Newly Declassified DOJ Watchdog Report Shows FBI Cut Corners in Clinton Email Investigation
I'm archiving "Clinton annex" here to make its text searchable. You can download the annex in PDF format via the link below:
Check my other posts for the previous parts. This is part 7.
C. (U) July 12 Meeting with Yates, Axelrod, and Carlin
(redacted) On July 12, 2016, 1 week after Comey's public statement announcing the FBI's recommendation to decline prosecution of former Secretary Clinton, McCabe and Anderson met with Yates, Axelrod, and Carlin. According to the LHM, McCabe described the relevant background information and presented the two (redacted) reports to Yates, Axelrod, and Carlin for their review. The LHM states that McCabe and Anderson walked through the basis for their assessment that the information in the reports was not credible, and that the group then discussed whether they should pursue any additional investigative steps to verify it. According to the LHM, the group unanimously agreed that no additional investigation was warranted, and that the next logical step was for the FBI to meet with Lynch to show her the (redacted) reports.
(redacted) McCabe told the OIG that he "teed up" the issue by stating that the FBI did not have confidence in the communications. McCabe said that they told Yates, Axelrod, and Carlin that they had confidence in where the documents came from (i.e., the underlying (redacted) collection), but not in the truth and veracity of the information about Lynch. He said that the group discussed that there was not an obvious way to prove or refute the information in the (redacted) reports, and that in light of this, everyone agreed that they should talk to Lynch. Anderson gave a similar account of this meeting, stating that she and McCabe sought the meeting with Yates to get her views on whether they should show the reports to Lynch.
(redacted) Yates' and Axelrod's recollections about this meeting differed from that of the FBI participants. Yates said that she recalled attending two meetings with the FBI about the (redacted) reports. She said she did not recall the date of the first meeting, but that she thought it was before Comey’s July 5 statement, and she recalled that Margolis was there.3 She said that she recalled the FBI informing her that they had picked up intelligence that Lynch was keeping someone from the Clinton campaign informed about the Midyear investigation. Yates told us that the FBI described the information to her as either "fake intel" created by Russia (redacted) as originating from a source that lacked credibility. She said that she asked whether the FBI planned to interview Wasserman Schultz or Renteria to verify or rebut the information in the reports, and she was told that they did not. Yates stated, "I just remember that they didn't come in saying, we're concerned that this is true, but rather kind of letting us know this was out there."
(redacted) Yates said that she did not recall being shown the (redacted) reports.4 Yates said that she recalled that the discussion with the FBI focused on Lynch's alleged contacts with the Clinton campaign, not on information that Lynch was attempting to influence the Midyear investigation. She said that she would have remembered if someone told her that these reports raised concerns within the FBI that Lynch was biased. As described in more detail in Section III.F below, Yates told the OIG that she was never made aware that the (redacted) reports played a role in Comey's decision to issue his July 5 statement.
(redacted) Axelrod described the meeting with the FBI as a defensive briefing. He said he recalled that McCabe and Anderson either showed them an email or orally described an intercepted communication suggesting that Lynch had "put her thumb on the scale" to influence the Midyear investigation. Axelrod told the OIG that McCabe and Anderson presented the information as lacking credibility, and that he left the meeting with the impression that it was a "nothingburger." After reviewing the two (redacted) reports and being asked whether these were the documents that he was shown by the FBI, Axelrod stated, "I've never seen either one of these documents before." He acknowledged that it was possible that he had seen the reports and simply did not remember them but said that that would surprise him. Axelrod stated that he did not believe the substance of the (redacted) reports, but that "[t]hese [reports] are different from [a nothingburger]. And so, my reaction had I seen these would be different than what I learned in that meeting."
(redacted) Carlin told the OIG that he did not specifically recall the July 12 meeting with the FBI, nor did he recall whether he was shown the two (redacted) reports. He said that he did remember speaking to McCabe and Toscas about the general topic. Carlin said that his recollection was that there were reasons to doubt the veracity of the information in the reports, including that they did not think the people identified in them would have been in a position to know about contacts between Lynch and a member of the Clinton campaign, and that they were skeptical that Lynch even knew Renteria.
(redacted) In addition, Carlin said that they know from experience that Russian (redacted) often "puff" or exaggerate the significance of what they are doing in communications they send to their superiors. Carlin stated that there was specific content in the two (redacted) reports that did not have the ring of truth. Carlin said that the FBI had firsthand knowledge of certain information in the two (redacted) reports and did not find it credible, including the statement that Comey was leaning toward the Republicans and planned to prolong the investigation to hurt the Democratic Party. He said that they assessed that this undermined the credibility of the remaining information in the reports.
3 (redacted) Yates recalled that Margolis told a story about being accused of wrongdoing as a young prosecutor, which she said he used to illustrate the point that Lynch needed to be informed about the (redacted) reports. The LHM states that Margolis was hospitalized on the day of the July 12, 2016 meeting involving Yates, and he died that same day.
4 After reviewing a draft of this classified appendix, Anderson told the OIG that she and McCabe showed copies of the two (redacted) reports to Department leadership during the meetings held on July 12 and August 10, 2016. She stated that during these meetings, she and McCabe outlined the history of T1, the context in which the reports were obtained, the substance of the reports, and the FBI's assessment of them. As we describe in Section III.D below, Lynch also told the OIG that she did not recall being shown copies of the (redacted) reports.