Inspector General Michael Horowitz told a joint House committee that the FBI does not want to name Agent 1, Agent 5, or Attorney 2. (Photo: Screen shot/C-SPAN)

(Update: Later in the hearing, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, identified FBI Attorney 2 as Kevin Clinesmith and Agent 5 as Sally Moyer.)

(CNSNews.com) - In addition to the anti-Trump, pro-Hillary text messages exchanged by FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, the inspector-general's report says three other FBI employees showed similar political bias, but those three are identified only as Agent 1, Agent 2, and Attorney 2.

"What are their names?" Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) asked Justice Department Inspector-General Michael Horowitz at a joint committee hearing on Wednesday:

Poe told the hearing that as a former trial lawyer, he wanted to know if people were biased before seating them on a jury. And in the Clinton email investigation, he said, "here we have a jury taking place on a case, and we find out five of the jurors (investigators) are biased."

“So, as I mentioned earlier, Congressman, the request has come in from the committee to give the names," Horowitz said. "We went to the FBI. The FBI raised a concern because they work on counter intelligence matters. And we are working with the committee to try and get the information you've asked for."

"So, the FBI does not want their names released?" Poe asked.

"Correct," Horowitz said.

"And so, the FBI makes the decision as to who those other three biased people are," Poe said. "And they say, we're not telling you because of some other internal reason on what they also work on, counter-intelligence."

"Right," Horowitz agreed.

"So, my point is, we let the FBI determine not to tell us who the other three biased people were in this 500-page investigation that we all now have. Does that seem a little odd to you?" Poe asked. "I'm just asking your - your opinion."

"Yeah, no," Horowitz said. "And there's a legitimate request -- a reasonable request from the committee, and I don't think it is a final decision, at this point, from the FBI or, in my view, a final decision. It's something I'm looking forward to working with the committee to try and get the answers to, because I completely understand what the interest is of the committee and getting that information."

Poe said in the interest of "fairness," he thinks the American people would like to know who those three FBI employees are.

Earlier in the hearing, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) also asked why Agent 1, Agent 2, and Attorney 2 haven't been identified by name. (Their disparaging comments are quoted in detail in Chapter 12 of the report.)

Horowitz told the committee:

“When we write a report, we obviously comply with the Privacy Act and the other laws Congress has in place on who we can speak to and who we can't. That's the first step we do here...We then got the committee's request (for the identities). Consistent with our support for transparency, we would be supportive of getting the committee that information.

“The FBI interposed an objection, because these individuals work on and have worked on counterintelligence matters, that there might be a security or safety issue. That's what we've talked to the committee about. We're happy to facilitate that issue with the committee and the FBI."

According to the inspector-general's report:

Agent 1 is an experienced counterintelligence agent who was assigned to the Midyear (Clinton email) investigative team from August 2015 through the conclusion of the investigation. Agent 1 was one of four agents responsible for the day-to-day activities of the Midyear investigation. Agent 1’s duties included conducting witness interviews and Agent 1 was one of the two agents who interviewed former Secretary Clinton on July 2.

Agent 5 is also an experienced counterintelligence agent and was a member of the Midyear filter team. As a member of the filter team, Agent 5 was responsible for identifying privileged communications among the materials obtained by the FBI to ensure that they were not reviewed by the investigative team. Neither Agent 1 nor Agent 5 was assigned to the FBI’s Russia investigation or the Special Counsel investigation.

FBI Attorney 2 was assigned to the Midyear investigation early in 2016. FBI Attorney 2 was not the lead FBI attorney assigned to Midyear and he told us he provided support to the investigation as needed. FBI Attorney 2 told us that he was also assigned to the investigation into Russian election interference and was the primary FBI attorney assigned to that investigation beginning in early 2017. FBI Attorney 2 told us that he was then assigned to the Special Counsel investigation once it began.



FBI Attorney 2 left the Special Counsel’s investigation and returned to the FBI in late February 2018, shortly after the OIG provided the Special Counsel with some of (his) instant messages:

Chapter 12 of the IG report, beginning on page 395, includes some of the text messages and other communications "that raised concerns of potential bias."

https://www.justice.gov/file/1071991/download