‘Comey entered the FBI chief’s job with a reputation for excellence but ran a bureau that suffered from ineptitude, political shenanigans, leaking and significant human failings…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Despite the ongoing efforts of Democrats like Reps. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, and Adam Schiff, D-Calif, to keep the Mueller investigation on life-support, much attention has now shifted to the Department of Justice investigations into possible collusion on the Left.
The first domino to fall in the DOJ probes of the scandal’s origin—including the discredited Steele Dossier and the FBI’s use of it to warrant spying on the Trump campaign—may be former FBI Director James Comey, as reported in a recent op-ed from The Hill penned by investigative journalist John Solomon.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz this week referred Comey for prosecution to Attorney General William Barr‘s office over the disgraced director’s role in leaking sensitive information, indirectly, to the media, both before and after his May 2017 firing by President Donald Trump.
However, prosecutors declined to pursue the charges due to a lack of compelling evidence to establish illegal intent.
The DOJ did not want to “make its first case against the Russia investigators with such thin margins and look petty and vindictive,” according to Solomon’s sources.
An official in the IG’s office, citing its policy of refusing to confirm or deny the existence of investigations, declined to comment on questions from Liberty Headlines.
A similar case against former FBI counterintelligence chief Peter Strzok—a key player in the bureau’s investigations of both Trump and his opponent, Hillary Clinton—was earlier declined by DOJ prosecutors despite finding evidence of illegal leaking.
Comey is widely known to have kept memos of classified conversations with Trump and relayed them to the press with the express intent of triggering a special-counsel investigation in Congress.
That investigation—led by Comey’s close friend and former boss, Robert Mueller—which ran nearly two years and cost an estimated $35 million, ultimately found no evidence of conspiracy or obstruction from the president.
But according to Solomon and his sources, the soon-to-conclude IG’s investigation is expected to disclose several findings that will, at the very least, raise major questions about Comey’s ethics and judgment while leading the nation’s top investigative agency.
A release of public documents to transparency and accountability watchdog Judicial Watch earlier this week revealed that FBI agents were sent to Comey’s home to retrieve the purloined memos and scrub them of sensitive information but that two still remained unaccounted for.
“These extraordinary FBI docs further confirm that James Comey should never have had FBI files on President Trump at his home and that the FBI failed to secure and protect these private and classified files,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton in a press statement.
“Mr. Comey’s illegal leaking these FBI files as part of his vendetta against President Trump (directly resulting in the corrupt appointment of Robert Mueller) ought to be the subject of a criminal investigation.”
Regardless of the recent decisions not to prosecute Comey and Strzok for their leaking, there is reason to believe that the IG referrals may be prelude to a much bigger case being built against the corrupt FBI officials.
“There are significant issues emerging with how the FISA was handled and other conduct in the investigation, and everyone involved remains under scrutiny,” an anonymous source told Solomon.
In addition to the IG investigation, special prosecutor John Durham has been working closely with Horowitz’s office on its own investigation.
Durham’s appointment came not long after Barr riled Democrats during an appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee by using the word “spying” to refer to the FBI conduct.
“I think spying did occur,” Barr said. “The question is, was it was adequately predicated? I’m not saying it wasn’t.”
Barr confirmed at the time that he was proceeding with the investigation.
“I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016,” Barr told the committee.
President Donald Trump also took the step of declassifying many of the documents related to the FBI’s investigation into the Russia conspiracy hoax.
As Solomon concluded, “the IG report, at least, reaffirms what has become painfully clear to Americans the past two years: Comey entered the FBI chief’s job with a reputation for excellence but ran a bureau that suffered from ineptitude, political shenanigans, leaking and significant human failings.”
On Thursday, in response to a tweet from Rep. Mark Meadows, R-NC, a close Trump ally and head of the Freedom Caucus, Comey weighed in with his spin on the latest developments.
I love transparency. I just wait for facts before I talk about them. I’m confident the results of all IG reports will show honest public servants worked hard to protect this country from a threat this president and his enablers won’t acknowledge. And @ me next time, bruh. https://t.co/0yTNgV2K4F
— James Comey (@Comey) August 2, 2019