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NYT did some hefty interviews and investigation to get the clearest picture in hindsight of why we only learned of one investigation in March, while all of the others played out publicly in the campaigns. The claim here is that Comey feared for the credibility of the FBI if they sat quietly on the October emails that they knew the public were concerned about, and didn't at least tell congress they were looking at them. Because if Hillary got elected and the emails they mentioned in Comey's October shocker turned into something real, the American people would have been absolutely against the FBI for having said in July they had closed the investigation, only to tell people after the election that there were October emails and those emails yielded a serious conclusion after she won (as we all assumed was going to happen and only seem critical of in hindsight). Meanwhile, a Trump investigation being public knowledge was a can of worms that hadn't been opened yet and that the only real reason to do so would be political fairness.

This explanation makes it even more questionable that he didn't reveal the Trump investigation tho. So it suggests that, while people researching this whole chain of events don't think Comey was trying to be partisan, it does seem he was biased against Hillary because her scandal was already public AND it seemed like she was going to be president, so after he first said the case was closed and he didn't recommend charges, he wanted to make sure that upon re-opening the investigation, the FBI wasn't held accountable for not updating the public as they had done about the no charges (in the event the October emails turned into something).

So I then wonder, if you wanted to cover the bases like that against Hillary, maybe you should have done the same against Trump to really be apolitical. You were investigating Trump, and he did get elected, and his investigation is still going and could turn into something serious, yet you didn't tell the public. You didn't give the public any of the just-in-case awareneness you aimed for in giving Hillary investigation updates out against protocols.

And in the end, his October shocker was concluded as nothing after the damage was already done in the moments before the election. And that left everyone wondering, why didn't he just wait a week to give his update that they hadn't discovered anything else? Why set everything on fire a week before the election, only to say never mind when it is already too late to fix?

Anyway, NYT goes in depth and there's a great interview on The Daily with the reporter and a top Clinton campaign staffer about how the events seemed to go down at the time and how it looks in hindsight: The Daily April 24, 2017 - James Comey and the 2016 Election

Article at the link
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/22/us/politics/james-comey-election.html

WASHINGTON — The day before he upended the 2016 election, James B. Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, summoned agents and lawyers to his conference room. They had been debating all day, and it was time for a decision.

Mr. Comey’s plan was to tell Congress that the F.B.I. had received new evidence and was reopening its investigation into Hillary Clinton, the presidential front-runner. The move would violate the policies of an agency that does not reveal its investigations or do anything that may influence an election. But Mr. Comey had declared the case closed, and he believed he was obligated to tell Congress that had changed.

“Should you consider what you’re about to do may help elect Donald Trump president?” an adviser asked him, Mr. Comey recalled recently at a closed meeting with F.B.I. agents.

He could not let politics affect his decision, he replied. “If we ever start considering who might be affected, and in what way, by what we do, we’re done,” he told the agents.

But with polls showing Mrs. Clinton holding a comfortable lead, Mr. Comey ended up plunging the F.B.I. into the molten center of a bitter election. Fearing the backlash that would come if it were revealed after the election that the F.B.I. had been investigating the next president and had kept it a secret, Mr. Comey sent a letter informing Congress that the case was reopened.

What he did not say was that the F.B.I. was also investigating the campaign of Donald J. Trump. Just weeks before, Mr. Comey had declined to answer a question from Congress about whether there was such an investigation. Only in March, long after the election, did Mr. Comey confirm that there was one.

For Mr. Comey, keeping the F.B.I. out of politics is such a preoccupation that he once said he would never play basketball with President Barack Obama because of the appearance of being chummy with the man who appointed him. But in the final months of the presidential campaign, the leader of the nation’s pre-eminent law enforcement agency shaped the contours, if not the outcome, of the presidential race by his handling of the Clinton and Trump-related investigations.

 

[innervision961]

So emails durr but let's not discuss the other guy possible working for a foreign government in an attempt to takeover our government? What logical sense does that even make?

 

[FeenixRising]

 

[jelly]

Where did the new evidence come from at the time?

 

[Jenov]

Where did the new evidence come from at the time?

Anthony Weiner's computer

 

[Got]

totally worth it, lol

 

[El_Tiguere]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

 

[Pandora012]

The reasoning is still questionable. If it's okay for Trumps investigation to be held secret, why not keep secret that the Clinton one was being reopened. He says it's to be honest to Congress, but that just seems like bs. The best way to handle the situation if you think honesty is the best course was to include Trumps own investigation. That would stop the appearance of picking sides, and probably wouldn't have shaken the election as it did.

 

[Lothars]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

I think delusional people like you have no idea what your talking about.

 

[KHarvey16]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

Oh look who's here.

 

[Bruce Springsteen]

Where did the new evidence come from at the time?

But it wasn't evidence at all, it was nothing


Republican Comey "shockingly" screwed Clinton, color me surprised

 

[EatinOlives]

It still doesn't make any goddamn sense that he had two concurrent investigations in his hands, both of each of the two candidates of the party, and yet he chose to publicly disclose the existence and status of one, and ONLY one.

The go-to excuse is also bullshit. That Clinton was poised to win shouldn't have made any difference. If he was fearful that in keeping mum about this would've been seen as "helping" Clinton, the only logical course of action is to disclose both. Not just one. Because by disclosing one you plainly only help the other campaign, which is exactly what he did.

Comey's such a fucking hack. I know people are holding back from raking him over the coals because he's the head of the only department capable of completing a comprehensive investigation of the allegations of Trump's campaign's collusion with Russia, but it's also prudent to keep in mind the shit Comey pulled and not to forget it.

 

[excelsiorlef]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

Weird she's not in jail or anything

 

[Bruce Springsteen]

It still doesn't make any goddamn sense that he had two investigations in his hands, both of each of the two candidates of the party, and yet he chose to publicly disclose the existence and status of one, and ONLY one.

It made perfect political sense

 

[Lord Frieza]

I mean...if we are to give Comey the benefit of the doubt at the end of the day and say that he didn't really mean to shape the election and decided that he just didn't want himself and the FBI to look bias to the next President it was still a horrible stupid move on his part.

 

[EatinOlives]

It made perfect political sense

Of course, but considering that the FBI is not meant to do get involved politically, it doesn't make sense in that context. It only makes sense in the dirty politics context, which is what ended up happening.

 

[TheOMan]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

There is not a rolleyes.gif big enough.

 

[Stinkles]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

Good job parroting right wing talking points while stanning for Bernie and letting Trumpets walk all over you.

 

[suaveric]

I think politico recently said that Comey did want to mention that the Russians were interfering, not specifically about Trump, but Obama would not let him.

 

[xxracerxx]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

Uh huh.

 

[jelly]

I can sort of see why you wouldn't divulge the Trump one, that's a rabbit hole at the beginning that might not even be true to a degree they can confirm. The Hilary one was just stupid to bring up again, he can't get away from that.

 

[Buckle]

You really saved America's credibility. Nice job, dumbass.

I pray he redeems himself with the russian investigation and finds a way to nail Trump.

 

[rjinaz]

There is not a rolleyes.gif big enough.

close?

 

[El_Tiguere]

Good job parroting right wing talking points while stanning for Bernie and letting Trumpets walk all over you.

Are you questioning the FACT that "Bill Clinton, Inc." is a thing? or that they were running a server/communications away from FOIA requests?

The DNC and Hillary voters voted for a shady Prima Donna with a 30+ history of allegations of against her for the very same shenanigans she was trying to pull with her server in the basement. The DNC let her claim her turn, and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, the emails came out.

 

[Pandora012]

I mean...if we are to give Comey the benefit of the doubt at the end of the day and say that he didn't really mean to shape the election and decided that he just didn't want himself and the FBI to look bias to the next President it was still a horrible stupid move on his part.

He could have solved the problem during the election. He had to have seen the damage. He could have told the public about their investigation on Trump. But left almost a month of Clinton's case being reopened be in the headlines. With Trump talking about a President shouldn't be investigated by the FBI. Yet he was too.

 

[TyrantII]

Irony that they leave out their own culpibility.

NYTButHerEmails.jpg

 

[kirblar]

I think politico recently said that Comey did want to mention that the Russians were interfering, not specifically about Trump, but Obama would not let him.

This is correct. Comey is a bumbling idiot in a china shop when it comes to how to handle public relation on this stuff.

 

[gtvdave]

Anthony Weiner's computer

Which was hacked by a Russian hacker encouraged by Trump himself. Clinton case re-opening was the prime moment of Russia's interference with US elections feat Wikileaks

 

[boiled goose]

It still doesn't make any goddamn sense that he had two concurrent investigations in his hands, both of each of the two candidates of the party, and yet he chose to publicly disclose the existence and status of one, and ONLY one.

The go-to excuse is also bullshit. That Clinton was poised to win shouldn't have made any difference. If he was fearful that in keeping mum about this would've been seen as "helping" Clinton, the only logical course of action is to disclose both. Not just one. Because by disclosing one you plainly only help the other campaign, which is exactly what he did.

Comey's such a fucking hack. I know people are holding back from raking him over the coals because he's the head of the only department capable of completing a comprehensive investigation of the allegations of Trump's campaign's collusion with Russia, but it's also prudent to keep in mind the shit Comey pulled and not to forget it.

Yup.

 

[rjinaz]

Irony that they leave out their own culpibility.

NYTButHerEmails.jpg

Seriously that whole weekend all the news outlets were running with it like it was a huge thing, wall to wall coverage. It was fucking nothing and it was just days before the election. Get fucked media.

 

[Lord Frieza]

Which was hacked by a Russian hacker encouraged by Trump himself. Clinton case re-opening was the prime moment of Russia's interference with US elections feat Wikileaks

What? Pretty sure not? The laptop was confiscated due to another investigation, and the files were pulled from there as far as I know.

 

[gtvdave]

What? Pretty sure not? The laptop was confiscated due to another investigation, and the files were pulled from there as far as I know.

https://patribotics.blog/2017/02/14/the-carolina-conspiracy-putin-catfished-weiner-louise-mensch/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/27/us-russia-hacking-yevgeniy-nikulin-linkedin-dropbox

 

[old manatee]

heckuva job Comey

 

[guek]

The more I learn about Comey, the more sympathetic I become tbh. He's not the partisan hack that he was painted to be by pundits. That doesn't absolve him from criticism though. Dude fucked up. But he also seems like a man of integrity who was just trying to cover his department's ass but ended up swinging the election.

 

[Guevara]

If it weren't the emails it just would have been something else.

 

[Velocity:Design:Comfort]

Which was hacked by a Russian hacker encouraged by Trump himself. Clinton case re-opening was the prime moment of Russia's interference with US elections feat Wikileaks

Did you make this up right now or is this something you've been pretending is true for a long time?

Edit: he posted this:

https://patribotics.blog/2017/02/14/the-carolina-conspiracy-putin-catfished-weiner-louise-mensch/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/27/us-russia-hacking-yevgeniy-nikulin-linkedin-dropbox

as I posted my comment. This is so extremely circumstantial and has so many leaps of faith I don't know where to start. I didn't even know people thought that Anthony Weiner's sexual assault victim was fake. Clinton excusers go to such great lengths to deflect from why she actually lost it's ridiculous.

 

[Shadow Puppetry]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

Is she locked up tho?

 

[rambis]

It still doesn't make any goddamn sense that he had two concurrent investigations in his hands, both of each of the two candidates of the party, and yet he chose to publicly disclose the existence and status of one, and ONLY one.

The go-to excuse is also bullshit. That Clinton was poised to win shouldn't have made any difference. If he was fearful that in keeping mum about this would've been seen as "helping" Clinton, the only logical course of action is to disclose both. Not just one. Because by disclosing one you plainly only help the other campaign, which is exactly what he did.

Comey's such a fucking hack. I know people are holding back from raking him over the coals because he's the head of the only department capable of completing a comprehensive investigation of the allegations of Trump's campaign's collusion with Russia, but it's also prudent to keep in mind the shit Comey pulled and not to forget it.

The two situations don't compare and you're not providing much a compelling reason for him to have gone public outside of fair politics. There was no logic to reveal the investigation to the public at that time in Oct/Nov.

The Clinton email "scandal" was an obvious nonstarter and there were absolutely no criminal implications at any point. The Russia investigation is multi faceted with a lot of different people and alot of leads to possible criminal activities that should've been kept under wraps until the proper time to disclose info and move forward in the investigation.

 

[guek]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

This is not only idiotic, it's pretty blatant propaganda. Clinton has plenty of legitimate grounds to be criticized for her private server, but that you choose to go down this conspiracy route is incredibly telling.

 

[Zeyphersan]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

Actually I'm pretty sure Thomas Jefferson had his own server when he was secretary

 

[rjinaz]

The more I learn about Comey, the more sympathetic I become tbh. He's not the partisan hack that he was painted to be by pundits. That doesn't absolve him from criticism though. Dude fucked up. But he also seems like a man of integrity who was just trying to cover his department's ass but ended up swinging the election.

I mean his colleagues called him out for doing what he did as an ethics breach, right after it happened. He knew what he was doing and would end up doing, because it was obvious to all, and did it anyway.

 

[Pandora012]

The more I learn about Comey, the more sympathetic I become tbh. He's not the partisan hack that he was painted to be by pundits. That doesn't absolve him from criticism though. Dude fucked up. But he also seems like a man of integrity who was just trying to cover his department's ass but ended up swinging the election.

He was told not to do it, yet did it. When he saw what happened he stood silent. He made a poor choice and did nothing to fix it.

 

[Xe4]

The more I learn about Comey, the more sympathetic I become tbh. He's not the partisan hack that he was painted to be by pundits. That doesn't absolve him from criticism though. Dude fucked up. But he also seems like a man of integrity who was just trying to cover his department's ass but ended up swinging the election.

Even if he wasn't on purposefully trying to hurt Clinton, doing what he did was plainly idiotic. He knew it was a violation of certain election laws, but did it anyways.

If he wanted to bring up Clinton's email scandal, fine, whatever. But bring up that Trump was under investigation too. You can't do one and not the other and not expect people to call you a partisan hack.

close?

Close. But this is closer:

 

[QuantumBro]

Eh, this is pretty shoddy reporting by the NYT. The pre-election email scandal appears to have been orchestrated by Rudy Giuliani, who had the NYPD force Comey to send the letter to Congress. Comey didn't have a choice because if he hadn't sent the letter, the NYPD would've leaked the information.

Maybe if the Obama administration had allowed Comey to write the op-ed in June/July we wouldn't be in this scenario now.

 

[guek]

It still doesn't make any goddamn sense that he had two concurrent investigations in his hands, both of each of the two candidates of the party, and yet he chose to publicly disclose the existence and status of one, and ONLY one.

The go-to excuse is also bullshit. That Clinton was poised to win shouldn't have made any difference. If he was fearful that in keeping mum about this would've been seen as "helping" Clinton, the only logical course of action is to disclose both. Not just one. Because by disclosing one you plainly only help the other campaign, which is exactly what he did.

Comey's such a fucking hack. I know people are holding back from raking him over the coals because he's the head of the only department capable of completing a comprehensive investigation of the allegations of Trump's campaign's collusion with Russia, but it's also prudent to keep in mind the shit Comey pulled and not to forget it.

There are a few legit reasons to disclose re-opening the Clinton scandal while staying quiet on Trump. Chief among them is that any investigation into Russian ties prior to the election could have tipped off the people they were trying to investigate. Everything that's come out so far implicates people close to Trump but not Trump directly, so staying mum in order to collect more information was prudent. It's not necessarily the choice I would have made but there is some sense to it.

The Comey letter re-opening the Clinton email scandal is another matter entirely, and I honestly think it all comes down to Loretta Lynch talking to Bill on the tarmac. It's an incredibly stupid, frivolous scandal, but the accusation of collusion between the DoJ and the Clinton campaign was sticking, Comey did not want to hide anything about an investigation that was already public knowledge. Again, this is NOT what I would have done either, but there is an argument to be made for why he spoke out on Clinton but not Trump. What really should have happened is he shouldn't have said anything until they had gone through Weiner's emails. They only just barely got through that before the election, but they could have easily missed that deadline. I think that's why he felt pressured to say something immediately, because he didn't know how long it would take. It was absolutely the wrong move though.

 

[gtvdave]

Did you make this up right now or is this something you've been pretending is true for a long time?

I did not make it up. See articles above. The Russian hacker was arrested in Prague by FBI's request shortly before the election. Trump encouraged Russia to get more dirt on Clinton. Wikileaks servers switched to Russian hosting as DNC Podesta leak was on going. It is a conspiracy for sure, but it is clear that FBI is looking into it in order to prove or disprove. We need to wait for answers.

I am just stating the possibility that this might have happened. I am not defending Clinton or DNC because there was a lot of dirt exposed that is legitimate. It is just amazing to me that the alt-right is not accepting the possibility that they are being manipulated. I am not anyone's side and I am glad that Comey might be approaching this issue the same way.

 

[Not]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

Will anything change your mind at this point or should I still give it a shot?

 

[Kodros]

If it weren't the emails it just would have been something else.

Like what? I'm pretty sure the email scandal was a big, public issue before the FBI started investigating.

 

[The Jackdog]

I think a candidate running an illegal server in her basement (unlike any past SoS) to hide the fact that they were running Bill Clinton, Inc. in conjunction with the State Department, shaped the election.

were you paying even a single lick of attention to the election and past 100 days

 

[rjinaz]

Even if he wasn't on purposefully trying to hurt Clinton, doing what he did was plainly idiotic. He knew it was a violation of certain election laws, but did it anyways.

If he wanted to bring up Clinton's email scandal, fine, whatever. But bring up that Trump was under investigation too. You can't do one and not the other and not expect people to call you a partisan hack.



Close. But this is closer:

Damn, that's a good eyeroll.