Baker said he wanted to reassure the public that all the actions the FBI took were lawful and “apolitical.” he stressed that the FBI’s initial scrutiny of the trump campaign was triggered by reports from a “trusted reliable foreign partner” [australia] about trump campaign adviser “george papadopoulos’s interactions with a person who claimed to have email dirt on hillary clinton and that the russians wanted to find some way to support the trump campaign.”

cognitive psychology learning and memory

Baker reminded his audience that for the FBI, russia — and earlier the soviet union — had been a threat that worried the bureau “for decades and decades.” one of the agency’s jobs is to lawfully “detect, deter, disrupt, and defeat” operations by russia, he said.Cognitive psychology learning and memory to the extent that “any americans cross our path” who have connections to russia that look “nefarious … we will investigate.”

Baker was asked if he still believed the FBI should have opened two investigations: one focusing on efforts by russia to influence the 2016 election, and the other on trump himself.Cognitive psychology learning and memory the FBI was looking into trump’s possible efforts to obstruct justice. But as part of that inquiry, the bureau also began to investigate whether trump’s attempts to quash the russia investigation posed a threat to national security as well.Cognitive psychology learning and memory

“what are the russians doing? What’s going on here? They pose a threat to our country. We need to address that threat and, to the extent that anybody’s trying to interfere with our investigation of that threat, we need to deal with that, as well,” baker said.Cognitive psychology learning and memory “the two of them together, at least in my mind, potentially presented a threat to our ability to achieve our mission … to protect the american people and uphold the constitution.Cognitive psychology learning and memory and I was worried about that.”

Brookings fellow and atlantic contributing editor jonathan rauch asked baker for his “take” on the texts between peter strzok and lisa page.Cognitive psychology learning and memory he was referring to communications disparaging trump that were exchanged by strzok, a senior FBI counterintelligence agent, and FBI senior attorney page (no relation to carter page).Cognitive psychology learning and memory strzok had played key roles in both the clinton email investigation and trump russia probe, until the texts were unearthed by the FBI inspector general.Cognitive psychology learning and memory page resigned and strzok was fired.

Learning about the texts, baker said, “shocked and saddened” him. “pete and lisa were very highly regarded people on the team,” whom he knew well.Cognitive psychology learning and memory “they know it was a mistake” that “harmed the institution,” themselves and their families. “they got the message,” baker said. “these are two human beings and can we at least approach them with a little humanity?Cognitive psychology learning and memory and if you can’t muster that for them, can you muster it for their innocent families? That’s what I would ask.”

Neither wittes nor members of the audience who asked questions pointed out that FISA judges nearly always grant the FBI’s requests for warrants.Cognitive psychology learning and memory civil-liberties advocates have long raised concerns about the breadth of the foreign intelligence surveillance act, but those concerns about the law itself have not been part of the discussion regarding the mueller report.Cognitive psychology learning and memory