Is comey the serial leaker

Grand Mal said:

I don't understand. What has Comey to do with the White House?

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He is in constant contact with the white house prior to his firing, and has the fbi which has the ability to spy on the whitehouse. Karl rove in may before comey testified claimed comey as the leaker, and the fox news research on the leakers origins lead them to either the fbi or the doj.

beerftw said:

That is actually the only viable counter theory I have heard, and it does make sense. which one is real is a mystery unless the whitehouse declassified everything, so only time will tell.

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There has been a lot of leaks--but they didn't all come from James Comey..

An Example: There were only 3 other Americans in the Oval Office with Trump when met with the Russians. H.R. McMaster, National Security Adviser, Dina Powell, Deputy National Security Adviser, and Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State. Trump blocked out American media and only allowed Russian media in--if you remember. So one of these 3 leaked that Trump had given the Russians sensitive classified information, that had not gone through the process of being declassified.
http://http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/16/politics/trump-russian-officials-meeting-what-we-know/index.html
http://http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/15/politics/trump-russia-classified-information/index.html

I think a lot of people also forget that Obama ordered this investigation to be DONE before he left office. It was. This is how Flynn got busted for lying to the FBI, and Sessions went through a brutal time regarding his confirmation hearing--when he stated that he had not met with any Russians--and it immediately came out that he had. It's also been reported that Obama secured this information--and would not hand it over to the Trump administration or Republicans for obvious reasons. Here is the link on that.
http://http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/02/obama-administration-reportedly-raced-to-preserve-intelligence-on-possible-contact-between-russians-and-trump-associates.html

Like I stated-since this has gone from a congressional probe into a criminal investigation everyone has been told to clam up and lawyer up, and that is what they have been doing. Robert Mueller, Special Prosector will be the only one doing the talking, and that will happen when this investigation is complete.

But one thing is for certain: If Republicans can do 8 investigations into Benghazi, it's not hard to imagine what Democrats will do with Treason, Obstruction & Lies when they take over in 2018. We're also going to get a great education into what that emoluments clause in the Constitution is all about.
http://https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-emoluments-clause-its-text-meaning-and-application-to-donald-j-trump/

Oreo said:

There has been a lot of leaks--but they didn't all come from James Comey..

An Example: There were only 3 other Americans in the Oval Office with Trump when met with the Russians. H.R. McMaster, National Security Adviser, Dina Powell, Deputy National Security Adviser, and Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State. Trump blocked out American media and only allowed Russian media in--if you remember. So one of these 3 leaked that Trump had given the Russians sensitive classified information, that had not gone through the process of being declassified.
http://http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/16/politics/trump-russian-officials-meeting-what-we-know/index.html
http://http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/15/politics/trump-russia-classified-information/index.html

I think a lot of people also forget that Obama ordered this investigation to be DONE before he left office. It was. This is how Flynn got busted for lying to the FBI, and Sessions went through a brutal time regarding his confirmation hearing--when he stated that he had not met with any Russians--and it immediately came out that he had. It's also been reported that Obama secured this information--and would not hand it over to the Trump administration or Republicans for obvious reasons. Here is the link on that.
http://http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/02/obama-administration-reportedly-raced-to-preserve-intelligence-on-possible-contact-between-russians-and-trump-associates.html

Like I stated-since this has gone from a congressional probe into a criminal investigation everyone has been told to clam up and lawyer up, and that is what they have been doing. Robert Mueller, Special Prosector will be the only one doing the talking, and that will happen when this investigation is complete.

But one thing is for certain: If Republicans can do 8 investigations into Benghazi, it's not hard to imagine what Democrats will do with Treason, Obstruction & Lies when they take over in 2018. We're also going to get a great education into what that emoluments clause in the Constitution is all about.
http://https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-emoluments-clause-its-text-meaning-and-application-to-donald-j-trump/

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Nicely summed up
Just adding: Many leaks came directly from his staff. In fact there is no way some of them could have come from anywhere else. Trumps own people are trying to manage him and we should thank god for that.

Oreo said:

There has been a lot of leaks--but they didn't all come from James Comey..

An Example: There were only 3 other Americans in the Oval Office with Trump when met with the Russians. H.R. McMaster, National Security Adviser, Dina Powell, Deputy National Security Adviser, and Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State. Trump blocked out American media and only allowed Russian media in--if you remember. So one of these 3 leaked that Trump had given the Russians sensitive classified information, that had not gone through the process of being declassified.
http://http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/16/politics/trump-russian-officials-meeting-what-we-know/index.html
http://http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/15/politics/trump-russia-classified-information/index.html

I think a lot of people also forget that Obama ordered this investigation to be DONE before he left office. It was. This is how Flynn got busted for lying to the FBI, and Sessions went through a brutal time regarding his confirmation hearing--when he stated that he had not met with any Russians--and it immediately came out that he had. It's also been reported that Obama secured this information--and would not hand it over to the Trump administration or Republicans for obvious reasons. Here is the link on that.
http://http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/02/obama-administration-reportedly-raced-to-preserve-intelligence-on-possible-contact-between-russians-and-trump-associates.html

Like I stated-since this has gone from a congressional probe into a criminal investigation everyone has been told to clam up and lawyer up, and that is what they have been doing. Robert Mueller, Special Prosector will be the only one doing the talking, and that will happen when this investigation is complete.

But one thing is for certain: If Republicans can do 8 investigations into Benghazi, it's not hard to imagine what Democrats will do with Treason, Obstruction & Lies when they take over in 2018. We're also going to get a great education into what that emoluments clause in the Constitution is all about.
http://https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-emoluments-clause-its-text-meaning-and-application-to-donald-j-trump/

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A very valid argument, with the special prosecutor in play, those leaks will be investigated, as will anything remotely relating to the intent of the investigation no matter which side it favors. This would make the leakers prime targets for the prosecutor, as a special prosecutor/investigators job is to find a crime.

But at the same time let's say comey was a massive leaker, even if no special prosecutor was named, I would imagine the other leakers would be shaking in their boots, as the trump admin will likely have been on their tail they would have stopped leaking to cut off their trail before they were discovered.

We still have leaks but they are few and far between, comey being one of the biggest leakers or the special investigator or leakers realizing the jig was up, either way the vast majority of them stopped with comey being fired.

beerftw said:

I bring this up because after comey was fired, every screamed it was because he was a showboater or trump trying to obstruct justice.

I pieced together off the odd fact every groundbreaking whitehouse leak ended with comey being fired, combined with the abruptness of his firing and the rash of leaks that occurred right before his firing. From my opinion comey was the one leaking white house material from day one to undermine the president, and he finally got caught doing it.

There is a lot of rumors and even fox news article on the admin supposedly having caught him back to march leaking to the ny times, I need to dig them up but to save yall time they were from anonymous sources, so the credibility of them needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Add to that putin has offered exile to comey in the same manner he offered snowden, which raises the question if putin knows more than the public on why comey was fired, and what may happen to comey in the future.

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To date, the only leak that can be attributed to Comey is the memo about his conversation with Trump, which was leaked to the Law Professor friend of his, which in turn he leaked it to NYT.

Even that it was Comey's memo over Comey's conversation, the memo was produced on government hardware on government time, and therefore, is the government's and not his alone. His leaking it could very well be considered a violation.

Given as tangled as the swamp is, I reserve judgement on any other leaks that may or may not end up being attributed to Comey.

Captain Adverse said:

When the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and the Chief Executive of the Federal Government dismisses everyone in order to have a private conversation with one of his subordinates, this constitutes a "confidential" conversation.

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Can't leave this statement hanging there as if it were correct.

Did Comey's release of memos about his Trump meetings violate executive privilege?

Donald Trump: Comey's leak of memo 'totally illegal?'

Rogue Valley said:

Can't leave this statement hanging there as if it were correct.

Did Comey's release of memos about his Trump meetings violate executive privilege?

Donald Trump: Comey's leak of memo 'totally illegal?'

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I'm sorry. Wherever did you get the idea that I was speaking of executive privilege? That only applies to information that can be requested by other branches of government.

I was not talking about that at all. I was talking about information dissemination among members of Agencies of the Federal government, and access to same to the public.

If the President sets up a private conversation with any one of his subordinates it is de facto "confidential" unless and until the President says otherwise.

IMO it was Comey's "leak" of that "loyalty conversation" that probably got him fired.

You know, the one that only he and Trump were privy to...that got reported in the News? :shrug:

beerftw said:

I bring this up because after comey was fired, every screamed it was because he was a showboater or trump trying to obstruct justice.

I pieced together off the odd fact every groundbreaking whitehouse leak ended with comey being fired, combined with the abruptness of his firing and the rash of leaks that occurred right before his firing. From my opinion comey was the one leaking white house material from day one to undermine the president, and he finally got caught doing it.

There is a lot of rumors and even fox news article on the admin supposedly having caught him back to march leaking to the ny times, I need to dig them up but to save yall time they were from anonymous sources, so the credibility of them needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Add to that putin has offered exile to comey in the same manner he offered snowden, which raises the question if putin knows more than the public on why comey was fired, and what may happen to comey in the future.

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I believe that many leaks are coming from Trump's own white house staff. Unless Trump sees something on TV he won't take it seriously.

Captain Adverse said:

I'm sorry. Wherever did you get the idea that I was speaking of executive privilege? That only applies to information that can be requested by other branches of government.

I was not talking about that at all. I was talking about information dissemination among members of Agencies of the Federal government, and access to same to the public.

If the President sets up a private conversation with any one of his subordinates it is de facto "confidential" unless and until the President says otherwise.

IMO it was Comey's "leak" of that "loyalty conversation" that probably got him fired.

You know, the one that only he and Trump were privy to...that got reported in the News? :shrug:

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It's not okay for a president to use "de facto confidentiality" to undermine or obstruct justice. Just have a private conversation with a subordinate regardless of the content and the prez is scott free? If that's the case, Nixon's conversations with all of his partners in crime should have been treated completely different.

Trump was attempting to recruit Comey, IMO, and had Comey cooperated, that would have made him a potential partner in crime. The type of loyalty Trump wanted wasn't appropriate. I know it's Trump's word against Comey's so naturally since Trump is Trump, then everything Trump says is automatically the gospel and Comey is the crook. Well at least to Trump supporters.

Removable Mind said:

It's not okay for a president to use "de facto confidentiality" to undermine or obstruct justice. Just have a private conversation with a subordinate regardless of the content and the prez is scott free? If that's the case, Nixon's conversations with all of his partners in crime should have been treated completely different.

Trump was attempting to recruit Comey, IMO, and had Comey cooperated, that would have made him a potential partner in crime. The type of loyalty Trump wanted wasn't appropriate. I know it's Trump's word against Comey's so naturally since Trump is Trump, then everything Trump says is automatically the gospel and Comey is the crook. Well at least to Trump supporters.

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Trump was NOT "attempting to recruit Comey." :roll:

It is more likely than not the President was responding to the constant barrage of so-called "leaks" from "former and current members of the administration"...(in most if not all cases, of as yet to be proven true information BTW); and he was trying to find out who was reliable and who was not.

IMO that first conversation was his giving Comey an opportunity to let him know if he was going to be loyal and trustworthy to the new administration, or if he needed to be replaced.

Comey realized this, and instead of being honest and forthright, he gave an evasive answer. That was Mr. Trumps first warning.

NOTE: Asking a subordinate if they are loyal to the new leadership is NOT obstruction of justice. It is a reasonable concern in light of all the "disloyal" acts of those "former and current officials" who were actively trying to undermine the new Administration from day one.

The second was when the "Hope" conversation took place and Comey again gave an evasive answer instead of being honest and forthright.

In all probability, the final straw that broke the camels back was the report of the first conversation in (I believe) the New York Times which led to his discharge as a proven "leaker."

In the second place, in response to your first point. The President has the power, authority, and right to instruct any member of his government administration on how to use their time and resources while serving in his Administration.

He could have ordered Comey to stop investigating Flynn, and it would not be obstruction. He could pardon Flynn for any activities alleged to be a violation of Federal Law, and it would not be obstruction. Moreover, neither you, I, or Comey could do a thing about it...except vote in the next election.

As for de facto confidentiality? The issue is "leaking" information that was automatically considered confidential, as anyone who has served in government service or the military would know.

Captain Adverse said:

Simple. rof

When the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and the Chief Executive of the Federal Government dismisses everyone in order to have a private conversation with one of his subordinates, this constitutes a "confidential" conversation.

Otherwise he would have had the entire press corps and/or as many public witnesses as needed to show it was open for general consumption. It's not like it needs an official stamp like a government document. :doh

So, if Mr. Comey can "assume" a statement of "hope" is equivalent to an order; how then could he not "assume" that a private conversation initiated by his boss on "sensitive" topics would NOT be at least the lowest level of information security, i.e. "confidential?" :roll:

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Is this a joke? I can't tell if this is a joke.

No, he would not be justified in assuming that every order from the president is automagically classified.