James Comey's next reckoning is imminent — this time for leaking
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Justice Department’s chief watchdog is preparing a damning report on James Comey ’s conduct in his final days as FBI director that likely will conclude he leaked classified information and showed a lack of candor after his own agency began looking into his feud with President Trump over the Russia probe.
Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz’s team referred Comey for possible prosecution under the classified information protection laws, but Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors working for Attorney General William Barr reportedly have decided to decline prosecution — a decision that’s likely to upset Comey's conservative critics.
Prosecutors found the IG’s findings compelling but decided not to bring charges because they did not believe they had enough evidence of Comey’s intent to violate the law, according to multiple sources.
Although a technical violation, DOJ did not want to “make its first case against the Russia investigators with such thin margins and look petty and vindictive,” a source told me, explaining the DOJ’s rationale.
But Comey and others inside the FBI and the DOJ during his tenure still face legal jeopardy in ongoing probes by the IG and Barr-appointed special prosecutor John Durham . Those investigations are focused on the origins of the Russia investigation that included a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant targeting the Trump campaign at the end of the 2016 election, the source said.
“There are significant issues emerging with how the FISA was handled and other conduct in the investigation, and everyone involved remains under scrutiny,” a second source said.
Patrick Fitzgerald and Daniel Richman, two of Comey’s lawyers, and Keith Urbahn, his spokesman, did not return repeated calls and emails seeking comment.
The lack of prosecution is certain to demoralize some conservatives, who long have called for Comey’s head. But the IG report, set to be released within the next few weeks, likely will provide significant condemnations of Comey’s conduct, sources tell me.
While they cautioned that the IG’s final report won’t be complete until it gets feedback from Comey’s lawyers in the next few days, it is expected to conclude that the former FBI director improperly took with him memos that were FBI property when he was fired, transmitted classified information via an insecure email account, and shared some of the memos with his private lawyers. Some of the Comey memos were classified up to the “secret” level, but the FBI has not disclosed whether those were shared with his lawyers like the classified confidential memo was.
The memos, which mostly recount Comey’s interactions with Trump in the Russia case and include information about foreign leaders, were sensitive enough to require government officials to send a professional “scrub team” to a Comey lawyer’s office to ensure all classified information was deleted, sources previously told me.
In addition, the IG is likely to find that Comey engaged in a lack of candor when FBI agents came to retrieve the classified memos in his possession, failing to tell the interviewing agent that he had forwarded some of the sensitive memos by email, according to sources familiar with the probe.
Documents released Tuesday by the FBI to the conservative group Judicial Watch support that conclusion, showing the FBI report on its meeting with Comey at his home to recover the memos made no mention that the ex-director had forwarded the memos on to others.
The IG concluded in prior investigations that Comey’s firing was not driven by Trump’s fears about the Russia investigation ruining his presidency but, rather, by DOJ concerns about Comey’s performance in the Hillary Clinton email probe. Horowitz concluded that Comey wrongly “usurped” the authority of the attorney general when, on July 5, 2016, he announced he would not seek criminal charges against Clinton for transmitting classified information — some of it top secret — on her insecure private email server.
That IG report also chided Comey for criticizing Clinton’s email practices as reckless without filing charges and for improperly announcing the reopening of the email probe in late October 2016, just a few weeks before Election Day when Clinton and Trump were locked in a tight race.
Ironically, Comey’s decision not to charge Clinton for violating the Espionage Act for mishandling classified information on her email server mirrors the same rationale that Barr’s DOJ applied in declining prosecution of him: a lack of evidence of intent.
That won’t be lost on conservatives, who almost certainly will dislike the DOJ’s Comey decision.
But the IG report, at least, reaffirms what has become painfully clear to Americans the past two years: Comey entered the FBI chief’s job with a reputation for excellence but ran a bureau that suffered from ineptitude, political shenanigans, leaking and significant human failings, all of which sharply contrast with the morality lectures he’s become famous for frequently offering since he was fired.
John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist whose work over the years has exposed U.S. and FBI intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal scientists’ misuse of foster children and veterans in drug experiments, and numerous cases of political corruption. He serves as an investigative columnist and executive vice president for video at The Hill. Follow him on Twitter @jsolomonReports .
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As details begin to emerge from the ongoing investigations the actions of the FBI and intelligence agencies which investigated a political campaign, American citizens and a duly elected President, it should be noted Comey may be getting a pass. It should also be noted that he may have destroyed classified FBI material:
"FBI agents went to James Comey's house and retrieved as "evidence" a secret, previously unreported memo he drafted the night before the agents arrived, well after he was fired as FBI Director, according to bureau documents released Wednesday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the transparency group Judicial Watch.
Additionally, Comey told agents "spontaneously" that, to "the best of his recollection, two [memos] were missing," according to the documents.
Another opinion article from the right posing as a news article.
Just because the conspiracy theorist John Solomon fancies himself a journalist doesnt make him one. He has to have "opinion" attached to every one of his articles for the Hill, because his co-workers demanded it in order to maintain the integrity of their journalistic reputation.
I think it's pretty rare for an opinion piece to be phrased in the style of a straight news article. Deceptive actually.
Not really John. All those lying, leaking, spying, trapping bastards from the FBI & CIA are going down! Gee, John, I thought you'd be watching the radicals debate
Lol, don't hold your breath or buy any yellow bananas.
You'll be the first I'll look for when it happens....No hiding!
I know you hate him! LMAO!
Hate him, lol.
I dont know why you keep seeding from someone that was humiliated like he was at his place of work.
Actually I do know why. You take a liking to his particular brand of conspiracy theorizing.
You mean being named Executive Vice President for video at the Hill? You know, the Hill has lefties working there too, don't you? They hate him like you do.
Actually I do know why. You take a liking to his particular brand of conspiracy theorizing.
Lol! When the investigations are over I'm gonna bring you over by the ear, if necessary, so you may finally face the truth!
Good night John, thanks for stopping by.
BY JOHN SOLOMON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 07/31/19 07:30 PM EDT 554
Why can you no longer conduct a good discussion regarding the seed/article/thread instead of immediately going for the author or source as being "unsubstantial" as your standard????
I dont think anyone has ever heard of a fact reporter that has to have a disclaimer attached to all his articles by his employer. He's the first one I ever heard of in that situation.
We have right wingers on this site posting opinion articles as news articles, that is why.
John Solomon fancies himself a Woodward or Bernstein , breaking a big news scoop.
He does not consider himself a pundit. He considers himself a reporter. So why is there a disclaimer with all of his articles? Maybe his bosses at The Hill know more than you do.
Look at his writing style, he does not write like an opinion columnist, he writes like a fact reporter. But his bosses wont let him be a fact reporter. Wake up and smell the coffee.
He's one step ahead:
BULL SHIT! MSN has the same story:
You just don't like hearing it. You backed the MSM's lies for over 3 years, so no credibility here!
What we are learning is that the AG dosen't want to take a chance of losing a less than airtight case against James Comey on the issue of leaking, because there are going to be better cases involving Comey and others coming down the road. Credit the AG as being a good prosecutor.
And one other thing we have learned here......The name of John Solomon strikes fear in the hearts of liberals!
Your'e worst nightmare!
My compliments to your friends here.
The Gateway Pundit (and Infowars) ,one of the most unreliable news sites in America, is featuring Solomon's story.
Need we say more?
Gateway Pundit is not something we cite here. Why are you using it?
Just a reminder: The Gateway Pundit and Media Matters are not used as sources on WTP.
When SES employees begin agency hopping then the heat is really on. That's what to watch.
The IG really can't do much more than issue scathing reports since any prosecution would become political. There won't be any indictments unless the activities are overtly egregious; the prosecution would have to be a slam dunk. Republicans are going to be politically disappointed just as Democrats have been.
There is also a simultaneous US Attorney investigation of this. I assume that John Durham has prosecution powers and I am sure he's not concerned with political considerations. I think Barr simply dosen't want to loose his first prosecution. Comey is still very vulnerable concerning FISA abuse.
Republicans are going to be politically disappointed just as Democrats have been.
I think this will all come down in September/October and it will be devastating for Comey & others.
Right wing pundits are already preparing their base to be disappointed. Nothing is going to happen to Comey, or any of the intelligence agency figures, but nonetheless we will hear the right and Trump cackling about it.
I don't really care what the Gateway Pundit says. It is prohibited here on WTP. I myself am not expecting any disapointment. We already know about the leaking. We already know about the Steele Dossier being used to get FISA warrants. It only gets worse from there, John.
Nothing is going to happen to Comey, or any of the intelligence agency figures, but nonetheless we will hear the right and Trump cackling about it.
Comey got a pass on leaking only because Barr thought the case wasn't strong enough and if he loses his first prosecution it might adversely affect the credibility of future prosecutions. That sounds like a wise AG, (unlike the partisan Andrew Weissmann) exactly the kind of man I want looking at this activity. Comey got a pass on leaking (and he did leak), but he is very vulnerable to FISA abuse charges. The beat goes on!
You tell us?
You thought what?
Comey is too savvy about how the game is played to be easily turned. And Comey knows where the skeletons are hidden; he can offer a lot to avoid prosecution. James Comey ain't Michael Flynn.
If Barr is pursuing this for political reasons then I agree. But should Barr be more serious about cleaning up the mess then a timeline is difficult to predict. The only thing we know is that Barr will have to push hard to accomplish as much as possible before Jan., 2021.
The IG summation provides Barr leverage to continue. If the IG report is publicized then we'll know all of this is just political smoke and won't amount to anything.
I'm not so sure we need him to be turned. The IG was about to submit his report about a month ago when others began to come forward, thus the delay. We now know that the infamous Christopher Steele has agreed to an interview and the lawyer for Joseph Mifsud (the guy whom the Mueller team wouldn't charge with perjury and somehow lost track of?) has agreed to an interview.
Comey may know the game better than Flynn, but look at what we already know about him: The FBI let him take memos home (which they had to go retrieve), he has admitted to leaking memo's for the stated purpose of launching a Special Counsel investigation and he repeatedly told the President he wasn't involved in the counter intelligence investigation, when in fact the President was the specific target of it, plus Comey signed those FISA applications. Going in Comey has plenty to be charged with. The AG obviously wants a solid case. I think there is much more damning activity in Comey's history than the leaking and taking home of FBI documents.
The only thing we know is that Barr will have to push hard to accomplish as much as possible before Jan., 2021.
It seems ironic, dosen't it? The Mueller team delayed the report until after the dems won the House and Barr would have to press to get his 3 pronged investigations done by Jan 2021. Two notes on that: 1) I don't think Barr cares about the election or politics. 2) Trump dosen't need the truth of the rogue agents illegal actions revealed to win the next election.
Which is the point of pressing James Comey. The investigators are going to be demanding golden eggs. Sacrificing the goose won't accomplish that.
Prosecutors need a smoking gun with fingerprints, powder residue, eye witnesses, surveillance video, and a tacit confession. If prosecutors have that then Comey can be pressured to provide all sorts of information. Threatening Comey with public disclosure demonstrates a willingness to prosecute should Comey not cooperate.
What you outline provides investigators (and prosecutors) the means to squeeze golden eggs out of the goose. If the motivation for the IG effort is purely political then a Comey prosecution ends the investigation and simply covers up the mess. Prosecuting Comey would only be a high profile conviction to score political points and allows the institutional rot to remain hidden.
What has been revealed suggests that the FBI, DOJ, and intelligence communities have become too political and too independent. That's a dangerous combination. For Barr's efforts to be successful it will be necessary to dig deeply into the organizations.
IMO this is shaping up like an organized crime investigation. The effort is to disrupt and weaken the syndicate. Prosecutions are only pursued to further that effort.
If Barr is serious about addressing the underlying problems then, I believe, Republicans are going to be politically disappointed.
Points well taken. We have a way to go and I happen to believe Barr is serious about addressing the underlying problems, regardless of where the chips fall.
That's my impression, too. IMO Barr does care deeply about the organizations so really doesn't want to publicize how corrupt the organizations have become. But, to me, it seems Barr is pissed about that corruption and intends to go for the gonads.
As you pointed out, there are multiple investigations running. The less we hear the greater will be the fear inside the FBI and DOJ. I don't know how far Barr can reach. If we begin hearing about egregious findings from the other intelligence agencies that would suggest Barr needs Congressional oversight to attack the rot there.