A friend of former FBI Director James Comey, and a prolific law blog author, has blasted President Donald Trump for making comments on Twitter about a legal process the president apparently doesn’t fully understand.
Trump tweeted out this morning about a report on James Comey, in which the former director had written a draft statement that cleared Hillary Clinton’s name when it came to her use of a private email server as Secretary of State, the Hill reports.
Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over…and so much more. A rigged system!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2017
The draft statement wasn’t official, however, and Comey didn’t release any decision about Clinton until he had interviewed her and others.
In response to Trump’s wild-eyed assessment on Twitter, Benjamin Wittes, a close friend of Comey’s who writes for the blog Lawfare, scolded the president, calling Trump’s assessment a “slime-job” against the former FBI director.
A few thoughts in response to the latest slime-job by the President against Comey. I will keep this very brief. /1/ https://t.co/hvdDHitYHd
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) September 1, 2017
There is nothing surprising about this news that Comey began drafting what became the declination statement early. /3/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) September 1, 2017
Wittes explained that the investigation into Clinton was already nine months old, and unless the interviews with her revealed something new, it was heading toward an open-and-shut case of no criminal wrongdoing on her part. “Unless HRC lied to the FBI or it found something new, this was headed for a declination,” he wrote.
Wittes also took the president to school, so to speak, telling him what Comey did isn’t uncommon for prosecutors or even judges and justices to do. He was simply preparing for the inevitable — that Clinton would face no charges based on the evidence he had already collected.
This may come as a shock to Grassley and Graham and Trump, but judges sometimes do a memo/draft about an opinion before oral argument. /7/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) September 1, 2017
And Wittes took the time to take a subtle proverbial punch against the president, too, telling him that “smart people think ahead and prepare,” something that Trump should consider doing himself for a change.
Smart people think ahead and prepare. That appears to be an alien notion to our current President, but that's likely what happened here. /8/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) September 1, 2017
Wittes closed his thoughts out by explaining that creating a draft document is not the same as coming to a conclusion. Comey could have changed his mind if new evidence came about, he explained.
New information can arise. HRC could have lied in her interview. Keeping an open mind is not the same as failing to do advance work. /11/
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) September 1, 2017
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, CC By SA-2.0