Trump fbi nominee christopher wray gave inappropriate briefings to john ashcroft duri

Wray was involved in one of the noted field trips to Gitmo to watch torture.

And he also charged David Passaro, the only CIA person (Passaro was a contractor training Afghans to be paramilitaries) ever charged for torture. DOJ seized a bunch of documents Passaro had which would have shown that CIA’s chain of command had approved torture. Whatever you think of Passaro, I strongly believe he was denied due process in a number of ways.

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Among other things, the sources said, Ashcroft was provided extensive details of an FBI interview of Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s chief political advisor. The two men have enjoyed a close relationship ever since Rove advised the Attorney General during the course of three of Ashcroft’s political campaigns.

The briefings for Ashcroft were conducted by Christopher Wray, a political appointee in charge of the Justice Department’s criminal division, and John Dion, a 30-year career prosecutor who was in charge of the investigation at the time. Neither Wray nor Dion returned phone calls seeking comment for this story.

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ThoughtEx. said:

TRUMP FBI NOMINEE CHRISTOPHER WRAY GAVE INAPPROPRIATE BRIEFINGS TO JOHN ASHCROFT DURING PLAME INVESTIGATION








https://www.emptywheel.net/2017/06/...-to-john-ashcroft-during-plame-investigation/

Seems like Trump found a team player not afraid to get his hands dirty. Fires a guy who wouldn't drop an investigation at his request and hires a guy that seizes evidence of who knew about torture, and let Ashcroft match his story up. Yeah, this doesn't look like Trump is looking ti kill investigations at all...

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ThoughtEx. said:

TRUMP FBI NOMINEE CHRISTOPHER WRAY GAVE INAPPROPRIATE BRIEFINGS TO JOHN ASHCROFT DURING PLAME INVESTIGATION








https://www.emptywheel.net/2017/06/...-to-john-ashcroft-during-plame-investigation/

Seems like Trump found a team player not afraid to get his hands dirty. Fires a guy who wouldn't drop an investigation at his request and hires a guy that seizes evidence of who knew about torture, and let Ashcroft match his story up. Yeah, this doesn't look like Trump is looking ti kill investigations at all...

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Moot said:

Hard to say. From what I've read, Wray seems like a straight shooter...like Comey and Mueller...

" WASHINGTON — Christopher A. Wray was the government’s top criminal prosecutor in 2004 when the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, and the deputy attorney general, James B. Comey, threatened to quit the Bush administration over a controversial surveillance program. He offered to join their protest...."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/us/politics/christopher-wray-bio.html?_r=0​

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joG said:

Well, when Trump is gone, Democrats can reinstall Comey.

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Moderate Right said:

Hah!!!!!!!!That's the funniest thing I've ever heard! I bet Hillary will be right up there at the front of the pack begging fellow Democrats to reinstate Comey. And you guys accuse the right of drinking too much Koolaid.

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ThoughtEx. said:

TRUMP FBI NOMINEE CHRISTOPHER WRAY GAVE INAPPROPRIATE BRIEFINGS TO JOHN ASHCROFT DURING PLAME INVESTIGATION








https://www.emptywheel.net/2017/06/...-to-john-ashcroft-during-plame-investigation/

Seems like Trump found a team player not afraid to get his hands dirty. Fires a guy who wouldn't drop an investigation at his request and hires a guy that seizes evidence of who knew about torture, and let Ashcroft match his story up. Yeah, this doesn't look like Trump is looking ti kill investigations at all...

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ThoughtEx. said:

TRUMP FBI NOMINEE CHRISTOPHER WRAY GAVE INAPPROPRIATE BRIEFINGS TO JOHN ASHCROFT DURING PLAME INVESTIGATION

https://www.emptywheel.net/2017/06/...-to-john-ashcroft-during-plame-investigation/

Seems like Trump found a team player not afraid to get his hands dirty. Fires a guy who wouldn't drop an investigation at his request and hires a guy that seizes evidence of who knew about torture, and let Ashcroft match his story up. Yeah, this doesn't look like Trump is looking ti kill investigations at all...

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Cardinal said:

Nobody he nominates will have credibility. It will be assumed that he will

a)have been made to pledge a loyalty oath, and
b)understand that if he doesn't serve at the President's pleasure, he will be fired.

In short, the principle of the FBI's political independence cannot be taken for granted.

The only way for another FBI Director to be assigned who will have the full trust of the nation is if someone who is not Trump nominates him.

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Cardinal said:

Nobody he nominates will have credibility. It will be assumed that he will

a)have been made to pledge a loyalty oath, and
b)understand that if he doesn't serve at the President's pleasure, he will be fired.

In short, the principle of the FBI's political independence cannot be taken for granted.

The only way for another FBI Director to be assigned who will have the full trust of the nation is if someone who is not Trump nominates him.

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Moderate Right said:

That's just your partisan biased prejudice. He could nominate Hillary, Obama, Pelosi, Ried, or Schumer and you would be against it just because it was Trump who nominated them.

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MrPeanut said:

I completely agree. We know he is looking for personal loyalty over loyalty to country. Whoever is installed will obviously need to pass that test.

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MrPeanut said:

It isn't bias when we know exactly what Trump wants in a candidate. He wants personal loyalty. That isn't appropriate for the Director of the FBI.

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Moderate Right said:

Oh. Now I understand. You mean like Loretta Lynch meeting Bill Clinton on the tarmac and even Comey testified that he thought that was highly inappropriate and, in fact, led him to making it public that he was re-opening the email investigation days before the election. Was Comey telling the truth when he testified to that bombshell?

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MrPeanut said:

I think so yea. I do think he made a mistake by publicly announcing it just before people cast their votes, but ultimately it was his judgement call.

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Moderate Right said:

Ironic how Bill Clinton's tarmac meeting with Loretta Lynch indirectly caused Hillary to lose the election and the left wants to blame collusion with the Russians.

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joG said:

Well, when Trump is gone, Democrats can reinstall Comey.

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MrPeanut said:

The left doesn't. The left consists of much more than neoliberal Democrats.

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ThoughtEx. said:

TRUMP FBI NOMINEE CHRISTOPHER WRAY GAVE INAPPROPRIATE BRIEFINGS TO JOHN ASHCROFT DURING PLAME INVESTIGATION








https://www.emptywheel.net/2017/06/...-to-john-ashcroft-during-plame-investigation/

Seems like Trump found a team player not afraid to get his hands dirty. Fires a guy who wouldn't drop an investigation at his request and hires a guy that seizes evidence of who knew about torture, and let Ashcroft match his story up. Yeah, this doesn't look like Trump is looking ti kill investigations at all...

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Moderate Right said:

Then what are all these massive hearings and investigations regarding Trump's campaign aides colluding with the Russians in order to influence the election if the left doesn't believe that?

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Fenton said:

Trump fired a guy that folded like a cheap suit when pressured by Lorretta Lynch to characterize a FBI investigation as a " matter " and not a investigation.

He fired a guy that kept detailed notes....only on people he didnt like or didnt agree with Politically

He fired a guy that applied the law selectively and who was profoundly corrupt and who took it upon himself to leak a memo who's content cant be corroborated by anyone but him

There is something very wrong with James Comey. Here is a grown man, ex'FBI director who is acting like a spoiled and angry child.

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Harshaw said:

I don't see a thing inappropriate in those briefings. What do you think are inappropriate about them?

Especially when your own story says they led to Ashcroft's voluntary recusal from the matter?

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The briefings raise questions about the appropriateness of Ashcroft’s involvement in the investigation, especially given his longstanding ties to Rove. Senior federal law-enforcement officials have expressed serious concerns among themselves that Ashcroft spent months overseeing the probe and receiving regular briefings regarding a criminal investigation in which the stakes were so high for the Attorney General’s personal friends, political allies, and political party. One told me, “Attorneys General and U.S. Attorneys in the past traditionally recused for far less than this.”

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ThoughtEx. said:

You say that like he immediately recused himself after the briefings, but it took him months, and in those months he made sure his friends were covered. After his buddies were in the clear he recused himself.

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