"The text messages between the two, who were in a romantic relationship, suggest that they were deeply, and inappropriately, biased against Trump." You know who else is "biased against Trump"? Every single reasonable, rational, honorable American citizen.
9
This article is so slanted that rain would roll right off. Donald Trump is right to crow about the Inspector General's report. It vindicates his decision to fire James Comey, who was a poor leader of the FBI. He thought he was in charge and independent and need not answer to anybody. He now knows differently.
Anybody who at this point thinks Robert Mueller's investigation anything but a witch hunt is a conspiracy theorist. Donald Trump exaggerates and jokes about things to a degree that many find distasteful. But there is no evidence, and never has been any evidence, that he is a criminal.
No, the CIA did not kill Kennedy. No, the moon landings were not faked. No, Obama was not born in Kenya. And no, Trump did not collude with the Russians.
1
I find it laughable and self-serving for those who cry foul when confronted with the news that people speak poorly of Donald Trump and his campaign. Whether they are FBI officers or school teachers those same pledges were repeated throughout the country during and after the campaign, "No, we must stop him. He can't be president!" If you haven't heard these pleas you haven't been listening.
5
I am a life-long Democrat and I'm so mad at them I could scream. The addleheadedness of running Clinton for President. WHY? Because it was her turn? Knowing her personality and the huge amount of baggage she carried, wasn't there another likable, competent, upstanding person in the Party that could have won against Donald Trump? Instead, we're dealing with this huge mess of investigations, corruption, ugliness, hatred, division, alienation of our allies. Would Hillary have done a good job? Of course. But to have her run because she had somehow earned it, or it was time for a female President - it was such a terrible mistake. Hopefully, my Party is working hard to find someone outstanding and honorable to run against Trump (or, perhaps Pence) so that we can begin earning back our credibility on the world stage.
6
Regardless of how the Times spins, the report clearly shows key members of the FBI had great bias against Trump. Proving they acted on that bias is difficult, but we now have evidence from the IG that they were biased and that Comey and others in the FBI behaved inappropriately.
We also know:
1) The FBI secured FICA warrants so they could spy on members of Trump's team.
2) An asset of the FBI was asked to snoop on Trump's team.
3) FBI has offered no sound reason for why they initiated the investigation into Trump-Russia collusion -- but we know their supposed time line is ridiculous.
4) Obama only thought about doing anything about Russia's activities in 2016 until after HRC lost -- then he hastily commissioned members of our intel community to put together in haste a report that says that Russia helped Trump win -- with no evidence except "trust us, we're spies."
5) The DNC actively swung the nomination to HRC.
6) Obama was briefed on the Steele dossier before Trump. Trump wasn't briefed until right before he was inaugurated.
7) The FBI had the Steele dossier in early July but claims no one important knew about it.
8) Members of Obama's team had members of Trump's team unmasked when they were overheard on telephone calls with foreign nationals.
What we don't know from this report is why Comey acted as he did, what exactly was said between Lynch and Bill on the tarmac, why Biden wasn't pushed to run. But this all smells bad and the smell will get worse.
The word 'lie' and 'lieing' is used so many times in the comments section and articles today that if someone were counting they would probably add up to a thousand or more.
Just one comment on that: Everybody lies either by what they say or by what they don't say. Especially politicians.
The difference between Trump and all others is that he lives in a world completely untethered from reality and believes that that world is real. It is a Total Lie. And a lot of other people want to believe in that reality also. That is what is so frightening and pathological about this time and this "administration '.
7
Thank you Mr. Leonhardt for telling the truth, and for making clear what this report really says and what it really means, beyond all of the Trumpist hysteria. It's is also important to call the president's actions what they really are, in plain English, and I am glad to see that, unlike so many of your colleagues, you are willing to do so.
Now, when will the truth come out about why the Times turned this into the huge story it really wasn't, and kept hyping it over and over again even after the FBI found no wrongdoing? Will the Times ever call itself to account for, or at least examine, its own role in sensationalizing and hyping to its own advantage of this story that was really a tempest in a teapot?
2
There must be some form of mass hypnosis in play here. For 30 years, education, science and reason were vilified. So the groundwork was laid for Mr. Trump to harvest what right wing radio, Fox, evangelical "christians" and republicans seeded.
The hatred towards civility, kindness, (christian) values, reason and facts ist mind blowing and disturbing.
In many places of the world, democracies are in crisis and strongmen are arising. (I'm not sure if Mr. Trump qualifies as 'strong', but to his followers he seems to be). Now with the support of Mr. Trump and the US.
Are we at the end of the age of Enlightenment?
4
Republican lawmakers stopped representing their constituents long ago, choosing instead to harm them in furtherance of the narrow interests of their right-wing paymasters. Those who trumpet the obfuscation and lies of the Administration do so for their own gain. While Trump is a divisive character in this act of a distressing play, he only exists within the cleaved political environment created by a righteous minority to diminish wellbeing.
Mr. Comey no doubt rues the day two years ago he picked up the bullhorn to lambast Ms. Clinton over the email server and then announced the re-opening of the investigation days before the election. While I suspect he is an honest man, I believe he was grossly mistaken in the path he chose to tread. Whether it was only insubordination as the IG report states, there was stupidity & narcissism without regard for the possible consequences. What he did, however, pales in comparison with the deliberate and morally bankrupt acts of the Administration and their Republican enablers.
Notwithstanding Comey's role in this act of an appalling play, today's political and social divisions were many acts in coming and would not have been healed by a Clinton presidency. In watching the Democrats scramble erratically since 2016, it is clear a new author is needed to write the next few acts. An author who clearly understands the deep dispirit problems and writes serious parts to pull the majority together and block a tiny minority who grub for more wealth.
9
David — You wrote, correctly, that: “The White House and loyal media organizations like Fox News are mixing the report’s subjects to make it sound much better for Trump than it really is.
“And more serious news coverage often struggles to find clear enough language to explain the bait and switch, without seeming to lose its objectivity.”
Here’s one excellent example of clear enough language: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/06/15/how-the-con...å
I’ve saved this opinion article (by Greg Sargent of the Washington Post) and share it here to help others get a better understanding of this critical issue before the crucial next election in November 2018.
1
Not only is the criticism of Comey simply of his judgment in making public - twice - details of the Clinton investigation - the judgment and "insubordination" which cost Clinton the election, but the text messages (essentially work pillow talk) between the (married) FBI agents are without any significance at all in my view because there was no evidence that the agents took any action to try and stop Trump and prevent their fears from coming true, much less that they were the tip of some deep state that was working inappropriately against his election. The truth is that more than half the country, and probably the majority of Republicans (remember Romney, Rubio, Cruz, Bush, the Never Trump movement) felt just like the two married agents; but as an organization or a group, the FBI is, and was, far more pro Trump than Clinton. FBI agents like other government employees are entitled to their politics and their opinions. Trump is engaging in his "through the looking glass" lies to try and describe life long Republicans - Comey, Mueller, Rosenstein and probably a majority of the agents working under them - as somehow biased against him. Trump wants us to believe what - that only agents or investigators that wanted him elected should be included in the investigation? Or maybe just agents that had never heard of him?
5
Noting lots of comments by Trump supporters. This is great. Suggests that more now read the Times than in the past, even if critical thinking remains a challenge for them. One step at a time.
13
The IG's 568-page report is incredible in its level of detail and political neutrality.
I can see why Trump and his propagandists are misrepresenting the report. It thoroughly disproves everything they claim as "fact" to churn up their base.
How Sarah Huckabee Sanders can stand at a podium and outright lie about the report is incredible...she usually skirts issues.
As for FOX News, or, "Falsehoods Or Xero" News ... I'm really distressed by those who think they're watching the truth on Fox, especially since they're the same gullible bunch who voted for Trump.
The FBI adhered to the rules, except Comey's decision to speak about the Clinton case and violated regulations. Not happy Comey handed Trump the election, even though I supported Bernie.
Trump's use of "witch hunt", when he and his team are being investigated for collusion with Russia, really insults the term "witch hunt". And it doesn't cover his unconstitutional actions.
Senator Joe McCarthy's anti-commie hearings were a real witch hunt. So many were wrongly black-balled from their professions by mere accusation of having a hint of pink, and by lies.. The man was vicious.
Then, like now, people ignored the factual news, and gave merit to D.C.'s biased opinion. My hope is that people get away from their T.V.s and read again, in search of truth and literacy.
6
TRAGICALLY the Internet, with powerful potential for good, has also been used for destructive purposes. Among the most dangerous is a system of parallel online universes where people have substituted their duty to participate in our democracy by vetting the facts. Rather, many actually get their news from Facebook, which, while it may contain many facts, provides no way to discern reality from an alternative truth from a parallel universe. For those who are unclear about the difference between reporting and opinion, as well as those who prefer only to read material that conforms to their opinions, it is all too easy to neglect the arduous work of reading opposing points of view, then evaluating the critiques of those perspectives. But the fact is that you must wrestle with varying presentations of the fact as well as differing interpretations if you wish to participate fully in the US democracy. But the Internet, toxically, has become the domain of those who sold us on motivating consumption. Those same motivational strategies are used by writers who express opinion exclusively. While it is easy to be lulled into complacency, it is dangerous. Many Jews in Europe, especially in Germany, who were among the most powerful and wealthy, dismissed the Nazi's movement as unimportant. So their lack of discernment proved to be their undoing. There was one camera company that heeded warnings, Leica, whose owner secretly helped many Jews escape to freedom. He knew the facts!
2
David's columns are always good for a chuckle. Take for example his notion in this article. "If it weren't for that decision [Comey's decision to violate department policy and talk publicly about the investigation], the polling data suggests Clinton would be president". That's a real rib tickler. Pre-election polls indicated that pollees had deeply discounted Comey's gaffes. The Polling Data, even during the early returns on 11/8, had Hillary winning handily. Vegas had Hillary by a country mile. The Polling Data gave Trump no chance whatsoever. Comey was not a poll buster according to the polls, David. But, thanks for the chuckle. With all of the NEVER TRUMP effluent of The Times, it's refreshing to see someone with a sense of humor in Mad-Manhattan.
Trump never expected to win. He was working to increase his business. Conspiring with Russia was part of the deal. All republicans, like with birtherism, went along and joined the conspiracy. Clinton was going to win, right? Like with obama they had to make her toxic and unable to govern. Comey went along with his party. He absolutely did not like Hillary Clinton, he said as much in several recent interviews. If he could take a few punches at her, hurt her game, and help his team all the better. Well it backfired. Trump won. Now the GOP owns the conspiracy, owns treason. The GOP is Russia. And I have little doubt that Trump might implicate some top republicans in the conspiracy. All those meeting at the RNC headquarters, they had to know and had to have a strategy. If little old me was thinking about it, these guys were. Don’t play stupid.
The question in my mind is how much of a Republican is Robert Mueller? This should bring the party to its knees. They are fighting like it will. Can he do it?
5
All dictators depend on lies and a weak rule of law to flourish.
America in 2018 is Trump’s perfect garden.
All three branches of our government are in full control of a few of the richest people.
I’m sure that we can trust them to do what is best for the country.
6
Someone needs to listen/watch the June 14th interview between Devin Nunes and Laura Ingraham on Fox (The Angle). Nunes admitted, on camera, that members of the FBI gave him "classified" information about Weiners laptop in late September 2016.
Ingraham, Nunes, and anyone who was watching knew that he had made a major error. Ingraham gave him a 'look' that said 'Shut Up". He incriminated himself. Nunes no doubt conveyed this classified info to Trump.
Did this have any effect on Comey's decision to delay? Were the two FBI leakers punished? Who were the two FBI leakers? Will Nunes keep his chairmanship? What were Nune's and Trump's complete roles in reopening the case after a months delay? Should not an Obstruction of Justice inquiry be pursued on this issue? Shouldn't Nunes be removed as chairman and/or removed from the committee entirely?
3
Lying Don or Don of the liars?
I can hardly wait to see the outcome.
5
basically leonhardt is saying not to actually read the report because Trump was right. the "big picture" he alludes to is that the IG didn't find instances of the FBI agents literally saying "Because I hate Trump, I'm going to do xyz". wow, the agents were smart enough to totally spell it out.
1
The twisted logic in this article resembles a bag of pretzels. The big picture is Comey and his Trump hating FBI agents gave Clinton a pass on mishandling classified documents and obstruction of justice. If you or I had destroyed hard drives, cellphones and deleted classified documents we would be in jail. The IG report shows Clinton was protected and crime was hidden from the US voters.
"Message: Trump is Lying."
Again, and again and again.
This is nothing new, it's who he is and as long as he frightens republicans they will continue to turn a blind eye even as he disgraces America.
Ain't lying.
2
Mr. Leonhardt -
You know Trump is lying; I know Trump is lying; anyone with an IQ in high double-figures or better who is capable of the least bit of critical thinking knows Trump is lying.
However, that still leaves millions of people who listen to Rush and/or watch Fox who don't read any real news sources, and they don't know, and won't believe, that Trump is lying.
This is what happens when a big chunk of the Fourth Estate has in effect become a fifth column.
2
The strongest implication of this column is that the Times is being far too timid in reporting the news, for fear of "seeming to lose its objectivity."
The paper's headlines on its Trump related stories and the stories themselves all display this fear.
"Trump in Attack Mode. Targets Include F.B.I. and Obama," on the home page as I submit this comment, is a case in point. The headline is accurate so far as it goes, but misleading as to the substance of what Trump is doing.
What Trump is doing is fabricating fake news.
"Trump Twists/Distorts/Misrepresents FBI Report" -- take your pick of verb, but that's the kind of headline the president's actions deserve.
For fear of "seeming to lose its objectivity," the Times is enabling Trump's con game. The stakes in the game aren't petty cash, they're life and death for American democracy.
3
My what would we be hearing if Comey had said nothing about Hillary and reported the Trump campaign investigations. Can you just imagine?
2
Your pro-Trump commenters seem to enjoy ignoring the fact that Comey torpedoed Clinton with his inappropriate late announcement about what proved to be a nothing-burger about newly uncovered emails.
That is not bias towards Clinton.
Very Trumpian--ignore facts you don't like, make up facts you do like.
4
More Trump derangement from liberals. Really hoping for four more years of Trump.
1
"Trump is Lying" This is news?
2
So why is it that a news article (not an opinion piece!) today in the NY Times says the report is "excoriating the FBI", seemingly agreeing with Trump's assessment? Why is it that this same article says the report "sharply criticized" the FBI? Which is it, NY Times? The report exonerates the FBI or excoriates the FBI? The report finds no fault or "sharply criticizes"? And why is the NY Times trying to muddy the waters on this?
Yes, you don't know how relieved I am to read the IG report and learn that Hillary and Loretta Lynch didn't do anything worth prosecuting. Simply stupidity, willful errors in judgment and gross negligence. Too bad she wasn't elected. But then think how low MSNBC's and CNN's ratings would be then ... unless Hillary got us into another war.
As far as the grand Trump-Putin collusion story, I'm still waiting for Robert Mueller's conclusions ... some time this decade. When Kennedy had proof of Soviet missiles in Cuba or Reagan had proof of Russian culpability in the shooting down of a Korean civilian airliner, they presented it to the public immediately. What's the delay with Mueller? Surely Paul Krugman, Rachel Maddow and Adam Schiff can't be wrong on this. Okay, Mueller is trying to be extra thorough. I get it. Here's an idea, then. Let the NY Times, Rachel Maddow or Adam Schiff present one "deplorable" who voted for Trump and is ready to attest on camera, in public that s/he was just about to pull the lever or punch the chad for Hillary until just at the last second they learned (take your pick): a) Comey reopened Hillary's email/home brew server investigation, b) learned from John Podesta's hacked emails how the DNC had the fix in on Bernie, c) suddenly saw a poorly written, grammatically incorrect posting against Hillary on Facebook and switched to Trump instead. Fair? Just one deplorable ready to attest to this. Just one. It's been a year and half already.
Hillary Clinton received a subpoena for about 33,000 emails, many classified. She did not comply with the subpoena, and destroyed all the emails.
Mr. Leonhardt: Can you explain that?
the FBI and the media are two biased organizations that lie to keep Donald Trump from doing his job as President despite winning the election fair and square. The American People will not tolerate these liars tilting the playing field in favor of the fascist left.
Im not sure what IG report this author read, but it sure wasn't the IG report that came out yesterday.
Why don't they all go on the Maury Povich show and take a lie detector test?
Biased Comey and the biased FBI let Hillary off the hook for the criminal use of an illegal server. Hillary is not above the law
"Trump is Lying"
Why is this even a headline?
1
Call It By Its Name! I ran across the word "trumpery" in an old book recently and its dictionary entry:
1 a : worthless nonsense
b : trivial or useless articles : junk
2 archaic : tawdry finery
— trumpery adjective
adjective
of little or no value; trifling, worthless; rubbishy; trashy.
Origin of trumpery
1425–75; late Middle English trompery deceit < Middle French tromperie, equivalent to tromp(er) to deceive + -erie -ery
2
When reading excerpts from this document, it is obvious the fix was in for Hillary. Emails between two “other” lovers, agent 1 and agent 5 (now married) clearly show this to be the case. When agent 1 was asked by an FBI employee how the interview went with Clinton’s personal server’s IT guy, he laughingly replied, “...he lied thru his teeth...”. Not so funny, this guy walked away scott free. Lead agent 1 was also Furious that Clinton even had to testify.,,,so enamored of her and his blindness to her blatant indiscretions of thd use of her personal server. All of these people need to be named, fired, and brought to justice
Of course this idiot lies. The issue is: what is this Congress doing about it? We are being betrayed by our elected Congress, not Trump. He is crooked, but the Congress has ignored its vow to the Constitution and hence the American people to protect us from despots.
1
Of course, he's lying. When he speaks, he lies. He is a fascist. What else is new?
3
Trump’s supporters are a minority, folks. When Nixon left office he had a 38% approval rating. Our country is about a third stupid at any given time.
1
Lies, lies leaden the skies over America.
3
Columns like David Leonhardt's are the reason no one trusts the NY Times any longer. If this is what he got out of the IG report, I suggest he take the weekend and actually read it. I'll help, the Daily Caller covered a small portion of the 500 pages discussing an attorney with the FBI in full out resistance mode, who later (and may still be) worked for Mueller. A LEAD attorney. Trump may be horrible, but this is why, if the NY Times and the like are not careful, he will get a second term.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/14/mueller-lawyer-resisted-trump/
3
This biggest take away is that the trust we should all have in the FBI has been seriously eroded. Whatever political persuasion you prefer it is crucial that the rule of law prevail and that no one person is ever given preferential treatment. The abuse of power is clearly revealed in the IG report. Disconcerting that Horowitz naively says there was no bias. The source material he presents states otherwise. The erosion of public confidence in our legal system will only feed more conspiracy theories and that should concern every American. Partisanship has no place in matters of law.
4
I’m ok with FBI agents investigating the Mob being predisposed against the Mob. Crime is crime.
1
Well, I'm Peter Strzok (as in, "I'm Spartacus")! If merely being anti-Trump is improper, there are sixty million improprieties walking around. Every workplace in the country, more or less, had it's emails clogged with Trump objectors back in 2016.
Remember Trump wasn't anything yet when Lisa Page's and Peter Strzok's emails were written. He was still only a troll lurking under the bridge threatening passers-by.
13
Even if Comey, the FBI and the CIA were engaged in a secret war (uncoved by Alex Jones) to prevent Trump's election, and even if Hillary's email problems somehow impacted oridinary American citizens...the fact is that Trump is president and he lies every day about things much more important than email.
As the president said, "The system is rigged unless I win."
5
I don't need this election or this report to hate Trump. I have lived in New York City for nearly 40 years. I have been witness to his public vulgarity, his public racism, his obvious paranoia and his appalling business practices ever since I moved here. His current behavior is more of the same. What is new is how much I hate Trump apologists.
23
Some headline. I'll know there is something newsworthy when a title reads:
"Trump Isn't Lying"
7
President Trump warned us of Deep State fascists trying to steal the election and prevent him from becoming president despite winning a free and fair election. With the release of these bombshell FBI texts, there is indisputable proof that President Trump was telling the truth all along
4
Thanks for this-it felt good to laugh out loud!
1
When there was a (left wing) deep state, wouldn't it be effective and successful? It's funny, that the left wing conspiracy theory(?) about the deep state (which supports the rich, big business and the military industrial complex) has been stolen by the right wingers, and now the left has to state that the elections are fair.
I don't agree with your statement, but I will concede that it is possible that Trump is occasionally momentarily confused and accidentally overlooks an opportunity to lie.
Trump is not lying and stop using headlines like that. We get you’re biased, move on.
What the IG stated is they did not find DOCUMENTARY evidence of bias. What the mainstream - ie Never Trump media - is telling their readers is the IG report shows no bias in the FBI, and therefore The Bureau could not possibly have favoured Clinton in their investigation.
What the IG found was rampant anti-Trump bias in deeds and actions of the staff. Enough bias that Horowitz stated that it casts doubt on the integrity of the investigations.
The NYTimes is doing a grave disservice to their readers by spinning the story as they have. And remember, institutional cultures don’t deteriorate as badly as the FBI’s overnight. This rot that the IG uncovered is not just to be laid at the feet of James Comey, the convenient scapegoat currently. It started with his predecessor, Robert Mueller.
This will only get worse as each successful IG report comes out. My advice to the Times is to start getting on the right side of history.
3
Read the report. Fox is messin’ with you. Again.
1
But the FBI did not tell the American public that the Trump campaign was being investigated over Russian meddling...they did announce that they were re-opening the investigation into Clinton's emails after getting Weiner's computer.
THAT was giving the Trump campaign a pass.
1
What? Trump is lying? Surely you can't mean that. There must be some mistake. A misprint perhaps.
6
Our “elected” president is lying? Surely not. everyone always says what an upstanding and ethical person he is, doncha know.
3
You left out the fact that Strzok, as lead investigator, and Page, as chief attorney reporting directly to the deputy in charge, DID have quite a bit of authority. The report is pretty scathing in its rebukes concerning Strzok's attempts to bury the matter of the Weiner laptop until after the election. He only assigned somebody to investigate it after the head of the NY office raised quite a stink with his superiors, after Strzok ignored the laptop's 347k e-mails for over 3 weeks, some of which were classified and clearly marked as official documents belonging to Clinton, and therefore hampering the NY office's ability to make progress in the Weiner case, as sorting them out would require a new subpoena. Strzok texted Page that Trump was never going to be President, and that he was going to stop him. 5 agents are cited for potentially criminal conduct regarding their roles in the investigation, and some of the examples of their attitudes are anything but fair and balanced. The report states there isn't any proof that their bias affected the outcome of the the Clinton investigation, but it doesn't make the leadership at the FBI look honest and professional, either.
2
What we all know: Hillary did it and should have been indicted. The FBI did not indict her because they didn't want to overtly influence the outcome of the election. So they did what they had to do to reconcile these 2 realities without having the appearance of impropriety. Comey saved Hillary from certain loss by not indicting her and left it to the people to decide. The only ones to blame are the Democrats who nominated her.
2
The IG Report is about improper FBI & DOJ activity before the election in the MYE investigation- & your major takeaway is Trump is lying? The major takeaway is that Comey deserved to be fired, and that the Crossfire Hurricane investigation was used after Trumps election win to destroy Trump's presidency- whether through leaks to the media or Comey's leak designed to appoint a special counsel. I'm not the most fond of Trump, but this all started because Hillary Clinton took the unprecedented step of setting up her own personal server at her home on which she sent & received information that was classified & that she knew was classified. We also know that a foreign intelligence service was able to gain access to classified intelligence because Hillary Clinton used the Home Server in stark contrast to State Department policies regarding the handling of classified materials.
2
What all these Trump supporters seem to miss is that Comey's actions hurt Clinton and helped Trump. It's also the case that in doing so, Comey violated justice department guidelines and procedures and was, therefore, appropriately reprimanded by the report.
1
The whole truth is that a presidential contender violating regulations, even if they were mistakes of laziness/hubris (I don't want to bother with those 'Fascistic' security procedures) or any thing remotely suspicious that someone could accuse them of (Oh the Russians would rather Trump win! But wait, its supposed to be no problem that the Canadians and Brits want Clinton ?) was and will remain a mother of nightmares for any FBI director to handle without being accused of "interfering" in the most sacred of American political processes. So Comey was more or less forced to investigate - but not 'convict' Clinton to avoid being accused of being partisan. But since Clinton was so amazingly incompetent that she lost the election Comey got accused anyway, scapegoated for the voter revolt against the democrats, for the democrat mass immigration and send the jobs to China, Hillary "open borders" contempt for the American people. And, of course to Trump the FBI letting Hillary off hook for undisputable violations of law looks a lot like the FBI, well letting Hillary get away with crimes. Which Comey actually did, was forced to do so as to not disrupt the higher priority good of an election in which each candidate got an opportunity to compete without one or the other being taken out at the last minute via dubious accusation of some minor wrongdoing as so often occurs in 3rd world nations when the party in power has the challengers' headquarters closed a week before the vote.
2
The main question remains - how does Trump get away with his all his lies?
With his endless defamations of other people? The derogatory and defamatory language he publicly uses against everyone who does not agree with him?
And soon it may no longer be just language but something far worse - recent history has horrifying precendence cases not only in Germany.....
1
Comey deserved to be fired and firing Comey is why the special counsel's investigation was started. Does this mean they should shut down the investigation?
And can anyone find any anti-Hillary texts made by the agents in the report? Or any pro-Trump texts?
1
He's always lying. The fact that anything he says is treated as if it might have even a modicum of truth speaks to our collective gullibility. Perhaps we're hardwired to believe the words that people say? Regardless, until we stop treating his nonsense as if it were actual sense, we're frogs in rapidly warming water.
The "offerings" of the White House press secretary lack none of the qualities of repulsiveness, except for the occasional claim that condition can make to the accidental, the involuntary, the innocently deformed.
Trump and his team have normalized lying. They even put Richard Nixon to shame. What bothers me even more is that there are many Americans who do not care. Their belief in Trump as President tops any concern about his ethics or illegal conduct.
I was at a luncheon yesterday with a Trump loyalist. It was appalling to me that he literally didn't care what Trump what does and that he was openly hostile to anyone who dared to suggest the President was at fault at anytime before or after the election.
2
The lies Trump continues to try to sell this country and the world are so clumsy that they illustrate, more than anything else, his CONTEMPT for all of us. Neither Comey nor the FBI did Hilary any favors in the last election. Trump himself praised Comey for the same "insubordination" for which Comey is now, disingenuously, condemned. The only difference is that Comey's actions were harmful to Clinton's interests during pre-election and they are harmful to Trump's interests post-election.
I voted for Clinton and I wasn't pleased with the election results, but I have a soft spot for people who at least do things in good faith. It's not outcome determinative. If Mueller truly clears Trump, I can trust that because Mueller (alongside Comey) has a history of good faith in his actions. He pretty obviously does not care who will be upset by his ultimate report(s). I felt the same about Yates, who refused to make a bad faith argument in favor of Trump's ludicrous Muslim ban. Our country should be begging such people to remain in government. Far too many "leaders" only say and do what they believe is right once they have nothing to lose.
Breaches of protocol are far less dangerous than bad faith in a leader. Bad faith is why Bush sent his A.G. to collect authorization for an illegal surveillance program from a critically ill and hospitalized Ashcroft. Good faith is what sent Comey and Mueller racing ahead to contradict their own president's instructions. We need that.
1
The Liar-in-Chief never lets the truth stand in the way of his "alternative facts." Unfortunately, the IG report paints a very damaging portrait of former FBI Director James Comey that plays right into Trump's hands as he works to undermine Mr. Comey's credibility which the report does for him and attacks the FBI as well even if the bad judgment favored him. Everyone, even his "base," already knows that "Trump is lying." The "real message" is that Mr. Comey likely changed the election and the course of history due to his "insubordinate" behavior.
Obama "lied" just as much as Trump, the difference is the left agreed with his "lies".
The left has become so delusional about Trump, they have changed the definition of an opinion to a lie. Ask Bernie Sanders if he thinks the system is rigged.
To say the "Trump and his enablers" are scared of a "rigorous, fair and nonpartisan investigation" is a lie. Do you understand my point now?
1
Leaving aside any political bias, what you state here in your first sentence is simply incorrect.
1
Big surprise here - Trump is lying - who would have thought that! In my opinion when that man's lips are moving you can 99.9 percent sure that he's lying. Another great example of exceptionalism in this downward spiraling country.
The most significant realization that arises from this article and the responses is the unwillingness of seemingly intelligent people, people who write and presumably speak in complete sentences to accept anything that does not comport with their current world view.
The most important lesson to be learned from the IG report is how unpolitical it actually is laying blame on wrong behavior and not bias.
Those on the right who have become adept at holding their noses whenever another self inflicted wound on the president becomes apparent will accept any malarkey as long as it supports the far right agenda.
There are still men in gray flannel suits doing any thing they can to preserve white supremacy.
1
So sick of incessant unabashed lies from the New York Times and the left. Clearly they were complict in the subversion of our democracy as the propaganda arm of the Democrats.
1
Not sure how you can seriously think the 'real message' behind the IG Report is that 'Trump is lying;' The IG Report was focused on the actions of FBI & DOJ leading up to the 2016 election. It is pretty clear they found no instances that Strok or Page or other FBI agent's personal bias against Trump affected *specific investigative actions* taken in the Midyear Exam &/or Crossfire Hurricane investigations- but what Trump and other Republicans are furious over is the different ways these investigations played out. Clinton aides were given immunity just for sitting down with the FBI; meanwhile the FBI turns around and puts the screws on everyone associated with Trump in hopes of finding something that might support their Russian Collusion narrative. The report also makes very clear that the gratuitous claims of obstruction being lobbed at Trump for firing Comey are baseless and hyperpartisan.
1
We are all so burned out by Trump's pathological lying. To contemplate another few years of this behavior is just infuriating and exhausting, especially in view of the whirling, grinding continuous sloppy "journalism" of Fox News as it cranks out and perpetuates this stream of half-truths and outright propaganda. One only hopes that the day will come when all of this lying will catch up with Trump, and we no longer have to deal with this corrupt, cruel, and insidious president and administration.
9
Sadly, Comey went rogue mainly because he didn't trust the Democrats in Justice to communicate the FBI findings in an effective and balanced way. Let's face it; If HRC was not careless with classified documents and owned up to her error sooner, and if Abedin learned how to print documents herself rather than forwarding them to her husband, we may have been in a different place today. Similarly, if Lynch figured out that meeting with President Clinton for 30 minutes on a private jet but in public view just prior to the election, Comey may have has less reason to doubt how Justice would handle the FBI findings. Yes, Trump is lying and misleading, as he always does, and Comey made serious errors of judgment but no one comes out of this saga smelling of roses.
1
When he comes on, I turn Trump off. What’s the point of listening to a pathological liar?
6
Trump Lied--I'm sorry, that is not news, that is a persistent state of affairs. I am waiting for the NYT to headline "Trump speaks unvarnished truth." Now that would be news.
The problem lies with the 35-40% of your fellow countrymen who, when Trump pees on their legs, think it's raining.
1
Let's not forget that multiple psychiatrists + psychologists held a discussion on “The Increasingly Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” and presented the case that his multiple lies are dangerous, as is his pattern of violent rhetoric that is inciting.
Their consensus is this has already caused us unprecedented anxiety & stress.
He's a spontaneous liar!
It's also frightening that Trump just said when the North Korean dictator speaks, his people sit up and listen.
Then he said I would like MY people to do the same.
1
Leonhardt.....you simply cannot be as Naive as you sound in todays column. If the IG states that no bias was introduced into the investigation, then out of the other side of its mouth claims that there;s no reason to investigate CLinton any further...but there is justification for investigating Trump further.....guess what dufus?......thats BIAS.
4
What's clear is that the Obama/Hillary administration politicized and weaponized the FBI, CIA, IRS, NSA etal. -- by far a greater sin/evil than anything Trump has done. Progressivists will stop at nothing to advance their ideology of tyranny.
5
Yes, Trump is lying. That is clear.
About the only thing left to be amazing in this mess is why the Paper of Record fails to state this one fundamental truth about America today whenever it is possible to do so. What is anyone afraid of with Trump? Why is it important the many people seem not to care that Trump has lied, continues lying, and will continue lying going forward?
When up has become down by decree and Truth has crawled into a hole, it will be too late to worry or do anything. Then there will be no point in reading any more about this in the NYT or anywhere else.
2
Leonhardt is such a progressive partisan -- like most of the writers here at the Times, that I wouldn't trust him if he said it was perfectly OK to go outside, it was bright and shiny.
3
People who like, or want to like, Trump will parrot the talking points like a defense mechanism. Fox News gives them a shield to block the harsh sun of reality. For the most part though, Trump's lies are just a means of drowning out criticism. His strategy is the media equivalent of WWII anti-aircraft defenses. If you just throw enough flak in the air, maybe the bombs won't get to you.
Trump's accusations were always absurd. Everyone knows it. Some people just don't care. They see his lies as punching back. Anti-aircraft guns boost moral even when ineffective. If you start from a place where everything is political, a counter attack is always desirable no matter how factually absurd. That's how you achieve a post-truth world: Politicize everything. Truth is subjective in politics whereas justice seeks objectivity.
How do you fight that defense? Is there a way to carpet bomb Fox News with truth? We clearly aren't prepared for this sort of war. I think we need to figure things out quick though. We are definitely under attack.
4
"Trump is lying" should be the daily headline written in large font across the top. The lying is daily and must be confronted as such on a daily basis. The lying is the story over and over again. The lying is how we got to today. How many horrible policies will play out while Trump and the Republican Trump Cult are lying?
5
Yeah...and there is gravity, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, death, taxes, blah, blah, blah. Trump lies...uh huh, yep, you betcha'.
1
Great. Now let’s make sure the electronic and social media can get this straight. Because the problem is that it’s the word of the President of the United States and his lackeys against . . . well, against no one because the IG is nowhere to be found to be interviewed. It’s the same situation dogging the Mueller investigation; Trump et al have the media all to themselves. Mueller won’t leak, he won’t talk, and he has no spokesperson to parry Trump’s constant lies and misdirection.
Horowitz and Mueller are being responsible public servants in their avoidance of the media. But they are operating under old rules that disappeared the moment Trump was sworn in and began lying through his teeth.
4
I’m a lawyer and I find the approach both lawyers have taken to be flawless. Let Trump litigate in the media; his base isn’t going to be in the grand jury room.
Amazing ! The NYPD and the FBI found Hillary Clnton's Top Secret Classified e-mails on convicted Child pornographer and registered sex offender Anthony Weiner's lap top and nothing was done ? The Report also states that foreign actors (enemies) did access Hillary's Server with classified information and nothing was done ? Forget the election Hillary Clinton should have been indicted and jailed. Let's not forget President Obama who lied and said he knew nothing about the server while he was e-mailing Hillary at Clintonmail.com. Why would you obfuscate all of this ? Why Lie about this ?
4
Speaking of lying, I’m still waiting for the $2500 Obama promised I’d get from Obamacare
4
According to the report COMEY HURT CLINTON, not Trump.
The report says:
The FBI was right to decide not to charge Hillary with a crime.
That decision wasn't motivated by political bias or improper considerations.
James Comey made mistakes, and those mistakes helped Trump win.
4
I believe I stated in these comment sections before the 2016 election we were damned if we did and damned if we didn't. Trump had been bleating loudly that the election was rigged. His mindless loyal followers were echoing him. Thus if he lost we risked chaos and if he won...well we see how that went.
I believe Comey was trying to navigate that minefield and thought openness and honesty would prevail. But again he was in a no win situation. Had he quietly found Hillary not guilty of anything, Trump and Fox News would have crucified him and cast incredible doubt on him and the election. Who knows what chaos might have ensued then? He explained his findings and it still caused a furor.
I read in this paper before the election a quote from someone who knew Trump in military school. They said he was the most manipulative person they ever knew. Prime example.
2
Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million votes, which tells me that at least some of the people working at the F.B.I., an organization with 35,000 employees, had come to the same conclusion as the majority of voters: That Donald J. Trump would make a terrible president. There were, of course, F.B.I. employees who were pro-Trump too (the New York field office was referred to as "Trumpland").
The real story is still Comey’s decision to throw Hillary Clinton under the bus right before the election. That was inexcusable and more than likely cost her the election.
1
A superb distillation of the report, it’s impact, and its use in the arsenal of political rhetoric of our current climate. Thank you for this, Mr. Leonhardt.
2
No the the big picture is not whether the Justice Department and F.B.I. use their power to help Clinton’s campaign and hurt Trumps.
The big picture is that the FBI and DOJ were playing politics with presidential candidates. Who they screwed around with more depends on your partisan viewpoint.
7
The FBI’s attempt to overthrow the president is truly chilling
The FBI is 35,000 people. Three words in a personal text message mean nothing.
1
Bernie Sanders provided the blueprint for how to successfully fight the Clintons: point out their beholdenness to Wall Street and Big Donors, and remind the voters that the Clintons had a well documented history of being investigated - but never actually convicted - for suspicious looking deals. Trump only added Bill's "women problem" to the strategy, and that was it. Clinton did not excite voters nearly as much as Obama had, in fact too may stayed home. And her "crooked" nickname, brilliantly and unrelentingly used by her opponent, worked just too well for too many Americans who wanted the "Clinton machine" to go away.
2
"Clinton did not excite voters nearly as much as Obama had" . I suppose that is true, but many of us dreamed and still dream of having a brilliant woman as President. We were excited about her, but unfortunately Trump won the publicity wars. Crooked Hillary my foot. From now on I will say Crooked Trump..
9
The Justic Departments findings proves what we knew all the time, Donald J. trump is a habitual congenital liar in chief.
5
tRump is the most prolific liar to ever sit in the White House. He is also the most delusional, self-serving and dishonest man to sit there. To many of us he is a clear and present danger to the future of our country. For too many in Congress he is a shining example of the things possible when greed, corruption and arrogance run amok. Ultimately the rule of law will, I think, win out. But I can't help wonder just how much damage will have been done by the criminal enterprise masquerading as this Administration?
6
"Trump is Lying". Now there is a shocker. Whoa. Who would have thought he would do that? No way! Trump, the failed Real Estate Magnate who built his failures on top of stacks and stacks of lying is....ummm ....lying? A real shocker there. And, oh, by the way? His base? Will lap those lies up like a kitten lapping up warm, sweet milk. All part of today's reality TV Preseidency.
5
No one cares that Trump is lying. We are used to politicians lying. Big deal
What people care about is miney to spend. Look at May consumer spending and,if you are a democrats, cry like a baby. That cash register ring is the end of any hope in the mid terms.
You can blameComey all you want. But your promise of more hand outs and higher taxes just dies not deliver versus Trump’s delivery if better times
The Justice Department just gave Trump all the shade he needs. The same wave that built in 2016 is building again. And articles like this show inly that demicrats can feel it building
Really, I could care less that he lied about this report. At this point, I take it for granted that anything out of his mouth is a lie. In the meantime, he's glorified a dictator who's responsible for the deaths of countless people in his country; his administration is literally ripping children away from their parents; he's inspired rapists, pedophiles, felons, KKK members, and all other sorts of wonderful people to run for office so they can write laws to govern how we live; he's at the vanguard to take women's health rights away from women; his administration has done all it can to remove environmental protections; his administration is lowering educational quality; and he's allowed Putin and his gang to corrupt our political process. One lie about how a former foe in a presidential race, who has no influence over how this country is run now? That pales in comparison to all his atrocities.
4
The Comey saga will continue as long as Trump and Company feed off it. This nation has always expressed a division of opinions but what is so destructive is our inability to come to a center and go on from there. With each new revelation, the fever increases and as I see it the only remedy available is the next election. Those who stand for party above national unity will continue this war of words. Our national security is at stake. If we are willing to accept the dilution of shared values and purpose by those governments, eg. North Korea and Russia.
Keeping America great involves shared high ideals, not angry rhetoric and riding on straw horses.
2
Trump is Lying. Or to say it another way, The Sun came up Today.
1
Headline: "Trump is Lying"
And in other breaking news, the sun rose in the east this morning and smoking is bad for your health.
2
Nothing about the blatant hatred of Trump by the FBI agents. To be expected from a New York Times reporter.
2
Some FBI people didn't like Trump, but did nothing to prevent him from winning.
The HEAD of the FBI sabatoged Clinton.
That's what the report actually says.
Right-wingers think they're being "persecuted" unless everyone agrees with them.
2
Sounds like more of the same excuses. Plain and simple, Clinton lost to Trump for the same reason she lost to Obama...America wanted a change from corrupt Clintons.
Why else hide Emails... to cover quid pro quo communications of course. The coverup is always worse than the crime. But what we have here is cover up then the framing of the opposition party. Nice work Washington DC, Dems and GOP ;(
Say what you want about Trump, but America’s workers are winning again and Japan doesn’t have missles flying over their country any longer. Lower taxes and doubled GDP are hard to argue against, ask Pelosi and Schumer...
2
Too many people who think of themselves as right wing, are deeply cynical, without realizing it.
1
The cynicism of the right wing is killing our democracy. Many of the right wingers have convinced themselves that government is bad and can do no good, and it should be abolished.
Years of history show us that good government, though rare, can do a huge amount of good and the government with that works for the benefit of the people will always be better than totalitarian governments.
But if you don't believe government works, it doesn't. And that is a major problem for our country.
1
Which NYT reporters gave gifts to the FBI coup-plotters
2
No the real message is that the FBI leading investigator on Clinton's email, and Russia probe assured his girlfriend that he is doing everything possible to stop Trump form being president. And he was in a perfect position to do it.
1
That was a terrible mistake, yet Trump won and Strzof was moved off the investigation. In the end he was not allowed to work on the Russia Investigation.
FBI's friendly sorority sister Hillary interview says otherwise.
2
Well duh!
1
"Trump is Lying" is not a headline, it is not news, it is a continuous state of being.
It's like running a 'The Sun has Risen" headline every morning.
1
That's what Trump does, lies always. Worse, some among us believe him. SO SAD.
2
This slip towards anti-Trump parochialism is absurd.
Right now it looks like 9/10 articles are focused on Trump, and nearly every column too. I started my Times subscription more than a decade ago, because you had the best arts coverage, deep foreign coverage, and because this is the Gray Lady - probably our country’s best paper of record with the financial resources to match it. And over the years your data visualization teams have done amazing work, the recipes rock, and then there’s the crosswords.
And even though it’s not my politics, I like reading the “woke” take on things - whether it’s on race or economic inequality. You have good people there.
So then why are you all slipping into this Trump obsession!?! You literally make the news. We consume it. In other words, you have a choice. And you don’t have to follow Trump around, and comment on his every foible. Even those of us who support him realize he’s a narcissist, a shallow thinker, a deeply insecure person who would be just as happy with coverage from TMZ.
You’re not some lefty blog, and you’re not the Washington Post - whose beat is and should be more limited to national politics.
Please, please step back from the Trump stuff! In the grand scheme of things, he really doesn’t warrant this much attention! Let’s talk about immigration, trade, the vulnerable, our place in the world. And talk less about him if possible. This is getting crazy.
3
At this point, why should any statement made by Trump be believed? He lies so much that the working assumption on most of what he says should be that it is "fake".
Trump lying??
Shocker!!!
1
Comey's errors in judgment--always at Hillary Clinton's expense--seem to have been motivated his by desire to counter unbased Trump campaign charges that the election was "rigged" in Clinton's behalf. Bending over backwards to respond to such Trump campaign propaganda triggered Comey's gratuitous smearing of Clinton while announcing the FBI investigation essentially exonerated her, as well as his release of the Weiner emails days before the election, apparently to assuage Congressional Republican muttering against him for not prosecuting Clinton the first time place.
One asks: was the Trump charge that the election was rigged against him a clever ploy to drive Comey into proving the FBI's even-handedness by undermining Clinton's campaign, or was it just the usual Trump whining whenever he faced any kind of difficulty? Makes no difference. It worked.
2
Comey revealed to be a " loose cannon " and deserved to be fired regardless of who won the 2016 election. Trump fired him. The firing precipitated the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate the firing. Is the Special Counsel now moot given that the firing is both justified and deserved?
1
Trump walks across the Potomac. Headline in NY Times, "Trump can't swim."
3
You have it all wrong. First, Trump would make someone else walk across the Potomac, who would probably drown regardless since it has a very strong current. Second, Trump would then stand on the other side of the river and tell everyone he walked on the Potomac. Third, when questioned about this remarkable act, Trump and his followers would claim they were being persecuted by the elite, fake news.
Headline: "Trump Is Lying"
This is news?
2
the real question is: how did the seventh floor of the FBI, managers who are in politically sensitive jobs and careers, EVER wind up being the INVESTIGATORS on Trump and Hilary!?
The investigators are in the field offices. The managers all left being investigators, one. And, two, it is a TERRIBLE idea to bring an investigation into an office where political considerations exist.
Find out WHY they moved the investigations to the desk of politically involved FBI seventh floor. Every bad decision that follows flows from that ridiculous decision.
My guess: it was moved to headquarters/seventh floor by the Obama White House.
2
TRUMP is lying. I knew that.
Watched this morning as the president tried his best to conflate the OIG report on the Clinton email investigation with the Mueller Russia investigtation. Trump said the OIG report exonerated him on the Russian collusion front. Sadly about 35% of the country will buy into this false narrative.
Trump also said that the OIG found that Coney was biased and he (Trump) did the country a favor in firing Coney. Another false assertion offered to distract from the fact that the OIG found that Coney acted without political bias and if his actions favored either candidate it was Trump not Clinton.
Trump's daily stream of self-serving lies will continue until either Mueller issues a report sufficiently damaging enough to move Trump's sycophants in congress to act...
...or our democracy rises up at the ballot box.
2
The headline should read "Trump Is Lying.....Again."
3
The New York Times never fails to amaze me, truly.
2
It would be difficult to imagine anyone with sufficient intelligence to hold a responsible position in the FBI not having a personal opinion about the fitness of Trump to be president of the United States. Unfortunately, the only significant action taken by the FBI in the matter only aided Trump in becoming president.
See: RevolutionOfReason.com
TheRogueRevolutionist.com
3
When are you going to rename the NYT "The Anti-Trump News"? Day after day your Editorials and Op-ed sections
reverberate with Anti-Trump Themes.
2
Because he so richly deserves it.
5
Read the report. Form your own opinion, but please, base it on facts.
Trump is the gift that keeps on giving.
Have the Russians found Hillary's 30,000 missing emails yet?
2
Ask yourself this, If it had been you or me that had classified documents on our private email server, would we be in jail?
2
Jared Kushner
Steve Bannon
Reince Priebus
Gary Cohn
Stephen Miller
Ivanka Trump
All these people used private emails to conduct some government business. The president himself has used an unsecured phone, despite entreaties not to. Many more have done this, including people in the FBI. PBS stated last night that Comey used personal email, even when the investigation was going on and he was blabbing about it!
So......at the very least we can see the double standard imposed on Clinton. And the result is we are chained to the worst president this country has ever seen.
4
The problem with comparing the HRC email server issue to the possible Russian interference with the election, from the Comey perspective and at that particular time, is one of asymmetry. The latter is a much, much more critical issue, touching as it does on a perversion of the electoral process. It is a much graver offense, one with extremely serious consequences and serious penalties to match.
4
Not only was Trump elected because of a whole bunch of outrageous and troubling inequities. This illegitimate president is completely inept. He has acted like a common grifter. His statements and actions are unhinged and untethered. It looks more and more likely that he has committed treason. He is damaging our democracy and harming the wellbeing of the nation. No man is above the law, including especially a president.
9
The level expected from the FBI and Comey and the other others is much too high.
So long as they are not politically motivated or biased and they have reliable evidence, they should be given some slack. They are not infallible and should not be expected to be treated as such.
5
'..."Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, offered another example: “It reaffirmed the president’s suspicions about Comey’s conduct and the political bias among some of the members of the F.B.I.”..."
Compare Mr Giuliani, in October 2016, specifically making reference to political bias pro PT, of retired FBI members who had worked in the NY office, with whom he was a personal friend, and who were in close touch with active FBI agents.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/11/04/rudy-giuli...
3
For a clear-eyed view of the report's real "Real Message", see here.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/insubordination-and-bias-at-fbi-1529018176?...
1
Does anyone remember when there was serious discussion about lying in public life, particular with Sissela Bok's book on the subject?
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/20/archives/to-lie-or-not-to-lieiii-bric...
1
Except for stupid people it’s clear that Vladimir Putin and James Comey elected Donald Trump.
Comey was a fool. Putin is brilliant. Everything Trump has said and done since his election has served the interests of Russia. We don’t need an investigation to verify this. Only whether Trump and his lackeys were complicit or just willing idiots.
1
Nothing better than watching the fascist left come totally unglued! President Trump’s economy is booming after tax cuts and gutting Obama’s mindless cruel regulatory orgy. President Trump has brought peace to the Korean Peninsula. Every day our great and brilliant President Trump solves another disaster he inherited from the fool Obama. To top it off, the lunatic collusion delusion has been proven 100% false! The lying coup-plotters of the Fascist Bureau of Insubordination have been exposed!
Funny stuff, thanks for this.
This column demonstrates the actual mental illness afflicting Leftists. Not figuratively, but a real, psychological disorder that affects their lives and prevents them from living a normal life.
Seriously people, seek professional help.
2
His voters won't care. He will just lie and gaslight them and they will goosestep along.. aided by most of the GOP. These are scary and dangerous times.
5
The criminal Trump's Titanic bevy of lies continues steam on. Money laundering, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, treason, rape, racism, homophobia,misogyng, bank fraud, financial fraud. This boor knows no end to his poor behavior and lack of ethics.
Mueller, when will you free us form this fiend and his ilk?
2
Dear god, make it stop! Why did we HAVE to know about the Clinton investigation but nobody told us about the Russia investigation? AND, why isn’t it as clear to ol’ Donny boy as it is to me, that, if anything, Comey helped HIS campaign. I hope some clever entrepreneur soon opens a rehab/spa/detoxification enterprise that I can check myself into in order to heal and relocate my core sense of what we used to call “Truth, Justice and the American Way” before this snake oil salesman and his band of greedy, testicle-less, “I inherited it all from daddy and I’m not sharing it with anybody” spoiled brats that currently inhabit the GOP and kiss the butts of all the soulless corporate money-grubbers , conned enough of the desperate populace ( with the help of Putin’s posse ), set up their encampment in our nation’s capital.
I’m exhausted! But, I’m telling you, if I work up enough strength to make it to the polls in November and, god forbid!, nothing changes - well, “bone-see-wah”, I’m off to Canada. I figure even with that nasty trade deficit, the quality of life factor will more than make up for it....
So then the only REAL problem is that America has a POTUS who is a pathological liar? Which means he can't be trusted. So HE is the problem then.
2
The current us president is a lying liar, a buffoon, a toddler king. Everyone who sees the disaster of the current administration needs to realize the life blood of our sitting president is publicity. Every time that man’s name is mentioned, in print or out loud, his power becomes greater. I have made a pledge to myself not to mention his name. I might have to swear off certain card games. I hope others will follow suit (honestly, no pun intended).
2
No matter what the actual truth is, the idiot in the white house will dispute it, because he's a corrupt liar. How much longer, America?
4
The USA democracy is coming to an end. When one government branch runs with aground and the other two branches pretend all is fine and close their eyes to the truth, then all is lost. I never thought I'd see the day when the supposedly "patriotic republicans" would embrace neo- nazis, Russia, China and North Korea. Has the world already ended and no one bothered to check?
5
Guy is an idiot!
His perspective is like looking for the freaking proverbial mouse underneath the elephant.
we now have indisputable proof that the Fascist Bureau of Insubordination actively sought to overthrow a freely and fairly elected President! Let the treason trials begin!
1
You are slaying it, serious fun.
1
Only an idiot would conclude the report did not hurt the Clinton campaign. And it / he did.
1
Reading this, my thought is how can Trump supporters, and public endorsers support this Liar-In-Chief? Where are the evangelicals and other religious leaders??? He supports dictators, and alienates our closest allies. He salutes North Korea's brutal dictators. He believes in separating babies and young children from their parents, who are seeking asylum from the threat of death. He supports Nazis in Charlottesville, VA. He insults, connives to destroy everything America has ever stood for. The Republican stands by and does nothing to refute this horror. What will it take for these elected officials to do their job?? Every day I fear our beloved democracy has been hijacked by criminal thugs. It is very frightening to me and so many others. Wake up people. Seek the truth, and end this travesty. Our lives depend on it.
1
President Trump has been totally vindicated! The Fascist Bureau of Insubordination was caught red-handed plotting a coup against a freely and fairly elected President! This is unprecedented high treason in its worst form!
1
"Duty now for the future” isn’t that originally Devo? Sweet
1
Very serious when FBI official is emailing a colleague about stopping Trump from getting elected. If it were Obama or Clinton, there would be hell to pay.
4
Wow The august Times finally says Trump is LYING
1
Trump doesn't have a leg on to stand with this. As much as this lying overgrown toddler hates to take any accountability for his disgraceful actions it was his own stupid fat mouth that bragged on national television that he fired the lead investigator to stop the probe of the Russian attack on our country. The investigation didn't start out being about him it's just that all the evidence keeps coming back to Trump and his lying band of miscreants. He's a TRAITOR to this country.
6
The Report also confirmed President Obama lied about when he knew Hillary Clinton had used her personal computer for State Dept. business.
Presidents Obama and Trump both lied - it wasn't the first time....or the last.
So what......next subject Mr Leonhardt
2
Yes, and the Republicans are blind, deaf, and morally weak.
1
Regarding the actions of the two FBI agents (and lovers, how nice :) )who 'inappropriately' tried to block Trump's election, they will be praised in history and not found wanting. Indeed, stopping an existential threat not only to the U.S. but to the entire world order of free countries is the prime directive. Thank God there are brave souls willing to risk their careers to try to stop a potential tyrant and the worst President in recent history. Trump is an abomination and pussy footing liberal sensitivities like in the 1930's and the Age of Dictators will not save the free world order.
1
Trump breaths, Trump lies
6
Headline: Gaslighter in Chief Turns IG's Report into Faux Fuel.
2
It's funny to watch the Trump cultists in Congress and on Fox news try to sell this report as great news for Commandant Bone spurs.
It reminds me of how John Gotti's troops set off fireworks in the streets of Brooklyn when they were sure he had beat the evil Federal agents in court.....big guys with big mouths and nasty habits with deep respect for the corrupt louse.....then of course reality and facts and the law delivered the goods and off Gotti went to live out his last days in a super max facility until I believe cancer took him to meet his maker. This surge of hope for the dominance of the wannabe dictator Donnie over reality has a familiar smell and I expect it will end in the same way.
Tell me Mr. Leonhardt, has the megalomaniac EVER told the truth about anything?
Spin of the Week goes to the facile Mr. Leonhardt.
2
Comey may have been insubordinate in going public about Hillary's email investigation. His credibility is still intact.
Trump slams Comey as a Liar, Leaker and Slime ball, all to no avail. The Liar-in-chief will be questioned by Mueller in the near future. Michael Cohen may have some interesting stories to tell us, as well.
1
Say whatever you want, be as outraged as you like, it doesn't matter, because DJT and his cronies are in control. The old saw about how "A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on." that is what controls the narrative here, and those lies run rings and circles around any truth from anyone else.
There's far too many people in this country perfectly pleased with letting the monkey pilot the plane and they don't give a damn for the truth or anything else, especially since their hero is putting to the elites really good and hard. At this point he could probably live through the old Edwin Edwards claim that "only a live boy or a dead woman could keep me from being reelected."
Yelling about it only makes 'em happier. Giving him attention -- even negative attention -- only pleases him more.
"We have met the enemy and it is us." We are ruled by the Booboisie. You can scream about it all you like but your outrage is not going to change anything. Get used to it.
1
Lock him up!
Another "witch hunt" laid to rest. How many more to come? Does the gangster in chief know?
Trump is lying: Quelle surprise, mon dieu!
1
Well, at least one of you reporters for the times can call Trump a liar. Has it been a forbidden word from your management? Maybe there's hope for the Times after all.
I am getting fed up with the Times...it is obvious Hillary lied and the DOJ and FBI tried to cover up.
The truth is the truth and I know and so do you and trying to keep it hidden by always finding a way to smear Trump is just not playing well.
Has to be more than me that is quite fed up with the biased reporting from the Times.
This won't make it into digital print...but keep it up...and even multi-decade lovers of the NYTimes will bail and we'll happily keep going with the WSJ and Breitbart and the Drudge - the NYTimes is no long reliable...
...and that is quite a shame...but even I...and many others...can see it and are so close to bailing.
2
you made it into digital print, kudos. Strong words, strong emotion, strong opinion, strong, strong, strong, you are strong! keep it up, the summit is just beyond the valley across from the Walmart© and that new subdivision.
1
@Todd—stop, stop, I’m laughing too hard. She should meet Larry.
Drain the swamp. We support Trump. Hillary belongs in prison.
2
Now we have a sewer. What do we do about that?
If one can turn truth upside down and believe that Comey's last-minute re-hash of Hillary's evil emails helped her get elected, then it's easy to believe that the Donald never had sex with that porn star to whom he paid 130K in hush money; it's easy to believe he wasn't the one who told Billy how he can grab women by the genitals and kiss them without permission; it's easy to believe he didn't assure Xi Jin Peng that ZTE, a sanctioned thief of an espionage-ridden, state-run Chinese company, that he would support bringing them back to the USA in exchange for Ivanka's brand rights; It's easy to think he didn't make a deal with the devil just to get a hotel established in Malaysia; it's easy to believe that Putin was not involved in his concessions to a murderous dictator in North Korea, nor in his retraction from the G7-1. Thanks to the propaganda arm of the fascist republican party, (of Fox News, et. al. I speak), and thanks to the evil suppressors in the vein of Besty DeVos, the American public is so far down the rabbit hole of ignorance that there is no turning back to truth. Comey didn't help anything or anyone. He was a self-protecting bumbler, and in the end, a dupe for the fascist party.
4
I am certainly not a Trump enabler but, I have to admit, this investigation and its report have me scared, as well: surely, there must be more to this than meets the eye!
In an era when those in power denigrate real news as fake, when truth is decried as fiction, and the man holding the most powerful office in the world tweets vituperative lies ad nauseam, I'm shocked and pleasantly surprised our federal government was able to produce so balanced a document.
6
Wow talk about having your partisan blinders on......
"Such Trump bashing, concluded Mr. Horowitz, “is not only indicative of a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, implies a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate’s electoral prospects.”
This is the IG saying people are willing to influence the election. But yeah nothing important.
4
Except he concludes that they didn’t. Read the report.
"Trump is Lying" about... could be the headline to some article pretty much every day.
6
So Comey caused Trump to win - Trump has reduced taxes, regulations, presided over the best economy in memory, and likely prevented a nuclear N. Korea —
Thank you Jim Comey!
1
We’re at the point where whatever the story, we can just fill in the blanks.
2
"The Report's Real Message: Trump is Lying"
If that is your takeaway after reading the 500+ pages of the IG report, you are blinded by your hatred of Trump.
5
"communication” between FBI employees and the press. Not only did these folks have “no official reason to be in contact with the media,” but they also “improperly received benefits from reporters, including tickets to sporting events, golfing outings, drinks and meals, and admittance to nonpublic social events.”
The leaks are a real cancer. The news media is complicit and abetting.
This portion of the report is damning evidence.
5
well’ll stop it
Over and out
1
Trump has dropped his Birther issue, and is going full bore for the impeachment of President Clinton
9
No doubt the first two words to ever part Trump’s lips as a toddler contradicted each other.
2
I honestly cannot think of a day since Trump took office when there wasn’t breaking-bad-news. “A bull who brings his own china shop around with him” (Churchill).
6
Trump's worse new lies are to come: His "hoax" meeting of minds and trust between him and the cold-blood murderer Kim Jong-un, and the so-called denuclearization of North Korea.
Apparently, he's ignorant of the so-called "socialist" or "workers"' propaganda might. How many concerned Americans still remember that the USSR Politburo and its ambassador in DC were allowed to read President Johnson's draft of the March 30, 1968 speech?
We shall never sleep well with the illusion of a denuclearized world.
1
Now that's spin!
1
This is getting tiring. For 50% of the population (and 90% of Times readers) ok, Trump is one big pile of human issues. But does the Times need to publish, at my count, over 2000 articles and opinion pieces saying the same thing? And can't Leonhardt find other things to write about, such as the astonishing revelation that Comey was using private email, which means that he should have recused himself? As for the IG report, there are troubling aspects, but when you are an extreme partisan as Leonhardt, you miss them -- it is appalling to read the bias of some of the agents. And if Leonhardt were not so extreme left wing, he would wonder why Hillary was interviewed off the record (so no lying to government charges) and why Abedin and Mills were given immunity so early in the investigation -- all highly irregular. So ok, Trump is wacko, but grow up Times, find some other issues to discuss. The Times is starting to sound like a Bernie Sanders rally.
6
Wait. Trump supporters and Fox News are being willfully obtuse, dishonest, and hypocritical in their analysis of a report that hurts Trump? I am sure NYT readers are shocked.
1
Trump lies?
I’m shocked! Shocked, I’ms telling ya!
1
Everything, for the NYT op-ed page, is an ink blot. And every ink blot means the same thing: Trump is lying.
3
Sarah said it's ok to lie. It's in the bible.
6
Comey was out of control. Loose cannon on a rolling deck.
Nobody is safe if this guy is around. Hillary Clinton got shot first. He and the FBI, McCabe, Strzok, etc., are such damaged goods at this point that Leonhardt is just wrong here. Trump won this skirmish.
3
It is appropriate this appears on the opinion page as the article is simply that. The author uses the IG report as another opportunity to express his unwavering opinion that Trump should not have been elected... period. Unfortunately The NY Times opinion page is an echo chamber.
5
"Trump is lying."
In other news, the sun rose this morning.
13
It's pretty wild that we can now add law enforcement officers to the huge list of things Republicans hate, along with democracy, women, immigrants, black people, liberals, Europe, Canada and facts.
America is gonna be so great when Russia and North Korea are the only allies we have. Oh, wait, Russia hates us too.
5
Trump lies. What else is new?
2
What is the only thing scarier than The opinion makers at the NYT: the liberal comments.
Leonhardt used to make thoughtful commentary based on economics. Although there was a progressive liberal bent to his opinions, they were not part of the crazed liberal furor created by Trump’s election. Now he, like the myriad other media liberals, has jumped off the cliff like so many lemmings.
The pathological hatred of Trump by liberals in the media and in this country is dangerous.
Hillary Clinton has been and will always be an inveterate liar. She barely missed the long overdue #metoo backlash she should have endured with her husband. She should never have been a candidate much less elected. There are numerous women who would have been better.
Why liberal America hasn’t made an effort to find a viable candidate of the future instead of the misbegotten HRC is a mystery. Then again, the fever pitch boil about Trump has blinded liberal America.
Face it. The FBI had a number of biased investigators. James Comey was as daft a leader as I can recall. It is clear that his “leadership,” if you can call it that, was based on personal judgements which made no legal, political or logical sense no matter what your political persuasion.
The IG report should have stated there was bias in the FBI. It is not open to question.
I know Wray will fix that.
5
Trump lies. Democracy dies.
4
Talk to your publisher. The NYT headlines are all about Comey, doing a huge disservice to the message you've correctly identified as the salient one.
1
Lie Gate continues.
2
Donald Trump lies, incessantly, sadly with impunity. Trump's entire existence is a stench filled swamp of lies. He lied his way through multiple bankruptcies. He lies to bankers, business partners, wives, mistresses, the American people, himself etc...Trump lied his way into the White House. Donald Trump is a cowardly, malicious, pathological liar.The horrifying aspect is that our country has, approximately 40% of, mostly white people, who don't care. They love the lies. They're motivated by hate, racism, and white supremacy: what Trump sold them.
5
Mr. Leonhardt wants to dismiss the fact that the Obama administration and FBI tried to put the Clinton investigation away by assigning the same FBI investigative team to a newly minted Russia investigation.
3
Still waiting for @NYT to bring back an updated Trump Liar's Project column. Otherwise, folks become annealed to these kinds of statements and behaviors as they appear in the norm after awhile.
1
They recognize that to continue these tactics will vault him into a second term. Or maybe not; it's fine by me if they continue to dig.
The FBI operatives delayed for at least 4 weeks the evaluation of the emails found on Weiners server trying to delay till after the election to help Clinton. That is what led Comry to react the way he did. So that the FBI would not be faultedwhen Clinton won.
2
I won’t hold my breath waiting for any GOP congressman or senator to publicly support this honest assessment of what the IG Repot concludes......the Kool-Aid tastes too sweet and their cowardice is contagious.
‘Trump lying...” who knew?
2
Dear David,
Of course, he is.
Sincerely, NYT readers.
10
Any semi-sentient being could have told you that.
Trump calls everyone a liar except those who agree to sit on his lap and agree to be a ventriloquist's dummy. Or perhaps Trump has agreed to be Putin's dummy. . .
3
You miss the big point. It does not matter what the report actually says or does not say. To the trumpanistas, what matters is the narrative put on it by Trump and Fox News. Facts? Evidence? Analysis? I have one word for you “birtherism”. That whole effort tells you what you need to know about Trump and his cult. As my old friend Larry used to say, “You can’t argue with that kind of logic.”
3
Hillary Clinton handled it poorly too. But she was the best qualified candidate this country has seen in decades and she did win the popular vote. Trump lies at least twice a day when he's tweeting or speaking. The mistakes that were made were by the Electoral College and the GOP. The latter didn't care how it won the White House or who the candidate was. Winning was the most important thing.
We now have a completely incompetent president and administration running America into the ground to enrich the economic elites. We have a party controlling the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, that is too concerned with its own power to care what it's doing to the average American, the environment or America's standing in the world. Enough people voted for this that the GOP feels free to betray America. The midterm elections might change it.
If the midterm elections keep the status quo we can look forward to 2 more years of lies, betrayal, and the deterioration of life in America. It is up to us to change things.
GOP = Grossly Opportunistic Politicians and Grease Our Palms Party.
5
I'm responding only to the article's headline. The question that comes to my mind is: when is Trump not lying? Those instances are so far and few that perhaps a small 'dossier' could be compiled listing his meager portion of truth.
9
you and every NYT reader it seems, just the headlines.
Had James Comey not made his announcement in October and it were later found out by the R's, he would have had a defensible position by pointing out that he had not disclosed the investigation into collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign in kind. Had he followed the rules, his defense would have held water. We need to get the politicians off of the FBI's back. The pressure being put on them for illegitimate reasons is corrupting the process and we are the ones who are losing. I do not particularly care for HC and have no interest in defending her acts. I do know that we would not be sinking in deep water had she been elected though.
9
"sinking in deep water" ???
markets are up.
unemployment is down.
tax rates are lower.
peace on the Korean peninsula is progressing.
progress on free and fair trade is being made.
SCOTUS is back.
democracy is working.
"Trump is lying?" Least surprising headline of the week. Wake me when he stumbles over the truth.
Rather than fastening on each lie, his opponents should stand up for the value of truth. In the greatest dissent in the history of the Supreme Court (Abrams v. U.S.), Justice Holmes wrote, "when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas -- that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out.'
Let that thought be the watchword of those who stand for democracy and the Constitution.
The USDA could come out with a report that the Aztecs invented peanut butter, then Trump could spin it by whining that he invented peanut butter but never gets the credit for it, and 40% of the US would believe him.
2
It has taken the NYT and most media too long to call Trump a liar.
He lies constantly. These are not mistakes or misstatements.
4
Donald Trump is a consummate liar. He is also a skilled deflector and manipulator of facts and is supported in this by the existence of social media which has provided him with a strong and sure platform. This is all very well known, and while many are outraged and horrified by the conduct of this president, many evidently applaud his guts and glory approach. Is he actually being contained or monitored in any way at all? When faced with a bullying street fighter it sometimes is necessary to get down and dirty. This man continues to do and say what he pleases and is met with silence and inaction by his government. The press provides the only concerned sanction. What more has to happen?
5
After Comey cleared Clinton of breaking the law with her private email server it was clear the FBI was on her side. Not that it matters but liberals will now blame Coney for Hillary's loss rather than her.
2
James writes, "After Comey cleared Clinton of breaking the law with her private email server it was clear the FBI was on her side. Not that it matters but liberals will now blame Coney for Hillary's loss rather than her."
First, the fact that the FBI ran an investigation of Hillary's emails shows that they were not on her side. Second, the fact that Comey trashed Hillary when the FBI cleared her of breaking the law shows that he was not on her side, and as the Inspector General found, insubordinate. Third, the fact that Comey wrote congressional republicans to inform them he was reopening the investigation was also found by the Inspector General to be improper. Finally, the fact that Hillary had a big lead in the polls before the Comey letter came out...and that lead evaporated proves that Comey cost Hillary the election.
Furthermore, some of us liberals also believe that Trump was correct about the election being rigged. Not surprising, but we believe it was rigged by republicans in their favor. The electronic voting machines used in some states were rigged to give Trump and various republicans an advantage in the vote counts. So...we don't believe Trump is the legitimate president. Just so you know.
2
I wished the NYT would use appropriate headlines. The Report's real message is not that Trump is lying. That is old news anyways and won't move any needle whatsoever. The real message - and the headline should capture it - is: "Insubordinate Comey helped get Trump elected". In view of the consequences, this is a real tragic come(d)y.
4
Wouldn’t u think 45 would be thankful & express some gratitude to Comey for getting him elected?
What an ingrate.
Hey folks, get with it. It ain’t lying; it’s “alternative facts”. Knitting a shirt around a button hole, as the old saw goes.
2
Answer this one question? A sailor who took pictures of a submarine went to prison for a year Mrs. Clinton's violations were very serious and she received a slap on the wrist. In this country the rich and the powerful are always exonerated with faulty reasoning.
3
She didn’t receive a “slap on the wrist.” She received nothing because she was not prosecuted because there was no case.
1
Saying Trump lies is like saying the sky is blue. No shocker there.
2
That he has and continues to lie cannot be said loud enough.
2
YES, Donald lies, often and early always. Thanks, Republicans, you own it!
That trump is lying is simply the everyday behavior of trump. trump is always lying.
And trump’s expressed admiration for kim being so young and successfully taking over the “ family business” The kim family business which includes murdering family members, starving citizens of North Korea, putting North Koreans in concentration camps, controlling and destroying the economy and various forms of slavery. This is the family business trump admires.
6
After watching part of Trump's impromptu 'news' conference this morning, I have some simple advice for reporters: Walk away! Simply walk away when our mendacious President is spouting obvious falsehoods. By employing this simple tactic, you will deprive Trump of the one thing he craves most of all: Attention!
The press should also employ this tactic when Sarah Huckabee Sanders responds to reporters' legitimate questions with blatant prevarications during WH press briefings.
By simply walking away, the 'Real News' can go a long way in stopping the malignant propaganda that has infected our fragile democracy. When they're lying, we ain't buying!
8
Nobel Prize, new catagory: Lying, and Denial.
And the winner is: The president, his sons, his daughter, his son in law, his cabinet, his press secretary, his lawyers, Fox and Hannity, V.P. Pence, Congress, McConnell.
Vote, every vote counts, unless the Supreme Court decides otherwise.
1
Trump lying?
Trump, May 26th, 2018, "Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S"
The only time Trump isn't lying is when he's spewing his thinly veiled racism. That, and when he said, "The election is rigged". But, even then, it wasn't the way he meant it.
It must be something to live 72 years, and still have absolutely no clue about what it is to be a human being. To know deep down that your entire life has been a complete and utter failure. Ah, well.
In checking his age, I found out that Trump's birthday is June 14th (Thursday). As a belated birthday present, I hope Manafort flips on you today (Friday) during his hearing on witness tampering. Hey, Paul, if you're listening, take my advise, if you don't flip, you're going to spend the rest of your life in jail. And, frankly, you don't look like the type that would really thrive there. Let's just say, if the situation was reversed, would Trump take the fall for you?
Food for thought.
Here's to VT-Day! The future national holiday that will be remembered as the day we came back from the brink.
2
If only, if only this report could put to rest the unrelenting and unsupported Republican attacks on Hillary Clinton. But it won't, because it's all they have. And their baseless accusations against her are now revealed as supported by the stupidity of James Comey. It's so insane that his faithless so damaged her campaign, but is now being touted by Republicans as having damaged Trump. Truly Alice in Wonderland.
4
How many headlines saying Trump is lying must we endure? Why is his lying even newsworthy anymore? Why does he lie: Because his base believes anything he says - no matter how absurd - but will not remember more than a few milliseconds.
4
Found on page 144 of the IG's report:
"INSD assessed the FBI Midyear Exam investigation successfully determined classified information was improperly stored and transmitted on Clinton’s email server, and classified information was compromised by unauthorized individuals, to include foreign government’s [sic] or intelligence services, via cyber intrusion or other means [referring to compromises of email accounts associated with certain individuals who communicated with Clinton’s server, such as Blumenthal]. However, the structure of the investigation and prosecution team, as prescribed in the CD PG [FBI Counterintelligence Division Policy Implementation Guide], and treatment of the investigation as a traditional espionage matter rather than a criminal investigation significantly hindered the ability of the investigative team to obtain full, accurate and timely information."
Clear violations of the Espionage Act. FBI failed to follow SOP. DOJ failed to apply the law. Obama publicly claimed she did nothing wrong. The "Mid Year Exam" in this "matter" was a total sham.
3
Hillary should be in jail along with some of her key staff.
There was obstruction of justice by Lynch and Obama.
3
1. STRZOK ran the Hillary email investigation...while being all in to elect Hillary.
2. STRZOK sent a message telling his lady that they would stop Trump's election. They had a plan.
3. STRZOK ran the fake Russian investigation, obtained FISA court warrant to spy on Trump's campaign. Later saying with dismay that "there isn't any there there".
4. STRZOK was on Mueller's team along with 12 other Democrats until fired when the text messages came to light.
It is clear what has been going on and people need to go to jail.
6
Strzok has other quotes showing he's a
typical FBI agent-- No love for any party,
& healthy suspicion toward ALL politicians.
The Republican candidates running vs
Trump and so many others were hoping that somebody else could stop Trump...
Wishing and making brave statements..
Not the same as a violent elimination.
This take on the IG report ignores so many instances of bias favoring Hilary, that the NYT would do their readers a huge favor by offering another POV that wasn't in lockstep in it's mission to destroy Trump. after the election, Trump Derangement Syndrome was particularly devasting among NYT readers since the narrative never explored the reasons why so many voters supported Trump. There is another angle to take from the IG report but you won't know anything about it with the echo chamber coverage here.
3
The headline of this piece: ...Trump is Lying, might as well be "Dog Bites Man". Trump has lied, lies, and will lie with careless impunity.
3
If DJT announced that today, Friday, June 15, 2018, is Tuesday, June 15, 2018, thousands across this great land would start making pen-and-ink “corrections” to their calendars. Fox News would report the “new” date like it was as normal as the sun’s rising in the West and setting in the East.
What?? You didn’t get that memo? Well ... there’s always 35-40%.
3
What a change in headlines from a year ago. Back then, news outlets like the New York Times were writing that Donald was bending the truth or other polite means of saying that he was not telling the truth because it was too shocking that he clearly was. These days, headlines about Donald lying are no longer shocking since it is the norm. One year and it is accepted that the president lies. How far we have fallen.
7
And yet all the major news outlets, including Ntimes , WaPost, and Politico have headlines that imply that rogue FBI agents attempted to harm trump.
1
And yet truth is the IG report, not headlines. Trump is lying.
Are you kidding? I'm sure Comey had reasons for his decision. Maybe you are not privy to the information that motivated him. The real question for all of us is why you let elected officials cite the bible to separate children from their families? No, really what separates isis that uses religion to justify equally immoral actions from ice which is using Christianity to justify immorality.
The calculated emotional cruelty in your country has reached an ugliness you cannot, or will not see.
7
Vote, people. Vote in November to rid ourselves of all those complicit and congressional Republicans. Then vote in 2020 to snuff out the Trump Crime Family.
5
When was the last time you believed anything Trump said?
4
Oh, come on. Perhaps the FBI did treat Hillary Clinton as anyone else during the initial stages of the investigation. After her hubby stepped in the pursuit was flagged for special privilege. The Clintons never care what it looks like. They only care if they get caught and that it isn't illegal, which is not to say that it looks immoral.
4
“But, but, Hillary! But, but, Benghazi!”
2
It didn't matter a hoot what the report reported: DT would spin his own version and hyperventilate that...lie.
Why didn’t the IG investigate what impact Republican pressure and Trump’s bullying had on the FBI and Justice Department’s ability to do their work unfettered by political machinations?
Comey tried to overcompensate for his boss’s tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton by admonishing Hillary’s carelessness with her server at the same time announcing that she had committed no punishable offense. The month lapse between the NYAG’s office notifying Comey about Weiner’s laptop, too, seemed to be orchestrated by Giuliani and his leaking lackeys.
Trump will use the castigation of James Comey in the IG report to undermine his credentials in the Mueller investigation.
In the middle of this political maelstrom, Comey was stuck between the Scylla of reopening the email investigation or the Charybdis of undermining the FBI Department.
Like Odysseus, Comey has had to hold on to the branch of the fig tree of virtue while the whirlpools of public opinion try to suck him down to their depths.
6
I have to believe for every FBI agent who disliked Trump, you could have found the same or a greater number who disliked Clinton.
5
Expressing an opinion which you disagree with is not the same as lying. By that measure, the other side can say you are lying.
2
“Stormy Daniels”.
Of course Trump is lying.
1
"nonpartisan" ??? How many lawyers are been removed from the investigation for their bias?
2
Imagine the scandal if it turned out that members of the FBI who investigate Mafia activity were biased against the Mafia.
8
Brilliant.
"The Report's Real Message: Trump is Lying." Of course he is lying, so what else is new? Nearly every word this president utters is a lie. Within an hour after the IG report was released, Trump said it confirms that Hillary Clinton is "crooked." Not long before that he boasted of working with Kim Jong-Un to bring home the remains of "thousands and thousands" of U.S. servicemen killed in the Korean War. Trump lies about his business activities, lies about the "nonprofit" status of his family foundation, lies about known facts of Robert Mueller's investigation,... In the 512 days that this pathological liar has been president, he's lied in all 512.
3
Lying again and again and again - does the man do anything but lie?
2
Why is there no finger pointing at the Obama Administration for its misuse of the justice department in an election?
3
How Trump's supporters maintain their allegiance to this lying hack/carny is one of life's strangest mysteries until you realize that they allow Fox News to do their thinking for them.
4
this is the word that needs to be said-
lie, lying, liar
why isn't this happening more?
He is a liar. A very good one as it turns out. Please keep using the word lie
1
donny lies all the time, he lied when he took the oath of office to preserve protect and defend OUR constitution.
He followers love it.
2
Yes. Trump is lying. And lying and lying and lying.
3
You really need to work on your thesaurus, and the multiple definitions of the word "lying". After mounds of evidence in the IG's report of bias, if not verbiage tantamount to collusion, you draw the concluding headline "Trump is Lying". But when you write the words "appears to be..."your accusation falls way below the Mendoza line for truth.
These soft accusations in the face of the objective reality hurt your paper just like the bias found in Obama's DOJ and FBI will forever leave dark shadows of illicit actions. Hopefully, your reporting will likewise follow the new path of dissolving your bias and get back to the business of "appearing to be fair".
1
Yeah, Trump lies.
And the people who surround him lie.
And his supporters and enablers lie.
But they're all going to keep doing it until there's some sort of penalty for lying. So far, there really hasn't been, except for a few Mueller investigation indictments, and even that's not proving to be enough incentive, as Trump seems to be convincing a lot of these people he can pardon them (not that he can for non-Federal crimes, but that may be escaping the sophistication of this crew).
So, it's up to all of us to punish this lying, starting with punishing Trump's enablers on November 6. If enough of them get tossed out of office, maybe we can then do something about Trump and his inner circle of liars.
6
I have not finished reading the report, but so far I am surprised by the incongruity of the assertion that there was no bias in the investigation of Clinton's email server and the number of times I have seen bias to be stated in the report in recounting extremely biased statements by those being reported on. So far, the "no bias" conclusion does not appear to be supported by the mass of evidence of bias. The conclusion may in fact prove true, but either way, given such statements of opposition and intent as I have read, is it really so deplorable that Trump might conclude that he was being falsely targeted AND that Hillary was in fact given lax treatment? After all, we now know from the report that foreign actors DID access her emails, something Comey and others vociferously denied.
The anti-Trumpers will, as does Leonhardt, conclude Trump is evil no matter what, just as the pro-Trumpers will conclude that he was right. I can see that there is reason for Trump to have drawn his conclusion, even if he is proven wrong, and so cannot call what he said a lie, only a mistake at worst. After all, we have five more FBI personnel being referred for possible prosecution. In any case, though, both the pro- and anti- crowds need to understand that what the report reveals is that there were things desperately wrong at the FBI, and that we cannot tolerate this happening again.
1
As bad as Trump is as a President, the real damage is being done by McConnell and Ryan. Their lack of action and deliberate evasion of anything Trump reminds me too much of when Obama was in office. Just say "NO" to everything. So until McConnell leaves his seat as a do- nothing majority leader, there will be little change unless the law steps in. Unfortunately, Trump is beginning to control the courts as well.
6
At some point the bill for Trump and his Republican Party enablers and bankers will be paid — by the American public, both those who voted for him and those who voted against — because ultimately we are all in this together. Silence in the face of a liar never ends well.
3
The important takeaways are this:
*Yes, FBI agents do have personal political opinions.
*Comey, as we all suspected, acted beyond his authority.
*The investigation into Clinton's emails was not biased, and neither were the conclusions of the investigation.
*Donald Trump is a liar.
2
David, thanks for reading the IG's 568-page report! I skimmed the Executive Summary and Table of Contents, and it is incredible to note the level of detail, and neutrality, displayed. I will read the whole thing tonight.
I can see why Trump and his propagandists are misrepresenting the report. It thoroughly disproves everything they claim as "fact" to churn up their base.
I'd like to think someone at Fox News at least read the report, before lying about it. How Sarah Huckabee Sanders can stand at a podium and outright lie about the report is incredible...she usually skirts issues.
Very glad the FBI adhered to rules, with the exception of Comey speaking about the Clinton case when doing so violates regulations, and their action against the couple who had a shared dislike of Trump.
I would not say the FBI has always behaved perfectly. But in this instance, they have my support.
Trump"s use of "witch hunt" when indicators show that his team, and possibly him, colluded with Russia really insults the term "witch hunt". And it doesn't cover his unconstitutional actions.
Senator Joe McCarthy's anti-commie hearings were a real witch hunt. So many were wrongly black-balled from their professions by mere accusation of having a hint of pink. The man was vicious.
Then, like now, people ignored the factual news, and gave merit to D.C.'s biased opinion. My hope is that people get out of their T.V.s and read again, in search of truth and literacy.
2
Did the FBI investigate Condoleezza Rice or Colin Powell for their use of private email and non-governmental servers while they were Secretaries of State? Or for that matter, did they investigate Dubya for using private email and a non-government server for 8 years as President?
Of course not! It is only a crime if a Democrat does it, and an especially heinous crime if it is a Clinton.
Yes, the FBI did indeed show bias: they investigated alleged "crimes" of Democrats which they would have never considered investigating when Republicans do the exact same thing. Comey (a Republican) and other officials of the FBI were afraid of offending the right-wing attack machine.
6
"The text messages between the two, who were in a romantic relationship, suggest that they were deeply, and inappropriately, biased against Trump."
Okay, would you say the same about an FBI agent's "inappropriate bias" against the Gotti family? Or bias against drug runners coming across the southern border?
I guess Mr. Trump is the only person suspected of Federal crimes who is supposed to have a neutral investigator who comes to work every day wondering why he is going after this lovely guy who can't be a crook--he even has a charitable foundation. Puleeze. Trump has been a con man his entire life and these people at the FBI knew that. So if career law enforcers express their dismay that America is considering electing a crook, why is that so bad? It's not like they falsified information and cruelly put him away for many years in jail. (Which has happened to Black and Brown people with surprising regularity.)
And remember, this was before Trump was "elected" president with many fewer votes than his opponent. That is, he wasn't the "ruler" yet--so they weren't obliged to kneel in his presence, or back away from the throne until they were out of the regal presence. As Americans, they were entitled to call it as they saw it--and that includes being biased against the target of a criminal investigation. If not, then let's reopen the cases of all those other poor convicts who were subjected to "inappropriate bias" from the FBI and police all over America every day.
3
I got a kick out of the caption for this piece, "Trump Is Lying." This individual has a record to suggest he's not capable of doing otherwise; and, sadly, that includes even using the truth as commodity to justify the lie. Take, for example, how facts are being strategically used to distract the American public from many more serious issues than Trump's obsession of being treated unfairly according the system of order we honor. He gets away with it though; he sees the "big picture" ... for himself.
We, many of us anyway, seem to be going and over again the topic of Hillary Clinton, especially as the principal candidate who was not chosen to be president in an election nearly 2 years ago. Why she wasn't chosen? Several reasons have been proposed, including Comey's last-minute re-opening of an investigation of her private email-server use in her official capacity. While I cannot imagine a worse candidate for president than Trump, Clinton, given her record for trust and her connection to her husband and his record, was not a strong one, to be sure. But look: Unless opponents to the disaster of Trump we now experience begin very soon to focus on the future, they'll wind up with him for another 4 years. The declaration that Trump lies in this respect is as "insightful" as the declaration that the sun rises in East. Trump may complain about press coverage of him, but in this he controls the press in a very deft ... though diabolical ... way.
1
You are right---the errors the FBI committed were errors in judgment, not "honesty, ethical standards or motives."
But Trump and his flock of sheep can't tell the difference.
4
It's a disgrace. The Trumps and his crooked cronies will continue to lie and plot different attempted obstruction of hustice until the Mueller team complete their report on the Russian problem.
Can you believe that Manafort, as Trump's campaign manager from June to August 19, 2016, had nothing to do with Trump's elections? Is this mean that Trump might receive direct orders from the Russian official and/or semi-official networks, and Manafort and the others were no more than "coffee boys."
Today, Manafort still have a chance to cooperate with the right side of history. Cohen,too.
4
The media has the power and indeed the duty to do what Mr. Leonhardt does in this column=point out the truth of this IG report and not allow Trump and his minions to lie without correction for days on end. I don't expect that to happen because the media--except for an honest and diligent few journalists on air and in print--love to let Trump dominate a news cycle with utter nonsense and dishonesty. It is what they have allowed him to do for almost three years. The media has an obligation to truth and honesty that it is not carrying out. Thank you Mr. Leonhardt for being part of the minority of journalists who recognize the truth and are willing to tell it.
3
Just a note of appreciation to Mr. Leonhardt for penning a crystal clear analysis and set of conclusions, something I could not obtain by watching cable news. He comes to the rescue just when my head was spinning.
2
One need only look at how Fox "News" treated Trump's North Korea visit to how they treated Obama's suggestion of meeting with NK to see the political hypocrisy of the GOP. Didn't Pence use a private email server? Where is the outrage?
The Republican party's slogan is simple: "It's fine and dandy until a Democrat does it."
Trump lies every single day of his life and the GOP looks the other way or equivocates. It's laughable to think that Obama would have been able to get away with even a fraction of Trump's lies.
4
No, you're lying, or at least shading the truth. A central point of Mueller's inquiry is that firing Comey was somehow an obstruction of justice. Now we see that he was quite justified in doing so. You're simply distracting attention.
3
Trump and his cronies will disregard the report. Their takeaway is what ever they want it to be
2
This is not news. The FBI ONE week before the election brought up the emails again without saying anything about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. And the FBI is protecting Clinton? Really? What kind of stretching logic does one have to apply to reach the conclusion the FBI was on Clinton's side? And lest we forget Rudy Giuliani made it clear he knew about the announcement of the reopening of the Clinton investigation days before it was announced. How about investigating that?
4
A rational and unbiased human does not need the IG's opinion to determine whether the DOJ and the FBI were biased against Trump and extremely lenient towards Hillary, they were, and it is obvious in the differential way they were and are treated.
The evidence is right before everybody's eyes no matter how much the author tries to obfuscate.
An honest investigation does not write the exoneration 3 months before finishing the investigation. An honest investigation does not give immunity to the main actors on the "stage" before interviewing them and does not neglect to require that the very phones and laptops used in the crimes be examined and instead allow them to be destroyed by the suspects. An honest investigation does not limit the questions asked of the main suspect and even go so far as to limit how many FBI agents interview her because they don't want to "go too hard" on a future President.
This is but a small sample of the way bias reared it's head in the Hillary investigation which was obviously designed by the very people the author claims had "no power" to find nothing.
Contrast this with how ANYBODY on the Trump team has been treated by Mueller and even a brain dead partisan has to see that the fix was in against Trump and in favor of Hillary and that the rot started at the top!
2
Trump Lies. Not breaking news. He lies as he breathes. This morning among the many, Trump lied that "Manafort had nothing to do with the (Trump) campaign".
Despite the fact that Paul Manafort was the Campaign Manager during the RNC Convention and until that August.
A brazen and bold lie which slips from Trump's lips without a concern in the world.
That Americans can hear this and knowing the opposite to be true just nod their heads and 'believe' Trump makes the argument for a brainwashed cult following to be more credible.
This cognitive dissonance of the Trump faithful is a true danger to our democracy.
5
I am Canadian, the people I know all knew from the beginning exactly what the report would show. For me this nothing burger made clearer than ever keeping America together is clearly insane. Red and blue America are parallel universes and should never intersect. We are living in interesting and dynamic times which require our utmost attention and the most important nation on the planet is engaged in a fight over nothing burgers.
2
Wish that there was a way to number each of Trump's lies so we could keep track of which one we were on, but he has so many daily, and sometimes hourly, then there are the half-truths, the stuttered lies, the altered lies, the lies about lies....oh, man. Can't we just get rid of him? I DO think we need to hear them all, lest we think he has reigned them in. But I, for one, am exhausted! Wish we could just jump to elections and get this over with.
2
How can anyone respect Donald when he bragged on television about sexually taking advantage of women and then lied about it? How can anyone respect him when we know he paid $135,000 to shut up a woman who said he had sex with her when he was married with children? How can anyone respect him when we know that he had his father pay tons of money to doctors to write letters that stated he wasn't fit for service in Vietnam because he had bone spurs? And how can anyone respect Donnie when he has stated that avoiding VD after getting out of military service was even more difficult than the service would have been. His acts are even worse than his lies.
But what really keeps me up at night is not his inability to tell the truth, but how close he is to the nuclear button. At the age of 76 I'm not all that worried about myself, but I'm terrified for all the children in the world, including my two daughters. His lies are, of course, deplorable, but nuclear annihilation is much more frightening, and he's just crazy enough to start the ball rolling.
6
With numbing regularity, a new development in the long-running soap opera over Clinton's emails has wiped every other important story off the front page. Once again, the already short attention span of Americans is made shorter. Clinton is not president. Trump is president. Far more important than what the IG's report says, is the simultaneous news that the foundation of a wealthy sitting president has just been accused by a state attorney general of blatant violations of well-established campaign finance laws and other irregularities. Let's keep our eye on THAT ball.
8
“is did Hillary Clinton and her cronies get preferential treatment in her email server investigation for political reasons?”
And the report’s answer is clear: No."
Perhaps you should read the report.
There was almost nothing about the investigation that followed established procedure.
Finding Comey insubordinate for his actions. is just one slight clue.
2
All we have left is the press, so I'd like to thank the NYTimes and the Washington Post, and other publications who believe in truth through research and questioning. Thank you. You are all we have left and you speak for us. Thank you. You may be all we have to hold together what remains of what we used to call America.
4
Surprise, surprise, he is lying. Now tell me something I don't know. Ever since the day he took the oath to uphold the Constitution ( which he never read and knows nothing about ) he has constantly lied and wouldn't know the truth if it hit him in the face. We know who and what he is, but he has everyone else on staff lying for him....don't any of those people have a conscience. What they are doing makes Watergate look like a tea party.
2
If I was being investigated for a crime, a serious crime, and a report was issued that people in the organization that was investigating me were talking about ways of not letting me succeed in pursuing my goals (i.e., like Trump pursuing being President), and the lead person in that organization was found to be "insubordinate," I don't think I would be getting a fair shake from that organization either.
Bernie Sanders and many in his crowd were convinced the system was "rigged" against them, too, with less justification than Trump has. Two states held both caucuses (which determined the number of delegates for each candidate) and primaries (which did not). In both of those states, Sanders won the caucuses handily, but lost in the primaries. In other words, if anything, the system was "rigged" against Clinton since more people in those two states supported her than him.
Is Sanders "lying" when he focuses on only certain facts in his bid but ignores others and claims it was rigged?
What person accused of a crime doesn't focus on parts of the "system" that seem unfair? What person in politics is impartial and objective and doesn't twist facts to support their narrative?
Mr. Leonhardt appears to be doing what Trump is doing---taking facts and making them fit a narrative he already has.
It's not lying--it's human nature.
2
Dan writes, "If I was being investigated for a crime, a serious crime, and a report was issued that people in the organization that was investigating me were talking about ways of not letting me succeed in pursuing my goals (i.e., like Trump pursuing being President), and the lead person in that organization was found to be "insubordinate," I don't think I would be getting a fair shake from that organization either."
Yeah. You might "think" that, Dan, but what do the facts actually show upon investigation? Hmm? That the FBI agents who didn't like Trump actually did nothing to prevent him from achieving his goals. And that the former FBI director's insubordination actually helped Trump achieve his goals.
So, in fact, Trump didn't get a fair shake from the FBI...he got a very beneficial shake from the FBI. It was clearly Hillary (and the entire country) who got screwed by the FBI and their investigation of her. I, for one, have lost trust in the impartiality of FBI and the Dept. of Justice. They are political organizations with their own agendas, which are to screw any and all Democrats.
Dan continues, "...if anything, the system was "rigged" against Clinton since more people in those two states supported her than him.
Is Sanders "lying" when he focuses on only certain facts in his bid but ignores others and claims it was rigged?"
Yes...but the actual liars are his supporters, the berniebros. They lie about the fake rigging much, much more than he did/does.
Its not that Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States of America, is lying, but rather he is stating the facts as he sees them. We all do that. We all see the facts through the perspective of our own prism. Besides it is his opinion. All of us are entitled to our opinion, including President Trump. Some may not agree with it, but others like me and millions of Americans do. I proudly support the President. I proudly support Trump. Thank you.
4
Except that Trump *is* lying. Many Trump supporters were convinced that the IG report would implicate Clinton in wrongdoing, it did no such thing. Now, we see Trump supporters, such as yourself, shifting goalposts again. “The President has his ow facts.” Those are not facts, they are lies.
5
opinions are not facts.
Southern Boy writes, "Its not that Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States of America, is lying, but rather he is stating the facts as he sees them. We all do that."
I can't argue with that. I don't know how anyone can. Trump supporters believe, just like their hero, that they are entitled to not just their own opinion, but their own facts. If they can interpret facts any which way they choose, if they can "...see the facts through the perspective of our own prism." then literally anything is possible for them to believe.
For example, they can believe that they are the only "real" Americans, and anyone who doesn't agree with them should be deported (or worse). They can believe that Hitler was also a great leader and that the KKK is a wonderful, civic minded organization. They can believe that slavery was and could be again, a wonderful institution.
In particular, Trump supporters are free to believe that the confederacy should have won the war and that it's fine if the old South, the Confederacy, and the articles of confederacy (and not the US Constitution) are where their true loyalties lies. I'm bet that is the case for many, and maybe most Trump supporters.
1
Trump has been lying from the day he entered the presidential race. He continues to lie today. One problem though, he has not done so under oath. But, it is to the point that anything Trump says, or does, should be assumed to be a lie. Not only by the American people, but business, government officials, state governments, and any head of state.
If Trump has accomplished something is that the United States is run by someone who is a liar, and cannot be trusted. He is more dangerous than Kim, Putin, Erdagan, Xi, Saudi Royal Family, etc. Because Trump could tell them that he will not attack, while at the same time troops are invading.
The worse kind of human being is a liar. An even worse kind is to perpetuate a lie to make it eventually sound like the truth. And, nothing is even more worse than a person who has zero integrity, when their lies conflict with each other.
This is more than a stupid FBI report, and insubordination, this is about wrecking any positive image of the United states for the benefit of one person. If people can live with this, then we might as well start splitting up the US into smaller nations.
6
"And the report finds no reason to lose confidence in Robert Mueller’s continuing investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign."
Fair enough. And wake me up if Mueller ever actually finds proof of collusion between Trump and Putin to steal the election from poor hapless Hillary. It's now over a year and $17 million later ... and still nothing. Even Peter Strozk has an email in which he said he doesn't think there's much there. Time for the most Trump-deranged to put up or shut up. I'm perfectly happy to see the truth, unlike too many these days on the Left as well as the Right. Oh, there are the financial shenanigans uncovered committed by Paul Manafort ... 3 years before he joined the Trump team and from which he was fired. And a discredited dossier of salacious rumors paid for by the DNC.
2
JW writes, "And a discredited dossier of salacious rumors paid for by the DNC."
First, the dossier was initially commissioned by republican opposition to Trump. Second, Hillary's campaign paid to keep it going. Third, and most importantly, the dossier has not been discredited...and as Mueller's team looks at it, they are finding more and more verifiable facts.
Finally, that trump supporters lie to cover for Trump is a given, and totally expected. It's a total surprise when they don't lie...just like the surprise when on rare occasion Trump inadvertently tells the truth.
1
The unfortunate thing about spewing falsehoods and negativity is that it works. Trump, Fox mews, and Trumps sycophants twist the facts into accusations of negativity. The rest of us, read the findings of the IG report and accept those findings as true or at least reasonable (Trump was elected, so how did he get harmed?). The problem, which is universally applicable to negative comments, is that we now have to defend ourselves against made up stuff. It can be and is exhausting, but very effective in deflecting blame and culpability. In Trump world, someone else is at fault, not him and so he hurls negativity, which places the accused in a defensive posture. To much negative energy, but sadly, it works.
4
Thank you for using the word "lies". It is so often softened into something else. Let's call it what it is.
10
The conundrum the Democrats have found themselves in for decades now is that they make mistakes, as anyone does, and that mistake is amplified with fake news and investigations. The targets of this tactic become either paranoid or quit or both.
The Clinton's stayed but became secretive trying to prevent any ammunition falling into the Republican operatives' hands. This response by the Hilary is the cause of all her troubles and the ultimate failure of her political career.
2
I'm not sure how anyone could believe Hillary didn't break the law with her emails. As far as the thirty thousand of those emails vanishing, they eventually found 300,000 stuck in a laptop. I can understand Comey turning a blind but informed eye away. She was an ex-senator, ex Secretary of State, spent eight years in the White House as the wife of Bill, and running for president. If he hadn't exposed new concerns and she won only to find out the information was withheld, it would have been a mess. So he told on her. No one has even found one Hillary voter who voted for Trump because of these revelations. Then when we hear about these messages that declare the writer will do everything he could to help Trump be defeated, just claiming that this was just bad protocol is questionable. As far as honesty go, Come was busy producing memos to secretly leak to be passed on to the NYT, how do you walk away from that? But some how the blame is a hat Mr. Leonhart is trying to fit on Trumps head. Does he believe all his declarations? I doubt it but he isn't lying if he believes what he writes. That applies to others as well. Did Mr. Krugman lie when he predicted a global recession, with no end in sight? Of course not. Trump believes what he and that is not a lie. Trump believes there was special treatment of Hillary and people in the Justice dept. and FBI working against him. The txt. messages give some strength of that.
3
Even Comey said she was lying!
I think the missing Clinton emails are the real Russia collusion story.
The entire Trump administration, the Republican Party, and the Right Wing media machine all share a common trait. Nearly everything they do is based on lies and sanctimony. We shouldn't just be looking at impeachment down the road - we should be looking at RICO cases being built against all of them.
7
This is Trump for you: It's clear that James Comey should have been fired for not following FBI procedures during the campaign. He should have been fired for grievous errors that may have cost one candidate the election. If Trump had given this as his reason for letting Comey go, as some in his administration wanted him to do, he would have been home free. But noooo! He had to admit that real reason was the Russia investigation thus strengthening the case for obstruction against him. With an enemy like himself, Trump doesn't need the Democrats or the media.
2
Americans today seem divided into two hositle camps that have little else on their minds but mutual fault finding and hurling accusations against one another. It grows very tiresome and one wonders if there might not be some more productive way to use our time and energy.
Those who do focus their minds and energy on producing useful goods or serices to sell to other are subject to being called selfish, materailistic and unworthy. Those who ask the more affluent to share some time and resources to help the less fortunate are subject to being called thieving socialists.
Enough already! Can we not try to become more civil and accepting of each other? This constant and partisan bickering and fault finiding is becoming very tiring!
1
We need this report to tell us something we already know? Of course Trump is lying. He always has and he always well.
From now on, we need to see the words Trump and lying in the same sentences.
Trump did lie, Trump does lie and Trump is always going to lie. This is a given, just like the sun rising every single day.
7
Remember our lives before Twitter? So placid, so tranquil, so truthful. What value does it have? Please explain.
3
The lying partisanship of Trump and his minions is astounding. The support they are getting from Fox & Co. for their continual lies is alarming. We need to get the fairness doctrine back into our laws and that as quickly as possible. The yellow journalism of the liars on the far-right is back in full force. Many of these news sites are just making stuff up out of whole cloth to protect their chosen savior, Trump. The list of lies and fabrications is just too long to go into here. If Trump is reelected in 2020 it may be Alex Jones as next secretary of State!
2
Trump is lying? Imagine that. At this point the fact that Trump is a serial liar is hardly news worthy. Now if he were found to tell truth that would be a major headline. What a fine top of the heap representative he is. We should all be very very proud to say that he is the best we have to offer. Not!!!!
1
Can anyone name any politician of either party about whom the headlines every day include at least one story that has at it's core: "he is lying?"
Anyone who news organizations have to keep a running tally of how many lies they have told? (He is by most accounts well past 3, 000 and adding an average of 9 a day)
Anyone? Ever?
His Majesty now has 6 active cases against him either in the courts or getting there.
1.Mueller and Trump Russia
2.Cohen and financial crimes
3.Emoluments Clause case (currently in federal court)
4.Trump Foundation crimes
5.Stormy Daniels defamation case
6.Summer Zervos defamation case (he is already court ordered to be deposed)
He will also be taken to court for setting up concentration camps for toddlers soon. No doubt. It is a violation of US law and our Constitution's 8th Amendment
In addition he is egregiously abusing the power of his office by continually lying to legislators and the public he is obligated to serve, and by ordering politically motivated investigations of people he does not like.
Any one of these should result in his impeachment. Taken together we have a rogue administration being protected by a rogue Republican party.
There is only one remedy. Vote Democrat in November. Every race. No matter who. Only a Democratic led congress will stop this madness and start the task of repairing the damage to our reputation, our federal budget, our schools, our environment, our foreign relations, and immigration policies
1
The coverage of the IG report on CBS is of the “he said this, she said that” variety, aimed at ruffling no feathers and diluting the report to a no-account bureaucratic exercise.
Is that “balance” or pandering?
2
What garbage.
If the bias wasn’t political..then what was it? Was it sexual, gender, racial bias? Of course not. Their actions were coordinated and completely political. And they were protecting Obama, as he used a false name and a non-secure email account, and Obama knew Hillary was using a non-secure email account. Just like Comey, who used a Gmail account..which means Google had all of his data and metadata.
2
The straight line: "Did the Justice Department and F.B.I. use their power, as Trump has repeatedly claimed, to help Clinton’s campaign and hurt his?" sez you.
The punch line: "No," sez you.
and yet, among other bits of actual documentary and testimonial evidence, the report sez: "F.B.I. officials have acknowledged that they made those decisions in part because they assumed Mrs. Clinton would win, and they worried about appearing to conceal information to help her."
How deep does denial go? Certainly as deep as the notion that hi!!ary's defeat cost us a model of integrity, imagination and wisdom (social and political) in the oval office...it is this delusion that will impede our progress as a nation, stuck as we are, rather on obsessive fulmination over trump than cogent, (grown up!) opposition.
2
Compared to a nan who averages seven “misleading” to “pants on fire” lies a day, costs us our best allies, favoring dangerous dictators, ripping up treaties from NATO to NAFTA; destroying the best guaranteed health program ever to make its way through Congress; cutting all manner of funding from aid for the poor to basic scientific research in all fields; denying the realities of scientific data; calling Klansmen and Nazis the moral equals of people killed and maimed by one who mowed down peaceful counter protesters; intermixing taxpayer funds with those of his and friends/families businesses; using a charity he established as a tool for self-dealing, repeated violations of the tax code; encouraging Evangelical preachers to break the same portion of the tax code; closing our borders to political asylum seekers, Muslims, and insulting the entire non-nordic-European world in the process; changing his version of the “truth” several times a day ...
The truth, the teal truth is that HILLARY Clinton has never been shown to be less than virtuous (yeh her husband had some fidelity issues, not involving porn stars snd centerfold pinups), reliable in a crisis, supportive of the government when it helps the nation, as Secretary of State establishing a system to give her access to her staff around the world 24/7, AFTER denied access by departmental rulesto “black budget” agency and Pentagon systems...
Hillary is a class act, Trump’s made the US a pariah nation.
Prove otherwise, no lies.
1
I'm pretty sure that Hillary Clinton would not have waltzed with Kim Jung Un.
alas, more likely a tango...
As was already known, the report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything.
Now repeat that. The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything.
Repeat that. The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything.
This fact will not penetrate the skulls of Trump supporters because their skulls reverberate with whatever lies Trump tells them.
But there are many people in America who pay little attention to political goings on outside their busy lives at work and home. These people must be reached with the truth, so let's say it again.
The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything. And again.
The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything. And again.
The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything....
The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything...
The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything.
The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything.
The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything.
The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything.
The report confirms that Donald Trump is a liar. He lies about anything and everything.
You cannot say it enough!
2
How does David Leonhardt explain this email exchange involving FBI agent Peter Strzok and Lisa Page:
"[Trump's] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!" Ms Page wrote.
"No," Mr Strzok replied. No he's not. We'll stop it."
So two senior members of the FBI pledged to stop Trump from being elected!!!
That FACT proves that Trump has some truth to his claims, and the senior members of the FBI were pledged to work against him.
Sadly, David Leonhardt wants people to listen to his interpretation of the events instead of reading the report and learning things for themselves.
"Democracy dies in the darkness," and David Leonhardt is one of the people blocking the light.
4
Yeah they worked so hard to prevent Trump from getting elected they forgot to rig the election! That doesn’t even make any sense.
1
He deludes himself into thinking that Fox News and Russia colluded with the Koch Brothers, corporate media and the giant telecom corporations along with the CIA and fossil fuel industry to use Chinese spy satellites, solar flares, secret moon bases and alien spacecraft to plant these fake messages on the phones of the noble FBI coup-plotters
Was that sarcasm? Sounds like it to me from two dedicated, hard-working personally involved, with their own private “in jokes” and ways couples have if communicating that outsiders never can grasp, members charged, effectively, with building a case agains Clinton, who insisted on making s last-ditch effort when e-mail was found on a laptop accidentally and improperly collected in a search for computers owned by the real owner/user’s husband.
No matter how clear the verdict, that Comey's action just before the presidential elections was premature, and influenced the results; this, plus Putin's cyber attacks on Clinton, sealed the deal. That's why we consider Trump an illegitimate president. Of course, this vulgar bully is trying to muddy the waters, to escape the shame of his assault. Trump is a shrewd liar and fabricator, and an expert in distracting his disinformed and biased base, while inventing scapegoats to blame for his own incompetence. How in the world were we so stupid in electing such a wretch, so indecent, so immature and vain?
2
"How in the world were we so stupid in electing such a wretch, so indecent, so immature and vain? "
Racism and sexism.
1
You forgot to mention losing by more than 3 million votes- about equal to the entire population of the US whether citizens, legal residents and millions of citizens ages 1 day to 17 years and 364 days of age.
1
I'll say again. Mr Leonhardt is really reporting here, not offering an opinion.
Because the straight reporting operations of major media outlets are constrained by tradition, and by an ethical commitment to fairness which Trump has exploited cynically and with great success, from simply reporting the truth that Trump and his minions and stooges lie, all the time, in ways small and large, it falls to "opinion" writers like Leonhardt, and Krugman and Goldberg and Blow here at the Times, and notably Jen Rubin at the Post, along with some others, to report the simple truth.
The Times leadership could do something about this if they had the will.
I hope to see the day when the citizens money is clawed back from this fake liar.
4
If Trump truly is a malignant narcissist, then his motivation for lying is to ensure his psychological survival.
Didn't win the popular vote? => Three million people must have voted illegally.
Didn't have a larger inauguration crowd than Obama? => Trump's inauguration crowd was the largest in history, PERIOD!
The IG Report doesn't confirm Trump's claims? => The system is still rigged against Trump.
There is no 4D chess strategy behind his lies. He simply needs to see himself as superior and successful at all times, despite any evidence to the contrary.
5
Your title needs to be amended. It should be:
Trump is lying again
or
Trump continues his lying spree.
12
It took the GOP and their mouthpiece Fox News one year to cook up a 500 hundred (500!!!) page report to to discredit Comey so as to legitimize Trump’s firing of Comey.
Sorry folks, I cannot buy this FAKE report. It is meant solely to delegitimize Mueller’s investigations.
What about the long list of hundreds of lies that Trump has told and continues to manufacture new ones every day? Who is more believable? Trump or Comey?
1
DOJ IG investigation was ordered by the Obama administration DOJ prior to inaguration of Trump.
Only IF you have a strong stomach...check out Rudy Giuliani on Fox News just a short while ago. He has been sent out to "DEMAND" that Mueller suspend the investigation AND that Peter Strzok be jailed.
Clearly, Rudy is playing to the cheap seats and, watching him these days, I actually feel sorry for him. Whoever is making him disgrace himself this way should be charged with elder abuse because the Rudy we once knew is no longer "there".
1
.....tying to confuse people....has been Trumps MO since he was born. His presidency has been nothing but contraction and obfuscation. Trump is so brazen never showing any self doubt he has his loyal band of followers believing any thing he says. He's not a sneaky liar, he puts it all out there for everyone to see. No matter what is proven against him he will have a counter of a measure of absurdity. A repugnant and reprehensible man on a good day.
1
“You shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free” was one of the most sublime statements made by Jesus referrring to Spiritual Realities. On the political scale, truth and fact are just words without any basis in reality. It’s no wonder that so many honest souls from both political camps are so confused. Who is really telling “The Truth”? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have unbiased political referees just like in sports to make the final calls? Actually we do. It’s called YOUR VOTE! Think your vote doesn’t matter? If so, look what we now have!
2
"They are, as is so often the case with Trump, lies."
What do you mean "as is so often"? Everything coming our through Trump's lips are always lies. Sad!
I feel sorry for people who rely on FOX News to tell them what they need to know. They are being fed so many lies, with omissions and obfuscation, that they do not have enough reliable truthful information to judge for themselves what is going on. It's important to share emails and articles with these people on the off chance that it will plant a seed of doubt in their minds that they are being fed a crock.
Cory Booker promised us a new animal shelter. He was lying, too.
1
I'm reminded of the old adage,
"How did you know he was lying?"
"His lips were moving."
Our fake President spreads lies, mistruths, propaganda, conspiracy theories with unabashed zeal. All the while, his GOP leadership henchmen say nothing.
About everything
When is this nightmare going to end?
8
Sadly, because the NY Times and it's irresponsible "editorial board" and publishers, claiming that their polling system, printed daily until the end of Mrs Clinton's unseccessful candidacy, was capable of doing what voters could only guess at-to assure the public they knew who the winner would be. What occurred as a result of this incredibly arrogant action by the Times was to allow millions of erstwhile Democratic voters-who had made Mrs Clinont the first "real"female Democratic candidate in history-confident enough to refuse to cast their votes for Mrs Clinton. The result was that while Comey's government communications against Clinton-combined with the NYTimes and Democratic party assuredness that Clinton couldn't lose to a creep like Trump, allowed 13 to 15 mil,ion Democrats to vote for third party candidates. This resulted in Mr Trump wining the election , in a surprising turnaround even he never expected.
So, It wasn't Putin using US and Asian computers and US tools-to undo us- our own voters imprudently and arrogantly sure of being right in all things- voted against Democrats to prove it: they lost Clinton the election.
I heard this and saw the statistics afterward-and the voters against HRC admitted that they had voted Green, Communist or independent to show Clinton she could not ignore them, taking Wall St. Money, instead.
Democrats of the left-and far left-became their own worst enemies-just as in 2000, when they voted for Nader-sinking Gore's chances.
And now we will see a genuine "witch hunt" started by Trump and his enablers in the GOP congress, Fox media, and his paranoid base.
4
The findings of this report are irrelevant to today's dysfunctional political landscape. The Donald and his loud speaker, Fox News, will use out of context .... to make the report confirm what his base of deplorables already believe. The rest of us are left with the facts and the idea that Comey put politics above honesty at a cost that our Nation may never be able to recover.
China and Putin win - we will be playing defense for the foreseeable future because of Comey's gaff.
David -
Thank you for this defense against gas-lighting. Please keep these quick-response analyses coming.
The question is, how can this analysis be put in front of the Trumperinos? They need to hear it most. And they are certainly not reading the NY Times, Washington Post, BBC News, or any other reputable news sources where they will see these unbiased analyses.
5
Trump and his enablers are not “scared” by this report...they will simply lie about its contents and say that it supports their false narrative. 40% of the American public will believe these lies without reservation. A significant fraction of the remainder are so sick of the entire situation that they won’t bother to think about it.
5
First of all, Mr. Leonhardt, I applaud your use of the phrase “Trump is Lying” in the title of your piece, as opposed to some less accurate euphemism. However, as we have come to realize and accept, the fact that the President of the United States continually lies does nothing to diminish his popularity within the Republican Party. The Party of Trump prefers to believe his lies and the lies disseminated by the official administration propaganda outlet, Fox News, rather than expend energy on a critical analysis of the facts. Such intellectual laziness is at the core of the cult of Trumpism.
5
It doesn't matter what the truth is, Trump and Fox News will lie about and Trump's minions will believe them. That is frightening.
4
Um, ah, gee. Would it be possible to have a column aimed at centrists - a column that wouldn't come down completely in one camp or the other? Why do articles like these have to be so polarizing? The year 2016 presented a hold-your-nose selection, between 2 deeply flawed candidates. The media has created (and reinforced) the walls of division. Over-praising one side (in this case Hillary Clinton) and over-criticizing the other side (in this case Donald Trump) creates cynicism about the media. The headline of this article is a dead giveaway to its slant.
Um, ah, gee there Maurice. There is a time when playing the bias card is acceptable, you know. Say, when the leader of your country is a sociopathic liar and his foreign policy strategy consists of making friends enemies and enemies friends. When there is enough suspicion to warrant an extensive investigation into whether he may have colluded with a foreign power to win an election. When many of his campaign advisors and close associates have been criminally indicted for lying under oath before Congress and the man who has been his personal attorney for the past decade is also about to be criminally indicted.
Um, ah, gee Maurice. How one could possibly remain a centrist when the choices before you are black or white. At some point soon we will all have to decide which side to choose. Which side of history we choose to take our stand on.
The report's real message is lack of clarity and lack of equal justice under the law. The IG report is incomplete, inconclusive and merely a precursor to a proper investigation by a special counsel similar to the one authorized by the justice Dept in light of the findings of the IG report.
The IG's attempt to preempt further investigation is obvious when the report tries to interpret the findings and conclude there is "no political bias" and previously Comey used the term "lack of intent". Oh really? FBI is expected to show no political bias whatsoever.
Overall there was clear culture of a political bias when higher ranking individuals had secretly indicated their desire to "STOP TRUMP" from being elected president and if elected to create a case to impeach him. This stinks to high heaven and the current FBI director says that the FBI needs to reform and reassess its functioning. Why would he seriously say that if everything was hunky dory?
The conclusion that Trump is lying is absurd unfounded biased and premature allegation that will be resolved only if a special prosecutor comes to the conclusion. Until then Trump is innocent of the false charge of lying.
One thing from the IG report is crystal clear. The axed FBI director's conduct was improper and not in tune with the reputation of the FBI and Comey's firing was fully justified although a year late. Firing Comey was not obstruction of justice. Comey and his cabal was a cancer in the FBI.
2
Trump’s lying is unfounded? Are you even paying attention? His lies have been nonstop.
Comey’s actions hurt Clinton, not Trump, yet you claim he was biased against Trump? That makes no sense. Comey discussion investigations against Clinton in public, but did not say a word about the investigation into the Trump campaign.
Republicans in Congress, you should be ashamed of yourselves for letting this farce continue day after day. You OWN this presidency. If it doesn't end up destroying your party, there is no justice at all. If it doesn't destroy our country, we will all be very lucky.
6
Trump lies every time he open his mouth. The trouble is, more than a third of Americans applaud it. As they applaud his racism and phony "patriotism."
5
It might be pointed out that Jeff Glor’s presentation on the CBS Evening News spent much time on the Trump statements about the report and focused upon Christopher Wray’s summary of FBI mistakes and bias by some in the FBI against Trump. Glor invited Margaret Brennan to present a long “he says this, she says that” presentation leaving the impression that it was a coin flip. One final aside by Glor, that “most experts don’t agree [with Trump supporters]”, is all that countered the emphasis throughout that the report did nothing to settle matters, any matters.
What’s going on with CBS??
4
Trump's supporters are immune to facts. The only way to end this insanity is to throw out all Republican candidates this November.
11
Trump telling the truth would be news.
The longer this goes on, the worse it gets.
5
Good! It's past time journalists, journals, and news readers and talking heads began calling Trump's prevarications what they are: lies.
8
Putin couldn't have chosen a "better" candidate to tear down the United States of America.
From domestic relations to foreign policy, this man has used his disregard for facts and truth to great effect to disable freedom and justice in the U.S. He has - in less than two years - destroyed faith in our political system such that it will be generations before repair can be effected.
Got to hand it to you, Vlad.
7
The fact we're talking about this, instead of standing outside the White House shouting about impeachment and a law-enforcement-aided takeover of our country, means we've already lost.
When law enforcement bodies determine the outcome of an election, it's called a coup.
2
If ther were, in fact, a 'Deep State', it would have faciliated the Electoral College to do its job and keep the 'Machurian Candidate' out of the Oval Office.
1
Just more reason for the DNC to focus on the key elections this fall and it Koch the Koch’s. Flip both the House and the Senate and you can neuter Trumps last two years.
Lord knows you can’t mute the man, but placing a check on his powers, something Republicans won’t do, is and will become more vital.
But it all comes down to November.
4
It's not only the lying. It's the constant bloviating, exaggerating, pontificating that his believers soak up. Trump is like a living breathing propaganda machine that never shuts down, not even when he goes to bed and he whips out his Tweeter. As long as he has a microphone and a TV camera on him he goes into showman mode and he puts on his act as though he has the answers to all the problems of, not only the USA, but the whole world.
Thankfully his kind was not in the W.H. in 1941.
9
Lying is a strong word. Most professional people use it carefully and sparingly. Inconsistencies is generally used instead, leaving the door open to future discovery of facts. When it is used like you do, it indicates unprofessional and sensational intent, which is self serving. Ultimately it will work against your motives.
I lived from 1963-2014 in New York State.
I grew up reading and hearing about Donald Trump making millions of dollars while screwing his associates and employees out of every cent possible. At the same time, he would use every loophole and dirty trick that is known to man to get out of paying his fair share of taxes to both the state and federal governments.
Don't you wonder why he still refuses, to this day, to release his tax returns even though every other President has for decades?
Donald Trump is a sociopathic liar. Yes, I said it. Liar.
He will do and say whatever he has to as long as he gets what he wants and maintains the appearance of being a winner.
Liar is not too harsh a word to use to describe Donald Trump.
"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."
Vladimir Lenin
This comment by rich williams seems out of touch. Anyone with a pulse knows everything Trump does is unprofessional, sensational and self serving. Look what just happened with his Trump Foundation. Lying is the perfect word and has to be used because when it comes to Trump that's all he does. Don't believe me, read this article in Esquire:
https://www.esquire.com/uk/latest-news/a20111768/donald-trump-has-manage...
I am living in a country with a dictator , I am tired of this, tired of waking up to anger, to lies, to insanity. Midterm elections cant come quick enough for me and for all of us.
6
Peter Strzok in his text to Lisa Page said he would stop Trump from becoming President. Barely a hundred years ago this clear intent would have been enough to have him shot on the spot.
Really! Trump has physically threatened people in public speeches. That's sufficient for someone to file criminal charges against him for harassment. And I don't have to go back 100 years in time for that statement to be valid!
And yet, Trump became POTUS.
I wish Strzok had.
So, Trump lies.
With this revelation, we have a modern day retelling of the parable of the scorpion and the frog in which the scorpion stings the frog who helped him cross a river. The dying frog asked the scorpion why he stung him, killing them both. We ask why Trump lies. The answer is the same for both the scorpion and Mr. Trump:
"Because it is in my nature".
1
David, you hit it out of the ballpark with this one! It should be disseminated as widely as possible.
I sure wish you would help James Berger and me get our story out there of Russia’s weaponization of LinkedIn. It is part and parcel of what this op-ed is all about.
1
I know some columnist as the NYT had to write an article like this...but let's be honest, Trump is not going to read a 500 page report nor, even if he did, he would not grasp the nuances described in this column. What Trump will do is listen to Fox and Friends for their Cliff Notes version of the report---should note all three friends will not have read the report either---and that will be today's Trump tweet narrative.
1
If he is talking then he is lying always. Eventually this shall be his downfall.
3
Good column.
Comey’s book really demonstrates the guy was a fairly probably a good FBI leader but gradually became so dedicated to exactly following his idea of his “higher calling” that he self-riotously ignored the accepted rule against announcements so fuzzy that they mislead the public, and allow the “winner” of a late October Surprise to “shape the narrative “ .
He wanted to hide the depth and width of the Russia probe until/unless he could put a positive Trump-Russia connection on it, and thought saying “gee you’ve got to watch out for lying Internet sites” might be enough to”inoculate”the public from Putin’s efforts to turn the election.C knew all those informed, intelligent voters,freed from mindless fury over female bosses, would guarantee a win for Hillary, and he didn’t have to tell Congress about all that was known about Putin’s use of the Social Media gossip pages, where obvious lies about candidates sell as well as photoshopped LOLCAT photos.
If Trump’s supporters had been equally outed, and someone Asked the still-unanswered question “why did Putin put so much effort into seeing Trump elected? And why is Trump in love with an absolute dictator”, rather than She had her own Internet SERVER, whatever that is, and she must be a Criminal for not keeping all her spam and other worthless e-mail on her system”
He also ignored the psychological problem that occurs when prosecutors work 6 months on a case, and come up dry. They are DESPERATE for a 2nd chance.
1
So when the FBI decided something that should have been done by a grand jury or a federal prosecutor they were just being nice? When they interviewed her rather than under oath they were just being nice? When they insisted that intent was required for her to be in violation of the law when that is incorrect that was just an innocent mistake? If you believe this you live in a fantasy alternative reality. The objective evidence should be presented to a grand jury by an independent prosecutor and let them decide. Probably an indictment.
1
First, the FBI investigates and refers for charges if it feels there are prosecutable facts.
Second, intent (called “mens rea”) is required in every criminal statute. The FBI didn’t make it up for Clinton.
Third, the FBI doesn’t interview under oath because lying to the FBI is a felony.
See how misinformation leads to fake outrage?
It requires courage for an organization to do perform a transparent inventory of its practices, employees, and its role in a democratic government. It takes an even higher level of courage to publicly air the contents of that laundry basket.
This is something foreign to Donald Trump & Co. Knowing this helps to explain how and why the president and his supporters misread and misinterpret the document: It is written in a language based in fact, honesty and truth, attributes that not one of which is found in the communication process of their native tongue.
7
The one thing Kim walked away with that we need to get our hands on is Trump's tax returns.
6
It is too simple to state that he is 'lying'. More like a cynical and calculated attempt to obfuscate the truth and cloud people's minds by pre-occupying their visual space with untruths, half-truths, feints, non-sequiturs, and conspiracies.
Thank you for this clear summary of the inspector general’s report and its implications.
I have never understood how Trump’s Republicans convinced themselves that the Justice Department favored Democrats and Democratic candidates. Nearly all the FBI’s leaders have been Republicans, and, as you mention, Comey skewered Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
But at last, again, it may not matter very much that the inspector general’s report was thorough and fair and proved Trump has been lying about the “deep state” and “Spygate.” He’s been lying and cheating brazenly for years, creating fantasies that ennoble him, inflate his image, and demean his opponents. But his followers love the performance. They eat it right up and wait for more.
And they won’t be reading the New York Times.
Congress could save us. It won’t.
Time to vote. Get out the vote.
5
What a waste of the taxpayers' money. From start to finish. As another commenter pointed out, there was nothing there to begin with and the mistaken use of a private email server was just that: a mistake, not a crime.
3
Trump is such a malevolent character that the American people have put a serious blood libel on the sacrifices made by all the Americans who died over the years defending the freedoms and diffusion of power enshrined in the Constitution. Trump has more in common with Meyer Lansky and the other historic leaders of organized crime than with any American politician. Reporter David Kay Johnston, as knowledgeable about Trump's history as anyone, suggested on the air tonight that the NYAG's civil complaint against the Trump Foundation and Trump and his children lays the foundation, once proven, for a criminal tax fraud case against Trump. Finally, some light at the end of the tunnel.
9
We can't take back what Comey did, but we can look forward.
If Hillary had become president, it's possible that the Trump base who simmered and showed up at the polls would be boiling over by now...and in 2020, might have backed someone far worse. At least Trump is incompetent--it's what's saving us. How does President Pence sound? President Palin? How about President Michele Bachman?
So Hillary shook the red base out of the trees, and we're saddled with an ignorant celebrity Oval Office squatter. Will he likewise shake the rest of us down to the polls in November, and in 2020?
Forward!
9
I think equally bad. Not worse.
It seems appropriate to translate the "Trump is Lying" into Fredish, so that Trump supporters can hear the truth without feeling threatened and unsafe in the same way Mr. Rogers spoke about frightening things to children to help them feel safe.
Sadly, I have not the skills, but offer a meager start, please help refine if you like:
Trump is lying.
Trump is lying to you.
Trump is lying to you, here's where you can find the truth, but it's not your fault.
Trump is lying to you, and it's not your fault, it's Trump's fault.
Trump is lying to you and it's not your fault, it's Trump's fault and the people who spread his lies' fault.
Trump is lying to you, and you're clever to not spread his lies or pay attention to the people who spread them.
8
Reaction to the report shows that these states of America will not be united again any time in the near future, if ever again.
2
What the DOJ and FBI did was to over compensate against the false criticism by the right that they were biased towards Hillary. So they did everything in their power to make sure they left no stone un-turned on the silly e-mail thing - lest they be accused by Republicans of unfairness.
Since Democrats were unaware of the Russian investigation, they did not put pressure on the DOJ and FBI to investigate trump. Indeed, there were no leaks about it, for fear of Republicans coming down on them claiming favoritism for Hillary and sabotaging trump's campaign.
Same goes with the false allegations that the election was rigged by Hillary so that had the polls been correct, he'd have a ready excuse to contest the loss. All the while the election was being rigged, as Republicans, Russians, Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris and Israelis conspired with the trumps and each other to steal OUR election - they succeeded. The polls never factored in the effect of the conspiracy in their numbers.
As for Strzok, many of his exchanges with Page were highly critical of Hillary.
Like Strzok, I too will do what I can to ensure trump is not re-elected - I will vote against him! That is what Strzok likely meant. Had Strzok really wanted to prevent trump from becoming POTUS, he would have leaked the FBI investigation into trump/Russia.
It is not only trump that lies - it is all of his Republican cult followers too. All 87% of them that endorse and share his values.
4
"...If it weren’t for that decision, the polling data suggests Clinton would be president." Rubbish. The polling data also suggested that Trump would fade in the primaries. The polling data was wrong.
Donald Trump legitimately won the 2016 presidential election. There was never any evidence of vote tampering or voter interference, the usual mechanisms of election fraud. To state that the Russians or Comey somehow swayed the election insults the intelligence of the American people.
The working class (WC) of this country is fed up not only with declining wages, living standards and social mobility, but also with the haughtiness and sense of entitlement of the "educated" class (of both parties) who have demeaned and disrespected them for decades. This extreme contempt for the WC is on obvious and continuous display in this newspaper, especially the reader comments sections.
The WC said enough is enough and spoke with their votes--loudly and clearly. Make no mistake: they were not deceived. They knew that they were taking a risk with Trump in order to force political change.
Also, please stop trying to blame the outcome on the electoral college. That rule was put in place by the nation's founders to prevent large states from dominating smaller ones. It functioned precisely as intended: DJT won 30 states and HRC 20. The NFL team with the best won/lost record doesn't always make it to the super bowel for the same reason.
Learn your lesson or the WC will teach it again.
2
So much to say to that, but I can start by pointing out that Democrats have been trying to raise the minimum wage. Trump promised not to. No one worried about declining wages and salaries should have supported Trump.
5
It is the WC who will learn the hard lessons. While the right drums up racism, fear and blame, they at the same time passed a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited the 1%.
The WC doesn't have tax write offs that corporations still have. The WC stands the lose the most as the GOP move into the next phase of gutting Medicare and Social Security. The WC stands the lose the most as this administration moves to dismantle the Pre existing conditions portion of Obamacare. There are lessons here to learn and the WC will learn them. likely the hard way.
The WC are against the tax and spend poliicies of Democrats but are the Borrow and Spend policies of the GOP better for them?
The Democrats have raised the minimum wage, and have destroyed millions of jobs doing it. Trying to force employers to pay $15 for $8 worth of work only guarantees more automation, robots, and self-service
Far right tactics have always favored the "rubber/glue" model, accuse the other party, any party of individuals including law enforcement, of doing what you have done, are doing or would very much like to do, like skewing elections of investigations in your favor.
If there is one strong message from the lengthy document it is that Comey's actions however well intended worked in favor of Donald J Trump. End of the fabricated story, unless you believe as his gullible followers do, that reality is trumped by emotional manipulation and fantasy.
2
The real message is that this country has no mechanism to deal with illegitimate elections, and a couple of people figured it out, went for it, and got away with it.
18
STOP BLAMING TRUMP!! As usual, this comes down to Trump SUPPORTERS who believe Trumps every word and then verify his words by watching Fox news. This isnt difficult to understand folks. Trump ISNT the problem. Its the people who continue to support Trump who are the problem because they couldn't care less about truth, rather they care only about Trumps "alternative facts." So please STOP BLAMING TRUMP and START placing blame where it belongs: Trump supporters.
4
Oh, Trump is definitely part of the problem.
How many debased play by plays are required before we the people discover the passion for justice that made us truly great, in the beginning? Before the hateful, self-serving lies are silenced, what must we lose?
6
The Clinton campaign was DOA. The initial FBI assessment on the destruction of emails only put into focus the question of her honestly.
David, you're leaving out the fact that the initial report on HRC's actions was down played from
"Gross Negligence" to a lesser assessment, to help her avoid prosecution during the campaign.
Trump did not lie David, the FBI cut HRC a break. As this whole topic is old news David, perhaps you should
consider writing on a more relevant topics.
2
Except the IG found that they did not cut her a break and that Comey made the right decision not to prosecute. And the report was released yesterday, so you’ve had time to read it and know that nothing you’ve said is correct.
That Comey knew in the summer of 2016 but failed to disclose Trump was under investigation proved to me - whether intending to or not, one man stole the election.
3
They were not inappropriately biased against Trump. They were appropriately opposed to the idea of Trump being President.
5
Clinton made serious errors in judgement, as did Comey, but these pale in comparison to Trump's collaboration with Russia to take the 2016 American election.
10
To say nothing of his deceitful behavior. The 6 year old in me wants to say,"If Martha Steward went jail for lying to the FBI why is Trump still out after his daily deception to the American people?"
Once the investigation was reopened Comey had no more neutral option.
The real story not answered here is, why was the investigation into the emails reopened and who agitated for it?
Evidence suggests, that the agitators were New York FBI agents with a hate for HRC and Dems in general and an axe to grind. They saw a win-win situation as long as the investigation was reopened.
1
We have seen this before, these antics from Republicans, with the Swift Boating of John Kerry and the attacks on Mary Mapes and her 60 minutes investigation of Bush's National Guard service. The modus operandi is simple, when presented with disagreeable facts, attack the messenger. Accuse him or her of the most vile transgressions you can legally get away with, ad hominem in excess. And this is the crucial part, persist in your attacks even after all allegations have been refuted. They ignore all that as if they can't hear. For a certain audience, very effective.
The upshot is this; the Republicans will continue with this nonsense until we call them out. By kicking them out.
8
Typical trump. He bellows and lies and calls for an investigation. When the report comes out, he lies about what it says. The sad part, with help from Fox, is that his "cult followers" will believe him.
2
trump will tell his base what to believe; they'll believe him first before anything. And the republican party, well, we already know about them.
4
Now that report is finished, we need to put our attention completely on the Russian investigation. I hope that whatever distractions that Trump comes up with, it will not deter the real story of Treason, money laundering, collusion, bribes, lying and double dealing by the Trump campaign during and after the election.
This is the real Deep State story.
2
Observing the way the various media outlets try to spin the report to fit their own agendas has become the game of the day. Pick an outlet and you can find whatever conclusion you desire. It is little wonder that so many people say they don't trust mainstream media - either anti- or pro-Trump.
1
It’s because so many people are too lazy to read the report.
Wow, an intelligent, well-reasoned comment. What are you doing on the NYT website? Are you lost?
The IG's report "found no evidence" that political bias influenced their investigation. The language is important here in that the statement does not rule it out, it simply points the IG does not have evidence. That said, we know from the report the FBI agents running both the Hillary and Trump investigations harbored political bias against Trump. And, since we know of this political bias and we know that the many of the same agents worked on both the Hillary and Trump investigations, is there enough evidence that all of this should be properly investigated? Should there be a new special counsel or an FBI team outside of Washington, who can actually subpoena those involved and run a proper investigation, look deeper into this? Imagine if all of the actors involved were interviewed by the FBI or a SC under oath and faced criminal indictment if they lied or misled, would we finally get honest facts and answers that we currently don't have?
1
Enough with the texts, already. The same agents trashed Hillary and others. Finding “no evidence” is why someone can’t be convicted on allegation. This used to be America, remember.
And the IG found no bias in anyone’s performance. Stop watching FOX. It’s not good for critical thought.
It is terribly discouraging to know there are two distinct sides to every truth: Trump talk and fact. The Trump/Republican Party has mastered this form of chaos and uses it very well.
Behind political truth is a Trump lie backed by the Republican Congress.
3
People are ranting about Comey going public on Clinton's emails, while remaining silent about Russia--as if he could do so.
Comey's own mea culpa (FWIW) is that since the AG had recused herself from the emails, he was left to make the decision to go public. Be that what it may (and I find it disingenuous and self-serving).
People are also forgetting the second part--President Obama was notified by Director Comey about the Russian meddling, and Obama was concerned that if it came from him, it would be read as a partisan move to influence the election. So he went to the Hill, and tried to get McConnell and the boys to issue a strongly worded bipartisan statement.
We all know how that went. *crickets*
The Republican leadership was willing to take a tainted victory, even if it meant that Trump was the result.
6
Loretta Lynch did not recuse herself. I have no idea why that falsehood will not die.
1
Trump's lying? Really? Seriously, how can anyone be surprised by this finding?
As the days, weeks and months pass by, Trump demonstrates by his daily utterances how truly unfit he is to occupy the highest elected office in our country. His perspective of what constitutes presidential strength is nothing more than commonplace gutter wallowing.
I am not convinced that his vaunted "base" is all that firmly behind him. What I do know is this: his pending fall will be the greatest fall in American political history, eclipsing even that of Richard Nixon, and his fractured base will be part of the rubble in his crushing collapse.
4
Thank you for your forthright acknowledgement of the truth: that the report clearly states that the FBI was not motivated by political. And therefore, Trump cries of 'witch hunt' are lies. Headlines proclaiming anything else -- and I have seen them in both NYT and WaPo -- are feeding Trump cult members' conspiracy theories and need to stop.
Excellent, summary David - nothing else really needs to be added for a reader who simply wants to know what actually happened.
Imagine if the Democrats now relentlessly shouted from the rooftops that the Republican IGs report concludes 2 things:
1.) Comey's actions helped Trump win the election
2.) Hillary Clinton did nothing wrong.
1
Why do you say the FBI agents were deeply and inappropriately biased against trump? I find it very reassuring that they had the good judgement to be biased against trump. Don't you think they were counterbalanced by agents who were biased against Hillary? We can't scrub peoples minds before they go to work.
5
Of course Trump is lying - that is what he does best. Anyone who doesn't know that at this point is insane. Unfortunately a large number of Americans are so greedy or easily manipulated that telling the truth no long matters to them, even at the highest levels of government.
3
Thank you for not being deferential to Trump by mincing words. Lying is what he does. Calling a spade a spade is a good way to clear the confusion that he and the GOP promote and the dust they are continually trying to blow into our eyes. Despite his pouts, he is not a three year having difficulty telling fantasy from reality; he is a con man hoping to confuse the public with fantasy to obscure reality.
4
Trump isn't lying. The FBI did help Hillary. It's because the FBI didn't prosecute her, that she was even on the ballot in November.
It is clear that if Hillary was anyone else she would have been prosecuted for mishandling of classified information and obstructing justice by setting up a private server to avoid congressional oversight and FOIA requests.
So all the Democrats have the FBI to thank for being able to Vote for Hillary in November 2016, instead of her necessary replacement because she was being prosecuted for crimes against the people of the United States.
2
So the system, according to Trump, is "rigged".
But he NEVER tweets, verbalizes or in any way indicates that he won the election " fair and square ".
Because he didn't.
And he knows it.
2
Rather than vilify the agent who said he would stop Trump from becoming president, my question is: what did he know from his investigation of Trump's Russia ties that made him so adamant?
2
Of course Comey's judgment is subject to criticism. He made a decision and he has to live with it...as does the rest of the world. However, there are two other people in this fiasco whose judgment must be faulted. The two agents exchanging personal love notes and opinions on an employer's e-mail system must have been living in the Dark Ages.
Did they not know that was against employer policy? Did they not know that anything and everything conveyed on the employer's server can be seen by fellow employees and supervisors? Did they not know that once something is on the Web, it lives forever? If they didn't know these basic facts, it begs the question of how they were ever promoted in the FBI.
There was nothing wrong with what they said. The majority of the country knew that Trump shouldn’t be president.
Two major factors weighed heavily in Comey's decision to send that letter to Congress on Oct. 28, 2016:
1. The hounding by Republicans including Trey Goudy that would surely continue with greater fervor after Clinton was elected.
2. The GOP partisans in the NY field office of the FBI that would likely leak the holding of this information of reopening the investigation to the media.
Add this to the decision to keep the Russian investigation quiet and it is difficult to conclude otherwise that their default, the institutional bias, was to be more sensitive to the GOP in their acts of omission or commission.
8
Trumps team's efforts to tag the FBI as biased is clearly an attempt to sway public opinion for the coming Mueller report. This only makes our suspicions stronger that there is fire under all the smoke. Further smoke is Trump's history of lies.
25
the smoke is at the FBI and DOJ.
The exercise of bad judgment by Comey obviously supports Trump’s decision to fire him and tends to undermine the charge that the firing constituted obstruction. Mueller had several question on the firing to ask Trump. That line of questioning is a lot less probativ now. That certainly isn’t going to help Mueller.
6
Michjas, your logic is faulty here, which is disappointing from a lawyer. Comey's bad judgment and Trump's corrupt intent are not mutually exclusive. Trump has given several contradictory reasons for firing Comey, including to the Russian ambassador and Lester Holt that it was for the purpose of getting rid of "the Russia thing." The question remains: did Trump fire Comey because of Comey's errors OR with corrupt intent, using Comey's errors as an excuse -- which he has pretty much admitted. The IG's report says nothing about Trump's actual intent, so far as I know.
Trump is once again mindlessly repeating falsehoods so that he'll get the non-discerning people to believe what he is saying. It's beyond crazy that Trump's attack the person using lies instead of the issue at hand is acceptable to people.
In regards to Comey he made a huge judgement error in my opinion but I trust his integrity and honesty. It's amazing that Trump gets away with it.
3
What names will Trump call the F.B.I. and Justice Department now? We now discover; the election was- indeed- rigged by a decent but self-righteous man overly confident in his convictions in "doing the right thing". The question I will always have is; Why were so many- afraid of Trump's barking "the election is rigged" before a single vote was cast? What was Barack Obama, James Comey et al. so afraid Trump would/could do- except rant? These folks knew he was possibly tainted by the Russians and refused to disclose what they knew- before the election: Emails and Russia...voters had a right to know. As it stands now; Republicans are *still* yammering about "Hillary's Emails."
7
"Trump’s claims of a “rigged system” to protect Clinton are outright fabrications. They are, as is so often the case with Trump, lies."
Well, sorry David, but I think that Trump's claims of a "rigged system" are, to some extent, accurate. Not only is the system rigged to keep people from voting, particularly people who would vote for Democrats, but also rigged to produce favorable vote counts. Favorable for republicans.
So...yes, Comey did cost Hillary the election. The Russians also helped Trump come close enough for republicans to steal the election. Bottom line...Trump should not have won and should not be President. I don't regard him as legitimate. If there was something I could do about that...but no...there isn't. All I can do is vote this November and hope that other reasonable people vote in large enough numbers that the republicans can't again steal the congressional elections.
Otherwise, our democracy is dead.
11
Of course we didn't need this report to know that Donald Trump is lying.
That's all he does. That, and playing the victim.
It's part of his strategy to undermine others so that he always comes out on top.
And in his short 17-month stint in the White House he has done more to harm the credibility of the electoral process and this country than even the most jaded cynic ever thought possible.
Hillary Clinton's emails may never go away, but the only thing "rigged" is this president.
18
I think any sane individual can see that Trump is a liar and a dishonest man- I doubt if this report makes any difference - Many fear loss of their jobs and vote across party lines - this type of behavior which puts party above country allows Trump to prevail. If votes are only about the economy and one's pocket books voters get what they deserve.
1
The report offers no change in status quo. Trump and his surrogates are going to continue pretending that there is a deep state and that the FBI is accordingly corrupted. It is an age when communication of truths and lies are unleashed on the public at such incredible speed that it will take years to sort it all out. Isn't progress wonderful?
5
Appears to me that the actions of the two FBI lovers was more than a minor infection--in fact, it seems that their attitudes reflect a more general perception within the FBI that Trump had to be stopped. The report also verifies that while Comey is basically a good man, his judgment under stress leaves much to be desired. It is good that he doesn't have his finger on a nuclear trigger.
3
There are 35,000 FBI agents.
That two of them exchanged their views privately about politics while conducting a romantic relationship is hardly news. It actually speaks volumes that after all the hubbub these were the only examples they could find.
4
JPE, your gut and two employees are not evidence of the "general attitude" of all the FBI's 35,000 employees. Have you surveyed them? The FBI certainly does have a bias -- against criminals. Which is why Trump hates them so much and is trying so hard to discredit them.
That’s ignoring of course the entire NY field office whose hatred of Hillary made them feed info to Rudy.
I’ll be happy when we get to the investigation of him.
Of course Trump is lying. The media need to take back control of the narrative on this matter to shut the old dog up for good. Trump's incessant grumbling is focused, repetitive and deliberate.
6
Yes, I blame Comey. Yes, I am mad at him. Yes, Trump is his fault. And no, I don't want the fact that the President obstructed justice by firing Comey to be what makes him go down. I want the fact that the President is a crook, a fool, a conman and a Russian asset to be the reason that he goes down. I want the justice he tried to obstruct to be the reason he goes down.
That, or his treatment of children.
7
This story is ostensibly regarding Trump's "theory" that Clinton got preferential treatment from the F.B.I.
Actually, it is predicated on the truly dubious assumption that Trump has a "theory", a concept meaningfully different from a "claim." More likely, like most of what Trump says, this is not a theory, merely a transitory claim, a rock thrown through a window to get attention and to see the "owner's" reaction, meanwhile disclaiming any responsibility or accountability.
There is little evidence Trump has theories about much of anything. To the contrary, his tweets, words, and actions tend to be uniformly transactional and, thus, likely (borne out by evidence) to continually change. His "relationship with North Korea's Kim is a perfect example.
With Trump there is much less there than meets the eye. He is merely an entertainer/salesman, and as long as people buy his snake oil, he will be happy to sell it to them.
19
So Trump's focus is on a couple FBI Agents that had political opinions. My question is, how can anybody be "inappropriately" biased against Trump. Trump is a charlatan manifest, and the Republican Party is in a deep state of decay. Anybody with any integrity can see this clearly. What is amazing is that the FBI's missteps aided Trump and damaged Clinton. Anybody with integrity can see this as well.
54
Yup. As I age I become MORE sick of the lies and indoctrination we have been fed. It starts when we're young and in elementary school (textbooks anyone?!) and it continues throughout our lives (I stopped watching TV about 50 years ago).
The deep state (read: capitalism) and the willful ignorance of tribalism and winning-team-ism are definitely with us...
2
Good book on this subject: Lies My Teacher Told Me. by James Loewen.
You have to hand it to Trump. Despite his vast areas of incompetence, the two things he is competent in are destroying reasoned discussion and shoring up political support for himself.
It's at the point where it doesn't matter what he does or what is found out about him -- by the press, investigative agencies, the courts; even by his own people. He has insulated himself from the consequences.
6
Without Comey's conduct inappropriately commenting on the emails and his letter announcing his reopening of the investigation just before the election Hillary would have been elected President. Trump would have lost as expected and that is only truth of this report.
For the rest it's all Trump's incorrigible lying and our unfortunately Russian rigged election! Trump is truly Russia's gift to our future prosperity and our national security.
16
The nation is engulfed in day to day Trump chaos while a mystery endures for me.
Why didn't Clinton protect the electoral votes critical for victory? Why did she fail to campaign in Pa., Michigan, and Wisconsin?
Politics 101. I cannot forgive her stupidity.
4
On the Big Questions noted by Mr. Leonhardt there is very little in this report that honest and careful observers did not already know. This is by and large a confirmation of known facts, with some juicy tidbits at the margins that have little or nothing to do with the Big Questions (like Comey's use of private email for FBI related business, for example).
Personally, I remain perplexed and somewhat angry that supporters of President Trump continue their acrobatic twists & turns to misrepresent this confirmation of truth as anything else. That the President continues to lie comes as no surprise and there is no expectation that his lying will end. But at some point, sycophants at FOX and in Congress and just at the water cooler are going to have to come to their senses. There IS an expectation that eventually that should happen - which is why I remain perplexed and angry. This nonsense has gone on far too long.
4
The "fake news" merchants are the Trumpistas more than anyone. And they know it, and are very skillful at it, using classic Rove technique of accusing the other side of infraction on the same topic on which they're most vulnerable.
That's why there's so much hyberbolic insistence that Clinton was given an improper assist. It's clever sleight-of-hand that accomplishes several things: it distracts and deflects, it dilutes the infraction by inducing the perception among the ignorant that "everybody does it," and it takes the wind out of the sails of investigators.
So we have the carney barkers hollering "Look over here, no, not there, over here!" and the ludicrous Rudy Giuliani hectoring on no grounds whatsoever for Mueller to suspend his investigation. They're desperate.
8
No “conservative” outlet that systematically pulls its punches regarding Trump’s grotesqueries, at the same time making mountains out of molehills on the other side of the ledger, should be treated seriously as a conservative voice. It’s state media.
8
Trump all but admitted he lies (of course we know this already) when he said at the press conference after his meeting with Kim Jung-un that if he made a mistake, he would not admit it and would essentially make up something else. So the fact is that it is simply not possible to know when he is telling the truth or not. Who in the world operates like this? Well, our President.
4
What is most concerning is the fact Trump has his loyal national media outlet that serves up enhanced versions of his lies. This is very dangerous territory and other main stream media outlets are not responding to try to protect the integrity of their profession they just don't have the spine and more important are afraid to loose sponsors. Everything is crumbling and Trump tweets on as the country's institutions burn.
6
There is nothing remotely relevant to the election in this report. Hillary Clinton list because she was a bad candidate. Why is it so hard for Democrats to gracefully accept that?
2
She had a 3,000,000 vote lead. She won the popular vote easi ly. Why is it so hard for Trump supporters to gracefully accept that?
1
The "bait and switch" comment is good; they have taken this to a new level. The Trump team, including Fox, always are accusing their opponents of the wrongdoing of which they are blatantly doing themselves.
25
Comey feared the unscrupulous Republicans who would use anything and everything within their power and purview. He feared some pro-Trump elememts within the SDNY and possibly throughout the FBI.
He (rightly, I believe) wasn't as afraid of Democrats tearing through institutions and upending norms to find material that could be used as a weapon.
His decisions appear to grow out of this lopsided fear. Meaning now, republicans don't even need to act like unpatriotic conspirators to blow up people, places, and things to get influential people to bend to their will. Now their reputation alone is enough to suffice. Party over country every single time.
5
That's why his supporters love him: not because they believe his lies, but because they understand that brazen lying is a form of strength ... and they're weak, frightened people who want to be protected by the strongest bully around.
8
Trump lying?
Trump spinning for personal gain?
Trump deceiving to deflect?
Well now here this!
I'm a proud graduate of Trump University wherein I learned all the skills and tricks of the great one himself.
I make millions buying Manhattan skyscrapers on credit (I have nine credit cards!) and I hold for only two or three weeks and then turn the properties for 59% gain on average!
Just like Mr. Trump said I would be able to.
(all the course work only set me back $50k!)
I'm planning on building a golf course on the eastern coast of N. Korea just as soon as all the nukes are safely on our navy ships heading to Guam (it's not that far) for recycling into golden Trump signs. (all that property will need branding)
Yes, I'm proud to believe everything the master has sold me.
He's, like, one of the smartest guys!
4
Thanks for sorting this out. If noses really got longer when we lie, Trump’s would stretch to Singapore.
6
We must keep in mind that the compulsively lying Trump is just a front for the Republican Party that is busy undermining our democracy through voter suppression and at the same time slash taxes for the super-rich, and gut Medicare and Social Security.
It is not by chance that a Reality TV clown was greased into the Oval Office.
12
No fan of American law-enforcement, I still can say with confidence that the FBI and the men and women of the agency represent the finest bulwark against crime any nation has ever assembled. President Trump's dishonesty and selfishness cross yet another bright-red line when he targets the FBI with malice aforethought. Is there no end to this man's mendacity?
7
It won't matter. Trump's followers are just that: followers. They believe his lies, or if they know they are lies, they like his lies and just don't care that he fabricates everything they want to believe. True believers are just that; true believers, without an ounce of care for truth, verifiability, honesty or just common sense.
3
Mr. Leonhardt,
You say that it was James Comey's decision to violate department policy that did Hillary in and that if it weren't for that decision she would be president today.
First off, doesn't your conclusion leave out quite a bit of context? Understanding why Comey did what he did might lead you to a different conclusion as to why Hillary lost.
There was one incident that set in motion all of Comey's decisions with respect to the Hillary Clinton email investigation. When Bill Clinton decided to make a surprise visit with Attorney General Lynch and board her plane on a Phoenix tarmac mere days before his wife's sit down with the FBI, the former president single-handedly sabotaged Hillary's campaign.
Truth be told, though, the lion's share of the blame for Hillary's loss to Trump lies with the candidate herself.
2
Excellent analysis.
Mr. Leonhardt,
You say that it was James Comey's decision to violate department policy that did Hillary in and that if it weren't for that decision she would be president today, according to the polls.
First off, doesn't your conclusion leave out quite a bit of context? Understanding why Comey did what he did might lead you to a different conclusion as to why Hillary lost.
There was one incident that set in motion all of Comey's decisions with respect to the Hillary Clinton email investigation. When Bill Clinton decided to make a surprise visit with Attorney General Lynch and board her plane on a Phoenix tarmac mere days before his wife's sit down with the FBI, the former president single-handedly sabotaged Hillary's campaign.
Without that visit (and the media uproar about it, rightly so) it is quite possible that Comey doesn't have any decisions to make and follows the protocols, to the letter.
Truth be told, though, the lion's share of the blame for Hillary's loss to Trump lies with the candidate herself.
What you keep leaving out is that the "infamous" meeting between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch on the tarmac wasn't private... there WERE other people present. The IG report specifically confirms that the conversation between Clinton and Lynch had nothing to do with either the campaign or the investigation. But of course in Comey's mind talk about grandchildren is so much more important than Trump's people meeting with Russian operatives.
Thank you, Mr. Leonhardt, for saying what needs to be said. Trump lies about everything and anything daily. This should be the headline of every major newspaper in the world. That truly disturbing fact is the real issue and the problem for America. Unless we remove this lying, cheating, stealing sociopath from power, the damage to the civilized world will be extraordinary.
16
The Rudy G. Blather Hour has already started. Trump's acolytes will accept the blather like manna handed down from God.
Nothing changes.
Trump's acolytes still go to the Church of Don and they're not going anywhere else. Democrats are girding for the battle that begins in about 2 1/2 months. The good news; there is evidence that voter turnout is increasing.
Tomorrow's lies will surface before the post 6 pm news dump. This story will begin to fade with the next outrage.
7
David Leonhardt is absolutely right that the central thrust of the DOJ Report is to demonstrate that Donald Trump’s claim of wrongdoing by the F.B.I. in 2016 to help Hillary Clinton and to harm Trump is a bald-faced lie. Exactly the opposite occurred.
One is also struck, however, by how clumsy and obtuse the language of the DOJ Report is. Findings written by committees tend to be unnecessarily difficult to read, but this is ridiculous.
Fortunately, the logic of the report has clarity, even if the expression of that thinking is cloudy.
1
Trump really comes across as someone with something to hid, someone who is very guilty. The bottom line to all of this is even if the FBI was trying to help Clinton, she lost and trump won. Trump and his pals are trying very hard to use this to discredit the Russia probe, why? Because he has something to hide, he is guilty. The sad part is the GOP is covering for him.
7
People have commented about the way many people don't care about Trump incessant lying. One rational is that he is serving them and they are willing to accept anything from him to get it.
I think a simpler explanation is that many people lie as a way of life, maybe not as much as Trump himself, so they see nothing wrong in it. Matter of fact they see one of their own. No different than people of like feelings on race are attracted to him. It's not in spite of his lying, it because of it. They admire his ability to lie and and it vindicates and validates their lifestyle.
7
Jim Comey famously said: "We're not the Federal Bureau of Matters." This was in response to Loretta Lynch's desire to have Comey refer to Clinton's email problem as a "matter", not an "investigation." And then Lynch meets Bill Clinton on the tarmac. Is it any wonder that Comey was nervous about the investigation being politicized?
Comey wasn't being political, but Loretta Lynch was. I wonder if future historians will hold her accountable for disastrously changing the course of history by acting so unethically.
2
She wasn’t being political. They were having a nice conversation about their grandchildren.
Americans are very bad at citizenship, so we must be very simple in our arguments: the President is a compulsive liar.
Keep it simple. Some single-issue voters are such bad citizens that they take one issue (many times it's abortion or guns) and decide who to vote for on only that. On those two particular issues they usually vote Republican. Not a way for democracy to flourish and be healthy.
Trump is a provocateur, partly because he seems to be able to control the message we all hear. Of course, much of it is sheer madness, but the media follows (because he's President? because talking inequality is too hard?).
I am sort of glad that he's the true Republican leader, because he's really shown the falseness of the self-proclaimed 'Moral Majority'. This is the most immoral President I've ever seen, and his lies and bullying and vanity just continue to grow.
So, be a Democrat, not proudly but humbly. We are here to help each other, to raise the standard of living for those most in need, to help solve the deadly problem of global climate change. We can help do all these things and more.
Call the President an immoral and reckless lying narcissist. But, always give the good and honorable views and policies that we must have. Brave and compassionate, equal and united.
39
I hope that the justice department will no longer tread lightly when it comes to Trump. Trump managed to intimidate even Obama's administration into submission. All he had to do was yell "rigged election" and the ethical people were afraid to bring up the Russian influence. The nice guys did not finish first. This time, I hope everyone has learned how to deal with his lies. There is no hope for his base/lemmings, if they continue to believe him when he calls day night and night day.
32
The tantalizing question that still remains publicly unanswered: If the Internal Revenue Service was involved in this investigation into Trump's transgressive and tax-skirting foundation, does that indicate that Trump's personal and corporate tax returns were also examined?
Trump's refusal to release his personal and corporate tax returns was the first serious red flag in this misbegotten presidency. I like to think Mueller has had those returns from the beginning of his investigation. After all, tax evasion is how the Feds put Al Capone in Alcatraz. So why not Trump?
38
uhhh Don't blame Trump for not releasing his tax returns. Blame the Federal Elections Commission who have never made the release mandatory for all candidates running for President,
1
Sirhan Sirhan and James Comey have drastically altered the arc of the history of our country and the world. The what-ifs will linger in the national memory for a very long time.
37
Well, that's one of the perennial, unanswerable (imho) questions: is there 'historical inevitability?' If Lincoln hadn't gone to Ford's Theater that night? If bad weather hadn't wrecked the Spanish Armada? The infinity of 'ifs' in history.
3
Do you mean to say that there are still people who think that either Trump or Huckabee-Sanders might occasionally tell the truth? Where have they been for the last couple of years. It's pointless pay any attention to anything they say on any topic.
66
The fact that they occasionally, and only very occasionally, tell the truth a) should hardly be the standard of integrity that we set for he office of the President; and b) is the reason that we’re in this donkey show to begin with, because it means that all of the other non-occasional times when the President isn’t telling the truth, he’s lying. And with every lie he tells, American Exceptionalism grays a little more around the edges.
It depends on what the meaning of is, is. This report says whatever people say it says. The crucial thing is the existence of something that can be lied about. Soon, even the will be an option, and people will be free to say whatever they want to say, and be believed by people who believe what they want to believe. Maybe we're already there.
17
People have always been free to say what they want to say AND to believe what they want to believe.
Nobody knows this better than Trump.
Really where? George Orwell's 1984???? I have been saying that for months. Black is White and white is black...….. DJT never read the book, but he's practicing it, lies, lies and more lies.
If there was a "deep state" within the FBI out to harm Mr. Trump's candidacy, then surely the fact of an investigation into that campaign's commiseration with Russia would have been leaked. But it wasn't.
44
Standard investigative procedures were followed? Is that what this writer is suggesting? Let's start there, because if they were not followed, it doesn't matter if that decision arose from political bias or (as Lisa Page texts advise) from fear: justice was subverted.
A subpoena was issued for emails under investigation and emails were subsequently deleted. In that context, is it standard procedure to allow close aides such as Mills and Samuelson immunity, and allow them to destroy their computers, then sit in on the interview of the principal in the investigation, which was not conducted under oath or recorded? Change the names to Trump, Lewandowsky and Bossie, and leave the rest of the facts unchanged. Our own biases color everything, and we will always look for the evidence which best fits our preferred narrative and provides the best defense of our political allies. But some questions have answers which flow from the rule books and are largely immune to spin: Were proper procedures followed?
7
Back in the day when I was a professional scientist I learned that the simplest explanation is usually correct. In this case simple is that Comey is a Republican and didn't like Ms. Clinton. And he didn't like Mr. Trump either. All else follows from this.
70
Turns out Occam wasn’t the best mathematician. But I suppose that’s what the assumptions are for.
The big story for me is that Comey's actions, whatever his justifications, were enough to depress Hillary's vote count so that trump, with the unseen help of the Russians, was able to game the election and steal over the top enough to win the electoral vote.
Without Comey the Russian help wouldn't have done it, and without the Russians, Comey's decisions wouldn't have changed the election.
182
except that Hillary made the decision, all on her own, put put that server in her home. no server, no investigation. this has nothing to do with Comey.
Facts, I'm told, have an eloquence all their own. However long we await their appearance, we should be encouraged by their aim. Like Mueller's to come, today's report is heartening. Thanks telling us so. Quite simply, lies will out, and so will truths.
89
Trump fired Comey, and he is no longer at the FBI. Robert Mueller is handling the investigation of Russia's activity in the 2016 elections. Comey has nothing to do with it now.
Excellent move Mr Trump, now Robert Mueller can be taken seriously in his team's forthcoming report to the DOJ. President Photo-op can try and take apart a 500 page legal document, but I guessing he won't be very successful. Not will he ever match Mueller's level of investigation.
57
Well, except Trump and his minions will just ignore the facts in the report and promulgate an endless stream of falsehoods about what it says. The Trumpistas and Fox News (but I repeat myself) have no reservations about utilizing the Big Lie tactics originated around fourscore and seven years ago by a certain unnamed group in a certain unnamed European country.
3
I was thinking about lies. Trump lies all the time, and he does it to serve himself, to get praise or profit. But his lies always have a purpose to gain something for himself or to hurt someone who has threatened his gains.
He comes closer to pure evil than most, nearly perfectly selfish in the narrowest possible sense. (A truly selfish person might develop compassion because they'd figure out that benefiting others is the ultimate selfishness, and holding to a high moral standard nourishes the soul.)
That's why he mostly prefers other people to be evil.
I don't know if his exploitative family are fully in the bag for this greedy hateful selfishness, but I do know that Ivanka exploits her conventional good looks to get away with disgusting behavior. Others like China have figured out that her father can be bought with concessions that profit her. It's rather old-fashioned, this brand of greed and power.
(We are all tempted to think Melania is not quite as tainted, but I think the jury's still out on that one. No matter what, she's got her millions ... and keeping silent or plagiarizing from Michelle Obama has served her well.)
457
Ivanka Trump lives in a world so far beyond the reach of the law that she thinks an 'accessory after the fact' is: First you buy the dress, then you buy the purse.
1
Run for office!
1
Melania is probably waiting until trump is out of office for a tell-all book deal.
I remember driving in my car when I heard on the radio that Clinton's emails were found on Anthony Weiner's computer, and said out loud, "There goes the election!" For any voters who still undecided, that revelation probably helped them choose. I don't think it was politics but mysogamy that led Comey to air the discovery so close to the election. Matt Lauer's bizarrely harsh interview of Clinton followed by a chummy interview of Trump, given what we know now about his lewd treatment of female colleagues, can also be understood in the context of mysogamy. Women don't need special treatment, but we do need parity if we are ever to achieve equality. Men need to become aware of their own biases and keep them in check, and we need to call them out if they don't.
318
Mary, I absolutely agree with your comment. But, just for future reference, the correct word is misogyny. Thinking of my GYN helps me to remember it.
35
Mary M:
Are you suggesting that only men are at fault? That only men have prejudices and judge based upon thoughtless misbehavior?
I see a form of reverse prejudice-a judgment on all men that lets women off the hook, and makes men out as some kind of unnatural monsters from Victor Frankenstein.
I am sorry to say but I have watched women do at least as many stupid and thoughtless things for political reasons a men.
It looks to me-who can remember when my mother was my teacher in the world of politics-that the young women of the last 25 or 30 years or so are among the least sophisticated since women obtained the vote in 1920.
Once there was a time when men and women voted without any kind of sex or gender separation-it was clear that because we lived in families-moms, dads and kids all together-that we all learned our politics from the people around us who raised us.
Something new seems to have occurred and now, many people are voting as though it was a thing never done before and must be votes must be kept close-never wasted on the wrong "sex" or the wrong race or identity.
We have wandered backwards in time-all the way before 1788.W hat in the name of democracy is going on-can women not vote for men-nor vice versa?
We have a very LOT to relearn and once, we had it in school as "Civics" class. Maybe we need this again-so our kids, at least will understand why there is so little difference between men and women in politics.
I was in my kitchen when I heard the news about the investigation being reopened. It was a punch to the gut. I felt sick. The momentum for Clinton that had been building was done for.
The leaks from the FBI to Rudy Giuliani and reports that the NY Office was Trumpland made me think that something was rotten. Somehow a website that made Bill Clinton look bad popped up. Some members of the FBI who thought the Clintons were guilty of something, anything, were at work. Maybe there should be a search for their emails (everyone uses work email for personal purposes so it's likely there are some) to track down that animosity.
Fewer than 100,000 votes distributed across three states tipped the electoral college to Trump. Some people didn't vote. Others cast what they thought were meaningless protest votes. The Russians were trying to undermine the person they expected would be elected with their divisive social media. Trump got elected by accident.
1
I just read Mr Comey’s rebuttal to the Inspector General’s report. He’s still sticking to the line he offered in his book. I read the book too.
If you read between the lines of his book, it’s apparent that his disdain for Loretta Lynch was greater than his ambivalence toward Hillary Clinton.
I believe Comey’s target in July 2016 was Lynch; he simply assumed Clinton would win, while he’d take down Lynch.
Of course it didn’t work out that way. Comey has a lot to answer for.
228
Actually, Lynch has a lot to answer for. She should have done more to reign in Comey. And, for that matter, Obama has a lot to answer for...he should have fired Comey and Lynch.
Among the lessons to be learned here is a remedial lesson in Donald Trump's envelope-pushing dishonesty, for those who still need one.
The DOJ report clears James Comey and his team of political bias in the handling of the Clinton investigation (which, anyway, tended to hurt Clinton and help Trump). Yet the White House line is that the report "reaffirmed the president’s suspicions about Comey’s conduct and the political bias among some of the members of the F.B.I."
There's not even the normally slippery politician's acknowledgement of an inescapable fact while moving to change the subject; nothing but brazen disregard for the fact (the explicit conclusion reached by the Inspector General) and substitution of a lie.
Strictly speaking, of course, "reaffirmed the president's suspicions" is not a lie in itself if Trump is truly in a state of paranoid denial, but the violence to truth is the same.
No doubt Sarah Sanders is under explicit orders from the top to spout this stuff. Of course she's been at her job long enough to compose it in her sleep without prompting, but statements like this latest one are too much like Trump tweets in text-to-speech mode.
79
It walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, investigates like a duck, gives disparate treatment like a duck, and there are 500 pages of documentation that it's a duck, but the summary says its not a duck, so it's a unicorn.
I feel cheated, and I'm sure most of my fellow Americans feel the same way. So much opportunity wasted! So much money...our money...has disappeared into the trump crime family pocket. The Silence of the Republicans is their tacit, if not obvious approval of the greedy chaos creator in chief. They will wear that stain forever. Resist and defeat!
456
When Bob Corker used the term "complicit" in his speech to the Senate, I knew the wheels were off and the Trump tax returns need to come out. The fact that all the screaming memes were quiet after the secure briefing on the Trump "spy" bologna indicates the goods are gotten. Trump is in a panic now.
Trump and his enablers are not scared. They are running a carefully coordinated campaign of lies, and it is slowly but surely beginning to work. Many Americans think the investigations are going on too long, and clearly are bored with it.
The ratings for the President show are getting better, however, and soon season one will reach its cliffhanger: Will the First Lady leave? Will Pruitt be canned before we all die from poisoned water? And of course, how soon will it be before we get to see the gun fired down Fifth Avenue?
Season premier in November. Stay tuned for more great entertainment.
28
No, the polls do not accurately reflect what is going on. Trump's "success" in North Korea is just showing up, but his recent actions will depress his improved ratings in a few days. In any case, people like me won't touch polls with a ten foot pole, or perhaps better, a long spoon.
"Who sups with the devil must use a long spoon"
8
In the immortal words of George Louis Costanza, "Just remember, it's not a lie, if you believe it."
39
It is astounding that a report as brutally critical as this one is being spun to conclude that Trump is lying. I have no doubt that the veracity of some of Mr. Trump's statements can be called into question.
However, this report clearly brandishes an out of control FBI & DOJ at multiple levels. The IG berates Mr. Comey for his 'ad hoc decision making based on his personal views'. He became insubordinate with his presser decision that included not telling the Attorney General and the DOJ of his intentions to excoriate & concurrently exonerate Mrs. Clinton in one sitting. The highly partisan text exchanges between Mr. Comey's subordinate investigators reveal an FBI investigative apparatus that was intent on disrupting a US Presidential election. The report also makes clear that investigation into Anthony Weiner's laptop was improperly delayed and it takes issue with Mrs. Clinton's attorneys - possible material witnesses - being permitted to sit in on her FBI interview.
Blaming President Trump here is merely a diversion to distract from the larger truth. The Obama DOJ & FBI failed the public miserably in their conduct. J. Edgar Hoover would be proud. The rest of us should be disgusted.
10
Keith,
There is much you say that I view as inaccurate, but I'll just tackle one big one. You say "The highly partisan text exchanges between Mr. Comey's subordinate investigators reveal an FBI investigative apparatus that was intent on disrupting a US Presidential election." The evidence found indicates that a grand total of TWO persons exchanged partisan remarks, and they did not mention any schemes to disrupt the election. It's impossible to imagine how you get from there to the conclusion that an "investigative apparatus was intent on disrupting . . ."?
In case you don't know, here's the definition of apparatus: "a complex structure within an organization or system."
93
The main conclusion of the report, repeatedly stated, and affirmed today by the current head of the FBI, is that the investigation of Mrs. Clinton was NOT tainted by bias. That is not spin. It is what the report clearly says, and what Christopher Wray, Trumps choice as head of the FBI, also says. So you are 100% wrong.
54
Well said, Paul Dobbs. If you would also look at the behavior of other parts of that FBI investigative apparatus (beyond the two lovers who used work emails to keep their affair a secret), you would see people in the NY FBI office leaking information to Rudy Giuliani.
It was reported at the time and Giuliani talked about it to the press. I remember articles referring to the NY Office as Trumpland and the sentiment from those agents was cited as one of the reasons for Comey's infamous letter to Congress. Did he think they would leak the information and make him (and the FBI) look bad?
If anyone in the FBI, CIA or others in that "Deep State" tried to used their official status to interfere in the election, that was wrong. Let's keep some perspective on the positions those two held and the kind of control they might have been able to muster to affect the election.
1
Does ANYONE really think that ANY report on ANY issue will stop Trump from lying? It's an exercise in futility so far as he and his followers are concerned -- sad to say.
144
Please don't keep this report in the news and opinion pages. Out of 500 pages, anybody can find something to hang an opinion on. We know that the Trump regime will spin it to their favor and cherry-pick one or two items to repeat a million times to discredit Comey, the FBI and the Mueller investigation. No minds and votes will change because of this report. The best takeaway is that the inspector general did his job with obvious thoroughness, seriousness and objectivity, which in the present political climate is something we can all take heart from.
25
I think you're wrong in this one matter: while the IG report may not have questioned Comey's veracity, it absolutely questioned his ethical standards. How else would you characterize Comey's violation of longstanding DOJ rules (guidelines makes them sound advisory; they were not), as well as ordinary prosecutorial standards, as regards Clinton not one but twice--in July and October--all while adhering to the same rules by keeping the Trump investigation secret, going as far as to hoodwink the NYT into printing a false story. The kindest, and also most likely, explanation for this was fear of Republican criticism. (No, his defense that he did not not want Clinton to serve as President under a cloud is, frankly, too ridiculous to merit belief.)
Of course, you are right that this issue (all of which has been clearly known for almost two years) does not provide a reasonable explanation for Comey's dismissal, is an extraneous issue, and that Trump and his sycophantic lickspittles will be doing some world class lying concerning the report in three, two, one....
30
Comey was dead wrong to have used a double standard in how he treated publicizing, or not, the respective Trump and Clinton investigations.
But, in Trump's telling, Russia was a witch hunt, while Hillary's emails were a treasure trove of criminality that Comey covered up.
Naturally, the truth is the opposite of Trump's narrative.
83
Many factors contributed to Hillary's defeat, not the least of which was Hillary herself and the atrocious campaign she ran. That said, absent any one of these factors and she most probably would have been America's first woman president.
As for the repeated claims by Trump and his team that Hillary possessed insider connections with the Republican Comey that protected her from being charged," Trump and his supporters should hold that thought.
They won't have to hold it for long. That big, ugly wave of septage is on the White House doorstep.
9
With the IG report citing the two FBI agents dissing Trump, the NY AG suing the Trump Foundation and media criticism of his North Korea nothing-burger (and that salute) his base is going to double down hard. Then Hannity and FOX will keep adding gas to the right wing fire. By 2020 we could be in an all-out civil war.
46
I certainly hope so, since nothing will change at the polls.
No, that's not what the report says at all.
4
Silly. The report doesn’t say it, but Trump’s interpretation of it does. He’s been lying about what happened, and the report states otherwise. Its veracity contradicts his (ironic, since he’s not possessed of any, but you get the point), therefore it proves he’s lying.
1
Trump lying should just be called out for what it is. It is being honest by calling it what is is. Trump lies continually to make it true. Call out lying for what it is, so folks hear it - because it IS true.
18
Fine column, but please. . .
"The text messages between the two. . . suggest that they were deeply, and inappropriately, biased against Trump."
How about they were clear-eyed about Trump (as 40% of the electorate was not), but did not allow it to affect their work.
325
My thoughts exactly, and I think that in the context of their private conversation Stroz simply meant "we the voters" when he said "we will stop Trump from being elected" (I'm paraphrasing his exact words).
I'd frankly be appalled if anyone in the FBI did *not* have an opinion about the presidential election. After all, they are allowed to vote, right?
1
Excellent comment.
Agreed. They are entitled to their personal view. There is nothing "inappropriate" in that nor is it "biased". Even government employees are allowed to have personal opinions. What is "inappropriate" is allowing those opinions to contaminate your work, as Leonhardt has demonstrated by his bias personally here.
1
Thumbs up for allowing team Mueller to do its job.
59
Trump continues to lie. The MAGA-heads don't care, and the Republicans enable and excuse him. Our honor as a nation and the dignity of the presidency is now utterly eroded. We have a criminal in the White House who is being supported by the GOP. We may survive Trump, but the future of our democracy has been permanently tainted by his behavior. The bar is set at a new low.
72
I run a small nonprofit and in sixteen years, we do meticulous accounting of government grants and foundation support for our organization.
Just a question for Trump’s base: how can you, as a supporter of Trump, justify this massive abuse over a decade of fraudulent accounting and illegality for their foundation in New
York?
Trump hasn’t released his tax returns and now we see that he abused his role as chairman of a foundation.
Why don’t supporters of the president see the clear cut case of abuse by the Trump organization as a non profit?
358
@JT: I don't think supporters of Trump care. They think he works outside the system and is "shaking it up," which is a positive. On the other hand, they have accused the Clinton Foundation of numerous crimes, misdemeanors, and unethical actions. It seems that consistency is not their strong point.
62
Trump's base has deliberately brainwashed themselves by tuning out all but one source of "information" that, like a drug, lulls them into complacency. The more high-cal, low-reality info they broadcast, the more popular they are. I cannot imagine doing this myself where world events are concerned, so I don't understand it at all. I do hear that mainstream media is becoming more difficult to access in some areas, with the disappearance of local radio stations in favor of huge corporations that broadcast pre-programmed content, but I thought that was falling out of favor because people were realizing that having no local news sources is a problem, especially in an emergency. And now we have a world-class emergency, and a large number of people aren't going to know about it because they unknowingly chose to remain ignorant. The dumbing-down of America took two generations. That's quick.
2
Some of them take the attitude that "everyone does it" and forgive him that way. The rest admire him for getting away with it.
1
Of course Fox will spin it the way they want. The talking heads cannot be trusted. Have we exhausted the number of try’s Congress gets to revive the Fairness Doctrine? If not, can we try again, please? With his contempt if MSM maybe even 45 can be duped into getting behind it.
6
Why not? Default to the standard leftist tactic of silencing the opposition.
So true, but so besides the point. Impeachment is a political remedy, and the report provides political cover. The official finding that Comey was insubordinate and violated policy politically neutralizes the charge that his firing was intended to obstruct the Russia investigation.
The foolish email exchange between the FBI agents reveals their bias against Trump. Trump haters like me point out that he Russia-Trump investigation was not leaked, incorrectly concluding that the personal bias did not adversely impact Trump. However, Strozk was instrumental in starting the investigation, which In Trump's mind is a witch hunt. Trump, and his GOP supporters have reason to argue that the FBI Trump hating agents led the FBI on a proverbial goose chase.
Unless Mueller produces evidence to a virtual certainty proving a Russia-Trump conspiracy, the report effectively blunts any political attempt to remove the President from office. Of course, some campaign underlings may fall as collateral damage, and Trump will tweet, "part timer, I hardly knew him,"
Jared should not take that personally.
6
The IG report gives no cover. We already have Trump admitting to Lester Holt that he fired Comey for the Russia investigation. That he could have fired him for a different reason is no more a defense to obstruction of justice than the fact he could have fired him for no reason at all; Trump’s intent was obstruction of the Russia investigation, not avenging Clinton and Lynch.
Remember that Rosenstein had drafted a memo for Trump with not-illegal reasons to fire Comey...but Trump didn’t get the hint and went off script with Holt. Too late to lie now.
4
It's not really that complicated. So long as the Republicans hold the House, Trump will not be impeached. If the Democrats win the House, he will be impeached. If impeached he will not be convicted in the Senate because the Democrats are and will be very far from a 2/3 majority. What Mueller concludes and how it is spun is virtually irrelevant. Cynical, yes. And totally realistic.
2
Trump's brazenness in breaking the law is jaw dropping. Kudos to the NY AG for nailing him on so many counts of charitable giving fraud, campaign finance violations, fraudulent signatures, and self dealing.
now that case is indisputable. What's far more opaque is Trumps spin on this FBI report. the man has an evil genius for plucking a few factoids, misrepresenting and spinning a report of 500 pages to his advantage. That he manages to get so many to buy into his reality--when it is so easily fact checked--tells me what's happening today is unprecedented.
We've seen demagogues before and liars too, but never any who fabricate facts, figures, and as blithely as this man does. He will lie about anything, from how many "friends" died on 9/11 to how many parents of Americans killed in the Korean War begged him, during the campaign to bring back their temains (zero, as they would have to be 104 to 112 years of age and unlikely to have the energy to attend a Trump rally.
73
He is truly a diabolical demagogue, right up there with the big three of the 20th century, Lenin, Hitler and Stalin. No he hasn't caused the death of millions yet. But just give him time.
So releasing news that was damaging to Hillary Clinton days before the election was a Deep State attempt to stop Trump?
The announcement about the ongoing investigation about Russia's interference and the Trump Campaign's collusion with them was not announced until after the election. This was also a Deep State attempt to help Hillary and hurt Trump? Does that make any sense?
144
Thank you Luci. Simple, clear and straight to the point.
Of course in today's political climate making sense has become irrelevant.
Your questions hit the nail on the head.
If people read reports like these and did the research needed to understand them, then the reports could be expected to inform the public. But few people do that, instead the rely upon trusted sources to tell them what reports provide. A lot of those sources distort what they know is in the reports to convey the messages that they want to convey. So in the end these reports tend to not clarify as they should.
6
It is certainly not inappropriate for intelligent people to be alarmed about the prospect of an amoral ignoramous with zero political experience who makes his living by peddling perception as reality becoming President.
What is inappropriate is to discuss it in the workplace.
14
got to organize resistance everywhere every day, specially work.
8
Yawn. They had no authority to make decisions, and no one has alleged that either of them allowed their understandable horror of Trump affect their job performance.
22
Any discussion of Trump is NSFW!
Nothing scares Trump and his enablers on this topic. They know Mueller could recommend Trump be charged with treason, and nothing would come of that recommendation. Eisenhower and Reagan Weep; Nixon is applauding.
The one and only fear Trump has is a Democratic majority in Congress. But he feels fairly safe watching the Dems battle each other in a great economy.
21
It's not simply the economy that determines our lives and who we are. Perhaps a new buzzword this election campaign might be something along the lines of "It's the truth, stupid."
4
what economy are you living in? ours is barely limping along at maybe 2% growth. Reported unemployment is down, only because many boomers have aged-out of the workforce... or been forced out by age bias. With global trading partners still barely pulling out of the 2008 disaster, and in the face of POTUS' ignorant screw-ups in international relations, we seriously risk another global depression. Fasten your seatbelts.
It’s almost as though Trump invested so much of a plan into exploiting Hillary’s emails and server against her (perhaps with Russia somehow) that he still thinks Hillary should be somehow punished for it. Maybe it’s that he cannot bare to lose all his time, energy and money into a plan even though he won the presidency.
10
bear
A predictably partisan but uncompelling argument.
The report found that the FBI was conducting an investigation into suspicions that Hillary Clinton maintained an illegal personal email server that could have compromised national security, and that Comey chose to make public details about that investigation when its findings were still unripe and despite Justice Dept. and FBI policies against doing so – for his own reasons and on his own authority. We know that the impact of these bad judgment calls had an historic effect on such a close election, and that it can be claimed quite credibly that a government functionary had a determinant effect on throwing the election to Trump instead of to Clinton.
How can we see confirmation of these basic indictments of Comey’s judgment in this matter – possibly even his motives – and treat it in isolation? How can we agree that he did these things driven by fundamentally flawed judgment and even, possibly, highly questionable motives, and NOT suspect that his judgment and motives were flawed in his direct dealings with Trump?
David wants to over-egg the custard. He wants to secure partisan advantage from a neutral report that doesn’t support that advantage. Comey acted alone to have an impact on history far beyond his pay-grade and despite policies and precedent designed to protect against such hubristic and poorly-reasoned acts. He hasn’t given a credible argument that Trump was lying, nor did the report suggest such a thing.
5
Agreed. Her behavior plainly violated the law. Each of using a private server, sending classified information and destroying evidence under subpoena is illegal. Why was she not prosecuted? We'll never know. But Comey's take that intent was necessary was a "whole cloth" requirement not found in any of the statutes.
7
Do you think she and Bill wired up that serve on their own? I would bet a fair amount of money -- and I am not a betting man -- that an IT person from the State Department did it for them. I have never heard this possibility discussed.
Richard. I would not want you to be a custard cook.
It boggles my mind that you argue that Trump is not lying and seeking personal advantage at every point. Comey's actions ended up hurting Clinton and helping Trump. Any other conclusion is absurd.
27
Thank you, thank you for this enormously clarifying viewpoint. Putting the findings of the report in order of their significance is crucial. You are right, much of the coverage of this report has not done that. Headlines that herald "Comey insubordinate" are really, in a way, sabotaging the actual content of the report.
52
Q:How can you tell when trump is lying?
A: His mouth moves.
208
Or his fingers tweet.
1
B. His fingers send out a tweet.
And his fingers on Twitter.
Lets compare two electronic messages from senior government officials:
"Peter Strzok, the agent overseeing the F.B.I.’s investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia, answered (in response to a question from another FBI official with whom he was having an affair about whether Trump would become President), “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it.”
From KT McFarlane, Deputy National Security Advisor fired by HR McMaster: "If there is a tit-for-tat escalation Trump will have difficulty improving relations with Russia, which has just thrown U.S.A. election to him,"
Two equally confident underlings making unvarnished statements they thought were private.
My synopsis is that it was common knowledge among Trump appointees that Russia helped them to victory, while the FBI similarly figured they were onto something big that would ultimately end the Trump Presidency.
This is not news.
23
There's a lot more to find out. Horowitz did not intend to prosecute any particular side of the argument. These FBI were far more interested in the bogus Russia investigation than in prosecuting Hillary Clinton. Its still not been sufficiently explained how Clinton evaded any prosecution for obviously committing a felony then lying about it. The State Dept. email on Anthony Weiner's lap top. The many emails floating around unaccounted for. Clinton guessed right that she was too big to mess with.
5
C Harris, identify the statutes she violated?
How do you account for the FBI being improperly vocal about the Clinton investigation but completely quiet about the Trump investigation before the election? How can you call it a witchhunt considering 20 indictments have come down and Trump's campaign manager is facing trial while his national security advisor and deputy campaign manager have plead guilty?
2
Congress ran Clinton through the mill 13 times.
If the rabid haters could not come up with something then you will just have to accept that you don't like the US Justice system not working to your partisan requirements.
Trump has been getting his own family rich since he got elected and we pay millions for his fat bottom to play golf.-he thinks he is "too big to mess with".
"We'll see", like Donald says, about that.
Here is the link to the full Report. It answers the questions you have incorrectly answered.
https://www.justice.gov/file/1071991/download
Maybe Comey saved the Democrats from a Pyrrhic victory. If the Blue Wall hadn't shattered, she would've come into office weak and unpopular, having still failed to get a majority of the popular vote, and trying to govern a deeply divided country -- just like Trump.
Except the Republicans would still be running Congress and they would have prevented Clinton from passing anything except their priorities. She would either have been completely ineffective or, like her husband, she would have helped them pass conservative legislation. Bill Clinton's corrosive legacy, by the way, has a lot more to do with her defeat in the Midwest than Comey.
Instead of a "blue wave" we'd be headed for a "red tide" and a pending GOP supermajority in the fall election. Without a cult of personality behind her, Hillary's failing presidency would have approval ratings in the 30s, and the GOP would have a strong hand in 2020 to elect a powerful right-wing president who would erase the last of the New Deal.
Thank you, Comey.
12
What? Even in losing she received a majority of the popular vote.
176
No, she got 48% to Trump's 46%. No one got a majority.
The Dems are set up to elect someone much better in 2020 instead of winning one election only to lose everything.
2
The argument that ANY OTHER OUTCOME might have been worse than the election of Donald Trump is the purest speculation.
32
The IG Report's clear message is that Trump is lying. Those of us who are sane, thoughtful people know this. And one would think that anyone interested in educating himself would want to read the report's findings and conclusions.
But this report, like every other damning piece of evidence against the mentally unhinged man in the White House, will be ignored by Trump voters. They don't care that he lies. They're not ignorant fools who have been "hoodwinked". They know that Trump has lied and they simply don't care.
Why not? Because Trump voters are driven by only one thing -- the need to keep their "leader" in power indefinitely and at any cost. So Trump spews his lies because he knows his base needs something to fall back on, in attempting to justify their support for a dictator.
It is no coincidence that this report comes out just on the heels of Trump's tweet (once again) that the press is the biggest enemy of the American people. He knows he needs to keep feeding the beast -- those voters who propelled him into office, and whose support he still needs. He knows they are the ultimate identity politics demographic -- whites who feel threatened as more brown skinned people become citizens of this nation. They cannot stand the thought of sharing power, and as soon as they had a leader who was willing to tell them any number of "Big Lies", they were more than ready to sign on. And as long as he continues to tell them they're superior, they will continue to love his lies.
237
Trump is a dangerous and irresponsible, selfish person.
Nothing new there.
Trump's whole existence has been a lie, from the lie that he's a selfmade millionaire (he inherited his money from his father), a billionaire (not likely...), he's a successful businessman (but he had 5 bankruptcies and refused to pay dozens of contractors who worked for him), a good fellow (who's run his businesses to rob and cheat innocent people), a stable guy (all of us who've read his crazy tweets and seen him ranting hatefully on a debate stage know different), family man (big joke....), patriotic (chickenhawk draftdodger who never pays his taxes), healthy (so his phony doctors say of an elderly overweight man who doesn't exercise eats a cro-magnon diet), clever graduate of Wharton (someone should look into that one since Trump brags he never reads and never bought a textbook in college - most people who act like that flunk out), clever negotiator (again, 5 bankruptcies), wrote "The Art of The Deal" (written by ghostwriter Tony Schwartz with no real input from Trump), not a racist (he and his father paid millions in govt. fines for refusing to rent to African-Americans in the 1970s), not a misogynist (dozens of women he's assaulted have publicly claimed otherwise), didn't have sex with Stormy Daniels (I believe her!), blah blah blah......
If Trump's lips are moving, Trump is lying.
936
Apparently Trumps Dr lists Trumps height as 6' 3" even though Trump is notably smaller then the 6'2" Justin Trudeau and if he Dr was willing to lie about something so provable as that there's no telling what other lies the man would tell
14
Don't overlook the 3,500+ law suits. And the almost 500 shell companies.
15
People shrink in height as they age. Even if potus was 6 ' 3" without shoes in his youth, he would have shrunk by approximately 1 1/2 inches by 71. So 6' 1 1/2." now. If notably smaller than Trudeau, that probably means he never was 6' 3" without shoes. The obvious lie would have been to called himself 6' 3" when he was only 6' 2"
Of course he’s lying. He lies every single day. He believes his own lies, too. He lies for no reason at all. Fake president.
332
Comey did what he thought was in his best interest, and which would cast him in the most favorable light. That's why he both exonerated Clinton while simultaneously criticizing her actions. He wanted to have it both ways. It didn't work out that way for him, though.
But I suspect Obama was looking out for Clinton. After all, he did announce that she wasn't guilty well before the investigation was concluded. And Comey knew Loretta Lynch wasn't going to indict Clinton, which is why he took it on himself to do the job of the attorney general. And Clinton clearly violated the FOIA, which specifically prohibits communication systems outside of and undisclosed to the government. At a minimum she should have been indicted for that.
Regardless, Comey totally screwed up the Clinton investigation, leaving neither Democrats nor Republicans satisfied with the outcome.
4
Except for the minor technicality that violation of the FOIA isn't a criminal offense.
1
No one was going to idict Clinton and she has not broke the law. That was the conclussion of this IG Report.
In fact the bias in ictual action was favorable for Trump. On the other side, no action followed the contempt-filled email written by Strzok. In other words Comey’s actions did influence elections but Strzok’s email to his lover did not Influence anything. May not be even enough for his firing.
2
We know! Every day, everything, everyone.
13
thank you for saying he is LYING. should be a regular headline.
681
NPR National Public Radio still maintains as official policy to not call trump a liar! Still! You can hear the contortions of the staff as they avoid saying what is clearly obvious and repetitive lies. I personally started a campaign to reform my local station NCPR North Country Public Radio but to no avail. It is totally lost to elite trump control and NPR national's misguided policies of censorship by omission.
The Times should have a "Trump lies of the day column."
David Leonhardt is one of the few journalists out there that is consistently straightforward in thought and language in his descriptions what is happening. He should get an award.
Clearly, the Trumpers will take this as evidence that the whole Justice Department, including the authors of the report, are part of the conspiracy (along with the Illuminati).
23
Trump is so stupid. I wonder if he would've liked this "preferential treatment" a week before the vote with the FBI announcing findings on his bogus "foundation"
61
Hi Kay. Yes, Trump has acted stupidly and we need to get out the vote and elect Democrats.
1
This whole thing isn't all that difficult. Director Comey found himself between a rock and a hard place and did the best he could with it. The AG passed the buck down to him by essentially "recusing" herself, and he acted as he thought between the best of bad choices. As for the effect on the election, Director Comey had just one vote, like the rest of us. Sixty-plus million American voters decided the issue, having swallowed Trump's snake oil and "winning" via a quaint and archaic Electoral system. Everything else is just noise. "Keep your heads when all about you are losing theirs," folks.
17
Everybody, it seems, is lying except the president. Nobody can question the ethics or fairness of Michael Horowitz who conducted the investigation. It’s also obvious that James Comey destroyed Hillary Clinton’s presidential hopes, first by publicly criticizing her carelessness and then with his 11th hour release of reopening investigations into her emails.
Comey had to know how this news would hurt the Secretary but he made himself the focal point f the 2016 election. Neither Comey nor the FBI sabotaged the-then GOP nominee’s election chances and he knows full well that he received the gift of a lifetime. The truth is that he didn’t even think he could win despite his bluster and name calling.
The president will gaslight this report as proof of a “deep state” because he has no respect for law and his own DOJ. Robert Mueller did the right thing when he removed the texting agents from his investigation. The only thing that will satisfy the president is the cessation of the Mueller probe and that won’t happen.
Besides Comey and Rod Rosenstein, it’s just a matter of time before the president turns his ire on Mr. Horowitz. The president wanted this matter investigated and he got his wish. He has nothing to complain about.
28
“Trump is lying?” This is news? When has the truth ever escaped his lips!
The president and his state-run vehicle, Fox News, will pick through the report in a vain attempt to justify the unjustifiable.
James Comey, in both July and October, 2016, went for the “hero play “—that means he was trying to win the game all by himself, ignoring his teammates. His book was a plea for understanding a hard choice that had no winners, whichever decision he made. How could he have been surprised when he was asked to swear an Omertà oath to his new boss?
He decided that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email servers were a significant national security threat—as were Huma Abedin’s stolen emails by husband Anthony Weiner—but not the incontrovertible evidence that the 2016 election cycle had been corrupted by a hostile foreign entity—a country that had a serious interest in seeing Donald Trump elected, as far-fetched as that may have seemed to the Russian hackers and agents on the Kremlin’s books.
Of course, the 85% of Republicans don’t care. They bought into Trump’s racist notion in 2011 that President Obama was a Kenyan witch doctor—but embraced the F.B.I. Director who “outed” Madame Secretary on October 28.
Trump’s a liar, but so what? Republicans are happy.
100
Stop the presses, Trump is lying.
Go over to fox and see the coverage. It's a lot of people commenting "lock her up". His people simply don't care.
27
Trump is America, a Rorschach test of what makes America great.
Comey broke protocol, the same as Trump.
3
Moreover, this report gave no evidence to suggest that those few FBI members who may have shown "bias" against Trump weren't shaped by their actual concerns about the compromised Trump campaign. The Russia investigation created concern among some in the FBI because of what it appeared to be revealing about his organization, and nothing in this report contradicts that. People have a tendency to develop "biases" against criminality.
40
So now what? Will any of this make a difference? Will there be a removal of an illegitimate President? Will fear of a "constitutional crisis" keep us immobilized? We are already in a constitutional crisis. Remove this liar from office and help this country recover.
54
It would help a great deal if Comey acknowledged his very big mistake and make a very public apology to the American public. And perhaps even the world. Instead, he keeps providing lame explanations and excuses.
The consequences for the world are devasting. It will take years and much more pain to get back what we lost and are losing to the terrible Trump administration. If ever.
I know why he did it. It was biased. The false perception of Republicans is that they stand for law and order. Why most agents vote red. Or did.
Yes, he had help from the Russians, Fox, the MSM, inexplicably so-called Christians...still an apology might be a step in the right direction.
15
Comey is a Republican. Enough said.
The report puts into the most simplistic terms (even for the President) that you cannot burn the wick from both ends.
The FBI could not be a tool of the deep state and a thumb on the scale of an election at the same time.
Regardless of this report the Mueller investigation continues and will bring about eventual accountability for all.
9
You needed to analyze a 500 page plus report and write a column to conclude that Trump is lying. This is not news or insight or analysis. It is news when Trump is telling the truth.
Trump has so corroded public discourse in this country that you felt the need to go to such effort to report the obvious.
Let us start to think a little more outside the box. Let us report none of Trump's lies. The amount of coverage of him in the press will decrease drastically which is just what this country needs right now.
17
The report puts into the most simplistic terms (even for the President) that you cannot burn the wick from both ends.
The FBI could not be a tool of the deep state and a thumb on the scale of an election at the same time.
Regardless of this report the Mueller investigation continues and will bring about eventual accountability for all.
17
"Did the Justice Department and F.B.I. use their power, as Trump has repeatedly claimed, to help Clinton’s campaign and hurt his?"
And the report said "no". And I and millions of Americans knew that from the get-go. We trust the FBI. Some boneheaded decisions by Comey and a few others, but honest men and women do that from time to time.
But the Trump organization will not stop their accusations, they have no other option. They can't admit their wrong, what would their followers say? Nope, just keep spewing out falsehoods, that's what they want to hear, so give them what they ask for. Lies, and more lies.
Don't forget to vote this November!
31
As anyone who watched shows that feature the police (even as characters in soap operas) knows, they cannot discuss an ongoing investigation. Merely discussing it is a big no-no. So yes, Comey was wrong to do that. As to the two lovebirds, everyone is entitled to his or her personal opinion, but they should have merely cooed it to each other in private and not written them down. But this is a tempest in a teapot which, I am sure, Trump, the GOP and Fox News will blow completely out of proportion and lie about ad infinitum.
28
The two discussed plotting in mccabe’s office to stop trump becoming president.
It’s a shame you won’t read that in these pages.
It’s a shame this paper won’t get to the bottom of those plots.
I have questioned if Director Comey’s July 2016 public press conference might have been a sting to manage, control and record Putin and the Russian’s first verbal response to Hillary not being charged for her server use in investigating Russia. I find it offensive that the critical Republican leadership is so intrusively into the FBI’s professionally trained agency business as these certain GOP members are the only ones politically-motivated to help Trump’s mouth-a-billion make ‘no-cents’ case against Hillary. ‘What’ does the GOP think they are politically cashing in on, here, anyway?
Cannot Republican leadership get a political life of its party’s own without rehashing old Democrat leadership stuff and only undoing everything the Obama Administration accomplished?
2
They don't fear the facts. They just state their own version of reality. what we call lies.
41
From the very beginning, I have been deeply biased against the dangerous candidacy of the sociopath we call Donald Trump, and there's never been anything inappropriate about it. It's a fact-based bias against pathological mendacity.
I remain so. More so. For good reasons that are obvious to anyone with a historical perspective, a healthy conscience, and any experience with human nature in its darkest permutations.
It's a national shame that we don't accord those who choose to dedicate their professional lives to our imperfect but crucial justice system the same essential human liberty to feel and express their revulsion at the cancer in our highest office, whether imminent or realized.
Instead, the worst (professional misconduct) is presumed from the mere unguarded communication of that revulsion between intimate partners, while the stench and screaming reality of actual official misconduct, bordering on outright treason, is dishonestly ignored or defended by roughly half of our political culture.
Sickening, and ominous.
63
At Trump rallies, the people in the audience will still chant, "Lock her up!" Trump will smile back at them and look into the camera as if to say, "What canI do?" The report and what it says will mean nothing in these arenas.
23
Finally, someone willing to use the actual word : LYING. Enough with dancing around the actual facts, and using innuendo. Thank you.
Much appreciated.
142
He is not just a liar, he is a very sick liar.
His latest: “thousands of Korean War victims parents asked him to bring their remains home”.
There are no remaining parents of these fallen soldiers anymore, if they were, they would be at least 100 years old.
5
I agree with Mr. Leonhardt's assessment, but after listening to Fox News and other news reports and opinion shows, it is obvious that various media outlets are telling their viewers only what they think they want them to hear or are giving them a simplistic account of the IG's findings. Unless their viewers consult more reputable sources, they will either simply accept what they are told or shrug in exasperation. The bottom line is that Trump was elected and Hillary was not; what was suspected about his involvement with Russia was *not* revealed before the election, and the FBI agent who texted with his girlfriend about how much they dislike Trump was taken off the Russia case months ago by Mr. Mueller.
16
James Comey intervened in our elections and caused more damage than the Russians did in all their efforts.
For all James Comey's attacks on Trump and his breaking of so many norms, he's yet to bring such high standards to his own breaking of the norm on having an impact on a presidential election and this report merely proves that further.
How can he say he went public to offset Bill Clinton's runway adventure with Loretta Lynch as a way to protect the FBI because he thought Hillary would win?
How can he say that and yet on the other hand say many, many times he wanted the FBI to act without any political considerations?
Mr. Comey, in his book and all his public comments, states that he was painted into a corner between two bad choices: staying quiet or going public.
He never considered the advice of any former FBI director when faced with such a momentous decision? He relied on himself and his staff and no one else.
And he did all that and yet all he did about the grave threat the Russians presented was to draft an op-ed piece?
Hillary should have gone to Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio, of course, but stop with the sanctimony, Mr. Comey.
34
“And more serious news coverage often struggles to find clear enough language to explain the bait and switch, without seeming to lose its objectivity.”
As you also say, Trump constantly lies. The best defense against Trump’s behavior is simply to tell the truth.
Comey interfered with the election, and he should not have done so. But the real question remains: why was the Clinton email investigation reopened right before the election while no concurrent announcement was made of the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia?
Why are we fixating on preferential treatment having been given to Clinton? Preferential treatment was given to Trump!
Does Mueller have Trump’s tax returns? If not, can he get them? If not, why not? Why … not?
If Comey can help Mueller with anything then that is what he needs to do. That is his job now. Actions will speak louder than words.
100
"Why are we fixating on preferential treatment having been given to Clinton? Preferential treatment was given to Trump!"
Why, indeed? Perhaps it's because the right-wing echo chamber wants us to. Unfortunately, it's just become that simple
19
"... the real question remains: why was the Clinton email investigation reopened right before the election while no concurrent announcement was made of the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia?"
Hear, hear.
2
If someone needs more information regarding Trump's character, he or she has not been paying attention for the last two years. The evidence is overwhelming, the jury is back, the case is closed. Verdict: guilty on all counts.
310
The DNC lawsuit. Now the NY AG lawsuit. The Emoluments lawsuits. The Stormy Daniels and Summer Zervos and other defamation lawsuits. The list keep getting longer every day.
There will need to be so many lawyers fighting Trump's lawsuits that the WH will have to go to Congress for appropriations! Well, perhaps most of these involve personal attorneys I guess, and not necessarily his impeachment lawyers.
I hope when justice is meted out that there isn't a Trump property left standing and the entire family is in jail. They'll all have to be sold to cover their legal expenses. Oh, I guess there is always Jared who could loan them some of his Dubai money in a last resort.
538
The necessary lawyers will not be paid for with taxpayer money. They are his private lawyers---only. Right now. the RNC is paying or his, Donald Jr., and Michael Cohen's legal bills. I hope the average donor to Trump knows their money is going to help a "billionaire".
18
Nah. In a just world, Jared's influence-peddling, his money-laundering, and slum-landlord activities will be exposed and he will go to jail too.
5
As long as the trials are held in state court there may be jail time at their conclusion. Otherwise if tried in federal court, the Pardon button he’s been showing off lately will be pushed.
3
This report confirms the illegitimacy of the 2016 presidential election, as a result of deliberate decisions made both domestically and abroad. It very indirectly implicates the then-sitting president for his unwillingness to take decisive action when such action was crucially needed. Sometimes going high when they go low is a roadmap to catastrophe.
198
beaujames actually says it: " It very indirectly implicates the then-sitting president for his unwillingness to take decisive action when such action was crucially needed."
Obama failed the country at a critical juncture. He should have fired Comey. He should also have fired his AG Lynch for not reigning in Comey. We have Trump because of these failures. People on the left need to stop complaining about Hillary's campaign...she was carrying Obama's baggage during the whole campaign...and if finally brought her down.
2
Historians should always and forever note the insubordination of the FBI Director in publicly announcing in late Oct. that he was re-opening the investigation into Hillary's Emails, whilst the entire department remained utterly silent that there was a concurrent active FBI investigation into The Donald's campaign, as to whether it was under the influence/colluding with Russia, Russian oligarchs, Wikileaks, etc., etc., etc.
It turns out there are very very good reasons for the DOJ policy regarding no announcements on investigations.
Historic reasons that policy should be followed.
985
Re: "whilst the entire department remained utterly silent that there was a concurrent active FBI investigation into The Donald's campaign"
Actually, they weren't silent, they publicly denied it via ( another ) illegal leak.
Silence would have been better.
2
@Marion - It was a coup by the donors of the GOP, and the Rabid Rightists who had succeeded in creating an environment where DOJ policy was not followed if it benefited Clinton; if DOJ policy favored the GOP'er (even a manifestly unqualified guy who had never held any political office, wouldn't show his tax returns, and was a Bankruptcy King running on his biz acumen record) then DOJ policy was adhered to.
5
I'm so tired of waiting for this "president" to be impeached. He's a liar. Plain and simple. What he spouts aren't "untruths"; they are lies. And the media should be screaming "LIar" everyday. Instead, they employ phrases that call him everything but what he is. He's a liar. "LIAR" should be your headline.
280
There are two problems with impeachment:
1. Mike Pence (arguably worse)
2. McConnell, Ryan, and all
13
Of course the system is rigged & distorted by political agendas. Why was there even an investigation of Clinton's use of private email --a mistake she shares with all other post-email era Attorneys General--except to advance the Republican agenda of throwing everything at the Democrats to see what sticks? The whole thing was a farce, with the Republicans and their media implying much but unable to articulate a single coherent theory about what criminal purposes Clinton was supposedly pursuing.
523
Because she unlike others used a private server among other things.
1
Several people seem to be confused about this.
Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, not Attorney General. Your point is valid, but the comparison is with other Secretaries of State.
Meanwhile, Hillary's server was never hacked, while both the State Department and regular servers were hacked. So her security decision was actually an improvement. The whole "scandal" idea is simple rigging.
19
Thanks for the clarification. There seems to be meme confusing her role. I keep finding myself repeating the error.
His entire life Donald Trump has done whatever he wants with impunity. I only want him to finally be held responsible for his own actions.
1182
What actions? Site facts, please!
Thank you, so do I. I only wish his pathetic parents could be reanimated, not just for the occasion but also to be imprisoned with him (daddy certainly deserves it for illegally denying black citizens their right to the apartments he controlled).
I know I should not delight in others' misfortunes. However, I believe it will be a great day when Trump is held to account for his misdeeds, and there is no escape for him.
Really, folks. At this late date, how can you expect this president—or this administration—to tell the truth about ANYTHING? It was perfectly predictable that Trump and his team would spin this report into something that has only a nodding acquaintance with the truth.
It’s his base I wonder about. I don’t understand how they can swallow this much baloney without getting a severe case of indigestion.
691
This long, uncomfortable season began long before Trump was elected, and when he leaves office the mixture of factors that facilitated his rise to power—and still keep him there—will remain.
The issues that made American democracy fragile urgently need to be addressed in order to prevent this from happening again. This requires not only examining Trump’s actions, but also recognizing how the choices made by American citizens, members of government, corporations, and other leaders contributed to Trump’s rise to power.
53
Those that swallow it are insecure individuals, many afraid of losing their perceived "white supremacy" and too lazy or ignorant to dig into the facts and blatant display of Trump's lack of character and a wildly deviated moral compass. First among the hypocritical are the evangelicals who sat out and opposed the civil rights movement exhibiting a morally indignant pushback against a modern world where they view their rights as fragile, their institutions threatened and their dignity assailed. Their voice is often apocalyptic and so a message that promises to return to the "good old days" is pure nirvana to these sheep.
"We will withdraw from TPP"
"We will move the embassy to Jerusalem"
"We will cut taxes"
"We will dismantle Obamacare"
"We will withdraw from the PCA"
"We will unleash American energy production"
"We will appoint constitutionalist judges"
"We will rein in the regulatory state"
"We will have a president who is a friend to business"
"We will grow the economy at a faster rate"
"We will cut unemployment"
"We will cut food stamp usage"
Do ANY of those statements count?
Politicians can be corrupt. This we all know. Find the facts, state the facts. Remember old school investigative journalism? Boy do we need that now. We are repeatedly being told by the tweets of a barely legitimate plutocrat and his political lackeys and the silence of the rest, to go and take a seat while the truth is spun into a darn good lie and broadcast loud enough to drown out the facts and socially engineer the sheep. It is demoralizing and I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is some PTSD of a new sort suffered by many soon and further down the road. We have to get more sophisticated about the handling of major deception. I hope there is an antidote to this graft somewhere in the political arena who is just about to surface, who can take on this current group without fear of losing themselves.
199
Rachel Maddow described what you’re saying as, in fact, a bullying ploy. I thought that was a good analogy. The GOP members who likely received rubles are participating in the obsfucation for the President.
In Canada for the past 18 months it has been a criminal offense to lie in a business transaction. I doubt any utterance by a POTUS could be held not to be a business transaction with his/her constituents. Is there not an equivalent in the US constitution?
The orange man is not legitimate by a long shot