The credibility of the FBI has taken yet another hit this year. Now we find out that an agent broke the rules surrounding FISA and spied upon a state judge, a state senator, and a U.S. Senator.

FBI officials improperly searched a foreign intelligence database for information on a U.S. Senator, a state senator and a state judge, according to an unsealed court opinion released Friday.

The improper queries of the surveillance collection tool, which allegedly occurred last year — could further roil an ongoing push by the Biden Administration to have the Section 702 program reauthorized before it is set to expire by the end of this year.

I tell you what, the FBI is on a serious roll these days. And it’s not pretty.  Keep in mind, this is the same FBI who conducted a search at Mar-A-Lago for spurious reasons, but also insists Joe Biden keeping decades worth of classified documents in multiple locations is no big deal. 

Yes, this is the same FBI who investigated parents, and worked hard to bury the Hunter Biden laptop information and spent a year stonewalling members of Congress and the public about the information contained in a 1023 form about Burisma, Hunter, and “The Big Guy.”

Well done @ChuckGrassley Now everyone can read for ourselves what the FBI tried to hide. Question: Why did the FBI try to redact the line where Zlochevsky says his dog is smarter than Hunter? How is that protecting “sources and methods”? https://t.co/Usgu8qMF9s

— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) July 21, 2023

This is ALSO the very same FBI who quickly concluded that A. no DNA or fingerprints were found on the mobile baggie of White House cocaine, and B. announced that interviewing ANY of the 500 people who waltzed through that space was just too difficult. 

Now we find out that an FBI agent took it upon him or herself to use FISA to break the rules in searching for information on a judge, state senator, and U.S. Senator. 

According to the newly declassified court document, in June 2022, an FBI analyst conducted four searches of information collected under the warrantless surveillance program “using the last names of a U.S. Senator and a state senator.” In both cases, the analyst had information showing that the two lawmakers were being targeted by a foreign intelligence service.

A senior FBI official stressed that “none of these individuals were surveilled” and the FBI “did not collect any information on them” in response to the search. The analyst ran an unapproved search “against our databases to retrieve any information that was already lawfully collected,” the official added.

But the database searches nonetheless violated the FBI’s policy on multiple fronts, according to the court document.

The analyst in question, whom the court did not name, failed to get pre-approval from the deputy director that is required for searches that use “sensitive query terms,” such as the names of public officials or candidates. More broadly, the analyst’s searches did not fully meet the FBI’s search standards that it considers when determining if a search is “likely to retrieve foreign intelligence information or evidence of a crime,” the court found.

As a senior FBI agent admitted, if the rogue agent had actually asked for pre-approval, the searches would’ve been denied. Well that’s just fine and dandy now isn’t it? According to some reports, the state judge and state senator STILL haven’t been notified that they were subjects of surveillance.

The federal court tasked with overseeing the corrupt intelligence community’s use of its spy powers released an opinion today that found that the FBI illegally spied on a U.S. senator, a state senator, and a state judge. https://t.co/cr2Upnd47S pic.twitter.com/CXchD3fvcl

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 21, 2023

Yes, it’s long, but it’s worth the read. Especially when FBI Director Christopher Wray offers this jaw-dropping delusional statement. 

“The 2023 FISC Opinion confirms the significant improvement in the FBI’s Section 702 querying compliance since the implementation of our substantial reforms,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

“Section 702 is critical in our fight against foreign adversaries. We take seriously our role in protecting national security and we take just as seriously our responsibility to be good stewards of our Section 702 authorities. Compliance is an ongoing endeavor, and we recently announced new additional accountability measures. We will continue to focus on using our Section 702 authorities to protect American lives and keeping our Homeland safe, while safeguarding civil rights and liberties.”

That’s a very good tap dance. But it’s also a metric ton of horseshit. The ONLY statement that should’ve been issued was one that announces that FBI agent was sanctioned, demoted, or fired for what he or she did. Saying that “that was then, no one is doing that now” is beyond arrogant. 

What Wray is really trying to say is, ‘pretty please, let us KEEP Section 702 in place. We really need it and pinky swear that we won’t break the rules anymore.’ 

If anyone buys the snake oil the FBI is peddling, that’s on them. The fact is, the agency’s credibility is gone. There is zero accountability when these things happen. The FBI needs to answer for these issues, be held accountable, and we need to clean house. 

Feature Photo Credit: FBI agents laptop via iStock, cropped and modified