By Florida BillJames Comey is out as FBI director and President Trump discharged him. The President acted within his constitutional authority and was guided by the advice and recommendations from the Attorney General and his deputy and many others. "He didn't do a good job," and that's it, said President Trump.
Comey responded professionally to news of his termination, and in a note to coworkers said that the President acted within his authority to fire an FBI director for any reason or for no reason. "I'll be fine," he wrote.
The indisputable facts are that the towering six-foot, eight inch, neatly-attired Comey did a lousy job and is one of the few figures in Washington to raise the ire of both Democrats and Republicans during his reign. His miscues stretched way back to the unprofessional and questionable way in which he investigated the alleged criminal behavior of Mrs. Clinton in her handling of classified documents while she was Secretary of State.
In that "probe," he gave her a pass from prosecution and oiled the way for her candidacy. He gave her the get-out-of-jail-free card even though he articulated her actions in such a way as to indicate they clearly were criminal and supported prosecution. Along with his misstating the law and recommending against prosecution, it was not a decision which Comey was authorized under the law to make. Prosecutorial decisions belong solely to the Attorney General as head of the United States Department of Justice, and that AG was the incompetent, partisan Loretta Lynch.
After cries from both parties of incompetence during the campaign, Comey has now taken on the role of martyr. Trump's cashiering of the 56-year-old FBI director is supposedly an attempt to quash the so-called investigation into possible Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, according to Democrats' latest playbook. The claim of collusion has already been denied frequently by foremost government intelligence officials, including James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence. It is simply empty rhetoric from unhappy Democrats, lead by "Crying" Chuck Schumer, minority leader in the Senate.
If there is any collusion going on, it will be found in Comey's relationship and dealings with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who was the head of the department of Justice and Comey's superior. Key evidence of this unwholesome relationship has recently been revealed by the New York Times newspaper and by U.S. Senator Charles Grassley with the existence of written documents, possibily emails, that stated that Lynch was providing "political cover" for Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign.
There are many factors which point to a whole bag of partisan misdeeds by AG Lynch, an appointee in 2013 of President Obama. As head of the Department of Justice, she was calling the shots and in the fall of 2015, when allegations of Mrs. Clinton mishandling of classified emails and her pay-for-play leadership of the billion dollar Clinton Foundation became public, Lynch knew what she had to do. To keep Democratic leaders, including her boss, President Obama, happy, she had to assure that Mrs. Clinton would become the nation's 45th president. And she did it, but Clinton got beat anyway.
Lynch is a career prosecutor whose only job has been on public payrolls. Together with Obama, and her predecessor Eric Holder, they were tethered together as alums of Harvard law school. They are tight as peas in a pod, and the idea of Clinton not winning the presidency was anathema to them.
With the intense public clamor about Clinton and her email mishandling and her other faux pas', and Clinton's high profile, Attorney General Lynch should have authorized a grand jury investigation, but she declined to do so. Without one, the FBI was limited in its ability to compel testimony from witnesses and to subpoena documents. Despite all of the noise, the investigation simply had no real legs. Compounding the mish mash, Comey, with Lynch's blessings, handed out grants of immunity like sugar candy to potential witnesses in exchange for testimony; and then these witnesses reportedly declined interviews.
Mrs. Clinton was never interviewed by the FBI under oath and it is believed by many lawyers that Clinton herself was given immunity from prosecution by Comey with the blessings of Lynch--and probably Obama--who had publicly endorsed Clinton as his successor.
A few days prior to Comey's announcement on July 5 of last year that Mrs. Clinton would not be prosecuted, Lynch met privately with Mrs. Clinton's husband, the former President, on an airplane in Phoenix. The substance of the conversation is not known, but the meeting constituted an egregious and improper violation of legal ethics and honesty, and observers have strong reasons to believe that the Clinton "fix" had been put in. In past years, President Clinton had appointed Lynch to high jobs and higher pay inside the Justice Department, where she had been one of his fans. In the give and take of government, there are always "paybacks," and "thank yous."
In announcing at a news conference that Mrs. Clinton would not be prosecuted, Comey assumed the role of Attorney General in absolving Clinton of any and all wrongdoing. He ignored completely the allegations of corruption levied against her concerning the Clinton Foundation with its huge payroll for friends and Clinton loyalists. His usurping of authority, apparently with Lynch's approval, smacks of impropriety and may even be a violation of law.
Following the election of President Trump, Democrats were beside themselves with bitterness. They piled the the blame on Comey himself for the defeat. Harrry Reid, former majority leader of the Senate, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, blamed Comey and demanded his termination. The Democratic senator from Minnesota called for a Congressional investigation of the FBI director. Clinton, herself, recently took to television and said she would be President, but for James Comey, and insiders have added that she would have fired him on her first day as President.
Later, when it was determined that the Russians had actually hacked into Democratic committee emails and made them public,which cast an embarrassing light upon candidate Clinton as a disingenuous and unlikable person, Democrats had a new rallying cry. They quickly began pushing the scenario that Trump loyalists colluded with deputies to President Putin in an effort to bring her down. After Trump fired Comey, Democrats did a 180-degree turn around and said that Trump acted to stamp out the so-called "Russian" investigation. because he had been working hand in hand with the Kremlin to defeat Hillary. It is all political nonsense, but that is their claim, even though intelligence experts say there is no evidence of it. Still out there is the pending investigation into possible misconduct by James Comey which was undertaken last January by Michael Horowitz, Inspector General of the Department of Justice. That should be interesting and if Horowitz is on the up and up, we will hear plenty about the "cover up and protection" policies which Loretta Lynch provided for Hillary Clinton.
Also, both Clinton and Loretta Lynch are being investigated by Judicial Watch, a bipartisan government watchdog organization which has named Clinton as a defendant in more than 20 lawsuits now pending. A good number have been initiated with demands for information under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Also, still on the table, is Trump's promise-- which he made on television during the final debate with Clinton-- that after his election he would direct his Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the conduct and behavior of "Crooked Hillary"relative to her handling of classified emails. Trump said many times that Clinton broke the law and should never have never been permitted to run for the high office of president, and should be in jail. .
It seemed at the time he may have dropped his pledge to put Hillary in jail in the magnanimousness of victory, but in today's acerbic political world, with its ever growing tangle of investigations, he may revisit the idea.
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