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Carrie Johnson
Former FBI lawyer @thejimbaker tells #LawfarePodcast “I just became sick of all the BS that is said about the origins of the [Russia] investigation.” Baker says he’s speaking out “to reassure the American people that it was done for legit reasons & that it was apolitical thruout”
The information from a foreign partner about Trump adviser George Papadopoulos “is what triggered us going down this path” of investigating in 2016, Jim Baker said. “It would have been a dereliction if our duty not to investigate this information.”
Jim Baker said the investigation was about Russia. “To the extent that any Americans cross our radar screen, we will investigate that.”
Former FBI general counsel Jim Baker said now-Attorney General Bill Barr hired him at Verizon, where his rep was one of high integrity. Barr recently told Congress the FBI was “spying” in 2016. “It didn’t make sense to me,” Baker said. He’s eager to find out what Barr & IG found.
Baker said the Russia probe “was not predicated on the info that Christopher Steele gave us in the form of the dossier.” The FBI knows people sometimes have an agenda and “we vet the hell” out of the information they provide. “You want to do everything you can to validate it.”
Some parts of the Steele dossier may have “washed out,” Jim Baker said, but “this is what happens in an investigation. An investigation is basically a question that you start out with....”
Jim Baker said he asked to look over the initial FISA application for Carter Page before it went to DOJ for approval. “I was comfortable that the application...was consistent with the laws & constitution of the US.” He said, “I knew it would be sensitive.”
Of the idea that the role of a US political campaign played a role in & the dossier and that it was disclosed in a footnote to the Page FISA application, Jim Baker said, “nobody’s going to miss a page-long footnote in regular type,” especially sophisticated federal judges.
Jim Baker said, “there was no coup. There was no attempted coup....there was no way in hell I was going to allow some coup or coup attempt to take place on my watch,”or anything else unlawful, he adds.
Of this period at FBI and DOJ, Jim Baker said, “it was traumatic” and he doesn’t use that word lightly. Of the Mueller report, he said, “my reaction is ‘yes, that it was validating.’” Baker said, “they found a lot of stuff....this was a real investigation about a real problem.”
Jim Baker said the obstruction evidence uncovered by the Mueller team looks like “a pattern of corruption” and even if it’s not criminal, it’s concerning.
The Justice Department Inspector General is investigating the origins of the Russia probe and Jim Baker said, “I welcome the accountability.” Baker said, “I’m always nervous about the IG, I guess,” adding the people are pleasant even if the process sometimes isn’t.
That IG probe could be put in May or June. Jim Baker’s takeaway is “if mistakes were made at any level within the organization, then hopefully the Inspector General will find those.”
Jim Baker: some employers told him he was too “controversial” after Trump’s tweets. He’s found job but still has leak probe hanging. “I’m confident that I did nothing wrong & that I did nothing illegal & that once this is concluded, the Department will come to thesame conclusion”
Jim Baker said he cooperated with the criminal leak probe over many hours and many days about 1 1/2 years ago, and has not heard much since except the Justice Department investigation is still open.
End of day update: I wanted to find out what is happening (or not) with the criminal leak probe Jim Baker referenced today. The US Attorney’s office referred me to DOJ headquarters, which has declined comment on the status of the investigation. -fin-
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