President not the only one to get burned
Clinton, Lynch, Sessions, Rosenstein also feel heat
WASHINGTON — President Trump and Hillary Clinton probably braced themselves for the blowback from yesterday’s hotly anticipated testimony by James Comey.
But several others were likely stunned to find themselves under a bus, thrown there through a series of bombshell revelations from the ousted FBI director.
At the top of that list of those covered in tread marks: former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
In one of the most shocking revelations of the day, Comey implied that Lynch was shaping the Justice Department’s messaging about Hillary Clinton’s email investigation to sync with the presidential campaign.
Comey said he was sickened when Lynch “directed” him to call the Clinton probe a “matter” and not an “investigation.” “I said, ‘Why would I do that?’ And she said, ‘Just call it a ‘ matter,’ ” Comey testified.
“That gave me a queasy feeling,” Comey said of the request, noting that “the Clinton campaign, at the time, was using all kinds of euphemisms — security review, matters, things like that — for what was going on,” Comey said.
But Lynch wasn’t alone — members of the Trump administration also felt the heat, including Lynch’s successor, Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
In what was perhaps an unintended disclosure, Comey said “problematic” issues related to the Russia probe led him to believe Sessions would recuse himself from the matter “for a variety of reasons.”
“We also were aware of facts that I can’t discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic,” Comey testified. “And so we were convinced, and in fact I think that we already heard, that the career people were recommending that he recuse himself.”
Comey didn’t elaborate, leaving the question of exactly what the “problematic” issue was hanging over the hearing room like a cloud. But he noted that Sessions ultimately did indeed step aside from the inquiry.
Sessions’s second-in-command, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, wasn’t unscathed either. Comey said he told Rosenstein of his concerns about Trump’s actions during their private interactions — before Rosenstein wrote his memorandum blasting Comey’s handling of the Clinton probe that would initially be used by Trump as his rationale for firing Comey.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Rosenstein has felt burned — he was reportedly surprised his memo would be used by Trump for that purpose. But he probably wasn’t expecting the secondary hit by Comey yesterday.