Admitting today that he was “wrong” about his handling of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] investigation of 73-year-old President Donald Trump’s campaign, 59-year-old former FBI Director James Comey.got off his high horse. Since fired by Trump May 9, 2017, Comey’s spent much of his time seeking media opportunities to attack the president, justifying his work at the FBI. When confronted about spying on the Trump campaign, Comey acted incredulous, like he couldn’t understand the question. What he was really saying at the time was he had every right to conduct a counterintelligence investigation on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page for his alleged ties to Russia. Comey consistently denied that he used as “probable cause” former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s paid opposition research AKA “the dossier.”
Speaking to Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday” today, Wallace got Comey to reluctantly admit he was “wrong” in not recognizing the FBI’s sloppy handling of the FISA court for investigating former Trump campaign officials. Wallace confined his remarks to getting Comey to acknowledge mistakes by the FBI under his watch while investigating the Trump campaign. Comey knows he could face criminal charges in the future when U.S. Atty. John Durham (R-Conn.) finishes his probe ordered by Atty. Gen. William Barr. Wallace did not ask Comey about the chain-of-command in starting the counterintelligence investigation on the Trump campaign, including former President Barack Obama, former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch and former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, all of whom were involved in a clandestine effort to sabotage Trump’s presidential campaign.
Since getting the ax May 9, 2017, Comey denied he did anything wrong at the FBI, getting the backing of Democrats looking to oust Trump from office, the same ones involved in the 22-month, $45 million Mueller Special Counsel probe and now impeachment proceedings against Trump. When Department of Justice Michael Horowitz released his long awaited report Dec. 9 identifying 17 instances of FBI irregularities in the FISA process, Comey began to change his tune. Comey claimed Horowitz’s report vindicates him of any wrongdoing. Horowitz said his report didn’t “vindicate anybody.” Horowitz said he couldn’t find “evidence” of political bias at the FBI, but was careful to point out that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any. Discovered texts-and-emails between FBI Agent Peter Strzok and his mistress FBI Atty. Lisa Page show not only bias but a conspiracy to sabotage Trump in the FBI.
Horowitz’s Inspector General report narrowly focused on FBI policies-and-procedures related to the FISA process. He wasn’t looking at conspiracies or political bias in the FBI, nor was he seeking to find out the origins of the counterintelligence investigation on the Trump campaign. Comey wasn’t comfortable answering Wallace’s questions or letting Wallace point out his past misstatements. “Maybe it turns on how we understand the word,” Comey said, referring to accusations that he spied on the Trump campaign, something backed by Atty. Gen. Barr. Showing that he learned to spin from former President Bill Clinton, Comey tried parse words over the word “spying.” To Comey, if he had “probable cause,” he was justified in opening up covert surveillance, insisting it wasn’t spying. Comey tried to tell Wallace he rejected Trump’s accusations of “illegal spying,” possibly “treason.”
Comey’s admission to Wallace now makes sense after over two years excusing the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign. Comey insisted on many occasions that he had plenty of “probable cause,” not relying on Hillary’s bogus “dossier.” “What I mean is the FBI was accused of treason, of illegal spying, tapping Mr. Trump’s wires illegally, opening an investigation without justification and being a criminal conspiracy to unseat—defeat and then unseat a president. All of that was nonsense,” Comey told Wallace. But what Comey was really saying was all his denials about using the fake Christopher Steele dossier was an attempt to excuse his counterintelligence probe. Comey lays out clearly what he and the upper echelon of the FBI was doing covertly probing the Trump campaign. Comey’s denials over using Hillary’s dossier tell the whole story.
Comey continues to deny relying heavily on the Steele dossier to justify legal surveillance on the Trump campaign. “I’m not sure he [Horowitz] and I are saying different things,” Comey told Wallace. “It’s a long FISA application that includes Steele material and lots of other material. I don’t think we are saying different things,” Comey said, continuing to deny the Steele dossier was the bulk of evidence used to convince the FISA court to issue warrants on Trump campaign officials. Comey must continue to deny using the Steele dossier to get his warrants from the FISA court because it would raise questions about a criminal FBI conspiracy. Comey received the dossier from the late Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) in 2016, who, along with other Republicans, did everything possible to sabotage Trump’s campaign. Using the Steele dossier puts Comey at the heart of that conspiracy.
