In the aftermath of former FBI Director James Comey’s interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, the political left appears to be imploding as Clinton stalwart Lanny Davis has declared in an Op-Ed in The Hill, “So it is time — accurately — to call Comey a liar for this crucial, self-serving rationalization for his action that made Donald Trump president.”
Adding to the mayhem is a demand from Virginia Democrat Rep. Gerry Connolly that FOX News fire commentator Sean Hannity over his “association with Trump attorney Michael Cohen,” as CFL’s Joe Newby put it.
By Connelly’s logic, Stephanopoulos should never have done the interview with Comey because Stephanopoulos was once spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s hubby, former President Bill Clinton.
Into the middle of this fray has jumped Judicial Watch with a Tuesday morning announcement that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice for records about Comey’s book, which is being released today, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership.” The lawsuit seeks the FBI prepublication review “and other records.”
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In a press release announcing the legal action, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton states, “James Comey illegally took and then leaked material from his FBI memos in order to get a Special Counsel appointed to target President Trump. And so now Judicial Watch is asking questions about whether James Comey is getting special treatment from the FBI to use these ill-gotten FBI documents in his book.”
Here’s part of the Judicial Watch press release:
Judicial Watch filed suit after the Justice Department failed produce any records in response to a March 16, 2018, FOIA request for:
All records of communications between the FBI and former FBI director James Comey relating to an upcoming book to be authored by Mr. Comey and published.
All records, including but not limited to forms completed by former FBI director James Comey, relating to the requirement for prepublication review by the FBI of any book to be authored by Comey with the intent to be published or otherwise publicly available.
The Left is in something of a quandary. Its dilemma is one of love-hate for the fired former FBI chief. They love him for his bitter battle with President Trump. They hate him for what they believe is the announcement of a re-opened investigation of Hillary Rodham Clinton just before the 2016 election that cost her the throne, where even Comey acknowledged during the interview, she seemed on the verge of taking a seat.
The Comey conflagration is like the perfect storm. Everybody is getting drenched.
For his part, Comey is quoted by Fox News observing, “I pray no FBI director ever has to deal with this again, because it was just a series of no-win decision…And, my hope is, I even hope Hillary Clinton at least reads those parts of the book, because I think she will walk away saying, ‘you know what, I still think that guy’s an idiot, but … he’s kind of an honest idiot, and he’s trying to do the right thing here.’”
He may have to settle for being considered just an idiot, but there seems to be a lot of that going around.
