On September 25, a federal grand jury indicted former FBI director James Comey on charges of making a false statement to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding (by making that false statement) in 2020.
The false statement? The word “no,” in answer to the question of whether he had “ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation.”
The “someone else” is former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, himself fired for those unauthorized disclosures … and for lying about them.
The claim of a known liar that someone else lied seems like a pretty weak prosecutorial rede. That explains why DOJ prosecutors reported no probable cause to seek the indictment. US president Donald Trump bullied their boss, US Attorney Erik Siebert, into resigning, replacing Siebert with a sycophant (Lindsey Halligan) who could be counted on to follow Trump’s orders.
BUT!
Comey himself is also a known liar. That’s not speculation. It’s not an open question, it’s a confirmed fact.
In 2020, Comey told Congress that he didn’t know about Hillary Clinton’s plans to link Trump to Russia using disinformation — “that doesn’t ring any bells with me.” Subsequently declassified documents established that he had been briefed on Clinton’s plans by then CIA director (and former Communist Party member, and also known liar) John Brennan.
Comey also told Congress that he had only briefed Trump on the “salacious” parts of the infamous “Steele Dossier” (part of Clinton’s disinformation campaign). Again, subsequently declassified memos establish that he discussed the entire dossier, in depth, with Trump.
In fact, perhaps the only time Comey was very truthful was in 2016 when he more or less admitted that Clinton had committed crimes by negligently exposing classified information through her illegal use of a private email server, but wouldn’t be prosecuted because, well, she was Hillary Clinton.
It seems like Comey’s tenure was mostly lies. So pardon me if I decline to break out even the world’s smallest violin for his current legal problems.
On the other hand, it’s also true that this prosecution has nothing whatsoever to do with the alleged lie in question.
It’s partly about Donald Trump’s desire to “get” Comey for having proven insufficiently loyal to Donald Trump.
It’s mostly about Trump’s need for distractions from his close personal relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein.
So, OK, prosecute Comey.
And release the Epstein files.
Thomas L. Knapp (X: @thomaslknapp | Bluesky: @knappster.bsky.social | Mastodon: @knappster) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.
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