Patterico's Pontifications

8/29/2019

Inspector General Report Out on Comey

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:19 am



The document can be read here.

I’ve not had a chance to read it and will consequently not comment on it now.

UPDATE: Comey appears to be treating the report as some kind of vindication:

My initial scan of the report suggests it is no vindication at all. Far from it. The report appears to fault Comey for disclosing “sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.” The report says that Comey “set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees” who have similar access to non-public information.

Donald Trump’s tiny fingers are no doubt hovering over the keys on his iPhone as we speak, but no official word yet from the Twittermeister as of the time of this update.

149 Responses to “Inspector General Report Out on Comey”

  1. UPDATE: Comey appears to be treating the report as some kind of vindication:

    My initial scan of the report suggests it is no vindication at all. Far from it. The report appears to fault Comey for disclosing “sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.” The report says that Comey “set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees” who have similar access to non-public information.

    Donald Trump’s tiny fingers are no doubt hovering over the keys on his iPhone as we speak, but no official word yet from the Twittermeister as of the time of this update.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  2. Epleb nista, once upon a time there was justice in the world, but there is just pain for any xhallenger, and trial by ordeal. Take zimmerman wven though he was acquited he will never have piece, but kimberlin will never see another day in jail, even though his hands are atained with blood, that is the definitiom on unaccountability.

    Narciso (1ebf89)

  3. I gave it a superficial read. My take is that he didn’t leak classified material, but did violate department policy by sharing Memo 4 with a friend and several other memo’s with his counsel.

    The report appeared to make it clear that he did this in response to public statement from Trump.

    Based on what I read i think it would be hard to convict him of a crime here.

    He clearly violated policy, but he’s already been fired so I’m not sure what additional penalties are available.

    Now the people who had already made up their minds can point to this and say they were right all along.

    Time123 (daab2f)

  4. Donald Trump’s tiny fingers are no doubt hovering over the keys on his iPhone as we speak,

    I don’t think he usually tweets around this tme of the day. Sometimes he deoes add a thing or two. I read that a lot of the tweets in the middle of the day aren’t even by him. He;s not alone.

    Trump will usually wait until he sees something on TV.

    In the last few hours, there’s something about farmers and ethanol and refineries. A certain Edward Hardy replied to him It’s the sort of thing where if you don’t follow the issue, you won’t know what it means. He’s praising what he’s doing for the farmers and also for small efineries – there was a conflict there but he claims that he is going to announce will be great for all

    He also said the economy is doing GREAT, but if the Fed did waht it shold it would be arocket upwards. (the second part of this he undoubtedly believes)

    He noted that Lawrence O’Donnell of NBC had been forced to apologize for the claim that Russia or Russian oligarchs, co-signed loan documents for him, (and that’s why Deutche Bank lent him money.)

    He threw in a few mild insults like lamestream Media.

    He noted that Hurricane Dorian missed Puerto Rico, and thanked people working for FEMA for their work. Then said it would hit Florida, and would be “a very big Hurricane, perhaps one of the biggest!” (he also said to follow instructions, like he’s been told to say)

    He’s got a pinned tweet from yesterday of a picture of the wall (or not too high fense) with some sand in front of it cleared. It looks like a dirt road maybe but this is so you could see footprints (but not trace where they went since from a few feet away ootprints remain as they do on the Mexican side)

    Sammy Finkelman (42d229)

  5. “No serious prosecutor would bring such a case” against Comey, or anybody of a certain prosecutorial pedigree for that matter.

    Munroe (33bad0)

  6. I’ll bite

    Munroe, based on what’s in the report what do you feel he should be prosecuted for?

    Time123 (de0f5d)

  7. NPR
    @NPR
    BREAKING: The Justice Department says former FBI Director James Comey violated official policy by arranging for a friend to give his memos to the New York Times, but has decided not to prosecute him.

    IOW he’s skating. Not too sure why he’s demanding an apology
    __

    Some responses to his clueless tweet:

    Tom
    @BoreGuru
    .
    Verbatim from report: “Former Director Comey failed to live up to this responsibility. By not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course of his FBI employment, and by using it to create public pressure for official action, Comey set
    a dangerous example…”
    __ _

    Will Chamberlain
    @willchamberlain
    ·
    Hey @Comey,
    How about you apologize to the public for flagrantly violating your employment agreement, and FBI policy, and federal law?

    That you would be demanding apologies after today’s OIG report is remarkably arrogant

    More arrogant, even, than the leaks themselves
    __ _

    Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸
    @JackPosobiec
    ·
    You:
    – removed classified
    – mishandled classified
    – failed to report mishandling classified
    – violated your oath
    – were referred for prosecution
    _ _

    Mike
    @michaeljashmore
    ·
    Didn’t you admit to releasing the memo to the media through your professor friend that turned in to your attorney?

    harkin (58d012)

  8. “Munroe, based on what’s in the report what do you feel he should be prosecuted for?”
    Time123 (de0f5d) — 8/29/2019 @ 8:12 am

    He should be indicted with whatever bogus charge a Comey or McCabe would file against you, or me, or a Kristian Saucier or a Trump had we done the same.

    Munroe (33bad0)

  9. Has anyone heard of the Comey-created standard of “no reasonable prosecutor?” And how about a new intent standard of “didn’t intend to break the law.”

    AZ Bob (885937)

  10. And what is that? Be specific. The report is there for you to read.

    Time123 (de0f5d)

  11. Az, that’s actually in there for some white collar crimes.

    Time123 (de0f5d)

  12. Black bloc apologists are so amusing, well they dont believe in the system only to destroy it.

    Narciso (1ebf89)

  13. They declined to prosecute. That means they exonerated him. See Mueller v. Trump, 1 Twitter 24/7/365 (2019) for the precedent.

    nk (dbc370)

  14. “or his attorneys”

    He shared classified information with his attorney’s without prior FBI approval.

    Xmas (eafb47)

  15. @FailingCNN and @FakeNewsBezosPost, the operative phrases in the headlines are, respectively, that Comey “broke FBI policy” and “violated FBI policy”. Who’d have expected it?

    nk (dbc370)

  16. Another “guilty as sin, free as a bird” slap on the wrist for one of the favored class in the USA. Laws are for the little people.

    NJRob (4d595c)

  17. Black bloc apologists are so amusing, well they dont believe in the system only to destroy it.

    Narciso (1ebf89) — 8/29/2019 @ 8:32 am

    So they’re like the Trump supporters that want to ‘burn it down’?

    Time123 (b4d075)

  18. I’m a little confused here. Is McCabe declining to prosecute Comey over the incidents noted in the OIG report actually going to prevent a Barr from prosecuting Comey?

    Xmas (eafb47)

  19. Would a lower-level FBI agent who did this be prosecuted? He certainly would be fired. As he did in the Hillary Email scandal, Comey thinks the DoJ/FBI rules/regs don’t apply to him. Because his motives are pure, and he’s Big Jim Comey. As stated above, this is no “vindication” unless you mean the IG didn’t refer him for criminal prosecution. You may hate Trump, but Comey had to go and should have been fired after the Hillary email scandal press conference in 2016.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  20. Another “guilty as sin, free as a bird” slap on the wrist for one of the favored class in the USA. Laws are for the little people.

    NJRob (4d595c) — 8/29/2019 @ 8:46 am

    NJRob, From the report, what crime do you feel he’s guilty and and should be prosecuted for? You can cut and paste from the link provided and I’m genuinely curious what you think. Apparently this was a close enough call that it went to AG Barr for input

    Time123 (b4d075)

  21. “And what is that? Be specific. The report is there for you to read.”
    Time123 (de0f5d) — 8/29/2019 @ 8:29 am

    Sorry, I’m probably the worst choice if you seek someone to conjure up what Comey or McCabe could whip up from the report. Ask them. I imagine they would start with a Special Counsel at least — a process crime smorgasbord would surely follow.

    Munroe (33bad0)

  22. All these IG investigations were simply designed to white-wash Storzk, Comey, McCabe, etc. I doubt anyone will be prosecuted for anything.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  23. RC, for once we’re in substantial agreement. My conclusion about Comey is that his first loyalty was to the FBI as an institution and the law came 3rd after himself.

    Time123 (b4d075)

  24. RC, missed your comment at 22. I was referring to comment 19.

    Your statement in 22 is tinfoil hat silliness likely created because you the outcomes don’t align with what you wanted.

    Time123 (daab2f)

  25. Comey is still misleading and lying. While he didn’t provide “Classified memos to the media” He provided a memo with classified information to his attorneys, which is against DOJ/FBI policy. Its interesting that he NEVER told anyone in the FBi about releasing the memos beforehand, and NONE of them agreed they were Comey’s “Personal records”. In fact the IG demolishes that Comey Lie – which even Comey no longer asserts.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  26. Comey is still misleading and lying. While he didn’t provide “Classified memos to the media” He provided a memo with classified information to his attorneys, which is against DOJ/FBI policy. Its interesting that he NEVER told anyone in the FBi about releasing the memos beforehand, and NONE of them agreed they were Comey’s “Personal records”. In fact the IG demolishes that Comey Lie – which even Comey no longer asserts.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  27. “All these IG investigations were simply designed to white-wash Storzk, Comey, McCabe, etc. I doubt anyone will be prosecuted for anything.”
    rcocean (1a839e) — 8/29/2019 @ 8:54 am

    Exactly rc. Nobody will be prosecuted. It’s called professional courtesy.

    Munroe (33bad0)

  28. I wonder if rank and file FBI employees would be prosecuted for similar behavior/actions?

    One finding that will clear up some confusion is the clarification that the memos are US government property… not James Comey’s personal property.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  29. Well his lips are moving, just like when he covered for hsbc, like mueller did for banamex his firm does for deutsche,

    Narciso (1ebf89)

  30. McCabe was fired. Days before his pension could vest. He was civil service, so the orange cannot be blamed for keeping him on until there was provable cause to fire him.

    Comey, on the other hand, could have been fired on January 20, 2017, but the orange was too busy playing golf and jerking off (with that other hand) to do it, thus giving Comey the opportunity to set his wrinkled old orange old ass up for a special counsel investigation.

    nk (dbc370)

  31. Richard helms was prosecuted for lying under oath, about legitimate policy, operations in chile, felt and miller over supervising breakins (pardoned)

    Narciso (1ebf89)

  32. So – totally in character – Comey takes a victory lap when it’s he who should be apologizing to the FBI, the American people.

    Time for one of his patented photo tweets of him gazing up at the Statue of Liberty accompanied by some poncey prose!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  33. Do you pretend that much in litigation, nk who would bell the cat sally yates, boehn (sic) sessions couldnt get confirmed till the end of january.

    Narciso (1ebf89)

  34. Everything has been a Monty Python “Dead Parrot” sketch since Trump came on the political scene. Up is down, black is white, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. Whether it’s Trumpdom or the Democrats.

    nk (dbc370)

  35. “thus giving Comey the opportunity to set his wrinkled old orange old ass up for a special counsel investigation.”

    Shame on him… expecting the leader of the FBI to live up to the nation’s premier law enforcement agency’s ethics and code of conduct.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  36. Shame on him… expecting the leader of the FBI to live up to the nation’s premier law enforcement agency’s ethics and code of conduct.

    Like I said, too busy playing golf and jerking off to get a hint from the way that Comey had malfeased the Hillary email mess.

    nk (dbc370)

  37. Lmao

    mg (8cbc69)

  38. This sets up Hack Barr to let them all go free.

    mg (8cbc69)

  39. “All these IG investigations were simply designed to white-wash Storzk, Comey, McCabe, etc. I doubt anyone will be prosecuted for anything.”
    rcocean (1a839e) — 8/29/2019 @ 8:54 am

    Exactly rc. Nobody will be prosecuted. It’s called professional courtesy.

    Munroe (33bad0) — 8/29/2019 @ 9:10 am

    The IG is independent of the DOJ and works for Trump. Barr works for Trump and was hand picked by him. Is there data source/standard of proof that would convince you what you read on Twitter or heard on conservative media about this was wrong?

    Time123 (b4d075)

  40. To anyone who’s upset that Comey isn’t being charged here…

    You can do a lot of things that are wrong, but are not explicitly against the law.

    I think the DOJ is right to not indict Comey because it isn’t a strong case to begin with. They simply believed they couldn’t reasonably get a conviction.

    Still… this OIG report is really damning and he’ll at least suffer professionally.

    whembly (fd57f6)

  41. This is said to be the second (the first was in 2018) of the reports that will have information highlighting Comey’s sh*tweezul conduct.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  42. “You can do a lot of things that are wrong, but are not explicitly against the law.”

    More than that. There are a lot of things that violate policy or even the law, but are not criminal offenses. The fact that your are not prosecuted is not a vindication, it just means your wrongdoing did not cross the threshold into criminality.

    In retrospect, this vindicates Trump’s decision to fire Comey. The man seems to put politics and CYA over proper behavior. That does not (necessarily) land you in a jail cell. But it is good reason to fire you.

    Bored Lawyer (998177)

  43. When federal government employees lie, it is said they “lacked candor”.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  44. The disgraced FBI leader’s actions show that he operated not out of “love of country”, but ❤️ Love ❤️ of Comey.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  45. really coronello, they are going to be doing about fisa, well those judges don’t give a farthing, they don’t know it’s not jello pudding, this is much worse than the plottings against Harold Wilson, less than the actions against goug Whitlam,

    narciso (d1f714)

  46. Wait until you hear about the “manually operated earth removal implement”.

    nk (dbc370)

  47. Lack of candor is a higher bar than a simple lie.

    Time123 (b39e33)

  48. the dems did this to delay, to McDonnell to stevens, it didn’t matter they lost their post and stevens lost his life in the interim, that is real power, you might call it the Chicago way,

    narciso (d1f714)

  49. greg craig will likely walk as he has enabled renditions, and provided services to oligarchs in Haiti as well as Ukraine, and podesta don’t make me laugh,

    narciso (d1f714)

  50. 47… but they apply it to untruths. Go figure…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  51. the former craig did because he’s an evil soul, then again he apprenticed under ted kennedy,

    narciso (d1f714)

  52. CH, had a follow up comment to you from yesterday’s Open News thread

    Time123 (f5cf77)

  53. lets be honest, what this really means is we have a jury pool so corrupt, they will never convict a member of the inner party for anything more than jaywalking,

    narciso (d1f714)

  54. narciso (d1f714) — 8/29/2019 @ 10:27 am

    Agreed. And, as for the lawsuits Stzrok and McCabe filed regarding their firings, both will win.

    Munroe (33bad0)

  55. I’ll say 50/50, change my mind about this, holder went from the elian rendition, to defending purdue pharmaceuticals, to atty general, where he enabled the fast and furious and other toxic policies, and he’s gotten off scot free,

    narciso (d1f714)

  56. Hopefully Comey didn’t give the purloined memos the “Sandy Berger Treatment® ”…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  57. The IG report is not a revelation, that Comey knowingly violated policy by keeping the notes after he was fired, and then leaking them. I suspect Comey weighed the odds and was willing to risk prosecution. It’s also not revelation that there was no classified information in those notes.

    Paul Montagu (a2342d)

  58. One of the memos contained six words that the FBI determined in June 2017 “to be classified at the ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ level”. Two other memos contained information determined to be “For Official Use Only.”

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  59. NJRob, From the report, what crime do you feel he’s guilty and and should be prosecuted for? You can cut and paste from the link provided and I’m genuinely curious what you think. Apparently this was a close enough call that it went to AG Barr for input

    Time123 (b4d075) — 8/29/2019 @ 8:53 am

    Lying under oath to Congress about his release of documents for one.

    NJRob (4d595c)

  60. I missed that in my reading of the report. Can you tell me where that is? Not implying it’s not there. I read the executive summary and skimmed the rest.

    Time123 (daab2f)

  61. No contrition at all from Comey. This guy is one of the bigger sh*theels who’ve held a leadership position. The fact that he was the Director of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency cements his sh*tweezul status.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  62. The Report simply confirms what we suspected or thought to be true. Trump says it best:

    Perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself!

    I find it incredible that Comey didn’t tell the FBI he had given his official Memos to his lawyers in violation of FBI policies. These memos contained confidential information & Comey had no right to do so. At the very minimum Comey should have informed the FBI he had done so. Why didn’t he? Because he knew the FBI would contact the lawyers and demand they give them back, since they contained confidential information! No matter what you say, Comey is a lying weasel.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  63. The italics got away from me. only the 2nd paragraph is Trump.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  64. “No contrition at all from Comey.”

    He’s been saying ever since the Hillary email press conference that regs/rules are for little people. When he – Big Jim Comey – decides the COUNTRY needs the TRUTH – well regs/rules be damned. Looking back even I, mr. media cynic, am shocked at how I was taken in by the media portrayals of Mueller and Comey. After hearing the media chanting 24/7 throughout 2016 and most of 2017 at what a non-partisan stand-up Guy Comey was, I was actually shocked when Trump fired him. And after hearing about “Mueller the Great Man” 24/7 for 2 years, I was shocked when he showed up on TV and seemed to be completely out of it.

    The moral seems to be, be cynical, and then times that by 10, and you’re getting close to the truth when it comes to DC.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  65. What makes you think Comey is partisan? By my estimate he’s shown no alegience to either party.

    Time123 (b39e33)

  66. 66… yep.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  67. narciso @48. Ted Stevens lost his life later, after losing the election, in a plane crash.

    Sammy Finkelman (42d229)

  68. NO COLLUSION
    NO OBSTRUCTION

    Dave (c4bb53)

  69. Comey has been a Republican longer than Trump. Same with Mueller and Rosenstein.

    Paul Montagu (a2342d)

  70. This is the PDF link:

    https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2019/o1902.pdf

    This can be read more easily and also downloaded.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  71. Wrong thread, professor… although nice to see you came to your senses!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  72. Revisit the lies and bullschiff of James Comey… https://youtu.be/CqdE0sMDKTo

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  73. Comey:

    DOJ IG “found no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the memos to members of the media.”

    that, of course, was not the only issue the Inspector General investigated, although Andrew G. McCabe stated it as a review of whetehr James Comey had revealed classified information, (to which the planned answer was no. Comey, in my opinion, had carefully selected Memo 4 for that reason.)

    Cmey leaked information about his conversations with Donald Trump, which included information about current investigations

    Whether an all out prohibiton, or near it, is a good thing is another matter.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  74. The Inspector General’s report assumes knowledge of the contents of the memos, but gives furtehr information about the meetingsd and the creation of the memoes, and also discusses his Congressional testimony.

    Here is Comey’s prepared advance testimony about them:

    https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/os-jcomey-060817.pdf

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  75. Here is what the report says about Memo 4: (which Comey arranged to leak)

    Comey placed no classification, dissemination controls, or other handling markings on Memo 4. However, on the last line of the first page of Memo 4 Comey typed into the text “[NOTE: because this is an unclassified document, I will be limited in how I describe what I said next.]”

    Comey told the OIG he included this note because he

    knew that there might come a day when [he] needed [Memo 4] to protect [himself] and/or the FBI. And it would be easier to accomplish
    that goal if it was unclassified…. And so if [he] wrote it and included…[information] that would’ve triggered classification [he] couldn’t keep it at home. And [he] was keen to make sure that [he] could keep this recollection recorded at home.

    He said he wrote Memo 4 in this way so that it would be clear that he “was intentionally leaving something out” if he was later questioned about the contents of the document.

    Tis was about the On February 14, 2017 meeting which Comey pretended focsed on Mike Flynn but which probably focused on the following New York Times story:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/russia-intelligence-communications-trump.html

    In his Senate testimony the following June Comey admitted that most of the conversation Feb. 14 was about leaks. He had to explain why the memo didn’t say too much about that. Comey’s explanation was that he deliberately made his memo unclassified.

    Now one very imprtant fact here is that, contrary to his Senate tesrimony, Comey did in fact not press chares against Mike Flynn – that is, he did exactly the limited thing that he admits the president asked him to.

    Things turned on a dime:

    At 6:25 am February 15, Zero Hedge has this: (that’s Feb 15 in spite of the URL saying Feb 14)

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-14/mike-flynn-may-face-felony-charges-lying-fbi

    But by 10 pm Zero Hedge reports:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-15/fbi-reportedly-will-not-pursue-charges-against-cooperative-and-truthful-mike-flynn

    The Inspector General’s Report completely misses all of this. It was not astraight path from Flynn;s interview to his guilty plea to lying to the FBI.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  76. they are unaccountable, the fraud on the fisa court will probably not be addressed, because orange man bad,

    narciso (d1f714)

  77. The Inspector General;s report has nothing at all about the leak to CNN. (which he probably did not know about, and of course would now know who was the leaker)

    Jim Sciutto
    @jimsciutto

    Breaking: FBI NOT expected to pursue charges against #MichaelFlynn regarding phone calls w/Russian Ambassador, reports @evanperez

    3:45 PM – 15 Feb 2017

    ———–
    Jim Sciutto
    @jimsciutto

    Replying to @jimsciutto

    More: FBI says Flynn was cooperative and provided truthful answers

    3:47 PM – 15 Feb 2017

    I beleive the judge in the Flynn case found that the 302s of the conversation with Mike Flynnn were dated months later (probably re-written)

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  78. of course, the likes of halper inscrutable that he is, was defaming miss lokhova and general Flynn, to the daily telegraph, among other publications,

    narciso (d1f714)

  79. @78
    EVERYONE THAT WOULD DO THAT INVESTIGATION WORKS FOR TRUMP!
    If he’s a victim of a cover up it’s because he’s incompetent.

    Time123 (b39e33)

  80. Comey abused rule of law and Trump’s civil liberties. He’ll also be in the thick of the next two reports.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  81. That he shows absolutely no contrition and immediately transitions to victory mincing is a stark reminder of what a complete tool we had leading the FBI.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  82. Comey’s whole account of what happened on January 27 (the loyalty meeting) is suspicious, and whatever is true about it could have hapepned on January 6.

    I wonder how well the date on which it was written is corroborated:

    From the Inspector General’s report;

    Comey said that, after reviewing Memo 2 on his personal laptop on January 28, 2017, he used his personal printer to generate two paper copies of Memo 2 (which he referred to as “two originals”), placed handwritten page numbers in the upper right-hand corner of each page, initialed the last page of each original, added a handwritten date (January 28, 2017), and then deleted the electronic file from his personal laptop. Comey explained to the OIG that he is “a maniac…about hacking of [his] personal devices” and that he is “obsessive” about deleting files from his personal accounts. He told us that he “never keep[s] any emails, personal emails” and tries “to maintain almost a maniacal hygiene about records.”

    When asked why, in light of these concerns, he did not write this Memo on the FBI unclassified or classified computers available in the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) the FBI had installed in Comey’s home,62 Comey stated that he “wasn’t thinking about it…[belonging to the] Government—[he] thought…this is for me” so he used his “personal unclass system.”

    Comey told us that he put one original in his personal safe at home, where he stored personal, family-related “things that mean the most” to him. Comey acknowledged that “[i]n theory” his wife also had access to this safe, but told us that at the time, she did not have a key and did not know where he kept his key. Comey told us he took the other original to FBI Headquarters the following Monday morning, and gave it to Rybicki, with instructions for Rybicki to show Memo 2 to McCabe and Baker, then retrieve it and keep it at FBI Headquarters in Rybicki’s possession. Comey told the OIG that he gave the second original to Rybicki because Comey thought the Memo might be necessary “at some point to protect myself and to protect the FBI.” Comey explained that because he was “also thinking about the FBI,…[he made] sure a copy [was] kept by Jim Rybicki.”

    Comey told the OIG that he drafted Memo 2 in a different style than Memo 1 because he “thought about it differently.” Comey said that, in his mind, Memo 2 was “for me. Also for the FBI. But honestly, at this point I was thinking first about me, close second the FBI.” He told us that he viewed Memo 2 as

    a personal aide-mémoire. And, and that’s why I did it like this. On my personal device, non-FBI systems; and that I kept one of the originals in my safe, my personal safe, not the Bureau’s. I had a Bureau safe. But I didn’t put it in the Bureau safe, because I didn’t think of it that way.

    Comey told the OIG he created Memo 2 because he viewed Trump as “fundamentally dishonest” and was “worried very much that [Trump] would say I had said things at this dinner that were not true; that I had promised him something; that I had given him assurances about something.” Comey said he saw that possibility as “dangerous,…to me, but also to the FBI.” Comey told the OIG that during the dinner, the the President asked for his loyalty, and that in that moment, Trump was not

    asking me for my loyalty because I’m a Government employee. He want[ed] my loyalty, personally. And if President Trump were sitting here, I think he would consider that a personal conversation [—][“]I want you lashed to me.[“]

    When pressed on why he viewed the the dinner at the White House as a personal interaction, as opposed to an official interaction, Comey characterized it as a “mix” because he was “Director of the FBI…and a human being” and he felt that he needed to protect himself and the FBI by being “able to remember what [Trump] said to me; what I said to him; for both of those purposes.” Comey also acknowledged that it was “hard to separate [himself] from the FBI,” because the personal assurances that Trump sought from Comey were linked to the power Comey held as FBI Director.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  83. The question is: Did Trump really talk to Comey this way? Why would Trump trust Comey?

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  84. Of the seven memos Comey memorialized – private phone and person-to-person conversations with the president – he took four home to be used as an insurance policy, and he use them he did, once he was fired. He says they were confidential, not classified, but who was he to make that determination of work product, property of the US government?

    Who were the four individuals who reviewed these memos after the fact?

    1: Bill Priestap, who we know went to London on three separate occasions to work with Christopher Steele and British Intel
    2: James Baker, who we know was leaking to Mother Jones and David Corn to get the Steele Dossier out to the media before the election
    3. Lisa Page (no comment needed)
    4. Peter Strzok (no comment needed)

    They got together and made the determination. Nothing to see here, move along…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  85. It is so sad, Col.

    mg (8cbc69)

  86. (I have read the entire thing, but IANAL, I am also not a Comey fan.)

    Comey absolutely violated FBI policy and there is NO WAY they could get a conviction if they charged him with anything. The only thing they might have a hope of charging him on would be mishandling classified information for not telling them he’d given memo 2 to his lawyers and I think he’d have a more than reasonable argument that he disclosed due to either substantial public interested or whistle-blowing.

    On top of that no one in government wants to have a conversation about why, exactly, the FBI was so very very very very careful to spread the memos around enough for substantial CYA if one set of them disappeared. No one wants to have a conversation on what would constitute appropriate whistle-blowing or disclosing for substansive public interest because it would be discovered that there is not way to do either of those things without violating FBI policy and possibly the law on mishandling public information. They state he had other lawful outlets, but really he didn’t.

    Do I believe that Comey was acting as some kind of pure hero? Nope, I think he was CYA and covering himself in case of retaliation, and since he was retaliated against, he clearly wasn’t being paranoid about. I think the FBI was certainly participating in a CYA operation. Do I think they were justified in doing so? Yes, though I think it’s a unfortunate thing to say about both the FBI and the state of our government in general.

    This is going to go away because no one wants to have a conversation about the influence a criminal president and/or a criminal FBI might have and what (lack of) response we have available to either discover or punish either of those.

    Nic (896fdf)

  87. Col Haiku @88:

    Reviwed these memos after what fact?

    You mean the first review? That found that some of the information in it was classified.

    Do you know who Rybicki was?

    Sammy Finkelman (42d229)

  88. Yes, but can’t say it comes as a surprise…

    From the report…
    “In June 2017, following Comey’s removal as FBI Director, the FBI reviewed the Memos to determine if any of the Memos contained classified information. The FBI determined that Memos 1 and 3 contained information classified at the “SECRET” level, and that Memos 2 and 7 contained small amounts of information classified at the “CONFIDENTIAL” level. The FBI designated Memos 4, 5, and 6 as unclassified, “For Official Use Only.” ”

    “Through our investigation, we learned that Comey considered Memos 2 through 7 to be his personal documents. He created Memo 2 and Memo 4 on his personal laptop computer, and kept signed originals of four of the Memos — Memo 2, Memo 4, Memo 6, and Memo 7 — in his personal safe at home, while he was serving as FBI Director. He also generated a duplicate set of “originals” of Memos 2 through 7 for his Chief of Staff, James Rybicki, to maintain at the FBI. When Comey was removed as FBI Director on May 9, 2017, Comey still had copies of Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 in his personal safe at home. After being removed as Director, Comey did not report to the FBI that he had copies of these Memos. Comey subsequently provided his copies of Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 to the Office of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III on June 7, 2017.”

    Memo 1…

    “Comey told the OIG he began writing Memo 1 immediately following his meeting with Trump on January 6, 2017. Comey said he had a secure FBI laptop waiting for him in his FBI vehicle and that when he got into the vehicle, he was handed the laptop and “began typing [Memo 1] as the vehicle moved.” He said he continued working on Memo 1 until he arrived at the FBI’s New York field office, where Comey gave a “quick download” of his conversation with President-elect Trump to Rybicki, McCabe, Baker, and supervisors of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigative team via secure video teleconference (SVTC). Comey said he probably told the SVTC participants that he would send them his “detailed notes” of the interaction. Comey told the OIG he could not remember whether he completed Memo 1 on January 6, 2017, or whether he continued drafting it on January 7, 2017, before sending it through the FBI’s classified email system to Rybicki, McCabe, and Baker on January 7, 2017 at 1:42 p.m.”

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  89. @88 They all used a pretty strict standard to determine classification. You might want to read the report.

    Also, “who was he to make that determination” ?!?! Er. The Director of the FBI is directly authorized to make that determination.

    Nic (896fdf)

  90. Going through the report right now, Sammy… I’ve heard the name is about it.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  91. 93… I am, have you?

    Of what I’ve read so far, Comey’s judgment was fairly slipshod… but YMMV.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  92. @95 Yes, see my comment at 90.

    Nic (896fdf)

  93. The Memos were FBI Records…

    “Comey told the OIG that he considered Memos 2 through 7 to be his personal documents, rather than official FBI records. He said he viewed these Memos as “a personal aide-mémoire,” “like [his] diary” or “like [his] notes,” which contained his “recollection[s]” of his conversations with President Trump. Comey further stated that he kept Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 in a personal safe at home because he believed the documents were personal records rather than FBI records.

    Comey’s characterization of the Memos as personal records finds no support in the law and is wholly incompatible with the plain language of the statutes, regulations, and policies defining Federal records, and the terms of Comey’s FBI Employment Agreement. By definition, Federal records include “all recorded information, regardless of form or characteristics, made or received by a Federal agency…in connection with the transaction of public business.”80 This definition expressly covers any “act of creating and recording information by agency personnel in the course of their official duties, regardless of the method(s) or the medium involved.”81 Comey’s FBI Employment Agreement likewise acknowledged that “[a]ll information acquired by [Comey] in connection with [his] official duties with the FBI…remain[s] the property of the United States of America.”

    “Comey’s drafting of the Memos can only be viewed as the “act of creating and recording information by agency personnel in the course of their official duties.”82 Each of Comey’s meetings with President-elect or President Trump took place because of Comey’s official position as the Director of the FBI. Comey told the OIG he did not have any type of a “personal relationship” with Trump. Comey’s Memos documented discussions, meetings, and interactions between the President and the FBI Director that took place in official settings, such as the West Wing and the Oval Office of the White House, or during telephone conversations conducted on Comey’s FBI telephone or FBI-issued mobile device.”

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  94. Trump is a Russian asset, but he’ll never be convicted of it and half the people will refuse to believe it even generations later. See Alger Hiss.

    nk (dbc370)

  95. 90… they probably have a stronger case against McCabe… he might not fare so well… if having whatever remains of your professional reputation shredded and public humiliation can be considered “fearing well”.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  96. 90… “Nope, I think he was CYA and covering himself in case of retaliation, and since he was retaliated against, he clearly wasn’t being paranoid about.”

    If Comey’s disregard of department policy, ethics, conduct and poor judgment weren’t grounds for his termination in your estimation, we have a definitional disagreement.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  97. 91… after Comey was out of the picture, Sammy. And looks like Rybicki (so?) was involved in locating and making an inventory of pertinent documents… correct?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  98. @110. Oh, I think Comey’s disregard of department policy would’ve been grounds for termination, but it isn’t what he was terminated for.

    Nic (896fdf)

  99. (sorry, that was meant to be @100)

    Nic (896fdf)

  100. Not so, sp? for spelling…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  101. Former Comey colleague (Kevin Brock) says he suspects they’ll ultimately find collusion in manufacturing reasons to open an investigation.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  102. 98- Like hookers urinating on a bed

    mg (8cbc69)

  103. “.But the OIG did not recommend prosecution.
    That might be expected from an OIG who accused FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe of “lacking candor,” and violating FBI policy. The OIG released the report just before the Labor Day weekend, when it was least likely to command attention. In similar style in 2016, FBI boss Comey released documents on Hillary Clinton’s emails on the afternoon of September 2, just before the holiday weekend. Comey took the August 29 OIG report as confirmation that, as he said of Hillary Clinton, no reasonable prosecutor would charge him with anything.

    The former FBI boss went into his end-zone dance, tweeting that “a quick message with a ‘sorry we lied about you’ would be nice.” That celebration may be premature. OIG Michael Horowitz is also investigating abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and Comey signed off on three of the four FISA applications for Carter Page. In addition, Attorney General William Barr and US Attorney John Durham are investigating the origins of the Russia collusion probe…

    … Contrary to what Brennan, Comey, Wray and Mueller seem to think, the CIA, FBI and ODNI are not branches of government. They are government agencies in the service of the executive branch. As this week’s OIG report confirms, government agencies can’t be trusted to investigate themselves.

    As James Comey knows, the deep state is not like football, where the game does not continue until the penalty has been marked off. If nobody from the Hillary Clinton fix and coup attempt against President Trump winds up doing prison time, the deep state will have won.”

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274792/con-man-comey-lloyd-billingsley

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  104. I’m sure a few here can appreciate this:

    Two years ago, former FBI Director James Comey came out with a book that celebrated himself as a paragon of “ethical leadership,” a subject that he later taught at the College of William and Mary. Comey declared, “Ethical leaders lead by seeing above the short term, above the urgent or the partisan, and with a higher loyalty to lasting values, most importantly the truth.” If that is the case, the new Justice Department inspector general report released on Thursday establishes that
    Comey is the very antithesis of the ethical leader he described. Comey was found to have violated both federal law and regulations for his own gain, and he made critical decisions that put personal over institutional interests.
    Nevertheless, Comey released a statement portraying the scathing report as a type of victory and encouraged his critics to send their apologies to him. It was a “Captain Queeg” moment when myth borders on madness. Rather than rave about who stole his strawberries, as Queeg did in “The Caine Mutiny,” Comey claims someone stole a reputation that he tossed away two years ago.”

    https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/459320-james-comey-wants-an-apology-this-is-myth-becoming-madness
    _

    harkin (58d012)

  105. Best photoshop ever? https://imgur.com/gallery/t6I0xTx

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  106. @107, what a silly, poorly reason bit of conspiracy mongering.

    Time123 (b39e33)

  107. Time will tell, no pun intended.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  108. Comey acknowledged that “[i]n theory” his wife also had access to this safe, but told us that at the time, she did not have a key and did not know where he kept his key.

    LOL – what a lying weasel. Does anyone believe that?

    rcocean (1a839e)

  109. Notice the words “at that time”

    rcocean (1a839e)

  110. I’ve never understood the whole, “I had to keep notes because Trump was dishonest”. Keeping notes means nothing. Just because someone writes “notes” after a two hour conversation doesn’t mean he got it right or was even being honest. It’s not verbatim account in any case, but just a SUMMARY of what one person thought was important or what was said. I think it more likely, Comey LIED in his notes about what was said, so it use it against Trump later on. There’s no reason – given track record of misleading and untrue statements – to believe he wouldn’t lie in his “Notes”.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  111. Here is a really good take on the IG’s Comey Report.
    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/08/29/byron-york-and-rep-doug-collins-discuss-ig-report-on-james-comey-conduct/

    From the start – the Deep State schemed & plotted to get nominee Donald J. Trump, President Elect Donald J. Trump, President Donald J. Trump – and they have not stopped; it continues today.

    Drain the Swamp. GLZ.

    Gary L. Zerman (a1521c)

  112. I, personally, do wish that we had an Inner Party composed of people who had risen to the highest ranks of government through their individual merits and governed from behind the scenes. But, unfortunately, I cannot help but suspect that the real government really is these elected clowns in Congress and the White House, and their patronage flunkies that they put into the executive and judicial branches.

    nk (dbc370)

  113. Comey is an insufferable prick. Can we agree on that?

    Colonel Haiku (6a0fdd)

  114. well the ones like ken williams and deuce martinez do not get promoted but peter strzok and john brennan, do, they find powerful patrons despite their failings,

    narciso (d1f714)

  115. He’s as honest as an Iranian at the bargaining table.

    Colonel Haiku (6a0fdd)

  116. 109 – photoshop.

    I’m assuming you’re referring to this:

    https://bnonews.com/index.php/2019/08/jim-leavelle-who-escorted-jfk-assassin-lee-harvey-oswald-dead-at-99/

    But I didn’t see it in earlier comments.

    I had no idea dood was still alive.
    _

    harkin (58d012)

  117. I had no idea dood was still alive.

    If they had killed every Dallas cop who was part of the JFK assassination cover up, Dallas would have been left without a police department.

    nk (dbc370)

  118. 102. Nic (896fdf) — 8/29/2019 @ 7:34 pm I think Comey’s disregard of department policy would’ve been grounds for termination, but it isn’t what he was terminated for. It was a complete secret, known only to about four or five people in the FBI, that he making these records. And he kept copies (of some) both at home and at the FBI. Lisa Page secretly made some extra copies of memoes 2 through 4 at the FBI. The report doesn’t say she did that without telling anyone else, but it almost only makes sense that way.

    The only reason some of the people gave for why they thought Comey was keeping those records tightly held was that Comey didn’t want the people conducting investigations to know about them, which is more or less the ssame thing Comey said in his Senate testimony in June 2017. He said that about the Mike Flynn investigation, where despite his claim that the Feb 14 conversation did not affect the investigation, he, or somebody, seems to have done exactly what he said Trump wished he would do. (drop any investigation of Mike Flynn in connection with false statements to the FBI about his telephone call with the Russian ambassador.)

    Somebody immediately leaked to CNN that Flynn was co-operative and provided truthful answers.

    https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/832013102413660160?lang=en

    Here’s a Chicago Tribune fact check from May, 2018 on this whole business:

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-fact-check-comey-flynn-fbi-20180519-story.html

    Of course the Chicago Tribune tends to believe the leak.

    There are some contradictions (noted but not noted as contradictions in the report) between what Comey said about those memos and what others said. One particular one is when he deleted Memo 2 from his personal laptop. Comey says he deleted it as soon as he printed it out (2 copies, both originals) on Saturday, January 28, 2017. His former chief of staff, Chuck Rosenberg, then Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, says that during the weekend following the Friday, January 27 White House dinner, Comey handed him a laptop and let him read a memo from the screen.

    The report valiently avoids a contradiction by noting that Rosenberg could not say whether what he saw was a draft or a finished memo.

    Comey claimed that he didn’t remember showing Rosenberg memo 2, but said it was it “possible.” He also apparently volunteered in that connection that he had told him about the March 1, 2017 telephone call with the president. That was the conversation while he was in a car at the helipad and before he boarded a helicopter that Chuck Rosenberg was already sitting in. Chuck Rosenberg was traveling with him to Richmond to a certain event.

    It was memorialized in a 4-line email and is called memo 5 in the report. Comey says he drafted that either in the car or in the helicopter. (I don’t think anyone could mix up seeing something while trsveling in a helicopter and seeing soemthing while in somebody’s house, if that is waht Comey was trying to imply.)

    Sammy Finkelman (06be8f)

  119. Hmm.
    Rosenberg.
    Rosenstein.
    Rosen.
    Sub rosa?
    Deep State sticking its tongue out at us behind our backs?

    nk (dbc370)

  120. Its all about the urine. Show me the urine tests from the hotel room in Russia.

    mg (8cbc69)

  121. 114. rcocean (1a839e) — 8/30/2019 @ 8:18 am

    I’ve never understood the whole, “I had to keep notes because Trump was dishonest”.

    The claim Comey made to the IG was that Trump might claim Comey said soemthing to him he did not say.

    Keeping notes means nothing. Just because someone writes “notes” after a two hour conversation doesn’t mean he got it right or was even being honest. It’s not verbatim account in any case, but just a SUMMARY of what one person thought was important or what was said. I think it more likely, Comey LIED in his notes about what was said, so it use it against Trump later on. There’s no reason – given track record of misleading and untrue statements – to believe he wouldn’t lie in his “Notes”.

    Exactly, or omited things, or mischaaterized the tenor of the conversation, or wrote sme of them later than when he says he did, I mean some of them were not time stamped.

    One thing I think Comey definitey lied about, and had lied about for two years, is that what Trump said in his February 14, 2017 conversation did not affect the course of the Michael Flynn
    investigation.

    The on;y thing is, Comey did not excuse it, instead, per the Chicago Tribune:

    Flynn initially told investigators sanctions were not discussed. But FBI agents challenged him, asking if he was certain that was his answer. He said he didn’t remember,” the CNN report said. “The FBI interviewers believed Flynn was cooperative and provided truthful answers. Although Flynn didn’t remember all of what he talked about, they don’t believe he was intentionally misleading them, the officials say.”

    Comey made a big, big thing of not letting the actual investigators know what Trumop had said.

    Now all of this has gone into the memory hole. Because the leak about believing that Mike Flynn was truthful (and only had a poor memory) was unofficial.

    Of course also the very interview of Flynn on Jan 24 2017 was a sting operation, and it did force Trump to fire him because Flynn had earlier lied to Mike Pence about the same thing.

    And Flynn was corrupt, of course, and possibly a Russian agent, even back to the time when he was head of the DIA (that’s why Obama ended his service early) although they got him for getting money from Turkey while not registering as a foreign agent, as required by law.

    I don’t think Trump was any kind of a foeeign agent. It’s just that, for 30 years, he’d had ambitions of being another Armand Hammer. Nothing came of it. Except the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant being held in Moscow. And maybe Putin somehow managing to get a few agents, or potential agents, into high places in his campaign. (Mike Flynn, Paul Manafort.)

    Sammy Finkelman (06be8f)

  122. ’ve never understood the whole, “I had to keep notes because Trump was dishonest”. Keeping notes means nothing. Just because someone writes “notes” after a two hour conversation doesn’t mean he got it right or was even being honest. It’s not verbatim account in any case, but just a SUMMARY of what one person thought was important or what was said. I think it more likely, Comey LIED in his notes about what was said, so it use it against Trump later on. There’s no reason – given track record of misleading and untrue statements – to believe he wouldn’t lie in his “Notes”.

    Keeping notes, and sharing them promptly, locks you into a specific narrative. You’re right. He could have fabricated the content he put into his notes. But for that to work the note take needs know exactly the narrative they want up front. Given that Trump has such a long history of being dishonest it doesn’t surprise me at all that people would want keep the best record they can of what is said.

    Time123 (ae9d89)

  123. Comey is an insufferable prick. Can we agree on that?

    Colonel Haiku (6a0fdd) — 8/30/2019 @ 8:31 am

    Yup. We’re aligned there.

    Time123 (ae9d89)

  124. 91, Me:

    Do you know who Rybicki was?

    94, Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/29/2019 @ 6:51 pm

    Going through the report right now, Sammy… I’ve heard the name is about it.

    I found the answer. He is identified early in the report, probably the first timehe is mentioned, in connection with the Memo 1 – the January 7, 2017 memo.

    James Rybicki was FBI Directtor James Comey’s chief of staff, and was one of the “senior leaders of the FBI” that James Comey met with before his briefing of President-Elect Donald J. Trump in Trump Tower on January 6, 2017.

    His name is new to me. I guess it hasn’t come up much.

    Sammy Finkelman (06be8f)

  125. Come on! What’s the difference?
    1. Trump is honest because he’s honest.
    2. Comey is honest because he’s honest.
    Two self-seeking assholes painting themselves as heroes, same line of sh!t.

    nk (dbc370)

  126. 126… I’ve read Comey met with Obama just prior to that conversation with Trump that was as memorialized in memo #1. I wonder if Comey saw fit to capture what they discussed in notes?

    Colonel Haiku (6a0fdd)

  127. The Jfirst memo is alost certain;y a truthful account f=of whatw as said, but taht doesn’t mean the account of the decisonmaking that went into why Comey did it and what he chs=ose to tell is honest.

    heres is an important conversation he did not mention in his Senate testimony, and Comey did not make a memo about it. (but he did send an email to his administative assistant asking that two calls that had happened be added to his calendar for the day, so I guess that’s why he gotasked about by the Inspector General)

    That was a January 11, 2017 telephone call.

    First he received a call at about 1:30 from President-Elect Trump;s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, telling him that Trump wanted to soeak to him that day. Then he got the call about 5:00 pm.

    By thsi time the “salacious information” that Trump had been told about had bene made public, and Trump was concerned about how it leaked.

    Comey replied that the source of the information was not a government document AND that it was not classified. Comey apparently didn’t explain anything more about it to Trump. He was talking about the Steele dossier – and Comey probably knew (at least unofficially) that Steele had been paid by the Democrats.

    Comey also told Trump that a lot of people in Washington had it, and he remined him that he had told him a few days before that it might soon be oublished in the media.

    Comey told the Inspector General’s investigators that he remembered the conversation vividly and also told Rybicki about it.

    Some of what Comey said and did sounds like they actually thought it could be true. I mean this concern before the January 6 meeting that they told the IG that they did not want one-on-one briefing to be perceived (by Trump I presume) as a “Hoover-esque type of plot.”

    Sammy Finkelman (06be8f)

  128. I don’t know if Comey met with Obama, but the Jan 6, 2017 meeting with Trump wss in New York.

    Sammy Finkelman (06be8f)

  129. “But for that to work the note take needs know exactly the narrative they want up”

    All that was necessary for Comey to do was “twist” what Trump said to make him look bad in his notes. He’s a lawyer, he’s good with words. He’d met with his staff and talked about the upcoming meetings with Trump, he in fact, secretly was investigating Trump. It wasn’t necessary for him to come up with some “grand fake narrative.” And here’s something, if Comey was so sure of their accuracy why didn’t he give Trump the notes? Its standard business practice to give people “draft notes” and get their edits and confirmation that its correct. Of course, he didn’t because he wanted Trump to think Comey was a honest FBI Director just doing his Job serving the President as best he could. Straight-shooting Big Jim Comey – Trump’s big pal.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  130. the actual memos were declassified a year later, and the context was not what richman had presented, quelle surprise,

    narciso (d1f714)

  131. And here’s something, if Comey was so sure of their accuracy why didn’t he give Trump the notes? Its standard business practice to give people “draft notes” and get their edits and confirmation that its correct.

    HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!

    Trump would read the the notes and give his edits and confirmation? Read? Edit? Edit? Read?

    HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!

    nk (dbc370)

  132. that’s almost as funny as when eickenrode, lost the notes of the interrogation, and scooter libby was not allowed to refer to his own materials, or when top company operatives denied that ed Wilson was working for him, including supplying Kaddafi with c 4, that’s a riot,

    narciso (d1f714)

  133. Bill Barr the greatest fixer of all time. While the most famous pedophile in the history of the world ever to go before a judge , dies under his watch . Comey not being charged . Bill Barr laundered money for George Bush out of Mena Arkansas , Bill Barr gave cover for the import of cocaine and human trafficing into Mena Arkansas as the Attorney General, Bill Barr the ultimate fixer , buried Ruby Ridge and gave way for Waco and Oklahoma city. Bill Barr is the dirtiest of players in D.C. . We have been had for the second time. Fire Bill Barr Mr President and hire Jesus Christ.

    mg (8cbc69)

  134. 133. rcocean (1a839e) — 8/30/2019 @ 10:56 am

    All that was necessary for Comey to do was “twist” what Trump said to make him look bad in his notes.

    That he could do easily.

    I think, though, that with he first, January 6, he had to be accurate because it ws also for the use of his co-conspirators. The prolem there is not his notes, but what he chose to say and not say.

    he in fact, secretly was investigating Trump.

    technically it wasn’t so, or wasn’t so any longer, and it had only been acounter-intelligence investigation, But he admits the whole thing was done on the basis that they didn’t trust Trump.

    Later on, McCabe started an investigaton of Trump for firing Comey.

    Sammy Finkelman (06be8f)

  135. “At 6’8”, fired FBI director James Comey moves through life like a shark’s fin, well above the water level set by the rest of us. This brings attention, which he appears to enjoy, perhaps even crave. He has become a public performer over the past three years, cultivating a disarming “aw shucks, lordy, lordy” persona while covering his damaging actions with milky platitudes.

    The Department of Justice Inspector General just fired the first of three cruise missiles trained on Mr. Comey with devastating impact. Comey’s reaction? “Feel free to apologize to me.”

    Rushing into victimland is a common strategy for the cornered. Another is staking out an imagined noble duty to a contrived higher authority — one that looks strikingly similar to the image he sees in the mirror each morning.”

    https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/459379-the-worst-is-still-to-come-for-jim-comey

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  136. Comey is countingon more people seeing or reading about his tweet than reading and compreheding the report.

    But all the newspapers, including the New York Times, seem to think this report is not good for Comey.

    News report: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/us/politics/comey-memos-inspector-general.html

    But now there;s a more positive toward Comey Op-ed

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/opinion/james-comey-memos-inspector-general.html?auth=login-email&login=email

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  137. James Comey’s complete testimony on Thue=rsdaym June 8, 2017 before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (also known as the Senate Intelligence Committee) video and transcriptZ:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/us/politics/senate-hearing-transcript.html

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  138. Oh, look at this, from page 50 of t he Office of nspector general report:

    Comey told the OIG that he did not tell Senator Collins about sharing four of the Memos with his three attorneys because Comey was “trying to answer the question that [he] was asked, and not reveal confidential communications with my lawyers.” Comey said that, in his view, there is a distinction between “[c]ommunications to [his] lawyers for the purpose of obtaining legal advice; and communications to another person, who happens to be one of [his] lawyers, to accomplish a task for [him]” which was “acting at [his] direction to release something to the media.” Comey told the OIG that he referred to Richman as his “friend” rather than as his attorney in the SSCI testimony because Comey “didn’t consider what [he] asked [Richman] to do privileged. And [Comey] didn’t intend to assert any kind of privilege about the direction to [Richman].”

    Comey also said that the reason he did not clarify that he had shared more than one Memo with more than one person was that “they [SSCI] didn’t ask any follow-up questions.” Comey told the OIG that “if they pressed and asked follow-up questions, [he] would have had to say something like, well, other than confidential communications with counsel, or something like that.”

    Richman, his “friend” who leaked the memo to the New York Times, was also his lawyer. And he had given all of them to his lawyers.

    It has to be true that Comey thought giving him the memo and Richman talking about it was covered by attorney client privilege, even though he chose not to use it, or perhaps couldn’t. Comey must have thougtt he could conceal his connection to the kleak, and, in other circumstances, would have. You had the reporter with the usual (if not quite legally enforceable) confidentiality – that’s the reason nbdy will ask CNN about that leak from the FBI about Flynn being truthful – and you had attorney client privilege on the other side. Comey managed t avoid disclosing that last detail to the Senate committee and the fact that the conduit wasn’t Wittes had tobe extracted from him. And then we heard how it was a professor.

    Strzok says that he and everyone in the roo with him watching Comey’s testimony knew the friend had to be Richman. (or maybe just knew?)

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  139. Strzok says that he and everyone in the roo with him watching Comey’s testimony knew the friend had to be Richman. (or maybe just knew?)

    Its amazing how this guy Strzok seemed to be in the middle of everything!

    rcocean (1a839e)

  140. khalid sheik mohamhead trial date has been set. 20 mf years later. 20 years later some justice system.

    mg (8cbc69)

  141. 144… might end up being a good thing it took this long, when he gets released on a technicality.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  142. CITIZENS ARREST, CITIZENS ARREST!!!

    mg (8cbc69)

  143. A California state appeals court on Friday overturned the one conviction against the illegal alien who shot and killed Kate Steinle in San Francisco in 2015.
    Cantafordya will convict no illegals of any wrong doing. What a country. What a useless justice system.

    mg (8cbc69)

  144. “For some reason, not one but two Washington Post columns have emerged, suggesting I misled readers. Media critic Erik Wemple suggested I had ‘slimed’ Comey. Another columnist, Aaron Blake, suggested my reporting led to a misleading narrative on Fox News. When confronted like this, a professional journalist has an obligation: Either retract and correct what you got wrong, or show the public the facts that affirm the reporting. I will do the latter.”

    https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/459472-comeys-classified-misconduct-and-the-medias-flawed-coverage-of-it

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)


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