The Comey-Brennan Conspiracy to Violate Trump’s Civil Rights

It could get them an additional five years.

Last week’s publication of the Justice Department Inspector General’s report on former FBI director James Comey basically found that he was the leaking, sneaky weasel that he promised President Trump he wouldn’t be.

Comey claims that he’s been cleared and is demanding an apology. Some conservatives are disheartened that the IG’s findings didn’t result in a Justice Department decision to prosecute Comey.

Former U.S. attorney Joe diGenova, meanwhile, has said categorically that the IG’s report investigating the FBI’s actions in obtaining Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants during the “Russia collusion” investigation concludes that all four of the warrants obtained against one-time Trump advisor Carter Page were obtained “illegally.”

Not in violation of regulations or procedures: in violation of the law. That should result in prosecutions and probably jail time for the wrongdoers, but it won’t necessarily.

The IG investigations are a sideshow. The real investigation, being conducted by John Durham, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, will be the one that decides who to indict and will obtain those indictments from one or more grand juries convened for that purpose.

The Comey IG report is interesting for any number of reasons, the first of which is that the Justice Department decided not to prosecute Comey for his intentionally leaking one of his “private” memos about conversations with President Trump to a friend. He did so, as we’ve known for two years, specifically to have that friend leak it to the New York Times for publication. Comey intended those leaks to have precisely the effect they did: to cause the appointment of a special counsel.