Comey did what he had to do

Posted by | October 29, 2016 07:25 | Filed under: Opinion Politics

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Because his sworn testimony to Congress was that there were no more emails to investigate, he had an  obligation to amend that when new information came to light. He is not “reopening” an investigation that was never formally closed, but adding information that he was sworn to do, regardless of the timing. Imagine if he had waited until after the election and it came to light that he sat on new disclosures. He is taking heat from all sides, which indicates he is doing the right thing, as Benjamin Wittes notes at lawfareblog.

When the FBI wants to say it is reopening an investigation, it knows perfectly well how to say that. In this case, the investigation was actually never formally closed, so it doesn’t need to be reopened. The relevance of this letter is thus likely not that some explosive new evidence of Clinton criminality has suddenly emerged.

It is, rather, that Comey made a set of representations to Congress that have been complicated by new information, apparently from the Anthony Weiner sexting case. So he’s informing Congress of that fact before the election.

Comey represented to Congress that the Clinton email investigation was “complete.” But as the letter relates, new emails have now come to the bureau’s attention that appears relevant to the email investigation. (Weiner’s estranged wife is one Clinton’s top aides.) Comey has okayed a review of that new information to determine whether the emails contain classified material and also whether they are, in fact, relevant. And this fact renders his prior statement to Congress no longer true.

The key point here, in other words, is not that Comey is “reopening” a closed matter because of some bombshell. It is that he is amending his public testimony to Congress that the FBI is done while the bureau examines new material that may or may not have implications for investigative conclusions previously reached…

The interesting question is whether the FBI’s predicament is Comey’s own fault. It’s certainly not his fault that the email mess fell into his lap and had to be investigated in the year of an election. Nor is it his fault that the the FBI ended up investigating the DNC hack and whatever trouble Weiner has gotten himself into of late. Reasonable minds will differ, however, about whether Comey leaned too far forward in publicly disclosing information about his thinking on the email case. He can be criticized for having said and disclosed too much and thereby made his problem worse.

But what you can’t reasonably say is that Comey has been anyone’s political lackey. Over the howling objections of many Republicans, he ended the Clinton email investigation, concluding that “no reasonable prosecutor” would go forward with a case. Over the snarls of the Clinton forces, at the same time, he commented quite disparagingly about the behavior of the woman who is likely to become his boss. And now, with the election only days away, he has amended his prior resolution of the case to deal with new information.

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Copyright 2016 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

24 responses to Comey did what he had to do

  1. Red Mann October 29th, 2016 at 08:54

    At this point in time it really doesn’t make any difference what his motivation was. Between his questionable expression of his opinion when he decided that there was nothing criminal, to the timing of this letter, the right is going to use their usual technique of lying and distorting to turn this into one of their hallmark faux “scandals”. They may pry some of they hold-their-nose-and-vote-for-Hillary crowd away and make their ravening “Hang Her” crowd more obnoxious. The mere fact that tRump is so close in polls is what is disturbing. That so many Americans have bought into the insane notion of tRump as President is an indictment of our culture.

  2. Suzanne McFly October 29th, 2016 at 09:00

    I don’t buy this at all, he came out with cryptic information about one of the people running for President and there were 11 days before the country votes. It seems like he created something that would help the republicans build a case to put to the people who were thinking of voting a straight “D” ticket.

  3. William October 29th, 2016 at 09:03

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/afcbf01c1c8b1799a1846ea18dbc2dd42c72dbe10cc609c9072e05402bdb37a9.jpg

    • Larry Schmitt October 29th, 2016 at 09:16

      Too many voters are like a dog chasing the nearest squirrel. They see motion from the corner of their eye, it doesn’t matter what it is, they go after it. Then they can’t remember what they were doing before.

  4. jybarz October 29th, 2016 at 10:18

    Not buying it!

  5. Charlie Seivard October 29th, 2016 at 12:23

    He did what he was told to do!!!~

  6. Foundryman October 29th, 2016 at 12:41

    He did NOT have to issue a misleading vague statement that he KNEW would be misunderstood! This is exactly what it appears to be! A blatant partisan attempt to sabotage Hillary Clinton. Doing this now was discussed weeks ago in republican smoke filled rooms and anyone is naive to believe otherwise.

  7. Gina Bousquet October 29th, 2016 at 21:41

    Sure… Keeping Congress updated on an investigation that has barely started, smearing a presidential candidate without presenting facts, breaking the DOJ neutrality tradition in case of elections.

    • whatthe46 October 29th, 2016 at 21:55

      especially when they contain NO emails to or from her. that’s what pissy about this as well.

      • Gina Bousquet October 29th, 2016 at 21:59

        That too, I forgot! :)

        • whatthe46 October 29th, 2016 at 22:11

          he was wrong and the whole thing stinks!

          • Gina Bousquet October 29th, 2016 at 22:15

            And he should be publicly called out on it, by the Department of Justice and the Democratic Party.

            • whatthe46 October 29th, 2016 at 23:03

              they have. there’s a lot of infighting now because of it. there have been FBI personnel that are seriously pissed with him. especially Lynch. she told him NOT to do it. the DNC filed a complaint with the DOJ. i’m hoping that he gets fired. because of this i have no faith in any investigation of Hillary by them

              .

              • Gina Bousquet October 29th, 2016 at 23:07

                Good! Let’s see him grilled, isn’t it how you say it?

                • whatthe46 October 29th, 2016 at 23:11

                  yep!

                • whatthe46 October 29th, 2016 at 23:13

                  go to the trump foundation article and see my post of what he (tRump) said in Iowa at his rally. that man is as dumb as a bucket of fricken rocks.

          • The Original Just Me October 30th, 2016 at 18:31

            Awe, come on and let it all Out. The Whole thing REAKS LIKE SH!T.

  8. The Original Just Me October 30th, 2016 at 18:29

    Nice try Pea Brain.

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