Joe Biden is striking out at critics of the FBI, which has been coping with high-level political scandals, including the pre-election squelching of an investigation, and even news about, damaging national security information found on his son Hunter's abandoned laptop computer.
Other woes besetting the bureau include the reasoning behind the raid on ex President Donald Trump's residence at Mar a Lago -- which had White House input before it was carried out -- and the orchestration of a plot, using entrapped men as dupes, to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a plot that was sensationally exposed during the election season.
Biden, in his remarks, did not address these scandals but sought instead to make it appear that critics of the FBI were in general opposed to law enforcement, while pointing out that he has promoted more federal funds for (and controls on) local police.
'Whistleblowers must follow the rules'
In related news, Biden's harried attorney general, Merrick Garland, yesterday warned FBI agents against speaking directly with members of Congress.
Garland imposes gag order
https://www.justice.gov/jmd/file/834496/download
FBI agents -- including whistleblowers -- must go through bureaucratic procedures, Garland insisted in his written orders. The attorney general denied that he was trying to limit protection of the FBI whistleblowers who have been informing GOP lawmakers on political rigging of investigations.
Amid the furious scandal on the handling of the Hunter Biden laptop case, Garland also cautioned agents and other career Justice Department employees against playing politics on the job. Among the restrictions cited was against anyone who might "Use their official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election."
A high-level Washington field office agent, Timothy Thibault retired suddenly last week after being accused of having squelched a probe into the Bidens. The squelching was accompanied by a chorus of former security officials announcing that the New York Post's Biden laptop story looked like a Russian smear attack.
Pick up at 6:48 for Biden's remarks
Other woes besetting the bureau include the reasoning behind the raid on ex President Donald Trump's residence at Mar a Lago -- which had White House input before it was carried out -- and the orchestration of a plot, using entrapped men as dupes, to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a plot that was sensationally exposed during the election season.
Biden, in his remarks, did not address these scandals but sought instead to make it appear that critics of the FBI were in general opposed to law enforcement, while pointing out that he has promoted more federal funds for (and controls on) local police.
'Whistleblowers must follow the rules'
In related news, Biden's harried attorney general, Merrick Garland, yesterday warned FBI agents against speaking directly with members of Congress.
Garland imposes gag order
https://www.justice.gov/jmd/file/834496/download
FBI agents -- including whistleblowers -- must go through bureaucratic procedures, Garland insisted in his written orders. The attorney general denied that he was trying to limit protection of the FBI whistleblowers who have been informing GOP lawmakers on political rigging of investigations.
Amid the furious scandal on the handling of the Hunter Biden laptop case, Garland also cautioned agents and other career Justice Department employees against playing politics on the job. Among the restrictions cited was against anyone who might "Use their official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election."
A high-level Washington field office agent, Timothy Thibault retired suddenly last week after being accused of having squelched a probe into the Bidens. The squelching was accompanied by a chorus of former security officials announcing that the New York Post's Biden laptop story looked like a Russian smear attack.
The perils of federalization of local cops
The Biden group's justification for the Mar a Lago raid completely bypassed a 2012 federal judge's ruling that a former president had sole authority over records taken from the White House.
John Solomon of Just the News reports:
John Solomon of Just the News reports:
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington D.C. ultimately rejected Judicial Watch's suit by concluding there was no provision in the Presidential Records Act to force the National Archives to seize records from a former president.
But Jackson's ruling — along with the Justice Department's arguments that preceded it — made some other sweeping declarations that have more direct relevance to the FBI's decision to seize handwritten notes and files Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago. The most relevant is that a president's discretion on what are personal vs. official records is far-reaching and solely his, as is his ability to declassify or destroy records at will.
"Under the statutory scheme established by the PRA, the decision to segregate personal materials from Presidential records is made by the President, during the President's term and in his sole discretion," Jackson wrote in her March 2012 decision, which was never appealed.
"Since the President is completely entrusted with the management and even the disposal of Presidential records during his time in office, it would be difficult for this Court to conclude that Congress intended that he would have less authority to do what he pleases with what he considers to be his personal records," she added.
You can read the full ruling here:
https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2022-08/memorandum%20opinion.pdf The judge noted a president could destroy any record he wanted during his tenure and his only responsibility was to inform the Archives.
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