Inside player at Justice

Clinton cronies are everywhere — even the U.S. Justice Department. Now it’s clear why Justice officials are trying to undercut FBI Director James Comey at every turn.

On Monday, Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik wrote to calm the increasingly ruffled feathers of ranking Democratic lawmakers over the reopening of the Hillary Clinton email probe, made public Friday by Comey.

“We assure you that the Department will continue to work closely with the FBI and together, dedicate all necessary resource (s) and take appropriate steps as expeditiously as possible,” Kadzik wrote.

All of this would be little more than inside-the-Beltway butt covering — without a little more knowledge about Kadzik himself, and how this has become a game of Clinton cronies versus the FBI — and why it’s beginning to smell like a steaming pile of manure.

And here’s where recent document dumps by WikiLeaks from the email files of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta are all too enlightening. As a private attorney, Kadzik represented Podesta when he testified during the special counsel’s investigation of Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Podesta would later recommend Kadzik for a post in the Obama administration’s Justice Department as “Fantastic lawyer. Kept me out of jail.” The leaked emails also included arrangements for at least two dinners with Podesta, one the night after Hillary Clinton’s marathon testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi and a second at the Podesta home earlier this year.

The document dump also included a letter from Kadzik’s son to Podesta looking for a job with Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

As head of DOJ’s Office of Legislative Affairs, Kadzik now serves as a liaison to Congress — a position that would give him ample access to FBI investigators and information dealing with any or all of the Clintons’ cases.

It pays to have friends in high places — like the Justice Department. Clearly the Clintons do.