A report that FBI agents tasked with destroying the laptop computers of Clinton aide Cheryl Mills and ex-campaign staffer Heather Samuelson, as part of immunity deals made during the initial investigation of Clinton’s email server, has added to speculation that an agent mutiny is behind the FBI’s newly reopened investigation.
Bill O’Reilly, appearing Friday as a guest on his own “The O’Reilly Factor” program, weighed in on FBI Director James Comey’s surprise announcement earlier in the day, reported Breitbart.
“Well it was quite apparent you have a series of events and it is circumstantial — so much circumstantial that Comey did not want to make this indictment,” O’Reilly said. “But the big smoking gun is that Comey did not call for a grand jury. I have spoken with dozens of FBI agents to a man who have said that is highly unusual in a complicated case like this.
O’Reilly also suggested Comey’s earlier handing of the email-server investigation had nearly caused a “mutiny” in the FBI.
Reports of “dismayed and disgusted” agents and Department of Justice investigators, angry over Comey’s July 5 announcement not to recommend prosecution for Clinton, had surfaced two weeks ago. A source told Fox News, “No trial level attorney agreed, no agent working the case agreed, with the decision not to prosecute – it was a top-down decision.”
Former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova, citing FBI sources close to the investigation, called the internal dissension “a big development,” in an interview with Hotair.
“This is a big development. This means there are some great, traditional, honest people inside the FBI and DOJ who will not let this stand, said DiGenova, who still practices law in D.C.
“They know that Comey is a dirty cop and they are disgusted. Inside the bureau I had a meeting today with a senior former FBI agent who told me this exact story. That people are starting to talk. They’re calling their former friends outside the bureau asking for help. We were asked, today, to provide legal representation for people inside the bureau and we agreed to do so. And, to former agents who want to come forward to talk.
“Comey thought this was going to go away. It is not. People inside the agency are furious. They are embarrassed. They feel they are being led by a hack. But, more than that, they think he’s a crook. They think he’s fundamentally dishonest. They have no confidence in him. The bureau, inside, right now … is a mess.”
Now it appears the anger and the mess may have turned into outright resistance.
DiGenova, appearing on The David Webb Show on SiriusXM Friday night, revealed that the laptops belonging to Mills and Samuelson had not been destroyed, the Daily Caller reported.
“According to the agreement reached with the attorneys who handed over their laptops, the laptops were to be destroyed per the agreement after the testimony was given – the interviews were given – by the attorneys. The bureau and the department agreed to that,” DiGenova said.
“However the laptops, contrary to published reports, were not destroyed, and the reason is the agents who are tasked with destroying them refused to do so. And by the way, the laptops are at the FBI for inspection by Congress or federal courts.”
Indeed, DiGenova said the laptops have been subpoenaed by Congress.
“When I found out last Sunday that those laptops — by the way from somebody who is involved in the investigation by the FBI – had not been destroyed contrary to published reports, I could not believe that the Republicans had not gotten their hands on them even yet,” he said.