Could former FBI Director James Comey be the first major figure to face real accountability for his role in the destructive Russia collusion hoax?
It’s a question worth asking given Thursday evening’s news that the cocky former intel chief has been indicted by a grand jury on counts of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. The charges were brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
What’s particularly noteworthy about the indictment, however, is its relation to the Russia collusion hoax.
As The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman summarized, “The charges arise from testimony Comey gave in 2020 when Sen. Ted Cruz questioned him about testimony he previously provided in 2017, in which he stated ‘he did not authorize leaking information regarding the FBI’s investigations into President Donald Trump or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,’ as described by NBC News. Comey told Cruz he stood by the testimony.”
“But former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said Comey was aware of the leak of information to the press and essentially gave it the stamp of approval after the fact, a 2018 Justice Department inspector general’s report found,” Lyman added.
Comey’s role in helping form and advance the Russia collusion hoax cannot be overstated.
Roughly a month after Hillary Clinton’s defeat in the 2016 election, President Obama ordered his intel chiefs — including Comey — to put together an Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) to identify “Russian activities and intentions in recent U.S. elections.” The ICA came away with the conclusion that “Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances.”
The CIA and Comey-led FBI expressed “high confidence” in that judgment, while the NSA expressed “moderate confidence.”
As revealed in a declassified 2020 House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence report earlier this year, however, that central claim — which was foundational in Democrats’ destructive Trump-Russia hoax — was based weak and uncorroborated intel. Meanwhile, intelligence contradicting that central claim was left out of the ICA altogether.
The goal in crafting the ICA, as is now glaringly apparent, was to give validity to the Clinton-manufactured narrative that Trump colluded with Moscow to steal the 2016 election.
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The declassified report further contradicted claims made by Comey and other Obama intel chiefs that salacious and false information from the infamous Steele dossier were not included in the main body of the ICA. Speaking before Congress in September 2020, Comey unequivocally stated of the dossier, “It was significant enough and consistent enough with other intelligence that it ought to be included, but it wasn’t sufficiently corroborated to be in the body of the Intelligence Community Assessment.”
It’s worth noting that the Comey-led FBI was particularly enthralled with weaponizing the fictious Steele dossier in the lead up to the 2016 election. After coming into possession of the salacious materials in early July 2016, the agency — under Comey’s leadership —later used the dossier’s contents to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump campaign official Carter Page.
[EXCLUSIVE: ‘This Should NOT Be Included’ — Read Intel Officials’ Objections To ‘Extremely Sketchy’ Steele Dossier]
The Russia collusion hoax is arguably one of the most harmful and damning scandals in U.S. history — and none of it would have been made possible without corrupt intel hacks like Comey.
Thursday’s indictment is welcome news for Americans who still care about the rule of law and delivering justice for those engaged in wrongdoing. Let’s hope these are but a few of the many charges awaiting Russiagate’s other key players, whose damaging antics must be held to account.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood