Comey Distrusted AG Loretta Lynch During Clinton Investigation

FBI Director James Comey had a good reason to keep his investigation on former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on the hush hush.

The New York Times published an article over the weekend that said Comey took a “go-it-alone strategy” when investigating Clinton because he did not trust Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other senior officials at the Justice Department to not try to cover-up Clinton’s email server scandal.

The department even instructed that Comey try to downplay the investigation.

“As an example, the Times reported that Lynch, during a meeting in September 2015, called on Comey to use the word “matter” instead of “investigation” when publicly discussing the case, three people who attended the meeting told the Times,” writes The Hill. “Lynch reportedly reasoned that the word “investigation” would raise a number of other questions. Furthermore, she argued that the department should maintain its policy of not confirming investigations.” 

The FBI reopened the investigation on Clinton after receiving new evidence in a separate investigation into former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who was married to Clinton’s top aide.  

Comey believed that Congress had a right to know that the case was reopened.  

“Should you consider what you’re about to do may help elect Donald Trump president?” asked an advisor to Comey at the time.  “If we ever start considering who might be affected, and in what way, by what we do, we’re done.”

“Fearing the backlash that would come if it were revealed after the election that the F.B.I. had been investigating the next president and had kept it a secret, Mr. Comey sent a letter informing Congress that the case was reopened,” writes the New York Times.

Clinton’s camp needed to be investigated, especially after the DNC WikiLeaks dump. 

“In July 2016, a batch of emails from the Democratic National Committee released by Wikileaks, and said by U.S. intelligence agencies to have been obtained most likely by Russian hackers, revealed collusion between senior party officials and the Clinton campaign to thwart the insurgent candidacy of socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT),” writes Breitbart. “Now, according to the Times, another hacked document, purportedly stolen by Russians, may have revealed collusion between the former Attorney General and the Democrats to ensure Hillary Clinton’s victory in the general election.” 

Comey was also investigating Donald Trump at the time, but he had to take a much different approach to the Clinton investigation. 

“An examination by The New York Times, based on interviews with more than 30 current and former law enforcement, congressional and other government officials, found that while partisanship was not a factor in Mr. Comey’s approach to the two investigations, he handled them in starkly different ways,” writes the New York Times. “In the case of Mrs. Clinton, he rewrote the script, partly based on the F.B.I.’s expectation that she would win and fearing the bureau would be accused of helping her. In the case of Mr. Trump, he conducted the investigation by the book, with the F.B.I.’s traditional secrecy. Many of the officials discussed the investigations on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.”

Again, Comey and Lynch disagreed about how to handle the Clinton investigation. Lynch was even called to recuse herself after she had a private meeting with the former President Bill Clinton at the Phoenix airport, but she didn’t. Allegedly, Lynch did not want Comey to send the letter to Congress about reopening the investigation, but she didn’t order against it.

Author’s Note: Comey is consistently blamed for Clinton’s downfall, but did he realy have any choice? If this came out later, the FBI would have been crucified.