Far away and long ago, my company was the landlord to the FBI’s Austin By God Texas office. This brought me into close contact with the men who worked there. I judged them to be good men.
There are a lot of peculiarities when you build an office for the FBI — wouldn’t be smart for me to discuss them. You get to know them very well and the way the offices, the conference rooms, the reception area is built teaches you something about how they conduct their business. Amigos, they use a lot of technology. A lot.
The FBI and General Flynn
Now, I come to the issue of LTG Michael Flynn. I have refrained from writing much about the political furor in the country right now, but I feel compelled to offer a word about the FBI’s conduct in this matter.
First, let me say what everybody says — the James Comey seventh floor headquarters bunch are different from the rank and file guys in the field offices.
Clearly, there were more than a few goofballs involved — talking to you James Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Priestap, etc.
Classified information
I also want to note that the FBI deals in such weighty matters that their work is often classified and therein lies an enormous problem, classification is used to hide facts that might be useful to a defendant, or an interviewee, and embarrassing to the FBI.
I previously wrote about the FBI’s lack of tech savvy — it is purposeful, not an accident — as it relates to is FD Form 302’s.
The FBI And Cave Man Tech
The FBI classifies its Form 302’s and therein lies the issue I want to talk about in regard to the FBI — they have still not come clean as it relates to General Flynn.
As an aside, you will recall all the baloney about the FISA Court Warrants for Carter Page. The FBI in the person of its deposed Director James Comey was arrogant and cocky until the FISA Court Warrant applications were de-classified and the whole world realized James Comey was a liar, that certain parts of the documentation were forgeries. Wow!
The FBI uses classification to hide its bad deeds.
General Flynn Form 302’s
Which brings us to the issue of General Flynn.
General Flynn was initially interviewed by FBI agents who worked for the Washington DC field office of the FBI. These gents conducted the interview in December 2016, were happy with it, and were about to close the file with no action when FBI Agent Peter Strzok sends them a missive telling them not to close the file and that this sentiment came from the “seventh floor” where the Cheese Mos live. [Cheese Mo is a technical term which means the bosses. James Comey was the top boss.]
Then, comes Brother Strzok in the company of another agent, thought to be Joseph Pientka, to speak to General Flynn about the same subject matter as the original interview that was the basis for those interviewees to move to close the file.
Normally, when two FBI agents interview a subject, one asks the questions and the other prepares the Form 302. In this instance, the questioner was Peter Strzok, so it makes sense that Joe Pientka was the Form 302 scrivener.
The Form 302 is required to be completed no later than five working days after the interview — remember the FBI produces no contemporaneous recording, no transcript, just the Form 302 based on the notes of one of the agents.
This is where the account of things gets a little sporty
Strzok and Pientka interview General Flynn on 24 January 2017. President Trump was inaugurated on 20 January 2017 at 11:00 AM.
The FBI agents do not give Flynn a Miranda Warning, do not tell him he is a subject of an investigation. Later it turns out they purposely intended not to alarm General Flynn.
Later, former Director Comey will brag about how he sent two agents to interview Flynn because the Trump White House was disorganized. He laughs about it.
More curious, Bill Priestap sets forth a set of notes from the day before that question the intent of the interview: entrapment, to induce Flynn to lie, to charge Flynn with lying, or to get him fired? These notes came out just a short period of time ago and had been hidden for years as they were CLASSIFIED — starting to see the pattern? The FBI fought not to release these notes for years.
Big Red Car, can you get on with the damn story, please?
OK, back to the Form 302. The original Form 302 thought to have been authored by Pientka is nowhere to be found.
What is found is a series of communications between Strzok and love interest Page. In one of the messages, Strzok refers to his revisions to a General Flynn Form 302. He invites Page to take a crack at it. She makes revisions.
One of those love notes is written on 10 February 2017, long after the five working day limit and Strzok says, “I was trying not to completely re-write the thing so as to save [name redacted, thought to be Pientka’s] voice.”
The finished, revised Form 302 is finally dated 14 February 2017 — the day after General Flynn was cashiered by President Trump.
Follow the time line here:
1. In March 2017, James Comey testifies under oath to Congress that General Flynn will not be charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
2. In May 2017, Robert Mueller comes out of retirement and opens the investigation.
3. Peter Strzok is appointed to the Mueller team. He will later be removed for cause, the cause being his bias against the President.
4. Peter Strzok goes to work on Flynn. After interview, the FBI presses General Flynn and threatens his son.
5. Flynn pleads guilty to lying to the FBI to get his foot and his son out of the trap, and agrees to cooperate with the FBI in its investigation of President Trump and the Trump campaign.
After Flynn pleads guilty, the issue of sentencing bubbles to the surface. In an inexplicable development, the FBI produces a new Flynn Form 302, but this one isn’t the original, or the revised one — this one is a Form 302 of an interview by another FBI agent of Peter Strzok. This interview was conducted on 19 July 2017. Obviously, the FBI was pencil whipping the file to flesh out any missing pieces. An FBI agent interviewed another FBI agent and the interviewee produced a Form 302.
What’s missing, Big Red Car?
What is missing, dear reader, is the original Form 302 likely produced by FBI Agent Joe Pientka. This is the Form 302 that Peter Strzok “revised.”
This Form 302 is still CLASSIFIED or they are trying to get you to believe it doesn’t exist. Either way, we all know it exists and it says things that are not useful or helpful to the FBI, the Mueller Report or their clear focus on “getting” President Trump.
Who is to blame, Big Red Car?
The current FBI Director Christopher Wray could make all this controversy go away, but he hasn’t.
Let me tell what he has done.
1. The FBI promoted Agent Joe Pientka.
2. The FBI reassigned Agent Joe Pientka out of Washington, DC to San Francisco — geographically as far as an FBI agent can be sent.
3. After taking up station in San Francisco, Agent Joe Pientka’s name appeared on the local FBI SF website, but, now, mysteriously, it has disappeared.
Where is agent Joe Pientka?
One last bit of angst — FBI Agent Joe Pientka was also involved in the flawed FISA Court Warrant Applications.
So, there you have it, dear reader. Bit complicated, but it could all be cleared up with a little antiseptic sunlight, but the FBI will not do that. And, one has to ask: WHY?
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car. Joe Pientka, where are you? Ally ally in come free, Joe!
Last word — why did all this happen in the first place? Because the Mueller bunch was trying to manufacture any leverage it could to GET PRESIDENT TRUMP. That’s all this has ever been about from the beginning. The original FBI agents said, “Yawn. Let’s close this one up, eh?” It was only when Strzok was working for Mueller that this all turned ugly.
