He Left Crossfire Hurricane in January 2017. His Motion Says So.

DOCUMENTED

Pientka’s motion to dismiss in Page v. Comey states that he left the Crossfire Hurricane team in January 2017 and returned to the Washington Field Office. That is a filing about his assignment, not a medal and not a charge.

Fox News (Brooke Singman, January 15, 2021), writing from Senate Judiciary interview transcripts, said the unnamed agent who asked for an enhanced validation review of Christopher Steele left the team on January 6, 2017 after a “professional disagreement” with Bill Priestap. The Daily Caller (January 18, 2021) and Conservative Treehouse the same week name that agent as Pientka. The Senate press release lists “Supervisory Special Agent 1” as interviewed August 27, 2020. The transcript set is the place to read the answers. This page does not invent lines that are not in a cited story.

A rotation off a squad is a personnel fact as described in a motion and in later reporting. It is not a court finding that he “refused to go along with a fraud.” That last phrase is blog commentary (CTH). Keep it in the commentary pile.

Sources

Pientka motion to dismiss, Page v. Comey, January 2017 departure from the team. storage.courtlistener.com

Brooke Singman, Fox News, Jan. 15, 2021. Transcript reporting; agent unnamed in that write-up; left Jan. 6, 2017. www.foxnews.com

Chuck Ross, Daily Caller, Jan. 18, 2021. Names Pientka on the validation / Priestap episode. dailycaller.com

Senate Judiciary Committee press release, Jan. 15, 2021. SSA 1 interviewed Aug. 27, 2020. www.judiciary.senate.gov

Opinion

The following is commentary by this site. It is not a finding of fact and not a legal conclusion.

Compiler take

He asked for a real look at Steele. Priestap, the stories say, turned it off. Then the agent is gone in January. That is not a fairy tale about a whistleblower. It is the date the squad lost the man who had already sat in the briefing room.