By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The infighting in the Justice Department and FBI over the handling of the Hillary Clinton investigation is creating deep divisions that could impact the agencies long after the presidential election.

The Washington Post reports that “internal dissension has exploded into public view” as FBI sources leak information to reporters about the Clinton Foundation.

And then there’s FBI Director James Comey, who has been criticized by President Obama, other high-ranking Democrats and the Justice Department for revealing information that may or may not be connected to the Clinton server probe.

“He’s got to get control of the ship again,” Robert Anderson, a former senior official in the FBI, said of Comey, a friend. “There’s a lot of tension in the organization, and there’s a lot of tension in Congress and the Senate right now, and all that counts toward how much people trust the FBI.”

The information coming out of the FBI appears to have helped Donald Trump gain in the polls.

Clinton declined to say whether she would fire Comey if she is elected.

“I’m not going to, you know, either get ahead of myself by assuming I’ll be fortunate enough to be elected,” Clinton said, responding to a question from SiriusXM’s Joe Madison. “That’s really up to you and your listeners. People have to turn out, or nothing that I’m going to be proposing will come into reality, but I also would never comment on any kind of, you know, personnel issue.”

Hillary Clinton

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI is reviewing what appears to be doctored documents aimed at undermining Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The review is part of a broader investigation into suspicions that Russia is trying to influence the presidential election, Reuters reports. 

In particular, U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, a Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said one of the documents containing his name was forged.

It’s one of several documents that the FBI and Justice Department are reviewing to determine there authenticity.

The FBI is asking Democratic Party officials to provide any suspected fake documents.

The FBI confirmed it was “in receipt of a complaint about an alleged fake letter” related to the election but declined to elaborate.

Russian officials deny responsibility for the hacks.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI is investigating one of its own Twitter accounts.

Dormant for more than a year, the account, @FBIRecordsVault, suddenly became active at 4 a.m. on Oct. 30 with the release of numerous documents, including one that paints Donald Trump’s father as a “philanthropist.”

Fred C. Trump: Fred C. Trump (1905-1999) was a real estate developer and philanthropist. This release consists of… https://t.co/21KgtPpmzk

— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) October 30, 2016

Two days later, the account dumped documents related to Bill Clinton’s controversial pardon of Marc Rich.

The account has been inactive since that tweet.

Federal law and FBI policy bars employees from trying to influence elections.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A lot of questions have been raised about the meeting between Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

To find out more about the June meeting, the American Center for Law and Justice filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday for access to more information, CBN News reports. 

The meeting happened just days before FBI Director James Comey opted not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton.

“The arrogance and inappropriate actions of the Obama administration cannot go unchallenged and that is why we have gone to federal court today and filed this critical lawsuit,” Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, said. “This administration has gone out of its way to hide information from the American public — information that is extremely troubling.”

“The stakes are high,” he continued. “The American people deserve a Justice Department with integrity. We must demand accountability for corruption. If we don’t, a constitutional crisis is imminent. The corruption must have consequences.”

Tunnel beneath a border fence.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Concerned about drug smugglers and illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. from Mexico, the federal government built a fence to curb the traffic.

It didn’t work, Vice News reports.

“We came with this 18-foot wall, and the very next day they had 19-foot ladders,” Border Patrol Agent Chris Cabrera recalled recently. “It got to the point where we had so many ladders at the station that they told us to stop bringing the ladders in. It was just insane the number of ladders we had. Hundreds upon hundreds.”

The issue of a barrier at the border has picked up steam after Donald Trump promised to build an “impenetrable and beautiful” wall at the border.

Vice wrote:

But people who actually live along the border in the Rio Grande Valley are extremely skeptical. Border Patrol agents like Cabrera, local police, elected officials, and people who live with the existing wall in their backyards say it has been an epic boondoggle. Seemingly everyone in the area agrees that any plan to build a new wall or expand the existing fence is a bad idea.

“It’s a waste of money, period,” said Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio, whose jurisdiction sits opposite Matamoros, one of the most dangerous corners of Mexico. “It’s not going to work. I don’t care what [Trump] is saying.”

In Texas, the existing fence — or wall, depending on your definition of the term — mostly consists of rows of cube-shaped, rust-colored posts that stand about 20 feet tall. The columns are spaced about four inches apart, too narrow for even a child to squeeze through. But the fence abruptly ends in some places, leaving vast open stretches. In the most absurd cases, 30-foot sections of fence are surrounded on both sides by miles of wide open space.

Other Stories of Interest

• FBI Director Comey Disclosed New Emails Linked to Clinton Over Fears of Leaks
• State Department Released 357 Emails Unearthed by FBI
• Falsehoods from Both Political Sides on the Email Inquiry
• DEA: 16 Arrested in Tucson Were Part of Major Drug-Trafficking Ring
• N.J. Transit Officials to Face Lawmakers Over Crash, Safety