Latest news with #GovernmentGangsters'
Observer
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Observer
FBI suspends employee on Patel's so-called enemies list
The FBI has suspended an analyst on Kash Patel's so-called enemies list after Patel told lawmakers that the bureau under his leadership would stay out of the political fray and not punish employees for partisan reasons. Last week, the bureau placed the analyst, Brian Auten, on administrative leave, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation. The reasons for the suspension remain unclear. The suspension is likely to raise questions about whether the move was retaliatory, and about how closely Patel would stick to his promise, made during his confirmation hearing in January, that the agency would rise above partisanship despite pressure from President Donald Trump's allies to fire employees who took part in investigations that conservatives have condemned. The suspension of Auten, who had already been disciplined and questioned in a criminal inquiry, will also likely intensify distrust of Patel among employees who have watched senior leaders forced out in recent months with no explanation. Auten worked on two major investigations that angered Trump and Patel, including the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential election. He was also involved in analysing the information found on Hunter Biden's laptop, a discovery that roiled the 2020 presidential campaign. Patel has called the Russia investigation a hoax, and singled out Auten in his book, 'Government Gangsters.' In the book, Patel claimed that the FBI was trying to 'hide and spin' what he called 'the Biden family corruption' buried in the laptop, even as agents investigated the matter. 'Government Gangsters' also included a list of 60 names in an appendix called 'Members of the Executive Branch Deep State.' Auten was among the names listed in the appendix. At his confirmation hearing, Patel denied that it was an enemies list. 'It's a total mischaracterisation,' he told senators. He later added: 'There will be no politicisation at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI, should I be confirmed as FBI director.' The suspension of Auten came after he and others had been disciplined for serious mistakes found in the FBI's applications for a secret surveillance warrant involving a former Trump campaign adviser. Auten played an important role in unmasking the primary source behind a dossier of rumours and unproven assertions about Trump. The surveillance warrant applications relied in part on the dossier that Auten had examined extensively. In the wake of the Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, Auten had been suspended for 30 days, people said. After Patel became director, Auten was moved out of the counterintelligence division, one of the people said. In his book, Patel denounced Auten. 'Yet just like his superiors, Auten has faced no real accountability in light of these findings,' he wrote. 'The fact that Auten was not fired from the FBI and prosecuted for his part in the Russia Gate conspiracy is a national embarrassment.' The Justice Department's inspector general found that FBI officials had sufficient reason to open Crossfire Hurricane, and did not find evidence that the inquiry was politically motivated. 'We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced' officials' decision to open the investigation, the report said. John H. Durham, the special counsel appointed by Trump to scrutinise the Russia investigation, said in his final report that 'as an initial matter, there is no question that the FBI had an affirmative obligation to closely examine' the tip that prompted the investigation. But Durham accused the FBI of 'confirmation bias.' In 2020, The New York Post reported on the laptop once used by Biden, writing that it contained damning evidence against him and his father, Joe Biden, who was running for president. In his book, Patel criticised Auten's role in the episode, claiming that he tried to 'discredit any derogatory information about Hunter Biden by falsely claiming that none of it was true.'
New York Times
11-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
F.B.I. Suspends Bureau Employee on Patel's So-Called Enemies List
The F.B.I. has suspended an analyst on Kash Patel's so-called enemies list after Mr. Patel told lawmakers that the bureau under his leadership would stay out of the political fray and not punish employees for partisan reasons. Last week, the bureau placed the analyst, Brian Auten, on administrative leave, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation. The reasons for the suspension remain unclear. The F.B.I. declined to comment. A lawyer for Mr. Auten also declined to comment. The suspension is likely to raise questions about whether the move was retaliatory, and about how closely Mr. Patel would stick to his promise, made during his confirmation hearing in January, that the agency would rise above partisanship despite pressure from President Trump's allies to fire employees who took part in investigations that conservatives have condemned. The suspension of Mr. Auten, who had already been disciplined and questioned in a criminal inquiry, will also likely intensify distrust of Mr. Patel among employees who have watched senior leaders forced out in recent months with no explanation. Mr. Auten worked on two major investigations that angered Mr. Trump and Mr. Patel, including the F.B.I.'s investigation into Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential election. He was also involved in analyzing the information found on Hunter Biden's laptop, a discovery that roiled the 2020 presidential campaign. Mr. Patel has called the Russia investigation a hoax, and singled out Mr. Auten in his book, 'Government Gangsters.' In the book, Mr. Patel claimed that the F.B.I. was trying to 'hide and spin' what he called 'the Biden family corruption' buried in the laptop, even as agents investigated the matter. 'Government Gangsters' also included a list of 60 names in an appendix called 'Members of the Executive Branch Deep State.' Mr. Auten was among the names listed in the appendix. At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Patel denied that it was an enemies list. 'It's a total mischaracterization,' he told senators. He later added: 'There will be no politicization at the F.B.I. There will be no retributive actions taken by any F.B.I., should I be confirmed as F.B.I. director.' The suspension of Mr. Auten came after he and others had been disciplined for serious mistakes found in the F.B.I.'s applications for a secret surveillance warrant involving a former Trump campaign adviser. Mr. Auten played an important role in unmasking the primary source behind a dossier of rumors and unproven assertions about Mr. Trump. The surveillance warrant applications relied in part on the dossier that Mr. Auten had examined extensively. In the wake of the Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, Mr. Auten had been suspended for 30 days, people said. After Mr. Patel became director, Mr. Auten was moved out of the counterintelligence division, one of the people said. In his book, Mr. Patel denounced Mr. Auten. 'Yet just like his superiors, Auten has faced no real accountability in light of these findings,' he wrote. 'The fact that Auten was not fired from the F.B.I. and prosecuted for his part in the Russia Gate conspiracy is a national embarrassment.' The Justice Department's inspector general found that F.B.I. officials had sufficient reason to open Crossfire Hurricane, and did not find evidence that the inquiry was politically motivated. 'We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced' officials' decision to open the investigation, the report said. John H. Durham, the special counsel appointed by Mr. Trump to scrutinize the Russia investigation, said in his final report that 'as an initial matter, there is no question that the F.B.I. had an affirmative obligation to closely examine' the tip that prompted the investigation. But Mr. Durham accused the F.B.I. of 'confirmation bias.' In 2020, The New York Post reported on the laptop once used by Mr. Biden, writing that it contained damning evidence against him and his father, Joseph R. Biden Jr., who was running for president. In his book, Mr. Patel criticized Mr. Auten's role in the episode, claiming that he tried to 'discredit any derogatory information about Hunter Biden by falsely claiming that none of it was true.'
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A Judge Does What He Can: Corrupt Bargain To Hang Over Eric Adams No Longer
Manhattan federal judge Dale Ho had limited options in the Eric Adams case. On the one hand, he could have acceded to the DOJ's wishes: dismiss the case without prejudice, but give federal prosecutors the opportunity to bring the same charges against the New York City mayor in the future. Ho could have tried to stretch the limits of his own authority: decline to dismiss the case, and try to appoint a prosecutor to continue pursuing the charges. That would be fraught, with invite an immediate appeal, and would be unlikely to succeed. But Ho chose a third option that allowed him to deny the Trump administration a key portion of the corrupt bargain that it sought to establish with Adams: on Wednesday he removed an easy source of leverage over the New York City mayor by dismissing the case against him with prejudice. In doing so, Ho also strongly rebuked the DOJ's actions in the case, describing a mix of incompetence and malice. He noted that then-acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove had taken the extremely out-of-the-ordinary step of appearing alone at a hearing in the case after several Manhattan federal prosecutors resigned, while no other government attorney whose name was on filings in the case would appear in person. The Trump DOJ's attempt to hold the threat of renewed prosecution against Adams, after moving to drop the case in February, stands as one of its most bizarre and convoluted efforts to use the federal government to throw its weigh around in never-before-tried ways — a particularly dramatic example among many other examples. It was mafia-style coercion mixed with federal policy: in exchange for having his corruption prosecution dropped, Adams would cooperate with the Trump administration on its legally questionable deportation initiatives. It would allow the federal government to reach down into local law enforcement matters, an intrusion that Ho called 'troubling.' Because on Wednesday Ho dismissed the charges with prejudice, the DOJ will be barred from bringing the same charges against Adams, removing, at least to some extent, its leverage over him. The plan to put his case on hold through a dismissal without prejudice was a key part of what made the deal appear corrupt on a number of levels, the judge wrote. It's 'difficult to imagine a more egregious example of the kind of prosecutorial harassment' that federal law is supposed to prevent, Ho said. 'Such an arrangement would be bad for Mayor Adams, and it would be bad for the people of New York City. And the Court cannot be complicit in it.' Although Ho's decision removes that formal source of leverage, it's far from clear that its absence will have an effect on how Adams acts as mayor. At a press conference on Wednesday, Adams waved around a copy of FBI Director Kash Patel's book 'Government Gangsters' and urged every New Yorker to read it. Adams has not been known for subtlety during his tenure in Gracie Mansion. Ho wrote in his order that even if he considered only what Bove told him in court and via filings, he would still have to dismiss the case with prejudice. The DOJ had claimed that the case deserved to be dismissed because the previous, Biden-appointed U.S. attorney Damian Williams had politicized the prosecution by touting it as one of his accomplishments after leaving office. The obvious dubiousness of that argument aside, Ho decided to play along: if the DOJ were to bring the case again, would that not involve 'precisely the kind of prosecutorial harassment' barred by federal law? 'But the bottom line is that, if the request for dismissal without prejudice constitutes an effort to obtain policy concessions from the Mayor on immigration enforcement, that is all the more reason to dismiss this case permanently,' Ho wrote. He also addressed the so-called 'policy' element of the bargain: cooperation with federal immigration authorities in the Five Boroughs. This is the first time in American history that Ho said he was aware of in which the government moved to drop charges against a public official over questions of 'public safety, national security, or immigration.' 'The breathtaking implications of DOJ's position — which were apparently well-understood by the numerous attorneys at USAO-SDNY and DOJ who resigned rather than sign this Rule 48(a) Motion — are difficult to square with the words engraved above the front entrance of the United States Supreme Court: 'Equal Justice Under Law,'' the judge concluded.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mayor Eric Adams credits book ‘Government Gangsters' after charges dropped
NEW YORK (PIX11) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams held up the book 'Government Gangsters' while responding to a federal judge's decision to dismiss his corruption charges on Wednesday. The book, 'Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,' is written by President Donald Trump's appointed FBI director Kash Pramod Patel. He lists multiple government officials whom he deems a 'threat to our democracy' and who were critics of President Donald Trump. More Local News Trump has praised the book, saying he would 'use this blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from all of Government.' Adams credited the book as helping him find the 'rationale' behind the corruption charges that he claimed were untrue. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State 'I am going to encourage every New Yorker to read it. Read it and understand how we can never allow this to happen to another innocent American.' Prior to his charges being dropped, Adams was criticized by fellow New York City politicians for advising his top aids not to criticize the President. Judge Dale Ho ordered the federal corruption case dropped with prejudice, meaning the government cannot bring these charges against Adams again in the future. Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
02-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Adams Doubles Down on Trump Alliance, Praising F.B.I. Director's Book
Eric Adams, the Democratic mayor of New York City who, after his federal corruption indictment, forged a mutually beneficial relationship with President Donald J. Trump, on Wednesday made clear where his loyalties lie. Hours after a federal judge granted the Trump administration's request to dismiss the corruption charges against him, Mr. Adams suggested at a news conference in front of Gracie Mansion that Mr. Trump's Justice Department was doing God's will. 'Jesus stepped in and he uses who he uses,' Mr. Adams said at the news conference, seemingly referring to the Justice Department officials who moved to drop his case. 'New Yorkers stop me all the time trying to find the rationale behind this,' Mr. Adams said. 'And I found it in this book.' Then he held up a copy of 'Government Gangsters' by the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who has spread misinformation about the agency he now runs, arguing that Americans are the victims of an unbridled cabal of federal officials referred to by Mr. Patel and others as the 'deep state.' Mr. Adams turned Mr. Patel's book so that the audience could read the title and waved it for emphasis. 'I'm going to encourage every New Yorker to read it,' he said. 'Read it and understand how we can never allow this to happen to another innocent American.' The extraordinary moment occurred during Mr. Adams's first public comments after the charges were dropped. And his brandishing of the book at the news conference seemed to underscore the bargain he has been accused of striking with the Trump administration — one that the judge who dismissed the charges on Wednesday referred to explicitly, saying it appeared that federal prosecutors had sought to dismiss the indictment in exchange for 'immigration policy concessions.' Mr. Adams was indicted in September and charged with bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. But after Mr. Trump took office, officials at the Justice Department moved to drop his case, saying that it was hindering the mayor from cooperating fully with Mr. Trump's immigration agenda. The judge overseeing the case, Dale E. Ho, dismissed it on Wednesday. But he noted that 'the record does not show that this case has impaired Mayor Adams in his immigration enforcement efforts.' Mr. Patel's book, published in 2023, is a broadside against federal law enforcement officials, including Justice Department prosecutors and F.B.I. agents. Mr. Patel wrote in the book that the 'Deep State isn't some crazy conspiracy but a real force — and the most dangerous threat to our democracy.' Mr. Patel said that the term, often used by Mr. Trump's allies to refer to unelected civil servants, described officials who worked at the highest levels of almost every federal agency, including the F.B.I., and who were hopelessly politicized. 'Government Gangsters' is not Mr. Patel's only published work. In 2022, he wrote a children's book called 'The Plot Against the King,' a retelling of the investigation into Mr. Trump's 2016 campaign and its potential ties to Russia. In the book, Mr. Patel cast himself as a wizard who saves 'King Donald' from the machinations of law enforcement and Democratic villains.
