The mainstream media barely handled the alleged guilty plea of former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith because it did not fit her story, said Trey Gowdy, former chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Monday.
Gowdy, a Fox News correspondent, told Fox & Friends on Monday that former FBI Director James Comey, the Democrats and the DC media are belittling us because we were looking for FISA. [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] abuse. “
‘They annoyed us and looked down [Justice Department Inspector General] “Michael Horowitz finds two dozen copies of abuse and now we have a charge and an alleged guilty plea, so that’s why they did not deal with it,” Gowdy continued.
Gowdy made the remarks three days after two sources told Fox News Clinesmith would plead guilty to making a false statement in the first criminal case that emerged from U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review of the investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
Clinesmith was referred for potential prosecution by the Office of the Office of the Inspector General of Justice, which conducted its own review of the Russia investigation.
Specifically, Inspector General Clinesmith accused, albeit not by name, of exchanging an email about former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page saying he was “no source” for another government agency. Page said he was a source for the CIA. The DOJ relied on that assertion because in 2017 it submitted a third and final renewal application to pull off Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Clinesmith is being prosecuted in federal court in Washington and is expected to plead guilty to one count of making a false statement, his lawyer Justin Shur told the Associated Press.
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Host Ainsley Earhardt noted that when the news broke on Friday, the other networks barely covered it. She pointed out that “CNN Tonight,” MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” and NBC’s “Nightly News” had no coverage of the development, while “CBS Evening News” spent 22 seconds on the issue and ABC’s “World News Tonight” 26 seconds. .
Earhardt then asked Gowdy, “Why did they not mean it?”
“I’ll write the headline for her,” Gowdy said in response.
“In the Russian probe, more FBI agents have been charged than Trump family members. That’s the reason they do not cover it, ‘he explained.
He added, “If you like to investigate police misconduct, and God knows the Democrats have enjoyed it for the last six months, if you want to talk about police misconduct, how about starting with the FBI, what is the unit that ‘you actually have jurisdiction over.’
Gowdy also stated on Monday that “President Trump is right. There’s a cloud cast over his first term as president and that cloud was produced by the Department of Justice and the FBI. ”
“So if you want a justice system that we can all have confidence in, and that’s why people set cities on fire, how about starting with the FBI,” he added, referring to the violence. aimed at law enforcement members in cities with Democratic leaders, including Portland.
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Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Bill Mears contributed to this report.
