In a Monday interview, Wray told ABC News the report had good and bad parts for his agency.

Wray admitted there were “actions described in this report that I considered unacceptable and unrepresentative of who we are as an institution.”

Wray also said it was “important that the inspector general found that, in this particular instance, the investigation was opened with appropriate predication and authorization.”

When asked if he thought the FBI unfairly targeted Trump’s campaign in 2016, Wray answered, “I do not.”

Wray also cringed at words like “deep state” to describe the FBI.

“I think that’s the kind of label that’s a disservice to the men and women who work at the FBI who I think tackle their jobs with professionalism, with rigor, with objectivity, with courage,” Wray said. “So that’s not a term I would ever use to describe our workforce and I think it’s an affront to them.”

Former FBI Director James Comey said the report vindicated the FBI, while others said the opposite.

So it was all lies. No treason. No spying on the campaign. No tapping Trumps wires. It was just good people trying to protect America. https://t.co/9nurCaIBq2

— James Comey (@Comey) December 9, 2019

And guess what? A lot of them are still working at the FBI and Wray is defending them. https://t.co/R0YJmc22DU

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) December 9, 2019

Wray responded to the report with a letter to Horowitz in which he said the FBI would fix issues Horowitz cited.

“I have ordered more than 40 corrective steps to address the Report’s recommendations. Because our credibility and brand are central to fulfilling our mission, we are also making improvements beyond those recommended by the OIG. And where certain individuals have been referred by the OIG for review of their conduct, the FBI will not hesitate to take appropriate disciplinary action if warranted at the completion of the required procedures for disciplinary review,” he wrote.

Attorney General William Barr on Monday released a statement that was critical of the FBI but expressed support for Wray.

The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken. It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory,” Barr said.

“Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration. In the rush to obtain and maintain FISA surveillance of Trump campaign associates, FBI officials misled the FISA court, omitted critical exculpatory facts from their filings, and suppressed or ignored information negating the reliability of their principal source.

“No one is more dismayed about the handling of these FISA applications than Director Wray. I have full confidence in Director Wray and his team at the FBI, as well as the thousands of dedicated line agents who work tirelessly to protect our country. I thank the Director for the comprehensive set of proposed reforms he is announcing today, and I look forward to working with him to implement these and any other appropriate measures,” Barr said in his statement.

Karnal wrote on Dec 11^th, 2019 at 8:26am:


many blessings

please explain your objection to the sentiments from Bob Barr here , @ 2:26

Horowitz Report - Coverup!!, 2856

this is your issue beloved , you are lazy and keep rambling off the track concerning fact and truth ,

so lets see if you can keep up maam ..

CHECK OUT 5:05 AND YOU WILL LEARN WHAT DURHAM IS ABOUT TO DO ..

Karnal wrote on Dec 11^th, 2019 at 9:14am:


if you do not view and respond to the facts presented , you will be ignored as a spammer

savvy maam ?

Tom Fitton: Judicial Watch Obtains NEW FBI Docs Revealing Clinton Email Cover-Up!

it_is_the_light wrote on Dec 12^th, 2019 at 2:13am:


You know what else the report says, the investigation started 3 months prior to Steele.  It was happening with or without him, based on the admitted conduct of members of Trump's team.

The report debunks nearly all of your conspiracy theories, that's why you're painting it as a cover up now.  More conspiracy...

Just accept that Q was wrong, again, Trump and the rest of his team were wrong, again.

Yes there is reform needed in the FISA courts but that's up to the current Government, who are practically at the end of their term and they've done nothing.  When Trump and the Republicans had full control of all level of Government, nothing.

I agree that reform is needed to protect the privacy of regular Americans.  It is trivially easy for security agencies and government officials to get approval for prevalence under the current system.

It needs reform, but it seems like it will have to wait for the Dems to get back into power because Trump won't be doing anything about it.  He wants to use it himself it seems...

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2002-09-17-0209170036-story.html

FORMER FBI AGENT GOES TO PRISON

EDMUND H. MAHONY; Courant Staff Writer
THE HARTFORD COURANT

A former FBI agent once thought to be among the country's top fighters of organized crime was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for joining forces with murderous informants who used his protection to build one of the region's most powerful criminal gangs.

The sentence imposed on John J. Connolly Jr. -- 10 years and one month -- was the maximum allowed under applicable federal criminal sentencing rules. It marked the personal disintegration of Connolly, 62, as an ostensible mob buster and the failure of a vaunted FBI program designed to recruit top gangsters in its fight against the Mafia.

Connolly's sullen demeanor Monday before U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro contrasted with the swagger he showed during 20 years as an FBI agent. He spent most of his career in Boston, where he was known for expensive suits, a flashy pinkie ring and unusual access to the city's most influential elected officers.

"Is there anything you would like to say?" Tauro asked, before imposing sentence. Connolly had been staring at the surface of a table he shared with his lawyer in the city's opulent new federal courthouse.

"I have no comment, your honor," Connolly replied.


A burly courtroom security officer then tapped the back of Connolly's seat and pushed him toward the cells in the bowels of the building. Connolly disappeared through a restricted door, not unlike the dozens of courtroom doors through which the targets of his investigations have exited over the years. He wore a pained look on his face as he blew a kiss to his wife. She sat stunned in the gallery with his brother and sister.

"The conduct of John Connolly, as shown by the evidence at trial, was appalling," Boston's U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said later. "The effects have been grave and widespread. The most appalling cost has been loss of life."

Charles Prouty, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, said Monday that Connolly's crimes have resulted in an overhaul of bureau policy regarding the handling of confidential informants. He said he hoped Connolly's incarceration marks the "beginning of the end" of a sad chapter in FBI history.

A jury convicted Connolly in May of racketeering, bribery and obstruction of justice. The trial followed an extraordinary five-year investigation, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney John H. Durham of New Haven, that put Connolly at the center of a corrupt FBI operation in Boston.

The investigation started a continuing congressional examination of the FBI and it revealed that Connolly and other local agents, in a pattern of behavior that reached back to the 1960s, took extraordinary steps to protect their gangster-informants. That behavior included ignoring murder and other crimes and standing mute while innocent men were imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.

By the 1980s, FBI headquarters was touting Connolly as the star of its Top Echelon informant program, under which agents were encouraged to recruit top gangsters as allies against the Italian Mafia. Connolly's star informants were Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi and James "Whitey" Bulger, an accused multiple murderer with whom Connolly grew up in one of South Boston's public housing projects.

In his reports to the bureau, Connolly described Bulger and Flemmi as relatively minor criminals who provided invaluable information about bureau targets such as Genaro Angiulo, once the underboss of greater Boston for the Patriarca crime family.

But evidence uncovered since 1995 -- by investigators not affiliated with the Boston FBI office -- convinced jurors that Connolly had been co-opted by Bulger's and Flemmi's Winter Hill Gang. That evidence suggested that Bulger and Flemmi informed when it helped put their rivals for the city's rackets out of business. What's more, evidence showed that Connolly ignored the gang's murders, extortion and drug-dealing and channeled bribe money from the gang to others in law enforcement.

Under Connolly's protection, the Winter Hill Gang became increasingly audacious. Two gang members testified that Bulger and Flemmi ordered the murders of former World Jai Alai owner Roger Wheeler Sr. and two potential witnesses to hide the gang's penetration of the jai alai industry. A Winter Hill gangster, testifying at Connolly's trial, implicated him in the jai alai murders, but the jury acquitted Connolly of those charges.

One of the questions left hanging by Connolly's removal to federal prison is whether the far-reaching investigation of law enforcement corruption is now concluded. A retired Massachusetts state police lieutenant and a Boston police officer -- Flemmi's brother -- have been charged.

But Durham, Sullivan and other law enforcement authorities would not say conclusively whether still more police or FBI officials would be charged.

Their answers suggest they may not be able to build additional cases because the statute of limitations on applicable crimes may have expired.

"We are going to follow whatever leads we have to their logical conclusions," Durham said. "If we find crimes, we will charge them."