04-16-2018, 10:33 PM
Mags, any potential crimes uncovered during an investigation need to be followed through upon under the law (whether they're brought to light through leaks, in the course of separate investigations, via tipsters, etc).
Since Cohen's potential crimes are apparently not related and/or exclusive to Mueller's charter, they were referred to federal prosecutors with the state of New York for investigation.
From there, the state of New York LE investigated, gathered enough probable cause to get a judge to sign off on a no-knock warrant, and gathered potential evidence before it could be destroyed.
Upon review of the materials gathered under the Cohen search warrant........New York state may find no evidence or insufficient evidence to charge Cohen with any crimes. Or, New York state may find sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Cohen. Remains to be seen.
Comey broke protocol by publicly eviscerating Clinton and sharing his opinions when he made the announcement that no charges were merited against Clinton for using a private email server; there was no evidence of intent.
Comey broke protocol again when he announced that the Clinton server investigation would be re-opened less than two weeks before election day as a result of the Huma/Weiner laptop fiasco (nothing new or relevant was found and, again, no charges were merited).
Comey never mentioned an in-progress Russian collusion investigation against the Trump campaign during the election cycle nor during his tenure with the Trump administration, however. He said that's because it wasn't something already known to the public at that time (whereas the Clinton server investigation was already known to the public).
None of Comey's actions in regards to Clinton were related to Russian interference and nobody has said they were. It was a separate investigation and it's being talked about a lot again now with the release of Comey's book, as is the ongoing Russian interference investigation and a million other political subjects.
After Comey was fired, he had a friend release to the press some information about his encounters and notes related to Trump. There was no law against doing so, though I'd say that was another breach of standard-accepted protocol.
I also think the timing and content of Comey's book and recent interviews is a breach of common protocols for a man who held position of Director of the FBI. But, again, it's not illegal. And, Donald Trump breaches common protocols for a man who holds the highest position in the land everyday (which also isn't against the law in and of itself).
Comey sure as hell did Clinton no favors. And, Comey isn't doing Trump any favors now (aside from getting Trump's loyalists to rally around him even tighter no matter what).
Comey will probably make a fair bit of money off the book, but he's already rich from his private sector work and I think he's doing more harm than good when it comes to his public image.
So anyway..........if Clinton is being re-investigated again and crimes, rather than piss-poor judgment, are uncovered, charge her. Same with Trump and Cohen. No one is above the law in this country.
Comey didn't potentially break any laws and is not under investigation, as far as I know. He thus faces only the court of public opinion and the ire of hard-core Clinton supporters and hard-core Trump supporters.
Since Cohen's potential crimes are apparently not related and/or exclusive to Mueller's charter, they were referred to federal prosecutors with the state of New York for investigation.
From there, the state of New York LE investigated, gathered enough probable cause to get a judge to sign off on a no-knock warrant, and gathered potential evidence before it could be destroyed.
Upon review of the materials gathered under the Cohen search warrant........New York state may find no evidence or insufficient evidence to charge Cohen with any crimes. Or, New York state may find sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Cohen. Remains to be seen.
Comey broke protocol by publicly eviscerating Clinton and sharing his opinions when he made the announcement that no charges were merited against Clinton for using a private email server; there was no evidence of intent.
Comey broke protocol again when he announced that the Clinton server investigation would be re-opened less than two weeks before election day as a result of the Huma/Weiner laptop fiasco (nothing new or relevant was found and, again, no charges were merited).
Comey never mentioned an in-progress Russian collusion investigation against the Trump campaign during the election cycle nor during his tenure with the Trump administration, however. He said that's because it wasn't something already known to the public at that time (whereas the Clinton server investigation was already known to the public).
None of Comey's actions in regards to Clinton were related to Russian interference and nobody has said they were. It was a separate investigation and it's being talked about a lot again now with the release of Comey's book, as is the ongoing Russian interference investigation and a million other political subjects.
After Comey was fired, he had a friend release to the press some information about his encounters and notes related to Trump. There was no law against doing so, though I'd say that was another breach of standard-accepted protocol.
I also think the timing and content of Comey's book and recent interviews is a breach of common protocols for a man who held position of Director of the FBI. But, again, it's not illegal. And, Donald Trump breaches common protocols for a man who holds the highest position in the land everyday (which also isn't against the law in and of itself).
Comey sure as hell did Clinton no favors. And, Comey isn't doing Trump any favors now (aside from getting Trump's loyalists to rally around him even tighter no matter what).
Comey will probably make a fair bit of money off the book, but he's already rich from his private sector work and I think he's doing more harm than good when it comes to his public image.
So anyway..........if Clinton is being re-investigated again and crimes, rather than piss-poor judgment, are uncovered, charge her. Same with Trump and Cohen. No one is above the law in this country.
Comey didn't potentially break any laws and is not under investigation, as far as I know. He thus faces only the court of public opinion and the ire of hard-core Clinton supporters and hard-core Trump supporters.