While I'm behind Comey and against Trump, Comey should not have leaked. That's the only mistake he made IMHO. It was meant to be a confidential meeting. Not classified, but confidential. All he needed to do was make notes (the memo as he did) and make sure its in the hands of senior members of his department (which he also did) to ensure there is corroboration he made the notes right after the meeting to preserve his memory.
The leak was unnecessary. Other than that, Comey came across as a really great director of the FBI.
If it was confidential and privileged information then the Don should have used his executive privilege. As it was unclassified information it was within the public realm of information, fully accessible under FOIA. It was more a disclosure than a leak.
A private citizen disclosed public information to the press about his conversations with the president, in the interest of the public good. Comey is a stand up guy who has some very clear moral guidelines.
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Fuzz - "He didn't speak to the media before the election, either."
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A "leak" suggests something that must be kept enclosed gets out.
Comey disclosing his personal notes on a conversation where no confidential information is shared, is about as much of a "leak" as your mother telling you about all things she talked about when she went for coffee with her friend.
In line with Seth Meyer's bit:
"She said 'I hope you'll come to the BBQ... that means she wants your father and I to come right?"
"NO MOM, she said 'I hope' which is in NO WAY an expression of desire for a particular result! Plus, HER BBQ IS CLASSIFIED! LEAKER!"
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While I'm behind Comey and against Trump, Comey should not have leaked. That's the only mistake he made IMHO. It was meant to be a confidential meeting. Not classified, but confidential. All he needed to do was make notes (the memo as he did) and make sure its in the hands of senior members of his department (which he also did) to ensure there is corroboration he made the notes right after the meeting to preserve his memory.
The leak was unnecessary. Other than that, Comey came across as a really great director of the FBI.
There was no political impetus. Remember, at this point all we had was a crumbling house committee and a Senate committee with Terri part time staffers working on it. There was no special prosecutor and Nunes and sessions were controlling things even though they'd recused themselves
If it was confidential and privileged information then the Don should have used his executive privilege. As it was unclassified information it was within the public realm of information, fully accessible under FOIA. It was more a disclosure than a leak.
A private citizen disclosed public information to the press about his conversations with the president, in the interest of the public good. Comey is a stand up guy who has some very clear moral guidelines.
Good rebuttal. Changed my mind.
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Also, in the "No, dig up, stupid!" category, Trump's attempt to have the DoJ investigate or punish a witness over legitimately disclosed information may also constitute obstruction of justice.
Does anyone else follow @petesouza on Instagram? He was the official photographer for the Obama White House and is doing maybe the best, most consistent, subtle-not-subtle troll job on Trump I've seen. Today's photo is from a meeting between Obama and Comey that looks quite professional and there are six other people in the Oval Office including the Chief of Staff and the Attorney General.
It's captioned "another Grandfather clock photo" ... a direct reference to Comey's written testimony.
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In 9 conversations with Comey, Trump scarcely asked about the investigation into Russia's interference in the election.
Although President Trump was deeply concerned about allegations that Russia interfered in the election, he did not inquire because he knew that it would be inappropriate to discuss an ongoing investigation with the Director of the FBI.
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If it was confidential and privileged information then the Don should have used his executive privilege. As it was unclassified information it was within the public realm of information, fully accessible under FOIA. It was more a disclosure than a leak.
A private citizen disclosed public information to the press about his conversations with the president, in the interest of the public good. Comey is a stand up guy who has some very clear moral guidelines.
I believe he also testified that the reason he sent the information out was he was hoping it would compel the appointment of a special counsel. Which it did. When asked why he did not do it himself, he said he could not leave his house because reporters were camped in his driveway. This is the only point that I think was a bit...odd. I could email the wapo right now if I wanted to. He was also clearly not concerned about the fact of the distribution becoming public. All in all hardly compelling enough to in any way impact his credibility.
I believe he also testified that the reason he sent the information out was he was hoping it would compel the appointment of a special counsel. Which it did. When asked why he did not do it himself, he said he could not leave his house because reporters were camped in his driveway. This is the only point that I think was a bit...odd. I could email the wapo right now if I wanted to. He was also clearly not concerned about the fact of the distribution becoming public. All in all hardly compelling enough to in any way impact his credibility.
My interpretation of his remark was that if he provided it directly to the media, it would potentially result in him then being hounded by the media further, and he and his wife were planning to get away from the media and hiding for a bit. I think the phrase he used was that it would be like 'feeding seagulls at the beach.'
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I believe he also testified that the reason he sent the information out was he was hoping it would compel the appointment of a special counsel. Which it did. When asked why he did not do it himself, he said he could not leave his house because reporters were camped in his driveway. This is the only point that I think was a bit...odd. I could email the wapo right now if I wanted to. He was also clearly not concerned about the fact of the distribution becoming public. All in all hardly compelling enough to in any way impact his credibility.
I do agree that still makes it a little odd. He could have easily emailed it after he left town with his family and still dodged the press. I just count that as DC politicking to achieve his ends, a special prosecutor. Had it been from him directly it may have automatically be construed as "sour grapes".
I think his point too was that had it been directly from him the press that were already camping him would have become that much worse.
Welcome to DC politics Donny boy, backroom bullying is so basic compared to how these guys operate.
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Fuzz - "He didn't speak to the media before the election, either."
It does not look it Comey broke any laws, but if Trump files to have Investigator General run an investigation, Trump may break be breaking the law.
Quote:
As the news broke, I was on the phone with Stephen Kohn, partner at a law firm focused on whistleblower protection. We’d been talking about where the boundaries lay for Comey in what he could and couldn’t do with the information about his conversations with the president. Kohn’s response to the story about Kasowitz, though, was visceral.
“Here is my position on that: Frivolous grandstanding,” he said. “First of all, I don’t believe the inspector general would have jurisdiction over Comey any more, because he’s no longer a federal employee.” The inspector general’s job is to investigate wrongdoing by employees of the Justice Department, which Comey is no longer, thanks to Trump — though the IG would have the ability to investigate an allegation of criminal misconduct.
“But, second,” he continued, “initiating an investigation because you don’t like somebody’s testimony could be considered obstruction. And in the whistleblower context, it’s both evidence of retaliation and, under some laws, could be an adverse retaliatory act itself.”
In other words, Comey, here, is an employee who is blowing the whistle, to use the idiom, on his former boss. That boss wants to punish him for doing so. That’s problematic — especially if there’s no evidence that Comey actually violated any law that would trigger punishment.
Comey gave nonclassified notes about a conversation he had with the president to a friend with the express purpose of releasing that information to the media. In Kohn’s eyes, there’s nothing remotely illegal about that — making the new “frivolous grandstanding” from Kasowitz particularly problematic.
“The constitutional right to go to the press with information on matters of public concern, as long as you’re not doing it in a way that will bring out classified information,” Kohn said, “the reason why that is protected constitutionally is that the courts — including the U.S. Supreme Court — have ruled that the public has a constitutional right to hear this information.” In other words, it’s constitutionally protected speech.
We can safely assume, though, that Trump’s team is aware that Comey likely didn’t violate any laws, and that they are simply using these arguments as a tool for undermining the parts of his testimony that they didn’t like. How they’re doing it, though, could make their problems worse.
Kohn summarized the new minefield into which Trump and his lawyer might be walking.
“They know that they’re not going to get anything out of Comey on this, because there’s no evidence,” he added. “But they’re clearly trying to create a chilling effect. Not a chilling effect on classified information. … This is a chilling effect on people not to talk about conversations they had with the president that are not classified as a matter of law.”
So this is going to get real interesting, it looks like the Special Cousel investigation under Meuller is viewing this whole thing as a criminal investigation.
Quote:
Special counsel Robert Mueller has recruited the Justice Department’s top criminal law expert to help with his investigation of ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian officials.
Deputy solicitor general Michael Dreeben, who has argued more than 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and oversees the Justice Department’s criminal appellate docket, will be assisting Mueller on a part-time basis, according to sources familiar with the arrangement.
While helping Mueller, Dreeben will continue in his role in the solicitor general’s office, with other lawyers in the office pitching in to help him with upcoming criminal cases.
The move signals that Mueller is seeking advice on the complexities that have arisen already in the investigations, including what constitutes obstruction of justice.
"Michael Dreeben is to criminal law what Robert Mueller is to investigations,” former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal said Thursday night. “Literally the very best. Yet another sign of how serious Mueller is about this matter." Now a partner at Hogan Lovells, Katyal has been a key figure in challenging President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
This does not even count his prior appointments of heavy hitters
Quote:
Special counsel Robert Mueller is assembling a prosecution team with decades of experience going after everything from Watergate to the Mafia to Enron as he digs in for a lengthy probe into possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
His first appointments — tapping longtime law-firm partner James Quarles and Andrew Weissmann, the head of the Justice Department’s criminal fraud unit — were the opening moves in a politically red-hot criminal case that has upended the opening months of the Trump White House.
Mueller is expected to take an expansive view of his role. He inherited a spate of existing federal probes covering figures including the president’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner, and former campaign hands Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and Carter Page.
Mueller brings a wealth of national security experience from his time leading the FBI in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Veteran prosecutors say he has assembled a potent team whose members have backgrounds handling cases involving politicians, mobsters and others — and who know how to work potential witnesses if it helps them land bigger fish.
Aaron Zebley, Jeannie Rhee, and James Quarles. Quarles is also notable for having been a part of the Watergate prosecution team. We also have the head of the DoJ's Criminal Fraud Division, who prosecuted Enron, Andrew Weissmann --and this article tells us about Deputy solicitor general Michael Dreeben.
So we're up to 5 confirmed prosecutors so far, plus Mueller himself.
Even now when Trump has lawyered up and temporarily had his tweeting rights taken away, he is still only being represented by Kasowitz, a real estate litigator vs. the insane team of prosecutors that Meuller is assembling. I wonder how badly they will steamroll Trump's real estate legal team given no one else will represent him atm. Rumor is also they are trying to nail GOP Senators and Congressmen on RICO charges.
Commentators are saying Trump is likely under investigation at this point mostly because firing Comey.
Quote:
Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer believes that President Trump is now under investigation by the Justice Department amid probes into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian election interference.
Recounting Thursday's high-profile Senate testimony from former FBI Director James Comey, Krauthammer said Trump was likely frustrated that Comey would not publicly confirm that he wasn't under investigation despite private assurances.
Krauthammer added that actions Trump made in frustration may have backfired.
"Comey handing over his notes to former [FBI] Director [Robert] Mueller, who is running the [special] investigation, means that Trump is now under investigation," Krauthammer said Friday during the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference in Washington.
"That's the irony — all he was trying to do was to get the story out that he wasn't, but in pursuit of that, he created a string of events where it's likely, we don't know, he is under investigation."
So Trump says he would have no problem testifying under oath in regards to Comey's testimony. I'm guessing if they actually wanted to do that he'd find an excuse not to.
