Earlier this week we reported that because the FBI received a secret Russian document describing an email indicating that the Justice Dept. would not try to hard to win the case against Hillary Clinton, then-FBI director Comey was snookered into making his speech that Ms. Clinton was probably guilty but no prosecutor would press charges against her. The Washington Post had reported the document was not only unreliable but possibly a Russian ruse “according to people familiar with its contents.” Now CNN reports that Comey wasn’t snookered, he knew the document was fake BEFORE he made the speech letting HRC off the hook. He snookered the FBI, the Justice Dept., and congress by using it as an excuse for making the speech.
Then-FBI Director James Comey knew that a critical piece of information relating to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email was fake — created by Russian intelligence — but he feared that if it became public it would undermine the probe and the Justice Department itself, according to multiple officials with knowledge of the process.
As a result, Comey acted unilaterally last summer to publicly declare the investigation over — without consulting then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch — while at the same time stating that Clinton had been “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information. His press conference caused a firestorm of controversy and drew criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.Comey’s actions based on what he knew was Russian disinformation offer a stark example of the way Russian interference impacted the decisions of the highest-level US officials during the 2016 campaign.
…acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe went to Capitol Hill Thursday to push back on the notion that the FBI was duped, according to a source familiar with a meeting McCabe had with members of the Senate intelligence committee.
Sources close to Comey tell CNN he felt that it didn’t matter if the information was accurate, because his big fear was that if the Russians released the information publicly, there would be no way for law enforcement and intelligence officials to discredit it without burning intelligence sources and methods. There were other factors behind Comey’s decision, sources say.