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FBI Let Off the Hook—Again
It seems that a “gross mishandling” of information,” violation of “multiple policies,” “mishandling of evidence,” and essentially enabling a man who sexually abused at least 40 women and girls does not warrant trying to pursue criminal charges against FBI agents. Even though USA national gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar continued his heinous acts after the FBI was informed, the agents (except for one who was fired and one who retired) will not be held accountable for their actions (or lack thereof). Three times the authorities have tried to find reasons to prosecute and have failed each time.
In the case of Nassar, the FBI Inspector General was outraged by his actions, and the lack of response by the FBI. There has been handwringing aplenty and condemnation by legislators:
The inspector general’s office found that ‘despite the extraordinarily serious nature’ of the claims against Nassar, FBI officials in Indianapolis did not respond with the ‘utmost seriousness and urgency that the allegations deserved and required.’
When they did respond, the report said, FBI officials made ‘numerous and fundamental errors’ and also violated bureau policies. Among the missteps was a failure to conduct any investigative activity until more than a month after a meeting with USA Gymnastics. Agents interviewed by phone one of three athletes, but never spoke with two other gymnasts despite being told they were available to meet.
Unfortunately, the FBI is not regulated by a dereliction of duty clause, so their punishment will be limited to the recommendations of the FBI Inspector General.
Lawyers for Nassar’s survivors have said more than 100 young women or teens were assaulted after the FBI became aware of allegations against him. At least 13 are seeking $10 million each from the government.
John Manly, attorney for several of the survivors, said it’s ‘incomprehensible’ that agents and others will not be prosecuted.
‘The FBI agents who knew of Nassar’s abuse, did nothing, and then lied about their inaction in violation of their sworn duty and the law have been given a pass,’ Manly said.
Right. Ten million dollars apiece to the survivors should make up for a lot of abuse.
Published in Culture
This story and the Epstein saga rhyme.
I am of the belief that sexual abuse and sex trafficking is not uncommon at the highest levels of government and bureau’s like the FBI.
We are becoming Sodom and Gamora . Sorry state we are in.
Of course.
So, not doing a good job as a cop is not a criminal offense that gets you thrown in jail. That seems like the correct rule to me.
I don’t like incompetence by cops or other government officials. I don’t think that it’s a good idea, generally speaking, to throw people in jail for it.
We’ll see if the private lawsuits survive. There’s also a general rule that you can’t sue the cops for failure to protect you. There are good reasons for this rule.
I understand your point, Jerry. But Nassar was abetted by their incompetence and delays, and that disturbs me greatly.
You might think that there would be some kind of punishment for the agents connected to this issue. If you look at the report of the IG https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/21-093.pdf , only the failures of the agents are listed, and recommendations for changes to policies are made. There is no indication that the FBI has punished those who were incompetent and irresponsible. I’ll look further, but I don’t think I’ll find anything. This is disgusting.
And of course the victims are suing the government, not the individual agents. So taxpayers are paying. Again.
Should the consequences be criminal? Not necessarily, unless there was collusion between the two. There is no evidence of this in this case as far as I know.
On the other hand, should there be no consequences? That isn’t acceptable.
Who did the field agents report to and what did they know? Or not know?
Institutions covering for institutions.
How about some management oversight and action for negligent performance and incompetence? Does the FBI not have a management structure?
In the case of the FBI, IRS, CIA, etc., I believe that a surprisingly effective curative would be for Congress to defund the offending agency, pass laws to create brand new agencies, and require them to be staffed (leadership especially) with people that have similar experience at the state level—demonstrate federalism. The weakness of institutions is that they tend toward self-preservation. Pulling down a couple and replacing them with entirely new leadership (and making a few individual examples out of the old) would be, I think, a remarkably effective way to show portions of the Executive branch that they are not outside or above the law. SCOTUS seems to be on board with that, now.
Given our current state of lawlessness, would the FBI be missed at all, even if there is no federal law enforcement for a few months while a new agency is staffed and confirmed?
Exactly.
This is just a horrible case. First you have an evil pervert, but when the victims do the right thing and report him, nothing happens.
The article says,”The FBI fired an agent; another one retired.” Retired, with his pension intact? And there were only two people in the FBI who knew about this. Somehow the agency had the resources to investigate a Russian collusion case that they already knew was false, but not this. And what about the US Gymnastics committee (or whoever oversees the team)?
This is probably a big part of the problem. I suspect most of the management staffing involving outside people is political patronage lacking actual law enforcement experience and the inside people are in the institutional preservation mode.
So, knowing that a creep is molesting little girls, doing nothing about it, and then lying about it are just normal police “oopsie daisies” that don’t warrant any kind of consequences for those involved.
Meanwhile, if the FBI interrogates you and you forget a detail, or say “Tuesday” when you meant Thursday, you go to PMUTA Federal prison for lying to Federal agents.
Unless you’re Ghislaine Maxwell and you trafficked underage girls to powerful politicians and oligarchs. Then you get country club prison with tennis and yoga.
I’m surprised she got that. After all, Epstein got his start with William Barr’s father, a spook. Epstein and Maxwell were obviously running an intelligence honey trap operation on American and British elites for blackmail purposes.
These look like mere institutional preservation actions. That would explain why they are so limited in scope. Just do enough to silence much of the criticism.
In the past, most of the institutional preservation was internally generated but today such influences come from many outside sources.
Double post deleted
Great suggestions, Muleskinner. I think it would be extremly difficult to initiate, but I’d be alll for it
They did report the allegations and waited for months for a response or were referred to local law enforcement.
How about fired in disgraced? I could go for fired in disgraced. Maybe take their retirement away from them as well.
Added: OK, I see we had 1 (one) firing and an early retirement. Better than nothing but not by much.
We The People gave these guys power in order that they used it properly and usefully.
They failed. And then they failed to demonstrate that this failure was a problem.
Contemptible.
And also bad for the brand.
Perhaps it’s forgotten that not only did the agent delay investigation, he lobbied USA Gymnastics for a position during this time. Did he leverage his knowledge of wrongdoing? If so, it does not suggest dereliction or “incompetence,” it was willful abuse of his position.
It is good to be the nomenklatura.
Edit: Holy crap, read the Wikipedia page on nomenklatura. We have arrived, because that describes us. I hope we’re not in too deep.
Chris, The dereliction and incompetence I referred to was on the part of the FBI. I think he did try to get another position, but don’t know how that factored in.
That is true of all institutions, inside or outside of government. The goal at the top is not just self-preservation, but expansion. In a bureaucracy, the sign of success is not the accomplishment of the original purpose, but the expansion of fiefdoms; the greater the number of people reporting to you the greater your prestige among you fellows.
I’d have to review the timing. I believe he was already seeking the position when the interviews with the gymnasts were conducted. Can’t really get a job with an organization while you have them at gunpoint, can you?
Dissolve the FBI. No constitutional authority for a Federal police force. Regardless of the sincerity and dedication of some individual agents, the leadership class above the local offices has shown itself to be corrupt.
Cut the budget of Department of Justice by 50%, with further reductions if the Attorney General can’t provide empirical proof of efficacy.
(Okay. I understand…I’ll stop baying at the moon.)
I love it! Bay all you like! Something has to change.
Something happened to a bunch of girls after the FBI chose to do nothing.
How about we give them the J6 treatment. We lock them up in a jail for a few years, while the process sorts things out. Presumed guilt is good enough. I am sure that a cop that protected a pedo would be very popular.
Where did these abuses occur? Apparently the FBI was informed of these allegations in Indianapolis. Whenever I hear about federal law enforcemnt involvement in criminal matters, my first question is, why isn’t the state where these abuses occurred pressing charges?
So why didn’t police and prosecutors in Indiana get involved?
Not sure the police can touch FBI.
Nor that the local prosecutors have jurisdiction.
But we can’t continue this way.