Trump tweets criticism of 'deep state' Justice Department, suggests it should act on Comey, Abedin
President Donald Trump renewed his criticism of the U.S. Justice Department in a tweet on Tuesday while also targeting fired FBI director James Comey and Huma Abedin, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton.
Trump’s tweet followed the redacted release last week of Abedin emails found on her husband’s computer, report Politico and the Washington Post. The State Department released the emails, some of which had contained classified information, in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch, USA Today reported.
Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018
Trump tweeted that Abedin “has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols” and wrote, “Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others.”
Most of the emails were on the computer of Abedin’s husband, Anthony Weiner, because of backups from Abedin’s personal electronic devices, the FBI has said. Abedin forwarded a few other emails to her now-estranged husband. The FBI accessed the emails in a Weiner sexting investigation.
The Daily Caller noted that an FBI report had said Abedin had forwarded work emails to her personal Yahoo email account. A partially redacted email address on some of the recently released emails appeared to be her Yahoo email address, the Daily Caller said.
One of the emails forwarded to the apparent Yahoo account included passwords for Abedin’s government laptop, according to the Daily Caller. The publication noted that a Russian intelligence agent was accused of hacking 500 million Yahoo accounts.
Trump apparently referred to the article in his tweet when he wrote that Abedin “put classified passwords into the hands of foreign agents.” He compared Abedin’s handling of the emails to a sailor whose pictures on a submarine led to jail. Trump was apparently referring to Kristian Saucier, who pleaded guilty to mishandling classified information after taking pictures in the engine room of his nuclear submarine, which was a classified area. Saucier had destroyed his laptop, memory card and camera after learning he was under investigation.
The Hill, meanwhile, is reporting that the FBI investigation of Clinton’s emails was reportedly handled by a small group at FBI headquarters rather than the relevant field office, which is the usual procedure. The information was disclosed in closed-door testimony to the House Judiciary Committee by FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, anonymous sources told the Hill.
The Hill’s Republican sources said the FBI began drafting a statement exonerating Clinton before interviewing Clinton and other key witnesses.
The sources said one draft of the statement concluded that the “sheer volume” of classified information in Clinton emails on her private server supports an inference of gross negligence. The language was later changed to indicate Clinton and her staff were “extremely careless” in handling the emails. The phrase was later used by Comey when he announced Clinton should not be charged. Comey stuck to his conclusion after reviewing the emails found on Weiner’s computer.
