Wash Post: Comey Used Possibly Fake Document to Justify Decision To End Clinton Probe

[mystery-ak]

Bad intel from Russia influenced Comey's Clinton announcement: report
By Katie Bo Williams - 05/24/17 04:03 PM EDT

Former FBI Director James Comey’s controversial decision to detail the FBI’s findings in the Hillary Clinton email case without Justice Department input was influenced by a dubious Russian document that the FBI now considers to be bad intelligence, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The secret document, which purported to be a piece of Russian intelligence, claimed that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch had privately assured someone in the Clinton campaign that the investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified information would go nowhere.

But according to people familiar with the matter, by August the FBI had come to believe the document was unreliable — and in fact may have been planted as a fake to confuse the FBI.

Comey made his announcement in July.

more
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/334990-bad-intel-influenced-comeys-clinton-announcement-report

[mystery-ak]

By Solange Reyner   |   Wednesday, 24 May 2017 05:15 PM

Former FBI Director James Comey used a possibly fake Russian document to justify his decision to end the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server to send classified information during her tenure as Secretary of State, the Washington Post reports.

The document, received by the FBI in March 2016, mentioned a supposed email between then-Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schlultz and Leonard Benardo, an official at the Open Society Foundations founded by George Soros, where Wasserman-Schultz said then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch told a top Clinton campaign aide that she wouldn't allow the Clinton probe to go too deep.

Comey may have used the document to go public with his decision in order to make it clear that the FBI, and not the Justice Department, was making the call, the Post reports.

more
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/washington-post-james-comey-document-end/2017/05/24/id/792177/

[The_Reader_David]

I don't know about fake documents, but he used a fake legal doctrine:  applying a mens rea standard to a statute that explicitly criminalizes negligence was complete nonsense.

[Gideon300]

The document Comey used to justify the end of the Clinton probe was probably a map of Fort Marcy Park. 

[truth_seeker]

So our FBI Director was too stupid or too crooked, to get this right?

I am not a lawyer, but I believe a good case can be made that a high ranking official carelessly handling classified material, has committed a crime whether or not they intended, period.

1. I once held a clearance, and was frequently reminded by my superiors about the consequences of carelessness.

2. My unit maintained machines for classified communication, and we guarded them with live ammunition, in peacetime Germany.

There were no excuses about good intentions, or ignorance of the laws.