It seems Hillary Clinton isn’t the only one who could go on rampages. As the release of A Higher Loyalty is upon us, the former FBI Director who was fired by President Trump in May of 2017 has been on a tear, though like when he was heading the nation’s preeminent domestic law enforcement agency—he’s angering both sides. For starters, he totally admits (again) that he rebooted the Hillary Clinton email probe in the hopes that it would legitimize her win over Donald Trump in the 2016 election. You see, the director thought that it was totally fine to execute the rule of law…through election polling. That should make everyone feel uneasy. Second, it brings up another point for liberals to get their blood boiling; many still blame the late October letter informing Congress that the FBI would be reviewing new emails for torpedoing Hillary’s chances of winning. The pollsters’ autopsy for 2016 found no evidence that could support such a claim. The FBI when analyzing Anthony Weiner’s laptop discovered the new emails. Weiner was under investigation for lewd communications with an underage girl; he’s married to top Hillary aide Huma Abedin. It was later determined that both shared the device, and that emails from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were sent through that laptop (via Daily Wire):
Comey suggests he released the letter saying he was reopening the investigation into Hillary in October 2017 because it was his assumption she was going to win.
— Ryan Saavedra ???? (@RealSaavedra) April 15, 2018
"If I hide this...she’ll be illegitimate the moment she’s elected, the moment this comes out." pic.twitter.com/muKuEDJ790
Speaking to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Comey said he hopes that his decision to reopen to the investigation was not the reason she lost the election.
“But at some level, wasn’t the decision to reveal influenced by your assumption that Hillary Clinton was going to win?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“It must have been. I don’t remember consciously thinking about that, but it must have been," Comey responded. "Because I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump."
"And so I’m sure that it was a factor," Comey continued. "That she’s going to be elected President and if I hide this from the American people, she’ll be illegitimate the moment she’s elected, the moment this comes out.”
On the Right, they still feel Comey should have indicted Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information, part of the email probe into her unauthorized and unsecure server based in her home from which she conducted all official business as out top diplomat. As for how things have gone since his firing, many on the Left think Donald Trump should be impeached. The reason: because he beat Hillary. It’s turning the Democratic Party into the biggest clown show in politics, but Comey is not for impeachment. He’s not for it because he wants to see Trump voted out instead. We’re “duty bound” to dump this man (via The Hill):
Former FBI Director James Comey said Sunday night he hopes President Trump is not impeached because he believes it would let citizens "off the hook."
"I think impeaching and removing Donald Trump from office would let the American people off the hook and have something happen indirectly that I believe they're duty bound to do directly," Comey said in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
He said special counsel Robert Mueller should continue his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but added that he thinks Americans should be forced to reexamine their core values instead of fighting over political issues.
"People in this country need to stand up and go to the voting booth and vote their values," Comey said, saying impeachment "in a way, would short-circuit that."
Yeah, that’s rich. So, having a serial liar as your top deputy is part of that code of ethics, sir. Andrew McCabe was axed hours before he was set to obtain a multi-million dollar pension. He was fired because the DOJ inspector general sashimi’d him for lying multiple times, three of those times was under oath. One of those lies, relating to the unauthorized leak he quarterbacked to The Wall Street Journal about the friction between the FBI and DOJ over the Clinton Foundation probe, he set off a manhunt for a mole within the department that started and ended with him. He was rightfully fired. So, if we’re going to start with standing up for values, we need to clean house at the FBI first it would seem.
Disagree if you want, but it seems to me Comey made a mistake communicating about an investigation one summer, made things worse by doing it again, and now hopes the cure is to do it again —doesn't excuse Trump's deeds, but I'm not excited about the $1000-admission-fee-book-tour.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) April 13, 2018
If Comey's decision to release the letter on Oct. 28 was influenced by his interpretation of the polls, that really ought to cut against his image as an honorable, principled decision-maker. Instead, he was just being expedient and trying to save his own hide.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 13, 2018
It's also not particularly honorable, if you have information that you believe is of immediate and vital national importance, to wait to 11 months to release it until you can have a giant book launch and publicity tour around it. #Comey
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 13, 2018
UPDATE: As for Comey’s allegation that he found information that would have been damaged the credibility of former AG Loretta Lynch in the email probe, Lynch responded: you’re full of it.
Via CNN:
Comey writes in the book that he found evidence which he felt could cast "serious doubt" on Lynch's independence.
"Had it become public, the unverified material would undoubtedly have been used by political opponents to cast serious doubt on the attorney general's independence in connection with the Clinton investigation," Comey writes. He calls the material a "development still unknown to the American public to this day."
Lynch’s full statement:
Over almost two decades as a federal prosecutor I have aggressively prosecuted drug dealers, violent gangs, mobsters, and money launderers, upheld the civil rights of all Americans, and fought corruption of all types –– whether by elected officials from both sides of the aisle or within organizations like FIFA. Through it all I have never hesitated to make the hard decisions, guided by the Department of Justice’s core principles or integrity, independence and above all, always doing the right thing.
The Justice Department’s handling of the Clinton email investigation under my leadership was no exception. It was led by a team of non-partisan career prosecutors whose integrity cannot be overstated and whom I trusted to assess the facts and make a recommendation – one that I ultimately accepted because I thought the evidence and law warranted it.
Everyone who works for the Department of Justice has an obligation to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the work of the department. That is why, at the critical early stages of this case, I followed the departments long-standing policy of neither confirming nor denying the fact of an ongoing investigation. This policy both pre-dates my tenure in the Department and will live on long after the current debate is over. It neither misleads nor misinforms, but instead both protects investigations and guarantees equal treatment of those under scrutiny, whether well-known or unknown. Any suggestion that I invoked this bed rock policy for any other reason is simply false.
Throughout the process I did what I always do: rise above politics and uphold the law. At no time did I ever discuss any aspect of the investigation with anyone from the Clinton campaign or the DNC.
I have known James Comey almost 30 years. Throughout his time as Director we spoke regularly about some of the most sensitive issues in law enforcement and national security. If he had any concerns regarding the email investigation, classified or not, he had ample opportunities to raise them with me both privately and in meetings. He never did.