After an internal audit revealed agents flouting the rules during investigations involving politicians, candidates, religious groups, the news media, and others, House lawmakers demanded answers regarding the FBI’s operations on Tuesday.
The audit, according to the Washington Times, covers the period from January 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019. Although no names were included in the audit report, domestic public officials were implicated in 191 of the 353 cases.
Yahoo News reported:
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., contends Democrats have a stake in digging for more details about the FBI breaking its own rules to probe elected officials, political candidates, religious organizations and the news media.
The FBI conducted an internal audit, a highly redacted version of which came to light earlier this month, that found 747 “compliance errors” across 353 separate cases in the category of “sensitive investigative matters.” The bureau acknowledged the 2019 audit findings were “unacceptable.”
While the FBI has faced increased scrutiny in recent years for alleged politicized investigations into former President Donald Trump, the problems apparently are much broader and likely go beyond the report, said Biggs, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
“It possibly includes information about the surveillance of candidate Trump and later President Trump. But this is almost 750 compliance problems in 350 cases,” Biggs told Fox News. “The next step is to call on the committee to have a hearing on this. If I was in the majority, I would want to get to the bottom of this. I suspect this conduct goes back for multiple administrations and has been an ongoing problem affecting members of both parties.”
Biggs, along with ranking members of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote a letter requesting an underacted copy of the audit to the FBI Director Christopher Wray on March 21.
The letter read:
“This internal audit and the staggering number of errors it found to suggest a pattern of misconduct and mismanagement within the FBI in failing to uphold internal rules for its most sensitive cases. This internal review documented systemic FBI failures to follow its own rules and procedures.”
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) March 22, 2022
Jordan said in a Fox News interview:
“This is the Federal Bureau of Investigation, part of the Justice Department, not following their own rules.”
“And oh, by the way, I didn’t even mention that just a few months ago we had a whistleblower come forward, and he had talked about an email he received from the FBI, went out to FBI agents across the country that said ‘Put this label on moms and dads’ … this whole domestic terrorism concern that Merrick Garland said wasn’t happening but sure looks like it is. This is the same agency.”
Jordan added, “When you put all this together, this is why we are concerned, and we want to see that audit in its unredacted form.”
The FBI has reportedly said it conducted the 2019 audit because it “takes compliance very seriously, especially when it comes to sensitive investigative matters.”
“While the number of deviations from FBI approval, notification, and administrative requirements noted in the report is unacceptable, we began implementing important changes in training and raising awareness even prior to issuance of the report, and we remain committed to ensuring all personnel adhere to our internal investigative and operational guidelines,” the FBI told Newsweek.
Read it here: Media.washtimes
Sources: Westernjournal, Foxnews, Washingtontimes, Republicans-judiciary.house.gov
