Posted on 05/10/2017 5:59:00 AM PDT by shortstop
He lied to Congress, and this is not a "constitutional crisis."
James Comey is out at the FBI, and the sky is not falling.
Last week, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the director of the FBI gave patently false information. So false as to be unavoidably a lie. And he did so to justify his announcement of an investigation that Hillary Clinton had said just days before robbed her of the presidency.
James Comey testified under oath that Clinton aide Huma Abedin had forwarded "hundreds and thousands" of State Department emails to her husband, Anthony Weiner's, laptop computer. Comey called it a "regular practice."
That claim was used to justify the months-long investigation of Clinton, and the supposed need to go public with information about the investigation less than two weeks before last November's election.
Hillary Clinton says -- rightly or wrongly -- that that James Comey announcement cost her the presidency. That it tipped the scales in a free election and cheated democracy.
That it was something of a coup d'etat.
And James Comey lied about it to a committee of Congress.
Lying to Congress is, according to U.S. Code section 1621 of Title 18, a crime. A felony crime. Punishable by up to five years in prison. It is a "high crime" for which a federal officer can be impeached.
Yesterday, at almost the same time he was fired, the FBI sent a clarifying statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying that the "hundreds and thousands" claim had been in error, and that the quantity could more accurately be described as a "small number."
Last week it was a smoking gun, this week it was no big deal.
What the big deal is is that the head of the FBI lied about his reason for an investigation that may have influenced the choice of the leader of the Free World.
And that gets you fired.
The attorney general and his assistant were right to recommend the termination, and the president was right to order it.
And the Democrats are wrong to sieze upon it as one more step forward in their slow-motion civil war.
It became immediately clear in social media and on the news that the Democratic talking point was "constitutional crisis." In interview after interview, across the country, that's been the phrase.
Goebbels would have been proud.
But the claim is preposterous and false.
There is not, by any legal theory or fantasy, a constitutional implication of this matter.
The FBI and its director are not constitutional creations. The agency was initially formed by Theodore Roosevelt's attorney general under the authority of the president and the executive branch. The director of the FBI serves at the pleasure of the president, as Bill Clinton demonstrated in 1993 when he fired Director William Sessions. Presidents were given that specific authority by Congress in 1968.
A president's firing of an FBI director is both legal and constitutional.
Not only is there not a constitutional crisis, there is no crisis.
An officer of the executive branch has been removed according to law. An acting director immediately took his place. The work of the FBI, including the very large investigation of Russian efforts to influence our elections, continues with scores of agents involved in the effort.
Additionally, that very matter is the focus of two investigations in the Congress -- one in the House and one in the Senate. That constitutional oversight of the executive branch and its officers -- to include the president -- continues apace and unabated.
That is obvious and known by all.
And yet, so keen is the lust for political advantage, and so hungry are Democrats to destabilize this presidency, that progressives are mouthing lies of their own. And they are doing the nation great hurt.
Because just as it is wrong to yell, "Fire!" in a crowded theater, it is wrong to claim, "Constitutional crisis!" in a divided Republic.
It's almost as if they are willing to kill the beast in order to pick its bones.
So they, through dishonesty, create fake news.
When really the truth is simple and unremarkable.
He lied to Congress, and this is not a "constitutional crisis."
I had not heard that before. Thoughts Freepers?
Thank you for bringing up Comey’s misleading testimony. It wasn’t the first time he’s misled congress. And it appears that Yates isn’t the only gubment servant with a Supreme Court attitude. I recall that Yates was ‘very concerned’ that Sessions was giving ‘misinformation’ about Flynn’s phonecalls - enough to notify the WH, and via leaks, the press, who all called for Session’s resignation with much harrumping. And I can’t count the number of times someone or another has indignantly demanded someone on Trump’s staff or in his family resign or be fired for something that person felt was ‘misleading.’ So to them, I say, goose, gander.
The first impression people had of Comey was this guy coming along from the FBI and laying out a case which sounded damning, and then saying that it wouldn’t be prosecuted, and THEN blathering a bunch of 1984 sounding stuff. Then he kept coming back, and kept coming back!
It wasn’t/isn’t professional.
Neither do most federal agencies.
Not sure why he didn’t axe this guy back in January. Thank goodness he is out now.
The original reason for the FBI is gone. Technology is such that states can cooperate and handle most FBI jurisdiction. Some other functions of the FBI can be handled by federal marshals, the military, or the Treasury Department. Nothing would be lost if the FBI were a small fraction of its current size and power.
It’s here.
Art 2, sect 2:
2: He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and
all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law:
but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Court
https://news.grabien.com/story-10-major-fbi-scandals-comeys-watch
This guy is defending Trump’s decision to fire Comey - but he seems to be missing the point of why he was fired.
The memos from the deputy AG, the AG and the termination letter from POTUS are very clear that it was not for lying to congress about the number of emails sent to Weiner’s laptop.
It was because Comey acted outside of his appropriate role when he publicly deemed the server gate case against Clinton not worth prosecuting. That was not his call to make and the deputy AG clearly said that made Comey unfit for the position. The AG agreed, and the POTUS agreed and its all clearly spelled out in the three letters.
I don’t know why this writer wants to justify it on a different basis. Maybe it’s a straw man argument where you pose as an ally, then purposely suggest a weak argument in order to sabatage your opponent.
Comey took a lesson in politics from Eric Holder, stall for a long as possible, and create a feint..
and then sound authoritative about the prospects of a criminal prosecution, and then feint back away from the limelight again.
Since he had 10 investigations pending, satisfying the Democrats demand for investigations about Trump and Russian connections,
and Republican investigations into Clinton emails and server controversy, as well as Huma and the Muslim brotherhood, and Carlos Danger..
He was assured that his forced departure during any of these pending investigations would cause a hue and cry from both political parties, .. and save 'his bacon'.
He was burning the political candle at both ends of the spectrum, yet never bringing any criminal prosecution to fruition.
Also, it was regularly bringing him into the national media spotlight, which he enjoyed, much the same as Schumer in front of the camera.
So many pending high profile investigations, .. with never any satisfactory conclusion. You figure it out !
BUMP
The picky point is that huma did not 'forward' them all to print but the laptop was the designated backup device for the blackberry huma was using.
That would mean that WHATEVER was on huma's blackberry moved to the weiner laptop.
This is the elephant in the room as far as I can see and we are being distracted by this other wordplay BS.
I think the FBI has everything they need to bury the whole pack of jackals that are involved in any and all of the scandals that clinton has skated on.
All we need is a director with stones and an AG of the same nature.
The FBI is a federal police force.
The Constitution says nothing about that.
The only area they should work in is interstate commerce, then.
It’s true. A proper reading of the Constitution will find zero authority for an FBI or most other FedGov agencies/departments. And the Tenth Amendmendment clearly states that if no authority is granted to let FedGovment exercise some or another power, it may not do it.
In other words, a truly Constitutional FedGov would be likely less than a tenth the size of our current Leviathan. And i’d LOVE it!!!
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