Post by ck4829 on Oct 30, 2016 13:09:09 GMT
Everyone seems to have been against FBI Director James Comey’s decision to notify Congress about the discovery of new emails that could be related to the probe into Hillary Clinton’s personal server. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates were just two of the senior officials who apparently warned Comey that making the news public would go against the Justice Department’s standard operating procedure. Why? “We don’t comment on an ongoing investigation,” a Justice Department official tells the Washington Post. “And we don’t take steps that will be viewed as influencing an election.”
Despite that strong advice from senior officials, Comey decided to inform lawmakers about the newly discovered emails. “He is operating independently of the Justice Department. And he knows it,” a Post source said. Couldn’t Lynch and Yates have done more to prevent Comey from speaking up? Well, Justice Department officials tell CNN that the two top officials couldn’t do much “given the fallout over Lynch’s controversial meeting over the summer with former President Bill Clinton.” That refers to the so-called "tarmac meeting" Bill Clinton had with Lynch on a plane while the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton was ongoing.
Several former prosecutors talked to Politico and said they were shocked and baffled by Comey’s decision to speak up. "I got a lot of respect for Jim Comey, but I don't understand this idea of dropping this bombshell which could be a big dud," said former federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg. "Doing it in the last week or 10 days of a presidential election without more information, I don't think that he should because how does it inform a voter? It just invites speculation ... I would question the timing of it. It's not going to get done in a week."
Comey sent a memo to FBI employees shortly after he sent the letter to Congress on Friday, explaining that he felt “an obligation” to report on the discovery of the emails because “I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed.” Although he recognized that “we don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations”
www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/10/29/fbi_director_james_comey_ignored_justice_department_advice_tradition_to.html
Very weird, this needs more exposure for sure.
