Trump v. Comey

Yesterday's Senate Intelligence Committee with former FBI Director James Comey reaffirmed my view that President Trump should have fired FBI Director James Comey on first day of his Presidency. Director Comey’s reputation going into the hearing was as an independent pillar of integrity. If you listened carefully to him, then you realized he came across as a petty, petulant, vengeful, vindictive bully who did not get his way. It was all about “Me” – “James Comey” and how he was wronged. After the sturm und drang of Director Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, nothing has changed. The media that thinks the President is an impeachable liar who is obstructing justice still believes President Trump is an impeachable lair who is obstructing justice. They’re long since past looking at the actual facts. He said that many of the “leaked” newspaper disclosures have been false, but that doesn’t stop the media from reporting them to denigrate President Trump. James Comey said he told President trump three times that he was not the subject of an investigation. He also said that not only did the President not call for an end of the Russian intervention investigation, but wanted to find out if any of his staff were involved. President Trump said “if some of my satellites did something wrong, it’ll be good to do find that out.” Director Comey added no order or request came from the President or his staff to halt the investigation. That does not sound like obstruction of justice unless you are deft to the facts. When asked why he had not objected when President Trump asked for loyalty and hoped any case against General Flynn could be dropped, Director Comey responded to a question by Senator Feinstein “Maybe if I were stronger I would have. I was so stunned by the conversation that I just …. took it in. ….” The weak FBI Director then decided to record his conversations in memos, but did not talk to the Attorney General, deputy Attorney general, White House Counsel, or even point out to the President that his remarks were inappropriate. The FBI Director acted “strong” in the Bush Administration when he threatened to resign if the President didn’t make changes to the FISA warrant standards. The Dems can’t let go of their Russian hacking and impeachment of President Trump crusade. It’s their links to their base. Plus, as in the 2016 election, they have nothing to offer the American people. If President Trump has committed obstruction of justice, then President Obama is much more guilty of it when he twice publicly said secretary Clinton was innocent and did nothing wrong with her server and emails. Sooner or later most Americans will realize that the Democrats have been huffing and puffing about nothing. Senator Marco Rubio asked the key question about the leaks: “Do you ever wonder why, of all the things in this investigation, the only thing that’s never leaked is the fact that the president was not personally under investigation, despite the fact that Democrats and Republicans and the leadership of Congress knew that and have known that for weeks?” Director Comey accused the President of being a liar who defamed him and the FBI. He objected to the charge that the “FBI was poorly led and in disarray.” Is President Trump unqualified for the presidency because he is accused of lying? If so, that would disqualify every president since 1932 with the possible exception of President Carter, who was simply grossly incompetent. How about President Obama when he lied both to the American people and the United Nations on Benghazi, blaming it on a 12 minute video nobody had seen? How about Secretary Clinton with her repeated lies about her private server? A few bombshells came from Director Comey’s testimony. First was the actions of Attorney General Loretta Lynch after her meeting on the Phoenix Airport tarmac with President Clinton. The FBI was investigating Secretary Clinton’s private server. The Attorney General asked the FBI Director to call it a “matter” rather than an “investigation,” echoing the talking points of the Clinton Campaign. The FBI does investigations, not matters. That was a direct attempt by President Obama’s Attorney General to interfere with the Clinton investigation. Comey said “That was the thing that capped it for me, that I had to do something separately to protect the credibility of the investigation, which meant both the FBI and the Justice Department.” He was “confused and concerned” by the request. What he did was publicly “indict” Hillary Clinton and then exculpate her in the same press conference on July 5, 2016. His decision against prosecuting the Secretary was not within his jurisdiction. It was the Justice Department’s call. If the Attorney General could not act, then he should have taken it to Sally Yates, the Deputy Attorney General. He also rewrote the statute to exonerate Secretary Clinton, requiring an intent requirement when none is required by the statute. FBI Director Comey also gave sweetheart immunity deals to two of secretary Clinton’s aides. He made sure the server in question would be destroyed. He interviewed secretary Clinton near the end of his investigation, but not under oath. As to “matter” versus “investigation,” he acceded to the Attorney General’s request. He was “confused and concerned” by her request, but apparently did not start creating memos about their conversations. He grossly mishandled the Clinton investigation, both on July 5 and then October 28 and November 6 right before the election. The career prosecutors and FBI agents were very upset at his act. The media commented on the disarray within the FBI, which President Trump echoed in his tweets. It’s not defamation is the statement is true. Who’s mistaken now? The logical explanation for FBI Director’s misconduct in office in the Clinton Investigation is that he thought as did most Washington, D.C., that Hillary Clinton would be elected President. He wanted to remain FBI Director, having prostrated himself before President Obama to obtain the appointment. He knew his status under President Trump was tenuous. President Trump’s mistake was not terminating James Comey on January 20, 2017, his first day in office. Director Comey’s second bombshell was admitting leaking a memo to a friend, a law professor at Columbia, with the intend that his friend leak it to the media. He claimed he did so on May 16 in reaction to President Trump’s May 12 tweet in hopes of spurring the appointment of a special prosecutor. The facts don’t add up. The New York Times published excerpts from the leak the day before the tweet. Go figure! Questions: What else has Comey leaked? What about Susan Rice? How much did Ben Rhodes leak?