When the Office of Inspector General released their 83-page findings yesterday on James Comey, his reaction was astounding. Almost immediately after the report was released, Comey tweeted an odd message of vindication and actually asked for an apology.
Comey’s tweet came before anyone, himself included, had time to read the report with a fine tooth comb. As analysts, media and political leadership had time to digest the information, it became very clear that Comey was still on the delusional train, as the report was, according to even liberal media outlets, scathing.
President Trump today tweeted:
The disastrous IG Report on James Comey shows, in the strongest of terms, how unfairly I, and tens of millions of great people who support me, were treated. Our rights and liberties were illegally stripped away by this dishonest fool. We should be given our stolen time back?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2019
Trump continued to tweet:
The fact that James Comey was not prosecuted for the absolutely horrible things he did just shows how fair and reasonable Attorney General Bil Barr is. So many people and experts that I have watched and read would have taken an entirely different course. Comey got Lucky!
Comey did get lucky. The New York Post released a simple bullet point list of his violations laid out in the report. Clearly Comey’s demand for an apology was a desperate attempt at deflection.
The New York Post article titled “A cheater’s guide to James Comey’s FBI policy breaches” lays out the violations:
• “Comey did not seek authorization from the FBI before providing Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 to his attorneys.” (Page 2)
• “Comey did not seek FBI authorization before providing the contents of Memo 4, through Richman, to a reporter.” (Page 2)
• “After his removal as FBI Director, Comey violated applicable policies and his Employment Agreement by failing to either surrender his copies of Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 to the FBI or seek authorization to retain them.” (Page 52)
• “Despite knowledge that Memo 3 contained classified information, Comey did not appropriately mark Memo 3 with classification banners, portion markings, or a classification authority block.” (Page 53)
• “Comey was not authorized to disclose the statements he attributed to President Trump in Memo 4, which Comey viewed as evidence of an alleged attempt to obstruct the Flynn investigation and which were relevant to the ongoing Flynn investigation.” (Page 56)
• “Once he knew that the FBI had classified portions of Memo 2, Comey failed to immediately notify the FBI that he had previously given Memo 2 to his attorneys.” (Page 59)
• “Even when these employees believe that their most strongly-held personal convictions might be served by an unauthorized disclosure, the FBI depends on them not to disclose sensitive information. Former Director Comey failed to live up to this responsibility.” (Page 60)
h/t: New York Post
