March 17, 2018
News and Views
HAVE MCCABE’S PERSONAL MEMOS BEEN GIVEN TO THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION YET? IT WOULD BE EXCITING IF MCCABE HAS PROGRAMMED HIS COMPUTER TO FIRE OFF A FULL COPY OF HIS MEMOS TO MUELLER’S OFFICE, WOULDN’T IT? IF, IN ADDITION TO THAT, MCCABE WERE TO MAKE A PERSONAL TRIP TO MUELLER WITH A BRIEFCASE FULL OF PAPERS, WHICH SAY ONLY, ON THE CENTER OF EVERY PAGE IN NUMBER 30 FONT, “YOU’RE A DUMMY, DONALD.” THAT WOULD BE FUN, WOULDN’T IT?
THEN, IF A LACKEY OF TRUMP’S WERE TO HAVE FOLLOWED MCCABE IN HIS PERSONAL DELIVERY OF THE BOGUS DOCUMENTS AND ASSAULTED HIM, PUTTING HIM INTO THE FINEST HOSPITAL IN WASHINGTON, DC, ALL OF THE NEWS SOURCES – EVEN BREITBART – WOULD BE ALL OVER IT AND IN THE LIGHT OF THE PUBLIC REACTION, THE REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED LEGISLATURE WOULD BE FORCED TO IMPEACH TRUMP FOR A WHOLE SERIES OF FEDERAL CRIMES FROM ELECTION TAMPERING TO MONEY LAUNDERING, TO ATTEMPTED MURDER, AND FINALLY TO TREASON IN A TIME OF CYBER WARFARE WITH A FOREIGN ENEMY NATION. WOULDN’T IT BE FUN IF THE UNFORTUNATE PRESIDENT WERE SENTENCED TO A PRISON TERM? TEN YEARS WOULD BE ENOUGH TO TEACH HIM A LESSON, I WOULD EXPECT. LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP!
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/former-fbi-deputy-director-mccabe-booted-agency-052802977--politics.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=ecd5e8af-dc90-3332-9efb-d522bf6b8dfa&.tsrc=notification-brknews
AP learns fired McCabe kept personal memos regarding Trump
Eric Tucker, Associated Press
March 17, 2018
Video montage on three related subjects
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Andrew McCabe, the onetime FBI deputy director long scorned by President Trump and just fired by the attorney general, kept personal memos regarding Trump that are similar to the notes compiled by dismissed FBI chief James Comey detailing interactions with him, The Associated Press has learned.
It was not immediately clear whether any of McCabe's memos have been turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller, whose criminal investigation is examining Trump campaign ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice, or been requested by Mueller.
McCabe's memos include details of interactions with the president, among other topics, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation who wasn't authorized to discuss the memos publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The disclosure Saturday came hours after Trump called McCabe's firing by Attorney General Jeff Sessions as a "a great day for Democracy." Sessions, acting on the recommendation on the recommendation [sic] of FBI disciplinary officials, acted two days before McCabe's scheduled retirement date.
McCabe suggested the move was part of the Trump administration's "war on the FBI." Trump tweeted in praise of Sessions' announcement Friday night, asserting without elaboration that McCabe "knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels off the FBI!"
Later, Trump claimed there was "tremendous leaking, lying and corruption" atop the FBI, and departments of State of Justice, but offered no evidence.
An upcoming inspector general's report is expected to conclude that McCabe, a Comey confidant, authorized the release of information to the media and was not forthcoming with the watchdog office as it examined the bureau's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
"The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability," Sessions said in a statement.
McCabe said his credibility had been attacked as "part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally" but also the FBI and law enforcement.
"It is part of this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day," he added, referring to Robert Mueller's probe into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. "Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel's work."
Trump's personal lawyer, John Dowd, cited the "brilliant and courageous example" by Sessions and the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility and said in a statement Saturday that the No. 2 Justice Department official, Rod Rosenstein, should "bring an end" to the Russia investigation "manufactured" by Comey.
Dowd told the AP that he neither was calling on Rosenstein, the deputy attorney government overseeing Mueller's inquiry, to fire the special counsel immediately nor had discussed with Rosenstein the idea of dismissing Mueller or ending the probe.
McCabe asserted he was singled out because of the "role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath" of Comey's firing last May. McCabe became acting director after that and assumed direct oversight of the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign.
Mueller is investigating whether Trump's actions, including Comey's ouster, constitute obstruction of justice. McCabe could be an important witness.
Trump, in a Tweet early Saturday, said McCabe's firing was "a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI — A great day for Democracy." He said "Sanctimonious James Comey," as McCabe's boss, made McCabe "look like a choirboy."
McCabe said the release of the findings against him was accelerated after he told congressional officials that he could corroborate Comey's accounts of Comey's conversations with the president.
McCabe spent more than 20 years as a career FBI official and played key roles in some of the bureau's most recent significant investigations. Trump repeatedly condemned him over the past year as emblematic of an FBI leadership he contends is biased against his administration.
McCabe had been on leave from the FBI since January, when he abruptly left the deputy director position. He had planned to retire on Sunday, and the dismissal probably jeopardizes his ability to collect his full pension benefits. His removal could add to the turmoil that has enveloped the FBI since Comey's firing and as the FBI continues its Trump campaign investigation that the White House has dismissed as a hoax.
The firing arises from an inspector general review into how the FBI handled the Clinton email investigation. That inquiry focused not only on specific decisions made by FBI leadership but also on news media leaks.
McCabe came under scrutiny over an October 2016 news report that revealed differing approaches within the FBI and Justice Department over how aggressively the Clinton Foundation should be investigated. The watchdog office has concluded that McCabe authorized FBI officials to speak to a Wall Street Journal reporter for that story and that McCabe had not been forthcoming with investigators. McCabe denies it.
In his statement, McCabe said he had the authority to share information with journalists through the public affairs office, a practice he said was common and continued under the current FBI director, Christopher Wray. McCabe said he honestly answered questions about whom he had spoken to and when, and that when he thought his answers were misunderstood, he contacted investigators to correct them.
The media outreach came at a time when McCabe said he was facing public accusations of partisanship and followed reports that his wife, during a run for the state Senate in Virginia, had received campaign contributions from a Clinton ally. McCabe suggested in his statement that he was trying to "set the record straight" about the FBI's independence against the background of those allegations.
With the FBI disciplinarians recommending the firing, Justice Department leaders were in a difficult situation. Sessions, whose job status has for months appeared shaky under his own blistering criticism from Trump, risked inflaming the White House if he decided against firing McCabe. But a decision to dismiss McCabe days before his retirement nonetheless carried the risk of angering his rank-and-file supporters at the FBI.
McCabe became entangled in presidential politics in 2016 when it was revealed that his wife, during her unsuccessful legislative run, received campaign contributions from the political action committee of then-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton friend. The FBI has said McCabe received the necessary ethics approval about his wife's candidacy and was not supervising the Clinton investigation at the time.
But Trump pounded away on Twitter Saturday: "How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife's campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M ... How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!"
___
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
MR. MCCABE IS CORRECT IN WHAT HE SAID ABOUT THE REASONS HE IS BEING FIRED AND TREATED DESPICABLY, EXCEPT FOR ONE OTHER THING THAT EITHER WASN’T MENTIONED AT ALL, OR I WAS JUST READING TOO FAST AND MISSED IT. THAT IS THE FACT THAT HE WAS THE LAST PERSON IN A CHAIN OF COMMAND THAT TRUMP HAD BEEN “WHACKING” METHODICALLY AND SLOWLY, TO GET TO ROD ROSENSTEIN, WHO IS ABLE TO FIRE MUELLER. THAT INFORMATION CAME FROM AN ARTICLE, PUBLISHED MAYBE TWO MONTHS AGO. THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT THIS IS ANOTHER TRUMPIAN CONSPIRACY IN ACTION, IT SEEMS TO ME. SEE THE CBS ARTICLE BELOW AND THEN THE ONE FROM NEW YORK MAGAZINE FOR THE POSSIBLE END POINTS OF TRUMP’S EFFORTS.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andrew-mccabe-fired-before-retires-no-pension-2018-03-16/
CBS NEWS March 16, 2018, 10:03 PM
McCabe says his dismissal part of Trump's "war" on FBI
WASHINGTON -- Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe says the Justice Department's decision to fire him just two days before his retirement is part of the Trump administration's "war on the FBI." McCabe, who briefly led the agency after Director James Comey was fired, said his dismissal by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday night was the latest attack on his credibility.
He has claimed he's being singled out because of what he witnessed in the aftermath of Comey's ouster.
McCabe was fired a day after FBI ethics officials recommended his dismissal, reports CBS News justice correspondent Paula Reid, and just before the expected release of an Inspector General's report which is expected to show that he shared information with the media about the agency's investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
In a statement, Sessions said McCabe, "lacked candor -- including under oath -- on multiple occasions… all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal."
But McCabe pushed back hard, saying his firing is yet another attempt by the administration to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election process, and allegations that Mr. Trump's campaign colluded with those efforts.
In a statement, McCabe wrote that he was, "being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey."
Part of Mueller's probe is looking into whether President Trump was trying to obstruct justice by firing Comey.
McCabe said in his statement that the inspector general's report was fast-tracked after he told the House Intelligence Committee he would corroborate Comey's accounts of conversations he had with the president. Comey has testified that Mr. Trump asked if he would end an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
McCabe spoke directly about the ongoing Russia investigation in his statement.
"It is part of this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation, which continue to this day," he said. "Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the special counsel's work."
President Trump tweeted shortly after midnight that it was a "great day" for the FBI and "Democracy," and he accused "sanctimonious" Comey of making McCabe, "seem like a choir boy."
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!
12:08 AM - Mar 17, 2018
94.1K
90.5K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
In a phone interview with CBS News' senior investigator producer Pat Milton, McCabe said he rejected the findings in the (Inspector General's) report, calling it "misleading and unfair."
"I strongly believe this is the latest chapter in a yearlong attack on my credibility and service to the country," McCabe said.
In his statement, McCabe said "to have my career end in this way, and to be accused of lacking candor when at worst I was distracted in the midst of chaotic events, is incredibly disappointing and unfair. But it will not erase the important work I was privileged to be a part of, the results of which will in the end be revealed for the country to see."
McCabe said he was notified of his firing by a press release. The 49-year-old is likely to keep at least some of his pension.
Read McCabe's full statement or read the text below:
Before and after former FBI director James Comey met with President Trump in Feb. 2017, Comey and top FBI officials, including McCabe, were troubled by Mr. Trump's repeated attempts to meet alone with Comey, CBS News' justice and homeland security correspondent Jeff Pegues reports.
Most of the top FBI officials in on the discussions with Comey after his meetings with Mr. Trump have left the bureau in the past year, one way or another, Pegues reports. Comey and McCabe were fired.
The report by the Department of Justice Inspector General found evidence that McCabe had questionable contacts with a reporter and was not fully forthcoming when asked about it about an investigation concerning the Clinton Foundation. Those familiar with McCabe's side of the story say he was authorized to talk to reporters.
The decision came after Associate Deputy Attorney General Scott Schools met with McCabe Thursday, a part of an effort to shift the McCabe decision to "career officials" within the DOJ, according to a source familiar with the process. The optics, the source says, are not good for Attorney General Sessions to fire a career civil servant who is frequently criticized by the president. Schools is among the top career officials at the DOJ currently, and the department wanted to pin the outcome of the situation on long-established institutional norms, not politics.
President Trump has blasted McCabe in the past, particularly over his wife's acceptance of campaign cash from an ally of Hillary Clinton's, before McCabe began FBI's investigation of Clinton's email server. He also said McCabe was "racing the clock to retire with full benefits."
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!
4:30 PM - Dec 23, 2017
74.5K
48.1K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
IT’S OBVIOUS TO ME THAT THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE FIRED IS DONALD TRUMP. SO MANY WORDS HAVE BEEN SAID ABOUT THIS THAT I’M GETTING ANNOYED AND ALMOST DIZZY. I FEEL LIKE LIZA DOOLITTLE: “WORDS! WORDS! WORDS! I’M SO SICK OF WORDS. THERE ISN’T ONE I HAVEN’T HEARD!”
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/trump-lawyer-mueller-should-be-fired.html
March 17, 2018 12:45 pm
Trump Lawyer: Mueller Should Be Fired
By
Benjamin Hart
@realaxelfoley
Photograph -- Not the world’s greatest job security. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
John Dowd, President Trump’s personal lawyer, told The Daily Beast on Saturday that he thinks Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. But while he initially claimed that he was speaking on behalf of President Trump, he quickly walked back that assertion.
In an email commenting on Jeff Sessions’s firing of Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Friday night, Dowd said that Rosenstein should follow suit in his own department.
“I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier,” Dowd wrote.
The 77-year-old lawyer, who has been advising Trump since June and apparently has a flair for the dramatic, also included the following annotated paragraph from the Tennessee Williams play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, in an effort to prove his point about the Russia investigation:
“What’s that smell in this room[Bureau}? Didn’t you notice it, Brick [Jim]? Didn’t you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room[Bureau}? … There ain’t nothin’ more powerful than the odor of mendacity[corruption] … You can smell it. It smells like death.”
Responding to a Daily Beast question, Dowd initially said that he was speaking for Trump “as his counsel.” But he then emailed the outlet back to clarify that he was opining in a personal capacity.
This week, the New York Times reported that Mueller had subpoenaed the Trump organization, demanding documents related to Russia. Trump had previously warned that any investigation into his family’s finances would cross a “red line,” and he was reportedly furious about Mueller’s maneuver. With the Russia investigation showing no signs of slowing down, Trump may revive his aborted effort to fire the special counsel.
But Rosenstein, who has overseen the Russia probe since Jeff Sessions recused himself last year, does not appear inclined to follow Dowd’s advice. In December, he told Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee that he saw no cause to fire Mueller, and that “the special counsel’s investigation is not a witch hunt.” And just five days ago, he redoubled his support for Mueller in an interview with USA Today.
But if Rosenstein doesn’t give in to political pressure, there’s always the possibility of simply replacing him with a Trump toady who would gladly dispatch the special counsel — a path the president has already considered. Sessions, Rosenstein’s boss, may be in danger of losing his job, too, one reason he may have chosen to fire McCabe.
Given all the instability in the White House and surrounding the Russia investigation, some Democrats are mounting a public campaign to save Mueller’s job:
Mark Warner
✔
@MarkWarner
Every member of Congress, Republican and Democrat, needs to speak up in defense of the Special Counsel. Now. https://twitter.com/woodruffbets/status/975008116805898240 …
10:52 AM - Mar 17, 2018
36K
16.9K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Don’t hold your breath, Senator Warner.
CAMP TRUMP WAS FAST, BUT NOT AS FAST AS ANDREW MCCABE!!
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyer-citing-mccabes-firing-calls-for-end-to-mueller-probe-1521309707
Andrew McCabe Kept Notes About Conversations With Trump, Gave Them to Mueller
By Aruna Viswanatha, Rebecca Ballhaus and Del Quentin Wilber
Biography
@delwilber
del.wilber@wsj.com
Updated March 17, 2018 3:12 p.m. ET
John Dowd, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, called for Mueller probe to end ‘on the merits in light of recent revelations’
Photograph -- Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who was fired Friday night, at a July 2017 press conference with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. PHOTO: JIM WATSON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe wrote memos describing his conversations with President Donald Trump and other events and has turned them over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a person close to Mr. McCabe said Saturday.
The memos, written soon after the events they describe, cover Mr. McCabe’s dealings with the White House and what former FBI Director James Comey told Mr. McCabe about his interactions, according to the person.
That revelation came amid increasingly contentious exchanges Saturday between President Trump and some of the country’s most senior former law-enforcement and national security officials, sparked by Mr. McCabe’s dismissal late Friday.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions terminated Mr. McCabe two days before his scheduled retirement, saying internal investigators found Mr. McCabe made an unauthorized disclosure to the media and “lacked candor” on multiple occasions.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife’s campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!
1:34 PM - Mar 17, 2018
56.9K
49.3K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Mr. Trump, in his third tweet on the subject since Friday night, said Saturday afternoon that Mr. McCabe was “caught, called out and fired.” “How many lies? How many leaks?” Mr. Trump said, adding that former FBI Director James Comey “knew it all, and much more!”
Nine minutes later, Mr. Comey responded on Twitter saying, “the American people will hear my story very soon.” He has a book scheduled to be released next month. “They can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not,” Mr. Comey said.
James Comey
✔
@Comey
Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.
1:43 PM - Mar 17, 2018
191K
79.4K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Mr. Comey himself was fired last May, in an episode that in now under investigation by Mr. Mueller. Mr. Comey testified last year he kept memos of his interactions with Mr. Trump and that he felt Mr. Trump had pressured him to end an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The volleys Saturday began when Mr. Trump’s personal legal team called for the Justice Department to end the special counsel’s investigation into possible ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia, after the department fired a senior official who at one time had been involved in looking at that and other politically charged matters.
The lawyer, John Dowd, said he wasn’t calling on the department to fire Mr. Mueller, but rather to end the investigation “on the merits in light of recent revelations.”
Mr. McCabe’s termination immediately spurred furious debate over whether the firing was merited or was an attempt to undermine the Mueller investigation, possibly by casting doubt on the credibility of Mr. McCabe, a potential witness. Mr. McCabe, who was deputy to Mr. Comey, had been removed from his deputy post in January and was due to retire on Sunday.
RELATED
Attorney General Fires Ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Who Was Set to Retire Sunday
Trump Lawyers Seek Deal With Mueller to Speed End of Russia Probe
Trump Lawyer Says White House Has Given Special Counsel Over 20,000 Pages of Documents
FBI Deputy Chief Steps Down After Trump Criticism
Mr. Sessions said Friday night that he had terminated Mr. McCabe’s employment “effective immediately” after an “extensive and fair investigation.” Mr. Sessions said both the inspector general and the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility concluded that Mr. McCabe made an unauthorized disclosure and lacked candor when he spoke under oath on “multiple occasions.”
Mr. McCabe on Friday night said he was fired and his pension threatened because he could corroborate Mr. Comey’s account of interactions with the president.
Mr. Trump said on Twitter Friday night that the action against Mr. McCabe marked a “great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!”
Others saw Mr. Sessions’s firing of Mr. McCabe as aimed at the Mueller investigation. “Every member of Congress, Republican and Democrat, needs to speak up in defense of the Special Counsel,’’ Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote on Twitter.
John O. Brennan
✔
@JohnBrennan
When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you. https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/974859881827258369 …
8:00 AM - Mar 17, 2018
152K
81.9K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
In scathing remarks, John Brennan, director of the Central Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama and an official in the George W. Bush administration, said on Twitter that Mr. Trump would be seen as a “disgraced demagogue,’’ adding, “You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America.”
Mr. McCabe, in a lengthy statement, strongly disputed the allegations, saying that he had the authority to share the information with a reporter and that he “answered questions truthfully and as accurately” as he could “amidst the chaos that surrounded” him. His lawyer said the disciplinary process was rushed and completed “in a little over a week.”
Mr. Dowd, the president’s lawyer, on Saturday called for the Justice Department to follow Mr. Sessions’s “brilliant and courageous example” in firing Mr. McCabe and “bring an end to alleged Russia collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss, James Comey.”
Mr. Dowd directed his call to end the Russia investigation at Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who appointed Mr. Mueller last year after Mr. Sessions recused himself from the matter.
Mr. Dowd said he was speaking for himself, not the president. Earlier Saturday, he had told the Daily Beast he was issuing the statement on the president’s behalf.
Mr. Trump has been eager to see the investigation wrap up as quickly as possible, describing it as a distraction that is hurting the country. His lawyers have repeatedly laid out public time lines by which they expected the investigation to end, with expected end points that have come and gone.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers are seeking to negotiate a deal with Mr. Mueller that uses an interview with the president as leverage to spur a conclusion to the Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Tensions will be on further display in coming weeks.
The Justice Department’s inspector general*, or in-house watchdog, is expected to issue a report by the end of April that examines the bureau’s handling of an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email arrangement that is likely to be critical of the FBI and some of its officials. Meanwhile, a book by James Comey, the former FBI director fired by Mr. Trump, is due out on April 17, and it is expected to take sharp aim at the president and his conduct.
The findings into Mr. McCabe’s alleged misconduct deal with an Oct. 30, 2016, report in The Wall Street Journal about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation, the Journal previously reported.
Write to Aruna Viswanatha at Aruna.Viswanatha@wsj.com, Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com and Del Quentin Wilber at del.wilber@wsj.com
“INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE DEPT. OF JUSTICE”*
I DIDN’T KNOW WHO THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE DOJ WAS, SO I LOOKED THIS UP FOR US ALL. PROBABLY SOMEONE ELSE BESIDES MYSELF DIDN’T KNOW. SEE THIS FROM THE DOJ WEBSITE --
https://oig.justice.gov/about/
About The Office
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is a statutorily created independent entity whose mission is to detect and deter waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct in DOJ programs and personnel, and to promote economy and efficiency in those programs. The OIG investigates alleged violations of criminal and civil laws by DOJ employees and also audits and inspects DOJ programs. The Inspector General, who is appointed by the President subject to Senate confirmation, reports to the Attorney General and Congress.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) consists of a front office, which is comprised of the Inspector General, the Deputy Inspector General, the Office of the General Counsel, and five major components. Each division is headed by an Assistant Inspector General.
Leadership
Photo of Michael E. Horowitz
Michael E. Horowitz was confirmed as Inspector General for the Department of Justice (DOJ) by the U.S. Senate on March 29, 2012. He was sworn in as the fourth confirmed Inspector General on April 16, 2012.
THIS ARTICLE DOESN’T MENTION WEAKENING OF THE CONCRETE, BUT THE CRACKS WOULDN’T BE NORMAL – ACCORDING TO THE PROFESSIONAL WHO EXAMINED THEM AFTER THE PROBLEM WAS DISCOVERED – AND I HAVE VIVID MEMORIES OF A SHOCKING CASE IN VIRGINIA NEAR MY HUSBAND’S AND MY APARTMENT. IN THAT SITUATION THE CONSTRUCTION CREW SIMPLY DIDN’T WAIT THE SEVERAL DAYS IN BETWEEN THE FLOORS OF A NEW APARTMENT BUILDING THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE. HASTE MAKES WASTE, YOU KNOW. SEE ALSO THE READER COMMENTS BELOW, PARTICULARLY THE ONE ABOUT "SELF-CLEANING CONCRETE." I WONDER IF IT ABSORBS WATER, BY ANY CHANCE? I WONDER WHAT TESTING WAS DONE ON IT.
THE FAIRFAX, VA BUILDING GOT TO ABOUT FIVE FLOORS UP WHEN THE WHOLE THING, WITH NO EXTRA STRESS ON THE STRUCTURE, SUDDENLY COLLAPSED LIKE THIS ONE DID. INSPECTORS DECIDED THAT IT COLLAPSED FROM THE SIMPLE WEIGHT OF THREE OR SO MORE STORIES BEING ADDED ON TOP OF CONCRETE THAT HADN’T “CURED” LONG ENOUGH. I BELIEVE THESE PEOPLE ALSO RUSHED THE JOB. THEY WERE USING SOME KIND OF "ACCELERATED BUILDING METHOD," AND EITHER THEY DIDN’T DO IT CORRECTLY, OR IT'S A VERY BAD AND DANGEROUS CONSTRUCTION METHOD INDEED. I DON’T USUALLY THINK OF A CONSTRUCTION WORKER AS A PROFESSIONAL, BUT WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT SITUATIONS LIKE THIS ONE, IT’S CLEAR THAT INEPTITUDE IS UNACCEPTABLE.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/miami-bridge-collapse-victims-identified-crews-trying-to-recover-bodies-2018-03-16/
By MANUEL BOJORQUEZ CBS NEWS March 16, 2018, 6:46 PM
Miami bridge collapse: 2 victims identified, crews trying to recover bodies
SWEETWATER, Fl. -- Crews have been working non-stop to reach and recover victims of the bridge collapse at Florida International University. The death toll is at least six, including 18-year-old Alexa Duran, a student at the school. Her car was crushed by the footbridge. Also, 37-year-old Navaro Brown, a bridge worker who was on the span when it collapsed, died. Two of his co-workers are among the nine injured.
The Florida Department of Transportation said someone from the engineering company left a voicemail for the FDOT that the bridge was "cracking" and "obviously the cracking is not good and something's going to have to be, ya know, done to repair that." The employee was out of the office and did not receive the voicemail until Friday, the FDOT said.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at a press conference late Friday that they are not currently aware of cracks in the bridge and they had not received any tips.
Surveillance video shows the moment 950-tons of concrete and steel collapsed, crushing at least eight cars and shearing others in half. Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez announced the search and rescue phase is over. Crews are now trying to recover bodies.
"We expect to find other individuals down there," Perez said. "So what's probably best is we wait to find all the vehicles and we'll give you a grand total of the fatalities and the magnitude of this event."
On Friday afternoon, crews started the risky job of demolition as investigators began their work, which includes looking into reports a stress-test was being done when the walkway collapsed.
"If this is the case, why was the road underneath open during the stress test," said State Rep. Carlos Curbelo.
In a tweet, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio offered this scenario: "The cables that suspend the Miami bridge had loosened and the engineering firm ordered that they be tightened. They were being tightened when it collapsed."
Plans for the bridge included a tower and cables attached to the walkway, but a week ago, the university and its builders celebrated the installation of the pedestrian span and the "accelerated bridge construction" method - partly developed at the school. It involves building bridge components off-site to minimize traffic interruptions and risk.
Questions raised over construction of pedestrian bridge that collapsed at FIU
The purpose of the $14 million project was to provide a safe path over the busy highway after the death of an FIU student last year.
CBS News spoke to Carol Fraga, who was searching for her husband.
"It's very difficult, the waiting is so ... it's nothing I can imagine," she said.
It's clearly very early on and investigators had to wait for the rubble to stabilize before getting a closer look, but they have acknowledged this is a wide ranging investigation and any suspected wrongdoing could lead to charges.
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-international-university-pedestrian-bridge-collapse-sweetwater-construction-today-2018-03-15/
By PETER MARTINEZ CBS NEWS March 15, 2018, 6:24 PM
Questions raised over construction of pedestrian bridge that collapsed at FIU
Last Updated Mar 16, 2018 9:30 AM EDT
A newly installed pedestrian bridge that stretched over multiple lanes of traffic collapsed Thursday at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, causing at least four deaths, according to Miami-Dade fire chief Dave Downey. At least eight vehicles were crushed under the rubble, authorities said, as rescue efforts continued.
In the wake of the deadly accident, questions are being raised about the type of bridge that was being built, which was considered "first of its kind."
A press release from FIU lays out details of the bridge's construction: "The 174-foot, 950-ton section of the bridge was built adjacent to Southwest Eight Street using Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) methods, which are being advanced at FIU's Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center. ... This method of construction reduces potential risks to workers, commuters and pedestrians and minimizes traffic interruptions. The main span of the FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Bridge was installed in a few hours with limited disruption to traffic over this weekend."
It continued: "Construction of the bridge began in the spring of 2017 and is expected to be completed in early 2019. When it is finished, the bridge will be 289 feet long and 109 feet tall. The 32-foot-wide bridge will also serve as study and gathering space."
The $14.2 million bridge connecting the university with the city of Sweetwater was installed Saturday in six hours over the eight-lane highway, according to a press release by FIU.
CBS News' Jim Axelrod reports that two firms involved in the construction have been accused of safety violations in the past. Munilla Construction Management (MCM) -- a federal military contractor for the U.S. Army and Navy -- partnered with the FIGG Bridge Group to complete the bridge. FIGG has contracts with the Kennedy Space Center and NASA.
The bridge was erected to provide a safe route for students and visitors coming to and from the campus. The Reuters news agency reports that a 18-year-old female FIU student from San Diego was killed while trying to cross the busy street there last August.
A post about the bridge on the FIU Twitter account touts that it was the first in the world to be made entirely with "self-cleaning concrete."
View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter
FIU News
✔
@FIUnews
#DidYouKnow the new pedestrian bridge that will connect our FIU and the @CitySweetwater is the first in the world to be constructed entirely of self-cleaning concrete? #WorldsAhead
11:15 AM - Mar 10, 2018
46
77 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Munilla Construction Management (MCM) wrote on Twitter that the bridge "experienced a catastrophic collapse causing injuries and loss of life." The company promised to cooperate fully with the investigation.
View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter
Munilla Construction
@WeAreMCM
3:13 PM - Mar 15, 2018 · Hialeah, FL
369
352 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
The illustration included in the tweet shows the bridge design included a central beam with suspension cables extending upwards from the walkway, but those elements of the bridge did not appear to be in place yet and were not seen in video footage from the scene Thursday. It was unclear what the builders were using as temporary supports.
Robert Bea, a professor of engineering and construction management at the University of California, Berkeley, told The Associated Press it was too early to know exactly what happened, but the decision to use what the bridge builders called an "innovative installation" was risky, especially because the bridge spanned a heavily traveled thoroughfare.
"Innovations take a design firm into an area where they don't have applicable experience, and then we have another unexpected failure on our hands," Bea said after reviewing the bridge's design and photos of the collapse.
FIU provided a timelapse video in a press release showing the bridge's construction and the process of moving it into place over the weekend:
timelapse bridge square by FloridaInternational on YouTube
As the news broke about the accident, CBS News learned that FIU and the structural testing service for the bridge both deleted tweets celebrating the construction of the doomed structure.
A screengrab obtained by CBS News shows the university posted on March 13: "FIU is about building bridges and student safety. This project accomplished our mission beautifully" -- FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg. The tweet has since been deleted.
The link redirects to a March 10 press release hosted on the FIU website titled, "First-of-its-kind pedestrian bridge 'swings' into place," which calls the bridge a "construction marvel" in a photo caption.
180315-fiu-deleted-tweet.jpg
This tweet was deleted by Florida International University. SCREENGRAB BY CBS NEWS
Another tweet that has since been deleted comes from BDI, which provides structural testing services and equipment. The company wrote March 12 that it was "thrilled to have performed structural monitoring" on the FIU project, and added "congratulations" to Barnhart Crane and Rigging (BCR) "on a job well done."
180315-bdi-deleted-tweet-fiu-bridge-collapse.jpg
A deleted tweet from BDI, which performed structural monitoring on the FIU bridge that collapsed on March 15, 2018. CBS NEWS
BDI hasn't responded to a request for comment yet.
Barnhart Crane and Rigging said in a statement that it was contracted to move the bridge into place and was not involved its design or construction. "Our scope of work was completed without incident and according to all technical requirements. Barnhart crews and equipment were not on site at the time of the incident," the company said, pledging to fully cooperate with the investigation.
It was also reported earlier Thursday that MCM, the construction firm, took its website down. It said on Twitter that it was "a family business and we are all devastated and doing everything we can to assist. We will conduct a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong and will cooperate with investigators on scene in every way."
"Our deepest sympathies are with those affected by this accident," FIGG Bridge Engineers, the company hired to design the bridge, wrote in a statement. "We will fully cooperate with every appropriate authority in reviewing what happened and why. In our 40-year history, nothing like this has ever happened before. Our entire team mourns the loss of life and injuries associated with this devastating tragedy, and our prayers go out to all involved."
Two workers were replacing something on the side of the bridge when it collapsed, according to CBS Miami.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to the scene and Gov. Rick Scott addressed the media late Thursday.
"We have a national tragedy on our hands," Sweetwater Mayor Orlando Lopez said.
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has called for the Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao to start an immediate investigation.
15 Mar
Bill Nelson
✔
@SenBillNelson
Just spoke with the President of @FIU, Mark Rosenberg, regarding the collapsed pedestrian bridge and offered to help in any way I can and I'm calling Sec. of Transportation Chao to ask the NTSB to investigate what went wrong. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/west-miami-dade/article205316174.html …
Bill Nelson
✔
@SenBillNelson
I asked Sec. of Transportation Chao to start an immediate investigation and assist the university as it is going through this tough time.
3:11 PM - Mar 15, 2018
13
See Bill Nelson's other Tweets
Twitter Ads info and privacy
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“NOBODY KNOWS WHO COULD BE TARGETED, "WHO WILL BE NEXT," ACCORDING TO SERGEI KAPCHUK, A RUSSIAN BUSINESSMAN AND FORMER POLITICIAN ALSO NOW LIVING IN BRITAIN. "IT'S VERY SCARY."
RUSSIAN RETALIATION TO OUR PUTTING UP A STIFF SPINE AGAINST RUSSIA, NOW THAT PUTIN AND TRUMP SEEM TO BE CLOSELY ALIGNED, SEEMED FARTHER AWAY THAN YEARS AGO, BUT NOT IN BRITAIN. READ THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-retaliation-british-diplomats-ex-spy-sergei-skripal-novichok-nerve-agent/
CBS NEWS March 17, 2018, 8:56 AM
Russia retaliates in escalating feud over U.K. nerve agent attack
Last Updated Mar 17, 2018 9:22 AM EDT
MOSCOW -- Russia said Friday morning that it was expelling 23 British embassy staff from Moscow. It is Russia's latest move as tension between the two countries escalates rapidly following the poisoning of a Russian former double agent in England.
CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports that British Ambassador to Russia Laurie Bristow was summoned on Saturday morning to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, where he said the Russians informed him of their retaliation for the expulsion of Russian diplomats from London earlier in the week.
High-level diplomatic rifts follow a predictable pattern, says Palmer, and this one is no different; everyone knew Russia's move was coming, it was just a question of when.
The expulsion of 23 British diplomatic personnel from Russia was a tit-for-tat move that mirrored Britain's expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats in the U.K. -- all of whom the British said had been identified as "undeclared" intelligence agents.
In addition, Moscow said it was rescinding permission for the U.K. to open a new consular office in St. Petersburg, and that it was shuttering the British Council, a U.K. government organization based in Moscow and dedicated to cultural and scientific cooperation between the countries.
Soon after the attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury, the British government accused Moscow of poisoning them with a powerful chemical nerve agent known as Novichok.
Speaking after his meeting at the Foreign Office on Friday, British Ambassador Laurie Bristow said the, "crisis has arisen as a result of an appalling attack in the United Kingdom -- the attempted murder of two people using a chemical weapon developed in Russia."
President Donald Trump joined British Prime Minister Theresa May and the leaders of Germany and France on Thursday to issue a joint statement pinning the blame for the attack squarely on the Russian government. Russia has consistently denied any culpability, accusing Britain of refusing to hand over samples of the poison used.
In London, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson went even further on Friday, pointing the finger directly at Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
"Our quarrel is with Putin's Kremlin and with his decision, and we think it is overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the U.K.," Johnson said.
Prime Minister May said Saturday that Britain would, "consider our next steps in the coming days alongside our allies and partners," after Russia's expulsion of the diplomats. She said the March 4 attack on Skripal was a "flagrant breach of international law and the chemical weapons convention."
Skripal's poisoning has prompted police in Britain to re-examine the cases of several Russians who have died or fallen ill on U.K. soil, amid criticism that the British government shut down the original investigations for political reasons without getting to the bottom of what happened.
In what seems like a strange coincidence, police now say Nikolai Glushkov, a Russian former businessman, was murdered last week at his home just outside London. There has been no link drawn yet to the poisoning of the Skripals.
For obvious reason, Russian dissidents in London are spooked.
"That's making a lot of people worried, more worried than it was before," said Russian exile and former cell phone magnate Yevgeny Chichvarkin.
Nobody knows who could be targeted, "who will be next," according to Sergei Kapchuk, a Russian businessman and former politician also now living in Britain. "It's very scary."
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonleopold/putins-media-czar-was-murdered-just-before-meeting-feds?utm_term=.rmV74a1Qn#.odVnDqvKp
Reporters, writers are named below in the body of the text, but no date.
DATE: July 28, 12017
Photograph – vladimir putin ITAR-TASS via Reuters
"Everyone thinks he was whacked"
The US government ruled Mikhail Lesin’s death an accident, but multiple intelligence and law enforcement officials suspect it was a Russian hit. The government is withholding information so today BuzzFeed News has filed a lawsuit to pry the records loose.
Posted on July 28, 2017, at 11:59 a.m.
By Jason Leopold (BuzzFeed News Reporter) Ken Bensinger (BuzzFeed News Reporter) Anthony Cormier (BuzzFeed News Reporter) Heidi Blake (BuzzFeed News Investigations Editor) Alex Campbell (Deputy UK Investigations Editor) Tom Warren (Investigations Correspondent) Jane Bradley (Investigations Correspondent) Richard Holmes (Investigations Reporter)
This is Part Five of a BuzzFeed News investigation.
Part One: Poison In The System
Part Two: From Russia With Blood
Part Three: The Man Who Knew Too Much
Part Four: The Secrets Of The Spy In The Bag
Part Six: Holes In The Investigation
Vladimir Putin’s former media czar was murdered in Washington, DC, on the eve of a planned meeting with the US Justice Department, according to two FBI agents whose assertions cast new doubts on the US government’s official explanation of his death.
Mikhail Lesin’s battered body was discovered in his Dupont Circle hotel room on the morning of Nov. 5, 2015, with blunt-force injuries to the head, neck, and torso. After an almost yearlong "comprehensive investigation," a federal prosecutor announced last October that Lesin died alone in his room due to a series of drunken falls “after days of excessive consumption of alcohol.” His death was ruled an "accident," and prosecutors closed the case.
But the two FBI agents — as well as a third agent and a serving US intelligence officer — said Lesin was actually bludgeoned to death. None of these officials were directly involved in the government’s investigation, but they said they learned about it from colleagues who were.
“Lesin was beaten to death,” one of the FBI agents said. “I would implore you to say as much. There seems to be an effort here to cover up that fact for reasons I can't get into.”
Mikhail Lesin in Moscow in 2002.
Alexander Natruskin / Reuters
Mikhail Lesin in Moscow in 2002.
He continued: “What I can tell you is that there isn’t a single person inside the bureau who believes this guy got drunk, fell down, and died. Everyone thinks he was whacked and that Putin or the Kremlin were behind it.”
In another previously unreported revelation, the two FBI agents said it was the Department of Justice that paid for the hotel room where Lesin died. DOJ officials had invited the Russian to Washington to interview him about the inner workings of RT, the Kremlin-funded network that Lesin founded, they said.
But Lesin never made it to the interview. He died the night before it was scheduled to take place.
Last month, a two-year investigation by BuzzFeed News revealed explosive evidence pointing to Russia in 14 suspicious deaths on British soil that the UK government had largely ignored. Four high-ranking US intelligence officials confirmed that those deaths had been linked to Russian security services or mafia gangs, two groups that sometimes work in tandem, by “intelligence gathered in the field and analysed” by US spies and handed to Britain’s security services. But the UK police publicly declared that none of the 14 incidents involved foul play. As a result, the public has been kept in the dark about what national security officials have long suspected: Russian assassins may have murdered in the UK with impunity.
Some American officials now fear the threat has hit home. Lesin’s death raised “concerns” that the Kremlin would start “doing here what they do with some regularity in London,” said a former high-level national security official who recently left government. Altogether, 18 current and former intelligence, law enforcement, and other federal officials told BuzzFeed News that they question the official story of how Lesin died.
The FBI, which assisted with the investigation, and the Department of Justice declined to comment. The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said it had nothing to add beyond its statement last year calling Lesin’s death an accident. The DC medical examiner’s office said it is barred by law from releasing details of the autopsy, so would not comment beyond the US Attorney’s statement and a brief summary of its own findings that it released in March 2016. A spokesperson for the DC Metropolitan Police — which led the investigation, deploying homicide detectives — told BuzzFeed News that “we have no evidence to suggest this death involved foul play. However, we will certainly reinvestigate should additional evidence be brought to light."
Urgent questions remain about Lesin’s death. The government is withholding the FBI’s investigative file, which includes critical evidence ranging from surveillance tapes to witness interviews. So today, BuzzFeed News filed a lawsuit to pry that information loose.
A BuzzFeed News reporter submitted requests under the Freedom of Information Act for the FBI’s and the Department of Justice’s complete records of the investigation in 2016. But recently the FBI said that if it can release any documents, it may take as long as two more years for it to do so. The suit, filed in US District Court in Washington, DC, aims to speed up that process.
Mikhail Lesin in 2000.
AFP / Getty Images
Mikhail Lesin in 2000.
Lesin, the son of a military construction worker, rose to become one of Russia’s most powerful and influential media officials. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he ran a wildly successful advertising agency and developed the ad campaign that helped Boris Yeltsin win the presidency in 1996. Lesin went on to serve as Yeltsin’s press minister. Vladimir Putin kept him on during his first term as president, and Lesin muzzled anti-Putin critics by helping to consolidate control over the country’s mass media under the Kremlin. The move earned Lesin, a stocky man with a large head, a nickname: “The Bulldozer.”
During Putin’s second term, Lesin was named senior presidential adviser and rose to the top of Putin’s propaganda machine when he conceived and founded Russia Today, which he once described as a news channel to counter Western spin disseminated by news networks such as CNN and the BBC. Later renamed RT, the state-owned media channel broadcasts in the US on cable and via the internet.
Lesin’s career in government ended in 2009 when Dmitry Medvedev took over Russia’s presidency. Over the next three years, Lesin traveled the world and spent lavishly. He owned a yacht — reportedly valued at $40 million — that he named Serenity, and property records show that companies he’s associated with spent at least $28 million on luxury real estate, purchasing sprawling estates in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Brentwood for himself; his daughter, Ekaterina Lesina; an RT bureau chief; and his son, Anton Lessine, an up-and-coming Hollywood producer. Multiple sources said Lesin helped finance his son’s films, such as Dirty Grandpa starring Robert De Niro, and Fury starring Brad Pitt.
Neither Lessine nor Lesina, who are based in the US, returned multiple calls and emails seeking comment.
When Putin was elected to a third term in 2012, Lesin returned to Moscow, took over state-owned Gazprom Media, and acquired the conglomerate ProfMedia in what was seen by opposition critics as another effort by the Kremlin to crack down on independent voices in the media.
Lesin abruptly resigned from Gazprom in December 2014.
At that point, his activities became more murky. Intelligence and law enforcement sources said Lesin had a falling out with Putin’s close confidants and then went into hiding abroad. But five sources told BuzzFeed News he was forced out of Gazprom after US Senator Roger Wicker got wind of Lesin’s US spending spree and wrote to the Department of Justice demanding it investigate. The Justice Department, in turn, referred the matter to the FBI.
Lesin “was feeling good until that letter came out,” said the US intelligence officer. But “Putin decided to cut him loose as a potential liability. Once Putin ditched him, once he lost his protection, Lesin’s partners and competitors started going after him.”
A second US intelligence official said Lesin was hiding out in the Swiss Alps during the summer of 2015, fearful that he would be killed.
Lesin “was running out of options of where to live and hide,” the second intelligence official said. “At this point he was a defector. He contacted the Justice Department and the FBI through a third party. He was worried about his kids and their safety so he wanted to cooperate.”
Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Lesin in the Kremlin.
Itar Tass / Reuters
Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Lesin in the Kremlin.
The three FBI agents who claim Lesin was beaten to death said they were told by colleagues who were assisting Metropolitan Police detectives with the investigation. Two of the agents said they were told that the FBI has obtained evidence and conducted witness interviews that indicate that Lesin was murdered. Neither agent would describe the evidence or give details about who the witnesses were, or what exactly they said. The third said that a colleague working on the case told him in January that Lesin was beaten to death.
The intelligence officer would not say how he knew Lesin was bludgeoned but said that the weapon was a baseball bat. Another source — with direct knowledge of the autopsy performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Washington, DC — offered new information about Lesin’s injuries: He had fractured ribs, a detail that has not been previously reported.
One of the FBI agents said that he learned Lesin was put up by the Justice Department at the Dupont Circle Hotel — a midrange hotel out of keeping with Lesin’s extravagant lifestyle — during an informal “water cooler talk” with a “case agent” working on the investigation. Lesin, he was told, “was going to talk about the inner workings of RT — basically, how the propaganda machine works. DOJ was investigating RT. These are the types of meetings we have with people when we want to recruit them as informants.”
The second FBI agent said he learned that the Justice Department had put Lesin up at the hotel from a DOJ official on the case. The DOJ “was investigating something with RT,” he recalled being told, and investigators planned to ask Lesin “how the station operated — how it was run and how the Kremlin used it.”
The Dupont Circle Hotel declined to provide any information about Lesin, citing its policy of protecting guests’ privacy.
BuzzFeed News filed suit today to compel the swift release of investigative records and other documents about Lesin because American intelligence agencies have said that Russia interfered in the US presidential election, ties to Russia are at the heart of the investigations underway involving President Donald Trump’s campaign, and we have revealed that US intelligence officials suspect Russian involvement in 14 deaths on the territory of one of America’s closest allies, Great Britain.
If you have information about Lesin’s death, write us at tips@buzzfeed.com. If you'd prefer to send us information confidentially, instructions on how to do so can be found at tips.buzzfeed.com.
Jason Leopold, Writer
No comments:
Post a Comment