Former FBI general counsel Jim Baker said he's troubled by obstruction allegations outlined in the Mueller report
Former FBI general counsel Jim Baker said Friday he's troubled by obstruction allegations outlined in the Mueller report, explaining that even if there isn't a possibility of charging President Donald Trump, there still appears to be a "pattern of corruption."
"It's troubling to say the least. It's alarming," said Baker, now the director of national security and cybersecurity at the R Street Institute. "Even if it doesn't rise to the level of illegality, it sure looks like a pattern of corruption."During an interview with the Brookings Institution, Baker also refuted the notion that the Russia investigation was an "attempted coup" — a" was about Russia. We've written about this.
By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.when he said not investigating the interactions between Trump's campaign and Russian foreign agents would have gone against the FBI's duty. Baker said he also didn't agree with Attorney General William Barr's assertion that the FBI spied on Trump's campaign, saying: "I honestly don't know what he's referring to." He added that if Barr somehow had "other information available to him that somehow has been made public yet" that he would be "eager to hear it, but I don't understand it.
"Given the fact we have been focused on the Russians as a threat actor for a long, long time and given what was going on with respective e-mail dumps and hacking and the connection with those to the Russians in that summer and then this thing drops," Baker said. "I think it would've been malpractice, dereliction of duty, that it would have even been highly, highly inappropriate for us not to pursue it — and pursue it aggressively.
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Comey: 'The FBI doesn't spy. The FBI investigates'James Comey said that the FBI 'doesn't spy' and that he 'had no idea' why Attorney General William Barr used that language to describe agents' investigation of President Trump's 2016 campaign
Weiterlesen »
Feds now tracking 850 possible domestic terrorists, as white supremacy cases jumpThe FBI is currently investigating nearly 850 people across the United States as possible domestic terrorists, and the number of cases targeting white supremacists, white nationalists and other racially-motivated extremists has jumped in the past six months, federal law enforcement officials said...
Weiterlesen »
Watchdog Probes FBI Reliance on Dossier in Surveillance of Trump AideThe Justice Department’s watchdog, close to concluding its inquiry into steps the FBI took in its probe of Trump campaign associates and Russia beginning in 2016, is homing in on whether the FBI continued surveillance of one associate despite questions about a key source’s credibility.
Weiterlesen »
Trump’s FBI Director Disputes Charges of ‘Spying’ During 2016 Race“That’s not the term I would use,” Wray said Tuesday in testimony to a Senate Appropriations panel, when asked about whether there there was spying. Wray said he isn’t personally aware of any evidence to support the accusation that there was improper surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016.
Weiterlesen »
'Worst kind of charges' laid against sheriff accused of illegally jailing man and lying to FBIChester County Sheriff George Alexander Underwood faces up to 51 years in jail over conspiracy charges involving two other members of his department.
Weiterlesen »
POLITICO Playbook PM: Behind the scenes: The other big-donor confab in D.C. this weekBehind the scenes: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy just wrapped up his third big-dollar donor summit at the Willard Hotel in D.C. More in Playbook PM:
Weiterlesen »
FBI to brief House members on alleged Russian hacking of Florida countyThe FBI will brief Florida members of Congress next week about the claim that a Florida county was hacked by Russian intelligence in 2016, two sources familiar with the plan told CNN.
Weiterlesen »