I think this is exactly what he was afraid of, and why he wrote the letter. I’m not saying his decision was the right one, but it’s understandable in that context. It’s possible he thought that by writing the letter and releasing the “news” he could get ahead of the story and somehow control it – or maybe that’s not at all what he was thinking.
But in any event, it doesn’t seem like Comey was eager to be involved in the controversy. Anyone in his position would have been confronted with a sense of dread, knowing that no matter the outcome, one side is going to claim that an election was rigged.
On the contrary, I think Comey was fully supportive of the controversy and, IMO, was trying to throw something to Chaffetz to ensure that 1) the republicans had something to investigate, 2) he (Comey) looked sufficiently loyal and 3) he disliked Clinton. Recall that he went against decades of both the FBI and DOJ trying to not sway elections. The fact that he commented says far more about Comey than anything else.
Recall that as this entire mess was going on, Comey refused to say anything to Congress about the ongoing FBI investigation into Russian ties with Trump and he was aware that this both had more substance and was more likely to be true.
The former Attorneys General and others can opine as they wish. If people are looking for some sort of precedent on how Comey should have handled this situation involving one of the two major party nominees, I’d like to someone to show it to me, because I don’t think there is one.
If Comey wanted to be loyal, then why isn’t he working for a Republican president now? You seem to be indicating on one hand that Comey deliberately remained silent on Trump’s Russia connections so that Trump could win, and yet the reality is that Comey was fired for disregarding Trump and allowing that investigation to go forward. I think the Republicans public attempts to rebuke Comey since his firing have also more or less proven his point, which is that the Republicans would never have forgiven him had he maintained his silence on the “new” batch of emails and it probably would have been used to delegitimize a Clinton victory. The Republicans won the election, not just the presidency but control of Congress. And all they’ve been doing the past year is trying to discredit not only Comey but the entire federal criminal justice system as a bunch of partisans. What makes anyone think they wouldn’t have claimed a “rigged” result had Trump lost? Comey knew damn well that this is precisely the sort of thing that people like Chaffetz and Nunes would have said, and it would have sown great doubts about the legitimacy of Hillary Clinton as president. Honestly, I don’t think it really mattered either way: Hillary was screwed win or lose, and that’s frankly the fault of the American people, too many of whom have ignored their civic duty to remain informed voters.
I agree with what Comey said in the interview that aired last night: impeachment of Trump isn’t really the desirable outcome. The ideal outcome is that American voters take democratic action to remove him from office in 2020. American voters need to take ownership of their democracy and take some responsibility for their mistake in 2016 (and in previous election cycles), and we need to undo that colossal error at the ballot box by voting Trump and his traitorous supporters out of power, as opposed to waiting for a partisan nexus of the political and legal systems to somehow reverse the results of this last election.
Of course he refuse to say anything about Russia’s ties to Trump, because the investigation was just starting and it was still evolving. And unlike Clinton’s email and Bengazi controversies, which were well known and had been relentlessly driven by Republican partisanship (and even supported by some anti-Clinton forces on the Left, actually), the Democratic party wasn’t demanding that Comey testify about Russia’s involvement for Trump. And even if they had, they didn’t have the power to do have committee hearings about it.
Jim’s been on fire throughout this whole debacle, hasn’t he? Anyone unfamiliar with the man should check out his blog, Stonekettle Station, as well as his presence on Facebook and Twitter.
The investigation continues to evolve but it had definitely passed the starting point. There are multiple sources who had indicated that the investigation was concerning enough that Obama wanted to send out a joint bi-partisan comment and that McConnell had refused to implicate Russia directly and Obama backed down. Meanwhile Clinton had been investigated in significant detail and nothing had been found. Comey could have not said anything, could have had a time review first and determine they found nothing etc but chose to do neither of those things.
Agreed on all of this but I don’t see how this makes *Comey * non-partisan. This agrees that Comey basically bent to political pressure. That’s on Comey.
And yeah I agree that Comey didn’t expect what Trump meant by loyalty including personal fealty and being expected to either cover up crimes for Trump or participate in them. And I do think that Comey expected some sort of reward and not to be thrown out because he wasn’t sufficiently loyal. I think he had no idea how venal or corrupt Trump is; I think he expected a garden variety Republican.
That Comey violated standing policy against FBI interference with US elections is copiously documented all over the internet. From PolitiFact, for example:
This seems weak. The “new” batch of emails was quickly determined not to be new–but not quickly enough to keep Comey from committing his policy-violating interference with a US election, a mere 11 days in advance. What criticisms could Republicans have made, when it became known that the FBI had looked at a laptop that contained duplicates of emails they’d already seen? 'OMG traitor Comey knew they had access to duplicates of emails and he didn’t make a public announcement of same, an announcement which itself would have represented a violation of FBI policy! How could he not have violated policy to tell us they had duplicates of emails they already had!?! It’s an OUTRAGE!'…?
While Japan and South Korea would like us to go back into TPP, I don’t like the deal for the United States. Too many contingencies and no way to get out if it doesn’t work. Bilateral deals are far more efficient, profitable and better for OUR workers. Look how bad WTO is to U.S.
Our dipshit “leader” doesn’t even know who is in the TPP. We have a fucking imbecile leading this country.
“There is a Revolution going on in California. Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept. Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the national Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW!” - Trump tweet 18 April 2018, 2:59AM
That’s a shit load of flat out lies right there.
What he’s interested is whipping up hysteria, and anti-immigrant and extremists groups—already prone to violence—are energized by his National Guard stunt. The good folks on both sides (fucking StormFront) are talking about
Exercise second amendment rights and meet them at the border, guns in hand.