• neuracnu@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 days ago

    At the very end of the article, the author finally explains the specific charge against Comey.

    Comey, in his September 2020 testimony, told Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that he stood by prior testimony that he did not, as FBI director, authorize a leak of information to The Wall Street Journal for an October 2016 article that detailed a Justice Department probe of then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s email use.

    Cruz told the Justice Department in a letter three months later that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe admitted knowing about and authorizing the leak.

    McCabe insisted that Comey was aware of his decision to authorize the disclosure, while Comey “has denied this claim,” Cruz wrote.

    “Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe’s statements are irreconcilably contradictory,” Cruz wrote. “Mr. McCabe says that he told Mr. Comey of the leak and that Mr. Comey approved — effectively authorizing the leak after the fact. Mr. Comey, on the other hand, has said that he neither authorized the leak nor knew of Mr. McCabe’s involvement.”

    “One of them is lying under oath — a federal crime,” Cruz wrote.

    Righty-o then. So prove it.

    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Actually taking those statements as they are, they are NOT actually contradictory.

      Comey, in his September 2020 testimony, told Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that he stood by prior testimony that he did not, as FBI director, authorize a leak of information to The Wall Street Journal for an October 2016 article that detailed a Justice Department probe of then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s email use.

      So Comey did not authorize a leak.

      Cruz told the Justice Department in a letter three months later that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe admitted knowing about and authorizing the leak.

      So McCabe knew about and authorized the leak.

      McCabe insisted that Comey was aware of his decision to authorize the disclosure, while Comey “has denied this claim,” Cruz wrote.

      So Comey was aware that McCabe authorized the leak, not himself.

      That doesn’t prove at all that either Comey or McCabe lied, in fact it proves the exact opposite. McCabe admitted he authorized the leak, Comey knew about it but did not authorize it. Which is exactly what both of them said, there’s no lie there.

      That assumes those are the actual facts of course. But if that’s the basis of the charges, there’s nothing there without even needing to get into any minutiae.