The FBI: "When they open investigations without authorization, to me that’s about as radical as it gets,"

EXCLUSIVE: Audit reveals FBI rule-breaking in probes involving politicians, religious groups, media

FBI agents violated their own rules at least 747 times in 18 months while conducting investigations involving politicians, candidates, religious groups, the news media and others, according to a 2019 FBIaudit obtained by The Washington Times. 

The internal review revealed a ratio of slightly more than two “compliance errors” per each sensitive investigative matter (SIM) reviewed by FBI auditors. These errors involved things like agents failing to get approval from senior FBI officials to start an investigation, agents failing to document a necessary legal review occurring before they opened an investigation and agents failing to tell prosecutors what they were doing, among other things.

Cato Institute senior fellow Patrick Eddington uncovered the audit in litigation his organization brought against the FBI for access to government records. He said the audit reveals how far “off-the-chain” FBIfield offices have strayed.“When they open investigations without authorization, to me that’s about as radical as it gets,” Mr. Eddington said. 

The FBI auditors reviewed a small portion of the bureau’s total portfolio. They studied 353 cases involving sensitive investigative matters — fewer than half of the total number of such cases — and found rules broken 747 times between Jan. 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019.“When they open investigations without authorization, to me that’s about as radical as it gets,” Mr. Eddington said. 

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