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WaPo: Dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe

Do you think this is the reason Trump says he has no confidence in the intelligence community? Because he knows fake Russian bullshit was passed on and accepted as fact? That would be simultaneously hilarious and damning.
 

TheMan

Member
Russia played us like a goddamn fiddle, it's incredible really. All the money we pour into military, intelligence, security, etc and we still got played so hard...from the top people at the bureau down to the lowliest idiot from buttfuck Ohio.
 

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
RXs3cw9.gif

While it is arguable that she could have run a better campaign, I know that if I were her, I'd be beside myself with anger with all of this rubbish coming out.

The democracy of the USA got played like chumps. Hard.
 
He absolutely did, but I think what people on the left have come to accept/believe is that his big ol fuckup last year that helped tank Hillary was not done out of malice or a partisan agenda. He made a bad choice, but he was kind of in a complicated fucked up position. At the time it certainly seemed that he was just being a Hillary hating Republican.

I don't believe that he did it as a malicious action toward Hillary's campaign, but a bad choice is still a bad choice, and he still was one of the many factors that got us into this mess, however inadvertent it may have been.
 
In a way, even though it is bad in multiple different avenues, him getting fired from the FBI is probably a better thing than not. Not only did it kick the whole thing into the overdrive it needed, I just frankly don't fucking trust Comey in this position anymore after reading all of this. I don't think this was really agenda based, I don't, but we have what amounts to two of the most bafflingly stupid moves a FBI can do in an election happening within like 6 months of each other.

Do you think this is the reason Trump says he has no confidence in the intelligence community? Because he knows fake Russian bullshit was passed on and accepted as fact? That would be simultaneously hilarious and damning.

That's probably a stretch. He just says that because of the investigation against him.
 

4Tran

Member
I don't care what anyone says about him now, Comey fucked up with doing what he did here. It amazes me that a man who seems so intelligent did something so fucking stupid. And now we know a large part of what prompted him was documents that were in doubt at the time and just a little later basically completely debunked. Jesus fucking Christ.
It should never be forgotten in the midst of all this mess just how badly Comey screwed up his job during the election.
 

kirblar

Member
In a way, even though it is bad in multiple different avenues, him getting fired from the FBI is probably a better thing than not. Not only did it kick the whole thing into the overdrive it needed, I just frankly don't fucking trust Comey in this position anymore after reading all of this. I don't think this was really agenda based, I don't, but we have what amounts to two of the most bafflingly stupid moves a FBI can do in an election happening within like 6 months of each other.
He's a good guy with absolutely terrible instincts on how to handle public relations and has a LOT of implicit biases that he hasn't learned how to course correct on.
 
This might've influenced the actions Comey took, but he already testified that straw that broke the camel's back was when Bill Clinton met with Loretta Lynch on the runway.

If you're going to blame Comey for Clinton losing, gotta blame Bill too.
 
To everyone about to use this thread to criticize Comey, realize that if Comey has NOT sent that letter, the reopening of the emails case would have still been leaked to the press by the shitty NY criminal field office and the result would have been likely entirely the same with the only difference being that Comey wouldn't have had from January through April to continue investigating Trump and Russia.
 

royalan

Member
People should keep in mind how badly Comey botched the FBI investigation on Clinton. The situation has changed and tables have turned, but too many people are treating Comey as our lord and savior. He never was, and in some ways played a role in getting us into the mess we're in now.

AMEN

In a just world, Comey DID deserve to lose his job. How he handled the Clinton investigation was boneheaded, undeniably partisan, and broke with standard DoJ protocol in just about every way. Had he conducted the investigation by the book, he might have gotten far enough to realize the department had been fed bad Intel. But nope, good ol"Maverick" Comey. The man's a dummy.

...he just didn't deserve to lose his job under the circumstances that he did.
To everyone about to use this thread to criticize Comey, realize that if Comey has NOT sent that letter, the reopening of the emails case would have still been leaked to the press by the shitty NY criminal field office and the result would have been likely entirely the same with the only difference being that Comey wouldn't have had from January through April to continue investigating Trump and Russia.

This works both ways. Had Comey not sent that letter, Clinton likely would have won, and the FBI would have been able to continue their investigation without being hounded by a madman president.
 

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
To everyone about to use this thread to criticize Comey, realize that if Comey has NOT sent that letter, the reopening of the emails case would have still been leaked to the press by the shitty NY criminal field office and the result would have been likely entirely the same with the only difference being that Comey wouldn't have had from January through April to continue investigating Trump and Russia.

He easily could have worded the letter in a much better way. He messed up.
 

Maxim726X

Member
Man, I'd pay good money to watch Trump get grilled like the way Hillary was for 13 hours that day.

He wouldn't last 3.

Honestly, that farce was the day that convinced me she would be a good president. Kept her cool for 13 fucking hours with the most banal questions being thrown at her over and over and over again.
 

DopeToast

Banned
It's not hard to understand: A document came into the FBI that in some way tied into the investigation going on about Hillary's e-mail, the document was considered dubious from the start, Comey decided he was going to jump ahead of this before it leaked and was part of the reason he called that press conference last July, and not long after the document was basically debunked.

I get that part, mostly, but just the entire Russia/e-mail/leaking/Trump fiasco in general. There's just so much going on right now it's hard to keep up.
 
To everyone about to use this thread to criticize Comey, realize that if Comey has NOT sent that letter, the reopening of the emails case would have still been leaked to the press by the shitty NY criminal field office and the result would have been likely entirely the same with the only difference being that Comey wouldn't have had from January through April to continue investigating Trump and Russia.

But a leak is unverified and unofficial. How could it possibly have had the same effect?
 
This might've influenced the actions Comey took, but he already testified that straw that broke the camel's back was when Bill Clinton met with Loretta Lynch on the runway.

If you're going to blame Comey for Clinton losing, gotta blame Bill too.

No, we don't. Comey was the one who made the decision. Comey was the one who decided to basically give the right a bombshell to threw in a heavily polarized enviornment where one candidate was the target of an unprecedented smear job. Comey did this shit again, too, six months later. Comey. Fucked. It. Up.
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
I see Russian intelligence continues to run circles around America's.

Jesus Christ, I'm shocked Putin hasn't died from a riotous fit of laughter. He was probably at the brink of a stroke on election night.
 
He wouldn't last 3.

Honestly, that farce was the day that convinced me she would be a good president. Kept her cool for 13 fucking hours with the most banal questions being thrown at her over and over and over again.

Shit makes me furious. She would have been a fantastic president.
 

Kyzer

Banned
So Comey thought he was justified in surpassing the JD at the time, which is the reason he was fired. Also his silence on the matter speaks to their uncertainty of its validity.
 
AMEN

In a just world, Comey DID deserve to lose his job. How he handled the Clinton investigation was boneheaded, undeniably partisan, and broke with standard DoJ protocol in just about every way. Had he conducted the investigation by the book, he might have gotten far enough to realize the department had been fed bad Intel. But nope, good ol"Maverick" Comey. The man's a dummy.

...he just didn't deserve to lose his job under the circumstances that he did.

The problem is that had Comey done it by the book, then what would have happened instead would be:

- NY Criminal Field Office leaks the reopening of the emails case to the press
- Congress and the Senate get to play outraged demanding Comey explain why he "covered up" the reopening of a case from congress
- News headlines still appear about the emails case being reopened, which means Hillary still barely loses
- Trump's Team immediately knows that they can't count on comey, so instead of firing him in April, they fire him January 21st and replace him with a Trump crony who won't allow the investigation to actually happen.
 
The problem is that had Comey done it by the book, then what would have happened instead would be:

- NY Criminal Field Office leaks the reopening of the emails case to the press
- Congress and the Senate get to play outraged demanding Comey explain why he "covered up" the reopening of a case from congress
- News headlines still appear about the emails case being reopened, which means Hillary still barely loses
- Trump's Team immediately knows that they can't count on comey, so instead of firing him in April, they fire him January 21st and replace him with a Trump crony who won't allow the investigation to actually happen.

That's all just speculation to try and circumvent Comey's fuck up. We really don't know what would have happened. Comey fucked up.
 

tbm24

Member
So Comey thought he was justified in surpassing the JD at the time, which is the reason he was fired. Also his silence on the matter speaks to their uncertainty of its validity.
That was not the reason he was fired. A reason to be fired sure, but not even remotely close to the reason why.
 
The problem is that had Comey done it by the book, then what would have happened instead would be:

- NY Criminal Field Office leaks the reopening of the emails case to the press
- Congress and the Senate get to play outraged demanding Comey explain why he "covered up" the reopening of a case from congress
- News headlines still appear about the emails case being reopened, which means Hillary still barely loses
- Trump's Team immediately knows that they can't count on comey, so instead of firing him in April, they fire him January 21st and replace him with a Trump crony who won't allow the investigation to actually happen.
This is all fair. I think a major issue in all of this is still the Bill Clinton meeting. Without, that, this simply would have fallen on the AG Lynch to make her own decision. People still would not have liked it, but it would have kept the FBI out of the decision making process and likely would have prevented the press conference.

The secondary letter still would have been problematic, but they could have sat on it for a day or two and ensured that the emails were duplicates before releasing it.
 

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
The problem is that had Comey done it by the book, then what would have happened instead would be:

- NY Criminal Field Office leaks the reopening of the emails case to the press
- Congress and the Senate get to play outraged demanding Comey explain why he "covered up" the reopening of a case from congress
- News headlines still appear about the emails case being reopened, which means Hillary still barely loses
- Trump's Team immediately knows that they can't count on comey, so instead of firing him in April, they fire him January 21st and replace him with a Trump crony who won't allow the investigation to actually happen.

You might be right - but I'm thinking if he was a little less partisan in his letter, things may have turned out differently. Sure wish we could run a simulation to find out what would have happened.
 

royalan

Member
The problem is that had Comey done it by the book, then what would have happened instead would be:

- NY Criminal Field Office leaks the reopening of the emails case to the press
- Congress and the Senate get to play outraged demanding Comey explain why he "covered up" the reopening of a case from congress
- News headlines still appear about the emails case being reopened, which means Hillary still barely loses
- Trump's Team immediately knows that they can't count on comey, so instead of firing him in April, they fire him January 21st and replace him with a Trump crony who won't allow the investigation to actually happen.

You're giving way too much credit to a leak. No way would a leak have been given as much credit as a letter from the director himself. I mean, there was a leak a day in 2016. Not all of them became front page news. A letter from Comey GUARANTEED a week's worth of headlines, which is exactly what happened.
 
Holy shit he got played by fake news.

That also explains why he was so tenacious investigating Russia. Once he realized he got played it became very personal(besides the seriousness).
 

Eidan

Member
Man, I'd pay good money to watch Trump get grilled like the way Hillary was for 13 hours that day.

I had always admired Clinton, but that day I think I really became a "true believer". She was fucking incredible withstanding that marathon of bullshit.
 
You're giving way too much credit to a leak. No way would a leak have been given as much credit as a letter from the director himself. I mean, there was a leak a day in 2016. Not all of them became front page news. A letter from Comey GUARANTEED a week's worth of headlines, which is exactly what happened.

Except leaks are exactly what has been taking down Trump inch by inch.

There is a lot of reason to believe that the part of the FBI that is "Trumpland" is the NY Criminal Field Office. They WOULD have leaked shit to the press if Comey didn't send the letter, and then if Hillary STILL lost, Comey would have been fired in January 21st.
 
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