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Wednesday, July 31, 2019

UPDATED: John Solomon: Status of James Comey Investigations

Yes, I use the plural, as in multiple investigations. First what most will find disappointing news--even VERY disappointing. Here's what John Solomon is reporting in James Comey's next reckoning is imminent — this time for leaking:

The Justice Department’s chief watchdog is preparing a damning report on James Comey’s conduct in his final days as FBI director that likely will conclude he leaked classified information and showed a lack of candor after his own agency began looking into his feud with President Trump over the Russia probe. 
Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz’s team referred Comey for possible prosecution under the classified information protection laws, but Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors working for Attorney General William Barr reportedly have decided to decline prosecution — a decision that’s likely to upset Comey's conservative critics. 
Prosecutors found the IG’s findings compelling but decided not to bring charges because they did not believe they had enough evidence of Comey’s intent to violate the law, according to multiple sources.  
The concerns stem from the fact that one memo that Comey leaked to a friend specifically to be published by the media — as he admitted in congressional testimony — contained information classified at the lowest level of “confidential,” and that classification was made by the FBI after Comey had transmitted the information, the sources said. 
Although a technical violation, the DOJ did not want to “make its first case against the Russia investigators with such thin margins and look petty and vindictive,” a source told me, explaining the DOJ’s rationale.

However, Comey is far from out of the woods:

 But Comey and others inside the FBI and the DOJ during his tenure still face legal jeopardy in ongoing probes by the IG and Barr-appointed special prosecutor John Durham. Those investigations are focused on the origins of the Russia investigation that included a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant targeting the Trump campaign at the end of the 2016 election, the source said. 
“There are significant issues emerging with how the FISA was handled and other conduct in the investigation, and everyone involved remains under scrutiny,” a second source said.

These investigations are at the heart of the Russia Hoax and the conspiracy that Joe diGenova is claiming will be proved. I'll post on that next.

UPDATE: On Hannity tonight John Solomon offered a clarification of his article. He stated that among the "everyone involved" who "remains under scrutiny" is, specifically, James Comey:

There is going to be a very damning report that is going to shame James Comey. This report will not show James Comey as a rule follower. He will be a rule breaker for the second time in a year. But the more important thing to watch Sean is the ongoing investigation by Bill Barr and what we know about the FISA. There’s a quote in my story that says they are discovering some very troubling information about the FISA process and EVERYONE INVOLVED including James Comey remains under significant scrutiny. But stay tuned to what we see this fall… He (James Comey) signed the first FISA. Listen, that’s is going to turn out to be a fraudulent or misleading FISA. So there’s a lot more to come.

10 comments:

  1. Let's see if Comey or Brennan fire up the Twitter accounts. That'll indicate some unease on their parts.

    Of course, they may already know that their gooses are cooked. Maybe they have a sense of fatalism.

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  2. Joe D says that the "honest services" provisions could be used against the conspirators. I have seen that employed against a corrupt official in my neck of the woods by the Feds.

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    1. Yeah, I just finished a transcript because I think it will be useful to have some of that in writing for reference.

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  3. Jeff Carlson and others agree that declining prosecution could be a smart move. It shows DOJ independence from DJT. They agree there's more for Comey to fear in the future.

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    1. Good. I'm glad I don't have to go out on that limb alone, because I do agree. Let me just say, I have personal reasons from my prior life to say that.

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  4. I wouldn't bother prosecuting Comey for his memo games, either.
    There are much more serious crimes in which he participated.

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  5. I'm not sure it was smart to lead with a no prosecution determination and make it a public spectacle. That's going to inflame passions and get national cynicism up to a boiling point. Lots of people are already on edge with crazy politics and the advent of election season. This could be a final straw for someone and Barr would be blamed for dropping the match and starting a wildfire.

    We're nearly 4 years into the coup against Trump and not one single DOJ/FBI criminal has even been indicted; but no problem railroading and bankrupting Flynn, or sending Papadopolus to prison on phony charges, or conducting Gestapo arrests of Manafort and Stone (and terrifying their wives). The bad guys are winning and Barr is now looking weak and complicit.

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    1. You do what you have to do. Personally, I don't regard this development as a "public spectacle." For starters, the IG report is out yet--this is just a pre-release leak. By this account Comey will be seriously ripped and will not come out looking good. Same as Hillary and the emails. Way too early to say "the bad guys are winning." As for bankrupting people, do you think that Comey's lawyers and lawyers all around--Brennan, Clapper, Strzok, Page, Baker, and on and on--have come cheap?

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  6. In this article's title, Jame should be James

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