Edward William Priestap, also known as Bill Priestap (born April 5, 1969) is an American attorney and United States intelligence official. He was the assistant director of the

FBI Counterintelligence Division The Counterintelligence Division (CD) is a division of the National Security Branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The division protects the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage. It accomplishes its miss ...

from 2015 to 2018.

Education

Priestap earned a Bachelor of Science degree from

Hillsdale College Hillsdale College is a Private university, private Conservatism in the United States, conservative Christian liberal arts college in Hillsdale, Michigan. It was founded in 1844 by Abolitionism, abolitionists known as Free Will Baptists. Its missio ...

in 1991, a master's degree in educational administration from

Norwich University Norwich University – The Military College of Vermont is a private senior military college in Northfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-campus ...

, a J.D. and a Master's of Business Administration from the

University of Detroit-Mercy The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catholic universi ...

Career

Priestap joined the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

in 1998, and he was appointed as assistant director of the

in 2015. In this role, he notably decided to open the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Trump campaign's potential collusion with Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Priestap ensured that an FBI informant and an FBI investigator would meet with

George Papadopoulos George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of mak ...

during Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. After arriving September 15, 2016, in London, Papadopoulos met in a private London club with a United States citizen and FBI informer

Stefan Halper Stefan A. Halper (born June 4, 1944) is an American foreign policy scholar and retired senior fellow at the University of Cambridge where he is a life fellow at Magdalene College. He served as a Executive Office of the President of the United St ...

, who was a Cambridge professor, and a female posing as Halper's female research assistant who had invited Papadopoulos for drinks. The research assistant was an FBI investigator with the pseudonym ''Azra Turk'' but Papadopoulos stated that he believed that she "was

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

" with ties to " Turkish intel" and was tasked to learn about his work in the ''

Energy Triangle The Energy Triangle is a natural gas extraction plan between the three allied countries Cyprus, Israel, and Greece. The three countries agreed to use the gas fields Tamar, Leviathan, and Aphrodite; found in 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively. About ...

'' which involves Cyprus- Greece- Israel, and competes with the interests of

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, isl ...

and Turkey. In 2018 as the FBI counterintelligence expert, Priestap informed Congress that the FBI did not

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

on the Trump campaign but did investigate possible ties to Russia beginning on August 10, 2016, as a FARA case on Papadopoulos based upon information the FBI received on July 26, 2016, from the Australian government originating from Alexander Downer's meeting with Papadopoulos on May 10, 2016, in London. British intelligence was informed of the FBI FARA case on Papadopoulos and did not halt the FBI's operation from being conducted on the soil of the United Kingdom where GCHQ could assist with the FBI in the FARA case involving Papadopoulos but the GCHQ gave no comment about its role according to a May 2, 2019, '' New York Times'' article. Priestap was involved with the investigations into Donald Trump's former

National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of ...

. Priestap will not comply voluntarily to set before the Senate committee investigating criminal activity by the FBI. Priestap retired from the FBI in April 2019.

References

External links

Feinstein-Priestap on Russian Hacking of Election
on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

1969 births Living people American lawyers Federal Bureau of Investigation executives Menschel family {{US-gov-bio-stub