Kimberley Strassel: The “Mindset” of the “Coup” is more alarming than Partisanship…

Wall Street Journal Kimberley Strassel discussing the scale and scope of the government weaponization during the 2016 election; and the willful assistance by an ideological U.S. media.

"Grassley, Graham say records show Comey concluded Clinton case prematurely"

Via my web home page:  Fired FBI Director James Comey drafted a statement to announce the conclusion in the investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server before the FBI interviewed key witnesses, including Hillary Clinton herself, top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee claim.

Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, reached that conclusion from transcripts of interviews with people close to Comey and provided by the Department of Justice's Office of Special Counsel (OSC). Those transcripts, the Republicans said in a Thursday letter to current FBI Director Chris Wray, show Comey had already drafted a conclusion for his investigation before interviewing 17 key witnesses, including Clinton, and before the DOJ had reached immunity agreements with former Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson.

Comey's sudden July 5 announcement that there would be no charges in the Clinton investigation -- despite his sharp criticisms of the former presidential candidate -- threw a wrench in an already-tumultuous election cycle.

"Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that's no way to run an investigation," the senators said in their letter to Wray. "The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy."

(Link to more)

Why would President Trump fire Comey?

From the American Thinker Blog May 12, 2017

Russian hacker claims FBI offered him citizenship and a new life if he would confess to hacking Podesta emails on behalf of Putin and Trump

By Thomas Lifson

 According to a report in Newsweek by Tom O’Connor, a Russian hacker who had been detained in Prague at the request of US authorities, was visited multiple times by FBI agents, who pressed him to confess to hacking the Podesta emails at the behest of Putin, and to help Trump. They allegedly (and unsuccessfully) offered generous inducements, to say the least.

Chait on his fainting couch

"What is more interesting in the Post story [reporting "the CIA had concluded well before November that Russia specifically sought to elect Trump"] is the response of various officials to the revelations. The Obama administration declined to publicize, wary of being seen as intervening on Clinton’s behalf. Instead, it devised a fallback plan. Concerned that Russia might attempt to hack into electronic voting machines, it gathered a bipartisan group of lawmakers to hear the CIA’s report, in the hopes that they would present a united front warning Russia not to disrupt the election. According to the Post, Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.” Other Republicans refused to join the effort for reasons that can only be understood as a desire to protect the Republican ticket from any insinuation, however well-founded, that Russia was helping it.

Even the most cynical observer of McConnell — a cynical man to his bones — would have been shocked at his raw partisanship. Presented with an attack on the sanctity of his own country’s democracy by a hostile foreign power, his overriding concern was party over country. Obama’s fear of seeming partisan held him back from making a unilateral statement without partisan cover. No such fear restrained McConnell. This imbalance in will to power extended to the security agencies. The CIA could have leaked its conclusion before November, but held off. The FBI should have held off on leaking its October surprise, but plunged ahead.

Perhaps the most amazing revelation in the Post’s report is, “Some of the Republicans in the briefing also seemed opposed to the idea of going public with such explosive allegations in the final stages of an election.” Almost immediately afterward, Republicans in Congress trumpeted explosive (but ultimately empty) allegations from a different agency. Of the many causes of the election outcome, one was simply that Trump’s supporters in government were willing to put the system at risk in order to win, and Clinton’s supporters were not."

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/12/trump-mcconnell-putin-and-the-triumph-of-the-will-to-power.html

Comey Clears Clinton Again!

FBI director James Comey has sent a letter to Congress saying that basically nothing has changed and he has reviewed the 650,000 emails on Anthony Weiner's computer and there is no "there" there. No influence peddling. No classified information mishandled by maids or perverts. No sex gangs or pedophilia. No weird Satanic snack recipes. 650,000 emails reviewed totally and comprehensively and not a one that needed to be investigated. Nothing. Nada. Nothing to see here move along.

Powerline reports. Breitbart reports. Hot Air reports.

Youse guys decide.

Was FBI Director Comey recommendation not to indict Hillary fraught with conflict of interest?

"FBI Director Comey is a board member of Clinton Foundation connected bank HSBC."

It seems that our beloved FBI Director is or until very recently was a director and board member of HSBC, which is tightly connected to the Clinton Foundation. Check out some of these links:
http://www.hsbc.com/news-and-insight/2013/former-us-deputy-attorney-general-joins-hsbc-board

“Mr. Comey’s appointment will be for an initial three-year term which, subject to re-election by shareholders, will expire at the conclusion of the 2016 Annual General Meeting.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/10/hillary-clinton-foundation-donors-hsbc-swiss-bank

“Clinton foundation received up to $81m from clients of controversial HSBC bank”
https://www.clintonfoundation.org/search/node/HSBC

It’s like a revolving door of money and special projects that the bank and the CF are involved in.

This is the same HSBC that was accused of laundering drug cartel money, was heavily involved in the LIBOR scandal, and who knows what else, and all while our esteemed FBI Director James “she didn’t intend it” Comey was part of the senior leadership.

h/t AllenS...

Comey: Hillary could not understand classified markings

UPDATE: FBI director says questionable whether Clinton had sophisticated-enough understanding to recognize classified email markings

— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) July 7, 2016

David Burge: I'm just a simple unfrozen cavewoman lawyer, your modern email rules confuse and frighten me

"FBI didn’t record Clinton interview, did not administer sworn oath"

Here is a thought, phrased in the form of a question. Can you think of something, from what we learned since the surreptitious airport tarmac meeting, that would point away from a rigged proposition on the part of Comey, Lynch, Hillary et all?

The Hill:  Hillary Clinton did not swear an oath to tell the truth before meeting with the FBI for three and a half hours last weekend, and the interview was not recorded, FBI Director James Comey told House lawmakers on Thursday. 

The lack of a sworn oath does not remove the possibility of criminal penalties against Clinton if she lied to the FBI, though he said he had “no basis to conclude” that she was untruthful.

“Still a crime to lie to us,” Comey told the House Oversight Committee.

FBI policy is not to record interviews as part of its investigations. Yet the revelations will nonetheless raise questions among Republicans, who have been skeptical of the FBI’s investigation and have demanded to see the transcript of the former secretary of State’s interview in downtown Washington on Saturday.

From the clips I was able to watch (following via twitter) Comey should no longer be trusted to continue as the head of the FBI. That should be the first thing, if anybody is interested in putting things back together again.

TMZ Harvey Levin: Something is up that is not savory

Surprised that Hillary Clinton escaped the wrath of the FBI? Harvey was too. But it's not over yet.https://t.co/27NwgHpGpn

— TMZ (@TMZ) July 6, 2016

Hillary Clinton vs. James Comey, email supercut

There is something wrong, more wrong than usual with Hillary this day of the gray scratchy dress, there is something drug-y to her aspect and then at the end we see her handled by proper nursing home assistant, "This way, Ma'am, offstage, that's right, no answering pesky nattering questions. Here we go. We're walking, and we're walking..." Hustled right off stage. Handled. Physically turned and led and handled by a handler.

The video is produced by Reason TV.

With James Comey leading the investigation, and unlikely to participate in any cover-up, they should have faith in the system.

That is the last sentence to a piece on James Comey by Liz Peek at The Fiscal Times, nine out of ten readers disagree.

Peek describes Comey as non-partisan. One of the best things about him is he stood up to George Bush when Bush wanted warrantless wiretaps. Bad Bush. Good Comey. This incident is lauded by Obama upon recommending Comey for his position and whose NSA prism program make Bush eavesdropping look like holding an empty glass to a wall.

The piece assuages conservative concerns characterizing Comey incidents "nettlesome" to the administration, referring to his contrary statements about "black lives matter" chant, and his recently linking the rise of homicides around the country with increased scrutiny of police using terms "YouTube effect" and "chill wind blowing through American law enforcement last year."

On 60 Minutes Comey warned Americans to be wary of government power.

The article goes on to suggest the strong possibility of FBI interference such as very well may, might, could cause Hillary Clinton Campaign collapse.

It is a satisfying and entertaining piece to read but readers are not having it. Most all comments are contrary

Instapundit linked the article as well, His remark is cynical.  His top comments are interesting. Three completely separate analysis rated top comments.

Reading through all the comments it must be noted cynicism toward the Obama administration and for government generally is complete.