1. I want to throw in my two cents on the conversion of the Barr-Durham inquiry on the origins of the investigation against @Potus. This is based on my own experience working on the Public Corruption squad in Los Angeles.
@POTUS 2. Even though there are numerous felonies involved, the umbrella that would apply to the investigation as far as the Attorney General Guidelines are concerned is “Public Corruption”, because the targets of the inquiry are public employees and/or political appointees.
@POTUS 4. I keep hearing a reading that the DOJ investigations changed from an “inquiry” to a “criminal investigation”. I think that's a misnomer. What I believe it was, based on my experience and the AG Guidelines, as well as the FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG)
@POTUS 5. , a preliminary inquiry (PI) into criminal allegations. The purpose of the PI is to determine if there is anything that corroborates the allegation.
@POTUS 6. In political cases, this is very important. I remember the reasoning for the PI in the old MIOG (the manual that governed us when I was in the FBI) where the target was a politician was to ensure
@POTUS 7. that the allegation was not made on purely political grounds by a political opponent or proxy thereof. Back in my day, the only domestic criminal cases that required a PI were these type of public corruption cases.
@POTUS 8. The PI needs to come up with some sort of information to validate the opening of what we called a ‘full field investigation”. We had 90 days to do that, with limited extensions if we could justify the need.
@POTUS 9. Usually an extension would be granted if the Agent was awaiting the return of outstanding subpoenaed documents, such as bank records and phone records.
@POTUS 10. (If anyone who has been following me for a while, you may recall my numerous questions as to why Mueller was not following the AG Guidelines.)
@POTUS 11.That brings me to another misnomer I hear a lot—the idea that only after the case has been declared a criminal investigation can the FGJ be utilized. The PI is a criminal investigation. The limit is in the allowable investigative techniques.
@POTUS 12. But FGJ subpoenas for bank and phone records are not prohibited. Wire taps, undercover operations, and mail covers are among things that are not allowed.
@POTUS 13. There are several FGJs empaneled at any given time for the purpose of issuing these sorts of subpoenas, as well as hearing indictment testimony on lesser cases. Only in special instances is an FGJ empaneled for a specific case.
@POTUS 14. Personally, I think Durham and Barr went to Italy to obtain the blackberry phones that they already knew about through phone toll subpoenas. Otherwise, how would they know to ask for them, and WHO to ask?
@POTUS 15. And they probably had a lot more information to justify the conversion of the PI into a full investigation.
Anyway, these are my thoughts. I've been retired for 9 years, so maybe things have changed. But I doubt it'd be much.
Anyway, these are my thoughts. I've been retired for 9 years, so maybe things have changed. But I doubt it'd be much.
