Comey Conversation with Obama Proves He Was Anything But Impartial on Trump
Fired FBI Director James Comey recently sat down for a lengthy and wide-ranging interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, a significant part of which dwelt on how he handled the separate FBI investigations of the two 2016 presidential nominees, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
According to The Hill, Comey at one point spoke about a meeting he had with former President Barack Obama just one day after the 2016 election, during which the then-director revealed his personal feelings — and perhaps inherent bias — toward the incoming president-elect.
Comey related that Obama had reassured him that he had handled the FBI investigation of Clinton as best as he could, a reassurance Comey took to heart as many other Democrats blamed him for Clinton’s loss.
“I said to him — ‘Mr. President,’ first of all, I said, ‘Thank you, Mr. President. It has been a nightmare. I’m just — I’ve just tried to do the right thing.’ And he said, ‘I know. I know,’ stated Comey, according to a transcript of the interview.
“And then I said, ‘I think my wife would kill me if I didn’t take this chance to thank you, and to tell you how much I’m going to miss you,'” he continued.
“And — and also to t — I told him that, ‘I dread the next four years. But in many ways, I feel great pressure to stay to try and protect the institution I lead,'” he added.
Stephanopoulos pressed as to what exactly prompted Comey to feel “dread” about the next four years under a Trump administration.
Comey replied, “Well, I had some sense of the nature and character of the new president of the United States. And I worried very much that there would be an effort to erode the independence of the FBI.”
The former director proceeded to explain how the FBI, despite being part of the executive branch via the Department of Justice, was nevertheless considered an “independent” agency that was apart from — while simultaneously still within — the executive branch.
“And I worried, given what I had seen during the campaign, that — that that effort to remain apart — might be challenged in — in a Trump administration. And — and I was right, but that’s what I worried about,” he added.
That admission right there — that Comey felt “dread” at the thought of working under President Trump — would seem to indicate a lack of impartiality on Comey’s part.
That lack of impartiality toward Trump was further cemented by other remarks Comey made throughout the lengthy interview, such as his admission that his wife and daughters were huge supporters of Clinton and staunchly opposed to Trump, so much so they participated in the “women’s march” in Washington the day after Trump’s inauguration.
Comey’s bias was also revealed at various points throughout the interview simply by the deferential manner in which he spoke about Obama as compared to the decided lack of respect he holds for Trump — though getting fired has conceivably colored his outlook on things at this point.
It was further revealed as he recalled the briefing he and others delivered to then-President-elect Trump during the transition period at Trump Tower — when Trump was first informed of Russia election interference efforts and the existence of the Steele dossier — where Comey described Trump as something of a mafia boss who was attempting to co-opt intelligence community leaders into becoming part of the “Family.”
Based upon Comey’s interview with Stephanopoulos, it has become readily apparent that Comey was not impartial when it came to Trump, and there most likely could have been little if anything Trump could have done to change Comey’s preconceived notions in regard to the incoming president.
James Comey may have felt “dread” at the thought of working under a Trump administration, but tens of millions of American voters felt even greater dread at the thought of the country being under a potential Clinton administration. Luckily, one of those dreadful situations was avoided in 2016.
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