I do not agree with the spin that Comey was acting "political" ...

[kentuck]

...when he came out with the second Clinton email investigation. Of course, politics is involved in everything but it was not the primary reason for his decision, in my opinion.

Yes, he, like most everyone else, believed that Hillary was going to win. In the sense that he did not want people to accuse him of helping Hillary by withholding the information about the new emails, it might be defined as "political"? He was mostly concerned with protecting himself and his own integrity, in my opinion.

I believe he thought he could continue the Trump investigation after Hillary became President. I think Barack Obama was mostly silent about Trump investigation for the same reason, in my opinion.

Rather than about "politics" specifically, it was more about a criminal strategy going forward after the election and after Hillary was President. Of course, in hindsight, we can interpret it in several different ways. I do not think it was primarily political.

[lame54]

1. That's worse

[uponit7771]

23. +1

[poboy2]

28. If what he did was based on Hillary winning, and not law and protocol he acted POLITICALLY. the end.

[Tipperary]

41. Yes. This.

[Glamrock]

2. +1

[unblock]

3. There was zero excuse for the timing if what he did.

A few days later they easily determined that there all the emails were duplicates. It was always a non-story in any objective sense.

The *only* reason it was a story was because Comey made the public aware of the theoretical possibility of new emails.

A responsible investigator would have done the analysis first, and only then made it public *if* they found new emails tied to Hillary.

Add to the doing it in the final weeks of the campaign and cry's actions are inexcusable.

Of course, even that is buying into the argument that the Hillary investigation had any merit to begin with.

[kentuck]

4. Basically he bowed to the pressures from Trump and the Republican Committees ...

...that were attacking him at the time. They made him promise to come back to them if he found anything relating to Hillary's emails. Even though he probably knew there was nothing in them, he was weak and bowed to the pressures.

[bettyellen]

21. Even if he was afraid someone would leak, that just meant he should fight the leaks...

And figure out the truth faster, rather than give in and cover for the leakers. Which is what he did.

[unblock]

24. hey, they can't rob the bank if i steal all the money first!

another crime foiled!

[njhoneybadger]

27. Yes Yes Yes Yes!!!!!!

[moondust]

5. It could very easily be asserted

that, for whatever reason, Comey wanted to put his thumb on the scale and tip the election to Trump, and that that is exactly what he did. Pure Republican politics: fuel the Benghazi "cloud of suspicion" about "Crooked Hillary." I'm personally not convinced that is not what happened and that he has not been lying about it ever since. But I suppose it would be hard to prove that was his intent.

[kentuck]

6. Yes. That could be asserted.

But I do not believe that to be the case.

I do believe he was trying to protect his own integrity and weighed whether or not it would help Trump in the election. He did not think that it would make that much of a difference, in my opinion.

[bettyellen]

22. He knew his actions put a thumb on the scale, period. I think he loved the power.

The press did the same thing. A Hillary presidency would only be “fun” for them if everyone gave her a hard time.

[lindysalsagal]

34. IMHO, even Comey, that "paragon of decency", might not have liked the idea of a woman president.

or, at least that woman. Whether it was conscious or not, he could (should) have kept quiet.

I find it hard to believe he would have betrayed a man who'd been a federal-level career servant like himself. I really do.

[moondust]

38. Yep.

Could have been a "glass ceiling" thing.

[jalan48]

7. I thought if he didn't release the Hillary/Weiner email fiasco it was going to be leaked by FBI

agents in New York. Either way it was going to come out before the election. What was he to do?

[kentuck]

10. I agree there were pressures on Comey coming from all different directions...

What would have happened if he had not made the existence of Wiener's emails public?

We do not know for a fact that it would have made a difference. Most likely, Hillary would have already been impeached by now.

[jalan48]

13. The Wiener/Hillary emails would have been leaked by the National Enquirer. The same paper

that bought the stories about Trump and prostitutes, illegitimate children, etc. and then didn't run the stories, effectively squashing them.

[wishstar]

8. WashPost, New Yorker etc. have reported Obama WH did not know about FBI Trump investigation

Reporting I have read states that Obama WH was not told about FBI investigation into Trump Campaign/Russian collusion until January 2017 and Obama and Biden were also not informed about the Steele Dossier allegations until January 2017. The only knowledge Obama WH had was regarding Russian hacking into election systems and Russian hacking of DNC and Podesta emails. The public was only informed of the FBI investigation of Trump Campaign in March 2017 by Comey.

[GallopingGhost]

9. They were talking about this

on MSNBC a few minutes ago. One of the panelists ended with "and Hillary Clinton should have run a better campaign." I am so sick of hearing that.

45 threatened, bragged, lied, committed treason, and these talking heads sit there and say Hillary Clinton should have run a better campaign? Are they fucking kidding??

[StevieM]

19. She did run a good campaign. The media has rewritten history in the aftermath of the election.

Funny how we never heard about this chaotic, dysfunctional campaign, and states supposedly being ignored, during the election itself.

[bettyellen]

37. Its bizarre how people see what they want to. A friend of mine insisted thenither night that all

The activism protests we’ve seen since the election were about the people waking up about the oligarchy and political contributions. Somehow he thinks the Women’s march was about a male candidate, as were the recent gun control marches, also the ones about police violence toward POC. Yep!

[Maeve]

11. In trying to keep himself spotless, he stepped into mud

He is very proud of his own high-mindedness and that makes him blind to where that might lead him. This time he led the rest of us with him down that hole. I suspect he was also misled by others who were not nearly as high-minded as himself (but whom he trusted).

Again, it comes back to the widely held belief that Hillary was going to win; that idea led to more than one mistake. Sigh....

[EffieBlack]

16. EXACTLY this!

You have laid out, in a nutshell, precisely what I think occurred.

[OnDoutside]

20. I agree, and it all led from the pressure he was under, which forced him to make the first mistake

in July 2016, by even discussing the emails.

[aikoaiko]

12. I agree. He was trying to actively protect the FBI...

...assuming a Hillary win and a Republican Congress in attack mode.

I think he now knows the normal protocol of remaining silent before an election was and is the best practice.

He wasn't trying to knock out HRC.

[dawg]

14. Are you familiar with the concept of "working the refs"?

The Republicans bitch and moan so much about "unfair" treatment from the media, the FBI, academia, the "deep state", etc., that people tend to bend over backwards to try and please them. (And insulate themselves from any possible allegations of bias.)

But guess what?

Even after bending over backwards to coddle them, they'll end up accusing you of bias anyway.

And, technically, you *were* being biased - unwittingly biased in their favor, that is.

It speaks to a weakness in Comey's character that he allowed himself to be manipulated in this manner. But he is far from alone in his affliction.

[kentuck]

15. I agree.

I agree the Repubs are very good at working the refs.

Refs = Media

[EffieBlack]

17. Yup.

[Egnever]

25. Curious what his response should have been

Given the fact the Republicans we're going to leak the info anyway?

Just say nothing and let it leak under answered?

I see lots of gnashing of teeth but o have yet to see anyone propose an alternative to what he did.

Ghuliani and pals clearly signaled tgier intent to leak it. So what could he have done that would have been better?

[dawg]

29. He should have remained silent, at least until a proper evaluation could be made of the ...

"new" material.

If there was a leak, the response should have been that, although there were copies of some of Hillary's emails found residing on a laptop seized in connection with the Anthony Wiener investigation, there is no reason at all to believe they are anything other than copies of emails that had already been provided. They will be reviewed, of course, but there is no reason to think there's anything there of consequence.

[Egnever]

36. That is what he did

As soon as he could say it confidently.

They were not in possession of the laptop when he made the statement ahead of the leak.

My point is there was no good option.

[saidsimplesimon]

31. I agree.

[MoonRiver]

18. I will always believe he did what he did to defeat Hillary.

Yes, he knew she was ahead, but he hoped, imho, that his actions could bring her down, which they did. Be careful what you wish for.

[Egnever]

26. All I want to know is what was the alternative

Say nothing while ghouliani and pals leaked it anyway?

[lapucelle]

30. Couldn't Comey have disclosed that Trump was also under investigation? N/T

[moondust]

33. +1

[kentuck]

35. He could have unless....

...the investigation was so big and so complex that it had moved into racketeering and the RICO statutes, with possible involvement from foreign sources, possibly even Russia? Then, it might not be wise to make such a premature statement?

[lapucelle]

39. The possibility of jeopardizing the investigation

would have been a good reason for keeping quiet about Trump. However, I think this also would have given Comey cover for any criticism he may have faced for not going public about the re-opening of the email investigation.

Comey's blunder in the name of circumspection was yet another example of the double standard that the Democratic nominee faced in 2016 and beyond.

[Thekaspervote]

32. And lets not forget Jason Chavez was given that notification and it was classified

For the house Intelligence committee ONLY. It wasn’t a half hour before he was screaming that out to the press... fux news!

[honest.abe]

40. Agreed.

Last edited Mon Apr 16, 2018, 09:35 AM - Edit history (1)

That has been my opinion all along even though it angered me to no end when it happened.