Oopsie! The FBI "Unintentionally" Spied on 278,000 Americans

Whoops!

Whoopsie!

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate visibly stunned Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley on Tuesday with his estimate of how many Americans the Bureau has "unintentionally" spied on.

Abbate testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Hawley grilled him as to why the FBI would not commit to publicly releasing the 1023 form relating to President Joe Biden and his alleged foreign business dealings. Abbate said doing so would endanger the life of the document's source, prompting Hawley to argue the source's name could be redacted.

Abbate then said Hawley should take the source's safety "seriously."

"I also take seriously the fact that your institution has repeatedly abused its authority, has repeatedly targeted political opponents ... Your institution is the one that, according to the court, the FISA court, ran 278,000 unwarranted -- probably illegal -- queries on Americans, right? That was your institution, correct?" Hawley asked.

"With respect to the compliance incident, yes," Abbate said.

"Compliance. You characterized the unlawful querying, 278,000 times, of American citizens as 'compliance issues'?" Hawley pressed.

"We've said before, I've said, that [it's] totally unacceptable," Abbate said.

"Who's been fired for it?" Hawley asked.

"Individuals involved are handled through the disciplinary process."

"Who's been fired for it?" Hawley asked again.

"In the case of the unintentional instance, where something similar happened, we have fired people in the past."

"Wait, I'm sorry, what does that word salad mean? The 'unintentional instance'? What does that mean? Who's been fired for the 278,000 times that you improperly or illegally queried the database for American citizens?" Hawley pressed.

"When we find intentional incidents--" Abbate said before Hawley cut him off.

"Wait, you're saying that the 278,000 queries were unintentional?" Hawley asked.

"I believe that's correct."

He then changed his claim from saying that all of the 278,000 cases of illegal spying were "unintentional," to only saying that the "vast majority" of these crimes were unintentional.

"Wow," Hawley said, visibly shocked. "278,000 times, American citizens' information was queried by your agency unintentionally? That's your testimony?"

"I would want to go back and check that, Senator, but yes, my understanding is that the vast majority of the--"

"Wait, but that's different. You just said it was, you just said it was unintentional, now it's the vast majority?" Hawley asked. "Which is it? Do you know?"

"I would want to go back and check it," Abbate said. <

"So you don't know?" Hawley asked.

"My understanding is that likely all are -- were unintentional."

"'Likely all.' So first it was 'all of them,' then it was 'vast majority,' now it's 'likely all,' so 'you don't know' is the answer to the question?"

Of course no one was fired. Consequences are for the Little People who are not part of The Regime.

Video at the link.

posted by Ace at 12:03 PM

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