FBI did not save officials’ texts during key period in Trump probe

[Urban hermit]

Incompetence, conspiracy or obstruction of justice?

The FBI did not retain text messages exchanged by two senior officials involved in the probes of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for a five-month period ending the day a special counsel was appointed to investigate possible connections between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to a new congressional letter.

The letter from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray indicates the Justice Department has turned over to lawmakers a new batch of texts from senior FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page. The messages have not been made public.

As The Washington Post reported in December, Strzok was removed from the Trump probe after internal investigators discovered he and Page, who were romantically involved , exchanged anti-Trump, pro-Clinton texts during investigations of both presidential candidates. Later that month, the Justice Department provided Congress with hundreds of pages of messages. Republicans said the texts revealed political bias at the bureau's highest levels.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...QXY?li=BBnbfcL

[Work_permit]

Incompetence, conspiracy or obstruction of justice?


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...QXY?li=BBnbfcL

Between those three choices I almost always choose incompetence, regardless of the question. But in this case, I have to defer to specialists.

I would think the police or FBI would retain every piece of electronic information they receive. Why wouldn’t they? Disk space is cheap, it takes more time deciding what to discard rather then just keeping everything. I assume they don’t have to worry about FOIA or government agencies subpoenaing “old” data.

What say those with experience in such matters?

[Nichols]

They were investigating Clinton for 'lost' emails......

Maybe these 'unsaved' texts were about yoga classes, weddings, shopping lists..........

[T. A. Gardner]

[The Exorcist]

So, what we are looking at here is the equivalent of the CIA and Pentagon helping Nixon and trying to cover up Watergate.

But the media, instead of doing their jobs, help with the cover-up by never reporting on it.
Or, if they do, they just try to smear every whistle-blower that comes along... pretty much the same thing they did for 8 years as the propaganda arm of the Obama regime.

Can voting from the rooftops be far away?

[Arnold J Rimmer]

E-mails and texts by government officials are supposed to be part of the record during an investigation. When I retired they stored mine.

[Urban hermit]

E-mails and texts by government officials are supposed to be part of the record during an investigation. When I retired they stored mine.

This has the Clinton Cartel written all over it.

[craven]

They were investigating Clinton for 'lost' emails......

Maybe these 'unsaved' texts were about yoga classes, weddings, shopping lists..........

lol yeah I am guessing about 50 percent of em were

one of the reasons I never had a government cell

[wolfhnd]

Hard to say if the arrogance of turning the federal government into an arm of the Obama-Clinton political machine is worse than the incompetence of the cover-up or not. At least they now have finally figured out that their enemies are never going to stop and they are not powerful enough to commit crimes without some potential risk.

[Pruitt]

Maybe they can gig the people who allowed them to be deleted? At the very least they could be looking for their next job. If the "underlings" are held accountable, maybe the next time they won't be as quick to cover up?

Pruitt

[Work_permit]

E-mails and texts by government officials are supposed to be part of the record during an investigation. When I retired they stored mine.

Thanks, that’s what I had imagined.

[Urban hermit]

Maybe they can gig the people who allowed them to be deleted? At the very least they could be looking for their next job. If the "underlings" are held accountable, maybe the next time they won't be as quick to cover up?

Pruitt

Oh, you can bet some small fish “underling(s)” will take the fall.
Maybe another epidemic of “Arkancide” will break out, like the one that followed on the heels of the Whitewater episode.

[Arnold J Rimmer]

Oh, you can bet some small fish “underling(s)” will take the fall.
Maybe another epidemic of “Arkancide” will break out, like the one that followed on the heels of the Whitewater episode.

[101combatvet]

A bunch of Dems need some jail time. If any of them try to resist they need to be shot.

[The Doctor]

Between those three choices I almost always choose incompetence, regardless of the question. But in this case, I have to defer to specialists.

I would think the police or FBI would retain every piece of electronic information they receive. Why wouldn’t they? Disk space is cheap, it takes more time deciding what to discard rather then just keeping everything. I assume they don’t have to worry about FOIA or government agencies subpoenaing “old” data.

What say those with experience in such matters?

Text messages are not as easy to archive as emails are. Email is stored on a server and must be proactively deleted. Even then, it can often be recovered. Text messages are only "stored" on the wireless carrier's server long enough for the recipient to receive them. If they are deleted from the phones, they are almost impossible to recover.

However, the FBI supposedly has an application that stores text messages from Bureau phones. They claim that the phones were conveniently misconfigured over this critical five month period.

It is way past time for a special council with no ties to the DOJ or FBI to be appointed and drag Comey, McCabe, Lynch, Rosenstein, Mueller, etc. before a grand jury.