Over the past several years, many Americans have lost trust in government agencies like the FBI, DHS, and DOJ. Several scandals have made people question whether these agencies are really as bipartisan as they suggest. Below, I list the top 5 scandals and failures that have made the public distrust the intelligence community. After reading the list, you can see that all the scandals tend to go in one direction. They tend to be directed against Republicans. I’ll let you decide whether that’s intentional or unintentional.

1. TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION

The FBI conducted an investigation that was both corrupt and full of errors.

After Donald Trump’s victory against Democrat Hilary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, the FBI and the Department of Justice started investigating whether Trump had illegally conspired with the government of Russia to ensure his victory.

From the beginning, the FBI’s investigation was based on faulty evidence. The FBI, throughout their investigation also made significant errors.

This was confirmed by an investigative report by the Inspector General, Michael Horowitz. He revealed that the FBI made substantial errors in their investigation. For example, there were 17 errors made in the FISA application made to conduct a surveillance operation on Carter Page, one of Trump’s campaign aids.

Horowitz, in his opening statement before the committee, said, “We are deeply concerned that so many basic errors were made by three separate, hand-picked investigative teams; on one of the most sensitive FBI investigations; after the matter had been briefed to the highest levels within the FBI; even though the information sought through the use of FISA authority related so closely to an ongoing presidential campaign; and even though those involved with the investigation knew that their actions were likely to be subjected to scrutiny.”

Horowitz couldn’t rule out political bias as a possible motivation for the errors found in the FISA application. However, he claimed the rest of the investigation wasn’t influenced by political bias.

Later, the FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, was sentenced to probation for falsifying evidence needed to conduct surveillance on Carter Page.

Carter Page said, “This manufactured scandal and associated lies caused me to adopt the lifestyle of an international fugitive for years. I often felt as if I had been left with no life at all. Each member of my family was severely impacted.”

The Department of Justice investigation was run by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller’s investigation went from 2017 to 2019.

Mueller’s investigation, the FBI, and an investigation led by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General found no evidence that Trump or his administration had conspired with Russia.

2. FBI RAID OF TRUMP’S HOME

On August 8, 2022, the FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida. The FBI was searching for classified documents. The FBI claimed that Trump had not gone through the declassification process to legally possess those documents. Trump claimed that, before leaving the White House, he had legal authority, as President of the United States, to declassify without going through the declassification process.

Trump is correct. According to Section 3.5 (b) of Executive Order 13526. The President is exempt from the declassification process. This means the President comments without having to be “subject to a review for declassification by the originating agency.” (Read my article “The President Can’t Declassify Myth” for more information)

3. HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP

Several former intelligence officials went on record stating that the evidence of criminal activity found on Hunter Biden’s laptop ‘has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.’

Before the 2020 election, the New York Post had broken a story of then-US presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, likely being involved in a major corruption scandal with his oversea business dealings.

The Post had obtained this information from the owner of a computer repair shop. Hunter Biden left his laptop at the computer repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware. The owner of the shop, John Paul Mac Isaac, informed the Post and the FBI about the troubling material found on the laptop.

According to Politico, “More than 50 former senior intelligence officials have signed on to a letter outlining their belief that the recent disclosure of emails allegedly belonging to Joe Biden’s son ‘has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.’”

It was later confirmed that the laptop and its contents belonged to Hunter Biden. The material was not ‘Russian Disinformation.’ The contents on the laptop potentially point to criminal activity.

4. THE GRETCHEN WHITMORE KIDNAPPING PLOT

On October 8, 2020, the FBI claimed that they successfully foiled a plot by right-wing extremists to kidnap and murder Michigan’s Democrat governor, Gretchen Whitmore.

The FBI said that several men from an extremist group, called the Wolverine Watchmen, planned to kidnap Whitmore at her vacation home. They also planned to blow up the nearby bridge to obstruct police officers from getting to the scene. This led to the arrest of 13 men suspected of orchestrating the plot.

The problem is that it appears that the FBI was largely responsible for orchestrating and encouraging the plot.

Similar to post-911 FBI terrorism sting operations, in which agents or informants encouraged and provided weapons for suspects to commit criminal acts, it appears that the FBI encouraged the suspects to break the law. This unethical practice would be considered entrapment.

The Oxford dictionary defines entrapment as “the action of tricking someone into committing a crime to secure their prosecution.”

The use of the term entrapment is a fairly new concept. It first appeared in a 2014 decision by Chicago’s 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The judge for that case criticized that anyone could be entrapped by law enforcement.

The judge said, “This plea has never since availed to shield crime or give indemnity to the culprit, and it is safe to say that under any code of civilized ethics … it never will.”

According to documents filed by the defense, the FBI deployed at least 12 informants, as well as several undercover agents. “There was no plan, there was no agreement and no kidnapping,” one of the men’s defense attorneys, Joshua Blanchard, stated.

“In America, the F.B.I. is not supposed to create domestic terrorists so that the F.B.I. can arrest them,” said Christopher Gibbons, a lawyer for one of the accused men.

Michael Sherwin, the former deputy attorney general for national security during the Trump administration, told journalists from the website, the intercept, that “there’s nothing wrong with using confidential sources to help facilitate or move along an investigation, but it becomes dicey when, in a case like this one, there are nearly as many informants as there are defendants… That’s a huge red flag, making you wonder if this is one of those cases that are manufactured to increase stats… This case is a disaster.”

The case for FBI entrapment was so strong that it led to two of the men, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, being acquitted of all charges.

Jurors in the case of two other men Adam Fox and Barry Croft were deadlocked on their decision. It led to a future trial where they were convicted.

Two of the other thirteen men accepted a plea deal to lessen their sentences and three men were found guilty.

Most of the 13 suspects have been convicted for their involvement in the plot. But trust in the FBI significantly declined.

No one is denying their guilt, but the FBI’s role was very corrupt.

5. INVESTIGATING CONCERNED SCHOOL BOARD PARENTS

In September 2022, Viola Garcia, the president of the National School Boards Association (NSBA), sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting federal assistance to investigate alleged threats made by local parents, who opposed Critical Race Theory and mask mandates.

In the letter, Garcia wrote, “As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

Despite, Garcia not citing any evidence of actual threats in the letter, Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to investigate parents who they deemed a threat.

In the memorandum released by Garland, he wrote, “Threats against public servants are not only illegal, but they also run counter to our nation’s core values. Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.”

Nowhere in the memorandum does it explain any evidence of actual threats made.

Republicans, during a committee hearing, accused Garland of using counterterrorism statutes and resources to target parents at school board meetings. Garland denied these claims, but FBI whistleblower evidence contradicted his statements.

The evidence gathered from the whistleblower confirmed that the FBI, through its Counterterrorism Division, created EDUOFFICIALS “threat tags” to monitor upset parents at school board meetings.

Republican, Jim Jordans, in a letter to Garland, wrote, “In sworn testimony to the committee you denied that the Department of Justice or its components were using counterterrorism statutes and resources to target parents at school board meetings. We now have evidence contrary to your testimony, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has labeled at least dozens of investigations into parents with a threat tag created by the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division to assess and track investigations related to school boards.”

The FBI, about their Criminal Investigative Division and Counterterrorism Division, said, “Before either division can open an investigation there must be information indicating the potential use of force or violence and a potential violation of federal law.”

Despite the FBI’s own words, there was no direct information indicating the potential use of force or violence.

The DOJ encouraged reporting “threats of violence” against school board members to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) via its national tip line.

The tip line resulted in several investigations. Two examples worth highlighting are one where a mother was investigated for being a gun owner and part of a group known as ‘Moms for Liberty.’ Another example, is one where a tipster, after admitting that he had “no specific information or observations . . . of any crimes or threats,” believed an anti-mask father “fit the profile of an insurrectionist.”

Both examples and all the other cases didn’t lead to any charges.

Rep. Jim Jordan told The Washington Times. “You’ve got over two dozen cases that whistleblowers came to us about, that they had concerns on. If that isn’t designed to chill speech, I don’t know what does.”

The NSBA backtracked and apologized in October for the letter, and entirely denounced it in May. But by then, the damage was done, and a majority of States discontinued the use of the NSBA.

Viola Garcia, shortly after targeting concerned parents, was appointed by Biden Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). The NAGB “assesses what the nation’s students know and can do in subjects such as mathematics, reading, science, and writing.”

What the DOJ and the FBI was government overreach. The federal government had no business involving itself in a state or local matter; it had no evidence to pursue criminal investigations; and it targeted many parents for their beliefs, rather than crimes.

SOURCES

The White House: Office of the Press Secretary. (2009, December 29). Executive order 13526- classified National Security Information. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-classified-national-security-information

Reynolds, G. H. (2019, March 25). Mueller Report: Collusion by the news media, not Donald Trump, but don’t expect apologies. USA Today. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/03/24/mueller-report-findings-collusion-news-media-donald-trump-column/3263167002/

Larson, E. (2022, May 20). Clinton approved Trump-Russia leak, her campaign chief says. Bloomberg. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-20/clinton-approved-trump-russia-leak-her-campaign-manager-says

FBI ignored early warnings that debunked Anti-Trump Dossier was Russian disinformation: U.S. senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Chuck Grassley. (2020, April 10). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/fbi-ignored-early-warnings-debunked-anti-trump-dossier-was-russian-disinformation

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