Kurt Eichenwald: FBI Director James Comey Is Unfit for Public Service
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Source: Newsweek
"The FBI is an investigative arm of the Department of Justice. Nothing more, nothing less. An extremely small minority are lawyers, or even have basic legal training. They do notthank Goddecide who gets indicted and who doesnt. Prosecutors run criminal cases and direct the agents. As many prosecutors have told me over the years, there is almost never an instance where agents who have been investigating a case for months do not recommend for prosecution. Tunnel vision is one reason; the fact that agents rise in the ranks by delivering cases that lead to prosecution is another. That is why prosecutorsand through them, grand juriesmake the decision to charge or not. They both serve as a backstop to agents who dont know the law and have no ability to objectively review their own evidence... What that means is, if the FBI does not even conclude it has enough evidence to write a memo recommending prosecution to the Justice Department, there is simply nothing there. Assuming someone committed a crime when the FBI concludes the evidence obtained in the investigation is not worth turning over to prosecutors is like assuming it must be raining when the skies are clear.
The FBI is never supposed to comment on ongoing investigations and, except in exceptional circumstances, never disclose whether it has or has not recommended prosecution. Instead, on indictment, prosecutors stand up at a press conference, announce the charges, then thank the agents and offices of the FBI who conducted the investigation. If the bureau does not develop enough evidence to merit even a recommendation for prosecution, in those exceptional circumstances where it says anything, those are the words officials use: We have not developed evidence that merits a recommendation for prosecution.
In the last few months, unfortunately, Comey has demonstrated he understands none of this. He has broken these rules time and again, leaving himself in the position where he decided he had to break them a couple of more times. He has acted with a lack of accountability that has not been seen since J. Edgar Hoover held the post. It is unforgiveable."
Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/fbi-director-james-comey-unfit-public-service-517815
Egregious abuse of power by Comey...'nough said.
matt819
(10,749 posts)It puts Comey's comments in July in perspective as well as the latest travesty. The FBI doesn't bring charges. The comment in July should have come from the AG or her spokesperson, and last week should never have happened.
He needs to go. Whether he goes before or after a Congressional inquiry and an internal AG inquiry is a valid question, I guess, but I'd like to see President Obama take action on Wednesday morning.
onetexan
(13,036 posts)before he leaves office to give Hillary a clean start. He needs to rid the agency of the rogue agents operating on their own and restore the faith of Americans for this arm of the DOJ. Comey is an ineffective leader - he clearly does not command his troops' respect, and yet is coy and arrogant. I think he neither respects the president nor AG Lynch. If he did he would not have so blatantly exhibited such insubordination.
allan01
(1,950 posts)mahina
(17,646 posts)boat-tail
(5 posts)the DAY after Hillary's elected.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)then he's got friends "now" outside who (still) have friends inside...
And the orange fascist keeps lying about "her" crimes he's got no evidence of to his blind-followeRs
ChairmanAgnostic
(28,017 posts)by the 90s, they slowly realized that tech issues were growing in importance, and they sought out nerds who know computing.
But to say that most agents were not lawyers, or did not have a law degree is not quite accurate.