James Comey abused the FBI for his own personal agenda—we all assumed that, but it’s worse than we all thought.
Even before Trump was president, Comey’s actions jeopardized our national security and democracy. Many Americans are still shocked by how he handled the Clinton email investigation. With each passing day, we learn more about how he ran the Bureau.
Now an IG report has finally come out, revealing how Comey really conducted the highest law enforcement agency in the land.
Surprise, surprise, it was a circus.
From Bloomberg:
Former FBI Director James Comey “deviated” from bureau and Justice Department procedures in handling the probe into Hillary Clinton, damaging the agencies’ image of impartiality even though he wasn’t motivated by politics, the department’s watchdog found in a highly anticipated report.
“While we did not find that these decisions were the result of political bias on Comey’s part, we nevertheless concluded that by departing so clearly and dramatically from FBI and department norms, the decisions negatively impacted the perception of the FBI and the department as fair administrators of justice,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in the report’s conclusions, which were obtained by Bloomberg News.
Horowitz examined actions taken by top officials before the 2016 election, including the handling of the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. The inquiry expanded to touch on an array of politically sensitive decisions by officials including Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
The report claims that Comey wasn’t politically motivated. That might be true. While Obama was president, Comey undermined him. And when he testified before the Senate last year, he threw Lynch, Clinton, and Obama under the bus.
It’s obvious Comey was in it for himself. He was only concerned with his career and the immense power it brought. He led the FBI, after all. Clearly, the power went to his head.
How else can we explain why he “clearly and dramatically” departed from FBI norms? The FBI has very specific guidelines for how its agents are to conduct themselves. Those rules and standards (backed by federal law) are to ensure they follow the Constitution when investigating crimes. They are held to a high standard to ensure the agency does not break the law (or violate citizens’ rights).
Comey’s deliberate deviation from those norms is unprecedented. There is good reason to believe that under him, the FBI often broke the law. Horowitz is worried about this affects the public’s view of the agency. For good reason.
If citizens don’t respect the FBI—the won’t respect the rule of law. More people with lose faith in our government and system. Why should they obey the laws, after that? Only when people respect our law enforcement do we see peace and stability.
But Comey’s actions directly damaged our officers’ ability to protect us. People will use this story as an excuse to violate our laws and way of life. Our government will have a harder time maintaining peace.
All for what? What was Comey really up to? That is something, my friends, we may never know.
Source: Bloomberg
