Comey Book Mentions Mysterious Lynch-Clinton 'Development' Unknown to Americans
Former FBI Director James Comey alluded to “a development still unknown to the American public” in his new book that casts “serious doubt” on then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s independence in the Hillary Clinton email probe.
ABC News quoted a passage from Comey’s book titled “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership,” which reads, “Had (this information) become public, the unverified material would undoubtedly have been used by political opponents to cast serious doubt on the attorney general’s independence in connection with the Clinton investigation.”
Lynch raised suspicions of her own neutrality in her notorious private “tarmac meeting” at the Phoenix airport with former President Bill Clinton as the investigation into her unauthorized private email server reached a critical phase in late June 2016.
The 30-minute meeting, during which Lynch said they talked about innocuous things like grandchildren, took place just five days before FBI agents interviewed Hillary Clinton in the criminal probe regarding the mishandling of classified information.
Three days later — July 5 — Comey called a surprise news conference announcing the FBI would not be recommending criminal charges be filed against the former secretary of state. He emphatically stated no prosecutor would bring a case, given the facts.
The FBI director’s assessment came despite the bureau’s findings that — contrary to Clinton’s multiple public assurances — her server contained over 100 emails deemed classified when they were sent, including those containing top secret information.
Based on Comey’s statement, The New York Times headlined, “F.B.I. Findings Damage Many of Hillary Clinton’s Claims.”
In June of last year, Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that Lynch had directed him to refer to the email criminal investigation as a “matter,” which he believed was meant to downplay its gravity.
NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt asked Lynch about Comey’s claim in an interview which aired on Monday.
“This was a very sensitive investigation, as everyone knew,” the former attorney general replied. “And the issue when he and I sat down at that time, which I think was early in the fall of 2015, was whether or not we were ready as a department to confirm an investigation going on, when we typically do not confirm or deny investigations into anything with rare exceptions.”
Fox News reported that the “unverified material” to which Comey referred to in his book may be a memo and an email hacked by the Russians — and turned over to the FBI — in which a Democratic operative expressed the belief that Lynch would not allow the Clinton email investigation to go too far.
The New York Times first reported the FBI’s receipt of the documents in April 2017. Comey believed if the memo and email about Lynch were leaked to the public, it would validate people’s concerns the Clinton email investigation was not being handled impartially.
Former Clinton campaign aide Philippe Reines tweeted on Friday the email about Lynch is exactly what Comey is obliquely referring to. The aide said the reason Comey did not include it in his book is that it would be “embarrassing and makes him look like a fool.”
IMPORTANT: Comey alludes to material he can’t include in his book to justify why he doubted Loretta Lynch’s objectivity. Makes it sound secret.
TRUTH: it’s not. He omitted it bc it’s embarrassing & makes him look like a fool. He was duped by a fake email. https://t.co/DjX6p8ttdI
— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) April 12, 2018
On Friday, Trump took some shots at Comey, tweeting he is a “proven LEAKER & LIAR.”
James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018
Further, the president wrote that the former FBI director leaked “CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted.”
….untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018
Trump concluded, “It was my great honor to fire James Comey!”
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