May 05, 2018 · Michigan Law James Baker. James Baker, a top FBI lawyer and confidante of former FBI director James Comey, resigned his position with the bureau on May 4, 2018. Baker quit on the same day as ...
F ormer FBI General Counsel James Baker admitted on Friday that he is “nervous” about DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation into the conduct of the DOJ and the FBI during ...
R Street Institute. Harvard Law School. James Andrew Baker is a former American government official at the Department of Justice who served as general counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Michigan Law School, he joined the Department of Justice in 1990.
May 10, 2019 · As the FBI’s top lawyer at the time, Baker played a key role in overseeing FBI techniques and was one of the few people then-FBI Director James Comey briefed about his interactions with Trump.
James Andrew Baker is a former American government official at the Department of Justice who served as general counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In December, 2017 he was replaced as general counsel and reassigned to a different position within the FBI.
It was revealed on April 19, 2018 that he was a recipient of at least one Comey memo. On May 4, 2018, Baker resigned from the FBI and joined the Brookings Institution as a fellow, writing for the justice-focused blog, Lawfare.
Baker is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and received a J.D. and M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1988. Mr. Baker has taught national security law at Harvard Law School since 2009.
Baker joined the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice through the Attorney General's Honors Program in 1990 and went on to work as a federal prosecutor with the division's fraud section. In 1996 he joined Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR). This government agency handles all Justice Department requests for surveillance authorizations under the terms of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, advises the Attorney General and all major intelligence-gathering agencies on legal issues relating to national security and surveillance, and "coordinates" the views of the intelligence community regarding intelligence legislation. Baker has often testified before Congress on behalf of Clinton and Bush administration intelligence policies, including defending The Patriot Act before the House Judiciary Committee. Regarding Baker's 2007 appearance on the PBS Frontline episode, "Spying on the Home Front", the show's producer, in a Washington Post online chat, referred to Baker as, "Mr. FISA himself".
In 2017, Sinclair -owned Circa reported that Baker was under a Department of Justice criminal investigation for allegedly leaking classified national security information concerning the Trump administration to the media.
On May 10, 2019 , Baker was interviewed for a taped Lawfare podcast, a justice-focused blog, during which he discussed his role in the FBI investigation of events during the 2016 presidential election that would be taken over by Robert S. Mueller III.
Baker had long supported legislation requiring encryption systems to include a means to allow access by law enforcement with a proper warrant. Baker has argued that the cybersecurity threat has become so severe that law enforcement should embrace strong encryption and adapt to the lack of easy access to plaintext messages in a published essay and in a press interview.
Former top FBI lawyer James Baker gave "explosive" testimony on how the Russia probe was handled in an "abnormal fashion" reflecting "political bias," according to two Republican lawmakers. (File) Baker, who had a closely working relationship with former FBI Director James Comey, left the bureau earlier this year.
Baker, who had a closely working relationship with former FBI Director James Comey, left the bureau earlier this year. The lawmakers would not provide many specifics about the private transcribed interview, citing a confidentiality agreement with Baker and his attorneys.
Fox News asked Baker after the deposition about the handling of the Trump dossier, what he told Rosenstein about exculpatory evidence, and whether he is the subject of an FBI leak investigation. Baker told Fox News he could not answer such questions.