FBI DIRECTOR’S BOSS, NOT HAPPY ABOUT DIRECTOR’S LETTER TO CONGRESS

…The Director of the FBI, James B. Comey

 

Senior Justice Department officials, including the Attorney General,. had warned the FBI Director to not notify Congress.

 

Most American voters are not aware that the Director of the FBI reports directly to the US Department of Justice.  To release information about an FBI investigation this close to an election is totally against the Justice department’s internal practices.

 

In fact, the US Attorney General, Loretta Lynch specifically recommended to Directory Comey that he should not make this announcement regarding the potential Clinton e-mails on the laptop of Anthony Weiner/Huma Abedin.

 

Huma Abedin is of course the vice chairperson of Hillary Clinton’s election campaign.  Apparently, some Abedin e-mails were found on the laptop while investigating whether Weiner had “Sex-text with an under-aged young woman”.

 

The point is that the Republican’s, Donald Trump in particular, are once again lying that the FBI director had “reopened the criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton”.  That is a total fabrication.

 

First, the investigation had not been closed.  What had happened was that the investigation had proceeded to where they had determined that even though Clinton had been careless with her private e-mails, as Sec of State, there was no illegal or unlawful intent by Ms. Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail server.  They therefore had said there was no reason to recommend a criminal indictment and no chance to expect a guilty verdict should they have proceeded.

 

All that is going on now is that Comey made the mistake of making an announcement so close to an election, when the investigation into the laptop could and should have been done quietly.  It is now also known that the announcement from Director Comey was made even before the FBI had received a search warrant for the laptop.  They had the warrant to search the laptop for the “sex-texts”, but did not have a warrant for any e-mails between Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton.

 

Senior Justice Department officials had warned the FBI that Director Comey’s decision to notify Congress about the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private emails this close to the election was not consistent with long-standing practices of the Justice department, but Comey obviously decided to ignore that advice.

 

Justice officials reminded the FBI of the department’s position “that we don’t comment on an ongoing investigation. And we don’t take steps that will be viewed as influencing an election,” said one Justice Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

 

“Director Comey understood our position. He heard it from Justice leadership,” the official said. “It was conveyed to the FBI, and Comey made an independent decision to alert the Hill. He is operating independently of the Justice Department. And he knows it.”

 

Comey’s decision less than two weeks before the presidential election has stunned former and current law enforcement officials and rocked the Clinton campaign, which appeared to be coasting to sure victory. The bureau director said in a memo to FBI employees he felt obligated to update lawmakers after testifying under oath that the investigation into Clinton’s private email server was complete. And he feared that word of the newly discovered emails, found in the course of a separate investigation into former US congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) — would leak to the media and suggest a cover-up, according to officials familiar with his thinking.

 

FBI officials said Comey and those advising him were well aware of Justice Department policy, but considered it “guidance,” rather than an ironclad rule, on how to handle such sensitive information so close to an election.

 

During a “vigorous discussion” at the FBI among 10 officials, lawyers and staffers, different options were discussed, said one official with knowledge of the discussion. In the end, Comey felt that the Justice Department guidance about elections did not pertain to this “extraordinary situation,” the official said.

 

But members of both political parties, they all want to know why this idea of these potential e-mails between Abedin and Clinton was such an “extraordinary situation”……?  The investigation could easily have been done quietly as the FBI usually does, and even if Clinton won, she would still be subject the results of the FBI investigation.  The Justice Dept. is specifically required to be a non-partisan entity and should only be involved with the words of US law, not conspiracy theories.

 

As it is, the day after this Comey surprise announcement, anger at the FBI director from Democrats has only intensified.

 

Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta said on a call with reporters that Comey’s announcement was “long on innuendo and short on facts,” allowing Republicans to “distort and exaggerate” its message, which is exactly what Donald Trump is doing.  “There’s no evidence of wrongdoing, no charge of wrongdoing, no indication that this is even about Hillary,” Podesta said.

 

Comey’s decision to ignore the advice of Justice leadership is “stunning,” said Matt Miller, who had previously served as Justice Department spokesman.  Miller added: “Jim Comey forgets that he works for the attorney general.”

 

“I think he [Comey] has a lot of regard for his own integrity. And he lets that regard cross lines into self-righteousness,” Miller said. “He has come to believe that his own ethics are so superior to anyone else’s that his judgment can replace existing rules and regulations. That is a dangerous belief for an FBI Director to have.”

 

So, just what has this vague letter to lawmakers actually do for the up-comng election.  Comey has managed to unite traditionally polarized partisans in Congress who asked the FBI director to immediately release more information and explain his actions.

 

But so far, even though Comey felt he needed shake up the troops, his letter did “squat” to explain why he felt it was so important to send an announce that would allow all kinds of bizarre conspiracy theories.

 

Attorney General Loretta Lynch

 

 

As of the announcement, four Democratic senators called on Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Comey to further explain the letter Comey sent to congressional leaders. Sens. Thomas Carper (Del.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Benjamin Cardin (Md.) asked that Lynch and Comey by Monday provide more details of the investigative steps being taken by the FBI, the number of emails involved and what is being done to determine how many of the emails are the same as ones already reviewed by the FBI.

 

“Just ten days before a presidential election, the American people deserve more disclosure without delay regarding the FBI’s most recent announcement,” the senators wrote. “Anything less would be irresponsible and a disservice to the American people.”

 

Michael Vatis, a former senior Justice Department official who is now a private attorney said Comey was probably trying to be transparent. But “transparency is not the foremost value in investigations. Fairness is,” he said.

 

An expert on legal ethics, Stephen Gillers of New York University School of Law said he was disturbed by Comey’s conduct during this election season.

 

“Comey’s July press conference was wrong, and now he has doubled down,” Gillers said. “The FBI’s job is to gather information for and make a recommendation to DOJ lawyers, not to hold press conferences and characterize the evidence. Tolerating that conduct from an FBI director sets a terrible precedent.”

 

If nothing comes from all this, and Hillary Clinton wins the election, I think we will see Director Comey in a very interesting position as he has been appointed for a total of 10 years as the US FBI Director.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016