Rep. Schiff's Rapid Response to Comey's Excuses for Interfering in the Election

[bigtree]

Tim Mak‏ @timkmak
Even before Comey testimony finished, top House Intel Dem hits him over decision to speak out about Clinton investigation

[2naSalit]

1. K&R... Thanks!

[hvn_nbr_2]

2. Unfortunately, I think this means...

Unfortunately, I think this means that Schiff doesn't trust Comey or Comey's current investigation. If he trusted the current investigation, he wouldn't be dissing Comey so blatantly and so openly.

[bigtree]

4. hell, he's not the only one

...most Democrats on the committee doubt it's ultimate ability to carry out a credible investigation. As of today, there's no apparent investigative staff operating out of the committee in numbers which would indicate there's even a cursory inquiry occurring beyond the cameras.

Schiff has already, repeatedly, called for an independent investigation.

[Plucketeer]

16. I just called Schiff's office

and conveyed my fervent appreciation for his dogged pursuit on this matter. I also would laud all the members of the committee if they'd make a joint statement in backing Schiff's efforts - or are they prevented from speaking? Surely they (those who wanted to) could at least vocalize their displeasure with how things AREN'T proceeding. We CAN NOT let this shit get swept under the rug!

[Maraya1969]

41. What can we do? How can we the people force a independent investigation or

make sure the investigation goes forward? Crimes have been committed and our country and our citizens are suffering because of it.

I am at a loss.

[Plucketeer]

42. How DO I feel your pain!

I'm not a gun person and pitchforks (even tho I do have one) are not gonna cut it against microwave cannons. Since I'm on the left coast - and of limited means - I can only call legislators and make them hear my disgust. Devin Nunes is MY congressdolt, so I don't waste too many stamps on his useless ass.

[NastyRiffraff]

8. That's no surprise

Schiff has been consistent in calling for an independent investigation. And who can blame him? Between Nunes and Comey, it's clear that's what's needed.

[calimary]

9. I've watched it all this morning and I'm with Rep Schiff.

I asked this in another thread:

Wouldn't it make more sense TO KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE, BEFORE YOU BLAB?????

[itcfish]

28. He Knew Exactly

What he was doing. Never forget Comey is a conservative republican.

[SergeStorms]

45. My thoughts exactly......

Comey had another choice in the matter, and that was to WAIT. He should have waited to see of there was any incriminating evidence on the Wiener's laptop before opening his gaping maw so close to the election. But that choice never occurred to Mr. FBI. I wonder why? Isn't it customary to see if there's EVIDENCE before accusing someone of wrongdoing? Nah, not in the high powered world of being a shill for Conservative Republicans, there isn't!

Comey is a shitweasel of the first order, and his bout with a little "nausea" is nothing compared to the Trumpian e-bola type virus he unleashed on our country. FUCK YOU, COMEY!

[calimary]

50. Well, isn't that what Comey's BOSS, Loretta Lynch - the attorney general, advised? To WAIT?

Didn't she remind him that this is not what we do THIS CLOSE to an election, according to longtime convention and prececent?

And he went ahead anyway. Wanted to cover his own ass more than considering how fucked-up-the-ass our country would be, by what he was about to do (and did)?

He said "mildly nauseated". "MILDLY"??????????????????????????

[regnaD kciN]

27. Does anyone...?

Unfortunately, today only makes it clear to me that the Republicans will be able to successfully stonewall any investigation that may derail their man in the White House -- and that will remain the case unless and until Democrats gain the majority in at least one chamber of Congress.

[brush]

29. Of course he should diss Comey. He tilted the election to the sorriest president ever

Maybe it will shame him into actually finishing and publicizing his investigation on trump.

God, our reps should be "nice guys" to this repug partisan for turning the White House over to a pussy grabbing, money grubbing, immigrant hating, white supremacist a-hole?

I don't think so. We'd been too nice for too long to these repugs. Time to stand up to them.

[MineralMan]

3. Thank you, Congressman Schiff!

[NewRedDawn]

5. Schiff needs to run for president.

I been saying that for some time instead of the stale old war horses that though good candidates are not what we need at this time.

[calimary]

12. My husband says the same thing. He'd eagerly vote for Hillary again if she ran again,

but he wants to see up-'n'-coming younger people move into top contention.

I get that. We DO need younger talent coming up. California has several VERY interesting ones. My money's on my state's Lt. Governor, Gavin Newsom, for example. There's Kamala Harris, our newest Senator. She'd have four years under her belt there, before 2020. We've got two possibilities in the California Congressional delegation, as well - Adam Schiff, for sure, and maybe also Ted Lieu. We've got New Jersey's Cory Booker (HAH! Imagine the fit the Aryan Nation-types behind trump would throw over ANOTHER "Candidate-of-Color", 'eh?). Either one or both of the Castro brothers in Texas. They look loaded with long-range potential. Or Jason Kander in Missouri, maybe? Senator Kristin Gillibrand of New York? Jennifer Granholm of Michigan? Sherrod Brown of Ohio? Hey - what about Al Franken? He's not quite such a young 'un, but MAN does he ever have appeal! And he understands the show-biz aspect of running a high-level campaign. Is Martin O'Malley worth considering again - or is he still regarded as not-ready-for-prime-time? He barely got out of the starting gate this last time.

AND, guys, at the same time, we need to stay alert about young Prescott Bush, who IS up-'n'-coming on the bad-guys' side, who's a Bush, who's inevitably got presidential ambitions, who's already on his way - laying the groundwork in a lesser job in Texas government from which he can easily move up, and he's got that "dynasty" behind him, and all the money and clout and string-pulling there'd be on his behalf. Because I still strongly suspect that there's something within the Bush family mindset that they're entitled to live in the White House as often as they can swing it (deliberate word choices made here).

I've heard plenty lately about a Democratic version of a private-industry mega-biggie, like Mark Cuban or Mark Facebook Zuckerberg. I'd trust one of them before I'd trust any CON version, but only slightly. After our experience with trump, I'd think the idea of a private-sector or business-leader candidate would be a non-starter. At least I hope so. I want GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE in that top job. We've already seen enough, and all too painfully, what happens when there isn't any.

[Hekate]

22. +1 calimary

[SharonAnn]

36. Jennifer Granholm is terrific but not a "natural born citizen".

Born in Canada, parents not U.S. citizens.

[calimary]

39. Well, now, there is that.

I forgot about that. Good catch! A couple of the names we were kicking around farther up - appear here, too.

Meanwhile, I stumbled upon this link:

THERE ARE AT LEAST 22 DEMOCRATS THINKING ABOUT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/02/politics/2020-democrats-donald-trump/

1st Tier (If they run, they have a real chance to win the nomination)
Joe Biden
Bernie Sanders
Elizabeth Warren

There are four tiers total, including:

2nd Tier (Have potential to be a major contender but not there....yet)

3rd Tier (There's a chance but....)

No Tier (Rich businesspeople who've never run for anything before)

Most interesting reading. Some names you'd expect. Others are a surprise.

[warmfeet]

6. Congressman Schiff is spot on

with his assessment. Comey flaunted sound policy.

[kytngirl]

7. Schiff in 2020?

Does anyone know if Rep. Schiff has any presidential aspirations?

I'm falling out of love with Elizabeth Warren these days and I need a backup to love. I HAVE to love somebody!

[YOHABLO]

10. Elizabeth Warren speaks the truth .. the truth hurts.

[diva77]

21. This +1000

I see what's happening with the politicians who are speaking the truth -- somehow they are losing popularity --

[kytngirl]

26. The truth does hurt - sometimes...

But does the truth win elections? It didn't in 2016.

[calimary]

13. Interesting you bring that up, re: Senator Warren.

I'm kinda there where you are, too. For reasons I won't bother bringing up here, for the sake of not re-litigating the last round.

[Turbineguy]

11. What is amazing

is the amount of second and third order damage that was done by Anthony Wiener and his little peccadilloes.

[Jarqui]

19. If what Comey described was accurate and I do not see why it wouldn't be under the

circumstances, someone was forwarding classified emails from Huma's email account, including thousands of Clinton emails not seen before by the FBI, to Anthony Weiner.

Weiner and his little peccadilloes did considerable second and third order damage and I'm not excusing his deplorable actions whatsoever but it appears that someone helped him significantly:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/03/politics/james-comey-hearing-huma-abedin-forwarding-classified-information/

"Somehow, her emails were being forwarded to Anthony Weiner, including classified information by her assistant, Huma Abedin," he said.
...
Comey said Abedin appeared to have had a regular practice of forwarding emails to Weiner for him "to print out for her so she could then deliver them to the secretary of state."
But there was no indication that Abedin "had a sense that what she was doing was in violation of the law"

[GliderGuider]

23. Russian hackers

This is the explanation I'm holding to until proven otherwise: The Carolina Conspiracy

[Jarqui]

30. Over the time period of forwarding thousands of emails

and her husband never said "Huma, why are you forwarding me Hillary's emails?"

Huma already told the FBI she forwarded them to her husband to print them out. Is Anthony Weiner suddenly a Russian hacker too?

If the Carolina Conspiracy was true, what it doesn't cover very well is the "plant" of the emails where the Director of the FBI, whose organization interviewed Huma, came to the conclusion after interviewing Huma that Huma herself forwarded the emails to her husband to print them off for Secretary Clinton. Which one of those people is the Russian hacker? Huma? Anthony? ....

Or is the conspiracy now that Comey is into helping the Russians and covering their hacking tracks?

It's getting a little far fetched for me.

Now, if a Russian hacker accessed Hillary's server or Huma's email and realized Wiener had a bunch of Hillary's emails and then the pulled the 15 year old sexting thing to draw the FBI in to look - that might be more plausible to me. But in that case, the Russians got Huma's inadvertent help too.

I think this news of Comey claiming Huma forwarded the emails to her husband for printing hurts the Carolina Conspiracy theory - at least some if not completely.

[Eyeball_Kid]

32. Eh? Is there something that doesn't make sense here?

WHY would HRC want Huma to have to emails so that Huma, from Anthony's laptop, can print them and then give the hardcopy to HRC??

Does anyone want to question this presumed sequence?

Doesn't HRC have a printer in her possession? Did the HRC campaign own a printer?

Since most or all of these emails were presumably written when HRC was SoS, why wouldn't she use a State Department printer? Why risk getting classified information stolen in transit from private server to private server while SoS? This is crazy, and it's not characteristic of Clinton's position as SoS.

This is where I depart from conventional assumptions about news sources and go with the Carolina Conspiracy. Having thousands of emails on a laptop in a private apartment makes NO SENSE. If HRC wanted some emails printed, she would have selected those emails and sent them, not tens of thousands of emails in a batch.

[brush]

49. Exactly. Weiner has the only printer in the world? That makes no sense.

[lapucelle]

51. If Comey was accurate yesterday,

then why did he say the following on November 6 in his second letter?

"I write to supplement my October 28, 2016 letter that notified you the FBI would be taking additional investigative steps with respect to former Secretary of State Clinton's use of a personal email server. Since my letter, the FBI investigative team has been working around the clock to process and review a large volume of emails from a device obtained in connection with an unrelated criminal investigation. During that process, we reviewed all of the communications that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State.

Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton.

I am very grateful to the professionals at the FBI for doing an extraordinary amount of high-quality work in a short period of time."

Comey was framing a self-serving narrative yesterday. He should resign.

[ffr]

14. Comey is a turd, a partisan hack. He just doesn't come across openly that way.

He's a republican. He probably voted for tRump. I'm almost certain, he's somewhat teaparty-ish in his unfounded hatred of the Clintons. What better way to ensure tRump's failed candidacy had the best chance at success than to come out 10 days before the election that he's re-opening the investigation into Hillary's E-mail server due to new evidence, when there was no additional new evidence and nothing new that would have warranted him say a damn thing!!!

He violated Bureau policy and the Hatch Act by inserting himself into the election in a partisan way. NOW LOOK WHAT WE'VE GOT. What a disaster on wheels!

Take responsibility Comey, you turd!

[old guy]

15. Independent investigation.

Special prosecutor. Only solution.

[red dog 1]

34. + 1

Unfortunately, with the Republicans controlling both houses of Congress, there won't be a Special Prosecutor appointed.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

17. K&R nt

[jeanmarc]

18. The reopening was a NEW investigation

Conceal should have been chosen. They found jack squat.

[pbmus]

20. INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION NOW....FUCK COMEY AND THE RUSSIANS...

[Sculpin Beauregard]

24. Guys, OBAMA STOPPED COMEY FROM GOING PUBLIC WITH THE FACT THAT THERE WAS A TRUMP-RUSSIA INVESTIGATIO

Investigation underway. Firing Comey helps Trump!

Link to tweet

[Goodheart]

44. That's truly not an excuse

Obama didn't want Comey to disclose a Trump-Russia investigation because by then the Clinton investigation had been closed and he didn't want an appearance of unfairness. That situation changed the moment Comey decided to reopen the case and announce it to the world. Comey obliterated Obama's attempt at fairness.

[Raster]

25. Even though many in DC say that Comey is a "unicorn," meaning that...

...he is the rarest of DC beast that does not have a political agenda, the facts tend to say otherwise. Whether Comey was covering his ass, the FBI's reputation OR WHATEVER, the fact remains his meddling --YES MEDDLING-- was a major factor in changing the course of our last Presidential election. Comey had a purpose. His actions were not coincidental. I believe that Comey was aware that his actions *may have had* the results that they did. And now we hear from other channels that Ghouliani and Erik "war criminal" Prince along with retired NYC FBI Chief Kallstrom were assigned to "manage" Comey and the FBI, re: the Hillary Clinton affair.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/03/meet-donald-trump-s-top-fbi-fanboy

An old friend that had worked in and around the DC Beltway for years and years told me several times: "In this town, there ain't no such thing as coincidence... no such thing as happenstance. Everything is done for a measured reason or calculated purposes. Everything."

[dchill]

31. K&R.

[TxVietVet]

33. k & r

Comey is just another conservanazi operative whose ideology outweighs all else EVEN TREASON.

F*CK COMEY.

[red dog 1]

35. James Comey violated the 1939 Hatch Act....Period!

K&R!

[certainot]

37. and all this email shit would be nothing if the left/dems didn't ignore rw radio

the whole email issue would be a fart in the wind but once again liberal and the left and dems let a few hundred liars on 1000 coordinated radio stations turn another nothing burger into another major win for republicans.

nice going

[BigmanPigman]

38. I have called ALL 100 senators and 100 congressmen

(using their local diaricts' public library's addresses and phone numbers so that the staffers will accept my phone call as a legitimate constituent...this is a lot of work by the way) and STILL what the fuck can I do? Really, what else can I do????

[napi21]

40. I've heard that some voters have mentioned Schiff as a possible Presidental candidate in 2020.

My ears perked up at that. I think we need to get some new, younger candidates in our Party and I'm pretty impressed by Schiff.

[Goodheart]

43. I don't think any Dem rocked him enough on his "wreckless" characterizations of Hillary's email

As in "How, sir, did you feel it your duty to place those disparaging adjectives upon Mrs. Clinton when your only task was to report on the possible prosecutability of her behavior? Is it your normal behavior to publicly denigrate a candidate who has committed no crimes?"

Also, are we supposed to believe that there was nothing other than a political urgency to his letter? Any valid reason that it couldn't have waited for twelve days except that Republicans might later get angry with him? Any? And his excuse for concealing the Trump/Russia investigation (i.e. that he hadn't revealed the Clinton investigation, either, for five months after it started) was pure baloney. Not only do we now know that the Trump investigation started a full six months before the election, where in stone and statute is it written that an FBI director CAN'T make the Congress and the public aware of an investigation at a fair and opportune time?

[Turbineguy]

46. When you're in power undeservedly,

every day you stay there, is a small victory.

Comey extended trump's stay a bit.

[OnDoutside]

47. If you want Comey fired, Trump would appoint his successor. Just think about that.

[AgadorSparticus]

48. Boy, does he sure kick ass. Go Schiff!!

[Gothmog]

52. Congressman Schiff is doing a great job

[DallasNE]

53. When Comey Announced The FBI was Reopening The Clinton Email Investigation

It was a deliberate and misleading political statement that could only be viewed as partisan.

Comey did not have any new email. What he had was a backup file of email as of a certain date. To even read the email he likely needed to restore the file to Clinton's email server.

All Comey was ever doing was looking to entrap Clinton for deleting "official" email. He found none which means Clinton was exonerated when none were found. Yes, they did find email that Clinton later deleted, as expected. One such email was where the two women discussed what they were going to wear to an event that evening.

When Comey closed the case again he made another political statement that was misleading. Why did Comey never mention that all he had was a backup file? Only he can answer that. It sure would have put the episode in a different and honest light. He choose the witch-hunt route.

[R B Garr]

54. K&R! Schiff is formidable.

DOJ policy was obviously not Comey's concern -- "unjustifiable inconsistency." Thank you, Adam Schiff for calling these clowns out.