The leaked Comey “I am not a leaker” memos
He’s not a leaker, although of course he leaked.
He’s also not a weasel. We know that, because he tells us so himself, and he said it to Trump, too [you can find the memo texts at the link]:
[Comey] also lashed out at leakers and called the leaks terrible. He told Trump that he doesn’t “do sneaky things” or leak or “weasel moves.”
Memo to self: whenever anyone says what he/she is not, be on alert for that exact thing. As Shakespeare had a “Hamlet” character say: the lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Despite Comey’s giving the memos to his buddy Daniel C. Richman (law professor at Columbia) to give to the NY Times (an act that successfully began the Mueller investigation), it took a while to get the memos released to Congress. Now that they are out there, the predictable response from the MSM is to spin them in favor of Comey and against Trump.
What the right has to say makes sense to me—for example, this by Mollie Hemingway and several from Powerline (see this and this). The latter link contains the statement on the memos made by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes. Here are some excerpts:
Former Director Comey’s memos show the President made clear he wanted allegations of collusion, coordination, and conspiracy between his campaign and Russia fully investigated. The memos also made clear the ”˜cloud’ President Trump wanted lifted was not the Russian interference in the 2016 election cloud, rather it was the salacious, unsubstantiated allegations related to personal conduct leveled in the dossier.
The memos also show former Director Comey never wrote that he felt obstructed or threatened. …
The memos also make certain what has become increasingly clear of late: former Director Comey has at least two different standards in his interactions with others. He chose not to memorialize conversations with President Obama, Attorney General Lynch, Secretary Clinton, Andrew McCabe or others, but he immediately began to memorialize conversations with President Trump….
These memos also lay bare the notion that former Director Comey is not motivated by animus. …
The memos show Comey was blind to biases within the FBI and had terrible judgment with respect to his deputy Andrew McCabe. On multiple occasions he, in his own words, defended the character of McCabe after President Trump questioned McCabe.
…Finally, former Director Comey leaked at least one of these memos for the stated purpose of spurring the appointment of a Special Counsel, yet he took no steps to spur the appointment of a Special Counsel when he had significant concerns about the objectivity of the Department of Justice under Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
As we have consistently said, rather than making a criminal case for obstruction or interference with an ongoing investigation, these memos would be Defense Exhibit A should such a charge be made.
It is easy to see from the coverage that the release of the memos hasn’t done a thing to change things for the left. The narrative marches on, and this extraordinary lawsuit by the DNC (in the SDNY, a court with which we’ve become familiar) charging just about everyone on earth—including, of course, Trump, Russia, and Wikileaks—of conspiring to disrupt the 2016 campaign is part of it.
On Election Eve 2016, the results were not only a shock to the left but an outrage that must be undone. Nothing will keep them from trying to accomplish this, and they will use every arrow in their quiver to do so.
[NOTE: One-sided memos made in the absence of any independent corroboration are inherently suspect. They are a favored method of the FBI, however. Any credibility they might have depends on the integrity of the person making such a memo. Comey has a dog in this race—his own protection and the destruction of Trump (which I guess might be considered two dogs)—and I wonder why we should trust anything he says or writes, whatever it might be.
Let me add that, even if a person is trying to tell the truth in such a memo and give a faithful re-creation of the words of each party, it is well-nigh impossible to give a true account. That’s what recordings are for. Memory is flawed and tends to be self-serving and distorted; very few people are able to recall conversations with great accuracy.]
He’s a leaky weasel.
“It is easy to see from the coverage that the release of the memos hasn’t done a thing to change things for the left. ”
With all due respect — and underscoring your oft repeated aversion to violent correctives to attempts to destroy the republic — the only thing that will change things for the left would be
“a nipponized bit of
the old sixth
avenue
el;in the top of their heads:to tell
them”
Perhaps someone should write a play about it: “The Incontinence of Mr. Comey”.
Famous last words: “I am not a crook.”
Whatever they say they are not is what they are
Whatever say about others is what they actually are
Somewhat OT: From Whatfinger News.
Any idea this might be real news, not fake?
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/exclusive-maga-movement-finds-hillarys-deleted-emails-court-orders-released/
Neo, can you elaborate on what you wrote:
“Let me add that, even if a person is trying to tell the truth in such a memo and give a faithful re-creation of the words of each party, it is well-nigh impossible to give a true account…. Memory is flawed and tends to be self-serving and distorted; very few people are able to recall conversations with great accuracy.”
Most of history is people writing an account of what happened. There were no recordings for centuries — as you know. I understand taking someone’s memories with a grain of salt but at a certain point you have to choose to believe that some accounts are indeed closer to the truth or facts than not. Nothing is 100% solid, of course [and biases must be considered]. But I would say memos written the same day as an event occurs will be much more accurate than a week, month or years later. And most autobiographies, most court cases, most testimony is done much much later. We have to believe some of what people say.
Also one cannot choose to believe what coincides with their personal beliefs and discount what doesn’t. I’m no fan of either Comey or Trump but I read the memos and I found them a rather believable account. Both Comey and Trump have big egos and both want to cement their place in history in a positive light. Both are also somewhat odd men. This we know.
AMartel Says:
April 20th, 2018 at 4:51 pm
Famous last words: “I am not a crook.”
Famous last words: “I turned off the White House surveillance tape system.”
Whatever they say they are not is what they are
Whatever say about others is what they actually are
Are people copying that from Alt Right or VoxDay, or are they actually creating original content?
I have long held a disdain for what goes on inside the Beltway. The residents of the ‘swamp’ never fail to bolster that disdain.
In the absence of the original wrongdoing, namely Hillary Clinton and her secret e-mail server, followed by the strong likelihood that the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign (using the Steele dossier), then James Comey and Andrew McCabe would never be in the position that they are in now.
They have only themselves to blame for ruining their own careers (and potentially exposing themselves to legal jeopardy). How must that feel for them, to look in the mirror, and to realize what they threw away? And they could have avoided all this, just by doing the right thing!
If they manage to pull Trump down on these vague, weak tea accusations, while ignoring all the screamingly obvious malfeasance on the parts of the Obama administration, the FBI and Hillary Clinton, there’s going to be a reckoning.
I didn’t like Trump. I still don’t like Trump. But this ain’t right by a long shot.
Although Shakespeare was no slouch, my favorite quote along these lines is, “The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.”
The volume of pixels on Comey today was astounding, far too many to do more than be astonished at the leaking, peeking, speaking, and freaking going on.
I think it’s rather a good thing we didn’t have Internet during Watergate — but then, given the newest revelations, maybe Nixon wouldn’t have been taken down as he was.
One thing not listed by Neo AFAICT is that Comey’s law professor is now claiming to be his personal attorney.
Gee, I wonder if someone will raid HIS office.
Richard Says:
April 20th, 2018 at 5:06 pm
Somewhat OT: From Whatfinger News.
Any idea this might be real news, not fake?
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/exclusive-maga-movement-finds-hillarys-deleted-emails-court-orders-released/
* *
Some of it is real, because I remember reading at the time that the back-ups had been turned over, and were then never mentioned again.
The reports left off there, with everyone assuming Clinton would win and the emails would never see daylight, because Comey & Co. colluded to obstruct the investigation big-time. I’m just surprised State didn’t “lose” the disks.
“Hillary Clinton’s email storage company, Platte River Networks, subcontracted to a company in Connecticut called Datto, which backed up the vast majority of Clinton’s deleted emails, text messages and other electronic communications. Datto handed six disks containing information to the FBI in October 2015. One of those disks contains at least a great many of her missing emails. Comey turned the disks over to the State Department, which has been compelled to search them and release the contents.”
* * *
Sam L. Says:
April 20th, 2018 at 4:02 pm
He’s a leaky weasel.
* *
Time for updated lyrics to the Horst Wessel Song.
(Is that close enough to Godwin the thread?)
“The memos show Comey was blind to biases within the FBI and had terrible judgment with respect to his deputy Andrew McCabe. On multiple occasions he, in his own words, defended the character of McCabe after President Trump questioned McCabe.”
Comey’s animus for Trump overrode his good judgment. An apolitical and objective FBI Director would have done as many here have done. Trump might not be their choice, but they have tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. The top levels of the FBI felt duty bound to do something about what they considered a tragic mistake – the election of Donald Trump. And they did. My guess is that Comey was in on the “insurance policy” planned by McCabe, Strzok, and Page, but he tried to, and is still trying to, maintain credible deniability. Sort of a “I had no idea they were up to such awful things,” kind of alibi. “After all I had great respect for Andy McCabe, but he let me down”
Comey’s wife and four daughters are hard core Hillary fans and Trump haters. Does anyone think living in a family such as that might influence a man’s judgment about Trump.? Just a little bit?
Two days of the Comey memos and I’m thoroughly sick of the subject already. Let’s convene a Grand Jury and get on with it.
Comey and Mueller are like the DS’s stalking horse. Much as Trum uses probing tests to see people’s reactions before firing/hiring them, the Deep State is mirroring Trum’s tactics against him. Somebody is laughing up a storm.
I think it’s rather a good thing we didn’t have Internet during Watergate – but then, given the newest revelations, maybe Nixon wouldn’t have been taken down as he was.
Amis would have still been sitting on the couch listening to Cronkite tell them the media had independently exposed Republican Nixon antics, even with the internet.
Cause NBC, ABC said so, so it must be true.
Two journalists vs Nixon, the weak vs the mighty! What a nice narrative. Wrong, but disinformation wise good and nice. The two journalists acted as the same pawns and stalking horse, as Comey and Mueller is against Trum.
An interesting take on the book by Comey:
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2018/04/19/a-higher-loyalty-or-self-justification-by-amanda-s-green/
“As I’ve said before, the only way for us to understand what is going on in our country is to educate ourselves. Sometimes that means reading books written by those whose beliefs we don’t share or whose politics we don’t agree with. I look at it as learning what the enemy playbook contains. Whether this book falls into that category or not waits to be seen.”
A cartoon you will like.
https://i1.wp.com/www.nationalreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/bg041918dAPC.jpg
It seems to me that the Democrats are playing with fire insisting on what looks like an increasingly thin narrative because they really believe that getting rid of Trump overrides all other considerations, like whether he actually did anything seriously wrong and ignoring what looks increasingly like pretty hard evidence their side did pretty much what Nixon did – vilely spy on their opponents. Comey reminds me of virtue signalling Polonius except that Polonius had a better ghostwriter. So they succeed and put the toothpaste back in the tube and get their riches for me and socialized opiates for thee bandwagon back on the trail. They really think people will still go for that?
Just remember, John Kerry still believes Bush stole the election from him in 2004.
There were claims that Bush supporters purged the rolls of democrat voters and rigged voting machines to take votes from Kerry and give them to Bush.
This sounds interesting:
https://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/dnc-verge-nervous-breakdown-russia-lawsuit/
Seems that the Mueller investigation is such a rip-roaring success that the DNC is trying to piggyback on it….
(I guess they’re thinking, “Why should Mueller have all the fun?”….)
Does not, however, seem like a very smart move given all the “issues” the DNC has.
This should be read with the above:https://pjmedia.com/trending/never-going-let-president-said-woman-thought-due/
These people are absolutely unbelievable.
At this rate, the entire Democratic Party will be demanding a “safe space” (from which to sling mud on their opponents).
Barry – I am looking forward to discovery if the DNC proceeds with its suit.
So far, the Mueller investigation has turned up far more dirt on the Dems than on Mr. Trump.