Post by robeiae on Jun 27, 2017 12:24:33 GMT -5
Did the FBI retaliate against Michael Flynn by launching Russia probe?
Here's Robyn Gritz talking to NPR back in 2015, after she had been dumped by the FBI (16 years in): www.npr.org/2015/04/15/399853577/former-fbi-agent-speaks-out-i-was-not-protected
Flynn is quoted in that story:
The Circa piece has more about McCabe's apparent antipathy towards Flynn, thought to be fair much of it is coming from anonymous sources supposedly within in the FBI (though to be fair in the other direction, anonymous sources have been good enough for everyone else). Anyway, a sample:
Personally, I think it's highly improbable that FBI big wigs would go to such lengths because they had it in for someone, that they would try to paint that someone as essentially an agent for a foreign power, if not an outright traitor. That said, my understanding--from friends in the Bureau--is that it's still very much "macho central" there. And we do know that lead Secret Service agents have been caught running personal ops using other agents. Still, could McCabe be this bad? Well, there's smoke, but no fire.
Al that said, I am struck by how badly it would seem Gritz was treated, how the FBI brass has responded to her lawsuit (as far as I know, it's not yet resolved) and the rather astounding--imo--lack of support for her from the crowd that usually sides with women making such claims as a matter of course (except when they're directed at Bill Clinton).
The FBI launched a criminal probe against former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn two years after the retired Army general roiled the bureau’s leadership by intervening on behalf of a decorated counterterrorism agent who accused now-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and other top officials of sexual discrimination, according to documents and interviews.
Flynn’s intervention on behalf of Supervisory Special Agent Robyn Gritz was highly unusual, and included a letter in 2014 on his official Pentagon stationary, a public interview in 2015 supporting Gritz’s case and an offer to testify on her behalf. His offer put him as a hostile witness in a case against McCabe, who was soaring through the bureau’s leadership ranks.
The FBI sought to block Flynn’s support for the agent, asking a federal administrative law judge in May 2014 to keep Flynn and others from becoming a witness in her Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) case, memos obtained by Circa show. Two years later, the FBI opened its inquiry of Flynn.
Flynn’s intervention on behalf of Supervisory Special Agent Robyn Gritz was highly unusual, and included a letter in 2014 on his official Pentagon stationary, a public interview in 2015 supporting Gritz’s case and an offer to testify on her behalf. His offer put him as a hostile witness in a case against McCabe, who was soaring through the bureau’s leadership ranks.
The FBI sought to block Flynn’s support for the agent, asking a federal administrative law judge in May 2014 to keep Flynn and others from becoming a witness in her Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) case, memos obtained by Circa show. Two years later, the FBI opened its inquiry of Flynn.
Here's Robyn Gritz talking to NPR back in 2015, after she had been dumped by the FBI (16 years in): www.npr.org/2015/04/15/399853577/former-fbi-agent-speaks-out-i-was-not-protected
Gritz says the FBI drummed her out of a job. All because of allegations about fraud on her time card that she says just didn't happen. The FBI also blamed her for not attending a 7:15 a.m. meeting and sending an unprofessional email to an ex-boyfriend...
That won't come soon enough for Gritz, who says she never wanted to be branded a complainer. After a decade of 24/7 work fighting terrorism, things got rough in her personal life — a hostile divorce caused in part by her work. And then, after she'd gone to work on detail to the CIA, her FBI supervisors started asking about her hours.
Gritz says she tried to resolve the problems short of a lawsuit. Plenty of male agents got away with far worse, she says, with no punishment. But she says the FBI pushed her into a corner.
"I sat there for about a year and a half ... idled, basically ignored, ostracized," she says.
Then, Gritz got a notice that the FBI intended to begin a process to fire her over the time card issues and the inappropriate email she sent.
"I had given up a marriage, I had given up 16 years of my life of anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, special events, Christmas, all of the holidays," Gritz says.
"I had dedicated my life to protecting the people of the United States ... and then I was not protected and I felt it was because I was a strong female."
That won't come soon enough for Gritz, who says she never wanted to be branded a complainer. After a decade of 24/7 work fighting terrorism, things got rough in her personal life — a hostile divorce caused in part by her work. And then, after she'd gone to work on detail to the CIA, her FBI supervisors started asking about her hours.
Gritz says she tried to resolve the problems short of a lawsuit. Plenty of male agents got away with far worse, she says, with no punishment. But she says the FBI pushed her into a corner.
"I sat there for about a year and a half ... idled, basically ignored, ostracized," she says.
Then, Gritz got a notice that the FBI intended to begin a process to fire her over the time card issues and the inappropriate email she sent.
"I had given up a marriage, I had given up 16 years of my life of anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, special events, Christmas, all of the holidays," Gritz says.
"I had dedicated my life to protecting the people of the United States ... and then I was not protected and I felt it was because I was a strong female."
Flynn is quoted in that story:
"She was one of the really, to me, bright lights and shining stars early on that just kinda got it when it came to the kind of enemy that we were facing and the relationship that was necessary between law enforcement and the military ... and I just thought she was really a real pro," Flynn says.
The Circa piece has more about McCabe's apparent antipathy towards Flynn, thought to be fair much of it is coming from anonymous sources supposedly within in the FBI (though to be fair in the other direction, anonymous sources have been good enough for everyone else). Anyway, a sample:
“As far as the troops in the field, the vast-majority were disgusted with the Russia decision, but that was McCabe driving the result that eventually led [former FBI Director James] Comey to make the decision,” said a senior federal law enforcement official, with direct knowledge of the investigation.
Personally, I think it's highly improbable that FBI big wigs would go to such lengths because they had it in for someone, that they would try to paint that someone as essentially an agent for a foreign power, if not an outright traitor. That said, my understanding--from friends in the Bureau--is that it's still very much "macho central" there. And we do know that lead Secret Service agents have been caught running personal ops using other agents. Still, could McCabe be this bad? Well, there's smoke, but no fire.
Al that said, I am struck by how badly it would seem Gritz was treated, how the FBI brass has responded to her lawsuit (as far as I know, it's not yet resolved) and the rather astounding--imo--lack of support for her from the crowd that usually sides with women making such claims as a matter of course (except when they're directed at Bill Clinton).
