Monday, October 31, 2016

Don’t blame Comey for this mess


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(CNN)James Comey is not primarily responsible for the political mess caused by the recent discovery of more emails that may be relevant to the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. These newly uncovered emails were not written, sent or received by Comey. He didn’t store them on his computer, and it wasn’t his fault that they were not reviewed many months ago during the initial investigation. In fact, Comey never even knew these emails existed until now.

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Ultimately, I don’t think these emails will amount to anything significant. Even if there is classified information contained in these emails, I don’t expect it will be enough to bring criminal charges against Clinton or her longtime close aide, Huma Abedin. While I am much more troubled by the fact these emails were not voluntarily disclosed earlier, I doubt there is a strong case for obstruction of justice. But that doesn’t mean the FBI shouldn’t do its job and look into them. If the emails are as voluminous as we have been told, that is going to take some time. The review won’t, and shouldn’t, be complete before the election.
I think we need to take a step back and acknowledge that, if anyone is to blame for this mess, it is Hillary Clinton and her staff. Had she been as diligent about following the proper procedures as she was about protecting her personal privacy, then none of this would be an issue and she might be on her way to winning the presidency in a landslide.
Not only was her use of that private email server “extremely careless,” but her cooperation in the ensuing investigation also seems reluctant at best, obstructive at worst. Once Clinton became aware of the nature of this investigation, she should have done everything humanly possible to get any potentially relevant information produced to Comey and his team for a thorough review. That would include asking Abedin to check for emails at home.
Whatever Clinton’s reasons, she and her staff either did a poor job of looking for all their emails or they didn’t really look at all. Emails were not disclosed, some were even destroyed. And now, some additional potentially relevant emails were only uncovered due to a separate criminal investigation into Abedin’s estranged husband’s sexting activities.
Had the FBI had these emails earlier, they would have already been carefully reviewed and likely discarded as not being material to the investigation or not significant enough to change Comey’s decision not to recommend prosecution. There would be nothing new to see here, and no political crisis for the Clinton campaign.

Conflicted

I was skeptical when I first heard that the final decision to bring criminal charges would be left to Comey. It’s not that I questioned his ability to make that decision, or that I thought he would try to cover anything up to help Hillary Clinton. I knew he would act impartially, guided by the law and the best interests of the country. But I also knew that having him make the final decision would put him in the center of a political controversy that would have been best avoided by the appointment of a special prosecutor.
James Comey is the director of the FBI. As head of the FBI, he is employed by the Justice Department. This is the same Justice Department that is run by Loretta Lynch, who previously decided to step aside and leave the final decision about prosecuting Clinton to Comey, her subordinate. There was no prosecutor tasked with reviewing the FBI’s work on this case and making the final decision about bringing criminal charges. Instead, it was all left up to Comey.
Comey works for Lynch, Lynch works for the President, and the President is an outspoken supporter of Hillary Clinton, the focus of the investigation. If there was ever a case that cried out for a special prosecutor, this would be it.
Of course, it hardly looks like Comey is favoring Clinton right now. Dredging up the email investigation so close to the election obviously helps Donald Trump’s flailing campaign and bolsters other Clinton critics. But this is a consequence of factors outside the control of James Comey.

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For him to have sat on this information to avoid a potential political controversy would have been wrong. Yes, it is against department policy to comment on pending investigations, especially so close to an election. But this has never been an investigation conducted according to policy.
I think Jim Comey is doing his job, and doing it well. From everything I know it appears he is putting the best interests of his country above his own. It must have been obvious to him that his decision not to recommend criminal charges against Clinton would cause outrage among many Republicans. It must have also been obvious to him that his comments about Clinton being “extremely careless” would cause much heartburn among Democrats. But he did what he thought was right, regardless of the political consequences.
Jim Comey may not have a friend left in Washington after all this is over, but the rest of America owes him our thanks.

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