Jim Comey should have not chosen a career as a government justice official which traditionally demands an apolitical demeanour. He lacks the discipline to resist intervening on the world stage. While nobody can question his capability and integrity in honestly pursuing justice they could have reason to question his political judgment. Career public service appointments should never ever allow personal or political opinions or biases to enter into their decision making.
The current bohaai was occasioned by the publication by the former Head of the FBI’s book, which unambiguously described the President of the United States as an amoral crook unfit to be President of the United States of America. It should not, however, precipitate a debate as to whether one supports Comey or not rather it should focus on whether Trump’s dismissal of Comey is or is not evidence of the Premier’s desire to obstruct justice.
The current bohaai was occasioned by the publication by the former Head of the FBI’s book, which unambiguously described the President of the United States as an amoral crook unfit to be President of the United States of America. It should not, however, precipitate a debate as to whether one supports Comey or not rather it should focus on whether Trump’s dismissal of Comey is or is not evidence of the Premier’s desire to obstruct justice.
COMEY’S INTERVENTIONS INTO POLITICS
On two occasions in the historic election and term of the forty - fifth American Presidency, James Comey, a lifelong career law officer, intervened thereby impacting on the political system with a vengeance. In the first instance by inexplicably going public, on what normally is sub rosa, he kiboshed the front runner, Hillary Clinton’s chances of becoming President. He admitted that this decision was based partly on political considerations and he acknowledges that he might have contributed to her loss. Lest anyone believe that his intervention by publicly reopening the Clinton e - mail probe was “ a nothing” the current Acting Attorney Rod Rosenstein produced a memo which argued that that his political acts were cause enough for termination. Rosenstein, a career public servant, who acts only on the facts, subsequently appointed Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to investigate the firing of Comey in the light of the suspicious circumstances that surrounded his termination. (It must be made quite clear that Donald Trump’s firing of Comey was, by his own admission, an attempt to halt an investigation into his campaign’s collusion with Russia).
The second occurrence of political interference Comey effected was by publishing a tell all scathing memoir of his relationship and opinions of Donald J. Trump, the forty - fifth President of the Republic. In so doing he weakened a besieged Trump even further. Comey also provided detail of his contacts with Trump that have provided fodder for an obstruction of justice charge against the President. The release of the book was preceded by a much publicized interview with George Stephanopolous and unprecedented coverage in the media.
COMEY AND THE RULE OF LAW
Comey’s place in history had already been determined by the fact that his arbitrary dismissal lead to an investigation into Trump that one way or another could lead to his downfall. The imperfect Comey has become a central figure as America’s democratic tradition hangs by a thread. His pivotal role in protecting the rule of law had long been recognized and was manifested by the fact that nearly twenty million viewers, almost a year ago, tuned to watch his evidence on Trump and the Russian investigation to the Senate Intelligence Committee. This took place in a low viewing time yet the ratings compared favorably with President Trump’s twenty million audience in his prime time Sixty Minutes encounter.
A fair assessment of the Comey saga was that his downfall was directly as a result of his steadfast refusal to transfer his oath of loyalty from the State to Trump and do the latter’s bidding. Comey’s memoir, A Higher Loyalty, serves to illustrate his commitment to democracy, law and order, his bravery on taking on the newly elected President and his inappropriate penchant to intervene in the affairs of man. It was also an act of revenge and in so doing he did not hesitate to crawl into the gutter with Trump hitting where it hurt the vain leader most - challenging his manhood and omnipotence.
COMEY GETS INTO THE SEWER WITH TRUMP
That the former FBI Head has sacrificed any claim to be an officer and a gentleman is obvious. His references to the salacious components of The Steele dossier, and revelations of the confidences Trump uttered to him about the impact it might have on his wife Melania are more fitting for the pages of The National Enquirer than being the substance of a book written by an impartial officer of the court. This he did well knowing that this smut was not central to the issue at hand. He knew that the unfavorable review of Trump’s looks would anger the President who fancies himself as G-d’s gift to women, so he went for the jugular. Comey by quoting Trump’s rhetorical question as to whether he was the type of person who needed to cavort with prostitutes knew full well that this question was no longer rhetorical and would further lay bare Trump as a lying hypocrite. Reporting that he let Trump know that his hands were smaller than his, in the context of Trump’s world also would enrage the infantile Commander in Chief. Then there was unedifying tale of Trump allegedly commissioning two prostitutes to pee on the bed that the Obamas slept in - “The Golden Shower” episode. Comey then dismantled Trump’s feeble arguments as to why the episode could not have happened. The former cop’s description of Trump as a Mafia boss had to have hit home especially as Comey had investigated a number of the mob and prosecutions had followed.
All this was unbefitting for someone who should have merely been intent in laying out the facts of Trump’s attempt at obstruction of justice but served Comey’s purpose of trashing the President.
COMEY SUCCEEDS IN HIS MISSION IN INFURIATING TRUMP
Just in case the anticipation of the Comey revelations weren’t enough to engender widespread interest and commercial success of his forthcoming memoir, the salacious details were leaked to the media days before the book was released. Reviewers somehow found copies of the tome days before the tell all hit the shelves. The prestigious New York Times claimed that it was a very persuasive read. It evoked a predicable response from Trump who on Sunday morning let lose a tweet storm leaving little doubt what he regarded it as the most important news of the week. Of seven tweets Comey was eviscerated in five and “Mission Accomplished” in Syria as well as the raid on his personal attorney, “Attorney Privilege is Dead”, only one each. The Republican Party, believe it or not, had instituted a web site in order to counter the impact of the forthcoming publication entitled “Lyin Comey”. (Incidentally that together with the exit of Paul Ryan provide more and more tangible evidence that the GOP have been taken over by The Donald.
Inside sources reveal that Trump was taken aback and floored by the liberal references to his own personality and behavior. Apparently he expected Comey to “fight fair” and allow him unopposed free reign to smear unabated and unchallenged. Comey’s yellow press attack represents the first occasion that someone with any top level governmental standing has gone toe to toe in the dirt with him and has taken away Trump’s monopoly in this arena.
SALES SOAR
All this will add to the commercial success of “A Higher Loyalty”. It is already the number one best seller on Amazon as a result of preorders. To give some idea of the demand the book engendered, eight hundred and fifty thousand copies have been printed. When one considers that the most recent biggest seller, also a sensational Trump expose, Michael Wolf’s Fire and Fury, first printing was a hundred and fifty thousand, it gives a perspective of the potential impact. The success of Fire and Fury serves as a foretaste as to the country wide interest there is in a book of this nature. Bookstores throughout the country reported that they were sold out almost immediately with Fire and Fury. No doubt these retailers are not making the same mistake in their estimates at what the appeal might be in a book written by a famous prosecutor, who was responsible, for the investigation of the Trump campaign.
Comey will not be doing the usual book tour to promote his book. Rather there will be appearances in large auditoria where there will be an admission charged to listen to the sales pitch. In Chicago for example the large Auditorium Theater has sold out and tickets on the black market are going for a thousand dollars each.
POTENTIAL POLITICAL AND LEGAL IMPACT
There are many audiences that the memoir will reach and the search for the sexy tidbits will ensure a larger public than a straight legal and factual exposition of the Trump case might have engendered. The fact that the New York Times deems the Comey argument to be “persuasive” will help educate those who to date have just been caught up in the rhetoric of accusations and denials. Bearing in mind that the majority of Americans still want the Mueller enquiry to do its work and that Comey is a key witness cannot augur well for Trump.
There is the point of view that Comey may have weakened his case by stooping to Trump’s level. Certainly many of his supporters are unhappy that he hasn’t adopted a choir boy approach or a stoical Mueller like demeanor. But Comey’s legal relevance isn’t on personality it is about the facts and those that are leaning towards the fact that his dismissal amounted to obstruction of justice will now have further reason. Trump’s legal defense is not helped because Comey is focusing on the dirt in The Steele Dossier.
Trump’s true supporters are not about to be persuaded by anything said by anybody nor are they likely to be offended that Comey is behaving like Trump. There is little doubt that a reasoned first hand account detailing the events that lead to Comey’s firing are going to be supportive of Trump’s own admission that the intent and motive behind it was, ‘“The Russian Thing” .Mueller has a ton of corroborative evidence that Comey’s side of the story is the believable one. All Trump has are his denials. Also at the end of the day Mueller will ignore the allusions toTrump’s hands, whether or not he is the type of man who would cavort with prostitutes or whether The Golden Shower really occurred. He will stick to the facts and leave The National Enquirer fare to Trump, Cohen and now Comey. The Special Counsel is likewise disinterested in the former FBI head’s political judgements such as Trump is morally unfit to be President and that his Presidency is a forest fire
To those who believe that all this could compromise the Mueller investigation they can be reassured. Comey revealed no facts on that matter that weren’t in the public arena, he merely added detail to lend credibility to what he had previously revealed to the Senate. His new contributions were the smears and the interpretations of Trump and his Presidency.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
It has nearly been a year since the former FBI director called the President of the United States a liar before a Senate investigating committee. He is still alive and kicking with an ever bigger audience focussed on him and claiming that the forty fifth President of the United States could be the subject of blackmail by the Russians. What is more this is just the start of a titanic struggle between Trump and Comey. The book and the accompanying speaking tour are still to come.
What Comey has done is put another nail in the Premier’s coffin. In Comey, Trump has met his match. It is not for nothing that Comey rather than Syria or Cohen is the main focus of the Premier’s attention. Trump after all is the street fighter who has had seven decade’s experience and acts out where he reckons his real danger is.
While this feud might make for good entertainment the real issue is whether or not the rule of law will prevail and Mueller be allowed to proceed with his investigation so that the country will be able to assess real evidence as opposed to a reality show. Comey’s book must inevitably increase attention to the legal proceedings at hand.
One final point to digest - Comey isn’t just any old disgruntled fired employee, he is the former head of the FBI who has gone out on a limb likening the President to the Head of the Mob, as morally unfit to lead and an inveterate liar. This he did with the knowledge that Trump takes no prisoners and fully aware that by his actions he has just moved himself into the numero uno enemy spot. So maybe this former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation knows a thing or two. He has two possible sources, himself and secondly he better than most can read the omens. Pertinent to the latter is the search of the residences and office of Trump’s personal lawyer and long time consiglieri. This turn of events has lead legal commentators to gasp as they mused as how compelling the evidence must have been for a Federal Judge to assent to this drastic course of action.
Comey appeared not at all apprehensive when he pronounced his judgements - perhaps he had good reason not to be.
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