CREW: How far did Priebus/FBI contact go? We just FOIA'd them to find out.

[kpete]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Washington, DC—The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Inspector General needs to investigate apparent improper communications between the leadership of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus about the FBI’s pending criminal investigation of Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 election and links between Russian officials and associates of President Trump, according to a complaint filed today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Under current DOJ directives, the only people who may discuss pending investigations between the DOJ and the White House under most circumstances are the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General and the President, Vice President, White House Counsel and Deputy Counsel. White House officials today confirmed news reports that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Priebus recently discussed the pending criminal investigation, and Priebus asked the FBI to dispute news reports about the investigation which reflected poorly upon the president.

“The DOJ directive is clear and exists to protect our system of justice from political meddling,”CREW Executive Director and former DOJ corruption prosecutor Noah Bookbinder said. “These communications threaten, in the words of the directive, the ‘evenhanded administration of justice,’a key tenet of our democracy.”

The communications raise the possibility that the FBI’s investigation, which involves President Trump’s campaign aides and associates, will be tainted by political pressure from the White House. As the DOJ’s policy states, “[t]he legal judgments of the Department of Justice must be impartial and insulated from political influence. It is imperative that the Department’s investigatory and prosecutorial powers be exercised free for partisan consideration.”

“The Inspector General must immediately commence an investigation into these communications and into whether more improper communications have occurred with the White House,”Bookbinder said. “The FBI is investigating whether a foreign country interfered with the very fabric of our democracy. That investigation must proceed untainted—especially by those who may be implicated in it.”

Click here to read the complaint
http://s3.amazonaws.com/storage.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/24192302/DOJ-IG-Priebus-McCabe-2-24-17.pdf
http://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/crew-files-doj-complaint-priebus-fbi-communications-russia/

[triron]

1. Let's get to the bottom of this shit.

[Ohioblue22]

2. when you get to the bottom of this shit yu will find jeff sessions

and he will take whatever report coomey hands to him and drop it in the trash

[lagomorph777]

3. That may prove embarrassing when copies of the report land on the WaPo & NYT doorsteps...

This is not going away. Ever.

[Ohioblue22]

4. the gop wont care they dont have to

[padfun]

5. Actually they have to

Nixon tried to avoid it as well. Just like they have learned that they have to pay attention to repealing the ACA.

[Ohioblue22]

6. nixon didnt have koch brother money or the waiting on trump media

or gerrymandering and voter supression. they dont need us voters any more .

[lagomorph777]

8. I believe we have one last chance in 2018.

We have to massively damage the GOP or it's the end of the American Experiment.

[bigtree]

7. there will be a tipping point

...where the investigation will be placed in the hands of an independent prosecutor.

That's going to make the findings publicly available and open the administration to censure or impeachment proceedings.

[triron]

9. knr