Comey's classified misconduct and the media's flawed coverage of it

The Hill ^ | 8/30/2019 | john Solomon

[bitt]

A major headline from the Department of Justice's (DOJ) latest inspector general report is that fired FBI Director James Comey mishandled classified information. But you’d never know it from most of the day-after media reporting on the historic findings.

The internal DOJ watchdog documented, irrefutably, that Comey leaked the contents of a classified memo to his legal team, first orally and then by providing a copy of the document. Some of the memo’s content was then leaked to a media organization by one of his lawyers.

I first reported this when sources contacted me in late July and told me the inspector general (IG) had referred Comey to the Justice Department for possible prosecution for mishandling classified information. Attorney General William Barr’s team declined to bring charges.

My reporting was directly confirmed when the IG released its final report Thursday. The information I laid out in my July 31 column was laid bare in the IG report’s official timeline. IG Michael Horowitz declared Comey's conduct so egregious that it created a “dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees — and the many thousands more former FBI employees — who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.”

For some reason, not one but two Washington Post columns have emerged, suggesting I misled readers. Media critic Erik Wemple suggested I had “slimed” Comey. Another columnist, Aaron Blake, suggested my reporting led to a misleading narrative on Fox News.

When confronted like this, a professional journalist has an obligation: Either retract and correct what you got wrong, or show the public the facts that affirm the reporting. I will do the latter.

[bitt]

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[JonPreston]

Waiting for the army of embedded white hat bureaucrats to burst from the cocoons and save us!

[traderrob6]

John Soloman is one of the very few honest to goodness journalists left in the “profession”

And the fact that he writes for the lefty Hill is even more surprising.

[Major Matt Mason]

The media will do everything it can to protect the Democrats and government, including false reporting. It is good that Solomon is setting the record straight, but how many people will see this article? Only those that read The Hill.

[Kid Shelleen]

the media lie and give themselves Pulitzer prizes

[Jane Austen]

Comey has caused immense damage to the credibility of the FBI. During his term, one scandal after another emerged.