly, neither did Mueller.

I honestly don't see what purpose ANY of this serves. If you really think that President Obama and his administration did this solely because Trump is a Republican who was running for President, I'll not change your mind. I know a lot of the parrots here are calling for prison/executions for all involved. I've not known you to call for blood from the opposition like that. Do you think by undermining the reasons for its beginning that it will somehow negate what WAS found? It is so ironic that actually NO COLLUSION was found. Bottom line.

It might be better to let sleeping dogs lie, in this case, instead of stirring up a lot of conjecture and paranoia and reminding people of the whole Special Investigation. It's over. It's been over.

This is as far back a walk down memory lane that I plan to take. Rehashing this stuff is fruitless unless it's to put Obama in prison. Or give the Dems an extra black eye during the campaign season. I've had enough.

"I can't think anything because your link doesn't take me to Strozk's memo, which is the subject of this whole conversation."

Actually, my link in the OP does take you to the memo, except it's on page 6 and 7 of an 8 page pdf. Here's the link again if you care to look at it.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/JW-v-DOJ-reply-02743.pdf

If you look at that document, it is as weak as water as far as a predicate is concerned to open up an FBI investigation into a presidential candidate and his campaign.


"You are assuming a political motive but have no evidence it was used for political reasons." Are you really going to claim that everything they've done over the past 3 years, even before Trump was elected, was not for political reasons? You've seen the emails between Strzok and Lisa Page, right? And you want to tell me politics wasn't the driving force behind all this shit? If you really believe that, then I'm wasting my time.

"I honestly don't see what purpose ANY of this serves. If you really think that President Obama and his administration did this solely because Trump is a Republican who was running for President, I'll not change your mind. I know a lot of the parrots here are calling for prison/executions for all involved. I've not known you to call for blood from the opposition like that. Do you think by undermining the reasons for its beginning that it will somehow negate what WAS found? It is so ironic that actually NO COLLUSION was found. Bottom line."

I do honestly believe that Obama and his administration, the FBI, DOJ, CIA, and God knows who else did all this solely because Trump is a Republican who was running for President. I've seen the animus against Trump by a lot of people, some even on the Right, and I've seen the emails between Strzok and Page and how hateful they were. And this is the guy that started the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Seriously, how can I think anything else in light of all that has transpired. I'm supposed to believe that Strzok was on the up and up when he started the investigation based on nothing more than 2 guys talking in a bar in London? Sorry, can't do it.

I have not seen anyone from Obama on down make the case for doing all this for national security reasons. Explain it to me, some guy says I might have dirt on Hillary, how is that supposed to be a threat to national security? Mueller's team tried for what 2 years to find some reason to believe there was some collusion but came up dry. So there's no reason to think national security was ever a player here. The meeting in the bar was early March and the FBI opened the investigation in late July, but they had nothing to show that anyone on the Trump campaign reached out to the Russians. There's no indication of wrong-doing in either the Trump Tower meeting or the Goldstone emails, nothing came of it.

Calling for executions is ridiculous, but jail time isn't, if people broke any laws then of course they should be held accountable. Look, we can't have the FBI, DOJ, or anyone else going after somebody for ANY illegitimate reason, politics or not. It's gotta be totally based on facts and some evidence of misdeeds. But NOBODY on the Trump campaign did anything illegal with respect to the 2016 election of Russian collusion. I have total confidence that if that wasn't the case then people on the Left would be screaming for blood, same as some on the right are now.

Her's the thing OL, over and above everything else: in this country we do not or should not allow our gov't agencies to infringe on anybody's civil rights. There are policies and protocols, rules and procedures to follow and that was not done in this case. I want to make sure it doesn't happen again, and part of that means we have to find out who did what and how they got away with it if the required measures to protect us as American citizens are ignored or circumvented. And a part of that requires identifying who did what that wasn't right and prosecute them if the evidence is sufficient to do so. Cuz if there's no punishment or deterrent, then I'm afraid it's gonna happen again.
 

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