James Comey to Lawmakers: 'No Serious Person' Thinks There's a Case Against Clinton Over Emails

[DonViejo]

by Tamar Auber | Dec 8th, 2018, 5:55 pm 4148

The transcript of former FBI Director James Comey‘s closed-door meeting with lawmakers is out and in it are some interesting nuggets.

According to CNN, the Friday meeting was tense and “Republicans were frustrated by instructions from a Justice Department attorney telling Comey not to answer certain questions about the Russia investigation.”

Comey and House Democrats also reportedly called it a waste of time and were irked by the number of questions about Hillary Clinton‘s emails. And in fact, a look at the transcript shows Clinton’s name appeared repeatedly as lawmakers asked about Comey’s decision not to charge Clinton for mishandling classified information and if she was questioned in regards to Bill Clinton‘s meeting with Loretta Lynch, as well as a laundry list of other questions surrounding the emails.

Then, on page 84, at the tail end of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee‘s questioning, Rep. Jackson Lee asks Comey this: “Is there any need to further investigate Hillary Clinton’s emails based upon the decision that you made not to prosecute?”

-snip-

See an excerpt of the transcript below. The full transcript is available here.



full article:
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/james-comey-to-lawmakers-no-serious-person-thinks-theres-a-case-against-clinton-over-emails/

[JayhawkSD]

1. Why is anyone comfortable with Comey's decision not to prosecute?

Regardless of what evidence was or was not found, regardless of what Ms. Clinton may or may not have done, the decision Comey made not to prosecute was improper as hell because that decision does not rest with the FBI, it rests with the Attorney General.

Comey made and announced a decision that was not his to make. It was not even within the purview of his agency to make that decision. The FBI is an investigative agency. It's right there in their name. They make investigations and turn the results of their investigations over to the office of the Attorney General, where prosecutorial decisions are made.

Comey later babbled some nonsense about Loretta Lynch recusing herself due to some meeting on an airplane with Bill Clinton, but such recusal would not relegate her prosecutorial authority to the FBI, it would relegate it to other members of her office.

Once Comey made that highly improper announcement, he placed the office of Attorney General in a position where they could not reverse him, because he publicly stated that the evidence did not warrant prosecution. That may or may not have been true, but it was not his decision, and once that cat was out of the bag the Attorney General could not reverse him.

[mucifer]

3. I think comey really wanted a republican President. Looks like he also

regrets some choices he made for how he pursued it and how it ended up. I don't care if he suffers through all of this.

I also have more respect for Mueller knowing he isn't comey's friend.

[Demsrule86]

4. Also, I will state categorically that Hillary Clinton should not have been

investigated much less indicted...so if you are saying she should have been...I say absolutely not...a political attack from the beginning...and too bad some on our side bought it and ushered in the orange nightmare.

[JayhawkSD]

6. That is NOT what I said.

"so if you are saying she should have been"

Read my post. My first words were, "Regardless of what evidence was or was not found, regardless of what Ms. Clinton may or may not have done..."

The original post was about James Comey, and my response was about James Comey. Perhaps the truism of "Methinks the lady doth protesteth overly much" applies here.

[Adrahil]

7. The FBI makes recommendations....

Your post is a little. trollish to me....

While you can criticize his handling of the case in public (and I think there is stuff there to criticize), Comey did not make a decision to not prosecute. He can, as you note, only recommend against prosecution. The DOJ could still prosecute if it decided to, but the FBI's recommendation against it would be a centerpiece of any defense.

Lynch had earlier announced she would follow the FBI's recommendation, so in effect he DID make the decision, but let's not distort what happened.

[Demsrule86]

2. She agreed to accept FBI determination.

And what nonsense...Trump has fired an FBI director and an AG in an attempt to end the Mueller investigation.



"Ms. Lynch said she had decided this spring to defer to the recommendations of her staff and the F.B.I. because her status as a political appointee sitting in judgment on a politically charged case would raise questions of a conflict of interest. But the meeting with Mr. Clinton, she acknowledged, had deepened those questions, and she said she now felt compelled to explain publicly her reasoning to try to put the concerns to rest.

“People have a whole host of reasons to have questions about how we in government do our business,” Ms. Lynch said at an Aspen Institute conference in Colorado. “My meeting on the plane with former President Clinton could give them another reason to have questions and concerns.”

Though she insisted the 30-minute conversation was a purely social encounter, Ms. Lynch said, “I certainly wouldn’t do it again.”


From the NY Times.

[tblue37]

5. Zing! Comey: You guys are obviously NOT serious people. nt