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| James Comey |
Only yesterday former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were testifying before the Senate on the Russian involvement in the US presidential poll. The Senate hearing brought the Russian story more into focus.
James Comey has had a tumultuous tenure, not just as FBI director, but before that too.
In 2002, he led a probe into the pardoning of Marc Rich, an affluent global financier, by Bill Clinton on his last day as the President in 2001. Interestingly, one of the cases of Comey 15 years earlier as an attorney, was the successful prosecution of Rich for tax evasion. According to Time, "Despite evidence that several pardon recipients, including Rich, had connections to donations to Bill Clinton’s presidential library and Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, Comey found no criminal wrongdoing."
Then, in 2004, Comey, who was Acting Attorney General, had refused to sign some crucial papers sanctioning the NSA's domestic wiretapping programme. His signature was required for the programme to continue. Bush had to intervene to lift the hurdle.
Barack Obama brought him as FBI Director for a 10-year term in 2013. That was the time when wiretapping by was back in news, and Obama had backed the plan, saying only generic data was collected. But the fact that Comey, had once opposed wiretapping, didn't go unnoticed. But then, he said post 2004 Madrid blasts he has had a change of mind.
His most recent tryst with controversy was in the run-up to the US presidential elections. He was leading probe into the use of private servers by Hillary Clinton while she was the secretary of State. In 2016, he declared that though Clinton was careless, there was no criminal charges against her.
Quite expectedly the Trump campaign was critical of Comey.
Then came the dramatic turning point. In October, it was revealed that sleuths looking into the alleged sexting between Anthony Weiner had found on his computer emails between Hillary Clinton and his wife and Clinton aid Huma Abedin. He went public that the email controversy was being reopened.
Trump's view of Comey changed. He praised him.
It is widely believed that Comey's latest move might have cost Clinton the White House bid.
After Trump assumed charge, the focus shifted to Russian involvement in US poll. Though Trump cited poor progress into Clinton email probe, it's said that Comey sacking had much to do with increasing focus and progress in the probe into Trump's proximity to Russians in the poll campaign. Comey was getting too close for comfort.
Very interesting days for US politics in the coming days. I really doubt if this is going to die down. It will only get more intense, and probe will only widen and deepen.