Thursday, December 26, 2019

Comey’s Actions Stymied Efforts of IG to Get at the Truth

Reminder: The Report didn't exonerate “anybody that touched” Crossfire Hurricane



Nick Arama reporting for RedState


Former FBI Director James Comey claimed he was vindicated in the wake of the release of the IG report on Monday. 



He claimed last year the thought there was any FISA abuse was “nonsense.” 



But the IG report showed there really was a horror show of abuse under his command and the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz finished Comey off in his testimony today, saying no one who touched the case was vindicated.



Horowitz testified that he wasn’t able to get certain answers, so he couldn’t effectively say whether there was bias or not. 



Attorney General Bill Barr pointed out how Horowitz was limited in getting at the truth.

One reason was the nature of IG which was limited to investigating internal matters. He doesn’t have subpoena powers or the ability to call a grand jury, he’s not able to prosecute crimes. 

Barr pointed out one of the big problems was due to James Comey and some of the others who refused to renew their security clearances, so they were unable to be questioned about certain aspects of what they did, since they could no longer hear or be asked about classified information.



But in Barr’s view, Comey’s decision, which limited what he could be asked, meant a full account of the FBI’s actions still had not been discovered.
Barr explained his divergence with the DOJ watchdog by pointing out Horowitz, as inspector general, “starts with limited information” and “can only talk to people who are essentially there as employees” and “he’s limited to the information generally in the FBI.”
Barr said Horowitz’s approach was “a very deferential standard” of accepting people at their word “as long as there’s not contradictory testimonial or documentary evidence,” and so, therefore, in his view, Horowitz hadn’t fully decided the issue of whether there were any improper motivations.
But there’s a silver lining.

U.S. Attorney John Durham doesn’t have that limitation, he’s looking beyond the FBI, he can prosecute and he can subpoena people. 

And he’s going to have such fun with Comey.