I wasn’t going to mention the fact that F.B.I. Director James B. Comey sent a letter to members of Congress this past Friday, telling them that new evidence had surfaced pertaining to the agency’s investigation into the private emails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This, as multiple news sources have since reported, was in clear violation of established agency protocol, which dictates that active cases not be commented on, a fact which was apparently explained to Comey by representatives of both Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. Director Comey, however, chose to send the letter anyway. While Comey informed his employees that the break in protocol was necessary, given that he’d testified recently that the investigation into Clinton’s email had been closed, it would appear that most impartial observers seem to think that he made this announcement when he did, just eleven days prior to the election, in hopes that it might adversely effect the Clinton campaign.
It should be noted that, when Comey sent out this letter to members of Congress, he had not even seen the content of the emails in question, which had apparently surfaced as a result of an unrelated investigation involving former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. As it was reported shortly after Comey’s letter to Congress was made public, he’d yet to even receive a warrant for the emails in question before making the announcement that the investigation into Clinton’s email was being re-opened.
So, to summarize, Comey was told that new Clinton emails had surfaced in relation to an investigation into Anthony Weiner, the ex-husband of Huma Abedin, vice chairwoman of the Clinton campaign, and, before he even looked at them, and against all established protocol, he went public, saying that the case against Clinton was being re-opened, knowing full well that it would dominate the weekend news cycle and likely impact the outcome of the election… Here for what it’s worth, is what Comey sent to members of his staff, explaining why he’d done this.
“Of course, we don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations,” he said, “but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record. At the same time, however, given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression.”
And now, as you might imagine, people are coming after Comey, accusing him of attempting to sway the election, which is a clear violation of the Hatch Act. And those challenging Comey aren’t just on the left. In today’s New York Times, Richard W. Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, penned an op-ed, explaining why he’d filed an ethics complaint against the F.B.I. Director. Here’s an excerpt.
The F.B.I. is currently investigating the hacking of Americans’ computers by foreign governments. Russia is a prime suspect.
Imagine a possible connection between a candidate for president in the United States and the Russian computer hacking. Imagine the candidate has business dealings in Russia, and has publicly encouraged the Russians to hack the email of his opponent. It would not be surprising for the F.B.I. to include this candidate and his campaign staff in its confidential investigation of Russian computer hacking.
But it would be highly improper, and an abuse of power, for the F.B.I. to conduct such an investigation in the public eye, particularly on the eve of the election. It would be an abuse of power for the director of the F.B.I., absent compelling circumstances, to notify members of Congress that the candidate was under investigation. It would be an abuse of power if F.B.I. agents went so far as to obtain a search warrant and raid the candidate’s office tower, hauling out boxes of documents and computers in front of television cameras.
The F.B.I.’s job is to investigate, not to influence the outcome of an election.
Such acts could also be prohibited under the Hatch Act, which bars the use of an official position to influence an election. That is why the F.B.I. presumably would keep those aspects of an investigation confidential until after the election. The usual penalty for a violation is termination of federal employment.”
That is why, on Saturday, I filed a complaint against the F.B.I. with the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations, and with the Office of Government Ethics. I spent much of my career working on government and lawyers’ ethics, including as the chief White House ethics lawyer for George W. Bush. I never thought that the F.B.I. could be dragged into a political circus surrounding one of its investigations. Until this week…
Interestingly, Painter wasn’t the one one to frame the issue by drawing a comparison to Trump’s association with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid released a letter today asking Director Comey why he’d come forward to say that the F.B.I. would be looking at new emails from Hillary Clinton, but had remained quiet on the active F.B.I. investigation into the connections between Trump and Putin. After saying, “Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law,” Reid asked about the double standard, and why Comey hadn’t come forward with information he possesses on Trump’s ties to Russia. The full letter can be see below, but here’s a clip.
…In my communications with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government – a foreign interest openly hostile to the United States, which Trump praises at every opportunity. The public has a right to know the information. I wrote to you months ago calling for this information to be released to the public. There is no danger to American interested from releasing it. And yet, you continue to resist calls to inform the public of this critical information.
By contrast, as soon as you came into possession of the slightest innuendo related to Secretary Clinton, you rushed to publicize it in the most negative light possible.
Moreover, in tarring Secretary Clinton with thin innuendo, you overruled longstanding tradition and the explicit guidance of your own Department. You rushed to take this step eleven days before a presidential election, despite the fact that fora all you know, the information you possess could be entirely duplicative of the information you already examined which exonerated Secretary Clinton…
Like I said at the top, I didn’t plan to write about this most recent revelation of Comey’s. I was pretty sure, right off the bat, that it was going to be nothing more than another instance of politically motivated bullshit, and, given what’s been reported since, that certainly seems to be the case. The subsequent revelation of Reid’s that the F.B.I. is in possession of “explosive information” proving coordination between the Trump campaign and Putin, however, made the story a lot more interesting to me, as I don’t doubt for a minute that Putin has been actively attempting to influence the outcome of this election. More importantly, though, I wanted to share this tonight as I knew it would give me an opportunity to say the following… Whatever we’ve seen and heard thus far, you can bet your ass that it will absolutely pale in comparison to what we’re going to see over the course of this coming week. By the time this week is over, I predict we’ll be looking back on the Access Hollywood “pussy grabber” tape fondly, as a quaint relic of simpler times… Seriously, I think things are going to get very strange this week, as election day approaches and the race tightens. To be honest, at this point, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Jesus came back, or spaceships started landing… Whatever happens, I wish you all luck. I’ll see you on the other side, assuming we all survive it.
52 Comments
This whole campaign has been a nightmare. My hope is that because of absentee and early voting, the campaigns and those with interests will have already dropped their biggest bombs. Maybe not though.
I guess we will find out.
It has made me very depressed, not that it takes a whole lot to get me depressed, but this election has made my shitty life all that more shitty.
I can’t go anywhere in Kenya without having to answer for Trump’s rise. Brits are usually quieted down by the Brexit vote, but Kenyans are a harder bunch to convince. I have to convince them that not all white Americans are bigots. Not easy since that’s what the internet tells them.
The worst thing is, it won’t stop with the election. If Clinton wins, it’ll be Birtherism all over again. Four more years of lies. God help us all.
I have given up all hope on life.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwCWKZSVIAEsohG.jpg:large
The Russians hacked into several State voter registration rolls this past summer. Comey made that announcement too. It barely made a ripple. Not sure what they are up to but I fully expect them to create enough chaos at polls to cause the losing side to question the results. I hope I am wrong.
My preferred scenario is that proof of Trump’s campaign involvement with Russia is revealed. Or a woman or three come forward saying Trump paid for their abortions. I can’t believe it hasn’t happened already.
It was announced today that the DOJ is blocking the FBI from investigating the Clinton foundation. And the best that Hillary supporters can do is hope that people vote before all the details are revealed. Unbelievable. Wonder what dirt Bill has on Loretta Lynch.
And on another front, immigration has detained a record number of illegal immigrants within our country without allowing reports of the vast number to be reported prior to the election.
Comey sent a letter to leaders of Congress. Those who reported it to news agencies are the ones responsible for trying to affect the election. Meanwhile, our current President is actively campaigning for Hillary and no one speaks up. Putin is preparing his country for a nuclear war, and if he is serious, will likely occur before Obama leaves office.
Go ahead, keep spinning, as if it makes a difference which of the two fools is ultimately elected.
If it makes no difference to you, and would make a difference to me, then my preference would be better for the aggregate. Thanks for your support in this earthly matter. By Gods’s grace, we’ll celebrate together in the afterlife.
The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass is saying that Clinton should drop out of the race over this.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-hillary-clinton-emails-kass-1030-20161028-column.html
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwCWKZSVIAEsohG.jpg:large
Has he ever solved the mystery about Mitt Romney paying his taxes? It’s amazing how Harry Reid pops up about this time every election cycle and drops “maybe, sorta, coulda, gotcha” politics.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/15/harry-reid-lied-about-mitt-romneys-taxes-hes-still-not-sorry/
Are you implying that this is limited to Harry Reid?
I wouldn’t count on the aliens intervening. I’m pretty sure they’re watching this with great interest, though. They may even have office pools on the outcome. But I can’t imagine they care about the outcome. Either we fuck up and die off as a species, or we right the ship and eventually earn a seat at the table with all the other intelligent creatures of the universe. Right now, though, I don’t believe they care. We don’t pose any threat to them, as we can’t leave the planet. If Trump starts putting his name on other planets, though, we might see some activity.
There is no reason to live.
Life is pointless. Abortion is a good option.
Free abortions for everyone.
Commentator with personal experience with FBI director on Diane Rehm just now: ‘he’s a registered republican but I don’t think Comey did this for partisan reasons. Comet is someone who hold his personal ethics in such high regard, that he will ignore legitimate rules and regulations in order to do what he personally deems to be the right thing.”
Many would see this as a sign of integrity.
I see it as another idealist with autocratic tendencies.
The purity police come in all stripes.
He’s just following his conscience…
I truly hate the puritanical streak in US politics. It’s everywhere. Righteous armies on both sides. It’s a big country. Thank god we have a functional republic and a wise constitution designed to resist tyranny. Let’s hope it survives this election cycle.
@ DBL,
Life with Jesus is not pointless. He will give you purpose.
Clinton plans to have mandatory abortions for all straight white people. That’s what all of her emails were about. That’s why she destroyed them. I have it on good authority that there were thousands and thousands of emails explaining in graphic detail how she intended to kill “every healthy white baby before it escapes the womb.”
Christianity is a slave religion.
I am not a slave.
A weak man who let himself be killed when he should have fought back.
From today’s Washington Post article by Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney General from 2009 to 2015.
Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eric-holder-james-comey-is-a-good-man-but-he-made-a-serious-mistake/2016/10/30/08e7208e-9f07-11e6-8832-23a007c77bb4_story.html
Links. How pointless.
Requiring people to read.
In the good old days, the only person that could read was the priest.
I agree, Dirt Bag. The problem we are dealing with today is that the American people are too literate.
Gosh, seems to me that whole educate the people and they’ll do great was the Clintonian neoliberal technocrat ideal has been blamed as flawed and causing the failure of the working class.
There is nothing about Bernie’s campaign that would suggest the educated left is in anyway immune to misinformation or confirmation bias.
Mark (aka anonymous– why?) If you want to show empathy for working class whites who vote for Trump as Micheal Moore suggested, maybe stop implying that their issue is that they aren’t as educated as you.
I get all my information from USA Today. “Harry Reid and other Democrats aren’t just accusing FBI Director James Comey of making Hillary Clinton look bad — they are accusing him of covering up information about Donald Trump and Russian hacking.” http://usat.ly/2f4IYys
Well, if Comey’s intention was to tighten the race, it seems to have worked. According to Fivethrityeight.com, Trump now has a 24% chance of winning. That’s up from 15% a week or so ago.
http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo
It gets better.
CNBC Reports: “FBI’s Comey opposed naming Russians, citing election timing”
Read more:
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/31/fbis-comey-opposed-naming-russians-citing-election-timing-source.html
And this, no one here has said, boo!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/24/exclusive-investigation-donald-trump-faces-foreign-donor-fundrai/ [The Telegraph: “Exclusive investigation: Donald Trump faces foreign donor fundraising scandal”]
What’s with all the wieners, whiners, and Weiner, throughout this campaign? It truly is the Clinton curse.
Some day we’ll have a woman in power actually have a chance to behave badly in reality. Then we will have true equality. I want a female senator sex scandal damn it. Fucking old guys with 15 years olds denying a woman power. I mean, come on! When has Hillary had a chance to be truly badly behaved? Or Obama? Or Michelle?
Double standards suck. I hope she gets into office and hires a hot 25 year old dude as her personal secretary– or better yet, as her bag man. Madame President needs a night cap and a foot massage…
I think you’re right that other shoes are going to drop.
“Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia?”
“This spring, a group of computer scientists set out to determine whether hackers were interfering with the Trump campaign. They found something they weren’t expecting.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/10/was_a_server_registered_to_the_trump_organization_communicating_with_russia.html
There’s more.
This is from Mother Jones.
“A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump”
Mother Jones has reviewed that report and other memos this former spy wrote. The first memo, based on the former intelligence officer’s conversations with Russian sources, noted, “Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years. Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and divisions in western alliance.” It maintained that Trump “and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals.” It claimed that Russian intelligence had “compromised” Trump during his visits to Moscow and could “blackmail him.” It also reported that Russian intelligence had compiled a dossier on Hillary Clinton based on “bugged conversations she had on various visits to Russia and intercepted phone calls.”
The former intelligence officer says the response from the FBI was “shock and horror.” The FBI, after receiving the first memo, did not immediately request additional material, according to the former intelligence officer and his American associates. Yet in August, they say, the FBI asked him for all information in his possession and for him to explain how the material had been gathered and to identify his sources. The former spy forwarded to the bureau several memos—some of which referred to members of Trump’s inner circle. After that point, he continued to share information with the FBI. “It’s quite clear there was or is a pretty substantial inquiry going on,” he says.
“This is something of huge significance, way above party politics,” the former intelligence officer comments. “I think [Trump’s] own party should be aware of this stuff as well.”
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment regarding the memos. In the past, Trump has declared, “I have nothing to do with Russia.”
(http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/veteran-spy-gave-fbi-info-alleging-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump)
It was fun while it lasted: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/fbi-russia-election-donald-trump.html
Only Bernard Sanders can save us from the plutocrats and the oligarchs.
The fun is really going to start with the next Wikileaks dump.
We keep waiting for that show to drop. The wikileaks dumps just keep getting thinner and more suspicious. If she was the woman the right says she is, one dump of emails not intended for public consumption would have been enough.
On the other hand, more and more information is coming out about Assange that makes him seem like a lunatic– anti-American at any costs and, tellingly, secretive, duplicitous. and obsessed with privacy. Have you seen the whole bit about non-disclosure agreements for his staff?
” seem(s) like a lunatic– anti-American at any costs and, tellingly, secretive, duplicitous. and obsessed with privacy”
I thought you were describing Hillary. lol
Notice we haven’t seen her personal emails yet. He is saving the best for last. I think he has all the missing 30,000.
The Guardian: “Trump lawyers given court date over lawsuit alleging rape of 13-year-old”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/12/donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-alleged-rape-lawsuit
Anyone can file a civil suit.
Weiner is looking to cut a deal in his criminal case by providing evidence of Bill Clinton’s involvement with an international group of pedophiles.
EOS cracks me up. Her arguments against Clinton remind me of this little gem about weighing the candidates based on their ‘sins’
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/10/clinton_vs_trump_whose_crimes_are_worse.html
Lynne,
Wow. If you think Hillary’s handling of emails is her only or biggest offense, you have a serious reality distortion. It’s the crimes she admits to in the emails that is the concern and what will be her downfall.
Hillary deleted her incriminating emails. State covered it up. Asked about using White House executive privilege to hide from Congress.
· https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/9272#efmBI2BOJ
· https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/9545
· https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/34370
· https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/32007
· “They do not plan to release anything publicly, so no posting online or anything public-facing, just to the committee.”
· “That of course includes the emails Sid turned over that HRC didn’t, which will make clear to them that she didn’t have them in the first place, deleted them, or didn’t turn them over. It also includes emails that HRC had that Sid didn’t.”
· “Think we should hold emails to and from potus? That’s the heart of his exec privilege. We could get them to ask for that. They may not care, but I seems like they will.”
· “We brought up the existence of emails in reserach this summer but were told that everything was taken care of.”
· “That of course includes the emails Sid turned over that HRC didn’t, which will make clear to them that she didn’t have them in the first place, deleted them, or didn’t turn them over.”
· The State Department was:
o (1) Coordinating with the Clinton political campaign.
o (2) Colluding with the press to spin it positively.
o (3) Doing so BEFORE they released it to AN EQUAL BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT. The Clinton campaign was always a step ahead of the committee investigating them. Shameful.
· Nick states “Just spoke to State” He goes on to reveal that State colluded with him about which emails are being revealed to committee and that the State plans to plant a story with AP.
· Shows intent to withhold emails from the subpoena.
http://www.mostdamagingwikileaks.com/
The Hill is now covering the Mother Jones report.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/303702-spy-tells-fbi-russia-wants-to-cultivate-trump-report
EOS– HRC has never been an advocate for radical transparency. Assange is. HRC knows that enemies can twist information. Apparently so does Assange. Interestingly.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/heres-an-open-letter-to-james-comey?utm_term=.cbvg9PgeN#.rsWlDjlN5
THERE WERE NO COMMERCIAL PLANES ON 9/11.
My very very distant cousin weighs in. (My middle name is Carville.) He’s a lot nuttier than I am. I honestly don’t know what to make of this Russian thing. I know the GOP and the Russians like to mess with the process and then declare it broken. The implication they are in cahoots is absurd, but not that they share the same agenda in this case– to disrupt the election. To bring it’s legitimacy into question. But the loaded rhetoric of the political season throws everyone off. I think we are only really going to know how effective they are after Nov 8th. You have to give Carville credit though. He never fails to entertain.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/10/31/carville_blows_up_on_msnbc_anchor_our_democracy_is_under_assault_by_comey_the_kgb_and_republicans.html
It would appear that the Clintons don’t have many friends in the FBI.
The Guardian reports: ‘The FBI is Trumpland’: anti-Clinton atmosphere spurred leaks, sources say
Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/03/fbi-leaks-hillary-clinton-james-comey-donald-trump
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/11/03/republicans-are-now-vowing-total-war-and-the-consequences-could-be-immense/?postshare=8281478199191839&tid=ss_fb&utm_term=.c6c6ed529834
The problem with Clinton is not that we don’t know enough, as batshit conservative America would have us believe, but that we know too much. The amount of data available on Cliton is far more than one could ever reasonably process in a short time.
I guess Republicans would rather have a Trump, who conceals everything. It makes him look better, I guess.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/2/13496614/clinton-transparent-trump
Comey says they didn’t find anything in those new emails to warrant reopening the investigation.
Read more:
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-comey-clinton-emails-20161106-story.html
BREAKING NEWS from the NYT
The F.B.I. chief James Comey is facing an internal investigation into his pre-election actions on the Clinton email case
Thursday, January 12, 2017 1:40 PM EST
The Justice Department inspector general’s office said Thursday it would open an investigation into the decision in October by James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, to inform Congress about a new review in the Hillary Clinton email investigation — a move Mrs. Clinton has said cost her the election.
That is going to last about a week.
Great news!
I guess we now know what was in it for Comey.
BREAKING NEWS
President Trump plans to keep James B. Comey as director of the F.B.I. The agency is investigating Mr. Trump’s associates.
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