Comey: Tall Lawman, But Short on Integrity

James Comey's testimony revealed more about the six-foot-eight former FBI director than it did about President Trump.  By words and body language, Comey was at times vengeful, self-serving, evasive and spiteful.  Only a psychiatrist would have found his performance enlightening.

Comey's long-anticipated appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week exposed his failure to recognize his own ineptness in the handling of FBI investigations.  Democrats had been on their knees, praying Comey would detonate bombshells that would blow up the Trump presidency.

In the end, Comey only succeeded in calling into question his integrity and that of the previous administration.  His halting, sometimes pouting conduct, left the impression of a man desperate to salvage his reputation after being the target of savage attacks by both Republicans and Democrats.

For the record, Comey acknowledged the president was not the target of an investigation of Russian collusion.  He confirmed the Mr. Trump did not order him to drop the probe of Russian interference in the election.  The president never explicitly directed him to bury the Michael Flynn investigation.

After the hearings, constitutional law authority and former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz pointed out that the president of the United States has the authority to decide who to investigate, which probes to halt and even determine when to prosecute.

"'The president is the head of the unified branch of government, and the Justice Department and the FBI work under him and he may order them to do what he wishes," Dershowitz wrote in an opinion piece.  In other words, Mr. Trump had every legal write to order Comey to end an investigation.

By ignoring the president's legal authority, the erudite Dershowitz called out the Democrats and media for "endangering our civil liberties and constitutional rights."  In case you need reminding, Dershowitz is a leading advocate of civil liberties and often supports Democrat causes.

With no evidence to offer, Comey spent most of his soap opera on Capitol Hill lobbing innuendos designed to smear the president.  The former director confessed he felt "awkward, strange and uneasy" about his discussions with his boss President Trump.  He called Mr. Trump a "liar."

There was no evidential support submitted for his conclusions, just squishy feelings he had during his encounters with the president. Comey is no novice, having served three American presidents in senior positions.  He knows none of his armchair psychiatry amounts to evidence in a court of law.

As expected the mainstream media, lapped up Comey's psychoanalysis of Mr. Trump.  "Trump A Liar" many headlines screamed. But there were many potentially ethical and possibly criminal revelations aired by Comey that were naturally ignored by the fake news media.

For example, Comey explained that he lost faith in former Attorney General Loretta Lynch's ability to handle the Hillary Clinton email probe because he was asked to refer to the investigation as a "matter."  This suggests interference by the attorney general in a criminal investigation.

It was this same James Comey who launched an investigation last July into Russian meddling in the election and broadened the scope to include collusion with the Trump campaign. Before the presidential election, Comey's FBI illegally leaked information about the probe to the media.

And no one will ever forget Comey's inept handling of the investigation into the Clinton email scandal.  Democrats howled about the former FBI chief's disclosures about her conduct even as he revealed he would not recommend prosecution, a decision that was the province of Ms. Lynch.

A review of Comey's testimony reveals that he allowed his unbridled anger at being fired to influence his words under oath.  If Comey believes he injured the president, he is wrong.  He showed the world how a once revered lawman had stooped to the role of a disgruntled former government employee.