GOP Rep.: âAre you calling me a ânobodyâ?â
I know no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case,
Alberto Gonzalez: I would.
Comey, a lifelong Republican with unimpeachable credentials, handed Trump and his allies a great gift by eviscerating Clintonâs explanation/defense of how she handled emails. Instead of accepting that largess, the Republicans want to put him on the hot seat for not recommending criminal charges. In doing so, they are throwing away the greatest piece of campaign material they could have imagined.
These people are just too dumb to run the country.
(When I say âgift,â I am not criticizing the FBI. Although I havenât followed the bureauâs conclusions with extreme closeness, from what I can tell all of the criticisms were justified fully.)
And there is itâŚ
He lays out the perfect talking point to them on a silver platter,at their feet. She committed gross negligence, but nobody has the cajones to actually take that to trial.
He doesnât actually lay out a criminal case FOR gross negligence, he just makes his vague accusations that its there, even though its not. The root of his accusation is that Hillary should have used her prescient powers and known years in advance that emails were going to be retro actively declared classified, and not using her Super Powers is clearly gross negligence. This is the same bullshit he pulled at his presser.
Damn. The Repubs must be jumping out of their skin that their fellow Repub at the FBI actually did (GASP) his JOB! Rule of law before party and politics. Anathema!
Beat me to it!
At this point in time, I have to admit that I was wrong about Comeyâs testimony. Heâs clearly laying out why no indictment or other legal charges were filed.
He stuck his own feet in the shit, though, with his initial statements emphasizing Clintonâs âgreat carelessness,â which only exacerbated Republican anger about the lack of charges.
Now heâs saying âI do not see evidence that is sufficient to establish that Secretary Clinton or those with whom she was corresponding, both talked about classified information on email and knew when they did it, they were doing something that was against the law.â He could have made that the substance of his initial statement, and while the GOP would still have been outraged, they wouldnât have been as confused by his mixed messaging.
The comical thing about all this is that if the Republicans had contained their outrage and not demanded this appearance, they could have run with âgreat carelessnessâ all campaign long, and simply ignored the lack of legal charges. Now theyâve given Comey the opportunity to expand on his reasoning, and in the process take the legs out from under those who are still babbling about some great crime having been committed.
Comey did this to himself.
Instead of just going with the standard âno charges will be filed, as there is no crime involvedâ FBI statement, he decided to add his own personal opinion by saying Hillary was careless. In his own opinion.
And lets be very clear, thatâs not a legal opinion, and has no bearing on any laws being broken or not.
Had he kept it professional, the GOP wouldnât have much of a leg to stand on. Instead, he threw them a bone, was totally unprofessional, damaged his own reputation, and now heâs officially the GOPs new whipping boy for this dead horse.
Giuliani Would hang Clinton. so WOULD cHAFFETZ.
Not really. Comey misstated the difference between material marked confidential, and material that was (to someoneâs later opinion) confidential although not yet marked.
Also, some of that marked confidential material were lists of phone calls Clinton was supposed to make that day, and once made, no longer confidential. Not exactly national-security-shaking.
He lays out the perfect talking point to them on a silver platter, at their feet. She committed gross negligence, but nobody has the cajones to actually take that to trial. he just makes his vague accusations that its thereâŚ
How you arrive at the above statement when Comey stated the following is puzzling.
âno reasonable prosecutor would bring the second case in 100 years focused on gross negligence.â
âSo I know thatâs been a source of some confusion for folks. Thatâs just the way it is. I know the Department of Justice. I know no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case,â Comey said. âA lot of former friends are saying they would. I wonder where they were the last 40 years, because I would like to see the cases they brought on gross negligence. Nobody would, nobody did.â
Watched the first four questioners. Of course the Chairman is a garrulous chump. He often tries to be âcleverâ instead of being intelligent and comes a cropper. The Dems played âdefenseâ. But Trey Gowdy had to open his mouth and demonstrate what arrogance and assholery are all about. He is a prosecutor (or a persecutor?). HRC ran rings around him and his committee Republicans for 11 hours and all his rants and raves came to naught. They squirmed when mention was made of their golden boy: Petreaus who turned out to be run of the mill cheater: who paid for his screws with state secrets. Where was this committee when all that happened. Hypocrites!!!
He canât be intelligentâhe lacks the necessary wherewithall to do so.
Completely agree. They should have let Comeyâs Tuesday statements stand. But, no. They had to overreach as usual.
Comeyâs personal comments really concerned me because they, of course, reinforce all of the negative stereotypes that have plagued the Clintons. However, as this hearing progresses, my anxiety is diminishing. While committed Trump voters might be soaking this in, the snide questions, insulting tone, clear bias and overt accusatory tactics from the Republicans arenât going to sway undecided voters. They look like raving lunatics.
The goopers are still trying to figure out how to keep President Obama as a one-term President.
I disagree. I think he was saying that gross carelessness does not equal gross negligence. And that the bar for that is âknowingly and with intentâ of which they found no evidence.
He also said that he had to treat Hillary like everyone else and that means no case for gross negligence.
I do believe that is the key word. This is a word that never in the history of the world has been used in the same sentence as Alberto Gonzales
Republican Bush Toady, yes
Reasonable Prosecutor, never
Have already seen the shift to âgross negligenceâ on comments sections. Glad to see Comeyâs out there today reeling the talking points creators back in and neutering another GOP fantasy. As John Lewis pointed out yesterday, it was just last week that so many Republicans were praising Comeyâs integrity and independence. Even Chavez, the main inquisitor, was all gaga about Comey until the exoneration.