Why Did FBI Director Comey Do That?

Last updated on: November 1, 2016 at 9:21 pm by Kermit Zarley

Why Did FBI Director Comey Do That? 2016-11-01T21:21:26-07:00 Kermit Zarley

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Last Friday, FBI director James Comey dropped a political bombshell only twelve days before the presidential election scheduled for November 8th. It was a letter he sent to Congress stating that he has re-opened the question about whether or not Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidency, Hilary Clinton, had violated U.S. laws concerning government security in the use of her emails. Comey’s FBI had investigated this Clinton matter early this year and closed the case by saying Clinton had not been guilty of lawbreaking.

The problem now is Hilary Clinton’s long-time trusted aide Huma Abedin, actually her estranged (and “strange” is the most innocuous word you could apply this guy) husband Anthony Weiner, a former U.S. Congressman from New York. In a separate investigation into Weiner’s pattern of sexting an underage girl with his laptop, the FBI discovered that his wife Huma also used it in her role as Clinton’s aide. With just days left until the election, the FBI is sifting through the 650,000 emails on this laptop that include many emails between Huma and Hilary Clinton to learn once again if Mrs. Clinton broke any U.S. security laws.

Comey surely knew that his alerting Congress about this matter would become public knowledge immediately. By him doing so, many people draw the conclusion that it looks like Director Comey is trying to affect the election in favor of Republican nominee Donald Trump for the presidency. Thus, this new revelation has energized Trump and his campaign against Clinton. Fans at Trump rallies are shouting all the more, “lock her up,” referring to Hilary Clinton.

Yet Director Comey did not say in his letter to Congress whether or not the FBI had discovered anything that might indicte Clinton. The U.S. protocol this close to a presidential election is that the FBI keep any such investigation secret since it might sway the electorate against Clinton and thus for Trump without any sure evidence of Clinton wrongdoing. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch told Director Comey right before he sent the letter to Congress that he shouldn’t do it.

Former directors of the FBI and many other top law enforcement people are now speaking out against Comey for doing this. Yet Democratic President Obama, who has been campaigning for Clinton, said over the weekend that he trusts Director Comey as a good public servant. Many are saying that Comey shouldn’t have done it, but now that he has done so he should say more. That is, he should explain that the FBI has not so far discovered any evidence indicting Clinton. But the Director has not spoken about the matter.

So, why did Director send this letter to Congress? He may have wanted to redeem himself somewhat from especially Republican criticism when he exonerated Clinton in June concerning emails on her own electronic devices. But I rather suspect it is more, if not all, about something else.

Donald Trump has been rallying many Americans as he accuses the U.S. media and and our nation’s electoral process of “a rigged election.” This is a most serious accusation that undermines our democratic system. And when Trump was asked in the third and last debate with Hilary Clinton if he would accept the results of the election if he lost, he did not say that he would, but only said he would look at the results and then decide. That is unprecedented and further undermines our electoral voting system. And Trump has also called for his voters to “watch” the voting stations to make sure there is no voter fraud, which Trump also alleges is happening. Finally, some Trump fans at his rallies say that if Trump loses the election, some of them will become violent.

I think no one is more aware of the gravity of this situation, in which there could be violence on the part of Trump supporters, if Trump loses this election. In fact, polls are showing in recent days that about half or more of American voters think if Trump loses the election that some of his voters will riot. And many voters think there could be Trump supporters causing violence at polling stations on Election Day.

So, if Trump loses the election–and polls show Clinton is nationally leading Trump by about 5% of the electorate–and it is discovered that Anthony Weiner’s laptop has emails on it that are very troubling to Hilary Clinton, and Director Comey had withheld this information about the FBI reopening the case about Hilary Clinton’s emails, that could have really poured fuel on the fire for Donald Trump’s fans to get much more violent. And Comey probably doesn’t want to say anything about this possibility, thus explaining why he sent the letter to Congress, because that in itself might cause Trumpster “crazies,” as John McCain said, to riot.

However, FBI Director James Comey is a Republican.

Politics

Anthony Weiner

Donald Trump

FBI Director James Comey

Hilary Clinton

Huma Abedin

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