FBI Director James Comey said in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he is “mildly nauseous” that his actions late in the Presidential campaign may have tipped the election to Donald Trump. Mildly nauseous? It’s a bit more serious than a large burrito.
Late in 2016, an unrelated FBI investigation into Anthony Weiner had shown metadata in emails on Weiner’s computer that might have been related to Hillary Clinton. That such metadata existed on Weiner’s computer would not be surprising. Metadata includes the email addresses of individuals on forwarded emails for instance. Clinton’s aide, Huma Abedin, had been Weiner’s wife. Every progressive probably has metadata on their computer from the Clinton campaign.
The choices were not good. That is a given. Announce that you are looking at metadata just before the election or wait to see what you find? I do not envy Director Comey having to make the decision. Comey felt that not saying anything would be “the death of the FBI as an independent institution.” Yet, by swaying the election he assured… the death of the FBI as an independent institution. Further contributing to that death has been the absence of anything of substance regarding the links between Russian intelligence and the Trump campaign.
Comey initially disagreed with every other U.S. intelligence agency and said he did not see any substantive link between Trump and Russia. Later he came around to saying that he agreed that there was evidence of cooperation that warranted investigation. Now he says nothing.
If there is nothing, then Comey maligned Trump and his campaign. (Personally, I do not think there is “nothing,” but I want to be fair.) If there is something and he is sitting on it, then the FBI is simply a tool of the administration and he is stonewalling and covering up for them on an extremely serious matter. The FBI’s silence now and their actions during the campaign smack of Trumpist infiltration of the FBI.
I would argue that, unpalatable as it may have been, Comey would have been better served by waiting to make any statement about the inquiries into Weiner’s emails until he had some idea of whether or not there was anything there to lend credence to the inquiry. This was determined very rapidly and Comey knew that there were software tools to allow a rapid determination.
Now he has to live with the fact that he has helped put the most corrupt and incompetent President and administration in American history into power. (I know this is an “early call,” yet I feel confident in making it.) Waiting until he knew enough to speak with some assurance about the Weiner emails might have cost him his job. Yet, dropping that incomplete information onto the election and vaulting Donald Trump into the White House may yet result in the destruction of American democracy and a nuclear exchange. Frankly, I wish he had risked his job.
I hope Director Comey can yet do something to serve both truth and American democracy and calm that queasy stomach.
Submitted by Michael Pfeifer, WCD Member
It turns out that Director Comey was not entirely truthful in characterizing the alleged Clinton emails that Huma Abedin had forwarded to Anthony Weiner to be printed out. They were not classified information at the time they were forwarded. There were only a very few, not the “hundreds of thousands” Comey alleged. Now Comey has to submit a correction of his testimony! This is a very bad time for Comey to mess up. It begins to look like the allegations of a campaign within the FBI to “fix” the election in favor of Republicans could have some merit. This may only be an appearance of such activity, but Comey is not helping to replace that appearance with anything better.