I do have a strong sense that some part of the explanation is a chill wind that has blown through American law enforcement over the last year.

James Comey

Categorized in : Opinion

I asked the president tweeted on Friday after I got fired that I better hope theres not tapes. I woke up in the middle of the night on Monday night because it didnt dawn on me originally, that there might be corroboration for our conversation, there might a tape.

The FBI doesn't work that way. by James Comey

The FBI doesn't work that way.

Something I probably wouldnt have done or maybe gotten away within a more organized investigation, a more organized administration in the George W. Bush administration for example or the Obama administration, in both those administrations, there was a process. And so if the FBI wanted to send agents into the White House itself to interview a senior official you would work through the White House counsel and there would be discussions and approvals and who would be there. And I thought its early enough, lets just send a couple of guys over.

That is not the attorney general's job. It's a political appointment by the President, but you lead an institution that belongs to the American people and not the President.

He's an accomplished and very smart person who had nothing to lose in taking this job but his reputation, but I really -- it doesn't make me happy to say this, but I think he has lost most of his reputation with the way he has conducted himself.

I don't know whether it's true or not, again, Mueller didn't say it wasn't the case. He didn't disprove it, but he also didn't establish that it was the case.

It sure looks like William Barr did, in connection with a couple... by James Comey

It sure looks like William Barr did, in connection with a couple of episodes.

The President is not above the law, and I don't accept the notion that because The President is the head of the executive branch The President can't ever obstruct justice in connection with executive branch activities, that's just crazy and a recipe for lawlessness.

I think people like that, like Rod Rosenstein, who are people of accomplishment but not real sterling character, strong character, find themselves trapped, and then they start telling themselves a story to justify their being trapped, which is, yeah, Rod Rosenstein's awful, but the country needs me.

I think its good that he was able to finish the work and establish both that the Russia thing wasnt a hoax - that the Russians interfered in the election in a huge way, and thats really important, and then another piece of good news, the evidence didnt establish that any Americans conspired as part of that effort. That should be good news no matter what party youre associated with.

It wouldve been irresponsible not to investigate. And we dont investigate, despite what the partisans say, to find a particular result, we investigate to find out whats true. And as best I can tell, it looks like Bob Mueller was allowed to do that and thats a great thing.

Close your eyes again, change the names. Let me make one up for you, the Iranians, this is totally made up, the Iranians interfere in the election to help elect Barack Obama because they think theyll get a better nuclear deal from him. And during that election, an Obama aide meets with the Iranians and talks about the dirt they have that will help Obama get elected. And the FBI finds out about that. We should not investigate that?

The public comments, because they were widely broadcast, were ones that were apparent to the senior leadership team of the FBI, if I didn't tell the senior leadership team of the FBI about my conversation with President Trump, they wouldn't otherwise know and couldn't help me figure out what to do with what was potential obstruction of justice.

Oh come on. Think about what's happening in the Republican Party. They're up here, attacking the FBI's investigation of a guy who( pleaded) guilty to lying to The FBI, i'm very proud of the way The FBI conducted The FBI.

My recollection was Michael Flynn was -- the conclusion of the investigators was Michael Flynn was obviously lying, but they saw none of the normal common indicia of deception : that is, hesitancy to answer, shifting in seat, sweating, all the things that you might associate with someone who is conscious and manifesting that they are being -- they're telling falsehoods, there's no doubt Michael Flynn was lying, but that those indicators weren't there.

There are not many things I would bet my life on. I would bet my life that Bob Mueller will do things the right way, the way we would all want, whether we're Republicans or Democrats, the way Americans should want.

I kind of shrug and sometimes smile and laugh about it and then I have a secondary reaction, which is to be horrified at my own numb reaction, right ? we have to remind ourselves the President of the United States of America is publicly announcing that people are committing crimes, that they should be in jail.

My reaction to it is actually disturbing to me, which is kind of,' Eh, there he goes again.' I thought I was' Lyin' James Comey' now I'm' Leakin' James Comey'. But I kind of shrug and sometimes smile and laugh about it and then I have a secondary reaction, which is to be horrified at my own numb reaction, we have to remind ourselves the President of the United States of America is publicly announcing that people are committing crimes, that they should be in jail.

All of us should use every breath we have to make sure the lies s... by James Comey

All of us should use every breath we have to make sure the lies stop on January 20, 2021.

I understand the Democrats have important debates now over who th... by James Comey

I understand the Democrats have important debates now over who their candidate should be.