[Update 17 December 2019] By a fortunate accident, I was scheduled to speak about this topic at The Villages S.K.I.L.L. Club (CIA Retirees) on 12 December 2019 so I updated the talk I presented on 4 October 2019 at The Villages Philosophy Club with the new material.
[UPDATE: 9 December 2019] The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ IG) has just released a redacted, unclassified version of the third IG Report related to the 2016 FBI Investigation of the Trump Campaign. CLICK HERE to read the USA Today account of the latest IG Report.
December 2019 "Review of FOUR FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Investigation."
August 2019 "Report of Investigation of Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey’s Disclosure of Sensitive Investigative Information and Mishandling of Certain Memoranda.”
July 2018 “A Review of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election”.
I read the full Executive Summary of the latest IG Report as well as selected detailed chapters.
Referring to the graphic at the top of this Blog posting, there are four groups of documents, as follows:
1) STEELE Trump-Russia DOSSIER 2015-2016
Fusion GPS is a political research company originally funded by anti-Trump Republicans to conduct opposition research. When Trump became presumptive GOP nominee, the DNC/Clinton Campaign funded it.
In June 2016, Fusion GPS hired Christopher Steele, a former British MI6 operative associated with the Russia Desk. Steele wrote some 16 memos prior to the 2016 Presidential Election, and one afterwards. These memos became known as the "Steele Dossier".
By August 2016, the FBI had some of these memos.
By September 2016, some of them were shown to various US media, but none published this material. My speculation is that they were sure the Democratic candidate, Secretary Hillary Clinton was going to defeat the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, and they did not want to muddy the waters. Some of this information was noted, in October 2016, by the publication Mother Jones, but no details were given.
In November 2016, of course, Trump was elected and became President-Elect.
The following month, December 2016, Sen. John McCain gave a copy of the Steele memos to FBI Director James Comey. However, as I noted above, the FBI already had most -perhaps all- of the memos prior to McCain's action.
In January 2017 – President Obama and President-Elect Trump were briefed about the Steele Dossier by the FBI. News of the FBI briefing lead a rather obscure website, Buzzfeed, to publish the memos, which I read through at the time. (None of the major media published this uncorroborated material. At the time, I thought 70-80% true. Now, I believe that at least 70-80% of the supposed "facts" are likely false!)
2) FISA Application for Surveillance of Carter Page & Renewals 1, 2, 3 - 2016-2017
Carter Page was a Petroleum consultant who joined the Trump campaign in March 2016 as a Foreign Policy advisor. He left the campaign in September 2016.
Carter Page was educated at the US Naval Academy and received his BS degree in 1993. He served as an Intelligence Officer US Navy for five years, including some overseas deployments. He attended Georgetown University, where he received his MA; New York University, where he received his MBA; and the University of London, where he received his PhD in Asian Economics.
He consulted in Russia, and was said to be Pro-Putin. However, for some of his time in Russia, the latest IG Report confirms that he was an asset of a US Government Agency (probably the CIA) and his opinion of Putin may have been part of his cover as a CIA asset.
In August 2016, the FBI considered applying for a FISA to permit them to surveil Page. However, according to the latest IG Report, the information they had at the time was not sufficient to justify the FISA.
In September 2016, based on materials from the Steele Dossier, the FBI applied for and obtained the FISA. This confirms that, absent the Steele Dossier, surveillance of Carter Page may never have happened, and perhaps the Russia Collusion story would never have gotten off the ground.
The FISA application needs to be renewed every 90 days, and the Page FISA was renewed 3 times.
According to the latest IG Report, there were seven serious errors in the original FISA application, including the apparently purposeful alteration of an email by an FBI lawyer. This email was from another Agency (CIA?) and confirmed that Carter Page had been accepted by them as a source for information about Russia. The FBI lawyer added the words "not a source" to that email.
Again, according to the latest IG Report, those seven serious errors were repeated in each of the three FISA renewals, and, an additional ten new serious errors were added!
There were three types of error noted, starting with the least serious type:
FISA Application Makes supposedly FACTUAL STATEMENT but FAILS TO CITE ANY SOURCE (33 instances, including repeats of the same error. It blows my mind that no one in the FBI chain of command or staff at the time, nor anyone at the secret FISA Court, checked for the source of serious and supposedly factual information about Carter Page. Thus, the same errors were repeated up to three times!)
FISA Application Makes supposedly FACTUAL STATEMENT and DOES CITE SOURCE ---BUT SOURCE DOES NOT SUPPORT statement !! (8 instances, including repeats of the same error. It blows my mind that no one in the FBI chain of command or staff at the time, nor anyone at the secret FISA Court, checked the given source of serious and supposedly factual information about Carter Page. This type of error is worse than the first type because a SOURCE IS IDENTIFIED, adding credibility to the claimed fact, BUT ANYONE WHO CHECKED THE CITED SOURCE WOULD SEE THAT IT DID NOT SUPPORT THE STATEMENT !! Again, the same errors were repeated up to three times!)
FISA Application Makes supposedly FACTUAL STATEMENT and DOES CITE SOURCE --- BUT SOURCE CONTRADICTS STATEMENT !!! (8 instances, including repeats of the same error. It ABSOLUTELY blows my mind that no one in the FBI chain of command or staff at the time, nor anyone at the secret FISA Court, checked for the given source of serious and supposedly factual information about Carter Page. This type of error is worse than the second type because a SOURCE IS IDENTIFIED, adding credibility to the claimed fact, BUT ANYONE WHO CHECKED THE CITED SOURCE WOULD SEE THAT IT ACTUALY CONTRADICTS THE STATEMENT !! Again, the same errors were repeated up to three times!)
3) Comey’s “Higher Loyalty” 2018
James Comey’s Distinguished Career:
1996-2005 US Attorney under Clinton and Bush Administrations
2005-2013 Private sector
2013-2017 FBI Director under Obama, INCLUDING HIS ROLE IN THE Hillary Clinton CLASSIFIED email controversy
2017 – Fired by Trump
2018 – Writes book “A Higher Loyalty”. I presented a mostly-positive report on Comey’s book to The Villages Philosophy Club June 2018. (See https://tvpclub.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-higher-loyalty-by-james-comey.html)
4) DOJ IG Reports
There are three IG Reports (“IG” = “Inspector General” NOT Ira Glickstein” (:^).
The latest IG Report released to the public 9 December 2019.
The DOJ IG is Michael Horowitz, appointed by Pres. Obama in 2012.
I have the greatest respect for DOJ IG Michael Horowitz.
MY BOTTOM LINE ON THE NEW MATERIAL FROM IG REPORT #3
In my original talk and Blog posting about Comey's A Higher Loyalty book, I said and wrote:
"In September 2013, when President Barack Obama appointed James Comey to a 10-year term as Director of the FBI, (and Comey was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate 93 to 1) Obama said: 'Jim is a natural leader of unquestioned integrity.'
"Well, considering the controversy of his role in the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton CLASSIFIED email controversy, it appears that Comey is NOT the PERFECT, FEARLESS, FLAWLESS STERLING PUBLIC SERVANT we all thought he was,
… BUT – (IMHO - In My Humble Opinion) He is the closest to that ideal we will ever see at the highest levels of the U. S. Government! "
The FISA application and one of the renewals were filed under James Comey's watch as FBI Director. He has recently admitted there was "real sloppiness" in the Carter Page FISA warrants. Although it is unlikely that he personally checked the sources cited (and not cited :^) in those FISA materials, he bears some responsibility for organizing and directing an FBI leadership staff that failed so badly in living up to the ideals of the FBI.
"Well, considering the controversy of his role in the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton CLASSIFIED email controversy, it appears that Comey is NOT the PERFECT, FEARLESS, FLAWLESS STERLING PUBLIC SERVANT we all thought he was,
… BUT – (IMHO - In My Humble Opinion) He is the closest to that ideal we will ever see at the highest levels of the U. S. Government! "
The FISA application and one of the renewals were filed under James Comey's watch as FBI Director. He has recently admitted there was "real sloppiness" in the Carter Page FISA warrants. Although it is unlikely that he personally checked the sources cited (and not cited :^) in those FISA materials, he bears some responsibility for organizing and directing an FBI leadership staff that failed so badly in living up to the ideals of the FBI.
Therefore, my respect for Comey -which was never unconditional- has suffered some diminution.
However, considering everything I know so far, I would repeat -albeit with my fingers crossed- the above statement!
As always, judge for yourself!
[NOTE: Below is material posted to this Blog in October 2019, and unchanged since that time.]
INTRODUCTION
This Blog posting is based on the presentation I gave to The Villages Philosophy Club on 4 October 2019 about the August 2019 report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz. It is about former FBI Director James Comey's actions related to one memo he wrote in January 2017 documenting his interactions with President-Elect Donald Trump, and six more memos he wrote from January through April 2017 documenting his interactions with President Donald Trump.
Last year, I wrote a Blog posting about Comey's widely-acclaimed (and critiqued) 2018 book, A Higher Loyalty, Truth, Lies, and Leadership, and the talk I presented on 22 June 2018 at The Villages Philosophy Club. (See https://tvpclub.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-higher-loyalty-by-james-comey.html)
- James Comey was appointed to a ten-year term as FBI Director by President Barack Obama in 2013, and confirmed by the Senate 93-1. His actions during the 2016 Presidential Election period with regard to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private server for CLASSIFIED email have been widely criticized and cited: (1) By Clinton as a principal reason for her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 election (along with Russian meddling in the election), (2) By Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in a 2017 letter used by President Trump to justify his firing of Comey (although it has become apparent that Trump's main motivation for his firing had to do with the way the FBI Director was handling the investigation into possible collusion by the Trump campaign with Russians), and (3) By the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in the report issued 14 June 2018.
The Blog posting you are now reading is an update that considers material from the August 2019 IG “Report of Investigation of
Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey’s Disclosure of
Sensitive Investigative Information and
Mishandling of Certain Memoranda.”
How and why has the reputation of James Comey declined so much in just a few years, and on both sides of the political aisle?
AND, how has the most recently released IG report modified my generally supportive opinion of Comey?
Recall that, in 2013, when he was appointed by Democrat Barack Obama and confirmed by all but one Senator (Republican Rand Paul, over surveillance policy) Comey had an absolutely sterling reputation! Obama said "Jim is a natural leader of unquestioned integrity".
Well, it seems Comey is NOT the PERFECT, FEARLESS, FLAWESS STERLING PUBLIC SERVANT we all thought he was! BUT ...
Do I still hold that opinion? Read more and find out!
JAMES COMEY'S DISTINGUISHED CAREER
•
1996-2001 in Clinton
Administration
•
Assistant US Attorney,
Prosecutor, …
•
2001-2005 in Bush
Administration
•
US Attorney for Southern
District of NY, Deputy Attorney General, Acting Attorney General
•
2005-2013 in Private
Sector
•
Senior VP for Lockheed
Martin
•
Senior Management at
Bridgewater Associates
•
2013-2017 in Obama
Administration
•
FBI Director, Clinton’s
Classified Email controversy
•
2017 in Trump
Administration
•
FBI Director, Fired
IG REPORTS REGARDING JAMES COMEY
There are three reports issued by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz:
July 2018 “A Review
of Various Actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of
Justice in Advance of the 2016 Election”. The report concluded that, in the Clinton CLASSIFIED email investigation, Comey and other top officials did not
follow standard procedures and hurt the FBI's reputation for impartiality, but there was no evidence of political bias.
August 2019 “Report of Investigation of
Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey’s Disclosure of
Sensitive Investigative Information and
Mishandling of Certain Memoranda.” <<< THE BLOG POSTING YOU ARE NOW READING IS MAINLY ABOUT THIS IG REPORT
September 2019 Draft Report on Alleged Abuses of FISA during
Russia Investigation – Under review by AG Barr. A redacted version will probably be released later this year.
There are THREE Color-Coded Tracks for this TIMELINE:
BLUE - CLASSIFIED Emails on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s non-secure server
RED - Fusion GPS opposition research against Donald Trump centered on Russian Interference in 2016 election (Steele Dossier)
GREEN - FBI Lovebirds:
FBI Lawyer Lisa Page and FBI Deputy Assistant Director of Counter-Intelligence Division Peter Strzok (who lead both the Clinton Email and Trump Russia probes). [They were both married, but not to each other, and apparently used the FBI messaging system to conceal their relationship from their spouses. An FBI review of the thousands of messages they exchanged revealed their apparent political bias in favor of one Presidential Candidate (Former Secretary of State Hillary Cinton) and against the other (Donald Trump).
Timeline – 2013-2017 COMEY in OBAMA Administration
•
16 June 2015 –
Donald Trump announces Presidential run.
•
July 2015 – FBI
opens “Midyear Exam” Investigation of CLASSIFIED emails on former Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton’s non-secure server.
[Lead by Strzok]
•
16 August 2015 – Strzok:
“[Bernie Sanders is] an idiot like Trump. Figure they cancel each other out.”
•
August 2015 – Washington
Post reports FBI is investigating whether CLASSIFIED information was kept
on Clinton's private server.
•
October 2015 – Fusion GPS contracted by conservative
political website Washington Free Beacon to provide general
opposition research on Trump and other Republican presidential candidates.
•
3 March 2016 – Page:
“God trump is a loathsome human.”
•
Strzok: “Omg
[Trump’s] an idiot.
•
Page: “He’s awful.”
•
Strzok: “God Hillary
should win 100,000,000-0.”
•
Strzok: “Also did you
hear [Trump] make a comment about the size of his d*ck earlier? This man cannot
be president.”
•
3 May 2016 –
Donald Trump becomes presumptive GOP candidate for President.
•
(Washington Free Beacon
stops its backing of opposition research against Trump by Fusion GPS).
•
April 2016 – Attorney
for Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC hire Fusion GPS to investigate
Trump.
•
June 2016 – Fusion
GPS subcontracted Christopher Steele, former head of the Russia Desk
for British Intelligence (MI6), to compile 16 memos (from June to November,
prior to the election, plus one in December 2016) that came to be called the Steele
Dossier.
•
Reports were sent to the
FBI-NY in July and FBI-DC in September. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump–Russia_dossier
•
June 2016 – The
Democratic National Committee announces that Russian hackers have broken into
the party's servers. (WikiLeaks)
•
June 2016 – Just
weeks before Attorney General Loretta Lynch is to decide if Hillary Clinton
will be prosecuted for CLASSIFIED emails on an un-secure server, her husband,
and former President, Bill Clinton meets with Lynch. (Lynch announced she would accept recommendations from career prosecutors and the FBI Director regarding the investigations into Hillary Clinton, although both Lynch and
Bill Clinton deny discussing the case during the Phoenix tarmac meeting.)
•
2 July 2016 – Clinton
interviewed by FBI. “Her lack of technological sophistication evident in
her memoir What Happened. [She assumed] Her server was protected from
hacking [because it was] in a home guarded by the Secret Service.” [p182 of
Comey’s Higher Loyalty book]
•
July 2016 – NYTimes
reports: “Among the [hacked DNC]
emails … were several embarrassing messages that suggest the committee’s
chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, and other
officials favored Hillary Clinton over Mr. [Bernie] Sanders …” (Schultz resigns
as DNC chairwoman 24 July 2016)
COMEY'S UNPRECEDENTED PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
In June 2017, when the FBI investigation discovered over 100 CLASSIFIED emails on Hillary Clinton's non-secure server, FBI Director James Comey was placed in an impossible situation. A mere four months before the November 2016 election, the Democratic Party candidate for President, and her staff, was discovered to have mishandled CLASSIFIED information, up to and including TOP SECRET.
Normally, the FBI would report their finding to the Attorney General who would decide whether or not to make it public. The AG would decide whether or not to prosecute Clinton for this breach of security.
However, Attorney General Loretta Lynch had compromized herself from the email investigation when her Phoenix airport tarmac meeting with former President Bill Clinton became public! Therefore, Comey would have to report the issue to the Deputy Attorney General and it was unclear what would happen at that juncture.
Comey knew that, unless he took immediate action, the FBI finding would (almost) certainly leak and be published. That would have put the FBI and the Justice Department in a very bad position.
If a decision was made to prosecute Hillary Clinton, that would have totally disrupted the 2016 Presidential election. Whether Clinton decided to step aside and let the Democratic Party put her Vice-Presidential running mate or someone else up for President, or if she decided to continue running for that office, it would have torn our Country apart.
Therefore, Comey, without informing his superior at the Justice Department (AG Lynch) or hardly anyone else, decided to hold a news conference, make the FBI findings public, and express his view that no prosecutor would charge Clinton for what she and her staff had done.
• 5 July 2016 – Comey
holds a press conference saying:
•
FBI investigation found
110 CLASSIFIED emails (TOP SECRET, SECRET, and CONFIDENTIAL) on her non-secure
server,
•
Clinton was “extremely
careless”1,2,3 but did not commit any criminal wrongdoing. FBI will
not recommend charges be brought against Clinton.
- Earlier draft of Comey's statement said “grossly negligent”, it was changed to “extremely careless”
- Statement that the sheer volume of information classified as Secret supported an inference of gross negligence was removed.
- Statement that it was “reasonably likely” that hostile actors gained access to Clinton’s private email server was changed to “possible”.
WHAT DOES "CLASSIFIED INFORMATION" MEAN ?
In my career as a System Engineer working on military systems, I've had a security clearance and have worked with this type of material. My office was in a secure, guarded building, and I had a safe in my office where I could store CLASSIFIED documents at the CONFIDENTIAL and SECRET levels. I was allowed to read these documents in my office, and discuss the material with others who were working on the project, had appropriate clearance, and had a "need to know" this material to do their jobs. I was NOT allowed to enter any CLASSIFIED information into my office PC nor discuss it on my office telephone. When I needed to create a document including CONFIDENTIAL or SECRET information, I was required to do so in a separate office where the PCs were isolated from the Internet or any external connenction.
Information at the CONFIDENTIAL and SECRET level is defined as follows:
(CONFIDENTIAL) Info whose unauthorized disclosure would cause lowest level of damage. [Stored in a locked safe in my
office, in a secure, guarded building. NO CLASSIFIED INFO ON MY PC or phone.]
(SECRET) Info whose unauthorized disclosure would cause “serious damage”. [Stored in a locked safe in my
office, in a secure, guarded building. NO CLASSIFIED INFO ON MY PC or phone.]
When I worked on a few projects at the TOP SECRET / SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information), I was NOT allowed to have documents at that level in my office, and was NOT allowed to discuss this information in my office. I had to do all work involving information at the TS level in a special set of offices, with special electronic shielding and isolation, called a "SCIF" (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility)
(TOP SECRET) Info whose unauthorized disclosure would cause “grave damage”. [NO TS/SCI IN MY
OFFICE – ONLY IN SCIF.]
THUS CLASSIFIED INFORMATION REQUIRES A SPECIAL LEVEL OF CARE AND PROTECTION FROM UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE, AND TOP SECRET INFORMATION REUIRES AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE MORE PROTECTION.
•
In my experience, all
projects have SECURITY GUIDELINES specifying what TYPES of information are
classified, and at what LEVEL.
•
Information is NOT
classified because it is marked as such, it is marked BECAUSE it is classified.
•
If I saw information
that SHOULD have been classified was mishandled or not marked, I would have
corrected the situation.
•
If I had entered
CLASSIFIED information into the PC in my office (in a secure, guarded building)
I would have gone to jail – or at least, would have lost my security clearance,
and therefore my job.
•
If I had stored TOP
SECRET / SCI information in my locked safe in my office, I would have gone to
jail – or at least, would have lost my security clearance, and therefore my
job.
THEREFORE, I WAS APPLALLED TO HEAR THAT A LEADING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, AND HER STAFF, HAD TREATED CLASSIFIIED INFORMATION IN SUCH A CAVIALIER MANNER. NEVER-THE-LESS, II ACCEPTED COMEY'S CONTROVERSIAL DECISION TO MAKE THE FBI INVESTIGATION INFORMATION PUBLIC, AND NOT TEAR OUR CONTRY APART BY PROSECUTING CLINTON.
BACK TO THE TIMELINE
•
31 July 2016 – FBI
begins an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. [Lead by
Strzok]
•
6 August 2016 – Page:
“…Trump should go f himself.” Strzok:
“And F Trump.” Page: “And maybe you’re
meant to stay where you are because you’re meant to protect the country from
that menace.” Strzok: “I can protect our country at many levels”
•
8 August 2016 – Page:
“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Strzok: “No. No he’s not. We’ll stop
it.”
•
15 August 2016 – Strzok:
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s [FBI
Deputy Director McCabe’s] office — that there’s no way he [Trump] gets elected
— but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in
the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
•
26 August 2016 – Strzok:
“Just went to a southern Virginia Walmart. I could SMELL the Trump support....”
•
2 September 2016 –
Page: “potus [President Obama] wants to know everything we are doing”
[My underlines]
•
September 2016 – AG
Loretta Lynch told Comey to call FBI INVESTIGATION of Clinton’s CLASSIFIED
emails a "MATTER". “Federal Bureau of MATTERS” (Inside FBI joke :^) [p169 of Comey’s Higher
Loyalty book]
• 7 October 2016 –
NBC Access Hollywood tape (from 2005) released, reported by MSNBC and
others. Trump brags that liberated women allow Rich Celebrities like himself to
grab their private parts. Voters are well aware of Trump’s disgusting personal
morality. Public knowledge that each of Trump’s three wives were cheated on.
•
28 October 2016 –
Comey letter informs Congress new emails have been found that are relevant to
the investigation into Hillary Clinton. Aide Huma Abedin gave laptop with
Clinton emails to husband, Anthony Weiner, himself the subject of an unrelated
FBI investigation of sexting with a 15-year-old girl. ”Weinergate.”
•
31 October 2016 –
Mother Jones reports “Russian Operation to Cultivate Trump”, but did not
relate it to what came to be called the Steele Dossier. Other
journalists were aware of related info, but did not publish it.
•
3 November 2016 – Page:
“The nyt [New York Times] probability numbers are dropping every day. I’m
scared for our organization.”
•
Strzok: “[Jill] Stein
and moron [Gary] Johnson are F’ing everything up, too.”
•
7 November 2016 –
Comey clears Hillary Clinton once again. He says the new Weiner emails do
not point to any wrongdoing by Clinton.
•
7 November 2016
– Strzok: [Referencing an article
entitled “A victory by Mr. Trump remains possible,”] “OMG THIS IS F*CKING
TERRIFYING.”
•
9 November 2016 –
Donald Trump wins the presidential election, based on Electoral Vote (but
Hillary Clinton wins Popular Vote).
•
ELECTION RESULTS:
TRUMP CLINTON MARGIN
•
Popular Vote: 46.1% 48.2% 2.1%
•
Electoral College: 306 (-2*) 232
(-5*) 13.8% *”Faithless
Electors”
•
Sports Analogies: Runs/Points/Baskets
vs Hits/Yards/Throws.
In Baseball, the team that gets the most Hits usually also gets the most Runs. However, sometimes the team with the most Hits gets fewer Runs, but they accept the loss, knowing that, according to the rules, the only thing that counts is runners actually getting around all the bases and touching Home Plate.
Similarly, in Football, the team that makes the most Yardage when they control the ball also gets the most Points for Field Goals and Touchdowns. However, sometimes the team with the most Yardage gets fewer Points, but they accept the loss, knowing that, according to the rules, the only thing that counts is the football going over the crossbar between the uprights for a Field Goal, or being carried into the end zone for a Touchdown.
Yet another example, in Basketball, the team that makes the most Throws where the ball hits the hoop also gets the most Baskets. However, sometimes the team with the most Throws gets fewer Baskets, but they accept the loss, knowing that, according to the rules, the only thing that counts is the basketbal going through the hoop.
Quite obviously,
If rules changed, team strategy would also change. If the winner of US Presidential Elections was determined by National Popular Vote, Trump would have campaigned more in California and New York.
•
9 November 2016 –
Page: “Are you even going to give out your calendars? [‘funny and snarky’
calendars of Russian President Vladimir Putin] Seems kind of depressing. Maybe
it should just be the first meeting of the secret society.” [My underline]
•
13 November 2016 – Page:
“I bought all the president’s men. Figure I needed to brush up on watergate.”
COMEY Looks Back at the 2016 Election [p204 of Comey’s Higher Loyalty book]
•
“Like many others I was
surprised when Donald Trump was
elected president.
•
“I had assumed from media polling that Hillary
Clinton was going to win.
•
“I have asked myself
many times if I was influenced by that assumption. I don’t know. …
•
“I was making decisions
in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be the next president, my
concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted
investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared
closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in the polls.”
•
December 2016 – US
Intel agencies say "high confidence" that Russia hacked Democratic
Party servers.
•
9 December 2016 – Steele
and Fusion GPS agree to pass 16 Steele Dossier memos to Sen. John
McCain who personally passes them to FBI Director Comey. [But recall that Steele
Dossier reports had been sent to the FBI before the election. To FBI-NY
in July and FBI-DC in September.]
•
6 January 2017 – Comey
informs President-Elect Trump of Steele Dossier. Comey did not tell
Trump it was partially funded by DNC and Hillary campaign. [Memo #1 of
seven that are reproduced in the August 2019 IG Report on pages 64 through 77, and described below.]
IG Report on Memo #1
•
January 6, 2017
Intelligence Community Directors, including Comey, meet with President-elect
Trump and his national security team at Trump Tower to discuss the Intelligence
Community Assessment; Comey then meets with the President-elect one-on-one to
alert Trump to “salacious and unverified” allegations about his 2013 trip to
Moscow that the media may soon publish.
•
January 7, 2017 Comey
finishes drafting Memo 1 on the FBI's secure computer system about the Trump
Tower briefing and marks Memo 1 with the classification “SECRET//NOFORN/ORCON.”
Comey emails Memo 1 to his Chief of Staff, the FBI Deputy Director, and the FBI
General Counsel using the FBI's secure computer system. Comey does not take a
copy of Memo 1 home.
•
10 January 2017 – CNN
reports essence of Steele Dossier and Buzzfeed publishes 35 pages
of it.
•
According to COMEY: [p188
of his Higher Loyalty book]:
•
The Russians:
•
“… sought to undermine confidence in the
American democratic enterprise – to dirty us up … wanted to hurt Hillary Clinton.
•
“Putin hated her,
blaming her personally for large street demonstrations in Moscow in 2011 …
•
“Putin wanted to help
Donald Trump win. … appreciation of business leaders who cut deals rather than
stand on principle …”
IG Report on Memo #2
•
January 27, 2017 Comey has
dinner with President Trump at the White House.
•
January 28, 2017 Comey
finishes writing Memo 2 on his personal laptop about his dinner the night
before with President Trump. It states that during dinner, among other things,
Trump told Comey he needed and expected “loyalty.”
•
Memo 2 also describes an
unrelated comment by the President about the relative importance of returning
telephone calls from three different countries, one of which the Memo notes the
President mentioned twice. Comey does not mark Memo 2 as classified. Comey
places a signed printout of Memo 2 in his personal safe at home and gives a
second signed printout to his Chief of Staff to keep at the FBI.
•
During a classification
review in June 2017 (by Page and Strzok !), the FBI determines that six words
in the Memo recounting the President's comment about returning telephone calls
are classified “CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN” because of the potential impact on
foreign relations.
Lisa Page and Peter Strzok CLASSIFIED Comey Memo #2 and #7 ! [IG p42]
IG Report on Memo #3
•
February 8, 2017 Comey
writes Memo 3 on a classified FBI computer system because he believes Memo 3
contains classified FISA information. Memo 3 summarizes Comey's interactions
that afternoon with Trump's then-Chief of Staff Reince Preibus, then-National
Security Advisor Michael Flynn, and President Trump.
•
Comey does not mark the
printout of Memo 3 as classified before sharing it with others at the FBI.
Comey does not take a copy of Memo 3 home.
•
The FBI determines in June
2017 that Memo 3 contains information classified as “SECRET//NOFORN.”
IG Report on Memo #4
•
February 14, 2017 Comey
writes Memo 4 on his personal laptop describing, among other things, a
one-on-one meeting that day with President Trump. According to Memo 4, Trump
stated that he hoped Comey could “see [his] way clear...to letting [Michael]
Flynn go.” At the time, Flynn was the subject of a non-public FBI
investigation.
•
Comey does not mark Memo 4
as classified. Comey places one signed printout of Memo 4 in his personal safe
at home and gives a second signed printout to his Chief of Staff to keep at the
FBI.
•
The FBI determines in June
2017 that Memo 4 does not contain classified information, but marks it as
“FOUO.”
IG Report on Memo #5
•
March 1, 2017 Comey drafts
Memo 5, a 4-line email to his Chief of Staff, on his unclassified FBI mobile
device to summarize a non-substantive telephone call that day with President
Trump. Comey does not mark Memo 5 as classified, and does not take a copy of
Memo 5 home.
•
In June 2017, the FBI
determines it is not classified, but marks it as “FOUO.”
• 20 March 2017 – Testifying
before the House Intelligence Committee, Comey confirms the FBI is
investigating any connections between Russia and Mr. Trump's associates and
whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia's
meddling.
IG Report on Memo #6
•
March 20, 2017 Comey
testifies before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI)
at a hearing titled the Russian Active Measures Investigation. Comey acknowledges the FBI’s open
investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, but
repeatedly refuses to answer questions about the scope of the investigation or
specify who was under investigation, referencing the need to protect the
integrity of the investigation and the privacy rights of those under
investigation.
•
March 30, 2017 Comey writes
Memo 6 on the unclassified FBI system in his office to describe a 10-minute
telephone call with President Trump that morning. According to the Memo, Trump
asked what Comey “could do to lift the cloud” of the FBI's Russia
investigation. Comey gives a signed printout of Memo 6 to his Chief of Staff to
keep at the FBI, and takes a second signed printout home to store in his
personal safe.
•
Comey does not mark Memo 6
as classified.
•
In June 2017, the FBI
determines that Memo 6 is not classified, but marks it as “FOUO.”
•
April 2017 – Rod
Rosenstein confirmed as Deputy Attorney General. (To oversee the DOJ Russia
Collusion investigation, because AG Sessions recused himself due to not
informing the Senate about a meeting with the Russian ambassador prior to
Election Day.)
•
May 2017 – Comey testifies
before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (He says that he has no regrets
about how he conducted the investigation into Clinton, although it makes him
"mildly nauseous" to think that the FBI could have affected the
outcome of the election.)
•
May 2017 – Clinton says
Comey's October 28th letter contributed to her defeat. "If the
election had been on October 27, I would be your president," Clinton said
during an interview. "I was on the way to winning until the combination of
Jim Comey's letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the
minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off — and the
evidence for that intervening event is, I think, compelling [and] persuasive.“
•
May 2017 – DAG
Rosenstein appoints Special Counsel, Robert Mueller III, to investigate Russian
meddling in 2016 election, and possible collusion by the Trump team.
IG Report on Memo #7
•
April 11, 2017 Comey drafts
Memo 7, a 2-paragraph memo, on the unclassified FBI system in his office to
summarize a brief telephone call with President Trump that morning. According
to the Memo, Trump said he was “following up to see if [Comey] did what [Trump]
had asked last time— getting out that [Trump] is not personally under
investigation.” Paragraph 2 of Memo 7 summarizes an unrelated foreign policy
discussion. Comey signs two printouts of Memo 7. Comey gives one to his Chief
of Staff to keep at the FBI, and he stores the other in his personal safe at
his house.
•
Comey does not mark Memo 7
classified, but as described below, redacts the second paragraph of Memo 7
before sending it to his attorneys on May 14.
•
The FBI determined in June
2017 that the second paragraph of Memo 2 contained Presidential comments about
foreign affairs that are classified “CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN.”
•
May 9, 2017 President Trump
removes Comey as FBI Director and orders that Comey be barred from entering FBI
Headquarters. May 11, 2017 The New York Times publishes an article regarding
the January 27 dinner meeting described in Memo 2, stating that Trump asked for
Comey's “loyalty.” Richman acknowledged that he was a source for the article,
and that Comey had described to him what Comey said was President Trump's
request for loyalty at the dinner. At that time, Richman had not yet seen Memo
2.
Timeline – 2017 COMEY Out of TRUMP Administration
•
9 May 2017 – Trump fires
Comey, SUPPOSEDLY over his missteps in the Clinton email case (Letters from
Rosenstein and Sessions make the case that Comey should be dismissed for
mishandling the Clinton case.)
•
… but significantly due
to Russian Collusion investigation.
Both COMEY and CLINTON
Mishandled CLASSIFIED
Information
Quantity over 60,000 7
-
Deleted over 30,000 0 (all in FBI system)
(BleachBit)
-
Classified 110 4
- 22 TOP SECRET 0 TOP SECRET
- 65 SECRET 2 SECRET
- 23 CONFIDENTIAL 2 CONFIDENTIAL
-
Properly marked when
written 0 1 SECRET
1 CONFIDENTIAL
-
Classified later 110 2 CONFIDENTIAL
(by Page and Strzok!)
- CLASSIFIED Items 110 in non-secure 2 in Comey's locked desk,
Improperly Stored server, Anthony 1 in his lawyer's office.
Weiner's laptop, ...
•
4 May 2018 – Lisa
Page resigns from FBI. Peter Strzok is demoted to FBI Human Resources
Department.
•
18 April 2019 –
Mueller Report issued. Comey had violated FBI policy and exceeded his authority
in making Clinton CLASSIFIED email information public.
•
Russian Collusion:
The investigation did not find sufficient evidence the Trump campaign
"coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its
election-interference activities“.
•
Obstruction of
Justice: The investigation "does not conclude that the
President committed a crime"; however, "it also does not exonerate
him“.
Actions Taken Due to June 2018 IG Report:
NO PROSECUTION OF COMEY
•
In June 2018, DOJ inspector
general Michael
Horowitz told the Senate
Judiciary Committee that he had received a referral from the FBI regarding
Comey's release of his Trump meeting memos to Daniel Richman, parts
of which were classified "confidential" after the fact.[202]
•
The DOJ decided in July
2019 to not prosecute Comey, with Fox News quoting one official saying,
"Everyone at the DOJ involved in the decision said it wasn’t a close call.
•
They all thought this could
not be prosecuted."[203] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Comey
August 2019 IG Report
Specific Charges Against Comey
- The Memos were FBI Records [IG p52]
- Comey Violated Department and FBI Policies Pertaining to the Retention, Handling, and Dissemination of FBI Records and Information[IG p54]
1 - Comey Failed to Return Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 after Being Removed as FBI
Director Comey violated Department and FBI policies, and the terms of his FBI
Employment Agreement, by retaining copies of Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 after he was
removed as Director, regardless of each Memo's classification level.[IG
p55]
2 - Comey Improperly Disclosed FBI Documents and Information. Comey violated FBI policies and the requirements of his FBI Employment Agreement when he sent a copy of Memo 4 to Richman with instructions to provide the contents to a reporter, and when he transmitted copies of Memos 2, 4, 6, and a redacted version of 7 to his three attorneys.[IG p56 thru p58]
Comey Failed to Immediately Alert the FBI to the Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Information[IG p59]
Actions Taken Due to August 2019 IG Report:
NO PROSECUTION OF COMEY
•
In a second report released
August 29, 2019, IG Horowitz found that Comey violated agency policies when he
retained a set of memos he wrote documenting meetings with President Donald
Trump early in 2017, and caused one of them to be leaked to the press.[22][204]
•
Though Comey is said by the
report to have set a "dangerous example" for FBI employees in an
attempt to "achieve a personally desired outcome," the Inspector
General has found "no evidence that Comey or his attorneys released any of
the classified information contained in any of the memos to members of the
media", and
•
The Department of Justice
declined to prosecute Comey.[22]
•
COMEY wrote that his
book title “came out of a bizarre dinner meeting at the White House, where
[newly-elected President Trump] demanded my loyalty – to him, personally – over
my duties as FBI director to the American people. …
•
“But in another, deeper
sense, the title is the culmination of four decades in law … I learned from
those around me … that there is a higher loyalty in all of our lives – not to a
person, not to a party, not to a group. The higher loyalty is to lasting
values, most important the truth.”
IS THERE A LESSON HERE ?
On 19 July, I spoke to the Philosophy Club and noted ten "Lessons" I had learned in life (see PART 1 - PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4 - PART 5 - PART 6).
One of my "Lessons" applies to Comey's case:
Lesson #7: IT IS EASIER TO ASK FOR FORGIVENESS AFTER THE EVENT THAN FOR PERMISSION BEFOREHAND
CONCLUSIONS
Assuming (as I do) that all the facts in the reports on Comey by Inspector General Michael Horowitz are true, and James Comey, while FBI Director, violated multiple FBI policies during his service there, why did the Justice Department decline to prosecute? (And why do I agree with their "no prosecute" decision?)Clearly, because we (Horowitz and I) accept that there is, in Comey's words, a "Higher Loyalty" that trumps FBI policies!
Clinton CLASSIFIED email investigation
It is clear to me that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her staff repeatedly placed TOP SECRET and SECRET information on a non-secure server and transmitted sensitive National Security information over the open Internet. I think it is almost certain that the sensitive information in those emails is now in the hands of Russia, China and possibly other foreign government agencies, and that that has caused GRAVE and SERIOUS DAMAGE to US interests around the world by revealing critical US intelligence sources and methods to our enemies.During the sometimes heated discussion that followed my talk, some audience members, who have dealt with this level of sensitive information in their professional careers, insisted that Clinton should have been prosecuted. They said they would be in jail had they even done a tenth of what she did! I agree with them!
However, what would have happened to our Country had Comey recommended that? With the election mere months away, the Presidential Candidate for a major party should be prosecuted? I think the resultant turmoil and political infighting would have torn our Country apart!
On the other hand, what if Comey had followed FBI policies and reported his findings, in confidence, to Attorney General Loretta Lynch? As a political appointee, I have no doubt she would have ordered Comey to keep the MATTER :') quiet and continue the investigation, running out the clock to the November election.
Had that happened, I have no doubt someone at the FBI would have leaked the information. It would have come out in a form and manner that would have been even more damaging to Candidate Clinton, and would have torn our Country apart!
By taking the middle Road, violating FBI policies and announcing his findings directly to the public as he did in his news conference, I think Comey did the right thing.
The public had the information and could weigh it over the coming few months to the election, and possibly change their vote, or not, given the new information. Both major parties had the time to spin the new information. The Democrats had the time to soften the impact with excuses, cross-charges, and other political tactics.
Indeed, in her book "What Happened" Hillary Clinton wrote that, had the election been on October 27th, she would have won. If she is right about that, and based on polling at the time, I think she is, the Democrats would have spun the story down to nearly nothing.
But that was not to be! a former Democratic Congressman (with the perfect name of "Weiner") had been caught sexting with a 15-year-old girl, and, in an unrelated FBI investigation in New York, his laptop computer had been seized. It turned out that computer had belonged to Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, a key aide to Clinton, and it was loaded with thousands of emails from Clinton's time as Secretary of State. OY!
Were any of the over 30,000 emails Clinton's staff had deleted on Weiner's laptop? Were any CLASSIFIED Clinton emails there?
Once more, Comey had to violate FBI policies and write a letter to Congress informing them that his earlier testimony about Clinton's CLASSIFIED emails was now in question. I say he had no choice because, had he not made the new information public, it would certainly have leaked.
So, on October 28th, Comey sent his letter to Congress, which, of course, rapidly leaked to the media. With the election less than ten days away, November 9th, the Democrats had no time to spin this new news away. On November 7th, Comey stated that the FBI had examined the emails on Weiner's laptop and found nothing new. But, it was too late. Clinton lost her bid to be President.
Comey Memos Investigation
He classified two of them as SECRET and properly initialed and entered copies of all of them into the FBI data system.
After he was fired by Trump, he properly turned over all copies of the classified memos but retained four unclassified memos in his locked desk drawer.
He conveyed information to his friend (from Memo #2, regarding Trump's request for "loyalty") and asked him to inform the New York Times, which he did. Comey later emailed copies of those four memos to his lawyers.
During the subsequent FBI investigation, two of those four memos were classified CONFIDENTIAL (by Page and Strzok !?!) because they revealed negative comments by President Trump about the leaders of some European and African countries.
BOTTOM LINE
The latest IG Report does not change my opinion that James Comey, while NOT the PERFECT, FEARLESS, FLAWLESS, STERLING PUBLIC SERVANT we once thought he was, is as close to that ideal as we are likely to find at the highest levels of the US government.
I look forward to reading the next IG Report on the FISA controversy to see if that diminishes Comey's reputation.
Ira Glickstein
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