President Obama has now officially criticized FBI Director James Comey's decision to re-open the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation.
In an interview with NowThis News, Obama declared, “We don’t operate on incomplete information. We don’t operate on leaks. We operate based on concrete decisions that are made.”
Obama's statement contradicts White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest who yesterday stated the White House had no official position on Comey's decision. Apparently, they do now. I would hope the White House press corps vigorously questions him on this point today.
While Obama indicated he “made a very deliberate effort to make sure that I don’t look like I’m meddling in what are supposed to be independent processes for making these assessments,” this is now the second time in just over a year that he has "meddled" into a FBI investigation of Hillary.
In October 2015, while the first FBI investigation was still open, Obama declared in a 60 Minutes interview that Hillary's use of private e-mail "did not pose a national security problem." I suspect the Russians and Chinese have drawn a different conclusion. Or put more precisely, hacked.
Now that President Obama has opened the door, he ought to be asked if he believes Comey acted unlawfully and, if so, will he fire him for it. I suspect Obama won't go there. Such a move would be too Nixonian. It would be Archibald Cox all over again. Nevertheless the question must be asked.
Whatever its faults, Americans want the FBI and other public institutions to be independent and impartial from the whims of elected officials including the President and those who aspire to be President. This kind of meddling on the part of President Obama (on top of the meddling of Hillary and her apologists) undermines that confidence and enhances the perception that the system is rigged with one law for Hillary and one law for the rest of us poor schmucks. All of which helps Donald Trump.
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