{"id":91724,"date":"2017-12-22T22:26:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-23T02:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=91724"},"modified":"2017-12-22T22:26:14","modified_gmt":"2017-12-23T02:26:14","slug":"fbi-fires-suspected-leaker-and-comey-ally-james-baker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=91724","title":{"rendered":"FBI Fires Suspected Leaker And Comey Ally James Baker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n<p>Just hours after FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe delivered private testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, his boss, FBI Director Christopher Wray, announced that the bureau\u2019s top lawyer would be leaving his post, an attempt to bring in \u201cnew blood\u201d to an agency whose reputation has been hopelessly compromised by revelations that agents\u2019 partisan bias may have influenced two high-profile investigations involving President Donald Trump and his former campaign rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n<p>As the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/fbis-top-lawyer-said-to-be-reassigned\/2017\/12\/21\/2ac76640-e6b5-11e7-833f-155031558ff4_story.html?utm_term=.77b836b91e76\">Washington Post<\/a>\u00a0reported, the FBI\u2019s top lawyer, James Baker, is being reassigned.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/fbis-top-lawyer-said-to-be-reassigned\/2017\/12\/21\/2ac76640-e6b5-11e7-833f-155031558ff4_story.html?utm_term=.77b836b91e76\">WaPo\u00a0<\/a>says Baker\u2019s removal is part of Wray\u2019s effort to assemble his own team of senior advisers while he tries to defuse allegations of partisanship that have plagued the bureau in recent months.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/user245717\/imageroot\/2017\/12\/13\/2017.12.22baker.JPG\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/user245717\/imageroot\/2017\/12\/13\/2017.12.22baker_0.JPG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>James Baker<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But reports published over the summer said Baker was \u201cthe top suspect\u201d in an interagency leak investigation, as\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2017-07-28\/fbi-general-counsel-comeys-right-hand-man-reportedly-under-investigation-leaks-mains\">we reported back in July<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"quote_start\">\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"quote_end\">\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Three sources, with knowledge of the investigation,\u00a0<u><strong>told Circa that Baker is the top suspect in an ongoing leak investigation,<\/strong><\/u>\u00a0but Circa has not been able to confirm the details of what national security information or material was allegedly leaked.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>A federal law enforcement official with knowledge of ongoing internal investigations in the bureau told Circa,\u00a0<u>&#8220;the bureau is scouring for leakers and there&#8217;s been a lot of investigations.&#8221;<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The revelation comes as the Trump administration has ramped up efforts to contain leaks both within the White House and within its own national security apparatus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The news of the staff shakeup comes as Trump and his political allies have promised to \u201crebuild\u201d the FBI to make it \u201cbigger and better than ever\u201d following its \u201cdisgraceful\u201d conduct over the Trump probe<strong>. Baker played a key role in the agency\u2019s handling of major cases and policy debates in recent years, including the FBI\u2019s unsuccessful battle with Apple over the growing use of encryption in cellphones.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/video\/embed?id=51813146\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/\">ABC Breaking News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Video\">Latest News Videos<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wray has, of course, resisted Congress\u2019s push to learn more about senior agent Peter Strzok, who was a key player in both the Clinton investigation and the Trump probe. Strzok was exposed last month for exchanging anti-Trump texts with FBI attorney Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair.\u00a0<strong>Strzok played important roles with both investigations. Later, it was revealed that his edits to Clinton\u2019s exoneration letter went further than had been previously disclosed.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/fbis-top-lawyer-said-to-be-reassigned\/2017\/12\/21\/2ac76640-e6b5-11e7-833f-155031558ff4_story.html?utm_term=.77b836b91e76\">WaPo<\/a>,\u00a0<strong>Baker told colleagues he will be taking on other duties at the FBI. Unsurprisingly, the Jeff Bezos-owned paper describes Baker as \u201cone of the most trusted, longest-serving national security officials in the US. He has served as the head of the FBI\u2019s Office of General Counsel for several years.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of course, WaPo says Baker\u2019s reassignment has nothing to do with the leak investigation, which ended without any publicly disclosed findings. It\u2019s also unclear what, exactly, Baker was suspected of leaking.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Baker is reportedly a very close to former FBI director James B. Comey,<\/strong>\u00a0who asked Baker to be his general counsel.\u00a0<strong>The two men were colleagues at the Justice Department and when they were out of government at Bridgewater Associates, an investment management firm.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s notable that Baker\u2019s departure comes six months after the leaking scandal, and just days after AG Jeff Sessions reportedly asked DOJ prosecutors to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2017-12-15\/fbi-edits-clinton-exoneration-go-far-beyond-what-was-previously-known-comey-mccabe-s\">begin asking FBI agents about the details\u00a0<\/a>of the Uranium One investigation. A sign that the bureau is finally moving to address concerns expressed by Republican lawmakers about bias that may have favored Clinton.<\/p>\n<p>Baker\u2019s head is the third to roll in the \u201chousecleaning\u201d that saw the FBI sanction Strzok and Bruce Ohr, a senior DOJ official who reportedly concealed his wife\u2019s ties to opposition research firm Fusion GPS \u2013 the firm that supervised the creation of the infamous \u201cTrump dossier.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It was also revealed recently that Baker\u2019s name is on a list of DOJ officials who are expected to receive a subpoena to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. Strzok and Ohr\u2019s names are also on that list.<\/p>\n<p>If that\u2019s any indication of what\u2019s to come, we doubt this will be the last time we hear Baker\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2017-12-22\/fbi-fires-suspected-leaker-and-comey-ally-james-baker\">http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2017-12-22\/fbi-fires-suspected-leaker-and-comey-ally-james-baker<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ZeroHedge.com Just hours after FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe delivered private testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, his boss, FBI Director Christopher Wray, announced that the bureau\u2019s top lawyer would be leaving his post, an attempt to bring in \u201cnew &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=91724\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}