On the heels of a scathing rebuke from the Justice Department inspector general finding former FBI director James Comey leaked government documents to pursue a personal agenda against President Trump comes a lawsuit seeking information the feds have about “spies” Comey deployed at the White House.
IG Michael Horowitz’s report said Comey leaked notes of his private conversations with Trump to the New York Times through a friend “in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.”
Now, the American Center for Law and Justice is filing a lawsuit to obtain documents from the FBI regarding Comey’s alleged planting of operatives in the White House to spy on the president and report back to him.
“Last month, we sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the FBI and other offices of the Department of Justice (DOJ) so we could determine for ourselves what Comey and his circle of corruption had done in their efforts to spy on the Trump administration,” ACLJ said Wednesday.
“The deadline for the FBI to comply with the FOIA has now passed and it has not complied. Today, we are filing a federal lawsuit against the FBI in Washington, D.C. If these Deep State agencies will not comply with the law until a federal court forces them to, then we’ll keep filing federal lawsuits and taking them to court.”
ACLJ said it sounds like “a Hollywood movie.”
Comey, the organization said, conducted his own “covert operation} against Trump by inserting FBI agents in the White House “to secretly collect information and report back to Comey’s office on the president and his administration.”
It’s becoming clearer, ACLJ said, that Comey was part of an organized “deep state” effort to overturn the legitimate election of a U.S. president.
“Here’s what’s at stake: this is how a Constitutional Republic responds when this kind of corruption and bad behavior is taking place. The ACLJ is taking action to expose this and see that those involved are held accountable for putting the security of our nation at risk for their personal agendas.”
ACLJ’s request is for records and other documents concerning the time Comey’s agents were in the White House.
“We are also demanding records related to this spying effort and what we call Comey’s circle of corruption. These are Comey’s closest advisors including: FBI General Counsel James Baker; Deputy Director/Acting Director Andrew McCabe; Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, McCabe’s deputy counsel, Lisa Page; and Comey’s chief of staff, James Rybicki, David Bowdich (director’s office – DO), Michael Steinbach (director’s office – DO), Trisha Anderson (OGC), E.W. Bill Priestap (Counterintelligence Division – CD), and Jonathan Moffa (Counterintelligence Division – CD).”
ACLJ also alleges “that the FBI operates under a pattern or practice of unlawfully ignoring FOIA requests until the requestor takes legal action.”
“We will give the court an opportunity to reign in this bureaucratic abuse – the type of abuse, unfortunately, contributing to the FBI’s bad reputation.”
“Comey may have betrayed the trust of the American people and think he got away with it, but today we are doing something about it. The American people deserve the truth. We deserve justice. We will keep you informed as our lawsuit progresses,” the organization said.
The complaint notes: “As of the date of this complaint, the FBI has failed to produce any records responsive to the request, indicate when (or even whether) any responsive records will be produced, or demonstrate that responsive records are exempt from production.”
After the Horowitz report was released, Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said, “This report confirms that James Comey violated the FBI’s own standards of conduct and was dishonest about how he handled classified material.
“This further cements the need for us to get to the root of how the Russia investigation began. It’s time to restore Americans’ confidence that federal law enforcement is committed to justice and free from political gamesmanship.”
The memos Comey released were of his discussions with the president about the Trump-Russia collusion claims by the Obama administration, which have now been debunked.
Comey said his aim was to trigger a special counsel investigation. Robert Mueller soon was appointed to that task, and after two years he concluded there was no conspiracy with Russia to affect the 2016 election.
Now, federal investigators are reviewing how the Obama counter-intelligence investigation that preceded the Mueller probe was launched and whether charges should be brought.
The White House’s reaction to Horowitz’ report was succinct.
“James Comey is a proven liar and leaker. The Inspector General’s report shows Comey violated the most basic obligations of confidentiality that he owed to the United States Government and to the American people, ‘in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.’ Because Comey shamefully leaked information to the press—in blatant violation of FBI policies—the Nation was forced to endure the baseless politically motivated, two-year witch hunt. Comey disgraced himself and his office to further a personal political agenda, and this report further confirms that fact.”
