Patterico's Pontifications

10/24/2016

Whoa: Clinton Crony Funded Political Campaign Of Wife Of FBI Official Who Oversaw Email Investigation

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:00 am



Alternate headline: “Hillary Clinton still corrupt.” (Indeed, the eyes-glazed-over effect of accurate headlines such as the one above in the area of political corruption will be the topic of a rant later in the post. In short: if you bothered to click into this post, you’re part of a disgustingly small elite that cares about political skulduggery.)

Remember Terry McAuliffe? Sure you do! And I’m sure you’re just shocked to learn that he acted as a bag man to pay off people sniffing around Hillary’s emails:

The political organization of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, an influential Democrat with longstanding ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, gave nearly $500,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who later helped oversee the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email use.

Campaign finance records show Mr. McAuliffe’s political-action committee donated $467,500 to the 2015 state Senate campaign of Dr. Jill McCabe, who is married to Andrew McCabe, now the deputy director of the FBI.

The Virginia Democratic Party, over which Mr. McAuliffe exerts considerable control, donated an additional $207,788 worth of support to Dr. McCabe’s campaign in the form of mailers, according to the records. That adds up to slightly more than $675,000 to her candidacy from entities either directly under Mr. McAuliffe’s control or strongly influenced by him. The figure represents more than a third of all the campaign funds Dr. McCabe raised in the effort.

That damning indictment comes from the Wall Street Journal, from yesterday evening.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is introduced by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe at a campaign event at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Monday, Feb. 29, 2016.  (AP Photo/Molly Riley)
Above: Hillary Clinton and her bag man Terry McAuliffe

Back in May, Dan McLaughlin told us about the federal investigation into McAuliffe for possible campaign finance violations. As Dan said in that post:

McAuliffe, the former DNC Chairman, is of course best known as a longtime confidant of the Clintons and all-purpose bag man for their shadier ventures.

How utterly convenient it is that ol’ Terry McAuliffe would be the guy greasing the palms of the (wives of the) folks who later gave Hillary a pass on the emails?

Hillary defenders will no doubt argue that McCabe only assumed an oversight position after the political donations, and took steps to stay out of his wife’s campaign after his wife received the donation. Why, his wife’s campaign was even over once he assumed the oversight position! they will say.

That’s not good enough. The American people would naturally assume that, once Hillary Clinton’s longtime and well-known ally scratched the McCabes’ back, Hillary expected a back-scratch in return. That’s how it works, folks. And it’s that kind of crap, frankly, that fuels the anger that drives Donald Trump’s campaign.

McCabe should have formally recused himself from anything having to do with Hillary’s emails, after his wife benefited from the largesse of the Clinton crowd. The fact that he apparently doesn’t see the problem — well, that’s a big part of the problem.

AND NOW, A RANT: Stories about Hillary Clinton are stories about utter political corruption. Such stories are seemingly harder to follow than trashy tabloid stories about Donald Trump. Everybody can understand when a tacky 59-year-old talks about grabbing women by the p***y, or about how awesome it is to walk in on women naked as long as they are beauty-pageant gorgeous. But when a candidate’s long-time bag man starts paying off the spouse of a law enforcement official who later investigates the candidate for potential violations of federal crimes . . . well, people’s eyes go out of focus, from boredom. Something something campaign contributions whaaa? says the average voter. Tell me more about that p***y-grabbing!

I don’t mean to minimize boasting about sexual assault. But I also think we should not minimize political corruption — even if it’s not as sexy.

[Cross-posted at RedState.]

27 Responses to “Whoa: Clinton Crony Funded Political Campaign Of Wife Of FBI Official Who Oversaw Email Investigation”

  1. Patterico in cya mode. Too late, you are what what you are. Never would want you with me in a foxhole.

    otto (6617e7)

  2. A: The elite that cares about political skulduggery is disgustingly small.
    B: It’s that kind of crap that fuels the anger that drives Donald Trump’s campaign.

    I think it is fair to conclude

    C: Donald Trump’s poll numbers are disgustingly low.

    melanerpes (f913bc)

  3. But Trump said “pussy” ten years ago! Years of investigations over corruption and the accumulation of over $150 million in personal wealth along with over a billion in “foundation” money without ever holding a real job pales in comparison to the P word!

    Rev. Hoagie® (785e38)

  4. I wonder how much of our host’s readership now consists of Trumpelstiltskins sent over as directed trolls for the campaign.

    Oh, well, at least we know that Mr Feet is doing it all on his own!

    The Dana who noticed (f6a568)

  5. as far back as 2008, the dems sought to demoralize gop voters, first telling us guiliani was unelectable, and maverick was the only one who was, then the gersons, and brooks of the world, said never mind, when there was a candidate who fought, which natch wasn’t maverick,

    narciso (d1f714)

  6. On topic, that’s “the wife’s” job. To launder the bribes.

    On Trump, since no thread can exist without him, it’s a matter of whose eye you want to poke. As much as I want to poke Obama’s eye (Hillary being his legacy), I only get to pick one and it’s Trump.

    nk (dbc370)

  7. so they paid the top cop, the deputy, we’ll see who else down the line, ‘it’s gotham, jim’ chinatown is so overplayed, liberals acting out their red diaper agita, typical to noir,

    narciso (d1f714)

  8. Greetings:

    Wouldn’t it be nice, though, for US Attorney General Lynch to have a Deputy in waiting for her impending contract renewal in case Director Comey has a come to Jesus moment.

    11B40 (6abb5c)

  9. no, ‘they bought the stage’ to quote that starship song,

    narciso (d1f714)

  10. you can follow actual evidence, or made up claims but you can’t do both,

    narciso (d1f714)

  11. like so,

    https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/28660

    put lets keep following people magazine’s squirrels,

    narciso (d1f714)

  12. The problem with Trump’s message isn’t the message.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  13. that’s cause he has such a terrific message

    i love it so much

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  14. Whatever it is.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  15. you’re a very cynical person

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  16. This sort of thing probably doesn’t cause as much outrage among the outraged as they claim, because at the end of the day, they refuse to do what they have to do to stop illary from becoming President.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  17. 16. This sort of thing probably doesn’t cause as much outrage among the outraged as they claim, because at the end of the day, they refuse to do what they have to do to stop illary from becoming President.
    — Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 10/24/2016 @ 12:33 pm

    To put an “Affirmation of American Ideals”-ish spin on that: that’s how we who believe in Truth, Justice, and The American Way know that Rule-of-Law is deader than Monty Python’s Norwegian Blue parrot.

    Not just “pining for the fjords”; completely, incontrovertibly, DEAD.

    Doo-Dah, Doo-Dah (3d2241)

  18. I’m going to do a little digging, but McCabe reminds me very much of a particular species in the Bureau known as a “Blue Flamer”. That’s a reference to a Bureau agent much more focused on maneuvering himself up the chain of command to positions of influence rather than actually becoming good at what he does.

    A typical FBI agent doesn’t join the Bureau until they are in their mid to late 20s. They have a career path that is about 25-32 years, with retirement eligibility at 50, and mandatory retirement at 57.

    McCabe is 1993 law school grad. The FBI had a hiring freeze in place through the middle of 1995, and McCabe got a spot in an Academy class in 1996.

    He first went to the FBI NY Field Office, the biggest field office in the country. In just 7 years he rose to become a Supervisor of a Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force operating out of the NY Field Office.

    Here’s a secret about FBI promotions in the 1990s under Louie Freeh — promotions were not based on merit, they were based on volunteering.

    Absolutely 100% correct. A supervisor in the Bureau quits being a field investigator. They spend all their time checking the paperwork of other agents, monitoring equipment usage and status, and responding to taskings from other offices and headquarters about work being done in their office. The one thing they don’t do is actually investigate anything. To take a supervisor’s spot after just 6-7 years is a HUGE RED FLAG that he was a guy who was a lousy street agent and needed to move into management to advance his career.

    Running an international task force put him in regular contact with folks in the FBI HQ and Washington Field Office. In 2006 – after just 3 years as a TF supervisor — he moved to Washington and took over a counter-terrorism task force focusing on Sunni extremist groups.

    Everyone in the Bureau in the mid-2000s knew that counter-terrorism assignemnts were the “golden ticket” to getting your ticket punched for higher management positions.

    In 2008 — just 2 years later — he was named head of the Counter-terrorism Section of the Washington Field Office.

    So, 5 years after having his very first assignment as a supervisor, he’s now heading up the Washington DC Field Offices’ CT Division.

    With a total of 12 years experience.

    In 2012 he was made an Assistant Deputy Director, was promoted to the No. 3 spot in 2015, and made the No. 2 guy in 2016.

    All in 19 years.

    I can 100% guarantee you he has left a trail of veteran Bureau agents who laugh at him behind his back as a nothing more than a guy who was useless as an investigator but climbed the management ladder simply by “raising his hand.”

    I was stunned to learn that this is the way promotions work in the Bureau, but I got it all first hand from a Bureau agent with 10 years experience who was a decorated Army Ranger in the First Gulf War prior to joining the Bureau, and who never had any interest in Bureau management because he liked actually catching bad guys, rather than just reading the reports of that kind of work being done by others. And, some of the dumbest Bureau agents I met in my 23 years as a prosecutor were the supervisors at just about every level up to SACs, and even some of them were pretty stupid.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  19. I think it does cause a lot of outrage… and that is why people are voting for Trump. He at leaast fights back and is not afraid to throw things like this in his opponents’ faces. (The flipside is that he often baselessly attacks people, and often treats the people he claims to be his ideological friends the same as his enemies.)

    Rubio declared that he would not discuss Wikileaks because it came from Russia… as if corruption and criminality are somehow okay because the wrong people exposed it.

    People know that there is something really wrong, and they are lashing out with the best tool they have available.

    bridget (c33337)

  20. Patterico in cya mode. Too late, you are what what you are. Never would want you with me in a foxhole.

    You and I are in different foxholes, otto.

    You’re in the Trump foxhole.

    I’m in the limited government, free market, Constitution, and liberty foxhole.

    The people in my foxhole are glad to have me there with them. I’d never get out to go join someone like Trump. And they know that.

    Patterico (bcf524)

  21. It will be interesting to see how people who stubbornly reject Trump will be seen in one year, two years, or five.

    Of course, that’s not why I’m doing it. I’m doing it because it’s what I think is right.

    But I can’t help but think that the majority will remember that they, too, always opposed Trump.

    Patterico (bcf524)

  22. @Patterico:that the majority will remember that they, too, always opposed Trump.

    If they work for a government, they’ll need to say that at minimum to keep their jobs. But it won’t be enough. Money or time for the Clintons will be needed as well, in order to be convincing.

    Gabriel Hanna (5d8497)

  23. Their is a definite need for “time for the Clintons”. My sincere wish is that it will be hard time.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  24. 22. Greeaat, it will be like it was at Illinois state government offices from 1950 to 2010 or so, except with mortal consequences (in surprised Trump never invited the surviving Willis family to join the Angel moms, as they were victims in a rear end collision of an illegal alien who bought his CDL directly from staff at our version of the DMV).

    Patterico, your response at 20 should get a thunderous studio audience clap with a black lady going “allright”!

    urbanleftbehind (fa551e)

  25. Obviously this is at least a case where there’s an “appearance” of an improper payoff or quid pro quo. But there’s a missing piece of information which might tell any reasonable person that this was probably, or almost certainly, an improper payoff: Is this a normal amount for these organizations to be paying for someone running for the Virginia state legislature? Or does this amount stand out as an unusual level of contribution for such low office?

    David Pittelli (0a4463)

  26. interesting detail, mccabe’s opponent was one of those who thought assad was the lesser evil,

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/fbi-no.-2-pressured-to-resign-over-mcauliffe-donations-to-wife/article/2605408#.WA5RCTqLbFE.twitter

    narciso (d1f714)

  27. Hillary defenders will no doubt argue that McCabe only assumed an oversight position after the political donations, and took steps to stay out of his wife’s campaign after his wife received the donation. Why, his wife’s campaign was even over once he assumed the oversight position! they will say.

    That sequence of events doesn’t help. It at least has the appearance of a conflict
    of interest. I don’t know how Virginia election law works but if you’re running for federal office there are legal ways to transfer at least part of that campaign coffer into your own pocket. Take out a second mortgage at a low interest rate, have your campaign pay you back at an interest rate that would embarrass a mafia loan shark, for instance. Any conflict of interest even if only apparent could have been cleared up if he explained himself and recused himself from the investigation. Surely the no. 3 guy could have handled it.

    That’s what an honest man would have done.

    But I’m surprised all of you guys have missed the other possible angle here.
    The Clinton investigation may be closed, the DoJ and FBI are still investigating
    McAuliffe.

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/24/terry_mcauliffe_an_fbi_investigation_doesnt_mean_i_have_done_anything_wrong.html#!

    Terry McAuliffe: An FBI Investigation Doesn’t Mean I Have Done Anything Wrong

    The FBI is investigating whether Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s 2013 campaign accepted illegal contributions…

    Hmm, the potential target of an ongoing federal investigation gave $500k to
    the wife of the no. 2 man at the FBI and that doesn’t stink all on it’s own.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)


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