Once considered the most hated man by Democrats, 56-year-old former FBI Director James Comey has suddenly been a paragon of integrity but only after 71-year-old President Donald Trump fired him May 9. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton blamed Comey on several occasions for her loss to Trump, after the former FBI Director reopened the email investigation Oct. 28, 2016. Hillary said on many occasions since her Nov. 8, 2016 loss to Trump that Comey’s decision to reopen her email investigation torpedoed her campaign. Comey testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee May 3 that he could no longer trust former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch after finding out Lynch met June 29, 2016 with former president Bill Clinton on the tarmac of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. Comey didn’t say why he was so concerned about Lynch’s meeting with Bill Clinton.
When you consider Comey ended Hillary’s email investigation July 5, less than three weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, it made zero sense that he said he didn’t trust Lynch. If Comey didn’t trust Lynch, he should have kept the email investigation open. Comey left explanations hanging because he refused to admit why he ended the email investigation. As Trump points out, Hillary destroyed several of her cell phones and scrubbed her email server to prevent investigators from gaining access to private conversations with Clinton Foundation donors. Whatever the reasons, Comey had no excuse for ending the email investigation July 5. It only recently came out that Comey used phony Russian intel about Bill’s meeting with Lynch, something so embarrassing, so inexcusable, so unprofessional, he had to prevent it from leaking to the press.
Now Comey refuses to release has personal memos taken after meeting with Trump Feb. 14 when the president allegedly tried to obstruct the FBI investigation into former White House National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. When Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee June 8, he confirmed the presence of detailed notes following his meetings with Trump back in February. Press reports indicate that Trump tried to get Comey to drop investigating Flynn, insisting Trump engaged in obstruction-of-justice. Trump insists what he said was not to influence or stop an FBI investigation as widely reported in Washington’s press. Yet the Washington press accuses Trump of looking to fire Justice Department Special Counsel former FBI Director Robert Mueller and Deputy Asst. Atty. Gen Rod Rosenstein. No press reports find credible evidence of Trump’s actions.
Accusing Trump of trying to obstruct justice in the Russian investigation, Comey lashed out at Trump June 8 in the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I was honestly concerned he might lie about the nature of our meeting, so I though it important to document,” s aid Comey. When Comey met privately with Trump Feb. 14, he told no one in the FBI or Congress about Trump’s attempt to stop his investigation into Flynn. Only after Trump fired Comey May 9 did Comey raise any issue related to Trump’s obstruction of justice. Challenging Comey’s refusal to release his Feb. 14 notes about his private meeting with Trump, several broadcast and print outlets filed under the Freedom of Information Act to get the memos. If Comey thought Trump really tried to impede an FBI investigation, he would have reported it to FBI brass or appropriate members of Congress.
Refusing to release his memos, Comey knows there’s nothing substantive to implicate Trump in obstruction of justice. “That combination of things might come a day where I might need a record to defend no just myself but the FBI, and our integrity,” Comey said after the fact to the Senate Intelligence Committee June 8. If Comey had integrity, he would have disclosed the phony Russian intel he used to raise concerns about Lynch. He would have openly discussed how he used Hillary’s paid opposition research for “probable cause” to seek warrants in the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap Trump campaign officials. Comey hides behind classified information to cover-up his incompetence, the reasons Deputy Atty. Gen Rod Rosenstein outlined in great detail in his three-page letter May 9 why Comey should be fired for usurping the Department of Justice.
After hyping his memos to the Senate Judiciary and Intel Committees, Comey justified why they shouldn’t be released to the public. “The records responsive to your request are law enforcement reports,” said the FBI, refusing to release the memos. “There is a pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding relevant to those responsive records, and release of the information to those responsive records could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings,” said the FBI. Whatever Comey wrote down following his meetings with Trump, they can’t be too significant because he did nothing at the time. Now that he’s fired, Comey touts the significance of his memos. Failing to release his memos is another example of how Comey plays games, just like failing to disclose the phony Russian intel or fake dossier to justify investigating Trump campaign officials.
