by LV
For anyone paying attention, it is painfully clear that leaders in the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation favored one presidential candidate over the other. Instead of enforcing the law, they followed the path of least resistance and failed to apply equal justice under the law. Further, they committed the sin of hubris by thinking there was little or no risk of being exposed because the beneficiary of their obstruction of justice, Hillary Clinton, was a prohibitive favorite to win the election and, therefore, would become their next boss … and a very grateful one at that.
Let’s examine what could have transpired in an ideal world had Comey and FBI investigators publicly adhered to the FBI’s motto of “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity.”
Ex-FBI Director James Comey – A Fantasy Scenario
When Comey felt pressured by the White House and the Attorney General to exonerate Hillary Clinton for obvious violations of the espionage act and the destruction of subpoenaed evidence, in a perfect world this is what he could have done in real time:
After handing Attorney General Lynch his resignation, Comey turns around and marches out the door. One hour later, he greets a gaggle of reporters, who have assembled in front of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. As Comey steps up to the make-shift podium, hundreds of FBI agents emerge from the front door of the building and gather behind Comey, as he addresses the media.
“It is with great sorrow that I stand before you today. I had no choice but to tender my resignation today as FBI Director. I did so to protect the integrity of the Bureau in the face of a blatant stonewall attempt by Attorney General Lynch and her prosecutors inside the U.S. Department of Justice. Well over a hundred of the finest investigators in the land worked on the Clinton case and the evidence we unearthed was compelling. It was appalling to us that a high-ranking public official would abuse her office the way she did. This was not a hasty decision on my part, but I had no choice, if I were to ever look any American in the eye, who believes in equal justice under the law. And it isn’t fair to those individuals, whom we put away on much less evidence. My agents did a remarkable job doing what they do best — finding hard evidence that would convince a jury that an individual committed crimes and should be held to account. In the Clinton matter, we were rebuffed at every turn by the prosecutors in the Justice Department despite having collected overwhelming criminal evidence months ago that justified a criminal indictment. In short, prosecutors obstructed our investigation and laughed off our attempts to seek justice on behalf of the American people. Sadly, politics triumphed in this case. If you look over my shoulder, you will see, in the courtyard of the Hoover building, a sculpture with three figures. Those figures represent Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity. That is what the FBI agents, who are gathered behind me, stand for. Anyone who thinks that is a joke and who thinks it is alright to throw sand in the eyes of Lady Justice is wrong and should be ashamed to call themselves Americans.”
James Comey then leaves the podium as onlookers are stunned into reverential silence by his eloquent words. After a few moments, the FBI agents erupt into loud applause. The reporters and their camera crews join in the ovation to a great American, who chose justice over politics.
Well, we all know that didn’t happen. Instead of doing the right thing, Comey showed his true colors on July 5, 2016 by capitulating to the political dictates of the Obama administration. After listing numerous ways Clinton was “extremely careless” (better known in legal parlance as “grossly negligent”), Comey did backflips trying to convince the public that Clinton did not intend to break the law and, therefore, would not be charged by any “reasonable” prosecutor.
FBI Investigators of Hillary Clinton – A Fantasy Scenario
No sooner had Comey made his televised announcement exonerating Clinton than a host of seasoned prosecutors outside the federal government refuted his words and roundly criticized him, not only for contradicting himself in the same statement but also for placing Clinton above the law. Experienced attorneys said they would have prosecuted Clinton in a heartbeat for what she did on grounds of gross negligence in her handling of classified information as well as her obvious intent to conceal her correspondence from the reach of the Freedom of Information Act.
A few days later Comey went one step further by telling a congressional committee that the decision not to proceed with criminal charges was the unanimous assessment of a group of investigators and analysts, whom the director described as an “all-star team’’ assembled by the Justice Department. If there was a so-called “all-star team,” the FBI agents who worked the Clinton case in the trenches weren’t on it and it infuriated them to no end that they would be implicated in a cover-up by inference.
This insult led to a quiet, yet determined, rebellion within their ranks. By implicating hard-working FBI agents in his charade, Comey went too far. He managed to cast aspersions on their integrity and their public service.
The irate G-men met in small groups after work and over the weekend to discuss how they would respond. It was bad enough that Comey cherry-picked the information he decided to share with the public and the congressional committee, but he had also crossed the line by suggesting that the troops supported his conclusions, when, in fact, they did not and would not under any circumstances.
The FBI prides itself on its ability to root out crimes and apprehend the criminals who perpetrate them. They present their findings to prosecutors within the U.S. Justice Department, who ultimately decide whether to indict an individual and make their case in a court of law. In the Clinton case, a proper referral was not made to prosecutors for them to decide. Instead, the Director of the FBI decided to act as judge and jury by proclaiming that Clinton would not be indicted based on the evidence. FBI investigators were astounded when they heard Comey make his statement and resolved to make the truth known, even if it meant losing their jobs.
Consequently, all 150 FBI investigators who worked on the Clinton case and many other agents who did not, gathered together on the steps of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. The spokesman for the group approached a makeshift podium and addressed a group of reporters, who had been contacted ahead of time and notified of the event.
As TV cameras rolled, the spokesman read from a prepared statement. Assembled behind him stood a host of career FBI investigators, as he addressed a national TV audience.
“Fellow countrymen, this is a sad day in the life of our republic. A country without laws or respect for the law is a not country worth serving. Those of us gathered here today have families who depend on our government paychecks to support them. Therefore, it was not an easy decision to resign en masse as we have done today. But it is much worse to be part of conspiracy to place someone — anyone — above the law of the land for political considerations. That is simply unacceptable and intolerable. The cover-up is always worse than the crime. And that’s what occurred in the Clinton case.
We take strong exception to the statements made by FBI Director James Comey. We never endorsed what he said, nor would we have. He acted on his own. We spent over a year investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State. We also investigated her official actions as Secretary of State and their nexus to the Clinton Foundation for improprieties and evidence of quid pro quo exchanges between our government and the private sector or foreign individuals. The evidence we gathered was overwhelming and devastating. It is not something we could sweep under the rug and maintain our dignity at the same time. We hope our action today will set things right and will impel the American people to seek justice in this case because, as it stands right now, there is not equal justice under the law. Those words have been rent asunder and are merely a platitude signifying nothing. America is better than this and we refuse to serve under a potential president, who clearly should have been indicted and put on trial before a jury of her peers.
We appreciate the privilege of having served the American people to the best of our ability and having complied with the high standards set forth by the Bureau. We hope our country and our justice system finds its way back home. God bless you and God bless America.”
As the speaker and former FBI agents left the area, reporters stood in stunned silence for they had witnessed something few in this country ever witness – Americans who are unafraid to stand on principle and are willing to fall on their swords rather than become the pawns of a political ruling class of individuals, who place themselves above the law.
Although this public display of their deep displeasure didn’t really occur, numerous reports indicate that rank-and-file agents actually hold the view expressed above. It is possible that FBI agents could have filed complaints internally against management’s handling of the Clinton case. In all likelihood such in-house grievances would have gone nowhere fast, further frustrating the investigators in their attempts to express their differences with Comey and others who overruled them when boatloads of evidence they gathered justified a multiple-count indictment of Clinton and her associates.
Despite yeoman efforts by DOJ and FBI managers to keep government records away from the prying eyes of the public, slowly but surely their Machiavellian intrigues to exonerate Clinton and besmirch Trump for colluding with the Russians began to emerge. The breadth of their obstruction of justice and cover-up is massive and continues to unfold.
Many DOJ and FBI officials have been fired, re-assigned, or chose to retire after embarrassing details of their involvement in a politically-motivated cover-up and the fraudulent misuse of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court were revealed during congressional hearings, through documents obtained by FOIA requests, and leaks to the media.
Since January 2017, the Office of the Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating the FBI’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. The OIG will soon issue its report, which many observers say will be devastating. There are calls for a second special prosecutor to probe the use of a phony Trump-Russia dossier by the DOJ and the FBI to obtain a FISA court warrant to spy on Trump campaign officials. There is also the Mueller investigation, which never seems to end, and has yet to yield any evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.
The scope of the hydra-headed scandal involving high-ranking law enforcement officials has shaken our justice system to its core. This is what happens when arrogant government officials decide to play politics instead of applying the law without favoritism or prejudice.