The decision not to prosecute Comey was apparently universal and quite “easy.” Prior to his termination, Comey allegedly prepared several memos where he memorialized his conversations with the president. He then gave them to a friend, who passed them to The New York Times.
“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.
Understandably, some people will be upset about the DOJ’s decision not to prosecute. This is especially true in light of others being prosecuted for “lying,” including former advisers Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos. Of course, the DOJ can still choose to prosecute Comey for the alleged leaks at a later time so long as the statute of limitations has not expired.
These investigations are likely looking into why an investigation was ever started with respect to Trump and his campaign members, and who authorized it.
“Sources tell RealClearInvestigations that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will soon file a report with evidence indicating that Comey was misleading the president. Even as he repeatedly assured Trump that he was not a target, the former director was secretly trying to build a conspiracy case against the president, while at times acting as an investigative agent.
If Comey signed a FISA application knowing that the information it was based on (i.e., the Steele dossier) was false (or unverified), this is problematic.
“Giuliani made the point that the FISA applications have to be taken very seriously, as they can’t be contested by the other side. ‘You just don’t sign those things cavalierly,’ he said. The information in them must be verified. But he said it’s obvious in just the first couple of pages that the Steele ‘dossier’ is just a pile of garbage and that Comey could have easily checked to see if there was truth to its major claims, such as that Michael Cohen went to Prague. Comey didn’t even bother to call the passport office.”After all, the FISA application was utilized to obtain a court order to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. If the process to obtain this warrant was the result of improper conduct, those responsible may have abused the FISA process.
While some people are likely frustrated by the decision not to charge Comey, the decision was limited in scope. In the interim, the bigger and more compelling investigations are ongoing. Until such time as they are completed, the U.S. public must continue to wait and have faith in the nation’s system of justice and those who enforce its laws.
