Marco Rubio tweeted a few minutes ago about something he feels should be getting more attention, but is not. Here’s what he said:
I wonder why this isn’t receiving more focus in the media reports: “In addition,we identified instances where FBI employees improperly received benefits from reporters,including tickets to sporting events,golfing outings,drinks & meals, & admittance to nonpublic social events.”
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 14, 2018
Wow. That does seem like a big deal.
Here’s what the IG report said about it:
In addition to the significant number of communications between FBI employees and journalists, we identified social interactions between FBI employees and journalists that were, at a minimum, inconsistent with FBI policy and Department ethics rules. For example, we identified instances where FBI employees received tickets to sporting events from journalists, went on golfing outings with media representatives, were treated to drinks and meals after work by reporters, and were the guests of journalists at nonpublic social events. We will separately report on those investigations as they are concluded, consistent with the Inspector General (IG) Act, other applicable federal statutes, and OIG policy.
Now I think Rubio knows the answer to this question he’s asking. I mean you gotta be a complete DUNCE not to realize the media isn’t gonna out the media. They aren’t focusing on it on it because they are the ones who are GUILTY of trying to trade favors for information. They’ve made a living off of leaks and they want to make sure that the proverbial skids are always greased.
Now about those ‘significant number of communications’ the IG reporter referenced in the paragraph above:
Second, although FBI policy strictly limits the employees who are authorized to speak to the media, we found that this policy appeared to be widely ignored during the period we reviewed. We identified numerous FBI employees, at all levels of the organization and with no official reason to be in contact with the media, who were nevertheless in frequent contact with reporters. The large number of FBI employees who were in contact with journalists during this time period impacted our ability to identify the sources of leaks. For example, during the periods we reviewed, we identified dozens of FBI employees that had contact with members of the media. Attached to this report as Attachments G and H are link charts that reflects the volume of communications that we identified between FBI employees and media representatives in April/May and October 2016.
Yep, sounds like those skids are pretty greasy. Director Wray has his work cut out for him and I just hope he’s Director enough to do it.