Lawyer Pursues to Disbar James Comey Over Clinton Email Scandal
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Former FBI Director James Comey could be disbarred.
Earlier this week, the FBI disclosed Comey started drafting a statement prior to the agency completing Hillary Clinton’s email investigation.
Clinton was under FBI investigation for her handling of classified information using a private email server while in her role as Secretary of State.
This week’s FBI disclosure prompted a lawyer to file a bar grievance accusing Comey of lying to Congress as well as possibly destroying potential evidence in the case.
The Washington Times reports:
A crusading lawyer filed a bar grievance this week accusing former FBI Director James Comey of lying to Congress and destroying potential evidence in the Clinton email scandal, in a process that could end up costing him his law license.
Ty Clevenger filed the grievance in New York, where Mr. Comey was a former U.S. attorney and is licensed to practice law.
Mr. Clevenger said Mr. Comey’s testimony to Congress that he did not predetermine the outcome of the FBI’s probe into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is belied by revelations this week that he in fact started drafting an exoneration months before even speaking with Mrs. Clinton.
“Insofar as Mr. Comey gave materially false testimony to Congress, it appears that he violated Rules 1.0(w), 3.3(a)(1), and 8.4 of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct,” Mr. Clevenger wrote.
Clevenger also seeks grievances for former Attorney General Loretta Lynch based on Comey’s assertion of her telling him to call the Clinton investigation a “matter.”
He also asked to renew grievances in New York against former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, saying Mr. Comey’s claim that she tried to pressure him to downplay the Clinton probe should subject her to scrutiny.
Fox News reported on the FBI’s confirmation of Comey’s drafted statement:
The document release was titled “Drafts of Director Comeys July 5, 2016 Statement Regarding Email Server Investigation Part 01 of 01.”
The contents of the email were largely unclear as nearly all of it was redacted. The now-public records show the email titled “Midyear Exam — UNCLASSIFIED” was sent by Comey on May 2, 2016, to Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, general counsel James Baker and chief of staff and senior counselor James Rybicki.
On May 16, the documents showed a response email from Rybicki, saying “Please send me any comments on this statement so we may roll into a master doc for discussion with the Director at a future date. Thanks, Jim.”
Newly-appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray was informed of the draft statement by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“it appears that in April or early May of 2016, Mr. Comey had already decided he would issue a statement exonerating Secretary Clinton. That was long before FBI agents finished their work,” the letter said. “The outcome of an investigation should not be prejudged while FBI agents are still hard at work trying to gather the facts.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy is calling for Comey to testify again before Congress.
“Whenever somebody decides to charge someone, there are lots of layers of scrutiny. When you decide not to charge someone, there aren’t that many layers of scrutiny but there ought to be at least a couple,” Gowdy said. “The media should do it but also Congress should look at this decision not to charge and whether or not it was made before you interviewed two dozen witnesses, including the target of the investigation, yeah we need to talk to him again.”