THE DUOPOLY WATCH | Steven
Jonas, MD, MPH
On July 5, 2016, The Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, shooting like a comet over Washington, D.C., announced that after an extensive investigation, no criminal charges relating to the improper use/protection/transmission of classified documents would be brought against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At the same time, in a speech he launched into an extensive negative analysis of what had been done with emails, sensitive or not, on State Department or private servers, by Mrs. Clinton and members of her staff. That statement, very unusual for an FBI Director to make, had a transitory effect on Clinton’s poll numbers. But at the same time, the Director, in a highly unusual action, little noticed at the time, told leading Republican on the House Intelligence Committee that it would keep them informed of any further developments.
As is well-known, just now there have
been further developments. On October 28, 2016, Mr. Comey announced
publicly that there would be a further investigation of (possible) Clinton
emails. He made this announcement before any investigation had
begun, much less concluded, and before his agents had obtained even so much as
a warrant for seizing a lap-top that happened not to belong to Mrs.
Clinton. Rather it belonged to the estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, of
one of Mrs. Clinton’s closest aides, Huma Abedin. This action by
Comey was considered to be highly unusual, to say the least, by a variety of
sources/authorities, including, for example, The New York Times editorial page. It was
even unclear as to whether, after some kind of preliminary evaluation, the
previous formal inquiry would be reopened.
The U.S. Justice Department strongly discouraged Comey from making such an
speculative announcement (as in “their might be a further investigation after
we’ve had a look at Mr. Weiner server which — who knows — might simply be
filled with photos of Mr. Weiner’s private parts taken from a wide variety of
angles”). It appeared as if Mr. Comey himself might be violating the
1939 Hatch Act,
which prohibits government employees from taking actions close to elections
which might influence their outcomes. A Republican, Richard
Painter, who worked as the Chief Ethics Officer in the Bush White House (and a
Clinton supporter this time around), went so far as to file a formal ethics complaint against Comey, for
apparent violation of the Hatch Act (which would be a criminal offense).
There have been a variety of political
outcomes from the Comey action, ranging from no change in the Clinton/Trump
poll numbers to significant changes in them, from no change in the generally
predicted Clinton lock on the Electoral College vote to possibly enough of a
Trump swing in the swing states to give the election to him. Most
observers are not attributing ulterior motives to Mr. Comey. “He
made a simple mistake.” “He was trying to be open about what is
going on, but he was premature in making such an announcement — poor
judgement.” “He was under pressure from Congressional
Republicans. Suppose that he had not announced the further
investigation [of a bunch of emails that might not even be Clinton’s] in
advance of its being undertaken, and then something had come of it after the
election? Boy, would they be mad [or worse].”
Well, folks, I don’t buy any of
it. I think that what Comey did, from the July “even though we have
nothing criminal on you you’re a bad girl” speech to the present “we are
announcing that an investigation will be starting [once we get a warrant],
without any idea that anything further that might be incriminating might be
found” is all part of a plan. (And yes, this is a conspiracy
hypothesis, but not quite the kind that Alex Jones would come up
with.) In 2013 Mr. Comey was given the customary ten-year term
appointment as FBI Director by President Barack Obama. (Wonder why
in all of this brouhaha from the Democrats Obama gave him a vote of
confidence?) A career Federal prosecutor and occasional corporate
lawyer who eventually became Deputy
Attorney General under Bush, he is a
Republican. He has had a reputation for highly ethical
behavior.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Greanville Post
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