Weinergate

Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner were wed July 10, 2010 in a ceremony officiated by former President Bill Clinton.

Weinergate refers to a series of recurring scandals originating with Democrat Congressman and former New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner. Weiner is the spouse of longtime intimate Hillary Clinton advisor and "body woman" Huma Abedin. The first sexting scandal occurred shortly after Weiner's marriage to Abedin; the second, more serious offense, involved a minor and impacted the 2016 Presidential election which Hillary Clinton blamed for her loss to Donald Trump. Weiner and Abedin were married in a 2010 ceremony officiated by former President Bill Clinton amidst rumors of Hillary Clinton's homosexuality and her ambitions to be President Obama's successor.

Child sexting scandal

On September 21, 2016 the Daily Mail published an interview with a 15 year old girl and her father alleging she had an online sexual relationship with Anthony Weiner beginning January 23, 2016. The FBI New York Office (NYO), and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) led by Preet Bharara, issued a subpoena for Weiner's laptop and electronic devices shortly after.

Weiner laptop - classified information recovered

A federal search warrant was obtained for Anthony Weiner’s iPhone, iPad, and laptop computer. The FBI obtained the devices the same day. The search warrant authorized the government to search for evidence relating to the following crimes: transmitting obscene material to a minor, sexual exploitation of children, and activities related to child pornography. The Weiner case agent told the DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that he began processing Weiner’s devices on September 26, and that he noticed “within hours” that there were “over 300,000 emails on the laptop.” He saw at least one BlackBerry PIN message between Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin, as well as emails between them. He saw emails associated with “about seven domains,” such as yahoo.com, state.gov, clintonfoundation.org, clintonemail.com, and hillaryclinton.com. The case agent immediately notified the FBI New York Office (NYO) chain of command, and the information was ultimately briefed to NYO Assistant Director in Charge (ADIC).

Washington office notified

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and 39 senior FBI executives were notified by the NY Assistant Director In Charge (ADIC) via secure video teleconference (SVTC) of 347,000 emails relevant to the Clinton email investigation on Weiner's laptop. FBI Director Jimmy the Weasel Comey was not present for the SVTC.

McCabe told the Inspector General that he recalled talking to Comey about the issue “right around the time [McCabe] found out about it.” McCabe also informed Bill Priestap and Peter Strzok of the FBI Counterintelligence Division.

The emails in question appear to be insurance Weiner held to pull strings with Hillary Clinton as leverage should he get into trouble.

Peter Strzok texted Lisa Page who was serving as Andrew McCabe's special counsel:

“Got called up to Andy [McCabe]’s earlier ...hundreds of thousands of emails turned over by Weiner’s atty to [DOJ Southern District of New York] sdny, includes a ton of material from spouse [ Huma Abedin ]. Sending team up [to New York] tomorrow to review... this will neverend...”

Strzok later said a conference call with NYO was scheduled instead.

FBI counterintelligence head Bill Priestap called the NY ADIC to discuss the limited scope of the Weiner search warrant (i.e., the need to obtain additional legal process to review any Clinton-related email on the Weiner laptop).

On September 29, 2016 a conference call was held between the NYO and five members of the Clinton email team, including Strzok and Tashina Gauhar. Notes from the conference call indicate the participants discussed the presence of a large volume of emails (350,000) on the Weiner laptop and specific domain names, including clintonemail.com and state.gov. The Clinton email investigation Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) said that NYO also mentioned seeing BlackBerry domain emails on the Weiner laptop.

OIG found that by this date FBI executives and the FBI Midyear [Clinton email investigation] team had learned virtually every fact that was cited by the FBI in late October as justification for obtaining the search warrant for the Weiner laptop, including that the laptop contained:

• Over 340,000 emails, some of which were from domains associated with Clinton, including state.gov, clintonfoundation.org, clintonemail.com, and hillaryclinton.com;
• Numerous emails between Clinton and Abedin;
• An unknown number of Blackberry communications on the laptop, including one or more messages between Clinton and Abedin, indicating the possibility that the laptop contained communications from the first three months of Clinton’s tenure; and
• Emails dated beginning in 2007 and covering the entire period of Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State.

The Clinton email team told the OIG that they did not learn these facts until the October 26, 2016 conference call with the New York Office and SDNY. They thought the case had been whitewashed and closed, and Hillary would win anyway. Now the New York office and prosecutors were in possession of relevant facts.

Strzok, Gauhar, and one other unnamed person made up the Clinton email team, and were appointed to review the Weiner laptop. The Clinton emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop were never looked at. The FBI and DOJ fully expected Hillary Clinton to win.

Strzok prioritizes Trump-Russia over Clinton emails

The Inspector General found:

"In assessing the decision to prioritize the Russia investigation over following up on the Midyear-related [Clinton] investigative lead discovered on the Weiner laptop, we were particularly concerned about text messages sent by Strzok and Page that potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions they made were impacted by bias or improper considerations. Most of the text messages raising such questions pertained to the Russia investigation, and the implication in some of these text messages, particularly Strzok’s August 8 text message (“we’ll stop” candidate Trump from being elected), was that Strzok might be willing to take official action to impact a presidential candidate's electoral prospects. Under these circumstances, we did not have confidence that Strzok’s decision to prioritize the Russia investigation over following up on the Midyear-related investigative lead discovered on the Weiner laptop was free from bias."

Additional discussions between NYO and Washington HQ about the Weiner laptop took place between October 3-4, however the Inspector General found

"no evidence that anyone associated with the Midyear [Clinton email] investigation, including the entire leadership team at FBI Headquarters, took any action on the Weiner laptop issue until the week of October 24, and then did so only after the Weiner case agent expressed concerns to SDNY, prompting SDNY to contact the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) on October 21 to raise concerns about the lack of action."

The FBI was anticipating a Hillary win.

FBI tries to counter "misinformation" about the Clinton whitewash

On October 21, 2016 the FBI provided a briefing for retired FBI agents to explain decisions made during the Clinton email investigation up to Comey's July 5 announcement. The idea was to enlist former employees with the party line so that they, too, could help counter “falsehoods and exaggerations.”

The same day someone from SDNY called Main Justice across the street to inquire about the lack of action on Weiner's laptop. The Justice Department National Security Division notified Deputy Asst. Attorney General George Toscas who headed up the Clinton email investigation. Toscas calls Strzok cause he “wanted to ensure information got to Andy [McCabe]". Strzok told George Toscas “we know."

McCabe already knew about the emails since September 28, more than three weeks earlier. Strzok then told Priestap.

Comey and Lynch now are informed of the Clinton emails that McCabe has been sitting on for 23 days. Comey claims this call is about a search warrant, but there is no need for a search warrant since the emails were already in SDNY's possession. Internal debate ensues about McCabe's recusing himself.

Meanwhile, the Clinton emails are not, and have not, been looked at. All discussion is about the public perception of coverup, which is actually the correct perception of what is happening in the DOJ-FBI.

George Toscas told the IG that he asked McCabe about the Weiner laptop after a routine meeting between FBI and Department leadership. McCabe told the IG that this interaction with Toscas caused him to follow up with the FBI Midyear [Clinton emai] team about the Weiner laptop and to call Acting DOJ-NSD Deputy AG Mary McCord.

Lynch threatens to reopen Eric Gardner case

On October 25, 2016 the New York Times reported the

"Justice Department has replaced the New York team of agents and lawyers investigating the death of Eric Garner, officials said, a highly unusual shake-up that could jump-start the long-stalled case and put the government back on track to seek criminal charges."

Garner was a black man arrested for selling cigarettes who died from a chokehold while in police custody in 2014.

To kill speculation about reopening Hillary Clinton's email investigation, the New York FBI and DOJ Eastern District of New York (EDNY) prosecutors were threatened by Washington DC Main Justice and FBI headquarters, via Loretta Lynch and Andrew McCabe, to drop the Clinton/Abedin/Weiner email investigation, concede the Clinton email investigation to DC, or else the DOJ Civil Rights Division would be used as leverage against the New York Police Department (NYPD, whom NY FBI and SDNY work closely with) to re-open the Eric Garner case (Garner was a black man killed in police custody while in a choke hold in 2014). Loretta Lynch had the Southern District of New York (SDNY) US Attorney Preet Bharara on stand by as the enforcer.

2011 offense

The original Weinergate scandal broke shortly after the Abedin/Weiner nupitals. On Friday, May 27, 2011, New York Democrat Representative Anthony Weiner publicly sent a tweet containing a link to a lewd photograph of himself in gray underwear to a Twitter friend, a Seattle resident and college student, 21-year-old Gennette Nicole Cordova. Anthony Weiner denied sending the tweet and blamed it on a hacker. Former President Bill Clinton officiated at their wedding last July.

On June 6, 2011, Weiner admitted that he sent the lewd photo to the woman over Twitter, after claiming for days that he was hacked.

It Was Weiner's Tweet

Anthony Weiner admitted on June 6 that he sent the photo of himself to the Seattle college student, and also revealed more into the unraveling Weinergate story during a 30 minutes press conference. Weiner said, "Last Friday night I tweeted a photograph of myself that I intended to send as direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle. Once I realized I posted it to Twitter, I panicked, I took it down and said that I had been hacked. I then continued with that story to stick to that story which was a hugely regrettable mistake."

Anthony Weiner used government resources to communicate with women over the phone, according to one of the six women that Weiner engaged with in inappropriate conversations, Meagan Broussard. Several of the women Anthony communicated with have come forward, claiming to have photographs, chats, and emails with Anthony Weiner.

Other Quotes from Speech

“

To be clear, the picture was of me and I sent it.

”

“

Over the past few years I have engaged in several inappropriate conversations conducted over Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, and occasionally on the phone with women I have met online.

”

“

I exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years.

”

“

They are all adults, at least to a the best of my knowledge, they were all adults and they were engaging in these conversations consensually.

”

Weiner resigns from Congress

Representative Anthony Weiner resigned on Jun 16, 2011, over a weeks-long Internet sex scandal, succumbing to bipartisan calls for him to step down. Weiner denied for more than a week that he sent a photo of himself in boxer briefs to a woman in Seattle on May 28, claiming his Twitter account had been hacked. But on June 6, he tearfully admitted he had lied and that he had inappropriate exchanges with six women, some after he was married.