Columns, Congress, Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

Twitter War: Comey Drops Pseudonym and Judgment In Social Media Attacks

440px-Comey-FBI-PortraitBelow is my column in the Hill newspaper on the recent tweets from former Director James Comey attacking allegations that he (and others) abused the secret FISA surveillance system. It is an ironic twist for Comey who is now acting in the same fashion as Trump in commenting on pending investigations and compromising himself as a potential witness or even target in future investigations.

Here is the column:

The recently released memo from the House Intelligence Committee had barely hit the news when phones across the Beltway went off with that all-too-familiar sound: a chirp. However, the blast was not from the tweeter-in-chief but from former FBI Director James Comey.

While many commentators rightfully criticize the costs of President Trump’s past tweets on court rulings and investigations, Comey’s Twitter traffic has continued to grow unabated and largely unaddressed. On this occasion, Comey was taunting the Republicans with a tweet beginning, “That’s it?” It was Trumpian in every respect, an ill-considered tweet discussing the investigation of his own conduct that undermines his position as a possible witness or target.

Many of us supported the appointment of a special counsel after Trump fired Comey in the midst of Comey’s Russian investigation. Soon after his departure, however, Comey began to take actions that seriously undermined his own position, and his value as a witness to special counsel Robert Mueller. Indeed, the special counsel would now be taking a considerable risk by calling Comey on the stand in any prosecution of the president, but Comey could well end up on the witness list for the defense.

In leaving the FBI, Comey improperly removed memos from the Russian investigation that he wrote concerning meetings with Trump. These memos were clearly FBI material, and some were deemed later to be classified. He had neither the authority to take the memos nor any review that confirmed that they were not classified. (Comey could have given the memos to the oversight committees but elected to leak them). Comey then sent some of the memos to a friend to disclose the information to the media. Four of the seven memos that Comey removed are now believed to be classified. He reportedly gave four memos to his friend to leak to the media. Thus, at least one was likely classified.

It was a tragically ironic moment. This was the man who was tasked with finding leakers and became a leaker himself the minute it served his purposes. Moreover, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had called for Comey to be fired for his conduct during the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of private servers for official and classified information. Comey had denounced Clinton’s handling of such material as “extremely careless.” Now, he was sending official and possibly classified material to a friend with the specific purpose of leaking the contents to the media.

Yet, the most curious change in Comey came after the appointment of the special counsel. Comey turned to the same social media vehicle as Trump to attack his opponents. As with the leaking of the FBI memos, the tweets were clearly designed to bolster Comey’s positions against Trump and the Republicans. He was continuing to try to shape the public narrative.

At first, Comey confined his tweets to oblique poetic or literary references with just pictures of himself standing at crossroads or simple landscapes. For example, after former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty as part of the Mueller investigation, Comey posted a link to a photo of a rushing stream with the biblical quotation, “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

download-6In this early period, Comey was tweeting anonymously under the name Reinhold Niebuhr. The choice of Niebuhr was a curious choice, given the theologian’s disdain for hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Niebuhr often discussed “promethean illusion” and how self-love can lead to the false conclusion that you can achieve goodness on your own and through your own actions. Comey continued to communicate as Niebuhr through illusions and quotations, despite the general knowledge that he was Niebuhr and was using the words of others to criticize people like Trump. It was as if Aesop came back to life with a Twitter account to discuss politics through fables.

Eventually, Comey dropped the tiresome pretense and began tweeting directly about events and people under his own name. Recently, he applauded the FBI for pushing back on the House Republicans seeking to release the memo, writing, “All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.”

There was little question that the “weasels and liars” were references to the Republicans and Trump. Engaging in partisan name-calling is hardly improving Comey’s position, but it got worse after the release of the memo with his latest tweet, “That’s it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.”

Let’s put this one in perspective. The memo concerns allegations that Comey signed off on multiple secret court applications to put a Trump aide under surveillance. It appears that Comey and his staff never told the court that the infamous “dossier” by Fusion GPS was paid for in significant part by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. It was never revealed that the author of the dossier had told the FBI that he was “desperate” to prevent Trump from being president or that he had shopped the story with various reporters, who could not verify its contents.

Various members of Congress have called for a special counsel, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has referred the matter for further investigation within the Justice Department. In other words, Comey is facing calls for investigation and decided to tweet insulting names for his critics and dismissive comments about the investigation. Sound familiar? The only thing Comey did not do is declare the allegations against him to be “fake news.”

Comey continues to react by any means to his critics. He first became a leaker and now is a serial tweeter. That is the problem with our current politics: “Our age knows nothing but reaction and leaps from one extreme to another.” The real Reinhold Niebuhr said that.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He has been lead counsel in national security cases for more than two decades and has testified before congressional intelligence committees.You can follow him on Twitter @JonathanTurley.

158 thoughts on “Twitter War: Comey Drops Pseudonym and Judgment In Social Media Attacks”

  1. I am glad that Comey is speaking up. Even he is entitled to speak and to be heard.

    1. I’m waiting for Comey to tweet out an explanation of his sworn testimony that he didn’t decide to exonerate Hillary until after she was interviewed on July 2, 2016, and yet there are drafts of his exoneration announcement that date back to May.

    2. The right wing enjoys tying, behind their backs, the hands of those who disagree with them e.g. denying them the right to be heard on plutocratic-owned media like Fox . Conservatives cheat and fight in weight classes below them. Because they lack consciences, they talk patriotism while hating American democracy.

      1. Trying to step up out of your weight class and debate people who actually know something is your decision, Linda, and your problem.
        Don’t fault others for fighting “weight classes below them”.

      2. Conservatives cheat and fight in weight classes below them.

        Is it the Conservatives fault their opponents lack the ability to move up in weight class?

  2. Excellent article. Many people do not know that literally 99.99 percent of FISA warrants are granted. The rub is, that in every case brought before it, the FISA court is assuming a rational nexus to national security. This is not the same as the real scrutiny of a warrant by an Article 3 judge. Because the government gets its warrant 99.99 percent of the time, abuse of the FISA system with the introduction of false and misleading information, is an act of recklessness, gross abuse of the public trust and veritable treason.

  3. Looks like JT accepts the very partisan Nunes memo as complete fact. It’s a bit early for that. I also want to see the minority report before passing judgement. It also seems that JT has a thing for Comey, do they have a personal back story? There is nothing in his most recent tweet that I find offensive. Otoh, since JT finds it offensive, maybe we can put it down to Trump’s leadership in at least one field, nasty tweets.

    1. More popcorn indeed!

      Trump tweets…bad. Comey tweets:

      “God he is SO good,” Strzok said. “I know,” Page responded. “Brilliant public speaker. And brilliant distillation of fact.”

      Light on the butter and no salt.

    2. Thanks for the news/link. Something about it doesn’t make sense, though:

      “Page wrote to Strzok on Sept. 2, 2016 about prepping Comey because “potus wants to know everything we’re doing.” Senate investigators told Fox News this text raises questions about Obama’s personal involvement in the Clinton email investigation.

      Why would Senate investigators think it has something to do with the Clinton email investigation, when the email investigation was closed at that time? — closed since the July 5, 2016 announcement that Hillary wouldn’t be prosecuted, until it was briefly reopened about a week before the election.

      Seems more like they would’a been talking about Obama wanting to know about the secret investigation of Trump — then ongoing since July (if not earlier), although Comey never informed Congress that an investigation had been opened, as he was required to do (at least quarterly, I believe).

      Gotta find more information about this.

  5. Most of the people involved here are suffering from nothing more than discovering their illusion of power was indeed an illusion. It’s the height of hypocrisy, even when accurate, that they accuse anyone else of having delusions of supremacy. Chickens nearly always come home to roost, they don’t particularly care who built the coop.

    Incidentally, the average person had plenty of suspicion for our government agencies long before any of this transpired. Comey has been forced out of his cocoon and is basically having a temper tantrum.

  6. A couple difference you may want to point out is that Comey was the FBI director fired by trump for not pledging loyalty to the cult leader himself. Comey is now a private citizen. trump has greatly harmed the FBI and intelligence community, while Comey served it with distinction.

    You fail to recognize that trump the liar has indoctrinated millions into his cult with his outlandish anti democratic behavior. It is to the point where he ignores congressional sanctions placed against his pal putin and Russia. He demands a military parade in his honor (I guess he has learned something from Kim Jung un). You ignore trump’s continual assault on democracy while chiding a civilian for trying to fight back with the truth. You fail to see the forest for the trees. SAD!

  7. Mr. Comey has invoked the J. Edger Hoover rule. Nothing is off limits for the director of the FBI in pursuit of the director’s goals. How else could you explain inviting a foreign spy to mess in our politics. So disappointed I really respected him.

    1. When you say “inviting a foreign spy to mess in our politics,” it sounds like what you’re really saying is that instead of having the FBI investigate Trump (assuming Trump needed to be investigated), Comey allowed HIllary to hire someone (a foreign spy) to investigate Trump and Comey just ran with the information put together by Hillary’s hired foreign spy.

      That wasn’t the first time Comey did something like that. When the DNC (wholly owned by Hillary at the time, financially and otherwise) claimed that its server(s) had been hacked, instead of having the FBI to the job it’s supposed to do — take custody of and examine the evidence — Comey allowed Hillary’s DNC to hire someone to examine the evidence, and in that instance, too, Comey just ran with the information put together by Hillary’s employee (CrowdStrike). It later turned out that CrowdStrike had a habit of pinning hacks on Russians, only to find out later that Russians were not involved (but that didn’t get much mention in the press unless you were looking for the information).

      And prior to that, when it was discovered that Hillary was in unlawful, secret possession of tens of thousands of government records that the national archives didn’t even know existed — years after Hillary had left office and lost the right to possess those shoplifted documents — Comey’s FBI didn’t impound her unlawful server and take custody of those federal records (as should have happened), but left them in Hillary’s unlawful possession so that Hillary could separate the federal records from her own personal correspondence. Next thing you know, the records were destroyed, notwithstanding the fact that they were under subpoena.

      Kinda hard to see how so many people missed the fact that Comey was actually allowing Hillary to make administrative decisions for the FBI and then carry out the functions of the FBI using her own employees.

      Comey’s been pretty dirty for a pretty long time.

    1. He probably narrowed it down to “Niebuhr” or “Saint James”…..maybe he flipped a coin when he couldn’t decide, and the Niebuhr name won out.

      2. Tom Nash – Niebuhr is the person who said a government could be immoral, or amoral, but never moral. He would be perfect for Comey.

        2. And “Crazy Abe” Lincoln, preceding his “Reign of Terror”, is the person who said,

          “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

          Wait. Maybe that was Chairman Mao?

          Occasionally, I get confused about “…the person who said…” and what they meant.

          Oh, and Ben Franklin is the person who said that we gave you “…a republic, if you can keep it.”

          Did we? Did we keep Franklin’s republic (I wonder why Franklin’s republic required self-reliance and denied the vote to the “poor” and women).

          All these people saying things gets confusing, huh?

          It’s a good thing that the Constitution was written so we can still actually read it now and then.

  9. Turley said, “It is an ironic twist for Comey who is now acting in the same fashion as Trump in commenting on pending investigations and compromising himself as a potential witness or even target in future investigations.”

    Turley also said, “This was the man who was tasked with finding leakers and became a leaker himself the minute it served his purposes . . . . . . Now, he was sending official and possibly classified material to a friend with the specific purpose of leaking the contents to the media.”

    Turley is wrong. Turley knows that he’s wrong. And Turley does not care that he is knowingly wrong. The whole and sole reason that Turley says that Comey has made himself a target of future investigations is that Turley has become the personification of Vendetta.

    Turley guesses that Comey’s memos were “possibly classified material,” then deduces the supposed fact of the matter via additional guesswork as follows:

    “Four of the seven memos that Comey removed are now believed to be classified. He reportedly gave four memos to his friend to leak to the media. Thus, at least one was likely classified.”

    Read Turley’s words carefully: “now believed” [guess], “reportedly gave” [guess] and “likely classified” [guess]. Now remember Turley blathering on and on about the FBI routinely abusing its original classification authority for the purpose of avoiding embarrassment or concealing potentially criminal activity. Then ask yourself when, exactly, did Comey remove the seven memos from the FBI? Before Trump fired Comey? Or After Trump fired Comey? When were the memos classified? Before Trump fired Comey? Or after Trump fired Comey? Does Turley know that the seven memos at issue are the only memos that Grassely et al viewed in the SCIF? Because, if there were more than seven memos at issue, and if only four of them are “now believed likely to be classified,” then Turley’s math will not yield Turley’s Vendetta against Comey. Likewise, if Comey gave fewer than four memos to Richman, then Turley’s math will not yield Turley’s Vendetta against Comey. Surely Turley knows that. Surely Turley no longer cares. Ergo, Turley simply must be representing a client by means of this Vendetta against Comey.

    1. About Turley’s guesswork — he’s no different than the rest of us. Starved of access to factual evidence and having to survive on leaks and self-serving statements by politicians — fragments of unverified information at best — all one can do is try to piece the puzzle together as best one can.

      You say, “Read Turley’s words carefully,” as if he’s using clever language to perpetrate a fraud. But the fraud would be to exclude the words, “believed,” “reportedly,” and “likely,” and make assertions of fact as if there’s no room for doubt. That’s not what Turley’s doing.

      Your complaint is meaningless. Turley has often, and recently, complained about over-classification of information — information which the government has no real right to conceal from the public. You would have him not be able to comment on important issues merely because the government is hiding the relevant facts. In the absents of all of the relevant facts, all one can do is deduce, and that’s what Turley’s doing, and he’s not pretending that he’s doing anything else.

      1. William Bayer said, “Your complaint is meaningless.”

        And you are still too new to this blog to reach that conclusion. Stick around for another few months, William Bayer. You’ll see. Turley is not now, never has been, and probably never will be an honest broker. Turley routinely pursues vendettas against all manner and type of public officials and public figures. Moreover, Turley uses this blog zealously to represent the interests of his clients and to rehearse arguments that Turley might someday present in a legal proceeding; such as an impeachment trial in The United State Senate, for instance. Gee willikers, Bayer! I wonder who Turley’s client might be if that day ever arrives.

        1. You have no clue how new I am to this blog, fool. An assumption that I’m new to this blog merely because I only recently decided to post comments here is a groundless assumption, and your statement is spurious. Aside from all of that, this particular article is a republication of one of Turley’s articles at The Hill, where I’ve been reading and commenting on Turley’s articles for longer than I’d care to guess.

          Your statements are empty rhetoric. Full stop.

          1. WB – FWIW – I read some of the comments on that Hill article about Horowitz I posted last night. So damn funny I literally wiped tears from my eyes. Cognitive dissonance R us

        2. “And you are still too new to this blog to reach that conclusion. Stick around for another few months, William Bayer. You’ll see. Turley is not now, never has been, and probably never will be an honest broker. . . .”

          Thus speaketh Inga, who is not new to this blog at all.

          Squeeky Fromm
          Girl Reporter

    2. And let’s put an even finer point on it: Can Turley identify and describe any damage to the national security of The United States resulting from the unauthorized disclosure of any of Comey’s memos? Since Comey’s friend, Richman, reportedly leaked the content of Comey’s memos to the press, then surely Turley ought to be able cite press reports in the public domain to identify and describe the actual damage to our national security that Comey purportedly wrought. If Turley cannot, or will not, identify and describe any actual damage to our national security, then Turley, himself, ought to conclude that, once again, albeit with a new wrinkle, the FBI abused its original classification authority, not to avoid, but to cause embarrassment and, not to conceal, but to fabricate potentially criminal activity purportedly committed by Comey.

      I’m still not a lawyer. But surely Turley still is a lawyer. Therefore Turley surely knows the proper legal term for abusing the original classification authority of the FBI for the purpose of fabricating criminal charges against someone, anyone, even if it is James B. Comey.

      1. “Can Turley identify and describe any damage to the national security of The United States resulting from the unauthorized disclosure of any of Comey’s memos?”

        Try reading the standard FBI Employment Agreement (which Turley directed readers to back when Comey engaged in unauthorized release of FBI information), including the rules related to who owns the information an FBI employee obtains while working for the FBI and the rules related to the procedure for disclosing that information. Notice how that Employment Agreement points to the potential criminality (as well as civil liability) involved in violating those rules, and then consider what Justice Brandeis said in 1928 about what results from government officials violating the law:

        “*** Decency, security and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperilled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. ***” Justice Brandeis, OLMSTEAD v. UNITED STATES 277 U.S. 438 (1928)

        1. You make a fine point, Bayer. If Trump knew that Flynn had lied to the FBI at the time that Trump asked Comey to let Flynn go, then Trump imperiled the continued existence of our government of laws in the act of asking Comey to fail to observe the law scrupulously. What does Bayer suppose that Brandeis would have said about a POTUS who fails, and who asks others to fail, to observe the law scrupulously?

          1. Sorry, too late. You already disqualified yourself from further discussions with me on this subject. If you want to converse with me in the future, you’ll have do demonstrate that you’re not a fool first.

        2. WB – what the h do YOU know? “You’re still too new to this blog..” =) LOL. Partisan Dims are growing more desperate daily. The truth is coming out. Excellent quote by Brandeis.

          1. Autumn, are you now in favor of Comey’s memos about his conversations with Trump having been classified to spare Trump embarrassment or, worse, criminal culpability?

            I thought you were an advocate of transparency, sunshine and suchlike disinfectants.

            1. Autie is for whatever T rump is for. She is one of em. Fools some but not all da bloggers.

              1. Wake up Ken Doll – Progressives did not vote for Trump, but since he won we accept him as our president – unlike the Liberals. We were horrified that Clinton was not prosecuted, but glad she was defeated. It’s been better than we dreamed – since Trump became president people are woke. Hoping for Tulsi Gabbard in 2020

                1. I am a ColoraDo progressive and we resist da T rump and all da pubs that support him. Where I live you would be called A T rumper. We don’t like Hills but have moved to defeat da Koch pubs this fall. After that we will find a good progressive to defeat da sexuassaultin porno kleptocrat.

                2. We don’t support your T rump polluting our air out here nor do we support all da dictators ICE raids. And now his Sessions is threatening our marijuana industry. Progress here can’t stand him. You are a progressive in name only.

            2. It is my understanding the FBI won’t release them – so certainly not to “spare Trump embarrassment or, worse, criminal culpability”

              1. Autumn, Turley says Comey gave four of his memos to Richman who leaked them to the press. The questions are when were Comey’s memos classified and why were they classified. The information leaked to the press concerns Trump’s conversations with Comey. So, were Comey’s memos about his conversations with Trump classified to prevent damage to the national security, or to spare Trump embarrassment, or to cover Trump’s potential criminal culpability, or to embarrass Comey, or to put Comey in legal jeopardy?

                1. Given that Comey wrote them while he was still an FBI employee it is my understanding that they were classified until reviewed L4D

                2. Diane – I think the term is “born classified” and Comey took four of them out of his office without permission and gave them to a friend to release to the pressitutes.

          2. I love quoting Brandeis, because the morons passing themselves off as liberals these days have no clue that Brandeis was (and still is) a hero of heroes among actual liberals, but liberals — or those going under the alias of “progressives” — read that quote and think I’m quoting a conservative “right wing nut job.” Same people that assumed Fidel Castro was a right wing nut job when he criticized Obama. LOL

            1. William Bayer said, “but liberals — or those going under the alias of “progressives” — read that quote and think I’m quoting a conservative ‘right wing nut job.'”

              Is that last observation of yours based upon any statements that liberals or progressives have ever made in correspondence with you, Bayer?

                1. And has any liberal or progressive ever failed to fall for your little trick?

            2. WB – and some people thought Obama was a socialist which never failed to crack me up. Obamacare was a gift to the insurance corps.

        3. On the other hand, William Bayer clearly dodged the question, since any given violation of the standard FBI Employment Agreement does not identify and describe the damage done to national security from unauthorized disclosure of Comey’s conversations with The POTUS, Trump.

          In order for Comey’s memos about those conversations with Trump to have been properly classified, the original classification authority, the FBI, would have to identify and describe the damage done to national security by unauthorized disclosure of Comey’s conversations with The POTUS, Trump. Keep in mind, Bayer, that information that is merely embarrassing to Trump, or which potentially incriminates Trump, cannot have been properly classified by the original classification authority in the first place. Moreover, Comey had original classification authority right up until Trump fired Comey. So there’s still the timing question as well as the propriety of the classification of Comey’s memos about his conversations with Trump.

            1. Executive Order 13526 from December 29th, 2009:

              Section 1.1. Classification Standards.

              (a) Information may be originally classified under the terms of this order only if all of the following conditions are met:

              (4) the original classification authority determines that the unauthorized disclosure of the information reasonably could be expected to result in damage to the national security, which includes defense against transnational terrorism, and the original classification authority is able to identify or describe the damage.

            2. E. O. 13526 additional provisions of (4) above:

              (b) If there is significant doubt about the need to classify information, it shall not be classified. This provision does not:
              (1)amplify or modify the substantive criteria or procedures for classification; or
              (2) create any substantive or procedural rights subject to judicial review.

            3. William Bayer said, “LOL — you literally know nothing about what you’re talking about.”

              A charge of ignorance can be easily proven with evidence of knowledge. So where’s your evidence of knowledge, Bayer?

              1. Like I said, you LITERALLY know NOTHING about the garbage you’re spewing. You have no clue how to honestly interpret that information, either in it’s own context or the context of related federal statutes or the context of relevant case authorities — and I’m not going to waste time explaining any of it to a hired troll that hangs out here day after day for no other purpose than to spew garbage.

                1. Evidence of invective is not evidence of the knowledge of classification procedures any more than dismissive commentary is evidence of intellect.

                  1. Quit trolling, Inga. The answer is very easy to google:

                    As it turns out, however, the information leaked by Comey was classified, and the records in his possession were clearly government records which Comey was not authorized to possess or distribute. How do we know the information was classified? Because the FBI itself told Congress as much. In fact, the information leaked by Comey was so sensitive that members of Congress were not even allowed to read the memos he wrote outside of a Special Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, a highly secure room or area designed to prevent classified information consumed within from being improperly distributed.

                    Squeeky Fromm
                    Girl Reporter

                2. WB, we figured her out long ago, along with her BFF the Linda Bot. Don’t waste your time.

  10. “Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on the recent tweets from former Director James Comey …”

    And below is the comment I posted at The Hill regarding Professor Turley’s column at The Hill (let’s ALL recycle, shall we?)

    For all of the similarities referenced, one BIG difference between Trump and Comey is that, behaviorally speaking, Trump has always been who/what he is today. His politics and points of view have shifted over the years (as do most people’s), but behaviorally speaking, he was the same guy before he ran for president — he was that same guy while running for and being elected president — and he’s STILL that guy while being president.

    Comey, on the other hand, appears to have either been hiding who/what he is for many years, or has recently suffered a major behavioral and personality shift. The current Comey is NOT the guy that Comey either was or was pretending to be while directing the FBI, and that’s an issue for further inquiry.

    1. Comey has always been a holier-than-thou guy – going back to the Ashford incident years ago. But then he was doing the right thing. Comey feels that WHATEVER he does is ok – because his heart is pure.

        1. True. What I find disturbing (aside from his criminal conduct) is some of his tweets and the surrounding circumstances with the pseudonym. I don’t want to try to psychoanalyze the guy, but it strikes me as being beyond “holier-than-thou” and more like delusions of grandeur — like he thinks he’s some sort of poet-genius, now beneficently dispersing his wisdom upon us poor, inferior primates in desperate need of his guidance. And I’m talking about his earlier tweets. It was like a second, hidden personality suddenly escaping after having been repressed for many years.

          From what I’ve gotten to know about Comey’s personality — as it exhibits itself since he was fired — I think it’s shocking that that guy was ever Director of the FBI.

          1. “some sort of poet-genius, now beneficently dispersing [] wisdom upon us poor, inferior primates in desperate need of [] guidance. ”

            Huh??? You talking about me???

            🙂

            Squeeky Fromm
            Girl Reporter

  11. Comey, like King Saul was handed a crown because he was LARGE. He has not demonstrated any real talent or integrity. Same with Mueller..these hideous accolades that they all lather each other up with. “Don’t speak to me of good men, chain them to the Constitution”. TJ.

    1. Well spake — I mean speaked — that is, uh — anyway, bignormous as he may be, Comey isn’t nearly as large as his ego. Macy’s wishes its Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons were that big. With perhaps a few exceptions, big ego is a sure sign of a small man.

        1. Actually, it’s “spoken,” but I was just having fun. Sometimes it’s fun to have fun while writing, and fun to read things written by people that were clearly having fun while writing it. I don’t know — maybe you were having fun, too — but if so, it’s too subtle for me to recognize.

        2. David Benson – spake was correct. Thus spake etc. Maybe Comey could replace Bullwinkle in the Macy’s Parade this year. He is already full of gas, so they would not have to pre-fill him, Or maybe just add more helium to the mixture to get him airborne.

            1. William Bayer – bignormous has been added to the lexicon. Bigley, bignormous.

              1. Serously? I’m familiar with bigly, or bigley, but I thought I invented bignormous when I wrote a short story using that “word” many years ago. Now if I ever decide to get it published it will have lost some of its snazzmaticus.

              1. You keep believing that, because it’s what he wants you to believe. It’s a brilliant tactic. I once used it in court to get a corrupt judge thrown off the bench. Guy thought I was so stupid that he didn’t have to follow any known rules related to conducting trials. The appeal practically wrote itself and — poof — there was suddenly a vacancy on the bench (and in the prosecutor’s office, and with the Clerk of Court).

                1. What brilliant tactician hastily assembles a team of foreign policy advisers using Sam Clovis, who asks Corey Lewandoski, who asks Ed Cox, who recommends Carter Page who gets permission from the campaign of that brilliant tactician to give a speech in Russia that sets off all of the US IC alarm bells before Don McGahn severs the campaign’s relationship with Carter Page?

                  The same brilliant tactician who figured he’d be better off with Robert Swan Mueller III rather than the “bignormous” parade balloon James B. Comey?

                  1. I know we’re not suppose to resort to name-calling at this site — so I’ll apologize to the site, not you, for saying GOD you’re a malignant dorkwad.

  12. I don’t see any problem with Comey tweeting. It’s a free country, to some degree.

    I do see problems with him leaking documents, playing the role of prosecutor with Hillary, using obvious bullsh*t to get a FISA Warrant, and other things.

    As far as his defense of the FBI, what he says isn’t a defense of the FBI. It is a sly defense of himself. Kind of like what a gay pedophile priest does, when he wraps himself up in the holy vestibules or whatever it is they wear, and opine about how people are attacking the Church. . .

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    1. You just said that. Americans are FREE? Free to have half of their paychecks confiscated and redistributed. Americans are free to be ordered to whom they rent and sell their constitutionally private property. Americans are free to be ordered by the government whom to hire, matriculate and reside near. Americans are free to have their children forcibly bused to lazy, greedy, striking, thug teachers union indoctrination sites, AKA public schools. Was there really an oppressive, universal collectivist, redistributive welfare state upon the adoption of the Constitution in 1789? Was there Washingtoncare?

  13. There are a few differences between the pair of Tweeters:

    One defends the FBI and Justice Department while the other in an attempt to save himself attacks all the intelligence services.

    One has served his country most of his life and been on the front lines.

    One can spell.

    1. “One has served his country most of his life and been on the front lines.”

      You could say the same thing about Benedict Arnold. And I hear Al Capone gave candy to all the kids in the neighborhood — even the orphans whose parents he had murdered. What a great guy.

      And defending a corrupt organization — claiming that it shouldn’t be criticize — isn’t actually defending the organization, it’s defending the corruption.

        1. “a lifetime relationship with the Italian mob” — and a public figure subject to every investigative reporter and undercover detective in New York City and beyond, any of which would have loved to get the scoop you’re alleging — and yet nothing. And the FBI never nailed him for any alleged mob connection.

          You’re just spewing garbage because of a stereotype concerning people in the construction business and because you don’t like Trump. And it’s racist/bigoted garbage, since you felt compelled to cite the “Italian mob” (hardly the only mob, or even the most powerful mob).

          Amazing you know so much more than investigative reporters and the NYC Police and the FBI and others who’ve never busted him for anything related to the garbage you’re spewing.

    2. Enigma:
      All hail the intelligence services. They always get it right and have our best interests as heart. No one should criticize them. Here’s some of their greatest hits: The really was yellow cake uranium in Iraq and lots of weaponized anthrax too. The Japanese couldn’t possibly launch a secret attack at Pearl Harbor. The Bay Of Pigs Affair was a rousing success. The Shah will never fall. The NVA and VC can’t possibly muster an offensive on the Tet holiday. The Soviet Empire is too big to fail. No Russian leader will ever invade Afghanistan.
      And the list goes on. Do you live in our world, Enigma?

      1. As you say, it’s a very long list — but just so it wouldn’t go overlooked, and because it’s directly relevant to the current situation, I’d have added Clapper’s sworn testimony before Congress, that the NSA wasn’t collecting “any” form of data concerning American citizens — which was felonious concealment of the most massive violation of the Constitution in US History, which we still might not know about if someone hadn’t blown the whistle on what the “intelligence community” was really up to — all relevant today because the “intelligence community” is still WAY out of control and at the bottom of all current investigations.

        2. Your heroic whistleblower defected to Moscow, Bayer. So please hold off on the erection of monuments to Edward Snowden a while longer.

          1. There is a statue of Snowden in Berlin – Berliners understand all too well the implications of mass spying on citizens. The Stasi could have only dreamed of the NSA sweeps that were put in place under Clapper.

            1. Autumn, I’m not defending warrantless wiretapping, nor the bulk collection of metadata. But I’m certainly not defending Edward Snowden either. He forfeited his claim upon patriotic whistleblowing when he became Moscow’s star defector. BTW, and out of curiosity, do you think Putin uses the private, personal information of Americans better than the deep state does?

          2. I called him a whistleblower. I didn’t call him a hero — although blowing the whistle on the corrupt intelligence services was heroic. He did put his life on the line. And about fleeing to Moscow: There are a limited number of places to flee to, when the CIA is overheard saying “This guy needs to be disappeared,” which IS what one CIA officer was overheard saying about Snowden. How many other places in the world could he have gone to and stayed alive as long as another week after disclosing that Clapper had lied under oath to Congress to cover up the massive unlawful surveillance of you, me, and everyone else?

            People such as you really don’t value your rights as much as you should. Some of us who’ve had our rights trampled on and then had to fight to get them back hold our rights somewhat more precious.

            1. Snowden gave Putin the private, personal information of the Americans the NSA surveilled.

      2. Enigma lives in our world, but he doesn’t live in our “time.” He is stuck in some kind of ” quantum-y worm hole-space time vortex” and his brain is bouncing around between 1850 and 1950, while his body (and mouth) is here in 2018. I am thinking about writing a science fiction short story based on him called The Disconnected Man. Which, would probably spur new Psychiatric Research into personality disorders vis a vis physical causes.

        Squeeky Fromm
        Girl Reporter

        1. In that vein, I did a tour of the Maggie L. Walker House (1864-1934) here in Richmond last night. Walker was the nations’ first African-American female banker and lived a rich fulfilling life. The thing I took away from the tour was how important her family and church were to her. She had a nuclear family (until the tragic death of her husband by her son’s hand in an awful accident) and all her family lived with her or were close by. She believed in thrift, education and cooperation. She was a teacher, banker and editor and still made time for her church. My what a shift from the current paradigm. She never played the victim. She just worked harder. Now that’s a role model.

      1. Technically, he got served by porn stars. I don’t think Trump wins a character contest against most anyone. His own attorneys don’t want him to interview with the Mueller team because they know he’s a compulsive liar. They’re trying to create a momentum for the term, “perjury trap” as if telling the truth is an impossible thing to do? Actually, for him it is!

        1. Enigmainblack said, “Technically, he got served by porn stars.”

          LOL. And even more technically, there’s no such thing as mutual service between Trump and anyone–except maybe Putin.

  14. It’s interesting to see that the “by any means necessary” philosophy has now infected not only the rank and file of college-town anarchists but the upper echelons of the United States government as well.

    1. THe Antifa and SJWs are just volunteer militia for the Permanent Gov/Deep State. What kind of “Resistance” finds itself on the same side as the bosses of the state security organs? Structurally, It all bears a strong resemblance to Mao’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. But with little bloodshed-so far.

      3. curri asked, “What kind of “Resistance” finds itself on the same side as the bosses of the state security organs?”

        Because curri’s aporia makes no sense whatsoever, therefore, Mespo is utterly convinced of the truth of curri’s aporia. The resistance is The Resistance In Name Only: The ResistancINO, as it were. And the “state security organs” are Maoists???

          1. The deep state works for Soros.
            Soros hired Antifa.
            Ergo, the deep state hired Antifa.
            Antifa are flying monkeys.
            Ergo, the deep state hired flying monkeys.
            Flying monkeys are fictional characters.
            Ergo, the deep state hired fictional characters.
            Fictional characters are instruments of thought control.
            Ergo, the deep state deploys instruments of thought control.

            So what is the deep state thinking now, you shatterer of images, you???

            1. I am going to resist T rump’s deep state military parade where he shows the world his deep state works for him and he can blow da other dear leaders up. T rump’s deep state handler Kelly ain’t as nice as we thought.

              1. Ken, have you ever read any posts from William Bayer before July of 2017? That’s when I first showed up, here. The first William Bayer post that I read was far more recent.

                1. I don’t keep track of em all. They sound da same and could work ad da same place for all I know.

              2. K end:
                Godforbid you extend any gratitude for the people who keep you safe to spout your incessant drivel. Don’t worry though we’ll give ’em our regards — meager as they are.

                2. “Late4Dinner has only been posting here for about 6 months?
                  Why does it seem so much longer?😉

        1. “Mao won in America without ever firing a shot.”

          May I safely conclude that there is someone else in America that grasps the fact that the entire collectivist welfare state in these United States is pure communism and irrefutably unconstitutional, from direct cash welfare payments and “Affirmative Action Privilege” to social services, Obamacare, Medicare, HAMP, HARP, WIC, forced busing, quotas, etc.; that Congress shall have merely the power to tax for general Welfare, omitting and, thereby, excluding the power to tax for individual welfare?

          Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1

          “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes,…to pay…and provide for the…general Welfare…”

  15. Those who can: do.
    Those who can’t do: tweet.
    Those who can’t tweet: eat cereal.

    This guy is a cereal killer.

  16. I am a cereal tweeter. I usually tweet Cheerios. There is one thing wrong with Comey. He is a Trumpbeat narcissist. He is a leaker and often does so in the hallway outside his office or orifice. This area is called “slip and slide”.

  17. The Greeks had an excellent word for it: HUBRIS. And it will bring Comey down.

  20. These guys deserve each other, but we deserve better.

    The depressing part is that Trump is such a loser, that the Dems will learn nothing about their own corruption and terrible policies.

    1. Ash:
      Billionaire, President, patriot and a great family. Do you know what a loser is? Maybe just somebody you don’t like and hence attack. What would you call that kind of person? Projection is a strange thing.

    2. Ash – re: “we deserve better” — we get what we deserve. Trump is blowing up the swamp and people who would have never otherwise been exposed or scrutinized are in full panic mode. If HRC had won it would have been “business” as usual.

      More and more people – those who ordinarily just vote in the GE and move on –are paying close attention to what’s going on. This is our chance to curb the corruption and demand accountability. It is not an R or D issue IMO – much bigger than the two parties. It is about restoring rule of law.

      Comey is coming across as increasingly unstable as his reputation goes down the tubes. He can teach Ethics all he wants but to much of the citizenry he is a bad joke. Talkin the talk and most certainly not walkin the walk.

      2. Startin to think T rump’s swamp Goldman Showers has misled him on da economy. Da generals foreign policy has accelerated da secret wars and drone killings. T rump wants to rid da government of people that know he is a crook and replace them with crooked kleptocrats that owe allegiance to him. Comey is a fool because he did not let da American people’s know that T rump campaign was under investigation.

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