DOJ Complaint Filed Against FBI Director James Comey For Interfering In Presidential Election

A complaint has been filed against FBI Director James Comey with Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility that accuses him of interfering in a presidential election.

A complaint has been filed against FBI Director James Comey with Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility that accuses him of interfering in a presidential election. The Democratic Coalition Against Trump released a statement announcing their complaint: The Democratic Coalition Against Trump filed a complaint with the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility on Friday against FBI Director James Comey for interfering in the Presidential election, following the FBI’s decision to open up an investigation into Secretary Clinton’s emails this close to Election Day. Federal employees are forbidden from participating in political activities under the Hatch Act. “It is absolutely absurd that FBI Director Comey would support Donald Trump like this with only 11 days to go before the election,” said Scott Dworkin, Senior Advisor to the Democratic Coalition Against Trump. “It is an obvious attack from a lifelong Republican who used to serve in the Bush White House, just to undermine her campaign. Comey needs to focus on stopping terrorists and protecting America, not investigating our soon to be President-Elect Hillary Clinton.”

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The Department of Justice should get involved in this, seeing that this seems as this is a politically motivated action on Comey’s part, breaking with longstanding tradition of not commenting on ongoing investigations. And, the excuse used that the circumstances here make it necessary (race for the Presidency) is shallow, since we are getting a “no comment” on the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s links to Russian interests, white supremacy groups.

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If Comey’s actions were politically motivated, he would be in violation of the Hatch Act. What Republicans initially viewed as a new hope in the presidential election has quickly been exposed as a desperately political ploy. The American people deserve a full explanation from Director Comey, because the letter that was released today raises more questions than answers.

A former DOJ spokesman commented publicly about how unusual Comey’s actions have been.

Former DOJ spokesman blasts Comey after email letter

A former director of the Justice Department’s office of public affairs said Friday that FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress announcing the review of more evidence in the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server constituted “such an inappropriate disclosure.” Matthew Miller, who served at the Department of Justice under Attorney General Eric Holder, blasted Comey's move in a 14-post spree on Twitter Friday afternoon, ripping the FBI director for his practices throughout the entire Clinton investigation. Miller said Comey “flagrantly violated DOJ rules” by holding a press conference in July to announce that he was recommending against charges for the former secretary of state, a decision the FBI director said at the time that he made in the interest of transparency.

“flagrantly violated DOJ rules” in July.

“But today's disclosure might be worst abuse yet," Miller tweeted, adding that in his experience, the Justice Department “goes out of its way to avoid publicly discussing investigations” when elections are close. Miller said those precautions are not just limited to public statements, writing that the department often avoids sending subpoenas or taking other steps that might become public until an election is over. The Justice Department does that, he said, “because voters have no way to interpret FBI/DOJ activity in a neutral way.” Miller wrote that the new information being reviewed by the FBI “might be totally benign & not even involve Clinton. But no way for press or voters to know that. Easy for opponent to make hay over.”

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Comey is breaking with long standing tradition here. It seems obvious that the motivation is political. There needs to be an investigation into Comey, and this is the first step to make it happen.