Department of Justice declined to prosecute high-ranking FBI leaker

  We are still waiting for the Inspector General report which we were told was due out in May, but we are learning from this story that the Department of Justice declined to prosecute a high-ranking official who was leaking to the press and accepting illegal gifts. Here is more:

The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice says that the department declined to prosecute a deputy assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who made an illegal leak to the media.

In announcing that DOJ had declined to prosecuted this unnamed high-ranking FBI official, the inspector general also said that the case in question had been referenced in the IG’s earlier report on the FBI’s activities leading up to the 2016 election.

  Let me stop right there just to point out that the phrase “an illegal leak to the media” might be just a tad misleading and might downplay the severity of the alleged abuse as we shall see. Okay, back to the story:

“The OIG investigation,” said a summary released by the OIG, “concluded that the DAD engaged in misconduct when the DAD: (1) disclosed to the media the existence of information that had been filed under seal in federal court, in violation of 18 USC 401, Contempt of Court; (2) provided without authorization FBI law enforcement sensitive information to reporters on multiple occasions; and (3) had dozens of official contacts with the media without authorization, in violation of FBI policy.”

“This matter,” said the OIG summary, “is among the OIG investigations referenced on page 430 of the OIG’s Review of Allegations Regarding Various Actions by the Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Advance of the 2016 Election 

“The OIG also found that the DAD engaged in misconduct when the DAD accepted a ticket, valued at approximately $225, to attend a media-sponsored dinner, as a gift from a member of the media, in violation of federal regulations and FBI policy,” said the summary.

“Prosecution was declined,” said the summary.

And more:

“We have profound concerns about the volume and extent of unauthorized media contacts by FBI personnel that we have uncovered in our review,” the OIG said on page 429 in that subsection of its report on FBI activity before the election.

“In addition to the significant number of communications between FB employees and journalists, we identified social interactions between FBI employees and journalists that were, at a minimum, inconsistent with FBI policy and Department ethics rules,” it said on page 430 of that OIG report.

“For example,” it said, “we identified instances where FBI employees received tickets to sporting events from journalists, went on golfing outing with media representatives, were treated to drinks and meals after work by reporters, and were the guests of journalists at nonpublic social events.”

“We do not believe the problem is with the FBI’s policy, which we found to be clear and unambiguous,” said page 430 of that OIG report. “Rather, we concluded that these leaks highlight the need to change what appears to be a cultural attitude.”

  But despite all of this the Department of Justice decided not to prosecute, leading one to believe they were not all that upset (and probably not surprised) at this “cultural attitude” within the FBI.

  And to top it off it is now believed that the unnamed high-ranking official is none other than Peter Strzok. We have now come full circle…

malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium