Demand the Ouster of the Whole FBI (Mis-)Leadership!

By Harley Schlanger

It wouldn't have taken much of an "investigation." Alarmed citizens had given the FBI not one, but two completely specific, credible tips that Nikolas Cruz would massacre high-school students exactly as he did on Feb. 14. And if the FBI had bothered to mount any investigation at all in response, it would also have found, long before the killings, a third, additional warning that some journalists found within two days afterwards: that Cruz belonged to an "Instagram" chat group where he made similar threats. He showed off his "arsenal" of seven guns, and wrote, "I think I am going to kill people."

President Trump tweeted yesterday, "Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russia collusion with the Trump campaign. There is no collusion. Get back to basics and make us all proud."

Florida GOP Gov. Rick Scott also called the FBI's response to the second tip "unacceptable," and called for Director Wray's resignation. "We constantly promote 'see something, say something,' and a courageous person did just that to the FBI. And the FBI failed to act. 'See something, say something' is an incredibly important tool, and people must have confidence in the follow-through from law enforcement. The FBI Director needs to resign."

Not just the Director. Judge Jeanine Pirro, the Fox News commentator who is a former prosecutor and judge, argues rightly and with passion that the entire top echelon of the FBI must be removed. Any fiasco of this magnitude in any corporation would force the resignation or removal of all the top officers and the Board of Directors. The utter failure shown here by the FBI is so monumental that this rule must apply here.

The FBI could not be bothered to investigate before the massacre, but afterwards, it had the chutzpah to go before television cameras to lie that the Facebook post reported in September, which had Nikolas Cruz's name on it, was insufficient to establish a "positive identification."

Not only did they have the name, but in fact, Facebook collects additional data to facilitate such identification. But is this the first such total failure? What about 9/11? And then, we know that Russia had given the FBI warnings about the Boston bombers. Judge Pirro says she knows that serial abuser Larry Nassar had been on the FBI's radar screen for years. Fiasco after fiasco. She says that there are honest men and women in the FBI, but they are sidelined and denied promotion by top management. The entire top echelon must go. Her ten-minute statement yesterday is worth watching.

Lavrov: ‘Democrats Are Going Out of Their Way To Poison Life for President Trump’

Feb. 17, 2018 (EIRNS)—In his 20-minute “Global Conversation” interview with Euronews agency yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated the Russian government’s understanding that President Trump is being blocked from improving relations with Russia, as he has repeatedly stated is his desire.

“It’s quite clear that the Democrats can’t reconcile themselves to the defeat [in the 2016 presidential election] that caught them fully by surprise, and now they are going out of their way to poison life for President Trump and the entire Republican Party. But for Trump in the first place, of course, since he is a leader from outside of the system.... They’re failing to do it to the extent they’d want,”

Lavrov stated, according to a report from TASS.

“Trump has confirmed more than once his genuine intention to fulfill everything he spoke about during the election race, including the promotion of normal, respectful, mutually beneficial and advantageous relations with Russia,”

Lavrov said. Nonetheless, ties between the two countries have not improved.

“It’s a pity that under Donald Trump, for more than a year of his presidency, our relations have not improved compared to the period of the Democratic administration. Even worsened to a certain extent....”

“I do hope the predominant tendencies we’re witnessing in Washington now will fade away there somehow,” Lavrov told Euronews.

“It’s clear, though, this shouldn’t be expected before the midterms in November because the struggle for seats in the U.S. Congress and gubernatorial positions is already in full swing.”

Lavrov went on to deny the latest allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, and suggested they reflected the fact that the authors of the Russiagate operation have “cornered themselves.” Lavrov stated in the interview, which was conducted in Russian:

“There’s much talk about state interference in the electoral process but I haven’t seen a single fact to date. A U.S. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security supervising cybersecurity said unambiguously a few days ago they didn’t have any evidence of Russia’s interference with the last presidential race,”

he said.

“The situation where no facts have leaked to the public sphere over almost half a year that the investigation is in progress is simply impossible for the U.S. If there were at least some smoldering, smoke would be seen at once. I think they’ve cornered themselves by declarations about precise data on Russian meddling and now they are trying to at least [produce] some retroactive justifications, but still they are floundering.”

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