DOJ Initial Russia Hearings

[Danny Bateman]

Let me get this straight: The FBI knew Russia was meddling in the election. They knew that they attempted to influence elections in other countries. They are the greatest threat in the world to our democratic processes. But he determined that the american people need to know that one candidate had some emails they hadn't read yet, and nothing about Russian collusion in the election.

 

He is about to fall on his sword and I'm not sure why...

 

The kicker?

 

They had already read those emails. The ones on Weiner's laptop were all ones they had previously seen... they just didn't know that at the time.

[ZRod]

Comey is a guy I want to like. He seems smart, capable, and speaks like he has integrity. But this screams of incompetence and a complete lack of integrity. Things are never as they seem I suppose.

[RedDenver]

Comey is a guy I want to like. He seems smart, capable, and speaks like he has integrity. But this screams of incompetence and a complete lack of integrity. Things are never as they seem I suppose.

I'm not so sure. Comey showed a great deal of integrity standing up the Bush admin, so while it's possible he's changed, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here based on past actions. I think an alternate explanation is that Comey has little to no political competence, but not necessarily incompetence at leading the FBI.

 

Another explanation (less likely IMO), is that Comey was certain that Hillary was going to win, had evidence her opponent's campaign was colluding with a foreign power, and was trying to play politics. By giving the optics that he was hard on Clinton (releasing the info about the new emails), when he prosecuted Trump's team later, the partisan or biased excuse couldn't be used against him.

[ZRod]

Like I said, I want to like and trust the guy, but his actions no longer reflect his past actions and words.

 

Your second paragraph would mean he is unethical and incompetent.

[Fru]

Comey is a guy I want to like. He seems smart, capable, and speaks like he has integrity. But this screams of incompetence and a complete lack of integrity. Things are never as they seem I suppose.

 

Agreed. He seems like an astute man. But some of his choices have been puzzling.

 

To some degree, I do feel bad for him. I think he was in a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Having investigations of the two major candidates for President during a clown show of a campaign isn't exactly an easy undertaking.

[knapplc]

Comey may be likable, but he made the single greatest blunder in the last 50 years of American politics with that announcement.

 

Clinton would be a corrupt politician, another in a long line of such presidents, but we wouldn't have this brewing disaster staring us in the face. Of all possible eventualities, this is the worst, and we have it thanks to Comey.

 

If he's lucky, history will forget about him. Because if it remembers him, it will not be kind.

[ZRod]

The only way Comey will save face is if this investigation blows up and takes down the Trump administration. Otherwise he looks like a fool who aided Trump and snuffed Hillary.

[RedDenver]

Comey may be likable, but he made the single greatest blunder in the last 50 years of American politics with that announcement.

 

Clinton would be a corrupt politician, another in a long line of such presidents, but we wouldn't have this brewing disaster staring us in the face. Of all possible eventualities, this is the worst, and we have it thanks to Comey.

 

If he's lucky, history will forget about him. Because if it remembers him, it will not be kind.

The Dems nominating a candidate under an active FBI investigation is right up there in terms of blunders.

 

Edit: I was remembering the timeline wrong. Hillary was cleared before the Democratic Convention.

Edited May 3, 2017 by RedDenver

[knapplc]

Less an investigation than a political witch hunt. And if that's a litmus test now, we can lop the head off any major party ticket in the future by trumping up an "investigation" once the presumptive candidate is identified.

[commando]

 

Comey may be likable, but he made the single greatest blunder in the last 50 years of American politics with that announcement.

 

Clinton would be a corrupt politician, another in a long line of such presidents, but we wouldn't have this brewing disaster staring us in the face. Of all possible eventualities, this is the worst, and we have it thanks to Comey.

 

If he's lucky, history will forget about him. Because if it remembers him, it will not be kind.

The Dems nominating a candidate under an active FBI investigation is right up there in terms of blunders.

 

wasn't trump also under investigation? or at least members of his staff? only thing is we were told about clinton but not about trumps issues.

[Danny Bateman]

I'm wondering if the Russia thing will be a similar issue for Trump in 2020. He's also generally pretty unlikable if you aren't already committed to him.

 

I'll never for the life of me understand why Comey broke protocol several times, including 12 days before the election, on Clinton but remained silent on Trump.

[RedDenver]

I'm wondering if the Russia thing will be a similar issue for Trump in 2020. He's also generally pretty unlikable if you aren't already committed to him.

 

I'll never for the life of me understand why Comey broke protocol several times, including 12 days before the election, on Clinton but remained silent on Trump.

Agreed. More transparency would have led to some clarity to what was happening.

[RedDenver]

Less an investigation than a political witch hunt. And if that's a litmus test now, we can lop the head off any major party ticket in the future by trumping up an "investigation" once the presumptive candidate is identified.

Benghazi was a witch-hunt with multiple hearings after the facts were already clear and it was obvious that Hillary had done nothing wrong. Hillary's email warranted an investigation IMO to establish the facts and whether any wrong-doing had occurred.

[ZRod]

 

Less an investigation than a political witch hunt. And if that's a litmus test now, we can lop the head off any major party ticket in the future by trumping up an "investigation" once the presumptive candidate is identified.

 

Benghazi was a witch-hunt with multiple hearings after the facts were already clear and it was obvious that Hillary had done nothing wrong. Hillary's email warranted an investigation IMO to establish the facts and whether any wrong-doing had occurred.

But Comey already went on record saying she had done nothing legally wrong.

[RedDenver]

But Comey already went on record saying ahe had done nothing legally wrong.

My mistake. I thought the Democratic Convention was before Comey announced no charges would be filed against Hillary, but indeed Comey announced in early July and the convention was in late July.