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Former FBI general counsel Jim Baker defends form of disclosure to FISA Court about political origins of Steele dossier info. Says full page footnote was a red light to judges familiar with wiretap applications and not specifically naming funder is standard minimization practice.
Baker: “There was no attempted coup.” Says he has gone to the mat in his career to stop things he thought were wrong (true - stopping Cheney from hiding origins of Stellarwind info from FISA court) and he would not have tolerated even talk of such a thing.
Baker says period between Clinton email investigation until he left FBI was crazy, traumatic, hard experience. But they perceived a threat to the country from Russia that needed to be addressed, and an effort to interfere with its ability to deal with the Russians.
Baker says Vol 1 of Mueller report shows Russians were being quite aggressive. All the contacts shows How trying to see what they could manipulate Trump campaign figures into doing. At end of day evidence didn’t prove criminal intent by any Americans, but needed investigating.
Baker says Vol 2 shows a pattern of conduct that should be unacceptable in America.
Baker says inspector general process not fun but necessary. Possible IG will find some problem he did not know about, but he is confident in his own judgments based on info he had at the time
Baker says opening of investigation into Trump after Comey firing was undertaken with supervision of acting attorney general and swiftly briefed to congressional leaders, rejects any analogy to Hoover era FBI as inaccurate in light of that.
Baker says being attacked by name by Trump with words like coup, liar, treason was terrible, out of body experience, extremely unnerving. People wouldn’t hire him, told him he was qualified and they liked him but he was too controversial.
Says the Strzok-Page texts shocked and saddened him. Says they know their conduct was a mistake that harmed the FBI, themselves, and their families. They are human beings, pleads for approaching them with “a little humanity,” if not for them then for their innocent families.
Earlier Baker had talked about his own lack of rancor toward Trump, his family, his supporters. He said hating them would dishonor the country and only help Putin.
