Tag Archives: FBI

The Washington Post reports: National security agencies across the Trump administration are ramping up investigations into alleged leaks to the news media, in some cases using polygraph tests that current and former officials say are creating a climate of fear and intimidation. At FBI Director Kash Patel’s direction, the bureau in recent weeks has begun administering polygraph tests to identify …

Ars Technica reports: The FBI is offering $10 million for information about the China-state hacking group tracked as Salt Typhoon and its intrusion last year into sensitive networks belonging to multiple US telecommunications companies. Salt Typhoon is one of a half-dozen or more hacking groups that work on behalf of the People’s Republic of China. Intelligence agencies and private security …

The New York Times reports: The F.B.I. has suspended an analyst on Kash Patel’s so-called enemies list after Mr. Patel told lawmakers that the bureau under his leadership would stay out of the political fray and not punish employees for partisan reasons. Last week, the bureau placed the analyst, Brian Auten, on administrative leave, according to people familiar with the …

CNBC reports: The FBI said Monday it has launched a task force with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate attacks targeting Tesla, the electric vehicle company headed by Trump administration DOGE chief Elon Musk. The announcement came hours after a bomb squad found multiple incendiary devices at a Tesla showroom in Austin, Texas, the same city …

NBC News reports: Law enforcement officials and domestic extremism experts say they have found no evidence that a series of attacks on Tesla vehicles and dealerships are coordinated despite such claims from Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. At least 10 Tesla dealerships, charging stations and facilities have been hit by vandals, many of whom have lit cars …

Reuters reports: The FBI has cut staffing in an office focused on domestic terrorism and has scrapped a tool used to track such investigations, in a shift that could undermine law enforcement’s ability to counter white supremacists and anti-government extremists. The moves, sources said, are an indication that domestic terrorism investigations, which in recent years have largely involved violence fueled …

Reuters reports: The White House has quietly directed the FBI to halt the background check process for dozens of President Donald Trump’s top staffers, and has transferred the process to the Pentagon, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The directive came last month after agents tasked with completing the background investigations had conducted interviews with a handful of …

The New Republic reports: The FBI is moving to criminalize groups like Habitat for Humanity for receiving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration. Citibank revealed in a court filing Wednesday that it was told to freeze the groups’ bank accounts at the FBI’s request. The reason? The FBI alleges that the groups are involved in “possible …

Mother Jones reports: On Tuesday, Dan Bongino, the newly named deputy director of the FBI continued to hold forth on his eponymous daily podcast, this time focused on defending President Donald Trump’s Oval Office attack on Ukraine’s president. But first, Bongino offered a word from a sponsor: “Big Brother is watching you,” he said, noting it had been 10 years …

The Washington Post reports: The FBI on Friday returned at least some of the materials it seized from Donald Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago residence and private club during a court-authorized search in August 2022, White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said. The search was part of the federal investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left the White House …

CNN reports: FBI Director Kash Patel walked into his new office on the seventh floor of the bureau’s headquarters last week and made an immediate order – he wanted new carpeting and window coverings, calling the office “dingy.” Patel’s plans to remake the FBI go well beyond redecorating. He wants to overhaul the bureau in fundamental ways that could drastically …

ABC News reports: FBI Director Kash Patel, whose proclaimed plans to overhaul the nation’s premier law enforcement agency have rattled many within the bureau, has proposed enhancing the FBI’s ranks with help from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the martial-arts entertainment giant whose wealthy CEO, Dana White, helped boost Trump’s reelection. On a teleconference Wednesday with the heads of the FBI’s …

The far-right Moonie Times reports: FBI leadership is starting an investigation into the origins of the agency’s plan a decade ago to infiltrate the campaign of presidential candidate Donald Trump using two female undercover “honeypot” agents. The off-the-books investigation, launched in 2015 by FBI Director James B. Comey, was revealed by an agency whistleblower in a protected disclosure to the …

Politico reports: House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan subpoenaed the FBI for a trove of new materials related to the Biden administration’s activities, including investigations around the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and communications with Big Tech companies. The letter to new FBI Director Kash Patel is the first subpoena request from Jordan this Congress, as the Ohio Republican’s key ally and …

Time Magazine reports: President Donald Trump announced Sunday night that Kash Patel had tapped Dan Bongino to be second-in-command at the FBI, after the Senate confirmed Patel as the bureau’s new director last week. Bongino, like many new leaders across the Trump Administration including Patel, represents a radical departure from tradition for his role. The FBI deputy director, which does …

The Washington Post reports: “Mr. Patel will be a political and national security disaster,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) said at a news conference outside FBI headquarters — a building Patel has said he would shut down and reopen as a museum to the so-called deep state. Durbin and his colleagues emphasized what they’ve repeatedly described in hearings and floor speeches …

The Hill reports: The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced the nomination of Kash Patel. in a strict party-line vote, clearing the way for President Trump’s pick to lead the FBI to get a vote on the full Senate floor. The 12-10 vote will allow Patel to be considered by the Senate as early as next week. Patel advanced amid …

The Washington Post reports: Every morning at 9:45, top FBI and Justice Department officials meet to discuss the nation’s most pressing threats and update each other on federal law enforcement’s biggest investigations. The huddle, in a secure facility on the 6th floor of Justice Department headquarters, dates back through decades of presidential administrations. It has continued since President Donald Trump …

NBC News reports: The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee has sent a letter to the Justice Department Inspector General accusing Kash Patel, President Trump’s pick for FBI director, of secretly orchestrating the firings of FBI officials, a day after telling the committee under oath that he was not aware of any plan to do so. “If these allegations …

CNN reports: The FBI is preparing to disband a team of specialists charged with combating foreign threats to US elections. The shuttering of the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force and planned reassigning of team members follows a directive from incoming and newly sworn in US Attorney General Pam Bondi dissolving the team. “To free resources to address more pressing priorities, …