The attorney general could have ordered FBI Director James Comey not to send his letter

[still_one]

"Twelve days before the presidential election, FBI Director James B. Comey dispatched a senior aide to deliver a startling mes"sage to the Justice Department. Comey wanted to send a letter to Congress alerting them that his agents had discovered more emails potentially relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

......

Justice officials laid out a number of arguments against releasing the letter. It violated two long-standing policies. Never publicly discuss an ongoing investigation. And never take an action affecting a candidate for office close to Election Day. Besides, they said, the FBI did not know yet what was in the emails or if they had anything to do with the Clinton case.

Remarkably, the country’s two top law enforcement officials never spoke. As Comey’s boss, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch could have given the FBI director an order to not send the letter. But Lynch and her advisers feared that Comey would not listen. He seemed to feel strongly about updating Congress on his sworn testimony about the Clinton investigation. Instead, they tried to relay their concerns through the Justice official whom the FBI had called.

......

"Weeks before the letter, Comey had advised against the Obama administration public statement admonishing Russia for the Democratic Party hacks, arguing it would make the administration appear partisan too close to the election. But to him, the Clinton email investigation was different."

.......

“If she thought [the letter] violated department policy or was otherwise a bad idea, she could have ordered him not to send the letter,” said Goldsmith, who noted that soon after the letter was released, Justice officials proceeded to criticize Comey when Lynch had the power all along to stop him. “It was an astonishing failure of leadership and eschewal of responsibility, especially if Lynch really thought what Comey did was wrong.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-attorney-general-could-have-ordered-fbi-director-james-comey-not-to-send-his-bombshell-letter-on-clinton-emails-heres-why-she-didnt/2016/12/21/7824d00a-c5fd-11e6-85b5-76616a33048d_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_comeylynch-715am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

[HoneyBadger]

1. My take from this and from the Podesta hack

Is that people tend to ignore what the FBI is saying until it is too late to do anything

[still_one]

5. I think the AG dropped the ball big time on this one. The result of this wasn't just about "losing

an election", there is a very real chance that the major achievements of the Obama administration will now be dismantled, and everything from healthcare, civil rights, women's rights, environmental rights, and destablization of the world is now at risk because of it

[woolldog]

2. Lynch was afraid of seeming biased in favor of Clinton

especially after the incident when she went inside Bill Clinton's plane and spoke with him. Another very poor decision on her part that led to her not being able to order Comey not to release the letter.

[Kolesar]

4. Yeah, I heard the tarmac-torment from a pundit a week ago.

I feel sick.

[still_one]

6. As the article indicates, she could have recused herself, and someone else at the Justice Department

could have made the call

[zippythepinhead]

3. She was covering her own ass

she cared more abut herself than her country.

I don't like her.

Proof: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/06/29/attorney-general-meets-with-former-president-clinton-amid-politically-charged-investigation-into-his-wifes-email/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.080dc9bc7197

[still_one]

7. The article suggests she could have recused herself, and let someone else make that call

[SFnomad]

8. If Lynch stopped Comey (or recused herself and let someone else do it)

Someone, maybe even Comey, would have leaked it to the press and the RepubliCONs. And then all hell would have broken loose ... it would have created an even bigger sh!tstorm than the release of the letter caused.

[jalan48]

9. No matter how many times we go round and round on this it comes back to the question of

Last edited Thu Dec 22, 2016, 07:55 PM - Edit history (1)

why was Comey in a position to do this in the first place? Why was a Republican hack leading the FBI in a Democratic Administration? We couldn't find a qualified Democrat?