“There may be no actual misconduct” among top-ranking FBI officials despite the “appearance of impropriety,” Ron Hosko, the former assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division at the FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC, said during a Wednesday interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with co-hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak.
Mansour asked Hosko if an incongruity exists between the FBI’s motto – “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity” – and the lack of resignations and whistleblowers emerging from the bureau in light of recent scandals.
“You said in your own words that the FBI is ‘the pinnacle of integrity,’” said Mansour. “I would agree. Growing up, I’ve always thought that. I want to know, then, why don’t we see more resignations and more whistleblowers, right now, when there is somewhat of a scandal surrounding the FBI? Where are the resignations? Where are the whistleblowers? More people coming forward saying, ‘I denounce this’?”
Hosko framed internal FBI processes as effective in addressing internal impropriety.
“I think that, internally, those conversations are most certainly going on, but the work of the organization goes on, too,” said Hosko. “So if I look at someone engaging in acts of stupidity or misconduct, you know, depending on level, I may be outraged by that, but I know the FBI has a process to address that.”
“Part of due process is having an investigative process before we find you guilty,” added Hosko, casting due process rights as germane to explaining the lack of public resignations or whistleblowing from the FBI’s rank and file.
Internal investigations would determine if Deputy Director Andrew McCabe had behaved inappropriately while heading an investigation of Hillary Clinton’s negligent email use as secretary of state. His wife had run a failed campaign for a Virginia state Senate – including receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state’s Democrats and then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s (D-VA) political action committee – ending weeks prior to his taking the lead position on the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s emails.
“We actually conduct an investigation,” said Hosko. “I think that’s going on, right now, with respect to Strzok and Page and very likely Andy McCabe and the appearance of impropriety with his wife running for local office here and taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Clinton acolyte, right? There may be no actual misconduct.”
“The appearance of impropriety is huge,” continued Hosko. “We all are troubled by how that might affect decisions down range. But I think it’s important and fair for an investigation to precede judgment, right? In my day job, I was and have been very critical of Obama and Holder in the way they handled Ferguson and other police cases because they rushed to judgment on police almost everywhere.”
Hosko praised former FBI Director James Comey as a man of “independence.”
“I also worked with Jim Comey for about eight months and really held him in very high regard,” said Hosko. “I thought he was exactly what the FBI needed at that time. I saw great examples of independence. Where he was, I think, intentionally was telegraphing his independence from DOJ, letting the country and the world know the FBI was independent, even though it’s a component of the DOJ.”
Comey followed his conscience in publicly advising against the indictment of Clinton for felonious mishandling of classified information, said Hosko.
“He lit her on fire,” said Hosko of Comey’s treatment of Clinton. “He doused her with lighter fluid and threw her a match, and he walked out the room while recommending not to indict based on precedent. I don’t know how that is lining up with Hillary Clinton or supporting Hillary Clinton. I think Jim Comey did what he believed to be right, and I think at the core of that was Jim Comey trying to tell the public that the FBI worked hard to try to unravel the case.”
Last May, Hosko said Comey has “the heart of a Boy Scout” and a good “moral compass.”
Breitbart News Tonight airs Monday through Friday on SiriusXM’s Patriot channel 125 from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern (6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific).
LISTEN (relevant portion begins at 24:13):
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.