You are right: that picture of James Comey to the left could be one of hundreds who are qualified for this story. But in honor of the millions of dollars the disgraced former FBI Director has already garnered from his new book, AND in light of the Justice Department OIG’s recently released report of former Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe which contains numerous allegations of Comey lies, for the sake of THIS story, we will concentrate on James Comey.
My son in 6’9,” and even having him in our home it took a long time to get accustomed to his height. Comey is 6’8″ tall. As I have learned first-hand, being so much taller than others “in the room” garners the tall guy a measure of benign acceptance for what he says that sometimes is not warranted. My son growing up (as kids often do) stretched the truth a time or two. But James Comey squeezed all the possible credibility from almost anything that comes out of his mouth. We’ll get to that in a bit.
My father was the pastor of a small south Louisiana church. We never missed a service: Sunday mornings and evenings, Wednesday evening prayer meetings, and even youth services. We were a pastor’s family by the book. My father “wore” the lies out of my older brother and me. And if you’re from the South you know exactly what I meant when I said “wore the lies out…” Turned out those “whoopings” taught me a really important lesson. My Dad could have simply told me that when someone lies habitually they lose ALL credibility with others. Why? If someone lies all the time, is it safe to EVER believe anything they say?
Yes, Comey’s book deal will make him millions of dollars. Actually he has already parlayed his legal career into millions. Of course in the federal government there is no way for an attorney at any level to make millions from salary and bonuses. But the “deals” made available to federal lawmakers and members of Congress and those close to them are abundant. Comey has taken advantage of many of these opportunities. When appointed FBI Director by Obama in 2013, Comey reported his net worth at $11 million. So this book deal — even though certainly will provide him millions more — many think it is more his way to take aim at “The Guy” who fired him in such a public and humiliating way: President Trump. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” is a very common explanation of why so often some women are prone to not take unearned traumatic experiences without firing back at the person who sourced their traumas. Though no woman stands in this apocalypse unfolding between the former FBI Director and his ex-boss, there is NO doubt this book is about “Payback.”
I haven’t read it, and I have no plans to do so. The leftwing media are already all over it and will spoon feed all its content over upcoming weeks to continue the feeding of their anti-Trump narrative. Comey is giving them lots of new and juicy content. (Can’t wait to read Joy Behar’s perspective!)
Can/Should James Comey be Believed in this Book?
That’s the million dollar question. Personally I hearken back to what my Dad taught me with a belt and/or a switch: don’t believe anything from anyone that tells lies again and again — they haven’t earned the right to have what they say taken at face value by others. I can’t imagine a scenario in which I would be tempted to give James Comey the benefit of the doubt. But in a sense of fairness, I refuse to simply tell all www.dnewman.org readers to blindly ignore any of James Comey’s allegations against President Trump or even any statements Comey makes about his life in office at the FBI. Why? I don’t know for certain the allegations he makes or other things he states in the book are true or untrue. You don’t either: none of us were there when they happened. But it is not only fair but prudent for all to weigh in our minds who is stating these, the personal history we have shared with this person, and past results of claims made when compared to actual facts given and/or confirmed by others.
With that thought in mind, let’s segue to those very things: allegations made by Comey and “factual” statements made by Comey or things he has stated as facts. Are those things all true? Have they been proven? Were they true when made as allegations or stated as facts? We certainly cannot answer that in every case. BUT, there are a bunch that we have answers for. Let’s look closer.
James Comey: True or False
Congressional Testimony In May of 2017, Comey was asked under oath before Congress whether he had authorized anyone to leak information to the press. His answer was an emphatic “no.” If we were passing out Pinocchio’s he would win one here. In the response to his recent firing, former Deputy FBI Andrew McCabe stated plainly that he had personally leaked information to the media and that his former boss — James Comey — not only knew about it but let it happen. In his actual statement, McCabe forcefully defended his contact with the media, denying that it could even be called a leak. “It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter,” McCabe said in his post-firing statement. The “director” he referenced was Comey. According to legal authorities, McCabe’s statement if true could link Comey to the illegal act of leaking classified information to the media, but also for lying under oath to Congress.
FISA Application In a letter to the Justice Department’s Inspector General, Sen. Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham say information Comey provided members of the Judiciary Committee in a private interview regarding the FISA application to spy on former Trump campaign official Carter Page was contradicted by the applications themselves. “What is the reason for the difference between what Mr. Comey told the Chairman and Ranking Member in March 2017, and what appears in the FISA application?” they ask. “No explanation for the inconsistencies has ever been provided,” they said, adding, “did Director Comey intentionally mislead the Committee?”
Trump Dossier Comey testified that he briefed Trump about the salacious “dossier” before Trump was inaugurated because he’d learned that the media were about to report on it. But it’s more likely that Comey briefed Trump for the express purpose of getting its embarrassing content out into the public. Since, as soon as that meeting was over, it leaked to the press. As Graham and Grassley note in their IG letter, the press wasn’t covering the dossier before that briefing because they considered it unverified. But the mere fact that Trump had been briefed on it instantly made it newsworthy. “CNN only broke the story on the dossier because Mr. Comey briefed the President-Elect about it,” they note. In other words, it’s far more likely that Comey lied about why he briefed Trump, a briefing that just happened to get the entire Russia scandal story rolling in the press.
Trump Memos Comey repeatedly asserted that none of the memos he wrote about his interactions with Trump contained any classified information. That matters because Comey took these memos with him after he got fired by Trump, in violation of FBI rules. Comey then shared some of the memos with a friend, who leaked them to the press. Despite Comey’s claims, however, the Hill reported that four of the seven memos did, in fact, contain classified information. So it’s highly likely that Comey shared classified information. Comey did admit that he leaked these documents in hopes that a special counsel would be appointed to investigate Trump. Hmmm…..the FBI Director justifying his breaking the law “in hopes” a special counsel would be appointed because the President had just fired him!
Clinton Exoneration Then there was Comey’s insistence that he hadn’t decided what to do about Hillary Clinton’s private email server scandal until after the FBI interviewed her on July 2, 2016. Comey told Congress that “the decision was made after that (interview), because I didn’t know what was going to happen in that interview. She maybe lied in the interview in a way we could prove.” Long after Comey made that claim, however, draft FBI memos exonerating Clinton — written months before several key figures, including Clinton, had been interviewed — came to light, suggesting that the FBI was planning to exonerate her all along.
“No reasonable prosecutor….” There’s the claim Comey made when he issued his statement exonerating Clinton that “no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.” That, too, was not true. As reported in multiple sources in October 2016, “career agents and attorneys on the case unanimously believed the Democratic presidential nominee should have been charged.” What’s more, a key term in Comey’s final statement was changed from earlier drafts from “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless.” The difference was critical, because gross negligence is specifically listed as a prosecutable offense when it comes to mishandling classified material, even if there was no intent to do wrong. In other words, the only way Comey could convincingly claim that Clinton’s actions were un-prosecutable was by watering down the language.
Summary
Just keep these thoughts in mind as you weigh everything in the media about James Comey et al:
- He DEFINITELY violated federal law by turning over the memos from his meetings with President Trump that contained classified information;
- He lied in sworn testimony before Congress — reportedly in multiple answers to questions and statements. While lying to Congress in itself is not criminal, a grand jury upon a referral by Congress can take criminal actions against someone if they choose;
- He lied on numerous occasions about details of the Hillary Clinton email investigation and FBI actions he initiated in that matter and several he circumvented. As Director he may have had the right to do so, but he lied TO do so;
- According to former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Comey lied about the reference in Congressional testimony that AG Lynch instructed him to not call the Clinton email investigation an “investigation.” She instead (according to Comey) told him to call it “A Matter.”
In my honest opinion, James Comey is not just 6 feet 8 inches tall, his nose is that long or longer!
You may not share my opinion in all this — but you may. While you consider all this, please keep in mind that just because someone says something is true does NOT make it true. Also, just because someone says something is false does NOT make it false. The book is still out on Comey — EXCEPT — we KNOW James Comey has lied, and lied a bunch.
By my now deceased father’s perspective, James Comey should NOT be believed.
But truth be known, my father was not always so truthful either.
Very good