Not going to pretend I read the whole thing. No way. I will get around to it, but 560 or so pages of a government document is just a little too much given all the other stuff I am doing right now. From what I have read, however, and from the analyses that have been shooting out all over media world, it seems the report is quite damning for Comey, his immediate circle, the FBI, in general, and former AG Lynch--who gets nailed (sorta) for her outrageous tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton. It also does Hillary Clinton no favors, finding that it seems almost certain foreign intel services got into her private server and gained access to the illegally stored classified information there.
Look, there's a lot in the report, I am uncomfortable going into too much detail about something I have not read in its entirety. I don't like relying on media accounts of these sorts of things. I don't like spin whether it's from Fox, CNN, or MSNBC. One area of particular concern for me, which I don't think the report deals with, is Comey's motivations for how he behaved, although the report says he was "insubordinate," and, btw, used a private email account for government business.
I have written before about Comey (here, here, and here) and noted back in July 2016 that the Democrats had a legitimate complaint against Comey and his public comments about the Clinton investigation. The Republicans, of course, had a valid point, too, noting that despite the detailed listing of all the misdeeds committed by Hillary Clinton, Comey had decided not to pursue criminal charges against her. His was a bizarre performance made even weirder when a few weeks later, he announced he had reopened the investigation into her emails because a big clump of them had been found on Anthony Weiner's laptop. All of this, the IG notes was not in keeping with FBI protocol, and clearly implies that Comey thought himself a power onto himself ("insubordinate"), and that Lynch proved an absolutely horrendous manager and leader of the DOJ.
Democrats, including Hillary, herself, have taken to various media platforms arguing that Comey's press conference shows that Comey favored Trump in the election by his actions if not his words. They note that he did not reveal, for example, that the FBI was investigating Trump-Russia, but did reveal the FBI was investigating Hillary-email. Well, friends, the Dems are not completely accurate on this and are hiding some aspects of what I think was happening inside the FBI. Note, of course, that the NYT and other outlets, in fact, were reporting on an FBI investigation of Trump-Russia before the election, and doing so on the basis of leaks coming from DOJ/FBI. More important, however, I understand from friends close to the FBI, there was a brewing revolt in the ranks over how the FBI leadership was handling Hillary Clinton with kid gloves. I think Comey sought to get ahead of that revolt by holding his infamous July 5, 2016 presser, and tried to split the baby--not very successfully. In addition, of course, Comey probably did not want a lot of attention on the FBI's Trump-Russia collusion investigation because he knew it was based on the fraudulent Steele Dossier and other questionable shenanigans, including dubious, to say the least, "unmasking" and FISA processes. As revealed by the IG report, the FBI/DOJ leadership assumed that HRC would win the November election, and, therefore, all of this illegal and unethical behavior would remain secret--commentary on it merely coming from those of us in the "POS" crowd.
Anyhow, just some thoughts. I hope to give the report a more detailed look in the next few days.
Abd has Hillary won, none of this would have ever seen the light of day.
ReplyDeleteAnd worse, the DoJ/FBI would have the basis and lessons learned of how to implant agents into Campaigns of individuals they do not agree with and how to plant the seeds for criminal investigations/proceedings should that candidate actually win.
The USA came that close to becoming no better than any other banana republic.
I'm not religious but either God ... or the programmers of that quantum computer in the far future creating ... according to Musk ... our current virtual reality ... took pity on us and gave up Trump. What else could explain things?
Delete"VR ... took pity on us and gave >>up<< Trump."
DeleteFixed it for ya Br'er George! ;)
Edit:
"VR...took pity on >US< and gave >>US<< Trump>!!
After all, she is a sentient creature, is she not?
OW~~~
At Last! The Tip of the Iceberg broaches! The Dirty Deeds of the Deep Dark Dank Democrat State can be seen, awash in their concocted slime, 500+ pages worth, (The IG Report)!
ReplyDeletePerhaps now, after more than a year of being played by the FBI and their turncoats, The American Citizenry and Congress under Paul Ryan, may finally get it in gear, and recruit the 218 votes needed to begin the process: 'Articles of Impeachment, and criminal indictments against every last one of the SOB's and Treasonous PLAYAS, who've sabotaged the lawfully elected Administration of President Trump!
L@^@king for Trey Gowdy, somewhere along the line, to finish what he started as chief mule-skinner, and become a Special Prosecutor: his mission, to excise the cancerous anti-American growth remaining in the bowels of the Obama-Clinton-Jarrett Islamist regime! Expect, as a retired legislator he'll have plenty of time to employ, his now legendary skills, to defang political buffoons, polecats, bureaucrats, and progressive rat bastids, cut down to jail~able size!
On Watch~~~
"Let's Roll"
How ever this finally shakes out - I have no reason to trust that it will be handled well - Americans will be left to wonder if the FBI is more corrupt than it is incompetent or vice versa.
ReplyDeleteI know there are plenty of good Americans among the FBI ranks but at this point I don't know why any above a GS-12 should consider their job to be secure.
As much as I sometimes wonder why Sessions still has a job, I believe this could be his calling - fix the FBI! We need one that is an actual law enforcement agency and not the arm of a political campaign.
i was going to try to write some insightful comments about this first horowitz report, but i am way too p’d off.
ReplyDeletei can’t escape the simple reality that, if i had pulled any of the shennanigans of team comey or team clinton during my 32 year civilian tenure that ended while serving under hilary (or my 25 year mostly part time military tenure), i would be down and out, maybe in prison, certainly psychologically and financially broken, and deservedly so. the comeyites and clintonistas and muellerons and their acolytes (wray and rosenstein) are simply dirty and corrupted, and need to be flushed, with the toilet bowl then scrubbed with bleach.
trump should declassify and unredact every scrap of information to let us decide for ourselves what our tax dollars have bought here. he should replace the flushees with capable persons who have never worked one day inside the beltway. he should dare impeachment. in other words, “nuke ‘em from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.”
thinking rationally one should wait for the second horowitz report on “russian collusion” and the huber indictments but i am approaching irrationality at flank speed. yeah i’m p’d off...
..."comeyites and clintonistas and muellerons and their acolytes (wray and rosenstein) are ...dirty and corrupted, and need to be flushed, with the toilet bowl then scrubbed with bleach."
DeleteAffirm jt!
Turn to "ship of state"'s work...Clean sweep and swab all decks, especially the Heads!
...
..."approaching irrationality at flank speed. yeah i’m p’d off"...
{{{Man Battle Stations}}} >>--> [aye~~~aye]
On Watch~~~
https://www.navysite.de/cruisebooks/cv61-64/033.htm
"Let's Roll"
Since the IG report necessarily deals with rigorously documented fact, and not speculation, identifying the motivations of most of the players with absolute certainty is fairly impossible.
ReplyDeleteBut that doesn’t mean that we can’t play the home version of the game.
Some reasonable conjectures:
1. Everyone expected Hillary to win. Everyone from FBI and DOJ officials and employees, to the White House and reporters and pundits, to the Russians and everyone around the world, to most voters, to most Republicans and, very possibly (judging from his demeanor on Election Night), to Donald Trump himself. The consensus was fairly unanimous. And it turned out to be wrong.
2. Ass-covering is also fairly universal. Given the belief that Hillary would emerge victorious, it makes sense that in that context:
3. FBI people, up to and including Comey — and in the DOJ, certainly Loretta Lynch, who wanted to keep her job — acted in 2016 to minimize any blowback from a thorough inquiry into Hillary’s actions after she inevitably became president the following January. Professional standards be damned.
4. When, against the odds, Hillary lost they scrambled to protect themselves by emphasizing the bogus Russia-Trump collusion narrative instead — even though if there was any Russian collusion, it was in the form of the DNC-funded, and conveniently leaked, Steele dossier.
5. Consequently, we’ve found ourselves since then assaulted by waves of strident accusations by Democrats who are unwittingly doing Putin’s bidding.
How? By groundlessly challenging the legitimacy of Trump’s victory. This furthers Putin’s goal of undermining American democracy and fomenting a visceral divisiveness and unwillingness to deal in good faith with one’s opponents who, in a happier day, would not be treated as enemies to be crushed without mercy.
It will probably take a generation to heal this gut shot to the body politic.
Thanks, Democrats. Thanks, FBI.
Dearest 'Bro,
DeleteThe court of public bidness stuff (PBS) reviewed your expansive expository on conjectures, and it was initially accepted, however presently, it is being held conditionally under advisement, at least until the entire troupe can assemble and have an opportunity to workout the music, and the choreography.
Seems that Mr. Interlocutor, initially considered that you may have been 'gilding the lily'. However after an engaging appeal by Brother Bones, he was persuaded that your conjecture, absent concrete evidence, was more akin to 'peeing on the petunias' ;)
Signed in Perpetuity:
Mr. hOWell Q. Tambo esg.
I've read parts of it and it is pretty damning. The Democrats are all quoting the "Executive Summary" and I wonder who wrote that ?
ReplyDeleteI did post a few clips here and there.
But it lets them off the hook by not being able to find evidence that their actions were motivated by personal bias. Maybe the report on the Russia investigation will find differently, but Comey dodged the bullet on this one. He'll take "insubordination" gladly. He can argue that Lynch recused herself, that's what he thought she meant when she publicly said she would go by Comey's recommendation. Even if he loses that argument, he's still happy; there's no criminal penalty for "insubordination."
DeleteSounds to my tin ear, that Horowitz used the same playbook schemes to non-pros Comey etal as Comey used to Non-Pros Clinton etal!?
DeleteNow, lets get the hole pack o' rats in to testify under oath or put 'em on ice until they do do!
Then proceed with the indictments and/or impeachment process.
Of course the wee lil mice need to be rounded up and offered perks for prosecutable evidence on the Big Wigs. They'll sing like boids! I tell yuz...
The downside to consider will be the social upheaval engineered by the usual suspects on the Left. Not sure how much clean-up the Trump MAGA machine will be able to accomplish before the mid-terms or general election. Seems tho, with our backs against the wall there's not much room remaining for the GOP to turn and walk away from the fight which the Anti-Constitutionalists have thrust upon US!
IMHO,
On Watch~~~
"Let's Roll"
Good point.
ReplyDeleteDiplomad
I have problems with the report. First is that the Executive Summary concludes there is no evidence that partisan bias drove any decision or action. The IG had to ignore its own report to come to that conclusion. I.e., the body of the report is scathing in its condemnation of the pervasive bias present and full of examples of such bias. But in the Summary they didn't manage to find evidence that this pervasive bias was the motivation for any specific action or inaction in the Hillary investigation! That takes wilful blindness. Secondly, I think there are contradictions in the body of the report that if not reconciled will raise more questions than the report settles.
ReplyDeleteBy "contradictions" I mean not only contradictions but revelations - such as Comey himself using a private gmail account - and implausibilities - e.g., If you parse carefully the material about the emails discovered on the Weiner laptop, you realize the FBI is claiming 3 agents, one of whom was Strzok who had other duties, went through all those emails in 3 days. Not possible. The report doesn't do the figuring out so it doesn't comment on this implausibility.
DeleteAn example of "contradiction" is Strzok claims he had a super duper computer program that found and eliminated all duplicates in the emails found on Weiner's laptop, thereby immensely lighening the workload of reading them. But FBI's IT expert assigned to the case explained there was no metadata on the emails and the programs for finding duplicates did not work. The testimony of Strzok and the IT guy are irreconcilable. Someone is lying. Yet the report simply repeats both accounts without noting the contradiction, much less trying to reconcile it.
These examples of problems in the report relating to the Weiner laptop are further explained by the blogger Sundance at the Conservativetreehouse.com. He has followed the deep state coup on a daily basis since Trump's inauguration. This is one area where issues in the report arise. As I said in my 1st comment, above all is the problem that the report is filled with evidence of agents' anti-Trump bias, yet the IG is unable to find evidence that this bias influenced their actions. When their actions are so unusual, it makes the whole report seem ridulous.
There may be a reason that no bias was shown … Obama had to have known about the email server to send messages to it, making him a co-conspirator. But one cannot indict a sitting President, so the reasoning would be, without that, there could be no indictment of Hillary Clinton.
DeleteSo no bias needs to be asserted to get the observed result, as distasteful as it is.
Green Bear
Hillary has taken note that Comey used his private e-mail for business communications, as if that mitigates her putting a very large number of government documents on her private server and on a staff member's laptop. Neither action is wise, but, to me, planning for and implementing placing the documents on a private server is a whole order of magnitude different and worse. It indicates a conscious disregard of established security protocol rather than,say, simple laziness or carelessness.
ReplyDeleteI did read the entire report over Thursday evening and early Friday morning. The details are all but conclusive- the bias of the teams investigating the e-mail case are explicit, open, and were surely known to the people that assembled the team in the first place. That assembly is the scandal. And with that team assembled, it was easy to simply redirect them to the Trump investigation since the same biases would work the other direction, ensuring a no-holds-barred investigation whereas Clinton got exoneration followed by fake investigation.
ReplyDeleteThere is a case for a full criminal investigation for obstruction here, but Sessions has to act. Maybe the stories about Huber are true, but I demand to see indictments at the end of this. Without that, nothing will change.
Correct Mr. Ward in that, so far as I've been able to discern (admitting not having had time to read the thing) so far as "just the report" is concerned your, "the bias of the teams investigating the e-mail case ... [was] surely known to the people that assembled the team in the first place" , in that, there is that little detail of Ms. Rice emailing herself.
Deletehttps://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-graham-uncover-unusual-email-sent-susan-rice-herself-president-trump-s
I would submit - I too find it "odd" just as the Senators on the Judiciary committee by all appearances to have concluded.
JK
Mad,
ReplyDeleteI still think Comey was a front man to cover the activities of others. I don't think he is a good enough plotter to be anything more than a fall guy.
Late to party Dip, but you must have noticed the FBI agents comments about your old haunt, the State Department. They didn’t want go go near the place because the mishandling of classified info was so bad it would take them years to dig out. Sounds like the perfect place for Hillary’s operations. If she’d been smart enough to just stick with normal SOP over there no one would have been able to tell the difference. It also confirms that since she didn’t, there was a lot of personal and probably illegal traffic on her private network.
ReplyDelete