Tag: James Comey

Comey defends probe of Trump and Russia as Republicans insist it was biased

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Former FBI director James B. Comey on Wednesday defended the bureau’s 2016 investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, pushing back on Senate Republicans’ skeptical questions about the probe and taking particular aim at Attorney General William P. Barr’s assertion that it was unfounded.

Testifying before the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee as part of that panel’s latest review of the Russia probe, Comey repeatedly told GOP lawmakers he disagreed with the “preamble” to their questions and expressed unfamiliarity with recently released information that they claim discredits the investigation.

He grew particularly exasperated when asked about Barr’s criticism that the FBI’s decision to open the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign was based on insufficient evidence, saying he had “no idea what on earth” the attorney general was talking about. Continue reading.

Why we still don’t know if Trump is a Russian asset

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As chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam Schiff is attempting to meet the Supreme Court’s guidelines for gaining access to Donald Trump’s financial records. In a memorandum to committee members on counterintelligence risks posed by the president’s financial ties, he included this footnote:

Based on the Committee’s review, it does not appear that Special Counsel Mueller issued any grand jury subpoenas to obtain the President’s financial records. The Committee also has reason to believe, based on its oversight work, that the FBI Counterintelligence Division has not investigated counterintelligence risks arising from President Trump’s foreign financial ties.

That points to a question Schiff has been asking since the Mueller probe was completed in March, 2019.  Here’s how he explained it to the Washington Post‘s Philip Bump a few weeks after Mueller wrapped up his work : Continue reading.

Senate GOP set to ramp up Obama-era probes

The Hill logoSenate Republicans are preparing to ramp up their Obama-era probes, pushing the controversial investigations back into the spotlight as the 2020 elections heat up.

The efforts have sparked high-profile tensions with Senate Democrats and public rebukes from former Vice President Joe Biden’s orbit. They view the efforts as an attempt to meddle in the 2020 elections, where Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee.

But with the Senate coming back to Washington on Monday, and the number of legislative days quickly dwindling, Republicans are preparing to step up their efforts. Continue reading.

James Comey: Trump won’t be removed. But we’ll be fine.

Washington Post logoJames B. Comey is a former director of the FBI and deputy attorney general.

When I was a little kid, the United States seemed to be coming apart. The president was murdered in public. The first lady had his blood on her pink suit. Then the man who killed the president was murdered, also in public.

Earlier that same year, four black girls in Birmingham, Ala., were killed by a racist bomb attack during Sunday school. Then Malcolm X was assassinated. Then Martin Luther King Jr. Then the murdered president’s brother, who was a senator and likely to be the next president.

Our cities were torn by riots and fires. Troops were deployed — at least those who weren’t half a world away in Vietnam, being killed by the thousands in a war few understood. Many thousands of young men fled the country rather than be drafted to join them. Thousands more marched to protest the war, often burning flags and battling police or counterprotesters. Unarmed students were killed by soldiers. White Americans violently resisted desegregation. War and death and disorder dominated the news. Continue reading.

Justice Dept. Investigating Years-Old Leaks and Appears Focused on Comey

New York Times logoAn inquiry into years-old disclosures of classified information is highly unusual and leaves law enforcement officials open to accusations of politicizing their work.

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors in Washington are investigating a years-old leak of classified information about a Russian intelligence document, and they appear to be focusing on whether the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey illegally provided details to reporters, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

The case is the second time the Justice Department has investigated leaks potentially involving Mr. Comey, a frequent target of President Trump, who has repeatedly called him a “leaker.” Mr. Trump recently suggested without evidence that Mr. Comey should be prosecuted for “unlawful conduct” and spend years in prison.

The timing of the investigation could raise questions about whether it was motivated at least in part by politics. Prosecutors and F.B.I. agents typically investigate leaks of classified information around the time they appear in the news media, not years later. And the inquiry is the latest politically sensitive matter undertaken by the United States attorney’s office in Washington, which is also conducting an investigation of Mr. Comey’s former deputy, Andrew G. McCabe, that has been plagued by problems. Continue reading.

Comey IG report exposes the hypocrisy of the ‘Russia hoax’ crowd

Washington Post logoTo hear the Trump team tell it, the media’s biggest sin was reporting on potential collusion and obstruction of justice. When special counsel Robert S. Mueller III concluded there was no criminal conspiracy and punted on obstruction, all of it was immediately rendered foolish, overzealous speculation. Reporters who circumspectly detailed key events months and years before Mueller did publicly were suddenly lumped in with pundits who had declared President Trump to be a guilty man.

But many of the same people who objected to this exercise were happy to publicly convict James B. Comey of something he’s now been cleared of. They did so using an unfounded allegation that’s now proved baseless.

A long-anticipated inspector general’s report on Thursday found Comey violated FBI policy by failing to turn over memos after Trump fired him and later leaking details of the memos to the New York Times through an intermediary. Importantly, though, the Justice Department won’t prosecute Comey.

View the complete August 30 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.

DOJ will not prosecute Comey for leaking memos after IG referral as Lindsey Graham says failing to do so would be ‘stunning’

AlterNet logoThe U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has decided that former FBI Director James Comey will not be prosecuted for allegedly leaking classified information, Fox News has reported. This comes after South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s assertion that it would be “stunning” if Attorney General William Barr did not proceed with a prosecution of Comey.

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz had referred Comey for a potential prosecution, but an official described by Fox News as “familiar with the deliberations” told the right-wing cable news outlet that “everyone at the DOJ involved in the decision said it wasn’t a close call.” That source, according to Fox News, said “they all thought this could not be prosecuted.”

During an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Graham said, “If Bill Barr decided not to prosecute on disclosing the memos, I accept his judgment. I’ve known him for 20 years.” Graham also asserted that if Barr “does bring a charge against Comey,” he would “hate to be Comey.”

View the complete August 1 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.

GOP takes aim at Comey, Brennan

Republicans are targeting former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan as they seek to bring more attention to what they say was an unfair investigation of President Trump launched in the Obama administration.

The effort to spotlight the intelligence officials comes as Democratic calls to impeach President Trump rise in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller’s first public remarks about his investigation.

The White House says the real controversy is the investigation of Trump that preceded Mueller’s probe, an argument Democrats contend is just a conspiracy theory peddled in order to distract from his presidential woes.

View the complete June 1 article by Olivia Beavers on The Hill website here.

James Comey on why he isn’t Republican anymore: ‘You cannot have a president who is a chronic liar’

Former FBI director James Comey was on CNN Thursday night, doing a town hall event moderated by Anderson Cooper. Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of Comey’s firing by Donald Trump. Comey talked about a few topics that could be boiled down to one specific thing: Donald Trump is every bit the scumbag you think he is and should probably be charged with obstruction of justice. But one particularly poignant moment stood out. Asked by an audience member why he thought Trump’s personal flaws should be considered by voters in this upcoming 2020 election, Comey had this to say.

Comey: I wouldn’t frame it that way. I think we should start the way I always thought Republicans said we should start—with the nature and character of the leader, and his respect for or attacks on our values, truth and the rule of law among them. That’s the most important level of American politics. Then the level down from that is important policy questions. To my mind, this question at the top level is so obviously answered.

You cannot have a president who is a chronic liar. I don’t care what your passions about tax cuts, or regulations, or immigration—I respect difference there. But the President of the United States cannot be someone who lies constantly. I thought the Republicans agreed with that. It’s one of the reasons I am no longer a Republican.

View May 10 article by Walter Einenkel from Daily Kos on the AlterNet website here.

James Comey: How Trump Co-opts Leaders Like Bill Barr

Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive this president.

People have been asking me hard questions. What happened to the leaders in the Trump administration, especially the attorney general, Bill Barr, who I have said was due the benefit of the doubt?

How could Mr. Barr, a bright and accomplished lawyer, start channeling the president in using words like “no collusion” and F.B.I. “spying”? And downplaying acts of obstruction of justice as products of the president’s being “frustrated and angry,” something he would never say to justify the thousands of crimes prosecuted every day that are the product of frustration and anger?

How could he write and say things about the report by Robert Mueller, the special counsel, that were apparently so misleading that they prompted written protest from the special counsel himself?

View the complete May 1 commentary by former FBI Directory James Comey on The New York Times website here.