Nunes, Gowdy And Goodlatte Go Nuclear After Comey Memos Released

Facing an imminent Congressional subpoena, the Department of Justice finally turned over James Comey’s now-infamous memos Thursday night – which were promptly leaked and published by AP. 

We already know that Comey’s leak to the press was illegal – as the FBI’s chief FOIA officer, David Hardy, gave a sworn declaration to Judicial Watch in which he says that all seven of Comey’s memos were classified at the time they were written, and they remain classified. 

Perhaps most disturbing is that James Comey’s memos do not make a compelling case for obstruction whatsoever – which Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein (who Comey said “I didn’t have confidence” in), used to launch the special counsel investigation headed by former FBI Director Robert Mueller. 

In response to the Comey memos, Congressional Committee chairs Devin Nunes (R-CA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Trey Gowdy (R-SC) fired off a scathing rebuke, in which they made it abundantly clear that the Mueller investigation is a farce based on yet another example of the FBI using a flimsy document to launch a politically motivated investigation.

“These memos are significant for both what is in them and what is not,” begins the joint statement, which goes on to completely dress down the FBI and James Comey: 

• Former Director Comey’s memos show the President made clear he wanted allegations of collusion, coordination, and conspiracy between his campaign and Russia fully investigated.

• The memos also made clear the ‘cloud’ President Trump wanted lifted was not the Russian interference in the 2016 election cloud, rather it was the salacious, unsubstantiated allegations related to personal conduct leveled in the dossier. 

• The memos also show former Director Comey never wrote that he felt obstructed or threatened. “he never once mentioned the most relevant fact of all, which was whether he felt obstructed in his investigation.”

• The memos also make certain what has become increasingly clear of late: former Director Comey has at least two different standards in his interactions with others. He chose not to memorialize conversations with President Obama, Attorney General Lynch, Secretary Clinton, Andrew McCabe or others, but he immediately began to memorialize conversations with President Trump. It is significant former Director Comey made no effort to memorialize conversations with former Attorney General Lynch despite concerns apparently significant enough to warrant his unprecedented appropriation of the charging decision away from her and the Department of Justice in July of 2016. 
• These memos also lay bare the notion that former Director Comey is not motivated by animus. He was willing to work for someone he deemed morally unsuited for office, capable of lying, requiring of personal loyalty, worthy of impeachment, and sharing the traits of a mob boss. Former Director Comey was willing to overlook all of the aforementioned characteristics in order to keep his job. In his eyes, the real crime was his own firing.

• The memos show Comey was blind to biases within the FBI and had terrible judgment with respect to his deputy Andrew McCabe. On multiple occasions he, in his own words, defended the character of McCabe after President Trump questioned McCabe.

• Finally, former Director Comey leaked at least one of these memos for the stated purpose of spurring the appointment of Special Counsel, yet he took no steps to spur the appointment of Special Counsel when he had significant concerns about the objectivity of the Department of Justice under Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

• “As we have consistently said, rather than making a criminal case for obstruction or interference with an ongoing investigation, these memos would be Defense Exhibit A should such a charge be made.”

In response to the memo’s release, President Trump exclaimed over Twitter:

“James Comey Memos just out and show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION.” adding “Also, he leaked classified information. WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?”

James Comey Memos just out and show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION. Also, he leaked classified information. WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 20, 2018

Then again, given that the Special Counsel has gone from investigating whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with Russia – to raiding Trump’s lawyer over documents related to paying off a porn star, perhaps Mueller’s probe is getting a bit long in the tooth…