FBI Resumes Investigations of Alleged Political Crimes and Public Corruption
WASHINGTON — The FBI announced this week that it is revisiting unsolved high-profile crimes in the nation’s capital that the agency’s new leaders say potentially carry much larger political implications.
They include the 2022 leak of the draft of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, the discovery of cocaine in the White House in July 2023 and the planting of pipe bombs at the Democratic and Republican national committees the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino wrote in a post on X that he and FBI Director Kash Patel had “evaluated a number of cases of potential public corruption that, understandably, have garnered public interest” and decided to resume investigating them.
Each of the incidents — and the fact no one was held accountable — have fueled conspiracy theories.
Bongino did not elaborate on what action investigators are taking but said the investigation has already started.
“I receive requested briefings on these cases weekly and we are making progress,” he wrote.
Before he was sworn in this year, Bongino implied the FBI knew the identity of the pipe bomber but the agency “just doesn’t want to tell us because it was an inside job.”
The bombs never detonated. The hooded person who planted them was seen on video but never found by investigators.
The pledge to review the years-old cases appears to continue Trump administration officials’ efforts to review and rectify what they describe as missteps of the Biden administration.
Some of the conspiracy theories behind the effort come from President Donald Trump.
During a 2021 interview after the pipe bombs were found outside the political headquarters, Trump said, “Why aren’t they finding this pipe bomber and how come other people haven’t been revealed,” he asked. “Because I think that [there] were more than just — let’s call them MAGA people … You have [Black Lives Matter] and you had Antifa people, I heard very little doubt about that, and they were antagonizing and they were agitating.”
Antifa refers to a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist movement that uses political activism to advance its agenda.
Trump made similar statements about the cocaine found in the White House in a 2023 post on his social media site Truth Social. The small bag of cocaine was found by the Secret Service in a cubby hole near the Situation Room, where staff members often store their cellphones.
“Does anybody really believe that the COCAINE found in the West Wing of the White House, very close to the Oval Office, is for the use of anyone other than Hunter & Joe Biden?” he wrote.
The area is frequented by White House visitors on tours. President Joe Biden was not in the White House when the cocaine was found.
Perhaps the greatest controversy came from the leak to the media before the official release of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The decision overturned Roe v. Wade by saying women have no constitutional right to have abortions. It said that each state must decide its own abortion policy.
On May 2, 2022, Politico published a draft of the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito. It called the Roe v. Wade decision “egregiously wrong from the start.”
Within hours of the Politico report, abortion rights protesters and anti-abortion counter-protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court building. Other protests erupted nationwide.
When they moved to the Supreme Court justices’ homes, Congress passed emergency legislation providing extra security protection for them. Lawmakers also demanded an investigation of how the draft opinion was leaked.
So far, the investigation has focused primarily on interviewing the nine justices and 82 staff members with access to the draft opinion. Law clerks were required to provide private cellphone records and sign affidavits. Investigators also reviewed computer network and printer logs.
When the Supreme Court officially released its Dobbs decision on June 24, 2022, no one knew the identity of the person who leaked it. They still don’t.
You can reach us at [email protected] and follow us on Facebook and X
We're proud to make our journalism accessible to everyone, but producing high-quality journalism comes at a cost. That's why we need your help. By making a contribution today, you'll be supporting TWN and ensuring that we can keep providing our journalism for free to the public.
Donate now and help us continue to publish TWN’s distinctive journalism. Thank you for your support!
