The FBI
-
I've run out of shocked faces.
The FBI failed to properly investigate serious sex-abuse allegations against former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, according to the Justice Department’s inspector general, who also determined that FBI officials gave misleading or false answers when confronted about those failures.
The scathing report released Wednesday paints a disturbing portrait of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency being told details of what would become one of the most shocking cases of serial sex abuse in recent American history, yet failing to follow up with key witnesses or even notify other law enforcement agencies of potential crimes happening in their jurisdictions.
The report noted that according to civil court filings, about 70 women and girls were victimized by Nassar between the time when the FBI was first told of the allegations, and when Michigan officials arrested him on the basis of separate information.But wait, there's more!
The report was harshest in its assessment of Abbott, the former special agent in charge in Indianapolis, finding that he “made false statements to the OIG about the job discussion, his application for the position, and his handling of the Nassar allegations.”
Advertisement
Abbott, who retired in 2018, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The supervisory special agent working under Abbott who handled the original allegations also was sharply criticized: “[I]n an effort to minimize or excuse his errors, [he] made false statements” during interviews with the inspector general, the report said.
The Justice Department declined to prosecute either Abbott or the supervisory special agent, who is still at the FBI but has been demoted, and officials said he no longer works on FBI matters. That administrative step often comes before an agent is fired. He was not named in the report.
John Manly, a lawyer whose firm represents roughly 250 survivors of Nassar’s abuse, called the report “a devastating indictment of the FBI” that “demonstrates unequivocally that there was an effort to squash this investigation before it ever got started. . . . It shows an unbelievable callousness and indifference to these children that they knew he was still seeing.”Manly said the report also shows FBI agents lied repeatedly.
“If an ordinary American lies to the FBI, they haul them out of their house at gunpoint, and yet these agents get a pass, they even get their pension,” he said. “The message today is that it doesn’t matter if you’re an Olympic gold medalist or a little girl on the street being trafficked, you don’t matter. And if an FBI agent wants to fabricate evidence and lie about it, they’re not going to do a damn thing about it.”Why aren't these people in jail?
-
Because they aren't Trump or supporters of Trump.
The FBI just arrested a guy this week for January 6th. They spent six months identifying him, locating him and building a case.
His crime was walking into the Capitol and looking around for ten minutes.
Wonder how much money and how many man-hours were spent on what is going to boil down to mostly simple tresspass?
You have to understand what's important and what ain't. A bunch of girls getting probed by a pervert is a nothing burger...
-
This isn't about Donald Trump, it's about the corruption of the FBI.
-
@doctor-phibes said in The FBI:
This isn't about Donald Trump, it's about the corruption of the FBI.
I think Trump and his case brilliantly illuminated the corruption of the FBI. Most of you didn't give a damn. Because, Trump.
The problem with that kind of selective law enforcement and internal rot, us that eventually it's your ox being gored. Or a very important aspect of law and decent society goes by the boards. Been telling y'all this for years.
Enjoy! You now have the FBI you wanted.
-
@doctor-phibes said in The FBI:
This isn't about Donald Trump, it's about the corruption of the FBI.
I think Trump and his case brilliantly illuminated the corruption of the FBI. Most of you didn't give a damn. Because, Trump.
The problem with that kind of selective law enforcement and internal rot, us that eventually it's your ox being gored. Or a very important aspect of law and decent society goes by the boards. Been telling y'all this for years.
Enjoy! You now have the FBI you wanted.
You think this happened in 4 years? It's decades in the making.
You just didn't give a fuck until it was your guy.
-
@doctor-phibes said in The FBI:
This isn't about Donald Trump, it's about the corruption of the FBI.
I think Trump and his case brilliantly illuminated the corruption of the FBI. Most of you didn't give a damn. Because, Trump.
The problem with that kind of selective law enforcement and internal rot, us that eventually it's your ox being gored. Or a very important aspect of law and decent society goes by the boards. Been telling y'all this for years.
Enjoy! You now have the FBI you wanted.
Yep. If Trump presented any sort of "existential risk", it was the risk of normalizing the mindless destruction of his presidency, by any means necessary.
-
Your problem is you think everything is about liberals and conservatives.
Covering up police incompetence and/or corruption isn't something just liberals do.
This is about child abuse by a gymnastics coach and the Feds looking after their own.
-
@doctor-phibes said in The FBI:
Your problem is you think everything is about liberals and conservatives.
Covering up police incompetence isn't something just liberals do.
This is about child abuse by a gymnastics coach.
I think most things are about pop culture. That happens to be easily discussed in terms of politics. But as I pointed out in the thread about BLM and its odd political barnacles, sometimes politics really is incidental. If you find pop culture being overwhelmed by mindless conservative groupthink, you'll find me calling that out as mindless conservatism. But until then...
-
I think most things are about pop culture.
I'd humbly suggest that corruption and incompetence at the FBI doesn't have much to do with pop culture, either.
In fact, in this instance, one of the athletes who was abused, Simone Biles, is the very ideal held up by the current pop culture norms.
-
I think Trump and his case brilliantly illuminated the corruption of the FBI. Most of you didn't give a damn. Because, Trump.
The problem with that kind of selective law enforcement and internal rot, us that eventually it's your ox being goredBarr did nothing, even though he was aware of this in 2020.
Kevin Clinesmith, who altered evidence, wasn't prosecuted.
It's the culture, and it's deep.
-
I think Trump and his case brilliantly illuminated the corruption of the FBI. Most of you didn't give a damn. Because, Trump.
The problem with that kind of selective law enforcement and internal rot, us that eventually it's your ox being goredBarr did nothing, even though he was aware of this in 2020.
Kevin Clinesmith, who altered evidence, wasn't prosecuted.
It's the culture, and it's deep.
Cultures form over decades, not a couple of years.
-
@doctor-phibes said in The FBI:
I think Trump and his case brilliantly illuminated the corruption of the FBI. Most of you didn't give a damn. Because, Trump.
The problem with that kind of selective law enforcement and internal rot, us that eventually it's your ox being goredBarr did nothing, even though he was aware of this in 2020.
Kevin Clinesmith, who altered evidence, wasn't prosecuted.
It's the culture, and it's deep.
Cultures form over decades, not a couple of years.
Since its inception actually. Who the hell is supposed to watch over the FBI? CIA? NSA? I believe that to be congress. We get the government we deserve, I guess.
-
We get the government we deserve, I guess.
100%
If we want integrity - we have to demand integrity as citizens.
More and more we demand wins, at the expense of integrity.
Again, Trump.
Yes, a lot of this stuff has been going on for years. But if not for Trump wailing in the wilderness about the Deep State, would anybody pay any attention? Especially after it accelerated during his campaign?
You want to fix it? Then insist laws be applied equally. For BLM. For Trump. For Congress.
Ain't gonna happen. Horace is right, in his assessment.
-
We get the government we deserve, I guess.
100%
If we want integrity - we have to demand integrity as citizens.
More and more we demand wins, at the expense of integrity.
Again, Trump.
Yes, a lot of this stuff has been going on for years. But if not for Trump wailing in the wilderness about the Deep State, would anybody pay any attention? Especially after it accelerated during his campaign?
You want to fix it? Then insist laws be applied equally. For BLM. For Trump. For Congress.
Ain't gonna happen. Horace is right, in his assessment.
I was trying to be inclusive of both the left and right in my comment But, yes - Trump is a good example of this. He's overtly low-integrity (and typically you have to pay a bit more attention to spot it in politicians).
Some people see that as a good thing - "at least you know where he stands". I don't. It's a tacit acceptance that integrity matters less than winning. Pretending to be high integrity at least acknowledges that integrity > winning.
But yes - the difference between him and others is that he wears it on his sleeve a bit more proudly.
I think the left is getting Trumpier as well in temperment... and that's not a good thing.
-
If we want integrity - we have to demand integrity as citizens.
More and more we demand wins, at the expense of integrity.Which might explain things. If a citizenry is itself corrupt and/or corruptible, how concerned will they be for the honesty of their representatives?
It's a two-way street.
-
If we want integrity - we have to demand integrity as citizens.
More and more we demand wins, at the expense of integrity.Which might explain things. If a citizenry is itself corrupt and/or corruptible, how concerned will they be for the honesty of their representatives?
I think if you poll people - a lot of people would be comfortable with someone who can "get shit done" in undemocratic ways.
I'm not even saying that's an unreasonable way of thinking... but it does feel un-American to me.
-
I think if you poll people - a lot of people would be comfortable with someone who can "get shit done" in undemocratic ways.
Actually, a lot of people would be comfortable with someone who can "get shit done they agree with" in undemocratic ways.
Everybody always screams when somebody uses dodgy tactics to do stuff they don't approve of.
There's a yuge difference.