Former AG Eric Holder, via DOJ.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Former Attorney General Eric Holder blasted current Attorney General William Barr’s rhetoric “as deeply inappropriate,” saying he was “unfit to lead the Justice Department.”

Holder, who served as President Obama’s attorney general from 2009 to 2015, wrote a Washington Post op-ed criticizing Barr’s comments disputing the investigation of his own department’s inspector general. The report contradicted Trump’s repeated claims that the FBI illegally spied on Trump’s campaign.

Holder said he was “reluctant to publicly criticize my successors” but “Barr has made a series of public statements and taken actions that are so plainly ideological, so nakedly partisan and so deeply inappropriate for America’s chief law enforcement official that they demand a response from someone who held the same office.”

Holder also responded to Barr’s “extraordinary” claim, which was made “without offering any evidence,” that the FBI had acted in “bad faith” when it launched the Russia investigation.

“As someone who spent six years in the office Barr now occupies, it was infuriating to watch him publicly undermine an independent inspector general report — based on an exhaustive review of the FBI’s conduct — using partisan talking points bearing no resemblance to the facts his own department has uncovered,” Holder wrote.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

President Trump’s pledge to deport “millions” of undocumented immigrants fell far short, it turns out.

New numbers released by immigration officials show the U.S. deported about 12,000 family members and unaccompanied minors in the last fiscal year, The Washington Post reports.

In June, Trump threatened large-scale arrests.

Here’s what actually happened: ICE removed more than 6,300 family members between Oct. 1, 2018, and Sept. 30, 2019, which is more than double the previous year.

ICE deported another 6,351 border-crossers who were unaccompanied minors, which is 14% higher than the previous year.

At a news conference Wednesday in Dallas, Acting ICE Director Matthew T. Albence said the operation to arrest families was “just the beginning.”

“We’ve removed more than double the family units,” Albence said. “And I suspect those numbers will go up this year as well as we continue to work these cases.”

Inspector General Michael Horowitz testifying before Senate Judiciary Committee.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

President Trump has long seized on anti-Trump text messages between two FBI employees to push his unfounded conspiracy theories that the bureau tried to undermine his candidacy.

Turns out, some FBI employees were found to have tweeted politically charged text messages in favor of Trump.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz revealed that he also found pro-Trump text messages between FBI employees.

“So FBI employees held personal political views that were both favorable & unfavorable toward the candidate at that time?” Sen.Dianne Feistein D-Calif., asked.

“Correct,” Horowitz responded without elaborating.

FEINSTEIN: Your investigation also uncovered text messages between FBI employees expressing support for Trump, correct?

HOROWITZ: Yes

FEINSTEIN: So FBI employees held personal political views that were both favorable & unfavorable toward the candidate at that time?

H: Correct pic.twitter.com/alGnMpAeQ1

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 11, 2019

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

President Trump continued to lash out at the FBI at a rally in Hershey, Pa., on Tuesday night, calling bureau leaders “scum” and doubling down on his claims of a debunked “deep state” conspiracy.

Trump’s diatribe came one day after the Justice Department’s inspector general report concluded the bureau didn’t improperly open its investigation into the Trump campaign, nor did it act with bias.

Trump spoke to a boisterous crowd, trying to discredit the report.

“The FBI also sent multiple undercover human spies to surveil and record people associated with our campaign.” Trump said. “Look how they’ve hurt people. They’ve destroyed the lives of people that were great people. That are still great people. Their lives have been destroyed by scum, OK? By scum.”

After the report’s release, Trump also dumped on his FBI director, Christopher Wray, for agreeing with the report’s conclusion that the bureau didn’t act improperly, despite making missteps.

“I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. “With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!”

Trump refers to FBI agents as “scum.” He then refers to John Durham as “Bull Durham.” He then refers to Obama as “Barack Hussein Obama.” pic.twitter.com/AxVjDCWk7H

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 11, 2019

James Comey via FBI.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Former FBI Director James Comey said Monday that the Inspector General’s report on Trump’s campaign and Russian meddling vindicated him and the bureau.

IG Michael Horowitz’s report concluded that the FBI’s investigation was justified and unbiased, albeit plagued with a series of missteps. The report also found that the FBI did not improperly open its investigation into the Trump campaign.

“There was no illegal wiretapping, there were no informants inserted into the campaign, there was no “spying” on the Trump campaign,” Comey wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post, adding, “the truth is finally out.”

“The allegation of a criminal conspiracy was nonsense,” he wrote.

On Twitter, Comey said Fox News canceled a planned interview with him.

“I offered to go on Fox & Friends to answer all questions. I can’t change their viewers on Donald Trump but hoped to give them some actual facts about the FBI,” Comey tweeted. “They booked me for tomorrow at 8 am. They just cancelled. Must have read the report.”

FYI: I offered to go on Fox & Friends to answer all questions. I can’t change their viewers on Donald Trump but hoped to give them some actual facts about the FBI. They booked me for tomorrow at 8 am. They just cancelled. Must have read the report.

— James Comey (@Comey) December 9, 2019

FBI Director Christopher Wray and John Glover. Photo via FBI.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

President Trump ripped into FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday morning, presumably for backing the inspector general’s conclusion that the bureau didn’t improperly open its investigation into the Trump campaign.

“I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me,” Trump tweeted. “With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!”

Trump’s criticism is as baffling as it is predictable. Inspector General Michael Horowitz clearly contradicted Trump’s conspiracy theory that his campaign was subjected to “a major SPY scandal,” as he tweeted in May 2018.

Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State. They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before! What goes around, comes around!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018

Horowitz’s report concluded that the FBI’s investigation was justified and unbiased, albeit plagued with a series of missteps. The report also found that the FBI did not improperly open its investigation into the Trump campaign.

Wray issued a lengthy response to the repot, saying he fully accepts the “findings and embraces the need for thoughtful, meaningful remedial action.”

Trump’s attempts to distort the report’s findings didn’t sway many on Twitter.

.#Wray has more honesty, integrity, courage and patriotism in one nostril hair than you have in your entire being. Shame on you… #Trump

— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) December 10, 2019

The only thing that’s “badly broken” is America… because an ignorant, incompetent, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, racist, corrupt sociopath illegitimate fake-ass dictator-wannabe is squatting in the Oval Office. #Trump

— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) December 10, 2019

IG Michael Horowitz, via DoJ.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

The Justice Department inspector general’s report dismissed some conservatives’ longstanding allegations about the investigation into the Trump campaign — including that top FBI officials were motivated by political bias and illegally spied on Trump advisers. At the same time, the report that examined the FBI’s probe into connections between Trump campaign advisers and Russia found  serious faults in other areas, the Washington Post reports.

The 434-page report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found the FBI had an “authorized purpose” in investigating the campaign. But it went on say that applications the FBI made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page contained “significant inaccuracies and omissions” and that agents “failed to meet the basic obligation” to ensure the applications were “scrupulously accurate.”

Michael R. Bromwich, a lawyer for fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, noted the inspector general “found an ample factual basis for the launching of the Russia investigation,” and that those errors that were documented “took place at multiple layers below” McCabe, the Post reports.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the inspector general had “completely demolished” some of conservatives’ assertions about the origins of the probe, though his investigators did find some problems.

The ACLU weighed in, issuing a statement:

“When the Justice Department’s Inspector General finds significant concerns regarding flawed surveillance applications concerning the president’s campaign advisors, it is clear that this regime lacks basic safeguards and is in need of serious reform. While the report found that there wasn’t an improper purpose or initiation of the investigation, it also found significant problems that are alarming from a civil liberties perspective. For instance, the litany of problems with the Carter Page surveillance applications demonstrates how the secrecy shrouding the government’s one-sided FISA approval process breeds abuse. The concerns the Inspector General identifies apply to intrusive investigations of others, including especially Muslims, and far better safeguards against abuse are necessary.”

“The system requires fundamental reforms, and Congress can start by providing defendants subjected to FISA surveillance the opportunity to review the government’s secret submissions. The FBI must also adopt higher standards for investigations involving constitutionally protected sensitive activities, such as political campaigns.”

Read report

President Trump, via White House

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

President Trump tapped Anthony Ornato, deputy assistant director of the Secret Service, as his new deputy chief of staff for operations.

Trump announced the move on Twitter on Saturday, saying Ornato “will do a fantastic job!”

Ornato will replace Daniel Walsh, who is leaving the post to take a job in the private sector.

“Thank you to Dan Walsh for his great service, and congratulations to Tony!” Trump tweeted.

Ornato will serve as one of the three deputies to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

The United States Secret Service Deputy Assistant Director, Anthony Ornato, will become my new Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. I have worked with Tony for 3 years – he will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Dan Walsh for his great service, and congratulations to Tony!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2019