The classified documents charges against Donald Trump warrant two questions. The first: Should he be prosecuted? The second: Did he violate the actual law?
Let’s answer the second question first, based on the allegations presented by the indictment: If Jack Smith has the evidence to back those allegations (and he appears to), then yes, Trump violated the law.
The current version of the indictment, again, points out the tape of Trump informing people with no security clearance that he is showing them classified documents — and that he could have declassified them if he had chosen to do so, but that he didn’t. Trump claimed for a few weeks that the actual document he showed them wasn’t classified, but Jack Smith now alleges they were in fact classified documents. If proved by witness testimony, Trump’s defense on that score implodes.
The current version of the indictment also alleges that another Trump aide, a maintenance person at Mar-a-Lago, worked to destroy evidence of Trump’s people moving around classified documents. It also alleges Trump ordered the security tapes be wiped. This looks like it fulfills the legal elements of obstruction, which is Smith’s accusation.
Now to the first question: Should Trump be prosecuted? The answer is, no. He shouldn’t be prosecuted. Hillary Clinton was let off the hook in 2016 for precisely the same crimes of which Trump is now accused, down to the wiping of the servers and the exposing of classified information to those without classification status. 
Remember when Clinton directed her immigrant maid to print out classified information — and even enter a SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) to pick up classified faxes, including the <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/11/06/clinton-directed-her-maid-to-print-out-classified-materials/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Presidential Daily Brief</a>? Remember when <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2016/09/03/fbi-report-platte-river-network-employee-bleachbit-delete-clinton-e-mails/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clinton’s tech firm used BleachBit</a> to wipe away her private server’s classified emails — and then she joked about it, asking whether the server had been wiped “like with a cloth”?
Yet Clinton wasn’t prosecuted. Why? Because, as then-FBI Director James Comey said, despite the likelihood that foreign actors may have gained access to classified materials, Clinton didn’t have intent to distribute classified materials to foreign actors. Comey rewrote the law to avoid charging her because she was a presidential candidate. 
Now, the DOJ is hitting Trump with the book. 
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1776-more-trump-charges-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
Everyone can see the legal double standard here. It’s perfectly obvious. And the double system of justice is far more of a threat to the country than Trump’s mishandling of classified information — which was not based on any nefarious security threat, but rather on Trump’s tendency to hoard materials he personally likes. 
If half the country rightly believes when Republicans commit crimes, they go to jail, but when Democrats commit crimes, they get sweetheart plea deals, the credibility of the entire justice system collapses.
New charges were dropped on Trump the day after Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal was blown up by a judge — humiliating the DOJ in the process. The irony is not lost on anyone.
So no, Trump shouldn’t be prosecuted. His handling of classified materials was likely illegal and certainly foolish. But that foolishness isn’t anywhere close to the level of national security threat of Hunter Biden picking up bags of cash in Ukraine while his daddy presides over Ukrainian foreign policy — and Hunter calls in daddy as a shadowy enforcer.
And everyone knows it.
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BSS ME

New Charges Against Trump Added. Should He Be Prosecuted?

Ben Shapiro

classified documents

Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton

James Comey

Mar-a-Lago

Readers Pass

Members of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FBI</a>&#8216;s Crossfire Hurricane team were not made aware of intelligence about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hillary-clinton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hillary Clinton</a>&#8216;s 2016 presidential campaign allegedly cooking up a plan to tie her rival <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> to Russia, according to Special Counsel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-durham" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Durham</a>.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Chairman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jim-jordan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jim Jordan</a> (R-OH) got Durham to establish how the intelligence was important enough to be discussed by CIA Director John Brennan during a White House briefing with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden (who is now president of the United States), Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and FBI Director James Comey in the summer of 2016.
That information came from a Russian intelligence report and was soon placed into a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CIA</a> referral memo addressed to Comey and Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok, who was involved in opening the Crossfire Hurricane inquiry. Yet, as told by Durham, Crossfire Hurricane agents who had recently started investigating alleged links between Trump&#8217;s campaign and Russia never got the memo.
Durham said &#8220;no&#8221; when asked whether Comey shared the information with FBI agents on the case. He was then prompted to recount how a supervisory special agent who had been involved in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation became distraught when Durham&#8217;s team shared the intelligence with him during an interview.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WATCH: Full exchange between Rep. <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Jim_Jordan</a> and Special Counsel John Durham.
The hearing continues LIVE on C-SPAN3 and online here: <a href="https://t.co/To3Po9IsyS">https://t.co/To3Po9IsyS</a> <a href="https://t.co/plHwPbxONk">pic.twitter.com/plHwPbxONk</a>
&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1671523231021551616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;We interviewed the first supervisor on the Crossfire investigation, the operational person,&#8221; Durham said. &#8220;We showed him the intelligence information. He indicated he had never seen it before. He immediately became emotional, and got up and left the room with his lawyer, spent some time in the hallway, and came back.&#8221;
He added later: &#8220;The information was kept from him.&#8221;
Durham&#8217;s <a href="https://www.justice.gov/storage/durhamreport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>, which the Department of Justice (DOJ) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/durham-report-makes-sobering-findings-about-fbis-handling-of-trump-russia-probe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> last month, indicated the &#8220;Clinton Plan intelligence&#8221; could have been helpful to agents involved in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. &#8220;Most&#8221; of the individuals shown parts of the information by Durham&#8217;s team advised they had never seen it before, the special counsel&#8217;s report said.
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The report specifically points to British ex-spy Christopher Steele&#8217;s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/us/trump-russia-investigation-dossier.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">now-discredited</a> anti-Trump dossier, stemming from research funded by Clinton&#8217;s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, that the FBI was <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/doj-inspector-general-finds-17-significant-errors-or-omissions-in-carter-page-fisa-applications" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> to have improperly used to secure FISA surveillance warrants against onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. It also references the unfounded secret <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/durham-finds-researcher-felt-threatened-by-schiff-staffer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backchannel</a> between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank that was <a href="https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/793250312119263233" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promoted</a> by Clinton and her team in the run-up to the 2016 election.
&#8220;Whether or not the Clinton Plan intelligence was based on reliable or unreliable information, or was ultimately true or false, it should have prompted FBI personnel to immediately undertake an analysis of the information and to act with far greater care and caution when receiving, analyzing, and relying upon materials of partisan origins, such as the Steele Reports and the Alfa Bank allegations,&#8221; Durham&#8217;s report said.
&#8220;The FBI also should have disseminated the Clinton Plan intelligence more widely among those responsible for the Crossfire Hurricane investigation so that they could effectively incorporate it into their analysis and decision-making, and their representations to the OI attorneys and, ultimately, the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court],&#8221; Durham&#8217;s report said.

John Durham

John Durham Affirms Crossfire Hurricane Investigators Kept In Dark About Alleged Clinton Plan

2016 Election

Politics

Russia

Russiagate

Scandals

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FBI</a> Director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christopher-wray" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christopher Wray</a> received a vote of confidence from one of his predecessors, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/james-comey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Comey</a>, as Wray faces the possibility of a contempt of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/congress" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Congress</a> vote.
During an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxVcvhHKJkk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview Wednesday</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cnn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>&#8216;s Poppy Harlow asked Comey whether Wray should give lawmakers a document believed to contain allegations of a <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/comer-and-grassley-on-fbi-failing-to-comply-with-subpoena-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criminal &#8220;bribery&#8221; scheme</a> involving President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> that is now the center of a subpoena fight.
Comey declined to comment on the particular document, saying that he does not &#8220;know enough&#8221; about it, and when pressed, he shifted to speaking highly of Wray.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Former FBI Director James Comey: “Director Wray is a person of principle. So, I am sure he is trying to ascertain what’s the right thing to do consistent with DOJ policy and tradition.”
 <a href="https://t.co/xOWomD1KCY">pic.twitter.com/xOWomD1KCY</a>
&mdash; The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) <a href="https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1663917267174801411?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2023</a></blockquote>
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“Director Wray is a person of principle,&#8221; Comey said. &#8220;And so, I am sure he is trying to ascertain what’s the right thing to do, consistent with Department of Justice policy and tradition.&#8221;
House Oversight Chairman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/james-comer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Comer</a> (R-KY) announced Tuesday he would move forward with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/comer-says-fbi-defied-subpoena-will-move-forward-with-contempt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">holding Wray in contempt of Congress</a> because the bureau refused to provide unclassified documents subpoenaed by his panel. Comer has the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mccarthy-prepared-to-hold-fbi-director-in-contempt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backing of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)</a>, who stressed in a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt that Wray is &#8220;not above the law.&#8221;
The FD-1023 form sought by lawmakers may reference some variant of &#8220;five million&#8221; and &#8220;June 30, 2020,&#8221; Comer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/comer-puts-dollar-amount-on-alleged-biden-bribery-scheme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote in a letter to Wray last week</a>. &#8220;These terms relate to the date on the FD-1023 form and its reference to the amount of money the foreign national allegedly paid to receive the desired policy outcome,&#8221; he added.
Wray is expected to speak over the phone with Comer on Wednesday, during which the FBI director plans to offer &#8220;additional information&#8221; as an &#8220;extraordinary accommodation,&#8221; an agency official <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000188-6e83-d191-afc8-6edf85000000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Comer in a letter</a> on Tuesday. The FBI has not publicly acknowledged the existence of the document sought by lawmakers but has warned of the dangers of releasing unvetted information from confidential human sources that gets recorded by agents in FD-1023 forms.
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Comey is no stranger to controversy, as he was fired as FBI director by President Donald Trump in 2017. A new report from special counsel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-durham" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Durham</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-john-durhams-years-long-investigation-into-trump-russia-collusion-investigators-is-over" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heavily criticizes</a> the bureau under Comey&#8217;s watch in how it conducted the investigation into alleged links between Trump&#8217;s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Still, even as some lawmakers talk about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nothing-is-off-the-table-jim-jordan-outlines-response-to-durham-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defunding</a> or disbanding the FBI amid concerns about the agency becoming politically weaponized, Comey dismissed the current quarrel as a temporary issue.
&#8220;These are the kind of kerfuffles that blow up every so often in D.C.,&#8221; Comey said. &#8220;Now it has ensnared the FBI. It will pass.&#8221;

Comey Defends Embattled FBI Director Wray

Christopher Wray

Congress

contempt

Twelve retired senior FBI agents, with roughly three decades of individual service in the bureau, told The Daily Wire that entrenched partisan politics have set the federal agency on a path headed toward destruction.
Aside from the top two floors of the FBI headquarters — where, as one former agent said, all the &#8220;self-served and greedy bureaucrats&#8221; congregate inside the J. Edgar Hoover Building — a thin blue line of agents joined the bureau to protect families, businesses, and the United States.
But a dozen recently retired agents, who requested anonymity and pleaded for America to hear their voices about the alleged weaponization of the FBI, said they witnessed low morale among current agents, partly due to Americans distrusting the bureau. Recent <a href="https://www.apmresearchlab.org/motn-fbi-trust-jan-2023">polls</a> support that assessment, showing roughly half of Americans — specifically Republicans or political independents — were losing trust in the 114-year-old federal institution.
&#8220;I am writing to share what we think of the weaponization of FBI,&#8221; a former agent speaking on behalf of the dozen retirees told The Daily Wire. &#8220;What I am saying not only represents my attitudes, but also, to a larger extent, the viewpoints of the other 11 guys and dozens of current agents. We agree privately and uniformly that the FBI is heading in the wrong direction and has been too entrenched with partisan politics, starting from Director [James] Comey and intensified under Director Christopher Wray.&#8221;
The antipathy from former and current agents has grown in recent years after a number of controversies have been exposed within the FBI.
The federal agency faced heavy criticism following numerous investigations with questionable motives since 2015 when former director Comey injected himself into the 2016 presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
In the years that followed, Americans watched the national law enforcement agents allegedly involve themselves in political protests from George Floyd demonstrations to January 6, inflate domestic violent extremism statistics, and direct big tech companies via the Twitter Files to censor Americans.
Earlier this year, traditional Catholics in rural Northern Virginia discovered federal agents from the FBI’s Richmond Office were targeting them after an unclassified intelligence document leaked, which relied on ideologically-driven criteria from Left-wing sources like the Southern Poverty Law Center.
FBI Headquarters claimed the bureau purged the document from its system after the memo made national headlines.
In 2022, the Department of Justice coordinated with the White House and the National School Boards Association last year to vilify parents as “domestic terrorists” for objecting to the teaching of radical gender and race theories.
And over the summer federal agents conducted a historic raid on Trump&#8217;s Mar-a-Lago compound in Florida while suppressing key details related to the Hunter Biden probe as &#8220;disinformation.&#8221;
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe under the Trump administration lashed out at FBI Director Wray after the raid on Trump&#8217;s home. Ratcliffe said Wray could be the bureau&#8217;s last top official after admitting that the agency fraudulently obtained multiple warrants to illegally spy on Trump as a candidate and during presidency.
&#8220;If yet another FBI warrant to raid Trump’s home doesn’t stand up to scrutiny,&#8221; Ratcliffe <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wray-may-be-the-last-fbi-director-former-director-of-national-intelligence">said</a>. &#8220;Wray may be the last FBI Director.”
The anonymous agents shared exclusive email threads to The Daily Wire, including stories about why three former agents left the FBI who alleged bureaucracy killed the bureau.
&#8220;The FBI is not full of corruption, but it is full of bureaucracy, which can be nearly as damaging or worse to the mission,&#8221; one email noted. &#8220;This is because we all agree corruption is evil and must be rooted out, yet bureaucracy is subtle.”
“Bureaucracy quietly strangles motivation,” the agent continued. “It slowly puts the brakes on innovation. It kills hopeful idealism. We must fight the infamous bureaucratic phrases of &#8216;it&#8217;s just too big to change,&#8217; &#8216;Nothing can be done about it,&#8217; &#8216;or &#8216;That is just the way it is.'&#8221;
Another former agent said the bureau became a politicized and weaponized arm of the &#8220;woke&#8221; Left-wing in Washington D.C. after &#8220;political hack lawyers from across the street,&#8221; beginning with former Director Robert Mueller, centralized the organization akin to the State Department and Central Intelligence Agency.
&#8220;It was the beginning of the end,&#8221; one agent said in an email exchange.
After several whistleblowers came forward, like former special agent Kyle Seraphin from the Washington Field Office, who sounded the alarm about questionable activity inside the bureau, the former colleagues-turned-friends said they sympathized with those who were sidelined, suspended, and forced to resign.
&#8220;We identified with Nicole Parker&#8217;s claim that &#8216;The FBI became politically weaponized, starting from the top in Washington trickling down to the field offices,&#8221; the agent said.
Parker, who served as a special agent in the Miami Field Office from 2011 until resigning in October 2022, wrote a Fox News op-ed in January 2023, claiming the bureau&#8217;s trajectory, priorities, and governing principles transformed during her 12-plus years of service.
Other issues causing agents to grow weary of the bureau include top officials lowering the eligibility requirements for recruitment. Parker said it has destroyed credibility, causing Americans to lose faith in the agency and &#8220;highly ethical&#8221; agents to carry the weight for some cases.
The former agents also named three other whistleblowers they hailed for their &#8220;courage, bravery, and integrity&#8221; who have all previously spoken to Republican lawmakers on the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
Those agents include former special agent for the FBI&#8217;s Daytona Beach Resident Agency Steve Friend, retired FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst from the FBI&#8217;s Boston Field Office George Hill, suspended FBI Special Agent from the Wichita Resident Agency in Kansas Garret O&#8217;Boyle.
House Democrats denied referring to Friend, Hill, and O&#8217;Boyle as whistleblowers, saying in a <a href="https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2023-03-02_gop_witnesses_report.pdf">report</a> they pushed &#8220;conspiracy theories&#8221; without presenting evidence of wrongdoing at the Department of Justice or the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The dozen retired agents said they were &#8220;slandered and smeared by the liberal media and woke left Democrats.&#8221;
&#8220;Whistleblowers should be treated with the utmost regard and respect,&#8221; the agent said. &#8220;Not everyone has the guts to blow the whistle when witnessing abuses and misconduct in the FBI. Those who do deserve to be protected, not punished.&#8221;
Claiming the bureau no longer functioning as an &#8220;apolitical agency,&#8221; the agents urged more FBI personnel to come forward and uncover the extent of the alleged weaponization within the federal government.
&#8220;It&#8217;s time to clean house, restore public trust and start over,&#8221; the agent said. &#8220;Change only happens when we fight for it. I believe deeply that we need a reformed FBI. To address and fix the problems, we should first identify the problems.&#8221;
The FBI denied the accusation of making politically motivated decisions in a statement to The Daily Wire.
“The FBI is dedicated to protecting the American people from terrorism, violent crime, cyber threats and other dangers,&#8221; the bureau said. &#8220;Put quite simply: we follow the facts without regard for politics. While outside opinions and criticism often come with the job, we will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead, do things by the book, and speak through our work.&#8221;

Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters building

A Dozen Former FBI Agents Break Silence On The State Of The Bureau

Department of Justice

A federal judge in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/florida" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Florida</a> has sanctioned former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> and one of his attorneys over a lawsuit deemed frivolous against <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hillary-clinton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hillary Clinton</a> and 30 others.
Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-sues-hillary-clinton-dozens-of-others-over-far-reaching-russian-collusion-conspiracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, the Democratic National Committee, and dozens of others in March 2022. The former president alleged that the defendants orchestrated a plot to spread malicious and false information about Trump regarding his ties to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The judge, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, ordered Trump, his attorney Alina Habba, and Habba’s firm, Habba Madaio &amp; Associates, to pay a $937,989.39 fine for a lawsuit that “needlessly harmed” 31 people and entities “in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative.”
“Here, we are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose,” U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks <a href="https://static.poder360.com.br/2023/01/trumop-clinton-20jan2023.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. “Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries. He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions.&#8221;
“As such, I find that sanctions should be imposed upon Mr. Trump and his lead counsel, Ms. Habba,” the judge said.
Trump’s lawsuit accused a slew of Democratic groups, operatives, public officials, and others of “nefariously” abusing federal investigative power, media ethics, and the public’s trust to promote a conspiracy about the Trump campaign’s ties to Moscow. “Indeed, their far-reaching conspiracy was designed to cripple Trump’s bid for presidency by fabricating a scandal that would be used to trigger an unfounded federal investigation and ignite a media frenzy,” Trump’s lawsuit said.
Middlebrooks <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/us/politics/trump-clinton-lawsuit-fine.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threw out</a> the case in September, dismissing Trump’s filing as a “political manifesto” disguised as a lawsuit filled with overwrought claims and hyperbole while lacking substance. The judge fined Trump’s legal team $50,000 over the lawsuit in November.
Many of the defendants together filed a joint request for further punishment against Trump, however. Clinton and others targeted in Trump’s suit asked Middlebrooks for additional sanctions against the former president.
Middlebrooks at the time agreed to consider the additional sanctions and warned Trump’s legal team that additional action may be taken against them by “the bar and disciplinary authorities” over the Trump lawsuit.

Trump Fined Almost $1M Over Lawsuit Alleging Conspiracy To Push Russian Collusion Hoax

Democratic National Committee

Florida

Former FBI official Michael Steinbach repeatedly violated federal law and bureau policy in inappropriate interactions with members of the media while overseeing the discredited investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia.
Steinbach was named the FBI’s executive assistant director of its National Security Bureau in February 2016, five months before the FBI <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CFH%20Timeline%20w%20Updates%2020201203%20(FINAL).pdf">launched</a> the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into the Trump presidential campaign. Steinbach played a leading role in overseeing the investigation. He abruptly resigned from the bureau in February 2017.
Steinbach “had numerous unauthorized contacts with the media” beginning before his ascension to executive assistant director and continuing after, according to a Department of Justice Inspector General report obtained by the <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/06/14/fbis-michael-steinbach-had-numerous-contacts-with-media-watchdog/">New York Post</a>.
According to the official watchdog report, Steinbach leveraged his relationship with a reporter to score a $300 ticket to the White House Correspondents’ Association gala in 2016. Steinbach also received an invitation from a reporter to the 2015 Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Steinbach’s texts with reporters were relayed in the Inspector General report with some redactions. “Lots of [redacted] reporters here. May have to branch out!” Steinbach wrote to one journalist.
“Absolutely not!!! But curious to know who you’ve met so far?” the reporter responded. “[W]ell they will never be as good as me! and don’t you get the big head! ;)”
“But they are promising the WH Correspondents dinner,” Steinbach said back, according to the Post.
Steinbach’s correspondence with reporters outside of the bounds of FBI policy continued for several years.
“Steinbach had hundreds of contacts with the media for several years,” the report said, according to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/14/fbi-media-contacts-2016-campaign-00039383">Politico</a>. “This media contact included social engagements outside of FBI headquarters without any coordination from Office of Public Affairs (OPA), involving drinks, lunches and dinners.”
The report stated that the FBI’s policy on media was “unambiguous.” An FBI official interviewed by the inspector general said that the policy as espoused by former FBI Director James Comey was much more flexible, however.
Comey was “was trying to change the way the FBI dealt with the media,” the official told the inspector general. “I think Director Comey, more than any director I ever heard, fully understood the concept that we’re only as good as our ability to listen to information with people.”
“And when you take your credentials out, it needs to mean something. And the only way to do that is to have the trust. And the only way to get the trust is to have good will and the media is part of that, right?” the official said.
The report notes that “[p]rosecution was declined.”

Michael Steinbach

FBI Senior Official Had ‘Numerous’ Improper Contacts With Reporters, Inspector General Finds

Crime

Washington D.C.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) asserted that former FBI director James Comey should be imprisoned for abusing his power as the head of the federal investigative agency.
Paul appeared on Fox News on Wednesday during coverage of President Joe Biden’s inauguration. After a question from Fox anchor Bill Hemmer, Paul tore into Comey for saying that the Republican Party needed to be “burned down or changed” after President Trump left the White House.
“When we start taking advice from Comey, a notorious liar, a guy who ruined the FBI, a guy -who used the enormous power of government to go after his political opponent, Donald Trump, I think when we started taking his advice, we’re taking the wrong advice,” Paul <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2021/01/20/rand-paul-im-not-going-to-listen-to-comey-he-should-be-in-prison/">said</a>. “And so I don’t plan on listening to anything from Comey. In fact, I think Comey should be in prison for the things that he did.”
On Tuesday, The Guardian published an interview with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/comey-the-republican-party-needs-to-be-burned-down-or-changed">Comey</a> in which the former FBI head called for the GOP to reform itself, and placed blame for the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol on then-President Trump. Comey called for the creation of a “9/11-type commission” to investigate the riot.
“I was sickened to watch an attack on the literal and symbolic heart of our democracy, and, as a law enforcement person, I was angered. I am mystified and angry that Capitol Hill wasn’t defended,” Comey said. “It’s a hill! If you wanted to defend it, you could defend it, and for some reason it was not defended. I think that’s a 9/11-size failure and we’re going to need a 9/11-type commission to understand it so that we don’t repeat it.”
The former FBI head said that the Republican Party is “built on lies and racism and know-nothingism.”
“The Republican Party needs to be burned down or changed. Something is shifting and I’m hoping it’s the fault breaking apart, a break between the Trumpists and those people who want to try and build a responsible conservative party, because everybody should know that we need one,” Comey said. “Who would want to be part of an organization that at its core is built on lies and racism and know-nothingism? It’s just not a healthy political organization.”
Last week, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-leadership-destroy-republican-party-trigger-mass-exodus-vote-convict-trump">Paul</a> advised Republicans against siding with the ongoing push to impeach and convict Trump for allegedly inciting the riot at the Capitol, even after he has left office. House Democrats and a handful of Republicans impeached Trump last week, and the article has been sent to the Senate for trial.
“I just don’t understand how they can be moving forward with this,” Paul said on Fox News last week. “And look, I’m not just saying I’m for everything President Trump has done. I was for seating the electors because I think Congress shouldn’t overturn the state electors. But at the same time, the thing they are doing is an overreaction, and if they think they’re going to have a positive feeling from the public when they’re going to go through a partisan impeachment again, I think that’s absolutely insane and wrongheaded.”

Rand Paul

Rand Paul Responds To James Comey’s Attack On GOP: Comey ‘Should Be In Prison’

In an interview published on Tuesday in The Guardian, former FBI Director James Comey <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/19/the-capitol-riot-was-our-chernobyl-james-comey-on-trump-the-pee-tape-and-clintons-emails">stated</a> that &#8220;the Republican party needs to be burned down or changed.&#8221; Comey added, “Donald Trump conveys a menace, a meanness in private that is not evident in most public views of him.”
Referencing the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, Comey told The Guardian that the occurrence was so dire it required a 9/11 commission to examine it:
<blockquote>I was sickened to watch an attack on the literal and symbolic heart of our democracy, and, as a law enforcement person, I was angered. I am mystified and angry that Capitol Hill wasn’t defended. It’s a hill! If you wanted to defend it, you could defend it, and for some reason it was not defended. I think that’s a 9/11-size failure and we’re going to need a 9/11-type commission to understand it so that we don’t repeat it.</blockquote>
Comey blamed Trump for the Capitol riot, accusing him of having &#8220;attack[ed] the building from the outside to weaken its foundation&#8221; over the last five years. The Capitol Hill riot was ultimately Trump&#8217;s fault. The Republican Party, he said, needs to be &#8220;burned down or changed&#8221;:
<blockquote>The Republican party needs to be burned down or changed. Something is shifting and I’m hoping it’s the fault breaking apart, a break between the Trumpists and those people who want to try and build a responsible conservative party, because everybody should know that we need one. Who would want to be part of an organization that at its core is built on lies and racism and know-nothingism? It’s just not a healthy political organization.</blockquote>
Comey said of Trump as a person that he &#8220;rarely stops talking in a way that not only is filled with constant lying, but draws those to whom he’s speaking into an involuntary circle of assent.&#8221; Along with his revered role as president, said Comey, this quality allows Trump to &#8220;bend people.&#8221;
<blockquote>It’s a really hard thing to resist. I bent in small ways that I convinced myself were tactical. I gave silence in response to a request for loyalty and I said: “I’ll be honest,” and then when I got “honest loyalty” I agreed to that to get out of that conversation.</blockquote>
Comey championed the idea of the Senate convicting Trump after he’s out of office and then &#8220;letting local prosecutors in New York pursue him&#8221;:
<blockquote>At the end of the day, I still come down in the place that the best interests of the country would not be served by giving him that Donald Trump daily drama in our nation’s capital for three years as part of the United States versus Trump. That would give him the oxygen and the attention that he so craves and make it so much harder for a new president to heal the country both spiritually and physically, and to get some people out of the fog of lies that they’re trapped in.
I just think, on balance, the country is better served by impeaching him, convicting him in the Senate and letting local prosecutors in New York pursue him for the fraudster he was before he took office. That mixture accommodates the important public interest of the rule of law being asserted, but doesn’t do it in a way that makes it impossible for a new president to move the country on.</blockquote>

Comey: ‘The Republican Party Needs To Be Burned Down Or Changed’

It doesn’t matter what wrongs a person has committed, so long as those wrongs hurt a Republican &#8212; particularly, President Donald Trump &#8212; that person will be rewarded.
Columbia University’s law school <a href="https://reuben-mark.law.columbia.edu/content/reuben-mark-initiative-announces-spring-2021-leaders-residence">announced</a> this week that fired FBI director James Comey will become a senior research scholar and distinguished fellow of the Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership at Columbia Law School starting in January 2021. Comey will be teaching a seminar called “Lawyers and Leaders,” the school announced.
&#8220;Comey’s experience represents a broadening of the Mark Initiative’s focus to include leadership of major public institutions, complementing existing offerings relating to corporations and law firms,&#8221; the announcement said.
The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/528315-comey-to-teach-at-columbia-law-school">reported</a> that “Comey will take on a role as one of two ‘Leaders-in-Residence’ through the Mark Initiative’s Leader-in-Residence Program, which invites executives from government agencies, corporations and top law firms to teach classes at Columbia and share their professional experience with students through advising and engaging in other programing at the school.”
Comey has a history of high-profile, controversial decisions while in power. While there is currently an investigation into individuals who sought to bribe the White House in exchange for a pardon (there is no current information to suggest the White House was aware of the scheme), Comey back in the early 2000s took over an investigation into Clinton’s pardoning of Marc Rich, a trader whose wife donated more than $1 million to the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton’s senate campaign, and the Clinton Library foundation before the pardon. Comey found no illegality on Clinton’s part.
Comey also was in charge of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails during the 2016 election and gave a notorious press conference that twisted the law in order to avoid charging Hillary with a crime. During that press conference, Comey <a href="https://observer.com/2016/07/james-comey-sells-out/">laid out extensive evidence</a> of Hillary mishandling classified national security information, yet Comey refused to indict Hillary, deciding she needed to have “intent” in order to be indicted, something that was not required by the particular statute she violated.
Days before the 2016 election, Comey made the surprise move to reopen the investigation into Hillary’s emails, which many election experts suggested may have helped Trump win that election.
As FBI director in 2016, Comey oversaw the bureau’s Russia probe, which spied on the Trump campaign as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the election. Even though the FBI had no evidence to suggest the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia to steal the election, the bureau continued to investigate, relying on unverified opposition research paid for by Hillary’s campaign. Comey is one of several FBI agents who is being sued by Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide who was spied on using dubious FISA warrants that violated numerous FBI procedures.
With this controversial history, Comey’s final act against Trump has earned him media praise, book deals, and speaking engagement &#8212; and now a college teaching position.

Former FBI Director James Comey In Conversation

James Comey, Who Led FBI When It Spied On Trump Campaign, Gets Teaching Job At Columbia University

Columbia University

The official trailer for “Obamagate,” a movie on the FBI investigation into the “Russian collusion hoax” that entangled the bureau under former director James Comey, dropped on Friday ahead of the movie’s release later in October.
Filmmaker and journalist Phelim McAleer, who is a contributor to The Daily Wire, is the head producer of “Obamagate,” named after former President Barack Obama, who is a central figure to the Russian collusion investigation’s origin — though he is not featured in the film.
The trailer features snippets of actors playing Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and others reading through lines taken from tweets, messages, notes, and other writings made by the actual people they are depicting.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="OBAMAGATE The Movie Official Trailer | Starring Dean Cain &amp; Kristy Swanson | ObamaGateMovie.com" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FtGGkZTT9do?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The film project, which is being <a href="https://obamagatethemovie.com/">crowdfunded</a>, will focus on the FBI under <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chris-wallace-shreds-disgraced-former-fbi-director-james-comey-in-devastating-interview">Comey</a>, as well as other key players in ex-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian collusion such as former FBI special agent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-documents-show-fbi-used-a-briefing-to-spy-on-the-trump-campaign-in-2016">Peter Strzok</a> and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page. The movie’s October release coincides with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/showtimes-james-comey-mini-series-drops-right-in-time-for-election-heres-everything-we-know-about-it">Showtime’s</a> “The Comey Rule” — which paints the former FBI director in a favorable light — and the release of Strozk’s memoir.
“Showtime has created ‘The Comey Rule’ which is based on a political fairytale and a conspiracy theory that is told by the left in a shameless attempt to take down President Trump. It’s simply untrue, and despite this, the media is gushing over ‘The Comey Rule.’ Americans deserve the truth,” McAleer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/russian-collusion-hoax-exposed-in-new-obamagate-movie-on-comeys-fbi">said</a> when he announced the movie in early September.
“Showtime is spending tens of million[s] of dollars to tell this lie and that’s why we’re creating ‘Obamagate The Movie,’ to set the record straight,” he continued. “Whereas Showtime and ‘The Comey Rule’ rely on dramatic fiction written by left-wing Hollywood writers, ‘Obamagate The Movie’ is non-fiction and it is solely composed of the texts, emails, messages, and transcripts that clearly show the Deep State plot to take down President Trump. We are giving viewers the word-for-word facts so they can decide for themselves.”
Actors Dean Cain and Kristy Swanson will star in the film as Strzok and Page, respectively. John James will play the role of Comey.
The movie will be filmed “Hamilton-style” as a Broadway play. The dialogue is fairly unique in that all lines have been lifted from court documents, text messages, official notes, and other public records released on the investigation.
“The film’s script is unusual in that it is completely verbatim and consists of the text messages, declassified files, congressional and court transcripts, tweets, and statements of top government and FBI officials. And it also features the embarrassing and conspiratorial text messages of ‘FBI Lovebirds’ Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. ‘Obamagate’ also features appearances by James Comey and the Obama CIA Chief James Brennan and their cringeworthy tweets read aloud,” a release for the movie says.
“If you wanted to tell a story with just one perspective, you can do anything you want and you can change people’s perceptions of what took place,” Cain said in a statement. “When you do something verbatim, the words are there and it’s pretty darn clear. The verbatim texts themselves are damning.”

WATCH: ‘Obamagate’ Trailer Drops, Movie Set To Expose ‘Russian Collusion Hoax’ In Comey’s FBI

Barack Obama

Obamagate

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) confronted James Comey on Wednesday, asserting the former FBI director was “corrupt” and led a purposely disingenuous investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016.
Comey appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to answer questions regarding his conduct and the conduct of other FBI officials during the investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia. The investigation launched in 2016 and culminated with the report of ex-special counsel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-mueller-report-released-attorney-general-ben-shapiro">Robert Mueller</a>, of which a redacted version was released to the public in April 2019.
The Department of Justice Inspector General <a href="https://dw-site-staging.dailywire.com/news/inspector-general-horowitz-debunks-comey-suggesting-exoneration-activities-we-found-here-dont-vindicate-anybody-who-touched-this-fisa">Michael Horowitz</a> investigated the origins of the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign. The FBI operation, dubbed “Crossfire Hurricane,” was launched and furthered on dubious grounds as the inspector general found 17 “significant errors” in FBI requests to federal courts for secret warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Cruz slammed Comey, accusing him of corruption and deliberately targeting the Trump campaign with an unfounded investigation.
“This investigation of the president was corrupt. The FBI and the Department of Justice were politicized and weaponized, and, in my opinion, there are only two possibilities: that you were deliberately corrupt or woefully incompetent—and I don’t believe you were incompetent,” Cruz said at the end of his questioning. “This has done severe damage to the professionals and the honorable men and women at the FBI because law enforcement should not be used as a political weapon, and that is the legacy you’ve left.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Sen. Ted Cruz to Comey:
“This has done severe damage to the professionals and the honorable men and women at the FBI because law enforcement should not be used a political weapon. That is the legacy you’ve left.” <a href="https://t.co/E5Hu7OEwKf">pic.twitter.com/E5Hu7OEwKf</a>
&mdash; Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/1311339711085064195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Earlier in his questioning, Cruz cited the Horowitz <a href="https://www.justice.gov/storage/120919-examination.pdf">report</a> and accused the FBI of purposefully lying to the FISA courts. The senator recounted one of the 17 “significant errors” in which a DOJ attorney reportedly edited an email from the CIA to say the opposite of what it originally stated.
“Mr. Comey, let’s go directly to lies. The inspector general report concluded that Mr. Clinesmith, an attorney who worked for you in the FBI, deliberately altered an email,” Cruz said. “He had emailed the CIA to ask if [Trump campaign aid] Carter Page was a source. The CIA came back and said yes, he was a source, and Mr. Clinesmith—your lawyer—altered that email to add the words ‘not a source’ to make the email say precisely the opposite of what the CIA said.”
“That fraudulent document was then used as a basis for a fraudulent submission to the FISA court. You believe that is honest and competent, Mr. Comey?” Cruz asked after Comey said moments before that the FBI had “overall” acted in a “honest, competent, and independent way.”
“I don’t believe you’ve offered an accurate summary of Horowitz’s findings,” Comey responded.
Comey agreed to testify on Wednesday as part of an investigation by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/james-comey-to-testify-on-russia-investigation-at-end-of-month">Senate Republicans</a> to get to the bottom of how Crossfire Hurricane began and continued to hound President Trump in his opening days and well into his presidency. Numerous political pundits, members of the media, lawmakers, and prominent figures such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continue to push the allegation that Trump may have coordinated with the Russians to influence the 2016 election.

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz Slaps James Comey Over Russian Collusion Conspiracy: ‘Deliberately Corrupt’

“The Comey Rule” likely wrapped production before COVID-19 shut down Hollywood along with the rest of the country. So it’s understandable that recent headlines surround the Russia collusion narrative, details that obliterate its remaining credibility, couldn’t make the final cut. Consider:
<ul>
<li>FBI agent: Never was evidence of Russia collusion but Mueller team had &#8220;<a href="https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/fbi-agent-never-was-evidence-russia-collusion-mueller">get Trump</a>&#8221; goal.</li>
<li>Flynn case bombshell: FBI analysts <a href="https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/flynn-case-bombshell-fbi-analysts-bought-insurance">bought insurance</a> fearing they’d be sued for misconduct.</li>
</ul>
What about The Mueller Report?
Remember the 2019 document that found no proof that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election?
Not only is there zero mention of that historic investigation in the film or its final text, “The Comey Rule” suggests the 2020 election is already bought and paid for by Mother Russia on Trump’s behalf.
Like in 2016.
This isn’t Resistance Fan Fiction. It’s one of the most deeply dishonest productions in recent memory. It shouldn’t be banned or canceled, just mocked into oblivion.
The two-part event, airing Sept. 27 and 28 on Showtime, begins with the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s home-brewed email server. It’s a rote dramatization of recent history, something liberals blame for the former First Lady’s shocking electoral defeat … along with <a href="https://www.axios.com/16-things-hillary-clinton-blames-for-her-election-loss-1513305545-cf6505a6-76a8-49a0-989a-1be67190d4ed.html">Russia, Facebook ads, Fake News, sexism, and low information voters</a>.
That’s just a partial list from Hillary Clinton herself.
The meat of the miniseries, and the reason it exists in the first place, is to cover the dawn of the Russia collusion scandal. Or non-scandal, as we eventually found out.
Tell that to writer/director Billy Ray (“Shattered Glass”), who designed “The Comey Rule” as a cautionary tale voters must see before Election Day. There’s so much fiction, and obfuscation, here it’s hard to know where to begin.
Let’s start with Part 1, which focuses on then-FBI director James Comey’s unenviable task — investigating if Clinton broke the law by bypassing traditional email methods.
The miniseries opens with Stephen Colbert, of all people, asking his “Late Show” crowd if Comey (Jeff Daniels) was a good guy or a bad guy via a CBS clip.
The answer is obvious. The Left saw Comey as a monster for investigating Clinton in the first place, and his fangs grew longer after he re-opened said investigation mere weeks before the 2016 election.
Once Comey took on Trump, though, he became a Resistance hero. All was forgiven, and then some. Now, he has the miniseries to prove it. “The Comey Rule” is first and foremost a love letter to Comey, a public figure who avoided partisanship at all costs, we’re told, because he loves his country so very, very much.
This is the same Comey who <a href="https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/05/10/hollywoods-heroic-comey-story-collapses/">happily told MSNBC</a> — in 2018 — how he ignored standard protocols while interviewing Gen. Michael Flynn. The same Comey-led FBI which tried to “get [Flynn] to lie” in order to “prosecute him or get him fired.”
As a protagonist he’s a dud, especially with Daniels playing him as a cocktail of arrogance and pained acceptance. D.C. just wouldn’t adhere to his all-American excellence, letting him down time and again.
And that’s before a brash real estate mogul enters the frame.
Part 1 sets up the key players, including Sally Yates (Holly Hunter in full superheroine mode), <a href="https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/commentary/andrew-mccabe-lied-so-will-the-fbi-apply-the-same-rules-against-him-it">under oath liar</a> Andy McCabe (Michael Kelly), <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/theaters-fbi-lovebirds-violence-free-speech/">Lisa Page (Oona Chaplin), and Peter Strzok (Steven Pasquale).</a> They must figure out if Clinton knowingly broke the law or directed her team to mass delete her (yoga) emails.
In between, we see glimpses of the upcoming Part 2, including shots of two wily Russian agents discussing how to sabotage Clinton’s presidential dreams.
“Ever spend much time on Facebook?” one asks the other, even though the <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/06/facebook-ads-russia-linked-accounts-242401">Russian spend</a> on that platform was microscopic at best.
The first installment also introduces us to the Comey couple, their moments accompanied by tinkly, treacly music. Mrs. Comey (Jennifer Ehle) is on Team Clinton or Bust, and she’s aghast that her husband could hurt Clinton’s presidential hopes.
The Comey kids are equally appalled at Daddy’s work. He feels their pain, but he must do his job, his set jaw all but screams.
Not all heroes wear capes.
We already know Team Comey didn’t indict Clinton regarding the email imbroglio, so there’s little dramatic tension to be found during the first part of the miniseries. So we’re left watching Comey and his team meticulously craft their public statement on the matter, about as interesting as watching CSPAN with the sound turned off.
All along, the miniseries message is clear. Comey is Above Reproach and every FBI agent, even if they have personal views, is Apolitical to the Core.
And, of course, that Comey abhors leaks … unless <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/29/politics/james-comey-ig-report/index.html">he’s the one doing the leaking</a>.
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dc8XsWQMcs8" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">﻿</iframe>
It’s more about setting the stage for part 2 and Brendan Gleeson’s entrance as the country’s 45th president. That means framing the Steele Dossier, as discredited as any document in recent memory, as coming from a “highly credible source.”
Well, that <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/518138-steele-dossier-sub-source-was-subject-of-fbi-counterintelligence-probe">statement got incinerated this week</a>. Again.
In “The Comey Rule,” the dossier offered a “plausible working theory,” the miniseries alleges. The Mueller Report <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/mueller-report-dismisses-many-steele-dossier-claims-11555710147">shredded much of it last year</a>, well before “The Comey Rule” went into production.
Ray marches on, oblivious to those facts. He also finds screen time to protect Strzok and Page, notorious for referring to an “insurance policy” against a Trump presidency. The miniseries downplays that statement, making it sound innocent.
“We’ll stop him,” he tells Page.
“‘We’ as in the bureau?” she asks him.
“‘We’ as in the public,’” he answers.
Oh.
Part 2 features Gleeson’s Trump, and it’s exactly the performance you expect, well detailed but conventional. Ray gives us the version of Trump we see on the news, minus the humor and street smarts. In short, it’s a caricature.
Then again, so are the other members of Trump’s team. The FBI agents and various government types are depicted in “The Comey Rule” as smart, considerate, and well mannered.
Not Gen. Michael Flynn (Williams Sadler). He’s a buffoon, at one point shown eating food with his hands. That’s a classic trope to demean a character. Later, Trump wolfs down ice cream like it’s his last meal. Again, no accident.
Everyone on Team Trump looks like they’re starring in another movie, a dark comedy perhaps, instead of a serious dramatization.
President Trump’s election day victory, the FBI warns, means an uptick in hate crimes. <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/nolan-finley/2019/04/07/finley-americas-hate-crime-surge-hoax/3374192002/">AKA a hoax.</a> So why include it?
We’re told President-Elect Trump is unwilling to criticize Putin, as if “coercive pressure is being applied.” James Clapper (“Breaking Bad” alum Jonathan Banks) goes one step further, saying Russia elected Trump and they’re happy to do it again in 2020.
“They have no real incentive to stop,” he notes.
The miniseries also says the Russians hacked both the DNC and RNC but only released info from the former. Yet that’s not true,<a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/jan/11/donald-trump/trump-says-russians-were-unable-hack-republican-na/"> even the liberal Politifact declared</a>. Then again, the lies of omission found in “The Comey Rule” comprise a far greater stack, one visible from space.
See Report, Mueller, for starters.
By now Gleeson’s Trump is like Michael Meyers and Hannibal Lecter combined, so we get ominous music accompanying him. Even more fear-driven? When Comey walks toward Trump we get the dreaded “slo-mo” camera work, as if he’s walking up to a lion, or other feral predator.
This is beneath Ray, who last year penned the brilliant “<a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/richard-jewell-review/">Richard Jewell</a>.” That movie excoriated Fake News and dishonest media narratives.
His “Comey Rule” marinates in both.
Is President Trump a bull in a Beltway China shop? Of course. Is his manner often rude and unpresidential? Absolutely. Did The Mueller Report reveal behavior beneath the dignity of the office? At times, yes.
It still didn’t give Democrats a shred of material with which they could impeach President Trump. That seems important.
“The Comey Rule” emits that suffocating air of Re-Enactment Theatre, where new characters have their names flashed on the screen and there’s little time for creative interpretation or, dare we say, art.
It’s all exposition, stripping Ray of his better tools. He escapes the trap a time or two, adding personal elements when he can squeeze them in. Perhaps a better format for this would be a longer miniseries where the “factual” data points could give way to richer character development and unrelated sub-plots.
As is, “The Comey Rule” features cutesy call backs and so much chest puffing it’s like a WWE match on steroids.
Even the far-left Rolling Stone <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/horowitz-report-steele-dossier-collusion-news-media-924944/">shattered the Russian collusion story</a> in Dec. 2019, weeks after production started on “The Comey Rule.” That meant Team Showtime had months, and months, to update its narrative and chose not to do so.
Of course, the miniseries wraps with both somber images of the nation’s capital and Ray Charles’ version of “America the Beautiful.”
Only in America can an absurd, factually deficient project like “The Comey Rule” make it to an august channel without fear of government reprisal.
What a country.
What a crock “The Comey Rule” is.
A version of this article appears on HollywoodInToto.com

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