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Catherine Herridge

Whistleblowers: Best Way to Bury Government Misconduct Is To Call In The Inspector General

Published

3 months ago

8 minute read

 

TOP LINE
I’ve heard complaints from many whistleblowers who allege the “best way to bury government misconduct is to call in the Inspector General.”
This week’s report from the Justice Department’s internal watchdog delivers exhaustive detail, but it is light on accountability.
The Justice Department misled federal courts with no significant consequences.
DEEP DIVE
The new Justice Department Inspector General report suggests the federal courts rubber stamped DOJ subpoenas for phone records of congressional investigators – with no significant consequences to date.
In last week’s newsletter, I was among the first to predict the Justice Department IG would soon release its findings into government overreach, specifically the abuse of compulsory process (including subpoenas) to obtain phone and email records.
DOJ OIG Releases Report on DOJ Obtaining Records of Members of Congress, Congressional Staffers, and Members of the News Media using Compulsory Process
oig.justice.gov/news/doj-oig-releases-report-doj-obtaining-records-members-congress-congressional-staffers-and
This is NOT the first time that FBI and DOJ officials have misled the federal courts to obtain evidence for criminal investigations.   The FBI and Justice Department improperly used unsubstantiated claims, and news reports, to secure surveillance warrants for Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
A former FBI agent who has personally drafted FISA warrants told me he had never seen surveillance applications that cited news stories.
 
FBI VAULT – FISA Surveillance Warrant Cites Media Reports
I have reviewed the Inspector General’s report and singled out one of the most important findings on page 4. It found Justice Department officials obfuscated the true identity of their targets and the construct for their leak investigations which probed media outlets and congress.
Most IG reports pass with limited media attention, but this one titled “A Review of the Department of Justice’s Issuance of Compulsory Process to Obtain Records of Members of Congress, Congressional Staffers, and Members of the News Media,” drew attention across the board.
Two Factors: the report impacts reporter records, and it found that the FBI and DOJ collected phone records on then GOP-congressional staffer Kash Patel who is now nominated by President Trump to lead the FBI.
Pg. 8 Inspector General Report — DOJ/FBI Records Requests
What’s clear from the findings is that the Justice Department relied on “boilerplate” language in its Non-Disclosure Order applications to the court.  NDOs can block reporters and congress, as the report notes, from “learning about the use of compulsory process” to seek their records.  That delays, and in some cases prevents, the subjects from challenging the process in the federal judiciary.
The courts did not have the full picture from the Justice Department, and the blame squarely falls on the DOJ. The DOJ was not transparent about its efforts to secure records from members of Congress and their investigators who were probing the origins of the FBI’s probe into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
On its face, the DOJ’s withholding of information from the courts appears to be an act of commission.  If the courts had known the FBI and DOJ were seeking records from congressional investigators, the federal judges might have pushed back requiring immediate notification to the parties.
Patel seemed a prime target. Because of his extensive experience at the Justice Department, he understood and could expose defects in the surveillance (FISA) warrants for Trump campaign aide Carter Page, among other irregularities in the FBI/DOJ case.
According to Kash Patel’s 2023 lawsuit against Justice Department officials and FBI Director Wray, he didn’t learn about the subpoena for his google records until several years after the fact.
As I reported in last week’s newsletter, I faced severe push back, including the threat of attacks on my journalistic integrity from a justice department official when I reported allegations that in 2018 then Deputy Attorney Rosenstein threatened to subpoena Patel and others.
While the FBI and DOJ officials disputed the characterization of the 2018 clash between these two branches of government, this week’s report confirms that Justice Department had already sought the records for Patel and others months earlier.
Buried at the back of the report on page 81 are the top line recommendations.  The first recommendation calls for the expansion of protections and internal review protocols for obtaining records from the news media.  The second and third recommendations call for greater transparency when the DOJ investigates Congress which has oversight for the Justice Department.
Summary Recommendations
WHEN KASH PATEL GOT THE CBS NEWS TREATMENT
Kash Patel has always been a political lightning rod.
When I arrived at CBS News in November 2019, a senior executive told me that I brought a “fresh dimension” to the Network’s news gathering because I had deep contacts on both sides of the aisle.
We interviewed Kash Patel for a story in December 2019.  CBS News titled the report, “White House staffer Kash Patel denies he was back channel to Trump on Ukraine.”
The interview was roundly rejected by the CBS broadcast shows. A senior producer on the CBS Evening News told me the interview wasn’t “newsy enough” to qualify for their broadcast.
The story was eventually posted to the CBS News website.  At the time, I was taken aback by what seemed internal resistance to presenting all points of view on the Impeachment story.
At CBS News, I was surprised and disappointed to find a culture where many colleagues seemed content to confirm the reporting of other networks, rather than break news first.  There were exceptions, but when it came to politics, I experienced a “follow the pack” mentality.
I’ll have more to say about the blowback over the Kash Patel reporting.
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Best, Catherine
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Catherine Herridge

How ‘Woke’ Broke The FBI

Published on March 23, 2025

By

 Author  Catherine Herridge

We Obtain Internal FBI DEI Guide On Managing Unconscious Bias

TOP LINE  
An internal FBI inclusivity “Guide,” obtained by our investigative team, counseled agents on “Ways to Manage Your Unconscious Bias,” “Micro-Inequities” and “How to Improve Your Inclusive Intelligence.”
“The New IQ: Your Guide to Sustaining Inclusive Habits in the Workplace” was widely shared in mid-2020 and includes nine “tips” to counter unconscious bias.
Separately, as part of our investigation, recently retired FBI agents said they saw, firsthand, how law enforcement capabilities were compromised because merit took a backseat to DEI priorities.
They dubbed the legendary FBI Quantico Training Academy the “Participation Academy” because of headquarter’s pressure to “push through” poorly performing candidates to meet their DEI objectives.
The retired agents said FBI Director Patel inherits a workforce where standards dropped impacting physical fitness of agents, their firearms skills as well as professional qualifications, putting the FBI mission and safety at risk.
DEEP DIVE
More than a half dozen recently retired FBI agents agreed to speak with me on a confidential basis.  They said they feared retaliation for describing their experiences with the FBI’s DEI initiatives. While fiercely loyal to the bureau, they said they felt compelled to come forward, citing a dangerous reduction in standards that they believe endanger agents and the public.
The group of retired agents was diverse.  It included male, female, Asian, Black and White agents from field offices in different parts of the country.  Their work experience covered multiple facets of the recruitment and training process. Everyone I spoke with offered a first hand account of DEI’s impact.
FBI DEI Guide Defines “Unconscious Bias”
The retired agents told me they valued diversity because it could strengthen the FBI mission but in recent years, the agents said FBI leadership took the attitude the bureau was “too White.”   The decline, they said, began under FBI Director Mueller who made the DC Headquarters his focus.  They said it accelerated under FBI Director Comey. They blamed Director Wray for standing by as the “train wreck happened.”
“Ways To Manage Your Unconscious Bias”
I was told that the physical fitness performance of candidates declined. The requirements include timed sit-ups (1 minute), timed 300-m sprint, untimed push-up maximum and timed 1.5 mile run.
The retired agents described recruits who had an “attitude problem.” The recruits would quit the long distance run or claim injuries if they thought they would not pass a requirement.   The number of successfully completed push ups was routinely low because many recruits didn’t have the skill or strength to follow the required protocol (i.e bad form, not low enough.)
What I learned about firearms training was also concerning.  I was told some recruits lacked the “mental toughness” to competently handle guns. Other candidates had documented mental health issues.  While their performance was poor, there was a “push them through Quantico attitude.”
The backbone of FBI investigations is a witness interview summary known as a “302.”  In some cases, new agents lacked basic writing skills to complete a 302, in part, because work experience requirements had been relaxed.  Once poor performing recruits were “pushed through Quantico,” the hope was that FBI Field Offices would fix them.
While the retired agents said diversity was valuable to the bureau it had taken precedence over merit. They said they looked up to the FBI when they joined and are hopeful Director Patel can restore and reverse this decline.
These retired FBI agents are solution oriented and respectfully asked if Director Patel would be willing to meet with them because they understand where the change needs to happen internally.
Describing how “woke broke the FBI,” one of the agents shared the wrenching personal decision to discourage their child from following in their professional footsteps. Something that would have been inconceivable during most of their time with the Bureau.
FBI spokesman Ben Williamson said, ““Director Patel’s new FBI will be an entirely mission focused institution — working every day to get criminals off our streets, keep the American people safe, and let good agents be good agents. We are aggressively working to abide by any Presidential directive to root out politically motivated, social engineering projects — they have zero home here and never will as long as Director Patel is at the helm.”

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Catherine Herridge

Return of the Diet Coke Button

Published on January 19, 2025

By

On the eve of Inauguration Day, the time is right to share my personal story about the “Diet Coke” button.
DEEP DIVE
It is a privilege and a tremendous opportunity for a reporter to interview the Commander in Chief.   Any journalist who tells you otherwise is bitter because they can’t land the big interview.
I have sat down with President Trump twice.  First at Fox News, after the Special Counsel Robert Mueller report was released.  The second time, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News.
In advance of interviewing President Trump, I was invited to an informal meeting at the White House. The Oval Office appointment had the tone of a “get to know you session.”
While the meeting was “off the record,” I can tell you that it wasn’t about setting limits on an interview or providing questions which would cross a journalistic redline.  I understood from President Trump’s press team that he made the final call on which reporter would conduct the interview.
Sitting across from President Trump, I noticed a red button on the Resolute Desk and my imagination ran wild.  “What was it, a nuclear button, a panic button, or a get this reporter out of here button?”’
Source: X realDonaldTrump
I was not the first person to fall into this trap.  In his book, “The Chief’s Chief,”  former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows described his encounter with the Diet Coke button, writing it “seemed like something you might use to launch a nuclear missile, or maybe to order SEAL Team Six into action.”
“I braced for whatever sonic boom, breaking glass, or cloud of smoke I assumed was coming,” Meadows added.
With a keen eye, President Trump saw my curiosity, and leveraged it. He leaned across the desk, and in what seemed a very deliberate manner, he pressed the red button. I nearly jumped out of my seat.
Then to my right, I recall that a butler entered the Oval Office with a silver tray and several tall glasses of Diet Coke.   I can’t recall exactly, and it may have been the shock of the red button, but the butler seemed to appear out of nowhere from behind the bookcases.
Commemorative Bottle of Diet Coke
I recall President Trump put his hand next to his mouth, and whispered, “It’s one of the best parts of the job!”
Out of respect for the ground rules, I am not going to say much more about the meeting because it was off the record. As we concluded,  President Trump asked if I had ever seen the Lincoln bedroom which, of course, I had not.  Then he made some quip about the Clintons and you can fill in the rest.
The CBS interview went ahead in July 2020 in the Rose Garden because of COVID-19 restrictions.  The questions were direct. One in particular he described as “a terrible question to ask,” but President Trump still answered each query. With my urging, CBS News released the full, unedited transcript.
Bear that precedent in mind as you consider the lingering controversy over the 60 Minutes Kamala Harris edit.

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