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 9.
E. (redacted) Comey's Concerns about Possible Leaks of the Exfiltrated Data and Impact on the Midyear Investigation
(redacted) Comey said that even though he did not believe the information about Lynch In the two (redacted) reports, he became concerned that any emails underlying the reports would be publicly released by the Russian government as part of its "active measures" campaign, and that this would call into question the credibility of a declination announcement by Lynch. Comey said that this concern was a factor in his decision not to inform Lynch about his plan to deliver his public statement on July 5, 2016.
(redacted) In this section we provide a brief overview of the intelligence community's conclusions concerning the release of hacked emails by the Russian government beginning in mid-June 2016, focusing on information that Comey told us was relevant to his decision to make a unilateral public statement on July 5, 2016. This discussion relies heavily on the Intelligence Community Assessment of Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Election (ICA), which was issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, CIA, FBI, and NSA on December 30, 2016.
(U) Background on DCLeaks, Guccifer 2.0, and Wikileaks
(redacted) As detailed in the ICA, the intelligence community assessed with high confidence that the Russian Government conducted cyberespionage against targets associated with both major political parties as part of their efforts to "undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency." (redacted) penetrated Democratic National Committee (DNC) computer systems beginning in July 2015 and continuing through June 2016. (redacted) in March 2016, the Russian military intelligence agency, known as the General Staff Intelligence Directorate (GRU), conducted cyber intrusions into various political targets, including the DNC and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), according to (redacted) FBI reporting, and technical details of a Crowdstrike cybersecurity report.
(redacted) According to publicly available information, a cybersecurity firm hired by the DNC announced on June 14, 2016, that there had been a cyberattack on the DNC using two sets of malware associated with Russian intelligence. The next day, a blogger using the persona Guccifer 2.0 announced that he had conducted the hack, not the Russians, and posted internal DNC memoranda and opposition research on Donald Trump as purported proof that he was responsible for the DNC intrusion. In addition, beginning on June 8, 2016, a website known as DCLeaks began releasing various other documents obtained through cyber intrusions. Based on information in public sources, the initial DCLeaks release was comprised of emails from the personal Gmail account of former NATO Supreme Commander General Philip Breedlove, who communicated with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark, and others about the need for U.S. intervention in the Ukraine. These emails included Breedlove’s communications with a senior adviser to the Atlantic Council.
(redacted) The intelligence community assessed with a high degree of confidence that Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks.com published GRU-hacked data, but with moderate confidence that they were under (redacted) control because the intelligence community did not know the specific individuals responsible for creating the personas that were controlled from Russia.
(U) Role of Potential Leaks of Hacked Emails in Comey's July 5 Statement
(redacted) Comey told the OIG that Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks began "dumping" emails stolen by the Russian intelligence services in mid-June 2016. Comey stated that the FBI knew from the outset that there was a Russian connection to Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks, and that the leaks signaled that the Russians were departing from mere intelligence collection. He stated:
(redacted) [T]he Russians have been very aggressive starting in the summer 2015 hitting DNC, DCCC, and some Republican, not many, but some Republican-associated organizations. And the intelligence community assumed and the FBI agreed, that this was standard espionage, in state actors trying to find out what's going on in the civil institutions of other state actors with whom they have an [adversarial] relationship and so we thought this was business as usual.
(redacted) The dump from DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 is actually the first indication, I think I got this right, that the intelligence community gets that the Russians are doing something different...what Russians called active measures, an active measures campaign, but it is something beyond just intelligence collection. And then we get (redacted) but the first sign is, I don’t know if the date is accurate, like June 15th.
(redacted) Comey told the OIG that the Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks releases caused him to become concerned that any underlying communications between Wasserman Schultz and the individuals identified in the two (redacted) reports might leak. When asked about the role that this concern played in his decision to make a public statement announcing the conclusion of the Midyear investigation, Comey said that it was one factor impacting his decision. He stated:
(redacted) And again, not that I believe what was in them, but I could picture emails rocketing around the Internet of, I forget the organizations, but someone at the Atlantic Council saying, "I just had lunch with Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She told me Loretta Lynch is controlling Jim Comey," words to that effect and that would be, to add these things together and that starts to make it harder for the normal thing to happen.
(redacted) As described in more detail below and in Chapter Six of the unclassified report, Lynch and Yates told the OIG that Comey never informed them that information in the (redacted) reports or concerns that they would leak played a role in his decision to make a unilateral public statement on July 5, 2016.