Comey “classified” swipe at Loretta Lynch shows he’s untrustworthy
Asserts that “unverified” information from a classified source called into question Lynch’s independence in Clinton probe, but doesn’t reveal what it is depriving Lynch of chance to defend herself.
I have been highly critical of Loretta Lynch. I didn’t support her nomination to be Attorney General.
I’ve argued that the tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton smelled like a signal to the Clintons not to worry about the DOJ/FBI investigation of Hillary’s server.
Yet now I come to her defense because of James Comey’s attack on her.
Comey says that there is classified information that shows Lynch had a conflict. But of course, he can’t tell us what it is, because it’s classified:
Former FBI Director James Comey has some choice words for former Attorney General Loretta Lynch in his new book, suggesting she was torn by his handling of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s unauthorized email server and hints that there may yet be more information, which has yet to be released, calling into question her partiality.
The excerpts leaked Thursday from his memoir, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” are just the latest salvo in a back-and-forth between the two former federal law enforcement giants.
Comey writes Lynch possessed a “tortured half-out, half-in approach” to the emails inquiry. Comey describes how Lynch met with him privately just before the Nov. 8 election, and she embraced him and indicated that he had done the right thing, according to the Washington Post.…
But Comey teases there may still yet be more to the story.
In his book, Comey says “unverified” information discovered by the U.S. government in 2016 from a classified source “would undoubtedly have been used by political opponents to cast serious doubt on the attorney general’s independence in connection with the Clinton investigation.”
According to ABC News, he refers to this as a “development still unknown to the American public to this day,” but his book does not go into further detail.
This is an outrageous hatched job by Comey, using “unverified” information that he can’t even disclose to attack a political opponent.
We’ve seen this type of tactic used against Trump as well by John Brennan:
Former CIA Director John Brennan, who is as anti-Trump as they come, suggested that he knew information about Trump that was not yet public. Information, of course, he would have learned in his role at the CIA or through his connections:
When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America…America will triumph over you.
This is chilling stuff. Our intelligence services scoop up an incredible amount of information about all of us. There are limits on how it is supposed to be used, but when the former Director of the CIA suggests that there is undisclosed information about a President, it’s an abuse of power and a not-so-veiled threat.
People like Comey and Brennan are in positions to gain access to a wide range of secret information about Americans. They should not abuse the trust placed in them to keep the information secret by suggesting that there is damaging information about someone but refusing to provide details so the person can defend herself.
It’s possible to believe both that Loretta Lynch seriously mishandled the Clinton email probe and that James Comey demonstrated his untrustworthiness by using the tactic of teasing that there is secret information about her.
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All of it needs to be declassified.
Yeah, someone is going to have to explain to me why information about our prior Attorney General and her connection to the Clinton campaign and what sounds to be at best inappropriate actions is marked “classified” information.
The only reason that I can imagine is that it is harmful to Democrats and their cause.
This book is shaping up to be a real classic. It’s not often that anyone goes to such effort to make himself look like a whiny weasel.
Trump does it every day – one tweet at a time.
or that’s what YOU do one whine at a time. Whining about tweeting is the funniest thing I encounter. Tweet away President Trump. We love it. The leftists and anti-Trumpers don’t know what to make of it. They cannot control it. And I love it.
Ole Yeller doesn’t get what Trump is doing – he’s co-opting the MSM to get his word out.
If Trump wants to send a message to the American people, the MSM isn’t going to (knowingly) help him do it. So he packages his message into crass, off-the-wall tweets that the MSM spends the next news cycle repeating over and over again. People who “get” Trump get his message, and the MSM spreads it wide and far, without understanding the favor they’re doing for him. Trump is playing the MSM with his tweets.
“People like Comey and Brennan are in positions to gain access to a wide range of secret information about Americans. They should not abuse the trust placed in them to keep the information secret by suggesting that there is damaging information about someone but refusing to provide details so the person can defend herself.”
Yet they do, because they know there are never repercussions to their actions,
There are always repercussions. In this case, he has exposed himself as dishonorable.
that’s only a black flag in certain circles.
in the Swamp, it can be a badge of honor, depending on how you do it…and to whom.
Brennan aqdmittedly voted for Gus Hall, the Communist Party USA for president in 1980. Since that time his sympathies seem to have moved to Islam.
Brennan aqdmittedly voted for Gus Hall, the Communist Party USA for president in 1980. Since that time his sympathies seem to have moved to Islam.
I have read that he converted to Islam in Saudi Arabia. Former FBI agent John Guandolo asserted that he did. Snopes says this is “unproven,” so you know it must be true LOL.
And suddenly Lynch is our hero. Beam Me Up
Says you. Personally, I hope the whole Obama crew ends up behind bars.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least, but so far there’s no evidence for it.
It appears to me that our entrenched federal bureaucracies are nests of vipers. And it seems that the corruption is so deep that I am truly at a loss as to how we fix the situation. Defunding the b*stards would be great, but Congress controls the purse-strings and they’re a major part of the problem.
Just curious if you were as concerned when the targets were on the left?
When was the left targeted by this kind of sleazy abuse of investigative and prosecutorial power? I’d be interested in you examples. BTW perjury IS a crime.
What were those innocent targets, commie?
The left is made up of Marxist thieves that violate the laws and constitution at will.
That is an insult to thieves.
Even thieves can appreciate their country – especially when they benefit from the Bill of Rights.
Well said article. It seems to me that the idea of fairness is a lost art for those in positions of power or influence.
Thugs to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle ….
Thugs to the left, boehner/ryan/mconnell/graham/mccain in the middle, and we are on the right.
An in the right.
Professor, I think you mean to say “This is an outrageous hatchet job” instead of “This is an outrageous hatched job”. Though with both left and right going after Comey in this book, the egg that hatched may be all over his face.
Comey: Trump asked me to investigate the dossier
This is one of those ambiguous lines. Investigate what about the dossier ?
What is in the dossier ? … or … Who was the source ?
I’m sure Comey thought the former .. Trump thought the latter.
In his book, Comey says “unverified” information discovered by the U.S. government in 2016 from a classified source “would undoubtedly have been used by political opponents to cast serious doubt on the attorney general’s independence in connection with the Clinton investigation.”
The obvious question is “classified source” ?
… but the more important question is …
Who is the “U.S. government” ?
But really, this is a throw-away line.
Anybody could replace the AG portion with a phrase about UFOs or ‘Bigfoot’ and it would still work.
“The obvious question is “classified source” ?”
The proverbial anonymous source.
The email was Hillary stating ” your dxxx right I ordered the code red on Seth “
I’m no fan of Lynch, who has always appeared to be more than a little corrupt. However, Prof. Jacobson is right: Comey’s dig at Lynch is a cheap shot. If she’s dirty, then say why she’s dirty and produce the evidence that backs your claim. If you can’t say because it’s classified, then STFU.
Self-serving, sanctimonious weasel. And yet, he truly sees himself as another profile in courage. He serves a higher authority, an idol created by his own fevered imagination.
We have our military deployed against enemies all over the world. If we have a rogue deep state with unlimited police power over us, what protects us against them if and when the time comes?
the 2nd Amendment.
now you know why the big push for “gun control”…
it’s not about “the children”. it’s about control.
of us.
So, exactly what is Comey telling us? Lynch had a “tortured half-in, half-out approach to the Clinton email investigation” and there was something “which would have cast serious doubt on the AG’s independence in the Clinton investigation”. What it sounds like is that Lynch might actually have contemplated charging HRC? Were Clinton’s actions so egregious that even Lynch had a big problem with allowing her to slide on Servergate? Could the meeting on the tarmac actually have been for the purposes of delivering blackmail information to Lynch? Was this why Lynch was, apparently, cut-out of the decision making process and it was passed to Comey?
This is one possible scenario. Another is that Comey was asked, or told, to take the heat for Lynch and the President, and “exonerate” HRC, with the understanding that he would be taken care of. He did so and got shafted, while Lynch and Obama, et al, skated off into the sunset unscathed. Either he is upset that he put his neck on the line for what he believed in, defeating DJT, or that he was NOT taken care of by those who asked him to stick his neck out for them.
Whatever the reason, Comey will always be the one responsible for the Servergate whitewash. And, he is trying, desperately, to suggest that he did what he had to do, to protect the country. Comey is a stooge, and not a very bright one at that. He presented a prima facia case for HRC’s indictment in the Servergate case. Then, turned around and said that NO prosecutor would take a case like this under any circumstances. A claim that had to have federal prosecutors rolling on the floor with laughter. And, he flagrantly usurped the power of the AG to do it.
Listen to Comey. He is desperately trying to salvage his reputation. And, there just might be nuggets of truth in what he says. They just might not mean the obvious. We are well and truly through the looking glass at this point.
Comey’s book suggests “she was torn by his handling of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s unauthorized email server and hints that there may yet be more information, WHICH HAS YET TO BE RELEASED, calling into question her partiality.” [emphasis mine]
Sounds like Comey has a Volume II memoir in the making !
the scum in DC all deserve each other.
we don’t, but it’s our fault for electing useless scum to Congress.
You are right. We need people in congress who put the country first. Unfortunately 95% of the members of congress are only interested in staying in office and increasing their power.
My hunch is Lynch, who oversaw the Federal Bureau of Matters, discussed strategy with 0bama to soft punch Hillary publicly, but let her off the hook legally. Just a hunch … will we ever know the real truth one day?
Not as long as Sessions is AG.
Anytime someone like Comey writes a book the softly spoken but constantly driven mandate from the publisher is to “go negative.” The publishers do not expect positive books to sell, they want intrigue, dirty secrets, recriminations, and bombast. The publishers are as dirty and dishonest as the mainstream media.
And Comey is as dirty and dishonest as the publishers are.
How dishonest are they?
Obamas’ $65 million book advance:
https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/2/14779892/barack-michelle-obama-65-million-book-deal-penguin-random-house
Every time you think Comey can do no more to prove he’s a vile little man, no matter how tall he is, he exceeds our expectations.
Twenty-five years ago Vince Foster wrote about Washington DC, “Here ruining people is considered sport.” Not much has changed.
Comey’s attacks on Trump’s appearance (his book notes the orange hue and smallish hands), comparing Trump to a Mob Boss along with his hit against AG Lynch taste of desperation with little to no consideration of how it will play out.
What if SC Mueller decides to charge Pres. Trump with obstruction in the firing of Comey. Won’t Comey’s own words be used to destroy his credibility? He did leak information and mislead congress. Comey did tell congress he never felt pushed by Trump to do anything inappropriate but now says he was asked to refute the dossier.
Regarding AG Lynch, if Comey saw information that raised concerns or he perceived her as half-stepping it, he wrote one of his little memos to himself as he’s alleged he does, right? Comey, following that “higher honor” reported his concerns to the IG, yes? Or did he insert more control over the Clinton clusterphuck so that he could play Cpt. Sav-A-Hoe for AG Lynch in an effort to wink-n-nod that, “I got your back”.
To tell this “story” now is, IMO, an enormous CYA move. He’s sharing a yarn that (1) isn’t verified, (2) can’t be shared because it’s “classified” and (3) once again donning the “white hat” frantically saying, “see, if I wouldn’t have been so gosh darn ethical and perfect”! What, is this guy an apostle of Stuart Smalley!
Still since the white guy (Comey) just castigated the black-female AG (Lynch) the media and Democrats will go on offense and point out how he, as an admitted leaked and Republican -don’t ya know, is attacking not only a female but a black female! That’ll soon be the retort against him by the usual suspects at MSNBC, right? Oh, that’s right. . . .he’s anti-Trump so THAT is the “higher honor”.
Vince Foster seemed like a good guy and his suicide was a tragedy for those that knew and loved him. The fact that his words are still true is a tragedy for our country.
I doubt Vince Foster committed suicide. He certainly did not die on the bench in Fort Marcy Park. There was no rain and no wind. The FBI [or FBM?] took grass blade samples near the bench. They expected to see microscopic blood droplets on the blades of grass near the bench.
There were no droplets – zero – and some were expected given the weather conditions. The conclusion is he did not die on that bench.
And while we’re at it … please explain how Ron Brown, Clinton Secretary of Commerce, had (4) bullet holes in his brain after the plane crash in Croatia. Yes, absolute power absolutely corrupts.
And the airport director committed suicide with a 45 auto… a rather rare firearm in that part of the world.
I don’t doubt he committed suicide. I do doubt it was in the park. The most parsimonious explanation of the available evidence is that he killed himself in a place that the Clintons didn’t want searched, so they moved the body. Then they emptied out his office of anything they didn’t want the police to find.
He didn’t. Where are you getting this crap? Even the craziest conspiracy theorists are only claiming one hole, where did you get four? But the fact is there was no exit wound, and the X-rays show no bullet and no fragments, either bone or metal. And what happened to the supposed assassin? Did he jump out of the plane? Or was it a suicide mission?
Mueller put in place to help Rosenstien cover up Uranium One. Finding dirt on Trump team is a bonus.
No they won’t attack Comey , they will just bury the whole thing ,never happened . As long as Lynch shuts up, no one will ever know
Over the years the FBI has evolved from a law enforcement agency dealing with the nation’s most dangeroud crininals to politically motivated pencil-pushers who are working to become thisd country’s KGB.
I bet you could make a killing following his book tour selling Bleach Bit Cleaning Rags.
It’s not like I’m actually keeping a list, but is there anybody Comey hasn’t pissed on? This guy could have a funeral that literally nobody shows up for.
Since he took a swipe at Trumps hands, you gotta wonder. Yea, Comey had six kids and is still married, but to point out Trump’s hands is just a classic failure.
Trump had a direct line to women, so saying he had small hands is lost to me. Is Comey implying that he has bigger hands so he has a bigger….. Classless.
Trivial stuff like this just blows my mind. We got a country to run here.
How stupid can this keep getting.
Sounds like a whiny brat that did not get his way.
Maybe Comey and Hillary can get a gig in different isles at the BJ Club selling books.
Don’t forget the length of Trumps’ ties. Comey says they’re too long. You really can’t make this shit up.
Comey is a crook. I look forward to his jail time.
He is I think referring to this. An email from DWS to Leonard Benardo of Open Society Foundations
“In the supposed email, Wasserman Schultz claimed Lynch had been in private communication with a senior Clinton campaign staffer named Amanda Renteria during the campaign. The document indicated Lynch had told Renteria that she would not let the FBI investigation into Clinton go too far, according to people familiar with it.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-fbi-russia-clinton-probe-20170524-story.htm
Mabye. But someone would really have to explain why that is classified information. Other than that it hurts a Democrat and their cause.
POTUS Donald J. Trump is right, Comey is a slimeball. His FBI screwed up in Boston, Parkland, Garland TX, San Bernardino, Benghazi, Pulse nightclub, and on and on. Never a word of explanation for the screw-ups, yet he expects us to believe his FBI is so honorable and trustworthy.
Are you sure those were screw-ups? We’re dealing with a crowd that believes no crisis should go unexploited and that people are more easily governed when kept in a constant state of alarm. Who needs “false flag” events when all you have to do is “fail” to stop actual incidents?
Where the hell is Sessions?
The only source we have for the existence of this classified information is Comey himself. He could just be making it up in order to smear Lynch.
I’ve heard of “death by a thousand cuts” but I’ve never seen it self-inflicted before.