FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testifies before Congress.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testified before a congressional committee that his then-boss James Comey told him about President Trump’s loyalty pledge.

McCabe’s told the House Intelligence Committee that Comey said he was pressured by President Trump to stop investigating the Russia scandal, CNN reports. 

Comey refused, and Trump fired the FBI director, prompting allegations that the president obstructed justice. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team is investigating the firing as part of a broader probe into the relationship between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

McCabe testified for nearly eight hours this week.

Top FBI attorney James Baker

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI’s top lawyer, James Baker, is being reassigned as the bureau’s new director, Christopher Wray, begins making changes at the senior levels of the agency.

Baker, whom the Washington Post describes as “one of the most trusted, longest-serving national security officials in the government,” informed his colleagues that he expects Wray to appoint a new head of the FBI’s Office of General Counsel. 

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Wray has chosen Baker’s replacement yet.

Baker told colleagues that his reassignment may not take effect immediately and that the move was not unusual when a new director takes over.

1946 movie classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Watching the 1946 movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” is a staple for millions of American families during the holidays.

But the Christmas classic that earned five Oscar nominations became a preoccupation of the FBI because then-Director J. Edgar Hoover believed the movie was an anti-american propaganda tool, according to a memo written by a social agent about so-called “communist infiltration” of the movie industry, the Independent reports. 

The movie was one of more than 200 films feared to be a weapon of communist propaganda.

The FBI believed the film’s two screenwriters, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, “were very close to known Communists and on one occasion in the recent past . . . practically lived with known Communists and were observed” eating lunch every day with “known Communists.”

An agent who watched the movie said it “represented a rather obvious attempt to discredit bankers.”

The hunt for communists is part of the FBI’s dark history under Hoover, who was notoriously paranoid of anti-American propaganda.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Border Patrol agents are furious that they were tricked into providing “armed security for a cartel wedding” of a convicted drug smuggler who has been banned from Mexico.

The groom, Brian Houston, is awaiting sentencing after he was accused of smuggling large quantities of heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine in February.

“The agents are upset, feel like they were taken advantage of, feel like they were duped,” Joshua Wilson, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 1613, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Turns out we provided armed security for a cartel wedding.”

The wedding took place at steel border gate that enables people who cannot cross the border to meet for about three minutes each.

“It’s a statement that love has no borders,” Houston told the newspaper.

A Border Patrol screening did not show any criminal activity, so agents were unaware they were protecting a convicted drug smuggler.

Other Stories of Interest

• FBI: Report on Motive of Las Vegas Shooter May Take a Year to Release
• Nunes Wants Investigation of FBI, DOJ for Alleged Corruption in Trump Probe
• Elementary Students to Learn ABC’s of FBI
• Border Patrol Arrests Convicted Child Molester in California
• Accused Drug Smugglers Crash Vehicle During Border Patrol Pursuit