(Scott Johnson)
Former FBI Director James Comey was one dirty cop. He testified for over four hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday regarding his role in the FBI’s efforts to undermine the Trump presidential campaign and presidency. Comey, it may be recalled, falsely certified three of the four FISA warrant application/renewals taken out by the FBI on Carter Page, alleged Russian spy, on the basis of information provided to Christopher Steele by a gentleman whom the FBI itself investigated as a real Russian spy (2009-2011) before he hightailed it out of the United States.
In his testimony yesterday, Comey sounded like a Mafia chieftain bound by omertà. He don’t know nothin’. He don’t remember nothin’.
Gregg Jarrett reports on Comey’s appearance before the committee in the excellent FOX News column “Corrupt Comey conveniently claims no memory of parts of FBI’s Trump-Russia ‘collusion’ probe.” Subhead: “His bout of amnesia and/or dementia is nothing but a cleverly contrived act to avoid taking responsibility for his malign acts.”
Jarrett notes: “Like a broken record, Comey responded to questions with the same pat answers: “Not that I recall … I don’t know … I don’t remember … I never knew … that doesn’t ring a bell.” You can’t say Comey didn’t learn anything from his days as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York or from viewing The Godfather.
PJ Media live blogged Comey’s testimony here and includes a video of Comey’s testimony with the commentary. At the Daily Signal Fred Lucas facetiously identifies “4 Questions James Comey Actually Answered in Senate Hearing.” Comey somehow recalled certain information that might tend to exculpate him. Everything else he was vague on.
Quotable quote: “I don’t regret my role. I regret that it happened.”
NOTE: The Department of Justice Inspector General report on the four FISA applications taken out on Page is posted online here. It is the key document on the falsity of the applications certified by Comey. The executive summary states: “Although we also found no evidence that Comey had been made aware of these issues at the time he certified the application, as discussed in our analysis in Chapter Eleven, multiple factors made it difficult for us to precisely determine the extent of FBI leadership’s knowledge as to each fact that was not shared with OI and not included, or inaccurately stated, in the FISA applications. These factors included, among other things, limited recollections, the inability to question Comey or refresh his recollection with relevant, classified documentation because of his lack of a security clearance, and the absence of meeting minutes that would show the specific details shared with Comey and McCabe during briefings they received, beyond the more general investigative updates that we know they were provided.”
