How a 'cabal' of FBI agents helped Trump wage his conspiracy war on Clinton

According to a report from the Daily Beast, a "cabal" of FBI agents and former agents -- led by a famous FBI investigator -- waged an investigatory war on Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton that ultimately gave Donald Trump a helping hand in defeating the former Secretary of State in the 2016 presidential election.

In a deep dive into the history of former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom -- who rose to fame as the lead investigator looking into the explosion and crash of TWA flight 800 on July 17, 1996 -- the Beast's Patricia Ravalgi reveals that Kallstrom went from conspiracy-debunker to conspiracy-monger when it came to the Clintons.

According to Ravalgi, Kallstrom has a long relationship with Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, going back to the former New York City mayor's U.S. Attorney days.

"By the late 1980s, Kallstrom was a well-known surveillance expert who designed the complex bugging operations during the famous New York Pizza Connection investigation and the John Gotti investigation. These were cases worked on by both Giuliani and Louis Freeh, both at the Southern District of New York at the time. Kallstrom was their leading wiretap guy, and the three of them bonded," the reports states. "By the mid-1990s the distrust and dislike of Bill and Hillary Clinton that flowed from the FBI leadership down to the rank-and-file was well established. It had been in existence from the minute Bill Clinton won the Democratic nomination to run against the incumbent, President George H.W. Bush. Rumors had begun circulating among federal agents that Hillary was rude and nasty to her Secret Service detail, and that she and her husband hated cops. There were women coming forward accusing Bill Clinton of harassment and rape. Hillary was accused of corruption at her old law firm in Arkansas."

With Hillary Clinton plotting a presidential run, "Giuliani and Kallstrom were well-positioned to exploit" agency resentment against the Clintons , with the report stating: "Each man had tentacles still deep inside the Bureau, and as they looked for ways to stop Hillary a sort of cabal developed that included current as well as former FBI agents."

 According to the report, those FBI agents felt they had discovered the "kryptonite" that would bring Clinton down -- her private email server.

"Hillary Clinton’s bad judgment and the question of what happened to some of the emails from the private server led to interminable Republican allegations and investigations in Congress trying to establish some criminal intent. 'The emails!' became a common refrain at Trump campaign rallies, often culminating in the chant, 'Lock her up!'" Ravalgi writes.

Coupled with former FBI Director James Comey's controversial decision to announce an investigation into some newly discovered emails right before the election -- and the New York Times front-page coverage of what would turn out to be a big nothing -- the FBI handed Trump another assist.

As for Kallstrom, the report notes that he has long left the FBI and now shows up on Fox News where he provides fodder for the network's Clinton obsession.

"Kallstrom used to be, like the fictional detective Joe Friday on the old TV series Dragnet, looking for 'just the facts.' But the hero of the TWA 800 investigation now spends his days spinning conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, appearing on Fox News programs calling her 'corrupt and crazy' and also referring to the former deputy director of his own FBI, Andy McCabe, as 'corrupt.' He has even called former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan 'communists.' Kallstrom repeatedly disparaged former FBI Director Robert Mueller," Ravalgi explains. "Kallstrom also took to the airwaves to defend Trump cronies Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, bemoaning how badly treated they were by Mueller and the FBI, but that was before they were convicted of felonies."

"Apparently Kallstrom has a high regard for his former law enforcement and intelligence community colleagues, but only those who are die-hard Trump supporters and Hillary-haters. Otherwise, it doesn’t seem to matter to him what you’ve done at the FBI or for your country, if you have anything bad to say about Trump—you’re scum," she added.

You can read more here.