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Justice IG: The FBI Lies When It Cries
Officials lied to reporters when they said the FBI suspected a nonprofit group held for months inappropriate emails between Mark Foley and a former teenage page, before turning them over to investigators, according to a new report.
At the height of the Foley scandal this summer, quotes from anonymous "law enforcement" officials surfaced in news accounts alleging that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) had first received copies of the infamous Foley emails in April 2006, but did not turn them over to the FBI until July.
But a new report from the Justice Department's internal watchdog confirms that was not the case. In fact, "the e-mails were provided to CREW in July 2006, not April, and CREW sent them to the FBI within days of receiving them," the office of Justice Inspector General Glenn A. Fine reported.
Unfortunately, "we do not know who may have supplied the media with this inaccurate information," Fine's report stated. (You can find the full report here.)
CREW had disputed the allegation from the day it was made. "They're making it up. There's no question about it," CREW spokeswoman Naomi Seligman-Steiner told TPMmuckraker October 6, the day the Washington Post's Dan Eggen reported that the FBI believed CREW had sat on the emails for months, according to a "law enforcement official -- speaking on condition of anonymity."
Fine's office concluded that the FBI's decision not to investigate the emails was not "misconduct," but "should have raised enough concerns to warrant some action." At the very least, the report concludes, agents should have notified the House Page program.
Politics were not an issue in the FBI's decisionmaking process, Fine's report said.
Comments (47)
Jay wrote on January 22, 2007 2:08 PM:Has anyone asked Dan Eggen at the Washington Post for a comment or his thoughts about the "anonymous law enforcement officials" who appear to have lied to him? They were sufficiently trustworthy to quote then, is that the case now? Has he been in contact with them to find out what happened, and if so, did they give any explanation for giving him what now appears to have been false information? Will he ever quote those officials again?
Richard L. Adlof wrote on January 22, 2007 2:30 PM:Go Melanie Sloane!
Crust wrote on January 22, 2007 2:35 PM:Great questions, Jay. Those are great questions to as Deborah Howell (ombudsman@washpost.com) also.
Crust wrote on January 22, 2007 2:36 PM:as -> ask in above comment
cminmd wrote on January 22, 2007 2:42 PM:I remember Rush Limbaugh (I believe) making a big deal about credibility- who would America believe this group of Soros funded left wing pinkos or the good old US Government. Should I be waiting by my radio for his appology?
Pinson wrote on January 22, 2007 3:00 PM:Eggen definitely needs to burn his source publicly, or explain why he willingly passed this crap along to his readers.
ulla wrote on January 22, 2007 3:07 PM:This all including the John Edwards smearing is pure Karl Rove and his wanna-be's in action: Throw a big, fat lie to the front pages of the MSM, the public will remember your message.
parrot wrote on January 22, 2007 3:14 PM:If , somehow later on, you are proven to be a liar, ignore it (people are forgetfull) or if you cannot avoid it give a complicated and confusing explanation, blaming the democrats, on page 23 ( who reads page 23?).
Another weird thing about the FBI is...have you ever tried to report any sort of email pornography info to the FBI? They send you to some NGO site that for some reason is supposed to be fielding this stuff. Why is that? Why can't the FBI directly take this sort of information and actually process it immediately? I thought that was their job, not some NGO...I sure do hope that the 110th looks into that little squibb in the countries attempt to fight child predators, etc.
Also, I agree. Someone should be getting Eggan to say something about this anonymous source he put into what once was one of this countries best newspapers. And, also, basically, editorial staff is also responsible. In theory, the Post's editorial staff should be in the loop to verify anonymous sources are trustworthy...like had been done so long ago when the Washington Post was a great newspaper.
DallasNE wrote on January 22, 2007 3:26 PM:The FBI has become too political. Everything seems to be filtered through a political prism.
The FBI has now been criticized for their inaction in the Foley scandal, and rightly so.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16756038/
Compare and contrast that with how they zealously pursued every rumor about the Clinton’s while they were in office. The FBI has basically become the law enforcement arm of the Republican Party.
Is it time for the FBI Director to be selected by a bi-partisan Commission set up for the purpose of vetting potential candidates that then are submitted to the President where he/she can select from the list but only from the list. Since the days of Watergate we have witnessed one Director after another that lacked independent judgement and ended up being an embarrassement to the department. (L. Patrick Grey even destroyed evidence by dumping it in the Potomic River.) Even the mishandling of 9/11 related data from the field offices in both Minneapolis and Phoenix are
entwined in the political takeover of the FBI directorship.
After 35 years of failure Isn’t it about time to fix the problem?
BA wrote on January 22, 2007 3:49 PM:Journalist rule for unnamed sources who request off the record treatement: OK to go off record if 1) you're not breaking the law in telling me; and 2) you're telling the truth.
Break one of those, and you're outted.
ulla wrote on January 22, 2007 3:52 PM:Justin Rood,
della Rovere wrote on January 22, 2007 4:38 PM:I cannot get the TPMmuckcracker comment in the upper-right -hand corner to work so I'm using this forum to bring my condolences to the TPM family .
I have been your fan since your day one and never have you let me down.
Now as far as ABC,,,,,,, what is going on in there?
They are hiring a real investigative reporter!?!
And for that I will have to start to read the Blotter.
And I thank the powers to be that you will be known to a larger audience.
May the force be with you!
So presumably the FBI is busy now investigating which high law enforcement official (presumably at the FBI) gave out false information in the midst of an election period.
della Rovere wrote on January 22, 2007 4:40 PM:I agree with DallasNE, the FBI has become the police arm of the Republican Party.
sr wrote on January 22, 2007 5:30 PM:So, will Dan Eggen now reveal the source of his lyin' leak?
Dirk wrote on January 22, 2007 6:31 PM:There is a flaw in the fact-checking system. Sometimes the only source materials are the notes provided by the reporter.
jan wrote on January 23, 2007 1:48 PM:Just goes to show: you go to prison for lying to the FBI, but for the FBI lying to you? Perfectly legal, with apologies.
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