For better or worse, FBI chief has shown independence
Perhaps no public official emerged from the presidential campaign more battered than FBI Director James Comey. Republicans savaged him in the summer for declining to seek prosecution of Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information. Democrats were apoplectic when he brought the email inquiry back into the limelight just days before the election.
On Thursday, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook blamed her defeat in large part on Comey’s “total breach” of Justice Department protocol. “It’s mindboggling why he did this.”
Should Comey, who is three years into a 10-year term, resign or be fired?
His critics should be careful what they wish for. Comey’s departure would open the door for President-elect Donald Trump to appoint the next FBI director, one who might not have Comey’s ability to speak truth to power. The phrase has become a cliché, but people who have the guts to do it in Washington are rare, especially when the power they’re speaking to is the president.
Comey has displayed that sort of courage in the past. He might need such strength during a Trump administration. The Trump family’s international business interests could present conflicts that come under the FBI’s purview. The director might
FBI Director James Comey.
also have to deal with Trump’s dangerous belief that the president decides who gets investigated or prosecuted. Those jobs fall under the authority of the FBI and the Justice Department.
Evaluating Comey’s fitness to keep his job involves looking beyond his recent actions to recall why he’s known as such a standup guy. It centers on a dramatic confrontation in 2004 when Comey, then deputy attorney general, was filling in for his boss, Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was seriously ill.
Comey disputed the legality of President Bush’s controversial warrantless eavesdropping program. After Comey threatened to resign, Bush agreed to changes.
There aren’t many who have faced down a president. That has propelled Comey to key positions in both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Comey’s recent stumbles also need to be viewed in context. The Clinton email investigation left the FBI director without good choices.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s private meeting with former president Bill Clinton called into question the Justice Department’s impartiality just as the email inquiry was wrapping up. After Lynch recused herself, Comey took matters into his own hands, announcing in an unusual news conference that Clinton’s actions were careless but not criminal. Democrats were relieved, Republicans furious.
Where Comey stumbled was in promising Congress that he’d notify members of new developments in the email investigation. So when the FBI began looking at Clinton emails in an unrelated inquiry, he told Congress, setting off an uproar less than two weeks before Election Day. This time Democrats were furious, even though Comey said “never mind” two days before the election.
If nothing else, Comey has again demonstrated his independence. And independence might turn out to be the most prized commodity in Washington in the years ahead.