When the latest news about Hillary Clinton’s emails broke, namely that James Comey had written a letter to congressional leaders informing them that new material had been found on Anthony Weiner’s computer, I wrote an entry defending James Comey and instead blaming Representative Chaffetz for making something disproportionate out of what looked like a simple correction to his testimony made out of respect for congress. I was confident that as a few days passed and the media caught up to the fact that there was nothing new or incriminating here, that the story would diminish in importance to both sides and it would seem childish to attack Comey personally. I was not alone, Newsweek wrote an article defending Comey’s action that was pushed by even their Clinton-supporting journalists on social media at the time.
I was wrong, as more time passes James Comey on the contrary looks more and more like he is using the FBI as a tool of partisan politics in violation of Department of Justice policies and federal law. The following revelations are the most damning of Comey’s actions that have lead even Fox’s legal correspondents to recently take a very hard position against him.
- The FBI had the new emails in question for several weeks before Comey's letter. The only thing that changed that could have motivated his breach of DoJ policy to write the letter is that this is the last full week of the election.
- When Comey wrote his letter, the FBI did not yet have a warrant to investigate them for the Clinton case. In other words, there was no new evidence or action that the FBI could act on to inform congress about at the time.
- An internal memo sent by Comey indicated that he was aware of the political implications of the letter he sent to congress. He also seems to be aware that the brevity of his letter would encourage partisans like Chaffetz to jump to conclusions.
In light of the above, Comey’s decision to violate the Department of Justice’s normal policy of remaining silent about ongoing investigations can no longer be justified. He must be prosecuted for violation of the Hatch Act of 1939 and removed as suggested by Republican lawyers and Senator Reid, both to preserve the democratic process in future elections and to ensure that the FBI has the trust from both political parties necessary to ensure national security and uphold the law.