James Comey was only a canary in a coal mine...

[kentuck]

He was the test case.

He was in charge of the FBI and that is where the "plan" to dismantle and overthrow the government began.

Comey was naive as to what was expected of him. He was supposed to bow down to the new emperor. When he refused, he was fired. It was part of the "plan". Disable and dismantle those that are a threat to you.

His release of the Hillary "emails" was only a side event in the big show to come. No one recognized it at the time.

Get rid of the FBI and put "generals" in charge of everything important in government, so long as they would follow the orders of the CinC. And they all did, in the final analysis, including John Kelly and Jim Mattis. Michael Flynn was the first general to fall in line but he was quite willing to do the bidding of his boss.

Now, we ask, where is Christopher Wray? What did he commit to his "boss" when they were working together? How was he able to keep his position?

What is he doing today? Working silently in the background, just doing his job? Or is there something more sinister going on? Is he still alive?

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Agree. Sleepwalking.

Last edited Sun Oct 17, 2021, 12:00 PM - Edit history (1)

He was in a June 2020 press conference. I think he took no quesions. He just read from a page. Hardly looked at the camera or reporters. I thought at the time, he's just afraid of being fired so he's quietly doing his job. Avoid the spotlight. But was it fear? Or embarrassment? Shame? Complicity? I don't know, I don't think a visage can be read with great accuracy, and especially without comprehensive knowledge. So it remains just a thought.

And this post is about Wray. Seems the OP and discussion began with Comey but I was responding to the last couple paragraphs.

[kentuck]

3. I wonder if he communicates with the Attorney General?

Are they working together? I assume they are but we know nothing for sure.

Perhaps we will find out in the next six months or year?

[NullTuples]

22. I don't think embarrassment or shame should ever be assumed for that crowd.

People still in those positions saw what was happening and the grave attacks on our Democracy.

At that point complicity was equal to support, in my opinion.

[rampartc]

2. wray should be fired on general principles.

do you think wray might have epstein's videos, or is trump using that to hold the republicans tight?

it always struck me as odd that trump would fire comey, the guy who kept the damn e mails in the news.

[kentuck]

4. He only fired those that would not follow orders.

Did Wray follow orders? And what were they?

[Rebl2]

9. Is it

possible Wray has information on tfg and would release it if tfg threatened to fire him?

[Bev54]

16. Of course Wray followed orders just look at what he did with Kavanaugh

he did not follow up on tips and instead re-directed them all to the whitehouse so they could be buried. I think he has to go, he is incompetent at best and a wolf in sheeps clothing at worst.

[RVN VET71]

33. Wray folded under Fat Man pressure, yes he did

And by ignoring so many of the “tips” he received about the drunkard rapist-wannabe and sending the rest to McGahn to be disposed of, he showed his absolute willingness to screw up SCOTUS and kiss the big fat orange butt.

When you back and support fascism, doesn’t that make you a fascist?

[The Magistrate]

5. Far Too Kind, Sir

He was simply disposed of once his usefulness was at an end.

He had been hunting the Clintons for more than a decade, was absolutely determined Mrs. Clinton should never hold high elected office again. He covered himself, to himself, by adherence to his self-image as 'the last boy scout', the one honest man in Washington, and this delusion allowed him to behave in a shockingly partisan manner with cool deliberation without ever quite appreciating just how foul he had become, and what he was in willing alliance with.

That the consequences were a little different than those he had intended, that he was not going to be allowed to put on his usual 'last boy scout' act by the people he had deliberately aided to power, does not make him some sort of victim. He simply became one of the first revolutionists to go under the guillotine at the hands of his fellows.

[Alice Kramden]

6. Perfectly stated

100%

[Farmer-Rick]

11. Yeah, I think gunning down Hillary was his whole goal

He really was a Trump true believer and he did his best to kill off the competition. Just because Trump is a psychotic idiot and killed his own foot soldier, doesn't make what Comey did ok.

Comey was a lifelong Republican lawyer and he still is. His shtick as a boy scout and honest arbiter of the FBI was a cover.

Comey's betrayal of FBI info to help Trump and Colin Powell's imaginary sightings of Iraqu weapons of mass destruction to help W are right up there as top political betrayals of the American people.

[kentuck]

28. Why did he fire Andrew McCabe also?

Who had replaced Comey? He did not want any legal oversight that might not agree with him, in my opinion.

[2naSalit]

13. Indeed, Sir!

Well stated.

[dem4decades]

7. Canaries don't kill democracies.

[Sherman A1]

8. Yeah, Okaaaaaaaay

[Tetrachloride]

10. Garland has mountains to answer for.

[Hortensis]

12. I believe it started long before Comey, and my best guess about

what happened is that Comey allied with and served the same enormously powerful RWers who've backed and controlled the Republican establishment all along. They thought someone acceptable or even chosen by them would become the Republican nominee. tRump was the choice of a RW populist base rebellion against them, and Comey reaped the whirlwind he and they created.

Sorta. He's too powerful not to be doing fine out of this, of course. And he has to be protected.

Why he did what he did, what form he believed the government the big conservative powers wanted would take, including the future of the FBI, as well as his personal feelings about HRC, are all big questions. Comey's not simple minded or stupid. Of course he had opinions and his actions had goals.

Speaking of, the notion of the director of the FBI could be naive about politics and the huge players behind the scenes has been sold everywhere as the Comey Big Lie, their propaganda defense against charges of betraying his country. He's not guilty because he didn't know he was doing wrong. Comey, a man too good and pure at heart to understand that his actions could affect a national election. BS.

[Botany]

14. When Comey brought up Hillary's emails & server late in the '16 election he should have been well..

... aware that he was spreading Russian disinformation which he could have checked the validity of
it with a 30 minute computer search by the FBI and when he later said that Hillary hadn't done
anything wrong it was too late and the damage was done. However he did not speak too the proven
facts that Russia was working to help Trump, to hurt Hillary, and that millions of Russian/Russian Mob
dollars were flowing into Trump and Republican hands.

[Hortensis]

15. Wouldn't we love to know a tiny fraction of what the Director

of the FBI, literally one of the most powerful people on the planet, knew about all that was going on. It is, of course, the FBI's business to know this country.

Just for one little thing, I've always wondered why the public figures we've seen turn into pernicious liars and destroy their reputations did it, and if they were being blackmailed how and by whom. The director of the FBI would "wonder" also if he didn't already know and would be able to put together at least very informed guesses about all of them.

[JohnSJ]

17. Comey was a willing accomplice, and got what he deserved. 11 days before the general election,

he sent a memo to the republicans in Congress, against the orders of the AG, saying he was looking at new information regarding Hillary’s emails.

The republicans, and the media falsely claimed the email investigation was being reopened. That was a lie, but for the next three days the media paraded every right wing politician and pundit across their outlets propagating that lie.

Then late Friday, the weekend before the election, he put out a very brief statement saying there was no new information, and the email investigation would not be reopened

It was too late by then, the damage had been done. The lead Hillary had was completely erased, and the rest is history.

If I never hear the name of Comey again, it will be to soon

He is a disgrace

[kentuck]

18. I do not believe Comey was an "accomplice" in the attempted coup.

With all his faults, or animosities toward Hillary (which I am not certain about), I think he loved his country.

[JohnSJ]

23. He disobeyed a direct order from the attorney general and violated the hatch act by releasing

that email to the republicans. He knew damn well what he was doing. Interfering with the election

What he misjudged was that trump would ask him to do illegal things after he was elected, which he was not willing to do. That is the difference between most of the current republicans in Congress and him

We simply disagree on the integrity of Comey

He knew what he did would impact the election

I was doing call banking at the time, and they had a TV on where I was doing it. When that announcement was made, I knew this would be very bad.

[kentuck]

26. Still, even with the emails, nobody thought Hillary was going to lose the election.

I think Comey was making his decisions on that information also. He did not believe his actions would affect the election.

[HUAJIAO]

31. I don't believe that for a minute...

[kentuck]

32. I don't recall anyone stating that it would cost Hillary the election..

when it happened?

Almost everyone still thought Hillary would win, as I recall.

[NullTuples]

24. A solid contingent of Republicans love their country enough to burn it down & start over.

And sadly, that's not hyperbole.

[kentuck]

27. Like the villages in Vietnam?

We had to destroy them to save them?

[NullTuples]

29. Exactly the same mindset.

[Botany]

19. Comey, "It makes me mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election."

“This was terrible. It makes me mildly nauseous to think we might have had some impact on the election,” Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I would make the same decision.”

No we there mother fucker it was a big fat I.

It makes me mildly nauseous to think I might have had some impact on the election.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/03/fbis-comey-it-makes-me-mildly-nauseous-to-think-i-may-have-affected-election.html

[kentuck]

20. I recall his testimony before the Republican-led Committee where he promised...

... that he would inform them of any new evidence that came up. He didn't have to agree with them but he did. When the new evidence came up of emails on Anthony Weiners' wife's computer, he could have ignored it.

[dlk]

21. Comey's actions also revealed the deep vein of misogyny that runs through the FBI and our country

Whether it’s FBI agents brushing off sexual assault claims, the Texas vigilante law that targets pregnant women, the violent outbursts at school board meetings, where most of the school officials are women, the violence in hospitals, where most of the employees are women, and more-America’s women-haters are massively crawling out from under their rocks.

[Joinfortmill]

25. Interesting question. I hope some investigative reporter is on it.

[Escurumbele]

30. "Comey was naive as to what was expected of him."...I don't think so, I think he was in it.

He has been doing the rounds to exculpate himself, but he was a pawn in the game. It is obvious he knew he should not have done what he did, and it is obvious he know what he was doing, all timed to perfection.

[ShazamIam]

34. My beef with Comey was how he allowed the Republican Congress to use him as a political attack tool.

The worst of course was going along with the just before the election email bs, but that was only the final act against the election.

[INdemo]

35. Why did Comey realease the the letter about opening up a new investigation?

He knew what the consequences would be.
So after he was fired and released his book we were suppose to thank him by buying it?
Jim Comey was setting himself up for a lucrative job in the Private sector by re-opening the Hillary email investigation.

[FakeNoose]

36. Jim Comey came in under Obama in 2013

He was already director of the FBI for three years when Chump got elected in 2016.

I've read Comey's book a few years ago and I don't believe he had a preference for either candidate in that election. Even though he had been a member of the Republican Party, he dropped his affiliation several years ago.

James Comey writes in his book that he ascribes to the FBI's tenet to remain aloof from politics and presidential campaign activities. He felt that he was between a rock and a hard place when he wrote the letter to the U.S. Senate, notifying them of the re-opening of the "Hillary's emails" investigation. He admitted in hindsight that it was probably a mistake, but he trusted that the eyes-only message to the Senators would not get leaked to the press.

[Baked Potato]

37. Yes, T***p put Generals in charge, because he knew early on

he would need the military to back him in international affairs. Other than Flynn, who was compromised and was in it for personal gain, Generals McMaster, Kelly, and Mattis kept T***p in check. Of course they followed orders of the CinC. If they didn’t, they would have been fired.

McMaster stopped T***p from keeping very bad people in the administration. After Flynn left the NSC, McMaster cleaned house and fired Derek Harvey, Rich Higgins, and Ezra Cohen-Watnick. Higgins was another staffer brought in by General Flynn and was the former staffer who wrote the “Deep State” memo which caused the shakeup of personnel at NSC, resulting in the H.R. McMaster firings. Ezra Cohen-Watnick would unfortunately return in a late 2020 shakeup of Staff.

Kelly helped persuade T***p to not pull US forces out of South Korea. He also was big on keeping the US in NATO when T***p wanted to the US to withdraw. General Kelly was an advisor to former SecDefense Panetta under President Obama. Kelly had lost a son in the Afghanistan war and brought a sense of reality to the White House concerning military operations.

Mattis was instrumental in stopping T***p from banning transgender troops from the military. Mattis was highly respected at the Pentagon and widely reported as stopping T***p from a number of bad decisions concerning the military. Mattis also stopped T***p from having his greatly desired military parades. Mattis resigned after T***p pulled US troops out of Syria, and wrote a scathing resignation letter criticizing a sitting President. You can bet that senior military leaders at all levels did not trust T***p.

Looking from the outside, it appeared to Americans that these strong military guys should have reigned T***p in at every bad turn, but that was far from a realistic task. It was far more important for them to keep T***p from starting a terrible war or making other terrible National Security decisions. In that, they succeeded. And, in the end T***p failed in turning the military into his private security. Americans are very fortunate to have all those former General officers in places where they could keep ‘in check’ the most dangerous man in the world.

As far as FBI Director Wray, I trust Joe Biden in his decision to keep him on. Wray was no Comey when it came to the Hunter Biden issue around election time.