VA chief's firing portrayed as chaotic, but Trump had some good reasons

This is how the firing of the VA secretary could have been framed:
David Shulkin had gotten himself in a heap of trouble. The inspector general had spanked him for a $120,000 trip to Europe, changing a pretext so his wife’s airfare would be covered, and improperly accepting Wimbledon tickets.
What’s more, Shulkin had gone to war with some of his top deputies, was increasingly isolated at the department, and the president concluded he had to make a change.
Now some of that information was included in the B matter of various stories, but the main media themes are:
More chaos at the White House!
And how dare Donald Trump replace him with his personal doctor?
Shulkin, as the New York Times noted, also generated bad publicity when he tried to salvage his job by warning about aides "trying to undermine the department from within."
Shulkin did rack up some accomplishments on the reform front. My main discomfort with the dismissal is that Trump let him twist in the wind for weeks—as he did with Rex Tillerson—while damaging leaks made clear he was on the way out. Of course, Shulkin could have seen the handwriting and resigned.
(And yes, it's ironic that Trump once proclaimed that he'd never have to use his signature "you're fired" line against Shulkin.)
Shulkin, a former hospital executive, fired back in a New York Times op-ed that called the atmosphere in Washington "toxic, chaotic, disrespectful and subversive." He complained that he had "been falsely accused of things by people who wanted me out of the way ... It should not be this hard to serve your country."
There was a policy dispute at the heart of this battle, with Shulkin resisting efforts to privatize more VA services, which he said was "aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans." The counter-argument is that the overstretched VA system can't provide enough effective care, as we saw with the waiting-list scandal.
But if a Cabinet member disagrees with his boss on such a fundamental principle, his days are usually numbered.
Trump is taking some heat from the media and from critics for handing the job to Ronny Jackson, his White House physician. And it's fair to argue that the rear admiral has never managed much of anything, let alone a dysfunctional 360,000-person bureaucracy.
The hot take is that Trump wants officials with whom he's personally comfortable, and that Jackson won the job with his hourlong TV performance giving the president a clean bill of health. ("He has incredibly good genes, it's just the way God made him.") Jackson was so effusive he was mocked in an "SNL" skit.
If Jackson, despite his on-camera skills, can't tame the massive bureaucracy, or get people who can do so, then he'll prove the wrong fit for the job.
Running the VA is one of the most thankless jobs in the capital. And the White House has hardly been a smoothly functioning machine. But a president should be able to replace an underperforming and controversial Cabinet member without being faulted for chaotic management.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author "Media Madness: Donald Trump, The Press and the War Over the Truth." Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.

Reps. Jordan and Meadows: McCabe Lied Four Times

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) joined Laura Ingraham on "The Ingraham Angle" Thursday night to reveal new information about the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and to explain why it's more evidence of the need for a second special counsel.
McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions earlier this month -- just hours before his planned retirement -- after the Justice Department's inspector general determined McCabe was not truthful during his review of the Clinton email investigation and the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility recommended his firing.
The inspector general's report has not been made public, but Jordan and Meadows' offices have a copy of it.
Jordan said the report reveals that McCabe lied four times about leaking information to the press: once to the Office of Professional Responsibility, once to former FBI Director James Comey and twice under oath to the inspector general.

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Meadows said this revelation is more evidence that a second special counsel should be appointed to look at potential bias at the FBI and DOJ, and how they handled the Clinton email probe and Russia investigation.
Sessions announced on Thursday that a federal prosecutor was evaluating certain issues involving the FBI, but said he would not appoint a second special counsel at this point.
"We need to have this special counsel. I disagree with the attorney general," Meadows said. "For the attorney general to suggest there's not enough there there is just extremely disappointing."
Jordan pointed out that McCabe is just one of many top FBI officials involved in the Clinton and Russia investigations who have been fired or demoted.
"If those aren't extraordinary circumstances warranting a second special counsel, I don't know what the heck is," Jordan said. "I don't know why the attorney general keeps postponing this. Everyone in town knows we need a second special counsel to get to the bottom of this."

Woman gets 5 years for illegally voting in 2016 presidential election

Crystal Mason, 43, was sentenced to five years in prison for illegally voting in the 2016 presidential election.  (Tarrant County Jail)

A Texas woman was sentenced to five years in prison this week following her conviction for illegally voting in the 2016 presidential election.
Crystal Mason, 43, of Tarrant County, Texas, is a convicted felon for tax fraud and voted while still on supervised release, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Texas law prohibits felons from voting until their full sentence, including supervised release, is served.
Mason opted for state District Judge Ruben Gonzalez to determine her sentence, instead of standing trial in front of a jury, the paper reported.  
During testimony, Mason said she was given a provisional ballot at the polling station after learning that her name was not on the registered voter list. However, Gonzalez pressed Mason over the affidavit form she was required to sign to get the provisional ballot, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
The affidavit form outlines the necessary requirements needed to vote, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Mason, who served just under three years in federal prison, argued she was never informed of the law that prevents felons from voting, and didn’t recall reading anything on the form that would exempt her from voting -- adding that she would never have voted had she known it would mean going back behind bars.
The 43-year-old said she voted only because her mother insisted, the Star-Telegram reported.
"I was happy enough to come home and see my daughter graduate," she said. "My son is about to graduate. Why would I jeopardize that? Not to vote. ... I didn't even want to go vote."
Immediately following the ruling, Mason’s attorney, J. Warren St. John, told the paper an appeal was filed and he hopes to have Mason released from custody on bond soon.
"I find it amazing that the government feels she made this up," St. John told the court. "She was never told that she couldn't vote, and she voted in good faith. Why would she risk going back to prison for something that is not going to change her life?”

Clinton calls 2016 election 'traumatic,' admits she'd like to 'take back' some things she said

Almost a year and a half since losing her bid for president, former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton still is talking about election woes, calling it a “traumatic” experience.
Speaking at Rutgers University Thursday, Clinton spoke primarily about being a woman in politics — and being targeted as a result, the problem Republicans face as a disjointed unit, the upcoming elections and her hopes that the recent events under the Trump administration would motivate people enough to vote for change.
When asked about being told to get off the public stage and “shut up,” Clinton said she was “struck” by the fact that “they never said that to any man,” citing unsourced research from “one of the young people” on her staff.
Clinton also mentioned being called “shrill” by the media, which she said never commented on her opponent’s habit of “finger waving.”
“It’s about time that women were allowed to be themselves the way men are allowed to be themselves,” she said.
The former secretary of state also said she’s regretted some things she said.
“I can do better. There are things I’ve said I’d like to take back.”
She might have been referring to remarks she made earlier this month in India where she said women face “ongoing pressure to vote the way that your husband” thinks they should. Critics slammed the comments as sexist.
She made similar remarks in September, seemingly blaming women in part for her loss.
Clinton agreed to do Thursday's speech for $25,000 from a university endowment, NJ.com reported.
Clinton also took the opportunity to bash the Republican Party saying it slowly was coming undone by “a very small group of powerful forces,” who could fund another candidate if one does not appeal to the “far right.” She said she was referring to groups including the National Rifle Association.
Clinton talked about the upcoming elections and the number of Republicans who have announced their retirement or that have said that they will not seek reelection.
“They’re leaving,” she said, “because they know they will be shown no understanding by the hard right and the money that funds it.”
Clinton also took jabs at the Trump administration ahead of the important 2018 midterm elections, although she mentioned Donald Trump by name only once, but alluded to him several other times.
“I really hope this is a turning point,” she said, speaking of the upcoming midterm elections.
“I’m hoping in this election, this midterm election, enough people will, maybe for the first time or maybe for the first time in a long time say, ‘Look, I was really moved by what happened at Parkland, or I’m sick we’re the only country in the world not in the Paris agreement on climate change, or I don’t like what they tried to do to healthcare’ or whatever the motivator is” to ensure enough people will go out to vote.
Clinton spoke to a crowd of just over 5,000 people.

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Former FBI agent charged with leaking classified docs to expose 'systemic biases': report

A former FBI agent in Minnesota has reportedly been charged with leaking classified information to a national news outlet to expose 'system biases' at the agency.

A black former FBI agent in Minneapolis, seeking to expose what his attorneys called "systemic biases" at the agency, was charged this week with illegally disseminating classified information, according to a report.
Terry J. Albury, who joined the FBI in 2000, allegedly sent two classified documents to a reporter at an unspecified national media organization, according to charging documents obtained by the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.
Albury's prosecution comes months after Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Trump administration promised to cut down on leaks in the federal government.
The former agent was charged with two counts of unauthorized disclosure of national defense information. Prosecutors filed a felony information, which signals that Albury is expected to plead guilty.
One of the leaked documents reportedly pertains to the agency's methods for assessing confidential informants, while the other relates to "threats posed by certain individuals from a particular Middle Eastern country," according to the information.
GOWDY: WOULDN'T SURPRISE ME IF SOMEONE AT FBI WAS LEAKING TO MEDIA

FBI Director Christopher Wray was recently criticized by Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the agency's 'unacceptable' pace.  (Reuters)

Albury shared the documents sometime between February 2016 and Jan. 31, 2017, prosecutors allege. He had most recently been assigned to counterterrorism operations at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Albury's attorneys, JaneAnne Murray and Joshua Dratel, said in a statement that Albury served the U.S. with distinction domestically and in Iraq and "accepts full responsibility for the conduct set forth in the Information.
"We would like to add that as the only African-American FBI field agent in Minnesota, Mr. Albury’s actions were driven by a conscientious commitment to long-term national security and addressing the well-documented systemic biases within the FBI," the attorneys added.

FBI'S McCABE SUSPECTED IN LEAK AGAINST WHITE HOUSE
Prosecutors don't name a reporter or news organization, but on Jan. 31 of last year, the Intercept posted a story about how the FBI assesses and manages informants.

"The use of the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers seeking to shed light on matters of vital public concern is an outrage."
- The Intercept editor-in-chief Betsy Reed

The story references a secret document dated Aug. 17, 2011, that deals with assessing informants and recruiting them by identifying their "motivations and vulnerabilities."
In a statement, the Intercept editor-in-chief Betsy Reed sharply criticized whistleblower prosecutions without specifically discussing Albury's alleged involvement.
“We do not discuss anonymous sources," Reed said. "The use of the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers seeking to shed light on matters of vital public concern is an outrage, and all journalists have the right under the First Amendment to report these stories.”
The Trump administration has made prosecuting government employees who leak sensitive information to the media a high priority.
Last year, Sessions pledged to clamp down on leaks, noting that the Justice Department had more than tripled the number of active leak investigations since President Barack Obama left office and that the FBI had created a new counterintelligence unit to focus on such cases.
He told members of Congress in November that the department was conducting 27 investigations into leaks of classified information.
The local FBI office referred questions to the Justice Department, which is handling the case. A spokesman with the Justice Department declined to comment beyond the charging documents.
The search warrant applications say the FBI linked references to secret documents in data requests filed by the Intercept to Albury's activity on the bureau's information systems.
The FBI also later identified 27 documents — 16 marked classified — that the Intercept published, and found that Albury had accessed more than two-thirds of them.
The charges filed Tuesday also allege that from April 7, 2017, to Aug. 28, 2017, Albury willfully kept a document about an online platform used by a specific terrorist group for recruitment, and failed to give it to an officer and federal employee who was entitled to it.

DOJ Inspector General reviews alleged FISA abuses by DOJ, FBI

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced Wednesday he will review potential Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuses by both the Justice Department and the FBI, following requests from Congress and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The Office of the Inspector General released a statement Wednesday outlining the start of the review.
“The OIG will initiate a review that will examine the Justice Department’s and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s compliance with legal requirements, and with applicable DOJ and FBI policies and procedures, in applications filed with the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) relating to a certain U.S. person,” the statement obtained by Fox News read. “As part of this examination, the OIG also will review information that was known to the DOJ and the FBI at the time the applications were filed from or about an alleged FBI confidential source.”
The OIG statement added that Horowitz also would “review the DOJ’s and FBI’s relationship and communications with the alleged source as they relate to the FISC applications.”
The statement continued, “If circumstances warrant, the OIG will consider including other issues that may arise during the course of the review.”
Last month, Sessions directed Horowitz to probe the allegations of government surveillance abuse, in light of memos released on Capitol Hill by the House Intelligence Committee about FBI and DOJ efforts to obtain FISA warrants to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
“We believe the Department of Justice must adhere to the high standards in the FISA court,” Sessions said in February at a news conference. “Yes it will be investigated. And I think that’s just the appropriate thing the inspector general will take that as one of the matters he’ll deal with.”
“Thus far, members of Congress and Russian entrepreneurs in U.S. courts have made the greatest initial progress in getting to the bottom of Washington’s illegal influence on the 2016 election. Whereas many of these illicit schemes allegedly occurred in part within DOJ, it’s encouraging that members of their staff are now investigating the increasingly clear pattern of wrongdoing,” Page told Fox News on Wednesday.
House Intel Republicans released a memo in late February detailing the DOJ's and FBI’s surveillance of Page, saying the infamous anti-Trump dossier funded by Democrats “formed an essential part” of the application to spy on him.
The dossier, authored by former British spy Christopher Steele and commissioned by Fusion GPS, was funded in part by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign through the law firm Perkins Coie. It included salacious and unverified allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia.
The Republican memo stated that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testified that “no surveillance warrant would have been sought” from the FISA court “without the Steele dossier information.”
The memo also said Steele, who worked as an FBI informant, eventually was cut off from the bureau for what the FBI described as the most serious of violations, “an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI.”
The memo noted that the FBI and DOJ obtained “one initial FISA warrant” targeting Page and three FISA renewals from the FISC. The statute required that every 90 days, a FISA order on an American citizen “must be reviewed.”
Former FBI Director James Comey signed three FISA applications for Page, while McCabe, current Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who leads the Russia probe, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente signed at least one, according the Republican memo.
Democrats, then, released a rebuttal memo.
The White House said the GOP memo raised “serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI to use the government’s most intrusive surveillance tools against American citizens.”
Republican lawmakers and Sessions had been pressing Horowitz to probe the alleged FISA abuses.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he was "grateful" that Horowitz had decided to review the FISA application and the FBI's relationship with Steele.
"Federal surveillance authority is an important tool to combat terrorism and keep Americans safe, but it must be used by the book in order to protect the constitutional rights and civil liberties of all Americans," Grassley said. "We need to be sure that improper political influence, misconduct or mismanagement is never a factor when federal law enforcement seeks permission to secretly surveil Americans."
In January, Grassley and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., referred Steele to the Justice Department and the FBI for criminal investigation, alleging that Steele had made false statements to authorities about the dossier.
Earlier this week, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced plans to “double the number” of agents handing records for the House Judiciary Committee after it subpoenaed the Justice Department for documents on FISA, the Clinton email investigation and the firing of McCabe.
Over the last year, Horowitz has been conducting a review of the FBI's and DOJ’s actions related to the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. A final report on the investigation is expected in several months.

Documents suggest possible coordination between CIA, FBI, Obama WH and Dem officials early in Trump-Russia probe: investigators

Newly uncovered text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page suggest a possible coordination between high-ranking officials at the Obama White House, CIA, FBI, Justice Department and former Senate Democratic leadership in the early stages of the investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to GOP congressional investigators on Wednesday.
The investigators say the information provided to Fox News “strongly” suggests coordination between former President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, then-Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, and CIA Director John Brennan — which they say would “contradict” the Obama administration’s public stance about its hand in the process.
Page texted Strzok on Aug. 2, 2016, saying: “Make sure you can lawfully protect what you sign. Just thinking about congress, foia, etc. You probably know better than me.”
A text message from Strzok to Page on Aug. 3 described former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe as being concerned with “information control” related to the initial investigation into the Trump campaign. According to a report from the New York Times, Brennan was sent to Capitol Hill around the same time to brief members of Congress on the possibility of election interference.
Days later, on Aug. 8, 2016, Strzok texted Page: “Internal joint cyber cd intel piece for D, scenesetter for McDonough brief, Trainor [head of FBI cyber division] directed all cyber info be pulled. I’d let Bill and Jim hammer it out first, though it would be best for D to have it before the Wed WH session.”
In the texts, “D” referred to FBI Director James Comey, and and “McDonough” referred to Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, the GOP investigators said.

FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page texted about a briefing given to former Obama Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, seen here.  (Reuters)

“We are not making conclusions. What we are saying is that the timeline is concerning enough to warrant the appointment of an independent investigator to look at whether or not the Obama White House was involved [in the Trump-Russia investigation],” a GOP congressional source told Fox News.
An FBI spokesman did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
The congressional investigators pointed out to Fox News that the CIA and FBI are supposed to be “independent agencies,” and noted that “coordination between political actors at the White House and investigators would be inappropriate,” raising questions about the level of involvement of Obama White House officials.

Former CIA Director John Brennan, seen here, briefed then-Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., two days before the Democratic leader wrote a letter to Comey.  (AP, File)

But weeks later, on August 25, 2016, Brennan went to Capitol Hill to brief Harry Reid — and it was unclear whether FBI officials attended the briefing, a congressional source told Fox News.
Two days after the briefing, Reid penned a letter to Comey requesting an investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“The evidence of a direct connection between the Russian government and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign continues to mount and has led Michael Morrell, the former Acting Central Intelligence Director, to call Trump an ‘unwitting agent’ of Russia and the Kremlin,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, wrote. “The prospect of a hostile government actively seeking to undermine our free and fair elections represents one of the gravest threats to our democracy since the Cold War and it is critical for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to use every resource available to investigate this matter thoroughly and in a timely fashion.”
Reid cited reports in his letter, noting “methods” Russia was using to influence the Trump campaign and “manipulate it as a vehicle for advancing the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
Reid added that “recent staff changes within the Trump campaign have made clear that the Trump campaign has employed a number of individuals with significant and disturbing ties to Russia and the Kremlin,” urging Comey to make the investigation “public.”
The New York Times first reported on Reid’s letter to Comey on Aug. 29, 2016.

Former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, seen here, penned a letter in August 2016 to former FBI Director James Comey requesting an investigation into potential collusion with Trump campaign associates and Russia.  (AP)

The following day, Aug. 30, 2016, Strzok texted Page: “Here we go,” sending a link to the Times report titled, “Harry Reid Cites Evidence of Russian Tampering in U.S. Vote and seeks FBI inquiry.”
Strzok replied: “D [Comey] said at am brief that Reid called him and told him he would be sending a letter.”
Congressional investigators suggested that the Reid letter possibly provided “cover” for the fact that the FBI and Justice Department had already begun investigating the Trump campaign in mid-July on what they called “questionable ethical and legal grounds.”
“The ‘here we go’ text between Strzok and Page indicates the FBI/ DOJ knew the letter from Reid was coming,” a congressional source told Fox News. “This created the inference they knew it would create public calls for an investigation into Russian interference — covering them.”
The source told Fox News on Wednesday that investigators were neither “passing judgement” nor “claiming a smoking gun,” but suggested that the timeline was “incredibly concerning.”
“At some point, the amount of concerning information becomes enough for a special counsel to look into it.”