Question - Why did Comey think he could ignore

[malaise]

the Attorney General - was it because she was female and African-American?

[pangaia]

1. you lost me, malaise....

please help a lost soul...

[malaise]

2. Here

https://www.alternet.org/election-2016/sure-looks-campaign-hijinks-fbi-director-comey-ignored-his-boss-breaking-doj-rules

[pangaia]

19. Thank you.

[BigmanPigman]

3. Most likely.

[hlthe2b]

4. Messianic complex. Having read most of his book, it is clear his entire "self" hinges on belief

that he (and sometimes he alone) has the integrity lacking in so many others and necessary to navigate the political waters he believed was at play with re: to Clinton emails. I think he was genuinely offended by the AG-Bill Clinton meeting on the plane (which was incredibly stupid, I'd agree) and perhaps that left him with some contempt of Loretta Lynch--or maybe it was there all along.

Does he have issues with her because of race and gender? Hard to say, but I've not seen anything elsewhere suggesting he had these kind of biases and after he was fired, I'd surely think that would have come to light if so.

As to taking steps that should have been DOJ's to do (announce decisions on prosecution or not), that oversteps his role as FBI Director, but as a former Deputy US Attorney General, I just think he thought he COULD? Should? assume that role given the controversy via Lynch. I disagree with that assessment and think it suggests a high degree of arrogance, but I am just not sure bias towards Lynch was the reason.

[malaise]

7. Thanks

Arrogance and self-righteousness

[KT2000]

11. agree

watching several of his interviews on TV, it appears he was in the wrong job. He should have been a Jesuit and debated where the high road is, with others who could argue. His debates occurred in his own mind, with him as savior.

[Wellstone ruled]

14. Exactly,

anti female complex,especially those of authority.

[Sunsky]

15. Spot on analysis nt

[marylandblue]

5. She recused herself and said she would follow FBI's recommendation

No DOJ official was acting in her place, so Comey was a free agent.

[malaise]

6. I know she recused herself but the Department's policy was clear

Last edited Thu Jun 14, 2018, 06:47 PM - Edit history (1)

“Director Comey understood our position. He heard it from Justice leadership,” the Washington Post's source said. “It was conveyed to the FBI, and Comey made an independent decision to alert the Hill. He is operating independently of the Justice Department. And he knows it.”

Attorney General Loretta Lynch told Comey not to break DOJ policy—laid out in federal prosecutor guidelines—of not commenting on open investigations or making any statement potentially influencing election outcomes, the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer reported, also citing DOJ sources.

"Lynch expressed her preference that Comey follow the department’s longstanding practice of not commenting on ongoing investigations, and not taking any action that could influence the outcome of an election," Mayer wrote. “The F.B.I. director is an employee of the Justice Department, and is covered by its policies."


She did not recuse herself.

[marylandblue]

9. Policy allows for exceptions in matters of high public interest

Lynch expressed a "preference." But there should have been an Acting AG who could order him to do so. Alternatively, due to high public interest, the Acting AG could have approved his statement which should have been a single sentence, "The investigation is closed without referral to DOJ."

[Sunsky]

12. She did not recuse herself

Lynch did not recuse herself from the Clinton email probe, but told Comey at the time that she would agree with his findings

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/lynch-comey-lack-communication-troubling

Therefore, even though AG Lynch stated that she would agree with whatever the investigation found, Comey should have spoken to her before he revealed his findings.

[marylandblue]

13. My error then, but many people thought she did

Which put her in a difficult position, and Comey took advantage of that.

[malaise]

16. The report said he usurped her authority n/t

[brush]

8. Yep, reminiscent of the Dred Scott decision.

A mindset in which a negro (substitute African American woman here) “has no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

Comey totally ignored his boss Loretta Lynch, the Attorney General.

[Va Lefty]

10. See Hoover, J. Edgar

[milestogo]

17. Well, being a white male means you can pretty much ignore black females-

so, yes.

[OnDoutside]

18. I thought it was the perception of being pro-Clinton ? At least that was mentioned many times and

I didn't see it refuted anywhere.