Andrew McCabe

A former FBI agent is battling the Justice Department for Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s text messages and emails related to his involvement in the bureau’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private server.

Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch on Friday filed a motion in the US District Court in the District of Columbia on behalf of retired FBI supervisory special agent Jeffrey Danik.

The FOIA lawsuit against the DOJ for McCabe’s text messages was filed two years ago but the FBI tried to get the FOIA thrown out, sending Judicial Watch back to court to fight for the requested documents.

“My lawsuit for McCabe’s texts isn’t just about his actions,” Danik told investigative reporter Sara Carter. “It’s about a new day dawning for FBI executives being held accountable.” Danik filed for McCabe’s documents prior to the DOJ’s Inspector General’s Office opening its own investigation into the bureau’s handling of the Clinton case.

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Sara Carter reported:

Danik’s FOIA lawsuit is focused specifically on McCabe’s text messages and emails. The search terms are related to all of McCabe’s connections with Hillary Clinton and person’s known to have associated with both him and family members connected to the Clintons. The FBI, however, did not search for McCabe’s text messages and failed to search for 15 of the 24 search terms, according to the motion. “In addition, it is withholding certain information under the deliberative process privilege. In each instance,” Danik’s motion states. “Defendant fails to satisfy its burdens. Its motion should be denied.” Danik is seeking information on McCabe’s failure to recuse himself from the case in a timely manner, as well as, any information regarding McCabe’s “actions to further involve himself in the investigation,” according to Judicial Watch. “More than two years later, Defendant still has not conducted an adequate search for all records responsive to Plaintiff’s Freedom ofInformation Act requests,” the motion states. “Nor has it produced all non-exempt, responsive records.”

It is a known fact that the FBI can produce McCabe’s text messages and emails.

Sara Carter pointed out that Inspector General Michael Horowitz made it clear these messages are stored and retained by ESOC.

“The FBI has the technological capability to search for and produce text messages,”according to the Inspector General. “The FBI, Enterprise Security Operations Center uses a commercial, off-the-shelf, automated application to wirelessly collect text messages sent to or from FBI-issued mobile devices.”

Furthermore, special agent Danik says he “witnessed the retrieval of text messages from ESOC. Most often, the retrieval of text messages would occur as part of an internal Office Professional Responsibility investigation of an FBI employee suspected of wrongdoing.”

Thank you, Sara Carter and Judicial Watch for doing the heavy lifting that Congress refuses to do.

.@JudicialWatch #BREAKING files motion on behalf of Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jeffery Danik. He’s fighting DOJ’s refusal to turn over McCabe's official work Texts and Emails under FOIA – Sara A. Carter https://t.co/lNC5Xl6qJw — Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) May 17, 2019

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