When FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress last week, less then two weeks before the election, it was considered unprecedented.
As nearly everyone on earth knows by now, the letter informed Congress that the Bureau had found emails on a laptop owned by the estranged husband of Huma Abedin. Ms. Abedin is a top advisor to the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.
The uproar that ensued after the release of the letter focused on the fact that the FBI has always avoided talking about cases that could influence an election.
Even though the newly located emails had not yet been read, and therefore could not possibly implicate Secretary Clinton in any wrongdoing, Comey made the information public.
In contrast to his willingness to literally throw the Democratic nominee under the bus, Comey has refused to even talk about the investigation into Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump and his financial ties to Russia.
Reasonable people like President Obama have tried to give Director Comey the benefit of the doubt, saying that he isn’t acting out of partisanship or a desire to impact the election.
His actions yesterday tell a different story. Only one week before the election, Comey and the FBI released documents dating back to a 2001 investigation of then President Bill Clinton and a pardon that he granted on his final day in office. The man he pardoned was named Marc Rich, a former hedge fund trader who had been indicted on several tax evasion counts.
FBI Mysteriously Releases Files From Its 2001 Investigation Into Bill Clinton Pardon of Marc Rich https://t.co/8qMgGhgsv3
— Rep. Steven Smith ?? (@RepStevenSmith) November 1, 2016
Now it’s important to point out that the investigation into the Rich pardon was closed in 2005 with no charges brought against the former President.
So why was this information suddenly released, via an automated Twitter account, no less?
The FBI Director claims that it was simply poor timing. (Ya think?) He said that thousands of Freedom on Information Act requests come into the FBI every day and they are processed in the order in which they are received.
It just so happened that this particular set of documents, which reopened long settled questions about Bill Clinton, came to the head of the queue less than a week before the election.
Many Democrats and even some Republicans believe that there was something more sinister at work.
1) Eric Holder trashes Comey in op-ed
2) FBI puts out files on Marc Rich pardon, Holder's big embarrassment
Probably just a coincidence.— Charles Lane (@ChuckLane1) November 2, 2016
How convenient for GOP supporters.
How slimy and deceitful of the FBI and its Director.
I’m a fan of President Obama, but I definitely disagree with him on this one. I don’t see how anyone can continue to claim that James Comey is not trying to deliberately throw this election to the Republican Party, of which he just happens to be a member.
Why did the FBI publish on its website yesterday internal docs on old probe into pres Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich? https://t.co/RsCxkxbGV1
— Sari Horwitz (@SariHorwitz) November 2, 2016
Featured image by J via Flickr. Available through Creative Commons Generic License 2.0
